Deal.

This link. Hat tip to the reader emailing the link.

Tune time? Said earlier, versions differ.

There were concessions and adjustments on the Apartments too. Letting the deal go down. Tiringly steady = Happened earlier, versions differ.

Different oxen getting gored while Houston is getting wet.

Michael Hiltzik writing August 28, 2017, for LA Times:

On Saturday, the New York Daily News was quick to underscore the irony in Cruz and Cornyn scurrying to secure emergency assistance for their home state after voting against Sandy relief. “The devastation of Hurricane Harvey has two-faced Texas politicians looking for the same sort of relief funding they flatly opposed five years ago,” the newspaper reported.

Of the 24 GOP members of the Texas House delegation in 2013, all but one voted against the Sandy relief package in 2013. The one “yea” vote was Rep. John Culberson, whose district includes Houston. But seven other Houston-area congressmen voted the package down. All 12 Democratic members of the delegation voted in favor of Sandy relief with the exception of Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents central Houston and didn’t cast a vote. Three Republicans and two Democrats in office at the time of the vote are no longer serving in Congress.

Most of the lawmakers who commented on the 2013 Sandy appropriation couched their opposition in terms of fiscal responsibility. The issue, they said, was that the Sandy bill had been larded down with non-Sandy and non-emergency spending. “Emergency relief for the families who are suffering from this natural disaster should not be used as a Christmas tree for billions in unrelated spending," Cruz said then.

Others demanded that every dollar spent on Sandy relief be balanced by a dollar cut somewhere else in the federal budget. As I wrote last year, when Louisiana congressmen who voted against Sandy were tasked with securing relief for victims of Hurricane Matthew, this position elevated the ideology of the balanced budget to an article of faith. Notably, the lawmakers insisting on a one-for-one trade-off against Sandy aid were never specific about where the cuts should come from.

[Link is from original, other links in original omitted]

Well . . .

Arguable guidelines the linked Cruz item expounds which might apply to the Houston disaster recovery:

Emergency relief for the families who are suffering from this natural disaster should not be used as a Christmas tree for billions in unrelated spending, including projects such as Smithsonian repairs, upgrades to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration airplanes, and more funding for Head Start.

[...] This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington – an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.

So Ted says pork for Big Oil in terms of public funding of refinery upgrades; and hasty ill-reasoned pipeline approvals would be inappropriate. It is good to know that. Even while Ted's statement's precise wording years ago was not prescient about expected overreaching by Big Oil, it fits.

Cutting the military budget would help against further expanding our debt. But the underlying problem, Canadian Ted Cruz, needs voter action. Indeed, the pack of them are problematic there in Texas, which in hindsight arguably ought to have been allowed to remain "The Lone Star Nation," years ago when a different outcome happened.

Good sense shown by the Brits, collectively.

This link. Not enough bozo clowns in the population to keep Hegseth et al. on the air. Possibly, a whiff of that good sense could cross the Atlantic.

But then -

“Fox News is focused on the U.S. market and designed for a U.S. audience and, accordingly, it averages only a few thousand viewers across the day in the U.K.,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement provided to CNN. “We have concluded that it is not in our commercial interest to continue providing Fox News in the U.K.”

While 21st Century Fox said its decision was based on the channel’s inability to attract a considerable audience, critics say it’s actually an attempt to smooth over the media giant’s bid to take over European satellite company Sky. (21st Century Fox owns a controlling stake in Sky PLC, the parent company of the London-headquartered network.)

Well, sly motives aside, that first paragraph should read, "... designed for a particular U.S. audience ...".

Hegsethians. Fools by another name.

WISCONSIN: Audacity of the already privileged; and a Democratic candidate identifies himself.

AP feeds carried by Wisconsin news outlets; here, here and here.

When the going gets tough the tough get going.

This link.
Is there a Bekah Mercer model, with diamond studded eyeglasses?
A Robert Mercer model, pull a string, it says nothing.

Vanity Fair. Mid-item excerpt [links omitted]:

It is fair to see these well-timed getaways as a chicken-egg situation—whether the scandal prompted the vacation, or the vacation prompted the scandal. As one person close to the couple explained to me soon after inauguration, the president tended to get in most trouble on Saturdays, when the couple was observing Shabbat, and couldn’t advise him away from his more self-destructive tendencies.

By now, though, it is clear that they don’t have nearly as much sway as anyone had assumed. They do, however, deserve credit for perfect timing and honoring their real-estate scion roots and birthrights to a spring break in March and a subsequent August vacation regardless of the fact that they are now in charge of Middle East peace and job creation.

While their absence always draws a certain amount of attention, it was particularly felt on Tuesday. Infrastructure, after all, is under Kushner’s vast West Wing portfolio. Ivanka Trump had been the highest-ranking White House official besides her father and member of the Trump family to publicly denounce hate groups. Still, they decided to go ahead with a two-day trip, just up north to Vermont, while the country was raging on an issue that touches the parents of three Jewish children directly. The two are worth as much as an estimated $740 million. They can foot a late cancellation fee. Vermont will still be there in the fall, and it happens to be quite lovely that time of year. (There is a Vermont Teddy Bear Factory bear modeled after the First Daughter "ready to head out to business meetings with her briefcase and pearls.”)

Many believed that this moment in Trump’s presidency may be the final straw for the more rationally minded members of the administration. Cohn told a person close to him that he was disgusted by the president’s comments, and two of the president’s business advisory panels disbanded Wednesday as a growing number of C.E.O.s resigned.

But to think that this is the moment that may send Ivanka and Kushner back to New York misses the mark. The administration has already crossed so many moral lines that many believed should have had them packing that it is hard to imagine that any such line exists for them at this point. (For what it's worth, Cohn, not a family member, also has not resigned, despite his disgust.)

Perhaps there was a moment in which this could have happened, when Kelly first arrived and was praised as a general who would run a tight ship.

Ah, yes. Generalissimo Kelly.

Vs. kids on break?

Privacy.

And then, there is Google. Can you envision targeted ads for ventures such as "Freud's Shop," or a boutique, "For Jung People?"

UPDATE: Next, might we expect that on googling "Bitcoin" we get a questionaire from Tim Pawlenty, "How happy are you with present banking services?" Followed by targeted Wells Fargo multiple account services adverts? Touting, "At Wells, one account can have multiple promising developments."

A quick link - BLM today???

This link.

Days of Alexander Haig.

Breitbart reporting, quoting Bloomberg. Will Kelly next head up NATO, and if so, WWPD - what would Putin do?

Whether substantive or spiel for its drama value, the concept of an isolated Trump wandering the White House is Nixonian, if accounts of last days before the Ford pardon were correctly understood, analyzed and reported.

Where, in such a scenario, are Jarad and Ivanka? Try a guess. It's a compelling question in how to believe the putsch scenario Breitbart is at this point scripting as "real" news. There was that precedent, so paying attention might not be a bad thought.

____________UPDATING____________
How things are presented can vary. Blooomberg, this mid-item quote:

This month may be the most politically damaging so far of Trump’s presidency, as the legitimacy he appeared to confer on white supremacists alienated allies in corporate America and antagonized Republican lawmakers. The ultimatum Trump issued Tuesday that he would shut down the federal government unless his fellow Republicans who control Congress pay for the border wall he promised compounds the challenges for Kelly ahead of the Sept. 30 funding deadline.

Trump kept a feud with Congressional leaders going Thursday morning with a series of tweets lashing out at Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan for the legislative “mess” over raising the legal federal debt limit by late September to avoid a default. Trump’s threat to shut down the government over wall funding complicates passage of the debt ceiling legislation, which might be packaged together with the funding measure to win enough votes. He also renewed an attack on McConnell over the Senate’s failure to pass an Obamacare repeal.

Chain of Command

The respect aides say Trump has for Kelly, a decorated general, hasn’t yet translated into deference when the president’s passions run high.

In interviews with 14 current and former administration officials, congressional Republicans and people close to Trump and Kelly, most credited Kelly with imposing new processes and restrictions that have limited freelancing, drama, leaking and backbiting among staff. Kelly has strengthened chains of command and given Trump fewer distractions, clearing the path to execute decisions on everything from Stephen Bannon’s departure to Afghanistan policy.

Kelly has implored Trump repeatedly to stay on script, emphasizing the importance of being precise and sensitive to the constituencies hearing his words. The president did stick to the text in his speech Monday night on his approach to Afghanistan. Beforehand, Kelly had emphasized the magnitude and somber nature of sending more young men and women into war.

"Gen. Kelly is an important voice in the administration and a straight shooter," McConnell, whose own tensions with Trump have been well documented, said in a statement.

In turn, Breitbart:

Aug. 16, the Washington Post’s Ashley Parker and Bob Costa reported that Kelly has instituted a new structure for communication with the president.

“As the new White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly routes all calls to and from President Trump through the White House switchboard, where he can sign off on them,” Parker and Costa wrote. “He stanches the flow of information reaching the president’s desk. And he requires that all staff members — including Trump’s relatives — go through him to reach the president.”

Over at Politico on Thursday, Eliana Johnson and Nancy Cook got even more leaked details about the new structure Kelly is implementing. Johnson and Cook wrote:

Confronted with a West Wing that treated policymaking as a free-for-all, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, is instituting a system used by previous administrations to limit internal competition — and to make himself the last word on the material that crosses the president’s desk[. ]It’s a quiet effort to make Trump conform to White House decision-making norms he’s flouted without making him feel shackled or out of the loop. In a conference call last week, Kelly initiated a new policymaking process in which just he and one other aide — White House staff secretary Rob Porter, a little-known but highly regarded Rhodes scholar who overlapped with Jared Kushner as an undergraduate at Harvard — will review all documents that cross the Resolute desk.

All of this comes amid a Democrat takeover of the West Wing, with Republicans being pushed out of the White House. National Security Adviser and three-star Army Gen. H.R. McMaster purged a number of Trump-backing Republicans from the National Security Council, while ex-Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman and now former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus was replaced by retired four-star Marine Gen. John Kelly, the old Secretary of Homeland Security. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and his wife Ivanka Trump—as well as National Economic Council director Gary Cohn—have all seen a rise in prominence in the West Wing. They—McMaster, Kelly, Ivanka Trump, Kushner, and Cohn—are all Democrats.

In addition to controlling information flow to and from the president—and who communicates with him—the West Wing Democrats have aimed to force Trump to stick to pre-scripted remarks on the TelePrompTer whenever he gives speeches. They have not succeeded on that front, as Trump went on a 45-minute off-script tirade against the media, the left, the GOP establishment, and more during a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, this week.

Several people close to the president tell Breitbart News that while he is for now mostly following along with what Kelly and the others want him to do, people should not expect this to last.

“Those in the Administration who think they can shackle the President are in for a rude awakening,” one White House aide told Breitbart News.

[links in original omitted] Readers who have viewed Kurosawa's Rashomon may feel "been there, seen that." Wikipedia links for readers unfamiliar with the film, here and here. Besides being a story from multiple angles, the cinematography was excellent as an example from the black and white film era. Which leads to a closing thought, even if isolated and subjected to sensory deprivation by evil hands, at least Citizen Trump will have Rosebud to treasure and remember.

____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
More Breitbart, here, so read it for the drift. A short excerpt, with italics emphasis added, and again, see the original for context:

She rounds out the email to media elites by pleading: “No attribution to me, please. Senior White House official only.”

Sadler’s claim that she is a “Senior White House official” is not true. She is not a “Senior White House official.” She is a low-level press staffer, and a commissioned officer as a special assistant to the president.

In addition, her claim that Gorka “did not resign” is also untrue. Gorka sent the president a detailed resignation letter, as multiple media outlets have reported.

In his resignation letter, Gorka wrote to President Trump that given “recent events, it is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are – for now – ascendant within the White House.”

“As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the People’s House,” Gorka wrote. He went on:

Regrettably, outside of yourself, the individuals who most embodied and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in recent months. This was made patently obvious as I read the text of your speech on Afghanistan this week. The fact that those who drafted and approved the speech removed any mention of Radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism proves that a crucial element of your presidential campaign has been lost. Just as worrying, when discussing our future actions in the region, the speech listed operational objectives without ever defining the strategic victory conditions we are fighting for. This omission should seriously disturb any national security professional, and any American who is unsatisfied with the last 16 years of disastrous policy decisions which have led to thousands of Americans killed and trillions of taxpayer dollars spent in ways that have not brought security or victory.

The White House refused to comment on Sadler’s decision to inflate her credentials to lie about Gorka’s resignation. Sadler herself did not respond to a request for comment.

But many in the media industry picked up on the quote Sadler was blasting out to the entire media.

See, I picked up on it too; via Breitbart; so I must be "in the media" and not a mere opinionated blogging fool. King Lear's fool? What?

____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Not knowing Gorka, whether he has a multiple personality disorder, I can only turn to Rashomon again; here, here and here. For myself, I agree with the learned and better informed professional pundits of newsworthiness and factual discourse.

___________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Ron Paul months ago, well before the Trump speech on a winning Afghanistan policy, was quoted by Inquisitr as Facebook posting an intriguing thought; while Inquistr likewise posted a reassuring item about things after the Scaramucci resignation - that things will be put into more capable hands, as would only be proper.

FURTHER: More Gorka, here; and then, even bigger news.

FURTHER: J and I as people of influence, perhaps not. Meanwhile Congress is ramping up to cut taxes for billionaires; but coverage of that yields to bigger things and events of more import.

Being one to not have an exceptionally sharp sense of politics, the hope is readers will. And that they will see through what to me is a confusion.

Met Council pow-wow with Anoka County Board, reported by local coverage, Strib online here. Final paragraph:

[Anoka Board Chairperson Rhonda] Sivarajah also took issue with some of the criteria used locally to score federal transportation funding, which includes proximity to poverty and racially concentrated poverty. “The average taxpayer, they’re going to say ... you should be looking at safety, congestion and is the infrastructure failing and does it need improvement,” she said. “I don’t think that they would say [prioritize] racially concentrated areas of poverty or other criteria within transportation funding.”

[ellipsis in original] First, federal decision making criteria fall outside of either of the two local jurisdictions.

Second, if proximity to racially concentrated areas of poverty is also to be viewed as a Met Council objective, then why exactly all the heated sweating there over the very costly Southwest Light Rail thing? The southwest metro seems racially concentrated enough, being a white concentrated high-affluence enclave, so what's going on, Met Council too sharing Rhonda's concerns that the feds are wrong and it's affluence that's to be served? Matt Look's 2.5 autos per family and such?

Again, it is all too unclear and obtuse in the view of one not attuned to political nuance, presuming it is nuance which is actually at play. May there be sunlight to lift the fog of misunderstanding, so that clarity may shine through. Indeed, the politics of Northstar were never fully fog-free, here. The sound sense and reason behind the entire Northstar thing was never wholly clear; and those not riding the thing must be equally dazed and confused, with their 2.5 rush-hour-auto households.

So is it a third point of confusion, explain to me again the justification for Northstar ever, especially with it halting in the thriving metropolis of Big Lake, outside of the seven county "Metro" jurisdiction? Readers should figure that out for themselves since I never could see a Northstar need - a want of those who also wanted a Ramsey stop for Northstar - yes, wants, but what of needs?

If Erik Paulsen wants to make Senate decisions, he knows where to file his papers to run.

Put another way, just shut the frack up. This link. Be a better Rep first, then poke the nose in others' business.

And being a good Rep is more than toeing the Medtronic line. Easy agenda? Yeah. But there's more to the job that the individual needs to understand and master. Critiquing his betters is not helpful.

UPDATE: The twit should know better. And stand back, once knowing better. This link, this excerpt:

A spokesman for Franken said this week that the Democratic senator is still reviewing Stras' "lengthy record" before giving his approval, faulting the White House for putting Stras' name forward without consulting his office about possible candidates.

"Rather than discuss how senators traditionally approached circuit court vacancies or talk about a range of potential candidates, the White House made clear its intention to nominate Justice Stras from the outset," spokesman Michael Dale-Stein said.

Stras is a former law professor who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Stras declined to comment on his pending nomination through a Supreme Court spokesman on Thursday.

Klobuchar signaled greater concern about the state's vacant U.S. Attorney position. The state's former U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, resigned in March at Trump's request. No permanent replacement has surfaced.

"We need a name from the White House," Klobuchar said. "If it goes on another 2 months, I'll say I'm mad."

Stras has shown ambition, but the Circuit Court seat might demand more. In any event, it is none of Paulsen's business.

Home town; Ramsey MN, Anoka County gets a good restaurant.

Menu cover, full menu pdf online.

And may they profit and prosper. On Sunfish Lake Blvd., at Highway 10. Not loud. No TV. Presently no beer, wine or bar; with it unclear whether any license application is pending. The evening pot roast and a salad were both good. Broccoli side dish steamed correctly, al dente, and the salad crisp and fresh. A promising breakfast menu.

This Google gives the cafe's website and Facebook page, and navigation information.

Not loud and such, not somebody's sports bar, not dark and off-putting like the Town Center place beginning with "A." Better. By a good measure, but opinions can differ.

Give it a try.

click to enlarge the map to know where it is

A locally authored Strib Kaepernick op-ed.

This link, and it is good somebody says it.

Related, an AP item carried by multiple outlets. One quote within that coverage:

"The NFL has proven with their treatment of Colin Kaepernick that they do not mind if black players get a concussion, they just got a problem if black players get a conscience."

If that seems untrue or extreme to you, wake up. Zygi loves his revenue, his Wilfare lavished on him by compliant politicians of both stranglehold parties. Bipartisanship for the uber-wealth class; politics as usual. Teaching the children day by day. Today's class, Colin Kaepernick's "problem" attitude. How it can derail your ride to rich and famous.

____________UPDATE____________
Proof by counterexample that you have to be smart to get a law degree and be elected to a court - same item as quoted above, in closing:

That protest earned the ire of an Ohio Supreme Court justice, the lone Democrat holding an Ohio statewide office. Justice Bill O'Neill wrote on Facebook that he wouldn't attend any games at which "draft dodging millionaire athletes disrespect the veterans who earned them the right to be on that field."

Dear Sir: The NFL has a draft,
the Selective Service does not.
Black and white players do not dodge the NFL draft,
they covet early selection.
It pays better. What's your salary? Is it jealousy?

The learned jurist gets one point for not using the adjective "coddled" but please, email the man if you've the address, the draft ended just about when the Vietnam post-French American-instigated invasion ended; which is earlier than Nixon ended; so today's young blacks have no draft to decline as Ali, at great personal cost, did and for which he is greatly respected. If the man's sense of current Ohio state law is mirrored in his understanding of Selective Service law at the federal level, Ohioans, WATCH OUT.

And why does he keep his tie so tight?

FURTHER: In emailing the judge, send him a definition of "non sequitur." Expressing a protest against police excessive use of force against black men during a song about a flag has nothing to do with veterans, and veterans of military service did not earn NFL players anything. Hard work, sacrifice, keeping up a grade point and good coaching through early career choices did, and the flag's as irrelevant as the nation's over-fat military to how hard the young men worked or how well they were coached in making it through the winnowing process to earn NFL levels of pay. That judge is a brick.

RT takes shots at Trump's Afghanistan two-step turnaround, as expected since the Russians don't want another Cold War drain on their selling oil and gas to Europe and China with Putin ensconced as a non-Brezhnev never wanting to be one.

Here, here and here, the latter item linking to Politico, here.

The first link above, excerpted mid-item:

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, known for her cozy relationship with the Clinton campaign, chimed in to compliment Trump on the speech, too. But it was Fox News’ Sean Hannity who really outshone them all when he praised Trump’s speech as “delivered perfectly” with “the right tone, the right cadence, the right pitch”.

At last, someone who knows what’s really important when ramping up your killing machine: the cadence and pitch of your voice when you announce it.

Kicking the can down the road

It’s been reported that Trump was heavily influenced in his decision by the generals advising him: Defense Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly.

Mattis, McMaster and Kelly are all bound to know that the war in Afghanistan is highly unlikely to be won by adding a few thousand more troops. Trump knows it, too. This is a war that has been going on for 16 years and is still without an end in sight. Nonetheless, Trump has promised that US troops will ultimately “win” the war.

In reality, out of a few unappealing options, Trump has simply chosen the one which works best for him, personally. He knows that if he is the president to take the troops home, and worse chaos erupts after their departure, he will be blamed. It’s far easier to kick the can down the road to the next guy, who will be faced with the exact same choice. If he knows he can’t win, the next best thing is to not look like he’s losing.

Linking in original omitted. More generals enter, Bannon exits; so are we better or worse with the death machine in the driver's seat? We as local politics unfolds, as a nation, and in a world order? This is Bush to Obama to Trump continuity; and don't forget Jimmy Carter and Zig B. were ramping up mischief back in the late 70's, setting groundwork for the Gipper's "Holy Warriors" as precursors of a never to end "War on Terror." A gift for the generals and military academies and National Guards and weapon manufacturers that never will stop giving, with an ancillary benefit that privacy can be stomped under the guise of needs for "NATIONAL SECURITY." And the poppies grow and grow. Generals get kicked up the brass ranks, retire, and continue to prosper as war industry mavens. Smedley Butler said it after Wilson and WW I, and it applies still. War is a Racket.

After a post below about Scramucci, and thinking about Marco Rubio, Reuters headlines, "Pick your kingmaker: small parties loom large in Norway's election."

This link.

Two dwarfs so far, five more to go.

This link.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off the brink they go.

UPDATE: Will Scaramucci move to Boston, and would anyone care?  He seems to have had his fifteen minutes. Tune time for the big short Mooch.

FURTHER UPDATE: Mooch stole Bannon's tune time feature? Not Bannon's face; which is still on Bannon's head, sullen and unstolen, . . .

FURTHER UPDATE: One for Bannon, his, and the Mercers'; special. Longer than for the Mooch, by about five minutes. (He did stay on duty longer.)

Now that I lied to you about healthcare and social security, see me now showing I lied about Afghanistan and infrastructure.

Strib carrying this AP feed.

The man and his nest of generals puts the top ones back onto the government payroll and lets them and Pence run the war-mongering show; while infrastructure sucks hind-teat to armaments and the death industrial complex. If you want another lie from the man he'll tell you Ivanka is not a spoiled brat. Ted Cruz is not a Canadian. Ryan is not a walking-talking train wreck of a clown.

Given the cleanup time and mood and mode, it is past time for statues of Douglas McArthur to be taken down.

He and Patton brutally attacked and dispersed the Bonus Army, an act against ordinary citizens expecting a government promise to be kept; (that time obeying his civilian commander in chief); while later insubordinate - rebellious - against his civilian commander in chief for which he was disciplined. Gen. Lee had his plantation taken for a national cemetary after his rebellious time, while McArthur was merely removed from his command. Both were West Point grads, and yet treated differently.

It is past time for this offensive and insensitive exultation of a misguided fallen hero to be deep-sixed and expunged from the national collective memory.

this link

It is politically incorrect and a burden to offspring of Bonus Army troops to have this rebellious individual exalted in the memory of a politically correct and sensitive nation.

In short: Time to go, corn cob pipe and all.

It is a simple bottom line. Rebellious generals are no longer in vogue. So act accordingly, on a level playing field, please, and this goes for the White House on down. Clean things up.

See, also, here and here, and this web search.

If you want a statue of a rebel, if that's important to you, put up one of Abbie Hoffman.

UPDATE: Ubiquity. And then some. And he never had a catching nickname either; no "Stonewall" to the man's legacy. No "Old Ironsides."

Almost as bright a mouth as Michele Bachmann. Almost as sincere. Almost.

Pete Hegseth, another Minnesota embarrassment. Open mouth. Talk inane. Collect paychecks. While dressed up presentably. FOX fashion of the day. Bachmannesque, as in: Can anybody take this poseur-blowhard individual seriously? As something besides a cartoon caricature?

Ichan posts.

This link. A pragraph from the item:

As I discussed with you, I’ve received a number of inquiries over the last month regarding the recent appointment of Neomi Rao as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (or “regulatory czar,” as the press has dubbed her) – specifically questions about whether there was any overlap between her formal position and my unofficial role. As I know you are aware, the answer to that question is an unequivocal no, for the simple reason that I had no duties whatsoever.

[...] Nevertheless, I chose to end this arrangement (with your blessing) because I did not want partisan bickering about my role to in any way cloud your administration or Ms. Rao’s important work. While I do not know Ms. Rao and played no part in her appointment, I am confident based on what I’ve read of her accomplishments that she is the right person for this important job.

"Neomi Rao as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs." So Icahn wrote. Then --

Background?

What background? Try this:

Professor Rao serves as a Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and on the Governing Council of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, as well as co-chair of the Section’s Regulatory Policy Committee.

Professor Rao’s scholarship is informed by her service in all three branches of the federal government. Prior to joining the Law School, she served as Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. Professor Rao also served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where she was responsible for judicial nominations and constitutional law issues. In between government service, Professor Rao practiced in the London office of Clifford Chance LLP, specializing in public international law and arbitration. She clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Clarence Thomas [...] Professor Rao received her J.D. with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School [...]

The finger on the kill switch.

___________UPDATE____________
AP released a story that Breitbart as well as other outlets carried, about the Icahn resignation from the "I had no say really" situation, and it looks fishy. So, Rao, who Icahn does not know and had no say in the appointment moved how? In some direction enriching Icahn with the distancing in advance of the shoe dropping?

Will a last rat abandon ship? If, when?

One possible answer, sitting on that advisory thing, what's it pay?

Last year, Politico named the names, but not
the compensation or perks.

Would a host of payday evacuees be anticipated? Or is it pro bono service for higher purposes, money aside as an irrelevance? Dominionist goals, uber alles?

What? A websearch yielding no informative returns on what it pays, if anything. What benefit package attaches, if any. Despite a plethora of returned links. A simple question must have a simple answer. Reader help on the answer would be welcome.

Finally, first rat reported, first and only, so far:

NPR reporting Aug 18, 2017, this link.

And despite the image, not the esteemed Mr. Fallwell (second generation Fallwell in the business, comparable to Trump Jr. in having an inherited cashflow domain - indeed, similar to the Donald himself, that inheritance way).

___________UPDATE__________
More on evangelical charismatists, hanging on: here, here, here, here and here. The last item in that set is in language I understand, about the man featured and his pattern of laying on hands.

__________FURTHER UPDATE____________
The Atlantic, curiously leading with a pic of a front-and-center White House figure, while a word search of the full item is devoid of the figure's name. Not about him? Or about him with press indirection? Then, if the latter, why the kid gloves indirection? Who's calling shots that way? Has there been any reported mood of surviror's guilt?

How does that lead photo image fit the headlining "Untethered?" Not a single tether in the scene depicted that Trump can rely upon? What?

__________FINAL UPDATE____________
More from The Atlantic, stating in part [italics and embedded links are from the original]:

Already, Breitbart is on a war footing. “It may turn out to be the beginning of the end for the Trump administration, the moment Donald Trump became Arnold Schwarzenegger,” editor Joel Pollak wrote on Friday, referring to the actor-turned-California governor, who won office as a populist outsider and exited with a 23 percent approval rating.

Bannon’s next steps are being worked out with Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire Republican donors who have been some of Trump’s most important supporters and Bannon’s consistent patrons. Two of Bannon’s friends told me Bannon met with Bob Mercer this week in New York while Trump was in town.

“First he’s gonna figure things out with Bob and Bekah,” said one Bannon ally earlier on Friday. “Breitbart's certainly the likely landing spot.” This ally said that Bannon may also move to a Mercer-funded outside group, or even start a new one.

Smoke without fire?

At least, it appears so, until the money talks.

It was worldwide news when the Taliban blew up two massive Buddha statues.

Breitbart wants bigger statue destruction numbers, see online opinion, here and here (this item for the last Breitbart link, in context). Chelsea begins presidential campaign with opinion on statues, sharp and glib but erroroneous, but she's after all a Clinton.

So much for little news, when there's a Breitbart blockbuster - a giant returns to fertile roots:

despite conventional wisdom

McArthurish in scope, charisma and bravado, (the Philipines promise, not the old soldiers thing).

Apart from anything to do with Breitbart, clearly, but back to statues, here, here and here.

Luckily we have no big Buddha items stateside, no Taliban, and as to other statues do remember Trump's favorite film is not Birth of a Nation.

"Kushner has also told people that he thinks Mercer and her father, the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer — who poured $13 million into a super PAC that supported Ted Cruz’s campaign in the Republican primary and came around to Trump after he won the nomination — have taken too much credit for their role in Trump's victory, and he has expressed misgivings about their go-it-alone approach to outside spending boosting Trump’s agenda. 'If Bannon leaves the White House, Bekah’s access and influence shrinks dramatically,' said the GOP operative who talks to Mercer."

Bannon tune time. So, who had Pilate's ear? Shouting a choice for Barabbas? Commentary on the Bannon ouster by Kushner appears to not have been reported, nor sought, nor given.

Related or not this. On such a consideration, commentary by Mike Pence appears to not have been reported, nor sought, nor given.

In closing, the headline quote is from here. In the present situation, commentary on the Banon ouser by either of the Mercers appears to not have been reported, nor sought, nor given.

Silence may be golden, but candor is more of a hoot.


UPDATE: Re-reading, to quell ambiguity, make the one sentence, "Commentary by Kushner on the Bannon ouster appears to not have been reported, nor sought, nor given." It would be wrong to give readers misleading thoughts.

FURTHER: Is this a Breitbart version of ultimate insult?

Whitewash of treatment accorded black college athletes.

This site links to this lengthy online pdf item. (Lawyers paid by the word?)

Two screen captures - and the notion of glide-and-slice begging of a basic question, words as friends to some, enemies of others - click each image to enlarge and read; highlighting added:

You can put all the sophistry in the world into all the other 300+ pages, but "on campus" on the first page is a telling thing, given events off campus were the basis for keelhauling the five dismissed black athletes.

You can put sophistry into whatever, but when "criminal activity" or "criminal conduct" is mentioned, the words have precise meaning. A "crime" happened if after a trial or a plea deal a charging prosecutor gets judicial closure, that a crime happened. No trial, no plea, with all the due process dressings required; no crime. Only claims, allegations, denials, and for criminal convictions to happen the prosecutorial authority has to believe a crime happened with enough probable cause for such a belief, or he/she should not file charges. No charges were filed. Over an OFF CAMPUS set of circumstances where there was contention and denials, and defenses against criminal liability asserted; i.e., a defense by multiple parties and witnesses asserting consensual sex with multiple partners by an inebriated woman without any proof of record that she was too inebriated to consent.

How it was.

Sophistry aside, how it remains. And paper over things while the main problem now is at Johns Hopkins, because university students need learning experiences, this, and the firing of the head coach to replace his winning with a cheerleader yet to win a post-season bowl game; those things represent learning experiences. Got your learning, pay library fines and move on, others are in line and waiting.

Is there not a simple answer? At least a partial one?

A few days ago, this link highlighted suicide ratess among the young; in our US of A; this excerpt:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released a new report on youth suicide, and the results are shocking. In just an eight-year period from 2007 to 2015, the suicide rate for teen girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have doubled, and authorities aren’t really sure why that is.

The new rate of 5.1 suicides per 100,000 people represents a 40-year high. In 1975, the rate was 2.9, and it increased to 3.7 in 1990 before dropping to 2.4 in 2007. But for some reason, the numbers have suddenly risen. And boys that age haven’t fared well either, seeing their suicide rate jump by more than 30 percent, from 10.8 to 14.2 per 10,000 individuals.

[...] “Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families, and communities,’ the CDC states. “While its causes are complex and determined by multiple factors, the goal of suicide prevention is simple: Reduce factors that increase risk (i.e. risk factors) and increase factors that promote resilience (i.e. protective factors).

With that site lacking any link to an online original source, the value of the remainder of the item beyond the excerpt is nearly useless.

However, it was notice, and websearch found other reporting. Readers are urged to attempt to find the referenced report online; while reporting links include HuffPo, CNN, and PressTV.

It is easier to explain than the media outlets mention. Put yourself into the position of a young person looking forward to fifty years of the crap the people who run the NWO and this nation's part of it; including the politicians they own in DC; that entire DC cesspool of consultants, generals, bought politicians, co-opted regulators, and hustlers of other stripes; and look at the greed collectively put under the loose rubric "Wall Street," and how the Occupy movement got put down smacking hard universally across the nation; then as a youth foreseeing fifty more years of that shit might you not then head for the railroad tracks?

In short, we owe the young of this nation a better future. The policy positions advocated by Bernie Sanders resonate among the young of the nation for an easy to understand good reason. Justice is better to anticipate than same old same old screwing with Paul Ryan the poster child of that status quo dark scenario.

Bleak perspectives lead to bleak conduct, and if any bull-shitter is really "PRO-LIFE" these are real and actual lives in being, and focus there before laddering out that embryo brand of crap. If sincere, and "PRO-LIFE" what the hell is holding you back?

I mean you, Abigale Whelan. I cannot understand you but I know we in the district can do better. You nailed down that legislative paycheck, Jesus must love that cashflow, but how about earning it?

UPDATE: Tune time. Encore?

FURTHER: Resilience.

screen capture source

Yesterday, Aug. 13, 2017, Vanity Fair had a severe case of Trump fever.

Tempertures rose, then the fever broke in cold sweat, where you can read the reporting here and here.

Trump Soho, plus an interesting link in one item to Richard Branson and five unnamed individuals.

Many names might come to mind, as well as, "Only five?"

In thinking of New York City figures of ill-repute, in fact or fiction, an interesting Facebook listing, here. As to artful dealing, might a Saudi yachtsman be on the bleeding edge of Trump ire?

And in all of things, Mike Pence is as loyal to Trump as a frog waiting to be kissed into something bigger. By a one-on-one dinner guest? Not likely if believing things the man says. By a transition team member, of which there were many, but few exceptionally well placed to retool a frog.

And then, there is George W. Bush, portrait painter.

This link.

"We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes."

Of course you are free to regard her differently. Headline above is a sub-head from here. More product lines than thoughts? Perhaps. Would many product lines be needed?

Al-Awamiya

Zero Hedge online. Wikipedia. Video, here and here. Shia suffering.

This video.

Here.

Ron Paul. RT, here, and here. So - RT in cahoots with Ron Paul? That seems unlikely. More RT.

Here.

Vox, here, here.

-------------------
Do your own websearch = Al-Awamiya seige

Here is one.

Do a websearch = Al-Awamiya seige cnn fox New-york-times washington-post msnbc This might be in the return list.

Do that last search adding: Reuters Associated-Press. Further and further from Saudi abuse against a Shite populace within its borders, the more mainstream press outlets you add to searching. And why is this not "news?" Sunni-Shia happenings in Iraq were better covered.

Figure it out.

Nothing to see here. Move along. Don't block the way for news delivery, with individualized doubt or questioning. Keep messages on track and repeated. Rachel Maddow and Trump and the Russians; now that's news, else it would not be repetitive. Would it?

The one in the blue tie is an idiot.

Foxy con.

Heads will roll?

Screencapture from here.

And if Occupy had not perished with a push and a whimper, there'd have been Kent State - Jackson State redux. These insecure despots, a/k/a "friendly" oil, pass Draconian measures, and chop heads. Welcome to the 21st Century; 7th Century style. But what would our National Guard do, again? Teach the children what follows if the velvet glove fails. Unless and until citizen action can alter the dour status quo. Here, there, everywhere - at least that is the hope. No fraud. No "HOPE" but actual hope. Real and not bogus sloganeering. Lower case lettering will do for the legitimate thing.

Anyone Can Legally Say “Eat Shit, Bob!”

We all can say it. Tweet it, because it's fewer than the max number of characters.

This link to download a pdf of a Scribd-posted item.

And do not take my word for the headline. The ACLU says so, p.5 of the download[scribd item].

And to a coal baron? Sure. And say it twice. Get a nuisance suit if millions watch it; the bet being Big-Time Bob does NOT sue me. If sued, there is venue to debate.

Grab on and kiss, Bob.

Image source, HuffPo telling the story, online here.

UPDATE: ACLU, telling the story, a web post apart from court filings. What if one of the comments were, "Kiss my Bob, Bob?" That would require an intermediate inference before running to the courthouse, papers in hand.

Seattle in a B.C. forest fire haze.

They really need a few days of August rain to wash the air clear. With the mountain pattern in the Puget Sound area, summer weeks without rain, add perhaps a thermal inversion, and the air can get foul. Part of the Seattle lore is it's always raining, partly true, frequently being the word; but not when you really need it.

Mercenaries murdered Iraqi citizens in a most brutal way, and get an appellate freebie; courtesy of the willing D.C. Circuit.

This link. The Head Merc, Erik Prince, is an apparent sociopath. For profit.

In dark ways. From a Dominionist family, or not?

Do not fault someone when they're right. Do not forget when they're wrong.

Right, Peter Tosh, the Legalize It album cover, and Cory Booker gets it right:

Wrong:

Wrong and living it, loving it. As befits the selfie.

Does a whore have to explain herself?

Apart from the headline question, Tom Emmer has under his name, a Strib op-ed. Longer than necessary. We understand Tom.

Explain to me again why I should trust Patty Murray in this hunker-in with Lamar Alexander to do in single payer?

Politico reports on the pair of perps.

This screencapture from here, back then, and guess what:

So now Patty Vote-Big-Pharma Murray rides in on a white horse to fix things.

Bet pharma gouging of us all is OFF THE TABLE FROM THE GET-GO. As with the Obama variety of Romneycare for the insurance industry, the mess that Murray-Alexander will tart up a bit and say with applause from Senate colleagues, "Done and we can move on." Expect that sell out.

Hope it is not so. But expect what is to be expected. Smoke and mirrors, and pharma price gouging being left standing; business as usual.

Trust the Sanders-Klobuchar vote Murray cast to show who Murray can be expected to be. Her and Cory Booker.

Poor Phizer. Shed a tear for Phizer.

This Reuters link.

A separate Reuters story, passing winds.

Could a "symphony" be an anti-trust violation if each musician is an independent contractor but the music for all is the same?

This link. Great harmony out of Wall Street would ignore the rest of us, or at least that argument could be made. Not a mainstream media thing, off in the specialized trade press; after all each musician is an obvious specialist and the rest of us might never hear any of the music at all. To our detriment, or just pay attention to "them Russians?"

"Them Russians," yes web-readers, do attend to that unfolding drama; with little time for a websearch related to clearly lesser concerns. Ask those fanning the anti-Russian patriot flames; no other patriot flames ought to matter they'd assure you.

Qatar. Entangling trade alliances? What has the WTO to do with regional one-upmanship? Between sovereign nations has sovereignty been compromise or bargained away, or perhaps tamped somewhat down in reach? [UPDATED - Emerates responds.]

A sign of what might have been, had TPP not been stomped upon so heavily that it lost its life? Al Jazeera online, here, opening paragraphs:

Qatar has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to challenge a trade boycott by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

By formally "requesting consultations" with the three countries, the first step in a trade dispute, Qatar triggered a 60-day deadline for them to settle the complaint or face litigation at the WTO and potential retaliatory trade sanctions.

"We've given sufficient time to hear the legal explanations on how these measures are in compliance with their commitments, to no satisfactory result," Ali Alwaleed Al Thani, the director of Qatar's WTO office, told the Reuters news agency on Monday.

"We have always called for dialogue, for negotiations, and this is part of our strategy to talk to the members concerned and to gain more information on these measures, the legality of these measures, and to find a solution to resolve the dispute."

later in the item -

The text of Qatar's WTO complaint cites "coercive attempts at economic isolation" and spells out how the blockading countries are impeding Qatar's trade rights.

The disputed restrictions include bans on trade through Qatar's ports and travel by Qatari citizens, blockages of Qatari digital services and websites, the closure of maritime borders and prohibition of flights operated by Qatari aircraft.
Qatar rejects renewed calls to fulfill neighbours’ demands

The complaint does not put a value on the trade boycott, and Al Thani declined to estimate how much Qatar could seek in sanctions if the litigation ever reached that stage, which can take five years or longer in the WTO system.

"We remain hopeful that the consultations could bear fruit in resolving this," he said.

Not in it for the money; a matter of principle?

UPDATE: This Reuters link, summarizing Emerates' position.

Ryan Lizza.

Storyteller. Online, New Yorker, online: here and here. No excerpt, no quote here. At a guess the man is a baseball fan.

Politoco headline: "Graham troubled by report of Trump’s role in son’s Russia meeting response."

This link. I went into reading it thinking it was going to be Billy. A leading quote:

[...] Graham said Tuesday that reports that President Donald Trump personally dictated his son’s misleading statement regarding a meeting last summer with a Russian attorney “bothers me a lot,” as do the president’s regular requests that the Senate do away with the legislative filibuster, a non-starter according to the South Carolina lawmaker.

Still, Graham (R-S.C.) indicated that the possibility still existed for Trump’s presidency to “still be very consequential” if the president is able to refocus on healthcare and other legislative priorities.

"Still" three times in the same sentence? Politico must have been hot to post the story ahead of WaPo and others.

Alternatively, perhaps staff contraction got rid of proofreaders.

UPDATE: The Hill, online here:

The president’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, refused to speak about details regarding Trump’s involvement with the statement.

“Apart from being of no consequence, the characterizations are misinformed, inaccurate, and not pertinent,” Sekulow said in his statement to The Post.

The lawyer could have made that a tweet, but perhaps did not have character-counting software on his workstation. One of those lawyerly triads, "misinformed, inaccurate, not pertinent," where we can recall how "life, liberty and happiness" was an appropriation, by a lawyer in his writing, from John Locke's "life, liberty and property," which actually expresses more clearly what America seems to be about, at least in our times and probably as much or more so, in Jefferson's.

Crowdsourcing.

Thinking about a crowdsource, a social website, Trumpet.

It would differ little from Twitter, but you could post a trump, or even a winning trick trump, or at best, a game winning trump play.

That way, basing it on bridge terminology, there's a defense against misappropriation of a brand name.

The other thought, a TV show, "The Mooch." It would be a take-off on The Apprentice and named after one.