nordic prime minister meeting. the orb of world domination loses power and is somewhat less threatening on these latitudes. pic.twitter.com/t5K7NfQOqu
— Jussi Karlgren (@jussikarlgren) May 29, 2017
Ha! That’s a vicious and delicious score. :D You can read all about it at The Hill and Raw Story.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, speaks to British Prime Minister Theresa May during in a working dinner meeting at the NATO headquarters during a NATO summit of heads of state and government in Brussels on Thursday, May 25, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool.
Oh, PM May’s face. Definitely in the a picture is worth a thousand words camp. Meanwhile, the Tiny Tyrant looks blissfully oblivious, he must be talking about himself. He certainly seems to be unable to process other people’s expressions, or he simply may not register them because they are, to him, unimportant. According to a report in the Belgian daily Le Soir, what the Tiny Tyrant discussed was … golf courses. Yep. His golf courses, natch, and how awful Ireland and Scotland were, not letting him do whatever the fuck he wanted. Quelle horreur!
Donald Trump is, above all, a businessman, Belgian daily Le Soir concluded after his visit to Brussels, a city Trump derided during the campaign as a “hellhole.”
He talked about governing with the language of business and was receptive only to concrete talking points, getting lost in theoretical discussions, the paper reported based on interviews with Belgian officials and sources involved in the meeting. He seemed to have “no idea” about economic issues facing Belgium and knew “even less” about the importance of Belgian trade to the United States.
And, when he did have an idea about issues facing the European Union — of which Brussels is the de facto capital — those ideas seemed formed entirely on his experience building golf courses, the paper said.
“He made many references to his personal business. He explained, for example, the function of Europe based on his difficulties doing business in Ireland,” the paper reported.
“Every time we talk about a country, he remembered the things he had done. Scotland? He said he had opened a club. Ireland? He said it took him two and a half years to get a license and that did not give him a very good image of the European Union.,” another source added. “One feels that he wants a system where everything can be realized very quickly and without formalities.”
Think Progress has the full story of yet more reports of just how unimpressive and disastrous the Tour of Trump™ happened to be, leaving many a priceless photo in its wake.
After the Unpresident’s disastrous ‘tour’, it didn’t take long before Mr. Tweet once again made an appearance, having another multi-tweet meltdown, scattering his delusions like dandelion achenes in the wind. It also didn’t take long for the Twitterati to respond to the latest salver of idiotbites laid before them.
I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead – the Republicans will do much better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
Mr. Tweet: “I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead – the Republicans will do much better!”
As one astute person observed in response, we had healthcare with more dollars in, it was called the ACA, aka ObamaCare.
The massive TAX CUTS/REFORM that I have submitted is moving along in the process very well, actually ahead of schedule. Big benefits to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2017
Mr. Tweet: “The massive TAX CUTS/REFORM that I have submitted is moving along in the process very well, actually ahead of schedule. Big benefits to all!”
Oh yes, let’s see, you promised this mess within 100 days. It’s over that now. Benefits to all? I do believe he thinks only filthy rich people actually exist. Oh, and maybe the servant class. Outside of that, I think we all disappear.
The Fake News Media works hard at disparaging & demeaning my use of social media because they don't want America to hear the real story!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2017
Mr. Tweet: “The Fake News Media works hard at disparaging & demeaning my use of social media because they don’t want America to hear the real story!”
This piece of America is intelligent enough to read actual news, not shitshows like Fox, is capable of doing basic fact checking, is not afraid of words or the reading of them, and can judge shite filled tweets when seen.
It’s amazing, really, just how easy it is to get Donny unglued. I hope people all over take a clue from the scathing Twitterati, and show up in masses at his planned ‘campaign rallies’, and let fly with the questions and mockery. That might result in getting his ass out of office, something the democrats won’t even try to do until fucking 2019. What the hell is the point? He needs out now. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of mockery!
You can see some of the choice responses at Raw Story.
“Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, center right, after appearing to be pushed by Donald Trump, center.” CREDIT for caption/photo: AP/Matt Dunham.
There’s been a great deal of anxiety laden speculation over the Paris Climate Accord, as that represents our last, best hope. It seems it’s a last, best hope that the Tiny Tyrant wants no part of, and plans to withdraw from. This is not yet formal, and the Tiny Tyrant is subject to doing rapid turnabouts on a whim, but he’s never been secretive about his scorn for the climate accord, or his desire to pull out. The damage he has already done here in uStates is tremendous, it won’t be long before we’re back to 1970s levels of pollution, with smog alerts and steeping in trash and toxicity once again. Naturally, this will lead to a much sicker populace, one which will not be able to take care of themselves, thanks to the Fuck You Care Plan. There’s one other country which is also adamantly against the climate accord. Bet you don’t need three guesses, either. It’s Russia.
President Donald Trump has privately told “confidants” he intends to leave the Paris accord on climate change, “according to three sources with direct knowledge,” Axios reported Saturday.
After persuading voters that America isn’t great anymore, Trump apparently intends to make sure of it — by having this country lead the effort to kill humanity’s last, best hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change.
Quitting a unanimous agreement by 190+ nations after a two-decade negotiating process would make us a rogue nation, a global pariah, like Vladimir Putin’s Russia. And, it could make Putin happy, as we’ll see.
While Trump tweeted out Saturday from Italy that “I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after the G7 meeting, “The whole discussion about climate has been difficult, or rather very unsatisfactory.” She added, “Here we have the situation that six members, or even seven if you want to add the EU, stand against one.”
Axios notes that “Although Trump made it clear during the campaign and in multiple conversations before his overseas trip that he favored withdrawal, he has been known to abruptly change his mind.” They add, however, top political appointees at EPA “were relieved” when Trump refused to join a consensus G7 statement reaffirming “their strong commitment” to the Paris accord.
While the White House’s attack on domestic climate action already undermines the global effort to avert climate catastrophe, we shouldn’t discount the importance of a U.S. withdrawal from Paris — especially if Trump teams with Russian President Vladimir Putin to undermine the whole global negotiating process.
ccckenya.com
Wayne Allyn Root is at it again, metaphorical saliva foaming over. Oh, those awful fellow conservatives, they are lazy, cheap, wussie country clubbers! They aren’t properly motivated programmed, so it’s time to call in the pros, those who will attack , and have experience in killing people. That will fix everything right up, because otherwise, he seems to think his life, and that of other batshit conservative christians, will be erased. I think Mr. Root has been watching bad movies.
Outraged that WorldNetDaily had its Twitter account temporarily suspended for its incessant promotion of the debunked Seth Rich conspiracy theory, Root fumed that conservatives “are all wussies and they don’t understand that we have to fight back so viciously and we have to boycott every liberal company in this country.”
Any company that advertises on MSNBC or CNN or in the New York Times, Washington Post or on any liberal website must be universally boycotted by every Trump voter in America, Root said, “before we are taken off the airwaves and our lives are erased.”
I can’t imagine anyone having the time, resources, and energy to “erase” lives such as yours, Mr. Root. Reality is not a bad movie. As for the rest of your plan, while there are too many Trumpholes, as in one is too many, they are actually a very small percentage of the population, and don’t have the power to make a boycott effective.
Reading from a letter he received from a friend, Root claimed that progressive organizations like Right Wing Watch, Media Matters, and the Center for American Progress have massive offices all over the country filled with staff who do nothing but send emails, letters and make phone calls “to sponsors and newspapers and cable and TV networks all over this country and all over this world to try to destroy the right.” Conservatives don’t have a similar operation, Root fumed, because they are “lazy, cheap, wussy, country club, RINO a-holes.”
Oooh, a letter from a friend. What an authoritative source. Nothing like advertising your gullibility. I imagine if these massive offices existed, there would be quite the buzz, because jobs. It’s true that lefties tend to pay attention, and get involved in a lot of grassroots action, sign petitions and all that, but that’s a far cry from this odd conspiracy you have cooked up. Most of us have to get on with the daily business of living, working every day, taking care of families, all that. Not much time leftover to be a paper assassin.
“We need to hire an attack dog,” Root declared. “We need to hire former CIA or NSA or FBI or Navy Seals that have been involved in counter-insurgency operations all over the world, that have killed people, that understand how to fight; that don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, that bring a gun to a gunfight, preferably a shoulder-fired missile to a gunfight, preferably a nuclear weapon to a gunfight!”
We? Who the hell is We? A slight hint here, Mr. Root – people such as you’re describing might not appreciate being called an attack dog. A nuclear weapon to a gunfight. Yeah, there’s that good ol’ christian conservative spirit: obliterate the fuckers, all of them! I can’t say I’d mind if you dropped dead, Mr. Root, because you’re a dangerous zealot, who thinks unleashing nuclear weapons would be a good idea. It would probably be a good thing if you figured out that if nukes fly, you’re dead, too. Jesus Fuck, what is wrong with you people?
“It is time to go after the left as viciously as they go after us,” Root proclaimed. “These people are mentally insane … and I will tell you right now, they would burn books if they could.”
“They would love to burn the Bible, because we all know they hate God,” he added. “And you know they hate the country.”
Let’s take a look. According to you, the left are viciously engaged in letter writing and phone calling. So, you think killers, guns, and nuclear weapons are an appropriate response. And that’s supposed to be mentally sane? Now, as for this: “they would burn books if they could”, um, what is it that you think is preventing people from burning books, if that’s what they want to do? I haven’t burned a bible, but I’ve shredded a couple. *shrug* Nothing happened, no one cares.
I don’t hate “god” because gods don’t exist. I don’t hate the country, either, but I certainly don’t like many of its inhabitants.
Via RWW.
Trump speaks to U.S. troops at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Italy, on May 27. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters).
A war room. Why? All the scandals engulfing the Tiny Tyrant, of course. The mere fact that the Tiny Tyrant feels this is a situation of war lends credence to the malignant reality reaching out with a stranglehold on us all. This is a siege mentality overlaid on an already highly unstable and paranoid mindset.
PresidentTrump and his advisers, seeking to contain the escalating Russia crisis that threatens to consume his presidency, are considering a retooling of his senior staff and the creation of a “war room” within the White House, according to several aides and outside Trump allies.Following Trump’s return to Washington on Saturday night from a nine-day foreign trip that provided a bit of a respite from the controversy back home, the White House plans to far more aggressively combat the cascading revelations about contacts between Trump associates, including Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and Russia.
White House officials are also trying to find ways to revive Trump’s stalled policy agenda in Congress and to more broadly overhaul the way the White House communicates with the public.
That includes proposals for more travel and campaign-style rallies throughout the country so that Trump can speak directly to his supporters, as well as changes in the pace and nature of press briefings, likely including a diminished role for embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Oh right, a “return” to campaigning. A good portion of Trumpholes have now figured out that supporting him is akin to having your hands filled with a steaming pile of shit, so I don’t imagine the campaign rally trail will be quite so happy this time around. This also means that Trump will once again be preaching and hollering hate everywhere, in an attempt to provide a salve for bruised egos everywhere, a place for people to lay blame. Like last time, I also expect there will be another spike in hate fueled violence, on top of the one which is still ongoing.
It would be truly great if every person in uStates could figure out that campaigning is not the same as presidenting, and it has been made more than obvious which one Trump can manage, and which one he clearly cannot manage.
While much remained fluid Saturday, the beefed-up operation could include the return of some of Trump’s more combative campaign aides, including former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was fired nearly a year ago, and former deputy campaign manager David N. Bossie, who made his name in politics by investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton for two decades. Both of them have already been part of ongoing discussions about how to build a “war room,” which have been led in part by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.
[…]
“Go to the mattresses,” a line from “The Godfather” film about turning to tough mercenaries during troubled times, has circulated among Trump’s friends, according to two people close to the “war room” discussions.
Well, how … apt.
Meanwhile, White House counsel Donald McGahn is mulling expanding his office, and an outside legal team led by Marc E. Kasowitz is readying to meet with Trump and guide him, including on whether he should continue to comment on the Russia probes on Twitter.
Kushner has played an active role in the effort to rethink and rearrange the communications team, improve the White House’s surrogate operation, and develop an internal group to combat the influx of negative stories and revelations over the FBI’s Russia probe, said someone with knowledge of the coming changes.
“The bottom line is they need fresh legs; they need more legs,” said Barry Bennett, who served as a political adviser to Trump during the general election. “They’re in full-scale war, and they’re thinly staffed.”
[…]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary, is being considered as a replacement behind the lectern and is likely to appear on camera more often in coming weeks. White House aides have also talked about having a rotating cast of staff brief the media, a group that could include officials such as national security adviser H.R. McMaster. Having several aides share the briefing responsibilities could help prevent Trump — who has a notoriously short attention span — from growing bored or angry with any one staffer.
Shuffle, move, scoot, change, whatever the fuck. The key words in the above would be: 1) Trump 2) short attention span 3) bored 4) angry. The problem? Trump. The solution? Get rid of Trump.
Aides and allies of Trump say they have come to the realization that unflattering stories about Russia will be part of the daily conversation for the foreseeable future and acknowledge that the White House has been ill-equipped to handle them.
Christopher Ruddy, a longtime Trump friend, said the White House has been caught flat-footed on many of the Russia stories.
“Because they did not believe there’s anything to it, they’re playing catch-up to get their side of the story out,” Ruddy said.
Oh, fucking bullshit! Bullshit. This didn’t take anyone by surprise, they just assumed he’d get away with it, like he has before.
Being outside of Washington among his supporters, particularly in a state he won last year, energizes Trump and provides a way for him to communicate without the filter of the media, his advisers say.
“The conventional ways of communicating are not working for them,” one adviser said, adding that Trump should consider Facebook Live sessions and get out on the road “as frequently as possible.”
“They have to get the campaign brand back,” the adviser said.
Oh yes, the brand. All you need is hate and the brand. Intelligence, compassion, competency? Nah, who the hell needs those things?
“I hope he’ll travel more and do these rallies once a week,” Bennett said. “You get to say whatever you want to say, and you don’t have to take questions.”
You know what would be great? If lots and lots and lots of people showed up at said rallies, and refused to stay quiet and listen, and yelled out all their questions about just how he’s fucking everyone and everything over, and why does he hate America so damn much.
There’s much, much more at The Washington Post.
President Trump in Washington on Monday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times.
Yet more psychiatrists are speaking up, in spite of the fact they may have their licenses taken away, because of the grave danger they see, not just posed by Trump, but the warping of sentiment and attitude, the increase in hate, bigotry, and violence. Chauncey De Vega has an interview with psychiatrist Bandy Lee, available at Alternet or a Salon Podcast.
President Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States and the world.
He has reckless disregard for democracy and its foundational principles. Trump is also an authoritarian plutocrat who appears to be using the presidency as a means to enrich himself and closest allies as well as family members. Trump’s proposed 2018 federal budget is a shockingly cruel document that threatens to destroy America’s already threadbare social safety net in order to give the rich and powerful (even more) hefty tax cuts. His policies have undermined the international order and America’s place as the dominant global power. It would appear that he and his administration have been manipulated and perhaps (in the case of Michael Flynn) even infiltrated by Vladimir Putin’s spies and other agents. The world has become less safe as a result of Trump’s failures of leadership and cavalier disregard for existing alliances and treaties.
Donald Trump’s failures as president have been compounded by his unstable personality and behavior. It has been reported by staffers inside the Trump White House that he is prone to extreme mood swings, is cantankerous and unpredictable, flies into blind rages when he does not get his way, is highly suggestible and readily manipulated, becomes bored easily and fails to complete tasks, is confused by basic policy matters and is unhappy and lonely. And despite bragging about his “strength” and “vitality” during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump appears to tire easily and easily succumbs to “exhaustion.” Trump is apparently all id and possesses little if any impulse control. He is a chronic liar who ignores basic facts and empirical reality in favor of his own fantasies.
Between the scandals and the emotionally erratic behavior, Donald Trump would appear to be a 21st-century version of Richard Nixon, to date the only American president forced to resign under threat of forcible removal. In all, this leads to a serious and worrisome question: Is Donald Trump mentally ill? Moreover, what does Trump’s election reveal about the moods and values of his voters? How are questions of societal emotions and collective mental health connected to the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in America? Do psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals have a moral obligation to warn the public about the problems they see with Donald Trump’s behavior?
In an effort to answer these questions, I recently spoke with Dr. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist at Yale University who specializes in public health and violence prevention. She recently convened a conference that explored issues related to Donald Trump’s emotional health and how mental health professionals should respond to this crisis. The proceedings from this conference will be featured in a forthcoming book expected later this year.
Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. A longer version can be heard on my podcast, available on Salon’s Featured Audio page.
CN: misogyny, violence, rape. Have a care before continuing.
Rachel Maclean:
13 May – 26 November 2017
Chiesa di Santa Caterina, Fondamenta Santa Caterina, 30121, Cannaregio
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm, free entry (also open Monday 15 May)
Rachel Maclean is representing Scotland at the 57th International Art Exhibition, the Venice Biennale, with major new film commission Spite Your Face – a modern-day, dark Venetian fairytale presented as a large-scale portrait projection at the altar of a deconsecrated church.
Rachel Maclean, Spite Your Face, 2017, digital video (still). Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by Alchemy Film & Arts in partnership with Talbot Rice Gallery and the University of Edinburgh on behalf of Scotland + Venice.
In Venice’s Chiesa di Santa Caterina, I am sitting in a pew, looking up to where the altar would normally be, watching the distinct yet unfamiliar movements of a gigantic nose being masturbated. A blue, gloved hand runs up and down its glittering gold length, and its owner, a cartoonish young perfume-purveying influencer named Pic, groans with pleasure. “I intended it to be shocking,” says Scottish artist Rachel Maclean, of her contribution to Scotland’s presence in Venice during the Biennale, a 35-minute, looping film with no beginning or end, that follows Pic on a morality tale that pits his conscience against his greed.
[…]
It would be hard not to see the political significance of the piece, in a world where outright lies appear to be de rigeur for anyone in the public eye. “I was disturbed by the ways in which lies had been used in the Trump campaign and the Brexit campaign, in a lazy sense, to substantiate a political narrative or an idea,” Maclean says. “I started writing the script in December last year and it was a scary time…” One narrative that stands out from the film is the idea of a transformation of fortune, a rags-to-riches redemption (or riches-to-rags, depending on which order you watch the film in), that sees a destitute young boy wind up as shill for a perfume brand called “Untruth.” This creates a fake corporate illusion, in comparison to the magic “Truth” one given to him by his fairy godmother.
“I’ve always been interested in perfume because it seems absurd,” says Maclean. “Really, it’s just a bottle of smelly liquid but it’s packaged in this way that not only makes the object into something more valuable, but it also suggests that you spraying it onto yourself transforms you into something more powerful and alluring.” This idea of a transformative solution to society’s problems critiques these myths that we are told about social mobility: lean in, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, it’s the American Dream. “I was interested in the compassionless aspect of it. The narrative suggests, if you work hard enough and if you dream it, you can do it. It’s a convenient way to gloss over the lack of social mobility in our society,” adds Maclean.
Another uncomfortable moment comes right after the unforgettable nose-onanism, where Pic’s guardian angel joins him in the sexual act. Pic becomes enraged at a perceived insult and ends up brutally raping this maternal figure. It’s uncomfortable, in fact, almost unbearable to watch, even though it’s still, absurdly, carried out by the character’s nose, lengthened from all those lies. “I’ve been disturbed by the rise in visible misogyny,” Maclean says, when asked about this scene. “There’s a level of immunity to it—where we’re just not affected by it. I wanted the rape scene to feel palpably violent and difficult to watch, so that it’s able to break through the surface of that a little bit.”
Rachel Maclean, Spite Your Face, 2017, digital video (still). Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by Alchemy Film & Arts in partnership with Talbot Rice Gallery and the University of Edinburgh on behalf of Scotland + Venice.
The Creators Project has the full story, and more photos. There’s also more at Scotland and Venice. I have no doubt this is both and impressive and disturbing work; not one I would find easy to sit through, but I would like to see it all the same.
Jean Colombe, Detail of a medieval miniature of the Siege of Antioch from Sébastien Mamerot’s Les Passages d’Outremer.
Coach Dave (Daubenmire) is on a tear again, this time over the woeful lack of aggressive violence in today’s Christianity. More violence! More aggression! More manly men being assholes! Yeah, that’s the ticket! I will say that Coach Dave gets a point for honesty.
“The only thing that is going to save Western civilization is a more aggressive, a more violent Christianity,” he said.
A good part of the planet is still soaking in the blood spilt by Christians throughout the ages, who could never seem to get enough war, torture, and various kinds of killing. Given a warped enough view, one could see that as ‘saving’, I suppose.
Playing a clip of Trump shoving aside the prime minister of Montenegro at a recent NATO summit so that he could stand in front of the group of assembled leaders, Daubenmire heaped praise on Trump for showing that “he is large and in charge.”
“Look at him,” Daubenmire screamed gleefully while watching the clip. “They’re all little puppies, ain’t nobody barking at him … He’s walking in authority. He walked to the front and center and they all know it, too, man. He just spanked them all.”
Trump’s behavior is an example for the church, Daubenmire said. “The Lord is showing us a picture of the authority we should be walking in.”
Oh. So that’s what Coach Dave means, that men should wallow in being toxic assholes. I’m rather amazed he hasn’t noticed just how many men already do that sort of thing. It’s a problem. Basically, this just sounds like the posturing plaint of “hey, you aren’t pussy-whipped, are you?” A moronic, faux-macho stance of fucking idiots everywhere. Allow me to translate Coach Dave: “See that? Trump isn’t pussy-whipped, he’s a pussy grabber!” Yeah, grate™.
Daubenmire then cited Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte’s assault on a reporter the day before he won a special election in Montana as another example for the church.
“People are sick and tired of it,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘Yes, a fighter! Go, dude, go!’ … Who won? The dude that took the other dude to the ground.”
Well, no, dude, that’s not what happened. Most of the votes were already in when Gianforte assaulted the reporter, a crime he was charged with, by the way, because he was guilty. That’s not something to celebrate, and you certainly should not twist facts to make it seem like voters approved of his crime. I’m sure some of them did, but I’d be willing to bet most did not. No one wants to stand in front of someone who has so little self control. This person is sick and tired of all the toxic assholes running around, using dude dude dude in a sentence because their minds and vocabularies are so damn impoverished.
“That should be the heart cry of Christian men,” Daubenmire said. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of God has suffered violence and violent men take it by force.”
At least he got something right. Yes, Christianity has always been a horrible snarl of blood-soaked violence, brimming over with violent men who believe in taking everything and everyone by force. Seems to me it’s past time for that sort of shit to be over.
Via RWW.
Screen Grab. Playable video at link.
The willful blindness of some people never ceases to baffle me. I’m not much a one for taking things on faith, and I never take any politician on faith of any kind. Politics being what they are, an arena for game playing, with rewards for lying and other duplicitous behaviour, it strikes me as pure folly to rely on faith in the words of any politician, and in particular when it comes to someone like Trump. I’m not overly inclined to being sympathetic to Trumpholes, but it’s difficult to not have compassion for those who feel betrayed as result of their blind faith in a person who did not deserve it in any way. The best they can do now is to get damn active in The Resistance, and try to atone for boosting the Tiny Tyrant into place.
An upstate New York man who sold many of his possessions last year to fund a months-long tour playing music at Trump rallies now regrets his vote for the Republican candidate.
“I had everything riding on the fact that he was going to make things better,” Kraig Moss told the Associated Press. “He lied to me.”
Then-candidate Donald Trump looked Moss in the eye at one rally in Iowa and told the grieving father he would help end the drug epidemic that had claimed his 24-year-old son, whose ashes accompanied the truck driver to 45 rallies.
“He promised me, in honor of my son, that he was going to combat the ongoing heroin epidemic,” Moss said. “He got me hook, line and sinker.”
Post-election analyses found that Trump over-performed in Rust Belt counties ravaged by public health crises — such as drug and alcohol addiction and suicide — but the president’s budget released this week slashes funding for addiction treatment, research and prevention.
Medicaid funding would shrivel under Trump’s 10-year plan, which could devastate coverage to an estimated three in 10 adults addicted to opioids.
[…]
Trump promised during the campaign and after his election to help families suffering from the opioid epidemic — but his voters feel betrayed by the president’s focus on tax cuts, military spending and border security.
“I didn’t see this coming,” said Paul Kusiak, of Massachusetts, who told Trump the candidate about his sons’ successful battles with addiction. “I’m trying desperately to have hope and take the president at his word.”
[…]
“Inside I’m screaming,” said Sandra Chavez, of Sacramento, whose son died from an infection related to drug use. “We’re going backward with Donald Trump’s plan.”
Trump has proposed cutting funds for addiction research, prevention programs, drug courts and prescription drug monitoring, as well as eliminating support for training of addiction professional.
Justin Butler, a 36-year-old Trump voter from Cleveland, fears he will be back on the streets, using drugs and selling them, if Medicaid stops paying for addiction treatment.
“He’s turning his back on people,” Butler said. “He’s a liar.”
It’s one hell of a harsh lesson, and none of these people, in spite of voting for Trump, deserves to be tossed aside like so much trash. None of us deserve that. That said, as noted earlier, being sorry isn’t enough. Regretful Trump voters need to channel that disappointment and betrayal into working for The Resistance, and to now work to get the Tiny Tyrant unseated.
Via Raw Story. There’s a similar story, about a Trump voter who is completely dependent on SSI, finding out she most likely will not have that anymore under the Tiny Tyrant.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks up during a meeting about healthcare at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque.
Oh, the Tiny Tyrant, Fucking Idiot in Chief, is busy spewing stupid all over Europe, and making enemies out of everyone. In this particular instance, the focus is on how absolutely evil Germans are, because cars. Yep. Oh my, someone else is better than Grate Amerikkka™ at something, they must be squashed!
Donald Trump is ready to fight Germany in an auto battle according to Germany’s Der Spiegel.
Trump got a chilly reception at the NATO summit in Belgium after attacking fellow members. But he was caught pledging a battle with German automakers as part of his anger with “back dues” he feels the country owes to NATO. As CNN’s Jake Tapper noted Thursday, “Trump seems to think it’s like a country club.”
In a discussion about the country’s trade surplus, Trump said. “The Germans are evil, very evil.”
“Look at the millions of cars they sell in the US, and we’ll stop that,” sources told Der Spiegel.
According to the report, EU Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker took up for Germany explaining that “free trade is good for all.”
According to a report from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung,” the EU allies were horrified by the willingness of the Americans to view global trade with such a lack of awareness. Trump’s economic consultant Gary Cohn was said to have chided German auto trade during a discussion between the US and Germany and the USA and Belgium. Trump had previously attacked them during another conversation.
Via Raw Story.
Ben Carson. Getty Images.
I just got a post up about The Trudget and Rethuglican “compassion”, and then I see this little gem from Ben Carson, who seems to think that poverty is a state of mind, rather than a very concrete situation of having no money and no resources. When it comes to Carson, Fucking Idiot is not enough of a descriptor.
During an interview with Sirius XM radio on Tuesday, Mr Carson suggested people are poor because they learned the “wrong mindset” from their parents.
The retired neurosurgeon oversees a department that manages housing for the country’s low-income population.
His comments quickly drew sharp criticism on social media.
“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” he said in an interview that aired on Wednesday.
“You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.
“And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom.”
Has someone been giving poverty-ridden peoples ‘everything in the world’? I haven’t heard anything to that effect. Most people who find themselves in poverty simply want the basics, along with opportunities to get out of perpetual poverty. Unfortunately, Amerikkka is set up to keep poor people poor, and keep the filthy rich sucking the marrow out of everyone else’s bones.
Ben Carson, there simply is not enough Fuck in the universe for you.
BBC News has the full story, along with some choice responses which were tweeted.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney (R) listens as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with members of the Republican Study Committee at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 17, 2017.
In a stunning display of republican “compassion”, Mick Mulvaney defended the $3.6 trillion cuts to domestic programs in the tragic Trudget. Rather than address all those who desperately need assistance to simply put food on their table; people who already face a tangle of red tape to get the slimmest of benefits, Mulvaney waxed dispassionate about the fiscal rights of the non-existent. It’s great, just fabulous, to take food away from living children, because of Mulvaney’s grandchildren, who are at this point, non-existent. But hey, the potentiality of grandchildren, well, that’s important! Much more important than poor children, who barely have enough food to keep them alive.
It should not need to be pointed out that food which allows for subsistence is a terrible thing when it comes to children. Children who are not eating enough have an awful time trying to concentrate, they do poorly in school, and aren’t very active physically, because that takes energy, and when you don’t have enough fuel, well, you get the picture. The domestic programs in place can barely manage to get enough food to families, it’s not as if it’s a massive bounty. There is a massive, horrible problem in America when it comes to hungry children. That problem keeps getting buried, stuffed in the back of closet, and given the Trudget, it seems as though republicans think it’s okay if they just get on with starving, as those hungry children are not important at all when weighed against the non-existent.
During a hearing about the $3.6 trillion in cuts to domestic programs included in President Trump’s proposed budget, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney made a case that the fiscal interests of the unborn should take precedence over the lives of present-day Americans — or at least those who rely on food stamps to eat or public schools to educate their children.
During a hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) grilled Mulvaney about the budget’s 25 percent cut to food assistance for the poorest Americans.
“Mr. Mulvaney, at least 20 percent of people eligible for SNAP don’t even receive SNAP because of stigma and other reasons,” she said. “So there are more people who need SNAP benefits… And you have a 13 percent cut in the Department of Education. The most vulnerable kids who need — ”
Mulvaney cut her off and made an impassioned case that people like Lee aren’t sufficiently concerned about his “unborn grandchildren.” He said:
What about the standard of living for my grandchildren who aren’t here yet? Who will end up inheriting $30 trillion in debt? Fifty trillion dollars in debt? A hundred trillion dollars? What about their standard — who’s going to pay the bill, Congressman? That’s what this is all about. That’s what this new perspective is. Who is going to pay for all the stuff you just mentioned? Us? Or somebody else? And I suggest to you if it’s important enough to pay, to have, then we need to be paying for it. Because right now, my unborn grandchildren are paying for it, and I think that is morally bankrupt.
And there you have it, the rethuglican rationale in all its ugliness – the non-existent are paying, and that’s bad, really super-evil! I had no idea the non-existent had pockets to pick.