Friday the 13th is usually my lucky day. But today, it was kick the cat in the ass day. First my Ad-Guard updated and could not be turned on. I had to do my research without it, and that slowed me down terribly. Fortunately their customer support just got back to me with the fix. Then Windows Update ran and fried Office. I had to completely reinstall Office to get my email to work and reinstall OneNote to recover my access to all my research notes. Maybe I’m lucky because I fixed everything, but ARGH! I spoke too soon. My email is screwed up. Would you believe I’m behind schedule? TGIF Hugs to all!
Cartoon:
Just not this time.
Short Takes:
From Alternet: In a new report for the Washington Post on Thursday, reporters Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker outlined the grueling and “Kafkaesque” standards President Donald Trump places demands of his aides — standards that now-former National Security Adviser John Bolton failed to live up to.
“He tolerates a modicum of dissent, so long as it remains private; expects advisers to fall in line and defend his decisions; and demands absolute fealty at all times,” they wrote.
One anonymous source for the piece explained how his demanding nature is also, at times, excruciatingly paradoxical:
“There is no person that is part of the daily Trump decision-making process that can survive long term,” said a former senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment. “The president doesn’t like people to get good press. He doesn’t like people to get bad press. Yet he expects everyone to be relevant and important and supportive at all times. Even if a person could do all those things, the president would grow tired of anyone in his immediate orbit.”
Anthony Scaramucci described the role of Trump’s staff in particularly degrading terms. In his view, Trump wants “catatonic loyalty” and for his people to act as props. Others told the Post that Trump likes to stage disagreements between his aides and then “play emperor” and decide the winner.
The Fuhrer always wants to hear “Sieg Heil“! RESIST!!
From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Dems New Message: We’re Sort Of Impeaching Trump
I do support the new rules, but we’re almost out of time, and this Nadler Says/Pelosi Says bit looks like Kabuki Theatre. Before, we lose votes because of appeasement, Democrats need to shit by holding an honest impeachment inquiry or get off the pot. RESIST!!
From Slate: Beto O’Rourke was uniquely outspoken in his calls for gun control during Thursday night’s Democratic debate in Houston, Texas. The former Texas congressman, whose hometown of El Paso recently was the victim of a mass shooting at a Walmart, was asked if he’d take away assault-style weapons that are often used in mass shootings. “Hell yes,” O’Rourke responded. “We’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against a fellow American anymore.”
It seemed inevitable that O’Rourke’s call to ban ownership of military-style weapons would rile up the guns=distilled liberty true believers online, but it was, perhaps predictably, an elected Republican official—from the state of Texas no less—that led the way over the cliff. Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain tweeted a not-so-thinly veiled threat at the presidential contender, tweeting “My AR is ready for you Robert Francis,” calling O’Rourke, whose nickname is Beto, by his first and middle names.
I wonder if this hateful, elected Republican Ammosexual, who deserves a Saguaro suppository, is related to the Republican in Genesis that slew his brother, Abel? RESIST!!
Vote Blue!!
Had Washington adopted a “modus vivendi approach,” it is possible that Chileans, indeed citizens around the world, would not be solemnly commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the coup that brought Gen. Augusto Pinochet to power. In the United States, the meaning of this anniversary is, understandably, overshadowed by the shock and tragedy of our own 9/11. But Chile reminds us that the topics of debate on US foreign policy today–pre-emptive strikes, regime change, the arrogance of unilateral intervention, unchecked covert action and secrecy and dishonesty in government–are not new. From the thousands of formerly classified US documents released over the past several years, the picture that emerges strikes some haunting parallels with the news of the day. Chile, it must be recalled, constitutes a classic example of a pre-emptive strike–a set of operations launched well before Salvador Allende set foot in office. Nixon ordered the CIA on September 15, 1970, to “make the economy scream” and to foment a military move to block Allende from being inaugurated six weeks later, in November; the Chilean leader had yet to formulate or authorize a single policy detrimental to US interests. “What happens over [the] next 6-10 months will have ramifications far beyond US-Ch[ilean] relations,” Kissinger predicted in a dire warning to Nixon only forty-eight hours after Allende actually took office. “Will have effect on what happens in rest of LA and developing world; our future position in hemisphere; on larger world picture…even effect our own conception of what our role in the world is.” As in the distorted threat assessment on Iraq, this was sheer speculation–unsupported, indeed contradicted, by US intelligence. In August 1970 CIA, State and Defense Department analysts had determined that “the US has no vital national interests within Chile,” and that the world “military balance of power would not be significantly altered” if Allende came to power… [emphasis added]
