So, one wonders, why exactly does Trump think his poll numbers could be in the 50s and that it is fake news that they’re in the 30s? According to Politico, it’s because White House aides are selectively showing the president polls in an effort to improve his mood.

Aides in the White House often show Trump polls designed to make him feel good, according to aides and advisers. Usually they’re the ones that focus just on voters who cast ballots for him in 2016 or are potential Trump supporters —Trump’s base—but occasionally include public polls like Rasmussen, depending on what the numbers say.

Per one adviser, the polls are all about Trump’s loyal voters, as he “cares about the base.” IT was pointed out that last month the White House sent internal poll numbers to over a dozen lawmakers in an effort to get them behind tax reform.

Republicans in Congress must believe voters are dolts. Nothing else can explain the tax bill that just passed the House with 227 Republican votes and no Democrats. No rational person would make the choices that are in this bill. Even granting that big GOP donors want this legislation, and that cutting taxes and spending are the core Republican mission, this bill is ridiculous. Anyone who voted for it should be drummed out of Congress simply for the insult.

Consider the following facts:

At a time when inequality has reached Gilded Age extremes, the Republicans will give fully one-half of the tax cuts to the top 1 percent. That’s not an economic strategy. That’s a plutocrats’ raid on the Treasury.
Corporate profits are near record highs, and corporate taxes are declining as share of federal income, but Republicans hope to lard Big Business with the largest one-time cut in corporate taxes ever. Three-quarters of the benefits of the $1.4 trillion bill go to businesses—and those are permanent. The remainder that goes to individuals will end in eight years when Senate Republicans get done with it.

Nobody can deny the ground has shifted in America. Formerly invincible men are tumbling one by one as victims come out with their stories of sexual assault. Some, like Harvey Weinstein, were already fading from power, but others, like Louis CK, were still at the height of it.
Yet one man continues to defy America’s new moral norm: its president. Seventeen women have accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment. Their claims are more numerous and no less credible than those against Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for senator in Alabama. Senate leader Mitch McConnell said this week, “I believe the women” who accused Moore, and that he “should step aside.” But asked if he believes the women who accused Trump, McConnell refused to answer. (Trump’s position: Every one of those 17 women is lying.)
So yes, the ground has shifted, but some still stand high enough on it to escape the cold, swirling waters of justice. In other words, it’s still, in the end, about power. Trump’s power is that the party still needs him (or believes it does). That means it will blatantly ignore accusations that would put any other man on the street, if not in jail.

“Did you stop beating your wife, yes or no? Did you stop beating your wife, yes or no? Did you stop beating your wife? Answer, yes or no!”

The brain of Rev. Flip Benham, leader of the extremist Christian fundamentalist group “Operation Save America,” based in North Carolina, seemed to be stuck on repeat, and he couldn’t stop berating a reporter in Alabama with the same nonsensical question. Or, as right-wing commenters like to say, he was triggered.

Benham’s meltdown happened in a hallway Wednesday afternoon outside of a meeting of “faith leaders” who had come to Birmingham to staunchly defend accused pedophile and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore.

The group Benham leads claims the Bible as its “foundation,” and states on its website that, “Operation Save America unashamedly takes up the cause of preborn children in the name of Jesus Christ. We employ only biblical principles.”

[link:http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/palestine-cut-off-all-communication-us-latest-embarrassment-kushner-1647935|

Do not let this conversation be muddled. This election has become a referendum on whether we will accept this kind of behavior from our leaders.

Alabamians have never cared about what the rest of country thinks of them. And we do not expect all the handwringing from national pundits, conservative or liberal, to make much of a difference. This election isn't about what a late-night comedian may think of Alabama or whether Sean Hannity can sell advertisements; it's not about Saturday Night Live or Mitch McConnell. It's not about Breitbart or National Democrats. It is about the moral values of the people of Alabama.

Do not make your voting decision based on who it will affect on a national stage. Vote based on who it will affect in your hometown.

We each know someone in our lives who is a survivor of sexual assault or child abuse. Many of us are still searching for the words needed to tell our own stories and some may never find that voice. This election is about them.

How can we look our neighbors, our parishioners, our colleagues, our partners, or our children in the eyes and tell them they are worth less than ensuring one political party keeps a Senate seat? How can we expect young Alabamians to have faith in their government or their church, when its leaders equivocate on matters as clear cut as sexual abuse?

Zimbabwe has famously abundant natural resources but resuscitating the economy after 20 years of disastrous mismanagement and wholesale looting by corrupt officials is a major undertaking. The banking system needs to be rebooted, faith restored in the national currency and government finances somehow replenished. The vast debts incurred by Mugabe’s regime need to be rescheduled or waived and new funding arranged to rebuild the country’s shattered infrastructure.

Investors have long been interested in Zimbabwe but put off by the significant risk that any funds will be stolen or any successful venture appropriated. Can they now be sure that will not happen? Old habits die hard.

The ruling Zanu-PF party and allies in the military launched their takeover to purge an ambitious faction that threatened their position, not because they wanted to see structural reform that would shut down their own lucrative rackets and rent-seeking.

Former Vice President Joe Biden said we are living in "one of the most dangerous times in modern history", before attacking Donald Trump's administration for taking advantage of “pain and change”.

The veteran senator went on to accuse the current government of letting down working class voters who supported the President during his election campaign.

“I think it’s one of the most dangerous times in modern history,” he told a crowd at the Miami Book Fair.

indeedy

Chad Eisenhart glanced at the image on his phone: a white, beefy face, partially obscured by ski goggles. The man wore a military-style helmet, backpack, and white polo shirt and was marching in loose formation with other men in helmets.

Charlottesville, Eisenhart quickly realized.

He looked closer with growing unease. The marcher looked familiar, like one of Eisenhart’s employees at Carryout Courier, a small business that shuttles pizza and hot food to the residential doorsteps of York.

Eisenhart’s social media manager, who sent the photo, had included a message: “Is our driver Bob a [expletive] Nazi?”