Murderin' Trump Helps With the Saudi Coverup

Sure as the Sun rises, Trump is buying into the Saudi fiction that Khashoggi was accidentally killed in a fistfight:

After two weeks of shifting stories, Saudi Arabia said Saturday that its agents strangled Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, during a fistfight inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and that 18 men had been arrested in the case. ... President Trump on Friday night said that Saudi Arabia’s statements were credible...

Except that the statements are in no wise credible. They are almost certainly utter lies. Trump has been told as much.

But Trump doesn't care. He is as utterly amoral a man who has occupied the Oval Office since Nixon and is possibly the most corrupt since Harding. Nixon did a lot of things, but as far as I know, he didn't help cover up the murder of a journalist.

Trump his doing just that. He is an accessory to the murder of a legal American resident after the fact. It is becoming abundantly clear that there is nothing too low or evil for Trump to stoop to.

Caturday

Window cats:

The Saudi Lie du Jour

Journalista Jamal Khashoggi died after a fight in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the country's state TV reported quoting an initial probe.

Riight. A sixty-year old man who appeared to be somewhat obese got into a fight with a bunch of goons half his age. And the Saudis brought an autopsy expert with a bone saw to serve coffee. The boxes that they used to bring out his dismembered body were brought to pack presents for Eid Al-Fitr.

Besides Trump helping the Saudis cover this up, the chances are fair that all fifteen of the men involved will be (if not already are) in desert graves out past the Saudi equivalent of Terlingua. Or something similar.

The Saudis really do need to hire Sarah Huckabee Sanders to instruct them in the fine points of lying.

Meanwhile, Trump still thinks that it's fantastic that a Rethuglican congressman physically attacked a reporter. So it may be understandable that the Saudis thought that he would be fine with them killing one. Trump is an enemy of freedom, a foe of the Constitution.

Because It's Friday

Japanese steam:

Murdering Trump's Presumption of Innocence Only Applies to Him and His Friends

“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.”

Keep in mind that this is the same guy who said Hillary Clinton was guilty and still eggs his crowds into chanting "Lock her up" (no charges have been brought, let alone proven). He thinks James Comey is guilty of something (no charges or convictions) Also keep in mind that Trump claimed that the Central Park Five were guilty, despite their being exonerated by DNA evidence.

The conclusion is clear: In Trump's mind, the presumption of innocence only applies to those he likes, himself above all.

UPDATE: BooMan suggests that Trump is being, in essence, an accessory to murder after the fact.

Bad Times at the El Royale

Bad Times at the El Royale: The movie can best be described as "imitation Tarantino", in that a Tarantino move would be steak and this flick would be a can of corned beef.

The plot is here.

The Atlantic calls it "inventive and indulgent". They got the second part right; somebody indulged the director when they greenlit this turd.

My recommendation: Save your money and the 3 hours of time (with previews) that you could put to good use by doing almost anything else. Even a nap would be a better use of your time. If I had a set of noise-canceling headphones with me, I'd have slept through it.

Concentration Camps, in China, are Vo-Tech Schools (So They Claim)

Under mounting international criticism, China has given its most extensive defense yet of its sweeping campaign to detain and indoctrinate Muslims, with a senior official on Tuesday describing its network of camps in the far west as humane job-training centers.

I think it's fair to say that anyone who buys that line of bullshit is either pad by the Chinese or is a Chinese stooge.

Saudis Start Revving Up the Bus

As pressure mounted on Saudi Arabia to disclose what it knows about Khashoggi’s fate, U.S. officials began predicting over the weekend that the Saudis would inevitably admit complicity in the death of Khashoggi and claim a “botched operation,” said one person familiar with the discussions.

Over the past few days, Saudi officials have discussed issuing a statement that, in part, would mention a botched operation and call for the punishment of culpable officials, according to another person with knowledge of the discussions.

Riight. "Botched interrogation," my ass. The Turks have claimed that one of the fifteen Saudi "tourists" who flew into Istanbul for several hours was a forensic specialist who had a bone saw.

Who brings a guy whose expertise is autopsying and dismembering bodies to an interrogation?

Meanwhile, lobbying firms are dumping Saudi Arabia and attendees to "Davos in the Desert" are canceling, at least those from countries that pretend to care about human rights.

However Trump ultimately reacts, keep in mind that for him, it's all about the grift.

The Fix is Shaping Up For the Khashoggi Murder

President* Donald Trump is suggesting that “rogue killers” may be responsible for whatever happened to missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Florida Monday that he spoke by phone with Saudi Arabia’s King and that “The King firmly denied any knowledge” of the disappearance.

Trump says he doesn’t “want to get” into King Salman’s mind, but says, “it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers.”

Anyone who would buy that story is either a complete chucklehead or has been bought and paid for. Maybe both.

The idea that a "team of rouge killers", being fifteen Saudi officials who went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, tortured, killed and dismembered Khashoggi, and then flew out with his remains is laughable. Especially when one considers that Saudi Arabia is an absolute and despotic monarchy. I doubt very much that this was a "turbulent priest" killing.

Trump, though, is desperate to find a way out of this that doesn't involve the Saudis retaliating against his business interests, so he is grasping at feeble reeds.

Your Sunday Morning Big Prop Noise

Here is something you don't see every day: A Douglas B-23/UC-67.

Legend has it that the B-25 was chosen over the B-23 for the Doolittle Raid because the -25's wingspan was 25' shorter.

Caturday

Chip replenishes his solar cells.