DramatistDreamer

Cognitive dissonance. Some people are so committed to this. I liken this to the raging homophobes who are then caught 'tapping' signals in the men's bathroom stall.

At least the odds of us all choking on methane gas has been reduced again with this ruling.

Looks like a 'quiet' attempt to dip into a more "centrist" strategy by the Our Revolution folks. Bernie and his cohort are certainly not above being calculating, despite what the purity ponies claim. He's a politician who has been in office for decades, likely backed by a cohort of other politicians and no matter how well their intentions all are, they function as politicians. Every day, it's a burning trash fire with Trump Inc. So much so that it's now become an entire garbage dump. How Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., Avoided a Criminal Indictment Tillerson tries to talk around this but he still has yet to deny that he said it.

First, how does the ITF accept this bogus excuse and Second, how does is a scrub like Evans able to afford a cocaine habit?

The Political Land Mine in the Republican Tax Plan Looks like there could be a possibility of more infighting in the GOP. "GOP lawmakers from blue states are protesting the elimination of a popular deduction that could force many middle-class families to pay more—and sink President Trump’s bill in the House."

On a day like today, I could really use that type of ATWT to escape into.

So Congress missed the deadline to renew the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) and now it's set to expire. By hook or by crook, these people are trying to cut health insurance for whoever they can. Despicable.

True. They would be very real and noticeable losses if the show ever got a reboot. Speaking of sequels, I just read that there is a possibility of a Coming To America sequel (speaking of dearly departed actresses, Madge Sinclair would be deeply missed from that sequel!) and I always remember Rosetta Lenoire had a small but poignant role in that film, a very sweet scene between Lenoire and Eddie Murphy. What an accomplished actress she was!

In the EW article wasn't Jo Marie Payton asked what she'd like to see from a reunion/reboot? I thought she mentioned that she'd like to ask something like "Where is Judy?" and then have Judy walk down the stairs. I know it was presented in a humorous way but I think she was being genuine. Or at least I chose to see it that way. There's no way that FM could do the type of show that it evolved into in its original run, with times being what they are, even the youngest cast members being mature now, with other shows like Black-ish capturing the public's attention, FM would have to present a reboot that is somewhat grounded in the times. Carl Winslow is likely by now, retired from the Police Department but, a Black family living in Chicago? There's no way the issue of police violence against Black communities could escape notice. If FM were ever to return, it would have to be a different show. Hopefully better.

That people elected this man, it's indefensible, honestly.

In the meantime, many people will suffer. One example- Just weeks after the Trump administration struck down an Obama-era regulation that had given nursing home patients the right to sue in cases of abuse, another patient has died from that Florida nursing home disaster in the days following Hurricane Irma (the one where many patients died of heatstroke and heat related illnesses after being left in the heat without AC). Obama rules would have allowed surviving patients and families of the deceased to sue. Now under Trump, not so much. Very sad.

Speaking of not knowing what you have til it's gone, a poll by Public Policy Polling did a survey and found that 52-41% of people, the majority wish that Obama were still POTUS. Poll: Majority wish Obama were president, as Trump labeled 'mentally unstable'

If the day comes that the Sandroids of the world try to come at Kamala Harris, then they would really face the wrath of African American women voters. Saw this floating around on social media and all I have to say it "Duh".

Speaking of the ever evolving (or is it devolving?) travel ban, can anyone make heads or tails of what this dude is on about here?

Even the likes of Sarandon are not that filled with hubris as to go after Michelle. For them, HRC was easy pickings because of the perceived popularity issue (ironically, HRC blew Trump away in the popular vote total). Ordinarily, a President not getting much accomplished with regards to passing legislation would be a big problem, but nothing is ordinary about the times we are now forced to live in. It's likely more of a relief that this president is so ineffective at legislation. What low standards we have now!

Well, considering the mess he made of his disclosure forms for security clearance, I don't think it's that deep. I could be wrong and apologies if I am, but he has a history of screwing up paperwork and I think this is another case of it.

Speaking of idiots, there was what I initially thought was an Onion story but looks to be true- that Jared Kushner registered as a female in the state of New York. And this is the guy who is in charge of the Middle East peace process?! In terms of where we are today, I agree that it will take years, possibly a generation, to undo all the damage that the Trump administration is creating. Off and on, I've been reading about the Reconstruction period where Blacks had made big political and socio-economic gains post slavery. All of that was practically reversed with the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, which set off a reign of terror and an undoing of that progress. Eventually gains were made but it took several generations to put African Americans on track to where they had once been during the Reconstruction era. We just all may be getting a glimpse of what that feeling might be like, although it is clearly not as terror filled for most of us today.

Oh, who in their right mind would blame him? I meant that Trump is causing chaos as these lifelong civil servants and diplomats are fleeing his administration in droves! And driving the acting head of the DEA to resign in the midst of the opioid crisis shows how bad things have gotten.

Speaking of Republican leaders sowing the seeds of chaos, the DEA Chief is resigning. DEA Chief Chuck Rosenberg Resigns After Criticizing Trump Remarks on Police Conduct

Trump owes Puerto Rico $33 million but the island never got paid due to Trump's numerous bankruptcy protection stays. Speaking of Puerto Rico's debt coming at the hands of the U.S., Trump's refusal to wave the Jones Act, as it did with states affected by Harvey and Irma, no doubt helped contributed to some of the 16 deaths (and rising) on the island. There is an Op-Ed in the NYT that posits that the Jones Act is one of the main reasons why Puerto Rico is being crushed by debt in the first place. The Law Strangling Puerto Rico While I've disagreed completely with the methods employed by Puerto Rican nationalists, I do have to wonder whether Puerto Rico would've fared as an independent nation, rather than a commonwealth. I've noticed that the majority of the islands that are commonwealths of other countries have struggled this hurricane season, often unable to get valuable resources for days from "Mother countries" due to distance and a lack of understanding of what was truly happening on the ground.

Despicable. These people have a mob mentality. The keep coming after people, especially the most vulnerable.

Trump treated his first two wives terribly, by all accounts. His divorce terms with Ivana are sealed but if leaked witness accounts are true, Ivana was subjected to what accounts to marital rape. @Khan you're correct. Those lewd headline grabbing quotes that are attributed to Marla Maples (rumored to be orchestrated by Trump to be fed to the press) were out during a time when Ivanka was in school and was old enough to know the implications (at least, in part). Just last year, I read an article that mentioned the entire mess with news reports that detailed how reporters lurked outside of her school, hoping to ask her about the headlines in order to get a reaction and/or quote. I'd imagine that this might have left a bitter taste. Trump appeared to want to talk respectfully about Ivana post divorce but seemed to have nothing but nasty things to say for years about Marla Maples after their marriage ended. In fact, it was the opposite of his divorce to Ivana, where details were sealed, Maples' business was put on blast in the wide-open. I'd imagine those negative sentiments could filter down to Trump's other children. Howard Stern has always been a provocateur, and anyone who goes on his show knows what to expect but yeah @Juliajms I agree that Trump came off so sleazy-- but he always does. He seems to love going on that show too so that he can be as lewd as he wants to be.

@Juliajms by the way, I read it and didn't see it as "killing" but making sure Tiffany got less than the rest (*shrugs*) as in pushed down, way down the list of inheritors. Whatevs, they're still trash in my book.

That BBC article on Chad being added to the travel-banned countries list, while Sudan is taken off, makes me suspicious that perhaps Trump Inc. and/or his cronies have some secret investments in Sudan (oil, e.g.). There have been far more atrocities committed in Sudan than Chad over the past decade, but then again Trump is in thick with the Saudis that have been major backers of Bashir and Sudan (or is that North Sudan now?). Many Chadians were squeezed from all directions when the ISIS onslaught took place in earnest in neighboring Mali - with refugees fleeing violence in Mali, they had difficulty securing their border, particularly against militants and the U.N. was quite slow in sending help to secure their border, although the African Union did what it could in helping that effort. The U.S. did send reinforcements to help train Chadian troops, while working with AU and Chadian government in reconnaissance and intelligence-sharing but with the U.S. tied up perpetually in the Middle East and Libya, the bulk of the heavy lifting was mainly left to a regional effort, led by the AU. Unfortunately, many countries are now figuring out that these days, it doesn't pay to cooperate with the U.S. , as they have become and unreliable partner, as Angela Merkel hinted in a speech this year. This could have a chilling effect, particularly in Africa, parts of which the fraying networks of Al Qaeda and ISIS are still lodged, not just in the Maghreb but in bands in parts of the Niger-Delta. By the way, it's not just anti-terrorism efforts that may be thwarted down the road but parts of Africa's coasts have been fighting a low-grade drug smuggling operation as the worldwide routes have shifted in recent years due to South America, Latin America and the Caribbean strengthening their security and confiscating drug smuggling boats and apprehending smugglers much more effectively now and well as countries like Colombia, Bolivia, etc. making reconciliation pacts with their resistance groups, providing local farmers alternatives to growing coca in favor of other profitable crops (many of which used the money from deals with drug cartels to fund their resistance efforts) to end access to routes and crops to the cartels. It is already known that groups like the Taliban (poppies=heroin) and Al Qaeda use money from drug smuggling to fund aspects of their organization. Hopefully Chad is not in the path of those recent drug routes that that have springing up in Africa. That would be an entirely new danger. Talk about the rule of unintended consequences. Just this morning, I saw a headline that suggested that Trump had taken up this NFL issue to provide 'red meat' to his base that had been disillusioned over his recent 'bipartisan' efforts. Now there are articles about his supposed uptick in the polls. Jerry Jones, like most of the NFL owners are worried about not being able to showcase their 'product' (i.e. the players) as that is where their money-stream comes from. As much as these Trump supporting owners (look at their campaign contributions disclosures) backed Trump over his promises to boost the prospects of 1%ers, if it's a choice between Trump and their cash cows, guess who'll they'll side with? $$$$. Don't forget, the NFL has a very active union. I'm sure the owners would dissolve players unions if they could but they know that the unions are here to stay (especially as long as that 'pesky' concussion/CTE issue remains a thorn that they can't make go away), which means the players have power. It's all about the Benjamins for these owners...greedy, obnoxious Trump might even appreciate this.