Where Is The Next Stop For This Crazy Train?

We've traveled so far off the map since 2016 that it's difficult to determine where we are, what is likely to happen and what is not. It hardly seems possible that we've reached the mid-point marker for the President's first/only term. As once was said about living in New York City, every day is a battle fought in an ongoing war. Yes to that.

The common themes to our post-2016 experience thus far have been the unpredictability of events, the disruption of norms, and the degradation of institutions. The Administration advances these themes through a firehose blast of shock and falsehoods. It overwhelms and numbs the public. It is also designed to create apathy and discouragement. If you've followed along reading past Kibitz posts, you'll know that this all adheres to time-honored techniques mastered by Soviet/Russian intelligence services. It's not an accident we're spinning around while our President and his allies spout contradictory statements, move perceptual "goalposts" and gaslight the nation.

Who can we depend upon for getting the straight story? Well, there are always your amigos here at the Daily Kibitz. (Stay tuned for our take on where the Mueller investigation is going, and how Trump is probably no longer the only primary target.) Well, you might say, where do you turn to, O Daily Kibitz?

Glad you asked. Here are some of the reliable sources we follow, and you should, too!

Marcy Wheeler is an influential, independent journalist specializing in National Security and Justice topics. Her probing and trenchant analysis of complicated topics like the lead-up to the Iraq War and the Valerie Plame - Scooter Libby debacle put her on the map. She is a Major Badass. Follow her on twitter for the very latest. For deeper dives into thoughtful and very fair essays/analysis, check out her website:

https://www.emptywheel.net

She is the best, The Goods. She doesn't suffer fools. And she strives to be objective, but won't back off of what she knows to be true. She has deeply placed sources. Other journalists look to her because she is a front-runner with her well-researched articles and reasoned opinions.

Another Go-To person for breaking news and analysis is Natasha Bertrand of The Atlantic magazine, formerly of Business Insider. You may recognize her from cable news appearances. I won't hold that against her. She has been a top-tier investigator for all things Russia-Trump. If she's not breaking news, she is retweeting/sharing pertinent news stories on her twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand

For a federal law enforcement perspective, I favor Asha Rangappa. Talk about an over-achiever: Princeton, Fulbright Scholar, Yale Law degree, FBI Special Agent, now Associate Dean of Yale Law. Sheesh. Rangappa has a much-followed Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_

Like Bertrand, Rangappa sometimes appears on cable news shows. It's a living, I guess (I hate cable news). But she also regularly writes articles on What's Going Down and comments prolifically on the news of the day. She, too, is a Major Badass.

Moving on out to the fringe, to the very outer limits of investigative journalism, there is our favorite loon, Louise Mensch. Except, gol' dang it, for as much abuse that has been heaped on her for really provocative, bewildering, false and yet-unproven articles, many of them appear to be blossoming into Truth.

She's a firebrand former Member of Parliament conservative who is obsessed with honoring The Law. It appears she has contacts within British intelligence. She is ardent and no-nonsense. And she takes no prisoners. But when reading Mensch, it's wise to bring along a 5lb. bag of salt. It's fun to be swept along by her claims. Some of them are even true. She is reliable, in her own way. Caveat emptor.

https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch

Finally, let's lighten up while doubling down. Molly Jong-Fast is a writer for Forward magazine and other publications. She is decidedly Hard-Left, not that there's anything wrong with that. Her political views are unyielding. She is also Very Funny. Her super snarky quips are perfect for the format of her Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast

The more you read her, the better she becomes. So, there you have a few of the Daily Kibitz sources. Oh, we have more... but we can't reveal them. Sorry.

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One source of inspiration left our world this week - former Poet Laureate Mary Oliver. She was a real People's Poet, even though she had achieved a shelf full of prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and The National Book Award. Her aim was simplicity and accessibility. She had no truck with poetry that made its way out of the Academic Torture Chamber.

She discovered her muse in the forest, in Nature. It was where she went to escape.  Her early life was not a happy one. But in her solitude, she found her voice in the vales and glades. Take a moment to read one of her poems:

The Ponds

Every year

the lilies

are so perfect

I can hardly believe

their lapped light crowding

the black,

mid-summer ponds.

Nobody could count all of them -

the muskrats swimming

among the pads and the grasses

can reach out

their muscular arms and touch

only too many, they are that

rife and wild.

But what in this world

is perfect?

I bend closer and see

how this one is clearly lopsided -

and that one wears an orange blight -

and this one is a glossy cheek

half nibbled away -

and that one is a slumped purse

full of its own

unstoppable decay.

Still, what I want in my life

is to be willing

to be dazzled -

to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even

to float a little

above this difficult world.

I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.

I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing -

that the light is everything - that it is more than the sum

of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.