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Now there’s a news subject you don’t see every day

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“Report alleges Donald Trump paid for ‘golden showers’ and Twitter cannot contain itself”, including gratuitous explanations. Nice to the SMH keeping things classy.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/social/report-alleges-donald-trump-paid-for-golden-showers-in-russia-and-twitter-cannot-contain-itself-20170111-gtpcw7.html

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  1. if you search #watersportsgate on twitter you will see what fun people are having with it.

    personally, I think Trump should step down at the earliest public convenience

  3. Don’t golden showers involve actually peeing on someone? Otherwise it’s just wetting the bed, isn’t it?

    So not sexual perversion, just adolescent behaviour from the man with his finger on the nuclear button. Move along…

    EDIT @garyjohn, no I haven’t…

  4. This being the Afterword, it’s compulsory to come up with a relevant song.

    So, here’s Frank.

    “I can take about an hour on the tower of power
    As long as I gets a little golden shower”

  8. Unfortunately I can’t find Watersports by Roy Harper. Edit found the lyrics.

    Water Sports

    In the street the dogs are cutting and the turds are getting bigger
    They’re feeding them on goolies from remains of rotting pig
    And lurking in dark heaps of goo these messages are spread
    By unsuspecting passing shoes who see not where they tread
    And when there’s no one looking late at night and I’m undressed
    And just can’t make the bathroom though my bladder sorely pressed
    I sneak out of the window with a foot of throbbing flesh
    And golden shower the gunge below from three floors with a splash
    Last night I got to thinking I could do it anywhere
    Without a care or a worry of someone being there
    I’d buy the daily smellygraph and roll it long ways on
    And fill it with my rod and staff and have some sneaky fun
    Waiting for the dogs to come and cock a leg or two
    Here Fido come and get my bone and wet the bugger through
    Fill wellingtons on shoe stands and pockets at the match
    The gallery at Westminster the iron maiden’s snatch.

    • Well one lives and learns – especially on The Afterword.

      I thought I had heard everything Roy has ever recorded and now I find there is this.

      I’m not overly bothered. It seems from the lyrics to be on the same branch of his oeuvre as Watford Gap and Advertisement ie non-essential, but nonetheless it is surprising to find a song of his I’ve been unaware of.

      My research indicates it only exists as a B-side of the live single version of Short and Sweet, which remains as one of my favourite RH songs.

  10. While this story is clearly hilarious, if single-sourced, uncorroborated stories (or rather allegations) are now publishable news, look forward to lots more PM pig-shagging, Kenya birthing nonsense going forward. Good for comedy, perhaps less good for establishing any sort of historical consensus or truth.

    • It’s only a wee diversion, bartleby, I see no harm in being showered with gold like this although I think we’re only at the bottom of a long (b)ladder of stories like this when dealing with a man of Trump’s kidney.

      • Yes indeed. It’s always hilarious to take the piss (!) when it comes to Trump and the right. For some reason, that same relaxed sense of “it’s just a giggle” was notable by its absence when it came to unsubstantiated stories about Obama or Hillary. Why could that be, do you think?

        • Trump isn’t on the right though, he’s nowhere. And I agree but on the other hand I think most people might say Obama and Hillary aren’t a danger to the country they were trying to lead even if you disagree with them. Seems to me you (by which I mean one) can only defend Trump if you hate the left more than you like the right, since any genuine conservative should be as sickened by the great tangerine asshat as any lefty, more even.

          I wasn’t defending the story btw Bartlett, just making some crap (piss) jokes. Nobody I know believed the Cameron pig story regardless of their political stripe either, and anyway that one was put out by Ashcroft who isn’t easily confusable with Jeremy Corbyn and the BBC refused to report it for days and days because of its nature and the fact that it’s just one bloke unsupported by anyone else.

          Oh and I just remembered – fake news about Hillary was publicised hugely before the election. Bernie fans and Trump fans alike were sharing all kinds of awful crap about her and it did get reported in the “MSM” – the Benghazi stuff and the rumoured contents of her emails mostly. But the pizza place thing was reported by breitbart and then a bloke turned up with a gun, so it’s not just (or even mostly) lefties who are making a big deal of uncorroborated nonsense.

          • Well, on the narrow point you raise, I’d say Hillary’s approach to Russia was far more of a threat to world peace than anything we’ve seen to date from Trump. Likewise Obama being asleep at the wheel for 8 years has left the Middle East a far more dangerous place and Russia a much emboldened and malign influence on world affairs, but, you know, Obama’s kind of cute and gives good speech, so swings and roundabouts.

            • This story could turn out to be absolute nonsense, but it originates with what is apparently a credible and experienced intelligence source and has been handed to the FBI by a former Republican presidential candidate. It seems perfectly legitimate that it should be investigated further to determine whether it’s accurate, particularly given what we already know about the activities of the Russians to date.

              I don’t think it’s remotely comparable to the noxious Cameron pig accusations, or the birther movement, in terms of either its source or its implications.

              Always happy to agree to disagree on politics, and – as you know – I’ve frequently said on here that we should try to respect one another’s opinions and speak of our leaders with a little more moderation, if not respect. I think this, along with a lot of Trump’s behaviour, goes far far beyond political differences. I certainly wouldn’t dream of associating him with the many smart, decent people I know who hold perfectly intelligent and considered right wing beliefs (of whom you are one).

              I broadly agree re: Obama, for what it’s worth. But I’m not sure his failings are relevant here.

              OOAA

              • Thanks BL. My point was the hypocrisy and double standard. When the birther accusations came long, one of the sources deemed credible was a Democrat staffer (who worked for Hillary). It’s the apparent credibility of single source stuff that makes double sourcing of stories so important. Like Cameron and the pig thing, I doubt it’ll make any difference to anything – people are going to believe what they believe. The Republican right held their noses enough already to vote for Trump. I drew the comparison to Obama because it just seems incredible that you can achieve so little in power, leave a complete foreign policy vacuum that allows Russia and the Middle East to spiral into far more dangerous territory, yet get lionised by large sections of the media. I find it patronising and insulting – just a whole load of virtue signalling and little analysis or holding to account.

                • Oh, I totally agree. When my phone first switched on this morning, the tidal wave of glee which exploded into my Whatsapp account was bewildering. I don’t see this as happy news. Bloody scary news, maybe, but not happy news, and – as you say – still unconfirmed.

                  I do find it quite hard to feel sorry for Trump in the same way I felt sympathy for Cameron and Obama when they were smeared. Partly, because this one does strike me as having at least the potential to be true (and being relevant to his ability to do his job), but mainly because of his own behaviour. It’s difficult to ask people to show respect and restraint to a man who shows none himself. The guy’s a complete asshat.

                  Re: the birther accusation and the Democrat staffer, I think the difference here is that, while we can’t know the intelligence source (and it is a single source, as you rightly observe), we do know that John McCain, a man who’s in a reasonable position to make an appraisal as to the probable reliability of the source/evidence, has effectively put his reputation on the line somewhat by forwarding it to the authorities. That’s the aspect of the story that lends it gravitas at this stage, for me at least. That and what we already know about Putin’s actions and goals in respect of the election.

                  I don’t agree with what you say above about Hillary being more of a threat to world peace than Trump viz Russia. Hillary was (rightly) tarred as the establishment, status quo candidate. That was the accusation against her, probably fairly. I’m not sure she can be both the status quo candidate and the woman most likely to start WW3, whereas Trump’s clear tendency towards appeasement seems likely to feed the beast (and I do think that’s an apt descriptor when it comes to Putin). It’s a tired comparison, so forgive me, but Neville Chamberlain was once the man of peace destined to prevent WW2. It doesn’t always work out that way.

                  I suspect you and I are largely of a mind on Obama. I think he’s been a poor President, with a dreadful foreign policy, and no amount of beautiful oratory will change that. I’ll voice an unpopular opinion here: I think there were some dangerous signs for western democracy in the 2008 US election, and I said so at the time. Voters were encouraged to vote for a relatively junior, largely unproven candidate on the basis that doing so would allow them to “be part of history”, and bring about some nebulous “change”. They responded in their droves. Trump’s victory strikes me as the flip side of the same coin (albeit Obama is clearly a relatively decent human being in comparison), but I think that many of the warning signs were already there. We’ve long since trained people to vote on emotion, rather than on thought, and that’s incredibly dangerous.

                  I must confess that I do hope this story grows enough legs to somehow bring Trump down, but I doubt it will. Mike Pence is no saint, but he’d at least be free of the manifold conflicts of interest and the burgeoning personality cult, and might be accountable to someone, somewhere. I try to tell myself that there have been horrendous human beings in the White House previously (anyone who’s spent time with Robert Caro’s excellent books on LBJ will attest to that), but I think Trump goes above and beyond, because of the era in which he lives, and the comparative weakness of the institutions which are supposed to contain his power.

                  Anyway, good to chat – let’s see how this one plays out. I suspect you’re quite correct that he’ll somehow brazen it out, and today’s hashtag gag theme will become tomorrow’s chip wrappers.

                  • It would be good to continue this one over a pint or three.

                    We mostly agree, as you say. And good point re past presidents and LBJ in particular – here’s the man who, legend tells, revelled in baseless and vile accusations against his opponents “But we can’t prove he fucks pigs sir” says his apocryphal aide. “I know that,” says LBJ. “I just want to hear him deny it.”

                    Hillary seemed far more likely to confront Russia and Putin than either Obama or Trump, imv. If he kicked off another of his proxy wars in the Baltics or went too far with the cyber hacking and leak stuff, I think she’d be as likely to reach for an ultimatum as Obama was over Syria. But possibly more likely to act on it. So, yes, I do think that Hillary might have been worse for good ol’ “World Peace” than Trump. As for the Chamberlain parallel, you are of course right. That is always the danger, as we’ve seen with Obama. The realpolitik, following the Kissinger doctrine, would be accommodation over what Russia regards as its “sphere of influence”. It’s that or another Cuban missile crisis over Estonia, Latvia or some other bit of the Caucasus I expect.

                    • Two books have sprung to mind again and again since the start of the Presidential election race.

                      The first is Caro’s second volume of the LBJ biog, in which he describes Johnson’s victory over one Coke Stevenson to win a Senate seat and preserve his political career by an unspeakably narrow margin. The lengths to which Johnson went in order to do so, and the dirty tricks he played (including – almost certainly – ballot box stuffing), confirm that the lowest lows of the 2016 election were largely a return to age old former practice in US electoral politics.

                      The second book is Philip Roth’s excellent The Plot Against America. Frankly, I’m stunned not to have seen it referenced more often in the press.

                      I completely agree that it would be great to chat this out over a drink or two. Maybe one day we’ll get the chance, you never know!

                    • It was called “rat fucking” back in JFK’s time. Compared to JFK and LBJ, Nixon was a paranoid and ineffectual amateur!

                • I think the balanced view of Obama is that he was a curate’s egg of a President.

                  In the credit side, the ACA and the jobs recovery have to be major pluses. So too the expansion of gay rights.

                  The Middle East? Not a credit, but when I replay his last eight years and the shit show of the previous eight, I’m not sure I see a better way of playing a crap hand of cards. There was no way he could have committed troops to Syria, either politically or militarily. That situation is further clouded that we still aren’t altogether sure who the good guys are there – if, indeed, there are any (which is what I think the real truth is). I seem to remember a decent defence of Assad posted on here by someone close to the situation. His primary concern is America, and i don’t see any upside to getting into Syria from an American standpoint.

                  I do think his ability to get anything done with the obstructionist Congress he received is laudable.

  11. sauce for the goose – whilst in all seriousness I agree with you on the questionable ethics, this is just karma for Trump isn’t it, after all the lies and half truths he peddled about Obama and Clinton?

    • God Nick, the guy’s just awful. I just hate the double standard. The pious “how could they” when it came to birther or Parkinson’s stories, then the glee with this sort of stuff. If Trump is coarsening public life, we’re all going along with it, it seems.

      • I know, but at the same time I just bet you this one is true!

        (Which doesn’t change anything, but I bet it is. It absolutely accords with everything else we know about him, some of which is from his own mouth.)

    • I would imagine the ‘golden shower’ nonsense is, even now, of little consequence. The business and commercial interests will be more problematic when they surface, probably post inauguration.

      Of more concern is the future.

      Yesterday was Trumps future and he created a train crash.

      I suspect the full(er) dossier will be revealed following his (hypothetical) assassination

      • Agreed, yesterday’s “press conference” raised far more pressing concerns:

        1) His failure to divest himself properly of his business interests simply lays the foundation for corruption on an unprecedented scale. Does anyone REALLY believe that he won’t talk to his sons (or vice versa) about his businesses? Not to mention that fact that his hotels will still accept bookings from foreign diplomats etc – he already doesn’t pay any taxes, so why should we expect him to donate hotel profits to the treasury?

        2) His flat out refusal to release his tax returns. If he does have financial ties to Russia, we’ll never know.

        3) His total disregard (or ignorance of) the First Amendment regarding freedom of the press. Calling a major news outlet “fake news” and refusing to take questions from them because he doesn’t like what they say? Really?

        4) Dismissing Sen Graham’s stance on further sanctions against Russia – apparently he thinks Graham is still “competing” with him.

        5) His complete disconnect from the entire intelligence community.

        6) Bringing a claque of employees and staffers to the conference so they could laugh and applaud his comments. Insecure much?

        7) Last but very much not least, his apparent belief that he is still on reality television.

        • Very well summed up. And is that how the presidential press conferences are going to play out, with his crowd of cheerleaders in attendance, and refusing to take questions from people he has taken a dislike to? Probably.

    • They’re in the process of dismantling the ACA right now.

      There’s every chance insurers will be able to decline to cover me for a chronic conditions. So, yes, it will be.

      He’s appointed a right wing extremist as a Senior Counselor.
      His Supreme Court pick is going to make John Roberts seem liberal and have us pining for Scalia.

      His AG pick is a racist who thinks that only Christians can be trusted or know the truth.

      National Security will be at risk because of how he’s handling Intelligence

      Yes, it’s going to be bad. And you don’t know what you’re talking about.

      • Plus, his pick for Secretary of State is an oil businessman with no experience in government and disturbingly close ties to Putin and Russia. His senior counselor is a leading voice of the “alt-right” (aka white nationalist) movement. Despite his campaign promises to “drain the swamp”, he has hired industry insiders to oversee regulation of their own industries. His pick for the Environmental Protection Agency is a puppet of the fossil fuel industry who believes that there is a “debate” on climate change. He believes that 5 years at a military academy 50 years ago has given him better training than anybody in the regular military.
        Si is right – his presidency is going to be, in one of Trumps favourite words, a disaster.

    • What I ‘want’ to happen is probably irrelevant, but I certainly don’t want what Trump and the Republicans are already planning (I have family very directly affected by the ACA and Medicare ructions), but if I ‘expect’ anything up-to-and-including a nuclear strike, torture and invasions, then all the really likely stuff short of that… like Republicans driving the economy into another ditch, making the wealth gap even wider, handing government to special interests and partisan loonies left right and centre, screwing the various alliances like NATO etc… is all still in the ‘irredeemably bad’ end of the spectrum.

  17. There are of course enough checks and balances in USA politics to prevent him doing everything he wants to do. Lets just hope that the Senators and Congressmen are strong enough to withstand the pressure from his cronies.
    My bigger concern is not his policies but the change in attitude of the American public. Hopefully they will avoid the road of racism and bigotry. However 4 years of this is going to be tough so impeachment would be a welcome result. I doubt he is smart enough to have covered all of his tracks.

    • Amusingly, the bookies have him at 50/50 to see out his term.

      The attitude of the American public is going to be interesting, and I count myself in that population. I don’t think that there will be a homogeneous reaction. I think that a large number, hopefully a huge majority, will continue to exhibit the traits of the best that America has to offer – inclusion, diversity, 1st Amendment rights and 14th Amendment rights, and mutual respect.

      There is equally going to be a large tranche – who are already visible and audible – who think that the electoral process, and the President, have given them permission to exhibit tendencies that may otherwise been forced to stay dormant. Yes, racism; misogyny; lack of religious tolerance; erosion of 1st Amendment. There’s been nothing in the narrative of the last 18 months to tell them that these things are wrong.

      You could argue that these things are better out than in, because now we can work on addressing them instead of pretending they don’t exist. I’m lucky; I live in a purple, and those of my friends who are Republicans are very reasonable people who share a lot of my concerns for the future.
      I know full well there are a lot of places where that isn’t true, and life is going to be very bad for people.

      Fingers crossed (and goes back to pricing out shotguns)

  18. “Lets just hope that the Senators and Congressmen are strong enough to withstand the pressure from his cronies.”

    Fat chance – Senate and Congress are both in the hands of the GOP and with a few notable exceptions (Graham, McCain) both houses are falling over themselves to do his bidding.

  19. This whole thing is being framed as apocalyptic. It is not. It’s just the right flexing it’s muscle. Ying and Yang. The yang will find it’s genitals too. Stop worrying and go about your business.

      • Fear not Si, because after the Republicans relieve almost 20 million citizens from the crushing burden of affordable healthcare, a terrific new plan is coming, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan, essentially simultaneously, probably the same day, could be the same hour.
        On the other hand, fuck you, because you obviously don’t see the bigger picture: repeal will create huge tax cuts for the people who need it the most, i.e. the wealthy, and anyway, having a pre-existing condition just proves that you’re weak and a loser. Sad!

  20. By ‘flexing its muscle’, will the right be making an ostentatious show of political capacity designed to unnerve opponents? Or getting their cocks out?
    Either one sounds pretty worrying to me.

    • With over thinking like that it’s no wonder the left of centre habitually gets walked over. I Think the Republican right is actually praying for any worthy adversary.

        • That would be the Democrats not the Republicans. The Democrats are useless when it comes to the blood sport of politics. Elizabeth Warren is about the only Democrat that fully understands what is at stake. She has got my vote.

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