On polls showing 85%-plus Republican approval for Trump, consider it’s just a bigger piece of a dramatically shrinking pie — because so many GOP voters are not Trump fans and now identify themselves as independents (where Trump approval under 40). These polls show party ranks under him are actually at a 25-year low. Small pie makes for a small piece.
cow pie, mud pie, clown pie or the “π” of the numerically consistent stupid ?
Trump and the EU’s tariff reciprocation is as much a trade war as a competition of ‘anything you can do, I can do dumber.’
Every day of each week there is more hell than any other president has produced, including Nixon. Now that Cohen is talking like he is going to flip (he has not done so yet) we are getting close to the main event. One tweet stated Cohen knows where the bodies are buried and Weisselberg knows how they were paid for.
cnn:
President Donald Trump on Friday denied his former personal attorney Michael Cohen’s claim that he knew in advance about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting in which Russians were expected to offer dirt on Hillary Clinton.
“(No,) I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr.” Trump wrote as part of a series of tweets Friday morning. “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?).”
Sources told CNN that Cohen claims that then-candidate Trump had advance notice of the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower involving Trump Jr. and is willing to assert that claim to special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen is under criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York because of his business dealings. An FBI raid on Cohen’s office in April sought information about taxi owners who had financial dealings with Cohen, CNN has reported.
“He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer,” Trump wrote of Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis. “Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!”
Trump also lashed out at Mueller in reaction to the news that Mueller has been reviewing Trump’s Twitter feed as part of the investigation into obstruction of justice.
“Arrived back in Washington last night from a very emotional reopening of a major U.S. Steel plant in Granite City, Illinois, only to be greeted with the ridiculous news that the highly conflicted Robert Mueller and his gang of 13 Angry Democrats obviously cannot find Collusion…” Trump tweeted. “(The) only Collusion with Russia was with the Democrats, so now they are looking at my Tweets (along with 53 million other people) – the rigged Witch Hunt continues!”
The New York Times, citing three people briefed on the matter, reported Thursday that Mueller was looking at Trump’s negative postings on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and fired FBI Director James Comey.
The President has repeatedly attacked Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” and denied all allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians.
meanwhile, according to the guardian:
Whether you are scrambling to pack for a holiday or swigging an ale in your local beer garden, take a moment on Friday evening to look up. The longest “blood moon” this century will be closely tracked by Mars through the sky in a double celestial treat of a kind that will not be repeated for decades.
The moon will rise from the horizon tinged a deep, rusty red as it is totally eclipsed by the Earth. About half an hour later, Mars will rise in the same place, sparkling brighter than usual because, in an astronomical coincidence, it is closer to us than at any time during the past 15 years.
[…continues…]
BB – couldn’t agree more. Every single day the narcissist out does himself. I recently opened a twitter account to follow a few talking heads – and also orange hair. The lack of control SFB has over himself is astounding.
The key to this is going to be turnout in November’s election. You can rest assured that every single one of his 32.43254% followers will show up to vote. I’m afraid that the rest of us won’t get up off of our collective asses and vote to take back the house and senate.
The red moon & the Blue Mosque. Oh my, that is a beautiful picture.
Well, it’s the last mountain stage in the Tour and Alaphilippe continues to show he’s the King of the Mountains by being the first to crest the Cat. 1 Col d’Aspine and the Col du Tourmalet, one of the iconic above category climbs in the route. All the general classification riders are in the peloton about 3 minutes back and there’s a group of dropped riders – including sprinters like Sagan seventeen minutes behind. BUT, and this isn’t likely, but if the gap between the lead group and peloton holds, Meana of the Movistar team would move into the top 5 and challenge Froome at a minimum for a space on the podium – but really, that’s a long shot. As BB says, don’t bet against the train. Good day to watch – wish I could. I’ll have to catch it tonight.
Trump – god what a(n?) SFB. Jennifer Rubin’s article at Wapo about the latest Cohen bombshell is very good.
Drip, drip, drip – rinse and repeat.
dvitale, yes that’s the danger, the Vocal Minority vs. the Absent Majority.
What induces trump to refer to himself, his campaign, or his administration as witches ?
Mueller has tied several coven members to the stake and has charged many more. Fear and danger stalk the rest.
Parenthetically, in Chinese and Japanese lore foxes are bearers of evil spirits, maybe in Korea, too. That ought to be our lore too, but for unknown reasons our cultural ancestors put cats in that role.
Pat, here’s an excellent grab for the eclipse. It tells me that the event will be below the horizon for those of us in Columbia. Oh, well
As I said so Alaphilippe, King of the Mountains. From LeTour.fr:
And Now Alaphilippe is taking it “easy” and dropping back off the lead group to join the peloton.
” As BB says, don’t bet against the train.” -pogo
C’mon, dude- that was my line.
…and it’s Mikel Landa on team Movistar.
here we go again….
We have the first documented case of Russian hacking in the 2018 election…
Rigged elections and haters are what the Democrats are facing. The primaries — pretty much everywhere now– are swinging in favor of the progressive (aka SF values) issues. Register and turn out the voters who do not need convincing. Be proud of being a Democrat instead of trying to masquerade as liberal Republicans.
We are the majority. Let’s act like it.
The entire country needs steam cleaning and soon.
Michael Cohen just dropped a collusion bombshell in the Russia investigation https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/politics/michael-cohen-donald-trump-russia-meeting/index.html
And, if Donny Jr & Jared knew, let’s hope that prohibits them from ever holding office, too.
BiD, see what pogo posted at 10:15 this a.m. on that
C.O.L.L.U.S.I.O.N.
O.B.S.T.R.U.C.T.I.O.N.O.F.J.U.S.T.I.C.E.
Cohen says Trump knew Russia offered dirt on Hillary. Trump publicly says dirt is coming. Don Jr. emails he loved it, takes Tower meeting. After election, mtg is revealed, Trump directs a false denial it was about dirt.
he also provided the link to Jennifer Rubin’s article at Wapo
andy marlette: Makes ya proud, don’t it?!
#MAGAdarcy
Sorry Bink, confused my Bs (I’m relieved it was you or BB – at least my memory was in the ballpark) All credit should be given to you for the line. Sorry, BB, pulling the attribution back.
And although he might climb back up on the podium tomorrow, as of today Froome is 4th and watching the ceremony from the stands, knocked off by Roglic.
Landa has 2 last names – it’s listed as LANDA MEANA Mikel on the TDF site. We’re both right as far as each of us went.
Ah- all is right with the world.
Now, for a quick check of today’s headlines…
Oh, ****.
the guardian has a wonderfully delightful piece about 10 words that are untranslatable into English. here’s an excerpt of one that seems to describe what some of us are feeling right now:
Leave it to Russia to serve up the melancholy: toska translates as yearning or ennui. Except it doesn’t, because no English word can accurately reflect all the shades of the word, to paraphrase Vladimir Nabokov.
What can toska (pronounced tahs-kah) mean? Spiritual anguish, a deep pining, perhaps the product of nostalgia or love-sickness, toska is depression plus longing, an unbearable feeling that you need to escape but lack the hope or energy to do so.
[….continues…]
ap via msn:
Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels, said Thursday that he now represents three additional women who he says had relationships with President Donald Trump and were paid “hush money” before the 2016 presidential election.
Avenatti disclosed the information at a community forum in West Hollywood, California, but he would not provide additional information.
Asked if he had evidence that the women had relationships with Trump, Avenatti said: “Yes.”
He said he was “not at liberty to share” the evidence because he didn’t have permission from his clients to disclose specifics. But Avenatti said the women, who contacted him months ago, were “paid hush money prior to the 2016 election.”
He called on Trump and his former longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to come forward and disclose information about the women and their supposed relationships with Trump.
“They should release the information to the American people now,” Avenatti said. “Enough with the games.”
Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment late Thursday.
Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, declined to comment Friday but cautioned against believing everything that a lawyer says in the heat of a legal battle.
“Mr. Avenatti is an aggressive attorney doing his job in the middle of litigation,” Davis said. “I have been there, done that. An attorney in litigation is just that, and until the litigation is over, I’m not going to comment on the words used.”
[…continues…]
Pogo – not a problem. After watching one of the earlier stages I think I had written something about the Sky train, and others, and how they seemed more together this year than the last few. Sky especially good this year. As Bink says “don’t bet against the train”.
I did not get to listen to or watch yesterday or today, so I am getting ready to crank up Hulu and NBC Sports Gold for a few hours of decent entertainment. I have to see what happened to Sagan. What little I read was less than fulfilling, like it came from the WH.
A little bit of Rossini w/Marilyn Horne and a couple of others. A cheerful way to finish the week.
Pat,
Some words defy translation; they must be felt. “What can toska (pronounced tahs-kah) mean?” Go watch Doctor Zhivago again–all the words that were proposed will work, but toska works best. And it no longer begs translation.
Ah, Rossini – passion so thick the notes stick to your ears. Thanks, Mr Flatus.
A little about my personal misRepresentative :
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-rep-jason-lewis-called-people-on-government-assistance-parasites-said-blacks-on-welfare-plantation/ar-BBL8Xxo?ocid=spartanntp
Of course, he’s a parasite, living on the ripoff Congressional plantation. $174+thou$and/yr for doing nothing. $700 thou$and for 4 years of nothing.
Happy 97th Birthday to Insulin !
Sagan made the time-cut! I’ve never seen an athlete in so much pain as him, this morning, while still continuing to compete. He is hurting from a crash a few days, ago.
https://www.velonews.com/2018/07/tour-de-france/sagan-endures-epic-suffering-still-finishes-in-laruns_473416
American rider Taylor Phinney crashed and broke his nose, but still finished the stage. He joins American rider Lawson Craddock (collarbone) and French rider Phillipe Gilbert (knee-cap) as those who broke something in a crash, while still finishing the stage in which it happened. Quel sport!
Bink – these riders are tough. What’s pain if you can finish le Tour? I think this race is the hardest athletic event in the world. One hundred clicks and more each day. Up and down hills and mountains most people cannot even climb by their feet. Eat, drink and p while riding. Most people have no clue as to the endurance and pain these riders endure to win a shirt. Okay, they do win monetary awards too. But, nothing like footballers (American, Canadian and the rest of the world soccer balls) make. Bicycle races are hard.
And . . . do the non-race lovers even know what it is like riding at the speed they do for hundreds of kilometers? Forty kilometers per hour is about twenty-five miles per hour. Try riding that on your bike. Yes they have race bikes. You can buy one too. But, you will not be able to pedal at twenty-five miles per hour for four hours.
Yup, Bronc- grand tour cycling is really a test of who can take the most pain, for the longest. As you’ve alluded, ride your bike until you’re in more pain than you’ve ever been, then ride another 50 miles, then do it every day for the next 3 weeks.
This year’s route was particularly brutal- i don’t think the race organizers will be happy until someone drops dead in the middle of the road. I really think they need to scale it back, next year. They won’t, though, ‘cause the hoi polloi want blood- it’s great TV!
As to the thread topic- i’m ignoring polls, i’m just going to vote in November for Democrats, not because i love their platform, but because Republicans sold us out to Russia just so they could gut beneficial government programs and save money on their taxes. My vote might not matter, but sitting on my ass matters less.
You, too, BiD. You had better vote, with all the effort you spend griping, here.
Where is Jamie?
Julian Assange’s fate ‘rests on death penalty assurances’ https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/uk/julian-assange-ecuador-embassy-intl/index.html
wapo:
Trump chairs election security meeting but gives no new orders to repel Russian interference
President Trump chaired a meeting Friday of his most senior national security advisers to discuss the administration’s effort to safeguard November’s elections from Russian interference, the first such meeting he’s led on the matter, but issued no new directives to counter or deter the threat.
The meeting, which lasted less than an hour, covered all the activities by federal agencies to help state and local election officials, and to investigate and hold accountable Russian hackers seeking to undermine American democracy.
“The president has made it clear that his administration will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections from any nation state or other malicious actors,” the White House said in a statement.
[…]
“It was a good meeting,” said one senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an event that was closed to media coverage. “Everybody was on the same page. We’re doing a lot of good work across the administration.’’
There was no discussion of new actions Trump wants or of a coordinated strategy to prevent Russia from interfering in U.S. politics, officials said. Instead, the meeting focused on the activities undertaken so far.
House Democrats issued a statement criticizing Trump for not prioritizing election security sooner.
“This meeting should have happened months ago and the President deserves no special credit for doing what he is charged to do . . . by his oath of office,” said Reps. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), Robert A. Brady (Pa.), Elijah E. Cummings (Md.) and Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the ranking Democrats on, respectively, the Homeland Security, House Administration, Oversight and Government Reform, and Judiciary committees.
The lawmakers called on the White House to produce a “solid plan of action.”
In the absence of direct guidance from the White House, individual federal agencies have marshaled efforts to detect and counter the threat. The head of the National Security Agency created a Russia “small group” composed of NSA and military cyber-specialists tasked with detecting and countering Russian efforts to target the elections. If directed, U.S. Cyber Command, using NSA intelligence, can carry out offensive operations to disrupt such activity.
[NSA and Cyber Command to coordinate actions to counter Russian election interference in 2018]
Already, at least three congressional candidates have been targeted by Russian military hackers. None of the attempts was successful, according to an executive with Microsoft, who discussed the operation at a security conference last week. One of the targets was Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who faces a tough reelection bid.
“The Russians, as we know, are bad actors,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday during a news conference in Louisville. “They messed around in the last election. I’ve made it clear they better not mess around in another one. And we’re on the watch for any efforts they may make to interfere in the 2018 elections.”
[…continues…]
Hello, friends. I’ve been absent for awhile, but it is good to see so many of the old trail hands still here. If you don’t mind, I’ll rejoin you. It’s always been a pleasure to share the trail with you. Joe(cj)
Welcome home, CJ!
A little Boccherini cello music to listen to. It’s long and you’ll get best playback if you use your external music software.
It’s only 99 now—time to do a very quick job on the yard—no edging today. It was 103 earlier. The Boccherini should still be playing by the time I’m through.
Well, done with the yard and showered and shampooed as well. And, right now the temp is 95. Sitting down to Boccherini with a cup of cappuccino
How in the dickens could he remember anything about a meeting with Russians in 2016? He can’t even remember anything about the one two weeks ago. Or of his kissing Kim’s ass and both cheeks.