monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Trump is blathering and boasting again.

Wish I had her money, comrade pissy pants

inflating crowd size estimates at Trump inauguration at first briefing

his appearance, particularly his suits, reportedly criticised by Trump

saying Hitler never used chemical weapons and referring to Holocaust "centres"

butt of text message joke by adviser Steve Bannon about his weight

defending Trump "covfefe" tweet by saying it had hidden meaning

frozen out of meeting with the Pope in Rome, despite being devout Catholic

not invited to Paris for Trump visit

It seems entirely fitting that OJ Simpson should reappear at this surreal juncture in American life because many of the trends that culminated in the election of Donald J Trump can be traced back to his arrest and trial.
Consider first of all the impact on the US media of that slow-motion car chase, as "The Juice" headed down the 405 freeway in the back of his white Ford Bronco pursued by a small armada of police cars and a squadron of news helicopters. With viewers glued to their televisions ­that day, Domino's recorded a record spike in pizza deliveries.
It was the moment arguably that real-time, rolling news truly came of age.
That chase and the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the 1995 trial on CNN and Court TV demonstrated a voracious appetite for cable news. The OJ "trial of the century", with its blend of tabloid sensationalism and serious analysis, established the formula for ratings success.
In last year's presidential election, the media fixation with Donald Trump demonstrated how that recipe still works now. His candidacy could almost have been tailor made to fit the requirements of real-time cable news and Twitter, its digital equivalent.
In ratings terms, his road to the White House became the political equivalent of that freeway chase, an improbable journey we couldn't take our eyes off partly because we were fascinated to learn how it would end. Donald Trump exploited this. The billionaire reality TV star, sensing immediately his media pulling power, became the ringmaster of an OJ-style circus.
America's celebrity culture predates OJ Simpson, but his trial unquestionably fuelled it. Johnny Cochran, Marcia Clark, Robert Shapiro. The attorneys became stars in their own right. So, too, did Judge Lance Ito. Kato Kaelin, a minor player, parlayed his witness stand limelight into various appearances on reality TV shows.
Then there's the Kardashian connection. OJ's close friend Robert Kardashian, the father of Kourtney, Kim, Chloe and Rob, sat alongside the defence team throughout the trial.

The family of an 11-year-old girl murdered last week in New Jersey have implored President Donald Trump to let them into the US to attend her funeral.
AbbieGail Smith was allegedly stabbed in the neck by her neighbour while taking out the rubbish on 12 July.
Her father, Kenroy Smith, was deported from the US to Jamaica in 2001 following a cannabis arrest.
Last week Mr Trump intervened to help grant visas to Afghan students who wished to attend a US robotics event.
"Please let me see my daughter for the last day before she goes under," said Mr Smith in a tearful video, ahead of her funeral on Monday.
Mr Smith has yet to learn the status of his visa request, he told APP.com from his home in Kingston.
AbbieGail's big sister, Kenish, has been denied a visa to enter the country from Jamaica to attend the funeral.
A spokesman for the US Department of State would not confirm the status of their visas, citing confidentiality.
"All visa applications are adjudicated on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and other applicable laws", the official said in a statement to the BBC.
AbbieGail's body was found the day after she vanished, wrapped in a blanket on the rooftop of her apartment building in the town of Keansburg.
Her 18-year-old neighbour, Andreas Erazo, was arrested hours later and charged with her death.
"Every time I close my eyes, I see her in front of me playing," said Mr Smith. "She just loved to play because she was such a lovely girl."
"President Donald Trump I am asking you, please sir, if you could assist us by getting us to the United States of America to pay our last respects to AbbieGail Smith."
AbbieGail's other older sister, Latisha Smith, who lives in the state of Maryland, has been writing letters to local officials, begging for help.
"We're a family. We all need to be together for AbbieGail," she said.

Trump aint no weak-ass chump.

US President Donald Trump has attacked "illegal leaks" following reports his attorney general discussed campaign-related matters with a Russian envoy.
The Washington Post gave an account of meetings Attorney General Jeff Sessions held with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak.
Mr Sessions has previously denied discussing the election campaign.
US authorities are investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump team.
The intelligence services believe Russia meddled in the vote to help Mr Trump win. Russia denies this, and Mr Trump says there was no collusion.
The Post's report quoted current and former US officials who cited intelligence intercepts of Mr Kislyak's version of the encounter to his superiors.
One of those quoted said Mr Kislyak spoke to Mr Sessions about key campaign issues, including Mr Trump's positions on policies significant to Russia.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Mr Sessions said he had no contact with Russians during the election campaign. When it later emerged he had, he said the campaign was not discussed at the meetings.
An official confirmed to Reuters the detail of the intercepts, but there has been no independent corroboration.
The officials spoken to by the Post said that Mr Kislyak could have exaggerated the account, and cited a Justice Department spokesperson who repeated that Mr Sessions did not discuss interference in the election.
But the Post's story was the focus of one of many tweets the US president fired off on Saturday morning.
"A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions. These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!" Mr Trump said.
The Washington Post is owned by Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos has been an occasional sparring partner for Mr Trump. "Comey" refers to James Comey, the former FBI boss Mr Trump fired.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump told the New York Times he regretted hiring Mr Sessions because he had stepped away from overseeing an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
Mr Sessions recused himself in March amid pressure over his meetings with Mr Kislyak. He says he plans to continue in his role as attorney general.
Several other regular targets for Mr Trump featured in his series of tweets.
He accused the "failing" New York Times of foiling an attempt to assassinate the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
It is not clear what Mr Trump was referring to, but on Saturday a US general complained on Fox News that a "good lead" on Baghdadi was leaked to a national newspaper in 2015.
A New York Times report at the time revealed that valuable information had been extracted from a raid, but the paper stressed on Saturday that no-one had taken issue with their reporting until now.
Mr Trump also said he had "complete power" to pardon, amid reports he was considering presidential pardons for family members, aides and even himself in response to the Russian investigation.
And he again urged Republicans to "step up to the plate" and repeal and replace President Obama's healthcare reforms, a key campaign pledge of his that has collapsed in Congress.

He was ... and mentally gifted."

Now that GOP state legislators have control over 32 state legislatures (both chambers), thanks in large part to partisan gerrymandering, some extremists are preparing to use their clout to gerrymander the US Senate.

This week in Denver, July 19-21, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will welcome Republican state legislators and its corporate funders, including Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, K12 Inc., Peabody Energy, and PhRMA, to vote on corporate legislative priorities and create cookie cutter "model" bills in task force meetings that are still closed to the press.

ALEC will welcome US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Newt Gingrich and other Trump loyalists to the meeting.

On the agenda for debate and discussion? A model bill to repeal the 17th Amendment, which established the popular election of United States Senators in 1913.

Previously, US Senators were selected by state legislatures and political party bosses beholden to powerful industries. The corruption scandals erupting from the wheeling and dealing fueled some of the great muckraking investigative journalism of the early 20th Century. In 1912, progressive Republican US Senator Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette campaigned for the popular election of US Senators as a means of cracking down on political corruption and corporate control of the democracy. Reformers introduced direct primary elections, ballot initiatives, and recall votes, in the same time period.

Now right-wing extremists want to roll back the clock to enable Republican state houses and Republican governors to hijack at least 17 US Senate Seats held by Democrats in Republican trifecta states, and force an ever more extreme agenda through Congress.

farmerman wrote:

Remember his shithead statement about john McCain "hes not a hero because he was captured"

An excellent statement. Who is that coward McCain going to surrender to next?

That's why his words ring hollow, he buys any **** that our liar -in-chief squeezes out his mouth.