"Baghdad Bob" in Pearls

Sarah Huckabee Sanders was sent out to deny that Trump called the justice system "a joke and a laughingstock".

The woman has some balls to go on the record and deny that Trump said what he said when the cameras were rolling.

Trump might think the Federal justice system is a joke. Bet that opinion isn't shared by those under Mueller's microscope.

What Trump clearly wants to do is to have to power to unleash death squads. He is a wannabee-authoritarian. Those on the Right, those who consider themselves patriots, should be ashamed of him. If they aren't then they are complicit in Trump's offenses against the rule of law.

Shorter Huckabee Sanders: Inappropriate to Point Out the Lies of a General Plus Tab-Clearing and Updates

I'm not sure why she thinks that a retired general should not be subject to being called out for spouting falsehoods, but that's what Trump's Duty Liar seems to believe.

Video of a 2015 speech delivered by Representative Frederica S. Wilson revealed Friday that John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, misrepresented her remarks when he accused her of bragging about securing $20 million for a South Florida F.B.I. building and twisting President Barack Obama’s arm.

Mr. Kelly, escalating a feud between Mr. Trump and Ms. Wilson, had cast the congresswoman on Thursday as a publicity-seeking opportunist. However, the video, released by The Sun Sentinel, a newspaper in South Florida, showed that during her nine-minute speech, Ms. Wilson never took credit for getting the money for the building, only for helping pass legislation naming the building after two fallen federal agents.
...
Ms. Sanders also told a reporter who questioned Mr. Kelly’s veracity that “if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that’s something highly inappropriate.”

I suspect that one can always tell that a person didn't serve in the military by the aura of infallibility that they tend to ascribe to flag/general officers. Those who have served know otherwise.
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Meanwhile, the World Health Organization had second thoughts about designating one of the world's worst despots as a "goodwill ambassador."
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The Model 15 that I bought recently shoots fine. I wasn't up to an extended range session, but it'll easily put six rounds into a circle the size of the bottom of a coffee cut at ten yards, if I do my part.

I'll have to try painting the front sight orange or getting a wider notch for the rear sight. I could not see any light between the front sight blade and the rear notch, at least on an indoor range. (I can outdoors.)

I don't know why a gun designed for police use came out with a grooved trigger, instead of a smooth one, but I guess that things were different fifty years or so ago.

Trump Not a White Supremacist?

Heh.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Upbraiding the ESPN anchor Jemele Hill for calling Donald Trump a “white supremacist,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Wednesday that “no one has done more than President Trump to prove that white people are not superior.”

Of Course They Will

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that the Treasury Department could scrap plans finalized under President Barack Obama to replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman.

There are two reasons. First off, not putting Tubman on the $20 will please the shit out of the batshit racists in Trump's base.

Second, even though Old Hickory likely would have regarded Trump as a coward, Trump seems to believe that he is like Andrew Jackson. Well, maybe he's like Andrew Jackson's feces, but that's as far as it goes.

Also, Trump lied about seeing the effects of Hurricane Harvey. His Administration isn't even bothering to try to cover him on it. What Trump's idea of "first-hand observation" means that, if you watched any of the coverage on The Weather Channel, congrats: You saw it first-hand.

I wouldn't believe Sarah Huckabee Sanders if she said that the Sun was up at noontime.

Why The Mooch is Gone

First, even the Weather Channel chimed in. Jim Cantore said this morning that Tropical Storm Emily, which was rather short-lived as a tropical storm, lasted longer than the Mooch, who apparently was frog-marched out of the White House yesterday.

I think Scaramucci was fired because he took on Steve Bannon. Bannon is the architect of Trump's moves to subvert American democracy. Bannon is Trump's Rasputin. Bannon is the guy whose job is to keep the other haters of democracy and freedom in line behind Trump.

The firing of Prebius may have effects that Trump either doesn't foresee or doesn't care about. There is nobody in the White House, now, who has any real ties to the GOP as a party. Sooner or later, it's going to sink in to the congressional majority that their president doesn't give a shit about their party or any of them. Trump never has. it's all been about amassing power in order to make more money for his family and his cronies.

Trump's role model, if there is one, is Putin. Putin both demolished what democracy existed in Russia and, in the process, has made both himself and his circle incredibly wealthy. Allegedly, Putin is the richest man in the world. And it's probably a good bet that business acumen had nothing to do with it.

So Trump looks at Putin, sees how rich Putin has made himself, then looks at the relative size of the two national economies. Trump may think that if Putin could amass a $200 billion fortune, Trump could do much better. If there is a single motivating force in Trump's head, it's greed. So if he has to destroy American democracy in order to be the first trillionaire, Trump will make the decision to do that in a picosecond.

Bannon is a necessary player for that to happen.

The Republicans int he congress could stop Trump, of course. But Trump's cooking them like if he was slowly boiling a frog. By the time they figure out what is happening, it'll be too late for them.

And for us.

The Mooch Wasn't in His Chair Long Enough to Warm Up the Seat

President* Trump has removed Anthony Scaramucci from his new job as communications director, exactly 10 days after he was named to the position.

"Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director. Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Yep. No turmoil in the West Wing whatsoever, folks.

So Mooch is out of a job and all he has to show for it is being the respondent in his divorce case.

Mooch Now Gets to Do a "Bannon"

Anthony Scaramucci, the White House’s potty-mouthed new communications director, has been dumped by his beautiful blond wife because of his “naked political ambition,” multiple sources exclusively tell Page Six.

Deidre Ball, who worked as a vice president in investor relations for SkyBridge Capital, the firm he founded in 2005 and sold to ascend to the White House, has filed for divorce from “The Mooch” after three years of marriage after getting fed up with his ruthless quest to get close to President Trump, whom she despises.

What is "doing a Bannon", you might ask? The Mooch defined it:

“I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock."

Now there're a couple mental images I may need to drink to erase.

Reince Priebus now has time to write his memoirs. I'll even give him a title: Six Months in Hell, Inside Trump's White House

Spicer and Preibus will probably come out all right. As the saying goes, there's no profit in being one of the last guys out of the bunker.

Go Ahead, Mooch. Make Their Day

President* Trump may veto the Russia sanctions bill and “be tougher” on Russia than Congress, newly appointed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday in an interview with CNN.

Really. Trump is going to be even tougher on Russia?

OK, class, let's see a show of hands. How many believe that Trump will be tougher on Russia?

*crickets*

The votes on this bill are nearly unanimous. If Trump vetoes it, look for an override as a signal to Trump of, well, FOAD.

TrumpleThinSkin

A sane and rational president develops a thick skin. when people in the media carp at him, he just goes about doing his job and to hell with them.

That is not President (for now) Trump:

Donald Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to give up Twitter because it’s “not presidential,” on Thursday used the social-media platform to launch an ugly attack on Mika Brzezinski, who along with Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough, has been a consistent critic of his administration. “I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore),” he wrote. “Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!”

His Duty Butt-Monkey seems to think that Trump's acting like a schoolyard bully is normal for a man of his age.

The White House vigorously defended the president’s tweets Thursday, with spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders telling Fox News that “this is a president who fights fire with fire and certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by liberal media.” People on Morning Joe, she added, “have personally attacked me many times.”

"Bullied"? Really? Saying uncomplimentary things about a politician is "bullying"?

Unlike Trump, Dubya didn't froth at the mouth, throw himself on the floor, pound his fists and chew on the carpet when people said nasty things about him. Because, for all of his faults (read the first 18 months of this blog for that), George W. Bush was an adult who acted like one. Ronald Reagan may not have liked what the reporters were saying, but he was a man. Reagan didn't roam the White House, in his bathrobe, and yell at televisions. Hell, people have been saying incredibly vile things about Richard "Lord Voldemort" Cheney and he shrugged it off because he had power and he didn't give a fuck about his carping critics.

You won't find that Cheney, Reagan and Bush carried thirty years' worth of butthurt over a single insult. But Trump sure has.

Trump has the maturity of a four-year old. That was on full display in this morning's tweet-storm.

UPDATE: This just keeps getting better.