Comey Firing: Key Day in History?

I remember how Right Wing World used to pick on
Hillary Clinton's looks. Now they ignore Donnie's.
Funny that.

The firing by (shudder) President Donald Trump of FBI Director James Comey could be a key day in history.

Why am I, runner of a half-abandoned hobbyist blog, qualified to say such a thing? I'm not. But call it a hunch. It simply feels momentous, this day. The left sees it as the move of a desperate man, but with the horrifying possibility of actually working. The right is overjoyed, seemingly unable to see Trump in anything but the most forgiving light. I mistakenly thought this was a very temporary effect of both winning an unexpected win, and of making liberals unhappy.

But Trump is very, very good at making liberals unhappy. And, if you haven't figured it out by now, conservatives like little more than "liberal tears." It's becoming very clear, that is largely what the whole Trump thing is about. He can hire people wholly unqualified for their jobs, to the point of opposing the very agencies they're put in charge of. He can use worse English than Sarah Palin hopped up on goofers. He can embarrass us on a world stage, show the most rudimentary of knowledge on civics. Doesn't matter how oafish, cartoonish, buffoonish and asinine he displays himself to be, they love him, because he pisses off the correct people.

For everyone not under that thrall, the experience is quite different. This is a presidency off the rails. An absolute train wreck that just gets worse as the days go by. And the suspicion of corruption, and even collusion with the Russians seems far more plausible. It's feeling more and more like an unfolding Watergate-type scandal, and the Comey firing feels like a key moment.

Depending on how much focus this story holds on the news cycle, and whether it grows, or peters out, it's still key. Because if Trump survives it, and we move on to the next outrage. If nothing comes of the Russia investigations, and in two months the story is on Trump insulting another ally, then that key moment will be, he got away with it.

And that will make a lot of people wonder, what on earth would or could be his undoing, if he can skate by after probably colluding with a hostile foreign government (not to mention the many and varied conflicts of interest, nepotism and the rest).

But, if this is the moment when some of the saner conservatives (they are out there, they've gotta be. . .right?) begin to peel off, and get on board the anti-Trump train. Or at least start demanding some real answers. I guess we'll see which way it unfolds together. Maybe I'll try to poke my head in here a bit more often as we find out.

[Excerpt]

Trump's love-hate relationship with James Comey

The same day FBI Director James Comey announced he was recommending that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not be charged in connection with her use of a private email server, then-candidate Donald Trump walked onto a stage in Raleigh, North Carolina, and proclaimed: "Our system is absolutely, totally rigged. . ."

Read more at: CNN

Comey Comedian (Rocky Mountain Mike Parody-Palooza #1)

First up, we go very topical with Mike's take on the FBI/James Comey/Clinton Clusterf*ck. Based, naturally, on Culture Club's Karma Chameleon



EDITOR'S NOTE: I've been neglecting the blog a lot lately, and as such, I've also neglected to post a bunch of very funny, election-related song parodies by Rocky Mountain Mike. Not that the guy made famous on The Stephanie Miller Show needs my help, or is even affiliated with this blog. I'm just a fan who loves to share! So, please enjoy this and several other parodies.

For more Rocky Mountain Mike, go here. And buy his album, Politically Incoherent on Amazon!

Intelligence & Military Growing Unwieldy and Bloated Since 9/11

Image from source, Washington Post

What was it that Dwight Eisenhower said about the military industrial complex?  And how would the politicians and pundits react to that statement in today's political climate?  Far be it for me to suggest layoffs in this economy, but somebody should be looking into doing something about this. . .

[Excerpt]

A hidden world, growing beyond control

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

FBI Arrests Man for Threatening Nancy Pelosi

Image from Blognet News

Since Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House, she has been vilified on right-wing talk radio and FOX "News" as practically the devil incarnate. So how surprising is it really that someone on the fringe would threaten her? Not that it is easy to sort out just who on the right counts as "fringe" anymore. But the vehement denials on the right that they are stirring up violent sentiments seem thinner and thinner.

[Excerpt]

Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening Nancy Pelosi

The FBI arrested a San Francisco man this afternoon for allegedly making dozens of threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over health care reform, the latest in the backlash against lawmakers who supported the legislation. . .

Read more at: AOL News

FBI Arrests Sean Hannity "Friend," Hal Turner

Photo from source, Think Progress

FOX "News" blowhole Sean Hannity is allegedly friends with--or was friends with--Hal Turner, a decidedly shady guy. This has been fodder for online arguments for many years, and seems to be true, but apparently Hannity himself either denies it, or declines comment. I don't know myself, but it is alluded to in the excerpted piece below. I wonder if this will get any coverage on Hannity?

[Excerpt]

FBI Arrests White Supremacist Blogger Hal Turner For Threatening To Kill Federal Judges

Today, FBI agents went to the New Jersey home of white supremacist blogger/radio host Hal Turner and arrested him “on a federal complaint filed in Chicago alleging that he made internet postings threatening to assault and murder three federal appeals court judges in Chicago in retaliation for their recent ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb,” according to a statement released by the Justice Department. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

FBI Raids Home & Office of Special Counsel

Photo from source, TPM Muckraker

This is another one of those stories that gets my Bush Administration held accountable hope-O-meter pinging. It's difficult to encapsulate, but I think this could really get big. And it involves Karl Rove, and the more trouble he gets into the better.

[Excerpt]

FBI Raids Home, Office of Office of Special Counsel

. . .To refresh your memory, Bloch's agency is a little known one that is charged with investigating whistleblower complaints, Hatch Act violations, and the like -- but who is himself being investigated for retaliating against whistleblowers and politicizing his office. The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been conducting that investigation since 2005. The feds are apparently investigating whether Bloch tried to obstruct that investigation by deleting his hard drive, among other things. . .

Read more at: TPM Muckraker

Documents Prove FBI is Big Brother

Image from source, Raw Story

Yeah, they keep proving that all the tin-foil hatters like me were right all along, and it just keeps seeming like nobody cares. No wonder they don't teach civics classes anymore. Our country is unrecognizable from the way it was founded.

[Excerpt]

Documents prove FBI has national eavesdropping program that tracks IMs, emails and cell phones

FBI also spies on home soil for military, documents show; Much information acquired without court order

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been routinely monitoring the e-mails, instant messages and cell phone calls of suspects across the United States -- and has done so, in many cases, without the approval of a court. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Pentagon Using FBI to Spy on Americans?

Image from source, Raw Story

It's hard to muster outrage anymore. It's just one thing after another. I wonder if all my bluster, and the much louder bluster of other liberal bloggers is just us whistling in the dark. I mean, what can't our government do? What parts of the Constitution are even still valid?

And a bigger question. If Bush or his governmental departments deem something to be "legal," or "Constitutional," but the Supreme Court and or Justice Department have never ruled on it, can we get these guys one day?

[Excerpt]

Documents show Pentagon now using FBI to spy on Americans

ACLU obtains documents after suit over National Security Letters

The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, according to Pentagon documents. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

FBI Head Wants Immunity for Telecoms

Photo from source, Raw Story

I see. OK, so the telecom companies didn't break any laws, but they need retroactive immunity. They were doing their patriotic duty because George W. Bush asked them to, so they shouldn't be punished (again, for their legal actions).

But wait! Even if they weren't being patriotic, and acted in bad faith, they should still be awarded immunity! Why? Why ask why. You've fallen into the same trap I'm in, expecting things to make sense.

[Excerpt]

FBI head: Give telcos immunity even if they acted in bad faith

FBI Director Robert Mueller undercut that argument Wednesday, telling Congress that the 'good faith' argument should have nothing to do with whether or not they are let off the hook in dozens of pending court cases.

"I would focus more on the downsides, substantial downsides, of not providing retroactive immunity as being the principal rational of the legislation, providing immunity," Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

GOP Brings in FBI to Investigate Their Missing Money

Can we finally put to rest the myth that the Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility? I know, I know, the Bush Administration has proven that over and over again. But this is just a little icing on the cake.

[Excerpt]

F.B.I. Investigates Missing G.O.P. Money

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen from the chief fund-raising arm of House Republicans, according to party officials who described the findings of emergency internal audits.

The financial records of the group, the National Republican Congressional Committee, may also have been falsified for several years, Republican officials said. The campaign committees of several Republican lawmakers may also have been victims of a scam that is now under criminal investigation by the F.B.I. . .

Read more at: New York Times

9/11 Commission Reports Don't Match FBI Records

Photo from source, Raw Story

Would it surprise you to know that there are inconsistencies between the 9/11 Commission Report and actual facts? It would surprise me if the matched.

[Excerpt]

FBI documents contradict 9/11 Commission report

Newly-released records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request contradict the 9/11 Commission’s report on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and raise fresh questions about the role of Saudi government officials in connection to the hijackers. . .

Read more at: Raw Story