ON THIS DAY: May 28, 2017

Posted on May 28, 2017 by wordcloud9

May 28th is

Amnesty International Day *

Brisket Day

Hamburger Day

Sierra Club Day *

Menstrual Hygiene Day *
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ON THIS DAY: May 27, 2017

Posted on May 27, 2017 by wordcloud9

May 27th is

National Cellophane Tape Day *

National Grape Popsicle Day

Julia Pierpont Day *

International Heritage Breeds Day *
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ON THIS DAY: May 26, 2017

Posted on May 26, 2017 by wordcloud9

May 26th is

Paper Airplane Day

Blueberry Cheesecake Day

International Chardonnay Day

Don’t Fry Friday

Heat Awareness Day

World Lindy Hop Day

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Word Cloud: MAYDEEP

Posted on May 26, 2017 by wordcloud9

by NONA BLYTH CLOUD

“Now is the month of maying” says the old song by Thomas Morley. Our month of maying is drawing to a close, but we have explored far more than spring romance.

Many of these end-of-May poets have taken darker turns, some because of illness or alcohol. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson seems darker in his poetry than his essays.

So we must look a littler harder for the gleams of light.

Pieter Brueghel, the Elder – Village Scene with Dance Around the May Pole (1634)

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May 24

  • Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) was born in Leningrad, and exiled from the Soviet Union as a dissident.

Transatlantic

The last twenty years were good for practically everybody
save the dead. But maybe for them as well.
Maybe the Almighty Himself has turned a bit bourgeois
and uses a credit card. For otherwise time’s passage
makes no sense. Hence memories, recollections,
values, deportment. One hopes one hasn’t
spent one’s mother or father or both, or a handful of friends entirely
as they cease to hound one’s dreams. One’s dreams,
unlike the city, become less populous
the older one gets. That’s why the eternal rest
cancels analysis. The last twenty years were good
for practically everybody and constituted
the afterlife for the dead. Its quality could be questioned
but not its duration. The dead, one assumes, would not
mind attaining a homeless status, and sleep in archways
or watch pregnant submarines returning
to their native pen after a worldwide journey
without destroying life on earth, without
even a proper flag to hoist.

– 1992

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PBS Frontline … on Bannonism, the lowest stage of crony capitalism

Posted on May 25, 2017 by ann li-summers

 

By ann summers

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The latest PBS Frontline gives those who have read the various articles on him, some insight about the path of Steve Bannon to the White House.

If he survives what has been predicted to be a series of White House firings, it will demonstrate that Trump and Reagan shared some dual attributes … dupes / dopes.

Bannon is the ideology and policy foundation for Trumpery and the author of a Strategy of Tension, a perfect fit with the erratic nature of temperamental Lord Dampnut.

The Frontline program does provide further anecdotal details about the rise and fall of Bannon, including the overlapping details of the path from Goldman Sachs, 9/11, Breitbart, Palin, 2016 and the current crazy-making of the Donald. Not covered are the electronic overlaps between Bannon and the work of Cambridge Analytica in Brexit and in the US 2016 election. If nothing else #TrumpRussia is about command/control and chaos, but competence not so much.

Another interesting week … if the reports are true, the Mercers will be installing Bannon as head of The Heritage Foundation upon his exit from the WH.

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www.nytsyn.com/…

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ON THIS DAY: May 25, 2017

Posted on May 25, 2017 by wordcloud9

May 25th is

National Brown-Bag It Day

National Missing Children’s Day *

Red Nose Day *

National Tap Dance Day *

National Wine Day

Intergalactic Towel Day *

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Lawfare ahead … pitched battles

Posted on May 24, 2017 by ann li-summers

 

By ann summers
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Lawfare is a form of asymmetric warfare, consisting of using the legal system against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, tying up their time or winning a public relations victory. The word is a portmanteau of the words law and warfare,
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The party in the minority always grapples with just how oppositional it should be in its effort to regain power. Rarely, however, has the concept of impeachment been so openly, and so early, discussed in the course of midterm elections.

Lawfare of a particularly brutal variety practiced by all sides may be ahead, so talking impeachment is probably premature whereas the elections do have a schedule, assuming that the nation isn’t brought to a Constitutional brink. The Strategy of Tension necessitates lawfare and could in the case of dog-wagging, compel actual warfare.

And that’s for a reason: Trump, with a seemingly daily appetite for controversy, has invited the focus. But, secondarily, some Democrats worry that by broaching the possibility, they risk ostracizing the swing voters they need to win seats.

“All this talk of impeachment does is it makes Republicans imagine Nancy Pelosi running the House,” said one close Trump ally, who said he and the administration welcomed the impeachment discussion. “You couldn’t ask for a bigger motivator for our base.”

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And yet the underlying issue is going to be about ethics which is not the best candidate for a third rail issue, but #TrumpRussia is moving to the foreground because of the money trail.

The possibility of tracing Russian money going to the GOP campaign and its connection to Trump’s problems should seal the fate of 45* but before then we have a long march of lawfare tactics.

People will go to jail but perhaps not the ones we might hope, and the determinants of a change in power will still depend on free elections.

2018 and every election until then should hold our immediate attention, as well as the daily attention to activist matters.

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ON THIS DAY: May 24, 2017

Posted on May 24, 2017 by wordcloud9

May 24th is

Aviation Maintenance Technician Day *

National Scavenger Hunt Day

International Tiara Day *

World Schizophrenia Day *

Emergency Medical Services for Children Day *
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All about the Trump lawyering up, even as disinformation continues

Posted on May 23, 2017 by ann li-summers

 “The collapse of this administration may or may not be swift. But it is inevitable.” (Douglas Blackmon at Bill Moyers.com:)

 By ann summersEvidence_mountain2[1]

Q: How does every Russian joke start?
A: By looking over your shoulder…

The biggest scandal in US political history now offers yet another opportunity for Trump to fund raise, because conflict is a profit center under a strategy of tension. Who wouldn’t want to support an ongoing (non-) criminal enterprise that has global reach.

And how best to rationalize that discourse but by its most statutory practitioners. Trump’s staff might not have the same resources as Agent Orange to defend themselves, and they’re as stuck as when “Donald Trump … backed off from his pledge to pay the legal fees of supporters who attack protesters at his rallies” … because loyalty.

Similarly all the POTUS 45* lawyers seem to work for the same firm and for similar clients, much like incest is not sibling revelry.

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President Trump has reportedly narrowed down the list of possible outside legal counsel candidates to serve amid the ongoing probes into Russian meddling in last year’s election to four finalists.

A list of the finalists emerged Monday, four people briefed on the discussions told The Washington Post.

Trump and his advisers allegedly hope to scout out and attract top lawyers across several law firms, who would work together to guide Trump through the congressional and federal investigations.

The probes are also looking into whether Trump campaign aides colluded with Moscow.

While the list could still be changed or modified, sources told the Post that the top contenders currently include Robert Giuffra Jr., Marc Kasowitz, Theodore Olson and Reid Weingarten.

  • Kasowitz, a partner at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in New York, is expected to take a top role on the outside legal team. He has known Trump for a long time and represented him in multiple cases.
  • Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Trump’s reported top choice for FBI director, currently works at the same law firm as Kasowitz, which critics have pointed to as a possible conflict of interest, as the agency is conducting one of the Russia investigations.

 

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Posted in 2016 Election, Celebrity, Congress, Conspiracy, Corruption, Courts, Crime, DOJ, FBI, Federal Courts, Financial, Government, Jurisprudence, Media, Political Science, Politics, Presidential Elections, Presidents, Propaganda, Russia, Society, United States | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

ON THIS DAY: May 23, 2017

Posted on May 23, 2017 by wordcloud9

May 23rd is

National Taffy Day *

Lucky Penny Day *

World Turtle Day *

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