Tom Toles for October 26, 2017

“Oh, they’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!"

Glug…Glug…Glug…

Those vacant seats are going to be filled by Bannon’s choice people.

Nearer, my Trump, to thee

I hope that enough intestinal fortitude can be found among those with an “R” after their name on the ballot to shut down this loon before he causes real, lasting damage. McCain clearly has the chops, the motivation, and the gloves are off. Remember that Flake and Corker will continue to sit in the Senate until 2019. Murkowski and Collins have already stood up on health care. Others have made noise but played along in the end. They are certainly thinking about it. Even Luther Strange, since he lost in the primary to Moore, owes nothing more to Don Juan. Maybe, just maybe, even reliable conservatives will see what a disaster this administration already is, and how much worse it could become if they don’t grow up and demonstrate actual competence and leadership.

PIRATE SHIP – {rhyme}

A few of the pirates abandon ship,

tired of Captain Trump’s lip.

Their ship nonetheless continues its trip,

with Bannon popping his whip

to hold the crew in his tightening grip.

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FOILED BY TURMOIL – {limerick}

The Repugs are in much turmoil;

their several factions roil.

Let’s call this Good: -

- such troubles could

cause them their foul plans to foil.

======

“Things have come to a terrible pass in this once-great nation! Someone needs to stand up to this monster! See ya.”

We REALLY need more LOYAL and PATRIOTIC AMERICANS to remember these words of wisdom from an earlier era; “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.” Theodore Roosevelt.

Of course, their words don’t match their actions. They’ve been marching in lockstep with everything Trump wants. Wonder if their announced resignations will make any difference at all in their voting?

Republicans should keep destroying each other until Nov 2018.

I keep forgetting the advantage to having a mutually exclusive, self-serving, privately-funded, two opposing parties, system that only represents their minority base when in control.

Trump has been in the pocket of the Russians for at least 5 years. After burning banks here and in Europe by stiffing them all to pay them back. (If you owe banks a huge amount of money they don’t have leverage against you.) So Trump found a willing lender in the Russian banks and Tsar Putin. He also found himself owing in a way no regular bank would affect him—-Russians kill. Though we found out Putin has been trying to infiltrate and squeeze any and every candidate here and in the NATO countries so far Trump is their Ace-In-The-Hole. Their man in Washington, D.C.

“Retirement is not a Biblical concept.

That is a pagan concept.”

– Tea Party “Historian” David Barton

To put the current political situation in perspective, check out “Distory” by Robert Schnakenberg St Martins Press 2004.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2016/1/racial-attitudes-still-divide-the-two-major-parties.html

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Karl Marx had a comment about automation back in the early 19th century and how Capitalists in their need to short change the workers would find that if they got their wish they would go out of business from lack of buyers of their products.

Read an interesting analysis of the two general categories of Christians in terms of their concept of god. One was that of the Avenging God, the other was that of the Compassionate God. Guess how political belief lined up with those two different views?

Conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg:

Trump has no more political or democratic legitimacy than senators do, as members of a coequal branch. Flake and Corker — flawed as they may be — have simply been responding to the drama machine in the Oval Office. That is where all the drama is coming from. The fact that Trump won’t and can’t change doesn’t absolve him of responsibility for the slow transformation of the GOP into a burning river of sewage. The fact that it’s easy to criticize the downstream victims of that fecal inferno for their response to it and hard to criticize the source of it doesn’t make that criticism right — or rightly aimed.

“There’s a hole in your boat!” I shouted to Trump.

“There’s a hole in your head!” I shouted to Trump.

“There’s a hole in your soul!” I shouted to Trump.

Trump tweeted: “Many people find me whole.”

[this one is by Godfrey Daniel, not Jonah Goldberg, for those scoring at home]

I thought the band would be playing “The Star Spangled Banner” and Trump would force everybody to stand.

And the band played on, and on, and on, and on, but the boat still sank.

The ship of state is really full of sh…

Oh, by the way…

Cambridge Analytica used data from Facebook and Politico to help TrumpThe Guardian8 hours ago

What Did Cambridge Analytica Really Do for Trump’s Campaign?Wired3 hours ago

WSJ: Trump-Linked Data Firm Pitched Assange On Organizing Hacked Emails

Talking Points Memo 11 hours ago