Slouching Towards Oblivion

Showing posts with label political theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political theater. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Because Murder Sells

... as long as you get to frame the story around a particular kind of murderer.

Laken Riley's murder has been a cause célèbre for MAGA for weeks.

Who the fuck gets their murdered daughter's
picture autographed by a politician
(who spelled her name wrong, BTW)
and then poses all smiley and shit
for a photo op?


Why Laken Riley’s murder is a national story and Preston Lord’s is not

Opinion: What it boils down to, ultimately, sadly, politically, is not who the victim was but who is accused of the killing.

You may not want to admit it, but you know why the murder of 16-year-old Arizona high-school student Preston Lord is not a national story, as is the murder in Georgia of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley.

It is not because of who the victim was. No. It is because of who is accused of the killing.

The seven young men arrested in connection with Lord’s death are from the suburbs. They grew up in American neighborhoods, going to American schools in communities that pride themselves with extolling American values.

The man accused of murdering Riley is an undocumented Venezuelan migrant.


That one thing makes all the difference these days. At least to some people.

We are not talking about values, or justice, but about politics

As if the murder of an American is worse because it was committed by someone who is not a citizen.

When, if you think about it, the opposite should be true. It should be worse that someone who grew up here, with all we have to offer and all the opportunities that exist for an American, would take someone’s life.

But we are not talking about actual values, or justice, are we?

We’re talking about politics.

And in that grotesquely crass arena the life of one young murdered American can be made to seem more valuable than the life of another young murdered American.

Is there anything worse than that?

Migrants are less likely to commit crimes than we are

The homicide rate in the United States has fallen nearly 13 percent in the last year, but there still were close to 19,000 killings.

I’d guess that the families of each and every one of those who were lost feel the same anguish as the families of Preston Lord and Laken Riley.

A Georgia congressman invited Riley’s parents to the State of the Union address last week “to honor Laken and all American victims of illegal alien crime.”

Her mourning parents declined the offer.

The terrible way that politics victimizes victims

Like all Republicans, the congressman was simply mimicking Donald Trump, who said last week, “You know, in New York, what’s happening with crime is it’s through the roof, and it’s called ‘migrant.’”

Actual studies done on the subject, both nationally and in big cities, consistently show that is not true. They show that migrants are far less likely to commit crimes or be convicted of acts of violence than native-born Americans.

That does not matter to Trump, however, so it doesn’t matter to the Republicans under his thumb. Which is all of them.

Laken Riley’s death is less a tragedy to MAGA politicians than it is an opportunity. A way to score political points.

Riley, Preston Lord and the thousands of others killed last year, was a victim.

Unlike most of the others, however, she is being victimized again.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Vampire Politics


Typically, the Republican Way is to run everything on vague hints and innuendo.

Trump gave us at least two instances when he told Zelenskyy all he wanted was the announcement of an investigation, and again in 2020 when he told acting AG, “Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen”.

Years before that was the endless "investigations" of Hillary & The E-mails, and Hillary & Benghazi. There was never anything of substance, and Kevin McCarthy came straight out and admitted it was all about driving her approval numbers down.

Now we've got almost exactly the same playbook in action, as dog-ass Republicans try to make us believe Biden is exactly the Crime Family Boss that we all know Trump to be.

Daddy State Awareness


THE BASICS:

  • The Daddy State lies as a means of demonstrating power.
  • The lies have practically nothing to do with the subject of the lies.
  • Lying about everything is a way to condition us - to make us accept the premise that they can do anything they want.

The goal is to dictate reality to us.


THE RULES:

1. Every accusation is a confession.


Raskin rips GOP for not agreeing to open hearing for Hunter Biden

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) ripped his GOP colleagues for rejecting Hunter Biden’s request for an open hearing on Dec. 13, when the president’s son is set to appear for a closed-door deposition.

In a statement Tuesday, Raskin called the GOP move “an epic humiliation” and “a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it,” referring to the Republicans on his committee.

“Let me get this straight,” Raskin said in his statement. “After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions that they pose?”

Raskin’s statement comes after Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, responded on Tuesday to a subpoena from the Oversight committee proposing a public hearing on Dec. 13, instead of the committee’s proposal of a closed-door deposition.

In Lowell’s letter, he wrote that he did not trust the committee to provide an accurate account of closed-door proceedings.

“We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door,” Lowell wrote in a letter to Comer on Tuesday. “If, as you claim, your efforts are important and involve issues that Americans should know about, then let the light shine on these proceedings.”

Comer rejected the request Tuesday, saying the committee expects Hunter Biden to sit for a deposition on Dec. 13, but that he should have the opportunity to testify in public at a later date.

“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans,” Comer said in a statement.

Raskin argued that Republicans were afraid a public hearing would make clear that House Republicans did not have evidence proving President Biden committed any wrongdoing.

House Republicans have brought public impeachment hearings against Biden in attempts to produce evidence and prove allegations that President Biden is involved in his son’s legal troubles. The first public impeachment hearing, however, came up short, with the GOP key witness admitting there was not yet evidence proving the president committed any impeachable offenses.

“After the miserable failure of their impeachment hearing in September, Chairman Comer has now apparently decided to avoid all Committee hearings where the public can actually see for itself the logical, rhetorical and factual contortions they have tied themselves up in. The evidence has shown time and again President Biden has committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense,” Raskin wrote.

“Chairman Comer’s insistence that Hunter Biden’s interview should happen behind closed doors proves it once again,” he added.
“What the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth.”

Other high-profile Democrats echoed this sentiment.

“The reason GOP don’t want a public hearing on Hunter Biden is because @OversightDems have hoisted them by their own petards in every public hearing this year. They’re scared of getting humiliated for not having an actual case (again), so they need to hide,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote in a post on X.

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Roasting


Everything the Republicans put into the Congressional Record is little more than taxpayer funded campaign content for DumFux News - which makes the activity of the House GOP one big Hatch Act violation.

Friday, October 20, 2023

Mr Romney

I really hate it when my old "conservative" shit comes back on me from somebody I know to be as phony as an acrylic merkin.

But think about what "law makers" you're familiar with.

Whose names do you recognize?

Are they moving legislation that makes things any better?

Or are they just famous for being bomb-throwers and fire-breathers - sideshow freaks whose "talent" is nothing more than attracting attention because they're so goddamned freaky?


Thursday, July 27, 2023

Hmmm

It strikes me as interesting.

What I hear Ken Buck saying (at about 7:30) is that Kevin McCarthy is fucking around with this impeachment nonsense in order to placate the MTGs in the Freedom Caucus (and the rabid loons who keep voting for them) instead of facilitating the Old Guard Republicans who really wanna dig in and do their dirt by fucking my kids out of their Medicare and Social Security when it comes time for them bow out and retire.

But ol' Kevin is bound and determined to run the Benghazi play again, hoping he can cast just enough doubt on Biden to move the needle.

Makes me wanna holler.


Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Today's Political Sideshow



Dear AG Garland,

This Fauci guy humiliated me on national TV by exposing my propensity for political grandstanding, as well as my inexplicable ignorance of science and the peer review process.

And even though he's about my size and a hundred years older than me, we all know I'm not worth a shit in a fist fight, so I need you guys to beat him up for me, OK?

Sincerely,

Senator (and "Doctor") Rand Paul

PS) We're in the same gym class, and today it's dodge ball, so you have to get him before 5th period. Thanks.

"Conservatives" are a buncha whiny-butt pussies

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Today's Political Theater


The "willing suspension of disbelief" is supposed to be confined to books and movies and such.

One of our political parties is trying to impose it on the real world.

GOP: Brett Kavanaugh's record speaks for itself.

Dems: Great - let's take a look at that record.

GOP: No

FADE TO BLACK

Friday, April 27, 2018

The Best God Is No God


Real tired of spending money time or effort on anything having to do with anybody's brand of religion - especially when it's government employees wrangling over who gets to mumble entreaties to non-existent deities on my fucking dime.

The Hill:

House Chaplain Patrick Conroy’s sudden resignation has sparked a furor on Capitol Hill, with sources in both parties saying he was pushed out by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Conroy’s own resignation announcement stated that it was done at Ryan’s request.

“As you have requested, I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives,” the April 15 letter to Ryan, obtained by The Hill, states.

Through his office, Conroy, who has served as chaplain since 2011, declined to comment on Thursday. His resignation is effective May 24.

- and -

A second Democratic aide said Conroy’s ouster was “largely driven by a speech on the tax bill that the Speaker didn't like.” But the source also offered a second reason.

“Some of the more conservative evangelical Republicans didn't like that the Father had invited a Muslim person to give the opening prayer,” the source said.

Having an official chaplain of any stripe working for any branch of my government is an offense to the US Constitution. Fire 'em all.

  1. Leave your imaginary friends in the cloak room. 
  2. Put your asses in those chairs.
  3. And get some fuckin' work done.



Monday, January 22, 2018

Like Deja Vu All Over Again


History does not repeat - but it sure as fuck rhymes.

The Daily Beast, Betsy Woodruff:

The FBI has not been permitted to see the memo Rep. Devin Nunes and his staff wrote about alleged abuses by the intelligence community, The Daily Beast has learned.

"The FBI has requested to receive a copy of the memo in order to evaluate the information and take appropriate steps if necessary. To date, the request has been declined,” said Andrew Ames, a spokesperson for the FBI.



-and-

The fact that Republicans refuse to show the memo to FBI, which characterizes the intelligence they shared with Nunes, has Democrats concerned. One aide told The Daily Beast it means Nunes’ efforts are just politics.

“If this is about FBI abuses, why wouldn’t they share it with the Trump-appointed director who wasn't at the bureau when the abuses supposedly occurred?” the aide said. “If this is about cleaning up the FBI like they claim, wouldn't they want Wray as an ally?

McClatchy's Day In History:

During a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican-Wisconsin) claims that he has a list with the names of over 200 members of the Department of State that are “known communists.” The speech vaulted McCarthy to national prominence and sparked a nationwide hysteria about subversives in the American government.

Speaking before the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator McCarthy waved before his audience a piece of paper. According to the only published newspaper account of the speech, McCarthy said that, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 [State Department employees] that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.” In the next few weeks, the number fluctuated wildly, with McCarthy stating at various times that there were 57, or 81, or 10 communists in the Department of State. In fact, McCarthy never produced any solid evidence that there was even one communist in the State Department.

Despite McCarthy’s inconsistency, his refusal to provide any of the names of the “known communists,” and his inability to produce any coherent or reasonable evidence, his charges struck a chord with the American people. The months leading up to his February speech had been trying ones for America’s Cold War policies. China had fallen to a communist revolution. The Soviets had detonated an atomic device. McCarthy’s wild charges provided a ready explanation for these foreign policy disasters: communist subversives were working within the very bowels of the American government.





Thursday, January 04, 2018

Yeah But No


The Hill:

A firestorm over former chief strategist Stephen Bannon is consuming the White House with the new year only days old.

It comes even while the president’s latest controversial tweets are still reverberating and the stubborn cloud of investigations into collusion with Russia remains.

By the end of an extraordinary day of news on Wednesday, Bannon’s enemies within the GOP were glorying in his apparently final demise from the Trump inner circle. His loyalists were complaining that the White House was being too easily spooked and had overreacted.

Never forget that this is a Reality TV Show - a years-long effort at Brand Visibility.

Take a look at the script of any "Unscripted Reality Series" - or listen to the instructions and suggestions of the show's producers - and you're going to find a pattern of deliberate mischief. The players make more money if they start a fight - especially the women, cuz hey - it could get physical, and everybody loves a girl fight, and we might get to see some boobage, and that'll be good for at least a few days of good buzz.

Nobody watches the typical family next door as they take out the trash and bring in the groceries, so nobody's going to buy advertising on a show like that.

I'm thinking Mueller and Schiff and Warner (maybe even Burr) are keeping their eyes on the ball while the rest of us get to spend a day or two indulging ourselves in some good ol' fashioned celebrity voyeurism.

Pro Wrestling meets The Kardashians - it's The Infomercial Presidency.

Unfortunately, it's being used as cover by the Kremlin, and by some very shady characters in and around Capitol Hill.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Yeesh

These last few days have provided a good lens for me to focus in on why I have a solid Love/Hate Relationship with politics.

John McCain escapes from a hospital in Arizona, kinda wobbles his way thru a short address to the Senate, and votes in favor of going forward with debate on a bill that fucks everybody over who isn't pullin' down about $200k a year - I can hate that one pretty bigly. 

But maybe by doing that, whatever version of this piece-of-shit bill McConnell has up his scaly sleeve today finally gets exposed as a piece-of-shit bill - so maybe I don't hate that one so much.

Meanwhile, 45* continues to shit on his AG because he thinks the guy in charge of the DoJ is supposed to be loyal to the POTUS instead of holding him (and everybody else) accountable before the law.  So I love showing 45* up for the Daddy State Swingin' Dick he obviously is.

But that means I'm forced into the position of having to defend a malignant leprechaun like Jeff Sessions, and fuck me, I hate the shit outa that one.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Keith


Olbermann gets a little up in it, but he has access to lots of people who really know about this kinda shit.


It prob'ly won't get better for a while.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Quick Reminder

BTW - a little review of Daddy State rules:
  • Every accusation is a confession
  • Every boast is an admission of inadequacy or an attempt to take credit for someone's else's work
  • Every warning of coming disaster is a statement of policy - a threat to cause that disaster (if they haven't already started it), in order to punish us for not going along with the agenda.
Lawrence O'Donnell: (starting at about 15:30, Don Jr goes into full Daddy State mode)


A House of Vipers - listen for the part where they speculate on throwing Don Jr off the train to divert the attention from Kushner, who is in turn expendable in order to insulate 45*.

Wednesday, July 05, 2017

45* Theater



The eternal semantic struggle: Is it "real"?



Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Jeff Sessions: Malignant Leprechaun


I don't know what all was going through Ms Kamala's mind of course, but the look on her face was classic: "You are so full of shit, little man - lie to me again and everybody here will thank me for slapping that smirk all the way around to the back side of your tiny head."

Monday, June 12, 2017

Theater

HuffPo:

President Donald Trump has set a deadline of July 4 for a shakeup of the White House that could include removing Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, according to two administration officials and three outside advisers familiar with the matter.

While Trump has set deadlines for staff changes before, only to let them pass without pulling the trigger, the president is under more scrutiny than ever regarding the sprawling Russia investigation, which is intensifying the pressure on his White House team.

45* believes his main function is to set up the cliffhanger for whatever fucked up Reality TV show he thinks he's hosting this week.

And as long as we tune in for the shit show instead of concentrating on holding the GOP to account for all this mess, we're complicit.

Get woke
Get together
Get focused
Get shit done

Saturday, June 10, 2017

It's All For Show


We all know he said he'd release his tax returns - he said that at least twice, under two different circumstances, and with two different caveats.

We all know he said there was evidence of Obama tapping his phones in Trump Tower, and that he'd have it for us inside a week - which was 3 or 4 months ago.

We all know there's any number of other instances when he "promised" something that never materialized.

Every time out, we get a new look at 45* doing nothing but trying to set up the cliffhanger for this week's episode of Your Life Is A Rolling Clusterfuck In A Dumpster Filled With Burning Tires And You Pay Me For All Of It.

If anybody calls this asshole's bluff on this one, we all hafta know by now that some imaginary lawyer will suddenly appear in 45*'s dreams and forbid him to testify - even though he really really really wants to do it - for reasons beyond the understanding of you mass of unwashed idiots.

Thursday, June 08, 2017

Today's Charlie


May the fake lord bless you and keep you, Charlie Pierce:

Comey eschewed the reading of the prepared statement that was released to the media on Wednesday in favor of beginning his appearance with a scathing denunciation of the president* who fired him, and who then proceeded to lie to the nation about why.

"Although the law requires no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader...Those were lies plain and simple. And I am so sorry that the FBI work force had to hear them and I am so sorry that the American people were told them."

He repeated on several occasions that he'd been fired because of his handling of the investigation of Russian ratfcking in the 2016 campaign. And, every time he was asked why he believed that, Comey replied that he was "taking the president at his word." This is twisting the spear with a deft and practiced hand.

It was a singularly powerful performance, made more so by the fact that Comey is very close to the perfect congressional witness—stolid and relaxed, relentlessly on point, in command of the facts and of his testimony, and not willing to be baited into going a step beyond what he wanted to say.

Coupla things popped out on Twitter and elsewhere:

  1. 45*'s lawyer said Comey was a standup guy for "exonerating the president completely", and that Comey is a crafty habitual liar who can't be trusted to tell us the correct time of day.
  2. Comey as a private citizen chose to relay non-classified material to the Press Poodles through a friend, while 45* relayed classified material to Russia.
  3. Repubs still can't legit rebut any of it (and Jesus on a cornflake, why do they think they need to?) so they're still trying to deflect with "Yeah, but Hillary..."
  4. Just what the actual fuck is wrong with John McCain now?
Always read your Charlie - it's good for you.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

The Big Diversion

Time Mag online from two fellows at The Brennan Ctr:
The Trump administration continues to double down on its false and widely-criticized assertion that 3 to 5 million non-citizens illegally voted in the 2016 election.
On Sunday, White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller claimed 14% of non-citizens are registered to vote. “We know for a fact, you have massive numbers of non-citizens registered to vote in this country,” he said, appearing on ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos. “The White House has provided enormous evidence with respect to voter fraud.”
Actually, it hasn’t. Nevertheless, President Trump announced earlier this month, despite the lack of evidence, that Vice President Mike Pence will lead a federal investigation into voter fraud.
Tons of ink has been devoted to debunking the president’s claims that our elections are marred by widespread voter fraud. But few have focused specifically on his administration’s larger false claims about non-citizens. It is important to put this particular allegation to bed once and for all.
Like voter fraud generally, non-citizen voting is incredibly rare. Simply put, we already know that ineligible non-citizens do not vote in American elections — including the 2016 election — except at negligible rates. Here are the facts.
It's another shiny object dangled in front of us to get us away from the Russia thing. 

  • &/or to drive more attempts to suppress the vote 
  • &/or to cover the attempts to gut Social Security, etc
  • &/or just about any other shitty thing these pricks are always up to
And btw - when did a Veep get the power to investigate anything? That's an honest question for me. I don't know that he doesn't have the standing to do that, it just seems a little, uhm, odd? 

Sure sounds like a snipe hunt to me.