Trump 29: Divider In Chief or Liar In Chief? WHY NOT BOTH?

[onekidanddone]

9 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

I think this is the cause of Trump's meltdown today:

 

We need a "rut rho" reaction emoji.

[VixenToast]

9 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

I think this is the cause of Trump's meltdown today:

 

Awww snap. That brings the rat count up +1. Yesssss, let the ship sink. 

[GreyhoundFan]

How true: "Trump is ignoring the worst attack on America since 9/11"

Spoiler

Imagine if, after 9/11, the president had said that the World Trade Center and Pentagon could have been attacked by “China” or “lots of other people.” Imagine if he had dismissed claims of al-Qaeda’s responsibility as a “hoax” and said that he “really” believed Osama bin Laden’s denials. Imagine if he saw the attack primarily as a political embarrassment to be minimized rather than as a national security threat to be combated. Imagine if he threatened to fire the investigators trying to find out what happened.

Imagine, moreover, if the president refused to appoint a commission to study how to safeguard America. Imagine if, as a result, we did not harden cockpit doors. If we did not create a Transportation Security Administration and a Department of Homeland Security. If we did not lower barriers between law enforcement and intelligence. If we did not pass a USA Patriot Act to enhance surveillance. And if we did not take myriad other steps to prevent another 9/11.

That’s roughly where we stand after the second-worst foreign attack on America in the past two decades. The Russian subversion of the 2016 election did not, to be sure, kill nearly 3,000 people. But its longer-term impact may be even more corrosive by undermining faith in our democracy.

The evidence of Russian meddling became “incontrovertible,” in the word of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, after special counsel Robert S. Mueller III indicted 13 Russians and three Russian organizations on Friday for taking part in this operation. “Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton,” the indictment charges.

Yet in a disturbing weekend tweetstorm, President Trump attacked the FBI, Democrats, even McMaster — anyone but the Russians. He sought to minimize the impact of the Kremlin’s intrusion, tweeting: “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!” Actually, there’s plenty of evidence of collusion, including the infamous June 2016 meeting that Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign manager held with Russian representatives who promised to “incriminate” Hillary Clinton.

There is also considerable evidence that the Kremlin impacted the election, which was decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. Trump must have thought the Russian operation was significant because he mentioned its handiwork — the release of Democratic Party documents via WikiLeaks — 137 times in the final month of the campaign. On top of that, Russian propaganda reached at least 126 million Americans via Facebook alone.

The onslaught did not end in 2016. Russian trolls have continued promoting hashtags such as #ReleaseTheMemo to sow dissension and division. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats just testified that Russia “views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” Yet Trump has never convened a Cabinet meeting to address this threat and has resisted implementing sanctions passed by Congress.

The president’s obstructionism makes it impossible to appoint an 11/8 Commission to study this cyber-assault and to recommend responses. Various agencies, such as the FBI, are trying to combat the Russians on their own, but there is no coordinated response.

Much of the work has been left to social media platforms such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into revealing the extent of Russian penetration, because they don’t want to lose ad revenue and users. Their apathy was underscored by a Friday tweet from Facebook vice president Rob Goldman that was eagerly quoted by Trump himself: “Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.” That may be technically accurate as it applies to Facebook ads, but it is also highly deceptive. These ads were only a small part of a vast Russian operation utilizing hackers and trolls that, as Mueller noted, was designed to sway the election.

Just as Sept. 11 made clear that private security could not safeguard the aviation system, so the 2016 Russian attack made clear that social media companies cannot safeguard the electoral system. A greater federal role is needed, yet Trump refuses to even admit that the problem exists.

The most benign explanation is that he is putting his vanity — he can’t have anything taint his glorious victory — above his obligation to “protect and defend the Constitution.” The more sinister hypothesis is that he has something to hide and, having benefited from Russia’s assistance once, hopes for more aid in 2018 and 2020. Either way, we are at war without a commander in chief.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump’s staggering dereliction of duty"

Spoiler

National security adviser H.R. McMaster is in the news — and apparently in the presidential doghouse — for stating the obvious: that evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election is “now really incontrovertible.” So it is appropriate to take, as this column’s theme, the title of McMaster’s book on the Vietnam war, “Dereliction of Duty.”

McMaster was writing about military leaders’ failure to stand up to presidents who insisted on pursuing an unwinnable war. Now, in the White House in which McMaster serves, the dereliction of duty starts at the top. And, as the past several days have shown, President Trump’s failure is dereliction on a grand, unprecedented scale: We find ourselves at war without a commander in chief; in national mourning without a consoler in chief; and in political gridlock without a negotiator in chief.

The first is the most appalling and most terrifying. “Incontrovertible,” McMaster said, and so it is for anyone who bothers to read the indictment of 13 Russians for running a massive operation not only to disrupt the election but to do so to Trump’s benefit. But of course Trump never has and apparently never will be able to accept this. Is it his fragile ego that cannot tolerate the implicit challenge to his legitimacy? Is it something more sinister?

This much is clear: For whatever reason, Trump is unwilling to accept the reality of what happened in 2016 and, more alarming, unwilling to do his duty to seek to prevent it from happening again. We are at war with an enemy plotting to undermine our democracy, and our supposed leader, far from working to halt this, seems determined to ignore it. Where is Trump’s outrage now that the evidence against Russia is public, not that he needed to wait for that? It is invisible.

Instead, Trump’s anger is directed against McMaster, for omitting the untrue party line: “General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!”

Trump’s anger is directed against the democratic institutions that have rallied to discover what happened and seek to prevent its recurrence: “If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!”

Laughing their asses off in Moscow, indeed. There has been not one word, not one syllable of presidential anger directed toward the people who did this.

But there is no depth to which Trump will not sink in defense of the only thing he holds dear: himself. And so, the nation witnessed a tweet in which the president, a leader to whom the country once looked for healing in times of national tragedy, instead used innocent victims, high school children mowed down in their own school, to make his bogus, self-interested point: “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

Did he? Did he really use dead children to attack an investigation into his campaign and his conduct in office? Yes, he did. This is a person devoid of empathy. He can experience the world only through the prism of his own ego. He can read the requisite words from a teleprompter — “To every parent, teacher, and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you — whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain” — but he is incapable of feeling them. No one who imagines the shattered heart of a grieving parent could have written that despicable tweet.

Finally, a word about the “dreamers,” and the impending, unnecessary tragedy of Trump’s own making. He wanted a “bill of love” to protect the dreamers, Trump told us. “I will be signing it,” he said of any congressional deal to allow these promising innocents to remain. Trump broke the inadequate status quo for dreamers when he rescinded President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals order allowing them to stay. Then he failed to fix it. Then, with an unnecessarily belligerent and premature veto threat, Trump got in the way of lawmakers of good faith attempting a solution.

“Dereliction of duty” is not a strong enough term to describe this man’s abysmal performance.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Interesting article: "Trump’s Evolution From Relief to Fury Over the Russia Indictment"

Spoiler

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump began the weekend believing that something good had just happened to him. An indictment leveled against 13 Russians for interfering with the 2016 election had not accused him or anyone around him of wrongdoing. “No collusion” was his refrain.

But once ensconced at his Florida estate on Friday, Mr. Trump, facing long hours indoors as he avoided breezy rounds of golf after last week’s school shooting a few miles away, began watching TV.

The president’s mood began to darken as it became clearer to him that some commentators were portraying the indictment as nothing for him to celebrate, according to three people with knowledge of his reaction. Those commentators called it proof that he had not won the election on his own, a particularly galling, if not completely accurate, charge for a president long concerned about his legitimacy.

What followed was a two-day Twitter tirade that was unusually angry and defiant even by Mr. Trump’s standards. In his tweets on Sunday, Mr. Trump sought to shift the blame to Democrats for Russia’s meddling, saying that President Barack Obama had not done enough to stop the interference.

The president denied — despite the ample evidence to the contrary — that he had ever suggested that Moscow might not have been involved. He called Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, a “monster.” And he asserted that the Russians were “laughing their asses off” because the efforts to investigate and combat Moscow’s meddling had only given the Russians what they wanted.

“If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams,” Mr. Trump wrote.

The president’s outburst ended a relatively subdued period after the deaths of 17 people in the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday. He spent the following days praising law enforcement officials and emergency responders, and calling officials in Florida to receive updates. Mr. Trump met with two shooting victims in an unannounced visit to a Florida hospital on Friday evening, White House officials said.

As he shunned the golf course over the weekend (his predecessor had been criticized for golfing too soon after tragic events), he instead spent time mingling with his supporters, including Geraldo Rivera. Mr. Rivera said on Twitter on Sunday that he had seen firsthand that the president “was deeply affected” by the time he had spent with victims, “impressed by their courage” and “equally distressed by the savagery of their wounds.”

But Mr. Trump also had time to stew over news coverage of the indictment against the Russians secured by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel leading an investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. And he was surrounded in Florida by people who are likely to share his grievances: his two oldest sons, as well as John F. Kelly, his chief of staff, and Dan Scavino Jr., the White House social media director, who often emulates his boss’s prose on Twitter.

The indictment says that while the Russians began their scheme in 2014 with the goal of undermining the American democratic system, they eventually shifted their focus to trying to help elect Mr. Trump and disparage his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The president has repeatedly seized on the fact that the efforts started before he became a candidate, but he has glossed over the conclusion that they evolved toward supporting his candidacy.

The indictment does not assert any wrongdoing by the president or anyone affiliated with him, saying that some members of the Trump campaign were unwitting in their contacts with the Russian effort. It is also silent about whether the Russian campaign affected the election results.

Mr. Trump has long fought the idea that Moscow’s efforts might have influenced the election, branding it as a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats embarrassed about losing to him. He has made little if any public effort to rally the nation to confront the Russians for their intrusion.

The president’s Twitter eruption began late Saturday night, when he accused the F.B.I. of having missed signals that could have prevented the school shooting because it was “spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.”

He then lashed out at his national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who had said at a security conference in Germany on Saturday that the indictment provided “incontrovertible” evidence that Russia had interfered in the American democratic system.

Mr. Trump said his adviser had “forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.” The nation’s intelligence agencies believe that it is not possible to make such a calculation about the election outcome.

Then, on Sunday, Mr. Trump said that he had “never said Russia did not meddle in the election,” quoting a comment he had made in a 2016 presidential debate.

“I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer,” Mr. Trump wrote. “The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia — it never did!”

Yet he has repeatedly denied that Russia was behind any meddling, going so far in November as to suggest that he believed President Vladimir V. Putin’s denials of interference over the conclusions of American intelligence agencies.

Mr. Trump also called Mr. Schiff, the California congressman, “Liddle Adam Schiff” and branded him “the leakin’ monster of no control,” even as he praised him for his criticism of Mr. Obama’s muted response to the Russian threat.

The president in the past has traded bitter Twitter messages with Mr. Schiff, accusing him of leaking classified information from the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russia’s actions. Mr. Schiff shot back at Mr. Trump on Sunday, saying on Twitter that “if McMaster can stand up to Putin, why can’t you?”

Initially, Mr. Trump had been swayed by advisers who described the indictment announced on Friday as a victory for him, since it identified particular bad actors outside the campaign and used the word “unwitting” to describe the contacts with the Trump campaign.

But as the weekend went on, Mr. Trump’s longstanding frustrations with an inquiry that he has branded a “witch hunt” once again came to the fore. While the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, had noted repeatedly in announcing the indictment that it does not say that Russia changed the outcome of the election, Mr. Trump was angry because his own team had not gone further in his defense.

That included General McMaster, who, as an active duty military officer, takes the constrictions on what he can say politically very seriously. When he spoke in Germany, Mr. McMaster did not believe he could go further than the cold facts of the document, a reality that deeply frustrated the president, two administration officials said.

Although incensed by coverage of the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump spent part of the weekend focused on the school shooting. On Sunday, the White House announced that he would hold a “listening session” with high school students and teachers in Washington on Wednesday, and meet with state and local officials on school safety on Thursday.

Mr. Trump also called three local officials, including Christine Hunschofsky, the mayor of Parkland. In an interview, Ms. Hunschofsky said she was struck by how affected the president had seemed by his hospital visit.

“He gave his condolences, and then he talked quite a bit,” Ms. Hunschofsky said. “He said he had talked to somebody recovering in the hospital. I remember he kept saying, ‘How do you recover from that?’”

I guess he needs to schedule another pep rally to cheer himself up.

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

You have no idea how glad I am that we have tiled floors... 

Hardwood and Persian carpets (I'll pretend they are antique but threadbare hand me downs from my parents is really what they are) are also good for the likes of us. And I laughed at the plate to chin routine because I do that all the time-except when I forget or get overly cocky. 

 

[Cartmann99]

13 hours ago, Curious said:

Cause there are only 10 FBI people working in the entire country and they are all on the russian thing.  He doesn't even understand how the FBI works.  You'd think by a year in he would at least have some basics under his belt by now.

Is there some sitcom called FBI:Mayberry that he's been watching?!? 

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

So I guess I'm the only one always hugging a plate under her chin while eating and typing at the same time.

*Eyes light up. Begins furiously drawing sketches for a line of fashion-forward feedbags for people. Makes mental note to ask @fraurosena to be the "Has this ever happened to you?" person in the infomercial.*

 

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

You have no idea how glad I am that we have tiled floors... 

Hardwood and Persian carpets (I'll pretend they are antique but threadbare hand me downs from my parents is really what they are) are also good for the likes of us. And I laughed at the plate to chin routine because I do that all the time-except when I forget or get overly cocky. 

 

[fraurosena]

Well, twitler’s tweetstorm hasn’t abated yet, and he’s now attacking Oprah.

It’s obvious the news of Gates’ plea deal has fanned the flames of his ire.

[AmazonGrace]

Today in the Department of Who the hell is in charge over there?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/top-us-officials-tell-the-world-to-ignore-trumps-tweets/2018/02/18/bc605236-14a2-11e8-942d-16a950029788_story.html?utm_term=.93fc1f4f6774

Top U.S. officials tell the world to ignore Trump’s tweets

 

 

Spoiler

 

MUNICH — Amid global anxiety about President Trump’s approach to world affairs, U.S. officials had a message for a gathering of Europe’s foreign policy elite this weekend: Pay no attention to the man tweeting behind the curtain.

U.S. lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — and top national security officials in the Trump administration offered the same advice publicly and privately, often clashing with Trump’s Twitter stream: The United States remains staunchly committed to its European allies, is furious with the Kremlin about election interference and isn’t contemplating a preemptive strike on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

But Trump himself engaged in a running counterpoint to the message, taking aim on social media at his own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, because he “forgot” on Saturday to tell the Munich Security Conference that the results of the 2016 election weren’t affected by Russian interference, a conclusion that is not supported by U.S. intelligence agencies. They say they will probably never be able to determine whether the Russian involvement swung the election toward Trump.

The determination to ignore Trump’s foreign policy tweets has been bipartisan.

“There is a lot more support for continuing our past policies than it might appear from some of the statements,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told an audience on Sunday that was made up mostly of Europe’s foreign policy elite. “The unanimity comes from those folks who are actually operationalizing policy.”

“The values are the same, the relationships are the same,” said Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio). “What you do see is this administration willing to put pressure upon the systems.”

The question of whom they should believe — the president or his advisers — has befuddled European officials. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel confessed Saturday that he didn’t know where to look to understand America.

“Is it deeds? Is it words? Is it tweets?” he asked.

He said he was not sure whether he could recognize the United States.

Away from the glare of television cameras, many European diplomats and policymakers echoed the same concerns. One diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid provoking Trump, asked whether policymakers like McMaster who adhere largely to traditional U.S. foreign policy positions were falling into the same trap as Germany’s elite during Hitler’s rise, when they continued to serve in government in the name of protecting their nation.

The answer, the diplomat said, might be found after a “nuclear war,” which he feared could be provoked by the Trump administration’s hawkish approach to North Korea.

Testing those lines, McMaster offered a starkly different view of the world from that of his boss, saying that the “evidence is now incontrovertible” that Russia intervened in the U.S. political system. Trump has played down Russian involvement, saying that he believes the reassurances of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin was not involved in the election. 

McMaster even walked back some of his own previous tough language. Asked about a Wall Street Journal op-ed he co-
authored with White House economic adviser Gary Cohn last year that said they embraced a world that was “an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage,” McMaster said it was actually a call for greater cooperation among Western powers. 

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats took a similarly reassuring stance hours later.

The assertions that nothing fundamental has changed about Washington’s commitments to the world do seem to have eased some concerns among some allies, particularly regarding the U.S. commitment to defend NATO allies against the threat of Russian aggression.

In the Baltic nations, which border Russia, Trump’s election had raised concerns about U.S. commitments to NATO. But that doubt is now “gone,” Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said in an interview, embracing the Pentagon’s stepped-up military commitments to Eastern Europe. 

Even hawkish Republicans shrugged on the matter of Trump’s top priorities. While speaking on a panel Friday, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) was cued up by a questioner to attack the “failure” of Europe to spend 2 percent of its economic output on defense — a frequent Trump talking point. Graham demurred.

“I want you to get to 2 percent so Trump will be quiet,” he said before swiftly moving on.

 

 

Trump:  I don't watch TV, I don't have time. Because of the documents.

Also Trump:

 

[fraurosena]

What's worse than one Trump? Why, three, of course!

Eric and Don Jr. egged on Trump’s weekend Twitter tirade against the FBI

Quote

NN’s Boris Sanchez reported on Sunday that sources say President Donald Trump’s weekend Twitter attacks on the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation were spurred by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.

Sanchez told anchor Fredericka Whitfield that the president has chose to spend the weekend indoors and away from the golf course to avoid the “bad optics” of being seen golfing while the grieving families of Parkland, FL lay the victims of Wednesday’s mass shooting to rest.

The trouble with the restive president and his child-like attention span is that it has left him beholden to the influence of his sons, who have shown themselves to be eager dupes for racist conspiracy theories and other disinformation campaigns.

“He’s essentially spending the weekend inside watching cable news and speaking with his sons,” Sanchez said, “who sources tell us have been urging him to respond to some of the allegations that have been made in recent weeks and to take on the FBI in light of the revelations in the indictment.”

 

 

[fraurosena]

Last year during the visit to China John Kelly got into a scuffle with a Chinese security guard, and a secret service agent tackled his Chinese counterpart to the ground because they wouldn't let the aide carrying the nuclear football through. 

Skirmish in Beijing over the nuclear football

Quote

On Thursday Nov. 9, when President Trump and his team visited Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Chief of Staff John Kelly and a U.S. Secret Service agent skirmished with Chinese security officials over the nuclear football.

I've spoken to five sources familiar with the events. Here's what happened, as they describe it:

• When the U.S. military aide carrying the nuclear football entered the Great Hall, Chinese security officials blocked his entry. (The official who carries the nuclear football is supposed to stay close to the president at all times, along with a doctor.)
• A U.S. official hurried into the adjoining room and told Kelly what was happening. Kelly rushed over and told the U.S. officials to keep walking — "We're moving in," he said — and the Americans all started moving.
• Then there was a commotion. A Chinese security official grabbed Kelly, and Kelly shoved the man’s hand off of his body. Then a U.S. Secret Service agent grabbed the Chinese security official and tackled him to the ground.

The whole scuffle was over in a flash, and the U.S. officials told about the incident were asked to keep quiet about it. Trump's team followed the normal security procedure to brief the Chinese before their visit to Beijing, according to a person familiar with the trip — but somebody at the Chinese end either didn't get the memo or decided to mess with the Americans anyway.

I'm told that at no point did the Chinese have the nuclear football in their possession or even touch the briefcase. I'm also told the head of the Chinese security detail apologized to the Americans afterwards for the misunderstanding.

 

[AmazonGrace]

That apostrophe seems very appropriate for his self-centered state of mind.

 

[apple1]

14 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

That apostrophe seems very appropriate for his self-centered state of mind.

 

His self-awareness is so "off" - and he is just not. that. smart.

 

And you better believe I will be reflecting.

[AmazonGrace]

Hopefully whoever he's golfing with lets him get away with cheating so he'll calm down.

 

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Hopefully whoever he's golfing with lets him get away with cheating so he'll calm down.

 

That school-shooting is sooo last week, so I guess golfing is ok now.

What a considerate and caring presidunce you have, that he waited all of four days before going golfing!

[AmazonGrace]

19 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

That school-shooting is sooo last week, so I guess golfing is ok now.

What a considerate and caring presidunce you have, that he waited all of four days before going golfing!

He had to be told to.

 

[fraurosena]

It must be so hard finding more ways to deprive the disadvantaged in society. Because that's what cowardly bullies do, hurt those in weaker positions than them. Just to pay for that atrocious tax cut for the rich. It makes me want to vomit.

Trump once again wants to cut energy assistance to the poor

Quote

The Trump administration is once again calling for the complete elimination of a heating assistance program that helps to keep the homes of low-income families warm. And once again, program supporters are vowing to fight it.

The administration is using the same arguments from a year ago when it tried to abolish the program, saying it’s rife with fraud and that no one would be left freezing if the program goes away.

“These arguments are very misleading and wrong,” said Mark Wolfe, director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association in Washington, D.C.

The program, known as LIHEAP — Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program — helps families pay their heating bills primarily in the form of a grant that’s sent directly to utility companies or heating fuel vendors.

President Donald Trump tried to eradicate the program last year, but encountered resistance in Congress. In October, he released nearly $3 billion, or roughly 90 percent, of the funding.

Critics say that money won’t go as far as in past years because of rising prices.

Nonetheless program supporters say LIHEAP is a lifeline for the elderly, disabled and others on fixed incomes.

“If the president turned around and did away with that funding, I have no idea how we’d survive in the winter,” said Dwayne LaBrecque, a diabetic who is on disability after losing several toes and part of his foot to infection.

LaBrecque’s income plummeted when he lost his job as a shipping manager, leaving him to cobble together an existence for himself, his fiancee and their five children in the rural Maine town of Hartford. The family received about $1,000 in heating assistance this winter, and that money is already gone.

The Trump supporter said he hopes the president has a change of heart. He said he won’t be voting for Trump again if he succeeds in killing off the program.

The president’s 2019 budget was released Monday and would cut other social programs like federal housing assistance and the food stamp program, in addition to eliminating heating aid.

Like last year, the proposal faces an uphill fight in Congress.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, told the White House budget director that that the Trump administration is creating “a situation where people will go cold, some may freeze to death.”

LIHEAP is popular in both cold weather and warm weather states, like Florida and Arizona, where it also distributes money to keep people keep cool in the summer. All told, the program helps 6 million households.

A group of 45 senators asked the president to maintain energy assistance and weatherization assistance programs.

A dangerous stretch of cold weather around the New Year underscored the need for the program, said Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine. And Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire called gutting the program “dangerous and unacceptable.”

Republican Sen. John Hoeven, of North Dakota, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said he’ll fight for the program that provides “vital resources” to help those in need keep their homes safe and warm and “to make ends meet.”

I am appalled that 6 million households need LIHEAP assistance. 6 million households, not people. Households. WTF?

[smittykins]

As someone who receives SSDI, Medicaid, SNAP, HEAP,and lives in subsidized housing, this annoys the shit out of me. 

[47of74]

48 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

It must be so hard finding more ways to deprive the disadvantaged in society. Because that's what cowardly bullies do, hurt those in weaker positions than them. Just to pay for that atrocious tax cut for the rich. It makes me want to vomit.

Trump once again wants to cut energy assistance to the poor

I am appalled that 6 million households need LIHEAP assistance. 6 million households, not people. Households. WTF?

I saw where one of the guys worried about heating assistance voted for that Orange Homunculus.   I hate to say it but a part of me would say to him well you made your bed so go lie in it and don't come whining to me when Fuck Face cuts off your assistance for anything. 

 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

I saw where one of the guys worried about heating assistance voted for that Orange Homunculus.   I hate to say it but a part of me would say to him well you made your bed so go lie in it and don't come whining to me when Fuck Face cuts off your assistance for anything. 

 

Yeah, part of me thinks that too. But then I think the poor bastard was probably duped.. his hopes and dreams got played upon and he really believed all those promises and thought FF would make a difference. So then I feel kind of sorry for him. Especially as he now realizes that he was swindled. It makes me hate FF and his enablers even more. 

[fraurosena]

The little known fact that the presidunce doesn't want you to know...

Makes you wonder what the Russians have on McTurtle.

[GreyhoundFan]

From Jennifer Rubin: "Trump, panicking, reveals the depths of his awfulness"

Spoiler

Apparently set off by a sweeping indictment of 13 Russians and plea deal with one American, which revealed the extent of the Russian conspiracy to manipulate the election President Trump spent the week in a frenzy, blaming the FBI and Democrats for the shooting in Parkland, Fla., and suggesting that if the authorities lay off investigating him, then more children won’t die.

He falsely denied he ever doubted that Russia meddled in the election. (“I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer. The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia — it never did!”) Twitter users almost instantaneously responded with tweet in which he had done just that. The Post’s Glenn Kessler found a bunch of these tweets as well.

Trump lashed out: “If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!” Actually, they succeeded and are laughing, very likely, because they helped elect an unhinged, erratic president who will not protect the United States against Russian meddling. The discord comes from Trump smearing the FBI and making up lies (e.g., accusing President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower).

The Post reported:

“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter,” [Trump] wrote just after 11 p.m. Saturday. “This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

Attacking the FBI for missing a tip regarding the suspected Florida shooter — a significant blunder that the bureau admitted to Friday — while funerals are still being held for the victims was in itself a remarkable move by the president. The special counsel’s investigation, which is run separately from the main Justice Department, has nothing to do with the missed tip.

It was a new low, hiding behind the bodies of dead children and teachers to shield himself from accountability.

He blamed Democrats for not passing gun control when it was Republicans who torpedoed a compromise bill after the Sandy Hook massacre. David Hogg, a 17-year-old survivor of the massacre at his high school, spoke for many when he responded on “Face the Nation”: “President Trump, you control the House of Representatives. You control the Senate and you control the executive. You haven’t taken a single bill for mental health care or gun control and passed it. And that’s pathetic. … Are you kidding me. You think now is the time to focus on the past and not the future to prevent the death of thousands of other children. You sicken me.” I suspect a significant majority of Americans would agree with that sentiment.

Trump also lashed out at national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who said at the Munich Security Conference there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference. (“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company.”) McMaster did not “forget.” He would not have made these false accusations because that would have made him sound unhinged and would cause us to worry about the mental health of our national security adviser.

To recap, the FBI and Justice Department have never said the election was not affected; there is no way to determine how many voters, if any, changed their minds. (Trump, however, did mention the Democratic National Committee hack about 140 times in the closing days of the campaign, so he must have thought it was useful.) And of course the Uranium One attack has been debunked time and again. The dossier was commissioned by Fusion GPS, which Hillary Clinton’s lawyer hired. Much of it has been confirmed, according to intelligence officials. The dossier was not used to throw the election; in fact, Christopher Steele vainly tried to get others to hear that Trump was being aided by the Russians. (“Conspiring” to reveal the extent of Trump’s Russia connection means doing what Donald Trump Jr. and others associated with his campaign did not: namely, patriotically report Russian interference to the authorities.)

Aside from the blizzard of lies, one is struck by how frantic Trump sounds. The number and looniness of the tweets arguably exceed anything he has previously done. His conduct reaffirms the basic outline of an obstruction charge: Desperate to disable a Russia probe that would be personally embarrassing to him, he has tried in many ways to interfere with and end the investigation. In doing so, he, at the very least, has abused his office. In turning on his inquisitors rather than to the job of protecting America from Russian influence, he confirms his peculiar fidelity to Vladimir Putin and reminds us he continues to violate his oath of office. There is no doubt he has, based on what we already known, committed actions constituting an abuse of his office. What, if anything special counsel Robert S. Mueller III intends to do about it remains to be seen. Trump’s meltdown over two days is likely to re-raise questions about his mental stability and temperamental fitness to govern.

 

[fraurosena]

4 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

From Jennifer Rubin: "Trump, panicking, reveals the depths of his awfulness"

  Hide contents

Apparently set off by a sweeping indictment of 13 Russians and plea deal with one American, which revealed the extent of the Russian conspiracy to manipulate the election President Trump spent the week in a frenzy, blaming the FBI and Democrats for the shooting in Parkland, Fla., and suggesting that if the authorities lay off investigating him, then more children won’t die.

He falsely denied he ever doubted that Russia meddled in the election. (“I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer. The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia — it never did!”) Twitter users almost instantaneously responded with tweet in which he had done just that. The Post’s Glenn Kessler found a bunch of these tweets as well.

Trump lashed out: “If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!” Actually, they succeeded and are laughing, very likely, because they helped elect an unhinged, erratic president who will not protect the United States against Russian meddling. The discord comes from Trump smearing the FBI and making up lies (e.g., accusing President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower).

The Post reported:

“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter,” [Trump] wrote just after 11 p.m. Saturday. “This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

Attacking the FBI for missing a tip regarding the suspected Florida shooter — a significant blunder that the bureau admitted to Friday — while funerals are still being held for the victims was in itself a remarkable move by the president. The special counsel’s investigation, which is run separately from the main Justice Department, has nothing to do with the missed tip.

It was a new low, hiding behind the bodies of dead children and teachers to shield himself from accountability.

He blamed Democrats for not passing gun control when it was Republicans who torpedoed a compromise bill after the Sandy Hook massacre. David Hogg, a 17-year-old survivor of the massacre at his high school, spoke for many when he responded on “Face the Nation”: “President Trump, you control the House of Representatives. You control the Senate and you control the executive. You haven’t taken a single bill for mental health care or gun control and passed it. And that’s pathetic. … Are you kidding me. You think now is the time to focus on the past and not the future to prevent the death of thousands of other children. You sicken me.” I suspect a significant majority of Americans would agree with that sentiment.

Trump also lashed out at national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who said at the Munich Security Conference there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian interference. (“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company.”) McMaster did not “forget.” He would not have made these false accusations because that would have made him sound unhinged and would cause us to worry about the mental health of our national security adviser.

To recap, the FBI and Justice Department have never said the election was not affected; there is no way to determine how many voters, if any, changed their minds. (Trump, however, did mention the Democratic National Committee hack about 140 times in the closing days of the campaign, so he must have thought it was useful.) And of course the Uranium One attack has been debunked time and again. The dossier was commissioned by Fusion GPS, which Hillary Clinton’s lawyer hired. Much of it has been confirmed, according to intelligence officials. The dossier was not used to throw the election; in fact, Christopher Steele vainly tried to get others to hear that Trump was being aided by the Russians. (“Conspiring” to reveal the extent of Trump’s Russia connection means doing what Donald Trump Jr. and others associated with his campaign did not: namely, patriotically report Russian interference to the authorities.)

Aside from the blizzard of lies, one is struck by how frantic Trump sounds. The number and looniness of the tweets arguably exceed anything he has previously done. His conduct reaffirms the basic outline of an obstruction charge: Desperate to disable a Russia probe that would be personally embarrassing to him, he has tried in many ways to interfere with and end the investigation. In doing so, he, at the very least, has abused his office. In turning on his inquisitors rather than to the job of protecting America from Russian influence, he confirms his peculiar fidelity to Vladimir Putin and reminds us he continues to violate his oath of office. There is no doubt he has, based on what we already known, committed actions constituting an abuse of his office. What, if anything special counsel Robert S. Mueller III intends to do about it remains to be seen. Trump’s meltdown over two days is likely to re-raise questions about his mental stability and temperamental fitness to govern.

 

The most horrible and reprehensible thing about this is that there is absolutely no political will on the side of the Repugliklans to impeach his incompetent ass. They'd rather see the whole country in ruins and cling on to power for as long as they have it rather than do anything sensible.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Donald Trump Makes Golf Look Bad"

Spoiler

Golf was so close! It was so close to moving beyond that stereotype — the image of a rich, old, unathletic white man making sexist jokes and trading real estate tips. The image of someone like Donald Trump.

The dominance of Tiger Woods started to make it seem cool, and the First Tee program tried to make it accessible for kids of all backgrounds. But Tiger Woods disappeared for a while. And now the president, who generally likes to spend long holiday weekends near a golf course, is hogging golf’s headlines. It’s making me think twice before admitting out loud that yes, I am a golfer.

Most people I talk to seem to understand that President Trump doesn’t represent a typical American (if we have to have immigrants, how about Norwegians?); men know he doesn’t represent men accurately (just your typical “locker room talk”), and golfers know he doesn’t represent golf. But if you’re not those things, you might not know.

Mr. Trump as a golfer is like the villain in a comedy movie about golf. For “Caddyshack” fans, Mr. Trump is like if Judge Smails had a baby with Rodney Dangerfield and the baby grew to be a man’s size and yelled its net worth from his yacht at unsuspecting dolphins.

There has been some discussion about the president being good at golf, which I find annoying. I can’t have him play my favorite sport and also be good at it. But when you watch him play, as you can on YouTube, you see that he has what you’d call a “terrible” swing and a “very bad” putting stroke.

It’s possible he is good compared with bad golfers, but he is certainly bad compared with good golfers. Yet he speaks about his game very confidently, saying things like, “For me, the golf swing is clearing the hips, getting them out of the way.” I played golf in college and hip clearance never once came up. It’s kind of like if Tom Brady said he throws the football well because he flicks his wrist right at the end.

The most confusing aspect of President Trump as golfer is that golf is the ultimate test of integrity and humility. There are no referees, so it’s on you to count your own strokes. Golfers develop a very strict honor code and a moral obligation to themselves and their playing partners to be 100 percent honest. And if golf is nothing else, it is humbling — when you hit your ball into a lake, there is simply no denying it (fake water!) and no one to blame but yourself (liberal wind!).

But the president appears to have skipped those lessons, and he tends to behave like the one guy at the course who is hand-wedging the ball out of the trees. Golfers like this do exist, but no one wants to play with them. People like this get asked to play once and then never get invited back: “Remember that guy who parked his golf cart on the greens?” “Yeah, the guy who left his Aerosmith ringtone on full blast and picked up every putt inside 10 feet?” You don’t have to be invited to play, though, when you own the course.

You can get an idea of the way the president manipulates truth by looking at how he talks about golf. In 2013, he tweeted, “Just won The Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach — lots of very good golfers, never easy to win a C.C.” But he didn’t win that year; Tom Roush did. Apparently, Mr. Trump won the senior division that year. No golfer in their right mind would confuse the club champion with the senior division winner.

Golf can be very addictive. There are so many different areas within the game, you almost have to obsess to be good. Addicted golfers often take two forms — those who love to play the game, and those who love the escape.

I grew up playing in West Virginia, usually on public courses for $8 to $10 for 18 holes. There was always that one guy who was out there clearly avoiding a bad marriage or an unrewarding job. Playing with that guy, I would think, “Doesn’t he have four kids to raise?” Golf’s biggest strength is also its greatest weakness: You disappear into a different world for five hours — a magical forest world where you drive your own buggy and send a tiny sphere at the sky.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump said, “I’m going to be working for you; I’m not going to have time to play golf.” But in his first year, he spent more than 90 days at a golf club. It’s pretty clear to me he’s turning to golf as an escape from a job he finds unrewarding. Which might not be the worst thing for him, or us.

He makes pretty much everything look bad.