LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SUGGESTED READINGS FOR JUNE 25, 2017

Of the many indicators that the Anglosphere's public intellectual ecosystem is in a sorry state of decline, perhaps the most compelling is the fact that telegenic mediocrity Sam Harris--he of the soothing, hypnotist's mien and the cold dead eyes of a serial killer--continues to be taken seriously, and that he maintains a significant readership, as well as a positively rabid online fan club.

Fortunately, the mysterious Reddit escapees who produce THErHizzonE have taken it upon themselves to provide the interested reader with a forensically thorough and meticulously argued case against paying any attention to anything Sam Harris has to say on any topic, whatsoever. And yet, as entertaining is it is to see such a self-satisfied, narcissistic fraud be so utterly dismantled, the author(s) have also done a great public service, producing a must read for anyone concerned about the deleterious effects that one well connected phony can have on the wider public discourse.

***

Speaking of malevolent bad faith actors with sinister ulterior motives and an inexplicably large and vocal American fan base, how about them Russians?! The Daily Beast's excellent overview of America's long history of having sincere attempts at rapprochement backfire spectacularly, titled How Moscow's Spies Keep Duping America Over and Over Again, is both fascinating and chilling. It's enough to make you wonder which evil genius magician managed to convince so many ostensible Trump "foes" that there's nothing to the whole Russia thing, when the Russia thing is fucking HUGE, man, in all its ugly glory. Trump is covered in sucker marks from all the tentacles the Kremlin, Russian organized crime, the oligarchs (same dif) and all those weird Central Asian post-Soviet kleptocratic petrostates have wrapped around him. And yet we have self-styled lefties and Democrats screaming to stop talking about Russia. It's a testament to the New Fascist International's insanely powerful, next level propaganda skills, that's for goddamn sure.

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That's enough heavy thinking for one day. Let's close off today's offerings with a video: Wheeler Walker Jr.'s hit crossover (from Filthy Trucker Novelty Tape to New Country Fringe) "hit" single, "Pussy King"!

NEW TWEET STORM FROM ERIC GARLAND RE: CONSPIRACIES!

Twitter superstar Eric Garland is no stranger to sparking strong feelings with his penchant for rollicking, go-for-broke, hypercharged brainstorming sessions on Twitter. He was praised and scorned in equal measure for his now legendary (and quite excellent, in my view) Tweet Storm that kicked off with the infamous line: "It's time for some Game Theory!" Today's Storm is sure to spark more tone policing and concern trolling and furrowed brow pleas of "Come now dear boy" from the usual suspects. However, to anyone with even a passing familiarity with some of the lesser known movers, shakers, and goings-on of the past... oh, let's say 75 years, none of this will be all that surprising. It's just nice to see it laid out in such plainspoken language. - Jerky

<CONSPIRACY THREAD>

 This was a takeover by the global billionaire nutball class. It'll be exposed soon. And no, not the stupid ((())) SOROS!!! thing. For real.

A little background: I have a mentor, one of the world's most brilliant historian/philosophers. He's not well known. By his design.

He can quote Epictetus or Plato or Laozi as easy as SNL - all of them with their humor in tact. He sees 2000 years as "recent-ish."

I learned to talk about movements in the 50-250 year timeframe. A little more than a fad, a bit less than an era. A "moment in time."

At this macroscopic level, you begin to speak about flows of power, the effect of ideas taken all the way out to their conclusions.

This leads one to talk about conspiracies - the discussion of a few people manipulating big power under cover of others' ignorance.

If you think about Europe and the Church before printing, this doesn't seem so crazy - only so many people could read. It's like that.

Anyhow, one day 15 years ago, I asked, "Like, WHOA, is there, like a Cabal of Global Power Elite Conspirators who run everything?"

"No," he laughed, "the hilarious part is that there are maybe 15-30 of those things- and they all think they're in control by themselves."

"They have A Lot of Money by any standard, and can get a ton done - but it's the combination of everyone that makes the world move."

All these people with gold toilets who think they can change math and chemistry - but really they're not in control either. Funny.

BUT, around 10-15 years ago, I started hearing about this weird strain of rich weirdos. The tech thing was getting big - and a bit psycho.

Apparently, there were some of the Very Wealthy Class who were starting to talk about controlling ALL OF HUMANITY through tech and stuff.

A CUSTOM HUMANITY! BY DESIGN! AND THE GENIUS IQ TECH RICH PEOPLE would anyway, it sounded nuts. But it sorta metastasized. Kept going.

I kept hearing bits of it. The "Sealand" people, where Java/C# programmers can live on an oil rig, because...genius? Like, wha?

Never mind mass farming and global supply chains. RICH GENIUS GALT WE SECEDE FROM MEDIOCRITY! IT'LL BE GREAT that kinda nuts.

A while back, I started hearing about a strain of this that turned out to be Mercer. SEE WE HAVE ALGORITHMSES! WE CAN HACK HISTORY!

Nano-IT-bio-info-technocracy! We ran Pets.com once! We are humanity's overlords! Also, we ruined mortgages! We are Gawds!

Anyhow, the play here in 2016 was the big move for Seekrit Tech Type Boss Autocracy Billionairez to Take Over The Game. I guess.  

But it goes back to my teacher's lesson: Who's running The Conspiracy? A couple dozen groups. All with competing interests. Get it?

If you think you're in on The Conspiracy, then you missed the whole thing about A Bunch of Conspiracies, Most Actually Hidden. Funny, right?

So, in this weird adventure, the Mercers, deVos, the Nazis, Breitbart, Russia, five Saudis oh whoever, it's a big weird chart.

These guys thought they'd hack America, give it to Nazi Christians, have Mike Flynn defend it, and have hedge funders make all the monees.

So we have Sessions trying to institute 1877, Carson saying there's no poverty, and Mnuchin selling you mailbox to a Saudi bond fund. 

THEY ARE IDIOTS. Because they ain't the only Conspiracy in town. Jay-Z and the Chinese Communists ran the whole thing. 

Taking over the world is hard work. You're dumb to try it. Perhaps cherish the world instead. </CONSPIRACY THREAD>

SETH ABRAMSON TWEET STORM

Journalist Seth Abramson used his Twitter account to unleash an epic Tweet storm laying out his argument that Trump is already circling the drain, and that Mueller and Co are basically just tying up the loose ends, dotting the i's and crossing the t's. I've collected that information here, for ease of use and reference. Enjoy! - JERKY

(THREAD) We DO have PROOF Trump and Russia colluded. This thread PROVIDES it. Please read and RETWEET so we can end the no-collusion canard.

(1) In counter-intelligence, the term "coordination" is used to describe what laypeople now discuss as "collusion," so I use that term here.

(2) The Washington Post reports the FBI is investigating whether "coordination" was achieved between Trump and Russia via financial crimes.

(3) The assumption of this Washington Post report is that if Trump received Russian money during the campaign, he "coordinated" with Russia.

(4) This link to the WP confirms financial coordination would be "collusion." That is NOT what this thread is about.

(5) I link to the WP to *establish* that transfers of money between Trump and Russia during the campaign would be considered "coordination."

(6) The reason Trump-Russia money transfers in the campaign constitute "coordination" ("collusion") is because *Russia was at war with us*.

(7) Homeland Security experts agree that cyberwar is a modern form of war, and in 2016 Russia *unilaterally waged war* on the United States.

(8) The case for Trump-Russia coordination is *very easy* to make—it begins with *when* Trump learned Russia was waging cyberwar on America.

(9) We know that, at the *latest*, Trump himself learned that Russia was *at war* with the United States during the last week of July 2016.

(10) On July 26, 2016, in a major national news story, NBC reported "Experts Are Sure Russia Hacked" U.S. systems.

(11) (You'll note the difference between the Twitter headline and the *actual* headline; click on the link to see, "Experts Are *Sure*...")

(12) We know Trump read NBC's report because the *very next day* he gave a *nationally televised press conference* on the very same subject.

(13) In his big press conference, Trump said Russia "probably" had engaged in cyber-war against the United States.

(14) (As you see from the Twitter headline, Trump went *further* and said he also *hoped* it was true Russia was cyber-attacking America.)

(15) Trump's admission (a) he believed Russia was at cyberwar with America, and (b) *hoped* it was, *shocked* the American political system.

(16) It's easy—in hindsight—to forget Trump's July 27, 2016 pronouncement was *not* just national news but considered *infamously historic*.

(17) But *equally* important was that the *Trump campaign* was *well aware* how big a problem Trump's statement was—which know in two ways.

(18) First, and most importantly, that was the *last major press conference Trump gave during the course of the 2016 presidential election*.

(19) Consider that: a man whose attorneys, friends, family and staff can't get him to shut up on Twitter *stopped giving press conferences*.

(20) And he *stopped giving press conferences* at a time he needed to give them to get attention *and* media *wanted* to give him attention.

(21) The second remarkable thing Trump did was that he publicly *reversed course* shortly thereafter. As we know, Trump *hates* to do this.

(22) Trump saying Russia "probably" was hacking U.S. systems meant (legally and otherwise) that he believed it to be "more likely than not."

(23) After Trump and/or his aides pulled him from *all future press conferences*, he suddenly began to express doubt about Russian hacking.

(24) Suddenly Trump's position—even as the IC became *more and more certain* in its assessment—was that *anyone* could've done the hacking.

(25) But America never forgot his "probably" or "I hope" and *disbelieved* that Trump would then become *less* sure as the IC became *more*.

(26) If you're reading this, I hope you will agree that all I've done here so far is relate American history as it happened. No conjectures.

(27) Another mere fact is this one: AG Jeff Sessions testified under oath that he discussed sanctions with Sergey Kislyak in September 2016.

(28) Sessions also made clear—under oath—that he didn't discuss hacking with Kislyak at that meeting. He only discussed sanctions with him.

(29) So for instance, we could *not* say that Sessions was negotiating with Kislyak to drop sanctions *if Russia stopped hacking America*.

(30) No—what we know, from Sessions, is he engaged in negotiations over the dropping of sanctions against Russia with no such preconditions.

(31) To review: July 27, Trump accepts Russia is likely at war with America; weeks later he lets Sessions talk sanctions (no preconditions).

(32) Note that Sessions, in hours of testimony, couldn't remember a *single* key detail about his *three meetings* with Kislyak. Except one.

(33) The *one* detail Sessions *chose* to recall on Kislyak—and *repeated* in *both testimonies*—is the September meeting was "contentious."

(34) Why did Sessions go to such *extraordinary* lengths—even contradicting his own "meeting amnesia"—to establish the tone of one meeting?

(35) Here—for the first time in the thread—I move from *fact* to the sort of *circumstantial evidence* the FBI uses in criminal cases daily.

(36) The reflexivity shown by Trump and Sessions on *two issues*—Russian hacking and the September meeting—suggest a consciousness of guilt.

(37) It's *shocking* that *weeks* after Trump admitted Russia was *at war with us* he let his *top foreign policy aide* negotiate sanctions.

(38) So: a) Trump would *want* us to think he doubted Russian hacking, b) Sessions would *want* his September meeting to seem *contentious*.

(39) Fortunately for Trump, he kept repeating *so often* that he doubted the IC analysis on hacking that we *forgot* he first *accepted* it.

(40) Fortunately for Sessions, he broke protocol by taking no notes, then *not reporting* his meeting, then committing *multiple* perjuries.

(41) So investigators must determine what Trump and Russia negotiated with respect to sanctions by some other means. And—good news—they can.

(42) FBI investigators now know Trump's transition was engaged in ongoing sanctions negotiation w/ Russia and committed felonies to hide it.

(43) Mike Flynn risked *more than a decade in prison* to try to hide from the federal government that Team Trump was negotiating sanctions.

(44) And Trump risked *aiding and abetting Flynn* by *not* firing him for weeks. Why? To keep Flynn on his side—to keep him from squawking.

(45) Even in (finally) firing him, Trump a) underscored that Flynn was a "good man" and b) wouldn't say he fired him over lies *to the FBI*.

(46) FBI investigators also know Trump planned to—*as one of his first acts in office*—drop all sanctions on Russia.

(47) Trump's plan to drop sanctions was—*yet again*—*without preconditions* and at a time our IC *confirmed* unilateral Russian aggression.

(48) Indeed, Trump's plan to drop sanctions *without preconditions* was at a time Russia's behavior toward the United States had *worsened*.

(49) Trump's plan to drop sanctions on Russia *without preconditions* constitutes a transfer of *hundreds of billions of dollars* to Russia.

(50) To transfer hundreds of billions of dollars to an enemy currently waging war upon you—*without preconditions*—constitutes coordination.

(51) And *all* the evidence we have right now underscores Trump was negotiating dropping sanctions during the campaign *and* the transition.

(52) And Trump's *own televised statements*—-plus his later attempts to cover them up—confirm he *knew* Russia was waging war upon America.

(53) The media may assume that collusion *only* occurs when money flows from Russia to Trump—the FBI makes *no such mistake*, be sure of it.

(54) Trump used his top NatSec/FP aides—Sessions and Flynn—to negotiate dropping sanctions on Russia without preconditions in a time of war.

(55) The FBI does not *need* proof that the Russians paid Trump, because it already *has* proof Trump made long-term plans to *pay Russia*.

(56) The FBI doesn't *need* proof Team Trump gave intel to the Russians, as Trump merely needed to *know* what Russia was doing. And he did.

(57) During the campaign and transition Trump plotted with Sessions and Flynn to provide material aid and comfort to an active US adversary.

(58) That that illegal aid and comfort was contingent upon Trump being president didn't even need to be said, because it was *self-evident*.

(59) The moment Sessions and Flynn confirmed they negotiated dropping sanctions in a "hot" cyberwar—without preconditions—we had collusion.

(60) There's no doubt whatsoever that Trump, Sessions, and Flynn thereby offered inducements to Russian hacking *as it was happening to us*.

(61) Note—the evidence I've presented thus far is only a *fraction* of the evidence the FBI has on this issue. I'll let you in on some more.

(62) *Public reports* from late July 2016—when Trump was learning about Russian cyberwar on America—confirm *many* steps taken on sanctions.

(63) The next tweets in this thread are *all* based on widespread—even ubiquitous—national news reports from July 2016. Feel free to Google.

(64) At the RNC, Trump's #2 foreign policy aide—J.D. Gordon—negotiated sanctions with the Russians then lied to the national press about it.

(65) Prior to Gordon's lie, Trump's Campaign Manager—Paul Manafort—lied to the national press about whether Trump was negotiating sanctions.

(66) In his first Congressional testimony, Trump's top foreign policy aide—Sessions—perjured to hide that he too met with Russia at the RNC.

(67) The fact Sessions had *already* discussed sanctions with Kislyak in late July belies his claim their September meeting was contentious.

(68) The FBI couldn't fail to miss this M.O.—Trump's top NatSec/foreign policy aides lie to Americans, Congress, and the FBI *on sanctions*.

(69) Moreover the FBI knows a) all negotiations lacked preconditions, and b) all negotiations occurred when Trump knew about Russia hacking.

(70) Republicans have used *disinformation* to convince the media and its viewers that coordination/collusion requires "hacking assistance."

(71) Republicans also use *disinformation* to convince the media and its viewers that coordination/collusion requires Russia *paying Trump*.

(72) The FBI is *investigating* hacking assistance—how did Russian bots micro-target competitive U.S. districts?—but they *needn't* find it.

(73) The FBI is investigating Russian payments to Trump associates via money laundering—per The Washington Post—but they *needn't* find it.

(74) And what the FBI *certainly* doesn't *need* to find is the Dick Tracy-like "smoking gun" the GOP is, like mob-movie fanboys, demanding.

(75) Criminal investigators—and I was one—know the coordination *most* likely to work, and stay hidden, is the *simplest* sort of collusion.

(76) If media wants to keep saying "no evidence of collusion yet!" it needs to educate itself on what international collusion can look like.

(77) Instead they rely on quotes from pols—but of *course* pols will wait for a smoking gun that'll convince *everyone*. Why shouldn't they?

(78) As long as the possibility of a Dick Tracy-like "smoking gun" remains out there—and it very much does—pols can stay "mum" on collusion.

(79) But journos and social media users should say clearly and unambiguously that we *have* evidence of collusion and now seek *even more*.

(80) And if the *media* would start researching *coordination via sanctions* we might get lots of *new* information we don't *already* have.

(81) So the next time someone says to you, "There's been a year of investigation and no proof of any collusion!" you should simply say this:

(82) "We have REAMS of evidence Trump's team committed MULTIPLE CRIMES to give Russia sanctions relief in exchange for continued cyber-war."

(83) Then go further: "EVERY REVELATION in the Russia probe—on Sessions, Flynn, Manafort and Trump—CONFIRMS collusion via sanctions relief."

(84) When those of us who don't want to see America run by an autocrat concede the collusion question to friends and family, America loses.

(85) So *fight for your country* by telling anyone who'll listen that we *know* Trump colluded with Russia. And show them this thread. {end}

(PS) This thread uses "war" to mean "cyberwarfare." The analyses here presume *only* a known hostile actor—not a formal declaration of war.

(PS2) A US person/entity materially aiding/abetting a hostile foreign actor engaged in cyberwarfare against America is coordinating by law.

(PS3) Pre-election assurances the US would drop sanctions on Russia—without conditions—at a time America was under cyber-attack are illegal.

(PS4) All that's needed is for a person to know the future transfer of billions they're promising is to a foreign power engaged in cyberwar.

(PS5) The evidence we have *now*—from public reports, Congressional testimony and Trump's own statements—confirms all elements of collusion.

(VIDEO) Many videos—like this BBC one—cut off Trump's next eight words: "Let's see if that happens—that'll be next."

SUGGESTED READING LIST FOR JUNE 19, 2017

Okay, so I'm going to start just blogging some of the best articles I come across without too much content, to get back into the daily swing of things. That incredible image up there comes from this Vanity Fair article entitled "Trump's Biggest Mistake Might Have Been Getting Elected". It's worth a look.

Pathetic ALT RIGHT PROPAGANDA VECTOR and Patreon panhandler Dave Rubin has threatened to sue Mother Jones for this completely accurate and important examination of the emerging Far Right misinformation ecosystem. Help spread it around, it deserves a wide readership.

Speaking of figuring out how the Far Right propaganda machine works, Project S.H.A.M.E. has conducted a magnificently thorough and damning case study in how the Koch brothers, long time masters of conservative Astroturf techniques, create covert Manchurian Candidates from scratch, then send them out like info-terrorist sleeper cells to do their foul bidding whenever and wherever they deem it necessary. Only read this one if you're fully stocked up on your blood pressure meds.

Okay, more soon. Keep watching this space.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT YESTERDAY'S SHOOTING

In the wake of Wednesday's shooting/wounding of the White Nationalist-courting, NRA-funded Congressman Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) and three others by a Trump and Hillary-hating Bernie Bro during a charity baseball game practice, a friend of mine took to Facebook and wrote:

I wouldn't have believed what I read about wingnuts blaming this morning's shooting on "the left" if I did not have wingnut friends who are actually blaming this morning's shooting on the left. There is no polite way to describe their fanaticism. 

Unfortunately, he was 100% correct.

And it wasn't just thoughtless partisans reflexively spilling their ahistorical nonsense across the seething digital wastes of social media, either. The Big Boys got in on the act, as well.

Across the entire vast right-wing propaganda machine--all the way from FOX News, down through the talk radio ecosystem that is now well over 90% Far Right reactionary, through all the various right-wing and alt-right fake news sites like Breitbart and InfoWars and WorldNetDaily and TheBlaze and Daily Caller and on and on, ad infinitum, to the growing cottage industry of profiteering Youtube alt-right Patreon panhandlers sucking up as much anti-SJW loot as they can from people willing to pay good money to be told exactly what they want to hear--the refrain rang loud and clear: "The Democrats and leftists have taken things TOO FAR!

I shouldn't have to do this, because for fuck's sake, I assume most of you reading this are thinking people with functioning brains and at least some semblance of a working memory and basic analytic skills... but for anyone out there who might actually be stupid enough to think that "the left" or "Democrats" are the ones playing with rhetorical fire and courting extremists in the USA... well, here's what the FBI has to say about that.

I still have yet to see a single, solitary instance of this alleged "extreme rhetoric" that the Democrats have allegedly been engaging in. No. The home of true, violent extremism in America is almost entirely on the right. But the usual suspects, never ones to let facts get in the way of a good bullet point or anecdotal proof, are all het up over this one little incident, in which nobody but the shooter even fucking died.

Listen up, buttercups... an average of ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE are gunned down in cold blood in the United States of America, each and every goddamn day. Shot DEAD. But now, because Republicans got targeted this one fucking time... OH MY GOD! The RHETORIC!!! 

The really galling part is that this is coming from a cohort that fancies themselves "free speech absolutists", the very same people who poo-poo anyone who mentions that maybe the Republicans--with their increasingly unhinged and violent fan base and their blatantly White Nationalist "senior advisors" and their fucking Nuremberg style rallies where they demonize the media (while simultaneously pointing them out in the crowd), encourage chants of "Lock her up!" and worse, shriek "Go ahead and sucker punch that black bitch... I'll cover your legal bill!"--might want to tone that shit down.

By the way, if I were Steve Scalise right now, the person I'd be most afraid of in the world isn't the next Democrat, liberal, or even Bernie fan that he meets... it's Donald J. Trump. Because a wounded man doesn't make for even half as good a propaganda prop as a dead man, and deep down, I'm sure Scalise knows a) that Trump understands this instinctively, and b) that Trump would gladly sacrifice his life for far, far less than his death would be worth to him at this point.

She made $4,000 in two hours selling these. 

TRUMP CABINET SING HIS PRAISES ON TV

I saw a lot of people poking fun at Trump's weird televised cabinet meeting on Monday, in which his underlings all tripped over each other for a chance to lick the bossman's butthole clean. Even a senior US Senator got in on the act.

Then I went and watched it for myself. And you know what? 

It's not funny. 

Not one bit. 

It's fucking terrifying.