But Putin said it was okay...

What Digby said. And then some!

Many presidents have faced moments of chaos and disorder: None has ever handled it worse

Almost every postwar president has faced domestic crisis. None of them have deliberately inflamed it — until now

For all of Donald Trump's alleged branding genius, he never seems to come up with anything original. In business he just slapped his name on any consumer item that would pay him a couple of dollars for the privilege. In politics he's stolen his slogans from previous presidents. His most famous, "Make America Great Again," was Ronald Reagan's campaign slogan in 1980. And he seems to be under the impression that these two, which he's used intermittently before but is rolling out again, are Trump originals. They are actually patented Richard Nixon lines.

On some subconscious level these phrases connect with ideas Trump has heard before, but his narcissism requires that he convince himself he actually thought of them. If only he had a real grasp of history and the same level of competence as even the worst and stupidest of his predecessors, the country might not be in the situation it is in today. His handling of this latest crisis makes all of them look like geniuses by comparison.

After spending the weekend holed up in the White House watching TV and tweeting nonsense, Trump heard that people were saying he was cowardly for reacting to the protests in Washington by rushing down to the White House bunker and turning off the lights, like an old guy avoiding trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. He became upset and worried that would affect his re-election campaign so he projected his own shortcomings by getting the state governors on the phone so he could yell at them, calling them "weak" and insisting they must "dominate" their citizens. He showed them who's boss by threatening to unleash hell by deploying the military on anyone who didn't "get control" of the protests.

Apparently, this made him feel better because he then gathered his advisers together to decide how to calm the unrest by further demonstrating his heroic manliness to the world. According to various reports, either he or his daughter Ivanka came up with the crackerjack idea of giving a Rose Garden statement and then walking to the boarded-up church across the street to pose for a picture holding a Bible.

Apparently, the fearless leader didn't want to walk near any of the protesters who were gathered in the park nearby so Attorney General Bill Barr, apparently under the impression that he directly commands federal police forces, ordered the gathered troops in Robocop uniforms to disperse the protesters so Trump could have his photo shoot. We all saw what happened as they aggressively drove groups of nonviolent protesters away, deploying smoke bombs and pepper balls, and knocking down anyone who stood in their way, including members of the press.

Trump gave his speech, threatening that if the states didn't call in the National Guard and quell disorder he would unilaterally invoke the Insurrection Act — a law that has rarely been used, and never for this purpose — to send in the military. Flanked by the secretary of defense, the attorney general, his national security staff and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs (unaccountably dressed in full battle fatigues) he lumbered over to St. John's Episcopal Church to get his picture.

It was a PR disaster of epic proportions.

The New York Times declared that "when the history of the Trump presidency is written, the clash at Lafayette Square may be remembered as one of its defining moments," an act of unprovoked violence against peaceful protesters for the purpose of "a ham-handed photo opportunity."

On Tuesday, Trump returned to tweeting the usual babbling nonsense, claiming that "My Admin has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln" and complaining that "Democrat"-run cities were conspiring with Antifa protesters (or whomever) to hurt his re-election chances.

American presidents have often had to deal with protests and civil unrest. It is part of our political culture and the right to express your grievances in public is guaranteed by the Constitution. You'd have to go back quite a way to find a president unilaterally using the military to quell an uprising:

Michael Beschloss

After President Hoover in 1932 ordered US Army to disperse unarmed vets marching in DC to demand their World War I bonuses, Washington Daily News (Republican) said, “If the Army must be called out to make war on unarmed citizens, this is no longer America”:

That operation, led by Trump's favorite general, Douglas MacArthur, included future president Dwight Eisenhower.

As president, Eisenhower too used military troops for a domestic purpose when he sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. That was to protect the rights of nine African American students who were being blocked from attending a previously all-white high school, in direct defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. It's hard to think of a reason for doing so that has less in common with Trump's threats and demands for "dominance."

In the following years, there was massive social unrest with large antiwar protests and demonstrations for civil rights. President Lyndon B. Johnson responded to the massive peaceful civil disobedience and protests led by the Rev. Martin Luther King with a commitment to passage of civil rights legislation. Bill Moyers, who was White House press secretary at the time, has said many times that LBJ told King in their private meeting that the threat of civil disorder was necessary to provoke action from Congress.

When the war in Vietnam likewise brought people into the streets, and the "long hot summer" of 1967 followed by the King assassination in 1968 led to the largest wave of urban "rioting" before this week's protests, Johnson was forced to announce he would not run for another term in the 1968 election.

As I mentioned, Richard Nixon then successfully deployed the slogans "Law and order" and "the silent majority." But as historian Rick Perlstein points out in Mother Jones, those slogans didn't help Republicans in the 1970 midterm elections. Voters tend to hold incumbents responsible for whatever social unrest happens on their watch, and Nixon owned plenty of it by that time. Someone might want to give Trump a word to the wise.

George H.W. Bush had the "Rodney King riots" of 1992. Bill Clinton dealt with a wave of right-wing violence. George W. Bush had 9/11 and the massive Iraq war demonstrations. Barack Obama tried with grace and dignity to heal a country torn apart by horrific mass shootings and worsening racial violence.

Those presidents may have dealt with those crises well or poorly. None of them was perfect. But none responded by whining publicly that it was all a conspiracy to damage them politically. Right or wrong, none of them used the crisis as an excuse to stage a photo-op for a campaign ad.

Trump only knows how to put on a show, and that's all he is doing. But it's a dangerous show. He is inciting his own voters with this loose talk about "domination," and deliberately creating an environment that could lead to disaster if someone, somewhere, makes a tragic mistake. Real leaders try to calm the waters in these situations in order to reduce that risk. He is doing the opposite.

You can see people around the country trying to do the right thing in spite of Trump's counterproductive aggression. Police around the country, at least in some instances, are taking a knee and joining protests, seeking to reduce the tension. People on both sides are trying to talk to each other. There is a way forward if everyone can find some common ground.

But don't expect this president to lead the way. Trump doing something like that is as likely as him inviting Colin Kaepernick and Barack Obama to the White House and the three of them taking a knee in the Rose Garden. That photo-op might just mean something. But Donald Trump is much too weak to do anything that strong.

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Trump threatens the country

Rapid Response Referral Program

For veterans in need.  What a wonderful idea by the IAVA.

The good, the bad and the daft

Gabby Giffords.  Grow strong and come back.  We need you.

The downward spiral of the European Union.

Chemists find new material to remove radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel

Isn't it interesting that when scientists create something for military use, it is often turned against our own citizens? 6 Creepy New Weapons the Police and Military Use To Subdue Unarmed People

Is India investing in a future health crisis by importing asbestos from Canada?

The liberal media.

Gingrich wants the audience to be able to applaud.  Because everything is about him, isn't it?

I tend to resent it when people tell me I'll need a tissue

But this time they were right.

They removed it from YouTube, but it still plays on MoveOn.org. Click the link.

Thank you for your service

I read the news today oh boy...

Daily Kos discusses the reason Citizens United included unions... so they could be attacked. (h/t to mahakal for the scary link.)

Koch brothers own America.

Glenn Greenwald on why the military and the media are attacking journalist Hastings for his reporting.

Think before you drink? Water?

The women of the legislature who are actually helping run the country.

How Gabrielle Giffords and husband Mark Kelly are doing.

David Corn exposes Fox News' Roger Ailes' lies: Roger Ailes' Sex-and-Lies Tale: There Is Something Different About Fox

Finally. Our national attention is caught by this fact: You Have More Money In Your Wallet Than Bank Of America Pays In Federal Taxes

Bradley Manning

We are judged by how we treat our prisoners. 243 days imprisoned and denied contact with an approved visitor.

Do they want him to go insane?

You go, Al.

And they are coming home to a neighborhood near you

US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'

Wasn't there another religious leader named Jones

Who did really horrible things in the name of the Lord and got a lot of people killed?



Remember how it turned out he was a ego-bloated pseudo-messianic psycho who just wanted to get people to follow him off a cliff to show how powerful he was?

God has nothing to do with your stupidity and your frantic wish for a Holy War to fill your coffers, sir. And you are putting our soldiers in danger.



Thanks a whole fucking lot for making the world even more dangerous.

Apparently we are at war with soldiers' individual freedoms

Because we need them to protect our national freedoms.... or something:

Troops Punished After Refusing to Attend Evangelical Concert

Pvt. Anthony Smith is the type of guy who stands up for what he believes in. That's why he decided to hold his commanding officers accountable for punishing him and fellow soldiers after they refused to attend an evangelical Christian rock concert at the Fort Eustis military post in Virginia.

After a day of training at Fort Eustis, Smith and other trainees were normally released to have personal time, but on May 13, Smith and dozens of others were "required" to march in formation to a concert headlined by an evangelical Christian rock band.

[snip]

"No option was presented to us off the bat," Smith told Truthout about the required concert.

[snip]

Once outside the concert, Smith and the other trainees were finally given an option and told to split into two groups: those who wanted to attend, and those who did not. Smith and about 80 others decided not to attend, even though they were obviously being "pressured" to do so. Smith and the others were sent back to their barracks on "lockdown," a punishment that Smith said withholds even basic freedoms like using their own electronics.

I want to ask the commanding officer... are you at war with our Constitution? What about freedom of religion AND freedom from religion? Are you at war with Islam?

Update: More details.

Meanwhile... back on the ranch...

Global warming:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released data today (15 June 2010) confirming what NASA separately reported last week: global surface temperatures this Spring rose to record levels. NOAA data also indicate that other temperature records are toppling -- all consistent with long-term trends driven largely by rising greenhouse gas emissions.

And bees:

Distracted by a mysterious rash of dying bees, researchers may be overlooking a more insidious pollinator crisis. It has little to do with bees and everything to do with booming markets for raspberries, pears, and chocolate

Erik Prince of Blackwater fame thinks about Dubai:

Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world's most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince's top deputies were hit with a fifteen-count indictment by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number-two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell.

And the horrible health care we have in this country:

Can’t afford a doctor? No health insurance? Well, you can always go to the emergency room.

Kathy Myers found out the hard way that the ER isn’t the answer. Out of work, lacking insurance, and unable to get proper treatment for a painful shoulder injury incurred a month ago, the 41 year-old Michigan woman took drastic steps.

She lay on her bed, put a pillow over her shoulder, and shot herself with a handgun. Not in a suicide attempt, but in an attempt escape the constant pain and get medical treatment. A month of pain without no end in sight will mess with your head.

A 911 call did result in a trip to the ER, but only to take care of the gunshot wound. Her previous non life-threatening injury was left untreated. No CT scan, no MRI. She was home within a few hours. And she’s in worse shape than ever, with the added possibility of facing criminal charges for discharging a firearm within city limits.

And how far we've come..../snark: Marines Put Gay Man in Hospital. Will Anyone Prosecute?

Blog sprinkles

Thank you for your service to our nation.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — With heads bowed beneath a palace dome still etched with the initials of Saddam Hussein, dozens of U.S. service members paid tribute Monday to Americans killed in action not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and in wars of the past.

Officers presented a Memorial Day wreath, a bugler played "Taps" and a lieutenant general spoke about how "little compares to the loss of a brother in arms." Soldiers in uniform and contractors in work boots said the nearly 4,400 Americans who've died in Iraq since 2003 weren't faceless statistics: They were commanders, friends, family.

For some of the troops who gathered at Camp Victory in Baghdad, it was difficult to discuss individual losses, even now that combat deaths have tapered off and the war here is eclipsed by the bloodshed in Afghanistan, where the number of troops killed in action just passed the 1,000 mark.

"It's too personal," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Bien Covita, 34, of San Jose, Calif., looking away as he declined to discuss the fallen service member on his mind. He added that he wished that Americans would view Memorial Day as "more than just a day off work. We sacrifice every day for them to sleep comfortably."

Seeing the war dead arrive at Dover:

It was pretty stark in the dim light with an almost full moon; at first there was no one there. Then the bus carrying the families showed up but it was choreographed so they got out on the side away from us so we could not see them. One white van, what they call the "transfer vehicle," was parked on the tarmac and one soldier, a young woman, stood next to it. She is the "Transfer Vehicle Guide," whose ceremonial role it is to close the van's back doors after the bodies are loaded on board.

The procedure began with high-ranking officers and the pall-bearer details appearing, marching in formation. Since there were two dead that night, Cpl. Kenneth Nichols, Jr., of Chrisman, Illinois, US Army, and Lance Cpl. Jonathan Taylor, of Jacksonville, Florida, US Marine Corps, both killed in Afghanistan, there were two separate teams, one from the Army, the other of Marines, dressed in their different uniforms.

The Army went first, boarded the stairs onto the airplane, and emerged out the front. The loading ramp then lowered onto ground level with the coffin and the seven pall-bearers carried the body past the saluting officers, into the waiting van. The Marines then repeated the same. Not a sound could be heard from the hidden family members just a few feet from us on the other side of their bus. Another time, I could hear a woman, probably the wife or the mother, crying a terrible wail that was the only sound on the airfield.

Asking too much of our military and their families:

Brooke Knox, a former Navy wife, counsels military relatives who are struggling with the repeated deployments of husbands and fathers, wives and mothers.
There's often one unifying refrain -- one deployment too many to handle well. She has found that often, that number is three.
"There's a saying among Army wives," said Knox, who leads a free counseling program for military families through the Mental Health Association of Tarrant County.
"The first deployment, they say, 'I think I can do this.'
"The second deployment, they say, 'I know I can do this.'
"The third deployment, they say, 'I can't do this.'"

And the week that was:



28 Of The Worst Money-Saving Ideas Ever The comments are entertaining...

Tylenol being recalled:

The company recalled 40 widely used children's pain and allergy medications, saying some may have a higher concentration of their active ingredients, while others may be contaminated. J&J has had four recalls in the past year of over-the-counter medicines.

In an FDA report issued on Tuesday, inspectors said they found thick dust, grime and contaminated ingredients at the J&J plant that produces Children's Tylenol and dozens of other products recalled last week.

DeLauro, in her letter, said the company's "disregard" for manufacturing standards was "both unnerving and unethical."

"The corporate oversight observed at this facility appears to be symptomatic of reckless behavior that is clearly unacceptable," she wrote.

What the hell was Israel thinking?:

After least nine people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.

Armed forces boarded the largest vessel overnight, clashing with some of the 500 people on board.

It happened about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea, in international waters.

Israel says its soldiers were shot at and attacked with weapons; the activists say Israeli troops came on board shooting.

The activists were attempting to defy a blockade imposed by Israel after the Islamist movement Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007.

THIS is what I've been saying. All that oil just doesn't disappear.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Streaming video of oil pouring from the seafloor and images of dead, crude-soaked birds serve as visual bookends to the natural calamity unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.

But independent scientists and government officials say another disaster is playing out in slow motion — and out of public view — in the mysterious depths between the gusher and the coast, a world inhabited by sperm whales, gigantic jellyfish and diminutive plankton.

All about fucking booms... and how BP isn't doing anything right:

It's fucking obvious. Boom is not meant to contain or catch oil. Boom is meant to divert oil. Boom must always be at an angle to the prevailing wind-wave action or surface current. Boom, at this angle, must always be layered in a fucking overlapped sort-of way with another string of boom. Boom must always divert oil to a catch basin or other container, from where it can be REMOVED FROM THE FUCKING AREA. Looks kinda involved, doesn't it? It is. But if fucking proper fucking booming is done properly, you can remove most, by far most of the oil from a shoreline and you can do it day after day, week after week, month after month. You can prevent most, by far most of the shoreline from ever being touched by more than a few transient molecules of oil. Done fucking properly, a week after the oil stops coming ashore, no one, man nor beast, can ever tell there has been oil anywhere near that shoreline.

And the inevitable:

While work continues to try to staunch the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, an avalanche of class action lawsuits is descending upon BP in courthouses from Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

Pakistan, between a rock and a hard place....

This week's visit by the US president's national-security adviser and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency to Pakistan was portrayed as a feel-good trip that highlighted the high level of cooperation between Washington and Islamabad.

But despite what may have been written about CIA chief Leon Panetta's and General James Jones's meetings with civilian and military leadership during their visit, analysts in Pakistan say all is not well between the two sides.

They note that as senior US officials visit Islamabad to make new demands -- mostly about increasing military or law enforcement efforts against myriad extremist groups in Pakistan's western border regions -- Pakistani officials continue to respond by urging patience, asking for more money and weapons, and calling for a true understanding of their military, political, and economic limitations.

Former Pakistani diplomat Tayyab Siddiqui says the US-Pakistani relationship is currently on a "bumpy road" and the visit by the two senior US officials a week ahead of a planned second round of strategic dialogue was significant.

Uhhhh.... right.

The Vatican is planning a new initiative to reach out to atheists and agnostics in an attempt to improve the church's relationship with non-believers. Pope Benedict XVI has ordered officials to create a new foundation where atheists will be encouraged to meet and debate with some of the Catholic Church's top theologians.

The Vatican hopes to stage a series of debates in Paris next year. But militant non-believers hoping for a chance to set senior church figures straight about the existence of God are set to be disappointed: the church has warned that atheists with high public profiles such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will not be invited.

No Dawkins and Hitchens? Then you aren't serious. And then there's this:

Tombstone, shackles found in priest's home
Poole, accused of shoplifting, nailed posters all over rectory

So how about you fix your own house before you go knocking on other people's doors, Pope?

If Hitler actually used gay soldiers

Because they were merciless killers ... doesn't that kinda negate the concern that gay soldiers would not be a good fighting force?

And by the way, you know the "Greatest Generation" guys? All those people drafted to fight WWII? Beating the Germans and the Japanese? ... There were gay people in those ranks, too.

So why the hissy fit over the repeal of DADT?

The Republican platform just lost another one of its planks.

Remember who is fighting for us.

And bring them home.

There are no dentists in foxholes

They've developed a gum that will brush your teeth for you while you are in the war zone:

With the help of a gum chomping machine and years of careful chemistry, University of Kentucky researchers have developed a chewing gum that can help replace toothpaste and a toothbrush, thus improving the health of soldiers in the field as well as children in poor countries.

Seriously. Gum.

In what is known around the UK College of Pharmacy by the ever-so-catchy title of "the military gum project," an antimicrobial, known as KSL, is infused in chewing gum. KSL is anti-adhesive and abrasive agent that disrupts and helps dissolve plaque.

As every toothpaste commercial has told us for years, fighting plaque is key to good dental health.

Since World War I, thousands of American soldiers have suffered from the extreme form of gingivitis that can result in painful ulcers, infection and bleeding gums. You've probably heard it called "trench mouth."

Now if they could only get something to floss for you....

Thank you, sirs, for your service to our nation

The antigay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., routinely disrupts military funerals, holding bright-colored signs that read "God Hates Fags" and "God Hates America."

The presence of the Patriot Guard, however, seems to deter such intrusions. At the funeral of Merced, Calif., Army Pfc. Lukas Hopper last Saturday, the Patriot Guard Riders were there at the Hopper family's request — and the protesters were nowhere to be seen.

In solemn silence, the slightly grisly veterans stood in rigid formation bearing American and Army flags. They joined the 45-minute procession from Merced to Catheys Valley Cemetery.

Their flags, their bikes and most of all their daunting presence was the first thing a passerby may have noticed. By mourners, they were probably hardly noticed at all.

Born out of protests that threatened to disrupt the 2005 funeral of 19-year-old Carrie French, and later that summer, the funeral of Edward Myers, both killed in Iraq, the Patriot Guard Riders banded together to ensure that fallen heroes are honored with respect and dignity.

Since its formation, the Patriot Guard Riders has grown into a national organization with a membership of more than 170,000, including members in Merced and Mariposa counties.

Impeccable in every way.

A Final Verdict on the Presidential Salute

*edited to correct spelling which I'm sure I did right so obviously the gremlins did it.