19 GAMES BEHIND

Thankfully, the 2019 season for my Boston Red Sox ended yesterday.

And, worst of ALL, they finished 19 games behind the damn Yankees, with a record of  84-78.

There…does that satisfy my “vulture friends” on the south shore of the Hamptons this morning??! 

Probably NOT.

There will a barren October schedule this year!

And, at the moment, truth be told, there will be next year as well.

The front office is without a general manager, at present.

Ownership has ALREADY declared that payroll will be cut.

2020 looks to be a ‘bridge’ year; translation: REBUILDING.

The Red Sox had the majors’ highest payroll this season but now intend to cut more than $30 million to reset their luxury-tax penalties.

The third-place, NO-playoff Sox had the highest payroll in baseball this year – $242 million.

Thanks to former GM Dave Dombrowski, they are committed to three sore-armed pitchers –  Chris Sale, David Price, Nathan Eovaldi – to the tune of $80 million per year in each of the next three.

Mookie Betts is going into his walk year looking for something in the $350–$400 million range.

JD Martinez has an option to leave if the Red Sox don’t extend him.

And, Rick Porcello, Mitch Moreland, and Brock Holt appear to be “out-the-door.”

It’s going to be a long off-season for me.

Hoping my Patriots, Bruins and Celtics can relieve some of the heartache and anxiety.

A LOATHSOME LOUSE!

I think we can ALL agree that the behavior of Donald John Trump in the last 5 days has been NOTHING less than repugnant and insane.

Yea, yea…I know, other than Lindsey Graham and little Jimmy Jordan [where’s that internal Ohio State investigation of Jordan while he was assistant wrestling coach, by the way??!].

If anyone wants clarification of “quilt”…whoa, just review the tape and words of this viper, since last Wednesday afternoon.

And, yesterday was NO exception…

As Dems began their impeachment inquiry, the 45th present spent portions of the day vigorously defending himself on Twitter and sharing cable news clips of his most ardent devotees insisting that he did NOTHING wrong in asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival, former vice president Joe Biden.

Trump highlighted one quote from a longtime evangelical pastor [and, 21st century Elmer Gantry] warning of particularly dire consequences if the Democrats follow through with their proceedings.

Trump tweeted, “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal,” adding his own parenthetical to a quote from Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist preacher speaking on Fox & Friends Weekend…

What language is Pastor Robert actually speaking?

You may have to go back and listen to this individual several times.

Long before Jeffress began defending Trump on cable news, he made headlines for attacking other Americans whose faith is different from his own.

On more than one occasion, Mitt Romney (R-UT) has raised issue with Jeffress saying, “Robert Jeffress says ‘you can’t be saved by being a Jew,’ and ‘Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.’ He’s said the same about Islam.”

Yet this is the individual Trump chose to give the prayer at the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

That’s right, Jerusalem!!! 

One simply can NOT, in clear conscience, make this stuff up.

Let there be little doubt or confusion, Trump’s tweet invoking civil war marks a notable escalation !!! in his crazed rhetoric about the impeachment inquiry.

This is his psychotic playbook on full display!

Admittedly, it’s NOT clear from Trump’s tweet or Jeffress’ interview whether there was a referencing calling for actual violence ??! as the outcome of an impeachment, but let there be little doubt that Trump’s use of the term was a bellicose warning.

THE WITCH HUNTS BEGIN

The monster living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is on the loose.

Store Grandma Clinton in the attic…

The Washington Post reported late last night the Trump administration is investigating  the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email, reviving a politically toxic matter that overshadowed the ’16 election.

NO one will be safe, trust me.

State Department investigators, in recent weeks, have contacted well-over 100 senior officials who reported directly to Grandma Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her email inbox.

You’ll remember many of these emails went over to an unsecured server.

Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified !!! and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by the WaPost.

Investigators began contacting the former officials, Trump’s election, and then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up in August, former government officials related to the WaPost.

The Swamp is the Deep State, and vice-versa, isn’t it??!

Employing the powers of the executive branch against perceived political adversaries – former and present – Nixon would have loved the exercise.

Bear in mind, aunts and uncles, this initiation is by the same monster that overrode ! the concerns of his former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and US intelligence officials to give his son-in-law and senior ??? White House adviser Jared “Ichabod” Kushner access to highly classified materials.

Pitchforks and torches in the ready?

Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

 

YEA, BRYAN MILLS is your MAN

Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men…

The beginning of one of the greatest Jedi-mind tricks EVER…

MEET THE CANDIDATES

From last night’s SNL…

I think Larry David really is Bernie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COMRADE XI

This coming Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping will initiate birthday celebrations as the Communist Party of China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its rule.

He will preside over a military parade through Tiananmen Square whose preparations appear as ambitious and, arguably, as grandiose as the leader himself.

Reports claim it will involve 15,000 soldiers and sailors, 160 fighter jets, bombers and other aircraft, and 580 tanks and other weapons – some of them, military commanders NEVER before seen in public.

Uncle Joe Stalin would have loved it!

The “great and continuing struggle” of Xi’s hideous and evil regime being honored amid the crushing of basic human rights.

Xi has sought to amass power as great as any leader since Chairman Mao.

However, as we ALL know, Comrade Xi will have an ugly shadow over his parade(s) on Tuesday: Hong Kong.

For months now, huge protests within Hong Kong may have been the result NOT only of Beijing’s overreach, but also of seismic changes in Hong Kong identity itself.

Economic upheaval and a surge of immigration put Hong Kong’s traditional identity under tremendous pressure.

So when pro-Beijing lawmakers pushed a bill to allow extradition to mainland China, it struck many as an attack NOT just on their rights but on their distinct identity at a moment when it already appeared vulnerable.

In addition, Hong Kong is protesting loss of status, a sense of superiority, and decreasing access to resources like housing [maybe the single biggest issue other than the extradition bill] and school slots.

Tuesday could be prove eventful…hopefully, NOT at the cost of lives!!!

YES, VIRGINIA,CLIMATE CHANGE EXISTS

Montana is skipping straight to Winter…

This weekend, Fall was cancelled!

In a big way…

A rare September blizzard began dumping snow on the state.

The storm threatens to bring up to 48 inches of snow !!! to Montana’s mountains, and at least two feet to a wide swath of the state.

In some cities, longstanding September snowfall records could be doubled.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for more than a dozen counties in the northwest part of the state and a winter storm watch for at least 15 more.

The storm is expected to calm down by Monday night.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose…

Let’s hope everyone stays safe!

 

 

WHO IS KURT VOLKER?

We’re about to find out.

I know, I know, a career diplomat.

The State Department’s special envoy for Ukraine who got caught in the middle of a boop sandwich as regards the pressure campaign by the 45th president and his “personal” lawyer, Rudy “The Ghoul Man” Giuliani, to find damaging information about Democrats, the DNC, Grandma Clinton, and the Biden family within the friendly countryside of Ukraine itself.

Well, Kurt Volker resigned yesterday…

There are a few obvious questions that I’d like someone to ask old Kurt:

• How much exposure did he actually have with Secretary of State Mike “Orca” Pompeo?
• What type of clarification, from his vantage point, can he bring to the memo of transcript of the phone conversation(s) between Zelensky and Trump?
• Lastly, what, specifically, was the relationship between the Ghoul Man and himself, and to what end? 

Volker, as I type away, has offered NO public explanation for leaving the scene of the crime.

It appears that Volker facilitated an entree for Giuliani with the newly elected government in Ukraine, acting NOT at the instruction of Trump or Pompeo, but at the request of the Ukrainians, who were worried because Giuliani was seeking information about Biden and other Democrats and had denounced top Ukrainian officials as “enemies of the president.”

Sounds like another example of the lack of institutional control, what do you think??!

MARIA BUTINA and HER FRIENDS

Ah, yes…

A Moscow visit, in December 2015, was hosted by Maria Butina, the diminutive Russian cupid who pleaded guilty last year !!! to taking part in a covert effort to infiltrate American conservative groups.

This past January, congressional investigators were examining a trip to Russia by a delegation of NRA (National Rifle Association) board members and supporters and who, specifically, paid for the trip.

Fast forward to yesterday, Dems on the Senate Finance Committee released a report detailing NRA leaders travelling to Moscow in December 2015 partly on the NRA’s dime, even though some went there to pursue their own personal business opportunities, according to the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Business Insider, and Wall Street Journal.

This raises questions, the report says, about whether they violated laws on how nonprofit funds can be used!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Talk about a VW loaded with clowns…

The trip to Moscow gave Russians an opening to these ‘clowns’ as the 2016 election was ramping up, as well as access to other events involving Republican party leaders, the Dems say.

That’s where, and when, little Maria applied her multiple talents.

The committee’s Republican majority issued a rebuttal, saying the Democrats were just promoting a politically motivated and contrived narrative.

I’m telling you, aunts and uncles, get yourself a scorecard today!

The Dems’ report also documents a parallel effort by then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak [the obese pal of Mike Flynn, Jeff Sessions and “Ichabod” Kushner, remember?] to build relationships !!! with NRA officers.

It says the NRA delegation in Moscow met with more senior officials than previously known, including multiple oligarchs close to  Vlad “The Bad” Putin, two sanctioned individuals, and a person little Maria claimed was Putin’s campaign manager.

But, of course…

Let’s ALL gather around the camp fire, with our Avtomat Kalashnikovas, and agree on strategy for having more fun and laughs together.

Cigar and brandy within the NRA’s orbit…only God knows for how long.

WOBBLING…?

NO matter what we’re being told by the Orange Whale, there are definitive signs that a wobbling global economy and rising tariffs are sapping US economic momentum.

We ALL knew it was around the corner…

Household spending, edged up a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in August from July, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

That’s a sharp pullback from the first seven months of the year, when spending rose an average of 0.5% a month.

The fading effects from the 2017 tax cut, the slow crawl of the global economy and rising trade frictions are weighing on the US economy, of those NO one, other than Trump, can argue with as I bang away this morning.

Consumer spending is the driving force behind the US economy, accounting for more than two-thirds of total economic output.

The outlook for consumers remains cloudy, as the Trump administration hit a new array of consumer products imported from China with higher tariffs at the beginning of this month.

Happy days ahead, anyone?

h/t: Oxford Economics