Day 576 Saturday August 18, 2018 1,002 Days to Go
Yesterday, the Manafort jury went home without reaching a verdict. Veteran judicial types say that given the questions the jury has asked the judge, notably which pieces of evidence went with which counts, that led the lawyerly types to say the jury is going through the evidence and the charges very carefully.
Yesterday, Donald Trump insulted someone. (Okay, I don’t remember if he did or not, but you can be pretty sure he did.)
Also, Kelly Ann Conway made a statement typical for her. She thought it weird that people were paying attention to the president. Idiot.
But the most interesting thing for me was Ari Melber’s interview with Steve Bannon. First off, Ari did a really really good job, and he did some very wise strategic things. Mainly, he never got into giving his opinion directly. He never made a personal judgmental statement. Rather, he read Bannon’s earlier words to Bannon and asked how that squared with current events, etc. He replayed parts of the interview and once again didn’t give his opinion, but rather he asked a panel of three what they thought. Very smart.
This is the first time I have heard Bannon talk. I’ve seen quotes, but never really heard him speak at any length. From what I saw I would say he is very smart, Machiavellian, dispassionate, immoral, unethical, win at all costs kind of guy. He employed many of the tricks of the trade in terms of turning a question, that is typical of conservative folks who know their message and real motives aren’t popular.
Here are a few samples:
– Charlottesville: The president was correct to say that there were bad people on both sides because this was a discussion about Confederate monuments and what should be done with them.
– There was violence on both sides, look at the AntiFa movement.
– Roy Moore would have won Alabama had Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott gotten behind him.
– As to the woman accusers of Moore, “I don’t believe them.”
– The president’s tax cut was designed to bring the money corporations had off-shore so they could rebuild the infrastructure of our factories and economic base.
– If we can get our base: all the deplorables, and the Tea Party and everyone else to turn out in November we can win.
Let’s sweep through just those comments:
– The meeting in Charlottesville was a nationwide gathering of racists for the purpose of promoting their various hateful agendas. Among them were white nationalism, anti-jewish sentiment, anti-black sentiment, and part of this, a very small part, was the idea that the statues to the Confederacy should stay where they are. These people are hateful, violent, and were looking for trouble. The killed a person, beat others, and when people defended themselves and fought back people like Bannon say there was violence on both sides.
– The AntiFa movement was started in the 1930s as a reaction to the Fascist regimes sweeping Europe at the time. It was and is people reacting with violence to violence perpetrated on others. Is it a good idea? Should one always turn the other cheek? I don’t know. Seems the Neo-Nazis in America are brave until someone punches them in the nose. Then they cry like little babies and say, “Unfair!” Although violence as an on going tool may not be the best way to handle most situations, I gotta think that sometimes it is helpful. Wasn’t it Buzz Aldrin who punched that idiot in the nose who kept saying we didn’t go to the Moon?
– Hey maybe Roy Moore would have won Alabama if he was shown not to be a predator of young girls. But he was. Don’t believe it? Why not Steve? Not convenient?
– As to not believing the women, this seems to be a classic move by extremists, when faced with facts they don’t agree with they simply say, “I don’t believe it.” Climate change, Republicans outspending Democrats, Iran nuclear deal was a good thing, – “I don’t believe it.” Next?
(Let’s not forget the Bannon has made numerous misogynistic statements throughout his life. An ex-wife even has statements in their divorce proceedings. These weren’t slight put downs of women, these were violent, demeaning statements and actions.)
– As far as the president’s tax cut rebuilding the industrial base of this country or any other such statement like that; I haven’t seen it. What I have seen is a massive amount of rebuying of company stock. Wages have not gone up, so it was no help to the middle class or the blue collar workers. In fact, it put more of the burden on them.
– Bannon wants to turn out all the dumb, ignorant, and naive people he can to vote for Trump. I agree with him there, but win in November? I don’t think so.
Moving on:
Hey Trump! Revoke my security clearance. I would consider it a badge of honor. Oh wait, do I have to insult you first? Haven’t I been doing that? Maybe not vociferously enough. You dog. You low life. I dare you to take away my security clearance.
Okay, I don’t have one. But you don’t know that – you idiot. So announce you’re taking it away. I was too young to make Nixon’s Enemies List, but I’m not too old to make yours! You five time deferment draft dodger. You got off for bone spurs. Which foot? You don’t know because there aren’t any. They didn’t magically disolve either. Did Michael Cohen arrange your deferments?
Come on. Revoke my clearance.
Just announce it.
If anything would show I’m a true patriot (as opposed to those phony patriots ) it would be to be announced as having my clearance revoked.
Then I could go on Fox and Friends and say how aggrieved I am at it being announced that I lost the clearance I didn’t have (that should put old Steve Doocy in a real tailspin trying to figure out what that means). I’d also tell them how I’m behind the president having a military parade. And I am!
I think we should give Mr. Trump the military parade he so desperately wants. Years ago, as a kid, my parents drove my brother and I up the road following the Hudson River. We stopped in all the little tourist traps and gift stores. The one I remember most vividly was Frontier Town. They had a rodeo. Even as a kid I thought it weird and sad. There were like five guys on horses with flags. They rode up and stood five abreast facing the reviewing stand that had us and maybe seven other people in it. The announcer went on about what each flag represented. I guess the guys were on horses. They were so small the riders could have put their feet out and almost touched the ground. The riders displayed an amazing amount of lack of emotion. This was also evident when later in the day “They shot up the town.” Two men stood out in the street facing each other. One of them said in a regular voice, “Hey, this town isn’t big enough for the two of us.” Nobody really noticed. Then the two men drew their guns and shot them. The bang bang made folks walking along the wooden sidewalk turn to see what was going on. I think one of the guys fell down. The other guy turned and left. The guy who fell down got up and went over to the side. Everyone started milling along the sidewalk as before. Sad.
I took my kids to Frontier Town some forty or fifty years after I had been there. It had the same sad rodeo, the same sad shoot-up-the-town, and something I had forgotten – the horse ride. The kids got on a horse that had a sway back that looked like a U. The horse walked on a trail that was no longer a trail but a trench about 18 inches deep. I don’t think the horse could have climbed out of it without it’s belly hitting the edge of the trench. The person leading the horses around was unemotional like everyone else that worked there. There was no hello. You got on the horse and the guy wordlessly led the kids off. They were equally unemotional. It’s contagious. ie lack of enthusiasm.
I think we should hire Frontier Town to put on a military parade for our president.
I think it would be befitting him.
Sad.
1,002 Days to Go
PS Hey Donald! Are you listening? Revoke my nonexistent clearance!
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