Links to important topics

I haven't posted much, but I have been saving some links to read and share.

• The Economist on how worried foreign leaders are about Trump. Yes, and some of it is already coming true. 
• Evidence (largely anecdotal) that FBI Director Comey's announcement of further investigation of Clinton's emails wasn't an important factor in her loss of the presidential election. 
• A New York Times article from 2015 about international uranium deals and donations to the Clinton Foundation. Optics are bad, but here is some corrective context. Still looks like the Clintons collected a lot for money from people involved in the deals.
• A political science explainer about the power play between White House advisers and cabinet secretaries. The prediction is for chaos, but the best part is the view based on historical observation. 
• More reports of incompetence/chaos.
• A news article about dissenters inside the new administration and their twitter feed. However, no group has vetted them. It could be a complete fake.  
• A call to the media to broil Trump for his lies or the lies of his staff. Another article explains how the lies, the abrupt announcements, etc., could all be a plan to tire out the opposition so they can't react when worse comes down the road. Speculative but plausible. 
• The root of one of the lies--Trump's childish response to reporting about the size of the crowd for his inauguration.
• A right-wing talking point that is such a lie. George Soros didn't bankroll the millions who marched the day after Trump's inauguration. Yet I here so many making this bogus claim. 

Image: pepperhawkfarm.wordpress.com

Punks everywhere

A few weeks ago, before Trump started his slide, he punked the national media by saying that he was going to make a statement about Obama's birth certificate. Media outlets gave him live coverage as he walked around his new Washington DC hotels and pointed out its wonderful features. Eventually he got to the statement where (naturally) he took credit for ended the controversy.

Then Trump was punked when someone sent three pages of his 1995 tax return to the New York Times, which revealed that Trump has nearly $1 billion loss and probably didn't have to pay federal income tax for 18 years (the moocher).

Then conservatives were punked when Julian Assange corrected their impression that he was going to provide an October surprise that would deeply wound Hillary. There actually was a release, which was a nothingburger ... unless you're under the impression that Hillary is usually extremely candid in all her speeches, avoiding all spin.

Then it was Trump's turn to be punked again, as his favorite journalist at the Washington Post received a video of Trump talking about going after women sexually, "Grab them by the pussy" may be the most famous words in this campaign. Trump had a very rocky weekend after that Friday news story. Even his VP choice, Mike Pence, announced that he was suspending his appearances.

However, NBC was also punked because they had copies of the video, but were letting the lawyers figure out how to handle it (according to the New York Times).

In lesser punk news, the Russian passed on some erroneous information supposedly showing Hillary ally Sidney Blumenthal did something that was just awful (if you're in the conservative media bubble) or inconsequential and hard to follow if you're a normal person. And though Donald didn't melt down during the second debate, he was still punked by Hillary who knows more and fabricates less than he does.

Not the only girl he touched

Image: thehollywoodgossip.com

Extras. Three options for the GOP after Trump loses. None are rosy. Report of some friction inside the Clinton foundation. Sounds like a soap opera. The Wall Street Journal complaining that Clinton has "no core" as though the core of Trump isn't a sewage pipe of epic proportions. Nothing new in their reporting, just as there's nothing unexpected in all the reports of Trump being a handsy lecher. Some conservative media is trying to make a lot about the internal comments about Catholicism being conservative and backward of gender relations (nothing new there either unless you are outraged that people have opinions). Politico on today's crop of charges of inappropriate touching by Trump--again no surprise. From Vox, a survey of conservative media.

Update 10/14/16. Via Sarah Posner, the NYT lawyer, in response of Trump's claim of being defamed, essentially says "You've made your own reputation as lecherous scum. There is no reputation to ruin."