Green Eagle

Keith Olbermann, with the definitive statements about what is going on in the Comey-Chaffetz cabal to cheat the country out of its choice for President, proving once again why he was kicked out of the mainstream media.  Please watch this, because it is the best account I have seen showing how the timeline of this treachery utterly destroys Comey and Chaffetz, excuse for their behavior: It's not Olbermann that they cannot stand, it is the truth.  And he is one of the handful of people in this country willing to accept the consequences of saying it out loud.

This utterly incredible piece of information from Talking Points Memo today: "White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday said President Obama does not believe FBI Director James Comey was meddling in the presidential election by announcing Friday that his agency discovered new emails that may be related to its investigation of Hillary Clinton's private server. In his daily press briefing, Earnest said Obama believes Comey “is a man of principle and good character,” and “doesn't believe that Director Comey is intentionally trying to influence the outcome of the election." After all the vicious abuse, after all the betrayal and treachery he has had from Republicans over the last eight years, he still thinks this?  What the hell is the matter with him?

Man, I am getting slow in my old age.  It took me two days to notice the fact which demonstrates that Comey's entire position regarding the "new" Hillary e-mails is nothing but a gigantic partisan lie.  Of course, nobody else seems to have noticed this either, but then, what else is new? In Comey's revelation that he had sent a letter to Congress, he had this to say: "This morning I sent a letter to Congress in connection with the Secretary Clinton email investigation. Yesterday, the investigative team briefed me on their recommendation with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case. Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them." These e-mails were allegedly found on a laptop computer owned by Anthony Weiner, which had been used by his wife, Hillary adviser Huma Abedin. Well, here's the thing.  I am not a com...

From the mainstream press to left wing blogs like Daily Kos, there seems to be a conspiracy to whitewash James Comey's treacherous behavior.  Here are some examples of the narrative that is being spun: From the aforementioned Daily Kos , in a sad departure from its normal incisive commentary: "There’s no doubt that Comey buckled to pressure in a way that is completely counter to how any law enforcement official, not just the director of the FBI, should operate. In order to guard against the possibility that he might be accused of being less than transparent at some point in the future, he cast aspersion on a candidate in the middle of a political campaign...What Comey did isn’t about protecting the election, protecting the evidence, or doing the “right thing.” It was entirely about making a show of “being impartial” by doing something that was massively, incredibly ‘partial.’   And how about a little from Frank Bruni, in the New York Times this morning- again, willf...

As reported in the New Yorker, as well as various other media outlets: "On  Friday, James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acting independently of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, sent a letter to Congress saying that the F.B.I. had discovered e-mails that were potentially relevant to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private server. Coming less than two weeks before the Presidential election, Comey’s decision to make public new evidence that may raise additional legal questions about Clinton was contrary to the views of the Attorney General, according to a well-informed Administration official. Lynch expressed her preference that Comey follow the department’s longstanding practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations, and not taking any action that could influence the outcome of an election, but he said that he felt compelled to do otherwise." Is there a person on earth that could not have been aware of the way the Trump campaign a...

Some guy owned a laptop, and there were E-MAILS ON THE LAPTOP!!!!  He didn't write any e-mails to Hillary, and Hillary didn't write any to him, but there were E-MAILS ON THE LAPTOP!!!!! E-MAILS, I TELL YOU!!!!   HE SENT SOME E-MAILS, AND HIS WIFE KNOWS HILLARY!!! E-MAILS!!!! Well, that's what we know at this point.  The Democrats are screwed.Because that is a thousand times worse than selling yourself to the Russian dictator.

FBI Director Comey sent his letter announcing this bogus investigation to eight Republican House committee chairmen.  That makes it absolutely clear what he is up to.  This is a dagger at the heart of the American system of government, by a partisan hack, working with other Republican partisans, to seize control of the government, in what is effectively a putsch on behalf of a candidate who is clearly a grotesque danger to all of us.

I want to repeat a story told by Robert Reich.  It is a long excerpt from a post of his, for which I hope I can be forgiven: "Yesterday I spoke with a former Republican member of Congress whom I’ve known for years. Me: What do you think of your party’s nominee for president? He: Trump is a maniac. He’s a clear and present danger to America. Me: Have you said publicly that you won’t vote for him? He (sheepishly): No. Me: Why not? He: I’m a coward. Me: What do you mean? He: I live in a state with a lot of Trump voters. Most Republican officials do. Me: But you’re a former official. You're not running for Congress again. What are you afraid of? He: I hate to admit it, but I’m afraid of them. Some of those Trumpistas are out of their fu*king minds. Me: You mean you’re afraid for your own physical safety? He: All it takes is one of them, you know. Me: Wait a minute. Isn’t this how dictators and fascists have come to power in other nations? Respected leaders don’t dare take stand....

Well, it is now two weeks from election day, and we have entered what I always consider to be the real danger zone for a Republican "October surprise."  That would be when there is plenty of time to get a good lie out there, but not enough time for Democrats to show what a miserable smear it is. And that brings me to Wikileaks. I have some basic fears about Wikileaks.  First of all, that bastard Julian Assange has all day, every day, to sit around in that Ecuadorean Embassy.  Can you believe that he didn't spend his time going through those e-mail messages to save for last the ones that can be most easily twisted into a phony scandal?  Of course, maybe he has been too busy basking in his newfound glory to do that, but it's a chance that there is something in all those e-mails that will initially seem to prove something or other. Second, we have already seen some "e-mails" released that are either forgeries, or James O'Keefe level distorting of what...

A fine time to be checking out the wingnut world, given stories like this: Matt Vespa, Town Hall:  "Poll: Paul Ryan's Approval Collapses, More GOP Voters Say Trump Best Represents Their View Of The Party" Something from Town Hall that is absolutely true!  Republicans, Trump is your ideal candidate.  Deal with it, you pack of racist, hate filled bastards. Cortney O'Brien, Town Hall:  "Obama Pats Himself on Back for ACA...Then Suggests Improvements" I like this because it reveals the Republicans' pathological inability to ever admit that anything they do is not perfect.  Obama can't be happy with 20 million new insured people, the elimination of the prior conditions scam, and lowering of the strain on other medical assistance programs, because he wants to make it better.  So, he's admitted that it failed. Cortney O'Brien, Town Hall:  "Watchdog Group Aims to Keep Hillary Campaign Accountable" Because it's Hillary'...

Liberal style, this time dealing with Evangelicals and their adherence to Donald Trump. Two samples today.  The first is from Susan M. Shaw is Professor of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University, from that reliable source of weak Liberalism, the Huffington Post: "Even as evangelicals are now divided over the Republican presidential nominee, a handful of leaders and the majority of white evangelical voters still support Donald Trump. Surprisingly, many of them have abandoned the rhetoric of morals and values...Somehow, these conservative Christian leaders and voters still attempt to couch that maneuver in meaningful Christian theological and ethical language. "As a former evangelical...I hope this division can lead to some much-needed soul-searching among evangelicals about who they are and what they should be doing in the world to live the good news they proclaim." Somehow, they " attempt to couch that maneuver" in their ...

Oops!  the ball hit the scoreboard and bounced right back in his face. Famous ex-baseball pitcher and long time white supremacist and Jew hater Curt Schilling, and (of course) big Donald Trump supporter had a rally in the city of Boston (where he played baseball) this weekend, and the army of Trump supporters turned out en masse to show their readiness to take any action necessary to see to it that Hillary does not get anywhere near the White House: Sorry! Not quite the attendance Curt was expecting.  In fact, when you subtract the press, it turns out that he attracted a grand total of 12 people.  Yup, 12. Long time readers of my blog will know that I have a long history of reporting on these disastrous rallies by right wingers.  The normal pattern is for the press to abet them in promoting their marches, and then totally ignore the actual result, furthering the notion that there really is a major militant movement on the right in this country.  Here's...

Hannity the other day: “I listened to hours and hours of his speeches. He’s mesmerizing. He’s an unbelievable orator,” Hannity continued. "Then he adds the racism and the anti-Semitism. If you took that away, this guy could have been such a powerful force in his life" Hannity was talking about his new BFF, Louis Farrakhan.   And here, at first I thought he might have been talking about someone else.   Just in case you have forgotten how close these "respectable" Conservative spokesmen really are to being nothing but out and out Nazis.

Pretty much lost in all of the other disgusting things Trump has had to say the last few days is his rooting for the United States and our allies to lose in Mosul, in order to provide him with a campaign talking point. As the New York Times reported: "WASHINGTON — In Wednesday night’s debate, Donald J. Trump excoriated the American-backed Iraqi military offensive to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State, saying it had forfeited “the element of surprise” and allowed militant leaders to slip away." Or as Trump himself tweeted soon afterwards: "The attack on Mosul is turning out to be a total disaster. We gave them months of notice. U.S. is looking so dumb. VOTE TRUMP and WIN AGAIN!" Besides the obvious subversion, and borderline treason*, involved in a Presidential candidate virtually rooting for a humiliating loss for our troops, these remarks demonstrate his profound ignorance of military strategy, and the situation on the ground in Mosul. First, let...

Take a look at this chart, from 538, which shows the odds of the Democrats taking back the Senate: And note that the Democrats have been above 50% essentially since August.  If Democrats just get out and vote, we should be in good shape here. Link via the ever-entertaining weekly link round up from Infidel753.

And I guess they really have her this time.  Here's the headline from Fox News: "WikiLeaks Clinton Email Dump Reveals Staff Member's Daughter Poking Fun at Wiping Server" That's what they have on her!  Staff member's daughter!  Poking fun!  Man, Hillary is done for now! Can this get any more pathetic?

From a rally today, this announcement by Donald Trump: Democracy at work, folks- Democracy Republican Style, anyway.

The Tribe is In the Series! And now, this astounding news, just in!  Can it be possibly true?  After all these years misidentifying this image, it now appears that it is actually a drawing of Scottie Pippen! I mean, am I right, or what?

This post will be of marginal interest to anyone that does not live in California, but the situation with propositions in California is so confusing this year- the California State voter guide runs to over 200 pages- that I thought I would try to sort some of this out. I want to first talk about the way I customarily evaluate these propositions.  Anyone who has watched the metastasis of the process of putting propositions on the ballot over recent decades knows that many of them are deceptively written by corporate shills, and it is almost impossible to figure out what they are really about.  So, I have found that the most reliable guide to whether these propositions are good or bad is to look at the statements in the voter guide for and against the propositions, and see who is advocating and opposing them.  In the great majority of cases, I have found, you need look no farther to make your decision.  For example, if the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association is for a ...

Oh man, let's just start off with this one: World Politicus:  "Supreme Court Justice John Roberts Signs Off On Obama’s Removal For Treason… His Career Is Over...According to recent reports, Chief Justice John Roberts might have signed off on Interpol to have Obama impeached on the grounds of multiple counts of treason." Reports by whom?  Certainly no one that knows a thing about American law.  First of all, of course, "Interpol" cannot have Obama removed for treason; only Congress can do that.  Second, Roberts cannot "sign off" on any criminal prosecution.  As Chief Justice, it is none of his business unless the person is convicted and their conviction is appealed to the Supreme  Court, which cannot in any event ever happen to a sitting President.  Third, do you think a Chief Justice would really be stupid enough to announce this effective coup attempt in public?  Man, this is a new height in Republican idiocy. Except for maybe this, the wor...

For the next few weeks, anyway. First of all, what are we going to see from Trump at the debate tomorrow?  He is now farther behind in the polls than any winning candidate has ever been since the dawn of modern polling.  That is only about 12 Presidential elections ago, so it may not be an ironclad guarantee that he will lose on November 8th, but it sure as hell isn't good news for Republicans. He has two chances tomorrow night: either try to play it really cool and count on the press and the short memory of the American people to forget his disasters of the last couple of weeks, and let him try to climb back into the race; or go for the hail Mary pass and be as vicious and tell as many lies as he can in ninety minutes.  I believe a rational person would go for the first choice, and at least go down with some shred of intact dignity, but that is not Donald Trump.  We've seen Hillary get to him many times, with just a few well-placed sentences, and I think that is...

Green Eagle is recommending that, if you want to make a quick killing in the stock market, you invest in companies that manufacture pitchforks.  I hear there is going to be a huge demand for them after November 8th.

And another reason why they had to force this guy out of the mainstream press.  Please take the time to watch this, as it is massively instructive about where our country is today:

The apparently senile John McCain let the cat out of the bag today, about Republicans' intentions regarding the Supreme Court if Hillary is elected President: “I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up,” McCain told Philadelphia radio host Dom Giordano. “I promise you. This is where we need the majority" Of course, when he realized what he had said, he tried to walk it back, but really, there is nothing unclear about "we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up" So much for the pretense, which any rational person knew was a lie, about leaving the choice of the next Supreme Court Justice to "the next President."  That only applied, as McCain verified, if the next President turned out to be a Republican, because this is not about some ludicrous notion of popular opinion, it was always about cramming ano...

I think when your candidate starts railing about his opponent being in league with "international bankers," you are getting pretty damned close.

I got up this morning to make a pot of chili for a pot-luck party today, and while I was cooking I turned the TV on.  It was on MSNBC.  I watched for an hour or an hour or a half, and the entire time, what I saw was virtually unending footage of Trump telling his lies and smears against Hillary his accusers, and the whole fantasy conspiracy to defeat him in a rigged election, alternated with an interview of a Southern Baptist leader who spent his five or ten minutes of uninterrupted time smearing Hillary, and trying to see that even people that won't vote for Trump will not vote for Hillary either.  Trump was broadcast over and over again saying what he says, with nothing but the most anemic pushback, and often no pushback at all, from the hosts.  No sign of Hillary or any of her spokesmen the entire time. Now, let me explain this to anyone who doesn't get it yet.  In the last few weeks, the press has pulled back from Trump.  Is that because the sociopath...

Well, it's been a few days since Trump's disgrace in debate number two, so I suspect the right wingers are coming out of their stunned silence with a new pack of excuses.  Here's a taste: First, of course, the beginning of a new tsunami of voter fraud stories: Guy Benson, Town Hall:  "Caught on Tape: Democratic Election Official Admits, 'There is a Lot of Voter Fraud' Despite the actual evidence that there is no such thing.  By the way, this is another video by James O'Keefe, so we know just how much to trust that it isn't a phony editing job by a right wing hack.. "it's practically an article of faith on the Left that voter fraud is a non-existent problem " Given the fact that there are less than a hundred documented cases of voter fraud across the United States in the last decade or so, out of hundreds of millions of votes cast, and that many of them seem to have been the result of failure to understand the laws, not some crim...