You really, really, REALLY couldn't make this shit up

[Joe Guy]

You can read the letter at this link.

[Econoline]

[Econoline]

"Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!"

Good advice, Mr. Trump.

[BoSoxGal]

Translation: I’m a weak and pathetic moron begging you to behave better because you clearly have my number and don’t fear me in the least.

[Lord Jim]

The humanitarian and national security catastrophe currently unfolding in Syria is precisely the kind of thing I have been dreading since Trump got his tiny little hands on the levers of power...

For the first part of his presidency, he left defense decisions pretty much in the hands of Jim Mattis and his team, and this sort of disaster was avoided...(In fact things went pretty well; it was the rules of engagement and coordination with local forces strategies implemented by Mattis that were instrumental in bringing down the ISIS calphate in Iraq and Syria fairly quickly with minimal US troop involvement. In Afghanistan, Mattis' approach resulted in a significant reduction in US casualties, while achieving a stabilization of the ground situation.)

But now The POS-In-Chief has brought the same ignorant, incompetent, "what's in it for me?" approach to US military policy decisions that have turned immigration policy, trade policy, international diplomacy, and every other area of US policy decision making that he has taken direct charge of into a disastrous (and 100% avoidable) unmitigated clusterfuck...

He's bringing that same level of capability and wisdom that led to his four bankruptcies to US national security decisions....

And what makes this far worse than any other area of US policy making that his involvement has turned to shit, is that the consequences will include a far higher body count...(Yes undoubtedly people have died unnecessarily because of his ignorant, racist and deliberately cruel immigration policies, but that number is going to look like a drop in the bucket compared to the number being slaughtered as a direct result of his Syria pull-out move. Trump can now add "complicity in war crimes" to his impressive resume of infamy...)

The aggregate amount of damage Trump can do to the security and international standing of the United States, and the aggregate amount he can add to sheer human misery by involving himself directly in military tactics and strategies is much higher than he can achieve bringing his "unique skills" to any other area of decision making...

And as his political desperation grows, we have to now worry how many more of these types of ignorant decisions he will inflict on the country until he his finally gone...

This makes his swift removal from power all the more an urgent imperative...

[ex-khobar Andy]

Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835, Democracy in America: ". . . enlightened self-interest . . ."

Donald Trump, 2019, quoting Meat Loaf: "Two out of three ain't bad."

[ex-khobar Andy]

[BoSoxGal]

I would cheerfully murder our so-called President if I had the skills and resources. (Don’t worry Secret Service, I have neither.)

I am praying extra hard for his heart to explode, but it’s too late for the Kurds - and for our nation’s standing in the world. Trump’s America is no longer the leader of the free world.

[RayThom]

... I am praying extra hard for his heart to explode, but it’s too late for the Kurds - and for our nation’s standing in the world. Trump’s America is no longer the leader of the free world.

Maybe we should create a collective prayer group on Facebook and at a specific time every evening we get together and pray a powerful prayer. Maximum effort for maximum effect.

I've scoured the religious internet and I think I found the best one. Check it out.

David’s Prayer for Deliverance (Psalm 3.2)

This one was a tough choice because the Psalms are stuffed full of cries and petitions. If you ever want a primer for prayer, you can’t go wrong with this wisdom book. But we chose Psalm 3.2 because it provides a concise portrait of crying out to God in the midst of great stress. David’s words are no less relevant to our modern workplace and lifestyle as they were to his battles.

Lord, you know who is our foe!
The orange one who rises up against us!

Many are saying of us,
“God will not deliver him.”

But you, Lord, are a shield around us,
our glory, the One who lifts our head high.

We call out to the Lord,
and he answers us from his holy mountain.

We lie down and sleep;
We wake again, because the Lord sustains us.

We will not fear though a great orange one
assail us on every side.

Arise, Lord!
Deliver us, my God!
Strike our president on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.

From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people. Amen.

Yay God!

So what do you think?

[Lord Jim]

It would be logical to assume that that letter to Erdogan was leaked by a whistle blower trying to bring yet another bit of Trump craziness to light, but that would be wrong...

Trump apparently was quite proud of that letter, and actually thought it made him look good...

He distributed copies of it himself to the participants at his nutso meeting with Congressional leaders yesterday...

He also apparently thought this picture made him look good:

Trump tried to insult ‘unhinged’ Pelosi with an image. She made it her Twitter cover photo.



The image was meant to be an insult — “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” Trump wrote as a caption. But instead, it ended up as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Twitter cover photo.

The photo is striking: Pelosi (D-Calif.), in electric blue, the only woman visible at the table, standing across from a homogeneous row of men, pointing her finger at the president.

To Democrats, what the photo conveyed was clear: the speaker “literally standing up to the president” after the House overwhelmingly voted to condemn his decision to pull out of northern Syria. The stunning moment marked the latest episode in the long-running theatrical feud between Pelosi and the president, ending, like others, with the Democratic leader reclaiming Trump’s insult as a badge of pride.

Trump’s “unhinged meltdown” comment, which he tweeted with the photo, came after Pelosi walked out on a White House meeting regarding Trump’s decision to pull troops out of northern Syria, leaving Kurdish fighters previously allied with the U.S. vulnerable to a Turkish offensive. House lawmakers voted 354-60-4 to denounce Trump’s decision in a bipartisan resolution on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Trump reportedly called Pelosi a “third-rate politician,” labeled former defense secretary Jim Mattis the “world’s most overrated general” and brushed off concerns about the Islamic State taking advantage of the U.S. military’s withdrawal from the region. Pressed on a strategy going forward, Trump said his plan was “to keep the American people safe,” to which Pelosi retorted: “That’s not a plan. That’s a goal.”

As she got up and left, Trump reportedly yelled, “See you at the polls.”

“I think now we have to pray for his health,” Pelosi said afterward, “because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president.”

Later, when Trump attempted to use the photo to depict Pelosi as the one who had the real “meltdown,” even some conservatives questioned why Trump believed the photo would be perceived the same way by others.

“That would happen to be a woman standing up and asserting herself at a table full of men. I understand such a scene may cause a meltdown but I assure you it’s not on Speaker Pelosi’s behalf,” wrote Amanda Carpenter, a former aide to current and former Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.). Carpenter questioned how a Republican president could have driven her to “speak up for Nancy Pelosi? I mean, really."

Others, meanwhile, challenged a common observation made by political commentators: that Trump is skilled at controlling the narrative in the news media.

“People say Trump, for all his failings, is a media genius,” wrote Rick Hasen, a political science professor at the University of California at Irvine School of Law. “So how could he have thought posting this picture of Pelosi standing up to Trump in a room full of old white men was a good idea for him?”

Look at how depressed and shamed the fellows seated on Trump's right look...

The guy in uniform immediately to Trump's right who looks particularly hang-dog with his chin pinned to his chest is the newly appointed Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff, four star Army Gen. Mark Milley...

A highly decorated former Ranger and Special Forces officer with 38 years of military service...Imagine how awful and ashamed he must feel over what his C-I-C has compelled him to preside over...

The man's anguish is visible in that picture...

[BoSoxGal]

Indeed, and I can't help thinking he is gripping those hands together to keep from backhanding the petulant smug ally-abandoning traitor sitting beside him.

[RayThom]

Prayer, anyone?

[Scooter]

[Bicycle Bill]

I would cheerfully murder our so-called President if I had the skills and resources. (Don’t worry Secret Service, I have neither.)

You know, I bet I could come up with an infrared sensor-controlled booby-trap/IED that would fit underneath the cup on a golf course.  Trump reaches in to pick up his ball, the sensor detects the heat from his itty-bitty hand, and — ka-FOOM!!
(of course, that means he actually has to play out a hole.  It would be just like Trump to make everybody concede him his putts.)
And if I got caught, I could always claim I was just trying to kill the gophers....



-"BB"-

[Scooter]

Trump falsely claims Texas 'made a fortune' on Hurricane Harvey at Dallas rally

Touting the "billions and billions of dollars" in relief money he authorized for Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 -- and teasing Texas lawmakers over their requests for him to spend more -- Trump said, "You made a fortune on the hurricane."

Harvey created costs of $125 billion, the federal government estimates. The government says Texas has been allocated $26.6 billion in federal disaster funds since 2017.

The Texas Department of Insurance estimated in April that personal and commercial insurance payouts related to Harvey would total $19.6 billion.
Aside from the personal toll of the disaster, which killed dozens of people, thousands of Texas residents have suffered severe financial losses from which they have not recovered.

The Dallas Morning News described Trump's claim as a joke, but we don't think his intentions were clear enough to brush off the comment as comedy. Texas' Democratic Party did not find it funny, saying on Twitter: "Texans lost everything after Hurricane Harvey. Shame on you, Donald Trump."

[Scooter]

All those colored folks look the same, dontcha know:

Fox News Apologizes for Confusing John Lewis for Elijah Cummings

During Thursday morning's broadcast of America’s Newsroom, Fox News co-anchor Eric Shawn issued an apology for airing a clip that confused one black congressman for another.

“A few moments ago we had a technical snafu,” Shawn said. “We aired a clip of John Lewis of Georgia and mistakenly labeled him as Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings. Of course, we regret that error and apologize.” (The error came despite the fact that Lewis’ name plate was in full view during the clip.)

This is the third time in a year that Fox has confused one famous black person for another. Last summer, following the death of R&B legend Aretha Franklin, the network aired an obituary featuring the image of singer Patti LaBelle. And earlier this year, The Five co-host Jesse Watters was famously embarrassed after confusing CBS anchor Gayle King with ABC’s Robin Roberts.

[Joe Guy]

They do look a lot alike. Can you tell who is who?

[BoSoxGal]

I can’t point fingers because I made this same mistake a year ago. I don’t think all black people look alike, but John Lewis and Elijah Cummings ARE very similar looking - and numerous studies have proven that people of all races struggle with cross-racial facial identification, this is suspected to be an issue in many eyewitness mistaken identifications and I’ve read extensively on the subject and been educated on the issue at defense counsel conferences.

That said, a news organization should be utilizing fact-checking staff competent enough to source their photos accurately.

Lewis is on the left, and Cummings on the right. It’s a mistake I wouldn’t make again (I was ashamed I’d made it) and I’m only very sorry I won’t have the opportunity anymore, anyway. RIP, Congressman Cummings.

[Scooter]

Casual visual misidentification can happen, absolutely. But these are public figures, who should be known to a news organization. Surely they have a stock of clips that are appropriately indexed by subject, or else someone went searching for a suitable clip on the web, or something. How do you look for Elijah Cummings and come up with a clip of John Lewis, with his name plate clearly visible?

[Joe Guy]

How do you look for Elijah Cummings and come up with a clip of John Lewis, with his name plate clearly visible?

FOX wouldn't spread fake news, would they?