Geoff > Status Update

Reality TV President screams at reality on TV.

Now is the time to reinvigorate the investigation of ontology, friends.

ATJG wrote: "Reality TV President screams at reality on TV.

Now is the time to reinvigorate the investigation of ontology, friends."

Pretty sure the impetus to firing Comey was that he thought people were going to love him for bringing The Apprentice back to television.

Christopher wrote: "But he forgot how lousy his ratings were at the end there."

New head of FBI: Gary Busey.

Ian wrote: "Christopher wrote: "But he forgot how lousy his ratings were at the end there."

New head of FBI: Gary Busey."

You know, I definitely pictured the apocalypse to be way more...brimstone and flame and such. Turns out the world ends neither with a bang nor a whimper, but as a screwball comedy. Who knew?

I keep thinking of Cat's Cradle. Trump is already way too much like "Papa" Monzano... better hope he doesn't develop a terminal condition while he's still president.

Manny wrote: "I keep thinking of Cat's Cradle. Trump is already way too much like "Papa" Monzano... better hope he doesn't develop a terminal condition while he's still president."

Nah. You can tell just by lookin' at 'im, the Glorious Leader is healthy as a horse. He's more beta carotene than man.

So much crazy shit happened that the list up there didn't even include Sean Spicer literally hiding in bushes to avoid the press. A truly great moment from this administration.

You can see why Sergei Lavrov was looking pleased with himself. A particularly nice touch was that TASS were allowed to take pictures but the US media weren't.

Manny wrote: "You can see why Sergei Lavrov was looking pleased with himself. A particularly nice touch was that TASS were allowed to take pictures but the US media weren't."

Yep, the Russian foreign minister openly mocked the chaos of our country to the press, then disappeared behind closed doors with Trump and the Russian media, while the US media was shut out. Is this what making America great again looks like?

Look, Trump knows which media he can trust. I bet TASS gave him a good writeup.

Again, the day after he fired Comey, and Republicans are just all good, man, it's all good. Had this happened with Obama Ted Cruz would have already personally tried to assassinate him and I'm pretty sure Hannity would have exploded into little bits of colored confetti on air.

Geoff wrote: "Again, the day after he fired Comey, and Republicans are just all good, man, it's all good. Had this happened with Obama Ted Cruz would have already personally tried to assassinate him and I'm pret..."

Or can you imagine if HRC had won and then fired Comey while she was still being investigated? There would be nothing but televised convulsions and frothing at the mouth until she was impeached.

ATJG wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Again, the day after he fired Comey, and Republicans are just all good, man, it's all good. Had this happened with Obama Ted Cruz would have already personally tried to assassinate hi..."

Treason hearings would already be underway. Several GOP congressmen would have turned into werewolves and begun devouring interns.

Geoff wrote: "ATJG wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Again, the day after he fired Comey, and Republicans are just all good, man, it's all good. Had this happened with Obama Ted Cruz would have already personally tried to a..."

Meteorologists across the country would add graphics of flaming cities to their weather maps as once they reported airport delays. Trump-voting rural Midwesterners would put down their crayons and take up the Armalite they'd kept stashed under the trailer and vanish down various goatpaths to wreak a fell and righteous justice.

Point being that, in the world as-is, this is already blowing over astonishingly quickly.

ATJG wrote: "Geoff wrote: "ATJG wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Again, the day after he fired Comey, and Republicans are just all good, man, it's all good. Had this happened with Obama Ted Cruz would have already persona..."

Right? Nobody cares like 40 hours later. Back to trolling YouTube unboxing videos while taking a shit. La di da

I'll post the link, but because WaPo is behind a paywall, I'll post the text of the article, because you should read it.

Don’t forget those smiling images of Trump and the Russians

The pictures from the Oval Office on Wednesday — published by a Tass photographer, as no U.S. media were present — are jolly and good-humored. President Trump, who fired his FBI director a day earlier, is grinning for the cameras and shaking hands with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. They, too, smile and laugh, relishing the many ironies of the moment.

Have a close look at those happy faces; keep the images in your head. Then turn your attention just for a moment to the story of Ildar Dadin, an unusually brave young Russian. Dadin was arrested in Moscow in 2015, one of the first to fall victim to a harsh new Russian law against dissent. His crime was to have protested peacefully and repeatedly, mostly by standing silently in the street with a sign around his neck.

Dadin was sentenced to three years in prison in Karelia, the northwestern province that was once home to the White Sea Canal, one of the most infamous prison camps in Stalin’s Soviet Union. Far away from the capital, he discovered that torture, of a kind also practiced in Stalin’s Soviet Union, was still in use. In Karelia, guards throw a prisoner into an isolation cell as soon as they arrive, Dadin has written, “so that he understands straight away what hell he’s got into.” Later, he was hung up by his arms, which were handcuffed behind his back. Others in Karelian prisons were beaten on the soles of their feet, drenched with water and left in the cold, beaten on the back and stomach.

Why? In Stalin’s day, people were tortured to get them to confess to crimes they had not committed. Nowadays they are often tortured as a form of extortion: If their families pay up, the torture stops. Dadin’s wife, Anastasia Zotova — she was in London meeting with human rights organizations — also told me that some prisoners are forced to work for prison guards and their families (another tradition handed down from the Gulag). It is fitting, somehow, that in Putin’s Russia, people torture for money and not ideology.

Dadin is lucky: He is educated, comes from Moscow and was able to make use of what remains of the press and the judicial apparatus in Russia. Meduza, a Russian-language website published outside the country, posted a letter he wrote from prison; thanks to Zotova and some dedicated lawyers, he got Russia’s human rights ombudsman interested in his case and was released. But his story is exceptional. By contrast, gay men in Chechnya, another Russian province, have been kidnapped, tortured and killed by police with impunity after Chechen officials decided to “eliminate” homosexuality altogether. Russian prosecutors also recently arrested and detained Yuri Dmitriev, one of the country’s best-known historians of Stalinism, on trumped-up charges. Dmitriev literally knows where the bodies are buried: In the 1990s, he uncovered hundreds of mass graves, the only remaining evidence of Stalin’s mass murders. Knowledge like that has become increasingly uncomfortable in a Russia that no longer wants to distance itself from its murderous past.

What is the connection between those stories and the photographs in the Oval Office? There isn’t one. Neither Trump, nor Lavrov, nor Kislyak is remotely interested in the fate of Dadin or Dmitriev, if they have even heard of them, which seems unlikely. Nor are any of them much interested in the fate of Dan Heyman, the West Virginia reporter arrested recently for persistent questioning of Tom Price, the health and human services secretary. Due process, rule of law, all of the dull rules and procedures that deliver justice are uninteresting to men who believe in personalized power unconstrained by traditions, institutions or constitutions. Look at how pleased they were to see one another — and compare those pictures with Trump’s stiff and awkward news conferences with democratic leaders such as Germany’s Angela Merkel or Britain’s Theresa May.

I know that investigations should continue, but let’s be clear: Russia would have needed no inducements or collusion to support Trump’s election campaign. His personality is the kind they understand, his cynicism and his dishonesty are familiar, his greed is the same as their greed. Above all, his lack of respect for the law is their lack of respect for the law. Trump fired the FBI director to get him off his television screen; Russian police lock up dissidents to get them out of public view. No, it’s not the same thing. But it’s not that different either.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...

It's sort of like a capitalist version of the end of Animal Farm, isn't it?

Manny wrote: "It's sort of like a capitalist version of the end of Animal Farm, isn't it?"

indeed

I can hear the sheep braying "US good, Russia better!"

Manny wrote: "It's sort of like a capitalist version of the end of Animal Farm, isn't it?"

Money is free speech but some animals have more speech than others.

And some positive news

http://www.wbaltv.com/article/fbi-sea...

or

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefin...

Hopefully just the beginning.

Do they make FBI hats in red? If so I might start rockin' one.

Geoff wrote: "Do they make FBI hats in red? If so I might start rockin' one."

https://www.amazon.com/Female-Inspect...

ATJG wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Do they make FBI hats in red? If so I might start rockin' one."

https://www.amazon.com/Female-Inspect...-..."

You know what I meant, high five bro!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/...

Geoff neglected to mention that Ildar Dadin, that much maligned protestor in Russia; had his pants off and was wiggling his thingy in front of a Catholic gir's elementary school.

It's not Xian Metal, but it might get at the reason for folks voting Rump ::

It's the '80's ; where's my rocket pack?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXHWD...

You figure it out.

About that meeting we discussed above, and Trump being Russia's bitch

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...


"Two senior administration officials, one an Obama holdover and the other a Trump appointee, told The Daily Beast that the resulting reliance of U.S. media on a propaganda arm of a foreign government let Russia set the public tone of the meeting and embarrassed the administration amid already contentious discussions with Russian diplomats.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to candidly express their views. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This isn’t an ‘America First’ policy,” one of the officials fumed of the White House’s decision “to let the biggest perpetrator of fake news into the Oval Office.” Trump, the official added, is “either in bed with the Russians or too stupid to understand the severity of this mistake. Either way, the implications are truly terrifying.”

ATJG wrote: "You know, I definitely pictured the apocalypse to be way more...brimstone and flame and such. Turns out the world ends neither with a bang nor a whimper, but as a screwball comedy. Who knew?"


If only it was screwball comedy... I'd be laughing a lot more.

Geoff wrote: "“This isn’t an ‘America First’ policy,” one of the officials fumed of the White House’s decision “to let the biggest perpetrator of fake news into the Oval Office.” Trump, the official added, is “either in bed with the Russians or too stupid to understand the severity of this mistake. Either way, the implications are truly terrifying.”"

You have to remember that Trump always says the opposite of what he means. ("No one respects women more than I do", etc). I think people are starting to figure out the deal with "Make America great again".

Loved this passage from a recent Politico article:

A person familiar with the press secretary’s location late Tuesday night said Spicer was standing between or behind bushes, but not physically in a bush.

More than 12 hours after the story ran, Spicer eventually secured an editor’s note. “Spicer huddled with his staff among bushes near television sets on the White House grounds, not 'in the bushes,' as the story originally stated,” the newspaper wrote.

A spokesperson for The Post said their correction speaks for itself and declined to comment further.

Manny wrote: "Loved this passage from a recent Politico article:A person familiar with the press secretary’s location late Tuesday night said Spicer was standing between or behind bushes, but not physically in a..."

This is amazing. What's that Mao quote? "Everything under heaven is in total chaos... the situation is excellent."

I'm thinking more 'first as tragedy, then as farce'.

Hadrian wrote: "I'm thinking more 'first as tragedy, then as farce'."

Yes yes yes

Hadrian wrote: "I'm thinking more 'first as tragedy, then as farce'."

That's actually a fine replacement for e pluribus unum

Pretty stoked, Timothy Snyder is coming to my public library tomorrow night. I'm sure he'll have some interesting shit to say about Reichstag fires and the farcical versions of them going on now.

Ian wrote: "Pretty stoked, Timothy Snyder is coming to my public library tomorrow night. I'm sure he'll have some interesting shit to say about Reichstag fires and the farcical versions of them..."

Oh fantastic!

You guy see this shit? Seriously, when is enough enough and Republicans just say out loud that Trump is mentally unfit to serve and needs to resign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p...

Geoff wrote: "You guy see this shit? Seriously, when is enough enough and Republicans just say out loud that Trump is mentally unfit to serve and needs to resign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p......"

Never, because you'll likely have seen this one, too:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p...

Tell me again who is the party that's "out of touch"?

Ian wrote: "Geoff wrote: "You guy see this shit? Seriously, when is enough enough and Republicans just say out loud that Trump is mentally unfit to serve and needs to resign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ne..."

Well holy fuckity.

Any lawyers out there? Jonathan? How the hell is him firing Comey and then threatening him in public to keep silent not obstruction of justice?

Geoff wrote: "Ian wrote: "Geoff wrote: "You guy see this shit? Seriously, when is enough enough and Republicans just say out loud that Trump is mentally unfit to serve and needs to resign.

https://www.washingto..."

Tribalism on the right is a great reminder that we're just a bunch of fucking animals.

And I don't mean to say there isn't tribalism on the left--there surely is, but it's hard to see wholesale rejection of truth and liberty on the same scale as you do on the right for the sake of self-righteousness and party-line emboldening. Especially with regard to stuff that is an actual threat to our civilization (I'm thinking specifically about the war on climate science here).

You guys should really watch that interview with Lester Holt. Trump really does not understand he is not in charge of his own investigation. It's astounding.

Geoff wrote: "Any lawyers out there? Jonathan? How the hell is him firing Comey and then threatening him in public to keep silent not obstruction of justice?"

"when the president does it, that means it is not illegal."

Geoff wrote: "You guys should really watch that interview with Lester Holt. Trump really does not understand he is not in charge of his own investigation. It's astounding."

You have to think about who he usually hangs out with. If Putin were being investigated, who would you expect to be in charge?

No human being is illegal. Some human beings, however, are monstrous pieces of shit. Jeff Sessions would be a good example https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtm...

But seriously, what Trump is putting to the test here is exactly the question of whether he is in charge of his own investigation. He's fired the guy investigating him, and - at least so far - Congress are backing him up. Some of them are even displaying a certain degree of enthusiasm.

So we'll see. Maybe he is in charge of it.

This is well worth the read

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...

Geoff wrote: "This is well worth the read

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/..."

"Vice President Pence, who has been repeatedly lied to in service of actions to deceive the public, needs to remember he serves the country, not the president."

Herein lies the problem. I don't think many of these people realize they serve the people not the party or the prez. And the president's moves are all power plays to show that dissent means you get steamrolled in whatever way possible, so they slime their way under him to ensure their careers are safe for the next 18 months.

Ian wrote: "Geoff wrote: "This is well worth the read

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/..."

"Vice Presi..."

The hope is that their careers are not safe, and they will turn on him when the FBI investigation starts making arrests. Trump supremely pissed off the FBI - that can have consequences.