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Obama is working overtime to set up new regulations, establish government agencies and fill up the civil service with loyal Democrats.

Obama’s Last Days: Aiding Trump Transition, but Erecting Policy Roadblocks

And the GOoPs are not happy about it.

But this follows an old tradition. Well, not that old. I remember when this happened the last time to Georgie W. Bush.

White House Vandalized In Transition, G.A.O. Finds

Vandalized. Put a smiley face here.

Or a smirk.

I know. It is pretty sophomoric. But Obama himself has been more than helpful to the Trump people. It just won't go down the line that far.

Obama will lose his job but probably set up a strong opposition organization to look after his legacy. A rumor at this point.

But there are about 4000 people who will also be on their way out the door and you can't expect them to go quietly into the sunset.

One person's vandalism is another person's political action. God bless America. I mean it.

And you know? I wish the Trumpers all the best. I have to. It is a mean world and we are Americans. We stick together. But, on the inside while we are doing our world job, a bit of pranking hurts no one and lets some steam off.

Labels: Administration Obama, Trump Administration

All politics are local.

So foreign policy is often about what is happening right here.

The Russian hacking is no exception.

And now, Obama gets some last minute opportunities to kick both Russian and Trumpian asses.

Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking

Now everyone knew this was coming but Trump. Somehow he was too ill informed or timid or perhaps self interested to confront the issue let alone the Russians.

After all, he was/is Putin's buddy, huh?

While this is a straightforward escalation of the cold war it is also a bit of political fuckery thrown in for good measure.

Trump was not bothered that the Democrats got hacked. Well. See? He is now stuck with following Obama's pre-emptive move.

This also tells me that the transition is not going to be all nicey nice for Trump. Obama is not going to go quietly into the night. After all, the Democrats actually won the popular vote.

So much static in the air.

Yeh, Trump will be in the office but the hot breath of the loyal opposition is going to be on his fat ass.

Labels: Administration Obama, President Trump

The Pope one day and the China supreme leader the next.

And a big step that the Obamas have been working on for a long time.

China to Announce Cap-and-Trade Program to Limit Emissions

Not to say that this is of a lot more import than the Papal platitudes the day before.

There is nothing wrong with platitudes, I suppose. If Congress was listening to the Pope tell them what they should already know then he did a good thing for us.

Republicans tend toward the religious strictness that the roman church asks of its people. The god thing in their terms. You would think that the Pope could give them a dose of initiative to do what they are supposed to.

He made John Boehner cry. Is this guy really all there?

I don't suppose I should judge anyone's sincerity. But sincerity only goes so far.

Both guys are totalitarians who soften their approach when they are in the USA. Hopefully some of our way of doing things rubs off on them but I doubt it.

Labels: Administration Obama

Quick. Guess which of the most recent Presidents had the most, the least, the growingest or the slowest growth in government jobs.

You know. The people who suck off the public tit. Not welfare but "government work".

When I was a kid, the phrase "government work" meant a slacker's job. Something easy. I am not sure this is the case any longer.

OK. How did the presidents stack up for government work employees?

Reagan? I bet he cut the shit out of those people living off our tax money. Or, how about George Herbert Walker Fucking Bush? Was he a trimmer of the damned goof offs in government? How about Carter, the christian wimp? Too kind to cut. Could it be Clinton? That lefty? While he was running around screwing everything in sight was the government work force growing out of control? And what about the anointed son, W? The one initial pres. A half or a third of the usual initials. Short of a load. I bet he cut the bejeezus out of those spongers on the payroll. Even the dumbest winger can wield an axe. Finally, Obama. Looking to even the score for those lazy black folks who were so badly treated by the GOoPers?

Well, the answer is here. Hold onto your hats.

Who reduced the payroll? The only goddam one of them to do so.

By now you probably have guessed that this is a trick question but not really. It is just that you, like I, have a twisted idea of who adds and who subtracts from the government when they have a chance to do so.

Of course, some of you might say that it is really the Congress who supports these numbers high or low. In a way, you would be right. But it is the Congress who is most pigging up to the trough at budget time. A skillful politician, one who was able to cut the size of the government work force, would have to be a canny politician to fool these money hogs long enough into beating their brains out at budget time. Right? Right.

Labels: Administration Obama, GOP, Presidents

It is amusing to see all the hoo hah about our listening in on Merkel's phone calls. Is this a surprise? I would listen in on Angela Merkel anytime I could to figure out which way she will swerve on any given day. All this attention to spying is pure sensationalism. Believe me, if they could, they would all be listening in on Obama. Watch. The same people that howl against this are the ones who also want transparency and openness in government. How open can you get? Don't get me wrong. I don't want anyone listening to my phone calls but it is going to happen and happen big time the higher up one goes in the international game. Sorry. My reaction is that I am positively impressed with our skill at this shit. The Germans have to be pretty smart at security, they practically invented it. But this is an embarrassment to them and it is not going down well but it is not the end of the world. When Germany and Merkel want to disassociate from us and cuddle up with the new Putin, that will be something. For now, she should be grateful to have us nestled up to her ear.

I just finished the least likely book I would read all year. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin. Unlikely as it is that Mary. You know, the holy mother. Why? Did I read it? Because I read everything by Toibin. He is a bit of a professional catholic. And I am not sorry I read it. As a literary experience it is pretty good. As a spiritual experience it is weird because the "new god" is not in it. Mary likes Artemis. She tells the hyper familiar story of Jesus in the end days and her experience of the whole thing. First, she is not cowed by the people who are milking her for her take on the whole thing. The guys who wrote the gospels. They are putting the story together and they have just a bit of an idea of how it should go and they want her concurrence. But she doesn't want to go along. In turn, they will protect her as it is not too safe a time to be the chosen one's mom even though she is out of the places where they are after the newly minted christians. Her story of it all is not that much different but she is a skeptic when it comes to the miracle stuff. She sees some of it and can explain it some. Lazarus was buried prematurely and even though he was out of the grave he was comatose for a long time after and then died for real. She says she saw the water into wine thing but didn't know but what all the jugs had wine except the one the gang set up for him to wave his hand over. And so on. As for the resurrection, she does not see it but rather sees it in a dream along with the other Mary. The novel is short and a very satisfying fiction read. I don't know how you would take it all if you were a believer in the myths but I don't think you would be offended by her take on things. After all, she is his Mom and the idea of a virgin birth is kind of abstract when you have been having regular sex with your husband all along. She focuses on the fact that this is her son. The boy she raised who went away and came back a man. A man with some strange presence about him. And with followers. Not only disciples but a rabble who hung out around the phenom who was viewed to be the new king of the jews. I liked this novel and would read it again sometime. Toibin is a great writer who has done non-fiction work as well as journalism, not the same thing as non-fiction literature. Sorry, if you are a journalist you are not quite and artist of the written word. So the book is a meld of all the genrés, a neat piece of reporting from the front by an eyewitness and a poetic recitation on motherhood. No matter who your son is or was or will be.

Another interview today with a young woman who has been especially mystified by driving here and finding the meeting place. I expect to point out that going to Boston area will be a lot more complicated but perhaps not. You hop on a plane and get off and take a cab. Here she has to drive from out in the Imperial Valley and find her way through the desert, five other "cities" which are not, and then find my corner in a place she has never, apparently, been. I did warn her about the bikers being there. So far it does not seem to have deterred her from the interview. Me either.

Labels: Administration Obama, books, desert, MIT

We just got our new Medicare rates, prescription and regular.

And the shocking news is that under the Affordable Care Act, we will pay less at every level of benefit.

Not a lot, a buck here and a fiver there. But less.

I have been waiting for this.

The naysayers are having conniptions. As the new rates are rolled out for the various groups, almost everyone is paying less.

How is this possible?

As predicted, the free market. The Medicare rates are not a result of that but are part of the general budget revisions.

This makes the right wing opposition and Fox News look dumber all the time.

In fact, today, there are two news items about how the Republicans polled now prefer to call the ACA the ACA instead of Obamacare. It is no longer something they care to hang around the neck of the man they hate so much.

Labels: Administration Obama, health

Steve Benen uses a great analogy to tell us how the Congress just got put on the spot.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Benen points out that dogs chase cars and do so until one day they catch the car and then, what the hell?

The same with Congress. All kinds of noise about unilateral actions by Presidents, pick any President. All kinds of criticism about being "soft" and "hard". "Do nothing".

The nice thing is that they are never called to make the decisions themselves. Something as intimate to their contact with the people and their Constitutional responsibilities as there is. Anytime. Anywhere.

Decisions about military actions.

Now, Obama calls their bluff.

Both left and right have expressed different points of view. Kevin Drum even thinks that Obama made a foolish move. Wrong this time Kevin.

It is time for the loudmouths on both sides to step up.

Obama has been looking for an opportunity to get Congress to act like adults. He even signaled this in the SOTU speech. "Put away childish things".

Now. Here we are.

Here they are.

I said yesterday that this was a great move. Astute.

Labels: Administration Obama

Obama Asks Congress to Approve Syria Strike

He blinked.

Too much opposition.

But he has turned it around and asked Congress to carry its job out.

What do I think?

It is my blog, after all.

I think it goes back to the time when they drew the "red line" and made it clear they would not tolerate any stepping over it.

Pre-meditated policy versus pragmatic decision.

We have managed thus far in recent years to scale back the rhetoric and recognize that whatever we call it, the idea of the "war on terrorism" is dysfunctional.

Fast on feet, quick turnarounds, examination of current data are much better qualities in this day of age where there is no war front, no sides, no clearly articulated enemy.

Do I think he should bomb? I never think anyone should bomb.

Do I recognize our responsibility in cases of rogue leadership ala Syria and much of the middle east? Yes. But it is toward stability and containment.

Look, we have put up with much worse with many of these countries and regions.

If the Palestinian situation is not genocide, what is? If events within Iran are OK then we sanction the killing of innocents (gays). Whether by gas or rope, they are dead.

Stay the course.

Make the choices slowly. He is doing the right thing.

Astutely.

Labels: Administration Obama

If you think you know everything there is to know about the Immigration Bill(s), take a look at this presentation. I thought I knew it all but did not. Now I know a lot more.

Labels: Administration Obama, imm

HEATED DISCUSSIONS

There has been a lot of interest in the conference here at Sunnylands, the Annenberg estate turned conference center.

We wondered about the weather for them.

It has been reasonably hot the last few days and so their outdoors activities had to be a bit curtailed. No sitting in the sun.

But yesterday was breezy and quite pleasant and we went out a few times and sat on the grass ourselves. A favorite Booker routine during the day.

Mr. Obama planned to stay another night at Sunnylands. After Mr. Xi’s departure, he golfed on the estate’s nine-hole course — one Republican presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower have played — with three friends from his high-school days in Hawaii, despite temperatures exceeding 100 degrees.

Imagine. Your own golf course in the back yard. Annenberg was a publishing tycoon, TVGuide and The Racing Form is where he started.

The plane, Air Force One's presence here has caused a goodly stir. A lot of people just going to see it and getting that lift I mentioned yesterday.

Incidentally, the mountains were gorgeous yesterday. Musty, tall and full of the purple blue color. When they look like a fantastic painting but are the real thing.

Labels: Administration Obama

TWISTED KNICKERS

I am not surprised, well, really, I am, that the lefties are so totally freaked out about the NSA revelations today.

I am not one of them.

I have never doubted that there was surveillance. Else why have FSA in the first place.

The other thing is that this approach to national security is not new. We all know that. What people seem most upset about is that they looked to Obama to take these procedures down. To nullify them.

Look. Obama is on the record as approving FSA in the first place and is a centrist in the tradition of most if not all Presidents since Eisenhower. You think he is different somehow now?

Here is the other thing.

Do they honestly believe that these measures are so malignant that we should removes some very basic protections in this day and age? National security is not a paranoid fever dream. It is at threat.

Steve Benen and I agree.

The Consequences of NSA Surveillance?

Notice the question mark?

I really believe that strong measures are being taken to not violate people's privacy. I never, ever worry that someone is taking something away from me somehow, somewhere. If I don't worry about Amazon data mining me or Google or someone else, why the USA? The NSA? And remember, the NSA is part of USA. These are citizens too.

Sure. Someday, this could all be used for nefarious purposes. But does anyone seriously think that is happening now? Or is likely to any time soon?

Please.

The hysteria started with the subpoenas issued to some reporters at the AP and Fox.

There were and are grounds to believe that security leaks did occur. The press got pissed.

Now they are jumping all over this.

Another angle. There are as many tin hats on the left as on the right. I hate to admit it but that is true.

I am in the middle with Obama. I vote. So does everyone else. I think I made the right choice. I have to let go of some of my micro-worries and not apply them to the national interest.

Labels: Administration Obama, security

MILDLY EXCITED

I suppose I should note that Obama and Xi are here for a couple of days of fun and sun.

They will be meeting at the Annenberg Estate turned into Conference Center down the road from us. 200 plus acres. Totally isolated.

I suppose I could go to the airport and see AF 1 and hope for a glimpse. Maybe he will take a limo there. Obama I mean. Not the Chinese guy who is new.

I understand that they are keeping it all on the down low. No talking points. More in the line of working on their relationship.

A good thing.

Labels: Administration Obama

TIGHT OFFENSE

Obama just made two canny appointments which fly right into the face of the Benghazi fake scandal.

Obama Defies Critics With State Dept Choice

Victoria Nuland helped prepare the "talking points" everyone is obsessing about as if it mattered.

She has the interesting background of being a Bush appointee who worked with Cheney.

Another thing about her. See her eyebrow? She can do the one eyebrow lift which falls outside the talents of most people. My family has the gene if that is what it is. We can lift brow with the best. Her one brow expertise is so good that it is mentioned in the GoogleImage selections under her name.

This is what I like about Obama. He will press them up close and give them what they want with a twist that they do not want. The consummate player.

Labels: Administration Obama

BUDDIES

Having said what I said just below about John McCain, I should also point to this. Obama's Newest Ally John McCain

After four years of back and forth spatting, I have recently seen how McCain is spending more time at the White House and has also spoken out on issues that he and Obama share an interest in. Gun control. Immigration. Leak detection.

It is an interesting turn about not without precedent in the past. Politics makes strange bedfellows.

The statesmen of the GOP are deeply embarrassed and chagrined at the way their party has been hijacked. In addition, the formal leadership, Boehner and McConnell are all but useless. Frozen in time and space by the factions in the Party. They are not very good leaders. They lack the talent. The knack.

I still don't like John McCain very well but if anyone can turn him into a useful ally it would be Obama.

Another thing about McCain is that somewhere inside there, the maverick is pacing back and forth ready to make a reappearance. The perverse streak that has pissed off more Republicans than Democrats is just below the surface.

Labels: Administration Obama, McCain

FULL THROATED

Put to rest the idea that Obama is a cool detached college professor.

He is pissed.

Labels: Administration Obama

SOMETIMES A COMPLIMENT IS JUST A COMPLIMENT

I suppose I should weigh in on the totally stupid storm over Obama calling my Attorney General the best looking.

What a pile of shit. The PC Police.

This is where the left looks as stupid as the right.

I was amused to see this article today.

President Obama Routinely Calls Important, Accomplished Men ‘Good-Looking’

I guess this is one of those "in the eye of the beholder" things.

Since when is it demeaning for me, let alone for him, to say that someone is "good looking".

I say it all the time.

Is it demeaning to women? Well not for me. They are are good looking. I say so. I am not drooling over them sexually, certainly. It is a compliment. Get over it. Accept it. Say "thank you" and move on.

I say it about handsome men. Gay and straight. Is that sexist? Well, I admit that sometimes it is based on a kind of attraction. But usually it is just a compliment.

I suppose somehow if I do not say that you are good looking when you are not or compliment you emptily, then that is demeaning or patronizing.

But that is bullshit too.

It is like fat people not wanting to be seen as fat. They are fat. Period. When I got thin I liked it when guys said I looked thin and even when they said maybe "too thin".

Look. I have seen Kamala Harris, she is my Attorney General and there is no denying that she is a looker. Don't we get points for that?

Women and men dress and groom to be good looking. Isn't that a cue for a comment.

Come on guys. You are taking things way too seriously and, besides, it is guys who have called him on this. That numb nuts Jonathan Chait, I'm talking to you. And James Carville, the snake. He has a lighter tone but it is the same thing. An advocate of empty and superficial pandering.

I hate this kind of shit.

Labels: Administration Obama

IRONY OF FATE

Labels: Administration Obama

ROCKET RIDE

Labels: Administration Obama

NICE

From an unprecedented joint interview to be broadcast Monday.

Labels: Administration Obama, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton

THIS IS GREAT

The Obama's response to the on-line petition to fund a Death Star. Someone had some fun.

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE

TO Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.

This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For

By Paul Shawcross

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.

The Administration does not support blowing up planets.

Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon, crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.

Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.

We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.

If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

Paul Shawcross is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget

Tell us what you think about this response and We the People.

Labels: Administration Obama, fun, space