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| Daylee Picture: A Roseate Spoonbill in Florida. From Smithsonian Magazine. |
Friday, May 11, 2018
TODAY'S BIG NUGGET: The REAL Trouble Trump Has Created for Himself
The FBI's Revenge (Mike Allen) from Axios
"Back in December, President Trump tweeted: "After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness." The state of play: Now, the FBI is getting its revenge. All at once, Trump is being pounded by the bureau and its alumni, with a three-pronged threat. ..."
"Back in December, President Trump tweeted: "After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness." The state of play: Now, the FBI is getting its revenge. All at once, Trump is being pounded by the bureau and its alumni, with a three-pronged threat. ..."
Hungarian "Democracy": Americans Take Notice
A Democracy Disappears (Andrew Sullivan) from New York Magazine
"The difference, of course, is that Orbán is an experienced politician, and knows exactly what he’s doing. Trump is a fool, an incompetent, and incapable of forming any kind of strategy, or sticking to one. The forces arrayed against the populist right, moreover, are much stronger in the U.S. than in Hungary; our institutions more robust; our culture much more diverse. Our democracy is far, far older. And yet almost every single trend in Hungary is apparent here as well. "
"The difference, of course, is that Orbán is an experienced politician, and knows exactly what he’s doing. Trump is a fool, an incompetent, and incapable of forming any kind of strategy, or sticking to one. The forces arrayed against the populist right, moreover, are much stronger in the U.S. than in Hungary; our institutions more robust; our culture much more diverse. Our democracy is far, far older. And yet almost every single trend in Hungary is apparent here as well. "
How to Deal with the Opioid Crisis: Look to France!
How France Cut Heroin Overdoses by 79 Percent in 4 Years ... And the United States could, too from the Atlantic
"In 1995, France made it so any doctor could prescribe buprenorphine without any special licensing or training. Buprenorphine, a first-line treatment for opioid addiction, is a medication that reduces cravings for opioids without becoming addictive itself. With the change in policy, the majority of buprenorphine prescribers in France became primary-care doctors, rather than addiction specialists or psychiatrists. Suddenly, about 10 times as many addicted patients began receiving medication-assisted treatment, and half the country’s heroin users were being treated. Within four years, overdose deaths had declined by 79 percent."
"In 1995, France made it so any doctor could prescribe buprenorphine without any special licensing or training. Buprenorphine, a first-line treatment for opioid addiction, is a medication that reduces cravings for opioids without becoming addictive itself. With the change in policy, the majority of buprenorphine prescribers in France became primary-care doctors, rather than addiction specialists or psychiatrists. Suddenly, about 10 times as many addicted patients began receiving medication-assisted treatment, and half the country’s heroin users were being treated. Within four years, overdose deaths had declined by 79 percent."
Simply Done Listening to Conservative Whining!
Conservatives Will Never Get the Respect They Crave. They Don’t Deserve It. from Washington Monthly
"...at a certain level, this tired conservative whine is correct: the people who lead and create culture don’t respect them. Artists, actors, inventors, comedians, entrepreneurs, academics, musicians, journalists and professionals across almost all creative industries have no patience for what passes for modern conservatism. And why should they?"
Put an exclamation point after that last question!
"...at a certain level, this tired conservative whine is correct: the people who lead and create culture don’t respect them. Artists, actors, inventors, comedians, entrepreneurs, academics, musicians, journalists and professionals across almost all creative industries have no patience for what passes for modern conservatism. And why should they?"
Put an exclamation point after that last question!
The Fog Clears Over "the Swamp" If Just for a Moment
Mulvaney: I Only Talked To Lobbyists Who Donated To My Congressional Campaign from Talking Points Memo
"Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House’s Office of Budget and Management, told banking officials on Tuesday that while he was a congressman, he had a policy of only talking to lobbyists who donated to his campaign, the New York Times reported. “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” Mulvaney said at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington, D.C., according to the New York Times. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”"
What a moron!! This story has not been getting nearly enough attention. It speaks volumes about the character of Trump appointments. -- Nuggetsman
"Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House’s Office of Budget and Management, told banking officials on Tuesday that while he was a congressman, he had a policy of only talking to lobbyists who donated to his campaign, the New York Times reported. “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” Mulvaney said at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington, D.C., according to the New York Times. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”"
What a moron!! This story has not been getting nearly enough attention. It speaks volumes about the character of Trump appointments. -- Nuggetsman
Trump's "Good Buddies"
Trump Has Been Afraid of Roger Stone ‘For Years’ from Mediaite
"Haberman also quoted Stone in the story, who remarked on Trump’s treatment of Cohen: “Donald goes out of his way to treat him like garbage.”
This news is more than a week old now. But it bears repeating. Wow! So Trump has been treating his Fixer-who-knows-where-all-the-bodies-are-buried guy like sh@t for decades! What a good idea! So this could end being SO COSMIC if Cohen flips -- and ultimately goes for maximum payback penetration of the Great Orange One! Ah, that we should all be so lucky to see this come to pass! -- Nuggetsman
"Haberman also quoted Stone in the story, who remarked on Trump’s treatment of Cohen: “Donald goes out of his way to treat him like garbage.”
This news is more than a week old now. But it bears repeating. Wow! So Trump has been treating his Fixer-who-knows-where-all-the-bodies-are-buried guy like sh@t for decades! What a good idea! So this could end being SO COSMIC if Cohen flips -- and ultimately goes for maximum payback penetration of the Great Orange One! Ah, that we should all be so lucky to see this come to pass! -- Nuggetsman
Seeing Trumpian Times Clearly thru the Lens of Recent History
American Democracy has Faced Worse Threats than Donald Trump (Ezra Klein) from Vox
"The triumphant story we tell about American history can obscure both the extent of our progress and the fragility of our consensus. To see what we are, or what we may become, requires clarity about what we have been. And what we have been is violent, disordered, undemocratic, and illiberal on a scale far beyond anything the United States is undergoing today. You do not need to go back to the country’s early years — when new arrivals from Europe drove out the Native Americans, brought over millions of enslaved Africans, and wrote laws making women second-class citizens — to see it."
"The triumphant story we tell about American history can obscure both the extent of our progress and the fragility of our consensus. To see what we are, or what we may become, requires clarity about what we have been. And what we have been is violent, disordered, undemocratic, and illiberal on a scale far beyond anything the United States is undergoing today. You do not need to go back to the country’s early years — when new arrivals from Europe drove out the Native Americans, brought over millions of enslaved Africans, and wrote laws making women second-class citizens — to see it."
Trump's Appeal to Evangelicals Explained
An Evangelical Professor Explains the Troubled Nostalgia and Racial Anxiety Behind Christians’ support for Trump from Raw Story
"In Fea’s analysis, three tropes—fear, nostalgia, and power—primarily account for Trump’s appeal to evangelicals. A sense of cultural disorientation tinged with racism plays into the long-standing conservative strategy—the appeal to fear, nurtured by Trump more effectively than any other candidate."
This sounds spot on!
"In Fea’s analysis, three tropes—fear, nostalgia, and power—primarily account for Trump’s appeal to evangelicals. A sense of cultural disorientation tinged with racism plays into the long-standing conservative strategy—the appeal to fear, nurtured by Trump more effectively than any other candidate."
This sounds spot on!
The Post-Trump Landscape Coming Into Viiew
Trump is where the end begins (Richard Cohen) from the Washington Post
"More likely, America’s political immune system will kick in and install a more conventional government. But Trump — with his tweets, his vulgarity, his appeal to bigotry, his insults, his carefree ignorance and his ability to maintain himself as an addictive spectacle — has changed things forever. Trump is where the end begins. He will be gone, but Trumpism will remain."
"More likely, America’s political immune system will kick in and install a more conventional government. But Trump — with his tweets, his vulgarity, his appeal to bigotry, his insults, his carefree ignorance and his ability to maintain himself as an addictive spectacle — has changed things forever. Trump is where the end begins. He will be gone, but Trumpism will remain."
Donald Trump's Double-A Team Takes the Field...
‘I Was Trump Before Trump Was Trump’ from the New York Times
"Republican candidates all over are parroting the president, spouting his catchphrases and donning his hats as they try to show loyalty."
I am going out on a limb and say that this is a good thing. I don't believe the 2018 election cycle will be the time for third-rate Donald Trumps -- which is all these people are! -- Nuggetsman
"Republican candidates all over are parroting the president, spouting his catchphrases and donning his hats as they try to show loyalty."
I am going out on a limb and say that this is a good thing. I don't believe the 2018 election cycle will be the time for third-rate Donald Trumps -- which is all these people are! -- Nuggetsman
Where America is Becoming Better...
The Reinvention of America (James Fallows) from the Atlantic
"America is becoming more like itself again. More Americans are trying to make it so, in more places, than most Americans are aware. Even as the country is becoming worse in obvious ways—angrier, more divided, less able to do the basic business of governing itself—it is becoming distinctly better on a range of other indicators that are harder to perceive. The pattern these efforts create also remains hidden. Americans don’t realize how fast the country is moving toward becoming a better version of itself. How can this be? Let me explain."
"America is becoming more like itself again. More Americans are trying to make it so, in more places, than most Americans are aware. Even as the country is becoming worse in obvious ways—angrier, more divided, less able to do the basic business of governing itself—it is becoming distinctly better on a range of other indicators that are harder to perceive. The pattern these efforts create also remains hidden. Americans don’t realize how fast the country is moving toward becoming a better version of itself. How can this be? Let me explain."
The Trump Presidency: An Exercise in Self-Immolation
There is No One Who Can Save Trump from Himself (Joe Scarborough) from the Washington Post
"Given his recent history of self-defeating statements, the president is clearly not suffering through the early stages of dementia , but is afflicted instead by the political equivalent of self-harm syndrome. ... This is not about Trumpian political disruption. It is, instead, a study in self-immolation. And one of the many tragedies of Donald Trump’s life is that there is no one on this Earth who can save this tortured man from himself."
"Given his recent history of self-defeating statements, the president is clearly not suffering through the early stages of dementia , but is afflicted instead by the political equivalent of self-harm syndrome. ... This is not about Trumpian political disruption. It is, instead, a study in self-immolation. And one of the many tragedies of Donald Trump’s life is that there is no one on this Earth who can save this tortured man from himself."
The Only Reality-Based Member of the Trump Administration: The First Lady
Melania, the steely, dead-eyed trouper (Virginia Heffernan) from the Los Angeles Times
"Melania Trump has become a stand-in for the nation, which has also been humiliated, even threatened, by the president's recklessly asserted droit du seigneur. We as a country — an electoral-college majority of us — married ourselves to a brutal overlord, and we have also made our bed. Anyone who finds fault with Melania for taking it, and for serving as an exponent of the president's bigotry, has to do what she cannot as first lady. Stand up to him at the midterms, put on some sturdy shoes and break free."
"Melania Trump has become a stand-in for the nation, which has also been humiliated, even threatened, by the president's recklessly asserted droit du seigneur. We as a country — an electoral-college majority of us — married ourselves to a brutal overlord, and we have also made our bed. Anyone who finds fault with Melania for taking it, and for serving as an exponent of the president's bigotry, has to do what she cannot as first lady. Stand up to him at the midterms, put on some sturdy shoes and break free."
African American History and Culture Nugget!
The Return of The Negro Motorist Green Book from Think Progress
"Author Jan Miles has revived the Jim Crow-era travelers' guide for black Americans, with a 21st century twist. ... She doesn’t list what restaurants, gas stations, or motels are friendly to black travelers. Instead, her Green Book documents acts of cruelty by the police, instances of racial profiling by businesses, and everyday outrages by private citizens that increasingly draw anguished attention in all forms of media."
"Author Jan Miles has revived the Jim Crow-era travelers' guide for black Americans, with a 21st century twist. ... She doesn’t list what restaurants, gas stations, or motels are friendly to black travelers. Instead, her Green Book documents acts of cruelty by the police, instances of racial profiling by businesses, and everyday outrages by private citizens that increasingly draw anguished attention in all forms of media."
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