Hal Brown blog January 2018a

Back - earlier posts in December 2018

Jan. 7, 2019
Proof on the question: Is Trump or isn't Trump a racist? by Hal Brown

Alan Derschowitz doesn't even know what the word scatological means: Read his OpEd. I felt obligated to inform him:

Jan. 6, 2019

Why Trump’s Generals Have Abandoned Ship

By Admiral James Stavridis, the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO 

THE PEOPLE VS. DONALD TRUMP

EXCERPT: Perhaps the better question is, What attracted Trump to generals in the first place? It seems he was attracted to the macho, direct, domineering profile that many civilians associate with generals, like Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of a Marine in A Few Good Men. He may have thought associating with them would burnish his own credentials as an alpha male. (Remember, he also hired General Michael Flynn, who later pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.) But it has likely dawned on Trump that generals are more cerebral than he ever would have guessed, have a pesky habit of quietly judging him in ways that got under his skin, are more intellectual planners than operational Rambos, and don’t quite care about the politics and media signals that the President holds dear.

In the military, we say the first duty of an officer is to bring order out of chaos. I’m glad that the generals stepped into the breach. But in the end, each of them had to ask himself, At what point does my serving in this White House become less a guardrail and more an enabler? And what will it ultimately mean that the hard-won credibility of my life and career supported the work of this Administration? That is an intensely personal choice that I suspect each will address over time. But I do believe that for each of them, leaving had a modicum of relief mixed in with the bitter knowledge that try as they might, they could not accomplish the mission.

Oregon pot business is main Daily Beast story:

Jan. 5, 2019

My editor, Doug Thompson, has a column which is a perfect companion piece to my story:

Here's a long academic article titled simply "Fuck"  It was published in Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series No. 59, Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies Working Paper Series, No. 39, I was srurpised to discover that my CHB editor was referenced for a Capitol Hill Blue article he wrote:  #65 See Doug Thompson, Bush’s Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides, (Aug. 25, 2005) (detailing President Bush’s use of “who gives a flying fuck” and “go fuck yourself”).

Jan. 4, 2019 Updated sotry below

Jan. 3, 2019

January 1-2, 2019

                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                

Dec. 31, 2018

https://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/75363

Here's a story t keep a watch on.

ELECTIONS

Bernie alumni seek meeting to address ‘sexual violence’ on ’16 campaign

The signees are looking to change what they call a pervasive culture of toxic masculinity in the campaign world.

Dec. 30, 2018
Magic lovers, watch this woman magician fool Penn and Teller.

Read why retired 4-Star General Stanley McChrystal Says He Wouldn’t Work For ‘Shady’ Donald Trump

Dave Barry has a featured OpEd in online Washington Post here:

If you don't subscribe here are my favorite parts:

January: In an apparent effort to reassure everyone on his mental state, the president also issues a tweet in which he describes himself as “genius….and a very stable genius at that!” Which is EXACTLY HOW VERY STABLE GENIUSES TALK, OKAY??

May: In other international developments, hopes for a summit meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Trump soar when North Korea releases three American prisoners, only to be dashed when North Korea refuses to accept, in exchange, Stormy Daniels. 

Sept: In other political news, the New York Times publishes an anonymous op-ed allegedly written by a “senior administration official” who is harshly critical of President Trump. Despite intense pressure, the Times refuses to reveal the author’s identity, although linguistics experts see a possible clue in the fact that the column twice refers to Trump as “my husband.”

Oct:  The president also finds time in his schedule to initiate a Twitter beef with Stormy Daniels by referring to her in a tweet as “Horseface.” Daniels responds with a tweet mocking the “Tiny” size of the president’s legacy. This exchange dominates several news cycles but, incredibly, does not prove to be the low point of the month.

Nov: President Trump hits the campaign trail to warn voters that if Democrats are elected there will be nobody to protect the nation from a deadly caravan of alleged Hondurans moving relentlessly toward the U.S. border at approximately the speed of a senior golf foursome. This caravan, according to the president, contains gang members, diseases, diseased gang members, Middle Easterners, spies and diseased Middle Eastern spy gang members carrying what Trump claims — and Fox News confirms — is “a 200-foot-long atomic switchblade.”

My comment to Trump: You are taking the word of a man who just interviewed a witch who actually more than held his own against @JesseBWatters despite the host's smirking interuptions and threat to ban him lest he say the names of who he compared you to. See witch interview.


Dec. 29, 2018

Apprentice Producers Struggled to Make Trump—and His Decisions—Seem Coherent 

Excerpt:

“He had just gone through I don’t know how many bankruptcies. But we made him out to be the most important person in the world. It was like making the court jester the king.” Bill Pruitt, a producer on the show, said, “We walked through the offices and saw chipped furniture. We saw a crumbling empire at every turn. Our job was to make it seem otherwise.”

Although Trump immediately proved himself to be an ideal character for reality television, producers had to do a lot of editing work to make him seem coherent. “He wouldn’t read a script — he stumbled over the words and got the enunciation all wrong,” Katherine Walker, a producer on the show, said. “But off the cuff he delivered the kind of zesty banter that is the lifeblood of reality television.” Although editors “cleaned it up so that he was his best self,” Walker is convinced “Donald thinks that he was never edited.”

Dec. 28, 2018 The best medicine: This week's top political cartoons. Plus 50 moments this year that made us happy.

Gun in America: Two unarmed men tried to steal tools from a suburban Seattle store, six customers pulled guns and shot out their tires. “Anytime you’re firing a weapon in a public place, especially a few days before Christmas in a crowded parking lot, it is a grave concern,” police chief said.
...

dog	cat	horse	iguana
5	2	10	500

Back - earlier posts in December 2018