Monday Morning Smile

A Pause to Smile

Mad As Hell

Like some people I listened/watched the Kavanaugh Investigation today.   When I first turned on the radio I was assaulted by Grassley's opening statement: full of so much bullshit I was glad I was in the bathroom.  And talk about a grumpy old coot.  I bet his wife - if he has one - doesn't want him to retire.  There needs to be an age limit to these politicians, y'all.

Christine Blasey Ford - in my opinion, as well as a great number of others - was a a credible witness.  She was real, nothing fake about her testimony. She was terrified and confused during some points of the hearing, but she got thru it and it wasn't because of the cold-hearted, full-of-hate, trump and russia loving GOP.  Those men just ooze good ole boy network.

Then came the entitled all american frat boy.  Brett "wah wah" Kavanaugh  who - to my memory - didn't answer a single question.  He lacked respect for anyone who was questioning him.  He cried thru his opening statement.  Pretty ugly thing to witness from a pretty ugly person.  He was so disingenuous, so full of himself, so not nice.

 I only enjoyed this part of his testimony

After Ms. Ford's testimony, the Grumpy Old Paunchbellies decided to do away with the woman who was originally going to speak for the Republicans (Rachel Mitchell) and they each took a turn to gush over cry-baby-frat-boy.  At one point Lindsey Graham completely lost it.  I was hoping he would stroke out:

I finally turned it off, I couldn't take it any more when I saw that Louisiana's John "granny" Kennedy was going to gush to the rapist.  Couldn't take anymore.  

I'm pissed, knowing that frat-boy-cry-baby-rapist is going to be confirmed tomorrow unless something totally unexpected happens.  I've been waiting for something totally  unexpected to happen since November of 2016, so I'm not  feeling good about it.  

Misery loves company, so I am sharing Trae Crowder's take on this travesty:

Monday Morning Smile

Monday Morning Smile

Crystalware musician plays "Habanera" by Bizet

Never Forget

Regarding the Authorless NYT Op-Ed about drumpf

From Facebook 9/7/2018
Mark Bear
https://www.facebook.com/drbearphd

September 7 at 5:58 AM
Good Morning, Friends,

Since the released Op-Ed in the New York Times, I have had several of you in my audience ask my thoughts on the matter, and therefore I am going to provide them here for each of you to contemplate.

First, I do not look at the individual who has written that piece to be heroic in any meaningful manner. The definition of heroic is to be brave. I do not find any aspect of this writer's actions to be considered brave. He or she still has his job, and will continue to do so, unless of course, the New York Times violates the ethical standard of journalists protecting their sources at all costs.

In addition, the author does not convey any information to the public which we did not know already. Consider the following passage from that essay:

"The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making."

Nearly every American citizen is and was aware of Mr. Trump's amorality. We knew from his past that he had not paid his employees or contractors the agreed upon price after a job was complete, that Mr. Trump had committed adultery, and that he is a sexist and misogynist - as evidenced by the Access Hollywood tape - and, in addition, is a bigoted prejudicial man, who very well may be a racist - as evidenced by his comments at rallies and treatment towards those "who do not look like us." Furthermore, we all sat observing a man tapping into the darker side of our fears, while blaming others for the problems of our nation. This is not news, folks.

Second, the writer of this essay easily can pass for any Republican lawmaker sitting in Congress or the Senate, who perhaps, while making their complaints known off camera, sit idly by allowing Trump to have his way on nearly every single situation, while rarely calling him out, as he continues to blur the lines in our system of checks and balances, and nipping away at our democratic ideals and values as a nation.

Third, the writer of this essay actually believes there are "bright spots" in this administration, this when Mr. Trump has enacted a travel ban on Muslims, continues calling the press the "enemy of the people," consistently lies at near record pace, is failing to deliver on many of his campaign promises, specifically crafting a way to provide health coverage to each and every citizen in this nation, and "draining the swamp."

Despite this, as is typical of every single lawmaker who self-identifies with the current "party of family values," the writer states the following:

"There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more."

The author of the piece further states:

"We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous."

However, our image around the globe has decreased since Mr. Trump has taken office, and those who are prospering seem to be CEO'S and the stock holders of major corporations in our nation.

And deregulation, while perhaps being a sought after goal of republicanism is also construed by many as a highly negative attribute of this administration; consider the consumer financial protection agency as just one example.

Further, the "historic tax reform" the writer references, is turning out to be one that merely benefits the wealthiest in this nation while expanding the income gap between the wealthiest in our nation and our middle-class. And, while we already enjoyed a robust military prior to Mr. Trump taking office, his lack of diplomatic skills, coupled with cuts to our State Department means he simply has resolved a problem of his own creation.

Fourth, heroes rarely, if ever, toot their own horns. However, the writer of this essay takes great pains to ensure the public knows just how heroic he or she and others within the administration are. Consider this passage from the essay:

"The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful."

The erratic behavior referenced is of course that of Mr. Trump. Furthermore, the writer(s) voice the exact same complaint made by Mr. Trump himself: they are "cast" as villains by the media. In other words, it is the media's fault, because in "private" we are to believe this writer and those with him or her go to "great lengths: to keep bad decisions contained."

Cowardice is defined as follows: "lack of courage to face difficulty, opposition, or pain." It is clear that the writer enjoys protections afforded him or her through the New York Times, does not have his or her name attached to the article, despite the massive speculative predictions made by those in the realm of social media, and will face no opposition or pain for voicing his or her opinion.

Undoubtedly, there will be several of you who disagree with my analysis, but as you do, please consider the following words articulated by the writer:

"The result is a two-track presidency."

If readers were not concerned prior to the release of this essay by our writer, they surely should be by now. The leading question that should be on the mind of each and every American is "Who is running the White House?" And, if we are asking that question, then is it not logical to realize that the rest of the world is asking the exact same question too?

Which leads to my final point: As the media is subsumed with the "Who done it" narrative these past two days, we currently have a Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, who has dodged nearly every single question asked of him, coupled with thousands of pages of his writing being withheld from the Democratic Party until absolutely necessary, if even then. Furthermore, he is a man who did not appear on Mr. Trump's short-list of nominees, until the Special Counsel was appointed by Rod Rosenstein. And, Judge Kavanaugh absolutely refuses to recuse himself should any pending civil or criminal complaint come before the Supreme Court. In other words, this Judge could very well be Mr. Trump's get out of jail free card.

And if THAT does not unsettle you in the slightest, then nothing will. My point here is that we do not know who wrote the letter, and personally I could not care less, especially given the absence of heroism. In fact, while I am not wont to embrace conspiracies, Mr. Trump has a record of writing the media in order to portray himself in the best possible light during his business career. For all we know, Mr. Trump directed several within his administration to craft the letter to serve as yet, another diversion, taking our focus off of the Kavanaugh hearings, and placing it squarely where Mr. Trump likes attention placed the most: On himself!

Doc

Links of support will be placed later on as I am able to do so and will be in the first comment!

Link to essay submitted from somebody or a group within Mr. Trump's senior cabinet officials - as identified by the writer - arguing how they are heroes keeping Mr Trump in line. Just a daily watch of the news tells a different story. 

https://www.nytimes.com/.../trump-white-house-anonymous...

Monday Morning Smile

From Facebook User Tom Adelsbach

September 3 at 12:46 PM

BREAKING: the Donald Trump animatronic in Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents attraction, was vandalized today - in front of a shocked audience.

Beauty

"Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity."
- Oscar Wilde

Woodward talks to drumpf

The Washington Post on Tuesday released an audio recording of President Trump talking to veteran journalist Bob Woodward about his "bad book," dismissing the forthcoming exposé as one of the many negative books about his White House.

"So I have another bad book coming out," Trump told Woodward during a phone call, a transcript of which was also released by the newspaper. "Big deal."

Here is the transcript FROM THE Washington Post with key sections highlighted and annotated. To see an annotation, click on the yellow, highlighted text.:  

Trump: Hello, Bob.

BW: President Trump, how are you?

Trump: How are you? How are you doing? Okay?

BW: Real well. I’m turning on my tape recorder, with your permission.

Trump: Oh, that’s okay. That’s okay. I don’t mind that at all.

BW: I’m sorry we missed the opportunity to talk for the book.

Trump: Well, I just spoke with Kellyanne [Conway] and she asked me if I got a call. I never got a call. I never got a message. Who did you ask about speaking to me?

BW: Well, about six people.

Trump: They don’t tell me.

BW: A senator. I talked to Kellyanne about it two and a half months ago.

Trump: [?].

BW: She came for lunch.

Trump: Well, it’s too bad. Of course, you and I had a conversation a couple of years ago, and so that I think got you there a little bit. And we had a conversation many years ago, if you remember, in Trump Tower.

BW: Yeah, I do.

Trump: That has to be 20 years ago. And you were thinking about doing a book about me then, which is interesting. Who knew it would’ve been on this subject? Right? That was not in the cards at that time.

BW: That’s right. Well, I’m sorry, I . ..

Trump: I still remember that.

BW: I spent a lot of time on this, talked to lots of people.

Trump: All right. Good.

BW: And as you know and are living, we are at a pivot point in history.

Trump: Right.

BW: And I would’ve liked to have done that, and I maximized my effort, and somehow it didn’t get to you, or . ..

Trump: It’s really too bad, because nobody told me about it, and I would’ve loved to have spoken to you. You know I’m very open to you. I think you’ve always been fair. We’ll see what happens. But all I can say is the country is doing very well. We’re doing better economically just about than at any time. We’re doing better on unemployment maybe than ever. You know, I mean, if you look at the unemployment numbers, you’ve heard me say it. And we’re doing better on unemployment than just about ever. We’re having a lot of — a lot of companies are moving back into our country, which would’ve been unheard of two years ago. If the other administration or representatives of it had kept going, had kept — you know, if the other group had won, I will tell you, that you would have, I think you’d have a GDP of less than zero. I think we would’ve been going in the wrong direction. Because regulations are such a big part of what we’ve done, Bob.

BW: Well, I understand that point of view. And as you know, it’s also a difficult time where the political system and you and my business is being tested.
Trump: Yeah. Yeah.

BW: I take it very seriously. I’ve done books on eight presidents, going back from Nixon to Obama.

Trump: Right.

BW: And I learned something about reporting, frankly, Mr. President.

Trump: Good.

BW: I’ve got to go talk to people and see them outside of the White House and outside of their offices, and gained a lot of insight and documentation. And it’s — you know, it’s a tough look at the world and your administration and you.

Trump: Right. Well, I assume that means it’s going to be a negative book. But you know, I’m some — I’m sort of 50 percent used to that. [Laughter] That’s all right. Some are good and some are bad. Sounds like this is going to be a bad one.

BW: It was a chance missed, and I don’t know how things work over there in terms of . ..

Trump: Very well. We . ..

BW: . . . getting to you.

Trump: Well, if you would call Madeleine [Westerhout] in my office . . . Did you speak to Madeleine?

BW: No, I didn’t. But I . ..

Trump: Madeleine is the key. She’s the secret. Because she’s the person . ..

BW: Well, I talked to Raj [Shah] about it. I talked to . . . I talked to Kellyanne.

Trump: Well, a lot of them are afraid to come and talk, or — you know, they are busy. I’m busy. But I don’t mind talking to you. I would’ve spoken to you. I spoke to you 20 years [ago] and I spoke to you a year and a half or two years ago.

[Listen to Woodward and Trump's call on The Post's "Can He Do That?" podcast]

BW: A couple of years ago, I understand.

Trump: And I certainly don’t mind talking to you, and I wish I could’ve spoken to you. But nobody called my office. I mean, you went through, I guess, different people. ...

BW: Well, Mr. President, how can I spend all this time talking to people and — like Kellyanne and Raj and Republican senators?

Trump: Who were the senators? No, they never called me about it.

BW: Senator [Lindsey] Graham said he had talked to you about talking to me. Now, is that not true?

Trump: Senator Graham actually mentioned it quickly in one meeting.

BW: Yes. Well, see. And then nothing happened.

Trump: That is true. That is true. Well, that — no, but that is true. Mentioned it quickly, not like, you know, and I would certainly have thought that maybe you would’ve called the office. But that’s okay. I’ll speak to Kellyanne. I am a little surprised that she wouldn’t have told me. In fact, she just walked in. [to Kellyanne] I’m talking to Bob Woodward. He said that he told you.

Conway: Yes.

Trump: About speaking to me. But you never told me. Why didn’t you tell me?

Conway: [inaudible].

Trump: I would’ve been very happy to speak to him. All right, so what are you going to do?

BW: Well ...

Trump: So I have another bad book coming out. Big deal.

BW: . . . it goes on, and I . . . What you can count on is that I’ve been very careful. And Evelyn, are you on?

EMD: Yes.

BW: Evelyn Duffy, who’s my assistant, Mr. President.

Trump: Hello, Evelyn.

BW: She transcribed all the tapes because, with permission, I taped people for hundreds of hours.

Trump: Good.

BW: And I think there’s nothing in this book that doesn’t come from a firsthand source. Is that correct, Evelyn?

EMD: I believe that’s —

Trump: But are you naming names? Or do you just say sources?

BW: Yeah, well, it names real incidents, so . ..

Trump: No, but do you name sources? I mean, are you naming the people, or just say, people have said?

BW: I say, at 2:00 on this day, the following happened, and everyone who’s there, including yourself, is quoted. And I’m sorry I didn’t get to ask you about these . ..

Trump: I mean, you do know I’m doing a great job for the country. You do know that NATO now is going to pay billions and billions of dollars more, as an example, than anybody thought possible, that other presidents were unable to get more? And it was heading downward. You do know all of the things I’ve done and things that I’m doing? I’m in the process of making some of the greatest trade deals ever to be made. You do understand that stuff? I mean, I hope.

BW: Certainly, I understand and I would’ve loved to go through a discussion with you about NATO, because this goes back to early in your administration and your concern about it, and the agreement that the countries have that they would increase their defense contribution, what is it, by the year 2024? And you know . . . So anyway, we are . ..

Trump: Well, you know last year, if you see the secretary, [Jens] Stoltenberg, he said I believe $44 billion just last year, and that was from last year’s meeting. And this year it’s much more money they’ve agreed to put up. So it’s a tremendous amount of money. No other president has done it. It was heading down in the opposite direction. So I don’t know if you’re going to report it that way; probably not. But that’s too bad, but that’s all right, but you know, one of those things.

BW: Everything is going to be factual. And it is not a good thing for my business, if I may say this to you, Mr. President, to the presidency, or to the country, to not have real, full exchanges on these. And I broke my spear on it trying to get to you.

Trump: Well, other than Lindsey [Graham], who did quickly mention it, nobody mentioned it.

BW: You say Kellyanne’s there, ask her.

Trump: Nobody told me about it. Well, let me ask her. Why don’t you speak to Kellyanne. Ask her. She never told me about it.

[Conway takes the phone.]

BW: Kellyanne?

Conway: Bob, how are you? Hi.

BW: Hi. Remember two and a half months ago you came over and I laid out, I wanted to talk to the president? And you said you would get back to me?

Conway: I do. And I put in the request. But you know, they — it was rejected. I can only take it so far. I guess I can bring it right to the president next time.

BW: Yeah.

Conway: But I try to follow all the protocols, or else I’m accused of being somebody who doesn’t follow protocol.

BW: President Trump, I just want you to know I made every effort.

Conway: But you had talked to [former White House communications director] Hope [Hicks], right, who said no?

BW: Listen, I talked to anyone I could. [Laughs]

Conway: You talked to a number of people and they all said no?

BW: I talked to Raj.

Conway: Raj.

BW: He was going to work it out.

Conway: Hope. [Me?].

[The president says something in the background that is inaudible.]

Conway: I said you tried talking to everybody? What about when you interviewed, like, other people? They all said yes? That they’d try?

BW: Yeah, well, about six or seven people. I tried. And I couldn’t have — you and I spent a whole lunch on it, Kellyanne. And I said, I want to cover the substantive issues in foreign policy and domestic policy. And you said you would get back to me. Nothing.

Conway: Yeah. So, I did. I presented it to the people here who make those decisions, but . ..

BW: Who are the people?

Conway: But anyway, I’ll give you back to the president. And I’m glad to hear that you tried through seven or eight different people. That’s good. You should tell him all the names. [Laughs] Thank you.

Trump: But you never called for me. It would’ve been nice, Bob, if you called for me, in my office. I mean, I have a secretary. I have two, three secretaries. If you would’ve called directly — a lot of people are afraid . . . Raj, I hardly have . . . I don’t speak to Raj.

BW: Kellyanne is a . ..

Trump: I do, I do, and Kellyanne went to somebody, but she didn’t come to me.

BW: Well, does she have access to you?

Trump: And she should’ve come to me. She does have access to me. Absolutely. She has direct access, but she didn’t come to me. And you know what? That’s okay. I’ll just end up with another bad book. What can I tell you?

BW: It’s surprising to me that these people — did Raj have access to you?

Trump: Not really, but he would’ve been able to do it. But I have an office. You have the office number. I have an office that’s directly into my office.

Conway: [inaudible in background]

Trump: It doesn’t matter. Let me tell you what matters: The economy is the best it’s been in many, many decades. And it’s going to get a lot better. And the country is doing very well. That’s what’s important.

BW: Yes, sir. I thought I would . ..

Trump: We’re doing a good job.

BW: . . . never kind of say, let’s not talk about this because the book is done to a president . ..

Trump: Yeah, I know.

BW: . . . and, but that’s the position we’re in. And it’s one I tried to avoid. You need to know I made maximum effort.

Trump: All right. It’s too bad.

BW: Yes, sir.

Trump: I’m just hearing about it. And I heard — I did hear from Lindsey, but I’m just hearing about it. So we’re going to have a very inaccurate book, and that’s too bad. But I don’t blame you entirely.

BW: No, it’s [?] — it’s going to be accurate, I promise.

Trump: Yeah, okay. Well, accurate is that nobody’s ever done a better job than I’m doing as president. That I can tell you. So that’s . . . And that’s the way a lot of people feel that know what’s going on, and you’ll see that over the years. But a lot of people feel that, Bob.

BW: I believe in our country, and because you’re our president, I wish you good luck.

Trump: Okay. Thank you very much, Bob. I appreciate it. Bye.

[Call ends]

[Recording ends]