What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[spring-peeper]

Trump defends himself as 'extremely stable genius' after blowup with Pelosi

"When the 'extremely stable genius' starts acting more presidential, I’ll be happy to work with him on infrastructure, trade and other issues."

 

[Don Troooomp]

Trump is now after the people who started the witch hunt, sort of forgetting which members of his team have been found, or plead, guilty of a number of serious crimes.

Trump Gives Attorney General Sweeping Power in Review of 2016 Campaign Inquiry

 

[spring-peeper]

Trump contradicts himself on Huawei in a single sentence; says firm is huge security threat but could also be bargaining chip in China trade war

Donald Trump has commented for the first time on the Huawei firestorm after his administration blacklisted the Chinese tech giant last week.

In a single sentence, he said Huawei is both a "very dangerous" security risk, but could also form part of a trade deal with America and China.

Trump did not explain how Huawei can go from being a national security threat to then having its restrictions lifted.

His administration has been trying to treat Huawei and the trade dispute as separate issues, but Trump keeps undermining this effort.

Russell Brandom, the policy editor for tech news site The Verge, said the two remarks are "incompatible." In an op-ed, he added: "They only make sense if the security threat is a bluff. You can't negotiate away a security threat as part of a trade deal."

 

[petee]

 

[CRI]

 

[CRI]

Conveniently didn't mention that it was GOP politicians that commissioned the Steele Dossier to find stuff they hoped would keep him from being the Republican nominee in 2016, before they just gave up and backed him. But hey, most of what Lewandowski is saying here is bullshit. But I wouldn't be surprised of the Trump administration starts some process to put their political enemies on trial, and his supporters will love it.



In case folks don't remember, here are a few snips from his CV, off wikipedia.

Corey R. Lewandowski is an American political operative, lobbyist and political commentator. He was a political commentator for One America News Network (OANN), Fox News and CNN, as well as a campaign manager of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for President of the United States from January 2015 to June 2016.

Prior to joining Trump's campaign, Lewandowski worked on several campaigns, worked for the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity and was a lobbyist. Lewandowski himself has run unsuccessfully for office twice, once in Massachusetts and once in New Hampshire. On December 21, 2016, Lewandowski co-founded Avenue Strategies, a lobbying firm in an office overlooking the White House. He left the firm in May 2017.

On June 20, 2016, Trump's campaign announced that it was parting ways with Lewandowski; according to reports, Lewandowski was fired, although Donald Trump Jr., Trump's son, described the split as "amicable."The move occurred after Lewandowski clashed with Trump chief strategist and campaign chairman Paul Manafort in an internal "power struggle." After Lewandowski's departure, Manafort (who had been brought on the campaign in March 2016) became the de facto campaign manager.

Days after Lewandowski left the Trump campaign, he was hired by the cable news network CNN as a political commentator.Lewandowski remains subject to a non-disclosure agreement that he signed with Trump, forbidding him "from making disparaging or revealing remarks about the candidate." Lewandowski received severance pay from the Trump campaign while working for CNN. In July 2016, after the group Media Matters for America noted that CNN had not disclosed this to viewers, CNN hosts began making on-air disclosures of the severance payments before Lewandowski's appearances.[

On June 19, 2018, Lewandowski appeared on Fox News alongside Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas. When Petkanas mentioned a case of a 10-year-old immigrant girl with Down syndrome who had been forcibly taken away from her mother under the Trump administration family separation policy and allegedly put in a cage, Lewandowski responded "womp, womp" (an onomatopoeia for the "sad trombone" sound effect that often accompanies a comedic failure), which angered Petkanas and received widespread criticism from various sources.

 

[CRI]

And here's another example of Trump undermining more of the already meager protections for LGBTQ folks - in this case, denying trans people access to homeless shelters.



This hasn't happened because women residents, fundy christians or other anti-trans campaigners pushed for it. Like the ban on trans people in the military, it's purely down to bigotry, cruelty and sending the message that Trump and the GOP believe they can and will do what they fucking well please and no one can do anything about it.

And more Trump/GOP targeting of the scapegoats du jour.

New Trump Health Care Rule Will Harm 1.5 Million Trans People

The policy is a rule dealing with enforcement of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Currently, under a regulation dating from President Barack Obama’s administration, Section 1557’s prohibition on sex discrimination also bans discrimination based on gender identity and discrimination against people who have had abortions. Donald Trump’s administration, however, has indicated it will soon publish a new rule, defining sex discrimination more narrowly.

“Explicit gender identity protections were adopted in response to an overwhelming record of anti-transgender discrimination and barriers to health care and health coverage...A reversal of these protections would be contrary to numerous court decisions and any fair reading of the statute and would seriously endanger the health and well-being of an especially vulnerable population.”

If this goes though, it means a doctor could legally refuse treatment to a trans person if they say their religion disagrees with trans people existing. It's not just refusing to participate in transition surgery or prescribe hormones. They could legally refuse to treat someone brought into A & E having a heart attack or burst appendix if they are trans. It's not like LGBTQ folks don't already face a shitload of discrimination when accessing health care, like this poor guy, whose doctor didn't tell him about his cancer diagnosis because he thought he should see a psychiatrist first. Treatment was delayed, cancer spread and he died about 18 months later.

 

[CRI]

Some pretty fucked up things happening today.

Trump administration to make it easier for adoption agencies to reject same-sex couples: report

Two administration officials told Axios that the administration is considering one of two changes to Obama-era rules that prohibited adoption agencies from denying same-sex couples.

The first would do away with the Obama-era guidelines, while the second would add an exemption for religious groups.

Religious groups and social conservatives have opposed the guidelines put in place by the Obama administration.

House fails to pass $19 billion disaster relief bill after GOP lawmaker objects

The House on Friday failed to pass the Senate-passed $19 billion bill providing disaster aid funding to parts of the United States hit by hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and wildfires after a Republican lawmaker objected. The House tried to pass the measure during a pro forma session by unanimous consent, since most lawmakers had left for a weeklong Memorial Day recess the day before. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, objected, saying the bill didn't address the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and that it was not paid for.

The ass clown's name is Chip Roy, of course it is. He wants money to intern more asylum seekers and to hell with people suffering from disasters that haven't been manufactured by Trump and the GOP.

U.S. Supreme Court grants Ohio's request to delay new map in gerrymandering case

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that Ohio doesn't need to draw a new congressional map right now.

The American Civil Liberties Union, representing voter advocates and voters in gerrymandered districts, argued that waiting would endanger the state's ability to draw a new, fairer map in time for the 2020 elections.

Trump Bypasses Congress Over Saudi Arms, Sparking Lawmakers' Ire

The Trump administration is bypassing Congress to approve the sale of more than $2 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia, citing a rarely used provision in the Arms Export Control Act despite bipartisan objections by lawmakers. The provision lets President Donald Trump circumvent the normal process for congressional approval by declaring an emergency that requires the sales to go through immediately “in the national security interests of the United States.” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo cited the threat from Iran as justification.

Trump directs intelligence community to cooperate with Barr on declassifying 2016 election - CNNPolitics

The move represents a new step in expanding Barr's powers as he embarks on a controversial review of the early counterintelligence work that kicked off the Russia investigation, which has loomed large over Trump's first term in office. But the move could also serve as a prelude to a larger declassification effort Trump has floated since last fall as he's battled his own intelligence agencies and accused former officials, without evidence, of conspiring against him.

Barr’s Newfound Power Could Prompt Clash Between Justice Dept. and C.I.A.

President Trump’s order allowing Attorney General William P. Barr to declassify any intelligence that sparked the opening of the Russia investigation sets up a potential confrontation with the C.I.A., including over the possible implications for a person close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia who provided information to the C.I.A. about his involvement in Moscow’s 2016 election interference.

The concern about the source, who is believed to be still alive, is one of several issues raised by Mr. Trump’s decision to use the intelligence to pursue his political enemies. It has also prompted fears from former national security officials and Democratic lawmakers that other sources or methods of intelligence gathering — among the government’s most closely held secrets — could be made public, not because of leaks to the news media that the administration denounces, but because the president has determined it suits his political purposes.

Have a nice weekend!

 

[spring-peeper]

 

[AmeliaE]

Awhile since I've been here. Wondered if Trump had done any stupid shit lately.

 

[DexterTCN]

 

[Don Troooomp]

You'll like this doctored video of Trump - except it isn't doctored

 

[spring-peeper]

Trump's Huawei crackdown could hit Trump country hardest

The Commerce Department’s decision last week to put the Chinese telecom giant on a trade blacklist is causing panic among small wireless providers, many of them in Trump-friendly parts of the country, which have Huawei equipment in their networks. And they warn they'll face big costs, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, if they have to rip out and replace it.

Amid industry lobbying, the administration gave U.S. companies a 90-day reprieve for doing some types of business with Huawei, but a full ban looms as a possibility. That could add to the harm that the blowback from Trump’s trade war has already inflicted in big swaths of Trump country — for instance, China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports like soybeans and pork.

One example of the Huawei dilemma is Eastern Oregon Telecom, which covers a string of communities in the northeastern part of the state. CEO Joe Franell said he originally bought the Chinese company's gear, including fiber broadband equipment, because it was 30 percent to 40 percent cheaper than other products on the market. But he estimates the labor and engineering costs of pulling it out and installing new, more expensive parts, as he fears he may have to do in the wake of a U.S. crackdown on Huawei, will run to about $1.4 million.

“If I have to do it myself, it’s a one-year distraction,” Franell said. “When you’re a rural community that is really struggling, a year is a lifetime to wait.”

“I do think this, oddly enough, will impact the Trump-supportive areas of the United States more than the coastal areas,” he said.

 

[Ming]

View attachment 172025

It’s funny that that is a joke on the Jimmy Kimmel show which the Trump lot have used seriously.

 

[CRI]

I just don't know . . .

 

[Don Troooomp]

I just don't know . . .

View attachment 172114

Trump is now a point of contact with god - if you pay $45. I'll skip it, but thanks for the thought.

 

[Don Troooomp]

Trump just hit a wall

Judge bars Trump from building border wall sections with emergency funds

A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump from building sections of his long-sought border wall with money secured under his declaration of a national emergency.

On Friday, the US district judge Haywood Gilliam Jr put an immediate halt to the administration’s efforts to redirect military-designated funds for wall construction. His order applies to two projects, scheduled to begin as early as Saturday, to replace 51 miles of fence in two areas on the Mexican border.

The order blocks the use of $1bn from the Department of Defense in Arizona and Texas, out of $6.7bn the Trump administration said it planned to direct toward building the wall.

Gilliam issued the ruling after hearing arguments last week in two cases. California and 19 other states brought one lawsuit; the Sierra Club and a coalition of communities along the border brought the other. His ruling was the first of several lawsuits against Trump’s controversial decision to bypass the normal appropriations process to pay for his long-sought wall.

“The position that when Congress declines the executive’s request to appropriate funds, the executive nonetheless may simply find a way to spend those funds ‘without Congress’ does not square with fundamental separation of powers principles dating back to the earliest days of our Republic,” the judge wrote in granting a temporary injunction to stop construction.

 

[Don Troooomp]

In another fake national emergency, and a very dangerous one, Trump wants to sell a load of bombs to Saudi.
I wonder if this fake emergency will also get taken through the courts.

 

[krtek a houby]

He's coming to Ireland, though. No doubt there will be the usual arse kissing. He's just arrived in Japan to a tremendous welcome. I can't get over the love for him here

 

[DexterTCN]

He's coming to Ireland, though. No doubt there will be the usual arse kissing. He's just arrived in Japan to a tremendous welcome. I can't get over the love for him here

Could be all the China aggro?

 

[krtek a houby]

Could be all the China aggro?

Possibly but all things American are considered "cool" here. I'd be hard pushed to describe the man as "cool", mind.

 

[Don Troooomp]

I'd be hard pushed to describe the man as "cool", mind.

"Cool" would be an accurate phrase if he was dead in a morgue fridge.

 

[spring-peeper]

And now Trump is now an expert in military equipment

Trump criticizes aircraft carrier design as 'wrong'

During his remarks, the president once again took aim at the Navy's plans to overhaul traditional steam-based catapults used for launching aircraft with newer electric systems, calling it a "wrong" choice.

"You know, they were saying -- one of the folks said, 'No, the electric works faster. But, sir, we can only get the plane there every couple of minutes,' " Trump said aboard the USS Wasp, according to a White House transcript, adding: "So, really, what they did was wrong."

"I think I’m going to put an order," the president continued. "When we build a new aircraft carrier, we’re going to use steam. I’m going to just put out an order: We’re going to use steam. We don’t need -- we don’t need that extra speed."

In an interview with Time magazine in 2017, he pledged that the service would not switch to "digital" catapults for launching aircraft, claiming that service members had to be "Albert Einstein" to successfully use the newer systems.

“It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said—and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said, ‘What system are you going to be—‘ ‘Sir, we’re staying with digital.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good,' " he said at the time.

 

[teqniq]

What stupid shit have military personnel done today?

 

[spring-peeper]

"When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come."

 

[DexterTCN]

The WASP?

jesus christ

 

[krtek a houby]

Another book to annoy the dear leader

Mueller drew up obstruction indictment against Trump, Michael Wolff book says

According to Wolff, Mueller endured tortured deliberations over whether to charge the president, and even more tortured deliberations over the president’s power to dismiss him or his boss, the then deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Mueller ultimately demurred, Wolff writes, but his team’s work gave rise to as many as 13 other investigations that led to cooperating witness plea deals from Michael Cohen, David Pecker of American Media and Trump Organization accountant Allen Weisselberg.

“The Jews always flip,” was Trump’s comment on those deals, according to Wolff.

 

[CRI]

The WASP?

jesus christ

If only!

Is it wrong to not feel sad if they were all to drown?

 

[CRI]

And, this shit is still going on as well . . .

Trump Administration Separates Some Pregnant Migrants From Their Newborns Before Returning Them to Detention

Advocates also report that some asylum seekers in the Western District of Texas who have given birth in USMS custody were forced to hand over their newborns to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). Reuniting with their newborn hinges on their release from federal custody, and whether they can access legal help to navigate the child welfare system.

Late last year, Dr. Shelly (a pseudonym), an OB-GYN in the Western District of Texas, said there were multiple cases where pregnant migrants who had just given birth at her hospital were forced to give their children up to Texas DFPS.

Dr. Shelly said she doesn’t know if the U.S. citizen newborns of detained parents are eventually adopted or whether detained patients are deported without regaining custody of their babies. The OB-GYN is also unsure if foster parents have any obligation to remain in communication with parents remanded to USMS custody.

 

[gosub]

If only!

Is it wrong to not feel sad if they were all to drown?

Tbf chances of finding a beer glass that big are remote