Author: oaguabonita

Hahaha! No lying to Congress, can’t have that!

From a 2010 NYT story about Roger Clemens’ indictment for lying about drug use in testimony before Congress (h/t atrios):

“Our government cannot function if witnesses are not held accountable for false statements made before Congress,” said Ronald C. Machen Jr., the United States attorney for the District of Columbia. “Today the message is clear: if a witness makes a choice to ignore his or her obligation to testify honestly, there will be consequences.”

Haha, tell that to (still, unconscionably) Director of National Intelligence and perjurer before Congress James Clapper, who starts each day laughing in the face of the photo of US Attorney Machen that he has taped to his bathroom mirror (not to mention at the President who appointed him and keeps him there, both of them sworn to uphold the Constitution* as a principal duty in their respective oaths of office).

Guess Machen just wasn’t aware of the unless-you’re-running-the-unconstitutional-surveillance-fiefdom-of-the-“national-security”-segment-o

f-the-police-state-portion-of-the-Deep-State exception.

*But, OMG, looky what I found googling up that link (note — from the Office of the DNI’s very own official tumblr, emphasis added):

All intelligence professionals take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The most recent National Intelligence Strategy of the United States says equivocally that, “The Intelligence Community must exemplify America’s values: operating under the rule of law, consistent with Americans’ expectations for protection of privacy and civil liberties, respectful of human rights, and in a manner that retains the trust of the American people.

Just a typo, i.e., the writer just inadvertently left the “un-” off the beginning of “unequivocally”, and nobody caught it? Freudian slip? Intentional weaseling?

I report, you decide.

Having left Beatles’ White Album Disc 2 in the player,

 . . . being in the other room and too lazy to get up and silence “Revolution Number Nine” when it came on, I gotta ask: is this the the most self-indulgent recording ever released?

Could anyone but the Beatles ever have had the chutzpah to actually, publicly release such a collection of random noise (while all were alive, not posthumously for John or George)? Mind you, I’m a huge Beatles fan . . . grew up on them. In fact,I think that makes the “joke-at-our-expense” impression that “R. No. 9” evokes all that harder to take. Almost like they were saying “are you fanboys and -girls so pathetic you’d buy literally anything we put out?”