general

Andrew Cockburn, Harper's:

Ask anyone who was present at Hillary Clinton’s presumptive victory celebration on November 8 and they will tell you of the stunned silence, broken only by sobs, that settled across the vast glass enclosure of the Javits Center in Manhattan. Upstairs, in the suite where the candidate was closeted with her family and associates, the trauma was even more intense. As one attendee later reported to me, it featured the “full range of human emotions: screams, shock, fainting. Bill moved immediately to blame.” The former president, I was told, singled out campaign manager Robby Mook: “ ‘We should have fired that asshole months ago!’ It was awful.”

All those million dollar speeches couldn't buy Bill a second shot at the presidency. Boo hoo.

Meanwhile, the blame express rolls on. These two headlines tell you who is a Clintonite and who isn't:

Continuing to receive emails from Clintonite friends about the Russian bugbear; today it was a dense, minutiae-filled CNN editorial about some contradictory statements from Team Trump regarding Michael Flynn's contacts with Russians during the transition. It was written in a sort of "aha!", Fox News style.
The sender of the email added, "So maybe *now* you will admit you were wrong." Muah ha ha.
With all the things we could criticize about Trump, the Manchurian candidate allegation is the weakest of beer, but it appears to be the media's (or at least, CNN's) attempt at a Benghazi or Whitewater, aimed at bringing him down.
Calmer relations between the US and Russia would be a plus -- it's ironic it's the nurturing candidate and her disappointed supporters in the government and media, not the hotheaded Trumpians, who are the ones trying to get us into a nuclear war here. They don't care who fries, as long as they can "gotcha" Trump.

Update: Flynn resigned shortly after the above was posted. He was a creep, good riddance, but the reason -- the media thinks the US should be "tough on Russia" -- is pitiful when you consider all his other negatives. Moon of Alabama, the website of ex-blogger Billmon's former commenters, had a good analysis of this putsch by the so-called deep state and its willing journalist helpers (and let's add, unhappy Clinton voters who spam their friends).

The Democratic party, meanwhile, is mostly rolling over for Trump's picks -- his "Homeland" security choice was approved by the Senate in an 88 to 11 vote.

[The text of this post has been removed and consolidated with the original m.po list of banal phrases from Jan. 2016. --tm]

Still arguing with Clinton corporate Democrats. Steve Bannon, internet troll turned White House honcho, is the new lightning rod for the HuffPo set. On a private page, am talking with someone who feels we must put our trust in the "intelligence community" to protect us from... the alt-right.

Am sick of this discussion so here's the reply I would have made if I wanted to continue it:

Alt-right is a Clinton term -- you seem to be using it to mean Ultimate Badness but to me it just means "Breitbart."
Bannon seems to have become the new Dr Evil superbrain to the suddenly-invigorated left. But he can't be that smart if he thought Obama was an ACORN person, rather than a Finance-Insurance-Real Estate person.
Clearly the Trump/Bannon "strategy" is to throw out a lot of stuff in the first week that makes libruls' heads explode.
Pick an issue -- am waiting to see if they try to slip anything by on net neutrality.
Worrying about which warmongers are going to be on the NSC can be your issue.

Tomorrow's link rot, but here goes:

The 1995 song "My Conservative Girlfriend," by the Foremen, anticipates the Donald Duck meme (hat tip PR): [YouTube]

Algorithmically recommended to me by the world-straddling soul destroyers at GoogleYouTube, who are sucking every fiber of attention away from the rest of the internet [/exculpatory rant], this amusing demo shows "Barry Beats" chopping up some '70s and '80s vinyl to make new tunes: [YouTube]

Cornwall's answer to DJ Premier, Barry Beats, takes on the legendary Rhythm roulette challenge and quite literally smashes it to microbes. Watch as Barry rummages sightless through the racks of Camborne Record (and smoking paraphernalia) shop 'Lost in music'.
Then follow him back to his tiny studio where his blind finds are revealed.
Marvel as Barry chops and snips his way through a whole heap of hair, keeping it super funky at all times, finally to reveal a stone cold Barry Banga, not to mention some dubious dance moves!!!!

Sorry about the ads.