President Trump comes to agreement with Democrats on a deal to increase the debt limit and finance our government's operations into mid-December. Congressional Republicans could still scuttle it, I suppose, but I feel compelled to note that this "deal" actually takes pressure off Republicans, who may now devote far more time to their tax "reform" scam. (Also, Sen. Heitkamp doesn't really imagine aligning herself with Mr. Trump will protect her seat come 2018, does she? Unless she magically transforms into an economic populist, she's toast no matter what.)
Tom Englehardt at TomDispatch, noting that Donald Trump's favorite generals have survived a lot of turnover in his Administration, reminds us that they're all veterans of a failed-and-still-failing policy, the "war on terror." Gen. McMaster, widely perceived as a voice of relative sanity in the Administration, has said the "war on terror" will go on forever because "(t)his enemy is dedicated to our destruction," though I wouldn't blame you for thinking there are other reasons this war would go on forever. Still, failing upward has been a pretty permanent condition in America if you're lucky enough to be a member of Our Glorious Elites -- recall the various banksters and bankster-enablers Barack Obama picked to get us out of the mess they made!
From the "Stupid Liberals Not Helping" file: apparent liberal activist asks Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) -- doing a rare townhall meeting with constituents and Democratic and Republican party poobahs -- if he can "confirm whether or not your daughter, Bridget, has been kidnapped," then gets ushered out by the TV studio broadcasting the townhall. Seems the interrogator was trying to make a point about DACA and family members suddenly getting deported, but Jesus Mary and Joseph there was just no other way to do that? He couldn't have made that point after saying something about DACA? All this moron did was get attention for himself and sympathy for a Senator who wouldn't otherwise get it, and I bet Mr. Toomey is a head-in-a-jar before he holds another townhall. Which leads me to wonder if his interrogator was actually a right-wing agent provocateur.
Kanawha County (WV) prosecutors drop charges against Dan Heyman, arrested for the horrible crime of asking HHS Secretary Tom Price questions at the state Capitol in May. If you advocated with County authorities for this result, go get yourself a Buffalo chicken cheese steak, or whatever else you like -- and then prepare yourself for future similar insults against our democracy and our civilization.
NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds well over half of Americans "comfortable with the nation becoming more diverse and tolerant of different lifestyles, gender roles, languages, cultures and experiences," but also finds some 24 percent of Americans, well, not comfortable. Some of the breakdowns are interesting (some 48% of seniors say they're "comfortable," which is a bit higher than I expected), but note well that this 24% figure maps pretty well onto my conviction that 25% of the electorate is bat-guano crazy. Note well, also, that they can only win elections with help from the not-crazy.
Comments