SUGGESTED READINGS FOR AUGUST 23, 2017

Patrick Radden Keefe's Reporter at Large column in the latest edition of the New Yorker, titled "Carl Icahn’s Failed Raid on Washington", asks the rhetorical question: "Was President Trump’s richest adviser focussed on helping the country—or his own bottom line?" Although it falls somewhat short of arriving at a definitive answer, it does a fantastic job of familiarizing the unacquainted with one of the most powerful men in America, whose wields so much power, with so few checks and balances to rein him in, it's enough to make you wonder why the USA even bothers to hold elections at all.

About 1/10th of the way down the article, after a brief review of the massive and obvious conflicts of interest involved in appointing Icahn to a governmental role vis-a-vis industrial deregulation, the following paragraphs, which bear repeating here, appear:

Several weeks after Trump’s victory, Icahn tweeted, “I’ve agreed to serve as a special advisor to the president on issues relating to regulatory reform.” In a press release, Trump said, “Carl was with me from the beginning and with his being one of the world’s great businessmen, that was something I truly appreciated. He is not only a brilliant negotiator, but also someone who is innately able to predict the future, especially having to do with finances and economies.” He added that Icahn would help him address regulations that were “strangling” American business. 

Icahn’s role was novel. He would be an adviser with a formal title, but he would not receive a salary, and he would not be required to divest himself of any of his holdings, or to make any disclosures about potential conflicts of interest. “Carl Icahn will be advising the President in his individual capacity,” Trump’s transition team asserted. 

In the months after the election, the stock price of CVR, Icahn’s refiner, nearly doubled—a surge that is difficult to explain without acknowledging the appointment of the company’s lead shareholder to a White House position. The rally meant a personal benefit for Icahn, at least on paper, of half a billion dollars. There was an expectation in the market—an expectation created, in part, by Icahn’s own remarks—that, with Trump in the White House and Icahn playing consigliere, the rules were about to change, and not just at the E.P.A. Icahn’s empire ranges across many economic sectors, from energy to pharmaceuticals to auto supplies to mining, and all of them are governed by the types of regulations about which he would now potentially be advising Trump. 

Janet McCabe, who left the E.P.A. in January, and now works at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, told me, “I’m not naïve. People in business try to influence the government. But the job of the government is to serve the American people, not the specific business interests of the President’s friends. To think that you have somebody with that kind of agenda bending the President’s ear is troubling.” 

Conflicts of interest have been a defining trait of the Trump Administration. The President has not only refused to release his tax returns; he has declined to divest from his companies, instead putting them in a trust managed by his children. Questions have emerged about the ongoing business ties of his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who, since early 2016, have reaped as much as two hundred million dollars from the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C., and from other investments. Although Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” he has assembled a Cabinet of ultra-rich Americans, including two billionaires: Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education, and Wilbur Ross, the Secretary of Commerce. 

But Icahn is worth more than the Trump family and all the members of the Cabinet combined—and, with no constraint on his license to counsel the President on regulations that might help his businesses, he was poised to become much richer. Robert Weissman, who runs the watchdog group Public Citizen, told me, “This kind of self-enrichment and influence over decision-making by an individual mogul who is simultaneously inside and outside the Administration is unprecedented. In terms of corruption, there’s nothing like it. Maybe ever.” In conversations with me, financiers who have worked with Icahn described his appointment as a kind of corporate raid on Washington. One said, “It’s the cheapest takeover Carl’s ever done.”

That's America they're talking about, just FYI. Anyway, it's depressing as Hell, but still necessary, to educate ourselves. Read this article, top to bottom, and consider it your lesson on civics for the day. Oh, and don't put too much stock in that "Icahn may have messed up royally by hitching his wagon to the Trump Train, with a possible end result that he's broken laws and will soon end up behind bars" jazz. That kind of shit just doesn't happen to people like Icahn. Not in this lifetime, not in this world.

***

Timothy Zaal wrote a think piece about Charlottesville for Politico, titled "I Used to be a Neo-Nazi. Charlottesville Terrifies Me". It begins:

When I was a skinhead, living in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s, I remember watching a favorite video with my fellow extremists. It was footage of the 1979 Greensboro massacre, when Ku Klux Klan members shot and killed five people at a workers’ demonstration in North Carolina. A group of cars pulled up. KKK members jumped out of the vehicles, killed a group of communists, then drove away. 

We laughed at it.

This past weekend, the news from Charlottesville brought back that memory—of being surrounded by fellow white supremacists in my old house, watching our odd choice of Friday-night entertainment. Today, of course, you can find clips like these online. In those days, extremist groups had mail-order services where you could purchase VHS tapes. That was where we bought it.

I gave up being a skinhead years ago. But now, I’m getting uncomfortable feelings of déjà vu as I watch footage of the bloody events in Charlottesville. The white supremacist organizations of my day were different, but after researching these “alt-right” groups, and seeing the violence this weekend, I realize they’re all too similar. They hate the same minorities we did. They spew the same conspiracy theories. They consume the same kinds of propaganda.

But there’s one huge difference: These newer offshoots have been far more successful than we could ever have dreamed.

The article continues, giving a brief history of the White Power movement(s) of the 80's and 90's, exploring the parallels between then and now, theorizing how the rabbit hole paradigm that first led the author towards his views is almost infinitely worse today, relating his personal story of emerging from the fog of hate, before ending on an ominous and disturbing note. Nevertheless, this is a highly recommended, must-read op/ed.

***

One of my favorite authors currently writing about such outre subjects as Secret Societies, strange historical synchronicities, ritual magick, and other such things is the wonderful Peter Levenda. I am sadly aware that these so-called crackpot subjects often attract crackpots as self-declared "experts", many of whom tilt Far Right... an issue exacerbated by the fact that the media ecosystem where these topics are most often discussed are the domain of Far Right gatekeepers, so when I saw that Mr Levenda had written an op/ed piece on the subject of Charlottesville, I have to admit I was just a little bit worried. Then I read what he wrote:

If anyone doubts where my feelings may be located concerning Charlottesville, you obviously haven’t read my previous work. I’ve written three books on Nazism alone, and even more volumes on the American political and cultural currents that have contributed to the present state of affairs, plus lengthy blog postings on my website. I am not a member of any political party, in case you’re wondering, but I don’t believe that this issue is a partisan one in the sense of Republican versus Democrat, or conservative versus liberal. It’s not my intention to carry water for a politician or a party but to raise awareness of the context of current events, to “connect the dots” as my work sometimes has been described. But there has never been any ambiguity where my feelings are concerned when it comes to fascism, racism, and Nazism. In fact I hesitated to post anything at all about this because … who needs it, really? You all have been inundated with pundits and jeremiads already. Who needs yet another old white guy’s point of view? 

But … if you insist … 

Most of you know I was detained by actual Nazis in South America in 1979, that I was threatened at gun point at midnight by a Klansman in Pennsylvania a little later, and debated neo-Nazis in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I’m no stranger to any of this, unfortunately, and that means I am not fooled by pretentious pseudo-intellectual arguments that attempt to form moral equivalencies between Nazis on one side and those who oppose them on the other. 

The recent Vice interview with the weeping white supremacist who said it was his intention to form an “ethno-state” underlines just how intellectually bankrupt this movement is. What is the ethnos to which he refers? Is “white” an ethnicity? A hundred years ago, the Irish were not considered “white” by American racists. The Slavs were not considered “white” by the Nazis. The Jews still aren’t. Where do we draw that particular line? Catholics were considered “papists” and therefore part of the problem, and I still hear white nationalists refer to Italians, Portuguese and Spaniards as “not quite white” (which is interesting considering Mussolini, Salazar and Franco, but who’s keeping score anyway?). We all know what that guy means, though. He means a state where there are no black people, no Jews, no other people of color. That, of course, would only be phase one of his “ethno state”. Phase two means going after the other shades of white on the Klan’s color card. These guys are so fixated on “white” it gives a whole new meaning to that offensive pejorative “snowflake.”

It only gets better from there. I urge you all to read and share it. Oh, and if you ever want to have your mind blown while simultaneously learning loads of hidden American history, look no further than Levenda's Sinister Forces trilogy (the first of which you will find at the other end of the provided link). Also, if you purchase them through the link provided, yer old pal Jerky hears a tinkle in his beggin' cup!

*** QUOTE OF THE DAY ***

“It’s amazing what I say, and what I do, and what I get away with. It’s amazing.”

- Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph "Joe" Arpaio--Preznit Trump's favorite law-breaking lawman--marvels at how none of the people he was elected to serve were bothered that his department failed to go after predatory pedophiles so that they could instead concentrate on finding and deporting undocumented immigrants. I guess that means the race is on... can Trump pardon Sheriff Joe before being removed from office? Keep watching this space to find out!

TWIN PEAKS AND THE BLUE ROSE a guest post by Rocko Van Buren

We here at the Daily Dirt Diaspora family of websites are proud to bring you this illuminating Guest Post about some of the more obscure elements of the magnificent Lynch/Frost creation Twin Peaks by our brilliant friend Rocko Van Buren. Enjoy! - YOPJ

“Through the dark of futures past

The magician longs to see

One chance out between two worlds

Fire walk with me”

- Bob

TWIN PEAKS, BLUE ROSE, AND THE UFO PHENOMENON

In the first few moments of Part 12 of the ongoing Showtime television event, Twin Peaks: The Return, the audience finally learns definitively what “Blue Rose” means in the context of Dale Cooper, Gordon Cole and the rest of the FBI. This exposition comes in a scene with FBI deputy director Gordon Cole, Albert Rosenfield and agent Tammy Preston sipping fine wine while seated in a private room at a hotel in Buckhorn, South Dakota, surrounded by red curtains (reminiscent of the mysterious Red Room itself), Albert explains Blue Rose is a secret extension of the now-closed, real-world Project Blue Book conducted by the U.S. Air Force to investigate UFO phenomena.

As the Air Force describes in it's own documentation, some of which is now publicly available through the Freedom of Information Act and quoted here from Wikipedia:

Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) conducted by the United States Air Force. It started in 1952, and it was the third study of its kind (the first two were projects Sign (1947) and Grudge (1949)). A termination order was given for the study in December 1969, and all activity under its auspices ceased in January 1970.
Project Blue Book had two goals:
1 To determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and
2 To scientifically analyze UFO-related data.”

Prior to this revelation in Part 12 of The Return, fan-favorite character Maj. Garland Briggs from Twin Peaks original two seasons was the show's clearest connection to Project Blue Book and how the classified Air Force investigation connects to the White and Black Lodges of Twin Peaks lore.

Following a mysterious disappearance in Season 2 in the original run, upon which we will touch in greater detail later on, Briggs tells Cooper that even though Project Blue Book was disbanded, “There are those of us who continue in an unofficial capacity, examining the heavens as before, or in the case of Twin Peaks, the earth below. We are searching for a place called the White Lodge.”

Back in The Return, Albert explains to Agent Preston that Blue Book was shut down in 1970 as part of a “cover-up” that concluded the UFO phenomenon was not credible, and there was no resulting threat to national security.

“A few years later, the military and FBI formed a top secret task force to explore the troubling abstractions raised by cases Blue Book failed to resolve,” Albert explains. “We call it, 'The Blue Rose,' after a phrase uttered by a woman involved in one of these cases just before she died., which suggested these hazards could not be reached except by an alternate path we have been traveling ever since.”

Albert goes on to name the agents involved in this secret task force created by Cole – himself, lead agent Phillip Jeffries, Chet Desmond and the original show's main character, Dale Cooper. All of the special agents involved in Blue Rose, excepting Albert and Cole, have since disappeared. All this exposition is by way of recruiting The Return's newest FBI agent, Preston, into the fold of the Blue Rose task force. And thus we have the first explicit delineation from Project Blue Book straight to Blue Rose and the strange, occult aspects that surround the FBI's investigation into the murder of Laura Palmer in the Washington town of Twin Peaks (in the original TV series) and the murder of Teresa Banks in nearby Dear Meadow (in the film Fire Walk With Me).

While the original Twin Peaks run of 1990-921 owes much of its nostalgic love to its soap-opera-style story-lines, Cooper's frequent references to “damn fine coffee,” “the best cherry pie in the tri-counties,” and scenes like Audrey Horne engaged in a strange and seductive dance to music composed by Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti, it is the lore and mystery of Twin Peaks that always attracted me most. And while this aspect of the story was certainly included in the original run of the series, it was never as prominent on ABC prime-time as it was later on in the show's darker, stranger cousin, Lynch's 1992 film Fire Walk With Me (which was my introduction to the world of Twin Peaks). Nothing in the Twin Peaks ecosphere compares to the dark strangeness of Fire Walk With Me (which was originally intended as a series of three films; however, part two and three were never filmed because of the poor critical and financial reception to its first installment). While the inability of Lynch to continue the story in the 1990s was certainly disappointing to hardcore fans, without that failure, we may not have ever been able to experience 2017's revival of Twin Peaks via The Return, in which Lynch and Frost have continued their legacy of breaking new ground in television entertainment.

OUTSIDE OF TIME AND SPACE

FHTAGN ROCK OPERA OF DOOOM!

Our old pal Fabian Rush has, at long last, fulfilled his lifelong dream of creating a rock opera based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft! And the generous bastard went and uploaded the whole thing--entitled Fhtagn! Rock Opera of Doom--on Youtube, where you can watch it for free!

I'm about 20 minutes in, myself, and I'm LOVING IT! The music is fantastic, particularly if you're an aficionado of dark ambient, or heavy metal with a Gothic and/or Industrial flavor. It's also got a sense of humor about itself, which helps the somewhat DIY special effects go down easy.

Help spread this around! It fully deserves to achieve cult status!

NON POLITICAL SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ AUGUST 20, 2017

I was not prepared for how beautiful indie comics legend Seth's remembrance of Hurricane Hazel would turn out to be. Commissioned by the Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper as part of their year-long "Canada 150" anniversary celebration, the stark elegance of his lines and the almost musical rhythm of his storytelling are at their absolute apex, here. This is a shining gem of aesthetic and narrative perfection. I'm so glad I got a chance to thank Seth personally for creating this mini masterpiece.

***

Every year, one of the highlights of the Just For Laughs festival is Andy Kindler's "State of the Industry" address. In case you're wondering whether there's anyone in the universe who hates Ricky Gervais quite as much as you do, I think Mr Kindler has got the answer for you. Well worth a listen!

***

If this podcast promo doesn't get your heart pumping and make you want to listen ASAP, then I don't know what to say to you:

On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Podcast, two cinematic titans are in conversation as Darren Aronofsky sits down with the legendary Alejandro Jodorowsky, to coincide with the theatrical release of the 88-year-old cult director’s new film, Endless Poetry. The two have a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation that takes in the challenge of making art within the Hollywood system, the ability of films to heal, the vulgarity of Trump and life’s big questions – death, God, aliens, the universe – and Jodorowsky also fulfills a longheld dream of the Black Swan director’s by reading his tarot.

Jodorowsky! Aranofsky! Tarot! COME ON! YA GOTTA LISTEN!

CHARLOTTESVILLE & THE EERIE CALM OF AFTERMATH, A GUEST POST BY GOOCH

We here at the Daily Dirt Diaspora are pleased to be able to bring you some first-hand reportage from Charlottesville by our old pal Gooch, who just happens to live there. He's a fine writer, and I hope to be sharing more of his work with y'all very soon. - Jerky 

I’ve lived in Charlottesville since last June, and I heard about the debate over the statue of Robert E. Lee in Emancipation–née Lee–Park, the first week I was here. My divided thoughts about why one statue of a man who fought to protect the interests of slave owners needs to be removed from a town that sports a large array of monuments paying tribute to the wealthy, slave-owning elite of America’s past–while the others get a pass–have kept me from getting involved. Also, I’m on parole until 2019, and I don’t want to spend the next two years back in prison for being a tourist at somebody else’s cause, so I wasn’t there last Saturday.

But, on Sunday, I went to the downtown mall, where most of the violence on the 12th took place. Not to get involved, or to gawk, but for Audrey Hepburn. I’ve never seen Roman Holiday, and Caroline and I were looking forward to the screening they had planned for last Sunday afternoon at The Paramount. However, because of the rally, the protest, the counter protest, the fights, the civil unrest, and the terrorism, it was cancelled. So, I ended up doing a little gawking.

Just getting to the downtown mall where the theatre is was a bit of a bitch. We wanted to use a different parking garage than usual, so we turned to Google for help getting there, but the GPS on my phone had little red lines all over the streets indicating where things were blocked off. We ended up going to the garage we normally use, but only because the little maze they had created by shutting down various streets led us to it. On the way, we saw a variety of police vehicles, a boxy van-truck with a satellite mounted to the top, and a warlike Humvee with “State Police” stenciled above the grill.

We wanted to park on the top level so we could see what was happening before heading down, but had to go one level lower because, according to a laminated printout on a traffic cone, the roof had been reserved for “police parking.” It didn’t say we couldn’t go up there though, so after we parked, we walked up to have a look. Outside the garage entrance, there was a big, white, windowless bus with no markings except the letters D.O.C. stenciled on the roof, and a light blue school bus with tinted windows. The white one was a Department of Corrections prison transport bus. They are used to move prisoners from one facility to another and It must have been on there in case there was an incident that required them to haul off a lot of people. I think the blue one was for the riot police.

When we got to the mall, the first thing I saw was a guy on top of a building with a tripod-mounted rifle that was pointed at the area in front of City Hall; and a lot of cops. State and city police were milling around in neon vests. There were also several of them leaned up against the wall of the building across the street from City Hall, the one the guy with the rifle was on top of. After a minute, I realized it was because it was one of the only spots around that had shade. It’s been hot as shit here all summer, and Kevlar probably doesn’t breathe very well.

We got past the crowd outside of City Hall and I saw a guy I know from school. He looked miserable. Apparently, Nick had nearly been hit by the car that James Fields drove through the crowd of protesters, he was upset and didn’t look well. I’ve never seen this guy not be in a good mood. I enrolled in the community college here a month after getting out of prison, and he was the first person there that I talked to for more than 2 minutes. We don’t hang out outside of classes, but he’s a good guy, with a good attitude and a nice beard, and even though he is smart enough to know how enormously fucked America’s political landscape is, he devotes a lot of time to trying to change things. Nick gives good hugs, he likes Stanley Kubrick, and is almost always working on something that is due in 6 or 7 minutes. It was weird seeing him in such rough shape.

We’d thought the people grouped in front of City Hall chanting “Shame!” were protesting the city’s fuckups from the day before, or maybe they were releasing some people from jail or transferring them elsewhere (which, in hindsight, makes no sense since City Hall isn’t a jail) but Nick said that Kessler and Spencer were giving a press conference. Spencer wasn’t there, but there was no way to tell that from where we were. Aside from him not being perched very high up, and not being able to hear anything he said over the shouting, there were a lot of cell phones being held up in the air. If it hadn’t been for Nick, we wouldn’t have even known somebody was up there talking until people uploaded the videos from those phones to Facebook. When Kessler left, so did the crowd and off went Nick.

There is a large pavilion at the end of the mall that is set up for live, outdoor events. It has a large roof covering the area in front of the stage, and since it was the only large area of shade around, that is where the riot police were hanging out. Maybe 50 cops in black gear with shields and masks were milling around while a few people sat on the grass just outside of it snapping pictures. On another patch of grass there was a guy in a police vest and shorts, with a big console that controlled a drone somewhere overhead.

Further down the mall, it was less tense. Roman Holiday had been cancelled, and The Paramount was closed because of the events of the day before. Not everything was closed. The ice cream and gelato shop were still open and doing business, though they didn’t look as busy as they usually are on a weekend afternoon. Several restaurants were open, and so was the CVS, but only from one side. The back doors were locked so you couldn’t go in one side and out the other. The printout on their door said it was “for security reasons.” A little further down, a street was blocked off and was being lined with flowers in memorial of Heather Heyer.

Once, a line of cops in those neon vests came walking by, and a minute later, we heard applause. I think they were clapping because now, the day after the tragedy, there was a strong police presence ready to stop violence. Of course, by Sunday, all of the guys that showed up with guns, tiki torches, and riot shields were gone, so it wasn’t likely that there would be a need for much intervention. Although I later found out that they probably kept Kessler from getting beat up as he left City Hall. Good job guys. In the classic style of authority everywhere, they had fucked up and let people get hurt, and after widespread criticism of their failure to act, they were overcompensating with a big, aggressive display, a show of force that made nobody feel any better about what had happened the day before, but made them appear responsible. That applause was probably ironic.

Our backup plan was to go to a different movie at another theatre in the mall that was still open, but our timing was bad, we’d spent too much time walking around and looking at the weirdness. So, while trying to make a plan for the rest of the afternoon, we sat down against a wall and people-watched. It’s a good place to do that. People come there to walk their dogs and eat outside at the restaurants. There are usually street performers playing music, and the panhandlers are much less aggressive than you see in a lot of places. There is good food, there are great drag shows, and during the summer there is free live music on Fridays at the pavilion. It doesn’t really strike one as a hotbed of racial tension–somewhere where ideologies are so opposed that violence is always about to spill over. There are people of all colors and orientations there at any given time, and aside from a fat, drunk, shirtless man that was trying to fight somebody by the cigar shop while Caroline and I were eavesdropping on a Ween show from the patio of the Himalayan restaurant, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone even get their feelings hurt at the mall.

So, don’t draw too many conclusions about Charlottesville. This isn’t some Mississippi Burning shit, this was a bunch of assholes that had to buy their torches at Lowes and travel to get here. And, now that it’s over, they're denying that it's them in the pictures, and crying, literally crying, about how scared they are, on social media. Everyone wants to strut around and act scary until they might get hurt or do some time.

For fuck’s sake...

PROOF THAT WE LIVE IN A POST-SATIRE WORLD

You couldn't make this shit up if you tried, and if you did... people would say you're trying too hard.

NOTES ON THE FASCIST RHETORICAL STYLE

I've recently noticed the proliferation of a specific and rather annoying rhetorical tic employed by those on the Far Right when they're being questioned or interviewed. Maybe you've noticed it, too. It happens whenever they're being interviewed or questioned by members of the non-Far Right media.

For example, in the recent Vice documentary, when Christopher Cantwell says the demonstrations went well because nobody on their side died or killed anybody unjustly, and the interviewer reminds him that the killing of Heather Heyer was unprovoked (which is correct), and Cantwell replies: "That's not true, and YOU KNOW that it's not true." 

Another example is Trump's disastrous, Presidency-ending press conference on Tuesday, where--between petulantly whining "Excuse me! Excuse me!" with his tiny finger jutting skyward--he ejaculated: "I do think there's blame on both sides, and I don't have any doubt about it, and YOU don't have any doubt about it, either!"

And the above examples are just the tiny, rancid tip of a giant, floating shitberg. All the right-wing shit-heads are getting in on the act. I've seen it from right wing performance artist (and, since divorcing his Jewish wife, newly liberated anti-Semite) Alex Jones, pedophile-protecting halfwit Milo Poppananalcyst, Nazi hipster "Proud Boy" Gavin McFriendless and others of that ilk constantly telling people "This is what I believe and YOU KNOW I'm right and YOU KNOW YOU BELIEVE IT TOO, YOU LIAR!!!"

Next time you see one of these cretins being interviewed, or spouting off on one of their solo, talking head Youtube videos (the preferred medium of the alt right douchebag), just watch. I bet you'll start noticing it, too.

Another increasingly popular Far Right pastime is lying about being assaulted, a particularly precious irony when you consider that this is the same cohort loudly proclaiming that pretty much every single hate crime is a false flag hoax designed to make the Far Right look bad.

Here's a beautiful example featuring mush-mouthed masochist Mike "Gorilla Mind" Cernovich, whose sense of reality is so twisted by his daily regimen of home-brewed psycho-ceuticals he actually believed his humiliating on-air vivisection by 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley went well. Enjoy!

See what I mean? Of course, Cernovich is far from alone in this practice. If you dig around Youtube, you can find similar videos of such Far Right twats as Baked Alaska, Christopher Cantwell (again!), Chuck Johnson, and others shrieking bloody murder over the slightest of taps, or the gentlest of brushings past. 

They're no great fans of turnabout, either. 

In Charlottesville, on Friday night, Steve Lemons of the Southern Poverty Law Center was surrounded by a gibbering pack of raving and drooling Fascist shit-stains. They insult, threaten, belittle and provoke him, ratcheting up the rhetoric until one of the pack knocks off Lemons' baseball cap. To his credit, he maintains his cool and meets this ceaseless barrage of vitriol and threats with a bit of fun, knocking off Tim "Baked Alaska" Gionet's hat. 

Judging by Gionet's reaction, you'd think Lemons had tried to partial-birth-abort the poor baby:

You can see the full video at this link, for context. But be warned: If the sight of the world's least aggrieved people brimming with self-pity and inexplicable, inchoate rage is as repellent to you as it is to yer old pal Jerky... be sure to have a puke bag at the ready, because this video is the fucking motherload of Far Right Grotesques.

Anyway, Steve Bannon was fired from the White House today (an utterly meaningless, empty gesture), so I'll probably have more incredibly depressing crap for you shortly. Keep watching this space.

CASUAL FRIDAYS

HOW BAD IS IT?

This is Congressman (and long time useful idiot for Putin's Kremlin) Dana Rohrabacher at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he met for three hours with Wikileaks founder (and now obvious intel/propaganda/subversion asset for Putin's Kremlin) Julian Assange... a meeting that was, incredibly, organized by notorious Holocaust denying White Supremacist alt-right provocateur (and notorious public defecator) Chuck Johnson. 

Folks, if you know anything about the despicable fecal golem that is Chuck Johnson--the ginger twat up there smirking as he flashes his favorite hand sign (WP for White Power), a human shit-stain so vile he can't even keep a Twitter account going because he can't help but blurt out ridiculously offensive and fact-free racist bullshit on the regular--the fact that this absolute sack of inhuman garbage is even allowed within shouting distance of the White House is an unprecedented national humiliation. His rise to the level of key political fixer for Trump should give nightmares to everyone who isn't already mentally and/or spiritually damaged beyond repair.

So now, Putin puppet Roharbacher apparently has a bunch of messages to pass along to Putin puppet Trump, from Putin puppet Assange. You'd think the Kremlin could have cut out the middle man! But no... something else is at work here. And you can probably suss out what that missing X-Factor is based on the presence of right-wing agent provocateur Chuck Johnson.

I mean, you really have to wonder--and someone in a position to do so needs to ask--who paid for all this? Who covered all the air fare, hotel rooms, etc? Is the US govt footing the bill? Or some Far Right NGOs? And if so, which NGOs? Follow the money, for Christ's sake. We need to get busy fully exposing the nature of this Rough Beast, it's hour seemingly come round.

***

By the way, to all the many people who, in the last week, during "discussions" about Charlottesville, I witnessed bringing up the fact that the (law-abiding, rules-following) Nazis "had permits" and their (lazy, chaotic, disorganized) opposition didn't... Guess what?

YOU GOT PLAYED.  Turns out, the Good Guys did have permits. 

Ain't that a bitch? You were fed a pack of lies, and you sucked it up like mother's milk laced with uncut cocaine. You were willing dupes, useful idiots, for pro-Nazi lies and liars. How does it feel to be such an easy mark for Fascists? Does this realization even give you pause? Are you even capable of feeling shame at this point?

SICK OF "WINNING" YET?

Don't worry. America has only just begun "winning" in the Trumpian sense of that word.

If you haven't seen it yet, and in the interest of accurate witness, here's that Vice Media video that's been making the rounds. Watch the whole thing, from beginning to end.

Watching the torchlit, moonlight march from Friday, I couldn't help but think of Doug Stanhope, the stand-up comic and latter-day Bill Hicks, whose suggested remedy for such events involves balloons filled with gasoline. One hopes one lives to see the day.

The real breakout star of the above video, however, is GG Allin look-and-cock-alike (not to mention convicted crack dealer and all around shame of Keene NH) Christopher Cantwell, he who appears to prowl like a gym-toned panther when surrounded by hundreds of like-minded enablers, but turns into a blubbering sissy-bitch when he hears tell that the authorities are looking to have a word...

And then came Trump.

You know what gang? After days of arguing on Twitter and Facebook with people who should fucking know better, but whose brains have apparently been booby-trapped beyond redemption, I don't feel like revisiting the bogus POTUS's absolute blazing failure right here and now. Suffice it to say that, thanks to this event, and Trump's reaction to it, we're destined to endure a lot more of its like in the coming months.

I hope to be proven wrong.

THE SECRET TO UNDERSTANDING THE ALT RIGHT

Our old pal Brian Siano, over on the Facebook, wrote the following:

Let's also understand that a lot of the alt-right movement is, in fact, sublimated sexual masochism. They desire being a victim. They tell themselves these stories of white oppression because they need that foreplay. They get all shuddery-hard over the prospect of being humiliated by women, especially black or Jewish women, but they'll get off on having liberals shouting things at them. The prospect of being torn to pieces by a Black Lives Matter mob sends them into transports of ecstasy. 

And some, like Richard Spencer, can't come without being punched, in public, with cameras to preserve the moment for his later, private viewing. It's an open secret that he gives private talks at alt-right gatherings, relating in pornographic detail every punch, impact, arm twist and handcuff squeeze. 

Mike Pence craves the discipline when he's with women. Donald Trump is proud of his sex life... but the pee tape is the thing he hasn't bragged about. The Gamergate trolls don't play those games to win. They love being shot, vicariously. That's why they seek out female gamers-- their humiliation enhances the sweet, sweet pain. It all fits. 

They may love Hitler, but in their secret hearts, they want to die as Mussolini did-- ripped to shreds while strung up with piano wire. 

It's time we made this tawdry little secret a well-known fact.

Indeed! Let's hop to, people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Nazis are a lot like cats, if they like you it is probably because you are feeding them." 

- John Oliver

THE SUMMER OF TRUMP

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO "HMMMM..."

ANTI-GAY REPUBLICANS GETTING CAUGHT BEING GAY? COMEDY GOLD!