Meanwhile

... out there in the world, this, from Juan Cole

The Syrian Arab Army is advancing toward al-Raqqa city, the capital of the phony ISIS “caliphate,” with Russian air support. US Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Christopher Garver confirmed on Wednesday that the US has seen the movement of the troops of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad “to the south and west of Raqqa, and they are heading in that direction.”

Also on Wednesday, the Syrian air force destroyed equipment, fortifications and fighters of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in Resafa, 40 miles southwest of al-Raqqa city.

That is also area that the Syrian army is now entering. It is five kilometers from Resafa’s main intersection. The Financial Times speculates that the regime of al-Assad may hope that by taking al-Raqqa away from so-called caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Ibrahim al-Samarra’i), it will then be able to make the claim that only it can deal effectively with Daesh, gaining support in the international community that is otherwise horrified by al-Assad’s crimes against humanity.

If the US-backed YPG or Self Defense Forces, a unit of Syria’s leftist Kurds, reaches al-Raqqa at the same time as the Syrian Arab Army, there could be a clash between the two over al-Raqqa. The Syrian Army deeply dislikes the YPG and has vowed to put them down.

So, if I'm understanding this - there's a possibility that US forces end up in a fire fight with Russian forces to decide who gets to kill another bunch of 3rd worlders in another thoroughly fucked up part of the middle east.  Like some morbidly stoopid tournament - hey, we're in the semi-finals going for the regional title.  Yay, America.

Donald Trump did a lot of chest thumping during the "debates", saying he'd "knock the hell outa ISIS". OK, but what if Putin doesn't want you to do that?  Your move, Lil Donny - what're you gonna do?

We spent the last 8 years trying to untangle the Gordian Knot monumental clusterfuck left behind by the last know-nothing GOP stumble-bum, and while we may never get good alternatives to choose from in a lot of these situations, can we at least not go out of our way looking for any more door knobs to run into?

On To What's Next

I love & support Bernie but "Bernie or Bust" folk need to realize that the "Bust" part is Gary Busey on the Supreme Court.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 8, 2016

What I'm not saying: 

☞ get over it

☞buck up buttercup

☞don't be such a cry-baby

☞why you gotta be like 'at?  

None of that shit at all. This is politics, and our hearts will get broken - probably more than once.  We all need some time to decompress and regroup,

But at some point it's gonna be like, c'mon guys, pull up your socks; check your pads; snap up your helmet straps and get back in the game. Big opportunities (and big responsibilities) are right in front of us right here right now. 

We have a Senate ripe for the picking.  There's a bushel of House seats up for grabs.  2 GOP Governors are vulnerable, as well as 5 term-limited or retiring Dem Governors.  And it could be a very long time before we get a better shot at flipping some state legislatures, not to mention tens of thousands of elective offices at the County and Municipal levels.

There are more than 500,000 elected officials in USAmerica Inc. 

This work is never done. Democracy isn't something we can afford to just dabble in. There's a shitload to do - and we need everybody's help.

The Exodus

I realize this could come under the general heading of That's What Bloggers Are For, but I don't think I wanna put in the kind of work it's prob'ly going to take to stay up with the potential stampede of Repubs as they start to understand how important it is to get the fuck away from Donald Trump.

But I think somebody should be keeping some kind of scorecard on this.

One of the House's top conservatives now says he cannot support presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump after the real estate mogul questioned whether a federal judge could be fair given his "Mexican heritage," according to CNN political reporter Manu Raju.

Raju reported on-air Wednesday that Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX), a chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he "was incredibly angry" at Trump for attacking U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's integrity based on his ethnicity. Curiel is presiding over lawsuits against Trump University in California.

--and--

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signaled Tuesday that he may not support Donald Trump unless he renounces his attacks on a federal judge's ethnicity before being formally nominated at the GOP convention in July.

--and--

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she won't endorse GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump until he starts behaving more "presidential."

--and--

Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk on Tuesday said he "cannot and will not support" Donald Trump as the GOP's presidential nominee, citing the real estate mogul and former reality TV star's "past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me."

"It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander in chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment. Our president must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons," said Kirk, who suffered a stroke in 2012. "After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world."

The Atlantic has a fair piece on this subject - I only hope they can keep it updated.

And also too - at some point in the post-Trump period (assuming Trump does cause the near-fatal splintering of the GOP that lotsa people are expecting), we should anticipate the spinmeisters stepping up with "Donald Trump has done a great service to our party ... blah blah blah ... strengthening ... blah blah blah ... reminding us of our core values ... blah bah blah ..."  

And the translation will be "What an asshole that guy was - but at least when he left, he took an awful lot of those other assholes with him".

Fly paper.

Today's GIF

Today's Fun Fact

The last time the GOP won POTUS without somebody named Bush on the ticket, we got Watergate.

Before that, the last time the GOP won POTUS without somebody named Nixon on the ticket, we got The Great Depression.

 

There's definitely some kinda theme there, but seriously - we gotta be able to do better'n that.

On Being Sensible About It

Why a lifelong Republican says he's voting for Hillary Clinton https://t.co/sP0WMp8XwB https://t.co/8k0Tjoh52X

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 2, 2016

I'm a Bernie guy, and I'll go on being a Bernie guy, and even tho' Bernie's not gonna get the nomination, I want Bernie's ideas to become a solid part of the Democratic Party's platform, and if nothing I want to see happen actually happens, I'm still gonna show up and vote because there's a shitload of other people and issues on the ballot worth voting for - and if I think it's what I have to do to keep Trump out of the White House, I intend to shove a ginormous hunk of Limburger up each nostril so I can vote for Hillary.

There's no difference between Trump and Hillary? As long as you don't actually expect me to buy that crap, I'll go on refusing to believe you're that stoopid.

I will not be throwing a tantrum and talking myself into going along with something like "Fuck 'em - let's blow it all up".

Like the man said - any jackass can kick over a lantern and burn down the barn. That's not how we do things here.  Not yet anyway.

Fly Paper

HuffPo:

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had harsh words Tuesday for Donald Trump‘s comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, calling out the presumptive GOP nominee for racist comments while simultaneously reaffirming that his endorsement of Trump stands.

At an outdoor press conference set up to discuss the rollout of an anti-poverty plan, Ryan was asked if Trump’s repeated statements that Curiel should be disqualified from overseeing a Trump University case because of his Mexican heritage had made him regret his recent endorsement of Trump.

“I disavow those comments. I regret those comments that he made,” Ryan said.

“Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan said. “I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable.”

But Mr Ryan has decided to stay with his endorsement of Donald Trump, even as he condemns what Trump said for being something very typically racist.

So this is basically Paul Ryan trying very hard to be very nuanced in his positioning - he's trying to peddle nuance to voters who've been trained for 35 years to reject nuance as something weak and wishy-washy and all like Libtard-y and icky.

I sure hope Hillary's bunch knows enough to make Trump stick to every Republican in every race. Every Dem candidate should be calling out every GOP candidate, constantly pushing them all to declare publicly where they stand.  

You take one of their favorite tactics - the False Dichotomy Fallacy - and you use it against them. "It's all and only one way or it's all and only the other way" - "You're either with Trump or you're against Trump" - "You can't have it both ways" - "It's all or nothin' at all". 

Go get, 'em guys.

And Now, Samantha

Today's Colbert

The New Era Of Shoddy

First this:

Then this:

None of this shit is hard to track down - and is there any better way to illustrate the likely chaos of a Trump White House? 

But seriously - this is in keeping with Trump's assertion that his being sent to a Military Boarding School for Rich Legacy Pukes is the same as actual experience in a uniformed service.

Out In The Open Now

via HuffPo:

WASHINGTON — Republican senators are rushing to condemn Donald Trump’s statement that a Mexican-American judge can’t be impartial because of his ethnicity. They’ve called his comments “wrong,” “offensive” and the “definition of ‘racism.’”

But they’ve just put themselves in a bind: those same senators are still arguing, somehow, that Trump is the best person to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, along with dozens of other federal court seats they’re holding open for the next president.

Acknowledging that Trump's comments are pretty horrible, but then continuing to stand up for the guy - well now, that's not exactly what anybody has in mind when they think of the word "integrity", fellas.

Watching a long segment replay from Joe Scarborough about the Judge Curiel thing struck me as pretty wild.  First, the GOP does not - THEY JUST FUCKING DON'T - get to play this like they never saw it coming and nobody ever tried to warn them.

They won't let me embed the video, so here's the link to the MSNBC page. (check for the date: June 6, 2016)

A little horn tooting might be in order here - libruls have been trying to tell us this was happening for years.  A blogger named driftglass (eg) has been saying this is what's going on. The podcast he does with Blue Gal every week has been laying this out for a good 200 weeks or more.  

Who's been right about this shit all along, and who's been fucking wrong?

Second, reports of the GOP's demise may be premature, but it gets harder and harder not to visualize it circling the drain.

Mr Oliver, If You Please

I'll keep asking the question - when do we start to get this level of quality reportage back in "the news"?

And also too - yes, there's an opinion embedded in this stuff.

• My opinion is that facts matter.  
• My opinion is that those facts show Trump University to be a scam.
• My opinion is that those two things add up to: Donald Trump is a lyin' sack of shit.

3500 lawsuits in about 30 years time?  Makes me wonder what his real bidness might be.

Artful Eloquence

hat tip = FB buddy VW-E

Muhammad Ali

Dead yesterday at 74

Once upon a time, there was a Meat Market type bar in southeast Denver called The Sports Page, and the gimmick was that they showed old movies of sporting events on a coupla big projection screens. My all-time fave was this fight between Ali and Cleveland Williams.  The first time I saw it, I was so mesmerized that I just sat there swilling beer and watching - I got drunk enough to fall asleep in my car out in the parking lot afterwards.

Here's what I posted on his birthday this year

Today's Quote

"I guarantee you that every person of color in this country has faced an indignity, from the ridiculous to the grotesque to the sometimes fatal, at some point in their - I'm going to say last couple of hours - because of their skin color.  Race is there, and it is a constant. You're tired of hearing about it? Imagine how fucking exhausting it is living it."

--Jon Stewart