Thanks for posting this. It was moving and inspiring, but also made me sad because it’s a reminder of the days when we had a civilized President.
To me, this is the most compelling passage:
We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people.
That is spot on. We must reject that language and that means rejecting Trump.
Everybody knows (except Trump evidently) that everyone loses in a trade war.
How is this going to sit with Trump-supporting farmers?
Once China switches to other suppliers (like Russia, the country run by Trump’s BFF – see the second article below), our farmers may never win back this massive and crucial market. China’s ban includes all agricultural products, not just soybeans, but also all other grains, pork, beef, etc., etc. Trump is trashing one of our strongest and most vital industries. He is systematically pulverizing America’s heartland.
China’s Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that Chinese companies have stopped buying U.S. agricultural products, and that China will not rule out imposing import tariffs on U.S. farm products that were bought after Aug. 3.
The moves by China represent the latest escalation in its trade row with the United States, and comes after China let the yuan weaken past the key 7-per-dollar level on Monday for the first time in more than a decade.
…
China is the world’s top buyer of soybeans, the most valuable U.S. export crop. The Trump administration has announced plans to spend up to $28 billion compensating U.S. farmers, a key Trump constituency, for lost income from trade disputes.“Related Chinese companies have suspended purchases of U.S. agricultural products,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement posted shortly after midnight in Beijing on Tuesday.
…
The National Pork Producers Council said in an e-mail in response to the commerce ministry statement it continued to reiterate the importance of ending the trade dispute with China so U.S. pork producers can get back to competitive access.
China has approved wheat imports from the Russian region of Kurgan, the Chinese customs office said on Friday, bringing Russia a step closer to its goal of dramatically increasing grain exports.
It also approved soybean imports from all parts of Russia, the General Administration of Customs said in a separate statement on its website, having all but halted U.S. soy imports as the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington deepened.
My president.
Well I guess that’s all over now. I would have preferred justice for those young women.
Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced millionaire who was facing federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide early Saturday in his Lower Manhattan prison cell, law enforcement sources and the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to ABC News.
Epstein hanged himself, the sources said.
There are SO many questions on this one, like why the man MOST in danger of suicide or homicide in the prison system was taken off of suicide watch. The speculation is insane.
In other news…
Trump is re-tweeting right-wing conspiracy posts accusing the Clintons of having Jeffrey Epstein killed while naturally ignoring his own connections to the man and the fact that his DOJ removed the suicide watch and failed to keep Epstein surveilled. The height of hypocrisy.
I don’t know why the media continues to sugar coat Trump’s appalling behavior. On CNN, the headline is similar: Trump promotes Epstein-Clintons conspiracy theory
Headlines should read: Trump Accuses Clintons of Murder. Because that’s exactly what he is doing. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. Without one shred of evidence, the President of the United States is claiming that a former President committed murder to cover up crimes. This is just too astounding to wrap my head around. 
I agree…this is unheard of…well except we always hear the conspiratorial stuff coming from the T camp.
Quite a few legal types have written these renunciations
More discussion of how to grasp this conspiratorial theory and what of it…? Are we in for more undecipherable news? …looks like it.
The dueling hashtags and their attendant toxicity are a grim testament to our deeply poisoned information ecosystem — one that’s built for speed and designed to reward the most incendiary impulses of its worst actors. It has ushered in a parallel reality unrooted in fact and helped to push conspiratorial thinking into the cultural mainstream. And with each news cycle, the system grows more efficient, entrenching its opposing camps. The poison spreads.
Remember “The Mooch”?
Anthony Scaramucci, who famously served as President Trump’s communications director for 11 days, says Republicans may need to pick a different candidate in 2020.
Driving the news: In a phone interview on Sunday afternoon, Scaramucci compared Trump to a melting nuclear reactor and said he may support a Republican challenger to Trump.
- “We are now in the early episodes of ‘Chernobyl’ on HBO, where the reactor is melting down and the apparatchiks are trying to figure out whether to cover it up or start the clean-up process,” Scaramucci said.
- “A couple more weeks like this and ‘country over party’ is going to require the Republicans to replace the top of the ticket in 2020.”
Scaramucci, who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, including Trump’s 2016 campaign, said that if Trump “doesn’t reform his behavior, it will not just be me, but many others will be considering helping to find a replacement in 2020.”
- “Right now, it’s an unspeakable thing. But if he keeps it up, it will no longer be unspeakable. The minute they start speaking of it, it will circulate and be socialized. We can’t afford a full nuclear contamination site post 2020.”
The big picture: Scaramucci has said that Trump’s attacks on congresswomen of color “divide the country.” And yesterday the president attacked his former communications director in a couple of tweets.
- White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham had this short response to Scaramucci’s comments about opposing Trump in 2020: "It sounds like his feelings are hurt."
Why does the White House Coms team always sound like every lazy troll ever?
So true. And here’s a list from CNN:
It is no longer surprising when President Donald Trump fuels a conspiracy theory online, as he did over the weekend with regard to the apparent suicide of multimillionaire financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
This is the man who built a political career by fanning the fringe of American politics with fevered insinuations or allegations, including, but not limited to the baseless theories that:
- Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US
- A rival’s father was in on the John F. Kennedy assassination
- The 2016 presidential election was rigged against him even though he won
- Millions voted illegally for Hillary Clinton
- The US government spied on his campaign
- There’s a deep state of bureaucrats organized against him
- The special counsel appointed by his Justice Department was actually a witch hunt organized by Democrats
He’s done a bang-up job on Twitter using the term “fake news” as a weapon against media organizations that deal in reporting and fact. And the ultimate irony is that he so often misleads his followers with fiction.
His latest trip into fantasy comes after the death of Epstein in a federal jail cell in New York.
Trump pushed a quick-moving conspiracy theory online that maybe the Clintons, his old nemeses, were involved. Never mind that as US President he’s got more to do with oversight of New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal facility, than a former President and Secretary of State.
I don’t know why the media keeps reporting ANY of his tweets. It would cut down on the public angst if the regular media stopped repeating his inane crap. It’s time to stop!
