2016 In Review: America Off The Rails, Part 9Um, Rudy, near the end there, do you realize what you're saying?by NoahBefore I get to the winner of my little Republican Of The Year contest (in tomorrow's installment), I thought it would be downright mean of me to leave out some other participants. I call them not just deplorables but also Dishonorable Mentions.I also want to mention that I am not one who believes in that every-participant-gets-a-trophy nonsense. But I do want to give my No. 4 pairing below an award. I did, after all, declare Michigan's own Lex Luthor, Gov. Rick Snyder, the winner in the Governors' category for overseeing the poisoning of his citizens. So, with that in mind, James Comey and Rudy Giuliani are getting some well-deserved recognition. You can't just lightly dismiss people who will sell their souls (if they ever had souls to sell) and then sell out their country. For this, as you will see, they have earned, if not (regrettably) actual prison time, at least a very special award.1. FRANKLIN (son of BILLY) GRAHAMI haven't done any research into Franklin's mother, but he's blathered enough over the years to make me suspect that she was way too closely related to his father. Billy Graham was certainly very religious, very respected, and sane. Franklin? Well, maybe not so much. Franklin has his own take on the whole Russians-interfering-with-our-election thing. He doesn't think Putin had any involvement. Instead, he offered up this pearl of "divine" wisdom:
I don't have any scientific information. I don't have a stack of emails to read to you. But I have an opinion: I believe it was God. God showed up. He answered the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people across this land who had been praying for this country.
I'm always amused by people who "give glory to God" for a victory. It's especially prevalent in the sports world. Some guy wins, the microphone is in his face, and he says he prayed to God and God came through. Well, what about the folks on the other team who prayed to God? Why did God choose you and not that loser on the other sideline? Is your ego so big? Are you so wonderful? In Franklin's case, he must think he's really extra-special, since he led so many in prayer and God sided with him. Then again, maybe God has had it with us and he's gone all biblical and decided it's time to rid the Earth of humankind.2. NYS gubernatorial candidate CARL PALADINOBromancers Donald and Carl -- sticking up for the, er, little guy?Republicans constantly whine that "The Left" is always accusing them of being racists. They go on and on, pretending to be mystified as to why. I saw one of these "out on a day pass" types just the other night on MSNBC. She was a guest panelist for a discussion about the nomination of Alabama $en. Jeff Sessions or some other KKK sympathizer to be a member of Comrade Trumpinsky's administration.Over at FOX "News" it's an hourly, sometimes minute-by-minute whine. They do it so much on FOX that the total effect is like a yard full of straining, shorting, dull-bladed hedge clippers. It's so bad, you can smell the acrid smoke. They push it and push it and they just don't know when to turn it off.Dear Republikooks: You are racists, and that's all there is to it.Here in New York, republicans recently chose Carl Paladino as their candidate for governor against dem incumbent Andrew Cuomo. He lost badly, but New York is not Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, Mississippi, or any other state that wants to proudly point to a racist governor as "one of us."Still, Paladino is known for his racist and pornographic e-mails. In the past, he has sent out e-mails to his coworkers and his legions of republican fans which are are laced with N-words, pictures of President Obama dressed as a pimp, apes (i.e., to republicans: black folks), and, maybe worst of all, a clip of some African tribal dancers which he described as rehearsals for the Obama inauguration. More recently, he made a Michelle Obama-and-gorilla connection.
I'd like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.
Damn, Carl! You've managed to express republican bigotry toward not only African-Americans but transgender people as well, all in one sentence! Just one question: How does one return to being a male yet still be a she?That republican "black = apes-swinging-from-the-trees" bit never gets tired for the republican freaks that walk among us. You'll see it with the next morons covered in this post, too. Best of all, when it came time for Carl to apologize for his e-mail about Michelle Obama, he said it wasn't racist because it wasn't meant to be seen by the public!He's a birther guy, too, just like his friend and idol, Donald Trump. It turns out, Trump and Paladino have a mutual-admiration, bromance kind of thing going on -- forged in racism, no doubt. You see, Trump made Paladino the New York State chairman of his campaign. Kellyanne Konartist will, of course, whine that their words are just words and we don't know what's in Trump's heart. Oh yes we do.3. Clay County, WV's PAMELA RAMSEY TAYLORand MAYOR BEVERLY WHALINGDon't you see, Pamela's the victim here!Who, you say?Leave it to "ordinary" republicans. The ordinary voters and officials who toil in near-anonymity. Because these are the people who often get to the heart of the matter when it comes to defining exactly who the foundation of the republican party is and revealing it to us all. Such was the case when Ms. Taylor, the now-former director of the Clay County (West Virginia) Development Corporation, proudly spread her republican freak flag and let it fly.She had those best words, those best words that she just had to share on her Facebook page. She just had to let the world know what she thinks of incoming First Lady Melanoma Trump as opposed to outgoing First Lady Michelle Obama:
It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a ape in heels.
First Lady-in-waiting Melania -- classy is as classy does?Mayor Whaling, as you can see below, was in total agreement:
Just made my day Pam.
Facebook screenshot from DailyKos's Walter Einenkel [click to enlarge]I suppose I should just let that hang there, but hell, I bet they'll get jobs in the Trump administration, or maybe they'll just have Taylor do her stand-up republican comedy act at the inauguration.Meanwhile, Whaling has resigned, but Taylor isn't going so easily. No, she's got a lawyer and she's pulled out the old, well-worn republican "I'm a victim" card. She says the retribution she has reaped is a "hate crime against me" and is charging that she's being done in by, get this, "reverse racism."You go, girl! You go directly to hell! 4. RUDY GIULIANI and JAMES COMEYJust another bromance, or criminal co-conspirators too?Here's another republican bromance, FBI and republican operative James Comey and senile useful-idiot-crank Rudy Giuliani, who by the way really did marry a cousin.Lost in all the discussion about the so-called shock of the Trumpinsky win was Rudy Giuliani's appearance on FOX "News" a few days before the election, which you can see at the top of this post. Go back and take a close look at it. Forget about Rudy's correct prediction. Forget about him failing to mention how Kerry "lost" Ohio in 2004. Forget (if you can) that wide-eyed crazed look. There are more noteworthy things in this clip.One is Rudy's compulsive need to repeatedly state that he, the magnificent Rudy, "over- performed," "overperformed," "overperformed"! This is an assclown with some insecurity issues.Number two comes towards the end, where Rudy states, reassuringly, to the FOX bozette (on October 25th):
And then I think he's got a surprise or two that you're gonna hear about in the next few days. I, I mean, I'm talking about some pretty big surprises. You'll see . . . We're not gonna go down. We're certainly not gonna stop fightin'. We've got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this around.
Then comes Rudy's evil laugh.Rudy was echoing what he and Eric Trump's wife, Lara, had said on FOX earlier in the day. That October Surprise was, of course, the infamous announcement by FBI Director James Comey, just three days later, that the FBI felt they should take a look at some more Clinton e-mails.What the complicit media has failed to lay out for the American people is the relationship between Comey and Giuliani. It seems Comey, a former employee and still good friend of Rudy's, was just a phone call away. The result of the letter was a media barrage filled with false charges by Trump and Rudy that Comey's letter proved Clinton was a criminal. When asked about Comey's letter on November 4th, the day after the election, Rudy responded, arrogantly and perhaps stupidly:
thought it was going to be about three or four weeks ago . . . I did nothing to get it out. I had no role in it. Did I hear about it? You're darn right I heard about it, and I can't even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.
Note how Rudy goes to great lengths to say that he is honest and tells the truth. Then he says he knew about it for three or four weeks, quickly adding that he had nothing to do with getting the letter out, "no role." I believe the technical term for this is covering one's ass. But he admits he was in direct contact with the FBI, and, given his long relationship with Comey, we can assume that it wasn't just "agents" he was in contact with. Is this on-air public admission the reason why Rudy was suddenly no longer being considered for a cabinet position? His phone records should be seized, along with all of his phones and computers. Let's have a look at his e-mails!The key sentence is: "You're darn right I heard about it, and I can't even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents." This is a public, on TV, admission that he could be a co-conspirator, along with current and former FBI people. He could be in violation of U.S. criminal code 18 U.S.C. § 1512 c (2): "Whoever otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."Where are the media on this? Where is the investigation? Where is the outrage?! Our media and our Congress might as well be listed as co-conspirators -- if we had a real criminal-justice system in this country, that is. In the absence of a proper investigation, the least we can do is declare Rudy and Jimmy co-winners of the First "In Treasonous Service To Trumpinsky" Award.POSTSCRIPT: RE. TRUMP, DIRECTOR COMEY, AND THE RUSSIANSDigby writes today about the new rumors swirling regarding links between Comrade Trump and the Russian. In "Comey and the Russian rumors," she notes, for example, CNN's report --
that a former operative for the British intelligence agency MI6, who had proved to be a credible source in the past, had produced some reports alleging that the Russian government said it had compromising information on Trump and that there had been contacts and deals made between Trump campaign associates and Russian agents.
After taking pains to note that allegations included in an "addendum" circulated to DC officialdom by the intelligence services remain unverified, Digby concludes:
[A] healthy dose of skepticism is called for, as always, when it comes to this fast-spreading new Trump scandal. There are many reasons why a foreign government might say it had compromising information and illicit ties to a presidential candidate, even if it’s not true. But according to the Guardian article ["a comprehensive article," "John McCain passes dossier alleging secret Trump-Russia contacts to FBI"], at least some of the early reports [from MI6's previously "credible" source] did turn out to be true. It’s also true that some of Trump’s mysterious campaign behavior, or the odd circumstances under which pro-Russian language was injected into the GOP platform, might make more sense in light of this timeline of events. This is far from the end of this story, and we’ll undoubtedly know more in the coming days.All we can say for sure right now is that this is a perfect illustration of the way Comey improperly inserted himself into the election. These scandalous rumors connecting Trump to the Russian government information are unproven and unverified, and the FBI director was right not to reveal this material prior to the election. He completely ignored that principle when it came to Clinton, and there can be no doubt that it made a difference in the outcome. The fact that Comey clearly knew at the time it was at least possible that Trump had been compromised by a foreign government makes his decision even more shameful.
Well, yes, this is what I'm saying!#
2016 IN REVIEW: AMERICA OFF THE RAILSHere it is, Noah's completed Year in Review for 2016:Part 1, "Profiles in Cowardice: The Electoral College" (12/23/2016)Part 2, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #1: Newt Gingrich" (12/27/2016)Part 3, "The Trumpf Inauguration Committee Finds The Perfect Inauguration Entertainment At Last!" (12/29/2016)Part 4, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #2: R-R-Reince Priebus" (1/2/2017)Part 5, "Comrade Trump: The World’s Worst Cabinet Maker, Believe Me -- Meet The New Russian Oligarchs! (1)" (1/4/2017)Part 6, "Comrade Trump: The World’s Worst Cabinet Maker, Believe Me -- Meet The New Russian Oligarchs! (2)" (1/5/2017)Part 7, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #3: Governors' Edition" (1/9/2017)Part 8, "Trump -- The Art And Acts Of The Emboldened: The Rise In Hate Crimes Under The Influence Of Comrade T" (1/10/2017)Part 9, "Republican Of The Year Nominee #4: It's A Sad Thing When Cousins Marry Edition" (1/11/2017)Part 10, "Republican Person Of The Year Nominee #5 -- And Winner!" (1/12/2017)Part 11, "Comrade Trump: Inauguration Entertainment Update!" (1/15/2017)Part 12, "A DWT Exclusive: We Have The First Draft Of Comrade Trump's Inauguration Speech!" (1/16/2017)
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