The Monster Tu Quoque Stalks the Land

The Sleep of Reason breeds monsters — Goya

Greetings and happy Decoration Day (stolen from the GAR and thence the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War by a Congress that names military bases after traitor generals). This is actually a fine segue into what I’m here to talk to you about. I awakened this morning with this topic and title in my head. And then I saw this, reinforcing the need for it:

White House Demands TBS Cancel Samantha Bee’s Show
The Daily Beast

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders slammed comedienne Samantha Bee’s comments about Ivanka Trump on Thursday.  “The language used by Samantha Bee last night is vile and vicious.  The collective silence by the left …

This is the argument of a child. It is the tantrum of a child. The Latin-termed fallacy “Tu Quoque“* means, literally, “You too!”

[*  pronounced too KWO kway. ]

I don’t know of any parents that ever let that argument pass. If it was stolen cookies and “but Bart did it too!” was raised in Defense in Family Court, the answer was, invariably and universally (with small variants): “If Bart jumped off the Empire State Building, I suppose you would, too?” 

Forty Two Years A Writer

May 25, 1976. Forty two years ago, today.

Against the UNIVERSAL advice of family, friends and professors, I arrived in Hollywood, California, determined to become a writer.

Hollywood High School in 1910

Not a single, solitary “Gee. We wuz wrong,” has been heard in the intervening 42 years.

Nonetheless, I did exactly what I said I’d do. Kitchy koo, mofos.

WARNING WARNING WILL ROBINSON

The Constitutional crisis is upon us.

End Robert Mueller’s investigation: Michael Mukasey
Michael B. Mukasey / USA Today

Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels have nothing to do with Russian influence: Opposing view

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this opposing view misstated the subject of one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictments. The indictment did not include charges related to hacking of Democratic Party computers. The article also misstated the status of Justice Department disclosure of a memo describing the extent of Mueller’s authority. The memo has been disclosed to a federal judge.

Er, whoops!

Even as the endless criminality of the Trump regime begins to belch forth in ever-increasing numbers, a concerted attack on the special prosecutor, and, by the by, the Rule of Law itself, is under way.

Gayle King Lays a Royal Egg

Screencap of CBS coverage

This is not stupendous, regulatory, profound, or otherwise Earth-shaking, but it DOES bug me, and nobody else seems to have noticed.

I watched the Royal Wedding — mostly because I was up — and while the wedding was blissfully UN-commented on by the CBS babblers, the before-and-after inane commentary was worse than I’ve ever heard at any parade (Macy’s, Rose, etc.)

Thomas Jefferson warned us about this: 

A Tsunami of Evil

It’s tough to even know where to begin. But let’s start here:

Trump personally pushed postmaster general to double rates on Amazon, other firms
Washington Post

President Trump has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms to ship packages, according to three people familiar …

Heck, kiddies. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Trump hates Amazon because Amazon’s head, Jeff Bezos, owns the Washington Post. And, even though, in actuality, the Amazon/USPS partnership has plugged quite a few holes in the Postal Service’s congressionally sabotaged leaky boat, the fundamental evil of Trump’s alleged soul is on display for all to see.

Evil? Yes, Virginia, evil.

Revealed at last! The Engine of the GOP

The River Styx – Gustav Doré

I won’t bury the lede. After years of sifting through the endless permutations, the same three fallacies over and over and over again, and the smug bombast of sneerage and belittledom, a common denominator has at last appeared. The modern GOP philosophy, the underlying bedrock to all policy and ideological proscriptions and prescriptions boils down to one word: annoyance.

American Waterloo

Hilariously, I was listening to Erick Erickson on All Things Considered, on NPR, with some inside-the-beltway journo and the obligatory, obsequious* NPR moderator.  And Erickson ticked off the misconstruction that Trump has created, and noted that Trump had paid “no consequences.”  And I wondered why those dead, unarmed Palestinians weren’t “consequences” — the current Kent State of affairs in Israel was, arguably, kicked off by Trump’s off-the-rails decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.  Or that pulling out of the Paris Accords AND the Iran deal hadn’t destroyed our credibility on the world stage. But he’s a media darling and I’m a mere humble blogger, so who am I to speak, after all?

But then this:

Time for Europe to Join the Resistance
Spiegel Online [Germany]

… It is impossible to overstate what Trump has dismantled in the last 16 months. Europe has lost its protective power. It has lost its guarantor of joint values. And it has lost the global political influence that it was only able to exert because the U.S. stood by its side. And what will happen in the remaining two-and-a-half years (or six-and-a-half years) of Trump’s leadership? There is plenty of time left for further escalation…. Clever resistance is necessary, as sad and absurd as that may sound. Resistance against America.

Fort Apache, The Outer Solar System

A typical Daily Caller “journalistic” coup

Foster Friess is running for Governor of Wyoming, and one of his little cash startups is running off at the mouth.  Why? Because the revelation of payments to Michael Cohen by Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenotti, last night, is, evidently, a Benghazi-Level Mendacity Event:

Avenatti Accuses The Wrong Michael Cohens Of Making ‘Fraudulent’ Payments
Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller

Michael Avenatti, porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, released a seven-page dossier on Tuesday containing a list of payments purportedly made to Michael Cohen, the lawyer for President Donald Trump.  But there is one problem with the document: two of the allegedly “fraudulent” payments were made to men named Michael Cohen who have no affiliation with Trump….

Yeah. Two payments to wrong Michael Cohens totaling … slightly over $5000. Look at this Memeorandum screen capture and note that the Rightie Blog Swarm I’m about to describe is ALL OVER that $5,230 (1) while the NEXT story has Novartis ADMITTING paying the RIGHT Michael Cohen over $1 million (2). Let’s do a little math, shall we?

Trump plays tic tac toe; Putin plays chess; US ‘exceptionalism’ plays dead

 

Trump Withdraws U.S. From ‘One-Sided’ Iran Nuclear Deal
Mark Landler / New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump declared on Tuesday that he was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, unraveling the signature foreign policy achievement of his predecessor, Barack Obama, and isolating the United States among its Western allies.

Hate to say “I told you so,” but I did. Yesterday.

Here’s the short take: 

Why Trump Will Pull Out of the Iran Deal

Donald Trump is going to announce his “decision” tomorrow, emperor with impressive clothes that he is:

Trump to announce decision on Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to reveal his decision on whether to keep the U.S. in the Iran deal on Tuesday, a move that could determine the fate of 2015 agreement that froze Iran’s nuclear program.

There are three reasons that he will pull out of the deal, in ascending order of importance: