Because It's Friday

East Broad Top RR:

I'm a little bit tired today and this was the first non-British selection that popped up. So here it is.

Russian Men: Close Your Email, Social Media Accounts and Cancel Your Mobile Phone Service, Unless You Are Eager to Die in Ukraine

The Russian draft boards are going to hand out conscription notices electronically.

John Cole is Right: This is a Case of Self-Sabotage

The people who voted for him watched him shit on a gold star family, spew racist crap from the moment he announced, and all the other vile bullshit he did, and they were fucking A-OK with it. The “christians” who polished his knob for five years, holding prayer vigils, etc., none of those fucking phonies gave two shits about him banging a porn star while married.

Before the Iowa caucuses in 2016, Trump said that he could shoot someone in broad daylight and not lose any voters. The Access Hollywood tape of him saying that he would grab women by the pussy didn't hurt his campaign. The story that he walked into the contestants' dressing room for the Miss Teen USA beauty pagent and that he earlier said that he could walk into the dressing rooms for the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants because he owned the pageants and he was "inspecting"; that didn't hurt him.

That he had schtupped a porn star soon after Wifey #3 birthed his youngest son would not have persuaded any of his supporters to sit it out. There would have been all sorts of nudging and winking about what a fat old stud he was. None of those inept poltroons running against him for the nomination would have been able to make any hay of it.

He still would have won the nomination. It woudn't have mattered. And I believe that he knew that at the time. After all, he had cheated on his first wife with the woman who became his second wife. He cheated on his second wife with the woman who became his third wife. Everybody knew that. One would have to be an utter fool to believe that he hadn't cheated on his third wife.

So why did he pay off the porn star and then try to hush up the fact of the payment? The only rationale that makes sense to me is that he did it to keep the affair secret from Melania. She was super hacked-off when the news broke about the hush-money payoff five years ago and reports are that she is still angry.

Anyhoo, my suspicion is that, for all of the bleating and braying about Trump being persecuted that is being spewed by his army of ass-kissers and hummer-givers (looking at you, Lindsey Graham), that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a smart and savvy lawyer and, given whom his grand jury has indicted, that this case would not have been brought if there wasn't some seriously solid basis for the charges.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Melania Trump, who made headlines in 2018 by wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?,” was spotted wearing the garment again Thursday evening.

Mrs. Trump, who was seen in the controversial jacket while taking a stroll around the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, offered no explanation for donning it other than that she “was really in the mood to wear it tonight.”

A Tragic Day for Army Aviation

U.S. Army investigators are trying to determine what caused two Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters to crash during a routine nightime training exercise in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers aboard. No one was hurt on the ground.

Nondice Thurman, a spokesperson for Fort Campbell, said the deaths happened Wednesday night in southwestern Kentucky during a routine training mission.
...
“This was a training progression, and specifically they were flying a multi-ship formation, two ships, under night vision goggles at night,” [Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne deputy commander] said. He said officials believe the accident occurred when “they were doing flying, not deliberate medical evacuation drills.”

I cannot begin to imagine how hard it is to fly a helocopter while wearing night vision goggles, let alone fly in formation. They'll investigate this, whether to find out what happened or find out who gets the blame, is an open question.

Nine families are going to be burying their soldiers in a few days. They have my condolences.

Well. Well. Well.

Indictment one of three.

A lawyer for Donald Trump said Thursday he’s been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.
...
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing and has attacked the investigation, was expected to surrender to authorities next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss a matter that remained under seal.

Now commence the fun and games.

Spawn of The TOFF and the Rest of Those Far-Right Lunatics Are Lying, as Usual

There's no "shocking rise" in transgendered people killing other people.

They're probably parroting propaganda promulgated by Russian trolls. For none of them are smart enough to think of this sort of shit on their own.

Criminal Cops

The Office of the United States Attorney has filed a federal criminal complaint charging Joanne Marian Segovia with attempt to illegally import a controlled substance in connection with a scheme to bring synthetic opioids into the country and distribute them throughout the United States, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Tatum King. The criminal complaint was filed on March 27, 2023, and unsealed the next day.

According to the complaint, Segovia, 64, of San Jose, is the Executive Director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association (SJPOA). The complaint alleges that Segovia used her personal and office computers to order thousands of opioid and other pills to her home and agreed to distribute the drugs elsewhere in the United States.

It seems that Segovia has allegedly been at this side-hustle for eight years. I don't know how long she was a cop.

Shmushing These Down, Here

Here we go https://t.co/wMRYc64J6c pic.twitter.com/c6KzOn1tWp

— The Anarchist Turtle 🏴Ⓐ🔆 (@anarchoboognish) March 28, 2023

So Republicans ARE regulating tampons, vaginas, Michelangelo’s David, kids’ books, girls talking about periods

But they’re NOT regulating guns, greedy Wall Street banks, railroads, Big Oil, Big Pharma, tax-evading billionaires and corporations?!

Got it 🤦🏻‍♀️

— Lindy Li (@lindyli) March 26, 2023

Just a reminder the Utah legislature was told in January they had a matter of months to avoid catastrophic drying in the Great Salt Lake and have spent their session bullying trans kids and targeting abortion clinics instead of doing anything about it. https://t.co/qDXEp9zUeC

— Joe Katz is flipping the Wisconsin Supreme Court (@joekatz45) March 27, 2023

A Hard Truth About Rifles

I have seen, in recent days, a number of articles that have discussed the devastating wounds caused by an AR-15.

Now for some truth: AR-15s are considered to be low-powered as far as rifles go. It shoots a .22 bullet (5.56mm or .223 is its designation) and is a chambering that has been considered to be adequate only for shooting prairie dogs and coyotes. It has been derided as a "poodle shooter". In most states that I am aware of, .22 centerfire rifles are not legal for deer hunting because they are not powerful enough.

So, you might ask, why is it that the .223 is so devastating when used in shootings and is not powerful enough for hunting? The distinction here is a simple one: Velocity and distance. Most hunting shots are not taken at ten yards. Fifty, a hundred, two hundred yards are more likely. Bullet velocity drops as a function of distance.

I'm going to shift away from the rifles themselves and speak to calibers, as, to be a little facile, guns don't kill people, bullets do.

The close-in effect of 5.56mm (and, as far as I know, Soviet 5.45mm) bullets is because the bullets tumble and fragment. But again, this is a close-range effect. Beyond a certain distance (which is highly dependent on barrel length), that will not happen. The wounding effect outside of that range is what some doctors would call "an ice-pick injury". The results that I've read of during the Afghan and Iraq wars are in line with this. For close-in fighting, the M-4 carbine was king. Outside of a couple of hundred yards or so, it was almost useless. That's not much of an issue for American infantry, who had artillery and air power to call upon. But the special ops guys, who were often in remote areas, had more of need to be able to fight with their rifles at longer ranges, which led to the development of cartridges such as the 6.8mm Remington SPC and similar rounds. The Army very much wants to adopt a 6.8mm rifle round. (I predict that won't happen for the same reason that the M-1 Garand wasn't chambered in .276 Petersen.)

Along those lines, it took almost an act of Congress to get the Marine Corps to give up their M-16 rifles and adopt the M-4 carbine. The M-16 has a barrel that is almost six inches longer. Longer barrel, more muzzle velocity, longer range. The Marines, after all, pride themselves on being riflemen, not just spotters for the field artillery.

The lack of effectiveness at long range isn't just an American issue. At one point during the ongoing Moro conflict, Phillipine solders were being shot by Moro insurgets at ranges of 600 yards or better. The Moros were using M-1 rifles (.30-06 caliber) that had been captured or stolen. The soldiers had M-16 rifles that, at that distance, were not much better than BB guns. That may seem like a digression to you, but it is part of my point: The 5.56mm/.223 is a lower-powered rifle round.

The first nine minutes of this video will probably tell you more than you wanted to know about the wounding effects of rifle rounds.

The hard truth is that any centerfire rifle, especially those with hunting ammuntion, will produce devastating injuries at close range. A .30-30 round fired from a 125 year-old Winchester 1894 rifle will blow the shit out of a deer (or a person) at short range; the .30-30 is a good woods rifle, but for reasons more to do with the design of the rifles themselves, they are not great for longer-range shooting. The .270 Winchester, the .308 Winchester and the venerable .30-06 will take down most game to be found in the Lower 48 within reasonable shooting distances and are legal in states that allow bottlenecked rifle cartridges for hunting.

The thing with a .223 carbine is that, because it is fairly low-powered, there is not much recoil, which makes them easier to shoot. (If you doubt that, find a friend who has a .223 and a .30-06 or a .30-30 and shoot the two.) Because there isn't much recoil, follow-up shots are a lot faster to make and the rifle is easier to master. Because there isn't as much recoil, the civilian versions of the M-4 carbine are lighter. That makes them the rifle of choice for those murdering fucksticks who go out to slaughter the innocent.

For slaughtering lots of people, it's not the rifle. It's not the cartridge. It's the magazines, which allow for shooting lots of rounds without having to reload. But good luck with doing anything about them. There are probably a hundred million of them out there, if not more.

A Catholic Miracle?

THOMASTON, Conn. — As Connecticut Catholics approach Easter, the faithful are flocking to tiny Thomaston following a report of a miracle. That apparent miracle is now being investigated by the Archdiocese of Hartford.

“We had something happen,” said St. Thomas pastor, Father Joseph Crowley during a Sunday Lenten Mass just two weeks from Easter. He addressed his congregation just minutes after the apparent miracle took place.

And here I was thinking that the miracle was that they found a priest who wasn't putting his hands on kids.

If miracles are to be performed, how about divine intervention to keep kids from being shot dead in school, instead of providing more symbolic flesh for ritual cannibalism.

A Swiss Slap on the Wrist for Putin's Moneymen

>Four bankers who allowed a friend of Vladimir Putin to deposit huge sums in Swiss banks have been found guilty of lacking due diligence.

The former executives at the Zurich branch of Russia's Gazprombank were given hefty fines for helping musician Sergei Roldugin, nicknamed "Putin's wallet".
...
Three of the convicted bankers are Russian and one is Swiss. They were given fines totalling 741,000 Swiss francs (£655,600), suspended for two years.

The men, who cannot be identified under Swiss reporting restrictions, said they would appeal against the Swiss court's decision.

The Zurich court could not prove the four had doubts when the Russian musician turned up with millions of dollars. But the verdict says they should have, and failed to act.

No prison time and a financial slap on the wrists for those guys. I have little doubt that, if they keep their mouths shut, that the Russians will find some way to make them whole.

This case smells like the Swiss are tryint to show that they are doing something to shut down Putin's cash laundromat while substantively doing jack-point-shit.

I would like to be proven wrong. But let's be clear: When it comes to cash, the Swiss bankers are about as amoral as they come.

Only in Wyoming...

... can someone who committed arson be released without posting bond.

But in this case, the perp allegedly torched a women's health clinic.

Care to bet whether or not if the perp had torched a business or a house, that she'd still be cooling her heels in jail?

Easing These Down, Here

Because "Tolerance" and "Acceptance" Are Not Conservative Christian Values

Administrators at a Wisconsin elementary school stopped a first-grade class from performing a Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton duet promoting LGBTQ acceptance because the song “could be perceived as controversial.”

Students at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha had prepared a rendition of “Rainbowland” for their spring concert, but school officials struck the song from the lineup last week. Parents in the district say the decision was made because the song encourages LGBTQ acceptance and references rainbows.

Superintendent James Sebert, who did not immediately return a call on Monday, confirmed to Fox6 that administrators had removed “Rainbowland” from the first-grade concert because it might not be “appropriate for the age and maturity level of the students.” He also cited a school board policy against raising controversial issues in classrooms.

I propose a new motto: "Waukesha, the City That Is Not Too Busy to Hate". Sebert seems to be one of those far-right lunatics who is dedicated to making sure that his students never learn anything that might make white people uncomfortable. So it's probably a safe bet that his schools don't teach very much about slavery or killing off Indians. He probably has his teachers perpetuate the "states' rights" lie about the Civil War and they gloss over the civil rights movements.

You'd expect this sort of stupid horseshit of Florida.

China Has Bought Utah

Or they've bought enough politicians there. The Mormons are cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party in the hope that, if they show fealty China, that Xi will let them into China.

They're idiots, of course. They're being led down the garden path by men who are acting as Chinese agents.

One might imagine that Logan Act investigations should be commenced.

Funny how self-styled conservative Republicans are so eager to climb into bed with a Communist government.

Stumping the Ol' AI

Heh. That was surprisingly easy.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

C-46:

The Future of Russia

This is copied from an email exchange:

Food for thought.

China in recent years has increased its economic and security ties with Central Asian nations, which have abundant mineral resources and lie on ancient trade routes between east and west.

China's leader, Xi Jinping, has called a meeting of former-Soviet Central Asian countries, in an audacious power play in Russia's backyard the week of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I've wondered how long the Russians would let China take advantage of them. One model has Russia as a vassal state.

This was the response:

That is where I think things are heading. China has copied all of the Russian military tech worth stealing. What was said in the "Lord of War" has turned out to be true:


I can't think of anything the Russians make or do that someone else doesn't make or do better (the West) or cheaper (the Chinese). Thanks to the Russo-Ukraine War, Roscosmos is out of the international launching business. Their airplanes suck, their computer industry is nonexistent, their weapons have failed the battlefield test.

All they have that anyone wants to buy is oil, coal, gas, minerals and possibly steel. They are, essentially, another Saudi Arabia, but with ice instead of sand and much more corruption.

What One Would Expect From Those Clowns on the Right (plus, selections from White People Twitter)

TAKOMA PARK, Md. — A Takoma Park man previously charged for vandalizing two Prince George's County libraries is now charged with possessing child pornography. Charles Sutherland faces at least seven charges of possessing child pornography, according to a charging document.

Sutherland was arrested back in June for spray painting the word "Groomer" on the front door of the Greenbelt library and the New Carrolton library during Capitol Pride Week. He faced vandalism and hate crime charges after he was arrested. Sutherland worked as a school librarian at Northview Elementary School in Bowie at the time.
...
Sutherland reportedly admitted to the vandalism and allowed a search of his home, according to charging documents. During the search, the document says officers found numerous diapers, children's dolls, and a child-sized doll in Sutherland's bed. According to Sutherland, he has no children or nieces or nephews, the documents say. He also admitted he had child pornography on a laptop in his home.

What an idiot. On so many levels.

Meanwhile, over at White People Twitter:

Caturday

Long cat:

When There's No Window Handy....

Another case of Sudden Russian Death Syndrome.

A Russian pop star was found dead this week under mysterious circumstances shortly after criticizing Vladimir Putin and the ongoing war against Ukraine, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Dmitry Svirgunov , of the popular anti-war band Cream Soda, was reportedly found dead on Monday after falling into the Volga River and drowning.

The two leading causes of death in Russia in 2023 seem to be: 1) being sent to the Ukrainian front, and 2) saying bad things about the Czar. Alcoholism is probably a distant third.

Because It's Friday

Interesting way to lash them up.

The Asset Calls for Violence If/When He's Charged

Former president Donald Trump warned early Friday of “potential death & destruction” if he is charged in Manhattan in a criminal case related to alleged hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair. ... In a separate post Thursday, Trump criticized those who have called for his supporters to remain peaceful.

Classic, really. A man who has never gotten his hands dirty doing anything (other than counting his filthy lucre), has never been in any kind of fight other than beating up and raping women, wants his supporters to run the risk of being arrested, if not shot, for him. He's conveniently forgetting that people are still going to prison for his last riot. As I mentioned yeasterday, there are a good number of prisons that have been closed in recent years that can be used to hold these assholes.

Funny Thing

Network news is all over the shooting in Denver where the only fatality was the perp, but as to the six road workers killed in Maryland... bupkus.

I understand about editorial judgment and that I have no more right to tell them what stories they cover than do you, Gentle Readers.[1] First Amendment and all that, y'all.

Having said that, there is a belief among gunnies that the "mainstream meadia" is conducting a PR campagaign to denigrate gun owners and agitate against civilian ownership of firearms. Stuff like this plays into that belief.
______________
[1] Though some have tried, from time to time.

Glaring These Down, Here

The Cylons are coming!

The TOFF Dons His White Sheet, Again

He went on a racist rant:

"[Manhattan District Attorney] Bragg refuses to stop despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He is a Soros backed animal who just doesn’t care about right or wrong no matter how many people are hurt.”

Cadet Bone Spurs is working through his Playlist of Hate:

• Racist... check.
• Antisemitic... check.
• Narcissistic...check.
• Calling for violence from his supporters... check.

There's no need for FEMA to build prison camps. Lots of states have closed prisons in recent years. I'm sure they can be reopened to hold his unhinged supporters should they act on Their Dear Leedur's calls for violence.

The Border Between Satire and Reality is Almost Nonexistent

Former President Trump made the news today with a surprising new policy position on prison reform that seemed at odds with the tough, mean-spirited stance he was known for while in office.

“It is high-time we start treating our prison population with the humanity they deserve.”

...

Proving he wasn’t just paying lip service to the issue, Trump followed up his speech with detailed policy proposals designed to make life easier for inmates, including round-the-clock access to cable TV and menus inspired by leading fast-food outlets.

“It’s the least that those serving time in our prisons deserve. Most of them probably didn’t even do anything wrong in the first place and are just victims of witch hunts by terrible people. Sad!”

Heh.

Another GOP Criminal Homophobe

A former Florida lawmaker who sponsored a bill dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law by critics has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief funds.

Joseph Harding entered a guilty plea on Tuesday in federal court in the Northern District of Florida to one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of making false statements, according to court records.

Harding faces up to 35 years in prison, including a maximum of 20 years on the wire fraud charge.

No surprise at any of this.

The Evidence is In: Cal Thomas is Addled (and More)

If, as seems likely, Donald Trump is indicted by a New York grand jury for reportedly paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and if, as also seems likely, Trump is also indicted by a Georgia grand jury for trying to force election officials to overturn that state’s vote count in the 2020 election, then Trump should follow the example of Lyndon Johnson. ... For the good of the country, Donald Trump should quit the race.

To believe that the TOFF would do anything for the good of anyone other than himself, let alone the country, likely requires that one smokes crack several times a day for months. Maybe some meth, too. Anyone who has looked at how he has run his life, his businesses and his political career should have learned that concepts such as loyalty and duty are one-way streets for him: Duty to him, loyalty to him.

To be fair, at the end of his piece, Thomas does concede that his wish that the Asset do what is best for the country is far-fetched:

Given his behavior and personality it might take something equivalent to an act of God for him to quit the race, but sometimes miracles happen, even in politics.

Well, if you're hoping for miracles, then you're kind of admitting that you're shit out of luck.

Anyway, Indictment Tuesday came and went without an indictment. That's on me, for falling for the Former Grifter-in-Chief's bullshit yet again.

Meanwhile, the intel people are warning that the wet-brained Trumpanzees pose a threat:

According to intelligence reports from the US Capitol Police in Washington, the federal DC Fusion Center and the Federal Highway Administration obtained by Rolling Stone, officials have been monitoring worrying online chatter, including one anonymous user who said the former president’s arrest would result in “Jan 6*10 + Guns.”

“The DC Fusion Center assesses that potential criminal justice actions taken toward a former US president — or actions perceived to be taken toward the former president — remain a ‘line in the sand’ for [Domestic Violent Extremist] communities and thus have the potential to manifest in violence toward government targets or political officials,” according to the Fusion Center’s analysis.

The FHA is likely involved for concerns that Commandante Bone Spurs's supporters may block highways. When BLM protesters blocked roads, the supporters of Dolt-45 were calling for them to be shot. If that's what they think is an appropriate way to react, then go for it. For don't you love the smell of napalm in the morning?

Just Better.

My take of the Ukrainian army vis a vis the Russian army is this:

The Ukrainian soldiers are better led, better trained, better armed and better motivated than the Russians.

It's the leadership and motivation that are the true hidden-in-plain-sight cards for Ukraine.

I'd be willing to wager that there are elements of Russian intelligence that are fully aware of that, but nobody is going to tell the Czar about that. For people who displease this Czar tend to have unfortunate gravitational accidents. And nothing would displease him more than being told that his entire war was built on a foundation of delusions.

This could be a very interesting year in eastern Europe.

Veneering These Down, Here, Addendum

Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump's arrest. pic.twitter.com/4D2QQfUpLZ

— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) March 20, 2023

All fake, of course.

Russian Pilots Suck

So says Mark Kelly, who flew with them when he was an astronaut. He said that they lack basic skills that one might expect of fighter pilots and that's why one collided with that American drone.

Veneering These Down, Here

What Are You Doing For Indictment Tuesday?

Gifts? Parties? Riots? Calling up your MAGA uncle, laughing hysterically and hanging up?

Let's hear yuor ideas!

Remember What Happened After the Last European War

Czechoslovakia, among other nations, expelled their ethnic German citizens. The basis for those expulsions was pretty much "we're not going to give those fuckers that excuse to invade us again."

Fast-forward to this century. The so-called need to protect Russophone populations was one of the ginned-up rationales behind Putin's war of conquest against Ukraine. If the Ukrainians prevail, I will not be a bit surprised if the Ukrainians push the Russia-aligned civilians out of the country, followed by other countries that border Russia.

Another Day and More "Oath Keepers" Are Going to Prison

Four people associated with the Oath Keepers were convicted on Monday of conspiracy and obstruction charges stemming from the attack on the U.S. Capitol in the latest trial involving members of the far-right antigovernment extremist group.

A Washington D.C. jury found Sandra Parker, of Morrow, Ohio, Laura Steele, of Thomasville, North Carolina, William Isaacs, of Kissimmee, Florida, and Connie Meggs, of Dunnellon, Florida, guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and other felony charges.

I imagine that they are going to go away for awhile. Chris Rock once said that if the cops have to chase you, you're going to get a beating. The same street rues apply to trials. If you're guilty and you make the state work to prove it, then when you lose, you're going to get a harsher sentence than you would if you had cut a deal.

On the more positive side of the coin, these trials and sentences may tamp down the ardor of Trumpanzees to put their pasty white asses on the line for him.

Another, darker thought: During the BLM protests, Trump wanted the protesters to be shot. Biden's not going to apply Trumpian logic to the MAGA loons, but it's amusing to think about.

That Checks Out

"Every scheming shitwad in America sooner or later turns up in Florida." -- Carl Hiaasen

Yep, that checks out.

Gee, the Republicans Were Lying All Along; Reagan Did Conspire With the Iranians to Hold Americans Captive

It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.

It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.

His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House.

This is what Republicans have traditionally done: Put their political ambitions ahead of loyalty to the nation. Those hostages probably spent days, weeks, even months in confinement because the Republicans got the message to the Iranian regime to hold them until Reagan was sworn in.

After all, Nixon did the same thing. Only with Nixon, tens of thousands of AMericans paid for his duplicity with their lives.

Every living Iran hostage, as well as their survivors if they've passed away, should sue the Republican National Committee for millions of dollars for unlawful confinement, kidnapping and anything else that a team of creative lawyers can come up with.

Ronald Reagan conspired with the Iranians. That should be the legacy of the Gipper.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

A working DC-6 in Alaska:

Censoring the Truth; Fla Ed

This is how textbook publishers are responding to fascist DeSantis’s war on history. They are erasing the truth.

Scary scary stuff. Look at the part they took out.

Original vs. Florida compliant pic.twitter.com/HO9yY7VHjH

— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) March 17, 2023

Erasing the issue of race makes Rosa Parks look like a crotchety woman, not a woman who was protesting segregation.

But this is what a certain set of conservatives want to have happen. They can't handle the truth about racism, slavery, Jim Crow and all of the rest of the grim tales of this country's past. You can bet that they would love to tell their kids that the Indians peacefully sold their land to the white Europeans after most of the Indians were killed off by smallpox. Texas wanted their school textbooks to refer to slaves as economic migrants until there was a hoopla about that. You can bet your ass that they buy the Dixie revisionist horseshit that the Civil War wasn't about slavery. To hear them tell it, the slaves were happy because they got free passage to the New World, they didn't have to decide what to do, what to wear, where to live, whom to mate with and they cheerfully sung hymns while rhythmically ratting their chains.

Watch Out For Stupid People Doing Stupid Things This Upcoming Week

Donald Trump said he expects to be arrested Tuesday and called on supporters to protest as a New York grand jury investigates hush money payments to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president. There is no evidence, however, that prosecutors have made any formal outreach to him.

Let's be clear about one thing: When the TOFF demands that his supporters "protest", he's talking about violence. He also went on a screed about George Soros, which is his dog-whistle for blaming the Jews.

"Arrested"? As if. They only arrest people who don't turn themselves in. He doesn't have the guts to face the consequences of doing that.

A word to the wise: be prepared for some disruptions from his army of wet-brained supporters.

ETA: His mouthpieces are denying any knowledge of inpending charges. And the Second-Most Hated Man in Politics Today is standing with the man who wanted him killed.

Thief, Thief, Grifting Thief

The upshot is that the TOFF regarded all gifts by foreign governments as his and tried to keep them. Even though the law is pretty clear that gifts to a president are gifts to the office of the presidency and not to the occupant.

Let's face it, having sticky fingers is completely in character for Cadet Bone Spurs. Nobody should be surprised by any of this.

Caturday

A store cat:

Get Back to Me When It Happens

Law enforcement officials in New York are making security preparations for the possibility that former President Donald Trump could be indicted in the coming weeks and appear in a Manhattan courtroom in an investigation examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with him, four law enforcement officials said Friday.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Teflon Don. It's all smoke, mirrors and bullshit until they drag him before a judge.

Let the Wheels Grind

The international criminal court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.

The court’s pre-trial judges assessed there were “reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children”.

Of all of Putin's war crimes, this one is probably the easiest to prove.

The Irony is Palpable

“I was elected by the people to come here to represent them, and I do that every day,” Santos told The Associated Press in a brief interview off the House floor.

“It’s a hard job. If I said it was easy, I’d be lying to you — and I don’t think that’s what we want, right?”

Pressed about the idea of a post-truth era, Santos said, “I think truth still matters very much.”

This is a guy, mind you, who has lied about everything: His name, his jobs, his education, his mother, his religion, his sexuality, it'd be a very short list to delineate what Santos has told the truth about. And that would be this: Nothing.

Randy Rainbow is right: He's a sack of bullshit.

Because Its Friday

Street-running steam in Germany:

Betcher Ass That Those Banksters Are Not Doing This Out of the Goodness of Their Hearts

Large U.S. banks injected $30 billion in deposits into First Republic Bank (FRC.N) on Thursday, swooping in to rescue the lender caught up in a widening crisis triggered by the collapse of two other mid-size U.S. lenders over the past week.
...
Some of the biggest U.S. banking names including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) were involved in the rescue, according to a statement from the banks.

The deal was put together by power brokers including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who discussed the package on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Goldman Sachs, in particular, would do nothing like that unless they saw a way to make obscenely huge amounts of money from it. They are about as close to a completely psychopathic nd amoral entity as exists in the world of banking, and that's saying quite a lot.

Range Report, Model 28 Ed.

I took it to the range.

But first, I painted the front sight:

That's nail polish. A base layer of white and a couple top layers of orange work well. And, unlike traditional sight paint, it's easily reversible.

Then I added a grip adapter:

And it was off to the range!

First rounds at ten yards:

Grooming These Down, Here

A Word About Comment Moderation

Google has a spam filter and it is a little bit goofy. I check it fairly frequently; sometimes, comments appear in it that were submitted weeks beforehand. I don't know where they've been in Google Hell, but it is what it is.

So if your comment didn't appear in a day or two, it may have just fallen into the Google Rabbit Hole, only to appear much later.

The Ides of March

Tollbooth Ned is an Idiot

When Gov. Ned Lamont suggested changing the state hero from Nathan Hale to Noah Webster, little did he know that he would spark a revolution in Hale's hometown.
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Lamont said Hale was a "nice enough guy who was captured after a week at the inn. If he had two lives to give for his country, he would have been a spy for us for two weeks."

In his endorsement of Webster, Lamont noted that he helped to create the American language that distinguished the United States from Great Britain.

Lamont is a moron, and there is no other way to put it. The classic definition of a hero is someone who risks their life and limbs, someone who performs an act of bravery. Noah Webster was a great guy in compiling his dictionary, but that wasn't exactly an act of bravery.

As a governor, Lamont is pretty much an empty suit. His administration has been specializing in increasing the opacity of state government. If it wasn't for a columnist and then the Feds investigating things, Lamont would have swept the corruption and nepotism at the new State Pier in New London under the rug. He is either venal enough or inattentive enough to be electable in Florida.

But this is what happens when rich people win elective office. They hold themselves accountable to nobody.

Almost Forgot the Day

What Does Putin Have on DeSantis?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) this week responded to a questionnaire to argue that protecting Ukraine against Russia’s yearlong invasion should not be one of America’s “vital national interests,” knocking the Biden administration for indicating it’ll support Kyiv as long as it takes.

“While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis said in response to a questionnaire on Ukraine sent out to possible 2024 presidential candidates by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.

Calling a massive invasion of a neighbor across borders recognized by the entire world, including the invader, is a "territorial dispute" in the same way that somebody punching DeSantis in the face could be construed as touching up his makeup.

It is fitting, in a way, that DeSanctimonious went on the Tuckyo Rose Show, aka the Putin Poodle Show, to say that his presidency would give Putin a green light to reconstitute the Soviet Union.

Little Marco has the right of it:

“Well, it’s not a territorial dispute in the sense that any more than it would be a territorial dispute if the United States decided that it wanted to invade Canada or take over the Bahamas,” Rubio told Hewitt during Tuesday’s episode. “Just because someone claims something doesn’t mean it belongs to them.”

Rubio told Hewitt that Russia’s ultimate goal is to take out Ukraine’s government and control the country, adding that the war should not be compared to other conflicts or territorial disputes settled with treaties and peace agreements.

“So it’s really more of a desire to dominate their neighbor, have them as part of their sphere of influence, not so much of it about the land,” Rubio said.

If anyone wants to occupy DeSantis's home, well, that's not a crime. It's just an ownership dispute.

Upchucking These Down, Here