Yesterday I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having a couple Burritos delivered. Today I’m rushing to finish in time to go get George a new ankle. It’s a hot humid day.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:02 (average 5:08). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: How do Republican women feel about Donald Trump as the likely presidential nominee for the Republican party?
On the other hand, some Republican women are so brainwashed, that they want to be kept the way Rump Dump wants them:
From, NY Times: In an extraordinary rebuke of his party’s presumed nominee, Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the nation’s highest-ranking elected Republican, said Thursday that he was “not ready” to endorse Donald J. Trump for president.
Mr. Ryan’s announcement represented a split among Republicans not seen in at least a half century, and it came only two days after Mr. Trump said he would unify the party after essentially clinching the nomination with his victory in the Indiana primary.
A rejection, albeit temporary, from Lyin’ Ryan is a failure to top a VERY low bar!!
From Media Matters:News networks frequently use the word “controversial” to describe Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican comments, and it’s setting a dangerous precedent for the way the media talks about bigotry in American politics..
There’s nothing controversial about Rump Dump! Hid fascist hate mongering is just plain anti-American!!
I’m going to let the politicians do all the heavy-lifting for this week’s “Friday Fun” since I’m a bit busy getting ready to head up to Illinois to celebrate Mother’s Day with my Mom.
So let’s start things off with Carly Fiorina doing her best Three Stooges imitation with her recent plunge off a stage (she wasn’t injured) while the Cruz family pays no attention. Well, to be fair, Heidi seems a tad concerned – but just for a second, before she gets back to the more serious task of waving to the crowd:
Given Boehner’s recent disavowal of Cruz as “Lucifer in the flesh”, some cheeky wags claimed it was the Devil pulling Snarly down to Hades. I disagree and I don’t mean to get all “Wizardly” on you – but after studying that clip, I wonder if any of you can see some little girl in ruby-red slippers who might have thrown a bucket of water on her?
Next we’ll move to the Master – Pres. Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Fortunately someone has kindly preserved his best one-liners for us – so without further ado:
1). Next year at this time, someone else will be standing here in this very spot, and it’s anyone’s guess who she will be.
2). In just six short months, I will be officially a lame duck, which means Congress now will flat-out reject my authority. And Republican leaders won’t take my phone calls. And this is going to take some getting used to, it’s really going to — it’s a curve ball. I don’t know what to do with it.
3). And yet, somehow, despite all this, despite the churn, in my final year, my approval ratings keep going up. The last time I was this high, I was trying to decide on my major. And here’s the thing: I haven’t really done anything differently. So it’s odd. Even my aides can’t explain the rising poll numbers — what has changed, nobody can figure it out. [Slide of Cruz and Trump Shown] Puzzling …
4). A lot of folks have been surprised by the Bernie phenomenon, especially his appeal to young people. But not me, I get it. Just recently, a young person came up to me and said she was sick of politicians standing in the way of her dreams. As if we were actually going to let Malia go to Burning Man this year. That was not going to happen. Bernie might have let her go. Not us. I am hurt, though, Bernie, that you’ve distancing yourself a little from me. I mean, that’s just not something that you do to your comrade.
5). Look, I’ve said how much I admire Hillary’s toughness, her smarts, her policy chops, her experience. You’ve got to admit it, though, Hillary trying to appeal to young voters is a little bit like your relative just signed up for Facebook. “Dear America, did you get my poke?” “Is it appearing on your wall?” “I’m not sure I am using this right. Love, Aunt Hillary.” It’s not entirely persuasive.
6). Meanwhile, on the Republican side, things are a little more — how should we say this — a little “more loose.” Just look at the confusion over the invitations to tonight’s dinner. Guests were asked to check whether they wanted steak or fish, but instead, a whole bunch of you wrote in Paul Ryan. That’s not an option, people. Steak or fish. You may not like steak or fish –but that’s your choice.
7). Although I am a little hurt that he’s not here tonight. We had so much fun the last time. And it is surprising. You’ve got a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras, and he says no? Is this dinner too tacky for The Donald? What could he possibly be doing instead? Is he at home, eating a Trump Steak tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel? What’s he doing?
8). Of course, in fact, for months now congressional Republicans have been saying there are things I cannot do in my final year. Unfortunately, this dinner was not one of them. But on everything else, it’s another story. And you know who you are, Republicans. In fact, I think we’ve got Republican Senators Tim Scott and Cory Gardner, they’re in the house, which reminds me, security, bar the doors! Judge Merrick Garland, come on out, we’re going to do this right here, right now. It’s like “The Red Wedding.”
9). But the prospect of leaving the White House is a mixed bag. You might have heard that someone jumped the White House fence last week, but I have to give Secret Service credit — they found Michelle, brought her back, she’s safe back at home now. It’s only nine more months, baby. Settle down.
10). And then there’s Ted Cruz. Ted had a tough week. He went to Indiana –- Hoosier country –- stood on a basketball court, and called the hoop a “basketball ring.” What else is in his lexicon? Baseball sticks? Football hats? But sure … I’m the foreign one.
And who will ever be able to forget his now iconic closing of “Obama out” with the mic drop.
But let’s not leave out the presumptive nominees of both parties. I’ve heard Herr Drumpf claim that he will win the general election because he’ll get Democrats to abandon their party and crossover to vote for him as the Rethuglican nominee.
If that happens, the average IQ of BOTH parties would be greatly enhanced.
In hopes of unifying the party, Herr Drumpf has said he’s going to put Ben Carson in charge of his VP Search Committee. Yeah, right – that should work out REALLY well ..
Lord knows your party needs LOTS of unifying. After all, it’s been reported that not a single GOP presidential candidate since 1988 is going to show up at the convention.
(Marco Rubio is also not going to attend. But, hell – he doesn’t show up for anything anyway!)
Oh, and before I forget, Herr Drumpf – whether you have big hands or little hands – here’s a warning to you just in case you really, REALLY believe that Hillary Clinton is, in your words, “not tough enough” to handle the job …
If you’re a regular reader of TomCat’s blog and articles, I’m sure you’re quite aware of the fact that both Ted Cruz and John Kasich have suspended their campaign in the Republican primaries and Donald Trump seems to have secured the GOP’s nomination. Or as the BBC analyst said last night on the 10 o’clock news: ”Donald Trump has now completed his hostile takeover of the Republican party.”
This rather negative take on Trump’s victory in Indiana and the subsequent departure of his last two opponents is one that has been in the make not only in America, as TomCat’s blog has been witness to for quite some time now, but also across many countries across the globe. Chief foreign correspondent of The Sydney Morning Herald, Paul MCGeough, headed his article with: Donald Trump’s victory over Ted Cruz is more about Republican failure than candidate’s success. ABC news also quickly focused on Trump’s most likely Democratic opponent for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, and on the fact that presumptive nominee Trump will have a hard time trying to unite a fractured party around his bid for the White House. Others think Trump’s going to have a difficult time ahead of him in getting the GOP to support him (His biggest challenge yet: Anti-Trump Republicans consider the ultimate betrayal)
My own the Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, sketched the situation yesterday (May 4, 2016) with just a hint of amusement: “What started as a comedy number less than a year ago, became a revolt in the party and ended Wednesday night with a Republican seizure of power by Trump. He demanded instantly victory on. ‘We’re going after Hillary Clinton now,’” but the paper doesn’t fail to note that while “The Republican party goes to do battle with (probably) the Democrat Hillary Clinton with an uncontrollable, polarizing presidential candidate,” this probable Democratic candidate is equally unpopular. Both the BBC news and the Dutch media came up with numbers quoted on fivethirtyeight.com: American’s distaste for both Trump and Clinton is record breaking, where Trump is disliked by 10% more Americans than Hillary is, or as the headline in my newspaper read: "The Contest Is Between Who Has The Least Hated Candidate."
You might wonder why people abroad are so negative about the possibility of Donald Trump sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office in November. We’re only looking at it from afar and as Ben Carson said “we’re only looking at four years” if Trump’s a bust, right? That negativity may have something to do with his foreign policy which he read from teleprompter only last week. I’ll give you the translation of almost the full article my newspaper carried on its front page (NRC Handelsblad, Thursday, April 28, 2016) to show how it was received here in The Netherlands.
“Trump Promises An America That Thinks Predominantly Of Itself
'America first ', will be the foundation of his foreign policy, Donald Trump said Wednesday in a speech about his probable foreign policy, after he increased his lead in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday.
In the speech, clearly intended to provide the almost-candidate with a presidential allure, he unfolded a predominantly isolationist views on America's role in the world. The political and economic motivation came at the end: “We will no longer surrender this country to the false tune of globalization. The US are the true foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical about international treaties that bind our hands.”
America will no longer get the chestnuts out of the fire when other countries, as for example NATO partners, spend insufficiently on defense, said Trump.
Details on Trump’s many notorious loose statements such as building a wall along the border with Mexico were missing from the speech. Trump tried to present an overall vision by contrasting America's role at the end of the second world war and the cold war with what he called the 'complete disaster' of the foreign policy of the Presidents Clinton and Obama.
He assured the relationship with Russia and China will improve. He promised 'a deal' with Russia, China will start to respect America's power. To combat IS the US should develop both a 'coherent plan' as well as become ‘unpredictable'. Trump wants to strengthen the army with 'the best equipment in the world' but also said that the US want peace.”
Trump’s maiden policy speech wasn’t all that well received in other countries either. Pundit for The National Interest in Australia, Mark Beeson, professor of International Politics, think president Trump, following his own course on foreign policy, would be devastating to Australia: “The point to emphasize is that any country that relies too heavily on another for its security is potentially hostage to its protector’s policies—no matter how ill-conceived, dangerous or inappropriate they may be. That possibility was realized in entirely predictable and disastrous fashion when Bush was president. A Trump administration threatens to be even more catastrophic on a number of levels.”
Even Peter Foster in UK’s conservative The Telegraph comes to the same negative conclusion in his analysis for the United Kingdom and Europe: “No US president makes good on all their campaign-trail promises, but from ripping up America’s security alliances in Europe and the Asia-Pacific to threatening a trade-war with China, Donald Trump has promised to put “America first” by instituting an ultra-isolationist US foreign policy.”
Some Brits, like the Independent, didn’t beat about the bush, not even in their headlines: Donald Trump’s incoherent speech on foreign policy shows why he’s unfit to be president, while a very serious Aussie in Financial Review slowly build up his case to end with a Trump quote which really says it all: ‘Responding to recent criticisms that Mr Trump's current informal foreign policy advisers were not well known, he said "we have to look to new people because many of the old people frankly don't know what they're doing".’ Trump will be 70 by the time he expects to be in the White House.
I think most other nations have a problem with Donald Trump’s vision on the world and the role America plays in it, because it is inconsistent and varies from day to day. In other words, Trump is inconsistent, untrustworthy and unpredictable, the latter to which he actually aspires in his foreign policy. America shouldn’t be so predictable, he maintains. The day after the NRC Handelsblad published the front page article cited above, it carried an article on the advisors Trump has let himself be influenced by and the inconsistencies that followed, titled Candidate without ideology with the subtitle “Trump is advised by people who want to make him ' presidential '. They give him conflicting ideas.” Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and son in law Jared Kushner should make Trump 'presidential'. But they also feed him with ideas. Those ideas are often contradictory, and that was noticeable in Trump’s speech:
“Trump wants to build a wall on the Mexican border, and Mexico has to pay for it. In the speech he did not come back to these famous statements.
Trump said that 'promoting Western civilization will contribute more to positive reforms in the world than military interventions'. But he also turned against the 'dangerous idea' that Western values can be impose on non-Western countries.
Trump promised to turn 'old enemies' into fiends, even allies by making good deals. But, he also said, a country like Iran 'will always remain our enemy'. Obama should never have negotiated with Iran.
Trump received a lot of criticism on other statements he made about his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton last Wednesday: 'If Hillary Clinton were a man, she would get less than 5 percent of the votes,' said Trump, who believes that Clinton is campaigning on women issues. He then immediately contradicted himself: 'the great thing is that women don’t like her.'
Perhaps Trump should have stuck with his first advisor:
Of course these are only a few of the inconsistencies as seen from afar. But Australian media were quick to point out that closer to home some people also had problems with Trump’s take on foreign affairs as in Madeleine Albright unleashes on Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech, who by takies to Twitter to poke holes in Trump’s first attempt at a foreign policy speech, “something I have experience with,” and tackles his doctrine’s flaws head on a la Trump himself.
If the political future of America looks a little bleak after reading this, cheer up, because I’ve saved the best for last. In an excellent analysis of the current political climate, history, polling data and demographics, independent pundit Anthony J. Gaughan, maintains in his article President Trump? Not likelythat “The evidence suggests that Trump will likely suffer a crushing defeat in the general election” to conclude with “The bottom line is Republican leaders with an eye on the future don’t want anything to do with Trump. They know the name “Trump” will likely join Goldwater, McGovern and Mondale as names forever associated with crushing presidential election defeats.”
It’s not hot hard to understand. Thousands of years ago, a Hebrew prophet explained what happens when people court evil, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” (Hos. 8:7a KJV) For years Republicans have courted and embraced racists, misanthropes, bigots, misogynists, homophobes, xenophobes, nativists, and every other flavor of hate monger. That was sowing the wind. To put reaping the whirlwind in secular terms, the haters have taken over and come back to bite the establishment party the ass. Seth Meyers approaches it with humor.
Seth Meyers, in an attempt to make sense of the fact that Trump is the GOP presidential nominee, took a closer look at the events leading to where we are now to get a sense of how we ended up here.
Through hilarious clips from the campaign trail, Meyers reviewed Cruz’s various recent flubs, from getting heckled by a 12-year-old (who summed up his disdain in two words: “You suck!”) to being oblivious when running mate Carly Fiorina “fell flat, literally,” to a failed streetside heart-to-heart with sign-holding Trump supporters (let’s just say it really didn’t go well).
Then of course there were Trump’s contributions, including his wacky insistence that Rafael Cruz—Ted’s dad—was in on the Kennedy assassination…
Rachel Maddow stirred the pot with a more serious approach.
Indeed this has never happened before. A mentally unstable fascist monster, who we all considered a joke, based on our past experience, will be the Republican nominee. God help us!
One thing we can do to help ourselves is to tie every Republican candidate for any office from Dog Catcher up to Rump Dump Trump!
I have another late start today,because I needed a morning nap. Someone on my floor left the water running in one of the showers. Somehow the concentration of steam set off the fire alarm, and I had to get up, get dressed, and prepare to be evacuated in the middle of the night. Tomorrow afternoon I have an appointment with Sarah, my Prosthetist. George has forgiven me, because he’s getting a shiny new ankle, but I may not have time for research and writing, before I have to leave.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:14 (average 4:37). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: So this evening the GOP lizard brains at the Arizona legislature refused to renew a program called KidsCare. It’s a small agency that provides vital services to at least 30,000 children. It costs the state nothing to operate the federally-funded program, which provides low-income families affordable medical, dental and vision insurance for children under 19. For $50 a month a child is insured. Every other friggin’ state in the country has one, because it costs those states nothing and it does good things.
I can see why it wouldn’t fly in Arizona.
These monsters just passed another $8 million tax cut for businesses, when the previous $4 billion in corporate BJs hasn’t resulted in the “creative” growth they promised, unless you count call centers and Walmarts. Hey, GOP brain trust: Google didn’t pass on Arizona because the taxes are too high; they said adios because there’s no political commitment to education.
The cost of [KidsCare] is covered by federal dollars at least through 2017 and possibly through 2019.
Gov. Doug Ducey had been non-committal on restoring KidsCare. But he has not been a fan of accepting federal dollars for health insurance.
In his 2014 run for governor, Ducey questioned the financial viability of the Medicaid program. As governor, he introduced a Medicaid reform plan that would kick 350,000 people off the rolls.
Can you even begin to wrap your head around that pile of diarrhetic [sic] thinking?
Is it time to rename Brewerstan as Duceystan? The Brewerstan Death Angel, Jan Brewer, refused free federal benefits and cancelled the surgeries already scheduled for transplant patients, causing several to die. This is life under a Republican Reich, and for evil, neither Brewer, nor Ducey can hold a candle to Rump Dump Trump!
From The New Yorker: The United States Senate declared an official day of mourning on Wednesday to mark the impending return of Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to the legislative body.
Ordering all flags at the U.S. Capitol to half-staff, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, announced the day of mourning in a somber proclamation. “We mark this day with a deep personal sense of loss that will never completely heal,” he said.
To recognize Cruz’s return, which is expected to be imminent, McConnell said that the Senate would suspend all work for the day. “Ordinarily our members would welcome a day off,” he said. “But not for this.”
In a rare moment of consensus for this bitterly divided chamber, both Republicans and Democrats expressed their sorrow, but the news of Cruz’s return seemed to cut the deepest among Republicans, many of whom now regret their decision not to endorse the Texas senator for President.
It looks like Andy is doing straight news again.
From Alternet: Donald Trump gave what some saw as an oddly “presidential” speech upon winning Indiana, in which he actually called for more love and applauded former nemesis Ted Cruz, for making the race competitive. “We’re going to cherish each other, we’re going to take care of each other,” Trump told the crowd in New York late Tuesday. Never mind that earlier in the day he had floated the baseless claim that Cruz’ father was involved in the Kennedy assassination.
Stephen Colbert opined that Trump’s weird commends were, “Basically all the things you do when you think the world is going to end,” and Trump didn’t end the meaningless promises with spreading "love" around.
If Rump Dump becomes President, God won’t be the only one moving to Canada, and it would serve Canada right. They should have sent us something better than that Canadian TRUS pervert.
When I’m wrong, I say so. Back at the beginning of the Clown Car Destruction Derby, otherwise known as the Republican Presidential race, I said that Hell would freeze over, before Trump won the Republican Nomination. Last night Cruz discovered that the batteries in his TRUS were dead, and he decided that,without the prostate stimulation it provided,,he could not go on. He suspended his campaign. Next Reince Priebus declared that Trump is the presumptive nominee, and that the Republican Party will fall in behind him. Then KKKsich suspended his campaign. How could I have been so wrong?
After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee with a victory in Tuesday night’s Indiana primary, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus tried his best to rally the party behind Trump.
During a Wednesday morning interview on CNN’s "New Day," co-host Alisyn Camerota asked Priebus, "Did you ever think this is where you would be this morning?"
"You know, I didn’t, but I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. You know what? I think something different and something new is probably good for our party," he replied. "And look, I don’t think anyone predicted what happened. So look, we’re here. We’re going to get behind the presumptive nominee."
Priebus has spoken with Trump over the phone, but would not reveal much about his conversation with the candidate on CNN. But the RNC chair indicated that Trump will have to align himself with the Republican party platform…
The only way to stop him from getting the nomination now is for the Party to change the convention rules to release pledged delegates in the fist round and install an establishment Republican, but I don’t see that happening. To do so would disenfranchise their base of hate mongers. Their response would be armed revolt. The Republican Party fears the monster they created.
So all I can do now is admit I was wrong and change his name to something more befitting a presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee. Instead of Fecal Dump Trump. he is now Rump Dump Trump.
