Fox & Friends must be putting their unique spin on the release of the Fusion GPS testimony, which demonstrates conclusively for lucid readers (i.e., non-Fox & Friends viewers) that the GOP is more interested in propping up Trump than getting to the bottom of Russian interference in our elections:
The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough Primary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018
Specifically, the testimony shows that the narrative peddled on Fox News — that the Trump-Russia investigation was triggered by a dossier underwritten by partisans to undermine Trump — is a lie. Further, it shows that Senators Grassley and Graham’s criminal referral on dossier author Christopher Steele is cynical abuse of an ally and whistle-blower who should be thanked profusely for his concern for the integrity of our democracy, a concern not shared by Trump or his Republican enablers.
Anyway, someone sounds extra nervous this morning:
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018
Each and every single sentence is a lie. And the volume of lies is a fairly reliable indicator of Trump’s perception of personal peril. I fervently hope Mr. Mueller gets this specimen under oath.
MattF
But, but… Trump has chosen an adjective for Feinstein! Her political career is over.
satby
Well, this cries out for a tweet to the Traitor in Chief that the world is laughing at him, and I’m just the person to tweet that. All disrespect intended.
eric
he did not call her a “Jewess” so that’s progress.
Tony Jay
Middle of the afternoon on a work day and he’s got time to tweet out whine after whine? Lazy old fart.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Republicans should take control? Does Donald trump really not know that Republicans already are in control? They hold the whole federal government. What more do they want?
schrodingers_cat
@MattF: Vichy Times will do a puff piece on Orange One’s witty nicknames. Oh wait, they already did it.
The Moar You Know
DiFi has never been my favorite Senator, her instincts are pretty conservative. Mostly. As you see there are exceptions. But the idea that she’ll ever have a “tough primary” in this state is laughable; she will cruise through the primary and through the general with no problems at all, like she has since way back when I was in college.
Betty Cracker
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I took it to mean he’s saying Republicans need to shut the congressional investigations down.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Betty Cracker:
Ah. Well, they’re doing their best I guess.
The Dangerman
Well, THAT’S true, just not in the way he intended.
ETA: Odd that he would admit that the only way to remove DiFi is through a primary and not (snicker) having a Reepublican (guffaw) win the General in CA (ROFL).
Rms
I’m going to nicknamerize – “Traitor Trump”.
Adam L Silverman
@eric: Yet.
SteveinSC
Email I sent to “Senator” Graham:
“The attack on Christopher Steele you have made is as offensive to me as anything you, Lindsay Graham have ever done. As a seventh generation South Carolinian I am disgusted by your aiding and abetting of Trump’s sedition. Our British cousins are in fact that: blood-kin. They have shown patriotism while you have aided and abetted high crimes, misdemeanors and sedition. I cannot believe you would sell out this country so cheaply
You are a disgrace to South Carolina and dishonor our ancestors and the noble traditions we inherit from them. Know that you have made me an implacable foe of your re-election and that you and what honor you claim to have will end up in the trash heap reserved for you and the spawn of Benedict Arnold in sedition and treason.”
Adam L Silverman
I like the Republicans must take control demand. Which political party does the President think is in the majority (controls) each chamber of Congress. And which political party does he think he is a member of? And which political party does he think is in the majority in the majority of state legislatures. And which political party does he think holds the majority of governorships right now?
The Moar You Know
@SteveinSC: Call the office. Both Reps and Senators ignore emails.
rikyrah
Are White House transcripts getting political touch-ups?
01/10/18 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
During yesterday’s White House discussion on immigration policy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Donald Trump if he’d support a “clean” bill on DACA now, extending protections to Dreamers, with a commitment to then begin negotiations on comprehensive immigration reform. The president said he had “no problem” with that.
“We’re going to do DACA and then we can start immediately on the phase two, which would be comprehensive,” Trump added. “Yeah, I would like to do that. I think a lot of people would like to see that, but I think we have to do DACA first.”
As we discussed earlier, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) quickly interjected, reminding the president of what the Republican position is supposed to be, but just as important, if you relied on the White House transcript to learn what was said, you missed a key detail. The Washington Post reported:
And that may be true. Perhaps this was nothing more than an innocent clerical error. Maybe the White House didn’t deliberately omit an inconvenient presidential slip from the official transcript.
But I’m not sure Trump World deserves the benefit of the doubt on this.
rp
Greenwald still hasn’t said anything about this AFAICT.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
“Protect me! Protect me from these investigations!” says the innocent man. NOT.
Keep it up, Trumpov…you’re probably less than an hour away from yet another obvious attempt at obstruction of justice here. I never saw someone so eager to give the prosecution evidence.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Feinstein, of all people! I’m happy that she did the right thing here.
Rommie
If Benedict Donald wants to giveth, then Benedict Donald will have to taketh. It’s clear now that the witty nicknames are weaponized, so it’s past time to get off the fainting couch and return fire.
rikyrah
Why Trump gave Florida a special deal on oil drilling
01/10/18 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Last week, the Trump administration ignored all kinds of warnings and unveiled an expansive plan for coastal oil drilling. The move was quickly condemned by several key groups and officials, but it was the response from governors that stood out.
In all, 14 governors – including several Republicans – from states on both coasts denounced Donald Trump’s giveaway to the oil industry. Only one of the 14 is getting a special deal. NBC News reported:
rikyrah
New Democratic Virginia governor appoints historic majority-woman Cabinet | Shareblue Media https://t.co/zUjp3JCX9j #p2
— skeptical brotha (@skepticalbrotha) January 10, 2018
Ryan
This is textbook behavior for an innocent man. INNOCENT I TELL YOU!!
rikyrah
Trump’s companies sold more than $35,000,000 in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers’ behavior that began during the election, a USA Today review found. https://t.co/msjNDyTeNo
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 10, 2018
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Trump doesn’t have a clue what party is in control of anything. He probably can’t name the three branches of government.
Besides, like the press, who he adores despite his protestations to the contrary, everything is the fault of Democrats.
Chyron HR
Republicans must take control of the media and seditious private citizens, duh.
P.S. No fascist, no fascist, you’re the fascist.
Jeffro
Oh…I see that the wing nuts have moved on from “the Steele Dossier has gotten someone KILLED, KILLED I say!” to “Hillary funded the Steele Dossier that got someone KILLED, KILLED I say!”
Just another death to hang on the Clintons…even though the guy in question was murdered by Putin…for leaving obvious Russian fingerprints…while getting Trumpov elected. Yet, it is still on Hillary(!)
rikyrah
Black mom ‘in shock’ after teacher asks her son to list ‘3 good reasons for slavery’ https://t.co/ikxwWx2Vk7
— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 10, 2018
randy khan
When it comes to Trump’s tweets, I think we can repurpose Mary McCarthy’s line about Lillian Hellman: “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.'”
Spanky
@The Moar You Know: Well, if he calls and reads that verbatim, I’m pretty sure he’s obligated to wind up by challenging Lindsay to a duel.
Or maybe Lindsay will be obligated to challenge Steve? I dunno for sure – I’m not really up on that honor stuff.
Jeffro
@Ryan: great minds and all that – see #18 above ;)
Doesn’t he just REEK of innocence, the Orange One?
JPL
But her emails
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/trump-administration-waives-punishment-convicted-banks-including-deutsche-which
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/01/10/trumps-secretive-real-estate-sales-continue-unabated/1018530001/
trollhattan
Trump continues to declare himself a witch. Why does the em ess em keep ignoring this important story and demand a weigh-off with a duck?
Jeffro
@Yarrow:
Well there’s him, Fox and Friends, and Judge Pirro, right? What more do you need?
Thoroughly Pizzled
@rp: Don’t worry, he’ll find some misplaced comma that completely disproves the MCCARTHYIST Russia investigation.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jeffro: The Clinton Murder machine is invincible, unstoppable. The proof? Dick Morris has been in his grave for two decades now.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: What about Ivanka? Isn’t she a branch of government? It’s so confusing!
JGabriel
Traitor Donald Trump (via Betty Cracker @ Top):
Not a disgrace! You’re the disgrace! You’re the disgrace!
[Ad hominem attacks and self-serving lies redacted from Traitor Donald’s tweet by commenter – i.e., me. JGabriel]
Jeffro
Looks like Darrell Issa is retiring from Congress??? Hoo boy!
No Drought No More
My sole reaction to Dianne’s releasing that testimony is that it’s about damn time.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/9/18
McMaster, McGahn may soon exit White House: CNN
Rachel Maddow shares a CNN report that national security advisor H.R. McMaster and White House counsel Don McGahn may be getting ready to add their names to the unprecedented list of first-year Trump administration departures.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: So much winning!
Davebo
Reports are that Daryl Issa is retiring.
Good riddance!
Jeffro
@Yarrow: My bad, she is part of the ‘Trump’ branch. Trump, Fox, and Judge Pirro, there’s your three branches. Even banana republics have more talent and brains.
rikyrah
355 days in office.
2,001 false or misleading claims from Trump, per WaPo
That’s an average of more than 5.6 false claims a day. https://t.co/AXXlapw6KG
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 10, 2018
Yarrow
@Jeffro: So Traitor Trump and his Traitor Tots are all one branch? That’s going to hold up until the kids start saving themselves. *makes note to check popcorn stash*
Raoul
@Davebo: They know a bloodbath is coming. All the spin in the world won’t cover for the wave of Repub retirement announcements already happening.
I hope Iron Stache kicks Ryan’s ass to the fucking curb.
matt
@JGabriel: I’m so old I remember weekly leaks from the perpetual investigations into the affairs of the Clinton family.
JGabriel
Traitor Donald:
There was not just collusion. Traitor Donald, there was conspiracy and treason with a hostile foreign gov’t (Putin and his cronies and lackeys) – by you, your campaign advisers, your family, and probably numerous House and Senate Republicans.
TriassicSands
“Sneaky” Di? Why not Duplicitous Di? Or Dastardly Di?
We also learn that Florida — which is “unique” — has been exempted from new offshore oil and gas leases. Why? Because it is a mostly red state run by a corrupt Republican POS who is a kindred spirit with Trump. Blue states can forget about exemptions — they need to have their coastal waters fouled by oil spills. That will show them not to vote for the Emperor.
And now that Feinstein has become “sneaky,” the fate of California is sealed. The Republican tax bill handed out punishment to the blue states. Now, the Trump drilling plan punishes blue states. Will the media notice a pattern here? You know, that the federal government under Trump is being run like the worst case banana republic.
Davebo
@Jeffro: Jinx!
rikyrah
@Davebo:
PHUCK OUTTA HERE!!
That crook retiring?
Jeffro
@rikyrah: In fairness, those are only the ones being said in public/on Twitter. If we counted the lies he tells (bores) everyone throughout his busy day (EXECUTIVE TIME NOT INCLUDED, as that’s just him yelling at the TV) it’s probably triple that.
Villago Delenda Est
@Davebo: He knows that if he runs again, he’ll lose.
Peale
@Davebo: Fuck that. Fuck that. I want to beat him. I’ve wanted to beat him for 20 years. You run, you rat bastard.
Davebo
@Raoul:
That and the tax bill royally screwed Californians in the OC and beyond.
Jeffro
@Davebo: But a GOOD jinx! Screw that crooked bastard. Someone should send him a whole bag of ‘W’ brand pretzels.
Villago Delenda Est
@JGabriel: ZEGS and Yertle, for starters, probably Grassley and Graham.
All should hang.
Yarrow
Someone needs to alert Mary G about Issa retiring! She worked hard for Applegate and he almost beat Issa last time around.
zhena gogolia
@SteveinSC:
Great.
SteveinSC
@The Moar You Know: No there is only a recording. I called his local offices and essentially said to the staff who answered my call the same thing. Also you can request a written response which he does get his staff to handle. My wife and I have done this before on gun control and we get a letter. He’s gotten the message, of that I am sure. Also as a PhD I always select “Dr.” with my name so they think it’s some rich, ignorant Chiropractor from Charleston sending him a message..
Adria McDowell
@Tony Jay: Must have been during “executive time” a.k.a. most of the day. ;-)
Davebo
@Villago Delenda Est:
Retiring to have more time to steal car stereos and commit arsons I guess.
Tokyokie
@rikyrah: Sure it was inadvertent. Just like Rose Mary Woods leaving an 18 1/2-minute gap in the Watergate tapes.
JGabriel
@matt:
I’m so old, I remember when Republicans liked football and hated Putin & other Russian commies.
sherparick
@Adam L Silverman: The line about “tough primary” for Senator Feinstein made me think that he (and Fox and Friends) think she is a Republican. The guy thinking of primarying her from the left is Tom Steyer, the guy spending millions advocating Trump’s impeachment and removal!!
Peale
@TriassicSands: Meh. I can see the oil companies rushing up to ANWR because that’s been a bug in their side (edit or a thorn in their butt?) since they lost in the 1990s. (They will never ever stop). But there probably isn’t much incentive to drill right now. Best case scenario – Trump forces oil executives to make lousy business decisions to spite Diane Feinstein and big oil goes belly up.
LAO
LOLOLOLOLOLOL:
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/9/18
Trump aide pitched US troop withdrawal to please Putin: report
Rachel Maddow shares a Daily Beast report that a member of Donald Trump’s National Security Council, Kevin Harrington, proposed removing U.S. troops from Baltic states as means of currying favor with Putin.
SteveinSC
@rikyrah: She got pwned again. It was a leak from Bannon that didn’t amount to shit.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/9/18
Feinstein defies Republicans, publishes Fusion GPS transcript
Rachel Maddow reports on the release by Senator Diane Feinstein of the transcript of the House Judiciary Committee testimony of Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, the company that commissioned the Trump Russia dossier.
Davebo
@rikyrah: That story has been overblown IMO.
JGabriel
@rikyrah:
I think WaPo is seriously under-counting those false and misleading Trump claims. Hell, there are 7 false or misleading claims (i.e., LIES) in this one sentence alone (lie count in parentheses):
Chris
Okay, that’s not true. This sentence [“Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing”] is definitely not a lie. Well, okay, maybe the rest of the world isn’t laughing, but Russia certainly is.
sherparick
@TriassicSands: You forgot that Florida has a special resident at Mar-a-lago, which makes it very, very special and unique.
Villago Delenda Est
@SteveinSC: The very fact it was proposed is tantamount to betraying our NATO allies. This Harrington asshole needs to be purged.
Jeffro
.
schrodingers_cat
@Chris: According to my Russian-American friend, ordinary Russians call the Great Leader, our bitch in the WH. She was visiting family this fall in Russia.
Chris
@TriassicSands:
I thought it was because it was a purple state.
If Florida were really red, there’d be no need to this: he’d know that they’ll crawl over broken glass to vote for him no matter what he does. If it were blue, there’d be no need either: you could vote to screw them, safe in the knowledge that they’d never vote for you anyway and that all your red state voters will get a thrill from seeing you stick it to them. But it’s purple, so you actually have to be careful about alienating it because it might not vote for you.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@rikyrah: Imagine the nerve it takes to leave out Trump’s blithe acceptance of a clean DACA bill when the whole meeting was televised. That’s gaslighting on a national scale.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/9/18
Opacity of Trump’s Russia dealings drew Fusion GPS attention
Rachel Maddow reads highlights from the Fusion GPS Senate Judiciary transcript in which co-founder Glenn Simpson describes the broad scope of their project and how the opacity of Donald Trump’s Russia dealings caused them to seek out a Russia specialist.
trollhattan
@LAO:
Every time I hear a snowflake demand somebody primary Nancy SMASH I just shake my head. She’s one of the most effective politicians we have, damn smart and tough in equal measure. You go, girrrrl!
Raoul
@rikyrah:
Yeah, no.
I mean, this WH is the most incompetent in living memory (probably much longer), but the idea that they won’t even issue a correction, but rather say ‘the context is clear’, they did that on purpose. The shitheads.
Exactly!!
Chris
@schrodingers_cat:
Politically incorrect, but not wholly inaccurate.
ETA: somebody over at LGM the other week made the point “Bush’s America still intimidated people. Obama’s America still inspired people. Trump’s America does neither.”
Adam L Silverman
@SteveinSC: You need to send a follow up asking him to pick a second. That’ll get his attention!//
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: And because of this the other 13 states will prevail when they file suit to block this.
Raoul
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Yup. If DiFi, who as was pointed out upthread is on the cautious and ‘history of the Senate’ respecting end of the Dem spectrum, has had this moment of eye-poking clarity, I sure hope this means the gloves are off, and that the whole caucus will be pugilists right through the mid-terms.
This is what Mitch has wrought. Keep bringing it, Dems!
Raoul
@rikyrah: Helicopter Zinke says “Florida is obviously unique”. Uniquely in play once the horde of Puerto Rican-Americans get registered to vote in FL.
Speaking of which, who is doing registration work in FL? I saw that the nefarious Kansas oil brothers are funding conservative outreach to the new arrivals – who on our side is countering? I’m happy to donate.
The Moar You Know
@Jeffro: As an unwilling constituent, who has either lived in or right next to his district (depending on where the lines have been drawn – I haven’t moved) I am thrilled.
He bankrolled Gray Davis’ recall out of his own pocket with the intent of taking the governorship himself, and then his own party fucked him good by threatening to bring up the arson convictions. They went with Arnold. He went on TV and cried. That was a great day.
This is far better, because now he’s fucking done. Trump supporter done in by the tax bill. Republican of the very worst kind in California. FUCKING DONE.
ETA: I am sorry that we won’t have postcards of him and his BFF Trump sucking each other’s dicks landing in my mailbox, and being able to watch him get beaten like a pinata, but you can’t have everything.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, this is OT but I’m curious about your thoughts on this. He tweeted it after the release of the testimony.
Raoul
@TriassicSands:
Yes.
Will their coverage of said pattern infuriate progressives and coddle Republicans? Chances are high.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Zee money, follow zee money!
Tony Jay
@Adria McDowell:
3pm and 3.15pm. Someone took a long and leisurely ‘Executive Action’.
The Moar You Know
@trollhattan: It’s stupid, true. There’s also no one in her district who would be remotely close to capable of doing so, so the demand is pointless as well as self-defeating.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Alabama or Mississippi?
Raoul
@rikyrah: Right after the election, I very nearly booked a cheap ticket to Finland so that I could pop down to Estonia to see it before the shit got strange. Tallinn is supposed to be a very beautiful place with, of course!, lots of history.
I was concerned that the Baltics might fall rapidly into Putin’s arms. Looks like I wasn’t totally paranoid. I decided to wait as Dec-Feb is not a great time to be that far north.
Still need to get over there, but Hungary, Serbia and Croatia are my spring trip – church group tour to visit progressive NGOs. I’m excited!
JGabriel
@Villago Delenda Est:
Also Ryan, Nunes, Rohrabacher, et al.
(Who be ZEGS?)
Barbara
@Raoul: Tallinn is beautiful. BJ’s own Cheryl Rofer spent an extended period of time there and posted about it recently. I had one perfect day in Tallinn — I’ll spare you the details — but it started with a tour guide who was very willing to talk about what it is like to live in the shadow of the nationalist fervor of Putin’s Russia, and how much they view NATO as their lifeline. As we were walking, a woman with a very Southern accent made a big point of saying that she hoped that “next year” we can give you a president who isn’t afraid to stand up for you. I still resent this woman’s slur of Obama, and would bet money that she voted for Trump. They don’t give an FF about Estonia or the Baltics. They just hated Obama.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@TriassicSands:
If somebody bothered to do the linguistic analysis of the tweet storms since the election, I’ll bet you would find a near-zero instance of words of three or more syllables. So those nicknames are right out.
Also, I think alliteration would go above Trump’s head. Again beyond where he is at the moment in command of the English language. I’ll leave the question open as to whether he may have given a more convincing performance as a native English speaker 10 or 20 years ago.
Barbara
@JGabriel: Zombie Eyed Granny Starver — that guy with the initials of PR, who hails from Wisconsin and has never met a granny or a gramps relying on Social Security that he didn’t consider to be too well-fed “for their own good.”
Chris
@Barbara:
This is easily the most exhausting part of hearing foreign policy conversations as they take place in the U.S. It begins and ends with people projecting their own domestic hangups onto the rest of the world (hence, for example, “Reagan won the Cold War.”) Eyes glaze over very quickly once you realize that the entire conversation of “here’s how I think we should handle the Syria crisis” is really longhand for “Obama sucks.”
MattF
@Barbara: Worth noting, at least for the record, that Trump has never, in fact, rushed to Estonia’s defense– it might irritate his buddy Vlad.
TriassicSands
@Chris:
I don’t think the primary motivation is vote getting. Rather, as Trump has shown his entire adult life, nothing is more important than punishing those who have crossed you — and by crossed I mean didn’t grovel, lavish sufficient praise, or toe the Trump line.
Vote getting is a secondary benefit, but vengeance is mine sayeth the Trump and nothing trumps revenge in Trump’s tiny little world.
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: I’m assuming -possibly incorrectly- that she was trying to elicit the reasons the South wanted to continue slavery but good grief! That’s pretty inept, no matter what s/he intended.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Wisconsin.
TriassicSands
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Of course you’re right about Trump’s vocabulary, but what is the Poet Laureate for? Surely, Trump could call on him…oh, wait. Juan Felipe Herrera is a Chicano born of migrant farm worker parents. There’s no way that Trump could ask him for help. (And shouldn’t he be deported under the Make America White Again immigration plan?)
I guess what Trump needs to do is to “fire” Herrera and choose someone more appropriate to the Trump era. Maybe there’s someone out there writing obscene limericks who would make a perfect Trumpian poet laureate.
schrodingers_cat
@Chris: And how according to MoU the Arab Spring was about Twitter and Facebook.
Gelfling 545
@sherparick: And stable. Don’t forget stable.
Gelfling 545
@trollhattan: “damn smart and tough in equal measure.”
Well, sure, but she’s female and that’s just unacceptable.
Chris
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s even worse than that: at the time the Arab Spring was on the rise, what I kept getting from all the right wing feeds in my social media was that they couldn’t decide whether this was a good thing, in which case all the credit went to Bush for his visionary Democracy Promotion in Iraq, or a bad thing, in which case all the blame went to Obama for his coddling terrorists and apologizing for America. The idea that this might be mostly or even entirely about local people reacting to local conditions and who might not actually care all that much about America one way or another just never seemed to pop up there. It’s All About Us.
TriassicSands
@JGabriel:
Give the Post a break. They’d need a supercomputer to keep up an accurate count of Trump’s lies, fabrications, and grossly misleading statements. Besides, most Americans are innumerate and wouldn’t understand the scientific notation needed to express the magnitude of Trump’s lies. How many “average” Americans have any idea what 5.6 x10^99 means. In fact, we probably need to take a page out of astronomy and come up with new units to express unimaginably large numbers. For distances, in astronomy, we have astronomical units, light years, and parsecs. How about every 10,000 lies equal one “Ivanka.” A thousand “Ivankas” equal one “Jared.”
Chris
@TriassicSands:
All twelve of them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris: same as with the “Green Revolution” and the more recent Iran protests. According to the right and much of the media, every Iranian from the Ayatollah to the farmers in the hinterlands were just waiting for America to take the lead! Andrew Sullivan apparently thought he was actually doing something when he put a green background on his blog. The romantic neocolonialism is so fucking condescending, and they think they’re champions of the (those) people.
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And remember, those are the same people who are disgusted when liberals put up French flags as their Facebook status for a day because “but that’s not DOING anything!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
one of trump’s big obsessions is the idea that the world is “laughing” at the United States. The Russians are laughing, the Chinese are laughing, our traditional allies are worried, horrified, disgusted, and insulted.
I don’t know a lot about high level diplomacy, and my Dutch expertise comes from reading The Diary of Anne Frank and spending three days in Amsterdam (for the art…). But I don’t think this is a standard press conference for a US Ambassador.
japa21
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The European press is far more indicative of true journalism than 99% of the American media is.
schrodingers_cat
@TriassicSands: We need a log scale to keep track of the lies coming out of this administration.
schrodingers_cat
@Chris: India got its independence because FDR had a chat with his buddy Winnie.
catclub
@rikyrah: I don’t know the age of the kid, but at some point you need to know (better than they do) the BEST arguments for the position that you oppose.
MattF
@TriassicSands: There’s a branch of mathematics, Googology, devoted to large numbers. It should be said that Googology is concerned with very big numbers– even bigger than the numbers of Trump’s lies, if you can imagine that. Also, it seems to have both professional and amateur branches.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hear one Hell of a lot of this from the Left as well. To them all international events happen because of America’s evil imperialist ways. Remember when Britain must have seized that friend of Greenwald carrying stolen secrets because America forced them to? Good times. Good times.
Princess
Why did he call Feinstein sneaky? Google “sneaky Jew.” That’s why.
TriassicSands
@MattF:
When I was a kid, I used to read the dictionary. We had a nice, big Webster’s of some kind and it had a section on large numbers. My favorite number became one vigintillion, which is 1 followed by 63 zeroes. I’ve never met anyone else who knew what a vigintillion is. Sigh. It’s been a lonely life.
Manxome Bromide
@The Moar You Know: The idea that Feinstein might face a “tough primary” is even more ridiculous when you remember that California doesn’t have party primaries anymore. In order to appear on the ballot in November, she only needs to place in the top two amongst all candidates.
Incumbents have a pretty huge advantage there, and it’s really likely that she’s going to face another Democrat in November.
It’s slightly inaccurate, but for state offices here I’ve started calling the “primary” the “first round” and the general election “the runoff”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Frankensteinbeck: Yeha, that’s the flip side of McCainism, as I think of the right wing version. Libya is a good recent example. The McCain/Graham idea is that everything bad happened because we didn’t do enough. The leftie version is all would be well if we hadn’t done anything. The idea of the Libyans having any influence is alien to them.
schrodingers_cat
@Princess: I called it yesterday, when someone asked what insult would T tweet about Feinstein, would it be about her age, or gender or her heritage.
MattF
@TriassicSands: Hey, I remember vigintillions. I suppose that’s an admission that I also used to read the dictionary.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TriassicSands: in our house it was a set of World Book Encyclopedias, and I would fall down the same kind of rabbit holes I do now on the internet, it just took a lot longer
jimmirabob
It’s pretty pathetic, actually, watching such a promising dictator flounder around without a secret police force, military guard and loyal central judiciary to get the job finished. What would otherwise be dire orders to the loyal forces sounds really peevish and whiny without an iron fist. Sad.
At least he still has an overstock of court jesters that haven’t fled or been canned yet. Sad.
Adam L Silverman
@sherparick: Steyer has made it clear he’s not running for anything.
JGabriel
@Barbara: Ah, thank you. I thought it was either Ryan or Nunes, now I know it was Ryan.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: It means what we know: that Fusion GPS will work for anyone who pays them. They do investigative oppo research for money. They were long considered one of the go tos for Republican campaigns.
mr_gravity
@sherparick: As every real estate developer everywhere knows: Location…location…location.
SgrAstar
@SteveinSC: Stev, send it to your local paper for their letters to the editor feature. Others will see it and perhaps be influenced. Nice job!
Rob Lll
@Barbara:
My partner and I were in Estonia several years ago and had a similar experience. Struck up a conversation with some Estonian guys in the DM Bar (world’s only exclusively Depeche Mode bar!) and out of nowhere one of them said he just wanted us to know how grateful he was for NATO. We a bit taken aback but it was appreciated. And, yes, Tallinn is a beautiful city.
Captain C
@JGabriel: ZEGS = the Zombie Eyed Granny Starver, AKA Paul Ryan
burnspbesq
@The Moar You Know:
I think you’re underrating DeLeon. He has the one essential thing to attract the support of the Bernistas: a Y chromosome.