Monday Open Thread

16 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. We all know that national security is one of Andrew Carnegie's greatest concerns.

   His focus on the 4 deaths in Benghazi, Libya (somewhat less than the 3,000+ deaths on 9/11/01 that happened under Presdent Bush and his chief counter-terrorism aide Dick Cheney) and the security issues with Hillary Clinton's email server make that clear. 

   Along with those and the issues he's getting paid for by the Koch Brothers and Pooty-Putin to post about, he will surely be concerned with these irresponsible, dangerous and careless actions around national security that Donald Trump has done the last few days:

   1) leaves a top-secret folder with the key still in the lock laying around in a bag of national security documents:

   Trump left the key in the lock bag in the same manner that someone might accidentally leave their house keys in the front door while bringing in an armful of groceries. Donald Trump is so ignorant and reckless with classified info that he not only left the key in the bag, but he left the bag out in the open and exposed to non-classified individuals.

   This is a breach of the most basic information handling protocol and displayed an absurd lack of common sense and recklessness from the President Of The United States. Keep these pictures in mind the next time that the President talks about how is keeping America safe.

   2) Trump having a semi-public dinner at his cheesy Florida resort as North Korea launches a ballistic missile test:

   (CNN)The iceberg wedge salads, dripping with blue cheese dressing, had just been served on the terrace of Mar-a-Lago Saturday when the call to President Donald Trump came in: North Korea had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile, its first challenge to international rules since Trump was sworn in three weeks ago.

   The launch, which wasn't expected, presented Trump with one of the first breaking national security incidents of his presidency. It also noisily disrupted what was meant to be an easygoing weekend of high-level male bonding with the more sobering aspects of global diplomacy.

   Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for Republicans to pull-the-plug on Trump and initiate his impeachment, but he'll almost surely be convinced to resign by those same Republicans who want Pence in the job anyway. And then we can thank all our fine friends on the right for the great service they've done our country….

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   1. Zap:

      If you are waiting for the Republicans to pull the plug, it may be a while. I am thinking about 8 years.  The folks who wanted Pence lost in the primary, kind of like the left wing loons who lost in the Dem primary. The crooks and cronies branch of the Dem party won out again.  Kind of like it will play out in selecting the party chair.  About time for the left wing loon branch of the party to form its own.

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      1. Yeah, about that 8 years thing.  Funny that your Buffoon-in-Chief's latest obsession is with his potential opponents in the next election.  Running the country doesn't seem to interest him all that much, but anything or especially anyone willing to stroke his, well, you're very familiar with performing that, is all that seems to matter, right?

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      2. Hey ACHole, still singing "Four More Years" in the tub with your rubber ducky?

         The White House Klown Krew will be lucky to last 4 months.  I only hope the housecleaning is fast and thorough.  God help us if any major crises hit us.  With this crowd, including the Cabinet secretaries, any crisis in any area will have us remembering Katrina as a minor hiccup in comparision.

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2. What! AC is getting paid for this and I'm doing it just for fun! How unfair.

    

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3. AC, I need the contact information for the Koch Brothers so I can get on the payroll. I'll send you Putin's info if you need it.

   PP

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   1. You're paid what you're worth, PP, so it may be a while be a while before you see a check.   

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   2. Not a problem.  David will give you the same deal he gave me.  I am sure Vlad will reciprocate.

      Now we just need to see if they will match Soros.

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      1. Ever since Trump came to power, Soros has paid me in yen.   I think he knows something…

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         1. Keep your eye on the yuan.  Mnuchin has some decidin' to do before April 15.  Any guesses? Shall we start a pool, V?  China buys half of our wheat crop.  What could possibly go wrong? 

            Steven Mnuchin wins slim vote for Treasury secretary — now he goes to work on taxes and regulations

            The wealthy hedge fund manager and Hollywood movie producer will be a key administration player on boosting economic growth and reducing financial regulations. He takes office with looming deadlines, including a need to increase the debt limit next month and to decide by April 15 whether to label China a currency manipulator and possibly trigger a trade war.

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4. 

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5. Lamborn and Tipton join House effort to prevent regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.  Perhaps they missed the part where the Roberts Supreme Court has already ruled CO2 a pollutant? 

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6. Interesting segment on "All in/Chris Hayes" tonight. Hayes took Trump's constant tough -talk about Chicago  "They're out of control – we're gonna send in the Feds" and exaggeration of the murder rate there to host a town hall in Chicago, with Chicago police and citizens and movers and shakers to discuss the complex problems of the city.

   One takeaway: they want Federal money for youth jobs programs, for actual material aid to police forces, like more FBI and ATF agents. They do not want militarization, for Trump to experiment with martial law in black neighborhoods.

   I've worked with youth programs in inner city schools and anti-crime initiatives in Denver neighborhods. It is fricking complex, and running tanks down the streets is not the answer.

   Part of Hayes' segment:

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   1. Exaggerating the murder rate in Chicago ? Why would anyone need to do that?

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      1. Because Chicago is a favorite buzzword of racists (especially racist ammosexuals), while other cities experienced similar or higher stats.  

         https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/u-s-cities-experienced-another-big-rise-in-murder-in-2016/

         Go with what gets you excited, I guess. 

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      2. Exaggerating the murder rate in Chicago ?  

         Why? Because Barack Obama is from there.

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