Non-wine related: Porn star sues US president

[AlexR]

This is the shock headline that greeted me when I opened up the CNN website.

Politics are divisive and many people voted for Donald Trump in 2016, so criticizing him is going to necessarily upset some of you...
But honestly guys, as an ex-pat American with a somewhat nostalgic image of his country, can this fucking actually be happening?

Ronald Reagan was a conservative whose views and policies were contrary to mine. But he deserved my respect.
But Trump?
Isn't he the lowest of the low, the seediest of the seedy, etc., etc.?

How do you think this plays abroad, even in non-puritanical countries like France?

Best regards,
Alex R.

[jal]

Alex, yes. He is the lowest of the low, the seediest of the seedy, the most disgusting human I can think of.
And people voted for him? Nauseating. I can have nothing in common with anyone who excuses him. Even if, and that's a big if, you agree with his politics, there can be no excusing his character.

[JimHow]

I’ve just given up on the US, I think we are hopelessly broken.
My goals now are very limited to maintaining my little house, being comfortable in retirement, trying to help my family out (help make sure my nieces and nephews don't have student loans, etc.), getting involved in individual projects like fighting for indigent defense services, defending poor people charged with crimes, drinking Bordeaux wines, and trying to make sure I don’t have to go into a nursing home.
As for the rest of Orange Head’s USA, this place sucks the wad.

[Chateau Vin]

Today's sad story is not about Trump. Trumps existed before, exist now and will exist in future too. The real issue is his enablers, the silence of institutions and the degenerated tribalism. This nature of tribalism is no different than the religious and other societal divisions in other countries. It's a different means, but achieves the same thing...a broken society.

As for Alex's question of Isn't he the lowest of the low or seediest as the seedy, I would say..."No, you haven't seen anything yet...I think once you see that is more to come, this current version of Trump pales in comparison to the new one. The majority of the iceberg is hidden under water"

[Gerry M.]

I used to be a news junkie watching the PBS news hour, CNN and even Fox (Just to hear a different opinion). Now I can't watch, read or listen to any of it without being totally nauseated by any of it. It's bad enough having to deal with all of the Trump and far right BS but what truly scares me is the Democrats are either unable or unwilling to articulate an alternative vision and hope for the future.

I'm with Jim on this. I feel my only option to maintain my sanity is to just tune it all out and somewhat go off the grid.

[Racer Chris]

I'm into watching the whole shitshow unfold.
One of my favorite shows these days is The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC.
On Monday he interviewed Sam Nunberg, an acolyte of Roger Stone.

The previous week, after Sam had been interviewed by the Special Counsel, he went on TV and said Mueller was doing a good job.
Only a few days later he was subpoena'd by the Grand Jury to provide all his emails with certain associates.
Then he went on all the TV news shows saying he would stand up to Mueller over this unfairness.
On CNN he was accused by Erin Burnett of smelling like alcohol.

So he went on The Beat again and Ari, with the help of former federal prosecutor Maya Wiley, talked him off the ledge.
The next morning Sam announced he would be cooperating, and he would be obtaining psychological counseling for his stress, crediting Maya for his decision.

Tuesday evening Ari had the wife of George Papadopolous on. She had been impressed by the Special Counsel in her interview, and was totally cooperative after being subpoena'd.

I've been truly impressed by the quality of people coming on the MSNBC evening shows.
Malcolm Nance is one of my favorite guests, along with former US attorneys Joyce Vance and Barbara McQuaide. There are too many others to name.

My current thinking is that Don Jr. is guilty of conspiring against the US, and Don Sr. is guilty of Obstruction of Justice - while trying to protect his son.
I think he's also guilty of Dereliction of Duty which seems like it meets the bar for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and should justify impeachment proceedings.

[Racer Chris]

Oh, one more thing,
Mueller has probably validated almost the entire Steele Dossier by now.

[William P]

All this is just the side show. Wait until Mueller gets fired and we have a Constitutional crisis. People don't have a clue how fragile democracy is and the repubs don't have the backbone to do anything. Oh well.

Bill

[Chateau Vin]

All this is just the side show. Wait until Mueller get fired and we have a Constitutional crisis. People don't have a clue how fragile democracy is and the repubs don't have the backbone to do anything. Oh well.

Bill

I agree. Actually, I will be surprised if Mueller doesn't get fired in the coming weeks/months...Or somehow Trump enablers, aka republicans, will clip the wings of Mueller through money appropriations...

[Racer Chris]

I'd be willing to bet that Mueller already has a contingency for that possibility.

Atty General Sessions sent a message to Trump that he is on Rod Rosenstein's side last weekend.
They were seen dining out together shortly after Sessions tweeted that he runs the Justice Dept. his way.

[RPCV]

Not a defense, nor support (so no piling on), but let us not forget that most men in power have had their indiscretions....some more that others.

[JimHow]

Agreed, RP. Orange Head's golden shower trysts are the least of the reasons why our government has become a clown show.

[DavidG]

If Trump wants to debauch himself with porn stars or hookers, that’s pathetic. But when he debauches our system of government, that’s dangerous and frightening. That he has a Congress full of enablers and a third of the electorate behind him is even more frightening.

[AKR]

I warned you all about him a long time ago. Major red flag - he is a teetotaler.

Out west we know you can't trust a man if you can't drink with him.

[JimHow]

If you haven't read the actual complaint by "Stormy" against "David Dennison," I highly recommend it:

http://documents.latimes.com/stormy-dan ... complaint/

When I first saw the comments last week from "David Dennison's" lawyer that the $130,000 was paid without his client's knowledge, my first thought was that there had to be a bar violation. But then I started questioning myself, thinking I must be missing something in the story. As recited in paragraphs 30, 31, and 32, apparently "Storny's" lawyers agree. I mean, this is just a bad nightmare, right? A Marx Brothers, Three Stooges farce?

[AlexR]

As RPCV rightly points out, powerful men with mistresses is nothing new.
But that is not what gets me about the current scandal (undoubtedly to be replaced by another within a week).
It’s the hush money, the threat of blackmail, the lies, the sordidness of it all.

The only thing that upset me about Monica Lewinsky was that Clinton got up to his hijinks in the oval office rather than going to a cheap motel like everyone else… Oh, yes, and the fact he lied about it afterward. But Monica was not a porn star (apparently in this post-Weinstein climate she is now claiming to be a victim…) ready to smear his reputation and, coincidentally, that of the US.
What remains a mystery is why the prostitute-cum-porn star (sorry for the bad pun) chose the present time to make a splash. Self-promotion? Extortion? Blackmail? Politics?
I would like to see the Stormy Daniel thing as the nadir of Trumpism, but I fear that there’s still a lot more to hit us in the face before he’s done. My heart sank when I read that Trump has appointed a campaign manager for his re-election bid in 2020. Could the American people, really, actually let him stay in the White House any longer? Does the other side have anyone credible to put up against him? If so, they seem to be wasting precious time in getting their act together. If not, then we are sunk.

Of course, one of the glaring paradoxes in this all is that evangelical conservatives forgive Trump all his departures from the straight and narrow because he espouses their political agenda (pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-gay, etc.).

Getting back to sex scandals, the French laughed at Americans during the Lewinsky thing, finding our fellow countrymen prudish, hypocritical, and naïve. But times have changed, and the story with François Hollande on his motorbike to see his mistress while his “official” mistress was still living in the Elysée Palace changed things.
The present scandal highlights the president’s crassness and reliance on “deals” and money to cover up his many misdeeds.

Americans hope that their president will walk in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. Does anyone see Donald Trump this way?
Can you imagine a “Trump Library” down the line with all his misdoings carefully avoided and expurgated?
This all seems like a bad dream or a cheap novel.

[Winona Chief]

It all seems like a bad dream to me. I try not to watch the news anymore.

Chris Bublitz

[Harry C.]

Alex. There is precedent for evangelicals changing their tune when their political savior has gone against their core beliefs. Think Ronald Reagan and divorce. In the 50-60s and prior divorce was a no-no. But along comes divorced Reagan and they change their tune, big time. Yet they still go after the gays. Pick and choose what soots your fancy.

[Nicklasss]

Our own BD almost had an affair with a "porn star shape" blond lady in Napa 2002, in an obscure warehouse full of Crus Classés... but i took my courage, got him out of there, to keep him "pure as a rose".

I never met Trump, so he did not had that chance like our BD...

Nic

P.s. The same type of thing happened to us in a bar in Nashville in 2016. What to think? Some women are interested by a mature novel author with a frenchie as friend!

[DavidG]

I was at a BB King's in Orlando with three other guys having dinner and listening to some live blues after a medical conference when a bachelorette party that had clearly been celebrating a while approached our table. The very attractive young bride to be announced that she had some tasks she was required to complete before getting married the next day, and coyly asked if we could help her out with one of them. The four of us looked at each other, then at the young woman, then again at each other, and one of us finally asked what the nature of this task might be. To which she responded, "Dance with the oldest guy in the bar."

[Nicklasss]

LOL. David, good one. Almost tears in my eyes!

Nic

[stefan]

ROTFL, David.