The inevitable end result of our last 56 years

[Steve Thomas]

Trump’s Legacy is COVID and QAnon

“A poisoning of the American body and the mind.”

by Amanda Carpenter October 26, 2020

https://thebulwark.com/trumps-legacy-is-covid-and-qanon/

“On Saturday, President Donald J. Trump emerged from his West Palm Beach voting center, boasting he voted a “straight Republican ticket.” A “straight Republican ticket” in his congressional district—the Florida 21st—is one that includes House candidate Laura Loomer, a QAnon supporter who gained notoriety for being so bigoted that she became, according to herself, the “most banned woman on the planet.” From there, Trump jetted off on Air Force One to dance to the Village People’s “YMCA” at yet another rally amid the pandemic that has struck dead 225,000 Americans.”

“One of the main benefits of Trumpism is that it doesn’t require much intellectual work.”

“They’ve all learned the secret. Facts and reason are not what Trump’s base wants to hear. Don’t do anything to betray the Big Lie, or else you won’t have an audience anymore.

COVID is beside the point.

Such is the natural conclusion of Trumpism. It’s a loyalty cult, where members risk coronavirus infection as a feat of strength. The president of the United States himself has voted for QAnon, and if anyone wants in, they have to follow his lead.

COVID and QAnon will be Trump’s enduring legacy—a mass poisoning of the American body and mind.”

Steve Thomas

 

 

 

[W. Niederhut]

My wife and I watched 60 Minutes last night, and I turned to her at one point and said, "This is like a de ja vu of 2016-- Trump is repeating his same old bogus sales gimmicks."

Trump is like a used car salesman selling a lemon.  He's the lemon.

1)  He, again, claims to have a "terrific healthcare plan"-- including a television prop of a large binder which was given to Lesley Stahl with a claim that it was Trump's healthcare plan.

2)  He, again, claims that he will create "the greatest economy" ever, etc.  (See Jennifer Rubin's op-ed debunking Trump's "great economy myth" in today's WaPo.*)

3)  He, again, claims that he will release his taxes "after the audit."

4)  He, again, smears his opponent with fabricated allegations.

 

*Trump’s mythical economic success and the end of supply-side tax cuts

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/26/trumps-mythical-economic-success-end-supply-side-tax-cuts/

[Joe Bauer]

 

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

 

Trump is like a used car salesman selling a lemon.  

 

 

I used to use that same analogy myself is trying to gauge Trump.

As laughable as that job title is in depicting outrageous pitches and come ons it really is a true one in describing him.

And I have actually come across used car sales persons like that.

Car has some scratches and dents?  Oh, nothing a little rubbing compound and wax won't improve.

Car has a hard time starting? Oh, it's just been sitting too long without running. 

What about the black fumes coming out the tail pipe? Oh, same thing.

Is that 190,000 on the odometer?    Uh, probably. But even if it's 290,000 the previous owner only drove the car to work and back.

The car reeks of stale cigarette smoke smell?   Hey, a mirror hanging fragrance stick will cover that smell up fine until the car smells of your own body odor.

Tires look a little bald?  Let me tell you, they've still got a good 10,000 to 15,000 miles left on them.

Let me tell ya "buddy" this car isn't a lemon ... it's a lady killing piece of precision machinery just waiting for some sharp looking gentleman like yourself to take the wheel. Just look at that beautiful two tone orange and black color and those spoked wheel covers!

The bullxxxx from a used car salesman ( especially a desperate one ) is the boldest and most brazenly exaggerated and even lying you will ever hear. To the point of perverse laughter on the customer's part.

Trump has made about a dozen claims of miraculous Covid ending dates, cures right around the corner, it isn't that bad...whatever, since February of this year.

And each claim has turned out to be a false one with major psychological and physical let down consequences to all of our entire society lives as a result. 

How many let downs can a society accept from a used car salesman exaggerating leader before they finally decide to fire the guy?

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Chris Davidson]

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

My wife and I watched 60 Minutes last night, and I turned to her at one point and said, "This is like a de ja vu of 2016-- Trump is repeating his same old bogus sales gimmicks."

Trump is like a used car salesman selling a lemon.  He's the lemon.

1)  He, again, claims to have a "terrific healthcare plan"-- including a television prop of a large binder which was given to Lesley Stahl with a claim that it was Trump's healthcare plan.

2)  He, again, claims that he will create "the greatest economy" ever, etc.  (See Jennifer Rubin's op-ed debunking Trump's "great economy myth" in today's WaPo.*)

3)  He, again, claims that he will release his taxes "after the audit."

4)  He, again, smears his opponent with fabricated allegations.

 

*Trump’s mythical economic success and the end of supply-side tax cuts

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/26/trumps-mythical-economic-success-end-supply-side-tax-cuts/

And another:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-did-not-benefit-trade-104653681.html

[Chris Davidson]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/24/hunter-biden-hard-drive-lev-parnas-432108

Excerpt from above:

"A GOP aide told POLITICO earlier this year that the document portrayed an “innocuous meeting with Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky.” But the truth, Parnas said, was more insidious — the exchange was part of an effort to gauge Zlochevsky’s willingness to cooperate with Giuliani’s dirt-digging mission.

Ultimately, Giuliani was not satisfied with the answers he got back on July 7, 2019. Asked, for example, whether Joe Biden, while vice president, had ever assisted Zlochevsky or Burisma “in any way with business deals or meetings with world leaders or any other assistance,” Zlochevsky replied curtly: “No.” Asked to detail any contacts he had with Joe Biden from 2013-2019, and whether Hunter ever facilitated any meetings, Zlochevsky replied: “No one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP Biden or people working for him during Hunter Biden’s engagement.”

Giuliani was furious, Parnas recalled. “At that point, after seeing the answers, Rudy started pounding the table and saying, ‘We just need to get this information,’” he recalled. Giuliani then tasked Parnas with forging a relationship with Ukrainian billionaire Dmitry Firtash, who said he was willing to help in the search for Biden dirt, Parnas said."

Edited October 26, 2020 by Chris Davidson

[Steve Thomas]

Putin rejects Donald Trump's criticism of Biden family business

By Andrew Osbor October 26, 2020

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-putin/putin-rejects-donald-trumps-criticism-of-biden-family-business-idUSKBN27A0TA

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - "Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that he saw nothing criminal in Hunter Biden’s past business ties with Ukraine or Russia, marking out his disagreement with one of Donald Trump’s attack lines in the U.S. presidential election.

Putin was responding to comments made by Trump during televised debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Trump, who is trailing in opinion polls, has used the debates to make accusations that Biden and his son Hunter engaged in unethical practices in Ukraine. No evidence has been verified to support the allegations, and Joe Biden has called them false and discredited.

Putin, who has praised Trump in the past for saying he wanted better ties with Moscow, has said Russia will work with any U.S. leader, while noting what he called Joe Biden’s “sharp anti-Russian rhetoric”.

Putin appeared less friendly towards Trump in remarks broadcast by Russian state TV on Sunday. In what may be seen by some analysts as an attempt to try to curry favour with the Biden camp, he took the time to knock down what he made clear he regarded as false allegations from Trump about the Bidens.

“Yes, in Ukraine he (Hunter Biden) had or maybe still has a business, I don’t know. It doesn’t concern us. It concerns the Americans and the Ukrainians,” said Putin.

“But well yes he had at least one company, which he practically headed up, and judging from everything he made good money. I don’t see anything criminal about this, at least we don’t know anything about this (being criminal).”

Putin also reacted with visible irritation when asked about comments Trump has made concerning Putin’s ties to the former mayor of Moscow, and to an alleged payment made to Hunter Biden by the ex-mayor’s widow. Putin said he knew nothing about the existence of any commercial relationship between Hunter and the woman. Joe Biden says the accusation about his son is not true.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to tilt the contest in Trump’s favour, an allegation Moscow has denied. Russia has also dismissed accusations by U.S. intelligence agencies of trying to interfere with this year’s election too."

 

"Putin, who has praised Trump in the past for saying he wanted better ties with Moscow, has said Russia will work with any U.S. leader,..."

The Prime Minister of Israel just signaled the same thing.

Looks like foreign leaders are beginning to hedge their bets.

Steve Thomas

 

[Steve Thomas]

Attack Drones Dominating Tanks as Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict Showcases the Future of War

“Azerbaijan’s Turkish and Israeli drones are wiping out tanks, artillery, and soldiers as the Armenians lose ground in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

by Emil Filtenborg and Stefan Weichert Oct. 26, 2020

https://www.thedailybeast.com/attack-drones-dominating-tanks-as-armenia-azerbaijan-conflict-showcases-the-future-of-war?ref=home

“Azerbaijan has previously confirmed that it is using Turkish drones in the war, according to Middle East Eye.

Ian Williams, an expert in missile defense and missile proliferation at the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Daily Beast that what we see right now in Nagorno-Karabakh is the evolution of warfare.

“We have for a long time declared tanks to be dead without it happening. However, the Armenian tanks have not done well in the current crisis,” said Williams. “Drones are relatively cheap for countries that would not normally be able to afford air support. The current crisis shows us what kind of damage they can do to an opponent without drones.””

“While the military claims they can shoot down drones such as the Bayraktar TB2, Vladimir Vartanyan, a military analyst who is part of the press department of the Republic of Artsakh, disagrees.

“We can see them on our radar, but [the Turkish drones] fly too high for us to shoot them down,” he said. He explained that much of the Artsakh defenses are remnants from 1991 to 1994 and badly in need of an upgrade “We use everything that we have now because this is total war,” he said. “In my opinion, we need to buy some Russian systems, which have experience in shooting down these drones in Syria.””

“Nagorno-Karabakh is located next to regional superpowers such as Turkey, which support Azerbaijan militarily and politically in the conflict. At the same time, Russia has a defensive pact with Armenia, making the situation tense. The Republic of Artsakh is also located next to Iran, a major player in the region."

“We must be attentive that the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not become a regional war,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, according to BBC.”"

 

Steve Thomas

[Kirk Gallaway]

40 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:

Why wouldn't you watch the entire uncut and unedited interview that I posted above?

I don't expect it to change your mind, but at the very least it is free of editorializing edits, production enhancements and narrative setters. 

I think you would agree with me that the raw footage of any interview of any person is less subject to biases (any type, witting or unwitting) than an interview that has to be edited to fit a fixed time window.

I'm just thinking how the 9/11 live and raw footage provides a more unbiased look at the events of that day than subsequent documentary interviews and footage that were produced to enhance a point of view. (The point of view is not important. Inside job or terrorists. Either is subject to natural human biases.)

I always wondered why more public officials did not always have their own cameras running when sitting down for an interview that will be televised. Just as a function of the interview process, and the necessity of sticking to a specific time window, the public official is always going to be at risk of looking or sounding biased in one direction or another whether the interviewer or editor intended to paint that picture or not.

 

I saw the unedited version a few days back that Wheeler is touting her and I can tell you, W.  if you thought the edited version was just more  Trump repeating his "same old bogus sales gimmicks."  It's that doubled in the unedited version, and it's 37 minutes long. You'd be grateful for their editing. Just as you said, but more elaborately.

"We've done a great job with the coronavirus", "we stopped people coming in from China", "Biden wouldn't have done that", " I wouldn't have done anything different." "It's because we test too much" It's a great economic recovery" "Hilary Clinton!"

I've now seen the edited version on TV. Around 25:00 in the unedited, He tries to throw his last ditch "Hunter Biden Hail Mary" pass. It's also a  little more elaborate,referring to "hard drives",  has no real details, can't make any real tie. Ends up frustratingly bailing, ( shown on both versions) and like every action of this last month, trying to give his account and make lemonade out of  catastrophic failure.

*******

Now Putin's hedging his bets?    Whoa

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Kirk Gallaway

[Ron Ecker]

1 hour ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

I saw the unedited version a few days back that Wheeler is touting her and I can tell you, W.  if you thought the edited version was just more  Trump repeating his "same old bogus sales gimmicks."  It's that doubled in the unedited version, and it's 37 minutes long. You'd be grateful for their editing. Just as you said, but more elaborately.

"We've done a great job with the coronavirus", "we stopped people coming in from China", "Biden wouldn't have done that", " I wouldn't have done anything different." "It's because we test too much" It's a great economic recovery" "Hilary Clinton!"

I've now seen the edited version on TV. Around 25:00 in the unedited, He tries to throw his last ditch "Hunter Biden Hail Mary" pass. It's also a  little more elaborate,referring to "hard drives",  has no real details, can't make any real tie. Ends up frustratingly bailing, ( shown on both versions) and like every action of this last month, trying to give his account and make lemonade out of  catastrophic failure.

 

 

How can you watch that crap, edited or otherwise? When is enough of Donald Trump enough? Listening to Trump is like the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different outcome.

 

 

[Kirk Gallaway]

Ron, I just wanted to see what the walkout was about. But you're right,  it was a waste of time.

Not much longer Ron, if this  election won't get you to vote, nothing wil!

*****

Fox news anchors quarantining after exposure

Jay Wallace, Fox News president, anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and Dana Perino and Juan Williams, two hosts of The Five were all onboard the plane with the infected person and told to quarantine and get tested, the New York Times first reported. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/10/26/fox-news-hosts-told-to-quarantine-after-exposure-on-debate-flight/#712736f63f2e

 

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Ron Ecker said:

How can you watch that crap, edited or otherwise? When is enough of Donald Trump enough? Listening to Trump is like the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different outcome.

 

 

      In truth, I can hardly stand to watch, or listen to, Donald Trump.  The guy is toxic.  I forced myself to sit down and watch the two Trump-Biden debates but, for mental health reasons, I probably should have just watched Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey reprise them on SNL... 🤥

[Ron Ecker]

24 minutes ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

Not much longer Ron, if this  election won't get you to vote, nothing wil!

 

I've already voted. For whom? It was one of the toughest decisions of my life.

 

 

[Andrew Prutsok]

6 hours ago, Robert Wheeler said:

In the unreliable and unverified rumor department, as of this morning, Hunter died of a drug overdose and Joe suffered another stroke; hence the "lid" on campaigning. 

Not saying any of the above is true, just saying it's out there. (I am more apt to believe the Joe rumor at this point.)

In the actual verified news department;

Biden appears to confuse Trump with former President George W. Bush

Kind of not really actual, verified news. More like fake, doctored news. He was being interviewed by George Lopez and Anna Navarro. That's the "George" he was referring to.

 

“In the clip that’s being circulating, Joe Biden was responding to and addressing George,” Navarro continued. “That’s the George he was referring to. I know it may come as a shock to some Trump supporters, but some Latinos are named ‘George.’ Not everyone is Jose and Maria.”

Finally, she added, “It’s not surprising that the Trump campaign would lie about the clip and take it out of context. But frankly, I had higher expectations for NBC News.”

[Steve Thomas]

 

Texas GOP Governor Abbott to deploy 1000 National Guard troops for election

By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement October 26, 2020

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/texas-gop-governor-abbott-to-deploy-1000-national-guard-troops-for-election/

“The Texas Army National Guard said Monday it had been ordered to dispatch 1,000 troops to five major cities around the state in conjunction with the Nov. 3 election,” MySanAntonio.com reports.

“We have not been asked to go to any polling locations as of yet. Now that could change, leading up to the election or after the election,” a Texas Army National Guard spokesperson says.

Abbott has not released any information on this plan which some see as authoritarian voter intimidation.

The Texas governor is already under fire after reducing ballot boxes to just one per county.”

San Antonio election updates: Abbott to order 1,000 troops to Texas cities during election

By Staff, Mark Dunphy, Priscilla Aguirre, Madalyn Mendoza, Sig Christenson

Oct. 22, 2020 Updated: Oct. 26, 2020

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/politics/article/San-Antonio-election-updates-Abbott-to-order-15664157.php

October 26

“Guard troops ordered to S.A.: The Texas Army National Guard said Monday it had been ordered to dispatch 1,000 troops to five major cities around the state in conjunction with the Nov. 3 election, including San Antonio. The guard in recent weeks had told the San Antonio Express-News that its commander, Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, had been asked to draft contingency plans in case of trouble at polling places in major cities around the state.”

Steve Thomas

[Chris Davidson]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lesley-stahl-claims-trumps-healthcare-plan-doesnt-contain-actual-plan-60-minutes-060421463.html

Excerpt from above:

Stahl pushed Trump for details about his healthcare plan, and giving her the book may have been an effort to satisfy her curiosity. But after having time to review the contents of the book, Stahl said that there isn’t actually much of a plan at all.

“It was heavy. Filled with executive orders, congressional initiatives,” Stahl said, “but no comprehensive health plan.”

What a surprise.