I’ve always thought that the Stormy Daniels scandal was much worse for Trump than L’Affaire Russe, if only because it doesn’t involve dark unknowable Russians AND the White House cannot hide everything in executive privilege. It seems others agree: House Democrats plan to shift their focus this fall to President Trump’s alleged role in the hush money scheme that led … Read More
DOJ Inspector General Report Is Not The Bombshell Trump Supporters Made It Out To Be
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued a scathing report Thursday on the conduct of former FBI Director James Comey during the first few months of the Trump administration detailing his actions that violated FBI and DOJ policy. But despite its harsh tone, the narrowly tailored report failed to find Comey guilty of any serious criminal wrongdoing while revealing the IG’s actually … Read More
So What’d I Miss?
It’s hard to escape US news no matter where you are, and where I was was Norway. No point in recapping it all, since it is all laid out in the Weekly Lists here and here, but the highlights of course are Trump’s peculiar behavior about buying Greenland, insulting non-white Congresspeople, declaring himself “the Chosen One”, screwing up the stock … Read More
The President Of The United States Wants To.. *checks notes* … Buy Greenland?
The Wall Street Journal reports: President Trump made his name on the world’s most famous island. Now he wants to buy the world’s biggest. The idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland has captured the former real-estate developer’s imagination, according to people familiar with the deliberations, who said Mr. Trump has, with varying degrees of seriousness, repeatedly expressed interest in buying … Read More
Hello, Recession, My Old Friend
U.S. stocks fell sharply at the start of trade today, following a series of worrying data on global economic growth, and after the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell below that of the 2-year note, marking an inversion of the main measure of the yield curve and flashing a recession warning signal. The yield on the 10-year U.S. … Read More
Hong Kong Heats Up
Backgrounder: For the past several days, pro-democracy protesters have taken over the Hong Kong airport. There have been major scuffles with police. All departing flights have been cancelled. It's Hong Kong but the State thuggery could just as easily be in Paris. pic.twitter.com/wMZvLEvgB2 — David Vance (@DVATW) August 13, 2019 Then this morning… Our Intelligence has informed us that the … Read More
Rhetoric of Trump Gets A Kid Hospitalized After Beating
Given the attention to mass shootings, a lot of people overlooked a story that went national about a boy who was beaten by a man (not his relative) because the boy didn’t take off his hat during the national anthem. This all happened A 13-year-old boy was attending a Montana county fair and rodeo on Saturday when he failed to … Read More
Trump Administration Actively Rebuffed Intelligence Community Attempts To Prioritize Domestic Terrorism
Jake Tapper at CNN has the exclusive: White House officials rebuffed efforts by their colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security for more than a year to make combating domestic terror threats, such as those from white supremacists, a greater priority as specifically spelled out in the National Counterterrorism Strategy, current and former senior administration officials as well as other … Read More
El Paso Victims Say No To Trump
Daily Kos: Donald Trump’s visit to El Paso was packaged with slick videos and pictures of a grinning Trump posing with medical staff. But one thing the White House will not be releasing pictures of is Trump with the shooting victims still being treated at University Medical Center—because none of the eight patients was willing to meet with him. “This is a very sensitive time … Read More
Trump Travels To El Paso And Dayton Today
He will meet with first responders, but only because his handlers are smart enough not to get him within feet of any victims, especially in El Paso where he is not liked for his rhetoric. As for Dayton…. White House shuts out press at Trump’s Ohio hospital visit – no photographs or questions — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) August 7, 2019 … Read More
Trump Has A History Of Thwarting Law Enforcement Of Far Right Terrorism
If you want a quick rundown of some of the ways Donald Trump’s team of hard-right conservatives has sought not just to downplay far-right domestic terrorism threats but to weaken the ability of government to investigate them in the first place, the Los Angeles Times’ Molly O’Toole has you covered. From the beginning moments of Trump’s administration, his appointees moved to shift government … Read More
Guilty Conscience: A Story In Three Tweets
pic.twitter.com/nNOVtQ50O4 — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 5, 2019 “Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2019 Obama … Read More
Weekend, Bloody Weekend
This weekend saw two mass shootings with a total casualty count (so far) of 29 people. On Sunday, Americans woke up to news of a shooting rampage in an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, where a man wearing body armor shot and killed nine people, including his own sister. Hours earlier, a 21-year-old with a rifle entered a Walmart in … Read More
Majority of House Dems Are Now On The Record As Favoring Impeachment
That’s the headline. Despite conventional wisdom that Mueller’s House testimony was a bomb, the momentum for impeachment keeps on growing: The impeachment dam has broken. More than half of House Democrats say they would vote to launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, a crucial threshold that backers said will require Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reconsider her steadfast opposition. Though … Read More
Poll: Most Americans Think Trump Is Racist
A new Quinnipiac poll states that 51% of all Americans think Trump is racist. The breakdown on party lines, religion, gender, etc. is interesting, although not surprising, given the current climate: