monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

The US has conducted a joint military exercise with South Korea, flying two strategic bombers over the Korean peninsula.
The B-1B combat bombers were joined by two South Korean F-15K fighter jets, and carried out air-to-ground missile drills off South Korean waters.
It comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea over its nuclear programme.
Pyongyang conducted its sixth nuclear test, and launched two missiles over Japan, in recent months.
The bombers took off from the US Pacific territory of Guam on Tuesday night, before entering South Korean airspace and conducting firing exercises over the East Sea and Yellow Sea, South Korea's military said.
The training was part of a programme of "extended deterrence" against North Korea, it added.
The US said Japan's air force also took part in the drill.
US President Donald Trump met top officials from his national security team on Tuesday night for a briefing on ways to respond to threats from North Korea, the White House said.
Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have exchanged heated rhetoric in recent weeks.
In a speech at the UN in September, Mr Trump accused Mr Kim of being "on a suicide mission" - while Mr Kim responded by vowing to "tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire".
On Wednesday, a South Korean lawmaker said North Korean hackers had reportedly stolen a large cache of military documents from his country, including a plan to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, and wartime contingency plans drawn up by the US and South Korea.
The South Korean defence ministry refused to comment about the allegation, while North Korea denied the claim.

Ending the North American Trade Agreement (Nafta) would break relations between Mexico and the US, the Mexican foreign minister has warned.
Luis Videgaray was speaking ahead of a new round of trade talks this week between the US, Mexico and Canada.
The talks to update the 1994 deal have become increasingly acrimonious, with Mexico and American business groups saying US proposals would hurt trade.
This week, President Donald Trump repeated threats to scrap the deal.
He has pointed to the trade deficit with Mexico as unfair to the US. His administration has said it was seeking to reduce it and called for a major overhaul of the agreement.
The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donahue, warned that scrapping the deal would endanger $1tr in annual trade.
Mr Videgaray said Mexico was preparing for "different scenarios" the talks might produce and would not remain within the agreement if it was not good for his country.
He warned that ending the regional trade pact would hurt relations between the US and Mexico and damage their co-operation on other issues such as fighting drug-trafficking and stopping illegal immigration across the US's southern border.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting Mr Trump on Wednesday and their discussions are expected to focus on Nafta. The US has recently slapped duties on Canadian Bombardier airliners and wood exports.
Mr Trudeau then flies to Mexico for discussions with President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Prime Minister Theresa May has urged the US to recertify the nuclear deal with Iran because it is "vitally important for regional security".
In a phone call with President Trump, Mrs May stressed the importance of the deal being "carefully monitored and properly enforced".
The US President had been expected to scrap the agreement, as he said it did not serve US security interests.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the deal "an historic achievement".
He is to meet Iranian Vice President Dr Ali Akhbar Salehi in London on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Johnson said: "We have made no bones about our deep concern at Iran's destabilising regional activity... but I remain steadfast in my view that the nuclear deal was an historic achievement that has undoubtedly made the world a safer place."
In 2015, Iran agreed to reduce much of its nuclear programme and in return economic sanctions on the region were lifted.
Last month, Mr Trump denounced the deal at the United Nations General Assembly as "an embarrassment to the United States".
What will happen to the Iran nuclear deal?
But the prime minister and the president have discussed the need for the UK, US and others to work together to ensure the deal was being upheld on all sides.
Mr Trump and Mrs May agreed to remain in contact ahead of any decision.
During their conversation, Mrs May and Mr Trump also discussed the impact of the Bombardier trade dispute on Northern Ireland.
Earlier this week, Mrs May reaffirmed the UK's strong commitment to the agreement in a phone call with Israel.

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.

-- Muhammad Ali

The Salt Lake City Police Department has fired an officer who handcuffed and roughly detained a nurse for refusing to allow him to draw blood from a sedated patient.

Lamar Smith concerned by ‘Russia’s propaganda war against fossil fuels,’ not election interference
GOP congressman is willing to blame Russians for anti-fracking sentiment, but not for election results.

Tony Schwartz‏Verified account
@tonyschwartz
I'm watching Trump's tweets. He is escalating & sending our nation into chaos. I know this man. He's out of control and it's getting worse.
4:57 PM - 10 Oct 2017

Corker then went nuclear, telling The New York Times that Trump's big mouth and constant provocations put the country "on the path to World War III." The Times further reported that many Senate Republicans are saying similar things in private.

But so far, Corker's confrontation with Trump is a complete sham. Until Republicans are willing to do something meaningful about Trump's erratic behavior — namely, removing him from office — statements like Corker's will remain nothing but hot air.

Think about Corker's statement again. The American presidency vests a gigantic, almost absurd amount of power in a single person. Aside from the immense authority granted through appointments, executive orders, and control of the U.S. Armed Forces, President Trump could — on his word alone — direct a nuclear strike at any point on the globe in a matter of minutes.

This is a perilous state of affairs even for a president who isn't a confused, angry, thin-skinned old man who is completely intolerant of criticism. A full-blown nuclear exchange would kill the vast majority (if not 100 percent) of the U.S. population, destroy America's institutions forever, and disrupt world society so much as to threaten total human extinction. Even a single warhead striking a major U.S. city would be an unimaginable disaster — far exceeding the death toll from any previous American conflict, and probably all of them put together.

What if the right-wing media wins?
Conservative critics of the press want more than just a louder voice. They want The New York Times and The Washington Post to go away.