The Trump presidency

[CRI]

House GOP quietly closes investigation into Flint water crisis

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans quietly closed a year-long investigation into Flint, Michigan’s crisis over lead in its drinking water, faulting both state officials and the Environmental Protection Agency for contamination that has affected nearly 100,000 residents.

They still don't have clean water, two years after the contamination was discovered.

Edit: Expect PBS and NPR to stop reporting things like this as soon as Trump gets to them on his hit list. Voice of America and Radio Free Europe have already become mouthpieces for Trump.

 

[CRI]

Senator Markey and Rep. Lieu Introduce the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act

Washington (January 24, 2017) – Today, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Ted W. Lieu (CA-33) and introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017. This legislation would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. The crucial issue of nuclear “first use” is more urgent than ever now that President Donald Trump has the power to launch a nuclear war at a moment’s notice.

I doubt this stands a snowball's chance, but fuck me, I won't be the least bit surprised if Trump does use nukes, in some capacity. Well, that is if I am even still ALIVE to be surprised.

 

[CRI]

 

[CRI]

White House Press Secretary has confirmed the President has banned the VA from hiring more doctors, nurses and other staff. This won't go down well with the military community, but will they have the cajones to stand up?

 

[CRI]

Four more journalists get felony charges after covering inauguration unrest
A documentary producer, a photojournalist, a live-streamer and a freelance reporter facing up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted

 

[CRI]

And finally, this from 4th October 2016. The speed at which this shit is happening . . .

Postcard from President Trump’s 2nd inauguration: Steven Strauss
Some 'losers and haters' resisted his efforts to Make America Great Again. But he prevailed.

 

[CRI]

And this just now. Gah, I hate being an insomniac.

Night night - sleep well.

 

[Mation]

And this just now. Gah, I hate being an insomniac.

Night night - sleep well.

View attachment 99333

Sweet dreams

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Kottke.org Why Trump and his staff lie

...
By requiring subordinates to speak untruths, a leader can undercut their independent standing, including their standing with the public, with the media and with other members of the administration. That makes those individuals grow more dependent on the leader and less likely to mount independent rebellions against the structure of command. Promoting such chains of lies is a classic tactic when a leader distrusts his subordinates and expects to continue to distrust them in the future.

Another reason for promoting lying is what economists sometimes call loyalty filters. If you want to ascertain if someone is truly loyal to you, ask them to do something outrageous or stupid. If they balk, then you know right away they aren’t fully with you. That too is a sign of incipient mistrust within the ruling clique, and it is part of the same worldview that leads Trump to rely so heavily on family members.
...

Public complicity in being a lying dickhead as a people management tool. Spicer is going to be sorely tested I fear.

The comparison to NYC power broker Robert Moses made later in this article sounds like an interesting one.

 

[Pickman's model]

And this just now. Gah, I hate being an insomniac.

Night night - sleep well.

View attachment 99333

What is it, 3 years 360 days to go?

 

[TomUS]

And this just now. Gah, I hate being an insomniac.

Night night - sleep well.

View attachment 99333

I'm really looking forward to details about the GREAT WALL & especially how Mexico is going to pay. And the big baby is still whining about the inaug crowd while bashing them lairs at CNN....leftist anti-Americans.

 

[JimW]

On Kottke.org Why Trump and his staff lie
Public complicity in being a lying dickhead as a people management tool. Spicer is going to be sorely tested I fear.

The comparison to NYC power broker Robert Moses made later in this article sounds like an interesting one.

Long noted as a tactic in Chinese officialdom, a kind of auto da fe where you demonstrate your biddability by pronouncing whatever nonsense is asked of you or by making embarrassingly sycophantic public pronouncements. Self-abasement to power is the key value.

 

[teqniq]

Donald Trump expected to order Mexican border wall and temporarily ban refugees

I really can't see any of this ending well.

 

[teqniq]

National Park Service Defies Trump Gag Order, Tweets Climate Change Facts

 

[krtek a houby]

Trump team deletes apology to gay people over mass government discrimination in the 1950s

 

[spartacus mills]

 

[teqniq]

Trump’s Aides Leak Embarrassing Story About How He Can’t Handle Embarrassment

 

[CrabbedOne]

Trump’s Aides Leak Embarrassing Story About How He Can’t Handle Embarrassment

...
The Post’s story is chock-full of remarkable details. To list just a few:

1. After forcing Spicer to baldly lie to the White House press corps about the size of his inauguration crowd, the president fumed that his press secretary’s performance was “not forceful enough.” According to Axios, Trump was also incensed by Spicer’s poor taste in suits, and is already considering treating the former RNC staffer to his signature catchphrase.

2. Trump already “feels demoralized that the public’s perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment.”

3. Some Trump aides think Kellyanne Conway is trying to undermine Spicer so as to steal his job.

4. Jared Kushner tried to prevent Conway from being invited into the White House at all, because he viewed her “as a possible threat to his role as Trump’s chief consigliere.”
...

This is wonderful script material. They really should revive The West Wing as a dark satire House Of Trumps.

 

[CrabbedOne]

This is rather wonky talking about the nuts and bolts of intelligence work and the Trump dossier.

One thing is revealing in the US collection and analysis are separated and there's a bit of pride in objective scientific assessment. They may get it wrong as intelligence is often based on insider gossip and conjecture at source. The result may be bullshit but its at least carefully picked over. In Russia they often just dump the raw intelligence on a bigwig's desk where it gets subjected to all sorts of confirmation biases and Russki tin foil hattery. Which causes all sorts of problems when dealing with the Russians on things like nuclear proliferation.

Actually the Russki way is almost exactly what happened in the Pentagon before the invasion of Iraq with amateurs picking over raw intel they'd obtained and reaching easily refutable conclusions supporting all sorts of daft pre-existing ideas about Saddam. Of course some Information Operations set out to deceive but the twits in this case do seem to have started from a delusional basis of their own.

 

[Raheem]

Trump’s Aides Leak Embarrassing Story About How He Can’t Handle Embarrassment

I suppose we'll never know, but I can't help wondering if where we are now can partly be traced back to this episode.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Trump is a gift from Allah to Muqtada.

 

[J Ed]

Liberals think that because I they make fun of something or call it out in some way then they have defeated it. Even now.

 

[teqniq]

I suppose we'll never know, but I can't help wondering if where we are now can partly be traced back to this episode.

Off the back of that I would't be in the least bit surprised if Trump did't find some flimsy pretext or another to have Obama arrested at some point down the line.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Rudaw Abadi tells Trump Iraq’s oil is for Iraqis and no one else

...
“I have asked others too, but we don’t know yet what he means by that,” Abadi told reporters on Tuesday. “Did he mean in 2003 or that ISIS should not take Iraq’s oil, or what. It is not clear to us yet.”

“But Iraq’s oil is for Iraqis and any statement contradicting that is unacceptable,” he added.
...
Abadi said meanwhile that he hoped the new Trump administration will help Iraq in its fight against terrorism, rejecting the notion that terrorism is something only carried out by Muslims.


“We don’t have a radical Islam and a non-radical Islam, Islam is one.” Abadi said. “But some abuse it. Islam is against killings and bloodshed in the first place. Terrorism is not a label for Islamic groups only. In Japan, Germany, Africa and former Yugoslavia they have had terrorist organizations in the past.

“We are fighting ISIS on the ground therefore we certainly welcome any help and hope that president Trump will stand by us on this.”

The Iraqi prime minister also warned against Trump’s plan to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying it will cause serious problems.

“Jerusalem is occupied and international law says that you cannot take over or build in occupied lands,” said Abadi.

“The new American administration must open doors of cooperation with countries in the region,” he suggested. “Moving the embassy to Jerusalem will cause serious problems. It is wrong to antagonize the Palestinians. It is their home and land. And also wrong to antagonize Arabs and Muslims.”

Welcome to the very confused era of the Great Confabulator.

 

[Pickman's model]

On Rudaw Abadi tells Trump Iraq’s oil is for Iraqis and no one else
Welcome to the very confused era of the Great Confabulator.

should have done it by twitter to ram the message home to the great satan.

 

[Raheem]

Liberals think that because I they make fun of something or call it out in some way then they have defeated it. Even now.

When it comes to making fun of Donald Trump, though, I'm not sure this forum is in a position to give lectures.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Badlands National Park obviously in league with China.

 

[editor]

When it comes to making fun of Donald Trump, though, I'm not sure this forum is in a position to give lectures.

How can a forum of individual posters deliver lectures?

 

[CrabbedOne]

I can hear the Black Helicopters coming already.

 

[Raheem]

How can a forum of individual posters deliver lectures?

Everybody records a tiny vocal sound and whoever is best at Audacity blends them together into sentences.