So Trump blew up at Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. She was one of four reporters who wrote that Trump will not be attending the September 11 memorial service in NYC because he won’t be allowed to speak.
President Trump is not planning to attend a ceremony in Manhattan for the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, in part because he wanted to deliver a speech and the annual event has long barred remarks, according to four people with knowledge of the events.
Mr. Trump’s team had conducted advance visits at the site and had initially signaled to officials in New York and in Washington that the president intended to visit the memorial space known as ground zero, two of the people with knowledge of the events said.
The president’s interest in speaking on Sept. 11 was conveyed to memorial planners in recent weeks, three of the people with knowledge of the events said. But since 2012, politicians have been barred from speaking at the site. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, has worked rigorously to keep the venue nonpartisan and focused on the solemnity of the day.
I’m sure everyone in NYC is not disappointed that he won’t be allowed to whine for three hours about how he was cheated out of the 2020 election.
The upcoming observance will be the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, so it’s going to be a big deal. I understand ex-presidents Clinton, Bush II, and Obama will be there. Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be there, plus governors Hochul of New York and Sherrill of New Jersey. J.D. Vance the Veep will be in New York to represent the Regime. None will speak. And I believe the New York Times report, because that is so Trump. Instead he’s going to appear at the Pentagon where he will be allowed to whine into a microphone all he wants.
Mayor Mamdani will also be there, as he should be, and I sincerely hope some bigots don’t show up to protest the Muslim mayor. Some of the families of the victims — not all of the families — circulated a petition asking that Mayor Mamdani not attend. It’s never been made public how many people signed. The guy who originated the petition claimed 60,000 signatures, but Snopes says there is no way to know how many of those signatures are from 9//11 family members, and the originator guy hasn’t been forthcoming with that number. This suggests to me a lot of the families didn’t sign.
Note that on September 11, 2001, the future Mayor Mamdani was nine years old and enrolled in elementary school on the Upper West Side.
The other big news is that Trump announced he has gained control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil.
“This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
There are a couple of catches here. One is that these alleged 65 billion barrels are not actually 65 billion barrels of oil yet. This is potentially the amount of oil Venezuela has in the ground. It needs to be pumped out and refined before it’s usable.
We went through all this after Trump’s raid on Venezuela in January. You’ll remember that Trump rounded up oil execs and proudly told them they could now reclaim their old digs in Venezuela. But the U.S. oil companies didn’t jump at the chance. They considered it too risky, and took a pass.
Here’s the issue explained in the Washington Post:
A list shared with The Post before the deal was announced noted 17 oil fields in which the U.S. would take a stake. Several of the fields lack any infrastructure or access to transport hubs to treat and move the crude. Those where such infrastructure does exist have fallen victim to years of neglect and theft of machinery.
Pumping oil from the fields could require investments of many billions of dollars and costly security plans to protect oil workers and production facilities in lawless and violent regions. The deal points reviewed by The Post say the U.S. government stake in the newly formed oil company will be split between equity ownership and guarantees that it will purchase oil produced by it at cost to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Trump is saying this oil won’t cost taxpayer any money. Yeah, we’ve heard that one before. As I understand it, we’re several years and billions of investment dollars away from actually loading those barrels on a ship to bring to the U.S. Trump is acting as if this is going to solve his oil problems before the Midterms.
I remember a few months ago somebody saying there was no way the oil companies would go back to Venezuela unless Trump got U.S. troops stationed there to protect the oil fields. So there’s that, too.
Interesting read — See David Frum, What Might Happen to Trump’s Ill-Gotten Gains at The Atlantic. Frum tells us that other countries have clawed back wealth that was stolen or swindled by corrupt ex-rulers. But it’s messy.
Note that I’m also working up to starting a short fundraiser, as I’m facing some extra expenses in September. But I haven’t gotten around to setting it up yet. But the “donate” buttons on the top of the right-hand column still work, I’m pretty sure. 🙂
At least the 25 year anniversary of 9/11 is one of the few things 45 won't be allowed to spoil. Now the Kennedy Center is another matter. Wouldn't surprise me if he knocked it down.
I understand the Washington DC cherry trees are gone. Trump had them cut down to expand a golf course.
"I cannot tell a lie. I had the cherry trees removed for a golf course expansion."
You answered a lot of the questions I had about the deal and confrmed a few expectations. First, this is not the cavalry coming over the hill waving a flag that says, "Gas < $2". The deal was between the US and Venezuela. I see no report that big oil has bellied up to the bar with cash. Second, I do not think we have much refinery capacity for that grade of oil. Working from memory, there's only one US company with refineries calibrated for that lower grade of oil. (Citgo) No, I can't guess how expensive it will be to switch other existing refineries over or how long that will take. I bet the oil companies will also calculate the cost to switch them BACK because if the relationship with V. sours, they cant leave the refinery idle. So this is a head fake to let the MAGA fans think the score changed. It hasn't. The Straight of Hormuz is closed and crude oil remains scarce and expensive.
If I got this right, the US taxpayer will fork over billions for oil infrastructure on foreign soil with a government that has nationaized the oil industry before and owns all the oil in that counntry now. But we're not in bed with a communist country. To be clear, I am not paranoid about doing business with a communist country, but if you are a rabid anti-communist if a US candidate proposes rent control, you can't be the best buddy (or lover) with a country you previously had under embargo for being communist. Not when the only reform in their system is that you can take their oil.
I wonder how this news is going over in SA, Kuwait, and UAE. Trump is making long-term plans that make opening the Straight… optional. I have not read any estimates of how expensive this has been for the Gulf nations to be shut down, or how expensive it may be to build pipleines to circumvent the Straight, or how long it might take, and most urgently, how they propose to defend those pipleines against drones.
Every time you go into Walmart to shop, you're doing business with a communist country. If you buy an iPhone, you're doing business with a communist country. Communist China isn't just a trading partner, its a business partner, with many US companies having substantial manufacturing, engineering and other facilities there, sustained by agreements with the CCP. When Trump and his family went to China, Eric Trump signed an agreement with the Chinese military for a business deal. As a communist country, China holds a substantial portion of our debt — our economy is literally beholden to a communist country.
China is unique historically, in that they have a communist government and a market economy, and by all accounts it works well for them, in terms of infrastructure and social welfare. People aren't going bankrupt over healthcare, corporations and business aren't given carte blanche to take advantage of consumers as we allow them to do here. Their airports, railways and urban infrastructure put ours to shame. And they've achieved that because, unlike us here, they invest in their people instead of allowing residents to be nothing more than business opportunities for greedy billionaires. They invest in their infrastructure, instead of finding every tax dollar they can to give to the wealthy.
We could learn a few things from the Chinese if we weren't power mad and so damned greedy.
China also doesn't traipse all over the world starting wars that cost trillions. They use that money to have better infrastructure, health care and social services – where we do the exact opposite.
Dolly Parton and Tim Curry are dead, but Rudy G is still here? Exhibit SomeLargeNumber for There is no God
As Billy Joel said, "only the good die young."
May I take a moment to revel in an "I Told You So … ?"
Since we ignored Sarah Palin and she went away
In this conversation elsewhere this morn and as usual the consensus is the Mainstream Multi-Millionaire Media feeds it. But because we are dependent (somewhat) on the MMMM for information we in turn feed it to, if only by osmosis
It's hard to put to words: it's like alcohol, its acceptability has so permeated every level of society that even we who avoid the poison none-the-less don't even think about it. One of the items on my list of things to talk about after the revolution that's not being talked about now because everyone is hot for revolution but has no idea what to do on the other side of one is a restructuring of our sources of information
We have to stop doing what we're doing, it isn't working …
Well, if it helps you, the first thing we need to do is demand that everyone who is taking part in the conversation is actually working with facts. As a nation, the USA is insane, because the things we should be discussing (the President had no right to attack Iran, and no right to murder people in boats, etc.) are treated as automatically reasonable, because otherwise, we have to consider the entire Republican Party unreasonable, and that can't be, can it?
Heck yeah, it can be. Republicans have been practicing this for over 25 years, "if we all repeat the same nonsense, it becomes auto-magically senaible, because it's the position of the Heartland of America!!!" So, we should invade Iraq; the Iraq war isn't a failure yet (x10-15 Friedman units),ISIS formation, made possible by W's invasion of Iraq, is Obama's fault," those all become "reasonable" because "so many people sincerely believe it," and it's horse crap. There are simply too many people who lie in this country, and not to "give a Conservative slant," but "to make conservativism look good, even when it's smashing jars of human excrement with a baseball bat" which, let's be honest, is pretty hard to dress up in a nice-looking news segment.
I have a bright red coffee cup that says "Make America Rational Again". Unfortunately, 'Morons Are Governing America' – and this is the kind of crap they constantly give us.
It's ironic. They planned very, very carefully for Project 2025 – laying out all the moves they need to make to succeed in completely eviscerating any form of federal power that might interfere in their plans to destroy our democracy and turn the government into a freaking personality cult.
But, when it comes to actual governing and handling the economy, and yes…what was than again? Oh, yes, I remember – a WAR! And after purging our top military commanders – who, presumably could have done a much better job, since they had decades of experience running the military. Also, presumably, they were purged because they wouldn't agree to order troops into an illegal war.
So, we end up with a week-end news anchor who is clearly completely unqualified for the job – and who reports to a draft dodging, malignant narcissist, as well as a sociopathic racist/misogynist with serious health and mental problems.
Problems, which make him untethered to all forms of reality except one – making as much money as he can, any way he can…even if it might be illegal. As they say though, it's only illegal if you get caught…and, since he owns the Department of Injustice, he has no fear of that, especially with the Extreme Court backing him up on all his hairbrained ideas that defy many of the laws – and even the constitution…not to mention common sense and logic.
He and his regime are a disease infecting the body politic.
This guy has a team devoted to finding out where the spotlights will be focusing. Is it a president's duty or right to be seen constantly by his subjects?
Remember – if you gild it, he will come.
"if you gild it, he will come." Ha.
Rudy is more gone than Donnie, but he drinks. With Rudy you know what is rotting his brain away. Many we have watched do the same. Donnie does not drink, but he is going too. Every day, like all of us, new cells have to replace old ones. The older we get the worse the copies become as the "molds" wear out. Donnie's cell copies are now defying even his make-up. Remember when Rudy sprung a leak? Mitch is probably the most gone. Hoover and Greene had a little chuckle over that.
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Yes the donate button still works! Happy to help, I've actually been lured out of retirement as a consultant part time so I'm not broke anymore!
What stump is doing in Venezuela "Pentagon to take 35% stake in Venezuela oil venture, WSJ reports" is the very definition of Communism: "Communism is a political and economic system where property and the means of making goods are owned by the public or the government, rather than by private individuals". Same old story same old song and dance IOKIYAR!
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