Category Archives: The Darnold

Nov 22 2021
1 Comment
Adrastos, Art, Diary, Malakatude, Political Crack, The Darnold

Malaka Of The Week: Lena Ruseva

Convicted felon Bernie Kerik with MAGA artist Lena Ruseva.

Little known fact about me:  I was an art history minor as an undergrad. I know what you’re thinking: how practical. It’s come in quite handy over the years.  I learned to tell the difference between good art and kitschy crap. All the MAGA art I’ve seen fits into the kitschy-n-crappy category. And that is why Lena Ruseva is malaka of the week.

I was blissfully ignorant of Ms. Ruseva’s existence until TPM’s Josh Kovensky wrote a piece about this exhibit:

Notice something odd about this MAGA art exhibit? There was an admission charge. Usually when an unknown artist has an exhibit, it’s not only free but a gallery sponsors it hoping to make money on sales.

Malaka Ruseva lives up to her Parallel Universe shtick by not posting the location on the event poster. It was eventually staged at the Metropolitan Republican Club. I neither know nor want to know its address.

The featured image features Bernie Kerik, Ruseva, and a painting that depicts Trump as Jehovah running Adam/Joe and Eve/Kamala out of paradise. Who knew that the White House was paradise? Harry Truman used to call it “the crown jewel in the federal prison system.”

Convicted felon and Giuliani lackey Bernie Kerik believes there’s a plot against Ruseva’s art:

He said that he came to support Ruseva because he believed that New York City’s art galleries had unfairly cancelled her. She “shouldn’t have gone to three or four different venues, she shouldn’t have been thrown out of different venues because of her opinions, because of her art,” Kerik told the crowd, according to a clip posted on YouTube.

Allow me to hazard a guess as to what really happened: She was “thrown out” because her art is rotten. I would say that Ruseva’s art is on the same level as those who paint velvet Elvi or dogs playing cards, but I don’t want to hurt their feelings. I don’t mind hurting Malaka Ruseva’s feelings since she’s either a demented Trumper or a con artist.

Kerik wasn’t the only Willard Hotel coup plotter at the Parallel Universe exhibit. Boris Epshteyn was there as well:

What is it with Russian emigres and former President* Pennywise? I realize that Russians like strong men, but Trump only plays one on television. In real life, he’s a pussy. He should grab himself.

Before boarding the Trump Crazy Train, Malaka Ruseva specialized in animals smoking cigars. I am not making this up. Here’s an example of what she calls her smoking beasts collection:

A fellow member of the lunatic fringe tweeted a compendium of Ruseva’s Trump collection:

She missed one of the weirdest Trump images:

Where’s the teevee and the smart phone? I don’t think the Kaiser of Chaos meditates. It takes focus and concentration, qualities he lacks.

Malaka Ruseva’s oeuvre isn’t without wit:

I bet that’s going to turn up on a few Trumper Christmas cards. It’s like Bad Santa all over again. I’d take Billy Bob Thornton over the Kaiser of Chaos any day.

If you’re like me and can’t get enough unintentional comedy. click here. I laughed, I cried, I nearly hurled.

Lena Ruseva fancies herself as a MAGA renaissance woman: painter, buxom blonde biker chick, interior designer, cigar aficionado. It’s unclear if her Trumpism is a marketing ploy or based on sincerely held beliefs. She’s clearly the maker of bad art celebrating a bad man with bad taste. And that is why Lena Ruseva is malaka of the week.

The last word goes to Asia:

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Nov 17 2021
2 Comments
Adrastos, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold

Quote Of The Day: Manly Man Josh Hawley Edition

I’ve been meaning to take a poke at Manly Man Josh Hawley’s attempt to open a new front in the culture war. The time is nigh:

“The left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic. They want to define the traditional masculine virtues … as a danger to society. Can we be surprised that after years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness and pornography and video games?”

There’s an enclave of idleness? I bet that’s where the Impeached Insult Comedian can be found when he’s not golfing, chasing porn stars, or shooting off his mouth.

Ironies abound in this pro-manhood salvo fired by a preppie who attended Stanford and Harvard Law.  Hawley is not exactly the spitting image of “traditional masculine virtues.”

I bet Hawley thinks John Wayne was like the characters he played onscreen instead of a careerist who dodged the draft and was afraid of horses. I am not making this up, but Hawley makes up a lot of stuff. He only fights with his mouth.

Hawley’s discussion of manly manhood reminds me of a piece that Tom Nichols wrote for the Atlantic last year, Donald Trump, the Most Unmanly President:

But since his first day as a presidential candidate, I have been baffled by one mystery in particular: Why do working-class white men—the most reliable component of Donald Trump’s base—support someone who is, by their own standards, the least masculine man ever to hold the modern presidency? The question is not whether Trump fails to meet some archaic or idealized version of masculinity. The president’s inability to measure up to Marcus Aurelius or Omar Bradley is not the issue. Rather, the question is why so many of Trump’s working-class white male voters refuse to hold Trump to their own standards of masculinity—why they support a man who behaves more like a little boy.

I am a son of the working class, and I know these cultural standards. The men I grew up with think of themselves as pretty tough guys, and most of them are. They are not the products of elite universities and cosmopolitan living. These are men whose fathers and grandfathers came from a culture that looks down upon lying, cheating, and bragging, especially about sex or courage.

The answer is that the Republican brand in 2021 is hypocrisy. They claim to be conservatives yet support or minimize the Dipshit Insurrection, which was the worst attack on our constitutional republic in history. They claim to revere the military yet support a man who defames the honored dead as suckers and losers. They’re radicals, not conservatives.

As to Josh Hawley’s manly man shtick, like everything else in history, it’s nothing new. Remember the ridiculous men’s movement of the 1990’s? It led to dudes gathering around fire pits and beating drums like fake Native Americans. Oy, just oy.

Real men treat others with respect.

Real men believe women can do anything men can do; usually better.

Real men don’t parade around with guns.

Real men don’t lie or brag about sex or courage.

Trumpers like Josh Hawley and his ilk are little boys pretending to be manly men. They make me sick.

The last word goes to Todd Rundgren:

Nov 08 2021
4 Comments
COVID-19, Free Republic, Lost Cause, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “Burger King of Kings” edition

Ok -good people – every so often, threads start up that even the Freeperati can’t stand.

Bear in mind that when the Qberts first appeared on the scene, they were hassled by some of the Freepers to the extent that Jim Rob took action.

And by “took action”, I don’t mean mass bannings like the Romney Purge, or forbidding any “Q” posts, I mean he gave them their own threads! And warned other Freepers about posting derogatory replies in them.

Yep. He gave them their very own “safe space” and cancel cultured any dissent in it.

Until now, anyway : (composite of two threads)

 

Hundreds of QAnon Fans Are Going to Texas to See JFK Return. No, Seriously.
Vice ^ | 11/2/2021 | Vice

Posted on 11/3/2021, 1:31:23 PM by TexasGurl24

Hundreds of QAnon supporters are currently traveling from all across the U.S. to Dallas, where they expect to see John F. Kennedy suddenly reappear on Tuesday night and ordain former President Donald Trump as the “king of kings.”

Some QAnon followers were so eager to secure their place for the return of JFK that on Monday night hundreds of them gathered in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was shot in 1963, waiting for the latest QAnon conspiracy theory to come true.

1 posted on 11/3/2021, 1:31:23 PM by TexasGurl24
Have we finally crossed the “Too stupid even for Freepers” line?
To: TexasGurl24
This could be the stupidest thing ever since the internet was invented.

No, that would be Free Republic,  Carry on.

Very reminiscent of the end-of-the-world cults. Bound to be disappointed.

2 posted on 11/3/2021, 1:32:47 PM by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)

Let’s get back to the money line in the lede :  “ordain former President Donald Trump as the “king of kings.”
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Must…post…..meme…….can’t…….help……myself…….
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To: TexasGurl24
I seriously doubt this is s true Qtards are not that stupid.
3 posted on 11/3/2021, 1:33:19 PM by Fai Mao (I don’t think we have enough telephone poles., )
Followed by :
To: Fai Mao
You might lose that bet. This was the picture from yesterday on Dallas
21 posted on 11/3/2021, 1:44:14 PM by The MAGA-Deplorian ( Democrats are lawless because Republicans are ball-less! )
Oops.
One Freeper replied that the four people in the above pic were the only ones there.
I beg to differ :
.
.
To: Fai Mao
I seriously doubt this is s true Qtards are not that stupid.
Sure they are. Have you never visited one of their threads right here on FR? Talk about a buncha kooks. I believe this wholeheartedly.
36 posted on 11/3/2021, 1:58:02 PM by dware (Americans prefer peaceful slavery over dangerous freedom)
Let’s take a look at one, shall we?  Obviously a minority fringe of Freeperville with only………..
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only……..
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1,433 replies.
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Yowza!
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This, by the way, this statement is at the very top of all official Jim Rob sanctioned “Q – trust the plan” threads:

“Do not enter onto a thread on a topic you don’t like just to disrupt, rattle cages, poke sticks, insult the regulars, or engage in trolling activities, etc.” ~ Jim Robinson

Ok – back to the “King of Kings”/ Dead Kennedys thread, where the Qberts finally show up to bash the non-believers.

.

Right after this word from our sponsors…

 

Continue reading →

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Nov 01 2021
2 Comments
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, COVID-19, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media, The Darnold

The DeSantis Delusion

Image by Michael F.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been called Trump’s Mini-Me so many times that it’s become a cliché. I try to avoid clichés, so I’ll skip the Austin Powers/Dr. Evil shtick. Like most clichés, it’s stuck because there’s some truth to it. Ron DeSantis rose to power by attaching himself to the Impeached Insult Comedian like a tapeworm. A gross image but true. At least it’s not a cliché.

I feel an early musical interlude coming on:

Unlike Todd Rundgren, Ron DeSantis is neither a wizard nor a true star, but many in the media think he is. One of the worst, indeed Trumpiest, governors in the country is being touted by some as presidential timber. Cue woodworm jokes.

Despite his disastrous performance during the pandemic, the DeSantis Delusion has been spreading like a viral infection. The worst example of this infection comes from a recent article at The Atlantic by a usually sensible pundit, Conor Friedersdorf hereinafter Con Fried. The title is scarier than any horror movie: Why Never Trumpers Should Bet on DeSantis Now.

DeSantis frustrates and disappoints me within normal parameters. He hasn’t yet frightened me, as Trump does, as being superlatively incompetent, divisive, morally degenerate, or authoritarian. As MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough put it last June, when COVID-19 numbers were failing and DeSantis was peaking in the polls, “We’re going from the political heroin to the political methadone.” However bleak the analogy, that’s a significant step toward recovery!

Say what?

DeSantis is the guy who cooked the Florida COVID books by firing the person in charge of compiling the numbers.

DeSantis is the guy who recently encouraged anti-vaxxer coppers (try saying that 5 times in a row) to come to Florida to spread the Delta variant.

Those are just two of many harebrained Trumpier than Trump schemes launched by the Florida Man.

My colleague Michael F wrote a post last June about one of DeSantis’ cockamamie/Trumpy schemes. The featured image comes from that post. I only steal from the best.

To be blunt, are you out of your fucking mind, Con Fried? I’m familiar with the non-Mini-Me clichés about the lesser of two evils and desperate times calling for desperate measures, but Ron Fucking DeSantis? Really, Con Fried? Is this for real or just contrarianism run amuck?

I realize that Never Trumpers are grasping at straws to remove the Kaiser of Chaos from the political equation but Ron Fucking DeSantis? Gimme a break.

I agree with New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait who recently wrote about the DeSantis Delusion:

Ron DeSantis is the patron saint of a segment of the conservative Establishment that has made its peace with Donald Trump largely by pretending he does not exist. DeSantis has followed their strategy of ignoring Trump’s lies and authoritarianism while cultivating his followers with more refined attacks on their shared enemies.

Ironically, however, DeSantis has moved far enough to the extreme that they have now been forced into the position of applying the same method to DeSantis that they used for Trump. They have constructed an imaginary version of DeSantis, lavishing praise upon the “Ron DeSantis” they created who shares all the positive qualities of the real-life politician of the same name, with none of his glaring flaws.

Isn’t it bad enough that the Republican establishment has a bad case of the DeSantis Delusion without spreading it to the Never Trumpers?

I’ve already compared the DeSantis Delusion to a viral infection, this perfects that analogy. I also like Chait’s Imaginary Friend imagery. It beats the hell outta the Mini-Me cliché. That cliché, however, is one reason why former President* Pennywise has come to hate DeSantis. He views him as a threat. I’m skeptical that he’s a real, as opposed to an imaginary, threat.

The scenario laid out by Con Fried and others in the throes of the DeSantis Delusion has two flaws:

First, DeSantis is up for reelection in 2022. He’ll need to win by a substantial margin to be a viable presidential contender.

Second, I doubt that DeSantis has the balls to challenge Trump in 2024. The entire Republican party has been spayed and neutered by 5 years of subservience to the Former Guy. DeSantis will only run if the Impeached Insult Comedian does not.

Con Fried has another delusion: that the Never Trumpers will act. Thus far, they’re all talk with a few teevee ads sprinkled in. It’s hard to imagine them mounting an effective challenge to Trump or forming a third party to siphon votes away from the GOP in 2024. Besides, third party talk is for losers and the deluded.

The DeSantis Delusion is just another symptom of the MAGA disease that’s infected our body politic. Con Fried and the Never Trumpers are like kids playing with fire. They’re the ones most likely to get burned by the beast that has destroyed conservatism as we knew it. What’s next? A Hawley, Cotton, or Cruz Delusion? Oy just oy.

The last word goes to Crowded House:

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Nov 01 2021
2 Comments
COVID-19, Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “I love the poorly educated” edition

Oh deary dear dear dear.

Every time – I mean, EVERY TIME I think the stupid over at Freeperville can’t get any worse, they surprise me by flooding the room.

The U.S. Postal Service began changing first-class mail delivery time frames in October.
19 October 2021 | Vanity

Posted on 10/20/2021, 12:40:01 AM by zeestephen

“This change may result in mailed statements, new or replacement cards, and payments you mail, taking longer to arrive.” – I received this message in my online bank account this evening. I have a different account that is required to mail me a monthly hard copy. Five years ago, that statement would arrive before the 10th. More recently, around the 15th. This month, already the 20th, and still no statement. Let’s Go, Brandon!

1 posted on 10/20/2021, 12:40:01 AM by zeestephen
This should be good. Since this is being caused by The Darnold’s very own appointment Louis DeLoveless, the Freeperati have two choices here:
1. Proclaim it as a good thing, since it’s another step in the dismantling and destruction of the hated USPS.
2. Proclaim it as “fake news”, as neither The Darnold nor his appointees can do any wrong.
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Let’s replace screwy Louis with Folger’s crystals and see what happens.
To: zeestephen
The Brandon administration is just AWESOME!!

2 posted on 10/20/2021, 1:16:10 AM by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter – the Chink in America’s defenses)

Oh – and because you’re reading this and pay attention to all that weird politicking stuff, you already know what the “Let’s go, Brandon” trope is all about.
But somehow, it hasn’t penetrated all the gutters and glory holes of Freeperville yet :
To: zeestephen

Who the Hell is Brandon?

14 posted on 10/20/2021, 7:39:15 AM by BuffaloJack (Socialism always ends in concentration camps and murder.)

To: BuffaloJack
LOL you need educated.

 

“You need educated”.

Maybe he can tag along with you to Remedial English class?

just look up “let’s go Brandon”

17 posted on 10/20/2021, 8:16:48 AM by RebelTXRose (Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us! PRAY THE ROSARY!)

Let’s don’t and say we did.
Anywhoo, back to the attempt to depict Louis De Idiot as President Biden’s appointee :
To: telescope115

The elites are raising their expectations—it is the masses that will need to learn to obey and lower their expectations.

Think of it as “progressive” policies in action…

18 posted on 10/20/2021, 8:20:42 AM by cgbg (A kleptocracy–if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)

More stupid after the station break –

Continue reading →

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Oct 28 2021
2 Comments
Adrastos, Diary, Dipshit Insurrection, Legal Docket, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media, Television, The Darnold

The Threat Set

During the Trump regime my cable news habit was out of control. Teevee news has a visceral impact on viewers, and I felt it all too often. The only MSNBC show I watch regularly now is The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell who I recently called the last sane person on cable news. Lawrence is a calm and cerebral host who’s there to feed your brain, not your gut.

I’ve noticed lately how many stories involve threats, mostly of violence. It’s particularly dangerous to be an election official, a school board member, or a federal judge right now. There are so many threats that it’s hard to discern credible ones. This is some serious shit.

One of my specialties as a pundit is handing out nicknames. I’m running the phrase the Threat Set up the flagpole to see who salutes it. Not really. I tend to throw nicknames against the wall and see which ones stick. I think this one will stick because it evokes the Jet Set. The Impeached Insult Comedian, with his private plane and past patronage of Studio 54, qualifies as a member of the Jet Set. Few of his supporters do.

Back to the matter at hand. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said this about the Threat Set when she testified before the Senate Rules Committee this week:

“Two weeks after the election, armed protesters gathered outside my home and chanted, Katie, come out and play. We`re watching you.

I never expected that holding this office would result in far right trolls threatening my children, threatening my husband`s employment at a children`s hospital or calling my office, saying I deserve to die and asking, what is she wearing today? So she`ll be easy to get.

But what concerns me is near constant harassment faced by the private servants who administer our elections. We`re seeing high turnover among election staff and I fear that many more will reach a breaking point and decide that this line of public service is no longer worth it.”

As a woman, Hobbs is subjected to gross forms of harassment. The “Katie come out to play” thing sounds like something out of a Steven King novel. It’s something that this guy might say:

Image by Michael F.

Federal judges handling Dipshit Insurrection cases are feeling the heat as well:

A district judge said on Friday that defendants in Jan. 6 cases who push the conspiracy theory that the election was stolen are inciting threats to judges presiding over insurrection cases.

D.C. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said that he and other judges involved in Jan. 6 trials “are getting all kinds of threats and hostile phone calls” from people who “buy in on this proposition … that somehow the election was fraudulent.”

I’m relieved to hear that Trumpers aren’t gathering outside his house chanting, “Reggie, Reggie, Reggie.”

On a more serious note, this has got to stop. Threats that used to be laughable must be taken seriously because of the current political climate.

MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance had this exchange with Lawrence on The Last Word last night:

VANCE: You know, the distinction between just the very small number of federals judges who were tragically killed in the last century and the attack this century on a judge`s family is that those stemmed primarily from people who were upset about their individual cases or family members` cases.

What`s so troubling about the era that we`re in right now in Judge Walton`s comments is this is about people with a political agenda.

And those are the sort of risks that judges face in countries where cartels have influence or in the Philippines or even in Afghanistan, where two women judges were killed earlier this year.

The risk — and I`m not saying, for instance, that Donald Trump is directly responsible, but it`s the rhetoric and the level of political divide in this country that can fuel troubled people towards attacks that`s so very risky and troubling.

O`DONNELL: Well, I would say that Donald Trump is responsible for any attack on any federal judge who`s handling any of these January 6th cases, as the judge was talking about the threats are pouring in against them.

I agree with Lawrence. The Kaiser of Chaos has fanned the flames of hatred and poured gasoline on the fire like a modern-day Nero.

He may not be legally culpable but he’s morally and politically responsible for the Threat Set acting out his sick and twisted fantasies. Former President* Pennywise is a coward. He incites violence but lacks the courage to participate. He leaves that to the Threat Set.

Repeat after me: Donald Trump is a pussy. He should grab himself.

The last word goes to John Prine and Iris DeMent:

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Oct 25 2021
7 Comments
Campaign Notes, Current Affairs, Dipshit Insurrection, Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Bitch at Mitch edition

All hail Mitch McConnell – the ruler of the Republican party, right?

I believe we’ll start with the present and work our way back – starting with:

Corned beef rehash!

McConnell: GOP should focus on future, not ‘rehash’ 2020
The Hill ^ | 10/19/2021 | JORDAIN CARNEY

Posted on 10/19/2021, 2:38:59 PM by ChicagoConservative27

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) urged his party to focus on President Biden heading into 2022, and not relitigating the 2020 election that former President Trump still falsely claims was stolen.

McConnell, speaking to reporters during a weekly press conference, was asked if he was comfortable with the party embracing Trump. The former president was at a retreat over the weekend for Senate Republicans’ campaign arm and endorsed Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) for reelection in Iowa earlier this month.

“Well I do think we need to be talking about the future, not the past,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.

**********************

Loser.
1 posted on 10/19/2021, 2:38:59 PM by ChicagoConservative27
Why yes – he is!
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Any comments?
Comment #3 Removed by Moderator
Do you kiss your Mom with that mouth?
To: ChicagoConservative27
Some of us can chew gum and walk at the same time even if you can’t you turtle looking MF.
10 posted on 10/19/2021, 2:44:43 PM by billyboy15
That’s better.  A little.
To: ChicagoConservative27
If Republicans refuse to correct the rampant voter fraud of the past, and instead turn away from protecting people’s ballots, and guaranteeing election integrity, there is no future…no future for our country, and no future for the Republican Party. I won’t be voting again until voter fraud is annihilated.
28 posted on 10/19/2021, 2:54:55 PM by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ~~ John Wayne )
Works for me.
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Oh, look! Someone was nice enough to quote the above deleted post :
To: The Fop
“Mitch McConnell and his CCP wife lying in a pool of blood on Bardstown Rd. would be a nice start for the future for the GOP.”
Agreed
I like the way you think!
33 posted on 10/19/2021, 2:58:33 PM by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuitss)
Tell you what, you foolish fop – try it and let me know how it works for you.
To: ChicagoConservative27
Somewhere in the rules of free republic there is a ‘no profanity’ tenet. Which is a good thing.

Free Republic moderators :

I have read other forums and do not do so any longer. The foul language is horrific.

Any time you get a bunch of chickens together in one place, you’re gonna get a lot of fowl language.

Nevertheless, I can’t write what I want to write here in response to the uttering of this fraction of a man the leader of the senate minority but I will say this. He always seemed to me to want the gop to be the minority party

38 posted on 10/19/2021, 3:07:47 PM by stanne

To: ChicagoConservative27
“,,,that former President Trump still falsely claims was stolen.”
Every lying, lib media jerk adds this statement. That’s opinion, not fact.
Starting to think “journalists “ should be licensed.
68 posted on 10/19/2021, 4:05:29 PM by Fledermaus (I’ll wear a mask when Dr. Fraudchi shuts the hell up.)
By the state? By the feds? Interesting concept, especially if you’re not into totalitarian dictatorships.
To: ChicagoConservative27
Will someone give this a$$ COVID-Delta!?
74 posted on 10/19/2021, 4:34:36 PM by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60’s, YOU WEREN’T THERE!)
Um – he got vaccinated.  He isn’t as stupid as you are. Besides – “it’s just like the flu”.
Isn’t it?
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More Mitch-bitching below the profanity-free fold….

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Oct 20 2021
4 Comments
Adrastos, Dipshit Insurrection, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Legal Docket, Political Crack, The Darnold

The Bannon Canon

There’s no such thing as the Bannon Canon, but it’s swell word play, and you know how I am about word play. Besides, I wouldn’t be sorry if Bannon were shot out of a cannon. I would, however, worry about where he’d land. He’s not only a slob, he’s a big slob.

Unless you were hiding under the bed with the Impeached Insult Comedian yesterday, you’ve heard that the House Dipshit Insurrection Select Committee voted unanimously to hold Bannon in criminal contempt. The full House will vote on it tomorrow. I’ve long held Bannon in uncivil contempt, the guy is a giant asshole and a pox on our body politic.

Most of the morons around the Kaiser of Chaos are instinctive Fascists, Steve Bannon is the real deal. One could even call him Giovanni Gentile to Trump’s Mussolini. Gentile was the self-styled philosopher of Italian Fascism. Mussolini was the empty vessel into which Gentile poured his odious ideas. Mussolini was strictly an opportunist who wanted power for power’s sake. Gentile was among those who gave Mussolini’s movement what little coherence it possessed. It was always about power. Like Donald Trump, Mussolini was not big on details.

To Bannon,  the 1/6 Dipshit Insurrection was supposed to be the MAGA equivalent of the Black Shirts march on Rome in 1922. It didn’t turn out that way: Trumpism was too incoherent to seize power with one dramatic gesture. Italians thrive on dramatic gestures, Americans not so much.

Bannon has taken an interest in Italian politics: a Black Shirt revival would be good for American red hats. The good news is that Bannon’s attempt to open a school in a monastery south of Rome for wingnut “gladiators” has failed. One could call it the BIG FLOP.

In any event, the attempt to retain Trump in office failed. It did, however, give the MAGA movement an ideology: the BIG LIE. Former President* Pennywise is insistent that Republicans run on the BIG LIE in both 2022 and 2024. It’s a reminder that he’s a LOSER as even Gret Stet Senator Bill Cassidy acknowledged in an interview with Axios.

Continue reading →

Oct 18 2021
2 Comments
Congress, COVID-19, Dipshit Insurrection, Free Republic, Legal Docket, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – sub-penis edition

Well, well – look at this :

Bannon ‘not required to respond’ to subpoena in Jan. 6 probe, lawyer says
NY Post ^ | 10/14/2021 | Bruce Golding

Posted on 10/14/2021, 1:51:14 PM by ChicagoConservative27

Steve Bannon is “not required to respond” to a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol because former President Donald Trump says their communications are protected by executive privilege, his lawyer claimed in a letter Wednesday.

Trump’s lawyer told Bannon that the ex-president “is exercising his executive privilege” and instructed him “not to produce documents or testify until the issue of executive privilege is resolved,” lawyer Robert Costello wrote.

“That is is an issue between the Committee and President Trump’s counsel and Mr. Bannon is not required to respond at this time,”

Costello wrote in the letter, posted on Twitter by an ABC News producer.

1 posted on 10/14/2021, 1:51:14 PM by ChicagoConservative27
Very first comment :
To: ChicagoConservative27
Let’s see if Pelosi and gang forcibly have Bannon arrested (no-knock entry, etc.). They probably figure the American public would just shrug if it happened, and I suspect they would be right.

2 posted on 10/14/2021, 1:54:24 PM by CatOwner (Don’t expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021.)

The hell with shrugging – I’m stocking up on popcorn.
To: ChicagoConservative27
Bannon is the real deal and will go down with the  ship  shit…

FIFY.

But not so Patel and Meadows, as I’m led to understand, they are in the process of flipping big time. We’ll just have to see

5 posted on 10/14/2021, 2:00:25 PM by AmericanInTokyo (Green Bay Packers. Yeah. + Ohtani-san, you better not move on from Angels to NY!)

To: Col Frank Slade
I don’t remember a D ever responding to a subpoena.

7 posted on 10/14/2021, 2:08:12 PM by allwrong57

.
To: ChicagoConservative27

Very, very dangerous ground.

Bannon had better be able to trust his lawyer.

15 posted on 10/14/2021, 2:47:06 PM by redgolum (If this is civilization, I will be the barbarian. )

I’m sure the Commission will let Bannon off with a warning…

January 6 panel moves to hold Steve Bannon in criminal contempt CNN ^ Posted on 10/14/2021, 12:59:32 PM by janetjanet998

CNN)The committee investigating the January 6 Capitol Hill riot announced Thursday it is moving forward to hold Trump ally Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena, as his game of chicken with the House panel now enters a new and critical phase.

“Mr. Bannon has declined to cooperate with the Select Committee and is instead hiding behind the former President’s insufficient, blanket, and vague statements regarding privileges he has purported to invoke,” Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the committee, said in a statement on Thursday. Bannon was scheduled for a deposition in front of the committee on Thursday, and Bannon’s lawyer wrote in a letter the day before to the panel saying that his client will not provide testimony or documents until the committee reaches an agreement with former President Donald Trump over executive privilege or a court weighs in on the matter.

1 posted on 10/14/2021, 12:59:32 PM by janetjanet998
Oops.
.
More below el folderino :

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Oct 15 2021
Adrastos, Diary, Dipshit Insurrection, Film, Fog Of Scandal, New Orleans, Political Crack, Sports, The Darnold

Stirring The Potpourri

As I pondered the potpourri images, it occurred to me that there’s been a lot of dumbassery this week. That’s why I went with the Magritte dumbbell caveman image. I hope I can live up to Magritte’s vision, if not I can always wear a derby/bowler in penance. Unfortunately, the only derby I have is green, which I wear during Carnival season and on St. Patrick’s Day. It hasn’t been worn since the pandemic started. Le sigh.

I rarely watch sports on the idiot box anymore. I felt compelled to watch the Giants lose to the Dodgers last night. It was a bummer, man. It was also a long bummer: a 2-1 pitcher’s battle shouldn’t last over 3 hours. Oy just oy.

I was also surprised by how many sports betting ads there were during the ballgame. I commend Shapiro’s sports gambling post to your attention. It’s the real deal. I used to play poker with Shapiro back in the day. He’s a real card. He never “let that Deal go down.”

Back to sports gambling teevee ads, there were a shit-ton of them during the New Orleans Saints-Washington No-Names game. I know I just said that I rarely watch sports anymore but viewing Saints football is a civic duty here in Debrisville.

Caesar’s Palace just obtained the naming rights to the Superdome, which has resulted in cheesy gambling-Roman crossover ads. None of the fake Caesars can top Peter Ustinov as Nero in the 1951 movie, Quo Vadis:

It’s a great performance in a bad biblical movie. I recently watched Quo Vadis on TCM OnDemand and only viewed the Ustinov scenes. I kept hoping that Nero would light the eternally wooden Robert Taylor’s character ablaze. I’m not talking about the RT who played Walt Longmire. He’s the strong silent type but like Gary Cooper that RT can emote.

There was a lot of Dipshit Insurrection news this week. A rioter named Brandon Fellows is representing himself in court. In classic Trumper fashion, he’s stupid and garrulous. Judge Trevor McFadden was not amused:

“You are charged with a federal felony. This is not a community college where you get pats on the back.”

“You’ve admitted to incredible lapses of judgment here on the stand, not least of which was seeking to disqualify a New York state judge. You’ve admitted to obstruction of justice in that case, and you’ve admitted to what was probably obstruction in this case in trying to have me disqualified, and only Ms. Halverson’s advice stopped you from doing so. You’ve engaged in a pattern of behaviors that shows contempt for the criminal justice system, and I just have no confidence that you will follow my orders if I release you.”

Fellows is still incarcerated. I’m waiting to hear him called a MAGA martyr when he’s really a MAGA meathead.

That’s why I call it the Dipshit Insurrection.

It looks as if Steve Bannon will be cited with criminal contempt for refusing to cooperate with the 1/6 Committee. The Twitteratti are excited by this news. They’re hoping for a perp walk and extended jail time. They’ve been watching too many cop shows. The truth will be less dramatic since Bannon is unlikely to make like Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon:

As Jon Gruden would surely say, Steve Bannon is a pussy. He incites riots. He leaves the rioting to dipshits like Brandon Fellows.

The Kaiser of Chaos issued a statement from his gilded Mar-a-Dorn exile the other day. It’s spectacularly dumb even by his standards:

“If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in ’22 or ’24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.”

Bring it on, Donald, bring it on.

It’s time to stop stirring the potpourri and give the last word to Graham Parker & The Rumour:

Oct 12 2021
1 Comment
Adrastos, Bigotry, Books, Dipshit Insurrection, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack, Race, Terrorism, The Darnold

Ashli Babbittry Revisited

I’m sick of writing about Donald Trump. I had a lot of fun mocking him for 5 years, but much of the fun went out of it with the 1/6 Dipshit Insurrection. He was always a menace but the threat amped up over 100 decibels on that day. Ever since then, the Impeached Insult Comedians and his followers have minimized what happened. Their motto is: When In Doubt, Lie.

One of most dangerous lies they’ve told about the Dipshit Insurrection is that Ashli Babbitt was a martyr to the MAGA cause. They’ve turned a deeply disturbed woman into their very own Horst Wessell. I explained that in the first Ashli Babbittry post:

Like most right-wing populist movements, Trumpism is based on grievances, real and imagined. Such a movement requires martyrs. The Nazis had Horst Wessel a Brownshirt who allegedly died in a street fight with Communists. The truth was more complicated but his death led to an anthem of the Nazi movement, Horst Wessel Lied. Lied is of course the German word for song but it describes the modus operandi of both Nazism and Trumpism better known as the BIG LIE.

It Can’t Happen Here and Babbitt have converged in the name of Trumpism’s latest martyr, Ashli Babbitt. She was one of seven people to have died as a result of the Dipshit Insurrection. The Trumpers, however, have chosen to honor a troubled woman instead of the police officers who died defending the Capitol from attack. So much for law and order.

Yesterday would have been MAGA martyr Ashli Babbitt’s 36th birthday. The MAGA Maggots celebrated her sad, pathetic life as if she were a hero instead of a victim of the Big Lie.

From his gilded Florida exile in Mar-a-Dorn, the Kaiser of Chaos recorded a propaganda video. The MAGA morons love to be lied to and the former president* did not disappoint.

“My heart and the hearts of millions of Americans across the country are with everyone — everyone — who knew and loved her,” Trump said, after wishing Babbitt a happy birthday.

“Together we grieve her terrible loss,” the former president said toward the end of the brief video. “There was no reason Ashli should have lost her life that day. We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family. So on this solemn occasion, as we celebrate her life, we renew our call for a fair and nonpartisan investigation into the death of Ashli Babbitt. I offer my unwavering support to Ashli’s family, and call on the Department of Justice to reopen its investigation into her death on Jan. 6.”

Her death *has* been thoroughly investigated. The actions of Officer Michael Byrd have been vindicated by the DOJ. The reason he’s been singled out is that he’s Black.

It’s a racist trope straight out of The Birth of a Nation, a dangerous black man harmed an innocent white chick.

Former President* Pennywise made his feelings clear at a rally in July:

“If that were on the other side, the person that did the shooting would be strung up and hung.” At least one person in the crowd responded by shouting “Hang him!”

Robert Kennedy once said that “Richard Nixon represents the dark side of the American soul.”

Nixon was a piker next to Donald Trump. Nixon was a racist and a criminal, but he was smart and slick. He played on racial fears but never advocated lynching. Nixon was a seething pit of resentment and grievances, but he had a hardscrabble childhood to explain it. Trump grew up in a mansion wanting for nothing. His grievances reflect his greed for more, always more.

Trump not only represents the dark side of the American soul, he brings out the worst in people. He’s the reason that Sinclair Lewis’ dark vision in It Can’t Happen Here remains a threat to our polity. All the lies and Ashli Babbittry in the world cannot explain that away.

The last word goes to Billie Holiday:

Oct 11 2021
Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – shart subject edition

All right, people, no more than two posts per thread,  aaaaand….scene!

Trump urged GOP senators to vote against McConnell debt deal
The Hill ^ | 10/07/21 08:33 PM EDT | BY OLAFIMIHAN OSHIN

Posted on 10/7/2021, 7:58:41 PM by RandFan

Former President Trump is urging GOP senators to vote against a deal that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struck with his Democratic colleagues in the upper chamber to raise the debt ceiling.

“Republican Senators, do not vote for this terrible deal being pushed by folding Mitch McConnell. Stand strong for our Country,” Trump said in an emailed statement Thursday. “The American people are with you!”

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Thursday morning that he had reached an agreement with McConnell to raise the debt ceiling into the beginning of December.

The agreement would increase the debt limit by $480 billion. Aides expect that will make the next deadline Dec. 3, the same day government funding will expire.

McConnell confirmed the deal with Democrats during a floor speech on Thursday, saying: “The Senate is moving toward the plan I laid out last night to spare the American people from an unprecedented crisis.”

“The pathway our Democratic colleagues have accepted will spare the American people any near-term crisis,” McConnell added.

1 posted on 10/7/2021, 7:58:41 PM by RandFan
Personally, I think “RandFan” should change his name to “RandFanDancer”, but that’s just me.
To: RandFan
We see who runs the GOP and it’s not Trump. Trump is a fool. I’ve said it since 1/7 and I’m proven right every day, Trump needs to renounce the GOP and form the Workers MAGA Party. As long as Trump stays with these hacks he will continue to be rolled, played and destroyed.
3 posted on 10/7/2021, 8:06:00 PM by hardspunned (former GOP globalist stooge)
To: hardspunned

I don’t know why people here on FR insist that Trump has a core base of support of 80 million voters.He doesn’t.

He probably has 25-30 million dedicated supporters. The rest of the 80 million who voted for him are really just GOP partisans who voted the party line and probably would have preferred another candidate if that option was available.

16 posted on 10/7/2021, 8:47:11 PM by Alberta’s Child (“All lies and jest, ‘til a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”)
Next up – I see the Qberts are still posting threads about someone else who abandoned them almost a year ago –
Q ~ Trust Trump’s Plan ~ 10/07/21 Vol.374, Q Day 1441
qalerts.net ^ | 10/7/2021 | FReeQs, FReepers, and vanity
Posted on 10/7/2021, 7:22:13 PM by ransomnote

To: ransomnote
Hey Q: is Trump back in office yet?
4 posted on 10/7/2021, 7:25:45 PM by TiGuy22

 

 

Read more at the “read more”…..

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Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Oct 06 2021
Cassandra, Immoral Values, Political Crack, Propaganda, So Called Liberal Media, The Darnold

The War on Reality

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an active, longtime member in a politics forum that draws a mixture of liberals and conservatives. The community has moved with its parent forum to different hosts, and then spun off as a stand-alone forum after TFG was elected. It was a lively place which died because of staff indifference to updating the software, a glitch that meant no one could sign up for 4 years, and the wholesale retreat of every right winger over the summer of 2020 as the signs of TFG’s impending loss because visible.

The community has migrated back to a space on the parent board, which means that there is a fresh crop of right wingers to contend with. I have to say that there is one constant with these people, and that is that they are irretrievably stupid. If I had to compare their sheer stupidity to a natural phenomenon, it would be a black hole. Nothing intelligent comes out of them, and to get to close to them is to have all of the intelligence sucked out of you.

Still, it’s fun to toy with them because they say some unintentionally hilarious things. Plus if you get them mad enough, they end up getting suspended because instead of going for a simple insult like “stupid”, they have to go straight for sexual slurs and gendered insults. Some of the slightly smarter ones stick to sexist language which keeps them off the suspension list until one of the women mods comes across their posts and then they get a vacation. (Also imagine me earnestly responding to them and warning them that they are going to get suspended if they keep it up and their doubling down in response to my very good advice. Believe me, I have earned the title of Cassandra.)

So I’ve been reading today about the debt ceiling impasse and so of course I started a discussion about it. A flurry of wingers began responding to me, and when I brought the discussion down to the most basic level—what is the debt ceiling?—none of them could answer the question. None of them. But they could tell me that no politician cares about any of us and that they have plenty of money and if the US fails to raise the debt limit, all of those politicians would be fine.

This is the level of political discourse in this country—a chunk of Americans don’t think they need to spend any time at all learning about current events, but instead spend that time repeating stuff that isn’t true and which, because of its underlying nihilism, further decreases their desire to educate themselves about current events. So they ask less and less from journalists, and journalists tailor their work to this bunch of lazy nihilists.

If your audience will believe anything because they’re incapable of critical thought and disinclined to fact check their prejudices, then why spend time trying to educate them? Why not entertain them while feeding them a false narrative that they will happily internalize? For example if you’re The View, you invite Alyssa Farah, one of the biggest propagandists on the Trump administration’s paywall, on to sell her lies. And boom! an insurrectionist enabler goes mainstream.

The other propagandist who got a bunch of air time last week was Stephanie Grisham, who openly admitted that she just lied to all of us whenever she felt like it, and that she carefully managed TFG’s press appearances in order to maximize his propaganda push. All of this is being sold to us totally normal.

It’s not. The 1/6 insurrection is still ongoing. Those of us who are still able to think for ourselves have to double our efforts to make sure that truth is promoted and that lies are marginalized. Hillary Clinton addressed this this week:

I hope she’s right.

Aimee Mann gets the last word:

Oct 05 2021
Adrastos, British Politics, Diary, Film, Fog Of History, Political Crack, The Darnold

Kangaroo Tales

Australian artist Bill Boyd spars with his pet kangaroo, Kanga Joe, 1923.

The only current world leader who is as mendacious and muddle-headed as Donald Trump is British Prime Minister Boris Johnson aka Bozza or BoJo. The new book by former Trump aide Stephanie Grisham tells some odd tales about what Donald and Boris discussed when they met:

The British prime minister was “one of the few European leaders Trump seemed to tolerate”, Grisham writes.  “Conversations between those two, both pudgy white guys with crazy hair, redefined the word random.”

“Johnson once told us over breakfast that Australia was ‘the most deadly country – spiders, snakes, crocodiles and kangaroos’. Then they discussed how powerful kangaroos were at considerable length.”

As you can see from the featured image, Kangaroo boxing used to be a thing in Australia back in the day. There was also a 1978 movie about this “sport” starring Robert Mitchum and Elliott Gould:

Bobby, Elliott what were you thinking? Were you punch drunk? Oy, just oy.

America did not love that winner. Matilda bombed at the box office.

Finally, one of my father’s Greek relatives presented my parents with the weirdest host present ever: a Kangaroo paw corkscrew. I am not making this up. I thought my mom was going to vomit when she saw it.  Oy, just oy.

The last word goes to Men At Work:

Oct 01 2021
2 Comments
Diary, Guest Post, Jamie O, Legal Docket, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media, The Darnold

Guest Post: Trump’s Lawyer Wrote, Shared Coup Plan – See Page 37

Jamie O is back with some media criticism. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it.

-Adrastos

Trump’s Lawyer Wrote, Shared Coup Plan – See Page 37 by Jamie O

I hold a degree in journalism/communications. It’s served me pretty well. I have a good job as a science writer for a big university. It’s interesting work, as they say. My degree has also given me sort of an inside-baseball view of how journalists are trained, and to be honest, the training needs to be updated.

I say this because a lot of the DC media is covering politics as if it’s still the 1980s (when I was getting my degree, in fact). You are taught in journalism not to hold bias (or at least control it). You get a quote and information from each side of an issue, and that’s pretty much that. It was simple and good and if one person wouldn’t comment, you’d write “Sen. Reddnose declined to comment.” Then you hit the bar like any worthy hard-nosed journalist as you call it a day.

Problem is, that climate might as well included dinosaurs roaming Capitol Hill, as long ago figuratively that world is compared to this one. Conservatives have bulldozed the unwritten ethics, mores and traditions of American politics that once were the bedrock of our entire political system. For example, as the New York Times’ Ezra Klein has pointed out, Mitch McConnell broke no rule of the Senate when he refused to put Merrick Garland through the confirmation process. But he did break one of those “you can’t do that” sort of rules that our system relied on for decades. Since then, American politics has seen a lot of conservatives crossing a line you weren’t supposed to cross, erasing it, and then drawing a new one, then crossing that. This includes levels of lying that would be considered political death just 10 years ago.

Among the many issues with this is the media hasn’t really adjusted, despite the events of the last six years. The headline style of “Democrats see little risk of inflation but Republicans disagree” from the 1980s has evolved into basically “Experts say the world is round, but some disagree.” It demands a different sort of news coverage, one that acknowledges what exactly is going on, a clarity of the current. The most recent poster child for this is the Eastman Memo.

If you are not familiar with what the Eastman Memo is, It is a memo written by a former Trump lawyer that outlined a six-point plan for former Vice President Mike Pence to basically treat the Constitution like a woman that is not his wife (read: purposely ignore it) and toss the rightful 2020 election results. You can read it here.

This should have been a moment in American history where all DC journos were in a state of hair-on-fire, speaking-in-tongues urgency. After all, this is clear evidence of a president of the United States overseeing a literal coup attempt. Right? Well…as my link showed, CNN certainly covered it. Various columnists, such as the New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie, New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait, and the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent covered it. But outside of that, there was limited coverage of the memo in the newspapers, and the network evening news programs ignored it.

It may be tempting to write this all off as no big deal, because they didn’t pull it off, right? On the other hand, it’s not like conservatives are apologetic about January 6. In fact, the GOP has been as suspicious as a teen stoner refusing to let his mom search his room about it. They certainly put enough effort into blocking the Congressional investigations.

This is all alarming because a lot of smart people are sounding alarm bells, including a former Republican, about the growing threat to democracy. Even more alarming, as was shown in this week’s Margaret Sullivan Washington Post column, network news types were pretty much “eh, no big surprise” about the memo. Which brings me back to my college journalism days…I had a professor one time tell us that her answer to people who complained that the media was full of bad news and very little good news was “when bad news is so common it stops being news, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Are we there now? Apparently, many national news outlets say yes.

Sep 29 2021
Adrastos, Elections, Law/Justice, Legal Docket, Political Crack, The Darnold

Georgia (Election Law) On My Mind

I’ve spent a lot of time writing about Georgia in the last year. It became a factor in national politics for the first time since the Carter presidency. We all thrilled to Biden’s Peach State victory followed by those of Senators Warnock and Ossoff in January.

Georgia was also the focus of the Impeached Insult Comedian’s attempt to steal the election via “perfect” phone calls. Georgia was the swing state wherein power was entirely vested in Republicans; even Arizona has a Democratic secretary of state. Trump dispatched Rudy Giuliani to spread poisonous lies and brought wackadoodle Atlanta lawyer, Lin Wood, on board.

This post was also inspired by amateur lawyers on Twitter lamenting that Merrick Garland hasn’t done anything about the Georgia case. That’s true, but it’s not his case. It’s based on state law so it’s in the hands of recently elected Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis. Atlanta is the focus of MAGA complaints about the election, so that’s where the case belongs. Ms. Willis is the one who is moving slowly. Hopefully, slowly and methodically.

I feel a musical reference coming, Take a load off, Fani:

There’s an op-ed in the WaPo by some folks at the Brookings Institute who have taken a careful look at Georgia law and how it applies to the Former Guy’s “perfect” phone calls:

… the prospect of a state prosecutor filing charges against a former president for election crimes should not be considered lightly, but certain key facts weigh in favor of giving criminal charges the most serious consideration.

First, Trump is alleged to have attacked Georgia’s democracy, which belongs to all Georgians, and to have attempted to deny the will of the majority in voting for president, thus effectively attempting to disenfranchise millions of voters.

Second, in our federal system, it is the states and not the federal government that have principal responsibility for carrying out and policing the proper administration of presidential elections. That rule exists, in part, to prevent federal officials from manipulating the outcome of elections from the top. So the Constitution demands that Georgia stand up for itself against the encroachment of a manipulative president who sought to entrench himself in power.

Third, Trump’s likely defenses against criminal charges lack merit. Trump would no doubt claim immunity based on his status as president when he attacked the Georgia election outcome. But categorical immunity from prosecution is limited at most to sitting presidents, not former presidents — as Trump himself has conceded. Because he is no longer in the White House, he is out of luck. It’s true that there is additional, more targeted immunity for a former president for actions undertaken within the outer perimeter of his official duties. But that claim would fail because the Constitution and federal law assign no role to the president over counting or tabulating votes in Georgia, or certifying the election results. It would be a perversion of the president’s oath to “take care” that laws are faithfully executed to embrace an effort to subvert lawful election results.

Former President* Pennywise held a rally in the Peach State last weekend. He used a typical tactic: bragging about his attempts to subvert the election results. He somehow thinks that he cannot be charged with a crime if he talks about it publicly. As always, he’s wrong, wrong, wrong. Absent prosecutorial timidity, every time he shoots off his big bazoo, the chances of charges increase.

The most intriguing part of the article is this bit:

The report separately discusses the possibility that Trump could be charged under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act statute. The term “RICO” may conjure up images of Mafia bosses, but the statute is much broader. If Trump committed a so-called pattern of predicate criminal acts — which may include many of the acts potentially chargeable in the statutes mentioned above — a RICO charge may be available if he did so either through an enterprise (like his campaign) or to gain control of an enterprise (like the presidency).

RICO charges would carry stiffer penalties than the other offenses that could be brought against Trump and his band of MAGA miscreants. There *was* a conspiracy involving Trump and Mark Meadows among others, after all.

Will it be enough for Georgia’s Little RICO statute to apply? Here’s what the authors say in their report:

Based on our assessment, we conclude that Trump’s multiple reported acts directed at Georgia could subject him to prosecution under the state’s RICO statute, subject of course to the further development of the case by Fulton County. Above, we have extensively discussed a number of Georgia state crimes for which Trump may be liable. A number of them are enumerated as available predicate offenses under the RICO statute: (1) false statements and writings; (2) solicitation of false statements and writings; (3) solicitation of false swearing; (4) influencing witnesses; and (5) solicitation of computer trespass (as a crime included in the 84 Georgia election officials to change the election results would foreseeably have involved their use of computers to delete or alter voting data, he may have committed solicitation of computer trespass.

This is a promising line of inquiry. The authors encourage District Attorney Willis to get off her Fani and investigate the veritable plethora of possible charges if she hasn’t already done so. I hope you appreciate my restraint in not making a Different Strokes joke at this point.

If you’d like to read the whole damn Brookings Institution report for yourselves, click here. Adding to pressure on Ms. Willis, it was uploaded by the dean of Georgia political writers, Greg Bluestein.

Let’s hope that this will not be the end of Little Rico. The last word goes to Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar:

Mother Of Mercy Quote GIF by Top 100 Movie Quotes of All Time - Find & Share on GIPHY

Sep 27 2021
2 Comments
Free Republic, The Darnold, Tommy T

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “The Former Darnold” edition

Oh, Former Guy, Former Guy – what are we going to do with you?

Even the Freeperati – your most faithful acolytes – think your cheese has slid completely off your cracker.

Observe –

Trump: ‘I do believe they are going to decertify the election’
RSBN / GateWayPundit ^ | Sep 10, 2021 | Grace Saldana

Posted on 9/10/2021, 7:10:52 PM by BusterDog

President Donald Trump just dropped bombshell news on the matter of election integrity by predicting that officials will “decertify” the 2020 presidential election.

Discussing consequences for the “rigged” election, Trump told Jim Hoft, founder of The Gateway Pundit, during a Friday afternoon interview, “I do believe they are going to decertify the election.”

1 posted on 9/10/2021, 7:10:52 PM by BusterDog
Now’s your big chance, Freeperati! Unite and support your hero!!!
To: BusterDog

No chance. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Ain’t gonna happen.

4 posted on 9/10/2021, 7:14:25 PM by Artemis Webb (Be kind to each other, unless the other guy is a dumbass.)

To: BusterDog

“…they are going to decertify the election…”
“Who” is “they”?

5 posted on 9/10/2021, 7:14:33 PM by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)

To: BusterDog

Ridiculous. Biden has been seated by the electoral college and VP Pence.

7 posted on 9/10/2021, 7:15:54 PM by EEGator

To: BusterDog

Not happening and Trump would do well to learn some humility.

9 posted on 9/10/2021, 7:16:34 PM by Tea Party Terrorist (Eat the Rich)

.
.
And already – the post of the thread!
To: BusterDog

Honestly, this is a little disconcerting. He would have to be almost delusional to believe this.

8 posted on 9/10/2021, 7:16:33 PM by Husker24 (Pp)

Almost delusional?
.
ALMOST delusional???
.
You guys are forgetting – this is the clown who thought you could H-bomb hurricanes and change their course with a sharpie.
.
More below –

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Sep 17 2021
Adrastos, Diary, Fog Of History, Fog Of Scandal, Hurricane Ida, New Orleans, Political Crack, The Darnold

The Shape I’m In

I have many things on my mind, so it’s time to dial back my role as your Hurricane Ida correspondent and write about some of the other weird shit happening in the news. I do have a few storm related items so we’ll begin there.

You may have noticed that the fundraising sticky atop the blog is gone. The Bayou Project has met its original goal, but they’re still raising money if you want to donate. Thanks to everyone who supported this kickass cause.

One thing people don’t know about me is that I have an excellent sense of smell. That’s why the Debrisville Post Ida Stank has bugged me so much. The phrase gag me with a spoon comes to mind.

I also have an inordinately high threshold of pain, which is why my head injury hasn’t bothered me much except on Bloody Monday. When I was a little leaguer, a batted ball broke my nose. My coach told my father, “This is the first kid I’ve seen that happen to who didn’t cry.” So it goes.

In more Teedy trash talk, the mayor has rolled out a new strategy. She’s deploying what she calls a Mardi Gras style pickup, which involves dump trucks and police escorts. Sounds better than takeout trash.

Mayor Teedy immediately undermined her policy by claiming that cops were needed because garbagemen had been threatened by hostile citizens.  Say what?

This tweet from a State Rep describes what has happened across the city when the garbage trucks appear:

TFC: This Fucking City.

Let’s move on to some national potpourri to cover the smell of rotting shrimp shells.

The Woodward-Costa book is causing a sensation. The bit about Liar Liar Pence On Fire calling J Danforth Quayle for advice is hilarious as is Trump’s response:

“I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this,” and later said: “You’ve betrayed us. I made you. You were nothing.”

Neener, neener, neener. He forgot to threaten to hold his breath until he turned blue.

By my reckoning, that’s toddler tantrum eleventy-billion by the Impeached Insult Comedian.

And now a musical interlude inspired by the Trump tantrum:

Republicans suddenly believe in civilian control of the military. Why? General Milley went all-out to prevent war with China and military involvement in a Trump coup. Better to be Jiggs Casey than James Mattoon Scott. Those are Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster’s characters in Seven Days In May.

In the past, GOPers were outraged when Truman fired Gen. MacArthur, Carter fired Gen. Singlaub, and Obama fired Gen. McChrystal for insubordination and malakatude. How dare a Democratic president exercise the powers of their office?

There are Democrats who think President Biden should “drop the hammer” on recalcitrant senators Manchin and Sinema. Such a hammer does not exist in a 50-50 senate.

Speaking of hammers, I feel a musical interlude coming on:

Josh Marshall has a thing or two to say about hammers:

At our Wednesday event there were a lot of calls for Biden to drop the hammer on Manchin and Sinema to get a vote on the latest version of the For the People Act. As I said at the event, my great worry is that he’s not dropping the hammer because he knows it won’t work. If a leader says something has to happen and then it doesn’t happen the leader is much off worse than he started. The thing he wanted to happen didn’t happen in any case.

We keep hearing about LBJ and how he knew how to bring the power of the presidency to bear. But wow … this is just bad history. How did LBJ get people to fall in line? In the 89th Congress, which was sworn in in January 1965, the Democrats held 68 senate seats. Just think about that for a second. 68 seats! Sure, there were a bunch of pro-segregation Dixiecrats. But LBJ had plenty of votes to spare. And there were only relatively few of them who opposed him in the way an opposition party might.

Repeat after me: 50-50 senate.

Joe Biden has forgotten more about the senate than most people will ever know.

With a 50-50 senate it’s all carrot and no stick.

It’s time to circle back to the post title. It’s been a brutal few weeks for me: the hurricane, my Ida related malady, losing my friend Will, and my bloody pratfall. Having said that, I’m doing okay:  “Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in.”

The Band gets the last word:

Aug 26 2021
2 Comments
Adrastos, Current Affairs, Legal Docket, Nature is Scary, New Orleans, Political Crack, Sports, The Darnold

Just What I Needed

It had been a quiet hurricane season thus far in South Louisiana. That seems to have ended today. It’s still too early to tell as the hurricane hunters will be flying into the system this afternoon. That’s when the cone of uncertainty will replace the spaghetti models. It’s just what I needed. Oy just oy.

This is the one time of the year that I’m less hard on the New Orleans freak out set. The 16th Katrinaversary looms on Sunday so trigger isn’t just Roy Rogers’ horse right now.

- Find & Share on GIPHY

Does that GIF qualify as a wakeup call? Maybe so.

I usually loathe colorized images but Trigger stepping out on Roy was irresistible. I hope Dale Evans didn’t mind…

No media bashing from me today. Michael F has taken care of that. What’s not to love about his Liberty Valence inspired title?

In New Orleans pandemic news, the mayor’s crackdown has borne fruit. More and more people are getting vaccinated because of the mandate. The Saints are down with it too. They had a fake home game that required either vaxx proof or a recent PCR test. I approve as I did of Jameis Winston’s performance in the fake game. It looks as if he’ll be the Saints QB. Hopefully, he’ll live down the idea that he has a million-dollar arm and five-dollar head. Stay tuned.

I’d like to hit a few high points in the news Odds & Sods style.

Get Kraken: US District Judge Linda Parker brought the hammer down on Sidney Powell and her pack of lying Trumper lawyers.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker for the Eastern District of Michigan referred the team of lawyers — who sought to overturn the election in courts through a series bogus claims — for suspension or disbarment while granting requests for sanctions.

Parker also ordered the “Kraken” team — which included Trump-aligned lawyers Sidney Powell and Lin Wood — to pay for legal fees for the city of Detroit and state of Michigan, and referred them for “at least twelve (12) hours of continuing legal education in the subjects of pleading standards (at least six hours total) and election law (at least six hours total).”

Parker wrote in the ruling that the “Kraken” lawyers had tried to create a “haze of confusion, commotion, and chaos” around the election.

“And this case was never about fraud — it was about undermining the People’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so,” Parker wrote.

Judge Parker is my new hero. These are cracking sanctions given to the Kraken shysters. Their various state bar associations will be forced to have disbarment hearings after a referral from a federal judge. This is some serious shit.

It’s time to get cracking on another segment but first a word from Nick Lowe:

They don’t call him the Jesus of Cool for nothing, y’all.

Tantrum Of The Day: It goes to the Impeached Insult Comedian who flipped out over subpoenas issued by the House Dipshit Insurrection Committee. Here’s another Garbage Pail Kid for your kollection:

I guess that was the North Korea edition.

Herschel Herschel Herschel: Herschel Walker remains the greatest player in Georgia Bulldog football history. But he hasn’t lived in the Peach State for decades. His wife is under investigation for voter fraud but Herschel is still running for Raphael Warnock’s senate seat.

Not only is Herschel running as a Black Republican, he’s running as the blackest sort of Republican: a Trumper. He used to work for the Kaiser of Chaos before the USFL was fired:

It will be interesting to see how Herschel’s GOP opponents handle what could be called his Eve-Sybil issue:

The book, “Breaking Free,” … explores his diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, once known as multiple personality disorder, a condition he said he developed to combat the bullying he faced as an overweight child with a speech disorder.

Since then, however, reports have documented the violent threats he leveled in 2005 against his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, which led to a judge granting her a protective order. She has said she felt “there was somebody there that was evil” when he threatened her.

Finally, I’ve long pronounced Walker’s first name with a Jersey accent as in Hoy-shell, Hoy-shell, Hoy-shell. He did play for the New Jersey Generals, after all.

The post title refers to the possible approach of possible Hurricane Ida. I had an Aunt Ida on my mother’s side. I didn’t know her well. My only memory of her is that she worked for Marlin Perkins the Wild Kingdom guy.

Beware of the Idas of August.

The last word goes to the Cars performing Just What I Needed at Live Aid:

 

Aug 25 2021
2 Comments
Adrastos, Afghanistan, Diary, Fog Of History, JOEY B SHARK, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media, The Darnold, War in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: The Media Tantrum Continues

Image via learnin.grow.com

The MSM continues to pitch a fit about something that’s going about as well possible: the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. A retreat by a losing army is always chaotic. Repeat after me: our side lost the war.

As of this writing, over 80,000 people have been airlifted out of Kabul.

Thus far, there have been no American casualties since the Afghan government collapsed. None, zero, zilch.

The MSM’s accusations that Team Biden is detached from the reality on the ground amount to projection. Someone else is into projection and pitching fits until he gets his way:

I didn’t know that Garbage Pail Kids were around in 2016. It works in 2021 as well. Topps is the top as Cole Porter would have surely said at this point.

The MSM’s creepy attachment to Trump is behind the tantrum. It’s a sick S&M relationship. During the Trump regime, the MSM were the masochists, now they’re the sadists inflicting pain on Team Biden for not being like cruel, criminal, and cretinous Trumpers. It’s all summed up in this song by The Tubes:

Ouch.

One could even call the MSM Trump fetishists.

Speaking of great music from the 1970’s, this Kinks song sung from the perspective of a twisted headmaster who enjoys spanking students works as well.

Sometimes being old comes in handy.

I, for one, am appalled by this OTT display of displaced rage. The media’s clicks are down because the Kaiser of Chaos is no longer in office. They’ve opted to punish President Biden for something that was inevitable unless we stayed forever. Repeat after me: our side lost the war.

Don’t trust me, listen to a disabled Afghanistan veteran, Dan Berschinski:

When the twin towers fell, I was a high school senior deep in college applications. The United States Military Academy topped my list. Watching the devastation of Sept. 11, 2001, unfold, I knew the Army would be part of the response, though I figured that response would be over by the time I graduated from West Point. Never did I imagine that, eight years later, I would be leading soldiers in a war provoked by that one terrible day.

Yet lead them I did, across Afghanistan, witnessing horrors and enduring losses I still struggle to describe. What I saw there convinced me that the awful scenes we are now witnessing were inevitable — and that President Biden deserves credit for nonetheless braving the fallout to do the right thing by our troops.

I saw early warning signs as a U.S. Army infantry platoon leader on my first mission in Kandahar in 2009. In my very first conversation with a local, a shopkeeper told me: “Lieutenant, I met the previous American lieutenant 12 months prior, I will meet another American lieutenant in 12 months when you leave.” He did not like the Taliban, the shopkeeper told me, but it would be in Afghanistan long after I would — and so he had no choice but to deal with it.

It’s their country, not ours. It certainly doesn’t belong to the tantrum throwing American media who pine for worse times under the Impeached Insult Comedian. Think about that: they want things to be worse so they can have higher ratings and more clicks.

Even some of the military brass who oversaw our Afghan misadventure have seen the light:

Then-Vice President Joe Biden was right when he urged then-President Barack Obama to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday, adding that the US could have left Afghanistan earlier.

“I thought we could turn it around, obviously, I was wrong,” Mullen, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, told ABC News on “This Week.”

Mullen also said that the US should have withdrawn its troops after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Who are we going to listen to: the MSM and former Bush officials or Mike Mullen?

Joe Biden was right from the start.

Being loud does not make you right. Some of us learned that from the Trump regime. The MSM has not.

We all threw tantrums when we were children. My mother would let me cry it out, especially if it was an unreasonable tantrum. That’s all we can do with this ongoing tantrum by the MSM. Unfortunately, this tantrum will have unpleasant and even dire consequences.

If only it were possible to put the MSM into a time-out. They’ve clearly lost their minds. The last word is a chill pill from Steely Dan.

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