CSotD: Monday Monday
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Bagley and Marlette have some fun with the attempt to subvert Mueller's investigation, based on the fact that two members of his team exchanged personal emails in which they expressed disgust with Donald Trump.
And Bernie Sanders.
And Eric Holder.
And Martin O'Malley.
And John Kasich.
For which Mueller promptly fired the one who was still on the investigation team — the other's temporary assignment had ended.
This, apparently, cut his central team from 18 to 17, and I'm not sure how that compares to disappearing Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort from the White House team, but I think you get my point.
One could also question the neutrality of the House Committee that investigated Benghazi or Clinton's emails: Did they purge that panel of anyone who had expressed negative opinions before the facts were in?
It's all very silly except that it isn't.
Conservative cartoonists have picked up the drumbeat from talk radio commentators, and the kindest explanation is that they haven't bothered to gather facts and analyze things for themselves.
Kicking one investigator off a large team because of expressed opinions could indicate the ethical nature of the investigation, but it certainly doesn't provide much of a toehold for an accusation of prejudice.
So the situation may be clownish, but it's not comical.
Kevin Siers, I think, has a more apt analogy, particularly applied to Trump's outrageous comments before he went into an FBI graduation ceremony in which he derided the mainstream media to the laughter and applause of the group.
Which ought to scare the hell out of you, unless it was coming from the claque he drags along on these combination photo ops and campaign appearances.
There was some rumor recently that the White House wanted to assemble its own "intelligence team" that would not be hindered by the rules limiting the FBI and CIA. The rumor was denied, though, given the nature of the topic, you'd kind of be surprised if they'd confirmed it.
Doesn't matter. If they can get the Deplorables behind their effort to discredit the FBI and the Russia investigations, they'll have done what they need to do.
The other day, I posted a screenshot from "The Untouchables," just before Ness's key witness was assassinated in a service elevator.
Here's some more from that movie, which is starting to feel more relevant than "All The President's Men."
Anyway, I don't think comical jokes about foxes watching the hen house are going to do the heavy lifting that lies ahead.
The fact is that the Deplorables are not going to be moved by facts – read this and despair — and moving the needle at this stage will depend, as it did in the Alabama special election, not on converting the Deplorables but on awakening the moderates.
So what else is happening?
Robert Ariail nails another situation perfectly. It would be bad enough if our President and our Secretary of State had conflicting international policies and failed to square things up before speaking.
But — and you all know the routine so I won't post the video — this is not an argument. It is simply contradiction, and nobody should have to pay for it.
And to continue the culture reference, I'm sure it degenerates into pure abuse behind closed doors.
Ariail brilliantly captures the contrast in gravitas. There's a reason the founders declared a minimum age of 35 for the presidency, but even they hadn't, I'm sure, pictured what the office would be like in the hands of an obnoxious, undisciplined eight-year-old.
I've been in Tillerman's position, of knowing things couldn't go on like this much longer but not being willing to pull the ripcord yourself, and of trying to continue to do good work and protect both your program and your people until the ax falls.
It's not a lot of fun.
Which means that, if Trump has done nothing else, he's made me feel sympathetic towards the former CEO of Exxon.
That's quite an accomplishment.
Clay Bennett with Christmas greetings from the One Percent.
I would like it if we could actually see what is in the final agreement the Republicans are about to ram down our throats, and I don't think it's fair for us to start the new year without knowing what our tax responsibilities will be.
It appears that, as a single person over 65, the change in my personal deduction will be about $50, because people over 65 used to get an addition exemption and apparently won't but the whole thing is so mystical and secret that who the hell knows?
I will be slipping very slightly — looks like about 3% — in tax bracket, so that's some savings, I guess. A week's groceries or something. Not bad.
Not what the folks at the top of the tree are getting, anyway, and the important thing is that we'll still be on the old tax system this coming April which means the charade won't be apparent when we hit the midterm elections this coming November.
Judging from this morning's Facebook feed, there are more people convinced that NFL refs are in a conspiracy to let the Patriots win than there are people suspicious of this new tax package.
But football teams have logos and you can identify with them. If you didn't read about that factor from the link above, read it here.
Finally …
The Barn offers a bit of froth to close things out.
And ditto with bedroom, as opposed to living room and dining room. Perhaps if we called it a "sleeping room" it would have to be two words.
This is the sort of controversial topic that editors can really get their teeth into, or, I should say, into which editors can really get their teeth.
And today's Cornered reminded me of a hilarious story the late Charley Stough told about the vacuum tubes with which newsrooms and backshops once exchanged paperwork, but I couldn't find it.
Go read some of his other stuff instead.
You're welcome.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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