Trump Calls out the #FreedomCaucus: Vows to Battle them and the Dems in 2018

I really hope the GOP defunds their campaigns and repeals their position in the House.

President Trump vowed to take on the Freedom Caucus in the 2018 midterm elections if its members do not conform to his vision of the GOP.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that the congressional caucus of conservative members of the House of Representatives is on track to harm “the entire Republican agenda.”

If they don't get on board tax reform then I really think the GOP should expel them from the party and actively run million dollar campaigns against them. If they cannot listen to leadership and Trump then they really have no business calling themselves Republicans.

Talking About Changing the Narrative: Hillary's 2nd Presidential Bid Was "Battered?"

Now this is some very interesting stuff.

The investigation sent the Clinton campaign reeling in at least two pivotal points during the campaign — less than two weeks before Election Day, when FBI director James Comey announced the bureau was looking into new emails related to the Clinton inquiry, and again two days before the election, when he announced the agency found nothing.
The cumulative effect was seen as having done irreparable damage to Clinton's already battered second bid for the White House and the Clinton camp later blamed Comey himself for their loss to Donald Trump. 

The campaign was far from "battered" if you believed anything that MSM put out right before the election. Even Fox News had her up by 6 points as late as Oct 18th. We were told she was a lock to win by many different sources.

But Democrats said Trump’s appearances in states where he is clearly behind are simply a sign that his other pathways to 270 electoral votes have narrowed to virtually nothing — even before the FBI announcement in her favor.

If things were "narrowing to virtually nothing" for the Trump Campaign how can her campaign be "battered?" I even remember talk of a Democrat sweep that put markets on edge.

While Trump's troubles could pull support away from other Republican candidates, voters may also opt to pull the lever for Trump and ignore those who are not supporting him, said Pethokoukis, who is also a CNBC contributor.
Now Democrats "are talking about a clean sweep and being able to re-run the first term of Obama the way they would have liked to have done if it wasn't overshadowed by the financial crisis," he said.

Oh how wrong all of these people were.

Making America Great is Going to Run Ads that are Pro Trump

I guess someone on TV will be on his side again.

Making America Great, a new nonprofit aligned with Trump donor Rebekah Mercer, announced plans to air at least $1 million in television and digital ads. The commercials will run in the nation's capital and 10 states that Trump won last November: Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Florida, Missouri, Indiana and Montana. Democratic senators face re-election next year in all 10 states.

He needs to go after anyone that will stand in the way of getting Tax Reform over the finish line.

Its Seems Congress is Actually Protecting some Tech Jobs from H-1B Tricks by Some Companies

It's nice when there is a bipartisan bill that actually helps American workers instead of undermines them.

In the latest onslaught against the H-1B program -- or specifically, the alleged misuse of the H-1B program by cost-cutting American companies and Indian IT firms -- another Bill was re-introduced late last week that aimed to choke off the undermining of American tech workers by foreign ones.
The Keeping American Jobs Act was brought back into the fray by Derek Kilmer (Democrat) and Doug Collins (Republican) that aims to prevent companies from making their existing American workers train H-1B tech workers in the country before permanently moving those jobs overseas, a process popularly known as "offshoring".

I think this is just the kind of bill that Trump can get behind. It saves American jobs and prevents companies from messing with their workers to save some cash.

No-Brainer Department: It Seems that Cats Like Us More Than Food

I could have told you this.

For the study, felines went through a series of cognitive tests. Fifty different cats were used as subjects, some of which were pets, others from shelters. All of the kitties were deprived of food, toys and human contact for a few hours. After this separation, the cats were presented with human attention, food, scents and toys to see what they missed most. Almost all of the cats craved human attention, with half of the felines opting for chin scratches over any of the other stimuli, food included. Only 37% of the cats chose food first.

I think if a cat lets you scratch their chins they will be pretty attached to you. Cats do their own thing but I know that if they have a forever home they are very nice to people that don't endanger them for the most part. I mean they aren't super friendly like dogs but once you earned a cats love they become super loyal and loving pets. They need to do this same test with rattys.

It Looks Like Bannon Throw His Weight Arond to the #FreedomCaucus; Maybe Add Him to the Fail List

This is no way to talk to people you are trying to get on your side.

"Guys, look. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill," Bannon reportedly said to members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. 

But those in the Freedom Caucus weren't buying into Bannon's opening gambit. "You know, the last time someone ordered me to something, I was 18 years old. And it was my daddy. And I didn't listen to him, either," said one member of the caucus.

That idiot Freedom Caucasian should show some respect to "his daddy." Maybe that is why these people will be looking for new jobs in 2018. 

Raiders Headed to @Vegas

Well that didn't take too long.

The Raiders got the official OK to relocate to Las Vegas as NFL owners reportedly voted 31-1 on Monday in approval of the franchise’s move from Oakland, Calif., a place the team has called home for 45 of its 58 seasons of existence in the AFL and NFL. The Raiders needed 24 of 32 votes to win approval.

Actually the Chargers should have moved to Vegas instead since they will be the red-headed-stepchild in Los Angeles. It will be weird to hear the sound of Las Vegas Raiders but I will be willing to bet that many Hawaii people will be attending Raiders games.

Trump Might want a Bi-Partisan Bill Next Year? The #FreedomCaucus Will Now Get Something Way Worse

Hmm this is a very interesting development.

I asked: Would working on a bipartisan health-care deal a year from now be something he would find more agreeable than whipping the hard right?
“A lot of people might say that,” Trump said, laughing. “We’ll end up with a better health-care plan. A great plan. And you wouldn’t need the Freedom Caucus.”

An Obamacare fix-it bill would probably be quite popular by many Americans and the Freedom Idiots would have no way to stop it. If the Dems play their cards right they might even get some sort of single payer out of this whole deal because I know Trump has talked about it. Also Planned Parenthood is now safe because no bi-partisan bill will strip their funding. The Freedom Caucasians just signed their political death warrant and they will now get a far less generous deal.

Trump is Freaking Belichick on #RepealandReplace Saying "On to the Next One"

It looks like Obamacare is here to stay as the GOP looks like they will lose the vote.

House Republicans on Friday appeared to be short of the votes they need to pass a Donald Trump-pushed bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system mere hours before they were scheduled to vote on the package.

The Associated Press reported early Friday afternoon that the bill had yet to obtain enough votes to pass, according to House lawmakers and staffers, with a vote scheduled for 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. 

While Trump pretty much said "on to the next one" which is Belichick's mantra after they win or lose a game.

 And, if the president doesn't get a vote to repeal and replace Obamacare, he will move on to other priorities, Mulvaney said according to a source in the room during the tense talks with GOP members. A senior administration source confirms to NBC News the "very definitive, very clarifying" message from the president and the administration's intention to move on — should the health care bill fail to move forward — to other matters such as tax reform, trade and border security. 

Now that is a very CEO move. If the construction of Building #1 has been shut down by regulations or not enough aggregate or something it's time to work on Building #2 and maybe get back to Building #1 at some later date. Worse comes to worse take a loss on Building #1 and move on. 

You can criticize the guy all you want but this is something new in politics. Trump said "we tried and the Freedom Dumb-asses failed lets start to work on Tax Reform" just like Belichick says "we didn't play well enough so we lost. On to Atlanta." Then he says "On to Atlanta" over and over. No pausing to reflect, or licking wounds, or a domino effect, or other nonsense. It's just "on to Tax Reform."

Washington is Holding Stock Market Hostage says @CNBC. No the 30 to 40 #FreedomCretins Does.

You can say that again.

Markets are entering a new era, where they could be held hostage by Washington's whims.
They could also become more volatile, after the showdown over health care revealed congressional fissures that could affect other Trump policies.
Stocks gave back gains Thursday, after the House of Representatives held off voting on its health-care replacement bill when it could not resolve objections from the fiscally conservative Freedom Caucus. Work continues on the bill, which could come back for a vote Friday.

In other words 30-40 dumb-asses hold billions of dollars worth of gains and Trumps (remaining) credibility in their clammy hands.

A Majority of Millennials Think Trump is Illegitimate for some Reason or Another.

I wonder how many of these Millennials actually voted?

A majority of young Americans view Donald Trump's presidency as illegitimate, including about three-quarters of black people and nearly half of whites.

That's according to a new GenForward poll that found 57 percent of young people see Trump this way.

If they actually turned out in large enough numbers we would have Hillary as President instead. They stayed home so we have Trump. It's pretty simple.

GOP Postpones the #RepealReplace Bill: I'm Hedged with a Large Cash Position so Whatever

Well I did some selling and put on some hedges so if the FreedomCretins decide to scuttle the bill I'm in the clear more or less.

The House of Representatives delayed its vote on repealing and replacing parts of the Affordable Care Act after Republican leaders failed to rally enough support to pass the bill, sources told CNBC.
The GOP House caucus will meet at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday to discuss its path forward, NBC News reported. House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy told CNN that House debate on the bill will start Friday morning. But a White House spokeswoman said debate will begin on Thursday night and Republicans expect to have the votes to pass it on Friday.

I'm hoping these idiots decide to step out of the way of history and don't damage Trump's growth agenda.

The So-Called #FreedomCretins AKA the #FreedomCaucus Hold Repeal and Replace Hostage

I have to say if the market goes down because this bill fails then everyone should hold these idiots accountable.

The Republican health-care bill stood in a legislative Catch-22 late Wednesday, held hostage to demands that the White House and Republican leaders wish that they could grant but insist that they cannot.
The captors in this instance are the members of the House Freedom Caucus, the group of roughly three dozen conservative hard-liners who have tried to bend the GOP bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act toward the right and have now coalesced around one major demand — that the American Health Care Act, as the GOP bill is titled, must repeal more of the ACA’s insurance mandates to truly lower premiums.

What is especially galling is that these Freedom Dimwits don't have a bill of their own to go up against the Ryan bill. They just scream from the cheap seats and mess up the Trump pro-growth agenda. You can pin that 1% downward move on Tuesday on these idiots. If the market drops again on Thursday you can blame them again. I hope they are all drummed out of the Congress in disgrace.

Real News Department: Yankee's Player Greg Bird Owns Hairless Cat Named #MrDelicious

That is an awesome name and I now have a favorite current Yankee.

With spring training no longer a novelty and no actual games to cover, baseball’s news cycle is stuck in a brief rut where it has to rely on waterskiing squirrels to stay alive. Today’s example comes to you in the form of a hairless cat named Mr. Delicious. He belongs to Yankees first baseman Greg Bird.

Here is Mr. Delicious cruising in the hoodie of his Cat-Dad.

White House Goes into #Bitter-Ender-Mode on Wiretap Claims

Just say you were wrong and get on the tax reform already.

Spicer said during Monday's press briefing that hearings are still ongoing that relate to the issue of wiretapping.

"We started a hearing," Spicer said. "It's still ongoing. And then as [House Intelligence Committee] Chairman [Devin] Nunes mentioned, this is one in a series of hearings that will be happening."

He continued later: "I think there's a lot of areas that still need to be covered. There's a lot of information that still needs to be discussed."

Comey said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Monday that the bureau had "no information" to support tweets from Trump accusing Obama of tapping his phones before the 2016 election.

The White House was supposed to have all this evidence but it looks like a load of crap. Just say that Mark Levin was wrong on the story and lets move on. The market go beaten up because it looks like the GOP can't do the heavy lifting on this stuff. Forget about the wire-tapping and lets move on to things that will matter to a whole lot of Americans.

Gorsuch Peppered with Tough Questions: Would he Fight a 100 Duck-Sized Horses or a Horse-Sized Duck? It's a Stumper

This is a tough question indeed.

Before moving on to more serious topics, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., posed the popular hypothetical question to Gorsuch at the urging of his teenaged son Dallin.

“My family’s been texting me throughout this process, asking me to ask question that they would ask,” Flake said. “I asked a few of them for suggestions and my son Dallin, a teenager, said, ‘Ask him if he would rather fight a hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.’”

I would go with a horse-sized duck but I would reason with him so I didn't have to actually fight the duck. Maybe some loaves of bread would get it to calm down if it was upset. Then I would rather run away then actually fight such a huge animal. I don't think it would be able to outrun me. Gorsuch on the other hand had no answer. He has not position on huge ducks are tiny horses. I find that troubling.

@Napolitano Suspended After His British Intel Spying Claim Turns out to be BS: Um Donald Turn off the TV!

Um, Donald switch your early morning viewing to Squawk Box or maybe Maria Bartiromo at Fox Business instead. Fox and friends keeps screwing you up.

A person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel matter said Napolitano has been benched and won't be appearing on the air in the near future. Fox had no immediate comment Monday.

Napolitano's report last week on "Fox & Friends," saying he had three intelligence sources who said Obama went "outside the chain of command" to watch Trump, provoked an international incident. Britain dismissed the report as "nonsense" after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quoted it in a briefing, part of the administration's continued defense of Trump's unproven contention that Obama had wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.

I have a feeling that someone at the CIA "leaked" this stuff to Napolitano to get him to reveal it and make him look stupid. The so-called "useful idiot" theory. I really think Trump needs to watch less cable news and read more briefing books and such.

A Whole Bunch of Sad Blue Staters that Cannot Sleep Due to Evil Trump

An entire article about people that cannot deal with the fact that Trump has won so much it is giving them insomnia.

“I worry that even though my family members have been American citizens for generations we will be targeted … because of our surnames and our looks,” says Soraida Justiniano of Palm Harbor, Fla.

“I’m worried about the ‘Anne Franks‘ of Syria, Somalia, Yemen,” says tech industry employee Amanda Silver, who is literally sleepless in Seattle, her hometown.

That is patently offensive. If she worried so much about the Anne Franks of Syria she should have gotten on Obama to clean up the mess before it metastasized so badly. Once Obama didn't do anything after the "red line" was crossed it was open season on Syrians. Hell, in 6 months time I think Syria will be all sorted out and there will be relative peace in that part of the world. I think these sad blue staters need to do this:

Lian Dolan, writer and host of the “Satellite Sisters” podcast, stopped watching the news as of Nov. 8, and adopted a German shepherd named Steffi right after Thanksgiving so that she could “walk us both into the ground, about 5 to 6 miles a day. Good for my sleep.” Her sister and podcast partner Liz Dolan is swimming. “There’s no news, real or fake, underwater,” she notes.

Yes, turn off CNN and get off of Facebook. Hang out with that rescue dog because her life is far more important than some crap happening in Washington. There really isn't anything that Trump can do that can damage America permanently. We will not go to war with China. We will not deport 11 million people. People will have more money in their pockets by next year due to an improving economy and tax cuts. Just like all those people that said Obama will destroy America were just plain wrong. These people are wrong too. Just resist when there is something to resist other than fear. 

Red-State vs. Blue-State: Economic Predictions Edition. Dems Think We are Headed for a Deep Recession?

I just thing Dems are bad at economics in general.

Preliminary data released Friday showed a larger and growing portion of Democrats have lost faith in the economy, likely because of Trump. The University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers reports that when asked about expectations for the future, Democrats score a 55.3 on the index, a number that signals a “deep recession was imminent.”

Republicans, on the other hand, score 122.4 on the expectations index—a level that indicates “a new era of robust economic growth was ahead,” notes Richard Curtin, the economist who compiles the survey.

That is the largest gap on record. What is interesting is, I wonder why the Dems think that the recession is imminent? Just about everything Trump has done from the record Stock Market, the recovery in consumer sentiment, to booming jobs is the exact opposite of a recession. Also two big bumps to the economy from tax reform and infrastructure spending have yet to even be looked at. CEOs seem to be ready to deploy capital as well. I guess this is case-in-point when it comes echo chambers. 

Nothing-burger Department: Russians Bought Trump Property

This Russian connection stuff is getting stupid already.

But in the United States, members of the Russian elite have invested in Trump buildings. A Reuters review has found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records.

I would be willing to bet that every real estate magnate in the world has some Russian rich guys buying some of their property. I would be willing to bet that the number of Chinese rich guys bought Trump property as well. They are just desperately swinging and hoping they can get a glove on Trump.

More Bad News for the Secret Service: They Lose a Laptop with National Security secrets on It

Hopefully it has some sort of remote wipe capability installed.

Cops are scrambling to find a laptop — containing the floor plans for Trump Tower, details about the Hillary Clinton email probe and a slew of other sensitive information that could compromise national security — that was swiped from a Secret Service agent’s motorcycle in Brooklyn, police sources said.
The portable computer was stolen from the bike Thursday morning as it sat in the driveway of Marie Argentieri’s Bath Beach home, the sources told The Post.

Why was it on the motorcycle in the first place? They just can't catch a break after it was revealed that the crazy fence jumper had 15 minutes to wander around until he was caught.

Even @McDonalds is Going after Trump

I guess they are not Lovin' It.

A salty tweet, sent and quickly deleted Thursday, from one of McDonald’s official Twitter accounts attacked President Trump and longed for the return of his predecessor.

“@realDonaldTrump You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands,” the tweet from the company’s @McDonaldsCorp account declared.

I think someone got let go and decided to hit back at McDonalds on the way out the door.

The White House Sounds a Lot Like East Germany According to #Politico

Yeah they should be scared and take precautions after what has happened in the last 2 months.

Some rank-and-file White House aides, meanwhile, have become convinced that intelligence agents may be monitoring their phone calls, emails, and text messages. Those fears intensified last week when WikiLeaks released a trove of CIA documents outlining how the agency can break into phones and computers.
In an interview, one White House aide described the elaborate steps he was taking to shield himself. Once he gets home in the evening, he turns off his work phone and stores it in a drawer because, he said, he believes it could be used to listen to him even when it’s off. If he makes a call during off-hours, he uses a separate, personal phone in an adjoining room, where the stowed work device wouldn’t be able to pick up his voice as clearly.

I have to echo this sentiment from some nameless GOPer

“I wouldn't call it paranoia under the circumstances,” said a Republican who communicates with many administration aides through encrypted apps. “It’s not paranoia if people really are out to get you, and everybody actually is out to get everyone else.”

Yeah pretty much. The media is out to destroy Trump by any means necessary even printing crazy made-up stuff from Oppo files. Message discipline and plugging leaks should be their top priority because anything damaging will be a bludgeon pretty quickly. Flynn wasn't taken out by amateurs. 

It Seems the Maddow Tax Story is the Al Capones Vault of Current Times. Trump Paid Higher Tax Percentage than Bernie Sanders

I hope indictments are not passed out over this debacle.

For a brief, breathless moment Tuesday night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was at the center of the political media universe.

With a single tweet, she set in motion a social media storm, compelled the White House to undercut her by releasing some of President Donald Trump's tax return information, was accused of breaking the law, was attacked by Fox News Channel and likely drew one of her biggest audiences.

The problem is that whoever took that Trump Tax Return and photo-copied it and sent it to a reporter committed a felony. If Trump was smart he would find whoever did that and put them in jail. Hopefully, this would deter the next leaker who goes after Trump's taxes. No American should be under the threat of having someone potentially leak their tax returns.   

What is ironic though is that Trump's tax returns seem pretty generic for a billionaire. He paid taxes to the tune of $31 million and made $153 million. So that nonsense of Trump not paying taxes for 19 years seems to have been full of it. Also that tax percentage of 25% was higher than Warren Buffet and Bernie Sanders. Two table pounders about "paying their fair share of taxes."

Conspiracy Theory Time: CIA + Mike Pence = Coup d'etat: AKA: One Nation Under the Deep State

Hmm very interesting.

"Clinton stated privately this month that she is quietly pushing for a Pence takeover," Assange tweeted Tuesday. "She stated that Pence is predictable hence defeatable."
Assange continued: "Two [intelligence] officials close to Pence stated privately this month that they are planning on a Pence takeover. Did not state if Pence agrees." 

Maybe all this deep state vs Trump stuff is leading up to Pence taking over after a disastrous impeachment. I'm sure the Dems would like that because it would damage the GOP and might allow them to sneak back into power. It's plausible but highly unlikely.

Oh oh, now Hillary's Campaign has some Russian Ties: Lets Just Move on from Russian So Called Election Hacking

It seems that the New York Times has ignored these "bomb-shell" allegations.

People associated with Hillary Clinton's campaign also met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman.
"Well, if you look at some people connected with Hillary Clinton during her campaign, you would probably see that [the Russian ambassador] had lots of meetings of that kind," Dmitry Peskov told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview that aired Sunday.

Shock-horror! People in the Hillary camp met with a foreign ambassador! This should be given the exact same scrutiny that the press has given to Trump's Russia ties. In other words if no wrong doing was found by either side it is time to move on from this entire issue.

Hey Press Corps, Donate Trumps Presidential Salary to the Families of Reporters Murdered by Jihadis

I'm sure there is some kind of organization that gives money to the family of slain reporters like Daniel Pearl who was beheaded by Al-Quida scumbags. In any case this is an interesting gambit on the part of the White House.

"The president’s intention right now is to donate his salary at the end of the year and he has kindly asked that you should all help him determine where that goes," he said. 
A few reporters laughed, but Spicer seemed to make clear he was serious, and said a way to “avoid scrutiny” is for the press corps to determine where it should go.
“In all seriousness, I think his view is he made a pledge to the American people that he wants to donate it to charity and he’d love your help to determine where it should go,” he said.

Aliens! Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) might be Solar Sail Propulsion System

That might be one way to get from one system to another in a half-way decent amount of time.

What is less clear is why an alien civilisation would build such a thing in the first place. But the researchers speculate that the energy being sent out is driving interstellar light sails, where spacecraft ride along on light waves in the same way a boat moves through the ocean. Whatever is generating the FRBs is powerful enough to push around something weighing a million tons, or about 20 times the biggest cruise ships ever built.

“That’s big enough to carry living passengers across interstellar or even intergalactic distances,” said Lingam.

Perhaps the beam would be able to accelerate the ship to near light speeds which would mean the signal planet is probably not too far away. I wonder if our radio waves would reach their planet in the near future?

Economists are Terrible with Crystal Balls #DigitalDisruption

It seems that we have some scholarly articles backing this up.

"Suppose ... the unemployment rate was projected to remain near 5% over the next few years, accompanied by 2% inflation. Given the size of past errors, we should not be surprised to see the unemployment rate climb to 7% or fall to 3%. ... Similarly, it would not be at all surprising to see inflation as high as 3% or as low as 1%."
These are huge margins of error. Clearly, much economic forecasting is guesswork. Worse, the gap between prediction and reality may be widening. The study — done by David Reifschneider of the Federal Reserve and Peter Tulip of the Reserve Bank of Australia — found that forecasting mistakes had worsened since the 2008-09 financial crisis.

It seemed to me like it was just pure luck whenever they actually hit a number on the head. I wonder if we turned Watson or others loose on this how well they would do? They can certainly look at more variables at the same time and come to some sort of conclusion. I guess economics might be yet another field that will become "digitally disrupted."

Wait: @TheNewYorkTimes Had Obama Wiretapping Info Back on January 19th?

This is certainly a curious article with a curious passage.

The F.B.I. is leading the investigations, aided by the National Security Agency, the C.I.A. and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit. The investigators have accelerated their efforts in recent weeks but have found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, the officials said. One official said intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House.

I have a feeling that they were wiretapping Russian spies that had contact with Trump people and found no wrongdoing. The question is did this wiretapping happen in Trump Tower or in the Russian embassy, the ambassadors residence, or wherever these Russians were. Also I wonder if they hacked Manfort's cell phone such? In any case the investigation needs to happen and soon.

#Privilege Rears its Ugly Head on Women's Strike 2017: The Robots will Wipe Out Many Jobs Held By Women.

It seems it might be easier to walk off the job for the "A Day Without a Woman" than others.

On March 8—International Women’s Day—women across the United States will have the opportunity to participate in the “A Day Without a Woman” strike. That’s a well-intentioned idea. But it’s likely that mostly privileged women will be the ones participating in the much-anticipated follow-up to January’s Women’s March. This is an unfortunate but not altogether surprising consequence of an event without a clear purpose—or an understanding of feminist history.

I guess it is easier to walk off the job if you are an executive or have some vacation days to take. It's even easier if a woman is a teacher and the school board shuts the school down for you. However, if you are in this boat it is not so easy/actually quite impossible.

Women account for nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers in the US, and women of color account for more than half of those earning minimum wage or less. According to a recent Oxfam America study, ingrained sexism in the working world has pushed millions of women into jobs that pay low wages, provide little, if any, benefits, and often impose irregular hours. The number of these sorts of jobs, according to Oxfam, is only going to increase over the next decade. In other words, tens of millions of women have neither the benefits nor the flexibility to take the day off in protest.

I'm sorry to tell Oxfam America but those jobs will actually seriously decrease in the next decade as they are replaced by robots or phased out in our glorious "digital economy." I wonder if these Marchers are going to be there to help these women when a Siri-like VR interface wipes out all the call center jobs in one shot? Or if an Amazon auto-pay store allows you to walk out without having to see a cashier. That minimum-wage women's work force they mention will be devastated by "Rise of the Robots."

I Wish We Could Get this CEO-Talker Trump as the Default

If this Trump was the one we got all the time I think his approval ratings would be much higher.

A former businessman, Trump runs his closed-door meetings with CEOs as if they were a corporate board meeting, attendees said. In contrast to his doctrinaire tweets, he likes to seek input from everyone at the table, and compared to former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, conversations are less scripted.

Trump’s approach to these meetings is “one of listening and not lecturing”, said a senior White House official who has participated in industry meetings.

This is the kind of Trump America needs. Listening and engaging not "Tweeting from the hip" and constantly fighting the media or whomever.

North Korea and Malaysia Starting to Ramp Things Up

It seems that things might come to a head here soon if people aren't careful.

North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country on Tuesday, sparking tit-for-tat action by Malaysia, as police investigating the murder of Kim Jong Nam in Kuala Lumpur sought to question three men hiding in the North Korean embassy.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak accused North Korea of "effectively holding our citizens hostage" and held an emergency meeting of his National Security Council.

Isn't that an act of war? I know we would be moving carrier groups if that happened to our people. 

Jewish Centers Terrorized by Former Reporter from #TheIntercept Getting back at a Ex?

Now this is pretty grotesque.

Juan Thompson, 31, of St. Louis, was arrested in connection with the menacing messages sent by phone or email to Jewish organizations from coast to coast, authorities said.
He invoked his girlfriend’s name in making four of the bomb threats, the FBI said in court papers.
“Thompson appears to have made some of the ... threats as part of a sustained campaign to harass and intimidate” the former girlfriend, according to an FBI complaint.

Now that we got to the bottom of this lets see who knocked down the Jewish graves.

Rep. Cedric Richmond Needs to Resign After Sexually Demeaning Kellyanne Conway

Now this is going beyond the pale and is not becoming a United States Congressman.

Rep. Cedric Richmond, Democrat of Louisiana, made a sexually crude joke about a now-notorious photo of President Donald Trump's adviser Kellyanne Conway kneeling on an Oval Office sofa at the annual Washington Press Club Foundation congressional dinner on Wednesday night. 

"I really just want to know what was going on there," Richmond said at the dinner. "Because she really looked kind of familiar there in that position there. But don't answer. And I don't want you to refer back to the ’90s.”

That kind of thing was okay in the 1950s but no longer. It is sickening that this person actually represents people in Louisiana. It also shows a wider misogyny in the so-called "diversity party." Everyone remembers how the Dems went after Sarah Palin and her daughter and destroyed Monica Lewinsky to protect a serial womanizer. Now this loathsome piece of work goes after a wife and mother because she is "evil."

#ColinCrapernick Decides to Stand: I Guess Being a Free Agent Does That

It seems that kneeling during the National Anthem might hurt his marketability.

Controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick, as he embarks on an uncertain NFL future, has decided to abandon his protest of kneeling during the national anthem because it’s a distraction, according to ESPN.
Kaepernick, sources told ESPN, said he fears continuing to kneel would direct attention away from the positive social change he believes he has cultivated or the national discussion on race and inequality he sparked with his dramatic gesture during the 2016 season.

Positive Social Change? What are you talking about? Maybe he thinks Donald Trump will be better for social change and national discussion on race (or whatever he was touting) than Obama was. I hope no one picks him up because he is terrible now and really disrespected a lot of people with that kneeling thing.

It Seems that the Eurpoean Union isn't Going to Be as Unified Anymore

Hmm, very interesting development post-Brexit.

In a report Wednesday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for the first time floated the possibility of the bloc handing back some powers to national governments. These could range from Brussels standing down from policing of government financing of companies, for example, to a broader pullback that would essentially strip the EU back to being merely a single market.

In other words Greek and Italian banks binging on credit don't have to get bailed out by the hard-working Germans again. My money is on a Northern Europe vs. Southern Europe axis with France and Germany moving closer together. The Brits really seem like they took the rock out of the dam with their Brexit.

Part of the Reason Why the Long Knives came out for Sessions. He is "pulling back" on the Crackdown Against the Police

Hmm, cause-and-effect?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a major policy change yesterday that will likely have broad and real consequences for people of color around the country. At a meeting of state attorneys general on Tuesday, Sessions said that the Justice Department would "pull back" on the federal scrutiny of police departments for civil rights violations against people of color.

"Rather than dictating to local police how to do their jobs, or spending scarce federal resources to sue them in court, we should use our money, research, and expertise to help them figure out what is happening and determine the best ways to fight crime," Sessions said Tuesday.

I guess the Justice Department will go back to normal and not be looking over the shoulder of the police departments. It will be interesting to see if crime stats go back down again or not.

Jeff Sessions Will Recuse Himself “whenever it’s appropriate” After He is Accused of Doing his Job as a Senator

I think meeting with an ambassador of a foreign country as Senate Armed Services Committee member should be okay for the most. However, in crazy-person Washington that seems to be cause to be forced to resign.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called on Sessions to resign, as did House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

I guess he was supposed to stone-wall the ambassador of a foreign country just in case he might get a job at the White House. That seems to be a normal part of his job and he probably just misspoke at the confirmation hearing. I'm sure the FBI should be able to clear this all up.

A Strait-Up Idiodic Article about Ivanka's Dress at the #JointAddress

This is why calls of misogyny hits home with the MSM.

Was Ivanka Trump going clubbing Tuesday night?
No, she was attending the supposedly more sober occasion of President Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress.
Fashion choice-wise, the president’s daughter left many on social media a bit confused. So did First Lady Melania Trump.

There was no comment about what any of the men wore who attended the speech. But here is a actual news source going into excruciating detail about the dress that the daughter of the President wore. Then it clutches their pearls at a *gasp* strap on the dress.

It was a pretty dress, but notably its design features an asymmetric neckline that reveals a black strap. It can be described as a spaghetti trap, though it easily looks like the strap for a black bra that Ivanka might be wearing underneath. Many of the more than 10,000 people who responded to Ivanka’s tweet, or to a tweet from Fox News, saw a bra strap. And they weren’t pleased.

Of course this newspaper didn't reach out to figure out what kind of strap it was but simply made a guess based on Tweets. Edward R. Murrow would be proud. And the media wonders why no one seems to trust them anymore.