The brewing storm

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All hell is breaking loose in DC. Trump and his cadre of billionaire ghouls are creating havoc in the halls of power, sometimes called the swamp, blob, deep state, or shadow government.
Whole agencies are being exposed as corrupt tax wasting parasites on the rump of America, where they cannot be seen but painfully felt.
Yesterday, Trump sicced his attack dogs on the Dept. of Education and indicated the Pentagon would be next.
Eventually, he will get to the CIA. I know they see him coming.
Will they dodge? Start shredding papers now? Or preemptive strike.
His orders to flatten Iran should anything happen to him is monumentally stupid. How many entities around the world would benefit a false flag assassination that would be blamed on Iran?
How many of the 17 US intelligence agencies would like to keep their operations hidden from oversite?
Is Israel better off with him dead or alive?
Is Russia? IMHO Putin sees Trump as a man who knows he has a losing hand in Ukraine, and is ready to leave town before sundown and take his quickdraw show to China and try to bluff them into folding their hand. This would throw the entire ruling class into chaos and distraction.
The chances of getting through the first 100 days without triggering WW3 are looking better though.
A storm brewing off the west coast is threatening freezing rain and snow mid week with temps down into the teens.
So both coasts are gonna get it.
Need moar popcorn!
Thread is open.

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QMS's picture

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A well proportioned mix of a dark and stormy beverage
is in order. Ginger beer, dark rum and a squirt of lime in
a mug with a good bunch of ice cubicles works well.
Try a bit of ginger for that full spectrum dominance.
A splash of bitters for the brave, home of the free.

About 5" of snow frozen to the ground here. Moar on
tap later in the week. Yee haw. Watch the DC blob implode!

Thanks for the OT.

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8 users have voted.

question everything

earthling1's picture

@QMS
But it's 23° here right now. I'm going to need something warm and cuddly. My go to is a big oug of coffee with generous portions of Baileys Irish Cream and Kailua. Topped with a mountain of whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg around the candied cherry on top.
With a paper straw, of course.
Good morning to you, Capt'n.

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6 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

usefewersyllables's picture

snow here, currently 8degF. Low tonight into Wednesday is supposed to get down to -2 or so. Our snowyest months are March and April, so this is just a warmup, so to speak.

We were in the 60s last week, and we'll be there again next week, most likely. Swings of 60-70degF in 24 hours are fairly common around here, and we've even had one 85degF swing (from 65degF down to -20degF overnight, in about 2006). Now, that one was pretty brutal.

I think that the folks in Washington are experiencing the political equivalent of that cold front. All we can do is watch what happens next.

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7 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

earthling1's picture

@usefewersyllables
Our swings here go from like 30° to 40°, even with the sunshine.
And here comes another stormfront heading east. Should reach you in a couple of days. Cheers.
Thanks for stopping by.

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7 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

usefewersyllables's picture

the Senate just voted to invoke cloture on the Tulsi Gabbard nomination, and are preparing to vote on her confirmation.

There is no way that the outcome of her confirmation will be anything but a storm- and if she is confirmed, this one will be of positively Biblical heft.

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10 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

earthling1's picture

@usefewersyllables
She will join in on the carnage in the blob. It is she that the 17 Intel agencies fear the most, not Trump.
I liked her as a Dem but warming up to her dressed as a Repub.
Thanks for the post.

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7 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

enhydra lutris's picture

finished both inside and outside morning chores and now off to the dentist, costco, maybe home depot, and staples. Probably hit a regular grocery store and the bank too, then hunker down from the incoming.

For us, the winter prophylactic is rich hot-chocolate with brandy, and the cold medicine for after that fails is hot water, lemon juice, a touch of sugar and brandy. Seems thematic:

back (much) later

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

usefewersyllables's picture

@enhydra lutris

For that common-cold toddy recipe, try replacing the sugar with honey- it has some decent antibacterial qualities, and does a *great* job of coating a sore throat to boot. This hack brought to you courtesy of my wife, the recovering Sweet Adeline barbershopper...

And it that doesn't work, amp up the brandy, of course. That hack brought to you courtesy of myself, the recovering Sweet Adeline spouse. (;-)

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6 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

earthling1's picture

@enhydra lutris
before the ice storm hits.
Gotta go git my Lipitor refill and stop off at the Sees candy store an pick up a Valentine card.
Looks like we will be socked in for V-Day.
Plan on starting a roaring fire and settle in and binge-watch some series. E2 has not seen "A handmaid tale" yet and I would love to see it again. But they want a hundred bucks to stream it!
I'll look around for a bootleg.
Love that tune, but can never remember the Looking Glass
Thanks for the post.

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5 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

snoopydawg's picture

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Let’s have something uplifting.

I just wish I had this talent. Even seeing the possibility of creating something different from what’s there.

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8 users have voted.

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

earthling1's picture

A grand illustration of thinking outside the box.
Thanks for that.

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5 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

for all the nazi comments thrown around, this whole Trump thing reminds me more of Maos Cultural Revolution than anything. Canada plays the part of Taiwan, Mexico the Philippines. But with all this bust up and fear there is something wistful for the sight of the Clintons, Rahm, Summers and most of the past useless dems being led out to the town square, heaped with garbage and beaten with a switch. Then sent out to hoe gardens and toil all the day, after re-education. Don't get me wrong, I hate Trump even more than I hate Clinton. Sadly, I can't see how to get rid of the republican parasite class. They're all going to self deport to New Zealand or Mars with their bags of money anyway.

Thanks for the OT!

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5 users have voted.
QMS's picture

@Snode
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maybe their bags will be lighter

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1 user has voted.

question everything

earthling1's picture

@Snode
New Zealand imposed a moratorium on new immigration. Seems they don't want to make a nuclear target of themselves.
So Mars it is.
Thanks for stopping by, snode.

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3 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

soryang's picture

About 30 min to scheduled launch time. Doesn't Elon have to put SpaceX into a blind trust or something?

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4 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

QMS's picture

@soryang
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there was a huge amount of building going on
around the space x foothold, nothing else but tourists.
Got to watch one of their Dragon rockets blast-off.
Pretty cool what they can do while NASA becomes a
foot note in government ambitions.

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6 users have voted.

question everything

soryang's picture

@QMS

So I'm probably not going to be able to see it. Visibility is 9 mile reportedly. Had a lot of fog every morning lately. High humidity. I've seen a couple of these launches from the neighborhood. The booster landing is amazing to watch. Saw one on video.

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6 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

snoopydawg's picture

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Just in news conference with King of Jordan stating that it will accept injured Palestinian children and who knows what else he agreed to. Trump threatened to cut off all aid to Egypt and Jordan if they don’t accept to help ethnically cleanse Palestinians.

Ambassador Freeman says that is a violation of the Camp David accord.

At the end of the video.

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5 users have voted.

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

earthling1's picture

@snoopydawg
coming to Jordan in 4-3-2-
It's gonna git bloody!

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2 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@snoopydawg

Also too:

No surprise that Mahmoud Abbas lives to the ripe old age of 89.

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1 user has voted.