UPDATE -- the buck stops... somewhere

Mediamatters.org is now reporting that the "very talented lawyer" relied upon by he who resides in the White House has been taken off the air by the Fox Cheerleading Network indefinitely.  Apparently, when James Comey, who in a congressional hearing, in which one of the parties conducting the proceedings appeared to believe the more serious issue was finding out who leaked the fact that crimes, possibly amounting to treason, are being committed by our own government, rather than the fact that -- well -- crimes, possibly amounting to treason, are being committed by our own government, testified that there was no evidence backing the claim that President Obama had anyone, least of all the British national intelligence agency, wiretap his Tower, and that neither the FBI, the Justice Department, the British GCHQ, MI6, Scotland Yard, the bartender at Billy Bob's or cub scout pack 579 in North Bellmore, New York was aware of any such evidence being in existence at all, that was enough for the Fox cheerleaders.

We now know that the line at Fox is drawn at causing a major international incident based upon a complete fabrication requiring the heads of our intelligence apparatus to apologize to their British counterparts and the entire country of England on behalf of the country.  Well, at least there is a line even they will not cross.

On the other hand, there are two people who have not apologized.  One is the "very talented lawyer" who as far as I know, simply has not said anything about the incident or where he dreamed up the possibility of James Bond dropping out of the sky to wiretap his Tower.

The other person who has not apologized is our president.

He has not apologized.

He has not only not apologized, he has repeated his claims, and through his very own personal marionette in the press room, informed us all that the investigation is ongoing, and that we will all find out that he was right all along.

In today's edition of the failing New York Times, David Leonhardt has an op-ed piece in which he reaches the "startling" conclusion that 45 is a liar.

"He tells so many untruths that it’s time to leave behind the textual parsing over which are unwitting and which are deliberate — as well as the condescending notion that most of Trump’s supporters enjoy his lies."

Mr. Leonhardt concludes his piece by noting, "Our president is a liar, and we need to find out just how serious his latest lies are".

I disagree in part.

Yes, we need to find out just how serious his latest lies are, especially if they call into question the integrity of the election, or even worse, that this is a man in the highest office in the land, the hitherto "leader of the free world", who is systematically and deliberately dismantling the government with his constant lies, abetted by the party in power, to the point where it is so weakened intellectually, morally and in every other way, shape and form you can think of so that a foreign agent can bring about its collapse, or it merely is allowed to collapse from within and that foreign agent may then enter the picture and pick up the pieces.  That is not merely lying.

It is treason.

But as much as I agree that we need to find out just how serious his latest lies are, I am stopped by the first part of Mr. Leonhardt's last sentence.  

"Our president is a liar..."

Finally, it has been said, and said openly and clearly.  Then it was said, admittedly not in so many words, by James Comey in today's hearing,  Even his supporters in Congress are starting to say there is a potentially dark cloud hanging over the administration.  But they miss the point, as does Mr. Leonhardt.

Our president is a liar.

Our president, the commander in chief, is a liar.

Our president, the commander in chief and leader of the free world, is a liar.

Our president, the commander in chief and leader of the free world, and the man with the nuclear codes at his disposal, is a liar.

What more do we possibly need to get him out of office NOW.

the buck stops... somewhere

I started out on this one with the intent to present the latest P-MAWs.  There were plenty of candidates to chose from, including Mick Mulvaney's statement that Meals on Wheels does not return any bang for the buck, Jeff Sessions summarily firing forty-six US Attorneys, including Preet Bharara, who reportedly is investigating the president's Russian connections and the Secretary of Health and Human Services' belief that his purchase of stock in health care related companies two days before voting on legislation that was favorable for them did not amount to insider trading, and just about anything Sean Spicer says in public.  We will more than likely have something to say about these gems in the future.  Then he came up with something that, while not necessarily retiring the P-MAWs, was so utterly moronic that it wins by default.  Fear not, the P-MAWs will return.  His and his administration's chronic and perpetual idiocy practically guarantees it.  In the mean time...

On Tuesday this week, under what could lightly be called intensive questioning from Senator Gillibrand, Marine Corps Commandant Robert Neller took responsibility for the nude photo scandal related to female members of the Corps and the culture that somehow allowed some marine miscreants to think they could do this and get away with it.  Nobody thinks that the idea for the scandal originated with General Neller, that he encouraged or participated in it, or even knew what was going on until it was made public.

But as Commandant of the Corps, he took ownership of it without hesitation.

On Friday, when asked at a press conference about his administration's ridiculous allegation that the Obama administration utilized a British spy agency to wiretap him during the recent campaign, allegations that have thus far proven entirely baseless and without any even half-hearted attempt to justify or provide even a scintilla of evidence, he pointed to the "fact" that a "very talented attorney" at the fox cheerleading network had broken the "story", and he had simply repeated what he heard; therefore, any questions should be addressed to the cheerleaders at fox.

If nothing else, he has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is no Harry Truman, which I am sure has the Truman family falling onto their knees in relief.

The "very talented attorney" he referred to is Andrew Napolitano, who is referred to on air by his colleagues and fellow pompom wavers as "Judge" Napolitano, owing to the fact that he once served as a Superior Court judge in New Jersey, which is a trial level court.  He resigned from the bench in 1995, according to the New York Times, objecting to the fact that he was not paid enough to remain on the bench.  He last served as a "judge", if you can count it as such, on a reality show similar to "The People's Court" called "Power of Attorney", where he lasted all of one season presiding over what amounts to small claims cases.  Basically, this "very talented attorney" has not either practiced law or been a real judge for more than twenty years.  He has apparently been making sufficient money blathering on the air about perceived grievances always attributed to either the obamas or liberals in general so that he continues to be a "senior judicial analyst" on the fox cheerleading network to date, although his own show, "Freedom Watch" has not been on the air since 2012.

 It is noted that his last "bombshell" announcement or scoop from "the judge" concerned an allegation that Michelle Obama had used an epithet to describe white people in private.  This "scoop" ended up being entirely uncorroborated by anyone and unfounded, eventually being tossed onto the scrap heap of the fox cheerleading network's abandoned headlines.

The judge's other qualification as a 'very talented lawyer" appears to be the fact that he is a friend of 45, and that he maintains a residence at one of his hotels on Central Park West.

Fox quickly sent Shepard Smith on the air to clearly announce that the cheerleaders were completely unaware of any evidence that the Obama administration had wiretapped him at all, let alone utilized any British spy agency to do so.

He did not back down.

Like it or not, he is the president.  Maybe the "judge" was the source of the story.  The "judge", however, is not the person who repeated the story, and then doubled down on it, even when the fox cheerleading network disavowed it.  Maybe the "judge" in his capacity as a "very talented lawyer" broke the story, but the story was broken as an allegation on a television show, providing no evidence that the story was true.  The job of the administration is not to perpetuate stories without vetting them for some evidence of truth.  Maybe a phone call.  Maybe an e-mail on one of those unclassified and unprotected phones he uses.  Maybe a tweet asking somebody to confirm the allegations.  The only tweet we heard, however, was more along the lines of the chirping of crickets.

The bottom line is he made no effort to determine if the story is true.  He then repeated it for the international press, who must by now think that the entire population of this country is made up entirely of morons.  After all, we elected him.  He repeated it in front of Angela Merkel, who looked like she wanted to dig a very deep hole, and either push him into it, or leap herself.

So without any proof at all, without assuming a shred of responsibility and without backing down, he has now succeeded in insulting Great Britain, putting them alongside Australia and Mexico, all our traditional rivals and enemies.  You could possibly add Germany to the list, assuming Angela Merkel is not hard at work trying to photoshop herself out of any evidence she was ever at the press conference.

Is anyone taking this buffoon, and by extension this country seriously any more?  Can the damage he has wrought in less than two months be repaired in less than two generations?

IMPEACH HIM NOW.

arts and humanities

When the National Endowments for the Arts and for Humanities were created by President Johnson in 1965, the President declared that any advanced civilization must fully value the arts, the humanities and cultural activities.

Today, we took yet another step in announcing our renunciation of being part of an advanced civilization when he proposed a budget eliminating -- let me repeat that word --- ELIMINATING -- both the National Endowments for the Arts and for Humanities. According to the New York Times, the annual budget of both Endowments last year was three hundred million dollars.

We can find anywhere from $12 to $21.6 billion -- that's BILLION dollars -- to build a wall between us and Mexico, a wall that nobody but he seems to want, and we now find out is going to be constructed partially by seizing private property of Americans via eminent domain. Never mind the fact that Mexico is not paying for it -- we are.

But we cannot find three hundred million to funds the arts and humanities.

We can INCREASE the military's budget by $54 billion, forget about what the total budget is...

But we cannot find three hundred million to funds the arts and humanities, just about half a percent of the increase alone of the military's budget.

we can continue to provide billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for oil companies that are making billions of dollars in profits even without the tax breaks and subsidies.

But we cannot find three hundred million to funds the arts and humanities.

we can offer tax breaks for billionaires at the expense of the health care and well being of our elderly and the poor.

But we cannot find three hundred million to funds the arts and humanities.

Regardless of how this turns out, we may or may not have already lost the arts. At least in Washington, and especially in the White House, we have already lost our humanity, if it ever existed in Washington and this White House in the first place.

p-maw, vol. 3

Face it.  I know you missed the Presidential Moronic Act of the Week last week.  In my defense, I was out of town, and frankly, overwhelmed by his consistent moronicosity.  Once in a while, you need a break, even if that break comes only three weeks into the job.  I think I'll go golfing at Mar-a-Lago.

That having been said, it remains my solemn duty to report upon the week's P-MAWs, although one could say there have been so many moronic acts being committed by or on his behalf on an almost daily basis that the award could be retired just as often.  We therefore present this week's nominees.  As always, we welcome your own nominees, although in the spirit of our fearless leader, if I disagree with them, you will be subject to be being fired or named official liaison to the Russian embassy.

1.  THE JEWS DID IT.

For reasons known only to the gods, we are still waiting for a sincere, eyes to the camera, not reading from a script statement from fearless leader denouncing acts of anti-semitism, including defacing graves, threatening synagogues and day care centers, and blaming Jews for everything short of the Fox Cheerleading Network's annual declaration of the war on Christmas.  When he finally did get around to talking about acts of violence against Jews, and yes, threats of violence are acts of violence, he suggested that it was the Jews themselves who had perpetrated these acts as a way of continuing to put pressure on him to say or do something.  Well, he indeed said something, something so moronic that we could have named this weekly award after him.  Come to think of it, we did.

2.  CHUCK SCHUMER DID IT.

Apparently, the world is going to go to hell in a hand basket because Chuck Schumer was photographed eating a doughnut with Vladimir Putin in 2003.  I am going to concede that there is a very strong possibility that this tweet was said in jest, although we have learned in the past what "said in jest" or "just kidding" mean in this administration.  I would suggest, however, that there is a distinct possibility that there is a difference between a sitting United States senator sharing a photo op with Mr. Putin and not ever denying it, and a presidential campaign potentially discussing ways to influence an entire election by feeding information and discussing strategy with a foreign power, which, by the way would be treason.

3.  NANCY PELOSI DID IT.

Ok.  There's a photo going around showing Nancy Pelosi seated at a table that includes Sergey Kislyak.  You know him.  You know, the guy Jeff Sessions never met.  See the above entry.  I would suggest that there is a distinct difference between the house speaker/minority leader meeting with the Russian president on official business where his ambassador this country is present, and a bunch of private citizens descending upon this same person in their individual capacities and against the stated and explicit law of this country discuss influencing the presidential election.  Just a slight difference.

4.  OBAMA DID IT.

Now he says that we should ignore any ties his administration had to anything -- move along, nothing to see here -- because President Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower (I was forced to say his name there -- "His" Tower sounded too awkward or contrived) during the election.  Putting aside the utter absurdity of the accusation, offered without any form of proof, also noting that there has been no request by or on his behalf to have any law enforcement agency conduct any kind of investigation at all, perhaps President Obama's administration, notably, the Department of Justice, had conducted an investigation, and based upon that investigation found probable cause, went before a judge who agreed, and obtained a lawful warrant to wiretap "His" Tower.  Wouldn't that be utterly delicious?

5.  CONGRESS DIDN'T DO IT.

As in authorize any investigation or inquiry, or even  ask a simple informal question while sipping a cup of coffee with him or anyone in the administration over any of the above, or anything else for that matter.  Oh wait, they do want to continue to investigate Benghazi or who welcomed Bears Ears National Monument into the National Parks Service family.

I am sure you will note the obvious omission of Jeff Sessions and fearless leader's continuing belief that the attorney general is perfectly capable of conducting a full, open and honest investigation of himself.  That belongs in another category for the moment, although it may still find its' way into the P-MAWs in the future.  Who knows with this bunch?  We may have to add something into this week's list.  After all, as we have said before in this space, Saturday is not over yet.