monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

There are, of course, a few book translated into arabic. Hitler's Mein Kampf is a best-seller there, second only to the Koran.

Otto Warmbier's death prompts US to weigh options vs. North Korea

Warmbier, the University of Virginia student detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half, died on Monday as a result of what his parents called "awful torturous mistreatment... at the hands of the North Koreans." His death came just a week afer he was flown home in a coma-like state with severe brain damage.

A growing chorus of U.S. lawmakers are declaring the death of American college student Otto Warmbier just days after he was released from a North Korean prison "murder," and all eyes are on the White House as the Trump administration weighs possible responses.

"The North Korean regime is mistaken if it believes that its barbaric mistreatment of an American citizen held in depraved captivity for over a year will pass quietly," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also suggested North Korea "must be held accountable for this brutality," and scoffed at North Korea's justification for sentencing Warmbier to 15 years hard labor. "Otto Warmbier should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it," Rubio tweeted.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested in a statement that "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.”

The U.S. will "be able to handle it," Trump said. "While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out," Trump tweeted.

And, as the New York Times’ Alex Burns put it, “The Sixth is still a really Republican district, and the element of surprise was an asset Ossoff had in the first round but not the vote tonight.” If Democrats can be faulted, it was in unduly raising expectations in a district that is rated as 9.5 percentage points more Republican than the nation as a whole.

Though Georgia’s 6th district, which includes the suburbs of Atlanta, is a traditionally conservative area, Ossoff’s loss is still crushing for Democrats, who have so far been unable to translate anti-Trump sentiment into tangible political gains.

Ossoff’s popularity in the district which Trump carried by only two points was encouraging to Democratic donors, who saw an opportunity to take back a seat before the midterm elections.

By the time the race was called for Handel Tuesday night, with about 99 percent of the districts reporting, she had won by about 5 percentage points, meaning that Ossoff lost significant ground. Ossoff’s loss is made worse by the money involved — $24 million from the party and another $8 million from outside groups.

I notice a kind of a compendium of quotations involving I-slam from notable Westerners and other non-Muslims... A quick look seems to indicate that the only non-Muslim whoever had anything good to say about I-slam was Adolf Hitler...

https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Quotations_on_Islam_from_Notable_Non-Muslims#Thomas_Jefferson

But that a camel-merchant [Muhammad] should stir up insurrection in his village; that in league with some miserable followers he persuades them that he talks with the angel Gabriel; that he boasts of having been carried to heaven, where he received in part this unintelligible book, each page of which makes common sense shudder; that, to pay homage to this book, he delivers his country to iron and flame; that he cuts the throats of fathers and kidnaps daughters; that he gives to the defeated the choice of his religion or death: this is assuredly nothing any man can excuse, at least if he was not born a Turk, or if superstition has not extinguished all natural light in him.

No surprise, eh? That's why the democrats threw $30 million at it, eh?

(I heard $55 million was spent overall, but I'm only hearing from you about the $30 million the Democrats spent.)

The campaigns of the candidates competing in today's runoff — Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff — had spent $3.2 million and $22.5 million, respectively, through the end of May, according to campaign finance reports filed with the FEC.

Handel’s victory in the closely fought contest

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Handel leads Ossoff 53 percent to 47 percent in a race that many expected to be much closer.

Handel won by almost 11,000 votes and by more than four percentage points, and Ossoff failed to reach the 48 percent mark that he topped in the initial round of voting in April.

Handel’s victory, however, revealed as much about Trump’s lingering problems among Republicans as it did the challenges facing Democrats. In a ruby-red district that her Republican predecessor won in November by 23 points, Handel struggled with Trump’s looming presence over the race. She won not with an embrace of the president but by barely mentioning his name.

Despite the contest’s national sheen and implications, many voters here said they made their decision based less on Trump and more on how they view the two candidates

Moreover, Ossoff’s loss raises real concerns about the continued potency of Republican attacks against Democrats by tying them to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The anti-Ossoff campaign seemed to veer from issue to issue given the week, but the one constant thread over the last four months has been linking him to Pelosi.

According to one Republican involved in the effort, the Democratic leader had a name identification of 98 percent among voters in the Georgia district, and her disapproval ratings were 35 percentage points higher than her approval numbers.

Appearing on “The Story w/Martha MacCallum” Monday night, retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane said he also believes Warmbier's death to be "a murder committed...by the North Koreans," and added that he thinks the incident will "strengthen our resolve, that we really have to do something once and for all about this regime."

"I kind of think the administration is there, but I think this will toughen them up," Keane said.

Reports of Steve Bannon’s death were greatly exaggerated. Just a few weeks ago, President Trump’s chief political adviser and the most controversial figure in the West Wing was considered a spent force. Some reports said he was going to resign. Others predicted Trump was about to fire him. “Bannon is on his way out,” a person close to Bannon, who worked on the Trump campaign, predicted to me last month.

The roots of Bannon’s alleged demise were the long-running battle he was waging with the so-called “globalist” faction in the White House, led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. For the past two years, one rule has defined Trumpland: if you cross Kushner or his wife, Ivanka Trump, you get fired.

Important things changed since the “Bannon is dead” narrative took hold, in April. A decision on whether to withdraw from the Paris climate accord finally needed to be made. It was the most important fight pitting Bannon against Jared and Ivanka yet.

On the climate accord, Kushner and Ivanka hardly had a chance. Trump generally makes decisions that align with Bannon’s views not because he is being manipulated by him but because he agrees with him.

A Trump adviser described Kushner and Ivanka as “more or less Trump’s conscience,” and as “more pragmatic, a little less ideological,” or perhaps “multi-ideological.” Bannon, he said, “speaks to Trump’s id.”

“Imagine you have a seventy-something-year-old very strong personality in the family,” the Republican said. “And he’s got his golfing buddy who is his best friend. And they go off golfing and drinking and smoking cigars. What he really wants to do is smoke cigars. But the family is telling him, ‘Smoking cigars is really bad for you and the doctor told you not to do it.’ He's, like, ‘I know, I know.’ ”

“So when he’s around his family, he’s, like, ‘Look, I’m not smoking cigars!’ And then he goes off with his golf buddy. And guess what they do? They ******* light up cigars, because that's actually who he is and what he thinks. And Bannon is like his golfing buddy that he goes and smokes cigars with. That’s actually who he is.”

Street artist Sabo shot to fame during the 2016 US election with his politically incorrect approach. Now he’s plastering LA with controversial works
[...]
Under cover of darkness he peppers public spaces in LA with images and slogans targeting liberals, whom he associates with “pot smoking lazy bums” hostile to western values. He puts the same images and slogans on posters, T-shirts and pins which he sells from his website and at Republican party gatherings across the US.

“I think leftism is a mental disorder,” Sabo, 49, said in an interview at his home. “I truly believe I’m fighting the good fight.”
[...]
He is not shy about self-promotion, calling himself a one-man rebuttal to Madonna, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and other anti-Trump performers. “I cater to the street urchins, the young people. I want them to understand that there’s another message out there.”

Critics consider Sabo’s work crude, bigoted, racist and misogynistic. He disputed that. “The blacks, the Jews, the underdogs – no one has a bigger heart for them than me.”

He has decorated his home with samples of his work: a framed toilet seat with Barack Obama’s face and mouth; a life-sized poster of Bernie Sanders with Soviet tattoos and diaper “full of free ****”; a billboard-style portrait of Hillary Clinton as a maniacal queen.

Another billboard declares that “Black lives are just matter”, accompanied by a Planned Parenthood logo and an abortion-themed punchline: “We’ve killed more blacks than the klan.”
[...]
Ironically, Sabo deplored Trump during the primaries, calling him a circus clown who would hand the White House to Clinton. He said the average Trump voter was a “moron” and depicted Trump as “Il douche”, a play on Il Duce, with his hair forming a Mussolini-style helmet.
[...]
The left, he said, has mastered cultural and political “dark arts” and “weaponised” Hollywood, the FBI, the IRS, universities and other institutions to promote a nefarious agenda.

He claimed Islam was taking over Europe and espoused debunked conspiracy theories: Obama is a Muslim who sought to undermine America, and senior Democrats literally worship the devil and run pedophile rings. “I truly believe Hillary is demonic.”

Challenged for evidence Sabo cited leaked emails, which online conspiracy theorists claimed proved the accusations. “I’m a fan of logic and reason.”

Laughing my #Ossoff

No surprise, eh? That's why the democrats threw $30 million at it, eh?

Quote:

Though Georgia’s 6th district, which includes the suburbs of Atlanta, is a traditionally conservative area, Ossoff’s loss is still crushing for Democrats, who have so far been unable to translate anti-Trump sentiment into tangible political gains.

Ossoff’s popularity in the district which Trump carried by only two points was encouraging to Democratic donors, who saw an opportunity to take back a seat before the midterm elections.

By the time the race was called for Handel Tuesday night, with about 99 percent of the districts reporting, she had won by about 5 percentage points, meaning that Ossoff lost significant ground. Ossoff’s loss is made worse by the money involved — $24 million from the party and another $8 million from outside groups.

So Trump won that district by 2 points in November and she wins by 5 now. ****, the cheese-eaters can't even BUY a race, eh?

If these big-ass corporation aint gunna get no dividends, by way of buying political influence, on their investments, they will quit trying. They generally know when to "cut their losses." They aint stupid, they're businessmen who know that they're are getting played by the Democrats now.

-- Some Republicans see political upside in the tragedy. Brad Carver is chairman of the Republican Party in the neighboring 11th Congressional District, which is represented by Barry Loudermilk, a member of the GOP baseball squad who was on the scene during last Wednesday’s shooting.

“I’ll tell you what: I think the shooting is going to win this election for us,” Carver said Saturday after a get-out-the-vote rally for Handel in Chamblee. “Because moderates and independents in this district are tired of left-wing extremism. I get that there’s extremists on both sides, but we are not seeing them. We’re seeing absolute resistance to everything this president does. Moderates and independents out there want to give him a chance. Democrats have never given this president a chance.”

Sanders allies may argue that a more progressive candidate might have won. The Vermont Senator recently pointed to the strong performance by the British Labour Party in the recent U.K. elections as proof that left-leaning politicians can win. But Sanders endorsed candidates have also lost in recent months. He backed a candidate for mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, Heath Mello, who went on to lose to a Republican. The Sanders-supported candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison, also lost as did his pick to be the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, Tom Perriello.