New lyrics for Independence Day

 He's a cockadoodle dandy, bored on the fourth of July.

Might have been your last free one.

Happy Birthday, America

 

ICE now has the biggest budget of all other federal law enforcement agencies put together.  Their budget has just gone up from $3.5 billion to $48.5 billion, with $75 billion more to build concentration camps.

And, you will not speak ill of the regime...

The EPA says it has placed 144 staffers on administrative leave as it investigates the letter. It’s not entirely clear whether they will face further punishment after the probe.

[...]

In a letter made public on Monday, current and former EPA staffers said that the administration’s policies “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

[...]

“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said in a written statement.

  The Hill

 

Happy 4th

h/t Ron Filipkowski

Unwelcome

More than 100 treaty defenders and other protesters gathered on a highway leading to Mount Rushmore on Friday ahead of President Donald Trump’s speech at the monument.

[...]

At one point, Native women in ribbon skirts created a line across the highway, behind them members of NDN Collective, a nonprofit Native advocacy organization, parked white vans across the road and deflated the tires. Protesters later removed the wheels and climbed on top of the vans, shouting "Land back!"

[...]

Around 5 p.m. local time, law enforcement started telling defenders to vacate the area or face arrest, saying the blocking of traffic was an unlawful assembly. They directed them to head to a designated “free speech zone."

  Raw Story

My hackles go up every time I see that phrase. This is the fucking United States of America. The whole thing is supposed to be a free speech zone.

"We are renegotiating the free speech zone. We have reclaimed this road," said Nick Tilson, Oglala Lakota, of NDN Collective. "We don’t need them to give us permission to do this on our land; we intend to stay here indefinitely throughout the night."

[...]

Some people began to disperse but later returned, as the vans continued blocking the road. Law enforcement then brought in tow trucks to haul them away.

[...]

Some people began to disperse but later returned, as the vans continued blocking the road. Law enforcement then brought in tow trucks to haul them away.

After the vans were towed, a small group of treaty defenders continued blocking the highway, holding a large “#LandBack” banner.

At 7 p.m., police arrested them, using zipties to secure their hands behind their backs and leading them off the road. About 15 people were arrested.

[...]

The Black Hills are part of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and the country’s highest court ordered compensation in the millions of dollars to the Lakota for the illegal seizure of the Black Hills, an offer the Lakota have refused for decades. They instead want the Black Hills returned to tribal authority.

Ditto

Another desperate attempt to make Trump look presidential

Or maybe just to satisfy his need for attention and praise.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is working with the Trump administration on plans for a military flyover at Mount Rushmore during the president's visit to the national landmark July 3.

"We do anticipate there being a military flyover of some kind," said Ian Fury, communications director for Noem, Politico reported Wednesday.

[...]

Officials at the Pentagon have started discussions about the flyover, but haven't moved into the planning stage yet, a defense official told Politico.

"At this point it's just direction from the [White House] on what they want to do," the official said.

  The Hill

After all, he's going to need something more than a scaled-down Independence Day parade in DC to sustain his ego.

Trump said last month that he would attend the first fireworks display at the monument in 11 years after lifting environmental restrictions preventing such displays.

You read that right. There are environmental restrictions intended to preserve the national monuments. He doesn't give a shit. His image needs bolstering. He needs campaign ad material.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Russian journalists poke Trump's July 4 show

Journalists with Russian state-run media mocked the military hardware featured in President Trump’s “Salute to America” Fourth of July celebration earlier this week, with some joking about the quality of the equipment and others blasting the spectacle as something you would see under “Putin’s America.”

  The Hill

He'll have to take back what he said about Russian journalists being under Putin's thumb.  Or did Putin approve? After all, it was state-run media.

[The journalists claimed] the tanks and other armored vehicles being towed into Washington had “paint peeling off” and required “adhesive tape.”

[...]

She also claimed that “Americans are allowed to hold a parade because theirs is democratic, but we are not allowed because ours is chauvinistic” and implied that the condition of the tanks and other armored vehicles was less of a priority for Trump than “that the parade takes place with much fanfare.”

Earlier on Thursday, Skabayeva tweeted images of military vehicles being brought to Washington, writing “Putin’s America” beside an emoji crying from laughter.

For Russians, who are accustomed to annual nationwide displays of military might, Trump’s event on Thursday isn’t impressive, according to Michael Kofman, an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union at the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Each year on May 9 — the day Russia celebrates victory over the Nazis in World War II — grandiose parades are held in Moscow’s Red Square and across the nation. President Vladimir Putin watches from the bleachers facing the square, as the country shows off the Kremlin’s latest flashy military hardware.

  WaPo

Definitely a more appropriate time for a celebration of military might.

A much more forceful critique of U.S. policy toward Russia took place on July 4, as U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. held a lavish reception at his Moscow residence to celebrate American independence.

About 50 people gathered to protest U.S. sanctions outside the front gates. Their chants could be heard as Huntsman delivered his speech to a large crowd of taco- and burger-munching guests, lauding American values and “recognizing the rights of all voices, including those with dissenting opinions.”

The Trump Show: the speech, the message

I don't want to cut out any of this article by  David Frum at The Atlantic assessing the president's speech on the 4th of Jully.  Please just read it in its entirety.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Here's the Continental Army takeover of the airports clip

It's worse than in print.

Also, "Fort McHendry."

Jesus, what a maroon.

The Trump Show

Could he even see the crowd?

Rise and whine

Sure.  

And certainly no one from HIS family.

Oh, FFS.  He couldn't hear himself saying there were airports in 1775 and realize how absurd that was without being able to read a teleprompter???

His sons run it.  He knows.  

The irony of the Trump 4th of July Spectacular

What Trump could not have imagined when he scheduled today’s “Salute to America” is what it ended up emphasizing—not just deflecting focus from the triumph of America’s story of independence, but directing it toward the contradiction and tragedy of Donald Trump. No president in modern history has more often emphasized the virtues of our military's courage, honor and valor, and done less in his political or personal life to exhibit them. The selfless service that is at the heart of American heroism, either military or civilian, he has rejected in his approach to his family, community and politics.

Whatever motives the president had in making himself the center of attention on a day dedicated to the nation’s independence, the event became a testament—unintended, but evident to anyone there—to his isolation. When the president craves a crowd, or believes he needs one to demonstrate his popularity, he calls on America’s service members. Unless what he asks for is immoral or illegal, they have to answer.

  Politico

And he avoided service on a fake medical condition.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The morning after

Really, do I want to look?

It's mostly a litany of retweets of people praising Trump and remarking on the crowd size, along with some pictures.

And this:



Thanks for the reminder.

And this:

Trump's hair is so ridiculous even Dinesh D'Souza had to make it look normal.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

P.S.

Are they pretending it's not raining, or is the (presumed) bullet-proof glass dirty? Surely he'd be under an umbrella if it were raining to protect that ridiculous hair. Or...

According to the reports I'm readaing, His Lardship managed to get through his speech only going 15 minutes overtime and avoiding trashing Democrats.  Pretty good, little man.  But, he did have his moments of ad lib error in the Trump tradition:

Trump, speaking to a massive crowd during a rainstorm in Washington, D.C., spoke of the forces winning various battles against the British [in 1775].

"The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown,” Trump said while reading the teleprompter in the rain.

"Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket's red glare it had nothing but victory,” he continued. “And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant."

  The Hill

It took over the airports? In 1775.

The mistake led to the hashtag #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories trending on Twitter late Thursday night.

And a twofer:

Much, much more here.

Historians ⁠— at least the ones fact-checking the president on Twitter ⁠— were not impressed. One likened the speech to “an angry grandpa reading a fifth grader’s book report on American military history.”

[...]

“On this day, 243 years ago, our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to declare independence and defend our God-given rights.”

As most history undergrads could tell you, this isn’t quite true. The Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776. On July 4, they approved the final text of the declaration. They signed it with their John Hancocks on Aug. 2.

There were inaccuracies like this peppered throughout the speech ⁠— the president still seems to not know exactly who “Douglass, Frederick Douglass, the great Frederick Douglass” is ⁠— but Trump was especially befuddled when he described the creation of the U.S. Army.

[...]

"In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified army out of the revolutionary forces encamped around Boston and New York and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned the [unclear], it [unclear] the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do. And at Fort McHenry, under “the rockets red glare,” it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant."

[...]

[I]t’s clear the president was having some issues reading the teleprompter, which led to a number of errors. For example, British General Cornwallis was of London; he was defeated at Yorktown. The Continental Army wasn’t named after Washington; it’s possible Trump substituted “named” for a different verb in the text of the speech.

But that doesn’t explain the apparent conflation of two wars fought three decades apart. In the first part, Trump mentions Valley Forge, crossing the Delaware and Yorktown, all of which occurred during the Revolutionary War. Then he says, “And at Fort McHenry ...” and describes the battle in which the national anthem was written. This battle was fought in 1814 during the War of 1812.

  WaPo

Sad. His speech-writers are as ignorant as he is.

Then there’s the claim the Army — in either 1775 or 1814 or some time in between? — “took over the airports.”

[...]

Was it another ad-lib born of too-small teleprompter type? Who knows?

Inspired by the exhibition of French military strength he witnessed while attending Bastille Day in Paris in 2017, the Republican president turned the event into a celebration of the US military.

[...]

Trump's speech to the nation centred on the US's military strength, lavishing extensive praise on each branch of the military, touting the armed forces and their history as the example of strength and unity to which ordinary citizens should aspire to.

"There will be nothing that America cannot do" as long as Americans remain true to their history and "never stop fighting for a better future," said Trump. He also promised to plant the US flag on Mars.

  alJazeera

The US president’s unique interpretation of the declaration of independence was on full display on Thursday when he staged a militaristic, jingoistic and untraditional jamboree at the Lincoln memorial in Washington to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Trump did not fulfil his critics’ worst fears of a politically partisan, campaign-style rally with his “Salute to America” event. Indeed, in a rare plea for unity as he spoke beneath the statue of Abraham Lincoln, he told the crowd: “We are one people chasing one dream and one magnificent destiny. We all share the same heroes, the same home, the same heart, and we are all made by the same almighty God.”

  Guardian

No we don't share the same heroes or the same heart or the same dream.

Trump now has the world’s most fearsome arsenal at his disposal – and he showed it off.

He relished introducing F-22 Raptors and a B-2 stealth bomber that roared loudly over the Washington monument, the reflecting pool and the Lincoln memorial. The rain-soaked crowd whooped, clapped, waved hats in the air and chanted: “USA! USA!”

Sad.

The showman president, speaking behind rain-streaked bulletproof glass screens, grinned widely and declared: “Great country!”

There were several more flypasts in the cloudy sky by the plane known as Air Force One when the president is aboard, as well as army, navy, coast guard and Marine Corps aircraft and, climactically, six Blue Angel F-18s. The controversial event also included two Abrams tanks and two Bradley fighting vehicles.

What? They weren't grounded because of the weather like he claimed as an excuse not to go to Arlington in a drizzle?

In a speech that lasted 47 minutes, Trump laboured over a heroic version of American military history, telling stories not only of the revolutionary war that won independence from Britain but the civil war (“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”) and the second world war. He summoned military leaders to the podium, paid tribute to gold star families and at one point referenced his proposed space force.

The president sailed close to one of his campaign lines when he claimed, “our nation is stronger than it ever was before”, but otherwise swerved past party politics for once.

He'll be anxious to get back to throwing feces then, won't he?

UPDATE:

It's worse than in print.

Also, "Fort McHendry."

Jesus, what a maroon.

So is the Trump campaign going to pay for this shindig?

That sure looks like a campaign poster to me.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The Trump Show

So now it's not only a banana republic militaristic vanity show, but it's more or less private????










Oh, that's going to go over really well.



I don't think they paid.  If I'm not mistaken, the RNC gave away tickets to Republican donors and VIPs.  But the image is still the same.




It is indeed.



Yes, he told them to get there early.





I don't get it.


Sad.





(Around 4:00 pm, we got 2" in central Missouri in about 5 minutes, but the storm moved on quickly.)

LOL.

UPDATE:

Because JFK, Jr would run on a ticket with Donald Trump?  I still don't get it.