Dark Days

The night Abraham Lincoln was shot, there was actually a far larger, more nefarious plan in place; an attempt to throw the US government into disarray.  While Booth was successful at killing Lincoln in Ford's Theater, George Atzerodt was dispatched to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Lewis Powell was assigned to assassinate Secretary of State William Seward.  The goal was revenge for the Confederates's defeat, and an attempted destabilization of the US government as a whole.

In 1865, the Vice President and the Secretary of State were the pseudo-established positions in the line of succession to the Presidency.  The Succession Act of 1792 tried to establish a line, but when William Henry Harrison died in office, the reality was no one knew who was President.  The Vice President John Tyler basically stormed into the office and refused to relinquish it, setting up a succession framework, but by the time of Lincoln, it still was unresolved.  The Succession Act of 1886 finally established a clear line of power, but at the time of Lincoln it was still relatively fragile at best, meaning multiple assassinations could potentially lead to a Constitutional crisis.

Atzerodt either got drunk and forgot about killing the Vice President, or had second thoughts.  Powell did attack Seward in his house, stabbing him repeatedly after his gun misfired, nearly killing him.  Seward survived.  The rest of the attack in 1865 is often forgotten as Lincoln, the main target, was lost to this country.

There have been four successful assassination attempts of our Presidents (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy) and multiple other attacks against Presidents, Vice Presidents and national politicians over the history of this country (including the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting, which was universally condemned by everyone).  Thankfully no one was hurt by this week's far right terrorist bombing attack by Cesar Sayoc, but there has never been a more aggressive and grandiose political assassination attempt in our country's history.

Think about the scale of this attack, the number of current and former politicians targeted:  TWO former Presidents in Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Former First Lady and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former First Lady Michelle Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden (twice), Former Attorney General Eric Holder, Former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, TWO current sitting US Senators, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, TWO current sitting US Representatives, Maxine Waters and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the news network CNN (twice), two wealthy philanthropists who support Democratic causes, George Soros and Tom Steyer, and actor and vocal critic of Trump Robert DeNiro.

We've had attacks on this country designed to start a traditional war (Fort Sumter, Pearl Harbor).  We've had attacks on this country designed to start ideological wars (Harpers Ferry, 9/11).  We've had minor domestic uprisings against the government.  We've had domestic attacks targeting individual and multiple politicians.  We've had attacks on this country via social media networks.  We even had an attempt to overthrow FDR in the 1930's by conservative businessmen furious he won the election and that he took the US off the gold standard (The Smedley Butler Affair).

We've NEVER had anything of this scope and magnitude happen in the US, prior to this week.

When you look at the targeted list, it feels like we're not talking about the US government, rather some third world country where a military uprising has targeted all current and former politicians.

For the first time in my life an attempted assassination of US politicians has created an even more divided response.  Only a year ago, when a coward targeted Republicans at a baseball practice, the nation condemned the attack as a whole.  I'm not sure if the difference is the political party targeted, or whether it's the undeniable growing meanness in this country, but the reaction this time around is jaw dropping.

In regards to Republicans/Trump supporters, 10% seem to be outraged, offering undeniable and absolute condemnation for the terrorists actions, and insisting the toxic rhetoric of the current political environment needs to be toned down immediately.  50% of Republicans/Trump supporters have an attitude of "no one denies bombing is wrong, but when Democrats confront a Republican in a restaurant or in the halls of Congress, they technically started it." They're making excuses for the bomber's behavior, trying to blame Democrats for bringing this on themselves, acting as if a rational response to a heated political discussion is to napalm a neighborhood.

40% of Republicans/Trump supporters initially insisted this was a "false flag" operation, a set up by the Democrats to make Trump and the Republicans look bad.  This wasn't just fringe nutbags and conspiracy kooks.  Many major Republicans politicians and mouth pieces were pushing this as a fake attack within hours of hearing about it, with ZERO proof to back up their claims.  Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. was pushing "false flag" conspiracies on social media, and even Trump himself referred to the attacks in a manner suggesting they might not be real ("bomb").

Since the terrorist Sayoc has been arrested in Florida, about half of the false flaggers are now in the 'Democrats started it' camp.  They keep bringing up how the bombs were poorly made, pushing poor craftsmanship as a valid excuse to dismiss the attack.  20% of the Far Right think Sayoc is a patsy, that the Democrats sent these bombs to themselves, and no amount of evidence, even Sayoc's admission, will ever convince them otherwise.  They are broken beyond fixing.

There's a concerted effort from the right to push this story off the front pages and to get America focused on a migrant caravan heading for the Mexican border.  To those trying to make this story go away:  This was the single largest political assassination attempt in US history!  The same people who were screaming for a 9th and 10th Benghazi investigation are demanding we no longer focus on these dark days in American history, only the dog and pony show they want everyone to pay attention to.  If we do not condemn this with maximum reverence, if we skip past this outrage and focus on lesser stories, then shame on all of us!  We ourselves, whether intentionally or not, become part of the cover up.  We ourselves will be to blame for the next massive assassination attempt.

If John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators attempted their assassinations today, with the current technology available, it makes me shudder to think what they might be able to pull off.  We got lucky with Sayoc.  He seems to be mentally incompetent, a zealot who thinks he's fighting a holy war for his true idol, Trump.  Help us all if we don't reverse this noxious and poisonous version of America before the next attempt.

The Friday Link for 10/26/18

As we get ready for Halloween next week, let me remind everyone to be safe and have fun.  I'm getting ready to free-base Reese's Peanut Butter cups.  Love those.

For Halloween laughs, NOTHING is better than Ellen Degeneres scaring the living daylights out of Andy, her producer, by making him go through a haunted house.  The stunning confidence which Andy displays is magnificent when the real Andy comes out mere seconds later.  And kudos to an American treasure in Chrissy Teigen for putting up with him.  She's terrified and laughing uproariously at the same time.  Just perfect!



I'm in tears every year with that bit.  And of course there is always Ellen scaring the daylights out of her guests.  The fact the guests allow this to happen points to how good of a host she is.



I leave you with the best shot I took at the Halloween Spectacular at he Minnesota Zoo!  Have great weekend everyone!

Wisconsin Doesn't Deserve the Brewers

If you missed Major League Baseball's National League Championship series, you missed one of the best series I've ever witnessed.  The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4 games to 3, with a stunning road victory.  These teams were so evenly matched; the deciding factor in this series was about 20 total pitches (over seven games!).  The Dodgers just had a few more pitches go their way.

Don't take anything away from the Milwaukee Brewers, one of the best hitting teams ever assembled.  If a team like the Minnesota Twins went up against one of the Dodger's great pitchers, they'd conceded by the 2nd inning.  Not the Brewers.  They would methodically look for weakness and identify the one or two pitches they could do something with.  Their pitching staff is also shockingly good, loaded with starters.  Their bullpen was a little suspect, but overall, they're probably the best team I've ever seen who didn't make the World Series.

And no one in Wisconsin cared.

Okay, I know it's not fair to say no one, but my guess would be only a tenth of the state followed one of the best stories in baseball, their local 9.  This deduction comes from a simple observation.  Living in the Twin Cities, I have a lot of friends who either live in Wisconsin, or are transplanted from Wisconsin. After game 3 of the National League Championship Series, I noticed none of my Wisconsin friends were making ANY comments about the Brewers.  Nothing!  No bragging, re-posts, shares, praise; nothing!  One of the most entertaining series in baseball history, and the local fans were all silent (well not exactly silent, but I'll come back to that).

For perspective, let's look at the last weekend of the Minnesota Twins regular season  The Twins were well out of the playoff picture by early August, and with the Vikings season in full gear, and the Wild getting ready to start their season, plus the U of M fall sports getting media attention, you'd expect the Twins season to end with a whimper.  But my social media timelines were inundated with Twins posts, mainly about Joe Mauer getting behind the plate to catch, and the Mauer daughters coming on the field with dad.  For a few days, the Twins, a God awful team with nothing to play for, was dominating local social media.

Comparatively, there was FAR more about the Twins final regular season weekend in my social media than anything from Brewers fans for their entire playoff run.  Some people might be saying "aren't you the same guy who constantly bellows sports are supposed to be parsley on the plate of life?  Why are you caring if a baseball team has a worthy fan base?"  Because the Brewers deserved SOME praise from the locals.  The Brewers problem is they're cursed to play in a state with a team whose fan base is possibly the most delusional in all of sports, the Green Bay Packers.

Sports markets always have favorite teams. In Minnesota, the popularity countdown goes 1) Vikings 2) Twins, 3) Wild, 4) Gopher Hockey, 5) T-Wolves, 6) Gopher football and basketball, 7) MN United, 8) Lynx, but that list is contingent on how good a team is.  The Lynx at playoff time are a top five team in the state.  If the NHL's Minnesota Wild ever won the Stanley Cup, they'd be the state's most beloved team for a decade.  Some cities/states get known for their love of one team above all others (New York/Yankees, Dallas/Cowboys, LA/Lakers, Detroit/RedWings) but Wisconsin takes their love affair with the Packers to a new level.

During the same night the Brewers were dominating the LA Dodgers in Game 3 of their series, the Green Bay Packers were playing a worthless San Francisco 49'ers team, at home.  The Packers are not a good team and had to stage a last minute comeback to stave off a humiliating home loss.  This was a win, but not a win you'd think anyone would be bragging about; unless you are Packers fans.  My social media exploded with 'Aaron Rodgers is the greatest of all time' gushing messages from a game which was nearly a train wreck.  Wisconsin social media betrothed divinity upon the QB, for barely beating a horrible team at home.  Meanwhile, the Brewers are taking back home field advantage from the LA Dodgers, on the road, and there wasn't even a 'Go Brewers' post.

Wisconsin doesn't deserve the Brewers, or the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team for that matter.  The state only loves the Packers, and any left over goodwill is reserved for the Wisconsin Badgers football team.  There's no love for the Brewers in Wisconsin because all of Wisconsin's sports love is accounted for.

In the long run, it might be best the Brewers didn't made the World Series. Say they did and played the Boston Red Sox to a Game 7.  If I were a TV station is Wisconsin NOT airing the Brewers game, I'd counter-program with a new retrospective about Packers quarterback Aaron Rodger's career.  The humiliation of having a game 7 of a World Series featuring your local team getting beat in the ratings by a player retrospective would be beyond humiliating for the Brewers, and Wisconsin as a whole.

Major League Baseball would be better to move the Brewers to Portland, Salt Lake City or Charlotte.  The team would be FAR more loved in one of those markets than they'll ever be in Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, with former baseball commissioner Bud Selig's close ties to the organization, the Brewers are stuck in an unloving relationship, a loveless marriage with a partner in Wisconsin who will never love them back the way they deserve.

The Trump Top 20 Countdown for the Week of 10/15/18

Welcome to the Weekly Top 20 Countdown of Trump's ineptitude and stupidity for the week of 10/15/18 to 10/21/18.

These are the 20 most insane and (in many cases) evil things coming from Trump and his Administration for this last week.  If this was a Democratic Administration, EVERYTHING on this list would have triggered investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges.  Instead, we have a party who's so desperate to stave off the oncoming blue wave, they're embracing the most bigoted and racist narratives we've seen so far in Trump's term.  It will only get worse.

A quick Google search will give you plenty of news options on all of these stories.  The ranking is purely on me.  Please feel free to disagree and comment why below.

On with the countdown!

20) The Trump Administration reported the budget deficit rose at a whopping 17% in fiscal year 2018.  Spending jumped dramatically and tax revenue only increased slightly, this after the Administration promised the Trump tax cuts would lead to massive tax revenue.  It's also a good time to remind you most Republicans screamed at the top of their lungs when the deficit under former President Obama wasn't nearly as bad as Trumps. #FACT! (10/15)

19) In Robert Mueller investigation news,  Mueller is now focusing on conservative activists and their contact with Wikileaks, the likely go between for Trump and the Russians.  Reports are Mueller has obtained evidence against Trump BFF Roger Stone, a man who long bragged about his relationship with Wikileaks and it's founder Julian Assange.  Right wing celebrity Jerome Corsi, former Trump campaign staffer Sam Nunberg and New York conservative radio host Randy Credico have also been questioned by Mueller.  Meanwhile Paul Manfort appeared in court in a wheelchair as he apparently is having some health issues in regards to his confinement.  One investigator mentioned how many times he's seen guilty criminals all the sudden get health issues which require a wheelchair as they get closer to their sentencing, a ploy for leniency. (10/19)

18) CNN's Jim Acosta recalled the bizarre crowd response to Trump praising Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte, the man who proudly body slammed a reporter who asked him about healthcare.  Thursday night, Trump praised him for body slamming the reporter, calling him "my kind of guy." Acosta described how the crowd roared at the idea of assaulting journalists, with people in the crowd making body slam gestures.  One person looked at the press pool and ran his finger across his throat to imply he was going to hurt them.  It's clear Trump will not stop encouraging violence. (10/20)

17) Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is in trouble again, this time for a recurring problem within the Trump Administration, violating travel policies.  Zinke and his wife Lola were faulted for numerous violations.  Zinke sought to have his wife designated as an 'agency volunteer' in order to obtain free travel for her, and he often brought her along with him in agency vehicles, a direct violation of agency policy. (10/19)

16) Trump made up a whopper of a lie at a rally in Nevada. Attacking California for it's sanctuary cities policy, Trump stated: "A lot of people in California don't like them either.  They're rioting now, they wanna get out of their sanctuary cities."  Trump completely fabricated domestic riot(s) just to vilify immigrants and California. (10/20)

15) Trump is going to name handbag designer Lana Marks to be the Ambassador to South Africa. Not only does Ms. Marks have ZERO diplomatic experience, and not only does Ms. Marks have a history of lying about her past, but after reviewing the nomination, it seems the only reason Ms. Marks is getting this Ambassadorship is that she's a member of Mar-A-Lago. (10/21)

14) Trump has made a claim he has no financial interactions with Saudi Arabia "(or Russia, for that matter)." The truth is the Saudis are pouring money into his properties, according to reports released in August.  In 2015, Trump bragged about how the Saudis "buy all sorts of my stuff.  They pay me millions and hundreds of millions."  (10/16)

13) Talking to reporters, Trump is promising a new tax break for middle-income earners, a tax break which will be installed prior to the election.  Putting aside the massive hole which is the deficit under Trump, a deficit which is only getting worse because of his last tax bill, a deficit which makes any new tax cuts grossly irresponsible at best, Congress is out of session until after the elections, meaning there's no possible way a tax bill would be passed prior to the election.  (10/20)

12) A profanity laden shouting match occurred in the White House between Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton.  Apparently the shouting match had to do with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, a person Bolton was viciously berating as incompetent.  Kelly was defended her.  The fight was so bad, there's speculation one of the two men might resign. (10/18)

11) Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a man who has quite a few investigations going on in regards to his conduct, has come up with a less than brilliant idea.  Zinke is actually getting rid of the Interior Department's Acting Inspector General Mary Kendall and replacing her with a political appointee, Suzanne Israel Tufts, who's currently an assistant Housing and Urban Development secretary.  This potentially would wipe the slate clean in regards to the numerous investigations into Zinke's bizarre behavior since he took office.  On Friday, Tufts resigned, as reports emerged Interior had no idea she was coming over, and HUD claimed there here multiple issues with her conduct while in their department.  As opposed to push for the transfer, she decided to leave government altogether. (10/17, 19)

10) Trump is making more excuses for the Saudi's likely assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Trump backed the Saudi's excuse that the Saudi's were not involved, that it was "rogue killers" who were responsible for the murder.  The overwhelming amount of evidence points to the Saudis being behind it.  Turkey apparently has found evidence at the Saudi Embassy pointing to Khashoggi being murdered there.  By the end of the day, the Saudis were floating a "we accidentally killed him" excuse.  (10/15,16)

9) A new disturbing report emerges about the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  There seems to be an audio recording of the assassination, in the Saudi Embassy, an assassination done at the hands of Saudi officials.  It's a brutal piece of audio which should warrant immediate condemnation.  Trump and his Administration are still trying to figure out how to defuse this situation, as reports are Trump son in law, Senior White House Advisor, and point person for the Administration in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, Jared Kushner is either wittingly or unwittingly helping the Saudis manage the official response on the international stage.  Trump's refusing to say if he'll send the FBI to help in the investigation into the killing. (10/17)

8) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is giving Saudi Arabia a few days to get their story straight in regards to the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Reports are Pompeo has heard the alleged audio recording of the journalist's murder, an audio the Turks possess.  Trump son in law and Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner is comforting Trump, telling him outrage over the murder (which he referred to as "errors") will pass, just like the outrage over the Saudis kidnapping the Prime Minister of Lebanon, and the Saudi's killing a busload of children in Yemen (I'm still pretty pissed about both of those).  Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has decided against attending a Saudi Arabian investor conference.  He'd been planning on going, but pressure finally made him do the right thing. (10/18)

7) Rep. Joaquin Castro was on CNN when he brought up a previous story about Trump son in law and Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner.  The Daily Mail published a story in April in which the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, bragged about key US intelligence he had received from Kushner about his supposed enemies.  Castro reminded people the crown prince bragged about getting the intelligence and using it to purge certain princes and businessmen.  One of the sources for the story stated that Jared "took out a list of the people who had been trashing [the crown prince]...stating these are the ones who are your enemies."  It's unknown if Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, recently murdered by the Saudis, was on the list.  On Friday, it was revealed an interrogator from within the crown prince's inner circle was part of the murder of Khashoggi.  The Saudis have finally admitted Khashoggi is dead, but insist he died during a fist fight...apparently with a bone saw... (10/19)

6) A new report shows Trump himself played a major role in preventing the FBI headquarters from moving to a new office in the Washington DC suburbs.  CNN reported the FBI not moving benefited Trump directly, as one of his hotels is located near the current FBI headquarters.  The House Oversight and Government Reform committee also called out General Services Administrator Emily Murphy for misleading of Congress on the issue of who was involved in the decision to not move the FBI. (10/18)

5) As an immigrant caravan moves closer to the US southern border, Trump threatened to send the US military to the border to deal with the unarmed immigrants.  He then went on to claim the immigrant caravan was a plot by Democrats working with certain Central American governments.  He then ordered Mexico to stop the immigrant caravan.  Trump then threatened the caravan with a closing the border if the caravan didn't do what he said.  Then he threatened to scrap the entire revised NAFTA trade deal he just agreed to if the Mexican government failed to stop the caravan. WOW! (10/18)

4) Trump decided to do a victory tweet the day after a defamation lawsuit against him, brought by porn star Stormy Daniels, was dismissed by a judge. Trump pledged to go after "Horserace" (Daniels) and "her 3rd rate lawyer" (Michael Avenatti).  There's a lot to unpack here.  First, this is so beneath the office it's astounding.  Trump said this to a woman he slept with, one of multiple affairs he was having as his wife, First Lady Melania, was home recovering from giving birth.  At what point Trump thinks he has ANY high road, I'm not sure.  Both Avanatti and Daniels lashed back at him, with Daniels getting very personal.  Trump's tweet also threw away any validity to his wife's complaints about a new music video from hip hop/rap artist T.I., a video where Melania is portrayed as a stripper.  If your husband just called a porn star he had an affair with "horserace," you can't accuse anyone else of being in the gutter.  So much for Melania's anti-bullying campaign.  Some pundits are reporting he said it just so he could see himself covered on cable news.  Others are pointing to this as a frantic attempt to pull the Saudi Arabian assassination scandal off the front pages.  Later it was revealed Trump was testing out the "horseface" line for weeks, before finally deciding to use it.  (10/16)

3) Trump has announced he's undoing a Reagan era nuclear weapons treaty we had with Russia.  The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty from 1987 required the elimination of short-range and intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles from both the USA and Russia. This looks like Trump doing Russia's bidding.  Russian despot Vlad Putin has long wanted to get rid of the treaty, even thought Russians are currently pretending to disapprove of Trump's proposal.  The Russians are believed to be developing a ground-launched missile system in breach of the treaty, a system the Russians would be able to develop fully if the treaty no longer exists.  Russia wants to use this weapons system in a potential first strike capacity with Europe, Iran, Pakistan and China. (10/21)

2) Trump still has 66 immigrant kids, including at least one who us under the age of 5, in baby/child prison.  This four months after Trump supposedly halted the evil and disastrous policy.  Of the 66 kids, 50 of the kids are ineligible for reunification with their parents because the US has already deported the parents and the US Government has no idea where they're at. (10/16)

1) The Trump Administration is planning to put new rules in place which would allow businesses with federal contracts to be able to fire LGBTQ workers just for being LGBTQ.  Trump is specifically putting these new regulations into place under certain circumstances which will make the rules far harder to undo in the future. The plan is not finalized, but it feels like a policy directly from Vice President Mike Pence.  Trump's also moving to remove all rights for the transgender community, as the Administration is trying to establish a legal definition of gender as 'a biological condition determined solely by genitalia at birth.'  The report from the New York Times is citing a memo from the Department of Health and Human Services to establish these new definitions "on a biological basis that is clear...and administrable." (10/19, 21)

The Republicans will eagerly and gleefully undo any advances the LGBTQ community has made in the last 40 years.  There's a large portion of the extreme right who want to go back to the days were people with non-hetero sexual orientation were jailed, and executed.

Don't tell me this election doesn't matter.  Get registered to vote and get to the polls, either early if your state has early voting, or on Election Day!

What are you doing to make the #BlueWave happen?  #2018IsEverything!

The Friday Link for 10/19/18

I'm 50 years old today.

Not that this is a bad thing, more of an acknowledgment.  I can't stop aging, so I just accept it and keep going.  I like where I am today, and most of all I love being a dad.

Speaking of which, I'm off for family fun.  For this week's Friday Link, I fall back to MST3K and the episode, 'I Accuse My Parents.'  The young man's birthday factors heavily into the plot.  The short 'The Truck Farmer' is also top notch riffing.  Enjoy!




Have a great weekend everyone!

The Trump Top 20 Countdown for the Week of 10/8/18

Welcome to the Weekly Top 20 Countdown of Trump's ineptitude and stupidity for the week of 10/8/18 to 10/14/18.

These are the 20 largest chunks of incompetence coming from Trump and his Administration for this week alone.  All the things on this list should lead to investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges.  Instead Republicans, knowing their time is almost up, brace for November 6th, hoping it won't be as bad as they think.  Down deep inside they know it'll be worse.  And what gives them nightmares?  They have Trump's coat tails to look forward to again in 2020!

A quick online search will give you plenty of news options on all of these stories.  The ranking is purely on me.  Please feel free to disagree and comment why below.

On with the countdown!

20) Trump reportedly is seriously considering his daughter Ivanka Trump as the new Ambassador to the UN. After everyone's original spit take, he reiterated it again! "Everybody wants Ivanka."  She "would be incredible." (10/12)

19) Trump is now calling Dr. Christine Blasey Ford allegations of sexual assault from Brett Kavanaugh a hoax, and then added "people who are evil" tried to bring down Kavanaugh, "a flawless person."  Trump, at the ceremonial swearing in, apologized to Kavanaugh's family for their pain, before falsely stating that Kavanaugh was proven innocent.  (10/8)

18) Trump, at a rally in Iowa, took part in a "Lock Her Up" chant directed at Senator Dianne Feinstein, apparently because he was upset her office was the beginning of the Dr. Christine Blasey Ford/Kavanaigh investigation.  This is pretty scary when you think about it. (10/9)

17) Trump's China trade tariffs seem to be backfiring as the trade deficit with China has skyrocketed.  The trade deficit has widened to 34.1 billion, a new record.  One analyst pointed out "the immediate effects of the trade war are the exact opposite of what the Trump Administration had been planning." Also announced, in the aftermath of the new trade deal with Canada, a trade deal which ended up giving Canada a whole lot more than the US got in return, Canada is now putting steep restrictions on 7 types of steel products coming into their country.  Once again, complete opposite of what Trump promised. (10/12)

16) Trump on Wednesday started playing a game of chicken with the economy, a game he can't win.  Most economic analysts are expecting an economic downturn to begin soon.  Whether that would be a market correction or an actual recession remains to be seen, but there are plenty of signs the markets are not going sustain this level of growth.  On Wednesday, the stock market finished over 800 points lower.  Trump blamed the correction on the absolute wrong group of people, the Federal Reserve, who have been cautiously raising interest rates in an attempt to stave off a major economic collapse.  Trump, who claimed you could fix the economy by just printing up more money, called the Fed "crazy" for adjusting the rates as they have.  World markets responded with a massive drop overnight. (10/10-11)

15) For some inexplicable reason, USA Today printed a Trump signed health care op-ed in their paper without even doing a basic fact check.  As you can imagine, the op-ed is full of lies and deception.  The main point Trump is trying to make is that even though he stated numerous times health care is a right for all Americans, and after repeatedly promising better health care which would be cheaper, he is against the only option which could fulfill his two campaign promises, opening up Medicare to a single payer system.  He said 'Medicare for All' would end Medicare, but in reality it would change it, not end it. Trump quoted Koch Brothers numbers which showed Medicare expansion would cost 32.6 trillion, but failed to mention that would actually be 2 trillion less than what we currently spend on Medicare.  Trump claims he has protected people with pre-existing conditions, but truthfully he's gone out of his way to ensure pre-existing conditions are not covered. (10/10)

14) A motion to dismiss a new lawsuit, accusing Trump's campaign of illegally conspiring with Russian agents to disseminate the stolen Clinton/DNC emails before the election, has revealed a jaw dropping argument from the Trump legal team: the courts can't rule against Trump because the release of the e-mails should be considered  'freedom of speech.'  Trump's legal team argues they were not part of the theft, and the information disseminated deals in matters of public concern, hence they haven't broken any laws.  Putting aside the fact the Trump campaign in no way has been cleared of helping to coordinate the theft of the emails, Trump's team is no longer denying they were involved in the release of the stolen emails, something they'd steadfastly denied for two years. (10/10)

13) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Japanese officials were shocked when Trump brazenly backed a Japanese casino for GOP mega donor Sheldon Adelson.  In February of 2017, right after Trump took office, Trump and Adeslon met at the White House.  The next day Adelson got a private meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister (somewhat unusual for an official state visit).  Afterward, Trump, when meeting with Abe to discuss international relations, stunned the room when he started to openly back Adleson's casino venture.  This is wildly inappropriate to bring up an item like this in an official state visit meeting, without previously agreeing to the topic.  Trump strongly suggested Abe follow through.  Abe sat quietly. (10/10)

12) As Hurricane Michael is barreling through the Florida Panhandle, Trump made the decision to not cancel a campaign tour stop in Pennsylvania, where he bragged about how good he was at dealing with hurricanes (Maria?).  Earlier in the day Trump had an Oval Office meeting about the hurricane, which he described for the assembled staff as as a "big tornado."  He then bragged no storm this big has ever been in the Gulf of Mexico, a bone stupid statement (the great Galveston hurricane).  Trump later made time for a phone call interview to Fox News, as parts of Florida were being destroyed.  It should be pointed out Trump vocally criticized former President Obama for attending a campaign event SEVEN DAYS after Hurricane Sandy, accusing him of not taking that disaster seriously.  (10/10)

11) Trump son-in-law and senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, likely paid little or no income tax between the years of 2009 and 2016, according to a New York Times report.  Kushner's worth over the last decade has risen to somewhere around 324 million, but he seems to have paid no federal income taxes.  When approached for comment, Kushner's attorney didn't argue his client hadn't paid his taxes, only that the forms which showed he hadn't paid taxes were illegally obtained.  They weren't. (10/13)

10) Trump is golfing for his 210th day since taking office.  Since Sunday was his 632nd day in office, Trump has spent a whopping 1/3rd of his time in the White House golfing, not including other non-golfing vacation days he's had.  Reminder: Republicans used to complain former President Obama golfed too much. (10/14)

9) To meet a court ordered deadline, the Trump Administration just released hundreds of US asylum seekers in Arizona without following any protocols to ensure they can reunite with family members.  There's also a tremendous amount of questions of where these people will stay and how will they get to their court dates.  The Administration is claiming to 'help them' by fitting each of them with an ankle bracelet monitor.  Meanwhile, Trump's brownshirts, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sent a four year old home to Guatemala without telling anyone they were shipping her back.  This in not the only time ICE has just thrown a child on a plane and flew them back to their country without telling the child's family their child was returning. (10/9,12)

8) In Russian investigation news, Cybersecurity experts have found evidence of suspicious communications in 2016 between a Trump computer and a Russian Bank.  A Trump server located in Pennsylvania was reportedly contacted nearly every day in the summer of 2016, up to 200 times between May and September, and these interactions are labeled as actual humans attempting to talk with each other, not just computers talking.  The timing of the communications were not random.  Only one other entity reached out to the same Trump server over the same time, a computer owned by Spectrum Health out of Michigan, a company chaired by Richard DeVos, husband of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.  It's also been discovered Rick Gates, when he was a Trump campaign official, took proposals from an Israeli intelligence firm on how to manipulate social media users. The company, called Psy Group, has handed over the Trump Campaign presentations to the Mueller investigation and some of the company employees have been interviewed by the investigation as well. (10/8)

7) Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is in trouble for outright lying to Congress.  Under oath, Ross was asked where exactly the question which asks the citizenship status of the person answering the question, featured in the upcoming 2020 Census, came from.  Ross lied.  He said it didn't come from him or anyone in the White House.  Emails show that the question came directly from former White House Senior Advisor Steve Bannon, while he was serving in the Administration.  Bannon got it directly from Trump's anti-Voting Rights Czar, Kris Kobach. (10/14)

6) As reports come to light of Saudi Arabia executing Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a lot of attention is focused on Trump's lack of condemnation of the killing.  One major reason seems to be Trump's Middle East strategy. Trump's goal with Israel and Palestine is to side with Israel and allow Palestinians to be imprisoned for cheap labor for Israelis.  To get Saudi Arabia on board, they helped with a kingdom coup, allowing certain Arabian princes to be purged so crown prince Mohammed bin Salman would have a clear path to leadership.  This has opened up Saudi Arabia to major US arms deals, amongst other things.  Still the emboldened execution should garner more condemnation than it has, maybe even the cancelling of certain weapons sales.  One reason Trump might be silent is Saudi Arabia is pouring tons of money into Trump properties, properties which would be in extreme financial difficulty without the infusion of Saudi money.  Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. (Twiddle Dee) promoted a tweet which accuses Khashoggi of being a secret terrorist ally, a boldface lie. (10/11)

5) Trump is trying to hide documents from Congress which show he has installed un-appointed, unconfirmed officials to run the Veterans Administration.  Three of Trump's friends, Ike Perlmutter, Bruce Moskowitz and Marc Sherman have apparently been running the VA out of Mar-A-Lago.  VA officials deny the three are actually setting policy, but leaked emails show they're indeed doing so.  Ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee Tim Walz states "The reports of corruption and cronyism are serious and we cannot allow the VA to sweep this under the rug." (10/9)

4)  First a reminder.  When Former First Lady Michelle Obama welcomed various poets to the White House in 2011, one of whom was rapper/musician Common, the right wing went bonkers.  They accused Former President Obama of having a 'gang meeting,' insisting someone who used the language of Common should NEVER be allowed in the White House.  Cue up today, when in one of the weirder moments of this entire fiasco, Trump welcomed Kanye West to the Oval Office for a visit.  West ran into the Oval Office and threw his arms around Trump.  What followed would best be described as an unhinged subway rant.  West told Trump he has been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, said the Hillary Clinton "I'm with Her" campaign line made him feel less of a man, said his MAGA hat gives him powers like Superman, talked about having "balls," and to cap it all off, West then used the term "crazy motherf*cker."  Mind you, ALL of this was not an outtake from Idiocracy.  This actually happened in real life.  Trump for his part was clearly uncomfortable with Kanye, and hardly said a thing.  Most of Trump's aides were "hugely embarrassed" by the craziness. (10/11)

3) Just when you didn't think the Trump Administrations actions toward immigrant children couldn't get worse, a new report out from the AP shows due to loopholes in state courts, state court judges can grant legal custody of a child from immigrant parents to other people in the US.  This includes children of parents who have been deported without their children due to no fault of their own. There is also no requirement to notify the parents their child is now officially someone else's kid.  Some Republicans are calling this process adoption, but is more correctly labeled US government approved abduction.  Such actions are not just a threat, as there have been cases where immigrant children have been given to US families without any notification to the actual parents of the child.  Currently there are numerous immigrant children in US custody whose parents have already been deported.  To repeat:  the Trump Administration can take a person's child at the border, ship the parents back to their original country, and then allow a US family to take custody of that immigrant child. WOW! (10/10)

2) In a bit of a surprise, Trump's Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley announced her resignation.  She will stay in her position until the end of the year as speculation begins on who will be her replacement.  Reports are Haley was frustrated about her diminished role. National Security Advisor John Bolton steamrolls her decisions at the UN, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has taken a much larger role on the international stage and Evil Jackass Steven Miller has undermined her on refugee issues.  She did reiterate she wasn't the author of the anonymous op-ed which ran in the New York Times.  She also denied rumors she's planning on running against Trump in 2020.  Reports state Haley was one million dollars in debt at the time of her announcement.  Her resignation also comes as reports emerge Haley grossly under reported flights she received from South Carolina businessmen by tens of thousands of dollars. (10/9)

1) Trump appeared on 60 Minutes and it went as badly as you would've expected.  Leslie Stahl sparred with Trump on a variety of issues.  On the instability of the White House, Trump stated it's not chaos, right before stating Defense Secretary Mattis might be leaving soon, implying he's more of a Democrat anyway. "I mean at some point everybody leaves."  Trump then insisted he's entitled to hire and fire anyone he wants.  In regards to Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was likely executed by the Saudis, Trump said retaliating against them would be bad because of "jobs."(?)  When asked about Russian Election interference, Trump stated "How stupid would I be?" Let me leave that there for a second...

Trump then denied climate change, but when pressured, insisted he doesn't not believe it (double negative).  He does insist climate change scientists have an agenda. (??) When asked about North Korea, about how they haven't gotten rid of any of their weapons, and are actually building more, Trump insisted "no one really knows." In truth Trump should know, as his daily security briefings mention this.  Trump often skips those meetings.  When asked about his friendship with a murderous dictator Kim Jong-un, as Stahl listed his crimes, Trump snapped "I'm not a baby.  I know these things." (???)  When asked what Trump regretted most about his Admisnitration so far, Trump stated being treated unfairly by the media.  When Stahl clarified she was asking if he felt he'd made any mistakes, he said he wished he'd done NAFTA sooner. Stahl asked if he regretted ripping young children from their parents at the border and putting them in baby prisons. Trump avoided answering, stating 'there have to be consequences.' He added it was the same policy as former President Obama (an outright lie!!!  Obama NEVER had this same policy.  This was solely on Trump).  Trump railed against the politicians, calling it the "most deceptive, vicious world."  When asked to give an example, he said "I don't want to give you an example."  He then praised himself repeatedly for the inflated record he has created in his own mind.  Stahl said she was going to change the subject, to which Trump complained about how he was being asked questions.  He reiterated the 'Obama had the same baby prisons policy' lie. (????) Talking about how the country has been ripped apart by Kavanaugh: "I don't think they want to heal.  I want to heal." (?????)  When it came to Trump's mocking of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who made accusations against Kavanaugh, Trump repeatedly denied he mocked Ford (he clearly did) "I didn't really make fun of her." When pushed on this, Trump restated Kavanaugh was the one who was mistreated at the hearings, and claimed Dr. Ford was treated with great respect.  Referring back to the speech where he mocked Dr. Ford, "Had I not made that speech, we would not have won." (??????!) Yes indeed, NONE of this made any real sense.  On the wall behind Trump during the interview was a painting of former Republican Presidents with Trump painted along side.  The Trump in the painting was not regular Trump, but a WAY too thin version of him.  Who has such levels of narcissism? The same man who told Leslie Stahl on national television, "That''s OK.  I'm the President and you're not."  (10/14)

Can you imagine what the Republicans would be like if President Obama had admitted he didn't go to his daily National Security Briefings?  Seriously!  They'd be going ballistic for weeks, with memes which would carry on for years.  When that little nugget is disclosed about Trump, it gets completely lost in the insanity of the overwhelming incompetence pile. Remembering the lesser stuff this fool did/does is like remembering brain freezes;  it's never pleasant.

#2018IsEverything! Get registered to vote, and know where your polling place is.  Help a Democrat running in a Republican district!  I know you might be tired, but saving Democracy is not a light weight activity.

And make sure you VOTE!!!  Vote early if your state offers it, and then help others get to the polls on Election Day!