Dec. 3 Open Thread: We Already Know Whodunit

Anyone who wonders why the Trump-Russia story gets so much ink must be blind to the popularity of mystery stories. Almost every novel, movie or TV show has some mystery at its core to keep consumers hooked. Such stories grab the eyeballs advertisers want and media operations need, so a real-life mystery is a no-brainer. And while there isn’t much of a mystery about Trump colluding with Russian agents to leak stolen emails, we still don’t know many of the details. Most fascinating is something touched on by Digby — the re-emergence of shady character/FBI informant Felix Sater in the narrative.

It’s pretty obvious that Trump has no ability to turn his whims into policy because he can’t grasp the details of anything. Outside of turning ICE into a Gestapo force, he lets others do the work — even if those others are utterly unqualified to do so. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by the Pro Publica report that Veterans Administration policy is being heavily influenced by a couple of jamokes who belong to Mar-a-Lago.

Why do Republicans insist Democrats engage in voter fraud? The usual reason –projection. The GOP for years used absentee ballots to boost their vote totals, but the new emphasis on fraud has snared more Republicans than Democrats. It’s so bad that the election board for in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District has refused to certify the 905-vote victory by the Republican candidate because of irregularities with absentee ballots. Worth reading for a look at how real fraud is conducted by the people who know how to do it best.

Disgusted by the hagiography prompted by George H.W. Bush’s death? Davoid Greenberg provides a corrective view, saying that Bush chose self-interest over principle time after time and declaring him our most overrated president.

Trophy hunters are dicks, no two ways about it. I’m not talking about people who hunt to put meat in the freezer, but those who kill “trophy” creatures like a beloved Yellowstone wolf who wandered out of the park and paid for it with her life. I also piss on the argument that it’s deep in human nature to hunt; if that were true, everyone would have the urge to do it.

Even Christian missionaries are condemning the idiot young American who tried to convert the tribal people of North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal, despite it being illegal to go there because the islanders have been isolated so long that common human pathogens like the flu could kill them. The islanders killed him within 24 hours of his arrival, but the debate — Martyr or Moron? rages on.