Saturday, August 26, 2017

Friday 8/25/17 - Day 218: Hurricane Harvey

As I write, Hurricane Harvey has just made landfall in Texas. If you're in that region, stay safe. The administration is largely unprepared for a natural disaster like this, of course. While it's likely to be the first disaster not of their own making, it will be a disaster for many people nonetheless. Fueled by warmer waters and temperatures from climate change, this is going to be a bad hurricane.

Thursday 8/24/17 - Day 217: Feuding

Another relatively quiet day today. Perhaps it's because Congress is in recess?

Friday, August 25, 2017

Wednesday 8/23/17 - Day 216: Phoenix Rally

Today's headlines were dominated by Trump's unscripted "clap for me" rally in Phoenix.
In other news:

Tuesday 8/22/17 - Day 215: Afghanistan

So the Turnip gave a speech last night. The most amazing part of the speech was how Trump displayed that he is capable of reading from a teleprompter. Ostensibly, it was about escalating the never-ending war in Afghanistan. Here's the transcript. Basically, "We're ramping up. I'm not telling you when or where or how many more American's we're sending in. We're done with nation-building; now we're killing terrorists." From the guy who campaigned on getting out of Afghanistan. Apparently he took some convincing by the military wing. I'm completely convinced that this administration has no idea about what it's doing in foreign policy.

Otherwise, today's seemed oddly quiet, so here's some appropriate reading to remind you of all the fantastic aspects of the government:

Monday, August 21, 2017

Monday 8/21/17 - Day 214: Solar Eclipse

After a month of for my own sanity, I'm now back and ready to keep you up-to-date with the latest shenanigans by our filthy administration. I've posted links to other aggregators for each of the days I missed, if you really want to catch up. Otherwise, here's a 2-minute rundown on how fucked up the month has been.

Today was completely dominated by a total solar eclipse, coast to coast. Not even the administration could doubt the science involved in the phenomenal natural spectacle.

But while the nation looked towards the sun and the moon...

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Friday 8/18/17: Day 211

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Thursday 8/17/17: Day 210

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Wednesday 8/16/17: Day 209

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Tuesday 8/15/17: Day 208

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Monday 8/14/17: Day 207

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Friday 8/11/17: Day 204

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Thursday 8/10/17: Day 203

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Wednesday 8/9/17: Day 202

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Tuesday 8/8/17: Day 201

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Monday 8/7/17: Day 200

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Friday 8/4/17: Day 197

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Thursday 8/3/17: Day 196

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Wednesday 8/2/17: Day 195

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Tuesday 8/1/17: Day 194

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Monday 7/31/17: Day 193

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Friday 7/28/17: Day 190

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Thursday 7/27/17: Day 189

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Wednesday 7/26/17: Day 188

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Tuesday 7/25/17: Day 187

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Monday 7/24/17: Day 186

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Friday 7/21/17: Day 183

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Thursday 7/20/17: Day 182

After taking a month's break from this for my own mental health, here are some round-up posts from other websites for today:

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Day 181: Threats

I'm just going to dive straight into this one...

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Day 180: Dinner Secrets

Ugh. The news is no better today than any other day with this administration.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Day 179: Zombiecare is Back in the Grave

Some big news on the zombiecare bill:
  • Over the weekend, John McCain had surgery, and said he would be out from the Senate for a week, possibly more. This put McConnell in a bind, as McCain's vote would be critical after two Republican defections. The vote was then postponed.
  • Insurance companies came out against the bill, deriding it as completely unworkable.
  • Today, news came out of two further defections (from the conservative wing), essentially killing the bill completely. It now appears that Republicans cannot craft a bill that they can pass to replace Obamacare. Trump has repeated his calls for a straight-up repeal; this is essentially guaranteed to be dead on arrival.
  • Give yourselves a pat on the back, but don't fool yourself into thinking that this is over.
In the Donny Jr Belongs in Jail narrative:
In other news:

Monday, July 17, 2017

Day 176: Soviet Intelligence to the Rescue

I apologize that I'm slow on the uptake of these posts at the moment. I'm presently out of the country on business, and keeping up with the administration's shenanigans is really very time-consuming!

Here's what I've found today.
Stay safe this weekend.

Day 175: Zombiecare

While Donny is still in the news today, we also have a zombiecare bill coming back from the dead. Let's see what there is...

Day 174: The world continues to fall apart

Oh boy. Let's just get straight to it...
Can I just say how much I hate this fucking administration? Yes? Well, unfortunately, I lack the vocabulary required to do so...

Day 173: Oh Donny

The explosive revelations from the NY Times continue apace today, as they publish the full email chain as evidence of young Donny's collusion with the Russians. The coverup that the administration was attempting has been blown out of the water, for the umpteenth time.
Meanwhile:

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Day 172: Campaign Laws

Wow, Donald Trump Jr (aka "Donny") has landed himself in some hot water. The NY Times has had a series of articles over the past few days, and the internet has lit up. Let's dive into it!
  • Here's the original story, from Saturday night. What's serious about it is that it is the first concrete evidence of collusion (or at least, attempted collusion) with Russia. It involves not only Donny, but also Kushner and Manafort. Here's the follow-up from the next day, where the reason for the meeting was revealed.
  • Here's why it's a big deal.
  • This rather seriously complicates the Trump family's ever-changing lies. If you need a refresher on how the Russian story has evolved, here's a reasonable article. It's pretty damning.
  • Donny has put out a series of statements at this stage, essentially all conflicting with each other, as more and more information gets released. The consensus is that he's digging himself an ever-deeper legal hole. He seems to have realized that too, as has now lawyered up.
  • Trump is presently claiming he was unaware of the whole thing. I think I actually believe him, but only because the idiot is unaware of everything.
In other news:

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Day 169: Nuclear Hacks

While Trump is off in Europe, our lead story today from back at home is really quite serious and disturbing.

Friday, July 7, 2017

Day 168: Ethics Calls It Quits

Nothing good in the news today. I'm sorry folks. Most of this is pretty disturbing. Can you believe that last year, it would be typical to get one of these headlines a month, rather than a dozen every fucking day?

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Day 167: ICBMs

Still behind on last week, alas. Catching up is slow! A slow day today, except for escalating tensions with North Korea.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Day 166: 4th July

Happy 4th July, everyone. Due to the holiday, there's not much in the news today. I've found a few pieces of interest, however, including a couple of "taking stock of things" pieces at the end of the list.

Day 165: Long Weekend

Ok, I'm back from my vacation now. The administration looks like it was absolutely terrible in my absence, so I've made some placeholders to document that destruction. I'll try to get to that soon. As for today's news, things were mostly quiet in the lead-up to July 4th.

Day 162: Mika and Joe

Yesterday, Trump went on the attack against the hosts of the Morning Joe, with a particularly misogynistic set of tweets. Today, he's doubled down completely.
The fact that this has dominated the news cycle for two days now is a reflection of the sad, sorry state of affairs we find this country in.

In other news:

Day 161: (Placeholder)

Thursday June 29th

Apologies, I haven't been able to find the time to get this done. Here are some links that I'll write up later on....

  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/we-resist-day-161.html
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40439552
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/today-in-trumps-contemptible-anti.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/donald-trumps-disgusting-attack-on-mika.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/one-party-overwhelmingly-believes-in.html
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/the-president-is-making-damn-sure-we-dont-forget-he-is-1796519274
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/this-is-not-nothingburger.html
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/wsj-gop-operative-attempting-to-obtain-hacked-clinton-1796533533
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/but-her-emails-literally.html
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/revised-muslim-ban-excludes-grandparents-and-fiancees-f-1796532604
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/sarah-sanders-americans-knew-what-they-were-getting-1796532291
  • https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/06/29/Day-161/

Day 160: (Placeholder)

Wednesday June 28th

Apologies, I haven't been able to find the time to get this done. Here are some links that I'll write up later on....

  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/we-resist-day-160.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/mike-pence-takes-charge-on-senate.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/cyberattacks-caused-surgery-delays.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/trump-teases-great-surprise-on.html
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/scott-pruitt-met-with-dow-ceo-before-reversing-move-to-1796498074
  • http://time.com/4835920/betsy-devos-education-senate-democrats-civil-rights/
  • https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/06/28/Day-160/

Day 159: (Placeholder)

Tuesday June 27th

Apologies, I haven't been able to find the time to get this done. Here are some links that I'll write up later on....
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/we-resist-day-159.html
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40411495
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40419512
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40424962
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/this-is-what-happens-in-authoritarian.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/senate-healthcare-vote-delayed.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/so-this-just-happened.html
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/senate-gop-leaders-postpone-vote-on-their-terrible-heal-1796465561
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/us/politics/trump-campaign-chiefs-firm-got-17-million-from-pro-russia-party.html
  • https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/06/27/Day-159/

Day 158: (Placeholder)

Monday June 26th

Apologies, I haven't been able to find the time to get this done. Here are some links that I'll write up later on....
  • http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/25/kellyanne-conway-those-on-medicaid-who-will-lose-insurance-can-get-jobs.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/we-resist-day-158.html
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40402211
  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40409490
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/donald-trumps-soul-is-full-of-greed-and.html
  • http://www.shakesville.com/2017/06/cbo-senate-bill-is-hot-trash.html
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/cbo-says-senate-healthcare-bill-would-leave-22-million-1796432097
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/trump-submits-his-fbi-director-nomination-christopher-1796440445
  • http://theslot.jezebel.com/supreme-court-partly-lifts-injunction-blocking-trumps-t-1796432978
  • http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/26/politics/justice-neil-gorsuch-president-trump-gets-his-man/index.html
  • https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/06/26/Day-158/

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Day 155: Choked

This opening item is a big one.
Here's an interesting read on our current state of affairs, from a bird's eye view. Good luck. Otherwise, have a great weekend and we'll be back on Monday.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Day 154: A Bill of Death

Today's coverage is dominated by the heinous "health care" bill that was released by Senate Republicans after much secrecy. Here's what I've distilled:
  • This bill does away with the employer mandate and the individual mandate.
  • It begins the process of dismantling federal support for Medicare.
  • It allows states to set the level at which people are eligible for Medicare at 0% of the Federal Poverty Line (ie, Medicare doesn't exist).
  • It strips back to completely barebones what is required of an insurance "plan".
  • It eliminates the essential health benefits mandated by Obamacare, including maternity care, newborn care, mental health services, and prescription drug coverage.
  • It targets abortion providers and abortion coverage.
  • It reduces subsidies.
  • And it does all of this by giving enormous tax cuts to the rich.
  • From the mouth of Obama: "It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else."
  • No wonder it was crafted in secrecy - this thing is vile, worse than the House bill on some important measures.
 Some sources:
  • NY Times - G.O.P. Health Plan Is Really a Rollback of Medicaid
  • Washington Post - Senate Republicans’ claim of saving individual health insurance markets could prove hollow
There's plenty more out there, but these two will give you enough of an overview. The whole thing is awful, awful, awful. Apparently a CBO score is expected on Monday; we'll find out just how bad it looks then. I'm predicting terrible. Apparently a conservative block of senators objects to some provisions, while a moderate block also has objections. There currently are insufficient votes to get this passed, but the tweaking has yet to begin. However, no amount of tweaking this bill will make it palatable. Please, keep calling your senators.

In other news:

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Day 153: Mixed Bag

Today is an odd mixed-bag of headlines. Nothing particularly major, but bits and pieces from all walks.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Day 152: A Promise

So, we've been promised a health care bill on Thursday. Pigs may fly. Here's an update on what's been leaked about it so far. There appears to be troubled among Republican senators regarding how to treat opioid addiction, too.

In other news:

Day 151: Save our health care

Another day down...

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Day 150: Another quiet weekend

Once again, nothing new to report this Sunday. I've decided that I won't update over weekends henceforth, unless there's something really worth reporting on. Things have quietened down a lot since since passing the first hundred days.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Day 149: Summertime

Not much on the radar today. I found a single article of interest from the NY Times, who took a look at how Trump is picking his friends in the international arena. They suggest that he's far more likely to side with people who he's done business with, often in disagreement with his own State Department.

Otherwise, I hope you're enjoying a quiet weekend.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Day 148: Breaking up with Cuba

Today was oddly quiet for a weekday. Perhaps people realized that the rest of the week has already been so horrible that they've given us a reprieve? I doubt it.
  • Trump has backtracked on relations with Cuba, undoing (but not completely rolling back) progress made by Obama. This was one aspect of Obama's presidency that I was really proud of, and I'm disgusted that Trump has put his grubby fingers on it again. Of course, Trump referred to it as a "one-sided deal", because anything Trump doesn't like is reflexively called a "one-sided deal". This wasn't a deal at all; it was an important thawing of relations, and Trump has zero understanding of it.
  • Today, the Department of Homeland Security said that it would not be dropping support for the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). DACA immigrants are sometimes referred to as "Dreamers". While ostensibly good news, it's not like being a Dreamer was ever any protection against ICE agents who want to kick you out. The deferred action for parents part of the program, which was suspended and ultimately led to a tied supreme court, was completely dropped, however.
  • In what seems absurd, Trump's personal lawyer has lawyered up, indicating that he may be a person of interest in Mueller's probe.
  • The war in Afghanistan is being escalated by increasing the number of troops there by 4,000, almost a 50% increase. This war has been going since 2001ish, and seems to be the neverending war.
This has nothing to do with the administration, but is bound to become political: Amazon has launched a takeover bid for WholeFoods. Here is an opinion piece that cautions about the political power that the monopoly that is Amazon wields that I think is worth reading.