lamness filter cruft because you cant delete JEs apparently

Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI, is cooperating with Mueller

It really is a shame that impeachment isn't on the table, but at least some nice heads will be rolling.

Tim Burke on special snowflakes:

If America is not great, it is not for a lack of attention to our sensitive right-wing snowflakes. They said: hands off our guns. Well, we stand now at the moment of the most intense judicial restraint on any attempt to restrict gun ownership and use in the history of this republic. They said: lower our taxes! We are the least taxed liberal democracy on the planet, we are 37 years into a national regime of ceaseless tax reduction. They said: cut the welfare state, get rid of the safety net! The safety net has been cut, the great revolution of the late 19th and early 20th Century in favor of public goods is nearly totally undone. They said: stop teaching our children what we donâ(TM)t want them to know. Creationism is back in schools, the government is actively hostile to science, itâ(TM)s ok for the top leaders of this country to endorse historical falsehoods and insist they be taught to the nationâ(TM)s children. They said: weâ(TM)re too free to see pornography and get divorced and live together outside of marriage and take drugs. And where is it that pornography is most popular and adultery flourishes and opoids and meth take hold? In Trumplandia, where people apparently need the Nanny State to stop them from doing what they blame on others who do it far less. They said: stop crime at all costs! And thirty years later, theyâ(TM)re still afraid in a country that locks up more of its own people than any other comparable nation, that allows cops to kill black men with impunity.

What a sorry mess. 2 whole days wasted. Went back to Debian, and I'm never making that mistake again.

Marc Kasowitz, President Trumpâ(TM)s personal attorney on the Russia case, threatened a stranger in a string of profanity-laden emails Wednesday night.

The man, a retired public relations professional in the western United States who asked not to be identified, read ProPublicaâ(TM)s story this week on Kasowitz and sent the lawyer an email with the subject line: âoeResign Now.â(TM)â(TM)

Kasowitz replied with series of angry messages sent between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time. One read: âoeIâ(TM)m on you now. You are fucking with me now Letâ(TM)s see who you are Watch your back , bitch.â

In another email, Kasowitz wrote: âoeCall me. Donâ(TM)t be afraid, you piece of shit. Stand up. If you donâ(TM)t call, youâ(TM)re just afraid.â And later: âoeI already know where you live, Iâ(TM)m on you. You might as well call me. You will see me. I promise. Bro.â

Slightly more interesting:

The exchange began after the man saw our story featured last night on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC. We reported that Kasowitz is not seeking a security clearance even though the Russia case involves a significant amount of classified material.

Experts said Kasowitz could have trouble getting a security clearance because of what multiple sources described as a recent history of alcohol abuse. Former employees also said Kasowitz had engaged in behavior that made them uncomfortable.

I've said before I expect this whole Russia thing to be more on the Iran/Contra side of the spectrum than Watergate, but Donnie's at least keeping it fresh.

Gabby Giffords gets shot by a right-wing nutjob.

Liberals: GUN CONTROL!!!
Conservatives: Crazy lone gunman. Nothing to do with gun laws or overheated rhetoric. Liberals need to stop politicizing this issue, etc.

Steve Scalise gets shot by left-wing nutjob.

Liberals: GUN CONTROL!!!
Conservatives: Liberal Trump hate has gotten out of hand! We really need to start monitoring social media, who knows how many more of them there are out there, etc.

So the Fuckhead Of The United States is having literally the worst first month of a presidential term and his big idea is a 2020 campaign rally in fucking Florida this weekend?

Oughtta just nuke the whole country, it's the only way to be sure at this point. Fucking Yanks.

A warning for Trump:

You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run into assholes all day, you're the asshole,

Game theory would seem to point to sooner rather than later. As of right now, there is almost zero downside (and quite a few perks available if done right.) Of course, this assumes the GOP congresscritters could organize a piss up in a brewery, something that hasn't been a surefire thing since the 90s.

Florida AG Who Dropped Case Against Trump University to Get White House Job

Can we just call him President Swamp Thing? Would make things easier for everybody.

Yeeeeesh. Kinda the opposite of the The Force Awakens, weirdly: There's an actual serviceable plot, but none of the characters are given time to develop personalities or motivations. Also, between shitty lines and an underfunded costuming department, Vader looked and sounded like an idiot.

There are a couple of cool moments, and there's a certain satisfaction and integrity present in the fact that R:O is a (mostly) standalone story. But, one thing a Star Wars shouldn't be is boring, and this delivers in spades on that front.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio to hold press conference on Obama birth certificate investigation

Verily tingling with anticipation.

In related news, Cornell Belcher details how race and racism still had a part to play in the 2016 election:
 

Jenée Desmond-Harris

A question a lot of people ask around the question of the role race and racism played in Trumpâ(TM)s election is, âoeHow can you say Americans are concerned with race when they elected Obama?â I know the long answer is in the data presented in your book, but whatâ(TM)s the simple response to that?

Cornell Belcher

They didnâ(TM)t. Thatâ(TM)s the thing here. The majority of whites did not elect Obama, and thatâ(TM)s the wolf at the door. The vast majority of whites did not support President Obama and President Obama won back-to-back majorities, and that caused the realization of their power waning. Mitt Romney ran up a higher score among white voters than Ronald Reagan, when Reagan had a landslide in 1984.

Conservatives may want to take note of this, however:
 

In battleground states, particularly more diverse states, the percentage of white people voting Democrat decreases significantly as that population gets more diverse. So diversity is having an opposite impact that is harmful to Democrats.

Trump offers Goldman executive Cohn key economic post

This is actually good news. Stacking the deck with all these Wall Street chumps means that recession we've been waiting on will happen sooner rather than later. Speaking of which, anyone got any tips for profiting from another major US economic meltdown that doesn't involve the stock market?

Trump Picks Foreclosure King Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary

So much for the swamp, I guess.

That, right there, is one very useful phrase, I'll have to admit. I've used it in all kinds of contexts, and for different effects, and it works great. It's like a rhetorical swiss army knife.

Moving on, talk about getting shafted! I'm glad my political gambling is a hobby, not an addiction, cuz Cheeto Mussolini just fucked me out of 5K. Although I'm even more glad of my Senate side bet since it helps take the sting out of it.

Congratulations to all the Republicans out there! It's been exhausting work pretending to care about the deficit, unemployment numbers, and whether or not the rest of the world thinks the US is a laughingstock, so I'm sure you'll all be glad for the break.

Last but not least, commiserations to all the kids out there, the ones who'll get punched repeatedly in the face as they struggle through life because global warming as a solvable problem is gone for at least a generation, whilst us Boomers and Gen Xers get to pop our clogs before the really bad shit starts. Time to start volunteering for those Mars missions, I guess.

For any non-Yanks out there, there is a small silver lining: Between, incompetence, corruption, and taking advantage of these historic circumstances to finally bury the Dem party forever, the incoming administration may be too busy trying to fuck over the US to have any time to fuck over the rest of the planet any more than they have already have. Fingers crossed!