Friends and Enemies, Donald Trump Is in Deep Trouble

Special counsel Robert Mueller is working with members the IRS’ Criminal Investigations (CI) unit as part of the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a new report.

The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Mueller has teamed up with agents from the IRS' unit dedicated to prosecuting financial crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering. One retired agent from the team said that the FBI doesn't have the "expertise" that the CI has when it comes to investigating financial crimes.

“The FBI’s expertise is spread out over so many statutes—and particularly since 9/11, where they really focused on counterintelligence and counterterror—that they simply don’t have the financial investigative expertise that the CI agents have,” Martin Sheil told the Daily Beast. “When CI brings a case to a U.S. Attorney, it is done. It’s wrapped up with a ribbon and a bow. It’s just comprehensive.”
...
Trump has warned Mueller publicly against investigating his family's finances, and last week pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in a move that was widely seen as a signal to those at the center in the Russia investigation.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348798-mueller-teams-up-with-irs-in-russia-probe-report

Mueller is going hard at Trump. He has already empanelled grand juries and has now enlisted New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Why a state A.G.? Because Trump has no pardon power over state crimes.

I know what this feels like. When you are investigating crime and you are really on the scent you are as driven as much as it is possible for a human being to be driven. It literally made me salivate sometimes. Mueller is looking beyond the decision to charge, he has already made that decision, by enlisting Schneiderman. Mueller is anticipating Trump defenses, and heading them off, boxing Trump in.

Fear has a scent. Bloodhounds can smell it. Dan Rather senses it in Trump:

"Donald Trump is afraid. He's afraid of something that Mueller and the prosecutors are going to find out. And what you are seeing time after time is a president who is within himself seized with fear. A political hurricane is out there at sea for him...Hurricane Vladimir."

Mueller knows what that "something" is. So does Trump.

*UPDATE: NO! SANCHEZ STAYS. Arsen-el Foldo (again): Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City

£60 million for this Highbury refugee. Another ingredient for Pep's blender. Over £300 million of Sheikh Mansour's kitty now spent just this summer. Mighty expensive sheikh shake there.

*UPDATE: I am conscious and cautious about the British press on transfer news but the original post was based on Twitter accounts...and was wrong, too. The Guardian authoritatively has Sanchez remaining at Arsenal and the transfer window is now closed. closes at 11 pm BST (5 pm NPT). Apologize for any inconvenience.

It's like Josef Mengele is living in my back Ooh, the swine is brushing his teeth ZAP! He's washing his face, how nice. I will grab him NOW ARGH!

Morning in Miami

Sunrise in Miami

Makes me skeptical the DPRK's explanation, "containing Guam," that does. Cynical of me, I know.

DPRK: Japan Missile Over-Flight "to contain Guam"

“The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam,"

First attempt in history at "containing Guam."

When you come to Miami

You see it rise startlingly, impossibly, breathtakingly out of an emerald sea, a real Oz.

Go hard, or don't go.

You get pushed to the limit, and beyond.

If you have talent, and you go to Miami, it will come out.

If you come to Miami, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you.

When you watch the world you watch it through the eyes of someone who has lived in Miami.

Amazing, amazing Miami.

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Miami once, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you

"If you have talent and you go to Miami, it’s going to come out"

“In Miami, if you don’t go hard, you can’t play there."

Floozie LOTUS

You tacky, clueless, witless, worthless, bimbo, piece of human solid waste. You are just like the people who voted for him.

Un

It's nuclear blackmail. It'a nuclear blackmail to permit Un to wage conventional war on South Korea and Japan. To force the United States out of the region. Mr. Wright argues that the U.S. should respond "proprotionately" to conventional attack. It will be intermittent, perpetual war. That is unacceptable. Wright argues that China must help. China will not help in the way that is needed. China has already stated that it will not permit regime change in the DPRK, nor any U.S. action that upsets the prevailing balance of power on the peninsula. China has said it will intervene to prevent either of those un-desiradatum.

The United States should deploy the Tor missile shield over the region to buy time for South Korea and Japan to militarize, South Korea by going nuclear itself. 50,000 Americans were killed in the conventional first Korean War to evict DPRK invaders from South Korea. We are not doing conventional war in Korea again. If the South does not want Tor, as it has said, then it is on it's own.

Friends and enemies, this fucking article is so fucking important I jizzed. It posits a completely rational long-term strategic method to Kim Jong Un's apparent madness, no less rational for being evil.
http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/kim-jong-uns-theory-of-nuclear-victory-20170829-gy65f6#ixzz4r6WvmQ9z

Why is Kim Jong Un pursuing intercontinental ballistic missiles that would give him the capability of hitting the mainland United States with nuclear weapons?

Part of the answer is survival—the United States will not launch a preventive war against North Korea if Pyongyang could retaliate with nuclear weapons. But if that were the only reason, the situation would not be so dire.

After all, deterrence worked in the Cold War. Once Kim gets his ICBMs, both sides would be cautious, or so the argument goes.

But there is more to it than that. Kim's ambitions appear greater than mere survival. He is a young man who believes he will be in power for another 40 years. The ICBMs are the key to his long-term strategy.

He seems [Weasel word! He doesn't know! Un "seems" to believe what follows (It is so logical if Un didn't believe it before he will now).] to believe that ICBMs will fundamentally change the balance of power in the region by forcing the United States to withdraw from South Korea. Kim may be right.

One need just look at the remarkable interview that Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, gave to The American Prospect two days before he left the White House.

Bannon said there was no military solution to the ICBM threat and he favoured a deal in which the United States withdrew its forces (currently 28,500 troops) from South Korea in exchange for North Korea freezing its nuclear program and agreeing to inspections.

...Bannon's interview...reveals the isolationist nature of America First, the foreign policy doctrine that is on the rise in America. US interests are paramount.

With an America First foreign policy, the United States will not risk its own security for those of its allies.

...The United States may not withdraw immediately but over 10 or 20 years, who knows.

Kim will surely increase the pressure on America once he has a reliable ICBM capability. He will use conventional force—as his father did twice in 2010 against a South Korean vessel and Yeonpyeong Island— and promise to strike America if US forces respond.

The more Americans think he is crazy, the more credible the threat will be. These crises will stoke nationalist sentiment in America and prepare the ground for a deal along the lines that Bannon suggested.

If the deal came to pass, it would have a devastating impact on North East Asia. It would raise the risk of a new Korean War. Japan and South Korea would go nuclear.

And, North Korea would be very likely to cheat on the deal and continue to pursue its ICBM program in secret so it could deter any American assistance to South Korea or to Japan. This is what's at stake in the current debate around North Korea policy.

Officially, the Trump administration still hopes that it can put enough pressure on North Korea to persuade Kim to change course. But, there is little chance of that.

North Korea suffered a famine in the 1990s and neared collapse but never changed course. Its economy is in much better shape today.

Rather than putting all its eggs in the sanctions basket, the United States ...must render Kim's ICBM's ineffective for anything other than his survival. It must put unprecedented pressure on Kim's regime. And, it must enlist China's help in doing so.

This means making it clear that the United States will not be deterred from containing North Korea, even if it puts the homeland at risk. It means demonstrating that the United States will respond to any act of aggression with a proportionate response.

A limited attack on South Korea will be met with a limited military response. If blackmail is attempted, Pyongyang's bluff will be called. The United States will continue to deepen its alliances in the region.

...

Trump, 34%: your approval rating. So that you have the # handy.

Holy hell, Liverpool crushed the Arse's anus today 4-0. Oh, they're jackin' their dicks on Merseyside tonight, mercy me. Despise Liverpool, the butt holes.

Neptune

Where it rains diamonds. Beautiful

Also on Uranus but I didn't want to show that. Not as beautiful. Oh come on! A little juvenile butt joke never hurt anybody. Spoil sports.

Pretty cool's all I gotta say.

It rains solid diamonds on Uranus and Neptune
(WaPo)

De Facto Rule of Law

Trump pardoned former Phoenix Sheriff Joseph Arpaio on Friday. Arpaio had been convicted of contempt of court. Arpaio had campaigned with Trump and his connections go back to Trump's birther efforts to delegitimize President Obama.

As Arpaio's federal case was headed to trial a few months ago Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions if the case could be dropped (He was told no.). Just as he did when he asked FBI Director James Comey (who he fired over the Russia investigation) if the investigation of Michael Flynn (for Russia collusion) could be dropped. And, as the Washington Post reports today, 

Trump also made separate appeals in March to Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-asked-sessions-about-closing-case-against-arpaio-an-ally-since-birtherism/2017/08/26/15e5d7b2-8a7f-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html?utm_term=.8efb080ee235

Trump wanted the case against Arpaio dropped because Arpaio was popular with his "base." The base of Trump's support is in the Kremlin.

Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, Kyrie Irving, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier, traded by our former savior, that kid Altman, for our future hero, Isaiah Thomas, who is damaged goods, might as well be Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt, a Cleveland Cadaver.

This was announced after a month-long, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up by Altman culminating with a "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports medicine and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, low-earning, loyal, and driven like-rented-mules staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future except this season. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you in a narcissistic, self-promotional build-up unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THAT LITTLE FUCK DANNY AINGE WINS ONE"

You can take it to BankBoston.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring hardcore to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of incompetence and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there. 

Sorry, but that's simply not how it works. Altman is a Jew!

This shocking act of disloyalty from my "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn, never get cheated by a goy. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become, a Jew like me.

But the good news is that I am still a heartless and callous asshole and can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.

Our former hero, “King Kyrie” will be taking the "curse" with him down south east as I have personally implanted a bomb in his body.  And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, Irving (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma and he will detonate on opening night against your hometown Cleveland Cavaliers.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow, maybe day after tomorrow, is a new and much brighter day....

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING THE KYRIE BOMB to Boston that they have long deserved and is long overdue....

Dan Gilbert

Majority Owner

Cleveland Cavaliers

Alt-Wrong?

Four days ago it was my disagreeable duty to commend Kirby Altman and Dan Gilbert for the Kyrie Irving trade. Now, not so much.

Isaiah Thomas, Ky-Baby's replacement, was, as noted here on Tuesday, injured: hip. Hip injuries are, apparently, particularly ominous for athletes. 'Member Bo Jackson? Anyways, since Tuesday there have been the sounds of silence from the principals in this trade. No statement from Ky-Baby, no statement from "IT4", no welcome from LeBron James. Which is portentous.

For, comes now A-Woj dropping one of his bombs: Thomas flunked his physical with Cleve

Which confounded Alt-Bert, too! What to do, what to do. The options are to void the trade, bend over and take it in the ass, or ask Bawston for additional compensation. There is no option to commend Alt-Bert. Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.

Added Time Saturday

SEVENTEEN minutes added on at Newcastle in a 3-0 win; FIFTEEN minutes added at Crystal Palace AND at Watford in 0-0 draws. City's match at Bournemouth the QUICKEST of the day! (One more to go at Manchester United)*

I have never seen the likes of this. I would wager there has never been so much added time on a match day in EPL history. In any top flight in the world.

*UPDATE: Fo' Fo'...Two. United beat Lester 2-0 to make it 0-0-0 in goals conceded this season in only seven added stoppage minutes. Marcus Mumford and Frederico Fellaini got the goals for the "Bucs." 

90+11 min There were only supposed to be five minutes of added time!

That is so cruel on Bournemouth. City’s players are going mad, they are all in with the crowd. It was such a scruffy goal. Danilo’s low cross from the right came to Sterling, who got it out of his feet and hit a shot that took a deflection off Surman and looped slowly, agonisingly into the corner.

"Off the kid's head, off the tree limb, off the house, nothing but net" (to continue the basketball analogy)

GOAL! Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City (Sterling 90+7)
City have won it!

90+6 min There were supposed to be five minutes of added time but there have been a few stoppages in that time so on we go...

90 min City win a corner. Guardiola continues to make a bit of a fool of himself, complaining demonstratively to Eddie Howe about Bournemouth’s unsporting reluctance to play basketball against a side with significantly greater resources. Mike Dean comes over to tell both managers off.

By "basketball" does he mean not being physical? That is the key to defeating the triangle in either sport but I'm not sure that's what he means.

Oh! He could mean that. Either, or. Both...No, Bournemouth's "reluctance" to play basketball: he's referring to defensive timidity.

"Fans take aim at Pep Guardiola following Manchester City’s win at Bournemouth"

http://www.101greatgoals.com/news/fans-take-aim-pep-guardiola-following-manchester-citys-draw-bournemouth/

How do you get four goals in three matches (two against promoted clubs) with City's personnel? How do you get eleven minutes of added time?

...Citizens boss Pep Guardiola had been completely torn apart across social media, with the Spaniard’s tactics and touchline antics coming in for major criticism.

Brandon Tan @brandontaan


Pep Guardiola is the biggest fraud in football



joao moreira @JoaoNacho


With Pellegrini team played much better! With Guardiola all the games are boring!! No juega a nada



Patrick O' Kane @PatrickOKanejr


If pep guardiola isn't the biggest fraud in football who is? Living off that reputation ... @SkySportsNews @GNev2 @Carra23


Reho @RehobothEk


Guardiola=moron


Ahmed Helfawi @ahmedhelfawi

Son#Pep #Guardiola decides how much the added time should be

Embarrassing and disgusting #ManchesterCity #City#PremierLeague #EPL #PL


Thanks Hombre @Sibo_Nene


Pep Guardiola is a fraud. Pass it on.


Peter @bramallblade


Guardiola and his antics were a disgrace. Trying to influence the officials CONSTANTLY. #MCFC




william willem @hlungwanimw


5 minutes added on but the game ended at 100 minutes. Guardiola's classless antics bought them the time to win it




Dale O'Donnell
✔@ODonnellDale


Convinced that is Louis van Gaal dressed up as Pep Guardiola. @ManCity so, so bland.



José @MourinhoMindset


If Mourinho harassed the officials like Guardiola is doing he'd be banned for 4 games and given a fine



Hassan @HassanHijazii


Messi made Guardiola look like a world class manager



The Peoples Person @PeoplesPerson_


When's Pep Guardiola going to get his touchline ban then for constantly heckling officials every game



dan @United__Dan


Pep Guardiola is the biggest fraud in this league. Spends £500M but has to rely on the referees to beat Bouremouth. Twat.

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Dean Court 1 Etihad 2

SAME OLD CITY?

Despite dominating possession for much of the game, and enjoying a series of goal-scoring chances, City had looked for 97 minutes of this match as if they were set to walk away from Dean Court with just one point. More than £222m has been spent this summer, on top of the millions which were splashed last year, but Guardiola's side were far from convincing in today's victory as they edged past the home side in the dying moments of the game. After the disappointment of Monday's draw at Everton, this ultimately raises the question of what exactly is missing?

-The Independent

Some other ingredient to put in his blender. Pep's still looking for the right "blend," you see.

Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 2 FT

Raheem Sterling got the winner in the seventh minute of added time...and then got red-carded for celebrating.

Bournemouth scored early and first, another characteristic of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City teams. Gabriel Jesus, starting in place of Sergio Aguero with whom he had been paired in the first two matches (Pep trying to find the right "blend"), tied it in the 21'.

11,000, eleven thousand, witnesses at Dean Court.

Alas, alas, that ever love was sin!
I followed always my own inclination
By virtue of my natal constellation;
Which wrought me so I never could withdraw
My Venus-chamber from a good fellow.
Yet have I Mars's mark upon my face,
And also in another private place.
For God so truly my salvation be
As I have never loved for policy,
But ever followed my own appetite,
Though he were short or tall, or black or white;

For truly, I am all Venusian
In feeling, and my brain is Martian.
Venus gave me my lust, my lickerishness,
And Mars gave me my sturdy hardiness.

He was, I think, but twenty winters old,
And I was forty, if I tell the truth;
But then I always had a young colt's tooth.
...
I had the print of holy Venus' seal.

...
And truly, as my husbands all told me,
I had the silkiest quoniam that could be.

And now of my fifth husband will I tell...
...in our bed he was so fresh and gay,
And therewithal he could so well impose,
What time he wanted use of my belle chose,

...after wine, of Venus must I think:
For just as surely as cold produces hail,
A liquorish mouth must have a lickerish tail.

The Wife of Bath

What eyleth yow to grucche thus and grone?
Is it for ye wolde have my queynte allone?

The Wife of Bath. Chaucer.

Deceit, weeping, and spinning, does God give
To women, naturally, the while they live.
And thus of one thing I speak boastfully,
I got the best of each one, finally,
By trick, or force, or by some kind of thing,
As by continual growls or murmuring;
Especially in bed had they mischance,
There would I chide and give them no pleasance;
I would no longer in the bed abide
If I but felt his arm across my side,
Till he had paid his ransom unto me;
Then would I let him do his nicety.
And therefore to all men this tale I tell,
Let gain who may, for everything's to sell.
With empty hand men may no falcons lure;
For profit would I all his lust endure,
And make for him a well-feigned appetite;

The Wife of Bath's Tale. Geoffrey Chaucer

I bear no malice to virginity;
Let such be bread of purest white wheat-seed,
And let us wives be called but barley bread;
And yet with barley bread, if Mark you scan
Jesus Our Lord refreshed full many a man.
...
In wifehood I will use my instrument
As freely as my Maker has it sent.
If I be niggardly, God give me sorrow!
My husband he shall have it, eve and morrow,
When he's pleased to come forth and pay his debt.
I'll not delay, a husband I will get
Who shall be both my debtor and my slave.
...
I have the power during all my life
Over his own good body, and not he.
For thus the apostle told it unto me;
And bade our husbands that they love us well.
And all this pleases me whereof I tell."...
...
Now by Saint James, but you shall miss your aim,
You shall not be, although like mad you scold,
Master of both my body and my gold;
One you'll forgo in spite of both your eyes;

...
We love no man that guards us or gives charge
Of where we go, for we will be at large.
...
For certainly, old dotard, by your leave,
You shall have cunt all right enough at eve.
He is too much a niggard who's so tight
That from his lantern he'll give none a light.
For he'll have never the less light, by gad;
Since you've enough, you need not be so sad.

The Owl and the Pussy Cat. Edward Lear

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

The Perfume That Needs No Bottle

Beneath his nose,
The cunnig maid passeth,
The scent of belle chose,
Upon her finger.

Made wild with desire,
The squire doth linger,
Her queynte perfume,
Fueling his fire.

With his own fingers,
Her purse doth he grab,
But the cunnig cunte knoweth,
T'is her quim that grabs him.
In her queynte vise,
She empties HIS purse,
The price of his vice,
The sum of her device.

Her skart t'is short,
Her slim legs bare,
And on her cunte there grows nae hair.
Golden is her head,
Toes fire red,
The cunnig wife waits,
On her snare,
Of a bed.

Upon her back,
The shrewd shrew doth lay,
The gold squire pay,
Gets what he lack.

The cunnig cunte's mate,
Would have all her queynte,
But she doth learn,
And he too late,
That her queynte doth earn,
And used as bait,
Both get all the gold,
In squire's crate.

Queynte Business

Queynte be taken,
If not wisely given,
The cunnig cunte on her back lies,
Heels to ceiling.

The squire takes queynte,
And she give it him,
And taketh his shillings, 
Quim without feelings.

Bill Kristol @BillKristol

I notice John Kelly never showed up on stage despite being summoned by Trump.

11:11 PM · Aug 22, 2017

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Trump surrounding himself with generals...Let's take a look at a couple of these things. These are former military people and Republicans.

The entire Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned Trump's Charlottesville remarks.

Former Senator Gordon Humphrey:

...Trump is "impaired by a seriously sick psyche." (USA Today)

"I really question his ability to be — his fitness to be — in this office.”

“I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it — maybe he is looking for a way out."

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

These guys' jobs require them to read people: superiors, subordinates, the enemy, foreign leaders. To study and to assess psyches. They hear what Trump says, they see how he acts. They see

"behavior and divisiveness and complete intellectual, moral and ethical void." (Clapper)

They know there is virtually NO check on his use of nuclear weapons:

"In a fit of pique he decides to do something about Kim Jong Un, there's actually very little to stop him. The whole system is built to ensure rapid response if necessary. So there's very little in the way of controls over exercising a nuclear option, which is pretty damn scary."

And they ask themselves,

"How much longer does the country have to...endure this nightmare?"

Are the generals getting ready to act?
     -They're thinking about it.

Would they require a check-off before turning over the nuclear football to Trump?
     -Yes, and they would have wooly precedent: Kissinger and Haig did it with Nixon.

Would they stage a coup d'etat?
     -No.

Would they gather cabinet support to invole the 25th Amendment?
     -Yes. And I bet they are.

Would the 25th Amendment work?
     -No. If Trump appealed the written assessment of unfitness by his veep and a majority of his Cabinet, then two-thirds of Congress would have to approve removal.

"It seems he is just always focused on Russia."

That's from a "senior GOP aide" via Politico. And it's under the headline,

Trump clashed with multiple GOP senators over Russia

Not just with the Impotent Tortoise that is. Corker, McCain, Flake, and Tillis, in addition. That's five. For failing to "protect" him over Russia. From impeachment. From the booty bandit. Why does he have such a phobia of interracial homosexual anal rape in prison?

Acrostic Letter of Resignation

Voyager+40

The original America worked sometimes. No built-in obsolescence, life exceeded expectancy; no cost overruns, cheap and reliable. Like the Energizer bunny Voyager just keeps going and going.

Kyrie Irving Traded

Cleveland got , although currently injured, excellent point guard, Isaiah Thomas from Boston as the centerpiece of the trade, along with a very good forward in Jae Crowder, a "very well regarded" center, Ante Zizic, who was Boston's 2016 first round draft choice, plus Brooklyn's 2018 first pick. Bleacherreport ranked Thomas the sixth best point guard in the NBA at the end of last season and Irving the 12th best. Crowder was rated the 53rd best player at any position in the league by Sports Illustrated. Plus Zizic plus a first round pick next year.

It now becomes my disagreeable duty to eat crow. Koby Altman and Dan Gilbert got everything they wanted here: a better replacement for Irving, immediate help in depth with Crowder, and two building blocks for the future. Amazing work by Alt-bert from whom I expected a frisson of schadenfreude and who along with the city of Cleveland I wished and always will wish an existence solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. And all I got to show for it is this fillet of crow. Sincere, but begrudged, hosannas to Cleveland management for pulling off this miracle.

McConnell, in Private, Doubts if Trump Can Save Presidency

The Former Quasi's are far more careful about their headlines than any other media outlet I am familiar with. However, in this instance that arresting lede goes beyond what the writers of the story write. The first paragraph:

The relationship between...Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has disintegrated to the point that they have not spoken to each other in weeks, and Mr. McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises.

The article makes the following points, the most important of which, it seems to me, is this:

-The last time the two spoke Trump called McConnell. The Times says the call degenerated into a  "profane shouting match. Trump "berated," Times' word, McConnell over the failure of Obamacare repeal and, the Times' says, Trump 

"was even more animated about what he intimated was the Senate leader’s refusal to protect him from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Republicans briefed on the conversation."

I'm tellin' ya, Trump is going down over Russia and the Times' account confirms that Trump knows that his future calendars will be filled with daily anal love-making appointments with the booty bandit in prison unless others "protect him"--by keeping the truth of his treason from being discovered. Robert Mueller will add this phone call to the limitless list of leads to follow up upon.

Does Trump know that Mueller is listening in on every phone call he makes?

The article ends with this:

“The quickest way for him to get impeached is for Trump to knock off Jeff Flake and Dean Heller and be faced with a Democrat-led Senate,” said Billy Piper, a lobbyist and former McConnell chief of staff."

So impeachment, as well as criminal conviction, is also very much on Republicucks minds. I find that  statement by Piper persuasive that Senate Republicucks are doing what they can to deep-six the Senate look-see into Russia.

The rest of the article treats of the dangers to Trump of getting into profane shouting matches with and berating his party's Senate leader. I am convinced the other way on that. 

Trump still has the support of 75% of Republican voters (caveat: getting beneath 80% is considered canary-in-the-coal mine dangerous) and...Whaddya think? Bitter Larry Laughlin is gonna take the impotent tortoise's side in a fight with his "uncle"? My two brothers? Ann Marie...whatever the fuck her last name was, I'll check it when I'm done, is gonna abandon the Leader who FINALLY diagnosed her with Lyme's Disease? There ain't no way in hell, man. Trump has got a svengali-like hold on them and, even if he shot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue, "THEY DON'T CARE."

Trump is in Hairy Boner as I right. He has excorciated Senator Jeff Flake previously, has welcomed the entry of a Trump Nazi as a primary opponent to Flake and has excorciated John McCain. Yeah, and your point is? Hairy Boner ain't gonna elect a Demo senator. Nevada could! Had Harry Reid in there until last year. But the Times' says the GOP "is unlikely to lose control of the Senate in 2018"(translating Times-speak into Publocc-speak Google renders that "TAIN'T GONNA HAPPEN"), and I read elsewhere today that THE issue in GOP primaries this year is the degree of loyalty to Trump. So, yeah.

Finally, Charlottesville, according to the Times, has been an important road sign to the direction of Trump-Party relations. I tell you, when Trump gave his news conference last Tuesday (?) I had not checked the news for hours, I was busy, and when I went back to it my phone felt like it was melting in my hands from the heat. 

And over the ensuing couple of days the headlines were all "Republicans Rebuke Trump," and I did think those headlines acfurately characterized the words of e.g. Marco Rubio. Until I read another article that cautioned a closer read. In virtually no case was Trump mentioned by name. It was true that his words were rebuked but not Trump himself. They are mindful of that svengali-like hold. In a battle in Kentucky between Mitch McConnell and Trump, in a battle in Florida between Rubio and Trump, in Arizona, anywhere where THE issue in GOP primaries is degree of loyalty to Trump, Trump's gonna win when he has 75% support. "The people got what they voted for, they wlected him," as Marco Rubio accurately noted.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/us/politics/mitch-mcconnell-trump.html?smid=tw-share&referer=http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/347556-mcconnell-and-trump-havent-spoken-in-weeks-report

America 2.0 Not Working

May 9, 2017, USS Lake Champlain collides with South Korean fishing ship.

June 17, 2017, USS Fitzgerald collides with container ship. Seven seamen killed, $250 million damage.

August 21, 2017, USS John S. McCain collides with oil tanker. Ten seamen missing.

“It drives home growing worries about a competence deficit within American organs of power under the increasingly besieged Trump administration,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a political analyst at De La Salle University in Manila.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/world/asia/uss-mccain-collision-us-decline.html?referer=https://news.google.com/

Pep Must Go

I've seen enough. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola must either abandon tiki-taka or abandon Manchester. And if he stays enchanted with his stifling triangles, as his American soul-mate Phil Jackson did, then Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak should fire every goddamned Catalan carrier of this virus at the club: CEO Ferran Soriano, Director of Football Txiki Begiristain, and Pep.

Manchester City 1 Everton 1

"This is the most spectacular thing I've ever seen in my life"

"It's starting! It's starting!"

"Obviously, it'd be amazing to see it."

"Were going to see what we're supposed to see."

"You see the stars! I see Venus."

"That was so amazing — to witness that in real life. That was kind of life-changing."

"That was absolutely fabulous. As perfect as possible.” 

"I’m not sure they know exactly what they’re looking at. But they’re enjoying themselves and that’s all that matters."