Today In Smarmspace

18 U.S. Code § 2383.Rebellion or insurrection
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

This one is beyond perfection.

45* uses a double shield to express, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

"I'm not saying I want people to start shooting each other if those rotten Dems impeach me - it was that Jeffers guy - and besides, he didn't say he wanted that either - those very fine people just spontaneously started killing liberals because they know those dirty liberals are dirty and liberal and were cheating them out of their right to have the greatest president in the history of forever, and so they were patriotically defending blah blah blah..."

These guys don't ever give direct orders. They don't ever tell anyone to break the law or to do shitty things, even though that's what they want. They speak in coded language and invite inference, knowing that over time, the people around them will pick up the signals and do the dirt for them.

And yes, I know all of that is obvious to most of us by now. But that's why it has to be reiterated - they do that shit all the time and if you don't stop and point and say, "That's fucked up", then it starts to sink in and become the norm.

Today's Tweet(s)

At least Amash has kinda bailed and moved his marker to "Independent", but just the same - talk is cheap, fellas. Let's see you put your money where is.

I have visited nations ravaged by civil war. @realDonaldTrump I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President. This is beyond repugnant. https://t.co/a5Bae7bP7g

— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) September 30, 2019

Kevin McCarthy again displays his unique brand of incompetence and dishonesty. pic.twitter.com/KAijpPMk6R

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) September 30, 2019

Today's Pix

Click

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SuperMax Visiting Hours: Th-Su 8am-3pm

Dirt Don't Vote

Here's the link to that map (it's "unsecured" so it doesn't embed properly)

Carto-Maps

Today's Tweet

Brain bleach available in the lobby.

#LiddleDonaldTrump Donald Trump should not use words like "Liddle" or Small or Tiny because it just reminds us of how Stormy described him naked. pic.twitter.com/PIkcJvkIOE

— ChicaMinou (@ChickfromCali1) September 27, 2019

Today's Beau

Justin King - Beau Of The Fifth Column

Podcast

We're always wondering, and always hearing the question, "How did we get there?"

How did we go from No Drama Obama to a gameshow host who pimps the crazy stoopid high-school-fuck-around drama all day every day?

Driftglass explains: The rubes were so well-conditioned by a constant refrain of "Obama's a lawless tyrant who does whatever he wants and gets away it...", that they became perfectly willing to accept the actual tyranny of a GOP led by Trump because it was time for some payback and now it's my guy doing the tyrannizing and all those rotten migrant-loving baby-killing libtard gun-grabbers are gonna get it now and blah blah blah.

They don't worry about looking like fools when they stand up and rant for 10 minutes about complete bullshit with absolutely no facts to back them up - because their target audience loves it no matter what.

Listen to some of the smartest commentary anywhere:

drop a few coins in the jar:

The Professional Left Podcast

PO Box 9133

Springfield, IL 62791-9133

and don't forget the merch:

Impeachment

As is usually the case, some guys are out in front of the band catching all the panties, while others - the heart and soul of the enterprise - are relegated to backup and fill-in rolls.

That's not to say the singers and the lead guitar players aren't doing any of the work - I'm just saying we don't have our favorite band without the people we sometimes don't even see.

George Mason is the greatest Founding Father nobody ever heard of.

But anyway, the point here is that we got a very workable document out of a convention of truly extraordinary gentlemen.

Of course, there's no point in planning your work if you're not gonna work your plan.

Smithsonian Magazine, Erick Trickey:

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia was winding down, the draft of the United States’ supreme law almost finished, and George Mason, the author of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, was becoming alarmed. Over the course of the convention, the 61-year-old had come to fear the powerful new government his colleagues were creating. Mason thought the president could become a tyrant as oppressive as George III.

So on September 8, 1787, he rose to ask his fellow delegates a question of historic importance. Why, Mason asked, were treason and bribery the only grounds in the draft Constitution for impeaching the president? Treason, he warned, wouldn’t include “attempts to subvert the Constitution.”

After a sharp back-and-forth with fellow Virginian James Madison, Mason came up with another category of impeachable offenses: “other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Americans have debated the meaning of this decidedly open-ended phrase ever since. But its inclusion, as well as the guidance the Founders left regarding its interpretation, offers more protection against a dangerous executive power than many realize.

- and -

...Mason, one of Virginia’s richest planters and a major framer of his home state’s new constitution, was the first delegate to argue that the government needed a check on the executive’s power. “Some mode of displacing an unfit magistrate” was necessary, he argued on June 2, without “making the Executive the mere creature of the Legislature.” After a short debate, the convention agreed to the language proposed in the Virginia Plan: the executive would “be removable on impeachment and conviction of malpractice or neglect of duty” – a broad standard that the delegates would later rewrite.

Mason, Madison, and Randolph all spoke up to defend impeachment on July 20, after Charles Pinckney of South Carolina and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania moved to strike it. “[If the president] should be re-elected, that will be sufficient proof of his innocence,” Morris argued. “[Impeachment] will render the Executive dependent on those who are to impeach.”

“Shall any man be above justice?” Mason asked. “Shall that man be above it who can commit the most extensive injustice?” A presidential candidate might bribe the electors to gain the presidency, Mason suggested. “Shall the man who has practiced corruption, and by that means procured his appointment in the first instance, be suffered to escape punishment by repeating his guilt?”

Madison argued that the Constitution needed a provision “for defending the community against the incapacity, negligence, or perfidy of the Chief Magistrate.” Waiting to vote him out of office in a general election wasn’t good enough. “He might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation”— embezzlement—“or oppression,” Madison warned. “He might betray his trust to foreign powers.”

Randolph agreed on both these fronts. “The Executive will have great opportunities of abusing his power,” he warned, “particularly in time of war, when the military force, and in some respects the public money, will be in his hands.” The delegates voted, 8 states to 2, to make the executive removable by impeachment.

"A republic, Madam - if you can keep it."

Deep Thoughts

The pop tart has replaced the banana as the most phone-shaped food.

And the outlook for America's dietary health gets a little dimmer

Small Town Livin'

BREAKING NEWS - C'Ville Weekly:

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing this morning of Meteor the Yak, who died after being hit by a car on Route 29, according to a post by the Nelson County Farm Bureau. 

Meteor captured our hearts after escaping while en route to meet his demise at an abattoir. 

After kicking out the doors of his trailer at a traffic light and wandering away, the 300-pound black yak was spotted outside the NCFB on September 11, and also made an appearance at a bed and breakfast. 

His bid for survival inspired creative headlines ("Yak on the lam") but more importantly he became a symbol of hope. 

Stories cropped up in the Washington Post, USA Today, and other national outlets, and Meteor became an object of obsession for some. 

We all love the story of the lone survivor, the rebel, the underdog. Meteor was all of those rolled into one. 

We were hoping Meteor would roam free and live to become part of our local folklore. Alas, we must settle for an ephemeral feel-good story (albeit one with a sad ending), and confirmation that one animal can bring out the best in human nature, which includes a fundamental love of all living things.