The Bill Is Coming Due For Republicans, So Of Course Paul Ryan Is Fleeing Before He Has To Pay

There are a lot of reasons why Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is retiring from Congress uh um refusing to face voters for re-election ah um running for the hills like a terrified ideologue who knows his shtick ain't selling no more.

1) Ryan has actually gotten one major thing done during his brief tenure as Speaker: Pass an insanely massive giveaway to the uber-rich with a Tax Cut Bill that gave billions to the billionaires and not-to-subtly raised taxes on everybody else. While he might count that as a success, even he has to notice that the public polling on that tax cut is weak. If the big thing - maybe the only thing - you passed in a year where you held incredible control of the legislation is unpopular AND you have nothing else to campaign on, even the most die-hard pol is going to think "time to quit."

2) Ryan is stepping down while his other obsession - to kill off social aid programs like Medicare and Social Security - remained unresolved, and while there's little right now in public about why he's leaving before even making a serious strike at those programs I am guessing he's finding out few other Republicans want to touch those Third Rails. Ryan wasn't about to waste what little political capital and media goodwill he had inside the Beltway.

3) Ryan is refusing to run again even though as an incumbent to his Wisconsin district he has every reason to expect an easy re-election. He's more than likely to face again the guy he beat in 2016 by a 60-to-35 percent blowout. The only thing regarding his district is if his own internal polling - the parties run more detailed and exacting polling data that the public polling services don't delve into - is showing a serious 2018 primary challenge that the rest of us haven't seen yet.

Republicans only retire from their incumbencies for two reasons: A) they've got a cushy no-show job at a think tank finally lined up or B) they're facing defeat and don't want to go away looking like a loser. (Ryan's predecessor John Boehner quit for something along those lines: facing a party schism over the Debt Ceiling and spending bills, he used his retirement for a parliamentary trick to get those matters resolved long enough for him to flee).

3a) What Ryan is facing this 2018 is a clear Blue Wave Election. Special election after special election over the past year have pointed to serious gains by Democrats. Even when they don't win the seat, the voter shift plus to Blue has been striking. That 538 article I linked to showed a +14 shift in 2017, and the recent 2018 special elections have shown a greater shift. Even if there's a +10 shift Democratic in this year's midterms this November, take every close Republican win that was under 10 percent and flip them Blue (while every close Dem win becomes a rout).

Democratic voters are pissed. There's 65 million Hillary voters angry that the Republicans - with help from Russia, their voter suppression efforts, and an antiquated / broken Electoral College that disfavors the majority of voters - stole the White House in 2016, and they're going to take it out on the GOP this year.

Independent voters are flipping Democrat right now. There's little reason this year to vote Republican since the vaunted Tax Cut Bill isn't helping (and is actually hurting middle-class voters this year, anecdotally I've heard from three different people that they didn't get refunds this time), the GOP keeps threatening to hurt their healthcare (now that people have it, they like it), and the Republicans are going further Right on issues that most Indy voters don't want to go.

Speaking of why Democrats are so motivated to head to the polls this cycle...

4) donald fucking trump.

While Ryan has to carry the blame for making the modern Republican Party what it is today - a party obsessed with winning over governing, a party fully willing to lie about its agenda, a party that panders to their wingnut base's darkest impulses against immigration, minorities, women, and now kids - there's every sign that having trump lead the GOP is a broken bridge too far.

In terms of what trump brings to the table for the midterms, let's be honest trump is... actually not that toxic in the deep Red districts. When he's shown up at certain special elections, he doesn't hurt the GOP candidate there. It's that trump doesn't help either: Worse, trump shows up and makes the rally more about himself than about the special election, and that doesn't give the boost the local candidate needs.

Where trump is toxic are the more moderate, less "safe" Districts where the odd dynamics of any special election - quixotic (slightly insane) candidates, single-issue voters, wild campaign spending - won't be in play. In those places, Democratic turnout is bound to go high. Being unable to campaign on the issues, people will vote on their emotions.

And right now, far too many people... far too many voters hate trump. His Approval/Disapproval spread is around 12 points this point of the year according to RealClearPolitics, and their polling on "Right Track/Wrong Track" shows too many Americans think we're on the Wrong Track, never a good sign for the party controlling all three branches of the Federal Government.

There's something else to note regarding what he's running away from. In this era of political chaos, there is a distinct opportunity for the 25th Amendment to kick in: for trump to be removed from the Presidency somehow, and for Pence to be removed as well (related to certain allegations surrounding Mike Flynn, Russians, and other campaign matters), leaving the Speaker as Third in Line to the White House.

For Ryan to walk away from THAT possibility - and in the current climate, you can't discount it - means he either knows it's not happening (that trump could well survive the Russian - and now other - scandals)... or that he's facing similar legal woes due to his involvement in the transition and overall party campaign efforts that got compromised by Russia and trump.

It's also important to note Ryan is not the only Republican rat fleeing the HBS trumpanic. In my own Florida backyard, Congresscritter Dennis Ross won't run for re-election either. We are seeing this midterm a sizable number of "retirements" to where I'm thinking this may be a record. It's rare for a majority party to see so many of their own drop out: It only happens during a clear Wave election (Dems retired like mad in 1994, GOP retired like mad in 2006).

All of this shouldn't distract from what needs to be done, of course. Just because the Republicans are fleeing doesn't mean they're automatically losing their elections this November.

We Americans need to show up. Voter turnout has to be higher than any previous midterms in ages. Every Democrat has to show, every Indy voter horrified by the bad leadership of the GOP has to show, every disillusioned Republican (and yes, they are out there) has to show.

And everyone single one of us NEEDS TO VOTE for the Democrats to ensure we toss the GOP crooks out of power.

For the LOVE OF GOD, America, DO NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN.

They sure as hell are proving they are not willing to run for you. They are running AWAY from you.

Make them keep running for their lives.

Crossing trump's Rubicon

We're getting to that unavoidable point of no return.

As the investigations into trump's world of vulgar behavior and questionable financial practices widen, he's making noises (again) about ending the primary investigation led by Special Counsel Mueller (overseen by Deputy AG Rosenstein) into Russia's interference with our 2016 elections.

I've discussed this before - and the likelihood that if he tries anything to shut that investigation down he will get hellfire from the Intel Community about it - but it's time to let someone else say Zachary Fryer-Biggs over at Vox.com to provide some input:

President Trump may think he can end all his growing legal problems by firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He can’t.

A pair of federal prosecutors in New York are now working on cases tied to two of Trump’s closest confidants. The FBI raided Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s office on Monday for a case the prosecutor in Manhattan is handling. Last December, meanwhile, the US attorney in Brooklyn requested bank records tied to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

Those cases are separate from Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling in 2016 and potential contact between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

That means that if Trump fires Rosenstein and Mueller, those other investigations won’t just go away. Trump would have to fire the other prosecutors and a host of other Justice Department officials...

There's a good chance trump would drive out a solid number of high-ranking officials in the process, disrupting our chain of command in key national security departments.

This will also affect our legal system, as the judges who've signed off on these warrants will likely face retribution from a vengeful trump and his lackeys.

Whomever in the White House that's been holding trump back from making this dumbass move - I get the vibe it's Chief of Staff Kelly and most of the remaining sane people left, which is prolly about 23 17 people by now - will likely use his Saturday Night Massacre moment to jump ship to retain whatever integrity they think they have left.

Whatever ethical standards are left among the Republican ranks, open warfare against the nation's legal system is one. Even some of the corrupt SOBs among the Congresscritters know if they try to knock that down, they lose half their home support of the GOP base that isn't batshit crazy.

Thing is, while trump CAN'T get away with making this move, he's still damn well gonna TRY.

And he will break vital parts of our federal institutions to do so.

We knew - those of us who warned the nation, warned the world - this day would come. trump's history of corruption and ineptitude guaranteed a Constitutional Crisis that would either require his removal (angering his rabid wingnut base) or mean an end to our Republic (with him casting off all restrictions becoming the dictator he dreams to be).

There's been a question floating around "How can you tell you're in the middle of a Constitutional Crisis?"

Take a look around you. You're in one. You've been in one since 2015 when the damn Republicans refused to adhere to common goddamn sense and block trump from their ticket.

Welcome to trump-World.

Breaking News This April 9th: OH MAH GAWD

Lindsey Buckingham got kicked out of Fleetwood Mac this weekend.

Oh, and the lawyer of trump's who had been making questionable nondisclosure deals with porn actresses just got raided by the FBI with search warrants for his shit (via Talking Points Memo):

Agents reportedly seized materials related to the $130,000 payment Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election to prevent her from speaking out about the alleged affair she had with President Donald Trump. The FBI, the Times reported, seized “records related to several topics.”

The law firm where Cohen had an office issued a statement regarding the raid. “The firm’s arrangement with Mr. Cohen reached its conclusion, mutually and in accordance with the terms of the agreement,” said a statement from Squire Patton Boggs LLP. “We have been in contact with federal authorities regarding their execution of a warrant relating to Mr. Cohen. These activities do not relate to the firm and we are in full cooperation...”

Last month, Daniels sued Trump and the company Cohen set up to make the payment, saying that the nondisclosure agreement she signed for the money should be nullified since Trump never signed it.

She appeared on CBS News’s 60 Minutes to tell her story at the end of March.

Trump spoke out about the case for the first time last week, telling reporters on Thursday that he didn’t know about the payment. He referred questions to Cohen...

Well, it looks like Mueller is going to refer questions to Cohen. (Actually, I take that back. Adam Silverman at Balloon-Juice is noting the warrants are coming out of the New York district office, which may be investigating Cohen's matters separate from the Special Counsel. Mueller *did* forward his recommendation through the Justice Department)

Someone on Twitter suggested this Reason article, and it brings up a few points why this is a big fucking deal in the nightmare that is trumpWorld:

1. According to Cohen's own lawyer, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York secured the search warrants for the FBI, based on a referral from Robert Mueller's office. Assuming this report is correct, that means that a very mainstream U.S. Attorney's Office—not just Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office—thought that there was enough for a search warrant here.

2. Moreover, it's not just that the office thought that there was enough for a search warrant. They thought there was enough for a search warrant of an attorney's office for that attorney's client communications. That's a very fraught and extraordinary move that requires multiple levels of authorization within the Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney's Manual (USAM)—at Section 9-13.320—contains the relevant policies and procedures. The highlights:
The feds are only supposed to raid a law firm if less intrusive measures won't work... (personal interpretation: they know if they ask for it odds are it'll get shredded before the afternoon coffee is finished off)
Such a search requires high-level approval... This is not a couple of rogue (DAs) sneaking in a warrant... (interpretation: this is gonna be so legit even a conservative Supreme Court can't knock it down)
Such a search requires an elaborate review process. The basic rule is that the government may not deliberately seize, or review, attorney-client communications. The USAM—and relevant caselaw—therefore require the feds to set up a review process. That process might involve a judge reviewing the materials to separate out what is privileged... (interpretation: HOLY FUCK THIS SHIT JUST GOT REAL)

3. A magistrate judge signed off on this. Federal magistrate judges (appointed by local district judges, not by the president) review search warrant applications. A magistrate judge therefore reviewed this application and found probable cause—that is, probable cause to believe that the subject premises (Cohen's office) contains specified evidence of a specified federal crime...

I'm not a lawyer but even from this distance I can see Cohen is in a lot of trouble. I'm talking Mount Denali amount of trouble.

I don't think I've commented much on the Stormy Daniels reporting, mostly because I said all that needed to be said about this tiny vulgar lifeform we call the Shitgibbon. But the Stormy stuff points to a key habit of trump relying so heavily on his team of lawyers to brute-force any lesser peon into submission. There is bound to be a lot of questionable and unethical legal behavior involved to the point where any lawyer close enough to trump to pull what he allegedly did - use campaign funds to silence possible witnesses to trump's adulterous behaviors just after the Access Hollywood tape and just before the general election - probably didn't even realize he was breaking laws doing so. He'd been doing it for years. Just never got called on it.

Well, Michael Cohen. You're getting called on it.

And I don't think Fleetwood Mac is hiring at the moment (I doubt Cohen can play the lead guitar on "Hypnotized" anywho).

Things That Should Worry You: April 2018 Edition

Lessee:

The trump trade war against China is escalating, and while Wall Street is doing what it can to send up the red flags - by sliding into the red ink for most of last week - it looks like trump is going to keep pushing this agenda as far as he can take because he genuinely believes "trade wars are good and easy to win".

Try telling that to the farmers who export billions to China (via CNBC):

If China follows through on its plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on soybeans, it would make global suppliers like Brazil even more attractive to Chinese buyers. It also would encourage those suppliers to add more acres of soybeans, and then negatively impact the price American farmers can get for their crop...

The lion's share of the U.S. agribusiness trade to China involves soybeans, which are grown in many farm states where Trump received strong support during the 2016 presidential election. Top soybean growing states include Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and the Dakotas...

Experts say that if China cuts agricultural exports, it could impact a wide swath of the farm economy — from small to large farmers. It could reduce profits for farmers and make them more willing to delay large purchases, such as new machinery, and encourage them to cut back in other places...

This isn't three-dimensional chess, people: it's TEN-dimensional chess, and trump can't even figure out how the horsey pieces move.

Let's look at the other foreign policy nightmare that trump can't handle: Syria.

President Donald Trump is sounding off about an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Syria, according to multiple news reports published on Thursday (via Business Insider).

But the president reportedly faced some strong opposition from top military officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford, who warned Trump of the consequences of a rapid withdrawal, during a meeting on Tuesday...

During the meeting, Dunford reportedly said Trump's plan was not productive and asked the president for clear instructions on what to do, The Associated Press reported.

Mattis chimed in and argued that a quick pull-out would not only be detrimental to the US, but doing so in a responsible manner would be logistically impossible. Mattis reportedly suggested a one-year withdrawal timeframe instead.

Trump then countered and gave officials five to six months to destroy the Islamic State and then withdraw, officials told The Associated Press.

Trump also indicated that he expects the military to succeed in destroying ISIS by October...

Cadet Bone Spurs seems to think this is a World War II video game where the targets are easy to spot, the bad guys are all in one contained area, and all we have to do is use the God cheat code to reach the final cutscene.

trump shows no sign of understanding logistics - even our military with all its experience has to pace itself - and post-war rebuilding. One of the reasons why our military stayed so long in Iraq - and why we're still in Afghanistan - is because we had to commit to nation-building efforts to give the country an infrastructure to live off of. Without those reconstruction efforts, you leave the region to stew in its own rage and allow the bad guys like the Taliban and ISIL to seep back into the mess and start over.

Meanwhile, abandoning Syria like this reconfirms the hold Assad (and Russia) will keep on whatever is left standing of Syria while the terrorist factions claim all the broken parts. America (and the Middle East) loses in the short term and we will pay the price again in the long term.

This is what you voted for, 62 million Americans. You voted for the guy with NO foreign policy experience and TERRIBLE business history to manage this nation.

We are so very fucking screwed.

Anniversary: A Voice That Will Not Stay Silent

Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realized
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, let it rain
Rain on him - "MLK" U2

What you thought I was gonna quote "Pride (In the Name of Love)"?

Well, I can do that too.

Early morning, April Four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your Pride...

Uh, yeah. Bono found out later that Reverend King was killed in the evening, around 6 PM Memphis time. Oops. Still it's the thought that counts.

But if you want a quote that matters, here's one from the man himself:

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." - Letter from  Birmingham Jail (1963)

To the Black Lives Matter movement.

To the Stoneman Douglas students.

To the women in the streets marching for their lives, to the teachers striking for better pay and better schools, to every protester across the globe.

Stay safe. Stand Tall. Speak for Justice.

Anniversary: Still a Mountaintop to Climb

Tonight, fifty years ago, a preacher got up to give a speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis TN. The Reverend had spent some years fighting for civil rights for Blacks in a United States that had been segregated for decades, that had been violent towards minorities, that had been keeping down the poor and the poverty-stricken.

He spoke about the fight he was leading at the time for sanitation workers in the city, how it was not only for better wages but for better lives. He spoke about the need to confront poverty not just for Black families but ALL the poor. He spoke about the importance of standing up and speaking out. How boycotts were necessary. How the voices of the many were necessary to make those in power finally listen.

He talked about the brush with death he had years earlier, about how it woke him up to the importance of living now and fighting for life. He talked about all the threats he received, not just from Whites angry and driven by race hatred but by those in power who feared the changes he called for, not just against the racial dynamic in our country but the sharing of wealth that could break the cycle of hatred and violence that kept the poor down.

He spoke of hope, knowing that he himself might not live to see such a day.

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the Mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live - a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen... the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

...we killed him the next day.

For a brief while - 40 years later - we had a Promised Land. We had Obama, trying to fix a broken economy and end two bad wars, we had an end to hatred against gays, we had chances to fix our immigration system to keep those who wanted to live here and be Americans, we had an opportunity to listen to the better angels of our nature.

I'd like to think a time traveler met with Reverend King the hours before he gave his speech, and took him to see Obama and his family celebrate his electoral win in Grant Park in 2008. I'd like to think King wasn't told about the rise of trump, and the hatred that rose with him and stains our nation today.

King spoke about the long arc of the moral universe, bending towards justice. Right now that arc is a pretzel. But justice is real it's there, and it's worth protesting for, standing up for, praying for, living for.

We ALL still have that mountain to climb to a better nation, one that's not driven by fear, riven by hate.

He saw the Promised Land. He saw the hope that is justice in a moral universe.

Keep climbing.

Trade War 2018 All In Red Ink

Lemme see if I can show you how today's stock markets are looking right about now (1 PM EDT):

Granted, the markets can still rebound towards the end of the day, but we're already 500 points in the hole on the Dow Jones, the S&P is in the red, Nasdaq is in the red, and I have no idea what that fourth one is but it's in the red too.

This is what it looks like, donald trump, when you start a trade war with China (via Business Insider):

US stocks tumbled Monday as President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of Amazon, sending technology and consumer discretionary stocks lower.

The selling also comes ahead of the Trump administration's plan to unveil this week the list of Chinese imports targeted for US tariffs. The list of $50-60 billion worth of annual imports is expected to target "largely high-technology" products.

The more tech-heavy Nasdaq 100— which has been a lightning rod for market volatility in recent weeks — plummeted as much as 3.3% to lead all major US indexes. Meanwhile, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped as much as 2%, and the 30-company Dow Jones industrial average slid more than 2.1% at one point.

Among the technology firms worst hit were chipmakers, including Lam Research, Micron Technology, Nvidia, Intel, and Cisco, which all dropped at least 3.7%. Note that due to their position in supply chain, these firms are more vulnerable to geopolitical turmoil, particularly as it pertains to China...

If you remember the last time the stock market nose-dived like this about a month ago, that related to trump's announcement to place tariffs on steel and aluminum. This is merely Phase Two, where the other nations start responding to trump's stupidity on trade, meaning we're about to see a lot more red on the stock tickers. To CNN for this part:

The Chinese government said that tariffs on about $3 billion worth of US imports are going into effect Monday, hitting 128 products ranging from pork, meat and fruit to steel pipes...

...China's commerce and finance ministries said in statements late Sunday that authorities are imposing tariffs of 15% on 120 American products — such as fruits, nuts, wine and steel pipes — and 25% on eight other products, including pork and recycled aluminum.

Those products make up just a tiny portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars of goods shipped between the two countries each year. But the tariffs are alarming news for the affected industries.

The US National Pork Producers Council warned last month that the measures would "have a significant negative impact on rural America." It said the US pork industry sold $1.1 billion worth of products to China last year, making it the third largest export market...

I think a lot of pork-related farming communities are about to regret voting for trump in the next thirty days...

Also, trump's war against Amazon - because CEO Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post - isn't doing the stock market any favors, adding onto the growing economic imbalance that is going to affect the national (and global) economy for the worse.

Don't forget how much of a "genius" this trump guy is: "Trade wars are good, and easy to win."

All that red on the spreadsheets. Even a C-student in Econ 1101 from UF can tell you that's not winning.

Right about now, I would encourage the Wharton School of Business to revoke trump's degree in Economics, because he has clearly not earned it.

Welcome to the Trade Wars.

April Fools 2018 Edition

This is no April Fools prank this year, kids:

Enter the Motor City Madman, musician Ted Nugent, perhaps the National Rifle Association’s most outspoken board member.

In a Friday interview mostly focused on González’s and Hogg’s criticism of the NRA, Nugent and radio host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo discussed how the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., have navigated media appearances and their belief that the teenagers have been manipulated by left-wing ideologues.

“These poor children, I’m afraid to say, but the evidence is irrefutable. They have no soul,” Nugent told Pagliarulo on the radio show on WOAI in San Antonio...

Of course, Mr. Nugent - possible pedophile and possible draft dodger - has no moral authority to attack teens who survived a mass shooting and are doing what they can to prevent any more of those.

Mr. Nugent also should look to his fellow conservative wingnuts who tried to take on the Parkland teens. Laura Ingraham tried to mock student David Hogg for failing to get into various California schools (that have rigorous enrollment regs anyway). She's now "on vacation" while her Fox Not-News show has advertisers dropping her like Third Period French.

You wingnuts better understand this: you just fucked with the wrong high school.

I Hate It When I Get Ideas In the Middle of Librarian Reference Help

Damn the man, I gotta write this down:

As George Wynmoor awoke one morning from uninteresting dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a Presidential candidate.

I'm gonna get sued for this one, but f-ck it I'm writing a new short story.

The Future

Link to Latina.com article

This is Emma Gonzalez.

She is one of the teens who survived the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland FL.

She is just eighteen years old (or close to it).

She probably hasn't even figured out what she's wearing to her prom, if she's going.

She's facing down the NRA, the Republican Party, the gun crazies, everyone who doesn't support gun safety laws.

She's terrifying them to the point where they're openly insulting her, creating fake photoshopped images of her, doing everything they can to dismiss her.

She won't go away.

Emma Gonzalez is the future. Her and hundreds of thousands like her: teenagers and college students who grew up in the shadow of Columbine and are sick to death over the inaction and cowardice of the Republicans refusing to do anything to reduce/end gun violence in our nation.

She's going to be old enough to vote this year, her and hundreds of thousands like her. All of them single-issue voters willing to vote every pro-NRA pol out of office. Which affects every Republican pol currently in office.

If she can't vote this year, she certainly will by 2020, when it's a Presidential cycle and there's more at stake for the GOP. Her and hundreds of thousands like her.

I should say "millions" instead of "hundreds of thousands", but you get the drift.

The Republican strategists saw decades ago a demographic shift away from white majority population, and then gambled hard on going all-in on stoking white voter fears to create a voting base that gave them victories but declining overall support. That white voter base - mostly older, mostly uneducated, mostly wingnut - is getting outnumbered by the Millennial generation that's more educated, more tech-savvy, more angry at injustice. We're getting to the tipping point where that Whites-Only strategy kills the GOP.

We're getting to the point where the Face of America isn't Ivanka Trump.

The Face of America is Emma Gonzalez.

The future is hers.

March For Our Lives in Lakeland (w/ Update)

Today the teens of our nation took to the streets to protest against school shootings, against weapons of death, against political inaction due to the NRA's overwhelming influence on government.

Via NBC News:

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of students gathered in the nation's capitol and at sister marches across the country and around the world to deliver a powerful, unified message: Enough is enough...

...Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School organized and hosted the main event on the mall in Washington with the U.S. Capitol in the background, a stark reminder of why they were demanding change.

"We hereby promise to fix the broken system we've been forced into and create a better world for the generations to come," Cameron Kasky, one of the student organizers told a cheering crowd filled with teenagers. "Don't worry, we've got this..."

The most powerful moment came when Emma Gonzalez, one of the more prominent Parkland students in the movement, gave her speech:

After listing the names of the 17 people killed when a gunman rampaged through her school on Valentine's Day, Gonzalez asked the crowd to fathom how so many could be murdered in only 6 minutes and 20 seconds.

And then she stopped speaking.

Silent minutes ticked by. Then an alarm beeped.

"Since the time that I came out here, it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds," she said finally. "The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest."

She added: "Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job."

I just wanna live long enough to vote for her as President, okay God?

That was all in Washington DC. Here at home, there were shared rallies same as across the nation. In Tampa, they figured they had around 15,000 showing up to call for action on gun safety.

Closer to home, I went to the rally happening in Lakeland, and I got some pics:

Munn Park in downtown Lakeland

The early minutes before the rally began

This was a rally organized by the teens but for all ages to attend!

Voter Registration by the League of Women Voters

The speakers deliver their calls to action, and in poetry

Sharing out the signs

I figured around 100 people showed up

The message is pretty simple:

The kids want stronger gun safety laws.

They're angry at politicians who are in the NRA's pocket who won't do anything about it.

They're registering to vote.

And they are going to vote on this single issue: Guns.

They will vote you out, pols, if you are taking even a penny from the gun-makers and their lobby of doom.

And if you don't think they can't do that, do a head count.

The Millennial generation just got to where they outnumber the Boomers.

Turnout matters, granted, but these kids are on a mission. They're sick of school lockdowns and dreading the day it'll be their turn they won't come home after another mass shooting.

These teens are going to keep working on this issue. They're gonna vote this November.

Gods. This feels good.

Update: As Larry mentions in the comments, there were organized buses of students going to the Orlando protest and not the Tampa one. Orlando had 20,000 show up (!)

So We're Kinda Getting To the End of the World Now

Just a couple of news worthy items today:

One of trump's lead lawyers trying to defend him against Mueller's investigation into trump-Russia ties resigned today (via David A Graham at The Atlantic):

Dowd announced his exit late Thursday morning. The specifics of the decision remain obscure—The Washington Post described it, somewhat paradoxically, as “a largely mutual decision”—but the departure comes amid rising frustration from the president with his legal team and frustration from the legal team over Trump’s refusal to follow advice. Dowd had been a particularly strong voice arguing against Trump testifying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and over the weekend Dowd called for Mueller’s firing, initially telling The Daily Beast he spoke for the president, then later insisting he spoke only for himself...

In this way, trump is self-destructing. he won't listen to reason, doesn't trust his own experts, and is leading by impulse.

trump wants to do two things, probably at the same time: he wants to testify to Mueller as though a direct confrontation could somehow compel Mueller to end his probe, and then just after giving that testimony have one of his flunkies fire Mueller (trump CANNOT fire someone face to face) with the belief that having testified he could then claim his "innocence" and quash all inquiry.

Dowd was likely one of the ones telling him how reckless it would be getting a known liar like trump to testify to anything, and that firing Mueller may not even close the investigation and may make things worse for trump. But with him gone, and with more "aggressive" lawyers joining trump's team, it's likely we're going to see at least one more public attempt to fire Mueller. Most likely this Friday. Yeah. Prepare for the Internet to melt down tomorrow.

The second note of interest is that trump's second NSA handler HR McMaster is getting the boot and is getting replaced by John Bolton. You all might remember Bolton from such previous hits as "Let's have a war in Iraq," "Let's lie about our intel," "Bombing North Korea should be a winner," and "Hey, nuking Iran is a great idea."

In short, we're going from a war hawk with prudence in McMaster to a war hawk with too much bloodlust and not enough brain cells or integrity in Bolton.

Let's refer to Uri Friedman also at The Atlantic:

On Thursday, donald trump replaced a man who built the case for war with North Korea as a last resort with a man who just made the case for war with North Korea as more of a first resort...

Until today, it was McMaster who was considered Trump’s most militant adviser on North Korea. A three-star general and earnest intellectual, McMaster clashed with Trump personally and on matters of policy; he recommended—over the president’s objections—sticking with the Iran nuclear deal, the war in Afghanistan, and America’s commitments to NATO allies and pushback against Russian aggression. McMaster, like Rex Tillerson, notably used his final days in office to condemn Russian malfeasance in ways his boss never has...

While Friedman argues in his article that McMaster's hard-line stance was more towards posturing to let China - and Russia - know that the U.S. wasn't going to tolerate a rogue North Korea, he tempered his saber-rattling with arguing in favor of maintaining existing deals and treaties to show the nation was still honor-bound towards diplomacy.

We're not going to get that with Bolton. This is a man with a documented history of mocking allies and enemies alike, of spoiling for fights he can't finish. He mocked the very existence of the UN he was sent to serve as ambassador to, argued for ignoring international law, and drove out career diplomats and foreign policy experts who disagreed with him. He is, basically, the worst person to give foreign policy decision-making authority.

So we're likely going into war with North Korea before the end of the month based on Bolton's bad input, if not trying to break our nuclear management arrangements with Iran by the same time, essentially putting the U.S. in a two-front war without any of our more helpful allies willing to help out this time. Yeah, by the end of the month. Prepare for the entire world to melt down by Saturday night March 31st.

Just remember, some of Hillary's critics on the Left - looking at you BernieBros and Jill Stein voters - argued that Hillary was going to be a war-monger. Congratulations. You lot teamed up with an entire PARTY that wants war in the Republicans, and you just let Cadet Bone Spurs bring onto his team the biggest warmonger of that mob.

We are so royally fucked.

And this is all before the 2018 Summer Movie season kicks in... damn you, trump voters, damn every single one of you to HELL...

Mind Games With the PSYOP Crews

At Midnight all the Spambots
And the Facebook crew
Come out and analyze everyone
That knows more than they do
-- Bob Dylan, updated Desolation Row

Today - building off of a weekend's worth of news reports regarding a data-mining corporation Cambridge Analytica taking too much private info out of Facebook to use as campaign data for Russia and trump to abuse - there's been more revelations that CA was using more than just data to manipulate the political landscape. Via Adam Silverman at Balloon-Juice who starts off linking to the British Channel 4 reporting:

Senior executives at Cambridge Analytica – the data company that credits itself with Donald Trump’s presidential victory – have been secretly filmed saying they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers.

In an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News, the company’s chief executive Alexander Nix said the British firm secretly campaigns in elections across the world. This includes operating through a web of shadowy front companies, or by using sub-contractors.

In one exchange, when asked about digging up material on political opponents, Mr Nix said they could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

In another he said: “We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land for instance, we’ll have the whole thing recorded, we’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the Internet.”

Offering bribes to public officials is an offence under both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Cambridge Analytica operates in the UK and is registered in the United States.

The admissions were filmed at a series of meetings at London hotels over four months, between November 2017 and January 2018. An undercover reporter for Channel 4 News posed as a fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get candidates elected in Sri Lanka.

Um, let's start off with HOLY SHIT and work from there.

Silverman gives much-needed clarification:

What Nix and Turnbull are caught describing as their standard operating practice is separate from whatever program Christopher Wylie built for Cambridge Analytica. Rather, they’re describing a hybrid of privatized human intelligence and what are sometimes referred to as black psychological operations (black PSYOP), which is a misuse of the term. Initially black PSYOP was used as short hand for the highly compartmented covert form of PSYOP necessary to support special operations. This is not surprising as Cambridge Analytica is subsidiary business development unit of SCL Group, which claims to provide these services to the British Ministry of Defense and the US DOD. Several boutique companies were created to do this type of work in support of coalition operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and people eventually left these companies and started their own boutique shops. All they’re really doing is creating propaganda and then trying to insert it into the news and social media space without it seeming to come from non-natives...

For my understanding, just on this report alone, I'm thinking Cambridge Analytica are a bunch of hyped-up pimps looking to fuck up other peoples' governments for their own gain and profit. Not to cast any aspersions or anything...

The bribery issue itself is a huge concern. As Channel 4 noted, that tends to be illegal. But the thing catching my eye is the part where they bring in Ukrainian sex workers to tempt/blackmail pols. This begs the question "How did they have access to THAT particular resource?"

'Cause the first thing I think of when I hear something crooked related to Ukraine, my first thought is "Manafort." Considering how that guy was playing on the political global stage, I wonder how tied to CA he could be.

All that thinking aside, this brings up a serious problem about our Social Media world, and how tied into our networks we've become. I've been a user on Facebook for ages, since 2006 or so. I've used it to make and keep track of friends from high school, college, work, and shared interests. To find out - no to have my fears confirmed - that all my social activity and postings can be used against me by foreign agencies looking to disrupt my nation's political arena is horrifying.

I am tempted to cut off Facebook right now. I can't because of work-related reasons - we use Facebook to let other users know about my library's programs and events - but I am seriously looking into other Social Media apps to replace our Facebook page.

Just not Snapchat. Those sons-of-bitches disrespected Rihanna. What the hell were they thinking?

To everyone else I know on Facebook. We need to find a safer way to stay in touch.

And we need to shut those Cambridge Analytica crooks down.

Spinning Downward

Emperor Turhan: How will this end?
Vorlon Kosh: In fire...

Update: Thank you again Batocchio for linking me on Mike's Blog Round Up at Crooksandliars.com! While you're here PLEASE check out the rest of my blog.

So as trump fires more people from his own Cabinet and from the FBI, it's getting clearer that this is an administration not finding its order but spreading its own chaos.

To be fair to this latest article from The Atlantic "What Is a Constitutional Crisis?" isn't the first warning flag raised about the subject. But let's see what Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes have to say about it:

Here is something that, even on its own, is astonishing: The president of the United States demanded the firing of the former FBI deputy director, a career civil servant, after tormenting him both publicly and privately—and it worked.

The American public still doesn’t know in any detail what Andrew McCabe, who was dismissed late Friday night, is supposed to have done. But citizens can see exactly what Donald Trump did to McCabe. And the president’s actions are corroding the independence that a healthy constitutional democracy needs in its law enforcement and intelligence apparatus.

McCabe’s firing is part of a pattern. It follows the summary removal of the previous FBI director and comes amid Trump’s repeated threats to fire the attorney general, the deputy attorney, and the special counsel who is investigating him and his associates. McCabe’s ouster unfolded against a chaotic political backdrop which includes Trump’s repeated calls for investigations of his political opponents, demands of loyalty from senior law enforcement officials, and declarations that the job of those officials is to protect him from investigation.

All of which has led many observers to wonder: Are we in the midst of a constitutional crisis? And if so, would we even know?

Apparently Jurecic and Wittes haven't gotten that memo: We've been in crisis mode ever since before November 9 2016, probably about DEFCON 2 levels when McConnell refused to let Obama go public with the early findings by SEPTEMBER 2016 that trump was in bed (literally) with Putin and the Russian mob.

What trump is attempting to do now is squash all those revelations and end all investigations into his Russian ties so he can keep lying about how he's the greatest winner of all time (dare not ruin his bullshit with the facts that he cheated with help from a corrupt foreign power).

I can argue when our nation is in a Constitution Crisis when certain things are happening - The lead-up to Civil War in the 1850s for example, or the turmoil of the 1960s (Civil Rights protests, Vietnam, shifts in demographic power) leading into Nixon/Watergate - based on these clues:

1. There is a branch of federal government under the control of a corrupt regime (trump, following in the footsteps of previous corrupt regimes like Nixon's, Harding's, Grant's, etc.).
2. There is a branch of federal government that refuses to respond to their Constitutional duties to oversee other branches for ethical failings (Republican-controlled Congress refusing to hold trump accountable for ANYTHING not just his Russian ties but his flagrant violations of the Emoluments Clause).
3. There is a section of the population that becomes intently partisan to the point that they cannot accept facts or moderation of their stances (damn you, Breitbart/Fox Not-News).
4. Things are batshit crazy (we are reduced to living hour by hour upon trump's constant insane Tweeting).

Jurecic and Wittes prefer getting expert input on this, so lets see what they found:

Whittington instead proposed thinking about constitutional crises as “circumstances in which the constitutional order itself is failing.” In his view, such a crisis could take two forms. There are “operational crises,” in which constitutional rules don’t tell us how to resolve a political dispute; and there are “crises of fidelity,” in which the rules do tell us what to do but aren’t being followed. The latter is probably closest to the common understanding of constitutional crisis—something along the lines of President Andrew Jackson’s famous (if apocryphal) rejoinder to the Supreme Court, “[Justice] John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Or, to point to an example proposed recently by Whittington himself, such a crisis would result if congressional Republicans failed to hold Trump accountable for firing Mueller.

The constitutional scholars Sanford Levinson and Jack Balkin more or less agree with Whittington’s typology, but add a third category of crisis: situations in which the Constitution fails to constrain political disputes within the realm of normalcy. In these cases, each party involved argues that they are acting constitutionally, while their opponent is not. If examples of the crises described by Whittington are relatively far and few between—if they exist at all—Levinson and Balkin view crises of interpretation as comparatively common. One notable example: the battle over secession that began the Civil War...

...Whittington, Levinson and Balkin all agree that the notion of a constitutional crisis implies some acute episode—a clear tipping point that tests the legal and constitutional order. But how do we know this presidency isn’t just an example of the voters picking a terrible leader who then leads terribly? At what point does a bad president doing bad things become a problem of constitutional magnitude, let alone a crisis of constitutional magnitude?

This will be the tipping point: When trump fires or shuts down Mueller's ongoing criminal investigation into Russia's involvement with our elections, Russia's ties to trump, and trump's acts of Obstruction.

With that move, trump will prove he doesn't care about the Rule of Law, the procedural system we have in our Judiciary to uphold laws that apply to everyone (including Presidents). We've had special counsel investigations into Presidential and electoral activities before, and none of them - save Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre - were so openly blocked. It's interesting to note that Nixon's "massacre" only made things worse for him in public opinion: but what mattered was a Democratic-controlled Congress that became livid when Nixon interfered in a legal prosecutorial investigation like that.

The crisis this time will turn on whether Congress - run by Republicans terrified both of their rabid pro-trump voting base AND of their rabid billionaire SuperPAC funders - will step up to hold trump to account. The current odds say no... meaning it would all be up to general voters in the November 2018 midterms to step up and vote EVERY CORRUPT AND COWARDLY REPUBLICAN OUT OF OFFICE.

That is, if Putin lets us have free and honest elections this time. Considering how Putin runs his own elections (ah, he's corrupting one now) I doubt it.

We are so very royally fucked.

Off-Topic: PI DAY

March 14th translates to 3.14 which are the first three numbers in pi, an irrational number that in theory goes on forever because it defines the curvature of a circle, which has no corner, meaning it keeps getting smoother and smoother and smoother but never stopping as you zoom into the infinite of nanospace and...

ahem. I'll start over.

It's Pi Day.

MMMMMMMMM PI.

Acts of War

This morning has been all abuzz over the firing of Rex Tillerson, Worst Secretary of State (via the Atlantic).

Tillerson was, as is now recognized even by those who put him there, a disaster. As with most spectacular Washington flame-outs, his failures stem not from stupidity or general incompetence, but from a specific set of disabilities... He was a debacle, pure and simple, the worst secretary of state in living memory (and there has been serious competition) not because of ineptitude, but because of the semi-intentional demolition job he was doing on his own department even as he fell out of presidential favor...

But WHY did Tillerson fall out of Presidential favor? Was it just the "trump's a moron" moment of candid talk? Was it that Tillerson wasn't working fast enough to dismantle the entire State Department?

No, Tillerson finally fell out of favor because he did the one thing trump will never allow: Tillerson accused the Russians of being naughty. Back to the Atlantic and to David Frum:

The White House’s account of the Tillerson firing collapsed within minutes... Senior administration officials told outlets including The Washington Post and CNN that Tillerson had been told he would be dismissed on Friday, March 9... Within the hour, the State Department issued a statement insisting that Tillerson “had every intention of remaining” and “did not speak to the President this morning and is unaware of the reason.” (as a side note Frum hadn't mentioned, but trump went and first the State Department aide who contradicted the White House's timeline on the firing)

...A lot turns on that timing. On March 12, Tillerson had backed the British government’s accusation that Russia was culpable for a nerve-agent attack on United Kingdom soil. If Tillerson had been fired March 9, then his words of support for Britain could not explain his firing three days before. But if the White House was lying about the timing, it could be lying about the motive.

And since it now seems all but certain that the White House was lying about the timing, it looks more probable that it was lying about the motive too...

What Frum is getting at: trump fired Tillerson because trump didn't want Russia accused of anything.

The backstory: There was a recent attack on an ex-Russian spy who just happened to be someone who was a likely source for the Steele Dossier, which just happened to catalog a lot of unsavory connections between trump, the Russian mob, and Putin. That attack, using a Russian-type nerve agent, has placed that agent Sergi Skripal and his daughter Yulia at death's door AND caused serious health concerns to the police and local civilians who were in contact with the victims and the possible attack site(s).

As a result, Prime Minister May has directly challenged Russia to answer for the attack within the next two-three days, and openly called on allies - ahem, the U.S. - to join in her condemnation of Russia's violation of British sovereignty.

trump's answer: Nothing. At least this morning, when he gave this tepid response that Frum found insulting:

That suspicion was accelerated by the president’s words to the White House press corps before stepping aboard Marine One:

“As soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be.”

That is not support for Britain. It is the direct opposite.

Britain and the United States share intelligence information fully, freely, and seamlessly. It’s inconceivable that the U.S. government has not already seen all the information that Theresa May saw before she rose in the House of Commons to accuse Russia.

If the U.S. government had a serious concern about the reliability of that information, it would have expressed that concern directly and privately to the U.K. government before May spoke. But the U.S. had no such concern—that’s why the now-fired secretary of state and the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom both endorsed May’s words. When Trump raises doubts about the facts, about American agreement with its British ally, about the accuracy of the British accusation against Russia, Trump is not expressing good-faith uncertainty about imperfect information. Trump is rejecting the consensus view of the U.K. and U.S. intelligence communities about an act of Russian aggression—and, if his past behavior is any indication, preparing the way for his own determination to do nothing...

trump doesn't want to act - much in the same reason he doesn't want to enforce the Congressional sanctions just passed last year, much in the same reason he will never speak ill of Putin - because it is clear now trump owes Russia his entire current status and (presumed) wealth.

All of the financial history being uncovered of trump's business ties, and possible money laundering, and personal subservience to people who may have blackmailed/extorted trump into their puppet. It all explains trump's refusal to pick a side in the growing war between Putin and Western democracies.

Look at what Putin is doing: there is case after case of Russian hacking and social media interference in election after election, and he is not stopping. Putin wants to weaken every NATO nation he can to make way for him to reclaim Russian dominance in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. He wants all sanctions against him and his criminal cronies lifted. He wants to silence all critics using the Stalin Method of "No Man No Problem": the body count has been noticed for years, and the smug SOB just pulled ANOTHER possible assassination on another Russian on British soil this afternoon.

Putin wants to fuck the rest of the world.

And trump is willing to help him do it.

What Putin is doing, and wants to keep doing, violates multiple nations' sovereign rights, and threaten their very existences. He may not be sending in tanks and troops, but he IS attacking these nations through one of the very things that should be held sacrosanct: their right and power to vote for their own leaders.

Putin is at war with the rest of the world. When the hell is the rest of the world going to do something about it?

Because trump's made it clear he's not doing a damn thing to stop Putin.

the damn traitor.

Intelligence Versus Interference

Earlier today, the House Intelligence Committee wrapped up in as loosely a form as possible their "investigation" into the likelihood that Russia tampered with our 2016 elections, that Russia worked with trump's campaign, and that Russia pretty much owns trump and the Republican Party at this point.

Essentially, they found "no collusion" and then tied blindfolds around their own eyes, stuck their fingers into their ears, and started singing loudly and off-key LALALALALAA in order to pretend they didn't see or hear anything.

As Adam L. Silverman notes over at Balloon-Juice, this is all kinda BS:

...The one page summary is as well written as the infamous Nunes memo and the Republican members of the committee can’t keep their talking points, let alone their stories, straight in their news media appearances trying to explain what they’ve done, why they did it, and what it means. There is a simple reason for this, which is that several pieces of information regarding what Special Counselor Mueller is doing have broken since the end of last week and over the weekend. And it clearly spooked them...

Silverman proceeds to highlight each development of Mueller's investigation - go to that link and read his stuff, please and thank you, and concludes:

...They are clearly scared and felt the need to change the narrative. This won’t stop Special Counsel Mueller and his investigation. It will, however, provide the Fox News talking heads, the talk radio folks, the Republicans and conservatives on contributor contracts for the broadcast and cable news networks, conservative media outlets ranging from the mainstream (whatever that means anymore) all the way out to the extreme, authoritarian right with a new narrative to pitch. That Congress found no collusion, so it is well passed time for Bob Mueller to wrap it up...

Nunes and his Congressional buddies are trying to give trump the excuse to force the FBI and the DOJ to shut down their own investigation. Not because Mueller and his team are wasting money, or pursuing any political agenda. It's because Mueller is getting close to uncovering enough proof that can stand up in court that trump is guilty at the very least on Obstruction, which would place Republicans in Congress on the hook for pursuing that as required by their Oaths of office to uphold and defend the Constitution. Which is something Republicans do not want to do.

What is happening here are two elements of our current political dilemma.

We have a civil service running our National Security / Intelligence Community who have come across a long-running effort (since 2014 as publicly confirmed) by a foreign power (Russia) to meddle in our nation's electoral process, and to help a useful ally in trump into the White House to serve Russia's interests (above all ending Obama-issued sanctions). These are the ones who kept insisting on a full investigation leading up to Mueller's appointment as Special Counsel, and are the ones bringing before grand juries more proof of Russian ties to select trump campaign members.

But we also have a political party (Republicans) in control of all three major branches of Federal Government, who have garnered their majority controls despite the fact they're a minority (that is, fewer people voted for) party keeping control through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and questionable tactics. The Republicans do not want any investigating because the facts will disrupt their grand Narrative that they won on the merits. They also don't want to get forced to decide on the facts to go directly against trump, because their angry voter base is clearly on trump's side and will shred them in these upcoming Midterms.

In short, where Mueller is working with intelligence in his investigations, the Republican Congress preferred to run interference and cover their own party's collective (and trump-owned) ass.

How is this going to play out?

Right now, trump has a weapon he can use to justify going after Deputy AG Rosenstein and shut down Mueller before his grand juries can indict more of trump's people (including his own family and himself).

But trump does so at the risk of alienating the entire Federal government tasked with our nation's protection. Every Intel agency from the FBI to the CIA and the NSA (about 17 in all) are going to know trump is only doing this to cover his own ass, because they're already finding that Russia did mess with our elections and that trump profits from dealing with Russia in ways that would point to money laundering, fraud, and mayhaps treason. Our nation's Intel people have already found evidence for grand juries to indict the likes of Manafort and Gates (enough to get Gates to flip and plead out).

What do you think the FBI and CIA and NSA and the other Intel people are going to do if the main suspect in their ongoing investigations tries to shut down said investigations?

Any argument trump and his enablers dream up - and some they've already floated, that there's a conspiracy among the Intelligence Community to get revenge in Hillary or Obama's name - would run into the simple proof that most agents and investigators are sworn to their jobs, not to any party affiliation (granted, there are exceptions but they are few). If an FBI agent is investigating the activities of a Russian hacker, then that agent is going to dig as far as he can to find enough evidence to make arrests or otherwise stop the hacker's criminal acts. If the CIA is getting intel from friendly nations like the Dutch that Russia is hacking into our shit, they are going to treat that intel seriously.

If there is any bias in this story, it's entirely on the side of the Republicans who do not want evidence that their "great victories and moral leadership" are all propped up by Russian-backed crimes.

If the Republicans think they can silence our entire Intelligence branch of Federal government, they are going to end up crushing a vital part of our government: the part that's working 24/7 to stop the next terror strike, the part that's trying to prevent foreign powers from corrupting or destroying our nation.

Today's move proves that the Republican Party will rather protect trump and his Russian puppetmaster instead of standing for the United States.

Not an intelligent move at all.

This Was Just Tuesday

So everyone was catching their breath after Monday's Meltdown of trump acolyte Sam "Hold My Beer" Nunberg. I mean, the craziness was all burned out by just that one whacko evening, right?

This was the Tuesday we had today:

• trump himself starts off the day by tweeting "There is no Chaos, only great Energy!" in response to the growing media concern that his administration is about to see a tidal wave of fleeing staffers.
• The Office of Special Counsel found that Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act - at least twice - when she spoke about last year's special election in Alabama. Thing is, any punishment for her action is addressed by trump himself, who may not be in a mood to suspend one of the few loyal staffers he's got left.
• Recent subpoena activity from Mueller's investigation revealed that his team detained a prominent United Arab Emirate advisor George Nader, who had a role in a key meeting between trump partners and Russian agents on the Seychelles Islands in January 2017. Whatever happened in that meeting could go towards proving trump and Russia had "arrangements" involving his presidency.
• Economic advisor Gary Cohn - one of the few administration figures still respected in the Beltway - is resigning over trump's impulsive push for steel and aluminum tariffs that will likely trigger a trade war.
• and the night is ending with reports that Stormy Daniels - the porn star who reportedly had an extramarital affair with trump just as Melania was giving birth to trump's son - is suing trump and trump's go-between (soon-to-be-disbarred lawyer Michael Cohen) to break the Nondisclosure Agreement simply because trump never signed it himself, and Stormy wants to sell a book covering their affair. The cherry on top is finding out trump's fake names he used to hide his involvement (David Dennison? DENNISON?! What the hell was wrong with "Ace Hardsteele"???)

This was just Tuesday.

To every Republican and trump Voter out there:

You were told. You were warned. There were signs everywhere that trump was a chaotic, uncontrollable sleazebucket. trump himself flew up huge red flags about his behavior and intentions.

And you suckers still voted for this. You're still defending this. All because you honestly thought Hillary was going to be WORSE?!

You honestly thought Hillary was going to be more corrupt. Can you honestly point to one thing that Hillary was actually found guilty of that would have suggested she was going to violate every ethical rule in the US Code?

You honestly thought Hillary was going to be a terrible boss. Was there ANY sign that Hillary was going to hire incompetent, unqualified people to key Cabinet and West Wing positions the way trump has? Did you expect Hillary was going to run a White House THIS CHAOTIC and understaffed and stressed out?

You honestly thought having Hillary in the White House was going to make us an international laughing stock? When you consider how trump is now viewed by even our own allies as untrustworthy and ill-informed on global and economic matters?

You all bought into trump because he promised you Heaven. Now you're finding out what every business partner trump had the last 40 years found out: The sonofabitch is a con artist who will bankrupt your ass in order to keep himself wealthy enough to pull his next scam.

You bought this bullshit. But we're all paying the goddamn bill for this.

And this was just Tuesday.

Gods help us.

More Schadenfreude This Week: Pharma Bro And the Wu Tang

A news blurb I missed while there was a very public meltdown of a tangential figure in the trump-Russia scandal: One of the most evil men in the world - "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, who intentionally raised prices on rare meds - was facing his sentencing on earlier (unrelated) Securities fraud convictions during which... well, read the Verge article:

A federal court is forcing Martin Shkreli to hand over the Wu-Tang album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin to the government. Shkreli, a pharmaceuticals CEO who earned the nickname “Pharma Bro” for cavalierly hiking the price of an HIV treatment, was convicted of securities fraud in August 2017.

Though he has yet to be sentenced, a judge ruled today that Shkreli must forfeit $7.36 million, part of which will come from boring assets that no one cares about, like an E-trade brokerage account, a Picasso painting, and an unreleased Lil Wayne album. More importantly, he will be giving up the Wu-Tang album, which he bought at auction in 2014 for $2 million, which was, according to a 2015 statement by Wu-Tang’s RZA, “well before Martin Shrkeli’s [sic] business practices came to light.”

Priorities, people. Wu Tang ain't nuthin to fuck with.

When word got out in 2014 that Shkreli bought the unique album, it caused massive emotional turmoil across the cultural spectrum. It got so bad that a rumor got started that the album could only be rescued by a "morals clause" that would allow the Wu Tang members AND Bill Murray to pull off a heist to steal it back legally. While the story proved false, people wanted to see that happen, so much that an awesome movie could have been made about it:

When Pharma Bro got arrested on the fraud charges, the first thing every reporter asked was "did the feds rescue, uh seize the Wu Tang album?"

Well, now the judge is letting them.

The fate of Once Upon... is still up in the air, however:

By the terms of the sale, whoever owns the sole copy can legally do whatever they want with it, aside from releasing it commercially; there’s an 88-year ban on that. So the owner could hold exclusive listening parties or even release the album for free. It’s not clear whether the terms of the original purchase agreement can bind the government or any future buyer. Shkreli claimed to have already sold the album in September, but the buyer hasn’t stepped forward and it’s pretty unclear whether there was a hand-off. The government doesn’t care. It will take either the album or any proceeds.

Don’t expect anyone to be able to get the album through an FOIA or another kind of information request because that’s not how it works. It will likely be auctioned to the highest bidder, right next to all the yachts and Porsches and Rolexes seized from less-hated crime-doers...

One argument I would make is making the album a cataloged item in the Library of Congress, and then release it as downloadable MP3 free - remember, can't sell it - tracks off the LC website. Guarantee it will be the busiest our nation's catalog will ever get.

Pity is, we won't get that heist movie after all.

Schadenfreude Panama Style (SUCK IT trump)

I don't have the complete story on what's happening in Panama, but a hotel down there that had gotten trump's name on it has been in one hell of a fight trying to get trump evicted altogether from the place. THAT'S how toxic that Shitgibbon has become.

Here we go: Found some details...

More than a dozen police wearing bulletproof vests entered the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Panama on Monday morning and evicted the Trump Organization’s staff, a move that comes after weeks of simmering tensions over control of the property.

The Trump Organization manages the hotel in the 70-story tower overlooking the Punta Pacifica Peninsula and the new majority owner had gone to court in the U.S. and Panama to evict the company run by President Donald Trump’s sons. There were scuffles as police arrived to carry out the eviction, and Panamanian court officials were present...

The Trump Organization in court filings called the effort a “design to wrongfully seize control over the hotel property.”

 “Rather than abide by the clear terms of the agreement he had signed, Mr. Fintiklis had been conspiring with others to remove Trump Hotels as manager and fire most, if not all, of its loyal and dedicated employees,” the Trump Organization said in a statement to the press. “Looking back, it is now apparent that Mr. Fintiklis, in flagrant violation of the commitments he had made, never had any intention of keeping his word and had been plotting a takeover and termination of Trump Hotels all along.”

Fintiklis has argued in documents filed in a U.S. court in Florida that the Trump Organization had mismanaged the property, causing occupancy levels “to collapse” and expenses to “bloat.”

“Operators gross incompetence and deficient sales organization stands in the way of [the] owner making any profit on its investment, all the while lining the [Trump Organization’s] pockets,” he alleged in a court filing.

Given trump's poor business history, I think Fintiklis is the more believable side of this fight.

There's been earlier reports that a lot of trump properties - save for the one in Washington DC where foreign agents book in order to curry favor with trump's administration - are going under because everyone else refuses to do business in those properties, use them for hotel stays, or any other activity.

I'm not surprised this is happening. I just hoped it was going to happen sooner.

A lot of places with trump's brand name all over it are going to be toxic, because nobody wants to get slimed by his toxic identity. We're going to see a lot of this kind of video clip via ABC News on Twitter:



OOOOOHHHHHHHHH THIS IS SOME TASTY TASTY SCHADENFREUDE.

In case of a trade war, I hope all the other nations do this to trump-owned properties.