And Another Day in Hell

As we pause to remember the tragic victims of the Bowling Green Massacre, before turning to the wonders that Donald Trump is bringing us as he "fulfills his campaign promises."

And nothing that happened today has a shred of the frightful significance of this story:

"Trump Orders Military To Prepare For War...The military order directs Defense Secretary James Mattis, who was sworn in at the ceremony, to complete a 30-day “readiness review” designed to prepare for the destruction of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, along with “other forms of Islamic terror.” Last week, Mattis was confirmed by the Senate in a 98-1 vote.

The order further instructs Mattis, in the words of the Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the order prior to its formal release, “to examine how to carry out operations against unnamed ‘near-peer’ competitors, a group which US officials typically identify as China and Russia.” And it commands the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget to develop a “military readiness emergency budget amendment” that would increase military spending in the current year and increase the budget for 2018 and thereafter—increases to be offset by cuts to social spending.

The Presidential Memorandum, only three pages in length, is the blueprint for world war."

As I have observed in the last few days, it is utterly obvious that Trump intends to lead the nation into a war; only the target remains to be chosen.  Mexico? Iran?  China?  I guess it depends on just how extreme his delusional egotism is on the day he pushes the button.

And let me add the next time someone accuses the "liberal" press of being hard on Trump: this behavior is so abominable that the press would be merely neutral, let alone liberal, if it screamed about this every single minute from now until Trump and all his people are removed from the government.  But no, most of them will ignore this, and the rest will treat is as just business as usual, or at most a lovable little joke from that scamp Donald.

And now let's move on to the first sign of the professionalism with which this war would be carried out- more evidence of the disaster that was our raid in Yemen:

"Trump Effort To Pin Botched Yemen Raid On Barack Obama Falters...President Donald Trump’s first overseas operation as commander in chief, a botched raid that led to the death of an American serviceman and significant civilian casualties, was never approved by former President Barack Obama before he left office, two top former national security officials said on Thursday.

The comments from Colin Kahl, the national security adviser to former Vice President Joe Biden, and Ned Price, a former White House spokesman, came after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tried to deflect blame by saying Obama’s team had approved the plan."

"(Representative Jared) Lieu cited a Reuters report that suggested Trump “approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.”...Trump was with advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner when he made the call on the raid. “This troubling development is consistent with other decisions by the President that marginalize the advice and expert opinion of the intelligence community and wide National Security Council"

And in connection with my recent claims that Donald Trump is deliberately sabotaging our ability to defend ourselves from, or oppose any actions taken by Vladimir Putin, how about this:

 "Donald Trump loosens sanctions preventing Russia intelligence agencies from cyberspying...A notice posted on the Treasury Department website said that sanctions imposed by Mr Obama - first in 2015 and then tightened late last year amid accusations of Russian hacking of political parties - had been eased. 

“All transactions and activities otherwise prohibited pursuant to Executive Order 13694…as amended by EO 13757, are authorised,” says the notice."

How else are you going to interpret that?

Well, let's move on to some domestic issues. Consider this, from the guy who is supposedly so rich that he will stand up to the other rich guys:

"After a White House meeting with the business executives on Friday, Mr. Trump signed a directive calling for a rewriting of major provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, crafted by the Obama administration and passed by Congress in response to the 2008 meltdown, the White House said.

A second directive he signed is expected to halt and possibly require an overhaul of an Obama-era Labor Department rule that requires brokers to act in a client’s best interest, rather than seek the highest profits for themselves, when providing retirement advice."

A world war and a deliberately created depression.  That would perfectly recreate the conditions that allowed Hitler to take power.  Is that Trump's intention?  We'll see.

Now, here are two actions taken today, not by Trump, but by the Republicans in Congress, that would have been vetoed in a millisecond by Hillary  first this utterly gratuitous act of malice:

"House GOP Blocks Measure to Prevent Mentally Ill People From Getting Firearms...House Republicans voted Thursday to gut an Obama administration gun-control regulation that would have helped prevent some mentally ill people from purchasing firearms"

And then, how about finishing off with another couple of corrupt gifts to the rich:

"House Republicans Vote to End Rule Stopping Coal Mining Debris From Being Dumped in Streams...Moving to dismantle former President Barack Obama's legacy on the environment and other issues, House Republicans approved a measure Wednesday that scuttles a regulation aimed at preventing coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams. 

Lawmakers also voted to rescind a separate rule requiring companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments relating to mining and drilling." 

That would be bribes.  They're now legal.

Well, quite a day's work, if your goal is destroying the country.  And add it all up, I can't see how you could draw any other conclusion from all of this.  Trump is off today to spend $3 million taxpayer dollars on a well deserved vacation after two weeks of this kind of dedicated work, so maybe there will be less to report this weekend.  Maybe.