*president Mean Girl . . . . Catfighting to Make America Great Again...

At long last - is there no one courageous enough in the vaunted halls of the American political establishment to stand up and point out the plainly obvious --- that the individual currently assigned the mantle of leader of the free world is quite clearly deep in the throes of a serious mental illness?

What kind of leader of decent people does this sort of thing and considers it to be mature, responsible, adult-like behavior?  Observe:

President Donald Trump attacked Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Thursday morning, insulting Brzezinski’s physical appearance in two unmistakably sexist tweets.

I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

...to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-morning-joe_us_5954fcb8e4b05c37bb7c6d0a?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Well -- The Gadfly supposes that we should be grateful that Mika Brzezinski's "bleeding" that Drumpf was referring to wasn't a byproduct of one of her other bodily orifices -- which he has been known to muse about on occasion.

But wow!  That is some exceptionally mean valley girl trolling there dear readers -- and it truly takes a "special" kind of mind & soul to employ it.

So there you have it -- that would be the the current *president of The United States of America, rage tweeting bitchy insults like a snotty little tween girl at 6 am in the morning, which in and of itself is nothing new for this person, but to personalize the insult about a specific woman's physical appearance, and do it so cavalierly and sneeringly, just screams volumes about this person's character and integrity and self control and sensibilities -- or more accurately -- his utter lack of them all.

This is the man (and The Gadfly loathes to describe him as one) whom a sizable portion of the American populace feel is the most very qualified and wisest individual to lead America forward in to the third decade of the 21st century.  This is the man (gaaack! - there's that loathing feeling again) who his supporters are happy to present as a positive, adult role model to their children and grandchildren.

Drumpf's proponents are wholly incapable of acknowledging the blazing truth and reality which exists right in front of their foolish faces -- namely that their chosen leader is an immature, foul-mouthed, narcissistic, serial lying, incompetent buffoon and charlatan who is more at home living his public and professional life on the gossip pages of The National Enquirer, than he is living it in the halls of great statesmen and world leaders of humanity's history.

Drumpf's level of infantile braggodocio and psychopathic behavior indicates that there's a frighteningly serious, psychological problem within him - yet nobody has the fortitude to just out-and-out say so publicly and postulate the obvious -- that he is unfit for the office.

The Gadfly, fortunately, does not suffer from that self-imposed dilemma.

Donald Drumpf is the incarnate amalgamation of Little Johnny jokes and an indelible cartoon character that the The Gadfly fondly remembers from his Saturday cartoon watching youth --- how many of you dear readers remember this charming fellow:



" ♬♬ He can do anything.  In his world he's a king! ♬♬ "


All amusement aside though dear readers, The Gadfly will ask the question one more time -- what madness has overtaken this country to allow this travesty to pass?  What mass psychosis has inflicted our collective mindset to be of the view that electing a con-artist and worldly clueless imbecile as leader of the free world was a dandy idea?  A society this wantonly injudicious and reckless can't endure.  History says so.

Talk to your Drumpf-supporting family and friends dear readers.  Let them know how you feel about them forcing you to acquiesce to the reality of their misguided, ill-advised decision to vote for this ball-less orangutan with the stunted intellectual growth, thus consigning you and your family's futures and quality-of-life to the whims of . . . . . well -- vulgar Commander McBragg.

Fair warning though -- the expression of your feelings on the matter of their dear leader Drumpf may not be greeted by some of those family and friends with much deference, much less anything resembling a sane defense of their decision-making capabilities.  And The Gadfly is only saying that because, by virtue of how much they enable, idolize and celebrate a man (gaaaa....aackk....aaaackk-gack...pffffffft!) like Drumpf, empathy clearly is not one of their more developed or recognized character attributes.

Happy Independence Day.  Enjoy every moment of that independence while you still have it.





----TFG

Well - At Least It Wasn't The Cover of The Rolling Stone . . .

Jeebus --- what a sad, pathetic, insecure little man-child:

The framed copy of Time magazine was hung up in at least five of President Trump’s clubs, from South Florida to Scotland. Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” the big headline said. Above the Time nameplate, there was another headline in all caps: “TRUMP IS HITTING ON ALL FRONTS . . . EVEN TV!”

This cover — dated March 1, 2009 — looks like an impressive memento from Trump’s pre-presidential career. To club members eating lunch, or golfers waiting for a pro-shop purchase, it seemed to be a signal that Trump had always been a man who mattered. Even when he was just a reality TV star, Trump was the kind of star who got a cover story in Time.

But that wasn’t true.

The Time cover is a fake.

There was no March 1, 2009, issue of Time magazine. And there was no issue at all in 2009 that had Trump on the cover.

In fact, the cover on display at Trump’s clubs, observed recently by a reporter visiting one of the properties, contains several small but telling mistakes. Its red border is skinnier than that of a genuine Time cover, and, unlike the real thing, there is no thin white border next to the red. The Trump cover’s secondary headlines are stacked on the right side — on a real Time cover, they would go across the top.

And it has two exclamation points. Time headlines don’t yell.

“I can confirm that this is not a real TIME cover,” Kerri Chyka, a spokeswoman for Time Inc., wrote in an email to The Washington Post. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-time-magazine-with-trump-on-the-cover-hangs-in-his-golf-clubs-its-fake/2017/06/27/0adf96de-5850-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.ce14065a7d3a


So in his hoity toity golf clubs, Drumpf puts up big glossy, professionally framed pictures, supposedly of the March 1, 2009 issue, of his self posing majestically like an English Lord on the front cover of the iconic Time Magazine.  Except they're phonier than his burnt orange hairpiece.

Here are the actual and fake Time covers from the month/year in question:

[ click on pic to enlarge ]

Who does that?  Is he really that comically immature and insecure?  Jesus fucking christ.

The Gadfly will ask the obvious question for the umpteenth time -- how much more of a synthetic con-artist does Drumpf need to show himself to be before his brain-dead followers catch on to the flimflam and to the fact that they are the marks in his real-life consequences con game?

What makes this all the more surreal is the fact that Drumpf daily harps incessantly about the "fake news" which he has labeled as such simply by virtue of the fact that the media is simply reporting the truth as it relates to his very own words and actions.

And let's not forget, this is not the first time Drumpf has pretended he is something or someone that he is not.  Remember the stories of him doing audio interviews with the media in the 80's and 90's posing as his own spokesperson/PR guy - someone named John Barron or John Miller - and speaking fawningly of himself?  Yeah -- he did it, and then when those interviews surfaced during the 2016 GOP primary campaign, he lied and claimed that it wasn't him yet he was never able to produce either Mr. "Barron" or Mr. "Miller" to corroborate his denials.

Drumpf is an out and out fraud.  He's a charlatan.  He's a quack.  He's a conniver and a trickster and a deceiver.  He also has the codes for America's nuclear arsenal and he's BFFs with the former head of the Russian KGB and current dictator of second largest communist state in the world.

What could possibly go wrong?



----TFG

Cool, Cool . . . . Feculent... Water . . . .

Just another bilious milestone as America in the age of Drumpf hastens it's march toward third world country status:

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to undo yet another Obama-era environmental regulation after releasing a proposal on Tuesday meant to dismantle a rule protecting rivers and streams from pollution.

The latest target from the notably anti-environmental administration of President Donald Trump is the Clean Water Rule, which in 2015 updated a longstanding act passed during the advent of the EPA to clean up heavily polluted federal waterways. The rule, passed under former President Barack Obama, expanded federal authority to include all “navigable” waters under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. It ultimately protected the drinking water of more than 117 million Americans.

The Clean Water Rule was the result of more than 400 meetings with stakeholders and a review of more than 1 million public comments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-clean-water-rule_us_59535198e4b02734df2e6e06?eek&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009


And presto!  Just like that -- the 400 meetings with stakeholders and the input of more than a million Americans about the state of their community's drinking water supplies are disappeared in to the Drumpf/oligarch cornfield.

The Gadfly hopes all you hopeless deplorables who voted for Drumpf are able to factor the cost of bottled drinking water in to your future family budgets -- unless of course it doesn't bother you to be serving yourself and your kids the occasional cocktail sampling of e-coli, lead and toxic chemicals as a refreshing meal-time beverage.



----TFG

Will There Be Enough Of Us To Be Democracy's Salvation? We're About to Find Out...

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

Thomas Paine, The Crisis No. I (written 19 December 1776, published 23 December 1776)

Back in October of last year, nearly a month before the November election that resulted in a bullying orangutan with Tourette Syndrome ascending to the world's most powerful position, something extraordinary occurred.

On October 7, 2016, all 17 agencies of the United States of America's national security infrastructure did something that they very rarely do -- they issued a joint, consensus statement to the public which quite succinctly stated that the Russian government was actively involved in ratfucking cyber-activity aimed at affecting the outcome of America's upcoming presidential election.  Not only that, they made it clear that in their collective view, these cyber attacks on American democracy were being directed straight from the top of the Russian government -- ergo Vladimir Putin.

This is the statement they released that October day:

"The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/21/17-intelligence-agencies-russia-behind-hacking/92514592/#

Then candidate Donald Trump and his people cast aspersions on the report and questioned the veracity and the motives of the American intelligence community.  Trump himself issued a smug public response when he stated that the intelligence agencies had “no idea whether it is Russia, China or anybody else.”  Trump basically insinuated that all of America's intelligence agencies were either incompetent boobs, or worse - politically biased liars on Hillary Clinton's payroll.

Yesterday, Friday June 23, 2017 the Washington Post published a story which not only reaffirms that joint intelligence report from last October, they now say that there is smoking gun evidence that Putin ordered the hacking for the express purpose of harming Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump take control of the American presidency:

Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried “eyes only” instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides.

Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race.

But it went further. The intelligence captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objectives — defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.

https://tinyurl.com/ydxhov46

During the time period between October 7, 2016 and yesterday, Trump and his surrogates, with the rabid, vocal support of Drumpf followers, have gone to staggering lengths to muddy the waters on the glacially-paced investigation of the Russian ratfucking and denigrate the U.S. intelligence agencies themselves as well as the media for reporting on it.

It all culminated with Drumpf firing FBI Director James Comey on May 9th.  The following day, Trump hosted Russian officials in the oval office, with only Russian media present, and openly bragged to the Russians that he had fired Comey thus relieving "great pressure" on him over the Russian collusion investigation.  He also slandered Comey to the Russians telling them that Comey was a "nut job" and "crazy."

By this time, as we all know now by Comey's sworn testimony on capitol hill recently, Comey was so distrustful of Drumpf and his motives that upon his firing he deliberately leaked the meticulously detailed notes of his meetings with Drumpf to a close friend and requested that friend give the notes to the media.

Comey himself stated that the one singular act by Drumpf that triggered his decision to leak his notes was Drumpf's threatening tweet on May 12th three days after his firing, that Comey had better hope that there weren't recorded tapes of their one-on-one meetings together --- basically insinuating that Comey was potentially going to lie about the meetings but that he Drumpf had taped them to refute those lies.

Of course the media, Democrats and even several high-ranking Republicans immediately demanded that if Drumpf had such tapes, he needed to release them to investigators.

It has been nearly 6 weeks since Drumpf's smirking tweet about possible tapes of his and James Comey's meetings.  No tapes were ever offered up to investigators.

Then yesterday, as the Washington Post story broke Drumpf tweeted this:

With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea...

...whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877932907137966080

So for six weeks Drumpf let the idea stew with the American public that he was holding on to taped evidence that exonerated him from James Comey's public statements about what had transpired in their private meetings with each other.  And now, suddenly, we have the expected admission that he, himself has no such tapes.  However, in classic Drumpf ratfuckery, assholery fashion, he pompously conjectures that his admission of not having tapes himself does not mean that perhaps someone, somewhere might not be in possession of such taped material.  Who knows -- maybe his good friend Vladimir Putin has such tapes?

What this behavior by Drumpf screams to The Gadfly is that he's hiding something that quite obviously is going to have devastating consequences to his presidency.  It also suggests very plainly that he is doing everything that he can to stall for time.  Part of that stalling strategy is to rally his rabid, brain-dead base to his side by insinuating that there's some mysterious, unseen deep-state/media entity conspiring against him to deny him his rightful place in the White House.  He's reconstituting his successful divide & conquer strategy that he used to such grotesque, albeit fruitful effect during his presidential campaign.  He has no qualms about dragging this whole country down to his amoral, self-serving level of duplicity and treachery because in the end, it is all about the Donald winning -- as it always has been, and will be.

And this is why The Gadfly speaks up.  This is why The Gadfly is not remorseful for stating plain and clearly his admittedly brutal views about Drumpf's bootlicking supporters.  The Gadfly will make it crystal clear for any of you still wondering --- yes, The Gadfly believes that Donald Trump has committed the act of treason against the United States of America.  The Gadfly believes that several of Drumpf's associates have committed the very same offense.  Be that as it is then, The Gadfly also believes that many of Drumpf's supporters are teetering dangerously on the verge of being willing accomplices to that treason with their mindlessly blind, uncritical devotion to and support of Mr. Drumpf and his perfidious actions.

The Gadfly wishes this were not the case.  But it is.

The time is drawing nearer when the clarion, undeniable truth behind this whole sordid mess will be plopped directly in the lap of the American public.  And when that happens, people are going to be confronted with the choice of believing and having faith in their democracy or signing over their and their children's and grandchildren's futures and likely freedom to a former Russian KGB agent and his handpicked, oligarch puppet.

The Gadfly truly hopes that for the sake of everything good and honorable and righteous that America has ever stood for, that a clear majority of Americans makes the right choice at that imminent and fateful place in time.




----TFG

A Tale of Two Realities - One Reality-Based, One Alternate Universe-Based....

Charlie Pierce at Esquire has belatedly arrived at the point of horror-struck exasperation that The Gadfly long, long ago crash landed at.  Observe:

I try. Lord knows how I try. I try to maintain a certain equilibrium about all of my fellow citizens. We're all in this great democratic experiment together, after all. I think we have an obligation as a self-governing democratic republic to make government work best for all our people. I believe in the idea of a political commonwealth, and in the political commons to which we all have a right and in which we all have a stake. Economic anxiety in de-industrialized America is very real and it is a real danger to all of what we can achieve together. It is now, and it was in 1980, when I drove from Youngstown to Toledo to Flint to Grand Rapids as we wound into the election that brought us Ronald Reagan.

(So, by the way, is the intractable poverty of people, working class and otherwise, who are not white.)

So, I try. Lord knows how I try.

But what am I supposed to do when so many of my fellow citizens guzzle snake oil by the gallon and call it champagne?

The president* flew himself out to Iowa on Wednesday night to bask in the adulation of yet another rapturous crowd and to deliver yet another speech from the oratorical firm of Hokum, Bunkum, and Con. They didn't even balk when he told them, right to their eager faces, that all his campaign rhetoric about cracking down on the bankster class was the purest moonshine.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55808/trump-rally-poor-people-solar-wall/

And the "fellow citizens" whom Pierce is referring to are quite undoubtedly these insufferably torpid pod people:





Drumpf's followers are aggressively smearing James Comey and now are even going after special counsel Robert Mueller.

The Gadfly finds it telling that the Trump supporters have decided to aim their fire at two Americans, two men of law enforcement, two men who have served their country with distinction (Mueller is even a decorated U.S. Marine).  Yet they willfully turn a blind eye to the Russians and their cyber attacks on America aimed at disrupting our electoral infrastructure - a pillar of our democracy - and to the motherfucking fact that those cyber attacks had the sole purpose of electing their hero Donald John Trump to the United States Presidency:

The latest revelations center on a critical piece of evidence that led U.S. intelligence agencies to that conclusion. In particular, the CIA had obtained intelligence from sources inside the Russian government by early August that captured the Russian leader’s specific instructions to subordinates on the operation’s objectives: disparage and seek to defeat the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton while helping to deliver the White House to Trump.

One former CIA official likened the intelligence to the “holy grail,” a rare window directly into the plans and intentions of Putin, a former KGB operative who takes extraordinary precautions to protect himself from foreign surveillance. The intelligence was as raw as it was compelling, and it took other U.S. spy agencies months to reach consensus that Putin not only directed the interference but worked to defeat Clinton, a politician he disliked and suspected of fomenting internal Russian opposition.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/06/23/putin-denied-meddling-in-the-u-s-election-the-cia-caught-him-doing-just-that/

Drumpf's borg followers openly state that, Comey and Mueller, considered by most sane and objective accounts pretty honorable men who have served their country at the highest levels of law enforcement with distinction in both Democratic and Republican administrations, are liars and leakers and lizards.  In the damaged minds of these mentally disturbed people, Donald pussy grabbing, casino bankrupting, charity embezzling, Vladimir Putin cocksucking Trump is a much more trustworthy person than Comey and Mueller are by leaps and bounds.

This is how utterly madcap this whole mind-bending scenario is dear readers -- Comey and Mueller are both conservatives and Republicans and here on the pages of this shitty little blog you actually have the dirty old fucking hippie The Gadfly defending their honor from attacks by rightwing conservatives!

Allow your reality-based mind to feast on that magical dung heap of eminently cockamamie lunacy for a few moments if you will folks.

But the Drumpf followers don't care.  Nothing breaks through the impenetrable force field of stupidity and mind-numbing ignorance that they have zealously cocooned themselves in.

The Gadfly is going to describe to you dear readers, from very real and very personal experiences, what it's like attempting to have an honest, reality-based conversation with Trump supporters about the glaring obviousness of Trump's behavior and actions and even his own goddamn recorded words.

Allow The Gadfly to set this up for you dear readers.

Imagine for a moment that you are standing at a bus stop, on a city street along with several other people.  Suddenly a truck driving by backfires, frightening a bunch of pigeons from their perch on the building behind the bus stop.  As the pigeons take flight over head, everyone at the bus stop looks up at the noise of the manically fluttering wings only to see a big, white glop of pigeon shit fall from the sphincter of one of the birds and plop smack dab in a spraying splatter on the forehead of a guy in line at the bus stop wearing a "She's a Cunt, Vote for Trump" t-shirt.  This guy just so happens to be standing right next to you.  The guy who took the direct hit from the birdshit bomb doesn't flinch an iota and returns his gaze streetward.  You lean over to the Trump fan guy to make a comment about what you just observed occur and the conversation goes something like this:

You:  Wow man - that bird just took a huge, juicy shit right on your forehead -- that sucks.

Drumpf fan:  What are you talking about?

You:  One of those pigeons that just flew over us shit on your forehead -- there's a big white splotch of gooey, whitish green and black bird shit splattered all over your forehead dude -- didn't you feel it?

Drumpf fan:  That's a typical libtard observation.  You just make up things to fit your libtard narrative.

You:  What?  Are you saying that you didn't feel that glop of bird shit smack you on your forehead?  Are you serious?

Drumpf fan:  Libtards have an agenda and they make up lies to push their libtard agenda.  Your libtard views are meaningless to me.

You:  What the fuck are you saying?  It's not my "opinion" that a bird just pinched a creamy bird loaf on your face - that's reality.  If you don't believe me take your fingers, wipe them across your stupid fucking forehead then smell them and tell me that isn't bird shit!

(the man wipes his fingers across his forehead then sniffs them)

You:  You see man - it's bird shit!

(at that point a woman standing on the other side of the man joins the discussion)

Woman:  I saw it too - I saw that clump of bird shit come straight out of that pigeon's ass and land square in the middle of your forehead sir -- some of it even splattered on the sleeves of my new suit jacket -- see? (she points to white specks of goop on her arm).

(another man in the group chimes in)

3rd man:  I got it on tape!  I video recorded it on my smartphone - that bird took a dump right on your head mister.  Want to see the video?

(there's a moment of silence as all three of you who witnessed the fowl bombardment stand looking at the man with the very obvious blot of white, gooey gunk on his forehead, expecting sober capitulation to the reality of his situation -- and then he responds to you) 

Drumpf fan:  It's fake birdshit.  And your observation is a conspiracy with all these other libtards along with your fake media to insult my patriotism, denigrate my beliefs and make me look like a moron.

(the bus then arrives and the man, still with the large white splotch of pigeon guano staining his wide forehead boards the bus, heads straight to the back bench seat, sits down facing the center aisle and as you make your way toward the rear of the bus to look for a seat, he smirks and defiantly thrusts his middle-finger at you) ------ end of story

Seriously dear readers -- that is precisely what it's like debating these people when it comes to the subject of their savior Drumpf.  It's like arguing with your average 3 year old toddler and it's maddening and it's infuriating and it's dumbfounding in the most extreme sense of those word's core meanings.

The Gadfly has no answer as to how to deal with such supremely and frighteningly deranged human beings.  No known manual exists on how to do so.

All that's left is the hope that Comey and Mueller and the people tasked with unpleasant job of unraveling all of Drumpf's shady entanglements and conduct will do their jobs to the best of their abilities and allow the law of the land and the truth be the final judge, jury and if necessary, the executioner of Donald John Trump's deformed *presidency.



----TFG

Never Give an Inch -- Especially to Bald-Faced Bullshit . . . .

There are times when you just have to take a very measured, deep breath and let loose an uproarious guffaw of laughter at these fucking people, even when it's about very serious, troubled subject matter.

Observe:

Kellyanne Conway ran to the welcoming arms of “Fox & Friends” this morning, where she complained about the media coverage on the day of the Steve Scalise shooting.

In a curious bit of faux introspection, she gave a seemingly heartfelt little speech that basically exempted herself and the Trump administration from contributing to the national atmosphere of simmering violence.

"I would really ask people to think about the hateful rhetoric," she said. She then proceeded to accuse Nancy Pelosi of "pointing the finger already."

"I do think some people are unloading their shame and guilt in the call for toning down the toxicity and the rhetoric," she said in a classic example of projection.

“I went back and looked at exactly what was being discussed on all the TV shows, except yours, at 7:09 a.m. on Wednesday, when this happened, and it’s a really curious exercise."

"Because as Steve Scalise was fighting for his life and crawling into right field in a trail of blood, you should go back and see what people were saying about the president and Republicans at that very moment.”

“Of course, they had to break in with the news of this tragedy, and since then there’s been some introspection — some quieter, more muted voices toning down the rhetoric.”

“But look at Twitter,” she said.

“If I was shot and killed tomorrow, half of Twitter would explode in applause and excitement. This is the world we live in now.”

"You can't attack people personally and think tragedies like this won't happen."

http://crooksandliars.com/2017/06/kellyanne-conway-if-i-were-shot-and-0

To which The Gadfly's knee-jerk response is:





First of all dear Kellyanne, you flatter yourself a might too much to be actually believing that "half " of Twitter users are so closely following your decrepit life as a Drumpf fluffer that they would give a shit what happens to you.  Umm let's see, there's 328 million Twitter accounts, divided in half equals 164 million which would mean that there are 164 million people in the world who Kellyanne Conway fancies are pining to see her untimely and violent demise.

That was the least offensive part of her vomitous statement.

She also had the unmitigated fucking gall to state, "You can't attack people personally and think tragedies like this won't happen."

OMFG.  Did she really go there?  Did she?   Did she really mouth those hypocritical words??

Good lord.

Where was Kellyanne's pious and concerned opinionizing when fake news (real fucking fake news) about Hillary Clinton purportedly running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington D.C. pizza parlor actually incited a right-wing nut job to go to that pizza parlor armed with an assault rifle and shoot up the fucking place looking for the crimes?

No -- you're not going to get away with that bullshit Kellyanne.  Your paymaster himself rode the coattails of his supporters violent tendencies and hatefulness right in to the White House and as far as The Gadfly is concerned, your phony fainting spell about violent rhetoric in our political discourse is pretty much worth this:






That's all.




----TFG

Just Make Believe For a Moment That The Gadfly is Don Corleone . . .

The Gadfly would like to take a moment here on the pages of his shitty little blog to talk about something much more important and dear to The Gadfly's heart other than seeing Donald Trump and his borg followers get their comeuppance.

The Gadfly will make this quick and to the point.

2+ years ago The Gadfly's mum was diagnosed with a lung tumor.  It was cancerous.  Since that unfortunate discovery, The Gadfly's mum has mustered ever fiber of her human being to battle this invasive thing in her body and has subjected herself to onslaughts of radiation and chemotherapy and battled her way through unimaginable pain.  If you are an American and you know someone, maybe even yourself, who has had a cancer episode, you know how frightening it is, and not just from the prospect of facing your own mortality -- but also for having to deal with the inevitable blizzard of doctor, specialist and hospital bills which you know are coming and that basically dwarf your entire net $ value as a member of our society.

That's where The Gadfly's mom is today -- she's still battling her awful disease, but she is also now staring financial Armageddon in the face from medical bills.

The Gadfly's family has started a GoFundMe account for mom.  Gadfly will post the link here and if any of you feel so inclined to kindly extend a helping hand, an open heart and a few greenbacks, The Gadfly would be most humbly appreciative.

That's all, and thank you all in advance for your support.

P.S. --- For those of you who have already donated, our family cannot express in mere words on a shitty little blog like this just how much your kindness and generosity is appreciated.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Gadfly's Mom's GoFundMe page:  

https://www.gofundme.com/t74jmw-susys-medical-fund



----TFG

It's Like Christmas Morning for Criminal Defense Lawyers in Washington D.C. Right Now . . .

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Phantasmagoric to say the least, and for certain, nothing short of priceless:

President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has hired his own attorney as the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference progresses, NBC News reported Friday.

Cohen has hired Washington, D.C., attorney Stephen M. Ryan, according to NBC's Katy Tur.

A source told Tur that Cohen will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Sept. 5, adding that the testimony was delayed due to "scheduling and logistics."

Tur also reported that Michael Caputo, a communications adviser brought on board the Trump campaign by Paul Manafort, has been contacted by the FBI. Caputo has also hired his own attorney — former New York state Attorney General Dennis Vacco.

Caputo was asked in May to testify before the House Intelligence Committee.

Cohen and Caputo aren't the only figures connected to Trump who have hired their own attorneys. Trump hired an attorney to represent him in the investigation in late May, while Vice President Pence's staff announced Thursday that he had hired Virginia attorney Richard Cullen.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/338139-trumps-personal-lawyer-hires-attorney-report

It's a lawyering-up palooza!  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ! ! !   Hope they have unlimited ride wristbands!

It's pretty clear at this point that special counsel Robert Mueller's steadily and methodically expanding investigation is starting to put the fear of cell mates named "Bubba" in to the Drumpf syndicate capos when even Drumpf's personal lawyer is lawyering up.

Even milquetoast VP Mike Pence is getting in on the lawyering up action for his Emmy winning, nuanced performance of Sgt. Schultz as it pertains to the Mike Flynn and Russia connections perfidy.

Oh what a tangled, although entirely predictable (and it was predicted), web these people have woven huh dear readers?

Suffice to say that Drumpf's own arrogance, narcissism, and political death instinct have contributed mightily to his present predicament.  No - really.  Who the fuck actually believes that tweeting early morning insults at the people who hold the fate of your existential freedom in the palm of their hand is a "winning" strategy?  That shit might work in Drumpf's business world when he's threatening small business contractors, who've accused him of stiffing them for services rendered, with a legal blitzkrieg from his shark-like attorneys.  But we are talking about constitutional law here - the foundation of American democracy - and that is not a subject that credible patriots like Robert Mueller treat with jovial indifference.

Drumpf's embittering idiocy and hubris have, at long last, jumped the proverbial shark and even if he proceeds with reported plans to fire both the special counsel Mueller and acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, that will serve only to solidify the resolve of the legitimate law & order patriots in this country to pursue justice to it's inevitable conclusion -- and that dear readers is a conclusion for which even all of Donald John Trump's ill-gotten million$ nor his oligarch friends in Russia will be able to rescue him from.



----TFG

A Talk Meant For Another Day in Saner Times - and Hopefully With Sensible People . . .

Some times you really don't give a shit to talk about a subject if only because doing so would just be that much more gratuitous misery in your life.  The words outright refuse to flow from the brain to the fingertips on the keyboard.

The Gadfly has an opinion or three on the shooting this past week that involved a GOP congressman and several others in Alexandria VA.

It goes without saying that it was a horrendous act of senseless violence, perpetrated by a person who is quite clearly not right in their head.  It equally goes without saying that The Gadfly does not wish such violence upon anyone, and most certainly not on someone with opposing political ideologies.

And as far as any crass, albeit fitting, "chickens come home to roost" observations -- well, let's just let that sleeping dog lie where it lays for the time being -- mkay?

There is so very much deeper meaning to be read in to this incident - but alas, since most American's don't read much anymore, it is precisely the reason why The Gadfly does not feel at all motivated to participate in any debate over it ---- at this time.

No -- The Gadfly is not going to talk about this subject right now, because he would immensely prefer to allow the inimitable Charles Pierce of Esquire Politics to deliver a much more couth and articulate gut punch of a dissertation.  Observe an excerpt:

Political violence has been a way of life in this country for most of its existence, reaching a kind of peak in the years between 1850 and 1865, but continuing in many forms for most of the next century. (Just recently, New Orleans took down a monument to an act of outright seditious political violence.) Lynchings were acts of political violence. In the 1920s, anti-lynching bills couldn't even get out of committee in the Congress because the political power in the South needed lynchings to sustain itself. The destruction of thriving African-American communities in Greenwood in Tulsa and in Rosewood in Florida were both acts of political violence.

I don't know what Native Americans in my age bracket (or older) think about when they hear white politicians express amazement that political violence exists in this country. Political violence of one kind or another has been directed at them since the first white people stepped off the first boat. It has been the one constant in their lives for as long as there has been a United States of America. And this has been merely a precis of acts of actual political violence. The political violence of the mind—which these acts were aimed to induce—is even more widespread and just as damaging.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55682/alexandria-shooting-political-violence/

Go read it - it's a short piece.  Analyze it.  Make up your own mind about it - and while doing so - hopefully learn something from it.

The Gadfly has nothing more to say about this unfortunate episode.


----TFG

Loyalität Macht Frei . . . A Texas Toad Sends a Menacing Message . . .

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Jeebus these fucking people . . . .

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Sunday called for mass firings at the Department of Justice because he believes that there is a "conspiracy" to destroy President Donald Trump.

According to the Texas congressman, former FBI Director James Comey was "lying" in his testimony last week when he alleged that Trump pressured him to drop an investigation related to Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

"I believe I heard him say he did the memo [about possible obstruction of justice] then he talked with some of his colleagues," Gohmert insisted to Fox News host Julie Banderas. "We need to round up everybody he talked to because they were all conspiring against the president and all conspiring against their oath of office, conspiring against their own employment agreement."

http://crooksandliars.com/2017/06/louie-gohmert-round-doj-employees-and-fire

Yes - because what better way is there to demonstrate to the American people and the rest of the free world that you and your ideologically-minded friends aren't totalitarian thugs by issuing a call to "round up everybody" who you, lacking any evidence whatsoever, are accusing of disloyalty and of being a participant in a "conspiracy" against the president of The United States?

And as far as demanding those "mass firings" of Drumpf's perceived conspirators at the Justice Department - btw it's what is known as a 'purge' in political science circles Mr. Gohmert - why only at the Justice Department?  Why stop there?  What about the other intelligence agencies?  Gonna round up some CIA and National Intelligence folks too Congressman?  How about some NSA and Department of Homeland Security folks while you're at it?

Isn't it conceivable that if there is indeed a massive conspiracy afoot, would it not be likely that there would be suspected traitors across all areas of the government and not just isolated solely to the Department of Justice?  Wouldn't they be in the Congress and the Senate too?  Of course -- but you and I dear readers know the real reason why Gohmert is only targeting his dangerous rhetoric at the DOJ -- it's because they are the ones who are presently working diligently at unearthing the Russian skeletons in Drumpf's and his gang's closets and they are the ones who when they find those skeletons, and they will, will be required by duty and by the constitution and the law of the land to file the charges for high crimes and misdemeanors thus precipitating the arduous, but necessary task of forcefully removing Drumpf from office.

And that brings us to the disturbing subject of the rounding up of people.  Someone needs to put this little Texas twerp congress critter Louie Gohmert in a locked room with a group of Holocaust survivors, whom The Gadfly is supremely confident will familiarize his ignorant, red-state ass quite soberly of what happens when a rogue, fascist dictatorship, employing the full power of the state, turns it's hate and misguided vengefulness inward on it's own people.

Like The Gadfly said in a prior post -- it's going to be a long, hot, ugly and yes -- maddeningly stupid summer, and quite frankly, the whole sordid mess cannot reach it's foreordained conclusion soon enough.



----TFG

Please - Can't Someone Tell His Handlers About the Parental Control Features of the IPhone?....

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It's a foregone,undeniable conclusion at this point - he is entirely devoid of any semblance of self-control:

by DANIELLA SILVA

President Donald Trump called James Comey “cowardly” and said he thought any leaked information coming from the former FBI director could be “far more prevalent” than believed in his latest early morning Twitter jab.

“I believe the James Comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible. Totally illegal? Very 'cowardly!'” Trump tweeted Sunday morning.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/president-trump-calls-james-comey-cowardly-early-morning-tweet-n770731

Mouth - meet brain.  Brain can be your friend.

Every time Drumpf opens his cloddish, contemptuous pie-hole, usually in the form of one of his sophomoric tweets, The Gadfly experiences a vision . . .

Close your eyes dear readers and picture this scene -- you are a lost hiker walking along in a very dry and barren wilderness area -- just up ahead you hear what very much sounds like the noise of metal furiously scraping rock and dirt as it violently enters the dry earth - the sound tsssscccchhht! tsssscccchhht! tsssscccchhht!  As you draw nearer, in beat with the tsssscccchhht! sounds you see clouds of dirt and debris seemingly bursting straight up and out of the ground.  And as you come directly upon the calamitous spectacle, it dawns on you that there is a fair sized hole in the ground for which you also note appears to be the source of the manic air-bursts of dirt that emanate from within.  You peer over the edge of the hole, down inside, about 10-12 feet deep, and you see a man.  The man has one of those mini-spade camping shovels, and he's madly stabbing the shovel into the dirt at his knees and mightily heaving the load of extracted earth straight up out of the hole.  Half the dirt ends up falling right back in on the hole that the man has dug himself in to, but he pays no heed whatsoever and keeps up his frantic pace of digging and heaving - digging and heaving.  After watching this deranged farce for a few minutes, you yell at the man and ask that most lucid of questions --, "hey man -- what are you doing down there?"  After a few more agitated thrusts of the shovel in to the earth and tosses of the contents upward, the man stops his humanoid burrowing.  He looks up at you and says -- I am digging this hole to prove to the world just how tough and strong I am and how amazing my stamina and determination are.  I will not stop until the whole world recognizes the yooge', breathtaking invincibility of my super-human bigness!   And for just a twinge of a second, you stifle the urge to push the growing pile of dirt that has collected topside back in to the hole and on to the man kneeling at the bottom of his prodigiously crafted grave.  Instead you you just smile, give a smart salute to the man and wish him the best of luck in his self-ruinous endeavor - and you amble away, whistling a cheery tune as you continue on your trek.

That is the vision that pops in to The Gadfly's mind every time Drumpf speaks up or lets loose with a barrage of juvenile rage tweets to defend whatever shredded scraps remain of his personal honor and integrity.

Drumpf has already called former FBI chief James Comey, a man with a distinguished, albeit controversial, law-enforcement career, a "nut job" and a "crazy" -- to the Russians even!  He has called Comey a liar following Comey's intelligence committee testimony this past week.  And today he takes it a step further by now calling Comey a coward - in a public venue, for the whole, observant world to see.

Shhhhhhhhhh! --- do you hear that disconcerting sound dear readers? -- tsssscccchhht! tsssscccchhht! tsssscccchhht! -- that there is the sound of a god damned, arrogant, self-destructive fool steadily sealing the fate of his own historical destiny and legacy one delusional shovel load at a time.

And for all of you Drumpf supporters who blindly continue to justify his toxic behavior by saying that it's just Donald Trump, being himself, speaking his mind, telling the truth -- keep deceiving yourselves in to believing that.  The Gadfly will check back in a few months to see how that whole rage-toddler coddling thing is working out for you all.



----TFG

No Dorothy, It's Not Kansas Anymore -- It's Third World Country Kansas Now...

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Anyhow, so while the Drumpf/Russian traveling freak show continues it's disturbing run, something very interesting happened this past week down in the very deep red, conservative state of Kansas.

First - a little history.  Kansas Governor Sam Brownback rode the hard right, Tea Party wave to victory in 2010 promising the good people of his state that he would show them dirty fucking liberal hippie democrats how to properly govern while simultaneously instituting across the board (mostly for the wealthy and corporations) cuts of those evil liberal taxes.

All the conservatives cheered Brownback on at that time -- there was joyous rapture in the Kansas Republican party as the other Teabagger politicians consolidated their control of Kansas state government and moved swiftly with a jihad to purge moderates from their party and pave the way for Brownback's promised bold, new tax cut plan.

GOP moderates, democrats and yes - even the evil liberal hippies - tried in vain to warn Kansas voters of the impending catastrophe that was headed their way if they appeased the new Teabagger governor and his nincompoop enablers in the Tea Party, but just like the dire warnings issued by liberals to voters about the consequences of electing Donald Trump to the presidency, those warnings fell on deaf ears, dumb minds and blind senses.

And of course, cutting right to the chase dear readers, the inevitable and predictable has occurred - after 5+ years of Sam Brownback's and the Tea Party's tax cut mania, the state of Kansas is a fiscal train wreck, they are deeply mired in a budget deficit hole, their economy is in a tailspin, and they have insufficient revenue to pay for basic societal needs such as adequate funding for public schools, safe and well maintained roads, bridges, buildings and other vital areas of the state's infrastructure, or even the competent running of their own state government:

BY JONATHAN SHORMAN AND DANIEL SALAZARThe Wichita Eagle

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TOPEKA Lawmakers rolled back Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature tax policy over his objections Tuesday night, forcing into law tax increases to fix a budget shortfall and provide more money for schools.

The legislation ends the "march to zero" income tax cuts that Brownback heralded for much of his time as governor.

Income taxes will rise across the board but most tax rates will remain lower than they were before the 2012 tax cuts. The increases are expected to generate more than $1.2 billion for the state over the next two years.

The Senate and House voted 27-13 and 88-31, respectively, to override Brownback’s veto. The action took place on the 109th day of the legislative session and paves the way for lawmakers to wrap up their work quickly, potentially this week.

The override represents a blow to the legacy of one of the most unpopular governors in America, amid speculation that he may not serve out his remaining time in office but instead take a federal position.

http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article154684809.html


That's right -- the vaunted Tea Party philosophy of no taxation EVER! has basically been proven to be the death knell of a viable, functioning society.

It got so bad, that even Brownback's own state Republican party members have abandoned him and this week they demonstrated their remorse for listening to the Tea Party tax-cuts-for-everyone loons by joining forces with Kansas Democrats to override a Brownback veto of a $1.2 billion dollar tax hike in an attempt to undo some of the Tea Party tax slashing asshattery that has devastated their state's finances and economy.

But here's the scary thing folks -- the same incompetent, conservative cretins who worked with Brownback to devise the Kansas tax plan are now working with Trump and the congressional Republicans to implement that very same tax plan for the entire country and if people don't put a stop to them, there is no doubt that they will do to the national economy exactly what they did to the state of Kansas and their economy.

And as for all of you dear readers -- well, you are all adults -- you can speak out and make your voices heard about this if you wish, or you can just sit back and wait for the Kansasification of your economic futures just like the poor dumb bastards in Sam Brownback's state did.

Good luck with your decisions.



----TFG