Forgery Failure, Probably, or Buffoon-in-Chief At Work

Apparently the "Covfefe file" was empty:

President* Donald Trump on Thursday said he did not make nor does he have any “tapes” or recordings of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, despite having previously teased at the idea that they did exist.

“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets on Thursday afternoon.

My completely unsupported guess is that there were recordings that were falsified by Trump's people (or his sympathizers), but then cooler heads pointed out that manufacturing evidence in the midst of a number of Federal investigations would be a sure ticket to the Big House.

"Pizzagate" Deplorable Pleads Guilty

A North Carolina man who commandeered a Washington pizza restaurant with an assault-style rifle in December pleaded guilty Friday to weapons and assault charges in a deal with U.S. prosecutors. ... [Asswipe] pleaded guilty to a federal charge of transporting firearms and ammunition across state lines and a District count of assault with a dangerous weapon. ... Each count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, but prosecutors and [Asswipe]’s federal defender agreed that nonbinding guidelines would likely call for a federal sentence of 18 to 24 months and a District penalty of 18 to 60 months, which could run consecutively. The sides did not agree on a sentencing recommendation.

Whomsoever concocted and then those that spread the "Pizzzagate" lie should be doing time right along with Asswipe.

Ben Carson Needs to Engage His Brain Before Putting His Mouth into Gear

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Monday referred to American slaves as “immigrants” who dreamed of better lives for their children.

Carson, making his first speech to the HUD staff since his confirmation last week, said America is a “land of dreams and opportunities” that has drawn millions of people from overseas throughout its history.

“There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less,” he said. “But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.”

That is beyond stupid. I doubt very much that any of the slaves in the holds of the slave ships were thinking: "Wow. Being sent to the Western Hemisphere as a slave is a great opportunity for my descendants."

Carson may be technically correct about the dictionary definition of immigration. But I submit that immigration involves some degree of volition. Lumping in slaves with other immigrants is nothing more than alternative facts. The people brought to this country, in chains, were not immigrants. To the slavers, they were nothing more than dangerous farm animals.

But I hardly need to rehash the history of slavery and the conditions of the Middle Passage here.

Meanwhile, in other news about the Trumpist Cabinet, Jeff Sessions is telling the Senate that he recused himself because he did nothing wrong.

Trump Cites Non-Existent Terrorist Attack

Swedes have been scratching their heads and ridiculing President Donald Trump's remarks that suggested a major incident had happened in the Scandinavian country.

During a rally in Florida on Saturday, Trump said "look what's happening last night in Sweden" as he alluded to past terror attacks in Europe. It wasn't clear what he was referring to and there were no high-profile situations reported in Sweden on Friday night.

The comment prompted a barrage of social media reaction on Sunday, with hundreds of tweets, and a local newspaper published a list of events that happened on Friday that appeared to have no connections to any terror-like activity.

What happened in Sweden Friday night? Not much.

Don't Ask Sean Spicer to Book a Flight for You

He can't tell the difference between Orlando and Atlanta.

There is just too much to snark on with these clowns.

Moral Equivalency

If President Obama had asserted that there was a moral equivalency between the United States and Russia, the Right (and their noise machine) would have lost their collective minds.

But President* Trump does that and the outrage from the Right is about as quiet as a whisper in a deep cave. A few senators were wise enough to know that they had to say something in disagreement, but expect the Right to flush this story faster than they are flushing the famously false Bowling Green Massacre.

But if Obama (or Clinton) had said it, we'd be hearing from the Right about it for fucking years.

I Cannot Keep Up

Doug in Oakland mentioned in a comment that the Trump Administration is concerned about the invasion of helpless Belarus by Poland. Which, of course, hasn't happened.

Stephen Colbert mentioned something along the lines of "When the bad guy says 'You Americans think you're so superior, but we are not so different from you,' the good guy doesn't respond 'you're right, let's have a drink'." (Trump defended Putin's government murdering people.)

Trump was babbling about the "dishonest media" not covering terror attacks.

And of course, Trump claims that there were over three million fraudulent voters, all not voting for him. A claim for which there is no evidence whatsoever (ok, maybe for or ten voters- still no evidence of widespread fraud).

I can't keep up with the amount of outright lies and bullshit being spewed by Trump, Spicer and Conway, let alone the rest of Trump's team of alternate historians..

Trumplethinskin Inflates His Own Bubble of Reality

On Monday morning, President Trump began the tweetweek with a response to recent polling showing that his executive order on immigration is more unpopular than it is popular. And lo:

Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2017

(Among those polls, one from CNN-ORC aired shortly before Trump’s tweet, reinforcing the idea that many of his morning tweets may be responses to what he sees on television.)

Think about that for a minute. Anything that Trump disagrees with is "fake news".

Bad polls-- Fake.

Science-- Fake.

Crowd size estimates-- Fake.

Voter turnout-- Fake.

The efficacy of vaccines-- Fake.

Heliocentric solar system-- Fake.

"Never Remember", and Other Thoughts

A plaque will be unveiled to remember the victims of the Bowling Green Massacre:

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Conway has mentioned the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre more than once before her TV interview.
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Jewelry for Falcons fans:

(This is a choker.)

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This story reminded me of one back in the day: It was common practice for Arabian countries to refuse to admit travelers who had Israeli visa stamps in their passports. So Israeli officials would stamp the visas on separate sheets of paper that the travelers could then paperclip to their passports. Israel would offer up that story, form time to time, as a subtle dig at the intolerance of the Arab nations.

So are the wrestlers who are competing in the amateur world wresting freestyle championships in Iran this month going to have their visas stamped on separate sheets of paper so that, if they later want to travel to the United states, they won't get interrogated by the Customs and Immigration goons?
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At this point, President* Trump may wish that he could have Rudy killed:

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said in an interview on Saturday that President Trump had previously asked him about legally implementing a "Muslim ban." ... "He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.’"

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Who hacked the Czech Foreign Ministry?

The "Bowling Green Massacre"

Lest we forget:

(Designer unknown)

(The story)

More Alternative Facts from Kellyanne

While speaking Thursday night with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Conway referenced the "Bowling Green Massacre" while discussing a ban the Obama administration implemented in 2011 that is similar to Trump's recently-signed executive order temporarily halting immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.

"I bet it's brand-new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre," Conway told Matthews. ""Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

It "didn't get covered" because it never happened.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.*
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* 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.

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.