Auto de fe

Auto de la fe, Lima 1639

Sheesh, I miss a national outrage or two and get chewed out for falling down on the job, which by the way, is unpaid, if I might add. Here goes today's blotter:

The counter terrorism strike in Yemen, the new President's first sortie, didn't work out so good. Reports are that thirty innocent civilians were killed, including fifteen women and young children. Of course there may be no such thing as an innocent muslim in the mind of our president. A veteran United States Seal team member was also killed.

It appears that the enemy knew that we were coming, the drones were flying in an abnormally low, aberrant way and the townspeople and Al Qaeda evidently took notice. Turns out that Trump overturned a much more considered Obama administration plan for the covert operation.

Reuters reported that U.S. military officials have alleged that the operation was approved without sufficient intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup operations. No prisoners were captured and a $75 million dollar Osprey aircraft was lost in the raid, to our own missile. Two crew members were injured.

I am no military man but perhaps Trump shouldn't draw these things up on his kitchen table with his son in law Kushner and the ex Goldman trader, Breitbart propagandist, Steve Bannon.  Get some help from some people that know what they are doing, like senior military and the intelligence community.

another reason to root for the falcons

If anybody should be calling plays I vote for his bropal Belichik. A reported expert on offense. But it might help to listen to the intelligence guys, they do this sort of stuff for a living.

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Could you fuck things up anyway worse than he did with Australia? Does he not look like an imbecile lecturing another ally about their refugee policy? Australia? Are we going to go to war with them after we finish off Mexico, Iran, North Korea, Canada and China? With Russian help of course. Iran, whose hardliners can only be strengthened by our ruler's bellicosity and lack of discipline.

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According to a new poll, Western voters aren't too keen on a big federal land giveaway.

I say, who cares what the people think? Have you followed what is going on in South Dakota? Citizens voted through an anti corruption and ethics measure and it got completely shredded yesterday. Like they know what is good for them. Word is that the Koch brothers had their fingerprints (and money) all over this one. The nerve.

Republican lawmakers, who've come under scrutiny as they tried to rapidly roll-back the ethics law, said they plan to replace the law with a patchwork of bills aimed at addressing lobbying gift limits, establishing a government accountability board and revising campaign finance limits. Many took a chance Wednesday to tell voters about the proposals they hope to bring.
"Every legislator in here is committed to replacing the good parts of IM-22," said Sen. Al Novstrup, R-Aberdeen.
And others took time Wednesday to lash back at the IM-22 campaign that painted them as corrupt, self-dealing politicians.
"I've not known anybody to accept a bribe, I've not known anybody to offer a bribe. In South Dakota, while we're not infallible, that has never been a concern," said Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark. "There are no gold watches, there are no bags of cash."

You win again.



Trump said that he recognized that we are a divided nation and he was going to do his best to unify us. So he now wants to repeal the Johnson amendment so that churches can take political stances and back candidates without losing their tax status. Smart of him, can only strengthen his base. Smite the unbelievers!

Christians 1, atheists, jews and infidels, 0.

The KKK and supremacists are quite happy with the de-judification of the holocaust.

The issue really doesn't bother me. As a member of a tribe that somehow made it though the diaspora, inquisition, pogroms and the holocaust my expectations at receiving human treatment from the gentile have been somewhat tempered.

I saw that even Lloyd Blankfein uttered a peep over at Goldman over the muslim ban the other day ( if Trump and Spicer can term it a muslim ban in private, I can call it that too).

And I had to laugh a little. Did you know that many jews displayed animosity towards german jews before world war II? Blankfein is a lot like one of those german jews in 1939. They always felt better than their kin and somewhat indispensable. History proved it not so.

People say "Never again" like its a mnemonic exercise. I believe it can always happen again and probably will. They'll come for you too, Lloyd.

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I am sort of torn on the Supreme Court nomination. The nominee seems like an intelligent, sober man. It's not like he nominated Judge Judy or his Uncle Mort the barber. I disagree with  him philosophically but my team lost. The nominee's mother Anne Burford tried to singlehandedly destroy the EPA. This guy could be the last nail in Roe.

I don't intellectually respect he originalists and the textualists, if they had their way there would be no voting by women and minorities and no aviation law, planes being a sci-fi fantasy in the inchoate days of our constitution. They created a breathing document, not one where we should try to figure out what an 18th century framer was thinking.

Lindsay Graham, a man I respect mightily and often praise, said that he voted on Obama nominees that he didn't particularly agree with and that Gorsuch should be afforded the same courtesy. But unfortunately Lindsay, you were about the only one. Was not three months ago Burr, Cruz and McConnell said to wait four years on Hillary Clinton and never confirm a judge, we only need eight supremes, remember? McConnell, who wouldn't even have a courtesy meet with Garland. He says it is apples and oranges. It's not. There is always an impending election. They just don't have it in their dna to play fair.

I guess I would confirm. Not sink to their nasty, cynical, obstructionist, dishonest, obfuscating, hypocritical, foul, venal, hateful, neanderthal, low level.