Whooda Thunk It

Jeremy Scahill can be a bit of a sensationalist, but he's always been careful to back up his reporting with solid evidence.

That said, remember that people lie; and sometimes they lie for good reasons; and sometimes good reporters - and good government - get fooled.

The Nation:

Former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” and that Prince’s companies “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.”

In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting “illegal” or “unlawful” weapons into the country on Prince’s private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the US State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.

We're in a very odd place right now. I'm not saying Erik Prince isn't the smarmy TheoCon asshole zealot he appears to be - I think he is.

I'm saying there are at least 4 probables here.

1. This is an effort to discredit Blackwater because somebody's pushing back against Prince's continuing efforts to privatize US Military and Intel functions
2. It could be a Counter-Ops False Flag thing where Blackwater funds an attack on itself, hoping to stir up lots of negativity, only to have it revealed that they didn't do the evil deed, which reverses the negative and gets lots of good sympathetic PR for them
3. Opportunists looking for a payday
4. Blackwater's guilty as fuck, and this is the only way we can think of to take them down that doesn't leave "the good guys" open to similar charges.

The oddness of this place has grown out of the "conservative" War On Facts that has intensified over the last 25 years to the point that we're in this weird deadlock because a boatload of us are stuck in a state of Radical Skepticism.

If you don't like the way it's going, just deny the facts. And if pressed, you can always pull an alternative "reality" straight outa your ass.

And yeah - it's all pretty fucked up, but that's not an excuse to do nothing.

Today's GIF

Exercise equipment is so worth it

Today's Tweet

Miss Lonelyheart waxes pathetic

Ann was desperately hoping that the tax credit for cat litter, Marlboro Reds, indifferent box-wine Chardonnay and the gnawing loneliness consuming her soul would make it into the tax bill. pic.twitter.com/VsEK9MSS4E

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 15, 2017

 

Timing Is Everything

And watch your 6 - apparently nobody else will.

Monday is coming...

🌊#FridayFeeling #Cool #FlashbackFriday #JobsReportpic.twitter.com/pX4x9ZOkGp

— Tom Hall ☘ (@TomHall) December 8, 2017

 

How Great I Art

Much appreciation to Albemarle Dems, and to whoever posted this from their Twitter feed.

...and to Walker Thornton for all she does for your favorite blogger.

It's Brookings

...and Brookings is "left leaning", but that don't make 'em wrong.

Like Colbert said: "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

(I just wish this kind of stuff could come from an author with a name other than Looney, y'know?)

Anyway:

THE ISSUE: House and Senate Republicans are working on a tax bill that will overhaul several parts of the U.S. tax code. By introducing new complexities to the tax code, the new bill creates tax sheltering opportunities for many Americans, especially the wealthy and those with good financial advisers.

- the first 3 points -

• By taxing wage income and business income at different levels, the bill adds complexity to the tax code and creates many new opportunities for more sophisticated and well-advised taxpayers to reduce their tax burdens.
• One of the least desirable parts of the bill is a provision that allows pass-through business owners to deduct 23 percent of their income before they calculate their taxes. This would result in very large differences in the tax burden of taxpayers in very similar circumstances.
• For example, if a plumber makes $60,000 a year as wages paid by an employer, he or she will pay 60 percent more in income taxes than if that plumber had been a sole proprietor or self-employed and takes advantage of the pass-through rate.
• The most sophisticated taxpayers and the highest income taxpayers will have a multiplicity of choices about how to structure their income and businesses in order to reduce taxes the most.

But let's get really real - if these jokers wanted to cut taxes for working families, they'd be  doing exactly that.  It's not about "relief", and anybody living within driving distance of a smart phone knows that.

It's also not about simplifying the Tax Code - not when it installs new ways for Corporations to avoid paying their fair share, which only increases an already pretty severe slant against the Workin' Guy.

These jagoffs are setting a deficit time bomb that they'll be using as the excuse they need to dismantle the main economic safety features which, for a good 80 years, have proven essential to making sure we have a properly-functioning middle class.

Paul Ryan has already tipped his hand by saying 2018 is when they'll be taking a nice big whack at Medicare.

We'll see what happens with Ryan. Rumors about his probable departure have intensified of late, but that could easily be a shot at gaining a bit more leverage - dunno. There are so many flips and turns and double-, triple-, and fourple-crossing that goes on, it's not really possible to keep up.

As always, the sausage-making continues apace.

Today's Pix

Click on a pic

Today's GIF

FCC spokes-critter answers the public outcry:

Sorry For The Delay

...but we were waiting for confirmation.

Here's another live shot of the skies over Alabama yesterday.

The Web

Ajit Pai is a lyin' sack of shit.  Net Neutrality is the deregulated internet. This jackass wants to deliver it into the hands of privateers and rent-seekers.

First - fuck you, Mr Pai. The web is absolutely vital to people who are just trying to get on in their everyday lives. (eg) It's nearly impossible now to apply for a job without internet access. Killing Net Neutrality translates into people having to pay for the privilege of looking for a job. Obviously, there's a cost to it now, but your "deregulation" opens it up to massive potential for abuse.

How do we know this "Plan To Restore Internet Freedom" is bogus? The name. When these assholes are selling something that's aimed at fucking us with our pants on, they give it a name that's exactly the opposite of what happens if they put it into practice.

The Clear Skies Act: allowed for massive increases in air pollutants.

The Clean Water Act: raised the allowable amounts of things like arsenic in drinking water. 

The Healthy Forests Initiative: opened protected Public Lands to logging - including clear-cutting in certain cases.

When we deregulated banking the 1st time in the 80s, we got the Savings & Loan crisis.

Deregulating the airlines - are there more air carriers now? Do they offer better service at a lower price?

How 'bout electric utilities? I seem to recall something called Enron.

Deregulating banks again in the 90s gave us a near-total collapse of the world economy, and a "recession" that we're still stuck in.

When 45* fucked up Bears Ears recently, his closing pitch was "protecting our precious resources".

We don't protect our resources by handing them over to private mining interests.

It's the game of opposites.

And by the way:

• Uranium deposits in Utah (Bears Ears)
• Pimping the Uranium One scandal
• Hillary Clinton gave away 20% of our precious uranium supply!?!
• We must do something to compensate
• I know - we'll sell off some of the National Monuments for peanuts and let a few rich guys get a lot richer at tax-payer expense
• Yeah - that's the ticket

As stoopid and incompetent as Cult45 is, there's a whole school of very adept sharks and flocks of talented vultures cashing in.