January 3, 2020: Christianity Today, Boots of Power, The Golden Pig.

Perhaps some cracks are beginning to form in this monolith of ignorance supporting Donald J. tRUMP. Last month, Christianity Today, a fundamentalist publication, published an editorial in which it declared our Caesar Disgustus morally unfit to be president of the United States. The rag (read publication) was founded, back in the day, by Evangelist Billy Graham, until recently the most notorious of the religious telemarketers. Graham, famously, trekked the world in search of sin and iniquity. However his prostration before authority—as evidenced by his unseemly habit of licking the boots of power—blinded him to the most obvious: the criminality right beneath his nose in the Nixon White House. Power will do that to men. And so, Graham tread that long and well-worn path of worshiping power in order to exercise it. Kings and bishops have always had an incestuous relationship, each supporting the other in order that the stilts beneath them do not come crashing down.

This makes it rather impossible to render the obvious, well, in a word, obvious. To betray the lie of each is to betray the lie of all. This is what Christianity Today, however belatedly, is in danger of doing.

Rather predictably then, the howls and cries of the overmuch righteous were heard about the land. Franklin Graham, Billy's son, who has no real claim to clerical authority other than the obvious, protested like a virgin whose virtue were in question. A veritable chorus of protest then sprang up as televangelists and other cranks soon producing a chorus of outrage demonstrating that, once again, Graham isn't your only cracker.

Clearly, the Grahams have learned nothing from the experiences of half century ago, as Franklin and his cohorts circled the wagons to defend the 'virtue' of our Caesar Disgustus.

It would be laughable, if it weren't so serious, and so disgusting.

Reports have it that Franklin Graham, like many others in the American Evangelical Community and the religious wrong, has forged a friendship of sorts with Putin. It doesn't surprise me. I'm familiar with the pretzel logic of the religionist, and nowhere is it more twisted than in the fevered mind of your evangelist. Power will be supported by any rationalization, no mater how tortured. Here you have it, the most despicable, disgusting, corrupt and immoral man to ever cross the national political podium is somehow transformed into a savior doing the Lord's business.

By degrees the religious wrong has merged with the political wrong in order to gain and maintain power. And now, transformed and transfixed, they kneel yet again before an object of their own creation. The editors of Christianity Today committed the ultimate sin, for they failed to kneel and worship at the altar of the golden pig.

Hail Disgustus! Gravedigger of the Republic!

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Convict and Imprison

January 1, 2020: Not So Fair Adieu, The Dark Side, Nightmares of Uncle Sam

As we end our second decade of this century, let us bid a not so fair adieu to 2019. Best remembered for yet another year in which we have allowed scum to occupy the highest offices in the land, 2019 is also a benchmark for other calamity. 2019 marked the 400^th anniversary of the introduction of black slavery in this country, four centuries of racial strife that has yet to be addressed honestly. 2019 also brought the 100^th anniversary of the Black Sox scandal, a Greek tragedy bought on by the peculiarly American form of greed, besmirching the national passtime. The year also commemorated the centennial of the Palmer Raids, a peculiarly American form of fear and paranoia, demonstrating—if demonstration is needed—that the nation has long been in the grip of greed, fear and paranoia. The dark side of the American psyche, like the current nightmares of Uncle Sam.

As noted in these columns, the year also saw the 40^th anniversary of Disco Demolition, a rare high point, if only to be measured as a bounce-back from a cultural low; kind of like Adam Dunn winning baseball's 'comeback of the year award' after hitting .214, a feat only recognizable because of his atrocious performance the previous year. Sometimes progress comes in small steps, sometimes it is aborted altogether.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Convict and Imprison.

December 18, 2019: IMPEACHED!!!!

As the Constitutional Convention concluded its business, Ben Franklin emerged from Independence Hall and encountered a woman on the street.  "What manner of Government have we?", she asked him.  "A republic, if you can keep it," he replied.  If we can keep it.

On the 1,063^rd day of this bastard presidency, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, took to the floor of the House and, citing her oath of office, announced that the People's body would take up bills of impeachment against our Caesar Disgustus. In a tense and solemn voice she first recited the pledge of allegiance reminding the assembled that we pledge allegiance to the Republic and, echoing  Franklin admonished the assembled to keep it.

She then spoke of the oath of office taken at the beginning of each congressional session whereupon

each member of the House swears to defend the constitution from “all enemies, foreign and domestic”, thereby declaring Donald John tRUMP an enemy of the state. This was a point lost on the ReSCUMlickans, for ne'er one of them rose to protest the honor of the swine posturing as president* of the United States. Instead of defending his 'honor' or challenging the facts laid before the assembled, they compared Democrats to Pontius Pilate and Disgustus to Christ and Impeachment to Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, by a 33 vote majority—the largest in any impeachment in the history of this country--Donald John tRUMP became the first elected president* to be impeached before the end of his first term. 

More than 9 million Americans voted for Democrats than Republicans in the 2018 congressional elections, as over 3 million more Americans voted for Hillary than Donald in 2016.  The People's House, the house of congress that is apportioned by population rather than states; that represents people rather than dirt, has spoken; reaffirming the verdict of 2016: Donald tRUMP must GO!  He is a pestilence upon the land, a clear and present danger, an enemy of the state. 

It took 1,063 days to get here, 1,064 days longer than should, by any fair and objective standard, have been necessary.

An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Convict and Imprison.

December 16, 2019: Institutional Rot, Fetid Cesspools, Parroting Putin

One expects ReSCUMlickan Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio to sit, with rolled up sleeves sans jacket railing against the nature of the proceedings. One expects the faux rage from a man skilled at ignoring criminality and scandal. It is Jordan, while at Ohio State University who ignored complaints of sexual abuse by students. He is accomplished at seeing no evil.

It is one thing to see, speak and hear no evil. It is one thing to not believe your lying eyes, to discount what you hear, to not speak ill in the cause of unlimited political expediency. But, clearly, the ReSCUMlickans have lost olfactory sensibility, their sense of smell; while the country recoils as the stench fills its lungs, the ReSCUMlickans revel in it. Fetid cesspools are their natural habitat.

It is one thing for the knuckle-dragging remnants of the old “Tea Party” to rail in defense of the indefensible. We have long come to expect this kind of behavior. Political theater in defense of mendacity is their stock-in-trade. So whenever any action is taken, to put forward sound public policy—as in health care or gun control—or to question or call to account the actions of this administration, one can reliably depend upon these troglodytes, as well as the howlers on talk radio and Faux News to emerge into the harsh sunlight and take to the ramparts.

But it is something else entirely when senior members of the administration, the President* of Vice Mike Pence, cabinet members or Disgustus himself dutifully repeat Russian propaganda. It is quite another when senior members of the Senate, fresh from being briefed by intelligence that the Ukrainian nonsense originated in Moscow, spout this disinformation. Nevertheless, here we have the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina, John Kennedy of Louisiana, “Leningrad” Lindsay of South Carolina and “Moscow” Mitch McConnell of Kentucky dutifully parroting Putin.

But here we have it, Disgustus and his minions playing the puppet in the service of Russian national interests. They've not only interfered in our electoral process, they've taken over a major political party.

Boris Johnson wins in Britain ensuring the fragmentation of the postwar order as the ReSCUMlickans rush hell-bent to acquit the scum of his high crimes.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh.

Impeach and Imprison

December 14, 2019: Institutional Failure, Partisanship tRUMPs Statesmanship, All Roads Lead to Russia

Nothing better demonstrates the absolute fraud of modern American Conservatism than it's long war upon the institutions of this country. Waging war upon social institutions was understood, heretofore, to be anathema to the Conservative; indeed, the very definition of Conservatism is to nurture and protect social institutions and norms—that is, to Conserve.

What we have now is a movement, a half century in the making, that calls itself conservative, but finds itself waging war not only to repeal the twentieth century, but the very institutions upon which this country is founded.

It is one thing to oppose liberal political initiatives; to repeal certain pieces of legislation; to modify or reverse public policy. It is quite another to seek to destroy political norms and institutions. As a case in point I give you “Moscow Mitch” McConnell.

McConnell has long abused his office, using his position as Senate Majority Leader to obstruct and transform what had been the World's Greatest Deliberative body into a mere echo-chamber. He has, famously, tabled the nomination of a nominee to the Supreme Court—not even giving Merrick Garland a committee hearing, let alone a vote on the floor of the Senate as he sought partisan political advantage by denying President Obama a final Supreme Court appointment. He is currently sitting on nearly 400 pieces of legislation passed by the house with none currently scheduled for consideration. Senate Committees, under his leadership, have failed to provide adequate oversight of this administration. Real investigations are being left to the House of Representatives.

Contrast this with Watergate when bipartisan and bicameral committees were formed to probe into wrongdoing. But where are the investigations not only of tRUMP, but his children, his cabinet members (most notably Wilbur Ross) as well as White House staff? It has been reported that a company with no previous experience with either building walls or with government contracts was awarded 400 million in public funds to build this damn fool wall on the Southern Border. Where are the investigations?

But now we are confronting a “see no evil” posture of an entirely different order of magnitude. As the House Judiciary Committee voted out two articles of impeachment of the President* of the United States, McConnell—violating the very oath he will take to begin the proceedings—announced that his office will work with the White House Counsel to insure a favorable outcome. In doing so, all pretense to an objective consideration of the facts, and a fair and impartial verdict, have gone swiftly by the boards.

McConnell is, of course, not only an unconscionable slack-jawed chinless political hack, and he has done more damage to the institution of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body than any political figure in our history. The Senate has always had its share of buffoons, Senator Inhofe leaps immediately to mind. But these men, being quaint quacks have, in their buffoonery, been occasionally entertaining minor irritants. But McConnell, a funnel for Russian money into the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, presents a threat to the republic not only because he has welcomed and ushered foreign involvement into our national elections but has elevated partisan vindictiveness and political mendacity to a level that now threatens the very representative institutions of this country.

There are reasons “Moscow Mitch” refuses to address Russian interference in the 2016 election and why he will not address the ongoing—right before our very eyes—interference in the upcoming election, and why he and his cohorts are repeating the very propaganda, the very talking points of the Kremlin in its attempt to divert attention from themselves and blame Ukraine. The reasons are quite simple. Mitch and his cohorts—Lenningrad Lindsay, the RNC and several members of Congress are in the back pocket of Putin and his henchmen. Kevin McCarthy, now House Minority Leader said as much during a caucus of House Republicans in 2016 when he fingered Dana Raurbacher and Donald Trump as two who were clearly on Putin's Payroll. Then Speaker Ryan admonished him, advising the group to not let that become public.

The war on the “Deep State”, as Steve Bannon calls it, did not originate with Bannon or tRUMP. Republicans have been waging this war for nearly half century. It began, as all roads to hell, with Richard Shithouse Nixon and his war upon the Press and, by extension, objective reporting—that is, truth. But Nixon bowed to the dictates of institutional prerogative and political norms. But, over the years the war has extended first to cultural issues and then, by extension, to the destruction of institutional memory, political and cultural norms of decency, and now the very institutions of this republic.

What is new is that with Bannon came the war upon institutional memory; a force as noted in previous essays in these columns that serve as a bulwark against instability and chaos. But with the hollowing out of career public servants by failing to fill hundreds of major administrative positions—especially within the State Department, appointing political hacks to the judiciary, clearly unqualified individuals to important administrative positions, Disgustus and his henchmen have done their utmost to impose ignorance and incompetence upon the system.

Moreover, the war upon senior members of the administration, many of them appointed by Disgustus himself, especially senior administrators at the FBI, the Department of Justice and the intelligence agencies, have compromised their political independence and their effectiveness.

McConnell has been more than a passive witness to all of this. He has not simply stood by and done nothing to protect the institutions of this country from this all out assault by the scum in the White House, but has done his level best to enable it and, on occasion, lead it.

What we have here before us is the impeachment of this president* upon evidence that remains uncontested; upon evidence that any objective reading would conclude compelling. To dismiss this evidence—especially the second article involving obstruction of Congress—is an insult to and damages the very institution and the constituents that McConnell presumably represents.

The failure of this administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas to appear before committees and testify, the failure of this administration to provide a single document not only to the committees concerned with impeachment but with the oversight committees, and the failure of this administration to provide tax returns as required by law is a clear affront to the people's representatives as they seek to perform the very important work of congressional oversight. These egregious acts should have been met with determined outrage by every member of Congress if, for no other reason, than to maintain the balance of power within the government and to protect the prerogatives of the institution that represent the state and the people within that state as well as the institution in which they serve.

But NO! Mitch and his cohorts have put party over their state and their nation; partisanship tRUMPs statesmanship. As as a consequence the ReSCUMlickans, by making a mockery of what should be a deliberative and solemn process are further destroying the integrity of what has been, until recently, a great institution.

This is a serious violation of the constitution. I'm not speaking here of singular violations of constitutional articles and provisions. I'm speaking here of material damage to the institutions of this country. The constitution is nothing but the establishment of institutions. The Legislative, Executive and Judicial as well as—in its preamble—the purposes for with these institutions were created. The defense of these institutions is, it seems to this observer, the very definition of conservative. And, it seems to this observer, that our Conservatives have betrayed not only their ideology but, in the process, their country.

All of this in defense of a foreign adversary. As Speaker Pelosi has observed: “All roads lead to Russia”

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

December 10, 2019: Won't Take Long, Over By Christmas, Unconscionable and Uncontested.

“And it won't take long to forget ya

You know I'm never wrong
It'll all be over by Christmas
No. It won't take long” ----The Rolling Stones

This week the Democrats are about the business of purchasing the greatest Christmas gift this country has ever received: the impeachment of our Caesar Disgustus.

Today Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has handed over a report to the Committee on the Judiciary two articles of impeachment: for abuse of power and for obstruction Congress. Many more charges can be brought, as these columns have suggested, but the Democrats have chosen to narrow the focus on Ukraine because the facts have been clearly unconscionable and uncontested.

The debate will begin on Thurday, the 13^th in the Judiciary Committee with a vote soon to follow. The full House will no doubt vote on the measures before Christmas. I suggest Christmas Eve, a fitting gift to the nation.

One can receive this gift in two ways, joyously as an act of resolution and redemption or, conversely, solemnly as one of punishment for the sin that has wrought this national humiliation and disgrace. Either way it is cathartic, it is a welcome release.

Of course the Senate will not vote to convict. The cancer that is the modern conservative movement, manifesting itself as the modern ReSCUMlickan Party, has by now worked it's way into the very marrow of the republic as the votes to acquit this criminal cabal will swiftly demonstrate.

Still, our Caesar—ever disgusting—will now have two marks upon his record: the first is the illegitimacy of his ascendancy and, therefore, his bastard presidency; the second is his impeachment by the people's House.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

November 30, 2019: The Dastardly Ukraine, Foreign to Reason, The Very Marrow

The ReSCUMlickans have themselves tied up in knots as they try to explain away the criminality playing out before the nation. A theory has arisen, reportedly from the bowels of the Kremlin and coursing through Russian Oligarchs into the ears of Paul Manafort and several evangelical 'religious' leaders. From there it has made its way into talk radio, Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, and our ever malignant Caesar Disgustus. And that theory is: The Russians weren't behind the election tampering in 2016, it was Ukraine. Yes Ukraine! It was the dastardly Ukrainians that worked hand in glove with Hillary Clinton and the DNC to sabotage the creepy crusader of tRUMP tower.  The very computer servers holding god knows what damaging information being, as we speak, hidden away in some dark cellar in the outskirts of Sevastopol. Actually, if 'truth' be known, the scheming subversives have squirreled the hard evidence in the bowels of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl to insure that no one will be able to retrieve the evidence.  Further evidence, no doubt, implicating Democrats.  

This is their story and, by god, they are sticking to it .It is ridiculous on its face.

We are led to believe that the sinister Democrats conspired with corrupt elements in the Crimea to hack their own servers, release the information through WikiLeaks, much of it on the eve of their own convention so as to further divide the Democratic Party, enraging the Sanders supporters and forcing the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Further, they hacked the emails of Clinton Campaign manager Leon Podesta in order to gain information about the strategy of their own campaign and to use that information to undermine their own candidacy.  Additionally, they conspired to release further information about trade proposals and immigration policy; information that was sure to injure the campaign in key “Rust-Belt” battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

That's right. The Democrats hacked their own emails in order to get information on themselves and to release that information in order to help who? Why, of course, Hillary! They surreptitiously sabotaged their own campaign in order to defeat the tRUMP Tower crusader. Oh, those clever Democrats!  It's too bad the hapless Ukrainians were dragged into yet another circular Democratic firing squad.

This twisted, pretzel logic is ridiculous on its face and has gained traction only because we have a population in this country no longer able to think critically and connect the dots; a population of knuckle-dragging ditto-heads, unfamiliar with cause and effect, foreign to logic and hostile to reason. A population that, accordingly, can be led to believe anything.

This line of reasoning is of the same ilk as believing that our Caesar Disgustus is fighting corruption in Ukraine when, at home, he is the very embodiment of it; that he is crusading against corruption in Ukraine as he goes about corrupting the newly elected reform government. This is the same line of reasoning that has led some to believe that the tRUMP Tower meeting was about Russian adoptions.

This is the ultimate in Orwellian newspeak, of political paranoia, of pretzel logic. It is propaganda, pure and simple; a conspiracy theory that stands logic upon its head and turns day into night.

You see, this line of 'reasoning' serves the joint interests of both Putin and tRUMP. Putin because Ukraine gets blamed for what the Kremlin orchestrated.  This gets Putin off the hook and leads to the lifting of sanctions, the further deterioration of the Western Alliances, and the re-admission of Moscow upon the world stage. It serves the interests of our Caesar Disgustus by gaslighting, once again, the Clintons, Obama and the Democrats and perfuming the stench of his political bastardy. Again, as with all things tRUMP, all roads lead to Russia. 

Once again, the interests of the Russian dictator and our very own Caesar Disgustus go hand-in-glove; the Russian hand manipulating the American glove or, in this case, the American sock puppet.

Vladimir Putin has placed his bets on the malignancy of the ReSCUMlickan Party, the ignorance, incompetence and mendacity of Donald tRUMP , the failure of our educational system and the greed and cowardice of the “Generation of Swine”.

These are bets that have paid handsomely as the cancer now consumes the very marrow of the Republic.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison

November 29, 2019: Can Be No Doubt, Serial Abandonment, Modus Operandi

Can there seriously be any remaining doubt that Disgustus did indeed conspire with the Russian to subvert the electoral process? Can there be serious doubt as to his sedition?

The testimony this month before the House Intelligence Committee demonstrates that he did indeed extort and bribe a foreign government to intervene in the upcoming election. Over a dozen witnesses came forth, including Ambassadors Taylor, Yavanavich and Nordland to declare that there was indeed a quid pro quo in which the president* witheld 391 million dollars in aid to Ukraine while pressuring the government to publicly declare that it would begin investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Indeed no real investigation would be needed, Ukraine was made to understand, simply the public declaration sufficient so that Disgustus could parade about the country declaring that the Biden's were being investigated for corruption.

You see this is the modus operandi of Caesar Disgustus, a path by now well tread. Simply announce an investigation, one that will drag on through the months until next November when—once the election is held—it will be quickly forgotten. All this reminiscent of his “tax audit” excuse for not releasing his returns, an audit that has become the longest audit in world history.

Indeed, President Zelenskyy was prepared to do just that, go on CNN in a already scheduled interview and declare such an investigation when the whistleblower's accusations surfaced and the public outcry forced Disgustus to backtrack and release the funding, millions of which have yet to be sent to the Ukraine.

Indeed, it has been reported by Rachel Maddow and elsewhere that the administration has been pressuring Ukraine from its first months in office. Maddow reports that by the summer of 2017 Disgustus and his minions were pressuring Kiev by, you guessed it, withholding military aid, to end Ukrainian cooperation in the investigations of Paul Manafort. As Mueller was ramping up his investigation, Disgustus was about pressuring another foreign government into assisting him—this time to quash an inquiry into his crimes and help keep him out of prison. I

It was against this backdrop that the current government came to power. Campaigning on a platform to end corruption in the country, Zelinskyy reportedly met with advisers as well as American diplomats to find a way to navigate clear attempts by this administration to corrupt Ukrainian officials. And therein is the bitter irony: declaring that he is only interested in investigating corruption, Disgustus is about corrupting the very government whose corruption he protests. Nowhere is this more evident than a brazen attempt to compromise a newly elected head of state who came to power promising to end corruption.

Placing Ukraine in a completely untenable position, for the new government will be quickly delegitimized if word of this became public. Zelinskyy knows that, being compromised, his government will lose domestic support by being perceived as corrupt as what had preceded it. Zelinskyy also knows that, if revealed, he risks the loss of support within the United States. On the other hand, to fail to comply would surely mean—in the absence of the Whistleblower's revelations—the loss of desperately needed military aid.

All of this is cast against the backdrop of serial abandonment by the United States of long standing international commitments: The Iran nuclear deal, the Paris accord on the environment, NAFTA, trade deals with China and Europe, medium range missile bans with the Russians, our Kurdish Allies in Syria, our assurances to the Palestinians, Japan and South Korea ad nauseum. None of this is lost upon the Ukrainians, nor the diplomats advising them. Indeed Ambassador William Taylor, brought out of retirement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeou and himself a tRUMP appointee, told the House Intelligence Committee one of his great fears was that the Ukrainians would comply and Disgustus would refuse to send the military assistance anyway.

As if to underscore his point, Disgustus at a U.N. Meeting in early September instructing Zelenskyy to meet with Putin and work something out, as if to say “You are on you're own”. The commitments made to our allies—for Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances by the United States and its allies—hang by a thread. Zelenskyy was left dangling over the open fire by the thinnest of threads—the capricious and arbitrary nature of a very unstable and malignant narcissist—much as Jonathan Edward's sinner is dangled over the open pit of hell by a similarly capricious, arbitrary, vengeful and unstable god. And this is precisely how our “Chosen One” (1) perceives himself: a modern Caligula laughing in delight as he dangles a head of state over the grates of hell.

There is one last consideration in this unwinding scandal and that is what it is doing to our alliances. Disgustus is here declaring our Ukrainian ally to be nothing but a hollow, corruption riddled cesspool notwithstanding that his own State Department had declared earlier in the year that corruption within the country, such as it is, posed no threat to the assistance we had committed. But equally important are the lies spouted by this president* and his minions that the European community is not supporting Kiev and that the U.S. alone is bearing the burden. This posturing further corrodes our alliances making it clear that the only beneficiary of this behavior is Vladimir Putin. Indeed, as the House Speaker reminds us: with tRUMP, all roads lead to Putin.

Soliciting foreign assistance has been the Modus Operandi of our Caesar Disgustus, treading the now well-worn paths of Richard Shithouse Nixon's intrigue with the South Vietnamese concerning the Paris Peace Conference and Ronald Reagan's conspiring with Iran to hold hostages until after the 1980 elections. As White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney tells us, it's how ReSCUMlickans do things.

He is guilty. He has admitted to the fact in the White House summary of a conversation with Zelenskyy over the phone on July 25 of this year. The White House Chief of Staff has admitted it, Rudy Giuliani has admitted it, and over a dozen witnesses have attested to it. Moreover, the White House has blocked several key witnesses from testifying, including the Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser John Bolton, Giuliani himself, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the president* of Vice, Mike Pence. Why, in defiance of Congressional subpoena, are they refusing to testify? And why were the transcripts of the conversation squirreled away into the most restricted classified White House Server, if not out of consciousness of guilt?

"An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh"

Impeach and Imprison

____

1. Reference here is to Disgustus on the White House lawn, looking up at the sky and declaring himself the "chosen one" in response to a question from press reporters.

November 27, 2019: Cut and Run, Insult to Injury, All About Oil.

The actions taken a few weeks ago in Syria betraying our faithful allies is, in a word, disgusting. Within moments of hanging up the phone and ending a conversation with Turkey's president and 'strongman' Erdogan, Disgustus promptly issued an order withdrawing remaining U.S. forces from the northern Kurdish-held regions of the country prompting an invasion by Turkey into the region and the resulting ethnic cleansing. Disgustus did this without consulting the Secretary of State, the State Department, the U.S. military or any of the intelligence agencies. After all, what possible use would expertise serve the 'stable genius'.

The results were all too predictable. The roads filled with refugees fleeing terror, the bombing and shelling by Turkish forces as the U.S. looked on.  And, to add insult to injury, Disgustus--ever the treacherous jackass-- taking to the podium and, parroting talking points gleaned from hate radio, proclaiming that the Kurds are faithless allies, not joining us on the beaches of Normandy.   

The tragedy here is that this capricious and arbitrary decision betrayed a faithful ally, a people who have sacrificed over ten thousand in the struggle against ISIS while we Americans have lost a mere six servicemen as we prefer to conduct hostilities from long range. For this “Generation of Swine” will not bear any burden, nor suffer any hardship in the cause of liberty. This Generation of Swine prefers to fight the wars but keep it's hands clean; prefers the fruits of empire without sacrifice.

But to precipitously cut and run, marks of true cowardice, reveals the complete worthlessness of American commitments under our present Caesar Disgustus underscoring, as in Ukraine, that the word of America means nothing. The Kurd's now find themselves, as they have long found themselves, as the largest ethnic group on the planet without a country. A people alone.

Disgustus, compounding his crimes, announced in the aftermath that U.S. forces have withdrawn to the oil fields, giving lie to the American proclivity of dressing every conflict as a struggle for freedom. Here Disgustus, for once, is being honest. It has always been about the oil.

None of this is lost upon the young in the streets of Damascus, Cairo or anywhere else in the world.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

October 26, 2019: The Impeachment Train, 21st century shakedown, Peace With Putin

The impeachment train has left the station.  The case for impeachment and removal from office have been the focus of these columns for nearly a quarter of a decade and, after nearly a quarter of a decade, the locomotive has finally departed for certain destination.  Our Caesar Disgustus, it has been long observed, must go. 

What finally spurred the Democratic leadership to action was the attempt by our intrepid Caesar to violate all norms of international conduct by conducting what can only be described as the 21^st century shakedown. 

What brought the whole sordid affair to light was the leak by an anonymous whistleblower revealing that Disgustus had withheld 381 million in aid to Ukraine unless and until the government of that country signed on to and publicly announced that it would begin investigations into former Vice President Biden and his son Hunter, as well as the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.  In other words, military support to a nation currently under attack by Russian backed forces were made conditional on Ukrainian endorsement of tin-hat wrong-wing conspiracy theories currently circulating, like a bad case of indigestion, in the bowels of hate radio and crypto-fascist publications. 

Of course, at first the White House denied everything contending, with a straight face, that no such conversations took place.  The president* contending that his phone conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky was ‘perfect’; “A perfect 10”, according to Disgustus, as if reporting the results of a tits and ass contest.  But then, our ‘stable genius’, uses only the best words, the choicest adjectives to explain himself—or, more correctly, obfuscate, confuse and mislead—that is, lie.

To underscore his version of the ‘truth’, he released a summary of the phone conversation in question in which, in black and white, the President of Ukraine is reminding Disgustus that his government is in desperate need of weapons—called Javelins—with which to ward off Russian built tanks.  “But I need a favor from you, though” replies Disgustus laying bare the “quid pro quo”. 

It is, of course, illegal for the president* to withhold appropriated funds.  A law was passed in 1974—in the wake of Watergate and Richard Nixon’s sequestering of Congressional appropriations—that explicitly forbids any president so to do. 

So here we have Disgustus violating federal law while extorting a foreign government in an effort to fabricate a false narrative not only on his political opponents but upon the origins of the investigations that have called into question the legitimacy of this regime. 

Now I’ll be the first to admit that it is a mistake to name one’s son Hunter.  It is further a colossal lapse in judgement for this son to take a position with a Ukrainian gas company for which he has been paid handsomely.  But the screed coming from the White House and its supporters that somehow Biden is corrupt and has moved to stymie crackdowns on Ukrainian corruption simply don’t pass the smell test. 

Yes, Hunter Biden had no business in Ukraine.  But the efforts by Biden and the Obama administration to remove prosecutors in Ukraine were designed to get people into these positions in order to crack down on corruption in the country and were supported by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, among others. 

But, following the Karl Rove playbook, up becomes down, and white becomes black as the need to smear, in the face of one’s own transgressions, becomes imperative.

It is rich, for instance, for Disgustus and his minions to howl about Hunter Biden getting favorable treatment because his father was Vice President of the United States given the chicanery involving Jarvanka and their dealings in China, Saudi Arabia, Israel and elsewhere.  But this is what Disgustus does. 

But, it transpires, this is not a singular incident.  Rachel Maddow reported last week that a year ago the administration was withholding aid to Ukraine unless the government there cooperated and that the President Zelensky held several meetings with his staff about how to deal with the pressure coming from Washington before taking office.  Further, Disgustus, in order to drive home the point, kept Vice President* Pence from attending the inauguration of Zelensky, simply sending the Ambassador and lower level diplomats to the event as a way of underscoring the tenuous nature of administration support in the absence of real zeal in the perpetration of fraud. 

Disgustus did release the aid three weeks before it was due to expire, but only because the whistleblower’s memo had surfaced and the resulting howl it created in Washington sent the rats scurrying as they moved swiftly to backtrack. 

So while Disgustus went in early September to make his annual address to the United Nations, Washington released the military aid to Ukraine but, as Zelensky finally got his meeting in the White House, he was not so subtly instructed by Disgustus—as if once again to remind the Ukrainians, and all of our allies of the capricious and tenuous nature of our commitments—to make his peace with Putin. 

An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

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Note: The * is used  here, once again, to underscore the illegitimacy of Disgustus and his regime.