If I where to use @patribotics as a source, I would certainly be banned from blogging.
- One of the most popular online conspiracists among Democrats is now the former Tory member of the UK Parliament and current Murdoch-rag-writer Louise Mensch, whose history of public humiliations and pure bigotry is far too long to chronicle.
But because she has now turned her deranged behavior to peddling any and all conspiracies about Trump and Russia, she has built a huge Twitter following among Democrats convinced that all of their critics are Kremlin spies and anyone who dies was murdered by the Putin/Trump axis to protect their conspiratorial cover-up.
That is as flagrantly insane as the most warped versions of birther and truther fever dreams that have tragically engulfed significant portions of the U.S. population. That tweet, by itself, should disqualify her from any form of serious consideration. But Mensch is now routinely cited as some sort of credible journalistic source on Russia conspiracies by unhinged, mainstream anti-Trump fanatics such as MSNBC and Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, who will launder any insanity as long as it promotes their Tom Clancy fever dreams of Trump as a Kremlin asset.
[Source: GG]
Early signs …
Louise Mensch @PatriBotonics here @BooMan …
○ So God bless America, and God Save the Queen
○ Louise Mensch, former Tory MP, now in employ by Rupert Murdoch
Update-1 :: A follow-up diary … topic was discussed in a front-page article by Martin Longman here.
○
Bret Stephens, WSJ/Murdoch Are Inseparable
His first article as new columnist at The New York Times I find shallow-minded, dishonest and disturbed by a trend of right-wing activists gaining entry into a once liberal newspaper. No one loses its colored feathers as a opinion journalist and it made me wonder if he’s still on Murdoch’s pay while writing on the side for a “quality” liberal newspaper. Bill Kristol gave Stephens a hearty welcome as did the NYT editor. His first column gave a good response with over 1555 posts at last glance.
the fact that Louise Mensch is a nutbag does not prove that Trump and his friends do not have creepy connections in Russia.
Doesn’t disprove, but it’s a fairly reliable indicator of political and/or USG BS peddling. On foreign policy, anytime a political party and/or the USG has made claims without citing factual, concrete, and verified data, people like Mensche, often including politicians, pop up and are given lots of media attention to catapult the propaganda.
“Creepy connections” is the new standard? Or is it only “creepy connections” in Russia? Who gets to define “creepy” and “connections?” Careful on that as there are a whole lot of USians that viewed Obama’s Kenyan and Muslim connections as creepy.
Trump’s Dubai connections aren’t creepy? You think that Trump was the only westerner that got his hands on kleptocratic money flowing out of former USSR states? It’s sloshing around in and propping up big banks and high end and income producing real estate throughout the west. And what about the oil based sovereign wealth funds?
<blockqyote>On foreign policy, anytime a political party and/or the USG has made claims without citing factual, concrete, and verified data, people like Mensche, often including politicians, pop up and are given lots of media attention to catapult the propaganda.
Precisely.
Every time.
AG
Directly relevant: The Existential Question of Whom to Trust
Only a smidgen of what makes this article worth reading. And by and large, the comments are similarly high level and worth reading as well.
A sanity booster shot: Robert Sheer interviews Ray McGovern.
Glen Ford Former President Obama Has a New Job: Control the Official Narrative of American Exceptionalism
And collecting the loot that has become the due of every former POTUS. Eight Days in Japan Earn Ron and Nancy $2 Million–Now That’s Reaganomics. A million dollars a speech remains a record (adjusted for inflation that would be $2 million a speech). OTOH, Ronnie and Nancy didn’t get no $60 million (or $30 million in 1989 dollars) advances for their ghostwritten memoirs unless the publisher didn’t reveal that little fact along with the mega-loss they took.
Who buys (and does anyone read) presidential memoirs? Learned today that Grant published a memoir (because he was actually dead broke), but it covered the Civil War (his plan to write his presidential memoir was interrupted by his death). It was a bestseller — royalties (received by his widow) were $400,000. Samuel Clemons, his publisher, denied that he’d written it, but conceded that he lightly edited it.
What!!!???
You mean…that wasn’t his previous job?
AG
His previous job was as POTUS; his new one is as a private citizen in The Club.
Same gig, different position.
Kicked upstairs.
AG
An opinion …
○ Barack Obama’s $400,000 speaking fees reveal what few want to admit
Personally I wouldn’t judge harshly about speaking fees after retiring as POTUS. Tony Blair and George Bush also got paid crazy fees.
I do think a wise man would pick and choose and take care of the timing of speaking tours for Wall Street institutions and MIC advisor roles.
Tony Blair tries desperately to return to the limelight of politics in the Brexit debate. Perhaps he should do a show at RT. 🙂
Good news: GE2017: Labour gains again in new poll as Tory lead narrows
Everybody does it is nothing other than rationalizing unseemly behavior. And no, not “everybody” has done it. Barack Obama is Using His Presidency to Cash In, but Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter Refused. (Of course Harry and Jimmy returned to their family homes after leaving office, and therefore, didn’t have to support multiple new homes in high priced areas.)
And Truman didn’t have a Senate or WH pension and federal health insurance that would take care of him and his wife. (Nor a gaggle of Secret Service agents protecting him from someone.)
Com’n Marie3! We don’t live in the forties or fifties of public service and where the office of U.S. President stands for.
The political journey from “We The People” to “We The Corporations“.
Too many scandals have lowered the respect citizens have for the presidency and politicians in general. For me the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal provided evidence of failure in U.S. leadership. Democracy and Exceptionalism have become hollow phrases.
American idealism was assassinated during the sixties.
Ethics, morality, principles, and dignity were a construction of the forties and fifties?
Silly me — I thought they were timeless and priceless.
It is unseemly for extraordinarily rich ex-Presidents like Bush and Obama to accept speaking fees. They can talk to who they like, but not be in their pay.
I wouldn’t object at all to HRC giving speeches, even private talks, to G-S, if she hadn’t taken money in a quid pro quo.
“Everybody does it” is no excuse. In Chicago everybody greases their alderman to get a city job, or a zoning variance, or a driver’s license for a relative who flunked the test. Doesn’t make it right.
“unseemly”. cue the pearl-clutching.
Trump is running the most blatantly commercial presidency ever, but people are whining that Obama should take a
vow of poverty like Saint Francis.
Not hardly! He is rich. filthy rich. He doesn’t need those fees. Jimmy Carter was a poor president, but at least I respect the man’s morality. Can’t say the same for Obama or either Clinton.
Should we pass the plate for Obama so he isn’t forced to speak for money?
how do you define “filthy rich”?
Bill Gates is filthy rich. Obama has more money than most of my friends but is no billionaire.
famous people get paid for giving speeches. When those people are running for office it’s a different issue, but that’s not the case here. Is there any work you’d consider seemly? practicing law for example?
He doesn’t need to work at all. Just like Bush.
He and his wife are in the 1%. You don’t need to be a billionaire to be able to retire – even to retire and be rich.
You expect him to spend capital for living expenses? Horrors.
Yes, Obama does need paying gigs if he wants to maintain (which he and his wife apparently do want) his lifestyle. No expectation that it will include returning to his Chicago Home (which appears not to have been used for years but is guarded 24/7). Will he stick around in DC after Sasha finishes school or will he hightail it to NYC (not cheap) as Hoover, Nixon, and the Clintons did? Then there are the reported new digs in Rancho Mirage (the place Jerry Ford put in the former president’s residence map) and Hawaii.
How much does a private jet cost? (Appears to have exceeded Bill Clinton’s budget which explains why he so frequently bummed rides with some unsavory people.)
So, three to four homes (with help), an airplane, at least eight years at elite universities, and new threads for hobnobbing with celebrities costs a lot of money.
GWB on talk circuit — Since 2009, POLITICO has found, Bush has given at least 200 paid speeches and probably many more, typically pocketing $100,000 to $175,000 per appearance. The part-time work, which rarely requires more than an hour on stage, has earned him tens of millions of dollars. (Well, GWB didn’t get such a hefty advance for his memoir and sales weren’t good enough to earn more for him. Although can’t understand why his wealthy friends aren’t forking over six figures for one of GWB’s works of art.)
LOL! (Alternative is to cry!)
h/t Precisely! .. a class act:
There can be only one Francis at a time …. 🙂
Racializing everything is another trap this country has fallen into. Who better to say no to fat speech paychecks than the man that’s getting $60 million for his presidential memoir?
Imagine having the choice between living extremely well and behaving like Truman and Carter or using Ford, Reagan, GHWB, Clinton, and GWB as one’s role model. Choosing to follow the lead of scum doesn’t allow for complaints when labeled scum.
Dammit — can we not once talk about one thing without the “yeah, what about x, y, or x” kneejerk interjections? This is one practice that has made national politics so toxic and how both sides avoid discussions of standards that we the people are entitled to expect for elected officials during and after their term in office.
Whatever makes you think that someone like me is going to give Trump, Inc. a pass? Whether his presence in the 2016 primary and general election depreciated the office is something that people can disagree on. (In the abstract, it most definitely did. But those he competed against were at best only slightly less reprehensible than he is.) At the moment (and other than the Trumpsters who would cheer for him if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue), Americans are still trying to comprehend how anyone could use the office of the presidency to advance his business and family interests. That this, along with the huge expenses in actual dollars the USG is absorbing, is perfectly legal. And really shouldn’t be.
Compared to the federal budget, this may be chump change, but it’s still real dollars that aren’t insignificant. Lifetime security for Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago will run into billions. (we’re already at $68 million in reimbursements for local police That doesn’t include the Secret Service, etc.)
Why are you making this an issue of personal/individual wealth? (btw — the Clintons were far wealthier than the Obamas before she began collecting WS bucks (for past and likely future favors.)
Ethics, morality, and principles, class, dignity (IOW not being money grubbing or a lying messenger for those with power and/or wealth) has nothing to do with personal financial circumstances. If it did, the Bush family wouldn’t be so gauche and low class. And Rosa Parks wouldn’t have been so high-class.
We, the legal stakeholders in the USG, are very generous to former presidents. (The Presidential Townhouse is especially nice.
There are plenty of things a former president can do with the rest of his/her life that aren’t unseemly and for many would be very rewarding. Including running for a lower level office as J Q Adams did and served with distinction. And there’s nothing wrong with earning a post-presidential salary (for those that can’t possibly live on $225,000/year) that don’t depreciate the office of the presidency. But they sure don’t pay $200,000/hour.
Why? Well esquismax seems to think that Obama needs the money.
I didn’t mention Clinton because associating the name “Clinton” with morality or propriety is laughable anyway.
BTW, to add to your note collection. I seem to recall from “Profiles in Courage” that Andrew Johnson returned to DC after the Presidency as a Democratic Senator (Tennessee?) but none of the Republicans that broke ranks to vote against his impeachment ever returned to public office.
Obama chooses to “need the money” and equismaux chooses to buy into that.
Took Johnson a few years and only got back that Senate seat on the fifty-fourth vote. Doesn’t appear that he served those less than five months with distinction.
Something to note: Germany promises quick answer to soldier-refugee mystery Rightwingers (neo-Nazis) engaged in false flags?
A long history of neo-Nazi atrocities in Germany and lack of prosecution / police investigation to provide justice!
Similar to the rise of xenophobic hate under “leadership” of Geert Wilders in Holland …
○ xenophobic protest leaving pig heads behind near refugee centra in Holland
Have to give The Guardian props for including the history that generally gets blacked out:
(It is more detailed in The Devil’s Chessboard, including how this effort came into being.)
Authorities in the US also go easier on far right criminals than they do on minorities and lefties that haven’t committed any crime. Law enforcement agencies do attract those of a far-right mentality — what’s unknown is how much that spreads throughout the ranks (birds of a feather) compared with nurtured by those in senior positions. The cloak and dagger tradition within law enforcement allows this to remain hidden.