The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    jollyroger's picture

    35 people can destroy a nation (when 34 are Senators...)

     

    "That would surely be an impeachable offense" is perhaps the most frequently repeated phrase from the mouths of guests on Chris Hayes' show.

     

    Most recently, it came from Jamie Raskin, congressman and, more specifically, member of the Judiciary Committee, from which an Impeachment Resolution  would have to issue.

     

    "That", in this particular iteration, was a hypothetical advertisement on E-Bay offering pardons for cash.

     

    ¨Was it something I said?¨

     

    a plaintive Richard Pryor asked  from   the cover of my 1980ś vinyl  with

    RP  tied to the stake. And in  the standard repertoire: prayers for redemption,

    piles of kindling ,approaching fire lighters

    And  Pryor´s explanation:  true  ,visit at  any court house sentencing day  and , yup,  it´s Justice Just Us. .......................................................................................

    Except  on the occasions when the judge reduces the penalty by 75%.

      Then it 's not Just US. Not us at all.

     

    People are Strange, Angry, Indifferent, Jaded, Delusional

    From NYT article today, Border Patrol Facilities Put Detainees With Medical Conditions at Risk:

    .....Representative Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California who is also a physician, helped secure funding for additional measures to improve migrant health after visiting border facilities where he said he saw children coughing and sneezing and infants without diapers, all packed tightly into cells with little in the way of food, soap and other basics....

    This is a test. Name

    at least five liberal  democratic US presidents. 

    Right. FDR.

    Good. Keep going.

    Obama.

    I´ll give you that one.And...?

    Could have been LBJ but for Vietnam

    Coulda, shoulda, woulda

    JFK !

    Began with the Bay of Pigs ? First  cut in the maximum incremental income tax rate. Liberal?  

    A leader? Certainly. But for liberal causes?

    Woodrow Wilson!

    With his views of Blacks?

    The shortest way with illegals

     

    or whomever we disagree with .

    Today.

     And maybe for good reason.


    A good place to start is with DVD ´s compelling quote. ¨ 

    I am listening to Trump press conference live from Vietnam summit on CNN

    The chyron says summit cut short, no deal. But I would like to share a little of what Trump is saying.

    He seems in a very friendly and polite mood. Not hyper, calm. Taking a lot of questions.

    Trump says it's all been very productive. But not a good thing to be signing anything right now. He'll let Pompeo explain that later.

    But everyone's been great: Chairman Kim, China, Russia, they've all been great, real helpful. Great leaders! Pres. Moon. yes, another great leader. Real helpful. President Xi, a great leader. Everyone thinks so, especially in Asia. They are all great leaders!

    By the way, in case you foreign reporters didn't know this, you should know it's true: he gets along really well with all world leaders!

    McConnell Plays Victim in NC GOP Vote Fraud

    McConnell on the floor of the Senate today.  He thinks playing the victim will, as usual, go over well with the Fox News indoctrinated morons of the Republican base:

    jollyroger's picture

    Osama's Revenge

    Remember the scene in Carrie where the hand suddenly springs up from her grave, intimating horrors to come?

     

    Well, (allowing for the dismemberment and burial at sea if true) the bony arm of Bin Laden once again grabs a nation by the throat and forces us to look into our (unattractive?) souls.

     

    When I was thrilling


     When I was thrilling. I said No.

    But I was willing."

    Cole Porter, I think.

    There ought to be a law- in fact there probably  is -against  all those Virginian cases- charges from  rape or wearing a  black face cruelly to make fun of the victims of slavery.. Probably.

     To declare a bias I was a  half hearted guest at a college   Cake Walk . ,A long  way  from Virginia. The performers wore black face or chalky white .Over otherwise outlandish garb .And did various low level  athletics. With loud music. 

    If you like to know about worthwhile Twitter Feeds

    Noah Smith has a smart and informed bunch of followers and as of now, he has 326 answers to this excellent question:

    Wednesday open question: If you could only follow three Twitter accounts, what would they be?

    — Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) February 7, 2019

    Smart TV's are dumb

    Your TV Is Now a Computer, but Not in a Good Way by Alexis Madrigal @ TheAtlantic.com, Jan. 24. You don’t really own it, and it breaks in unpredictable ways.

    Reading this made arta want to rant in despair.

    This story brings back all kinds of nightmares for me, all the many frustrating aggravating and sometimes even frightening times dealing with PC's and their software in the 90's and cell phone cos. a decade ago and even MaBell in the 70's.... Why does this keep happening to us with each new technology change?

    Striking example of how numbers can "lie"

    GOOD GUYS DON'T ALWAYS WIN , uh ,they did.

    If there's someone you're rooting to win something , let me know ,I'll predict their failure and that should put them over the finish line.

    I have nothing to add to  what you've read in the last 24 hours. Unlike your immediate correspondent N&C emerged from the "longest shut down in history" with a record of saying A on day one and continuing  to say it until day F- for folded- when Donald  did that.. 

    The enormous amount of hate is not real

    See this whole thread. It makes it so clear that the enormous amount of hate, divisiveness and mistrust is not real, it is caused by a tiny minority. It is basically ginned up by a small number of teen trolls with a lot of time on their hands. The social media people are failing at the task of maintaining the benefits of freedom of speech. Someone has to fix the problem of being able to play the algorithms. It's not just a Putin problem, as anyone can do it.

    jollyroger's picture

    Roger Stone's time in the barrel

    Pro tip:  If someone knocks unexpectedly before dawn, just slip out the back, Jack (pace, Paul Simon...)

     

    When you total up the years attached to the indictment pursuant to which Stone was taken in, he may get a chance to explore the tatooing talents of self-taught fellow inmates (to go along with the Nixon tatoo already on his back), it would appear that the dapper dark artist will be strongly motivated to give up his Godfather--or perhaps pull a "Frank Pentangeli" by way of "final exit"

     

    Poison Pills in Trump, McConnell Wall Bill 'Compromise'

    This is part of the "Great  Compromise" that Trump and McConnell made over the weekend to end the Trump government shutdown. This bill has nothing to do with the Wall or DACA.  It seeks to overhaul the immigration system to deny asylum application at the US border, make judicial review illegal, make asylum acceptance a whim of Homeland Security, and put a low limit on asylum acceptances per year with no provision for exceptions..

    Orwellian name "Central American Minors Protection Act of 2019."

    Some major points again:

    jollyroger's picture

    18 U.S. Code § 4 - Misprision of felony

    It is certainly elucidative of how low the bar can go, that the argument over whether or not Trump actually subborned the perjury of Michael Cohen before Congress is the field on which this particular battle is being fought.

     

    Might we not, without exposing ourselves to the charge of excessively high expectations, reference the complaisant silence with which the false testimony was  greeted by the person who took an oath to see that the laws of the United States were faithfully executed?

     

     

    jollyroger's picture

    "It takes two to Tango..."Your child kidnapped? $5,000,000 Demand? Her murder threatened?

    Among the most infuriating frameworks enunciated by the wise and profound who claim time on TV is the trope that by refusing to give in to utter blackmail, Pelosi and the Dems are part of the problem.

     

    Why not just split the difference at 2,500,000, opine such termpernent.ally diverse pundits as David Brooks and Chris Wallace.

     

    The manifest stupidity and racist motivation of the demanded WALL!!! is besides the point, I guess.

     

    While the media goes on and on about AOC being good at the social media

    seems to me that they are sorta trying to keep the suddenly hipster Senator on Twitter to themselves:

     

    Good guys don't always win

    if ever. And certainly the shut down isn't going to be one of those times.

    Before you start to convince me  the Democrats have done the right thing , don't bother. They have.

    And it's going to cost them votes. Good guys ,to repeat myself , don't etc.

    By next Friday if  the laid off  have  missed another  pay check, and there's no announced  end of it , whatever they think about Trump . they'll  be bitter with Pelosi and  Chuck.

    As to Trump ? Later. 

    The Liberaltarian demographic, ignored by political activists, analysts and pollsters at their peril

    I ran across this article from Nov. New Study Indicates Silicon Valley’s Elite Are Not As Liberal As They Think by @ NYMag.com.

    It reminded me of how geek world, since it's development, always seemed to tend to lean libertarian and therefore prone to prefer "third way" political solutions. With the polarization introduced by the Trump and similar populist movements, the lefty Democratic types seem to be getting hopeful that swings are coming over to their side and are thinking "oh boy, the DLC ways of thinking are dead, now we can finally go socialist." Um, but there's this Liberaltarian cohort out there, growing all the time. With lots of money. And a new kinda "don't like big gummint" and bureaucrats attitude. That will be swing supporters and voters if Dem candidates are too left. I've noted a thing watching Twitter over the last few months: even though this type may deplore Trump dolts and rural rubes, they also are very much prone to ridicule earnest lefty types like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Christian right and other socially conservative nutcases sector of the GOP may be dying out, but this group will be growing. And may be sympathetic to a lot ot "Freedom Caucus" type aims. Politicos ignore them at their peril.

    Excerpt:

    Richard Day's picture

    TRUMP EXPLAINS ALL (LIVE CHAT)

    Our esteemed leader has (evidently) gone from concrete to steel slats? to curtain rods to....?

    Now the evil Dems have taken over the House (not the White House but the other House) and Spanky is having trouble keeping his sheets straight following his KFC orders delivered to his Lincoln Bedroom.

    Pages