Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Watch: Former President Obama's first public event since leaving office: Speech and Q&A at University of Chicago | CBS News | 04/24/17 | 16:36

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) just released new docs that destroy Mike Flynn's defense for taking foreign cash
RawStory | Brad Reed | 04/27/17

Newly released documents reveal that the Department of Defense warned former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn against taking money from foreign governments -- but nevertheless, he persisted.

CNN reports that the new documents show Flynn was warned by the Defense Intelligence Agency to not accept cash from foreign governments in 2014 as he entered retirement. Flynn nonetheless took money from both the Russian and Turkish governments for paid speeches and for lobbying work, respectively. ... Read more
Things Keep Getting Worse For Mike Flynn | TYT | 04/27/17 | 8:14

A Poised Mexico Sees Trump Anew: a 'Bluffer' at the Poker Table
NYTimes | Kirk Semple | 04/27/17

There was a time when Donald J. Trump -- first as a candidate and then as president -- could rile Mexico without really trying.

His threats to build a border wall and make Mexicans pay for it would ignite firestorms of patriotic fury and resentment. His promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants would send politicians off to draft contingency plans. His vows to re-engineer the North American Free Trade Agreement and bring Mexico to heel would shake the foundations of the state. ... Read more
Trump Was About To Pull Out Of NAFTA Until... | TYT | 04/27/17 | 9:56

Congress passes stopgap bill to avoid government shutdown
Politico | Sarah Ferris | 04/28/17

Congress steered clear of a government shudown Friday, passing legislation to fund the government for one week ahead of a midnight deadline. The Senate unanimously passed the stopgap spending bill early Friday afternoon, about an hour after the measure was approved by the House, 382-30. The bill now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Lawmakers hope to pass a broader spending package next week to fund the government through September. The parties are still negotiating on several matters, but the thorniest issues, over Trump's border wall and Obamacare payments, are off the table. ... Read more

Trump's Executive Orders Are Mostly Theater
Politico | Michael Grunwald | 04/28/17

President Donald Trump signed his first executive order on his first day in the White House, taking aim at his predecessor's signature achievement. "Trump Signs Executive Order to Roll Back Obamacare," Forbes reported. He's gone on to sign more executive orders in his first 100 days than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his aides, his critics, and the media alike have portrayed them as dramatic assaults on the status quo. "Trump Moves to Roll Back Obama-Era Financial Regulations," the New York Times declared after one. "Trump Executive Order Will Undo Obama's Clean Power Plan," USA Today reported after another. ... Read more
Trump's chaotic first 100 days | Politico | 04/26/17

President Donald Trump's First 100 Days In 360 Seconds | MSNBC | 04/28/17 | 6:23

What Would Trump's Immigrant Ancestors Say? (#64) | Keith Olbermann | 04/27/17 | 7:18

How Donald Trump Would Benefit From His Tax Plan
magazine | Emily Peck , Ben Walsh | 04/27/17

The plan would eliminate the AMT, a tax that cost him at least $30 million in 2005.

President Donald Trump's tax proposal would likely amount to a fat tax cut for Trump himself.

The proposal, unveiled on Wednesday afternoon by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn ? both alumni of Goldman Sachs ? offers more than a few breaks for the country's millionaires.

At least three of these changes would almost certainly benefit the president or his family ? the elimination of the alternative minimum tax or AMT, the repeal of the estate tax, and a reduction on the tax rate for small business owners. ... Read more
**Guess Who Trump's Tax Plan Benefits The Most... | TYT | 04/26/17 | 10:45

What will Trump's tax plan actually do?
BBC | author | 04/26/17

America is about to pay dearly for electing Republicans. "Lower business taxes".

During the campaign, Trump pledged to slash taxes on companies.

Right now, the US corporate tax rate is 35%, among the world's highest (many firms pay far less). He wants to reduce that to 15%. Another type of business - known as a pass-through entity because profits "pass through" to the owners and get taxed as personal income - would get that same rate. (Real estate firms - including President Trump's - are often organised this way.)

That corporate rate would be lower than Britain's (about 20%) and Hong Kong's (16.5%), but not as low as Ireland's (12.5%), according to a ranking by the KPMG accounting firm. China's corporate tax rate is 20%, but some firms and industries there face a 15% rate." ... Read more
*Trump's Tax Plan Explained | TYT | 04/26/17 | 20:28

*Republicans Nearing Deal On Heathcare | TYT | 04/26/17 | 8:46

Republicans exempt their own insurance from their latest health care proposal
Vox | Sarah Kliff | 04/25/17

Congress has exempted themselves from any of the negative consequences that may arise as a result of their disastrous healthcare plan.

"Republican legislators liked this policy well enough to offer it in a new amendment. They do not, however, seem to like it enough to have it apply to themselves and their staff. A spokesperson for Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), who authored this amendment, confirmed this was the case: Members of Congress and their staff would get the guarantee of keeping these Obamacare regulations. Health law expert Tim Jost flagged this particular issue to me.

A bit of background is helpful here. Obamacare requires all members of Congress and their staff to purchase coverage through the health law's marketplace, just like Obamacare enrollees. The politics of that plank were simple enough, meant to demonstrate that if the coverage in this law were good enough for Americans, it should be good enough for their representatives in Washington. ... Read more
Congress Killing YOUR Obamacare, Keeping Theirs | TYT | 04/26/17 | 1:59

Poll: A Record Number of Americans Say Government 'Should Do More'
ABC News | Carrie Dann | 04/23/17

In November, voters gave control of the White House and Capitol Hill to the party traditionally associated with reducing the size of government. But now, a record number of Americans say that the government should do more -- not less -- in order to solve the nation's problems.

A new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll finds 57 percent of the public saying that the government should do more to solve problems and meet the needs of Americans, versus 39 percent who said the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals.

That's the highest share yearning for a more active government since the poll began asking voters about the role of government in 1995. And it's a significant shift even since 2015, when 50 percent said that the government should do more while 46 percent complained that it was too active. ... Read more
Record Number Of Americans: Government 'Should Do More' | TYT | 04/25/17 | 7:02

REVEALED: Mike Flynn's Turkish benefactor has ties to Russia and Putin
RawStory | Travis Gettys | 04/25/17

Mike Flynn's paid lobbying work on behalf of Turkish interests was arranged by a man with business ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Flynn was paid $600,000 last year by Ekim Alptekin, who has coordinated Turkish lobbying in the U.S. with Dmitri "David" Zaikin, a former executive in Russian energy and mining companies, reported Politico. ... Read more
Mike Flynn In SERIOUS Trouble... Republicans Avoiding Him Like The Plague | TYT | 04/25/17 | 5:18

Can Trump end Washington's biggest budget gimmick?
Politico | Danny Vinik | date

Since 2001, the Department of Defense has spent more than $9 trillion on everything from new weapons systems to soldier salaries, and nearly 20 percent of that money -- $1.7 trillion in total -- has come from an "off-the-books" budget account called the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. It's the best-known budget gimmick in Washington, a classic example of Democrats and Republicans finding common ground when they want to boost defense spending while technically abiding by the current budget caps.

But starting in 2017, a fierce critic of that gimmick is set to become one of the most important people in the Washington budget world. President-elect Donald Trump recently picked Rep. Mick Mulvaney to head the Office of Management and Budget, the small yet powerful agency that produces the president's annual budget. It's an extraordinarily powerful role, experts say, enabling Mulvaney to leave his fingerprints on every corner of the federal government -- and, importantly, giving him a direct line to Trump on matters of federal spending.

Mulvaney has been one of the loudest critics of the fund during his time in Congress, hammering it as a "slush fund" and sponsoring legislation to eliminate it. Now, suddenly, he will find himself in a unique position to kill it off. Could he do it? ... Read more
Republicans Change Mind About Pentagon Slush Fund | TYT | 04/25/17 | 5:55

Freedom Caucus Confirms Support For Revised Obamacare Replacement Bill
ZeroHedge | author | 04/26/17

"Over the past couple of months, House conservatives have worked tirelessly to improve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to make it better for the American people. Due to improvements to the AHCA and the addition of Rep. Tom MacArthur's proposed amendment, the House Freedom Caucus has taken an official position in support of the current proposal." ... Read more

The Guide To Becoming Jared Kushner
HP | Ben Walsh | 04/24/17

A 36-year-old cipher who is responsible for everything.

When Charles Kushner was heading to federal prison in 2005 for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering, his son Jared got some advice from Howard Rubenstein ? the dean of New York damage control ? on how to rehabilitate the Kushner name, Charles would later tell a family friend.

Step one: Buy a New York newspaper. Don’t be too particular, Rubenstein told Jared, according to the family friend’s recounting of their conversation with Charles. Any newspaper will do. Step two: Buy a big Manhattan building. Any building will do. Step three: Marry the daughter of a rich New York family. Anyone will do.

The younger Kushner went on to do just that. He bought the New York Observer in 2006, made a debt-laden $1.8 billion purchase of 666 Fifth Ave. in 2007 and married Ivanka Trump in 2009. ... Read more

Tens of Thousands of People All Over the World March for Science
MotherJones | author | 04/27/17

Meanwhile, Trump says his administration values "rigorous science."

Amid the Trump administration's plan to gut the Environmental Protection Agency, cut billions in scientific research, and eliminate science advisers' role in the government, thousands of people around the world participated in marches for science Saturday to defend the role of science and evidence-based policies.

The marches, which coincided with the annual Earth Day celebration, have sparked debate within the scientific community over whether scientists should be actively engaged in political actions. Organizers for the marches say the event is nonpartisan—there is no mention of Trump on its website—but assert silence is no longer an option amid the threats posed by Trump and many of his advisers. ... Read more

Trump and Congress eye shutdown showdown over border wall
Politico | Rachael Bade | 04/23/17

President Donald Trump and Congress are on a collision course over government funding this week, as the White House demands money for a border wall with Mexico and Democrats vow it will never see a penny.

But just five days out from a government shutdown, Trump appears headed for disappointment. Democrats are signaling they’re unlikely to cave, and Hill Republicans are already pressing the administration to fight another day. That means the White House is largely on its own in a high-stakes game of political chicken, weakening its negotiating position. Even Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the former Homeland Security Committee chairman who wrote the 2006 law authorizing the wall’s construction, said the White House should push for it later in the year. ... Read more

7 Baffling Moments From Donald Trump’s AP Interview
HP | Alana Horowitz Satlin | 04/24/17

So many words, so little sense.

President Donald Trump lied about his policy accomplishments, interrupted himself, and went off on a series of incoherent rants during a recent interview with The Associated Press.

The AP released part of the interview last week, but made a fuller transcript available late Sunday. You can read it in full here, but beware: It’s a doozy. The phrase “Donald Trump is unintelligible” was even a top trending topic on Twitter early Monday a reference to the 16 times during the one-on-one interview where whatever the president said was apparently impossible to transcribe. ... Read more
FULL Transcript

"Total Chaos" - Cyber Attack Feared As Multiple Cities Hit With Simultaneous Power Grid Failures
ZeroHedge | author | 04/21/17

The U.S. power grid appears to have been hit with multiple power outages affecting San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Officials report that business, traffic and day-to-day life has come to a standstill in San Francisco, reportedly the worst hit of the three major cities currently experiencing outages. ... Read more

Ted Cruz Praises 'Warrior And Patriot' GOP Mega-Donor In Time Profile
TalkingPointsMemo.com | Matt Shuham | 04/20/17

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lavished praise on his one-time champion, mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, in a fawning entry in Time's "100 Most Influential People" list.

Rebekah Mercer and her billionaire investor father Robert were the driving donors behind Cruz's White House run until diverting their support to Donald Trump when he clinched the GOP nomination. ... Read more

Ted Cruz Grovels Before The Mercer Family... And So Does Trump | TYT | 04/20/17 | 8:18

The Most Unhinged Moments from Alex Jones' Custody Battle
MotherJones | Inae Oh | 04/20/17

A rare and at times unhinged portrait of President Trump's favorite conspiracy theorist, Infowars host Alex Jones, is emerging in an Austin court this week, as the radio star seeks to retain custody of his three children from ex-wife, Kelly Jones.

Lawyers for the bombastic broadcaster are attempting to persuade the jury that he is merely a "performance artist", someone who should be separated from the outrageous character he plays on-air. His ex-wife is arguing the opposite: Jones in private is the same person at home and with their children that he presents to his millions of conspiracy-hungry viewers, including Trump. ... Read more
There's An Infowar In My Pants And Everyone's Invited | TYT | 04/20/17 | 8:51

Is the Deep State Our Only Control Over Trump?
AlterNet | Robert Kuttner / The American Prospect | 04/20/17

When you actually try to govern, reality has a way of pushing back. Who knew?

A funny thing happened to Donald Trump in recent weeks. He had an encounter with reality--and reality won.

It turns out that the budget, and the Syrian civil war, and North Korean nuclear ambitions, and relations with China, and with Mexico, and with the EU are, like health insurance ... complicated. ... Read more

Trump Wants to Ride in a Gilded Coach?! (#61) | 04/20/17 | 8:36

Exxon Reportedly Seeking Waiver From Russia Sanctions
HP | Reuters | 04/20/17

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Wednesday declined to comment on a media report that it is seeking permission from the U.S. government to drill in several areas of the Black Sea banned by U.S. sanctions on Russia.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Exxon had in recent months applied to the U.S. Treasury Department for a waiver to drill with Russian oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM). Any such request is likely to draw attention because Exxon's former chief executive, Rex Tillerson, is now U.S. secretary of state. ... Read more
The Trillion-Dollar Trump - Putin - Exxon Plot Thickens | TYT | 04/19/17 | 6:08

Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe by Antony Loewenstein (01/03/17)

Disaster has become big business. Best-selling journalist Antony Loewenstein trav­els across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, the United States, Britain, Greece, and Australia to witness the reality of disaster capitalism. He discovers how companies cash in on or­ganized misery in a hidden world of privatized detention centers, militarized private security, aid profiteering, and destructive mining.

What emerges through Loewenstein's re­porting is a dark history of multinational corpo­rations that, with the aid of media and political elites, have grown more powerful than national governments. In the twenty-first century, the vulnerable have become the world's most valu­able commodity.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (2008)

In this groundbreaking alternative history of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free-market economic revolution, Naomi Klein challenges the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, Klein shows how Friedman and his followers have repeatedly harnessed terrible shocks and violence to implement their radical policies. As John Gray wrote in The Guardian, "There are very few books that really help us understand the present. The Shock Doctrine is one of those books."

Jason Chaffetz's Abrupt Exit
Atlantic | Mckay Coppins | 04/19/17

The Utah congressman, who serves as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is a high-profile figure in the GOP—a media-savvy lawmaker viewed by many party leaders as a rising star. But he has also been a target of fierce grassroots opposition in recent months, as critics accuse him of allowing partisan hypocrisy to hinder his role as a designated Trump watchdog. Earlier this year, he made national headlines when he was booed off stage by angry constituents at a town hall in his district, and since then activists have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to various efforts to unseat him.

Chaffetz moved immediately Wednesday to tamp down any emerging narrative that he was chased out of his seat. ... Read more
Why Is Jason Chaffetz Suddenly Quitting Congress? | TYT | 04/19/17 | 6:42

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Went In Wrong Direction For Days After White House Threat [North Korea]
HP & NYTimes | Paige Lavender | 04/18/17

When U.S. officials claimed two weeks ago that an American aircraft carrier was heading toward waters near North Korea, it was actually sailing in the opposite direction, The New York Times and Defense News report. ...

... Mere days after the announcement about the strike group's new course, President Donald Trump weighed in on the North Korean threat. "We are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier," Trump told Fox on April 12. ...

But Defense News pointed out on Tuesday that photos released by the U.S. Navy showed the aircraft carrier passing through the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, about 3,500 miles from the Korean Peninsula, last Saturday. It was moving away from North Korea when U.S. officials said it was moving toward the peninsula, the Times confirmed on Tuesday. ... Read more

There's a good chance Donald Trump doesn't know who the leader of North Korea is
Qz.com | Max de Haldevang | date

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un assumed control of the country following his father's death in 2011 and has quickly set about shoring up power, pushing ahead with North Korea's nuclear program, and reportedly executing hundreds of people.

Global observers with even the vaguest interest in the rogue peninsular understand these types of basic details about North Korea. US president Donald Trump, however, may not. Asked by Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt on April 17 whether he has ruled out a military strike on Pyongyang, Trump repeatedly referred to North Korea's leader as "this gentleman" -- and implied he was dealing with the same "gentleman" that former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had grappled with: ... Read more
SAD: Trump Doesn't Know Who Kim Jong Un Is | TYT | 04/18/17 | 5:04

Why humans are so bad at thinking about climate change | Vox | | 04/19/17 | 9:44

Goldman: "Investors Are Increasingly Concerned About An S&P Drawdown"
ZeroHedge | author | 04/19/17

One day after covering its long-standing long dollar call (coincidentally, just one week after former Goldman COO Gary Cohn urged Trump to flip on his own "strong dollar" policy), Goldman has gotten even more cautious and in a note released this morning it warns that "Investors are increasingly concerned about an S&P drawdown." Here's why. ... Read more

Proof that Donald Trump is Getting Crazier (#60) | Keith Olbermann | 04/18/17 | 8:28

Trump Secretary Of State Admits Syria Missile Strike Was A Bogus Charade
politicususa.com | Jason Easley | 04/09/17

During an interview on ABC's This Week, Trump Sec. of State Rex Tillerson admitted that the US missile strike on Syria wasn't intended to damage Assad because the Trump administration is actually working with Assad to defeat ISIS, so the US missile strike was an empty charade. ... Read more
Trump Secretary Of State Admits Syria Missile Strike Was A Bogus Charade | ABC | 04/09/17 | 15:29

Former CIA analyst on Korea slams Trump's 'gross miscalculation' on North Korea
RawStory | Sarah K. Burris | 04/14/17

Dr. Sue Mi Terry once worked for the CIA as an analyst covering Korea and she's deeply troubled by what she's seeing coming out of President Donald Trump's administration when it comes to North Korea.

Dr. Terry explained that the parades and trotting out of weapons are nothing more than a spectacle or display. However, she did confirm that they do have ICBMs that we know can reach the United States, they just haven't tested it. Dr. Terry thinks that they're about to, though. ... Read more

*Meet Brad Birkenfeld: "Lucifer's Banker"
ZeroHedge | author | 04/18/17

Just how bad is the ongoing fraud in the banking system? Get ready for a mind-bowing expose by a former insider at UBS. Brad Birkenfield, author of Lucifer's Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy, recounts the efforts he uncovered by his employer to help its clients cheat the US government out of tens of $billions in taxes.

But despite his working with the government closely to expose the gigantic conspiracy between US-based tax cheats and the giant Swiss bank, UBS, the so-called Justice Department went after Mr. Birkenfeld for abetting tax evasion by one of his clients. After spending thirty months in Federal prison, he was released and three weeks later, received a whistle-blower check for $104 million, the largest such check ever from the IRS Whistle-blower Office. ... Read more
Brad Birkenfeld: Lucifer's Banker | ChrisMartensondotcom | 04/16/17 | 45:33

Lucifer's Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy by Bradley C. Birkenfeld

As a private banker working for the largest bank in the world, UBS, Bradley Birkenfeld was an expert in Switzerland's shell-game of offshore companies and secret numbered accounts. He wined and dined ultrawealthy clients whose millions of dollars were hidden away from business partners, spouses, and tax authorities. As his client list grew, Birkenfeld lived a life of money, fast cars, and beautiful women, but when he discovered that UBS was planning to betray him, he blew the whistle to the US Government.

The Department of Justice scorned Birkenfeld's unprecedented whistle-blowing and attempted to silence him with a conspiracy charge. Yet Birkenfeld would not be intimidated. He took his secrets to the US Senate, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service, where he prevailed.

His bombshell revelations helped the US Treasury recover over $15 billion (and counting) in back taxes, fines, and penalties from American tax cheats. But Birkenfeld was shocked to discover that at the same time he was cooperating with the US Government, the Department of Justice was still doggedly pursuing him. He was arrested and served thirty months in federal prison. When he emerged, the Internal Revenue Service gave him a whistle-blower award for $104 million, the largest such reward in history.

A page-turning real-life thriller, Lucifer's Banker is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the secret Swiss high-net worth banking industry and a harrowing account of our government's justice system. Readers will follow Birkenfeld and share his outrage with the incompetence and possible corruption at the Department of Justice, and they will cheer him on as he ''hammers'' one of the most well-known and powerful banks in the world.

Factory Output Tumbles In March - This Has Never Happened Outside Of Recession
ZeroHedge | author | 04/18/17

US Industrial Production peaked in November 2014 and remains down almost 2% from those record highs (despite surging stocks). ... Read more
Click to zoom in

White House's secrecy about visitor logs will obscure Trump's conflicts of interest
ThinkProgress | Aaron Rupar | 04/14/17

Concealing the swamp instead of draining it.

"White House communications director Michael Dubke said the decision to reverse the Obama-era policy was due to 'the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually,'" Time reported on Friday. "Instead, the Trump Administration is relying on a federal court ruling that most of the logs are 'presidential records' and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act."

Logs will be kept secret until at least five years after Trump leaves office. The Washington Post reports that since the inauguration, "the page where the visitor logs had been publicly available has gone dark, and Trump administration officials said Friday that they will no longer maintain it, a move that the White House said would save taxpayers $70,000 by 2020." $70,000 is a mere fraction of the $3-plus million each of Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips costs taxpayers. ... Read more

Think Progress - Resist

China fears North Korea-US conflict 'at any moment'
BBC | author | 04/14/17

China has warned that "conflict could break out at any moment" as tension over North Korea increases. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said if war occurred there could be no winner.

Mr Wang's comments come as the US voices increasing concern at North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and deploys a Navy carrier group off the Korean peninsula. ... Read more
US - North Korea War "At Any Moment" | TYT | 04/15/17 | 14:37

Trump Creating Middle-East "Terrorism Factory" | TYT | 04/15/17 | 6:59

Poll: Trump woes take toll on GOP
Politico | Steven Shepard | 04/17/17

Trump's approval rating, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released Monday, is 39 percent -- precisely the same as two months ago. The percentage of Americans who disapprove of Trump is virtually unchanged: 54 percent, compared to 56 percent in February. Forty-four percent of Americans disapprove of Trump very strongly, according to the poll conducted April 5-11, more than the 30 percent who approve very strongly.

The most profound shifts in the Pew survey are in Americans' perceptions of the GOP beyond Trump. Just 40 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, down from 47 percent in January, prior to Trump's inauguration. Read more

Why Do Cooks Love the Instant Pot? I Bought One to Find Out
NYTimes | Melissa Clark | older

People have fallen in love with their Instant Pots. They may like their blenders, cherish their slow cookers and need their food processors.

But the Instant Pot -- a device that combines an electric pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker in one handy unit -- sends even mild-mannered cooks into fits of passion.

You find the "L" word over and over in the 15,000 or so product reviews on Amazon. And if you click over to Instant Pot's Facebook community page, you'll find more than 360,000 members sharing their undying affection alongside their recipes for chili. (A typical post: "I'm having an affair. My husband said he wished he would have never given me the Instant Pot for Christmas.") ... Read more

Chinese Media Can't Stop Making Fun Of Donald Trump
HP | Ed Mazza | 04/14/17

President Donald Trump's recent flip-flops aren't just making headlines in the United States ? they've also been noticed in China.

One of Trump's reversals came on the issue of Chinese monetary policy. While he had previously accused Beijing of being “world champions“ of currency manipulation, he reversed that position after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. ... Read more

Stephen Cohen: This is Most Dangerous Moment in U.S.-Russian Relations Since Cuban Missile Crisis
DemocracyNow | author | 04/13/17

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has wrapped up a visit to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The meetings come at a time of increased tension between Washington and Moscow. On Wednesday during a press conference, President Trump said relations with Russia had reached a new low point. Trump's comments came a day after the White House accused Russia of attempting to cover up the role of the Syrian government in the recent chemical attack in Syria that killed 87 people. Russia has rejected the claim, saying the U.S. has been too quick to blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ... Read more
Stephen Cohen: This is Most Dangerous Moment in U.S.-Russian Relations Since Cuban Missile Crisis | DN | 04/14/17 | 29:12

The United States Defense Department likes to show off. After proving it can move with the quick strike capability of a cobra as it did when it launched 59 tomahawk missiles ($1-$1.5 million apiece=$88,000,000.00) at a Syrian airfield, the Pentagon on Thursday decided to up the ante by showing its muscle.

They dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb against ISIS in the Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan. The GBU-43B known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) or the Mother of All Bombs, is a 20,000-pound monster. It took $314 million to develop and has a unit cost of $16 million.

Shares of Raytheon rallied in early Friday trading but their gains moderated as the session went on. The stock has gained more than 7% so far this year.

Trump blames administration vacancies on 'obstructionists'
TheHill.com | Rebecca Savransky | 04/12/17

“I am waiting right now for so many people. Hundreds and hundreds of people. And then they'll say, 'Why isn't Trump doing this faster?'" the president said during an interview with Fox Business that aired Wednesday.

"You can't do it faster because they're obstructing. They're obstructionists," he told host Maria Bartiromo. Trump again reiterated that he has "hundreds of people that we're trying to get through." ... Read more

Trump's Bullsh*t Excuse For Not Staffing Administration | TYT | 04/13/17 | 6:32

title
ZeroHedge | author | 04/14/17

Every society is ruled by an elite. They prey upon the common folks like ticks on a dog. They work their way into positions of power and influence, using a combination of brains, connections, and claptrap.

The mob generally looks up to them, impressed by the hocus pocus. And then, eventually, the ticks grow too many and too fat. The poor dog weakens... and the magic fails.

Where exactly we are in the process, we can't be sure. But surely, we took another step toward the eventual catastrophe when Ms. Yellen spoke. Read more

Anderson Cooper Stunned By Trump's Latest Comments On North Korea
HP | Ed Mazza | 04/13/17

President Donald Trump's latest comments on China and North Korea left CNN host Anderson Cooper momentarily speechless on Wednesday night.

The host of "Anderson Cooper 360" cited a Wall Street Journal report in which Trump claimed a 10-minute conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping made him realize that solving the escalating crisis in the Korean Peninsula was "not so easy." That caused Cooper to briefly stammer. "I gotta say, I really am speechless," he said. "I don't know why I'm acting like this." ... Read more

Donald Trump Vows 'We're Not Going Into Syria'
TalkingPointsMemo.com | Caitlin Macneal | 04/12/17

President Donald Trump on Tuesday tried to clarify his administration's policy toward Syria after ordering missile strikes on a Syrian air base last week in response to a chemical attack.

"We're not going into Syria because you know there were some questions," Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "But when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons--which they agreed not to use under the Obama administration, but they violated it." ... Read more

Trump: We're Not Going Into Syria... Unless We Do. | TYT | 04/12/17 | 14:14

*Why Bernie Sanders Has Risen to the Top
AlterNet | Kali Holloway | 04/11/17

Congress is wildly unpopular and for good reason, but there are some exceptions. According to a new poll from Morning Consult, Bernie Sanders is still riding the wave of popularity he enjoyed as a presidential contender, and ranks as the country's most liked senator. Patrick Leahy came in second on the list, making Vermont the state that's happiest with its Senate representatives. Sanders and Leahy got the thumbs-up from 75 and 70 percent of Vermont voters, respectively. ... Read more

Bernie Sanders Show

Trump Declines To Publicly Declare His Support For Steve Bannon
HP | Sam Levine | 04/11/17

"I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late."

New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin asked Trump if he still had confidence in Bannon, and the president did not say he did. Instead, he made it seem like Bannon, who led Trump's campaign beginning in August, was in the right place at the right time. In November, Trump tapped Bannon, widely seen to be the architect of his populist strategy, to be his senior counselor in the White House. ... Read more

Steve Bannon vs. "the Democrats"
Slate.com | Jim Newell | 04/11/17

White House advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner are at war, creating the necessary conditions for a grand press narrative about the future of the administration, the country, and the world. The feud between the frumpy white nationalist and the preppy nepotism case "reflects a larger struggle to guide the direction of the Trump presidency," the New York Times writes, "played out in disagreements over the policies Mr. Trump should pursue, the people he should hire and the image he should put forward to the American people." In short, Bannon is pushing Trump to govern the way he campaigned while Kushner is urging him to adopt the sort of useless, elitist centrism that Kushner personifies. ... Read more
*Steve Bannon "Just Snapped" | TYT | 04/11/17 | 14:23

Earth's melting permafrost threatens to unleash a dangerous climate feedback loop
ThinkProgress.org | Joe Romm | 04/11/17

Global warming will defrost much more permafrost than we thought, a new study finds. Every 1°C (1.8°F) of additional warming would thaw one-quarter of the earth's frozen tundra area -- releasing staggering amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Those GHGs would in turn warm the planet more, melting more permafrost, releasing more GHGs, and so on. This is perhaps the most dangerous amplifying carbon-cycle feedback humanity faces -- considering permafrost contains twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does today.

... By way of background, the permafrost, or tundra, is soil that stays below freezing (0°C or 32°F) for at least two years. Normally, plants capture CO2 from the air during photosynthesis and slowly release that carbon back into the atmosphere after they die. But the Arctic acts like a very large carbon freezer?--?and the decomposition rate is very low. Or, rather, it was. We are leaving the freezer door wide open. The tundra is being transformed from a long-term carbon locker to a short-term carbon unlocker. ... Read more

Syria's war: Who is fighting and why | Vox | 04/08/17 | 6:45

*'Presidential' And Pointless
HP | Nick Robins-Early | 04/10/17

Four days after the U.S. launched missiles at a key Syrian air base in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, the Trump administration's first big military move is escalating diplomatic tensions.

Russia has doubled down on its support for its ally Bashar Assad, stepping up military aid and deploying a warship off the Syrian coast. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on the other hand, has harshly criticized Russia and says the country's failure to rein in Assad led to last week's chemical attack. Tillerson will arrive in Moscow this week to meet with Russian officials, as White House officials suggest the possibility of future U.S. engagement. ... Read more

*How to avoid getting ripped off at the hospital
Vox | Julia Belluz | 04/11/17

"The American healthcare system is rigged against you," journalist Elisabeth Rosenthal writes in her new book, An American Sickness.

Rosenthal got a behind-the-scenes peek at the bamboozling when she was working full time as a doctor in the 1990s. She remembers one appendectomy patient, already in a hospital gown, pleading, "You guys [already] took my wallet ... I don't have a credit card." The hospital was hassling the patient for a credit card number before continuing with the procedure, and the patient had to scramble to recover a card number from a friend before the operation could begin. It was clear to Rosenthal that profit came way ahead of patient care. ... Read more

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal (04/11/17)

In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast?

Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries--the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw.

The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart.

*Why Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan could wind up in a ditch
Politico | Lauren Gardner | 04/10/17

His hopes for a 'very bipartisan' bill are running into the same kinds of political forces that torpedoed the Obamacare repeal.

President Donald Trump is counting on his $1 trillion infrastructure proposal to produce the kind of bipartisan legislative victory that has eluded him on health care and pretty much everything else. Instead, he's running into familiar roadblocks: suspicious Democrats, a divided GOP and questions about the math.

Trump's plan, expected to be released as early as May, has already faced months of skepticism from some conservative deficit hawks — even though it's likely to call for far less direct federal spending than its eye-popping price tag implies. Meanwhile, Democrats are crying foul at suggestions that the blueprint will include hefty tax breaks for private investors and a shredding of permit requirements. ... Read more

Putin: "Idlib Was A "False Flag" Attack And We Have Learned That More Are Coming"
ZeroHedge | author | 04/11/17

With Rex Tillerson on his way to Russia, moments ago Russian president Vladimir Putin shocked reporters when he said that Russia has received intelligence from "trusted sources" that more attacks using chemical weapons are being prepared on the Damascus region, meant to pin the blame on the Assad government.

"We have reports from multiple sources that false flags like this one -- and I cannot call it otherwise -- are being prepared in other parts of Syria, including the southern suburbs of Damascus. They plan to plant some chemical there and accuse the Syrian government of an attack," he said at a joint press conference with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Moscow.

The Russian President announced that Russia will officially turn to the UN in the Hague for an investigation of the chemical weapons' use in Idlib. Moscow has dismissed suggestions that the Syrian government that it backs could be behind the attack in Idlib province.

"All incidents reminiscent of the 'chemical attacks' that took place in Idlib must be thoroughly investigated," Putin said. ... Read more

Evangelical slams Trump voters for accepting his 'warped morality' in jaw-dropping Christian magazine essay
RawStory | Sarah K. Burris | 04/06/17

... In an op-ed for the Christian Post, Marvin Thompson, a former missionary who spent 25 years in Africa, called out hypocritical Evangelical Christians who continue to support Trump.

He began by citing an April editorial in the Los Angeles Times that called Trump "a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters." He emphasized the "worst in American voters," noting the "gravity of the situation for a community that professes to stand on the infallible truth of the Gospel and on immutable biblical principles." ... Read more
Evangelical SLAMS Fellow Evangelicals Who Support Trump | TYT | 04/09/17 | 5:14

Trump Lawyer Confirms President Can Pull Money From His Businesses Whenever He Wants
ProPublica| Derek Kravitz and Al Shaw | 04/04/17

Update, April 4, 2017: In an interview with ProPublica, Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten confirmed that President Trump can withdraw profits and underlying assets from his trust at any time.

He also said the president has been able to withdraw money since Trump took office on Jan. 20. That language was not included in a Jan. 26 summary of the trust -- what's known as a trust certification -- but was included in a Feb. 10 version of the document.

Asked about the change, Garten said the Trump Organization prepares different versions of the summaries to "highlight different things for different people." ... Read more
BUSTED: Trump Tried To Sneak A Few Changes Into His Trust... | TYT | 04/09/17 | 5:42

Trump's Single Biggest Donor, Robert Mercer, Has a Merciless Political Agenda
AlterNet | Bill Berkowitz / Buzzflash at Truthout | 04/04/17

"The Mercers laid the groundwork for the Trump revolution. Irrefutably, when you look at donors during the past four years, they have had the single biggest impact of anybody, including the Kochs." --Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist

The publicity-shy, Trump-supporting, secretive multi-billionaire hedge-fund tycoon Robert Mercer is a man you wouldn't recognize on the subway, in a supermarket check-out line, or be able to pick out of a line-up. Now, he is finally getting what he has avoided for years; the glare of the public spotlight. A rash of recent articles has unmasked the New York City-based hedge-fund phenomenon. And while Mercer is being reluctantly drawn out of the shadows, his daughter Rebekah, who chaired Mercer's super PAC, Make America Number 1, urged Trump to bring Bannon onto his campaign staff, and subsequently played an important role on Trump's transition team, may be getting over the family's aversion to the limelight. ... Read more

Steve Bannon Calls Jared Kushner a 'Cuck' and 'Globalist' Behind His Back
DailyBeast | Asawin Suebsaeng | 04/06/17

Donald Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon has called the president's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner a "cuck" and a "globalist" during a time of high tension between the two top aides, several Trump administration officials told The Daily Beast.

The fighting between Kushner and Bannon has been "nonstop" in recent weeks, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. It's been an "open secret" that Bannon and Kushner often clash "face-to-face," according to senior officials. ... Read more
Cuckfight: Steve Bannon Vs. Jared Kushner | TYT | 04/06/17 | 12:30

The Trumps Are Running The Secret Service Into The Ground
HP | Nick Wing | 04/06/17

The situation is increasingly dire at the Secret Service, where the task of keeping up with President Donald Trump and his family has strained the agency nearly to the point of breaking, according to a Thursday report in The New York Times.

After a trying campaign season, the Secret Service has undertaken the immense task of providing protection for Trump, a handful of his aides, the president's four adult sons and daughters along with their spouses and children, and first lady Melania Trump and their 11-year-old son, who both live at Trump Tower in New York. All told, the Secret Service is looking after 40 percent more people than it would in a typical non-campaign year, essentially putting the agency in perpetual campaign mode, the Times reported. ... Read more

Oval Office Cold Open |SNL | 02/05/17 | 6:32

One Man's Quest to Prove Saudi Arabia Bankrolled 9/11
Politico | Caleb Hannan | 04/07/17

Then Jim Kreindler got to his midtown Manhattan office on Friday, July 15, 2016, he had a surprise waiting for him. Twice in the previous eight years, Kreindler had been in the room as then-President Barack Obama promised Kreindler's clients he would declassify a batch of documents that had taken on near mythic importance to those seeking the full truth of who had helped plan and fund the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Now, Kreindler learned, "the 28 pages" as they were known, were open for inspection and it was up to his team to find something of value. It wasn't long before they did--a single, vague line about a Somali charity in Southern California. ... Read more

What Makes Millennials Disturbingly Different?
ZeroHedge | author | 04/07/17

In stealth fashion millennials are rapidly transforming society.
Something had mysteriously changed during the 2016 US Presidential primaries when an unlikely democratic candidate burst on the national scene with an unquestionable allure for the Millennial generation. How was it that a 'left wing' Bernie Sanders, who was of an age that he would be considered as a very old grandfather by this young generation, could draw such rousing support? What was it about this grey haired unknown senator from Vermont who so clearly represented the expectations, aspirations and frustrations of this new 'coming of age' generation? ... Read more

Jared Kushner Helped Push Steve Bannon Out Of The NSC
HP | Christina Wilkie | 04/06/17

New details emerged Wednesday about the role President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, played in convincing the president to remove top political adviser Steve Bannon from the National Security Council.

The move was widely interpreted as a sign of Bannon's diminishing influence in the Trump White House following a series of botched executive orders and the failure of health care reform. But Kushner was a driving force behind Bannon's demotion, according to Politico, which cited anonymous sources. ... Read more

Bannon ousted from National Security Council
Politico | Shane Goldmacher | 04/05/17

White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has been removed from an important seat on the National Security Council -- a posting that had stirred controversy for placing one of President Donald Trump's top political hands in a key national security position.

In recent weeks, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, has asked searching questions -- sometimes for hours -- of inside and outside advisers about the White House's performance and complained about Bannon in particular, according to people who have spoken with Kushner. Kushner, a onetime New York Democrat, and Bannon, a hard-right nationalist, have clashed as Kushner has told people that Bannon's desire to deconstruct the government is hurting the president. ... Read more
Why Was Steve Bannon Fired From Trump's National Security Council? | TYT | 04/05/17 | 8:56

Noam Chomsky: Trump Might Be a Disaster, but His Team Is Ready to Loot America
AlterNet | Amy Goodman | 04/05/17

The people behind Trump have a systematic and consistent plan to enrich the wealthy and hurt the poor.

Noam Chomsky: Trump Might Be a Disaster, but His Team Is Ready to Loot America | DN | 04/05/17 | 1:11:42

USA vs CHINA 2016. | BBC | 2016 | 24:26

The Incredible Rise of China 2017 | BBC | 2017 | 1:06:07

*Trump Gutted The State Department And Half Of Top Jobs Are Still Unfilled
HP | Jessica Schulberg , Alissa Scheller | 04/04/17

Ten weeks after the Trump administration unceremoniously pushed out several top-level State Department officials, their positions remain unfilled, and more than half of the positions listed on the agency's leadership chart are vacant or occupied by temporary acting officials.

Current and former State Department officials are concerned the government's main diplomatic arm is ill-equipped in a time of need. And the persisting vacancies raise questions about the White House's ability or willingness to find capable personnel to fill critical posts. ... Read more
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Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel
Washington Post | Adam Entous | 04/03/17

The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

The meeting took place around Jan. 11 -- nine days before Trump's inauguration -- in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions. ... Read more
*Why Would Trump Send Erik Prince To Secret Russian Meetings? | TYT | 04/04/17 | 13:48

Sessions orders Justice Department to review all police reform agreements
Washington Post | Sari Horwitz | 04/03/17

In a two-page memo released Monday, Sessions said agreements reached previously between the department's civil rights division and local police departments -- a key legacy of the Obama administration -- will be subject to review by his two top deputies, throwing into question whether all of the agreements will stay in place.

The memo was released not long before the department's civil rights lawyers asked a federal judge to postpone until at least the end of June a hearing on a sweeping police reform agreement, known as a consent decree, with the Baltimore Police Department that was announced just days before President Trump took office. ... Read more
*KKK Favorite Jeff Sessions Doing Them Proud On Police Brutality | TYT | 04/04/17 | 5:27

Do Authorities Now Have What They Need on Trump? (#55) | Keith Olbermann | 04/04/17 | 7:30

Forget Trump TV. Bernie Sanders has struck gold with his new Facebook Live show
Salon | Charlie May |04/03/17

While the establishment press focuses its time on Donald Trump's tweets, and the ongoing alleged Russia scandal, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is quietly growing his base and addressing the issues people are passionate about -- by creating his own Facebook Live show called "The Bernie Sanders Show."

Sanders "is viral gold," according to the senator's media producer, Armand Aviram, who says the statesman in his 70s has been able to capture the attention of millennials like no other politician. According to NBC News, the senator from Vermont has amassed 4.7 million followers on Twitter, and more than 7 million likes on Facebook. To add some context, he has more than twice the following of his closest competitors -- Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker. ... Read more
Bernie TV EXPLODING Online, Media Pretends Not To Notice... | TYT | 04/03/17 | 8:45

Bernie Sanders Show (Facebook)

The Sanders Show: Welcome to 'Bernie TV' | 04/03/17 | 2:43

Trumpcare's Back -- and Worse Than Ever!
HP | Matt Fuller | 04/03/17

House Republicans still don't have a deal to revive their health care bill, but the White House is laying the groundwork for negotiations to move quickly, meeting individually Monday with moderates and conservatives to discuss a possible agreement.

That agreement, which is still far from a reality, would hinge on Republicans accepting changes to their health care bill that would violate a key promise from President Donald Trump, namely that insurers would have to offer plans to people with pre-existing conditions. ... Read more

Chomsky: Why Trump Is Pushing the Doomsday Clock to the Brink of Midnight
AlterNet | David Gibbs | 04/02/17

Noam Chomsky: One of the dangers is unquestionable. Of the two existential threats -- the threats to the termination of the species basically and most other species -- one of them, climate change, on that I think there's no basis for discussion. Trump has been very inconsistent on many things; on Twitter he's been all over the place, but some of it is very consistent. That is: Do nothing about climate change except make it worse. And he's not just speaking for himself, but for the whole Republican Party, the whole leadership. It's already had impact, it will have worse impact. We'll talk about this next week, but if there are ways out of this, it's going to be not easy.

With regard to nuclear weapons, it's kind of hard to say. He's said lots of things. As you mentioned, the national security experts are terrified. But they're more terrified by his personality than by his statements. So if you read people like say Bruce Blair[i]1 one of the leading, most sober, knowledgeable specialists, he says, look, his statements are all over the map, but his personality is frightening, he's a complete megalomaniac. You never know how he's going to react. When he learned for example that he'd lost the election by about three million votes, his instant reaction was insanity; you know, three to five million illegal immigrants somehow were organized in some incredible fashion to vote. On any little issue -- Miss Universe, or whatever it may be -- he's completely unpredictable, he'll go off into outer space. His guru Steve Bannon is worse, he's much scarier. He probably knows what he's doing. ... Read more

In Trump Country, Shock at Trump Budget Cuts, but Still Loyalty
NYTimes | Nicholas Kristof | 04/01/17

McCracken's deep-rooted conservatism is matched by a passion to support Tulsa Domestic Violence Intervention Services, a nonprofit that helped her flee an ex- who she says beat and choked her, once until unconsciousness. She became teary as she described how staff members at the organization helped her and her son escape that relationship. "They saved my life, and my son's," she said, her eyes liquid.

So she is aghast that one of Trump's first proposals is to cut federal funds that sustain the organization. "My prayer is that Congress will step in" to protect domestic violence programs, she said. ... Read more
Trump Voters: He May Betray Me But I'll Never Betray Him | TYT | 04/03/17 | 8:50

LATimes: 'Nothing Prepared Us For The Magnitude Of This Train Wreck'
magazine | Rebecca Shapiro | 04/03/17

"He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard ... it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation."

It was no secret during the campaign that Donald Trump was a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters. The Times called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking, and said his election would be a "catastrophe."

Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck. ...

... In a matter of weeks, President Trump has taken dozens of real-life steps that, if they are not reversed, will rip families apart, foul rivers and pollute the air, intensify the calamitous effects of climate change and profoundly weaken the system of American public education for all. ... Read more and Read more

Jared Kushner's to-do list keeps getting longer
Washington Post | Alexandra Petri | 03/30/17

Every day, it seems, Jared Kushner's portfolio of responsibilities expands a little. First, it was merely to restore peace to the Middle East. ("If you can't produce peace in the Middle East," Trump told him, "nobody can.") Then he started acting like a special envoy to Mexico and China. Now he must also run government like a business? ...

Why It's So Hard to Understand That the Violence Your Country Exports Is Terrorism
AlterNet | Vijay Prashad | 04/02/17

On 23 March 2017, Khalid Masood ploughed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London, stabbed a police officer with a knife, and then was shot dead. He killed four people in the rampage, which injured an additional forty people and disturbed the equanimity of a major Western city. Masood, who was born in Dartford (Kent, United Kingdom), had run afoul of the law for many years--mainly because of acts of violence and possession of weapons. The gap between the act of Masood and a common criminal is narrow.

Two months ago, the head of the Metropolitan Police said that "warning lights are flashing" over the rise of violent crime across England and Wales. The preferred weapon, said Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, was the common knife. Violent crime had risen by twenty-two percent, with the last quarter of 2016 registering 30,838 crimes committed with knives. Masood's crime could well have been read alongside this data, as a serious problem of an increase in violence with knives as the weapon of choice. ... Read more

Trump Can Pull Money From His Businesses Whenever He Wants -- Without Ever Telling Us
ProPublica | Derek Kravitz | 04/03/17

When President Donald Trump placed his businesses in a trust upon entering the White House, he put his sons in charge and claimed to distance himself from his sprawling empire. "I hope at the end of eight years I'll come back and say, 'Oh you did a good job,'" Trump said at a Jan. 11 press conference. Trump's lawyer explained that the president "was completely isolating himself from his business interests."

The setup has long been slammed as insufficient, far short of the full divestment that many ethics experts say is needed to avoid conflicts of interest. A small phrase buried deep in a set of recently released letters between the Trump Organization and the government shows just how little separation there actually is. ... Read more