…blinded by the right [DOT 13/5/20]

dictum meum pactum...

…I’m going to get to the whole profusion of links thing in a minute…but it’s kind of a shitty roundup of some shitty news as far as I can make out & if it makes you the kinds of angry it makes me to read this stuff then my guess is you’ll appreciate edging into it a little

…plus…as Elliecoo pointed out just yesterday…language is interesting…for example the phrase “word is bond” has some pretty specific connotations to a lot of people

https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/07/your-word-is-your-bond-history-and-origins-from-matthew-to-hip-hop.html

…certainly enough that when Melania said it that time something about it didn’t ring true but it sounded right when Michelle did…but with all due respect to the folks at Slate it goes back a little further…& indeed farther

…no idea what all the heraldic shit represents or why only one side gets a sword

…& that’s only going back to London & the 1800s…the principle is sufficiently fundamental that I’m reasonably certain it’s been around since there were people who could talk…& maybe even before that…might seem like a random thing to have in mind while standing at our current Overton window but quaintly I liked to think that the operation of courts in general was a sort of admixture of that principle (with a rational element of trust but verify) combined with what you might call proper argument

…people always did say they were ahead of their time

…so I hope you enjoyed that because this next bit didn’t strike me as funny at all…in fact, although I generally try to avoid it I’m pretty sure some of the links that follow are going to turn out to be ones I already slapped on previous posts like this because it’s safe to say I’ve been going around & around on some of this hoping to shake some sense out of it

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/12/us/supreme-court-trump-tax-returns-live.html

[…don’t be fooled…the audio track is there but starts at about 15:05 or so & runs three hours & change with some bits of dead air here & there if you feel like the long haul…but the reporters down the side are arguably easier to wade through]

A majority of justices seemed skeptical of an effort by three House committees, but they seemed more sympathetic to the argument of the Manhattan district attorney.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/12/trump-taxes-scotus-hearing-live/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-appears-headed-split-decision-trump-taxes-financial-records-n1205531

…& that’s just one set of bullshit defences to things regarding offenses of which the shambling mass of barely-sentient jelly currently occupying the Oval Office is acknowledged (even by his own immediate family) to be guilty…such as denying the duly submitted requests of the very body intended to provide oversight to the office he purports to hold to produce information that previous incumbents have managed to do in the past with little to no fuss even absent formal obligation

…& in this case this same information which apparently the weaker minds of the court seem desperate to avoid saying is appropriate for him to personally have to surrender to the House as a matter of due process…to protect future presidents that might deserve it from undue pressure or disruption from the execution of the duties & obligations this one has spent his entire time wiping his ass with…is somehow the same information the NY prosecutor is within his rights to demand from the firms which generated them…which would appear to thus introduce them into the public record to a greater degree than material reserved for the consideration of Congressional Committees…but what do I know…not only am I not a lawyer…I’ve never even had a meltdown on international television about my love of alcoholic beverages & my moral outrage & indignation that my obvious guilt in a matter that disqualifies me for the position from which I expect spend the rest of my life rendering judgement on matters of justice should turn out to come up in my interview for the post

…when Justice is just…this?

…with a straight face these people are requesting that we believe that pair of decisions to have been reached by an objective examination of the relevant legal aspects & unbiased by the sorts of political considerations that would naturally render a matter non-justiciable

…& I know we shouldn’t take any of this horseshit personally but I feel like my intelligence is being comprehensively insulted to such an extreme degree day after day that there really is no socially acceptable response that seems appropriate or proportionate…day after day I wind up feeling like the end of that monty python sketch…presumably the idea is that if they keep hurling these insults at our intelligence right at our heads like blunt instruments perhaps they’ll eventually have the same result as a real mallet & we’ll have less intelligence to insult as time goes by

…seriously, though…it may never have been perfect or anything…but the DoJ is in a world of hurt these days & the degree to which that haunts & terrifies me seems less abstract with every passing day so I’m sorry if this sounds more like hysterical than aggrieved…but

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/supreme-court-case-trump-s-taxes-show-some-judges-think-ncna1205741

…& it’s not like that’s the only crop when it comes to avenues for more of this faux-legalistic smokescreen of bombast & bullshit, either

Law enforcement officials’ abrupt decision to end the case drew accusations from former colleagues that they had undermined the rule of law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-judge-puts-on-hold-justice-dept-move-to-dismiss-michael-flynns-guilty-plea-to-hear-outside-groups-challenges/2020/05/12/story.html

…one batshit-crazy footnote I ran across somewhere about the Flynn thing is that the one guy they could find to put his name to it doesn’t have the appropriate credentials to sign off on that sort of thing in the district it was submitted in…which usually wouldn’t matter because someone who was would generally co-sign a thing under those circumstances…so it wouldn’t generally be strange that they used a different Bar number/ID to get the thing through the digital submissions process…in fact I gather they used Jessie Liu’s credentials…but only the one dipshit signed it…implying among other things that they tried to get her to sign off on it but she wouldn’t (& nor would anyone else with a valid DC license they could lose) & they went the hell on & filed it despite the repeated warnings the relevant software/portal spits out when you try to do a thing like that…so they know their whole case is some spurious bullshit that literally should never have been filed much less seen the inside of courtroom but they just don’t fucking care because misuse & abuse are the only forms of legal interaction that allow for the moves they feel the need to make if they’re to keep their manifestly guilty clients out of the clutches of the rule of law

…& it’s no fucking secret there’s more of the same coming down the pike

a highly unusual move that prompted accusations that Grenell was trying to discredit the Justice Department’s Trump-Russia investigation

…but some of it…well, let’s just say if it doesn’t insult your intelligence your intelligence is probably too low for you understand the concept of an insult…much less intelligence itself

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/should-have-kept-his-mouth-shut-mcconnell-slams-obama-criticizing-n1205001

The Senate Majority leader said the former president broke with tradition by maligning his successor.

…& get this…his head didn’t explode…also…no thunderbolt…pray harder, people

…& don’t even get me started on this pale streak of piss & just how much he can keep his fucking mouth shut

Kushner, Law Aside, Doesn’t Rule Out Delaying 2020 Election

…& frankly I hope for better news than this when this lady’s name pops up

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez needed 15 signatures to secure a Working Families Party ballot spot, but a court challenge left her short of the mark.

…so maybe looking around at the rest of the world will make me feel better?

Quietly but Savagely, the Coronavirus Is Decimating Latin America
Latin America’s Outbreaks Now Rival Europe’s. But Its Options Are Worse.
Chancellor Angela Merkel last month made 1.0 sound like a line in the sand for the country’s R0 variable. But that has changed, along with the circumstances.
In Israel, Modern Medicine Grapples With Ghosts of the Third Reich

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/why-some-nurses-have-quit-during-coronavirus-pandemic-n1201796

…well…shit…that didn’t really help much so I guess I might as well get the rest of it over with

At a hearing, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci told senators that if the country did not adequately prepare, “then we run the risk of having a resurgence.”
The downbeat assessment of Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and Dr. Robert R. Redfield contradicted President Trump’s growing insistence that the nation has put the coronavirus behind it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/12/3-early-takeaways-anthony-faucis-health-officials-testimony/

Even after the crisis eases, companies may let workers stay home. That would affect an entire ecosystem, from transit to restaurants to shops. Not to mention the tax base.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/decade-neglect-has-caught-u-s-unemployment-offices-n1205056

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/u-s-citizens-immigrant-spouses-sue-get-coronavirus-checks-they-n1205236

…you gotta love that Katie Porter, though

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ppp-loan-grift-still-happening-congress-must-open-books-or-ncna1205366

…why…it’s almost like despite being a woman she actually knows what the fuck she’s talking about & does her job whole-assed…unlike some folks

He won’t wear a mask, fearing it will project weakness and defeat. Who does he think he’s fooling?

…becasue the important thing about working from observations to conclusions & not the other way around is that sometimes new things come to light that you were hoping wouldn’t

New Studies Add to Evidence that Children May Transmit the Coronavirus

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cases-rare-covid-linked-illness-kids-rise-fauci-warns-much-n1205431

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-ignores-new-warning-signs-push-re-open-country-n1205446

…meanwhile…remember Joe…Joe that’s going to deliver us from feeble come november?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-denies-he-s-hiding-defends-staying-person-campaign-trail-n1205106

…oh, yeah…& remember that entirely unconvincing “I didn’t bring up China ’cause you Asian” bullshit Old Yeller (hat-tip) pulled so recently you’d think he’d need to be a moron to double down?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/trump-claims-asian-americans-are-angry-what-china-has-done-n1205356

…& while we’re kinda sorta on “the subject”…not because I particularly expect the folks who’ve been finding their way here to need to hear about it again but because much like KC’s post yesterday I couldn’t put it so well even if I were to try

The president has only fleetingly addressed the pandemic’s outsize impact on black Americans, and made no apparent effort to aggressively tackle the racial disparities.
Ahmaud Arbery and the Ghosts of Lynchings Past

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/nfl-star-wants-close-legal-loopholes-after-ahmaud-arbery-s-n1205066

…but let’s face it…he’s gonna get Barr-ed, barring a miracle of some sort

…so…in conclusion…no offense to the family I have there but get your shit together California

Mike Garcia, G.O.P. House Candidate, Is Ahead in California

…wakey, wakey…rise & shine…this ain’t time to be dreamin’

…show a little love, you know?

avataravataravataravataravataravataravatar

20 Comments

  1. This shit is exhausting. I spent the majority of last night shitting on Trump supporters who had jumped all over a friends anti trump post. Of course, they tried to turn it around on me, and I am a very vulgar, emotionally driven and challenged person who is not afraid (or in control, I guess) to call a bitch a bitch, or whatever the case may be. How come racists think they can full fledged support racism but that does not make them racist? They always say or type “respect other’s opinion” and I counter with, voting and supporting shitbags is not an opinion, but an action that makes life harder for people that don’t need life harder (no one really does, except ultra rich and the politicians that support hem, dem or gop). I know I don’t help things when my patience runs out (literally as soon as I see a shit post,I have no patience for that shit anymore, none) but fuck them. I wish more rational, emotionally secure people on my time line would step up, but they do not. Sorry for the rant, just frustrated.

    • …aside from the fact that it sounds disturbingly close to my interior monologue & might run the risk of me starting to develop paranoid fantasies about making comments to myself I don’t remember typing…no apologies required

      …that kind of thing is literally how I got my ass roped into this thing in the first place, though…so…fair warning & all

      …go right ahead though…anytime you feel like getting some of that off your chest feel free to come & hang it up some place around here…& best of luck with it out there…keep the faith & all that sort of thing

    • It happens to all of us. I’ve been on Facebook a long time now, and over the last year my interaction with the site has dwindled to less than 20 minutes a week. Living in the South, with idiotic Trump-loving relatives, means my timeline is full of pro-Trump garbage. If I block them, I don’t get to see the cute pictures of their kids or whatnot. So I end up just not looking at all. I refuse to engage on the subject of Trump (it’s like trying to teach a pig to sing — it wastes your time and annoys the pig), but not engaging makes me feel complicit. But if I do look it depresses me, because I honestly thought my family was smarter than that.

      That’s a long-winded way of saying “vent away.” I understand completely.

      • I’m in the same boat. I don’t have a Facebook account because of this but look at my wife’s to see what is happening with family far away. Every time a southern state relative comments on something I cringe. I responded once and my wife banned me from ever posting on her page again. Now I just look for pics of family and skip the rest.

          • She doesn’t use Facebook much either, mostly to see how my Mom is doing and it is her New Orleans & Texas family members that are the issue. She is a very kind woman but didn’t do very well picking a husband. Right now she uses Facebook to try to adopt high school seniors. The rage in our area is you put up your senior for adoption and somebody adopts them to give them random gifts to forget about how fucked up their graduation and senior year is.

    • Man, these people are like alcoholics who are not in recovery. You can love them and care about them, but you can not save them until they hit the wall. They may die before they do, but you can not save them till they want to be saved. Spend time phone banking for Joe or something, Or texting for an environmental group, or something that will bring you some life and do some good. These people are just death on a stick, you have to cut them off.

  2. Paul Manafort has been released from prison due to Covid 19 fears. The 71 year old trump pal and co conspirator is vulnerable because of his age, health issues- high blood pressure, liver disease, and the number of corona virus cases in Pennsylvania where he was incarcerated. He will spend the rest of his sentence under home confinement.

    “Attorney General William Barr previously told the Bureau of Prisons that it should be more willing to grant home confinement to older inmates with underlying conditions, such as Manafort, as a way to stop the spread of the virus inside the nation’s prisons.”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-manafort-released-from-prison-to-escape-coronavirus-says-report?ref=home

    Leonard Peltier, a Native American man considered by many to be a political prisoner, serving time in a Florida prison, with numerous health problems including diabetes, has not been released.

    Draw your own conclusions.

  3. Between this Acting Choad and the now former Acting Secretary of the Navy, Congress needs to restrict what acting secretaries and department heads can do. They shouldn’t be able to make hire and fire decisions, they shouldn’t have access to the good stuff, and they certainly shouldn’t be able to declassify things while their status is acting, which means they haven’t been vetted and haven’t been confirmed by the Senate. Even the current Republican rubber stamp is better than nothing because at least it exposes something about the nominee.

    • …the number of acting/interim/improper/wholesale fucking dreadful appointments this administration has under its belt is pretty staggering…particularly when you consider that they still have so many open slots that they still haven’t filled at all even this late in a term?

      • Which Trump somehow blames Democrats for, despite 1) Republicans holding the Senate for the entirety of his term and 2) McConnell already using the nuclear option for more important SCOTUS nominees. You know it is bad when your rubber stamp wont’ rubber stamp.

Leave a Reply