Murder by Hegseth (Updated)

Hegseth ordered the murder of survivors of a wrecked "drug boat" and those orders were carried out by SOC Adm. Bradley. It was a criminal and murderous act in violation of the law.

Eighty years ago (11/30/45), three German submariners were shot by firing squad for machinegunning the survivors of the SS Peleus. It's highly unlikely that Hegseth or Bradley will be staring down the muzzles of a squad of riflemen. But the precedent exists, and the law, both international and American, are clear:

It was murder most foul.

ETA: An excerpt from the DoD Law of War:

Hegseth's and Bradley's orders were clearly illegal.

More Epstein

Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.

It wasn't just a few emails. They were in long-term contact, with Summers asking Epstein for advice about Summers hitting on a much younger whoman who he was mentoring.

Rich white guys always think they're invulnerable. Until they aren't.

Gee. Who Saw This Coming?

Criminals posing as US immigration officers have carried out robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults in several states, warns a law enforcement bulletin issued last month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The bureau urges agencies to ensure officers clearly identify themselves and to cooperate when civilians ask to verify an officer’s identity—including by allowing calls to a local police precinct. “Ensure law enforcement personnel adequality [sic] identify themselves during operations and cooperate with individuals who request further verification,” it says.

So, to sum up, criminals are impersonating another group of criminals.

Someone with a mask and a gun should be presumed to be a violent criminal. Any clown can buy an ICE raid jacket.

The Andrew Formerly Known as Prince

King Charles III on Thursday stripped his disgraced brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence after weeks of pressure to act over his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace said the king “initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.”

Effective immediately, Andrew will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and not as a prince, and he will move from his Royal Lodge residence into “private accommodation.”

In England, Epstein's pedo-pal gets told to fuck all the way off. In this country, we elected him to the presidency.

Dumbasses Rule

The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.

Anybody in the world of sports who did not see this coming the moment the powers that be started talking about legalizing sports betting has rocks for brains. Point-shaving has been going on in basketball for generations, baseball games have been fixed by gamblers since the Civil War. When sports betting and all of the attendant prop bets were legalized, it was just a matter of time until players and coaches got caught up in fixing games.

Crickets From the Right

On Sunday, news broke out of Michigan that a lone gunman crashed his vehicle into a Mormon church, opened fire, and set the building ablaze—another horrific act of violence in a country where such scenes have become all too common. Almost immediately, speculation swirled on Twitter, with far-right voices rushing to blame a Muslim or a “transgender leftist,” their favored scapegoats after mass shootings. But early images told a different story: the truck rammed into the church flew two large American flags and bore an Iraq War veteran plate. The shooter was no Muslim, no trans person. He was a Trump-supporting combat veteran—a cisgender white man who fit the profile of so many American mass shooters.

Just like that, the story faded from the political radar. There were no calls in the aftermath to investigate Trump supporters as potential terrorists. No national conversations about the violent capacity of cisgender men. No discussions about whether white people who fly massive American flags on the backs of their trucks should have their guns taken away. No presidential proclamations casting suspicion on the identity of this mass shooter. Cisgender combat veterans will not spend the days after this tragedy fearing that their rights will be stripped away because of the actions of one man.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, another mass shooting by a combat vet. No calls from the Trump Administration to declare white male combat veterans as being mentally ill or some other machination to strip them of their rights.

The far Right is a hate group. They always have been, since they began lynching former slaves 160 years ago.

Crickets From the Right

The 16-year-old boy who shot two students and then himself at Evergreen High School this week appeared to espouse white supremacist views online and showed an interest in mass shooters in the days before the attack.

Social media accounts that appear to be connected to shooter Desmond Holly are littered with references to mass shootings and antisemitic views, The Denver Post found.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jacki Kelley on Thursday said Desmond had been “radicalized through an extremist network,” but declined to offer any additional details. The public accounts offer some insight into what that radicalization might have included.
...
Sheriff’s officials on Thursday said Desmond shot two of his schoolmates — including 18-year-old Matthew Silverstone — before turning the gun on himself. Desmond later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A kid radicalized by far-right Holocaust-denying websites went to his school and shot the place up, killing a (presumably) Jewish kid and what do you hear from both the Right? Crickets. Not a fucking thing. But when it comes to the murder of Charlie Kirk, the Right is out there, spreading fact-free accusations and innuendos. For the only time that the Right gives a damn about Jews is when they can use Jews as a tool to accomplish some other objective, such as destroying higher education.

Also, it's funny how Republicans and Trump aren't responsible for J6 or the Charleston church shooting or the Tree of Life shooting or the Charleston car attack, but Democrats are supposedly responsible for Kirk's murder.

Charlie Kirk (Updated)

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in an act that drew renewed attention to the threat of political violence across the United States.

Fair warning: Anyone who engages here in baseless speculation will have their comments deleted and, if you keep it up, will get hit with the Banhammer. So if you're going to assert something, back it up with facts from some reputable source.

For the future, keep an eye on Discount Goebbels and his boss, in case they seek to make this their Reichstag moment.

Also this:

The people who chortled over what happened to Paul Pelosi would like to encourage some decorum and propriety at this time.

And this.

Some of the decedent's greatest hits:

Kash Patel has donned his clown shoes:

Department of War? (and more)

So we're going to spend billions of dollars to change all the names, the signs, publications, and everything else to "the Department of War", all to assuage the wounded egos of Cadet Bone Spurs the Draft Dodger and Secretary Kegstand? And it's not even legal, Cabinet Departments and their names are doen by legislation.

Meanwhile, the Asset is cutting security assistance to those countries that would be the first to be invaded by his boss should Russia start another war of conquest. In this, he is clearly doing Putin's bidding. Putin's getting a lot for his inveestment.

One would think with President Demento, Discount Goebbels and the Puppy-Slayer deporting undocumented workers, that there would be more jobs available. But guess not. DLS reported the worst jobs report since the first time we were inflicted with the Fuhrer of Orange as President. The plain truth is that, given the constant uncertainty of what the Tangerine Mental Case is doing on a day-to-day basis, companies are loath to hire people they may have to lay off after they're eligible to collect unemployment.

Also, this is an argument for the first thing we should do is take guns away from straight white men:

Because you guys are clearly the ones who are the most dangerous.

And don't forget:

Once Again, the Stereotype is Proving Accurate

A late Tennessee sheriff who inspired a Hollywood movie about a law enforcement officer who took on organized crime killed his wife in 1967 and led people to believe she was killed by his enemies, authorities said Friday.
...
There is enough evidence that if Pusser, the McNairy County sheriff who died in a car crash seven years after his wife’s death, were alive today, prosecutors would present an indictment to a grand jury for the killing of Pauline Mullins Pusser, Davidson said. Investigators also uncovered signs that she suffered from domestic violence.

It does seem that the prime suspect in any spousal murder is the surviving spouse. And so it was here. No doubt that Pusser's position, especially nearly sixty years ago, helped to steer the investigation off into the ether.

Maybe nowadays, the forensics would expose his lie right away. But don't bet too heavily on that. Framing others for such stuff goes on.

Fucking Around and Finding Out

An investigation is underway after two men wearing ski masks and claiming to be police were shot and killed at a home in southeast Houston Friday night, according to the Houston Police Department.

HPD said this happened around 11 p.m. at a home on Bellnole Drive, which is off Ahrens Street near Galveston Road.

The homeowner told police the two men said they were police and claimed they were at the home to serve a warrant.

"[The homeowner] became suspicious, because, you know, they have a ring camera too, and the suspects were saying they had a warrant, but it was just two people and they're masked up and no police cars, no lights or anything like that," said Lt. Khan with HPD.

At some point, police said the men shot at the homeowner through the door, prompting the homeowner to return fire.

The bad guys were taking a page from those ICEstapo assholes, only this time, their victim waxed their fucking asses.

Remember, Trump Pardoned Guys Who Beat Cops With Poles, Clubs, Crushed Them in Doors and Sprayed Them With Bear Spray

But he and Bondi are going after a guy who threw a sandwich at a Feebie. And, instead of letting him turn himself in (as was offered), they sent twenty goons to do an early-morning performative arrest.

Compare this case to how they've treated the J6 criminals who assaulted cops: All pardoned and quite a few have been hired by Bondi and Trump.

It's all a massive distraction to get something on the news other than the continuing fact that
Trump is in the Epstein Files.

TN NG is Supplying Militias

A string of previously undisclosed break-ins at Tennessee National Guard armories last fall marks the latest in a growing series of security breaches at military facilities across the United States, raising fresh concerns about the vulnerability of US armories to theft and intrusion.

A confidential memo from the Tennessee Fusion Center reviewed by WIRED details four break-ins at Tennessee National Guard armories over a seven-week span. In one incident, thieves made off with night vision goggles, laser target locators, and thermal weapons sights, among other equipment. At others, intruders breached fences, tripped alarms, and gained access to supply rooms discovered in the aftermath to have been unlocked.
...
A senior police source informed WIRED on Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation. The FBI declined to confirm.

Since the FBI has changed its motto of "fidelity, bravery and integrity" to "fealty, buttkissing and ignominity", don't expect any movement on this case once they determine that it's Trump's peeps who have been ripping off that gear. They're becoming as bad as the Naval Coverup Integrity Service has been for decades.

Ghislane Maxwell-- the Fix is In

Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved to a federal prison in Texas, officials said Friday.

Maxwell was transferred to the minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan from a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Fla., a Federal Bureau of Prisons official told the Houston Chronicle.

It's a transfer, based on her offenses and her time in custody to date, she wasn't eligible for. But "they" moved her, anyway.

It's corrupt as fuck. Bondi and Blanche apparently bought Maxwell's cooperation with a transfer from a prison to a Club Fed that was against regulations.

Maxwell will say what they want her to say. She'll deny ever seeing Trump at anything. She'll deny even knowing who Trump is. And she'll get her pardon after the midterm elections. Bet on that.

In an Earlier Era, the Term for This Clown was "Trash"

According to records obtained from the Windsor Police Department and confirmed by the Weld County District Attorney's office, Tyler Boebert, the eldest of controversial Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's four sons, was cited on Friday, July 11, by the Windsor Police Department and faces a misdemeanor charge of child abuse.

Desperate for Distraction, Trump Ed.

Trump bleats about sugar in Coke, Newsom the Tool nailed it:

Krasnov the Demented is also muttering about firing Jerome Powell (Fed Chair) and blaming the guy who appointed him.

It would appear that the Old Orange Pedo is so eager to move the conversation away from his long friendship with Epstein that he's about to crash the markets. Whether or not he has Ka$h Patel's goons covering up his cavorting with underage girls is a question.

Masked Goons With Guns

One of these is from this country, one is not:

Are we being conditioned to accept that anyone riding around in an unmarked van, fully masked up, wearing a plate carrier, a helmet, and a Batman belt, with no visible identification and carrying a gun is a cop of some kind?

What happens when the criminals recognize this and begin acting accordingly? How do you know that the unmarked goon invading yur home is a cop or a criminal? Anyone can shout "police" and the bad guys do.

Beyond that, are we setting ourselves up for having private militias and death squads roaming around unhindered?

Third, if the bad guys, however you define them, are wearing plate carriers, then shooting for the center-of-mass is a waste of ammunition. So start training for hitting the suprasternal notch (or the center of the nose, if you're that good).

One Corrupt Fuck Pardons Another

Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
...
Rowland served 10 months in a federal prison camp after pleading guilty in 2004 to one count of conspiracy to steal honest services.
...
After finishing his prison sentence, Rowland found new life as a popular AM radio commentator.

But in 2014 he was convicted of conspiring to hide his work on political campaigns and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

Felons of a feather. If you're a Republican convicted of corruption, a fraudster whose mother can make million dollar bribes contributions to the Orange Felon's Slush Fund or a right-wing domestic terrorist, you, too, can get a pardon from the Convict-in-Chief.

In other news, Taco Tuesday has been changed to MAGA Monday. This is why.

What's a Little Price-Fixing Between Friends?

In Florida, gas stations are charging a buck a gallon more for using credit cards.

Shit like that is usually unsustainable without some collusion between the gas station owners, who all know each other. But nobody in the DoJ is going to be looking, because Bribe-Baby Bondi has everyone chasing maids and groundskeepers who are not legal residents.

Speaking of that, has anyone seen the ICEstapo raiding the meatpacking plants? i'm guessing that's a pretty solid "no".

Yet Another Right-Wing Criminal

Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling funds from her post as a member of the EU parliament.

Details and accompnying snark to follow, perhaps.