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February Sucks, Happy Valentine's Day

The Precociousness of the Trump Administration

Seems to me that it usually takes a few months before a new administration begins the staff shakeups.

US national security advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned late on Monday night amid a flow of intelligence leaks that he had secretly discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington and then tried to cover up the conversations.
...
Russian politicians offered a fierce defence of Flynn. Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the upper chamber of the parliament, said in a Facebook post that firing a national security adviser for his contacts with Russia is “not just paranoia but something even worse”.

It's interesting that the Russians are the ones who are most upset by Flynn's "resignation". Also, Flynn's now been fired by two presidents, which is not exactly an enviable record.

Besides all the Russian fuckery, Flynn was one of the more-public purveyors of fake news in the Trump campaign. He was one of the promoters of the fictional "Pizzagate" story, which resulted some programmable dweeb likely spending a good chunk of his life in prison.

Flynn's also being investigated for taking freebies from the Russians when he was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. That had to have been one hell of a get for the FSB.

David Frum nailed it:

This is shaping up as the best season of “The Americans” yet

— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 14, 2017

If you're an American citizen, you may be wondering: How does one deal with the ShitStorm Admiistration? Try Dana Milbank's regimen: Exercise regularly, spend time with family and drink a quart of Everclear every night.

Tree; Apple; Not Far

One of Jerry Sandusky's sons was charged Monday with sex crimes involving two girls, more than five years after the former Penn State assistant coach was himself first arrested on child molestation charges.

Sadly, This Makes About as Much Sense as Anything Else That Has Come Out of the Trump Administration

Some "Swamp-Draining" There, Donnie Boy

Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin, likely to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday, is reaching into the Republican establishment and Wall Street to fill out senior leadership roles in his department.

Senior Goldman Sachs banker Jim Donovan is under strong consideration for deputy Treasury secretary and could serve as Mnuchin’s number two if confirmed by the Senate, people familiar with the matter said. Justin Muzinich, a former Morgan Stanley banker now at Muzinich & Co., is likely to take a senior position possibly as undersecretary for domestic finance or counselor, the people said. The counselor position would not require Senate confirmation.

Great move, putting more people from Goldman Sachs in positions of power in the Treasury. Let's not forget that Goldman Sachs was all over the wrecking of the global economy in 2007-8. They pumped it up, brought it down and made money both ways. Millions of people lost their jobs, millions lost their homes, and the American auto industry was almost eviscerated (which would have cost millions more their jobs), but hey, let's put the same pirates in charge who did all that.

In a just world, these clowns wouldn't be getting plum government jobs which allow them to make it easier for their compatriots to continue to loot the 99%-- they would have been given a cigarette and a choice of blindfolds.

Russian Spies in the White House

The intelligence agencies are holding back information from the White House; they assume that whatever the White House learns will be handed off to the Kremlin.

It's worth noting that the paper which is running the story is owned by President* Trump's son-in-law. It'll be interesting to see if the story is scrubbed.

One of Gen. Flynn's top aides was denied a security clearance.

It also seems that the dossier on Trump's Russian ties is holding water.

No doubt that we'll soon hear that having a nest of Russian spies and fellow-travelers in the White House is better than having Hillary Clinton there. Because the Right hates her so much that they'll even close their eyes to treason.

Don't Cross the American Border with Electronic Devices

A scientist who works for NASA at JPL was detained at the border and coerced into unlocking his phone. The scientist is a native American who had enrolled in the "Global Entry" program.

The CBP goons have the right to search your devices, but you also have the right not to unlock them.

More to the point, the Customs goons are working hard to make entering the Untied States as unfriendly, if not downright hostile, as crossing into East Germany or into the USSR once was.

Note to Customs: This wasn't supposed to be a training film.

This is not a new problem.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

TWA at KSTL:

Lambert Airport was a major TWA hub. The city built a third runway (wiping out most of a town) to accommodate increased traffic and Illinois built an airport not far away in Belleville to suck traffic from relieve congestion at Lambert, which was handling 30 million passengers a year.

But then American Airlines took over TWA and wiped it out of existence. The hub of TWA's routes was moved to O'Hare. The Belleville airport was without airline service for a number of years. Allegiant now flies maybe a dozen or so flights a week out of Belleville. The new runway at Lambert is rarely used. Lambert nowadays handles about 13 million passengers a year; Southwest is the predominant carrier. Belleville handles maybe one-one-hundredth as many passengers

Did Somebody Kill Some Human Vermin?

A Missouri KKK leader has disappeared under somewhat suspicious circumstances. As noted in that article, the articles in the local paper where he lived made no mention of his Klan membership.

Odds are that it's some sort of garden-variety criminal fuckery or a family beef. The neo-nazis probably feel that the Feds have backed off, what with the Trump Administration citing fictional Islamic terrorist attacks (Atlanta and Bowling Green) while ignoring those committed by right-wing terrorists (Quebec, Charleston, Kansas City, and Colorado Springs).

Also, this explains why you won't see tears from me.

UPDATE: His body has been found.

UPDATE II: He was shot in the head.

UPDATE III: His family allegedly whacked him.