Read Your Charlie

Charlie Pierce at Esquire has a quick and partial recap:

I see that the Bedminster Improv opened early on Thursday.

"Frankly, the people who were questioning that statement, was it too tough? Maybe it wasn't tough enough. They've been doing this to our country for a long time, for many years, and it's about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country and for the people of other countries. So if anything, maybe that statement wasn't tough enough. And we're backed 100 percent by our military, we're backed by everybody and we're backed by many other leaders. And I noticed that many senators and others came out today very much in favor of what I said. But if anything that statement may not be tough enough… Sure, well always consider negotiations. But they've been negotiating now for 25 years. I talk. Somebody has to do it.
-snip-

But Putin threw out our diplomats.

"I want to thank him because were trying to cut down our payroll, and as far as I'm concerned I'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. There's no real reason for them to go back. I greatly appreciate the fact that we've been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We're going to save a lot of money."

I hear the late show is completely different. That's frightening.

Today's Tweet

Seems to me this is exactly what Obama was talking about - "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

The rubes get played - there's one born every minute, and two slickers like 45* to take him for every nickel he's worth.

Supporter: 'When Trump speaks you can understand him, don't have to look up the big words; If he had to cheat to get in, I'm OK with that.' pic.twitter.com/tCMOjoBZlb

— Adam Khan (@Khanoisseur) August 11, 2017

Follow the developments at The Guardian

One Of The Problems

Whooo yeah - sure glad I chose to be born white, and middle class, in the American suburbs.  Best decision I ever made.

I realize folks who post this crap on social media aren't consciously going outa their way to be shitty. This is not intended to be mean-spirited. Indeed, it's supposed to be a good Life Lesson for all those mopey little pity puppies out there who just need to buck up and put on their big-girl panties and lace 'em up and get in there and blah blah blah.

But the lack of intent to be shitty doesn't make it less shitty for someone not born to the dominant demographic.

We start with a (mostly) appropriate feeling of pride and gratitude where our own situations are concerned, but we end up with the kind of bullshit attitude that poor people are poor - and they have all those poor people problems - because they're somehow morally deficient.

And that ends up making us say some of the stoopidest fucking things:

Words

St George of Carlin, in a prophetic address to The Press Club.

hat tip = FB Friend D Rapier

Today's Tweet

I'm becoming less convinced that 45* is actually still POTUS.

Oh for eff's sake Trump got this "Fire and fury" crap from Bannon who got it from a video game (h/t @politico) pic.twitter.com/ZoaTlWwxdV

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) August 10, 2017

Without Adult Supervision

Paraphrasing Mr Mencken: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste or the intelligence of the American consumer.  Wal-Mart seems to work very hard at proving it.

Ms Bee

Continuing the trend of decent reporting being taken over by half-hour comedy shows.

Samantha Bee (the only woman with a late night show on American TV)

The View From Out There

It's politics, remember, so they don't tell us the whole truth.

But sometimes they tell some of the truth because - surprise surprise - it's in everybody's best interest to do it, and the Politcos not only recognize that, they manage to do the right thing (surprise surprise again).

This piece is chock-full of little slices of Scary-as-Fuck.

Buzzfeed, Alberto Nardelli:

The current standoff is a dramatic illustration of the grave international concerns over Trump.

On one level, the officials said, he is something of a laughing stock among Europeans at international gatherings. One revealed that a small group of diplomats play a version of word bingo whenever the president speaks because they consider his vocabulary to be so limited. “Everything is ‘great’, ‘very, very great’, ‘amazing’,” the diplomat said.

--snip--

Another diplomat said it had proved impossible to discuss serious international issues, such as Libya, with Trump. And seven months into his presidency, the European officials say they are still struggling to figure out who else they can engage with in the US administration.

Describing a meeting between their boss and the president as “basically useless,” they said: “He [Trump] just bombed us with questions: ‘How many people do you have? What’s your GDP? How much oil does [that country] produce? How many barrels a day? How much of it is yours?’”

“He’s not the kind of person you can have a discussion about how to deal with [Fayez] al-Sarraj [the prime minister of Libya]," the official added. "So you look for people around him, and that is where it’s a problem: The constant upheaval, it’s unclear who has influence, who is close to the president."

A number of European officials compared Trump with Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – but said the similarities end at their inappropriate jokes during meetings.

“Berlusconi wasn’t ignorant. And behind him he had officials and a whole government structure you could engage with,” one diplomat said.

The officials revealed that at international meetings, Trump has openly mocked his own aides, contradicting and arguing with them in front of other leaders. That has compounded the impression of an administration in chaos. “We can hear everything, it’s weird,” one diplomat said.

Officials also expressed concerns over the status of the State Department, and the lack of seasoned diplomats and experts within the White House. One diplomat suggested that US counterparts have privately lamented to Europeans about the number of roles in the administration that have yet to be filled resulting in a lack of clear positions on many policy areas.

“The White House lacks crucial expertise,” one said. “The State Department and others are isolated. You have the generals, the National Security Council, and then a void. There aren’t enough diplomats, experts etc. in the White House. [Secretary of state Rex] Tillerson has a small team. Does Trump listen to [James] Mattis [secretary of defence], [H.R.] McMaster [national security adviser], to the experts?”

Today's Tweet

"Working vacation"

Trump golfed with a random person TODAY. It's the middle of the day on a Wednesday. Golf games last ~3 hours.

He. Does. No. Work. pic.twitter.com/jJhE57EqV7

— Pé Resists (@4everNeverTrump) August 9, 2017

Today's Pix

 

About The North Korea Thing

I think I'm gonna need a little more assurance that 45* isn't just trying to bull his way into a deal for something like: The Trump Jong Un Hotel in beautiful downtown Pyongyang.

He has to get the focus off the Russia thing, but if he can make a few bucks on it too - well that's even better.

The Timeline

From Bill Moyers:

From the outset, Donald Trump has called the search for the truth about connections between his 2016 campaign and Russia a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” Along the way, he has taken unprecedented steps to stop it. As President Trump foments chaos and confusion about what actually happened — and what continues to happen — this Trump/Russia timeline seeks to offer order and clarity. 

Since we first launched it in February, the timeline has grown from 24 entries to more than 400 — and the saga is far from over. Reading it from start to finish is a daunting task, so we’ve added tools that enable users to narrow its content by individual. And, of course, we’ll continue updating it.

Are several congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller wasting their time on a “hoax” and a “witch hunt”? Review the timeline, follow updates as they appear and decide for yourself.
An early favorite for me:

hat tip = FB buddy B Davison

Today's GIF

I knew you were in need of a little inspiration today.

Because just like everybody else with a living thinking brain, it's hard for you to imagine how we got here and what we're supposed to do about getting back to where a few things actually made a little sense once in a while.

The short answer is: fuck if I know

Slightly longer - tho' not very gratifyingly informative - "answer" is: Never give up. Never surrender.

More Fuckery

In case you were wondering why 45* has been kind of impatient with "his" generals about Afghanistan, wonder no more.

Raw Story, Sarah Burris:

During a panel discussion on President Donald Trump’s many conflicts of interest, Michael D’Antonio, author of The Truth About Trump, blasted his financial surplus in the wake of his presidency. 

According to the Financial Times, Blackwater founder Erik Prince — who happens to be Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s brother — has proposed a two-year plan to supply 5,000 mercenaries and close to 100 aircraft, bringing the total cost of the U.S. effort to turn round a failing war to less than $10 billion a year.

I liked it a lot better when the only guys with private armies were Bond villains.

Keith

Channeling a former (and so Etch-A-Sketched) commentator.

Used to be, anything that backfired this badly would be news in itself. But not now. 

It doesn't matter to DumFux News, because they're busy laying the groundwork for the time they'll need to wipe 45* out of everybody's memory.

And the rubes are already figuring out how they can pretend Ms Pirro had to have said that on CNN or MSNBC because now that she's gone, she must've been fired for being a Lame Stream Media spy who was paid by George Soros to degrade the noble purity of the freedom-lovers andt blah blah blah.

(I know that didn't fucking make any sense - none of it makes any fucking sense)

I get really sick of hear myself say that - when will the rubes get sick of hearing what makes me say it?