The latest fiasco in the Trump administration left Kellyanne Conway holding the bag, after insisting that Mike Flynn had the “full confidence” of Trump, only seven hours before he resigned. She couldn’t spin her way out of this mess or come up with alternative facts.
On a serious note, the National Secutiry Council–the nation’s agency to maintain foreign affairs and security– is in disarray. Steve Bannon is a member but the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are not, and the president’s national security advisor is gone. Meanwhile, Trump takes highly confidential phone calls in public.
Chaos. Incompetence.
As an opinion columnist wrote the other day, if you wanted your car fixed, you would find a better mechanic, not a massage therapist. Experience matters. Intelligence matters.
Ignorance and inexperience are dangerous.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so serious. If we had a parliamentary form of government, we’d have new elections soon.
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We must Dump Trump…and his swamp.
MoveOn.org petition favors a House investigation by Rep. Jerrold Nadler into Trump’s financial conflicts of interest and ties to the Russian government. Here is the link: Sign it and pass it on to all your lists, please.
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/investigate-trump-and-1?mailing_id=36813&source=s.em.cr&r_by=914448
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No kidding, GregB.
This administration is a “fustercluck” of enormous proportions.
Are there any adults in the room? Apparently, not.
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Maybe they’re all out clucking.
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Or………… 😉
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Zorba… maybe this video should be played each night like a mantra as if it were a tv commercial during prime time. Any zillionaires who detest Trump (aka Mark Cuban) willing to step up to pay for these ads? Then she needs to be sent packing so she can become an official marketer for Ivanka Trump. Ivanka surely needs the master spin since her products are expensive and not made well. It will be GREAT… it will be HUGE she won’t have any political interference since she loves the brand so MUCH … and she won’t have to kiss arse Trump to claw her way to the politicla top.
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Here’s a good video produced by Vox that dissects Conway’s interview tactics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7fzHy3aG0
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oops.. the comment to Zorba was meant for GregB!
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The Ethics Office just formally busted Kellyanne about her recent shilling for Ivanka’s clothing line:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/kellyanne-conway-ethics-discipline/516729/
“The U.S. Office of Government Ethics recommended Monday that the White House investigate Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, for possible disciplinary action after she publicly endorsed Ivanka Trump’s products in a national television interview last week.
“ ‘Under the present circumstances, there is strong reason to believe that Ms. Conway has violated the Standards of Conduct and that disciplinary action is warranted,’ OGE Director Walter Shaub wrote in a letter to White House Deputy Counsel Stefan Passantino on Monday. Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released the letter to the public on Tuesday.”
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Again, THANK YOU, Diane!
IMPEACH!
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Trump could have listened to a sane person, gotten relatively sane and savvy people around himself, and basically could have contained himself.
But NOOOOOOOO! Had to be crazy in crazyland. Pretty soon foreign countries will confuse SNL with The Real World: White House, “When people stop being civil, and start being unconstitutional. ‘Will somebody hack the phone?!'”
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Trump is no judge of character. Or qualifications. Still thinks he is on “The Apprentice”
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So TRUE, Diane!
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Getting unconstitutional
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Other countries are ALREADY thinking SNL is reality. A Dominican Republic newspaper put a picture of Alec Baldwin as Trump instead of Trump himself!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/12/newspaper-fooled-alec-baldwins-donald-trump-spoof-act/
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Excuse me folks, but this is a democracy and this is what millions of Americans wanted, exactly this. We’re already seeing Mexicans thrown across the border with their faces in the dirt, people rounded up on mere suspicion they might be undocumented (major exposure of such a case here in Phoenix the other night). Soon Black Lives Matter protests will be hosed down a la Birmingham. Don’t you remember Trump’s rallies and how the crowd went wild when he talked with snarling disrespect about other nations, religions, ethnic groups, and the press?
Trump must have total obeisance shown toward him so no one dares give him sound advice or even information. His ego will accept nothing less and anyone who talks about Trump like he is a normal person needs to compare Trump with any normal person. He is not mentally able to handle the job, as Obama said.
Two favors I ask: be ruthless with Democrats and force them to stand up to this administration from Hell and do not mix democratic policies and opposition to Trump and the Republicans with Socialism. Many of us do not want Socialism as the guiding force of our economy, let along our society, but in other ways we are with you. Do not let ideological purity rob you of allies.
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Pbarrett,
I agree with JOHN Lewis. I don’t think his presidency is legitimate due to interventions by Putin and Comey
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I agree Diane…he is a ‘so called’ president only. The election was rigged and he and Toomey and Assange and Putin were in on it.
And possibly ever Ryan and McConnell. Such evil crooks…all of them.
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How far it will go I do not know . But some republicans are starting to at least pretend they want an investigation. I do not think they would object to the populist aspects of Trumps appeal being jettisoned.
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pbarrett: American socialist programs=Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, VA health care and benefits, public schools, federal pensions, public prisons, law enforcement (I’m sure I’m leaving out some obvious ones). Public utilities are regulated monopolies. We have a mixed economy. Without our socialist programs, our wealth gap would be exponentially more than its current immoral size already is. The only ideological purity is not the right. The American left, what little of it there is, does not advocate for complete socialism. Only for sensible social democracy that encompasses public functions.
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ideological purity is on the right
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Socialist roads in South Dakota …..
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Socialist fire and rescue services- in most places. (There are some private ambulance services, but not where I live.)
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Let me try this again. I receive literature that wants to stop Trump’s agenda, the GOP agenda, etc. I’m all for it. I am not stupid; I taught Civics in high school. I know the difference between social programs and calls for fighting Capitalism. I want social programs, a form of socialism; I do not want to fight Capitalism, I want to regulate it. Therefore, I will not lend support to organizations that declare they are against Capitalism. Most Americans want to be capitalist in some way, whether by being entrepreneurs, by investing, or just by working for firms with a capitalist structure. We won’t get their votes if we join up with groups who have an agenda of destroying Capitalism. Mixed economies are great; destroying Capitalism does not lead to mixed economies.
I hope I have been clear. Apparently I wasn’t in my previous post.
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Thanks for taking the time to clarify, pbarret. I think we are generally in agreement, but probably differ on semantics and degree. I generally object to the use of the terms socialism and capitalism because most who used them, pro and con, usually have no idea what they’re talking about. I prefer public function and free market, and even those are shaky. And I think there are no—at least none of which I am aware—free market solutions to public functions. There are enough examples in Thatcher’s Britain, the U.S. since Reagan, Chile, and Sweden that should dispel that myth. I pull out what little is left of my hair when I hear that people want to apply free market solutions to health care. All that ends up doing is creating a useless insurance industry that pockets huge profits that should be going to health care for individuals. I’m sure we agree on education. In my view, the “pure capitalist” argument also ignores the role of government (like the wild West myth), political favoritism (as we are seeing now like never before), and responsible regulation (as the recent example Diane posted about the removal of coal waste dumping standards). In my experience, those who scream the loudest about capitalism have no problem exploiting those issues. I appreciate your response!
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Re Diane’s poll: most participants here are reasonable and informed, differing on semantics, etc. I don’t find that in other places. I’m sure they exist but politics-only blogs are probably not where to find them.
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You have to watch the DeVos/Trump “listening session”
Trump is reading off sheets of paper and he goes on and on and on- all bragging- and everyone else sits around and listens to him.
They invited those poor people there and then Trump bored them to death talking about himself.
They don’t seem to know how bad this is. It isn’t a “listening session”. It’s an “everyone sit around and listen to this braggart bore talk about himself”
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Har har! I once knew a young associate at a venerable law firm who told me sessions w/the maritime-law partner were called “boobstooling,” i.e. sitting on a stool like a boob.
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Dark waters
https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/russian-provocations-test-trumps-commitment-to-improving-relations/?client=safari
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Mike Flynn, the vile loud mouth who howled, “Lock her up, lock her up!!!” to a roaring mob of Neanderthals. All we heard was Hillary’s unsecured servers, blah, blah, blah and Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, ad infinitum. Now let’s hear lock him up, lock him up! All of a sudden, laws, the courts and the Constitution don’t matter with the GOP and Trump in power and in “control” of our government.
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It was interesting to see that clip of Flynn, which I saw for the first time tonight since I did not watch the Republican freak show in Cleveland. If clips of this aren’t part of Democratic campaign commercials, played over and over again, it will be giving the fascist regime aid and comfort.
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That will be us in the streets by the millions outside the houses of Republican office holders. Their children’s schools if need be..
But I do have faith that the never Trump movement may come to life. Hard to believe I am rooting for the neo con neo liberals to save the country .
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Breaking News Trump Team ordering Vodka from FSS (KBG) Agents in July
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Get moving John and Lindsey
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Have you seen her…she looks terrible. Don’t miss this The beginning of the end …finally … and the long road of obstruction begins … Drumpf-Gate
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/14/1633502/-The-beginning-of-the-end-finally-and-the-long-road-of-obstruction-begins-Drumpf-Gate?detail=emailsc&link_id=6&can_id=47594dc7343bb19ac4f7621b50e457f8&source=email-in-a-brutal-interview-kellyanne-conway-struggles-to-defend-trump-and-flynn-on-russia-scandal-2&email_referrer=in-a-brutal-interview-kellyanne-conway-struggles-to-defend-trump-and-flynn-on-russia-scandal-2&email_subject=in-a-brutal-interview-kellyanne-conway-struggles-to-defend-trump-and-flynn-on-russia-scandal
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Why does this woman still have a job–and I mean any job?
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