monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

What this episode also does is shatter the endless euphemisms and dissembling that Trump and his allies have employed to obscure a related truth: that the nationalism at the core of Trumpism is heavily driven by a reactionary backlash to the current ethnic and racial mix of the U.S. population — it is white nationalism, despite all the what-me-racist protestation to the contrary.

I bet he voted for Trump -- who, after all, was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.

US President Donald Trump says he is extending sanctions relief for Iran one last time so Europe and the US can fix the nuclear deal's "terrible flaws".

The waiver he will sign suspends US sanctions on Iran for another 120 days.

The White House wants EU signatories to agree permanent restrictions on Iran's uranium enrichment. Under the current deal they are set to expire in 2025.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was a "desperate attempt" to undermine a "solid" deal.

Germany said it would continue to call for the deal's full implementation and would consult on a "common way forward" with the UK and France.

Germany said it would continue to call for the deal's full implementation and would consult on a "common way forward" with the UK and France.

President Donald Trump's longtime attorney denied that Trump had a sexual encounter with a porn star after a report by The Wall Street Journal on Friday alleged the lawyer helped facilitate a six-figure payment to the actress in October 2016 in exchange for her silence.

Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, said the President "vehemently denies" the encounter, but did not address the alleged payment in a statement to CNN.
The story, which cites people familiar with the matter, says Cohen arranged a $130,000 payment to Stephanie Clifford -- whose stage name is "Stormy Daniels" -- a month ahead of the election. Cohen denies the sexual encounter took place.

We'll never hear the end of it if by chance he loses.

Thursday morning, Walmart had a flashy announcement: Thanks to corporate tax cuts, it was giving its employees bonuses of up to $1,000. Walmart and President Trump pointed to the announcement as proof that the corporate tax cuts are really a boon to working-class Americans.

But now it appears the announcement was timed carefully to cover for thousands of unannounced layoffs.

Business Insider reports that today, Walmart is abruptly closing numerous Sam’s Clubs stores across the United States. In some cases “employees were not informed of the closures prior to showing up to work on Thursday” and “learned that their store would be closing when they found the store’s doors locked and a notice announcing the closure.”

Reuters reported over the holiday weekend that airlines “recorded zero accident deaths in commercial passenger jets last year.” The findings were released by a Dutch consulting firm and an aviation safety group that tracks crashes, which concluded that 2017 was “the safest year on record for commercial air travel.”

Most folks who saw these reports probably said to themselves, “Huh, that’s interesting.” Donald Trump saw these reports and seemed eager to tell himself, “Wait, I’d like to take credit for that.” Here’s the message the president shared with the world this morning:

Quote:

“Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”

Sometimes, the line between satire and reality is blurred in ways that are almost hard to believe.

To be sure, Strzok and Page expressed strong political opinions, including sharing criticisms of Trump with one another. There were also texts, however, in which they criticized Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, and Eric Holder. Nevertheless, Strzok was later removed from Special Counsel’s Robert Mueller’s team.

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Can you name the Dutch politician who was set on fire?

No. But I vaguely remember something about it on the news a long time ago.