Do you need more big news?

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday announced that he will resign due to poor health.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Abe, 65, said that he had been struggling with his health since mid-July and that he’s ready to leave his position to a successor as soon as his party chooses one in the next month.

"My poor health should not lead to wrong political decisions," he said. "As I'm no longer able to meet the expectation of the mandate of the people of Japan, I have decided that I should not stay in the position as prime minister anymore. So I have decided to step down."

[...]

The Japanese leader has for years battled ulcerative colitis, a chronic bowel condition. He also stepped down as prime minister in 2007 after just a year in office before getting the condition under control. He returned to office in 2012.

  The Hill

Impeach this asshole

Trump is not a president.  He's a two-bit, third world dictator wannabe.

Trump was feted at two big-money fundraisers — first a lunch for 60 hosted by real estate guru Stephen Ross, whose company owns Equinox and Soul Cycle. Then Trump talked for an hour to a crowd of 500 at the sprawling Bridgehampton home of developer Joe Farrell. The two events raised a total of $12 million.

After Equinox members revolted over Ross’ fundraising for the president, with many threatening to cancel memberships, Trump said he had joked with Ross about how divided the nation is.

[...]

“Steve Ross got into a little bit of trouble this week, I said, ‘Steve welcome to the world of politics!’ ”

Of his fundraising visit, Trump went on to say, “I love coming to the Hamptons, I know the Hamptons well, everyone here votes for me but they won’t admit it.”

[...]

Trump told a story of going as a boy to collect rent checks with his father, adding, “It was easier to get a billion dollars from South Korea than to get $114.13 from a rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn, and believe me, those 13 cents were very important.”

[...]

"Don Jr. is my gun expert, he knows more about guns than anyone I know.”

Turning to the tragic events of this past week Trump said, to applause, “We need meaningful background checks. It is time.

“I spoke to Lindsay Graham on the way over in the car, I spoke to Nancy Pelosi, I called her, she called me, I talked to Chuck Schumer . . . we are all in agreement about this. It is time for meaningful background checks.”

  NY Post

He almost admitted he reached out to Pelosi. So he had to add that she called him. In other words - returned his call.

Trump also made fun of US allies South Korea, Japan and the European Union — mimicking Japanese and Korean accents — and talked about his love of dictators Kim Jong Un and the current ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Talking about South Korea, Trump said it makes great TVs and has a thriving economy, “So why are we paying for their defense. They’ve got to pay.” He then mimicked the accent of the leader Moon Jae-in while describing how he caved in to Trump’s tough negotiations.

[...]

“I just got a beautiful letter from [Kim Jong Un] this week. We are friends. People say he only smiles when he sees me.

They're not complimenting either of you, idiot.

“If I hadn’t been elected president we would be in a big fat juicy war with North Korea. “

Turning to Japan, Trump then put on a fake Japanese accent to recount his conversations with Shinzo Abe over their conversations over trade tariffs.

Just disgusting.

Trump spoke about his friendship with Abe and how fascinated he was with Abe’s father, who had been a kamikaze pilot. Trump asked Abe if the kamikaze pilots were drunk or on drugs. Abe said no, they just loved their country. Trump remarked, “Imagine they get in a plane with a half a tank of gas and fly into steel ships just for the love of their country!”

I guess no one offered to fit him up with a plane and a half tank of gas.

And he couldn’t resist a real estate joke or two. Noting that the very house the event was at is currently on the market for $39 million, Trump joked to Farrell, “What would you rather have, Joe, this beautiful house for $40 million or the White House for free?”

Are you sure that's a joke about real estate?

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

UPDATE:

So....apparently Shinzo Abe DID nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize

Jesus.  But it should be no surprise. Trump has no shame.  Flashback:

According to the Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, who's done some of the best reporting this election, the Association to Benefit Children, a charity, held a 1996 ribbon-cutting at a nursery school serving children with AIDS in Manhattan. Bigwigs who had donated a lot of money, like then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former mayor David Dinkins, and Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford were in attendance. But there was another dude who showed up—despite not being a major donor. Guess who.

"Nobody knew he was coming," another donor in attendance told the Washington Post. "There's this kind of ruckus at the door, and I don't know what was going on, and in comes Donald Trump. [He] just gets up on the podium and sits down."

According to the charity's executive director, Donald Trump had never given a single dollar to the charity or the nursery school. But you know who did? The dude whose seat was stolen by Trump.

Steven Fisher, a developer, had reportedly given a lot to the charity to build the nursery school. While the people sitting around Trump were concerned about him just showing up and jacking the Fisher's seat, the ceremony had already started and there wasn't much they could do by that point.

As photographers took pictures, a children's choir sang "This Little Light of Mine," all while Trump sat nearby, looking like he was actually an honored donor. Trump even did the Macarena with some of the children and stars onstage.

After the event though, Trump left without explaining his uninvited attendance—and he reportedly exited without even donating anything either.

  Complex

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

Trump-Abe Press Conferece

Notes from Daniel Dale Twitter.

Abe praises Trump's tax cuts, says they have allowed Japanese investors in the US to be "gaining momentum."

That ought to sit well with Trump supporters.

Trump on the state of affairs with regard to North Korea: "It's a historic moment, and possibly beyond that, if it works out properly."

Beyond history?

Trump gives the first question to the New York Times's @MarkLandler.

New game plan?

Unprompted, Trump heaps praise upon China's Xi, says Xi has done for the Trump-era US more than what any other Chinese leader has done for any other US administration.

??

Trump on the Kim meeting: "If I think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we're not going to go. If the meeting when I'm there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting...I like always remaining flexible."

Nobody is more flexible, believe me.

Trump falsely claims again that Moon said "the Olympics would have been a total failure" if not for Trump. Moon did not go nearly that far.

Again with the Olympics.

Trump's accounting of the state of the U.S. solar industry is fantastically inaccurate. In like five different ways.

Most notably, Trump keeps wrongly claiming that two solar companies were near-dead and are now, thanks to his tariffs, building 7-plus plants. One of these two is still bankrupt and not doing anything; one is merely hiring 200 people at its one plant.

Trump boasts that African-American and Hispanic unemployment are at the lowest level "in the history of our country." That's likely not true - it's at the lowest level since the government started separately reporting that data in the 1970s.

Was there a theme to this presser? Other than the usual, "Ain't I wonderful?" theme of everything Trump does?

Trump gives a second question to a legit outlet! The excellent @JenniferJJacobs asks him if he's decided against removing Mueller and Rosenstein. Trump: "There was no collusion, and that's been so found..."

[...]

Trump's final non-answer on Mueller and Rosenstein: "They've been saying I'm going to get rid of them for the last three months. Four months, five months. And they're still here. So we want to get the investigation over with."

I think that's what everybody's concerned about.

Trump falsely claims trade deficit with Japan is "anywhere from $69 billion to $100 billion."

It's $69 billion if you only count goods trade. Including services, the net deficit is $56 billion. There are no numbers under which it's even close to $100 billion.

AT least he's talking about Japan.

Trump says nobody has been tougher on Russia than he has been: "There has been nobody tougher than me.

So he keeps saying.

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

He Must Be Exhausted

Let's take these in the order they were tweeted.

"Just arrived in Taormina"

(With FLOTUS Melania - He always adds her name when he mentions FLOTUS. Either as a memory aid or as a distinction from FLOTUS Ivanka - I don't know which.)

That was, as you can see, 13 hours ago.

Why Taormina?

Despite the town’s temporary transformation into a police state in paradise for the Group of 7 summit meeting attended by Mr. Trump and other world leaders, Taormina’s postcard panoramas, its exaggerated Epcot Italian-ness and its reputation as the sun-drenched pleasure dome for reality TV stars, aging playboys and affluent Russians remain intact.

  NT

"Aging playboys and affluent Rissans."

It is a spot that is both exclusive and a little hokey, where those with jet-setter schedules, gilded tastes and an appreciation for luxury, models and discretion come together.

"Luxury, models, and discretion."

[Dino Papale, a 69-year-old Sicilian lawyer] was quoted at length in the local paper, La Sicilia, [just days after the November election] recounting that Mr. Trump had visited Taormina at his invitation in June 2013 and secretly stayed for three days at the Atlantis Bay Hotel.

In an interview in his rose-scented courtyard filled with Greek, Roman and Bronze Age sculptures, Mr. Papale insisted that “Trump was never here,” blaming the paper for inventing the story.

But at other points he was less definitive, saying: “It could be that it happened, because everything can be true, right? I don’t remember”; “If a friend says, ‘I’m coming to Taormina but no one can know,’ what do you do?”; and, most mischievously, “Taormina is a very discreet place” where “Americans and Russians often meet.”

Dino will be getting a visit from some American alphabet types, if he hasn't already seen them.

Here's Dino in his palazzo in Taormino:

"Just arrived in Italy" - 1 hour ago.

I'm not sure he knows where he is.  Did he take a little jaunt from Taormino (Siciliy) into Italy?  He says he "just arrived".  The G7 summit is being held in Taormino.  His tweet labels Taormina in Italy:

If we're including Sicily in Italy, then his second tweet makes even less sense.

Perhaps he's just exhausted.*

"We saved the USA many billions of dollars and millions of jobs." The biggest and the best. It may be a lie, but the numbers are the biggest. Millions of jobs. Billions of dollars. Funny, I haven't seen any information on either of those things. They must be secret.

"Gettin ready to engage G7 leaders"

Unfortunately, he already "engaged" them in Brussels at the NATO meeting, and it didn't sit well. Japan is the only country not represented in NATO, and we've seen how he "engaged" with Japan's PM.

 

He doesn't mention that climate change, refugees and free trade are on the agenda.

Can't wait to see the tweets when he gets back home.

*After a major faux pas in a speech on the third day of his trip in Saudi Arabia, his spokesfolks said it was because he was "just an exhausted guy."

Remember these moments of the campaign...

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

Beating the War Drums and Rattling the Sabers

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reiterated that pressure, not only dialogue, is necessary in dealing with North Korea's missile and nuclear threat.

Abe, speaking to a parliamentary session Monday following North Korea's massive military parade and botched missile launch, said: "Needless to say, diplomatic effort is important to maintain peace. But dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless."

  AP

For as long as I can remember, North Korea has been having massive military parades and conducting missile trials (some successful). Has the actual threat to Japan increased lately? And if so, why is that? Could it have anything to do with the United States' new president?

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says the "era of strategic patience is over" with North Korea, expressing impatience with the unwillingness of the North Korean regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

[...]

He says there was a "period of patience" over the years but "the era of strategic patience is over." He says the Trump administration hopes their clarity will be received in North Korea, adding the U.S. and its allies will achieve its objectives through "peaceable means or ultimately by whatever means are necessary" to protect South Korea and stabilize the region.

Perhaps we - and by we I mean the Trump administration - will give them a day or two and then bomb them, like we did with Syria and Afghanistan. We are not a patient people.

Remember when people were saying not to worry about Trump, because he had level headed Mike Pence for balance?

I think I see Pence's problem. His nostrils have collapsed. He's not getting enough oxygen.

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

National Security?

How about International Security?

The iceberg wedge salads, dripping with blue cheese dressing, had just been served on the terrace of Mar-a-Lago Saturday when the call to President Donald Trump came in: North Korea had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile, its first challenge to international rules since Trump was sworn in three weeks ago.

[...]

Sitting alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom he'd spent most of the day golfing, Trump took the call on a mobile phone at his table, which was set squarely in the middle of the private club's dining area.

As Mar-a-Lago's wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe's evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN.

[...]

National security analysts have identified [North Korea's] nuclear program as one of the imminent threats facing Trump as he begins his tenure in the White House.

  CNN

Two fools with nukes.

Even as a flurry of advisers and translators descended upon the table carrying papers and phones for their bosses to consult, dinner itself proceeded apace. Waiters cleared the wedge salads and brought along the main course as Trump and Abe continued consulting with aides.

[...]

Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and chief strategist Steve Bannon left their seats to huddle closer to Trump as documents were produced and phone calls were placed to officials in Washington and Tokyo.

The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents.

Perhaps a move to an acutally private location within the "Winter Whitehouse" might have been in order? Or am I picking nits?

Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon are his National Security Advisers in this moment.  How secure are you feeling?

They eventually adjourned to the ballroom to make a joint statement on the nuclear launch.

Standing in front of an American and Japanese flag, a stern-faced Abe called the launch "absolutely intolerable," and insisted North Korea adhere to United Nations Security Council resolutions barring it from testing of ballistic missiles.

And then Trump:

"I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%."

[...]

He declined to read from a set of prepared remarks, which photographers captured images of, that were resting on his podium.

[...]

Trump left the impromptu briefing room without taking questions, having delivered the first emergency foreign policy statement of his presidency.

And what a statement it was. We're behind Japan 100%. That will go down in history as one of the all-time great speeches from a sitting president, I have no doubt.

I wonder what else photographers got shots of.  Not to mention, diners and staff.  How about the ability of spies (not limited to the NSA) to access those phones that were being used as flashlights? There is a fortune to be made off this idiot's ineptitude with foreign powers willing to pay well.

But even as he confronted one of the gravest matters of his office, Trump nonetheless found it impossible to resist dropping in on a nearby wedding reception, already underway in his treasured Grand Ballroom.

[...]

Entering the ornate room, Trump took a photo with the bride and her bridesmaids, who posed in red gowns next to the commander in chief, mimicking his signature thumbs-up.

Then he grabbed a microphone.

"I saw them out on the lawn today," Trump said of the bride and groom, who were standing nearby. "I said to the Prime Minister of Japan, I said, 'C'mon Shinzo, let's go over and say hello.' "

"They've been members of this club for a long time," Trump said of the newlyweds. "They've paid me a fortune."

Jesus wept. And probably Abe, too.

   

(h/t Jean)

Membership fees at Mar-a-Lago are going to double again, aren't they?

Foreign spies will be willing to triple.  Or just get wait staff jobs.

[T]he club was hiring foreign workers this winter as cooks, waiters, waitresses and housekeepers, at between $10.17 and $12.74 an hour, according to the Palm Beach Post.

  Guardian

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

UPDATE:

DeAgazio also posted a picture of a Marine that he called "Rick," claiming that he carries the nuclear "football," the briefcase-sized device that allows the president to order nuclear strikes.

  The Hill

Jesus Christ.

Somebody doesn't seem worried.