What Exactly Is a "Shithole Country"?

Today's episode of exploding heads has to do with Donald Trump labeling certain countries, "shithole countries".   So, what does that mean?

Donald Trump is a famously guileless person - he speaks his mind.  And the mind he speaks relies on the colorful patois of the common man.  Don Jr. accurately calls his dad a "blue collar billionaire".   

With that background, we can safely assume that the President was referring to countries where people routinely defecate in holes.  The only question remaining is, does that apply to Haiti and some African Countries?  

According to the World Bank, under 30% of Haitians have improved sanitation facilities.  It's worse in many African countries with some around 10% and only the highest hitting 30%.  Over 70% of these people actually shit in a hole!  

Meanwhile, 100% of the population in the U.S. has access to improved sanitation according to the same study.  Donald Trump's own sanitation is so improved it's apocryphally gold plated.  Is anyone surprised that a man imagined to sit on a golden toilet is concerned about an invasion of folks who poop in pits?  

So, what Donald Trump said is factually accurate.  It's provable.  It may be blunt, crude, and offensive to those who want to see racism everywhere, but it's undeniable.  It's science.   

If your head is still exploding, then you, my friend, are a science denier.    

Why Trump is, like, Really Smart...and You're Not.

Donald Trump did it once again - he made heads explode yesterday with an amazing trio of tweets wherein he defended his own mental stability and intelligence.  It was vintage Trump, right up there with his "big nuclear button" tweet about North Korea.

Since so many of you seem to be outraged by these tweets and Trump's other habits, I'd like to walk you through yesterday's outburst and explain the underlying strategy using Trump's own words.  You see, there is a method to his madness, and the longer you remain clueless about it, the higher your blood pressure is likely to get.  I'm just here to do a public service and save lives.  You're welcome. 

Here are the tweets in question:   

This tweetstorm raises several questions:

Why does he constantly attack the "fake news mainstream media" and the Russia investigation?
Why even dignify the Michael Wolff charges of mental instability and low intelligence?
Why does he constantly brag about his brilliance and achievements?
Why did he put the word "like" in there?
Why does he continue calling Hillary "Crooked Hillary"?
Why does he brag that he's "a very stable genius"?
And...Why does he not seem to care how being so boorish makes him look?

The thing is, Donald Trump explained all this in a series of books and interviews beginning about 30 years ago.  His tactics are far from secret.  Now, I'll grant that you are probably too busy or uninterested to be bothered reading stuff by someone you consider to be mentally inferior and crazy. That's why I'm here to help.  Here are the specific quotes relating to each of the tweets:

Tweet #1 is all about Trump fighting back:

"In most cases I'm very easy to get along with. I'm very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard."  (Trump, “Art of the Deal”, 1987)

“When someone crosses you, my advice is ‘Get even!’ That is not typical advice, but it is real-life advice. If you do not get even, you are just a schmuck! When people wrong you, go after those people, because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. I love getting even. I get screwed all the time. I go after people, and you know what? People do not play around with me as much as they do with others. They know that if they do, they are in for a big fight. Always get even. Go after people that go after you. Don’t let people push you around. Always fight back and always get even. It’s a jungle out there, filled with bullies of all kinds who will try to push you around. If you’re afraid to fight back people will think of you as a loser, a ‘schmuck!’ They will know they can get away with insulting you, disrespecting you, and taking advantage of you. Don’t let it happen! Always fight back and get even.” (Trump: Think Big, 2007)

“If someone attacks you, do not hesitate. Go for the jugular.” (Trump: Think Big, 2007)

“It makes me feel so good to hit 'sleazebags' back — much better than seeing a psychiatrist (which I never have!)" (Twitter, November 19, 2012)

This “attitude” of his to “fight back very hard”  and "get even" is why he has been so aggressive against the book by Michael Wolff that triggered the above tweets.  It's also why he continues pounding away at the "fake news media", Democrats, and the Russia investigation.  Attack his intelligence and mental stability and he will fight back.  He's been doing this his whole life and it has made him a billionaire, a TV star, and now the President of the United States.  You can criticize him all you want, but he has an undeniable record of success not allowing himself to be made a schmuck.  

Tweet #2 is just Trump playing y'all, and having fun doing it:  

"One thing I've learned about the press is that they're always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better...The point is that if you are a little different, a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you." - Donald Trump, “The Art of the Deal”, 1987

“And if it can’t be fun, what’s the point?” - Donald Trump, "The Art of the Deal", 1987

The big tell in this tweet is the addition of the word, "like", thrown right smack in the middle of a tweet attesting to his brilliance:

"...my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart."  

Nothing screams brilliance like using the word "like" like a valley girl!

The  above tweet is a vintage example of Trump playing the media.  He knows he's going to get coverage when he throws that word in that tweet.  He knows his haters are going to go ape-shit, and he knows those in on the joke are going to laugh and enjoy their popcorn while the clueless heads explode.

Donald Trump is a veteran media maestro. His very business model – branding his name – was achieved in large measure by being controversial and getting free media. For years, his tabloid antics kept his name in the spotlight, and the Trump name was emblazoned on every one of his projects.

His presidential bid used the same game plan. By being “sensational”, “different”, “outrageous”, “bold”, and “controversial” he managed to run a successful presidential race on a shoestring budget with almost no staff or ground-game. He played the media like a Stradivarius to get his name, face, and candidacy in the conversation every day. That’s why he started his bid with the ridiculous Obama birth certificate quest. It made news. Trump was being sensational and outrageous by design. Does he really think Mexico will pay for the wall? Does he really think we should have seized Iraq’s oil? All we know for sure is what he reveals in his own words, and that tells us he's playing the media for all it's worth.

By trolling the media in such a way, Trump has been able to provoke them into gross over-reactions that almost always backfire to his benefit.  Meanwhile he marches on with his agenda, leaving everyone else mired in a thick fog of #covfefe.  Granted, Trump has tweaked the media so often that nearly 100% of his coverage is negative at this point.  But that doesn’t seem to concern him (see below).  Remember, he won the election under the exact same circumstances.  His voters are in on the joke and don't care that he plays the media, as long as the results continue to roll in.  

Tweet #3 is Trump doing what he does best: promote, promote, promote, shamelessly and constantly.  That, and espouse his own positive self-image:   

“My father taught me everything I know. And he would understand what I’m about to say,” Mr. Trump announced to the room. “I’m developing a great building on Riverside Boulevard called Trump Place. It’s a wonderful project.” - Donald Trump at his father's wake

 "You can't con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don't deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on." - Donald Trump, “Art of the Deal”, 1987

Donald Trump is constantly promoting, and likes to "throw in a little hyperbole”. We are not used to politicians doing this in such a brazen way. Our parents raised us to be humble and discreet. Not Donald Trump. He is shameless and deliberate. He knows what he's doing. Why else would he tout his own genius and mental stability? Can he really singlehandedly Make America Great Again? Will he really be the best jobs President "God ever created"? Does he really think America’s going to win so much we are going to be "tired of winning"? All we know is that he knows he has to eventually “deliver the goods”.

And he has. He won the nomination, the Presidency, and just broke all kinds of records for a President's first year.  And he did that in the face of overwhelming opposition from the political establishment, the deep state, the media, academia, and the entertainment world.  He has over-achieved by every single measure of a rank amateur in presidential politics. 

“You always, when the service was over, you said, ‘I’d have sat there for another hour,’” Mr. Trump recalled. “There aren’t too many people like that. It wasn’t the speaking ability, it was the thought process.”- Donald Trump on Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Minister at Marble Collegiate Church

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale is an often overlooked piece of the Donald Trump puzzle. Beginning as a teenager, and continuing for decades, the Trumps attended The Marble Collegiate Church, which was led by Dr. Peale, author of the bestselling book, "The Power of Positive Thinking".

The power of positive thinking, according to Peale, was that if you you could train your thought process to focus on positive visions of yourself, your abilities, your prospects, your achievements, etc., you could go as far as you wanted to go in life. Nothing could stop you as long as you held firm to this positive picture.

Typical Peale quotes are: "Change your thoughts and you change your world." "There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment." "If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind."

You can hear echoes of Peale in every aspect of Trump's oversized positive image of himself, his abilities, and his accomplishments. It's hard to deny Peale's power, though, when so many of those accomplishments are real.

Tweets 1, 2, and 3 together are explained by Trumps belief that any publicity is good publicity:  

“Good publicity is preferable to bad, but from a bottom-line perspective, bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all. Controversy, in short, sells.” - Donald Trump, "The Art of the Deal", 1987

How many times have you heard critics get exasperated by Trump's ability to step on his own good headlines?  Finally he'll have some positive news about the economy, or ISIS, or some such thing, and what does he do?  He tweets something petty and obnoxious about some celebrity like Rosie O'Donnell.  Bam!  Gone are the positive reports about job growth, and instead there's a story about his stupid tweet about something meaningless.  Why does he always do that?

He knows he's never going to be covered fairly by the media - no Republican ever has.  So instead, he's decided to take control of the narrative, and the only thing he knows for sure is that "controversy sells".

_________________________

So you see, Donald Trump is not an idiot, and he's not crazy.  He's following a strategy he developed over a lifetime of living and winning in a high stakes world. The fact that you don't understand what he's up to is more a reflection of your ignorance than of his.   

Trump is a Fascist!*

A fascist is a follower of a political philosophy characterized by authoritarian views and a strong central government — and no tolerance for opposing opinions.  

vocabulary.com

*The big news in marijuana legalization is that the Trump administration is rolling back the Obama rules that paved the way for states to legalize pot within their own borders.  This has been met with screams of "Fascist!", "Dictator!", "Tyrant!", etc.

There's only one problem with this criticism, it's about as intelligent as Jeff Spicoli.

You see, according to existing federal law, marijuana is illegal.  Since federal law supersedes state law when they overlap, and in this case they do, it is up to congress to make marijuana legal or stay mute on the subject.  And they should.  But instead of leading congress to do that the constitutional way, Barack Obama acted as an authoritarian and single-handedly re-wrote the federal statute to allow states to supersede federal law.

This was not bowing to states rights.  It was the authoritarian intervention of a strong central government run by a single man - in other words, a fascist.

So no, Donald Trump is not the fascist here.  Barack Obama was.  Now congress will have to act to undo marijuana illelegality from a federal standpoint.  That will then leave it up to the states to decide for themselves what they want to do within their own borders, thus properly restoring state's rights on this issue.     

Trump is an Idiot!*

*According to Michael Wolff, the author of the upcoming Trump expose "Fire and Fury", detractors within Trump's own White House referred to him as an "idiot"...and worse.  

Funny, I seem to remember every single Republican in my lifetime being portrayed the exact same way.  Even Mitt Romney was an idiot who abused puppies, had binders full of women, and was compared to Hitler.  

In fact, this precedes modern times and goes all the way back to the original Republican, the first "idiot" who ever tried to pry an entitlement from the fist of a Democrat:

        

[UPDATE]

Here's something I didn't know about Steve Bannon, the key source in Michael Wolff's book - he was anti-growth!  Apparently he was the one who wanted to RAISE the top marginal income tax rate, he supported a WEAK dollar, and he wanted to RAISE tariffs.   I say, vaya con dios, Steve Bannon.

Bannon’s peculiar notions of populism were essentially anti-growth. He believed higher taxes, ultra-protectionism, and a cheap dollar would help the middle class. Supply-siders like me know these policies only damage the economy, with the middle and lower classes suffering the most.   

From Larry Kudlow, one of the architects behind the tax reforms just passed, who connects the stock market jump this week to Bannon's demise. 

Trump's First Year...

Trump's 1st year:

Record year for stocks
Tax cuts, including corp. rate, passsed
Record low unemployment for Blacks and Hispanics
GDP growth from private sector highest in a decade
Regulations actually being reduced 22 for every new 1
ISIS kicked out of Syria and Iraq
U.S. embassy moving to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel
Obamacare mandate gone
Freed the internet from gov't mandated "net neutrality"
Record appointments to the federal courts
Neil Gorsuch on the SCOTUS
North Korea and Iran no longer being coddled
Ended Obama's war on business
Passed VA reform
Rebuilding the DOD
Fired Omarosa.  Again.
Ended Obama's war on conservative Americans
No more corruption and politicization in every branch of government
Power being returned to the States and the People
Illegal immigration down significantly
Corruption at FBI and DOJ exposed
Travel ban instituted from un-vet-able countries
Chain and lottery migration about to be ended
Introduced the term "Covfefe"
America is respected once again by our enemies and competitors
Standing up to the jackals at the UN
And much, much, more...

...Including the Left's heads exploding.  Every. Single. Day!

And he did all that while fighting off a concerted coup d'etat by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the entire Democrat party, the FBI, DOJ, CIA, the pop media, and just about every deep state bureaucrat in the federal government.  So far he has been winning, armed with nothing more than a Twitter account, a Diet Coke habit, and a pair of gold plated cajones. 

And while the goal is to Make America Great Again for the people, in order to do that Trump has had to undo eight years of Obama which was making America weaker, poorer, and less respected around the world.  Here's how that's been going: 

Double Standard - Number 20 Trillion

(For some reason the number 20 trillion rings a bell, but never mind...)

Today's double standard has to do with how the politicization of Robert Mueller's team is being dealt with.

In addition to the obvious conflicts of interest like what's been revealed in the Stzrok/Page emails, or the Ohrs connections to Fusion/Steele, or the conspiracy hatched by FBI/DOJ for "insurance" against Trump winning, or Mueller's right hand man attending Hillary's "victory" party,  tens of thousands of dollars were donated to Democrats and Hillary by Mueller's team!  In fact, 100% of the money given to presidential campaigns went to Hillary's.  0% went to Trump.  What are the odds of that happening randomly?  If money talks, what is it saying about this so-called independent investigation?

So what is the response by the Left now that we know Robert Mueller has assembled a team of Hillary supporting / Trump hating Democrats to investigate everything Trump?  Answer:  "Hey, everyone has political opinions, but that doesn't mean they can't do their job!"   

Remember the name Stanley McChrystal?  Barack Obama was famous for never firing anybody, no matter how incompetent as long as they were of the Left, but that didn't apply to General Stanley McChrystal.  He ran Obama's Afghanistan war and got fired when Rolling Stone attributed some negative comments about the administration to him.  Bam!  A stellar military career was cut short overnight for expressing opposing political beliefs.

The Left applauded this action.  Meanwhile, they spent this past weekend warning that any move against Mueller and his politicized team would lead to them taking to the streets.  The hypocrisy is breathtaking. 

In general (no pun intended), all government personnel who are not Leftists are held to a "zero tolerance" standard, while Leftists are held to an "infinite tolerance" standard.

The exemplary General David Patreus was forced to resign as Obama's CIA Director over a minor case of mishandling classified information.  Hillary Clinton, who was scheduled to be the Commander in Chief was given a pass for far worse.  Chelsea Manning and Bowe Bergdahl did incalculable damage to U.S. national security, yet both essentially got wrist slaps.  Michael Flynn, after decades of exemplary military service has had his life destroyed over a fraction of what every single member of the Hillary Clinton team was guilty of in spades.

The list goes on, and on, and on...

Those who oppose totalitarian Leftism are told to just accept the double standards and keep a stiff upper lip.  Move along.  And they wonder how a scrapper like Trump got elected!     

           

What Is Net Neutrality, Really?

[UPDATE]

FCC repeals Obama's net neutrality.  The Left goes apoplectic!      

[2nd UPDATE]

And from the FCC Chairman himself!:  

(NOTE:  The original link went bad most likely due to mischief by snowflakes at a content carrier trolling the FCC Chairman.  Incidentally, conservative content has been blocked continuously and routinely while "net neutrality" rules were in effect.  Prager University and others have lawsuits meandering through the courts as we speak for such actions.  Net neutrality has nothing to do with free speech like this.  Private companies run by leftists have been keeping conservative content from viewers all along, will continue to do so, will continue to be sued, and will lose based on existing public accommodation laws.)  

#MeToo = #GetTrump [Bumped & Updated]

As of today, four Democrat Senators have called for the resignation of Donald Trump over sexual allegations.  Is that not rich?  Has the party that made heroes out of murderer Ted Kennedy and rapist Bill Clinton suddenly discovered that character matters?  I wouldn't bet on it.  This is just more hypocritical politics from the party that makes everything, and I do mean everything, political and hypocritical.

It was obvious where this was going from the start, which is why I wrote the following before Al Franken "resigned"...


What's up with this sudden tsunami of sexual allegations? For answers we need to look at what causes tsunamis.  Tsunamis are usually caused by earthquakes, so to understand them we first have to find a seismic event.

Consider how the #MeToo thing got started:  The Weinstein case was the catalyst,  but it wasn't Harvey Weinstein who got the ball rolling, it was The New York Times who broke the story.  Why did the leftist Grey Lady suddenly publish the Weinstein story when they'd been sitting on it for an entire decade?

Similarly, Matt Lauer was another case everyone knew about for over a decade, yet it took leftist Vanity Fair to finally blow the lid off that story in 2017.

If you go back to any one of the now 30 or so prominent outings since the #MeToo movement started, you'll find many of them trace back to traditionally leftist media outlets who all sat on these stories for years.

Why would such stalwarts as The NYT, Vanity Fair, Time, NBC, CBS, CNN, WaPo, MSNBC, ABC, etc. suddenly pirouette and begin publishing sexual assault stories about members of their own power structure?

The answer, and the earthquake, was the election of Donald J Trump.

Much to the left's chagrin, Donald Trump was elected despite his own exposure on sexual predator charges.  It wasn't supposed to happen that way.  Gloria Allred teed-up a handful of female clients who came forward with salacious stories about Donald Trump.  Add to that, NBC thought they had a magic bullet with their Access Hollywood tape.  You remember, the one where Trump said women just let him "grab them by the pussy" because he's famous?  But instead of killing Trump, the bullets just bounced off!

Donald Trump taught the left that they can no longer hypocritically ignore the misdeeds of Clinton, Kennedy, countless others, and their allies in media and entertainment, and then credibly go after Donald Trump on lesser more dubious charges.  They also can't  credibly ask for Roy Moore's head and then allow Conyers, Franken, Menendez, et al to continue serving.

This is why the #MeToo movement is happening now.  After decades of blatant leftist hypocrisy, this tsunami is an attempt to wash away enough sins to "credibly" go after Donald Trump in 2020.

Plan "A" has always been to scream, "Russia, Russia, Russia!", get an independent counsel, and then  use it to impeach Trump.  But if that doesn't work, Plan "B" is to hang Trump on his alleged sexual predator past.  Only time will tell if either strategy works.       
  

Roy Moore and Reasonable Doubt

By now everyone knows the allegations against Roy Moore.  What they may not know is that he, like just about everyone in public life,  is more than what the media is telling you.  While I have no personal experiences with Roy Moore, it turns out a friend of mine does.  Bill Staehle served with Roy Moore in Vietnam and wrote the following letter (he also masterfully introduced him last night at his rally in Alabama - see below). 

Bill is as solid a guy as you've ever seen.  So while I am as concerned as anyone by the allegations against Roy Moore, I have the utmost confidence in Bill's credibility and judgement.
  

(Here's the link to the original letter in YellowHammer News)  

I served with Roy Moore in Vietnam in 1971-72, where I knew him to be an altogether honorable, decent, respectable, and patriotic commander and soldier. I have had no contact with him since. 

He and I were captains and company commanders in the 504th Military Police Battalion, stationed at the base camp called Camp Land, just west of Danang. 

I knew him well in my first four months in-country before I was re-assigned within the battalion to another location. During that time, I grew to admire him. 

I am Bill Staehle, residing in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I am an attorney, practicing law continuously for 42-years. I began my career as an assistant United States attorney, and for the past 32 years, I have been the managing trial lawyer for the staff counsel office of a major insurance company. 

Allow me to relate to you one experience involving Roy that impressed me. 

While in Vietnam, there came a time when another officer invited Roy and me to go with him into town after duty hours for a couple of beers. That officer had just returned from an assignment in Quang Tri Province north of Danang, and we were interested to learn of his experiences. 

I had not met him before, and I don’t believe Roy had either. On other occasions with other officers, we would go to the officers’ club at the air force base, but on this occasion, he told us he knew of another place in town. 

When we arrived at the place and went inside, it was clear to Roy and me that he had taken us to a brothel. That officer appeared to know people there, as he was greeted by one or two young women in provocative attire. 

The place was plush. There were other American servicemen there. Alcohol was being served. There were plenty of very attractive young women clearly eager for an intimate time. 

In less time than it took any of the women to approach us, Roy turned to me and said words to this effect, “We shouldn’t be here. I am leaving.” 

We told the officer who had brought us that we wanted to leave. He told us to take his jeep and that he could get a ride back later, which he did. Roy and I drove back to camp together. 

That evening, if I didn’t know it before, I knew then that with Roy Moore I was in the company of a man of great self-control, discipline, honor, and integrity. While there were other actions by Roy that reinforced my belief in him, that was the most telling. 

I reject what are obvious, politically motivated allegations against Roy of inappropriate dating behavior. What I saw, felt and knew about him in Vietnam stands in stark contrast to those allegations. 

I sincerely doubt that Roy’s character had changed fundamentally and dramatically in a few short years later. He deserves, in my view, to be heard on the issues that are important to the people of Alabama and our country. 

Roy was a soldier for whom I was willing to put my life on the line in Vietnam if the occasion ever arose. Fortunately, it did not. 

I was prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him then, and I am proud to stand by Roy now.
— William E. Staehle, Asbury Park, New Jersey

Obviously, Bill is not in a position to judge Roy Moore's entire life. All he knows is what he saw of Roy Moore for a brief time in Vietnam. And what he saw appeared to be a man of character in a setting known to test character.

Alabama voters should know this side of the man as they prepare to judge him at the polls.

[UPDATE]  Here's Bill introducing Roy Moore last night:

Is This Black Woman Crazy?

First of all, she's a woman!  Second of all, she's black!  How can she say these things?



(Maybe she's seen this, or this, or this, or this?  Just sayin'.. ;-)