Life Among the Zanies: The *resident's Gilligan goes to Congress:
Watching Carter Page immolate himself and incriminate a half dozen of his colleagues from the Trump-Putin 2016 campaign has been a strange, almost guilty pleasure. Profoundly disconnected, socially awkward, and reeking of late-stage virginity, he gives off the creepy Uncanny Valley vibe of a rogue, possibly murderous android or of a man with a too-extensive knowledge of human taxidermy and a soundproofed van.
Legal scholars watching Page’s borderline insane interviews, reviewing his bizarre public statements and reading the wackadoodle transcripts of his testimony to congressional investigators have expressed various levels of shock. His testimony this week must have dismayed his friends in Trump world; a long, rambling, performance art piece before the House which confirmed key sections of the Steele Dossier and opened up entirely new venues for investigation.
The emerging paper trail of his forays into Russia has been an amazing mosaic of comic-opera misunderstandings, grand and petty corruptions, grade-school category errors, and fundamental delusions about Putin’s kleptocracy. In short, Page is a perfect example of the ad-hoc weirdness of the Trump campaign, Trumpism’s deep, misplaced love of Putin’s Russia, and the power of magical thinking among the coterie of misfit toys Trump calls his advisors. Page is weird and wrong and in most campaigns he’d be the weirdest, wrongest dog in the pack. In Trump world, Carter Page is in the middle quintile.
Legal scholars watching Page’s borderline insane interviews, reviewing his bizarre public statements and reading the wackadoodle transcripts of his testimony to congressional investigators have expressed various levels of shock. His testimony this week must have dismayed his friends in Trump world; a long, rambling, performance art piece before the House which confirmed key sections of the Steele Dossier and opened up entirely new venues for investigation.
The emerging paper trail of his forays into Russia has been an amazing mosaic of comic-opera misunderstandings, grand and petty corruptions, grade-school category errors, and fundamental delusions about Putin’s kleptocracy. In short, Page is a perfect example of the ad-hoc weirdness of the Trump campaign, Trumpism’s deep, misplaced love of Putin’s Russia, and the power of magical thinking among the coterie of misfit toys Trump calls his advisors. Page is weird and wrong and in most campaigns he’d be the weirdest, wrongest dog in the pack. In Trump world, Carter Page is in the middle quintile.
*****
Meantime, another con is running another con:
Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone sent out an email Tuesday asking supporters to help him raise $500,000 to clear his name of any wrongdoing in the investigation of Russian interference in last year's presidential election.
"Friend, I'm facing a $500K price tag to clear my name of the Deep State's baseless charges!" the flamboyant Republican consultant wrote in his fundraising appeal, which asked supporters to contribute from $25 to "even $100 or more immediately."
Stone wrote that the "legal assault" against him has already cost him more than $100,000 in legal fees.
Stone has not yet been charged with anything by special counsel Robert Mueller or accused of anything by the three congressional committees conducting Russia probes. Mueller and the committees are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
"Friend, I'm facing a $500K price tag to clear my name of the Deep State's baseless charges!" the flamboyant Republican consultant wrote in his fundraising appeal, which asked supporters to contribute from $25 to "even $100 or more immediately."
Stone wrote that the "legal assault" against him has already cost him more than $100,000 in legal fees.
Stone has not yet been charged with anything by special counsel Robert Mueller or accused of anything by the three congressional committees conducting Russia probes. Mueller and the committees are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
*****
Almost fifty years after Stonewall, you’d think Republicans would figure it out: the harder you push down on LGBT Americans, they always push back harder than that:
Advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are celebrating Tuesday’s election as six openly LGBTQ candidates won races across North Carolina while other candidates made history in elections around the country.
Three of those new North Carolina officials come from the Triangle. Altogether, there now will be 20 openly LGBTQ office-holders across the state, according to Equality NC.
Three of those new North Carolina officials come from the Triangle. Altogether, there now will be 20 openly LGBTQ office-holders across the state, according to Equality NC.
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Of course, all the talk nationally is of Danica Roehm, who defeated Virginia’s “Homophobe in Chief” for a Virginia legislative seat.
“Oh, Jesus, help us. The first question I would have is how can you represent me when you don’t even know who you are? If you’re confused about that, how can you represent me? It’ll be interesting to see what God says when they stand before Him and whether He adheres to the politically correct nomenclature. Do you really want to put your personal seal of approval on that as a Christian and stand before God and think that that’s not going to be a problem?” – Christian activist and possible US Senate candidate E.W. Jackson, speaking on his radio show.
Joe.My.God adds:
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: E.W. Jackson blames the Charleston mass murders on gays and Obama. E.W. Jackson says Christians must be willing to die to stop gay marriage. E.W. Jackson says Christianity is the world’s only real religion. E.W. Jackson says using his own words against him violates the Constitution. E.W. Jackson launches petition to legalize anti-gay discrimination nationwide. E.W. Jackson says Satan supports the separation of church and state. E.W. Jackson joins international coalition to criminalize homosexuality. E.W. Jackson joins hate group rally against Virginia marriage. E.W. Jackson says women who commit sins give birth to deformed babies. E.W. Jackson says God invented the Tea Party because Obama got elected.
*****
Until noon today, the Big Roy Moore Story was that he is in hiding, making only closed appearances, and that he is afraid to debate his opponent.
But he crawled out from under his rock the other day to accept the endorsement of sixteen sheriffs- sworn, one and all, to protect all Alabamians. And Roy Moore said- and none of the sheriffs disagreed-
“The transgenders don’t have rights,” Moore said at press conference. “They’ve never been denominated as having rights by the US Supreme Court.”
Odd, that. As Patrick Buchanan has noted,
[Moore] believes that man-made law must conform to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," as written in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.
If a law contradicts God's law, it is invalid, nonbinding. In some cases, civil disobedience, deliberate violation of such a law, may be the moral duty of a Christian.
Moore believes God's Law is even above the Constitution, at least as interpreted by recent Supreme Courts.
If a law contradicts God's law, it is invalid, nonbinding. In some cases, civil disobedience, deliberate violation of such a law, may be the moral duty of a Christian.
Moore believes God's Law is even above the Constitution, at least as interpreted by recent Supreme Courts.
Then Bannon warned us: whatever they have yet to say is a lie, whatever they say:
To which I say:
Today God set a test for the ardent Christianist Republicans of Alabama: choose Me, or Roy Moore.
In His impish way- as evangelicals tell us He anointed the *resident to do His Will to His blessed and richly favored America- The Almighty chose the reporters of the corrupt, failing, fake news Washington Post to run a story- with over thirty sources, including four victims who spoke, by name, on the record- about how the GOP candidate for the US Senate - and twice-removed judge- offered teenage girls a chance to see his big gavel.
It will be hard, as they did with Sparvey (the new portmanteau word encompassing Weinstein and Spacey) to dismiss God-bothering Roy Moore as a liberal libertine.
Somewhat easier is the ancient reaction to attack the victims, and some ALGOP leaders are already rolling their big guns out on that one. The State Auditor waddled out to foam, "“There is nothing to see here. The allegations are that a man in his early 30s dated teenage girls. Even the Washington Post report says that he never had sexual intercourse with any of the girls and never attempted sexual intercourse.”
“Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist,” Ziegler said choosing his words carefully before invoking Christ.
“Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.” “There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here,” Ziegler concluded. “Maybe just a little bit unusual.”
If the party revokes Moore's nomination, the heir-apparent is McConnell toady and brief incumbent Luther Strange, the man the *resident endorsed and then denied after the voters unleashed a Costco-sized can of Whoop-ass on the Senate's tallest member.
And Strange has his own ethical baggage over which Alabama's Christians must pray: he got the Senate seat by appointment of the state's governor while he was supposed to be investigating payoffs and coverups of the elderly dermatologist's skin exams of a much younger woman "the Love Gov" put on the state payroll. Gov. Robert Bentley then copped a criminal plea and resigned ahead of impeachment, while Strange drove off to Washington.
That's the Republican Party's backup.
Behind him is Mo Brooks, the Congressman who says health care coverage is for people who have led godly lives. Brooks offered to drop out if he won the nomination, to give it back to Jeff Sessions if the *resident fired him. The voters, yawning, replied, "Don't bother," and he finished somewhere back under the horizon.
The only Mos Alabamians care about is the LGBT sort, and after rewarding Roy Moore for years for vomiting up their deepest, most racist and gay-bashing hyper-Christian thoughts, I'm betting they will stick with him. After all, his first removal from office was over installing a 5000-pound graven image of Biblical scolding in the lobby of the State Supreme Court.
In DC, Republican senators fleeing for a long weekend all say, "Well, if it's true, it'll be bad."
Bless their hearts. See y'all next November!
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