On Facebook I posted “I don’t know why anyone would want to post a picture that would upset the President of the United States.” above a picture of a pansy.
And that "like" was an "overt act" demonstrating his evil, malicious intent, at least that could be what Mr. Blanche thinks he learned in his alma mater, Brooklyn Law School. According to Wiki, "From its opening, Brooklyn Law School opened its door to minorities, women, and immigrants .... "
I wonder if the Felon knows that about the educational background of the person who clearly was not deemed to be good enough to beat out Blondi Bondi in the first place for the job that he is now desperately trying to fill.
Todd Blanche has joined the cast of Trump's "magic reality" show at the White House. In what paranoid world is posting a picture of 86-47 in sea shells a crime? Certainly not in America, a country ruled by laws not men. But if you step into Trump's paranoid, magical world, you can believe America is a country ruled by just one man and everything is GREAT. Unfortunately for Trump and his loyalist clinging to power, Americans are abandoning that world and coming back to s country of laws.
And we have to LOVE Trump's so successful " it's my way or the highway" Iran negotiating style. If at first you don't succeed, keep doing the same thing!
Watch out for attack-mode Mr. Pillows. And, to my knowledge, the embroidery material is thicker and denser and more lethal than just throw pillows would normally be.
Lawrence O’Donnell did a great riff on this, suggesting that football coaches will have to be VERY careful not to have players with 86 and 47 on the their jerseys adjacent in a line up. And what if an 86 on one team TACKLES a 47 on the other?
Ah, but the NFL numerators are wise! All current 86s are receivers, and the 47s are defensive backs who would tackle them, aiming to violently separate them from the ball. Coincidence? I think not!!
You don't understand, the seashells on the beach were a prearranged signal to activate Comey's terrorist assassination cells embedded in the FBI, CIA, & DHS!
"Stars and Stripes is the soldiers' paper, and we won't interfere." -- Dwight Eisenhower to George Patton, after Patton tried to get cartoonist Bill Mauldin removed for Mauldin's sardonic panels (particularly one mocking Patton's decree that soldiers should always be clean shaven)
I'll also bet that Hegseth can do more push-ups. Gosh, who's the better warrior? The weekend TV host, or the guy who literally oversaw the liberation of a continent?
If "86" has ever been used to denote killing a person, it was *a euphemism*. By definition, a euphemism has for an in-group like the mob a secret meaning other than its straightforward one. Former Eagle Scout and FBI Director James Comey is not a mobster. If James Comey asks his dog whether he wants to "go for a ride," will he be hearing from PETA?
I don't think Blanche's Comey indictment will make it to a jury trial before a judge throws it out. But if it does, I can't wait for the part where they answer the question of why it took them a whole year to prosecute him for a tweet that 'represented “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”' Probably, though, a judge is going to want an answer to that question before he or she goes through the trouble of a trial.
And Bill just can't help but put references to MacBeth in Trump's interior monologue. Bill is way too erudite to write Trump's meandering inner life credibly.
Could it be that they have not figured out the difference between imminent and eminent, thinking that it was a threat to the eminent personage of the Felon?
I'm hoping the judge throws it out and sanctions the attorneys for filing a frivolous lawsuit. After he makes them answer, in open court, why no one was ever prosecuted for 8646 t-shirts, hats, etc.
However, I almost believed that Bill had tapped into Trump's 4:00 AM rants and raves. I'm sure Trump is trying to figure out how he can walk away from his Iran "fiasco" and claim that Operation Fantastic Failure" was a total success. At least Trump knows his MAGAs will believe any lie he tells them.
Somewhere at this moment, Iran's mullahs are laughing their asses off. They've shown the world that the President of the United States is a flaccid, impotent old man. No world leader is afraid of him. No world leader respects him. It doesn't matter what he posts or how often he posts it. He's demented and unserious.
Everything he does - everything - shows how weak he is. Indicting Comey for bullshit? Only people in fear do that. Only weaklings have to depend on fake charges to avoid facing their nemesis. Meanwhile, Trump has been chanting Lock Her Up since 2015 and not one single person has been locked up. I have dust mites in my home stronger than this, with more fortitude.
If it weren't for the Supreme Court completely nullifying the Constitution this morning, I might be hopeful. But John Roberts is actually the White supremacist in charge, not Trump.
It's also pretty clear Donnie is running out of distractions to distract from his other distractions, so he's flailing around and just re-using old ones. Pretty soon he'll try to lock Hillary up again.
"Troops are not naïve. They know the difference between being informed and being misled. And once they begin to question the credibility of what they’re reading, they start looking elsewhere for the news."
Also, word must get around among the troops. There have been several reports that Iranian strikes inflicted damage to US bases that is far more extensive than the Pentagon has admitted. Maybe one can believe they don't want to tell Iran how successful their retaliation has been, although Russia has been sharing intel with them, so they probably already know. But the troops also know it means that Trump, Hegseth, et al., did not adequately consider or prepare for their safety at the bases in the Gulf region. There are also reports of very long deployments which is not only bad for morale but also dangerous. It's not good when you feel treated like an expendable pawn in a political game. At least now they've all been freed from the burden of not getting the flu in theater.
It seems clear that Trump and Hegseth care far more about showing video blowing things up than they care about the lives and safety of service members. And the troops know it.
Regarding “troops know the difference between being informed and being misled”: how does that relate to the fact that common areas in military bases are generally tuned to Fox News and its constant stream of misinformation?
I am concerned that the changes to Stars and Stripes will result in even greater uptake of Faux News and less opportunity for objective information that our service persons deserve.
The organization VoteVets has tried to address this even before the latest assault on truth from Kegsbreath. Support VoteVets!
See also gun victims. Schoolchildren get clear backpacks while Trump gets a ballroom. Teenagers know exactly how little they care about children's lives and safety now. Gee, why isn't anyone having kids?
I love reading General Hertling’s stuff. He is so clear and thorough it’s almost sounds like he is stating the obvious. But he’s not. He is setting forth the clear reasons why Stars and Stripes is so important, and why its independence and integrity are critical—not just to the troops but to national security.
The myriad ways in which this administration ignores or perverts our guardrails is obscene. This one issue alone should be enough grounds for impeachment and removal.
RE Stars and Stripes: it's not just the service members reading, it's the military family members, too. The spouses who move thousands of miles from home, often in a country where they do not speak the language or can find suitable employment. They deserve better treatment than this DoD is giving them.
Thank you for reminding us that the troops’ families are an integral component of our military community and likewise rely on an independent “Stars and Stripes”.
Glenn Kessler points out that beyond Kim no dictator, king or despot, benevolent or tyrannical, has ever put his (OR her) image on a country's passport. That includes Stalin and Hitler.
Don't care much for Bill's attempts to read Trump's mind- for one thing, his version of Trump's thoughts is likely much too coherent. But one need only track Trump's social media activity to see that the man hardly sleeps at all. He also looks exhausted and bloated. He's putting enormous strain on a 79-year-old body.
The same. Bill's Trump internal monologue is too linear, too logical. With regard to the war, for instance, I don't think he gives it a thought away from the cameras.
Once in front of the cameras, then it's time for Trumpian Word Salad:
"Look, the Iranians. They're some tough cookies. Very brutal. But not so much. They're being cute. But not for long because, look, we've got all the cards. They're a mess. They're a disaster. They don't even know who's in charge over there. Their navy? Gone. Their air force? Gone. Their everything? Gone. Destroyed. Like, completely. And so now we have a little problem with these boats, but we're going to take care of that very quickly, I can assure you. Very quickly. Little boats. That's all they've got and we can take them out very easily, as you know."
He chews up time, wastes it, which gets him through to the next thing, whatever that is. Interviewers don't ask follow-ups because 1) most of them can't think fast enough to come up with one or 2) they run out of time. Trump knows that. He uses that. His answers are gibberish. The other day he was asked if he thought gas prices would come down before the midterms. His answer was 1) yes, 2) maybe, 3) maybe not, 4) we'll have to see. What is that? It's whatever you want.
I picked up the Stars and Stripes as I was about to board my airplane home from Vietnam. The headlines read something like "50,000 North Vietnamese Invade the South". The first I'd heard about this and making me especially glad I was leaving. That was the last push that lead to our withdrawal.
Thank you for your service in that very tragic war. You obviously were not a "fortunate son" like so many, to include someone who just posed in a picture with an automatic weapon to show how tough he is.
I had a friend describe for me the sensation of waking up to see uniformed North Vietnamese regulars at the wire, after spending months dealing only with the pesky Viet Cong. "Holly shit! What is this, WW II?" He told me "we stacked them up like cord wood" until the ammunition ran out. Then they ran for it.
You know what happened when the first King Charles ignored his Congress (Parliament) and wouldn't let them convene? CHOP, CHOP, Donny! Go on. Become a king. I know what happens to kings who ignore their people. And I love that for you.
You know where they did the chop, chop ? Outside the Banqueting Hall Charles had built for his royal pleasure. Of course that’s a beautiful building designed by Inigo Jones and with Rubens ceiling paintings.
Does everyone remember the "864511320" bump stickers and yard signs of 2020? What did it mean? Was it a coded instruction to assassinate the 45th president? Of course not! It meant (you can look it up) "vote the 45th president out of office on November 3, 2020".
How about starting an "864725 meme? "Remove the 47th president by invoking the 25th Amendment".
Bill's "introspective Trump" is amusing but too coherent to be absolutely authentic. One suspects Trump's inner monologue is a string of shrieks, curses, threats, and fantasies of strong, muscular, handsome young men in uniform calling him "Sir"--with tears in their eyes, naturellement.
“a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”
Seashells-on-a-beach as an artistic medium are about as threatening as an embroidered throw pillow.
Careful now! You can do a lot of damage with an embroidered throw pillow, particularly to a guy as old and feeble as our president.
Now we know how he got all those abrasions and bruises on his hands. All that brocade takes a toll!
We need a deep dive into why there's an endless parade of Amazon trucks delivering throw pillows for the personal residence at the WH!
On Facebook I posted “I don’t know why anyone would want to post a picture that would upset the President of the United States.” above a picture of a pansy.
Well done! 🥂🍾😊
Do a picture of a snowflake next. Then a picture of a taco. The possibilities are endless
I almost did.
👍👍
Not too mention Comey didn't arrange the seashells. He just gave it a 'like'.
Surely Kash has dozens of agents seeking the terrorist who *did* arrange the shells.
And I'm sure he's going after all those people who sold "86 46" shirts, right?
K$sh has dozens of agents seeking the fountain of endless rum punch. Get your priorities straight, people!
And that "like" was an "overt act" demonstrating his evil, malicious intent, at least that could be what Mr. Blanche thinks he learned in his alma mater, Brooklyn Law School. According to Wiki, "From its opening, Brooklyn Law School opened its door to minorities, women, and immigrants .... "
I wonder if the Felon knows that about the educational background of the person who clearly was not deemed to be good enough to beat out Blondi Bondi in the first place for the job that he is now desperately trying to fill.
Todd Blanche excels in arse kissing. That's his main asset, if you will.
In their way of thinking, you can’t prove he DIDN’T arrange those shells.
Right. Guilty until proven innocent, Republicans idea of justice.
And Comey was such a serious threat that they immediately... errr... waited months to do something about it
Have you seen some of Dame Judi Dench's embroidered pillows? Give it a google for a laugh!
Surely the DOJ has subpoenaed Comey’s pillows and dish towels!
Seashells on the sand: here one moment and gone with the next tide. Comey’s sin was immortalizing the transient on social media.
Oh no, a throw pillow? Lewis wants to smother the president.
Goog ,abb , goop , wooop . errrr .
😵
Todd Blanche has joined the cast of Trump's "magic reality" show at the White House. In what paranoid world is posting a picture of 86-47 in sea shells a crime? Certainly not in America, a country ruled by laws not men. But if you step into Trump's paranoid, magical world, you can believe America is a country ruled by just one man and everything is GREAT. Unfortunately for Trump and his loyalist clinging to power, Americans are abandoning that world and coming back to s country of laws.
And we have to LOVE Trump's so successful " it's my way or the highway" Iran negotiating style. If at first you don't succeed, keep doing the same thing!
Watch out for attack-mode Mr. Pillows. And, to my knowledge, the embroidery material is thicker and denser and more lethal than just throw pillows would normally be.
Time for needlework artists to start embroidering throw pillows?
And using a firm stuffing, BBs perhaps, or kids' marbles, you know, the glass, round, hard things of which Blanche has clearly lost his.
Lawrence O’Donnell did a great riff on this, suggesting that football coaches will have to be VERY careful not to have players with 86 and 47 on the their jerseys adjacent in a line up. And what if an 86 on one team TACKLES a 47 on the other?
Ah, but the NFL numerators are wise! All current 86s are receivers, and the 47s are defensive backs who would tackle them, aiming to violently separate them from the ball. Coincidence? I think not!!
You don't understand, the seashells on the beach were a prearranged signal to activate Comey's terrorist assassination cells embedded in the FBI, CIA, & DHS!
NBC News headline: "James Comey indicted over seashell photo that officials said threatened Trump"
Photos of seashells: I think we just found our new protest sign.
Need to make sure there are oyster shells in the mix. Oysters produce pearls, and they can be clutched.
Consider this: thousands of reposts of the seashells, by ordinary citizens. Would DoJ indict them? Would 47 task ICE/CBP with arresting them?
Can't wait for the courts to ask the DOJ why it didn't prosecute all those connected with the 86-46 posts, T-shirts, and such from a few years ago.
Because the indictment was already drafted with Comey's name and they did not want to be charge with fraud, waste, and abuse of government property?
Exactly.
Ooooooo! Seashells! Very Scary! Even Count Floyd scared!
I'd like a t shirt !
"Stars and Stripes is the soldiers' paper, and we won't interfere." -- Dwight Eisenhower to George Patton, after Patton tried to get cartoonist Bill Mauldin removed for Mauldin's sardonic panels (particularly one mocking Patton's decree that soldiers should always be clean shaven)
But hey, what did Ike know?
Hegseth is to Eisenhower what Dokoupil is to Cronkite.
Ike didn't have cool tats.
I'll also bet that Hegseth can do more push-ups. Gosh, who's the better warrior? The weekend TV host, or the guy who literally oversaw the liberation of a continent?
Ike wasn't a dick.
If "86" has ever been used to denote killing a person, it was *a euphemism*. By definition, a euphemism has for an in-group like the mob a secret meaning other than its straightforward one. Former Eagle Scout and FBI Director James Comey is not a mobster. If James Comey asks his dog whether he wants to "go for a ride," will he be hearing from PETA?
Every accusation ...
What's the sea shell equivalent of a concrete filled bucket?
My Mom used to go crazy with a hot glue gun, attaching sea shells to styrofoam ice buckets. Gun? Ice? I'm amazed she never did time.
Run Spot run !
Heh heh...
I don't think Blanche's Comey indictment will make it to a jury trial before a judge throws it out. But if it does, I can't wait for the part where they answer the question of why it took them a whole year to prosecute him for a tweet that 'represented “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”' Probably, though, a judge is going to want an answer to that question before he or she goes through the trouble of a trial.
And Bill just can't help but put references to MacBeth in Trump's interior monologue. Bill is way too erudite to write Trump's meandering inner life credibly.
Perhaps the White House thought that Comey posed an "imminent" threat.
"Imminent," when used in White House parlance, seems to have a rather flexible meaning.
He just took the word out for an excursion.
In his Ford Expedition !
Could it be that they have not figured out the difference between imminent and eminent, thinking that it was a threat to the eminent personage of the Felon?
Threatening an enema to the orange thing . This has all gone too far !
They clearly can not spell, either?
They have their own way of doing math, too, so not all that shocking.
Like its health care concept of a plan.
I'm hoping the judge throws it out and sanctions the attorneys for filing a frivolous lawsuit. After he makes them answer, in open court, why no one was ever prosecuted for 8646 t-shirts, hats, etc.
However, I almost believed that Bill had tapped into Trump's 4:00 AM rants and raves. I'm sure Trump is trying to figure out how he can walk away from his Iran "fiasco" and claim that Operation Fantastic Failure" was a total success. At least Trump knows his MAGAs will believe any lie he tells them.
True. Trump is more likely to imagine images from Goodfellas, Casino or The Godfather
Or Looney Tunes .
It took so long because the conversation took place under the “Cone of Silence.”
Never fails to make me laugh, and we could all use a laugh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWtPPWi6OMQ
That was actually the part I found funny. I could totally see Trump hearing about Macbeth and wondering why it had a sad ending.
Regarding Trump's latest Truth Social post.
Somewhere at this moment, Iran's mullahs are laughing their asses off. They've shown the world that the President of the United States is a flaccid, impotent old man. No world leader is afraid of him. No world leader respects him. It doesn't matter what he posts or how often he posts it. He's demented and unserious.
Everything he does - everything - shows how weak he is. Indicting Comey for bullshit? Only people in fear do that. Only weaklings have to depend on fake charges to avoid facing their nemesis. Meanwhile, Trump has been chanting Lock Her Up since 2015 and not one single person has been locked up. I have dust mites in my home stronger than this, with more fortitude.
If it weren't for the Supreme Court completely nullifying the Constitution this morning, I might be hopeful. But John Roberts is actually the White supremacist in charge, not Trump.
It's also pretty clear Donnie is running out of distractions to distract from his other distractions, so he's flailing around and just re-using old ones. Pretty soon he'll try to lock Hillary up again.
And prove Obama is not a citizen.
My new guilty pleasure is watching the Lego trolls I can hardly wait.
General Hertling's article about the 'Stars and Stripes' deserves much more attention than it is getting. Good to share.
"Troops are not naïve. They know the difference between being informed and being misled. And once they begin to question the credibility of what they’re reading, they start looking elsewhere for the news."
Also, word must get around among the troops. There have been several reports that Iranian strikes inflicted damage to US bases that is far more extensive than the Pentagon has admitted. Maybe one can believe they don't want to tell Iran how successful their retaliation has been, although Russia has been sharing intel with them, so they probably already know. But the troops also know it means that Trump, Hegseth, et al., did not adequately consider or prepare for their safety at the bases in the Gulf region. There are also reports of very long deployments which is not only bad for morale but also dangerous. It's not good when you feel treated like an expendable pawn in a political game. At least now they've all been freed from the burden of not getting the flu in theater.
It seems clear that Trump and Hegseth care far more about showing video blowing things up than they care about the lives and safety of service members. And the troops know it.
Regarding “troops know the difference between being informed and being misled”: how does that relate to the fact that common areas in military bases are generally tuned to Fox News and its constant stream of misinformation?
I am concerned that the changes to Stars and Stripes will result in even greater uptake of Faux News and less opportunity for objective information that our service persons deserve.
The organization VoteVets has tried to address this even before the latest assault on truth from Kegsbreath. Support VoteVets!
https://www.ms.now/the-reidout/reidout-blog/votevets-fox-news-military-rcna73824
See also gun victims. Schoolchildren get clear backpacks while Trump gets a ballroom. Teenagers know exactly how little they care about children's lives and safety now. Gee, why isn't anyone having kids?
I love reading General Hertling’s stuff. He is so clear and thorough it’s almost sounds like he is stating the obvious. But he’s not. He is setting forth the clear reasons why Stars and Stripes is so important, and why its independence and integrity are critical—not just to the troops but to national security.
The myriad ways in which this administration ignores or perverts our guardrails is obscene. This one issue alone should be enough grounds for impeachment and removal.
RE Stars and Stripes: it's not just the service members reading, it's the military family members, too. The spouses who move thousands of miles from home, often in a country where they do not speak the language or can find suitable employment. They deserve better treatment than this DoD is giving them.
Thank you for reminding us that the troops’ families are an integral component of our military community and likewise rely on an independent “Stars and Stripes”.
I am guessing the real problem with the Stars and Stripes Ombudsman was that she was a woman in a position to tell Hegseth no.
Exactly.
Glenn Kessler points out that beyond Kim no dictator, king or despot, benevolent or tyrannical, has ever put his (OR her) image on a country's passport. That includes Stalin and Hitler.
Pisses me off, because I was just about to renew my passport. Is this some sick tactic to prevent Americans from traveling abroad?
At the moment, it appears that you can only get that passport if you apply in person at a specific office in Washington, DC.
Even if you apply there, you may be able to request a standard book.
Not forcing everyone to have it seems off-brand for Trump, but that's what's being reported.
I was told that this would only affect passports coming from the DC office and not country-wide. Not sure if that's fact or fiction.
I'd get in there fast. There's sure to be friction.
Also about needing voter identification?
Don't care much for Bill's attempts to read Trump's mind- for one thing, his version of Trump's thoughts is likely much too coherent. But one need only track Trump's social media activity to see that the man hardly sleeps at all. He also looks exhausted and bloated. He's putting enormous strain on a 79-year-old body.
The same. Bill's Trump internal monologue is too linear, too logical. With regard to the war, for instance, I don't think he gives it a thought away from the cameras.
Once in front of the cameras, then it's time for Trumpian Word Salad:
"Look, the Iranians. They're some tough cookies. Very brutal. But not so much. They're being cute. But not for long because, look, we've got all the cards. They're a mess. They're a disaster. They don't even know who's in charge over there. Their navy? Gone. Their air force? Gone. Their everything? Gone. Destroyed. Like, completely. And so now we have a little problem with these boats, but we're going to take care of that very quickly, I can assure you. Very quickly. Little boats. That's all they've got and we can take them out very easily, as you know."
He chews up time, wastes it, which gets him through to the next thing, whatever that is. Interviewers don't ask follow-ups because 1) most of them can't think fast enough to come up with one or 2) they run out of time. Trump knows that. He uses that. His answers are gibberish. The other day he was asked if he thought gas prices would come down before the midterms. His answer was 1) yes, 2) maybe, 3) maybe not, 4) we'll have to see. What is that? It's whatever you want.
I've always said that Bill simply isn't degenerate enough to do this bit without accidentally making Trump look better than he is.
Everytime Bill posts an inner monolog, there are lots of appreciative comments. A few grumps, like me, scroll right past that content.
There's not much to say, some people really like that content and a smaller number don't.
I hope so...
I picked up the Stars and Stripes as I was about to board my airplane home from Vietnam. The headlines read something like "50,000 North Vietnamese Invade the South". The first I'd heard about this and making me especially glad I was leaving. That was the last push that lead to our withdrawal.
Thank you for your service in that very tragic war. You obviously were not a "fortunate son" like so many, to include someone who just posed in a picture with an automatic weapon to show how tough he is.
I had a friend describe for me the sensation of waking up to see uniformed North Vietnamese regulars at the wire, after spending months dealing only with the pesky Viet Cong. "Holly shit! What is this, WW II?" He told me "we stacked them up like cord wood" until the ammunition ran out. Then they ran for it.
You know what happened when the first King Charles ignored his Congress (Parliament) and wouldn't let them convene? CHOP, CHOP, Donny! Go on. Become a king. I know what happens to kings who ignore their people. And I love that for you.
You know where they did the chop, chop ? Outside the Banqueting Hall Charles had built for his royal pleasure. Of course that’s a beautiful building designed by Inigo Jones and with Rubens ceiling paintings.
Oh my goodness! Unfortunately we'll only have an artless monstrosity, but we could still do the reenactment.
First time as tragedy, second time as farce.
Does everyone remember the "864511320" bump stickers and yard signs of 2020? What did it mean? Was it a coded instruction to assassinate the 45th president? Of course not! It meant (you can look it up) "vote the 45th president out of office on November 3, 2020".
How about starting an "864725 meme? "Remove the 47th president by invoking the 25th Amendment".
The real question is whether the song "86" 75309 had any hidden meaning for Jenny
I tried to call, but I lost my nerve. 😀
Bill's "introspective Trump" is amusing but too coherent to be absolutely authentic. One suspects Trump's inner monologue is a string of shrieks, curses, threats, and fantasies of strong, muscular, handsome young men in uniform calling him "Sir"--with tears in their eyes, naturellement.