I HATE DONALD TRUMP.

This friendly reminder was brought to you by the letters W, T, and F and the good folks at Twitter.

And a word from Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s former campaign manager …

Whadda guy.

And the United States general in charge of the relief effort in Puerto Rico says there’s not enough troops and equipment there.

Bruce Bartlett, Reagan’s domestic policy advisor wrote a great piece in the Washington Post yesterday which ripped away the veil from Republican tax mythology.  That mythology has been peddled to Americans since Reagan and is dependent on successfully peddling the lie that taking in less money results in revenue going up.  The tax cutting myth is a myth because it’s a lie and has always been a lie.

Low taxes became an article of faith among Republicans started by Ronald Reagan who preached tax cuts as the cure-all for the nation’s ills.  Repubs have never seen a tax cut they didn’t like and live in a world where 2-1=3.  Reagan’s tax cuts probably dampened the recovery after the years of stagflation, the recovery from which was more affected by interest rate reductions made by the Fed.

GWB was also propelled to the WH in 2000 on a tax cutting platform, and his two tax cuts accelerated the downturn of 2007 into the Great Recession that brought our economy to it’s knees.

Once again, the Repubs, now in control of Congress and the WH, have come back to the tax cut trough, peddling their same BS of how cutting taxes makes revenue to up.  They’re also patently dishonest about taxes themselves, continuously lying that the US has the highest taxes in the developed world.  They always point to statutory tax rates which bear no actual resemblance tor effective tax rates actually paid.

Bartlett makes the point that taxes don’t drive business investment.  Tax cuts don’t make revenue go up; they drive revenues down.  It’s simple.  It’s math.  Which Republicans don’t understand.

Price resigns.  If there’s a position opening for an arrogant, entitled, self-centered jerk who is always on the take, he can start on Monday.  Send salary and perks to swamp@trumpwhitehouse.com

There are two months left in hurricane season and we just lost our NOAA hurricane tracker airplane.

With more than two months of the Atlantic hurricane season left, NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters have grounded the Gulfstream IV aircraft that flies over storms at high altitudes to gather data.

“Unbelievably, there is no backup,” Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) told the Palm Beach Post. “I’ve sounded the alarm on this until I’m blue in the face. The administration simply must act.”

The airplane, nicknamed Gonzo, has suffered three malfunctions in a period of eight days.  It’s the only high altitude aircraft that NOAA has.  There is no backup.

So, ya think Tom Price would loan us his airplane?  Or maybe Mexico has one we can borrow?

But Donald Trump and the Koch brothers need a tax cut.  When Trump finds out that Texas and Mexico are bordered by a really, really big ocean, we are all pretty much on our own.

Thanks to AlanInAustin for the heads up.

Okay, I have no idea what the hell Cuba is doing, but I made a trip to Costco for some heavy duty hat making supplies.

A string of bizarre injuries to U.S. diplomats and their families in Cuba has left at least 21 people with a variety of ills including permanent hearing loss, fatigue, dizziness, visual and balance problems and sleeping difficulties, and is now being called an “attack” by the U.S. government. It’s unclear who is behind all of this.

Now, here’s the weird part – US diplomats think pulling out is a real bad idea.  They say —

A major US drawdown, or the closure of the recently reopened US embassy, would be a blow to Obama-era policies seeking to increase engagement between the Cold War adversaries.

Trump has repeatedly attacked his predecessor’s agreement with the Castro regime to bring down barriers between the two countries, calling it a “terrible and misguided deal.” While Trump has chipped away at some of the Obama-era policy changes, many components of it remain in place.

So, is the weirdness limited to Trump and his mission to destroy anything that President Obama ever touched?

Oh hell, Trump just found another place to start a war.