Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Will Bunch tracks the long decline of loose- lipped Trump consigliere Rudy "Ghouliani" Giuliani, and ties it to America's decline:

It’s easy to see this weekend’s news that the former two-term New York mayor and personal lawyer to President Trump is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York for what it undeniably is -- a bombshell development on the road to what increasingly seems the inevitable impeachment of the 45th president. In recent weeks, as Giuliani’s efforts to meddle in the politics of Ukraine -- with the goal of Trump’s 2020 reelection, and in cahoots with some very bad men -- have come into focus, some pundits who recall it was just a dozen years ago when polls showed the New Yorker as a presidential front-runner are asking, "What the hell has happened to Rudy?'

Maybe those pundits should take a step back and ask, “What the hell has happened to America?” because the essence of Giuliani’s downfall -- youthful ideals surrendering without a fight to the lazy divide-and-conquer politics of white supremacy and the clown show of modern-TV politics, throwing away any morals at the first sighting of corrupt billionaires waving foreign currency -- is the saga of America’s decline, too.

It's a great read, if you can tolerate all that Ghouliani in one sitting.

E.J. Dionne, Jr., highlights how the Trump- Giuliani- Ukraine corruption nexus was a scandal waiting to happen, enabled by the Republican Supreme Court's Citizens United decision:

The indictment of Giuliani’s associates is well worth reading as a road map to how the system can be gamed. It illustrates, said veteran campaign reformer Fred Wertheimer, how Citizens United “created a clear path for unlimited amounts of foreign money to enter our political system.”

The arrests also make clear that Trump’s July 25 phone call seeking help from Ukraine’s president to smear Joe Biden was part of a larger structure of corruption that is the hallmark of the Trump presidency. Like many demagogues, Trump demonizes minorities and his political enemies to hide his devotion to the art of the shady deal. [snip]

... It is a supreme irony that Trump triumphed by exploiting public disaffection with a political system so many Americans see as infested with sleaze and controlled by forces operating entirely for their own benefit.

Rather than being the cure for such maladies, he is their apotheosis, the culmination of all that has gone wrong in our politics. The task of the impeachment inquiry is to use his Ukrainian misadventure to bring home the breadth of the president’s venality and self-dealing. The goal should be not only to rid the country of a dangerous leader but also to show how desperately our system needs repair.  (our emphasis)

This is why it's so important to not only rid ourselves of Trump, but also the Senate Republican majority and as many Republican officeholders as possible at every level in this country.

While some in the media were chasing the latest inane distraction from Trump or his minions, this dropped like a tree in the solitude of a forest:

An upcoming book excerpted by Esquire reveals “another 43 allegations of alleged inappropriate behavior” by President Donald Trump, “including 26 instances of unwanted sexual contact.” The women discussed in the book join the 24 others who have already publicly said the president sexually assaulted them or made unwanted advances to them. So far, major American newspapers are ignoring the story.  [snip]

Several online publications have covered this news, including Salon, The Daily Beast, Vox, Jezebel, and Vice. But according to a search of Nexis for the names of Johnson, either of the book’s authors, the book’s title, or the phrase “43 allegations,” not a single U.S. newspaper has covered this story yet. The sole mention of this story from major newspapers The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times comes from an October 9 “Happy Hour Roundup” from the Post.

At least 24 other women have publicly described sexual assault or other misconduct by Trump. After writer E. Jean Carroll published a piece in June saying that Trump had raped her in the mid-1990s, several major newspapers didn’t place the story on their front page.

The all- encompassing rot and criminality of Trump and his regime has become ho- hum, whereas any one of the scandals would have driven another person out of office.  Sic transit gloria, America.

Need a palate cleanser?  We have a G.O.A.T., and her name is Simone Biles:

You cannot do any better than Simone Biles.

Not now, not ever.

Maybe not in any sport.

Biles etched her name more deeply into the record books Sunday, winning the titles on balance beam and floor exercise to make her the most-decorated gymnast, male or female, at the world championships. Her 25 medals are two more than Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus – who had two more events to collect his, mind you.

Of Biles’ 25 medals, a whopping 19 are gold, including every one she won this year: team, all-around, vault, beam and floor. It’s the first time she’s won five golds at worlds, and is sure to spark conversation of whether she can do the same thing at next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

She's an unbelievable athlete and apparently quite a person, too.

Our blogging friend Infidel 753 has assembled his usual outstanding list of links to interesting items around the internet.  You're missing out if you don't make a visit. (Btw, you should be reading him on a regular basis for some great posts on a variety of topics.)