POKING AROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHITSHOW

There are 616 days to the mid terms and 17 days to the government shutdown the Republicans will create by their incompetence and inability to govern.

We are being run by The Apprentice Maladministration. From Dilbert on down, the people who occupy positions of governmental power are Apprentice Contestants. Like the has-beens who showed up on The Apprentice as contestants, these are people who have no background in anything they are being given authority over. The FBI is now run by a pair of conspiracy theorists whose reputations are based on their appearances in right wing podcasts and as guests on Faux Snooze, or their work as hosts at Faux Snooze, not on any demonstrated experience or skill associated with the needs of the position they are now occupying. There is good news in the fact they are so ignorant they have and will make mistakes that end them in court where they get blocked, but they are the equivalent of five year olds throwing their toys against the wall. They know so little, they will destroy things without realizing they have done so until it’s too late. And it doesn’t help that there are still 16 Democrats in the Senate who are clueless enough to think that collaborating with the enemy will let them go along and thus get along. I refer to the 16 fools who voted to confirm Dilbert’s nominee for Secretary of the Army: the 16 Senate Democrats who voted to confirm Trump’s new Secretary of the Army. Seriously what the fuck are we doing here? Bennet, Blumenthal, Cortez Masto, Durbin, Fetterman, Gallego, Hassan, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, Kelly, Klobuchar, Peters, Reed, Rosen, Shaheen and Warner - what part of No Cooperation, Bring It To A Stop, do these fools not get???

From the Department of How Did A Fucking Wingnut Podcaster Become Deputy Director of the FBI?: Bongino, formerly with the NYPD and Secret Service, has never served in the FBI, nor managed an operation of its size and scope. His primary professional experience for the past 10 years has been picking fights as a pugnacious media personality. After moving to Florida in 2015, he launched a podcast from his basement and quickly garnered a massive audience as one of the most popular in the country, according to Spotify. “My entire life right now is about owning the libs,” Bongino said in 2018. “That’s it.” A Dilbert advisor explains, “It's totally congruent with other choices in this administration. You’re looking for telegenic people who can present a case well on camera. When you’ve got somebody who has that natural set of skills and an ideological perspective that aligns with the administration, that's kind of the secret sauce.” Bongino castigated Covid-19 mandates, pushed unsubstantiated claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election, and promoted the America First creed. “Keep in mind,” says the Trump adviser, “this guy's been advocating for the President to an audience of millions for the better part of last seven or eight years.” There is little detractors can do to stop Bongino’s appointment; the role does not require Senate confirmation. The FBI Deputy Director, tasked with supervising all of the bureau’s domestic and international operations, is usually a career agent with years of experience. The position, venerated inside the department, was once held by Mark Felt, who in 2005 revealed himself to be “Deep Throat.”

From the Department of This Is What That fucking Afrikaner Does: Elmo, who - like his fellow co-president Dilbert - never served in anyone’s army or did anything for any cause greater than his worthless self, is now responsible for firing over 6,000 veterans from their federal jobs. Veterans make up a big portion of the federal workforce, at roughly 30%.

From the Department of The Apprentice Maladministration Personnel Office: Amid mass purges of key personnel at the nation’s health agencies, 37-year old Kyle Diamantas, a Florida attorney with a surprisingly slim résumé, was named Acting Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the Food and Drug Administration yesterday. His primary “experience” appears to be that he is a “hunting buddy” of DJT Jr. In March 2021, the two were photographed holding dead Osceola wild turkeys and grinning. Osceola turkeys, known for their striking plumage, have long been on the brink of extinction due to overhunting and habitat destruction. Junior’s hunting habits have long provoked outrage. Most recently, he is under investigation by Italian authorities for killing a protected species of duck known as the ruddy shelduck. The responsibilities of the position include responsiblity for ensuring the safety of roughly 80% of the nation’s food supply. The already-overtaxed division is vital to public health, responsible for everything from overseeing the complex manufacturing of infant formula to responding to deadly bacterial contamination and managing food supplies in the wake of hurricanes and floods. Diamantas’s LinkedIn profile is a study in brevity. After receiving a law degree from the University of Florida in 2013, he finally found employment as an attorney at the law firm Jones Day in Miami, in 2021, where he became a partner last year. His Jones Day bio described him as having “more than 10 years of experience advising food, cosmetic, dietary supplement, drug, and other life sciences and consumer goods clients on a wide range of regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters.” This is the kind of “advice” provided to companies in these fields that translates as “how do we get around all this?” Florida Man strikes again.

From the Department of You Can’t Make Him Stop: Dilbert proved over the weekend that even good news can’t keep him from his manic late-night rageposting. After it was revealed that MSNBC was canceling progressive stalwart Joy Reid’s show, The ReidOut, as part of a sweeping overhaul of the network’s primetime line-up, Dilbert went off on a bizarre Sunday night rant on Lies Anti-Social, bashing the network and its talent, and randomly demanding MSNBC pay “vast sums of money” for the “damage” it’s caused. “Lowlife Chairman of ‘Concast,’ Brian Roberts, the owner of Ratings Challenged NBC and MSDNC, has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid. Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been ‘canned’ long ago, along with everyone else who works there.” The senile old fool went on to trash Rachel Maddow, who he said “rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid,” and “LOW IQ Con Man” Al Sharpton. “This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party. They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country.” He concluded with, “Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!” Quite a bold statement from a man who just last week claimed Ukraine started its own invasion by Russia in 2022.

From the Department of The New Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is Even Worse Than You Think. The expected background of a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is at least a 30-year active duty career, with ten years at the top, with division command, leading to Regional Command, with a term as the Chief of their relevant service. Lt. General Dan “Razin” Caine has none of this. A good friend of mine with a 20+ year career in Special Ops in his resume, did a search and analysis of Caine’s career at my request. This is what he came up with: Caine has never been a “career” officer. He comes out of the Air National Guard - the “weekend warriors” - with limited assignments for terms of six months or less with active duty units. His report: “As I suspected, he has no actual SOF experience or training. He was the Ops J-3 at a JSOTF in Iraq for six months--ops officers are like general managers; they make sure coordination is done so the troops can do as the commander requires--it is NOT command. He's ANG but with several active duty tours here & there. January 2008–July 2008, J3 and Commander, Joint Special Operations Task Force - Air Directorate, Balad, Iraq." OK, for part of that six months, he commanded the JSOTF. Remember that superstars like McChrystal & Nixon served in those commands for YEARS so IMHO, he impressed no one with his command time. I can't imagine that this was anything other than punching a ticket. He lacks any senior command at any MACOM command, much less theater command. His major qualification is that he violated uniform regs that prohibit wearing political material in uniform when he and some troops slammed MAGA redcaps on when IQ45 visited Iraq.”

From the Department of Being Dilbert’s Buddy Will Always Help You: Politico reports Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was expected to cruise to an easy victory a month ago in Canada’s upcoming election. That has all changed because of his alliance with Dilbert, whose anti-Canada rhetoric is not helping his friend Poilievre at all. Ontario PM Doug Ford: “Every time Trump goes after Trudeau, the Liberals’ numbers go up. It was going to be a landslide for Pierre Poilievre, now it’s literally neck and neck. How does that happen? From almost a 20 point lead down to neck and neck.” It happened because the rest of the world hates Dilbert with the heat of 10 million suns, just like I do.

From the Department of Dilbert’s Stab In The Back Continues: The US voted today with Russia, Israel, Hungary, Haiti, Nicaragua, Belarus, North Korea, and Niger - all our allies now, apparently - against a resolution in the UN General Assembly that condemned Russian aggression and demanded that that they withdraw from territory Russia occupies in Ukraine. The resolution passed easily with 93 countries voting for it. Dilbert was asked later if he could explain his rationale for the US voting against the UN Resolution with Russia: “I would rather not explain it now, I think it is self-evident I think.” Sure is, you senile old traitor. Republican Rep. Don Bacon on the UN Resolution: “This Republican does not agree with our vote.” Bacon also addressed Trump’s recent comments about Ukraine: “This is all embarrassing. We are better than this. Moral clarity: Russian invaded its neighbor because it wanted its territory and couldn’t stand the thought of an Ukraine run by a democracy.” Dilbert also met with French President Macron today, at one point claiming that France’s aid to Ukraine was only a loan Ukraine was paying to them while “stiffing” the US, also claiming Europeans had given less aid than the U.S., which led Macron to quickly interrupt: “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort.”Dilbert complimented Putin in front of Macron: “I really believe he wants to make a deal and go on with leading Russia in a very positive way."According to Timothy Snyder, US aid, which was primarily in the form of militaryaid in which obsolescent weaponry that would have been thrown away was given to Ukraine, amounts to maybe $100 million total, not the $500 milion Dilbert is attempting to extort from Ukraine by holding the country hostage for its mineral resources. In an interview today in Moscdow, Putin said he sees no reason for the Europeans to be involved in he peace negotiations - since Macron and new German leader Friedrich Merz actually know what is what - unlike Dilbert - that’s understandable.

From the Department of MAGA Mike Can Eat Shit And Die, Please!: MAGA Mike has 12 hours to get his conference behind his plan for enacting the president’s sweeping agenda. It’s not looking good. If House Democrats are at full attendance, just two GOP “no” votes would sink the resolution. Currentlym House GOP opposition to the resolution comes from centrists who don’t want significant reductions to Medicaid and other safety-net programs, and conservatives who want steeper spending cuts. “I don't know how you do it without cutting Medicaid seriously,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew said. “And so that's my concern, and that's why, at this point, I'm a lean no.” Conservatives Tim Burchett and Victoria Spartz say they are currently opposed, though they still plan to talk with GOP leadership prior to the vote. Thomas Massie has told fellow Republicans he’s a solid no. Rep. Andy Ogles and other hard-liners are still furious there aren't deeper spending cuts in the plans and are threatening to tank the resolution on the floor. If the vote fails, a Continuing Resolution will be necessary. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole and GOP cardinals are supposed to meet with MAGA Mike today to discuss the stalemate over FY 2025 funding. Republicans refuse to give into Democratic demands for guarantees that Trump will spend funds as approved by Congress. With government funding running out on March 14. The issues are whether that CR would cover the rest of FY 2025 - through Sept. 30 - and whether Republicans could pass it on their own without Democratic support. Even Cole admitted that was unlikely. 17 days, you fucking morons. Or as Mark Rtwain observed way back in 1873: “Consider a congressman, then consider an idiot. Bah! I repeat myself!”

Here’s the good news for today:

From the Department of Resist However Possible: Hackers ran an AI video Monday morning on all the TV screens in the HUD building, which showed Trump kissing Elmo’s feet with the caption, “Long Live The Real King.” HUD officials could not figure out how to stop the video from playing, so they ran around the building unplugging all the screens. The video was created last month by satirist “PaulleyTicks.” AP reported recently that Elmo intends to cut at least 50% of the total workforce at HUD, specifically targeting parts of the agency relating to disaster recovery, first-time homebuyers, discrimination, and rental subsidies. Obviously, some employees were not happy about that as people continue to find their own unique ways to protest against what is happening. Jasmine Crockett posted a clip of the video playing at HUD: “This made my day! Whoever pulled this off is a true American hero!” Rachel showed the video last night and it’s as good as they say.

In closing this post, I’d like to recommend that you listen to General C.Q. Brown’s 2020 statement in response to the George Floyd protests, regarding his experience over 40 years as an Air Force officer and pilot, which is linked below. In both my book “Mediterranean Sweep” that comes out next month, and “Bloody Skies” that I am working to complete, I tell the story of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, the Tuskeegee Airmen of World War II. Listening to General Brown’s statement, it struck me that his 40 year career in the late 20th century and the early 21st were not different other than the dates from the battles fought by Benjamin O. Davis 80 years ago. So much for all the “progress” in American race relations that White America has spent those years celebrating. That a man of C.Q. Brown’s character and achievement is being replaced by a man of little talent and no extraordinary achievement beyond the fact he is white - and that both Dilbert and Hegseth think that his accident of birth is proof of “competence” - is proof there has been no real progress in solving the central crime in the foundation of this country. As the descendant of a man who was one of those in the Germantown Quakers who voted in 1688 to make the non-ownership of slaves a condition of membership in their community, thus becoming the first Europeans anywhere to do such a thing, whose descendants carried on the cause of Abolition for the following 175 years, my awareness of how little has been achieved in the face of all that leaves me with little hope for this country ever becoming the place where “All men are created equal” is a fact. I would like to be wrong.

General C.Q. Brown 2020 commentary

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