Hooray for Trump (Seriously)

The White House sought Tuesday morning to calm fears that President Donald Trump will roll back protections for the LGBTQ community, issuing a statement saying he will keep in place a 2014 executive order that bans anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination.

“President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the statement reads. “The President is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”

Bravo, Mr. Trump.

Of course, the Mouth-Breathing Caucus is not happy. Fuck them.

Travel Ban

Given the number of people murdered in terrorist attacks by white Christian men from North America, maybe other nations ought to think about banning travel by white men from that continent for 90-120 days. Just until everyone can get things settled out.

It'd not be a serious inconvenience for the people banned, or so say the supporters of Trump's Muslim ban.

Guess The Army Will Soon Swear Personal Allegiance to President* Trump

The lead vehicle in a small military convoy last weekend in Louisville:

The Army is denying it's their truck and saying "oh, it might be military surplus". Riight, a nine-vehicle convoy of recent-model Humvees, all the personal property of some dudes who ride around in them without license places?

Horseshit.

History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. And this rhyme is one of dark horror.

UPDATE: They were SEALs. Which I guess isn't too surprising, as the special warfare dudes generally regard themselves as being above the law, rules, or accountability.

p.s.: This person should STFU. She bears no small part of responsibility for this mess.

Old Books Selling Well Again Due to Trump

It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis. #9 on the Amazon bestseller's list and #1 and #2 in classic American literature.

The Plot Against America is #3, #5 and #7 in Alternative History (Trump's favorite category).

Shorter Trump: Banning Muslims Will Keep Them Safe From Fanatical Right-Wing Killers

The [Quebec] shooting came amid heightened global tensions over Mr Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim countries.

But the White House, which condemned the attack, said it was also an example of why the US president's policies were needed.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: "It's a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be pro-active, rather than reactive when it comes to our nation's safety and security."

One might wonder if this means that Trump is going to crack down on the Neo-nazis.

Right, I know. Funniest thing all week. Please try the veal and tip your waitress.

And if Asswipe wasn't a Trumper, he was goddamned close.

[The Asswipe of Quebec] was described in media reports as an ardent nationalist and a strong supporter of the French far-right politician Marine Le Pen. He was known to activists in Quebec for taking positions against feminism and refugees, said François Deschamps, of the pro-refugee group Bienvenues aux Refugiés, on his Facebook page.
...
According to Toronto’s Globe and Mail website, Vincent Boissoneault, a friend of the suspect’s who also studied at Laval University, said that [Asswipe] had been uninterested in politics until Le Pen visited Quebec City last year. Soon Boissoneault was clashing with his friend over his support for Le Pen and Trump.

Trump is an Overachiever

It took President* Trump only eight days in office to get to the point where the majority of Americans think he sucks.

He beat the next fastest, President Clinton, by 565 days.

With regard to Trump's voter fraud "expert", apparently the guy is pretty good at it, himself. He was simultaneously registered to vote in three states.

So his belief that millions of others do the same is more a matter of projection.

Meh; Bangity Ed.

Bullseye practice: .22 rimfire, open sight S&W Model 17, 6" barrel, with Winchester bulk-pack cartridges. 50' slow fire.

Not terrible, but not great. I don't seem to do as well on an indoor range as I do outdoors. The last time I seriously shot this gun at a match, one of the other shooters said that I was using ammunition that I had swept up off of the floor at a range. Probably because he was shooting match-grade stuff (and I whomped his ass).

The nice thing about the range is that, if I'm the only shooter and if I have a weapon properly equipped, they'll let me switch off the range lights and do some low-light practice.

High Cotton for the Established Resistance

The American Civil Liberties Union normally takes in about $4 million in online donations in a year.

After Trump won: 120,000 donations for $7.2 million.

After Trump announced his Muslim ban: 350,000 donations for Over $24 million, and that's just during the weekend. Its membership has doubled.

You can go here and donate to various causes on behalf of politicians and trolls who hate them.

On another note, to the various groups that have allied themselves with President* Trump, if he continues to make a hash out of things and the pendulum swings back, hard, over the next few elections, care to guess what's going to happen to your pet causes?

News Sources

Interesting.

I don't see CBS News or Politico on the graphic.

Mosque Fires: Once is Happenstance, Twice is Coincidence

Victoria, Texas and Hudson Bend, Texas.

(Before you ask, the two towns are over 100 miles apart, so it's not the same fire reported twice.)

Constitutional Crisis? Not Yet, Maybe.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents defied the orders of federal judges regarding Donald Trump’s travel bans on Sunday, according to members of Congress and attorneys who rallied protests around the country in support of detained refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

On Sunday afternoon, four Democratic members of the House of Representatives arrived at Dulles airport in Virginia on word that people had been detained and denied access to lawyers.

“We have a constitutional crisis today,” representative Don Beyer wrote on Twitter. “Four members of Congress asked CBP officials to enforce a federal court order and were turned away.”

I don't think we're there yet. All this shit has happened over a weekend and, as anyone who has ever worked in a large bureaucracy or organization knows, the weekend is when the the adults are away.[1]

Second, the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have a long history of working in what they regard as a Constitution-free zone.[2] For a bit of time, they were searching any aircraft, anywhere, that they damn well felt like searching. Those goons claim the right to search any vehicle they want within 100 miles of the border.[3] The adults in the CBP may have to explain to their agents that yes, they work in a country of laws, that the courts interpret the law and they have to follow that.

I think we should see how this plays out over the next few days before we declare it a "constitutional crisis".[4]

This also tells us a lot about President* Trump, and none of it is good. I'll delve into that at a later time.
______________________________
[1] Q: What's the difference between the CBP and the Boy Scouts? A: The Boy Scouts have competent adult supervision.
[2] Or freedom free.
[3] So if you're in Haverill and you're heading down to the packie to pick up a coupla nips, the CBP could search you and your Fiat 500 for smuggled diesel engines.
[4] Free tip: Defying a judicial order tends to not go well for one when the matter is appealed.

National Security Council Now a Political Tool

President* Trump has removed the professionals from the National Security Council. It's now all political appointees.

The replacement for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is an alleged neo-nazi.

Spicer said "having the chief strategist for the president in those meetings who has a significant military background to help make - guide what the president's final analysis is going to be is crucial."

You know Spicer's lying, his lips are moving.

Bannon was in the Navy for seven years. He basically did his first sea tour, a stretch of shore duty as a junior Pentagon lackey, and then he got out. He didn't do a Department Head tour, let alone anything resembling a command tour.

That is not "significant military experience". Tell anyone who served in the Navy that being a division officer on a destroyer counts as "significant military experience" and they will laugh in your face. One of the big knocks that the Right kept making about former Navy Secretary Mabus was that he had only served--- wait for it--- a division officer tour.*

Replacing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Intelligence with a troll whose last bit of military service was over a third of a century ago is inexcusable and outright laughable.
_____________________
* Mabus served less, to be fair.

No, People, I am Not Kidding: Play Nice.

Gentle Readers, please pay heed. I asked you all to play nice.

I fucking well mean it.

When I write my blog posts, I'll be as mean and sarky as I desire. My targets are usually captains of industry and politicians-- if they don't have a skin that's sufficiently hardened to suffer the slings and arrows of affronts, then they need to go find other work.

But when you write a comment and you are directing it to another commenter, you are responding to someone who is probably a private citizen. That is why Rule 2.A says this, in part:

Play nice. This is my place, you do not get to shit on my floor. You are free to disagree with me and with each other, but please do it nicely. Do not use words that you would not use face-to-face. Please give each other the courtesy and respect due to a person who is armed.

You feel like debating another commenter (or me), then have at it. Civil debate is not an insult contest. Do not accuse the other person of "suffering from XYZ Derangement Syndrome" or "drinking the Kool-Aid."*

If someone slips in a comment that's a personal attack on you, hold your fire. This isn't a kindergarten-- The "But he started it" defense will cut no ice here. Adult up.

I am as serious as a heart attack, people. I will enforce this.

Please do not test me.
________________________________
*I thought about having a "one counterpunch" rule in that if A insults B, B gets to respond, once. And then it ends. But, nah.

Trump Cribs From the Nazi Playbook

President* Trump plans to publish a weekly list of crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the Big Apple and all other sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

The list will inform citizens and others about “public safety threats associated with sanctuary” cities, according to an executive order Trump signed Wednesday.

“The [Homeland Security] Secretary shall utilize the Declined Detainer Outcome Report or its equivalent and, on a weekly basis, make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens and any jurisdiction that ignored or otherwise failed to honor any detainers with respect to such aliens,” the order said.

That's a page right out of Hitler's playbook. Which should not be much of a surprise, for the neo-nazis who are advising Trump would get their best ideas from their spiritual master.

And I guess we'll see what the cause of this fire was.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Departures from O'Hare, about 38 years ago:

True, That

How Trump Celebrated International Holocaust Remembrance Day

He did so by signing an Executive Order establishing a religious test for admission into the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. If you have a valid visa, doesn't matter. The goons at Customs will happily tear it up for you. If you're a legal resident (green card), sucks to be you. They'll rip that up, as well. Because President* Trump is operating on fear and cowardice, no more, no less.

He can dress it up any way he likes, and no doubt his supporters will issue paeans of praise, but for the first time that I can remember since the Holocaust, the United States government is going to permit or deny people to come to this country based on their religion.

Reagan's vision of "A Shining City on a Hill" is sure showing a lot of running rust.

As if Trump's decree will keep a dedicated terrorist out, for any plotter with more than a handful of neurons will just train his people to pretend that they're Yazidis or Christians.

What Trump has done has been to play right into the hands of ISIS and al Qaeda. No wonder they were celebrating his election.

Caturday

"Please, please, take me home!"

Fifty Years Ago

At this moment, fifty years ago, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chafee were burned to death in the Apollo 204 (or Apollo 1) fire. The fire was so intense that the astronauts were shrink-wrapped in their spacesuits.

NASA used pure oxygen in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft because the spacecraft didn't need to be as robust (3 or so psi cabin pressure for an oxygen-only atmosphere over 14.7psi for an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere) and they only needed to carry oxygen as a breathing gas, saving weight.

The test fifty years ago was an "all-up" test, conducted with the astronauts in full gear. Because the capsule wasn't built to keep pressure out, the capsule was pressurized to 16 psi with pure oxygen.

Anyone familiar with how well fire burns in a pure oxygen environment would have been horrified, but NASA seemed to have been completely oblivious to the risk. The Soviet space program, not known then as a model of safety, used regular air for pressurizing their spacecraft because they learned this lesson the hard way in 1961, when Valentin Bondarenko, one of the first group of pilots selected for the cosmonaut program, burned to death in an oxygen-rich environment during an endurance test.

NASA was more concerned about an astronaut blowing out the hatch by accident than a requirement for easy escape during an emergency, so the hatch could not be opened quickly. Finally, in violation of every known tenet of emergency egress design and despite the recommendations of the spacecraft's builder, the inner hatch door opened inward.

There was a spark. A fire erupted. The three astronauts had no chance at all.

The hatch itself is now on display.

It would by no means be the last time that NASA was overly complacent about safety risks.

Trump Forgets Who Were the Victims of the Holocaust

This is the official statement of President* Trump on International Holocaust Remembrance Day:

“It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust. It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.

“Yet, we know that in the darkest hours of humanity, light shines the brightest.‎ As we remember those who died, we are deeply grateful to those who risked their lives to save the innocent.

“In the name of the perished, I pledge to do everything in my power throughout my Presidency, and my life, to ensure that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of good. Together, we will make love and tolerance prevalent throughout the world.”

Horsehockey. I suppose it could have been a little worse, for at least He, Trump didn't deny that the Holocaust happened. Unlike at least one of his advisers.

The Nazi industrial death machine that we now know as the Holocaust was put into motion for one reason and one reason only: To kill the Jews of Europe. Not acknowledging that fact is amateur at the very least.

Insecure and Probably Unhinged, as Well

President* Trump seems to be completely focused on winning a popularity contest in his own mind. Nobody had bigger crowds, nobody gave better speeches, everybody loves him, or so he has convinced himself. He seems to be in a crazy-level of denial when confronted with a dissenting opinion (one based on facts).

All of Trump's lies in the interview, cataloged.

In the discussion of Trump's border wall, a lot of people have forgotten that when President Obama proposed anything, the GOP was adamant that the spending be paid for by cuts elsewhere. Lead in Flint's water supply (caused by Republicans in Michigan)? Zika? All had to be paid for, or so conservatives demanded. But they have shown no such qualms about spending billions on the Great Wall of Trump. No offsets there. And certainly no tax increases on the uber-rich, horrors, they might move to New Zealand!

One might wonder who benefits from Trump's decapitation of the senior leadership in the State Department. Those people were apparently mostly career State Department employees, not politicians. So who benefits from taking out the lop level managers of the American diplomatic service?

My guess:

UPDATE: The guy who is behind Trump's fraudulent claim about voter fraud is a tax cheat, a liar and has been investigated for ethical lapses. He sounds legit

Trump Empowers the Hate

Prosecutors in New York said a traveler has been charged with hate crimes for attacking a Muslim airline employee at John F. Kennedy International Airport, telling her President* Trump “will get rid of all of you.”

The Queens District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday that 57-year-old Robin Rhodes, of Worchester, Mass., physically and verbally assaulted a Delta employee, who was wearing a hijab, Wednesday evening in the airport’s Delta Sky Lounge. Prosecutors said he began shouting profanities at the woman, ranting about Islam and the Islamic State — then kicked her and kept her from getting away.

“Trump is here now,” he said, according to prosecutors. “He will get rid of all of you. You can ask Germany, Belgium and France about these kind of people. You will see what happens.”

We'll see what happens, all right. He'll be arraigned on charges of of third-degree assault as a hate crime, second-degree unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, third-degree menacing as a hate crime, first-degree harassment as a hate crime, third-degree assault, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, second-degree aggravated harassment, menacing and first-degree harassment. Asswipe could do up to four years in stir.

Mannix is Gone

Mike Connors, who was the star of Mannix, has died. He was 91.

In its way, the show was a bit of a pioneer. It was the first show to give a black woman, Gail Fisher, a starring role (who went on to be the first black woman to win an Emmy).

For my money, there hasn't been a P.I. on the tube who has been cooler than Mannix. Mannix took a lot of punishment, being one of the few TV detectives to routinely get the shit beaten out of him. Some of it was real, for Connors dislocated his shoulder and broke his wrist while filming the pilot. Mannix drove a Dodge Dart, a car that somebody who worked hard for a buck might have driven.

Because It's Friday

Life in the engine shed:

Shorter Bannon: "Just Shut Up and Print Trump's Lie's as Factual."

That's really what he wants: The press to be Judith Miller-grade stenographers.

That's not their job, Stevarino.

Fighting is Now Legal on Airplanes?

Guess that's what now passes for "in-flight entertainment" on the cheap-jack flights.

Trump is Just Another Tin-Pot Tyrant

Trump is going to order that people visiting the US be vetted, at least partially, based on their opinions and ideology.

It was going on just before his inauguration, as the thugs of the Customs Service weren't letting in Canadians who wanted to join the protests of last Saturday.

"Land of the free and home of the brave," my ass.

More to the point, by Trump's effective ban on Muslims, what he's doing is playing into the narrative of the Islamic ideologues who have been claiming for decades that the United States is at war with Islam. Trump is going to be their best recruiting tool since Cheney.

Bet your ass that the Trump hotels and properties in other countries are going to be Terrorist Target #1.

Trump's First Week Doesn't Bode Well

This article is a bit gossipy, but it would seem that President* Trump has been obsessing over butthurt, and his staff is about as leaky as the Andrea Doria.

After Spicer the Liar told the press that his boss was demoralized because He, Trump isn't seeing glowing stuff about him in the press, the WaPo published a piece he might like:

Nothing that has ever happened or will ever happen was as great as Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The crowd was magnificent and huge, bigger than any crowd had ever been before! It stretched all the way to the moon. The Pope, who was there, confirmed it.

“Thanks for being here, Pope,” Donald Trump told him.

“Are you kidding? You’re my best friend,” the Pope said. “I wouldn’t miss your big day for anything!” He gave Donald Trump a big high-five.

It goes on from there.

If Trump wants to read and watch glowing press coverage of himself, he had better learn Russian.

Apparently, Trump is continuing to use his old, unsecured Android smartphone. It could be a matter of just that he's an old guy who doesn't want to learn how to run a different phone.*

Or, maybe it's the one that his owners use to keep track of him.
____________________________
* Which I can totally understand. Trust me. It's true.

Nobody Learns Nothing in Washington

At least four senior officials in President Trump’s White House have active accounts on a private Republican National Committee (RNC) email system, according to a new report.

Counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House press secretary Sean Spicer, chief strategist and senior counselor Stephen Bannon and senior adviser Jared Kushner — Trump's son-in-law — all have rnchq.org email accounts, Newsweek reported Wednesday.

"Do as I say, not as I do" is alive and well in the Trumperverse.

Also, the U.S. is now regarded as a "flawed democracy". We'll be down to "hybrid" if not "authoritarian" in a few years.

The Politruks Must Review All Studies to Ensure that They are Ideologically Compatable.

Shades of the Soviet Union:

The Trump administration is mandating that any studies or data from scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public.

"Oh, Rob!"

Mary Tyler Moore has died.

That is all.

Major Trumpanzee Hedges His Bets

Peter Thiel has allegedly purchased New Zealand citizenship.

In order to become a citizen of New Zealand, you're supposed to live there for five years.

Requirements for a Grant of New Zealand Citizenship

You can get New Zealand citizenship by grant if:

• you already have the right to be in New Zealand indefinitely (you're a permanent resident of New Zealand or Australia, or you’re Australian)
• you’ve lived here for at least the last 5 years and had the right to be in New Zealand indefinitely the whole time
• you intend to keep living here
• you speak English, and
• you're of good character.

Guess you can buy anything, anywhere. Given Trump's infatuation with Russia, one might wonder why Thiel didn't get a passport from there, as well.

Going to be interesting if Californians will overlook Theil's apparent lack of faith in the United States. He may be a triple citizen, as he would hold birthright citizenship from Germany, where he may return in the service of Trump. On the other hand, Der Governator retained his Austrian citizenship, which required a special exemption, as Austria doesn't hold with dual citizenship.

Trump: Not Just a Liar, But Delusional

One of Donald Trump’s first proposals as president is to help businesses by cutting regulations by 75 percent. Trump cited environmental regulations as an example during a meeting with business leaders, but claimed he was a “very big person” on the environment who has “received awards on the environment.”

Trump touted his alleged environmental accolades as early as 2011, when he said during a “Fox and Friends” interview, “I’ve received many, many environmental awards.” He repeatedly claimed this during the 2016 presidential campaign: “I’ve won many environmental awards, by the way. I’ve actually been called an environmentalist, if you can believe that.”

Are there any facts to support this claim to environmental fame?

The short answer is: No. Media outlets and environmental groups have tried to find evidence of this claim since 2011 but have come up short. We could not readily find references to Trump’s environmental awards in news coverage over the past 10 years. We checked with the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club, and none had any record of Trump’s environmental awards.

Something is seriously wrong with President* Trump. He's not just bullshitting, he seems to live in some sort of altered reality that exists only in his own head.

At some point, one might wonder if the Fourth Section of the 25th Amendment may be invoked.

A Seriously Narcissistic (and Russian) Tool

Julian Assange has said Barack Obama’s decision to grant whistleblower Chelsea Manning clemency was a bid to “make life hard” for him. ... Assange said Obama had commuted Manning’s sentence to get back at him. “What’s the result? It is going to make life hard for Assange because either he will be extradited to the US or we will show him [to be] a liar. Therefore, it is OK to pardon Chelsea Manning – that’s what happened.”

What a fucking Russian tool.

(You thought I was talking about somebody else, maybe?)

Standard Trump/Russian-Grade Bullshit; D.C. Edition

Filing felony charges against reporters for reporting.

The cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which puts this squarely on Trump's plate. Trump is big on using the legal system to slap down unfavorable reportage, so expect these cases to go all the way to trial.

Actually, it's unfair to say that this is "Russian-Grade Bullshit". Putin would have had them killed.

Laws Apply to the Little People- Missouri Edition

In one of his first acts as Missouri’s new attorney general, Republican Josh Hawley decided he doesn’t have to live in the capital city.

That decision comes despite a law that says the state’s top legal officer “shall reside at the seat of government and keep his office in the Supreme Court building.” The state’s constitution designates Jefferson City as the seat of government.

The law is pretty fucking clear on where he's required to live. But he's not going to do that.

So, the "top law enforcement officer" for the state begins his tenure by declaring that he's not going to follow the law, at least when it applies to him.

Interesting.

Wonder if Hawley thinks that other laws don't apply to him. Or which ones might he consent to follow.

Save Yer Breath, Miss Lindsey

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday called on President Trump to stop claiming voter fraud cost him the popular vote in the 2016 election.

Graham implored Trump to admit that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in his election and that those who voted did so legally.

Never going to happen. Trump is continuing to spread this lie because otherwise, he's have to face the fact that he lost the popular vote by nearly three million, which was a historic loss in that regard. No president who was elected ever lost the popular vote by such a huge margin.

But acknowledging the truth of that would mean that Trump would have to admit that he was a loser, even if the loss was essentially inconsequential. Admitting that he lost at anything, from a game of tiddly-winks on up, is totally against his personality.

So he'll continue to spread his lies because, he is, at his core, the same short-fingered vulgarian and con man that he was labeled over 30 years ago.

UPDATE: Spicer the Liar is defending Trump's lies.

Let's recap, shall we? The dominant stories in the press for the last several days have been Trump lied about his crowd size, three times as many people showed up to protest Trump than did to support him (and watch him get sworn in) and now Trump is lying about voter fraud. And his Duty Liar is lying about conflicts of interest. If "Baghdad Bob" Spicer doesn't like being called a liar, then he can stop lying.

Also, Trump's picking a fight with China. While he's lying to the American people, he's working on starting a war with a nuclear power.

Good first week.

Not an Alternative Fact

George Orwell's book 1984 is, at this moment, #6 on Amazon's bestseller's list.

The list changes hourly, so your results may vary.

Not Cool, People

Top President Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has received mail with a suspicious white powder in them and has been assigned Secret Service protection, she told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night.

"Because of what the press is doing now to me, I have Secret Service protection,” Conway said, citing the way the media has covered her boss as the reason for the threats.

Not cool to make death threats. Leave that to the clowns who like to parade around with ARs and blabber about "Second Amendment solutions".

Still, I'd like to see some confirmation about this. Conway is a notorious liar and this could be more of her "alternative facts." Anyway, she seems to be perfectly capable of laying down some sucker-punches, so maybe she doesn't need the help.

Also, totally not cool to blame the press for it, Conway. They're not making you spout bald-faced lies, you're doing that out of your naked lust for power. What the press is doing is calling you on your lies. They're not advocating for people to whack you. That's what your people do.

Shorter Spicer: "Yeah, We'll Continue to Lie. Catch Us If You Can. See If We Care."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer gave his first "official" press conference of the Trump administration Monday afternoon.

"I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts," Spicer said. "Our intention is never to lie to you."The difference between Spicer's comments and toilet paper is that you can at least wipe your ass with toilet paper.

"Disagree with the facts"-- Alternative facts.

Pretty telling that the guy who is the paid mouthpiece for the man who was the Chief Birther is now whining about people trying to undermine his guy.

Mr. Trump, Holland is on Line One

The Truthiness Presidency

Spicer's still defending his bald-faced lies of Saturday. And blaming someone else. Pretty piss-poor state of affairs when he implies that your average blogger had better access to information than he did.

One thing that I missed in all of this is that when President* Trump went to visit the CIA, he bused in his own cheering section (and not for the first time).

U.S. government sources tell CBS News that there is a sense of unease in the intelligence community after President Trump’s visit to CIA headquarters on Saturday.

An official said the visit “made relations with the intelligence community worse” and described the visit as “uncomfortable.”

Authorities are also pushing back against the perception that the CIA workforce was cheering for the president. They say the first three rows in front of the president were largely made up of supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign.

An official with knowledge of the make-up of the crowd says that there were about 40 people who’d been invited by the Trump, Mike Pence and Rep. Mike Pompeo teams. The Trump team expected Rep. Pompeo, R-Kansas, to be sworn in during the event as the next CIA director, but the vote to confirm him was delayed on Friday by Senate Democrats. Also sitting in the first several rows in front of the president was the CIA’s senior leadership, which was not cheering the remarks.

What the fuck, he has to bring his own studio audience with him wherever he goes?

This sounds like something that Castro would have done. (President* Fidel Trump?)

On another note, it seems that once reporters started digging into his companies, he found time to formally resign. Maybe. Nothing's been filed in the states where he has to do that.

And anyone who believes that there will be no discussions between him and his offspring concerning the companies probably shouldn't be let out of the house without adult supervision.

Truth in Satire

To Drink Booze is to be Civilized

Drinking alcohol not only predates things such as literacy and nations, it may have been the thing that sparked the creation of civilization, if not humanity. People first domesticated grains not for making bread, but for making beer.

The Crowd Size Kerfuffle

Maybe I'm naïve, but I can't see what benefit the Trump Administration is gaining from picking a fight over the estimates of the comparative crowd sizes for the inauguration of of President* Trump and the first inauguration of President Obama.

I suppose that everyone expects that any president and his press secretary are going to lie from time to time. But when a new president comes into office and the very first thing that they do is lie and argue about something that is demonstrably provable, and the very first press conference with the new Press Secretary is nothing more than a tongue-lashing to support a lie, what good comes from that from their perspective?

Hell, even The Weekly Standard is appalled:

What's worrisome is that Spicer wouldn't have blown his credibility with the national press on Day 2 of the administration unless it was vitally important to Trump.

And if media reports about crowd size are so important to Trump that he'd push Spicer out there to lie for him, then it means that all the tinpot-dictator, authoritarian, characterological tics that people worried about during the campaign are still very much active.

You know who obsessed about crowd size? Fidel Castro. You know who did not? George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, and every other man to ever serve as president of these United States of America.

What this is illustrating is that Trump is extremely thin-skinned, that he cannot accept being challenged on anything, and that even if it's a non-consequential thing and fighting over it will only damage his brand, he's gotta hit back.

Going to be a very interesting four years. Or fewer.*
_________________________________
* If he pulls a Palin.

Trump Defiles the CIA

Trump went to the CIA and launched into a verbal attack of diarrhea, accusing the press of lying about how few people went to see him take power. Which, of course, he was lying about. But that's not the point of this post.

What was notable was Trump's utter tone-deafness about where he made his remarks-- in front of the CIA's Memorial Wall, also known as the Wall of Heroes:

It's probably not an understatement to say that the CIA has as much regard for the Memorial Wall as the Army has for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Those who are career CIA will regard what Trump did as being about one step more respectful towards their dead (and to the Agency) than if he had smeared the wall with a handful of shit.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Something I'd pay cash money to see:

More "Compare the Crowd" Photos

The Inauguration yesterday:

The protest march today:

Guesstimates are that twice as many people showed up for the protest march as did for Trump's inauguration.

His Fraudulency has quintupled the estimate for his crowd, because he is, after all, an internationally-ranked expert in estimating crowd sizes.

One demonstrator in NC:

Trump seemed happy last night:

They set the tone of the Trump Administration with a bit of intellectual property theft.

Caption Kellyanne

"Beat to Quarters! Stand By to Repel Boarders!"

"Where's The Nutcracker dress rehearsal at?"

"I have to go from here to band practice."

$3,600 for that coat. She could have gone with the Trump Official Trenchcoat for much less.

I'm not going to make jokes about Trump's tie, I can't think of any that aren't smutty or worse.

Caturday

"Ma, turn up the heat a little!"

Wow, the Trumpers Really Turned Out For Their Guy, Huh?

This was the crowd for Trump:

Compare to the crowd for Obama, eight years earlier:

Maybe it was Trump's new 'do?

(H/T to Colbert for that one)

And So It Begins

More than two dozen Jewish community centers across the U.S. reported receiving false bomb threats on Wednesday. It's the second wave of bomb threats in two weeks: On Jan. 9, 16 community centers received threats in a single day.

Make no mistake: These neo-nazis who are doing this believe that they have the tacit backing of Donald Trump.

Trump can either squash these clowns like the vermin that they are or he owns it. A tepid "I disavow those people" is nothing more than a dog-whistle to them that He, Trump, approves.

If he doesn't squish them, this shit is only going to escalate.

"Every Jew a .22." was Meyer Kahane's slogan. He put it that way because it rhymed, "Member of the Tribe Get a .45" is kind of clunky. "Deal With Those Who Hate with a .38".... not bad, but not as catchy.

But I digress.

Time to cowboy up, people.

Just the Sort of Thing One Would Expect From Our Sexual Predator-in-Chief

At the Department of Justice, the blueprint calls for eliminating the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Violence Against Women Grants and the Legal Services Corporation and for reducing funding for its Civil Rights and its Environment and Natural Resources divisions.

So, basically any program that reduces the stamping power of the state upon the faces of the powerless will be slashed or eliminated. All so that tax cuts for the wealthy can be preserved and their taxes reduced even further.

No surprise there.

All Hail His Fraudulency(tm)

Thing is, he knows it, too.

At least the Marine Band already knows President Trump's Official Theme Song:

Now commence the Kakistocracy!

Also, I saw on the FB that the Wingnuts are creaming their jeans because Trump returned a salute. I guess they've forgotten that he has no respect for POWs* and that he was one of the rich draft-dodgers during the Vietnam War who could afford to have a compliant doctor write him an excuse note.
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* Very Russian of him, too.

Because It's Friday

I presume that tuning a calliope is a lost art.

Beware of Falling Glock Fanbois

After a long and much-criticized search, the US Army has chosen Sig Sauer to produce its next generation of handgun, eventually replacing the current standard issue sidearm, the Beretta M9 pistol. ... Sig Sauer's P320 pistol is believed to be the model on which the new handgun will be based. The Army is seeking certain modifications that are not being made public.

I'd guess that the reaction of the Glock fanboys to this news will make the post-election reaction of the Clinton camp look low-key.

Don't worry, though. Between the inevitable contract protest and subsequent court fights, the armed forces will be fielding the Beretta M9 until 2025 at the earliest.

Dear Chicago: Just Lie Down and Lose; 2nd Amendment Edition

The City of Chicago is continuing its expensive rear-guard action to try and keep shooting ranges out of the city. That is, shooting ranges that are open to the public. There are ranges that are in use by the Chicago cops and by private security companies, which the city admitted to, and which would not conform to the extremely restricted zoning that the city wanted to slap on public ranges. The city also wanted to forbid teenagers from shooting on the ranges, even though the city's own witness admitted to being to taught to shoot a rifle at age 12.

The 7th Circuit wasn't having any of it.

At this point, a rational entity would stop spending tens, if not hundreds of killobucks on legal fees and get with the program. But since Chicago can afford to spend over half-a-billion dollars in damages to people that their cops have beaten, tortured, imprisoned and killed, this is probably chump change to them.

(H/T1, H/T2)

All the Nominees Will Be Confirmed

They'll be confirmed because the Republican senators are all running scared. They know that Trump is a petty, vindictive, short-fingered little man; he takes opposition in any form as a personal affront.

Thanks in no small part to the Russians and the FBI, we have elected a man with the personality, morality, ethics and esthetics of Saddam Hussein.

Read the Rules of the House, People

Specifically, the Rules on the Right Side of this Blog.

(Stickied for a bit. New content will be found below this post.)

Rule 1: Don't be a jerk.

Rule 2, in part: Play nice.

The discussion in a couple recent comment threads has been getting heated. One was just nasty and I removed that comment.

I encourage my readers to debate, but I insist on this: It will be done without personal attacks. I know that's easy to fall into, hell, I've done it. But that's still not right and it's not how I want to run things.

But let's be clear on this: I am saying all this to forestall a problem, not correct one. "Nip it in the bud", if you will.

The frequent commenters on this blog, liberal, conservative and inbetween, have proven themselves to be intelligent and thoughtful people.

I would be proud to have a drink with any of you.

Thank you for visiting.

Blonde-Haired Moth With Small Genitals Named After Donald Trump

Which is the actual headline, I'll have you know.

Evolutionary biologist Dr Vazrick Nazari discovered the new species and named it in honor of the soon-to-be president. ... Dr Nazari said he named the moth as such because of its uncanny resemblance to Trump’s iconic hairdo. However, he also stressed that he hopes the name will generate interest in the species and promote conservation efforts for North America’s neglected micro-fauna.

Examining the Pedigree of Putin's Poodle

The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.

The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.

Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said.

This has been going on for many months. So the spooks stayed quiet and allowed the Russians to do this?

Last April, the CIA director was shown intelligence that worried him. It was - allegedly - a tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign.

It was passed to the US by an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States. The CIA cannot act domestically against American citizens so a joint counter-intelligence taskforce was created.

Notably, this was one of the few times that the FISA Court got skittish about issuing a warrant.

Lawyers from the National Security Division in the Department of Justice then drew up an application. They took it to the secret US court that deals with intelligence, the Fisa court, named after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They wanted permission to intercept the electronic records from two Russian banks.

Their first application, in June, was rejected outright by the judge. They returned with a more narrowly drawn order in July and were rejected again. Finally, before a new judge, the order was granted, on 15 October, three weeks before election day.

What were they thinking, I wonder? Did they think that if they had the goods on Trump, then they could, in effect, also make him into their asset?

So the FBI Director was willing to sink Clinton by putting out a innuendo-filled letter, but nobody was willing to say that her opponent had apparently been compromised by Putin?

We now have less than 48 hours until the West Wing effectively becomes a satellite office of the Kremlin. Fucking wonderful.

And to think that we were just worried that Trump would be a garden-variety fascist.....

Inheriting Several Billion Dollars Doesn't Make One Immune from Idiocy

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for education secretary told lawmakers at her confirmation hearing that guns might have a place in schools due to the threat from grizzly bears.

I'm not going to do any research, but I'd be very much surprised if the number of incidents of grizzly bears attacking schools over the last decade is somewhere between 0 and √-2.

Unlike a few other nominees, DeVos also pledged unthinking allegiance to His Fraudulency: "I will support what the president-elect does."

DeVos and Trump are a bit interesting on one regard. DeVos's family has poured $200+ million into the GOP. Apparently, they've concluded that buying politicians doesn't work, so they're just going to run things directly, since they've already paid for it.

Also note that she had Traitor Joe introduce her. So there's yet another washed-up tool who's apparently quietly angling to get onto the Grifter's payroll.

Cobra

First, Colt will now use snake names for frame sizes. What was their D-frame series will now be the Cobra series. It's making a big splash at the SHOT Show.

Price-Fixing Settlement-- Got Milk?

If, for any part of a period from 2003 to now, you resided in Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, or Wisconsin, and if you bought milk or milk products, you may be entitled to a piece of the action from a class-action case.

Apparently, you have until the end of the month to sign up.

Trump Embraces a Chinese Intelligence Asset (and Well-Known War Criminal)

If you guessed Erik Prince, you're right.

And here's another bit of no-shock news: Prince has ties to the neo-nazis through Bannon.

His Fraudulency Goes for a Drive

And this:

DALLAS (The Borowitz Report)—Former President George W. Bush is eagerly counting down the days until he is no longer the worst President in U.S. history, Bush confirmed on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at his home, Bush said that he “could hardly wait” until Friday, when he will be officially bounced from the worst-President slot.

“I have to admit, I never thought I’d see this day in my lifetime,” the former President said. “When you leave office with the nation in smoldering ruins, you sort of come to accept that you’re gonna be worst for a long, long time.”

"Grab Them by the Pussy" and You'll Face Criminal Charges

A well-known Greenwich Republican called a town worker "nothing but a bloodsucking lazy union employee" and later reached in from behind to place his hand between her legs and pinch her in the groin area, according to the police arrest warrant.

Christopher von Keyserling, 71, of 402 Post Road E., was arrested in Greenwich Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon and charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, police said. He posted $2,500 bond and was released to appear in court on Jan. 25.

Allegedly, he's done this to more than one woman at the Town Hall. And there's apparently video of the crime.

If he had done that to some of the women I've know, he'd be in need of a lamplighter to turn his lights back on.

National CCW Legislation?

Republican Rep. Richard Hudson (N.C.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require states to recognize each other’s gun carry permits.

I have a few issues with this, and I say that as a person who has had a carry permit since before carry permits were cool.

I know that some of the people who are in favor of this make an analogy to driver's licenses. That's a false one, for there isn't any Federal legislation on that. The states, themselves, agreed to honor each other's driver's licenses. (There are some exceptions, which aren't germane to this post.)

Second, remember that what the Congress can do, a later Congress can undo.

Third, this bill shows the utter hypocrisy of the "states' rights" crowd. This bill is being advocated by many of the same people and groups who are oh, so willing to argue "states' rights" when it comes to other things, such as pollution regulation, gay marriage, labor laws, voting rights, segregation, bathrooms and so on and so forth. It's not a terrible stretch to state that those who claim "states' rights" generally fall into three camps: Bigots, oppressors and polluters.

Would I like to have my carry permit honored everywhere? Damned skippy. But this is not the way to do it. For if the Feds pass a law granting reciprocity, it's not a big step for them to start making rules and regulations on that topic. Which could include a lot of things that you might not want to see happen.

This bill needs to die.

Attack of the Breaditor

It was my fault for leaving it out.

Pity the Poor Neo-Nazis in Montana

They couldn't afford the permit fee for their march ($125).

Of course, like most aggrieved pro-police far-right conservatives, their remedy of choice is to go talk to the liberals at the ACLU.

(H/T)

TrumpCare May Be Rebadged ObamaCare, only Tweaked?

President-elect Donald J. Trump said this weekend that he was nearly ready to unveil a plan to replace President Obama’s Affordable Care Act with “insurance for everybody.”

Mr. Trump, in an interview Saturday evening with The Washington Post, said that health care offered under his plan would come “in a much simplified form — much less expensive and much better.”

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” Mr. Trump said. “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”

That's beginning to smell a lot like the ACA, only with a different nameplate. How he can get to that without a form of single-payer is going to be interesting. The ACA was a rehash of past GOP proposals, from what they wanted in 1993 to RomneyCare, but because it came from a Democrat, they automatically hated it.*

The options for what Trump wants are limited. Private insurance for all is the ACA. Single-payer is Medicare for all. There can be a mixture, maybe, with means-tested co-pays.

Trump also signaled that he is aligned with one of the things that Republicans and the Big Pharma lobby have despised: Directly negotiating on drug prices:

He told The Post that he would force drug manufacturers to negotiate better prices with Medicaid and Medicare, the government-run health programs.

Interesting.

Trump is very good at running his mouth, so far. On Friday afternoon, he's going to have to start delivering on his promises.

If he can deliver on this, I will cheer him on. But I don't see how he can, as the GOP is welded to the idea that "gummint health insurance is tyranny". Trump will have to make the case that his plan is better, then he'll have to persuade enough Republicans to peel away from the Teabaggers and then get enough Democrats to sign on to pass his bills.
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* Obama Derangement Syndrome.

Sherlock

I watched the conclusion of season four of "Sherlock". By that, I mean the British version that was aired there on BBC One is airing in the U.S. on PBS.

To say that I was disappointed in it would be an understatement. I don't know what the writers are doing, but "what the fuck are they thinking" would be one way to put it.

Their biggest mistake is veering far, far away from the template set by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, himself. The series in The Strand was a very long series of stories, they didn't rely on each other for enjoyment. You didn't have to have read "A Study in Scarlet" or "An Affair in Bohemia" to enjoy "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton". The episode aired last night, "The Final Problem", has as much to do with the original concept as does a ponderous supertanker with an airliner-- which is to say, nothing at all.

The American version, "Elementary", which is in its fifth season, is far closer to the theme of the original. Yes, there is an underlying story going on in most seasons. But the episode each week centers on a different crime to solve. It is, simply, at this point, a better show.

I'm not going to discuss the story. Watch it for yourself.

"Sherlock" has been airing three episodes every two years. At this point, I'll be halfway surprised if it returns at all.

Putin's Poodle Speaks: "Arf, Arf, NATO is Obsolete!"

Or so he said in an interview with a German newspaper.

So Trump is planning to lift sanctions on Russia, he'll then likely recognize Russia's seizure of the Crimea and he'll do what he can to gut NATO.

Putin's getting one hell of a return on his investment in His Fraudulency.

Trump's Potemkin Blind Trust

Those folders of documents at his press conference which Trump offered up as "proof" that his was stepping away from his business affairs?

The evidence would indicate that the folders contained nothing but blank sheets of paper.

Just another day in the life of His Fraudulency, the Grifter-in-Chief.

Because Nothing Honors "The Last Full Measure of Devotion" Quite Like Pulling the Handle of a Slot Machine

A Pennsylvania businessman wants to build a harness racing track and casino near Gettysburg, the site of the 1863 battle that turned the tide of the American Civil War.

He might as well erect a Dunkin Donuts by the Old North Bridge and a McDonalds on Omaha Beach while he's at it.

98 Years Ago

The Great Molasses Flood happened in Boston.

The tank was poorly made, of inferior steel, and the steel was half of the thickness that it should have been. It had never been tested. The tank leaked so much that the company painted it brown to hide the leaks.

The flood was a testament to what happens when companies do things without regulation or oversight.

70 Years Ago

Elizabeth Short's dismembered body was found in a park in Los Angeles on the morning of January 15, 1947. She was nicknamed "the Black Dahlia" by a scum-sucking reporter soon after her death.

Her murder case remains open.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Honda Jet:

Hitting the X-Ring

SpaceX did it on a launch from Vandenberg earlier today:

Our International Joke

My guess is that in a couple of years, at most, few, other than those in the Kremlin, will be laughing.

If you're going to lose your health insurance because the Republicans repeal the ACA, remember that elections really do matter. If that does happen to you, if you didn't vote and if you were eligible to vote (whether you registered or not), then this is on you.

Caturday

A shelter cat wakes up to greet a visitor.

Cell Phone Go "Boom".

This is an interesting analysis as to why the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 so spectacularly failed.

Electronics and radio guys, your opinions?

The Kremlin Extension Office- Western Hemisphere Location

A senior U.S. official says the Obama administration is aware of frequent contacts between President-elect Donald Trump's top national security adviser and Russia's ambassador to the United States.

The official says the contacts happened on the day President Barack Obama expelled dozens of Russian officials from the U.S. and imposed sanctions as punishment for election-related hacking. The official says the administration is also aware of contacts between Trump adviser Michael Flynn and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at other times as well.

The day after Obama announced sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not retaliate. Trump praised him for his restraint.

Here's a bet: if the Russians were to roll into the Baltics, the Trump Administration would issue some statement about how the Russians were only reclaiming their historical territory. After all, he's willing to wink at other territorial grabs by the Russians.

How might this all progress? This is worth the read.

Because It's Friday

Mucking around with freight cars:

Shorter South Dakota Legislature: "Because Pressuring Young Interns into Having Sex is Fun!:

A legislative panel voted down a proposed rule change Wednesday that would have explicitly prevented them from engaging in sexual contact with legislative interns and pages.

Who would oppose such a thing? A REpublican representative named...

"I'm hesitant to pass something when we get into itemizing every potential wrongdoing that a legislator could commit, lest this become a criminal code rather than a code of ethics," Rep. David Lust, R-Rapid City, said.

You can't make this shit up. Rep. Lust, the Pro-Intern Sex Guy, is a real person.

Something Vaguely Ironic About This

The Watergate was on fire earlier this afternoon.

And this report on the Orange One's press conference is comedy gold.

"His Master's Voice," Updated.

Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant, or It's Not the Crime, It's the Coverup

The chiefs of America’s intelligence agencies last week presented President Obama and President-elect Donald J. Trump with a summary of unsubstantiated reports that Russia had collected compromising and salacious personal information about Mr. Trump, two officials with knowledge of the briefing said.
...
The former British intelligence officer who gathered the material about Mr. Trump is considered a competent and reliable operative with extensive experience in Russia, American officials said. But he passed on what he heard from Russian informants and others, and what they told him has not yet been vetted by American intelligence.

The memos describe sex videos involving prostitutes with Mr. Trump in a 2013 visit to a Moscow hotel. The videos were supposedly prepared as “kompromat,” or compromising material, with the possible goal of blackmailing Mr. Trump in the future.
...
One of the opposition research memos quotes an unidentified Russian source as claiming that the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails was carried out “with the full knowledge and support of TRUMP and senior members of his campaign team.” In return, the memo said, “the TRUMP team had agreed to sideline Russian intervention in Ukraine as a campaign issue” because Mr. Putin “needed to cauterize the subject.”

And

Now, according to a leaked annex to the combined U.S. intelligence agencies’ report on Kremlin intrigues in the American elections, Russian security agents watched Trump engaging in “perverted sexual acts” that were “arranged/monitored by the FSB,” the Kremlin’s leading spy agency. The FSB, it said, “employed a number of prostitutes to perform a golden showers (urination) show in front of him.” Not only that, according to the report’s anonymous Russian sources, Trump deliberately chose for his escapade “the Ritz Carlton hotel, where he knew President and Mrs. Obama (whom he hated) had stayed on one of their official trips to Russia and defiling the bed where they had slept.”
...
The report also detailed Moscow’s interest in the Clintons. Reports on Hillary Clinton were “collated” by Directorate K of the FSB spy agency “for many years,” it said, “dating back to her husband Bill's presidency.” But not much was found by bugging Clinton’s hotel rooms, the sources said: The spies recorded no “golden showers” or “unorthodox or embarrassing behavior” from countless hours eavesdropping on Clinton and her retinue. The best they could come up with was ”things she had said which contradicted her current position on various issues.”

Trump can get ahead of this, but his usual technique of going to Twitter, denying it, then having his Chief Whitewasher make the round of the talk shows won't cut it. Everyone, except for the Trumpanzees, knows that Trump routinely lies. Even his Chief Whitewasher tacitly admitted as much.

Full disclosure is the only way to put this behind him. Trump should start by releasing his tax returns, not just 2015, but all of them. If there is any compromising material out there, such as sex tapes, he should adopt an attitude of "publish and be damned."

Otherwise, the allegations are going to be dug into for a very long time and there will be stories dribbling out. Every action taken by Trump's Administration will be scrutinized to see if it benefits Russia.

But do I believe them? Partially, yes. The "golden shower in the bed that Obama slept in" bit seems to be the sort of petty, juvenile and symbolically vindictive act that Trump would eagerly do.