This week, former FBI director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

I’m not here to provide an analysis of that testimony. The current level of discourse is so far beyond facts and logic being relevant that you probably saw exactly what you expected to see. So did I.

But I do think that even those who are willing to suspend logic to support their ideologies should at least have a consistent internal logic to their arguments. That is, your statements should hold up against one another. This was not the standard reached by the Trump administration’s response to Comey’s testimony.

After I’d heard enough, I posted the following to social media on Thursday night:

We are now to understand that Comey’s testimony 1. demonstrated there was nothing wrong with what President Trump did, 2. established that President Trump didn’t do it, 3. was completely false, and 4. constituted an illegal leaking of confidential information. Any questions?

I wanted to make the point that the defense his people were mounting was full of internal contradictions, though I admit I was a bit verbose in doing so. But President Trump himself was kind enough to help me out by tweeting the following on Friday morning:

Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!

Thanks, Mr. President!

The problem is that Comey was under oath at the time. Which means that the president’s claim that Comey made “many false statements” is an explicit accusation of perjury. And this, according to Slate, could land him in a lot of trouble:

If the Trump administration truly believed that Comey had committed perjury, the Justice Department would, at a minimum, consider investigating his alleged crime. (It won’t.) If Trump himself really believed Comey had slandered him before Congress, he could set the record straight by rushing to go under oath as well. On Friday, he said he would agree to rebuke Comey under oath if asked. We’ve seen Trump make and break this kind of promise in the past; for now, it suffices to say that until Trump goes under oath, Comey’s narrative will essentially stand as the official public record.

Commence breath-holding in three… two…

From Henry VI, Part Three:

And there’s for twitting me with perjury.

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Trump interfering with threats? We’d joy.

We haven’t done this for a while, but it’s time to celebrate another milestone. This blog has just reached 200,000 unique hits! Have some cake!

The blog started on January 1, 2007. It went public on January 6.

We reached 50,000 hits on June 7, 2010.

We reached 100,000 hits on September 19, 2012

We reached 150,000 hits on November 26, 2014

The 200,000th hit came in at 11:43pm on June 6, 2017 from Mount Laurel, NJ via a Google search. They came in to see the Family Trees for Shakespeare’s Histories.

At this point in time, there are 1,157 posts (including this one) in 97 categories and 3,312 comments.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with the site during the slow periods, which I guess is mostly Asher. And there’s much more exciting content on the way, which I guess is mostly Shakespeare Anagrams and the Thursday Morning Riddle.

Onward and upward!

This week, President Trump announced that he is withdrawing us from the Paris Climate Accord.

Now, in all likelihood, Trump is using this as a starting position for a renegotiation. That doesn’t mean we won’t actually pull out of the accord, as it seems unlikely such a renegotiation will be possible.

What this is really about is President Trump trying to show up President Obama. In his mind, he’s the greatest negotiator who ever lived. In reality, how good is he? He couldn’t even talk Republicans into repealing Obamacare.

What’s really scary about this is that, despite the unprecedented international coordination that went into making the deal, experts agree that it didn’t go nearly far enough to slow down the warming of the planet. Further action will still be needed, and that is going to be extremely difficult politically.

But what we definitely don’t want to do is move in the opposite direction, which is what this president is threatening to do. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to undo the damage that is done, and future generations may just look that this as the moment when we passed the point of no return.

Anyway, enjoy the anagram.

From Troilus and Cressida:

Paris is dirt to him.

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Idiot rips; it harms.

There’s a lot going on this week, but the story that stands out most for me is Montana Republican Greg Gianforte being elected to the United States House of Representatives a day after witnesses watched him grab a reporter by the neck and throw him to the ground.

From Richard III:

I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.
The secret mischiefs that I set abroach
I lay unto the grievous charge of others.

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

The idiot congressman-elect’s sorry for a bad hate wrath.

But if he regrets rough fight violence, what is to be his action?

I am found where a fishing line bobs in the stream;
I am fronting a loan; I am launching a scheme;
In a festive parade, a display with a theme;
And a treat made with root beer and whipped or ice cream.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher. See comments for answer.

The hits just keep on coming this week, but I suppose the top story is President Trump leaking classified information to the Russians in a meeting held in the Oval Office.

From Henry VI, Part Two:

This tongue hath parley’d unto foreign kings

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Russia got thy unhinged leak for nothing, pet.

I am flying the plane from my seat in the pit;
I’m the episode airing before they commit;
I’m an Oregon athlete; the light that stays lit;
And a test of a program to make sure it’s fit.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher. See comments for answer.

From Richard III:

And is it thus? Repays he my deep service
With such contempt? Made I him king for this?

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Trump’s mad they think the timing which he fired Comey raises deep vast suspicion.

From Twelfth Night:

If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.

Shift around the letters, and it becomes:

Idiocy politics: FBI bloop? A sentence for a laugh? A newsman detained?

Trump: “I won.”

I’m a pitch where the pitcher puts spin on the ball;
An adjustment control that spans None up to All;
I’m a phone with a keypad; a hamburger small;
And the Indians’ mascot who had a big fall.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Scott Russell. See comments for answer.