Greeting and salutations. Welcome to the Sunday edition of Good News Roundup.
If you are new to the Good News Roundup, our purpose is to serve as a counterpoint to the gloom and doom view of the current state of the country (and world). It’s perfectly obvious to anyone with more than three functioning brain cells that democracy is under siege. It should also be obvious and reassuring that the resistance is strong and getting stronger. Is this space we choose to highlight the positive aspects of the daily deluge of political news. Sometimes that’s just a matter of shifting perspective. Sometimes it’s piling onto the ridicule train and riding it back and forth over the evil ones. And sometimes it’s reporting outright victories (Alabama and PA-18). Please respect that intent and keep any inclination to poo-poo the positive to yourself. There are lots of other places more appropriate for voiding on the resistance.
The road forward may look a little bumpy at the moment. Some things to hold onto. France and the UK are also involved in the Syria conflict, so it’s not a complete Bolton chickenhawk special. This will be a limited action. Even tRump isn’t stupid enough to go to war with Russia. In fact, if Putin gets pissed enough, he will release the results of the RNC hack or some other compromat. The Cohen case, currently exploding in the Southern District of New York, puts the investigation beyond the ability of tRump to derail. Donnie will thrash about, kick his feet and whine and wail. But, the genie is out of the bottle and he’s not the kind that grants wishes. Rezident Dumbass, et al have generated a metric pantload of news that is good for the resistance this past week.
Don’t forget to check out oldhippiedude’s Tweets ‘o the Week later on today and tune in again tomorrow at 7AM when Jessiestaf brings us Monday’s Good News Roundup
Resist. Vote. Indict or Impeach. Imprison.
The Cold Open
Weekend Update Covered the Cohen Raid (video).
The Breaking Good News
On Syria. Acts of war are never good news. The idea of killing innocent people in furtherance of policy is abhorrent. It is also an indication of the failure of diplomacy. There are also other reasons why what’s happening in Syria is bad news for tRump.
He did not seek authorization from congress as required by law and by tRump’s own words.
The Hill is reporting Trump supporters slam decision to launch strikes against Syria.
Shades of W. The Peenozzle has claimed Mission Accomplished. I wonder if he’s planning to go strut around on a destroyer? The Daily Beast writes Pentagon Sucks the Air Out of Trump’s ‘Mission Accomplished’
And the wag the dog aspect of this is getting play
Trump & ‘Wag the Dog’? Twitter Reactions to Syria Attack
Rachel Maddow Raises ‘Wag the Dog’ Possibility as Trump Orders Syria Strikes
Minutes after Donald Trump’s announced U.S. military airstrikes in Syria, Rachel Maddow said on her MSNBC show that no matter how the decision was made, the timing has the appearance of a “wag the dog” situation.
“There are national security consequences to having a presidency that is as chaotic as Mr. Trump’s presidency, that is as consumed by scandal and criminal intrigue as his presidency is,” Maddow said Friday night, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and the FBI raid on Trump attorney Michael Cohen, among other things.
According to Maddow, enemies and allies alike may believe that Trump “issued the order to launch this strike tonight, even in part, because… he wanted to distract from a catastrophic domestic scandal that is blowing up at home at the same time.”
Pompeo could be the first secretary of state nominee to receive an unfavorable committee vote since 1925
It's starting to look like Mike Pompeo might not get a favorable vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to support his nomination as secretary of state, after three Democrats (and at least one Republican) on the panel have signaled they'll vote against the current CIA director.
NYT review of Comey’s Book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
In his absorbing new book, “A Higher Loyalty,” the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey calls the Trump presidency a “forest fire” that is doing serious damage to the country’s norms and traditions.
“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values,” Comey writes. “His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty.”
Comey is what Saul Bellow called a “first-class noticer.” He notices, for instance, “the soft white pouches under” Trump’s “expressionless blue eyes”; coyly observes that the president’s hands are smaller than his own “but did not seem unusually so”; and points out that he never saw Trump laugh — a sign, Comey suspects, of his “deep insecurity, his inability to be vulnerable or to risk himself by appreciating the humor of others, which, on reflection, is really very sad in a leader, and a little scary in a president.”
From the Canna Law Blog Trump Makes “States Rights” Cannabis Deal, Sessions Back in Doghouse. It popped up when I searched for breaking news. Really. I figured all you glaucoma sufferers would be excited and happy.
No one commented on this story last week. Henry and Baloo: Dog and cat travel companions gain cult following. I have to assume you were all suffering from click fatigue (My bad) and skipped it. I’m still smiling a week later. [reposted because the Syria feeding frenzy is still drowning out other news and I like the story]
This was the Week That Was
The bus running back and forth over Michael Cohen broke down right on top of him. Vox has a theory about why the raid happened. The Atlantic takes a look at exactly what Cohen did for tRump. New York Magazine speculates on whether or not Cohen will flip on tRump. Bloomburg tells us that Unfortunately for Trump, Michael Cohen Is No Roy Cohn. Rolling Stone chimed in with Trump's Flaccid Response to the Michael Cohen Raid. Avenatti said Cohen was “closer to a purse puppy than a tough guy.” It gets even better. Cohen made tapes of conversations and the FBI probably already has them (deja freakin’ vu all over again). Contrary to prior lies it looks like Cohen was in Prague in 2016. Cohen also helped take down RNC Finance weasel Elliott Broidy.
Back in January Newsweek published a recap of what had and hadn’t been verified from the Steele Dossier. They did not find anything that had been definitively disproved. Cohen in Prague checks another verified box. It rips the ‘Steele is bad’ talking point out of the enabler playbook, crumbles it up, stomps all over it, pours gasoline on it and sets it on fire. tRump doesn’t have a strong enough pee stream to put it out.
There’s a lunatic loose in The White House. Even Kellyanne’s husband disagreed with the Orange Abuser whining about Mueller. James Witcover at the Baltimore Sun called tRump unhinged.
Gee Paulie, you coulda been a contender. You coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what you are. Bess Levin at Vanity Fair explores the upcoming Ryan express gravy train in Poverty Scold Paul Ryan Retiring at 48 to Join the Ranks of Idle Rich. 538 says Paul Ryan’s Retirement Makes His District — And The Whole House — More Competitive. Fuller at Huffington Post makes the argument that Ryan’s real legacy is tRump. And Lawrence O’Donnell pretty much nails it
Space Cadet Spanky Bonespurs McTwoscoops has learned how to waffle wag the dog, screw the pooch, dry hump the country’s trade policy and poop in the house. Someone should spend the time to teach him to roll over and play dead. Shep Smith at Fox fact checked Dolt45’s Amazon-USPS claims and called BS.
Let us make one thing perfectly clear. They are crooks. There are laws about malfeasance in office that criminalize failure to carry out the duties of the office. Taking back the house in November means all of the extended von Clownstick clan can be held to account. Today, even the Republicans can’t ignore the stench surrounding Scott Pruitt.
Conor Lamb got sworn in on Thursday and we helped.
Jamie Allman of ‘Hot Poker’ infamy has been fired from TV and radio.
Laura Ingraham side-by-side then-and-now on boycotts Oh! The hypocrisy! (video). Speaking of Laura, Forbes tells us that Ingraham’s ad prices are dropping (and that the MyPillow guy is a jackass). [Here’s another source if you can’t see the Forbes article] Breaking: Laura Ingraham was interviewed on SNL’s Weekend Update (video) [The breaking part is I missed it last week]
Senator Mommy Duckworth had her baby. Maile Pearl and her new mom are doing fine. The senator is requesting that her baby be allowed to attend votes.
Lori Berman won a state senate seat in Florida with a staggering 75% of the vote.
Madeleine Albright’s book, Fascism: A Warning was released. I think it qualifies as one of those cautionary tale thingies.
Hey newsies. You can win 15 Goodie Points if you can name three regulars on TWTWTW US version without resorting to wikipedia, imdb or google. Goodie Points won’t earn you anything except bragging rights, so have at it. Respond in the comments.
Musical Interlude
We need to commit to pushing back hard against the wagging of the dog. Otherwise …
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
Even though we lost the voice of Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, we can still look back 15 years to a classic evisceration of the usual suspects (Faux Noise). Calling bullshit loudly and often is one of best ways to combat the relentless prevaricators polluting our conversations with a never ending stream of self-serving, insane, ridiculous and stupid lies.
On August 22, 2003, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin denied Fox's request for an injunction to block the publication of Franken's book, characterizing the network's claim as "wholly without merit, both factually and legally." During the judge's questioning, spectators in the court's gallery frequently laughed at Fox's case.[4] Franken later joked, "Usually when you say someone was literally laughed out of court, you mean they were figuratively laughed out of court, but Fox was literally laughed out of court."[5] Three days later, Fox filed to dismiss its lawsuit. — Wikipedia
There’s a catalog of tRump’s lies, rankings of tRump’s lies, reveiws of tRump’s lies, calendars of his lies, and even topic specific groups of lies. Jimmy Kimmel commemorated the 2000th official lie with a documentary. Lawrence O’Donnell did a piece on the New York Times’ definitive list of tRump’s lies.
Hair Furor is not the only congenital liar still employed by the executive branch. Sarah Huckster Slanders, Kellyanne Conjob, Jeff ‘The Bad Elf’ Sessions, Scotty ‘Walking Scandal’ Pruitt, Mike ‘Pompous Ass’ Pompeo, Mike ‘Jesus made me do it’ Pence and Jared ‘Sleazy Slumlord’ Kushner are all honesty challenged. If we made these professional liars pay the Treasury a nickel for every lie, we’d be well on the way to erasing our national debt.
Faux & Frauds has been pushing deranged nonsense since they began. In this 2008 story they went after Mr. Rogers. Frankly, I’d go cross-eyed and need to be medicated if I tried to catalog all of the lies tRump State TV has been pushing for the last year. I’m going to invoke looking out for my mental health and not even try.
LIkewise, the congressional bullshit factory run by McConnell and Ryan featuring Nunes produce way too much crap for an industrial waste treatment plant to process. They have succeeded in institutionalizing mendacity to a level that would even surprise Mark Twain.
So why bother to recap all these lies? On what planet is a mountain of lies good news? We can use their affront to honesty as inspiration. By refusing to normalize cloddish despicable behavior we fight back against the debasement of our culture. By loudly protesting the idea of ‘alternative facts’ we provide a bulwark against the erosion of societal norms. Resisting the lies is a core part of getting our country back. Every thinking person that is disturbed by the unprecedented level of dishonesty is going make a point to vote the rascals shitweasels out come November. Part of our job as resisters is to educate folks about the dangers we are facing. Don’t Give up; Don’t Give in.
You can peruse lies to your heart’s content at politifact.com, factcheck.org and snopes.com and many other places that I’m too lazy to link, like The White House daily press briefing.
Sunday Funnies
NNNE Polling, a wholly fictitious company, in a survey of 300 likely voters*, found that 88% of assholes are republicans. In a surprising coincidence, that’s the exact same percentage of republicans who support tRump.
*Actually one voter was surveyed 300 times.
The newest offering from Randy Rainbow
Kathy Griffin returns to channel Kellyanne
The President Show
Love me some Closer Look. Myers was on fire Thursday night. Pee tape, Paul Ryan & Hannity.
I just had to embed this from The Opposition’s citizen journalist Kobi Libii after I found it late in the process of putting the roundup together. Alex Jones is turning on tRump over Syria, but he’s still a world class asshole.
Colbert’s Friday monologue (video taped Thursday) is worth a look. John Oliver took on Crisis Pregnancy Centers last Sunday (video).
Today’s Quote
Sadly, George left us back in 2008, robbing us of the chance to hear his thoughts on Rezident Orange. I was fortunate to have seen him in concert 3 times over the years. And he’s way up on the list of people I wish I’d had a chance to hang out with. The Brain Dropping section introduced in last Sunday’s roundup is completely inspired by George. This Watergate reference is the closest I found to a commentary on tRump. By the way, Carlin was the first ever host of Saturday Night Live back in 1975.
I have a suggestion that I think would help fight serious crime. Signs. There are lots of signs for minor infractions: No Smoking, Stay Off the Grass, Keep Out, and they seem to work fairly well. I think we should also have signs for major crimes: Murder Strictly Prohibited, NO Raping People, Thank You for Not Kidnapping Anyone. It's certainly worth a try. I'm convinced Watergate would never have happened if there had just been a sign in the Oval Office that said, Malfeasance of Office Is Strictly Against the Law, or Thank You for Not Undermining the Constitution. — George Carlin
Profiles in Cat
More Brain Droppings
With the revelations that energy companies’ own 40-year-old research shows human impact on climate change, there appears to be a consensus. That leaves only greedy assholes left to spend money denying science.
Sane people when faced with the current fact set would throw in the towel. Republicans throw in the troll.
Q. How do you turn the United States of America into a shithole country?
A. Vote Republican.
Orange is the new Nazi.
Republicans appear to have gone noseblind to the stench of corruption.
Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for lying about a blow job. tRump has lied about practically everything his entire life. Am I missing something?
Disclaimer(s): Any sympathy shown toward tRump or his clown troop of enablers is unintentional. Much of the text pertaining to Syria was written during the event. I was and am still intensely angry about the careless cavalier posturing of our wannabe tough guy embarrassment of a pretend president. He dropped more bombs on Friday than the number of Syrian refugees he’s allowed into the country this year.
Time to play us out.