October 5, 2019

Californians don't vote for Trump, and he's showing them what he can do about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/opinion/editorials/donald-trump-california-emissions.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Trump Governs by Grudge in California
Californians don’t vote for Trump, and he’s showing them what he can do about it.


-----------

For the last few weeks, Mr. Trump has been deep into retaliation mode, occasionally for reasons of policy, more often out of pique. His decision last month to try to revoke California’s historic right to set its own fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards was largely a policy matter, part and parcel of his effort to roll back President Obama’s aggressive clean car rules. That effort would be rendered incomplete as long as California maintained the right to set its own higher standards, which govern a huge chunk of the car market now and would do so going forward unless somehow Mr. Trump, in plain violation of the original Clean Air Act, got rid of it.


Two other recent actions by the administration seem more spiteful. On Sept. 24, Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, sent a letter to the state accusing it of failing to meet federal air quality standards and threatening to withhold billions in federal highway funds if California did not do more to clean up its air. Two days later, Mr. Wheeler sent another letter charging California officials with failing to address multiple instances of discharges exceeding federal standards under the Clean Water Act, including pollution from trash, drug paraphernalia and human waste left on the pavement by homeless people in big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. (Mr. Trump has blasted state officials for being too tolerant of the homeless, but has offered no concrete solutions and actually cut funding for housing in his recent budgets.)

It is true that California has dirty air. According to the American Lung Association, seven of the country’s 10 metropolitan areas with the worst ozone or smog pollution are in California. There are several reasons: California has a warm climate, a lot of people and vehicles, huge agriculture and fossil fuel industries, and mountainous terrain that traps pollutants in the skies above populous areas. California has long been aware of the problem; that is, in fact, precisely the reason it asked the federal government for permission, in the late 1960s, to set its own strict air pollution standards, permission the Trump administration is now seeking to revoke.

But no similar threats were sent to three dozen other states that, according to The Washington Post, contain counties that failed to meet those national benchmarks for air pollution. Nor were any threatening letters sent to the estimated 3,500 community water systems elsewhere in the country that failed to comply with federal water quality standards.

So what, really, is the purpose of Mr. Wheeler’s public scoldings? To portray Californians as uniquely irresponsible? To deflect criticism from Mr. Trump’s own sorry environmental record? It’s hard to tell, but knowing Mr. Trump and his jealousies, he must hate it that when the world seeks evidence that America cares about climate change, it looks to state capitals like Sacramento and Albany and Olympia, and not Mr. Trump’s Washington. Also, Hillary Clinton’s four million vote margin in the state more than accounted for his national popular vote loss.

October 5, 2019

"A disease claims another victim; I lost my dad to FOX News."

https://twitter.com/smokesdad28/status/1180129979264376832

----

But the kicker for me was a comment made during cross-talk, when we were both arguing points simultaneously, that made me stop cold. “The only person who’s been more put upon in their life,” my dad told me, in reference to Trump, “who was more hated just for who they were instead of what they did, was Jesus Christ.”

Yes, as in, Donald Trump is the modern equivalent of Jesus Christ,

Just… no words.

I got no words.

I love my dad with all my heart- nothing will ever change that. But to see what Fox News has done to the man I once knew was more than a body blow; it was a blow to my heart and soul.

It illustrates the stakes for all of us. How easy it is when powerful groups use their entire effort to tear everything down around them. I’ve known this man for thirty-four years. I trace a hell of a lot of my political sentiments and the fact I’m running for office at all to him and the high-minded notions he taught me about what our Republic stands for, about standing up and fighting for people who can’t, giving voice to the voiceless… all wrought asunder by weaponized and non-stop invective.

It’s a campaign of rhetorical terrorism, one they have to wage because they know they cannot win with the truth; they cannot win because the vast majority of Americans stand against them.

It’s a fight we have to undertake with one hand tied behind our back, because we have to refuse to engage in the kind of tactics they do every day. That puts us at an immediate disadvantage. But we cannot engage in a race to the bottom with these folks, because they are experts at racing to the bottom, and will always win.

We have to fight our fight. We have to fight for the progressive values that are the new American center. We have to fight to make things better for every American family, in every zip code and every corner of the country. To lift everyone up instead of tearing everyone down.

We can, and we will, get it done- but only working hand-in-hand. Only through enormous effort. And we will not fail, because the consequences for doing so are too dire.

We will fight. We will win. And we will bring progress to our country- together.

October 4, 2019

Trump's Latest Defense of His Asking Ukraine to Investigate Biden Requires You to Be a Moron

Trump’s Latest Defense of His Asking Ukraine to Investigate Biden Requires You to Be a Moron


On Friday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to offer up a new incredible defense to his asking the Ukrainian president in a July 25 phone call to investigate Joe Biden. The only problem with accepting Trump’s new claim is that it requires you to be an absolute idiot.

Trump told us Friday via his favorite platform, ‘’As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!”

In order for this new defense to work you have to believe two things. One, that Trump is truly the Captain America of fighting corruption. (Stop laughing.) And second, that when Trump asked the Ukrainian president in the heat of the election cycle to investigate his top political rival, it had “NOTHING” to do with the 2020 election. (Okay, start laughing.)

First, as to Trump the corruption fighter, it would be plausible, if say, Trump fought corruption in America first. (Maybe Trump was planning to work backwards in fighting corruption, beginning in Ukraine and then finally getting to America?!) But Trump is not the fighter of corruption, he’s the perpetrator of it.

This is a guy who won’t even release his tax returns. Trump, per Forbes, has already spent over $100 million of our tax dollars on the hundreds of rounds of golf he has played at his own golf courses. Beyond that, Trump has used the White House to promote his properties, for example in June staying at his golf course in Ireland. Then there’s Trump’s push to hold the 2020 G7 Summit at his Miami golf course. Worse, foreign officials have stayed at Trump’s property, clearly to curry favor. And speaking of Trump’s corruption, let’s not forget Trump’s hush money payments to two women shortly before the 2016 election that federal prosecutors stated Trump “directed.”And then there’s Trump’s second argument that is so laugh-out-loud funny it should come with a two drink minimum. Trump wants you to believe that his ask for an investigation into Biden had “NOTHING” to do with the 2020 election.

If Trump was truly so deeply concerned with Biden’s role in firing a Ukrainian prosecutor, which took place in March 2016, why didn’t Trump ask the Ukrainians about it in 2017 in his first year as president? Why didn’t Trump raise it in 2018 when his administration gave the Ukrainian government $200 million in military aid? Or at least raise it in April 2019 when he first spoke to Zelensky after he won his election?

Simple, Biden only formally announced his candidacy on April 25, 2019. Before that, Trump wasn’t worried about the political threat Biden posed since many debated if he would even run.

But after Biden announced, Trump clearly became increasingly alarmed with Biden’s candidacy since polls from May through July found Biden beating Trump — and beating him badly. In fact, a June 16 Fox News poll showed Trump losing to Biden by 10 points, which caused Trump to take to Twitter to slam Fox News, writing, “@FoxNews Polls are always bad for me. They were against Crooked Hillary also. Something weird going on at Fox.”

And on the very morning of July 25 when Trump called Zelensky to ask for him to help his 2020 campaign by investigating Biden, Fox News released a new poll again showing Biden trouncing Trump by 10 points.


https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/trumps-latest-defense-of-his-asking-ukraine-to-investigate-biden-requires-you-to-be-a-moron/

October 4, 2019

driving impaired on the wrong side of the highway... don't drink and drive

The San Francisco medical examiner's office released the names of four people who died early Thursday morning in a wrong-way collision on U.S. Highway 101.

They've been identified as 34-year-old Emilie Ross of Hillsborough, 42-year-old Berkant Ahmed of San Mateo, 57-year-old Mary Miller of Chicago, and 62-year-old Judson Bergman of Barrington, Illinois.

According to the CHP, Ross was driving a Volkswagen while impaired, heading south on the highway's northbound lanes around 12:30 a.m. The Volkswagen collided with a Ford taxi on the highway near Paul Avenue, killing the taxi's driver, Ahmed, and his two passengers, Miller and Bergman.

All four were pronounced dead at the scene, CHP officials said.

The CHP called the wrong-way collision a "tragedy" and extended condolences to the victims' families.

In light of the fatal collision, the CHP is reminding drivers to drive responsibly and to report possible intoxicated drivers.

According to the CHP, DUI arrests in the Bay Area are on the rise, with officers making 7,796 already this year alone, up from 6,482 in 2018.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Update-4-Killed-In-Wrong-Way-Hwy-101-Collision-14491067.php#photo-18374669

October 4, 2019

L.A. to void 2 million minor citations and warrants that had kept people trapped in court system.

L.A. vows to void 2 million court citations and warrants. Homeless people will benefit most

In a dramatic move designed to ease the challenges facing the region’s poor and homeless people, Los Angeles officials said Wednesday that they were voiding nearly 2 million minor citations and warrants that had kept people trapped in the court system.

The announcement is designed to fix a system that has led to many people being repeatedly ticketed and arrested for minor infractions, leading to growing fines and warrants. For homeless people, that has created roadblocks to accessing housing and services.

Nationally, big cities have been trying to move away from citations and infractions that according to critics “nickel and dime” those living on the streets into jail cells. Until now in Los Angeles, eliminating citations had been done on a limited basis.

A Times data analysis in 2018 found a vicious cycle of homeless arrests. Los Angeles has more than a dozen “quality-of-life” laws — restricting sleeping on the sidewalk, living in a car or low-level drug possession, for example — that police usually enforce with a citation. The tickets typically start out at less than $100, but often top $300 once court fees are added. Tickets pile up, and people go to jail.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-02/homeless-housing-erase-citation-fine-fees

October 4, 2019

Man Shot Dead After Trying to Surprise Father-in-Law

A Norwegian man was killed Tuesday night after trying to give his father-in-law—an armed Florida homeowner—a birthday surprise. Police say 37-year-old Christopher Bergan flew in from Norway to surprise Richard Dennis on his 61st birthday. He knocked on Dennis' back door in the Pensacola suburb of Gulf Breeze at around 11:30pm then jumped out from bushes to surprise him, the Pensacola News Journal reports. Dennis, however, had earlier argued with a relative who banged on the front door and answered his back door armed with a .380 semi-automatic firearm. Police say he fired at Bergan when he jumped out, instantly killing his son-in-law with a shot to the heart.


Authorities say the shooting of Bergan, who is married to Dennis' daughter, was a tragic accident and Dennis will not be charged. "I'm not going to second guess Mr. Dennis for what he did. Here he is, he had just had a confrontation at the front of his house," says Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson. "Couple hours later, someone is banging on his back door, and it’s a fenced yard. And then someone jumps out of the bushes," the sheriff says. "You can’t really say anything against Mr. Dennis for doing what he did." The sheriff says anybody who is religious should "pray for this family," the New York Daily News reports. "I can't imagine what they're going through," he says. "It's horrible."


https://www.newser.com/story/281283/man-shoots-son-in-law-after-birthday-surprise.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_top

October 4, 2019

Trump could stand in the middle of the White House lawn and shoot American democracy in the face and

Trump could stand in the middle of the White House lawn and shoot American democracy in the face and Republicans still wouldn’t care.

Oh wait, that actually happened today.

https://twitter.com/thegoodgodabove/status/1179949475852365824

October 4, 2019

furious jackrabbit slapfest

https://nypost.com/video/furious-jackrabbits-slap-the-fur-out-of-each-other/

October 3, 2019

repubs didn't care when trump was mocking gold star family and disabled journalists, "bleeding from

her whatever remarks", making up insulting names for opponents, acting bizaare at those rallies. Implying a Hispanic judge couldn't be impartial. Paying off porn stars, putting kids in high positions, firing people left and right... too many acts that were outside the norm of presidential behavior

THEY DIDN"T CARE! The base even enjoyed it!

Now he's gone a step too far. When you get in bed with the devil...

October 3, 2019

"In private, Republicans are in the deepest despair of the Trump era." "hideous spectacle"

Trump Is Going to Burn Down Everything and Everyone, and Republicans, That Means You
That press conference was terrifying. And congressional Republicans should be more afraid than anyone. Trump’s going down and taking them with him.

Donald Trump’s Oval Office performance-art masterpiece Wednesday was one for the ages, a pity-party, stompy-foot screech session by President Snowflake von Pissypants, the most put-upon man ever to hold the highest office in the land. If you watched his nationally televised press conference, Trump’s shrill, eye-popping hissy fit scanned like the end of a long, coke-fueled bender where the itchy, frenzied paranoia is dry-humping the last ragged gasps of the earlier party-powder fun.

Between calling Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) a panoply of Trumpish insults (and for the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to be held for treason), engaging in his usual hatred of the press, talking about Mike Pompeo’s intimate undergarments, and quite obviously scaring the shit out of Finnish President Sauli Niinisto—who looked like he was the very unwilling star of an ISIS hostage video—Trump spent the day rapidly decompensating, and it was a hideous spectacle. All the Maximum Leader pronunciamentos won’t change the reality that Donald John Trump, 45th president of the United States, has lost his shit.

In private, Republicans are in the deepest despair of the Trump era. They’ve got that hang-dog, dick-in-the-dirt fatalism of men destined to die in a meaningless battle in a pointless war. They’ve abandoned all pretense of recapturing the House, their political fortunes in the states are crashing and burning, and the stock-market bubble they kept up as a shield against the downsides of Trump—“but muh 401(k)!”—is popping.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-going-to-burn-down-everything-and-everyone-and-republicans-that-means-you?ref=scroll