[QUOTE=ewmayer;458692]Note that I'm not saying the whistleblowers *should* be in jail - quite the opposite, there are longstanding legal exceptions to such laws when the 'illegal dissemination' is done in order to expose government wrongdoing - cf. the Vietnam-war-era Pentagon Papers or the Snowden NSA leaks.[/QUOTE]
I object! The "Pentagon Papers" case not only went forward, but the defendants were explicitly barred from any kind of legal defense based on explaining [i]why[/i] they leaked the documents. I believe the distinction in the present instance is that between sending documents by E-mail to a friend, and getting them published in the New York Times or WikiLeaks. This goes to the issue of "criminal intent" to "disseminate" the documents.

The reason the defendants in the Pentagon Papers case walked, was much more in line with the idea of not getting a fair trial. The judge ruled (May 11, 1973) that government misconduct in the case had been so egregious as to preclude the possibility of the defendants [i]ever[/i] getting a fair trial. Case dismissed.

Judge Byrne himself did not go unscathed -- he met twice with top Nixon aide John Ehrlichman during the trial. During those meetings, Ehrlichman offered him the job of -- wait for it -- [i]Director of the FBI![/i]

From the judge's [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011401165.html]obituary[/url]
[quote]In the midst of Ellsberg's trial, the case took a number of bizarre twists. The first, on April 26, 1973, came in the form of a disclosure by the government prosecutor that White House operatives had burglarized the Beverly Hills office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist. The burglars, led by G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, were not apprehended until after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington nine months later.

But just days after the disclosure in Judge Byrne's courtroom, Nixon's two top lieutenants -- John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman -- resigned, along with acting attorney general Richard G. Kleindienst. White House counsel John Dean was fired.

A few days later, another disturbing revelation came from the judge himself. He disclosed in court that he had had two recent contacts with Ehrlichman, who had offered him a job -- director of the FBI. Although Ehrlichman later testified before the Senate Watergate Committee that Judge Byrne had expressed interest in the FBI job, the judge insisted that he had told the Nixon aide he could not discuss any job offer while the Ellsberg trial was underway.

The trial was shaken again on May 9 when Judge Byrne learned of yet another impropriety: The FBI had secretly taped telephone conversations between Ellsberg and Morton Halperin, who had supervised the Pentagon Papers study.

When the government claimed it had lost all relevant records of the wiretapping, Judge Byrne declared a mistrial on May 11, 1973.

"The totality of the circumstances of this case which I have only briefly sketched offend a sense of justice," Byrne told the court that day. "The bizarre events have incurably infected the prosecution of this case."[/quote]

FWIW my all-time favorite instance of "national security" secrecy also occurred during the Vietnam War. The Nixon Administration had decided to give North Vietnam (and therefore the USSR) the information required to clear the mines we had put in Haiphong harbor. However, this information was [i]not[/i] made public "for national security reasons."

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;458727]I object! The "Pentagon Papers" case not only went forward, but the defendants were explicitly barred from any kind of legal defense based on explaining [i]why[/i] they leaked the documents.[/QUOTE]

Thanks - in fact the Jim Haygood link I gave at end of my post is precisely about that travesty - banged together a bunch of material in haste last night, I'm afraid. "Ellsberg *should have* been properly treated as a whistleblower" was the point I was trying to make, but botched rather badly.

[URL="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/332889-trump-tells-economist-he-invented-the-phrase-priming-the-pump"]Trump tells The Economist he invented the phrase 'priming the pump'[/URL]
[QUOTE]President Trump in an interview published Thursday said he invented the phrase “priming the pump,” a common saying used in economics.

[B]“Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just… I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It’s what you have to do,” [/B]Trump said during an interview with editors for The Economist.[/QUOTE]

Catch phrases frequently repeated and tweets. A modern communication battery.

[url=https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-expected-pick-for-top-usda-scientist-is-not-a-scientist]Trump’s Expected Pick for Top USDA Scientist is not a Scientist[/url] | ProPublica
[quote] The USDA’s research section studies everything from climate change to nutrition. Under the 2008 Farm Bill, its leader is supposed to serve as the agency’s “chief scientist” and be chosen “from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics.”

But Sam Clovis – who, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment and members of the agriculture trade press, is President Trump’s pick to oversee the section — appears to have no such credentials.

Clovis has never taken a graduate course in science and is openly skeptical of climate change. While he has a doctorate in public administration and was a tenured professor of business and public policy at Morningside College for 10 years, he has published almost no academic work. …

Clovis has a B.S. in political science from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an MBA from Golden State University and a doctorate in public administration from the University of Alabama. The University of Alabama canceled the program the year after Clovis graduated, but an old course catalogue provided by the university does not indicate the program required any science courses.

Clovis’ published works do not appear to include any scientific papers. His 2006 dissertation concerned federalism and homeland security preparation, and a search for academic research published by Clovis turned up a handful of journal articles, all related to national security and terrorism….[/quote]
Hey, look - he's got a degree in political science - as the discipline's name implies, that's a *kind* of science, right?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;458879][url=https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-expected-pick-for-top-usda-scientist-is-not-a-scientist]Trump’s Expected Pick for Top USDA Scientist is not a Scientist[/url] | ProPublica

Hey, look - he's got a degree in political science - as the discipline's name implies, that's a *kind* of science, right?[/QUOTE]

That's not it. USDA is about plants. Well, I say he's a [i]plant[/i]!

Oh, I know where this is going. We already saw that in the U.S.S.R.
This is the American reinvention of [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism"]Lysenkoism[/URL].
For U.S.S.R., of course, this did wonders.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;458879][url=https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-expected-pick-for-top-usda-scientist-is-not-a-scientist]Trump’s Expected Pick for Top USDA Scientist is not a Scientist[/url] | ProPublica

Hey, look - he's got a degree in political science - as the discipline's name implies, that's a *kind* of science, right?[/QUOTE]

any body of knowledge is a science as all science means is knowledge technology is the application of it. I think what you mean is he's not a natural scientist. he could fully fit a social scientist definition I bet.

Fortunately we can go to the experts for unscientific gut-theorizing because we can rely on Trump's expert opinions:
[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-thinks-that-exercising-too-much-uses-up-the-bodys-finite-energy/2017/05/12/bb0b9bda-365d-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html"]Trump thinks that exercising too much uses up the body’s ‘finite’ energy[/URL]

Trump has this energy situation covered with an extra scoop of ice cream at dinner and we can stop wasting money by trying to get kids to eat a nutritious lunch.

[QUOTE=only_human;459017]Fortunately we can go to the experts for unscientific gut-theorizing because we can rely on Trump's expert opinions:
[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-thinks-that-exercising-too-much-uses-up-the-bodys-finite-energy/2017/05/12/bb0b9bda-365d-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html"]Trump thinks that exercising too much uses up the body’s ‘finite’ energy[/URL]

Trump has this energy situation covered with an extra scoop of ice cream at dinner and we can stop wasting money by trying to get kids to eat a nutritious lunch.[/QUOTE]
Precious bodily fluids, anyone?

[QUOTE=only_human;459017]Fortunately we can go to the experts for unscientific gut-theorizing because we can rely on Trump's expert opinions:
[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-thinks-that-exercising-too-much-uses-up-the-bodys-finite-energy/2017/05/12/bb0b9bda-365d-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html"]Trump thinks that exercising too much uses up the body’s ‘finite’ energy[/URL][/QUOTE]

Well, there *is* irreversible mitochondrial degradation associated with metabolism ... whether that outweighs the many positive benefits of exercise in terms of energy-level in old age is an interesting question. Evolution didn't select for humans to live much past 40, so there could be counterintuitive aspects to our modern longer lifestyles. Links to scientific studies in this area welcome! (At least outside the White House.)

There was an [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/05/links-51317.html#comment-2815497]interesting discussion on NC yesterday[/url] about the distinction between a congenital liar and a bullshitter, and where DT falls in that dualism.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;459023]There was an [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/05/links-51317.html#comment-2815497]interesting discussion on NC yesterday[/url] about the distinction between a congenital liar and a bullshitter, and where DT falls in that dualism.[/QUOTE]

Interesting? It's ludicrous:

[b]allan[/b]
May 13, 2017 at 10:19 am
[quote](quoting MoiAussie) [quote][i]Does anyone have any examples of where it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that Trump has publicly lied on a matter of substance since the election?[/i][/quote]

I have limited time, and multiple links would invoke the wrath of the-net-that-must-not-be-named,
but off the top of my head:

1. Describing the creations of the Grand Staircase-Escalante (Clinton) and Bears Ears (Obama) National Monuments as “land grabs”. The lands in question had been federal since before Utah became a state.

2. Saying that the U.S. has a multibillion dollar trade deficit with Canada when in fact it has a surplus. This might seem like nitpicking, but in the context of choosing which countries to go after in terms of trade, it matters.

3. In his Feb. 28 address to Congress, he stated, “We will provide massive tax relief for the middle class. ” All credible analyses of his tax plan show that it does not.

4. Claiming that the murder rate is the highest in 47 years, when in fact, although it has ticked up in the last couple of years, it is half the level of 1995.

Enough already.[/quote]

[b]MoiAussie[/b]
May 13, 2017 at 10:33 am
[quote]Thanks, but with the exception of 3, all these could be examples of him being mistaken, rather than lying. Lying is saying something knowing it to be wrong. I imagine he often believes incorrect things he has heard or read. I was hoping for examples that clearly demonstrate lying, rather than merely being wrong.[/quote]

[b]MoiAussie[/b]'s attempt to circumscribe the notion of lying is complete BS. It is not "merely being wrong" for the U.S. President to make untrue statements about his own program and policies, or about facts which are publicly available, and which are the basis for policies and actions. Besides, what if, as Ted Cruz said just before the Indiana Primary, Trump is so pathological that he [i]actually believes[/i] his lies when he is uttering them? Is it really OK for the President to make statements which are contrary to fact because he's "merely" delusional?

It is also BS to try to restrict discussion of Trump's lies to after the election, or to suggest that Trump's pre-election lies were only "about business." His status as "Birther-in-Chief" is due to his repeating the same defamatory nonsense about his predecessor for years. Was that "about business?" I think not. He elaborated on the basic lie with others, saying for example that he had sent investigators to Hawaii. He hadn't. Or what about Trump's claim that Ted Cruz's father was somehow involved in the JFK assassination? It is absolute BS to pretend that the man somehow might have undergone a miraculous transformation of character on Election Day, so that all his lies before then somehow "don't count."

Saying that The Donald [i]might actually believe[/i] falsities when he utters them, or that there's no definitive proof that he doesn't believe them, is simply craven bootlicking. We all have a responsibility, by common decency, no refrain from making defamatory statements about others without regard for whether they're true. The Ninth Commandment's proscription [i]Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor[/i] applies to passing on rumors and gossip without regard to whether they're true, every bit as much as it does to willfully making false criminal accusations. There's a concept in libel law of "reckless disregard for the truth." It can mean knowingly making a false defamatory statement. But it can [i]also[/i] mean, making a false defamatory statement, and not knowing it's false [i]only[/i] because you didn't bother checking. In other words, you [i]should[/i] have known, and didn't know only because you didn't care.

I think a similar standard applies to a public official making policy decisions or public statements. There is a responsibility of due diligence to at least get the basic facts right.

BTW, there is now a presidential commission to "investigate" election fraud. You may recall the assertion that Hillary won the popular vote only because "millions" of people voted illegally. Since there isn't a scintilla of evidence to support this assertion, both Congress and DOJ declined to investigate the assertion. But POTUS can always appoint a commission...

He has yet to appoint a commission to "investigate" the claim that vaccines cause autism. Or that the sun rises in the west...

Perhaps I believe the following is from Trump's inauguration speech, somehow cleverly hidden in the [url=http://www.tenislosalcazares.com/fgi/cine/bananasenglish.pdf]script for Woody Allen's [i]Bananas[/i][/url]. If I am mistaken, it's an understandable mistake.

[quote]Hear me. I am your new president. From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now 16 years old.[/quote]

I just now searched on: пресидент д трамп

I saw this spelling a few days ago on a tweet of pictures of the Russian visitors to the Oval Office. Anyway just now I got a kick out of how Google pulls up a POTUS summary without a hiccup.

Today Politico is talking more about how Trump reacts to things placed in front of him:
"[URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/donald-trump-fake-news-238379"]How Trump gets his fake news[/URL] - The president rarely surfs the web on his own, but his staff have made a habit of slipping news stories on to his desk—including the occasional internet hoax."
[QUOTE]White House chief of staff Reince Priebus issued a stern warning at a recent senior staff meeting: Quit trying to secretly slip stuff to President Donald Trump.

Just days earlier, K.T. McFarland, the deputy national security adviser, had given Trump a printout of two Time magazine covers. One, supposedly from the 1970s, warned of a coming ice age; the other, from 2008, about surviving global warming, according to four White House officials familiar with the matter.

Trump quickly got lathered up about the media’s hypocrisy. But there was a problem. The 1970s cover was fake, part of an internet hoax that’s circulated for years. Staff chased down the truth and intervened before Trump tweeted or talked publicly about it.

The episode illustrates the impossible mission of managing a White House led by an impetuous president who has resisted structure and strictures his entire adult life.

While the information stream to past commanders in chief has been tightly monitored, Trump prefers an open Oval Office with a free flow of ideas and inputs from both official and unofficial channels. And he often does not differentiate between the two. Aides sometimes slip him stories to press their advantage on policy; other times they do so to gain an edge in the seemingly endless Game of Thrones inside the West Wing.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=only_human;459066]Today Politico is talking more about how Trump reacts to things placed in front of him:
"[URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/donald-trump-fake-news-238379"]How Trump gets his fake news[/URL] - The president rarely surfs the web on his own, but his staff have made a habit of slipping news stories on to his desk—including the occasional internet hoax."[/QUOTE]
Curiously, the article makes no mention of Fox News, Breitbart, or Infowars.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459083]Curiously, the article makes no mention of Fox News, Breitbart, or Infowars.[/QUOTE]

That is curious. They are providing an incomplete picture. Perhaps they just didn't have the courage or conviction to mention problematic media sources that Trump has been known to listen to. It goes against the article's narrative that Trump sees the world through the lens provided by his handlers. It's pretty clear that he has in the past has tweeted shortly after seeing some media segment.

[URL="http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/ar-BBBaGdi"]Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador[/URL]

[QUOTE]The information Trump relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.

The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said that Trump’s decision to do so risks cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State.
[...]

The identification of the location was seen as particularly problematic, officials said, because Russia could use that detail to help identify the U.S. ally or intelligence capability involved. Officials said that the capability could be useful for other purposes, possibly providing intelligence on Russia’s presence in Syria. Moscow and would be keenly interested in identifying that source and possibly disrupting it.
[/QUOTE]

Been confirmed by some unnamed White House officials as well to Buzzfeed news after WaPo's initial break.

They don't seem to be locking information down very well.

This mentions that Trump's bodyguard was photographed carrying a stack of papers with a visible sticky note with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' private cellphone number discernible on top.
[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/05/15/when-president-trumps-bodyguard-revealed-jim-mattiss-private-cellphone-number/"]When President Trump’s bodyguard revealed Jim Mattis’s private cellphone number[/URL]

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459083]Curiously, the article makes no mention of Fox News, Breitbart, or Infowars.[/QUOTE]

Nor of WaPo, NYT, MSNBC, or CNN - perhaps because while those are all notorious fake-news promulgators, POTUS doesn't read them?

[QUOTE=wombatman;459087][URL="http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/ar-BBBaGdi"]Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador[/URL]

Been confirmed by some unnamed White House officials as well to Buzzfeed news after WaPo's initial break.[/QUOTE]

Among all the 'unnamed officials expressed shock and worry!' alarmism, note the non sequitur:
[i]
'For most anyone in government discussing such matters [b]with an adversary[/b] would be illegal. As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law.
...
[b]Russia and the United States both regard the Islamic State as an enemy and share limited information about terrorist threats[/b]. But the two nations have competing agendas in Syria, where Moscow has deployed military assets and personnel to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
[/i]
So we're frenemies w.r.to fighting the US-created ISIS threat, but our competing agenda involves palling around with our Al Qaeda 'allies' whose ongoing anti-regime campaign allows ISIS to operate and enjoy a steady supply of recruits and weapons, as well as ensuring a steady supply of refugees to our EU allies. Gotcha.

foreignpolicy.com has an article about how the upcoming NATO summit is being regeared for a shorter attention span.
[URL="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/15/nato-frantically-tries-to-trump-proof-presidents-first-visit-alliance-europe-brussels/"]NATO Frantically Tries to Trump-Proof President’s First Visit[/URL]
[QUOTE]“It’s kind of ridiculous how they are preparing to deal with Trump,” said one source briefed extensively on the meeting’s preparations. “It’s like they’re preparing to deal with a child — someone with a short attention span and mood who has no knowledge of NATO, no interest in in-depth policy issues, nothing,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They’re freaking out.”[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=wombatman;459087][URL="http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/ar-BBBaGdi"]Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador[/URL][/QUOTE]
My favorite part of the story:
[quote]A Russian photographer took photos of part of the session that were released by the Russian state-owned Tass news agency. No U.S. news organization was allowed to attend any part of the meeting.[/quote]
Of course, our great friends the Russians would never, [i]ever[/i] use an opportunity like that to do something like plant a bug in the Oval Office.

For the benefit of analysts who have of late been racking their brains trying to figure out Trump's thinking, I offer the following [url=https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/da3a6416-b60a-4e11-a41b-2459f7ceaf56]explanation[/url]

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459099]My favorite part of the story:

Of course, our great friends the Russians would never, [i]ever[/i] use an opportunity like that to do something like plant a bug in the Oval Office.

For the benefit of analysts who have of late been racking their brains trying to figure out Trump's thinking, I offer the following [url=https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/da3a6416-b60a-4e11-a41b-2459f7ceaf56]explanation[/url][/QUOTE]

I dunno -- it's hilarious (in a comedic tragedy sort of way) that the classified information was spilled because Trump was bragging about how he had the best intelligence gathering.

[YOUTUBE]HiHN3IJ_j8A[/YOUTUBE]

afp news
[quote][URL="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash"]#[B]BREAKING[/B][/URL] Trump to give speech on Islam in Saudi Arabia: White House[/quote]
[youtube]Fhl4oKvxphs[/youtube]

[QUOTE=wombatman;459117]I dunno -- it's hilarious (in a comedic tragedy sort of way) that the classified information was spilled because Trump was bragging about how he had the best intelligence gathering.[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38846022]Jack Barsky[/url], former KGB "sleeper agent," commented as follows on MSNBC last night:

"I have never seen anything like this in my life. It plays out like a cartoon, but this cartoon ain't funny."

From the [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html?utm_term=.378557dd2929]Washington Post story[/url]:[quote]After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.[/quote]

Also, General McMaster said in a non-denial denial after the story broke that "sources and methods were not discussed." The Washington Post story never claimed that they had been. Rather, the story was that Trump gave enough details (such as the city where the ISIS plot was detected) that Russia would likely be able to determine what country had developed the intel originally*; also, given the nature of the plot (apparently to get a bomb concealed in a laptop onto a commercial airliner), the plotters will know their plan is compromised, and could find and plug their leak. And, perhaps, change their [i]modus operandi[/i].

*They won't have to. As first reported in [url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/world/middleeast/israel-trump-classified-intelligence-russia.html?_r=0]The New York Times[/url], and is now all over creation, Israel was the original source. And Jerusalem, Israel is on the itinerary of The Donald's upcoming trip. Right after Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459159]And Jerusalem, Israel is on the itinerary of The Donald's upcoming trip. Right after Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[/QUOTE]

This is a bit like watching a train wreck, in slow motion, in real time.

The world is supposed to trust the United States of America for it's stability.

But for some reason we find some difficulty doing so.

Speaking about slow motion train wrecks we could use more detailed timestamps for after action reports and forensics. Today the New York Times is reporting that Trump asked Comey to shut down the Flynn investigation the day after Flynn was fired.
[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html"]Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation[/URL]
[QUOTE]WASHINGTON — President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.

“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.

The existence of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.

Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation. An F.B.I. agent’s contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=only_human;459161]Today the New York Times is reporting that Trump asked Comey to shut down the Flynn investigation the day after Flynn was fired.
[/QUOTE]

You guys hired (read: elected) this twit.

At least the Canadian Prime Minister has good hair.

This latest revelation about FBI interference is of course already denied by the ever less credible White House.

The world is a massive flight recorder for the fledgling USS Don Cheeto. Too bad flight recorders have to participate in the crash.

[QUOTE=only_human;459166]Too bad flight recorders have to participate in the crash.[/QUOTE]

But, the flight recorders (also known as the "Black Boxes" even though they are red) are designed to survive such crashes.

May we live in interesting times.

[QUOTE=only_human;459161]Speaking about slow motion train wrecks we could use more detailed timestamps for after action reports and forensics. Today the New York Times is reporting that Trump asked Comey to shut down the Flynn investigation the day after Flynn was fired.
[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html"]Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation[/URL][/QUOTE]
On 11 May 2017, at 6:59 PM, @matthewamiller (Matthew Miller, former Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the Department of Justice) tweeted: [quote]One thing I learned at DOJ about Comey: he leaves a protective paper trail whenever he deems something inappropriate happened. Stay tuned.[/quote]

On 12 May 2017, at 5:26 AM, @realDonaldTrump (Donald J. Trump) tweeted:[quote]James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press![/quote]

Anyone here ever read [u]QB VII[/u] by Leon Uris? First thing I thought of when I saw Trump's tweet was, "[i]He[/i] better hope [i]Comey[/i] didn't make his [i]own[/i] recordings!" Perhaps he didn't, but what he [i]did[/i] do sounds good enough...

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459189]On 11 May 2017, at 6:59 PM, @matthewamiller (Matthew Miller, former Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the Department of Justice) tweeted:

On 12 May 2017, at 5:26 AM, @realDonaldTrump (Donald J. Trump) tweeted:

Anyone here ever read [u]QB VII[/u] by Leon Uris? First thing I thought of when I saw Trump's tweet was, "[i]He[/i] better hope [i]Comey[/i] didn't make his [i]own[/i] recordings!" Perhaps he didn't, but what he [i]did[/i] do sounds good enough...[/QUOTE]
I didn't read that but the exchange I'm reminded of is in [I]The Princess Bride[/I]:
[url]http://www.moviequotedb.com/movies/princess-bride-the/quote_30414.html[/url]
[QUOTE]Inigo Montoya: You are wonderful!
Man in Black: Thank you. I've worked hard to become so.
Inigo Montoya: I admit it. You are better than I am.
Man in Black: Then why are you smiling?
Inigo Montoya: Because I know something you don't know.
Man in Black: And what is that?
Inigo Montoya: I am not left-handed! [switches to fighting with his right hand]
[The two continue to fight, until the Man in Black is backed against the cliff edge]
Man in Black: You're amazing!
Inigo Montoya: I ought to be, after twenty years.
Man in Black: There's something I ought to tell you.
Inigo Montoya: Tell me.
Man in Black: I'm not left-handed either. [switches his sword to his right hand][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459189]On 11 May 2017, at 6:59 PM, @matthewamiller (Matthew Miller, former Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the Department of Justice) tweeted:

On 12 May 2017, at 5:26 AM, @realDonaldTrump (Donald J. Trump) tweeted:[/QUOTE]

:popcorn:

[URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-trip-idUSKCN18D0C7"]Embroiled in controversies, Trump seeks boost on foreign trip[/URL]

When informing the president about issues, another trick to keep his attention focused:
[QUOTE]National Security Council officials have strategically included Trump's name in "as many paragraphs as we can because he keeps reading if he's mentioned," according to one source, who relayed conversations he had with NSC officials.[/QUOTE]

It is less than one month until the president's birthday on June 14th. Time to start selecting appropriate gifts.

[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/08/27/personalized-books_n_8050776.html"]Personalized Books: 10 Best Story Books That Feature Your Kids![/URL]
[QUOTE]One of the most special gifts you can give a child is a personalized name book. Not only this encourage them to read, but it will make them feel like a star. With so much selection, how do you know which personalized stories are worth the cost? We found the 10 best stories your kids will want to read over and over again.[/QUOTE]

If he likes to read his own name, perhaps in the spirit of Sam I Am,
someone can pen a copy of "Trump. I Ump."

[QUOTE=davar55;459290]If he likes to read his own name, perhaps in the spirit of Sam I Am,
someone can pen a copy of "Trump. I Ump."[/QUOTE]
ROFLMAO!

[QUOTE=only_human;459224][URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-trip-idUSKCN18D0C7"]Embroiled in controversies, Trump seeks boost on foreign trip[/URL]

When informing the president about issues, another trick to keep his attention focused:
[quote]National Security Council officials have strategically included Trump's name in "as many paragraphs as we can because he keeps reading if he's mentioned," according to one source, who relayed conversations he had with NSC officials.[/quote][/QUOTE]

Somehow, this reminds me of the Gary Larson "The Far Side" cartoon, shown, for example, [url=https://desertdemocrat.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/blah-blah-blah-blah-ginger/]here[/url].

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;459338]Somehow, this reminds me of the Gary Larson "The Far Side" cartoon, shown, for example, [url=https://desertdemocrat.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/blah-blah-blah-blah-ginger/]here[/url].[/QUOTE]
That article is interesting to me about a dog's head turning direction being influenced by word recognition. Tails have a wag asymmetry based on a familiar individual vs. a stranger [URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131031124916.htm"]Dogs know a left-sided wag from a right[/URL].

Both of these are affected by brain organization but only the tail motion is mentioned in this wiki: [URL="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_communication"]Dog communication[/URL] (ref. 18)

I haven't delved into president Trump's tells very much. I started watching his hands only after noticing the SNL parody first. That is despite my having extra attention on hands from ASL lessons. Lately I've noticed a head tilt with Kellyanne Conway when something pisses her off.

[QUOTE=only_human;459066]...
Today Politico is talking more about how Trump reacts to things placed in front of him:
"[URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/donald-trump-fake-news-238379"]How Trump gets his fake news[/URL] - The president rarely surfs the web on his own, but his staff have made a habit of slipping news stories on to his desk—including the occasional internet hoax."


[QUOTE]White House chief of staff Reince Priebus issued a stern warning at a recent senior staff meeting: Quit trying to secretly slip stuff to President Donald Trump.

Just days earlier, [B]K.T. McFarland, the deputy national security adviser, had given Trump a printout of two Time magazine covers. One, supposedly from the 1970s, warned of a coming ice age[/B]; the other, from 2008, about surviving global warming, according to four White House officials familiar with the matter.

Trump quickly got lathered up about the media’s hypocrisy. But there was a problem. The 1970s cover was fake, part of an internet hoax that’s circulated for years. Staff chased down the truth and intervened before Trump tweeted or talked publicly about it.
[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]
Finally K.T. McFarland has been sidelined.
[URL="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/334331-trump-nominates-mcfarland-for-singapore-ambassador"]Trump nominates KT McFarland for Singapore ambassador[/URL]
[QUOTE]Reports circulated last month that McFarland had been asked to step down from the National Security Council (NSC). She has been the rumored pick for the Singapore ambassadorship for over a month.

McFarland was tapped for the No. 2 job on the NSC in November, shortly after Trump's electoral victory. She served under former national security adviser Michael Flynn until his controversial ouster in February.[/QUOTE]
edit: add wiki.
[url]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._T._McFarland[/url]
[QUOTE]On April 9, 2017 it was reported that McFarland had been asked to step down from her position as Deputy National Security Advisor, after serving for less than 3 months, and had been offered a position as the United States Ambassador to Singapore.[48] The move came about as the result of the desires of both McMaster and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly.[49] According to an unnamed administration official, McFarland had proved to not be a good fit for the role she was in.[49] However McFarland said she viewed the move in a positive light, as a "promotion".[42] She would remain as Deputy National Security Advisor for some amount of time,[48] although probably not all the way until her planned ambassadorial confirmation.[50] McFarland was hardly alone, as an unusually large number of higher-level appointees failed to maintain position during the initial months of the administration's existence.[51]

The shuffle was supposed to take place in a fortnight, but that intention did not work out,[52] and after a month went by the shift had still not happened, reportedly waiting for McMaster to select a replacement for McFarland.[53] McFarland continued to perform some duties during this time, such as meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia.[54] By at least one early-mid May report, the timing of her departure was less certain than ever.[54] And according to another report, McFarland was still in favor with the chief executive, who did not understand why it was needed for her to depart.[55] Her activities during this period included slipping the chief executive an identified Internet hoax and purporting it as reality.[56] But then it was reported that Ricky L. Waddell would be her successor; like many of the admin's other national security appointments, he is a general of the military.[57] Finally on May 19, 2017, the nomination of McFarland to be Ambassador to Singapore was officially announced.[58][/QUOTE]

Trump's guestbook message at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum [URL="http://www.politico.com/gallery/2017/05/22/photos-donald-trump-israel-visit-002438?slide=0"][1][/URL]:
[QUOTE]IT iS A gReAT
HONOR TO Be HeRe WiTH
ALL OF MY FRienDS —
SO AMAZiNg + WiLL NeVeR FORGeT!
[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/donald-trump-makes-the-wrong-impression-yad-vashem"][2][/URL]
[QUOTE]Raoul Wootliff, a reporter for the Times of Israel, posted on Twitter, “He forgot: ‘See you next summer.’”

It wasn’t long before observers started comparing Trump’s “so amazing” message with the one Barack Obama left when he visited the memorial in July 2008.

“I am grateful to Yad Vashem and all of those responsible for this remarkable institution,” Obama’s note in the guest book read. “At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man’s potential for great evil, but also our capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world.”

Obama’s message continued: “Let our children come here, and know this history, so that they can add their voices to proclaim ‘never again.’ And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.”[/QUOTE]

Ah yes, the O-man was always a master of the soaring rhetoric™. Not to mention the practical aspect that by international law, crimes against humanity must be forgiven when couched in such.

My personal fave wacky pic from DT's serial-ring-kissing trip was the glowing-orb one with the Saudis. That one prompted an [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/05/200pm-water-cooler-5232017.html#comment-2820239]amusing discussion on NC[/url].

Joseph Stiglitz on Trump's budget
 

[QUOTE]You could say it’s a collection of lies put together.[/QUOTE]
Additional comments by me would be repetitive.
[url]https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/24/economist_joseph_stiglitz_trumps_budget_takes[/url]

The news is playing up that president Trump rode a golf cart at the G7 summit:
[URL="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335424-trump-rode-golf-cart-while-g7-leaders-walked-through-siciliy"]Trump rode golf cart while G7 leaders walked through Sicily[/URL]

With this distinguished gentleman, news cycles date faster than dog years but I still remembered that president Trump also rode another golf cart on another non-golfing excursion earlier during this overseas journey:
[URL="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/334421-trump-stops-by-toby-keith-concert-in-golf-cart-with-saudi-king"]Trump stops by Toby Keith concert in golf cart with Saudi King[/URL]

I think the president is missing a prime branding opportunity for golf carts manufactured in the USA. A cursory search tells me that the second largest golf cart manufacturing facility is in Georgia, USA:
[url]https://www.golfcartsforsale.com/blog/worlds-largest-manufacturer-golf-carts/[/url]
[QUOTE]NUMBER TWO

Yamaha has been headquartered in Cypress California since its inception in 1976. In 2011 the Yamaha Motor Corporation USA was transferring the majority of its manufacturing to a new state of the art facility at Newnan, Georgia. The 1.3 million square foot factory (120,000 square metres) employs nearly fifteen hundred people. Although it is not only making golf carts, the factory also makes personal watercraft and all-terrain vehicles. The factory has produced in excess of three million vehicles.[/QUOTE]

Despite liking his steaks cooked well-done with ketchup he still made a Trump branding foray into steak sales so golf carts are actually a better fit with his properties and lifestyle.

[QUOTE]The news is playing up that president Trump rode a golf cart at the G7 summit:
[URL="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335424-trump-rode-golf-cart-while-g7-leaders-walked-through-siciliy"]Trump rode golf cart while G7 leaders walked through Sicily[/URL][/QUOTE]This is reminiscent of Chris Christie landing in a state police helicopter, and then taking a limo the remaining 100 yards to his son's baseball game. That was before he got stapled.

[URL]http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/gov_christie_arrives_at_sons_h.html[/URL]
[QUOTE][URL="http://www.nj.com/chris-christie"]TRENTON[/URL] — Gov. Chris Christie arrived at his son's baseball game this afternoon aboard a State Police helicopter.

Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field.

During the 5th inning, Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie got into the car, rode back to the helicopter and left the game. During a pitching change, play was stopped for a couple of minutes while the helicopter took off.[/QUOTE]
EDIT: He did pay up eventually, but I bet he still got a discount.

The golf cart deal actually makes a weird kind of sense in the context of the exchange Ross & I had in post #496 - but yah, the optics. Maybe if there'd been a taco stand midway allowing POTUS the opportunity to replenish his finite energy store...

Not sure of Chris Christie is any kind of analogy, since he has a perfectly rational reason to limit walking - he's grossly obese.

Kinda surprised, though, not to see speculations in our dear Fourth Estate re. the golf cart maker's possible ties to Russia - "according to unnamed intellignce officials, the same model of cart has been spied on a resort golf course mere miles from Vladimir Putin's [strike]evil holiday lair[/strike] summer dacha", that sort of thing.

[STRIKE]I think it was John Oliver[/STRIKE] OOPS! Bill Maher who did a whole bit on "Trump Is FAT!" Not like Christie at the time, but hefty.
[YOUTUBE]D0_iGsLCmPs[/YOUTUBE]
Perhaps the golf cart is another dominance game, like handshaking.
[URL]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/emmanuel-macron-my-handshake-with-trump-was-a-moment-of-truth[/URL]
[QUOTE]“My handshake with him – it wasn’t innocent,” [URL="http://www.lejdd.fr/politique/macron-au-jdd-ma-poignee-de-main-avec-trump-ce-nest-pas-innocent-3343352"]Macron told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper[/URL] in an interview on Sunday. “It’s not the be-all and the end-all of a policy, but it was a moment of truth.”
The much commented-upon power play, during which each man held the other’s gaze for a long moment, was described by one observer as a “screw you in handshake form”. It ended when the US president, after two attempts, finally succeeding in disengaging.
[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/28/the-trump-handshake-how-world-leaders-are-fighting-back[/URL]
[QUOTE]They say the handshake originated as a gesture designed to prove that both participants were unarmed. But [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump"]Donald Trump[/URL] has rewritten that rule along with all the others. In the hands of the US president, the handshake is a weapon.
And now, thanks to the newly elected president of France, we have confirmation that the rest of the world’s leaders are fighting back. [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/emmanuel-macron-my-handshake-with-trump-was-a-moment-of-truth"]Emmanuel Macron’s admission[/URL] that his white-knuckle clinch with Trump – in which the two men appeared to be engaged in a squeezing duel that saw the US president break off first – was “not innocent” is hardly a surprise. His thinking was plain to see, as he crushed Trump’s hand until the latter’s fingers seemed to quiver for mercy.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;459954][STRIKE]I think it was John Oliver[/STRIKE] OOPS! Bill Maher who did a whole bit on "Trump Is FAT!" Not like Christie at the time, but hefty.
[/QUOTE]
I don't know, President Trump's doctors are somewhat dynastic themselves. The doctor that certified Trump's health as a candidate is the son of Trump's previous doctor, which Trump outlived. As far as fatitude, Trump misplaced 15 pounds over the course of a year. His thoughts on energy continue to be uniquely a product of his intellect.
[URL="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263146-doctor-trump-will-be-healthiest-president-ever"]Doctor: Trump would be healthiest president ever[/URL]
[QUOTE]Trump labeled GOP rival former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 62, as having "low energy," and has also claimed that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, 68, lacks the "stamina" to be president.

"People have been impressed by my stamina, but to me it has been easy because I am truly doing something that I love," Trump said Monday. [/QUOTE]

Re. stamina, I daresay most folks who have been presidential contenders in the past century or so would agree that campaigning is quite grueling. [url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/12/clinton-trump-have-each-logged-enough-miles-campaigning-travel-moon/LkcjCs3rXAPpIz59ENBNxJ/story.html]Here the Boston Globe[/url], 4 weeks before last November's election:
[quote]In terms of estimated mileage, Trump is clearly in the lead, logging more miles than Clinton in a shorter period of time.

He’s racked up more than 276,000 miles since he officially announced he was running for president on June 16, 2015. She’s tallied 256,000-plus miles since April 12, 2015, when she formally announced her candidacy.

In recent weeks, Trump has traveled considerably more miles — about double the distance Clinton has logged.

Trump has also taken fewer days off from traveling, according to the National Journal data. He’s traveled on just over half the days since he announced he was running. She’s traveled on about 39 percent of days since throwing her hat in the ring.

On the other hand, Clinton has made more stops on the campaign trail, 461 to Trump’s 362.

Clinton has had numerous days where she didn’t necessarily log a lot of miles, but made a series of stops in a relatively close area. On what was her busiest day in terms of stops, Clinton visited 24 different places. Trump’s busiest day included 7 stops.

She also logged an estimated 5,251 miles in a single day, while the most distance he covered in one day was 3,377 miles.

They have both visited about the same number of states (45 for Clinton and 47 for Trump) and cities (258 for her, 257 for him), according to the National Journal data.

They’ve both made more stops in Iowa than in any other state.

The most commonly listed reason for travel for Clinton was an “organizing event.” For Trump, it was a “rally.”

Trump has tried to make an issue of Clinton’s “stamina.” (He has also credited her with being a “fighter” who “doesn’t quit” and “doesn’t give up.”)[/quote]
Most interesting part for me was the very different framing by the candidates themselves captured in the penultimate sentence of th above snip. And Hillary's failure to generate enthusiasm outside the bicoastal elite bubbles was key to her loss - it didn't take many Rust Belt voters who voted for Obama to stay home in order to flip enough counties from Blue to Red and thus allow Trump to carry that part of the country. Obama made just that point recently when he noted that he continued to campaign in 'unwinnable' regions of the country right up to election night 2008 and 2012, because "maybe I only end up losing by 20 points instead of 50", and by extension thus actually win enough 'Red' counties to make a difference.

My hat is off to anyone with the stamina to campaign for president. Merely watching from the sidelines is itself exhausting. The only candidate that I ever felt was severely lacking in energy was Fred Thompson during the 2008 presidential campaign.

President Reagan slowed down near the end of his second term in office but his health degradation eventually came to light. He did great overall including taking a bullet for the country. It's hard to say how much his astrologer influenced his behavior; likely more than I'd be comfortable hearing. I keep this in mind when I think about other kooky advisors to the throne.

[URL="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2808139/President-Reagan-s-astrologer-advised-Soviet-Union-flight-schedules-dies-87.html"]President Reagan's astrologer who advised him on everything from the Soviet Union to flight schedules dies at 87[/URL]
[QUOTE]Soon she was quietly influencing pivotal decisions, with direct lines installed at the White House and Camp David.

She told Reagan to stop seeing the Soviet Union as 'evil' - supposedly a gem of advice that inspired the president to soften his stance on the region.

'At the time, they were thinking of the Russians as gangsters,' Quigley said.

'I told Nancy that Gorbachev was a different kind of leader, and that he would share a vision with Reagan.'

Quigley's secret position lasted until she was outed in 1988 by former chief of staff Donald Reagan.

As the world reeled in shock, Quigley insisted that she was a 'serious, scientific astrologer.'[/QUOTE]
Reagan seemed to rest in Hawaii for a day or so on international trips. By contrast the first Bush president seemed to be a dynamo, flying around at a frenetic pace right up until he puked in the lap of the Prime Minister of Japan. Just now I [URL="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush_vomiting_incident"]learned[/URL] that "Earlier that day Bush had played a doubles tennis match in which the Emperor of Japan Akihito and his son the Crown Prince Naruhito beat Bush and his partner, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan." So maybe President Trump is onto something about conserving exertion; it might be helpful in retaining precious fluids. Japan has a phrase for the incident, essentially [I]do the Bush thing[/I]: "Bushu-suru."

[QUOTE=ewmayer;459952]
Kinda surprised, though, not to see speculations in our dear Fourth Estate re. the golf cart maker's possible ties to Russia - "according to unnamed intellignce officials, the same model of cart has been spied on a resort golf course mere miles from Vladimir Putin's [strike]evil holiday lair[/strike] summer dacha", that sort of thing.[/QUOTE]
.....with more "wires tapped" than the former US embassy in Moscow. :smile:

[QUOTE=kladner;459954]Perhaps the golf cart is another dominance game, like handshaking.
[URL]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/emmanuel-macron-my-handshake-with-trump-was-a-moment-of-truth[/URL]
[quote]“My handshake with him – it wasn’t innocent,” Macron told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview on Sunday. “It’s not the be-all and the end-all of a policy, but it was a moment of truth.”
The much commented-upon power play, during which each man held the other’s gaze for a long moment, was described by one observer as a “screw you in handshake form”. It ended when the US president, after two attempts, finally succeeding in disengaging.[/quote][/QUOTE]
The 1952 movie [i]The Quiet Man[/i] has a scene in which Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen) is ordered to shake hands with Sean Thornton (John Wayne). After the handshake, the title character comments as follows:

Sean: (through clenched teeth) That's a good grip you have, Danaher. I always hated a flabby handshake myself.

Well, President Trump's next handshake better be extremely awesome because after ignoring Angela Merkel's handshake and having the First Lady smack his hand away and then losing to Macron's French-styled Crocodile Dundee overmatching kung fu grip he's got a serious trend to reverse unless his spin room can pull off a Jedi mind trick.

[QUOTE=only_human;459995]Well, President Trump's next handshake better be extremely awesome because after ignoring Angela Merkel's handshake and having the First Lady smack his hand away and then losing to Macron's French-styled Crocodile Dundee overmatching kung fu grip he's got a serious trend to reverse unless his spin room can pull off a Jedi mind trick.[/QUOTE]
:rofl: A good laugh was had by both of us, here.

[url=www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/31/how-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-and-other-billionaires-are-killing-the-democratic-party/]How Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Other Billionaires are Killing the Democratic Party[/url] | Counterpunch

 Our President, the Little Big Man -Tom Engelhardt
 

[URL]https://www.thenation.com/article/president-little-big-man/[/URL]
[QUOTE] From his proposals on health care, to his tax plan, to his border wall, Trump is symptomatic of the nation he now “leads.”
He’s huge. Outsized. He fills the news hole at any moment of any day. His over-tanned face glows unceasingly in living rooms across America. Never has a president been quite so big. So absolutely monstrous. Or quite so small.[/QUOTE][QUOTE]
He’s our Little Big Man.
I know, I know… he induces panic, fear, anxiety, insomnia. Shrinks in liberal America will tell you that, since November 2016, their patients are more heavily medicated and in worse shape. He’s a nightmare, a unique monster. It’s been almost two years since he first entered the presidential race and in all that time I doubt there’s been a moment when the cameras haven’t been trained on him, when he wasn’t “breaking news.” (By May 2016, he had already reportedly received the equivalent in “[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html"]earned media[/URL]” of [URL="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-has-gotten-nearly-3-billion-in-free-advertising-2016-05-06"]nearly $3 billion[/URL] in free advertising.) He and his endless controversial statements, flubs, tweets, lies, insults, boasts, tales from outer space, and over-the-moon [URL="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/23/donald-trumps-speech-features-superlatives/"]adjectives[/URL] are covered daily the way, once upon a time, only Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination was.
Think of him as the end of the world as we, or maybe anyone, including Vladimir Putin, knew it. To me, that means one thing, even though most of you won’t agree: I think we owe Donald Trump a small bow of thanks and a genuine debt of gratitude. He’s teaching us something invaluable, something we probably wouldn’t have grasped without him. He’s teaching us just how deeply disturbed our American world actually is, or he wouldn’t be where he is.
[/QUOTE]

o Re. the hysterical headlines today about Trump pulling out of the Paris Accords, e.g.

[url=http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-93467359/]Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s Robert Iger quit Trump advisory councils, citing climate change[/url] | LA Times

Not to defend the orange-haired satan, but a whole lotta what is commonly referred to as 'virtue signaling' in there - especially the last sentence. Yes indeedy, 'because the folks at Goldman Sachs care deeply about climate change, rather than Mammon-worship'.

Obama as always talked a great game on climate change, but only signed on to the Paris Accords - and in a legally nonbinding manner - in the waning months of his presidency, as [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/01/the-u-s-cant-quit-the-paris-climate-agreement-because-it-never-actually-joined/]even the folks at WaPo acknowledge[/url]. And if the U.S. leadership really wanted to cut US CO2 emissions, how about starting by downsizing that massive fossil-fuel [and nuclear, which begs the question of how the Navy is disposing of all that nuclear waste] energy user, the DoD?

Maybe I'm too cynical in my wacky focus on actual policy? More -

o [url=https://theintercept.com/2017/06/01/will-trumps-slow-mo-walkaway-world-in-flames-behind-him-finally-provoke-consequences-for-planetary-arson/]Will Trump’s Slow-Mo Walkaway, World in Flames Behind Him, Finally Provoke Consequences for Planetary Arson?[/url] | Naomi Klein, The Intercept
[quote]Now that it seems virtually certain that Donald Trump will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, and the climate movement is quite rightly mobilizing in the face of this latest dystopian lurch, it’s time to get real about something: Pretty much everything that is weak, disappointing, and inadequate about that deal is the result of U.S. lobbying since 2009.

The fact that the agreement only commits governments to keeping warming below an increase of 2 degrees, rather than a much safer firm target of 1.5 degrees, was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that the agreement left it to individual nations to determine how much they were willing to do to reach that temperature target, allowing them to come to Paris with commitments that collectively put us on a disastrous course towards more than 3 degrees of warming, was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that the agreement treats even these inadequate commitments as non-binding, which means governments apparently do not have anything to fear if they ignore their commitments, is something else that was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that the agreement specifically prohibits poor countries from seeking damages for the costs of climate disasters was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that it is an “agreement” or an “accord” and not a treaty — the very thing that makes it possible for Trump to stage his action-movie slow-mo walk away, world in flames behind him — was lobbied for and won by the United States.[/quote]

o And on a LULZ-note related to the very serious issue that the real election fraud last Fall was in the Dem primaries which all the ginned-up Russia! Russia! hysteria is designed to distract attention from - I won't annotate the following link because the URL makes it kinda self-explanatory:

[url]http://ibankcoin.com/zeropointnow/2017/06/01/debbie-wasserman-schultz-uses-voice-changer-to-call-law-firm-suing-dnc-forgets-to-disable-caller-id/[/url]

o Lastly, speaking of denial-is-not-a-river-in-Egypt-ness: [url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-lacks-the-remorse-of-conscience-1496359405]Hillary Lacks the Remorse of Conscience[/url] | Peggy Noonan, WSJ - paywalled, but a reader helpfully posted a full-text copy on a discussion board [url=http://investordiscussionboard.com/boards/jstone/no-apparent-remorse-concscience]here[/url].

There was a [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_Trump"]Tour de Trump[/URL]....
[QUOTE]. During the eight-year history of the race as both the Tour de Trump and the Tour DuPont, it was won twice by the Mexican rider Raúl Alcalá and twice by the American Lance Armstrong. The race was cited as evidence of Richmond, Virginia's ability to host international cycle racing when the city successfully bid for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships.

Origins as the Tour de Trump
The race was originally sponsored by Donald Trump and known as the "Tour de Trump" in 1989 and 1990.[1] The idea for the race was conceived by CBS Sports reporter John Tesh, who had covered the 1987 Tour de France and on his return suggested holding a race in the United States to the basketball commentator and entrepreneur Billy Packer. Packer originally planned to call the race the Tour de Jersey. He approached representatives of casinos in Atlantic City for sponsorship, and Trump offered to be the race's primary sponsor and Packer's business partner in the venture. It was Packer who suggested the Tour de Trump name.[1] Speaking at the time of the start of the first Tour de Trump in May 1989, Trump himself stated that "When [the name] was initially stated, I practically fell out of my seat. I said, 'Are you kidding? I will get killed in the media if I use that name. You absolutely have to be kidding'". However, Trump reportedly changed his mind within 20 seconds, and was convinced by the commercial value of the name.[2]

[B]Trump's lawyers subsequently sent a "cease and desist" letter to the organizers of a bike race held in Aspen, Colorado called the Tour de Rump. The letter stated: "You are using the name and mark Tour de Rump in connection with an 'inaugural' cycling event. Your use of that name and mark is likely to cause confusion and constitutes trademark infringement, unfair competition and false designation of origin, all in violation of applicable federal and state laws".[3] The organizer Ron Krajian's lawyer responded by arguing that his race was a local and non-commercial event, and predated the Tour de Trump. No response was received from Trump's lawyers, and the Tour de Rump went ahead.[/B][1][3]

The total prize money on offer for the first event in 1989 was US$250,000, including $50,000 for the winner of the general classification.[2] This, together with the race's place in the international calendar between the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, made it attractive to high-profile riders and teams, but the event did not attract large crowds.[4] Interviewed on NBC prior to the start of the 1989 race, Trump stated that "I would like to make this the equivalent of the Tour de France".[5] The race filled a gap left by the demise of the Coors International Bicycle Classic, which had been North America's major stage race but which folded following its 1988 edition.[6] Some European teams reportedly missed the Vuelta a España in order to race the Tour de Trump.[7]


Greg LeMond at the 1989 Tour de Trump
The inaugural Tour de Trump started in Albany, New York, and consisted of 10 stages, totalling 837 miles (1,347 km), taking in five Eastern states.[8] The route took the race south from Albany to Richmond, Virginia, and then across to Atlantic City, where it finished in front of Trump's casino.[6] Some 114 riders from eight professional and 11 amateur teams competed. Riders competing included Greg LeMond, who was taking part as part of a comeback from injury,[8] and Andrew Hampsten, and the teams represented included Lotto, Panasonic, PDM, and the Soviet national squad.[4]

The race was met by anti-Trump protests in the first-stage finishing town of New Paltz, New York, where demonstrators held placards reading "Fight Trumpism", "Die Yuppie $cum", "The Art of the Deal = The Rich Get Richer" and "Trump = Lord of the Flies". The 1989 race was won by the Norwegian rider Dag Otto Lauritzen of the American team 7-Eleven, although there was some controversy about the result as Belgian rider Eric Vanderaerden, who had won four stages and was expected to take the lead in the general classification in the final stage time trial in Atlantic City but took a wrong turn following a race motorbike.[1][9] The Soviet rider Viatcheslav Ekimov, who took part as an amateur, won the first stage of the race (following a prologue time trial).[10] Articles published the following year reported that Ekimov "had had the nerve to win a stage as an amateur ... and some pros reportedly rewarded him by jamming a feed bag into his wheel",[11] and that he "threatened to win the Tour de Trump last year as an amateur before the pros banded together to eliminate any chance he had of winning".[12] Nonetheless, the first edition of the race was described as "a smashing success" in Sports Illustrated, which noted: "If you could get past the name, the Tour de Trump, without losing your lunch, and if you could somehow divorce the sporting event from the excess baggage that went with it ... what you had was a pretty nice bicycle race".[13]

Following the first event, Packer wanted to expand the race to take in more states. The 1990 race started on May 4 in Wilmington in Delaware, a state which Trump considered important for his three casinos in Atlantic City, and also visited Baltimore, after Trump agreed to local racecourse owner Joe De Francis's condition that he moor his yacht the Trump Princess in Baltimore Harbor during the race.[1] It finished in Boston on May 13.[14] Entrants in 1990 included 1989 winner Dag Otto Lauritzen, Greg LeMond, who was coming back from a virus and food poisoning, Steve Bauer, who had finished second in Paris-Roubaix that year, Andrew Hampsten, Davis Phinney, Ekimov, in his first year as a professional, and East German rider Olaf Ludwig.[12] The race was won by Mexican rider Raúl Alcalá of the PDM-Concorde team.[15]

After two editions, Trump withdrew his sponsorship of the race due to his business's financial problems.[1][16] According to Packer, reflecting on the event in 2016, he and Trump "parted as good business friends", although he also explained that Trump's personality and celebrity, as well as the scandals surrounding Trump's marriage and business affairs, distracted from the event and annoyed European riders in the race.[1]

DuPont sponsorship
After Trump withdrew from sponsoring the event, DuPont became the primary sponsor.[16][/QUOTE]
Now for what never happened. really. this. did. not. happen.

After Tour of Rump went ahead despite having received a cease and desist letter from Trump's lawyers, Trump turned his eyes to that other similarly named race: Tour de France. He shook his beady little fist but nothing happened - the French race continued. Many years later that same tiny fist was injured in a handshake with the President of France. Here is a picture of Trump grimacing in pain while holding up his mangled mano. [URL="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40135049"]Scientists dispute the 'tiny, tiny' impact of Paris deal[/URL]. Having learned that Paris is in France, President Trump realised that he must break any promises and commitments with anything containing that word: Paris. Further actions may also be necessary. He is traumatized. The world must pay. He keeps shaking that fist saying "Kirk" maybe it's "Khan." And he is grousing about teeny tiny things or just repeating tiny over and over and over again. I would tell him that "teeny, tiny" is linguistically called ablaut reduplication but somehow I don't think he is interested or can be distracted from his obsessions. He talked his plans over with a Fox newscaster so that's good enough I guess.
[QUOTE]The President argued that even if the accord was fully implemented it would only have a "tiny, tiny" impact.[/QUOTE]
When all is said and done he seems concerned with being laughed at and by no means should anyone point and giggle. Do not do this.

[url]http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20170605/[/url]

So when will it be time to predict the next US president?

I'll start: it won't be Hillary Clinton.

But my other prediction was only 50 % correct...

[QUOTE=davar55;460729]So when will it be time to predict the next US president?

I'll start: it won't be Hillary Clinton.[/QUOTE]

I doubt it will be Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, either.

Beyond that, it depends on whether the one we've got now manages to serve out his current term. If not, the obvious successor is Mike Pence.

Of course, the [i]last[/i] time a US President failed to serve out his term of office, it was [i]not[/i] his elected VP who succeeded him.

Alas, I can't think of a Democratic candidate who would be less than 60 years old on 2020.

[url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/leaked_nsa_report_short_on_facts_proves_little_in_russiagate_case_20170607]Leaked NSA Report Short on Facts, Proves Little in ‘Russiagate’ Case[/url] | Scott Ritter, TruthDig
[quote]The NSA document, both in its title and text, is therefore misleading in the extreme. There is simply no fact-based information provided in the report that confirms that the events reported on were being organized and managed by the Russian GRU [the “Main Intelligence Directorate” Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye], despite the document’s assertions otherwise.

This lack of confirmation of any fact-based linkage between the GRU and the cyberattacks on the 2016 election in the NSA document is striking in another regard. The NSA has always been assumed to be the agency that possessed “smoking gun” evidence when it came to Russian attribution in the cyberattacks on the American electoral process.

...

After putting so much capital into accusing Russia and the GRU in meddling in American domestic political affairs—and, by extension, accusing the president of colluding with the Russians in this endeavor—the Democrats had better be able to back up their claims with unassailable, fact-based information. Based upon a close examination of the NSA’s latest analysis, courtesy of the leaked Winner document, this intelligence does not exist.[/quote]
Looks like [i]The Intercept[/i] [url=https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/]royally fubared[/url] this one.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460834]Looks like [i]The Intercept[/i] [url=https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/]royally fubared[/url] this one.[/QUOTE]

Just asking, for the humour... What does fubar mean?

[QUOTE=chalsall;460836]Just asking, for the humour... What does fubar mean?[/QUOTE]

from google:

[QUOTE]fu·bar
ˈfo͞obär/Submit
adjective
adjective: fubar; adjective: foobar
out of working order; seriously, perhaps irreparably, damaged.
"the clock in the hall is fubar"
Origin

1940s: acronym from fucked up beyond all recognition (or repair ).[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=science_man_88;460837]from google:[/QUOTE]

Never ask a question you don't already know the answer to.

Meanwhile, shock and alarm amongst the UK establishment as this whole "unexpected wave of anti-austerity populism" [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/06/exit-polls-show-may-led-tories-loss-majority.html]continues to surge[/url].

Professional political slimeball-weasel Nick Clegg's quote in [url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/08/exit-poll-points-to-hung-parliament-in-2017-general-election]The Grauniad's piece[/url] about the "oh,snap!" election is precious:
[i]
The former Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, spoke out about the need for the government to be sensitive about huge societal divisions as he was defeated by Labour in Sheffield Hallam.
[/i]
Funny how getting the boot makes useless eaters like Clegg suddenly sensitive to "huge societal divisions" and the suffering of Les Deplorables, innit?

Googled "the next u.s. president", found a site with a selection
of mays and won'ts. In particular, they say George Clooney and
Nikki Haley have declined...

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460848]Meanwhile, shock and alarm amongst the UK establishment as this whole "unexpected wave of anti-austerity populism" [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/06/exit-polls-show-may-led-tories-loss-majority.html]continues to surge[/url].[/QUOTE]
Hmm. It seems the election gave a "hung Parliament" (no party has a majority of the 650 seats). The Queen has given PM May (Conservatives got 318 seats) permission to form a government, which will apparently be a coalition with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which got 10 seats.

It seems that UK Independence Party (UKIP), which championed Brexit, lost [i]all[/i] its seats in Parliament. It got fewer than 600,000 votes, compared to almost 3.9 million in 2015. Its leader, Paul Nuttal, has quit "with immediate effect," and deleted his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader who appeared at a Trump campaign rally, has been on [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91AvxCANYUk]Fox and Friends Sunday[/url] seizing on the latest terrorist attack in London, saying[quote]We want genuine action. And if there is not action, then the calls for internment will grow. We have over 3,000 people on a sort of known terrorist list, and we’re watching and monitoring their activities, but a further 20,000 people who are persons of interest, mainly they’re linked in some way to extremist organizations. Unless we see the government getting tough, you will see public calls for those 3,000 to be arrested. And I’m not sure, I’m not sure that that is the right approach, because the big danger with that is we might alienate decent, fair-minded Muslims in Britain.[/quote]

Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins added:[quote]We do need internment camps. Before, I would’ve bought the idea that, no, this gets more people radicalized. You know, that’s not the solution. But we’ve gone beyond the tipping point. I tell you this country cannot take another attack.[/quote]

"This country cannot take another attack?" Really? I may be only an ignorant US-er, but IMHO history has shown the UK to be quite a bit more resilient than that.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;460864]"This country cannot take another attack?" Really? I may be only an ignorant US-er, but IMHO history has shown the UK to be quite a bit more resilient than that.[/QUOTE]

Indeed, but in the wake of the Manchester bombing it as usual seems taboo in the MSM to discuss the [url=http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/05/detail-emerge-on-the-manchester-blowback-from-britains-terror-support-.html
]'blowback from imperial adventurism' aspects of such terror[/url]:
[quote]Known Libyan radicals were released from control order in Britain, given their passports back and hauled off to Libya. There British special forces were on the ground and British fighter planes in the air to support their fighting against the legitimate Libyan government. MI-5, the domestic British spy service, "sorted" the fighters sent from Britain. [b]The responsible British Home Secretary at that time? One Theresa May, now the British Prime Minister.[/b][/quote]

I think it's interesting how trump says Comey is lying and a leaker. The two seem to be mutually exclusive, at least until told about it, because, only being told that Comey's statements are negations can we conclude the opposite may be true by contradiction. Also the person on twitter, saying oh he took down illegal immigration 60%, how many women and children have not been raped because he put a halt on it. Ignoring that by pigeonhole principle unless rapists>40% or there's another cause of overlap the answer could be none. They also say to the news here how they are getting laughed at, ignoring the fact that to knowingly laugh at something, you first have to watch it in theory.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460889]Indeed, but in the wake of the Manchester bombing it as usual seems taboo in the MSM to discuss the [url=http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/05/detail-emerge-on-the-manchester-blowback-from-britains-terror-support-.html]'blowback from imperial adventurism' aspects of such terror[/url]:[/QUOTE]

Yes, I saw that quote from the Moon of Alabama "where barflies gather together" [url=http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=19582&page=24]here[/url] in post #262.

Another quotation from the same page of "Moon of Alabama":

[quote]All these attacks by Takfiris, in Paris, in Brussels, Berlin and Manchester as well as in Libya, Syria and Iraq, have [url=http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/manchester-attack-salman-abedi-salafi-jihadism-wahhabism-isis-al-qaeda-islam-muslim-suicide-bombing-a7754301.html]their ideological roots in Wahhabism[/url], the extreme version of Salafist Islam promoted in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The roots of such terrorism are in Riyadh and Doha and will have to be fought there.[/quote]

It was widely publicized after 9/11 that, in addition to 15 of the 19 kamikaze hijackers being Saudis, the Saudis had been funding madrassas (which indoctrinate people into Wahhabism) in many places, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Now, we have this same Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severing diplomatic relations with Qatar, kicking Qataris out of their countries, and cutting off air and sea traffic to Qatar. In response, Iran offered Qatar food and the use of its airspace.

Our FAKE PRESIDENT[SUP]TM[/SUP], who recently visited Saudi Arabia, immediately took their side in the dispute, apparently in blissful ignorance of the fact that we have a military base in Qatar (Al Udeid air base, our largest military base in the Mideast, with 11,000 US military personnel, from which we have been launching air strikes against ISIS). Secretary of State Tillerson tried to smooth things over with Qatar, but his efforts were soon undermined by the man who hired him.

Now, NATO ally Turkey [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/erdogan-vows-stand-qatari-brothers-crisis-170609204946107.html]has weighed in on behalf of Qatar[/url]. Turkish [STRIKE]president[/STRIKE] dictator Tayyip Erdogan has approved the deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar.

[QUOTE=kladner;460299][URL]https://www.thenation.com/article/president-little-big-man/[/URL][quote]He’s huge. Outsized. He fills the news hole at any moment of any day. His over-tanned face glows unceasingly in living rooms across America. Never has a president been quite so big. So absolutely monstrous. Or quite so small.[/quote][quote]He’s our Little Big Man.
I know, I know… he induces panic, fear, anxiety, insomnia. Shrinks in liberal America will tell you that, since November 2016, their patients are more heavily medicated and in worse shape. He’s a nightmare, a unique monster. It’s been almost two years since he first entered the presidential race and in all that time I doubt there’s been a moment when the cameras haven’t been trained on him, when he wasn’t “breaking news.” (By May 2016, he had already reportedly received the equivalent in “earned media” of nearly $3 billion in free advertising.) He and his endless controversial statements, flubs, tweets, lies, insults, boasts, tales from outer space, and over-the-moon adjectives are covered daily the way, once upon a time, only Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination was.
Think of him as the end of the world as we, or maybe anyone, including Vladimir Putin, knew it. To me, that means one thing, even though most of you won’t agree: I think we owe Donald Trump a small bow of thanks and a genuine debt of gratitude. He’s teaching us something invaluable, something we probably wouldn’t have grasped without him. He’s teaching us just how deeply disturbed our American world actually is, or he wouldn’t be where he is.[/quote][/QUOTE]

Now, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_qOnuaLsYQ]Trump's Cabinet has brown-nosing contest[/url]. Somehow, it reminded me of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLUktJbp2Ug]this[/url].

o [url=https://newrepublic.com/article/143730/americas-first-postmodern-president]America's First Postmodern President[/url] | The New Republic
[quote]This analysis suggests that Trump is the product not just of a fluke election or a racist and sexist backlash, but the culmination of late capitalism. This has profound implications for how we see Trump—and how we oppose him. We have to focus less on Trump’s personal flaws and more on the world that has enabled him. His habitual prevarications aren’t simply the result of his defective character, but an effective tactic. In a world where commerce and media (including social media) reward performance above truth telling, it’s not surprising that a figure like Trump rises to the top. Any moralistic condemnation of Trump is incomplete without acknowledging the institutions (notably the media) that both created him and allowed him to thrive.[/quote]
Note that there is dissent on who best deserves the 'first postmodern president' appellation, e.g. from [url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1993/04/the-first-postmodern-presidency/307261/]The Atlantic[/url] and [url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/08/10/barack_obama_the_postmodern_president_287052.html]Real Clear Politics[/url]. (h/t NC reader 'RenoDino' for the links.)

[QUOTE=ewmayer;463035]o [url=https://newrepublic.com/article/143730/americas-first-postmodern-president]America's First Postmodern President[/url] | The New Republic[/quote]
[quote]Any moralistic condemnation of Trump is incomplete without acknowledging the institutions (notably the media) that both created him and allowed him to thrive.[/quote]
For some reason,that reminds me of the following from Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei Feb 7, 2017:
[quote]We actually thank this new president [Trump]! We thank him, because he made it easier for us to reveal the real face of the United States. What we have been saying, for over thirty years, about political, economic, moral, and social corruption within the U.S. ruling establishment, he came out and exposed during the election campaigns and after the elections.[/quote]I'm not a big fan of Iran's ruling elites, but when the man's right, the man's right...

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40560800[/url]

I can, but won't yet, make a series of comments on this analysis. Let's give other people a chance first.

[QUOTE=xilman;463174][url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40560800[/url]

I can, but won't yet, make a series of comments on this analysis. Let's give other people a chance first.[/QUOTE]

See yesterday's [url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/07/links-71017.html]NC daily links page[/url] for set of links and editorial commentary. E.g.
[i]
As Nina Illingworth writes: “The two core accusations behind Russiagate are: A) Trump is an intel asset; B) Russia rigged the election. You don’t get to change it to “Trump knows some guys who know Russians” and “Russia wrote stories on RT” and declare f*cking victory. NO.”
[/i]
And rather hilarious to see the purported shock & horror at the sheer *unseemliness* - if not downright treasonousabilityiferousness of - gasp! - doing what is commonly referred to as "oppo research" on one's opponents. I'm sure Team HRC only spoke to certified loyal American Patriots in doing their oppo on Trump, right? Pathetic. And as ever, usefully - for the dangerous tribalists and establishment elites peddling this bunk - distracting from the real stuff that is happening in DC.

More Russia-steria - related inanity:

[url=https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/10/barbara-lees-slam-on-trump-putin-meeting/]Barbara Lee's Slam on Trump-Putin Meeting[/url] | Consortiumnews -- [i]The Democratic Party’s embrace of the New Cold War and New McCarthyism – to counter President Trump – has spread to Rep. Barbara Lee, a brave voice against the post-9/11 war frenzy, as Norman Solomon notes in an open letter.[/i]
[quote]Dear Congresswoman Lee:

More than a decade and a half ago, your eloquent words and courageous vote set a high bar as you stood up against a war frenzy on the House floor. Three days after 9/11, you implemented the kind of brave wisdom that we desperately need in a world beset by the massive violence of warfare and the overarching dangers of nuclear holocaust.

Since then, like many other people opposed to perpetual war, I’ve deeply appreciated your leadership in advocating for diplomacy instead of reckless confrontation in international relations. Year after year, following your lone vote against a blank check for war on Sept. 14, 2001, you’ve been a steadfast voice for the necessity of diplomatic initiatives.

Until now.

Your longtime wisdom is antithetical to the tweet that you sent out after the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin from your official “Rep. Barbara Lee” Twitter account: “Outraged by President Trump’s 2 hr meeting w/Putin, the man who orchestrated attacks on our democracy. Where do his loyalties lie?”

In mid-September 2001, when you implored the Congress and the country to “think through the implications of our actions today, so that this does not spiral out of control,” the words of your speech were beacons of sanity in a propaganda storm for war. But now, as I watch a video of those two transcendent minutes, some of your old words echo in a newly haunting way.

Now it falls to peace advocates who read your new words to urge you to “think through the implications” of the political line you’ve just taken, “so that this does not spiral out of control.” And now, peace advocates must remind you of other insightful words from your historically prescient speech nearly 16 years ago: “Some of us must urge the use of restraint.”

Your declaration on Friday that you are “outraged” by a meeting between the presidents of the world’s two nuclear-weapons superpowers is the opposite of restraint. Likewise, your baiting of Trump with the question “Where do his loyalties lie?” echoes the accusations of treason hurled at you for years. Such rhetoric is far beneath you — and beneath any leader with a responsibility to encourage diplomatic discourse, especially between two nations brandishing huge arsenals of nuclear weapons.[/quote]
Follow link to see the full text, including links to sources.

This sentence is difficult to parse as an article headline:
[URL="http://mynewsla.com/hollywood/2017/07/13/trump-twitter-attack-kudos-for-john-oliver-from-stephen-colbert/"]Trump twitter attack kudos for John Oliver from Stephen Colbert[/URL]
Looking for a verb might not help much.
Quoting the article in spoiler tags:
[SPOILER]Former Comedy Central colleague John Oliver “has become the somewhat proud third inductee into Stephen Colbert’s ‘Trump Attacked Me on Twitter’ Hall of Fame,” HuffPost noted. “On Wednesday, Oliver appeared on Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ and accepted a plaque like the ones Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough received the night before.”[/SPOILER]

[QUOTE=only_human;463395]This sentence is difficult to parse as an article headline:
[URL="http://mynewsla.com/hollywood/2017/07/13/trump-twitter-attack-kudos-for-john-oliver-from-stephen-colbert/"]Trump twitter attack kudos for John Oliver from Stephen Colbert[/URL]
Looking for a verb might not help much.[/quote]You have to go into "headline parsing mode." Headline writers often omit verbs, and sometimes prepositions. As a result, not only do verbs go missing in action, but clauses get misplaced and mashed together without a connecting preposition. All for the sake of brevity, which, as that old windbag Polonius told us, is the soul of wit.

Key words help. In this case, "kudos" is a good place to start. Literally -- if you skip the first three words, then what remails --

[i]kudos for John Oliver from Stephen Colbert[/i],

though not a complete sentence, at least makes sense. But -- kudos for what? Ahh, that's what the first thee words must be about... so the clause "Trump twitter attack" is adjectival, modifying "kudos."

Trump’s Worst Collusion Isn’t With Russia — It’s With Corporations -By Peter Certo
 

[URL]http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47436.htm[/URL]
Beating the Russia drums sure seems to be the Dem's main occupation, these days. I have heard Pelosi more times than I care to, and that only on [B]N[/B]at [B]P[/B]rop [B]R[/B]adio. We don't go near MSNBC since two or three years ago. We still see [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oliver"]John Oliver, [/URL]Bill Maher, whom I can only sometimes tolerate, and some Vice stories, which I don't always sit through.
[QUOTE]I’ve always been a little skeptical that there’d be a smoking gun about the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia. The latest news about Donald Trump, Jr., however, is tantalizingly close.

The short version of the story, revealed by emails the New York Times obtained, is that the president’s eldest son was offered “some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary” and “would be very useful to your father.”

More to the point, the younger Trump was explicitly told this was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Donald, Jr.’s reply? “I love it.”

Trump Jr. didn’t just host that meeting at Trump Tower. He also brought along campaign manager Paul Manafort and top Trump confidante (and son-in-law) Jared Kushner.[/QUOTE].....and a host of others yet to be identified, or even mentioned by ANYBODY involved, until caught out.

[QUOTE]Perhaps. But it’s worth asking: Who’s done the real harm here? Some argue it’s not the Russians after all.

“The effects of the crime are undetectable,” the legendary social critic Noam Chomsky says of the alleged Russian meddling, “unlike the massive effects of interference by corporate power and private wealth.”

That’s worth dwelling on.

Many leading liberals suspect, now with a little more evidence, that Trump worked with Russia to win his election. But we’ve long known that huge corporations and wealthy individuals threw their weight behind the billionaire.

That gambit’s paying off far more handsomely for them — and more destructively for the rest of us — than any scheme by Putin.[/QUOTE]
[B]EDIT:[/B] @rogue: EXACTLY!

One could argue that the media focus on Russian involvement is a good thing for everyone in Washington, including Trump. It masks the bigger problem of corporations having a more significant sway in new laws than the electorate.

[QUOTE=kladner;463552][URL]http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47436.htm[/URL]
Trump Jr. didn’t just host that meeting at Trump Tower. He also brought along campaign manager Paul Manafort and top Trump confidante (and son-in-law) Jared Kushner.

.....and a host of others yet to be identified, or even mentioned by ANYBODY involved, until caught out.[/quote]

Yes, the cast of characters said to have been at the meeting has grown by leaps and bounds. Exclusive video [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFu0KyrNAAA]here[/url].

Mysterious 8th person at Trump Jr. meeting allegedly ran massive Russian money-laundering scheme
 

[URL]https://thinkprogress.org/trump-jr-meeting-ikakly-kaveladze-russian-money-laundering-scheme-9986f528982a[/URL]
Well whadaya know! And I thought it was all about adopting Russian babies in the US. Silly me.
[QUOTE]The meeting was set up by a Russian billionaire, Aras Agalarov, through several intermediaries including his son Emin, to pass along “official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary” as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

On Tuesday, the 8th person was identified: IraklyKaveladze.
Kaveladze, a U.S. citizen who was born in the former soviet republic of Georgia, currently works for the Agalarovs as a vice president of their family company, Crocus International. But Kaveladze also has a checkered history.

An October 2000 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) accuses Kaveladze of being involved in a massive effort, over nearly 10 years, to launder $1.4 billion of Russian and Eastern European money through U.S. banks.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;463730][URL]https://thinkprogress.org/trump-jr-meeting-ikakly-kaveladze-russian-money-laundering-scheme-9986f528982a[/URL][quote]On Tuesday, the 8th person was identified: IraklyKaveladze.
Kaveladze, a U.S. citizen who was born in the former soviet republic of Georgia, currently works for the Agalarovs as a vice president of their family company, Crocus International. But Kaveladze also has a checkered history.

An October 2000 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) accuses Kaveladze of being involved in a massive effort, over nearly 10 years, to launder $1.4 billion of Russian and Eastern European money through U.S. banks.[/quote]

Well whadaya know! And I thought it was all about adopting Russian babies in the US. Silly me.[/QUOTE]

According to this [url=http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-eighth-man-20170718-story.html]L.A. Times article[/url], the Special Counsel's office is ahead of the media on this one.[quote]Investigators for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is leading the federal probe into possible coordination between the Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government, have asked to interview Kaveladze, according to Scott Balber, Kaveladze’s lawyer.[/quote] Reminds me of the advice "Deep Throat" gave Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate: "Follow the money." Always good advice in understanding Trump-related matters. Hmm. Wonder if the Prez will do a sequel to the "Saturday Night Massacre."

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;463769]According to this [URL="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-eighth-man-20170718-story.html"]L.A. Times article[/URL], the Special Counsel's office is ahead of the media on this one. Reminds me of the advice "Deep Throat" gave Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate: "Follow the money." Always good advice in understanding Trump-related matters. Hmm. [B]Wonder if the Prez will do a sequel to the "Saturday Night Massacre."[/B][/QUOTE]
Considering how he flails about on an average day, I can only suppose that he would be truly berserk under real pressure.
"But Steve! Why can't we use just a very very small nuke to take out Mueller?"

[QUOTE=kladner;463775]Considering how he flails about on an average day, I can only suppose that he would be truly berserk under real pressure.
"But Steve! Why can't we use just a very very small nuke to take out Mueller?"[/QUOTE]

From [u]Catch-22[/u] by Joseph Heller:[quote]
"What was that?" roared General Dreedle incredulously, and whirled around in a murderous rage upon Major Danby, who staggered back in terrified confusion and began to quail and perspire. "Who is this man?"

"M-major Danby, sir," Colonel Cathcart stammered. "My group operations officer."

"Take him out and shoot him," ordered General Dreedle.

"S-sir?"

"I said take him out and shoot him. Can't you hear?"

"Yes, sir!" Colonel Cathcart responded smartly, swallowing hard, and turned in a brisk manner to his chauffeur and his meteorologist. "Take Major Danby out and shoot him."

"S-sir?" his chauffeur and his meteorologist stammered.

"I said take Major Danby out and shoot him," Colonel Cathcart snapped. "Can't you hear?

The two young lieutenants nodded lumpishly and gaped at each other in stunned and flaccid reluctance, each waiting for the other to initiate the procedure of taking Major Danby outside and shooting him. Neither had ever taken Major Danby outside and shot him before. They inched their way dubiously toward Major Danby from opposite sides. Major Danby was white with fear. His legs collapsed suddenly and he began to fall, and the two young lieutenants sprang forward and seized him under both arms to save him from slumping to the floor. Now that they had Major Danby, the rest seemed easy, but there were no guns. Major Danby began to cry. Colonel Cathcart wanted to rush to his side and comfort him, but did not want to look like a sissy in front of General Dreedle. He remembered that Appleby and Havermeyer always brought their.45 automatics on the missions, and he began to scan the rows of men in search of them.

As soon as Major Danby began to cry, Colonel Moodus, who had been vacillating wretchedly on the sidelines, could restrain himself no longer and stepped out diffidently toward General Dreedle with a sickly air of self-sacrifice.

"I think you'd better wait a minute, Dad," he suggested hesitantly. "I don't think you can shoot him."

General Dreedle was infuriated by his intervention. "Who the hell says I can't?" he thundered pugnaciously in a voice loud enough to rattle the whole building.

Colonel Moodus, his face flushing with embarrassment, bent close to whisper into his ear.

"Why the hell can't I?" General Dreedle bellowed. Colonel Moodus whispered some more. "You mean I can't shoot anyone I want to?" General Dreedle demanded with uncompromising indignation. He pricked up his ears with interest as Colonel Moodus continued whispering. "Is that a fact?" he inquired, his rage tamed by curiosity.

"Yes, Dad. I'm afraid it is."[/quote]

A couple of people in my town want to change the White House sheets. No word about leaving a mint on the pillow though. Maid in America?

[URL="http://mynewsla.com/government/2017/07/20/trump-takes-time-for-redondo-beach-business-couples-made-in-america-success/"]Trump takes time for Redondo Beach business couple’s ‘Made in America’ success[/URL]

[QUOTE]Seated three seats to the right of Trump in the East Room, Steph MacDonald, said Authenticity 50 was “the only company making 100 percent `seed- to-stitch’ luxe bedding in the U.S.” meaning the entire manufacturing process, from growing the cotton, spinning the yarn to weaving the fabric, is done in the U.S.

“As we like to say, we’re bringing it back to America one sheet set at a time. We sure do hope to have our bedding in the White House one day,” MacDonald said, drawing laughs.

Trump said, “That sounds like a very good idea.”[/QUOTE]

Trump is a coward. At least it limits the damage he does -Jill Abramson
 

[url]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/26/donald-trump-coward-limit-damage-jeff-sessions[/url]

This column says something I have been saying for days, at least the first part:
"Trump is too much a coward to fire Sessions, and Sessions is too much an a**hole to quit."
[QUOTE]Like most bullies, [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump"]Donald Trump[/URL] is really a coward.
Although he spent a dozen seasons on “The Apprentice” playing the boss who loved saying “You’re fired,” he doesn’t have the guts to lower the boom as president.


When he did fire former FBI director James Comey, he [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/10/rod-rosenstein-james-comey-firing-memo-trump"]hid behind[/URL] the skirts of deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. With his beleaguered press secretary [URL="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/21/sean-spicer-resigns-press-secretary-trump-white-house-feud"]Sean Spicer he waited until the poor man resigned[/URL] after weeks of mean-spirited critiques behind Spicey’s back, of everything from his suits to his speaking style.[/QUOTE]Love that "hid behind the skirts" line! :devil:

[QUOTE=kladner;464430][url]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/26/donald-trump-coward-limit-damage-jeff-sessions[/url][/QUOTE]

The [url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/21/sean-spicer-resigns-press-secretary-trump-white-house-feud]link[/url] to the article about Sean Spicer's departure is OK, but it doesn't mention the New Yorker piece [url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon]Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus[/url].


If Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn't work out as press secretary or Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, the following news story indicates a worthy successor:

[url=http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-news/271007264-story]1.3 million Ford Explorers now under federal investigation in exhaust fume probe[/url], [quote]The Austin Police Department removed all Ford Police Interceptors from its fleet because of an ongoing carbon monoxide issue. Meanwhile, there is an investigation into the consumer version of the Ford Explorer.
[....]
Hau Thai-Tang is with the Ford Motor Company. “If you are the driver of a non-police Ford Explorer there is no reason to be concerned. We've not found elevated levels of carbon monoxide in any Ford Explorer. [b]While there have been reports of exhaust odors in some Explorers, those instances are unrelated to carbon monoxide which is odorless[/b],” he said.[/quote]

Monoxide-free exhaust fumes! What will they think up next?!

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;464605]The [url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/21/sean-spicer-resigns-press-secretary-trump-white-house-feud]link[/url] to the article about Sean Spicer's departure is OK, but it doesn't mention the New Yorker piece [url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon]Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus[/url].

If Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn't work out as press secretary or Anthony Scaramucci as communications director...[/QUOTE]

Funny you should mention [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/07/200pm-water-cooler-7312017.html#comment-2852116]the latter possibility[/url] - my favorite bit of ensuing reader snark - beside the obligatory references to Queen's [i]Bohemian Rhapsody[/i] - is Clive's "Well, that should keep CNN suitably agog and safety incapacitated for at least another week or so".

Inquiring minds want to know: Does the "Moochy, Moochy Man" get to keep his government pension and healthcare benefits accrued as a result of his invaluable service to the nation?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;464630]Inquiring minds want to know: Does the "Moochy, Moochy Man" get to keep his government pension and healthcare benefits accrued as a result of his invaluable service to the nation?[/QUOTE]
Which service do you mean? Before he was hired at the White House, he had [i]another[/i] government job -- at the export-import bank. Perhaps he'll go back there. Yes, I know, WH press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said he has "no role at this time in the Trump administration" but -- somehow -- I have trouble believing anything she says.

I reckoned either Scaramucci or General Kelly would be out in pretty short order. Kelly would obviously want to fire him (given that performance with Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker), and if he hadn't been allowed to, he would have quit immediately. (Unlike McMaster, who failed to resign as National Security Advisor when not allowed to fire Ezra Cohen-Watnick.)

BTW, during the Reagan Administration, communications director John O. Koehler had to leave in less than a week when it came to light that, at the age of ten years, he had joined the Jungvolk ("Hitler Youth").

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;464668]Kelly would obviously want to fire him (given that performance with Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker), and if he hadn't been allowed to, he would have quit immediately. (Unlike McMaster, who failed to resign as National Security Advisor when not allowed to fire Ezra Cohen-Watnick.)[/quote]Hmm. Looks like, after four months, McMaster finally got his way. [url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/mcmaster-national-security-council-241264]McMaster dismisses another Flynn hire from National Security Council[/url]

[QUOTE=kladner;464615]Monoxide-free exhaust fumes! What will they think up next?![/QUOTE]

Just to share... I have actually suffered from carbon monoxide poising (this might, actually, explain quite a bit).

My father and I thought it would be a really good idea to burn the under-brush on our land. But then the fire got away from us, and we spent a great deal of time putting it out. Much smoke (and, of course, CO) was inhaled.

What I found most interesting about the experience is upon realizing that I needed to go to the hospital, I spent about ten minutes simply putting on my shoes. But my brain was so constrained that I put on my shoes backwards -- left on right, right on left.

Interestingly (correlation is not causation) this was literally on a property on the shore of Williams Lake.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;464630]Inquiring minds want to know: Does the "Moochy, Moochy Man" get to keep his government pension and healthcare benefits accrued as a result of his invaluable service to the nation?[/QUOTE]

I think a more interesting question is can a President pardon himself?

I have often said that Law is simply code, written by humans for humans.

Buggy as hell, and often untested.

[QUOTE=chalsall;464787]I think a more interesting question is can a President pardon himself?[/QUOTE]
The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 2 ends, ... " and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment."

This does not [i]exclude[/i] the possibility of a Presidential self-pardon "for offences against the United States" (i.e. federal crimes), but the President can [i]not[/i] pardon himself (or anyone else in the Executive or Judicial branches) out of being impeached and removed from office. There may be other legal reasons that a self-pardon would not be considered valid, but I am not aware of them. If a self-pardon [i]were[/i] held valid, it would in effect place any President above the law. The only remedy would be to amend the Constitution so as to exclude self-pardons. It would almost certainly [i]not[/i] apply to a self-pardon already made. My guess is, he would do it on the last day of his term of office. That could either be at the end of his term as prescribed by the Constitution; or, if he was being tried by the Senate on articles of impeachment, and conviction seemed likely, the night before the vote.

The issue of self-pardon was discussed when Nixon was approaching the end of his term in office. Of course, he was pardoned by his successor after he had resigned.

Curiously, Nixon did grant a "reprieve" to Jimmy Hoffa, commuting his prison sentence. But Nixon attached a condition; IIRC it said Hoffa could no longer engage in union activities. IIRC, this condition was contested in court, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the President could attach any (lawful) condition he saw fit to a reprieve or pardon. Nixon also granted clemency to Lieutenant William Calley (and IIRC Captain Ernest Medina) for the My Lai Massacre.

I note that the President's pardon power does [i]not[/i] apply to crimes against individual States, or to civil actions (lawsuits).

I have not researched the issue at the state level. Governors are usually given pardon power for crimes against their States. I don't recall seeing or hearing of any exclusion of self-pardons in any state constitution. Nor do I recall hearing of any state's governor doing, or trying to do, a self-pardon.

The Senate GOP has scheduled 9 sessions of the Senate, each to last about a minute, one every 3 days over the next month, so that their own president can’t make a recess appointment. They don’t want him to fire Attorney General Sessions, and then make a recess appointment of someone new who could then fire special counsel Mueller.

Convoluted, contrived, world-class, Olympic-level loop-hole jumping. Unbelievable that this is all coming from grown adults running the country.

So frustrating...wish they'd put all that loop-hole effort into finding a quick and easy way to impeach the president, rather than just thwarting individual actions he might take.

Impulsive or premature impeachment risks failure to remove the pResident. It needs to be as sure a thing as can be arranged.

[QUOTE=Spherical Cow;464831]The Senate GOP has scheduled 9 sessions of the Senate, each to last about a minute, one every 3 days over the next month, so that their own president can’t make a recess appointment. They don’t want him to fire Attorney General Sessions, and then make a recess appointment of someone new who could then fire special counsel Mueller.

Convoluted, contrived, world-class, Olympic-level loop-hole jumping. Unbelievable that this is all coming from grown adults running the country.[/quote]
This isn't new. The Senate did the same thing to Obama. See [url=http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1209524/12-1281-bodg.pdf]unanimous Supreme Court ruling in NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD v. NOEL CANNING ET AL.[/url]
[quote]So frustrating...wish they'd put all that loop-hole effort into finding a quick and easy way to impeach the president, rather than just thwarting individual actions he might take.[/QUOTE]OTOH, that would make [i]Mike Pence[/i] President...

Besides, the Republicans are too craven. The House would have to vote articles of impeachment, and the Senate would have to hold a trial. Can you imagine either Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell allowing that under present circumstances?

I've seen a lot of simpering, hand-wringing incredulity about the utter failure of the Legislative branch to exercise their power to keep [i]Il Duce[/i] in check. Oh, how can this [i]possibly[/i] be explained?

As far as I'm concerned, there's a one-word explanation: [i][b]corruption![/i][/b]