Thursday, December 28, 2017

Roy Moore Just Can't Take a Hint

You can say one thing about Roy Stewart Moore. He never takes no for an answer.

In 2001, while he was chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court he unveiled a massive granite monument of the ten commandments in the State Judicial Building. Two years later, after a federal court ordered its removal, Moore refused to comply with the decision. By the time the dust settled both he and the monument had been removed from the premises.

Inspired by the failed rebellion he ran for governor of the state in 2006 and 2010, but lost both times in the republican primaries. In 2012 he ran once again for the chief justice position and won a second stab at the job.

In 2015 the United States Supreme Court declared gay marriage to be legal. It was a ruling Moore described as, "...manifestly absurd and unjust...contrary to reason and divine law and not entitled to precedential value." He then ordered 68 state probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Because of his illegal order the Alabama Court of the Judiciary--a nine member panel made up of judges, lawyers and citizens who oversee members of the state court system--removed him from office a second time. CNN reported that in the Court of the Judiciary written decision they used terms about Moore's conduct which included things such as, "grossly inconsistent with his duties, incomplete, misleading, and manipulative."

Moore's immediate response to his removal was, "This was a politically motivated effort by radical homosexual and transgender groups to remove me as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because of outspoken opposition to their immoral agenda."

So what is a man to do after losing two elections and getting fired from the same job twice? In Roy Moore's case it was run for the United States Senate.

Actually it didn't seem like a bad idea once the chubby Nazi, Steve Bannon got on board and Luther Strange, a Trump endorsed candidate, was beaten like a bad dog in the GOP primary.

Then, as they always seem to do when it comes to His Honor, things went all to hell. Women came out of the woodwork with tales of not just past questionable behavior, but outright pedophilia. To make a long story short Roy Moore went from a sure thing to blowing the election by 1.5%. It was the first time a democrat won a U.S. senate seat in Alabama since 1992.

But never count ol' Roy Boy out. To this moment he has refused to concede the election and last night he asked an Alabama court to delay a state board from certifying democrat, Doug Jones as the winner. The reason? Why the great 21st century bugaboo of all far right wing losers--voter fraud.

That's right. If a white conservative loses an election in Alabama, or anywhere, it must be because either thousands of people of color voted illegally, or that Illuminati son of a bitch George Soros rigged the damn machines.

The motion cited three experts including one Richard Charnin who claimed the probability that the votes in Alabama were accurately counted are, "less than one in 15 billion." Charnin, who says he has three different degrees in math, has previously argued it is mathematically impossible for John F. Kennedy's assassination not to have been a vast conspiracy. He also maintains the 2004 Bush-Kerry presidential election was fixed, as were a couple of Florida and Wisconsin governors races, and that Hillary Clinton stole most, if not all, the democratic presidential primaries she won in 2016.

In addition, Moore issued a statement saying he took a polygraph test after the December 12th election which proved he not only didn't feel up the women who accused him of indecent behavior, but that he didn't even know them.

On the other hand the twice cashiered judge failed to offer any reason why he didn't take the test immediately after the accusations came to light. You know, before the votes were actually cast. Perhaps it was simply a matter of not being able to find the right sort of stooge to administer the thing in a timely manner.

In any case word comes this afternoon that the Alabama court rejected Moore's request and the Alabama State Canvassing Board, chaired by republican Secretary of  State, John Merrill, certified Jones as the winner.

So are we finally done with this crazy fuck? History tells us absolutely not. God only knows what Moore's next move will be. Further court challenges are a distinct possibility. However, even if they all fail--and one can't imagine them not--Roy Moore will find some other office to run for because that is exactly what he does.

Indeed, some people just can't take a hint and unfortunately for us all, this savage clown is one of them.



12-28-17

Monday, December 25, 2017

Parallel Universes, Being Even More Happy in Puerto Rico, and Merry Christmas America

The multiverse is a theory that states many universes exist parallel to each other.

www.dummies.com



Actually it isn't a theory. We have definitive proof alternate, or parallel universes do exist. That's because, as we all know, Donald John Trump lives in one.

After displaying his unique sense of Christmas cheer by posting derogatory tweets about Deputy FBI Director, Andrew McCabe, and FBI General Counsel, James Baker--acts which at least two legal experts said could be interpreted as attempts to intimidate potential witnesses--Mr. Trump gave his best wishes to all branches of the military via a video conference call.

During the call he saved his kindest words for the Coast Guard. "You've done such an incredible job in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico," he said. "Many republicans are very happy, but I have to tell you the people of Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico and lots of other states are even more happy. What a job you've done--saving thousands and thousands of lives."

Really?

Well let's give Puerto Rico a call and ask them exactly how happy they are this Christmas Day. Good luck getting through though. There are plenty of places on the island, which is sovereign U.S. territory, where phone service is either still unavailable, or spotty at best.

Tragically that's the least of their problems. Hurricane Maria blew across Puerto Rico on September 20th of this year. As of December 11th roughly 50% of the island's 3.4 million people were still without electrical power. The AP reports the town of Morovis, population 30,000, located in the central mountains is one of nine municipalities still waiting for even a single light bulb to work without help from portable generators, or converted car batteries.

According to the AP roughly 1,000 homes in Morovis lost their roofs and running water wasn't available until the first week of November. Until then laundry and bathing chores were performed in a nearby river. Representatives from FEMA didn't hit town until the first week of December and then it was only to, "assess the damage." As of Christmas Day not one of the American citizens living in Morovis has received a penny in federal assistance and those roofs remain mostly tarps hung by volunteers and the locals themselves.

Island wide, experts say the electrical grid is anywhere from 65% to 70% up and running, but they're unsure how the juice is distributed because the system which figures that out still doesn't work. The Army Corps of Engineers is now saying it will be May of 2018 before power is fully restored.

It is estimated 30,000 people lost their jobs as a direct result of Maria while a huge portion of the agricultural industry was wiped out. It has also been reported over 200,000 Puerto Ricans have fled to Florida and unknown numbers have moved to other locales on the mainland because of the disaster.

None of this horrific shit matters to Don Trump though. He signed some things, threw a few rolls of paper towels to the masses, then walked away. For him, in his parallel universe, Puerto Rico is fixed--it is, in the vernacular, old news and therefore nothing to worry about as he gets ready to tee off yet again at Mar-a-Lago.

A cynic might say the nightmare in Puerto Rico would already be over if it was part of the mainland U.S. and the first language of most of the population wasn't Spanish. However that would be an unsubtle hint the man in the White House is a racist asshole.

Oh wait. In my universe he is.

Merry Christmas America.


12-25-17


Tuesday, December 19, 2017

George Zimmerman Revisited: Knowing How to Handle Assholes and Feed Alligators

During the years and months leading up to February 26, 2012 George Zimmerman had been a busy beaver. Wikipedia notes that between 2004 and 2012 he made nearly 50 calls to the Sanford, Florida police reporting everything from loud parties to open garage doors, and children playing in the street.

Despite his hyper active surveillance efforts, by the winter of 2012 the gated community where he lived, The Retreat at Twin Lakes, was apparently on a slow slide into chaos. In the prior 13 months police had been called to the 260 unit gated complex 402 times. Burglaries were on the uptick and there had even been a shooting. In response to the rising tide of crime in September, 2011 the residents, with police help, met to form a neighborhood watch program. At the meeting the ever vigilant, Zimmerman was named its coordinator.

The first and most steadfast rule police laid down for members of the new volunteer group was they could not be walking the grounds armed. After all, the last thing cops needed was a bunch of Wyatt Earp wannabe's roaming around at night taking pot shots at someone taking out the trash, or walking home from a 7-11.

George Zimmerman got the memo, but on the 26th, when he began to follow, "...a real suspicious guy," he was packing a Kal-Tec PF-9, 9mm hand gun. His excuse would later be since he wasn't officially on duty it was perfectly okay for him to be carrying a weapon. Hey, it's Florida for God's sake, everyone carries, right?

The, "real suspicious guy," he noticed was 17 year old African-American, Trayvon Martin. Martin was in Sanford with his father. They were visiting the old man's fiancé and her son at The Retreat at Twin Lakes. The younger Martin was returning from--that's right--a convenience store carrying a bag of skittles and a bottle of cold tea. He was also talking on his cell phone to a friend in Miami and wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up because it was raining.

Zimmerman told police dispatch, "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he is on drugs, or something." Moments later he said, "These assholes, they always get away."

Meanwhile, Martin was telling his friend, Rachel Jeantel over the phone that some strange guy was watching him from his car. She later testified she told him to run for the apartment where he was staying.

What happened next was a uniquely American tragedy. On George Zimmerman's part, it involves racial paranoia and assumptions, and the ability of anyone in this country to get his, or her hands on a gun, no matter what their qualifications, or judgment. As for Trayvon Martin, like so many young black Americans these days, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Despite the police dispatcher telling him, "We don't need you to do that," Zimmerman exited his vehicle and followed Martin. There was a confrontation. Zimmerman assumed he was facing a burglar. All Trayvon Martin knew was some strange dude--maybe a mugger, or sexual predator--was accosting him.

Zimmerman, predictably, shot the unarmed 17 year old to death during a brief struggle. Then all hell broke loose.

Thanks to George Zimmerman the ripples of that storm are still being felt. Two days ago the New York Daily News reported Zimmerman blew his top when a film crew shooting a documentary about the killing showed up at the houses of his parents and an uncle allegedly unannounced. According to him, executive producers JayZ and Michael Gesparro were indirectly harassing his relatives.

Well, sort of.

It turns out Zimmerman's main complaint is his ex-wife is getting paid an unspecified amount of money to participate in the documentary while the producers are refusing to pay his parents and family members anything.

The Daily News reports he told an interviewer on the website, "Blast," "I know how to handle assholes who fuck with me. I have since February, 2012. Anyone who fucks with my parents will be fed to an alligator."

Ah yes, there's the perfect response. Imagine the reaction of white America if O.J. Simpson went off on some filmmaker and told him something like, "Listen, I fucked up Ron and Nicole and if you don't pay my family for being in this movie, I'll do the same to you."  

Of course, this won't be the first time the Zim Man has tried to cash in on Trayvon Martin's death. In May of 2016 he put the gun he used that night up for auction on two different sites--the first one deleted the offer as soon as they realized who was selling what. Zimmerman wrote a blurb on the second site which said, "The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/12. Now is your opportunity to own a piece of American history. Good Luck."

To further hype the sale he also told people, the Smithsonian Institute had expressed interest in having the gun.

How very Trumpian of him.

The Smithsonian issued a statement immediately after they had been told of Zimmerman's claim. It read, "We have never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmerman's firearm and have no plans to ever collect, or display it in any museums."

God bless the good people at the Smithsonian. At least someone around here has retained a sense of decency. These days, thanks to the likes of George Zimmerman and others, it is, as we all know, an increasingly rare commodity.




12-19-17

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Roy Moore Narrowly Loses in Alabama, Don Trump Says He Was Right With An Exclamation Point and Don't Think Democrats Have Turned the Corner

The MSNBC talking heads were jubilant late last night and early this morning as former U.S. Attorney, Doug Jones pulled off an upset of massive proportions in Alabama. Well, sort of massive.

It's true Alabama hadn't elected a democrat to the United States Senate since 1992 and that guy, Richard Shelby, was so conservative he switched to the republican party in 1994. Unfortunately it's also true, Roy Moore, despite being the craziest right wing fucker this side of conspiracy hawker Alex Jones came within 1.5% points of winning the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions last year.

Indeed, it wasn't Moore's personal politics which cost him the election. Alabama republicans were fine with him getting removed from the bench twice for refusing to uphold the laws of the land, saying on tape the nation would be better off without every constitutional amendment after number 10, then claiming the last time America was great was during the era of slavery. That shit actually worked for them. No, it was only after multiple women came forward revealing he had a history of predatory sexual behavior so ghastly it would make Caligula shrink in horror that his campaign began to flounder.

The GOP establishment quickly blamed the entire election debacle on Steve Bannon. Matt Drudge went so far as to say Luther Strange, the short time incumbent who Moore beat in the primaries, would have won last night in a landslide. He's correct. Strange would have, but he couldn't get to the general election, thanks to Moore and, at least in part, Bannon.

Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Mitch McConnell went further in a tweet. He posted, "Before we get to the results, I'd just like to thank Steve Bannon for showing us how to lose the reddest state in the union and Governor Ivey for the opportunity to make this national embarrassment a reality."

Ivey, who replaced disgraced Alabama Governor Robert Bentley--yes, it was another sex scandal--moved the election up from November of next year to last night. Holmes theory apparently is given another year in the senate, Strange would have solidified his chops as a true conservative, distanced himself from Bentley, who appointed him, and, of course, been able to vote for the GOP's nefarious tax plan.

Donald J. Trump managed to lend his support to not one, but two Losers in the race. During the campaign he backed Strange to the point of making a personal appearance for him. After Strange lost the primary runoff, El Donald began a slow, but inexorable shift to Moore. By last week Trump was all in, actively endorsing the judge through Twitter, public statements, and robocalls which flooded the phone lines in Alabama.

Today, in the face of defeat, Trump being Trump, tweeted, "I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard, but the deck was stacked against him!"

God, don't you just love those exclamation points.

Doug Jones won the election by 20,715 votes out of 1,344,406 cast. Trump later hinted it was the write in votes which cost Moore the senate seat. He is partly right. There were 22,819 write in ballots, at least one of which went for Alabama football coach Nick Saban.

In the end though, besides preying on teen aged girls, Moore exposed another dark side of  himself to a potent demographic through sheer stupidity. When the charges of sexual misconduct hit the fan his initial response was to send an attorney named Trenton Garmon on two different cable networks to counter them. It took only minutes during both appearances for Moore's representative to prove himself a grinning, high energy, racist clod.

Garmon's vile buffoonery and the whole America hasn't been great since slavery thing wasn't lost on black Alabamans. Yesterday they represented 30% of the total number of voters. Doug Jones, who had successfully prosecuted two KKK members for the bombing of a black church which killed four young girls, got 96% of their vote. The same CNN exit poll showed 98% of black women voted for the democrat. Those numbers are higher than Barack H. Obama's were when he was on the ballot in Alabama during two presidential elections.

It is tempting for hard core progressives to dance in the streets today. But let's face it, Alabama didn't elect Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren to the senate. Even if Doug Jones wanted to emulate them, which is doubtful, he can't because he is up for re-election in three short years. The simple reality of self preservation dictates he not go all "Dilly Dilly" when the liberal stein of ale is served at the senate bar.

Yes, democrats won a battle yesterday in what is normally hostile territory. Just don't think they, or the country have turned some magical corner. That one is still way down the street in this gruesome age of Trump and trailer park fascism.


sic vita est


12-13-17

Friday, December 8, 2017

Who Needs Drugs in the Age of Trump?

When it comes to politics in this age of Trump, who needs drugs? That's right, why take acid when reality is far stranger than any chemically induced hallucination can ever be?

Take for example the case of republican congressman Trent Franks. He is resigning his Arizona seat because people began to question the ethics of a man who approached two of his female staffers to see if they'd be amenable to serving as gestational surrogates for he and his wife.

A media outlet in Arizona immediately called up former Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio to see if he would be willing to fill the void. Arpaio, who was shopping at a deli for, "meat," when he took the call told the interviewer, Arizona and the nation was losing a great man in Franks, but no he wasn't interested in running for the house. However, Arpaio said, "I am seriously, seriously, seriously considering running for the U.S. senate..."

While Sheriff, Mr. Arpaio spent much of his time directing his deputies to pull over anyone who even faintly resembled being Hispanic in order to see if they were in the country illegally. After refusing to obey a court order instructing him to stop this racist shit, he was convicted of criminal contempt. Prior to his conviction and before Don Trump assumed office he had enlisted the help of a, "volunteer posse," whose sole aim was to prove Barack Obama was born somewhere, anywhere, but here in the United States. After the conviction Mr. Trump pardoned him in a public ceremony held at the same moment Hurricane Harvey was slamming into the Texas coast.

The good news is the pardon might be the last help the 85 year old Arpaio gets from The Big Orange Guy. Trump's main big money Political Action Committee is already backing Kelli Ward for the seat being vacated by Jeff Flake. Flake, as many know, is quitting the senate because he thinks Donald John Trump is not just a crude and unrepentant scam artist, but utterly nuts--well that and every recent poll shows Ward kicking his ass.

Down in Alabama a comment made in September by alleged pedophile and republican senate candidate, Roy Moore has resurfaced. Resurfaced because even though the Los Angeles Times reported it nearly three months ago, no one really paid any attention until now.

Hey, it's tough keeping track of a brief moment of absurdity in the middle of an avalanche of craziness.

At a Moore campaign rally one of the few African Americans in attendance asked the candidate something along the lines of, "When was the last time America was great?"

Moore said, "I think it was great at the time when families were united--even though we had slavery--they cared for one another. Our families were strong, our country had a direction."

Aside from the fact it's highly unlikely any family who was enslaved would consider things great, the direction our country was headed in, "at the time," was straight toward a fucking civil war. By its end somewhere between 620,000 to 700,000 Americans serving on both sides were either dead, or had been wounded.

Meanwhile, although not technically politics, word comes that one James Tracy has filed a suit against Florida Atlantic University. Tracy claims FAU illegally fired him from his teaching position in January,2016 because it didn't like what he was saying about the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, CT.  The monstrous act, committed by Adam Lanza, left 20 elementary school students dead, along with six school staff, and the shooter's mother.

The FAU response (Go Owls!) is it fired, Tracy not because he continuously claims the nightmare at Sandy Hook School never happened, but that he refused to submit a form, required of every university employee which lists their outside activities. In addition Florida Atlantic says Tracy violated the school's rules by using university property and facilities to write and publish his blog plus produce a podcast.

Mr. Tracy first hit the headlines back in 2015 after he sent the parents of six year old murder victim, Noah Pozner a certified letter. In it he demanded that Lenny and Veronique Pozner, among other things, furnish him proof their son actually existed.

Yes, no drug could compete with this severe weirdness. Nor would you ever want to take one which might come close. At least I wouldn't, but then I'm not nearly as adventurous as I was 40, or 50 years ago.

But hey, that's just me.


sic vita est


12-8-17

Monday, December 4, 2017

Richard Nixon, John Dowd, Acid Flashbacks, Don Trump, and Roy Moore

When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.

Richard M. Nixon to David Frost, 1977.


The President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer and has every right to express his view of any case.

John Dowd, one of an ever growing number of lawyers representing Donald J. Trump in a recent interview.



Acid flashbacks, contrary to the dire warnings coming from those who have never actually done LSD, really are rare occurrences. However, sometimes you have a brush with something so bizarre, so straight from a twisted past experience, you have to wonder if you aren't in the throes of one.

The latest episode was triggered by the words of John Dowd. He was speaking in defense of a President who is on the cusp of making Dick Nixon's criminal behavior look like two bit shop lifting.

What started the latest uproar in the main stream press and among Trump doubters every where was, of course, a weekend tweet. It was posted by Trump's Twitter account, but there is some debate about who actually wrote it. The gist of the message--meant to distance El Don from former National Security Advisor, Mike Flynn--was that Flynn had been fired because, "he lied to the vice president and the FBI," about meetings with the Russian ambassador last December.

Oops.

As with all comedy, slapstick to dark satire, timing is everything. Lying to the Vice President isn't a criminal act, although it's certainly a breach of trust and disloyal. That's why, according to Trump, then and now, Flynn was canned.

The trouble is, within a scant few hours of the firing, Trump was urging then FBI Director James Comey to drop the bureau's investigation into Flynn's nefarious activities. Comey says he refused and not long afterward, as we all know, he was also shown the door.

Unlike fibbing to the Vice President, lying to the FBI is a felony. One which Flynn just copped to. If Trump knew his national security advisor had committed that crime, which the tweet indicates he did, his leaning on Comey to stop the investigation and the subsequent firing of the director begins to look suspiciously like obstruction of justice.

The Big Orange Guy denies he ever put heat on Comey to drop the investigation, but Comey, followed the first rule of all professional bureaucrats. He covered his ass by documenting the entire meeting immediately after it happened.

John Dowd, besides the whole president can't obstruct justice thing, is now saying the incriminating tweet wasn't written by the boss at all--that he wrote it and he'd like to plead guilty to nothing more than poor composition.

If that is what happened at least one legal expert said the president's counsel should be disbarred for so carelessly exposing Mr. Trump to such charges. Brother Dowd shouldn't worry too much about getting cashiered from the legal profession though. That's because lawyers rarely get disbarred for lying on behalf of their client, hell it's expected of them. And, let's face it, everyone to the left of Steve Bannon is convinced it was Don at the keys that morning no matter what his attorney says.

Meanwhile, a CBS/YouGov poll of Alabama republicans shows 71% of them believe all the sordid accusations against Roy Moore, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, are false. Huge majorities of those people think the whole affair was a frame job perpetrated by either the democrats, the national media, or both. 

To celebrate the news Trump tweeted, "Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigrants, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, VA, Judges, 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!"

That's right, fuck Moore's victims and full speed ahead with the agenda. 

Lock up your teenaged daughters Washington D.C, 'Ol Roy Boy is on his way.


sic vita est


12-4-17

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump, Navajo Heros, Jaime Phillips, and The Washington Post

To Richard Milhous Nixon, who never let me down.

One of two dedications in a collection of Hunter S. Thompson's writings titled, "The Great Shark Hunt."


It's hard to know what Thompson would have thought, or written when it comes to Donald Trump, Judge Roy Moore, and the current line up of unrepentant criminals who pose as the alternative media. He checked out long before this band of Vandals sacked and burned the American political system and its moral underpinnings so thoroughly they make Dick Nixon look like Mahatma Gandhi.

The one thing we can be certain of is when Dr. Thompson was faced with evil he was never at a loss for words, or outrage--and neither should anyone else.

Yes, everything decent and civilized about the republic is coming unglued and it only took a year of Donald J. Trump for it to happen. Yesterday the gruesome clown, who is supposed to be the president of everyone in this nation, dragged three aged Navajo warriors into a room in the White House dominated by a painting of Andrew Jackson. Trump is a big fan of Jackson and seemed not to care ol' Hickory removed huge numbers of Native Americans from their homelands at the point of bayonets. The forced march west to what is now Oklahoma was filled with so much disease, deprivation, and death it became known as, "The Trail of Tears."

During the ceremony, which was to honor the World War II marines who served as code talkers, Trump--never able to restrain himself from insulting somebody--derisively referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas. In the next breath he told one of the men, "..but I like you." At that point the only surprise was he didn't call the veteran, Chief, or Tonto.

Trump's cruel racist buffoonery overshadowed the Washington Post's revelation that an employee, or volunteer of an organization called, Project Veritas had tried to scam them into running an untrue story on Judge Roy Moore. The "sting," which was set up to discredit both the Post and Moore's female accusers, had been in the works since the day after the publication ran a story about the former Alabama supreme court judge's amorous advances toward a 14 year old girl.

Project Veritas was established by one James O'Keefe in 2010. It also employs a guy named Robert J. Halderman who is a former TV producer. Shortly after the group's founding, O'Keefe was convicted of a misdemeanor when he tried to gain access to a federal building with a fake ID and Halderman did six months in jail after he attempted to blackmail late night TV host David Letterman.

Impressed by the no holds barred enterprising spirit of the organization, a Trump charity donated $10,000 to Project Veritas during the heat of the 2016 presidential campaign. Not long afterward the candidate himself began to quote their, "in depth reporting," on professional demonstrators who were allegedly paid by the democrats.

The short version of the latest sordid tale goes this way. Immediately after the initial Post report about Moore's predatory behavior a reporter received an email from a woman who claimed she had some serious dirt on the republican senate candidate.

The Post says the woman, identified as Jaime Phillips, contacted Post journalist, Beth Reinhard with the offer of a story. A scant day later a right wing web site reported on a tweet from an account ID'd as @umpire43. It read, "A family friend in Alabama just told my wife that a WAPO reporter named Beth offered her $1,000 to accuse Roy Moore." The paper immediately denied it had offered anyone money. The entire twitter account, which was known for flights of alt right fantasy has since been deleted.

Alarm bells really began to go off as Ms. Phillips became overly edgy when Reinhard told her the Post would have to fact check her story and asked for documentation of what the woman alleged was an abortion demanded and paid for by Roy Moore when she was 15.

After insisting to speak to another Post journalist Ms. Phillips bolted from a second in person interview after she was confronted with proof she had established a Go Fund Me page. On the page she was asking for contributions to help her with expenses as she began a new career with an unnamed right wing news outlet dedicated to exposing the truth about the left wing.

The Post then details how two of its journalists followed Ms. Phillips after the second interview and witnessed her walking into the offices of Project Veritas. At last report her car remains in the parking lot there and James O'Keefe is refusing to answer any questions about her.

No one, including The Washington Post, knows if the Moore campaign was involved in the attempted scam, if Project Veritas was acting on its own, or was perhaps doing so at the behest of that chubby Nazi, Steve Bannon. My money is on Bannon, but it is highly doubtful we'll ever know for sure. 

Given past evidence it is pretty clear that even as these words are being typed desperate alt right minions are getting ready to portray Jaime Phillips as a left wing plant paid for by--you guessed it--The Washington Post.

The in depth story of the entire grotesque saga appeared on line at washingtonpost.com on Monday, 11-27-17 at 11:35pm.

Go read it and while you do, weep for the state of the union.

And yes, ladies and gentlemen, the bar is open.


11-28-17 

Monday, November 27, 2017

Don Trump: Golf and Twitter in the Post Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, and John Conyers World

In 2016 when Donald J. Trump was running for office one of his most frequent criticisms of Barack Obama, besides that whole place of birth thing, was the president played too much golf. In fact at one point El Donald told us when he was president he wouldn't have time to play a lot of golf because he'd be too busy.

When he hit the first tee Sunday, for the fifth time over the Thanksgiving holiday, it was his 81st round of golf since his inauguration. For those keeping count that would be a little over three times more than Obama took to the links in his first ten months in office.

But, let's face it, surreal discrepancies between promises, facts, and what is actual reality have never been a problem for Don Trump. As one observer noted, when it comes to the current resident of the White House there is no right, or wrong, there is only winning and losing.

Between chip shots and improving his ball's lie (winter rules after all) Mr. Trump found his way onto Twitter in order to continue his attack on those parts of American free press he disagrees with, or at least the ones he feels are critical of him.

On Saturday he posted, "@FOX News MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside the U.S. CNN International is still a major source of (FAKE) news and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!"

Brother Trump didn't specify which truths the rest of the world weren't seeing. Perhaps he felt his side of the public feud he's been waging with that imminent threat to the nation's security, LaVar Ball has been lacking in coverage. Ball is the insufferable parent/non stop promoter of his basketball playing sons Lonzo, LaMelo, and LiAngelo. He drove Mr. Trump into a fury because he didn't appear grateful enough after the president bragged about getting LiAngelo out of a Chinese prison sentence for shop lifting. Yes, as we've seen time and time again, once the ego is pricked, no fight is too small, or petty for our man in the oval office.

On Sunday Mr. Trump tweeted, "Since the first day I took office all you hear is the phony democratic excuse for losing the election, Russia, Russia, Russia. Despite this I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

The petulant tone of the message moved former Obama official, Preet Bharara to respond with his own tweet which read, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! The President of the United States is Jan Brady."

Today's message from the White House was, "We should have a contest as to which of the networks plus CNN and not including FOX is the most dishonest, corrupt, and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive FAKE NEWS TROPHY!"

In addition to this craziness the New York Times reports that on at least two different occasions in the past few months The Big Orange Guy has said privately the infamous, "Access Hollywood," tape was faked. It's the episode where he clearly boasted to TV personality Billy Bush that being rich and famous allowed him to grab women by their, "pussies," with impunity. The evidence he said the words is so utterly irrefutable, then candidate Trump immediately admitted to the repugnant conversation, although he wrote it off as simply, "locker room talk."

Of course, that was then and this has suddenly become a post Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, John Conyers, world. You have to adjust, bob and weave, never stop doing the DJT shuffle. Indeed, take a lesson from ol' Roy Moore down in Alabama. Deny everything, no matter how many witnesses there might be, or how credible they are.

Yeah, that's the ticket. Run around like a Banshee on fire while screaming the media is Satan himself, attempting to destroy those doing God's work. Then--trust The Almighty Base to believe every thing you say, no matter how bat shit crazy and obviously wrong it is.

The problem is they will. In fact they already have. Think not? Just wait until Moore gets elected in a couple of weeks and Trump goes on Twitter and celebrates the victory as another win for him.

My God, I thought Nixon was evil and crazy. That fucker was nothing, but a cheap amateur compared to this sociopathic monster.


sic vita est


11-27-17



Tuesday, November 21, 2017

There is Nothing Immoral, or Illegal in Alabama, Maybe Just a Little Bit Unusual

Take the bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became the parents of Jesus. There is just nothing immoral, or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.

Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler, speaking in defense of Roy Moore's search for female companionship 40, or so years ago.



Yes, things have taken a decidedly hallucinogenic turn down in Alabama. It would appear a hefty tab of LSD is no longer required in order to make divine connections between Judge Roy Moore, Saint Joseph and several underage retail clerks and waitresses in the greater Gadsden metroplex.

It's not like we hadn't been headed that way for a while. Evangelical Christians everywhere went out of their way to vote for Donald Trump after they clearly heard him bragging about how fame and fortune allowed him grab women's genitals whenever and wherever he wanted.

In fact some consider El Donald so free of sin they're willing to bet their mortal souls on him. Take Mark Lee, who participated in a CNN group interview of Trump supporters. He said--with a perfectly straight face--"Let me tell you. If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia I will tell him, hold on a second, I need to check with the president to see if it's true."

Words like lunacy come to mind in situations such as these. So does, hypocrisy, but that one has already been used by Reverend Franklin Graham. When asked about the accusations leveled at the Alabama senate candidate, he said, "The hypocrisy of Washington has no bounds. So many are denouncing Roy Moore when they are guilty of doing much worse than what he has been accused of supposedly doing."

Mr. Graham didn't specify what crimes the unnamed, "they," have committed which are worse, but since pedophilia is pretty fucking bad one can only imagine.

Other men of the cloth, like Pastor Earl Wise, simply attack the victims. He told an interviewer, "I don't know how much these women are getting paid, but I can only believe they're getting a healthy sum. How these gals came up with this, I don't know. They must have had some sweet dreams somewhere down the line." Then, almost as an afterthought--or just in case things get even worse for ol' Roy--he added, "Plus there are some 14 year olds who, the way they look, could pass for 20."

Ah, there we have the answer. Leigh Corfman is either on the take, which she adamantly denies, or, at age 14, she was a preternatural vamp who duped an innocent Roy Moore into thinking she was much older than she really was. Unfortunately for Wise and Moore alike photos of Corfman when she was 14 make her look a lot closer to 12 than 20. However, if history has taught us anything, pointing out the obvious to ardent religious types rarely yields positive results. Just ask the ghost of Galileo Galilei.

In their increasing desperation, Moore's supporters have also been attacking the veracity of Beverly Young Nelson's accusation the judge assaulted her when she was 16 as he drove her home from her job at a Gadsden restaurant. The details of the proof offered by the Moore campaign that Nelson's story is untrue have to do with the placement of a dumpster on the restaurant grounds, whether there was a back door to the joint's parking lot, and the hiring practices of the establishment's management.

Finally, to combat the nasty rumor Moore was barred from the Gadsden Mall for hustling teenaged girls the campaign dug up a guy named Johnny V. Sanders. According to Sanders, a former mall employee, the whole thing is--you guessed it--a merry mix up. Sanders' claims it wasn't the GOP's senate nominee who was barred from the mall years ago, but rather another prominent Etowah County official, who everyone now has confused with Roy Moore. When asked to identify the person in question, Sanders refused, "out of respect for his family."

Yes, it has become so weird in Alabama, as Hunter S. Thompson once wrote of another place, "Acid is redundant."

Let's face it, not even ancient Rome at its most depraved would tolerate a monster like Roy Moore in their Senate. But, right here and now, we are on the verge of seating him in ours.

So much for the American republic and any claim it might have had to some higher moral ground .

Ladies and gentlemen, as you can guess, the bar is open.


11-21-17

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Bernie Bernstein Makes a Call to Alabama

Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein. I'm a reporter for the Washington Post calling to find out if  anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old , willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5,000 and $7,000. We will not be fully investigating these claims, however we will be making a written report. I can be reached by email: AlBernstein@washingtonpost.com. Thank you.

A voice mail left from an anonymous number on an Alabama preacher's phone.



Actually it's worse when you listen to it. Whoever left the message on Pastor Al Moore's phone (no, he's not related to the candidate) spoke in perhaps the worst imitation of a New York/Brooklyn accent imaginable. It was rather like hearing a voice version of one of those horrid pre WWII Nazi posters which cruelly caricatured Jews.

Reverend Moore and an Alabama TV station attempted to email the alleged reporter at the address he left and both attempts were returned as undeliverable. That's no surprise since The Washington Post doesn't have an employee, or part time contractor named either Bernie, or Al Bernstein.

Despite the overtly anti-Semitic dialect, the editorial confusion over the name of the caller (Bernie, or Al?), and the fake email address, multiple supporters of Moore are claiming the robocall and others identical to it were generated by the newspaper, or at least its agents.

Yes, that is the road republican Roy Moore and his campaign are going down as accusations of his inappropriate and downright criminal sexual behavior years ago continue to mount.

They've also let loose a wildly racist attorney named, Trenton Garmon. He is currently pleading the candidate's case on cable news networks while, perhaps more importantly, giving the sly wink of an eye to Moore's trailer park fascist base.

On Friday night Garmon was on Don Lemon's CNN show and repeatedly referred to the host, who is black, as, "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy." Lemon finally put a halt to it by pointedly telling Garmon his mother didn't name him that so stop saying it. The attorney smiled and said, "I hear you, man." Then he began to accuse Lemon's producer of luring him on the air under false pretenses.

Yesterday Garmon appeared on an MSNBC program hosted by Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi. When asked why Roy Moore would need a mother's permission to date a girl if she wasn't underage, Garmon answered--sort of--this way, "Sure, that's a good question. Culturally speaking there's differences. Looked up Ali's background there. Wow--that's awesome that you've got such a diverse background. That's really cool to read through that. But the point is..."

Ruhle interrupted, "What does Ali's background have to do with dating a 14 year old?

Garmon continued, "I'm not finished with the context of it. Point of this is...

At that moment it became clear Ms. Ruhle wanted to punch the clown out. She demanded,  "Please answer. What does Ali Velshi's background have to do with dating children, 14 year old girls?"

Garmon said, "Sure. In other countries there's arrangement through parents for what we would refer to as consensual marriage."

That's when Ms. Ruhle said, "Ali's from Canada."

Garmon, seemingly flummoxed by her statement immediately attempted a little of the old song and dance, "I understand that. And Ali's also spent time in other countries..."

Ruhle shot back, "So have I."

There is more. Like that poor guy in Alabama who was a Post source in it's original story. He's getting text messages which tell him a U.S. attorney in the state has filed a defamation suit against him. While denying it the, U.S. attorney in question noted his office has no jurisdiction in civil actions such as defamation. Then there is Kayla Moore, Roy's wife, who put the phone number of a Post reporter on social media after a request for an interview. Later, the reporter's resume', including her current address, showed up on a public site. Mrs. Moore claimed the reporter was harassing her and her friends.

Let's face it, these crazed bible quoting fuckers make Joe McCarthy look like some cheap jack amateur. And in truth, there is a viciousness displayed here not seen since Herr Hitler was walking the planet.

Years ago the late science fiction author, Mike McQuay said, "Once you're convinced God is on your side, you are capable of anything." Those words have never been truer than in Alabama during this year of our Lord, 2017.

Just ask Judge Roy Moore, his wife, and the people who will elect him to the United States Senate in less than a month.

Or better yet, ask their victims.


sic vita est


11-16-17

Monday, November 13, 2017

Everett Dirksen, Joseph McCarthy, Roy Moore, and Casanova

A long time ago there was a republican senator from Illinois named Everett Dirksen. He was a friend of Joseph McCarthy, also a republican, but from Wisconsin. In the early 1950s Joe McCarthy was and, by the way, still is widely considered one of the most evil men to ever sit in the upper house. The two of them were such buddies when the senate voted to censure McCarthy for being a run amok witch hunting asshole, Dirksen refused to go along with the resolution.

It was a different age back then though. Dirksen, despite his conservatism, still had some sense of morality plus a connection to a guy named Abraham Lincoln. In his later years he co-wrote and helped democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a second Civil Rights Act in 1968. The two laws, among other things, kick started the mass migration of conservative southern democrats, known as the dixiecrat wing, to the republican party.

All of which leads us to one, Roy Stewart Moore. Moore is the current republican candidate for the United States Senate from the state of Alabama. He was elected twice as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and was removed both times because of his firm belief the constitution of the United States of America--you know, the document he swore to defend--doesn't mean shit.

There is also pretty solid evidence he was, at least at one point in his life, a dirty old man.

Old, of course, is a relative concept. A guy in his early 30's, which Moore was when all this alleged philandering took place, looks young to someone on the far side of 65. However, to girls who were at the time, 14, 16, 17, and 18 it's really fucking old, not to mention creepy.

The most serious allegation came from Leigh Corfman who was the 14 year old. She told a reporter from the Washington Post, Moore had touched her genitals--or as Don Trump would say, grabbed her pussy--through her underwear, then forced her to touch his.  

The Post broke the story last week and Moore immediately claimed it was not only fake news, but a political hit job.

Actually it probably is a hit job, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Besides the four women, the Post lists nearly 30 witnesses who say Moore was quite the Casanova when it came to teenaged girls back in the day.

Unfortunately for the democratic nominee, Doug Jones none of Moore's lascivious and possibly criminal behavior will make any difference to huge numbers of voters in Alabama. They checked their moral outrage at the door as soon as they cast their ballots for Donald Trump a year ago.

Alabama's Bibb County GOP chairman, Jerry Pow put it this way, "I would vote for Judge Moore because I wouldn't want to vote for Doug. I'm not saying I support what he did."

That's how low some republicans, including nearly 40 U.S. senators, have sunk. Pedophilia is forgivable--being a democrat isn't.

Yesterday Moore told a group in Huntsville he was going to sue The Post. He said he was currently uncovering more background on the allegations. He also promised to provide, "revelations about the motivations and context," of them. In other words his people are working as busy as beavers to make Leigh Corfman and the other women look like they are the ones who are to blame for this sordid affair.

Well, what else should we expect from a man who claims homosexual acts should be criminal offenses and Muslims shouldn't be allowed to serve in congress--despite that bit in the constitution which forbids any person who seeks federal office from facing a religious test.

Yes, the political and ethical descendents of Joe McCarthy, as we see in Roy Moore, are still around. And worse, just like Everett Dirksen, the vast majority of republicans, no matter how noble their intentions might be, refuse to repudiate them.

Now, ask me again why I'm a democrat.



11-13-17



Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Alina Fitzpatrick: Six Years in the Grave

The tale of Alina Fitzpatrick isn't, as they say, breaking news. When she walked off into the shadows around 10 pm on November 4th, 2011 she was 17, barely old enough to drive a car. If she was alive today she'd be 23 and might have achieved her reported dream of becoming a registered nurse.

We all know that isn't what happened though. On November 9th a woman and her adult son went to take a look at some property one, or both of them owned near the intersection of NE 50th St. and Anderson Rd. in the wilds of far eastern Oklahoma City.

What they found during their inspection was the nude remains of an unidentified girl who had been dumped in some weeds by the roadside. Her body bore what was described later as blunt force trauma and numerous scrapes, bruises, and lacerations suffered around the time of her death. She also had either some paper, or flimsy cloth stuffed into her mouth, as if she'd been gagged at some point.

It didn't take long for authorities to announce the body was that of Alina Fitzpatrick.

Since Oklahoma City isn't really that big of a town and is just racist enough, the usual media reaction to the lurid details of the murder of a pretty young white girl would have been vast and breathlessly horrified. The difference that autumn was OKC's news outlets already had a young dead white girl and the circumstances of her death were even more wildly sensational.

A little less than a month before Alina Fitzpatrick disappeared near the corner of NW 24th St. and Western Ave. authorities had discovered the dismembered body of Carina Saunders in the west side suburb of Bethany, OK. When her various parts, stuffed into a duffel bag found behind a grocery store, were uncovered it drove local news sources into a feeding frenzy which, to some extent, lasts to this day.

The names of possible witnesses, not to mention potential suspects in the Saunders' case swirled about in a blizzard of coverage. Most of this storm of speculation and innuendo was fueled by the over overzealous and ultimately incompetent Bethany Police Department who was in charge of the investigation.

The Fitzpatrick case, on the other hand, was being run by the Oklahoma City Police. The OKCPD didn't have a clue who the perpetrator, or perpetrators were and, unlike the rubes in Bethany they were honest enough to admit it. This dreary lack of progress simply couldn't compete with the seemingly daily revelations about Saunders' murder and it didn't take long for the tragedy which befell Alina Fitzpatrick to begin fading from the news.

Then came the report from Medical Examiner, Chai S. Choi. Unlike Carina Saunders, who had been decapitated among other things, he found none of Alina Fitzpatrick's wounds were serious enough, in of themselves, to be the cause of her death. However he did find enough meth in her system which, might, or might not have caused her to OD. Choi's final decision was an absurdist exercise in the obvious. He wrote, "There are apparently suspicious circumstances surrounding her death." At the same time he refused to label it a homicide.

Never ones to avoid an easy out, the Oklahoma City Police let their investigation grind to a halt. To the credit of the local daily paper they made one last stab at the story. In January, 2012 a reporter asked police spokesperson Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow about the status of the case. Her response was, "It's not considered a homicide, but we're keeping an open file on it."

Wardlow's cold blooded indifference caused one final ripple of incredulous outrage and nine days later, OKC police captain, Dexter Nelson told the same reporter, "Homicide is just a legal term. You investigate them (homicides and suspicious deaths) the same way." He went on to say the department needed help from the public to solve the case.

After the Bethany cops screwed the pooch in the Saunders' investigation they turned it over to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Earlier this year the OSBI spent nearly a week digging up the back yard of a home on the lower west side of OKC looking for evidence. Last month they renewed the reward offered in her case. Both stories received extensive coverage by local media outlets.

In contrast and thanks in large part to a lack of media exposure and therefore pressure, Nelson's January 2012 plea for help was the last anyone in this town has heard about the murder of Alina Fitzpatrick. That's unless you count an anonymous comment posted on this blog in April last year. It read, "The police were told who did it. He was in jail on other charges and still got released."

If true, it would seem that the help from the public Captain Nelson asked for wasn't of much use and it certainly wasn't considered news worthy.

Alina Fitzpatrick was buried on November 22, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The obituary states her casket was hand made and blessed by Benedictine monks living in an Iowa monastery. Her grave site is only one of thousands located at Memorial Park Cemetery in Oklahoma City.

As far as anyone knows, her killer, or killers remain free.



sic vita est


11-8-17

Monday, November 6, 2017

Thirty-five Days Out of Las Vegas We Get to Sutherland Springs

That didn't take long. In fact it was only 35 days ago we were all aghast at the massacre in Las Vegas. It ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in United States history, but, as betting enthusiasts around the world will tell you, records are meant to be broken.

While we wait for that ghastly accomplishment we can contemplate the latest challenger. Devin Patrick Kelley wasn't able to match the sheer number of bodies in Vegas, but yesterday's nightmare at the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church did become the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas.

And--for those of you unfamiliar with the state--that takes a lot. The previous record holder was George Hennard who plowed his truck through the front of a Killeen, TX  cafeteria in 1991 prior to opening fire. Before he offed himself he killed 24 people. Way back in 1966, the original modern mass shooter, Charlie Whitman murdered 16 people. He gunned down most of them from an improvised sniper's nest on top of the tower which looms over the University of Texas campus. Then there was U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan who killed 13 people at Ft. Hood, TX in 2009 apparently because God told him it was a good idea.

Yes, in Texas you have to go big, or go home.

The most dubious distinction of Kelley's rampage, however, was it became the worst mass shooting at a church in American history. That's how low we've sunk. We now have an ever growing list of different churches across the land which have been invaded by evil fucks like Dev Kelley. That's right, we're talking stats baby and the experts on cable news can now offer us an updated scorecard of sorts which includes denominations, demographics, motives, and body counts.

Donald Trump immediately told the media the shooting in Sutherland Springs was a mental health issue and not about guns. His only contribution to that problem, so far, has been to rescind an Obama era law which stopped mentally ill persons who draw government disabilities from being able to buy firearms. Thanks to his deft legislation it is now perfectly legal for them to do so.

At around the same time, Kellyanne Conway, who works for Mr. Trump, began babbling we should be, honoring the dead, rather than debating gun control this soon after the tragedy. She knows, or should know, since there have been 377 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone (defined as four, or more victims in one incident, including the shooter) it leaves damn little time for people around here to do anything, but honor the dead.

Meanwhile, the malignant cranks who infest YouTube are already screeching the entire shooting in Sutherland Hills was a government staged hoax. The number of different channels promoting such bullshit borders on being too vast to count. Earlier today, when added together, the, "views," of those vile places were running into the tens of thousands.

Finally, the congress of the United States of America continues to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Rifle Association. They wouldn't do anything after 20 grade school kids and six of their teachers were killed at Newtown, CT. and they haven't done anything about the, "bump stocks," Steve Paddock used in Vegas to mow down nearly 60 concert goers. Given this well established cowardice, why in God's name should we believe they'll do anything now?

Indeed, it's obvious that, as Bill O'Reilly put it a little over a month ago, those 26 dead worshippers--eight from three generations of the same family--"are just part of the price we pay for freedom."

Right.


sic vita est


11-6-17








Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Jeff Flake Won't Run, Trump Gloats, and the Democrats are Doomed

We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country--the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions; the flagrant disregard for truth and dignity. 

Senator Jeff Flake, R-AZ speaking about Donald Trump


Flake also said this, "We must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in the executive branch are normal. They are not normal. Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as, 'telling it like it is,' when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified."

Of course all this came not quite a year too late and during a speech on the Senate floor as Senator Flake was announcing he wouldn't be running for reelection in 2018. It was probably, as White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, said, "A good move." His opponent in the republican primary is a fire breathing Trumpist named Kelli Ward who came within 11 points, or so of knocking off John McCain last year.

And to paraphrase Lloyd Benson, Jeff Flake is no John McCain.

Yes, it would seem some of the rats are jumping ship. Well at least two of them since we already know Bob Corker, R-TN is also calling it quits. The same can't be said about the rest of the rodents. Those would be the ones who had lunch with The Big Orange Guy the other day so they could discuss tax cuts for the fabulously well to do. During the get together, according to one MSNBC account, Trump received three standing ovations.

Unsurprisingly, our man, Don T, celebrated the occasion by taking to Twitter. He wrote, "The meeting with republican senators yesterday, outside of Flake and Corker, was a love fest with standing ovations & great ideas for USA!"

He also took a shot at the retiring senators in another tweet, because--hey--that's what he does. It read, "The reason Flake and Corker dropped out of senate race is very simple, they had zero chance of being elected. Now act so hurt and wounded."

At this point the only surprising thing about the second tweet was it didn't end with, "Nah, Nah, Neeyah, Nah!," followed by an emoji face sticking out its tongue.

Meanwhile Steve Bannon is running about the countryside doing the jelly belly in front of crowds of potential donors who like their president to be, as Corker said on TV, "utterly untruthful." Mr. Bannon is promising to cleanse the congress of any republican who even hints he, or she might be uncomfortable with El Donald grabbing women by their pussies, much less opposing him on political issues.

Normally such savage infighting would lead to jubilation among the opposition party. However, at the moment anyway, the only people who have shown any signs of optimism about the mid term elections are the talking heads at MSNBC. You know--the people who won't have to run against trailer park fascists like Kelli Ward and the millions of dollars Steve Bannon will hand deliver to her and dozens of others.

Indeed, as entertaining as it might be watching Bannon ruthlessly cull the GOP herd the terrible truth remains the party of Franklin Roosevelt is doomed in 2018. A democratic majority in the House is completely unreachable thanks to some astute republican gerrymandering and the odds of taking over the senate are less than 50-50.

The situation is going to stay that way too. At least until the democratic party frees itself of a leadership which is increasingly moribund and irrelevant to middle America, then comes up with some meaningful alternatives to the toxic swill of jingoism and outright lies Donald J. Trump and Steve Bannon are selling.

Ladies and gentlemen, because we all know that's not going to happen any time soon, the bar is most definitely open.



10-25-17

DCCCL




Sunday, October 22, 2017

Donald Trump, Glass Sculptors, Alleged Arsonists, and Fake News

With all of The Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

Donald John Trump on Twitter a couple of weeks ago.



That's right, root the evil fakers out, run them down in the streets like dogs, and confiscate their licenses.  After all, someone has to protect the voting public from their monstrous lies. Especially those vulnerable souls who need to have their core beliefs and biases not just confirmed, but validated on a daily basis.

Don was upset that morning because NBC had broken a story which made him look rather like a dim witted war monger. Honestly though, in his eyes, the report was just the latest in a long series of crimes perpetrated against him by a cabal of left wing propagandists at NBC, CNN, CBS, and ABC.

This would be unlike the news hounds at FOX and places like Breitbart, who write and broadcast the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God.

Well--sometimes.

On October 8th FOX ran with a heart warming story featuring John Garafalo. He had sculpted a large presidential seal made entirely of glass which he wanted to give, Mr. Trump. According to Garafalo and, as faithfully reported by FOX on the air and in social media, he was a veteran of the navy who had served in an ultra elite and secret SEAL unit during the Vietnam war. In addition he was the recipient of 22 commendations, including two Purple Hearts, which are awarded to service members who have been wounded in combat. In response to his tale a couple of the talking heads at FOX lavished him with praise for his service, bravery, and life long patriotism.

After seeing the story a fellow named Dan Shipley started to do a little digging. Mr. Shipley's current hobby is to expose a small, but distinct class of assholes who run around claiming to have served in Vietnam and other places under the most dire of circumstances.

Apparently Shipley is not only good at what he does, but, unlike FOX who presumably has more resources at hand, he's quick and thorough. On October 9th he contacted FOX and told the powers that be, John Garafalo was a complete fraud, or at least almost so. He also took his findings to the publication, The Navy Times.

The Times confirmed Garafalo served in the Navy from 1963 to 1967, but he was never in Vietnam and certainly wasn't a member of the SEALS. FOX sat on the revelation for 10 days without comment, or removing the story from its Facebook page. In fact the post wasn't touched until after Garafalo publicly confessed that his back story was a bizarre flight of fantasy he'd been telling for years. By then the Facebook report had 1.5 million views by the rubes who believe FOX is the only truthful news source in the land. The network finally posted a, "correction," on Thursday and promised to air a retraction on TV today.

Meanwhile, a week ago the Sonoma County, CA sheriff's office arrested Mr. Jesus Fabian Gonzalez in a local park. In addition to not being the brightest bulb in the chandelier, Gonzalez is an illegal immigrant who also happens to be homeless. He had built himself a campfire in the park where he usually sleeps in order to keep warm that night.

Breitbart picked up the story and immediately reported Gonzalez was not only illegally in the U.S, but had been arrested, "on suspicion of arson in the wine country fires that have killed at least 40 residents."

The report prompted, Tom Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, to issue a statement saying the Sonoma County Sheriff had refused to answer federal requests about Gonzalez which is leaving Sonoma, "vulnerable to dangerous individuals and preventable crimes." In addition the statement said the Sheriff's lack of cooperation was, "especially troubling in the light of the massive wildfires already devastating the region."

Sonoma County Sheriff, Rob Giordano responded by saying, basically, both Breitbart and Homan were full of shit. Gonzalez's campfire, lit in a city park,  had been put out almost immediately and never threatened any person, or property. He went on to say his office has no reason to suspect Gonzalez of setting the fires that ravaged the area before he was arrested and in truth, they could have started any number of ways--besides, the idiots at Breitbart and ICE, not to mention their political agendas were taking up time he needed to be spending on more important things.

Yes, it appears there are a bunch of scurrilous bastards infesting the 21st media, just like The Big Orange Guy says. Unfortunately for us, as usual, Trump is accusing the wrong ones of acts which defy not just journalistic norms and integrity, but common decency.

But, hey, after nine months of being exposed to Donald J. Trump's huge, yet frangible, ego, what else should we expect?

Indeed.


10-22-17

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Don Trump Honors Dead Green Berets With a Round of Golf and Gregg Popovich Makes the Bedside List

If we know anything about Donald Trump it is his concepts of morality, decency, and the truth all dwell somewhere in a bottomless, pitch black, hole. That and they don't resemble anything even remotely human.

The latest proof went on display last week and then again yesterday.

On October 5th four members of the United States Army Special Forces, the Green Berets, were killed during an ambush in Niger. Mr. Trump--who has spent much of his time the last few weeks howling about NFL players kneeling, "disrespectfully," during the national anthem--honored the return of their remains to America by playing a round of golf.

A little over 24 hours ago a press conference of sorts was held on the White House grounds. In the middle of the proceedings he was asked why he hadn't publicly spoken about the deaths of the four men, or offered their families his personal condolences.

The Big Orange Guy didn't even pause before delivering a grotesque explanation. He was, he said, going to send the families letters which had been drafted over the weekend. Then he added, "If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. (to the families of service members killed in action) A lot of them didn't make calls. I like to call when it's appropriate, when I think I am able to do it."

That's right, the President of the United States offered us nothing more than a variation of the old, I left my class assignment at home, besides no one else turned in theirs either, excuse.

His lie was so incredibly transparent, not to mention fetid, he was challenged only a scant few seconds later. El Don's next response was classic 21st century bullshit. He claimed he was only repeating what he had been told--which, ultimately, is just another way of saying he got his facts from reading Facebook. In the end he gave us a moment of song and dance and admitted, Obama and other presidents, "probably," did write letters and "sometimes," call.

That great bird of prey known as Twitter immediately took wing. Obama's former Deputy National Security Advisor, Ben Rhodes posted, "This is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards. Also: Obama never attacked a Gold Star Family."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder wrote, "Stop the damn lying--you're the president. I went to Dover AFB with 44 and saw him comfort the families of both the fallen military & DEA."

General Martin Dempsey (ret.) the 18th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, tweeted, "POTUS 43 & 44 and first ladies cared deeply, worked tirelessly for the serving, the fallen, and their families. Not politics. Sacred Trust."

My personal favorite was written by Alyssa Mastromonaco, Obama's former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. Her tweet described Trump and his statement this way. "That's a fucking lie. To say President Obama (or past presidents) didn't call the family members of soldiers KIA--he's a deranged beast."

Yes he is. He's also in charge.

Which, of course, is why the bar opens early these days.

It's also why the NBA's Gregg Popovich went off during an interview yesterday. Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, told reporter Dave Zirin, "This man in the oval office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others."

One can assume Mr. Popovich just made the list Don Trump keeps on the bedside table and will soon be the subject of a series of savage predawn tweets. He shouldn't take them personally though. The way things are going, before long, we're all going to be right there with him.

   



sic vita est


10-17-17

Monday, October 9, 2017

Bob Corker Cops a Short Timer's Attitude

It all started when retiring republican Senator Bob Corker told some folks back home in Tennessee, "The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate to be successful." He added that Trump's Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson--who reportedly described his boss as a, "fucking moron"-- along with Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, "Are those people that help separate our country from chaos."

Never one to let a slight go unanswered, Trump took to Twitter on Friday and wrote, "Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in '18. Tennessee not happy!"

Over the weekend things, as they always do with Brother Donald, deteriorated into what amounts to playground taunts. In a series of tweets--because one will never do--Trump posted back, to back, to back messages which when run together read, "Senator Bob Corker 'begged' me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said 'NO' and he dropped out. (Said he could not win without my endorsement) He also wanted to be Secretary of State. I said, 'NO THANKS.' He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran deal. Hence I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn't have the guts to run."

The tweets were pure Trump. His is a twisted world in which the press are outright liars and all the others--like Corker--are driven to the sins of treachery, envy, and jealousy because their slavish and pitiful  overtures were rejected by, yes, Donald John Trump. In other words he recognized they were not great, therefore they attacked him because he is.

Corker took to Twitter and wrote, "It is a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning."

The senator also gave a phone interview to the New York Times yesterday. He was quoted as saying, "I don't know why the president tweets out things that are not true. You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but him."

According to the Times story Corker maintained Trump had urged him to run again on at least four separate occasions, the last one being just seven days ago. Corker said Trump had even volunteered multiple times to hold a rally in Tennessee on his behalf.

We can assume those offers are now out the window. We can also assume if Trump decertifies the Iran nuclear deal and demands the senate impose new sanctions he won't have Bob Corker, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in his corner. And it goes without saying if Trump does fire Tillerson, as has been speculated, he will have a bitch of a time getting a new nominee approved because the process must go through Corker.

The Times and other news outlets are saying Senator Corker's sudden outbursts of candor are due to his impending retirement in two years. In lay terms it is known as a short timer's attitude.

Well why not? Trump can't fire him and can't work to beat him in 2018. All of which leads us to wonder how many other GOP senators feel exactly the same way about Big Don, but won't admit it only because they're going to have to deal with the crazy bastard beyond two years.

Let's face it, the list of sitting republican senators Donald Trump has publicly savaged is impressive. Included on the roster are Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, John McCain, Jeff Flake, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Lisa Murkowski.

If he loses just two of them, or their colleagues on any given vote, be it tax reform, or building the wall, Brother Trump's "great agenda," is fucked. It is a fact of life, The El Supremo doesn't seem to understand.

Meanwhile Bob Corker left us with this final assessment of the situation. "The president acts like he's doing, 'The Apprentice' or something. He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation." Then finally, "I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it's a situation of trying to contain him."

Nice.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you can guess, the bar is open.


sic vita est


10-9-17

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Nine to Eleven Minutes in Vegas

At a news conference last night in Las Vegas authorities told the media Stephen Paddock fired on the 22,000, or so people gathered below and across the street from his hotel room for nine to 11 minutes. Their estimate is based on the moment the first 911 call came into dispatch until converging police heard the last shots ring out from the 32nd floor suite at the Mandalay Bay.

If the second number is correct it means the sick twist murdered 58 human beings during what is approximately the same amount of time it takes to get from one ad to the next on a network television sitcom. To put it another way, his kill rate was over five people per minute.

While, at this moment, we still don't know why he did it--other than he was nuts--we certainly know how. Police found 23 different weapons in his hotel room. 12 of them were fitted with what is known as, "bump stocks," which allows a semi automatic weapon to become, for all intents and purposes, a machine gun.

They also found a load of ammonium nitrate in his car and 24 other firearms spread out over two properties he owned in the state. For those not familiar with ammonium nitrate it's a fertilizer which, when mixed in the proper proportions with diesel fuel, becomes an explosive. It was Tim McVeigh's weapon of choice when he brought down the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Now comes the uniquely American part. All those weapons, a vast cache of unused ammunition which was uncovered in Mesquite, NV and Reno, and yes, even the "bump stocks" can be legally purchased in the United States.

That's correct, right up until he committed an act of vandalism by smashing out two hotel windows in order to get a clear field of fire, Steve Paddock hadn't broken a single law.

Two things happened almost immediately as soon as the smoke cleared. First, a few of the ever shrinking number of progressive politicians left in congress and elsewhere began to call for meaningful gun control laws. Or at least a ban on those fucking, "bump stocks."

Just as predictably the right wing media, led by vile monsters such as Sean Hannity, began to howl about liberals, "politicizing" the nightmare, "before the bodies are even in the ground." Their argument being we need to take time to honor and remember the dead, before we begin to debate gun control.

It is the same crass dodge we've heard before. It's also wildly hypocritical. Take a look at what the same wankers were saying about Muslim immigrants within a few hours of the mass shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando a year and a half ago. Last night they were headed in the same direction. Their desperation to link Paddock to ISIS, or some other terrorist group was absolutely palpable.

In fact, the only conservative bobble head who is currently willing to express the true reality of right wing philosophy is the notorious sexual predator, Bill O'Reilly. He issued a statement which said the shooting was simply the price we pay for freedom in this country.

Yes ma'am, your daughter died at a country music concert so the rest of us can own and carry as many guns as we want. A grateful nation thanks you for her sacrifice.

For God's sake who are these foul mutants?

Will one of you evil cranks please tell us when would be a good time to talk about gun control? Give us a fucking date. Personally, other than Saturdays, I'm free the rest of this month and all of next.

And just so there isn't any confusion, some of us don't give a rat's ass if Steve Paddock was a Muslim, a Wiccan, or a run amok Southern Baptist. What we do care about is that a bat shit crazy son of a bitch was able to legally amass more military grade weapons than the army of Luxembourg and buy, "bump stocks" as easily as he could ice cream cones.

See you at the next massacre, America. Trust me, given our track record, it's right around the corner.

.


10-4-17




Monday, October 2, 2017

Stephen Paddock Goes to Vegas and Stays There

He was just a guy.

Eric Paddock talking about his brother, Stephen



Aren't they all? It seems like it anyway.

By every indication 64 year old Steve Paddock was living the good life, the American dream really. He was apparently flush with money and comfortably retired, or semi retired. Two years ago he moved into a home on a golf course in a seniors community 80, or so miles outside of Las Vegas. His life style was so discreet and unremarkable the Mesquite, NV police department didn't even know who he was until the phone calls began to come in yesterday evening.

Now, just about everyone in these 50 United States knows his name. That's because last night Mr. Paddock appears to have gone off his nut in the worst way imaginable. As of this hour he is accused of being the perpetrator of the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the republic. And, as we all know far too well in order to set that gruesome record you have to kill scads and scads of people.

At the moment the count is 59 confirmed dead, 60 if your count Paddock, who police say committed suicide as they busted in his hotel door. Over 500 more were wounded, or injured as they tried to flee the killing ground--an open air country and western music festival.

No one knows why Paddock opened fire, at least not yet. However, that hasn't stopped some from giving their opinions via the internet.

The deadly clowns known as ISIS, or at least someone claiming to be them, issued an online statement claiming Paddock had recently converted to Islam and pledged his allegiance to them. Of course the way things are currently going for that outfit they're liable to claim responsibility for anything, up to and including a traffic accident at the intersection of May Avenue and NW 63rd street in Oklahoma City. The FBI is saying there is no evidence of a connection to ISIS, or anyone else.

On the other hand, the conspiracy wankers are already infesting YouTube, saying the shooting--which involved over 22,000 witnesses, victims, police, emergency medical techs, and hospital personnel--was faked by the government. According to them the entire faux attack involved the usual suspects, you know, shadow agencies looking to take away every one's guns and paid crisis actors. As proof they cite the lack of blood and bodies in videos shown on cable news. At 10:15 central time this morning there were at least 16 different YouTube channels claiming they had proof the entire nightmare was a fix. 

If you believe in genetic predestination one supposes we could blame it on his father, Benjamin Paddock, aka, Big Daddy. He was such a bad guy he made the FBI's most wanted list back in the early 1960's. His wanted poster described him being diagnosed as psychopathic with suicidal tendencies. It noted he should be considered armed and dangerous. According to Fox News, he died a free man in 1998 after doing a minimum amount of prison time and paying a couple of hefty fines.

The only real hint about what might have gone wrong available to the public right now is Stephen Paddock loved to hit the tables when he was in town. So much so there are some recent bank transactions on his account involving fairly large sums of money. The situation remains so confused though, no one knows, or is saying if the money transfers were deposits, or debits. 

What we do know is he checked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel on September 28th. Last night he knocked out two separate windows in either a suite, or connecting rooms so he could change his firing position. In addition, he didn't have to be much of a marksman. When you use a fully automatic weapon on a crowd of 22,000 souls jammed into a fenced area like cattle, picking out individual targets is a waste of time. Just point and pull the trigger, baby, then let the law of averages take over.

We also know, thanks to Nevada law, it was perfectly legal for Stephen Paddock to drag an arsenal up to his 32nd floor vantage point. In fact, within a week, there will be a major gun show in Las Vegas so someone doing just such a thing wouldn't even raise eye brows at the front desk, or among the bell staff.

Yes, officer, he looked like just another patriotic good ol' boy exercising his second amendment rights. Who would have ever thought?

Right.

Ladies and gentlemen the bar is most certainly open. Just keep your backs to the wall and your eyes on the door. Hey, this is America and God only knows who is coming through it next and how heavily armed and bat shit crazy they will be.



10-2-17 


Thursday, September 28, 2017

Paul Horner: Humor Morphs Into Fake News Thanks to Don Trump and His Fans

His followers (Donald Trump's) don't fact check anything--they'll post everything, believe anything.

The late Paul Horner during an interview with The Washington Post



Paul Horner knew what he was talking about. That's because a lot of the crazed nonsense Donald Trump's fans were re-posting on places like Facebook--convinced they were spreading the terrible truth about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton--was shit he'd made up in order to prove them utter dunces.

They didn't let him down and appallingly, hordes of right wing wankers took his twisted satire as gospel, then went out and voted.  

Yes, the last and biggest joke was on him and the rest of us. In the same interview he regretted what he'd done and a prior claim, he'd made that he was the reason Don Trump ended up in the White House.

While even Horner recognized what he said was a bit overblown--hey, let's give Vlad's boy's some credit--no one can deny his scams were a little too sophisticated for our collective good. This despite their content, even on the surface, being so sick and bizarre no one, but the most demented inmates of state run asylums should have believed them.

He had been the lead writer for the site, "National Report." While there, using a pseudonym, he wrote things like, the anonymous British avant-garde street artist, Banksy had been popped for a DUI and his true identity had been revealed as one, Paul Horner. He also reported a man named Paul Horner had become the recipient of the world's first head transplant. 

As funny these sort of things were they remained far too outre for the loons who inhabit the Trump crowd. He found his political stride when he wrote a piece saying then Arizona governor Jan Brewer was implementing a mandatory program in state schools, grades kindergarten through 12, which would encourage students to become gay. The word spread among the local yokels and their outrage was so intense, Brewer was forced to go on TV in order to deny she had proposed anything of the kind. 

Seizing on his success, he wrote a piece which claimed that during the 2013 government shutdown, Barack Obama had personally funded an Islamic museum so it could stay open. Fox News reported the joke as true.

Another story concerned a former secret service agent named, yes, Paul Horner who had written a book that revealed Obama was not just gay, but a gay Islamic extremist. Right wing trolls pounced and spread the word over social media. This despite news videos showing ISIS troops throwing gay men from the roofs of buildings because they were, well, gay. 

Yes, the line was beginning to blur and Horner didn't let up. According to Wikipedia he left the "National Report," and started up the, "National Examiner." More darkly he established web sites with the names, "cnn.com.de, cbsnews.com.co, nbc.com.co, and abcnews.com.co," so his news releases would look more authentic.  

By the time the 2016 presidential campaign rolled around the despicable fools running Don Trump's campaign and others who should know better were biting hook, line, and sinker. His fantastical news stories were quoted as real by Trump's momentary campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski and his son, Eric. ABC News and, naturally, Fox did the same. Things went so far, a full month before Don Trump began accusing CNN of broadcasting, "fake news," Horner coined the term during an appearance on Anderson Cooper's show.

His intent, he later told the Post, was, "...to make Trump's supporters look like idiots for sharing my stories." Unfortunately for the nation those people not only don't mind looking like idiots, they revel in it. As Kurt Andersen said on MSNBC the other day, "The difference between truth and lies to Donald Trump and his supporters is irrelevant."

On September 18th Maricopa County sheriff deputies found Paul Horner dead in his suburban Phoenix residence. The general opinion is he od'd on prescription drugs, a habit he'd apparently cultivated for years. 

Or not. His death wasn't reported for over a week. Given the delay there can be little doubt conspiracy theories about his early demise will begin flying soon--be they perpetrated by Horner wannabes, or the actual psychotics who lurk in that murky world.

Which ever the case, before he died Brother Horner learned a lesson those of us who remain should keep in mind. The norm is never underestimate your enemy. However, the norm went out the window as soon as Don Trump glided down that shiny escalator to announce his candidacy.

Indeed, in these chaotic days the rule is never underestimate how stupid and insane your enemy is. The reason is simple. They are everywhere on the internet and, quite literally, they have no sense of humor or, more important, reality.



sic vita est


9-28-17
  

Monday, September 25, 2017

Donald Trump, the NFL, and the NBA

President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name--our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense!

Donald J. Trump on Twitter, October 8, 2013


Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired.'

The very same, Donald J. Trump at an Alabama campaign rally, September 22, 2017



My God, the man does love to start shit. He is either the dumbest fuck on the planet, or, in his own brutish way, the smartest. In nearly seven decades on this blue ball it is hard to think of any American--politician, or otherwise--who creates a seemingly endless stream of public chaos like Don Trump does. Hell, even Dick Nixon had to come up for air sometimes.

So far the NFL owners have stuck by their players during the peaceful and--yes--respectful protests which have taken place during the national anthem in stadiums across the land. No one has been fired, as Trump suggested, although it's worth noting no one has hired, free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the protests last year either.

Indeed, it would be nice to think people like Robert Kraft, who owns the New England franchise, truly believes their employees have the right to freely express their views. However, the real truth is it's a lot easier to be tolerant of a politically and socially aware receiver corps than it is to replace them wholesale.

Let's face facts, the bottom line is you can find scads of people who will stand during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. It's a bit tougher to find someone who can blow by a cornerback and consistently haul in deep out passes from Tom Brady.

Trump doesn't seem to get this simple aspect of competent labor availability. On Sunday he returned to Twitter and posted, "If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag and Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire, or suspend!"

Actually in a couple of places, namely that great seething conservative cauldron known as Los Angeles, fans are staying away from games in droves. Their absence has nothing to do with players kneeling though. They aren't there because the Chargers and Rams are new to town, therefore haven't built any local loyalty and even more importantly, they both stink.

The truth is, thanks in large part to Trump's bellicosity and intolerance, anthem protests are going to continue during the rest of the NFL season. And they're going to spread. Just wait until the NBA takes the court in a couple of weeks. 

The divider in chief has already personally insulted Golden State's Stephen Curry and he didn't do anything, but say his team was undecided about meeting Trump at the White House. The affront to Curry prompted Cleveland star, LeBron James to publicly call The Big Orange Guy a, "bum."

All of which brings us to Oklahoma City, home of the NBA's Thunder and some of the craziest right wing wankers found in America. The first pre season home game is October 6th against New Orleans. It is almost guaranteed a majority of the Thunder players are going to take a knee during the national anthem. When it comes there will be gnashing of teeth, curses, and cases of spiked blood pressure.The threat of cerebral aneurysms among many in attendance will be real.  

Trust me though, despite the anger and because OKC's general manager, Sam Presti added Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to the roster, they will be back.

Hey, in this town and many more,  a real shot at a league championship out weighs a moment, or two of patriotic ire every time.

And as for El Don's current faux displeasure? Well, his base, as always, is happily outraged and no one is talking about the Russians right now are they?  



sic vita est

9-25-17

Friday, September 22, 2017

Enough of Russia and Obamacare, Let's Get Back to North Korea

Enough of this Russian intrigue and the Obamacare soap opera. That stuff is for political dilettantes and weenies. Let's get back to North Korea. After all it isn't every day--at least not until recently--the world is forced to deal with two separate, but equally bat shit crazy wankers who have control of nuclear weapons.

This week, Donald John Trump addressed the UN. His idea of cooling off the increasingly dangerous situation on the Korean peninsula was to tell the general assembly if Kim Jong-un  doesn't stop acting weird the United States will, "...have no choice, but to totally destroy North Korea." He added, "Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime."

Ah, quite the diplomat.

The problem is Kim Jong-un is so nuts he just might think a vast nuclear holocaust would be a great way to go out. In fact one can almost picture him standing on a huge, burning, chemical tank paraphrasing James Cagney in the film "White Heat." Made it, Dad! Top of the world! 

And while El Donald might think huge mushrooms clouds would be a fitting end to Kim, who he called a madman in a Twitter attack yesterday, the current resident of the White House doesn't seem to understand that wars as a whole tend to be messy affairs. They create a lot of spill over, collateral damage, and such.

All of which might include a large portion of the 51,000,000 South Koreans, 10,000,000 of whom live in Seoul which is a mere 35 miles from the North Korean border. They would be same the people we consider our friends, not to mention being the very ones we say we're determined to save.

Kim responded to Trump's words with his own insults. In short order he called The Big Orange Guy, among other things, "a frightened dog and a deranged U.S. dotard. This sent tens of thousands of United States citizens, not into a panic, but rather to their online dictionaries so they could find out what the hell, "dotard," means. (it's a noun meaning an old person, especially one who is weak, or senile.)

None of this school yard bull shit bothers Trump's base, because, quite frankly, they like it when their man acts like a bellicose psychotic. However there are others out there who are starting to sweat. You know, like the professional diplomats and scholars who specialize in studying Kim and the North Korean government.

One of them, Paik Hak-soon of the South Korean Sejong Institute was quoted by the New York Times as saying, "The way North Korea's supreme leadership works, Kim Jong-un has to respond more assertively as its enemy gets more confrontational like Trump has." He added, "There is no backing down in the North Korean rule book. It's the very core of their leadership identity and motive."

According to the Times article most analysts agree that because of Trump's insults and Kim's personal response to them North Korea is now, more likely conduct further nuclear and missile tests. Another expert, Lee Sung-yoon put it this way, "Trump shot himself in the foot with his unabashedly undiplomatic United Nations General Assembly speech. In effect Trump gave Kim Jong-un a freebie for another major provocation. Kim will oblige and claim that it was in self defense against Trump's unnerving threats."

The North Korean foreign minister didn't take long to ham handedly hint just that. The Times reports Ri Yong-ho told the media in New York, that while it's up to Kim, North Korea might conduct the, "biggest ever hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific."

Well, that will certainly calm everyone, Don Trump included, down won't it?

Today a 72 year old North Korean woman named, Ryu Ri Hwa was questioned by a foreign journalist as she stood in front of a giant screen TV in a Pyongyang public square. She told him,  "Trump is a lunatic, lunatic! A lunatic who knows nothing.!"

Honestly, it's hard to argue with that assessment right now.

Of course her observation doesn't mean Ms. Ryu isn't a little funny in the head herself--or immune from the Orwellian allure of her own savage cracked pot. She went on to say, "Now we have nuclear weapons so I am feeling very confident. We can win the war a hundred, a thousand times so long as we have our leader!"

Immediately after she said those words the crowd around her applauded.

Right.

Ladies and gentlemen, given the circumstances, the bar is most definitely open.



9-22-17