A friend of mine just wrote this on Facebook in his status update...
Our president says that freedom of religion is under threat all around us as he bans people from one religion from entering the country. The jibberish has escalated to new heights from this snake oil salesman. Buy my snakeoil, and the people bought it. It's bloody embarassing to have him represent a country with a rich history of smart and interesting people and thinkers from all political parties. We are better than this sad display of self serving garbage.
Amen.
Friday, February 03, 2017
The Bowling Green Massacre
To give you an idea on just what kind of fantasy world Trump supporters and the alt right live in, look no further than the Bowling Green "Massacre." Senior Adviser to the president, Kellyanne Conway, was on Chris Matthews' show and regaled him the story of two Iraqi men.
“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,” Conway said. “Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”
First of all, no such ban ever took place. So, straight out of the gate, she's lying. But then to completely make up a massacre when NO SUCH EVENT EVERY FUCKING TOOK PLACE is mind boggling. Is this what we have to put up with for the next four years? The paranoid, fever dreams of short wave radio turned email forwarder turned blogger turned social media troll dimwits?
The good news is that the interwebs don't leave stuff like this alone:)
I think the last one is my favorite.
“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,” Conway said. “Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”
First of all, no such ban ever took place. So, straight out of the gate, she's lying. But then to completely make up a massacre when NO SUCH EVENT EVERY FUCKING TOOK PLACE is mind boggling. Is this what we have to put up with for the next four years? The paranoid, fever dreams of short wave radio turned email forwarder turned blogger turned social media troll dimwits?
The good news is that the interwebs don't leave stuff like this alone:)
Unlike Bowling Green, the Oak Creek massacre did take place & the Trump Republicans have never decried the white supremacist terror attack.
Thursday, February 02, 2017
How This Autocracy Will Play Out
David Frum has an interesting piece up about how President Trump's first term might play out. Actually, it's more frightening than interesting. Frum details how everyone could easily fall in line, largely due to apathy. After all, this is how Trump got elected.
Here's my favorite part.
Nobody’s repealed the First Amendment, of course, and Americans remain as free to speak their minds as ever—provided they can stomach seeing their timelines fill up with obscene abuse and angry threats from the pro-Trump troll armies that police Facebook and Twitter. Rather than deal with digital thugs, young people increasingly drift to less political media like Snapchat and Instagram.
In many ways, this has already happened. The Pro-Trump troll armies were already formed out of right wing bloggers and commenters that had been honing their hate, anger and fear for years.
So, will Frum's prediction end up coming true?
Here's my favorite part.
Nobody’s repealed the First Amendment, of course, and Americans remain as free to speak their minds as ever—provided they can stomach seeing their timelines fill up with obscene abuse and angry threats from the pro-Trump troll armies that police Facebook and Twitter. Rather than deal with digital thugs, young people increasingly drift to less political media like Snapchat and Instagram.
In many ways, this has already happened. The Pro-Trump troll armies were already formed out of right wing bloggers and commenters that had been honing their hate, anger and fear for years.
So, will Frum's prediction end up coming true?
Wednesday, February 01, 2017
Russia Arrests Hacking Experts for Treason
With four arrests Russia has essentially confirmed that the CIA and FBI reports that concluded Russia interfered with the American election to get Donald Trump elected are true:
Russian news agencies are reporting that former members of the domestic security agency and a cybersecurity expert have been formally charged with treason.Russia denies they were involved with the hacking of the DNC, but these arrests started coming in December, right after US intelligence agencies issued reports on Russian hacking and Trump being compromised by the FSB while in Russia for the Miss Universe contest.
Reports emerged last week that three officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and an executive for cybersecurity company Kaspersky Labs had been arrested for treason. Government officials haven’t commented on the case.
This shows why the CIA is so leery of releasing any information at all to the general public: when the Russians find out we know something, there are only so many ways we could have found out.
The people privy to the information that was leaked are the first suspects, and once you're suspected, it doesn't take long for the FSB to bust into your office, put a bag over your head and haul you off to Lubyanka.
Now, I wish someone would put a bag over Donald Trump's head so we don't have to see his stupid hair or hear the nastiness that constantly spews from his snarling lips...
Coup?
Interesting piece up at the now black listed CNN regarding President Trump and Steve Bannon. Are we witnessing typical actions which usually follow a coup?
Besieging your targets until nothing makes any sense -- giving them no time to absorb or recover from attacks -- is a time-tested strategy in the history of war and authoritarian takeovers. One might cite what's gone on in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It's now being employed at the pinnacle of American democracy. It's particularly useful in situations where the leader is vulnerable due to possible investigations, blackmails or other circumstances that close off gradualist approaches to implementing an agenda. With all the emergencies going on, who is bothered at the moment about those Trump tax returns, or even his ties to Russia?
Exactly. I have to admit I've been pretty disheartened by many of Trump's actions. His supporters, who supposedly are against this sort of authoritarian action, are all in. As longs as it's one of their own, it's all good.
Yet, as I was reading the back pages of the New York Times the other day, I saw this headline on the other page....
New Italian Trial Set for Berlusconi in a Corruption Case
...and it made me smile.
Besieging your targets until nothing makes any sense -- giving them no time to absorb or recover from attacks -- is a time-tested strategy in the history of war and authoritarian takeovers. One might cite what's gone on in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It's now being employed at the pinnacle of American democracy. It's particularly useful in situations where the leader is vulnerable due to possible investigations, blackmails or other circumstances that close off gradualist approaches to implementing an agenda. With all the emergencies going on, who is bothered at the moment about those Trump tax returns, or even his ties to Russia?
Exactly. I have to admit I've been pretty disheartened by many of Trump's actions. His supporters, who supposedly are against this sort of authoritarian action, are all in. As longs as it's one of their own, it's all good.
Yet, as I was reading the back pages of the New York Times the other day, I saw this headline on the other page....
New Italian Trial Set for Berlusconi in a Corruption Case
...and it made me smile.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Trump Inspires Terrorist Attack
Just two days after Donald Trump issued his Muslim travel ban the first terrorist attack of the Trump presidency occurred in the Americas. It happened in Quebec City, where six people were murdered. And despite Trump and his cronies telling us that Muslim immigrants are unspeakably dangerous, a Muslim didn't do it.
No, it was a white, Trump-loving , racist, sexist Internet troll who hates immigrants murdered six people in a mosque:
The suspect in the deadly attack on a Quebec City mosque was known in the city's activist circles as an online troll who was inspired by extreme right-wing French nationalists, stood up for U.S. President Donald Trump and was against immigration to Quebec – especially by Muslims.
Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, a student at Laval University, grew up on a quiet crescent in the Cap-Rouge suburb of Quebec City and lived in an apartment a few kilometres away.
It doesn't matter that it happened in Canada -- Trump used the attack on a Christmas celebration in Germany as part of his rationale for the Muslim ban.
Donald Trump is now in the same league as ISIS. He is spreading chaos and fear around the world, inspiring a terrorist attack in idyllic Quebec City, which hadn't had a murder in almost two years.
Yeah, Bissonnette is probably unhinged. As is Dylann Roof. And the guy who shot up the pizza joint in Washington looking for nonexistent pedophiles. And every whack-job Muslim who shoots up a mall or drives a truck through a crowd.
Trump apologists will blame Marine Le Pen, citing reports that Bissonnette was inspired after her visit. But Trump and Le Pen are two sides of the same coin. They, ISIS and Al Qaeda are all using the same playbook of fear, hatred and division.
The problem isn't Muslims. The problem isn't conservatives. The problem is demagogues of all stripes who seek to gain power by hyperventilating over the dangers of the other and inspiring hatred in marginal personalities who want to carry out the heinous acts those demagogues are implicitly or explicitly calling on them to perform.
Maybe Canada should institute a ban on Americans coming to Canada. Or build a wall along the 5,500-mile-long US-Canadian border. And make Donald Trump pay for it.
Trump's Symbiotic Relationship with Terrorists
From most reports Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban was crafted in the White House without any input from the Pentagon or the Justice and State departments. Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham blasted Trump and his ban with both barrels in a joint statement issued two days ago.
The ban was the baby of Steve Bannon, Trump's propaganda minister and political strategist. And there's been wide speculation about why Bannon made such a mess of it.
There are two schools of thought: incompetence and malfeasance.
My first inclination was to blame the incompetence of the Trump administration. My second inclination was that the chaos was intentional and malicious, as elucidated by Kevin Drum:
In cases like this, the smart money is usually on incompetence, not malice. But this looks more like deliberate malice to me. Bannon wanted turmoil and condemnation. He wanted this executive order to get as much publicity as possible. He wanted the ACLU involved. He thinks this will be a PR win.My third inclination is that the intent is far more sinister. Trump loves saying "I told you so." Every time there's an attack by a Muslim terrorist anywhere in the world he says he predicted it and that it proved him right about banning Muslims.
But terrorist attacks by Muslims have been going on for decades, pretty much non-stop since the state of Israel was created and Arab states have been exporting oil. Their grievances with the West started long before ISIS and Al Qaeda existed, since before Osama bin Laden was even born.
Perhaps Trump and Bannon intentionally crafted a faulty travel ban with the ulterior motive of having it be struck down. Then, when the inevitable terrorist attack happens, they can claim credit for "predicting" it, and whine that all those lives would have been saved if only the travel ban had been in place.
What makes this so sinister is that the Trump administration has absolutely no motivation to stop terrorist attacks. Every attack that occurs will actually strengthen his case for a ban and even more stringent restrictions on Muslims.
This is why Trump is creating so much chaos. The more chaotic the country is, the greater the demand for order. Trump is intentionally making a mess to provide the pretext for giving himself broad authoritarian powers to destroy the media, silence his opposition and crush dissent.
It's a classic fascist tactic.
Now, what happens if no Muslim refugee steps up and attacks Americans for Trump? Will one of those ratfucking New York FBI Trump supporters who torpedoed Hillary Clinton's candidacy entrap some refugee Muslim schlub with a phony sting operation?
Or does Trump actually need American blood to get what he wants? Will Trump's FBI mooks let an attack they know about go forward in order to sow fear and give Trump his pretext?
Or will they actively recruit and supply an attacker with weapons, with the justification that by killing a few innocent Americans today they will save thousands tomorrow?
As conspiracy theories go, it's a lot more compelling than John Podesta being involved with a pedophile ring that kept kids in the nonexistent basement of a pizza restaurant.
Or maybe the Russians will do it for Trump: Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov provides this sort of service to Vladimir Putin whenever he needs a fall guy. For example, a Chechen comes to the United States seeking asylum and blows up a public place.
Oh, wait: that already happened with the Boston Marathon bombing. (Lest you blame Obama for the bomber coming to the US, the Tsarnaevs first gained entry to the US in 2002 and obtained green cards in 2007, during the Bush administration.)
So here's my prediction: Trump's Muslim ban will falter because it was designed to. Trump supporters will be outraged. While it's in judicial limbo, some Muslim somewhere will hurt someone. Trump will crow that he predicted it and issue angry tweets demanding Congress pass a Muslim ban and give him special powers to fight terrorism.
Trump is intentionally inciting Muslims to hate the United States. He's giving them the pretext to commit terrorist acts, so that they will give him the pretext to turn the United States into a fascist dictatorship.
Trump, like so many other tyrants, has a symbiotic relationship with the terrorists: if they succeed, he succeeds. That is, unless congressional Republicans and the American people see through the lies, and hold Trump accountable for creating an atmosphere of chaos and hatred that spawns violence.
If any Americans are killed by terrorists on Trump's watch, their blood is on Trump's hands.
Monday, January 30, 2017
The Cracks Begin To Show
The Times has yet another (yawn) piece up about Steve Bannon and his Dick Cheney like influence in the White House. It's mostly more of the same but this tidbit was most interesting.
In theory, the move put Mr. Bannon, a former Navy surface warfare officer, admiral’s aide, investment banker, Hollywood producer and Breitbart News firebrand, on the same level as his friend, Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, a former Pentagon intelligence chief who was Mr. Trump’s top adviser on national security issues before a series of missteps reduced his influence.
Missteps? Say what?
But Mr. Flynn, a lifelong Democrat sacked as head of the Pentagon’s intelligence arm after clashing with Obama administration officials in 2014, has gotten on the nerves of Mr. Trump and other administration officials because of his sometimes overbearing demeanor, and has further diminished his internal standing by presiding over a chaotic and opaque N.S.C. transition process that prioritized the hiring of military officials over civilian experts recommended to him by his own team.
Ah, I see. I was fairly concerned about Flynn but not so much anymore. It looks like Bannon is going to be around to mind him which makes the whole thing even more of a mess.
Again, folks, the best way to combat a Bannon type is to ignore them and go about the business of registering voters in key counties in swing states. Let's take all this energy from the protests and turn it into votes in 2018!
In theory, the move put Mr. Bannon, a former Navy surface warfare officer, admiral’s aide, investment banker, Hollywood producer and Breitbart News firebrand, on the same level as his friend, Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, a former Pentagon intelligence chief who was Mr. Trump’s top adviser on national security issues before a series of missteps reduced his influence.
Missteps? Say what?
But Mr. Flynn, a lifelong Democrat sacked as head of the Pentagon’s intelligence arm after clashing with Obama administration officials in 2014, has gotten on the nerves of Mr. Trump and other administration officials because of his sometimes overbearing demeanor, and has further diminished his internal standing by presiding over a chaotic and opaque N.S.C. transition process that prioritized the hiring of military officials over civilian experts recommended to him by his own team.
Ah, I see. I was fairly concerned about Flynn but not so much anymore. It looks like Bannon is going to be around to mind him which makes the whole thing even more of a mess.
Again, folks, the best way to combat a Bannon type is to ignore them and go about the business of registering voters in key counties in swing states. Let's take all this energy from the protests and turn it into votes in 2018!
Sunday, January 29, 2017
When Right Wing Bloggers/Commenters Run Things...
....they fuck them up because they don't know what they are doing. What an absolute cluster fuck the last 24 hours has been with President Trump's latest imperial decree. Nikto has chimed in already but I'd like to point out some facts.
1. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, no one has been killed in the United States in a terrorist attack by anyone who emigrated from or whose parents emigrated from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the seven countries targeted in the order’s 120-day visa ban, according to Charles Kurzman, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina.
What does "no one" mean? It means ZERO FUCKING PEOPLE. So, why is this considered a threat?
Because of the paranoid fever dreams of alternative facts land (aka Right Wing Blogs and Right Wing Blog Commenters).
2. 123 people have been killed in the United States by Muslim terrorists since the 2001 attacks — out of a total of more than 230,000 killings, by gang members, drug dealers, angry spouses, white supremacists, psychopaths, drunks and people of every description. So the order addresses, at most, one-1,870th of the problem of lethal violence in America. If the toll of Sept. 11 is included, jihadists still account for just over 1 percent of killings.
And where are those jihadists from?
Saudi Arabia. Egypt. And, of course, our own country.
Yet there are Trump Inc. business interests in these countries so they get a pass. Wow...
3. The Muslim ban violates the US Constitution, specifically the due process clause of the 5th amendment. Did they get a fair hearing? Nope.
It's also in violation of US federal law itself. The 1965 law, the Immigration and Naturalization Act, clarifies that people should not experience preferences or discrimination on account of their "race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence."
Man oh man, did our new president step in it big time. What a fucking buffoon.
I realize the facts listed above will fall on the deaf ears of those who know only hate, anger, and fear but they need to be aired anyway. We live in a country of immigrants and to haphazardly ban people from coming in based on nonsense is not what we stand for.
Not now.
Not ever.
1. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, no one has been killed in the United States in a terrorist attack by anyone who emigrated from or whose parents emigrated from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the seven countries targeted in the order’s 120-day visa ban, according to Charles Kurzman, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina.
What does "no one" mean? It means ZERO FUCKING PEOPLE. So, why is this considered a threat?
Because of the paranoid fever dreams of alternative facts land (aka Right Wing Blogs and Right Wing Blog Commenters).
2. 123 people have been killed in the United States by Muslim terrorists since the 2001 attacks — out of a total of more than 230,000 killings, by gang members, drug dealers, angry spouses, white supremacists, psychopaths, drunks and people of every description. So the order addresses, at most, one-1,870th of the problem of lethal violence in America. If the toll of Sept. 11 is included, jihadists still account for just over 1 percent of killings.
And where are those jihadists from?
Saudi Arabia. Egypt. And, of course, our own country.
Yet there are Trump Inc. business interests in these countries so they get a pass. Wow...
3. The Muslim ban violates the US Constitution, specifically the due process clause of the 5th amendment. Did they get a fair hearing? Nope.
It's also in violation of US federal law itself. The 1965 law, the Immigration and Naturalization Act, clarifies that people should not experience preferences or discrimination on account of their "race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence."
Man oh man, did our new president step in it big time. What a fucking buffoon.
I realize the facts listed above will fall on the deaf ears of those who know only hate, anger, and fear but they need to be aired anyway. We live in a country of immigrants and to haphazardly ban people from coming in based on nonsense is not what we stand for.
Not now.
Not ever.
Broccoli vs. Mustang Convertible
There have been all kinds of reasons cited for Trump's victory in November: Russian meddling, fake news, the FBI, sexism, racism, etc.
But the real question is why anyone would vote for Donald Trump in the first place. He's unqualified to be president at every level: in terms of competence, emotional stability, experience, even his physical health.
All the things people give as reasons for Trump's win are marginal: they just barely put him over the top. What provided his base of support in the first place?
After some consideration, I have discovered the answer: broccoli vs. the Mustang convertible.
Hillary Clinton -- and all the Republicans who ran against Trump in the primary -- was the mom who tells the kids to eat their broccoli.
She acknowledged real-world problems and offered real solutions.
Donald Trump was the divorced dad trying to win over the kids by promising them all Mustang convertibles.
He promised his core of true believers the moon and vowed to exact petty retribution for every imagined slight they've felt over the last eight years.
In the end, we really do need to eat our broccoli. And the divorced dad will never give us a Mustang convertible.
But the real question is why anyone would vote for Donald Trump in the first place. He's unqualified to be president at every level: in terms of competence, emotional stability, experience, even his physical health.
All the things people give as reasons for Trump's win are marginal: they just barely put him over the top. What provided his base of support in the first place?
After some consideration, I have discovered the answer: broccoli vs. the Mustang convertible.
Hillary Clinton -- and all the Republicans who ran against Trump in the primary -- was the mom who tells the kids to eat their broccoli.
She acknowledged real-world problems and offered real solutions.
Donald Trump was the divorced dad trying to win over the kids by promising them all Mustang convertibles.
He promised his core of true believers the moon and vowed to exact petty retribution for every imagined slight they've felt over the last eight years.
In the end, we really do need to eat our broccoli. And the divorced dad will never give us a Mustang convertible.
Sheer Incompetence
Donald Trump acted on one of his campaign threats on Friday: he instituted a ban on Muslims entering the United States:
The president’s order, enacted with the stroke of a pen at 4:42 p.m. Eastern on Friday, suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.One problem: legal residents of the United States who hold green cards were also banned.
On Saturday, a day after the order was issued, airports were marked by scenes of confusion and protest as officials tried to interpret the order, including how to handle green card holders.So, a day after Trump signed the executive order, Reince Priebus (I always want to call him Prince Rebus) had to walk back half of it:
Around the globe on Saturday, legal residents of the United States who hold valid green cards and approved visas were blocked from boarding planes overseas or detained for hours in American airports.
Mr. Priebus appeared to change that position Sunday morning. “As far as green card holders, moving forward, it doesn’t affect them,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.This is sheer incompetence. These clowns are so oblivious they didn't consider green card holders from those countries until after thousands of people got stuck in airports? Did any thought at all go into writing this executive order? How does Trump expect to run an entire country if he can't get this right?
Federal judges have already issued stays against Trump's order, preventing the deportation of some travelers returning home to the United States.
Now, I know there are bad people out there. But by hurting the good people with stupid and incompetent executive orders, Trump is only serving to alienate the good people and provide more ammunition to the real bad guys. A Trump presidency is a coup for ISIS recruitment.
To further illustrate how oblivious Trump is, he also wrote the following tweet: "Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world - a horrible mess!"
Guess who's responsible for the problem in Europe, Donny boy? Your buddy, Vladimir Putin. By propping up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, instead of helping Europe and Obama take Assad down and prolonging the Syrian civil war for years, Putin has created a huge refugee problem. Putin has strengthened ISIS forces by directly attacking Assad's non-ISIS foes -- who oppose ISIS -- destroying legitimate opposition to Assad and ensuring his survival.
If we want to stop the Syrian refugee problem, we need to take out the guy who's creating refugees: Bashar al-Assad. But Trump's puppet master Putin likes Assad, and Trump apparently does too, prompting Assad to say that Trump is a "natural ally."
Those tin-pot dictators like to stick together, don't they?
Saturday, January 28, 2017
The Definition of A Real Leader
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada
What The People Are Readng
You can always tell the mental state of the public by what they are reading. "1984" is flying off the digital shelves at Amazon as is Sinclari Lewis' book, "It Can Happen Here," which tells the story of a loudmouth populist who wins the presidency but ends up secretly being a fascists dictator (!).
I'm still wondering who is going to be the first in the alt right to cave and recognize that what they have feared for years from liberals is coming true right now with their guy. Were they just fucking posers all along, secretly dreaming of authoritarianism? Or are they just too childish to admit what they have wrought?
I'm still wondering who is going to be the first in the alt right to cave and recognize that what they have feared for years from liberals is coming true right now with their guy. Were they just fucking posers all along, secretly dreaming of authoritarianism? Or are they just too childish to admit what they have wrought?
Friday, January 27, 2017
Yet Another Stomp Down The Hallway (Complete With Door Slam)
So, apparently Steve Bannon had yet another hissy fit yesterday and launched into a very played tirade against the media. Only he knows the truth and the media are all liars blah blah blah....stomp stomp stomp....fuck you dad!! (SLAM!!) Like most adolescents, he does this sort of thing to get a reaction and rile up supporters. His rant, like most right wing bloggers and commenters, smacks most of jealousy and insecurity more than anything else. Why do these guys view themselves as so inadequate?
Bannon's latest outburst made me realize something much larger. It's not just the media that they hate but the entertainment world in general. Why? They have a very deep envy of the elites and that's exactly why they vilify them on a daily basis. Because THEY aren't a part of it. Somewhere along the line in their lives they got dissed by someone who was more successful than they were and petty jealousy took over. They just want to be part of the "Hollywood Club."
So, every time a Meryl Streep or some media giant like the New York Times speaks the truth about the alt right, they not only get pissed about what was said but by who said it: the people who they are massively jealous of every day. My advice to people who get pissed off at Bannon and other right wing bloggers and commenters is to ignore them. That's what I do with teenagers who act up. They just want the attention because they then feel like they are important.
Oh, one more thing. The media and the public in general knows why Trump won. In the following order...
1. Russian Propaganda/Psi-Op
2. Voters as conduits of anger, hate and fear
3. Electoral math
4. Mistakes made by the Clinton Campaign
5. Weak, establishment type candidate who ran in a change/populist year.
The same people that voted for Barack Obama twice voted for Donald Trump. I wonder what Steve Bannon has to say about that.
I'm more interested to see how Bannon is going to take responsibility for what he does. Will he own it when his policies don't work? Or will he continue to blame the media/libtards/everyone else?
Bannon's latest outburst made me realize something much larger. It's not just the media that they hate but the entertainment world in general. Why? They have a very deep envy of the elites and that's exactly why they vilify them on a daily basis. Because THEY aren't a part of it. Somewhere along the line in their lives they got dissed by someone who was more successful than they were and petty jealousy took over. They just want to be part of the "Hollywood Club."
So, every time a Meryl Streep or some media giant like the New York Times speaks the truth about the alt right, they not only get pissed about what was said but by who said it: the people who they are massively jealous of every day. My advice to people who get pissed off at Bannon and other right wing bloggers and commenters is to ignore them. That's what I do with teenagers who act up. They just want the attention because they then feel like they are important.
Oh, one more thing. The media and the public in general knows why Trump won. In the following order...
1. Russian Propaganda/Psi-Op
2. Voters as conduits of anger, hate and fear
3. Electoral math
4. Mistakes made by the Clinton Campaign
5. Weak, establishment type candidate who ran in a change/populist year.
The same people that voted for Barack Obama twice voted for Donald Trump. I wonder what Steve Bannon has to say about that.
I'm more interested to see how Bannon is going to take responsibility for what he does. Will he own it when his policies don't work? Or will he continue to blame the media/libtards/everyone else?
Why Trump Thinks His Inauguration Crowd Was Large
Donald Trump is still whining about the Park Service and the media, claiming that they underestimated his crowd. There's a reason why: Trump was looking at only the rich people and political insiders who had tickets close to the action.
Disagreement about the crowd size is literally a matter of viewpoint -- not different opinions, but different physical vantage points from where the crowd was viewed.
Photos from opposite ends of the National Mall show this quite clearly.
This is Obama's inauguration (from the New York Times), looking at the crowd from the Capitol, from behind where the president was standing. It's a huge crowd that you can see stretches all the way to the Washington Monument at the other end of the mall, more than a mile away.
This is Trump's inauguration from the same vantage point. His crowd doesn't go all the way to the Washington Monument, and has gaps in the middle.
They look pretty much the same, right? Obama's crowd was clearly larger, but it's hard to tell by how much from this viewpoint. The blank spots in Trump's crowd look small because they're at such a shallow angle.
But the fact is, Obama's crowd was so large that is literally impossible to see all it -- from this distance that many people look like so many ants.
You can see why Trump and his cronies insist that his crowd was large. It looked large from where they were standing. Obama's crowd dwarfed Trump's -- Obama's inauguration audience was literally ten times larger: 1.8 million compared to Trump's 160,000.
To see this you need to look at it from the opposite viewpoint: here's the scene from the other end of the National Mall for Obama's inauguration. The entire length of the mall -- a whole mile -- is mostly packed with people for Obama's inauguration.
And here's the scene from Trump's inauguration. There's literally nobody in Trump's crowd near the Washington Monument, while Obama's crowd is so large that it spills off the bottom.
The higher angle of this photo really shows how dense Obama's crowd was compared to Trump's, especially at the furthest reaches from the podium.
That "huge crowd" Trump saw right in front of him stretched only a few hundred yards away, with the most densely packed portion near the podium. Obama's crowd went for an entire mile, with the most densely packed portion of the crowd the furthest away the podium.
This is typical Trump (and typical Republican) behavior. He will point at some picture or reference some anecdote to "prove" his case, then he'll ignore everything else that contradicts him.
The real mystery is why the president of the free world is worried about such nonsense. There are lots of reasons why Obama's crowd was bigger: number one being that he was the first black president, and a lot of black Americans live in and near Washington DC. Clearly, many of them turned out for the historic occasion of Obama's inauguration, while they passed on the inauguration of the man who constantly dissed blacks during a presidential campaign that he ran like a KKK rally.
But that's not the only reason. Trump is really unpopular. Most people who voted for him did so unwillingly. They knew he was a liar and a crook, but they voted for him anyway because a) they thought Hillary was a bigger liar and crook, b) they found him entertaining, c) they wanted to screw over "the elites" (who Trump turned around and nominated to his cabinet), and d) he is a man, and they think only men should be president.
To see how unpopular Trump is, compare his crowd to the crowd that turned out for the women's march the next day, in protest of Trump's inauguration:
This crowd was three times bigger than Trump's inauguration crowd (many people were in the street in this photo).
To make it worse, that same day Trump went to Langley to mend fences with the CIA after rejecting daily intelligence briefings prepared by the CIA and bashing intelligence agencies over their report on Russian interference in the US election. He gave a speech in front of the the Memorial Wall dedicated to CIA personnel who died in service of their country.
But instead of remembering the fallen, Trump bragged about himself and whined about media lies, again insisting his crowd size was bigger than Obama's. Current and former CIA employees were not pleased.
The CIA conducts this kind of analysis on surveillance photos to determine what's going on in other countries all the time. They will look at these photos and they will make their own expert judgments about who is right and who is wrong.
A president cannot function without accurate intelligence. Trump rejects intelligence, dismisses facts and antagonizes the people who provide him with both.
George Bush ignored explicit intelligence warnings about Al Qaeda activities in the first nine months of his presidency. Trump has blamed Bush for 9/11.
Given all these factors, the American people should have no patience for Trump's excuses if there's another terrorist attack. Especially after we find out that it was called out in a report that Trump couldn't be bothered to read.
Disagreement about the crowd size is literally a matter of viewpoint -- not different opinions, but different physical vantage points from where the crowd was viewed.
Photos from opposite ends of the National Mall show this quite clearly.
This is Obama's inauguration (from the New York Times), looking at the crowd from the Capitol, from behind where the president was standing. It's a huge crowd that you can see stretches all the way to the Washington Monument at the other end of the mall, more than a mile away.
This is Trump's inauguration from the same vantage point. His crowd doesn't go all the way to the Washington Monument, and has gaps in the middle.
They look pretty much the same, right? Obama's crowd was clearly larger, but it's hard to tell by how much from this viewpoint. The blank spots in Trump's crowd look small because they're at such a shallow angle.
But the fact is, Obama's crowd was so large that is literally impossible to see all it -- from this distance that many people look like so many ants.
You can see why Trump and his cronies insist that his crowd was large. It looked large from where they were standing. Obama's crowd dwarfed Trump's -- Obama's inauguration audience was literally ten times larger: 1.8 million compared to Trump's 160,000.
To see this you need to look at it from the opposite viewpoint: here's the scene from the other end of the National Mall for Obama's inauguration. The entire length of the mall -- a whole mile -- is mostly packed with people for Obama's inauguration.
And here's the scene from Trump's inauguration. There's literally nobody in Trump's crowd near the Washington Monument, while Obama's crowd is so large that it spills off the bottom.
The higher angle of this photo really shows how dense Obama's crowd was compared to Trump's, especially at the furthest reaches from the podium.
That "huge crowd" Trump saw right in front of him stretched only a few hundred yards away, with the most densely packed portion near the podium. Obama's crowd went for an entire mile, with the most densely packed portion of the crowd the furthest away the podium.
This is typical Trump (and typical Republican) behavior. He will point at some picture or reference some anecdote to "prove" his case, then he'll ignore everything else that contradicts him.
The real mystery is why the president of the free world is worried about such nonsense. There are lots of reasons why Obama's crowd was bigger: number one being that he was the first black president, and a lot of black Americans live in and near Washington DC. Clearly, many of them turned out for the historic occasion of Obama's inauguration, while they passed on the inauguration of the man who constantly dissed blacks during a presidential campaign that he ran like a KKK rally.
But that's not the only reason. Trump is really unpopular. Most people who voted for him did so unwillingly. They knew he was a liar and a crook, but they voted for him anyway because a) they thought Hillary was a bigger liar and crook, b) they found him entertaining, c) they wanted to screw over "the elites" (who Trump turned around and nominated to his cabinet), and d) he is a man, and they think only men should be president.
To see how unpopular Trump is, compare his crowd to the crowd that turned out for the women's march the next day, in protest of Trump's inauguration:
This crowd was three times bigger than Trump's inauguration crowd (many people were in the street in this photo).
To make it worse, that same day Trump went to Langley to mend fences with the CIA after rejecting daily intelligence briefings prepared by the CIA and bashing intelligence agencies over their report on Russian interference in the US election. He gave a speech in front of the the Memorial Wall dedicated to CIA personnel who died in service of their country.
But instead of remembering the fallen, Trump bragged about himself and whined about media lies, again insisting his crowd size was bigger than Obama's. Current and former CIA employees were not pleased.
The CIA conducts this kind of analysis on surveillance photos to determine what's going on in other countries all the time. They will look at these photos and they will make their own expert judgments about who is right and who is wrong.
A president cannot function without accurate intelligence. Trump rejects intelligence, dismisses facts and antagonizes the people who provide him with both.
George Bush ignored explicit intelligence warnings about Al Qaeda activities in the first nine months of his presidency. Trump has blamed Bush for 9/11.
Given all these factors, the American people should have no patience for Trump's excuses if there's another terrorist attack. Especially after we find out that it was called out in a report that Trump couldn't be bothered to read.
First Regrets
I have a friend named Bill who owns a manufacturing concern here in the Twin Cities. His hatred of Hillary Clinton was so all consuming that he voted for Trump. He tried a few times to defend him and has always voted Republican but after Trump's first week in office, Bill has finally started expressing regret. Why?
Beer, snacks and cars: How a 20% Mexico tariff could cost US shoppers
President Trump wants so slap a 20% tariff on goods coming from Mexico and use the money to pay for his wall. As any economist knows, this would be a disaster for our country and for Mexico.
Bill can't believe it. His main client has a plant down in Mexico. If there ever actually is a tariff, this client will lose millions of dollars and, thus, Bill will be out of business. I gave him a call yesterday to hear his comments on Trump's announcement.
"Crazy," he said. "What was I thinking? At least with Hillary, I had just another crooked politician. This...this is erratic."
I had explained to him many times during the campaign that this is what Trump was going to do. Bill didn't believe me. He thought Trump was just saying those things and wouldn't really follow through.
I suspect this will be the first of many regrets...:)
Beer, snacks and cars: How a 20% Mexico tariff could cost US shoppers
President Trump wants so slap a 20% tariff on goods coming from Mexico and use the money to pay for his wall. As any economist knows, this would be a disaster for our country and for Mexico.
Bill can't believe it. His main client has a plant down in Mexico. If there ever actually is a tariff, this client will lose millions of dollars and, thus, Bill will be out of business. I gave him a call yesterday to hear his comments on Trump's announcement.
"Crazy," he said. "What was I thinking? At least with Hillary, I had just another crooked politician. This...this is erratic."
I had explained to him many times during the campaign that this is what Trump was going to do. Bill didn't believe me. He thought Trump was just saying those things and wouldn't really follow through.
I suspect this will be the first of many regrets...:)
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