tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318362262024-03-17T20:00:41.214-07:00Buttermilk SkyButtermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.comBlogger1929125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-87940218343748566212023-09-22T14:26:00.000-07:002023-09-22T14:26:57.471-07:00Strange things are happening<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhObuSFbk4QODXj4Rxje1boNs6acbSCxpYSYxONf-SD16B9xSvkCZ0F03hffdmLEiGb5SJe_T6aqYve8tSpq_AaSBVWXoVYX-YCF13lX1QTqRafk-nuHg5wb0mz00PayjVWzngG-jwn8jqpAgyKXM9ZBuM5cRS2QPdyGSTD3DIKgiasQuPtWhjg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1240" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhObuSFbk4QODXj4Rxje1boNs6acbSCxpYSYxONf-SD16B9xSvkCZ0F03hffdmLEiGb5SJe_T6aqYve8tSpq_AaSBVWXoVYX-YCF13lX1QTqRafk-nuHg5wb0mz00PayjVWzngG-jwn8jqpAgyKXM9ZBuM5cRS2QPdyGSTD3DIKgiasQuPtWhjg=w400-h240" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was indicted again, together with his wife Nadine and others, in a corruption scandal involving cash, a nice car, a "job" for Nadine and gold bars. That's old school. <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-secretly-attended-koch-brothers-donor-events-scotus">Clarence Thomas</a> has to attend Koch events and even make speeches for swag like that. Menendez faced similar charges in 2017 but was acquitted. If there is a Hunter Biden connection, or even if there isn't, we'll hear about it in good time.</p><p>As it does for all men, death did not come for Rupert Murdoch, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it had. The Lizard of Oz has received so much praise for growing rich by undermining democratic institutions and employing shitstains like Hannity, O'Reilly and Carlson, the MSM seems to think we should weep at the end of an era. </p><p>By astonishing coincidence <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fall-End-News-Murdoch-Dynasty/dp/1250879272?crid=ZLSACS2A9UBR&keywords=the+fall+michael+wolff&qid=1695324895&sprefix=the+fall+michael+wolff,aps,102&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=wonkette0f-20&linkId=0ebff26d32f63a0dff68db3a7ef467cd&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl">Michael Wolff</a> has a gossipy book out next week called <i>The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty</i>, which seems overly optimistic. (Lachlan lives and reigns; Gutfeld! is master of the revels still.) Suspicious, I checked to see if Henry Holt & Company is a Murdoch satellite, and it seems to be part of a German conglomerate called Holtzbrinck. Sometimes synchronism is just synchronism. Anyway, it contains this quote from Tucker Carlson: "I am not antisemitic and I am not anti-Black; that's a complete misunderstanding of what I am. I am anti-Catholic." He hid it so well all these years. Along with Freemason panic, anti-popery is the bedrock of American hates, dating to the early 19th century. Maybe he's just anti-modernity, which would give him common ground with patrician papist William Buckley. If you go back far enough, there's a place we can all hold hands and sing -- </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0TlnmBzV1U53KoG_wta95HPWf9fixdn1DpoRZUi6RwL0QjMzZIRnf95pixMaGlauICfh0Gmf_yvGCRC0UR7h2fwua3SUWj7WsVvr-1_ISVMkGep1ZhK71cZbLdHac3tJ1P3ZOHDRcCmdbRMYyE0Srqhm6DTpvsg9Ovsp47G-ypL_EuVG83Er_" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1025" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0TlnmBzV1U53KoG_wta95HPWf9fixdn1DpoRZUi6RwL0QjMzZIRnf95pixMaGlauICfh0Gmf_yvGCRC0UR7h2fwua3SUWj7WsVvr-1_ISVMkGep1ZhK71cZbLdHac3tJ1P3ZOHDRcCmdbRMYyE0Srqhm6DTpvsg9Ovsp47G-ypL_EuVG83Er_=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div>No! I am not touching that hand, or the one he appears to have slipped a ring onto. I won't.<p></p><p>(Say...could that be why Tuckoo hates Biden even more than he hated Obama?)</p><p>There's still no budget or even a continuing resolution, and the Kongressional Klown Kaucus have been sent home for the weekend because Kevin McCarthy is very bad at his job, which he may not have much longer. A "motion to vacate" was left in the men's room (what better place?) and speculation about a successor continues to spread. (Is that mold on the skirting board?) </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFcKNtcMszeqPR7q7iYI013fUHTRjcFLUHkspjgKK0K1xDBvku19qU2w5jnZsT3y41nac9BsMVdhUBcStUOLY9jmwjYokDaBIz1fgmD7P1KFZrOkk_3FIf50NBxB8n99EmOValv5nMvCDUMNdaAyvC8on6KuoOWlRAm80-cKk-MpHbkOVqVWPp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="641" data-original-width="494" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFcKNtcMszeqPR7q7iYI013fUHTRjcFLUHkspjgKK0K1xDBvku19qU2w5jnZsT3y41nac9BsMVdhUBcStUOLY9jmwjYokDaBIz1fgmD7P1KFZrOkk_3FIf50NBxB8n99EmOValv5nMvCDUMNdaAyvC8on6KuoOWlRAm80-cKk-MpHbkOVqVWPp=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></div><br />Speaker Gaetz? Speaker Jordan? Second-termer <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marjorie-taylor-greene-mexican-cartls_n_650da012e4b0fb95353abfb3">Margie Greene</a> is setting her sights a little higher. She thinks she is already president and has drafted a "Declaration of War against the Mexican cartels." That's nice, dear, why don't you relax and get your boyfriend to take you out? Maybe a musical.<p></p><p>Meanwhile the real President just keeps working away. Today he announced the creation of the White House Office of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/09/21/president-joe-biden-to-establish-first-ever-white-house-office-of-gun-violence-prevention-to-be-overseen-by-vice-president-kamala-harris/">Gun Violence Prevention,</a> to be overseen by the Vice-President. Yesterday they launched the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/09/20/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-launches-american-climate-corps-to-train-young-people-in-clean-energy-conservation-and-climate-resilience-skills-create-good-paying-jobs-and-tackle-the-clima/">American Climate Corps,</a> an updated version of 1933's Civilian Conservation Corps with an emphasis on climate change. (Keep comparing him to FDR, idiots, and see what you get next. How about a New Federal Theater Project?) The White House has instructed federal agencies to brace for a shutdown if the weaklings in the House obey Trump's yelps for the government to go dark. (Law enforcement would go on, including his prosecutions. Someone should tell him.) Biden addressed the UN this week and nobody laughed, another nice change since Trump. <i>But he's so old...</i></p><p>And in "Heidi and I" news, Ted Cruz has opinions. "Heidi and I are incredibly heated over Joe Biden's rising gas prices." (Hey, get a room.) "In August of 2024 the Democrat kingmakers jettison Joe Biden and parachute in Michelle Obama. I view this as a very serious danger." Mrs. Obama would agree -- she didn't even want her husband to run for president. Or did you mean a danger to Trump? Or to America, which would never survive having two Black women at the head of the executive branch? Especially if the Speaker of the House is --- Hakeem Jeffries!</p><p>Oh, the humanity. Heidi and you should emigrate now.</p><p><i><br /></i></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-68269558221456150222023-09-21T14:53:00.000-07:002023-09-21T14:53:37.992-07:00Nasty women and others<p> People have been all over Kristen Welker's inability to act as anything but Trump's stenographer during the outrageous "interview" that inaugurated her <i>Meet the Press</i> tenure (more like <i>Press His Meat, </i>am I right?), but maybe she was under orders to get something on video that could fill up an hour without him ripping off the mic and waddling away. Don't forget what she was up against.</p><p><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/megyn-kelly-trump-nasty_n_650c547ae4b00c6ed61ab435">Megyn Kelly</a> sat down with the twice-impeached loser on Sirius XM and brought up his possession of the Bathroom Papers. Or as he interpreted it, "Boy, she became nastier all of a sudden. She was pretty nasty, didn't you think, anyone that watched it." And Kelly is white, emphatically so, even with "blood coming out of her wherever." She thinks she asked "tough questions." </p><p>As if freed from an evil spell by the retirement of Rupert Murdoch, the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wall-street-journal-donald-trump-what-is-he-afraid-of_n_650c2e54e4b00c6ed61aad76">Wall Street Journal</a> demands to know why Trump is "afraid" to debate the other losers. "Is he worried he'd look his age at 77 next to younger candidates?" Before you throw your hat in the air, recall that the WSJ thinks almost anyone has a better chance of defeating Joe Biden than the strawberry blond. They went on to mock his murky anti-choice policy as well as his physical fitness ("[not] exactly in shape to set records at the YMCA senior triathlon"), which must have stung as Deranged Jack Smith is a triathlon competitor and not in the senior division. "What is he afraid of?"</p><p>Even <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/trump-knocks-charles-koch-very-124025985.html">Charles Koch</a> is desperately seeking a Trump alternative for 2024, for which he received the customary abuse on Ministry of Truth Social: "Very stupid, awkward, and highly overrated Globalist Charles Koch of the Koch Network doesn't have a clue." Maybe not, but he has eleventy-billion dollars and doesn't owe a dime to a Chinese bank. Globalist? Funny, he doesn't look Globalist.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-prison-conviction-trial-1234828231/?bxid=5bea0e2b2ddf9c72dc8e712d&cndid=49762286&hasha=1107d96f3a70c9866555c36e97978a22&hashb=4f59ba084bd1f8c6ce0e19d7d676eaa292a52032&hashc=58ba708b13a557c0e98baa2254f90696c06b2bdb8fc5c7226d6fa9e30a346ae2&esrc=VYF_NEWSLETTER_LevinReport_248901_SourceCode&mbid=&source=EDT_VYF_NEWSLETTER_0_LEVIN_REPORT_ZZ">Rolling Stone</a>, what "your favorite president (me)" fears is the clink. Trump is asking his lawyers if he'd be sent to a comfortable Club Fed establishment and whether he'd be forced to wear a jumpsuit that might clash with his orange skin. One of his remaining lawyers, Alina Habba, says he's so confident that he isn't even preparing for the trial(s) because "You don't have to prep much when you've done nothing wrong." Or when you're monstrously lazy and have the attention span of a sand gnat.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIrTvEO8H0Z4M9rHF61A9atYweV7RIis_NeuJP80p7xnqqX8Ok39Z10HaNr_LVMWqOV9aDxKkf20Tcrx7zqhBDlXDRwE6rcv65HPRnv_ha5YFMhm1EFXZnH7BXkilQYhbU_-FmTzrQaoO4ZXh9SMeo7-9wfmXV0q_kCwcriP9GGlFixdWF9A6n" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="426" data-original-width="720" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIrTvEO8H0Z4M9rHF61A9atYweV7RIis_NeuJP80p7xnqqX8Ok39Z10HaNr_LVMWqOV9aDxKkf20Tcrx7zqhBDlXDRwE6rcv65HPRnv_ha5YFMhm1EFXZnH7BXkilQYhbU_-FmTzrQaoO4ZXh9SMeo7-9wfmXV0q_kCwcriP9GGlFixdWF9A6n=w400-h236" width="400" /></a></div><br />Ever hear of <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/blogs/main">Victoria Spartz?</a> Nor I, but she represents some subsection of Indianaians in Congress and yesterday was her day to grab the spotlight. She really stuck it to Merrick Garland by demanding to know why he didn't do a better job of policing the January 6th coup at which "families with strollers" were inconvenienced by smoke bombs. Garland, a judge on the DC Court of Appeals at the time, was unaware that he was supposed to. (It's an article of faith among Congressional insurrectionists that the coup was a peaceful tourist event that went south because Democrats prevented the National Guard from providing security, but they usually blame Nancy Pelosi.) Also, he sent the FBI to her district to harass people in their homes. Garland must have destroyed all the video of families with toddlers because I've never seen any. Perhaps only Spartz saw them. Have you seen Tim Scott's girlfriend, by any chance? Is she here now, Victoria?<p></p><p>Despite the best efforts of Tommy Tuberville and Vladdy Putin, the Senate confirmed Air Force General <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3532790/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-the-confirmation-of-gen/">Charles Q. Brown, Jr.,</a> to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Chuck Schumer should cancel all recesses until the rest of the list has been worked through. And no sneaking out to the cloakroom to watch football. If General Brown's video statement on the murder of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/20/politics/cq-brown-joint-chiefs-chairman-who-is/index.html#:~:text=Chairman%20of%20the%20Joint%20Chiefs%20of%20Staff%20nominee%20General%20Charles,Tuesday%2C%20July%2011%2C%202023.&text=Charles%20Q.%20Brown%20builds%20on,most%20senior%20ranking%20military%20officer.">George Floyd</a> is anything to go by, he's just as woke as Mark Milley. Suck on it, racists.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-45946745759988647812023-09-20T14:14:00.001-07:002023-09-20T14:14:21.355-07:00A creeping sense of dread<p> A lot of people felt apprehension on January 6, 2021, as the mob began to march on the Capitol. According to her new book, however, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/20/rudy-giuliani-grope-cassidy-hutchinson-claim-january-6-trump-aide">Cassidy Hutchinson</a> had more to fear than most: "I find Rudy in the back of the tent...the corners of his mouth split into a Cheshire cat smile. Waving a stack of documents, he moves towards me, like a wolf closing in on its prey..." A bit of a mixed metaphor there, but she doesn't claim to be a professional writer. "Rudy wraps one arm around my body, closing the space that was separating us. I feel his stack of documents press into the small of my back. I lower my eyes and watch his free hand reach for the hem of my blazer. 'By the way,' he says, 'I'm loving this leather jacket on you.' His hand slips under my blazer, then my skirt. I feel his frozen fingers trail up my thigh. He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes look jaundiced. My eyes dart to John Eastman, who flashes a leering grin." My god, a <i>threesome?</i> </p><p>As present-tense first-person coup erotica goes, this is pretty good. It's from <i>Enough, </i>Hutchinson's account of her disillusionment with the Trump court, in fine bookshops everywhere on September 26. Besides the sex scenes she also explains that Trump's dislike of face masks during the height of covid stemmed from his reliance on orange makeup: "The press would criticize him for not wearing a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/20/trump-meadows-joked-covid-biden-debate-cassidy-hutchinson-book">mask</a>, not knowing that the depth of his vanity had caused him to reject masks -- and then millions of his fans followed suit." What did Rudy do to her with his stack of documents? </p><p>Literary sex of another kind is in the news from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/20/texas-teacher-fired-anne-frank-book-ban">Texas,</a> where a teacher was fired for exposing her eighth-graders to a graphic novelization of <i>The Diary of Anne Frank. </i>That was roughly the age when I read the book and I don't remember any pornographic passages, but these days in places like Texas it's porn if it acknowledges that men and women are different. Now jobless, the teacher is ordered by the Hamshire-Fannett school district to "communicate her apologies" to parents, bigots and anyone else whose corsets are a-twist; if I were she, I'd tell them to take a flying jump in the direction of Yucatan. The problem seems to be that Anne was a normal adolescent living in a horrific time. She did not obsess about Nazis every minute but thought about her body and its changes and whether she would ever fall in love and have a life. If you can get past her shocking descriptions of her own breasts, it makes the <i>Diary</i> even more poignant. Thousands of other girls met the same fate.</p><p>Fallout from the change in the Senate dress code continues, with the Republicans writing Chuck Schumer a heartrending letter begging him to think of "the sanctity" of the chamber. You know, the one where Joe McCarthy ran amok and a dirt-dumb football coach currently sabotages the US military. The man at the center of the hurricane, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-fetterman-wear-suit-government-shutdown_n_650b201ee4b0f26e6ef0cdd7">John Fetterman,</a> is ready to compromise: "If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week."</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4KUqowc9I7wxe_E-WGD2SuxvbQGrn6vWxpcvu4JpwY7u_8no9nzaH2U-oKwoHDAKqRuRvIuQscX3dgDecQrGUkg_xGUHVxG0OxukWZDWaLjcNVJnerhWadgDPOxYmDxGzACeVzCevtEZkzTmt90vFpKTXPWQlgkMHGWKLhYYfTKOyO22I1MPO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="610" data-original-width="915" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4KUqowc9I7wxe_E-WGD2SuxvbQGrn6vWxpcvu4JpwY7u_8no9nzaH2U-oKwoHDAKqRuRvIuQscX3dgDecQrGUkg_xGUHVxG0OxukWZDWaLjcNVJnerhWadgDPOxYmDxGzACeVzCevtEZkzTmt90vFpKTXPWQlgkMHGWKLhYYfTKOyO22I1MPO=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>No response yet from the jagoffs but they've been busy. Gym Jordan's committee spent six hours demanding to know why <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/20/merrick-garland-republican-hunter-biden-case">Merrick Garland</a> has not announced an execution date for Hunter Biden and why his prosecution is in the hands of Trump-appointed US Attorney David Weiss instead of Attila the Hun. Also, Matt Gaetz had advice for the President -- quit treating Hunter as a son he loves and inviting him to state dinners and such. Why can't he be more like Trump, who barely remembers the names of his sons? Next week Jamie <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/19/politics/house-impeachment-first-hearing-hunter-biden-subpoena/index.html">Comer</a> and the Comettes will kick off their impeachment inquiry under the legal theory of Lewis Carroll (impeachment first, evidence second). Would it not be excellent if they had to fund the government just to keep their bullshit alive? </p><p>Is Alabama the most lawless place in the nation (and now I'm not talking about Coach Numbnuts)? The <a href="https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/16/dark-money-the-backstory-of-alabamas-redistricting-defiance/#:~:text=APR%20has%20now%20identified%20connections,helped%20remake%20the%20judiciary%20and">Supreme Court</a> -- yes, the one in Washington -- ordered them to create a second majority-Black Congressional district and they defied it. They're using a condemned <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/08/28/1196493956/alabama-death-penalty-execution-nitrogen-hypoxia">prisoner</a> as a guinea pig to test an untried form of killing, nitrogen hypoxia. Now they're going after <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/20/2194334/-Video-shows-high-school-band-director-shocked-with-stun-gun-arrested-after-refusing-to-stop-music">musicians.</a> A high school band director in Birmingham was conducting the players after a football game and ignored orders from police to stop, whereupon he was tased and arrested before hundreds of traumatized students. "They came for the musicians and I did not protest, for I was not a musician..."</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-40662140358312047272023-09-19T14:49:00.000-07:002023-09-19T14:49:09.423-07:00Grabbing the hog<p> Somewhere between the golden elevator and the golden toilet, I lost an important reflex -- the capacity to be surprised by Trump. I can fake it but I can't make my knee joint respond to the rubber hammer anymore. The avalanche of criminality, stupidity, avarice and moral insufficiency was too much. An occasional whimper of outrage is all I can manage now.</p><p>Like most people I had never heard of Molly Michael. When I hit the google she wasn't even the first Molly who came up on this, the noisiest day of her life (I'm guessing), although it says she's a "well-known media figure." (Who isn't?) It says she was Trump's executive assistant and I think I can guess why he hired her.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXvaWQQnXtC1QAMgqLCjsGG4fDLpuR8xyTD10woBcsPYIAT0tWczY5Ai7SrBgU1S4kNAriy18X9AOVii2h72Zo5VCsKoF4O3eahAD7nlTsU0kx08HXulOv2xwPMTVKCwklETjWoyrl1OhKxQZDpeFdwNxRrtcurk8kyZcdwjErrH-2ZnJ3MOLS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1250" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXvaWQQnXtC1QAMgqLCjsGG4fDLpuR8xyTD10woBcsPYIAT0tWczY5Ai7SrBgU1S4kNAriy18X9AOVii2h72Zo5VCsKoF4O3eahAD7nlTsU0kx08HXulOv2xwPMTVKCwklETjWoyrl1OhKxQZDpeFdwNxRrtcurk8kyZcdwjErrH-2ZnJ3MOLS=w320-h205" width="320" /></a></div><br />I'm not saying backrubs were part of her assignment, but I'm not saying they weren't. Whatever she did -- McDonald's run, order Titleists, fire Fauci -- her instructions were apparently scrawled on the backs of some of those stolen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/18/former-aide-donald-trump-to-do-lists-classified-documents">classified documents</a> that caused Jack Smith to become deranged. Upon hearing that the FBI wanted to talk to Michael about this, Trump told her, "You don't know anything about the boxes." She talked to them anyway. I guess she's not his type anymore.<p></p><p>Like Jesus, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/18/anti-child-trafficking-activist-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-allegations">Tim Ballard</a> has been portrayed on film by Jim Caviezel. Unlike Jesus, Ballard has been accused of sexually harassing colleagues at Operation Underground Railroad, an organization supposedly dedicated to taking down child traffickers. According to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkaqvn/tim-ballards-departure-from-operation-underground-railroad-followed-sexual-misconduct-investigation">Vice</a> he was forced out last June for skeevy behavior toward female employees during overseas trips. The QAnon conspiracist was an adviser to the Trump administration, so draw your own conclusions.</p><p>No doubt Ballard will find at least one Democrat to blame for his sleaziness. <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lauren-boebert-splits-beetlejuice-date_n_65097105e4b0584d7c6be615">Lauren Boebert has.</a> She was shocked -- shocked -- to discover that her <i>Beetlejuice </i>date is a <a href="https://sentinelcolorado.com/opinion/perry-rep-boebert-says-her-divorce-had-a-hand-in-her-groping-for-answers-at-denver-theater-last-week/">Democrat</a> and owns a bar which hosted <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/lauren-boeberts-beetlejuice-beau-owns-drag-show-hosting-bar">drag shows.</a> Like the talking serpent in that book he led her to destruction and has now been D-U-M-P-E-D. Of course, she is still a punch line. Not surprisingly, the best line came from <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/19/lauren-boebert-fetterman-00116734">John Fetterman:</a> "If I take up vaping and grabbing the hog during a live musical, they'll make me a folk hero." You already are, Senator.</p><p>Five Americans have returned from captivity in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/american-prisoners-freed-by-iran-head-us-after-choreographed-swap-2023-09-19/">Iran</a> in a complicated four-country deal. Qatar brokered the arrangement which saw the five exchanged for five Iranians held in the US, while $6 billion in Iranian funds was unfrozen by South Korea with restrictions (humanitarian uses only). Three of the Iranians decided not to go home. Already the Republicans are complaining that this diplomatic triumph will only encourage Iran to take more hostages. And what about the Americans in Russia, huh?</p><p>Another thing that will piss off the party of decorum and good taste was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/19/zelenskiy-russia-genocide-un-general-assembly">Volodymyr Zelenskiy's</a> speech to the UN General Assembly today. Not only did he accuse their favorite dictator of genocide for abducting thousands of Ukrainian children, as the Nazis once stole "Aryan-looking" Polish children and gave them to Germans to raise. (Most never found their birth parents again.) He did it without a suit and a tie. How is this guy even a president? </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3WKbV_qtO1vN-jl-i7_SeRTQkkQxiTjXw1ryR41Ps5bm2bb6U8QSdSsoXoiMpPwi8hIrCquMlxaXyseooAnGCooWSl1JwP4-EOjzP1ijHR_dyj0IPKH42e6VsIFqtjSWwowAH4KFk7Ln7zfUqNvWVtEJpfitPgnuHOg4A-K6n3Tqx9blPKkU8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2500" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3WKbV_qtO1vN-jl-i7_SeRTQkkQxiTjXw1ryR41Ps5bm2bb6U8QSdSsoXoiMpPwi8hIrCquMlxaXyseooAnGCooWSl1JwP4-EOjzP1ijHR_dyj0IPKH42e6VsIFqtjSWwowAH4KFk7Ln7zfUqNvWVtEJpfitPgnuHOg4A-K6n3Tqx9blPKkU8=w320-h233" width="320" /></a></div><br />Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day but perhaps it would better be called Talk Like Robert Newton Day. The actor's portrayal of Long John Silver in <i>Treasure Island </i>(1950) is primarily responsible for the impression that all pirates spoke in the accent of the west country (he was born in Dorset). Actually they sounded more like Michael Caine. I don't know, I'm guessing. Anyway, let's see what's going on across the sea.<p></p><p>Keir Starmer is not prime minister yet but he seems to be talking to the leaders of Germany and France about the UK rejoining the <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/19/france-and-germany-plot-eu-inner-circle-with-door-open-for-britain/content.html">European Union</a> as an "associate member." Nobody knows what that means as it has never happened before. But even a senior Tory like Lord Heseltine says it needs to be studied.</p><p>SUNAK TO BIRMINGHAM: DROP DEAD has not yet been a tabloid headline but it could be. The city is <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/19/control-of-bankrupt-birmingham-council-to-be-handed-over-gove-says/content.html">bankrupt</a> and may have to sell off assets including the Central Library and the airport. Who buys an airport? Please, not Richard Branson. He had enough trouble running a railroad.</p><p>The Brits love their dogs, not wisely but maybe too well. Three people have been diagnosed with <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/19/three-britons-catch-rare-dog-disease-that-can-cause-meningitis/content.html">brucella canis,</a> a disease which causes lameness and infertility in dogs and can cause septicemia and meningitis in humans. This may be of interest to the doing-my-own-research folks who refuse to have their dogs vaccinated because they think it will make them autistic. <a href="https://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/can-dogs-have-autism">(Not really.)</a></p><p>Russell Brand is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2023/sep/19/the-horrifying-allegations-against-russell-brand">sleazebag.</a> Listen if you care, and there's no reason you should. He's getting support from lots of other sleazebags but <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russell-brand-youtube-suspends-monetization-rape-sexual-assault-rcna105750">YouTube</a> has de-monetized his channel. (YT is severe about rape, maybe overly so. I recently watched a doc about World War II and they bleeped the title of Iris Chang's book <i>The Rape of Nanking.</i>)</p><p>Not British but too bizarre to omit: <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/19/tunisian-presidents-remarks-on-storm-daniel-have-been-denounced-as-antisemitic-and-prompt-an-uproar/content.html">Kais Saied,</a> the president of Tunisia, was talking about Storm Daniel, which caused catastrophic flooding in Libya: "Didn't anyone wonder why the name Daniel was chosen? Because the Zionist movement has infiltrated minds and thinking, we've fallen into a cognitive coma." Yes, they control the weather with their space lasers.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFyp4hePxt1UcQ0NxWdpJKN-55NUVlyCCh6dwpxCz3T7mdyx3SCf5jzzSsIOk7wzWqv9n7iC_YSshvfMfgp3Y1BpHjQiygsPP3f5Gn0XWVbViFNfdaMtR-2i9ytblMbM-rlg3_4U7nhoin6iOBw_fXYzBMhiAEkVFTv5bokS90RTUGb_Ycezqw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="390" data-original-width="555" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFyp4hePxt1UcQ0NxWdpJKN-55NUVlyCCh6dwpxCz3T7mdyx3SCf5jzzSsIOk7wzWqv9n7iC_YSshvfMfgp3Y1BpHjQiygsPP3f5Gn0XWVbViFNfdaMtR-2i9ytblMbM-rlg3_4U7nhoin6iOBw_fXYzBMhiAEkVFTv5bokS90RTUGb_Ycezqw=w320-h225" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-68618739146143539042023-09-18T13:26:00.000-07:002023-09-18T13:26:33.279-07:00Happy new year to disloyal liberal Jews<p> At this point it's not news that Trump is an antisemite who adores Israel. They named a rest stop or something after him because he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, making him the best friend Israel has ever had. American Jews who are skeptical of his motives or indifferent to Israel, or even critical of its increasingly right-wing government, they're the problem. So he found a screed from something called <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/18/trump-liberal-jews-attack/">JEXIT,</a> whose mission is to lead Jews away from the Democratic Party and into the arms of those "very fine people" who marched in Charlottesville, and shared it with his basement-dwellers on Ministry of Truth Social. The only holidays Trump doesn't trash are the ones he doesn't know about. Over at Wonkette <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/donald-trump-wishes-happy-new-year">Liz Dye</a> dissolves this toxic sludge better than I could. </p><p>I'm not sure the classic terms of racism even apply to Trump. He's just a praise whore. He will share praise of himself even if it comes from Jews, or African Americans, or undocumented trans Muslims, because he is an empty sack that can never be filled. His empty existence, devoid of love, ideas, hobbies, requires constant replenishment to fill the hole left by his inattentive parents. Money, nursery food, the cheering of mobs, female bodies, he gobbles them and will never be satisfied. And now he's our problem. He wants a kingdom, and that won't fill him up either. He won't shut up and go away no matter how many elections he loses. We have to rely on the creaky machinery of the law. But law relies heavily on precedent, and there is no precedent for imprisoning an ex-president, even Jefferson Davis. Even good judges hesitate to treat this criminal like any other. I don't know where it ends.</p><p>In his weirdly timely new book about Mitt Romney, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-romney-retiring-senate-trump-mcconnell/675306/">McKay Coppins</a> describes how Congressional Republicans said they wanted to support Trump's impeachment but feared for their lives and those of their families. Romney himself says he spends $5,000 a week for private security (his life was saved on January 6 by the quick thinking of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman). Jack Smith has repeatedly asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to stop Trump from intimidating witnesses and polluting the DC jury pool, or as he calls it "TAKE AWAY MY FREE SPEECH." So far, nobody with the power to do so has been willing to bell the cat. But it's a golden age for bodyguards. I'm sure <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/16/gop-rep-ken-buck-slams-mccarthy-impeachment-biden">Ken Buck</a> has some.</p><p>Yesterday the President -- the real one, Kristen Welker -- was in Delaware as usual and a protester who appeared to be <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/biden-armed-protester-delaware-home-b2413171.html">armed</a> was spotted walking near his house carrying a sign festooned with the usual lies and talking points. It's not clear if he was arrested -- reporters were busy following the Bidens to church and yelling intelligent questions like "Are you going to pardon Hunter?" outside the cemetery where members of his family are buried.</p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/11-top-moments-trump-meet-press-interview-kristen-welker-rcna105333">Kristen Welker</a> is being credited in some quarters with Pulitzer-level journalism for inducing Trump to admit that he ignored the advice of his lawyers when they said the election was not stolen, undercutting his own legal defense. Any junior high school reporter for the Weekly Intramural could have done the same just by smiling and calling him "Mr. President" and letting him babble. Asked if he likes democracy -- a question you can't imagine any president even devoting time to -- he said, "I do. I do. But it has to be a democracy that's fair." Did Welker ask what the hell he was talking about? ("You mean a democracy where you win?") I guess she forgot. Chuck Todd's legacy is in good, well- manicured hands. If he swerved to a discussion of the Panama Canal or windmill cancer, it didn't make the final edit. When Monica Lewinsky performed this service for Bill Clinton, it got him impeached. Remind me: Did the Democrats then impeach George W. Bush to get even?</p><p>The dignity of the Congress is under siege, and certainly not because of Margie Greene's dick pics or John Kennedy's dramatic readings of sex acts. No, it's the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/senate-dress-code-fetterman_n_650864bde4b0d2303308cad7">dress code.</a> Chuck Schumer announced a loosening of Senate requirements, and the Republicans consider it as outrageous as January 6 wasn't. It's all so John Fetterman can come to the floor and vote in his signature hoodie and shorts. No mention of Gym Jordan and his apparent ignorance of how to put on a jacket. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpEfa9-uauEx0OQyrZcqAp1avM0fUsvsK6ZFBUmDsFAaxYvEqquXFWuKkIRC4yOYErB5kidCHOolz53hcPTfeeH_H36xhn_d3A86vwmojs6GdRLuAU67AFEjgVlWT6JBVpLf-V63EJw6x6KpKa9Ndd-FSzFobUbJzbl6BYSYFqO1L1g-nBJLI6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="2934" data-original-width="4051" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpEfa9-uauEx0OQyrZcqAp1avM0fUsvsK6ZFBUmDsFAaxYvEqquXFWuKkIRC4yOYErB5kidCHOolz53hcPTfeeH_H36xhn_d3A86vwmojs6GdRLuAU67AFEjgVlWT6JBVpLf-V63EJw6x6KpKa9Ndd-FSzFobUbJzbl6BYSYFqO1L1g-nBJLI6=w320-h232" width="320" /></a></div><br />And in other news of the stylish, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/melania-trump-christmas-ornaments_n_6507ed5ae4b0fa756c76636a">Melania Trump</a> has a new venture. Having failed to interest buyers in her used hats, NFTs of her used hats or something to do with laptops for foster kids, she is peddling -- wait for it -- fooking Christmas ornaments. A patriotic red, white and blue star and other must-haves in the $35-$45 range. Notice that she's selling them on Xitter, not her husband's collapsing platform.<p></p><p>As he prepares to end his term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-milley-defends-military-right-wing-criticism_n_6507fad9e4b0fa756c766747">General Mark Milley</a> had to tell Fareed Zakaria that "woke" is not the problem with the military. Zacaria forgot to ask how he feels about having no immediate replacement thanks to the Kooky Koach from Alabama. Maybe these TV "journalists" need someone to remind them of important questions so the rest of us won't have to scream at the television and frighten the dog.</p><p>It's Fashion Week in London and not only the clothes are ugly. <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/18/fashion-show-glamourising-abuse-as-models-sport-fake-injuries/content.html">Models</a> wearing them have been made up to simulate bruises, cuts and black eyes. (I hope it's makeup.) I wonder if this would "work" with male models.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton">Joshua Norton,</a> a/k/a Emperor Norton I of the United States, was a beloved figure in 19th century San Francisco. His response to business setbacks was to take on imperial trappings and promote patently absurd notions like building a bridge across the Golden Gate. He was colorful and harmless, and thousands attended his funeral. The same can't be said of <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/queen-of-canada-run-out-of-town-followers">Romana Didulo,</a> Queen of Canada, etc., who got a frosty reception when she arrived in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, to make war on covid vaccines and those who administer them. (What is it with the mentally unbalanced and vaccines?) HRH threatened to "shoot to kill" anyone vaccinating a person under 19 and "clean up" Kamsack, where many First Nations people reside. The Kamsack hospital had to put on extra security because her subjects are as screwy as MAGAts. The queen has been proclaiming that mortgages and utility bills need not be paid (sounds like our Sovereign Citizens), resulting in people losing their lights and then their homes. Read their Telegram posts if you dare. Say it with me: "Oh there's brain damage in the east, and brain damage in the west..." <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-13433749282278169112023-09-15T14:37:00.002-07:002023-09-15T14:37:45.555-07:00Into the weekend<p> We've all enjoyed Trump's rage- and mis-spelling-filled tweets or whatever they're called this week. Imagine what his text messages are like. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/15/trump-twitter-direct-messages-special-counsel">Jack Smith</a> doesn't have to -- Xitter turned them over to him last month, at least thirty-two of the juiciest, probably of the Leader directing his troops on January 6. He's still issuing orders, acknowledging to <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/had-they-not-done-it-to-me-trump-tells-megyn-kelly-biden-impeachment-is-retribution-for-his/">Megyn Kelly</a> that he told the pathetic Kevin McCarthy to cobble together an impeachment of Joe Biden without the requisite House vote because "they did it to me." </p><p>As Pathetic Kevin struggles to hold onto his job he can expect the support of the CrossFit Cracker, maybe. "I'm not a member of the burn-it-all-down caucus anymore," <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4204796-greene-im-not-a-member-of-the-burn-it-all-down-caucus-anymore/">Margie Greene</a> told anyone who would listen. As long as she gets everything she wants, she's all in for the Squeaker. But will she vote to shut down the government if it interferes with the very serious impeachment?</p><p>Who will lead the impeachment? Well, who could lead an impeachment based on revenge and sawdust better than a broken-down, disbarred, criminally indicted, bankrupt, flatulent drunk? Yes, <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/dementia-free-non-alcoholic-rudy">Rudolph Giuliani</a> has volunteered (not really, he'd need to get paid) to display the prosecutorial skills he showed long ago while his drinking was under control. </p><p>Florida has a new law which prohibits individuals displaying images on a building, structure or property without permission, clearly aimed at Rainbow flags and unflattering pictures of Ron DeSantis. It's amusing that the first individual arrested under it is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/14/florida-man-arrested-swastika-flags-bridge">Jason Brown,</a> for hanging swastikas and "other antisemitic images" on an overpass near Disney World in Orlando. Brown claims to be a member of a local hate group called the Order of the Black Sun ("the cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter," said Samuel Spade). State law enforcement was careful to praise the Governissimo for "working to rid this state of intimidation, vitriol and hate directed toward people of faith," which is a whole other level of funny-weird.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What have we learned about Lauren Boebert? When she goes to the theater with her boyfriend she leaves her Sarah Palin glasses* at home and climbs into a dress two sizes too small. Then she vapes, sings along, fondles her friend and gets thrown out at the request of people who paid for their tickets and want to enjoy the show. The pregnant woman behind her objected to the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lauren-boebert-vaping-video_n_6503ce36e4b0b10a3ff955ef">vaping</a> and Boebert called her "a sad and miserable person." She's a grandmother! And a Christian. God told her to impeach Joe Biden. Your lawmakers, America. Thank you.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfIYS3bTo7Q8oqiSMVaBBHZSW8KE9ltj4SYRp0uLlnI6PIzAnKgh8DlkaHDX0nEE_gNdaNHxtjkO-UruAYROKsXaps2OpBpveQh6rMVFPyZq2dOVYLAqAatrCM8OEFgglIAMk5YLrYF49tx8mFSiQgiKxPQ3RSZNlbNiRf7E_pOtLFT-f7JrSc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="660" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfIYS3bTo7Q8oqiSMVaBBHZSW8KE9ltj4SYRp0uLlnI6PIzAnKgh8DlkaHDX0nEE_gNdaNHxtjkO-UruAYROKsXaps2OpBpveQh6rMVFPyZq2dOVYLAqAatrCM8OEFgglIAMk5YLrYF49tx8mFSiQgiKxPQ3RSZNlbNiRf7E_pOtLFT-f7JrSc" width="320" /></a></div><br />Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/09/15/birmingham-church-bombing-60-years/">Remember</a> Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Dianne Wesley.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"We have to own even the darkest parts of our past, understand them, and vow never to repeat them." (Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">*Non-prescription glasses which give the impression that the wearer can read.</div><br /><p></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-25525397417762794842023-09-14T12:38:00.001-07:002023-09-14T12:38:41.978-07:00"I am ready, Chuck"<p> I never watch the Sunday morning "news" shows but I'm told they have a lot of influence among people who want to be well-informed without all the trouble of reading a newspaper. Apparently the flagship is <i>Meet the Press,</i> running since 1947. There was much rejoicing when Chuck "Both Sides" Todd quit last week, and people thought his replacement, Kristen Welker, would have to be an improvement. People are often wrong.</p><p>Welker and NBC decided her debut this week should make a splash by featuring a pre-taped, carefully staged interview with none other than <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/new-meet-the-press-host-kristen-welker">Donald Trump.</a> Such a scoop. Rather than risk enraging the non-demented, completely competent <i>Putsch</i>-plotter, she will ask polite, anodyne questions and the network's army of "fact-checkers" will refute some of his lies afterward, on the website. Evidently the ground rules were set by Trump, including Welker's trip to Bedminster like any other supplicant. "I am ready, Chuck, and I just want to say I am so thankful and grateful to you...for entrusting me with this monumental, important role." So don't expect "both sides." Viewers will get only one. Having begun as she presumably means to go on, Welker (or whoever tells her what to do) can score many more interviews with very important Republicans who don't like to be challenged by uppity women. Or by Chuck Todd, who suddenly looks like I.F. Stone by comparison.</p><p>If <i>Meet the Press</i> still involves a panel of reporters -- as I said, I haven't seen it since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Spivak">Lawrence Spivak</a> -- I nominate the anonymous guy who showed up at a press conference in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, yesterday. The state police commander was talking about the hunt for a murderer named <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/danelo-cavalcante-little-rascals-question_n_6501e752e4b01df7c3b6cc81">Cavalcante,</a> who had escaped from prison and been re-captured after two breathlessly reported weeks. He is quite short, and Jimmy Olson wanted to know, "Was there any concern he would team up with another small man to step inside of a trench coat, 'Little Rascals'-style?" "No," said Lt. Col. George Bivens, probably thinking "You asshole." I'm thinking, why isn't this guy reporting from the White House?</p><p>It looks like we won't have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/13/mitt-romneys-startling-familiar-concession-demagogues-have-won/">Romney</a> to kick around anymore. The junior senator from Utah with the Paul Mitchell-ad hair is disappointed: "It's pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message," he said sadly, announcing that he won't run again next year. Oh, Willard, so near and yet so not. Can't you recognize full-on fascism when you see it? Have you been standing up too close or back too far? OK, enjoy retirement and don't tie the dog to the car roof, so long and best wishes from one of the 47 percent.</p><p>Investigative journalism? Isn't that redundant? No, it's not. According to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/14/ron-desantis-private-flights/">Washington Post</a> Ron DeSantis took "undisclosed" freebies from rich people in 2018, including hotels, eats, private jet travel and the inevitable round of golf at Augusta. They even know the names of his sugar daddies, real estate developer Mori Hosseini and John Cwik. Hosseini got $92 million in federal pandemic funding at the governor's discretion. Believe it or not, Google lists several John Cwiks, so I can't tell which one bribed Puddin' Paws. Let's act shocked.</p><p>I don't know the Italian for "<i>coglioni</i> in a vise" but thanks to Nancy Pelosi, I know the hand gesture.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhp-YjRxxfF0zthz3TKCoG3tyFDJHM_3jcS0Sa5fzHqZ5fdCDLef-Can3YcksYJAEsDqT4_EBY-vIfUwNvLIdk-mJJ-2ymcS7fUccqiS6FIYboYeh9G3FgZN9zlRoB__k4WU0r3rm-Gr0PKtBPrKwn2l9KQ3i-YxSnNoVvylEePXTqWz4MVO83I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1282" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhp-YjRxxfF0zthz3TKCoG3tyFDJHM_3jcS0Sa5fzHqZ5fdCDLef-Can3YcksYJAEsDqT4_EBY-vIfUwNvLIdk-mJJ-2ymcS7fUccqiS6FIYboYeh9G3FgZN9zlRoB__k4WU0r3rm-Gr0PKtBPrKwn2l9KQ3i-YxSnNoVvylEePXTqWz4MVO83I" width="320" /></a></div><br />The former Speaker was explaining the predicament of the present one to Anderson Cooper, who may have winced and crossed his legs a little. If someone will reproduce this on a shirt, I'll take a dozen.<p></p><p>Hunter Biden got indicted, Joe Biden may be impeached by six o'clock, and Aaron Rodgers hurt his ankle. Don't expect the network "news" to cover the earthquake in Morocco, the flooding in Libya or <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/14/russian-ship-in-black-sea-targeted-in-sea-drone-attack-by-ukraine/content.html">Ukraine's</a> successful drone attack on Russia's air defense system in Crimea. Up yours, Musk.</p><p>-30-</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-9479898704948923412023-09-13T10:28:00.000-07:002023-09-13T10:28:51.629-07:00Pact of iron pyrite<p> At this point only Trump continues to insist (and possibly even believe) that Vladimir Putin did not ratfuck the last two presidential elections on his behalf. But like Hitler rescuing a deposed Mussolini from Italian partisans, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/09/13/trump-putin-election-interfence/">Putin</a> continues to stand by his man, once again praising the twice-impeached loser and proclaiming that his "persecution" shows "the rottenness of the American political system." Talk, however, is cheap, and a ruble won't buy what it did in 2020. What will the world's leading fascist do to help? Campaign with Trump? Oh, please.</p><p>Putin's remarks came after his return from their "summit," where he begged Kim for some of the artillery shells the USSR gave his father forty years ago. Ordnance is not brandy -- it doesn't get better with age. All Russian conscripts serving in the artillery should be aware of this. Maybe let the Wagner Groupies risk life and limb. They're getting paid more. The two dictators, who resemble an evil Laurel and Hardy, had to meet at a remote "cosmodrome" 900 miles from Vladivostok because Putin, like Stalin before him, is afraid to fly. There Kim got a tour of the space facility that built the rocket which crashed into the moon last month. He probably wants one of his own.</p><p>In other Republican news, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/13/lauren-boebert-beetlejuice-musical-ejected/">Lauren Boebert</a> was thrown out of a performance of the musical <i>Beetlejuice </i>at the Buell Theater in Denver after she refused to stop vaping and singing. She tried that "Do you know who I am?" stuff. They did know and they evicted her anyway. Don't take my word, enjoy:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Moz-nzdOSaA" width="320" youtube-src-id="Moz-nzdOSaA"></iframe></div><p></p><p>"I am on the board!" she asserted. Probably got in free.</p><p>Bobby Junior is not the only fake-populist Kennedy. There's also <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/if-senator-john-kennedy-starts-reading">Louisiana John,</a> the Oxford graduate who pretends to be a character from <i>Hee-Haw.</i> Impressed by the giant blow-up of Hunter Biden's penis which <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-hunter-biden-photos-b2379374.html">Margie Greene</a> showed off to the Comer committee (none of that wordplay is meant to be nasty, I promise), Kennedy decided the ol' Congressional Record needed some descriptions of anal sex read into it and volunteered. Just to show why books need bannin', you know, not because it reminded him of his days at Magdalen College, that's a damn lie. Thank you, C-SPAN, America needed this. The Clinton BJ impeachment was so long ago.</p><p>Speaking of impeachment, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5083762/rep-matt-gaetz-warns-speaker-mccarthy-out-compliance-calls-impeachment-inquiry-baby-step">Squeaker McCarthy</a> held out for several minutes before caving to Matt Gaetz's demand that he personally IMPEACH JOE BIDEN for high crimes so heinous that evidence of them evaporates when anyone tries to view it. (Biden can control the weather! It was on <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-biden-not-control-weather/fact-check-joe-biden-did-not-predict-or-manipulate-the-weather-that-caused-the-texas-freeze-idUSKBN2AJ1VU">Facebook!)</a> The Squeaker thought he could sell shares in himself and what he blandly calls his "soul" to become head boy of the Angry Children's Caucus -- thank you, Charlie Pierce -- and never receive an IOU. He is very stupid.</p><p>The lawsuits are coming from inside the corporation! <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-corporation-lawsuit-2020-election_n_65019307e4b04b2d92883d60">Fox News</a> is being sued by two shareholders for costing them dividends by promoting Trump's lies about the 2020 election, to wit, the $787.5 million Fox has already paid to settle the Dominion Voting Machine defamation suit. (Smartmatic is still warming up in the bullpen.) The real head-scratcher is why New York City pension funds and the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund invested with the Murdochs to begin with. </p><p>Sometimes a doctor is just a person who needed eight years to finish college, which brings us to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roger-marshall-911-terror-attacks_n_65002392e4b03cc04c0cba0a">Roger Marshall,</a> a reminder that American doctors get rich enough to go into politics. No socialistic "universal health care" for us, cash on the barrelhead! In one of his infrequent interjections in the public discourse, Doc Marshall was critical of Joe Biden's remarks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on the twenty-second anniversary of 9/11 (or "nine one one," as the doc calls it). "I think a short fuel stop on the way home from a very unsuccessful, embarrassing trip abroad is not the way to celebrate nine one one," he complained on Fox Business. It's not clear why he was embarrassed by the G20 meeting in New Delhi or the stopover in Hanoi to talk trade and maybe undercut the influence of China. No doubt Trump would have done it better, especially the visit to the <a href="https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=38&MemID=76">John McCain Memorial.</a> He could tell them how he likes Navy fliers who weren't captured, OK? Shut up, Roger. Go back to sleep.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-87687222757585972442023-09-11T14:23:00.000-07:002023-09-11T14:23:40.300-07:00Clown around, find out<p> Politics has come a long, sad way from even last month's Republican "debate" (actually a modified version of "Family Feud"). Trump is trying to distract, and distract himself, from his legal problems by issuing lunatic challenges. First he wanted to debate Megan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, in his role as self-appointed defender of the British royal family. Now he wants a <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-still-bragging-in-2023-about">brain-off</a> against two men even older than he is, Joe Biden and Rupert Murdoch. His stupendous ability to memorize and regurgitate five words, and to remember them <i>five years later, </i>demonstrates that he is completely ready to Save America. But just in case there is any doubt, he wants to <strike>cheat</strike> play golf with them, too.</p><p>Why Murdoch? Because he owns the Wall Street Journal, which published a poll Trump didn't like. (Polls and television ratings are the borders of his moral universe.) Why golf? Because it requires "mental toughness." Do Murdoch and Biden even play golf? Would he like to play Barack Obama on a neutral course, with an LPGA official keeping score? Hey, anybody got Megan Markle's number?</p><p>The cerebral event will take place right after the big Musk-Zuckerberg match and just before the House expunges both his impeachments and builds him a replica of the Taj Mahal. (The one in Acra, not his busted flush of a casino.) If you have any doubts about Trump's mental functioning, I refer you to the campaign event that was sidetracked by a rant about water pressure in his shower. And the deposition about the Trump Organization that meandered off into a description of his triumphs over Kim Jong-un. And his evident belief that he is taller and fitter than the physical evidence proves. Or just read <a href="https://www.joemygod.com/2023/09/trump-challenges-perceived-enemies-to-acuity-test/">this:</a></p><p>"In a phony and probably rigged Wall Street Journal poll, coming out of nowhere to softened [sic] the mental incompetence blow that is so obvious with Crooked Joe Biden, they ask about my age and mentality...Now that the Globalists at Fox News & the WSJ have failed to push their 3rd tier candidate to success, they do this. Well, I hereby challenge..." blah blah blah. By the way, he got booed at a football game in Iowa, so it's time to go on the offensive. </p><p>Of course, there's a whole party of blithering idiots backing him up. <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-johnson-windmills-killing-whales_n_64fec18be4b09a2440668fa8">Ron Johnson</a> went on Globalist Fox News to proclaim that in addition to the cancer attributed to them by Trump, windmills also kill whales. Vivek Ramaswamy has joined the crowd piling on the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/vivek-ramaswamy-deport-children-undocumented-immigrants-born-us-rcna104143">Fourteenth Amendment,</a> promising to deport the children of undocumented immigrants -- hell, the whole "family unit." Based on a "legal theory" he recently pulled out of his ass while searching for his phone. <a href="https://www.joemygod.com/2023/09/tim-scott-i-have-a-real-life-christian-female-girlfriend/">Tim Scott's</a> search is over -- he reported to Fox News the existence of "a wonderful girlfriend" and that "God has blessed me with a smart, Christian woman." Nice work, Christian Mingle! Scott preaches abstinence before marriage, so at 57 he is the oldest virgin in the Senate. Tommy Tuberville continues to hamstring the military but has found a defender in <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-tommy-tuberville-military-policy_n_64fea388e4b09a2440668b1e">Nikki Haley,</a> who says the Defense Department left him no option with its pro-choice policy. (She didn't mention the poems on the carriers.) I haven't even gotten to the House but I'm pretty sure "person, woman, man, camera, TV" would defeat them. (Jordan is still working his way through Fani Willis's letter and has almost reached the ketchup-flinging stage.) </p><p>If nobody wants to play golf or remember five words, there's always the spicy chip challenge. You first, Donald.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBT55KoYxQjcihxUe6EOxtY3ePzqqqI-fbO6BtbDowZe17l0HlJDy87I43d837qkt9238nRCg2u7MpDOioqzUD1qw0uCqhQHaO7GUdAz90ZXsMJE64Ih-o0z8z5c0lbsxK_Q9FcdNeD2gJt3ZLyJfn__hCrBArDLN4FZw5Tq5uUaO53xfLSxIO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBT55KoYxQjcihxUe6EOxtY3ePzqqqI-fbO6BtbDowZe17l0HlJDy87I43d837qkt9238nRCg2u7MpDOioqzUD1qw0uCqhQHaO7GUdAz90ZXsMJE64Ih-o0z8z5c0lbsxK_Q9FcdNeD2gJt3ZLyJfn__hCrBArDLN4FZw5Tq5uUaO53xfLSxIO=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-30195636607449540532023-09-08T11:33:00.003-07:002023-09-08T16:09:17.020-07:00Where are they now?<p> Has anyone heard from Robert F. Kennedy the Younger? The political media have a shiny new toy to distract them called Ramaswamy, and Cheryl Hines's husband is lost in the weeds. After a search I found this today on Xitter: "The DNC has rigged the process, just like the elites have rigged our economy..." and then something about how "unstoppable" he is. You're the grandson of a millionaire ambassador, the son of a US attorney general and senator, the nephew of a president. You never had to calculate how to live off a paycheck in your life. But tell us about these elites blocking your path to victory.</p><p>Remember David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler? No reason you should, as these undistinguished Trumpers were displaced from the Senate by Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff back in 2020. But the special grand jury in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/08/georgia-special-grand-jury-report-trump-fulton-county-lindsey-graham/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjk0MTQ1NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjk1NTI3OTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2OTQxNDU2MDAsImp0aSI6ImZhNGU3ODk4LTAyNDgtNDc5ZC04MDYyLWZmMDEzODcyZTg5NiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9uYXRpb25hbC1zZWN1cml0eS8yMDIzLzA5LzA4L2dlb3JnaWEtc3BlY2lhbC1ncmFuZC1qdXJ5LXJlcG9ydC10cnVtcC1mdWx0b24tY291bnR5LWxpbmRzZXktZ3JhaGFtLyJ9.Hf-j3C-dFnWVP9fIktt-RljkGIIjROECxjrLmnGOf1o">Fulton County</a> remembered, and recommended that they be indicted in the RICO case against Trump, et al., along with Boris Epshteyn, Michael Flynn, Lin Wood and -- wait for it -- Lindsey Graham. District Attorney Willis decided not to follow the recommendation as there are only so many seats in the courtroom, and also it would unnecessarily complicate the state's case. She can always mop them up afterward, unless they have fled the country. Oh, please, flee the country!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlRrbJmZ08Z2AgZMcCSSj5jECeIRwk2hV0kEBOCXqlePNjlQ58iUwt6xymjxJBSsRP1mSjjl7bNP6LFXj5DorOU5dyQGDM8TRZ6jS-BLlUK-ORrzNSbrEDeX6qOQQ-apWoxkYTmdIu1W2NEYPcI2d-oONPV8Ly2YPn3P8kHqDGeFWjkWUV1JAJ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="243" data-original-width="364" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlRrbJmZ08Z2AgZMcCSSj5jECeIRwk2hV0kEBOCXqlePNjlQ58iUwt6xymjxJBSsRP1mSjjl7bNP6LFXj5DorOU5dyQGDM8TRZ6jS-BLlUK-ORrzNSbrEDeX6qOQQ-apWoxkYTmdIu1W2NEYPcI2d-oONPV8Ly2YPn3P8kHqDGeFWjkWUV1JAJ=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>The formidable Ms. Willis has also Had It with Gym Jordan's clumsy attempts to derail the prosecutions. She sent him a nine-page <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000018a-711d-d776-a3ce-f7fde7fa0000">letter</a> telling him exactly where to get off and concluding with "Suggestions for Productive Activity by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee." The research is deep and full of Supreme Court citations Rep. No Jacket Required will not understand. The icy contempt is delicious. </p><p>"Trump escalates false attacks on Biden as some Republicans push toward impeachment" says the headline in today's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/09/07/trump-biden-false-attacks-2024-presidential-race/">Washington Post.</a> The real story is that Trump has exhausted his limited vocabulary of abusive adjectives and begun to recycle. Back in 2016 it was "Crooked Hillary" day after day, but the Worst Criminal in American History has decided, "There's never been anyone in the history of American politics so crooked or dishonest as Joe Biden." In fact, he said out loud that he would "retire" the use of "crooked" when discussing Clinton, because repeating the same word like a five-year-old ("Deranged Jack Smith" "Low-IQ Maxine Waters") is his version of rhetorical point-scoring. As with Clinton, no evidence of dishonesty is proffered -- the description is enough. And he can't understand why those wonderful people in the House are dragging their feet on impeachment. ("Right now, I'm not convinced that that evidence exists," said Rep. Ken Buck, RINO of Colorado.) So, another campaign to make us proud to be the heirs of Lincoln and FDR.</p><p>Although he rarely gives interviews, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/08/alito-recusal-wall-street-journal-rivkin/">Samuel Alito</a> was twice interviewed for the Wall Street Journal by Washington attorney David B. Rivkin, Jr. He doesn't see why he should recuse himself from a tax case where Rivkin will appear before the Supreme Court. Rivkin co-wrote the articles "as a journalist, not an advocate," and besides, it's not as if he owns a deluxe fishing camp or a private plane. And what if he did? Ethics is in the eye of the beholder, especially on this Boss Tweed court. Maybe he'll rule against Rivkin's client just to show how honest he is. Maybe unicorns will fly out of my ears.</p><p>Part of the Court's problem is that they've apparently selected Brett "I Like Beer" <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-kavanaugh-ethics_n_64fa97c5e4b001fc1fdf8644">Kavanaugh</a> as their spokesman for ethics concerns. Sexual assault and perjury will probably not be addressed.</p><p>Yesterday a court ruled that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/06/1198028921/texas-floating-border-barrier-rio-grande-abbott-judge-mexico-immigration">Texas</a> must remove its Rio Grande barriers, but today a federal appeals court says they can stay. The state says it needs to repel an "invasion" by immigrants. Now that Mexico's <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/06/1198039758/mexico-abortion-decriminalization-supreme-court#:~:text=Mexico's%20Supreme%20Court%20Has%20Voted,state%20process%20of%20decriminalizing%20it.">Supreme Court</a> has decriminalized abortion, however, it looks like they're needed to keep Texas women from escaping.</p><p>In the FIBA World Cup tournament, the US basketball team will not be in the finals. Expect many sneering complaints about <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/usa-quest-for-basketball-world-cup-gold-ends-in-loss-to-germany_n_64fb3882e4b0b755ae1f6fc0">wokeness.</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-63247410321239678342023-09-07T18:06:00.023-07:002023-09-07T18:39:47.006-07:00Laugh, damn it!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVVU7GNHgTQZ3ejw1JoJKgk1RG5PfdptCfoaVE_dgLq79_usDENmIJZWNEQGUJ7wD1X5RIBW3PNpuprgkqD-CyJ5h3EV7tsuCzKXdQkSKXC7p0Rf1IGeXArlnagj0pzPUx1JwRaEl4GWBpud2SEf9w6DT9yh0OUUvqL7IFcH3ph8qOhtT-B1iO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVVU7GNHgTQZ3ejw1JoJKgk1RG5PfdptCfoaVE_dgLq79_usDENmIJZWNEQGUJ7wD1X5RIBW3PNpuprgkqD-CyJ5h3EV7tsuCzKXdQkSKXC7p0Rf1IGeXArlnagj0pzPUx1JwRaEl4GWBpud2SEf9w6DT9yh0OUUvqL7IFcH3ph8qOhtT-B1iO=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>These folks were meditating during a yoga class in Chapel St. Leonards, Lincolnshire, when police burst in. Someone saw them and reported that a <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/07/police-storm-yoga-class-after-people-on-floor-mistaken-as-mass-killing/content.html">mass killing</a> had taken place. Such is our world.</p><p>And such is our Senate: The Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force had to drive over to CNN and blast <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/05/politics/military-leaders-tuberville-promotion-hold-washington-post/index.html">Tommy Tuberville</a> for blocking hundreds of military promotions and "aiding communist and autocratic regimes." Other senators have so far failed to drag this cretin into the cloakroom and feed him a knuckle sandwich because he makes so much sense: "Secretary Del Toro, he needs to get wokeness out of our Navy. We got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over a loudspeaker." Sure we do, coach. This has nothing to do with your anti-choice fanaticism.</p><p>It's not just the hair and makeup people at Fox News that <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/tucker-carlson-hears-about-obama">Tucker Carlson</a> misses -- he also needs a producer and maybe some researchers. He's recycling a fifteen-year-old story about an ex-con who claims he had sex and smoked crack with Barack Obama in 1999. Not even Hunter Biden. And this is who he wants us to believe the classiest president in half a century hooked up with:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTj3sWNmF009mu4Dg6k_1TtQ2h6UWO6Xv8qVXQ0Z87YtZjPyrNQ41GB1KOX2dPGUD7uxZZooKEnKKx1gsGbtm6gKgpODqdzZiSF-2ONxw2Wc2bMY3X-Ab9fN-CnH8QCkItLXOKcqIOQ1LhvxQYAsjEG7JwKQHvfDB1eNNQCCc0GBjYsSfsH1kV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1239" data-original-width="1272" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTj3sWNmF009mu4Dg6k_1TtQ2h6UWO6Xv8qVXQ0Z87YtZjPyrNQ41GB1KOX2dPGUD7uxZZooKEnKKx1gsGbtm6gKgpODqdzZiSF-2ONxw2Wc2bMY3X-Ab9fN-CnH8QCkItLXOKcqIOQ1LhvxQYAsjEG7JwKQHvfDB1eNNQCCc0GBjYsSfsH1kV=w400-h390" width="400" /></a></div>Of all the men who have fantasized about sex with Obama, this is the best he could do?<p></p><p>Speaking of fantasies, <a href="https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1699450404306575646?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_Levin_090623&utm_campaign=VF_Levin_090623&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bea0e2b2ddf9c72dc8e712d&cndid=49762286&hasha=1107d96f3a70c9866555c36e97978a22&hashb=4f59ba084bd1f8c6ce0e19d7d676eaa292a52032&hashc=58ba708b13a557c0e98baa2254f90696c06b2bdb8fc5c7226d6fa9e30a346ae2&esrc=VYF_NEWSLETTER_LevinReport_248901_SourceCode&mbid=&source=EDT_VYF_NEWSLETTER_0_LEVIN_REPORT_ZZ&utm_term=VYF_LevinReport">Trump</a> is still convinced that Queen Elizabeth II was his biggest fan because she didn't speak her mind when he showed up late, and got in her way while they reviewed troops, and brought his whole family to a state dinner as if the invitation said "plus five." Not speaking her mind to nuisances was her superpower for seventy years. Trump won't deign to debate any other contender for the Republican nomination, but he says he'd "love to debate" Meghan Markle. "I didn't like the way she dealt with the queen...they treated her with great disrespect and I didn't like it." He urged Hugh Hewitt to "set it up. Let's go do something." Anything to distract from the unpleasant news that his IT guy <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/06/politics/mar-a-lago-it-worker/index.html">Yuscil Taveras</a> has decided to cooperate with Jack Smith instead of going to prison for Trump like <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-navarro-contempt-congress-jan-6-a4ad58e1f590e5884fd347c86c121a8a">Peter Navarro,</a> convicted of contempt of Congress. The dominos are falling. </p><p>The author of 2016's <i>In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! </i>is having second thoughts. "Trump is done," declares <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/ann-coulter">Ann Coulter.</a> "After January 6 normal people...stopped paying attention to politics, it's just a drag." "I haven't changed -- he has," she goes on, because he failed to destroy the government or lock up a single opponent, and only cares what "Manhattan elites" think about him. As if the chump from Queens with the inferiority complex ever cared about anything else. He called her "unbearably crazy." She called him "a gigantic pussy." Please, you're both right! Hiss and make up.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-56052848543782682152023-09-06T13:48:00.000-07:002023-09-06T13:48:04.320-07:00Did ya hear the one about...<p> Tucker Carlson continues to predict the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-trump-assassination_n_64f02dc5e4b02f61505e5aef">Trump</a> will be assassinated because there's just no other way for the Deep State/woke mob/Marxist fascists to slow his unstoppable return to power. Apparently this was garbled in translation, because his other platform <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/signed-his-own-death-warrant-russian-state-propagandists-warn-tucker-could-be-killed-for-hot-war-prediction/">Russia Tonight</a> is telling slack-jawed viewers that it's Carlson who should be afraid -- because he predicts war between the US and Russia. Vladimir Solovyov suggests a car or plane accident (a little too close to Prigozhin, nyet?), or "he might eat something he shouldn't, maybe his heart will suddenly stop!" He calls Baby Tuckoo "a dead man walking." I like the sound of that, demented though it is.</p><p>You may feel you're a victim of dementia, or McConnell brain freeze, when you hear Roger Stone and Rudolph Giuliani turning their wrath on ever-Trumper <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-adviser-roger-stone-embraces-left-wing-conspiracy-theory-declares-brian-kemp-likely-stole-election-from-stacey-abrams/">Brian Kemp.</a> Stone is sure Kemp stole the 2018 election from Stacey Abrams, while Giuliani calls him "one of the biggest lawbreakers in Georgia history." (You do know there were nearly five hundred lynchings in Georgia, don't you, Roodles?) Kemp wouldn't help Brad Raffensperger "find" 11,780 votes for Trump, and he won't call a special session of the legislature to impede Fani Willis's prosecution of Trump, and that's all it takes to paint a MAGA target on him. There's no pleasing everyone.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SqINCaO2Mks" width="320" youtube-src-id="SqINCaO2Mks"></iframe></div>Vivek Ramaswamy is marching around New Hampshire demanding "truth!" about Hunter Biden, UFOs, the Lindbergh kidnapping, whatever. And today Truth finally had enough.<div><br /></div><div>Found guilty of sexually abusing <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-liable-e-jean-carroll-lawsuit_n_64f89d5ee4b00241f854cadc">E. Jean Carroll,</a> Trump has now been convicted of defaming her. Keep an eye on Ministry of Truth Social if you want to know how soon he defames her again -- and probably Judge Lewis Kaplan, too.</div><div>We may have to revive our Dummy of the Day feature just for Margie Greene. Get this: "People are not affecting climate change. You're going to tell me that back in the Ice Age, how much taxes did people pay, and how many changes did governments make to melt the ice? The climate is going to continue to change." Well, there was the discovery of how to make fire. Y'all doin' that in the Georgia Fourteenth yet?</div><div>Do I care that <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/james-okeefe-spent-veritas-donor">James O'Keefe</a> may have spent money rich bastards donated to Project Veritas to live the high life? Instead of serious political work like buying the stolen diary of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-new-york-government-and-politics-43eb5a9845aa633aa4e5ade7d16cb735">Ashley Biden?</a> Actually, I'm fine with that. Party on, Keefe-meister!</div><div>The Republiclowns' notions about governance run to "hearings," proposals for procedures that don't exist (e.g. expunging impeachments), threats to impeach Biden for being a Democrat and fighting among themselves. To the last they can now add arguing about Mitch McConnell's health and fitness. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/06/rand-paul-comments-mitch-mcconnell-freeze-republicans">Rand Paul,</a> the ophthalmologist who board-certified himself, says the Senate doctor, Brian Monahan (a gerontologist, I assume), was wrong to say McConnell is fine, just a little dehydrated. There are several other doctors in the Senate and I suppose they'll be coming forward with opinions based on talking to him in the corridor for a minute. Remember when Bill Frist declared Terri Schiavo just fine based on a videotape? It's like that. </div><div>A study in August's <i>Journal of the American Geriatrics Society </i>reports that regular, moderate internet usage may have a beneficial effect in preventing <a href="https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/09/06/study-discovers-unexpected-link-between-internet-use-and-dementia/content.html">dementia.</a> As a blogger of 72, I can confirm that this is perfectly cumulonimbus.</div><div>And in sports...the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/sep/06/mexico-city-marathon-expels-11000-runners-for-cutting-sections-of-course">Mexico City Marathon</a> disqualified 11,000 runners for taking shortcuts, using cars and bicycles, etc. How many people were entered in this thing?</div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-45258906894014639742023-09-05T12:58:00.001-07:002023-09-05T12:58:54.932-07:00Human folly<p> </p><p>If you search "Life Imitates 'The Simpsons' you will find a variety of examples. We may have another: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/05/massachusetts-teen-dies-spicy-tortilla-chip-pacqui">Harris Wolobah</a> of Worcester, Massachusetts, may have died as a result of eating a spicy tortilla chip. The fourteen-year-old was taking part in some Tik-Tok "challenge" idiocy when he collapsed at school. I'm reminded of a chili contest where Homer Simpson eats a pepper "grown by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum" and soon hallucinates about a talking coyote who sounds like Johnny Cash. That was funny. This is awful. There is a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-harris-a-life-cut-short-at-age-14?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&mibextid=Zxz2cZ">GoFundMe</a> should you wish to assist his family.</p><p>Covid lockdowns are over (for now) and the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gender-reveal-party-mexico-crash_n_64f6e92be4b0c9c32ded8148">gender reveal</a> party is back in all its extravagant stupidity. Shortly after emitting pink smoke over San Pedro, Mexico, a small plane crashed into a field, killing the pilot. But at least everyone knows it's a <i>muchacha.</i></p><p>Sports heckling takes many forms, from the basic "REGGIE SUCKS!" that once echoed through Fenway Park when the Yankees came to Boston to the anthem of the UK-Germany football rivalry, "Two World Wars and One World Cup." The <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alexander-zverez-adolf-hitler-us-open_n_64f71f5ee4b0fd0c80fd4563">U.S. Open</a> raised the stakes (in keeping with a game that still insists players wear white), when a spectator was ejected for singing "Deutschland uber alles" at Alexander Zverev, who considers it "the anthem of Hitler." His feelings were hurt and he complained to the ref, but he won his match anyway. It would be a shame if he was greeted with the "Horst Wessel-Lied" when he plays Carlos Alcaraz. A real shame.</p><p>I can't even get a handle on what's happening in Spain after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rubiales-kiss-spain-world-cup-49b3144fe467174822630f96284857cc">Luis Rubiales</a>, the head of the Spanish Football Federation, kissed player Jenni Hermoso and grabbed his crotch by way of celebrating the women's World Cup victory over England. Rubiales expressed remorse for the uninvited kiss but lost his job anyway, as did coach Jorge Vilda, who had supported him. Rubiales's mother is on a hunger strike to protest her son's treatment. This has preoccupied the country for two weeks and could still bring down the government. It's probably better to obsess about football than to declare war, but only a little.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrTHib5LhOf3hnLyEKfYZBUT1WfH3lXkKvTtO8IrlbqEupqcXZhfAYYbUKgopiJOKo7vU4P9z2KzzhvZNx3vZbiTMJhQJlUJQes7PHis_hG7aZfjx3KxX0Pkaaayu3tc0hllmCBqclDpGhbahr4aOaaOKIXngq0fd1NVzno59D3j2vfOsEK39F" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrTHib5LhOf3hnLyEKfYZBUT1WfH3lXkKvTtO8IrlbqEupqcXZhfAYYbUKgopiJOKo7vU4P9z2KzzhvZNx3vZbiTMJhQJlUJQes7PHis_hG7aZfjx3KxX0Pkaaayu3tc0hllmCBqclDpGhbahr4aOaaOKIXngq0fd1NVzno59D3j2vfOsEK39F=w267-h400" width="267" /></a></div><br />Xitter is losing ad revenue and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/05/elon-musk-sue-adl-x-twitter">Elon Musk</a> knows why: the Anti-Defamation League is driving advertisers away by accusing him of being antisemitic. To prove his commitment to free speech, including the antisemitic kind, he says he will sue them ("Oh, the irony!"). Alleging the undue influence that Jews have on media should bring those advertisers running back. Jump into this M.C. Escher drawing at any point.<p></p><p>Did you know that "wokism, communism, whatever you want to call it" is a bigger threat than World War II or 9/11? Then you haven't been listening to California Republican <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/scott-baugh-wokism-threat-california-gop-congress-candidate_n_64f25ae2e4b04f9a01e8e2f1">Scott Baugh</a> and fair play to you. Evidently being aware of historical wrongs and sensitive to the concerns of others constitute "a threat to religious freedom." He should do splendidly in his quest for Katie Porter's House seat. </p><p>Back in the days of radio, which was TV without pictures, Jack Benny and Fred Allen had a long-running "feud" which helped both comedians remain high in the ratings. The technique worked so well, it's been adopted by third-rate politicians of our own time. If you haven't read anything recently about how much Margie Greene and Lauren Boebert hate each other, it's probably because the Crossfit Cracker has taken on a new feud partner: <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/marjorie-taylor-greene-kari-lake-trump-vice-president-1234817930/">Kari Lake.</a> Lake, Empress of the Southwest and candidate for the Senate from Arizona, wants to be Trump's running mate and Marge isn't having it. A Trump courtier has described their rivalry as a "death race," which is fine with me. "Hunger games" would also do nicely. Defendant No. 1 is apparently delighted to have two women fighting over him, although some have told Rolling Stone that Trump is "not stupid enough" to pick either one. People have gone broke underestimating his stupidity.</p><p>And in "How's that two-week special operation going, Mr. Putin?" news, authorities in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/05/cuba-uncovers-human-trafficking-ring-recruiting-for-russias-war-in-ukraine">Cuba</a> say they have broken up a human trafficking operation coercing Cuban citizens into fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Additionally, Russia is seeking help from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/05/ukraine-war-turns-the-tables-as-russia-seeks-help-from-north-korea">North Korea</a> in topping up its supplies of antitank missiles and artillery shells. In return, the Hermit Kingdom would get foreign currency to spend on ICBMs, if not food. (Probably not rubles, which have lost almost half their value in the past year.) Truly war is the idiots' delight.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-37622423841217820582023-09-04T12:54:00.002-07:002023-09-04T12:54:30.355-07:00Congress shall make no law<p> Happy Labor Day. How are we doing with our freedoms right now?</p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-lgbtq-safe-places-orlando-eb2cab0fa22aaee977d48db14be2d29a">Mount Dora, Florida,</a> encourages business owners to display a Rainbow decal on their doors to indicate that LGBTQ customers will find a welcome within. The program is purely voluntary and sounds like it would be good for the economy. Not surprisingly, four Republican "lawmakers" are considering "all legislative, legal and executive options" to stop it. They say they're afraid the haters will boycott businesses and maybe shoot the owners, like Lauri Carleton in Cedar Glen, California. Florida has your back, haters! All you have to do is threaten the right people.<br /></p><p>First grade teacher <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/district-dismiss-lawsuit-teacher-shot-6-year-covered/story?id=98921573">Abigail Zwerner</a> was shot by one of her six-year-old students and is suing the Newport News, Virginia, school district for $40 million alleging they knew about the boy's violent proclivities but did nothing to stop him. The district says she's entitled only to workmen's comp, because when you teach elementary school, the possibility of being shot is just part of the job, like black lung for coal miners. Even six-year-olds are covered by the Second Amendment, it seems.</p><p><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-mace-abortion-republicans_n_64f5d248e4b01b2fe4b68b72">Nancy Mace</a> (R-SC) is anti-choice, but she is also a rape survivor and has urged exceptions to anti-choice laws in a few cases. "I have a fantastic pro-life voting record but I also understand that we cannot be assholes to women," she told CNN. Soon she will be denounced for her filthy language by the no-exceptions crowd. It must be hard to be a female Republican.<br /></p><p>Speaking of which, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-gop-nominee-convicted-criminal_n_64f594ece4b04a65c3cb7cf3">Nikki Haley</a> says, "The American people are not going to vote for a convicted felon," a week after saying she would do just that. Alice was less confused after she followed the rabbit down the hole.</p><p>What did Faulkner say about the past? You may have thought there was general agreement about the subject of eugenics after the "race science" of the Nazis and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States#:~:text=The%20most%20significant%20era%20of,legislation%20in%20the%20United%20States.">forced sterilization</a> of 64,000 Americans. Didn't Planned Parenthood remove <a href="https://womanisrational.uchicago.edu/2022/09/21/margaret-sanger-the-duality-of-a-ambitious-feminist-and-racist-eugenicist/">Margaret Sanger's</a> name from its headquarters over her views on the subject? "A high-end hotel in the liberal Texan enclave of Austin is playing host to a conference whose theme is boosting global birth rates, but which will in fact feature racist and eugenicist internet personalities and far-right media figures," says the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/04/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics">Guardian.</a> The Natal conference -- I assume that's not the South African province, but who knows? -- features a lineup guaranteed to make your flesh creep, including Malcolm and Simone Collins, who warn of the catastrophic drop in (white) birth rates. It's the Great Replacement garbage in scientific gift wrap.</p><p>Wet weather and music festivals are an uneasy mix, which is probably why Wagner insisted that Bayreuth build him an opera house. Woodstock '94 was nearly washed out. (It rained during Woodstock '69, too, but it was the Sixties and people were too groovy to care.) Glastonbury is usually ankle deep in mud. This year the heavy weather came to the Nevada desert and disrupted <a href="https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/09/there-are-men-high-up-there-fishing-havent-seen-quite-enough-of-the-world">Burning Man</a>, which traditionally climaxes with burning an effigy of a man, possibly a tribute to the 1973 movie <i>The Wicker Man. </i>(Avoid the remake.) One person has died, rumors of Ebola are not true and thousands are trapped by flooded roads. High-ticket paganism takes its toll. For example, the former acting Solicitor General:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLB4uIKfvjqwvvg3JRpvKPa10DBc2RMgbI0AOjqeGD8Dqwa46NzmMvobTuk2IiNyoZZDelKg65n9ZHT4VsVr1f5EJwjfeng0JXik_ztGFhkY8P7xXtbKD6rITuKqJFHKS7ZHYIAT6WbUldmlEdRZu2qOgPqlXYEOHUgCBbpiuGm_l1_ZVBJC5-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="809" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLB4uIKfvjqwvvg3JRpvKPa10DBc2RMgbI0AOjqeGD8Dqwa46NzmMvobTuk2IiNyoZZDelKg65n9ZHT4VsVr1f5EJwjfeng0JXik_ztGFhkY8P7xXtbKD6rITuKqJFHKS7ZHYIAT6WbUldmlEdRZu2qOgPqlXYEOHUgCBbpiuGm_l1_ZVBJC5-=w317-h400" width="317" /></a></div><p></p><p> We conclude with a labor-related story. Last year CPAC staff were quitting because of low pay, so <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/matt-schlapp-hired-priest-to-perform-exorcism-at-cpac-hq-following-staff-resignations/">Matt Schlapp</a> brought in a Catholic priest to perform an exorcism of the office. According to the Daily Beast he threw some holy water around and stuck a medallion over the door to ward off evil spirits. Now Schlapp and his wife are angry that the story was reported, calling the Beast "Satan's publication to persecute Christians and their families." Schlapp, whose name is what MAD Magazine used to call "a ferschlugginer sound," ran through the litany of right-wing grievances (Fentanyl, violent crime, etc.) more worthy of reporting, but failed to mention the staffer on the Herschel Walker campaign who accused Schlapp of grabbing his genitals without consent. The priest was unsuccessful in making his lawsuit go away, even for a "six-figure settlement offer." Maybe next time just give the employees a raise.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-24768578653033915372023-09-02T12:30:00.003-07:002023-09-02T12:34:56.839-07:00Soreheads<p> Joe Biden made the traditional visit to Florida to inspect the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/02/ron-desantis-snubs-joe-biden-hurricane-idalia">Ron DeSanti</a>s refused to meet him. Incapable of even the ceremonial duties of a governor, this gumboil of a man wants to be president so he can insult dignitaries from all parts of the world. </p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/02/kremlins-propaganda-film-ukraine-war-plays-to-empty-cinemas"><i>The Witness</i>,</a> a propaganda film about the invasion of Ukraine, sounds considerably less subtle (and less skillful) than <i>Triumph des Willens,</i> which might explain why it plays to empty theaters in Moscow. A Belgian violinist named Cohen arrives in Kyiv to play a concert and encounters people heiling Hitler and carrying copies of <i>Mein Kampf,</i> so he decides he must tell the world, etc. Russian filmmakers need to spend more time studying the work of Eisenstein. Or <i>Barbie. </i>I'll know more when it's shown on Fox News.<br /></p><p>Ted Cruz is mad! Last week the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said his outfit might recommend that Americans limit themselves to two drinks a week. In Ted's opportunistic little brain this sounded exactly like "STOP DRINKING!" so he made a <a href="https://www.chron.com/politics/article/ted-cruz-beer-limit-houston-texas-18340264.php">video</a> about how liberals want to control you just like Ukrainian Nazis, concluding with this unappetizing challenge: "If they want us to drink two beers a week, frankly they can kiss my ass." Nobody wants to kiss any part of Ted's flabby self, not even those of us who dislike beer anyway. Was this in response to a tearful call from Bret Kavanaugh? you ask. No, it was that idiot Doocy, still a credentialed White House reporter for some reason, bothering Karine Jean-Pierre while she was talking about important stuff. So Ted got his name out there again and hardly anyone is laughing at him.</p><p>Alabama is in the news, too, and that's never good. Last year they tried to execute <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/02/alabama-execution-nitrogen-kenneth-smith">Kenneth Smith</a> by lethal injection and succeeded only in torturing him for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/28/lethal-injection-surviving-execution-attempt-alabama">hours.</a> Now they think they've come up with something foolproof -- nitrogen hypoxia. If it works, Alabama will be the first state to suffocate with nitrogen. If not, they could always try putting heavy rocks on his chest -- it worked with Giles Corey, the only man executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. </p><p>In other news of the Yellowhammer State (I think it's a bird), attorney general <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2023/08/alabama-can-prosecute-those-who-help-women-travel-for-abortion-attorney-general-says.html">Steve Marshall</a> is still waiting impatiently for the legislature to make abortion punishable as murder. Meanwhile he says he can prosecute those who help women travel out of the state to obtain medical care for "criminal conspiracy." That's right, he wants to prosecute something that isn't a crime elsewhere. We take one step closer to a federal law based on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, requiring free states to return pregnant women to their masters.</p><p>Can a federal judge force lawyers to undergo religious indoctrination? You damn bet he can, in Texas. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/01/southwest-airlines-judge-trump-indoctrination/">Southwest Airlines</a> fired a flight attendant for sending obnoxious anti-abortion screeds to a colleague, and of course she sued. A judge named Brantley Starr found for the flight attendant, ruling that the airline's lawyers had not adequately informed employees about its anti-jerk policy. Further, the Trump appointee ordered three lawyers to endure eight hours of "religious liberty" training from a group of fanatics who go by Alliance Defending Freedom. If this gets as far as Amy Copious Breeder and her five friends, the lawyers may as well resign themselves to having pictures of fetuses shoved in their faces all day. These are the eyes of a cultist.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmL1bjoMwmfkHF2LqiGfdX4iCs6W2KfihlKDr5kTCFUIJZfExHOu1BtYcZ7MpjUai7XonTayzDwmnSVzWl0xSD082sDigmYIAfORTDx9cRcUn7QAvY8Y80MKR43f3kW6kmFtlh2wpqkUjgsVxhaoAkU3Trq9nr4UpZ6vfoJ7CYKg7veiTrsEf9" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmL1bjoMwmfkHF2LqiGfdX4iCs6W2KfihlKDr5kTCFUIJZfExHOu1BtYcZ7MpjUai7XonTayzDwmnSVzWl0xSD082sDigmYIAfORTDx9cRcUn7QAvY8Y80MKR43f3kW6kmFtlh2wpqkUjgsVxhaoAkU3Trq9nr4UpZ6vfoJ7CYKg7veiTrsEf9=w320-h400" width="320" /></a></div><br />Wisconsin Republicans have been setting off smoke detectors with their hair on fire since voters elected <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-supreme-court-impeach-redistricting-0215233d279092e7236c992957bbe935">Janet Protasiewicz</a> to the state Supreme Court. She has yet to hear a case but they want to impeach her based on comments she made during the campaign about flagrant gerrymandering in the state. Could someone please tell these people what "impeach" means? Before Squeaker McCarthy gives in to the back-bench squawk for Biden to be impeached?<p></p><p>Can you stand more Alabama news? I'm sorry. Remember how the Bidens were kept waiting at the door of the White House because the former tenants had given the butlers the day off before skulking out the back? In 2020 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/26/black-mayor-alabama-town-locked-out?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1">Patrick Braxton</a> was elected mayor of Newbern, Alabama (population 133), but again there was to be no peaceful transfer of power. The former mayor dodged his calls and finally gave him the key to city hall. When the new mayor arrived he found the place stripped. Then his predecessor had the locks changed. He's still being denied funding and even mail. That Braxton is Black may have something to do with it. It's kind of a passive-aggressive version of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898">Wilmington, North Carolina</a> 1898.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpUBnrAqNNfYCjdsthl8tqH5vRzvKIfmJFaGJ4ELys1ElvJp02ekc20pRZ2eIQlntEgznQdqOSRO9j6TCkgkcw4Ac-7RRxGGVg0qA0Gp8KBtJIqxzMRH4qqWdO1mKEVemJMX2hJxsOYB4rCW4BI8MpCoIPW8H4TFDlGb2NLgVfz_x5JgASZZmG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="195" data-original-width="450" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpUBnrAqNNfYCjdsthl8tqH5vRzvKIfmJFaGJ4ELys1ElvJp02ekc20pRZ2eIQlntEgznQdqOSRO9j6TCkgkcw4Ac-7RRxGGVg0qA0Gp8KBtJIqxzMRH4qqWdO1mKEVemJMX2hJxsOYB4rCW4BI8MpCoIPW8H4TFDlGb2NLgVfz_x5JgASZZmG=w400-h174" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i><br /></i></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-79507340953384616532023-08-31T13:39:00.002-07:002023-08-31T13:44:16.609-07:00Truth and no consequences<p> Spit-take quote of the day: "And friends of mine have said, you are the most honest person in the world." Donald J. Trump, testifying under oath in the civil suit against the Trump Organization. </p><p>In what even the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/30/nyregion/trump-deposition-excerpts.html">New York Times</a> calls "a series of meandering non sequiturs, political digressions and self-aggrandizing defenses" (is it really still so hard to write "lies"?) Trump told the court that he had nothing to do with the operations of the TO because he was too busy saving the world from nuclear holocaust by being alternately cuddly and stern with Kim Jong-un. ("Don't get credit for it. That's OK." Modest, too.) And who was hands-on every day as the Organization exaggerated its assets by over two billion dollars? "My son Eric is much more involved with it than I am." Tuck and roll, Eric, maybe the bus wheels will miss your head.</p><p>Luckily the rules are a lot stricter in criminal court, assuming his sub-Darrow attorneys are dumb enough to put him on the stand. If he's asked about the toilet trove at Mar a Lago, we can expect the judge to strike a long peroration on the water pressure in the shower.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtX9O2mdiIjrs4Fh0UoioGT9GNeYW-PgujNzH4MV_eNA4mzfny2pPA7WsJsDtTkY_0LvAbpW0u7XXGnxJii6VghW0mVrU-TkghPqjpsjctqfi5EOSHG5XpMc4KN_a_R1JJHswEH7LnTWcbS4PNV43Ff6DEJKfBNsw9TnXLpPWW4y1TkRKDcgte" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1748" data-original-width="2000" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtX9O2mdiIjrs4Fh0UoioGT9GNeYW-PgujNzH4MV_eNA4mzfny2pPA7WsJsDtTkY_0LvAbpW0u7XXGnxJii6VghW0mVrU-TkghPqjpsjctqfi5EOSHG5XpMc4KN_a_R1JJHswEH7LnTWcbS4PNV43Ff6DEJKfBNsw9TnXLpPWW4y1TkRKDcgte=w400-h349" width="400" /></a></div><br />Or at least ask, "What were you thinking with that chandelier?"<p></p><p>But lying is becoming our national pastime. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/31/clarence-thomas-alito-financial-disclosures/">Clarence Thomas</a> finally handed in his late homework. His financial disclosure for the past year lists three trips on Harlan Crow's private plane but says his security detail insisted on one of them to protect him from the mob of pro-choice women enraged by the Dobbs decision. (Remember how they burned Cleveland to the ground?) Samuel Alito, also tardy, at least didn't claim he had to hide out in an Alaska fishing camp. He only grabbed that flight because of a little-known FAA requirement that every seat be filled.</p><p><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-trump-assassination_n_64f02dc5e4b02f61505e5aef">Tucker Carlson</a> continues to promote his story that Trump faces assassination, the logical outcome of so many indictments. According to him, though not to polls, the orange guy's popularity increases with every fresh case, which means "official Washington" will have no choice but to kill him ("I mean, you know, graph it out, man!" he told Adam Carolla, probably concluding with that weird, whinnying laugh). I'm starting to think Tuckoo really hates Trump, as he said in those inter-office texts. After all, Trump cost him his beloved TV show and reduced him to Xitter. There must be a long line of people who hate Trump -- disbarred lawyers, bankrupted investors, brutalized women, suckers who served time for his January 6 <i>Putsch, </i>sub-contractors and employees who never got paid, like a less glamorous <i>Murder on the Orient Express. </i>Only instead of stabbing, they will testify against him. Or, like most of us, vote against him.</p><p>Has Republican homophobia reached a crisis? Today's Washington Post reveals the early life of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-trump-assassination_n_64f02dc5e4b02f61505e5aef">George Santos</a> in Brazil, when he (or should I say Kitara Ravache?) "shone" as the star of Niteroi's Pride Parade and performed in drag shows. Now he stars on the "Don't say gay" circuit, having decided the Republican grift pays better. Santos faces federal fraud charges and his future in Congress is doubtful. Not so <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/08/31/tim-scott-not-married-single-republican-donors">Tim Scott,</a> the other South Carolina Senator, who qualified for the first presidential debate. Big party donors are concerned about his seeming lack of a significant female other. Scott told Axios in May that he has a girlfriend but he prefers to keep her identity private, and also that singleness gives him time, energy and "latitude" he would otherwise lack. To be frank, Scott was never going to be the nominee anyway, but now his party can claim the reason isn't racism.</p><p>In other proof of not-racism, the Jacksonville shooter's manifesto has been released. He calls for the murder of Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly and praises Anders Breivik, Timothy McVeigh and Seung-hui Cho (Virginia Tech 2007). And he was a fan of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eminem-machine-gun-kelly-jacksonville-shooter_n_64f0a98ce4b0ca54cc6c0590">Clarence Thomas,</a> "the rare principled conservative, interprets laws based on the Constitution instead of doing f***y activist shit like the last half-century's worth of Supreme Court justices." See? Completely colorblind lunatic. And this was before Eminem had to tell <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/08/vivek-ramaswamy-eminem-republican-candidates-delete-their-playlists">Vivek Ramaswamy</a> to stop using "Lose Yourself," which left Iowa voters underwhelmed. I know, Iowa, ground zero for hip-hop! (I happen to know Meredith Willson was planning a hip-hop musical about Herbert Hoover when he died. Lin-Manuel Miranda got there first with <i>Hamilton.</i>)</p><p>Speaking of Willson, Ramaswamy may want to learn the lyrics to "Trouble" now that the "glib, shallow, overbearing, smooth-talking biotech entrepreneur" has been compared to Professor Harold Hill by party elder <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/karl-rove-vivek-ramaswamy_n_64f0ae95e4b04f9a01e8b9f0">Karl Rove</a> in party publication the Wall Street Journal. Only far worse, and devoid of the charm of Robert Preston. Rove seems shaken by the possibility of this hustler becoming Trump's running mate. I can't help it, I love these intergenerational smackdowns -- like <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marjorie-taylor-greene-mitch-mcconnell-health_n_64f0a430e4b0b8385daa60e6">Margie Greene</a> declaring Mitch McConnell "not fit for office" along with Biden, Feinstein and Fetterman. Tomorrow belongs to her!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_tUctFu46_c" width="320" youtube-src-id="_tUctFu46_c"></iframe></div><p>YouTube -- is there anything it can't do? It will carry Trump's Fulton County <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/aug/31/donald-trump-net-worth-mitch-mcconnell-us-politics-live-updates#top-of-blog">trial</a> live. With up to nineteen defendants, expect comparisons to the Nuremberg tribunal.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-84469895290988040752023-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:002023-08-30T16:49:12.679-07:00Where to begin?<p> I'm sitting in the middle of a Category 1 hurricane which provided a metaphor for the DeSantis campaign by blowing a tree onto the governor's mansion in Tallahassee. That's not even the weirdest thing to happen today.</p><p>How about radioactive wild boars (without friggin' lasers on their heads)? The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/wild-pigs-in-germany-radioactive-due-to-nuclear-weapons-tests">Daily Beast</a> -- of course -- says they're running around southern Germany biting and butting people. Researchers blame nuclear testing. Not Chernobyl?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0lJZfvnNEu7sDgCb7g_szXItvKV3RGJhXJ8xHH7iHwDynq2YnbLRfZGgi-fU4fZgPrwfp-SAv1737AWwQJZRxPi6Ccy3HwQgq51nPXggreeLSsZU9uQq-n-kBgqdrc55isiA_YerQOJfnMr6pkiUEIAAl7AkkSwHVHzi3zYkDaz-B9zG5RT83" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1362" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0lJZfvnNEu7sDgCb7g_szXItvKV3RGJhXJ8xHH7iHwDynq2YnbLRfZGgi-fU4fZgPrwfp-SAv1737AWwQJZRxPi6Ccy3HwQgq51nPXggreeLSsZU9uQq-n-kBgqdrc55isiA_YerQOJfnMr6pkiUEIAAl7AkkSwHVHzi3zYkDaz-B9zG5RT83" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/30/mcconnell-freeze-speaking/">Mitch McConnell</a> had another brain freeze when a reporter asked if he was running again in 2026. It sounds like the correct answer is "no" but Republicans are never considered too old or too damaged.<p></p><p>Last July the former cardinal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/30/catholic-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-judge">Theodore McCarrick</a> was indicted for sexually molesting a sixteen-year-old boy in 1974, but a little more than a year later the judge has ruled that McCarrick, 93, cannot stand trial because of dementia. It's obvious why Trump and other criminals try to delay as long as possible.</p><p>Speaking of Inmate P01135809 because we must, he continues to run amok inspiring chaos and violence in others. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/30/trump-interview-jail-political-opponents-glenn-beck">Glenn Beck</a> emerged from hiding for an interview and Trump assured him he will definitely "lock people up" if/when restored to power. "You have no choice because they're doing it to us," he said, displaying his ignorance of the fine distinction between criminality and revenge. <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/tucker-carlsons-latest-go-to-for-attention-trump-getting-assassinated/">Tucker Carlson</a> has him half-convinced that "they" will assassinate him, so probably he'll have to kill them after he locks them up. He already has a gushing endorsement from Hungarian fascist <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-posts-video-of-authoritarian-dictator-praising-him-for-being-the-only-man-who-can-save-human-beings/">Viktor Orban,</a> who told Carlson, "Trump is the man who can save the Western world and probably the human beings in the globe as well." </p><p>Georgia state senator <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/colton-moore-trump-civil-war_n_64ef1259e4b01033a8287fb5">Colton Moore</a> (R-Lobotomy) doesn't want to have to draw his rifle, but that's exactly what he'll do if he can't get the legislature to "defund" the office of the Fulton County district attorney. 'Cause there'll be civil war, with "our constituencies...fighting in the streets." His colleague <a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/trumps-georgia-allies-search-for-ways-to-punish-fani-willis/LYUKIOKBJJBMBAXFD3JCWO2ZTQ/">Clint Dixon</a> (R-Inbred) wants an investigation of Fani Willis herself on the grounds of uppity-ness. Sadly, they're getting no joy from their leadership, including the governor. I guess civil war it is. Can't wait to see how you "draw" a rifle.</p><p>More legal woes for Trump co-defendant <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/30/rudy-giuliani-liable-damages-election-2020">Rudolph Giuliani</a> (R-Delirium Tremens): Since he failed to comply with discovery, Judge Beryl Howell ruled for the plaintiffs in their defamation suit and ordered him to pay $89,172.50 to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Don't rush that check to the bank, ladies, unless you want to guess how high it will bounce. </p><p>Another Trump co-conspirator, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/john-eastman-vouching-clarence-thomas-integrity-rcna102466">John Eastman,</a> used to clerk for Clarence Thomas and declares, "His integrity is unimpeachable." As calls for Thomas's impeachment continue, he may need to seek a testimonial from someone not under criminal indictment. Viktor Orban maybe.</p><p>Racist quote of the day: "The mugshot has breathed new life into the Trump campaign and broadened his appeal with Black Americans." A quiet hint, <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/white-fox-news-racists-know-what">Jesse Watters:</a> In the Black community as in the white community, people who have mugshots taken are people who tend not to be voters. But I admire your efforts to bring Fox's prime-time racism back to Tucker Carlson levels. Halloween is coming -- have you considered doing your show in blackface?</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-16259125006299205442023-08-28T15:20:00.001-07:002023-08-28T15:24:23.904-07:00Pandemonium<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikUDzkBC4Z3bZkJlU9dkJyQamo1iA9N5k3K0yfdD6QkAdI38H38ZtD4RzD0Hm6tzoWt5nEzTkLBEPhlT-wsJI3ly73KK5YG8y6s6hcFrdIMB8ydrx3mYqSKATtvYOvsMGLPJAZ-DdT4fvXAsk0yvf2Z_CntkkWqRnBBmb6dbn4vdEw34e-R9sB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="518" data-original-width="691" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikUDzkBC4Z3bZkJlU9dkJyQamo1iA9N5k3K0yfdD6QkAdI38H38ZtD4RzD0Hm6tzoWt5nEzTkLBEPhlT-wsJI3ly73KK5YG8y6s6hcFrdIMB8ydrx3mYqSKATtvYOvsMGLPJAZ-DdT4fvXAsk0yvf2Z_CntkkWqRnBBmb6dbn4vdEw34e-R9sB=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>These four men were hunting an alligator in the Yazoo River in Mississippi. This is what they brought back. "It was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/08/28/mississippi-alligator-800-pounds-14-feet/">pandemonium.</a> It was chaos," said one. It was 14 feet three inches long and weighed 802.5 pounds. It's dead. </p><p>Meanwhile in Scotland, the Canadian research vessel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/27/finding-loch-ness-monster/">Deepscan</a> is using all the technological bells and whistles to locate the Loch Ness monster once and for all -- drones, scraping the bottom for DNA, the works. Question: How will they know if they strike Nessie DNA? What is there to compare it with?</p><p>Speaking of monsters, Trump's Washington trial -- that's the one for election interference if you don't have your scorecard handy -- is scheduled to begin on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/28/trump-trial-date-jan-6-election/">March 4.</a> Naturally he's already, or still, blustering about "a biased, Trump Hating judge," the very thing Judge Tanya Chutkan told him to stop doing.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/28/joe-plumber-dead-obama-campaign">Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher</a> has died at 49. The cause of death is given as pancreatic cancer, but we'll probably hear that he was murdered by George Soros. Why not? Everything else about him was as fake as Trump's weight. As "Joe the Plumber" he tried to keep Barack Obama from being elected in 2008 by attacking his tax policies. John McCain took him up eagerly, pledging, "Joe, I'll keep your taxes low." Then it turned out he wasn't a licensed plumber and he owed $1,000 in back taxes. Two years later he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Ohio. Then he faded into obscurity, of no further value to the party that was always a tool of the American oligarchy. <br /></p><p>We all know Ron DeSantis hates schools, libraries, public health measures, Democratic district attorneys and Disney, but did you know about his war on historic buildings? Last summer he ended the power of municipalities to preserve them and now the villa of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/27/al-capone-miami-mansion-demolition-ron-desantis">Al Capone</a> has been demolished by someone who paid $15 million for it. (I smell Saudi money.) I hope they let Geraldo Rivera check out the safe first.</p><p>I guess I have to start paying attention to Trump manifestations like the big Tucker Carlson sauna session last Wednesday. According to Lee Papa (you may know him as the Rude Pundit), it's a hallucinatory experience. Asked about Gavin Newsom, he began talking about how Kim Jong-un has "massive nuclear power" from which only Trump protected America. Asked about South America, he launched into a long, confusing discussion of the Panama Canal, pronouncing it one of the nine wonders of the world, or possibly seven. "In one day they lifted the fees, which are pretty big for these massive ships to go through rather than going around the cape and through all the tremendous storms. Such beauty. It's beautiful stuff but you didn't want to get caught in those storms. Those were storms that wiped out the biggest ships." "The election was rigged. It was a rigged election. And with Covid, they used Covid to cheat in a lot of different things. We have so much on it. It's like so easy. But we had judges that didn't want to look. We had people, didn't want to get involved." Joe Biden? "He can't walk through the sand. You know, sand is not that easy to walk through. But when he walks through it, he can't walk through the sand." It's like listening to Lucky's monologue from <i>Waiting for Godot.</i> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcJ5-R5a5xYKMdsF7kDY6KS0qMJiVXOz7Pj1-qJ2rdnu2eVNQ5IvyFd-JpNatpAg4AxiT4I-WTq1t1WJGZjoE3LRGRpng-PGxKyEA_P9DkkD2fpwXEOAZvsqhZVrn69itP7yHkEnyFU3vvfbmsUl4TpyHzMnyXCVuliI_txfkGnyqfIh5Onr-w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcJ5-R5a5xYKMdsF7kDY6KS0qMJiVXOz7Pj1-qJ2rdnu2eVNQ5IvyFd-JpNatpAg4AxiT4I-WTq1t1WJGZjoE3LRGRpng-PGxKyEA_P9DkkD2fpwXEOAZvsqhZVrn69itP7yHkEnyFU3vvfbmsUl4TpyHzMnyXCVuliI_txfkGnyqfIh5Onr-w=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-68297566097565520572023-08-28T13:03:00.000-07:002023-08-28T13:03:24.582-07:00No red flags<p> Sixty years ago today Martin Luther King, Jr., stood in front of a statue of Abraham Lincoln and said he hoped for a world free of racism, where his children would be judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. And of course yesterday a white man chose the eve of this anniversary to show that we have made no real progress. Denied entrance to the historically Black Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, he drove to a store and murdered three Black people chosen at random, with an assault weapon and a handgun he had purchased legally. (We are always assured of the legality of the purchase, as if it matters.) At least one was decorated with a swastika. </p><p>This being Florida, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/28/ron-desantis-florida-jacksonville-shooting-hbcu">governor</a> pledged a million dollars for beefing up security at Edward Waters, although it seems as if their security is fine; it's Dollar Store that could use a SWAT team. Yesterday he got an unfriendly reception at a prayer vigil from people who remember his efforts to make it easier to carry a concealed weapon with no permit; his administration's assault on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/1153364556/ap-african-american-studies-black-history-florida-desantis">AP African American studies;</a> his suggestion that slavery was actually a sort of job training program; and because he's basically a creep, as audiences across the country have seen up close. With his customary eloquence he described the killer as "a major-league scumbag" who didn't realize that Florida has no patience with racism. Nobody laughed. The county sheriff, T.K. Waters, said the killer, who wasn't born when King spoke, raised "no red flags" because he hadn't killed anyone before. Sheriff Waters is a Black man. That at least might have pleased King, if only as a symbol of change.</p><p>Jacksonville was preparing for a very different commemoration. On August 27, 1960, a mob attacked students protesting segregation at a lunch counter. At first <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jacksonville-florida-racist-killings-history_n_64ecbb3ee4b05b9ed9edb38c">police</a> did nothing; then they joined in the assault. Several Black people were arrested. No whites were. Axe Handle Saturday is not nationally celebrated like the March on Washington, but Jacksonville has not forgotten, and now there is another reason to remember. </p><p>Of course the murderer left a manifesto, which he called "Diary of a Madman" because he couldn't be bothered with an original title. Of course he killed himself, like his hero Hitler (I'm guessing from the swastika.) His name doesn't matter. His victims are Angela Michelle Carr, 52; A.J. Laguerre, 19; and Jerrald Gallion, 29.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_0_nqQ01eUnxhESQavMk04tQjpHEwApjpSbijKARZM2Tt3-EoJNYO4bnExiBBQY24-9p0Plj_k01m5C_uOVvqwC8ehd-5kqmbHPWg9ZVtyMlWcvVVMuf1_hLtrn1AP8KayUbG24Lg8M_EI1nPrBbmxJHsWeSKN2U6gyzXJUZGt4_HSM1X2Wza" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="599" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_0_nqQ01eUnxhESQavMk04tQjpHEwApjpSbijKARZM2Tt3-EoJNYO4bnExiBBQY24-9p0Plj_k01m5C_uOVvqwC8ehd-5kqmbHPWg9ZVtyMlWcvVVMuf1_hLtrn1AP8KayUbG24Lg8M_EI1nPrBbmxJHsWeSKN2U6gyzXJUZGt4_HSM1X2Wza=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-87009558820777989982023-08-25T14:32:00.000-07:002023-08-25T14:32:05.936-07:00Strawberry blond ambition<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6SAWIGMGXCoE93F-cqpeT5KIobkpv4SltUnBZ9q9nHrFn7A1gxs4PDa4IZ0BgeZQzBejUg56Gip9tmS6cdv0ygLy_7vKXbNKWYl7vhJRiIikoebMlM44hM5dGLC2EySEewPziAzVE9Rn4mNB-fs9x8N7hkegj2DbXLf7okJO30keMk2P6q2s3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="335" data-original-width="500" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6SAWIGMGXCoE93F-cqpeT5KIobkpv4SltUnBZ9q9nHrFn7A1gxs4PDa4IZ0BgeZQzBejUg56Gip9tmS6cdv0ygLy_7vKXbNKWYl7vhJRiIikoebMlM44hM5dGLC2EySEewPziAzVE9Rn4mNB-fs9x8N7hkegj2DbXLf7okJO30keMk2P6q2s3=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>What the hell, Fulton County? You don't get a profile shot (I've seen <i>Raising Arizona</i>, someone is supposed to say "Turn to the right"), you let the accused lie about his height and weight (6 feet 3 and 215 pounds sounds like a high school basketball player), did you even take prints? How are we supposed to recognize this perp if we spot him trying to sneak through an airport like Ted Cruz headed for Cancun? And "strawberry blond"? </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWCHj2YA0SFEEFUuCbYDQJc3AnsLgt5dKFn6LWI08RvULAuESKQqO3iBcWjQKUvpWAY9qOd5YBr_9WkLxzWTn0KrYKgPJ9HL0oOkyYiXLVWKrcG4N7N2hdDA4dEE5uOcX1D9xfShdFAkxEqEt-qbaRpllC1I2KYuyE3UKL7W_r0dC0RS5MqrJC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="665" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWCHj2YA0SFEEFUuCbYDQJc3AnsLgt5dKFn6LWI08RvULAuESKQqO3iBcWjQKUvpWAY9qOd5YBr_9WkLxzWTn0KrYKgPJ9HL0oOkyYiXLVWKrcG4N7N2hdDA4dEE5uOcX1D9xfShdFAkxEqEt-qbaRpllC1I2KYuyE3UKL7W_r0dC0RS5MqrJC=w267-h400" width="267" /></a></div>This is Miss Rita Hayworth in the title role of <i>The Strawberry Blonde (</i>1941). I mean really.<p></p><p>Apparently we are headed for a civil war, according to former (temporary) Governor Sarah Palin. It may have started. Has anyone heard from Fort Sumter? Sarah asked the troublemakers (via Newsmax), "What the heck? Do you want us to be in civil war?...And Eric [Bolling], I like that you suggested that we need to get angry. We do need to rise up and take our country back."</p><p><i>We need to get angry. </i>So the assaults on Michael Fanone, Brian Sicknick and other Capitol police had nothing to do with anger? The death threats against Judge Chutkan, DAs Bragg and Willis, Attorney General James et al. were non-violent? The mobs yelling at Speaker Bowers's house while his daughter was dying inside, just some peaceful Arizona citizens airing out the First Amendment? That clown in Utah who wanted to kill Joe Biden? That other clown who tried to storm the FBI office in Cincinnati? The one Trump sent to the Obamas' house to look for "tunnels"? How will we know when you people get "angry"? Can we sign up for alerts?</p><p>It's not your country, nor was it even in 1790, when the very first Congress passed a law denying naturalization to non-white people. In 1790 the real Americans still outnumbered the Europe-descended squatters by several million. That would change, brutally, but it would never make this "your" country, because by then enslaved Africans and disenfranchised women and the first Asian immigrants would already be here. It's our damn country, you silly entitled menopausal little girl. Tell your allies. </p><p>We're tired of you, your idiotic lies, your bottomless self-pity, your constant assaults on democracy, science and common sense. We're tired of your semi-literate, pompous, ignorant orange cult leader and his gang who couldn't lie straight. We laugh at your <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/tucker-pretty-scared-theyre-gonna">fake concerns,</a> your unhinged exaggerations, your deranged projections and absurd threats of impeachment for anybody whose name you can pronounce. We laugh as you lose and lose by duct-taping your so-called party to "woke" and anti-choice and climate change denial, by blaming Democrats for everything from Hawaiian wildfires to Prigozhin's plane crash. You're funny and funny-looking and pathetic. We're nauseated by your assault rifle pins and your contempt for grieving parents. We're disgusted by your presence among us, but so far we've left you in peace. </p><p>So far.</p><p>Get a sixth grader to tell you how the last civil war turned out, and then decide if you want to be burned out and stomped into the ground again.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsTebFugmuRXlBSZ0Oiq56sMgvI7dhoCDQ76hOP-ZZdUuyfrC1H-tV8tQmqZPilVLy7F2SMTzL9jBKpezeeVMb_fOsxbsVRew_vgGhgrNtoOAn6YVCe7jOBnrjnEVi8DfV4i5V0d9d-q3VJVitL-xfQJAxfXnZfPTrMCZw0qDW_-HOjVG6prW3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="578" data-original-width="555" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsTebFugmuRXlBSZ0Oiq56sMgvI7dhoCDQ76hOP-ZZdUuyfrC1H-tV8tQmqZPilVLy7F2SMTzL9jBKpezeeVMb_fOsxbsVRew_vgGhgrNtoOAn6YVCe7jOBnrjnEVi8DfV4i5V0d9d-q3VJVitL-xfQJAxfXnZfPTrMCZw0qDW_-HOjVG6prW3=w383-h400" width="383" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-32596353939933620812023-08-24T12:53:00.001-07:002023-08-24T12:53:49.412-07:00An American tragedy 2023<p> "Transgender Oath Keeper insurrectionist" is a phrase which has not featured in history so far. Last May <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/05/26/oath-keepers-jessica-watkins-sentencing-jan6/">Jessica Watkins</a> was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for her part in the January 6 coup attempt, which went well beyond pooing in the Rotunda. Watkins, an Army veteran, does not want to be sent to a men's prison and has appealed to three of the most transphobic members of <a href="https://www.joemygod.com/2023/08/trans-oath-keeper-im-being-sent-to-mens-prison/">Congress</a> -- Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan -- for help. As all insurrectionists are officially martyrs to the sacred cause of Trump, it will be interesting to see where they draw the hate line. I hope she gets her wish, but I also wonder why she signed on with people who would kill her in a minute if they seized power. </p><p>If these three do something decent in spite of their records, I assume they will be "primaried" by opponents even viler than themselves. "Trans-lover Gaetz is probably one himself, or should I say herself? Flies to Hollyweird to snack on aborted full-term fetuses with Soros and the other globalists! Vote for me and save America!" Oh, yes, there's always something worse. </p><p>Of course I didn't watch the Big Debate but I hear it was...unsurprising. Nikki Haley observed, "Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can't win a general election that way." Then the contestants were asked if they would vote for him and all but Hutchinson took a knee. Their strategy appears to be hoping he will fall into an open sewer and die. </p><p>As of this writing he has not cooperated. Trump is too preoccupied with staging his appearance at the Fulton County jail like a movie premiere out of <i>Singin' in the Rain. </i>He fired Drew Findling and replaced him with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/24/trump-replaces-lawyer-hours-before-surrender-georgia-jail-reports">Steve Sadow</a> who, according to the New Republic, "has experience working on racketeering cases and defending reality television celebrities." He sounds too good to be true. </p><p>Of course, Trump is equally well matched with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/23/donald-trump-tucker-carlson-interview">Tucker Carlson,</a> another reject desperate for a return to relevance, so it was hardly surprising that they hooked up to siphon off viewers exhausted by the intellectual firepower in Milwaukee. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/24/trump-tucker-carlson-interview">Richard Wolffe</a> in the Guardian compared it to the worm frozen in Siberia 46,000 years ago and recently re-animated by scientists -- "a totally unnecessary and reckless exercise." The two old pals ("I hate him passionately") agreed that television is dying, especially MSNBC, that Jeffrey Epstein probably killed himself and that rioters like Jessica Watkins were "peaceful and patriotic." Baby Tuckoo tried to jolt the conversation awake by asking if Trump fears assassination by those he called "savage animals...sick, really sick," without success. Carlson suggested that both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are senile and that Biden has "skinny legs" -- why would he have swollen legs? -- but he couldn't drag the "conversation" away from Trump's obsession with poll numbers. They must be all he has left, as the fingerprinting and weighing loom. Will his mug shot be as impressive as Giuliani's?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcJeJWaag404MRTngIFmgfLqffI_80xHExkDRigJox1ZUnagJ5W06feCYXKOb49DsZaOgzU4nMJNw_bpNH1joRV-eDfbcOwaF5SJYE0t6I4u9J0rxaf3YH3Lz4j7jCENSXvgRuHBbHRvBWmx_HwTr-EriucNrdu3jfVYJ9lOyiFz2WfwNatUHp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcJeJWaag404MRTngIFmgfLqffI_80xHExkDRigJox1ZUnagJ5W06feCYXKOb49DsZaOgzU4nMJNw_bpNH1joRV-eDfbcOwaF5SJYE0t6I4u9J0rxaf3YH3Lz4j7jCENSXvgRuHBbHRvBWmx_HwTr-EriucNrdu3jfVYJ9lOyiFz2WfwNatUHp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Where is the list of aliases? Trump still won't pay what he owes, but failed gubernatorial candidate <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/23/giulianis-son-turns-to-trump-for-help-with-fathers-legal-bills.html">Andrew Giuliani</a> persuaded him to show up at a fundraising dinner for Pop, providing it's held at <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/175138/trump-hosting-100k-per-plate-fundraiser-rudy-giuliani">Bedminster</a> so he can overcharge for the food, and that anyone will pay $100,000 to watch Roodles cry and get progressively drunker and slobber into his pasta e fagioli.<p></p><p>It's 92F in Atlanta, but this gentleman is not deterred. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLseE24yC7-rBXSPGGMb9AP8jVFV_mQLesto0EWJSSfOpb9UQspgTDKuVY46JtZzgbkVc-dnkof-TO8cH3FV8aBRP-3wsd8esC-qHxPY1x3DAg7yrV_skNa8uUCK3lbUARy6St5s18-LR9pzO5hbJGfNf-Xh_XK0VUASqIH4d7vWz97UbIp2Nc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="1400" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLseE24yC7-rBXSPGGMb9AP8jVFV_mQLesto0EWJSSfOpb9UQspgTDKuVY46JtZzgbkVc-dnkof-TO8cH3FV8aBRP-3wsd8esC-qHxPY1x3DAg7yrV_skNa8uUCK3lbUARy6St5s18-LR9pzO5hbJGfNf-Xh_XK0VUASqIH4d7vWz97UbIp2Nc" width="320" /></a></div><br />He'll stand out there until the trial starts, which will be October if Fani Willis prevails.<p></p><p>Word salad chef <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dan-bongino-trump-stay-in-jail_n_64e65d67e4b094703851cbc5">Dan Bongino</a> has been called the thinking man's Joe Rogin (no, he hasn't) and he has some advice for Trump: Don't post bail, stay in jail. That'll show "smartass tyrant little socialist communist" Fani Willis, because the Secret Service would invoke their "absolute federal authority supremacy clause" to shut down the whole entire total jail in honor of its most distinguished guest. Then characters like Mr. Above would surround the place every day demanding something and then, you know, the Supreme Court would finally have to look at Mike Lindell's evidence. 9-0, Biden out! This is even less likely than Margie Greene going to bat for a transgendered insurrectionist. But funnier.</p><p>(The hate is so deep, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/08/18/1194593562/chess-transgender-fide-pushback">International Chess Federation</a> will not allow transgender women to compete against cis women. Chess. I thought they had more sense than the swimmers and hurdlers.)</p><p>Tennessee -- need I say more? All right, the legislature is holding a special session on <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gun-control-advocates-kicked-out-tennessee-special-session-signs_n_64e624c9e4b0e366fc36f263">gun reform</a> and began by ejecting people silently holding signs in favor of it. The officials get mad at printed material because they don't like to read.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCqpbwZzBv9CbkXOpPiaxsGnCQOA1wlejXK-we57R8-fWzhZI20yJp9ZCk2ivYlbVs1FcobIwURtvFiMVwxA3IDbmYblYzNlFv3sxZV-SwhImL3oSNTvkRTJIsr5-48eVZTyo2WkmghhOL-vUDPka0QdJJ8wC5kC7ZDvy3HriSroebumV0wk_k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="507" data-original-width="760" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCqpbwZzBv9CbkXOpPiaxsGnCQOA1wlejXK-we57R8-fWzhZI20yJp9ZCk2ivYlbVs1FcobIwURtvFiMVwxA3IDbmYblYzNlFv3sxZV-SwhImL3oSNTvkRTJIsr5-48eVZTyo2WkmghhOL-vUDPka0QdJJ8wC5kC7ZDvy3HriSroebumV0wk_k=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br />Today is Independence Day in Ukraine. May the next one be celebrated in peace and victory.<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-27081302995376749232023-08-23T11:27:00.001-07:002023-08-23T11:30:48.482-07:00Coming to America<p> Migrants at the southern border continues to represent an important distraction for the Party of No Ideas, with <a href="https://mockpaperscissors.com/2023/08/23/heres-some-stupid-to-start-your-day-90/">Ron DeSantis</a> vowing to "shoot 'em stone cold dead" since the tough-guy act goes down well in Iowa. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-21/ninth-bus-of-migrants-from-texas-arrives-in-los-angeles-amid-hilary-fallout#:~:text=Since%20mid%2DJune%2C%20360%20people,arrived%20in%20L.A.%20last%20week.">Greg Abbott</a> displayed his <i>cojones </i>by busing sixteen families (including a number of children) to Los Angeles last week as Tropical Storm Hilary pounded the area. To be fair, Hilary was predicted to be a full-bore hurricane when the bus left Texas. Better luck next time, Greg. Have you looked into introducing piranhas to the Rio Grande?</p><p>Governor and probable richest man in North Dakota <a href="https://www.inforum.com/opinion/columns/port-doug-burgum-has-officially-qualified-for-the-first-debate-stage-now-what">Greg Burgum</a> famously "qualified" for the first Republican debate-o-rama by paying people to contribute to his campaign, but he may be a late scratch because of a basketball-related <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/23/burgum-debate-leg-injury/">leg injury.</a> Apparently candidates must demonstrate their fitness for office by standing for two hours, Nikki Haley in high heels. Burgum is your basic anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice Rightzi, but he has no position on mining or otherwise militarizing the border with Canada. So far.</p><p>Judges who attract death threats may find it reassuring that they live in "the fast lane" where such things are commonplace. So says Newsmax's <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/greg-kelly-tanya-chutkan-threats-life-in-fast-lane_n_64e5f12de4b0a04c2ed7d0e4">Greg Kelly</a> in urging Judge Tanya Chutkan to just get over it. The FBI should instead investigate threats against Barron Trump. Barron Trump? He's done with high school so presumably the other kids have stopped stuffing him into his locker. What is it now, atomic wedgies? Are district attorneys like Alvin Bragg and Fani Willis also living the <i>vidas locas </i>of federal judges? And precinct-level poll workers like Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman? <a href="https://abc13.com/judge-esther-salas-son-murdered-roy-den-hollander-judges/11837789/#:~:text=Judge%20Esther%20Salas%2C%20whose%20son%20was%20killed%20at%20NJ%20home,had%20targeted%20the%20family%27s%20home.">Judge Esther Salas,</a> whose son was murdered by a man who came to her house looking for her, says you're full of shit, Greg.</p><p>All of the eighteen ne'er-do-wells indicted by the Fulton County grand jury were given two weeks to show up for booking at the jailhouse but <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeffrey-clark-mocked-fulton-county-judge-request_n_64e51c91e4b000bac476c5ea">Jeffrey Clark</a> says he needs more time. It's not the witches and their spirit animals this time, he just doesn't want to have to make "rushed travel arrangements" to Atlanta. It costs a lot more to fly first-class at the last minute. One word, Jeff: AMTRAK.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4p5fWOAovftsGTEiveZSJpDt9wiyMJPgOheQZtnN1TSP3FCi4usietzn3dsAw_THf7RVFGqQMZNa_jn8C4VagiqSZdYXfDOyuKf9EDdh6MO3a6L7X8Xkyjqj2J6F1OtoYgvK94iJ5uB0DsUWwQBFIWrrOkmAfVQFIS3il4uOr1gjeduXKDvw7" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4p5fWOAovftsGTEiveZSJpDt9wiyMJPgOheQZtnN1TSP3FCi4usietzn3dsAw_THf7RVFGqQMZNa_jn8C4VagiqSZdYXfDOyuKf9EDdh6MO3a6L7X8Xkyjqj2J6F1OtoYgvK94iJ5uB0DsUWwQBFIWrrOkmAfVQFIS3il4uOr1gjeduXKDvw7=w400-h240" width="400" /></a></div><br />In more aviation news, a plane presumed to be carrying <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/aug/23/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-drones-downed-moscow">Yevgeny Prigozhin</a> of the Wagner Group has crashed north of Moscow with no survivors. It may have been brought down by a missile. Is Putin settling all family business?<p></p><p>Trump's spelling has abandoned him again as he plucks up the nerve to report to the Fulton County lockup to be put into the system:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjp0sdhevPEIcX7cXnETc77yZPvY7dNUjB_gzNtALEO9ys0MM0EkCT6FC5v7KYCANoNLEGh3DWjp4n6MSxMz9wcuslRO2HTNd3vDnCVay1yIQoZYDfb1RhJhN8JcmCFsY-L2dAKw8sDK3cCeXooBmIWAKfR8HVh1XwDh7zlA5Hg-okmijp24wtm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="410" data-original-width="551" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjp0sdhevPEIcX7cXnETc77yZPvY7dNUjB_gzNtALEO9ys0MM0EkCT6FC5v7KYCANoNLEGh3DWjp4n6MSxMz9wcuslRO2HTNd3vDnCVay1yIQoZYDfb1RhJhN8JcmCFsY-L2dAKw8sDK3cCeXooBmIWAKfR8HVh1XwDh7zlA5Hg-okmijp24wtm=w400-h297" width="400" /></a></div><br />Please take the phone away and give him a Zwieback, Ms. Harrington.<p></p><p>If you missed out on Fyre Festival 2017, where all the trust fund kiddies and "influencers" were rolled by experts on the Bahamian island of Exuma, there's good news -- another chance to be disappointed! <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/08/22/fyre-festival-2-billy-mcfarland/">Billy McFarland</a> is out of federal prison and he's doing it again. Somewhere. With some musical performers. A nursing student named Victoria Medvedenko already has her ticket, proof that nursing pays better than I thought or that her daddy is a Russian oligarch. She's relying on McFarland's desire not to go back to prison ("he's had a lot of time to think about it and prepare this time"). I'm reminded of the words attributed to Phineas T. Barnum about the birthrate of suckers, adjusted for the twenty-first century.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-58634020356947517792023-08-23T09:23:00.001-07:002023-08-23T09:23:40.889-07:00He'll fly away<p> We can't treat him like any other criminal defendant in history because ELECTION INTERFERENCE, riots in the streets, <i>free speech, </i>unprecedented, logistical nightmare TRUMP-HATING PROSECUTOR DERANGED JACK SMITH...court orders don't apply to MEEEEEE!!</p><p>Trump may have given us a way out. Two days ago, when DA Willis was granted a token bond request of $200,000 for his continued liberty, he let slip his real national preference:</p><p>"I assume, therefore, that she thought I was a 'flight' risk - I'd fly far away, maybe to Russia, Russia, Russia, share a gold domed suite with Vladimir, never to be seen or heard from again. Would I be able to take my very 'understated' airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see. Probably not, I'd be much better off flying commercial - I'm sure nobody would recognize me!"</p><p>Clearly a lot of "thought" went into this, though the style is ghostwriter Liz Harrington's (affixed?). The gold domed suite suggests Coleridge's Kublai Khan, unless he's confusing it with the golden arches, source of most of his sustenance. If his team has been in talks with Moscow, they may not have received a lot of encouragement -- a low-level ganef like Edward Snowden is one thing but Putin's not running a hostel for fugitives. What value has Trump for him now? Less than George W. Bush, who once looked into his eyes and "saw his soul." Even the classified documents he stole are now out of date. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQEBTqtsWm7oMiWwWsSxoNODrY0b6AbGryxYas6oLDL6VXldNuljwGJAlGs7kgvP4oSFNzLGdZI9YP6V75LeQQ0Usrh-TRhv7zi6_ZiduNzD3rCMEdpGxQN34HsVhYywlmXQMZdUFhuSgaP7N06aWS8PDB1l_usdg5HHHScNNTvBKKG_bY_ua2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="2560" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQEBTqtsWm7oMiWwWsSxoNODrY0b6AbGryxYas6oLDL6VXldNuljwGJAlGs7kgvP4oSFNzLGdZI9YP6V75LeQQ0Usrh-TRhv7zi6_ZiduNzD3rCMEdpGxQN34HsVhYywlmXQMZdUFhuSgaP7N06aWS8PDB1l_usdg5HHHScNNTvBKKG_bY_ua2" width="320" /></a></div><br /> It's worth a try. Trump Farce One is gassed up and ready to go, although the TRUMP is clearly not gold.<p></p><p>If he does decide to "fly commercial" I recommend Aeroflot. (www.aeroflot.com) There's just a tiny <a href="https://onemileatatime.com/news/aeroflot-flying-planes-without-brakes/">problem</a> with the brakes. Naturally it's Biden's fault. </p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-71343805921288913452023-08-21T14:11:00.003-07:002023-08-21T14:17:54.618-07:00Euterpe, you got me<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAxJy2w2VEDUaUWwB6ASiZVvXPOQPD6sSBUhUT1Ml0lkgBTBgFFkuTa7_6BeFERFsu3sVnLLKtvL6psUYabJLCRml2MHlfQ72WzcxTw2Kk55vGqwfAP-onpjxYPtiWGs4bnhJ5P2LuxKkQszYHfuX3dYjbJxmVqm6dKw4udsy9UqUfdpoa8crQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="1252" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAxJy2w2VEDUaUWwB6ASiZVvXPOQPD6sSBUhUT1Ml0lkgBTBgFFkuTa7_6BeFERFsu3sVnLLKtvL6psUYabJLCRml2MHlfQ72WzcxTw2Kk55vGqwfAP-onpjxYPtiWGs4bnhJ5P2LuxKkQszYHfuX3dYjbJxmVqm6dKw4udsy9UqUfdpoa8crQ=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>These are heady days for those of us with a humanistic education. As previously noted, Ron "I never ate pudding with my hands" DeSantis has been tutored by one Brett O'Donnell, described as "William Shakespeare and Vince Lombardi rolled into one." I was still trying to absorb that when I read that DeSantis called Trump's Congressional allies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/20/ron-desantis-trump-supporters-listless-vessels-republican-debate-hillary-clinton-deplorables">"listless vessels"</a> because they adhere to one man instead of being "rooted in principle" like him. That's pretty fancy for someone who has arranged for Bowdlerized <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/08/florida-schools-shakespeare-sexual-material">Shakespeare</a> only to be taught in Florida public schools (no "beast with two backs" or "country matters" lest the young be corrupted by thoughts of S-E-X). Frankly I would have expected the governissimo to lean on the wisdom of Lombardi instead. ("We didn't lose the game, we just ran out of time" will come in handy.) </p><p>Republican "winged words" begins to look like a trend when you hear what <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-ukraine-russia-b2396001.html">Trump</a> had to say on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, evidently a country music program on Fox Business: "Putin would've never gotten into Ukraine, but that's just on my relationship with him. My personality over his. I was the apple of his eye and I would say, 'Don't ever do it.' It was tough stuff there but he would have never done it." Like Putin, Clay and Buck were too cowed to observe that when Russia occupied Crimea in 2014 there wasn't a murmur from Trump. The apple of his eye? Light of his life, fire of his loins? Sorry, that's a different Vladimir.</p><p>When I heard that California's first tropical storm in 84 years was called Hilary I knew two things would be true: We will hear about "devastation" at the homes of celebrities and Republicans will make jokes that would once have been called "sick." Margie Greene checked in first with her Hilary/Hillary observation, but she was topped by Fox pundit <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-blames-biden-tropical-storm-hilary_n_64e38e1fe4b07a9e3f5b420f">Kennedy</a>: "The wrath of Tropical Storm Hilary. Forty-two million desperate souls in the path of the storm, which made landfall in Mexico several hours ago. But they let it right into the country because it's Biden's America." (rimshot) That's why she goes by one name, like Gallagher and Carrot-top.</p><p>Last week a couple of Federalist Society law professors, William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas, roiled the waters by positing that Trump's attempt to lead an insurrection disqualifies him from running for any public office under the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/20/trump-disqualified-constitution-section-3-14th-amendment">Fourteenth Amendment.</a> (Trump once tried to repeal it by executive order because of the birthright citizenship clause and because he knows less about the Constitution than Biden's dogs.) Now <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/asa-hutchinson-trump-disqualified_n_64e36e52e4b07db68195b0ad">Asa Hutchinson</a> has become the first participant in this week's Republican debate to agree with them out loud because he has nothing to lose -- most people think his first name is "Asia" or that he's a woman. Or both.</p><p>If Lieutenant Governor <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republican-mark-robinson-conspiracy-theorist-north-carolina-governor-race_n_64df8cabe4b0ce7f01203a6b">Mark Robinson</a> gets elected to the top job -- and why not, he's a Republican? -- North Carolina will be in for a bumpy <strike>night</strike> four years. He ticks all the usual nutty boxes -- climate change a hoax, David Hogg a "crisis actor," "New World Order" globalists -- and a few you don't see every day. He's sure that Hillary Clinton, George Soros et al., mailed bombs to themselves in 2018 and poor Cesar Sayoc got the blame; that the music industry is run by Satan and the Illuminati (he has a special problem with Beyonce); and that Soros arranged for Boko Haram to kidnap Nigerian schoolgirls for some reason. After that it gets weird. Lizard people-fake moon landing-JFK assassination weird. I blame Reagan and his repeal of mental health policy.</p><p>Also in fuckbonkers news, the Atlantic has an eye-opening article about <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a44868386/vivek-ramaswamy-atlantic-9-11-january-6/">Vivek Ramaswamy</a> that makes Mr. Robinson look like Misterogers. He's curious about 9/11 and "how many police, how many federal agents were on the planes," as if that signifies something profound. As CEO, uh, president, he will abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, IRS, you know, the usual suspects. And sorry, Ukraine, you'll just have to give up some territory because he says so. He's rich. He knows stuff.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/20/california-shop-owner-shot-dead-over-lgbtq-pride-flag">Lauri Carleton</a> had nine children and owned a clothing store in Cedar Glen, California. She was murdered for the crime of displaying a Pride flag in front of the store. She was 66.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxE9ik8D9yryxAnzKcElZVPznoXfJ74Tv6sEIWoW0qmj4rDXk8ePstLIK6vhRAvYmPL6faFH996QI4jAr6QEEbnxv1mRCBNWoKaK5DsNw7EKpMNVRrPgoMEwwZPxr62meYiNd_VM6In5rThbmxfxx3A95kv72RoyqTI7PZMm4CUigurH32JtWQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="506" data-original-width="900" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxE9ik8D9yryxAnzKcElZVPznoXfJ74Tv6sEIWoW0qmj4rDXk8ePstLIK6vhRAvYmPL6faFH996QI4jAr6QEEbnxv1mRCBNWoKaK5DsNw7EKpMNVRrPgoMEwwZPxr62meYiNd_VM6In5rThbmxfxx3A95kv72RoyqTI7PZMm4CUigurH32JtWQ=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div>We already live in Ron DeSantis's America, even in the tranquil San Bernardino mountains. I hope he's happy today.<p></p><p><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rudy-giuliani-scientific-evidence_n_64e32384e4b090115a914e77">Rudolph Giuliani</a> has yet to surrender to Fulton County authorities but he says he has "scientific evidence" of 2020 election fraud which will exonerate him on all RICO charges. (Really scientific or Pillow Mike scientific? Algorithms and Chinese satellites?) I hope it's more scientific than <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/open/2023/08/this-doctor-said-vaccines-magnetize-people-ohio-suspended-her-medical-license.html">Sherri Tenpenny's</a> claim that covid vaccine makes people magnetic. Ohio has suspended her medical license. Rejecting real science for the eye-of-newt variety is a Republican requirement now.</p><p>At a zoo in Tennessee (where else?) the world's only spotless <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/21/spotless-giraffe-tennessee-zoo">giraffe</a> has been born, a sure sign of the eschaton. Pass me a snake.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31836226.post-44394841278283945842023-08-21T10:52:00.002-07:002023-08-21T10:54:15.186-07:00A thousand words<p> In a notable display of Protestant showmanship, Pastor <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/pastor-greg-locke-absolutely-destroys">Greg Locke</a> of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, smashed a Barbie Dreamhouse to illustrate his opposition to pornography. He has also made two films about exorcism, which is one more than Willliam Friedkin.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieqIghDfXwc_icDgmsfUiELrD4znbmw2csFGoZdTmK9K4NlxHsT5HV5XCPcZvWzG7Yq0fKPeLIuEnA9qZczxWkue6tMAOqGC54vXZoINCLExSxaccBPSu_OrKTgKF3w92JShhkk0wvk7fdpoqonjowPp_fc7Pnwcl0fTZnZJ9PjOn0BASD1M5x" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1024" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieqIghDfXwc_icDgmsfUiELrD4znbmw2csFGoZdTmK9K4NlxHsT5HV5XCPcZvWzG7Yq0fKPeLIuEnA9qZczxWkue6tMAOqGC54vXZoINCLExSxaccBPSu_OrKTgKF3w92JShhkk0wvk7fdpoqonjowPp_fc7Pnwcl0fTZnZJ9PjOn0BASD1M5x=w400-h224" width="400" /></a></div><br />Meet <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2023/aug/21/japanese-man-dog-long-haired-collie-suit-toco-in-pictures">Toco.</a> Toco is a Japanese man who spends his life in a custom-made collie suit.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbChF-Za8nYLN7d9lwjUwsYgSAME3MPm2E9jiAm_D1uZIk9UAY1z4pbQjJDLiF_bZs2Ry6vgIzhHv5JWFOHQiVzK5qBJ_K1MbD6nsVT1NeOaBj_VorSJbWRDjJiyyaJjGOwQxGENQZivxiFyfJaDUKmWbJhQhY8ddQchrHvHPDlwPThpq9fis1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbChF-Za8nYLN7d9lwjUwsYgSAME3MPm2E9jiAm_D1uZIk9UAY1z4pbQjJDLiF_bZs2Ry6vgIzhHv5JWFOHQiVzK5qBJ_K1MbD6nsVT1NeOaBj_VorSJbWRDjJiyyaJjGOwQxGENQZivxiFyfJaDUKmWbJhQhY8ddQchrHvHPDlwPThpq9fis1=w400-h240" width="400" /></a></div><br />Ron DeSantis is ready to DEBATE! after sessions with prep coach <a href="https://mockpaperscissors.com/2023/08/21/in-interpretive-dance/">Brett O'Donnell,</a> described as "William Shakespeare and Vince Lombardi rolled into one." Yes, but could either of them do this?<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIA72tSFzZO1lvPFp5gp4vv_qLngMQf3hki8DTW_XXB1q2iSeP5wCVRCTALnXEnCJUdXI1jRenaz-ygYwRijqPOECAmKUMOktSZU3RY9Vrm3HcfBX5aIRChYOlvIETbJ9KM1z_uxbOXunL7608nCdyP1bLc4pnHuv1J4MkElL4UJJwjtQXVoVA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIA72tSFzZO1lvPFp5gp4vv_qLngMQf3hki8DTW_XXB1q2iSeP5wCVRCTALnXEnCJUdXI1jRenaz-ygYwRijqPOECAmKUMOktSZU3RY9Vrm3HcfBX5aIRChYOlvIETbJ9KM1z_uxbOXunL7608nCdyP1bLc4pnHuv1J4MkElL4UJJwjtQXVoVA=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br />Flat-earther/daredevil "Mad Mike" Hughes crashed his steam-powered rocket in the California desert three years ago. There is no video of the Russian rocket that plowed into the moon, but I like to think it looked like this.<p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJqkd14gnYRfadFKt0-MXQAHArWZp-u-vcN_mvZyd361p8q2PqUBmoKyH7jR66u-VetDB1V3rH9m6lKP8lbxsMYm2r-Tj7bTiry14_KuLtM5yVWqUh3rc_vxNB-s5FRDkcuUqTN4iCjSUAMNbJIDV_jl06lIeaCCpWqAUgEyyO2tdR2D97WegB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="2000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJqkd14gnYRfadFKt0-MXQAHArWZp-u-vcN_mvZyd361p8q2PqUBmoKyH7jR66u-VetDB1V3rH9m6lKP8lbxsMYm2r-Tj7bTiry14_KuLtM5yVWqUh3rc_vxNB-s5FRDkcuUqTN4iCjSUAMNbJIDV_jl06lIeaCCpWqAUgEyyO2tdR2D97WegB=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br />Hold all calls, we have a winner. If you were wondering which big-brain Republican would use Tropical Storm Hilary, currently inundating southern California, to make a funny about Hillary Clinton, here she is:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPxM1_5Ez9Qsp-4a0nwPtz2lRwpikSabosWj1egP9lFz9wEQMC0oqDbo5rCUy2ljzFs5bS6ZdqmHdsp0SP4lzw2SA8mpTeHRe-_ofNrnDwn9CNQtf7lC6QOl624Nu27-ZVlSPBs9TgY6DoHbmij6XKfQD3guEYagLI6gMQRCz95wcgRtAqoXCI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="528" data-original-width="630" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPxM1_5Ez9Qsp-4a0nwPtz2lRwpikSabosWj1egP9lFz9wEQMC0oqDbo5rCUy2ljzFs5bS6ZdqmHdsp0SP4lzw2SA8mpTeHRe-_ofNrnDwn9CNQtf7lC6QOl624Nu27-ZVlSPBs9TgY6DoHbmij6XKfQD3guEYagLI6gMQRCz95wcgRtAqoXCI=w400-h336" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Before Cuervo tequila would sponsor the Republican debate they asked for a few changes...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGHxhzGKvCbU9sA9yP6UQ-ZtwnXkHRbNV8V87r6XCFcSyQ-C5OL7AUzQK70YQ4fbKVLWdl-fZrpXCvH0MeHUdM1vY9ht1oTrOb4gk16wVQy4swZX0iGMJme8hPVvz44LrduzSY1XfmEYLzrmcY4BqsqnLVDU6XkpiOAUH-p7xPXWMymEqrDfBv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="520" data-original-width="780" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGHxhzGKvCbU9sA9yP6UQ-ZtwnXkHRbNV8V87r6XCFcSyQ-C5OL7AUzQK70YQ4fbKVLWdl-fZrpXCvH0MeHUdM1vY9ht1oTrOb4gk16wVQy4swZX0iGMJme8hPVvz44LrduzSY1XfmEYLzrmcY4BqsqnLVDU6XkpiOAUH-p7xPXWMymEqrDfBv=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /></div>Buttermilk Skyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.com0