Freaky Friday

I was late getting started today, because Microsoft (may they rot eternally) needed to monopolize the computer for two hours with another load of improvements.  When I finally got it back I was in no mood.  I went over to YouTube and decided to blow out the dust with a listen to Bolero, starring the London Symphony Orchestra.  The conductor was Valery Gergiev, sporting his trademark three-day growth of facial hair and leading the band with what appeared to be a toothpick.

OK, I thought, this is going to be a day.

Earlier this week Keith Olbermann posted his farewell video at GQ.  He's understandably drained but also convinced that the end of Trumpism is in sight.  At the time I thought he was overly optimistic.  Then came the news that Michael Flynn, he of the mad eyes, has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is "cooperating" with the Mueller investigation.  White House staffers are complaining the place is full of ants, roaches and mice (part of Melania's Christmas décor?), but that's nothing compared to the vermin scuttling around this news.  It's hard to pretend the former national security adviser and venomous campaigner (see above) was just some guy who got coffee and answered the phone, but did you know he really worked for Obama?  I know!  So when he testifies that slumlord-in-law Jared Kushner told him to make contact with the Russians and assure them sanctions would end as soon as Trump was "elected," remember, Obama.  It's always Obama.  Or Benghazi.

Which is in Libya, where they auction slaves just like the good ol' days in Alabama.  And Libya is using Trump's attacks on journalism in general and CNN in particular to discount that network's reporting about slave trafficking.  So this isn't just the fat orange slob twitting on his golden throne about "fake news."  This shit is real, and there is no longer any excuse for refusing to consider impeachment, and I'm looking at you, Pelosi.

Trump, of course, knows nothing of this and cares less.  He has no fucking idea what's in the monstrous tax bill except that it would reduce his taxes if he ever paid any, which he doesn't because he's so smart.  He had to be told by Lindsey Graham that pardoning Flynn is a bad idea.  He believes his lawyer Ty Cobb, who must have passed the bar exam somewhere, that Mueller will issue a statement completely exonerating him by New Year's Eve, when they hold the Masque of the Red Death at Mar-a-Legomyeggo.  (To hear Trump tell it, there's always someone bleeding at the party and he's always disgusted by it.)  At least the Flynn perp walk led to the cancellation of a photo op with the visiting Libyan prime minister.  Whatever they discussed, I'm sure slavery didn't come up.  Anyway, Trump has been obsessed all day with the acquittal of Jose Garcia Zarate in the killing of Kate Steinle in 2015.  Garcia Zarate is undocumented and Steinle is the "wonderful, beautiful woman" who was invoked constantly to promote hatred of all foreigners, especially the dark-skinned.  Once again the courts have let him down.  An independent judiciary?  What's that?

Trump is already damaging the economy.  The Commerce Department reports a 4% drop in tourism in the first six months of this year, at a cost of several billion dollars.  The tourism industry blames Trump's travel bans, but I think it's more complicated.  Other countries don't understand this 18th Century anachronism the "electoral college."  They imagine the US to be a democracy like Japan or Sweden.  They think we actually elected this depraved racist imbecile.  Governments are advising citizens not to come here, not because of the gun violence --we've had that for decades -- but because Americans probably have some brain disease which may be contagious.  You're trying to keep and grow a civilization, with free education through college, twenty-first century public transit, universal health care.  The last thing you want is a return to tyranny, state violence and institutionalized racism. The Germans and the Italians remember better than most.

Oh, what else?  Colin Kaepernick has won Sports Illustrated's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, despite not having a job.  Another magazine cover that won't feature Trump.  Sad!

Joe Barton is not running for re-election.  The eyes of  Texas were upon him, and they didn't like what they saw.  Also, you can never unsee it.  I've tried.

Rex Tillerson may be nearing the end of his sentence term as Secretary of State.  To make sure the department continues to deteriorate, he'll probably be replaced by Mike Pompeo.  Or just anybody who will shut the curtains and turn up the music before describing Trump as a fucking moron.



As you can see, the audience for the White House Christmas tree lighting is even bigger than the inauguration crowd.  The White House Christmas party, not so much.  It seems they also "forgot" to invite Chris Johnson, who works for the country's oldest LGBT paper the Washington Blade.  I think he, April Ryan and Jake Tapper, et al., should throw a "Fuck Trump" holiday party at the biggest venue they can find.  CNN can televise it.  Trump can call it "FAKE PARTY!"

No press brief today.  I was hoping someone would ask the Huckabee Sanders if it's all right to question a general if he's also a felon.  I just love her frowny face.

Today is World AIDS Day, and to no one's surprise the official proclamation does not mention gay people.  (Yes, just as the Holocaust Remembrance Day announcement failed to mention Jews.)  I haven't read it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Trump boasted of having sex with hundreds of women, really hot women, nothing less than a nine, without contracting HIV.  That's my problem.  I am no longer surprised at anything.