Trash Day

Honoring the Friday News Dump tradition, President Chaos Machine spooled out some biggies yesterday.

The Orange Menace’s buddy, his “couterterrorism advisor,” Sebastian Gorka, is out. Apparently the White House just wasn't white or Nazi enough for his delicate, snowflake sensibilites.

His (Gorka’s) misadventures have ranged from presenting false Guantánamo Bay statistics on Fox & Friends to engaging in a crazy, secretly recorded phone-fight with a real terrorism expert to the revelation that he has long palled around with anti-Semitic groups in Hungary (source)

GEE, GOSH, the Combover Con also, on the very same day, pardoned that racist pool of extra special diseased rat shit, Joe Arpaio. John McCain, in his return to demi-maverickhood sanity, was not impressed.

No one is above the law and the individuals entrusted with the privilege of being sworn law officers should always seek to be beyond reproach in their commitment to fairly enforcing the laws they swore to uphold. Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos living in Arizona based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge’s orders. The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions. (source)

Rule of law? Trump? Hah! I don’t honestly believe he recognizes or respects any rules or laws unless they specifically benefit him.

“President Trump is a coward,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who represents much of the area where Arpaio was sheriff, told The Washington Post's David Weigel. “He waited until a Friday evening, as a hurricane hits, to pardon a racist ex-sheriff. Trump should at least have the decency to explain to the American public why he is undermining our justice system.” (source)

Yeah, what he said!
Meanwhile, Hurricane Harvey has hit South Texas. Given the area’s lack of Trump Hotels and golf courses and his proposal that $667 million in grant funding should be eliminated from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), I’ll be surprised if the old, narcissistic fraud’s on top of things.

Oh, but WAIT – he DID tweet a Just-Say-No-esque vid – #PlanAhead. It’ll reach all the folks in South Texas who are on Twitter AND who follow his feed. Yup, real effective move there, Fraudy.

And, oh yeah:

As thousands of Texans prepare to evacuate their cities due to Hurricane Harvey, the United States Border Patrol said it is not planning to close its roadside immigration checkpoints north of the Rio Grande Valley unless there is a danger to travelers or its agents. (source)

Ummm, doesn’t a mass evactuation kinda, sorta imply danger to travelers and agents?

And finally, Trump issued a directive banning transgender military recruits which includes proposals to make life hell for those already serving. The best response I've seen is this by Senator Tammy Duckworth:

When I was bleeding to death in my Black Hawk helicopter after I was shot down, I didn’t care if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender, black, white or brown. All that mattered was they didn't leave me behind. If you are willing to risk your life for our country and you can do the job, you should be able to serve—no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation. Anything else is not just discriminatory, it is disruptive to our military and it is counterproductive to our national security. If the President enacts this ban, which would harm our military readiness, the Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who oppose this discrimination must enact legislation that prevents it from taking effect. (source)

 And....ummmm....happy weekend. Also, to reader Harry Hamid in Houston, DUDE, if you can, let me/let us know you're OK! OK?