Month: June 2023

Putin, Insurrect, Tough Trump, Bret, Durham, GOP, Racism, Submersible

MY sci-fi opinion is finally proven!
 

  • So Putin pal or former pal Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops may or may not be moving toward Moscow in what may or may not be an insurrection in Russia.
     
    In Political Wire, Taegan Goddard links us to what little is, as yet, known about what may or may not be turmoil in Putin’s Russia.
     
  • Something was brewing in KremlinLand, even before current mystery moves. In Hackwhackers, fighting among Putin elites already seemed to be a possible good omen for Ukraine.
     
    Key tradeoff:
    If military leaders can be blamed for Russia’s poor performance in Ukraine, it diverts from Putin’s responsibility for his initial, catastrophic mistake with the invasion. Playing factions off against another may help Putin in the short term, but not if he hopes to defeat Ukraine
     
  • tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors shows mr Trump bragging to Bret Baier on Fox about how tough he was with Putin on Ukraine. Donald plays both parts of a telephone argument, with his Putin side and his brave tough Presidential side getting very angry.
     
    tengrain is definitely amused, although seeming much more than skeptical.
     
  • Iron Knee at Political Irony watches Fox host Bret Baier skewer Donald Trump who then unravels.
     
  • News Corpse takes notes as Bret Baier gets Donald Trump to admit to having documents he denied having, and had tried to hide from authorities.
     
    Donald’s main reason? He had been too busy to remove his personal things that happened to be mixed in.
     
    Key editorial comment:
    Well, golfing, watching himself on TV, posting hundreds of comments online, and those cult rallies, do take up time. Furthermore, his complaint that there were “many things” in the boxes that were personal really amount to only wearable items (“Golf shirts, clothing, pants, shoes“).
     
    Key observation from MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace:
    …he’s so addled he’s talking about stuffing his pants in with his desk stuff. I mean, that’s not a good look either. Why were his pants in with his papers? He sounds like a crazy hoarder.
     
  • Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson pictures lawyer reactions to the Trump interview:

  • Tommy Christopher tries to grade Bret Baier’s non-aggression pact with Donald Trump after Bret gets praised for Donald’s inadvertent, but serious, admissions of criminality.
     
    Tommy includes the good and the bad, but comes down hard on the ugly:
     
    Key ugly:
    Baier’s errors are fundamental and serious, and should not be waved away because the net result is positive.
     
    Key example, out of many:
    Would Jake Tapper have said “I’m not going to belabor this?”
     
  • In the Borowitz Report, Fox apologizes for a regrettable flirtation with accuracy.
     
    Key satiric nonquote:
    In a statement, Rupert Murdoch criticized the Fox personality Bret Baier for “disseminating information that was recklessly and unforgivably true.”

Continue reading “Putin, Insurrect, Tough Trump, Bret, Durham, GOP, Racism, Submersible”

Trump Crime, Code, Why, Arraignment, Falling Down the Stares, White Angst

Before we dive too deep, we must ponder the solemn challenge of an unprecedented arraignment:


Okay. Now the deep:

  • YellowDog Granny has a few post-it notes on BathroomGate.
     
  • Dave Dubya goes to legal detail – including criminal code citations – in explaining the actual indictment content.
    Dave does research ordinary mortals don’t do but want done, and makes it understandable.
     
    Key clever snark/explanation combo – – –
    (on 18 U.S. Code § 2071 – Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally):
    My theory on why this charge isn’t included is the penalty would apply to an election. Supposedly the FBI is loath to “interfere” in elections, right, James Comey?
     
  • Hackwhackers joins the online question. Why did mr Trump keep, shuffle, and hide so many documents?
     
    We have visual evidence of one possibility.
     
  • CalicoJack, in The Psy of Life, takes a detailed look at Donald’s known loopy impulses, asking whether Trump sold national secrets.
     
    Answer: Possible, not probable.
    Not to be excessively unkind, but a sale would require an organizational skill way above his level of executive ability.
     
    Key conclusion:
    He may have taken them thinking he could sell them during desperate financial moments or use them to blackmail someone, but it wasn’t his primary purpose in taking them.
     
    So why? There are likely answers.
     
  • Iron Knee at Political Irony speculates about whether mr Trump’s middle-of-the-indictment lawyer switch may be part of something deeper.
     
    Key snark about what attorneys will come next:
    Maybe it will be Four Seasons Law, Landscaping and Lies, headed by Rudy Giuliani?
     
  • The violence Donald Trump promised would happen at his arraignment pretty much fizzled out. Supporters evaporated and floated off in the wind.
     
    But Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged notes that Republicans are resorting to another form of violence.
     
    Key assault on truth:
    But the lie that Biden had anything to do with Trump’s predicament will persist because of the liars who support Trump.
     
  • Some side drama in the courthouse:
     
    Donald Trump has been energetically attacking President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the Department of Justice.
     
    But his most vitriolic attacks have been directed at Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and his wife.
    His wife? Yeah, his wife.
     
    At the Tuesday arraignment, there were some glaring contests. The Palmer Report paints the picture. As he marched out of the courtroom, Donald Trump made a show of glowering at reporters.
     
    Then the bellicose exhibition was dropped as mr Trump suddenly stared at the floor, studiously avoiding the unwavering gaze of special prosecutor Jack Smith.
     
  • In the Borowitz Report, a satiric new documents mystery: sensitive files and papers are now missing from the Miami Courthouse.
     
    Key bewilderment:
    The head of security for the federal courthouse acknowledged that he and his team have “no leads whatsoever” as to who took the documents.
     
  • Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit examines the notion that if they can get Trump, they can get you.
     
    Key What About:
    Neither Biden or Pence talked with aides and lawyers about hiding them, lying to the Feds and discussed schemes to avoid complying with the return demands.
     
    I happen to have a thought:
  • Dave Columbo goes Republican and articulates the MAGA case for Trump:
     

Continue reading “Trump Crime, Code, Why, Arraignment, Falling Down the Stares, White Angst”

Trump as a Danger to Real Lives

Hard to imagine the courage of those who risk their lives to get secret information to the US about impending terrorist or military threats

Asking us to keep their identities secret.
Accepting our promise that we will.

Trump Employee:
“I opened the door and found this…”
Even harder to image the reaction when those secret sources find out an ex-President stored information in a bathroom or shower or ballroom or desk.
Pictures of documents spilling out, strewn on a floor.

And Republicans arguing that, yeah, he did it but it was all okay.

Now, step right up. Risk your life and warn us of impending dangers to our country and its citizens.

HEY! Where did everybody go?

Indict, Outrage, Pride Month, SCOTUS, Voting Rights, Golf Assassin, Woke, ETs

First take a look:


Now, then:

  • Can this be coincidence? Okay, maybe!

    And friend tengrain of Mock Paper Scissors offers assistance:
  • Dave Dubya goes all US Criminal Code in explaining the law behind Donald Trump getting charged.
     
  • Michael John Scott presents well informed, carefully thought out, speculation about what we have yet to discover in next week’s episode in the Trauma that is Trump.
     
    Key suspicions:
    The question that haunts the minds of many in the hushed corners of political discourse is this – who else, apart from the Saudis, was at the receiving end of Trump’s criminal largesse? Was this a solo performance, or were other shadowy actors hidden behind the scenes?
     
  • The Palmer Report explains what mr Trump doesn’t get about his own legal peril.
     
    Key satisfaction:
    There isn’t any way to get around it: this week is one Trump will look back on with bitterness, hate, and fury.
     
  • John Scalzi at Whatever says, and he’s right, that mr Trump is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but then Oh, come on! and he’s right as well.
     
  • News Corpse tracks the almost comically confused outrage as Republican politicians react to the indictment.
     
  • Fox hosts complain about the Trump charges:


    Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged shrugs, agrees, and reviews varying degrees of Republican angst and defiance, which seem to include advocating physical resistance.
     
    Key lowest standard of any patriot:
    So, yeah, I have a problem with espionage against the US and the willful sharing of our classified secrets, whoever is doing that but especially if I think it’s for malicious reasons. Why wouldn’t anyone else?
     
    I (um) have an opinion about the Trump age problem:

  • Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger has the poll numbers and demographics on which Americans think Donald Trump is guilty of serious crimes and which say he should not be elected if convicted.
     
  • Frances Langum has more poll numbers, bringing us the list of the companies with the worst reputations in America. Some predictable, but at least one surprise.
     
    Key raised eyebrow:
    We always knew they were garbage but now MAGA hates them, too.

     
  • Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit watches Jan 6ers, some especially notable, marching off to prison, and offers the best practical advice: running and hiding makes it all worse.
     
    Key wise counsel:
    And if you were dumb enough to run your mouth on social media about how much fun you had, you’re going to do even more time.
     
  • Green Eagle discovers a grand unified theory of MAGA.
     
  • Disaffected and it Feels So Good watches Congressional Republicans investigate wrongdoing by President Joe Biden. Past accusations have blown away upon investigation like dry leaves in the wind. And current charges seem to be fading as evidence evaporates. So Republican members are attacking news outlets for ignoring them.
     
    Mainstream media has been burned before, so this time they are waiting for more than bluster. Republicans are livid because: No evidence? That’s what they WANT you to think.
     
  • At The Moderate Voice David Robertson dives deep, deep into science, history, logic, and the Bible to document what we all should already know: Being born gay is not a sin.
     
    I got a bit personal a decade ago in an open apology of sorts to an extreme anti-gay legislator who turned out to be gay:
    Good People Participating in Great Evil vs Larry Craig
     
  • Scotties Playtime has a personal story of bullying and pain in explaining the importance of teaching acceptance in school. Acceptance is not recruitment.
     
    Key experience:
    I suffered, took the abuse, tried to fight the bullies who had the backing of the teachers. All on top of being abused at home. If I only had someone to talk to about it all, any positive role model to turn to. So much a lifetime of harm I could have been avoided / saved from if I had just had someone to go to who was LGBTQ+ friendly.
     
  • Child labor protections, indigenous children, and the right to have your vote count are on the table this month. Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire News Group discuss four extremely important, underreported legal decisions that will hit our country from a corrupted Supreme Court in June.
     

    Imani Gandy is happy to be wrong in one prediction:

  • In Letters from an American, noted historian Heather Cox Richardson covers the surprise decision as SCOTUS actually respects voting rights.
     
    Key rights implication:
    This leaves intact the ability of plaintiffs to sue when states appear to discriminate against minority voters. Similar lawsuits are pending in ten different states.
     
  • tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors has the unexpected story and excerpts from one judicial dissent as SCOTUS cuts back the Alabama gerrymander which had been based on race.
     
    Something to do with letting voters have an effect on how they are ruled.
     
  • June 4th & 5th have come and gone, but not without Max’s Dad reminding us of that late night 55 years ago when hope was rekindled and the next early morning when it was taken from us, as Bobby Kennedy won California and was then killed.
     
    Key reason we still live with tragic history:
    And despair took the stage. And it hasn’t given it up yet.
     
    Because “real America” won’t let it.

Continue reading “Indict, Outrage, Pride Month, SCOTUS, Voting Rights, Golf Assassin, Woke, ETs”

Memorial Day, Default, Fall & Get Up, Paxton Impeach, DeSantis, Pudding

When we look for it, we can see signs of good will:

  • Hackwhackers reminds us that Monday was more than a break from work.
     
  • At The Moderate Voice retired U.S. Air Force Major Dorian de Wind and family were able to devote this year’s Memorial Day at a monument honoring seven specific crew members very near where they died in France during World War II.
     
    Key homage:
    It was singularly emotive to be able to honor our heroes so close to where they fell, yet so far away from home
     
  • Army veteran Michael John Scott waves to an elderly stranger in the distance, and notices something familiar.
     
  • Botocchio, at Vagabond Scholar, likes the newest film version of All Quiet on the Western Front, and it’s anti‑war message, but feels it could have been stronger had it been more faithful to the book. The 1930 film was better.
     
    Review of the review: Detailed, engaging, well reasoned.
     
    Key principle:
    One of the cardinal rules of good adaptation is that, if you change something, make it better.
     
    Key decision:
    There’s no reason you can’t watch both (and read the novel as well), but unless you can’t stand old movies, if you could see only one version, I’d go with the 1930 one.
     
  • A reminder that Social Security and Medicare were not all that Republicans wanted to cut this week. Veteran’s benefits were also at issue:
     
  • The battle is not over for what Republicans still regard as entitlements:

  • In Letters from an American, noted historian Heather Cox Richardson reviews the Biden victory in defeating the Republican default. The President casts it as a bi-partisan effort, reducing Republican bruised feelings, and preserving his ability to negotiate future agreements.
     
    It turns out demands issued by Republicans contradicted their supposed focus on deficit reduction.
     
    Key illustration:
    The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that the $21 billion cut in funding to the Internal Revenue Service, for example, will result in $40 billion in lost revenue, increasing the deficit by $19 billion.
     
  • You might get the feeling, as do I, that Dave Columbo and Laura High are not really talking about their family budget. Okay, it’s a good, non-technical illustration of the semi‑near default:
     

Continue reading “Memorial Day, Default, Fall & Get Up, Paxton Impeach, DeSantis, Pudding”