Credit Where Credit is Due
March 8, 2022
This has been your Paying Attention™ Thought
For International Women’s Day.
You're welcome.
What is your thought
for International Women’s Day?
BONUS TRACK:
Don’t Let These People Go
July
25, 2021
March 7, 2022
I am all for protecting the letter of the
law. Maybe there is something I, not being a lawyer and all, simply do not
understand. But I do not think that is the problem here.
_______________________________
I started the above post seven months ago,
but decided to hold off and give Garland a chance to settle in. After all, he
seemed like a stand-up jurist when Obama vainly attempted to nominate him to
the Supreme Court. As usual, Obama was being conciliatory, nominating a
centrist to replace the diseased…I mean deceased Antonin Scalia – who survived
a highly questionable hunting trip with Dick “Shoot ‘Em In The Face” Cheney,
but remains nonetheless entirely dead – unlike Obama’s successor who appointed
the stunningly polar opposite of Ruth Bader Ginsburg – both in philosophy and
gravitas – before Ginsburg’s body was even laid to rest.
Ratpublicans gave us lightweights and losers
like John Mitchell, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, Jefferson Beauregard
Sessions, Matthew Whitaker and Bill Barr – twice. Attorneys General appointed
by Democrats were not always the best or the brightest, but come on, it is
simply no contest here.
Nearly one year
after the assault on the Capitol, in response to mounting discontent and
pressure by much of the public and Democrats in Congress Garland said publicly,
“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th
perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law.” However, Garland has still not
acted in any visible way, as he claimed, as though no one is above the law. I can
think of no one further below the law than Donald Tmurp. While seemingly hard
evidence that Tmurp was complicit in fomenting insurrection, there no evidence whatsoever
that either Tmurp or his closest associates, all of whom appear complicit, have
been targeted by DOJ in any way. So one question becomes impossible to ignore
any longer. What the fuck is Merrick Garland doing?
We recently learned
that the January 6 Select Committee has “a good-faith basis for concluding that
the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to
defraud the United States.” If Congress has sufficient evidence to conclude
that Tmurp acted criminally and file a formal complaint in court, then why does
the Department of Justice not have similar evidence? We all saw and heard Tmurp
incite violence at the capital on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn the
election he knew he lost. Why have we heard absolutely nothing from Garland’s DOJ?
Is the Department of Justice on an extended
vacation on some sunny beach with
no internet service and with their heads deeply buried in the sand? Why
aren’t they burying their heads in the mountains of evidence already available
that shows that Tmurp broke numerous laws? Not crimes like sexual assault or rape
(which some two dozen women have credibly alleged), or even as something as
comparatively harmless as shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. It could not be
clearer that Tmurp at the very least incited the January 6, 2021
insurrection/attempted coup.
It could also not be clearer that Tmurp stole highly classified documents once he was forced to leave the White House. It would be unwise to assume anything other than that he stole these documents in order to sell them to foreign interests. And as he is so very fond of reminding everyone on a regular basis, he holds Putin in very high regard. Has anyone counted the number of times Tmurp sided with Putin over U.S. interests? What we do know is that this behavior started before the 2016 election and presumably continues to this day. Also, it is not difficult to imagine that the only documents Tmurp either digested or flushed whole were those for which he received no substantial offers.
I hope to be proven horribly wrong, or at the
very least grossly impatient. You could lock me up for these transgressions if
it means holding Putin’s Puppy Dog accountable for once in his miserable, self-serving
life of crime.*
I. Mangrey reevaluating.
Judge now lest ye be judged.
*Somewhat
hyperbolic; Letitia James nailed his sorry ass for his fake charity, but it
only cost Donny $2 million, and a federal judge ordered the Orange Oaf to pay
out a $25 million settlement as a result of the court-ordered termination of
his comedically fake Tmurp University.
Westward Ho(ly Shit)
March 6, 2022
This has been your Paying Attention™ Thought
For The Day.
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What is your thought
for the day?
There Must Be A Good Reason
March 5, 2022
Why are so many Ratpublicans
standing up for Putin’s horrific, illegal invasion of Ukraine?
Is
it because America did the same thing in Iraq under Bush/Cheney?
Is
it just because their hatred for Democrats and democracy knows no bounds?
Or
is it because Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is, and I hate to play the
prejudice card here but it seems unavoidable, a comedian?
A
great dancer?
What
else could make Ratpublicans support Putin over Zelenskyy?
These have been your Paying Attention™ Questions
For The Day.
You're welcome.
What are your questions
for the day?
They Must Have Had A Good Treason
March 4, 2022
Today is the 233rd anniversary of
the founding of the Supreme Court of the United States. As we brace ourselves for
the battle to confirm of a new justice nominated by (Gasp!) a Democratic president,
we can expect flaming idiocy from the usual suspects. Unless Devil-spawn Bitch
McConnell somehow decides that his ill-gotten 6-3 majority is sufficient for
the moment, we can expect plenty of fabricated fireworks, moronic musings, asinine
arguments and seditious stalling.
I am already preemptively nauseated at the very
thought of Ron Johnson (R- MN), John Kennedy (R-LA), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and
You-Got-Me-Dizzy-Miss-Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sharing their tortured thoughts,
desperate to keep a black woman off the historically almost-all-white-all-boys-club.
They are simply not satisfied with the unrelenting white-maleness of the court
and the Court’s democracy-crushing, radical-religious,
devastatingly-hypocritical current configuration. To be fair, they are a bunch racist,
authoritarian antiques who cannot abide compromise, and are desperate to keep America
as white as possible, all else be damned.
Keeping Down With The Thomases
This brings us to the (head)case of the only
current black member of the Court. One who has stood up for white rights and
white privilege throughout is time on the bench. For most of that time besides
being known for his vehement opposition to affirmative action, he was most
famous for his record-breaking decades of silence as he sat in mute awe of
self-proclaimed “originalist” Antonin Scalia, who by most accounts remains as
dead as Generalissimo Francisco Franco, and similarly revered by lovers of
democracy. So-called originalist interpreters of the Constitution are,
essentially by definition, hypocritical fantasists, who blithely ignore
slavery, women’s suffrage, all manner of other vague or dangerously outdated
statements, and the fact that many actually involved in creating the Constitution
believed it should keep up with changing times.
Fermented fruit bat Ginni
Thomas,
insurrectionist-adjacent wife of Extreme Court (In)Justice Clarence is once
again under fire for her political activism. While her choice of fellow
travelers should make fans of democracy and reality shiver in disgust, that is
her business. However, it seems there are a not insignificant number of cases
before her hubby’s robed nonet have connections to Ginni’s
pals.
One might reasonably expect a devout
Constitution “originalist,” especially one who spent so many years sucking at
the teat, or the whatever, of self-proclaimed bull goose originalist Antonin
Scalia so consistently that Thomas was unable to utter a single word while
sitting on (under?) the Bench while Scalia lived, would recuse himself in order
to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, let alone the stench of fraud, fellatio
and fascism. But if Antonin Scalia allowed himself to go hunting with Dick
Cheney while hearing a case involving Cheney, one imagines all bets are off.
Waiting To Exhale
While most political
pundits are saying Ketanji Brown Jackson will certainly be confirmed, it is not
wise to count one’s justices before they’re hitched. There are too many wild
cards, jokers and abject flaming assholes in the Senate.
I. Mangrey reconstituting.
A
Momentary (Fake) Lapse Of Treason
March 2, 2022
This
amused and abused me:
As if that tiny-handed, metastasized, malignant melanoma on America’s body politic ever had a grip on anything other than crime, racism and his own reportedly mushroom-shaped, also tiny pecker.
Barr has written a
book in a pathetic bid at a self-reclamation campaign. Attempting to bathe
himself in tomato paste in order to rid himself of the stench of rolling around
with ex-president Skunk as he sprayed his foul-smelling secretions all over
anyone who got close enough. And few bellied up to the Hot Air Buffoon Tmurp as
closely as Barr. With any luck, no amount of cleanser will ever allow Barr to
sell himself as a anything other than a disgraced toady to an autocratic asshole.
Bill Barr spent
several years pimping for Tmurp, acting as his personal lawyer/fixer/apologist,
when he was supposed to be representing the interests of the American people,
which were then, and remain today diametrically opposed to those of the
twice-impeached, disgraced ex-president, failed Florida blogger and current
insurrectionist-in-chief.
For his part, Tmurp disgraced his office, our nation, the human species and unbeknownst to him, himself on a daily basis. His love of Putin above America was on display from the moment the Russian strong/mad-man pledged to get Tmurp elected in 2016, and continues to this day despite Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Bill Barr is a
pathetic turd who should never be allowed to share his disgraced thoughts in
public, though he should be permitted if not forced to appear on Dancing With
the Stools (not the kind you sit on).
Other Bushit
The only thing more American
than Barr’s bullshit book is George WTF Bush condemning Putin for his illegal,
unprovoked invasion of an independent nation for no fucking reason whatsoever. Now why does that sound so familiar? The
Second Butcher of Baghdad (no, the emergence and shameful actions of Donald Tmurp did not
make Bush, Jr. and less of a war criminal or staggeringly rotten president) felt
compelled to post this sentence on his official website: “I join the
international community in condemning Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and
unjustified invasion of Ukraine.” Heckuva job Bushie. Somebody get that man a mirror.
This has been a Paying Attention™ Special Broken News report.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled
angst.
Teach
Your Children
February 28, 2022
Today’s
thought is not a new one, but it has just gotten another boost from – again, I
hope this does not hurt anyone’s feelings – science. The fact that human beings,
whether Adam and Eve, Adam and Steve or Darwinian-style evolution, are
originally from the African continent. So, whether this makes you sad or not,
we are all African if you go back far enough. And yes, that means more than 6,000 years. Ironic, ain’t it.
So to all the white supremacists, racists, bigots, (I know “patriots” is one of them, but no; just no) whatever you prefer to call yourselves, fuck your little feelings, your discomfort and your sadness over hearing the truth. The truth about American history, the truth about current American events, and the truth about where all of you, all of us come from. Get over yourselves. Wise the fuck up. And shut the fuck up already.
Have
a nice day.
This has been your Paying Attention™ Thought
For The Month.
You're welcome.
What is your thought
for the month?
Let Loose The Dogs Of Hypocrisy
February 26, 2022
Despite having a bullet-proof (it’s just an expression) majority of mostly youngish radical-religious, right-wing, painfully-white justices – two in stolen seats, Senate Ratpublicans will undoubtedly display all the discretion, professionalism and gravitas of a clown car during the confirmation process. The only question for these yahoos is which will they bring on harder – the misogyny or the racism. While many on this side of the aisle and the flip-side of reality can barely walk and chew gum at the same time, I have a feeling they will manage to multi-task on this one. Only slime will tell.
A bunch of wealthy, white, male landowners –
just like the Founders intended, sitting in judgment of a black woman. And
certainly not the first time such a woman was tougher and smarter than all of
them put together. Think Michelle Obama, Anita Hill, Maya Angelou, Shirley
Chisholm, Angela Davis, Harriet Tubman, and thousands of slave women who had
plenty of brains, but not enough bullets to prevail.
You might remember Judge Jackson; she ordered
former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House of Representatives.
In her decision the judge explained the nature of the American presidency by quoting
Founding Fathers James Madison and Alexander Hamilton and French diplomat
Alexis de Tocqueville. Perhaps the most well-known phrase to come out of that
decision was “Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of
recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is
not president.”
The mammals on the
Court will remain greatly outnumbered, but at least there will be more
diversity while we wait for the current majority to shrink. Time’s a wastin’.
I. Mangrey, court reporting.
February 25, 2022
Vladimir Putin is obsessed with seeing democracy as a global
entity fail. This is nothing new. Well before his relentless crusade to get
Donald Tmurp elected president, Putin’s prime objective was weakening
democracy. No better stooge could have been created to accelerate Putin’s
mission than a brain-dead, narcissistic, autocrat-wannabe conman.
So, we expect Putin to attack democracy. What we did not
expect, though we really should have, was Putin not being the biggest threat to
democracy, particularly in America. The most clear and present danger to
American democracy is Donald Tmurp’s Ratpublican Party. This massive cadre of
fascistic white nationalists, that has infiltrated our government at the
highest levels, and has an enormous propaganda machine, is shamelessly
fomenting civil war. They are determined to take this country back in time to
when they thought America was great before. Today’s Ratpublican Party has done
everything short of supporting the return of slavery.
By many accounts, including some of Putin’s close advisors (all of whom, one imagines, must fear for their lives every waking moment, not to mention being awakened by hellish nightmares based on real stories of past associates), Putin is rapidly approaching Tmurp-like levels of mental incapacity. Perhaps the most telling example of Putin’s alternative facts is his insistence that he is merely trying to stop Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, and his neo-Nazi regime from committing (non-existent) genocide in Ukraine. There's lying, and then there's looney toons.
While American autocrats
are working to re-litigate the Civil War, the Russian strongman is trying to
get the SSR back together, even if he has to wipe out most of their
populations. Vlad the Mad has also threatened historic conflagration should
anyone dare stand against him.
“Whoever tries to hinder us, and even more so, to create
threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will
be immediate. And it will lead you to such consequences that you have never
encountered in your history. We are ready for any development of events. All
the necessary decisions have been made in this regard. I hope that I will be
heard.”
Vladimir J. Putin February 24, 2022
Guess
these two use the same writers
Most of the Ratpublican Duma is vigorously siding with
Putin. Let us not forget that the moment Barack Obama became president,
countless Ratpublicans and their media enablers began singing the praises of
Putin, while denigrating Obama at every turn, and down every straightaway.
Then, Tmurp surrounded himself with Russophiles like Paul Manafort, Mike Flynn,
Steve Bannon and others too numerous to mention. Once installed as president
despite losing the popular vote handily, Tmurp took up Putin’s causes while weaking
the United States with impunity. So here we are.
King Ratpublican Tmurp made his feelings known as Putin
surrounded Ukraine, poised to initiate the most illegal war-of-choice since
Bush/Cheney invaded Iraq. Here’s what the Toxic Twit had to say about his
benefactor,
“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I
said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine—of Ukraine.
Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So, Putin is now
saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is
that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace
force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force
I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna
keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy, I
know him very well. Very, very well.”
From Newt Gingrich, to Lindsey Graham, to Josh Hawley, to the
GQP House Caucus, to John Bolton (remember this no-nothing asshole?), to Mike
Pompeo, Ratpublicans of all smells are rushing to microphones to call Joe Biden
weak and ineffective, and Putin strong and masterful. For his part, Pompeo, a
recent secretary of state and former CIA chief, recently gushed on Fux News
that Putin “was a very talented statesman” who “has lots of gifts.” Pompeo
added, “He was a KGB agent, for goodness sakes. He knows how to use power. We
should respect that.” Respect is not exactly the first word that leaps to my
mind, but then I still have at least minimal control of my faculties. And,
despite its many faults, I’ll still take the U.S. over Russia.
While another ex-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has
called Putin “megalomaniacal,” Pompeo has praised him as “very shrewd” and “very
capable.” Putin’s media outlets are replaying clips on a loop of Pompeo's
praise on Russian
state TV. So Makeshift Mike must be right.
In another interview last week, Pompeo said, “I have
enormous respect for him – I've been criticized for saying that.” This is how
today’s Ratpublicans run for president.
Fucker Carlson cannot imagine why everyone is being so mean
to Putin, “asking” his audience, “Why should I hate Putin?” Followed by a
laundry list (in question form of course – does this pinhead think he’s always
on Jeopardy?) of things Putin didn’t do to poor little trust fund baby Fucker.
“Did he ever call me a racist? Has he ever tried to get me fired for
disagreeing with him?…yada, yada, yada.” Hey Fucker, you might want to know
that Putin doesn’t get people fired for disagreeing with him – he gets them
dead, you ignorant slut.
Insurrectionist fan-boy Josh Hawley was a bit less
obsequious, “America has an interest in Ukraine’s independence and territorial
integrity, and we have a strong interest in deterring Russian adventurism. But
these interests are not so great that we should commit ourselves to fight
Russia over Ukraine’s future.” Funny thing, Joe Biden specifically stated that
we have no intention of fighting Russia. With senators like this, who needs
democracy?
I. Mangrey recoiling. Let’s agree to disagree dispose of them. Electorally, of course.
BONUS TRACK:
