The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
The mantra of the NRA, repeated ad nauseam.
Yes, that wild and mad cap bunch known as the National Rifle Association is holding its annual convention this week in Dallas. The organization is estimating around 80,000 gun toting members will be present. In addition, the Vice President and President of these United States will show up on Friday to speak to the throng.
Accompanying them will an unknown number of Secret Service agents who, unlike the attendees, have pledged to protect both gentlemen with their lives.
Since the agency has an acute understanding of security, not to mention vast experience when it comes to protecting the VP and President from would be assassins, they made one thing perfectly clear to the NRA. No one entering the hall before, or during the addresses made by, Mike Pence and Donald Trump will be allowed to carry, firearms, ammunition, gun parts, ammo magazines, knives, drones, signs, or glass containers. That's right, when it comes to guarding the bosses, the Secret Service doesn't fuck around with politics--they go all Wyatt Earp in Dodge City.
The NRA, who backed The Big Orange Guy during the last presidential election to the tune of $30 million, was quick to comply. The act is a complete and unabashed reversal of what the group claims is best for America in general and its school children in particular.
The Washington Post has reported this twisted bit of irony, which appears to come straight out of a Twilight Zone episode, is not lost on some, especially those who have had their lives impacted by mass shootings.
The Post quoted, Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter, Jaime was murdered while she attended class at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He said, "On so many levels this is enlightening. According to the NRA we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something?"
Matt Deitsch, who graduated from Stoneman Douglas the year Trump was elected and now serves as chief strategist for the March For Our Lives protest posted on Twitter, "You're telling me to make the VP (and President) safe there aren't any weapons around, but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere? Can someone explain this to me? Because it sounds like the NRA wants to protect people who help them sell guns, not kids."
Parkland student, Cameron Kasky also took to Twitter, writing, "The NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself."
At least one NRA member also realized the incongruity. On a message board the anonymous poster wrote, "Obviously even republicans and so called leaders don't trust the, 'good guys' I realize it is the VP (and President), but this makes our whole argument look foolish."
Of course, these days making the NRA look foolish isn't that hard to do. However, the unknown author misses the point. It wasn't the republicans, or even the NRA leadership who came down on the we all get to carry a piece crowd. It was the pros who know their odds of guaranteeing the safety of Pence and Trump go straight to hell when everyone in the audience is packing a potential murder weapon.
Indeed, the Secret Service, as opposed to some foul NRA front man like Wayne LaPierre, are career experts in security. They understand perfectly, "the good guy with a gun," chant is just so much gun fetish bullshit.
Tragically, scads and scads of Americans refuse to come to the same conclusion.
Well, hey, who is to argue with a national addiction? At this point it is time to realize all we can do is hope to limit the carnage the best we can.
That's why I'll take a touch of irony as a victory any time. Listen, it beats the alternative--that one we know is coming to another school somewhere in this country far too soon.
sic vita est
4-30-18
Monday, April 30, 2018
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Travis Reinking: Just the Latest Practitioner of The American Way
Sometimes the hallucinations are weird and deadly and come with breathtaking speed. In those terrifying moments it's as if you're dodging AR-15 rounds fired by a half naked lunatic while sitting in some garishly lit Waffle House during the middle of the night.
Oh wait. That really happened.
Well fuck, of course it did. Listen, this is America, by God. We take great pride in the belief any crazed geek with a decent balance on his MasterCard can and should arm himself every bit as well, or better than a Seal Team Six member dropping into the suburbs of Abbottabad.
The latest gruesome beast to do so is, Travis Reinking. The 29 year old, sometime construction worker, showed up around 3:30am Sunday at a Nashville, TN Waffle House. He was clad in nothing but a coat and an AR-15. After getting out of his truck he opened fire in the parking lot, before moving inside, hoping to up the body count. By the time the rampage ended, three African-Americans, and one Hispanic were murdered. He failed to shoot at white customers, despite several opportunities to do so.
At this moment Nashville police say they are still trying to establish Reinking's motive for the attack.
I'm no Holmes of course, but the cops might want to look at that whole, Dylan Roofish, bat shit crazy, virulent racist thing. The suspect has a lengthy history of mental instability. He has also stated he belongs to the, "sovereign citizen," movement. It's members claim all laws, federal, state, and local are null and void and every government ranging from municipal to national are illegal. They are the close political kin to the late and unlamented, Tim McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber and White Supremacists everywhere from Arkansas to Idaho and beyond.
Predictably, the authorities were well aware of Brother Reinking. Last July he tried to hop the fence at the White House in order to have a heart to heart chat with Don Trump. He wasn't armed at the time, however, following a long and sincere interview afterward, the feds were jittery enough about his behavior they asked authorities in Illinois to confiscate the four weapons he owned and revoke his permit to buy more. The state cops did just that, but at some point gave the mini arsenal to the younger Reinking's dad, Jeffrey on the condition he wouldn't let his kid get them back.
Yeah, well that didn't work out so great. Yesterday afternoon, Jeffrey Reinking admitted that sometime either before, or after Travis moved to Tennessee he had indeed returned the firearms to his son, including the AR-15 used in the assault. One can almost hear that conversation. "Look officer, he's basically a good boy, just a little, excitable."
It took police nearly 24 hours to track Reinking down after he fled the scene buck naked. By the time they popped him he had found some clothes somewhere and a backpack which held a .45 hand gun in it. Reports say he surrendered without a fight and--despite his anti establishment beliefs--immediately lawyered up.
Yes, crazy isn't necessarily stupid.
Bond was initially set at $2,000,000. As soon the public learned this insane son of a bitch could get bonded out it went wild with fear and rage. A second judge revoked the bail in favor of remand and everyone in Music City breathed a sigh of relief.
The only good news to come out this most recent nightmare is 29 year old James Shaw. He thoroughly disproved the incessant NRA mantra which says, "The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." The unarmed, Shaw sent Reinking fleeing naked into the night when, during a pause in the carnage, he grabbed the red hot barrel of the weapon, snatched the rifle away from the shooter, then threw it out of reach.
Now the bad news. There isn't a living American soul who doesn't know it's just a matter of time before another sick twist gets his hands on a military grade weapon and opts for a target chock full of innocent people. We also know that absolutely no one, other than extraordinarily brave people like James Shaw, are going to stop it.
Hey, it is, after all, The American Way.
sic vita est
4-24-18
Oh wait. That really happened.
Well fuck, of course it did. Listen, this is America, by God. We take great pride in the belief any crazed geek with a decent balance on his MasterCard can and should arm himself every bit as well, or better than a Seal Team Six member dropping into the suburbs of Abbottabad.
The latest gruesome beast to do so is, Travis Reinking. The 29 year old, sometime construction worker, showed up around 3:30am Sunday at a Nashville, TN Waffle House. He was clad in nothing but a coat and an AR-15. After getting out of his truck he opened fire in the parking lot, before moving inside, hoping to up the body count. By the time the rampage ended, three African-Americans, and one Hispanic were murdered. He failed to shoot at white customers, despite several opportunities to do so.
At this moment Nashville police say they are still trying to establish Reinking's motive for the attack.
I'm no Holmes of course, but the cops might want to look at that whole, Dylan Roofish, bat shit crazy, virulent racist thing. The suspect has a lengthy history of mental instability. He has also stated he belongs to the, "sovereign citizen," movement. It's members claim all laws, federal, state, and local are null and void and every government ranging from municipal to national are illegal. They are the close political kin to the late and unlamented, Tim McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber and White Supremacists everywhere from Arkansas to Idaho and beyond.
Predictably, the authorities were well aware of Brother Reinking. Last July he tried to hop the fence at the White House in order to have a heart to heart chat with Don Trump. He wasn't armed at the time, however, following a long and sincere interview afterward, the feds were jittery enough about his behavior they asked authorities in Illinois to confiscate the four weapons he owned and revoke his permit to buy more. The state cops did just that, but at some point gave the mini arsenal to the younger Reinking's dad, Jeffrey on the condition he wouldn't let his kid get them back.
Yeah, well that didn't work out so great. Yesterday afternoon, Jeffrey Reinking admitted that sometime either before, or after Travis moved to Tennessee he had indeed returned the firearms to his son, including the AR-15 used in the assault. One can almost hear that conversation. "Look officer, he's basically a good boy, just a little, excitable."
It took police nearly 24 hours to track Reinking down after he fled the scene buck naked. By the time they popped him he had found some clothes somewhere and a backpack which held a .45 hand gun in it. Reports say he surrendered without a fight and--despite his anti establishment beliefs--immediately lawyered up.
Yes, crazy isn't necessarily stupid.
Bond was initially set at $2,000,000. As soon the public learned this insane son of a bitch could get bonded out it went wild with fear and rage. A second judge revoked the bail in favor of remand and everyone in Music City breathed a sigh of relief.
The only good news to come out this most recent nightmare is 29 year old James Shaw. He thoroughly disproved the incessant NRA mantra which says, "The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." The unarmed, Shaw sent Reinking fleeing naked into the night when, during a pause in the carnage, he grabbed the red hot barrel of the weapon, snatched the rifle away from the shooter, then threw it out of reach.
Now the bad news. There isn't a living American soul who doesn't know it's just a matter of time before another sick twist gets his hands on a military grade weapon and opts for a target chock full of innocent people. We also know that absolutely no one, other than extraordinarily brave people like James Shaw, are going to stop it.
Hey, it is, after all, The American Way.
sic vita est
4-24-18
Saturday, April 21, 2018
In the Age of National Divisiveness Jarrar and Stone Come Together Not to Praise Barbara Bush
Every so often the savage rhetoric expressed at the far ends of the American political spectrum dovetail together. In those moments they morph into some weird mutated monster like those usually reserved for publishing houses such as Marvel Comics. Indeed, on the rare occasions when the ire of both the right and left become focused on the same event, or individual the ugliness, no matter what the source, is revealed to be so similar it is, for all practical purposes, identical.
You see a tad of this phenomena with former FBI Director James Comey. The President of the United States and his wild eyed rubes go into frothing fits every time they hear his name. Simultaneously there are plenty of those on the progressive side of things, myself included, who have no use, or sympathy for the fucker. Let's face it, from our perspective Comey handed, Donald J. Trump the White House in 2016. Yes, some of us find it sweet irony he is now loathed by the very son of a bitch who profited most by the FBI's suspiciously timed on and off again investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.
Which brings us to this afternoon and the day of Barbara Bush's funeral.
I freely admit I didn't like her husband's politics, or policies and that I celebrated to crazed excess after Wild Bill Clinton handed him his head in the 1992 election. I didn't like her oldest kid either. Honestly, I considered him an idiot completely over matched by the office and utterly controlled by an amoral gang of war mongers and profiteers, chief of whom was Dick Cheney.
That doesn't mean I disliked, or liked Barbara Bush. She didn't make, or execute policy and her presence in the White House, or later in her role as the mother of a president, didn't push the nation into a massive recession, or to the brink of a second great depression. Those were the sins of George Herbert Walker Bush and later, George W. the younger.
It also doesn't mean I will disparage her life and marriage to a guy she obviously adored--hey, when you stay wedded to the same person for 70 plus years love does have something to do with it. Think not? Quick, rattle off a list of names which immediately come to mind when you think of that sort of marriage longevity. Listen, when you're as old as I am staying power counts for something.
Besides, I never celebrate the death of any person, good, or evil. Even when Seal Team Six took out bin Laden my only emotion that night was the grim satisfaction he knew it was Americans kicking in his bedroom door. The only exception to the rule was when Tim McVeigh got the hot shot from the Feds after he blew apart 168 bureaucrats and innocent babies in Oklahoma City on an April morning 23 years ago. Even then there was no urge to dance in the street, or pop the cork on a bottle of champagne.
However, much to the detriment of common decency, people like Fresno State professor, Randa Jarrar, and Don Trump operative, Roger Stone are not encumbered by such restraint.
After she heard of Mrs. Bush's passing, Jarrar went into a tweet storm. Among other things she posted, "Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. I'm happy the witch is dead. Can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have. byyyeeeeee."
When faced with the inevitable backlash she accused her critics of being racist. (Ms. Jarrar says she is a Muslim Arab-American.) Then, after bragging she was tenured and therefore could never be fired, she posted a phone number which she claimed was hers. It wasn't. The number was a suicide hot line at Arizona St. University. The crisis center was quickly overwhelmed by a surge of angry calls which, as you can guess, had nothing to do with actual mental health calamities. Additional operators had to be brought in so people with real issues wouldn't be stuck on hold for lengthy periods, or receive a busy signal.
Man, that was one witty practical joke.
Presumably on the far side of the moon from Ms. Jarrar is Trump confidant, Roger Stone. He had been invited to speak to those highly influential Okaloosa (FL) county republicans on what is known to true believers as Lincoln-Reagan Day. That was before he publicly called Mrs. Bush, "a nasty drunk." Then added, "She drank so much booze, if they cremated her, her body would burn for three days."
According to the Okaloosa executive committee chair, Mark Franks, after they read Stone's screed, the committee immediately, "ended our contact with Mr. Stone." Franks went on to say, "It's tough to lose a speaker when you're three weeks out, but this is what I felt needed to be done out of respect for Barbara Bush. I thought he'd be entertaining, but for me this went over the line."
Who knew 21st century republicans had a line any more? Well, you learn something every day.
Be that as it may, Brother Stone had a different take on things. He quickly responded with, "I cancelled my appearance as the sponsors wanted to censor my public comments which is unacceptable." The Hill quoted him as saying in an email, "The day an officious country club republican in Ft. Walton Beach tells me what I can and cannot say is the day that hell freezes over." He went on to write, "...most Americans, most republicans HATE the Bushes."
While a lot of us are out of the loop on things such as Roger Stone's country club membership we certainly know his pal, Donald Trump belongs to a few. However, we shouldn't get into too many incongruities since they tend to muddle the focus of such fierce, although blatantly, faux populism.
So what we have here is a professor of creative writing at a California university--one of those arrogant academic types who working class progressives such as myself sneer at over a bottle of beer--and a fascist ass hole who pretends to speak for people he actually despises.
Neither have any sort of compassion and, as proven by their recent statements, both are suspect when it comes to their inclusion in the human species.
But hey, even in this age of national divisiveness, at least they agree on something.
sic vita est
4-21-18
You see a tad of this phenomena with former FBI Director James Comey. The President of the United States and his wild eyed rubes go into frothing fits every time they hear his name. Simultaneously there are plenty of those on the progressive side of things, myself included, who have no use, or sympathy for the fucker. Let's face it, from our perspective Comey handed, Donald J. Trump the White House in 2016. Yes, some of us find it sweet irony he is now loathed by the very son of a bitch who profited most by the FBI's suspiciously timed on and off again investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.
Which brings us to this afternoon and the day of Barbara Bush's funeral.
I freely admit I didn't like her husband's politics, or policies and that I celebrated to crazed excess after Wild Bill Clinton handed him his head in the 1992 election. I didn't like her oldest kid either. Honestly, I considered him an idiot completely over matched by the office and utterly controlled by an amoral gang of war mongers and profiteers, chief of whom was Dick Cheney.
That doesn't mean I disliked, or liked Barbara Bush. She didn't make, or execute policy and her presence in the White House, or later in her role as the mother of a president, didn't push the nation into a massive recession, or to the brink of a second great depression. Those were the sins of George Herbert Walker Bush and later, George W. the younger.
It also doesn't mean I will disparage her life and marriage to a guy she obviously adored--hey, when you stay wedded to the same person for 70 plus years love does have something to do with it. Think not? Quick, rattle off a list of names which immediately come to mind when you think of that sort of marriage longevity. Listen, when you're as old as I am staying power counts for something.
Besides, I never celebrate the death of any person, good, or evil. Even when Seal Team Six took out bin Laden my only emotion that night was the grim satisfaction he knew it was Americans kicking in his bedroom door. The only exception to the rule was when Tim McVeigh got the hot shot from the Feds after he blew apart 168 bureaucrats and innocent babies in Oklahoma City on an April morning 23 years ago. Even then there was no urge to dance in the street, or pop the cork on a bottle of champagne.
However, much to the detriment of common decency, people like Fresno State professor, Randa Jarrar, and Don Trump operative, Roger Stone are not encumbered by such restraint.
After she heard of Mrs. Bush's passing, Jarrar went into a tweet storm. Among other things she posted, "Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. I'm happy the witch is dead. Can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have. byyyeeeeee."
When faced with the inevitable backlash she accused her critics of being racist. (Ms. Jarrar says she is a Muslim Arab-American.) Then, after bragging she was tenured and therefore could never be fired, she posted a phone number which she claimed was hers. It wasn't. The number was a suicide hot line at Arizona St. University. The crisis center was quickly overwhelmed by a surge of angry calls which, as you can guess, had nothing to do with actual mental health calamities. Additional operators had to be brought in so people with real issues wouldn't be stuck on hold for lengthy periods, or receive a busy signal.
Man, that was one witty practical joke.
Presumably on the far side of the moon from Ms. Jarrar is Trump confidant, Roger Stone. He had been invited to speak to those highly influential Okaloosa (FL) county republicans on what is known to true believers as Lincoln-Reagan Day. That was before he publicly called Mrs. Bush, "a nasty drunk." Then added, "She drank so much booze, if they cremated her, her body would burn for three days."
According to the Okaloosa executive committee chair, Mark Franks, after they read Stone's screed, the committee immediately, "ended our contact with Mr. Stone." Franks went on to say, "It's tough to lose a speaker when you're three weeks out, but this is what I felt needed to be done out of respect for Barbara Bush. I thought he'd be entertaining, but for me this went over the line."
Who knew 21st century republicans had a line any more? Well, you learn something every day.
Be that as it may, Brother Stone had a different take on things. He quickly responded with, "I cancelled my appearance as the sponsors wanted to censor my public comments which is unacceptable." The Hill quoted him as saying in an email, "The day an officious country club republican in Ft. Walton Beach tells me what I can and cannot say is the day that hell freezes over." He went on to write, "...most Americans, most republicans HATE the Bushes."
While a lot of us are out of the loop on things such as Roger Stone's country club membership we certainly know his pal, Donald Trump belongs to a few. However, we shouldn't get into too many incongruities since they tend to muddle the focus of such fierce, although blatantly, faux populism.
So what we have here is a professor of creative writing at a California university--one of those arrogant academic types who working class progressives such as myself sneer at over a bottle of beer--and a fascist ass hole who pretends to speak for people he actually despises.
Neither have any sort of compassion and, as proven by their recent statements, both are suspect when it comes to their inclusion in the human species.
But hey, even in this age of national divisiveness, at least they agree on something.
sic vita est
4-21-18
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
The Ten Dollar Retainer: Mike Cohen's Third Client Goes Into a Song and Dance Routine
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Thursday, April 12, 2018
The $30,000 Untold Tale of Dino Sajudin: The National Enquirer Ponies Up to Protect Donald Trump
David Pecker is a big fan of Donald J. Trump. Normally that would be no big deal because, as we've learned, there are plenty of trailer park Nazis out there who love the guy. The major difference is Pecker isn't some run of the mill truck driver, or plumber convinced the Mexicans are coming for his job. He runs America Media Inc.
The flagship of AMI's publishing empire is the National Enquirer, a tabloid most notable for its point of sale positioning in practically every grocery store in the land and its lurid and many times suspect headlines and stories. You know, like the one which ran during the 2016 presidential campaign telling readers, Hillary Rodham Clinton was taking a witch's brew of narcotics not just to sustain her during the race, but to literally survive from one day to the next.
The Enquirer's sources for such breaking news are murky and many times steeped in hearsay. They are also almost always uncorroborated in any true journalistic sense. In addition these sources are usually paid in cash after the story is published in order to keep them on the hook before it appears.
Hey, it is tough to track down a couple of actual witness who will testify Mrs. Clinton is, "a secret sex freak," as the Enquirer once reported. After all, if people blabbed about something like that to reporters it wouldn't be much of a secret would it? However, if you don't mind using a source who heard from a friend his, or her cousin once had drinks with someone who admitted to having participated in a back room lesbian orgy, then what the hell, America has the right to know doesn't it?
All of which brings us to one, Dino Sajudin. The AP reported today that Mr. Sajudin once held the information sensitive position of doorman at one of Don Trump's buildings. Before the 2016 presidential campaign began he called the Enquirer's tip line with the hot news that he had heard El Donald had an affair with one of the building's employees and fathered a child with her.
The AP writes the Enquirer strapped him into a polygraph machine and Sajudin was able to pass the test when questioned about, not the veracity of the story, but who he'd heard the rumor from. Enquirer senior editor, Dylan Howard. almost immediately cut the former doorman a check for $30,000 and had him sign a contract giving the publication exclusive rights to his information in perpetuity. There was also a clause which said if Sajudin told anyone else his salacious tale he would have to pay AMI $1,000,000.
The story died right there. Howard, claimed it was killed because it couldn't be verified and therefore didn't meet the Enquirer's suddenly rigorous investigative standards. Former employees claim the reality is no one even followed up on the gossip. In other words, these employees said there was never an attempt to investigate, or verify what our man Dino told them.
Their assertion was AMI had made what is known as a, "catch and kill," payment. In short the company paid Sajudin the $30 grand in order to bury the rumor before he took it to someone with even less scruples. The AP noted the former employees stated "catch and kill," is normally used by the Enquirer either as a favor to the person who is subject of the tip, or as leverage to get information out of him, or her at a later date--an act which some of us might describe as blackmail. Additionally the same employees told the AP that during the campaign, when it came to articles disparaging Trump's political foes, reporters didn't have to verify didly squat before the Enquirer would run them.
Ah yes, high standards indeed.
A few months after Sajudin approached the Enquirer, AMI used a variation of, "catch and kill," when it hired former Playboy Playmate, Karen McDougal. Ms. McDougal was claiming she had an affair with Trump. AMI gave her a job as a columnist for a fitness magazine it owned, paying her $150,000. Once she took the cash she became an employee and was bound by contract to keep her mouth shut about the affair. After running only a couple of her columns she was left sitting at a desk with nothing to do. Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, her story broke days before the election, but by then things were circling the drain for Clinton.
Dino Sajudin, on the other hand, was released from his contract after the election when it was assured his bull shit story couldn't do any harm.
Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, admits he spoke to Enquirer employees about both McDougal and Sajudin in his capacity as a Trump representative. Despite the meetings Cohen insists he neither encouraged or knew of the pay offs made by AMI amounting to $180,000.
Right. Just like he gave Stormy Daniels $130,000 of his own cash without the knowledge of his client.
Now we have a hint why the FBI was kicking in the doors of Cohen's hotel room, home, and office the other day. Let's face it, when $310,000 is paid to three different people so they won't squeal about a presidential candidate's sordid sex life--real, or fantasized--it tends to look like you've broken a few federal campaign laws.
Beyond Cohen's possible felonies, it is becoming increasingly obvious the results of the past presidential election were deeply influenced by media such as FOX News and AMI who served as mouthpieces for the Trump campaign, not just eviscerating Hillary Clinton on a daily basis, but by shamelessly covering up their man's grievous sins. That's in addition to Cambridge Analytica dissecting the psyches of Facebook users then selling the results to people like Steve Bannon. It's also before we get to Mark Zuckerberg's indifference to the outrageous lies being plastered throughout his site by the fucking Russians even as their bots infested Twitter like a swarm of plague carrying fleas.
Given this monstrous shit is it any wonder Trump won? No there isn't. In fact, after looking at these revelations, the only question right now is how Mrs. Clinton kept it as close as she did.
sic vita est
4-12-18
The flagship of AMI's publishing empire is the National Enquirer, a tabloid most notable for its point of sale positioning in practically every grocery store in the land and its lurid and many times suspect headlines and stories. You know, like the one which ran during the 2016 presidential campaign telling readers, Hillary Rodham Clinton was taking a witch's brew of narcotics not just to sustain her during the race, but to literally survive from one day to the next.
The Enquirer's sources for such breaking news are murky and many times steeped in hearsay. They are also almost always uncorroborated in any true journalistic sense. In addition these sources are usually paid in cash after the story is published in order to keep them on the hook before it appears.
Hey, it is tough to track down a couple of actual witness who will testify Mrs. Clinton is, "a secret sex freak," as the Enquirer once reported. After all, if people blabbed about something like that to reporters it wouldn't be much of a secret would it? However, if you don't mind using a source who heard from a friend his, or her cousin once had drinks with someone who admitted to having participated in a back room lesbian orgy, then what the hell, America has the right to know doesn't it?
All of which brings us to one, Dino Sajudin. The AP reported today that Mr. Sajudin once held the information sensitive position of doorman at one of Don Trump's buildings. Before the 2016 presidential campaign began he called the Enquirer's tip line with the hot news that he had heard El Donald had an affair with one of the building's employees and fathered a child with her.
The AP writes the Enquirer strapped him into a polygraph machine and Sajudin was able to pass the test when questioned about, not the veracity of the story, but who he'd heard the rumor from. Enquirer senior editor, Dylan Howard. almost immediately cut the former doorman a check for $30,000 and had him sign a contract giving the publication exclusive rights to his information in perpetuity. There was also a clause which said if Sajudin told anyone else his salacious tale he would have to pay AMI $1,000,000.
The story died right there. Howard, claimed it was killed because it couldn't be verified and therefore didn't meet the Enquirer's suddenly rigorous investigative standards. Former employees claim the reality is no one even followed up on the gossip. In other words, these employees said there was never an attempt to investigate, or verify what our man Dino told them.
Their assertion was AMI had made what is known as a, "catch and kill," payment. In short the company paid Sajudin the $30 grand in order to bury the rumor before he took it to someone with even less scruples. The AP noted the former employees stated "catch and kill," is normally used by the Enquirer either as a favor to the person who is subject of the tip, or as leverage to get information out of him, or her at a later date--an act which some of us might describe as blackmail. Additionally the same employees told the AP that during the campaign, when it came to articles disparaging Trump's political foes, reporters didn't have to verify didly squat before the Enquirer would run them.
Ah yes, high standards indeed.
A few months after Sajudin approached the Enquirer, AMI used a variation of, "catch and kill," when it hired former Playboy Playmate, Karen McDougal. Ms. McDougal was claiming she had an affair with Trump. AMI gave her a job as a columnist for a fitness magazine it owned, paying her $150,000. Once she took the cash she became an employee and was bound by contract to keep her mouth shut about the affair. After running only a couple of her columns she was left sitting at a desk with nothing to do. Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, her story broke days before the election, but by then things were circling the drain for Clinton.
Dino Sajudin, on the other hand, was released from his contract after the election when it was assured his bull shit story couldn't do any harm.
Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, admits he spoke to Enquirer employees about both McDougal and Sajudin in his capacity as a Trump representative. Despite the meetings Cohen insists he neither encouraged or knew of the pay offs made by AMI amounting to $180,000.
Right. Just like he gave Stormy Daniels $130,000 of his own cash without the knowledge of his client.
Now we have a hint why the FBI was kicking in the doors of Cohen's hotel room, home, and office the other day. Let's face it, when $310,000 is paid to three different people so they won't squeal about a presidential candidate's sordid sex life--real, or fantasized--it tends to look like you've broken a few federal campaign laws.
Beyond Cohen's possible felonies, it is becoming increasingly obvious the results of the past presidential election were deeply influenced by media such as FOX News and AMI who served as mouthpieces for the Trump campaign, not just eviscerating Hillary Clinton on a daily basis, but by shamelessly covering up their man's grievous sins. That's in addition to Cambridge Analytica dissecting the psyches of Facebook users then selling the results to people like Steve Bannon. It's also before we get to Mark Zuckerberg's indifference to the outrageous lies being plastered throughout his site by the fucking Russians even as their bots infested Twitter like a swarm of plague carrying fleas.
Given this monstrous shit is it any wonder Trump won? No there isn't. In fact, after looking at these revelations, the only question right now is how Mrs. Clinton kept it as close as she did.
sic vita est
4-12-18
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Viva la Revolucion! The Great Oklahoma Teacher Rebellion is Still On
On Monday, April 2nd, tens of thousands of Oklahoma teachers shut down virtually the entire public school system across the state when they showed up en masse at the capitol complex. Their grievances were both numerous and profound.
The teachers, among the lowest paid in America, had gone for a decade without an across the board pay increase. During the same time frame they watched as general funding for Oklahoma's public schools had been gnawed away at by an unending procession of GOP controlled legislatures eager to give tax breaks to every corporate fat cat with an oil lease, or wind farm.
Beginning in January, as state educators started to make ominous noises about taking action, the current gaggle of right wing wankers in both state houses, on a seemingly daily basis, rejected pay raise after pay raise and every school funding bill proposed. In March, Oklahoma's teachers, partly inspired by a successful walk out in West Virginia, finally issued an ultimatum. Get something done by April 2nd, or we will take action.
As the deadline approached many in the legislature foamed at the mouth and whirled like dervishes. The teacher's demands were, by Oklahoma standards, breathtaking. They wanted a $10 grand raise spread out over two, or three years. They also wanted more money for school support staffs and other state employees. Then came the kicker--they wanted every bit of that cash stolen from public education over the past ten years put back in the budget.
They were then and now up against a bunch of tea party/alt right extremists who consider everyone to the left of Sean, by God, Hannity a communist son of a bitch.
Well, no one said it would be easy and we could digress at this point into a discussion of how these vile clods actually hate public education and want Oklahoma to be nearly dead last when it comes to teacher's pay and per student expenditure, but that debate is for another day.
Luckily, sometimes fear motivates even the most recalcitrant ideologues. Within a few days of being confronted by the faculties of nearly every public school in the state the legislature passed a bill which gave teachers a $6,100 raise right away. Okay, but since the pay increase was tied to a funding measure which would return a mere 10% of the previously slashed funds to state schools and its students, the act translated into a sneering bribe slipped to a door man at a cheap jack night club.
The teachers certainly considered it as such and the walk out was on for last Monday. Later in the week republican Governor, Mary Fallin would tell the local media she had expected the teachers to show up, thank her and the legislature for the, "historic raise," then go back to their jobs. It is unclear what drugs the Governor was on when she came to that conclusion.
On the 2nd of April it is estimated 30,000 rowdy educators stormed the capitol grounds and building. They were in no mood to grovel. Within 24 hours the support staffs of the schools, who had been ignored in the initial bill, were given a $1,200 raise.
Then, as the actor Mac Brown once said in a movie, came the weird part. On Thursday Fallin was quoted in the OKC daily paper she hoped, "reasonable heads would come together..." That would be a day after she told CBS News Oklahoma teachers were like spoiled teenagers who were complaining their new car wasn't fancy enough. It would also be immediately after GOP representative Kevin McDugle went on social media to claim the teacher's ingratitude and conduct was so outrageous and felonious it threatened the future behavior of the state's youth. He added he'd never vote for another bill funding education. A second legislator told the protesters if they didn't like what had been done for them they should find another career because, "There are plenty of new college graduates out there willing to take your jobs."
Ah yes, quite reasonable.
McDugle later issued an apology of sorts. He said his original post was made in, "the heat of the moment." He went on to blame, "outside groups from California and Chicago," for all of the criminal misbehavior he had witnessed. Then he began a rant which claimed numerous legislators and their aides had received death threats. A day after TV news sources noted three different law enforcement agencies said they hadn't received any reports of death threats, they suddenly got four. To this moment none of the threats have been verified and no one has identified any outside group trying to provoke violence, or vandalism.
Yes, it had come to that and more. Around the same time another legislator claimed many in the crowd were not actually teachers, but, "paid actors." A fourth said the teachers themselves and their protests were being controlled and subverted by, "outside socialist groups."
Yesterday, OKC's daily paper, The Oklahoman--a republican news letter which on the side publishes a sports page and obituaries--lectured the teachers for not protesting at their local school boards. The op-ed piece claimed the real problem with public education lay with them, not the legislature. Then today, without mentioning, the unconfirmed rumors of death threats, vandalism, or accusations of paid actors and run amok socialists, the paper accused teachers of fomenting, "conspiracy theories." on social media in order to portray themselves as, "victims."
Yesterday, the legislature passed two bills which would add somewhere around $50 million to education funding. However, they also passed a third measure, no doubt hoping celebrating educators wouldn't notice. It repeals a hotel and motel tax hike which was part of the original pay increase package. The act, if not vetoed by Fallin, will cost public education just about--you guessed it--$50 million.
The teachers weren't buying into that crude shell game. The head of the Oklahoma Education Association issued a statement saying two things needed to happen for the walk out to end. One: Governor Fallin must veto the hotel/motel tax repeal. Two: Oklahoma has to get rid of its capital gains tax exemption, something the legislature has refused to even consider.
A poll taken Thursday shows 72% of Oklahomans support the walk out. Educators from across the state emboldened by those numbers left the capitol building yesterday chanting over and over again, "See you Monday."
Yes, much to the chagrin of the Governor and her tea party cronies, the rebellion is still on.
Give 'em Hell, Miss Brooks.
Viva la revolucion!
.
4-7-18
The teachers, among the lowest paid in America, had gone for a decade without an across the board pay increase. During the same time frame they watched as general funding for Oklahoma's public schools had been gnawed away at by an unending procession of GOP controlled legislatures eager to give tax breaks to every corporate fat cat with an oil lease, or wind farm.
Beginning in January, as state educators started to make ominous noises about taking action, the current gaggle of right wing wankers in both state houses, on a seemingly daily basis, rejected pay raise after pay raise and every school funding bill proposed. In March, Oklahoma's teachers, partly inspired by a successful walk out in West Virginia, finally issued an ultimatum. Get something done by April 2nd, or we will take action.
As the deadline approached many in the legislature foamed at the mouth and whirled like dervishes. The teacher's demands were, by Oklahoma standards, breathtaking. They wanted a $10 grand raise spread out over two, or three years. They also wanted more money for school support staffs and other state employees. Then came the kicker--they wanted every bit of that cash stolen from public education over the past ten years put back in the budget.
They were then and now up against a bunch of tea party/alt right extremists who consider everyone to the left of Sean, by God, Hannity a communist son of a bitch.
Well, no one said it would be easy and we could digress at this point into a discussion of how these vile clods actually hate public education and want Oklahoma to be nearly dead last when it comes to teacher's pay and per student expenditure, but that debate is for another day.
Luckily, sometimes fear motivates even the most recalcitrant ideologues. Within a few days of being confronted by the faculties of nearly every public school in the state the legislature passed a bill which gave teachers a $6,100 raise right away. Okay, but since the pay increase was tied to a funding measure which would return a mere 10% of the previously slashed funds to state schools and its students, the act translated into a sneering bribe slipped to a door man at a cheap jack night club.
The teachers certainly considered it as such and the walk out was on for last Monday. Later in the week republican Governor, Mary Fallin would tell the local media she had expected the teachers to show up, thank her and the legislature for the, "historic raise," then go back to their jobs. It is unclear what drugs the Governor was on when she came to that conclusion.
On the 2nd of April it is estimated 30,000 rowdy educators stormed the capitol grounds and building. They were in no mood to grovel. Within 24 hours the support staffs of the schools, who had been ignored in the initial bill, were given a $1,200 raise.
Then, as the actor Mac Brown once said in a movie, came the weird part. On Thursday Fallin was quoted in the OKC daily paper she hoped, "reasonable heads would come together..." That would be a day after she told CBS News Oklahoma teachers were like spoiled teenagers who were complaining their new car wasn't fancy enough. It would also be immediately after GOP representative Kevin McDugle went on social media to claim the teacher's ingratitude and conduct was so outrageous and felonious it threatened the future behavior of the state's youth. He added he'd never vote for another bill funding education. A second legislator told the protesters if they didn't like what had been done for them they should find another career because, "There are plenty of new college graduates out there willing to take your jobs."
Ah yes, quite reasonable.
McDugle later issued an apology of sorts. He said his original post was made in, "the heat of the moment." He went on to blame, "outside groups from California and Chicago," for all of the criminal misbehavior he had witnessed. Then he began a rant which claimed numerous legislators and their aides had received death threats. A day after TV news sources noted three different law enforcement agencies said they hadn't received any reports of death threats, they suddenly got four. To this moment none of the threats have been verified and no one has identified any outside group trying to provoke violence, or vandalism.
Yes, it had come to that and more. Around the same time another legislator claimed many in the crowd were not actually teachers, but, "paid actors." A fourth said the teachers themselves and their protests were being controlled and subverted by, "outside socialist groups."
Yesterday, OKC's daily paper, The Oklahoman--a republican news letter which on the side publishes a sports page and obituaries--lectured the teachers for not protesting at their local school boards. The op-ed piece claimed the real problem with public education lay with them, not the legislature. Then today, without mentioning, the unconfirmed rumors of death threats, vandalism, or accusations of paid actors and run amok socialists, the paper accused teachers of fomenting, "conspiracy theories." on social media in order to portray themselves as, "victims."
Yesterday, the legislature passed two bills which would add somewhere around $50 million to education funding. However, they also passed a third measure, no doubt hoping celebrating educators wouldn't notice. It repeals a hotel and motel tax hike which was part of the original pay increase package. The act, if not vetoed by Fallin, will cost public education just about--you guessed it--$50 million.
The teachers weren't buying into that crude shell game. The head of the Oklahoma Education Association issued a statement saying two things needed to happen for the walk out to end. One: Governor Fallin must veto the hotel/motel tax repeal. Two: Oklahoma has to get rid of its capital gains tax exemption, something the legislature has refused to even consider.
A poll taken Thursday shows 72% of Oklahomans support the walk out. Educators from across the state emboldened by those numbers left the capitol building yesterday chanting over and over again, "See you Monday."
Yes, much to the chagrin of the Governor and her tea party cronies, the rebellion is still on.
Give 'em Hell, Miss Brooks.
Viva la revolucion!
.
4-7-18
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Here is to the Oklahoma Teachers in the Streets
Decades ago I was talking to a friend who had recently moved here from Illinois. She made this observation about Oklahoma politics and politicians. "Your democrats are republicans and your republicans are like no one I've ever seen before."
Unfortunately now days far too many people nationwide have become acquainted with the far right edge of the republican party. It has gotten to the point any more, unless you're a raving born again Christian, have a bizarre gun fetish, or embrace outright fascist xenophobia, the party of Teddy Roosevelt won't let you in, much less vote for you. Indeed, only the ideologically pure of heart need apply. All others are forced to wear bells around their necks and wander the wilderness proclaiming themselves, "Unclean!"
Down here on the southern plains these tea party/MAGA types have had a death grip on the legislature for what seems like forever. They tend to loathe government in general and many of the people they are supposed to serve. In order to impede the functions and services of that government they do weird shit. Like a number of years ago when they passed a measure which makes it impossible to raise taxes unless 75% of the legislature votes in favor of it. In most places this is known as minority rule.
All of which brings us to public education, another area which cranks up the hyper-religious and tea party juices of your average Oklahoma law maker. Most of them consider public education just another extension of the dreaded, Big Government.
Well that and it teaches kids stuff like science and history rather than Christian fundamentalism and myths as fanciful as any spun by Homer, Uncle Remus, or even, Donald John Trump.
In order to spare us from the evil of what they consider debatable theories and fake facts disseminated in public schools, the state legislature, over the last 10 years or so, has cut funding for education and allowed teacher salaries to stagnate. One of the immediate benefits of the harsh conditions imposed upon students and educators is it allowed the republican majority to give huge tax breaks to the people who, among other things, control the fossil fuel and wind energy companies. The idea was these lucky recipients of the state's largesse would invest mightily in Oklahoma and we'd become some sort of capitalist utopia.
Unfortunately, like the, "right to work," scam passed years ago, this latest conservative trickle down economic fantasy hasn't worked out so well. Oklahoma is still nearly broke and vast numbers live below the poverty level, although we are home to many of the finer customer call centers still located within the republic's borders.
As for education the results have been, at best, bleak. Depending on which chart you look at, teacher's pay in Oklahoma is anywhere from 42nd to 48th in the nation and total state expenditures per student now ranks 47th. At the same time the legislature's pay is 10th highest in the United States while the Governor's salary is 17th.
A little while ago, inspired by educators in West Virginia who went on strike, Oklahoma teachers said enough is enough. For weeks they had watched the legislature kill one pay raise after another thanks to that 75% rule and a cabal of arch conservatives who vote against any tax increase on what they call, principle. That principle includes not pissing off the fat cats running the oil and gas industry who own many of them as surely as they do their fabulous mansions.
Fed up, last month Oklahoma teachers presented the legislature with an ultimatum. Give us a $10 grand raise spread out over a couple of years, replace the cuts in education, plus provide our support staffs and other state employees who have also suffered through a decade without a pay increase more money--or we walk.
The gang down at 23rd St. and Lincoln Blvd blinked--sort of. Faced with a state wide strike they magically came up with $400 million in new money.
However--and there is always a however when it comes to these clowns--while their self described, "historical," legislation, included a $6000 raise for the teachers it didn't do squat for the support staffs, other state employees, or more importantly replace any of the school funding slashed over the past decade. You know, money to pay for things like text books, desks, and school infrastructure. In other words they expected the teachers to sell out the kids and others by taking the money then shutting the fuck up.
Yesterday, despite the raise, educators from across the state walked out. Most of them are still out, because as one said, "I'm teaching at a high school built for 1,200 students that has over 2,000. I have more students in my classes than desks and we're using textbooks that are 20 years old." The tales of teachers spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of their own money to buy supplies for their pupils are too numerous to list.
Quick, name another job which requires you to get a bachelor's degree, then a masters, while expecting you to kick in part of your own salary in order to perform it successfully. Not to mention, possibly taking a bullet from some certifiable lunatic in the middle of a hallway. If there is one it certainly isn't in the Oklahoma house and senate chambers. Or the Governor's office. Or anywhere in that great glass tube in downtown OKC known as the Devon Energy Tower.
Here is to the teachers who had the guts to look the tea party wankers in the eye then take to the streets. And, here is hoping they stay there until they force those assholes to cave into what we all know is not just the future of the state, but what is, quite simply, right.
sic vita est
4-3-18
Unfortunately now days far too many people nationwide have become acquainted with the far right edge of the republican party. It has gotten to the point any more, unless you're a raving born again Christian, have a bizarre gun fetish, or embrace outright fascist xenophobia, the party of Teddy Roosevelt won't let you in, much less vote for you. Indeed, only the ideologically pure of heart need apply. All others are forced to wear bells around their necks and wander the wilderness proclaiming themselves, "Unclean!"
Down here on the southern plains these tea party/MAGA types have had a death grip on the legislature for what seems like forever. They tend to loathe government in general and many of the people they are supposed to serve. In order to impede the functions and services of that government they do weird shit. Like a number of years ago when they passed a measure which makes it impossible to raise taxes unless 75% of the legislature votes in favor of it. In most places this is known as minority rule.
All of which brings us to public education, another area which cranks up the hyper-religious and tea party juices of your average Oklahoma law maker. Most of them consider public education just another extension of the dreaded, Big Government.
Well that and it teaches kids stuff like science and history rather than Christian fundamentalism and myths as fanciful as any spun by Homer, Uncle Remus, or even, Donald John Trump.
In order to spare us from the evil of what they consider debatable theories and fake facts disseminated in public schools, the state legislature, over the last 10 years or so, has cut funding for education and allowed teacher salaries to stagnate. One of the immediate benefits of the harsh conditions imposed upon students and educators is it allowed the republican majority to give huge tax breaks to the people who, among other things, control the fossil fuel and wind energy companies. The idea was these lucky recipients of the state's largesse would invest mightily in Oklahoma and we'd become some sort of capitalist utopia.
Unfortunately, like the, "right to work," scam passed years ago, this latest conservative trickle down economic fantasy hasn't worked out so well. Oklahoma is still nearly broke and vast numbers live below the poverty level, although we are home to many of the finer customer call centers still located within the republic's borders.
As for education the results have been, at best, bleak. Depending on which chart you look at, teacher's pay in Oklahoma is anywhere from 42nd to 48th in the nation and total state expenditures per student now ranks 47th. At the same time the legislature's pay is 10th highest in the United States while the Governor's salary is 17th.
A little while ago, inspired by educators in West Virginia who went on strike, Oklahoma teachers said enough is enough. For weeks they had watched the legislature kill one pay raise after another thanks to that 75% rule and a cabal of arch conservatives who vote against any tax increase on what they call, principle. That principle includes not pissing off the fat cats running the oil and gas industry who own many of them as surely as they do their fabulous mansions.
Fed up, last month Oklahoma teachers presented the legislature with an ultimatum. Give us a $10 grand raise spread out over a couple of years, replace the cuts in education, plus provide our support staffs and other state employees who have also suffered through a decade without a pay increase more money--or we walk.
The gang down at 23rd St. and Lincoln Blvd blinked--sort of. Faced with a state wide strike they magically came up with $400 million in new money.
However--and there is always a however when it comes to these clowns--while their self described, "historical," legislation, included a $6000 raise for the teachers it didn't do squat for the support staffs, other state employees, or more importantly replace any of the school funding slashed over the past decade. You know, money to pay for things like text books, desks, and school infrastructure. In other words they expected the teachers to sell out the kids and others by taking the money then shutting the fuck up.
Yesterday, despite the raise, educators from across the state walked out. Most of them are still out, because as one said, "I'm teaching at a high school built for 1,200 students that has over 2,000. I have more students in my classes than desks and we're using textbooks that are 20 years old." The tales of teachers spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of their own money to buy supplies for their pupils are too numerous to list.
Quick, name another job which requires you to get a bachelor's degree, then a masters, while expecting you to kick in part of your own salary in order to perform it successfully. Not to mention, possibly taking a bullet from some certifiable lunatic in the middle of a hallway. If there is one it certainly isn't in the Oklahoma house and senate chambers. Or the Governor's office. Or anywhere in that great glass tube in downtown OKC known as the Devon Energy Tower.
Here is to the teachers who had the guts to look the tea party wankers in the eye then take to the streets. And, here is hoping they stay there until they force those assholes to cave into what we all know is not just the future of the state, but what is, quite simply, right.
sic vita est
4-3-18
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