monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

WTF!?!? Is he really saying this out loud??? Talk about thinly-veiled racism!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGokFOErVaI[/youtube]

Trump is now surrounded by a group called the “God Whispers” true believers one and all. The God Whispers hope to run America. At no time in America History has there been such a violation of the Constitution’s requirement of separation of church and state. The God Whispers are made up of 20 conservative Christian pastors and advisors to sit at the right hand of Trump’s throne. The magical thinkers will try to eliminate science from public schools and replace it with magical thinking. The separation of church and state is a founding principal of America for a good reason. Since Trump has decided that he is not bound by the constitution of the United States this should be good grounds for impeaching him. The God Whispers have already played a part in several major decisions including moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem which will start a new Mideast war but the preachers’ black book of magic say it should be so. The black book of magic says that property owned by distant ancestors is a valid claim to land today. There are more far right preachers running in and out of the White House today than running in and out of churches. One preacher has been to the White House 20 times so far. Trump could care less about governing the country he only there to make a profit, he is a businessman and has already secured over a $100 million a year tax cut for himself. Trump is like the man on the turnpike. A man had a flat tire on the rear of his car and had stopped to change it. After he jacked the car up he noticed somebody had raised the hood. He went up and demanded to know what the man was doing. The man (Trump) said he just wanted the battery and told the man he could have the tires. That is what is happening to America.

You fled because you were terrified of what you are hearing.

Why would you want to be a person that steadfastly denies reality when you know the truth?

I suppose that if you live next door to a crazy dangerous psychopath long enough

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman cautioned Monday night that Americans pining for the impeachment of President Donald Trump should reconsider their wishes, because Vice President Mike Pence is "scary."

"Can I just say this? As bad as y’all think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence,” Manigault told her housemates on Celebrity Big Brother in an episode that aired on Monday.

She continued: “ We would be begging for days of Trump back if Pence became President, that’s all I’m saying. He’s extreme."

Trump's Budget Would Balloon Deficit, Slash Social Safety Net

President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.4 trillion budget plan Monday that envisions steep cuts to America’s social safety net but mounting spending on the military, formally retreating from last year’s promises to balance the federal budget.

The president’s spending outline for the first time acknowledges that the Republican tax overhaul passed last year would add billions to the deficit and not “pay for itself” as Trump and his Republican allies asserted.

Donald Trump has hailed his “great relationship” with the Philippines’ president, Rodrigo Duterte, who stands accused of acting with impunity over a brutal war on drugs that has left thousands dead.

The US president made no mention of human rights during brief remarks to reporters prior to a meeting with his counterpart, and both leaders ignored shouted questions about the drugs crackdown.

...According to a spokesman for Duterte, human rights issues were not raised during the meeting, although the pair did discuss their mutual distaste for Barack Obama.

President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine strongman who has earned a reputation for dirty tactics and language, was criticized on Monday for having boasted that he had ordered soldiers to shoot female communist guerrillas in the genitals.

“Tell the soldiers, ‘There’s a new order coming from the mayor,’ ” the president said in a speech, recalling a directive he said he had given when he was mayor of Davao City. “ ‘We will not kill you. We will just shoot you in the vagina.’ ”

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that she has no reason not to believe statements that Jennifer Willoughby and I have made about our ex-husband, former White House aide Rob Porter. I actually appreciated her saying that she at least did not not believe us.

But I was dismayed when Conway, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” went on to say that she does not fear for White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, who has reportedly been dating Porter. “I’ve rarely met somebody so strong with such excellent instincts and loyalty and smarts.”

Borrowing Conway’s words, I have no reason not to believe her when she says that Hicks is a strong woman. But her statement implies that those who have been in abusive relationships are not strong.

I beg to differ.

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman cautioned Monday night that Americans pining for the impeachment of President Donald Trump should reconsider their wishes, because Vice President Mike Pence is "scary."

Vice President Mike Pence's efforts to keep North Korea from stealing the show at the Winter Olympics proved to be short-lived, quickly drowned out by the images of the two Koreas marching and competing together, as the South appeared to look favorably on warming ties on the Korean Peninsula.

Pence spent the days leading up to the games warning that the North was trying to "hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games" with its "propaganda." But the North was still welcomed with open arms to what South Korean President Moon Jae-in called "Olympic games of peace" and the U.S. appeared to be the one left out in the cold.

Moon was all smiles Saturday as he greeted Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, the country's 90-year-old nominal head of state, for lunch at the presidential residence. Kim Yo Jong offered an invitation from her brother for Moon to visit the North, in the strongest sign yet of an expanding diplomatic opening opposed by the U.S.

Pence said Friday that the U.S. would oppose talks between the two Koreas until the North agreed to open negotiations on ending its nuclear program, and he was silent Saturday on the news of the invitation.

"The vice president is grateful that President Moon reaffirmed his strong commitment to the global maximum pressure campaign and for his support for continued sanctions," Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said when asked about the development.

Moon and Pence spoke Saturday while taking in the speedskating competition, but aides did not immediately say whether the invitation came up during the discussion.

At the opening ceremonies on Friday, Pence sat stone-faced in his seat as Moon and North Korean officials stood together with much of the stadium to applaud their joint team of athletes. White House officials stressed that Pence had applauded only for the American team, but Asia experts said the vice president's refusal to stand could be seen as disrespectful to the hosts.

U.S. officials have been urging South Korea to be cautious in its rapprochement with the North — a point Pence drilled home in private meetings with Moon on Thursday.

But North Korea's terrible record on human rights and the growing threat from its nuclear weapons program appeared out of mind.

Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has shared the American skepticism of warming inter-Korean relations and pressed Moon against falling for the North's "smile diplomacy," greeted Kim Yong Nam.

Pence arrived late and stayed for just five minutes — and did not interact with the delegation from the North — at a Friday VIP reception for delegation leaders.

"The Koreans will think it's a mood kill," said Frank Jannuzi, an expert on East Asia at the Mansfield Foundation in Washington. He criticized the Trump administration for straining too hard to signal disgust of Kim Jong Un's government.

"The grievances that the world has about North Korea are very legitimate. But the Olympic moment that President Moon is trying to generate here is not a time to nurse those grievances," Jannuzi said. "It's a time to focus on messages of reconciliation and peace."

Industry-friendly lawmakers are waging a coordinated campaign with the Trump administration to strip Americans of their legal rights to use the courts to hold polluting companies and the government itself accountable for violations of bedrock environmental laws and other important public protections.

Members of Congress have introduced more than 50 bills over the past year that would make it extremely difficult or impossible for people to seek justice in a court of law, according to an in-depth analysis by Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization. The proposed bills are targeting laws related to environmental protection, public health, consumer rights, and civil liberties.

As a response to the unveiling of former President Barack Obama’s official portrait, pro-Trump trolls launched a smear campaign against artist Kehinde Wiley, claiming a painting of his symbolizes an attack against white people and that the artist “seems racist.”

Laura Ingraham: Rob Porter's alleged wife-beating "didn't, however, affect his work, which by all accounts was top-notch"

Rob Porter Denied Punching Through Wife’s Window, Admitted Breaking It With His Knuckle

When allegations of domestic abuse first surfaced about former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, he reportedly tried to reassure his colleagues that the claims had been overblown. For instance, according to his second ex-wife, Jennifer Willoughby, while they were separated Porter punched through the glass pane on their door when she locked him out of the house.

Porter “said that he was merely tapping the glass pane with his index finger,” ABC News reports, “and while tapping the glass door pane with his index finger, his knuckle went through the glass. Porter said he went into the house to wrap up the wound but Willoughby told him to leave, and then she called the police.”

It is not clear if any of Porter’s colleagues were disturbed to hear he punched through the glass pane of his wife’s door, but were relieved to hear he merely tapped it in a sufficiently forceful manner that his knuckle went through the glass, breaking it. At which point, naturally, he let himself into the house to tend the wound, because what else are you going to do when you break the window pane of a door your separated spouse has locked to keep you out but go on in? Then for whatever reason she decided to call the police.

Quote:

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman cautioned Monday night that Americans pining for the impeachment of President Donald Trump should reconsider their wishes, because Vice President Mike Pence is "scary."

"Can I just say this? As bad as y’all think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence,” Manigault told her housemates on Celebrity Big Brother in an episode that aired on Monday.

She continued: “ We would be begging for days of Trump back if Pence became President, that’s all I’m saying. He’s extreme."

Politico
What the hell would she know about it?! There are a handful or two of right wing residents here on A2K who have more knowledge of what has gone on in this WH and of the persons involved. Am I right or am I right?

Since Mr. Trump won election in November 2016, an index of economic policy uncertainty, developed by economists from Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, has jumped 25 percent from its average level for the preceding four years. Mr. Trump has regularly dangled the possibility of quitting the North American Free Trade Agreement, for example, and his signature tax law sets all of its individual cuts, and a key business provision, to expire in a few years.

Democrats look at that evolution and see Republicans revealing a new set of economic preferences for the Trump era: lower taxes, less regulation, more federal spending — including an infrastructure proposal that could further swell the deficit — and mounting piles of federal debt.