Smartmatic, the voting machine company dragged into the fake controversy over non-existent massive voter fraud, got a belly fully of the disinformation about them spewing from Fox Noise, OAN, and Newsmax.  Last week, counsel for the company delivered a 20 page cease and desist letter, demanding full retractions on the lies the networks have been running in a continuous loop.  Clearly the disinformation is egregious enough that Smartmatic got Fox counsel’s attention.  Lou Dobbs got the message and aired a segment on Friday evening that debunked a bunch the bullshit he’s been repeating that was started by Rudy and his merry band of soon-to-be-disbarred lawless lawyers.  It’s unclear if Smartmatic will be happy with that step, but they have clearly took the wind out of Fox’s sails.  It will be entertaining to see how OAN and Newsmax handle the actual threat of serious legal liability.

Over the weekend the NY Times published a piece entitled “Tracing Guccifer 2.0’s Many Tentacles in the 2016 Election” it is a sordid tale of how Roger Stone and others communicated directly with Russian intelligence officers posing as Romanian hacker Guccifer 2.0, aggressively seeking dirt on Hillary and other Democrats. The others communicating with Guccifer 2.0  included an unnamed Republican candidate for Congress in Florida, and Lee Stranahan, a right wing radio talker and all-round shitbag.  At the time he was talking to the RUSSIANS, Stranahan was working for Steve Bannon at Breitbart and now works full-time for the RUSSIANS at Sputnik International, an online radio station run by Rossiya Segodnya, the RUSSIAN government controlled English language propaganda outlet in the US.  How sweet.

Even though Mueller’s indictment says that idiots like Stone and others might not have known they were talking directly with RUSSIAN intelligence officers, they did know that the documents being released by WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 were stolen.  Them using these resources is actually no better than buying watches off a thief on the street knowing that they had been stolen from the actual owner.

My question is, at which point did obtaining and using stolen goods become legal?  To me, it makes zero difference whether Stone and others knew they were dealing with the Russians; what matters is that the KNEW they were obtaining stolen documents.  Whether it was a Romanian hacker, Julian Assange, or the actual Russians, they were perfectly aware that they were receiving stolen goods.  Isn’t that a crime in itself?  Why are they not in jail rather than spewing their bile from Fox Noise, Breitbart, and other right wing hate outlets?

Each day of this slow motion train wreck I become more and more alarmed how ONE PERSON can destroy international trade, wreck centuries-long diplomatic ties, and virtually disassemble an entire government (ours) without so much as a whimper from those entrusted with protecting us.  The speed of the destruction of the balance of power so carefully designed by the Founders is at once horrifying and breathtaking.  At this point, I only understand one thing – once we rid ourselves of this cancer (either by impeachment, indictment for crimes, forced resignation, or just voting his ass out of office), we need to seriously rethink our system of governance and the tools of democracy that are supposed to protect our democracy.  I know, I know, the invertebrates in Congress will never fix anything, but they certainly need to to be called to task by the American voter.  I’m personally writing to all of my representatives today to DEMAND that they stand up on their hind legs and do their goddam jobs.  If millions of Americans around the country would do that, it would cause a seismic shift in the behavior of the idiots sitting on Capitol Hill.

There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.

As the Trump administration tightens it’s totalitarian grip on US government agencies, an order to turn all televisions to Fox Noise is being enforced.  Sorry, normal people, you must watch the Official Station of the Trump Administration.

Welcome to Trumpland in the 21st century.

To those of us who have followed him for years, it was no surprise when Bill O’Reilly got the boot from Fox Noise yesterday as a growing stream of victims accusing him of sexual harassment overwhelmed the network.  After virtually all of its female anchors left, Roger Ailes was fired, and Fox’s payouts reached $13 million to Billo’s victims, the network finally took the step it should have taken years ago, but only after over 50 sponsors had pulled out.

Trevor Noah of the Daily Show described the whole sordid affair best.  Here ya’ go:

The, er, uh…(urp), President of the United States says he based his charge that the former President of the United States “wire tapped” Cheeto Tower on an assertion made on Fox Noise.  Doubling down, he then asserted that British intelligence did it at the former President’s request, also heard on Fox Noise.

Both charges were completely discredited by the Director of the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence.  There is ZERO evidence that either of these claims are true.

Two conclusions:

1. The President of the United States uses Fox Noise as his prime source of information.
2. Fox Noise is not a reliable source for ANY kind of information.

That is all you need to know.