With a poem called

Kayne West is not Picasso

Save for details of Khashoggi's being disappeared, its broad strokes are consistent with the modus operandi of the Crown Prince (MBS) to consolidate and maintain power in Saudi Arabia and to obtain influence around the world.  

Misadventures are a part of his administration, including the kidnapping of the Lebanese Prime Minister, the imprisonment/torture/extortion of Saudi royals/businessman in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton, the crisis in Qatar, the war in Yeman, and the freak-out over the human/women's rights critique tweeted by Chris Freeland, Foreign Minister of Canada. This tweet resulted in rashness and over-reaction. MBS has thin skin to the point that the tweet resulted in withdrawal of the Canadian Ambassador, return of over 8000 Saudi students studying in Canada, and withdrawing Saudi investments.

The arrogance, impulsiveness and recklessness of MBS may have taken a new and bolder turn with a reach-out to Saudi dissidents anywhere around the globe.  No safe harbor.  And using the macabre and, most would agree, intimidating, step of deploying a battery of assassins equipped with a bone saw, sends a strong message.

Grammar matters.

Donald J. Trump✔
@realDonaldTrump

"Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees." @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!

8:04 AM - Oct 16, 2018

Was the president feeling especially truthful today? Or does he just not understand how commas work?

Raise your hand when you see it.

Jamal Khashoggi: A grisly mystery and a deepening crisis

Now, Chief Justice Roberts has requested Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, the chief circuit judge of the Denver-based Tenth Circuit, to review the complaints against Kavanaugh and "any pending or new complaints related to the same subject matter." Judge Tymkovich has the option of handling the complaints himself, dismissing them or appointing a special committee to examine them.

Unlike the allegations of Justice Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct and excessive drinking as a teenager, there is no question here about the facts as to what happened, since they occurred on national television. At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Judge Kavanaugh's behavior was startingly non-judicial in nature. From the outset in his prepared statement, he was angry and confrontational in manner. He was aggrieved and complaining about the situation in which he found himself. He was impolite and challenged the integrity of the Senate questioners and portrayed the hearing in the starkest partisan terms.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States criminal justice system needs reform and is "very unfair to African-Americans" and that he would overrule Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he tried to stand in the way of changes.

I think it has more to do with economics than race.

"We're going to make certain categories tougher when it comes to drug dealing and other things, but there has to be a reform because it is very unfair right now.

Finished season 2 of Ozark on Netflix.  Didn't like the ending but enjoyed the season overall. Maybe Julia Garner should get some an Emmy nomination at some point.

Example: Two young boys, both remarkably smart, beginning to read and spell at the age of 3.  One young boy is immediately recognized as smart and given intellectually appropriate things to do as a result.  The other young boy is reported by his pre-school as being behind because he isn't interacting with the toys he's being given appropriately and it is recommended that he see someone to see if he is developing intellectually at the right pace.  The parents take him to see someone because they want to do what's best for their son and that person basically tells them that he's ahead for his age and bored, so that's why he's not interacting with the toys he's been given "appropriately".  The first boy is white, the second boy is black.  They were not in the same school, they did not have the same teachers.

No one really knows if the second boy was underestimated because of his skin color and at first glance nothing "bad" happened so there's nothing to see here.  But the reality is that he's 3 years old and his life is just beginning and he's already been assumed to be "behind" because he's not presenting as "normal" where the other boy was assumed to be "ahead" because he didn't present as "normal".  I'll add that this is not a hypothetical scenario, and temperamentally they were both very similar at that age and in the same economic class and same region.

The death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner. While this particular case provides an opportunity to specifically address racial disproportionality, the underlying issues that underpin our holding are rooted in the arbitrary manner in which the death penalty is generally administered.

A finding cited in the ruling:

[F]rom December 1981 through May of 2014, special sentencing proceedings in Washington State involving Black defendants were between 3.5 and 4.6 times as likely to result in a death sentence as proceedings involving non-Black defendants after the impact of the other variables included in the model has been taken into account.

Those living in the area, like Will and Jada Smith in their reported 43 million dollar home, and us regular folk, have been on edge since the fatality, and yesterday the sheriffs arrested a "survivalist" guy out near the park. It appears he had been living out there in the brush.

He had a rifle, but they don't know yet if that was the gun used in the fatality, nor, if it was, whether he did the shooting.

Also turns out that LA area gangs like to use the area for dumping bodies.

"Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that provides "strong evidence'' she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations, an unprecedented move by one of the top possible contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president."

It was something.

Backstage, Jeff meets Tara Lipinski's twin sister Sara (pronounced Sah-rah because Tara doesn't want their names to rhyme). Here again we're thrown into the surreality of differentiating between twins as a larger comment on identity. It turns out that Tara is kind of a jerk to her sister -- Jeff gets an earful from Tara's parakeet (her "Tarakeet"), who parrots the verbal abuse that goes on between them. Jeff, never one to tolerate anyone using a swear word, rapidly flips the light switch to give the bird a seizure and kill it. Great, Jeff, you've really grown.

Amazing.  The actuAl skater Tara Lipinski who is great.  At the end he makes a Poltergeist style coffin for the dead parrot with a photo of Tara and walks out to bury it.

It pouring rain.

He sticks it in the disposal.

To all those on the right who are presently criticizing Bono's ouster as another example of political correctness run amok, please be advised that our First Amendment right to freedom of speech only prohibits our government from arresting or otherwise persecuting us for what we say.

It doesn't mean that everyone else has to listen to our bull$chitt, or that online hosts like TL's Jeralyn have to tolerate our presence whenever we decide to share it. The First Amendment does not shield you from either criticism or consequences of what you say.

So, if you've been reprimanded, chastised, fired or boycotted, or your hit show has been cancelled by the network or you're banned from an online community, your right to free speech has not been violated or compromised.

Rather, it's just that the people who've been hearing you have decided that you're an obnoxious a$$hole, and they're merely showing you the door -- as is also their right.

The second, and likely last, debate between the two candidates for U.S. Senator in Texas - Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O'Rourke - is tonight. With less than a month until Election Day, both candidates need every remaining opportunity to try to win over voters. The debate starts at 8 p.m. Central Time

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA--In a press conference ahead of a meeting with U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman admitted Tuesday that journalist Jamal Khashoggi died during a botched assassination attempt. "We lured Mr. Khashoggi to our consulate in Turkey for what was supposed to be a straightforward, routine execution, but things went off the rails at some point during the torture portion, and he accidentally bled out," said the crown prince, adding that under normal circumstances, journalists who negatively portray the Saudi regime are eliminated efficiently and without international uproar. "We offer our sincere apologies to the Khashoggi family for mishandling Jamal's slaughter. This should have been a quick in-and-out death and dismemberment situation, not the drawn-out, hours-long bloodbath it turned into. We flubbed this one big time." The crown prince also assured journalists that Saudi leaders plan to implement new murder guidelines to standardize future assassinations and reduce instances of bungled hits.