Year: 2017
Trump Tongue-Tied by Tragedy
“One of the difficult but primary duties of the modern presidency is to speak for the nation in times of tragedy. A space shuttle explodes. An elementary school is attacked. The twin towers come down in a heap of ash and twisted steel. It falls to the president to express something of the nation’s soul — grief for the lost, sympathy for the suffering, moral clarity in the midst of confusion, confidence in the unknowable purposes of God. … Not every president does this equally well. But none have been incapable. Until Donald Trump.”
— Michael Gerson
Dems Falling Behind in Fundraising
$75 million
Politico: “Over the first six months of 2017, the Republican National Committee pulled in $75 million—nearly twice as much money as the Democratic National Committee, which raised $38 million. … During that same six-month time span, the RNC raised $33 million in small contributions—money from people who donate $200 or less over an election cycle—while that same class of donors gave the DNC just $21 million.”
Nukes of Misdirection
Trump’s blustering away at Kim Jong Un
As if he thought nuclear war is fun.
And with cool nuclear threats,
What Trump finally gets
Is everybody’s mind off healthcare and Russians.
Trump’s Washington Hotel Turns an Unexpected Profit
$1.97 million
“Donald Trump’s company turned a $1.97 million profit at its opulent Trump International Hotel so far in 2017, dramatically beating its expectations and giving the first hard numbers to critics who charge that Trump is profiting from his presidency,” the Washington Post reports. “The Trump Organization had projected that it would lose $2.1 million during the first four months of 2017 as it established a new hotel and convention business in the nation’s capital, according to newly released federal documents. Instead the hotel, with its namesake in the White House down the street, is already turning a hefty profit and charging more for its rooms than most or all of the city’s other hotels.”
Most See Wealthcare Fail as a Good Thing
60%
The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that 60% of the public say it is a “good thing” that the Senate did not pass the bill that would have repealed and replaced the Affordable Care Act. Key finding: 78% think President Trump and his administration should do what they can to make the current health care law work while just 17% say they should do what they can to make the law fail so they can replace it later.
Trump Thanks Putin for Expelling Diplomatic Staff
“I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll.”
— U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, breaking nearly two weeks of silence on Putin’s July 30 order cutting U.S. embassy and consulate staff by nearly two thirds, Reuters reports.
Devastating Report Confirms Earth is Losing the Battle Against Global Warming
2016 was the hottest year in 137 years of record-keeping, and the third in a row to be so noted. That and other omens are confirmed in a new report available from the American Meteorological Society called, “State of the Climate 2016.”
The report, peer-reviewed by international scientists, describes the following “highlights.”
- Greenhouse gases highest on record
- Global surface temperature highest on record
- Sea surface temperatures highest on record
- Global sea level highest on record
- Extremes in the water cycle and precipitation
- Arctic continued to warm, sea ice extent remained low
- Antarctic has record low sea ice extent
- Global ice and snow cover decline
- Tropical cyclones well above average overall
