Wading in the Shallow End

” …. we’re all in line for succession, and if nineteen million, four hundred thousand, two hundred and eight people die, I’ll be king tomorrow. It’s not very likely but it’s a nice thought and helps keep you going. ” – Peter Cook, 1964.

By SJWNY, a Trail Mix Contributor

We may not become King, Queen or Grand Duke of Upper Twitsylvania tomorrow or any other day, but someone in the Line of Presidential Succession just may have a chance at being Leader of the Free World, sooner than later. Don’t wear your good shoes while navigating this field of truly unqualified embarrassments. Mike Pence? Jeff Sessions? Ben Carson? Rick Perry? Betsy DeVos? President Paul Ryan. (Elaine Chao gets a pass because she was born in a foreign country. Anyone told #45 about that? Oh well, at least one less woman has a shot at the prize.)

  1. Vice President
  2. Speaker of the House of Representatives
  3. President pro tempore of the Senate
  4. Secretary of State
  5. Secretary of the Treasury
  6. Secretary of Defense
  7. Attorney General
  8. Secretary of the Interior
  9. Secretary of Agriculture
  10. Secretary of Commerce
  11. Secretary of Labor
  12. Secretary of Health & Human Services
  13. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
  14. Secretary of Transportation
  15. Secretary of Energy
  16. Secretary of Education
  17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs
  18. Secretary of Homeland Security

And to think one of these is the Designated-God-Help-Us-Survivor!?!

I’m sorry.

So what are we going to do about this unfortunate period in our history? No sniping or blame game allowed. We should be about building bridges, not walls. Every single vote matters & should be welcomed. Cleaning up this mess will take a long time, but more shovels lightens the load. I pledge to support the Candidate who, while not perfect (who is?), at least has her/his heart in the right place & has a clue about governing. We can’t change yesterday but we sure as hell can change tomorrow.

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61 thoughts on “Wading in the Shallow End”

  1. “Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
    ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

  3. S J, While it’s a little early to be talking about impeachment, people certainly are. We are in the unenviable position of having a president who is unfit to be president, who if impeached would be succeeded by someone who may be even worse, at least from the perspective of a democrat. God we are screwed.

  4. Local Politicians in my area are directing comments towards constituents who didn’t realize that Obamacare is the same as the Affordable Care Act. “Get educated, you might have voted differently last year.”

    Question here: When did deliberate ignorance become OK? Why is it OK? Style winning over substance. Being informed, educated is the biggest national security issue there is.

  5. Hi Pogo,

    #45 may survive this latest chapter – who knows with this guy. The Succession “depth” chart reminds us how low we have sunk, more importantly drives home the fact we had a hand in all this. Just didn’t sneak up on us. The Republicans are entrenched, stocking our government with substandard product.

     

     

  6. It is good seeing you back, SJ. Now for my cheerful thought. Assuming that Trump is found guilty of treason, he and his co-conspirators should be hanged immediately. That should do wonders in keeping future pretenders to the office on the straight-and-narrow.

    [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200"]Conspirators Lincoln assassination conspirators[/caption]

  7. Just looked out the window towards the maple tree directly opposite where I’m sitting. Up about 50-feet there’s some dumb squirrel hanging by her tail swinging back-and-forth trying to get a maple-seed that is just out of reach. And people ask why my taxes aren’t yet done.

  8. Flatus,

    Your photo of the Lincoln assassination conspirators is timely. I am reading the book Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln’s Corpse by James Swanson. (If you haven’t read Swanson’s book Manhunt, about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, please do. Riveting.) One thought that keeps coming back about Jefferson Davis is how he would fit into today’s Republican hierarchy. Just a beard trim & change of wardrobe needed. There is no there there with that ilk. Lincoln transcends; Davis exists.

  10. sjwny, glad your back and thanks for the thread.  it would behoove mr. pence to consider this:

    It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.  [Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar]

    as to your question “When did deliberate ignorance become OK?” perhaps when the most important criteria for picking a prez became “who would you rather have a beer with”

     

  11. sjwny

    Started reading your comment and immediately thought “MANHUNT”, and then there it was in the parenthesis so I will add my recommendation.  If you love history, it is a great book.

     

  13. time to start casting the inevitable Hollywood version:

    tom hanks plays comey

    denzel washington is obama

    alec baldwin, melissa mcarthy and rosie O’Donnell sure thing (if comedy instead of drama) for drumpf, spLIEcer and banana-nazi

    but who will be tuppence, ricin and myrtle?

  16. Hi patd,

    As for a movie version, I would take a different route. Did anyone see the American Experience episode ‘The Tower’? Amazing work. Brilliantly worked in real life testimony & remembrances with artist’s renderings in a cartoon-like (though not comedic) manner. Skillful device in flipping back & forth through time. Somehow not giving this administration & its’ detritus big star treatment seems right. Just the facts, ma’am, spewed forth by those who spewed.

  17. Unfortunately, the Constitution doesn’t provide for a “do-over” so the impeach trump movement probably comes under the heading of be careful what you wish for and the law of unintended consequences.

     

  18. Watching Keith’s video above, I’d like to but can’t agree with his point that Comey’s precise words — investigating “the nature of any links” — affirms the existence of links. Seems to me that the use of the word “any” leaves open the possibility of no links. Still, I do think Comey has something or he would have used words such as investigating “whether there are links.”

  19. I dunno, Jamie. I tend to think that Pence, who wouldn’t be able to fire up that nutty Trump base, might be easier to beat in the next election.

  20. Craig,

    I would actually be fine with Pence as a much needed alternative.  At least he seems sane even when you take into account his being a religious extremist.  You are right that he would be beatable so it might be a matter of who he would appoint as VP.

  21. Came across this just now while waiting for my morning reports to download for work. I saw it on Daily Kos. The blogger indicates it’s from McClatchy via Raw Story.

    FBI Investigating Breitbart and Infowars for possible Russian collusion.

    The article indicates that these kinds of FBI investigations rarely result in criminal charges.

    This whole business reminds me how much I enjoyed the premise of the show CSI: Cyber. I’m a real tech ijit when it comes to hacking and stuff. I’m truly baffled by how easily we were compromised, which leads me to believe that there was collusion somewhere by someone.

  23. “….when it comes to hacking and stuff. I’m truly baffled by how easily we were compromised, which leads me to believe that there was collusion somewhere by someone.”

    travis, interesting along those same lines is an interview by cnn saturday of same worry by former soviet spy (now a u.s. citizen) jack barsky

    SAVIDGE: Should we be worried as a nation or just aware and alert?

    BARSKY: No, what we should be worried about really is cyber warfare. Cyber warfare is the modern – this is pretty much Cold War 2.0.

    SAVIDGE: And Russia would be willing to launch cyber warfare against the United States?

    BARSKY: Not just Russia. Others. And the potential for damage is phenomenal. Equals, possibly exceeds, one or two nuclear bombs. You can pretty much incapacitate a whole country if you hack the right systems.

    That is what I’m worried about. I have a background in information technology besides having been a spy. And I know a bit about that stuff and this is much more dangerous.

    The political wrangling back and forth, I don’t like it, it shouldn’t be done, but that’s a fact. But I think the danger is really for us to not focus on the real issue, which is cyber warfare.

    SAVIDGE: Do you think we’re being distracted?

    BARSKY: Yes, we are.

    SAVIDGE: Intentionally so.

    BARSKY: Yes, we are.

    SAVIDGE: A frightening thought. Jack Barsky, thank you very much for joining us.

  24. Walked about the yard this morning. Every budding tree has been crippled; no flowering cherry blossoms, no seedlings from the Korean maples this year, the swamp cyrilla are threadbare, nothing on the oak trees.

    Statewide, the peach crop is at least 80-%. Between SC and contiguous areas of GA farmers are expect to experience $1-B in losses in single harvest/year crops.

  27. Jamie – I’ll be watching, but I won’t be doing any commentary. We don’t watch in real time anymore. It’s much easier to DVR and watch on Tuesday so we can skip all the judging BS.

    Patd – It’s telling that IT pros and actual spies are frightened by what has been going on. They are the ones who know.

  29. wapo: Trump wants to defund PBS. ‘Sesame Street’ brutally parodied him for decades.

    In 2005, his likeness returned to Sesame Street as “Donald Grump”: a grouch again, but now in an orange wig — and famous among muppets for his reality show and spectacular wealth.

    With a great rumble, Grump popped out of a can atop a table strewn with Grump-branded trash.

    The muppets chanted: “Grump! Grump! Grump!”

    “I’m the trashiest, I’m the grouchiest Grump,” he sang.

    And then, as he always did, Grump sowed division on Sesame Street.

    read the entire story. it’s fun watching the other times they parody him.

  30. sj: Fabulous post! We’re basically screwed 40 ways to Sunday unless they all die! Pence strikes me as someone who is just biding his time because he knows the other shoe will inevitably fall. I hate most of what he stands for but at least, as mentioned, he’s beatable in 2020. I also think he might appoint a few actually experienced people to the cabinet. At this point it’s all a crap shoot. At my age I never thought I’d be fearful of my government and what might happen to ruin my country day to day. But, that’s the age we live in now. Every morning I look at the headlines on my computer home page with trepidation, just hoping that whatever took place in the previous 24 hours isn’t an unredeemable disaster.

    Travis: Finally, another CSI: Cyber fan 🙂 I was disappointed that it had such a short run. I think it was too good at pointing out how vulnerable we all are. Perhaps the powers that be pulled it before we all became hermit apartment dwellers hiding with our cats LOL!

    The potential of cyber warfare is very frightening. Couple that with the obvious Russian self interests and the morons in our government who are enabling the Russians to pursue their own agenda and we have a recipe for a dismal future that we allowed to happen.

    “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”  Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

  31. It was easy to get into the Clinton Campaign emails and archives. Anyone in the campaign who used kaspersky products became an asset for russhan intelligence. Anyone in the campaign who had previously used kaspersky on an old device was still an fsb asset whenever using that device.

    That the russkies colluded with the trump campaign in campaign matters is not the biggie. The biggie is that trump, and various of his campaigner staff, his surrogates, present White House staff and cabinet members, each conspired and colluded to undermine foreign and defense policies, while engaging in business dealings in the russkie empire and its satellites in a tacit, possibly explicit, quid quo pro arrangement.

    With the exception of Mattis and Pompeo, hang them all. Plus mercer, adelson, christchristie, mis-rep king (r-IA), lynch, savage, the bundy clan, dick armey, and hannity.

    On second thought, hanging is to quick and decent for them. Give them all good old fashioned Oklahoma style 45 minute lethal injection. Might as well throw in everyone at fox-Murdoch-Saudi ‘news’, the daily mail, the ny pest, plus the enquirer & globe.

  32. Granny – I particularly enjoyed CSI: Cyber when Ted Danson joined the cast. His character voiced a lot of the trouble I had with the technical jargon and advanced devices. I was just starting to get used to that stuff and to understand it better when they cancelled the show.

  33. xr and flatus, you’re getting to be a softy in your old age. surprised you all left out that they should also be drawn and quartered in the village square

  35. air alert for flatus, sturg — heading to Southern Command, over your space in couple hours

  36. Should any person who agreed to work with #45 (in any capacity) be considered fit to assume a higher office? Legally, yes, I know they can/will. I’m talking in a broader, ethical sense.

     

     

  37. ny times:
    In President Trump’s oft-changing world order, Roger J. Stone Jr., the onetime political consultant and full-time provocateur, has been one of the few constants — a loyalist and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” who nurtured the dream of a presidential run by the developer-turned-television-star for 30 years.
    But two months into the Trump presidency, Mr. Stone, known for his pinstripe suits, the Nixon tattoo spanning his shoulder blades, and decades of outlandish statements, is under investigation for what would be his dirtiest trick — colluding with the Russians to defeat Hillary Clinton and put his friend in the White House.

  38. the guardian: Bank that lent $300m to Trump linked to Russian money laundering scam

    Deutsche Bank among western institutions that processed billions of dollars in cash of ‘criminal origin’ through Latvia

    The German bank that loaned $300m (£260m) to Donald Trump played a prominent role in a money laundering scandal run by Russian criminals with ties to the Kremlin, the Guardian can reveal.

    Deutsche Bank is one of dozens of western financial institutions that processed at least $20bn – and possibly more – in money of “criminal origin” from Russia.

    The scheme, dubbed “the Global Laundromat”, ran from 2010 to 2014.

    Law enforcement agencies are investigating how a group of politically well-connected Russians were able to use UK-registered companies to launder billions of dollars in cash. The companies made fictitious loans to each other, underwritten by Russian businesses.

  39. I’m desperately trying not to become a conspiracy nut with a full time supply of tin foil hats.  Listening to Gorsuch being all folksy and then watching Ted Cruz question his as they old bro chat about “The Highest Court” and basketball, is making my skin crawl.  Fortunately Klobuchar provided some vinegar while goading Gorsuch into full blown mansplaining attack.

     

  42. Travis

    Well to tell you the truth I followed your DWTS commentary for the words not the videos several days after the fact so if you want to do reviews of the recordings that would be just fine.  lol

     

  43. SJWNY

    Nice post and I think anyone affiliated with the Pussy Grabber era should get a lifetime ban

  44. Just for my pal Jamie – It was live from Hollywood! (That was my tagline when I used to review the show on my personal blog)

    Just finished watching DWTS from last night. It’s quite the entertaining cast.

    David Ross – retired catcher and WS hero for the Cubs – was actually pretty decent. He’s got great personality and enough musicality to do reasonably well in the ballroom styles. We’ll see how he handles Latin.

    Charro is like Dick Clark – she never ages! Coochie-coochie mama danced a nice little Cha Cha Cha. And of course she has enough personality to light up the city of LA.

    Simone Biles was very good, as expected. And I really enjoyed Heather Morris, who played Brittany on Glee for the run of the show.

    Nancy Kerrigan danced a lovely Viennese Waltz. She was elegant and classy.

    In fact, the only real disaster was Chris Kattan. Even without having broken his neck, he was clumsy and not terribly musical. But there’s always at least one. Just about everyone else showed some promise of being able to improve.

     

  46. Steve Curtis, right wing idiot and former chair of the Colorado GOP party apparatus charged with voter fraud after claiming that every instance of voter fraud that he could remember in his life was by a Democrat. You really can’t write this stuff.

  47. Thank You, Nevada, for keeping the Equal Rights Amendment alive. Whenever I hear anything about the ERA my first thought is always about my mother. She worked so many jobs, dealt with so much crap. Heck, anyone who had or has a mother should be pro-ERA. Does that leave anyone out? 😉

     

  48. Jamie, say what you will about Gorsuch, but he was spot on with  his “With all respect, the ball’s in your court” retort to the senator re campaign disclosure laws in this excerpt from  ny times:
    Gorsuch talks about ‘dark money.’
    Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said shadowy groups had spent millions of dollars in “dark money” to support Judge Gorsuch’s nomination. The senator asked the judge to urge his supporters to disclose what they had spent
    Judge Gorsuch declined, saying that would be a political move. He noted that the Supreme Court had allowed Congress to require disclosure of political spending.
    “With all respect, the ball’s in your court,” Judge Gorsuch said.
    my fervent hope is that Gorsuch will turn out to be another earl warren on the court.  my bet is that the liberal members of the present court will greet him with open arms, happier with his selection and compared quality-wise to those appointed by poppi and shrub.

  49. For the most part despite the “aw shucks” demeanor, I found myself respecting Gorsuch except for the one decision involving the trucker.  I’m sure there is more to the story but he did write the single minority response.  Somehow I can’t see an employee being required to risk their life in order to retain their job.

     

  50. I spent a lot of time during the campaign being very very angry at people passing along stories about Hillary that I knew to be negatively slanted or totally false.  Now it comes out that a great deal of that material was sourced out of Macedonia, Albania and Russia.  Studies show nearly 20% of online commentary in 2016 was coming from pro-Trump bots (left and right) and then retweeted by anti-Hillary forces. Some of those sites are still operational.

    So my apologies to anyone who believed and passed along the garbage but with a plea to research before shipping stuff forward without checking in the future.

  51. Jamie,

    Those bots with stock photo avatars & a whole lotta numbers in their twitter handles were part of the reason I have little to do with social media. The phonetic spelling & addiction to punctuation marks (!) is amusing in a sad way. The sane Candidates didn’t have bots (did they?) but unfortunately resorted to infighting & juvenile name calling. Ughhhh ….

    A bot, a bot, my kingdom for a bot!!!!!

     

     

  52. Jamie, only 20%?  seemed like way more than that every time I browsed google/bing for whatever was the latest.  still find a lot of that trashtalk even now.  no wonder the believers continue their senseless lock-her-up shouting.


  54. Published on Mar 21, 2017

    How much grimmer would things be if these people were competent?


  56. Published on Mar 21, 2017

    Remember when Ivanka wasn’t going to have an official role in her father’s administration? Well……… Cenk Uygur, the host of The Young Turks, tell you why she’s moving into the White House. Tell us what you think in the comment section below

  57. Patd

    20% of original source of the icky stuff.  Then picked up and massively retweeted by GOP, Bernie Bots and some of the more notorious far left media. I was fuming and drowning in the crap.

  59. It is becoming obvious that the “official” FLOTUS is strictly a display manikin for events while Ivanka will assume the actual role plus acting as co-President with her husband Jared.  My own opinion is that they are baby sitting a man whose mental capacities are steadily failing while raking in as much cash and influence as possible before getting thrown out on their rear.

     

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