The dictator in Donald Trump has become rampant

August 27, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump doesn’t actually do anything, but he dominates everything. 

The chosen one

The headline, above, perfectly encapsulates the first two years of the Donald Trump administration in the White House. Isn't this tragic when you are talking about running the most powerful country in the world? Most other countries wonder, along with many Americans, how could the United States elect an egomaniac like Donald Trump to the presidency? Easy, when you consider the number of double-digits out there who are unable to think for themselves.

Lucian K. Truscott of Salon coined the above phrase, "He [Trump] doesn’t actually do anything, but he dominates everything." He adds this...

"Another week of shaking our heads and wondering how much longer we can survive him. Yet again, Donald Trump overwhelmed practically everything with the force of his obscene personality, running his mouth and his thumbs even while he was failing to run the country in any sort of conventional sense."

There's more...

"Living in America today is like being trapped in a room with him — no doors, no windows, no exits, only Trump and the sound of Trump and the hideous image of Trump, all day, every day, for day after day after day."

A dictator admires a dictator...

My wife and I sit down to the dinner where we usually discuss at least some politics. I tell her what I have found that day on the Internet about T-rump, and after a couple of these comments she just shakes her head, because, according to her, what else could you possibly say after hearing this for two years. A frustrated Neil Young, discussing modern music in the New York Times Magazine said, “I’ve got great melodies, and the words are all profanities.”

That's the age of Donald Trump...

"Our senses dictate how we experience the world — our hearing and sight and touch and smell, even the ineffable stuff like intuition and belief. But when our senses are overwhelmed by someone like Trump, when our lives seem filled with a man who does nothing but endlessly tweet and lie and hate, it kills us inside. Trump is killing us."

The dictator surfaces in Trump's ordering of U.S. companies to pull out of China and not do business with them. Whether he carries through on this order or not, he has cited the IEEPA law to support his threat. We are living in a dictatorship with the loose guidelines of a maniac who has no idea what he is doing but thinks that everything he does is right. And that is so frightening that every sane person in this country will lose sleep until Donald Trump is gone.

Donald dufus says, 'I am the chosen one'...

Here's a digest of Trump's recent comical but freakish moves...

"Trump announced that signs of an economic downturn were the results of a 'conspiracy' against him personally."

"Trump accused Jews who decide to vote for Democrats as being guilty of 'great disloyalty.'”

"Trump held a completely unhinged press 'gaggle' on the lawn of the White House during which he referred to himself as 'the chosen one.'”

"He hurled insults at the prime minister of Denmark because she wouldn’t sell him the island of Greenland."

"He joked about still being in office 10 to 14 years from now, an apparent attack on the 25th Amendment, suggested overturning the right of birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, but assured his gun-totin’ base that 'our Second Amendment will remain strong.'”

Well, you get the idea. The question is, what bizarre things can we expect from Donald Trump this week?

The whole world knows of Donald Trump mental instability

August 26, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump is going down

The lunatic in the White House  

'Megalomaniacal, paranoid, and psychopathic’: Economist sounds the alarm on Trump’s ‘bottomless malevolence,' says Brad Reed in RawStory. It is the alarming warning of Economist Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University "about President Donald Trump’s 'paranoid and psychopathic' leadership style, and he says it could have disastrous consequences for the world if he wins a second term."

The above are the three big words that would describe someone completely out of control and ready to drop over the edge. And that would be the Oval Office lunatic that Sachs says...

"it would be a grave mistake to treat Trump like a cynical politician, when in reality he is an impulsive and vindictive narcissist who acts on his angry whims."

Bingo! There's more...

“The situation is far more dangerous,” Sachs explains. “Trump is mentally disordered: megalomaniacal, paranoid, and psychopathic. This is not name-calling. Trump’s mental condition leaves him unable to keep his word, control his animosities, and restrain his actions. He must be opposed, not appeased.”

Donald Trump is a lunatic...

Sachs continues in a disquieting evaluation that should make all Americans really think about 2020. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panelists found T-rump's recent foreign policy antics as not only a wrong thing to do but also served as an indication that he is "crazy." Now these folks probably aren't that studied in psychology, but they see hundreds of people in their jobs and the comparison of behavior like Trump's isn't hard when it comes to normal human beings.

Here's a classic example...

"The president canceled a trip to Denmark after its prime minister refused to entertain his offer to buy Greenland, offered a stunningly vapid assessment of the situation in Kashmir, and reiterated his interest in seeing Russia rejoin the G7."

Yes, Donald dufus wants to buy Greenland...

Why the hell would the U.S want to buy Greenland? The question is why all this bizarre behavior that has been going on at some level since this maniac's election, but which has accelerated lately...

"Former Trump administration officials are concerned about the president's behavior in recent days, speculating that his increasingly erratic outbursts are linked to private worries that a recession in the US could torpedo his chances of reelection in 2020"

And this dufus might even know that a majority of the country (at least 54%) is hoping the torpedo takes him down in flames. But the epitome of trump insanity surfaced recently when he proclaimed he was the "chosen one." Here's Tom McCarthy's coverage in the Guardian...

"Over an ensuing half-hour rant, Trump trucked in antisemitic tropes, insulted the Danish prime minister, insisted he wasn’t racist, bragged about the performance of his former Apprentice reality show, denied starting a trade war with China, praised Vladimir Putin and told reporters that he, Trump, was the 'Chosen One' – all within hours of referring to himself as the “King of Israel” and tweeting in all caps: “WHERE IS THE FEDERAL RESERVE?”

There is no way I could top this and, anyway, his evangelical supporters agreed.

David Koch dead: Do not RIP

August 26, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

As far as David Kochs' demise, who gives a flying f*ck  

Koch Bros: Ogres of destruction and devastation

David Koch is dead and many in this country are either openly or silently rejoicing and waiting for the other shoe to drop. That would be his brother Charles; his demise can't come soon enough for anyone who values life over the profits of industry. Here's the scenario...

"many Americans will remember him as one of the major players behind the Tea Party, and using his vast wealth to help massively reconstruct American politics into, some say, the vitriolic insanity we see today."

Yes, he and his brother, Charles, are at least somewhat responsible for the shape of the planet today as it fights to survive ecologically. We can also thank the two Kochs for the state of a political scene that is fraught with lies and underhanded governing, plus the use of illicit power to promote their libertarian beliefs. Both brothers were former members of the ultra-conservative John Birch Society, which their father, Fred, helped found. You can't get much more radical right.

Good Koch expose from book: “Sons of Wichita”  A great read!

Charles convinced his younger brother David to run for Vice-President on the Libertarian Party ticket, which called for...

"abolishing all federal income taxes and virtually every federal agency, including the I.R.S., the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the F.E.C., the E.P.A., the F.D.A., and the S.E.C. The party also opposed Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, public education, and minimum-wage and child-labor laws."

The severity of these issues shows just how greedy these two brothers were, along with their libertarian party. Charles and David "regarded" centralized government as a scourge akin to Communism." Of course, it was always obvious why the pair despised government; it was the only thing keeping them in line from totally screwing the American public. Another conservative William F. Buckley, Jr., called the Kochs’ views “Anarcho-Totalitarianism.”

Steven Rosenfeld, in an AlterNet Commentary provides "11 things the Koch brothers didn’t want you to know." It ranges from " The family’s $100 billion fortune comes mostly from a massive network of oil and gas pipelines, and investments in other polluting industries like paper and plastics." To "The Koch brothers’ massive investments and holdings are literally killing the planet, because their primary business is transporting gas and oil." Worth reading!

Another good Koch expose...

But my favorite is Bill Maher's reaction to David Kochs' death on HBO “Real Time”...

“He and his brother have done more than anybody to fund climate science deniers — for decades.” “So f*ck him, cause the Amazon is burning up, I’m glad he’s dead and I hope the end was painful.”

Surely, at least many conservationists are adding, 'May he burn in hell.'

More on the Koch Brothers:

"The slime (Koch) Bros. are at it again"
"KOCH BROTHERS ALLIES/BIG DONORS POUT OVER THEIR IMAGE"
"The ALEC conspiracy broadens"

"Political Satire: Charles Koch sneaks into White House and..."

Obama's deficit numbers yugely better than Trump's

August 25, 2019; PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Obama's deficit numbers yugely better than Trump's  

Donald Trump and his favorite bank

Republicans have run for cover since Donald Trump's budget deficit "is skyrocketing, projected to rise 25 percent over last year and heading to over $1 trillion next year." Here's the scenario...

"Tax revenues are $430 billion below where they were expected to be before the Trump tax cuts while spending is in drunken sailor territory adding $1.7 trillion in the next decade.”

There's more from RawStory's Tom Boggioni...

“Put it another way, deficits have risen from a decade low of 2.4 percent over Obama to a projected average 4.7 percent of GDP over the next decade. Remember, all this is happening during the nation’s longest economic expansion when deficits should be shrinking.”

Clearly, former President Barack Obama was doing something that T-rump can't seem to do: 'Run the country competently. How about Trump's tax cut that was eventually supposed to trickle down into the middle-class and lower; it has only made the wealthy even wealthier? And perpetual battle with China over tariffs that most recently has been judged as costing American consumers $1,000 annually in the near future? How about the fight with fed chairman Powell?

These are all issues given to us by the Oval Office lunatic who appears to be teetering on madness based on his maniacal tweets. It's not only the rich and corporations that will profit. Get this...

"Trump stands to save millions of dollars annually in interest on outstanding loans on his hotels and resorts if the Federal Reserve lowers rates as he has been demanding, according to public filings and financial experts."

Pathetic Trump official defends tax budget/deficit...

That's why he is constantly on the back of fed chairman Jerome Powell, calling him every name in the book. Here's the deal on Donald Trump's potential savings on his hotel properties...

"The payments on all four properties vary with interest rate changes, according to Trump’s official financial disclosures. That means he has already benefited from falling interest rates that were spurred in part by a cut the Federal Reserve announced in July, the first in more than a decade — and his payments could drop by millions of dollars more annually if the central bank grants Trump’s wish and further lowers short-term rates."

Once again we're talking about T-rump's buddies, Deutsche Bank, which was "one of Trump’s biggest lenders, sticking by the real estate mogul when other US banks refused to lend after he went through a series of bankruptcies." But are interest rates the most important threat to the economy?...

"most economists and business leaders say Trump’s trade war is the biggest threat to the economy, not interest rates, which are already at historically low levels."

Yet Donald dufus plods right along with yet more tariffs, while pressuring the feds for lower interest rates that will benefit him. Go figure. 

The dictator has ordered: block China-Is anyone listening?

August 24, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

The tyrant raises his ugly head again  

Donald Trump-Xi Jinping-Who's winning?

The Oval Office lunatic didn't get his way with the China tariffs. Although the Asian nation seems to be hurting, its president, Xi, always calls Donald Trump's hand, and just raised him with $75 billion added to U.S. goods. It's hard to say whether T-rump is winning or losing this battle, but it is more about the way it is being played than anything else. The machinations of Trump so far would lead one to believe we have an ego maniac running this country. We do.

When US companies were ordered to stop doing business with China, well, you can probably imagine the flabbergasted looks on the faces of hundreds of CEOs. Here's the scenario...

"President Donald Trump claimed he has the 'absolute right' to 'order' US companies to stop doing business with China that would involve using his broad executive authority in a new and unprecedented way under a 1977 law."

Trump lies about Trade War with China...

On the way to the G7 summit in France, Trump told reporters, "I have the absolute right to do that," citing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). He also threatened Mexico with the IEEPA but reneged in another of his buffoon bluffs. The law gives "broad authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions following a declaration of national emergency." But Trump must...

"consult with Congress before invoking his authority and, after declaring a national emergency, send a report to Congress explaining why."

Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas and a CNN legal analyst says, "The idea behind these authorities is that the President is better situated to make those kinds of determinations than Congress, especially when they're time-sensitive." He added, "I very much doubt this kind of exercise of the authority conferred by the statute is what Congress had in mind." What he didn't say was the fact that it is a moron making the decisions.

Trump in danger of engineering a global manufacturing recession

August 23, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump's inept administration will doom his second term 

The clown and his minions

If the country should go into recession, the misfits Donald Trump has put in place to run the economy wouldn't have the slightest idea what to do, including the Oval Office lunatic.  Here's the scenario...

"Washington Post economics columnist Catherine Rampell on Friday warned that President Donald Trump’s team of economic advisers is woefully unprepared to handle a recession should one strike within the next year."

There is no plan she laments...

“We have this clown car of economic advisers… you have a guy who plays an economist on TV, you have a former Hollywood producer. This is not the dream team who will be handling a crisis if we face one."

Trump in danger of engineering a global manufacturing recession...

The stock market is tanking and the White House ego maniac is still playing games with China, resulting in their latest $75 billion tariff on U.S. goods just today. You have to wonder when this will all end until the realization hits; it won't until we get rid of Donald Trump. But perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel with the fact that some GOP donors are running scared that T-rump's tactics will result in Republicans losing big in 2020. Former Sen. Jeff Flake says...

"he’s received calls from several nervous Republican donors who fear a slowing or shrinking economy will doom the GOP in 2020 — and they’re looking to find a primary challenger for President Donald Trump."

These donors took the step even further...

"Some donors even asked Flake if he would personally consider running a primary challenge against the president, but he said he does not want to run right now and admitted that the odds of such a challenge succeeding are slim to none."

Impeachment or voted out in 2020?...

There's additional reason for trump to worry and wonder about his crazy antics that have screwed up the country and turned a large portion of the population against him. He won in 2016 with the Electoral College, the popular vote went heavily for Hillary Clinton (3 million more votes) but this time around polls show Trump's...

"net approval ratios being underwater (i.e., negative) in 10 states he carried in 2016: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin."

This translates into only 119 electoral votes for T-rump when 270 are needed to win the presidency. There is another factor that has been responsible for Trump's downfall; the fact that he has been solidly and accurately labeled a racist. It is a label that is sticking, and this is driving him crazy since he is one of branding's biggest advocates. Taegan Goddard's Political Wire says...

“Being called a racist has led Trump in recent days to lash out — in tweets and in public comments — behavior his advisers and allies explain as the natural reaction of anyone who does not consider himself a racist but is accused of being one.”

And finally, this CNN's Anderson Cooper video is a must see in a documentation of Donald Trump's blatant racism. I have said this repeatedly, having come from a South of the 19402/1950s, where the Ku Klux Klan ran rampant over the black population and committed unimaginable atrocities, I still cannot comprehend what this white fascination of dominance over those of color is all about. I left the South to get away from this but quickly discovered...racism is everywhere.

Wrapping up the worst of.racism documented

August 23, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES, Where Liberals Walk

More on today's racism fostered by Donald Trump  

Racism" NOT

This is a continuation of my post yesterday with 10 examples of flagrant racism that occurs daily in this free nation. I say free because with bigots abounding and becoming more unabashed with each incident, those people of color could be on the way to something similar to neo-slavery, only with racism as its common denominator. So, it is time to focus on the source of the problem. And that would be Donald Trump. Here's more shameless racism...

"Explosion totally destroys interracial family’s home in what appears to be a shocking racist attack." An interracial couple’s northeast Ohio home was blown up and vandalized with swastikas in an apparent hate crime.

"Texas Cops Paraded a Black Man Through the Streets by a Rope." Texas once again has renewed its bid for Most Racist State in the U.S. after a pair of Galveston, TX, police officers on horseback arrested a black man and walked him through the town to the station by a rope. The department’s officers, identified only as P. Brosch and A. Smith, were not disciplined.

It can be done

Some of my posts on racism...

"Arkansas jailer’s wife pulls gun and detains four black children going door-to-door for school fundraiser." A jail administrator’s wife in Arkansas was arrested this week after she allegedly pulled a gun and detained four black students who were going door-to-door for a school fundraiser. Kelly was arrested “on four counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor.” Sweet justice!

"WATCH: Michigan police stop black man for ‘looking suspiciously’ at white woman." Police in Royal Oak, Michigan were caught on video stopping a black man for allegedly “looking suspiciously” at a white woman.

"Mother and daughter arrested after ‘insane’ racist rampage leaves several people injured at Indiana beach." A mother and daughter are facing a wide array of charges after the pair were arrested for initiating a brawl that police say was racially motivated.

"Tennessee priest bans black housekeeper from his property — then blames his ‘racist dog’" According to a report from WHBQ, a Collierville, [Memphis] Tennessee priest is under fire for banning a black housekeeper in the employ of the diocese from entering his church-provided home because he claims his dog is racist.

"GOP lawmaker cut the mic on black woman’s facts — but let white men spew ‘lunacy and lies.’" The Republican chair of a Tennessee legislative committee is under fire for cutting off the microphone while a woman of color was speaking — but allowing white men to spew “lunacy.”

Some of my posts on Donald Trump racism...

Racism of yesteryear is back

"Black woman reveals how Trump is ruining her marriage: ‘My white Republican husband is starting to hate me.’" A black woman revealed over the weekend how President Donald Trump and right-wing media are straining her marriage. “My white Republican husband is starting to hate me because the longer we live through this administration the ‘BLACKER’ I become,” she revealed. Now, that is true bigotry.

"‘Go back to Harlem!’: Florida woman has n-word laced meltdown after bumping black woman’s shopping cart." On Saturday, the Atlanta Black Star reported an incident in Florida, in which a white woman screamed racial slurs at a black woman at a Publix supermarket in Miami after their shopping carts jostled each other. After the woman allegedly banged into Nicki Johnson’s cart, she refused to apologize, saying, “I didn’t hit you with my cart, and f**k you, you f**king n****r.”

"WATCH: Gang of white people release dog to viciously attack black man during fistfight." A black man in Roseville, Michigan is recovering from multiple injuries after what appeared to be a gang of white men ordered a dog to attack him last Wednesday. The 32-year-old William Lafave admitted to fighting the 20-year-old victim. The fight escalated when Lafave’s stepson released a dog to attack the victim who they alleged had a knife.

And that's the latest on nationwide racism and the miscreants who foster their hate on anyone who isn't like them. I am like them in color only, because I would not want to be compared with the scum of the earth. Racists. But can you even envision what it's like to be the target of these people who must certainly be at the bottom of the IQ scale. Hopefully this and my earlier post will open a few eyes and watch me for future coverage of racism.

Racism at its worst in the U.S.today documented

August 22, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Horrifying examples of racism in the United States  

Since early July, I have been documenting all Internet articles that deal with blatant racism. My total inventory as of today is a shocking 22. Shocking, because this country is supposed to have progressed far beyond inequality of the races, at a minimum with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I grew up in the South in the 1940s/1950s and witnessed my share of Ku Klux Klan atrocities, and it was then that I developed my devout hatred of racism. Here's what is still going on...

Woman splashed by black man

"White woman threatens to call cops on black man after he splashes her car with water during rainstorm:" It was raining, the black person couldn't help what happened. Location not identified.

"Store manager ruins special moment by accusing black dad of stealing basketball he bought for baby son:" This surprisingly happened in California.

"Black couple’s marriage proposal party interrupted multiple times by white security guards accusing them of theft:" A black couple who drove to a park where the man intended to propose when they were harassed three times by security guards who accused them of stealing a T-shirt at a gift shop. Dateline Rochester, NY.

Family kicked out of community pool because they were black: A mere 15 minutes after arriving, a lifeguard interrupted and told her she had too many guests. “He said ‘Well, who are these guys in front of me right here?’ recalled Thomas. “I said ‘I don’t know who they are,’ mind you, they were black, but they were not with me.” Soon after, a Texas City police officer came and asked them to leave. Dateline Houston, Texas.

Racism is U.S. vs. racism in U.K.

"Woman goes into racist meltdown when she’s busted for leaving baby in running car to drink shots in bar:" A Texas woman this week was arrested after she left her infant daughter in a running car and then went into a nearby bar to drink. She grew belligerent saying, “You will not take my child and place her with a f*cking n*gger!” Dateline Bryan &College Station, Texas.

"Trump voters increasingly think it’s OK to use the N-word:" In a [Washington Post] post titled, “Republicans don’t think Trump’s tweets are racist. That fits a long American history of denying racism,” the Post notes, “Even under Jim Crow, most whites thought that blacks were treated fairly.” You can read what I had to say about this in my blog post, "Republicans do like the N-word more and more."

"Nashville cop resigns in disgrace after being caught slamming black woman into a car over expired tags:" A police officer from Nashville, Tennessee this week resigned in disgrace after being caught on camera slamming a black woman into a car because she had expired tags.

"Traffic stop turns violent after officer pulls weapon on black man for ‘speeding.’" In a video shared by Twitter activist @_SJPeace_ on Tuesday, an officer, who appears to be Mississippi law enforcement, tells the driver that he is being “detained.” Confusing whether this is Texas or Mississippi...still racist.

"Michigan police officer suspended after black visitors discovered KKK memorabilia in his home." A Muskegon police officer has been placed on administrative leave the department investigates why he has Ku Klux Klan memorabilia in his home, including a framed application to the white nationalist group. So, it's not only in the South.

Woman flips off Muslim mother and kids

"‘Go back to where you came from’: White woman shoves and flips off Muslim woman at water park — in front of kids." Here's "an incident that took place at the Sesame Place Water Park in Middleton Township, Pennsylvania, in which a white woman pushed around Zafirah Moore, a Muslim woman, and flipped her off in front of children."

These are only ten of the frightening number of racist incident that occur in the United States each day. Apparently it has always been lying dormant, just beneath the surface, and with Donald Trump's racist attitude, supported by his extreme white supremacist tendencies, it is now a full-blown epidemic, with the American public joining in his bigotry. If for no other reason than this alone, it is clear that this ego maniac must be removed from office.

Donald Trump and his new Jesus Christ complex

August 22, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump really thinks he is God  

How Trump sees himself

This has to be at the top of the list of the Donald Trump freak show that has become a daily occurrence in the White House and around the world. It seems a T-rump superfan compared him to Jesus Christ, using his latest widely criticized remarks about Jews and Israel...

"The president on Tuesday questioned the loyalty of Jews who voted for Democrats, which was widely condemned as anti-Semitic, and he defended himself the following morning by tweeting out quotes from Newsmax commentator Wayne Allyn Root — who has promoted anti-Semitic and racist conspiracy theories against George Soros and President Barack Obama."

Wayne Allen Root had commented...

“’President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world…and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel.'”

How most see Trump

Now, does anyone wonder how the double-digit Trump supporters come up with such bizarre statements in their backing of this moron. People as crazy as Donald Trump talking about an equally crazy Donald Trump. Root concluded with, “They love him like he is the second coming of God.” Not sure we can top this. Trump isn't the first president to compare himself with God. Historian Heather Cox Richardson tweeted...

the “last president to compare himself to Jesus was Andrew Johnson, before the 1866 midterms. Johnson at the time planned to lead his white supremacist supporters to victory to roll back Reconstruction.”

The other village idiot, Sarah Sanders, says God wanted Donald Trump...

Well, Johnson failed, but it may be harder to stop the Oval Office lunatic if he should be elected to a second term. Chauncey DeVega on Salon says, "Trump’s limited intellectual development has given him a ‘God complex." Now there is no doubt in our minds that Donald Trump's intellectual development is severely narrowed, that is, if there has been any at all. Here's how DeVega explains it...

"Trump’s lack of respect for the country’s long-standing democratic norms and institutions also extends to America’s alliances, security arrangements with its allies and friends, and the international order more broadly...hailed the merits of nationalism (while barely pretending that does not mean white nationalism)...tried to surrender U.S. security to Russian President Vladimir Putin...Donald Trump is also a habitual liar who is at war with the truth and empirical reality...Donald Trump is an authoritarian in waiting, who acts as though he believes himself to be God."

There is so much more in this AlterNet piece from Salon that makes good reading. And here Trump "declares himself ‘the chosen one’ as ‘antichrist’ trends on social media."

READ MORE of my posts on Trump authoritarianism and white supremacy.

Republicans have already abandoned gun control

August 21, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

What will it take to get reasonable gun control? How many more deaths? 

What is this sick fascination?

The proof is in the congressional attitude and that currently seems to correlate with Donald Trump after his telephone conversation with the NRA's head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre. We already have enough gun laws including those that are for background checks. Here's the scenario...

"Senate Homeland SecurityChairman Ron Johnson (R-Wi) is casting major doubt on the prospects of significant gun regulations passing this fall, the latest sign that the effort to pass new firearm laws is starting to falter."

No one thought this kind of mindset was possible after Sandy Hook, or Aurora, Colorado, or most recently the California Garlic Festival, El Paso or the Dayton gun massacres. It is only possible because a cowardly Congress supported by a cowardly American public refuse to do anything. That refusal is, of course, prompted by the fact that Washington is afraid of the NRA and the public either doesn't have the brains or just doesn't care about gun violence.

There's more...

"The Wisconsin Republican said that a background checks measure based on the bill written by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a national "red flag" bill are both unlikely to pass. He was open to GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill that would establish a red flag grant program, but said the Senate would need to 'attach to those grants very strict guidelines in terms of due process.'”

And that makes it absolutely clear that the GOP is more concerned with the NRA and gun manufacturers than they are with the innocent children and adults who die from gun violence.  

NRA problems reported by Rachel Maddow...

The New York Times says, "Following his talks with the NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and gun-rights activists, President Donald Trump struck a different tone on gun regulations in the weeks after two mass shootings. And this was caused by...

"The NRA reportedly launched a campaign to contact lawmakers in the wake of the shootings on August 3 and 4 in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Both gunmen wielded assault-style rifles in the separate shootings, which killed 31 people."

Hey, these perpetrators of gun violence are supposed to be headed down the drain so who cares what the hell they say. Chuck Schumer said...

"We've seen this movie before: President Donald J. Trump, feeling public pressure in the immediate aftermath of a horrible shooting, talks about doing something meaningful to address gun violence, but inevitably, he backtracks in response to pressure from the NRA and the hard-right."

Donald Trump lies about action on background checks...

In other words, in order to get rid of gun violence we need to get rid of Donald Trump and Congress, something many Americans would agree with. Here's a headline: ‘I’m worried’: Allies fear NRA has lost its power in Washington." Anita Kumar and Gabby Orr of Politico report...

"The disarray at the NRA is alarming allies who say President Donald Trump and Congress appear to have a brief opening to pass legislation while the group is so politically feeble it isn’t able to aggressively lobby lawmakers against proposals or hold them accountable for their votes, according to a half-dozen Republicans familiar with the situation."

And finally an insider reports...

“There’s no coordinated effort. The staff feels like there is no plan. There’s not a lot of direction or a plan for how to proceed.”

If the wheels are coming off at the NRA, it can't happen soon enough.

Is Donald Trump Cabinet planning a coup?

August 21, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump's lies finally catching up with him  

LYING: The epitome of Donald Trump

Although Anthony Scaramucci doesn't name names in this particular article, he says "that some current administration officials will soon turn on Trump and work against his 2020 re-election." Scary Tony adds...

“It’s a little bit like a cycle,” Scaramucci said. “I mean, if you can get the cycle started, some people that are fear-based due to the president’s bullying or the nonsense on his Twitter feed or how he handles himself personally, they’re intimidated by him.”

It has been obvious how some have been irked at the Oval Office lunatic, like former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson who once called Trump a "fucking moron." Scaramucci concluded with...

“What we saw over the week is the balloon is coming out of the president’s bombast,” he added. “The balloon is coming out of his rhetoric.”

 And then Scaramucci came out with, "These 6 former Trump officials are the most likely to throw him under the bus in 2020," Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Former chief of staff John Kelly, Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Additional comments...

"The president has not been shy about expressing his disdain for Tillerson ever since he left his position, and he sent out an angry tweet calling his former top diplomat 'dumb as a rock.'”

"In his resignation letter, Mattis took thinly veiled shots at the president’s notorious disdain for America’s system of international alliances."

"He [John Kelly] was caught on camera twice shoving his face into his hand when the president did something embarrassing, such as when he referred to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as 'Rocket Man' in front of the United Nations."

Fact checking for Donald Trump lies has become a major business...

There's more you can read in the AlterNet article. And in the 'I can't believe Trump told that lie" column, he made the claim that Google threw over 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton. "On Monday’s edition of CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time,” fact-checker Daniel Dale told host Chris Cuomo that not only is President Donald Trump’s claim a lie, the professor he’s citing, Robert Epstein, has repudiated Trump’s interpretation of it."

Now, the clincher is that "Trump is in panic mode because his ability to lie to his fans may soon face its greatest test," and he may fail miserably. Here's how...

"Economic reports increasingly warn of a coming recession, likely to be exacerbated by the pointless trade war with China, which was largely launched as an ego boost for Trump. So Trump and his allies are clinging to their favorite strategy — lying their heads off — in order to convince his followers that the U.S. economy is going great."

A documentary of Donald Trump lies...

Here's more from Maggie Haberman of the New York Times...

"Trump’s main response to reports of a possibly looming recession is to go into full conspiracy-theory mode, accusing his own hand-picked chair of the Federal Reserve and the news media of conspiring against his re-election chances."

But with the American public finally getting smart about the White House maniac, "Trump’s presidency is backfiring as the public grows more and more opposed to his views." While still wildly popular among his hardcore far-right base, it's not representative of the United States on the whole. Although in agreement with T-rump's views in the past, “There’s just one catch: the public is turning against Trump’s views.” This because of at least one major factor...

a Reuters poll found that Americans “were more likely to empathize with African-Americans” — including “whites without a college degree,” who played an important role in Trump’s victory over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Now on to 2020.

READ MORE of my posts on Donald Trump Lies. 

Do anti-vaxxers belong in the gulag?

August 20, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Measles still on rise in United States  

Anti-vaxxers prefer snake oil

The measles epidemic has now grown to over 1,200 cases in 30 states in the U.S. This, all due to a gang of mentally challenged parents who believed social media info over scientific fact. It is all so pathetic since the highly contagious virus had been declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. But these poor souls decided their neighborhoods needed some excitement, so they refused to vaccinate their children, then sent them off to school to infect other innocent children.

And these 1,200 cases are just since January 1, of this year, an average 150 per month. This is the greatest number of measles cases in the United States since 1992, according to Newsweek. Here's the scenario...

"experts recommend a 95 percent vaccination rate for "herd immunity"—or, in other words, the amount of people who need to be vaccinated to keep those who cannot be vaccinated, due to allergies or other health concerns, safe—the CDC says only 91.1 percent of children aged 19-35 months have received the measles vaccine."

One teen with more brains than his mother...

The United Kingdom is also having its problems with more than 230 cases of measles reported during the first quarter of 2019. Once again, the UK blames misinformation from social media for causing the outbreak. The government has even gone online itself to counter what the radical anti-vaxxers are saying. In the U.S....

"Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing concern that Instagram and Facebook were “surfacing and recommending messages that discourage parents from vaccinating their children.” Schiff cited a Guardian report that suggested searches on Facebook and YouTube often led users to pages that displayed vaccine misinformation."

Zuckerberg made his usual paltry response to something that might jeopardize FB's advertising or collection of personal data. So, the con goes on resulting in the new 1,200 measles cases in the U.S., 230 in the U.K. Here's the rub...

"Measles is 'almost entirely preventable' with two doses of the vaccine, according to WHO."

The Guardian says it isn't necessarily social media causing the problem in the United Kingdom, but rather the “3Cs” – confidence, complacency and convenience. This is all explained at length in the Guardian article, which, by the way, really has little to do with the American problem. Pure and simple, U.S. anti-vaxxers have a ring in their nose and are listening to social media, then passing it around among themselves. Still say, they belong in concentration camps.

READ MORE: My collection of anti-vaxxer posts

New York Times dubs Trump con man

August 20, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump con artist extraordinaire

Donald Trump con artist extraordinaire

Donald Trump has given us one con job after another starting in 2016 when he duped all those supporters to vote for him. Still didn't get the public vote; Hillary Clinton beat him by 3 million. You'd think he won by a landslide; even Trump's Electoral win wasn't that impressive, just 304 to 227. Barack Obama was overwhelming over John McCain in 2008, 365 to 173. The con was on day one in the Oval Office and it has never abated.

Jennifer Rubin, a conservative writer for The Washington Post, says, "Trump’s economic record is one big con." She follows with...

"President Trump came into office promising some fabulous yet unspecified health-care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. No plan existed..." 

In fact every Republican plan reduced the rolls of Obamacare. There's more...

"Trump said he’d bring back manufacturing."

"Actually, it slowed and now has slumped. That’s one of the reasons the Federal Reserve gave for cutting interest rates this week." Rubin continued...

"Trump said he’d get tough on drug companies. He hasn’t. He said his tax cut would be aimed at the middle class, deliver $4,000 a year to the average American family and permanently boost business investment, pushing growth above 3 percent. Nope, nope and nope."

Most of the American public by now knows that the tax cut was in the beginning and continues to be for the wealthy and corporations, and there is no way the middle class or less will ever realize any benefits. Anyone in the White House embarrassed over all these failures? Not on your life. More than likely they are shouting their success to those who stood to gain. John Harwood of CNBC said...

“Benefits from what President Donald Trump called ‘the biggest reform of all time’ to the tax code have dwindled to a faint breeze just 20 months after its enactment. Half of corporate chief financial officers surveyed by Duke University expect the economy to shrink by the second quarter of 2020. Two-thirds expect a recession by the end of next year.”

MSNBC's Chris Hayes, NY Times dubs Trump a con man...

Rubin says this is Trump's biggie...

"The biggest economic lie was Trump’s declaration that trade wars are quickly and easily won, American consumers and farmers wouldn’t be hurt and we somehow would get richer by making Americans pay more at stores. Actually, they are paying a lot."

And even more...

The conservative American Action Forum’s recent study found, “Altogether, the president’s tariffs could increase nationwide consumer costs by nearly $100 billion annually.”

 So, with all of the above, economists have come to the conclusion that a recession is very likely in 2020, brought to us compliments of Donald Trump. If that doesn't dump Trump in 2020, I don't know what could.

Read more here: "Conservatives are a fraud? We knew that"

What's for Christmas mommy? An assault rifle of course honey

August 19, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer is crazier than ever  

I thought I had heard the most bizarre comments already from the NRA's Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, but she proved she is still as crazy as NRA head, Wayne LaPierre with this question...

Wayne LaPierre

“How do you tell a 10-year-old little girl who got a Ruger 10/22 with a pink stock for her birthday that her rifle is an assault weapon and she has to turn it over to government or be arrested for felony possession?”

This is beyond belief that any responsible parent would give a ten-year-old child any gun, much less an assault rifle. This walking propagandist has spread more gun violence over Florida and the rest of the country than is possible to comprehend. Here are some actual facts from Hammer...

"Florida is the number five state in terms of gun production. And Hammer pressed that gun manufacturers are a $1 billion dollar industry with more than 700 firearms manufacturing license holders. In 2016, those smaller shops and large manufacturers produced more than 750,000 weapons."

NRA turmoil that could put it out of business...

 Don't know what would be best, get rid of Hammer, or just get rid of the state of Florida, which would eliminate the gun manufacturers as well. It's when you witness the idiocy of moron gun nuts like this that you realize the significance of gun control and why these gun rights maniacs fight it so hard. Hammer received a litany of Twitter activity telling her just how stupid she was for the comment, and the fact that she is lamenting the fate of the poor gun manufacturers.

What possible sane individual could give a crap about a company that is in the business of producing weapons of human destruction, particularly on young children? These lost lives also come at a large expense...

"Dr. Charles Tate, a Broward County radiologist, said Florida would save millions that way, citing that the 2016 Pulse shooting in Orlando costs about $390 million from medical costs, police, and expense to employers."

John Legend on Dayton gun violence...

Although this does not eclipse the innocent people that die from the use of these weapons, you have to look at the overall picture from a national basis. There have been at least 17 deadly mass shootings in the U.S. in 2019, 3 more that could have been. And there are numerous shooting deaths across the nation every day. Here's a headline from Quartz...

"It took more than 700 deaths over 20 years for Americans to finally dislike the NRA"

Further...

"It took at least 87 mass shootings and 725 fatalities, but for the first time in 19 years, American opinion has finally turned on the National. Rifle Association (NRA)."

And the polls support this...

"According to a poll by Fox News published Aug. 14, 47% of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the NRA, versus 42% who hold a favorable one."

With Wayne LaPierre and his NRA on the run in recent internal conflicts and fraud investigations, it is time to eliminate the major source of gun violence in this country. And then we can busy ourselves getting the millions of guns off the street.

Early morning gist of the news

August 19, 2019: PROGRESSIVE NEWS BRIEFS...Where Liberals Walk

An abbreviated view of recent political events 
 

Donald Trump polls just keep getting worse

Did you know that One of Trump’s ‘America First’ Speeches Was Edited By Saudi Arabia?

Did you know that "financial institutions have handed a wealth of information on Russians linked to Donald Trump and members of his family to congressional committees."

Did you know that "Mitch McConnell’s efforts to lift sanctions on Russian companies helped pave the way for a major aluminum project in Kentucky?"

McConnell's crooked deal with Russians...

Did you know that evangelicals are just fine with Trump's racism?

Did you know that Donald Trump aides call his daily work ethic the “absolute amateur hour” at the White House?

Did you know that "Economist Robert Reich warns that the ‘sugar high’ of ‘Trumponomics’ won’t last: ‘The economy is very, very fragile’"

Robert Reich: Is Donald Trump worst president ever?...

Did you know that the WSJ "trashed [Trump] adviser Peter Navarro for being the driving force behind policies that appear to be driving the entire world’s economy into recession.

Did you know that the Internet said "Everything you touch goes bankrupt," in reference to Trump claims the media caused his failing economy.

Conservative strategist Rick Wilson: "Everything Trump touches dies"...

Did you know that Washington Post columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner in 2009, Eugene Robinson condemned Donald Trump polling numbers across the board citing more poor performance in Electoral states.

Did you know that conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin tells the story of why Trump is "tanking." 

What Trump supporters really look like

August 18, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Trump supporters are less than hopeless  

They try, but this is what they are

Have you ever tried to convince a Donald Trump follower that he is a tyrannical despot scraping the bottom of the political barrel? In my blog posts, I make these and more allegations against the Oval Office lunatic. It zings right past them into eternity because this ego maniac has managed to take over control of their brains, and they can no longer think for themselves. Their abilities are also limited since I can tell most of them don't even read my posts, just headlines. The scenario...

“The sad truth is that with all that Trump has said and done, millions of Americans don’t see where he has ever crossed the line,” Washington Post, columnist Colbert King wrote. “Slurring Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists? Calling for a ban on all Muslims coming into the country? Suggesting that a U.S.-born judge overseeing a Trump University lawsuit should recuse himself because of his Mexican heritage (“He’s a Mexican,” Trump said)? Saying people in the United States from Nigeria will never “go back to their huts”? Referring to Haiti and African countries as “s—hole countries” while wishing the United States would take more people from places like Norway?”

Some of Trump's pathetic supporters...

Colbert adds more...

“Trump’s loyal base of supporters rejects or ignores any charge of bias. They stay locked in, because they see things his way; he is speaking for them,” he explained. “So, don’t waste time trying to convince them that Trump has a dark side. They have heard what you heard; have seen what you’ve seen. The difference: They delight in the Trump thoughts, words and deeds that you denounce.”

King muses that these Trump people just don't care, adding, "after over two years of watching Trump in action, any fans he has left are no different than the president." And left with this, nothing could be worse.

Trump 2020 election doomed by economic downturn

August 17, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTE...Where Liberals Walk

The economy will be Donald Trump's downfall  

Same way Donald Trump runs the U.S.

Donald Trump's tax cut failed and since then the economy has begun a spiral down that just might carry him into the 2020 elections. The Guardian says that could be disastrous since the US economy is the centerpiece of his re-election campaign. And this is happening just two years into his first four-year term. In this same period during his predecessor's administration, President Barack Obama, he was ending the 2008 recession cause by George W. Bush.

Obama economy much better than Trump's...

T-rump has also given us escalating trade wars that are now threatening everything from big business to the farming community. The maniacy of Donald Trump is a menace that will bring this country to its knees and that is saying something for the most powerful nation in the world. Here's the scenario...

“The economy is absolutely critical to his re-election,” said Michael Steel, a former aide to the retired House speaker John Boehner. “The handling of the economy is, generally speaking, the only issue that he is viewed positively on in polling."

Trump's statement in his 2019 State of the Union address: “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States.” What he should have said was, 'It will take a miracle to get the United States back to where it was before the Donald Trump administration took office.'