L-R Greta Thunberg, Donald Trump Following the announcement of climate change activist Greta Thunberg being named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year, Donald Trump (who highly covets the TIME honor) criticized the 16-year-old on Twitter. From CNN:
President Donald Trump on Thursday again publicly mocked teen climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg, tweeting that the 16-year-old Swede who has inspired protesters worldwide has “anger management” issues.
Thunberg, who was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year earlier this week over Trump, has sternly castigated world leaders for not doing enough to combat the climate crisis, and memorably stared down Trump at the UN General Assembly in September. She has been open about her diagnosis of Asperger’s, calling it a “superpower” that helps her activism.
“So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!” Trump wrote Thursday morning, responding to a tweet congratulating Thunberg on being named Person of the Year.
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE
Asperger’s is a challenge for any teenager. Being mocked by the president of the US is next level cruelty. Greta responded by rewriting her bio for Twitter:
(image via Twitter) Conflicting reports coming in today as Donald Trump tweeted he warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia should beware meddling in the United States’ 2020 presidential election. Trump says he raised the subject, but Lavrov “No, we didn’t haven’t even discussed elections.” See how Russia works to divide Americans…?
The White House and the Kremlin are at odds tonight over whether Trump raised election meddling today in his meeting with #Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov. The White House says he did; Lavrov says he did not
White House says “President Trump warned against any Russian attempts to interfere in United States elections” In meeting with Lavrov. Lavrov just now: “No, we haven't even discussed elections.”
Just had a very good meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and representatives of Russia. Discussed many items including Trade, Iran, North Korea, INF Treaty, Nuclear Arms Control, and Election Meddling. Look forward to continuing our dialogue in the near future! pic.twitter.com/tHecH9a9ck
Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain) The U.S. House of Representatives, for only the third time in the history of our nation, today announced Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump. The two articles of impeachment allege: • Article I: Abuse of Power for asking the president of Ukraine to announce an investigation into his perceived political opponent for the 2020 election, former Vice President Joe Biden. In saying during a phone call with the Ukraine president “We need a favor though…” he conditioned military aide that had already been approved by Congress. Article I also notes a head of state meeting was held at arm’s length unless the investigation was announced. • Article II: Obstruction of Congress for directing unprecedented defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives in the form of withholding documents requested by House Committees, and directing current and former Executive branch officials to not cooperate with those Committees. You can, and should, read the Articles of Impeachment here. It’s not long and Americans should be fully informed on this episode of U.S. history. According to The Hill, Trump would like the trial to begin “sooner than later.” Should the Articles of Impeachment pass in the House as expected, a trial will be held in the U.S. Senate where the 100 Senators will act as the jury. There are currently 53 Republican senators. A super-majority of 67 senators will be required to find Trump guilty. I do not see 20 GOP senators voting against their own president as long as he’s appointing the federal judges they want. Article I will be argued as semantics as to whether “We need a favor though” and other evidence will convince those 20 senators to cross the aisle. Article II seems obvious – Trump did obstruct the investigation. But his Republican soldiers in the Senate will turn a blind-eye to that. That’s my prediction. In the end, the ‘point’ will be history showing House Democrats doing their appointed jobs. What is very, very unclear is whether the impeachment proceedings will energize Trump’s base to get out and reelect him next fall, or will more Democratic and Independent voters show up to vote him out? We shall see. The Trumpster, predictably, responded on Twitter:
To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election
Some news items you might have missed: • Instahunks: Fashion designer Daniel Sheehan calls his white t-shirt the ‘sexiest basic’ you’ll own, but I don’t see anything ‘basic’ in this pic (above). • Newsweek: The Hallmark Channel has yet to produce any gay-themed Christmas movies, but a petition launched by outraged evangelicals is aimed at thwarting any future attempts at making a film with LGBTQ themes or characters. • The Hill: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) – “The President doesn’t give a shit about what’s good for our country, what’s good for Ukraine. It’s all about what’s in it for him personally and for his reelection campaign.” • Advocate: A Republican congressman has introduced a bill he positions as a compromise answer to the Equality Act, but it includes broad religious exemptions. • Twitter: Donald Trump said today that “it is wrong” that “laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the 9th month.” #WhoWantsToTellHim?
WATCH: Trump decries the fact that “laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the 9th month,” and says “it is wrong, it has to change.” It’s unclear if Trump is calling for forced abortions or for delaying births until the 10th month.pic.twitter.com/T4YOw3QD2D
• Instinct Magazine: For the first time since the HIV/AIDS crisis began, 2019 saw more straight men in Western Australia diagnosed with HIV than their gay peers. • CNBC: Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to void a subpoena from the House that seeks the president’s financial records from his accounting firm. #WhatIsHeHiding? • Playbill: Tony and Oscar nominee Adam Driver (Burn This, BlacKKKlansman) sings “Being Alive” from Company in Marriage Story. Driver sings the iconic Stephen Sondheim tune as his character, Charlie, is coming to terms with having to rely on himself, to stay strong, to be alone in the next phase of his life.
Donald Trump tweeted today that any news story that doesn’t have “an actual living name on it” should not be believed. It, of course, must be ‘fake news.’ I always think this is a bit of projection again on Trump’s part because he knows he made up ‘fake news’ sources over the years. So, he assumes everyone else does. Vox reporter Aaron Rupar reminds us of just a few times when Trump himself announced ‘fake news’ with no names attached. #TheresAlwaysATweet
L-R Former Vice President Joe Biden, Donald Trump After several world leaders were captured on video apparently laughing at Donald Trump, Trump responded by calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “two-face,” canceled his press conference for the day, and left the NATO summit in London early.
ICYMI, a hot mic picked up Canadian PM Justin Trudeau & others at NATO apparently talking about Pres Trump’s lateness, extended press conferences & Trump’s team’s jaws dropping in response to Trump’s comments at NATO. And now, Trump seems to have cancelled his 10:30 a.m. presser. https://t.co/HeHTZqEP2L
The video clip, which went viral, is now part of a campaign ad for former Vice President Joe Biden. In the spot, Biden calls Trump ‘dangerously incompetent and incapable of world leadership.’
The world is laughing at President Trump. They see him for what he really is: dangerously incompetent and incapable of world leadership. We cannot give him four more years as commander in chief. pic.twitter.com/IR8K2k54YQ
With his Thanksgiving vacation, President Donald Trump’s golf hobby has now cost Americans an estimated $115 million in travel and security expenses ― the equivalent of 287 years of the presidential salary he frequently boasts about not taking.
Of that amount, many hundreds of thousands ― perhaps millions ― of dollars have gone into his own cash registers, as Secret Service agents, White House staff and other administration officials stay and eat at his hotels and golf courses.
“I love golf, but if I were in the White House, I don’t think I’d ever see Turnberry again. I don’t think I’d ever see Doral again. I don’t ever think I’d see anything. I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off.” – Donald Trump speaking at a February 2016 campaign rally (public domain image via White House/Flickr)
Tucker Carlson (screen capture)Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson admitted to his television audience last night what most Americans already know – that Donald Trump consistently lies and his followers don’t care. In a lengthy monologue on his show last night, Carlson told the nation, “Trump is a racist liar.” The statement was borne out of Carlson noting the Washington Post has been taking notes in regard to the Donald’s lies and exaggerations as if it’s a bad thing to hold the president of the United States accountable.
“The crowd at the 2017 inauguration was not the largest ever measured on the national mall. Sorry, it wasn’t. Why did the president claim it was? Because that’s who he is. Donald Trump is a salesman: A talker, a boaster, a booster, a compulsive self-promoter. At times, he’s a full-blown BS artist.
“If Trump hadn’t gotten rich in real estate he could have made a fortune selling cars. Most people know this. It’s transparent, really.
“Is lying really the reason the left despises Donald Trump? Or could the real problem be, as is so often the case, the exact opposite of what they claim it is? Think back over the last four years. When have the CNN anchors been the angriest?
“Was it when Trump told some whopper or exaggerated his own accomplishments? Nope. They’re used to that kind of lying. Everyone who spends time around politicians is. What infuriates official Washington is not when Trump lies, but when he tells the truth.
And that’s where Carlson goes off into the underbrush on the way to Poughkeepsie as he slices and dices language & logic to address multiple topics – Haiti, MS-13, justifying Saudi Arabia’s killing of a journalist – often using ‘absolute’ positions as reality. But by the end, he does circle back to say: “Let’s just agree that Trump is a racist liar and move on. By the way, did you know he’s up to almost 14,000 lies by now? My gosh, what a bad person he is. Unlike us.”
The Hill reports that the Donald tweeted this image an hour after arriving at his Florida golf club. God only knows what this even means in his ego-driven mind.
Commander in chief Donald Trump Update: Well, that didn’t take long. Clearly, Donald Trump didn’t want to get his fingerprints on this, so he told his Defense Sec to handle it. From the Washington Post:
Esper asked for Spencer’s resignation after learning that he had privately proposed to White House officials that if they did not interfere with proceedings against Gallagher, then Spencer would ensure that Gallagher was able to retire as a Navy SEAL, with his Trident insignia.
Spencer’s private proposal to the White House — which he did not share with Esper over the course of several conversations about the matter — contradicted his public position on the Gallagher case, chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
SCOOP: Defense Secretary Mark Esper just asked for Navy Secretary Richard Spencer’s resignation, Pentagon says. with @AshleyRParkerhttps://t.co/GdDMFqj0k2
After a Navy SEAL was accused of several war crimes and acquited of most but not all of them, the Navy demoted him. The commando was accused of shooting civilians, murdering a captive Islamic State fighter with a hunting knife in Iraq, and threatening to kill SEALs who reported him. He was ultimately found guilty of bringing discredit to the armed forces by posing for photos with the teenage captive’s dead body. But Donald Trump, after intense lobbying by the man’s family, reversed that decision as Commander in Chief. The Navy then announced plans to remove the man from his unit. Trump pushed back again. From the New York Times:
The secretary of the Navy and the admiral who leads the SEALs have threatened to resign or be fired if plans to expel a commando from the elite unit in a war crimes case are halted by President Trump, administration officials said Saturday.
The high-level pushback to Mr. Trump’s unambiguous assertion on Twitter this past week that the commando, Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, should remain in the unit was an extraordinary development in what was already an extraordinary case, one with few precedents in the history of presidential relations with the American military.
The Navy secretary, Richard V. Spencer, later denied that he had threatened to resign but said disciplinary plans against Chief Gallagher would proceed because he did not consider Mr. Trump’s statement on Twitter to be a formal order. Mr. Spencer added that the president, as commander in chief, had the authority to intervene and that it would stop “the process.”
Chief Gallagher, who counts Mr. Trump as one of his most vocal supporters, was accused of shooting civilians, murdering a captive Islamic State fighter with a hunting knife in Iraq, and threatening to kill SEALs who reported him, among other misconduct. His court-martial ended in acquittal on those charges.
Last Friday, Mr. Trump reversed that demotion, angering Navy officials, including the commander of the SEALs, Rear Adm. Collin Green, who had little choice but to accept the reversal. Nonetheless, they continued with their plans to eject Chief Gallagher from the unit.
The AP reports that the Navy has received word from the White House that Trump’s tweet “is not a formal order.”
Reminder: Eddie Gallagher enjoyed murdering innocent people so much other SEALs had to sabotage his rifle and fire warning shots to save potential victims. https://t.co/sreoB7PnHU
Trump’s intentional degradation of the military works to Putin’s advantage. And let me state this plainly – that is exactly why Trump is doing it. https://t.co/YbNaBJ2DZV
Some news items you might have missed: • 
