Vids Of The Day

 

Mango Mussolini's pardon- curious consigliere Rudy "Hands in Pants" Giuliani took his traveling cuckoo coup circus to Michigan yesterday to try to bully the Michigan House Oversight Committee into disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in order to award the state's electoral votes to his pardon master.  Judging from his star witness, and the questioning from at least one Republican representative, it didn't go so well (note how Rudy tries to control his own crackpot witness, starting at 0.33 sec.):

 

a drunk woman is trump team’s star witness in michigan pic.twitter.com/qGxEI3hp2G

— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) December 3, 2020

 

Another witness Rudy shook from the nut tree offered her completely non- racist views on voter i.d.:

One of Rudy’s witnesses just said she thinks “all Chinese look alike” while arguing for Voter ID pic.twitter.com/3gdZFmFMwW

— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) December 3, 2020

 

These representative members of the Republican base seem to confirm some part of the description offered the other day of a party of "right wing religious wack jobs, you’re not the boss of me libertarians, new gilded age aspiring plutocrats, proud boy white supremacists, raging misogynist incels, and general free range sociopaths."  Proud to be a Democrat.

BONUS:  And, scene --

Hearing is wrapped up and Rudy is surrounded by people who seem to have come to the hearing straight from deer camp.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) December 3, 2020

 

A Fool And His Money, Etc. Etc.

(click on image to enlarge)

News item:  "President Trump’s political operation has raised more than $150 million since Election Day, using a blizzard of misleading appeals about the election to shatter fundraising records set during the campaign, according to people with knowledge of the contributions. [snip]

"Much of the money raised since the election is likely to go into an account for the president to use on political activities after he leaves office, while some of the contributions will go toward what’s left of the legal fight." 

Trump also has those pesky loans to shady oligarchs coming due, so...

Hopefully, that's not a 10- or 15- flush toilet!

(Democraticunderground.com)

QOTD: Praise For The Patriotic "Deep State"

Frank Bruni's column in today's New York Times hails the honest and oath-following civil servant, whether it be Dr. Anthony Fauci, Lt. Col. Vindman, Chris Krebs, Judge Bibas, Brad Raffensperger or Gabriel Sterling, at every level and in every branch of government. 

"President Trump was right about the 'deep state' — sort of. There exist, in government, people and forces rigged to foil disruption.

And he has exposed that. Just not in the manner he intended.

The deep state isn’t a reflexive defense of a corrupt status quo. It’s a righteous defense against the corruption of democracy, which is what Trump continues to attempt.

And that defense is holding. Three cheers for the deep state, which has been on a roll these past three weeks."

That defense against Trump's deep corruption and destructiveness is also occurring in places like the Environmental Protection Agency, where people who will never see their names in boldface type are fighting the good fight against his destructive impulses that run counter to the Agency's mission. Well done.

Tweets Of The Day

 

Mandate

 

Donnie Boy received a smaller share of the vote in 2016 and 2020than Mitt Romney did in 2012. https://t.co/CwfMS5fYEg

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) December 2, 2020

 

I stopped updating this daily because the vote count slowed down so much, but votes counted as of today give us 51.3% Biden share * 66% turnout = 33.85%. Biden got the support of a bigger share of the voting-eligible population than Nixon did in his 1972 landslide (33.5%). https://t.co/QlfMYn5fIS

— Jacob T. Levy (@jtlevy) December 2, 2020

 

Don's next con --

 

Trump holding US military pay raises hostage until congress helps him set up his next grift (suing social media companies because people use them to say things about him he doesn’t like) is about as Trump as it gets. Follow the money. It is always about his next con. https://t.co/4w4wB1tGIE

— John Pijanowski (@John_Pijanowski) December 2, 2020

 

Pardon? 

 

https://t.co/maMOMirLSP pic.twitter.com/2DskUktSvk

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 2, 2020

2016: Lock her up!
2020: Lock him up!
2021: Pardon my family!

— Scott Shapiro (@scottjshapiro) December 1, 2020

Pardoned traitor says what --

 

The press release tweeted by Michael Flynn goes on to ask Trump to “temporarily suspend the Constitution and civilian control of these federal elections in order to have the military implement a national re-vote that reflects the true will of the people.” https://t.co/AgfzV8rZey pic.twitter.com/KviiaJQ0hL

— Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) December 2, 2020

Divine truth --

 

Of course Joe Biden has a broken foot. He did it putting his foot up Donald's ass in court all week!

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) December 1, 2020

 

Snowflakes --

 

so GOP senators who won’t acknowledge Biden’s victory are upset Biden didn’t consult with them abt Tanden nomination #noted

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) December 2, 2020

 

 

Today's Cartoons

(click on images to enlarge)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Australia)

(Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)

(John Branch, Branchtoon.com)

(Phil Hands, Wisconsin State Journal)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)

(Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer)

(Dave Granlund, davegranlund.com)

(Chris Britt, gocomics.com)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Mid-Week Song: Simple Gifts

The great American composer Aaron Copland, who passed away 30 years ago today, was considered by many to be the dean of American composers. His orchestral works, including "Appalachian Spring," and "Rodeo," were performed as ballets, and written in a populist style that Copland described as the American "vernacular."  First performed in October 1944, the majestic "Simple Gifts" from "Appalachian Spring" became an instant classic, first by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, followed by other major symphony orchestras. Borrowed from a 19th century Shaker hymn, "Simple Gifts," accompanied here by Ansel Adams' stunning black and white photography, is today's song, performed by the City of London Sinfonia.

"It Has To Stop"

This:

Outraged Georgia election official decries threatening rhetoric against election staff: "Mr. President...senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop! We need you to step up—and if you're going to take a position of leadership, show some." pic.twitter.com/48hxIJn33k

— ABC News (@ABC) December 1, 2020

 

 

Pardons, Pardons, Everywhere -- And Bribery!

As the most criminal, corrupt regime in American history winds down, the head of the crime family, Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump, is being urged to pardon not only himself but members of his family.  Those potential pardons would be at the top of a long list of cronies, felons, and other Trump criminal associates looking for a get out of jail free pass. All of this, of course, begs the question, "Why do people who've not violated the law need preemptive pardons?" (Answer:  They don't).  

By the way, even if a pardon would absolve the person(s) being pardoned, the Supreme Court has ruled that accepting a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance carries a confession (Burdick v. United States).  Trump, of course, would ignore this and treat it the same way he falsely treated his partisan impeachment acquittal as "total exoneration."

Taking the possibility of a Trump self- pardon first, as a president preemptively pardoning himself has never been tested, it's very much an open question whether it's Constitutional. Mark Greenberg, law professor at UCLA, raises some important issues with Trump pardoning himself and family members:

Greenberg, through his best interpretation of the law, told The Post that the Constitution doesn’t give Trump the power to pardon himself and his family. He added that the presidential pardon clause has restrictions, just like the majority of laws in the Constitution. By potentially offering a self-pardon, Trump would violate fundamental principles of American law, which includes conflicts of interest.

“The pardon power would also have unacceptable consequences if the president could pardon himself,” Greenberg said. “He’d be able to essentially commit extremely serious crimes and immediately pardon himself, which would effectively put him above the law.”

Additionally, a president can’t use his executive powers for corrupt purposes, such as making decisions that would enrich or benefit himself and his family. If Trump pardons himself and his family, the action could fall under those categories, Greenberg said.

The president also has a duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” Greenberg said. “For him to interfere with the execution of those laws by, say, pardoning a family member seems it would clearly violate that duty,” Greenberg said.

Such pardons, or the dangling of a pardon, could also be an obstruction of justice (which certainly came into play in the case of convicted felon Michael Flynn).  Whether or not this would apply to Trump pardoning himself and his family members would largely come down to a call by the incoming Attorney General and the Justice Department, based on facts known or investigations underway.

Layered into this is reporting by the Washington Post of a bribery- for- pardon scheme being investigated in August:

The Justice Department in August investigated a potential “bribery-for-pardon” scheme in which a large political contribution would be offered in exchange for a presidential pardon by the White House, according to court records unsealed Tuesday.

The documents show that U.S. prosecutors were scrutinizing whether two individuals approached senior White House officials as unregistered lobbyists, and a related scheme in which cash would be funneled through intermediaries for a pardon or reprieve of a sentence for a defendant apparently in Federal Bureau of Prisons custody at some point. The status of the investigation is unclear.  [snip]

A government review of the evidence identified emails “indicat[ing] additional criminal activity” after scouring more than 50 digital media devices, including iPhones, iPads, laptops, thumb drives and computer and external hard drives, Howell wrote.

The ruling offers glimpses of the underlying investigation, stating at one point, for example, that the government alleged at least one person “requested [redacted]’s assistance, ‘as a personal favor,’ to use his political connections [redacted].”

It continues, “This political strategy to obtain a presidential pardon was ‘parallel’ to and distinct from [redacted]’s role as an attorney-advocate for [redacted].”

In a footnote, Howell’s opinion added, emails submitted by the government as exhibits “do not show any direct payment to [redacted] by [redacted] or [redacted] and instead indicate that [redacted] expected [redacted] to assist in obtaining clemency for [redacted] due to [redacted]’s past substantial campaign contributions [redacted] and [redacted]’s anticipated future contributions.”

We're not alleging anything, but isn't there something redolent of incompetent Roy Cohn Rudy "Hands in Pants" Giuliani here ("attorney- advocate"?), though any number of Trump- orbit sleazebags come to mind as well.  It could be a reason why Rudy was reportedly angling for a pardon for himself recently.  That would be a real nesting doll of pardon abuse ("pardon me for a bribery- for- pardon scheme please"), and would be totally in character with this collection of crooks and charlatans.

BONUS:  Others speculate.

(Photo: A fool and a fool lawyer.)

Today's Phallus News

Report: Large wooden sculpture of a phallus is missing in southern Germany.

The Associated Press notes that the mystery's being vigorously probed by German police, but it seems like a pretty hard thing to solve, committed by some ballsy thieves. The police put out an All Phallus Bulletin (APB), but couldn't say whether the sculpture was circumcised or not. We'd recommend they begin their search in this Austrian town.

(photo: Best picture available, via German police)

Et Tu, Low Barr?

Has the fat lady sung?

Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

His comments in an interview with The Associated Press come despite President Donald Trump’s repeated baseless claims that the election was stolen, Trump’s effort to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election and his refusal to concede his loss to President-Elect Joe Biden.

Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but they’ve uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election. Barr was headed to the White House later for a previously scheduled meeting.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the AP. 

When you've lost Low Barr... 

Meanwhile, in an alternate reality: "Wake up, sheeple!!  This proves the Department of Justice is in on the conspiracy!"

Tweets Of The Day

A turd, like water, seeks its own level --

The president of the United States is currently retweeting a Twitter account called "cat turd" to promote baseless claims of fraud that his lawyers have failed to make in court about an election that was just certified by a close Republican ally.

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) December 1, 2020

 

Surreal, maybe;  but totally expected and on brand --

 

It's surreal to see congressional Republicans revert to their behavior standards for a Democratic president even as their lame duck leader goes ever further off the deep end.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 1, 2020

 

Wow!  Pardon me --

 

https://t.co/aU8ZC9EQ6w pic.twitter.com/WJKEoWBi49

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 1, 2020

 

I’m just going to secure a pardon, just in case I might have you know crimed.

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) December 1, 2020

 

Say his name --

 

Will anti-anti-Trumpers still pitch a fit if we call him a fascist? pic.twitter.com/khB4SYIlcg

— Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) December 1, 2020

 

Mazel tov! --

 

If you think you’ve made poor life choices, there’s a person who worked for Mike Pence, married Stephen Miller, and had his baby. pic.twitter.com/MPxyKe7ZsR

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) December 1, 2020

 

The War on Christmas --

 

How it started: ’Who gives a f*ck about Christmas stuff?’

How it’s going: pic.twitter.com/tBHPurKfU1

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) December 1, 2020

 

 

Today's Cartoons

(click on images to enlarge)

(Marc Murphy, Louisville Courier- Journal)

(Nick Anderson, Washington Post Writers Group)

(Tim Campbell, Washington Post Writers Group)

(Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer)

(Walt Handelsman, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)

(Arend van Dam, Landsmeer, Netherlands)

(Ed Hall, Artizans.com)

(Morten Morland, The Times, London)

(Michael Kountouris, politicalcartoons.com)

(Chris Britt, gocomics.com)

(Ann Telnaes, Washington Post)

(Jen Sorensen, gocomics.com)

Trump Lawyer: Shoot Former Cyber Official Krebs

Sociopathic demagogue and would-be autocrat Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump's "Elite Strike Force" of Super Power Ranger "lawyers" comprising his coup team continues to unravel. First, demented Trump suck-up consigliere Rudy "Hands In Pants" Giuliani held a raving press conference outside of a landscaping company next to a porn store while his hair dye streamed down his sweaty face. Then, lunatic Sidney Powell was shunted to the sidelines for her even-too-much-for-Trump insane conspiracy theories about a deceased Venezuelan dictator's involvement in the election. With the decisions by courts expressing contempt for their false and nonsensical arguments of voter fraud and corruption, this "strike force" has struck out.

Then yesterday, as if to put an exclamation point on their anti-American thuggish lunacy, one of their team, the far-right Trump TV hack lawyer Joseph diGenova leveled threats at the former chief of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, Chris Krebs. who called the election the most secure in American history, which angered Dear Leader:

"DiGenova, who CNN reported is helping Rudy Giuliani with Trump's legal challenge, told the Howie Carr show on Newsmax that: 'Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity [for Trump]. That guy is a class-A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.'"  (our emphasis)

This may or may not be a direct violation of the American Bar Association's rules of professional conduct for attorneys, but there should be some strong sanction on diGenova (and Mr. Krebs indicated this morning that his lawyers are exploring their options as well). There are too many incensed and dangerous Trump cultists out there that will view this statement as being their green light for murder.

QOTD -- The Hunt Is On

"After four years of doing rails of primo conspiracy theory off Donald Trump’s feculent ass, the Republican party’s electoral base is rapidly hunting any non-lunatic GOP office holders into extinction. What will be left will reflect the mixture of right wing religious wack jobs, you’re not the boss of me libertarians, new gilded age aspiring plutocrats, proud boy white supremacists, raging misogynist incels, and general free range sociopaths that makes up the bulk of the approximately 74.5 million people who voted to retain Trump as president of the United States.

"Two thirds of the Americans who had the legal right to vote to eject Trump from the office he has befouled every day for the last 1,411 days chose not to do so. One third of this country is sane, one third is insane, and the other third is too indifferent or disaffected to help save the former from the latter." -- Paul Campos at LGM, in a post on a Republican effort in Ohio to impeach Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for trying to save lives in a raging pandemic, and the reality we face in dealing with an insane population that votes.

Dealing With Republican Sabotage

Paul Krugman has thoughts on how President- elect Biden should deal with Republican obstruction and sabotage:

...[A]lthough Biden is still talking in a comforting way about unity and reaching across the aisle, at some point he’ll need to stop reassuring us that he’s nothing like Trump and start making Republicans pay a political price for their attempts to prevent him from governing.  [snip]

No, what Biden needs to do is what Harry Truman did in 1948, when he built political support by running against “do-nothing” Republicans. And he’ll have a better case than Truman ever did, because today’s Republicans are infinitely more corrupt and less patriotic than the Republicans Truman faced.  

This scenario would be altered significantly should Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win the special Senate election in Georgia next month (Stacy Abrams would be happy to have your help on that).  Even if Democrats were to take the Senate, eliminating the filibuster seems out of reach, with conservaDem Sen. Joe Manchin in opposition. 

Regardless, it's already been made clear by Senate Republicans that they'll obstruct Biden's cabinet choices, judicial nominations, and anything else they can to try to make Biden a one- term president, just as they tried with Barack Obama.  We're hopeful Biden's team is planning how to make life miserable for Moscow Mitch McConnell and his party- before- country caucus when they begin their obstruction (we're sure they're smart enough to be well ahead of us on that).  Using every media platform they can to drive home the image of a spiteful, reactionary, recalcitrant Trumpist party in the Senate that's engaged in keeping businesses shuttered, our government from functioning, while thousands of lives hang in the balance must be one of the priorities of this effort.  Biden's election was a mandate, and efforts to sabotage his administration are sabotaging the will of the American people.

Other pressure points must be attacked as well to keep these two- legged rats on defense. With Democrats holding the House, there should be opportunities for Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer to come up with a coordinated strategy to do just that.  They're dealing with a bad faith party that, as Krugman points out, is infinitely more corrupt and less patriotic than ever.  They must deal with it accordingly.