Trump 13: More Scandal, More Fun. Yay! :/

[fraurosena]

We know this already, but it still looks pretty stark when contrasted this way.

 

[47of74]

A FB friend just shared this about Presidunce Orangepatine.

[Cartmann99]

A peek inside my head from early this morning....

I woke up a few minutes before 7:30 because I had to use the bathroom. As I'm shuffling through the kitchen on the way to the bathroom, I realize that it's pitch black outside. My brain immediately leaps to the cause of the darkness being that nuclear war broke out while I was sleeping, and we have been plunged into a nuclear winter. I'm totally freaking out until I remember that the sun will be rising later due to the time change.

I really hate that nuclear war is the first answer my brain came up with, when faced with unusual darkness. 

 

 

[fraurosena]

 

After Pledging to Donate Salary, Trump Declines to Release Proof

Quote

MSNBC requested details and documentation about any salary donations from the White House, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management, which all declined to say whether Trump has donated any of his salary to date. (OPM referred questions to the White House.)

Last month, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the website Politifact that Trump "will be giving" his salary "back to Treasury or donating." The site noted the White House "declined to answer several inquiries into whether Trump has gotten a paycheck already."

Salary donations are not the only area where Trump's pledges to donate revenue are lacking transparency.

During the transition, Trump also unveiled a plan to "donate all profits from foreign governments' patronage of his hotels and similar businesses" to the Treasury Department. The plan was released by Trump's private law firm, Morgan Lewis, but no system or accounting has been released for how or when such donations will be processed or disclosed

Nothing surprising here. At all. And isn't that sad?

3 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

A peek inside my head from early this morning....

I woke up a few minutes before 7:30 because I had to use the bathroom. As I'm shuffling through the kitchen on the way to the bathroom, I realize that it's pitch black outside. My brain immediately leaps to the cause of the darkness being that nuclear war broke out while I was sleeping, and we have been plunged into a nuclear winter. I'm totally freaking out until I remember that the sun will be rising later due to the time change.

I really hate that nuclear war is the first answer my brain came up with, when faced with unusual darkness. 

 

 

 

Poor @Cartmann99. I feel for you. Here, have a doughnut. Hope it makes you feel a little better! 

[fraurosena]

Guys, this is a must-read about potential reasons for firing US Attorney Preet Bharara. Apparently he was doing an investigation into Fox News' sexual assault and harassment charges.

https://mediamatters.org/research/2017/03/12/us-attorney-preet-bharara-was-investigating-fox-news-when-trump-fired-him/215644

Detailed, sourced information on each bullet-point is outlined in the article.

Quote

• Ailes Left Fox News Amid Flurry Of Sexual Harassment Allegations.
• Fox’s Culture Of Sexual Harassment Extends Beyond Ailes. 
• Fox Recently Settled With Former Contributor Over Sexual Assault Allegation That Resulted In Executive’s Firing.
• Fox News Under Federal Investigation Over Ailes Settlement Payments.
• Preet Bharara’s “Office Is Conducting A Criminal Investigation Into Fox News.
• Former Fox Host Andrea Tantaros’ Attorney Suggested Fox Settled Multiple Harassment Lawsuits Without Reporting Them In SEC Filings.
• Bharara Agreed To Remain As U.S. Attorney After Meeting Trump In November
• Attorney General Sessions Then Asked All Obama-Era U.S. Attorneys, Including Bharara, To Resign.
• Bharara Was Fired After Refusing To Resign.
• A “Pending Investigation” Of Bharara’s Appears To Focus On How Fox News Structured Settlements Of Claims Brought By Network Employees.”
• New York Lawyers Speculate Marc Mukasey Will Be Nominated To Replace Bharara.
• Mukasey Was Part Of Ailes’ Legal Team.
• Mukasey Reportedly Met With Ailes To Advise Him On Handling Harassment Allegations.

Apart from Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News) being tight with the Tangerine Toddler, this Mukasey apparently is a buddy of Rudy Guiliani's, who in turn is also buds with the Parasitic Presidunce.

The level of corruption and colluding in this administration is mind-boggling...

[47of74]

Yeah, another example of how Agent Orange hires the "finest" people;

politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-appointee-muslims-maggots-sid-bowdidge-235945

Quote

President Donald Trump appointed a massage therapist from New Hampshire with no apparent relevant experience to work at the Energy Department, but parted company with the employee Friday after a series of anti-Muslim social media posts came to light, current and former DOE employees tell POLITICO.

Sid Bowdidge had received a nameplate and taken up residence this week in the director’s office of the agency’s Office of Technology Transitions, a career DOE employee said, but it was not clear precisely when he started or what his job would be. OTT specializes in shepherding research developed at the national labs into the private sector, an area in which Bowdidge didn't seem to have any experience.

Before joining DOE, Bowdidge worked for the Trump campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. An August 2015 NBC News report quoted Bowdidge attending a debate watch party in Trump’s New Hampshire campaign office, describing him as a “massage therapist from Bedford.”

DOE employees were unsettled by Bowdidge’s caustic Twitter account, on which he accused then-President Barack Obama of having terrorist "relatives" and spouted anti-Muslim views.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

7 hours ago, sawasdee said:

PS And this is the guy who said Obama golfed too much.....

Typical "Do as I say, not as I do".

 

6 hours ago, sawasdee said:

I WANT TO KNOW - what percentage of the cost of Mar-a Lago weekends is on Secret Service accommodation and food- and thus going into tRump's pocket?

And how MUCH is spent at the tRump Tower every week by federal employees?

I think taxpayers SHOULD know this - can you imagine if his name was Obama? We'd already be on enquiry number 4.

ETA I know this is relatively minor, when you look at what else he is doing/trying to do - but it is symptomatic of an acceptance of venality and greed at the heart of the administration.

I know estimates were posted earlier, but because of the way Federal accounting works, we might not have access to that info for months. And, knowing how corrupt Cheeto and his cronies are, they'll probably figure out a way to do smoke and mirrors with the accounting. I'm sure Mar-a-Lago won't release numbers, since they are a private company.

 

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

The Tangerine Toddler, aka the Parasitic President, has gone to a golf course for the 9th time in 7 weeks

Because how else is he going to make money? And who cares how much it costs the taxpayers?

So in less than eight weeks the Trumps cost the taxpayers more than Obama and Biden in eight years! And that's not even including the costs for the Pences.

I wonder what the Branch Trumpvidians think about that little fact.

Oh, please @fraurosena, you KNOW the Branch Trumpvidians are incapable of thought.

 

5 hours ago, sawasdee said:

There MUST be an enquiry into how much of this is going directly into tRump coffers - or Congress loses what little credibility it has.

Credibility? Congress? Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha. Sadly, with Bitch and Ryan in charge, nothing will happen.

 

4 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Well if I was Prez I'd be trying to get some bowling in at least once a week.  At least that's a sport that doesn't required large swaths of land be shut down.  The White House has its own lanes so I wouldn't even need to leave the WH.  Of course I'd only be working on getting a 300 after all my work is done.

And as for what the Branch Trumpvidians think of Presidunce Ferret Face golfing...since it's a white overweight rear end golfing and not a fit African American male they're fine with the golfing now.  Jesus Fornicating Christ, the reich wingers would bitch if the President so much as looked at golf clubs longingly. 

The WH also has a small putting green. There is a lovely pool in addition to the bowling alley. I would love the pool and bowling alley. I can't even do Putt-Putt, so I'd forgo the golf stuff.

[JMarie]

7 hours ago, fraurosena said:

The Tangerine Toddler, aka the Parasitic President, has gone to a golf course for the 9th time in 7 weeks

Because how else is he going to make money? And who cares how much it costs the taxpayers?

So in less than eight weeks the Trumps cost the taxpayers more than Obama and Biden in eight years! And that's not even including the costs for the Pences.

I wonder what the Branch Trumpvidians think about that little fact.

They'll mention how Michelle's mother lived with them, and how nobody ever mentions the cost of protecting her for eight years.

[Howl]

9 hours ago, sawasdee said:

This is before we start examining who, exactly, are the membership of Mar-a-Lago, and what access are they getting to the President for their enhanced membership fee of $200,000 (doubled since the election), to advance their agendas, and who staying at the Old Post Office tRump hotel in Washington is also getting advanced access because of the money they are putting in tRump's pocket?

You mean pay-to-play?  Hillary was excoriated over even the appearance of this; crickets about Trump.  Crickets. 

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

The WH also has a small putting green. There is a lovely pool in addition to the bowling alley. I would love the pool and bowling alley. I can't even do Putt-Putt, so I'd forgo the golf stuff.

Have you heard any news about Mrs. Obama's garden? I recall that they were trying to set something up so that private donations would cover the cost of maintaining the White House vegetable garden, but I haven't heard anything else about it.  

I'm afraid that the day will come when Trump announces that he is going to rip out the garden. He's definitely spiteful enough to do it. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, JMarie said:

They'll mention how Michelle's mother lived with them, and how nobody ever mentions the cost of protecting her for eight years.

Some of the wingnuts swear President Obama arranged it so that Mrs. Robinson will receive a generous government pension because she lived with President and Mrs. Obama and helped take care of the First Daughters.  

http://www.snopes.com/marian-robinson-pension/

Honestly, if Melania and Barron do eventually move into the White House, and she wanted her folks to live there with them and help take care of Barron, I really wouldn't care. It's a rough job being a child in the White House, and having the First Family all under one roof would save a hell of a lot more money than it would cost for her parents to live with them.

 

[kunoichi66]

14 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

A peek inside my head from early this morning....

I woke up a few minutes before 7:30 because I had to use the bathroom. As I'm shuffling through the kitchen on the way to the bathroom, I realize that it's pitch black outside. My brain immediately leaps to the cause of the darkness being that nuclear war broke out while I was sleeping, and we have been plunged into a nuclear winter. I'm totally freaking out until I remember that the sun will be rising later due to the time change.

I really hate that nuclear war is the first answer my brain came up with, when faced with unusual darkness. 

 

 

 

I did almost the same thing a few weeks ago!  I was woken up by a flash of light, and immediately my brain decided that it must have been a nuclear bomb going off.

 

ARGH.  Trump is making the world feel like a terrifying place...

[singsingsing]

Late on election night (or I guess early the next morning) just before I was going to bed it got really windy where I live. I was looking out the window toward the States (much like Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house, I can see the U.S. from my apartment) thinking, "Is this it? Are they coming, are they dropping bombs?!" 

I have no idea who I thought 'they' were. I may have been slightly drunk.

[47of74]

Sean Spicer was confronted by someone at an Apple Store.

nydailynews.com/news/politics/sean-spicer-tells-apple-store-customer-usa-article-1.2996330

Quote

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was forced to go off-script — and it did not end well.

A customer at a Washington, D.C. Apple store was left horrified by Spicer's response after she confronted him on camera over the weekend.

After initially ignoring heated questions about Russia and criminality, Spicer muttered to the woman, who is Indian, “Such a great country that allows you to be here.”

Shree Chauhan, a non-profit worker in D.C., posted the video and her account of the encounter on Medium.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

11 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Have you heard any news about Mrs. Obama's garden? I recall that they were trying to set something up so that private donations would cover the cost of maintaining the White House vegetable garden, but I haven't heard anything else about it.  

I'm afraid that the day will come when Trump announces that he is going to rip out the garden. He's definitely spiteful enough to do it.

I haven't heard any updates on the garden. I would wager Trumplethinskin doesn't even know it's there because it's not entertaining to him, like a cell phone or Faux News.

This is from a couple of days ago, but an interesting read: "How President Trump has already hurt American democracy — in just 50 days". The article is far too lengthy to quote, but it discusses six ways Agent Orange has already threatened democracy.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

What an apropos description: "Trump and the Parasitic Presidency". Some highlights:

Quote

We have now passed the 50-day mark of the Donald Trump administration and one thing is clear: There is no new Trump.

There is only the same old Trump: Dangerous and unpredictable, gauche and greedy, temperamentally unsuited and emotionally unsound.

If you were trying to create in a lab a person with character traits more unbecoming in a president, it would be hard to outdo the one we have.

He continues to have explosive Twitter episodes — presumably in response to some news he finds unflattering or some conspiracy floated by fringe outlets — that make him look not only foolish, but unhinged.

...

As The Hill reported on Saturday, “President Trump paid a visit to one of his golf courses again Saturday, marking apparently his ninth visit to a golf course in the seven weeks since he took office.” The site pointed out, “Trump has made several weekend trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., as well, calling the property the ‘Winter White House.’ ”

In February, numerous media outlets pointed out that Trump was spending on travel in a month nearly as much as what the Obamas spent in a year. This doesn’t even include the travel and security costs of Trump’s children or the cost of Trump’s wife and son remaining in Trump Tower in New York, at least for now, which is estimated to cost taxpayers hundreds of thousand of dollars a day.

This was particularly jarring because Trump had been a chief critic of the amount of money the Obamas spent on vacations. Indeed, Trump tweeted in 2012: “President @BarackObama’s vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars — Unbelievable!”

No, what is unbelievable is the staggering nature of the hypocrisy of Trump and his current spending and the near silence of Obama’s conservative critics.

Trump appears to view the Treasury as a personal piggy bank and the presidency as a part-time job.

...

This is a 70-year-old man who has lived his entire life as the vile, dishonest, incurious creature who got elected. That election validated his impulses rather than served as a curb on them.

Trump will continue to debase and devalue the presidency with his lies. Trump will continue to follow Bannon’s philosophy of internal deconstruction of our government, its principles and its institutions. And Trump will continue to leech as much personal financial advantage as he can from the flesh of the American public.

That’s who Trump is. America elected a parasite.

 

[fraurosena]

So now the Russians are defending the Parasitic Presidunce, openly crying "But Hillary!"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/13/hillary-clintons-team-met-russian-ambassador-says-kremlin-spokesman/

Quote

Hillary Clinton’s team members met with the Russian ambassador during the election as well as Donald Trump’s, the Kremlin spokesman has alleged, as he set out to dismiss the “hysteria” surrounding Mr Trump’s links to Russia. [...]

And he defended the actions of their ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, whose meeting with Michael Flynn, Mr Trump’s choice of national security adviser, caused Mr Flynn to lose his job. [...]

He said that members of Mrs Clinton’s team had also met with Mr Kislyak, although he did not give specifics.

“Well, if you look at some people connected with Hillary Clinton during her campaign, you would probably see that he had lots of meetings of that kind,” he said. “There are lots of specialists in politology, people working in think tanks advising Hillary or advising people working for Hillary.” [...]

...supporters of Mrs Clinton would point out that the problem did not come from meeting the ambassador, but rather failing to disclose it.

The spokesperson then moans about the 'demonizing' of Russia.

Quote

“The candidate Hillary Clinton was quite negative – declaring Russia the main evil, the main threat,” he said.[...]

“We do worry. Public opinion – if you load with a huge burden of fake news, fake blaming on Russia, repeat every day numerous times that Russia is interfering, guilty of trying to hack, that everything that goes wrong in the country is the fault of Russia.

“We want to see this hysteria coming to its logic end. Better sooner than later.”

Note the terminology used. Sound familiar?

[47of74]

21 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

What an apropos description: "Trump and the Parasitic Presidency". Some highlights:

 

This just got me thinking about which Cold War era Eastern European dictator the Tangerine Toddler resembles the most?  Tito, Zhivkov, Ceaucescu, or Gomułka?

[kunoichi66]

10 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

This just got me thinking about which Cold War era Eastern European dictator the Tangerine Toddler resembles the most?  Tito, Zhivkov, Ceaucescu, or Gomułka?

I've got some reading to do...

 

You know, I've always managed to hang on to optimism so far, despite what is happening in the world...but Trump might just be too much for me.

[47of74]

Yeah, I know this is The Onion, but I could still see this happening;

http://www.theonion.com/article/mar-lago-caddy-injures-shoulder-carrying-heavy-set-55502

Quote

Having struggled to haul more than 30 pounds of highly classified documents for 18 holes, Mar-a-Lago caddy Simon Bauers reportedly injured his shoulder Sunday while carrying a set of President Donald Trump’s national security briefings around the resort’s golf course. “

 

[JMarie]

tee-hee

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/12/opinions/snl-most-cutting-sketch-opinion-obeidallah/index.html

Quote

That, folks, is an "SNL" instant classic. The show is using comedy to both make people laugh and raise a point that desperately needs to be made; namely that Ivanka is complicit in her father's use of bigotry and sexism to further his cause.

We didn't hear a word from Ivanka -- the self-proclaimed feminist -- when her father was publicly calling the women who came forward to report his alleged sexual misconduct "liars." Nor did we hear Ivanka publicly decry any of her father's bigoted comments about Muslims, Mexicans, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a disabled reporter or his continued lies since assuming the White House.

And Ivanka is reportedly someone Trump trusts a great deal. If anyone can influence him, it's her.

 

[Cartmann99]

After reading this article...

Quote

 

Twenty-four million more Americans would be uninsured by 2026 under the House Republican health care bill than under Obamacare, including 14 million by next year, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday.

The long-anticipated score immediately puts the writers and supporters of the GOP Obamacare repeal bill on the defensive. It is also certain to complicate the party's already troubled efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/cbo-report-health-care/index.html

I now have this playing non-stop in my head:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"A president without an administration"

Quote

President Trump’s decision to fill out his White House staff and leave the rest of the executive branch without leadership tells us a lot about his limited business experience. He’s run a family business, a small one which operates on his gut instincts and impulses. That’s precisely what he recreated in the White House, complete with overlapping power centers where aides duke it out to win his favor. It may not be surprising then that what the Trump administration is lacking is the administration.

...

Trump cannot blame Congress for this inexplicable ineptitude. The New York Times counts only 36 nominations sent to the Senate, about half the number President Obama had sent up at this stage. The problem certainly is not limited to the Defense Department. This is the slowest transition in history, with more than 500 unfilled spots. Trump says he doesn’t need them — after all he has all his people at the White House — but this excuse once again reflects his limited prior experience and his paranoia about trusting anyone outside of his inner circle:

The lag has left critical power centers in his government devoid of leadership as he struggles to advance policy priorities on issues like health care, taxes, trade and environmental regulation. Many federal agencies and offices are in states of suspended animation, their career civil servants answering to temporary bosses whose influence and staying power are unclear, and who are sometimes awaiting policy direction from appointees whose arrival may be weeks or months away.

Without deputies, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and other political appointees the government drifts, inertia sets in and Trump becomes a prisoner of the bureaucracy he does not understand and hasn’t bothered to tether to his White House with political appointees.

...

Put differently, Trump’s temperament and skill set, ironically, prevent him from confronting the “administrative state,” the permanent government that operates at its own pace, and often with objectives different from the president’s. He’s predictably treating the government as a mom-and-pop operation, leaving him chief executive of his inner circle, but not much more.

Well, since the tangerine toddler likes being the most or greatest or whatever, I guess in this case, he's going for slowest...

[HarryPotterFan]

Trump budget expected to seek historic contraction of federal workforce

Quote

The cuts Trump plans to propose this week are also expected to lead to layoffs among federal workers, changes that would be felt sharply in the Washington area. According to an economic analysis by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, the reductions outlined so far by Trump’s advisers would reduce employment in the region by 1.8 percent and personal income by 3.5 percent, and lower home prices by 1.9 percent.

I wonder if Trump knows that job cuts = unemployment? Isn't he supposed to be the "jobs president?" 

[GreyhoundFan]

31 minutes ago, HarryPotterFan said:

Trump budget expected to seek historic contraction of federal workforce

I wonder if Trump knows that job cuts = unemployment? Isn't he supposed to be the "jobs president?" 

He only meant jobs for his friends.

 

I love what Elizabeth Warren had to say about the firing of all those US Attorneys:

[Howl]

Here's a very interesting note from the comments section at Talking Points Memo, in respone to another commenter speculating that perhaps it was a Russian in Trump Tower who was wiretapped:  

Quote

 

Oh this is NOTHING compared to the Russian Connections at Trump Tower and his other NY properties.
Many Russian Mobsters and Oligarchs (there is a difference?) have purchased, at up to 300% ABOVE the going rent, properties in Trump projects that then sit empty, with nobody ever living in them.

This is a huge problem in the Commercial-Real-Estate industry BTW, not just with Trump (although he seems to leverage this tax-dodge more than just about ANYBODY ELSE.)
For example, up to 65% of the highest-price properties in London are being used just to launder money from elsewhere and sit empty all the time. The same thing is happening in San Francisco, Vancouver, Dallas, Miami, and any other hot-commercial-property locations, driving up the costs to astronomical levels while providing an easy way to launder money from overseas, and provide cheap revenue for otherwise failing properties to the owners, as long as they are willing to "look the other way."
Remember, a known Russian Mobster lives ONE FLOOR DOWN from The Donald at Trump Tower, and has for years. He is just one of many, MANY criminals Trump is in bed with.

 

A few comments further along,  this same guy posts a link to this Dec. 2016 article in USA Today:  Why does Donald Trump like Russians? Maybe because they love his condos

Interesting angle.  Like I said, the text quoted above is not from an official source, but sounds interesting.  I don't quite see how the money laundering angle would work if the money was being paid as rent, unless the landowner kicks back part of the rent to whoever is leasing.