Green Eagle

From the Washington Post today: "Trump risks credibility as his policy veers between threats and inaction" Credibility? Trump?  What the hell are they talking about? And while we are on the subject of Republican credibility, consider Iran: "On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton declared that the United States could win a war in Iran with just “Two strikes: the first strike and a last strike.”  And little Marco just had to get his two cents in too: "There is clear & persistent evidence,supported by observable movements on the ground,that Iran’s proxy forces in Iraq & Yemen plan to attack Americans with the intent of inflicting mass casualties" Remember when you were taught about how we thought the Civil War would be over in a few weeks?  Or when both sides thought World War I would only last a month? Remember when we went to war in Afghanistan 17 years ago and are still there? Well, maybe nobody is told that anymore.  At least, not ...

From a very nice article at Vox, with comments from a number of law professors about Donald Trump's refusal to honor a legal request for his tax returns: "The provision Rep. Neal is using is a specific statutory exception from that disclosure prohibition. That exception says that the secretary of the Treasury (or his delegate) “shall furnish” the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee with any tax return or return information requested in writing." "Shall."  It all comes down to the meaning of this word. "A reading of the plain language of the tax code indicates that Congress does in fact have the legal authority to request and obtain tax information from any filer, including the president... The statute says the IRS “shall furnish” tax returns to the committee chair upon request and that’s the end of it... This is not an issue on which there is any possibility of reasonable disagreement. Any well-informed person who disagrees either that th...

The avalanche of dung. It never ends.  The horrors that are being perpetrated by the Republican administration are so endless that it is almost impossible to keep track of them, particularly with a mainstream press that will willingly be distracted by any infantile antic that Trump gets up to.  Here are a few things that are in the news the last three or four days: "Trump Calls For Asylum-Seekers To Pay Fees" Sheer bullying brutality, directed toward some of the most helpless people on earth.  And his "base" loves it, because they are all a inhuman as he is. "Vice President Mike Pence took a break from railing against socialism Friday morning to accuse Democrats of supporting baby murder." Trump and most other Republican leaders have jumped on this claim, despite it being one of the most disgusting lies the Republicans have ever told.  And that is a pretty high bar to pass. Republican trolls target Pete Buttigieg with false sexual assault cl...

The latest voluntary political self-sacrifice There is an ability that Donald Trump has that continues to astonish me.  That is his skill at getting people to destroy their reputations and their future credibility to provide him with the most temporary of escapes from his self-generated troubles. Okay, I can understand how a public nobody like Kirsten Nielsen or Wilbur Ross will, when they have the highest position of their lives dangled in front of them, tell themselves that they are clever enough to escape the fate of all their predecessors in the Trump administration, and give the job a try.  But William Barr was already the Attorney General, however disgracefully he acted in that position, and he emerged pretty much unscathed.  He could go on to an honorary retirement on the basis of that.  What is it about Trump that could have led Barr to voluntarily offer himself up as a self-sacrifice, permanently dishonored within a month of taking office?  Barr ...

As readers of my blog may remember, the number one mainstay of my posting for many years was a feature called Wingnut Wrapup, which documented on a regular basis, the monstrous lies that made up the entirety of the right wing internet world.  As I have said, I stopped compiling that information, because with the White House becoming as lunatic and unhinged from reality as anything online, who cared any more what Jim Hoft or Larry Klayman had to say?  The actions of the Trump administration and their Republican enablers are doing immediate and widespread damage to the country in a way far beyond what the financiers of Town Hall, Red State, etc. could have ever hoped for. Well, I have thought for a while that perhaps it would be useful to document the moral and political outrages committed by the Trump administration on a daily basis, with Green Eagle's patented analysis provided too.  This compilation covers the last three days, and is a sort of test of concept. WEDS A...

Today's example- nothing but another routine action by our President: "The United States says it was one of three countries to vote against a U.N. resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism..." And why would that be? "...due to this resolution's overly narrow scope and politicized nature, and because it calls for unacceptable limits on the fundamental freedom of expression, the United States cannot support it," (Deputy U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council Stefanie) Amadeo said..."This resolution's recommendations to limit freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to peaceful assembly contravene the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Freedom of expression...human rights.  Right.  Nazi freedom of expression.  Like this: Or this: Freedom of expression, from a President who openly threatens violence against his opponents and demands that a comedy show ...

Or, "Florida Man Strikes Again."  Is it the water?  Too much sunshine?  The alligators? Form today's Talking Points Memo, the following story from Port Richey, Florida: "Mayor Dale Massad was arrested when he opened fire on a SWAT team that had come to arrest him... The new acting mayor criticized how the Sheriff’s office had treated his predecessor but conceded that Massad was “not a perfect role model.”  Opening fire on a SWAT team...not a perfect role model.  Gee, you think?