A Red Under Every Bed

Oh, man - this is nearly a NY Times headline:

Report Shows Vast Reach of Russian Doping: 1,000 Athletes, 30 Sports, 1 Election

Well. If they can follow up by rigging the Super Bowl, it's Bombs Away! And I'm not talking about Tom Brady or Dak Prescott.

But seriously, let me first set aside the notion that the intelligence community can be pressured towards a desired outcome. However, I do think that if different analysts have different views, it may not be so hard for special weight to be given to those whose viewpoint (honestly reached!) dovetails with the favored view of the political overlords.

And I can see why, last September or October with Hillary leading in the polls, the overlords might prefer to favor a conclusion sympathetic to Hillary. But this is December, so why now? Unless the higher-ups are confident of being chased out under the new administration and want to leave the Trumpeters a farewell gift, one might think they would aim their analysis for the middle of the fairway.

I guess between the GRU and the FBI Hillary had no chance. Poor thing.

PILING ON: No Sale from Ann Althouse and oh, yeah, a message for Obama and his Sick Burn acolytes - 2012 is calling and they want their number one geopolitical threat back.

 

 

Comments

[anonamom]

Ig, as Frau indicated above, baking soda is the way to go.

What you did was to add more scents in oil to a scent in oil already on your boots.

You need something dry and absorbent to take care of the problem.

Baking soda.

Lots and lots of baking soda. They sell huge boxes at Costco. Hope there's an equivalent near you.

[peter]

full moon setting in an hour.

[Account Deleted]

Ig, forgot to mention way back when your skunkboots first came up... had a coyote carcass go bad on me once. The smell will make ya gag. Was slow on the draw to get it gutted and the smell set up on it.

Anyways, the go-to solution is to buy some giant boxes of Boraxo detergrent and pour em in a large tub over the pelt and presto....takes about a week of leavin it be.

Has worked to remove skunk, cat pee, and stale beer stank from suede, brushed leather, and other forms of hide.

Baking soda has always worked on skunk in solution with apple cider vinegar but the moisture can be problematic for footwear with glue....caint soak em.

Anyways...my two pesos. Good luck widdit. ;)

[Account Deleted]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/12/military_millennials_gone_wild_.html

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

I'll ask one more FUCKING time.

How did RUSSIA hack our ELECTION. They did not.

Someone and many someones HACKED RODHAM and THE DNC.

NO ONE HACKED OUR ELECTION.

If the DNC and RODHAM were hacked EVEN BY RUSSIA. That is THEIR PROBLEM.

OUR ELECTION....WAS NOT HACKED.

Gus is exactly right!!

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

The Dems must be really scared of something for this Russia hysteria.
I wonder what is really going on?
Is there some big news about THEM that is about to be exposed?

[lurkersusie]

Everything is going to be Trump's fault.

BREAKING: Muslim staffer behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren's ill-advised decision to visit terror-tied mosque
http://counterjihad.com/terror-experts-concerned-sen-warren-aide-radical-mosque …

[Another Bob]

KK (or narc), I have to say that, at my age, while I don't consider myself so naive as to believe the world really works as textbooks teach it, I've never modeled my worldview as a battle of the galactic bankers. But having what I think is an open mind, I'm willing to learn.

If this is the first of the overt shots being fired toward the takedown of Soros, it seems a welcome development. But what comes after? Why is it better? Is it?

Have a brief primer on who the teams and players are?

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

Janet... look at the Dems in WI. In 2009 they had the Gov, the SC, and both parts of the Leg. Today they have nothing, their union funding sources are toast.

Now look at DC. The Dems had Pres, both halves of the leg, and an open SC slot to fill and take over. Today they have none of those, the '18 election decimates their remaining Senate power. Meanwhile Trump's Cabinet choices, landing teams, SC pick(s), Executive Orders, etc find and gut the Dems taxpayer to activists to campaign contributions pump on a national level.

Of course they are panicking- they face extermination.

[lurkersusie]

Is there some big news about THEM that is about to be exposed?

I hope so.

[Another Bob]

Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter | December 13, 2016 at 06:14 AM:

My exact question as well. The reactions are just so over the top and beyond rational. Is Trump behind something really big they truly fear? Squirrel to cover for what their real motives are, but they need a really big squirrel? What?

[Another Bob]

Henry, I hope it's that simple. But it seems there are better tactics available than what we're seeing, no?

[Another Bob]

50% of the voters DID vote for her, after all. It isn't as if they have nothing to work with.

[🌂(watch the tip)🌌]

Labor complaints. That's mostly what the prez reads in his daily. The team of lawyers reading it should include a labor specialist. Then there's the timing. Another lawyer just for that. Actionables intelligence - stuff they want relegated to congress. Another two or three for that. Publicity for planned leaks. A few more for that (dont worry about media, they're on board).

What they could do is trade actionable intelligence at the exective for labor complaints. Address labor complaints at the executive. Take it away from congress who just stuff jobs and $ with pals. Give congress actionable intelligence. The 'at a moments notcie stuff.'

The intelligence community is a bloated monolithic structure careering hundreds of thousands with a mystery anonymous director at the heart, operations, controlling the globe with billions, hundreds of thousands of careers and the exercised international legal authority to kill anyone on earth at will.

Her answer is more drones. Cheap and easy.

First thing you want is the profile of those. Second, you want to know everything they've done and planned. Third, get rid of the bloat. All from the daily breifing legal team and analysis.

[RattlerGator]

Good gracious alive, KK. That long azz screed is . . . well, it's too much to really process right now. Gotta go have breakfast in Jax with the 80+ Queen of our flock.

But, about Russia, I've never feared an ADULT approach to Putin. The number one scourge on the international scene are the headchoppers. Russia has a problem with them, too. In fact, the WORLD has a problem with them arising from the history of energy supplies. But the times have changed. World energy supplies are being revolutionized.

So, the headchoppers? Deal with them. Ruthlessly. I'm cool with that.

Deal with Soros, too. I'm cool with that.

Internationally, to me, those are jobs 1A and 1B.

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

THe DeploraBall is sold out already!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/mike-allen-and-jim-vandehei-reveal-their-plan-for-media-domination-axios

This is a new site starting. This article has lots of discussion of revenue sources but nothing on WHY the revenue is drying up and more importantly, nothing on why the media isn't trusted.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Donald J. Trump Verified account
‏@realDonaldTrump

I have chosen one of the truly great business leaders of the world, Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, to be Secretary of State.
-----------------------------------------

The comments on his Tweet are the typical lefty insults.

"Champagne is flowing at the Kremlin!
Putin attacked the US to elect you!
He received the Order of Friendship from Putin!"

By the way, the guy's nickname is T. Rex. So we have him and Mad Dog, which seems pretty cool.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/310010-trumps-state-pick-could-trigger-senate-showdown

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/trumps-secretary-of-state-nominee-already-has-republican-opp?utm_term=.dwjgLq7qoQ#.xfNNeBvBRX

This article and the one by The Hill indicate that Rubio is making some noise.

[cheerleader]

This is a great introduction to Tillerson. h/t sundance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKG18Aqle_I

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

It occurs to me that if Tillerson's ties to Putin were so problematic, we should have heard something about it over the last few years, since I can't recall the democrats being so enamored with ExxonMobil.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

cheeerleader,

Yes, it is. I watched that early this morning.

You know, the Boy Scouts are on the outs with the left. I bet he is asked about the Scouts in his confirmation hearing, specifically to disavow or something.

No low they won't go to!

[Jim Eagle]

Isn't Exxon/Mobil the go to oil company for BOR when oil prices peak and he can't differentiate between profit and profit margin? So, I expect him to come unglued over this pick.

[Augean, these stables.]

The Exxonknew AGs must be quivering in their boots. Pruitt and Tillerson to hound them now.

RICO the whole alarmist energy and climate cabal. I've long called this great social delusion an 'Extraordinary Popular Delusion and a Madness of the Crowd', but there is an identifiable core at the center of the alarmism, which, in my opinion, has acted criminally.

There are massive damages, and insufficient capital in the world to cure the torts or redeem the crimes, but a start can be made.

Soros' strings lead to many of those breathing together.

[Beasts of England]

I hope Trump exposes and slaughters every Uniparty faggot in DC. Graham and McCain first, of course.

[Appalled]

For many years, Putin was our strategic adversary, and the primary concern in the GOP was that Obama was going to have flexibility after the 2012 election to hit the old Russia reset bitton and cozy up to our strategic adversary.

Now, things are very different.

Seriously, folks, did you think a sea change like that isn't going to generate some opposition?

That said, I am interested in Condi Rice's recommendation of Tillerson. She is not a foreign policy wimp. and she is an expert on Russia.

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

How about the DNC & John Podesta just invest in better computer security?

They do a crap job on securing their computers & now all of America has to be dragged into a crisis? This is insanity.

Computer security seems to be a party wide problem for Dems.
The outfit Hillary hired was looking for computer tips from strangers on Reddit, for heaven's sake.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

More info on Tillerson from the transition team:

https://greatagain.gov/president-elect-donald-j-trump-intends-to-nominate-rex-tillerson-as-secretary-of-state-65cff8d8d9a6#.cl9tyanm8

[Beasts of England]

It's more about not trusting Obama and his minions to do what's in America's interests, Appalled. The US and Russia have some common goals and some common enemies. I trust Trump and T. Rex to find a mutually beneficial solution to those issues going forward - that's the difference for me.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Beasts,

Couldn't have said it better myself. Obama and Hillary never had our interests at heart. By the way, look at how quickly the dems have switched to neo-McCarthyism.

They don't care about ties to Russia as much as using the supposed Russian boogeyman to stir up trouble.

[henry]

Reasons to punt the UN it wants the internet for itself, itself being muzzies and commies everywhere. I hear Aleppo has some empty buildings these days. Move the UN there.

[What? War's not just about energy?]

Well, the left commonly thinks that wars are extensions at another level of geopolitical energy diplomacy. Who better for Secretary of State to prevent wars than an experienced global energy politician accustomed to not needing war in order to prevail?

Detente with Russia on these matters is critical to peace. May the Nobel arrangers in Oslo get on with awarding Trump the Peace Prize to help enable Trump and Tillerson and Putin to usher in a new era of peace. Or maybe to all three.

On the other hand, if they fail to take this important step, they should be blamed. No?

[henry]

The left... from hanging chads to hacking vlads.

[JimNorCal]

SNL and other Leftie politicians may choose to ignore their opportunities but there is an exciting target rich battlefield for editorial writers.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/12/free-and-fair-election-seen-as-faulty-by-the-left/

The world has turned itself upside down. Only yesterday the liberals and the left (the “progressives,” as they want to be called) regarded the CIA as the locus of evil ... Democratic intellectuals who were forever chiding the rest of us that the Soviet Union was not so bad, the Russians just wanted to be understood and maybe deserved an occasional cuddle. ... Republicans and other conservatives who were mindless rubes who imagined there was a mad Russian under everybody’s bed.

Now the CIA, in the liberal/left’s fevered dreams, is the last bulwark of the republic, the last remaining hope to turn the 2016 election result on its head and deprive Donald Trump of the victory he won. The Russians, it now turns out, are just as bad as the conservatives said they were.

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

THe State Dept. isn't just about relations with other countries either...the cesspool of handing out visas is there too.

We need someone ruthless that can weather lots of criticism in that position. I'd surround him with other strong people too.

He can move in with a crew, like Hillary did.

[Beasts of England]

{ { { golf clap } } } henry!!

[Cecil Turner]

Seriously, folks, did you think a sea change like that isn't going to generate some opposition?

I have no idea what you're saying here.

I maintain the common thread is incoming administrations cozying up to the Russians (W looking into Putin's eyes, the reset button, and now Trump working with him against ISIS). It doesn't work, and they soon (or late, in the case of Obama) figure it out.

But I'm a whole lot less worried about Tillerson talking to 'em than I would be the leftist pantywaist crew negotiating away our nuke advantage, allowing 'em to take over the Mideast, or paying Iran to export terror and build nukes.

[Cecil Turner]

Seriously, folks, did you think a sea change like that isn't going to generate some opposition?

I have no idea what you're saying here.

I maintain the common thread is incoming administrations cozying up to the Russians (W looking into Putin's eyes, the reset button, and now Trump working with him against ISIS). It doesn't work, and they soon (or late, in the case of Obama) figure it out.

But I'm a whole lot less worried about Tillerson talking to 'em than I would be the leftist pantywaist crew negotiating away our nuke advantage, allowing 'em to take over the Mideast, or paying Iran to export terror and build nukes.

[buccaneer morgan]

So when red queen pushed the petegruska, when zaphod.a pushed flexibility with volodya, when the beds was pulled from Poland what was that about appalled? The uranium one to rosatom, which the entire board including gates signed off on.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

I think that the dems had the election rigged. This is why Hillary didn't bother to campaign in the Rust Belt. They were sure Madison and Detroit had enough bogus votes to give her the win. (Pennsylvania, too.)

The polls deceived them, partly because they wee overly weighted in order to project that inevitability, and partly because they missed the people who had not voted in years, or who had ever voted at all.

They really thought they were going to win. And much like Al Gore's descent into madness when they underestimated the popularity of George Bush and didn't cheat enough, they are now convinced that only sinister forces kept them from stealing this election, too.

Hence the Russian hysteria. I am only amazed that they didn't blame it on Mossad.

[buccaneer morgan]

Van den hei should just call their outfit tass or isvestia

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Now they are getting ready to blame Merkel's future loss on Putin, too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2016/12/12/russias-next-election-operation-germany/?utm_term=.61790f895a14&utm_content=buffer373cf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Threadkiller]

It is also why she went to AZ, MM.

Win a rigged election with a good showing in hate filled xenophobic AZ?

What could be better for a new immigration "mandate."

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

Exactly, Jim!

Behold Dems

out - No Nukes, No Nukes!
in - Nukes for Iran, Nukes for Iran!

out - the CIA is evil
in - the CIA is wonderful

out - Russia is wonderful
in - Russia is evil

out - must accept election results
in - don't accept election results

out - free love, sex with everyone & everything
in - accuse everyone of rape

out - women are extra special
in - men that say they are women are now women

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Snowing here.

I am leaving to go bake cookies with one of my sisters.

Will check in this afternoon sometime.

[buccaneer morgan]

And vanity fair is lugenpress, not merely fake news

[lurkersusie]

Nothing surprises me anymore

‏@jonathanchait

A funny but disturbingly persuasive case for New York to use eminent domain to seize Trump Tower by @crampell https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/new-york-should-seize-trump-tower/2016/12/12/6dfdfc50-c0b2-11e6-897f-918837dae0ae_story.html?postshare=4301481601837013&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.0f8443a22b47 …

[lurkersusie]

Lol, another surprise

The Daily Caller
The Daily Caller – Verified account ‏@DailyCaller

White House, Clinton Tied To PR Firm Behind Electoral College Push http://trib.al/GHIbY80

[buccaneer morgan]

Why is it different, because they needed Russia for the Iran deal, same with the red line

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

on FB -

The left is like a washed up rock band ... all they've got now is trashing hotel rooms
#MantheHashTags

[Threadkiller]

James Taranto ‏@jamestaranto

2010: It's a smear to call Obama a socialist. https://newrepublic.com/article/74832/jonah-goldberg-obama-and-socialism …

2016: "Donald Trump's Shiny Marxism" http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/donald-trumps-shiny-marxism.html …

[buccaneer morgan]

More lugenpress, chaitred rosencrantz guildenstern, frank rich, Sherman.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Kanye West seen entering the elevator at trump Tower.

LOL!

Now I am really leaving.

[Threadkiller]

Wasn't Kanye just in Moscow!?!?!

[PD]

Trump can make him Ambassador to Russia.

[Appalled]

Cecil:

All I am saying is that Trump is taking a very different line to Russia and Putin than any other GOP Leader for a very long time. For example, Romney, the epitome of GOP 2012:

"I'm saying in terms of a geopolitical opponent, the nation that lines up with the world's worst actors," Romney said. "Of course the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran, and a nuclear North Korea is already troubling enough. But when these terrible actors pursue their course in the world and we go to the United Nations looking for ways to stop them ... who is it that always stands up with the world's worst actors? It's always Russia, typically with China alongside. And so in terms of a geopolitical foe, a nation that's on the Security Council that has the heft of the Security Council, and is of course is a massive nuclear power, Russia is the geopolitical foe."

Trump, on the other hand, has these quotes.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-quotes/

Tillerson has a close relationship with Russia, as befits the business interests of his company. If his appointment does not suggest Trump's heart and likely orientation, nothing does.

https://www.bustle.com/articles/199835-rex-tillerson-quote-on-putin-acknowledges-very-close-relationship-with-the-russian-leader

People who have spent much of their foreign policy career opposing Russia aren't suddenly going to change their viewpoint. It's not reasonable for them to do so, just because Trump is President, and he has a different thought process.

[Cecil Turner]

People who have spent much of their foreign policy career opposing Russia aren't suddenly going to change their viewpoint. It's not reasonable for them to do so, just because Trump is President, and he has a different thought process.

That'd make sense if it were a bunch of Republicans having the vapors . . . but it appears to be almost entirely Democrats.

[Appalled]

Cecil:

The hacking charges are a diaperload unless someone can show collusion by Trump. I wasn't talking about those. I was thinking more of Tillerson. And as for that...

McCain? Graham? Rubio? McConnell? They may be RINOs (eye roll), but I don't think they are Democrats yet.

[Threadkiller]

Trump can make him Ambassador to Russia.

He does adore ass, PD.

;-)

[dublindave]

"I'm, like, a smart person" -- Donald Trump

Mr. Trump, please begin taking your daily intelligence briefings, many people have put their lives on the line -some have died to bring you this intelligence on a daily basis so please....cancel one of your victory tours in which you congratulate yourself for being such an amazing person and pay the men and women who put their lives on the line protecting this country the respect that they deserve.Unlike you, Sir they really are quite amazing. They're brave. They're selfless because we never hear of their heroism......and that's the nature of our intelligence service. You can bash them and denigrate them to your Russian friends, put them down in front of the world and humiliate them for their service to this country..... put please show them some respect and sit down for 10 minutes and listen to what's happening in the fucking world you gobshite!

[Buckeye]

McCain? Graham? Rubio? McConnell? They may be RINOs (eye roll), but I don't think they are Democrats yet.

I will give Rubio a slight benefit of the doubt, but the other three may not be RINOs or Democrats, but are certainly in strong contention for "Nitwit of the Year".

[dublindave]

This is why I'm not a Republican. It's the complete lack of decency among them. It could also be the depths of their intellectual dishonesty that I have to wade through on a daily basis, but in the end.....when you have Mom's with children who are anti-clean water and air......mmmmm....that does it for me.

It's the lack of decency.

[henry]

i take that as a hacking vlad talking point fail.

[Cecil Turner]

McCain? Graham? Rubio? McConnell? They may be RINOs (eye roll), but I don't think they are Democrats yet.

So you're not talking about those insisting he's a commie, and proof positive Putin threw the election to Trump and is getting payback, and various other crazy crap, but only the relatively weak tea: McCain, "I'd have to examine it"; McConnell, "The Russians are not our friends"; Rubio, "Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for"; right?

[dublindave]

God, is the Trump presidency over yet?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The US with its fracking revolution have placed a cap on oil and nat gas prices for the foreseeable future. That is a problem for Russia and OPEC.
That alone puts the US in a vastly different position than we have been in for many years so long as our leader is not wearing short pants with suspenders and licking a lollipop.

The US and Russia have a few areas of common interest but are also natural and unavoidable adversaries so long as Russia is run by a strongman and nurses it's historical inferiority complex and wishes to make satellites and vassal states of its neighbors and loom over the rest of Europe like some threatening bear from Tales From the Vienna Woods.
But with oil prices unlikely to rise above $60 for a long time and the rest of the economy rife with corruption and state meddling we, despite our own problems, have a much better chance of working the relationship into something that at least serves our interests than we have in a long time.
And short of a nuclear exchange it's hard to imagine a worse management of that relationship than the last 8 years of...well, I find it impossible to locate a word to sufficiently describe the petulant incompetence of Barry the Terrible's reign.

[Beasts of England]

Kanye? For realzers?

[Beasts of England]

I've asked Santa for a dirty air and water machine for Christmas.

[Janet ~ an obnoxious Trump supporter]

Dems seem unable to prioritize security.
The DNC & John Podesta spent money hiring thugs to harass Trump rally attendees & incite violence...but they didn't invest in computer security.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent taxpayer money on electric car docking stations & art for embassies, but she couldn't be bothered with security at Benghazi.

[Cecil Turner]

[b]ut please show them some respect

The intelligence community in general and the CIA in particular needs to get out of partisan politics.

[James D]

Ig @ 10:10

I think you nailed it there.

[dublindave]

"I've asked Santa for a dirty air and water machine for Christmas"

Ruductio ad absurdam. It's a common one here, not as popular as the strawman or the false equivalency,but it does pop up a lot.

So, where are you on figuring out Russia's desire to roll back the 2014 sanctions against them? Any closer? Try Rex Tillersons past statements on it and Reince privius's recent comments that Trump is considering a review of them and then look the C.I.A's "finding"(soon to be report) on the Kremlin's strategy to place Trump in the White house.

This is easy stuff. It's almost self-explanatory.

[Captain Hate]

His proper role in life would have been a bit part in Casino as some some corrupt flunky of the gambling commission Joe Pesci works on with a ball peen hammer

Or an exercise band.

Fuck off, Chait.

[Truthbetold5]

Day 50 - Where is Eric Braverman?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U4N5o4VsWqs

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Weedavey, Reductio and Absurdum.

Isn't that the name of your troll contracting LLC?

[sbw]

I reviewed the Associated Press articles on Tillerson and McConnell/Ryan on hacking to remove the substantial opinion and innuendo.

I also wrote the newly appointed executive editor to suggest that was her job, not mine.

[buccaneer morgan]

Certain words like muadib are killing words.

[buccaneer morgan]

What was left, sbw?

Carlos slims is quite verklempt with general fLynn's habit of slaying sacred cows to wit, spiking the football re ubl

[Appalled]

Cecil:

Yup, pretty much. I think Russian hacking rates a Congressional hearing, and not Trump's patented twitter put down. But the level of hysteria just now is a supernova of stupidity, and will shortly nothing more than a black hole of stupid conspiracy theories.

[dublindave]

"[b]ut"

Yeah, that's the alcohol. Sigh, Irish.

"The intelligence community in general and the CIA in particular needs to get out of partisan politics"

But isn't it ironically partisan to take an objective intelligence finding and then to spin it as a political hit job simply because it damages the legitimacy of your chosen candidate? Why don't you deal with the actual problem: the Kremlin thinks it can manipulate our elections for their benefit.

[Beasts of England]

It's actually reductio ad absurdum, but I love it when you talk dirty to me, DuDa!!

Per the sanctions: you're stuck on conjecture, sir.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

This is PowerLine's academic absurdity of the week and perhaps all time:

Losing Steam After Marx and Freud: on entropy as the horizon of the community to come

Karyn Ball, University of Alberta

This essay undertakes a critique of recent trends in affect theory from the standpoint of the “human motor”: a trope that presupposes a thermodynamic psychophysiology distended between energy conservation and entropy. In the course of reanimating thermodynamic motifs in Marx’s labor power metabolics and Freud’s trauma energetics, the essay broaches entropics as a poetics of depletion that offsets affect theories promoting open-system metaphors. Open-system affect theory sometimes amalgamates emancipatory post-humanist gestures inherited from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari with neuroscientific terms. In the course of “liberating” affect from subject-oriented topoi, this “liberation-scientistic” admixture expropriates organic matter’s degeneration over time. An “entropical” perspective also challenges Antonio Negri’s Spinozaist affect conceived as a capacitating power that encounters obstacles but never limits. Both “liberation scientism” and “capacitation rhetoric” mimic capital’s abstraction in infinitely expanding its potential to extract surplus value from finitely embodied labor. With enervation and deterioration at its crux, entropics illuminates how people might feel individuated by their respective struggles to safeguard scarce energy and forestall “heat death” while navigating simultaneous demands. The question is whether or not open-system motifs in affect theory can effectively register the political force of this struggle with depletion and present or imminent debilitation as its common ground.

Absurdum.

[henry]

Well, some are still saying it was an insider leaking, not Russians hacking. But in the espionage hall of mirrors who knows?

[Account Deleted]

"I've never modeled my worldview as a battle of the galactic bankers."

Bob--

A writing gig in 2013 took me into the world of investment bankers, specifically the lives of nine individuals who automated Wall Street and laid the foundations for today's millisecond trading platforms which dominate the world of munny today.

Part of the gig had to do with the clean up of debris from the derivatives crisis (more commonly called The Financial Meltdown of 2008) and the planned kill of zombie banks throughout the world.

Part of the gig had to do with the roles these nine men had in creating the tools Ivan Boesky and Mike Milken used in the first publically acknowledged "insider trading scandal" and the creation of the "junk bond market." I'm not at liberty to divulge the name of the gent who "created" the mortgage derivatives and credit/default swap markets who was the anointed one to take the Community Reinvestment Act wholesale into the fire that became license for the Meltdown of 2008.

These nine are *small* players who were invested with permission from much bigger fish, some of whom are still operating in the world of global finance (the principal role of banks). An example of how all one needs to do to find out who is involved in *anything* around the world by following the munny:

The Rio Olympics... a young stud banker was the Minister of Economics/Brazil and in line for the presidency at one time. His claim to fame, his banking expertise helped to coin the term BRIC (Brazil Russia India China) while he was "revamping Rio's infrastructure to qualify Rio for the Olympics. They got the bid but alas no infrastructure. Rampant corruption. Stolen money. Blah blah blah. He didn't become president but still manages one of the largest hedge funds in the world--- something he started when he was 19 and fresh out of a blue chip "school of economics" in Euroweenie land.

Banks are behind everything and anything happening today. They "breathe together" everywhere.

Banks are a fact of life but they are anything but "piggy banks."

Evil? Some bankers are. Some are disciplined ethical business people. They make profits. The evil ones? They don't make profits--- they steal.
That was the takeaway lesson: profit is by definition an ethical linchpin of business---- once those engaged act dishonestly it becomes theft and their "margins" cease being profits.

The previous paragraph is to your question re good/bad.

Finally, as for a cast of characters might I suggest looking Wilbur Ross. Cross reference Ross with the evolution of Donald Trump's original Atlantic City casino investments, how he saved them and who backed that play. Not a dispersion on Trump or any other ethical businessman in the world.

Then, there are the Panama Papers. Lot to chew on and digest. Suggestion: eat the elephant one bite at a time. That writing gig I mentioned was in 2013 and lasted til earlier last year. It was the toxic load of stress, lack of sleep, and anxious eating that put me over the falls leading to congestive heart failure, MRSA, and escalating opioid use for nerve pain. I was immersed in a world I did not understand but could not turn my back on--- I couldn't stop reading and interviewing "The Nine" for more and more parts of the story.

I ghost write. And I nearly became a ghost.

Kev

[Captain Hate]

I need some advice. I don't think there are any dentists here but the thought that I might be being gouged by mine has turned my holiday spirit into "Ho ho fuck you". What is a reasonable price to pay to have a tooth crowned?

[Account Deleted]

RG---

Ya. Long azz. Agree. I need to tone things down.
No harm. No foul. ;)

Sincerely,

Kevlar "ghost" Kid

[Jim Eagle]

Iggy @10:39,

So narciso writes academic tomes for the University of Alberta, eh?

[dublindave]

"It's actually reductio ad absurdum, but I love it when you talk dirty to me, DuDa!!
Per the sanctions: you're stuck on conjecture, sir"

Just be vigilant, skanky Republican.

And listen to Mozart's andantino from his 9th piano concerto with a glass of talisker(or any scotch). I don't know much, but I know that this will change your life.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Excellent essay at NRO on that Dakota pipeline and how messed up the BIA is.

[DebinNC]

After thousands have been shot and 700+ murdered in Chicago this year, the idea of tougher sentencing for gun offenders has finally been floated. The absurdity of not already having mandatory sentencing for people who steal guns, sell stolen guns, buy stolen guns, or use a stolen gun in a crime is beyond me. Blue hells are aptly named.

[Jim Eagle]

Since DuDa is in the house: "Donald Trump Will Never Be President."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V_w-kDLbl8

[Cecil Turner]

I think Russian hacking rates a Congressional hearing, and not Trump's patented twitter put down.

We agree on the absurdity stuff, but this I think is way off base. The Dems want one so they can delegitimize the election, but the GOPers signing on have departed the path of wisdom. The idea of a few non-technical congresscritters looking over hyperclassified data logs and trying to make anything out of it strikes me as counterproductive and silly. It's a job for CI folks and the NSA, not political theater.

[Jim Eagle]

This is going around the emial chains so apologies if you have read it already but this is a unique way to settle the election:

"Subject: How to settle the election

>
> Donald and Hillary Go
> Fishing
> in the Winter
>
> How do you settle a presidential election when the vote
> is too close to call?
>
> With a fishing contest in northern Wisconsin in
> January, of course!
>
> After the first round of votes were counted, Hillary
> and Donald were deadlocked. Instead of going through a
> recount, they
> agreed to a week-long ice fishing contest to settle the
> election. Whoever
> caught the most fish at the end of the week would be the
> President.
>
> They
> decided that a remote frozen lake in northern Wisconsin
> would be the ideal
> place. No observers on the fishing grounds, but both
> would need to have
> their catches verified and counted each night at 5 PM.
>
> After Day 1, Trump
> returned with a total of 10 fish, Hillary came back with
> nothing.
>
> Day 2
> finished, and Trump caught another 20 fish, but Hillary once
> again came back
> with nothing.
>
> That night, Hillary and her cronies got together and
> accused Trump of being a “low-life, cheating’
> son-of-a-gun.” Instead of
> fishing on Day 3, they were going to follow and to spy on
> him and figure out how
> he was cheating.
>
> Day 3 finished up and Trump had an incredible day,
> adding 50 fish to his total!
>
> That night, Hillary and her democratic
> cohorts got together for the full report on how Donald was
> cheating.
> Hillary stood up to give her report and said, “You
> are not going to
> believe this, he’s cutting holes in the ice!”
>
> And this story, tells you
> all you need to know about the difference between a
> successful businessman and a
> career government politician.
> "

[dublindave]

"Since DuDa is in the house: "Donald Trump Will Never Be President."

Ah man, you got me. You got me and the entire Liberal elite real good. Oh, man.

How dumb are we liberals? Huh? We believed that America had enough decency not to elect a man who laughed about sticking his fingers in women's vanginas....against their will. A man who promoted sexual assault as his favorite method of getting some.

Stupid Liberals.

We naively believed that a man who gave another man permission to call his daughter "a piece of fucking ass"....to allow another man to openly, sexually fantasize over his daughter and all, the disgusting images that conjures up...would never become President of the United States.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....stupid libs haahahahahahaha.

I'm going to say something and it's going to piss you off, but it's true; there is a huge difference between the values of people in rural areas and the people in coastal areas and after the election of Donald Trump we see that. Between southerners and northerners, there is a decency gap. You can recall the need to preserve slavery, whatever....but there is decency gap.

[Benjacko]

RICK PERRY: THE GREATEST ENERGY SECRETARY EVAH.

Bwaaaa....I thought Trump was just puling off his wings like he did with Mittens.

[Cecil Turner]

But isn't it ironically partisan to take an objective intelligence finding and then to spin it as a political hit job simply because it damages the legitimacy of your chosen candidate?

When it leaked to the press, it stopped being "objective . . ." Just like Bob Baer's analysis stopped being about intelligence when he called for a new election, or Joe Wilson IV's anti war screeds pinch hit for Kerry campaign stops.

Porter Goss couldn't get the vipers out of that nest, and I have no confidence in Trump draining that part of the swamp, but at least we can stop pretending they're above playing politics, and punish them, in the pocketbook, when they do.

[Dave (in MA)]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/2016/12/electors_ask_for_briefing_on_cia_report Well, if Dudley Dudley thinks it's the right thing to do...

[henry]

a couple notes from our Chitown Lurker:

You can tell KK that at least one of those nine was my client. I know that "swimming pool" very well.

3D printed crown ~$1500.

___________
note, that crown figure is about what I paid too.

[daddy]

The ratings for the NFL really must be in the toilet: NFL to end 'Pink October,' teams can choose own charities in 2017

The NFL informed teams last week in a league-wide conference call that "Pink October" - a three-week window in October in which the league dressed up its fields, sidelines, and players in pink to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer - will not continue in 2017.