Wednesday
Aug082018
The Commentariat -- August 9, 2018
I'm having serious technical difficulties. I'm asking safari & Akhilleus not to do any updates till I get this problem fixed. So far, none of the techies knows how to fix it. Thanks for your patience. If anyone has been logging in to comment, please don't do so. I'm working with a real mess here, & it could blow up at any minute. So far, there doesn't seem to be any problem making comments from the public/logged-out platform. If you're experiencing any unusual troubles with accessing the site or commenting, please e-mail me at constantweader@gmail.com & let me know what's going on. Thanks.
If the site totally dies, which is a looming possibility, I'll put up something on my Twitter account as to what might happen next. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Afternoon Update:
AP: "Puerto Rico is now estimating that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, far more than the official death toll of 64, in a report to Congress seeking billions to help the island recover from the devastating storm.... In [the report], the territory's government said that the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a storm that led to a 'cascading failures' in infrastructure across the island of 3.3 million people."
Hee Haw! Goat Fleeces the Sheeples. Pat Ralph of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump is able to pay tens of thousands of dollars less in property taxes on his New Jersey golf courses because of a goat herd, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing public records, The Journal reported in 2016 that Trump had been able to save thousands of dollars in property taxes on his two properties in Bedminster -- where he is this week for a 'working vacation' -- and Colts Neck. Because the properties have a goat herd, as well as hay farming and woodcutting, New Jersey law permits them to receive a farmland tax break.... The Journal estimated that Trump paid less than $1,000 a year in property taxes on land that would typically require roughly $80,000." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.
Nancy Cook of Politico: "Hope Hicks had no intention of traveling on Air Force One when she arrived at ... Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to hang out with White House friends including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. But ... once Hicks was back on the president's turf, she got sucked in, with a handful of staffers successfully prodding her to join them on Saturday's trip to Ohio for a campaign-style rally. Hicks' surprise appearance at the airport prompted one former campaign official to joke that she was returning for 'Season Two' of the Trump reality show." Mrs. McC: AND this has nuh-THING to do with the fact that Trump was simultaneously confess-tweeting about the "real reason" for that Trump Tower meeting -- you know, the one where Hicks helped him write out that phony "adoption reason" for the meeting conspiracy-planning session. Just another a-mazing coincidence.
Sam Baker of Axios: "One Australian drug company -- with only one (failed) product in one (failed) clinical trial -- just keeps tripping up current and former House Republicans.... Federal prosecutors in New York indicted Rep. Chris Collins yesterday on charges of insider trading, stemming from the sale of shares in a company called Innate Immunotherapeutics. It's the same company you may remember from Tom Price's confirmation as Health and Human Services secretary. He tripled his investment when divesting of the stock to become secretary, according to the Wall Street Journal. Collins had been an investor in the company for 15 years, the WSJ reports, and was a member of its board. Price bought almost 500,000 shares in the company, most of them in 2016, at a discounted rate only offered to a few Americans. At least four other GOP lawmakers also bought shares of Innate a few months later, according to the watchdog group CREW. Of those six lawmakers, four -- Collins, Price, and Reps. Billy Long and Markwayne Mullin -- sat on committees with direct health care jurisdiction."
So Far Things Not Going Well for White Supremacist Candidate. Senate Race. Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch: "Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led GOP rival Corey Stewart by 23 percentage points in a July poll of likely voters released Wednesday. Kaine had 49 percent to 26 percent for Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, with 5 percent for Libertarian Matt Waters and 20 percent undecided, according to the survey...."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Brian Fung & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Tribune Media said Thursday that it would terminate its proposed merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, while announcing a $1 billion lawsuit against the conservative television giant on grounds that it engaged in 'misconduct' and precluded the U.S. government from approving the deal. In the lawsuit, Tribune accused Sinclair of engaging in 'belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations' with the FCC as well as the Justice Department, which had reviewed the merger for its effects on competition. By failing to divest television stations as regulators recommended, Tribune said Sinclair had 'breached' the companies' merger agreement, which required them to make their best efforts to secure federal approval.... The merger began to stumble last month after Federal communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted 'serious concerns' about the deal.... The FCC raised questions about Sinclair's plan to sell some key stations in order to adhere to federal media ownership laws, and voted to send the matter to an administrative law judge, which is often interpreted as a signal a transaction may be blocked."
*****
Happy 44th Anniversary of Richard Nixon's Last Day in Office.
Frank Rich: "[Trump] doesn't mind making himself vulnerable to punishment under the law because he doesn't believe the law is legitimate or as powerful as he is. To him, jurisprudence is just another adversary to be bullied and mowed down like Little Marco or Crooked Hillary. That's why the possibility of implicating himself in an obstruction case doesn't really concern him. His plan is to destroy the rule of law before any case gets far enough to put him in legal jeopardy. His goal is not to prove his innocence in a court of law but to discredit the Justice Department, the FBI, the intelligence agencies, and, of course, the special counsel before he ever gets to court. On a parallel track he's out to destroy the news media that report on his flagrant lawlessness.... After Nixon's demise -- brought about by his own vehicle for self-incrimination, the White House tapes -- the consensus had it that the system worked. This time the system is being burned down before our eyes by its own chief executive."
Jonathan Chait: "The entire Trump era has been a festering pit of barely disguised ongoing corruption. But the whole sordid era has not had a 24-hour period quite like the orgy of criminality which we have just experienced. The events of the last day alone include: (1) The trial of Paul Manafort, which has featured the accusation that President Trump's campaign manager had embezzled funds, failed to report income, and falsified documents.... (2) Yesterday, Forbes reported that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross may have stolen $120 million from his partners and customers.... (3) Also yesterday, ProPublica reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs is being effectively run by three Trump cronies, none of whom have any official government title or public accountability. The three, reports the story, have 'used their influence in ways that could benefit their private interests.' (4) And then, this morning, Representative Chris Collins was arrested for insider trading."
Big Surprise. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's lawyers rejected the special counsel's latest terms for an interview in the Russia investigation, countering on Wednesday with an offer that suggested a narrow path for answering questions, people familiar with the matter said.... The letter marked the latest back and forth in the eight months of negotiations between Mr. Trump's lawyers and ... Robert S. Mueller III. Last week, Mr. Mueller proposed a slightly altered format to the expansive interview he wants to conduct with the president. Mr. Trump's lawyers did not reject an interview outright.... However, [a] person said that Mr. Trump's lawyers did not want him answering questions about whether he obstructed justice." (Also linked yesterday.);
Ken Vogel & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Paul Manafort attacked the government's star witness as a thief, serial adulterer and possible forger as part of an aggressive effort to undercut prosecutors on Wednesday at his trial. The defense lawyers also proposed novel situations under which their client's tax avoidance may have been less extreme than prosecutors asserted. Mr. Manafort ... failed to disclose and pay taxes on nearly $16.5 million in income, according to an I.R.S. revenue agent. But his lawyers suggested that the actual amount of unreported income could have been smaller, partly because his companies might have been able to claim an 'embezzlement deduction' on the money that his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, has acknowledged stealing through falsified expense reports."
... Washington Post reporters livebloggied the Manafort trial Wednesday. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Josh Gerstein & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "... Donald Trump says that the criminal trial of his former campaign aide, Paul Manafort, has nothing to do with him. But jurors in a Virginia courtroom heard his name repeatedly on Tuesday. Trump's name, his 2016 campaign and his inauguration came up several times during the trial's sixth day, the most by far in the bank- and tax-fraud case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. While the case does not directly involve the president, on Tuesday Trump became an unmistakable presence in the background. Documents and testimony spelled out Manafort's myriad ties to Trump and his 2016 White House run. They showed that Manafort sought to ease his financial pressures by trading on his influence in Trump's orbit. His longtime deputy, Rick Gates, said it was 'possible' he had stolen money from Trump's inauguration committee. And Gates described the roles that he and Manafort had played in Trump's winning campaign. The court even learned that Manafort's ties to Trump extend well beyond the 2016 campaign. A 2013 document entered into evidence showed that Manafort planned to share his New York Yankee season tickets with [Trump]...." (Also linked yesterday.)...
... Juan Cole: "Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign manager, is being tried for money laundering, keeping some 15 illegal foreign accounts, and cheating the government out of the taxes he rightfully owed, among a host of other crimes.... His lobbying firm in the 1990s and after represented the most sordid gallery of torturers and villains ever assembled in one client list. There was no strong man so idious that Manafort would not take his money and make phone calls to his old buddies on his behalf.... Manafort is not a criminal in the sense of a deviant. He is all too normal in the US political system. He is how the system works. White collar criminals like Manafort and Trump are no longer even investigated or prosecuted. Manafort had been getting away with it for decades because he was so well connected.... But make no mistake about it. The indictment of Manafort is an indictment of America, a death knoll for US democracy. Manafort is who we have become." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)
Emily Cochrane and Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times profile Judge T.S. Ellis's courtroom manner. ...
... Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein also highlight Ellis's courtroom behavior. Here's an exemplary excerpt: "On Wednesday, Ellis was at it again, dressing down prosecutors after learning that an IRS agent they called to the stand as an expert witness had been in the courtroom for the entire trial.... Mueller's prosecutors protested that the judge had granted them an exception, but the judge ... [said,] 'I don't care what the transcript says, maybe I made a mistake.... When I exclude witnesses I mean everybody, unless I make a special exception.'" Mrs. McC: Huh??? Do as I think I said & not as I say? That's bordering on batshit.
She's Got Tapes! Lachlan Markay, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell The Daily Beast that Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the infamous former Apprentice star who followed Trump to the White House, secretly recorded conversations with the president -- conversations she has since leveraged while shopping her forthcoming 'tell-all' book, bluntly titled UNHINGED. For months, it has been rumored that Manigault had clandestinely recorded on her smartphone 'tapes' of unspecified private discussions she had in the West Wing. Audio actually does exist, and even stars Manigault's former boss. One person confirmed to The Daily Beast they had heard at least one of her recordings featuring President Trump. Multiple sources familiar with the so-called 'Omarosa tapes' described the recorded conversations between Trump and Manigault as anodyne, everyday chatter, but said they did appear to feature Trump's voice, either over the phone or in-person. The mere existence of such recordings represent a dramatic betrayal of trust by a one-time Trump confidant who has since abandoned years of professed loyalty to the president and has apparently decided to profit off her years of closeness to Trump." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, shame on Omarosa. Nobody else would profit off his year's of closeness to Trump. Nor would Trump use his day job for personal gain in any way.
Trade deficit -- $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter.... I think nobody would have thought that would be possible so quickly. $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter. -- Donald Trump, July 30, in one of the (at least) five times he has made the claim in recent days
We doubt the president himself is digging into the details of the GDP report, so either he is being misled by his staff or misunderstood something in a briefing. He may be very disappointed when the third-quarter numbers are released, given that the year is already on track to have the largest trade deficit in a decade. We generally are reluctant to give Four Pinocchios for a factoid based on government data. But the president is presenting this in such a misleading manner that we have little choice. In every instance, the president says the trade deficit fell by $52 billion from the first to the second quarter, calling it one of the 'biggest wins' in the GDP report. He may be convinced of it, but that's simply not true. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
My guess: Trump just made up the number. It's a very authentic-sounding number, doncha think? Anyway, it sure makes his unnecessary & counterproductive trade war look very smart. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Juan Cole: "Europe, Russia, China defy Trump on Iran Sanctions" --safari (Also linked yesterday.)
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "A new 20 percent tax break included in last year's $1.5 trillion tax overhaul could wind up benefiting President Trump's real estate empire given how the Treasury Department plans to implement the provision, several tax experts said. On Wednesday, the Treasury Department issued a sprawling regulation outlining the types of companies and professionals eligible to qualify as 'pass-through' entities and get the 20 percent tax deduction. The widely anticipated rule has huge implications for law firms, real estate trusts, family farms and other companies that are structured so their profits are taxed as individual income for their owners."
** Shadow Government. Isaac Arsndorf of ProPublica: "Bruce Moskowitz ... is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump's. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.... But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a ... story ... of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The [informal troika] spoke with VA officials daily ... reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. 'Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,' a former administration official said.... The arrangement is without parallel in modern presidential history." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)
** Caught on Tape. Phil Helsel of NBC News: "Hard-line conservative Republicans in the House recently hit a roadblock in their effort to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when Speaker Paul Ryan opposed the move. But one of those conservatives, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., gave a different explanation to donors recently when asked why the impeachment effort had stalled. He said it's because an impeachment would delay the Senate's confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made the statement in an audio recording surreptitiously made by a member of a progressive group who attended a Republican fundraiser on July 30 in Spokane, Washington. The recording was obtained by The Rachel Maddow Show and was played on MSNBC on Wednesday night.... Nunes also appeared to say that if a campaign received and released stolen emails from a foreign government -- he used a hypothetical example of [Rep. Cathy] McMorris Rodgers[, for whom the fundraiser was held,] getting secret information from Portugal, where his ancestors are from -- there would be a criminal element to that." ...
... Jeet Heer: "These comments go against the thrust of a frequent claim [link fixed] made by Donald Trump, that 'collusion is not a crime.' As Nunes concedes, collusion could rise to the level of being a conspiracy with a foreign power, which is criminal."
Rebecca Shabad & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that he was 'honored' to deliver a letter from ... Donald Trump to the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Moscow this week.... [Okay, that wasn't exactly true.] In a follow-up statement, Paul's office said that the senator delivered the letter to representatives of Putin since the Russian leader himself was not in Moscow during Paul's visit." Also linked yesterday.)
Ohio Congressional Race. Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The tight race [in Ohio's 12th District Congressional special election] between Democrat Danny O'Connor and Republican Troy Balderson just got tighter. Election officials in Franklin County found 588 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb. The result: O'Connor had a net gain of 190 votes, bringing the race's margin down to 1,564."
Kansas Gubernatorial Race
Mrs. McCrabbie: I was wondering about this possibility, so I looked it up:
Brian Lowry, et al., of the Kansas City Star: "No law requires Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to recuse himself from a recount in the governor's race, but legal and political experts say that he should to maintain trust in the election. Republican legislative leaders said Wednesday morning that a recount is almost certain and could possibly take weeks.... Kobach, the state's top election official, narrowly led Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Republican primary by a mere 191 votes Wednesday morning after each of the state's 105 counties had posted election returns after technical difficulties in Johnson County delayed results on election night." Mrs. McC: Now we can look forward to some serious voter fraud. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... ** Update. Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who holds a razor-thin lead over incumbent Jeff Colyer in Kansas' Republican gubernatorial primary dubbed too close to call, said Wednesday that he will not recuse himself from a recount process.... Kobach's position as the state's top election official and a staunch ally of President Trump conflicts with concerns that have been raised about the integrity of his involvement in past U.S. elections.... As of Wednesday, Kobach was leading by less than 200 votes as remaining ballots continue to be counted." ...
... AND, to a point Akhilleus made in yesterday's Comments.... Kira Lerner of Think Progress: "'If you have a close race, yeah absolutely, voter fraud could swing the margin,' [Kris Kobach] told ThinkProgress at his election night party, as the votes were being counted. He offered as explanation the testimony of a highly discredited expert who claimed in a federal trial -- where a federal judge invalidated Kobach's signature voting law -- that there are thousands of illegal voters in Kansas. 'The numbers in Kansas of non-citizens -- we had an expert in the trial try to estimate it and it's in the thousands, we just don't know how many thousands,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.)
** Renae Merle & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors charged Rep. Chris Collins ([R]-N.Y.), one of President Trump's earliest congressional supporters, with insider trading on Wednesday. Collin's son, his son Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins's fiancee were also charged. The indictment is related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, on whose board the congressman served. Collins illegally shared nonpublic information about the company with Cameron Collins, who traded on the information, according to federal prosecutors. Cameron Collins then passed that information along to Zarsky. The trades allowed Collins, his son, and Zarsky to avoid $768,000 in losses, according to the indictment." Mrs. McC: Trumpsky doesn't just hire all the best people; he has all the best friends, too. (Also linked yesterday.)...
... Here's Jerry Zremski's story in the Buffalo News: "Rep. Chris Collins once told supporters to disregardnews reports about apparent conflicts of interest involving one of his stock investments. But on Wednesday morning..., Collins, his son, Cameron, and his son's future father-in-law surrendered to federal authorities in Manhattan, where prosecutors indicted all three on a host of federal charges tied to alleged insider stock trading." ...
... The New York Times story, by Alan Feuer & Shane Goldmacher, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (18)
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Yeah! What I said the other day in my comment about wanting to see a publication of how members of Congress become so wealthy after taking office!
(WAPO) The Finance 202: Collins's indictment raises "new questions about financial dealings of members of Congress"
A House ethics watchdog last October said it found “substantial reason to believe” the lawmaker broke both federal law and congressional rules by advocating for the company in his capacity as a public official.
Long overdue to get the real story about 'sudden' wealth for our representatives.
It ain't just Chris Collins!
@Bea McCrab: hope you are getting things fixed. Almost hesitant to try posting a comment. Consider this Test #2!
(Test #3 - hope it doesn't break anything...)
Kris Kobach is going to run the recount for his own election. Be prepared for the inevitable "discovery" of thousands of "previously uncounted" votes for Kobach. It's not election fraud if a Confederate does it.
Just imagine the outrage of people like, oh, Kris Kobach, if a Democratic candidate who also happened to be the Secretary of State refused to hand over a recount of his own election results to a disinterested third party (and in Kobach's case, you can be sure, were he to do the right thing, he'd still pick some Confederate lackey for the count). Outraged screams of "Fraud!" would deafen residents in the next state. Fox would have a brain hemorrhage. Trump's tiny fingers wouldn't be able to keep pace the affront.
There's no way Mr. Election Fraud will allow this recount to result in his own loss. It's like allowing an embezzling bank manager to oversee an audit.
The Weasel and the Goats
There is really no end to Trump's ability to help himself escape paying taxes and contributing his fair share.
Golf courses take up a lot of land. That land is taxable. But not if you have a goat.
In New Jersey, where Trump has a couple of courses (and where he is for a ten day "working vacation" *cough-cough*), land used for farming is taxed at a much lower rate. So Trump got himself a few goats and a few hay bales. Presto. Gigantic tax break. In fact, on the huge parcel of land on which he'll be golfing every day this week, he should be paying $80,000. He doesn't. Instead, he pays about what I pay in property taxes on my little house, about $1,000.
He has eight goats (not counting Junior and Little Dracula) worth almost 10 grand a piece in tax breaks. Jesus, if he got a few more, New Jersey would have to pay him!
@Akhilleus: If Kobach "discovers" he won after all (and aren't we sure he will?), I think this really helps the Democratic nominee, Laura Kelly. Trump may be able to pull the cornsilks over the eyes of Kansas Republicans, but I'm not so sure Kris Kobach can get enough Republicans to vote for somebody who appears to have stolen the election. Yes, Kansans were ready to believe in the "Brownback Miracle," & Trump's Making America Great Again, but the Kobach Miracle seems just plain offensive.
Also, we'll see what the current governor does if he suddenly loses after Kris Voter-Suppression Kobach accidentally drops some of his opponent's ballots into the circular file. It's one thing to suppress Democrats' votes -- but suppressing nice white Christian Republican people's votes? Heresy!
Boo-fucking-hoo for the Sinclair-Trump Network.
And the reason for the snag with Justice was not so much that Sinclair didn't divest certain stations (under FCC ownership rules they wouldn't be able to operate a number of stations in a single market so they'd have to sell some in markets where Tribune was already in place), but that the divestiture plan involved sneakily "selling" to groups they would still effectively control. That way, even though they "sold" some stations, these outlets would still maintain the Trump TV brand that Sinclair insists upon. The fact that this was a bridge too far even for Trump puppet Ajit Pai says something, I guess.
But don't pop any champagne corks just yet. Tribune is still up for sale and guess who may be in line to pick up the stations Sinclair just lost?
Fox.
Marie,
I hope you're right. After being Brownbacked for years, residents of that state must realize that they're not actually in Kansas anymore. At least not one recognizable to anyone. Brownbackistan has been devolved and left destitute by righty-right economic policies, such as they are. In effect, they're like Pluto which is no longer in the Planets Club. Now it's just a planetoidal thingy, or to use the official term, a dwarf planet.
I guess that makes Kansas a dwarf state. And Kris Kobach the Dwarf Secretary of the Dwarf State.
I have no doubt that once he fraudulates this vote, he'll try it again in the general. I can see it now, "8 million Kansans voted illegally".
They were all bused in from Massachusetts. Or maybe Mexico.
The Nunes tape in a nutshell:
1. Can't impeach that asshole Rosenstein because it could monkey with getting our rubber stamp on the Court.
2. Collusion is a crime. A big one.
...and thus:
3. The Party of Traitors must do everything they can to finagle the upcoming elections because their biggest job is protecting Trump at all costs. Fuck justice or the Constitution or America or any other damn thing. Protect Trump.
Testing. Uno, Dos, Tres.
Breaking news. Mexico will pay for impeachment.
(I wish).
Another test. Glad I don't have to wait for the tweet because I don't.
So Pence and the Pretender are all in for re-creating one of my childhood favorites, "Space Patrol."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/09/politics/pence-space-force-2020/index.html
Like Ayn Rand for teens, this one, too, ought to stay in early childhood where it belongs.
Who are they imagining they might be? Tom Corbett? Flash Gordon? Buck Rogers? Once again it's hard to see very far inside the confusion of synapses firing inside their skulls...
Ken,
Try Emperor Ming. Just picture Trump with a Fu Manchu and little mikey next to his throne with a bullet head helmet and a Sears & Roebuck blaster.
Forrest,
Hahahaha...hey, I'll chip in too.
Saw some people talking about the CEOs coming back to Trump this week. They had a dinner at Bedminster with Trump where the CEOs could come and literally line his pockets as they ask for favors. Can't have the foreigners, like the Saudis, being the only was paying to play. Some CEOs had left his advisory council, or were talking about leaving, after Charlottesville. But Trump's been such a good boy since then that they are willing to forgive and forget. What CEO wouldn't want their brand linked to the Helsinki coward or the cages for kids president.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/07/trump-ceos-dinner-bedminster-new-jersey-765989
So Hope Hicks is back. Diaper Donnie must not have been to find a suitable replacement for his Royal Pants Steamer position.
Kansans voted Brownback back in after it had already been made clear his economic policies were a disaster, the kids were getting dumber for lack of education funding, and roads were getting bigger potholes than Mizzouri (we Kansans are very proud of having better roads than Mizzouri...we don't have much, so we boost it where we can get it).
After dragging the bar as low as it can go, expectations have been lowered to the new status quo.
I'm afraid that the governorship and basically any state-wide seat is going Republican until a good portion of the older folks fall down dead. It's a reflex for them, thinking intelligently about the issues isn't in the cards.
I'm hoping I'm wrong, but drive anywhere outside the cities, hell, even in the cities, and you're in Trump country.
Ken, Akhilleus: I'm thinking the mental image (and I do mean mental) is Roger Ramjet
Possibly a small roadblock in the way of the Pence, Pretender plan?
https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/outerspace
But can't let those hoary old treaties get in the way, can we?
One interesting thing about the Trumpy-pencey Space Cadet Patrol is how little mikey framed the absolute, must-have, can't-wait nature of this brand new, wicked cool, won't cost more than a hundred billion dollars All-Confederate branch of the military.
Why do we need Trumpy Space Cadets going where no winger has gone before? Why, dirty Rooskies, natch!
Yup. Thim Rooskies have got 'em some super-duper orbital bang boxes that will crush us cold if we don't get 'em first.
But wait (I hear you saying)! Aren't we besties with the Rooskies now? What's up with this? Are we Putin Pals or not?
Well, that depends. Do you want Putin to help you steal another election? Then YES we're besties.
But then, do you want Congress to hand you billions in taxpayer money to line the pockets of you and your cronies to create some bullshit fakey Flash Gordon cotillion of supersonic space cadets whose mission is to help King Trumpy Make Space Profitable Again?
Well, then, welcome to the Trump School of Talking Out Both Sides of the Pie Hole at Once.
Yes, Putie is our pal when we want to ratfuck them demycraps. And no, he's a dirty rotten Rooskie 'merica hater when we want to siphon off billions for those three extra vacation homes for us and all our Mar-a-Lago palsie-walsies.
Really? It's whatever the fuck works to git us what we want. You're all morons and we believe that, so fuck off and give us our money.
@Akhilleus
Kinda like those foreign workers we want to deport (at rocket speed) unless we need them at Mara Lago or some major agri-business whose owners donate generously to Republicans.
Reminds me of the Resnick Family that owns thousands of acres of almond orchards, and vineyards and a water bottling company and....in CA's Central Valley. Think all their workers are documented or that their extensive facilities have been raided?
Didn't think so.
A long read, but for me anyway, endlessly fascinating. It's so capitalist, so Republican, so.....American.
https://story.californiasunday.com/resnick-a-kingdom-from-dust