Is It Russian Or Is It Real?

Is It Russian Or Is It Real?

This is a question only humans with a sentient brain can answer. An equation that clearly leaves out Matt Taibbi, Senators Graham and Kennedy (not to be confused with the good Senator Kennedys). This Kennedy is an assclown.

So, when you decide what the Russians are doing, constantly, to our elections and democracy, and you should be doing exactly that, ponder this: The Russians and their former bloc can mimic and project almost everything. As the United States heads into 2020, there needs to be an awareness as to exactly how good countries that wish to damage the very basis, i.e. Constitutional, basis that the US is founded on.

Oceans and borders protect the “Homeland”. That long ago became a falsehood that is dangerous to hold on to. And when one particular political party is doing so, in the face of every ounce of their past beliefs, you have to wonder why.

For the record, the musicians on the title cut are Leonid & Friends. If you think that only American music is being taken this competently (and Leonid and Friends is every bit as good as post Terry Kath Chicago), you are fooling yourself. It is about the elections, not the music. Leonid et. al have HiWatts, Marshalls and whatnot. That is not important, how they have American democracy in the balance is what is important.

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53 replies
  1. PeeJ says:

    Wow… That was perfect! Made me forget all about politics for a minute. Now, about those allegations of Rudy also working for Lutsenko… Thanks… I think I’ll put on my original Chicago Transit Authority album.

  2. Jim White says:

    Given the current situation, I feel obligated to point out that the credits say this was recorded in a studio in….

    Kiev!

    This has been a short message from your Ukraine-obsessed associate. We now return you to the regularly scheduled post.

    • bmaz says:

      Hey now, the point is that it is a world away from here, and how would you know? If you skipped the video and listened to just the audio, would you know what you were dealing with, or in what time period?

  3. misteranderson says:

    I discovered Leonid & Friends awhile ago. I think they are so awesome. Reminds me of growing up in the 70’s. Question: if Rudy flipped on Trump, would he gain anything since Trump can’t be indicted? That doesn’t sense to me.

    • sproggit says:

      When it is said that “the President can’t be indicted… ” it is worth pointing out that this came about as a result of the 1973 memo, citing an opinion from the Office of the Legal Council that took the position that “the President cannot be indicted.”

      It is worth noting that:-
      1. The OLC that made this decision was led by Republican appointees, put in post by Richard Nixon, the President facing indictment or impeachment at the time.
      2. The OLC is part of the Department of Justice. The Head of the Department of Justice, is a political appointee… made by… the sitting President.

      So when this argument is put forward, it’s useful to understand the context in which it was created in the first place, that it was never materially tested at the time (because Nixon resigned ahead of impeachment) and that the governance structure behind the document has to bring it in to question from an independence perspective.

      So whilst I *totally* understand why you write, “the President cannot be indicted” – because of the 24×7 parroting of that position by TrumpTV and the Presidents sycophants, I don’t think it has an actual basis in law.

      But taking even that position as a starting point, it *is* true to say that the President *can* be impeached. Given that, conveniently, there just happens to be an impeachment inquiry running in the House, right now, then if Trump really does throw Rudy under the bus and Rudy flips, your question seems to boil down to “Has Rudy got the goods?”

      If he has, if he’s got clear and irrefutable proof of Trump’s wrong-doing, then it is possible that he could cut a deal. In return for substantive evidence that irrefutably ties Trump to the Ukranian shakedown, then it’s possible that he might be able to negotiate for something.

      However, I think it’s also worth noting that all the *other* investigations in to Rudy – things like failure to declare lobbying interests, potential income/tax related issues – would fall into the scope of a Justice Department that, with Barr in charge, might just suddenly come to fruition.

      You could easily conceive a scenario in which you have a carrot-and-stick strategy for handling Rudy. On the one side they will be saying, “Hang tight, this will blow over – and if it doesn’t, the President will pardon you…” whilst on the other, they could be saying, “…but if you don’t, the President will, very reluctantly, cut you loose and let the wolves have you.”

      This is just a guess: there are two people on the planet that Trump *wouldn’t* throw under a bus: Ivanka and Jared. Anyone else is fair game.

      • BobCon says:

        “Impeachment not indictment” would never make sense to the Founders.

        Congress was a part time institution at the end of the 18th Century. During the long periods when it was out of session, there was no easy way to call it into session — it might take months to collect a quorum after everyone had dispersed to their farms and villages.

        Impeachment could never be seen as the only brake on high crimes in that world, and it doesn’t even make sense in a number of scenarios today.

      • rip says:

        The imagery, or to coin a word “imaginery” of these cons all running around in crazy-eights, mobius circles, toruses [torii] with each holding a carrot in front of one and a stick behind another —- is dizzying.

        Perhaps the intent – keep us all focused on a 2020 version of the stooges while the real crooks are drilling into the state jewel case.

  4. Ruthie says:

    Republican’s willful, cynical denial of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections not only ignores the overwhelming evidence to support such claims but also the pattern substantiated in several other elections in recent years, from Brexit to the Catalan independence movement among others.

    It drives me crazy when I see some see-no-evil, hear-no-evil troll twisting him/herself into a pretzel on CNN to explain away the latest piece of evidence of Trump or his administration’s guilt. While other panel members’ reactions vary from disbelief to incredulity, no one states the obvious – that the trolls, themselves, don’t even believe what they’re saying. Why are they being treated as good faith actors?

    • P J Evans says:

      The people running the (failed, fortunately) CalExit program were American but based in Moscow. There’s another one for your collection. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the other secession movements (“Jefferson”, the militia separatists, the sovereign-citizen separatists) were also getting a lot of support from Russia.

    • Zinsky says:

      Ruthie – excellent point about the other examples of Russian meddling in elections, such as in the Brexit vote! No discussion of whether Ukrainians hacked that election too, which would have made no sense. Occam’s Razor suggests the simplest answer makes the most sense – Russian operatives hacked both elections!

  5. viget says:

    They’ve been at it for 30+ years, so yeah, they’ve gotten really good. And they’ve enlisted American help both knowingly and unknowingly to make the propaganda stick. And the useful idiot is in office. So it’s pretty much an unparalleled success from their end.

  6. bmaz says:

    I mentioned the HiWatts and Marshalls in the main post, but take a look at the Orange amp in the video. Orange is a truly great amp, but not one seen by my eyes in decades.

      • bmaz says:

        Oh, the Orange were some fantastic amps. As are some of the early Crates. I just had not seen any reference to an Orange in a very long time

          • bmaz says:

            The question is, as with almost any amp these days, is it truly a tube amp, or just a name brand modeling it? Stupidly enough, it does make a difference.

            • vvv says:

              Finally, something I feel qualified to answer! Yes, Orange amps are very current. I own a lunchbox (the all-tube 15/7 watt Tiny Terror) and while the stageable amps are on the high side and not often seen in garage bands, the bassist with Bob Mould, the band Ex-Hex, Geddy Lee, John McVie are notable users; their bass amps are seemingly more visible than the guitar amps. It does make a difference, tube, hybrid, or S/S, but Orange’s rep re all is very high, like their prices. Love that Leonid & Friends band, also.

    • gulageten says:

      Orange has for the past ~15 years been quite hip when holding oneself out as a vintage fetishist. They would nowadays seem to be the amp of choice (along with Sunn) for those who consider a dB rating to be the ultimate measure of a band.

        • gulageten says:

          When it comes to Orange, they offer several models in both categories, going back to the 70s and up to the present. And while I’m not sure about Orange, many brands of tube amps come factory-fitted with Sovtek tubes — which are made in St Petersburg.

          • vvv says:

            Most tubes used in amps – not counting NOS (new old stock) or vintage, are made in one or two factories in Russia, even different brands are made in those factories. I think there might be a factory in Serbia, and there is at least one Chinese factory. There are two main reasons, the first being that the Russian military used tubes far longer (reportedly still does in some applications) than elsewhere – note that tubes are supposedly less susceptible to EMP. Probably more important now is that tube manufacture creates a lot of hazardous waste.

        • pennsyltuck says:

          False dilemma – I still use an ADA MB-1 preamp with a tube section & a solid state section. You can use just one path, or mix them both as desired. MIDI controllable, too. On the guitar side I use a similaiar similar channel strip. Power amps are all solid state, efficiency is the goal.

          And if I run my bass through my old solid state crate combo and mike it with my groovetubes md-1a, what is it?

          What I ask in return; active or passive?

  7. Mitch Neher says:

    And now for the written lyrics straight from the penalty box:

    Waiting for the break of day
    Searching for something to say
    Flashing lights against the sky
    Giving up I close my eyes
    Sitting cross-legged on the floor
    Twenty five or six to four

    Staring blindly into space
    Getting up to splash my face
    Wanting just to stay awake
    Wondering how much I can take
    Should I try to do some more?
    Twenty five or six to four

    Feeling like I ought to sleep
    Spinning room is sinking deep
    Searching for something to say
    Waiting for the break of day
    Twenty five or six to four
    Twenty five or six to four

    • Sonso says:

      And what do y’all think this song is about?! LSD 25 or 6 pm to 4 am? So here we are, hallucinating in the 21st century, unable to tell truth from fiction, some having taken the red pill, and the rest merrily accepting the Matrix.

      • Bruce Olsen says:

        Robert Hunter seemed to appreciate that he never had to explain China Cat Sunflower. If you’ve never had the pleasure of waking late-night in San Francisco, here’s the top vote-getter for “copper-dome bodhi”:

        https: //hlblighting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SF-City-Hall_1.jpg

        Quite nice at, oh, 3:34 or 3:35 in the morning.

  8. General Sternwood says:

    There is a current Washington Post article about an agent provocateur posing as a Warren supporter posting photos showing BLM protesters with their signs doctored to appear as African-American Warren supporters. When it was exposed, it looked like a terrible tone-deaf self-own, but it wasn’t.

    As humans we’re really not evolved enough to responsibly handle the technology we’ve invented, either the military technology, or, now, in media and communications. The elite media can clearly explain what is happening, but that explanation won’t reach as many people as daily consume manipulated media without knowing it. The social contract needs to be renegotiated to take this into account, but I’m not at all sure that as a society we have the executive function to accomplish this.

  9. Savage Librarian says:

    Big Stuff and Little Matters

    Big stuff and the little matters
    served by Putin’s chef on platters,
    with poison from his cyber adders,
    rends rule of law to bits and tatters.

    As for those with tiny bladders
    whose pajama feet and pitter patters
    can only reach the light on ladders,
    the future seems to be in shatters.

    It’s not the first time we’ve discussed
    the paths we follow, dust to dust,
    and how often we have cussed,
    or reasons for a boom or bust.

    At times we fumed or else we fussed
    that our primal greed and lust
    screwed the honest and the just
    and eroded common trust,

    Until we all fell off the tracks
    that had protected all our backs,
    and learned it fundamentally stacks
    up to kleptocrats and hacks.

    It seems they like to run in packs
    and don’t care if they step on cracks,
    But with whatever else it lacks,
    it’s never the whole ball of wax.

    Little matters but the big stuff,
    like making bribes on the cuff,
    or squeezing ‘til they have enough
    lies to cover up their bluff.

    Mad-hatters line up in a huff,
    preen and prance, dance and fluff,
    spewing Putin’s favorite guff,
    pause, then toot another puff.

    Mobsters, monsters, who can tell
    wise guys from the wishing well
    when they dunk on those with nil
    but the truth that rings a bell,

    Warning us with its knell
    of yet another new bombshell.
    Corruption holds us in its spell.
    Let’s conquer it with our groundswell.

  10. gmoke says:

    You talking about Phi Beta Kappa key owning, Oxford University educated, Order of the Coif inductee, $12 million or so millionaire Senator John Neely Kennedy? He’s just regular folks (and extremely intelligent as he knows exactly what he’s doing).

  11. BobCon says:

    One of the sickening things to watch regarding Russia is the way GOP former Russia hawks like Graham and Kyl have completely flipped the script once Obama was replaced by Trump.

    The Russia hawks were supposed to be the intellectuals and realists in the GOP — Kyl regularly was treated in the press and foreign policy world as a Very Serious Thinker, but anyone who observed the guy honestly could tell you he was a dolt and a hack.

    And now we can see they have no integrity and can’t stick to the script they wrote for themselves for the past two decades. Obama never entered arms negotiations with Putin with any illusions, but was still hit with endless bad faith attacks by the same people who are now cozying up to a Putin asset. And it’s disturbing how they are still treated like members of the club.

  12. AndTheSlithyToves says:

    “As the United States heads into 2020, there needs to be an awareness as to exactly how good countries that wish to damage the very basis, i.e. Constitutional, basis that the US is founded on.”
    Try as I might, I can’t figure out this sentence. There seems to be something missing.

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