Another Self-Inflated Tool Enters the Race

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is joining the crowded Republican field for president, becoming the first Hispanic in the race who also contends he can broaden the appeal for Republicans nationally — especially to Hispanics.

Suarez, 45, filed official federal paperwork on Wednesday, just one day after Donald Trump’s arraignment in downtown Miami on charges that the former president hoarded classified documents at his estate in Palm Beach County.

When was the last time a mayor won the White House? He's running as a big-city mayor who can get shit done and as a Hispanic in a party that is shot through with white nationalists and which relies heavily on a rural voter base.

I think he has less of a chance of gaining the nomination than does Gov. Whatzizname of North Dakota. The only way he's going to have even a chance of it is if the TOFF either suffers a Wilsonian-grade medical emergency or absconds.

The Mind Boggles

So here we have the TOFF, who took a massive trove of secret documents from the White House, falsely claiming that they were his property and both he and his supporters claim that it is so, so unfair.

You know what's unfair? He has been indicted for 37 felonies pertaining to all of that and, unlike anyone else who absconded with secret documents, he was allowed to go free. It seems to me that most other defendants who are accused of making off with bunches of highly classified documents are denied bail, but the TOFF gets to go free on his own recognizance. He's not even prohibited from contacting winesses, which is a really common release condition.

The TOFF and his supporters are saying stupid shit like "if they can arrest Trump, they can arrest anyone." Well, no fucking shit. Steal classified documents, obstruct justice and conspire to do it, lie to the Feds and see what that gets you. (Hint: Probably a couple of decades in stir.)

There's also screaming about Biden (and, by implication, Pence) who also took documents. The distrinction that they are ignoring is that both Biden and Pence, when it was discovered, cooperated with searching and returning the documents. Neither Biden or Pence talked with aides and lawyers about hiding them, lying to the Feds and discussed schemes to avoid complying with the return demands. The TOFF did all of that. That is beyond dispute, there is clear evidence of all of that.

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” -- John Adams

That applies to both the facts of this matter as well as the insistence by both Cadet Bone Spurs and his followers that the 2022 election was stolen. They cling to that lie with all of the dedication of Flat Earthers and believers in a geocentric universe.

Anyhoo, the TOFF, Roger Stone, and the usual gang of idiots called on Trumpanzees to show up en masse in Miami to protest his having to face justice for his felonies. Few did. All hat, no cattle.

Storing These Down, Here

Treat Williams, R.I.P.

Treat Williams was killed in a motorcycle crash yesterday.

Actor Treat Williams, whose nearly 50-year career included starring roles in the TV series “Everwood” and the movie “Hair,” died Monday after a motorcycle crash in Vermont, state police said. He was 71.

Shortly before 5 p.m., a Honda SUV was turning left into a parking lot when it collided with Williams’ motorcycle in the town of Dorset, according to a statement from Vermont State Police.

“Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle. He suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead,” according to the statement.

Read the second line of the story again. Them go read two old posts from Ambulance Driver.

The only person I personally knew who was seriously hurt in a motorcycle-vehicle crash was put into a hospital for three months by the same sort of accident- a driver making a left-hand through a cyclist that the driver said that they didn't see. Loud pipes don't do shit to avoid such a crash. Wearing helmet can help, but not if a rider smacks directly into a large vehicle.

And these days, when a goodly number of the drivers are using their dumb-ass phones while driving, the chances of some clown running over a rider is even higher.

Ukrainian Counter-Offensive

I am not writing about it, for now, because I don't know what is going on. A lot of information is coming from Russian sources, but since they don't know the difference between a tank and a tractor, I don't trust them.

Be careful whom you trust.

To Any Americans Voluntarily Living in Russia

You are running the risk of being snapped up by the Russian cops on bullshit charges in order to give Putin another hostage. Like this guy.

Seriously, dudes. Wrap your shit up and leave. Or just go. You're playing stupid games with your liberties. It's not that people in the States won't care, mind you. There is limited leverage on Russia, and we are most certainly not going to relax sanctions or stop helping Ukraine in order to spring your ass from the gulag.

And if things get much worse, just for being an American, you could wind up in a Russian prison camp for years.

So, Get The Fuck Out of Russia.

Worth Reading

First, I'd suggest reading these two blog posts by RobertaX.

I live in a state that is mostly blue, but not solidly. Republicans have been elected to the U.S. Senate, to Congress and to the governorship (one of whom did two terms both as a governor and in Federal prison). But since then, the Republican primary voters have been selecting crazies. They are hard to the right and, as a result, they have gotten beaten like gongs. The Senate candidate went on and on, expressing her fealty to Trump, and lost soundly. The last gubernatorial candidate lost badly to an incumbent governor who is widely regarded as being out of touch with all but the wealthy and willing to close his eyes to corruption; he won places no Democrat had won before. The Republican had pledged his fealty to Trump in 2018, but that wasn't as big of a drag as it was four years later.

I don't care for the Democrats' zeal on gun control. I don't care for the Republicans' xenophobia. I don't care at all for the Democrats' fondness for examining reparations for slavery. I don't care at all Republicans trying to outlaw being transgendered.

But what I really don't care for is that Republicans have decided that the Rule of Law is not important, that democracy is meaningless, and that they are rabidly following a candidate who tried once to pull off a coup and who, no doubt, will try again if he can. I have no tolerance for the millions of Republicans who have decided that their loyalty to their party is more important than being loyal to their country. That is a betrayal of everything that American soldiers, sailors, Marines and (later) airmen have fought and died for in wars over the last quarter of a millenium.

Freedom, the rule of law, and democracy have been the holy trinity of American politics and American ideals. We've often not lived up to it. It took a civil war to eliminate chattel slavery and constitutional amendments to ensure almost everyone had the right to vote. At times, there has been backsliding (aided and abetted recently by the Supreme Court). And yes, we've had politican candidates who sought to reverse much of that, but they gained little traction.

Until now. Now, we have a political party that is disloyal to the Constitution, to the rule of law, and to the American Way. That anyone would vote for them boggles my mind.

And if that includes you, maybe you should think of relocating to a country more in tune with your beliefs. Like Hungary or Russia.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

A B-25 takes to the skies after a long hiatus:

Stochastic Terror Threat From a Cowardly Bint

Lake has never gotten her hands dirty in her life. Her entire life has been running her mouth on camera, switching her religion from Buddhism to the Christian Taliban because there aren't enough Buddhists for her to take a stab at losing elections in Arizona. I have seen no evidence that she knows one end of a weapon from another, let alone have any skill at using one.

But she has no problem with putting shit out to encourage the weak- and wet-brained among the Trumpanzees to commit acts of violence. And if somebody does do something stupid, she'll claim that she was only practicing sarcasm and nobody should have taken her seriously.

ETA: “Stochastic Terror Evita”

This Guy Does Some Snark

BREAKING; Trump finally unveils his Presidential Library. pic.twitter.com/u5JiZKMZTz

— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) June 10, 2023

Felony counts against ex-presidents:

Washington - 0
Adams - 0
Jefferson - 0
Madison - 0
Monroe - 0
…
Kennedy - 0
LBJ - 0
Nixon - 0*
Ford - 0
Carter - 0
Reagan - 0
Bush Sr - 0
Clinton - 0
Dubya - 0
Obama - 0
Trump - 71

— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) June 10, 2023

The count's not done. There are two more grand juries still in session looking at potential crimes by the TOFF.

The Coultergeist does some good satire, at times:

That's nothing! I'm calling on EVERY REPUBLICAN TO COMMIT SUICIDE in solidarity with Trump!

Otherwise, we don't have a country, folks. https://t.co/3wzw9rjCqa

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) June 9, 2023