Devasting to Our Grab Them By the Pussy/Russian Asset President!

Yeah, I guess I'm not the only one who thinks James Clapper's comments (see previous post), on CNN are earth-shattering and devastating to our Grab Them By the Pussy/Russian Asset President.

From John Schindler in the Observer: 

"Clapper went considerably further yesterday in his appearance on CNN’s The Lead, in which he finally let his top secret mask drop to say what he really thinks about our 45th president:

I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with the president … You have to remember Putin’s background. He’s a KGB officer. That’s what they do. They recruit assets. And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president.

What exactly is Donald Trump’s relationship to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin? It seems likely that nobody outside Moscow knows the full story, and we should expect it will take years of investigation by Team Mueller and the IC to unravel this murky three-decade saga. The well-honed Chekist habit of planting disinformation to throw Western counterspies off course, which already seems to be at work in the Trump investigation, promises to drag this inquiry out even longer. Don’t plan on pleasant answers either.

Regardless, Jim Clapper has done our country a valuable service by stating the plain truth about our president. On CNN, he was speaking for all our intelligence professionals who must remain silent because of the lifetime secrecy oaths they took to join the Intelligence Community. After months of public White House attacks on the IC, which have now escalated into all-out war on America’s spies by Team Trump, there is finally some open pushback by the spooks.

This isn’t the mythical Deep State, which Trumpists detect lurking behind every tree in Washington. This was Jim Clapper, now a private citizen, speaking his mind as a highly experienced intelligence officer. The impact of his words can be fairly assessed as devastating to anyone who’s paying attention. Nor will Clapper be the last former spook to go public with his thoughts on Donald Trump and the Russians." - John Schindler - self-described historian, security consultant, author, provocateur, bon vivant, polyglot, counterintelligencer, cat guy. Former NSA, NAVSECGRU, NWC.

Yes, The Holy Shite Moment on CNN: The Grab Them By the Pussy Prez is a Russian Asset!

Yeah. This seems significant. I mean like a "Holy Shite Moment!"  James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence admits the painfully obvious fact that our current "Grab them by the Pussy" President is a Russian Asset! I mean, well, of course, hell yes, but it's a bit startling to hear this long time intelligence dude say it in plain English. 

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: Vladimir Putin "knows how to handle an asset and that's what he's doing with the President" https://t.co/1bOnWU9hVI

— CNN (@CNN) December 18, 2017

Clapper is no slouch, no "partisan hack," check out his resume: James Robert Clapper Jr.[1] (born March 14, 1941)[2][3] is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and is the former director of national intelligence. He served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 1992 until 1995. He was the first director of defense intelligence within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and simultaneously the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.[4] Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. He served as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from September 2001 until June 2006. On June 5, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Clapper to replace Dennis C. Blair as United States Director of National Intelligence. Clapper was unanimously confirmed by the Senate for the position on August 5, 2010. Following the June 2013 leak of documents detailing NSA practice of collecting telephony metadata on millions of Americans’ telephone calls, two U.S. representatives accused Clapper of perjury for telling a congressional committee that the NSA does not collect any type of data on millions of Americans earlier that year. One senator asked for his resignation, and a group of 26 senators complained about Clapper’s responses under questioning. In November 2016, Clapper resigned as director of national intelligence, effective at the end of President Obama's term. In May 2017, he joined the Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) as a Distinguished Senior Fellow for Intelligence and National Security.

The "Grab Them By The Pussy President vs. Bobby Three Sticks!

Rumor has it that the "Grab Them By The Pussy" President is gunning for Bobby Three Sticks. I hate to have to worry about this possibility, but it is a possibility that worries me greatly. Why? It would be a distinct and determined attack on the fundamental premises of our Democracy.

Our country is founded on the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Our current President is running a quasi-mafia-like enterprise with no respect for either. And Bobby Three Sticks is like that shark in "Jaws." He is relentless. He is running down all leads, and all leads lead directly to the Oval Office.

It is obvious that the "Grab Them By the Pussy" President is a Russian Dupe who has lived on the margins of the law for many decades. Bobby Three Sticks is putting all the pieces together. He is working on the major story, the major investigation of our time. It is an ugly story of greed, hubris, stupidity, bad deeds and treasonous actions.

Funny. The GOP is helping to try to stop the shark. But there is no stopping this shark. Even if they "kill him" he continues to move forward. Relentless, voracious. I do believe Bobby Three Sticks will get his man. He is that kind of legal shark, that kind of American Hero.

If the Russian Dupe makes a move on Bobby Three Sticks, I believe all hell will break loose, expect a political apocalypse.

When you hear bad things about Bobby Three Sticks, remember it's just noise, it's disinformation. Remind yourself of his accomplishments:

Robert Swan Mueller III (/ˈmʌlər/; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and civil servant who was the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2001 to 2013. A Republican, he was appointed by President George W. Bush and his original ten-year term was given a two-year extension by President Barack Obama, making him the longest-serving FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover. He is currently head of the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

A graduate of Princeton University, Mueller served as a Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, receiving the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" for heroism and the Purple Heart Medal. After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1973, he worked at a private firm in San Francisco for three years until his appointment as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the same city. Prior to his appointment as FBI Director, Mueller served as a United States Attorney, as United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division and as Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General.

In May 2017, Mueller was appointed by Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel overseeing an ongoing investigation into foreign electoral intervention by Russia in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[3]

Your life is more like the weather, than it is like checkers...

Your life is more like the weather, than it is like checkers...

You are changeable.
Unpredictable.
Moody.
Breezy.
Stormy.

It's not a game.
You don't win or lose.

You manifest.
You exist.
You drift and range.
You go places.

There is the Winter of your discontent
and the Spring of your new emotion
and the Fall of your rain-like tears
and the Summer of your steamy love.

And you are all of these things in a moment,
a day, a week, a month, a year, many, many
many, many, years.

Your life is the weather.
Not a game.
A phenomenon.

Do We All Suffer From PTSD?

Hey, if you plug into the World Wide Web, and pay close attention, live with you eyes wide open, it's not crazy to think that you may suffer from PTSD. I mean everyone of us. The daily onslaught of drama and trauma that dances across our eyballs is sort of paralyzing...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)[note 1] is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, or other threats on a person's life.[1] Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in how a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response.[1][3] These symptoms last for more than a month after the event.[1] Young children are less likely to show distress but instead may express their memories through play.[1] A person with PTSD is at a higher risk for suicide and intentional self-harm.[2][5]

Everyday War!

There's a war going on out there. Competing forces, competing ideologies. Nothing comes easy. Everything is a battle, a fight, a struggle. Is it a fair fight? Nope. There are no rules. It's brutal, ugly. Out of bounds. Something tells me that there is some Big Shit coming down. Keep your head low. Look out for falling shrapnel. Pray the pieces don't fall down on you.

Conundrum!

You put your hope in a better day. You put your hope in the people. Even though, often, the day, and the people, often let you down.

Sometimes the Long-Shot Miracle is the Right Call!

Hah! Contrary to all those Bible Thumpers, I guess it's safe to say that God actually wanted a Democratic Senator in Alabama! She just couldn't abide that Republican Abomination. Surprise. Surprise.

Was it a miracle? Sort of. Think: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment. Could it have been an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs? Well, I mean, hell, who knows?

A Democratic Senator in deep-red Alabama... how could it be...? OK. Maybe not Divine Intervention, but how about a pretty cool Coalition of Voters, according to Perry Bacon Jr. of 538: "Kind of befitting the Jones coalition, the crowd of Jones supporters was about one quarter black women in hats and about a quarter young hipsters, with a lot of older whites also in attendance."

Congrats to Alabama. The nation turns it's lonely eyes to you. I also want to give a shout-out to Jason Isbell who I wrote about here:  "One lone man, in the spotlight, battling feedback and reverb, singing his heart out for a long-shot miracle."

The Problem...

You see the selfish and greedy ones thrive. You see injustice all around you. You know it's not right. 

A Good Question.

It's the kind of morning when you go to the great Google and ask, "what is objective truth?" Why do you ask this question? Because you hear people on the radio saying things that sound absurd. Because you hear people clinging to their beliefs, clinging to their arguments despite all the evidence. Clinging as if their lives depended on it. And how are they able cling so hard? They dispute the evidence. They make up their own evidence. They refuse to believe what they don't want to believe!

It's impossible to argue someone out of their beliefs. 

We all have convinced ourselves that we can believe whatever we want to believe whenever we want to believe it. We have constructed this elaborate hall of mirrors. We don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. It certainly makes conversation difficult. It makes politics difficult, it makes compromise and cooperation difficult.

Maybe it's all impossible? How do we exit the hall of mirrors and meet in an open field where we can see the world clearly without beating ourselves and each other senseless with our opinions, our biases, our beliefs? Is it even possible?

Good question.

A Good Story...

Looking for good news this morning. It's a pretty lean morning for news of the "good" variety. Finally, I settled on this story: Jason Isbell: Voting for Doug Jones 'right thing to do'. Jason Isbell was born in Green Hill Alabama, now lives in Nashville. He did an acoustic set for Doug Jones, the guy running for Senator against, well, you know, that Republican Abomination. Funny, I guess it's a long-shot for Jones to win. It's that kind of Alabama we have now, that kind of Republican party, that kind of country.

Isbell did a free, get out the vote, 6 song acoustic set. I am a fan. Loved his work with the Drive By Truckers (see Decoration Day), and lately I've been stuck on "Something More Than Free." Funny, at first I was a bit underwhelmed, then I was overwhelmed, at first thought maybe I hated it, then pretty sure I loved it, now, I'm very sure I like it quite a bit. Isbell is a singer-songwriter of great distinction. Subtle, nuanced, a bit downbeat, or really a chronicler of the simply tragic. His songs are like Southern-tinged fragments of woe and beauty. For some reason I think of Jason as the Raymond Carver of singer-songwriters. Crystalline, downbeat, heart-stirring. Deep soulful imagery and stories of the "common folk."

So anyway, this is what I really liked about finding this story this morning. As a performer myself, this rings oh so true to life of a working musician:

"Clad in a plaid shirt, dark jeans and brown boots, Isbell was poised and relaxed, even as a sound engineer wrestled with feedback and initially applied cover-band levels of reverb to the vocals. Isbell was happy to just play his mini-novels of songs in a stripped-down fashion for a throng of superfans."

Death by the Sound Tech. I know it well. Anyone who has played music out in the world knows this story too. So yeah, this is the story of the "good variety" I found this morning. And I guess it's a smart story too. The good is always tinged with the bad, the sad and the sort of tragic too. Right? One lone man, in the spotlight, battling feedback and reverb, singing his heart out for a long-shot miracle.

Zombie President!

Trump is dead. He is the walking dead. He is a Zombie President. He doesn't know it. His followers don't know it either. Of course they don't. They are the brain-dead hordes. The brain-dead leader struts around and his brain-dead followers follow.

You almost think they are alive. But no, they are dead. For sure. They are just pure appetite. Voracious. Disgusting. Dripping with death. Rotting. From the inside out. Makes a sentient, sane person want to gag. Yuck!

It is inertia that carries them forward. Primeval impulse. Hungry. Greedy. Motor-skills intact, body supporting a hollowed out husk of a frontal cortex. Darkness, ugliness permeates every cell. Cells rotting, disintegrating, liquifying.

This Zombie President and his Zombie Hordes are living on fumes. Putrid, rancid, fumes. They won't last. They are dead already. The undead, slow walking to a certain oblivion. One day soon this horror will end. 

A Prophecy: They Will Fall Like Bowling Pins!

A prophecy: They will fall like bowling pins. 

Bad actors in all sectors. We are watching it happen now. Word is that many more men in the House and Senate will be accused of bad acts, and will resign. It is happening in Entertainment & Business too. It's a necessary cleansing. I didn't see it coming, but I also didn't realize how pervasive this problem of sexual harassment, intimidation and sexual predation was throughout our society.

So happy we have been awoken from our slumbers. So happy that women from all walks of life have spoken up. Now is the time. We must seize the moment. No silence. No holding back. Let's air it all out. Let's shine a light. We can remake our world. We can embrace a new consciousness. We can live with a renewed spirit of gentle grace, of respect, and community. Yes. We. Can.

Let the Republicans be the party of serial sexual predators and harassers.

Yeah. I am a life-long Democrat. Put me in the camp with those calling for Al Franken to resign. I think he's a funny guy, I have been pleased with his work in the Senate, I agree with his politics, but I do think there has been a change of consciousness regarding the issue of sexual harrassment, and it makes sense for the Democrats to take a principled stand of Zero Tolerance on this issue. I understand each case is different, there is a wide spectrum of behavior from the worst shit imaginable, to just plain rude and insensitive actions. But there has been a tsunami of accusations. It makes sense for Democrats to hold to the highest standard. Let the cleansing begin. Let the Republicans be the party of serial sexual predators and harassers. 

"The Silence Breakers"

This is just the best. Thank you Time Magazine. The #Me Too Movement is Time's "Person of the Year!"

"The Silence Breakers." The Women who stepped forward to tell their stories. Changed the world. Changed our consciousness. In an instant. So essential. So powerful. So necessary. 

The Age of the Big Lie!

To Tell a LIE! A false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. Synonyms: prevarication, falsification. Antonyms: truth. 2. something intended or serving to convey a false impression;imposture:His flashy car was a lie that deceived no one. 3. an inaccurate or false statement; a falsehood. 

LIARS! "A person who tells lies."

Sick to Death of the Lying...

Yes this old song from John Lennon never grows old. I woke up this morning with this one rolling around in my head. I am so sick of the lies. We get a daily dose of lies (deliberately untruthful; deceitful, false), that pour from the lips of our President, that rain down us from the GOP, from multinational Corporations, from People in Power in all walks of life. We must not accept the lies. They all must be held to account for lying to us!

"I'm sick to death of hearing things from

Uptight short sided narrow minded hypocritics

All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

I've had enough of reading things

By neurotic psychotic pigheaded politicians

All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

All I want is the truth, just give me some truth"

J. Lennon

A holocaust of stupid. An apocalypse of stupid. A shit-storm of stupid.

I've exhausted my arsenal of insults. This man is such an ignorant blight on the country. His stupidity is a vast, never-ending river that overflows it's banks on an almost hourly basis. Whatever pops into his head, whatever comes out of his mouth, or finds itself in a Tweet, just gets more and more madly, deeply stupid! The country has never seen this kind of maximum idiocy on such a grand scale.

It is a blight. A plague. A holocaust of stupid. An apocalypse of stupid. A shit-storm of stupid. Prison. There should be a special rubber room prison where we can send this guy, a special place for the Pathologically, Narcissistically Stupid. He is dumbing us all down. Just listening to him, just reading his tweets, makes us all dumber by the minute! Help!!!

We're Totally Fucked!

It is a bit depressing, and bracing. Pretty sure my country is really messed up and I feel helpless. People in power just don't seem to give a shit about most of the rest of us. The Senate just voted for a tax cut bill that is really, really unpopular. That's not how Democracy - "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections" is supposed to work.  

It seems it's just more evidence that this Democracy is not really a Democracy at all. I think it's fair to say we live in an Oligarchy - "a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes."  I hate to be cynical this morning, but it sure looks like it's just a money game. And money loves money. 

And really maybe it's more accurate to say we actually live in a Kakistocracy - "Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens." I hate to think it, to say it, to write, but this morning it feels like we're totally fucked.

Do Our Part...

You'd like to believe your life is a comedy -  a drama of light and amusing character and typically with a happy ending.

But you suspect it might be a tragedy - a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror.

Or you know, maybe it's a hybrid, a comedy with tragic undertones. Or a tragedy with comedic overtones.

Maybe it's all a joke. Or just a sad tale. 

As a character in the drama, what if you wake up? What if you ask in the middle of the show, "Hey guys, is this a comedy or a tragedy?" Would that be a way to change the gist of it? Turn it all upside down?