It is Labor Day and it has been a slow day for me. But that is good. I decided to mute the TV and the madness that, in all reality, surrounds what is the real presidential race. There is plenty time for me to comment, or vent, about that contest.
Oh well. That’s all I want to talk about today. If you like sports and degenerates, and live in the Houston/Beaumont area, tune in to Fred and A.J. Oh, if you call and they ask you what’s up, answer “Sports.”
If I never agree with another remark made by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I will certainly vote “aye” to what he told Hillary Clinton during a Democratic presidential primary debate: “I’m sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails!”
Yes, give Bernie a hand for that zinger.
After the FBI document dump today of notes made during that agency’s Hillary Clinton e-mail handling while she was secretary of state, I am convinced those “damn e-mails” will continue as a source of scorn by the GOP right even up until the end of her first term as president. The link above allows one to see these notes on their own, that is if they have several cups o’ joe or Red Bull handy to keep them awake.
I tried reading every word of the investigation notes set in two sections by the FBI. It comes to almost 60 pages of tightly-packed information. Well, that is minus the 10 or so pages which are, I suppose, Top Secret.
“Look! It’s one of Hillary’s e-mails!” Official FBI photo. Caption by EFD.
Shortly after these documents were released so were critical comments by “surrogates” of the GOP presidential candidate. If you’ve read this blog during the last month or so, you will know that I do not name the Republican candidate. I listened to the surrogates and others on CNN begin talking over each other before the ink was hardly dry on the FBI notes.
One fact that can be taken away from reading these notes is that much of the time is spent talking tech-ese about computers and servers and Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, or SCIFs. Not only there is heavy tech jargon but a good does of lawyer-speak can be found.
One must also remember Clinton left the State Department more than three years ago. Hell, I forgot what happened this morning. So if Clinton is a normal senior at age 68, then I think those with a little experience and insight might give her the benefit of the doubt.
I think some, if not many, in federal employment will tell you — at least those who deal daily with some level of confidential material — mandatory training is given every year in information security. That would kind of hint that the average worker will forget some of that training each year.
UPDATE: 5:30 p.m., CNN announced that a report from Reuters said the Mexican president told the GOP candidate that Mexico would not pay for the “wall.” A border wall and having Mexico pay for it has been the central issue in the candidate’s campaign. He told the press this afternoon in Mexico City where he met with the Mexican president that the two had discussed the wall but did not discuss who will pay for it. Not surprising, a lie from the despicable candidate. Too bad the Mexican president didn’t say it while answering about four questions from the press.
While awaiting remarks about the idiot GOP candidate for president and the Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, I have decided to do a little stream of consciousness here.
Also scary, I had my first pedicure yesterday at a local cosmetology school. But even more out of character for me: I had my first haircut in some 16 years. Here is my reasoning.
My avoidance of the shears stems from price but also I kept a hairstyle that didn’t require a trim. The price of a haircut was way more than I wanted to pay around the turn of the century. That’s the 21st century. A cut these days are even more costly. But practicality was probably the main reason for the shaved head.
Since my male pattern baldness reached its peak around age 40 or so, shaving my head seemed like a pretty reasonable hair style for me. The shaved head wasn’t considered exceptionally weird back then, so I would shave my head every other day. Lately, I just became tired of the hassle. I grew what hair I had for a few weeks. It looked like crap on a stick. I then used my shears to cut the hair close enough where shaving my head would not be significantly difficult. I had gone without a shave of my head for about two weeks up until yesterday. Most recently, to paraphrase David Crosby, I almost cut my gray-white hair. But then I had an idea.
I have been growing a beard since using an electric shaver for several months. The contours of my face, I noticed, after a few days was so that I might have a pretty good beard — a Van Dyke of sorts — in the making. So, I let my beard grow out. Along with my hair needing a trim, my beard needed one as well.
It’s a beard, by damn!
I have diabetes so I have to be careful with my feet. Yes eight feet deep has to take care of his feet. This is especially so since during the last year or I have had a couple of toenails removed and hammer toe surgery. So, a nurse told me that I should get a pedicure and could get one at a decent price at local cosmetology schools. That is what I did.
The same student, a friendly young lady, did both the haircut and the pedicure. She did a really phenomenal job. My feet still feels good from the foot job. And both the spa pedicure and haircut cost only $23. I think I will begin going back once a month. So …
La CucarachaLa CucarachaLa CucarachaLa Cucaracha
Okay niños y niñas, the Mexican president Peña Nieto and the GOP presidential candidate-jerk are about to speak. Here they go.
The Mexican president talked about the importance of NAFTA in both countries. Forty percent of materials imported into Mexico are made in the U.S., Nieto said. He also said that his responsibility is the welfare of Mexicans, both in Mexico and elsewhere. Implicit in those remarks were Mexicans who are in the United States.
The candidate for president repeated many of his contentions he has made through his campaign. Perhaps the central plank in his run for president is to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and to make Mexico pay for it. He said that the wall was discussed. But in some questions from the press , GOP guy admitted:
“Who pays for the wall? We didn’t discuss that.”
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, speaking on CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper called the GOP candidate “a hypocrite.”
The candidate gives his big foreign policy speech tonight in Arizona where he will be welcomed by his good buddy, sheriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio. I honestly wonder how this d**khead keeps getting elected as he did during the Republican primary yesterday in Arizona. Arpaio has admitted to contempt of court charges for ignoring a federal judicial order. Too bad he wasn’t put in his own jail, in a tent.
What a day off this has been for me. Hopefully, American voters will see through all this bull***t from the candidate, whom I still will not give his name a mention.
Journalism has been my chosen profession for 30 years, off and on. I worked full-time as a journalist for 15 years and have freelanced off and on for the past 10 years. For another five or so years I was a “budding” journalist. Why is that important?
I feel quite competent to testify that the so-called “news hole” has for years had a voracious appetite for news to go in that hole. While news hole is an old print journalism term for the amount of non-advertising space, it seems appropriate to use the term for all news. With 24-hour cable and internet, that hole for news is like a death-row prisoner at his last supper. Why is that important?
It is important to keep in mind on days such as today, when a impending divorce of a top aide to Hillary Clinton is the big story.
Anthony Weiner, well he’s a piece of work. Because Weiner has become a serial “texter” with pictures of his, well, weiner, and the fact that his wife is a somewhat important politico, is why Abedin and Weiner find themselves into the top of today’s news hole. That is, at least, what news executives would tell you is the reason why this is such a big story. I happen to disagree.
Once again, the story of Weiner and Abedin, is big news. So big shot news honchos will tell you. But still, I find myself asking: Why is that important?
Our neighboring congressman, Republican Brian Babin, has risen from obscurity, now a supposed talking head for the GOP candidate for president. Unfortunately, much of what the lawmaker says is wrong or a lie or both.
I watched Babin this morning on CNN with Carol Costello, who was grilling the poor dentist from Woodville, Texas, like a fajita.
I will be talking with @CarolCNN at 10am ET on @CNN. Tune in if you can!
Babin, who lost a congressional race in 1996, would have had no name recognition outside of the largely rural East Texas district had it not been for his part in a scandal involving former GOP majority whip Tom DeLay. As Babin’s wiki page says:
After the 1996 election, Babin became involved in a campaign finance scandal concerning $37,000 in illegal donations from businessman Peter Cloeren that were moved through “vehicles” to circumvent the individual contribution limit of $1,000. Cloeren asserted in an affadavit that Babin and then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (allegedly*) laundered his donations through other candidates and organizations. Babin and DeLay denied his allegations. Cloeren pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and paid a $400,000 fine and received a two-year suspended prison sentence. Babin paid a $20,000 civil penalty and paid back $5,000 in excessive contributions for “accepting an excessive contribution and a contribution in the name of another and failing to disclose financial activity properly.”
(*Ed. inserted “allegedly.”)
DeLay was later found guilty on campaign finance charges of money laundering and conspiracy by a Texas court. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the verdicts. The present political composition of the court is one Democrat and eight Republicans.
The Costello interview with Babin, the congressman from the 36th Texas Congressional District, touched on the GOP presidential candidate’s remarks last week seeking the black vote as well as Babin’s own take on the border situation.
“What the hell do you have to lose?” the candidate asked.
Babin added that talk of T having racial biases is just wrong.
“I don’t think Mr. (the GOP candidate) has a racist bone in his body,” Babin said.
What bones have to do with racism is another matter.
Babin might just get away with a slip of the tongue while speaking to Costello on border problems. Addressing what true believers call “a clear and present danger,” Babin repeated inflated or perhaps just downright false claims about ISIS terrorists who were caught at the Texas border.
Babin said for just a split second that 40,000 ISIS operatives had crossed the border. Costello tried to hammer the congressman on specifics. Of course Babin had none to share. Some Republicans have said 10 ISIS troops were caught sneaking into Texas from Mexico. Others say eight Syrians were caught at the border. So whether Syrians or Syrian ISIS members or Syrians posing as Mexicans might have been caught it seems just as certain that number might be zero.
“To people like Mr. Babin, facts seem to mean very little.”
One hopes not. Babin appears to be a nice fellow. Perhaps he has perfected his soft East Texas speaking style while talking to patients while standing over a dental chair. But he should be reminded that any yanking the doc is doing should be that of rotten teeth rather than yanking the American public’s chain.
