Kevin's home of interesting stuff: July 2017

Monday 31 July 2017

As Senate Moves Forward on Sanctions, Trump Says He May Scrap Iran Nuclear Deal in September

The Daily Sheeple:

President Trump, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last Thursday, said he expects Iran to be non-compliant with the terms of the JCPOA nuclear deal by next September, despite his admission that the Islamic Republic has not violated the deal to date.

“We’ve been extremely nice to them in saying they were compliant,” Trump told the Journal. “Personally, I have great respect for my people, but if it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago,” adding “We’ll talk about the subject in 90 days but I would be surprised if they were in compliance.”

Will Europe Restrict African Migration?

The American Conservative:

At a G20 summit press conference in Hamburg on July 8, French President Emmanuel Macron answered a call for an African “Marshall Plan” from a Cote d’Ivoire journalist. Macron’s stern, clear-eyed rebuff to was startling, as he dismissed the idea with some disdain: “We among the West have been discussing such Marshall plans for Africa for many years and have in fact given many such plans already. So if it were so simple, it would have been fixed already.”

He went on: “The challenge of Africa, is totally different, much deeper, it is civilization today.” He cited failed states trafficking in drugs, weapons, humans, and cultural property, Islamic terrorism, and said for a kicker: “when countries have still today 7 to 8 children per woman, you can decide to spend billions of euros, you stabilize nothing.”

Macron touched the third rail. He drew immediate, international censure for his antiquated views, insulting Africa, and white European supremacism. Macron is France’s new roi soleil. How could this happen—the Atlantic beau monde asked itself in horror—this horrible, unthinkable gaffe? Finally, in Foreign Policy Remi Adekoya posed the question, “Is It Racist to Say Africa Has ‘Civilizational’ Problems?”

AmRen Diary Part II

One of the things that is not appreciated, at least I have not full appreciated it, is just how lonely it is to think about the stuff we think about on this side of the intellectual universe. By that I mean, much of what is discussed here, for example, is never discussed at your office or your church or at social gatherings. When we can discuss this stuff with fellow travelers, it is in hushed tones and care is taken to make sure no one is listening in on the conversation. It’s the cost of having so much of reality made off limits to discussion.

That’s probably the biggest value of events like AmRen and why our side needs to start cultivating Jacobin clubs, so the like minded can do this locally. It is refreshing to be able to sit at dinner with other people interested in the same material, going back and forth on something like black crime, without having to constantly look over your shoulder. At lunch on Saturday, Audacious Epigone pointed out that this is the only place on earth where we could have the sort of conversations we were having about social science data.

NYPD Posted the Most Pathetic Drug Bust Ever — and the Internet Is Having a Field Day

The Daily Sheeple:

After almost fifty years of the war on drugs, Americans are increasingly skeptical. But police officers around the country continue to dig their heels into enforcing the archaic policy.

Case in point: Over the weekend, NYPD officers made a low-level drug bust of cannabis and several vape cartridges, as well as a smattering of small baggies filled with white powder. The officers boasted about their achievement on Twitter, claiming they had taken down a Latin King Crew gang member and removed the “poison” from their community. In the photo, they also displayed $100, made up of a few twenties, tens, and fives.

The Scaling Debate and Hard Fork Highlight Several Key Differences Between Bitcoin and Gold

Liberty Blitzkrieg:

You know stuff’s going down when I write two posts in a row about Bitcoin, something which almost never happens anymore. In Friday’s piece, Is the Bitcoin Civil War Over? Here’s How I’m Thinking About Bitcoin Cash, I discussed a potential strategy that “big blockers” might attempt to execute should the 2x part of Segwit2x not happen later this year. Today, I want to discuss how the entire episode has actually served to highlight one of Bitcoin’s (and cryptos in general) huge competitive advantages in the realm of monetary-type assets, but also examine why gold is still important.

There’s been a lot of FUD written at length about the whole scaling debate, in addition to the fair observation that network splits cause confusion and can be bad for the Bitcoin “brand.” As I mentioned in Friday’s piece, I don’t see this being the case with Bitcoin Cash (BCC), since I don’t think there will be any real debate about which one is Bitcoin and which is an alt-coin. Interestingly enough, although the nastiness of the scaling debate has left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, it’s also highlighted one of Bitcoin’s greatest strengths.

Earlier today I came across a tweet from an account I had never seen before, but it was simply genius in its poignant simplicity.

People Keep Telling Me to Stop Blogging about...

Scott Adams' Blog:

My critics have been extra vocal lately in saying I should stop writing about North Korea because I have no expertise in that area. So I decided to talk about North Korea some more. Today I’ll tell you how to end North Korea’s nuclear ambitions at a reasonable cost.

The entire GDP for North Korea is under $13 billion. China’s trade with North Korea is valued at under $3 billion per year. An article in Newsweek recently said most of that trade involves only ten Chinese companies. South Korea pays close to $1 billion per year to support U.S. troops there. I think we pay at least that much too. And that’s not counting navy assets in the area, I assume.

Getting The Troops in Line: All White House Staff Will Report to General John Kelly

Town Hall - Katie Pavlich:

Speaking from the briefing room Monday afternoon, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed all White House staff will report to newly minted Chief-of-Staff General John Kelly.

"General Kelly has the full authority to operate inside the White House and all staff will report to him," Sanders said. "General Kelly has full authority to carry out business as he sees fit."

"General Kelly will bring new structure to the White House and discipline, strength and we're all really excited to work with him," she continued.

Deputies Who 'Sadistically' Tased Restrained Teen While Laughing Slapped With Lawsuit

The Daily Sheeple:

Officers in a Tennessee jail repeatedly pressed a Taser to an 18-year-old’s flesh and pulled the trigger at least four times, as, for nearly a full minute total, he writhed in agony — completely immobile in leg, arm, and head restraints attached to a restrictive chair — and ‘wanting to die’; yet the torturers-in-uniform did nothing but laugh.

“I’ll keep on doing that until I run out of batteries,” one sadistic cop coolly told the teen, as overheard in video of the abuse.

Washington Pushes Harder Against Russia

Paul Craig Roberts:

Some historians believe that the cause of WW2 was UK prime minister Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler’s recovery of German territory given to other countries via the Versailles Treaty in contravention of US President Woodrow Wilson’s promise to Germany that there would be no reparations and no loss of territory if Germany agreed to an armistance ending WW1.

I do not agree. The facts seem clear. The cause of WW2 was the gratuitous and unenforceable guarantee to the Polish military government given by Chamberlain that if Poland refused to hand German lands and populations back to Germany, Great Britain would be there to support Poland. When Germany and the Soviet Union made the deal to split Poland between them and attacked, Britain due to its stupid “guarantee” declared war on Germany, but not on the Soviet Union. As France was aligned by treaty with Britain, France, too, had to declare war. Because of the reign of propaganda in the West, hardly anyone knows this, but WW2 was started by the British and French declaration of war on Germany. Yet, it was the surviving members of the German regime who were put on trial by the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in Nuremberg for initiating aggressive war.

Sanctions, smoke and mirrors from a kindergarten on LSD

The Vineyard of the Saker:

The latest US sanctions and the Russian retaliatory response have resulted in a torrent of speculations in the official media and the blogosphere – everybody is trying to make sense of a situation which appears to make no sense at all. Why in the world would the US Senate adopt new sanctions against Russia when Russia has done absolutely nothing to provoke such a vote? Except for Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders, every single US Senator voted in favor of these sanctions. Why?! This is even more baffling when you consider that the single biggest effect of these sanctions will be to trigger a rift, and possibly even counter-sanctions, between the US and the EU. What is absolutely clear is that these sanctions will have exactly zero effect on Russia and I don’t think anybody is seriously expecting the Russians to change anything at all in their policies. And yet, every Senator except Paul and Sanders voted for this. Does that make any sense to you?

Let’s try to figure out what is going on here.

J.K. Rowling Still Hasn't Deleted Tweet Saying Trump Snubbed a Disabled Child

Town Hall - Christine Rousselle:

Author J.K. Rowling has still not corrected an inaccurate tweet that she said depicted President Donald Trump snubbing a child with a disability. Last week, Rowling quoted a now-deleted tweet of a video that showed Trump seemingly ignoring a small child in a wheelchair. That tweet had been retweeted thousands of times before the actual video was uncovered.

In a series of tweets, Rowling called Trump a "monster of narcissism" who treats people with contempt. She said the clip "touched her raw" because her mother used a wheelchair.

Forbes Says Self-Reliant Homesteaders Are “Delusional” and “Mooching” Off “Civil Society”

The Daily Sheeple:

It’s always interesting reading when someone smug and sanctimonious writes a clueless diatribe about another group of people being smug and sanctimonious. So when I saw that an economist for Moody’s and Forbes had written an op-ed calling self-reliant homesteaders “delusional,” I knew I’d be in for some misinformed hilarity.

The article, entitled, “Dear Homesteaders, Self-Reliance Is a Delusion” was published a couple of days ago on the Forbes website. You’ll be forewarned that the article won’t be deep in the first paragraph, when the author presents his claim to knowledge about self-reliant living comes from the fact that he is “a big fan of shows about doomsday preppers, homesteaders, survivalists, generally people who live off the grid.”

And the well-informed opinion of this arbiter of self-reliance?

The Textalyzer

EP autos - Libertarian Car Talk:

Yes, really.

They are working on a gadget that can tell the polizei whether you’ve been texting while driving.

For your saaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety – as depressingly always.

An Israeli company called Cellebrite – which sounds like the latest “ask your doctor about” pill to cure your ills – has ginned up this altogether different pill. Real-time and probable cause-free dragnet monitoring of people’s cell phone use and driving, so as to roust people who dare to ignore no-texting-while-driving statutes.

What is the worst product ever marketed?

Cassandra's Legacy:

Greens often exaggerate in inviting people to save energy and be happier by staying in the dark and eating insects. However, it is also true that sometimes wastefulness goes a few notches higher and becomes truly a scandal. It is the case of the ordinary disposable lighter. Bic alone produces almost a billion lighters per year and has produced some 20 billions of them in the past 30 years. The whole world production is probably of a few billion per year. A good example of a successful product, but is it a good product?

The disposable lighter is surely practical but also, if you think about it, a very bad deal. It contains some 5 cc of butane, that you pay, typically, more than $1. That means around $200 per liter, or $800/gallon. You wouldn't be happy to pay that kind of money when you refill the tank of your car. And, being powered by a fossil fuel, butane, every time you light up one you add some CO2 to the atmosphere, some of which will stay there for tens of thousands of years.

Cont....

PICK YOUR POISON

Via Western Rifle Shooters

Narratives Are Not Truths

Kunstler:

The polity is a social organism, of course, meaning that it adds up to more than the sum of its parts, a body of politics, if you will, just as each of us adds up to more than just our bodies. It’s alive as we are alive. We have needs. We have intentions in the service of those needs. Those intentions animate us and turn us in one direction or another to stay alive, and even more than that, to thrive.

The American polity is not thriving. It has been incrementally failing to meet its needs for quite a while now, playing games with itself to pretend that it is okay while its institutional organs and economic operations decay. It turns this way and that way ever more desperately, over-steering like a drunk on the highway. It is drunk on the untruths it tells itself in the service of playing games to avoid meeting its real needs. Narratives are not truths.

Here is a primary question we might ask ourselves: do we want to live in a healthy society? Do we want to thrive? If so, what are the narratives standing in the way of turning us in the direction?

Despite appearances, the idea of social progress is a myth

The Independent:

The world cannot countenance the idea that human progress might be at an end or even have stalled.

The belief that advances in science, technology as well as social and political systems can provide continuous improvement in human life is perhaps the most important idea in Western civilisation. Yet attempts to measure actual progress are curiously vague. In January 2016, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi dispensed with practicalities arguing that “Europe cannot just be a grey technical debate about constraints, but must again be a great dream”.

Thomas Carlyle’s 19th-century analysis of England provides a useful benchmark for assessing human achievements.

Iceland Could Be About To Experience A Major Volcanic Eruption

SHTFplan:

Iceland’s largest volcano, Katla, was just moved to yellow status. But that isn’t all that’s concerning. There have also been over 500 earthquakes in Iceland in the last four days.

Experts now believe that a volcanic eruption that could be quite large, may soon occur in Iceland. A series of 40 small earthquakes occurred just North East of Mount Fagradalsfjall two days ago, with the final one felt in Reykjavik, measuring at almost 4 on the Richter scale. Following tremors at Katla in South Iceland and a glacial river flood in Múlakvísl, the Icelandic Met Office has raised the status of the famous volcano on its “Aviation Colour Code Map for Icelandic Volcanic Systems” from green to yellow. People have even been warned to stay away from the Múlakvísl River because of the odor of sulfur.

Cont....

As Saudi King’s Health Wanes, War Architect Bin Salman Set To Become King

The Anti Media:

While his health and even sanity have been in doubt for years, fresh rumors are spreading that King Salman of Saudi Arabia’s physical condition has further deteriorated. According to Saudi sources cited by Oil Price, Salman’s health will likely forced him to abdicate the throne in the next few months.

Cont....

4 Financial Components to Improved Russian Relations

The Daily Reckoning:

With the U.S. preparing to confront China and go to war with North Korea, Russia is an indispensable ally for the U.S.

There are huge implications on capital markets as these hegemonic powers continue to edge toward war.

Here’s an overview of some of the financial implications of improved relations with Russia…

Bill Blain: "There Is One Obvious Trigger That Could Lead To A Market Fall In The Second Half"

By Bill Blain of Mint Partners

Politics - More Destabilizing Than You Think!

“With comedy we can search for the profound...”

Dark skies, torrential rain and thinking about putting the log-burner on.. Welcome to high-summer in England. Markets are thin and the crowds trying to clamber on the train were noticeably lighter this morning. (Actually, the sun was shining this morning as my train sat listlessly somewhere “Sarf” of Wimbledon..)

Don’t be fooled into thinking what’s happening today isn’t critical - events now are setting the tone for the rest of 2017. If you want a title for today’s Porridge – try: “Politics - More Important than you think!”

Trump Intel Chief: North Korea Learned From Libya War to “Never” Give Up Nukes

THE MEDIA IS NOW filled with headlines about North Korea’s missile teston Friday, which demonstrated that its ICBMs may be able to reach the continental U.S. What isn’t mentioned in any of these stories is how we got to this point — in particular, what Dan Coats, President Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, explained last week at the Aspen Security Forum.

North Korea’s 33-year-old dictator Kim Jong-un is not crazy, said Coats. In fact, he has “some rationale backing his actions” regarding the country’s nuclear weapons. That rationale is the way the U.S. has demonstrated that North Korea must keep them to ensure “survival for his regime, survival for his country.”

Sunday 30 July 2017

"It's Time To Retaliate": Putin Expels 755 U.S. Diplomats

When Russia warned on Friday that it would retaliate proportionately after it announced it would seize two diplomatic compounds used by the US in Russia and added that it would reduce the number of US diplomatic service staff in the country to equal the number of Russian diplomats in the US by September 1, calculated by the local press at 455, it wasn't joking.

Moments ago, speaking in an interview on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Vladimir Putin said that 755 American diplomats will be expelled, or as he phrased it "will have to leave Russia as a result of Washington's own policies", a move which as we previewed on Friday will make the diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States of equal staffing.

Speaking late on Sunday, the Russian president said that the time for retaliation has come: "we've been waiting for quite a long time that maybe something would change for the better, we had hopes that the situation would change. But it looks like, it's not going to change in the near future... I decided that it is time for us to show that we will not leave anything unanswered."

Russia derides Tillerson statement on sanctions

Town Hall - AP News:

An attempt by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to portray recently passed Russian sanctions legislation as a sign Americans want Russia to improve relations with the U.S. has been derided by Moscow.

In a statement released by the State Department on Saturday, Tillerson said the overwhelming House and Senate votes in favor of the sanctions "represent the strong will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States." He added that he hoped potential future U.S.-Russia cooperation would make the sanctions unnecessary at some point.

The legislation, which also punishes Iran and North Korea, takes aim at Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria. The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump will sign the legislation, which passed the House by a 419-3 vote and the Senate by a 98-2 vote.

Was Marx a Marxist?

The Vineyard of the Saker:

Many confound what they think with what they know. With Marx, personal notions of Marxism often justify arbitrary conclusions, reflecting the perceiver’s prejudice, fancy or indoctrination. Any related discussion turns then into a vicious circle of arguments searching for proofs, and proofs that are but someone’s opinions.

Furthermore, various currently-popular and alternative media sources, when referring to Marxism, utter remarkable nonsense, misrepresentation and even slander.

All this may be of disturbing obviousness, though it should be stated, given some equally disturbing notions, circulating at large within both the current and counter-current cultural streams.

Can a Nation Attack a Company?

Scott Adams' Blog:

North Korea keeps testing missiles that can reach the United States. China could turn off trade with North Korea, and effectively force them to stop, but that isn’t happening. Why the hell not?

A story in Newsweek says the bulk of Chinese trade with North Korea involves just ten Chinese companies. The working assumption is that those ten companies are so “connected” and powerful that even the Chinese government can’t influence them, or might not want to try.

Fair enough. That makes the government of China common observers in this drama. Embarrassing for them.

Meet “Aida”, the Perfect Banker (and a Robot): End of Branch Banks Coming

Sweden’s biggest banks are on a mission to get rid of branch banks and all the branch bank employees too.

That’s where “Aida” comes in. She’s available 24/7 and supposedly can handle all but your most complex needs. Your Banker, Aida Is Always In.

Senator Rand Paul Blocks NDAA Until September Over Indefinite Detention

The Anti Media:

Sen. Rand Paul (R – KY) has blocked a motion by majority leader Mitch McConnell (R – KY) to advance the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the massive military spending bill, saying that the bill should instead face debate and possible amendments. This sets the bill back for 6 weeks, at least.

Cont....

Spreading the Cult of Carbon

Tomgram: Michael Klare, | Tom Dispatch:

When you think about it, isn’t it strange that Donald Trump doesn’t represent the historical norm, that Americans have never before elected a P.T. Barnum president (though Barnum did become the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut)? After all, as I wrote of Trump during the 2016 election campaign, “What could be more American than his two major roles: salesman (or pitchman) and con artist?” Americans have always loved a con man -- something Hillary Clinton and her advisers somehow never quite grasped.

Trump was always, at heart, both the pitchman of, and a con artist for, American abundance, or rather for a particularly American version of conspicuous consumption. Hence, the reported $7 million in gold leaf in the Louis XIV-style ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago private club, the gold-plated bathroom fixtures on his plane, the gold-plated helicopter he owned, the $100 bottles of Trump 24K Super Premium Vodka with a 24-karat gold “T” on the label, and of course his name skylined across the planet in giant golden letters. Hence also his ability to convince others of his success, even when his casinos cratered -- he still made millions off them, leaving his investors holding the bag -- his magazine floundered, his steaks went to the dogs, his airlines barely got off the ground, and Trump University’s triumph lay in the number of lawsuits it produced (and the Mexican-American judge he defamed). Consider this not failure, but Donald Trump in his prime.

So it’s strange that, in the thunderstorm of media coverage of President Trump -- never has any president sucked the air out of the media room this way -- his greatest pitch and what may be the greatest selling scam in history has gotten so little attention in these last six months. I’m talking about his scheme, as reported by TomDispatch regular Michael Klare today, to open the gold-plated spigot on American fossil fuels and sell the country’s oil and natural gas abroad in far greater quantities than at present.

In the past, the pain Trump caused had its limits (though tell that to those casino investors or the “students” of Trump University). Even Trumpcare, which -- were it ever to come to be, leaving the health of millions in tatters -- would only wound some, not all. On the other hand, convincing the world that this is the moment to burn yet more American fossil fuels and so release yet more carbon emissions into an already overheating atmosphere, if carried off “successfully,” might prove the greatest scam in history. The pain from it would be beyond measure, since it would damage the very environment that has proven, for all these millennia, so welcoming to humanity. It would, in short, represent an all-too-conspicuous consumption -- of pain. Let Klare explain. Tom

America’s Carbon-Pusher in Chief
Trump’s Fossil-Fueled Foreign Policy
By Michael T. Klare
Who says President Trump doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy? Pundits and critics across the political spectrum have chided him for failing to articulate and implement a clear international agenda. Look closely at his overseas endeavors, though, and one all-too-consistent pattern emerges: Donald Trump will do whatever it takes to prolong the reign of fossil fuels by sabotaging efforts to curb carbon emissions and promoting the global consumption of U.S. oil, coal, and natural gas. Whenever he meets with foreign leaders, it seems, his first impulse is to ply them with American fossil fuels.
His decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which obliged this country to reduce its coal consumption and take other steps to curb its carbon emissions, was widely covered by the American mainstream news media. On the other hand, the president’s efforts to promote greater fossil fuel consumption abroad -- just as significant in terms of potential harm to the planet -- have received remarkably little attention.

Russians Promise to 'Retaliate' if Trump Signs Sanctions Bill

Town Hall - Jennifer Van Laar:

As we reported yesterday, Russia ordered the United States to reduce the number of diplomatic staff in the country by September and announced that it is seizing two US diplomatic properties in response to new sanctions approved by the House and Senate.

In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attempted to paint Russia as a victim and warned that there would be retaliation if the US pursues "further deterioration."

One Of These 3 Black Swans Will Likely Trigger A Global Recession By End Of 2018 | Mauldin Economics

Exactly 10 years ago, we were months way from a world-shaking financial crisis.

By late 2006, we had an inverted yield curve steep to be a high-probability indicator of recession. I estimated at that time that the losses would be $400 billion at a minimum. Yet, most of my readers and fellow analysts told me I was way too bearish.

Turned out the losses topped well over $2 trillion and triggered the financial crisis and Great Recession.

Conditions in the financial markets needed only a spark from the subprime crisis to start a firestorm all over the world. Plenty of things were waiting to go wrong, and it seemed like they all did at the same time.

AmRen Diary Part I

I went into the event not knowing if it was for me. The stuff I do here does not fit neatly into the general categories of the Dissident Right. I’m a race realist and a biological realist, but I don’t do much on white identity. As I told Jared Taylor, I thought that AmRen was an older crowd who wanted to go back to the 50’s. On the other hand, I also went into it prepared to be wrong in ways I could not imagine. The event sold out so it had to be more than old guys telling war stories, but what that actually meant was a mystery.

Well, I was amazingly wrong. The age of the crowd was the first thing I noticed. There were many people there in the under-30 age bracket. There were lot of guys in their 40’s and 50’s too. The average age was probably early 40’s and there were quite a few women in attendance. Most important, the crowd was smart. AmRen is full of smart, well read people, more interested in the right answer than anything else. I’ll get into more detail later in this post, but AmRen is a gathering of the best minds on the Dissident Right.

Mainstream Media Refuses to Criticize Jeff Bezos -- Richest Man

The Anti Media:

The three most prominent US newspapers haven’t run a critical investigative piece on Jeff Bezos’ company Amazon in almost two years, a FAIR survey finds.

Cont.....

Killing Them is Killing Us

Robert Gore | STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC:

There is something eerily fascinating about cold-blooded murderers—a staple of Hollywood thrillers and crime dramas—killing without emotion or remorse. Ordinary humans, afflicted with guilt for minor, not even criminal transgressions, can’t conceive of pulling the trigger and then sitting down for dinner. In real life, the number of people who can is glancingly small. Even for those few, actions have consequences. The blood never washes away.

“Live and let live,” is, in American mythology, a benevolent and almost uniquely American attitude. We destroyed Japan and Germany in World War II and then helped rebuild them. Live and let live goes down well with the living, the winners. However, it’s often nothing more than balm for an uneasy conscious, hand sanitizer for bloodstained hands. A century and a half later, many Southerners lack this “unique” American attitude towards their conquerers in the War of Northern Aggression.

The Turn to “Effective, but we don’t like it.”

Scott Adams' Blog:

Prior to President Trump’s inauguration, I predicted a coming story arc in three acts. Act one involved mass protests in the streets because Hillary Clinton’s campaign had successfully branded Trump as the next Hitler. Sure enough, we saw mass protests by anti-Trumpers who legitimately and honestly believed the country had just elected the next Hitler. I predicted that the Hitler phase would evaporate by summer for lack of supporting evidence. That happened.

I also predicted the anti-Trumpers would modify their attack from “Hitler” to “incompetent,” and that phase would last the summer. That happened too. The president’s critics called him incompetent and said the White House was in “chaos.” There were plenty of leaks, fake news, and even true stories to support that narrative, as I expected. Every anti-Trump news outlet, and even some that supported him started using “chaos” to describe the situation.

Russia expels American diplomats and intelligence operatives

The Vineyard of the Saker:

In the last days of 2016, one couldn’t do enough to avoid announcements of 35 Russian diplomats being expelled from the US and Russian government-owned property being seized.

Every five minutes on every channel, there was footage of people burdened with children and suitcases waiting on wet tarmac for a plane to pick them up, because they weren’t allowed to remain inside the airport building.

Also, there was the same, it seemed, footage of a modest red three-story turn of the century waterfront house with a simple garden bench near water, that was inevitably referred to by every US and EU channels as a “Russian secret services center” despite the notable absence of any satellite antennas so prevalent around the American Embassies all over the world, in Ukraine, for example, or in Venezuela.

UN Ambassador Haley Warns - America's "Done Talking About North Korea..."

Just hours after showing "lethal, overwhelming force" with a 'drill' sending two B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula, US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, appears to ratcheted up the warmongering to '11' with her latest tweet...

Done talking about NKorea.China is aware they must act.Japan & SKorea must inc pressure.Not only a US problem.It will req an intl solution.
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) July 30, 2017

She also retweeted a report about the bomber jet drills...

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