Hope, Hopeless, Hix, Hickies, White Lies And Forgetfulness

We all saw Sessions commit perjury.

He got off for having a faulty memory.

In the interim there has been a blur of blurs, slurs, lies and obfuscations that - as planned - have worn us all down to a blurred state of not caring or even paying attention.

“Paying attention to what?” you are probably asking.

“To the never ending array of high crimes, misdemeanors and just plain insults to human intelligence that have been daily fare for America since 20 January 2017” I thought I heard someone say.

But, for more on that, read Ostrovsky’s Invention of Russia.

And now for today.

Now we have “Little White Lies” Hix.

(Why, one might wonder is she moving on? That is the second time in two days I have had to wonder “why”; yesterday it was “what makes Jared incapable of being cleared for Top Secret material? And why is the unarguable fact that this apparently Top Secret security risk has had Top Secret access for over a year not a high crime and/or misdemeanor? Remember “lock her up”?)

Also, or perhaps better said, maybe…

Remember the same republicans that have so recently perceived the various “alternates” (forgetfulness and white lies chief among them) when they went after Bill Clinton?

They got their man back in the 90s.

Forgetfulness, privacy and/or concern for the malevolent effect of impeaching an obviously flawed, but also obviously highly competent and effective President didn’t stop the witch hunt and subsequent mock – and ultimately unsuccessful – trial.

But now, nationally televised perjury, and nationally televised attempts – by the president – to rid us of a free press go by with a wink, a shrug, and “hey, that donnie; he’s doing a great job.”

And today we have been ushered into the era of little white lies.

Welcome to the delusional and illusional era of alternate truth, alternate facts, illusional alternatives and delusional beliefs.

As I watch those Parkland kids trying to change things my laughing and crying muscles get in such a battle that I lose my lunch.

As near as I am able to see, the United States has been gradually disappearing since 1980.

Now the demons are dancing on its grave.

And we can watch that dance 24/7 on Fox.

“So who’s in the henhouse, Jerry?”

“Must be a Fox, Rupert”.

“You’re shitting me!?”

“No, no, no!! We have won.”

How nice.

America First: Get All That Vibranium

I hear that donnie has asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to put together - post haste - (donnie's words; I didn't know he knew stuff like that) an "elite unit" to go and "get all that Vibranium".

he made a special point of the unit needing to be "all white".

BOTs, Begging The Question And Lapierre

This is an excerpt from an email I received today from a friend of mine.

“I still think one of the funniest interviews I saw of this whole mess was a very likely 15 year old, young man for sure  being interviewed and explaining how NO one under the age of 21 should be allowed to buy or posses a "Semi automatic weapon,  he was very very carefully articulating the semi automatic rifle phrase as if it was carefully rehearsed as the no no weapon of choice. I could only think so if under the age of 21 you are not mentally capable of handling  such a weapon how do you have the mental responsibility to quote what should and should not be done by someone that age. I'm probably the only one who gets the dichotomy of that statement.”

Of course I couldn’t let it lie, so I replied.

“I get the dichotomy, but it as an assertion, not a proven fact; as such it is that old debating error – albeit more subtle than most - that so many like to indulge in: i.e. “gay marriage will destroy the the institution of marriage, therefore...” When I was in high school it was called begging the question.

But I do think the kids that didn’t get killed have a place in the discussion of what we should do about it.  And at the very least, it seems to me, that saying that the weapon that they narrowly avoided being killed by ought to be taken out of circulation is an understandable, mature and rational viewpoint.

Another thing: back in 2012 I saw Wayne Lapierre interviewed by David Gregory.  It was a bizarre experience: I was seeing an example of something I would have bet didn’t exist – someone who was both stupid and insane; I always thought we were either one or the other.  Ol’ Wayne came through yesterday again and reinforced my 2012 opinion.

As for the BOTs, I am dazzled at how unbelievably effective the relatively crude use of technology is in ripping a country apart.  I have most often over the last couple of years ignored the most inflammatory nuts that I encounter on the internet, but I do rise to the bait sometimes – more frequently with people I have never heard of, but with whom I seem to agree, but I do engage the opposition on occasion; I have quit that shit.  I don’t even trust people that I know.

Alfie won’t even sign on to Facebook anymore.”

Good Guys With Guns?

There are a lot of problems with this NRA solution to rampant gun violence.

At the head of the list is the problem of defining what is a good guy.

I am sure that after a throaty chuckle at my lily livered naiveté the proponent of the good guy with guns solution would spew forth the expected litany of stereotypes and myths, so there is not much use in arguing about this – I think – really questionable endorsement of a fully armed citizenry.

So I won’t.

Argue about it.

Nor will I argue about any of the many other assertions made and questions begged in relation to any attempt to try to eliminate cyclical mass murder in America.

There is one exception to my no argument posture, however: I get really nervous about living in an America that would be beset by constant episodes of cross fire from the good guys engaging the bad guys.

Friendly fire is frequently deadly fire, for those of us just trying to go to the grocery.

That would make life noticeably less enjoyable and likely measurably shorter for many of us.

Musing About The Meaning

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

How these words – which say in the context (originalists please pay attention here) of their 18th Century origin – that the United States of America did not want to have a standing army (the entire 17th century in England being the basis for that desire; read Macaulay’s History of England  for more on that assertion) but instead, recognized the need for local and patriotic standing militias, have been twisted by the NRA, just plain nut cases, and, even, the Supreme Court, is an amazing metamorphosis.

Even without that metamorphosis the gun nuts all assert that: any gun is a good gun and any good gun needs to be laid away under the beds and hidden in the attics of America to defend against the criminals, the vagabonds and the ne'er-do-wells that are replete upon the land, and god damn those who deny this inalienable right – of guns under the beds and in the attics.

One would question why one would want to have a country with more killing devices than citizens.

One might also question, reading the second amendment, how its purpose has migrated from the asserted need for a well regulated militia to defense of one’s home, or the right to carry weapons on the street and in churches and in parks and in school.

Militias were for defending one’s state, and doing that as a group, and most likely getting the weapons out of the local armory; not stocking as many as one’s house could accommodate.

But the NRA controls the narrative, so who am I to question it.

But there are life and death consequences.

Especially when the situation involves the ready access of military weapons to civilians.

So the NRA keeps mowing them down.

45 rounds per minute for an AR 15; maybe double that with a bump stock.

And that 223 round has been designed to tumble through the air to its target.

That makes it substantially more lethal than its petite size would seem to indicate.

It tears through flesh and bone like a buzz saw.

And, in any event, the really scary thing is that the concept of a militia has metamorphosed from its original purpose of being ready to repulse a post 1066 French invasion into a threatening form of aberrant male behavior in iPhone America.

Sometimes All One Needs Is A Cat

The most recent NRA sponsored massacre – of, this time, students (we seem to go back and forth between various massacre “themes”: country music fans, white god fearing Christians, black god fearing Christians, students, and so forth, and so on) has generated something not seen in America for quite some time.

Outrage is loose in the land.

An articulate, intelligent and well educated (even though they are, so far, only in high school) segment of the population has said with vigor, “we have had all of thIs bullshit that we are going to be willing to take”.

donnie got right on it.

“There isn’t any collusion and the Russian thing is a hoax and, any way, donnie jr can’t speak Russian. And if he could he wouldn’t have talked to any Russians – he doesn’t even know any Russians – and the FBI needs to be disbanded because they didn’t follow up on all that stuff about the Lakeland killer; they are were too busy persecuting me and my family. And so the whole system is rigged, and everyone knows it, and everybody is demanding the resignation of the FBI Director who has been mercilessly persecuting me and my family.  He is totally responsible for the death of those students and I am not guilty of collusion in any form or manner.”

Or something like that.

The one good thing, it seems to me, that might come out of this, is that an indomitable, well educated, and articulate segment of our population is really pissed.

And they are going to challenge the cretin president and the cretin legislature, and, if necessary the cretin supreme court.

They are not going to accept that “now is not the time, and our prayers and thoughts are with you.”

Not this time.

They have seen this charade before.

Too many times before.

They are going to bring the “system” down if needs be to get rid of the (have you ever wondered how the “originalists” could have reconciled the words of the second amendment with the technology of latter day killing?) NRA, Koch, Big Pharma, Big Oil, etc. etc. owned government that those of us that would like not to live in a militia set of provinces would really like to see brought down.

God speed, I say.

And here is a picture of the cat who whispered in my ear, in cattish, that I should write this post.

I might have missed some of the nuance of his directive; I am new to cattish.

The Russian Onslaught On America Is – Sometimes – Subtle

I assume (based on all my alternate facts and my fake news and my just plain willingness to believe that donnie is not only an idiot, a disaster and an American travesty, but that he is also a criminal who would collude with anyone who would make him money, or anyone who would do his twisted, usually illegal, bidding, and/or who would help him get elected) that most or all of the mass murders and massacres that keep rolling through America are also spawned by the same or similar Soviet (excuse, excuse – Russian) operatives that were today indicted by Robert Mueller.

I guess they recruit, and train, and egg on, the Kruz’s (Ted’s kid, I guess) or Cruz’s (I couldn’t find  how the name is spelled, and really don’t care) and their ilk, so that the American education system, already moribund due to multi-decade lack of funding, ceases to have a function.

Kids don’t want to go back into the war zone.

Pretty neat, Puty.

But, I guess, if I were president, I would want to bring that sort of mass murder, and its ill effect on education in America, to an immediate and screeching stop.

But then, I am not donnie.

donnie wants to be exonerated (whatever that means) from any connection to the “Russian Hoax”, “there was no collusion” (whatever that might mean) and he wants to pray – or something, for all of those dead people – kids mostly - in Florida.

I guess I would ask what donnie the crotch grabber could possibly expect to bring to the grief sodden family meetings that are trying to get through the loss.

The only answer I could proffer would be: absurdity.

But then “Absurdity” is the banner under which our sad little shrinking excuse for a country has been marching for over a year now.

But: I guess, if I were President, I would want to stop the Soviets.

As the kids in Florida have been saying with clarity and emphasis “thanks for your thoughts and prayers, but we need, expect and demand, ACTION”.

One kid said he regretted not being a Russian BOT, given that we have mid-terms coming up.

If that high, best of breed, human history to date, irony, doesn’t get some cretin lawmaker’s attention I don’t know what we can do; I suggest a march on Washington.

By the rest of us.

Who aren’t cretins.

So I would want to stop the Soviets.

If I were president.

But then, I am nor donnie.

And he is pretending to be president.

How sad.

How genuinely sad.

The Sadness Of Where We Are

All of the people that I have heard interviewed from Lakeland, for the first time since November 8, 2016, make me REALLY HOPEFUL about America and its people; and its future.

Then donnie starts bleating; and I remember, again, where we are.

The Ottoman’s And The Romanovs Are Back

Erdogan's "Ottoman Slap" comment jibes nicely with everything Puty has been doing since 2014.

And we (citizens of the United States of America) are stuck with a president who has never read a book.

So any idea about what is confronting him in his capacity of CINQ is absent.

I noted months ago that donnie's abandonment of US world leadership - a thing that has been in place since 1945, and is the result of the architecture of three President's: Wilson, FDR and Truman, and the result of the implementation of that architecture by every subsequent president, until now, would have catastrophic implications for world order, and any semblance of world peace.

Today, though, donnie is off on a frolic of making our schools safe.

And he – donnie the crotch grabber- told little children to feel safe because he cares about them.

Or something like that; I wasn’t paying attention.

(I had visions of a six year old in Syracuse looking at his Google search cell and keying in “Stormy Daniels” and then saying, “Daddy what does “porn” mean?”)

The lyrics from John Stewart’s (not the Daley show guy) song, “You are the Country” come to mind.

Lest We Forget

The Russians keep making me post this picture.

It’s amazing how sinister they are.

That guy Puty really knows his shit.

The Russians Keep Coming

I just heard that the Russian's are still managing our elections with the goal of undermining our faith in American Democracy.

They certainly have succeeded so far.

Incompetence III Or Maybe Treason (Still)

This is fake news and alternate facts.

I'm repeating what I said elsewhere at more length: there aren't "Interim" security clearances.

Giving uncleared people access to classified information is a crime.

I'm sure donnie, when pushed on this, will say he can't commit a crime.

So much for all that crap about keeping America "safe".

Incompetence II Or Maybe Treason

On two occasions during my four years in USAF, I was assigned to functions requiring high level security clearances.

In both cases that put me in what was called casual status: "go play pool for the next several months while we talk to all the people we need to talk to so you can be cleared to do the job we have assigned you" or, "maybe we can have you go out and do base garbage pickup".

There wasn't some sort of interim clearance status (that everybody assumes Robbie the uncleared had, which I doubt, for the reasons that are in this post); it was binary; one day I couldn't do my job, and then one day I could; I had been cleared.

So I think donnie and all his factotums should be a little nervous about going to jail.

Last time I looked, giving classified information to someone not cleared for it is a crime of significant proportion.

So are we going to give donnie another pass or are we going to draw the line at National Security?

The donnie base loves treason, so I guess we know the answer.

Here is a previous post that elaborates a little more – 400 words or so, so not life threatening.

Treason, Incompetence And donnie The Dildo With Image

From USA Today:

“WASHINGTON – White House officials refused to explain Thursday why Chief of Staff John Kelly and others allowed Rob Porter to stay in his high-profile job even after his security clearance was held up over allegations of domestic abuse by two ex-wives.”

From me:

I shouldn't try to know anything about this, but I was four years an intelligence officer, including a year in Saigon  and four months managing the intelligence shop that was on point for the Pueblo crisis; and I had a pretty high clearance – I was at SAC HQ at the end of my inauspicious AF career.

So I think that I might know something about this.

I heard earlier today - on NPR - a slightly different description of Rob's security clearance.

It was not in “held up” status as USA Today reported.

The more accurate story appears to be that Rob didn't have one.

Security clearance, that is.

The FBI was investigating his spousal abuse problems and his clearance was held in official abeyance.

And that is a big deal.

The job Robbie had until yesterday is at the front end of all the information that flows to the President.

That job sorts, organizes, evaluates, eliminates, collates and forwards information - to name a few of the requirements of the job - to the Chief of Staff.

Most or all of that information is classified; a lot of it is classified very highly.

What the Chief of Staff decides to forward out of that mélange is whatever the President sees on a given day.

That stuff that the President sees starts with the White House Staff Secretary.

That person was, until yesterday, Robbie the uncleared.

Or the facts – alternate facts are being drummed up as I write this – seem to point to that conclusion.

(“White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Porter had gone through the typical "lengthy background check process" for his role in the administration”. From Cody Fenwick.)

So.

Either Robbie was doing all of that without a security clearance (remember crooked Hillary and the great home based server crisis trumped up by donnie the trumper?) or he was privy to nothing, and was shuffling meaningless unclassified papers and passing them on to the (useless in that context) Chief of Staff.

The latter scenario seems to be at least as likely as the former: donnie wouldn’t know an important fact from a frog.

By the way, I think I remember from my time at Saigon, Itazuke, Omaha, Cannon AFB and Goodfellow AFB (I forgot to mention that I was also in the AF Security Service) that giving classified information to an uncleared person is a fairly serious crime.

Treason comes to mind.

But treason has recently been been redefined – by none other than donnie himself -  only as a crime if one doesn’t clap for for donnie the dildo.

Sadness Of The First Degree

I keep thinking that, at most, only about 30% or so of us Americans think that donnie should remain in office.

But he keeps remaining, and keeps moving closer to being The Idiot That Brought Down an Empire (a book I may write some day).

I have never really approved of the empire, but it has provided stability, growth and progress to the world for 70 or so years.

So maybe it has been an OK empire.

I think both Roosevelts, Wilson, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama would say it was and has been – on balance - a force for good in the world.

And with that group in favor I find it hard to argue.

So now we have donnie the dildo.

Both domestically and internationally donnie – probably due to stupidity, not sinister intent – is bringing that empire down.

And – apparently 70% or so of us – are letting him get away with it.

Something is amiss here.

I am beginning to think it must be me.

Maybe everything I thought that America was, that America should be, that America could be and that America would be has been just plain wrong.

If that is true, the problem, for me is, I don't want to live here anymore.

Capitulating to government generated mass hysteria passing as a national ethos: a national ethos of hate, fear, wanting to be safe and just plain selfishness has no appeal to me

That is a value statement.

But it is also a community statement: I don’t want to live amongst a tribe of vicious and.frightened hamsters.

But I also know this: moving permanently to another country is not a trivial task.

And it may not even be possible.

Today’s Fake News

donnie just tweeted: "fake news; fake news; fake news; Mr Dow and Mr Jones are liars, just like my other enemies".

Several shrinks have suggested confining him to his bedroom.

A Picture That I Am Proud Of: Canal Saint Martin In 2017

Taken with a Leica M3 film camera.

That Idiot From Arkansas Pretending To Be From Missouri

The thing that worries me about Sykes is that what he is doing is clear: he is testing the outer edges of "being donnie"; I lived in Missouri for three years and I always felt that I was living among pretty astute people.

But then I felt that way about America in general until 8 November 2016.

So I guess all bets are off, and, if the edge-mover wins, the abyss is much closer

Smarter Than He Looks

So Devie said one day; "I have a great idea".

I'm going to write a memo with a bunch of mostly fictitious assertions about malfeasance at the FBI.

I'll allude to deeply classified documents that can't be released to the public as proof of the assertions; since the "proof" can't be released there is no way to prove the bogus nature of my memo.

And then, just as a secret sauce, I will classify the memo and then announce its existence and say that it proves malfeasance but can't be released to the public.

When, inevitably after the sturm and drang that will arise around the whole affair, it is released, and it says "malfeasance, malfeasance, malfeasance" nobody will be able to prove that I'm wrong; I will have alluded to a document that I know can't be released, so my use of it as proof can't be proved to be bogus.

And everybody thinks I'm as dumb as a post.

I'll show them.”

An Image That Speaks For Me

donnie’s base eats this shit up.