;)
The Commentariat -- December 12, 2017
Late Morning Update:
Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Trump attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a sexually suggestive tweet Tuesday morning that implied Gillibrand would do just about anything for money, prompting a swift and immediate backlash. 'Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Charles E. Schumer and someone who would come to my office "begging" for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,' the president wrote. 'Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!'"
Mrs. McCrabbie: For anyone who doesn't think Trump has lost it, he doesn't know when his own birthday is. Also, his family members don't know how to vote.
Mike Allen, Washington, D.C.'s top gossip columnist, of Axios: "President Trump's legal team believes Attorney General Jeff Session's Justice Department and the FBI -- more than -- special counsel Robert Mueller himself -- are to blame for what they see as a witch hunt. The result: They want an additional special counsel named to investigate the investigators."
** Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders promised that she would produce a list of eyewitnesses to exonerate President Trump from allegations of sexual harassment and assault. In a statement, the White House said these eyewitnesses 'totally disputed in most cases' the accusations that women have raised against Trump.... Overall, at least 14 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault -- with others alleging other forms of sexual harassment and predation. Sanders sent the list of supposed eyewitnesses to ThinkProgress late Monday night. It contains the names of three people." Legum details the "evidence" the eyewitnesses provide & sums it up: "So the White House's list of 'eyewitnesses' consists of two women who don't even claim to be eyewitnesses and a British man with an incredible story and a documented history of deception." Mrs. McC: Just fucking astounding. Mrs. Huckleberry definitely belongs in the front seat of the clown car.
Mrs. McCrabbie: Like me, Erik Wemple of the Washington Post wants to know what sex-related offense Ryan Lizza is supposed to have committed that led to his firing by the New Yorker & his suspension by CNN. It sounds as if the complaint comes from a woman he dated, presumably consenually.
*****
Old Geezer Sitting at Home Shouting at TV Tweets He Isn't Sitting at Home Shouting at TV. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump pushed back against a recent New York Times article on Monday, saying in a Twitter post that he does not watch four to eight hours of television each day.... 'Another false story, this time in the Failing nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day - Wrong! Also, I seldom, if ever, watch CNN or MSNBC, both of which I consider Fake News. I never watch Don Lemon, who I once called the "dumbest man on television!: Bad Reporting.'... A spokeswoman for The Times ... rejected the idea that the article was false." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Maggie Haberman knows more about you than you know about yourself. Sad!
Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker elaborates on why Donald Trump was so unfit to appear at the opening of Mississippi's Civil Rights Museum. "In Trump's case, 'We, the People' has been replaced by 'I, the Person.' The problem, then, is not only that, as Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, of Jackson, said last week, Trump advocates policies that run counter to the objectives of the civil-rights movement. It is that the ethic of seeking commonality rather than division, of enduring insults rather than retaliating for them, of withstanding punishment in service of a civic idea l— in short, anything that might have sustained Annelle Ponder, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the countless other heroes of the civil-rights movement -- is apparently alien to the President of the United States."
Eighteen Days in Winter. Carole Lee & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller is trying to piece together what happened inside the White House over a critical 18-day period that began when senior officials were told that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by Russia, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The questions about what happened between Jan. 26 and Flynn's firing on Feb. 13 appear to relate to possible obstruction of justice by ... Donald Trump, say two people familiar with Mueller's investigation into Russia's election meddling and potential collusion with the Trump campaign." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "... in the 24th paragraph of [the] NBC News report ... is a sentence that indicates Robert Mueller's cleanest shot -- so far -- at proving illegality by the president. Mueller, NBC reports, 'appears to be interested in whether Trump directed [Michael Flynn] to lie to senior officials, including Pence, or the FBI, and if so why, the sources said.'... There are many questions around this episode, but the most pertinent ones concern why Flynn would behave so recklessly.... News reports have focused on the possibility that Trump ordered Flynn's outreach to Russia.... But NBC is raising a different, and more serious, possibility: that Trump also instructed Flynn to lie to the FBI about his conversation. That scenario would explain a lot.... If this is what happened, the legal violation [by Trump] would not be ambiguous at all." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In view of Flynn's agreement to cooperate with the Mueller team, it's quite possible they already know -- or at least Flynn has asserted -- that Trump instructed him to (1) promise Russia the administration would remove the sanctions, (2) lie to pence, et al., & (3) lie to FBI investigators.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Several women who came forward during the 2016 campaign to accuse Donald J. Trump of sexual misconduct renewed their allegations publicly on Monday, betting that recently aggressive attitudes against harassment will give their stories new life and demanding that Congress investigate the president's actions. The women said that they were frustrated that their stories about what they described as Mr. Trumps actions did not have a greater effect on his campaign. But they also expressed hope that they would be taken more seriously after a torrent of similar accusations had toppled the careers of powerful men in the news media, business and politics." ...
... Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "Donald Trump sailed past a raft of allegations of sexual misconduct in last year's presidential election. Now the national #MeToo spotlight is turning back to Trump and his past conduct. Several of his accusers are urging Congress to investigate his behavior, and a number of Democratic lawmakers are demanding his resignation.... Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, [said Sunday that Trump's accusers 'should be heard.'] Haley's comments infuriated the president, according to two people who are familiar with his views.... Trump has grown increasingly angry in recent days that the accusations against him have resurfaced, telling associates that the charges are false and drawing parallels to the accusations facing Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Contributor Marvin S. was wondering yesterday who would replace Haley at the U.N. For some reason Marvin anticipated that Trump would be "furious" at Haley.
** Paul Krugman: "On Monday the Treasury Department released a one-page report claiming that tax cuts would pay for themselves. The document was a shameless attempt to fool the public -- carefully worded to imply tha economic experts at Treasury (they're still in there somewhere, maybe locked in a closet) had actually done an analysis to that effect, without explicitly saying so. In fact, there was no economic analysis; Trump officials just made up numbers that would give them the result they wanted.... The department's inspector general is investigating what actually happened, because Mnuchin repeatedly claimed to have ... [a real Treasury] analysis in hand.... [Mnuchin] he may be inspired by the example of Paul Ryan, who pulled off similar scams a few years back, fooling much of the news media...." Read it all. This is an indictment of the Republican party in one act. ...
... The Magical Munchkin. New York Times Editors: "In past administrations, the Tax Policy Office [of the Treasury department] performed detailed work in analyzing proposed tax legislation, and its findings didn’t always agree with the president's agenda.... While Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was publicly claiming that more than 100 people in the office were 'working around the clock on running scenarios for us' on the economic impact of the tax cuts, career tax experts inside the office said that they had been largely shut out of the process and that such an analysis didn't exist.... After months of promises we now see that the analytical support for a $1.5 trillion, nearly 500-page piece of legislation is a 400-word note that boils down to 'trust us.'" ...
... ** Bess Levin of Vanity Fair: "With the clock running down and the Inspector General digging into the mysterious case of the missing Treasury analysis, [Steve Mnuchin,] the former Goldman partner turned foreclosure mogul pulled through on Monday with a report clocking in at a single page and fewer than 500 words that says the Senate plan will totally pay for itself -- assuming a set of circumstances that are about as likely as Jared Kushner bringing peace to the Middle East. For real-live economists and tax experts, Mnuchin's 'analysis' is an infuriating disgrace.... 'It's a pathetic excuse for a study,' former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told me. 'I suspect the current staff are not happy that the relevant data has been suppressed in the administration's attempts to obscure the truth.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Levin explains, in layman's terms, everything that is wrong with Munchkin's fake "analysis." What she only hints at is that this one piece of paper is symptomatic & symbolic of the entire Fake Presidency. It would not surprise me in the slightest if it turned out that Trump ordered Munchkin to create a fake "analysis" to support his Tax Heist, just as it would not surprise me if Trump ordered Flynn to promise the Russians the sanctions would disappear, then lie about it to everybody. Convenient fantasies lie at the heart of dictatorships. To laugh at these people the way Charlie Chaplin did at Hitler is to make the same grave mistake Chaplin later admitted. It isn't funny. ...
... Why, here's an example. Watch Sanders refuse to answer questions like one from Matthew Nussbaum of Politico who asked if Trump understood the difference between honest mistakes journalists make & quickly correct vs. Russia's disinformation campaign during the 2016 election. then she completely shuts down Jim Acosta of CNN even a chance.
... See Akhilleus' commentary on this in today's thread. He captures the essence of Mrs. Huckleberry's very twisted mind. There's no reason to think that if Akhilleus sat Mrs. H. down for a very elementary tutorial, she would be capable of understanding her double standard. One of the corollaries to the Nixon Rule is, "When the president makes up stuff, it's not a lie."
Senate Race
Charles Pierce, on what Doug Jones did. Mrs. McC: You really don't have to look at Roy Moore at all, or Luther Strange or whatever GOP reprobate Sen. Richard Shelby wants Republicans to write in on today's ballot.
Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "National political leaders, a Hollywood actress and a retired basketball star made last-ditch efforts Monday to woo voters in Alabama's U.S. Senate race, as the candidates gave their final arguments in a pivotal special election that has attracted more than $41 million in spending. Former president Barack Obama and former vice president Joe Biden recorded robo-calls for Democrat Doug Jones, while President Trump recorded an appeal for Republican Roy Moore.... Moore brought in a raft of out-of-state conservative activists, including former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), and former Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke.... Jones, who is focused on turning out African American voters, held a final campaign rally in Birmingham on Monday night, where he was joined on stage by basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, actress Alyssa Milano and the city's newly elected mayor, Randall Woodfin, among others."
Fake news would tell you that we don't care for Jews.... I've seen it all, so I just want to set the record straight.... One of our attorneys is a Jew.... -- Kayla Moore, Monday night
Wow! I'll bet one of their maids is black or Hispanic, too. -- Mrs. McCrabbie
Scott Douglas, in a New York Times op-ed: "In 2011, Alabama lawmakers passed a photo ID law, ostensibly to combat voter fraud.... [But] Alabama's law is nothing but a naked attempt to suppress the voting rights of people of color.... A state senator who had tried for over a decade to get the bill into law, told The Huntsville Times that a photo ID law would undermine Alabama's 'black power structure.' In The Montgomery Advertiser, he said that the absence of an ID law 'benefits black elected leaders.' The bill's sponsors were even caught on tape devising a plan to depress the turnout of black voters -- whom they called 'aborigines' and 'illiterates' who would ride 'H.U.D.-financed buses' to the polls...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you find yourself thinking that "Southern tradition" is fried chicken & sweet tea -- naw, it's more like extreme racism & any advantage a white boy might get from applying it with ferocity.
Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "Former President Barack Obama is adding his voice to the Alabama Senate race, imploring voters to go to the polls Tuesday to reject the candidacy of Roy Moore as part of an aggressive effort by Democrats to try and counter ... Donald Trump's full-throated endorsement of the controversial Republican candidate. 'This one's serious,' Obama says in the call. 'You can't sit it out.' Two Democratic officials familiar with the Alabama race tell CNN that Obama recorded the phone message in recent days, at the very time Trump stepped up his own involvement in the campaign with a recorded message. Obama does not mention Moore by name. 'Doug Jones is a fighter for equality, for progress,' Obama says. 'Doug will be our champion for justice. So get out and vote, Alabama.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Eliana Jackson & Alex Isenstadt of Politico write on how Trump & the RNC came to publicly support Roy Moore. One tidbit: the two guys who talked Ronna Romney McDaniel into backing Moore: John Kelly & Bill Stepien. Stepien is such a jackass Chris Christie fired him; (oh, & he had an affair with Bridget Anne Kelly, the woman convicted in the Bridgegate scandal). Kelly, as we found in his refusal to acknowledge or apologize for his untrue attacks on Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), is a horrible human being. (Also linked yesterday.)
Manu Raju & Todd Barrett of CNN: "In an interview with CNN, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not say if the GOP conference would welcome [Roy Moore] into its weekly policy lunches or give him committee assignments. 'That's a good conversation for sometime after tomorrow,' McConnell said in the Capitol."
Pajama Boy at Work Just Like Pajama Boy at Play. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A peek into the inner workings of [Rep. Blake Farenthold's (RTP-Texas)] office reveals the kind of hostile work environment, rife with sexual innuendo, that prompted Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat of California, to call Congress 'the worst' place for women to work.... Legal documents and interviews with former aides suggest an atmosphere in which the congressman set the tone for off-color jokes and inappropriate banter, which flourished among his underlings. Former employees also said that Mr. Farenthold had an explosive temper and often bullied his aides, prompting a high turnover."
Liam Stack of the New York Times: "The New Yorker said Monday that it had fired Ryan Lizza, the magazine's Washington correspondent, after it said he had engaged in what it called 'improper sexual conduct,' a charge that Mr. Lizza denied.... In a statement, Mr. Lizza said the company's decision to fire him 'was made hastily and without a full investigation of the relevant facts' and 'was a terrible mistake.'... The New Yorker was unable to cite any company policy that was violated.'" Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the lead. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Mooch -- whom Trump fired because of an interview Scaramucci gave to Lizza -- must be having a good laugh over Lizza's firing. I have a hard time believing Lizza is a sexist pig, but we'll see. According to Stack's report, CNN -- where Lizza is an on-air contributor -- has suspended Lizza & will be investigating the allegations against him, which Stack does not reveal. We'll see what the network decides. ...
... On the Other Hand: Michael Calderone of Politico: "Lizza's name was included [in] the 'Shitty Media Men' list which circulated in response to the Harvey Weinstein allegations. So maybe. The list was supposedly compiled by women, but one of its distributors was "extreme right-wing blogger Mike Cernovich..., [a] vocal anti-feminist activist who was charged with rape in 2003...." ...
... BTW, Glenn Thrush shared a byline on the Times' big story on Trump's teevee obsession, so either he's back on the job or he worked on the story before the Times suspended him for conduct unbefitting a gentleman.
Jill Disis of CNN: "Celebrity chef Mario Batali is stepping away from his restaurant business and ABC television show amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Batali said in a statement to CNNMoney that he is 'deeply sorry' for any pain or humiliation he has caused." (Also linked yesterday.)
** Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Transgender people will be allowed to enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1, Defense Department officials said on Monday, a move that pauses President Trump's effort to bar transgender troops. A federal judge allowed an October order pausing the ban to remain in effect, pending further legal review. The judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the Federal District Court in Washington, said in a ruling on Monday that the ban most likely violates constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. She rejected the Trump administration's argument that it needs more time to prepare to process new transgender recruits for military service.... Sarah Huckabee Sanders ... suggested that Mr. Trump would continue to seek ways to carry out his ban. 'The Department of Justice is currently reviewing the legal options to ensure the president's directive is implemented,' she told reporters." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It ain't over till it's over, but this is a good sign for those of us who think the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment is essential to a democracy.
** Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Gene Robinson: "The great Simeon Booker, one of the bravest journalists of our time, faced dangers far worse than a petulant president's social media feed. Booker refused to be cowed -- and ultimately helped change the nation. His life's work should be a lesson to us all about the power of truth to vanquish evil.... More than once, Simeon Booker had to escape from Southern towns where white vigilante mobs were on the prowl to 'get that man from Jet.' We should be able to withstand a few nasty tweets."
"Journalism for Rent." Jack Gillum & Shawn Boburg of the Washington Post turn the tables on Fusion GPS, the firm that produced the Steele Dossier. "Fusion GPS bills itself as a corporate research firm, but in many ways it operates with the secrecy of a spy agency.... hundreds of internal company documents obtained by The Washington Post reveal how Fusion, a firm led by former journalists, has used investigative reporting techniques and media connections to advance the interests of an eclectic range of clients on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and in the nation's capital."
Beyond the Beltway
William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "An explosion Monday morning caused the authorities to evacuate one of the busiest transit hubs in New York City.... The Police Department said in a tweet that it was responding to reports of an explosion of unknown origin at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue, where two subway stations, Times Square and Port Authority, are connected by a tunnel. The Port Authority bus station was also evacuated.... One person was in custody, the Police Department said. A senior city official ... said that the suspect had been wearing an explosive device strapped to his person and that the police had stripped him naked to remove it. The suspect was alone and the device was reported to have gone off prematurely in the passageway between the two subway stations. The explosion was recorded on surveillance video.... The man who was in custody was in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... This story has been Updated, with Sarah Nir now lead reporter. New Lede: "A would-be suicide bomber detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in the heart of Manhattan's busiest subway corridor, rending the early Monday commute with a blast that reverberated up through the city's sidewalks, caused transit chaos and terrified thousands of travelers who fled headlong through tunnels choked with smoke. He chose the location because of its Christmas-themed posters, recalling strikes in Europe against Christmas markets, he told investigators, and set off his bomb in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria and elsewhere, several law enforcement officials said. But his makeshift weapon sputtered. The attacker himself was the only one seriously injured."
... Tom Winter, et al., of NBC News: "The suspect in a terror-related attack in New York City has been identified as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant who lives in Brooklyn." (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
AP: "Eighteen climate scientists from the US and elsewhere have hit the jackpot as France's president, Emmanuel Macron, awarded them millions of euros in grants to relocate to France for the rest of Donald Trump's presidential term. The 'Make Our Planet Great Again' grants -- a nod to Trump's 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan -- are part of Macron's efforts to counter Trump on the climate change front. Macron announced a contest for the projects in June, hours after Trump declared he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord. More than 5,000 people from about 100 countries expressed interest in the grants. Most of the applicants -- and 13 of the 18 winners -- were US-based researchers." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yesterday, we learned that Macron was trying to pull financial businesses from London as a result of Brexit; today we find he's pulling climate scientists from the U.S. He has rather exhilarating ways of getting in the faces of jerks doing stupid things.
Share Article
Reader Comments (16)
Night of the Living Dodo
One of the more interesting narrative elements of George Romero’s original 1968 classic horror film that sets it apart from run of the mill monster movies, smartly adopted by the “Walking Dead” series, is the hubris and stupidity of humans who spend precious time fighting and arguing with each other over silly things, while the slow moving but inexorable danger surrounds them threatening to engulf all in its path.
I’m starting to feel as if the White House, home of inept bunglers, liars, narcissistic douchebags, and traitors is moving along a similar trajectory. The Orange Headed Baboon hoots and hollers and wails and tweets while the walls close in around him. He seems to think, like the doomed characters in Romero’s story, that “the good guys” can’t possibly lose out to the slow moving menace stalking them. He acts as if, with a sternly worded memo to quisling producers, the arc of his current reality show can be adjusted so that the Great Donald, who defeated “Crooked Hillary”, who had the biggest inauguration crowd ever, who has done “more than any president in history”, who is the master of the deal, comes out a victorious hero in the end.
Horror movies often end with skeptical unbelievers swallowed up by what they pretend can’t possibly hurt them. Every fan of these stories knows that the stupidest characters, and the ones most certain to end up mangled by the jaws of terrible inevitability, are the ones who say things like “Monsters? There are no monsters outside! Fake news!” They’re the ones who open the door and die screaming.
The denouement might be a while coming, but it will be worth the wait.
I’ve got my popcorn ready.
Trump sent a tweet thanking the 'terrorist' in NYC for promoting his anti-muslim policy. But I have a problem. It's called common sense.
First America has 3.3 million Muslims and one turns out to be a nutcase. And that's the second piece. The word 'terrorism'. For 9/11
a group spent a year planning a serious attack. Yesterday, a mentally ill, pathetic fool decided to commit suicide. He was having a problem making the final decision so he figured a excuse. A bomb
dedicated to ISIS. Somehow I can't put the same word for these two events.
P.S. Of course I have no proof of what was in his head. But I am sure he had no idea of what the political result would be. Or to sum it up, a pathetic nutcase trying to play terrorist is not quite the same as the real effort.
And is the Republican Congress going to introduce a law that sexual assault that isn't rape is a constitutional right? That certainly seems like the policy.
Or to paraphrase, Marvin:
... to sum it up, a pathetic nutcase trying to play President is not quite the same as the real effort.
What’s wrong with this statement?
“No one can come down here and tell Alabama what to do, so you are all gonna vote for Roy Moore!”
KKK Steve Bannon
So let me get this straight.
Sarah Liarby Sanders is saying that many reporters covering the Trump Debacle intentionally publish misleading stories in order to hurt the president* (and by extension, her), stories that they run with without the slightest evidence to back them up. When pressed for evidence to support this astonishing claim, Sanders has none.
Her "evidence" was the Brian Ross ABC report that seemed to close the book on collusion, if correct. Ross's report was not correct and ABC said so. It was quickly checked and corrected and Ross punished with a suspension. How is that proof that anyone, Ross or ABC, was intentionally trying to mislead the public? If that were the case, there would have been no internal investigation, no admission of inaccuracy, and no suspension. ABC would have doubled down on the story, the same way Liarby Sanders and her lying boss do on a daily basis.
So, to review: It's a terrible, terrible thing to make assertions with no supporting evidence, an assertion, itself, made with no supporting evidence.
These people aren't actual government officials, they just play characters in their own heads. They do their business, not for the people, but for themselves. Statements like "The press lies all the time with the intention of hurting the president*, and publishes stories without any backup evidence" must--MUST--be themselves backed by incontrovertible proof that such is the case.
They're not just liars, they're vicious, unrepentant, serial liars.
Also, don't miss the schoomarmish attack attitude she takes toward the press. "You didn't ask the right question so now go stand in the corner. You don't get to ask any more questions!"
As bad as Sean Spicer was, he was never a very accomplished liar. You could almost see the little man standing on his shoulder whispering in his ear, "Seany, me lad, that was a whopper and a half. Ye'd better be off to confession, straight away." Sanders is the ne plus ultra of liars.
(I was going to say "right after Trump" but I'm leaning more these days to Marvin's assessment of Trump as being more delusional than a serial liar. Yes, he lies like he's breathing, but it's possible that lies don't mean anything to him, unlike a normal person who tells a lie and knows she or he is doing so. We tell lies and, most of us, even if we get away with it, know deep down what we just did--unless done for a demonstrably good cause--and we feel bad about it. Trump? He doesn't give a shit about lying. And he may actually believe his own lies after a while. I don't really know, and at this point, I don't really care. But Sanders? She is a nasty, mendacious piece of shit. Just like her old man.)
Just imagine you were writing a political novel. You have a great idea: one of the two major parties in the US puts forward a child molester (alleged) for US Senate. A fucking child molester! And he's not in jail! A serial abuser of young girls. Who gets them drunk and tries to boink them. A guy who was banned from the local mall for chasing after, and scaring, high school girls, who shows up at dance recitals for kids and ogles the girls, deciding which ones he'll go after. A real creep who bangs the Bible even as he tries to bang young girls.
Okay, great set up. A little unbelievable, but pretty good for starters. Lots of tawdry plot points, plenty of juicy hypocrisy. Then, the president*, comes out and supports this creep. The fucking president*! Holy gross depravity, Batman! But here's the kicker: the president* is himself a serial sexual predator! And then, forces at large in their shared party align to support both predators. What?? They give money to the child molester and attack his opponent as evil, a genuinely good guy, supremely qualified. The child molester claims not to even know any of the women calling out his prior bad acts but they produce evidence to the contrary (ah...it's getting good now, right? A real potboiler!) Right wing news outlets are up in arms, the mainstream media has all eyes on that state, both sides go at it hammer and tong. Millions are being spent...THEN, the day of the big vote...
And at this point, the editor working for the publishing company reviewing pitches puts down your manuscript, pours herself a stiff shot, to dull the agony of such a preposterous story, takes her big red marker and scrawls "REJECTED" across the cover.
You get it back in the mail and decide to opt for something a tad less cockamamie. Hmmm...how about...a presidential candidate who gets help from...hmm...let's see...Russia! Yeah, Russia....help from Russia to try to fix the election. Too crazy?
But today, the Party of Sexual Predators is standing behind their child molester. AND behind the guy who colluded with Russia to become president*, who is also a serial pussy grabber.
Now where did I put my red marker?
Can't imagine how difficult it must be for a journalist today, for anyone who tries to ferret out and report the truth about an administration headed and given direction by the Liar-in-Chief. Regardless of their motivation, be it ego alone, competitive instinct or genuine idealism on display, journalists today have my admiration and gratitude, even when they get things wrong.
Think of it: above all, being forced to talk more or less politely to Mrs. Huckleberry, who tells the truth only by accident. Having to pretend to take her seriously day after day would alone be nightmare enough for me. I couldn't stomach it.
I've been thinking the word "counterfeit" has universal application to the Pretender and his world, Gresham's Law applied to a Gresham's World. Just as bad money drives out good, never-ending lies debase the whole idea of truth. Remembering the Nazi plans to counterfeit Allied currency, though I don't know if that plan was ever acted on then, but it surely is today. When you can't tell the valued from the valueless, everything is worthless, and that's exactly what the government the electoral college gave us is very deliberately (or is lying merely instinctual with con men?) doing to everything it touches.
In method, not result, there is a certain perverse beauty to it all. Lie about nearly everything (Treasury's one pager a prime recent example), and obscure everything else (what did the Pretender know and when did he know it?), then blame the media when they report something inaccurately. It's like blaming the person who unknowingly passed a counterfeit bill for the counterfeiting it.
Not exactly the same but akin are all the efforts to destroy government's legitimate functions. Make it harder for people to sign up for the ACA, then call the ACA a failed program. Create a ballooning deficit, then say spending is out of control. Ignore Puerto Rico and say their failure to recover from the natural disaster that hit them is their fault. Deny climate change and lay the blame for the increasing incidence of wildfires at the Forest Services' feet.
Counterfeit, the whole thing, side to side and top to bottom. As so many have said, flat fake.
A Familiar Story
Gee, scientists leaving a country which has become hostile to them, going to help another country to become great.
Where have I heard that story before? Hmm..let's see...
Oh yeah.
Albert Einstein, Hans Bethe, John von Neumann, Leo Szilard, James Franck, Edward Teller, Rudolf Peierls, and Klaus Fuchs, and Enrico Fermi all left fascist countries and came to help the US win the war and kick the ever loving shit out of their former homelands.
So, okay, I know, we're not talking about a war here. But we are talking about potential survival of millions of people and the fate of the planet. Big enough for ya?
And is it the height of hilarity, or what, that the little king, a science skeptic and ignoramus whose scientific literacy is dramatically below that of most fourth graders, wants to send another piloted expedition to the moon?
Maybe he's running out of cheese sauce at the White House. Those NASA guys are sure to bring back plenty from the moon. He's probably picturing the entire world watching as a gigantic Atlas 5 rocket with TRUMP emblazoned up the side in ten foot tall letters, takes off with a capsule full of winger good ol' boys, (all white), wearing Trump patches and MAGA caps. He can probably see a Trump Lunar Hotel in the future and luxury Trump lunar condos (no blacks, please).
Feeling great again, America?
There is very little hope that the current congress, controlled by Confederate pervert coddlers, will initiate investigations about Trumpy's sexual assaults on women. Make that practically no hope. Look at it this way. These guys are supporting a child molester for senator. Are they really gonna go out of their way to investigate Trump's abuses?
No.
The most these women can hope for will amount to a Potemkin committee which will meet for seventeen minutes, interview none of them, and adjourn with a "not guilty" verdict for President* Pussy Grabber.
Nothing to see here...move along.
In the spirit of the season, it occurs to me that Trump & Mrs. Huckleberry are the victims of a rotten upbringings. We've read enough about Trump's Nazi father, & we've met Mrs. Huckleberry's old man. Still, both Donnie & little Sarah, by virtue of Fred's wealth & Mike Huckabee's job, were "privileged," in a way.
That could have meant that educators went easy on them or just gave up & passed them on to the next grade. Maybe Sarah really has no idea that three non-witnesses are not eyewitnesses to 14 or more alleged crimes & misdemeanors. Maybe Donnie never had to try to distinguish fact from fiction. Maybe neither Sarah or Donald has any familiarity whatsoever with critical thinking. They're both just incapable to getting from Point A to Point B if there is any logic or common sense required along the route.
And, the apple not falling far from the tree, it's reasonable to suspect they neither had much of a relationship with the moral compass that guides "normal" people.
So they're not miscreants in the usual sense. They just incredible ignoramuses who are completely unfamiliar with the world in which the rest of us reside. They're numbskulls, unable to see past their own odd, inward-looking place. So Merry Christmas, Don & Sarah. Now go away & play with your shiny news toys.
And the winner is...
Okay folks, here we are in beautiful Alabama where the polls have been closed for hours and the results of a terrifically close race are coming in. And here it is! In a tight contest between Roy Moore and Doug Jones, the winner is....
John Roberts?
Yup. If Roy (Child Molester) Moore, goes to Washington, the real winner will be John Roberts, who helped gut the Voting Rights Act a couple of years ago, and helped make Alabama one of the worst states for African Americans to attempt the casting of a vote.
David Leonhardt, in a Times piece, lays out the many roadblocks for black residents of Alabama and the extreme difficulty that state officials have created for them to vote against a KKK style bigot.
Days after Little Johnny and the Dwarfs tore up the VRA, Alabama, like many other Confederate states, quickly instituted a voter ID law. "The law at one point led to the closing of the offices that issue driver’s licenses in every county where more than 75 percent of registered voters were black. Driver’s licenses are, of course, the main form of voter identification."
How conveeeenient! For bigots, that is. Wonder who came up with that math?
Aside from voter ID roadblocks, early voting is prohibited, something used by voters in many African American communities around the country. Also ex-felons, a group of which, in a state like Alabama, are gigantically disproportionately black, are not allowed to vote even after paying their debt to society. Oh, wait. According to Alabama, they are "allowed" to vote, but misleading information about their voting rights and how they might have them restored (after paying all outstanding fines, debts, etc.) is so complicated and contradictory that many would not even attempt it.
Funnily enough, the original rationale for depriving felons of voting rights for life, in Alabama, had something to with their actions being the result or demonstration of "moral turpitude". Funny, in'it? Moral turpitude? So the rationale for keeping these people from voting ends up being a huge benefit for a guy who is the textbook example of moral turpitude.
Keeping them darkies out of the voting booth has surely been (and will continue to be) a primary goal of Confederates in most red states, but in this case, the gutting of the VRA by the Roberts court has been a godsend to one particular child molesting liar and his Alabama molester-loving supporters.
Roberts, bigots, and child molesters may be the winners, but the loser is democracy, no matter who wins today.
And that's just how they like it. Thanks again, Johnny.
'Trump has grown increasingly angry in recent days that the accusations against him have resurfaced, telling associates that the charges are false and drawing parallels to the accusations facing Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore." ...'
He tied himself to an alleged child molester. What the fuck kind of reception did this moron expect?
JustAGuy,
The little king expects, at all times, to be hailed as a Glorious Leader and to be hoisted in a palanquin and carried through the streets, charitably waving to besotted supporters thrilled at the mere sight of the weird orange pate. His every tweet must be met with delirious encomiums and raves at the wonderfulness of his excellence. The problem is finding both an extra strong palanquin with properly annealed steel support rods necessary for supporting his fat ass, and equally strong bearers who can carry his royal corpulence without keeling over.
In Trumpy's mind, he must feel that if people in Alabama don't care that Roy Moore is a pervert, then they're cool with him being a pervert as well. And, of course, since Moore declares his innocence, Trump must be innocent also.
The guy truly is a simpleton. A simpleton with the nuclear codes.
Warped minds think alike.
So, Roy Moore's wife, trying to prove that her child molester (alleged) husband, who, by the way, was sizing her up at a dance recital as a possible target when she was an underage girl, is not a bigot, and specifically, not an anti-Semite, comes out with a wonderful example of anti-Semitic bigotry: "One of our lawyers is a Jew" she sneered. Yeah, and she even talks to black people. "Out of the way, scum!"
Idiot.
And so it is with the little king. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand speaks out about the many, many reports of Trump's sexual harassment and abuse of women. What's Trump's response? Sexual harassment and abuse.
Oh, okay. Well, at least he "proved" he's not a harassing abuser. Nice going, loser.
Last night VICE news ran a piece on Roy Moore's interview with the young girl. I had to get up and stomp around for a while afterwards. VICE's Mr. Hyphenated-name Beard-bro said "either this was insane or the "Ballsiest" move I've ever seen."
A video of an alleged molester talking to someone of a vulnerable age and gender, and this guy thinks it's "Ballsy"?! I get so sick of the white boy framing of dang near everything.
No, Beard-Bro, not ballsy in the least. Pathetic and disgusting.