Saturday, November 23, 2019

 I'm going to keep this brief. If I get to 500 words, fine, but I'm not going to push it.



 For one, my brother and his wife are visiting for the weekend, and even as lazy and slothful as we all are, they are an energy sink. In a good way, though, as some of my happiest times in the past 20 years were hunkering down on the couch, getting baked out of our gourds and watching movies. Indeed, after I moved to New Orleans, I wound up changing my Netflix to just computer stuff. I had Inception sitting waiting to watch for five months and I still never got around to it.

 In any event, not much is going on today. We had a pretty fierce rainstorm blow through over the night and the sun never came out today, rendering everything damp and grey. Even Otis has spent most of the day inside and snoozing, though he's currently outside barking at the bush. Georgia's slapping around Texas A&M like a replacement Stooge, to the point where it's just no fun to watch anymore.

  And really there's not all that much going on in the News. There's a heavy atmosphere in the White House, as it looks like this week's bombshells took more of a toll than Trump would admit it. Must be something, because legal weasel Rudy Giuliani is subtly hinting that if The Boss starts measuring buses, he has some "insurance" to keep the bastard straight. I say it's heavy because you rarely see one of Trump's partisans show the least amount of backbone, and since Giuliani's a slimy little shit in the first place, him feeling himself is something to note.

 The Trump faction will never admit to weakness, despite how guilty they look constantly. I would love to play poker with Trump. He's got a give Stevie Wonder could abuse. I honestly don't understand how this guy could be this crooked for so long and be so bad at lying or even bullshitting. Part of it's the Cult who take everything he says as Gospel and holy writ, but he's even stripping gears over at Fox. When Steve Doocy tries to real you back in, you know things are shaky. The rats on Pennsylvania Avenue are giving the ocean serious consideration, and I'm willing to put money on that.

 One thing I've sort of passed over is the drama surrounded war criminal Eddie Gallagher and the Navy's attempts to punish him, some how, while Trump sticks his foot in as much as possible. During a diployment to Iraq in 2017 - 16 years after the war started, mind - Gallagher, a Navy SEAL and Chief Petty Officer apparently murdered a captured ISIS fighter, posing with the dead body for a picture, and fired upon civilians. What's more, he threatened to kill his fellow SEALs if they told on him, which they did anyway because fuck that guy.

 For whatever reason - probably to satiate his worshipers' never-ending thirst for blood and American Exceptionalism - Trump has been trying like hell to intervene on Gallagher's behalf, to the point where the Secretary of the Navy has threatened to resign over the interference. I don't know why he thinks that would move anyone. Apart from Stephen Miller, the White House is pretty much a revolving door, waiting only for the merest hint of disloyalty. Miller must steam press pants really, really well. Anyhow.

 Gallagher was acquitted of the worst of the charges but convicted of posing for a picture with the dead body, which the military frowns upon despite how often it happens. Regardless, the Navy busted him down in rank and is threatening to take away his Trident pin, effectively kicking him out of the SEALS. Gallagher being the type of soldier Gen. Bitchface and his sycophants dig, Trump has promised to interfere in that, too, further chaffing the Navy's official ass on the matter.

 What's interesting about this is you rarely, if ever, see military heads come into conflict with the president due to, if nothing else, respect for the chain of command. It's just not done, and it's usually been a note when a lamb strays from the fold. As with most things, Trump's respect only goes as far as how often his ass is kissed. This seems to be something of a pattern, too, which causes me to wonder how much of this is to salvage the Navy's "honor" and how much of it is political butt hurt.

 The military does like being it's own little thing and has never cared much for any meddling. I don't know really if Trump's status as someone who dodged Vietnam plays into it, either, as I've long since quit believing wingnuts when they claim all service folk and vets walk the line for the GOP. We shall see, but don't be surprised if the Navy finds itself to be full of "Never Trumpers" by this time next week.

 Okay, that's good. My brother and I haven't had our sit-down-and-burn-one session yet, so we'll see what pops out of that. This is the first time in years he's seen me be something other than depressed. Might be interesting, plus I may have some Hard West to talk about. Salute.