Around The Internets

1. The religious side of Donald Trump. 
2. The shady side of Bill Cosby. 
3. The unprofessional side of the police. 
4. The racist side of a Flint official.

Every First-Time President Is "New to the Job"

One of the more interesting things to come out of the Great Comey Distraction (and yes, it is a distraction) is the growing theme regarding President Trump (many) political failings: he is an extreme novice who needs to be reminded of how a President is supposed to conduct themselves.

Let's not even dwell too much that this argument would never have worked as a defense for President Clinton or President Obama when Republicans were attacking them, or that it wasn't one of the many, many justifications for President Bush's goofs.

No, let's instead delve a bit into the implications here, and for the sake of argument assume that factors such as race, gender and political affiliation are not relevant (even if they are in real life).

During the GOP primary, it was apparent that the GOP establishment did not want Donald Trump to be the nominee. The reasons boiled down to three general categories:

1. Those who saw him as a faux conservative;
2. Those who saw him as a hindrance to the party's agenda;
3. Those who did not like him.

In the end, none of those reasons were powerful enough to get the power players in the GOP to stymie trump's ascension (like say, what the Democrats did to Bernie Sanders in order to solidify Hillary Clinton's nomination). But once it was clear Trump was the nominee, the smart and professional thing to do would be to coalesce around the guy and make sure that he was polished enough to conduct himself properly. 

He did not have to be a player, but he needed to respect the game. 

Well, his First 100 Days showed the country otherwise. While many of his positions have been more in line with the GOP base, it's been his delivery that many have found to be unpalatable. Even Clinton, Bush and Obama had the wherefore-all to say, "This is for the American People" whenever they pushed for something that wasn't even in the Top Ten of "Things the American People Want."  By his actions, Trump is definitely leaning on the side of, "If you elected me, it was to make the decisions for you" and not, "You elected me to as a proxy and I will vote your way no matter what." 

My point here is that apparently at no time during all this -the travel ban, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the appointments of people woefully unqualified for the positions they were filling-  did the GOP establishment try to push hard to get Trump to at least smooth out his rough edges (presumably, that's the role for his wife and his daughter Ivanka). Up until the Comey testimony, they have been content with Trump running amok politically, settling for a compromise of contained chaos. 

But now? Now that a recently fired official from Trump's administration is in Congress saying, "Yo, dude was lying big time!" the defense is, "Well, you know Trump is still a rookie, right?" 

In other words, Republicans have been perfectly happy to have Trump stumble, bumble and fumble his way through his first term as long as it isn't being tied to the party.

Quote of the Day

Whatever you think, the fact is they built a legit dynasty: they started the best long-range shooter ever (Curry), one of the best scorers of his generation who can also defend (Klay), one of the most versatile in the league at his position (Green), and then brought off the bench one of the best on-ball defenders of his generation. That’s a dynasty! They won a title, won 73 games, came within a few plays of another title! So let’s see what they can do next year.
But then they add to it the … second-best player in the league? I don’t need to go into the technical details of what this does. We all see it: Curry’s resting, Klay has an off night, Draymond’s in foul trouble, Andre’s missing threes, doesn’t matter: Durant will clean up. The last two years, it mattered: a bad night from just one star opened the tiny window of opportunity for LBJ to do his superhuman shtick. But this year they just bring in a rested Durant—Durant!—and go on an 11-0 run in 90 seconds. Or bring in a rested Curry if Durant needs a rest. Or Klay. It doesn’t matter. There will always be someone. And this will happen as long as this team is together. There is simply no opportunity outside of a fluke for them to be beaten in a seven-game series.

"One-timerx2," about the legitimacy of the 2017 Golden State Warriors. 

Around the Internets

1. Roger Ailes was not a nice person. 
2. For all of their talk about "urban," you'd think they'd include more black people in urban planning. 

Around the Internets

1. Culture Vulture Miley Cyrus.
2. Whales ain't nothing to mess with. 
3. What not to say to your boss.
4. I wish I knew.
5. Ugh. 

Worst-Kept Secret In Morning News Revealed

You don't say, Joe.

Or in other words:

Still waiting on Kelly Ripa to come clean about her and Michael Strahan (allegedly).

Around the Internets

1. These girls are way too happy; I'm pretty sure the twist is that they're living in a zombie apocalypse. 
2. About that white privilege...
3. Her name is Latasha Harlins...
4. Save more on gas by...
5. "We have elected a man who knows nothing about everything, and everything about nothing."

Ron Burgundy Was Right

"Diversity" is just an old, wooden ship. At least in Florida.

No More Spin For Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly, who not too long ago was pushing Pepsi to be boycotted for featuring a "man who degrades women" (Ludacris), has been let go by Fox News.

Please note that this is not a story about a good person unfairly targeted by gold-digging women.

Democratic Leaders Are Not About To Let Progressives & Liberals Ruin Their Fun

Earlier this week I was greeted by an email (that everyone who signs up with his list receives) from Senator Chuck Schumer. It goes like this:

I'm going to say something you might not have heard from many Democrats in the past few months: I'm feeling good.

Recently, while I watched the Kansas House election, I was reminded of just how fired up Democrats are at this point in time. In a state that President Trump overwhelmingly won (by 31 points), I watched as James Thompson -- a populist Democrat -- organized a movement to take back his state. In the end, the Republican candidate squeaked by only after everyone from Donald Trump to Mike Pence and Ted Cruz had to help campaign.

This is huge. We can't ignore it.

Democrats are, in the words of Brooklyn resident Beyoncé, getting in formation. We are pushing back and we have the GOP back on their heels. We are showing our fight -- and I don't expect it to stop. But the momentum is only going to keep going if every single one of us commits to seeing our fight through every single battle. That's why I'm asking you to support these three Democratic senators who will be defending their seats in 2018. Let's make sure we lock down their seats while we have our eyes on the future.

Donate to Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia, and Senator Bill Nelson from Florida today!

We have so much momentum, Corey, and we can't lose it before we really start winning. Kansas isn't the only fight that's giving me hope -- the Georgia special House election is next week, and a Democrat is pulling ahead as Republicans get more and more desperate. And, in Delaware, we saw a Democrat win a tight race in their special elections.

And, with Tammy's, Tim's and Bill's seats secured, I know we're going to be moving forward at an even quicker pace. I have no doubt in my mind: If we keep harnessing our anger and determination, we will win more and more in the coming years.

Show Republicans we'll keep winning: Donate to Tammy, Tim, and Bill for their 2018 races!

I have to say it -- I'm truly excited for what we'll accomplish together.

Sincerely,
Chuck Schumer

Of course, I noticed three things:

1. James Thompson ran as "a populist Democrat" in a very, very Republican state.
2. Schumer did not mention anyone in the Democratic Party helping Thompson, financially or otherwise.
3. The three Democrats Schumer does want to help out monetarily includes conservative Democrat Bill Nelson and ultra-bland middle-of-the-road Democrat (and recent Democratic VP nominee) Tim Kaine.

It almost goes without saying, but Schumer and the DNC did nothing to help Thompson. And none of the current Democratic leader will lift a finger to help anyone to the left of the Clintons win a race, even if those votes could put the Democrats back in power. 

Remember, Schumer was the one who, not too long ago, was more than willing to sacrifice Democratic voters to pick up Republican ones. 

Remember, Nancy Pelosi's greatest asset is her ability to rake in the cash, something that she understands will continue regardless of who won. 

Remember, Tom Perez was more than willing to paint Bernie Sanders as someone who "does well only among young whiter liberals" when there's enough evidence to the contrary. 

So while Thompson's close loss running as a "Berniecrat" in deep red Kansas is certainly noteworthy, don't think for a minute that the current Democratic leadership is going to interpret this as an opportunity to campaign from the left. It doesn't fit the Clinton model and it would certainly isolate the leaders from their corporate backers.  

Reminder: The GOP's Biggest complaint About Obama Was That He Was Obama

So we see here that the GOP just loves it when Republican President Donald Trump decides to get all bomb-droppy, but when Obama was thinking about it, the opinion was vastly different:

The Washington Post follows up on this, lest we think that the previous President's part affiliation (or race) wasn't really a factor:

There was actually another Washington Post-ABC News poll that tested views of what the United States should do in response to Syria using chemical weapons. It came in December 2012 — before the 2013 chemical weapons attack. It was a hypothetical.
The question: “What if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons against its people? In that case would you support or oppose U.S. military involvement in Syria?”
In response to this question, fully 67 percent of Republicans said they would support military involvement.