;)
September 12, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "Top officials from Donald Trump's political fundraising and former campaign operation are among dozens of people in the former President's orbit who received grand jury subpoenas in recent days -- as the Justice Department intensifies its criminal investigation into January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. [At 6:55 pm ET Monday] This story is breaking and will be updated." On-air, CNN reporters mentioned top lackey Dan Scavino & 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien as among those the grand jury has subpoenaed. ~~~
~~~ Update. Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "Justice Department officials have seized the phones of two top advisers to ... Donald J. Trump and blanketed his aides with about 40 subpoenas in a substantial escalation of the investigation into his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, people familiar with the inquiry said on Monday. The seizure of the phones, coupled with a widening effort to obtain information from those around Mr. Trump after the 2020 election, represent some of the most aggressive steps the department has taken thus far in its criminal investigation into the actions that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.... Federal agents with court-authorized search warrants took phones last week from at least two people: Boris Epshteyn, an in-house counsel who helps coordinate Mr. Trump's legal efforts, and Mike Roman, a campaign strategist who was the director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign in 2020.... Mr. Epshteyn and Mr. Roman have been linked to [the fake electors scheme].... The new subpoenas encompass a wide variety of those in Mr. Trump's orbit, from low-level aides to his most senior advisers." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Among 40 people, some will be forthcoming & tell the truth to the grand jury. And some won't accidentally lose their emails & other communications. That's bad news for the Biggest Liar.
Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump asked a federal judge on Monday to deny the Justice Department's request to immediately restart a key part of its criminal investigation into his hoarding of sensitive government documents at his residence in Florida. Renewing their request for an expansive independent review of records seized from Mr. Trump, the former president's legal team argued that documents marked as classified should remain off limits to the F.B.I. and prosecutors. They asked the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, to maintain her order barring agents from using any of the materials taken from his estate until an outside arbiter, known as a special master, has vetted all of them. The 21-page filing was an aggressive rebuke of the Justice Department's broader inquiry into whether Mr. Trump or his aides illegally kept national security secrets at his property, Mar-a-Lago, or obstructed the government's repeated attempts to retrieve the materials. It played down the criminal inquiry as a 'storage dispute' and insinuated that officials might have leaked information about the contents of the files." Politico's report is here.
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has joined the list of other right-wing justices (Samuel A. Alito Jr., Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas) whining about public criticism of the court.... He really doesn't get it. The degree to which this court is utterly and completely tone-deaf to its role in the destruction of its own integrity remains a powerful reason for court expansion or term limits.... Joyce White Vance, a former prosecutor..., told me, 'The Supreme Court has a proud history of defending our rights, not taking them away. The Roberts court will go down in history as the first one' to strip away people's rights.... ~~~
"Roberts would rather not address the root of the court's credibility crisis: its conservative members' blatant disregard of nearly 50 years of precedent, their misuse and abuse of facts and history, their penchant for delivering public screeds in political settings, their misleading answers in confirmation hearings, their improper use of the shadow docket, their prior placement on the shortlist of potential justices by right-wing dark-money groups attempting to transform the judiciary, their opposition to adhering to a mandatory code of judicial ethics -- and a refusal by Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, despite the anti-democracy activism of his wife, Ginni. And let's not forget: The court got its 6-3 supermajority largely through GOP hypocrisy and Congress's refusal to take up the nomination of Merrick Garland in the last year of Barack Obama's presidency."
Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "A group of district council members in St. Petersburg..., Vladimir Putin's hometown, called for the Russian leader to be charged with treason and removed from office in a rare but brazen protest against the war in Ukraine.... A day after the resolution against Putin was made public, a local police station told the lawmakers they were facing legal charges 'due to actions aimed at discrediting the current Russian government.' The district council's statement came in the form of a request to the Russian parliament, the State Duma, and asserted that Putin's decision to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24 led to a massive loss of life, turned countless Russian men into disabled veterans, hindered the national economy, and fast-tracked NATO's eastward expansion."
Charles Keyton, et al., of the AP: "As Queen Elizabeth II's four children walked silently behind, a hearse carried her flag-draped coffin< along a crowd-lined street in the Scottish capital Monday to a cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving hailed the late monarch as a 'constant in all of our lives for over 70 years.'... A military bagpiper played as her oak coffin, draped in the red-and-yellow Royal Standard of Scotland, was borne from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.... King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walked behind as the hearse traveled to St. Giles' Cathedral, flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of the Royal Company of Archers, the king's ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland."
~~~~~~~~~~
It's not enough to stand up for democracy once a year or every now and then. It's something we have to do every single day. So this is a day not only to remember, but a day of renewal and resolve for each and every American. -- President Biden, at the Pentagon's September 11 commemoration ~~~
~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Jeffery Mays of the New York Times: "Twenty-one years after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Biden promised to never forget 'the precious lives stolen from us' as he honored victims of the worst terrorist strike in American history with a somber wreath-laying ceremony under the pouring rain at the Pentagon.... Members of the Biden administration fanned out across memorials at the sites of the three attacks -- Shanksville, Pa., the Pentagon and Lower Manhattan -- to pay tribute to emergency workers and families of the nearly 3,000 victims, who continue to grieve over lost memories, experiences and bonds. Mr. Biden also marked the anniversary by encouraging Americans to defend the nation's democratic system, turning again to a message that the country's institutions are under threat by forces of domestic extremism." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Olivia Olander of Politico: "President Joe Biden quoted the late Queen Elizabeth II in a speech Sunday remembering the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 'Grief is the price we pay for love,' Biden said, referring to a message sent by the monarch ... after the attacks that killed almost 3,000 people."
Mystery Flight. Rayne of emptywheel posts a series of tweets by various people, including George Conway & Michael Beschloss, showing that Donald Trump flew from Bedminster to Washington, D.C., Sunday night. He was casually-dressed & wearing golf shoes. He brought suitcases. No clue as to why. Thanks to unwashed for the link. An MSN story is here. MB: Let's hope he's surrendering to the feds, but that seems like wishful thinking.
When a Lunatic Roamed the White House. Jeremy Herb of CNN: "... Donald Trump repeatedly told aides in the days following his 2020 election loss that he would remain in the White House rather than let incoming President Joe Biden take over, according to reporting provided to CNN from a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. 'I'm just not going to leave,' Trump told one aide, according to Haberman. 'We're never leaving,' Trump told another. 'How can you leave when you won an election?'... Haberman writes that in the immediate aftermath of the November 3 elections, Trump seemed to recognize he had lost to Biden.... Trump told junior press aides, 'I thought we had it,' seemingly almost embarrassed by the outcome, according to Haberman. But at some point, Trump's mood changed, Haberman writes, and he abruptly informed aides he had no intention of departing the White House.... He was even overheard asking the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna [Romney] McDaniel, 'Why should I leave if they stole it from me?'"
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The Democratic chair of the US Senate intelligence committee has demanded that a federal judge allows the committee to be briefed on the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago and the potential damage caused by Donald Trump hoarding top secret documents at his private club. Mark Warner, the US senator from Virginia, said that there was confusion over whether the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI were allowed to brief the Senate committee on their review of classified documents held at the former president's club-resort and residence in Palm Beach, Florida."
Aaron Pellish & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas presented an honorary American flag recently flown above the US Capitol to a convicted January 6 rioter after she was released from prison Friday. Gohmert, a Trump ally who has previously promoted debunked conspiracies about the January 6, 2021, insurrection, met Dr. Simone Gold upon her release from federal prison in Miami on Friday and gifted her a flag flown over the Capitol along with an official certificate. In a statement released Friday, Gohmert falsely claimed that Gold was 'a political prisoner,' a term many supporters of ... Donald Trump have used to inaccurately describe the prosecution and incarceration of January 6 defendants." MB: Whaddaya bet there was a "Second Amendment remedy" tucked into the folds of the flag. (As I made this entry Sunday afternoon, there was a discussion going on on CNN about how Republicans are criticizing President Biden for remarking on GOP radicalism.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Chaos Is of the Essence of the Scheme. Amy Gardner & Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "Supporters of ... Donald Trump have swamped local election offices across the nation in recent weeks with a coordinated campaign of requests for 2020 voting records, in some cases paralyzing preparations for the fall election season. In nearly two dozen states and scores of counties, election officials are fielding what many describe as an unprecedented wave of public records requests in the final weeks of summer, one they say may be intended to hinder their work and weaken an already strained system. The avalanche of sometimes identically worded requests has forced some to dedicate days to the process of responding...."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Sweden. Christina Anderson & Isabella Kwai of the New York Times: "A tight political race in Sweden led the Swedish Election Authority to delay the announcement of preliminary election results as it continued counting votes, with a coalition of right-wing parties narrowly leading the governing center-left bloc early on Monday morning. With 94 percent of votes in electoral districts counted, election officials said they had yet to count early mail-in votes and ballots from citizens abroad, and that the preliminary general election results would not be available until Wednesday at the earliest." The Guardian's report is here.
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The Ukrainian military said on Monday that it had gained more ground against Russian forces over the past day, suggesting a lightning advance in the country's northeast still had room to run. After a dramatic weekend offensive that recaptured hundreds of square miles of territory, the army said that it had advanced into an additional 20 Ukrainian towns and villages over the past 24 hours that had been under Russian control. The claim could not be independently verified. Retreating Russian forces have retaliated with long-range missile strikes and air raids, Ukrainian and American officials said. Late on Sunday, Moscow attacked infrastructure facilities in Kharkiv, leaving many civilians without power and water. The services were mostly restored by Monday morning, the Ukrinform news agency reported." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Andrew Kramer & Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Stunned by a lightning advance by Ukrainian forces that cost it over 1,000 square miles of land and a key military hub, Russia on Sunday acknowledged that it had lost nearly all of the northern region of Kharkiv after a blitzkrieg thrust that cast doubt on a premise -- widely held in Moscow and parts of the West -- that Ukraine could never defeat Russia. Russia's pell-mell retreat from a wide section of Ukrainian territory it seized in the early summer rattled Kremlin cheerleaders and amplified voices in the West demanding that more weapons be sent to Ukraine so that it could win. Victory for Ukraine is still far from certain, particularly with a second Ukrainian offensive in the south making far less rapid progress.... But the speed of Ukraine's advances over the weekend in the northeast -- an area used by Russia as a stronghold -- has muted the gung-ho bluster of Kremlin cheerleaders. It has also undermined arguments in places like Germany that providing more and better arms to Ukraine would only lead to a long and bloody stalemate against a Russian military destined to win." An AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Not Exactly an Orderly Surrender. Steve Hendrix, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the end, the Russians fled any way they could on Friday, on stolen bicycles, disguised as locals. Hours after Ukrainian soldiers poured into the area, hundreds of Russian soldiers encamped in [the] village [of Zaliznychne, Ukraine] were gone, many after their units abandoned them, leaving behind stunned residents to face the ruins of 28 weeks of occupation. 'They just dropped rifles on the ground,' Olena Matvienko said Sunday as she stood, still disoriented, in a village littered with ammo crates and torched vehicles, including a Russian tank loaded on a flatbed. The first investigators from Kharkiv had just pulled in to collect the bodies of civilians shot by Russians, some that have been lying exposed for months.... The hasty flight of Russians from the village was part of a stunning new reality that took the world by surprise over the weekend: The invaders of February are on the run in some parts of Ukraine they seized early in the conflict." ~~~
~~~ Sergei Kuznetsov of Politico: "Ukraine's rout of the Russian army in the northeastern region of Kharkiv presents President Vladimir Putin with a political as well as military headache. The Kremlin's efforts to create a glowing propaganda narrative about its war in Ukraine are in tatters, as popular loyalist bloggers, think-tankers and even politicians start to ask uncomfortable questions about the defeat on the front lines. For now, their anger is aimed exclusively at Russia's senior military command, but Putin still needs to proceed with caution in the face of this unusual crackle of dissent."
United Kingdom
The New York Times' live updates for developments Monday in the ceremonies following Queen Elizabeth's death are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's live updates are here.
Peter Walker of the Guardian: "King Charles has paid tribute to his mother at a ceremony in parliament in which the new monarch heard formal condolences from the Speakers of the Commons and Lords, emphasising the intertwined nature of royalty and government in the UK constitution. In an often personal address in Westminster Hall, the soaring 11th-century structure at the heart of the parliamentary estate, Charles thanked the Speakers for their addresses, and paid tribute to 'the late sovereign, my beloved mother, the Queen'. Quoting Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Charles said the Queen had been 'a pattern to all princes living', noting how touched he had been to see the various monuments in parliament to her jubilees, including a stained glass window in Westminster Hall commemorating her diamond jubilee in 2012." ~~~
The Washington Post maps out the Queen's last excursion, from Balmoral to London & back to Windsor Castle, where her body will be interred.
The New York Times' live updates for developments Sunday in the ceremonies following Queen Elizabeth's death are here: "The coffin carrying Queen Elizabeth II on her final journey on Sunday arrived in the Scottish capital Edinburgh -- now the focus of national mourning -- after a six-hour procession from Balmoral Castle, the country estate where she died. A huge crowd lined central Edinburgh's Royal Mile to catch a glimpse of the hearse as it made its way slowly to its first destination, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the royal residence in the Scottish capital, where the queen's coffin will remain overnight.... At the palace, the procession was greeted by a guard of honor and military bearers carried the coffin to the palace's throne room.... Members of the royal family are expected to accompany the coffin on Monday morning, when it is to be moved along the Royal Mile to nearby St. Giles' Cathedral." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Last year on September 11, Queen Elizabeth ordered the American national anthem to be played during the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle. She did the same on September 13, 2001, during the changing of guard at Buckingham Palace:
Also, be sure to see Akhilleus' comment below, wherein we learn that the highlight of Elizabeth's 96 years was meeting Donald Trump.
Not Everyone Mourns Elizabeth. Carla Anna, et al., of the AP: "Upon taking the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II inherited millions of subjects around the world, many of them unwilling. Today, in the British Empire's former colonies, her death brings complicated feelings, including anger. Beyond official condolences praising the queen's longevity and service, there is some bitterness about the past in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Talk has turned to the legacies of colonialism, from slavery to corporal punishment in African schools to looted artifacts held in British institutions. For many, the queen came to represent all of that during her seven decades on the throne." ~~~
~~~ Damien Cave of the New York Times: "The British royal family reigned over more territories and people than any other monarchy in history, and among the countries that have never quite let go of the crown, Queen Elizabeth's death accelerates a push to address the past more fully and strip away the vestiges of colonialism.... Many former British colonies remain bound together in the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 countries.... Most of the Commonwealth members are independent republics, with no formal ties to the British royal family. But 14 are constitutional monarchies that have retained the British sovereign as their head of state, a mostly symbolic role.... And though Prince Charles has now been proclaimed the new king for all these 'realm and territories,' in many of them, the queen's death has been greeted with bolder calls for full independence.... On Saturday, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda announced plans to hold a referendum on becoming a republic within three years."
In case you forgot your British history, Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post reminds us of the reigns of Charles I & Charles II. MB: BTW, if you wonder what the U.S. would look like under a right-wing Christianist government, that graf about Oliver Cromwell's rule is bracing, although I don't think American Christians would ban Christmas celebrations.
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Could be another interesting week for President Biden.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/unions-blast-rail-move-to-delay-shipments-before-deadline/ar-AA11HNfS?ocid=a2hs
May be much quieter next week here in our small community that's within a block or so of the BNF mainline.
So TFG hightailed it from NJ to D.C. last night, in his golf shoes. My questions:
1. Did he take any bankers boxes with him?
2. Will Bedminster be searched today while he's away?
Morning eyes tell me I left out the "S" for "Santa" last. night.
Make that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe...one of Warren Buffet's toys.
But enough about the queen; let’s talk about Trump!
In the alternate, and desperately weird, small digit dimension that is Trump World, the death of Britain’s longest serving monarch is cause for remembering…Trump.
That’s right. A confederate rag called the Washington Free Beacon has a breathless report on the death of Queen Elizabeth, lasting all of three words. The next 2,000 words are all about Trump, except for the de rigueur sniping at perceived enemies.
“She will be missed [okay, enough about the queen…now, TRUMP!]. Nevertheless, the esteemed throne-sitter [esteemed throne-sitter??] and her millions of admirers worldwide can take comfort in the fact that she lived long enough to meet and hang out [hang out? What, they had a pint watching Man United on the telly?] with President Donald Trump, which she did on more than one occasion at the height of his historically successful term as commander in chief.”
Yes, you read that right. “Historically successful”, if you can call two impeachment trials, more investigations than all the Mafia families in the NY/NJ area, giving up secrets to our sworn enemy, blackmailing a foreign head of state, running multiple scams out of the White House, gassing Americans so he could get his picture taken, filling the Supreme Court with winger hacks, and stealing top secret documents successful.
But there’s more (isn’t there always?).
Recalling Fatty’s first visit to meet the queen, this “reporter” claims, incredibly, that “Her Majesty was evidently quite taken with the American president, who raved about the meeting in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
‘There are those that say [a variation of ‘some people say’] they have never seen the queen have a better time, a more animated time,’ Trump said. ‘We had a period where we were talking solid straight [solid straight? What does that even mean?] . I didn’t even know who the other people at the table were. I never spoke to them; we just had a great time.’”
Wow. Talk about alternate facts. The truth is that the Orange Monster’s first visit was an unmitigated disaster. A quarter million protesters showed up. They flew the Baby Trump balloon. The queen’s staff had to move the whole thing to some backup building 20 miles away. There was no gala, no fancy state dinner, none if the other royals showed. Of course they all had good excuses: “My polo pony isn’t feeling well”, “I lost a contact”, “Dry cleaning. I have to pick up my dry cleaning”.
No state dinner. Tea. Out in the back yard. Then getting up to walk around, Trump cut the queen off and walked in front of her.
Later Trump would recall that he and the queen got along beautifully. “We know each other really well!”
On his second visit, the queen wore a pin given to her by Obama. Hahaha!
And finally, this “reporter” person states that—get this, are you sitting down?—Trump’s visit was the highlight of the queen’s life. Not surviving WWII, not her marriage or the birth of her children, not her coronation or her years in the throne.
Trump. That was the tippy top moment of her life. What in the holy hell do these people eat?!?
Okay, but one more bit of absolutely mind bending weirdness. After reminding the Trump sheep about a few nice things he said about the queen, we get this:
“Her Majesty will undoubtedly cherish those kinds words from our (arguably current) president as she makes the journey from this Earth to the secret planet where dead royals are reanimated to rule once more for eternity.”
What?? Smokin’ that brown hash again, are we? Jeeeesus. Secret planet? What the hell?
Oh, yeah, and here’s a “what not to do” when writing a commemorative piece, actually when writing any piece. So, you start off with an idea, you develop it, add some facts, anecdotes, good quotes, and wrap it up with a nice conclusion that should be in line with the rest of the thing.
Not this jamoke. Here’s how this idiot ends his piece about the queen and Trump: oh, and now we have Charles, who killed his wife. The End.
WTF?
Anyway, this is what passes for…I don’t even know what to call it…in Trump World.
Yesterday we commemorated the 9/11 tragedy. Today, 9/12, we commemorate the beginnings of what would become a war of choice waged against the wrong people for the wrong reasons, which ended, blunted, diminished, or severely disrupted millions of lives, cost trillions of dollars, created an historic uptick in terrorist recruitment, and is still going on. But never fear, The Decider is relaxing in the tub, painting pictures of his piggy toes.
But enough about the queen; let’s talk about Trump!
In the alternate, and desperately weird, small digit dimension that is Trump World, the death of Britain’s longest serving monarch is cause for remembering…Trump.
That’s right. A confederate rag called the Washington Free Beacon has a breathless report on the death of Queen Elizabeth, lasting all of three words. The next 2,000 words are all about Trump, except for the de rigueur sniping at perceived enemies.
“She will be missed [okay, enough about the queen…now, TRUMP!]. Nevertheless, the esteemed throne-sitter [esteemed throne-sitter??] and her millions of admirers worldwide can take comfort in the fact that she lived long enough to meet and hang out [hang out? What, they had a pint watching Man United on the telly?] with President Donald Trump, which she did on more than one occasion at the height of his historically successful term as commander in chief.”
Yes, you read that right. “Historically successful”, if you can call two impeachment trials, more investigations than all the Mafia families in the NY/NJ area, giving up secrets to our sworn enemy, blackmailing a foreign head of state, running multiple scams out of the White House, gassing Americans so he could get his picture taken, filling the Supreme Court with winger hacks, and stealing top secret documents successful.
But there’s more (isn’t there always?).
Recalling Fatty’s first visit to meet the queen, this “reporter” claims, incredibly, that “Her Majesty was evidently quite taken with the American president, who raved about the meeting in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
‘There are those that say [a variation of ‘some people say’] they have never seen the queen have a better time, a more animated time,’ Trump said. ‘We had a period where we were talking solid straight [solid straight? What does that even mean?] . I didn’t even know who the other people at the table were. I never spoke to them; we just had a great time.’”
Wow. Talk about alternate facts. The truth is that the Orange Monster’s first visit was an unmitigated disaster. A quarter million protesters showed up. They flew the Baby Trump balloon. The queen’s staff had to move the whole thing to some backup building 20 miles away. There was no gala, no fancy state dinner, none if the other royals showed. Of course they all had good excuses: “My polo pony isn’t feeling well”, “I lost a contact”, “Dry cleaning. I have to pick up my dry cleaning”.
No state dinner. Tea. Out in the back yard. Then getting up to walk around, Trump cut the queen off and walked in front of her.
Later Trump would recall that he and the queen got along beautifully. “We know each other really well!”
On his second visit, the queen wore a pin given to her by Obama. Hahaha!
And finally, this “reporter” person states that—get this, are you sitting down?—Trump’s visit was the highlight of the queen’s life. Not surviving WWII, not her marriage or the birth of her children, not her coronation or her years in the throne.
Trump. That was the tippy top moment of her life. What in the holy hell do these people eat?!?
Okay, but one more bit of absolutely mind bending weirdness. After reminding the Trump sheep about a few nice things he said about the queen, we get this:
“Her Majesty will undoubtedly cherish those kinds words from our (arguably current) president as she makes the journey from this Earth to the secret planet where dead royals are reanimated to rule once more for eternity.”
What?? Smokin’ that brown hash again, are we? Jeeeesus. Secret planet? What the hell?
Oh, yeah, and here’s a “what not to do” when writing a commemorative piece, actually when writing any piece. So, you start off with an idea, you develop it, add some facts, anecdotes, good quotes, and wrap it up with a nice conclusion that should be in line with the rest of the thing.
Not this jamoke. Here’s how this idiot ends his piece about the queen and Trump: oh, and now we have Charles, who killed his wife. The End.
WTF?
Anyway, this is what passes for…I don’t even know what to call it…in Trump World.
Thanks, Ak. I had forgotten it was one day later we started with televised bombings. It is brilliant that hatred of Muslims has morphed into hatred for Democrats, people of color, gays, trans people, libraries, non-Christians, books, anti-gun people, school, teachers, and on and on. So much hating, so little time. Sorry, Mr. Biden. We can’t unite. Who can work with people like that? I return their hatred, unfortunately.
@Jeanne: The invasion of Afghanistan started October 7, 2001. The first U.S.-led ground attack on Iraq was March 21, 2003, but there were air raids in the weeks prior to that; i.e., a year-and-a-half later.
@Akhilleus' comment on
Elizabeth & DonaldDonald & Elizabeth got stuck in my spam, but I have freed it. Glad to see the "reporter" managed to mention the Queen's ass. Very tasteful remembrance.Trump must have heard that President Biden would be out of town
today, giving a speech in Boston, so he must be thinking (?) of
moving into the White House while Biden is out of town.
Sounds like a QAnon thingy. Probably wearing the golf shoes so
he can get better traction running across the White House lawn, after
climbing the fence.
@Forrest, Forrest, Forrest! You always solve the mysteries. I hope some tourist videotapes the Trump lawn sprint. And the finale, where Secret Service wrestle the runner to the ground.
Leaving the Monarchy for a minute and other salient news (60 minutes had a gut wrenching 9/11 homage to the fire fighters who lost their lives––many children of those firemen have taken up the fight and have become firefighters themselves).
Here is coverage––as haphazard as it was written––had to read it twice to grasp the particulars–-about the Parklan shooter, Nikolas Cruz. The coverage on this kid was scant I thought––-I had many questions at the time because there wasn't enough information about his home life. Well now that his trial is underway we are awash in the bizarre story of his life and how, in my estimation, our mental health systems failed him. We learn, by the way, that his birth mother ( now dead) was a prostitute who took drugs and drank while pregnant. It seems clear to me that early on Nikolas displayed the results of this and yet he was tossed around like he was just a rambunkous out of control kid. We learn the Cruz's adopted a second male from this same mother but from a different father –-lady was a tramp–-and that she had given birth to a girl years before and that woman is now testifying at the trial. One wonders why the mother wouldn't have aborted these pregnancies.
It breaks my heart to read this coverage––-if intervention had been early and done correctly so many lives would not have been lost. So many early signs of disturbance rear their ugliness early ––-we need to pay attention!!!!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikolas-cruz-home-parkland-shooter-testimony_n_631e3b08e4b0eac9f4d8a504
Jeanne,
Sorry, I should have been clearer. The attack on 9/11 was just what Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld were looking for: a chance to blow up Iraqis. Plus they needed a huge diversion to cover their abysmal delinquency. They had word that this was coming and they did nothing. Bush went on vacation. Cheney practiced his sneer variations in the mirror and thought up ways to make a bundle. Rummy checked off the known unknown boxes.
As Marie points out, the bombing didn’t begin right away, but once it did, Bush flooded Baghdad’s Green Zone with unqualified kids who worked in his campaign and met him in a prayer group where they all asked Jesus to please kill the brown people.
Trump is bad. Bush, in many ways, was worse.
The Queen greeted the former guy wearing a brooch that was a gift from the Obamas. The next two days of the visit, she wore brooches that did not convey affection for TFG.
The highlight of her life? I don't think so.
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jul/18/was-the-queen-sending-coded-messages-to-donald-trump-via-her-brooches-absolutely
AK:
The Washington Free Beacon"–---really??? This is for REAL? If so. this journalist––-if one can call him that––-hits it out of the ball park for sheer lunacy and such fun to read your take on this bloke's take on Mum and the Monster.
Yeah, Akhilleus, Bush II has been on my mind, too.
Have a college friend who back in the day angrily announced he'd be happy to travel to Texas when the blessed day came, to dance on LBJ's grave....
Have never forgotten what he said or the hears of Vietnam tragedy that prompted it.
Nor will I ever forget the Iraq venture which neither we nor the Middle East has recovered from, and certainly not the rank dishonesty that led up to it and the blatant Rove-manipulated lying about both Kerry's war record and the escalating dangers (orange-red, orange-red) of another terrorist attack that ushered Bush II into his second illegitimate term.
Another Texas grave to dance on.
@Jeanne & @Akhilleus: On faulty memories. During Elizabeth's jubilee last year, I remembered watching her coronation on our old black-and-white console TV (blond wood & tubular splayed feet! -- perfect 1950s).
But it occurred to me after her death that my recollection was impossible. Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, and we didn't get that TV (our family's first) until a few years later. Yet my memory was so clear, I even remember where I was sitting while I watched the pomp and circumstance.
I've finally, if rather slowly, realized that my recollection of where I was sitting was correct, but I wasn't watching TV; I was listening to the radio broadcast of the hoohah. Since then, I've seen photos of the coronation -- probably even the next day in the local newspaper -- and snippets of film quite a few times. At some point over the years, my little fertile mind managed to merge the pictures with the sound.
So I'm not nuts, but my memory is a bit more creative than I'd like. And congrats to the radio announcer; he must have been very good at describing what-all was going on.
Well, I guess my forgetting was worse than my remembering...Maybe it only seemed like one day... I remember standing in my kitchen staring at the bombings, looking for all the world like a fireworks display. Unless I am indeed senile... Going on, that story about Trump being the highlight of Elizabeth's life may have actually come from Trump himself. He is never deluded about his remarkableness and would have absolutely thought that he probably was her shining star. Sheesh.
Twitter, according to daughter, was agog with sightings of the Orange Plague himself in DC, having flown from Bedminster in golf duds, last night. Much speculation that he had a court date, but he was spotted on a golf course today. Who knows why he came back. (For another couple of boxes of classifieds?) Meanwhile, he is the only living prexie who seems to have nothing to say of his courtier's (the queen's) death. If she adored him like the ignoramusses say, you'd think someone around him would have tactfully handed him a notecard and a sharpie.
He's always a bore and a lunkhead, with no sense of community, history or the niceties of life. AND he's a criminal sociopath, with no charm or likeableness. WHY does anyone support or like him??
Marie,
Yes, many of us here are of an age.
I also remember the coronation. We had one of the first TVs in town, which my father had purchased though his business, and the Queen Elizabeth coronation was one of the first things I remember watching on it. I would have been seven.
Oddly, I have always associated that event (my mother was an avid royalty fan, something I never understood--a generational thing I guess) with the McCarthy hearings a year later--I had to look that one up-- likely because both events seemed to my young brain somehow stamped IMPORTANT.
@Ken Winkes: Funny, I do remember the Army-McCarthy hearings, and I do remember that I listened to them on the radio. So no fake memories there. I guess they just didn't capture my vivid imagination -- and they wouldn't -- the way the coronation did.
The remembrance of things past:
I've always been interested in details of our memories, but a very nice consideration of memory and what goes into what we take for memory is in Jorge Luis Borges', "The Incident at Rosario," which is told in several of his short stories. Also, there's "Rashomon," a great film by Kurosawa.
So, Marie, fusing and embellishing a memory can be pleasant even if it doesn't meet factual standards. You went to London to see the Queen. Of course you did.
Not political or really important, but with so many of us "at an age", if you had a TV set did you have friends over on Saturday mornings to watch the cartoons?
@Bobby Lee
No to Saturday morning cartoons with friends; tempted to say I had no friends...
But now that you mention the practice, as a young kid don't think I ever watched TV with friends--anywhere. Not part of the family culture.
Do remember westerns on Saturday mornings, tho, when I was closer to ten...maybe with one of my younger sisters....
On the RR front:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/12/railroad-strike-deadline/
@Bobby Lee:
Of course we all watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. Where else would I have gotten my knowledge of Russia (Boris & Natasha)?
@Bobby Lee: When I was five years old, so about 1950, we didn't have a TV, but one of the neighbors where I lived in Miami got the first one on the block. I don't recall that we went for Saturday morning cartoons, but every weekday afternoon at about 4:30, all of us little kids descended on that house to watch afternoon kiddie TV pm WTVJ, which was -- as I recall (and who knows, with my memory??) -- at least two serials: one usually a Western and one an "Adventure Time" serial: old movie reels from the 1930s of the "Perils of Pauline" genre. The parents must have been very tolerant; there were always 10 or 12 kids in a small living room cheering on the heroes & booing the villains.
I had been to the movies few times by that time in my life, so that afternoon serials seemed magical.
Rocky and Bullwinkle, which I too remember fondly, Fractured Fairy Tales and all, began airing in 1959 and ran throughout my high school years.
Victoria, you are a relatively young 'un. Nice of you to keep company with older folks...
IMHO, the best TV show of all time was from that era - The Twilight Zone. Rod told some interesting stories. Freaked me out occasionally.
I was thinking of this TV dynamic a few weeks ago. My whole life, until I got married, the only times I watched TV were with groups of people. As a little kid, at the neighborhood kids, at their house, and with my brothers there, for the afternoon "Pick Temple" show (which was sort of a local Howdy Doody live kiddies plus cartoons); Disneyland en groupe on Sundays; then, with my family (a large one) after we got a TV, highly regulated by my parents (when Wyatt Earp was on, we did bedtime stuff first, got up for WyattE, then back to bed); almost no TV in HS, but with friends when there was something to watch; then at university, in the rec room (no one had a TV in their room); ditto Army (but almost never watched). So TV was a negotiated thing (what to watch) and a group thing (we all saw the same show) and, by university and army, an MST3K thing with running commentary from the audience.
My granddaughters and their friends like to watch things together. They are at an age (preteen and below) where "together" is a really big thing, no matter what they are doing.
But the adults in my family generally don't watch anything as a group. With streaming, and 3 large screens, and multiple tablets, iPhones and laptops, you no longer need to create a consensus about what to watch ... and we often watch nothing or choose chacun a son gout.
I guess my point is, when we were kids, TV was a bonding dynamic, and now it's not. Just like before TV and radio.
@Patrick: Maybe the change from group activity to private viewing isn't so horrible. Think of it as something like reading. Although my husband and I did read some of the classics aloud together, in general, people who are close to each other don't read the same book at the same time. You might share or recommend a book when you've finished it, or you might accept a recommendation from someone. In these cases, you can discuss the book later. But that shared experience of watching a film or TV show just isn't there, at least usually.
An exception, I suppose, would be with a reading assignment, usually in high school or in a small college, where you might have occasion to talk about a particular book with your friends & classmates outside the classroom. Another exception would be news items, where lots of people read the same stories online or quickly hand off sections of the newspaper to people they live with.