It Gets Worse

As if the fuckery of cult45* isn't bad enough - and I've mentioned this shit before - we have to keep one good eye on what the Congress Weasels are up to that we don't get to see very well because the 45*/Russia thing is such a very useful smoke screen.

Fuck up healthcare coverage
Fuck up the water and the air and the food
And make prescription medications too expensive for most anybody not living 3000% over the fucking poverty line
And
And
And
And privatize the fuck outa everything that moves or doesn't move; or might evolve into a moving thing sometime down the road (not that any of the dumbass rubes will even guess what that "evolving" thing might mean because they keep electing Coin-Operated Politicians who think Betsy DeVos is the new Moritmer Fucking Adler) - and by the way, let's create a Futures Market so somebody can own every-goddamned-thing there is or ever will be. 

And let's not forget Net Neutrality.

Trae Crowder:

A New(ish) Wrinkle

Ol' Doc Maddow lined this out quite a while ago, talking about conflicts of interest and such.

And then, boom - there it is.

Abha Bhataria at WaPo:

Guests at 14 Trump properties, including hotels in Washington, New York and Vancouver, have had their credit card information exposed, marking the third time in as many years that a months-long security breach has affected customers of the chain of luxury hotels.

The latest instance occurred between August 2016 and March 2017, according to a notice on the company’s website, and included guest names, addresses and phone numbers, as well as credit card numbers and expiration dates. The breach took place on the systems of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, a reservation booking service used by Trump Hotels, but did not compromise the Trump Hotels’ systems.

1. The (Russian?) mob loves credit card shit - it's easy pickin's
2. Why 45*'s hotels specifically?
3. Is this an attack on the hotels, or is this an attack on US interests?
4. How do we tell the difference?
5. If there's a response, what will that response be?
6. If there's no response - or a nominal/weak shit response - what can we reasonably surmise from that in itself?

BTW - remember that F-35 bullshit I posted about earlier? It seems we're not addressing a pretty important question - 

When we know the Russians are attacking us in Cyberspace, why the fuck are we beefing up on hardware to fight a battle in Meatspace?

- and it seems we're avoiding that question with increased vigor since January 20th this year.

Today's Tweet

Even a blind hog roots up an acorn once in a while.

Fox News gets it right: pic.twitter.com/mBk2PDK49J

— Alt EEOB (@AltEEOB) July 12, 2017

Don and Jared

Don Jr can go to prison for violations of a whole raft of shit - espionage, treason, campaign restrictions, etc.

Jared might go for about the same reasons, but his function now is to take the hit in order to provide plausible deniability for 45*, which serves to shield the rest of cult45*.

But at the very least, those two jokers.

One thing - the Circle Of Fuckery widens almost daily.  So remember that the first point in this kinda shit is to make sure everybody's guilty so nobody can be held accountable.

And also too, there is no honor in anyone involved in this, so let's not count on Bob Mueller's Witness Whisperers to produce a good ol'-fashioned John Dean. We'd best be expectin' we'll hafta do this the hard way.

Here's A Tho't

Wondering why Congress is being so stealthy as they try to strip away everything the "conservatives" hate about this country instead of addressing the Trump/Russia thing?

Wonder no more:

1. Know what's coming
2. Get outside - disobey
3. Know your history
4. Follow the money
5. Have a Counter-Plan ready

This is not governance - this is a fucking robbery.

And BTW - what's the big hurry, Mitch?  Is 45* in greater jeopardy than you can admit?

The Big Turnaround

Here's the visual from the Rachel Maddow thing I posted yesterday - worth repeating a few times.

Watch for it starting at about 6:50 - Rachel lays out the probability that the GOP will use the very heavy layers of guilt as a shield. DumFux news has already started putting up the "Don Jr is the real victim here" defense.

Cult45* is employing a variation on a basic tactic of the Daddy State: Accusation = Confession.

It can work the other way as well. You can use your confession as a weapon against your opponent - turning it into an accusation.

The shitty part is that the rubes will buy it.

The really shitty part is that the Press Poodles will give the rubes reason to think it's legit by covering it in that Both-Sides bullshit way.

The really really shitty part is that this is fucking dangerous.

And the really really really shitty part is that this is prob'ly not as dangerous as it gets.

Fake Lord have mercy.

Cult45*

Aptly named Senator Strange:

Of course it's not just the south, but down here, these guys are thick as flies on cow shit.

And we're not gonna get it fixed in 1 or 2 elections - it's a long hard road just to get back to where we can see something that looks like Regular Order on the horizon.

Small "c" Conservative

The Senate Appropriations Committee reports that the F-35 testing program is coming along nicely.

Gotta remember to remember that a rapacious and opportunistic Congress is still in session, hiding behind the rationalization that they have to stay at "work" and give the people the business do the people's business.

Dan Grazier at The American Conservative:

Despite warnings of poor performance and spiraling costs from at least three oversight agencies, both Congressional armed services committees voted to add new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to the president’s appropriations request and approved a three-year block buy.

The final number has yet to be hashed out, but if the Senate gets its way, taxpayers will buy 94 F-35s in 2018. That would mean more than 800 F-35s would be purchased before the design has been fully tested.

Congress’s actions here are disappointing. What is even more disturbing is the justification provided for those actions in the House. (The Senate language is not yet available.) Buried deep within Rep. Mac Thornberry’s (R-Texas) “Chairman’s Mark” of the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), is a lengthy rationalization of the F-35 double-down plan. The authors of the offending appendix include lots of details, but they failed to give a complete picture. The full story, of course, would have undermined the current appeal for digging farther into the F-35 hole.

Today's Intertubes Winner

Overheard on Facebook:

If Trump is the answer, 

then you've been asking some really stoopid questions.

Keith

Gee - it's like something hit a fan or something.