I know I’m a day late and a dollar short but I just can’t pass up an opportunity to tell it like it is! Thursdays are great for my Top Ten List and for Throwback Thursdays. This Thursday is all about mendacity, as Big Daddy would say in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. The subtitle of this blog could easily be named Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!
You can call a rose by any other name and it’s still a rose and that goes for lies also. Lately lies have been called untruths, alternative facts, and misspoken words. A lie is a lie is a lie!
LIE: Feb. 7, 2017: Lied that the murder rate was the highest in 45 years
FACT: The US murder rate is at close to an all-time low, and law enforcement experts say Trump’s claim is so far away from the facts that it’s ludicrous. Based on FBI statistics, the murder rate was 5.0 homicides per 100,000 people in 2015, down from a peak in 1980 of 10.2 per 100,000 people. The highest number of total homicides was in 1991, when 24,703 were killed. Though several US cities have seen the number of murders rise from 2015 to 2016, the overall number is still dramatically lower than what it was in the 1980s and 1990s.
LIE: Feb. 6, 2017: Claimed that terrorist attacks across Europe are “not even being reported”. Trump says, “the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report” on terrorism: “They have their reasons, and you understand that.”
FACT: The Paris and Nice attacks that Trump mentioned in his speech were extensively covered by every major US media organization. Other attacks that have also received extensive media attention include an attack in Brussels in March 2016, as well as an incident in February 2017 at the Louvre museum in Paris in which a man attempted to use a machete and was shot by a soldier.
LIE: (Tweet 1+2) Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,…..
7:16 AM – 30 Jan 2017
Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!
7:20 AM – 30 Jan 2017
FACT: The mass outrage and confusion at airports from Friday through Sunday was caused by Trump’s executive order itself, which travelers, immigration attorneys, airlines, judges, and custom officials struggled to interpret. Delta’s outage didn’t happen until Sunday night, and no protesters interrupted the arrivals process at airports.
LIE: Jan. 26, 2017: Lied about Mexico’s president “agreeing to cancel” a meeting
FACT: Hours earlier, Peña Nieto tweeted that he called the White House to cancel the meeting, adding, “I lament and reject the decision of the United States to continue building a wall that for years does not unite us, but divides us.”
LIE: “Look, when President Obama was there two weeks ago making a speech, a very nice speech. Two people were shot and killed during his speech,” Trump told ABC News’ David Muir. “They weren’t shot at the speech. But they were shot in the city of Chicago during his speech.”
FACT: Chicago Police told BuzzFeed News there were no people killed by gun violence on Jan. 10. A log of shootings in the city also showed there were five non-fatal shootings in the city that day, but none occurred while Obama gave his speech.
LIE: “You have people who are registered who are dead, who are illegals, who are in two states,” Trump told ABC’s David Muir. “You have people registered in two states. You have people registered in New York and New Jersey. They vote twice.” He also cited a Pew report as evidence, saying, “Take a look at the Pew reports.”
FACT: There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The National Association of Secretaries of State — which has a majority of Republicans — said it is “not aware of any evidence that supports the voter fraud claims made by President Trump.” And in a Michigan legal filing by Trump’s lawyers after the election, they wrote, “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake.”
LIE: Trump finished his ABC News interview by pointing to framed photographs hung on a wall. “Here’s a picture of the crowd,” he said. “The audience was the biggest ever. This audience was massive, look how far back it goes.” He then pointed to another panoramic photo, saying the crowd — which he described as “a sea of love” — goes “all the way down.”
FACT: The audience wasn’t “the biggest ever.” As mentioned above, photographs from the inauguration show the crowd did not extend as far back as Trump claims it did.
LIE: The inaugural crowd “looked honestly like a million and a half people” adding that “it went all the way back to the Washington Monument.”
FACT: Aerial photos of the crowd at 11a.m. and 12 p.m. — around the time Trump took the oath of office — show that the crowd witnessing the inauguration did not extend back to the Washington Monument.
Inauguration Day January 20th 2017
LIE: Trump said God favored him during his inaugural address by stopping rain from falling when he spoke. “And then it became really sunny,” he said.
FACT: In fact, It rained throughout his speech.
LIE: Feb. 7, 2017 Twitter – The claim: “It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country.”
FACT: Trump does not even come close to the record for the longest delay before having a full cabinet in place. We only have to go back one presidency for proof: Barack Obama didn’t have his final cabinet member confirmed until April 28, 2009, 99 days into his presidency. Trump wasn’t even a full 19 days into his presidency when he posted this tweet.
Unfortunately there are more, many more alternative facts, faleshoods – perhaps another Thursday…
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
How To Dismantle Democracy in Two Weeks or Less
February 2, 2017 by pbenjay
Well, now Donald Trump has been in the White House for less than two weeks and already the process of destroying democracy and establishing a new form of Fascism has begun. The hallmarks of an autocracy are evident.
Proclamations in the form of Executive Orders have been issued like autographs and held up to the camera so he can be the one in the room doing show and tell today. Some are more show than tell. Here is a list of EOs so far:
Look – Show and Tell
1.An order instructing agencies that whenever they introduce a regulation, they must first abolish two others. Sounds logical but the premise is based on reducing restrictions on companies and institutions that impede its ability and freedom to do whatever they want in the pursuit of profit. Yeah that’s true
2. A memorandum to restructure the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council. This allows Trump to put Steve Bannon, a known racist and alt-right supporter on the Council and God only knows to what flagrant measures General Flynn will stoop after he tweeted insane nonsense during the election.
3. A memorandum directing the Secretary of Defense to draw up a plan within 30 days to defeat ISIS. I thought he already had one! He said so during the election but was keeping it a secret from our enemies.
4. An order to lengthen the ban on administration officials working as lobbyists. There is now a 5 year-ban on officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government, and a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. So now instead of a 2 year on lobbyists joining the administration, it’s been revoked to just one year! On the face, the order sounds good but read deeper and you will see that in fact we have less insulation from scandal than before.
5. An executive order imposing a 120-day suspension of the refugee program and a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. from citizens of seven terror hot spots: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. This is ONE BIG HOT MESS. And this one is not sitting well with lots and lots of people. The protests have begun and will continue. This is not well thought out and for some bizzaro reason doesn’t include those Muslim countries where Trump has business interests. NO conflict of interests huh?
6. Two multi-pronged orders on border security and immigration enforcement including: the authorization of a U.S.-Mexico border wall; the stripping of federal grant money to sanctuary cities; hiring 5,000 more Border Patrol agents; ending “catch-and-release” policies for illegal immigrants; and reinstating local and state immigration enforcement partnerships. OMG, seriously him and that stupid wall. One day it’s described to have golden arches and a gate, the next day it may be a figure of speech, the next day it got higher and higher. Talk about a taxpayer revolt – don’t tax me so you can build a monument to your own ignorance! AND he’s taking federal funds away from the sanctuary cities. Since they number well over 200 and many are densely populated, doubt this will go over without major resistance and think of the Senate and Congressional votes lost in 2018.
7. A memorandum calling for a 30-day review of military readiness. Really? Why not just call upon your heads of the military and tell them to do so.
8. Two orders reviving the Keystone XL pipeline and Dakota Access pipelines. He also signed three other related orders that would: expedite the environmental permitting process for infrastructure projects related to the pipelines; direct the Commerce Department to streamline the manufacturing permitting process; and give the Commerce Department 180 days to maximize the use of U.S. steel in the pipeline. Taking backward steps to protect the environment is one thing. I think the best line in this order is the use of US made steel – this from a man who had his ties made in China and his Make America Great Again hats in Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.
9. An order to reinstate the so-called “Mexico City Policy” – a ban on federal funds to international groups that perform abortions or lobby to legalize or promote abortion. The policy was instituted in 1984 by President Reagan, but has gone into and out of effect depending on the party in power in the White House. This one is just great – after all the party who most definitely wants to keep the government out of our private lives holds the most unusual thought process that allows us (USA) to say we will help you out BUT not if you allow abortion. Whatever happened to “Don’t tread on me”?
10. A notice that the U.S. will begin withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Trump called the order “a great thing for the American worker.” We shall see now won’t we?
11. An order imposing a hiring freeze for some federal government workers as a way to shrink the size of government. This excludes the military, as Trump noted at the signing. I guess the plan for hiring 5000 border patrol guards does not fall under this mandate.
12. An order that directs federal agencies to ease the “regulatory burdens” of ObamaCare. It orders agencies to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement” of ObamaCare that imposes a “fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications.” Again, the uproar continues as more and more people sign up for the affordable health care act before it is repealed and replaced with ??????
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Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, Smooth or Crunchy | Tagged democracy, Donald, Dump Trump, Executive Orders, fascism, I did it my way, President Trump, Show and Tell, Trump | 1 Comment »