The only way to stop a bad guy with a nerve agent is a good guy with a nerve agent.
— Alan Traxler (@traxattack) March 29, 2018
[Occasionally people get my sense of humor. I now have documentation.]
The only way to stop a bad guy with a nerve agent is a good guy with a nerve agent.
— Alan Traxler (@traxattack) March 29, 2018
[Occasionally people get my sense of humor. I now have documentation.]
As the subject of guaranteed basic income comes up on this site every so often, I wanted to share this brief audio clip from yesterday’s episode of Pod Save America, which featured a lengthy interview with Vice President Joe Biden. In this excerpt, Biden can be heard discussing why, in his opinion, the idea of a guaranteed basic income falls short.
I wanted to write today about the fact that Republicans, having successfully passed a $1 trillion tax cut for America’s most wealthy, are now using the subsequent loss in federal revenue to justify devastating cuts to welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, but then two people wrote to me, telling me about how Donald Trump had become a better person since accepting Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, and now I can’t think of much else. And it got me wondering if, when looking objectively at a timeline of everything he’s said and done over the past dozen years or so, I might be able to determine when exactly it was that he became a born-again Christian, and hence a better person… Like it would definitely have to have been after that time in 2005, when he confided to Billy Bush that he liked to “grab” women “by the pussy” without their consent, right? And, one would assume, it would have to have also been after that golf outing in 2006, when Trump, leaving his third wife Melania at home with their newborn baby, decided to have unprotected sex with Stormy Daniels, the star of such adult film classics as “Pussy Sweat” and “Young and Anal.” And, one would assume, it must have also been after that time he decided not to come to the aid of a man whom he thought was dying, or that time he mocked a handicapped reporter. But when? When was it that Jesus Christ came into Donald Trump’s life and he became a paragon of virtue, a real representative of Jesus Christ on earth? Was it before he recently referred to developing countries as “shitholes,” or after?
As for these messages that I received. The first came by way of Twitter, in response to a smartass comment I’d made the day before to Sean Hannity, who, perhaps inspired by the #MeToo movement, or maybe just a desire to deflect attention away from Donald Trump’s sexual escapades, has made it his mission to see to it that Bill Clinton is brought to justice for whatever he might have done 40 years ago. “Donald Trump is a very different person now that he is a Christian,” this self-professed Christian on Twitter said to me, as he attempted to make the case as to why Clinton’s crimes were far more serious than those perpetrated by Donald Trump. The second was an email sent to me through this site, directing me to a letter published a few days ago by a Louisiana newspaper that included the phrase, “It is obvious God changed his heart.”
I know, according to the woman who wrote this letter, it’s “obvious” when this transition took place, and Donald Trump began to walk in the footsteps of the Lord, but, as I’m still not able, based on my brief perusal of the historical record, to see when it happened, I’m turning to Google.
OK, it looks as though, in June of 2016, Family founder James Dobson reported to the world that Donald Trump had just accepted Christ as his personal savior. I would have thought it would have been later, given that Trump was, at that time, still employing violent rhetoric against his political opponents, engaging in pretty intense anti-Muslim race baiting, and working behind the scenes to coordinate with the regime of a murderous dictator to sow discord and subvert our democracy, but maybe that’s all stuff that Jesus would have done. After all, it’s been a while since I read the Bible, and I’m hearing it being said by his followers today that had he been around right now, Jesus would have been pro-gun. SO, who knows, maybe he also would have been in favor of violence and cruelty as long as he felt as though it served the greater good.
I know it’s not much of a silver lining, but I take some satisfaction in knowing that I’ve been proven right about the hollowness of the Christian right. It was always about money and power. It just took Donald Trump to lay everything bare and expose it for what it was all along. It was never anything more than a ponzi scheme run by con men.
Oh, and here’s one last thing, as long as we’re on the subject.
Jesus: "Christianity. You're doing it wrong."
— Mark Maynard (@MarkAMaynard) March 28, 2018
Six days ago, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders assured us that Donald Trump had no intention of firing national security adviser H.R. McMaster. Today, however, Trump did exactly that, announcing that the decorated 3-star general had been replaced by the elaborately-mustachioed, draft-dodging, conspiracy theory-espousing war monger John Bolton, a man who, in recent years, has both called for the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton and referred to President Obama as our “biggest threat to national security”. This, I think it’s safe to say, is not something that we… especially of those of us who don’t want to perish in war… should be thrilled about. [Bolton not only championed the disastrous Iraq War, but, in recent years, has called for bombing both Iran and North Korea.]
From Trump’s perspective, though, it makes perfect sense. Not only is Bolton on good terms with Putin, whom he’s credited with bringing “a new era of freedom” to Russia, but he’s said publicly that he disagrees with our intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in our 2016 election in order to both help Trump, and hurt Clinton. “The safest conclusion based on currently available public information is that Russia did not intend to advantage or disadvantage any particular candidate,” Bolton is quoted as having said just last month, in spite of the copious evidence to the contrary. But that’s not the worst of it. Bolton has also speculated in the past that the Russian election hacks were “false flag” operations run out of the Obama White House, although he’s since been forced to walk that back a bit.
Oh, and I don’t think we’ve discussed it here yet, but this wasn’t the only significant staff change at the White House this week. Trump also brought on attorney Joe diGenova, who’s also known to spout conspiracy theories about deep state plots orchestrated against our beloved President by the likes of Clinton, Obama and former FBI Director James Comey… Here’s Congressman Adam Schiff of California with more.
John Bolton once suggested Russian hack of DNC may have been a false flag operation by Obama Admin. He joins Joe diGenova, another Fox contributor, who thinks the FBI conspired to frame the President. Glad to see @POTUS surrounding himself with rational thinkers. Heaven help us.
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiffCA) March 22, 2018
Heaven help us, indeed.
For what it’s worth, none of this surprises me. We all knew, as the Mueller investigation entered its final stages, Trump would circle the wagons in an attempt to save himself, or at least put off the inevitable. And both the far right and the Russians have been trying to get McMaster out of the White House since he first got the job. One just wonders what else might be in store, now that the likes of McMaster and Hicks have left, leaving our increasingly isolated “stable genius” of a president in the company of fellow conspiracy theorists. The question is, can we survive this next chapter, especially if Trump decides, with Bolton’s help, to take us to war.