North Korea appeared to use China truck in its first claimed ICBM test

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-china-truck-idUSKBN19P1J3

Howard Dean was the last successful DNC chair. He should have been reelected this year, but people accused him of being too "corporate" and too "white male."

Dow races to new record

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/01/investing/dow-record-trump-rally-wall-street/index.html

The Dow popped 136 points to 21,144 on Thursday, landing at its first record close since March 1. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also finished at all-time highs.

Gun demand on the rise in Chicago, police say

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chicago-gun-demand-rises-legal-firearms/

Illinois State Police say the number of firearm-owner identification applications in Chicago doubled from about 19,600 in 2014 to nearly 39,000 last year. Applications are on pace to surpass that this year.

African-American Miss USA: Health care is a 'privilege'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4506004/Miss-District-Columbia-crowned-Miss-USA-2017.html

An African-American nuclear chemist from Washington, DC, won the 2017 edition of Miss USA on Sunday night after telling the audience about her conservative political viewpoints.

Kára McCullough, a 25-year-old nuclear chemist who works for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told the audience how she doesn't necessarily view herself as a feminist and said that health care is a privilege and not a right. 

McCullough said she prefers not to use the word 'feminist,' and instead 'transferred the word feminist to equalism.'

In the questions portion, she was also individually asked if affordable healthcare is a right or privilege, responding that she thought that healthcare should only go to those with jobs

'As a government employee, I'm granted health care. And I see firsthand that for one, to have health care, you need to have jobs, so therefore we need to continue to cultivate this environment so that we're given the opportunities to have health care as well as jobs for all Americans worldwide,' she explained. 

Whoopi Goldberg demands $3.5 million, an executive producer title and her nemesis - an ABC executive - fired in exchange for her return to The View

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4452798/Whoopi-Goldberg-stay-View-three-conditions.html#ixzz4g8rDEDa8

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of ‘Morning Joe’ Are Engaged

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4472944/Joe-Scarborough-Mika-Brzezinski-set-wed.html

Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman, popped the question to Brzezinski, the Democrat daughter of President Carter's national security advisor, while the two were on a romantic trip to the south of France last weekend to celebrate Brzezinski's 50th birthday.

The two finally broke their silence on their relationship in an interview with Vanity Fair, detailing the romantic moment and told how President Trump even offered to officiate their wedding at the White House. 

Their engagement comes a year after Brzezinski's divorce to her first husband was finalized.

8 hours ago, Vee said:

 

+1

 

 

Exactly.

Trump's victory and America's role in it came from the same place on both the far right and the far left. The white far left had been seething about the same creeping sense of loss of agency and power since Obama took power in 2008. They'll never admit this but it is the truth, and it's what comes out in their current angle - a lot of angry white men whose clicks and circulation went down post-Bush (Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, etc), ginning rage up again against Democrats, 'sellouts' and focusing on the '60s white savior who can make them feel the most relevant and most importantly, back in control of the future American narrative. A black man took it from them, the world began to change, and a woman was not going to rob them again.

 

In this sense they are not much different from the impotent rage and creeping fear of change that gave us the far right.

Wrong. Most white progressives voted for Obama and supported Keith Ellison for DNC chair, a black Muslim.

Gay porn mogul Michael Lucas calls Muslims ‘Barbarians’

https://unicornbooty.com/michael-lucas-muslims-barbarians/

Discussing the reports of gay men being kidnapped and tortured in Chechnya and gay guts being thrown off of buildings by Daesh/ISIS, Lucas replied:

We can’t change their society…. We have to make peace with that fact. What I always recommend is when you see how these people live, what they do, start appreciating more our society. And protect our society from those barbarians as vigorously as they protect their society, their way of living, their way of thinking.

When asked who “barbarians” referred to, Lucas replied, “I am referring to the Muslim world. To the world of Islam.” He then reiterated his support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies of extreme vetting and banning of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries — the likes of which have been declared unconstitutional by U.S. courts.

Susan Sarandon Explains Why She’s Hopeful About Trump 

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/12/susan-sarandon-explains-why-shes-hopeful-about-trump-video/#ixzz4e85EQa6Y

On Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” former Bernie supporter Susan Sarandon asserted that Trump is doing a “terrible” job, but that she was feeling hopeful about the passage of single-payer healthcare, which she advocates, because of Trump’s promise of change.
 

“Now, we have a chance to get single-payer [health care] through. There is actually a bill being introduced by Bernie [Sanders]. There’s a lot of other Democrats and Republicans. There are people that are Republicans that voted, they wanted change, they didn’t want the status quo. [Trump] was the only guy that was talking about change.”

Sarandon disapproved of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election and voted for Jill Stein.

Donald Trump Jr. Suggests He Might Run for New York Governor

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/327536-donald-trump-jr-mentions-a-run-for-new-york-governor-report

President Trump’s eldest son is reportedly setting his sights on a future in politics, telling members of an elite gun club that he may consider running for governor of New York.

“Don Jr. said he is interested in running for office, such as governor of New York, but the position of mayor of New York would be less interesting to him,” one of the meeting’s attendees told Page Six. 

"The politics bug bit me,” he said, according to the report.

Russia Bans Image 'Hinting' That Putin Is Gay

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-court-bans-image-suggesting-putin-is-gay-57632

Russia has banned an image showing Vladimir Putin in heavy makeup. In the photograph, Putin has red lips and painted eyelashes, and a suggestive caption reads, “They say there are many of them, but there aren't any among the people I know.”

Court records say the image showing Putin in makeup “hints at the Russian president’s allegedly nonstandard sexual orientation.”
 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4381248/Twitter-users-BLAST-new-Kendall-Jenner-Pepsi-commercial.html

Pepsi has come under fire for its 'tone deaf' new advert starring Kendall Jenner, with people accusing it of exploiting the Black Lives Matter movement for its own gain.

The two-and-a-half-minute commercial features Kendall stepping out of a crowd of multi racial protesters to end a stand-off with police officer by handing him a can of Pepsi. 

The imagery - whether intentional or not - evokes the real-life moment protester Ieshia Evans faced down lines of heavily armed police wearing riot gear during a Black Lives Matter demonstration over the fatal shooting of a black man by police.

Evans was arrested moments later, unlike Kendall whose actions win her knowing smile from the Pepsi ad's handsome, enlightened cop.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 46th President of the United States. He's already starting to sound like a political leader.

The London parliament terror attacks confrims Trump has kept America safe, while Europe is not. GOP has a good chance at a filibuster-proof 60 seat GOP Senate supermajority in 2018 and a Trump reelection in 2020.

9 minutes ago, Vee said:

And the second it does happen (likely before four years IMO) and not a moment too soon, Greg will instantly change his profile picture to [Insert Flavor of the Month Republican Here] and never mention Trump again.

I related to my previous avatar, Stacy Dash. Like her, I voted for Obama in 2008, but voted for Trump in 2016. The last 8 years opened my eyes to how corrupt DNC is, just like how it did to Stacy Dash.

1 hour ago, Juliajms said:

I'm steeling myself for chaos in the area of healthcare. It seems to me that it will take the Republicans a couple of years to do whatever terrible thing they are going to do. With any luck Trump won't be reelected and the Democrats will come along and undo it. It's going to be years of people knocking down other people's sand castles, while most of the American people are screwed in such an important aspect of life.

With the economy the strongest its ever been, Trump's chances of being reelected are very high. February economic records:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-08/adp-says-companies-in-u-s-added-298-000-employees-in-february

Key Points

-Private payrolls climbed by 298,000 (forecast was 187,000), the most since April 2014, after a revised 261,000 gain in January
-Goods-producing industries, which include manufacturers and builders, increased headcounts by 106,000, a record in data going back to 2002, after a 55,000 gain
-Service providers boosted payrolls by 193,000 after a 207,000 increase

Big Picture

The U.S. labor market is continuing its strong run as demand chugs along, potentially benefiting from increased optimism about the economic outlook under President Donald Trump. Claims for unemployment benefits are the lowest in almost 44 years, signaling employers are keeping firings at a minimum. The ADP figures provide some insight ahead of Friday’s release of the Labor Department’s monthly employment report, which is projected to show a 190,000 increase in private jobs.

The Details

-Hiring in construction was 66,000, the most in 11 years
-Factories added 32,000 workers, the most since March 2012
-Employment gained in service sectors tracked by ADP, including trade, transportation and utilities; education and health services; and professional and business services
-Companies employing 500 or more workers increased staffing by 72,000 jobs; payrolls rose by 122,000 at medium-sized businesses, or those with 50 to 499 employees, the most in three years; while small companies’ payrolls gained 104,000, an eight-month high

Trump appoints gay conservative Richard Grenell as US ambassador to NATO

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-08/trump-said-to-pick-former-un-spokesman-grenell-for-nato-post

President Donald Trump will nominate Richard Grenell to be his ambassador to NATO, according to a White House official, a selection that would make the longtime loyalist and former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations the highest-ranking openly gay person to serve in the administration.

A spokesman under John Bolton and three other Republican-administration ambassadors at the UN from 2001 through 2008, Grenell has been a Fox News contributor for four years and a Trump supporter since the start of the campaign.

If he wins Senate confirmation, Grenell will take a pivotal position in the Trump administration. The president spurred widespread anxiety in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization when he called the alliance “obsolete” and suggested during the campaign the U.S. might not honor its defense commitments if other members don’t pay their share.

In recent weeks, other officials including Defense Secretary James Mattis have said NATO members must come up with plans by the end of the year to fulfill promises to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. Grenell’s selection needed sign-off from the Defense Department given the job’s prominent national-security element.

3 hours ago, marceline said:

Bamz obviously learned a lot about thinking a few moves ahead when dealing with these charlatans. Term One Obama took way too long to figure out just how low these folks would sink.

Didn't Obama hire Comey in the first place?

Dow Jones breaks 21,000 after Trump’s speech to Congress

Dow 21,000 matches the fastest 1,000-point milestone in history - MarketWatch

That was fast! The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday closed above 21,000 for the first time ever, soaring to a psychologically significant level and marking one of its quickest runs to such a milestone.

Details around those reforms are still scant but investors appeared to be heartened by the tone Trump established during his address in front of joint session of Congress in a State of the Union-style speech late Tuesday.

The Dow DJIA, +1.46% is up 15.2% since Trump’s Nov. 8 election victory, the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.37% has gained nearly 11%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.35% has advanced 13.7% during that period.

Minimum wage hikes force Wendy’s to install Self-Order kiosks at 1,000 stores

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wendys-kiosk-20170227-story.html

These kinds of self-serve machines and related technology could drastically change the way the $230-billion fast-food industry operates, analysts said. With minimum wages rising — to $15 in some parts of the country, including California — many chains are looking at ways to slash labor costs.

At Wendy's, Chief Information Officer David Trimm said that customers and franchisees have taken a liking to the kiosks.

“You will see customers deliberately going to those kiosks directly, bypassing lines," Trimm said during the company’s investor day Feb. 16. “Some customers clearly prefer to use the kiosks.”

There’s “a huge amount” of demand among franchisees, who will shell out about $15,000 for three kiosks, Trimm said. Wendy’s has estimated that the cost will be recouped in less than two years, he said.

I'd say it's about 70-30% Republicans will gain a filibuster-proof Senate majority in 2018. 25 Democrat Senate seats are up for grabs, including 10 that went to Trump in 2016.