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The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of 2024 Oscar winners here.

Ryan Gosling performs "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards: ~~~

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

CNN: “Jon Stewart is heading back to 'The Daily Show.' The comedian, who during his 16-year run as host of the Comedy Central program established it as an entertainment and cultural force, will return to host the show each week on Mondays starting February 12, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced Wednesday. Stewart, who returns as the 2024 presidential election season heats up, will also executive produce the show and work with a rotating line-up of comedians who will helm the program the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Thursdays.”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Friday
Nov242017

The Commentariat -- November 25, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "The White House appeared headed to a showdown Monday on who will be the next leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a dispute that is likely to land in court.... On Saturday, senior administration officials said the White House's position was supported by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The office is preparing to publish a written opinion supporting the appointment soon, but has already confirmed verbally and through email that it complies with the law, the officials said.... But the OLC letter is not likely to end the tug-of-war over the leadership of [the] agency.... Democrats and consumer advocates say [Mick] Mulvaney's appointment is illegal and are calling on the Trump administration to allow English to serve until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate."

*****

Turkey to Turkey -- Trump Gives Surprise Gift to Erdogan. Carol Morello & Erin Cunningham of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is preparing to stop supplying weapons to ethnic Kurdish fighters in Syria, the White House acknowledged Friday, a move reflecting renewed focus on furthering a political settlement to the civil war there and countering Iranian influence now that the Islamic State caliphate is largely vanquished. Word of the policy change long sought by neighboring Turkey came Friday, not from Washington but from Ankara. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at a news conference that President Trump had pledged to stop arming the fighters, known as the YPG, during a phone call between Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.... Initially, the administration's national security team appeared surprised by the Turks' announcement and uncertain what to say about it. The State Department referred questions to the White House, and hours passed with no confirmation from the National Security Council. In late afternoon, the White House confirmed the weapons cutoff would happen, though it provided no details on timing." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: And what did Trump get out of this Thanksgiving Turkey? Now that's something Trump really does not want anyone to know, but you can bet "U.S. interests" don't figure in. Under normal circumstances, the NSC & State Department would not be "surprised" by a major shift in U.S. Middle East policy.

Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named 'Man (Person) of the Year,' like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway! -- Donald Trump, Friday afternoon tweet

The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6. -- Time, less than 3 hours later, tweet

My Time cover is just as real as the one Trump had on display for years in several of his golf resorts. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Ryan Koronoski of ThinkProgress: "On Friday morning, following a terrifying attack at a mosque in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that left an estimated 235 people dead..., Donald Trump reacted to the news by condemning the attackers and 'terrorism' in general on Twitter.... It was a straightforward response with no obvious policy under- or overreactions. However, about four hours later -- after golfing at his resort in Florida with Tiger Woods -- Trump returned to form.... 'Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life,' he wrote. 'We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.'... Experts say that implementing the so-called 'Muslim ban' is exactly what ISIS wants -- a recruitment tool and a reason to argue for the escalation of hostilities before their target audiences."

Victoria Guida of Politico: "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray on Friday appointed the agency's chief of staff, Leandra English, as the CFPB's deputy director, establishing her as his successor when he steps down at the end of the day. The move appears designed to thwart any move by ... Donald Trump to name another temporary official to head the controversial agency. Trump has been reported to be considering White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for the role.... The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, explicitly says the consumer bureau's deputy director shall "serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director." ...

     ... Update. Gillian White of the Atlantic: "... after the Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin pointed out that the version of Dodd-Frank passed by the House had explicitly applied the Vacancies Act to the CFPB, and that the conference committee had stripped out that language, many legal scholars told The Intercept's David Dayen that they believed that control of the agency would pass to the deputy director.... By formally naming a deputy director on Friday, [Richard Cordray] strengthened the CFPB's hand in any ensuing legal battle for control of the agency. The Trump administration must now decide whether to simply allow [Leandra] English to become acting director, running the agency while it attempts to get a new nominee for director confirmed by the Senate, or whether it wishes to name its own acting director, a move that offer immediate control but would almost certainly wind up being challenged in court." ...

... ** UPDATE. Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday named his budget director as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, moving to take control of the agency hours after its departing leader had taken steps to install his own choice for acting chief. By the end of the night, an agency born of the financial meltdown -- and one Republicans have tried to kill from the start -- had dueling directors, and there was little sense of who actually would be in charge Monday morning. The bureaucratic standoff began Friday afternoon when Richard Cordray, the Obama-appointed leader of the bureau, abruptly announced he would leave the job at the close of business, a week earlier than anticipated. He followed up with a letter naming his chief of staff, Leandra English, as the agency's deputy director.... Under the law, he said, that appointment would make the new deputy director the agency's acting director. The move was seen as an effort to delay Mr. Trump from appointing his own director, whose confirmation could take months. The White House retaliated, saying that the budget director, Mick Mulvaney, who once characterized the consumer protection bureau as a 'sad, sick joke,' would be running the agency. He would also keep his current job as head of the Office of Management and Budget.... And what happens next is not entirely clear."

A Fine-Tuned Machine. Michelle Kosinski of CNN: "Days ahead of what should be a major moment for Ivanka Trump on the world stage, CNN has learned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson isn't sending a high-level delegation [to India] to support her [at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit] amid reports of tensions between Tillerson and the White House.... 'They (Tillerson and his staff) won't send someone senior because they don't want to bolster Ivanka. It's now another rift between the White House and State at a time when Rex Tillerson doesn't need any more problems with the President,' [a senior State Department] official [said].... 'Rex doesn't like the fact that he's supposed to be our nation's top diplomat, and Jared and now Ivanka have stepped all over Rex Tillerson for a long time," [a source closed to the White house ...] said.... The State Department puts on the large yearly event, which Secretary of State John Kerry and even President Obama attended multiple times." ...

... "A Disaster Waiting to Happen." Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "By last spring..., the guarded optimism that greeted [Rex Tillerson's] arrival [at the State Department] had given way to concern among diplomats about his aloofness and lack of communication. By the summer, the secretary's focus on efficiency and reorganization over policy provoked off-the-record anger. Now the estrangement is in the open, as diplomats going out the door make their feelings known and members of Congress raise questions about the impact of their leaving.... Mr. Tillerson has frozen most hiring and recently offered a $25,000 buyout in hopes of pushing nearly 2,000 career diplomats and civil servants to leave by October 2018. His small cadre of aides have fired some diplomats and gotten others to resign by refusing them the assignments they wanted or taking away their duties altogether. Among those fired or sidelined were most of the top African-American and Latino diplomats...."

Matt Zapotosky & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "From his crackdown on illegal immigration to his reversal of Obama administration policies on criminal justice and policing, [AG Jeff] Sessions is methodically reshaping the Justice Department to reflect his nationalist ideology and hard-line views -- moves drawing comparatively less public scrutiny than the ongoing investigations into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin. Sessions has implemented a new charging and sentencing policy that calls for prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible, even if that might mean minority defendants face stiff, mandatory minimum penalties. He has defended the president's travel ban and tried to strip funding from cities with policies he considers too friendly toward undocumented immigrants. Sessions has even adjusted the department's legal stances in cases involving voting rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in a way that advocates warn might disenfranchise poor minorities and give certain religious people a license to discriminate."

Conway & Trump Greenlight Sex Abusers. Dana Milbank: "Washington could do something to give ... low-skill, low-wage women more power and workplace protections [from sexual harassers]. Instead, the White House, and in particular presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, are sending the opposite message about women and those who prey on them.... President Trump excuses his support for the accused child molester by saying [Roy] Moore 'totally denies it,' a standard under which the late Charles Manson was also innocent. This is not a he-said/she-said case. It's a he-said/she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-and-others-corroboratecase. As a practical matter, there's little doubt Moore sexually exploited girls, yet the message from the White House is that such a man belongs in high office. That's a green light to millions of men who harass and abuse women -- and a caution to millions of women that they shouldn't complain about it."


Barbara McQuade
in the Daily Beast: "If, in fact, [Michael] Flynn is cooperating with the special counsel], this development could be very significant for [Robert] Mueller's investigation. As a member of the foreign policy team on Trump's presidential campaign, he likely has information about any contacts with the Russian government by members of the campaign. Flynn may be able to provide the crucial links between all of the disparate pieces of evidence that have come to light to date -- the June 2016 meeting with Russians to obtain disparaging information about Hillary Clinton, the overtures for meetings with George Papadopoulos, the travels of Carter Page." ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "Michael Flynn has so much criminal exposure it's almost ridiculous, including things as potentially serious as conspiracy to kidnap, perjury, and obstruction of justice. He has to worry about those charges, plus a long list of problems with disclosure forms involving his lobbying work, background checks, and compliance with military rules and regulations. And he's reportedly worried that his son will wind up with a lengthy jail term, as well. To significantly reduce all that exposure, he's going to have to tell a pretty compelling story to Robert Mueller's prosecutors. It's true that plea negotiations could still break down, but they've almost certainly begun. The chances are now very high that Flynn will be testifying against the president of the United States and that his testimony will be the basis for a criminal referral of some sort to Congress from the office of the special counsel. This also has to be of concern to Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, because they're missing the chance to be the first cooperating witnesses, and are therefore losing the opportunity to reduce the amount of time they'll be spending in prison." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Paul Waldman: "... if Flynn is cooperating, it can only be because he has information to offer Mueller on someone more important than himself.... And who is more important than Flynn?... Among those implicated in this whole affair, that group may consist of Jared Kushner and Trump, and that's about it. Which means we may be getting closer to answering a question I've been asking for a long time: Why was President Trump so intensely focused on protecting Michael Flynn?... Flynn was supposedly fired because he lied to Vice President Pence about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign and the transition.... This was always an odd explanation for the firing. Even more odd was the fact that immediately, President Trump began telling anyone who would listen what a great guy Michael Flynn is and how unfair the whole mess was to him." Emphasis added. ...

... digby: "I will speculate wildly here that I would be wondering if Trump didn't approve that 15 million dollar kidnapping plot.... This plot would easily be one that Trump and his crazy pal Flynn would think was very, very clever. Flynn had a vendetta against the Intelligence Community and Trump is a fucking moron. That's exactly the kind of thing they'd believe was a very excellent way to conduct foreign policy." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I thought the same thing when I read that Trump was calling Erdogan yesterday to "fix the mess in the Middle East" left to him by his predecessors. What he more likely was interested in fixing was the Turkish kidnapping caper, which would have been initiated by some of Erdogan's henchmen. ...

     ... AND since we're speculating, I'll speculate that the entire Trump presidency is an elaborate Putin plot. That is, Putin might have backed Trump from the git-go, even to the point of -- perhaps indirectly -- getting him to run in the first place. For one thing, I'll speculate that the Kremlin really does have the goods on Trump in some form or other; & for a second, Russia could scarcely find anyone who met the Constitutional requirements for U.S. president & who would more destabilize the country.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. If you missed the Vox video on Sean Hannity, which safari posted yesterday, go back & take a look at it. It's both funny & appalling or, you know ... Sad!

Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Activists will launch a last-ditch effort to prevent Donald Trump's tax bill from passing in the Senate on Monday, with scores of groups planning to lay siege to politicians' offices. Indivisible, the progressive group that aims to use Tea Party tactics to thwart the Republicans, has called for a day of action to stop the tax legislation, which the Senate is expected to vote on in the week after Thanksgiving. According to some estimates, the GOP bill would actually raise taxes on middle-class workers over the next decade, and leave 13 million more people without insurance. A different tax bill passed the House on 16 November.... Indivisible, which is made up of more than 6,000 groups nationwide, has called for people to target seven senators in particular who it believes could vote against the bill: John McCain, Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowsi, Susan Collins, Rob Portman, Shelley Moore Capito and Bob Corker." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can check this Indivisible page to see where some of the sponsored protests are. There's more info here. ...

... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "... according to a pair of new analyses by the Penn-Wharton Budget Project..., the Senate Republicans' tax bill would increase federal debt by more than advertised, and increased debt accumulation would counteract much -- or potentially all -- of the positive growth impact of tax cuts. The result will likely be lower incomes for the bottom half of the income distribution even before considering the negative impact of inevitable spending cuts to offset the surprisingly low federal tax intake." The lead analyst is veteran Republican budget & tax analyst Ken Smetters. "... the Senate GOP leadership wrote a bill that's designed to game the system with phase-ins and phase-outs, and Penn-Wharton thinks taxpayers will respond in kind -- gaming the gamed system, reducing federal revenue, and increasing the long-term deficit."

Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "A federal lawsuit set to go to trial next month marks the latest legal action brought against former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio over allegations that he pursued a trumped-up criminal case to get publicity and embarrass ... U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake. One of Flake's sons filed a malicious-prosecution lawsuit, saying Arpaio pursued felony animal cruelty charges against him and his then-wife in a bid to do political damage to the senator and gain publicity.... The lawsuit, which is scheduled for trial on Dec. 5, alleges that Arpaio was intent on linking the Flakes to the deaths [of 21 dogs], going so far as to conduct surveillance on the senator's home.... Lawyers for [the Senator's son] Austin Flake and his then-wife have said the senator disagreed with Arpaio over immigration and was critical of the movement questioning the authenticity of then-President Barack Obama's birth certificate. In a deposition, Arpaio didn't accept responsibility for bringing the charges against the couple and was unable to cite any evidence to support the allegations. But he still expressed confidence in his investigators."

Beyond the Beltway

In the Spirit of the Season. Carol Robinson of Al.com: "Shoppers getting an early start on Black Friday deals had their Thanksgiving trek to the Riverchase Galleria [in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.] cut short when fights broke out in the mall." Mrs. McC: But no reported sightings of Roy Moore cruising for teenaged girls.

Denise Hollinshed of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The St. Louis Galleria closed for about a half hour Friday afternoon after seven people were arrested during a Black Friday protest. Among those arrested was state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. The protesters arrived shortly after 2 p.m. at the shopping mall. They walked through chanting, 'Shut it down.' Some stores closed their doors and pulled down their security gates, in some cases trapping customers inside. A large police presence could be seen around the area. When police moved in to arrest one person, Franks questioned the officers and he was thrown to the floor and his hands tied behind back.... The protest was part of an economic boycott effort announced in early November by African-American clergy and activists over issues from police treatment of blacks to bank loan practices to infrastructure neglect in the northern part of St. Louis."

Way Beyond

Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Islamist militants detonated explosives and sprayed gunfire at a crowded Sufi mosque near Egypt's Sinai coast on Friday, killing at least 235 people and wounding 109 more, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the country's modern history." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Reader Comments (14)

How it Works

So a Politico article linked above describes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a “controversial agency”. Controversial agency?? Since when is the protection of consumers from con men, crooks, and Friends of Trump controversial? I suppose police departments are considered controversial by career criminals, so there’s that. But this is just one more example of corrupt and intellectually dishonest both siderism. It’s like saying that you can’t simply consider the feelings of homeowners, businesses, and fire departments. Arsonists have a legitimate point of view as well. Sean Hannity sez so.

Without that sort of slimy and constant dealing from the bottom of the deck, there would be no Fox News. And no Trump.

Controversial agency, my ass.

November 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: Good catch.

November 24, 2017 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Whiner in Chief claims he told Time to take a hike with their person of the year choice. Poor little donnie. At long last he might not have had to hang faked images of Time with his painted puss grimacing, tough guy style, from the cover.

But, oops. It wasn’t a lead pipe cinch. After all, Sponge Bob Square Pants was ready to edge him out as most absurd cartoon of the year.

But hey, it’s not an impossibility that Donaldo could have lent his faux manly visage to magazine racks at airports and train stations. After all, Time has chosen Hitler, Stalin, Khrushchev, and Khomeini as pricks of the year. Why not Whiney Boy?

November 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

So here’s how you decide who gets to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Ask both Leandra English and Trump’s choice, flunky and current pretend something or other, Mick Mulvaney, to spell “consumer”.

You think that’s too easy? Not when Mulvaney spells it em ay are kay.

Just call me Solomon.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I notice that at long last, reporters no long call Trump a "populist." This should have been evident the moment Trump started picking his Cabinet of billionaires & other recidivists (like Sessions & Pruitt), but journalists soldiered on, secure in their belief that a few dog bones (like "saving" a few Carrier jobs or calling the House ObamaCare repeal bill "mean") were proofs that Trump meant to do right by ordinary people. We have not had a more anti-populist president since Reagan.

November 25, 2017 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

On Monday, September 29, 2014, fifteen veterans of the Freedom Summer Project residing in New England arrived at the University of Rhode Island to commemorate the 50th year anniversary of the Freedom Summer Project and record interviews about their historic social activism for posterity. Searching for my old friend Richard Sugarman ( a social worker/trauma therapist in New London for 42yrs.) with whom I worked with in a center for wayward and disturbed children years ago I came across the video of him being interviewed for this project. Here is one of his stories:

In 1965 when he was studying at Brown U. he heard MLK ask for volunteers to help with the Civil Rights activism in Selma ( teaching and helping black citizens to vote) and this call stirred him to leave Brown for a semester and fly down to Selma. His father, the famous commercial artist and film producer, Tracy Sugarman, had been an active participant during 1964 in Mississippi and stayed with Fannie Lou Hammer. Activism ran in the family.

When Sugar (that's what we all called him) arrived in Selma the Klan were everywhere trying to prevent these Freedom fighters from doing their jobs (this was before LBJ asked Bobby Kennedy to send in federal troops) so it was an extremely dangerous place. One night King rounded up a great crowd of people including these young Freedom workers into a small church and told them that Hollywood had notified him that they wanted to participate by sending some film actors down there to speak on behalf of the movement. But, said King, they needed to build a platform. Did anyone here know if there were black lumber businesses in Selma? No–-was the resounding answer. King became silent–-looked up to the heavens for almost a minute, then head back down shouted–-"Caskets!" "Say what?" was the collective cry. King explained that there were a whole lot of black run funeral parlors and caskets come in wood boxes––"there's where we get our wood." Sugar, who was handy with hammers and nails, helped build that platform so that 5ft 2" Elizabeth Taylor would be seen as well as heard.

Now in Alabama we have a loon whose platform is soiled and rotting but may just become another Republican senator because enough of those "nice" people down there are still back in 1965 and haven't budged an inch.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@Bea, Your right, Trump is the anti-populist president. But the Trump brains definition of 'populist' is all people who don't make Trump desperately feel perfect. So only billionaires, dictators (jealous of total control) etc. meet the Trump vision of human. So if you make 20k a year or 200k, your of no value unless you kiss the Trump ass.

And note, when Trump announces his wonderful performance, he really believes it.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

I would think that a case for obstructing justice could be that little something that would finally tie a rope around this president*–––reading about Arpario this morning reminded me of Trump's pardon and wasn't that a case in point along with everything else he's doing including now to interfere with Cordray's pick for taking over his agency?

And for him to call Erdogan to tell him about the U.S. stoppage of arms to the Kurds is unbelievable! Oh wait––why am I still using that word? Nothing––I repeat––NOTHING should be unbelievable anymore.

P.S. Thanks Marie, for urging us to go back and watch the Hannity video–-I missed that yesterday. It's a marvel at sheer asininity –-is the man at all aware of how his display of cow tailing is seen by others other than his followers?

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Struck again this morning by the woefully topsy-turvy character of the Pretender's administration.

Borrowing from Harlan Ellison, have written before about the whatever-I-type-is-true-machine's effect of brushing reality aside. For the deniers of uncomfortable truths about everything from economic paradigms to population growth and demographic change to climate matters, wishful thinking is an understandable survival mechanism.

I say that for the eager consumers of the endless stream of twaddle dished out by their leaders and manipulators.

But for manipulators themselves, it seems the Pretender and his lackeys have made a critical adjustment to that machine. In their hands it's a whatever-I-say-ain't-true-machine that goes far beyond daily falsehoods like better health insurance for everyone that is really worse insurance for fewer people, or middle class tax cuts that are really raises, or even amusements like Time's purported Twit of the Year phone call to the Twit himself.

Far more disturbing to me, it extends to the Orwellian rebranding of government agencies and departments. EPA's "protection" is becoming "destruction;" "justice," "injustice;" "education," "ignorance;" and now if the Pretender has his way "consumer protection" will be moved as rapidly as possible in the direction of "consumer molestation" or downright "assault."

I would post a like comment on Tillerson's hollowing out of the State Department and the seemingly whimsical changes in established foreign policy (the latest on arming the Kurds) if I had it figured out. The only thing I'm sure about it is that whatever this administration says about what they are up to, it's not true.

Am still wondering how long it will take for Trump twaddle consumers to notice that while his words may deliver comfort to their ears, his actions send a very clear message that the Pretender cares absolutely nothing about them at all.

Far too long for my mental health, I'm sure, but I've seen a lot of addiction and realize it is a tough cycle to break.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Re the DiJiT-Erdogan phonecon:
-- yet again, the foreign end of the conversation releases the press statement about what the U.S. committed to do. Total amateurism on the U.S. side, and dangerous. Shameless people (like Erdogan) can pretty much make it up, and then the U.S. is faced with the problem of correcting the foreign head of state.
-- I would be surprised if anyone on our end took proper notes, so any corrections we make to the record will rely on DiJiT's approval of the memory of someone who was in the room. (A) his memory is very selective and (B) he makes stuff up, too, so (C) this is another dangerous problem
-- finally -- U.S. pulling the rug out from under Kurds after they have helped us out is a long-standing U.S. tradition, going back to Kissinger and earlier. But don't feel too sorry for the Kurds, they haven't trusted us to stand by them since the 1970's, and for that matter they know that we've never really given them any commitments. We are mutual allies of convenience, only for as long as it is convenient, and it has always been so.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Ken,

Your connection of the Trumpen proletariat with addiction is on point. I recall reading a research paper, years ago, in Science, about an experiment with mice and cocaine. The mice were given a choice of food or the drug. They chose the drug until they died. It’s doubtful the Confederate mice will be able to rescue themselves as long as they get their jolt of trumpcaine.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

One disastrous, unqualified nominee follows another! And it becomes especially hard knowing whether to scream in despair or roll on the floor laughing your ass off...case in point:
Mick Mulvaney, geez....I'm always surprised to see him clad in a suit and tie because I get the feeling if he stepped into a phone booth he'd emerge wearing green tights and pointy-toed felt shoes with bells on them.

@Ak (from yesterday's Jabroni feature): so one can begin to think about retiring snow shovels in Maine? Guess my bright yellow shovel from ACE Hardware will look good some day mounted as an antique piece above the fireplace!

JPMorgan's Dimon says Trump likely to be a one-term president, according to a Reuters report Jamie Dimon, over on CNBC notes "the ball is in the Dems' court"

...one small caveat:

"...“Asked at a luncheon hosted by The Economic Club of Chicago how many years Republican President Donald Trump will be in office, Dimon said, "If I had to bet, I'd bet three and half. But the Democrats have to come up with a reasonable candidate ... or Trump will win again.".”” DOH!

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

@MAG: Yeah, Jamie Demon is not exactly the Oracle of Delphi, but his three-and-a-half-year bet sounds about right to me, too. That, alas, would put us in the summer of 2020, right during campaign season. The U.S. has never had a president impeached AND convicted. Maybe Trump will refuse to leave. Orderly transfer of power? No way. We live in interesting times.

November 25, 2017 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

I don’t know about the rest you, but I need as much comic relief as possible these days (preferably with a glass of wine). A friend shared this with me today: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkPSbp3zTfo

Saturday Night Live performance of Barack come back.

And, I just learned today there will be another women’s march January 20, 2018 in Boston. Hope the attendance doubles in size, however that may mean spill over into the Charles River.

November 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJulie
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