Bullhornymous

Only saw a few bits and pieces, but here some thoughts...... I suppose only the GOP could make a crook like Cohen look completely sympathetic. On the other hand, when you have absolute con men, crooks, grifters and hypocrites questioning you, you will appear sympathetic. The GOPers didn’t realize that everything they accused Cohen of was not only equally applicable to Trump, but not knowing what was happening, any passing observer would think they were talking of Trump. Jordan: His consciousness  of wrongdoing is fleeting. . . . His remorse is minimal. . . . His instinct to blame others is strong.” Green: “He is a narcissist...a bully...who cannot tell the truth”. Hey, isn’t that what everybody’s  said a million times about Trump? And Cohen, who has nothing to lose now, played around with his GOP tormentors. Rep. Gosar (he who’s 6 siblings made a campaign ad against him): you are a professional liar. Cohen: Are you referring to me or the President? GOPers are not upset that C...

I haven’t commented on Brexit for some time. The reason being that the closer we get to the cliff, the more chaotic it all becomes, so that only a full time follower with a PhD can keep abreast of the situation. One thing that has become clearer - its not only in the US that politicians are only looking after their own and their party’s interest, country be damned. The Brits have arguably taken it one step further, with  both  major parties only gaming out what’s better for them. The Tories, of course, showed such tendencies even before the referendum, and that event only brought out the worst in the party, with Boris the Clown and others all trying to see where they could gain the most, like becoming PM. Now Labour has joined in fully, with Corbyn’s letter to May on his negotiating position having more to do with how he could increase his chances of being PM, than of any real concern about Brexit damaging the country. We all know that Corbyn is a not-so-secret Brexiteer,...

For a couple of seconds after hearing about the formation of a Presidential Committee on Climate Security, I almost thought that Dotard Trump and the GOP were finally beginning to see the light. Stupid me!!! I should have realized immediately it was just a fig leaf. Dotard has been fuming ever since his own Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified before Congress that climate change is a major security threat. He and his GOP enablers couldn’t handle that. So what better way to deal with it than create a separate body to look into it, give it an important sounding name and let them conclude that climate change isn’t a security risk. So the guy in charge is someone who doesn’t believe in climate change. That’s like putting someone in charge of nuclear weapons security who doesn’t believe that nuclear weapons exist. And of course the Kochs and the oil and coal industry would gladly add members to the Committee. Heck, maybe they could even put Don Jr on it - he raves enough ...

I think I had sent around a clip of Rutger Bregman, a young Dutch historian, at Davos. His main point was that the rich pay too few taxes, hardly a Fox News theme. Nevertheless, Tucker Carlson, one of the prime axxxhxxxs in Fox News prime time line-up for morons, who has recently being pretending to care about the less well off, invited Rutger for a talk on his show. Just like he spoke truth to power in Davos, Rutger spoke truth to Fox Power, with the result that the show did not get aired. But Rutger, who was sitting in an Amsterdam studio, had recorded the whole thing himself, and the 10 minute clip, embedded in Erik Wemple’s brilliant analysis of the whole situation, is a must see. Poor Tucker - his only answer was to call Rutger an obscenity that defines Tucker himself. Also, once again we see the bubble that people like Dotard, his close buddies, and his apologists on Fox News, Breitbart, etc are in. They can only give interviews to each other, staying inside their bub...

The MSC used to be a rather predictable, and thus sleepy affair, where democratic countries (the EU, the US) spoke up against the dangers of aggressive dictatorships, initially the Soviet Union, then Russia. But it has morphed in the last 2 years. This year it was the dictatorships and would-be dictatorships (Russia, the US) against the Democrats (the EU), with China trying to play a smart middle game, hoping the other 2 groups would eventually weaken each other. Thus it was very welcome when for the first time, Merkel delivered a lengthy, point by point takedown of the Trump administration, earning a long, standing ovation. Its time more EU leaders speak up as forcefully. 2 years of trying to placate the Dotard have only made things worse. Its time to fight. Altar boy and (insert body part) kisser Pence then tried to fault the Europeans for helping Iran and not supporting the US, and got a cold reaction from  the diplomats present, and boos from everyone else. With Pence and Pomp...

It’s become a cliche, but there really is a past tweet for everything: In his usual meandering Rose Garden speech, he whined about Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize, while he likely wouldn’t get it (no, not even if he kisses Kim in Hanoi). “I probably will never get it” he said wistfully. No, you won’t Dotard. It wasn’t meant for con men and liars, even -in-chief. The GOP completely rolled over like pet dogs, no doubt making Trump think that he should have fired Mueller a year ago, and Tortoise McConnell and his crew, no matter what they said, would have stuck with him. After all, McConnell for weeks was against the emergency declaration, but now, tail between his legs, supports it. As many have pointed out, if they do not oppose this, they cannot oppose (though they will) a future Dem president calling an emergency on guns, climate change, or whatever. Just one more cog in the breakdown of Democracy in America. Almost unnoticed in the uproar was the defiance of the Supr...

So the kindergartner, after all his childish fits, and raving and ranting, has not been able to get his way and will declare a national emergency. Isn’t it amazing - 15% of American kids occasionally having to go to bed hungry is not an emergency, 35000 gun deaths per year is not an emergency, but the blimp baby being criticized by Ann, Laura, Rush and Sean is a huge emergency. The baby cannot take it.  But he can always do what Fox News commands. When news of the compromise first broke, Hannity derided it as “garbage” and urged Dotard not to sign it. But now he writes on Fox News that while it is garbage, Dotard should sign it and declare an emergency (my God - Fox News is being ignored - Emergency!!!). So Dotard does that. Even Ann’s sharp tongue has temporarily gone silent. I have a better suggestion for him. Already at the last rally, banners of Build the Wall had magically changed to Finish the Wall, although the only Wall actually built is only in the minds of Dotard...

So much for the much heralded conference on Middle East peace in Warsaw, called by the Trump/Dotard administration. Pompous Pompeo is there to lecture everybody else about how horrible Iran is. Seeing thru this, most European countries decided to only send lower level diplomats, instead of Foreign Ministers as initially planned. WaPo wrote - What Pompeo originally billed as a major conference to pressure Iran on its regional influence, missile testing and terrorism is now as likely to be defined by what it is not — and who is not coming. Pompeo immediately claimed that it was about the Middle East, and NOT about Iran, and they would be discussing Syria, Iraq, Yemen and so on. All without mentioning Iran, I suppose. Even as Pompeo was saying that in Warsaw, Bolton was tweeting about the demise of the Iraqi regime, and Guiliani was also in Warsaw railing against Iran. So much for Dotard’s well-oiled administration, where no one knows what the party line is. In any case, meeting in Warsa...

Well, well, we already had Trump University and the Trump Foundation and we know where those ended. Money in Trump pockets. And now we have the (Trump) Women’s Global Deveopment and Prosperity Initiative which could well be more of the same things. I told Kellyanne they should at least have asked me for a less unwieldy name. Okay, daughter Trump is behind it, but the money will have to come from Daddy, who twice already has tried to cut USAID funding by a third. America first, remember?  USAID is supposed to fund this project. Ivanka wrote in the WSJ that they expect to help 50 million women a year. Daddy said in the SOTU that he will allocate $ 50 million to it.  An amazing $ 1 per woman. Will definitely lift them into the middle class. Like Trump University lifted its students. You can already see how much thinking has gone into this. More likely all the cons and grifters in the admin put this together. Hoping to be able to suck out something for themselves at some point. T...

There was a Trump who became one of the heroes of SOTU, but his first name was not Dotard. The picture of Joshua Trump dozing away as his namesake moved between ranting and raving went viral, prompting people to welcome him as the newest member of the Resistance. But the fact is that such ranting bores everyone outside Dotard’s base, and likely put many TV viewers into Joshua-mode as well. While the entire cabinet usually attends the SOTU, there is a designated successor who is missing, guarded somewhere else by the Secret Service, just in case ISIS or somebody manages to bomb and destroy the Capitol building. This year the designated successor was Rick Perry, a.k.a. Mr. Oops. Can you imagine Rick Perry suddenly being the President? One could have a solid discussion about whether that was a change for the better. Dotard may not be rock bottom after all. Rick has been out of sight recently, as has Ben Carson, making some wonder whether the poor guys are stuck in an elevator somewhere. ...

As was to be expected, the Liar-in-Chief had dozens of whoppers, misstatements, exaggerations and plain lies during the SOTU. I will leave those to the fact checkers. But I have put together a list of some of his statements (in inverted commas) and what he could have said or may have meant (no inverted commas). I could have put together dozens more of these, but here is my sampling. “But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution -- and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good.” I know I am incapable of this, but I think all of you may be. “In the 20th century, America saved freedom, transformed science, and redefined the middle class standard of living for the entire world to see. Now, we must step boldly and bravely into the next chapter of this great American adventure, and we must create a new standard of living for the 21st century.” That standard means giving rich people like me much more than we got in the 20th cen...

Kellyanne called me for suggestions for Dotard’s SOTU speech. She said she was reaching across the aisle, so that Dotard could include stuff that his opponents would like to see. So I gave her the following ideas. - he should immediately reinstate the 25+ undocumented immigrants employed for over a decade at his golf courses, but fired last week when the news came out. He should also agree to pay them back wages equivalent to what they would have needed to have lived a decent life. Maybe he should invite them as his guests to the SOTU instead of some of the divisive guests he has actually invited. Then he could say he was really sorry for having exploited them all these years. This would make immigrant activists who oppose him happy. - he should publicly apologize to Melania for his sleeping around while she was pregnant and when she had just had a baby. He should announce a donation of $ 10 million to #MeToo. He could also say he is swearing off sex (for a week at least). That would ...