Jared Kushner, the Slumlord of Baltimore

Jared Kushner’s family real estate firm owns thousands of apartments and townhomes in the Baltimore area, and some have been criticized for the same kind of disrepair and neglect that the president has accused local leaders of failing to address. Residents have complained about mold, bedbugs, leaks and, yes, mice — plenty of mice. And they say management appears in no hurry to fix the problems.

Maybe Trump ought to ask the First Son-in-Law why the apartments that he runs in Baltimore are such shitholes.

Nah. Never going to happen.

But, But, He Sent Trump Such Wonderful Letters!

North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, according to South Korea's military, the second such launch in a week.

The two missiles were launched from the Wonsan area early on Wednesday.

Last week's launch was the first such action since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in June.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to brag about his bromance with one of the most brutal dictators on the globe.

Trump has completely taken over the GOP, which is why none of them question why Trump only gets along with authoritarians and dictators.

Moscow Mitch is Upset

Ol' Mitch is upset and denies that he's a Russian asset. But his actions, well, they tell a different tale.

Last week, former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III testified to Congress about Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether President Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry. Casting Russian sabotage as a serious threat to the United States, Mueller warned that interference efforts were happening “as we sit” in the hearing rooms.

Hours after Mueller’s testimony, Democrats tried to get the Senate to vote on bipartisan election security legislation. Republicans objected. The next day, Democrats tried to get a vote on a bill that would have authorized hundreds of millions of dollars to update voting equipment. McConnell objected.

Everyone knows that Trump can't countenance discussions of improving election security and counteracting Russian meddling. The benign explanation is that Trump is still suffering butthurt from his victory in 2016 and believes that any discussion of Russian meddling and interference taints his win. The less-benign explanation is that Trump is Putin's asset and his doing everything he covertly can to make life easier for his handler.[1]

Whether McConnell is so unpatriotic that he is willfully closing his eyes to Russian interference because it benefits his party or he is willfully closing his eyes to Russian interference because he is doing Trump's bidding is an open question. In either event, the result is the same.
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[1] That article is sarcastic. But sarcasm has to be rooted in the truth in order to have its sting.

The "Underground Railroad" for Catholic Priests Who Abused Kids

I guess it should be no surprise that the Catholic Church had a hidden organization to support the priests accused and/or convicted of abusing children.

For nearly two decades, the group [Opus Bono Sacerdotii] has operated out of a series of unmarked buildings in rural Michigan, providing money, shelter, transport, legal help and other support to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse across the country.

Besides all that, when the Michigan Attorney General's office launched an investigation of allegations that the group's founders were lining their own pickets, it sure seemed that the ended up soft-footing the investigation. Which you will see if you read the article.

Those who have been saying for decades that the RCC cares more about protecting its priests who abused kids than helping the kids, the article will be an affirmation of that.

How a criminal organization such as the Roman Catholic Church can ever pretend to hold the moral high ground is beyond my understanding. It is high past time to apply the RICO laws to them.

Better to Have a Few Rats Than to Be One

That's the headline of an editorial in the Baltimore Sun, responding to Trump's vile spewing about Rep. Elijah Cummings.

It’s not hard to see what’s going on here. The congressman has been a thorn in this president’s side, and Mr. Trump sees attacking African American members of Congress as good politics, as it both warms the cockles of the white supremacists who love him and causes so many of the thoughtful people who don’t to scream. President Trump bad-mouthed Baltimore in order to make a point that the border camps are “clean, efficient & well run," which, of course, they are not — unless you are fine with all the overcrowding, squalor, cages and deprivation to be found in what the Department of Homeland Security’s own inspector-general recently called “a ticking time bomb."

Go read the whole thing. It should brighten your day.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

A Lear 24:

Caturday

A pensive cat.

Tulsi Gabbard: A Mini-Trump

Representative Tulsi Gabbard, the long-shot presidential candidate from Hawaii, said in a federal lawsuit that Google infringed on her free speech when it briefly suspended her campaign’s advertising account after the first Democratic debate in June.
...
Ms. Gabbard and her campaign are seeking an injunction against Google from further meddling in the election and damages of at least $50 million.

Good luck with that. From January 11 through June 30th, Gabbard has raised $6,062,974.29, of which, over a third has come from her congressional campaign fund. She's raised $3.5 million in six months directly for her campaign, which is a far, far cry from her alleged damages from not being able to buy ads on Google for six hours.

Trying to fundraise via litigation is a dickish move worthy of Deadbeat Donnie.

So Much for Conservatives Espousing Freedom of Thought

You don't have to go far to find conservatives decrying what they believe to be liberal groupthink at universities and colleges.

But when a conservative university ruthlessly enforces its own version of groupthink, then all you hear from the Right is crickets.

Which tells me that to a good part of the conservative movement, "freedom" means "freedom to think the way I think," "freedom to write things that please me," and "freedom to believe as I believe."

About the only difference between Moscow University under Stalin and Liberty University under Falwell, Jr. is that, so far as we know, Falwell doesn't have people shot.

Because It's Friday

Big Boy (Up 4014) roaring through Wisconsin.