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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Here comes the smasher, here comes the master. Here comes the big beat, big beat disaster. LET’S GO TO PRESS.
Remember yesterday when I warned you to actively avoid President Trump’s nationally televised speech on border security because it would be a lie-filled debacle? I WAS RIGHT AGAIN! In fact, Trump couldn’t even come up with any new lies or strategies other than repeatedly calling the situation at the border a “crisis.” It was a complete waste of time, and reportedly even the president thought it was a dumb idea. From the NYT:
Yet privately, Mr. Trump dismissed his own new strategy as pointless. In an off-the-record lunch with television anchors hours before the address, he made clear in blunt terms that he was not inclined to give the speech or go to Texas, but was talked into it by advisers, according to two people briefed on the discussion who asked not to be identified sharing details.
While I’m sure you don’t need any convincing, here’s a fact checking breakdown of the lie-filled Trump speech.
Here’s how we know this isn’t a real crisis:
– Trump’s solution would take years to build
– Half the Cabinet is headed to Davos to drink Hot Chocolate with bankers
– Trump supported a bill w/out wall funding until Sean Hannity yelled at him
– Trump lies about everything— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 9, 2019
In the Democratic response, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer focused on the real damage being done to federal workers and their families as the Trump shutdown continues to linger on.
Meanwhile, successful businesswoman and constant Trump foil Stormy Daniels spent her time during the speech folding clothes in her underwear for an audience of 16,000 people on Instagram. Here is a very interesting recap.
Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein may be stepping down from his post when Trump’s nominee, William Burr (who Rosenstein has supported in the past) is confirmed.
BUT HERE’S THE BIG NEWS OF THE DAY: The lawyers for Trump’s criminal crony Paul Manafort fucked up big time and accidentally submitted unredacted court documents that reveal that Manafort gave private polling info to a buddy of the Kremlin which they probably used to manipulate the 2016 election. Whoopsy-daisy!
THE NEXT BIGGEST NEWS OF THE DAY: The Russian lawyer, who met with Don Jr. and Kushner in that infamous Trump Tower meeting and has denied having ties with the Russian government, has been charged for an unrelated crime that proves she is very tied to the Russian government. The pieces are coming together!
Is Beto O’Rourke actually running for president? The answer is probably maybe?
R. Kelly reportedly under criminal investigation in Georgia “as a direct result” of Lifetime’s ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ https://t.co/e0Wmm3yIfU pic.twitter.com/5wxvQLELOX
— BrooklynVegan (@brooklynvegan) January 8, 2019
IN LOCAL NEWS: Police have identified the man fatally shot by Portland Police this past weekend, and according to eyewitness accounts it was a very harrowing event. And according to relatives of the deceased, the shooting victim was both a paranoid schizophrenic and legally blind.
The Trump shutdown is hurting undocumented immigrants in Portland, as cases for asylum seekers are put on hold.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum attended a listening session about discrimination and hate crimes in Portland and heard a lot of tragic stories—and one very bullshitty one.
A Bend sex toy company was awarded at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, and then had their award yanked away after CES officials deemed the toy—which was designed for women—”obscene.”
Now, may I present to you the WEATHER: More showers today with a high of 48, but a drying trend starts tomorrow!
And finally, here’s a case where virtual reality is probably more dangerous than actual reality. OUCH. (That’s going to leave a mark.)
“Mr. Trump … made clear in blunt terms that he was not inclined to give the speech or go to Texas, but was talked into it by advisers… “
There’s our “Fearless Leader”? Buffaloed into making a speech he KNEW was pointless? (whoa– I haven’t been giving ol’ Trumpfy nearly enough Credit!) Poor man, he can’t even stand up to FOX, Hannity nor Rush nor Ann Coulter nor even his ‘advisors’ … Sad.
Weak, too.
Here’s a rebuttal to the last night’s Trumpfestation of Lies
(from an elderly Socialist, so, obviously, it’s not to be taken Seriously):
“President Trump, you want to talk about crises. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, tens of millions of workers in our country are earning starvation wages and are unable to adequately provide for their families.
You want a national emergency? 30 million Americans have no health insurance and many more are under-insured. Thousands die each year because they don’t go to a doctor when they should and our life expectancy is actually in decline. While the pharmaceutical industry makes tens of billions a year in profit, 1 in 5 Americans can’t afford the medicine they need. Now, that’s a crisis we should be working on right now.
And here’s another crisis. Too many of our seniors are living in desperate poverty, and about half of older Americans have no retirement savings. Hundreds of thousands of kids cannot afford to go to college and over 40 million are trying to deal with outrageous levels of student debt. What are we going to do about those crises?
And maybe, here’s the biggest crisis of all. The scientific community has made it very clear in telling us that climate change is real and is causing devastating harm to our country and the entire planet. And they have told us that if we do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuel the nation and planet we will be leaving our kids and grandchildren may well be unhealthy and even uninhabitable.”