Have we been conditioned to accept T-rump's stupidity?

Without even having read Radley Balko's opinion in the Washington Post, I have hinted at the fact in my blog posts that the American public has become accustomed to the rantings of a psychopathic liar that has somehow taken over the White House. Here's what Balko had to say...

"...Tuesday night’s fit of demagoguery masquerading as a presidential address is a frightening demonstration of how his first month in office has left those of who are supposed to hold him accountable timid and shell-shocked."

Demagoguery, let's examine it historically along with the prevailing example. Salon was profiling Donald Trump as a modern-day demagogue back in June of 2016, five months before the election that made history and put America on a track to a sure eventual collapse. In an elaborate use of adjectives and adverbs, the website talked of the "virus infecting our politics," which had its contemporary kickoff during the George W. Bush/Karl Rove era. There are other bad actors and the whole conglomeration worked tediously together to give us what's known today as President Donald Trump.

Here's how Salon describes it...

"There have been stretches of history when this virus lay dormant. Sometimes it would flare up here and there, then fade away after a brief but fierce burst of fever. At other moments, it has spread with the speed of a firestorm, a pandemic consuming everything in its path, sucking away the oxygen of democracy and freedom."

 There were others early-on who developed a formula and format for those to use in later years. Men like ...

“'Pitchfork Ben' Tillman, the South Carolina governor and senator who led vigilante terror attacks with a gang called the Red Shirts and praised the efficiency of lynch mobs."

"Mississippi’s Theodore Bilbo, a member of the Ku Klux Klan who vilified ethnic minorities and deplored the 'mongrelization' of the white race."

"Louisiana’s corrupt and dictatorial Huey Long, who promised to make 'Every Man a King.'"

"George Wallace, the governor of Alabama and four-time presidential candidate who vowed, 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.'"

The demagogue that stands out in U.S. history is Joseph McCarthy, US senator from Wisconsin, that Salon describes, "...until now perhaps our most destructive demagogue." Until now. McCarthyism was another psychopathic lunatic's way of drawing attention to himself by terrorizing the country into believing there was a Communist under every rock. There weren't, and several lives were ruined in the process. I had a close friend in Los Angeles who was a movie screenwriter who knew a few fellow writers whose lives were affected. And tailgunner Joe didn't even have a bully pulpit.

Remember Roy Cohn, he was chief counsel to McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee and wouldn't you know it, the bad seed is back. As Salon put it, "Cohn was McCarthy’s henchman, a master of dark deeds and dirty tricks. "Cohn didn't go down with McCarthy when Edward R. Murrow exposed him on his CBS show, "See it Now." But not Cohn, who continued his operations in New York where he ended up working for mob bosses and, yes, Donald Trump's father, Fred, until later years when he made his McCarthy-like methods of strong-arm manipulation available to Donald.

Bernie Sanders on what Donald Trump did not say in his speech to Congress:

Cohn also introduced Trump to the man who was his campaign chair, Paul Manafort, someone who made a fortune representing dictators. Salon has an interesting analogy between Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump...

"So the ghost of Joseph McCarthy lives on in Donald Trump as he accuses President Obama of treason, slanders women, mocks people with disabilities and impugns every politician or journalist who dares call him out for the liar and bamboozler he is. The ghosts of all the past American demagogues live on in him as well, although none of them have ever been so dangerous."

Returning to the present and Balko's charge that Donald John has conditioned us to just accept him the way he is and go on with our business, letting him run the country in the ground. Balko says, "We need to be better than that." And we should. The writer comments...

"We’ve been conditioned to accept behavior from the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth that we’d never have accepted from his predecessors (and I have pretty low expectations of presidents) — that we’d never accept from a friend, relative, pastor or community leader — as long as he spares us and our group from his attacks."

Trump's speech to Congress included the same lies that we have heard over and over, except that this time he delivered them in a toned-down rhetoric that is as much like the normal Trump as Scotch is like bourbon. Where it came from I do not know, but I suspect it is another of his underhanded tactics to appease a few concerned Republicans along the way who get their skivvies in a dither when he's too much the bad boy. Balko is really up in arms over the bi-partisan praise when this wasn't the man talking who has been ranting and raving such absurdities for his first month in office.

Balko disparages Trump's speech grammar, saying it was "terribly written," and "full of his typical doom-and-gloom pronouncements about America," quoting one of his most egregious passages...

"Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms."

Just hours before the speech Donald John had indicated that some of the attacks, above, had been perpetrated by Jews themselves. More extreme exaggeration almost to the point of lying...

"We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders wide open, for anyone to cross — and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate."

At best, this statement is borderline bogus. More on drugs...

"I have further ordered the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, along with the Department of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to coordinate an aggressive strategy to dismantle the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation."

Balko documents that when George W. Bush attempted the same thing, by coercing the Mexican

Mexican drug casualties

government into militarizing its drug war, the country’s homicide rate jumped by nearly 250 percent. Regarding Trump's "banned" list...

"It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America — we cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists."

Now here's a refuting fact, "The odds of your average American being killed by a terrorist attack committed by a refugee are astronomical, about one in 3.6 billion."

There is more and Radley Balko's opinion is chock full of solid facts and a good reasoning where the United States stands after only a month of the reign of Donald Trump you can read here. It's up to us where we go from there.

Trump Congress speech doesn't fact check-What's new?

Donald Trump at his best

Donald Trump in a more presidential mode talked to Congress last Tuesday and while Presidents in the past have realized the importance of such a speech and refrained from "stretching the truth," as The Washington Post put it, Donald John performed his usual feat of slaughtering it. Here they are...

Harking back to boasting of forcing Ford's hand on Mexico, T-rump takes responsibility for Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, SoftBank, Lockheed, Intel, Walmart and many others have announced that they will invest billions of dollars in the United States and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs.”

Turns out all these plans had been made long before his election. 

T-rump takes credit for the lowered cost of the F-35 program.

The Pentagon had earlier announced budget cuts for this very same project which covered what he was taking credit for, but at times in his rantings Donald John not even sure if "he" saved $600 or $700 million.

T-rump makes the statement, “Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.”

The Washington Post gives this 4 Pinocchios for absurdity. There are only 7.6 million people actively looking for a job that cannot find one, an unemployment rate of 4.8%, inherited from Barack Obama.

Claims we spent $6 trillion in the Middle-East, when we should be spending it at home. 

The truth is we spent $1.6 trillion. 

There's much more that deserves more serious reading to understand just how the President of the United States can stand before a group of people, the U.S. Congress, no less, and lie to them and the American public. Read it here.

At least there was an upside; however, for Republicans only. Politico reports the GOP was "...relieved there were no embarrassing moments." How does it look before the entire world for the American party in power in both Houses of Congress, and also in control of the White House, to feign relief just because their President didn't embarrass them and the rest of the country? And I question whether anyone is in control at the White House. The general consensus is among Democrats and Republicans that the speech was less vitriolic but full of the same generalities that is T-rump' boilerplate message.

But suck up Newt Gingrich had to put in his two cents, worth not anywhere near that, saying, “It would have been very ineffective had you been involved in some kind of long, detailed step-by-step laundry list.” Interpreted: Donald Trump hasn't the slightest idea what he is doing, which translates into the fact that he has no plan where to lead this country. And there was yet even more comfort taken by a senior Republican aide, “He didn’t alienate anybody." We have already seen the damage this man can do offending the heads of Mexico and Australia. Who is next?

Donald Trump-Jeff Sessions share history of racism

How many times has Donald Trump said, "[I'm] the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered?" However, history tells us that is not the case, an example of which is during Trumps' presidential campaign when he...

"...repeatedly made explicitly racist and otherwise bigoted remarks — from calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists to proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the US to suggesting that a judge should recuse himself from a case solely because of the judge’s Mexican heritage."

Vox tracks it back to the 1970s when Donald John was sued by the feds for racial discrimination because he would not rent apartments in one of his developments to African-Americans. It goes even further...

"It would be one thing if Trump simply misspoke one or two times. But when you take all of Trump’s actions and comments together, a clear pattern emerges — one that suggests that bigotry is not just political opportunism on Trump’s part but a real element of Trump’s personality, character, and career."

This white supremacist attitude has stayed with the man for all of his career, ushering in a spate of appointments in his administration that are racists and white nationalists. Like Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist and Jeff Sessions, the new attorney general. After the 1973 incident, it was in the 1980s when a black teenager accused the Trump Castle Casino of forcing him and other black employees off the floor when Donald John and Ivana visited. It was 1991 in a book written by a former employee quoting Trump on the handling of his money...

"Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. … I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control."

Here's a real loser, The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in 1992, paid a $200,000 fine for moving black and women dealers off a particular table to accommodate a gambler's prejudices. There's much more and you can see it here at Vox.

Jeff Sessions was the US attorney in Mobile, Alabama, in the 1980s, talking about a case with colleagues about a young black man who had been kidnapped and brutally murdered by two members of the Ku Klux Klan. His throat had been cut and they hung his body from a tree. This was Sessions reaction...

"As Sessions learned that some members of the Klan had smoked marijuana on the evening of the slaying, he said aloud that he thought the KKK was: 'OK until I found out they smoked pot.'"

That should say it all but there's more. David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, is a supporter of Sessions, as well as Trump. Sessions became infamous in Alabama for calling a black attorney, "boy," at the same time prosecuting three of Martin Luther King Jr.'s rights organizers for bogus voter fraud. It was done to, "...discourage voting rights for poor and elderly people in several "black belt" Alabama counties." After Sessions testimony Tuesday, the New York Times in an editorial...

"[Sessions'] defense against charges of racism that caused the Senate to reject him for a federal judgeship in 1986 was largely to say it hurt his feelings to be called a racist, but his two decades in the Senate provide little hope that he has changed."

Sessions calls the Voting Rights Act "intrusive," and is a strong supporter of voter ID laws that disenfranchise blacks, Hispanics and the poor. He has voted against every comprehensive immigration reform bill, and back in 2016 called Islam a "toxic ideology." A firm opponent of Roe v. Wade, Jeff Sessions also opposed the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and hate crimes protections for LGBTQ people and he voted to ban same-sex marriage. You can read additional critique on this man who is now the attorney general for the United States.

It was the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. When Lyndon Johnson sighed this Act into law, he had no idea that the U.S. would still be this racist in 2017, fifty-four years later. It's almost as if the paper he signed was meaningless. To Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, it was.

Is Charlie Manson's "Helter Skelter" lurking in the White House?

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's chief strategist and top adviser, has already established his credentials as a white nationalist, racist and anti-Semitic. As an avid reader, he espouses to "The Fourth Turning, a book by William Strauss and Neil Howe, that history unfolds in cycles of 80 to 100 years. At the end of the cycle, the old order is destroyed and replaced." It would appear that Stevo plans to be there at the end of the cycle and implant the Trump/Bannon, perhaps the other way around, vision of common national purpose Trump announced in his first address to Congress on Monday.

As far as the speech goes, it was well received by Republicans as one would suspect but Sen. Chuck Schumer's comment was that, "Trump's speeches and the realities are very, very far apart. Until his reality catches up with his speeches, he's got big trouble," Others said he even looked a bit presidential, hoping he might maintain that and not revert to the crude behavior he has exhibited on Twitter and otherwise since entering office. But these hopes were born and played out before and it only took one news cycle to send Donald John romping down the crass road to vulgarity again.

Here are some comments by Lacy MacAuley, an activist and member of the Washington DC Antifascist Coalition...

"I absolutely think Steve Bannon is connected to a network of white nationalists. Just in the last few years there have been contractual obligations between white supremacist James O’Keefe at Project Veritas and Breitbart."

"Mr O'Keefe was known, she said, for taking down institutions and organisations via fake news."

"I would say that Steve Bannon is the advocate for white nationalism in the White House and there’s no doubt in my mind on that. It’s not just through Breitbart, it’s through his entire line of work."

There is the indication that Steve Bannon, when recruiting to fill out the National Security Council position, added himself to the NSC without Donald John knowing. Grounds for dismissal by most anyone, except someone with a hidden agenda. He was able to do this since he was the one writing the Executive Order, not Trump. The President was pissed but the fact that Bannon stays put is evidence of just how powerful the man is. Daryle Lamont Jenkins, executive director of the anti-racist organisation One People's Project exclaims...

"We've been dealing with a cluster of white supremacists within the beltway of the Washington DC area who do just that (using theories and academia to justify their racism): they try to back up their racism and justify why they should have a separation of the races, and justify a more strident attack on African Americans in the name of 'fighting crime'."

That's about as scary as it gets. Beginning to sound like Charlie Manson's Helter Skelter, starting a war between blacks and whites. Charlie was a confirmed white supremacist who went to the extreme of carving a swastika into his forehead with a knife. He had a following he mesmerized by convincing them that he was Jesus Christ, turning them into killers that would do his bidding. I'm not saying Steve Bannon is another Charlie Manson, but I am saying that Donald Trump, normally a man who seems to need no one, is definitely enthralled by Stevo's philosophies. That's what's scary.

The UK Independent reports that last July Breitbart had "...become the 'platform for the alt-right'. Now his platform has become the government." Well, that's even scarier. Donald John has been guilty of racially insensitive remarks in the past, and during his campaign refused to condemn the white supremacists who advocated for him, like David Duke and Richard Spencer. Here are some examples during his drive for the presidency...

• He attacked Muslim Gold Star parents
• He claimed a judge was biased because “he’s a Mexican”
• He questioned whether President Obama was born in the United States
• He even trashed Native Americans
• He stereotyped Jews and shared an anti-Semitic image created by white supremacists

Just a few, but you can see more here. Huff Post says in a blazing headline, "President Trump’s VOICE Is About Justifying White Supremacy." VOICE means, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. So far it sounds like... 

"...the program will be limited simply to undocumented immigrants, but will also include crimes committed by legitimate VISA holders, Green Card holders and possibly even permanent residents who are not naturalized citizens.

But then HP blasts, "Let’s call this what it is: VOICE is racist government propaganda." And isn't it interesting that Steve Bannon, formerly of Breitbart, had a section called Black Crime, which documented the crimes of immigrant communities, when it is known that immigrants are actually less likely to commit a crime than non-immigrants. Brian Stone of Huff Post adds...

"Creating this hate-list will do nothing except provide official government sanction to the opinions of white supremacist groups and the alt-right."

Remember Pat Buchanan, a presidential wanna-be from 1992, 1996 and 2000, who ran on a platform of right-wing populism and who also was a white supremacist? As far back as 2015, he was backing Trump along with other white supremacists, including David Duke. Buchanan regretted what he called the end of white America "...due to immigration and increasing rights for people of color." This is a statement that is hard to believe coming from someone who is supposedly educated and worldly. It can only be attributed to someone who is a true racist and white supremacist.

Most of this crowd doesn't believe in violence, a fact that is not true of Trump’s rank-and-file supporters. One such Donald John follower was Dionisio Garza III, 25, also a Muslim hater, who went on a shooting spree back in early 2016 in Houston, leaving one dead and six injured. In another instance...

"Jim Sherota, 53, [who]works for a landscaping company and attended Trump’s rally in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday, [August 2015] told The New York Times before Trump’s arrival that he hoped Trump would announce a plan to issue licenses for hunting undocumented immigrants and offer $50 for 'every confirmed kill.'”

Couldn't stand the heat

A bounty? Now that's interesting because back in 2015 just escaped El Chapo placed a $100 million
bounty on Donald Trump's head when the then candidate accused the Mexican government of letting him go tweeting...

"El Chapo and the Mexican drug cartels use the border unimpeded like it was a vacuum cleaner, sucking drugs and death right into the U.S."

Jake Tapper of CNN pushed Trump to disavow David Duke and rebuke any vote from him or any other white supremacists. It was a typical brainless meandering by the candidate...

"Trump claimed that he didn’t know anything about white supremacists or about Duke himself. When Tapper pressed him twice more, Trump said he couldn’t condemn a group he hadn’t yet researched."

A Virginia leader of the Ku Klux Klan told a TV reporter, “The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in.” And that's the scariest yet. In closing, here is a list of his "white supremacist fan club" compiled by Huff Post reporters...

"The Daily Stormer, a leading neo-Nazi news site; Richard Spencer, director of the National Policy Institute, which aims to promote the “heritage, identity, and future of European people”; Jared Taylor, editor of American Renaissance, a Virginia-based white nationalist magazine; Michael Hill, head of the League of the South, an Alabama-based white supremacist secessionist group; and Brad Griffin, a member of Hill’s League of the South and author of the popular white supremacist blog Hunter Wallace."

Even the white nationalists are turning on Trump

Iowa has always been the come-to state for Presidents and 2016 was no different for Donald Trump. He took the state 51.1% to win against Hillary Clinton's 41.7, garnering the 6 electoral votes. Des Moines, where I spent several years, went for Clinton as did another major metro area, Cedar Rapids. Iowans are considered good, down to earth, stable people with common sense. That's pretty much true as I can attest to after spending several years in the capital city, but also having experienced a hard-line cliquishness there that forbids outsiders in until proven. I never made it.

I left in the late sixties, never sorry for my decision, and have never looked back. I tell you this to qualify the fact that I am a maverick, always have been, and always will be. Mavericks don't do well in the state, although there is a basketball team there by that name who are apparently winners. But it is people like Tom Godat, a union electrician from Clinton, Iowa, that represents a state that has been a combination of Democrat and Republican in the past, but recently has been attacked by the Tea Party. It elected Joni Ernst to the Senate, something many in the state still can't believe.

But back to Mr. Godat, who has always voted for Democrats, decided to cast his vote for Donald Trump in 2016, not that he particularly thought Trump was best, but because he thought Hillary Clinton was worse. An excellent case in point to shore up the fact that Bernie Sanders should have been the Democrats nominee, not Clinton. Tom now says he is "embarrassed" over his vote. I would suspect that a lot of good people out there are also coming to the same conclusion. What I don't understand is, after viewing Trump's campaign, why wasn't Tom Godat horrified with what he saw?

There were Donald John's comments about Mexican immigrants, about women, about veterans, the disarming of Clinton's bodyguards, saying Obama was the founder of ISIS, sicking the gun nuts on Hillary, encouraging Russia to hack Clinton's campaign, more racism calling for a ban on Muslims in the U.S., saying people in New Jersey were cheering on 9/11, suggesting one of his protesters should be roughed up, referring to his daughter in a sexual way, his bizarre comments about Megyn Kelly's menstrual period, I could go on forever but you get the idea. Why didn't Tom Godat?

Washington Post reporter, Jenna Johnson, and her photographer, Michael S. Williamson, ran into "...more than 100 Iowans [who]explained why so many of them are already disappointed in the new president." It only took four days which means they encountered 25 a day. That's an impressive number of people when you consider that Iowans aren't that open and easy to get to talk to by people they don't know. And then there's Lost Nation, Iowa, where the president received 66 percent of the vote. After Trump's election, the Iowa legislature voted to dramatically scale back the collective bargaining rights of the state’s public workers, distressing my Lost Nation residents.

The Huff Post reports that "thousands" of people across the country are unhappy with their vote for Donald John, and they are tweeting it in response to the "head tweeter's" barrage of lies and misinformation. Here's an example...

“I’m starting to feel like the biggest mistake of my young 23 years of life has been voting for [Trump],” Joseph Richardson tweeted on Nov. 21.

And that's less than two weeks after the November 8, election day. Richardson said it was a bitTrump’s Cabinet picks or the 'very childish' behavior he exhibited at a press conference last week. And he does regret his vote. Sort of." Even if he did it over, Richardson says he still couldn't vote for Clinton continuing with, “I still think Trump would be the better candidate. I’d still regret it. I’d vote for him again but I’d still regret it.” Go figure. But it is this exact kind of reasoning that political pundits were clamoring over during the 2016 election.
unsettling and added, "He doesn’t like

Now here's a guy you just have to shake your head over. Not sure if he is misinformed, full of indecision or just not too bright...

"Bill said he would like Trump to act more like President Barack Obama, who he voted against twice but considers 'an extremely honorable man who served the country fantastically.'”

I could understand a statement that said, served the country "well," or "fine," or even "right." But how can you call Obama "extremely honorable" and a man "who served the country fantastically" but still have voted against him twice? Makes no sense unless there is an ulterior motive. And that's what is wrong with our political system, people voting who haven't the slightest idea what they are doing. There were some that lashed out at Donald John for not following up on his promise to investigate Clinton’s handling of sensitive emails, a decision that also puzzles some of the pundits.

Others voiced their reason to vote for Trump was his promise for change, to drain the swamp. Many of this group think the swamp is fuller than ever, but others believe Trump is following through on his promises. Even the alt-right and its white nationalists are down on Donald Trump. Remember Richard Spencer? The guy "who stood at a podium shortly after Donald Trump's election and, in a video that went viral, shouted 'Hail Trump!' while several in the crowd celebrated the victory with a Nazi salute." He's not sure now his President will be racial enough.

From what I have read, a large number of Trump voters have combined to strongly object over the fact that Donald John did not investigate, subsequently prosecute Hillary Clinton over the email issue. This is a major campaign promise that he broke, and the fact that this is one of the primary annoyances of those who voted for the man, it is yet just one more instance that reflects the amount of animosity toward Hillary Clinton. This was clear from the early 2016 campaigning right through the November election. A leading reason Democrats are in the hole they are now in.

Donald Trump's top adviser and chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon, described Richard Spencer as one of the leading intellectuals of the alt-right movement. CNN reported that...

"Spencer is a white nationalist who believes that there should be a 'peaceful ethnic cleansing,' where people who are not of European descent voluntarily leave the United States."

Not that it is important since this deranged kind of thinking probably has no chance of ever being initiated in this country, but what if they don't leave voluntarily? But just maybe the thought of ethnic cleansing isn't so far out when you consider Trump has already provided the model in his latest Muslim ban of now six countries just announced in Monday's address to Congress. More from Slate on Bannon/Spencer connection...

"In August, [2016] Bannon proudly described his site as 'the platform for the alt-right,' a movement with Spencer as one of its intellectual leaders, again, according to Bannon’s own site."

It is said the Vice President is only a heartbeat away from the presidency. In the case of Steve Bannon, this is a heart beat that could change the direction of the greatest free nation of all time.

What is the real reason that Trump hates the media?

Donald Trump recently banned Journalists from CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the BBC, BuzzFeed, and Politico from a news conference. It was an informal question-and-answer session between a press secretary, Sean Spicer, and journalists, adding Breitbart, The Washington Times and One America News Network. The Daily Beast reports White House spokeswoman Sarah H. Sanders said: “We invited the pool so everyone was represented. We decided to add a couple of additional people beyond the pool for an expanded pool. Nothing more than that.”  

She failed to add that in the addition there was also a subtraction, three of the largest media outlets in the country. Time and the Associated Press boycotted what was called a “gaggle,” with the AP commenting… 

“AP believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible.”

CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the BBC, BuzzFeed, and Politico deemed the move “a troubling development” and “an affront to freedom of the press.” CNN commented further that it was their assumption if you report true facts, it is something the White House cannot handle. Considering Donald John’s first month in the Oval Office where there were 33 lies and misinformation spewing from his mouth on a daily basis, it’s surprising they continue to hold news conferences. It would be my guess the new president of distortion will set a record for untruths.

Here are a couple of comments...

"The New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said 'nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,' adding: 'Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.'”

"Ari Fleischer, a Trump backer who served as White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, reacted on CNN by conceding that the decision to block certain reporters from the gaggle was 'unwise and counterproductive,' but added: 'There is nothing unusual about presidents meeting with self-selected reporters… and White House staffs do it all the time.' Fleischer echoed some conservatives who said the press largely overreacted to the way Friday’s briefing was handled, and defended Trump’s overall accessibility to the media."

Come on Fleischer, this wasn't just a meeting with "self-selected reporters." It was a meeting with self-selected reporters that barred reporters from three of the country's leading media outlets. But what do we expect from another Republican, even though he was put out to pasture. Fleischer added...

“He [Donald John] is making journalism interesting and great again. It’s a fascinating time to be a journalist because he’s such a fascinating story. And he’s giving the press so much access.”

Can you believe that? Thought you had to have better than a double-digit IQ to be a press secretary. And it would appear Sean Spicer is following in Fleischer's footsteps. Bret Baier of Fox News surprisingly excluded himself from the gaggle, standing with those boycotted. The Wall Street Journal, although attending, said it would not participate in future press events if the administration did this again. The Daily Beast reported other instances...

"During the campaign, multiple news organizations including The Daily Beast, Politico and The Washington Post were blacklisted by the Trump team—barred from attending any campaign rallies, press conferences or other events."

Donald Trump's oligarchy is turning America into the likeness of countries like China, North Korea and Venezuela, with the outlook that he may try and push his power into that of an autocracy. And while the new White House despot attempts to turn our country into a dictatorship, his press secretary, Sean Spicer, is up for the worst of his kind to come along in the history of western civilization. When you consider that Spicer is the middle-man between the most powerful person in the world and the free voice of America; now, that's scary.

Spicer has been a favorite of "Saturday Night Live" recently and is beginning to look a lot like Kellyanne Conway in terms of the amount of misinformation he has thrown at the press. Conway has been chastised and virtually cut off by the media for her consistency of lies on the air, but reporters have nowhere else to go without Spicer. Unless they just stand around and wait on the leaks from the press secretary's office that apparently are frequent. So much so that Spicer had to call a special meeting recently to check staff electronics, including their phones, for evidence of leaks.

According to Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, Sean Spicer is ""...disliked and disrespected by superiors, peers and subordinates alike." Further, "He is so lacking in credibility as to diminish, if not eliminate, his utility in conveying the views of the White House or basic facts about what is going on." This all coming from a reporter from a major U.S. paper located in the nation's capital. Think about this for just a minute. There is a new President that continually hurls lies and misinformation, with his spokesman guilty of the same deeds. Where does that leave the American public?

Especially when they have been told by the Oval Office ogre that the media is the enemy of the people, and some, meaning Donald John supporters, either don't have the intelligence to or simply refuse to realize that this man is a lunatic and shouldn't be believed. In making this unpatriotic saying to the Conservative Political Action Committee for the umteenth time, the President castigated reporters for using anonymous sources and said we are going to do "something" about it. He did not indicate what "something" was, all as if the man is completely oblivious of the 1st Amendment.

If the dictator is planning to do something about dealing with anonymous sources, he'll have to clean his own House first. It was only two hours before Trump criticized anonymous sources at CPAC, exclaiming all sources should be named when, "... an administration official provided a briefing on condition he not be identified," according to USA Today. And here's another quote...

"William McRaven, the retired admiral who planned the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said this week that Trump's attacks on the media may also be undermining democracy itself."

Now let's be honest, there are times the media overdoes a story; as a matter of fact, this was true in
the coverage of Donald John in the 2016 primaries and election. As I recall, there was one evaluation of Trump coverage vs. Bernie Sanders and it was something like 200+ impressions for Trump, about 7 for Sanders. Hillary Clinton suffered as well but not as much as the Bern. Apparently, the old phrase applies, "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. In any event, we are experiencing a first with an American President who hates the media and is making himself invisible to it.

Here's a comment from Matthew Miller, a spokesman for President Barack Obama's Justice Department...

The sustained attacks show "how worried he is about the repeated reports of chaos, incompetence, and potential wrongdoing inside his administration. His problem, though, is with the facts, not the media, and he’s only making his problem worse the more he runs away from it."

How does one say it? The country is going to hell in a handbasket, an expression I have heard since I was a kid, but have no idea what it means. But in the case of Donald Trump it could very well mean Armageddon.

Political Satire: What is Trump still hiding about Russia?

He's not heavy, he's my puppet 

Whatever it is, it is bad enough that Donald Trump has enlisted the help of Congress, the intelligence community. And now the FBI has refused to cooperate with the White House by downplaying the news stories about Donald John's close ties with Russia. It involves Trump associates’ ties to Russia and the fact that pressure is being applied to cover this up. Greg Miller of the Washington Post said...

"Acting at the behest of the White House, the officials made calls to news organizations last week in attempts to challenge stories about alleged contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives."

Here's some background on the story. According to Politifact...

"The Washington Post reported Dec. 9 that the CIA concluded Russia meddled in the election with the intent to help Trump, rather than to disrupt the election generally. The New York Times produced a similar report. However, the Washington Post also reported that the FBI isn't as confident in this conclusion. These stories are all based on anonymous sources and cannot be independently verified."

 But just last week, the FBI indicated that it would not downplay these same news reports after a request to do so from the White House. Business Insider Politics said...

"Trump administration officials wanted the FBI to disavow the reports and say there was no contact between people associated with Trump and Russia."

Democrats are still pissed over the fact that FBI Director James B. Comey released critical information about Hillary Clinton's email probe just prior to the 2016 election, yet kept quiet on the fact that Trump's campaign team had been in regular contact with Russia. Hillary Clinton accused Donald John of a direct tie between him and Vladimir Putin in one of the election debates, accusing her opponent of joining with the Russian leader to get rid of NATO. And then early in February, Trump voices his support for NATO admonishing member countries for better support.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said that...

 if the White House “contrived to have intelligence officials contradict unfavorable news reports, this represents a new and even more grave threat to the independence of the intelligence community.”

Former CIA director Michael Hayden expressed his concern that intelligence sources were being strong-armed into providing information that was later being interpreted into political speak and then put into the wording that best fit their message. What's new. But considering the Trump administration's  continued praise of Putin and all the action so far to get it out of the media, does that mean there is a smoking gun? And to cap it all off, Donald John has repeatedly criticized the intelligence organizations recently for leaking misinformation.

The leading example of Russian involvement in the 2016 election was the DNC hack where the embarrassing emails from Debbie Wasserman Schultz were uncovered, resulting in her being removed as chair. In this case the federal intelligence community, cybersecurity analysts, the Homeland Security Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement saying...

"...they believed people at the top levels of Russian government directed the attack in an attempt to interfere in the election."

Donald Trump took the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013, and he is known to have other

It might even look like this

business interests in Russia; specifically a desire to build a luxury Trump hotel in Moscow. But since he won't release his taxes, there is no way to know exactly what is going on. There is one thing we know for sure, Donald Trump is about business. He has been criticized time and again over the lack of complete separation between the presidency and his business-related interests. One son recently cost the federal govt. thousands of protection dollars to protect him in work abroad for the hotels.

Business insider Politics reported...

"Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse this week said he was sure the Russia-related cloud hanging over President Donald Trump's administration would not be clearing up anytime soon."

 The Rhode Island Democrat says Lindsey Graham's Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism will look at the issue from three perspectives. 1) Trump's relationship with Russia pertaining to his business enterprises; 2) What did these actually do to affect the 2016 election?; 3) How exactly was the Trump staff involved in, if any, shenanigans in trying to swing the election toward Donald John? It is a fact that more Republicans have evidenced their concern over the possibility that Russia might have some part in getting Trump elected.

It is important to note that three important Donald Trump advisers have left the White House staff due to their Russian ties. First, Paul Manafort, former campaign manager and consultant for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, left early, in August of 2016. Resignation has not been explained. Carter Page, former foreign policy adviser, left in September 2016, with ties to a business consultancy work for state-owned Russian oil giant Gazprom. Page is currently subject to U.S. investigations over his Russian connections. Michael Flynn left recently Feb. 13, for lying to V.P. Pence about speaking with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December 2016.

Politifact concluded...

"Based on the evidence, it seems highly unlikely that actions by the Russian government contributed in any decisive way to Trump’s win over Clinton."

Senior research scientist at CNA Analysis & Solutions, Dmitry Gorenburg, lamented over all the ruckus over what might have happened. What the U.S. should be concerned about is the fact that Russia even made the attempt. As an observer to all that has been written, that would indicate to me that the hackers felt they had the means to accomplish their goals and it is accepted knowledge that Putin's minions are known to be excellent cyber thieves. They were able to hack into and steal million from U.S. banks back in 2015.

However, former President George W. Bush said, "...that the American people deserve answers on the alleged connection between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia." This from Donald John's own party plus someone who sat in the Oval Office in the same place where he is sitting now just over eight years ago. And then just this past Friday...

"Republican Rep. Darrell Issa called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to hire an independent prosecutor to investigate the connection between the Trump campaign and Russia. Issa joins a number of Democrats in calling for an independent prosecutor."

I would expect that kind of rhetoric coming from a career building blowhard like Issa, but GWB is way beyond having to make a name for himself. Apparently the decision of a prosecutor is Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. This was Trump's, of course, Tweet response...

“Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks!” 

And finally, Wilbur Ross, who probably will be confirmed Secretary of Finance tonight, is the latest with Donald John's conglomeration of Russian connections. Esquire reports that Ross has an ownership stake in a Cyprus bank in consultation with Russian President Vladimir Putin who was the first to prop up the institution. The magazine also notes that, "Cyprus banks have a long and painful history of laundering dirty money from Russians involved with corruption and criminality."

Well, it just doesn't get any better.

Poltiical Satire: Can the Democrats/Progressives recover? Why not!

The left is in, perhaps, the worst shape it has been in for decades. Not that it has had that much past luck in Congress, the only positive recently being Barack Obama who was stonewalled by the GOP during his entire eight years. But the election of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton proves the inability of Democrats to nominate an electable candidate to run against a weakened Republican Party. They had one in Bernie Sanders but blew it allowing Debbie Wasserman Schultz to run the show and bar his nomination through unethical tactics, for which she was fired.

There are all kinds of perceptions of whether or not the Bern would have beat Trump, but what is sure is the fact that he would have given him a better run for his money than Hillary Clinton did. Sanders awakened the younger crowd, which could have been his ace in the hole against Donald John. But this is all history and the focus now is how to bring Democrats/Progressives back to the forefront. If my experience with the Demographic grassroots volunteer organization is any indication of the competency of this group, this is where the most work is necessary.

With both Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders I volunteered my services repeatedly; in both cases, with no takers. That's right, my background in database management, including computer modeling , along with research and market predicting was made available several times to apparently deaf ears. Due to my physical condition I couldn't go out and knock on doors, but time and again I offered to make my full office and experience available. Most recently, I contacted Bernie Sanders' campaign right up to the bitter end of his running for the nomination. Both in my state and national. Nothing.

And today Democrats are divided over how to handle Donald Trump, with one group wanting an all-out war, the other wants to try and guide him to the center. It should be obvious by now to anyone, you don't push Donald John in any direction but his own. And then there's the realization that with all the support to oppose Trump, the congressional Democrats just may not have the power to accomplish what they want. Impeachment now would take some strong support from Republicans and that isn't likely to happen. Of course, 2018 could turn the tide.

Bernie Sanders

But there has always been a leader from the left that stood out when minds were being made up aboutBernie Sanders stood out as the candidate of choice but denied his right. The American public was screaming for change, and the Bern offered that in a way that would most benefit the working class. What they got was Donald Trump, the voice of...Donald Trump.
campaigns and elections to come. Names like F.D.R., John Kennedy, Bill Clinton, unfortunately, Hillary Clinton most recently. There was a clear point at which the obvious was there to see in 2016, and that was when

One Democrat from a left-leaning state, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who is Vice Chairman off the Democratic Governors Assn., spoke of massive support for resistance against Donald John's Executive Order banning refugee admissions and travel from seven majority Muslim countries. Gov. Inslee has backed a lawsuit that challenges Trump's Executive Order and commented that by "...undermining Mr. Trump across the board..." The Dems will eventually hope to split Republicans away from the President. Not sure the likes of Mitch McConnell are bright enough.

The Democratic Party is so weakened that several Congress members from red states are afraid to oppose Trump for fear of losing their seats. But what good are those seats to the left if they have no voice. The answer is none. I am having a problem here wondering why we aren't getting fire and brimstone from a team of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer. They are, combined, the strength of the Senate and the Democratic Party. The Republicans doesn't hesitate to gang up against the left when the opportunity presents itself.

However, this is what the Dems are up against. A House and Senate controlled by the GOP. A Republican in the White House, although with such a lack of direction in his first month in office, the unknown will be the biggest problem. And if, probably when, Neil Gorsuch is installed in the Supreme Court, it will be five conservatives against four liberals. Insurmountable odds? Maybe not. Leo Jennings, a Democratic consultant from Youngstown, Ohio, days the Party must adopt a more Progressive economic agenda. Progressives must reclaim the Party.

Jennings, a Sanders supporter, said...

"If we don't start talking about the things that we can do to make it better for all working-class voters, we're bankrupt as a party."

Jennings feels you should lump whites and blacks (people of color) together in the Party's approach, but not rule out identity politics altogether. A state Party organizer who is black said, "If the Democratic Party wants to be around in the future, they need to go left." Precisely what Bernie Sanders was doing when his campaign was ruthlessly side-tracked. The public saw Hillary Clinton as too middle of the road and much too connected to the financial community to be on the side of the consumer. Some Sanders' supporters did vote for Hillary butt it was all too late.

I mentioned the potential magic trio earlier of Sanders, Warren and Schumer, the latter also Senate minority leader, thinking how much power is held by three of the most forceful Democrats in the Senate. What if we now add former President Barack Obama to the formula as a civilian, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, if they are of a mind, plus any other Progressives that want to join the new club. Now, looking forward to 2018, and a takeover of the Senate, and the House too, this consortium could be unbeatable. Is there any reason why these people couldn't and shouldn't work together?

There is at least one skeptic, Chinemerem Onyeukwu, 23, the Party organizer from Ohio, who is worried that, "...Democrats are going to keep running what he called '90s-style campaigns despite Clinton's loss." He has reason to believe that when, in light of the changing analytics of the 2016 Primaries, the Dems were still under the spell of the wicked witch from Florida. There is hope with the election of a new Democratic National Committee head yesterday, Tom Perez. It wasn't the pick of Bernie Sanders and the rest of the Party left, so the future remains to be seen.

Political Satire: Steve Bannon pursues "deconstruction" of what?

Look what we dug up

It is near impossible to find something to admire Donald trump for but Steve Bannon would. It's the fact that the engineer of this runaway train, being called the Trump administration, will never moderate on his issues. That would be commendable, except that many of his issues are insane. Take the immigration Executive Order as one example. Another is targeting Obamacare. There are more. But this is all about something Stevo calls “deconstruction of the administrative state,” and that would mean...

"...the system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president says have stymied economic growth and infringed upon U.S. sovereignty."

It was Barack Obama, a Democrat, who rescued the U.S. economy after Geo. W. Bush, another Republican, put it in the toilet.  Obama has placed it on the path to recovery and it would be in an even better position if the former President hadn't been blocked at every move he made by GOP obstructionists like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Back to Bannon, here's another biting commentary...

"Former Ohio governor Ted Strickland (D) said Bannon is a 'dangerous person driven by an authoritarian ideology who, I fear, has more influence than anyone in the administration.
This is a mean, vicious, intolerant group. I’ve never seen anything like this in my political life.'”

Finally, for the record, When Stevo was a documentary filmmaker, he promoted former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as a conservative idol for the Tea Party wackos. Need I say more?

The real story...

Political Satire: 33 Days of lies/misinformation from the White House

Have you wondered, will Donald Trump ever get through one day without telling a lie or spewing misleading information? It is doubtful since his first 33 days in office have been fraught with a complete distortion of the facts. But with no remorse. That's the new President of the United States, a gift bestowed on us by a bunch of uneducated, racist, religious nuts. This group probably has a problem with the truth since they are completely removed from reality. And the real problem is that these poor souls still think this lunatic is doing the right thing.

Here's more, and it might be the most alarming; a conservative news service reported that 45% of Donald John's followers trust his administration more than the news media. No doubt the same conglomeration as those covered above. The Washington Post's lead fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, said...

“There’s never been a presidential candidate like Donald Trump — someone so cavalier about the facts and so unwilling to ever admit error, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.”

Yet, the American public just complacently sits back, when there should be an outcry demanding that this maniac either resign or be impeached. But, of course, there is still a blockhead Congress to deal with. What we need is a new visionary from the Progressive ranks to lead the fight. Actually, we had one, and he is the person who should be in the White House now.

The real story...

Political Satire: More never-ending Tea Party stupidity

The Tea Party brain

There is just no end to the idiocy of this organization. You have to wonder how a group with double-digit IQs can hang around so long; probably because there are so many people out there with double-digit IQs. I am talking about the Tea Party, of course, more specifically their continued derision of Barack Obama. Apparently, these blockheads don't know he is out of office, no longer in the White House. Not in a policy-making capacity anymore, and probably doesn't give a damn what the Tea Party thinks or says about him. But they still keep grinding it out. Why?

Because of headlines like this, "BIZARRE: Obama’s CULT Manual FOUND, Claims ‘Clouds Will Part’ When He and Michelle Return," that encourage those double-digits to read their crap and give up their money. The Tea Party has been bankrolled from the beginning by the Koch Bros., David and Charles, guilty repeatedly of favoring their business interests over human life and the general well-being of consumers. The Tea Party follows suit by favoring their ultra-conservative credo and driving issues that benefit their group at the expense of the country. No matter, it will always be stupid.

Political Satire: The Daily Banter calls Mitch McConnell a condescending prick

There are several terms used for Mitch McConnell, the most disliked member of the U.S. Senate, but "condescending prick" in The Daily Banter is perhaps one of the best. My favorite is asshole, which is described in the dictionary as, a stupid, mean, or contemptable person. That certainly works for me. But get this, in Kentucky, Rand Paul, the state's other Senator, has an approval rank of 51%, McConnell only 40%. Even Breitbart, an alt-right publication, says he is the most unpopular U.S. Senator with a 52% disapproval rating, only 38% approve. The man is a disgrace to this country.

The Daily Banter is referring to his bitching and moaning over protests against Donald Trump that are holding up Senate business, when this jerk brought Senate business to a complete halt during the Obama administration, just because it was Barack Obama. I have always said this also included racial overtones, a characteristic McConnell has been accused of before. The downside of all this with Donald John in the White House, it is a two-barrel crisis since the former will no doubt rubber-stamp most everything McConnell does. One can only hope the American public wake up before 2018.

The real story...

Political Satire: Trump...The clown who doesn't know he's a clown

What difference does a war make Donald

I had a friend during my younger years who acted pretty zany when all our friends got together to party. Didn't think much about it since most of us were half zwacked. The friend was displaying his normal clownish antics one evening at a fairly respectable place that expected decorum, when a new arrival to the group turned to me and said, "Geez, who invited this country bumpkin?" I suddenly realized just how stupid you can be when you have had too much to drink. Donald Trump claims to be a teetotaler, yet he still comes off as a "buffoon."

That's what Seth Myers called Trump on his "Late Night" show but he added, a buffoon "...Who Has No Friends." My friend was no Donald John, and he did have some friends, but even at the rate I put away booze at parties or outings, I could see he was definitely a buffoon. The guy was also a racist, something I learned later in our friendship, which does make him more Trumpish. When you think about it, who are the recent ruler's friends? The first name that comes to mind is Steve Bannon and that may very well be why Seth Myers said Donald Trump has no friends. Think about it.

The real story...

Political satire:Trump runs away career CIA agent

Donald Trump at the CIA promoting Donald Trump

He wanted to make it his life's work, had spent 10 years at the CIA, even told his father he would make it his career. And then Donald Trump was elected. Edward Price became disillusioned even before the floundering new President took office. And there is nothing partisan about his decision; he served both the administrations of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But when an outsider held the agency in such contempt with a complete disregard to its years of accomplishments, that was too much for Price. He cites in a presidential debate where Donald John cast aspersions on the 17 intelligence agency findings that Russia had hacked the U.S. election. Something now confirmed.

Price recalls the gall of Donald Trump turning a day meant for the purpose of repairing relations with the CIA into just another grandstand of his "ego and bluster." His words...

"Standing in front of a memorial to the CIA’s fallen officers, he seemed to be addressing the cameras and reporters in the room, rather than the agency personnel in front of them, bragging about his inauguration crowd the previous day."

Pathetic! And then there was Donald John's favorite white nationalist, Steve Bannon, top White House adviser but now a part of the National Security Council, one, if not the most, secret organization our country has. Well, it was all enough to send Edward Price looking for another job, a huge loss for the American government, particularly the CIA. How many more top profile exits can we expect under this new cancer in the White House?

The real story...

Political Satire: Whose President is Donald trump?

I didn't see any "Trump my Presidents Day" rallies on the Presidents Day holiday. There were several “Not My Presidents Day” crowds across the country. As an example, in Chicago, a child on the parent's shoulders held a placard that said: "Donny's not my President, Donny's a dumbhead." That pretty much says it all for those of us who value a certain level of class in the White House, a person with the character of an adult. Not a child-like, pompous buffoon who embarrasses the U.S. around the world and provokes demonstrations that label him not a President of the people.

There were a lot of immigrants in the different groups, protesting the kind of treatment that Donald John has demonstrated from the first day of his presidential campaign right up to his Executive Order for an immigrant travel ban. And these folks just may be the key to his downfall. There are at least 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., one-million of which are in Florida. The way Donald Trump is talking, they have nothing to lose if the million converge on Mar-a-Lago when Trump and his family are there, surround the place, holding them hostage until he resigns.

Just kidding but I wonder how long it would take Donald John to run out of golf balls?

The real story...  

Political Satire: The wacky workings of Trump supporters

Typical Donald Trump voter

They lined up to vote for a candidate that repeatedly talked and acted as if he had come completely off the spool. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders called him 'delusional' and 'insane,' and you know it had to be something exceptional for the Bern to say something like that. But they are dedicated and one must assume as delusional and insane as Donald Trump. To show their loyalty, these people who...

"...waited for hours in the Florida sun this weekend for his first post-inauguration campaign rally — say their lives changed on election night. Suddenly they felt like their views were actually respected and in the majority."

Let's analyze them:

• White, no high school diploma (Uneducated) 
• Live in Mobile homes (Low income)
• Segregationists (Probably racists)
• Evangelical Christians (Likely some religious nuts)

There's more but you get the idea. And these people are pissed off that Donald John isn't getting the respect he deserves. Considering their demographics and voting record, these poor souls haven't the slightest idea what respect is. If they are so enamored, let the religious folks build an idol that looks like Donald Trump to worship. See what kind of crowd that would draw.

Political Satire: There's a limit to even presidential security

Just Donald Trump's "great" room

From the White House in Washington, D.C.,  to Trump Tower in Manhattan, to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, the costs are soaring to keep Donald Trump and his family safe. To begin with, Melania, the First Lady, has decided to continue to make her and her son't residence in New York at the Trump Tower. One cannot blame her but why should the American taxpayer foot the bill of $500,000 a day amounting to $183 million a year. This almost unnecessary semi permanent expense is bad enough, but get this about one of the prodigal sons...

The "Secret Service and U.S. Embassy staffers paid nearly $100,000 in hotel-room bills to support Eric Trump’s trip to promote a Trump-brand condo tower in Uruguay"

Then it was on to Dubai where Secret Service accommodations have surpassed $16,000, continuing from there to Vancouver, B.C.

The pompous mogul can't use Camp David like other presidents, no, he has to fire up Air Force One to go to Mar-a Lago, which takes two hours at $200,000 an hour. The losers that voted for Donald John knew he was the epitome of extravagance so here's an idea. Take an average for presidential security, say Barack Obama, Geo. W. Bush combined, and subtract that from what is being spent for Trump. To recoup the difference, tax each Donald Trump voter in an amount that totals the difference of what the rest of the American public is now paying. Call it retribution for bad judgment.

The real story...

Political Satire: Donald Trump baptized the dictator he is

I am not a fan of John McCain, even though I am an Arizonan, but he hit it on the head Saturday when he commented on Donald Trump's statement that U.S. media is "the enemy of the American people," intoning that is “how dictators get started.” But Donald John had his start years ago in his everyday course of doing business. If you don't agree with the oligarch, you will be quickly dispatched on your way most likely with your pockets empty. There is no looking back, this man is hell-bent on pushing his personal agenda at the expense of the country he supposedly leads.

Donald John does not like the media because they aren't constantly at his feet, praising his every move. He surpasses the topmost heights of narcissism and borders on a dangerous level of a completely unbalanced individual. He reacts to John McCain calling him a loser and makes another reference to his "hero" status. Maybe if Congress renamed the White House Trump Palace, in keeping with the Queen of England, and renovated the Oval Office to a throne room, complete with a gold throne, that would feed his ego enough. Nah...he wants something closer to God-like status.

The real story...

Political Satire: Even Kellyanne Conway's alma mater dislikes her

Either she isn't contributing enough to the alumni fund, or Trinity Washington University has simply had enough of the lies and deceit being spewed by Kellyanne Conway...as has the rest of the country. Here's what Patricia McGuire, President of TWU, wrote recently...

“Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trinity Class of 1989, has played a large role in facilitating the manipulation of facts and encouraging the grave injustice being perpetrated by the Trump Administration’s war on immigrants among many other issues.”

KC replied that McGuire didn't hesitate to ask her for money--she donated $50,000--and added TWU had commented favorably on other alumni, Nancy Pelosi, adding, Pelosi had "...a casual relationship with the truth." Now, this statement is downright preposterous coming from someone whose relationship with the truth is non-existent. Kellyanne Conway has reached a critical point now from which there is probably no return. Aesop said it best...

"A liar will not be believed, even when he [she] speaks the truth."

The way politics are going these days, KC will easily find another job. 

Political Satire: Donald Trump blunders through news conference lies

The one and only Donald "Pinocchio" Trump

Let's start with the "Perfect" Executive Order rollout, which he bragged over after describing his administration as “a fine-tuned machine.” Neither the Executive Order rollout was perfect, nor is his administration a fine-tuned machine. The Immigration Executive Order was stopped in in its tracks by a court order and this administration, well, it can only be considered a complete disaster. This can be illustrated through the antics of one of his top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, who has recently been banned by two major news organizations because all she does is lie to the media.

But, of course, Donald Trump is the head honcho when it comes to barfing up the complete fabrication of the truth. USA today did a fact-check on his recent disinformation news conference and the level of deception of the American public is downright frightening. Here are some...

• Trump said that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which unanimously decided not to reinstate Trump’s travel ban, has had its rulings overturned by the Supreme Court “at a record number.” Not true.

• The president claimed his November victory was “the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan.” It wasn’t. Three presidents since Reagan captured a larger share of electoral votes than Trump did, including Republican George H.W. Bush.

• Trump said he thought the media had “a lower approval rate than Congress.” No — the public’s approval of Congress is lower than its trust in the media. There's more in the link below.

Donald John's Geppetto apparently had a dull knife when he carved what is now the president of the United States. In Pinocchio, the wooden figure just wanted to be a boy but tends to lie a lot. Fortunately, he has a cricket named Jiminy, who helps him with his conscience and the change eventually happens. Happy ending, right? Pinocchio yes, White House no. There is no Jiminy Cricket in the WH but if there were, with the level of lies spewing from this man, and his determination to continue the trend, he would need to walk around the Oval Office with a can of Raid.

The real story...