Everything tonight is about Nick Offerman.
When I started seeing the lineup of movies for this summer, one jumped out at me. 'Hearts Beat Loud' with Offerman and Kiersey Clemons is a movie which probably won't make too much, but it's must see for me. It looks like a fun story, the cast is awesome, and it's got a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it's good! I'm going to hit it up this weekend.
To see the natural adorable chemistry between these two, watch this hilarious clip from Vanity Fair with Kiersey teaching Nick Millennial Slang.
More Offerman! How about his brilliant Genius Thoughts from Mashable:
And of course there are his numerous incredible lines from 'Parks and Recreation':
And finally, one of my favorite things he ever did, Community Calendar with Stephen Colbert:
For all of your Nick Offerman needs...have a great weekend everyone!
Friday, June 8, 2018
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
The Trump Top 20 Countdown for the Week of 5/28/18
Welcome to the Weekly Top 20 Countdown of Trump's ineptitude and stupidity for the week of 5/28/18 to 6/3/18.
These are the 20 most insane things coming from Trump and his Administration for this week. All the things on this list should be the catalyst for investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges. Instead, we're treated to a never-ending cavalcade of D-list celebrities, insults to the veterans, and disturbing realities which the Trump Administration tries to keep hidden. Meanwhile, Republicans hope they can convince voters they were always concerned about Trump's actions, even though they never were. Vote them out!
A quick Google search will give you plenty of news options on every one of these stories. The ranking is purely on me. Please feel free to disagree and comment why below.
I did want to mention two of the countdown items deal with celebrity incidents, the Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee fiascos. I'm including them because there was always a tie between both incidents and the Trump Administration. Barr is a close friend of Trump's and Bee went after Ivanka Trump with her comments. Regardless, by the time these stories got going, Trump couldn't help but get involved directly in both cases, hence why they're both included.
On with the countdown!
20 - There was a 'policy meeting' between Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian. I don’t think I need to add anything else to that sentence (5/31)
19 - More news from the White House Communications office, which sounds like it’s devolving into Thunderdome. After an open door (???) meeting which had White House aide Kelly Sadler defending herself against the leaked joke she made against a suffering from cancer Senator John McCain, a defense which included her pointing fingers at pretty much everyone in the room and accusing them of being the leakers, one of the people she accused didn’t take it too kindly. White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp, furious at Sadler’s accusations, openly called Sadler a "Bitch." Immediately after that story broke, the White House issued a statement insisting no one had ever stated that word. (5/30)
18 - Apparently the June 12th Summit with North Korea is back on. North Korean President Kim Jong-Un sent Trump a bachelorette party novelty size card about the summit, and it was apparently enough to get Trump to sign back on for the event. At a press conference, Trump contradicted himself in a major way. Trump stated the letter "was a very nice letter, a very interesting letter." Eight minutes later, Trump stated he hadn't opened the letter yet. Also, Trump is apparently trying to find someone to foot the bill for North Korea's hotel stay while at the summit, something the host country (in this case Singapore) should actually do. People are speculating the comically size letter might be some Kim Jong-Un trolling of Trump and his tiny little hands, after Trump's repeated size insults about Kim. (6/1-6/3)
17 - Former National Security Agency Analyst John Schindler claims the US Intelligence agencies have had enough information to label Trump 'a Russian agent' since 2016, adding the agencies have FAR more information linking Trump to the Russians than is publicly known. (5/28)
16 - People are condemning comedian Samantha Bee for referring to First Daughter and White House staffer doing....something, Ivanka Trump with a bad word. She called her a 'feckless [C-word]." For the record, I feel as if that's going too far, but a few points. One, she was directing it a public figure and it wasn't racist, just mean spirited. Trump and the Administration are on the warpath for Bee, demanding she be fired. Hypocrisy alert: Trump and the Republicans are demanding Bee be fired as reciprocity for Roseanne Barr being fired for her racist comments, but they have yet to condemn or even acknowledge Barr's comments were out of line. How can you ask for reciprocity if you don't think the original crime was committed? In the book Fire and Fury, Trump is quoted as calling former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates the C-word. Ted Nugent, the conservative musician (???), viciously called Hillary Clinton the C-word, but was welcomed into the White House by Trump. There are also hundreds of pictures of Trump supporters wearing shirts featuring the C-word in reference to Hillary Clinton at Trump rallies in 2016. At no point has anyone from the Administration called the use of the C-word, prior to Bee using it, wrong. Even Actress Sally Field stated"[Bee] is flat wrong to call Ivanka a [C-word]. [C-words] are powerful, beautiful, nurturing and honest." They're actually defending the C-word over Ivanka. WOW! This issue proves there is no moral high ground anymore for the Republican right in America. (5/31-6/1)
15 - For the second year in a row, Trump has refused to issue a proclamation honoring June as GLBT Pride Month. He has signed proclamations declaring June Great Outdoors Month, National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, African American Music Appreciation Month, National Ocean Month and National Homeownership Month. (6/1)
14 - Trump apparently played a major role in drafting the White House's response to the Trump Tower meeting in 2016 between his campaign and the Russians. In a memo sent from Trump's lawyers to the Mueller investigation, they revealed Trump's role in scripting the response. This has been confirmed by White House spokespeople, and it contradicts Trump's previous claims. The lawyers are now claiming since they have told Mueller everything there is to know about Trump's knowledge of the incident, there's no legal standing to subpoena Trump, that Trump legally can't be accused of Obstructing Justice, and that Trump can stop the legal probe at any point. That's not how it works. (6/2)
13 - Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke defended his sending of Park Rangers to help patrol the US/Mexico border, to help stop illegal immigration, by saying the undocumented crossings at the border have made the border area an "environmental disaster." Even if that's true, which is a real reach, the Park Ranger's job is not to patrol environmental disaster areas. They're supposed to patrol the National Parks. (6/3)
12 - Trump lawyer, and contender for worst lawyer of all time, Rudy Giuliani implies Trump has the ability to pardon himself, but as of right now "he has no intention" of doing so. Legal experts point to such a brazen act being the equivalent of 'self impeachment.' Giuliani also claimed Trump could have shot the former FBI Director James Comey, and no one would be able to indict him with a charge of murder. (6/3)
11 - Apparently Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions numerous times to un-recuse himself, and retake over the Mueller investigation. Numerous times over the last year, Trump begged Sessions to intervene, saying Conservatives would consider him a "hero" if he did the "right thing" and took back over the Russia investigation. Trump also begged him to launch a new investigation into Hillary Clinton. (6/1)
10 - China is lashing out at Trump's renewed threats of a trade war. After implying he wouldn't impose tariffs on China, Trump announced on Tuesday he indeed would, and the markets immediately dropped 500 points. China has already said they won't make most of the concessions Trump is demanding, and the US needs to meet them halfway. Not only is China threatening retaliatory tariffs on American products, it's threatening to really hurt American agriculture by just ordering their Ag imports from other countries, something which would hurt the US far more than tariffs. (5/30)
9 - Loyal Trump supporter Roseanne Barr blew up her career with one tweet. On Twitter, Barr commented former President Obama's Senior Presidential Aide, Valerie Jarrett, was (and a warning, this is unforgivably racist) the offspring of the "Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes." The public immediately condemned her, and ABC was asked to fire her. By the end of the day, ABC announced Barr's show Roseanne had indeed been cancelled, and her talent agency had decided to cut ties with her as well. Conservative responses ranged from trying to distance her from Trump, to insisting this was just a PC culture thing. It wasn't. Trump himself used the firing of Barr to turn the attention on him. ABC called Valerie Jarrett and apologized, adding "ABC does not tolerate comments like those." Trump then whined about how ABC never called him to apologize for the horrible things said about him on their network. It's unknown what instance Trump is referring to. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pseudo-defended Roseanne Barr. Defending Trump's comments, she insisted no one (not just ABC) ever apologized to Trump, so to go after Barr was wrong. Trump and the White House are seeming to try to equate a comedian making jokes about Trump to Barr's racist comments. Those two things are not comparable. (5/29-30)
8 - Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe gave the Mueller investigation a memo which detailed a conversation McCabe had with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein where they talked about the firing of the other FBI Director James Comey. Rosenstein said Comey was fired because of the mis-handeling of the Clinton E-mail case, but apparently Trump had told Rosenstein to mention Russia in Comey's dismissal letter. Rosenstein omitted the Russia element from the letter. McCabe took Trump's Russia insistence as direct proof the firing of Comey had to do with the Russia investigation. (5/31)
\
7 - The US announced it will impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, opening a new front in the trade war. Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross stated any further tariffs would depend on how the EU, Canada and Mexico reacted to the newly imposed tariffs. The US tariffs were unprovoked. Ross stated the reasons the tariffs were being imposed on NAFTA members Canada and Mexico was simply because NAFTA talks "were taking longer than we hoped." Yikes! For Trump to invoke tariffs on Canada, due to the NAFTA agreement, he has to declare Canadian trade with the US to be a "National Security threat." This isn't going over well with the Canadians, especially since Trump hasn't communicated his fundamental objectives during the negotiations. He hasn't explained anything to them. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued a furious response to the US's classifying of Canadian trade in such terms. Also reports are Trump told the French President Emmanuel Macron he wants to remove all German luxury car brands from the US markets, something which (understandably) is alarming Germany and German car manufacturers. Additionally, the journal Nature published a study which shows Trump's decision to withdraw the US out of the Paris Climate Accords will cost the US economy several trillion dollars in the coming decades. (5/31-6/1)
6 - Trump met with the family members of victims of the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting. As he left for the meeting, he described his visit inappropriately, saying we'll "have a little fun." This on the way to meet family members of loved ones gunned down at school. He then said the shooter was a "wacky kid who was wearing a wacky trench coat." WTF??? One parent described talking to him thusly: "It was like talking to a toddler." When people brought up gun safety measures the US could put into place, Trump couldn't comprehend the most basic of proposals being explained to him. (6/1)
5 - Trump doesn't seem to understand the basic role of the US Attorney General. He seems to think the Attorney General is Trump's personal lawyer, something he's definitively not. Trump was surprised current AG Jeff Sessions didn't walk back his recusal from the Russia investigation, retaliating by refusing to take Session's phone calls after the recusal. Trump considered it a personal betrayal. After the story of Trump asking Session to un-recuse himself broke, Trump went after Sessions again, implying he made a mistake. "'...There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!' And I wish I did!" (5/30)
4 - Trump's attempt to get the Trump/Russia investigation dismissed has backfired spectacularly. After implying the FBI was illegally spying on his campaign, he ordered Republicans to go look at what he labeled evidence of spying. Trey Gowdy, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, ON FOX NEWS, downright destroyed Trump's argument, stating the FBI was well within their right to approach Trump campaign members, adding the FBI acted appropriately when they used an informant to gather information on Trump's campaign advisers whose Russian contacts had been brought to light. (5/30)
3- After it was revealed federal prosecutors prosecuting anti-Trump protestors from the Inaguration Day had withheld numerous videos from the defense teams, prosecutors dropped charges against a half dozen people the government had sought to imprison for decades. The judge was clearly furious with the prosecution as they couldn't explain the lies their colleagues had told about the existence of the videos. This was after the James O'Keefe led Project Veritas had edited videos to make the protestors look guilty, a fact the prosecutors had previously admitted hiding from the defense. Beyond the edited 55 minute video, another 69 recordings (66 videos and three audio recordings) had been kept from the defense. The government's entire case rested on James O'Keefe's edited videos, a fact which alone is mind numbing. Of the original 200 people arrested, the first 6 were acquitted on all counts in December, which prompted the prosecutors to drop charges on all but 59 of the remaining accused. Now, after the next six were acquitted, it seems those cases are falling apart because fools trusted the integrity of James O'Keefe. (5/31)
2 - One thing which has become a tradition with the holidays, Trump will inevitably say something wildly innapporprate. He commemorated Memorial Day this year by insisting all dead US soldiers would be so happy of Trump's accomplishments in office. He made the Memorial Day tribute TO HIMSELF! Reminder: If President Obama even blinked at the wrong time during a commemoration of the military fallen, Republicans called him unfit for office. Veteran's groups condemned Trump's callous message, calling it the "most inappropriate ever." Meanwhile former President Obama delivered the message Trump should have delivered. He stated "we can never repay the debt." (5/28)
1 - Harvard University conducted a study and determine the death toll for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The official number touted by Trump (64) was considered to be suspiciously low. Between the storm itself and the lack of medical aid, water, food and transportation in the weeks which followed (mainly because of the Trump Administration's horrific response), the Harvard study determined at least 4600 people died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria. This would be over 70 times the amount the White House insists is the official loss of life. (5/29)
These are the 20 most insane things coming from Trump and his Administration for this week. All the things on this list should be the catalyst for investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges. Instead, we're treated to a never-ending cavalcade of D-list celebrities, insults to the veterans, and disturbing realities which the Trump Administration tries to keep hidden. Meanwhile, Republicans hope they can convince voters they were always concerned about Trump's actions, even though they never were. Vote them out!
I did want to mention two of the countdown items deal with celebrity incidents, the Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee fiascos. I'm including them because there was always a tie between both incidents and the Trump Administration. Barr is a close friend of Trump's and Bee went after Ivanka Trump with her comments. Regardless, by the time these stories got going, Trump couldn't help but get involved directly in both cases, hence why they're both included.
20 - There was a 'policy meeting' between Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian. I don’t think I need to add anything else to that sentence (5/31)
19 - More news from the White House Communications office, which sounds like it’s devolving into Thunderdome. After an open door (???) meeting which had White House aide Kelly Sadler defending herself against the leaked joke she made against a suffering from cancer Senator John McCain, a defense which included her pointing fingers at pretty much everyone in the room and accusing them of being the leakers, one of the people she accused didn’t take it too kindly. White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp, furious at Sadler’s accusations, openly called Sadler a "Bitch." Immediately after that story broke, the White House issued a statement insisting no one had ever stated that word. (5/30)
18 - Apparently the June 12th Summit with North Korea is back on. North Korean President Kim Jong-Un sent Trump a bachelorette party novelty size card about the summit, and it was apparently enough to get Trump to sign back on for the event. At a press conference, Trump contradicted himself in a major way. Trump stated the letter "was a very nice letter, a very interesting letter." Eight minutes later, Trump stated he hadn't opened the letter yet. Also, Trump is apparently trying to find someone to foot the bill for North Korea's hotel stay while at the summit, something the host country (in this case Singapore) should actually do. People are speculating the comically size letter might be some Kim Jong-Un trolling of Trump and his tiny little hands, after Trump's repeated size insults about Kim. (6/1-6/3)
17 - Former National Security Agency Analyst John Schindler claims the US Intelligence agencies have had enough information to label Trump 'a Russian agent' since 2016, adding the agencies have FAR more information linking Trump to the Russians than is publicly known. (5/28)
16 - People are condemning comedian Samantha Bee for referring to First Daughter and White House staffer doing....something, Ivanka Trump with a bad word. She called her a 'feckless [C-word]." For the record, I feel as if that's going too far, but a few points. One, she was directing it a public figure and it wasn't racist, just mean spirited. Trump and the Administration are on the warpath for Bee, demanding she be fired. Hypocrisy alert: Trump and the Republicans are demanding Bee be fired as reciprocity for Roseanne Barr being fired for her racist comments, but they have yet to condemn or even acknowledge Barr's comments were out of line. How can you ask for reciprocity if you don't think the original crime was committed? In the book Fire and Fury, Trump is quoted as calling former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates the C-word. Ted Nugent, the conservative musician (???), viciously called Hillary Clinton the C-word, but was welcomed into the White House by Trump. There are also hundreds of pictures of Trump supporters wearing shirts featuring the C-word in reference to Hillary Clinton at Trump rallies in 2016. At no point has anyone from the Administration called the use of the C-word, prior to Bee using it, wrong. Even Actress Sally Field stated"[Bee] is flat wrong to call Ivanka a [C-word]. [C-words] are powerful, beautiful, nurturing and honest." They're actually defending the C-word over Ivanka. WOW! This issue proves there is no moral high ground anymore for the Republican right in America. (5/31-6/1)
15 - For the second year in a row, Trump has refused to issue a proclamation honoring June as GLBT Pride Month. He has signed proclamations declaring June Great Outdoors Month, National Caribbean-American Heritage Month, African American Music Appreciation Month, National Ocean Month and National Homeownership Month. (6/1)
14 - Trump apparently played a major role in drafting the White House's response to the Trump Tower meeting in 2016 between his campaign and the Russians. In a memo sent from Trump's lawyers to the Mueller investigation, they revealed Trump's role in scripting the response. This has been confirmed by White House spokespeople, and it contradicts Trump's previous claims. The lawyers are now claiming since they have told Mueller everything there is to know about Trump's knowledge of the incident, there's no legal standing to subpoena Trump, that Trump legally can't be accused of Obstructing Justice, and that Trump can stop the legal probe at any point. That's not how it works. (6/2)
12 - Trump lawyer, and contender for worst lawyer of all time, Rudy Giuliani implies Trump has the ability to pardon himself, but as of right now "he has no intention" of doing so. Legal experts point to such a brazen act being the equivalent of 'self impeachment.' Giuliani also claimed Trump could have shot the former FBI Director James Comey, and no one would be able to indict him with a charge of murder. (6/3)
10 - China is lashing out at Trump's renewed threats of a trade war. After implying he wouldn't impose tariffs on China, Trump announced on Tuesday he indeed would, and the markets immediately dropped 500 points. China has already said they won't make most of the concessions Trump is demanding, and the US needs to meet them halfway. Not only is China threatening retaliatory tariffs on American products, it's threatening to really hurt American agriculture by just ordering their Ag imports from other countries, something which would hurt the US far more than tariffs. (5/30)
9 - Loyal Trump supporter Roseanne Barr blew up her career with one tweet. On Twitter, Barr commented former President Obama's Senior Presidential Aide, Valerie Jarrett, was (and a warning, this is unforgivably racist) the offspring of the "Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes." The public immediately condemned her, and ABC was asked to fire her. By the end of the day, ABC announced Barr's show Roseanne had indeed been cancelled, and her talent agency had decided to cut ties with her as well. Conservative responses ranged from trying to distance her from Trump, to insisting this was just a PC culture thing. It wasn't. Trump himself used the firing of Barr to turn the attention on him. ABC called Valerie Jarrett and apologized, adding "ABC does not tolerate comments like those." Trump then whined about how ABC never called him to apologize for the horrible things said about him on their network. It's unknown what instance Trump is referring to. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pseudo-defended Roseanne Barr. Defending Trump's comments, she insisted no one (not just ABC) ever apologized to Trump, so to go after Barr was wrong. Trump and the White House are seeming to try to equate a comedian making jokes about Trump to Barr's racist comments. Those two things are not comparable. (5/29-30)
8 - Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe gave the Mueller investigation a memo which detailed a conversation McCabe had with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein where they talked about the firing of the other FBI Director James Comey. Rosenstein said Comey was fired because of the mis-handeling of the Clinton E-mail case, but apparently Trump had told Rosenstein to mention Russia in Comey's dismissal letter. Rosenstein omitted the Russia element from the letter. McCabe took Trump's Russia insistence as direct proof the firing of Comey had to do with the Russia investigation. (5/31)
7 - The US announced it will impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, opening a new front in the trade war. Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross stated any further tariffs would depend on how the EU, Canada and Mexico reacted to the newly imposed tariffs. The US tariffs were unprovoked. Ross stated the reasons the tariffs were being imposed on NAFTA members Canada and Mexico was simply because NAFTA talks "were taking longer than we hoped." Yikes! For Trump to invoke tariffs on Canada, due to the NAFTA agreement, he has to declare Canadian trade with the US to be a "National Security threat." This isn't going over well with the Canadians, especially since Trump hasn't communicated his fundamental objectives during the negotiations. He hasn't explained anything to them. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued a furious response to the US's classifying of Canadian trade in such terms. Also reports are Trump told the French President Emmanuel Macron he wants to remove all German luxury car brands from the US markets, something which (understandably) is alarming Germany and German car manufacturers. Additionally, the journal Nature published a study which shows Trump's decision to withdraw the US out of the Paris Climate Accords will cost the US economy several trillion dollars in the coming decades. (5/31-6/1)
6 - Trump met with the family members of victims of the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting. As he left for the meeting, he described his visit inappropriately, saying we'll "have a little fun." This on the way to meet family members of loved ones gunned down at school. He then said the shooter was a "wacky kid who was wearing a wacky trench coat." WTF??? One parent described talking to him thusly: "It was like talking to a toddler." When people brought up gun safety measures the US could put into place, Trump couldn't comprehend the most basic of proposals being explained to him. (6/1)
5 - Trump doesn't seem to understand the basic role of the US Attorney General. He seems to think the Attorney General is Trump's personal lawyer, something he's definitively not. Trump was surprised current AG Jeff Sessions didn't walk back his recusal from the Russia investigation, retaliating by refusing to take Session's phone calls after the recusal. Trump considered it a personal betrayal. After the story of Trump asking Session to un-recuse himself broke, Trump went after Sessions again, implying he made a mistake. "'...There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!' And I wish I did!" (5/30)
4 - Trump's attempt to get the Trump/Russia investigation dismissed has backfired spectacularly. After implying the FBI was illegally spying on his campaign, he ordered Republicans to go look at what he labeled evidence of spying. Trey Gowdy, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, ON FOX NEWS, downright destroyed Trump's argument, stating the FBI was well within their right to approach Trump campaign members, adding the FBI acted appropriately when they used an informant to gather information on Trump's campaign advisers whose Russian contacts had been brought to light. (5/30)
3- After it was revealed federal prosecutors prosecuting anti-Trump protestors from the Inaguration Day had withheld numerous videos from the defense teams, prosecutors dropped charges against a half dozen people the government had sought to imprison for decades. The judge was clearly furious with the prosecution as they couldn't explain the lies their colleagues had told about the existence of the videos. This was after the James O'Keefe led Project Veritas had edited videos to make the protestors look guilty, a fact the prosecutors had previously admitted hiding from the defense. Beyond the edited 55 minute video, another 69 recordings (66 videos and three audio recordings) had been kept from the defense. The government's entire case rested on James O'Keefe's edited videos, a fact which alone is mind numbing. Of the original 200 people arrested, the first 6 were acquitted on all counts in December, which prompted the prosecutors to drop charges on all but 59 of the remaining accused. Now, after the next six were acquitted, it seems those cases are falling apart because fools trusted the integrity of James O'Keefe. (5/31)
2 - One thing which has become a tradition with the holidays, Trump will inevitably say something wildly innapporprate. He commemorated Memorial Day this year by insisting all dead US soldiers would be so happy of Trump's accomplishments in office. He made the Memorial Day tribute TO HIMSELF! Reminder: If President Obama even blinked at the wrong time during a commemoration of the military fallen, Republicans called him unfit for office. Veteran's groups condemned Trump's callous message, calling it the "most inappropriate ever." Meanwhile former President Obama delivered the message Trump should have delivered. He stated "we can never repay the debt." (5/28)
1 - Harvard University conducted a study and determine the death toll for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The official number touted by Trump (64) was considered to be suspiciously low. Between the storm itself and the lack of medical aid, water, food and transportation in the weeks which followed (mainly because of the Trump Administration's horrific response), the Harvard study determined at least 4600 people died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria. This would be over 70 times the amount the White House insists is the official loss of life. (5/29)
Just when it does;t sound like Trump could disgrace this country more... Please help Puerto Rico. Click on the link below to find out what you can do to help.
Last night another Republican seat, this time north of Kansas City, saw a Democratic takeover. it was a 25 point swing. TWENTY FIVE!!! There is no suburban Republican seat safe. Remember that!
#2018IsEverything! Get registered, help a candidate and then help five more currently running in districts held by Republicans. We have a lot of work yet to do. Are you ready to help be the solution?
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Following the Rules
The reason Bernie Sanders lost the 2016 Democratic Nomination process was not super-delegates. It wasn't. It was because Sanders did not take the southeastern states seriously. He didn't. Hillary Clinton walloped Bernie in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia and North Carolina, all of whom had primaries prior to March 15th of that year. Clinton's delegate (not super-delegate) lead after those states alone was 640 to 332.
If Bernie had campaigned seriously in those states, taking half the delegates, he probably would've been leading by a few delegates, or at worst only trailing by 10 or so, heading into April's New York and Pennsylvania contests, and June's California and New Jersey battles. It's my belief Sanders would've won under such a scenario. Super-delegates didn't cost Sanders the nomination. His bad game plan did.
When I've brought this point up, Sanders supporters always say the same thing: "those states shouldn't count towards the nomination because Democrats don't win those states during general elections." Putting aside the tone deaf nature of Democrats saying a large swath of the United States doesn't matter, an attitude which definitively played a role in Trump's victory, I tell these Sanders supporters their argument is irrelevant because those were the rules when the nomination process started. Sanders knew he had to compete in those states, and he decided not to. That's on him.
I'm not bringing this up to re-open old wounds, but rather to explain (for about the one millionth time) rules matter, regardless of whether you think they should or shouldn't. A political candidate not embracing or understanding the rules is on them. Their supporters/activists railing against the system because of those well established rules is misguided; a major contributor to the divide in the Democratic Party today. Embrace the rules and don't fight them when they suddenly go against your candidate.
In Rochester yesterday, Erin Murphy, Tim Walz and Rebecca Otto squared off to try to get the Minnesota DFL's endorsement for their individual campaigns to be the DFL nominee for Minnesota Governor. The endorsement convention, a get together of 1400 Minnesota Democrats chosen in a process which begins on caucus night months earlier, was expected to be tight, with many people thinking US Rep. Tim Walz was the front runner. That wasn't a sentiment only Walz supporters expressed, but Murphy's supporters had as well, telling me prior to the convention (paraphrasing) "It'd be nice to win the nomination, but the real contest is going to be August's primary, which Murphy is committed to winning." They implied they thought they wouldn't win the endorsement at the Convention.
Tim Walz won the first ballot with Murphy in 2nd and Otto in third. When the second ballot was cast, many of Otto's supporters had moved to Murphy, putting her in the lead. It was at that point, unless Otto threw her vocal support to Walz, Murphy was either going to win the endorsement or there would be no endorsement. Eventually Walz withdrew, Murphy won the DFL endorsement, and then self induced chaos once again enveloped the Minnesota Democrats.
After the second ballot, some Murphy supporters started taking to social media waging an opinion war against Walz. 'How dare he not concede immediately, withdraw from the race, and hand Murphy all his money and supporters! Is he staying to help the Republicans? HOW DARE HE!' Mind you, this was prior to the endorsement being awarded, after Murphy took her first lead. It only got nastier from there. The two Murphy supporters who had preached about the need for a primary two days earlier were now insisting a primary would be anti-DFL. After Walz withdrew, and Murphy won the endorsement, the howls from Murphy supporters demanding Walz quit grew louder, with the hashtag #NoPrimary starting to show up in social media posts. I turned it all off when I saw a Walz supporter state, after getting bitterly harassed by Murphy supporters, he wouldn't vote for Murphy even if she was the eventual DFL nominee.
Mission Accomplished Democrats. We're well on our way to grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.
The rules state any established DFL candidate who wants to go to the primary can. That's it; those are the rules! Walz and Otto are well within their right to have the nomination go to a primary. The purpose of the primary is highlighted this year. You didn't have a concrete victory for Murphy; the endorsement came after Walz and his supporters withdrew. Now you let the Democrats statewide make the decisions as a whole. Having 1400 caucus awardees determine the DFL candidate only works when 70+% of them solidly unite behind a single candidate, or when a candidate doesn't decide to skip the convention outright and go straight to the primary (like Dayton did in 2010. How did that work again?)
Let me break down the race a little bit.
I consider Erin Murphy a friend. When I met her 6 years ago I immediately saw the potential. She needed to be in a higher office. She's run a great campaign so far, but she desperately needs to spend the next two months out of the Twin Cities. When I talk to outstate Democrats, she's perceived as a Minneapolis/St. Paul Democrat only, a dynamic she needs to change if she's going to win the primary, AND win in the general election. And although I think Erin Maye Quade is sensational, her being Murphy's choice to be Lt. Gov. is only going to solidify outstate Minnesota's perception Murphy's a Twin Cities first candidate. Time to hit the road, Erin.
Rebecca Otto and I have talked at least a dozen times, during both radio interviews and at the Blue State Ball. She was such a good State Auditor, Republicans waged an all out war on her office to stop her from catching their buddies from cheating the taxpayers. She did a great job of solidifying support within the Bernie Sanders/Progressive side of the Party, but in the end it was the smaller third of the pie. I don't think she should change her pitch, but rather realize her role at this point; she has a lot to say about the primary's outcome.
Tim Walz is a great moderate Democrat. In my first interview with him, he gave a sensational response to why we need food assistance for the needy more than ever. He's also been a leader on veteran's issues, a topic the Democrats need a lot more of. After the results of the voting on Saturday, it's clear Walz needs to focus on shoring up union support, and not just on the Iron Range, but in the metro area as well. The nurses are firmly in Murphy's corner, but where as the organizations might endorse Murphy, the individual voter is what counts in a primary.
If it's not clear by what I just wrote, come the general election:
- Murphy (specifically) and Otto will need Walz to win outstate voters, and some more rural suburbs.
- Otto and Walz will need Murphy to help carry the working class and union voters.
- Walz and Murphy will both need Otto to carry the progressive Sanders side of the DFL.
I think all three candidates, Murphy, Walz and Otto would make a great Governor. I'm not picking sides, although I have zero doubt some will read this and try their hardest to label me pro-something. If it makes you feel better, fine. I just don't want to see a party who is poised to sweep the state elections repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot.
I wish all candidates coming out of the convention would make the same statements:
Winner - "We won the endorsement, and we'll win the primary too, setting up our win in November!"
Losers - "We didn't win today, but we'll win in the primary and carry that momentum to November."
Don't tell me who I shouldn't vote for. Don't tell me why the other Democrat is evil because they dared to play by the rules. If you didn't like the rules, then you shouldn't have played the game. By demanding no primary, all you're doing is blowing up the foundation of the house before you start building.
Instead, tell us all why we should vote for YOU. That's leadership; leadership we all can get behind.
Friday, June 1, 2018
The Friday Link for 6/1/18
Hello June bugs!
Ze Frank is back, and I couldn't be happier!
If you are a long time Friday Link follower, you might remember a few years back how impressed I was the Minneapolis Institute of Arts featured Ze Frank's videos as 'comedic art.' The videos are very funny, but it's rare you see comedy on display as an art form in a museum.
He's not made any videos for three years, but he's back. For your Friday Link this week, it's the magic and pageantry of the Frog Fish, and the natural splendor of Carnivorous Plants, courtesy of Ze Frank!
Warning, there is a little adult language here, but heck, it's art! You've been warned!!!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Ze Frank is back, and I couldn't be happier!
If you are a long time Friday Link follower, you might remember a few years back how impressed I was the Minneapolis Institute of Arts featured Ze Frank's videos as 'comedic art.' The videos are very funny, but it's rare you see comedy on display as an art form in a museum.
He's not made any videos for three years, but he's back. For your Friday Link this week, it's the magic and pageantry of the Frog Fish, and the natural splendor of Carnivorous Plants, courtesy of Ze Frank!
Warning, there is a little adult language here, but heck, it's art! You've been warned!!!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
The Trump Top 20 Countdown for the Week of 5/21/18
Welcome to the Weekly Top 20 Countdown of Trump's ineptitude and stupidity for the week of 5/21/18 to 5/27/18.
Sorry it's a little late this week. Memorial Day weekend and all...
These are the 20 most boneheaded things coming from Trump and his Administration for this week. All the things on this list should be the lynchpin for investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges. Nope, nothing ever happens, even when it undeniably would've happened under any other President before this jackass. We've never had a Legislative Branch who completely surrendered their responsibility to monitor the Executive Branch. The Founding Fathers never thought such a betrayal to the country would ever happen.
A quick Google search will give you plenty of news options on every one of these stories. The ranking is purely on me. Please feel free to disagree and comment why below.
On with the countdown!
20. I can't tell if this is a prank or if they're serious. The House Republicans are proposing a bill which would force the Treasury Department to start a crowd fund page to help build Trump's 20 billion dollar border wall with Mexico. Not only is this a clear acknowledgment the wall won't be paid for by the Mexicans, this is going to raise one obvious question: when the fund gets hardly any donations, how are Trump and the GOP going to play off those optics? (5/22)
19. As we hear about the allegations Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen was working behind the scenes taking money with promises of access to Trump, it's announced a Russian Government and Russian mafia tied Ukrainian business man is the latest participating in the scheme. Cohen took half a million dollars from Columbus Nova, the US front company for Ukrainian born Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in late 2016, weeks after the Russians used social media and Wikileaks to throw the election to Trump. A meeting took place in Cohen's office in the Trump Tower, and was in regards to US investigations into pro-Russian Ukrainians. (5/25)
18. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claims she has not seen the US Intelligence Communities extensive assessments which concluded Russia interfered in the Election of 2016, on behalf of Trump. She's seen nothing on Putin's desire to have Trump in the White House, not even the Steele Dossier. Once again, she's the Director of Homeland Security. Her statements also imply she's not even seen or read the testimony of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg pointing out the clear interference by the Russians on behalf of Trump. (5/22)
17. Trump doesn't have any advanced security features or protections on his personal cell phone, because he's deemed them too "inconvenient." If he doesn't switch phones regularly, foreign agents camped out near the White House could intercept his phone communications. (5/21)
16. Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to allow hunters to shoot hibernating bears and their cubs. Trump is also making it legal to bait bears with donuts, shoot at animals from boats, and use spotlights to hunt. (5/23)
15. Trump signed three executive orders which are designed to make it easier to fire federal employees, and which allow the government to crack down on the unions representing government workers. The Administration claims this is only about easily removing sub-par workers, getting better negotiations at union contracts, and limiting the time union members spend on union work at the office. Trump and the Republicans want to annihilate the unions once and for all, so take their excuses with a grain of salt. (5/25)
14. Donald Trump Jr. is in trouble with the Senate Intelligence Committeee. He told them he was unaware of any other foreign countries offering assistance to his father's Presidential Campaign. As we mentioned in last week's countdown, he met with Government officials from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as a cyber technology group from Israel with extensive ties to the Israeli Intelligence community and their government. The Senate would like him to return and explain why exactly he lied. (5/25)
13. In an article published in Salon magazine, career diplomat John Freeley resigned as Ambassador to Panama citing Trump's horrific style of leadership, which he called a "velociraptor" destroying obstacles in his path. Freely says Trump's exactly the same guy in private as he is in public, only he swears a heck of a lot more, and "if you don't show him deference he kills you." He added "America is undoubtedly less welcome in the world today." (5/23)
12. Where in the world is Melania Trump? She hasn't been seen in public for two weeks. Granted part of that time was due to a medical procedure on a supposed kidney ailment, but experts were surprised her hospitalization was for five days, as the ailment described is usually a quick routine procedure. Since returning to the White House, she's not been seen. She's reportedly met with staff. Trump himself said the creepiest thing. Pointing to a window, he said "She's doing great. She's looking at us right there." (5/26)
11. In the wake of White House Aide Kelly Sadler's innapprorpraite comments about Senator John McCain, as he battles with cancer, and the subsequent leaking of those comments to the press, the White House has exploded. Aides are openly fighting with each other, pointing fingers as they accuse each other of being the leaker, and they're making these accusations in front of Trump. At an open door (???) meeting with the Press Office, Trump said Sadler would not be fired and asked who the leakers were, which prompted Sadler to start pointing her finger at everyone and claiming 'they're the leaker,' including her own boss. The meeting digressed from here, as apparently 'you're the leaker' is the new way to try to get back at people in the Administration you're not fond of. By the way, we know all of this because the conversation from the meeting was leaked. (5/27)
5. Rumors GOP Strategist Elliot Broidy's payout to Michael Cohen, designed to pay off a playboy playmate he got pregnant, and who eventually got an abortion, was actually a payout to cover up Trump's affair with said playmate, got even more evidence someone's not telling the truth. The day after the payment was made, Broidy scored a one on one meeting with Trump to lobby on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Also Broidy's company, Circinus LLC, scored a 800 million dollar foreign defense contract at the beginning of his Presidency. Once again these deals should be investigated, as well as Broidy's unique connection to Trump. (5/22)
4. The NFL, in a frantic attempt to please Trump, has installed a new policy which says any player kneeling during the National Anthem will have their team assessed a 15 yard penalty, but players can stay in the locker room and not go out before the National Anthem if they choose. Clearly the league's scared Trump will remove their anti-Trust exemption, so they're telling their players, primarily the African American ones, to either shut up or to protest where no one can see them. Trump, giddy at the NFL owners caving, has now threatened protesting NFL players citizenship, saying it's conditional. "Maybe you shouldn't be in the country." (5/23-24)
3. Donald Trump Jr (Tweedle Dee) could be in some REALLY big trouble. Spain wiretapped conversations between Alexander Torshin, the Deputy Governor of Russian's Central Bank, when he talked with Russian criminal Alexander Romanov. The details of this conversation led to the meeting between Trump Jr. and Torshin in May of 2016, held at an NRA get together, during the campaign. It is unknown what Trump Jr. and Torsion discussed at the NRA meeting, but they insist it was a brief hello at dinner. Torshin is a close ally of Putin. The Spanish have handed a transcript of the Torshin/Romanov conversation to the FBI a few months ago. Spanish Prosecutor Jose Grinda told Yahoo News "Mr. Trump's son should be concerned." Thank you Spain! (5/26)
2. So I guess we can put the Nobel Peace Prize back in the box...Trump sent a letter to North Korean President Kim Jong-un cancelling their upcoming summit between the two countries citing North Korean hostility towards the USA. Trump claims Kim (who officially started balking at the peace talks when National Security Advisor John Bolton demanded the Libyan Model of North Korean denuclearization PRIOR to the US making any concessions [something everyone know would be a non-starter]), had become threatening. Trump included the following in his letter: "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful and I pray to God they will never be used." Considering these talks were initially orchestrated by South Korea and China, it's unclear if Trump's letter has damaged their efforts, but South Korean officials were blindsided by Trump's letter (meaning he never gave them a heads up) and are trying "to make sense" of Trump's actions. Trump followed up his message of 'peace' by threatening all out war with North Korea, insisting Japan and South Korea would pay us for the war. Reminder: Trump had actually gone ahead and minted official peace conference coins, and Republicans HAD insisted Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on this. Is there an opposite of the Nobel Peace Prize? (5/24)
1. A little over a month ago, it was revealed of the more than 7000 children separated from their parents at the US southern border, 1475 have disappeared from Federal overview, and the federal government has no idea where these kids are. One report proved some of the children did indeed end up in the hands of human traffickers. We have no idea where those children are today. Since then, the Trump Administration has ramped up their operation of separating parents from their kids at the border and have not put any safeguards in place to insure those kids don't permanently disappear while in US custody. Trump tried to blame Democrats for the operation policy of separating parents from their children at the border, a policy he himself ordered. Once again, the US Government has taken 1475 children from their parents, and has no idea where those children are today. Shame on all of us. (5/26)
Sorry it's a little late this week. Memorial Day weekend and all...
On with the countdown!
20. I can't tell if this is a prank or if they're serious. The House Republicans are proposing a bill which would force the Treasury Department to start a crowd fund page to help build Trump's 20 billion dollar border wall with Mexico. Not only is this a clear acknowledgment the wall won't be paid for by the Mexicans, this is going to raise one obvious question: when the fund gets hardly any donations, how are Trump and the GOP going to play off those optics? (5/22)
19. As we hear about the allegations Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen was working behind the scenes taking money with promises of access to Trump, it's announced a Russian Government and Russian mafia tied Ukrainian business man is the latest participating in the scheme. Cohen took half a million dollars from Columbus Nova, the US front company for Ukrainian born Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in late 2016, weeks after the Russians used social media and Wikileaks to throw the election to Trump. A meeting took place in Cohen's office in the Trump Tower, and was in regards to US investigations into pro-Russian Ukrainians. (5/25)
18. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claims she has not seen the US Intelligence Communities extensive assessments which concluded Russia interfered in the Election of 2016, on behalf of Trump. She's seen nothing on Putin's desire to have Trump in the White House, not even the Steele Dossier. Once again, she's the Director of Homeland Security. Her statements also imply she's not even seen or read the testimony of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg pointing out the clear interference by the Russians on behalf of Trump. (5/22)
17. Trump doesn't have any advanced security features or protections on his personal cell phone, because he's deemed them too "inconvenient." If he doesn't switch phones regularly, foreign agents camped out near the White House could intercept his phone communications. (5/21)
16. Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to allow hunters to shoot hibernating bears and their cubs. Trump is also making it legal to bait bears with donuts, shoot at animals from boats, and use spotlights to hunt. (5/23)
15. Trump signed three executive orders which are designed to make it easier to fire federal employees, and which allow the government to crack down on the unions representing government workers. The Administration claims this is only about easily removing sub-par workers, getting better negotiations at union contracts, and limiting the time union members spend on union work at the office. Trump and the Republicans want to annihilate the unions once and for all, so take their excuses with a grain of salt. (5/25)
14. Donald Trump Jr. is in trouble with the Senate Intelligence Committeee. He told them he was unaware of any other foreign countries offering assistance to his father's Presidential Campaign. As we mentioned in last week's countdown, he met with Government officials from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as a cyber technology group from Israel with extensive ties to the Israeli Intelligence community and their government. The Senate would like him to return and explain why exactly he lied. (5/25)
13. In an article published in Salon magazine, career diplomat John Freeley resigned as Ambassador to Panama citing Trump's horrific style of leadership, which he called a "velociraptor" destroying obstacles in his path. Freely says Trump's exactly the same guy in private as he is in public, only he swears a heck of a lot more, and "if you don't show him deference he kills you." He added "America is undoubtedly less welcome in the world today." (5/23)
12. Where in the world is Melania Trump? She hasn't been seen in public for two weeks. Granted part of that time was due to a medical procedure on a supposed kidney ailment, but experts were surprised her hospitalization was for five days, as the ailment described is usually a quick routine procedure. Since returning to the White House, she's not been seen. She's reportedly met with staff. Trump himself said the creepiest thing. Pointing to a window, he said "She's doing great. She's looking at us right there." (5/26)
11. In the wake of White House Aide Kelly Sadler's innapprorpraite comments about Senator John McCain, as he battles with cancer, and the subsequent leaking of those comments to the press, the White House has exploded. Aides are openly fighting with each other, pointing fingers as they accuse each other of being the leaker, and they're making these accusations in front of Trump. At an open door (???) meeting with the Press Office, Trump said Sadler would not be fired and asked who the leakers were, which prompted Sadler to start pointing her finger at everyone and claiming 'they're the leaker,' including her own boss. The meeting digressed from here, as apparently 'you're the leaker' is the new way to try to get back at people in the Administration you're not fond of. By the way, we know all of this because the conversation from the meeting was leaked. (5/27)
10. Trump has invited only Republicans to review his so called 'evidence' of the supposed major FBI spy ring which he alleges infiltrated his Campaign. No Democrats were invited to view this evidence. Trump tweeted this supposed FBI infiltration was part of the "Criminal Deep State," calling the spying on his campaign the greatest scandal of all time. Trump also made up and then railed against a quote from Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Once again he raged against the quote he had made up which he said validated his claims. Many analysts say this is a sign Trump's REALLY terrified of the Mueller investigation. (5/23)
9. The official Department of Justice meeting which Trump demanded, supposedly to prove the FBI was spying on Trump's campaign, was bizarre. First off, no Democrats were initially invited, something which eventually changed as Democrats were welcome into the meeting. The meeting was only supposed to be for Congressional members, but they were unexpectedly joined by Chief of Staff John Kelly and, even more shocking, Trump's newly hired lawyer Emmet Flood. This was after Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said no one from the White House would be there. When confronted on why exactly Flood was in the meeting, Sanders stated he "will be joining the White House Staff to represent the President and the Administration against the Russia Witch hunt." That's not a real Administrative position. As CNN's Sam Vinograd pointed out "Any pretense that this was about Congressional oversight blew up in smoke. This was [Trump] interfering in our intelligence/law enforcement system for personal gain." Most reports say the briefing did nothing to substantiate Trump's claims. (5/24)
8. At a hearing about contaminants with the EPA head Scott Pruitt, a reporter from the Associated Press was forcibly removed from the"public hearing." When the reporter asked to speak to the EPA public affairs spokesperson, they were told no. Multiple other reporters were also barred from the "public hearing." Later on, Press SecretarySarah Huckabee Sanders verbally shouted down a member of the Press Corp who asked about the incident. (5/22)
7. Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, had his business partner Evgeny Freidman, agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against Cohen in exchange for a deal which would allow him to avoid jail time. In other legal news, Trump's current legal team is beyond incompetent. They've said Trump's willing to talk with Mueller but that Mueller "in no way" can ask him about anything after January 20th, 2017. O...kay... (5/22)
6. A Washington Post report says Trump, during a meeting in the Oval Office, turned the discussion to immigration. He mentioned how his comments about immigration really fire up his base. He then proceeded to make up list of Hispanic sounding names, and attached assorted crimes to the made up Hispanic aliases, like rape and murder. It's also reported White House Aide Stephen Miller, and Presidential Advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner were uproariously laughing at Trump's undeniably racist antics. As one pundit noted, it's obvious "some of the cruelty is intentional." (5/27)
5. Rumors GOP Strategist Elliot Broidy's payout to Michael Cohen, designed to pay off a playboy playmate he got pregnant, and who eventually got an abortion, was actually a payout to cover up Trump's affair with said playmate, got even more evidence someone's not telling the truth. The day after the payment was made, Broidy scored a one on one meeting with Trump to lobby on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Also Broidy's company, Circinus LLC, scored a 800 million dollar foreign defense contract at the beginning of his Presidency. Once again these deals should be investigated, as well as Broidy's unique connection to Trump. (5/22)
4. The NFL, in a frantic attempt to please Trump, has installed a new policy which says any player kneeling during the National Anthem will have their team assessed a 15 yard penalty, but players can stay in the locker room and not go out before the National Anthem if they choose. Clearly the league's scared Trump will remove their anti-Trust exemption, so they're telling their players, primarily the African American ones, to either shut up or to protest where no one can see them. Trump, giddy at the NFL owners caving, has now threatened protesting NFL players citizenship, saying it's conditional. "Maybe you shouldn't be in the country." (5/23-24)
3. Donald Trump Jr (Tweedle Dee) could be in some REALLY big trouble. Spain wiretapped conversations between Alexander Torshin, the Deputy Governor of Russian's Central Bank, when he talked with Russian criminal Alexander Romanov. The details of this conversation led to the meeting between Trump Jr. and Torshin in May of 2016, held at an NRA get together, during the campaign. It is unknown what Trump Jr. and Torsion discussed at the NRA meeting, but they insist it was a brief hello at dinner. Torshin is a close ally of Putin. The Spanish have handed a transcript of the Torshin/Romanov conversation to the FBI a few months ago. Spanish Prosecutor Jose Grinda told Yahoo News "Mr. Trump's son should be concerned." Thank you Spain! (5/26)
2. So I guess we can put the Nobel Peace Prize back in the box...Trump sent a letter to North Korean President Kim Jong-un cancelling their upcoming summit between the two countries citing North Korean hostility towards the USA. Trump claims Kim (who officially started balking at the peace talks when National Security Advisor John Bolton demanded the Libyan Model of North Korean denuclearization PRIOR to the US making any concessions [something everyone know would be a non-starter]), had become threatening. Trump included the following in his letter: "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful and I pray to God they will never be used." Considering these talks were initially orchestrated by South Korea and China, it's unclear if Trump's letter has damaged their efforts, but South Korean officials were blindsided by Trump's letter (meaning he never gave them a heads up) and are trying "to make sense" of Trump's actions. Trump followed up his message of 'peace' by threatening all out war with North Korea, insisting Japan and South Korea would pay us for the war. Reminder: Trump had actually gone ahead and minted official peace conference coins, and Republicans HAD insisted Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on this. Is there an opposite of the Nobel Peace Prize? (5/24)
1. A little over a month ago, it was revealed of the more than 7000 children separated from their parents at the US southern border, 1475 have disappeared from Federal overview, and the federal government has no idea where these kids are. One report proved some of the children did indeed end up in the hands of human traffickers. We have no idea where those children are today. Since then, the Trump Administration has ramped up their operation of separating parents from their kids at the border and have not put any safeguards in place to insure those kids don't permanently disappear while in US custody. Trump tried to blame Democrats for the operation policy of separating parents from their children at the border, a policy he himself ordered. Once again, the US Government has taken 1475 children from their parents, and has no idea where those children are today. Shame on all of us. (5/26)
Can you imagine what this country would be like if it was discovered a Democratic President had lost 1500 children he had ordered ripped away from their parents. Then imagine the reaction when the country found out some of those kids definitely ended up in the grasps of human traffickers. We'd be talking jail terms. Yet, in between the unforgivable bouts of silence dedicated to this issue, Republicans desperate to make an impression with Trump took to the cable news airwaves to defend the Administration losing these children. You can't make it up. I don't recognize this country anymore.
#2018isEverything! For Goodness sake, if that isn't already plainly clear...get registered to vote. Volunteer your time. Help a Democrat running to unseat a Republican. If we fail this year, I'm concerned there won't be another chance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)