Reshuffle

Chris Smith, Vanity Fair's Hive:

Representing President Donald Trump is not exactly a lawyer’s dream job. True, there are high stakes and lots of media attention. The downsides, though, include a slippery client who barely listens to your advice and who might not pay your bill. That combination has forced Don McGahn, Ty Cobb, and John Dowd to make some unusual strategic choices in trying to fend off Robert Mueller. The most recent was sending the special counsel a written summary of the White House version of key events in the Russia saga. The gambit is intended to get Mueller to narrow the range of a possible Trump interview. And it’s almost certainly doomed.

“I think it’s the nuttiest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Solomon Wisenberg, the former federal prosecutor who elicited the damning “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” answer from President Bill Clinton during grand-jury testimony for the Monica Lewinsky investigation. “I’ve never heard of defense attorneys doing that. If you’re Mueller, it’s highly unlikely you accept what somebody’s lawyer said, when that somebody is a subject, at the least, of your investigation. It’s just so weird. It’s one thing to limit the amount of time, or the location. But when people are interviewed in a criminal investigation, they don’t get to narrow the topic.”

Enter Joe diGenova.

The assertion is that even though the slam on Andy McCabe has nothing to do with an "anti-Trump bias", diGenova says that's what he should be held responsible for.

So again, "never mind the facts - listen to what I'm telling you"

This isn't even within the parameters of Spin. This is fairly typical of DumFux News Myth-Making which allows them to take whatever license they want to take in order to fit the facts to a favorable narrative.

"McCabe is guilty of this thing here, and even though he's not guilty of the thing I need him to be guilty of, I'm going to say he's guilty of this other thing so I can pin something on him that serves my purpose. After all, what's the difference? Guilty is guilty."

DumFux News Logic String:
If, A = B
and B = Flapjacks
and Flapjacks = Q
and J = Unicorns
Then,  Deep State!

DiGenova's been all over DumFux News, and so when 45* thought he needed another lawyer, of course he picked a TV personality.

Today's Tweet

Now there's a whole new meaning for "Sled Dog".

This is the best thing you'll see all day. 😍🐕
This Dog figures out how to carry his sled up the hill in order to sled for hours & hours & hours. #snow #sledding #dogs #blizzard2018 #cyclonebomb #philly #dog pic.twitter.com/7qhZ3Km9jw

— Chris Strider (@stridinstrider) January 4, 2018

 

Sam Bee

"...Trump combined two of his favorite things - firing people, and screwing them out of their money. If Andrew McCabe were a porn star, Trump would've scored a hat trick."

Samantha Bee - Full Frontal:

And Women's History Month:

A Profile

Some good stuff from Luke O'Brien at The Atlantic:

The calls marked the start of a months-long campaign of harassment orchestrated by Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the world’s biggest neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. He claimed that Gersh was trying to “extort” a property sale from Sherry Spencer, whose son, Richard Spencer, was another prominent white nationalist and the face of the so-called alt-right movement.

The Spencers had long-standing ties to Whitefish, and Richard had been based there for years. But he gained international notoriety just after the 2016 election for giving a speech in Washington, D.C., in which he declared “Hail Trump!,” prompting Nazi salutes from his audience. In response, some Whitefish residents considered protesting in front of a commercial building Sherry owned in town. According to Gersh, Sherry sought her advice, and Gersh suggested that she sell the property, make a donation to charity, and denounce her son’s white-nationalist views. But Sherry claimed that Gersh had issued “terrible threats,” and she wrote a post on Medium on December 15 accusing her of an attempted shakedown. (Sherry Spencer did not respond to a request for comment.)

Andrew Anglin

-and -

Anglin is an ideological descendant of men such as George Lincoln Rockwell, who created the American Nazi Party in the late 1950s, and William Luther Pierce, who founded the National Alliance, a powerful white-nationalist group, in the 1970s. Anglin admires these predecessors, who saw themselves as revolutionaries at the vanguard of a movement to take back the country. He dreams of a violent insurrection.

But where Rockwell and Pierce relied on pamphlets, the radio, newsletters, and in-person organizing to advance their aims, Anglin has the internet. His reach is exponentially greater, his ability to connect with like-minded young men unprecedented.

He also arrived at a more fortuitous moment. Anglin and his ilk like to talk about the Overton Window, a term that describes the range of acceptable discourse in society. They’d been tugging at that window for years only to watch, with surprise and delight, as it flew wide open during Donald Trump’s candidacy. Suddenly it was okay to talk about banning Muslims or to cast Mexican immigrants as criminals and parasites—which meant Anglin’s even-more-extreme views weren’t as far outside the mainstream as they once had been. Anglin is the alt-right’s most accomplished propagandist, and his writing taps into some of the same anxieties and resentments that helped carry Trump to the presidency—chiefly a perceived loss of status among white men.

If there's a Saving Grace here, it's the fact that these assholes talk big and deliver little.

Yes, I know, being inspired to kill somebody with a car or with a bomb or whatever is, by definition, a big thing. 

What I'm saying is that these guys like to whip each other into a rich creamy lather, but so far, they've been way short when it comes to being able to deliver on their threats. 

The anonymity of the intertoobz is a lot like having Invisibility as your super power.  You can "do" practically anything with near-perfect impunity in cyberspace. But when it's time to translate that video gamer shit into meatspace action, they seem reluctant to show up.

So far, it's just been a few crazies - which I think is pretty much the point. Anglin wants to motivate. He wants to spur others into taking the risks - funny how the Anglins and the Zawahris of the world say it's everybody's sacred duty to sacrifice for the noble cause, but they have important shit to do, so they'll have to stay back here in the rear with the gear.

Anyway, these worm cocks are plenty dangerous, but so far, their numbers are low when it comes to taking action - nowhere near the level needed for critical mass.

BTW - Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed what seems to be the usual pattern of the projection of self-loathing with these jagoffs?

Today's Eternal Sadness

WaPo:

Police say they saw an object in Stephan Clark’s hand before they fired 20 bullets that killed him in his back yard Sunday night in Sacramento, a disturbing moment that was made public through body camera footage released Wednesday night.

The two officers were responding to a 911 call about a man breaking vehicle windows when they encountered, then killed, Clark, an unarmed black man.
Two things get stuck in my mind. I guess the main thing is this: 

Why are the cops so afraid that everybody has a gun? 

But the second big thing in my mind is: Why do the Press Poodles never ask that question at the news conference as the authorities try to explain that killing an unarmed citizen was somehow the only viable option at the time?

And a third one comes to mind as well - why don't the cops do some more to support initiatives that might make it less likely that they'll have to kill somebody with their guns, by making it less likely that someone will kill them with a gun?

Genius is not required to figure out that gun violence has something to do with guns.

Without cars, nobody dies in a car crash

Without airplanes, nobody dies in a plane crash

Nobody gets killed by hand-thrown bullets

Theocrats Will Out

The Taliban never sleeps.

The Hill:

Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill requiring that public schools in the state put up the motto "In God We Trust."

The legislation, which will go to Gov. Bill Haslam (R), passed the state House earlier this week, USA Today reported.

"Our national motto is on our money. It's on our license plates. It's part of our national anthem," said state Rep. Susan Lynn (R), who sponsored the legislation.
Fine by me, fellas. When do we start the drive to add "All Hail Baphomet"?

And "Praise Quetzalcoatl"?

And "Zalmoxis Makes You Free"?

And "May You Be Forever Touched By His Noodley Appendage"?

Seriously - you knuckleheads got nothing better to do?

Let us now rise, and sing The Common Pastology.

Taste Sauce, from which all spices flow;
Drink up, ye Pirates here below;
Until the Kansas School Board calls;
Praise Noodles, Sauce, and Meaty Balls.

R'Amen.

Today's Tweet

Nobody better'n Tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors.

DO NOT CONGRATULATE-gate https://t.co/0M9jouSJLa pic.twitter.com/LifrnMOw2P

— You're The Puppet Tengrain (@Tengrain) March 21, 2018

 

Not Even Two Years Ago

10 March 2018

To the students of Parkland —

We wanted to let you know how inspired we have been by the resilience, resolve and solidarity that you have all shown in the wake of unspeakable tragedy.

Not only have you supported and comforted each other, but you’ve helped awaken the conscience of the nation, and challenged decision-makers to make the safety of our children the country’s top priority.

Throughout our history, young people like you have led the way in making America better. There may be setbacks; you may sometimes feel like progress is too slow in coming. But we have no doubt you are going to make an enormous difference in the days and years to come, and we will be there for you.

Barack Obama     Michelle Obama
I miss the fuck outa those two.

The Great Divide

Basically, there're two kinds of people, so we generally find them on opposite sides of the "political divide", and it ends up like this:

Side 1:
I've suffered
I don't think anyone else should have to suffer
I'll try to do the things that can help people avoid all that suffering

Side 2:
I've suffered
Others should suffer as well
I'll do what needs to be done to make sure they all suffer

Both sides my ass.

Today's Pix

(click it - you know you wanna)

Today's Redux

With all the weird 45* shit that's going on, this bit from The Rape of the A.P.E. by Allan Sherman seems altogether fitting.

Government is a Geejy Bird

The geejy bird is a strange creature; it flies only once in its lifetime, but that flight is a spectacle to behold. The geejy bird appears suddenly, standing on a limb, young, elegant, proud and respectable.  Surveying the horizon, it spreads its majestic wings and swoops upward in a wide graceful curve, with magnificent wing flappings and loud glory whoops.  When it reaches maximum altitude, it begins its elegant descent, an ever narrowing spiral.  It makes smaller and smaller circles in the sky until, suddenly and mysteriously, it vanishes through its own asshole.

No one knows where geejy birds go - probably back where they came from.  Unfortunately, when they go, they take us along.  We are all subjects of one geejy bird or another; we are born and live and die during one of these mad flights.  To be born early is, at least, exciting; the air sparkles with hopes and dreams, and there are worthwhile things to be done.  To board the flight in the soaring stage is next best; there is a fresh wind and a feel of strong wings and a dizzying view of the world.

But what about those of us who are born near the end of the flight?  We can't jump off; the fall would be fatal.  In vain we scream, "Turn around, great geejy bird! Turn back in thy flight!"  Too late.  There is nothing to do but make the best of it.  We snap to attention, salute, and begin to sing our stirring anthem.  "God Bless Our Geejy Bird!"  Together we enter the turd tunnel to oblivion.

The Rape of the A*P*E* (page 174) --Allan Sherman

Today's GIF

Owing to the combination of a spring blizzard and my brown thumb

Today's Tweet

And no one is coming to save us

We are all god’s children and he left us in a hot car in the Walmart parking lot

— another anxious queer vegan nerd (@irakyhsart) February 24, 2018

 

Today's Today

Happy Vernal Equinox, everybody

Amy Siskind

This week (#70) in Fuckedupistan - aka: 45*'s White House.

March 17, 2018

In another frenzied week in America, Trump fired his secretary of state through a tweet, and continued to stoke fears of imminent additional departures, in what was described as a White House verging on mania. Trump is reportedly joyful, feeling liberated to act on his impulses and authoritarian instincts. Even as the Mueller probe and allegations of paying to silence Stephanie Clifford close in, Trump is cocky and irreverent — as if signaling he has matters in hand.

Russia seems increasingly aggressive and emboldened, in sharp contrast to, and perhaps with the silent complicity of Trump. Alarming reports surfaced not only of Russia’s use of chemical weapons and possibly murdering another Russian exiles in the UK, but also attacking US and European nuclear and energy infrastructure. In response, our Treasury Department took the first baby steps in imposing sanctions, while Nikki Haley and the White House issued a stark warning on Russia’s use of nerve gas. Amid an almost completely decimated leadership structure at our State Department, Trump, Kushner and Ivanka — although under clouds for self-dealing and security clearance issues — consolidated worldwide diplomacy in their hands.

12. The Boston Globe reported a rider added to the Homeland Security reauthorization bill would allow Trump to dispatch Secret Service agents to polling places nationwide during federal elections, a vast expansion of executive authority.

30. On Thursday, Politico reported on emails which reveal conservatives, including Newt Gingrich, targeted Obama holdovers “burrowed into the government,” including State Department Iran expert Sahar Nowrouzzadeh.

31. Nowrouzzadeh, born in Connecticut, was attacked by conservative media. Brian Hook, chief of State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, sent an email to himself in April which included a list of names, questioning their loyalties.

34. Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, told Bloomberg, “My function, really, as an economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters.”

43. AP reported that despite promises by Trump to drain the swamp, he hasfilled federal agencies with ex-lobbyists and corporate lawyers who now regulate the industries they previously worked in.

147. Also of note is Cambridge Analytica’s use of non-US employees in US elections, which would be illegal. Mueller has demanded emails of Cambridge Analytica employees who worked for the Trump team.