Disgraced Trump adviser Mike Flynn admits he worked as a “foreign agent” for the Turkish government 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

…the retired Army general had done lobbying work between August and November 2016 that “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.” According to the filing, Flynn’s company, Flynn Intel Group Inc., was paid at least $530,000 for the work.

Flynn’s contract ended on November 15, just three days before Trump appointed him national security adviser.

…receiving money to lobby on behalf of a foreign power all the way through Election Day is another black eye for Flynn, who has the rare distinction of having been fired by two US presidents (Barack Obama ousted him because of his mismanagement of the Defense Intelligence Agency). 

Disgraced Trump adviser Mike Flynn admits he worked as a “foreign agent” for the Turkish government – Vox

hmmmm

Trump turns apolitical Mennonites into protesters

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Religion,Leave a comment

Two of the four organizers, in fact, of the morning’s protest were Mennonites. Organizations connected to the church have written in opposition to the immigration ban, decrying it as contrary to the church’s values.

…“I’ve never been politically active . . . because we have a really strong belief in separation of church and state,” Martin said. “Mennonites have always felt our allegiance is to Christ, and not to our state.”

…Maybe most famously, it was a Mennonite pastor from Harrisonburg, Virginia, who conceived of a sign with the words, “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor,” written in English, Spanish and Arabic. The signs have become a nationwide phenomenon, sold even on Amazon.

…Assisting immigrants, especially refugees, is a central tenant of the Mennonite faith. The plight of immigrants and refugees is especially resonant for many Mennonites, who fled from Europe to the New World hundreds of years ago in the face of religious persecution.

Trump turns apolitical Mennonites into protesters | The Wichita Eagle

hmmm

To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to homeland security

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The Trump administration, searching for money to build the president’s planned multibillion-dollar border wall and crack down on illegal immigration, is weighing significant cuts to the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and other agencies focused on national security threats…

…The proposal …would slash the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides disaster relief after hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. The Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget in 2017 would be cut 14 percent to about $7.8 billion, while the TSA and FEMA budgets would be reduced about 11 percent each to $4.5 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively.

The cuts are proposed even as the planned budget for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees all of them, grows 6.4 percent to $43.8 billion, according to the plan, which was obtained by The Washington Post. Some $2.9 billion of that would go to building the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, with $1.9 billion funding “immigration detention beds” and other Immigration and Customs Enforcement expenses and $285 million set aside to hire 500 more Border Patrol agents and 1,000 more ICE agents and support staffers.

To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security – The Washington Post

hmmm

The Elephant in the Room: Trump’s Mental Frailty 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Dodes was asked by O’Donnell to watch and comment on a much-played clip of Trump claiming during a debate that he had lost “hundreds” of friends on 9-11. Dodes’ said there were two pieces to Trump’s lying: First, he lies because of his sociopathic tendencies — “He lies in the way a person scams people; he’s trying to sell an idea or a product by telling you something that’s not true.” The other aspect of his lying was more serious — his loose grip on reality. For example, when he lies and has been told that what he said is not true, he still carries on with the lie. Dodes said that this indicates Trump cannot accept an aspect of reality and therefore rejects it, making his grasp on reality, and his attention to it, loose. “This is an extremely dangerous trait in a president,” Dodes continued. “And that makes him unqualified.”

…Gartner argued that what is real for the president is fluid, meaning that it’s malleable. Combine this non-reality with paranoia, and being at a hand’s reach of the nuclear codes is troubling. “He actually imagines he is under attack by people who are not actually attacking him,” Gartner said, creating “a very dangerous combination of someone who can act on his paranoid fantasies in a way that can have catastrophic consequences.”

The Elephant in the Room | Psychology Today

hmmmm

Sean Spicer says White House is “not aware” of any Justice Department investigation into Trump 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

His comments at Thursday’s press briefing came a day after he said there is “no reason” to believe Mr. Trump is “the target of any investigation whatsoever”

Sean Spicer says White House is “not aware” of any Justice Department investigation into Trump – CBS News

As if.

Do us all a favor, Spicer. Go home and choke on what’s left of your self-respect and honor.

Cork Wine Bar sues Trump hotel over unfair competition – CBS News

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The plaintiffs also allege that Mr. Trump, his family and White House staffers have continued to promote the hotel, citing, for example, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s comments at news conferences praising the hotel and the president’s own favorable remarks about the hotel in his meetings with elected officials. 

Gross and Pitts are asking that the hotel be closed for the duration of Mr. Trump’s presidency or they ask that Mr. Trump resign.

Cork Wine Bar sues Trump hotel over unfair competition – CBS News

Hit the cheetos where it hurts, in the wallet.

Marines nude photo scandal expands to all branches of military 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,, Military,Leave a comment

Marine officials say they have received reports of at least a half dozen other sites.

Beyond the criminal investigation, Pentagon officials say sites like Marines United can do real harm to the military by discouraging young women from joining the armed forces and convincing those already in uniform to get out.

Marines nude photo scandal expands to all branches of military – CBS News

Conducting yourself with such disrespect for your fellow service people should automatically equal demotions and dishonorable discharges. It endangers Americans by facilitating distrust among people who need to work together.

Unsweetened: Mexico cancels sugar export permits to U.S. because there’s no one to negotiate with 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Staff positions across the U.S. government remain unfilled. This has created a difficult situation for Mexican officials who have sought to resolve a legal issue with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

As of March 1, Trump had filled barely half of the positions for which he is in charge of staffing

Unsweetened: Mexico cancels sugar export permits to U.S. because there’s no one to negotiate with – Salon.com

Incompetent morons with absolutely zero desire to perform the job they begged and bullied the people of the United States for.

Laziness isn’t why people are poor. And iPhones aren’t why they lack health care.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Laziness isn’t why people are poor. And iPhones aren’t why they lack health care. – The Washington Post

Since the invention of the mythic welfare queen in the 1960s, this has been the story we most reliably tell about why people are poor. …Never mind low wages or lack of jobs, the poor quality of too many schools. …Never mind the fact that the largest group of poor people in the United States are children. Never mind the grim reality that most American adults who are poor are not poor from lack of effort but despite it.
…To believe that poverty is a result of immorality or irresponsibility helps people believe it can’t happen to them. …Poverty in the United States is common, and according to the Census Bureau, over a three-year period, about one-third of all U.S. residents slip below the poverty line at least once for two months or more.

…This stubborn insistence that people could have more money or more health care if only they wanted them more absolves the government of having to intervene and use its power on their behalf. In this way of thinking, reducing access to subsidized health insurance isn’t cruel, it’s responsible, a form of tough love in which people are forced to make good choices instead of bad ones. This is both patronizing and, of course, a gross misreading of the actual outcome of laws like these.

…There’s one final problem with these kinds of arguments, and that is the implication that we should be worried by the possibility of poor people buying the occasional steak, lottery ticket or, yes, even an iPhone. Set aside the fact that a better cut of meat may be more nutritious than a meal Chaffetz would approve of, or the fact that a smartphone may be your only access to email, job notices, benefit applications, school work and so on. Why do we begrudge people struggling to get by the occasional indulgence? Why do we so little value pleasure and joy? Why do we insist that if you are poor, you should also be miserable? Why do we require penitence?

…Chaffetz, Ryan and their compatriots offer us tough love without the love, made possible through their willful ignorance of (or utter disregard for) what life is actually like for so many Americans who do their very best against great odds and still, nonetheless, have little to show for it. Sometimes not even an iPhone.

Laziness isn’t why people are poor. And iPhones aren’t why they lack health care. – The Washington Post

Yup.

Trump’s Critics Are Letting The Bigger Russia Story Slide 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

The Russian cyberattack of 2016 was widely documented, but what’s happening now is that some of Trump’s critics are turning the fabric of diplomacy into conspiracy. They’re trying to find evidence that it was his camp that directed those hacks, rather than investigating how they originated in Russia. Of course, it’s also important to examine potential ties between Trump, his advisers, and Russia — if for no other reason than no one has yet found a good explanation for Trump’s worship of Putin and Russia. But, at the end of the day, it’s Russia that hacked the US, in its drive to sow chaos in a country it sees as its rival, and to elect a friendly leader who would both pass amenable policies (like the potential lifting of sanctions) while feeding that very chaos.

Russia pulled off one of the greatest coups in history — and it’s getting away with it.

Trump’s Critics Are Letting The Bigger Russia Story Slide – BuzzFeed News

hmmm

FBI Director Comey: “There Is No Such Thing As Absolute Privacy In America” 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Privacy,Leave a comment

“There is no such thing as absolute privacy in America,” Comey said Wednesday. “That’s the bargain. And we made that bargain over two centuries ago to achieve two goals. To achieve the very, very important goal of privacy and to achieve the important goal of security. Widespread default encryption changes that bargain. In my view it shatters the bargain.”

FBI Director Comey: “There Is No Such Thing As Absolute Privacy In America” – BuzzFeed News

What a trash-heap full of double-speak nonsense.