The stuff we couldn't fit into the podcast. These notes go with the political/news segment of S3E09 Two Old Guys Drinking Beer podcast. Remember, these are just notes taken between podcast recordings and are not always grammatically correct or properly punctuated.
- Trump lies as of 08/05/19 - 12,019 in 928 days. About 13/day, 20/day since April
- Trump golf - 214 visits in 137 weeks, 98 confirmed rounds
- Trump polls - 41.5% approval, 53.8% disapprove
- July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded.
- 08/06 - Toni Morrison dies at 88
- New allegations of sexual abuse coverups at BSA
- GateHouse Media & Gannett will merge.
- Some GOP legislators moving away from NRA.
- Trump sees “no political appetite to ban assault weapons”. Polls disagree.
- Walmart removes violent video game displays. Still sells guns and the actual video games.
- Biden continues to make mental/verbal gaffes. “Poor kids as smart as white kids.”
- Kamala Harris, “Trump didn’t pull the trigger but he certainly has been tweeting out the ammunition.”
- Why does the press keep saying X gun law would not have prevented X mass shooting. No law is 100% effective. Would better laws have prevented the one before or three before? Maybe the new proposed laws aren’t tough enough.
- 1619 - 2019 - 400 years of US slavery.
- Dana Perino subbed for Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. Horrible. She is a conservative political commentator, not a journalist. She helped Kudlow with answers, rather than moderate the panel session she reverted to a commentator. All pro-Trump
- Congress needs to shorten the allowed period for an acting cabinet secretary or agency head to serve.
- The Mooch turns
- Surprise, Sarah Huckabee Sanders joins Fox News.
- I hope Congress now realizes that giving the President broad powers or writing sloppy legislation is no longer good policy. The assumption that the executive branch would be reasonable or even sane is outdated
- Economic numbers appear to have been overblown. Jobs and growth rate.
- Biden not getting any better on the campaign trail. Gaffes.
- Blood eye on CNN town hall
- Trump is losing faith in Fox News
- Mathis indirectly trashes Trump. Directly bashes Obama. Hypocrite.
- Trump desperate to get some wall built before 2020 elections.
- We have far more symbolic gestures of sympathy than real changes.
National
- 08/05 - Obama speaks out on the rhetoric of racism, fear, hatred…
- 08/05 - Trump still not keen on new gun laws. Says mental illness is the problem. Mistakes Toledo for Dayton.
- Mentions pairing gun legislation with immigration reform
- Why would you combine two complex problems?
- Trump mentions problems with video games.
- He sort of supported tighter background checks but is now back to mental health.
- 08/05 - China responds to the latest Trump trade threats by devaluing its currency.
- The US officially designates China as a currency manipulator. The trade war continues to escalate.
- 08/05 - US increases sanctions on Venezuela.
- 08/06 - Fired FBI agent Peter Strzok sues to be reinstated
- 08/06 - Tucker Carlson thinks the white supremacy problem is a hoax. Actually, Carlson is a hoax and an ass.
- 08/07 - ICE rounds up immigrants in Mississippi. Leaves kids without parents.
- ICE did not notify the White House (afraid of leaks) or CPS prior to the raids.
- 08/07 - Former Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez Garced becomes Puerto Rico governor
- 08/07 - The House Judiciary Committee asked a federal judge to compel John McGahn’s testimony
- 08/07 - Trump visits Dayton (Toledo?) and El Paso. Not welcomed with open arms but at least he didn’t turn them into public campaign rallies.
- 08/08 - Andrew McCabe sues the FBI and DOJ over firing.
- 08/08 - Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Sue Gordon resigns. More turmoil in the intelligence community.
- 08/08 - Trump names Joseph Maguire, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as the acting director of national intelligence.
- Trump retweets that Clinton involved in Epstein's death.
- While Trump blames the Clintons, the fact is Epstein died in federal prison during Trump’s administration. Barr blames jail
- Trump’s companies continue to use undocumented workers.
- 08/10 - Jeffrey Epstein commits suicide in jail. FBI to investigate.
- 08/12 - New Trump rules will punish legal immigrants if they use public assistance.
- 08/12 - Trump weakens the protection of endangered species.
- 08/12 - More opioid statistics released and analyzed.
- 08/13 - Trump delays some additional China tariffs until 12/15.
- 08/13 - 29 states sue Trump administration over easing coal-burning power plant emissions.
- 08/13 - McConnell lifted sanctions on Russia that directly benefitted Kentucky (& probably him). Swampy.
- 08/13 - New environmental study.
- 08/14 - US Treasury bonds enter an inverted yield curve. Stock markets tank.
- 08/15 - Steve King goes off the rails again.
- 08/15 - The House Judiciary Committee subpoena Corey Lewandoski and Rick Dearborn.
- 08/15 - John Hickenlooper drops out of the presidential race.
- He will run for the senate seat in Colorado
- 08/16 - The crowd for Trump’s Shell rally was paid and told not to misbehave.
- Does Trump want to buy Greenland?
- 08/19 - The acting head of the Department of Corrections is removed.
- 08/19 - Planned Parenthood opts out of Title X.
- 08/19 - Trump touts great economy at the same time he looks at more stimulus. Payroll tax cuts and interest rates.
- 08/20 - Trump confirms tax cuts are being considered
- 08/20 - Trump backs down on improved background checks.
- Again proves he is the NRA’s bitch
- 08/20 - Trump cancels his trip to Denmark because they won't sell Greenland
- Says Danish prime ministers “absurd” comment about Greenland was nasty.
- 08/20 - Trump insults Democratic Jews.
- He says Israel loves him. Second coming of god
- 08/21 - CBO says deficit to rise $800 billion more than forecast over 10 years
- 08/21 - Jay Inslee drops out. Will run for governor.
- 08/23 - China to impose tariffs on $75 billion in US goods.
- Trump responds by raising many tariffs on Chinese goods from 25% to 30%
- 08/25 - Trump reconsidering tariff escalations
- Trump “orders” US companies to find alternatives to China
- 08/25 - Trump will not order US companies out of China
- RGB has radiation treatment for a pancreatic tumor. Please hold on Ruth.
- 08/24 - G7 meetings - Another G6 + 1 (US)
- Trade deal with Japan, maybe. No details
- Pledge $20 million to fight Amazon fires
- Trump skips climate change meeting
- Maybe some improvement in Iran situation
- Trump blames Obama for Russia annexing Crimea
- Trump wants Russia/Putin back in G7/G8
- 08/25 - Joe Walsh enters GOP presidential race.
- 08/25 - On Sunday political shows, Lindsey Graham and other GOP talking about deficit said tax cuts, military spending are not the problem. It is entitlement programs. Of course.
- 08/26 - Trump pitches Doral for 2020 G7
- 08/26 - Johnson & Johnson found responsible for opioid crisis in Oklahoma. $572 million settlement.
- Sacklers & Purdue in settlement negotiations.
- 08/27 - Barr books Trump’s DC hotel for $30K X-mas party.
- 08/27 - Trump wants to open up logging in Alaska. Fuck the environment.
- Al Franken podcast w/Walter Mondale. Still practicing law at 91. Still sounds sharp and up on current affairs.
- 08/28 - Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of presidential race
- 08/29 - Trump wants to roll back methane emission regulations.
- 08/30 - Trump administration limits scientific input into USDA dietary guidelines.
- 08/30 - Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's personal assistant, steps down or is fired after she shared Oval Office and Trump family details with the press.
- 09/01 - Pence stays at Trump’s resort in Ireland. On the opposite coast from Dublin where his meetings were.
- 09/03 - The Pentagon diverts another $3.6 billion to Trump’s wall.
- 09/05 - Administration proposes big changes to housing market.
- 09/06 - US adds 130,000 jobs in August. Unemployment rate remains 3.7%.
International
- Watch some international new. BBC, Al Jazeera.
- Holy shit, Britain has no constitution.
- 08/06 - North Korea launches two more missiles. Protesting US-South Korea military exercises.
- Two more
- 08/16 - a couple more
- Maybe an Ebola treatment/cure?
- 08/12 - Did Russia’s spiffy new nuclear missile blow up?
- 08/15 - Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota barred from entering Israel at Trump’s urging.
- Israel then says Tlaib can enter for 24 hours with conditions to visit her grandmother in the West Bank
- 08/16 - Tlaib says she will not visit under those conditions.
- 08/25 - Macron invites Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to G7
- 08/28 - Boris Johnson seeks to keep Parliament in recess until just before the 10/31 Brexit deadline.
- 08/28 - Italy forms new government. Conte to remain PM.
- 08/28 - Johnny Isakson (R-GA) to resign at end of year. Health.
- 09-03 - Boris Johnson loses first Parliament vote on No-deal Brexit.
- 09/04 - Boris loses two more votes on Brexit & elections.
- 09/04 - Hong Kong withdraws extradition bill.
- 09/06 - Robert Mugabe dies @ 95. He too Zimbabwe from independence to economic ruin in 37 years of rule.
- Texas
- 08/05 - Kenny Marchant will not seek reelection. TX-24 Representative. Another Republican in a changing district retires.
- A family squabble among GOP Texas House members. Dennis Bonnen in hot water.
- Dallas paid sick leave ordinance being challenged in federal court. Texas AG joins the suit on plaintiff's side. Of course, the Texas state administration hates local rule and choice.
- 08/07 - Trump visits El Paso after the mass shooting. He wasn’t invited, they don’t want him and his campaign still owes the city over $500K.
- 08/08 - Texas Democratic Party sues Sullivan, Bonnen, Burrows. Empower Texans involved.
- 08/09 - Tarrant Tea Party is for intolerance.
- 08/16 - Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, resigns as chairman of the Texas House Republican Caucus. Fallout from the ET meeting.
- New voting machines and voting centers for Tarrant County.
- Engage Texas PAC. Trying to register Republicans and sign anti-abortion petition at DMV/DPS offices.
- 08/30 - Molly Ivins movie out now. "Polarizing people is a good way to win an election and a good way to wreck a country."
- 09/03 - Bedford mayor Jim Griffin will resign to run for Texas HD 92 in the Republican primary. Seems like a strange choice.
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