Ace Lyons

A retired USN Admiral weighs in on killing our way out of our problems in the Middle East.

(via Right Wing Watch)



Interesting that this is one of the boneheads Trump listens to, even as he continues to look at David Patraeus (basically the "Father of" the Counterinsurgency Strategy this Lyons guy says is the wrong way to go).

But then take a gander at this one from Tiger Beat On The Potomac (thanks, Charlie), aka: Politico, with the understanding that pimping confusion and volatility is Trump's stock-in-trade, and it gets a tiny bit easier to see that maintaining any kind of delicate balance anywhere in the world is in no way any kind of priority for Mr Unpredictable.

In confusion there is profit.

This isn't politics; it's a fucking robbery.

Trae Crowder

No More Mr Nice Jesus

It should be a good one to point at and say, "Wouldn't it be nice if Christians could forget all the shit and get back to being all Christian-y?"  But this actually is the Jesus some "Christians" believe in now, so I'm not holding out a lot of hope on that one.

Change Comin'

His Most High Awesomely Tremendous Excellency, "President" Trump has decided Hail To The Chief just ain't cuttin' it*.

So we've gone to great lengths (and at practically no expense at all) here at Fuck That Guy Central to bring you the proposed official version of a tune we're sure will be required every time Mr Trump enters any venue.

(* What - you think I can't just make shit up and peddle it as Real News? That's how we do things now. Pay attention.)

Today's Keith

Watch this video on The Scene.

Meanwhile, Out There In The World

Trump's avoidance of the President's Daily Brief is not something we seem to be terribly worried about. It makes me wonder if he's counting on getting the information 2nd hand from his yes-man-asshole-sycophants advisers, or if he really thinks he can just go with his gut. And either way, I guess, that's just pretty fucked up right there.

Anyway, even tho' it sounds a bit huffy and pearl-clutchy in places (and it could be little more than self-promotion - this is the Trump Era remember), here's a cheery little yarn from John Pilger at AlterNet:

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarter past eight on the morning of 6 August, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, unforgettably. When I returned many years later, it was gone: taken away, “disappeared”, a political embarrassment.

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarter past eight on the morning of 6 August, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, unforgettably. When I returned many years later, it was gone: taken away, “disappeared”, a political embarrassment.

So, instead of putting somebody in charge of the operation who knows quite a bit about it because she actually helped formulate it and implement it - which means she could make changes in ways that don't threaten the enterprise (not to mention the continued existence of human habitation of the whole fucking planet), we decided in effect, that it doesn't really matter what else happens as long as Hair Fuhrer gets to line his pockets to the point where we might be able to catch a few nickels and dimes from the overflow.

The basic premise here is that Trump will Un-Manage this shit. He doesn't take the briefings (I think) because he's delegating the whole thing. He'll take status reports - and he'll make a show of being large-and-in-charge by issuing loud boisterous demands for results - but the point is that he's still just using his position to get the ultimate inside information so he can boost his profitability.

This is not politics - this is a fucking robbery.

Fake lord have mercy.

Once In A Lifetime

From this:

To this:

And it only took 78 years.

I wish I was clever enough to make some kind of subtle analogy about Trump's arrival and this "date which will live in infamy".

Ride On, Mr Trump

Once upon a time, the good guys weren't the ones who just take what they want, spouting the entitlements they think they've earned because of their willingness to push people around.

Push back.

hat tip = driftglass

Chris Hedges

There is something kind of appealing to the notion of just blowing it all up and starting over.  But you almost never get anything straightened out or settled that way. What you wanted the new thing to look like when you started the destruction is never what you end up with.

Revolutionaries always come in promising bread and freedom, and they always fail to deliver anything but a very long period of even greater suffering, because all that really happens is an exchange of one Ruling Elite for another.

Evolution not revolution.

hat tip = MockPaperScissors

Samantha Bee