Freak Out Friday – May 18, 2017

Remember the old days where weeks could go by and you wouldn’t hear about the President saying or doing something insulting or stupid? I miss those days.

Now you may think that you know Trump is dumb.

1). How dumb is he? Well, Bill Gates was actually able to describe it recently in citing several of Trump’s huge idiocies. For one thing, it turned out that Trump did not know the difference between H.I.V. and H.P.V. He had no idea that the former is an S.T.D. that is the gateway to A.I.D.s, and the latter results in genital warts and sometimes cervical cancer. Furthermore, he floated past Bill Gates the prospect of opening up a government study of whether vaccinations are responsible for autism, a claim that was initially launched by a single idiot “doctor” which was thoroughly debunked by medical experts.

Remember when presidents were smart? Even fictional ones: Josiah Bartlett was proud of his intelligence and never failed to show it off at any opportunity. Could you imagine Trump engaging in a trivia-off with anyone?

2). Gutting Planned Parenthood Again. The Senate still refuses to accept the simple fact that Planned Parenthood does not use government money for abortions. They tried to cut all government funding for PP with this year’s budget and failed, mostly thanks to Democrats taking a hard line against it. Well, Trump may well have found a way to accomplish what the Senate could not. He wants to resuscitate a Reagan-era rule that prohibits abortions from being performed at any organization that received government funding. Not only that, but Planned Parenthood would not be able to counsel any woman who has an unwanted pregnancy, nor would they be allowed to provide referrals to someone who could provide abortion. This will severely limit the opportunities that women–especially low-income women–will have to receive any manner of useful counseling.

I’d say “incredible” but it’s really not. That’s the problem with Trump. Every day he is doing something that will hurt the most helpless people, and we’re starting to become inured to it.

3). I am not an animal! Remember how Hitler and his people referred to Jews as “animals.” Remember when slave owners felt their slaves weren’t human? Well, Trump picked up on that same dehumanizing description of his favor group to hate, Immigrants. He sat there and declared that people coming into the country are “animals.” His exact words. We know he’s a bigot, we know he’s a racist, but it’s just astounding to hear him quote the sentiments of Nazis and slave owners.

4). When is he going to realize he’s being an idiot? I have never heard of a president who is so utterly at war with his own intelligence agencies. Recently he declared, without a shred of proof, that the FBI had placed spies into his election campaign “for political purposes.” That claim is right up there with his baseless assertions that Obama eavesdropped on things that were said at Trump Tower. I mean, I know the old saying that just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that people AREN’T out to get you, but this is insane. And we are forced to only one conclusion: Trump knows all the šhìŧ that he’s been involved with and is certain that people are spying him while he’s doing it. These are not the claims and actions of an innocent man.

5). Yeah, we weren’t expecting that. . Trump’s shot at winning the Nobel Prize is rapidly deteriorating as Kim Jong un now claims that the supposed meeting won’t be happening because the US and South Korea are engaged in military tests. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but what ELSE did they think Kim would do? Why should he give up his attempts to make nuclear weapons if he believes that he might be attacked by South Korea and the US? Plus he can’t stand John Bolton. Who could blame him? No right thinking person can stand John Bolton.

Did he do anything right? Nope.

PAD

39 comments on “Freak Out Friday – May 18, 2017

  1. As to #4, this is the same man who only eats at fast food restaurants because he is convinced that people are going to poison him if they know he is coming to eat there. He is utterly paranoid and cut off from reality.

  2. Ronald Reagan once joked in front of an accidentally open microphone, “I have just signed legislation that outlaws the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

    Trump has no sense of humor, so I live in fear of the day when he makes exactly the same declaration about North Korea, or even Russia. And we can be dámņëd sure that he would KNOW that microphone was hot.

  3. “The Senate still refuses to accept the simple fact that Planned Parenthood does not use government money for abortions.”
    >
    You smoke cigarettes but your mother wishes you wouldn’t. For your birthday she gives you 20 dollars but makes you promise that you won’t use the money to buy cigarettes. Naturally you agree not to use that 20 dollars for cigarettes. But now you have 20 extra dollars to put toward food or anything else which frees up 20 dollars for cigarettes.
    .
    The pretense that Planned Parenthood doesn’t use government money to pay for abortions is an obvious lie yet abortion proponents continue to repeat it as if they don’t understand the definition of fungible.

    1. Wow. Thats such a hugely stupid statement that I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t bother. I will just let it sit there and stew in its own idiocy.
      .
      PAD

      1. I presume you do know the definition of fungible, so please, indulge me. Explain why it is stupid.

    2. By the same logic, my tax money goes to the murder of unarmed Gazans. And in this case, “Mom” doesn’t even bother to wish you wouldn’t.
      .
      So why does everyone care about one, but not the other?

      1. So why does everyone care about one, but not the other?
        .
        Clearly not everyone does care about one or else Planned Parenthood would have already been defunded. Planned Parenthood’s annual report lists their assets at 1.8 billion dollars and their profits at 1.3 billion dollars. Why should they get government money?

    3. By that “logic”, taxpayer money couldn’t be spent on anything anywhere. Because some path of connections could be made to tie whatever it was spent on to making it more possible for someone somewhere to spend money on something you don’t like.
      .
      Gov’t buys fighter jets from Lockheed? Means Lockhead can hire more people. Means those people have more income. Means they now have money beyond what they need for basic necessities and can afford to donate to Planned Parenthood and other groups providing services to people you don’t like.
      .
      So, I guess we’d better cut the military budget to zero. After all, “fungible”, right?

      1. Means they now have money beyond what they need for basic necessities and can afford to donate to Planned Parenthood and other groups providing services to people you don’t like.
        .
        Private individuals can contribute their money to any organization they want. That is their money not the government’s.
        .
        So, I guess we’d better cut the military budget to zero. After all, “fungible”, right?
        .
        Uhh.. you guys have heard of the Hyde Amendment right? It prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions. That’s the whole reason Planned Parenthood insists they don’t use their government subsidy for abortions. But money that supports expenses allows money to be used elsewhere. Yes; fungible, reciprocal, exchangeable, equivalent. As along as Planned Parenthood performs abortions and receives government money, that money supports abortion.

      2. George, your screeds remind me of Humpty Dumpty:

        When I use a word, it means what I mean it to mean – nothing more and nothing less.

        Of course, I pay them extra if I make them work overtime

        I REALLY hope you’re paying “logic” a lot of overtime.

    4. I hope we can all agree money from taxpayers to a church to build a building or pay a pastor to preach would violate the establishment clause.

      So any government funding for “faith based incenitives” such as schools, day care centers, soup kitchens etc actually go to pay the pastor to preach.

      Churches use the exact same accounting to say funds to them do not violate the establishment clause.

      1. From Wikipedia:
        “The Supreme Court first considered the question of financial assistance to religious organizations in Bradfield v. Roberts (1899). The federal government had funded a hospital operated by a Roman Catholic institution. In that case, the Court ruled that the funding was to a secular organization—the hospital—and was therefore permissible.”

        The establishment clause prohibits the government from forming a religion or showing preference to established religions. Planned Parenthood is in obvious violation of the Hyde Amendment. It is completely different.

    5. The NRA violated the law and used Russian funds to support the Trump campaign.
      .
      Of course, they say they didn’t. The NRA claimed that the funds they took from Russian sources was a small percentage of their total donations taken in, and the money they donated to the Trump campaign was less than the total donations they received even minus the inclusion of the Russian donations.
      .
      It’s funny that conservatives can totally go along with the NRA’s claim of the Russian donations never going to illegal or improper political uses because they used other NRA money for that, but they refuse to acknowledge that Planned Parenthood receives funding from multiple sources and earmarks any federal funds for only things not related to abortions. The NRA’s hands are clean because, oh, look, they have other funding that they used exclusively for Trump donations and Russian donations never made it into the overall funds. but Planned Parenthood? If they got so much as a dollar in federal funds, that dollar had to go to abortions because Wednesday or something.
      .
      As I said over on Facebook when the NRA/Russian funds story first broke, I have no issue with them claiming what they claimed. Businesses and nonprofits earmark funding all the time. Hëll, universities take giant donations from some people that are earmarked for computer equipment and programming instruction or for things like art supplies and art classes. It’s funny how when someone like Bill Gates donates money to a school to be earmarked for computer and programming classes, conservatives don’t condemn him for funding basket weaving classes at the same school. It’s funny how they can separate the idea of where funding does and does not go whenever they want to.
      .
      I’m willing to give the NRA a pass because how they chose to explain what they did with the various donations is pretty much what Planned Parenthood does to keep donations and federal funds separate. I said as much back then on Facebook. Of course, I also predicted that the various conservatives who were giving the NRA a pass would continue to pretend they didn’t see how Planned Parenthood could earmark and keep such things separated.
      .
      And so the standard conservative mental gymnastics and hypocrisy 101 continues…

      1. Jerry,
        .
        If you are expecting me to disagree with you, I don’t. You are far more willing to give the NRA a pass than I am. The NRA should not use foreign donations for campaign contributions, which is to say, they shouldn’t take foreign donations at all because money is fungible.
        .
        While I am posting, how much foreign money are we talking about? Is it a half a billion dollars a year every year? That’s what PP gets.

      2. You do know the number you cite includes Medicaid reimbursements and similar items, right?
        .
        Beyond that, it’s somewhat irrelevant. It’s not their total budget, they do keep the budget well divided, and the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related. But conservatives have got to have their boogeyman to gin up the fake outrage with.

      3. and the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related.
        .
        The is the standard line that abortion proponent always quote. It is not true. cThe Planned Parenthood corporation is the largest single supplier of abortions in the country, responsible for 34.9%; approximately one abortion every 97 seconds. They perform only 0.97% of the PAP tests and just 1.8% of the nation’s breast exams. They claim that abortion is only 3% of their business but that figure is arrived at by weighing every service, (described as “a discrete clinical interaction,” in their annual report), with a patient equally. If a woman goes to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, she gets a pregnancy test, an abortion, a STI test and contraceptives. They count that as four services, even though abortion was the only service she went there for.
        .
        This explains it succinctly.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgqxvaV-8U

      4. No, George, it’s a fact. And… Wow… Your proof of your claim is a video by frequently debunked fraudsters and liars Live Action?
        .
        🙂 Big lol.
        .
        Hey, George, I have some seaside property Nevada for you that you are just going to love.

      5. Here you go. Granted, you have no credibility at this point so there’s little need to keep going with you, but since this actually references the laughable video you cited and linked to…
        ..
        ……………..
        ..
        “When we asked Duffy for details, spokesman Mark Bednar cited a video that an anti-abortion group released in January 2017 asserting, in short, that few Planned Parenthood facilities offer prenatal care. (Planned Parenthood, which has about 650 health centers across the country, including 21 in Wisconsin, disputes the video’s conclusions.)”
        ……………..
        “Bednar also provided estimates of Planned Parenthood’s U.S. market share for abortions and how much money the group makes by performing abortions.
        .
        “Calculating abortions
        .
        “At the outset, we note that Planned Parenthood provides a wide variety of health services, not just abortions, according to the group’s 2014-2015 annual report, the most recent one available.
        .
        “Those other services include contraception, hormone therapy, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy tests, cancer screenings and prevention procedures, as well as smoking cessation assistance.
        .
        “To fully evaluate Duffy’s claim, though, we need to get a sense of the relative frequency of the abortions Planned Parenthood provides and how it compares to other services, and there are different ways of measuring that.
        .
        “Planned Parenthood performed nearly 324,000 abortions in the 12-month period between October 2013 and September 2014, according to the group’s annual report.
        .
        “That’s out of a total 9.4 million services provided to patients in the same time period, including:
        .
        — 4.2 million tests and treatment procedures for sexually transmitted infections;
        — 2.9 million contraception services;
        — 1.1 million pregnancy tests;
        — 682,000 cancer screening and prevention procedures;
        — 95,800 other health-related services;
        — 17,400 prenatal services.
        .
        “The upshot is that abortions accounted for about 3 percent of all Planned Parenthood’s procedures and services, the annual report states.
        .
        “Critics and some observers have questioned whether the 3 percent figure accurately reflects the proportion of abortion services at Planned Parenthood centers.
        .
        “That’s because the calculation used to arrive at the number doesn’t distinguish between types of services, their cost or complexity. In other words, one abortion is counted the same as providing a contraceptive or pregnancy test.
        .
        “But there is a second, perhaps more objective way of assessing Duffy’s claim: look at patients.
        .
        “Planned Parenthood had about 2.5 million patients in the 12-month period covered in its annual report, from October 2013 to September 2014. About 13 percent of patients had abortions in that time frame, according to Elizabeth Clark, director of health media for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
        .
        “Put another way: 87 percent of patients visited Planned Parenthood for non-abortion needs.”
        .
        http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/feb/24/sean-duffy/sean-duffys-base-claim-about-planned-parenthood-an/
        ..
        ……………..
        ..
        So, again, in the fact based real world, the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related. Sorry to bust your Live Action bubble, but it is what it is.
        .
        Time to join the reality based community, George.

      6. That line should read…
        .
        “… but since this actually references the the makers of thelaughable video you cited and linked to…

      7. I have to wonder if you actually watched that video you so cavalierly dismiss. All those points in your post are addressed. In fact, those “discrete clinical interaction(s)”, (as referenced in PP’s own annual report), that are given the same weight as an abortion is the metric that allows them to claim a 3% abortion rate. Far from refuting the video’s points, Politifact only substantiates the veracity of the video. Did you even read your linked article? They list all the services, regardless of how simple or easily available at a drugstore, with the same gravitas as an abortion. That is exactly what the Live Action video does and Politifact admits that. At the end of the article they fall back on the “Federal money generally can’t be used for abortions,’ canard, which the definition of fungible, discredits.
        .
        As the video shows, even liberal outlets like Slate and the Washington Post find that 3% claim misleading.

      8. Oh, wait, did I waste my time with the video as soon as the often debunked and completely disreputable Live Action name showed up? No.
        .
        Your credibility continues to take hits here as well. mostly because you’re making stuff up to argue against and pretending your point has any meaning.
        .
        My Comment- “… and the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related.”
        .
        Your Comment- “The is the standard line that abortion proponent always quote. It is not true. cThe Planned Parenthood corporation is the largest single supplier of abortions in the country, responsible for 34.9%; approximately one abortion every 97 seconds. They perform only 0.97% of the PAP tests and just 1.8% of the nation’s breast exams. They claim that abortion is only 3% of their business but that figure is arrived at by weighing every service…”
        .
        My Comment- “So, again, in the fact based real world, the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related.”
        .
        Your Comment- “As the video shows, even liberal outlets like Slate and the Washington Post find that 3% claim misleading.”
        .
        Do you see why your responses are a joke here? I never said 3%. You keep inserting that so you can pretend to refute my statement that “the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related.”
        .
        But it doesn’t no matter how many times you pretend that’s what I actually said and repeat it.
        .
        As the article I linked to put it.
        .
        “But there is a second, perhaps more objective way of assessing Duffy’s claim: look at patients.
        .
        “Planned Parenthood had about 2.5 million patients in the 12-month period covered in its annual report, from October 2013 to September 2014. About 13 percent of patients had abortions in that time frame, according to Elizabeth Clark, director of health media for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
        .
        “Put another way: 87 percent of patients visited Planned Parenthood for non-abortion needs.”
        .
        87 percent of the women who go to Planned Parenthood go for non-abortion needs. Abortions accounted for about 3 percent of all Planned Parenthood’s procedures and services going by standard medical accounting, but even consolidating other services related to abortion with each individual abortion, the majority of their services are are not related to abortion.
        .
        Again, “… and the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related.”

      9. Oh, wait, did I waste my time with the video as soon as the often debunked and completely disreputable Live Action name showed up? No.

        And you think I have no credibility?! I actually read the Politifact article. And just because you claim an organization is debunked doesn’t mean it is.

      10. “And just because you claim an organization is debunked doesn’t mean it is.”
        .
        Yeah… And you probably still think James O’Keefe is totally legit and honest.
        .
        Noticed you ducked the issue of you substituting what I actually said with what you wanted me to say (3%) so you could argue against that and still manage to get it wrong.

      11. It’s PP that insists on the 3% figure. It’s all over their social media. If you know that is not true why don’t you take it up with them?

      12. I responded last night but for some reason my comment is “awaiting moderation”.
        .
        Nevertheless, in the Politifact article that is intended to refute the Live Action claims of the paucity of other medical procedures at Planned Parenthood, that is not even addressed. They claim 13% of their patients got abortions while admitting those are self-reported figures from their affiliates.
        .
        Yet the 3% figure you say I am fixated on is all over PP’s social media and annual report as well as touted by news reports. If you know that is a lie, why don’t you take it up with them?

      13. Just for the record, I have no idea why your comment was held for moderation. For some reason, all of mine are, too. It’s a pain in the ášš.
        .
        PAD

      14. “Yet the 3% figure you say I am fixated on is all over PP’s social media and annual report as well as touted by news reports. If you know that is a lie, why don’t you take it up with them?”
        .
        Two reasons I feel no need to take it up with them.
        .
        1- It’s not a lie, it’s an accounting trick. It’s actually a fairly common one.
        .
        And…
        .
        2- They’re not the one that tried to inject the 3% claim into this to try to pretend they were right. That was you. But, despite your best efforts to argue a poit that I never made while ignoring what I actually said and backed with a source that has infinitely more credibility than a sham organization like Live Action, the fact remains that the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related.
        .
        But you keep burbling on about that 3% figure. It’s just telling everyone who reads this that you actually know the majority of the services they provide are not abortion related but have nothing but blarney and bûllšhìŧ to play smoke and mirrors with.
        .
        2.5 million patients in the 12-month period
        13 percent of patients had abortions in that time frame
        .
        Even if you change the accounting method of services rendered to link all other services given connected to an abortion to those women, you still end up with a huge minority of their services being abortion related.
        .
        We stand ready to welcome you to the reality based community, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a long wait.

      15. 13% of 2,500,0000 is 325,000, That’s a lot of abortions. The Planned Parenthood corporation performs more abortions than any other company. PP claims only 3% of their business is abortions. You are a bit more honest. admitting it is 13%. Actually that 325,000 number is actually a little bigger than the statistics in the video you didn’t watch. But it still averages out to one abortion every 97 seconds. You really should watch the video. What are you afraid of?
        .
        Yet you claim abortion is a “huge minority of their services” but that is only because among the services they count are simple things like a pregnancy test or contraceptives which a woman could get at a drugstore. PP is not necessary for that. But very intensive procedures like breast exams or PAP test are woefully missing from their clinics. They do less the 1% of PAP tests and less than 2% of breast exams. They are an abortion corporation. I have quoted these facts earlier but you do not seem to acknowledge them claiming instead that my credibility is lacking.
        .
        There are 665 Planned Parenthood locations. There 13,540 comprehensive health care clinics, 20 for every 1 PP. That half a billions dollars a year could go toward clinics that are more readily available and actually have breast exam machines.
        .
        And Live Action is not a sham organization regardless of your baseless claims.
        https://www.liveaction.org/who-we-are/

      16. “And Live Action is not a sham organization regardless of your baseless claims.”
        .
        And I’m sure you still believe in the Easter Bunny.

      17. Wow. Thats such a hugely stupid statement that I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t bother. I will just let it sit there and stew in its own idiocy.

  4. …but it’s just astounding to hear him quote the sentiments of Nazis and slave owners

    .
    Quoting Inigo Montoya seems appropriate here.

  5. You do know he was responding to a question regarding MS13? I’m sure you know. I guess you are going to defend Nancy Pelosi and claim that no humans should be described using metaphors that can also be attributed to other creatures of the Animal Kingdom.

    He was right to describe MS13 as such. You can disagree, but don’t act like the callous killing of people caught in the crosshairs of this gang is because of some legitimate reaction against racism.

    1. No, he called immigrants animals and only later on claimed he only meant that gang to cover his ášš. We all know what he meant. This is the same creep who stoops so low as to mock disabled people and insult gold star families and denigrate war heroes.

      To believe for even a second that he meant to limit his comments to a gang and not the whole is, at this point, willful ignorance.

      1. No, he was responding to a question about MS13 specifically, he didn’t need to claim anything “later on” because anyone literate can watch the actual video and recognize the chain of events. But continue with your temper tantrums as the blue wave becomes a puddle 🙂

    2. If there is one thing that we have learned, it’s that Trump wanders off point very readily. Whatever he may have started with, I’m quite sure that he was broadening his definitions to apply to everyone, just as he did when he originally said that immigrants were rapists, drug dealers and murderers…although SOME of them were ok. Didn’t specify; maybe we let in some nice Nazis.

      1. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

        Goes for Trump and Peter alike…

        As for point #4
        a) err, JFK. You may enjoy https://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Ashes-History-Tim-Weiner/dp/0307389006
        b) Except that they did spy on him. I remember when Democrats used to think wiretapping domestic political opponents was a bad thing.
        Apparently not anymore.

        https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/crossfire-hurricane-new-york-times-report-buries-lede/

      2. Wow, Mords, anyone reading the story at your National Review link could easily come away from the experience being dumber than when they started.
        .
        Hay, here’s a novel idea. Instead of reading a conservative spin piece on what they wished the facts said, read the actual article.
        .
        https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/crossfire-hurricane-trump-russia-fbi-mueller-investigation.html
        .
        Most of the supposed spying on Trump the National Review trumpets in their spin piece actually involved guys like Papadopoulos. You remember him, right? George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser on President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials.
        .
        From the NYTimes article-
        .
        “Their assignment, which has not been previously reported, was to meet the Australian ambassador, who had evidence that one of Donald J. Trump’s advisers knew in advance about Russian election meddling. After tense deliberations between Washington and Canberra, top Australian officials broke with diplomatic protocol and allowed the ambassador, Alexander Downer, to sit for an F.B.I. interview to describe his meeting with the campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos.”
        .
        Here’s another bit from it.
        .
        “The F.B.I. investigated four unidentified Trump campaign aides in those early months, congressional investigators revealed in February. The four men were Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Mr. Papadopoulos, current and former officials said. Each was scrutinized because of his obvious or suspected Russian ties.”
        .
        So, basically, old news and not what the NR or you are trying to spin it as.
        .
        But, hey, leave it to Trumpster Trash cultists to keep pushing the propaganda they like over the facts of reality…

    3. Not to insult your intelligence or anything, but you are wrong. He was not answering a question. This is part of the transcript by the WH of the event in question:

      SHERIFF MIMS: Thank you. There could be an MS-13 member I know about — if they don’t reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it.

      THE PRESIDENT: We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them — but we’re taking people out of the country. You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals. And we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It’s crazy.

      He was not responding to a question. Was he talking specifically about MS13 or all immigrants when he said what he said? Well, due to his inability to carry a coherent sentence, to not ramble off the track all the time, I would say he was talking about both.

  6. Can’t replay anymore, since the thread grew past me. But:
    .
    “Planned Parenthood’s annual report lists their assets at 1.8 billion dollars and their profits at 1.3 billion dollars. Why should they get government money?”
    .
    That’s your argument? Really? Not a moral calculus, but a literal bottom line? You might be better off simply arguing “No Taxes, period” than muddying the waters by trying to make it about abortion. Because that is just cold. Inhuman, even.

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