Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Trump Wants Little to Do With His Own Foreign Policy
TheAtlantic | Thomas Wright | 01/31/18

The clash between America First and the global shift to great-power competition

In recent months, the Trump administration has called for a dramatic shift in the direction of American foreign policy. How drastic of a shift? As the administration's National Defense Strategy pithily put it: "Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security." This means that when it comes to investing in new capabilities and planning for the future, the United States will focus more on threats and challenges from Russia and China than on counter-terrorism, rogue states, and nation building. ... Read more

President Trump delivers State of the Union Address | TRNN | 01/30/18 | 1:42:59

Bernie Responds to the State of the Union | TRNN | 01/31/18 | 21:47

The 2018 State of the Union in 4 minutes | Vox | 01/31/18 | 3:58

Devin Nunes Made 'Material Changes' To Secret Memo Before It Went To Trump, Democrat Says
HP | Jessica Schulberg | 02/01/18

Rep. Adam Schiff called on the House Intelligence chairman to withdraw the document he sent to the president for public release.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee made "material changes" to a secret memo he shared with lawmakers before sending it to the president to approve for final release, the top Democrat on the committee said Wednesday night.

Adam Schiff (Calif.), the committee's ranking Democrat, called on Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to withdraw the version of the classified memo he sent to the White House on Monday, arguing that a prior vote in favor or releasing the memo was invalidated by Nunes' changes. ... Read more

Trump's Stormy Daniels Problem Won't. Go. Away. | TYT | 01/31/18 | 6:23

Jimmy Kimmel's FULL INTERVIEW with Stormy Daniels | TYT | 01/30/18 | 11:38

Members of Congress, on Trump's mental health: "You don't have to convince us"
Salon | Chauncey Devega | 02/01/18

Psychiatrist Bandy Lee met with a dozen members of Congress to warn them about Donald Trump. They knew already

or many reasons, Donald Trump's mental health is a subject of great public concern in America. He is a compulsive liar who dissembles about facts both large and small. He is also a malignant narcissist who is desperately -- and successfully -- imposing his own version of reality on the American people. Trump is also violent and appears to lack any empathy or concern for the suffering of others. At times he seems confused and his patterns of speech have changed since taking office in January of last year. Even some of Donald Trump's closest political allies have apparently expressed concern about his mental health. ... Read more

Most Americans Can't Afford A Minor Emergency
HP | Eleanor Goldberg | 01/29/18

James DeVolid, 54, put in so many hours between his two jobs at Tyson Foods and Walmart that his wife, Susan, often joked that he worked "eight days a week." But after DeVolid developed nerve damage, he had to quit last summer the janitorial position he'd held for 20 years at a Tyson Food distribution center in Pottsville, Arkansas. His job required cleaning freezers, and the cold temperatures exacerbated his ailment.

DeVolid kept his other job at Walmart, where he earns $10 an hour moving carts 32 hours a week. But the change cut his annual income from $40,000 to $20,000, and he had to give up the health insurance benefits provided at Tyson's. He figured it would only take a few weeks for his coverage to kick in at Walmart. ... Read more
Why Trump's Economy Actually SUCKS | TYT | 01/29/18 | 9:40

How Trump turned Sean Hannity into a conspiracy theorist | Vox | 01/22/18 | 7:48

Behold, Hannity's About-Face On Report That Trump Tried To Fire Mueller
TPM | Nicole Lafond | 01/26/18

After The New York Times first reported the news Thursday evening, Fox host Sean Hannity started his show by calling the Times a distraction and said none of his "sources" were confirming the story.

"The President's attorney dismissed the story and says 'no comment, we are not going there,'" he said Thursday evening before bringing on former White House aide Sebastian Gorka to further bash the Times' reporting. Forty minutes later, Hannity was forced to eat his words after Fox News sources confirmed that Trump did in fact try to fire Mueller this summer. ... Read more

Hannity: There's No Proof! Wait...There's Proof? | TYT | 01/27/18 | 13:04

Trump says he would re-enter TPP trade deal if it's made 'substantially better'
The Hill | Jordan Fabian | 01/25/18

Trump said Thursday he would consider re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement if the terms were more favorable to the U.S. "I would do TPP if we were able to make a substantially better deal," Trump told CNBC during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The comments mark the first time Trump has raised the possibility of rejoining the sweeping trade agreement, which was championed by former President Obama. It's a surprising stance for Trump, who won the 2016 election on a promise to take a more protectionist stance on trade. ... Read more
Trump Reconsidering TPP | TYT | 01/29/18 | 4:16

The Mystery of Andrew McCabe's Exit
TheAtlantic | David A. Graham | 01/29/18

In a win for President Trump, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is leaving his post effective Monday--and that's about the only clear thing about his departure.

McCabe, who was appointed to that job under former FBI Director James Comey, was expected to leave his job this spring, when he reached eligibility for a pension. New FBI directors typically choose their own deputy directors, so it would make sense for new chief Christopher Wray to want his own pick. Because McCabe was a civil servant rather than a political appointee, Trump (and other superiors) could not summarily remove him. The president clearly didn't want him in the role and distrusted him, and it's hard to imagine McCabe was enjoying being a political football. Two days before Christmas, Trump tweeted, "FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!" ... Read more

Trump's $1 trillion plan inspires 'Hunger Games' angst
Politico | Lauren Gardner | 01/28/18

The president's long-awaited infrastructure package will expect cities and states to pick up much more of the costs for their projects.

President Donald Trump won the White House promising a $1 trillion, 10-year blueprint to rebuild America -- an initiative he said would create millions of jobs while making the nation's highways, bridges, railroad and airports "second to none."

But the infrastructure plan he's poised to pitch in Tuesday's State of the Union is already drawing comparisons to the The Hunger Games." Instead of the grand, New Deal-style public works program that Trump's eye-popping price tag implies, Democratic lawmakers and mayors fear the plan would set up a vicious, zero-sum scramble for a relatively meager amount of federal cash -- while forcing cities and states to scrounge up more of their own money, bringing a surge of privately financed toll roads, and shredding regulations in the name of building projects faster. ... Read more

Our Cartoon President | Series Premiere | Full Episode (TV14) | Showtime | 01/28/18 | 27:27

'He has to be normal': Trump's State of the Union aims for unity after a polarizing year
Politico | Lorraine Woellert | 01/27/18/span>

President Donald Trump plans to set aside his fire-and-fury rhetoric to deliver a conciliatory message in his first State of the Union address, using the televised speech to reach voters beyond his base in an election year marked by intense polarization and a troubled electoral map for Republicans.

Early versions of Trump's speech indicate the president, facing an in-house congressional audience grimly divided along ideological lines, will adopt a unifying tone with the theme of a "safe, strong and proud America." The approach marks an attempt to shift the national conversation from Trump's dismal public approval ratings, an election year that threatens Republican control of Congress and a White House consumed by an investigation into Russian campaign meddling. ... Read more

The real reason American health care is so expensive | Vox | 11/30/17 | 5:41

Robert Reich: Trump Is Sabotaging the U.S. Economy
AlterNet | Robert Reich / RobertReich.org | 01/29/18

Trump to global CEOs and financiers in Davos, Switzerland: "America is open for business." We're now a great place for you to make money. We've slashed taxes and regulations so you can make a bundle here.

Trump to ambitious young immigrants around the world, including those brought here as children: America is closed. We don't want you. Forget that poem affixed to the Statue of Liberty about bringing us your poor yearning to breathe free. Don't even try. ... Read more

Trump Booed At Davos For Criticizing 'Fake' Media
HP | Marina Fang | 01/26/18

Trump told world political and business leaders at the annual gathering in Switzerland that as a businessman, he received positive media coverage, but once he launched his presidential campaign in 2015, he realized that reporters were "nasty" and "fake," eliciting boos from people in the audience.

"It wasn't until I became a politician that I realized how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be ? as the cameras start going off in the back," Trump said. The president frequently makes the false claim that television cameras don't air his anti-media remarks. ... Read more

With the Mueller bombshell, the GOP's grand conspiracy theory falls apart
Salon | Heather Digby Parton | 01/26/18

This week we finally saw the right's defenses of Donald Trump crystallize into an overarching "theory of everything,"as Salon's Matthew Sheffield wrote on Thursday: A Department of Justice and FBI cabal worked feverishly to help Hillary Clinton escape accountability for her crimes, and was only thwarted by the stable genius of Donald Trump. This "secret society" is now doing everything in its power to overthrow the president. We spent the week following three specific strands of this alleged scandal, all of which have disintegrated by Friday morning.

First we had the so-called secret society which was excitedly flogged by the entire Fox News apparatus and taken up, perhaps a bit gingerly, by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. That turned out to be a joke in a text message from one of the FBI lovers at the center of the Republican conspiracy theory. Literally. So that was that. ... Read more
Republicans Going Full Alex Jones | TYT | 01/25/18 | 1:10

**How Trump is destroying the GOP
Salon | Robert Reich, robertreich.org | 01/26/18

America has never had a president as deeply unpopular at this stage of his presidency, or one who has sucked up more political oxygen. This isn't good news for the Republican Party this November or in the future, because the GOP has sold its soul to Trump.

Three principles once gave the GOP its identity and mission: Shrink the deficit, defend states' rights, and be tough on Russia. Now, after a year with the raving man-child who now occupies the White House, the Republican Party has taken a giant U-turn. Budget deficits are dandy, state's rights are obsolete, and Russian aggression is no big deal. By embracing a man whose only principles are winning and getting even, the Republican Party no longer stands for anything other than Trump. ... Read more

NSA Deletes "Honesty" and "Openness" from Core Values
TheIntercept | Jean Marc Manach | 01/24/18

THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY maintains a page on its website that outlines its mission statement. But earlier this month, the agency made a discreet change: It removed "honesty" as its top priority.

Since at least May 2016, the surveillance agency had featured honesty as the first of four "core values" listed on NSA.gov, alongside "respect for the law," "integrity," and "transparency." The agency vowed on the site to "be truthful with each other."

On January 12, however, the NSA removed the mission statement page -- which can still be viewed through the Internet Archive -- and replaced it with a new version. Now, the parts about honesty and the pledge to be truthful have been deleted. The agency's new top value is "commitment to service," which it says means "excellence in the pursuit of our critical mission." ... Read more
NSA Removes 'Honesty' And 'Openness' From Website | TYT | 01/24/18 | 5:15

Rush Limbaugh: Maybe the liberal "deep state" fabricated Iraq War WMD evidence to embarrass Bush
Salon | Charlie May | 01/24/18

The radio host, who was for invading Iraq, now thinks it's a liberal plot because . . . Trump?

For some reason," conservative talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh "was thinking about the war in Iraq," as he said on the Tuesday edition of his radio show. There, he asserted that the intelligence community -- led by Democratic elements of the "deep state" -- fabricated intelligence to "damage" former President George W. Bush.

"Speaking of the intelligence agencies -- I'm sure some of you have already thought of this, but it just hit me a few days ago," Limbaugh said on his radio show on Tuesday. "You remember what the intelligence agencies were telling us in the war in Iraq? You remember what they were telling us?" ... Read more
Rush Limbaugh: The Deep State Made Me Do It | TYT | 01/24/18 | 8:08

Major evangelical leader says Trump gets a "mulligan" on Stormy Daniels affair
Vox | Tara Isabella Burton | 01/23/18

The leader of the conservative evangelical organization Family Research Council said that evangelicals were happy to give President Donald Trump a "do-over" after a previously unpublished 2011 interview with adult film actress Stormy Daniels revealed that she may have been paid to remain silent about an extramarital affair with Trump in 2006.

Speaking to Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere about the Daniels incident, Tony Perkins said evangelicals "kind of gave him -- 'All right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here,'" using a golfing term that refers to a free stroke given to a player after a poor shot. ... Read more
Evangelicals Bending Over Backwards For Trump | TYT | 01/24/18 | 14:00

Watch: Full Davos panel on Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy | WP | 01/24/18 | 1:01:18

**Bernie Sanders - Medicare for All National Town Hall | TRNN | 01/23/18 | 1:52:54

Medicare For All Is The Way Forward | TYT | 01/23/18 | 14:14

Top Republican Warns That Under New Spending Bill "The Intelligence Community Could Expend Funds as it Sees Fit"
TheIntercept | Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim | 01/22/18

IN A DRAMATIC moment on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, as the upper chamber rushed a spending bill through to end the government shutdown, the top Republican and Democrat on the Intelligence Committee warned that the bill contains language that would kneecap Congress's ability to oversee secret covert actions and surveillance programs. Their effort to amend the language was rebuffed.

The intelligence community, in its latest grasp, has gone too far even for Richard Burr. The Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence committee has long been one of the Senate's staunchest advocates for the intelligence agencies, leading the fight to reauthorize surveillance programs and fighting to bury the results of the Senate's five-year investigation into CIA torture. But he took to the Senate floor Monday to warn that it would compromise Congress's ability to oversee secret intelligence programs. ... Read more
Congress Hands Trump His Own Private Army | TYT | 01/23/18 | 5:08

Scoop: FBI director threatened to resign amid Trump, Sessions pressure
Axios | author | date

Attorney General Jeff Sessions -- at the public urging of President Donald Trump -- has been pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed, according to three sources with direct knowledge.

- Wray's resignation under those circumstances would have created a media firestorm. The White House -- understandably gun-shy after the Comey debacle -- didn't want that scene, so McCabe remains. ...

Trump Still Trying to Fire Everyone Investigating Him | TYT | 01/23/18 | 3:35

Donald Trump Rattled By Explosive FBI Resignation Report | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC | 01/24/18 | 10:46

Graham-Durbin immigration proposal 'completely dishonest,' White House says
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 01/22/18

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) "were completely dishonest" in their negotiations on immigration with President Donald Trump, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Monday.

Gidley criticized a bipartisan deal on immigration brought forth by the lawmakers, along with four other senators, for failing to live up to their assurances to the White House. "Senator Graham and Senator Durbin called the president and told him they had a bipartisan bill," Gidley said on CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper." "They'd come together with some meeting of the minds to prepare a piece of legislation that would address everything the president outlined. The president was ecstatic." But he added: "Here's the problem: Senator Graham and Senator Durbin were completely dishonest." ... Read more

Congress votes to end shutdown
Politico | Seung Min Kim | 01/22/18

In a dramatic turnaround, Senate Democrats voted to reopen the government on Monday after receiving a commitment from Republicans to hold a vote on immigration legislation -- paving the way to end the three-day shutdown.

The Senate voted 81-18 to move forward on a bill to fund the government through Feb. 8 after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to end the shutdown and continue to negotiate on immigration and spending matters. If a broader deal is not reached by Feb. 8, the Senate would take up legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who are losing legal protections, as long as the government remains open. ... Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Nominee Worked To Make Your Healthcare Prices Higher - The News With Dan Rather | TYT | 01/22/18 | 5:17

Axios Reports First Glimpse Of President Donald Trump's Infrastructure Plan | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 01/23/18 | 9:05

Donald Trump Has Made America a Laughingstock on the World Stage
AlterNet | Vijay Prashad | 01/23/18

The journalist Michael Wolff's blockbuster Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (published on January 5) is filled with material about President Donald Trump's character flaws. He is shown to be in equal parts intellectually shallow and arrogant, able to care little for data and yet seized onto any "fact" that he sees as important for his current obsession. Whimsy, it seems, is the main motivation for Trump's policies. He does not choose John Bolton for his Cabinet because he does not like his mustache. He was bored of the conversation about health care reform and tried repeatedly to shift the conversation to golf. The book conveys the opinions of Trump's close advisers, many of whom have choice pejoratives to define him. Trump's National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster calls him a "dope," while Trump's former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus called him an "idiot." ... Read more

Federal Workers Forced To Go Without Pay As Government Shutdown Extends To Day 3
HP | Amanda Terkel | 01/21/18

The government shutdown is about to get a lot more visible. Congress wasn't able to come up with a deal to reopen the government Sunday, meaning the shutdown will extend to the third day on Monday ? the start of the work week.

Tourist spots like the National Zoo and the Smithsonian museums remained open over the weekend, but they will be closed on Monday. Sightseers who haven't been following the news will be left locked out and disappointed.

Thousands of federal workers will also be forced to go without pay. Some ? those who are deemed "non-essential" ? may have to show up for work Monday morning and then be told to go home. Others will have to work without getting paid. ... Read more

Who's To Blame For The Government Shutdown? | The View | 01/22/18 | 7:59

Fractious House Republicans rally behind Ryan on shutdown
Politico | Rachael Bade | 01/22/18

The House speaker is a centrist on the hot-button issue, but he has held the line against a vote to potentially end the government shutdown.

House Republicans have long said the issue of immigration would make or break Paul Ryan's political future. So far, amid a government shutdown spurred by a partisan stand-off over Dreamers, the Wisconsin Republican is passing the test.

Rank-and-file Republicans -- including some of his fiercest critics on the right flank -- are applauding Ryan's unwavering position during the shutdown. His stance, in a nutshell: As long as the government's closed, there will be no immigration negotiations. ... Read more

Many countries feared a Trump presidency. Here's what they think a year later. | WP | 01/19/18 | 7:07

The Numbers Don't Lie: White Far-Right Terrorists Pose a Clear Danger to Us All
TheIntercept | Mehdi Hasan | older

Back in February, the Republican congressman from Wisconsin told CNN's Alysyn Camerota that white terrorists of the far-right variety did not pose the same level of danger to Americans as so-called "Islamist" or "jihadist" terrorists. Why? "I don't know, but I would just tell you there's a difference," proclaimed Duffy, who went on to dismiss as a "one-off" the attack on a mosque in Quebec by a Trump-supporting white nationalist, in which six Muslim worshippers were killed.

One-off? Seriously? Has Duffy been reading the news in recent days? On May 20, Richard Collins III, a black, 23-year-old U.S. Army second lieutenant, was murdered while visiting the University of Maryland by a member of a Facebook group called "Alt-Reich: Nation." According to University of Maryland police chief David Mitchell, the group promotes "despicable" prejudice against minorities "and especially African-Americans." ... Read more

Alt-Right Terrorism Dwarfing Islamic Terrorism | TYT | 01/20/18 | 8:42

Michael Wolff and Jonathan Capehart, "Fire and Fury" | Politics and Prose | 01/19/18 | 1:08:29

House Passes Spending Bill, But Shutdown Threat Remains
HP | Matt Fuller | 01/18/18

The House voted 230-197 for the four-week continuing resolution, with 11 Republicans voting no and six Democrats voting for it. A couple of hours later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up a vote to end debate on the spending bill, and then promptly delayed it.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Republicans to hold the vote now, so Democrats could demonstrate that Republicans didn't have the votes and lawmakers from both sides could work toward a different solution. But McConnell wasn't having it. Now the Senate appears likely to vote Friday on ending debate, and unless something changes overnight, that vote still looks like it will fail. ... Read more

9 Million Kids Could Lose Their Health Care Because The GOP Wants To Shame Democrats
HP | Jeffrey Young | 01/18/18

Here we go again: Health care for 9 million kids could disappear as soon as Friday because the majority-Republican Congress can't get out of its own way.

Friday also is the day the entire federal government might shut down because infighting among congressional Republicans over immigration, military spending and other issues has left House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seemingly without the votes they need to pass yet another short-term spending bill. ... Read more

International Approval Of US Leadership Drops To New Low In Gallup Poll | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 01/18/18 | 4:55
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What if H.R. McMaster Is Right About North Korea?
TheAtlantic | James Jeffrey | 01/18/18

In the increasingly urgent, dramatic debate about the North Korean nuclear threat, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster stands out in the Trump administration as the strongest advocate of a hawkish position. But where do H.R. McMaster's views on North Korea really come from?

Why, to pose a question The Atlantic's Uri Friedman recently did, is he so worried about North Korea? Notwithstanding the suggestion, in Friedman's piece and elsewhere, that McMaster's views represent some kind of heresy of nuclear deterrence, his worries must be seen in light of how he views Kim's motives. Indeed, those motives mean the possibility of military action against North Korea could be understood not as a "good thing," but as the "least bad." ... Read more

White House Press Briefing 01/17/18 | White House | 01/17/18 | 35:54

Hawaii missile mess: That was no 'wrong button.' Take a look.
WashingtonPost | Fred Barbash | 01/16/18

Pushing the "wrong button" was the explanation provided in an official timeline for that false warning that scared the devil out of people in Hawaii on Saturday morning alerting them to an incoming ballistic missile that never was. "The wrong button was pushed," declared Vern Miyagi, head of the state's emergency management agency.

But as The Washington Post's Amy Wang reported, the errant employee actually was working with a drop-down menu on a computer program, from which the official chose the wrong item. ... Read more

The Jobs Trump Promised to Save Are Disappearing
TRNN | Michael Sainato | current

... Last week a round of layoffs at the Carrier factory in Indianapolis, Indiana took effect, in which about 215 people lost their jobs. These layoffs are in addition to the 340 jobs cut in July 2017. The factory's 700 remaining production employees are expected to be outsourced to Mexico by the end of 2018. United Technologies, the company that owns Carrier, received over $2 billion in government contracts in 2017 while offshoring jobs to other countries.

"The pace of offshoring is three times greater by federal contractors under Donald Trump," said Joseph Geevarghese, Executive Director of Good Jobs Nation, a labor coalition for low wage federal contract workers, in an interview with the Real News Network. "He campaigned to stop offshoring, yet one year in the office, he's failed to use the power that he has to deliver on that promise."

Trump and Republican leaders claim that the recently passed tax bill, which includes reducing corporate taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent, will lead to higher wages and more jobs, but these promises of trickle down economics have failed to deliver. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, announced on January 11, 2018 it would raise its company minimum wage from $10 an hour to $11 an hour, and provide bonuses of up to $1000 to full-time qualifying employees. Later on the same day, Wal-Mart announced it would abruptly shut down 63 Sam's Club stores, laying off around 11,000 workers. ... Read more

It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America (12/16/18) by David Cay Johnston

Bestselling author and longtime Trump observer David Cay Johnston shines a light on the political termites who have infested our government under the Trump Administration, destroying it from within and compromising our jobs, safety, finances, and more.

No journalist knows Donald Trump better than David Cay Johnston, who has been following him since 1988. It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America goes inside the administration to show how the federal agencies that touch the lives of all Americans are being undermined. Here is just some of what you will learn:

The Wall. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto told President Trump that Mexico will never pay for the border wall. So, Trump is proposing putting a tariff on Mexican imports. But a tariff will simply raise the price of Mexican goods in the US, meaning American consumers will end up paying for the wall--if it ever gets built.

Climate Change. Welcome to the new EPA, run by Scott Pruitt, a lawyer who has spent much of his career trying to destroy the agency he now heads. Secrecy reigns at the new EPA because Pruitt meets with industry executives to find out which clean air and clean water provisions they most want to roll back, and keeps staffers in the dark to make sure these pro-pollution plans don't leak prematurely.

Stocking the Swamp. Contrary to his promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington, DC, Trump has filled his cabinet with millionaires and billionaires, from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a Goldman Sachs and hedge fund veteran who made much of his fortune foreclosing on homeowners to billionaire heiress Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has already put the interests of bankers ahead of debt-burdened students and their families.

The Kleptocracy. Under Donald Trump conflict of interest is passé. When Trump isn't in Washington, he stays at one of his properties, where the taxpayers pick up the tab for staffers, Secret Service, and so on, all at full price. And back in Washington, everyone now knows that the Trump International Hotel is the only place to stay if you want to do business with the administration. Meanwhile sons Donald Jr. and Eric run an eyes-wide-open blind trust of Trump holdings to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest -- but not the reality.

Sen. Jeff Flake condemns President Trump's attacks on media | C-Span | 01/17/18 | 14:27

How Trump's TV habits raised the risk of a shutdown
Politico | Eliana Johnson | 01/18/18

White House aides say the president woke up spoiling for a fight and focused his attention on the spending deal after it came up on his favorite cable news show.

If the government shuts down on Friday, President Donald Trump's television habits may be partly to blame, according to two White House aides. The president began the day on Thursday by blasting out a tweet that threatened to derail a GOP legislative package designed to keep the government open, arguing that the Children's Health Insurance Program, known by its acronym, CHIP, "should be part of a long-term solution, not a 30-day, or short-term, extension." But that is precisely the package House Speaker Paul Ryan was trying to persuade skeptical Republicans to agree to in order to keep the government open.

The Ryan deal had been discussed at length on "Fox & Friends," the president's favorite morning television program, in the hour before he sent the missive -- and the aides immediately suspected that something on the program had prompted it. They also pointed to Trump's frustration over the comments made by his chief of staff, John Kelly, in a Fox News interview Wednesday evening, to explain his seemingly random eruption. ... Read more

President Trump Contradicts His Chief Of Staff Over Mexico Border Wall | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 01/18/18 | 4:32

Pentagon Reportedly Weighing Using Nukes In Response To 'Large Cyberattacks'
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 01/17/18

A draft of the Defense Department's new nuclear strategy says the U.S. could respond to certain "non-nuclear attacks" with nuclear weapons.

The Pentagon is reportedly pushing a new retaliation tactic should the U.S. ever be hit by a devastating cyberattack: America could nuke the culprit. The New York Times reported Tuesday that a pre-decisional draft of the Defense Department's 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, which details U.S. nuclear strategy, includes "large cyberattacks" as an example of a non-nuclear strike on American lives and infrastructure that could be countered with nuclear weapons.

"Three current and former senior government officials said large cyberattacks against the United States and its interests would be included in the kinds of foreign aggression that could justify a nuclear response," the Times wrote of the new strategy. The officials stressed, however, that "other, more conventional options for retaliation" could also be used in response to a cyberattack. ... Read more and
Exclusive: Here Is A Draft Of Trump's Nuclear Review. He Wants A Lot More Nukes.

Mueller Meets Trump | The Simpsons | older | 2:07

Here's Just How Little Confidence Americans Have In Political Institutions
NPR | Domenico Montanaro | 01/17/18

Trust in the institutions that have been the pillars of U.S. politics and capitalism is crumbling. That is one finding from the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, which shows that Americans have limited confidence in its public schools, courts, organized labor and banks -- and even less confidence in big business, the presidency, the political parties and the media.

The only institution that Americans have overwhelming faith in is the military -- 87 percent say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military. That is a striking change from the 1970s during and after the Vietnam War. ... Read more
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White House Press Briefing 01/16/18 | WH | 01/16/18 | 1:14:23

Lindsey Graham thought he had Trump tamed -- but got played instead
Salon | Heather Digby Parton | 01/17/18

oor Lindsey Graham. The "maverick" senator from South Carolina had spent the last two years expressing his scorn for Donald Trump, calling him "unfit" and "a kook." Then, sometime in the late summer, Graham apparently reconciled himself to the fact that Trump wasn't capable of growing or "pivoting" into the job, so he took it upon himself to cultivate the mercurial manchild, perhaps in the vainglorious belief he could influence Trump to become a mainstream conservative and stamp out the rapidly burning fuse that was going to blow up the presidency and likely the entire Republican Party.

Graham played golf with his president, he complimented him on his swing, he flattered his intelligence and he even agreed to throw some red meat at the base on Trump's behalf by taking up the ridiculous crusade to jail Hillary Clinton. He cajoled and he petted and he whispered the sweet nothings that the president needs to hear to make him feel powerful. Graham thought Trump trusted him and looked to him for guidance. He thought he could speak for the president in negotiations. ... Read more

Military Quietly Prepares for a Last Resort: War With North Korea
NYT | Helene Cooper | 01/14/18

Across the military, officers and troops are quietly preparing for a war they hope will not come. At Fort Bragg in North Carolina last month, a mix of 48 Apache gunships and Chinook cargo helicopters took off in an exercise that practiced moving troops and equipment under live artillery fire to assault targets. Two days later, in the skies above Nevada, 119 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division parachuted out of C-17 military cargo planes under cover of darkness in an exercise that simulated a foreign invasion.

Next month, at Army posts across the United States, more than 1,000 reserve soldiers will practice how to set up so-called mobilization centers that move military forces overseas in a hurry. And beginning next month with the Winter Olympics in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang, the Pentagon plans to send more Special Operations troops to the Korean Peninsula, an initial step toward what some officials said ultimately could be the formation of a Korea-based task force similar to the types that are fighting in Iraq and Syria. Others said the plan was strictly related to counterterrorism efforts. ... Read more

Hawaii missile snafu: That was no 'wrong button.' Take a look.
WashintonPost | Fred Barbash | 01/16/19

Pushing the "wrong button" was the explanation provided in an official timeline for that false warning that scared the devil out of people in Hawaii on Saturday morning alerting them to an incoming ballistic missile that never was. "The wrong button was pushed," declared Vern Miyagi, head of the state's emergency management agency.

But as The Washington Post's Amy Wang reported, the errant employee actually was working with a drop-down menu on a computer program, from which the official chose the wrong item. On Monday, state officials released an image of that menu, provided to The Post by Hawaii News Now, and it shed some light on why it might be confusing. ... Read more

Trump spends Martin Luther King Jr. Day at golf course
Politico | Matthew Nussbaum | 01/15/18

President Donald Trump returned to his Florida golf course on Monday, appearing to disregard his own advice that people spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day performing acts of service for others. Trump arrived at his golf course shortly after 9 a.m., and the White House did not respond to a request for comment about his activity. His public schedule is empty and he is scheduled to return to the White House Monday night.

When signing a proclamation to honor King on Friday, Trump called on all Americans to honor the the late civil rights leader's birthday "with acts of civic work and community service." ... Read more

Trump Administration Waives Punishment For Convicted Banks, Including Deutsche -- Which Trump Owes Millions
ibtimes.com | David Sirota | 01/09/18

The Trump administration has waived part of the punishment for five megabanks whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates. One of the Trump administration waivers was granted to Deutsche Bank -- which is owed at least $130 million by President Donald Trump and his business empire, and has also been fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme.

The waivers were issued in a little-noticed announcement published in the Federal Register during the Christmas holiday week. They come less than two years after then-candidate Trump promised "I'm not going to let Wall Street get away with murder." ... Read more

The moral roots of liberals and conservatives - Jonathan Haidt | TEDTalk | older | 18:39

Empire Files: What the Russian Revolution Proved Possible | TRNN | 11/25/17 | 27:16

Storming the Gates: How the Russian Revolution Changed the World (2017) by Brian Becker

The Russian Revolution 'shook the world' in 1917. It was the first time a socialist revolution had taken hold, putting the workers in power, seizing private property and society's productive capacity. This was the basis for a rational, cooperative society. That revolution became the nemesis of the United States and other imperialist countries, which would not rest until its gains were undone. The Bolshevik Revolution inspired anti-colonial revolutions and national liberation movements around the world, lending solidarity and material assistance to them. As it emerged to be the second-largest economy in the world, the first to put a satellite and human into space, it became a valid counterweight to claims of capitalism's superiority. Storming the Gates looks inside the revolution, from the early years to the last -- not as a neutral observer, but a partisan for revolutionary change. Recounting the vast accomplishments, global impact, loyal followers, challenges and shortcomings, this book remembers 'the Soviet Union not as the end of communism but as its first grand, real-life experiment.' Looking to the future, Storming the Gates examines what role a Bolshevik-type party can have in the 21st Century, and how it can once again shape history. "The single biggest event that shaped global politics in the 20th century was the Russian Revolution of 1917, which gave birth to the Soviet Union. The first socialist government's existence was the pivot for world events in history's most turbulent and dynamic century. The destruction of the Soviet Union 74 years later in 1991 has been the dominant factor shaping global politics ever since."

Meet the rural Americans who fear they're being forgotten | WashingtonPost | 07/22/17 | 11:07

Here's What The FBI Lovers' Secret Texts Actually Say About Trump, Clinton And Leaks
HP | Ryan J. Reilly | 01/14/18

Last week, a story by The Hill's John Solomon set off another firestorm in the conservative media about the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The article, which was linked to by The Drudge Report and aggregated by sites across the right-wing internet before being prominently featured on Sean Hannity's Fox show, fit nicely into a theory about the FBI that some members of Congress and President Donald Trump have been pushing to undermine Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Stay with us, because this gets a bit bizarre. The theory Trump and others have been pushing insinuates that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two current FBI employees who were having an affair, were at the heart of an FBI conspiracy against Trump during the 2016 election campaign. Adherents of this theory believe that the couple's 2016 texts criticizing Trump ? which were recovered from their government cellphones, provided to Congress and shared with some reporters ? prove they were out to get the then-candidate. ... Read more

Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. | Amazon | $179.99 | 11/19/17 | 4:33

Trump says he has 'very good relationship' with Kim Jong Un
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 01/11/18

President Donald Trump said he "probably" has "a very good relationship" with Kim Jong Un but would not say whether he has spoken to the North Korean leader during an interview with The Wall Street Journal Thursday.

"I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, " Trump told the Journal in a 45-minute sit-down at the White House. "I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised."

"I don't want to comment on it. I'm not saying I have or haven't. I just don't want to comment," Trump said. ... Read more

White House Press Briefing 1/11/18 | WH | 01/11/18 | 44:12

Trump rebuffs Dreamers deal reached by senators
Politico | Seung Min Kim | 01/11/18

A bipartisan group of six senators has reached a deal that would shield Dreamers from deportation and make other changes to immigration laws and border security -- but the framework has yet to win over the White House and other key players on Capitol Hill.

The package negotiated by the senators includes $2.7 billion for border security, which includes Trump's $1.6 billion request for wall planning and construction, as well as $1.1 billion for security infrastructure and technology, three sources directly familiar with the negotiations confirmed to POLITICO. ... Read more

Sen. Sanders: Trump's 'shithole' comment appalling | CNN | 01/11/18 | 11:05

Trump's 2,000 Lies -- A Documentary | Jimmy Kimmel | 01/11/18 | 5:22

Click to zoom in

Trump's "Shithole Countries" Remark | The View | 01/12/18 | 8:24

Which news providers make it in among the top 25 for total U.S. traffic?
journalism.org | Kenneth Olmstead | older, 05/09/11

Trump Administration Paves Way For States To Force Medicaid Recipients To Work
Reuters & HP | Yasmeen Abutaleb | 01/11/18

The Trump administration said on Thursday it would allow states to test requiring some Medicaid recipients to work or participate in community activities such as volunteering or jobs training as a condition of eligibility for the government health insurance program for the poor.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance making it easier for states to design and propose test programs that implement such requirements. States must propose such changes through waivers and receive federal approval.

Seema Verma, the agency's administrator, said the policy guidance came in response to requests from at least 10 states that have proposed requiring some Medicaid recipients to work or participate in activities that may include skills training, education, job search, volunteering or caregiving. Those states include Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona, Indiana and Utah. ... Read more

Kellyanne Conway: Nobody here talks about Clinton | 01/11/18 | 14:30

"Executive time" and white privilege: Our laziest president and an ugly stereotype
Salon | Chauncey Devega | date

Of course, Obama's ascent did not heal the centuries of harm done to black Americans by white racism. But that next chapter in America's history -- where one more "first" for a black person was demolished -- was still symbolically intoxicating because it validated a belief in this country's ability to change for the better. ...

... Unlike Obama, Trump actually is extremely lazy. While he and the right-wing media slurred Obama for supposedly taking too many days off to vacation or play golf, Trump has spent at least 25 percent of his time as president engaging in those activities. It has been reported that Trump also spends at least three hours a day on "executive time," during which he watches Fox News endlessly, sends out streams of tweets and eats McDonald's fast food while lying in bed.

Some people in Trump's inner circle -- at least according to the account in Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury," which has not been contradicted in any essential way -- have described him as intellectually vapid and incurious, uninterested in the details of his office, possessing little or no attention span and preoccupied with having his egomania and malignant narcissism fed by his coterie. ... Read more

Amazing DIY European Style Tiny House With Pizza Oven | 01/11/18 | 15:11

Independent Woman Lives Simply in a Tiny House Community | 05/01/15 | 12:53

Open Concept Modern Tiny House with Elevator Bed | 01/30/17 | 16:28

Steve Bannon Out At Breitbart
HP | Sebastian Murdock | 01/09/18

Bannon's exit comes after his quotes in a new tell-all sparked a feud with President Donald Trump.

"I'm proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform," he said in a statement. Bannon was a founding member of the board and took over as executive chairman of Breitbart News following founder Andrew Breitbart's death in 2012. ...

... Rumors of Bannon's ouster from the conservative news outlet began Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the owners of the publication were debating Bannon's future. During a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Breitbart should consider firing Bannon. ... Read more

Why so many Americans in the middle class have no savings | PBS | older, 06/01/16 | 11:59

Mark has an amazing story! He was a banker now living in a park homeless. | Invisible People | older, 11/26/08 | 10:00

Homeless Couple's Love Keeps Them Warm in Ithaca's Cold Weather. | Invisible People | 01/08/18 | 11:00

This LA Musician Built $1,200 Tiny Houses for the Homeless. Then the City Seized Them. | ReasonTV | 12/09/16 | 14:03

Tiny Home Rebel | SBS Dateline | 06/27/17 | 29:32

White House Press Briefing 01/09/18 | WH | 01/09/18 | 22:38

President Trump Meets with Bipartisan Members of the Senate on Immigration | WH | 01/09/18 | 54:40

Dianne Feinstein Releases Transcript Of Fusion GPS Co-Founder's Testimony On Russia
HP | Paige Lavender | 01/09/18

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office released a transcript Tuesday of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The committee questioned Simpson in August about Russian interference in the 2016 election. A dossier compiled by Fusion GPS with the help of former British spy Christopher Steele alleged collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russian government. ... Read more
Fushion GPS, Glenn Simpson Testimony to Senate.pdf
or
Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson Testimony to the Senate website

Billionaire Tom Steyer and the Wealthy Trump Resistance Grifters
TRNN | Michael Sainato | 01/09/18

vHedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer has launched himself into the Trump Resistance, pouring millions of dollars into advertisements and a website urging the impeachment of Donald Trump. He's spent over $20 million so far on a nationwide ad campaign, starring himself, as the DNC and several grassroots organizations struggle to compete in fundraising against the billionaires backing Trump and the Republican Party. ... Read more

*"Fire And Fury" by Michael Wolff - FULL AudioBook | 01/06/18 | 11:56:18

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous?and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office. Among the revelations:

1. What President Trump's staff really thinks of him
2. What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
3. Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
4. Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn't be in the same room
5. Who is really directing the Trump administration's strategy in the wake of Bannon's firing
6. What the secret to communicating with Trump is
7. What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

"Fire And Fury" by Michael Wolff - FULL AudioBook | 01/06/18 | 11:56:18

The Children's Health Insurance Program, CHIP, Is In Peril Again. But There's Good News.
HP | Jeffrey Young | 01/08/18

On its way out the door for the holiday break in December, Congress passed a bill that was supposed to keep the Children's Health Insurance Program afloat until the end of March. Now, the federal government is saying it can't even guarantee continued coverage for 9 million low-income kids for the full month of January.

Before Congress passed legislation last month to inject close to $3 billion into CHIP, several states were on the verge of shutting down the program for lack of funds. A few even began notifying parents that their kids were about to lose health insurance. That could all be about to happen again. ... Read more

Sean Spicer Dismisses Oprah Winfrey Presidential Run Because Of Inexperience
HP | David Moye | 01/08/18

ean Spicer either has a short memory or a very long nose, based on comments he made Monday morning regarding Oprah Winfrey.

The former White House press secretary appeared on the British TV show "Good Morning Britain" to discuss, among other things, Winfrey's potential presidential run, which many were discussing after the media mogul received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at Sunday's Golden Globes. ... Read more

How Stephen Miller Got What He Wanted From CNN
TheAtlatic | David A. Graham | 01/08/18

... The segment began with Tapper asking a question, which Miller happily ignored in favor of a meandering, long riff. Tapper let Miller go for a minute and a half, and Miller happily took it, running through a series of talking points that sounded carefully workshopped.

"It's tragic and unfortunate that Steve would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive," Miller said. "The whole White House staff is disappointed with his comments, which were so grotesque." (There was a lot of "grotesque" and "tragic" in the interview.) Miller went on that "the book is best understood as a work of very poorly written fiction," a line which might have landed better if he hadn't followed it with a poorly written, juvenile jab: "I also will say that the author is a garbage author of a garbage book." ... Read more

Trump tweets that he's a genius and "a very stable genius at that!"
Vox | Emily Stewart | 01/06/18

On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump characterized himself as a "very stable genius" who is "like, really smart" in a series of tweets fired off from the Camp David presidential countryside retreat, where he was supposed to be meeting with lawmakers about 2018 priorities such as infrastructure, the budget, and health care.

Apparently reacting to a new round of questions surrounding his mental health, the president used Twitter to defend himself in the weekend's early morning hours. The tweets seemed to be spurred by a Fox News segment. ... Read more

Tapper cuts off Trump adviser interview: I've wasted enough of my viewers' time | CNN | 01/07/18 | 12:34

Sean Spicer: I 'screwed up' as press secretary | CNN | 01/04/18 | 18:29

Psychiatrist spoke with Congress on Trump's mental fitness | CNN | 01/05/18 | 6:22

Trump: I'm a very stable genius | CNN | 01/06/18 | 6:32

Michael Wolff's Bombshell Book On Trump White House | The View | 01/04/18 | 8:19

Bannon finds his regrets aren't good enough for Trump
Politico | Annie Karni | 01/07/18

Steve Bannon, like his onetime brother-in-arms President Donald Trump, is known as someone whose instinct is to double down, not kiss up.

That made his belated attempt on Sunday to de-escalate mounting tension with the commander in chief -- who had been publicly and privately raging about his former chief strategist all week -- notable to many of his allies, one of whom called it a "huge step for Steve, one of the most stubborn people on earth."

But inside the White House, Bannon's 297-word statement of contrition about comments he made in Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" was seen as too little, too late for an operative unaware of the self-inflicted damage his hubris could cause.

It did nothing to quell Trump's rage at his former chief strategist or the anger of Bannon's former West Wing colleagues, according to multiple administration officials, who said the vibe in the president's circle was that people were unmoved by the statement. Asked whether there is anything Bannon can do at this point to get back in the president's good graces, one White House official said curtly, "Unlikely." ... Read more

Robert Reich: Just How Stupid Is Trump?
AlterNet | Robert Reich / RobertReich.org | 01/08/18

His cabinet thinks he's an imbecile, but it would be dangerous to underestimate him.

For more than a year now, I've been hearing from people in the inner circles of official Washington -- GOP lobbyists, Republican pundits, even a few Republican members of Congress -- that Donald Trump is remarkably stupid.

I figured they couldn't be right because really stupid people don't become presidents of the United States. Even George W. Bush was smart enough to hire smart people to run his campaign and then his White House.

Several months back when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a "f--king moron," I discounted it. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to serve in a president's cabinet, and I've heard members of other president's cabinets describe their bosses in similar terms. ... Read more

The Definitive Guide to Understanding the Sinister Tactics Behind Trump's Tweets
AlterNet | Liz Posner | 01/08/18

Over the past two years, Trump's Twitter habits have been honed and polished into an art form. And really, he is a master at it. Maybe after Mueller takes him down, he can write "The Art of the Tweet." Until then, Americans will continue to reel from unfiltered posts like his most recent threats to North Korea and play the absurd game of trying to tell if our lives are immediately under threat or not.

But one scholar of linguistics and philosophy has masterfully deciphered the strategy behind Trump's tweets, and it's just the tool we need going into 2018. ... Read more
Click to zoom in

'Fire And Fury' Author Defends Book After Trump Slams It As 'Phony' And 'Full Of Lies'
HP | Marina Fang | 01/05/18

Journalist Michael Wolff said it was "extraordinary" that the president tried to stop the publication.

Journalist Michael Wolff on Friday said he stands by "Fire and Fury," his new book about President Donald Trump's administration that has drawn Trump's ire and rocked the political world. "My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who has ever walked on earth at this point," Wolff said of Trump.

On NBC's "Today" show on Friday, in his first interview since the book went on sale at midnight, Wolff defended his reporting, and his descriptions of Trump aides and confidants openly questioning the president's mental health and stability. ... Read more

'Fire And Fury' Author Michael Wolff: 'I Absolutely' Spoke To President Donald Trump | TODAY | 01/05/18 | 8:25

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous?and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office. Among the revelations:

1. What President Trump's staff really thinks of him
2. What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
3. Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
4. Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn't be in the same room
5. Who is really directing the Trump administration's strategy in the wake of Bannon's firing
6. What the secret to communicating with Trump is
7. What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

King Cuck Bannon Bows Before Daddy Trump | TYT | 01/04/18 | 14:23

Trump Threatens Lawsuit Over DEVASTATING New Book | TYT | 01/04/18 | 5:05

What Fox News Owner REALLY Thinks About Trump | TYT | 01/04/18 | 6:55

Brutal Winter Storm Leaves East Coast Blanketed In Snow As Airports Slowly Reopen
HP | Nina Golgowski and Nick Visser | 01/04/18

'Bomb Cyclone' Leaves East Coast Buried In Snow As Airports Slowly Reopen

A polar vortex of ice and howling wind left up to a foot of snow over parts of the Northeast on Thursday as the first major winter storm of 2018 barreled up the coast. Authorities throughout the region declared states of emergencies and canceled thousands of flights meant to ferry post-holiday travelers home.

Almost no part of the Eastern Seaboard was spared from frigid temperatures that plunged well below freezing, and snow fell from New England all the way down to Georgia and the Carolinas. ... Read more

Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming | Nick Hanauer | TED | older 08/12/14 | 20:26

Two Dozen Members of Congress Can't Wait to Leave D.C. Here's Why.
Politico | Edward-Isaac Dovere | 02/2018

... Dent, a moderate Republican who's become the go-to source for reporters looking for searing criticism of the GOP in the Trump era, is one of a couple dozen members of Congress who have announced their retirements last year (not counting the ones who have gone down in sexual harassment scandals), with more likely coming amid an expected Democratic wave in the 2018 midterm elections. People retire every cycle. But this year's group is a bumper crop of members wondering whether Congress is broken forever--even as they insist they love their own jobs.

The ferocity of the Gingrich Revolution, President Bill Clinton's impeachment--even the Tea Party shutdown wars of 2011 and 2013 seem like the good old days to them now. Capitol Hill is an angry, scattered mess; each party is storing up grudges to get revenge for the next time it gets the chance; and the victories are always fleeting. When pressed, the departees will confess to deep concerns that flow from Trump, the reaction to Trump, and the politics that created and elected Trump. ... Read more

Fire And Fury In The White House | The 11th Hour | MSNBC | 01/04/18 | 13:39

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous?and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office. Among the revelations:

1. What President Trump's staff really thinks of him
2. What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
3. Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
4. Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn't be in the same room
5. Who is really directing the Trump administration's strategy in the wake of Bannon's firing
6. What the secret to communicating with Trump is
7. What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

Sanders Struggles To Explain Trump Bannon Sh*tstorm | TYT | 01/03/18 | 6:03

*How Trump makes extreme things look normal | Vox | 12/21/17 | 7:24

BOMBSHELL: Bannon Blasts 'Treasonous' Trump | TYT | 01/03/18 | 11:40

Trump Fires Back At Steve Bannon | TYT | 01/03/18 | 6:52

*Tweet new year: Trump launches barrage of taunts and threats
Politico | Cristiano Lima | 01/02/18

President Donald Trump used his first full work day in 2018 to rekindle one of his favorite political pastimes from 2017: throwing haymakers on Twitter.

The president returned to his full combative form Tuesday after arriving in Washington the day prior from a holiday stay in Mar-a-Lago, taunting news outlets with the prospect of awarding them for their "dishonest & corrupt" coverage, threatening on social media to curb U.S. aid to Palestinians, calling for the jailing of former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and publicly competing with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the size of their nuclear buttons.

Even as he shifted gears from topic to topic, the day's tweets covered a number of his regular punching bags, both foreign and domestic. The tweets and the ensuing scrutiny over them extended a streak of the president dominating news cycles by his fingertips that lasted for much of 2017 and carried into the latest holiday break. Read more

*Trump Administration Bricked on at Least Half of its Executive Orders in 2017
TheIntercept | author | 01/02/18

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has either failed to complete or is keeping from the public more than half of the reports that President Donald Trump assigned to the administration through his early and prolific use of the executive order. Of the reports it did complete, many were turned in well past the assigned due date and only "complete" in the sense that they consist of words on paper.

In his first year in office, Trump ordered 95 separate reports, performance reviews, instructions, or other activities to be carried out by executive branch agencies. The Intercept has been reviewing these orders for the last year. We found that 48 of the 95 actions were completed, in many cases after the due date stipulated in the order. Federal agencies have yet to complete another 20. In 27 cases, the agency was unresponsive to our requests for information. ... Read more
TRUMP DEADLINES, Where His Executive Orders Stand

Trump is still involved in his business ventures all over the world. Is that constitutional?
Salon | Heather Digby Parton | 01/03/18

Over the holidays, a little Daily Beast story by Betsy Woodruff passed under the radar. She reported that Donald Trump is still personally involved in running his businesses. The media didn't pay much attention, but perhaps that's not surprising, considering that nobody in a million years actually believed Trump was going to leave his company solely in the hands of his two scions, Donald Jr. and Eric. After all, he's spent a third of his first term making personal promotional appearances at Trump properties. He's not exactly keeping it on the down-low that he's still got his hand in the business.

Still, they like to keep up the pretense that Trump isn't paying attention to Trump Organization details because he's so busy running the country. Woodruff published an email from the director of revenue management at the Trump Hotel in Washington, Jeng Chi Hung, written to an acquaintance on Sept. 12, 2017, which suggests that simply isn't true. ... Read more

2018 Is Already Off To A Violent Start
HP | David Lohr | 01/01/18

By no means do the below incidents make a comprehensive list of violent events that occurred Monday in the U.S. However, they provide a sobering snapshot of lives cut short around the country in the first hours of the new year. ... Read more

White House aides already anxious about 2018
Politico | Eliana Johnson | 01/01/18

Senior staff are looking down the pike of a difficult year, from the looming West Wing brain drain and ongoing Russia inquiries to the threat of a Democratic wave in the midterms.

After ending their first year on a high, signing a sweeping tax reform bill into law, Trump's advisers are divided about how to capitalize on that victory and maintain momentum going forward with Hill Republicans again at odds over their legislative agenda.

They're facing a brain drain on a White House that already had trouble recruiting top talent. Many senior West Wing aides are expected to depart in the coming year, with no replacements lined up. White House chief of staff John Kelly -- who has already fired several presidential aides-- wants to push out more but has struggled to find suitable alternatives. ... Read more

In 347 days, Trump has made 1,950 false and misleading claims
WP | Glenn Kessler | 01/02/18

The Fact Checker's ongoing database of the false and misleading claims made by President Trump during his first 365 days in office. ... Read more

Making China Great Again
New Yorker | Evan Osnos | 01/__/18

As Donald Trump surrenders America's global commitments, Xi Jinping is learning to pick up the pieces.

When the Chinese action movie "Wolf Warrior II" arrived in theatres, in July, it looked like a standard shoot-'em-up, with a lonesome hero and frequent explosions. Within two weeks, however, "Wolf Warrior II" had become the highest-grossing Chinese movie of all time. Some crowds gave it standing ovations; others sang the national anthem. In October, China selected it as its official entry in the foreign-language category of the Academy Awards. ... Read more

North Korea's Overture Could Divide South Korea and U.S.
NYT | Choe Sang-Hun | 01/02/18

Kim Jong-un's surprising call for direct talks with the South may undercut the Trump administration's tough approach, driving a wedge into the decades-old alliance.

The allies' strained relationship has been playing out for months, as the South Korean president argued for economic and diplomatic openings with the North. ... Read more