Archives for June 2020

Tuesday June 30, 2020

124 Days until the election on November 3^rd

204 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

We are now at a crossroads, and I’m surprised how quickly it evolved.

It started on Friday, late in the day. There was a report that Russia had been paying the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill American troops. It was also reported the Trump knew about it.

Trump tweeted that it wasn’t true. He called it The Russian Hoax and, of course, Fake News. But then the reports kept coming in. The sources grew. The White House tried to push back. They said the president wasn’t informed because the sources weren’t credible, that he hadn’t seen it. Was it in his Daily Brief? Well, he doesn’t read his daily brief and if he wasn’t orally told then he didn’t know. Was he told? No comment. 

At this point the discussion switched to how could we know if he knew? Well, it turns out that everything the president sees is stamped and dated. If it was in The Daily Brief one could also look there and see if it was in fact there. 

By Monday it was clear that someone had seen it high up and there was a report that SEAL Team 6 had raided a Taliban stronghold and recovered $500,000.00. The reporting that the reports weren’t credible were melting away. Now the conversation switched to “if the president wasn’t informed who was?” and “Were the people around the president so scared to tell him that they didn’t? Or was it that he in fact knew and did nothing?” The consensus seems to be that he knew and did nothing. For how long? Four months. 

Four months the president knew that Putin had been ordering and paying for the killing of American troops and what had the president done in that time? He had had six calls with Putin. He had asked once again to let Russia back into the G7. He had pulled troops out of Germany, which is what Russia has wanted for decades, and we got nothing.

It is so bad that the Republicans against Trump, known as The Lincoln Project, have run a very negative ad about all this. That pales in comparison to what a Veterans organization ad looks like. That ad has stamped in big capital yellow letters “TRAITOR”. 

Veterans voted two to one for Trump. Do you think they will this time?

There are those who think the Corona Virus is a hoax perpetrated by the Dems to try and steal the election from Donald. I wonder what they are spinning in their brains to explain this? Frankly, I don’t care, but still…

What else has Donald done? I think he’s played golf with Lindsey Graham. And he tweeted a video of a guy riding by in a golf cart yelling “White Power.” What’s the excuse? He didn’t hear the guy yelling “White Power.” The only problem with that excuse is that it is the only thing that one can hear on the audio. Maybe, he had the sound down? Yeah, let’s go with that.

Meanwhile Mike Pence went to Texas where he sat in a mega church and listened to a hundred plus person choir singing to a packed no mask wearing congregation. No the choir wasn’t wearing masks either. So let me break that down for you. The head of the White House Corona Virus Response Team was in an indoor event with hundreds perhaps thousands of people packed shoulder to shoulder spitting on each other. 

Mike was supposed to go to similar events in Florida and Arizona but he cancelled them, not the trip, just going to the spitting event. I guess they figure they need every vote they can get in those states and if the people get sick now they may die before the election and won’t be able to vote. Let’s not forget that the leading states in the huge upward curve of Corona Virus infections are Texas, Florida, and Arizona. Those states have Republican governors. Why aren’t my right wing friends putting up memes and charts and “I bet no one will repost this” signs on Facebook about this?

Speaking of Facebook, they’ve been losing advertisers over the Black Lives Matter stuff, because Facebook has done little or nothing to stop the hate lie speech on their platform. But don’t worry they’ve got a team on it. Yeah, their team is calling advertisers asking them not to drop them as an account. Facebook hasn’t changed their behavior around getting rid of hate speech.

So now what?

Isn’t it interesting that when it comes to standing up for our troops, for defending our freedoms, and pointing out unpatriotic behavior it is what is described as the liberal media that is doing it? Where’s Fox News? Where are the Rush Limbaugh’s and the Alex Joneses? Why they are still sucking the rear end of Trump?

We now have a clear choice: do you support the troops or do you support the killer in chief?

There is another question and that is why would Putin do this? There is much evidence that Russia is very conflicted on whom they would want to be President. They don’t like disorder and protest. Trump seems to foment that, so there is a good case to be made that they would prefer Biden.

So why would Putin do this?

I think the answer is simple and obvious.

Because he can.

124 Days until the election on November 3^rd

204 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS What are you looking at? (Duck, Duck, Goose)

Monday June 29, 2020

125 Days until the election on November 3^rd

205 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

It’s Sunday night and I decided to get a jump on things. I have a prediction, here goes:

DATELINE: The White House, Monday October 19, 2020.

Today Mike Pence with Donald J. Trump hovering behind him announced that “they” had discovered a vaccine for the Corona Virus. No longer will any of us have to live in fear. There is a vaccine! All will be saved!

Dr. Anthony Fauci was seen wearing a mask, with his head down shaking his head.

DATELINE: The White House, Tuesday November 17, 2020. Today the junior assistant copy room person to the deputy assistant to the now dismissed junior assistant to the deputy assistant in charge of paper shuffling and obfuscation announced that in fact the vaccine they had turned out to not be a vaccine. “We were surprised,” said Mr. Dildo. “We thought we had a vaccine.” It seems that the White House two weeks before the election received some viles marked “Covid Vaccine.” And based on that announced the existence of a vaccine. 

Several volunteers were brought in and injected with the “vaccine.” One reported a feeling of dizziness and euphoria. A young lady excused herself to the bathroom where she was found with her head in the toilet vomiting.

When asked by reporters why this wasn’t reported earlier Mr. Dildo responded that it was not his job and he believed it had been the responsibility of others. He noted he wasn’t sure as he had just been hired yesterday.

Lab results have been obtained from the vials, which were surreptitiously given to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Both newspapers report that the vaccine was 151 proof tequila and came from a one Antonio Rodriguez who is quoted as saying, “This shit will kill anything.”

Based on his “expert testimony and opinion” the White House announced the long awaited miracle cure.

########################## Exeunt #################

Don’t forget. You heard it here first! (Details may vary from this report.)

My right wing friends have been busy posting “Who will stand with the police?” memes.

For some reason they aren’t posting the videos of the cops grabbing the 14 year old boy and throwing him to the ground and hitting his head on the pavement.

Or the one of the guy with the giant sniper rifle on top of a building scanning a BLM rally.

Or the report that looked at 141 protests and found no Antifa or BLM protestors involved in the violence. What was identified were the Boogaloo white supremacists  causing violence and mayhem. I wonder why they didn’t show that with a “Who’s willing to repost this?”

Okay, moving on.

The latest news is that the president was not told that the Russians were paying money to have our soldiers killed. This according to the president.

Excuse me. Excuse me. I have a question, “How would he know?”

I have another question, “If he did know would he tell us?”

Okay let’s take the last question first – no.

What? You want more than a “no”? Why? Okay. Think about it. If he knew and did nothing that’s bad. Better to say he didn’t know. Besides, he lies. He lies when he doesn’t have to. He just lies. Did he lie in this case? Maybe. Probably? No.

This brings us to the first question and my last response to the second question, which was no. As in “No, he probably didn’t lie.” 

The reason I say that is because he probably didn’t know. The reason he didn’t know was not that he wasn’t told. This is where I believe the media has missed the mark with their headline inquires of “Why Wasn’t the president Told?” I think the better question and headline would be “Why Wasn’t the president Paying Attention When He Was Being Told?”

The answer to the last question is simple. Based on what we know about the man he doesn’t pay attention to anything that doesn’t bear directly on him. 

What happens now? Some poor bastard will have to say, “We told him” Trump will tweet, “No you didn’t,” and the guy will lose his job.

I contend that the president was probably told about this on multiple occasions and he never paid attention. Hence, he can rightful claim he didn’t know. He didn’t know, and this is where the media missed the point, he didn’t know because he wasn’t listening.

Simple.

Next.

This leads me to the ultimate question of today. Why?

Why does this seem to happen in so many places in our society? Why do we keep getting idiots running things? It doesn’t matter if it’s government or business, many of them seem to be run by people unfit for the job. (Remember Peter Lynch’s investing advice – Invest only in companies that any idiot can run because eventually an idiot will be running it.)

Once again I have the answer. (You are so lucky to have read this far.)

The answer is The Peter Principle. Everyone Rises to Their Level of Incompetence.

Peter suggested that people keep getting promoted and asked to take on more and more until they finally arrive at the place where they can’t do the job and they end up staying there.

While I used to think this to be true, it may be worse than what old Pete suggested. I say that because the solution would be to demote everyone back to their last level where they were competent and the world would be a better place. However, I think their are some real over achievers who have managed to fail upward multiple levels.

How does this happen?

Once again you are in luck, because I have the answer.

Imagine you are a manager promoted to a position that you have no idea what you are doing. What do you do? You depend on the people around you. But they, like you, have no business doing the jobs they are in. This is the blind leading the blind. Enter the snake oil salesman. He says he has the answer.

What do you know? You don’t know squat. So you, and all the rest of your band of fools, know no better. So you buy whatever he is selling and things go to hell. What to do? Point fingers, blame, cry, send out your resume and get a new job.

Either that or stay in your old one or retire to some consulting teaching gig.

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Republican candidates for 2016. Go over the list. Were any of them any good? They were all deeply flawed. They had gotten to where they were by BS. I remember some had talking points that were easily shown to be factually inaccurate, but that didn’t stop them from spouting them all the more.

Enter Donald Trump: “I’ll erase the deficit. I will fix health care. I will drain the swamp. I will end the war in …” It didn’t matter, he would take care of it. The only things he said that were not of that sort, that were kind of original, were bat-shit stupid. The Wall, The Immigrants, etc. It was racist and hate filled. But he promised more with no real – what would you call it? – Clue? As to how to do anything. 

This was built on a solid foundation of lies and bullying. He was aided and abetted by our own system of media, governance, and greed. Not to mention foreign interference.

So, how do we pull back from the abyss? Maybe, we don’t. Maybe, we end up taking a Thelma and Louise style ride off the cliff.

Unless and until we figure out how to stop idiots from running things we may be doomed to repeat this sort of nonsense.

Sorry, I had all the answers to this the last point. I have risen to my level. You?

125 Days until the election on November 3^rd

205 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS A fort in Jordan. Commanding the sand.

Sunday June 28, 2020

126 Days until the election on November 3^rd

206 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Okay, I got cute with the title, “Trump and the Autharians” sounds like a rock group from the 50s that didn’t quite make it. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs anyone? Sam made it, then found Jesus and everything went to hell. What I really wanted to dwell on today was a new outlook on Russia and how dictatorships and authoritarian systems of government come to power.

This is a topic I’ve referred to from time to time in my writing but I haven’t really read much on it since high school when I read several books about Hitler and how he came to power. Recently, like yesterday, my bud Frank sent me several links to articles along with his insightful analysis on Hitler, Stalin, Russia, and how the Soviets came to and retain power along with some general comments on “What all authoritarian regimes have in common.” (Maybe, I should post a click bait slide thing? “The Ten Most Things All Authoritarian Regimes Have in Common”? … #10 All Authoritarian Regimes Lie to the People They Govern, … #9 …)

Before I really get going on this topic I want to mention the odd number of disparate things that came to my attention within the last week that make this a topic to discuss.

The first was John Bolton’s comment that The Senate needed to stay in Republican hands because it was the last gap stop against “The Liberals.” I have to wonder what fantasy he harbors about what will happen if the Senate falls into the hands of “The Literals.” It seems to me that the new bogey man for anything these folks don’t like is branded as “Liberal” and hence bad and therefore must be stopped at all costs or ELSE! Or else what? Typically, this is where the argument falls into deranged fantasy. The problem I have is that when I confront someone at this point they attack me personally (called an Ad Hominem argument: Latin for “to the man”) and the only rationale that is provided falls into the realm of magical thinking (ie completely unsupported by any fact.)

The next was another buddy who said his mother-in-law was convinced that the Covid pandemic was a sinister plot foisted on us by (I guess) Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to discredit Trump. 

Then Frank came in with something he got there in Texas about Nickie Haley blaming “the mob” or was it liberals? Or Democrats? Or Nancy Pelosi? For doing Black Lives Matter, etc. 

Okay. Enough. Now onto why all this is so interesting at this point in time. It was an article in Foreign Affairs Magazine:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2020-06-17/putin-not-smiling

In it the author made some astounding (to me) observations about Russia. The biggest of which was that the Putin wasn’t so interested in Trump winning (He and the Russians were just as astounded as many of us.) And he didn’t interfere in the 2016 election to help Trump win as much as he did it to show that he could (interfere). Why? In the Russian mindset there is a perceived notion that the U.S. had interfered in Russian affairs somewhere over something. That as far as I know, we did not, and when I read it, it didn’t make sense. Much like most of what is spouted by Rush Linbaugh or Fox News doesn’t make sense.

The article then described two very interesting things about the Russian outlook and mindset:

One) The word for protest in Russian is the same word for disorder. They loath disorder.

Two) The television commentators commented on the police response to the protestors. They were appalled. Not by what the police did so much as how unprofessional it was. The commentators debated the tactic of driving cars into the crowds by police – was that the best tactic? Etc.

The comments of the Russian television commentators was elaborated by a description by the author on the Russian mindset toward the protests and the protestors. The Russian mindset seems to be that someone or some party must be behind these protests. Someone is controlling it and them. The question for the commentators was who? Who benefited the most? The one thing that they never thought of, that was not even in their minds was the idea that the protests could be a genuine outpouring of distain for those in power. Obviously, someone was behind it.

This thinking is not far removed from the Nickie Haley or John Bolton comments or my friend’s mother-in-law. The fear of “They.” 

Any analysis of the rise of authoritarian regimes or the learning of prejudice is the ability to label your opponents and enemies so that you can dismiss them as less than you. 

It’s a first step really. “I’m better than you, because you are X, Y, or Z. Therefore it’s okay that I do to you the following …because I know what is right … (Rinse and Repeat).

126 Days until the election on November 3^rd

206 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Hey! Watch me now. I’m pulling the old face dodge time warp. It’s just a step to the right and a jump to the left.

Saturday June 27, 2020

127 Days until the election on November 3^rd

207 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

First, my apologies. Which, you will understand more, as we go along. I’ve been taking a course with Shelby on how to do video in real time, livestreaming, and the like. One of the things I learned was the idea of a teaser. Something you ask at the beginning of your video to grab someone’s interest. Well, I’ve been lying in bed thinking about what I wanted to write today, and then I thought about a teaser, and then another, and another.

TRIPLE TEASER ALERT!!!

T1 – What’s your super power? What are you really really good at? 

For me, it’s the ability to weave together seemingly disparate pieces of information into a coherent whole. On the downside, I sometimes forget to explain how all the really neat pieces of information fit together, because I think it’s sooo obvious. (This explains a lot. Like why when I was being super cool at high school dances and trying to impress a young lady she would look at her wrist and explain she had to go to the bathroom, never to return.)

(BTW part of a teaser is to answer the question you posed to explain how it relates to you. See above.)

T2 – Have you seen the movie “Office Space”? It’s a cult classic and one of my favorites. In it, the protagonist, played by Ron Livingston, at the beginning of the movie explains to a therapist that every day when he wakes up he thinks that day is the worst day of his life. The therapist says, “that’s messed up,” but says he can help by hypnotizing Ron. The therapist does so. Ron is hypnotized. The therapist has a heart attack and drops dead, leaving Ron in this happy Who Gives a S*? State for the rest of the movie.

I have found having a bit of WGAS? is useful, especially in today’s world, and especially today, as everyday the news seems worse than the day before.

T3 – Last year I got this lovely two stapled catalog called “Napa Lifestyle.” It had beautiful photos of products they were selling staged in California wine country. The products seemed nice, if overpriced, and maybe not the top quality they purported, but the stories behind them were stellar. 

In today’s screed as I go through the increasingly more terrible than the day before news, I will be introducing sidebar commentary on products I intend to sell in my catalog called “DGAS & DGAF lifestyle”. The D is for Don’t. It is the compliment to W which is Who. GA is “Gives A” and if you can’t figure out the S or the F, it’s okay. Because…that’s right (WGAS?)!

In Texas, Arizona, Florida and many other states (all run by Republican governors) are hitting all time highs on infection from the Corona virus. The three states I’ve mentioned are in dire straits (no not the band!) Their hospitals are reaching the point that in the next few days they will have to start triage protocols. That means doctors will have to start determining who lives and who dies. There is a scoring system, which includes questions like: How bad is it? Are they likely to recover? And How many good years do they have left anyway? (Their questions are a bit more antiseptic sounding btw.)

It’s gotten so bad that the governors in those three states have taken their lips off the penis of the president long enough to say, “Gosh, a lot of you are dying. Why don’t you wear a mask? I’m sorry but the bars will have to close again, despite my saying yesterday that we wouldn’t do that.”

Maricopa county in Arizona is so bad that it is outstripping Brazil in infection rates. Houston is so bad that the mayor of the county (not sure how that works) has issued a dire warning, code red, to stay inside. Too bad the governor took away her ability to make it an order.

The rate of infection throughout the southern states is skyrocketing. And it’s only in the last week. Kind of looks like the unemployment graph, which is kind of like this: hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, YIKES!

Yeah, both the unemployment and the rate of infection is literally Off-The-Charts. I remember when I worked at super computer maker Cray, IBM would issue graphs showing folks their computer was almost as fast. What they didn’t always show you was they were using a logarithmic scale, which is to say they squashed the data down so it didn’t look like they were getting their rear-ends whooped. Wonder when the Govs will do that move?

In good news, Roger Stone’s lawyers asked for a delay in his going to jail. Instead of the end of this month they asked for September 9^th. The Justice Department agreed. Imagine that! The judge asked the Justice Department why. Why delay? The prosecutors had until midnight the day before yesterday to file and they filed at the last minute. The judge ruled. “Uh, no – two weeks is all the delay you get. July 14.”

Well, isn’t that special? Will president Donnie pardon his old bud? Why not? He only committed seven felonies. (Well, he may have committed more, but that’s all he was found guilty on.)

Okay, now we get to the real news of the day. The Russians were paying Afgan militants to kill American soldiers and the president knew about it, met with Putin, and did nothing. WGAS? I do! Oh, sorry, the president did take action. After meeting with Putin he tried once again to convince the G7 to let Russia back in and make it the G8. Who loves our soldiers? Hum? (Not the president.)

I’m waiting for my meme posting right wing buds to spin that one.

Also, there was a photo posted of some Second Amendment guy in battle gear, super big rifle in hand with sniper scope and tripod on top of a building scanning a Black Lives Matter rally. WTF? This raises the question for me of “Does the Second Amendment now extend to this kind of activity?” Let’s consider the Las Vegas shooter. If we had known he was in his room with an arsenal and was scanning the crowd with a high powered rifle is that his right? Do we have to wait until he starts shooting to say, “Hey man, not cool?”

Did I mention that the Russians were paying the Afghans to kill American soldiers?

Did I mention that the president knew and did nothing?

I guess we’ve come to a new place in our history. We need three strikes. The president hasn’t protected us – the general public – from the Corona virus. (Strike One).

He hasn’t protected American soldiers from being killed by Afghans in a murder for hire plot hatched by the Russians. (Strike Two).

So we have to wait for Strike Three?

Wait no more. The Justice Department is in court arguing that Obamacare should be rescinded. Yeah, that’s right. They are in court saying millions of people should be thrown off their health care. Is that Strike Three? Or do we have to wait for it to happen? Like the shooter on the rooftop or the guy in the room in Las Vegas? Can’t you hear the excuse? “Well, gosh, we thought he was a good guy with a gun until he open fire on the crowd.”

Jack Abramoff is back in the news. He’s the guy who paid Christian right wing pastors to rail against the evils of gambling so he, Abramoff, could soak Indian tribes for millions to protect them. What’s that called? A protection racket? Yeah, well freshly out of jail he’s now been indicted on the law named after him. This time with bitcoin currencies. It’s the same old Jack! Wire Fraud, Failure to Disclose Lobbying stuff. He did four years last time. He’s up for five this time.

And finally, we have trans people. Hey, they are people too. Who knew? Apparently, they get arrested, abused, killed, raped etc. Etc. Etc. At much higher rates than any other group in the country. That is except the subset of Black Trans Women. Now if you’re like me you are probably wondering WTF is a BTW? I mean what do they have down there? I don’t know. I’m not sure. But can we agree to leave people the F alone and let them live their lives? No? let’s worry that someone with certain genitalia is going into a bathroom that is generally designated for people with different genetalia.

Now, I don’t know about you, but a lot of my right wing friends post worries about that kind of activity. Sounds like their fantasy to me. If so then I see why Trump is their boy. “You can grab ’em by the pussy…They let you do it.” Plus he boasted about walking into the ladies changing room at the Miss Universe Pageant. As far as I’ve heard, he’s the only one to do such sh*t. Now, I have heard many reports about trans people being abused. Abused by strangers. Abused by lovers. And my this is the one that gets me, handcuffed and abused by police.

Maybe we should do something about this? You know, like make a bumper sticker with a rattlesnake on it and say, “Don’t Butt F* Me!”

I don’t know. How about …

Can we let police do police work and only police work?

Can we take the budget that police have been given to do therapy, drug rehabilitation, mental illness care and give it to people who are trained in those area instead? 

As I sit in my plastic Adirondack pink plastic chair, looking out on my beak mask covered pink plastic Trans flamingoes and I hoist a Mason Jar of red and white box wine swilled together to make what I call Rose-eh? I want to wish you and yours a wonderful WGAF weekend. Because when you get right down to it if you DGAS, DGAF, and wonder who does than …

I’m not sure where I’m going with this. I think something came off the rails…

Swing low, Sweet Donnie T.

Swing lo, Fat Billy B.

The damage you’ve caused,

Oh wait. Hold on. Mike Pence. I almost forgot. Did you see the press conference? OMG! Six questions in and he got asked a real question! He couldn’t or didn’t want to answer it. So he closed his three ring binder. (Binders full of BS, no doubt.) and hustled off the stage. As he left with Dr. Fauci and what’s her name Brixet? Brexit? Scarf lady, in tow a reporter yelled, “Dr. Fauci, Are rallies safe to attend?”

No answer.

Speaking of no answer Sean Hannity interviewed the pres and asked him what his agenda was for his second term. The president had nothing. A lot of words, but no agenda. Yeah, no plan, nothing to accomplish, nothing to do. I mean soldiers are getting killed and Russia is paying for it, the country is in a pandemic, the economy is in the toilet, and unemployment is off the charts and he’s got NUTHIN’. Think about that.

More Rose-eh? Do you think the third flamingo from the left is gay?

Meanwhile, I keep watching Swans for Relief. I cry. It is so beautiful. I cry.

127 Days until the election on November 3^rd

207 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Good Times: Katie, Rickie, Alex, Me, Shelby and the bird house on the OBX – March 2010.

PPS I just realized it should be De-Gas or Du-Gas for Do You GAS. I regret the error. Oh well.

btw that’s pronounced Dew Gas, not Dugaw as the painter is called (that after he combined the syllable de with Gas to form Degas.

Friday June 26, 2020

128 Days until the election on November 3^rd

208 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Hey, how are you holding up? What are you doing to cope? Me? Oh, well, glad you asked. I realized about a week ago that I need art in my life. I typically go for what I call “a museum fix,” Or as a painter friend of mine put it, “I need to get close to the paint.” I haven’t been able to do that so I decided to look through the giant art and archaeology books I’ve been collecting. The other day I saw this facebook promo entitled “Swans for Relief.” Misty Copeland, prima ballerina at American Ballet put together a fund raiser for all the ballet companies around the world. She and 31 other ballerinas danced one of the most gorgeous passages from Swan Lake. It took my breath away. It is a work of singular beauty. We need more beauty in our lives, more art, more elegance, more civility, more je sais quoi. But first …

Nicolle Wallace interviewed John Bolton yesterday. They worked together so the interview was amiable. I especially liked that Ms. Wallace began nearly every question with his first name. It was disarming and pleasant, even when his answers were outrageous, which they were much of the time. 

Bolton’s outrageousness isn’t obvious at first. You have to think about what he’s saying. Then it starts to hit you. There’s a “Wait a minute” moment. That quickly blends into, “That’s not what I recall,” or something similar. 

Take for instance, his lead off statements about the impeachment. These were his most unsubtle comments. He said the Democrats were grossly incompetent in how they went about the impeachment. Then he just piled onto that. I had heard earlier that his criticism had been that there was much more the Dems should have charged Trump with. In this interview he took the tact of saying they didn’t really do an impeachment. What they did was some sort of show trial for their base. What they should have done he argued was to have gotten together with the Republicans to forge a real impeachment. This is typical Bolton. It is phony crap from beginning to end, because, like most conservative arguments, when you break it down, like the Corona virus, it falls apart. 

But let’s play the game. “Okay John, what specifically do you suggest? With whom of the Republicans in Congress do you suggest the Dems could have reached across the aisle to find common ground?”

“Would you suggest some of the same Republicans that led Obama on and on for a year on health care demanding changes to the bill which he by and large acceded to only to have them vote against the final bill and then attack that plan for the very things they insisted be put in?”

“Would you suggest they reach over and ask shoe banging Louie or jacket less Jim? How about ‘my proudest moment was denying Barack Obama a supreme Court Justice’ McConnell?” 

“Nancy Pelosi kept a very tightly confined set of charges so that it was simple and obvious that the president had committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The Republicans in the Senate said from the get go they weren’t going to go along with anything. They didn’t even call witnesses. So tell me John, where and what exactly was the gross incompetence?”

“Yeah, I hear you John. You write that there was a lot more that Trump could have been charged with. Too bad you didn’t do your duty as the patriot you claim to be in the moment when it would have counted and spoken up.”

“Oh that’s right, you bathed yourself in excuses.”

To quote John Oliver, “Fuck You.”

(And Tennesse Williams.)

Let us move on to William Barr. Oh boy. He’s fat. He’s slimy. He’s repugnant. He’s all those things and more. But hey, anyone who was paying attention knew that. What you may not have known was just how slimy and repugnant. I’ll give you fat. Why would you know this? Because that’s been his career. I find it funny that Bolton in his interview yesterday and lawyers who have known Barr say, “Oh Bill Barr is a fine upstanding guy who knows the law.” Or some such nonsense. No he’s not. He’s the same odious, deceiving, deceitful guy he’s always been. 

Trump has a favorite parable. I’d call it a joke but he doesn’t understand humor. The parable is the one about the snake that is high up on the mountain bathing in the sunlight. The snake convinces someone to carry him to lower ground because the sun is going down and it’s getting cold. As the person puts the snake down, the snake bites the person. As the person lays dying he asks, “Why snake did you do that?” The snake replies, “You knew what I was before you picked me up.”

(The variant is a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a lake.)

With Trump and Barr, we knew who they were and what they were before we picked them up. I’m not shocked by their behavior. It’s more like stroke counting the playing form. The most incredible thing is how low they can go. It’s not original, but it is amazing that they can find new ways to go even lower.

But before we get to that a shout out to the other enablers. Lindsey Graham take a bow. Here’s a guy who used to tell the truth. Now? He’s like a kid hanging out next to the school yard bully, liking to watch other get beat up, and hoping he doesn’t. In the meantime telling others that he got to play golf with the president. “Hey, Lindsey did you wash his balls?” Cool.

What has Billy Barr done now? Oh boy. New reporting reveals that when it comes to washing balls no one is better than Bill. Actually, he doesn’t wash balls as much as lick them. I hope that when Donald is in jail Donald can give a master class on how he does it. How does he get people to be so subservient? With Bill Barr it wasn’t hard. It’s the only thing he knows. Besides, Barr looks like a big sad faced bulldog, don’t ya think? Happy to please, he’ll grovel up and lick away.

What has he done now? Like many police action cam footage released well after the incident it turns out Bill’s ball licking has been going on a long time. I know, I know, you knew about it back in past administrations with the Bushes but did you know he started interfering with prosecutorial cases from the very first days he took office? New reporting in the only paper Trump has a subscription to, what does he call it? “The failing New York Times” has reported that Barr was in there trying to get Cohen out of jail. 

We now know why the case against others in the Cohen case got dropped. Bill got it done. “Good Boy Bill! Who’s a good boy? Yes you are. Lick this one. Good boy.”

Roger Stone? Michael Flynn? Done and done. Washington DC Fed Prosecutors – knee capped. Southern District of New York – reining in. “Good Boy Bill.”

Igor and Giuliani and what’s his name? Oh yeah. 

In fact, there isn’t a case that the Federal prosecutors have worked on that if it comes close to Trump, Barr hasn’t interfered with. “Hey Dad! Ew, is that Mr. Barr licking your balls again? Ewww.” “Don’t worry Princess, he’s almost done. And he knows if he doesn’t get the job done he’ll be thrown out with the trash, just like all the others.”

Hey, guess what? Do you have any idea how many deaths Hawaii has had from Corona Virus? 17.

Yeah, one seven. That’s it. Why? It’s an island? Well duh. That helps. Obviously. But they have an electrical engineer as governor. He looks at data and acts on it. Low on charisma, good on getting the job done. Hum. Maybe there’s something to that science stuff? If you went to Hawaii you were quarantined in your hotel room for fourteen days. Your key worked once to let you into your room. If you left you got arrested. Some got out and boasted on social media that they got out. They got arrested. No fuss, no muss. 

How come all those get tough, gun toting, states are such pussies? This guy is an engineer. An electrical engineer! I guess they come geekier than that, but not much. Hey Texas, why don’t you get your bad ass self up and tough? Oh, pussy. Okay. Like Bolton? No different. Okay.

Meanwhile. Florida’s two Senators. The “I take the fifth seventy times” Rick Scott or the  “I can drink water from a bottle” Mark Rubio are slightly wavering from the no mask policy that the president has laid out. Seems that they must be getting disturbed by the bodies piling up in the corner.

But hey, don’t worry boys, you got company. I’m waiting to see what the southwest does when it runs out of capacity, which it, like southern Florida, is scheduled to do soon. Like in a few days, maybe two weeks. Some of the governors in those area are even giving press conferences where they wimpley say, “Oh gee, gosh, maybe you ought to, you know, wear a mask.” Or at least hang it off of one ear, put it around your neck, I don’t know. Somewhere near your face.

Let me say this because I keep forgetting to mention it. If Hillary had won we wouldn’t be having this crisis. Why? Because she reads. She’s smart. She’s prepared. She would have stopped this thing in China. Compare this to Donald. He doesn’t read. He’s stupid. He’s ill-prepared and he didn’t stop it in China (like Joe Biden said in January that we should have done – and could have done.)

There’s more. I want to thank all of you who send me little tidbits. 

Here’s one – Europe, the Eu specifically, is planning to ban American travelers when they reopen on July 1.

Wonder why? 

I’d like to see New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut’s governors team up with the governor of Maine and get the rest of the New England states on board to root out the virus. Maybe set up checkpoints on the interstates. Then march across the country doing the same thing: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and westward ho! Then redo Sherman’s march through the south. Let’s not forget our history! Am I right? Yeah.

128 Days until the election on November 3^rd

208 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Who doesn’t love a puppy? Katie, Rickie and Alex – Bannockburn Pool 1999.  Katie the ballerina.

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/swansforrelief