The Republicans are Coming to Your Place Soon

 At last look there are a little more than 35 million registered republicans in the United States. In a recent CNN poll over 60% of them believe Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. There isn't a count of the number of those independents who believe the GOP is too liberal for their tastes who agree with that nonsense, but it is a safe bet the number is much higher. Then there are those out there who don't register at all because they think the entire government has been and remains a huge corrupt pain in the ass.

Another statistic shows that one out of every 10 of those actively participating in the January 6th coup attempt had ties, either past, or present, with the U.S. military. It is a number so alarmingly high two retired generals have written a paper recommending the Defense Department ban all membership in radical groups. In addition the generals think all the services should make contingency plans and begin exercises to counter large scale mutinies within the ranks.

University of California San Diego professor, Barbara F. Walter, who served on a CIA task force researching the possibility of civil war in other countries has found that if we applied the same parameters used by the task force on the United States, "...what you would find is that the United States, a democracy founded more than two centuries ago, has entered very dangerous territory." 

Sunday, former Clinton advisor and Lincoln biographer Sidney Blumenthal pointed out even the southern states who seceded in 1861 never claimed Lincoln's election was illegitimate. He went on to say, "The current situation is the opposite, Trump's questioning of the election, which was first rejected by republican leaders after the attack on the Capitol, has led to a crisis, a real crisis, of legitimacy." 

Finally, last month in a poll, an outfit called the Public Religion Research Institute asked voters if they agreed, or disagreed with this statement.. "Because things have gotten so off track true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save our country."

18% of everyone agreed with it. 30% of republicans did.

Yes, democracy is teetering on the edge in this nation. And all the evidence points to the Grand Old Party doing the pushing. 

Merry Christmas America. You might want to sleep with one eye open for now, It isn't Santa coming to your place--it's people like Don Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Jim Jordan.

sic vita est

12-23-21

Mark Meadows, the Power Point Memo, and Fear on January 6th

 Mark Meadows served as Donald Trump's chief of staff during the last crazed year of The Big Orange Guy's presidency. For the previous seven years he had been a congressman representing North Carolina's 11th House district. In short, he, at least in theory, knows how the House of Representatives works.

You wouldn't know that by the way he has acted lately. But then a lot of those who have been infected by the Trump virus exhibit strange, if not outright schizophrenic behavior. 

Before he decided any and every conversation he has ever had falls under the heading of executive privilege Brother Meadows gave the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th coup attempt scads of papers. Some of them included interesting text messages fired off during the storming of the capitol building.

Even a brief perusal of the texts and other evidence--you know, like the power point memo outlining how to pull off the coup with some seriously flawed legal theories--points to two awful conclusions.

First the republican poohbahs were all in on holding mass demonstrations in Washington on the 6th. Their purpose was io intimidate Vice President Mike Pence into invalidating the electoral votes from states that didn't go for Trump, plus terrorize the left so they wouldn't fight the power grab. 

Second, on the 6th, when the monster they created ran amok, many of them were even more terrified of the rioters than the democrats in the building.

Well, that's what happens when you invite the Hell's Angels to the party. They really won't differentiate between friend and foe. once the mayhem begins.

Indeed, panic ran through the right wing ranks, Mark Meadows began receiving texts from GOP lawmakers that read things like, "We are under siege here at the Capitol." Then, "Hey Mark, protesters are storming the Capitol. Breaking windows on doors. Rushing in. Is Trump going to say something?"

Others seemed even more aghast. Don Trump Jr. texted, "He's got to condemn this shit. Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough." Moments later Meadows received this text from a shaken Jr. "We need an Oval address. He has to lead now. It has gone to far and gotten out of hand."

Fox personality, Sean Hannity texted Meadows saying, "Can he make a statement?...Ask people to leave the Capitol."

Hannity, being Hannity, now claims the entire sordid affair on the 6th was a false flag operation perpetrated by the left wing. Others who were so terrified now claim the entire event was no big deal and have compared it to protests by the left over the years. Like the ones that didn't assault Capitol Police officers, vandalize the Capitol building, and parade a Confederate flag through it.

The texts, besides proving the real fear GOP hotshots had for their movable beast, also makes clear there was no doubt in their minds who controlled it. Yes, Donald John Trump called forth the insurrection and only he could stop it. None of these fuckers, not even his son, could call him directly. They all had to go through his gatekeeper, Mark Meadows.

There are many other questions about the day American Democracy, for a moment anyway, circled the drain. The aforementioned power point memo proposed calling out the National Guard to protect the protesters--or perhaps aid them--and for there to be a declaration of a national emergency by the President. The Guard was slow to act an indication something was amiss either in the chain of command, or with the leadership. There has been no indication why Trump never declared the national emergency the memo recommended.

These questions and many others could be answered by Mark Meadows, but his leader has rumbled ominously, and it has become painfully obvious the former chief of staff is more afraid of Don Trump than he is of congress. More even than the republican punks were of their own mob that day last January.

sic vita est

12-14-21

Caveat Emptor Trojans and Tigers

 It was a scam worthy of a Hollywood movie., cloaked in secrecy, replete with mis-direction, and lies, and involving tens of millions of dollars. In this monumental con, however, the marks weren't amoral casino owners, or ruthless corporations, they were hundreds of thousands football fans in two different locales.

At the core to the plot were the agents representing Oklahoma coach, Lincoln Riley and Notre Dame head man, Brian Kelly--proving once and for all sports agents fall into the same ethical class as used car salesmen, politicians, and television evangelists. 

Also involved were two institutes of higher learning, the University of Southern California and Louisiana State University. They were two proud football programs which had fallen on hard times. They were and are also two places whose alumni have scads and scads of money they are willing to spend, not on, say, archeology departments, but their football teams.

On September 13th, 2021, after a loss to Stanford, USC fired head coach Clay Helton. Within three, or four weeks it became apparent to them their interim head coach, Donte Williams wasn't going to cut it. At about the same time, in the middle of October, LSU announced their coach, Ed Orgeron would be leaving at the end of the season. Orgeron's problems involved some felonious behavior by a player, plus his inability to repeat his previous success in 2019 when his team was undefeated and won the national championship.

Both schools obviously wanted experienced big time coaches, but they had a problem. NCAA rules prohibited them from calling up other teams coaches without asking for permission first. Once alerted the targeted school could then either say no, or make counter offers starting an expensive and lengthy bidding war. Enter Bob LaMonte and Trace Armstrong agents for Riley and Kelly. 

Because of them neither Riley, or Kelly had to speak directly to USC and LSU. They became the conduits through which both men could negotiate without technically breaking the rules , or alarming their schools, or fan bases. 

In late October, or early November someone, most likely LaMonte, leaked the rumor that LSU was actively pursuing Riley. It's unknown if LSU was working in collusion with LaMonte, or not. What we do know is LSU never denied it, because it provided them with the perfect cover as they negotiated with Armstrong. In addition it allowed Riley to deny he was interested in LSU while USC continued making a deal on the down low with LaMonte. 

In Norman, Riley's team had struggled all year against questionable competition. The crown prince of offensive minds had a unit which seemed to be falling apart and the defense which was supposed to be greatly improved looked suspiciously as leaky as it had been in past years. In retrospect it is now easy to think Riley and his defensive coordinator Alex Grinch had severe cases of short timer's disease. 

Indeed it is tough to concentrate, or give a shit when you are on the verge of a fabulous new contract worth $110 million and includes the purchase of not one, but three homes.

The insidious plot came to a head Saturday night after OU lost to Oklahoma State. In a post game interview Riley was asked point blank if he was going to LSU. He answered truthfully. He said, "I will not be the next head coach at LSU." 12 or so hours later, however, he would be the next coach at USC. One has to wonder what his response would have been if the question had been, "Will you be coaching at Oklahoma next year?"

Later, in an interview with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt, Riley swore the first and only time he had personally talked to USC  was Sunday morning after the OSU game. Knowing how oily the guy is now I believe him. He didn't have to, all he had to do was communicate his demands through his agent. 

Meanwhile in South Bend, IN, Brian Kelly informed his players he was leaving for LSU via Twitter before holding a 11 minute meeting with them. His contract is reportedly worth a mere $95 million. (It's probably a cost of living differential. After all, gas and food are cheaper in Baton Rouge than they are in LA.)

Both Oklahoma and Notre Dame have bowl games coming up. OU has dragged Bob Stoops out of retirement to be the interim coach. There isn't any word yet who Notre Dame will select. 

Lincoln Riley has recently tweeted, "We are going to make Southern California the Mecca of college football." In response Oklahoma defensive lineman, Isiah Thomas tweeted, "He told us the exact same thing a month ago."

Indeed, Lincoln Riley says many things, but, as Oklahoma now knows when it comes to believing him, you sometimes have to think about what he hasn't said to you, but what he says to Bob LaMonte.

Caveat Emptor, Trojans and Tigers.  If these two fuckers did it to Oklahoma and Notre Dame, they will do it to you just as soon as their agents sniff more money for themselves somewhere else.

  

12-1-21