Does Donald Trump deserve credit for peace between North and South Korea? Not so much.

After this admittedly historic meeting, Donald Trump was quick to jump in and snatch the credit.

After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place. Good things are happening, but only time will tell!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

But is it credit that he deserves?

What do you think?

Courtesy of The Independent:  

In a historic and opulent ceremony, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) to sign the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula during the Inter-Korean Summit and officially ended the war that began when the north and south split in a battle over communism and democracy that began on 25 June 1950.

Dr TJ Pempel, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley told The Independent while Mr Trump “deserves some credit but not as much as he’s taking”. While the United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang involved the US push from Ambassador Nikki Haley, that is “hardly the whole story”, Mr Pempel said. “China’s agreement to the sanctions was far more important,” he noted. 

The important point to note, he said, was that North Korea developed its nuclear programme considerably after Mr Trump took office. “The North is convinced that it has the upper hand in negotiations because of its nuclear and missile testing successes; the US thinks it has the upper hand because it believes Kim is negotiating because of the sanctions. It’s the combination that has triggered the North’s willingness to sit down”.

That is likely part of the explanation for Kim Jong-un's sudden cooperativeness, but this next story is likely an even bigger factor.

Courtesy of Forbes:  

North Korean president Kim Jong-un recently announced his country has halted its nuclear testing program. While it is unclear whether this is a political move in preparation for meeting with the United States president Donald Trump, recent evidence suggests the country may have been forced to halt testing. 

A recent study by a group of geologists discovered that the mountain used by North Korea for its nuclear bomb testing has collapsed as a result of the explosions. The collapsed mountain is raising concerns about radioactive fallout, which could make its way into China. 

Scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China believe this could be the true reason North Korean President Kim Jong-un announced the halt of their nuclear testing program.

So Kim Jong-un is not negotiating because he is suddenly all reasonable and shit, it's because he realizes that he needs to change tactics before his bluff is called and his enemies recognize that he is not the nuclear threat that he has made himself out to be.

He's like a thief who attempts to rob a liquor store, realizes that he forgot to load his gun, and then suddenly says "Look, Just give me a bottle of vodka and I will leave without taking your money. Deal?"

Donald Trump has a history of taking credit for other people's work, and this looks like one more example.

Ambassador to Panama resign citing inability to work with Trump.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

The US ambassador to Panama has resigned from his post on principle, writing in a resignation letter to the State Department that he can no longer serve the Trump administration, according to Reuters. 

The US State Department confirmed the departure of John D Feeley, saying he decided to "retire for personal reasons, as of 9 March this year". 

"As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the President and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies.

"My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honour-bound to resign. That time has come," Mr Feeley said.

According to The Independent Feeley made this decision before the recent "shithole" comments were made public.

I would assume that once he heard that it only made this decision easier.

Now we have to wonder how much longer other ambassadors will be willing remain on the job while carrying the shame of being associated with the Trump Administration?

London borough passes a motion saying that Donald Trump is simply not welcome in their area of the city.

Donald Trump is not welcome here.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

A London council has called on the Government to revoke its state visit invitation to the “bigoted” US President after he shared messages from a far-right group. 

A motion passed by the Royal Borough of Greenwich vowed that Donald Trump “would not be welcome” in the area if the engagement goes ahead. 

Councillors said they were alarmed by Donald Trump’s decision to retweet Islamophobic posts by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First.“

Council further notes with sadness the President’s bigoted attitude towards women and ethnic minorities which has resulted in examples of division and hatred within the US,” it continued. 

“As such, Council calls upon the Government to abandon plans to invite Donald Trump on a state visit to the UK.” 

Councillors said the huge security costs of the trip should be paid instead to charities that “promote peace and understanding”, such as the Jo Cox Foundation.

There's Donald Trump "Making America Great Again." 

I swear this is like the rest of the world's reaction to George W. Bush's stupidity and warmongering, only on steroids.

So Donald Trump spent the morning retweeting a British fascist once convicted of verbally abusing a Muslim woman, in order to inflame his base.

VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches! pic.twitter.com/11LgbfFJDq

— Jayda Fransen (@JaydaBF) November 28, 2017

VIDEO: Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary! pic.twitter.com/qhkrfQrtjV

— Jayda Fransen (@JaydaBF) November 29, 2017

VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death! pic.twitter.com/XxtlxNNSiP

— Jayda Fransen (@JaydaBF) November 29, 2017

The thing about that last video is that you KNOW that if fundamentalist Christians could get away with throwing gay people off of roof tops that it would actually be raining men in no time.

These videos are of course supposed to anger and upset you, and indeed they are terrible.

However for every video of a Muslim doing something terrible, you can be sure that there is one of a Jew, Christian, or Hindu doing something equally appalling.

Simply put people do terrible things for a variety of reasons, religion being only one of them.

However more to the point is the fact that Donald Trump is not just retweeting a supporter, he is retweeting a convicted fascist.

Courtesy of The Independent:

The deputy leader of Britain First has been found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment afer she hurled abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. 

Jayda Fransen, 30, was fined nearly £2,000 for wearing a political uniform and shouting at Sumayyah Sharpe during a "Christian patrol" of Bury Park in Luton, on Saturday 23 January. 

Fransen admitted telling Ms Sharpe that Muslim men force women to cover up to avoid being raped "because they cannot control their sexual urges", adding "that's why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent".

Ms Sharpe was with her four young children at the time.

I certainly have no warm feelings concerning Islam, nor any other organized religion, and rapists deserve the harshest of punishments under the law, but this woman was with her children and doing no harm to anybody.

To verbally assault her in a public place, in front of her babies, is unconscionable.

And I can all but guarantee you that now with the man in the White House retweeting all of this, that we will see soon more of that kind of behavior on our own streets as well.

Methinks that something is coming soon, and the tangerine tinted Hitler does not want us talking about it.

Vladimir Putin tells Russian businesses to prepare for war. Uh oh.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Russian business should be prepared to switch to production to military needs at any time, said Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. The Russian president was speaking at a conference of military leaders in Sochi. 

“The ability of our economy to increase military production and services at a given time is one of the most important aspects of military security,” Mr Putin said. “To this end, all strategic, and simply large-scale enterprise should be ready, regardless of ownership.” 

A day earlier, the president had spoken of a need to catch up and overtake the West in military technology. “Our army and navy need to have the very best equipment — better than foreign equivalents,” he said. “If we want to win, we have to be better.”

When the clear outcome of a war between the US and Russia is mutual destruction, it is hard to understand what winning or being "better" might entail. 

Since it is obvious to everybody that Russia has nothing to fear from America as long as Putin's puppet Donald Trump is in office, it seems to me that this directive is the result of Putin thinking that he may not stay in office that much longer.

However the idea that we would remove Trump and then immediately start a war with Russia seems more than a little ridiculous, even though by interfering in our election Russia essentially launched a first strike.

So is Putin simply saber rattling here for the benefit of his constituents, or is he literally considering a military engagement with the US?

The British publicist who set up the meeting between Junior and the Russian attorney now claims he was a "useful idiot." I buy that.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

The British music publicist who arranged a meeting between Donald Trump's inner circle and a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton has insisted he was a merely "useful idiot" who became inadvertently embroiled in the scandal. 

Rob Goldstone has agreed to be questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller about the meeting, which is at the heart of a probe into alleged collusion between Mr Trump presidential campaign and the Kremlin. 

The publicist emailed the US leader's son, Donald Trump Jr, last year offering "official" Russian documents he claimed would "incriminate" Hillary Clinton and "be very useful to your father".

......

In his first interview since the scandal erupted, Mr Goldstone said he regretted his involvement but insisted he had merely been a "useful idiot". 

"I never thought in a million years that an email I wrote to [Donald Trump Jr]... would be examined by the world many times over," he told The Sunday Times. "I should have listened to that little voice in my head. I remember specifically saying to Emin: you know, we probably shouldn't get involved in this." 

He said the meeting at Trump Tower ended inconclusively, adding he believed the Russians used the promise of dirt on Ms Clinton as a "pretext" to lobby the Trump campaign on unrelated issues.

Mr Goldstone claimed he "puffed up" the wording of his emails to Mr Trump Jr to secure the meeting. 

"If I'm guilty of anything, and I hate the word guilty, it's hyping the message and going the extra mile for my clients," the publicist added.

Goldstone claims that he does not know of any other collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign but that if there was he had no part in it. 

It really does not make any difference if Goldstone "puffed up" the wording or not, the important thing is that Junior thought he was taking a meeting with the Russians in order to receive illegally obtained information that could be used against his father's opponent, because the Kremlin wanted them to win the election.

Collusion.

Majority of Americans blame the problems with Obamacare on Donald Trump, not Barack Obama.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

A majority of Americans blame Donald Trump’s administration for any future problems with Obamacare, a new poll has found. 

Carried out by the Kaiser Family Foundation, it found 61 per cent of respondents believe the US President and his Republican Party are responsible for any issues with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

Only 37 per cent said Barack Obama's administration - who introduced it in 2010 - would be at fault for fewer enrollments.

......

Although Republican efforts to repeal and replace the ACA have failed, the party’s actions have been blamed for forcing prices for Obamacare plans up in 2018. 

The Trump administration slashed the Obamacare budget for advertising by 90 per cent and significantly reduced spending on groups that help customers find the appropriate insurance plan.

The 2018 open enrolment period for the health insurance exchange is also only running for six weeks, which is half as long as last year. 

Analysts say these measures increase the likelihood of less people signing up to the ACA.

Good, I am glad that most Americans are seeing through the Republican's bullshit. 

And it is important to remind people that EVERY SINGLE problem that happens with health care in this country moving forward is directly the fault of this administration.

You can bet your ass that if Hillary Clinton had been elected that she would have been working to make Obamacare function better, not trying to destroy it from within.

Six Democrats introduce five articles of impeachment. And here we go.

Courtesy of The Independent:

Six Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced articles of impeachment targeting President Donald Trump. 

The legislators singled out five of Mr Trump's actions they say merit impeachment, including his decision to fire FBI director James Comey in May. 

They assert that Mr Trump obstructed justice by dismissing the top law enforcement official, who was leading a federal investigation into alleged ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Mr Trump has insisted that there was no collusion between his campaign's advisers and the Kremlin.

“Given the magnitude of the constitutional crisis, there’s no reason for delay,” said Representative Steve Cohen, the sponsor of the resolution. Creating a constitutional crisis would mean the President has disregarded checks on the executive branch. 

Joining Mr Cohen in endorsing the articles are Democratic Representatives Luis Gutiérrez, Al Green, Adriano Espaillat, Marcia Fudge and John Yarmuth. 

“We believe that President Trump has violated the Constitution, and we've introduced five articles of impeachment,” Mr Cohen said at a press conference.

Well they said it was coming, and here it is.

I don't think that there is much chance that this really has a real impact, and there are a lot of Democrats who think this is premature.

However it is the necessary first step in what will likely be the removal of Donald Trump from office at some point.

After all it's not as if there is not overwhelming evidence that he is unfit for office.

But that won't be this year, and it may not even be the next. But I really feel that it is coming.

Donald Trump's visit to the UK has been downgraded.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Donald Trump’s planned state visit to the UK in 2018 has been downgraded to a “working visit”, likely forming part of a multi-country tour, it has been reported. 

It means the billionaire will not be a guest of the Queen, as was previously envisaged. 

Theresa May’s offer of a state visit to the first-term President was greeted with the threat of mass protests by opponents. 

Mr Trump’s visit will now take place without the glitz and pomp of a full state visit, the Evening Standard reported.

It seems only fair that this visit be downgraded.

After all thanks to Donald Trump the presidency has been downgraded as well. 

Donald Trump responds to news of a possible terrorist attack in London by suggesting the internet be "cut off" and pushing for tougher travel ban.

So this happened this morning.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

A device that triggered a rush-hour fire aboard a subway train in the British capital was being investigated as terrorism Friday, police said. 

Authorities confirmed 22 people had been injured at Parsons Green Tube station in southwest London. None of their wounds — mostly superficial burns — were considered serious or life-threatening. 

Investigators were examining the remains of an improvised explosive device.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, said the detonation was being treated as a "terrorist incident."

The investigation is currently at the evidence gathering stage and the British police are being tight lipped as they do their jobs.

However that did not stop our Twitler-in-Chief from jumping in with his opinions.

Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Wait, cutting off the internet? Cutting it off for who?

The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Remember Trump as this point has NO idea who carried out this attack, including whether they were a British citizen or not.

We have made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than the Obama Administration has made in 8 years.Must be proactive & nasty!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Also completely untrue.

According to some news sources it appears that Trump is jumping to hasty conclusions and even perhaps sharing information that the authorities are keeping close to the vest.

Courtesy of The Independent: 

The tweet came after another message in which he appeared to suggest that the attacker had been known to police, despite Scotland Yard not having said so. "These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard," he posted in a preceding message. 

Donald Trump has a history of jumping to false conclusions and stepping all over investigations.

He is essentially guilty of doing the very thing that he accuses the media of doing, trying to be first with the story despite not having gathered sufficient evidence.

Russian politician suggests that it might be time to release the Donald Trump "kompromat."

Russian politician says 'let's hit Trump with our Kompromat' on state TVhttps://t.co/Sry7e64s1q

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) September 5, 2017

Courtesy of The Independent:  

A Russian politician has threatened to "hit Donald Trump with our Kompromat" on state TV. 

Speaking on Russia-24, Nikita Isaev, leader of the far-right New Russia Movement, said the compromising material should be released in retaliation over the closure of several Russian diplomatic compounds across the US. 

When asked whether Russia has such material, Mr Isaev, who is also director of the Russian Institute of Contemporary Economics, replied: "Of course we have it!"

You might remember that recently another Russian politician also made this statement on Russian government controlled TV:

#Russia's state TV host pours more gas on the fire, saying:
"So why did we elect such a President?
Audience claps.https://t.co/SE8PZkkxup

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) September 1, 2017

Man I certainly hope that Robert Mueller is paying attention to all of this.

KKK leader says that since Charlottesville they have seen a massive uptick in new members.

Courtesy of The Independent: 

The Ku Klux Klan has grown faster since Donald Trump’s inauguration than any time in recent memory, a Klan leader has claimed. 

“I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and I haven’t seen the Klan grow at the pace it’s growing now,” Chris Barker, an Imperial Wizard of the KKK, told The Independent. “I mean, it’s even hard to keep track of the numbers you’ve got ’cause there’s so many coming in.” 

Mr Barker said that after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville he received 50 applications to join his group in one day. The next day, he received 80.

Mr Barker leads the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, which has less than 200 members. As one of the most active Klan groups in the US, the group takes part in “activism” such as burning crosses, advocating for the murder of immigrants, and distributing leaflets claiming, among other things, “transgender is an abomination”.

This Barker fellow gained some recent notoriety after this exchange with a reporter from Univision.

Oh yeah, he seems nice.

No longer any need for these racist assholes to stay hidden from sight, not in Trump's America where hating the brown people is what defines you as a "real American." 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions to crack down on the real problem with the Trump Administration. The journalists who keep reporting on its incompetence.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says that the Department of Justice (DoJ) is reviewing policies for subpoenaing reporters during investigations of federal intelligence leaks, an indicator that the US government may consider more aggressive tactics to try and force journalists to identify their sources. 

"One of the things we are doing is reviewing the policies affecting media subpoenas," Mr Sessions said, announcing his administration's crackdown on leaks during a press conference. "We respect the important role that the press plays, and we will give our support. But, it is not unlimited. They cannot place lives at risk with impunity." 

Mr Sessions said that he had instructed his Justice Department to review its leak prosecution policies earlier this year, and that the results "concerned" him. There were too few referrals for prosecution over classified leaks, too few investigations, and an insufficient amount of resources dedicated to those investigations, he said. 

"We will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country," Mr Sessions said. "These cases, to investigate and prosecute, are never easy. But cases will be made and leakers will be held accountable."

Yeah well the thing is that the leakers are not so much trying to "sell out our country," as they are trying to "rescue our country from the clutches of a mad man."

Of course the truly pathetic part of this, besides you know the whole attack on our first amendment, is that Sessions is totally doing this just to save his job.

He knew he was next on the chopping block so he pulled out some bullshit like this to hold on for a little bit longer.

Kellyanne "Oh god I woke in a pool of my own vomit again" Conway has also suggested that the White House staff might be forced into taking lie detector tests.

Because nothing says we are one big happy family, like strapping somebody to a machine and then drilling them under hot lights for an hour.

Chuck Todd has already essentially declared what the media's response will be to any subpoenas from the Justice Department concerning their sources.

If DoJ media source threat is real (I assume it's not; just a show presser to please WH) then I look forward to ignoring that subpoena

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) August 4, 2017

Well played.

Fox News is no longer the most watched cable news network. That honor goes to MSNBC.

Courtesy of The Independent: 

Fox News was knocked off the number one slot as the most-watched primetime cable television network in America, after being overtaken by MSNBC. 

According to figures from global research company Nielsen, the network was the most-watched station during the weekday prime evening slot from 7pm to midnight between 17 and 21 July. 

During this time the more centrist network gained 2.34 million viewers, while Fox News had 2.25 million.

The sought-after evening slots include shows from Fox presenters Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, and the network previously gained the highest number of viewers. 

The Rachel Maddow Show, which was the first television show to expose two pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns, also gained more viewers than Fox News and CNN for the fourth consecutive week in the prime slot between 9 to 10pm.

Man you know that Roger Ailes is spinning is his grave like a rotisserie chicken right about now.

This is really great news, and so well deserved.

MSNBC needs to recognize why this is happening, and the hunger people have for good journalism, and stop bringing on those Fox News castoffs for "balance."

MSNBC is what it is and people love it.

Currently I do not have too many must watch shows.

But the Rachel Maddow Show is at the top of my must see TV list every single day.

The only other show that attracts that kind of allegiance from me is "Game of Thrones." And Rachel Maddow does not even have to use dragons.

Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort are all scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort are to testify before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in relation to a meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised to provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton. 

The meeting has come under intense scrutiny as part of investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and possible collusion on the part of the Trump campaign. 

Mr Trump Jr and Mr Manafort are to appear in front of the committee on July 26, but Mr Kushner is due to appear on July 24 in a closed session.

Mr Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said his client is voluntarily cooperating with the congressional probes into the now notorious meeting. 

In addition, Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who organised the meeting with Mr Trump Jr, has also said she would be happy to testify.

Oh I am DEFINITELY clearing my calendar to watch this.

I just wish that Kushner's was an open door testimony as well.

Maybe he is just afraid that people will mock his little boy voice if he appears on television.

But don't worry he is certainly not out of the woods yet.

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

The Congressional oversight body that holds U.S. employees accountable and exposes government fraud and abuse voted unanimously Wednesday to investigate why senior Trump administration officials have been granted security clearances. 

Senior advisors to the president, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions were all given security clearances after “omitting significant information about foreign contacts from their applications,” said a statement from Illinois House Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi.

And the noose gets a little bit tighter.

P.S. After I wrote this I saw a few talking heads on TV suggesting that Junior and Manafort would be idiots to agree to show up for this hearing, and I got a little worried.

But then Senator Dianne Feinstein came along to put those concerns to rest:  

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Thursday she isn't concerned about Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort agreeing to testify before a Senate panel, because if they don't "they'll be subpoenaed." 

"Am I concerned? No, I'm not concerned, because if they don't they'll be subpoenaed," Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters.

And there you have it.

Junior and Manafort might TRY to avoid testifying next week, but they will ultimately testify one way or the other. 

Donald Trump is celebrating victory over ISIS that owes its success to President Obama.

Big wins against ISIS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2017

What his Twitter-ness fails to comprehend is that though this IS a victory for the United States, it is NOT a victory for him.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

While the Iraqi armed forces staged an exhausting nine-month siege around the city of Mosul, the US-led air campaign in Iraq and Syria initiated by the former president appears to have proved successful in weakening Isis forces. 

The US and its allies, including but not limited to the UK, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey, also provided continual training and advised proxy local forces without sending their own troops into action. 

Pentagon officials told the AFP news agency that the outcome in Mosul was clear and that the Iraqi military had become a battle-hardened army which eventually prevailed. 

One senior US military official who was deployed to Iraq from 2015 said the "training worked". 

"It has enabled the Iraqis to take back their country," he said. 

In 2014 things were looking grim in Iraq and Americans had no stomach for sending in more of our own troops.

So instead President Obama came up with a strategy called "by, with and through". Which involved training local Iraqi troops to fight in small units, set up defenses and breech minefields.

And that strategy is the one still being used today, and we know that because Donald Trump ordered a new plan and then rejected it last week because it was too similar to Obama's.

So this victory? This is all courtesy of President Obama.

(P.S. The good jobs numbers are as well.)

Late last night the White House issued a warning accusing Syria of preparing to gas its people. US defense officials have no idea why.

Statements from @PressSec on #syria pic.twitter.com/gEqPAf6WBk

— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) June 27, 2017

Okay so this was broadcast on cable news last night. (I personally saw it toward the end of the Rachel Maddow Show.)

And on the face of it this seems like kind of a crazy way to announce that the president of Syria is about to murder his own people again. Typically this would be addressed through diplomatic channels and the public would only become aware if there were an imminent military response planned by the United States. (And seriously what does "pay a heavy price" even mean?)

But then it gets even weirder.

Courtesy of The Independent: 

The White House has said it believes the Syrian government is planning a chemical weapons attack and warned Bashar al-Assad that his regime will “pay a heavy price” it it does so. However, several US defence officials have said they are not familiar with the intelligence that informed the statement.

White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on Monday night on the allegations or what form US retaliation would take. 

Several sources across the US State Department, Pentagon and Central Command, which oversees the country’s military operations in Syria and Iraq – said that they did not know what had prompted the unprecedented threat to the Assad regime. 

Okay, okay, let's back the fuck up here.

Are we to believe that the White House received intelligence that the Pentagon did not receive which justified a threat like this?

I call bullshit.

I am beginning to think that Donald Trump is becoming so desperate over those Russia investigations that he is literally considering plunging this country into a war simply to distract the public.

That time Jared Kushner assured a coworker that Trump did not believe that birther nonsense but that "Republicans are stupid and they’ll buy it."

He doesn't really believe this, he doesn't really believe this, he doesn't really believe this.

Courtesy of The Independent:

During Mr Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and throughout his presidency, multiple theories emerged falsely claiming he was not a natural-born American US citizen and it was therefore unconstitutional for him to become US President. Mr Trump was among those who pushed the “birther” conspiracy theory and consistently questioned former President Obama’s birthplace of Hawaii. 

The former New York Observer editor has now claimed that Mr Kushner, the former publisher of the paper, informed her that Mr Trump did not believe the “birther” lies he was peddling. 

“When I was the editor of the New York Observer, Kushner and I were going back and forth about how the paper should cover him,” Elizabeth Spiers wrote in a post on Twitter. 

“I told Jared that I was particularly appalled by his father-in-law’s birtherism stance, which I viewed as cynical and racist. 

“He rolled his eyes and said ‘He doesn’t really believe it, Elizabeth. He just knows Republicans are stupid and they’ll buy it’”.

Gee no wonder Fox News viewers flocked to Donald Trump, he disrespected them and manipulated them just like Roger Ailes did.

This is why I will no longer say that Americans are too smart to be fooled.

The truth is that a very large segment of the population is almost too stupid to stand upright.

Actor Stephen Fry is being investigated for blasphemy in Ireland for calling God a "maniac." Okay this is still 2017, right?

Courtesy of The Independent:

Stephen Fry is being investigated by Irish police over blasphemy claims more than two years after his outspoken comments about God on RTE's The Meaning of Life went viral. 

Mr Fry described a hypothetical creator as “stupid” and an “utter maniac” for designing a world filled with undue suffering. 

Asked in 2015 by the programme's host, Gay Byrne, what he would say to God if he arrived at the pearly gates of heaven, the actor and author replied: “I’d say, bone cancer in children? What’s that about?” 

The committed atheist added: “How dare you? How dare you create a world to which there is such misery that is not our fault? It’s not right, it’s utterly, utterly evil. 

“Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain? “We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him? What kind of god would do that? 

“The god who created this universe, if it was created by god, is quite clearly a maniac, an utter maniac, totally selfish.” 

A Gardai spokeswoman told The Independent: “We're not commenting on an ongoing investigation.”

I have seen some version of this video over a dozen times, and I still LOVE it.

What a wonderful response to a stupid question.

Keep in mind this is not happening in Saudi Arabia or Iran, this is happening in freaking Ireland, a place that I think most of us believed to be here with us in the 21st century.

Apparently it also a place where one can be punished for daring to speak ill of a imaginary being.

Just a reminder that this weekend Donald Trump went golfing for the fifteenth time in eleven weeks.

Trump battles his most dangerous foe. Gravity.

Courtesy of The Independent:

Donald Trump is taking his 15th golf trip in the 11 weeks since becoming President, as he spends another weekend at one of his own luxury resorts. 

The President is coming off the back of a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has closed a sixth of his country's golf courses since 2011 and will not play a sport which maintains a reputation for decadence and corruption in China. 

But President Xi left the President's luxury Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday night, and by Saturday morning Mr Trump was on the links at his International Golf Club in Florida, the White House press pool was informed.

Remember this was directly AFTER Trump okayed the attack on Syria.

Not sitting in a war room assessing the success of the attack, or planning a strategy for after the missile attack, no just out golfing like some over fed company CEO.

By the way so far Trump has visited one of his properties on average about once every 2.8 days.

Yeah like I said, don't let this bullshit "attack" on Syria fool you. This is still the least involved most incompetent president we have ever seen in the White House.