Donald Trump, the road that might not lead to the White House!

[CrabbedOne]

Interesting comparison.

Note To Self: Must stock up on 5.56mm ball.

 

[TomUS]

Carson for Housing & Urban Development....a right wing religious loon & total fruitcake. Should be entertaining anyway.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Back Ground Briefing December 4 - A Compilation of Recent Interviews: Steven Mnuchin's Amazing Raid on the Treasury; A Fox News Political Hack for the National Security Council; Fox News as the Brains of the White House

...
We begin with an interview from November 30th examining the business reputation of Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, whose wealth appears to be derived from massive corporate welfare as a result of a vulture capitalist feast on the carcass of the 2008 Wall Street crash. After which Mnuchin bought a bailed-out bank for pennies on the dollar then aggressively foreclosing on tens of thousands of families using robo-signing of dubious liars-loan documents. Saied Kashani, a lawyer whose clients included the largest private homebuilders in California and litigated extensively against Mnuchin’s OneWest Bank, joins us. Saied acquired numerous private agreements between the government and the owners of OneWest through court orders and the Freedom of Information Act and we discuss Mnuchin’s amazing raid on the U.S. Treasury that he will now be in charge of.
...

A podcast.

This is fairly jaw dropping on Mnuchin as the ultimate corporate welfare witch. Trump evidently likes a man who can slickly run an epic grift at the tax payers expense. The Art Of The Steal. It's the sort of thing that Tea Party types were going ape shit over a few years back.

Though it did make me think FDR appointed one of the biggest crooks on Wall St to clean up a very rigged stock market: Joe Kennedy. The evil old Boston paterfamilias did a pretty good job reforming it.

 

[eoin_k]

You seem to know a thing or two about this sort of thing: might China just cut to the chase and do to Washington what Eisenhower did to London over Suez? I mean, might they just use their economic leverage to quash any hint of bad behaviour by the western barbarians? Do they have, even now, the sort of economic leverage that would allow them to do that?

Whether or not this analogy stands up is an interesting question, but it seems a bit early in the Chinese century for events to play out like this. Chinese GDP is just in the process of overtaking that of the US (i.e. as happened to Britain in relation to America in the 1890s). So we should expect everything to go to shit for the next few decades, with China coming to the rescue, whenever the US gets bogged down in intractable Geo-political conflicts, before America has its Suez Crisis. Then again the USA is the first declining capitalist power with the capacity to annihilate all life on Earth, which might be a bit of a game changer.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Here's hoping that Trump reads The Atlantic.

‘Trump Has Already Created Lots of Chaos’

 

[CrabbedOne]

Decoding liberal elites innit.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On MEE Saudi journalist banned from media after criticising Trump

...
The official Saudi position on Trump's election was perhaps more accurately reflected by a former Saudi diplomat in mid-November who told the Washington Post: “Certainly, we are not expecting Mr Trump to be worse than Mr Obama was,” said Abdullah al-Shamri. Most members of the royal family, he said, “are happy with the result. We are closer to Republicans psychologically.”

Khashoggi's remarks last month at the Washington Institute, the Breaking Energy website reported, indicatedthat in his view Trump’s Middle East stances were often contradictory, especially regarding Iran. While Trump is vocally anti-Iranian, he supports President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian conflict, which ultimately bolsters Iranian regional control and rightfully makes Saudi Arabia nervous, Khashoggi was reported as saying.

Khashoggi said that Saudi Arabia should be ready for some surprises, and ought to create an alliance of Sunni countries to serve as a bulwark against a potentially anti-Sunni Trump, according to Breaking Energy.

In a Washington Post article on potential changes in the Middle East in light of Trump's victory, Khashoggi described hopes for a broader regional reconciliation as “wishful thinking,” at odds with Trump’s apparent determination to ally more closely with Russia. He was quoted as saying: “When his advisers show him the map, will he realise supporting Putin means supporting the Iranian agenda? And this is what Saudi Arabia is concerned about, to stop Iranian hegemony.”
...

KSA in freedom of speech shock. The Princes can give almost as good toady as the Brits when worried.

Khashoggi's painfully on the money though which is probably why he got gagged. You don't call what effectively is the Magic Kingdom's incoming Caliph an ignoramus.

 

[CrabbedOne]

...
A more blunt defense of Trump’s kleptocracy comes from Newt Gingrich, who once brought Republicans to power by railing against Washington corruption, then settled into a life of influence-peddling, and has already cashed in on his connection to Trump. “In a pre-Trump world dominated by left-wing ideas,” Gingrich tells Samuelson, “anyone successful is inherently dangerous and should be punished for trying to serve the country.” The dangerous left-wing idea that the president should not enrich himself in office has attracted advocates including such radical socialists as George W. Bush’s former ethics lawyer. That anti-success ideology is now gone, and the United States is free to follow the example of pro-market governments like Uzbekistan, where the president can mix governing and massive personal enrichment as he sees fit.
...

Why it's practically Communism.

 

[CrabbedOne]

The shape of the next four years for any GOP Congressman unwise enough to stand up to Trump.

 

[teqniq]

Donald Trump tweets about Boeing, company instantly loses $1bn

 

[J Ed]

Decoding liberal elites innit.

Liberal elite isn't an anti-Semitic dogwhistle but globalist is

 

[agricola]

Donald Trump tweets about Boeing, company instantly loses $1bn

$4 billion for what will probably be two aircraft is a bit mad, even with the crash-resistant egg.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Liberal elite isn't an anti-Semitic dogwhistle but globalist is

b3ta.com board

 

[CRI]

Would Trump's picks be OK if they were women or black? Are his choices for housing and education sound then?

Point spectacularly missed.

 

[CRI]

Paper Owned by Trump's Son-In-Law Runs Alarming Op-Ed Calling for FBI Crackdown on Anti-Trump Protests
From the outset, Jared Kushner's New York Observer has been an instrument of the Trump campaign.

Titled “Comey’s FBI Needs to Investigate Violent Democratic Tantrums,” the article was written by Austin Bay, a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and adjunct professor at the University of Texas in Austin.

Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, purchased a majority stake in the New York Observer in 2006 for roughly $10 million and currently operates as the outlet’s publisher.

Bay’s opinion piece appeals to FBI director James Comey to “conduct a detailed investigation into the violence and political thuggery that continue to mar the presidential election’s aftermath,” including a “thorough probe of the protests—to include possible ties to organizations demanding vote recounts.”

“The hard left’s violent reaction to Donald Trump’s election is vile and dangerous,” writes Bay. “Peaceful protests? No, the demonstrators vandalize and destroy. They have two goals: intimidating people and sustaining the mainstream media lie that Donald Trump is dangerous.”

 

[J Ed]

Point spectacularly missed.

Is it? Trump's people are already calling critics of Carson's nomination racist, and why not? Clintonites have prepared the ground for the sort of politics where anything beyond arguing about representation is meaningless.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

If Trump goes insane while in the White House, it will make for quite a movie - in two hundred years.

 

[CRI]

Is it? Trump's people are already calling critics of Carson's nomination racist, and why not? Clintonites have prepared the ground for the sort of politics where anything beyond arguing about representation is meaningless.

Nope. Not even close.

Most Presidents have appointed folks to their government that they at least think are well-qualified and experienced for those roles, and where there's no (obvious at least) conflict of interest. Trump's doing the opposite. Appointing Carson, an ex neurosurgeon with some whack out fundamentalist christian takes on things is perfectly consistent with Trump's approach. Not surprising he picked a Black guy for the HUD role because Trump has consistently signaled that he associates being African American with poverty and violence. Picking a woman for education is along the same lines. Neither's a top line post, both will preside over spectacular failures due to under funding and right wing bootstraps policies, so bonus points for proving that you should only give important jobs to white dudes.

Hey, but I seem to recall you don't believe institutional discrimination exists, except against white working class men, so naw, I can't be arsed to explain the thing about how being experienced and qualified and being from a minority group aren't mutually exclusive.

 

[Tankus]

On Back Ground Briefing December 4 - A Compilation of Recent Interviews: Steven Mnuchin's Amazing Raid on the Treasury; A Fox News Political Hack for the National Security Council; Fox News as the Brains of the White House
A podcast.

This is fairly jaw dropping on Mnuchin as the ultimate corporate welfare witch. Trump evidently likes a man who can slickly run an epic grift at the tax payers expense. The Art Of The Steal. It's the sort of thing that Tea Party types were going ape shit over a few years back.

Though it did make me think FDR appointed one of the biggest crooks on Wall St to clean up a very rigged stock market: Joe Kennedy. The evil old Boston paterfamilias did a pretty good job reforming it.

Wasn't the thrust of trumps pseudo university lectures was how to make money from the fall out of the sub prime housing market ..? I think there was stuff about time shares as well....
Other people's pain your gain...!

 

[coley]

Paper Owned by Trump's Son-In-Law Runs Alarming Op-Ed Calling for FBI Crackdown on Anti-Trump Protests
From the outset, Jared Kushner's New York Observer has been an instrument of the Trump campaign.

Titled “Comey’s FBI Needs to Investigate Violent Democratic Tantrums,” the article was written by Austin Bay, a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and adjunct professor at the University of Texas in Austin.

Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, purchased a majority stake in the New York Observer in 2006 for roughly $10 million and currently operates as the outlet’s publisher.

Bay’s opinion piece appeals to FBI director James Comey to “conduct a detailed investigation into the violence and political thuggery that continue to mar the presidential election’s aftermath,” including a “thorough probe of the protests—to include possible ties to organizations demanding vote recounts.”

“The hard left’s violent reaction to Donald Trump’s election is vile and dangerous,” writes Bay. “Peaceful protests? No, the demonstrators vandalize and destroy. They have two goals: intimidating people and sustaining the mainstream media lie that Donald Trump is dangerous.”

Dangerous! That's rather a mild description? But the hope was that he would appoint people who knew what they were doing, fat chance!
But the people who he is appointing (and their coteries) will have no difficulty in managing a witless egocentric into doing their will.
Apologies if this has already been linked.
https://i.imgflip.com/1eteml.jpg

 

[coley]

The shape of the next four years for any GOP Congressman unwise enough to stand up to Trump.

FFS, give a spoiler alert next time,comments on politico?
Jeez, meks this place look look like a vicars tea party, though it's a disturbing insight into the rabid hate in US politics.

 

[coley]

Whether or not this analogy stands up is an interesting question, but it seems a bit early in the Chinese century for events to play out like this. Chinese GDP is just in the process of overtaking that of the US (i.e. as happened to Britain in relation to America in the 1890s). So we should expect everything to go to shit for the next few decades, with China coming to the rescue, whenever the US gets bogged down in intractable Geo-political conflicts, before America has its Suez Crisis. Then again the USA is the first declining capitalist power with the capacity to annihilate all life on Earth, which might be a bit of a game changer.[/QUOTE

And at the beginning of its descent, decides to elect an idiot to halt said decline, its cold and dark outside so I thought I'd spend a few minutes on here in between digging me bunker and sleeping-

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

The future president of the United States is selling 'official' baseball caps on his website - for $40.

Donald Trump's campaign is now selling an "official" presidential hat for $40 on the president-elect's website.

The hat comes in color options including white and red and says "USA" in large letters on the front. On the left side, it has an American flag, and on the right side, the hat features the number 45.
The back of the hat says "Trump."

It just doesn't get any better.

 

[Yossarian]

The future president of the United States is selling 'official' baseball caps on his website - for $40.

Think this is fairly standard - you can still buy Obama T-shirts at barackobama.com, which used to be his campaign website.

 

[J Ed]

Nope. Not even close.

Most Presidents have appointed folks to their government that they at least think are well-qualified and experienced for those roles, and where there's no (obvious at least) conflict of interest. Trump's doing the opposite. Appointing Carson, an ex neurosurgeon with some whack out fundamentalist christian takes on things is perfectly consistent with Trump's approach. Not surprising he picked a Black guy for the HUD role because Trump has consistently signaled that he associates being African American with poverty and violence. Picking a woman for education is along the same lines. Neither's a top line post, both will preside over spectacular failures due to under funding and right wing bootstraps policies, so bonus points for proving that you should only give important jobs to white dudes.

Trump picked 'a woman' for education, Betsy DeVos, for Education Secretary because she is an advocate of the conversion of public education into private education. A policy which sadly does not differ at all from that of Clinton, or even Obama. See, this is what I mean when you see politics exclusively through representation and nothing beyond it, it means that you end up seeing the world in these simplistic and wrong ways.

Hey, but I seem to recall you don't believe institutional discrimination exists, except against white working class men, so naw, I can't be arsed to explain the thing about how being experienced and qualified and being from a minority group aren't mutually exclusive.

Then in that case you will have no problem in substantiating this very serious and for that matter specific accusation.

 

[J Ed]

Presidential Proclamation -- National Charter Schools Week, 2016

Presidential Proclamation -- National Charter Schools Week, 2016
NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK, 2016

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Our Nation has always been guided by the belief that all young people should be free to dream as big and boldly as they want, and that with hard work and determination, they can turn their dreams into realities. Schools help us uphold this ideal by offering a place for children to grow, learn, and thrive. During National Charter Schools Week, we celebrate the role of high-quality public charter schools in helping to ensure students are prepared and able to seize their piece of the American dream, and we honor the dedicated professionals across America who make this calling their life's work by serving in charter schools.

Charter schools play an important role in our country's education system. Supporting some of our Nation's underserved communities, they can ignite imagination and nourish the minds of America's young people while finding new ways of educating them and equipping them with the knowledge they need to succeed. With the flexibility to develop new methods for educating our youth, and to develop remedies that could help underperforming schools, these innovative and autonomous public schools often offer lessons that can be applied in other institutions of learning across our country, including in traditional public schools. We also must ensure our charter schools, like all our schools, are of high quality and are held accountable -- when a charter school does not meet high standards, we need to act in the best interest of its students to help it improve, and if that does not prove possible, to close its doors.

Charter schools have been at the forefront of innovation and have found different ways of engaging students in their high school years -- including by providing personalized instruction, leveraging technology, and giving students greater access to rigorous coursework and college-level courses. Over the past 7 years, my Administration's commitment of resources to the growth of charter schools has enabled a significant expansion of educational opportunity, enabling tens of thousands of children to attend high-quality public charter schools. I am committed to ensuring all of our Nation's students have the tools and skills they need to get ahead, and that begins with ensuring they are able to attend an effective school and obtain an excellent education.

Educating every American student and ensuring they graduate from high school prepared for college and beyond is a national priority. This week, we honor the educators working in public charter schools across our Nation who, each day, give of themselves to provide children a fair shot at the American dream, and we recommit to the basic promise that all our daughters and sons -- regardless of background or circumstance -- should be able to make of their lives what they will.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 1 through May 7, 2016, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our Nation's charter schools, teachers, and administrators, and I call on States and communities to support high-quality public schools, including charter schools, and the students they serve.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.

 

[extra dry]

Just picked up the 4th season of VEEP, the comedy is quite good and I am just imagining Trump trying to juggle 6 or 7 big issues while Tweeting his thought on some tiny issue.

Obama day in the Whitehouse

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Think this is fairly standard - you can still buy Obama T-shirts at barackobama.com, which used to be his campaign website.

Fair enough: the media is playing the story like it's something new. No real surprise there.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On 3QD The United States Is Not an Apocalyptic Wasteland, Explains Steven Pinker

...
The facts are as follows. The rate of violent crime is lower now than it was at any time between 1966 and 2009. Immigrants have a lower rate of violent crime than American citizens. Terrorists kill just three-tenths of one percent of all American homicide victims. The rate of death from terrorism in the United States was higher in the early 1970s than it is today. And since 2002, more Americans have been killed by right-wing American terrorists than by Islamic terrorists. It’s true that the rate of violent crime went up between 2014 and 2015, most likely a consequence of the retreat of active policing since Ferguson. But it’s a small uptick in the context of the massive downward trend since 1992.
...

Trump constantly played on heavily armed suburban and rural Americans fears of an urban landscape straight out of one of he the less boring The Walking Dead seasons. Dusky terrorists and rapey Mexicans also loomed large in this dystopia. The level of fear conjured over tiny numbers of Syrian refugees was remarkable. Crooked Hilary would take their guns away and they'd be unmanned before the dark tided. It was an entertainment unconnected with reality like a scary movie. It's an old trick that's been used in harder times.

I'm old enough to remember when NYC was actually a bit rough. It's basically Disneyland for grown ups these days in comparison.

 

[2hats]

For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year.