I never thought Rex Tillerson would seem diplomatic. Our national exercise in Overton Window-shifting has had some results: we are settling for mind-bogglingly foolish because it looks good compared to babbling batshit.
A friend of mine made me watch this; I had had too much wine, perhaps, and really couldn’t believe I was seeing what I was seeing.
Out here in Trump Country USA, the economy remains in a coma; the big employers in Clearfield County are the WAL-MART distribution center, and the prison system.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI chief 2001 – 2013. This is the head of the FBI during the Bush administration’s torture program, when FBI agents were reporting that CIA practices were ‘potentially illegal’ and Mueller helped whitewash the whole thing.
FBI investigates
I guess Louis Freeh is still busy investigating Penn State’s locker rooms.
When I read some of this stuff, I wind up sitting and scratching my head, missing my lead foil-lined hat. Conspiracy theorists and fake news make it hard to know what’s what, sometimes, and you can’t tell if you’re looking at a story or disinformation to create a story. Or, are you looking at disinformation intended to obscure a story?
Now that Trump has fired Comey, who’s his likely replacement?
It seems that the current trend in conflict is not to merely defeat your foe, but to humiliate them afterward.
Freedom of Speech is not some magical thing: like all freedoms in politics, there’s got to be a justification for it. In the case of the US – on paper, at least – individual liberties are defined in terms of, “other than the things the state says you cannot do, you’re free.” So, because the state has not legislated that I cannot dye my hair blue, I can dye my hair blue. Freedom of speech is specifically called out, though, as a positive freedom. It’s not that “because the state has not told you what you can’t talk about, you can talk about anything else” – it’s specifically stated:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Talleyrand, Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief diplomat, could have taught Trump’s team of motley fools a thing or two thousand. One of his famous observations: “Never interrupt your opponent when they are making a mistake.” Sun Tzu would have nodded.
Ok, play nice, yall. Don’t dump the really obvious ones.