Golden Showergate

The news this morning is full of prostitutes, urine and Trump.

The story began making the rounds at Washington dinner parties late last summer: Donald Trump had been caught in a compromising sexual position by Russian intelligence agents during a business trip to Moscow. According to one version, told by a high-ranking Obama administration diplomat, Russian intelligence services, acting on Trump’s well-known obsession with sex, had arranged an evening for him with a bevy of hookers, with hidden cameras and microphones recording all the action. The jaw-dropping detail that topped the story? Trump had somehow engaged in “golden showers,” sex acts involving urine.

Now, the guy getting blackmailed by Russia says it's all a lie. And the country doing the blackmailing says it's all a lie. Of course, the intelligence report says otherwise, but it's become obvious that Donald Trump doesn't use intelligence.

I feel I should point out that there's nothing in the Constitution requiring a compromised president to step down: I mean, a man with principles would, but I think we've established pretty clearly that the GOP didn't elect one of those.

Think about it for a second: if Donald Trump steps down in the face of these golden shower allegations, his brand is dead. He's spent his entire life selling himself. Building up his name as a symbol of wealth and privilege. And if he just admits it's true, he just pisses all that away.

So Trump's going to try and brazen this out, which will just precipitate a constitutional crisis further down the road. Remember that Russia's goal for decades has been to damage the credibility of the United States, in order to increase their own. So now, whatever Russia has will be slowly leaked out, a little bit at a time, by a giggling Vladimir Putin.

What happens now? Well, if the President steps down before taking his oath of office, nothing says that the Vice President-elect gets to take over. By definition, the Vice President was not the person elected President. Ironically, Trump's beauty contest has a clearer plan of succession for a situation like this than the US Constitution.

If the winner, for any reason, cannot fulfill her duties as Miss Universe, the 1st runner-up takes over.

All this time, we thought Trump's weird orange skin was due to cheap bronzer, not to the fact that Russian prostitutes don't hydrate properly.

It's weird that the White House staff now has to study up on removing urine stains. But this whole thing has brought a new light to that infamous solid gold toilet that Trump has.

All this kind of explains that pissy look on Trump's face all the time. Do you think anybody ever be willing to shake Trump's hand from now on? I'm betting that sales of hand sanitizer in DC are going to go through the roof.

So, it's time to start a new birther theory: Donald Trump has always claimed to have been born in Queens. But it looks now like he might have been closer to Flushing.

GOLDEN SHOWERS MEAN URINE TROUBLE

This NYT article is more carefully worded with more customary “unsubstantiated” and “unverified” disclaimers than usual. How trustworthy is last week’s intelligence report? To what degree has Donald Trump been compromised by Vladimir Putin?
In my view, the shadowy world of clandestine operations is poorly understood. Lawyers, for whom evidence must be convincing beyond a reasonable doubt, tend to dismiss such reports on legalistic grounds. A politician may compromise valid security concerns with denials, distractions, and cheap shots to serve a partisan purpose. All miss this point: Clandestine connotes secrecy and stealth with room for plausible deniability. 
Most noteworthy are troubling inconsistencies surrounding Michael Cohen, a lawyer and advisor of Donald Trump. Did Cohen travel to Prague, or not? Either way, a shill is still a shill.
Journalists also fail miserably. Their work is often marred by faulty research, errors of omission, faulty nuance, and conclusions based on false equivalences. For instance, Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald dismissed recent CIA reports on the basis of past failures — such as the bogus WMD claim that was used to justify the Iraq war.
Their error? The CIA did not embellish or mischaracterize the WMD data; the Bush administration did.
Shall one intelligence failure cast suspicion on all intelligence reports? For Taibbi and Greenwald, one rotten apple means all apples are rotten. Sometimes lawyers, politicians, and journalists are ego-invested in their own words and subject to motivated blindspots.
The hacking of DNC computer servers, Cyrillic fingerprints on trace metadata, the steady drip of embarrassing (but not incriminating) email, direct funding of National Front groups in Europe by Russia, and FSB/GRU efforts to destabilize the European Union … sometimes pervasive patterns of subversion speak louder than any smoking gun. Reader, beware.

Piss, Lies and Borscht

Don't miss the point of the infamous "dossier" accusing Trump of, amongst other things, paying Russian women to pee on him. It's Karma.

Plausible and even not-so-plausible accusations are always true enough to demand special investigators and committees and prosecutors.  There are so many anecdotes and stories and insinuations about secret alliances and deals and money-laundering and bailouts involving Trump and Russian oligarchs that a hundred buckets of piss are irrelevant.  His reptilian hissing and spitting and midnight fits only make him look more guilty even if you missed awareness of his admission of enjoying sex crimes and the long list of accusations thereof.

Listen -- I've had my fill of "Benghazi, Benghazi" and "Lock her up." It's time to walk Trump through the same gantlet. Let him spend years defending himself against a daily flood of new accusations, repeated libels and slanders -- and who gives a damn if it's the whole truth, half a truth or depravity. Let loose the prosecutors!  Lock him up!

PUTIN’S PAWN

Is political power worth the price of treason?

Friday’s intelligence report disclosing the Russian hack attack of our election should be troubling enough. More troubling are the dismissals and denials along party lines … most especially from Trump himself. 

Senate Majority Leader McConnell and House Speaker Ryan debunked U.S. intelligence reports outright. Agent Orange denounced the DNC … but not Russia’s FSB … while omitting one all-important detail:

RNC computer servers were also hacked, but the Russians refrained from releasing these data to Wikileaks.

All told, the Russians hacked the DNC, rigged our election, and successfully undermined confidence in our democracy (while holding the RNC hostage to future blackmail). Donald Trump has now become the Quisling of Vladimir Putin.

King of the World!

"Merry Christmas to all!"

Blurts the RNC official Christmas message. and the expanding ripples of unanswered questions expand outward. Is this the kind of message that an inclusive political party about to take over the reigns of the USA should be sending or is this a somehow mislabeled missive from the Vatican?

"Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind. Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King. We hope Americans celebrating Christmas today will enjoy a day of festivities and a renewed closeness with family and friends."

Questions and more questions: Are we talking about a king of the United States? Why do we have a political party making historically unfounded statements of faith, supporting sectarian mythology as truth and a mythology that does not represent American citizens as a whole? 

I'm sorry, you've been calling an unfulfilled ancient myth "good news" for longer than CNN hangs on to "breaking news" and there has been no new king of a united Hebrew Nation since Solomon and there is and never has been a king of the world. Sorry Leo and sorry for the rest of us: those who don't celebrate a holiday Christians have often banned and which has it's roots in pagan mythologies and department store lobbies are Americans and voters too and our rights protected under a Constitution that forbids kings as well as State religions.

And sorry RNC, a party worthy of the name would wish good tidings to all Americans not just those who celebrate a dressed up pagan holiday. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and not claiming you're comparing Trump to Jesus although a clarification and assurance is in order. Isn't it funny though, how often the things you say and do have to be explained away like the contradictions in the Bible? Contradictions such as the fact there is no mention of Three wise men?

As a literate person, should I be further insulted by a Sunday School, Bible Stories for Children version of the story?  No matter, the horror of watching the first secular democratic republic become the first to fall to barbarians overwhelms all else.

Fake News

We're just starting to see some lip service paid to the cornucopia of fake news, libel and fraud that we call social media. The first I encountered this morning was a picture of a table in the shape of a swastika in a article that made it look like it came from The Daily Mail. It tells us it's something new from Ikea. Of course it's not and it apparently has appeared in other countries made to look like other legitimate newspapers printed it.  The picture is of a work of art done by a Berlin artist in 2011 and intended to be a cynical look at the false promises of Fascism, but someone doesn't like Ikea and goodness knows, in our lawless cyber world, anything goes.

There's a real observation called Gresham's law which says the good currencey is driven off the market by bad currency.  Likewise, real news, is driven off the market by fake news. There are no longer constraints on or impediments to the libel and slander of fake information. 

There is no bottom and even the notorious National Enquirer seems encouraged by the anarchy as you can see in the current issue smearing Malia Obama:

I'm sure Ikea is outraged and hot to punish whomever
did this and the Obama family should also be, but they really have no recourse because the legacy of the Web is chaos, lawlessness and loss of civilization.  Efforts to control it, as Facebook has claimed will be made are likely to be useless given the volume and the viciousness and the appetite for hate now warming up faster than the Arctic latitudes.

As you probably know, I'm an atheist. gods, spirits and a universe that has purpose and sentience are completely absurd to me, but that doesn't mean I don't wish there were an Enlil to drown mankind once again. If only he could do it and leave the innocent animals alone.

LIVID BEYOND RAGE

Apparently, Michael Flynn Junior (the son of National Security designate General Michael Flynn) circulated a fake online conspiracy theory about an alleged child trafficking ring involving Hillary Clinton.

Money laundering!  Child exploitation!  Sex crimes!  Perjury!  Clinton Foundation complicity!  Obstruction of justice!  'Unspecified’ felonies!  A veritable kitchen sink minus Flying Spaghetti Monsters; get the picture!

These fake news accounts culminated in violence when a man fired an assault rifle inside a pizza restaurant as he attempted to investigate a fake news story.  Here is the final insult. The Lessor Flynn tweeted:

“Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it'll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it.”

What are #PodestaEmails, you ask? Another conspiracy theory tying John Podesta to a Satanic cult.

Baseless claim after baseless claim, the hits keep coming.  A preponderance of bullshit so thick and furious, you can’t keep pace fast enough let to debunk this junk.  Condemnations in a kangaroo court of rumor and innuendo.  Incendiary rhetoric without a shred of evidence.  No due process, nor proper vetting in the press.  Not even a nanogram of common decency!  Wait!  Here’s more …

A letter to the editor in a local newspaper:

“I can't in my heart vote for someone who has lied so repeatedly: about the embassy attack on Libya, about all those sensitive top secret emails, and about the scandal going on in the Clinton Foundation. My Christian views tell me …” (Dana Sanderfer, Stuart FL).

Four Benghazi investigations later (one by the FBI and three by Congressional Republicans) found no evidence of wrongdoing.  Clinton emails?  Nothing!  Clinton Foundation?  Nothing! Benghazi was a partisan hatchet job … swallowed hook, line, and stinker by Dana Sanderfer of Stuart, Florid-duhh!  Neither a solid citizen nor a good Christian, this is the mentality of 'devout' Christians who once upon a time burned witches at the stake.

How do you disprove defamations, innuendos, vicious rumors, and baseless claims?  Here is the same mob behavior that incubated the Third Reich.  Now these unrelenting shitheads are six weeks away from inauguration.  We are well on a road to fascism ... or a culture war verging on civil war.

AGORAPHOBIA

My feelings vacillate from deep depression to unspeakable rage.  My world collapsed on Election Day, another date in infamy.  How can I face people on street?

Hatred has won.  Xenophobia has won.  Black, brown, Mexican, Muslim, LGBT: Defamations and deportations.  Swastikas in college dorms.  Words of smear and jeer.  Humanity lost.  Insanity won. 

Anonymous people at the checkout counter, I regard them now with suspicion.  Who among them voted for the madman?  Who unleashed the madness?

Are their faces real?  Emotionless and expressionless, are they pod people?  A visage from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  Parked cars with a Trump/Pence bumper stickers.  I want to lash out in anger; rage against the machine.  To implode or explode?

Our national tantrum, sing along with me:

O bountiful for specious lies,
Bombastic knaves of gain,

From puerile fountain mendacities

Down the putrid drain!

Amerika! Amerika!
Don’t spread your hate on me,

As you drown us all in victimhood

From tree to hanging tree!

And Into the Dark

I have passed with a nod of the head 
Or polite meaningless words,  
Or have lingered awhile and said 
Polite meaningless words, 
And thought before I had done 
Of a mocking tale or a gibe 
To please a companion 
Around the fire at the club, 
Being certain that they and I 
But lived where motley is worn: 
All changed, changed utterly: 
A terrible beauty is born.

-W.B. Yeats-  1916

And here, a hundred years later, around a table at the Club and no uprising, no shots fired, looking at the fools in mufti thinking nothing has changed while everything has: changed utterly.
Fools mocking, me saying little, if not to please, to avoid argument, some meaningless words that don't answer the lies, don't ask the question.

Do we buy Raytheon?
Do we buy Caterpillar?
We could make a killing.

Who will die without medicine?
Who will thrive without education?
Who will work for nothing?
Who will rot in private jails that pay dividends?

When the water runs black
And the air full of dust
And the crops whither
And the birds die
Will we miss Yellowstone?
Trump in gold letters on El Capitain.
Will we still call it beautiful?
Will we throw off the yoke?

All changed
All changed utterly.

The Electoral College and the Plantation South.

New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.

-James Russell Lowell-

When a presidential candidate wins an election despite his opponent having 2 million more votes, it's time to stop pretending the electoral college is there to level some sort of playing field; as a necessary protection of the unique interests of Idaho or Montana against the populous states.   The institution exists because Founding Fathers from slave states knew they wouldn't have a chance of winning an election in a direct vote without diluting the power of more populous, more educated and wealthier free states.

The Electoral College was a means to allow slave states to inflate their voting population by including slaves ( at 3/5 of the value of a white man)  in the total population without letting them vote.

Of course the objective of keeping the African American voters from casting ballots, while their numbers are still used to justify electoral votes, persists at some level. Does this process also increase the political power of  racists and Nativists?  I'll leave that argument for people with more patience than I have at the moment, but this is the second time in recent memory that the voters' chosen candidate lost to a system designed to boost the power of slave states and perpetuate slavery. 2 million votes cast in vain? This should not be ignored any longer.

Is it time to set aside the anachronistic concept of the USA as a loose confederation of independent states, particularly when it comes to selecting a president?  Again, I have no patience after so many years of  listening to self styled "conservatives" howling like demented and self-contradictory demons. I'll leave it to others, but arguments for the legitimacy of the Civil War are more common than front teeth in some parts of the South and defending a system that persists even after the confederacy died and slavery with it, is still stinking up the place. The South still fears the domination of the North, even though the Mason Dixon line no longer divides us and the battle between slavers and abolitionists has mutated its appearance. We have other names, like "Coastal Liberal" for those who oppose such antique attitudes about race. The Electoral College is a relic of bad old days and should be relegated to oblivion.

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; 

Some great cause, God’s new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, 

Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, 

And the choice goes by forever ‘twixt that darkness and that light.