Friday, July 26, 2019

Divorce Court and Dye: Giuliani Edition



Delusional buffoon and Trump's bootlicking TV lawyer Rudy "Ghouliani" Giuliani is in an acrimonious divorce from his third wife, Judith Nathan (with whom he was having an affair while married to second wife Donna Hanover). One very contentious issue is that Giuliani has been holding out on her as far as his income, in order to deny what's properly owed to her for suffering through a 15 year marriage with him. According to Ms. Nathan's attorney:
“'Not only is he working pro bono for the president, for this individual, but it’s costing him money,' said Bernard Clair, who represents Judith. [snip] When he’s going to work for the president, he bundles, for lack of a better word, clients from his other businesses' to defray these costs, including a recent trip to Warsaw, Poland, Clair said."
Also trips to Ukraine to try to torpedo Robert Mueller and Joe Biden's son Hunter with bogus conspiracy trash. In any event, Giuliani's free legal help to the sick demagogue in the Oval Office seems to be something his client can do without most days. You get what you don't pay for. According to Clair, this free work for Trump is meant to portray himself as less than the wealthy bastard that he is. There's more:
"Clair alleged in court in November that Giuliani cried poor after she served him divorce papers. Not only did he leave a cushy white-shoe law firm gig and start no-fee legal work for Trump, he spent $286,000 on his rumored girlfriend, a New Hampshire hospital administrator named Maria Rosa Ryan, Clair had said." (our emphasis)
We hope that mistress of his takes him for far more than a mere $286,000. Ninety-nine percent of women wouldn't have the horse-toothed clown at any price. Which brings us to his absurd, cheap hair dye job. He went from mousy gray and white to a gawdawful shade of something-the-dog-vomited-after-eating-red-beans-and-a-beef-burrito. It's got to be the kind of dye that kills brain cells, not that he has many left.

(Photo:  Single and ready to mingle?)

Weekend Music


A couple of weeks ago we featured a song by the Scottish group Belle and Sebastian.  Apparently that triggered our blog musical curator/ Silver Spring Bureau Chief to suggest several more Scottish bands of older vintage -- The Vaselines and The Pastels.  Well, that triggered us to explore more music from this musically fertile part of the U.K., so we're adding The Jesus and Mary Chain and Teenage Fanclub to our weekend music celebration of Scottish bands.

The Vaselines' "Son Of A Gun" is from their 1987 EP of the same name and has been covered by Nirvana.  Their Glasgow mates and sometime producer The Pastels released "Nothing To Be Done" on their second album in 1989.  The Jesus and Mary Chain's "April Skies" was released in 1987 and became their highest charting single in the U.K.  Finally, Teenage Fanclub's "Ain't That Enough" comes somewhat later, released in 1997.  In keeping with our Scottish theme, in these troubling times we urge you to "dinnae fash yersel" at least for this weekend.










Colbert Pans Theater Critics Who Panned Mueller


Stephen Colbert takes on our un- serious media in our heart attack serious times:


Thursday, July 25, 2019

Republican Hypocrisy Watch, Part II: Elect Me And Reduce Crime!




Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has nothing to worry about if this is the best Republicans can do in her district:
A pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing from stores.
Danielle Stella was arrested twice this year in Minneapolis suburbs over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from a Target and goods valued at $40 from a grocery store. She said she denied the allegations.
Stella, a 31-year-old special education teacher, was reported this week to be a supporter of the baseless “QAnon” conspiracy theory about Donald Trump battling a global cabal of elite liberal paedophiles.
This week Stella also described Minneapolis as “the crime capital of our country”. [Ed.: Nope. It ranks #20.] She has in the past complained that local police were “overworked and overburdened” and said that, if elected, she would work to reduce crime. [Ed.: by getting out of Minneapolis and moving to Washington, DC?  Good plan!]
She's quite the hot mess -- or, in other words, a Republican.

Obligatory clip for Ms. Stella:



(Photo:  Book 'er, Dano!)

Republican Hypocrisy Watch: Trolling For Sex


Anti-LGBTQ Tennessee Rethuglican State legislator Bill Sanderson resigned yesterday after explicit photographs of him along with explicit texts soliciting sex from much younger men were found on Grindr. His website touts him as a "conservative fighter," who is "pro-life and pro-family," fighting to "preserve the values that have defined our families for generations." The married Sanderson has a record of opposition to LGBTQ policies:
"Sanderson has voted against LGBTQ policies at the state level during his term in the statehouse. The state passed a bill preventing cities from adopting anti-LGBTQ discrimination ordinances. He also denounced the Supreme Court after they ruled that same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional."
Sanderson owns a winery, where he's alleged to have made unwelcome advances a 19 year-old University of Tennessee man during a visit there several years ago. He's got a lot of 'splainin' to do to his "pro-family" (second) wife.

Sanderson embodies the true "values" of the rotted-out Rethuglican party, which places lying, power at any price, and greed above the values they pretend to have. While living a lie, they punish those that have chosen to be true to themselves.

Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)


(Kevin Siers, The Charlotte Observer)


(R.J. Matson, caglecartoons.com)


(Kevin Kallaugher, The Economist, London)


(Tom Curry, Big Bend Gazette, TX)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)


(Rob Rogers, robrogers.com)


(Dave Granlund, davegranlund.com)


(David Horsey, Seattle Times)

Republicans Block Election Security Bills In Senate


Because of course they would:
Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure on Wednesday in the wake of former special counsel Robert Mueller warning about meddling attempts during his public testimony before congressional lawmakers. 
Democrats tried to get consent to pass two bills that would require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission about foreign offers of assistance, as well as a bill to let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for personal devices and accounts of senators and staff.
Even reporting foreign offers of assistance, something that should be non- controversial, is too much for the rotted- out Republican Party to handle.

A month ago, the House passed the Securing America's Federal Elections Act, which would have provided funds to States to secure their Federal elections systems and security.  Virtually every single Republican in the House voted against it.  Imminent threat Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell (R- Putin's Pocket) refused to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote.

They want the meddling, they're soliciting it, they can't win without it.

BONUS:  I believe we have a new nickname for McConnell --


Judge Blocks Trump's Asylum Rule


A Federal District Judge in California has issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump regime's new policy of denying asylum to immigrants who have passed through another country before reaching the U.S. border. Judge Jon Tigar issued the ruling yesterday after a Federal judge in Washington, D.C. allowed the Trump policy to proceed, indicating that the injunction would allow the issue to be adjudicated in a higher court.

Judge Tigar's ruling cited the danger immigrants from Central America faced while transversing Mexico:
"The judge said the policy could expose migrants to violence and abuse, deny their rights under international law and return them to countries they were fleeing. He cited the administration’s own court filings to argue that Mexico was unsafe." (our emphasis)
One of the plaintiffs reacted to the injunction:
Melissa Crow, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the decision was “an important victory for incredibly vulnerable individuals and families from besieged Central American countries seeking refuge in our country. We will continue to fight this draconian policy as well as the myriad of others through which the Trump administration continues to wage war on asylum-seekers and our nation’s asylum system,” Crow said.
The fight goes on.

Trump Bows To Murderous Saudi Prince



Continuing in his pattern of serving tyrants, demagogue and sociopath Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump vetoed three bipartisan bills aimed at stopping arms sales to the regime of Saudi Arabia. The regime of murderous Crown Prince Mohammed "Bone Saw" bin Salman is pursuing a reckless war in Yemen that has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties. Bone Saw has yet to answer for his ordering the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October, 2018, despite U.S. intelligence naming him.

Trump had bypassed Congress in authorizing the sales of over $8 billion in weapons to the Saudi regime, claiming an "emergency." He's done everything in his power to assuage the Saudi regime, despite Congressional resistance. Trump in the past has touted arms sales to the Saudis and their allies as a boon to the U.S. arms industry. In this case, here's what the "boon" will produce:
"Lawmakers and international human rights organizations have accused Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign in Yemen — enabled in part by the type of munitions Trump maneuvered to sell to Saudi leaders — of contributing to a crisis that has put 20 million Yemenis at risk of starvation and exposed hundreds of thousands to cholera."
Trump's criminality extends far beyond our borders and is literally killing thousands of people.

Pic Of The Day (UPDATED)




Look closely at the Presidential seal that was displayed at Tuesday's right- wing Turning Point USA student young dolts summit.  A clever saboteur (or a nitwit organizer) replaced the real seal with the one pictured here, which has a two- headed eagle (like Russia's national symbol) holding a set of golf clubs rather than arrows.  It suits him well.

Brilliant!

UPDATE:  FOB donnah noted another jibe embedded in the seal (see comments).  Good eye!

UPDATE II:  Here's a close- up of the "seal."



(Photo:  Jonathan Ernst/ Reuters)

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Twit Tweet, Thwap -- Optical Illusion


Twit tweet:


Thwap:








BONUS:  It's not just poor Chuckie.  It's print media hot takers and the execrable Brian Williams, too. We saw something like this coming, but were hoping for better.  No more.

BONUS II:  No More Mister Nice Blog has more on- point commentary here and here. Amanda Marcotte bemoans the media's bizarre distortions.  Susie Madrak has more reaction from the twitterverse.

Mueller Testimony: Afternoon Sound Bites (Pt. 2)








Chairman Schiff closes the hearing:

As expected, the Republicans are spinning madly (and we mean it in every sense of the word):


Expect a lot more from the White (Supremacist) House and its dimwitted Putin puppet, as well as Fox "News" and the rest of the right- wing bullshit machine.  Such decent, honest patriots!

Mueller Testimony: Afternoon Sound Bites (Pt. 1)







Mid-Week Song


Singer / composer and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens' music blends indie folk, electronica, alternative rock and other genres. He was nominated for last year's Academy Award for Best Original Song ("Mystery of Love") as well as a Grammy for the same work. One of his latest releases, "Love Yourself," was originally conceived by Stevens some 20 years ago. Enjoy.

Mueller Testimony: Key Morning Soundbites








Meanwhile, the rotted- out Republican hacks on the committee are doing their damnedest to smear Muller, insert their crackpot conspiracy theories, and generally make asses of themselves;  in other words, par for the course.  Here was one of the more laughably unhinged.