62 thoughts on “He’s Melting”

  1. elected by emails, impeached by emails.  how ironic.

    wapo: Trump’s business sought deal on a Trump Tower in Moscow while he ran for president

  6. Heard a Warren G. apologist over the weekend – “He had the makings of a fine President; unfortunately he died too soon.” / Yeah, right. Made me think of who the #45 apologists will be 100 years from now. *Usual suspects.

     

  8. from that wapo story linked above:

    While Donald Trump was running for president in late 2015 and early 2016, his company was pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow, according to several people familiar with the proposal and new records reviewed by Trump Organization lawyers.

    As part of the discussions, a Russian-born real estate developer urged Trump to come to Moscow to tout the proposal and suggested that he could get President Vladimir Putin to say “great things” about Trump, according to several people who have been briefed on his correspondence.

    The developer, Felix Sater, predicted in a November 2015 email that he and Trump Organization leaders would soon be celebrating — both one of the biggest residential projects in real estate history and Donald Trump’s election as president, according to two of the people with knowledge of the exchange.

    Sater wrote to Trump Organization Executive Vice President Michael Cohen “something to the effect of, ‘Can you believe two guys from Brooklyn are going to elect a president?’ ” said one person briefed on the email exchange. Sater emigrated from what was then the Soviet Union when he was 6 and grew up in Brooklyn.

    [….]

    There is no public record that Trump has ever spoken about the effort to build a Trump Tower in 2015 and 2016.

    Trump’s interests in building in Moscow, however, are long-standing. He had attempted to build a Trump property for three decades, starting with a failed effort in 1987 to partner with the Soviet government on a hotel project.

    “Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment,” he said in a 2007 court deposition.

    “We will be in Moscow at some point,” he promised in the deposition.

     

    Donnie, how prophetic “We will be in Moscow at some point”…. I hear fall is nice in Moscow, perfect for defectors and about to be impeached presidents.

  9. SJ

    Presidents are a bit like NFL quarterbacks, everyone of them have the “makings ” of a great quarterback.  Like great quarterback, great presidents are rare and we only know when they are thrown into high pressure games. Who would have thought Truman , a machine politician who had been a failure at everything else he tried, would be thought  a great president. He wasn’t even well regarded when in office.

    Jack

  10. Oh and to continue with the football analogy, Our current leader is a good reason they don’t let fans pick quarterbacks. When teams are struggling and fans are sreaming for the QB’s head their favorite replacement is always some third stringer who completes a couple of long passes when he comes in to replace the injured regular.

    Jack

  11. Napoleon had a quote something like, ”  Tout soldat français porte dans sa giberne le bâton de maréchal de France – in the knapsack of a private is the baton of a field marshall”.  SFB is still only the private with only the roll of toilet paper in his knapsack.

    A good guide to how much it will cost to repair Texas is how much SFB is willing to not shut down the government over a fence.  My guess is $100,000,000,000 (roughly).  Much of the infrastructure is destroyed and needs replacement.  Roads, bridges, sewage pipes and treatment facilities.  Docks, waterways and dams.  Buildings by the thousands. Unemployment.  Companies wiped out, never to return.  America’s fourth largest city severely damaged.  A large part of Texas not functional for weeks, months and years to come.

  12. KGC

    Thanks for the dialogue tree link,  In these extremely touchy sensitive times, I’m trying figure out how an old whitehaired white man can work  an African analogy into an email that will go to African Americans. But it is a good one.

    “villages in Africa have their Dialogue tree at the center of the village where the people gather, in Mexico they have their plaza, McCoy Park will have the Reading Room” Ummmm, I’d better think on it.  🙂

    Jack

  13. Looks like trump has drained the swamp into Texas.  This is a flood of biblical proportions and although citizens are responding in an heroic fashion?  We have an aging population and ongoing we will see a lot of disease and displacement.    It is so bad in Texas I hear elected officials calling on faith based communities to help.   What can they do?  Build an ark.

    Meanwhile, the regression-du-jour under trump  —  trump rescinds Obama Flood Risk rules.

     

  14. BB

    And don’t forget all the economic activity for the whole center of the country Houston is a major port for the whole center of the country.  Jax if he is out there can probably give us a better idea as to it’s nation wide impact.

    Then again, didn’t Texas secede or something like that last year?

    Jack

  16. My late SIL used to travel to Houston for NHI clinical trials.  She used to fly-in from California for treatment.   Houston survived the Ebola crisis a few years back, but so much medical knowledge in the area…set backs for some time to come.

  17. Craig, dermatologists and veterinarians are the wino’s favorite type of doctors.     Life saving for hubby and B-lo.

  18. It’s amazing to me that the Harvey story….hour and hours and hour of coverage NEVER mentions that the increased impact of the storm is due to global warming.

    Getting rid of Trump is not enough – his enablers have to go to

    ps Craig
    Your Dad has a great sense of humor hope all goes well

  19. An update on our Reading Room Project fund raiser

    We have raised  $1330 and we are just on day 4. I think we maybe able to pull this one off.

    I want to thank you all for your very generous donations, we are touched.  And if it was some one from here who made the $500 anonymous donation, Wow, we didn’t expect that one. Thanks very much.

    Muchas Gracias to all

    Some of you didn’t leave an email address (and I understand) If you want you can email me at whskyjackatyahoo.com  Mrs Jack would like to thank everybody personally .

    To keep track of how we are doing or donate

    https://www.ioby.org/project/reading-room-project

    Again thanks

    Jack

  20. Speaking of economic impact are the Texas ports.  Vessels have been stopped by the hurricane from entering the various ports along the Texas Gulf coast.  The hurricane has caused silting in the shipping channels which will take time to dredge to a usable depth.  Some vessels may require going to a different port to offload cargo.

     

  21. Rick knows many people living in Houston.  He used to travel there on a regular basis when he worked for Compac and HP.  We almost moved there 20 yrs ago when he was tapped for a high level job with Compac.   We both got cold feet (didn’t want to leave for family reasons) and decided to stay in our native New England even though it meant less money.  Needless to say…  we are both thankful today for that decision….   but feel very badly for all the good people he used to work with down there.

  22. I certainly hope the incredibly stupid media (Thomas Roberts talking about you) stops trying to make the mayor of Houston the goat in this.  What a giant pile of poop

    The goat is the Republican attitude toward global warming and the failure to even acknowledge the current impact.

    The exact same neighborhoods flooded recently people should have had a clue but the gooper bullshit has made that impossible

  23. I have flood insurance. I’m not in the flood plain. Nothing requires me to have such insurance except respect for mother nature. I live on a gently sloping sand hill. In Panama, I’ve seen what torrential rains have done to well built structures on those kinds of hills–it ain’t pretty.

    There are others in my neighborhood who have purchased flood insurance as well.

    I’ve lived on the water on the Florida Gulf Coast. Actually, we were separated from the open Gulf by a barrier island and our immediate waterfront was protected by a dense mangrove fringe. The sacrificial ground floor of our building was about 20-feet above high-tide. We had the south end of the 15th floor. All of our windows were protected by hurricane shutters. The building itself was well-constructed of reinforced concrete. I inspected it during construction and before closing on it.

    I suppose the point I’m trying to make is, I’m pissed off at official Texas for allowing unfettered development in high-risk areas and, in doing that, raising the risks to residents exponentially. And, I’m pissed at developers for luring unsuspecting people into high-risk areas, and I’m pissed at local governments for continuing to allow unwise development. And, I’m pissed at our federal government that is prepared to say, ‘send us the bill, we’ll take care of everything’ instead of demanding that official Texas spend every dime they have first. And I’m disappointed in residents who don’t do their own due diligence thereby putting themselves, their families, and their rescuers at risk.

     

    Except for losing our carport and outside storage structure in one passing hurricane we had no losses during our 15-years of ownership. Neither did our building with its associated infrastructure systems–emergency power, water pumps, etc.. That year I was our city’s vice mayor and building commissioner. To my recollection, losses within the city were mostly what one would expect of such events. Things built/rebuilt since the 70s complied with strict loss prevention standards.

  25. People in Houston were told by their own flood control board that the event last year was a 10,000 year event.   Perhaps they were under the influence of the governor and everyone else who thinks that weather is the whim of the lord.

    I am glad to see they are evacuating people and their pets. I think a lot of people have stayed behind in the past because they could not bring them. We would stay if that was the case. We would not abandon our pets.

  26. Funny waiting room moment here. After getting agreement with others I asked desk clerk if we could change TV channel from ESPN to CNN for hurricane covg, but told it’s controlled elsewhere. Someone shouted “Trump’s got the remote.” Another said, “No he’d have it on FOX.”

  27. Infamous Pardons in History

    Bill Clinton pardoned his donor Marc Rich, who was on the FBI’s “Wanted” list as an international fugitive facing 51 felony counts, including $48 million in tax evasion and “trading with the enemy” – Iran – for oil during the 1980 hostage crisis. Just about any historian will tell you this was one of the worst abuses of pardon power ever.

    He also pardoned his brother.

  33. Craig…  Congrats to your Dad!  Go celebrate tonight.

    I’m reading in places where the Congress and Senate members from NY and NJ are reminding their Texas brethren about how they voted NO as a block against Sandy aid.  Payback may be a bitch…  but here’s to hoping that those northeastern members show the Texans what the word “compassion” really means.

  34. Craig…  Congrats to your Dad!  Go celebrate tonight.  rr

    I was just thinking the same thing.

  35. difficult weekend for South Texas, and the rain continues. The stories and images coming out of Houston and its environs are devastating. They’re not going to get better any time soon. If you’d like to help feed people in the region, take a look at the websites for the Houston Food Bank, the Galveston County Food Bank and the Corpus Christi Food Bank. They all take online donations
    http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/
    http://www.galvestoncountyfoodbank.org/
    http://www.foodbankcc.com/

  36. Trump continues to make people feel like it is ok to be an asshole.  Glad to see some people are being held accountable
    The Mayor of Piedmont tiny town inclosed by Oakland, Ca
    Wieler apologized in a letter to fellow council members.

    At a council meeting last week, resident Conna McCarthy read what she claimed were Wieler postings that said: “Black Lives Matter encourages cop killing,” ”Democrats are the plantation slave masters of today” and “Transgenders are mentally ill.”
    Those remarks weren’t on Wieler’s Facebook page Sunday.
    The San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2vicSdl) says that Wieler has pledged to restrict future postings to “pictures of our pets and vacation pictures.”
    Wieler apologized in a letter to fellow council members.

  37. Five current and former military professors have released a policy memo explaining President Trump’s transgender ban and clarifying mischaracterizations that have been reported in the initial round of media coverage. The military professors show that President Trump’s ban requires six forms of mandatory discrimination against transgender service members, with only limited discretion to the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to provisionally retain them on a case-by-case basis.
    Even if some transgender service members are granted continuation of service despite the ban, they will serve under standards that apply only to them, in a system in which there is a presumption that they are unfit for duty, and with no assurance that their permission to remain will endure.
    http://www.palmcenter.org/military-professors-explain-trumps-transgender-ban/

  38. Chelsea Manning had her sentence commuted, not a pardon.

    Looking worse for Texas each hour that the storm hangs around.  Now there is Tropical Storm Irma forming up to mess up the Southeast Atlantic.

    .

  40. will gopers talk sense to their colleagues and the twit into trading his precious border wall for a barrier wall ? expand this idea to build/rebuild barrier reefs for louisiana and florida … which may be only stop gaps considering climate change sea rise.
    (CNN)Texas lawmakers are asking President Donald Trump to help them build a wall — no, not that wall. Instead of a border wall built to keep immigrants from crossing into the state illegally, this wall would protect the critically important cities of Houston and Galveston from the devastating storm surge of a powerful hurricane.

    Texas General Land Office (GLO) Commissioner George P. Bush sent President Trump the request in a letter, which was cosigned by more than 60 state and local leaders in Texas this week, asking for “$15 billion in federal funds to protect this vital area.”
    The Houston and Galveston bay areas are critically important to our national infrastructure, with 428 million tons of cargo flowing through the region annually. In fact, the Port of Houston and the Port of Beaumont are the 2nd and 4th busiest ports in the United States.
    [….]

    While $15 billion is a significant price for the “hurricane wall,” a look at the numbers shows it is likely money well spent (and after all, “the other wall” President Trump wants to build in Texas is likely to cost between $12 billion and $21 billion).
    Bush’s letter states that the Houston/Galveston port systems “produce over 3 million direct and indirect jobs nationwide,” not to mention the 6 million people that live and work in the region.

  41. Really turned Trent Lott who got his vacay house rebuilt with government money

     

  42. Mexico to Trump: No funding for wall, but we’ll help Texas

    As its northern neighbor faces one of the worst storms in modern history, Mexico has offered support and condolences to Texas, while reiterating to President Donald Trump that the country will not be paying for his contentious border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    In comments made Sunday, Mexican officials honed in on the tragedy currently playing out only a short distance away.

    [….]

    Mexico, which once governed Texas, reacted swiftly to Harvey’s devastation.

    “The government of Mexico takes this opportunity to express its full solidarity with the people and government of the United States for the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and reports that we have offered the US government all the help and cooperation that can be provided by the different Mexican governmental agencies to deal with the impacts of this natural disaster, as good neighbors should always do in times of difficulty,” a statement from the government read.

  43. Infamous Pardons in History

    In 1989 Ronald Reagan pardoned New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who had pled guilty to obstruction of justice and making illegal political contributions to Richard Nixon’s campaign.

  44. wapo:

    The catastrophic floods brought by Hurricane Harvey to southeastern Texas will pose an immediate test for the White House and Congress, pressing policymakers to approve billions of dollars in recovery funds even though they haven’t agreed on much else this year.

    White House officials and GOP leaders were already taking stock of the challenge on Sunday, even as the floodwaters in Texas — and the eventual cost of recovery — were still rising. One senior White House official and GOP aides on Capitol Hill said late Sunday they expected to begin discussing an “emergency” package of funding soon to help with relief and rebuilding efforts, even if agreement as to the size of such a package remained premature.

    Harvey’s devastation poses President Trump’s first test in emergency assistance, potentially revealing whether he can overcome Congress’s deep divisions over spending and the budget to prioritize aid. It will also test whether Trump can suspend his adversarial governing style and even postpone his own agenda, notably an overhaul of the tax code, to assemble a major — and costly — package that could be directed to law enforcement, emergency relief, schools, infrastructure, hospitals, food banks and several other entities.

    [….]

    Democrats on Monday said Congress ought to respond quickly to the growing calamity, challenging Republicans to refrain from the politicking that surrounded the aid packages offered to victims of previous major storms.

    “Republicans must be ready to join Democrats in passing a timely relief bill that makes all necessary resources available through emergency spending,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said.

    A senior Democratic aide said the party’s position is that emergency spending need not be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget, making Pelosi’s statement a challenge to Republicans who have insisted that previous aid packages not add to the federal budget deficit.

    [….story continues with info on how this affects debt ceiling et al….]

  45. loved this story… there’ll be more like it in days to come.  in the meantime, “atta good boy, Otis”

    from wapo: A photo of a dog carrying a bag of food after a storm hit Texas went viral. Here’s his story.

    Just before Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, Salvador Segovia left his grandson’s dog, Otis, in his screened-in back porch, along with food and water.

    But the storm must have scared Otis, so he busted open the screen door and ran away on Friday night in Sinton, not far from Corpus Christi.

    “I stuck my head out yelling and yelling, and no Otis,” Segovia said. “The following morning, I got out and kept yelling, circled the block and everything, and nothing. We didn’t know where Otis was.”

    […will leave you to read rest of story…]

  46. ACLU Sues President Trump Over Transgender Military Ban
    (BALTIMORE) — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender individuals joining the military.
    The federal lawsuit, Stone v. Trump, was filed in Maryland on Monday by the ACLU of Maryland on behalf of Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone, an 11-year Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, and several other transgender members of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines.
     

  47. God do I hate coming back to work after vacation?  You bet I do.

    Well, as of last night my niece in Houston still had power and hadn’t gotten any water in her house.  She’s kinda stuck in her neighborhood as I understand it, but as of now she and the family appear to be fine.  They are between I-10 and Buffalo Bayou east of the Addick and Barker reservoirs – hopefully high enough that the rising waters from the dam releases from those bodies of waters won’t get to them – so far they haven’t.  They are out serving meals at a nearby shelter.  She’s definitely one of the luckier ones.

  48. Goodness, I’ve been having tobacco cravings for the last week, including dreams that I’m actually smoking. It has been more than fifteen years since I quit. Crazy

  49. All the best to your niece, Pogo.

    *****

    Whskyjack,

    At least Wurr’n G. looked like a President. He lived up to that.

    Driving home today heard that Secretary Clinton will be signing her book here on September 28th. I know the friendlies will be numerous for her; wondering how many not-so-friendlies will be hounding her.

    This area has a good rep with the Clintons. Bill made his “comeback” here after the Monica kerfuffle. Former Congressman John LaFalce was in with the Clinton in-crowd & had a big hand in the staging back then. I remember this quite well. President Clinton seemed very grateful afterwards.

    (I also saw the Clintons & Gores up close & personal on August 24, 1992 when they spoke at a campaign stop not far from where I live. No way could I get that close today. Tipper & I made eye contact & she acknowledged me. I like her; Al …… not so much. Especially after the way he treated Mr Olbermann. Still, hard to believe I got that close to them. Was a neat experience.)

     

  50. Flatus – I quit September 24, 2004, and there are times when I want to go to the store and pick up some tobacco. But, I fight the urge. And, I fight the urge. And I am still smoke free.  It will never go away. Fight it and fight it.  I too have had those dreams.  Fight those too.

    For those of you thinking of taking of tobacco – don’t even start.  It is the worst drug you will ever take.  The addiction is for life.  I am on strong opiates, but only when needed, and I am not addicted to those, nicotine is so different.  All these years and still I want it.

  51. BB, I still have the unused half of my last pack–just so I can tell it what I think about the manufacturers that glamorized their products for dumb-assed kids like me.

    Okay, glad to know I’m in good company; together we can kick the hell out of that nicodemon!

  52. Arizona Republic has a story on Sheriff Joe’s latest gig: Fund raising from his friends to pay his legal bills. He says in his letter he is just a poor retired public employee who can’t raise enough money to pay his bills. Maybe PG will send him a million dollars?

  54. I was always thankful I never picked up the cigarette habit. It hits some people really hard. one sister has been off them for 20 years and she says there are still moments she would like to sit back and light one up. I have another sister who drove her husband crazy. She really could take them or leave them. When money got tight she would just quit smoking where as he was digging through the ashtray to get a nicotine fix.

    Jack

  55. SJ

    I was having a hard time making my analogy stretch  to fit Trump. He is more like they brought in one of the bleacher bums to pitch relief. and with about the same results.

     

    Jack

  56. My co-workers in Mexico have flooded twice.  The first time, in addition to money, we also cleaned out closets & pantries to truck stuff to them.  Somehow, we had a place north of the border & they were able to access it a bit at a time.

    The second time, we were only able to send money.  The Mexican government would allow nothing but money & water…because they wanted the stuff they needed to replace be purchased in Mexico to help Mexican businesses.  We had so much more that they could have had.

    This, after the homes many of my co-workers live in were built in a flood plain by the Mexican govt.  GovernmentS kinda suck every where.

    Churches & Islamic centers opening up to shelter evacuees in DFW.  They have so many donations of clothing & necessities that they are asking folks to come back later in the week.

    Trump is showing up in TX tomorrow…perhaps in time for Harvey’s second landfall.

    They are trying to release water & say that they think the dams will hold.  They are old, so I hope so.   They can’t release it fast enough…it’s slowly moving north and east.

    I felt so bad for the folks in the nursing home.  Reminded me of St. Rita’s in Placquamine Parish during Katrina.

    Fill up your gas tanks tonight.

  57. pogo – Slate.com has a good article about the Barker & Addicks reservoirs. (I’ve lost the ability to link, again.)

    It sounds like urban sprawl is to blame. No place for the water to go, just concrete to trap heat.

    I hope your family stays safe.

    rr – You & Rick made a good choice.

  59. Thanks all for your kind thoughts. Nothing like watching your Dad beat cancer a fourth time, this time at 90 (thanks to brilliant doctors of course). Dad asked the doctor after she described what she’d be doing, “Are you any good at it?” She laughed, said, “Yes I am!” And proved she was.

  60. blue, thanks. Just touched base with my niece. They’re fine, still have power, and in addition to the shelter meals, her husband went out to assist in the rescue efforts. Proud uncle here.

  61. Glad your Dad is ok. Glad for the work of the VA. Not lost, is the caring son who would drive hundreds of miles to take care of his Dad. Gladness all around.  Safe trip home, Craig.

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