They're On Fire

The Professional Left Podcast:



A take-away for me is that while we shouldn't be afraid, we need to be vigilant.

One More Kellyanne Thing

Do the guys who're always bitchin' about Hillary's focus groups know that Trump's new campaign manager is tailoring his message style according to the polls that she gets paid a shitload of money to conduct?

About Kellyanne

Just to be clear on who this lady is:

This is a fair look at what I mean when I bitch about how everything is fungible now.

As long as she was doing her free-lance thing, she was saying things she (prob'ly) thought might get her hired by one of the campaigns.  That's what she does and I'm not slagging her for that.

What I'm willing to slag her for is this: she was a Ted Cruz supporter when she said basically "Ted Cruz is pretty bad, but that Trump guy is way worse."

Or maybe we can infer a whole load of whatever we want from it. It's a pretty good prospecting pitch at the very least because it can mean many different things - that's kinda my point on that one.

Anyway, now she's pimping for Donald Trump. So here I am, slagging away - and happy to do it.

I get it - you have to make choices.  Sometimes it's like, "I'd rather share my toothbrush with a Leper than throw in with that guy".  And the bullshit about "none of the above" just takes you outa the process and leaves all the choices up to people you wouldn't put in charge of a high school carwash.  And then your guy drops out and you're left thinking, "Well - maybe if I gargle some Clorox...?"

But that's all about being a voter.  Kellyanne Conway's a pro.

I guess it just seems a little dirty that Ms Conway switches her loyalties to Trump because he's the guy willing to write her a nice fat check, so everything she was saying last spring that was wrong with him is suddenly everything that's right with him now.

Right or wrong; fact or fiction; true or false - doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the reward or the penalty.

And that's pretty fucked up right there.

Shoes-A-Droppin'

Not to get too Both-Sides-ery here, but now that Manafort's been dumped because of the Russian money thing, Hillary needs to come clean and at the very least get out in front of this thing and talk about her decision-making process regarding John Podesta (this links to RedState - don't say I didn't warn ya).

And maybe she could tell us a little something about that all-but-totally-fucked-up decision to put Ken (they call me Mr Frack) Salazar in charge of her Transition Team.

Bi-Partisan Fuckery isn't quite the Bi-Partisan thing most of us had in mind, guys.

Bye, Larry

Things change because they have to change, but we've lost a strong clear voice.

I only hope the suits will eventually come to understand that the revenue they seem to prize more than life itself means practically nothing compared with what a guy like Larry Wilmore's been trying to do.  And if they had anything on the ball that's anywhere near what they think they have on the ball, they'd have figured out a way to make it work.  As it is, all they're left with is a copyright on some content that they think is valuable enough to hoard while making sure nobody ever gets to see it again.

Seriously - sometimes the "smart guys" are the dumbest fuckin' people.  More Larry - less MBA Spreadsheet bullshit.

Piling On

Donald Trump spent a little time in front of a TelePrompter yesterday, and suddenly - to hear some of the Press Poodles tell it, the last 14 months disappeared; gone; pfffft; never happened.

The Squint Squad seemed to struggle with it a little too, tho' I'll say they did come up with a better level of appropriate skepticism than usual.

Media Matters:

Donny Deutsch nailed it with "I will always tell you the truth..." as the perfect lead-in to a very good set of ads that show Trump lying about everything.

And Katty Kay pulled it all back to normal by pointing out that Trump still has to own everything he's said, plus she hits on what I think should be the main theme here, which is a little something I'm calling - Trump's Artificial Authenticity.

So who's The Real Trump? Screaming Asshole Guy; the one we've all seen for several years, or Mister Swell Guy who can be schmoozey and charming, but who's only been seen by his buddies?  Y'know what?  Fuck 'em both.

"I will always tell you the truth" (The Guardian):

The lies Trump told this week: from opposing the Iraq war to San Bernardino

Trump shares more false memories from the Iraq war and Middle Eastern politics and welcomes Nato’s ‘new’ terrorism division – which has existed since 2004

Today's Tweet

Africa Cady, a home school loser, fights w/ Regina who has blood coming out of her Wherever #TrumpExplainsMoviePlots pic.twitter.com/NfT2aVIQYi

— Trevor Donovan (@TrevDon) August 18, 2016

Today's Pix

The Company You Keep

Let's be clear, Manaforts client, Yanukovich, tried to steal election in 2004, ordered snipers to kill protestors in 2014 & was very corrupt

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) August 16, 2016

A former ambassador to Russia.  I'm thinking this is a guy who knows a little something.  

Today's Today

Happy Bad Poetry Day, everybody!

TOAST --Joseph V. Viray, ©1995
this is your mind.
this is your mind on TOAST.
this is your TOAST.
This is your TOAST on my mind.

THE SONG ABOUT THE SONG --Bryan Higgins, ©2000

This is the song about the show!
And it's a show with a song about
The Songs we're gonna sing
We'll sing you the songs about
The song about the show!
Songs about the singing we'll do!
Songs about the songs about
The song about the show!
Songs that we'll be singing to you!
You'll hear us singing songs about
The songs about the songs,
The songs about the songs about the songs--
Songs about the songs about
The songs about the songs,
The songs about the songs about the show!

So, that's a good 40 seconds of your life you will never ever get back.*

*your wastage may vary - depending on your reading speed, where you fall on the OCD spectrum, how long it took you to figure how to make this shit big enough to see it clearly, etc. And now you've wasted even more of your valuable time.

You're welcome.

About Today's Trump Thing

Just by way of introduction, here's a bit from TPM: 

Call it a match made in right-wing heaven.

Donald Trump’s hiring of Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon on Wednesday to be his campaign CEO marks the consummation of a months-long courtship with the conservative news and commentary site, which, under Bannon’s leadership, became Trump’s strongest media ally. Bannon will step down from his role at Breitbart to work with Trump, according to the campaign.

Trump sidelining Paul Manafort, who injected the campaign with a dose of seasoned professionalism, in favor of Bannon, once called the “most dangerous political operative in America,” also shows the real estate mogul firmly embracing the right-wing, establishment-hating fever swamps that fueled his candidacy since the beginning.

While the late Andrew Breitbart perhaps prophetically warned that Trump isn’t a conservative, his news site's love affair with the New York real estate mogul started years before Trump was a candidate. The site feverishly covered Trump’s relentless self-promotion and zest for stirring up speculation he might run for office.

So, I'm thinking this isn't some kind of "shakeup of a troubled campaign".  It's a corporate merger.

Trump needs an Information Division, and it turns out Fox isn't available - and Fox is pretty much old-hat now anyway - so Breitbart fits pretty well.

This seems like it's simply the latest development in the story of Trump Campaign Inc, and maybe we just got a new clue as to where all the campaign's money has been going - since it's obviously not getting spent on field operations or advertising. 

Sure would love to get a peek at the details of that artful little deal.

Today's Fellow Travelers

There's gotta be a Poe's Law probability here, but I can't find it.

Here's a bit from the website of Jayme Liardi (the guy in the video):

Ragnarök Now
Ragnarök
The Twilight of the Gods
The End of Times
Or perhaps
Just the beginning
It was prophesied by the ancestors, by our ancestors
That our world would indeed end;
But
What they also have said, is that our world would indeed be reborn
Better than before
This is Ragnarök Now
Mother Europe stands at her darkest hour
Sons of Odin
Warriors of Christ
This is indeed your battle
You can embrace your destiny
And become a part of the greatest battle the world has ever seen
We must become that which our enemies hate
We must become united
We must become clean
We must become strong
And formidable
That is your duty

It goes on, but it doesn't get any better, which is to say it doesn't get any less Nazi-ish.

And here's a nice retweet from this guy:

White Children Deserve A Future Free From #WhiteGenocide. #WhiteMothersAreMagic #MothersDay #MothersDayWeekend pic.twitter.com/9EbEIPPdgC

— Ann Kelly (@LadyAodh) May 8, 2016

I won't call that one typical, but it ain't exactly rare either.

Questions?

hat tip = Mock Paper Scissors

Today's Tweet

In a rare move @sciam takes a stand against Donald Trump's "lack of respect for science": https://t.co/62g50BpGBx pic.twitter.com/GyUq75s1R5

— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 17, 2016

Stay Focused

Big Fish

Gotta remember that sometimes the big fish gets away just because it's a big fish.

Kathleen Kane (D-Pennsylvania AG) was boated nicely and will prob'ly spend some quality time in prison - pending appeal, of course.  Cuz even when it works well enough to convict somebody in a fairly lofty position, our "justice" system works a little differently for people who're rich and/or powerful (see Big Fish above).

From Philly.com:

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane was convicted Monday of perjury, obstruction, and other crimes, after squandering her once-bright political future on an illegal vendetta against an enemy.

What bugs me the most is that this is another great example of a political system that seems to run (at least in part) according to some kinda High-School-Fuck-Around set of rules.

Rudy Needs Work

So, Rudy Giuliani went off again, peddling his new and improved 9/11 crap about how there were no Extreme Islamic Terrorism Attacks in the 8 years before Obama and Hillary.

BTW, here's not-a-picture of Rudy as he's not walking around lower Manhattan not on 9-11-2001 as he's not trying to reassure New Yorkers about what horrible things have not happened during a GOP president's administration because, of course, history won't actually begin until Jan 20, 2009.

Can't believe anybody hasta do this.  What the fuck is wrong with these people?

And Now, This

We should keep in mind that Trump is not just priming his supporters to rebel if he loses in Pennsylvania because of "cheating" - he's also priming those supporters to defend the results if he "wins" because of cheating.

And we've already seen lots of priming for 'the 2nd amendment" appeals.

Today's Tweet(s)

@KeithOlbermann @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/SJZBToaIUN

— joyce hawkins (@ladywelder44) August 15, 2016

Found this archival photo of Manafort and Lewandowski in happier times. pic.twitter.com/ryaHeX7hjq

— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) August 15, 2016

Random Thought

Anyone else notice how Paul Manafort looks like one of those old Soviet guys from back in the 80s who was always trying really hard not to look like a Soviet guy? Maybe it's the haircut. I dunno.

Just wonderin'.

via Little Green Footballs:

Government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manafort’s main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych.

Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.

In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.

This Just In

So, the Radical Right keeps pissin' and moanin' about how everything's all skewed in Hillary's favor, and they never get an even break (in spite of Mr Barnum's admonishing us never to give them one), and how Trump can't lose in a place like Pennsylvania unless it's rigged and on and on and on.

Well, Breitbart being the stand-up kinda joint they are, decided to spend some money and put a poll of their own in the field, and - oh golly - turns out their hand-picked sample came back with Hillary up by 5 points.

Oops

hat tip = Twitter @taniel