(Language NSFW) And that's how government works...

OK. Here's where we are at now, and why we still have a chance:

The House passed a bill that gives a huge tax cut to the rich and, for every $1 million in taxes they save, a 1%er gets a coupon that forces a working class person to perform analingus on them. (Tossing their salad, if you prefer.)

The Senate passed a bill that gives a huge tax cut to the rich and, for every $2 million in taxes they save, a 1%er gets a coupon that allows them to sodomize a working class person.

Now, the House and the Senate will pick a select group from their finest brain trusts and hammer out the differences between the two. Maybe it should take $2 million to get your ass eaten instead of $1 million, maybe $5 million gets your balls jiggled in exchange for dropping the butt-fucking altogether, maybe, maybe, maybe...

Anyway, you end up with a sloppier bill that gives both houses a little and really completely satisfies no one (kind of like an orgy at a conservative's house) which goes back to both the House and the Senate and gets voted on... all over again. Maybe the House won't like the compromises, maybe the Senate won't. Who's to say?

If they do agree on and vote to accept each other's compromises (and with the marital track record of most politicians, that would be a miracle), then we are, unfortunately, doomed, because it then goes to the desk of a President who is 1) desperate to show that he does anything besides play golf and obstruct justice and 2) happy to be able to prove that he can sign his own name.

And that's how government works.

Keep the pressure on your members of Congress; it's not over yet.

Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt...

I need to get this out there, mainly just for some perspective for myself.

In October of 2008, the money that I had worked hard all my life for, that I was going to use to buy a house with, came under attack from the housing market, the stock market, etc. all going to hell all at once; on one very bad Friday, I lost over $40,000 in one day, just as if I had had it in a big pile of cash in front of me that I set on fire. That, dear friends, sucked. Hard.

Today, Matt Lauer was told that, due to his reprehensible behavior, he could stick the rest of his contract where the sun doesn't shine. His being a perv to women just cost him 30 MILLION DOLLARS.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't of happened to a nicer son of a bitch.

I eventually got my house anyway. Good luck with that career, you dick.

Best sleight of hand since Houdini

If I were to ask you, politically speaking, what was the first thing to come off the top of your head right now, what would you say? I'm assuming that the words "Obama", "wiretapping", and "FBI" would figure prominently. Two words that will probably not show up: "Jeff Sessions". And that, gentle readers, is exactly what DJT wants. Sessions is guilty, pure and simple. It doesn't matter what he spoke to the Russian ambassador about; that's not the issue. What matters is that he did it and lied under oath about it. DJT is mad as hell now, because:

1) he was on such a high after his speech to congress, and this really pissed in his cornflakes. 

2) he basically ordered Sessions not to recuse himself and he did it anyway, practically admitting where there is smoke, there is fire. 

3) it's another nail for the Russian election tampering coffin. 

So, panic sets in. DJT pulls out the distraction playbook, publishes a 14 year old picture of Chuck Schumer eating a very classified, top-secret Krispy Kreme doughnut with Vladimir Putin. "See, you have more contact with the Russians than I do! #innocent". NO ONE buys it. Now he's even more panicked and downright PISSED; "how dare they not accept my patented bullshit at face value? I'm going to Mar-a-lago; later, losers!" And off he goes...

DJT decides he needs more; something more bigly, if you will. Something that the press can't help but run with. "I was wiretapped, and Obama ordered it! Yeah, that's it, that's the ticket!" The press collectively has a WTF moment, and immediately tries to get details/verify/confirm/refute (as is their job with an accusation so unprecedentedly outrageous as this, honestly), and Jeff Sessions is back burnered; literally, yesterday's news. 

Do not be taken in. 

Sessions did not disappear; DJT popped a wiretap firework out of the end of his magic wand, and when you jumped in your seat and focused on that for a second, he slipped Sessions into his pocket when you weren't looking. Don't be fooled. The there is still there, no matter what Sean Spicer says. Jeff Sessions broke the law, under oath and on camera, while being interviewed to become the top law enforcement official in the United States.

Don't let him get away with it. 

The Speech... "All Hat and No Cattle"

"as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City"
 - That's right, kids. It took him a whole week to even mention it."

"And we’ve spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas, while our infrastructure at home has so badly crumbled."
- OK, we can give him that one.

"Dying industries will come roaring back to life."  
"Our terrible drug epidemic will slow down and ultimately stop."
"Above all else, we will keep our promises to the American people."
- My ENTIRE ass it will"

"As we speak tonight, we are removing gang members, drug dealers and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our very innocent citizens. Bad ones are going out as I speak, and as I promised throughout the campaign."
- Also good ones, who have done nothing more wrong than be here illegally and want to work within the system to become legal.

"the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country."
- Just not from the seven countries he banned people from coming from. Damn Saudi Arabia for their support of terrorism but their good choice in hotels!

"I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS"
- I frequently direct my dog to bring back a ball; so far, we've had the same amount of success. Wishing doesn't make it so. 

"we have chosen Judge Neil Gorsuch"
- Admittedly, it could have been much, much worse.

"Tonight, as I outline the next steps we must take as a country"
- The next portions of the speech could be described as anecdotal at best and vague at worst. The Harley-Davidson bit was nice (who doesn't love Harleys), but how is he going to do all this? Throw us a friggin' bone here.

"We have the worst financial recovery in 65 years."
- From the worst financial crisis since 1929

"Here are the principles that should guide Congress as we move to create a better health care system for all Americans."
- Here followed five principles that would actually make good additions to the ACA. I can't believe I have to say that John Boehner was right; he wants to fix ACA and take credit for something that, without years of GOP obstructionism, we could have had in the first place!

"and to promote clean air and clean water" 
- by gutting the EPA

"I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. The office is called Voice, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement."
- Immigration crime? You came up with the acronym first and filled it in later, didn't you?

"I just spoke to our great General [Jim] Mattis just now who reconfirmed that, and I quote, “Ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemy.” 
- I have a quote for you too: "When we look at evidently very little actual intelligence out, the loss of a high-performance aircraft and above all the loss of a highly trained special forces member of SEAL Team 6, I think we need to understand why this mission, why now, what happened, and what the actual output was," [Former commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (among others), Admiral James G.] Stavridis said."

(http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/yemen-seal-raid-yielded-no-significant-intelligence-say-officials-n726451)

"Our foreign policy calls for a direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world."
- Which we will accomplish by crippling the State Department

"America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align."
- "Whatever you say, Mr. Putin. You're the boss." 

If being "presidential" simply meant spewing platitudes and soaking up applause, DJT would be a natural. The problem is that he got up in front of a joint session of Congress with a whole lot of snake oil and the mainstream press seems to be buying into it. Did he really say anything different as compared to what he's been spouting before? Not to my listening. Did he come up with any details about how he's going to accomplish the miracles he's promising? Not to my listening. He can play the part of the President when he wants to, but Martin Sheen did it much better. He can play the part of the President when he wants to, but this speech was, as they say, "all hat and no cattle."
 

 

Trump's address to the joint session of Congress... The Drinking Game!

This link,  

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=3940

will take you to the text of a radio address, Hitler's very first as the Chancellor of Germany. The game is simple, but you can play it two different ways:

Hardcore mode: drink a shot every time there is a parallel between Hitler's speech and Trump's tomorrow.

Harder than Hardcore mode: Same rules, but prior to Trump's speech, replace every instance of "Marxism/Communism" with "Islam/radical Islam" in Hitler's speech.

I predict your livers will HATE you come Wednesday.

Swedish Immigration

DJT: "The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!"
By the way, thanks, Wayne. Garth write that for you?

Catarina Axelsson (spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry): the government is not aware of any "terror-linked major incidents."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/sweden-donald-trump-latest-swedish-embassy-attack-immigration-integration-policy-refugee-muslim-a7589151.html

Can DJT even find Sweden on a map?  If he doesn't have a hotel there, does it even exist?

Well, that was something, wasn't it?

Ok, a few points I'd like to mention:

DJT: "So I want to thank Paul Singer for being here and for coming up to the office. He was a very strong opponent, and now he’s a very strong ally."

Verdict: True. Per CNBC's reporting: "The opportunity to implement economic policy with Trump's White House and a Republican-controlled Congress appealed to Singer, sources said."

DJT: "But a new Rasmussen poll just came out just a very short while ago, and it has our approval rating at 55 percent and going up."

Verdict: True... out of context. His total approval has been hovering around this mark since he took office, and today's poll is actually 1% LOWER than Jan 20th.

 DJT: "This administration is running like a fine- tuned machine, despite the fact that I can’t get my cabinet approved."

Verdict: Abstain. I am not touching that one with a ten foot pole.

DJT: "I have heard 80 percent, I find that hard to believe, that is just a number I heard, that they are overturned 80 percent of the time. I think that circuit is — that circuit is in chaos and that circuit is frankly in turmoil."

Verdict: False. Way, Way False. The figure that he is giving you is the Supreme Court has overturned 80% of the 9th Circuit court decisions... that they have deigned to review. Between 1999-2008, SCOTUS has reviewed 175 of the 9th Circuit's cases and  reversed or vacated 140 of them, out of a grand total of 114,199 cases heard by the 9th Circuit! SCOTUS, in mostly hearing cases that have a chance of being overturned anyway, regularly overturns 68% of the cases it reviews annually, but in actuality overturned only 0.0012% of the 9th Circuit's total cases.
 (http://www.snopes.com/ninth-circuit-court-most-overturned/)

 DJT: "Fiat Chrysler announced it will invest $1 billion in Ohio and Michigan, creating 2,000 new American jobs."

Verdict: False. They just announced 3200 indefinite layoffs in Ohio.
(https://www.toledoblade.com/Automotive/2017/02/14/Fiat-Chrysler-issues-layoff-notice-for-3-200-Toledo-workers.html)

  
 DJT: "And I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia."

Verdict: Abstain. Can't prove it one way or the other without tax returns, can we? 

DJT, regarding Mike Flynn contacting the Russian Ambassador: "No, I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him if he didn’t do it."

Verdict: What in the seven hells is that supposed to even mean???

DJT: "I didn’t do anything for Russia. I’ve done nothing for Russia. Hillary Clinton gave them 20 percent of our uranium."

Verdict: As False as False gets. Russia now wholly owns a company called Uranium One, which does have the rights of extraction for about 20% of the uranium mines in the U.S. However, the approval to buy Uranium One outright came from both The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The State Department is only one of nine departments that make up CFIUS; decisions rarely make it to the Secretary level and if they do, the final vote rests with the POTUS. And it's a moot point anyway; per the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Neither Uranium One nor ARMZ [the Russian firm] holds an NRC export license, so no uranium produced at either facility may be exported." No uranium can be shipped out of the country by them, to Russia or anywhere else!!!
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/10/26/the-facts-behind-trumps-repeated-claim-about-hillary-clintons-role-in-the-russian-uranium-deal/)

 Done for now. Who else needs a shower after that?

Forget Russia for a minute.

DJT has been trying to get his name trademarked for construction in China for 10 years, with no success... until now. The timing would seem to be more than coincidental, no? So, he received a gift of something valuable from a foreign power in exchange for... what, exactly? Yes, I know the sons are running the company but he hasn't divested himself; any money-making deals put cash in his pocket, and this just gave him the conduit he's been wanting for a decade. Conflict of Interest? Emolument? Hmm...

Thought for this evening

So, Chuck Grassley wants the DOJ to pony up all the documents re: Mike Flynn & Russia. Is this because (1) the GOP is getting tired of Trump's shenanigans and they are going to investigate this for real or (2) they are trying to paint a scapegoat target on Flynn's back and distract attention from the higher ups. Just wondering...