Constantly Maligned, the Fang's in Travis Kauffman's Foreaem

"They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgement.-- Zora Neale Hurston

The word I would use is elegiac, as opposed to Poniewozik's elegant, in a description of Matthew Weiner’s The Romanoffs, whose title itself suggests something which is a knock off of an original. I would also suggest that it is fine for viewers to be mystified by how these short movies link together to make an anthology.  The strongest of them is the episode “The Royal We,” which the NYT features in its still photo of Kerry Bishe on a cruise for modern day survivors of the original Romanov family, of whom her husband happens to be one. Kerry, as Shelly, is simply an all-American girl, bohemian enough to get stoned over pizza in her off hours, trying to sort out her husband Michael. Corey Stoll has to suffuse himself as the missing link, tying the knot between Nicholas as the disconnected Victorian Czar about to be sacrificed for the new world order of egalitarianism which we’ve all learned since is a utopian fiction, and the sobering existential angst of the Slavic dark side to brutality. To break away from Shelly’s festering befuddlement, Michael leans into jury duty, and this has its own grotesque allure. You might reflect on how “The Violet Hour” leads to a pregnancy. Aaron Eckhart, despite ostensible star power, behaves like a sheep dog in it, his pleasures as furtive as Stoll’s remorse following on its heels. I never engaged in due diligence on Eckhart following his incisive energies which makes In The Company of Men such a powerful nihilist statement, but Weiner allows the actor some autobiographical footnotes which I certainly found more convincing than his character’s overflow of sexual conquest in the guise of an American dilettante. Ines Melab does better constructing her road map with Keller than as the distressed Tunisian Hajar about to hurl into social alienation but for Eckhart’s bumbling nonchalance finding a cornerstone of appearance and propriety for the sake of what appearance and propriety entail. In its way it’s a more sophisticated upgrade on the Florrick’s marriage of convenience revealing that relationships are more complex than mere residual unhappiness of a mistake.

The dowager wearies of The Good Wife as a foretelling of a Hillary presidency ghosted into a backlash upon which Trump capitalized, and may leave off where it is, with Peter in his effervescent governorship, Alicia with her self-assertion, and Will Gardner on his rampage towards Josh Charles’ exit from the series, effectively killing it. Isn’t Will a senescent liberalism in decline as well, or Diane Lockhart? What concerns me more than Mueller’s quest for integrity, and possible failure to bring down Trump’s crust of an old boys network, is what this undercurrent of appeasement toward Putin is supposed to yield. Its five day old war with Georgia reestablished the Russian Federation as "as a military power" in the words of Sarah Pruitt. Even before Putin emerged after Yeltsin, how was this ever not the case, even with but a limited tutorial available on the Crimean War with the British Empire, before revolutionary dissents within Russian amassed under Lenin? American media figures with access claim that Michael Flynn allowed himself to be orchestrated by Russia’s imitative propaganda machine, which can mimic the western press so cleverly as to not have a valid issue to raise now and again, but even if we accept, as per Obama Administration issues with temperament, that Flynn is a cracked vessel, he spent his career in military intelligence. If were going to think along nice big and easy puzzle pieces, then the argument can be made that contemporary civilization is yoked to the US Russia and China. If their interests were aligned than the rest of Europe might be a mere pacified inconvenience. Matthew Weiner’s fourth episode, “Expectation” entangles itself in a web of mendacity ending in an emergency surgery for gallstones. Telling, in Weiner’s polite request that we apply ourselves.

Pissing Once or Twice on Palace Intrigue

"Woman, if you don't shut up I'll clock out and go home!"-- over an alteration about Hahnemann

Presuming I do not regain a modicum of the lateral transfer ability I had in September, I do not know where I go from here. My intelligence can only do so much, and though I’ve written before that suicides within the disabled community contravene everything positive about empowerment modules and their mantras, beyond a certain point there is only so much an impoverished, embattled warrior can take, in the feasible sense. My serious consideration towards walking out on Galahad’s provider has been braked temporarily, due to the unanticipated descent of a service coordinator asking moronic, unintentionally cruel questions about my medical comprehension. The regulatory paradigm under which Medicaid Waiver services operate in the Commonwealth today defeats the very purpose of rehabilitation law, as I reap the thrall of domestic discord without the compensation of actually being a girlfriend, his display of temper over something as innocuous as changing a medical appointment had the unintentional effect of reigniting my desire, and I put my despondency aside, temporarily, not giving a fuck about his neighbor and the sale of coffee in the least. The infuriated black male punching my thigh softly with his frustration, this was another matter, even as I pronged Mr. Paine about my moral obligation to continue on in such a fashion, my control now as nil as the lesser spastics once under my authority. Then it struck me that I had probable suspects for Paine’s identity, simply by virtue of being a failed writer who pays attention to too many  journalists, and proving my speculative target may at least bear the measure of a mild scoop.

When the aggregator at the helm True Pundit tweets his mind, it is a rather fascinating recycling of Deep Throat, even as I remain skeptical about what he thinks he knows about those in the highest echelons of power.

Insiders like Flynn, Gritz and myself -- we simply know too much. Things that if and when they become public will DWARF anything in the current news cycle. I can guarantee we're ALL -- separately -- prepping to open up cans of worms you wouldn't imagine. Many wheels in motion.

— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) June 3, 2018

Governments are, by and large, about taxation, procurement, distribution, and enforcement, and through these methods, maintaining social order, with varying degrees of success. I reminded him, with a mild retort, that corruption, lack thereof, and or intelligence, which is primarily collected to restrain and thwart the goals of adversaries, has little effect on our daily lives, controlled by so many requirements and processes. Certainly, Flynn and Gritz may know things which keep the Pentagon brass awake at night, but all it might take is a Pakistani corporal having a bad day with a warhead to make Kashmir ground zero for a third world war. How is this relevant to those barely aloft? Nick Gillespie attributes Kate Spade’s despair to mental illness. From my vantage point, barely able to clean myself in soiled paper underwear, if you want to cut it short, perhaps the desire should be respected. If I can still persuade Galahad to make love with me one day, I am no longer sure what it would be, if it would destroy something, propel us forward? If I leave him, in a spiteful rebuff, it may close a final door. The first day I set eyes on him, I made the assumption we’d be a failure within 72 hours. In 10 weeks, we’re all but functioning like a common law couple, inextricably bound by a social medical model I’d annihilate in a meltdown, without a second thought. If I regain a percentage of my former ability, would I be so keen on him? Am I only fooling myself, subdued under his egress to the point of desiring to give him a child? Empires were once made with less, in Yogi Berra’s infamous solecism, it ain’t over, until it’s over, fearing, as I do, I’ll not be strong enough to secure my work, and this is where my appeal to libertarians like Austin will shortly come into play.

Mueller's Absorption Rate

They still hate us! Adolph Caeasar's dying declaration


On the basis of Associated Press access, and the fact that I'm doing ancillary background research, duly assembled by NYT's  Mark Mazetti and Matthew Rosenberg, Michael Flynn allegedly mischaracterized his contractual arrangements with Russia Today, an airline cargo transport, and an American cybersecurity firm called Kaspersky Global, to the tune of $70,000. No longer a great deal of money, not even for Pentagon career officials This is i n addition to his transition team dialogue with the Russian ambassador, and his lobbying efforts on behalf of Turkey after he was forced out of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The best alternate narrative I have been able to find is that Andrew McCabe had an adversarial relationship with Flynn, and the FBI's investigation into the general's conduct is a retaliation on this basis. On some level, this has a plot similar to The Friends of Eddie Coyle, where an aging Mitchum tones it down to be a screwed, ineffectual humbug, played by his treasury agent, left hanging in the wind, his balls in a vise for unwittingly transporting Canadian liquor, desperate to avoid half nickel short time in prison for the sake of his family and the onset of his golden years. Perhaps we're all that expendable. Coyle is not a Bigelow thriller, with her stark realism of the price we all pay for deep state, whatever the hell that is, but the Nixon era set up, as true to seventies realism as anything I know, shows what is sacrificed for the system, and will continue to be. 
I have no affectation for Flynn other than, like the paralytic Krauthammer, trying to reason out the puzzle of why he wanted to return through the revolving door, and why he believes US Russian cooperation will necessarily pacify the intractable Middle East. Even if Israel dissolved itself, or should have never been forcibly formed, I give up trying to comprehend what seems to be deep seated cultural inadequacy and resentment. I know all the progressive arguments, and lived through a great deal of jingoism with you, viewed wretched documentaries which resets my financial stresses as extravagant, and though I may have trace elements of Semitic blood in my veins, it seems Yemen, Syria, Somalia, are appendages, like gall bladders, and the United Nations would be that much less a laughing stock if these sovereign fictions went away. It is a little too simple, too brusque, which is why the Pentagon would find me useful. I only voted for Trump as an act of punishment, so I cannot really complain about Beltway roiling, but I don't see any smoking guns here. Eastern Europe is what it is, and its mistrust of its own playbook reflects what is a seemingly universal need to beat the system. From that perspective, Manafort's kickbacks, Putin's undermining, seem deserving of some trivializing. I had a brief hope, returning to my conservative inclinations, that I'd get some recompense, but if I allowed the baser aspects of human cruelty to scar me too deeply, the right may tolerate my vitriol, but they aren't going to help me. They want my loyalty, my vote, getting me legal help, or extracting me, or finding clever ways to help the aged re-integrate the work force, that is sucked up by the oxygen of federal cannibalism. It is not helping Trump supporters, or anyone else. Can such skepticism ever be prevailed upon to change its view?

Fondouche

[The Jesuit]. who would not have blinked an eyelid at hearing the confession, say, of an incestuous intrigue, found himself flustered by this innocent, but vast expanse of naked flesh.-- Di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo, p 59

In some ways, I disdain Niume's platform in corresponding proportion to my admiration for Beppe's patience, and growing power. To give you full disclosure, I did not discover the Italian comedian independently of American media. Television gave me the leonine shock white of his hair, and a Wapo contributor gave me the blog url. My personality would soften into a small, tantalizing, glow if Beppe would sneak across the pond with il Alpini, invade the district, send Trump packing for a much needed endoscopy, and then, like an old woman regaining her youth, I'd be a complaisant mistress. Mussolini revisited. You may think I'm joking, but guess again. Am I being fair to Niume? No. They understood the context on my Kokesh piece and allowed it to stand, but if Yabberz made me miserable, even if I allowed myself too much involvement-- looking for companions-- to the point I had to burn my account, then Niume leaves me disinterested; can and will stay out of the way most of the time. My sampling says they will not allow hard asses to take chances, well, they haven't met me, though I think I nettled the administrators a wee little in my frank assessment that penny RPM rates are not worth slaving. They wrote a post on their blog clarifying the matter.
Why rock the apple cart? Testing the waters. Ready and waiting in the wings to assassinate my enemies like any demagogue too clever for Terms of Service, as if I know anything about maintaining websites, the coding involved. My heart goes out to General Flynn. Much as the dowager learned, a lifetime of loyalty ends up as a hernia with a sword through your spine. Majority rule is merciless to outliers.

Incommoded Logan Hosts

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury--John Adams paranoia for the young states in the last year of the Enlightenment

Unfortunately for me, my bowel vaulting in a painful battle with sunflower seeds and  chicken, so it may be this morning is the morning my body goes into colony collapse, and this will be it, and Blogger will make its determinations about archiving, this, all that is left, I am interested in defending Flynn, and simply do not have the resources of the political establishment, nor the time. I cannot drop everything again to pursue a career military professional's downfall over temperament and hints of collusion. I actually did hope, once he got in, that Trump would defend certain things, but for all the media's highlight on turmoil, this is just Washington politics as usual, and I am personally annoyed that Trump cannot give the press corp a legitimate alternate view of reset buttons, like detente with Russia through radical capitalism. Trump seemingly doesn't have the ability to defend himself and the "art of the deal". Political theater just dances as usual, and as usual, this mogul is going to crumble before the careerist civil service, of which Flynn was a part of through at least three administrations. Surely no one is accusing a career general of having been bought by petrol dollars?

I now have to go make a wish, and hope I'll be okay.