Trump reestablishes the right tone about the US in space, recommits to exploring and taming the new frontier

Quoted here:

"My administration is reclaiming America's heritage as the world's greatest spacefaring nation," Trump said in the East Room, joined by members of his space council. "The essence of the American character is to explore new horizons and to tame new frontiers."

 

China accused of imposing exit bans on American citizens

From the story here:

It’s difficult to know exactly how many U.S. citizens have been affected. The State Department declined to confirm the number of cases, citing privacy concerns, but [John] Kamm said he knows of about two dozen cases over the past year and half alone.

“One of the problems with exit bans is that you don’t know that there is an exit ban on you until you actually get to the airport,” said Kamm. “There may be people in the country who have exit bans on them and they don’t know it.”

By surviving past May 30 and not resigning, John McCain has insured there will be no election for his seat until 2020

When he dies, as he surely will, the governor of Arizona is obligated to appoint a Republican to fill out the remainder of his term.

Another man might have given Arizona voters what they deserve under the circumstances, a fully-capable senator whom they themselves elected, but that man is not John McCain.

Democracy for me, but not for thee.

The story is here.

Edit:

Of course, not resigning but sequestering in Arizona for medical reasons brings a twofer: He stymies the advance of the Trump agenda in the Senate where the votes are razor-thin even when he's there. This makes the likelihood of success for "moderate" alliances between liberal Republicans and Democrates in the Senate even greater.

Trump's National Guardsmen at the border are busy shoveling horseshit and changing flat tires, not running razor wire

Way to go, Brownie!

Politico has the story here:

[I]n one assignment, soldiers are actually feeding and shoveling out manure from the stalls of the Border Patrol’s horses. ... Other soldiers, like Sgt. Jonathan Sanchez, 35, a cook, are performing maintenance on the Border Patrol’s heavily used vehicles. “We fix flats,” he explained on a steamy afternoon after completing his shift in the motor pool a few miles north of town. ... A few National Guard helicopters and crew have also been enlisted to join the Border Patrol fleet for aerial surveillance, but more troops are clearing vegetation, serving as office clerks and making basic repairs to Border Patrol facilities.

Our wizards of smart have hollowed out our country and run it straight into the ditch

Fake economic boom: Industrial Production went negative in May 2018

Compared to the 1950s, this economy might as well be sleeping.

Maybe more to the point, when did Strzok and Page have any time to do any actual work for the FBI?

If there are 16 waking hours in the day, they were texting each other during them every 6.6 minutes for 17 months straight!

The FBI should ask for its money back.

The evil Robert Mueller has just separated Paul Manafort from his family

By sending him to jail.

Something about witness tampering.

You know, like Robert Mueller does every day with his inexhaustible supply of government money and time to intimidate, bully and bankrupt defenseless American citizens until they tell him what he wants to hear.

Reunite all the detained illegal aliens with their families

Back in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua . . ..

They have to go back.

Did Trump voters in 2016 vote for a huge corporate tax cut, war with North Korea, and a DACA amnesty?

I watched all the rallies and never heard about these things.

The enthusiasm was all for The Wall, a symbol of the out of control immigration problems facing the country, of which we haven't gotten one inch 19 months later. We could have had 2000 miles of razor-wire by now, but for that you'll need Hungarians apparently, not Americans.

The secondary enthusiasms were for jobs and an end to Obamacare, which have been half-heartedly addressed, not in the least because rank and file Republicans are about business as usual, i.e. keeping their jobs. We still have 16.1 million total unemployed in May 2018, and (unusable) privately purchased health insurance premiums going through the roof.

They don't give a damn about us or what we need, except at election time.

I'm voting in the primaries against incumbents where possible, and third party (but no libertarians) in the general. Otherwise it'll be for Mickey Mouse, Dopey and Goofy, but never again for these fools. The cartoon variety would be an improvement.

FBI's Page and Strzok never had time for sex: Texted each other 144.9 times every 24 hours for 17 months

Julius Malema wants white people dead, views China as model for South African communism

Istanbul-based TRT World reports here:

[H]e once said the EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters party] was not calling for the white genocide “yet.” ... “This inequality, which is growing, which the gap is widening and racially based – blacks becoming more poorer and whites becoming more richer is not sustainable,” Malema explained, warning it would lead to “loss of life”. “So I am saying to you, not under my leadership will we call for the slaughter of white people. I don't know who is coming after me, I will not speak for them.” Nevertheless, he is adamant about the racism that he says is still prevalent in South African society today. “They (white people) hate the idea of equality. That irritates them. That a monkey can never be equal to a white man,” he said. “White people are scared of equality. They don't want it because equality is a threat to privilege.” ...

Malema says China is still a “model” for nations that want to take up the socialist cause and that they are in the process of getting there. “They (the Chinese) have never abandoned the strategic vision and mission of the Communist Party.”

Ann Coulter: The rich are like sharks, all appetite and no brains

Here:

Trump thought North Korea was hard? With immigration, we have all of the most influential forces in our culture on the same page. Immigration is a great unifier of the rich and powerful. 

The rich are like sharks -- all appetite, no brain. With their cheap labor voting 7-3 for the Democrats, it won't be long until Democrats have a lock on government. What do you think they'll do then, Business Roundtable? Answer: Make it impossible to do business. Google "California." 

With the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the Koch brothers' incessant lobbying for more and more cheap labor, we see exactly what Lenin said about the capitalists: They will sell us the rope with which to hang them. 

The rich don't care. They can't think beyond next quarter's earnings. 

Mark Levin asks, Why after the IG report does FBI director Wray think the FBI needs to be trained to be unbiased?

Why indeed.

Here.

Inspector General's report reveals several FBI agents politically motivated to act vs. Trump in their official capacity

You can bet any documentary evidence was destroyed long ago by these foxes put in charge of guarding the hen house. The FBI rogues are laughing at this report.

From the story here:

The Justice Department inspector general has referred five FBI employees for investigation in connection with politically charged texts, revealing in its report on the Hillary Clinton email case that more bureau officials than previously thought were exchanging anti-Trump messages. ...

The report noted that it was specifically concerned about text messages exchanged between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that “potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations.” ...

[T]he IG report revealed a new one in which Strzok vowed to "stop" Trump from becoming president -- and made clear that as many as five total FBI employees exchanged politically charged messages. "The text messages and instant messages sent by these employees included statements of hostility toward then candidate Trump and statements of support for candidate Clinton," the report said. ...

The report did not, however, find ... "documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative decisions" ... “Nonetheless, these messages cast a cloud over the FBI’s handling of the Midyear investigation [MYE = FBI code for Midyear Exam, aka Hillary Clinton server investigation] and the investigation’s credibility.”

The boom goes bust: "Investment activity is grinding to a full stop for the first time in China's modern history"

Also, "weakest consumer spending since 2003".

And, 46 consecutive months of industrial production at or below 8%, "unprecedented for modern China".

Jeffrey Snider, here.

Australian snowflakes in Afghanistan see a Nazi flag, fear PTSD or something

"Additionally, steps were taken to reinforce education and training for all personnel who witnessed the flag." 

Obviously it was a false flag operation. The Aussies were just trying to have a little fun and convince the Taliban they were friendlies.

Laugh of the Day: Einstein wondered how the Chinese ever reproduced given the indistinguishability of the sexes

Talk about privilege.

Story here.

Canadians cancel vacations to America!

Fake news: Drudge contributes to the false boom narrative

Drudge links to a Zero Hedge story, which doesn't use the word "boom". But Zero Hedge doesn't get it right, either. It calls the May 0.8% monthly percentage "surge" in retail sales "the biggest since January 2017" absent the hurricane surge in September 2017. Not true: The actual 0.76% spike in May 2018 was bested by November 2017 at 0.79%. They both round to 0.8%.

But was the 0.8% significant? The only way to know is to look at what has happened in May in the past, and from that we conclude that May 2018 was obviously up but unremarkably so. We did better in May 2008 and 2009 for crying out loud, in the middle of a deep recession, which just proves it takes a while to get people's attention, even after you beat them in the head with a 2 X 4, multiple times.

The bottom line is retail is struggling over the long haul. The trend isn't up even a full half point after 18 years.

Expect Rush Limbaugh to trumpet the fake news nonetheless.