Goober Squad Busted

First - I'm sorry Mr Finicum is dead.  I think that's what he wanted - he said as much - but I'm hoping Mrs Finicum and all the little Finicums find good ways to get past it.

Meanwhile, we might have some fun watching as these militia rubes fall to squabbling internally due to the rumors (aka: bullshit) and false reports about how Finicum was killed.

Eyewitnesses knock down conspiracy theories about LaVoy Finicum dying with his hands up https://t.co/Db3dahU4m2 https://t.co/l5Q0dAaEfa

— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 27, 2016

These nuts maintain a diet rich in paranoid conspiracy and an awful lot of 'em are absolutely determined to believe anything they're told as long as it fits the framing of "Gubmint always bad - Camo Goobers always good."  

Makes me wonder what happens now that "two of their own", Mark McConnell and Melvin Lee, are saying 'calm down' and 'let's be sensible' and 'what you've heard about the feds murdering Lavoy isn't true', etc. 

 

If their own guys are seen as failing the "purity test" (which of course was never clearly defined, because it can't actually be defined because who the fuck died and made you the fuckin' pope?), factional splits get real big real quick, and they get to runnin' in tighter and tighter circles chasing each other's tails, and before ya know it, they disappear up each other's assholes. (sounds like a certain political party don't it?) 

It's nice to think the rest of these Y'all-Qaeda cells will just disintegrate and reabsorb.  And some of that should happen - there are some people in this "movement" who can think, and generally, when those people are shown that some of the folks in positions of leadership are very obviously bug-fucking crazy, they tend to split.  And if they really can think for themselves, they'll know the fight's over; they lost; and they were on the wrong side anyway. 

There's also some probability that the remaining Goober Leaders are trying to figure how best to use Finicum's death.  

"See?  The Gubmint is big and dangerous. If we're gonna win this thing, we have to fight smart.  Lavoy Finicum didn't fight smart.  Lavoy Finicum is fuckin' dead now."

Lotsa moves left to play out.  This shit ain't over.

Today's Quote

A man's worth is popularly determined by his intellect. And his intellect - unfortunately - is thought to be proportional to the distance between the front and back covers of his autobiography. --me (with a nod to Ambrose Bierce)

Today's Wingnut

Meet Joe Stetsen

Joe seems like a fun date.  I'm sure he'll be the belle o' the ball in the county lockup.

Now, here's Harney County Judge Steve Grasty.

My guess is that Steve is wondering (like a lot of us are wondering) how the fuck we got from the pretty good kinda moderate conservatism of John Lindsay and Nellie Rockefeller in the 60s and 70s to this rabid, slaverin'-dog, kill-'em-all-let-god-sort-'em-out, radical bullshit.

Didn't just happen last night; not gonna un-happen by tomorrow.

For me, the lights came on in 1992, listening to Pat Buchanan at the GOP convention in Houston.  I'd been feeling a little antsy about my preferences for Repubs for a few years, but that speech made a very loud, very uncomfortable noise in my head, and I just kinda knew I'd been wrong for too long, and it was time for a rethink.

Minds can be changed.  Sometimes for the better.

Today's Pix

Today's Eternal Sadness

hat tip = Nick (that's my Mookie) Nacho

From NBC News:

A gun-store owner and his son were killed in a shootout with two customers after an argument over a $25 firearm repair fee, police told NBC station WDSU.

The patrons were also taken to hospital with serious injuries following Saturday's incident at the store near Picayune, Mississippi, which is 130 miles south of Jackson.

The only thing that stops a law-abiding citizen with a gun - I can't make the joke work, even for me.  

And I can't get cute with, "Well, as long as they're killing each other, I'll call that an improvement".

Fuck that, and fuck me for thinking it.

We've been trying hard to tell you for a long time.  It's up to you now, ammosexuals.  Those were your guys.  Get off your ass and do something about it.  Step up or step aside.

Trouble At The Top

Keeper of the flame

Defender of the faith

Guardian of standing athwart and yelling STOP

John Fowler, National Review Publisher, telling us basically that the GOP "establishment" has become the new Surrender Monkeys.

But BTW - "GOP Establishment"?  Is that even still a thing?  And yes, of course it is, even though they've been striving all these many long years to trick people into thinking there isn't really an "establishment" because that goes against all of that rugged individualism bullshit they've been peddling for those same many long years.

"The Big-Daddy Conservatives" have inveighed against Central Planning forever (working feverishly to make sure the rubes ignore the fact that the strategy comes from a committee at GOP HQ), but now that their party has broken up into a thousand little independent franchising operations, they're all clutching their pearls tight enough to choke a RINO (buh-dum-chssh - sorry).

Anyway, if any of these jokers had ever really bothered to read Ayn Rand, they'd know that the main tenet of Objectivsm is that while a contradiction can exist, it can't prevail.  Which means they'd understand that what's happening to the GOP now is what they've actually been saying should happen.

They've wanted everybody standing alone.  If we're all separated from each other, we can't very well act in concert with each other, and that way, the people who're already in power get to stay in power, and the rest of us get to pay rent to them.

But then, here comes Trump-o-mania.  I can't think of a clearer example of the almost instinctual inclination of people to get together and push back once they realize they're being fucked over.  Why, it's almost like they're - dare I say it? - Unionizing.

What I think is going on now is that the old GOP bosses are finding it a lot more difficult to co-opt the Trumpkins like they co-opted the TeaBaggers.  The more the GOP tries to play nice and get the rubes to come home, the harder Trump pushes them towards the extreme.  Whatever else he is or appears to be, the guy's no dummy.  He knows how to hijack a proxy fight at a stockholders' meeting.

And yes, there are some very close parallels with The Bernie Mensches.  But don't be stoopid enough to think I'm joining the Both-Siders.  If you can't tell the difference between Bernie and Trump, you need to put down the spray paint and go outside for a while.

So - common cause, anyone?  Bernie makes a lot of sense for the Trumpkins - all the good stuff about truth-telling and fair deals and solid American values, but without the brown shirts and protester beatings.

Today's Quote

I don't know if god exists, but it would be better for his reputation if he didn't. --Jules Renard

hat tip = Twitter feed from Pascals' Bookie 

How To Protest

Today's Tweet

Who's your best friend? https://t.co/mX6jWihM3J

— Kevin Pang (@pang) January 18, 2016

 

Today's Meme

hat tip = twitter pal perfectly frank

Today's Tweet

UPDATE: DeKalb officer, indicted in shooting death of unarmed, naked vet, booked into jail. https://t.co/5X1IeozbqG pic.twitter.com/XgdsnJ7YV2

— AJC (@ajc) January 22, 2016

So which way do we go on this one?  

Blue Lives Matter? 
Khaki Lives Matter?  
Support The Troops?
Save Our Vets?

One faction of Uber-Patriots fighting against other factions of Uber-Patriots, and all of a sudden, it's like we don't even have a fucking country anymore.

Today's Anniversary

Roe v Wade - Jan 22, 1973

And may I say for the record:

I am pro-life.

I believe strongly that abortion should be tightly restricted

to women

who are pregnant

and don't wanna be pregnant anymore.

Also, I have a penis, so whatever I say on this subject may be safely disregarded entirely.

Thank you.

Might Be Worth A Look

If anybody can make it work, these guys can make it work.

Today's Pix

Today's Tweet

The Narcissus Borealis (thanks tengrain) ponies up and endorses Donito Trumpelini - and history rhymes again in the 2016 personification of Churchill's lament about "when tyrants embrace".

Palin: "self-made" Trump doesn't rely on Other People's Money. Trump co-wrote book saying his success built on OPM pic.twitter.com/X3SfP148tW

— Richard Hine (@richardhine) January 20, 2016

Still not gettin' my panties in a bunch over this one tho', because I'm still not convinced Trump really wants to be Prez.  He starts getting a little too close to winning something, he has to do something outrageous that pulls in a few more rubes while pushing the establishment a little farther away. 

The plan is to boost his brand, but always always always - sit on your ass collecting rent while somebody else does the work.

The wise ones tell us he got Palin's endorsement to prop him up in Iowa - but then she's a no-show at a Trump event the very next day?

This is "USAmerica Inc - Campaigning For Fun and Profit". Palin got the paycheck for the one night stand, but it doesn't look like she'll be joining the tour.  Or maybe she's just waiting for her own bus again.

Now take a look at what pops up from the GOP Establishment - "Movement Conservatism" -  about what they think of Trump voters:

(btw - watch Joy Reid's expression starting around the 1:30 mark)

And also too - Rick Wilson's prob'ly looking for clients, and so saying what he said in that clip is part of the blurb - it's his prospecting letter, going out to potential customers.

Everybody gets a chance to cash in when the carnival's in town.