He couldn't wait for me to finish setting this up. pic.twitter.com/HDTn9vmJoZ
— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 18, 2016
“Oh, like you’ve never dreamed of going Godzilla on the whole JOYFUL HOLIDAY SPIRITZ schtick.”
Speaking of widespread destruction, the Washington Post gives James Comey an early Xmas gift:
… Justice officials laid out a number of arguments against releasing the letter. It violated two long-standing policies. Never publicly discuss an ongoing investigation. And never take an action affecting a candidate for office close to Election Day. Besides, they said, the FBI did not know yet what was in the emails or if they had anything to do with the Clinton case.
Remarkably, the country’s two top law enforcement officials never spoke. As Comey’s boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch could have given the FBI director an order to not send the letter. But Lynch and her advisers feared that Comey would not listen. He seemed to feel strongly about updating Congress on his sworn testimony about the Clinton investigation. Instead, they tried to relay their concerns through the Justice official whom the FBI had called.
Their efforts failed. Within 24 hours of the first FBI call, Comey’s letter was out…
Lynch’s meeting in June with Bill Clinton on a tarmac in Phoenix led to a crisis in leadership at the department over how to handle the Clinton email investigation. Rather than formally recuse herself, Lynch left ambiguous who would be making final decisions on issues regarding Hillary Clinton.
Into that vacuum stepped Comey, an FBI director who prides himself on having a finely tuned moral compass that allows him to rise above politics. Weeks before the letter, Comey had advised against the Obama administration public statement admonishing Russia for the Democratic Party hacks, arguing it would make the administration appear partisan too close to the election. But to him, the Clinton email investigation was different…
See, it was all the Black lady’s fault — hers, and Bill Clinton’s. Thank GOP god Cthulhu for that ‘finely tuned moral compass’ in Comey’s back pocket!
*********
What’s on the agenda, apart from prepping for the last winter holiday before Trumpageddon?
Fox News just surrendered in the War on Christmas: https://t.co/YaXVn0moug pic.twitter.com/aBu4I45YHP
— Esquire (@esquire) December 22, 2016
rikyrah
Morning Everyone???
Baud
@rikyrah: Morning.
Aren’t you a black lady? I blame you too.
Baud
Clinton Rules.
Manyakitty
Up early to finish baking cookies for my coworkers. And there’s the timer for my peanut butter blossoms…
OzarkHillbilly
My sons and their SO’s are coming for dinner tonight. It will be our “Xmas gathering” or as close as we get to having such a thing. Hence, I am making poteca. That’s enough for one day, but apparently not enough for me. I’m also going to slow roast a pair of chickens on the grill outside. I’ve been brining them since yester-eve.
NotMax
Happy Hanukkah eve.
Merry Christmas Eve eve.
germy
Union Representing Rockettes Reportedly Calls Inauguration Boycott ‘Invalid,’ Says Full-Time Dancers Are ‘Obligated’ to Perform
Baud
@NotMax: I think you mean Happy Holidays Eve, Christmas Warrior.
Baud
@germy: Some union.
Spanky
And a six-pointed star!
Gotta get the tree up and the village under it. And yep, that’s SOP for the cats around here as well. Then maybe bake. Or maybe bake when Mrs. P heads off to te market. (Since she has a gluten thing.)
Gonna throw myself into moderation by removing the “(ex P-man)” from my nym. Farewell, Poopyman!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I hear there’s a nasty bug going around Broadway, should hit around January 19th.
TheMightyTrowel
Excited for tomorrow! Spending xmas eve grilling with friends. Christmas in summer was a little unnatural at first but I’ve definitely acclimatized.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Trumpbola.
EBT
@germy: Coerced means fired and sued here, in case you did not know. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is in the same boat. It’s a group that is owned by an entity that tells them where to perform.
bystander
Unless things have changed, the Rockettes are owned by Madison Square Garden, which is owned by Cablevision. Does that clarify the matter?
And of course it was Loretta Lynch’s fault. After Bill Clinton delivered her payoff to her jet that day, it’s been Lynch, Lynch, Lynch’s fault.
BillinGlendaleCA
No celebrations here until Christmas evening. The kid’s spending xmas eve night at her sister’s, then lunch with her father(her sister and their father haven’t been on speaking terms for the past year), and then here for dinner. A departure for us, since we usually do presents on xmas eve.
BillinGlendaleCA
@bystander:
Yup, that’s what Joe of the Morning told me.
Truegster
I have to do some shopping later so I’m preparing by listening to Aphex Twin (ambient) while my lighting is chilled down to blue. I lost the tip of a finger during the Cabbage Patch riots of 85′, so I still have some ptsd issues /jk
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: It’s not the union. It’s the contract language. When they negotiated the contract they had no idea the Cheeto Benito would ever be elected. If they had, they would’ve inserted a specific “Never Trump” clause. Unlike Trump, unions tend to honor their contracts.
EBT
@BillinGlendaleCA: I want to see more people hammering Joe for murdering that intern.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I just realized that Joe hasn’t been the topic of morning threads since the election.
I consider that a good and healthy thing.
rikyrah
@Baud:
CIA tells you about possible foreign interference in our elections….
But, emails though.???
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: I think I’ll go hiking that day.
ETA: And the next day, like the b-day hike.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Then the reporting of it is crap.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Sounds delicious ???
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Looks and sounds delicious. Enjoy!
Merry Eve of Christmas Eve, all.
BillinGlendaleCA
@EBT: Joe Conason brought that up once, things became very testy and Joe wasn’t invited back.
OzarkHillbilly
@EBT: There would be no suing. They’d just get fired.
ETA: the union could get sued for nonperformance.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Well, I quit watching him about a week before the election.
bystander
@EBT:
It would be hilarious if Joe’s “career” was ended by false news. I haven’t watched Moanin’ Joe since about two weeks before the election, and I haven’t watched MSNBC since the election, no matter how much I miss Joy Reid.
EBT
@OzarkHillbilly: Breech of contract? Fairly sure they have already been expressly told they will be sued for non compliance.
@BillinGlendaleCA: Well, the only question is did Scarborough kill her because she said no, or because she said yes. He was going through a nasty divorce at the time.
@bystander: Lori Klausutis is dead because of Joe, not sure how that is false news?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Could the union be sued if they all just quit?
NotMax
Unconventional happenstance, eh wot?
debbie
@EBT:
I think it was because she didn’t jump high enough fast enough.
satby
Good morning @rikyrah: and all!
I procrastinated in doung my housecleaning yesterday and then got a call last night to come into work today. So the kid and his gf, who I’ve never actually met in person, will be arriving to something of a wreck.
But I have a new haircut and homemade cookies, so maybe that will distract them.
EBT
@debbie: I could see him having so little self control that he killed her for a cold coffee.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: People think a union can fight anything. They can’t. A contract is a contract and unions can get sued for nonperformance. As to bad reporting, after this election, you were expecting more?
EBT: an addendum to what I said above, the dancers could get fined, and kicked out of the union if they refused to pay the fine. But I’ve never heard of a union member being sued for nonperformance.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Right, but doesn’t the employer have to prove damages? That’s the usual rule in contract lawsuits. What are the lost profits for failing to perform at the inauguration?
NotMax
@satby
While browsing through the catalogues, occurred to me that some of the molds offered might be adaptable for soap makers.
Many findable at U.S. outlets for cookware/bakeware.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
With the shitgibbon there’s always grift, so there’d be damages.
SiubhanDuinne
Several people in a thread last night expressed concern that we haven’t had an Amir Khalid sighting recently.
I emailed him, and he wrote back saying he’s been busy moving house recently but lurks here when he can. It is good to hear, for instance, that Anne Laurie’s Spousal Unit is recovering well and she will not need a new one. I wonder how much they go for at Best Buy.
He has also, of course, been following the transition and looming inauguration of a terrifyingly unqualified individual. I saw a clip of Mick Jagger being asked about that individual in an interview about the Rolling Stones’ new blues album. Sir Mick’s response was, “I think everyone outside the US is — ‘mystified’, I think, is the polite word.”
And finally, a message for all of us. I will indeed wave to the crowd when I get a chance. In the meantime, tell all the jackals I wuv them too.
And we wuv him.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for sleuthing, SD. Good to know he’s OK.
OzarkHillbilly
@EBT:
It doesn’t work that way. Just to make sure you see it, I’ll repeat: an addendum to what I said above, the dancers could get fined, and kicked out of the union if they refused to pay the fine. But I’ve never heard of a union member being sued for nonperformance.
Also, each and everyone of those dancers are free to quit their jobs at any time. A union contract basically says that “as long as you are employed by this employer, these are your legally required duties, and this is their legally required recompense.”
The contract between a union and a union member is voluntary. The union agrees to have one as a member, and the person agrees to be a member. The union will represent the member in all matters of employment and the member agrees to abide by all union rules. This agreement is severable at any point in time.
Betty Cracker
I read the WaPo article on the timeline behind Comey’s letter yesterday morning, and it bothered me all day. So many relatively small, stupid or seemingly insignificant things had to break the wrong way to set us on the path to destruction. Comey’s malice and/or sanctimoniousness contributed mightily. But if the Post has the story right, it was a colossal failure of leadership on Lynch’s part too.
BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne:
Is he moving the house close by or across town. In early 20th century Los Angeles, they did quite a few building moves, including cutting a 13 story building in two and slicing off a middle portion and then moving the end to the short rest of the building(it was for street widening and the building still stands). There was also a story of a guy who sent his family to Catalina and when they came back the house was gone, the guy had moved the house to a newly more desirable part of town(Bunker Hill to Angeleno Heights).
ETA: Yes, I’m being silly and it’s really good to hear that Amir is OK.
Zinsky
I have the day off – Thank God – and recovering from a minor surgical procedure. Shopping done. Feeling grateful about being alive, having a wonderful family and money in the bank. There is a shitstorm coming. I just turned 60 and I am upper middle class and white, so I will probably be fine. However, I worry about my black and brown and Muslim friends and my children and their children and the oil-besotted mess of a planet they will inherit.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: No. But the union might be able to fine them. Unsure about the particulars of this union. I engaged in a couple of short wildcat strikes (not union sanctioned) and never got anything more than a stern talking to with reminders that I could be brought up for ‘trial’ and possibly fined.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: In America, that could only happen in a place like Georgetown.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: I think there was speculation on the part of the legal eagles here that if Lynch recused herself that she’d have someone(a deputy AG) handle it. As you said, if the Post is correct, that didn’t happen. I agree, a failure on her part.
rikyrah
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks for the update
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Whatever Trump was going to pay them for performing, which at this point must be a pretty penny. Laws of supply and demand, don’t you know. He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Trump, pay them? Gawd, you’re a funny Hillbilly.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
What he promised to pay them or what he would actually pay them?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Part A > Part B = 0.
OzarkHillbilly
@SiubhanDuinne: Happy dance.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: P=NP
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you for contacting him and letting us know.
@OzarkHillbilly: Have a wonderful time with your family.
Now I’m off to Whole Foods…ugh.
Phylllis
@satby: They don’t care how the house looks. They care about seeing you. But the cookies help.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: @Baud: At this point, with his history, as well known as it now is, I’d be very surprised if they weren’t demanding a hefty down payment, with the balance held by a third party, say a bonding agent, who is required to make he payment upon successful completion of contract.
At least, that’s the way I would do it.
satby
@NotMax: very neat, thanks! I do use silicone molds for some of my stuff, so I need to explore these.
Baud
GMA saying Tiger Woods is golfing with Trump this morning.
satby
@Phylllis: LOL, thanks! But it really is a mess. I should still have time to get the worst of it and vacuuming done though!
Happy Eve of Christmas Eve, everyone!
Edit, ok, now the Kindle is just randomly inserting letters.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: What’s the over/under on Trump winning the round?
JMG
@Baud: All pro golfers love Trump. They’re the most reactionary people in sports, since they all see themselves as the ultimate rugged individualists. Besides, the two of ’em can indulge in “locker room talk” through the whole round. Their attitudes towards women seem pretty similar.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I guess Trump has a black friend now.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Trump will probably claim to be a great golfer like Kim Jong Un.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Not sure if that’s possible, Kim Jong Un got 18 holes in one on a 9 hole golf course.
JMG
@Baud: In fairness, I have seen Trump play at a pro-am part of a PGA Tour tournament, and he’s got some game for an old rich guy. Of course that was a dozen years ago, and I know from sad experience that once a golfer hits his ’60s, you lose about five yards off the tee each year.
Baud
@JMG: All the best deals are made on the golf course.
Jeffro
By the way, y’all should read Catherine Rampell this morning – when a piece starts off with “…the Economically AnxiousTM…” you know she’s going to nail some hypocrisy but good.
Iowa Old Lady
Mr IOL just returned from breakfast at Hardees where he heard an old white guy tell another old white guy that Trump has the possibility of being the greatest president in our lifetime. I have pointed out to Mr IOL that that’s what eating at Hardees will do to your mind.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Wait, haven’t we been told for the last 8 years that golf is bad? The President spends all his time golfing?
Morzer
@JMG:
I have some doubts that all professional women golfers would be quite so enthusiastic about President Who Won By Negative 3 Million Votes.
m.j.
For your holiday cheer I’d like to leave this quote from the afterword in the book Fight Club.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: The uncertainty principle says that the universe could end tomorrow, and that’s still more likely than Trump being a good president.
@BillinGlendaleCA: It’s almost as if it wasn’t about the golf at all.
Morzer
@Iowa Old Lady:
Did he sob brokenly and vow to become a better, wiser, cleaner-living man?
tobie
@Betty Cracker: I’ve been wondering for some time why Lynch didn’t deputize someone in the DOJ (maybe the associate attorney general) to handle the email investigation after the whole brouhaha about her meeting with Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Phoenix. I don’t think it was necessary to do that legally but given that she felt hamstrung politically it would have been the wise thing to do. The article makes it seem like she vacillated when decisiveness was needed.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Morzer:
Wait until he grabs them by the pussy.
Baud
@efgoldman: Yeah, I don’t expect it to happen, but was curious if it did.
OzarkHillbilly
This is just flat out bizarre:
Say what?
Can I make a suggestion Normandy Police? Why don’t you start with hiring a competent detective and/or a competent spokesperson? Also, you might consider calling the Division of Family Services. This mother seems to be…. lacking something and I don’t think it’s drugs.
Spanky
@Morzer:
Well there ya go. He won the election with the lower score – just like golf!
tobie
@Baud: Oh Christ…I read stuff like that and the first thing I think is, “Just imagine the media shitstorm that would ensue if Obama did something like that.” The injustice, double standard rankles.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: “Look at my black!”
Morzer
@Spanky:
I have seen quite a number of reports that Trump is an habitual and shameless cheat at golf. I was absolutely astounded by such vicious allegations against this godly man.
germy
Baud
@germy: In order of musical ability.
Morzer
@OzarkHillbilly:
That would be discrimination against normal, hard-working cops.
germy
Morzer
@germy:
What about the giant sucking sound? We might as well get used to hearing it, because it’s going to be part of our lives for at least the next four years.
OzarkHillbilly
@m.j.: That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “secret sauce”.
manyakitty
@Baud: Brilliant! I think I’ve been suffering from that for about six weeks. Persistent, but shoddy.
Kay
This is an interesting norm Donald Trump and Republicans are violating:
It’s more than “one President at a time” so they don’t send mixed messages of course. It’s also “one President at a time” because Presidents have very specific, and limited, terms.
Good to see this out of control egomaniac doesn’t recognize or honor the boundaries of when his term actually begins. Let’s hope he chooses to recognizes when it ends, huh? That could get a little dicey.
I keep being told someone or something will rein Donald Trump in but his over-reach and authoritarian leanings literally get worse every day. The safety checks on his behavior and actions are failing in such rapid succession that I can’t keep up with it, and he’s not even officially in power yet.
Wait until he starts punishing dissenters in government, which his entire personal and professional history up to this point indicates he will do. His enforcers are already intimidating GOP members of Congress. They’re afraid to criticize him. They petitioned Politico for redress. I guess they were too scared to approach the Boss and his posse of loyalists directly.
We better hope a member of the minority opposition Party in DC rises as a leader. That could still happen. Voids tend to get filled and it doesn’t have to be a new person entirely. It can be someone who is already there who steps up and fills a hole. Rise to this extraordinary occasion. There’s a need. Hopefully someone steps forward.
Oldgold
Lynch should have ignored the right wing howlers. The whole Phoenix tarmac story was effin ridiculous.
Generally speaking, a former POTUS does not try to crookedly influence prosectors by meeting them on a tarmac in front of the damn media. There would seem to be better about 100 better methods.
Elizabelle
@m.j.: Makes me not want to eat in a restaurant. How awful.
I can’t stand Thatcher either. But, gross.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: When you send something back to the kitchen, you’ll get the secret sauce.
Morzer
@OzarkHillbilly:
Maybe it’s better that restaurants aren’t forced to practice truth in advertising. I suspect the lightly jizzled cream toppings on the desserts would not be a success.
Baud
@Kay:
I’m more than happy to act as if Trump’s term is already over.
OzarkHillbilly
@Morzer: True, all too true..
Morzer
@Baud:
Is that the drum-like thing that all citizens must stick a hand into and grab a mandatory lottery ticket? Winners only lose one finger.
Anya
Maybe Comey’s hate for the Clinton’s clouded his judgement or the GOP attacks on him intimidated him. Whatever the reason, he deliberately inserted himself in a political campaign and in the process, damaged the FBI. He collaborated with Putin to help elect a dangerous buffoon. Having said that, Lynch is takes a share in responsibility for this travesty. Her failure to lead caused all this to happen. Why didn’t she recuse herself from anything relatd to the Clinton file and assign the deputy AG to handle it? She sat on the sidelines and let Comey take the lead. The first time he held that unusual press conference she should’ve stepped in and admonished him. She failed and we’re all paying for it.
germy
@Morzer:
And beyond.
I have a niece who just started teaching in a public school two years ago. She’s wondering if she’ll have a job if federal funds are cut (as they will be) for public education. I have a neighbor on disability. She’s worried sick they’ll dismantle SS. My MIL is on medicare, and she’s not sure what the future holds.
hovercraft
@Baud:
Didn’t he begin his career investigating the Clintons? I remember reading somewhere that long before his Ashcroft moment of principle, he believed that if you dug deep enough into them you would find evidence of corruption.
BillinGlendaleCA
Looks like San Francisco is getting hammered by our approaching storm, time to batten down the hatches.
Morzer
@Kay:
So what in the name of tarnation is living inside Schumer’s suit?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Somebody will, somebody always does. Hopefully it’s one of the right somebodies.
Baud
@Morzer: I’m going to give Schumer a chance. I remember when the left piled on Harry Reid in 2009-10.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Don’t worry. I am.
tobie
@Anya: She should never have let that press conference in July happen, though I understand how it did. In general Democrats tend to be suspicious about authority and hence uncomfortable wielding it. Even now, after everything’s that happened, Obama’s trying so hard to do the right thing. When have Republicans ever cared about this?
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: When I was a cook at a high end restaurant, the worst we ever did was run it across the floor.
germy
@Anya: An interesting comment from LGM:
Weaselone
@hovercraft:
He we was part of Ken Starr’s fishing expedition in the 90s. It’s amazing that after decades of investigations and untold millions spent that any actual evidence of corruption is pretty thin gruel, particularly as it regards Hillary. It’s almost like she might be an inhumanly ethical person. Maybe that’s part of the reason the Republican shitweasels loathe her so.
rachel
This hasn’t come up as far as I can see, so if anybody knows, please tell me:
Lets say the Rockettes bow to pressure and perform at Donnie’s inauguration. Could they they show their disapproval of him by performing an obscene gesture at him in unison? Maybe not the bird, but perhaps something not as well known?
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
I know a RWNJ who is on disability. He’s not worried. He voted for Trump, that’s his “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: Whatever benefits he loses, he’ll blame it on the liberals, or “obstructionist” demoncraps.
germy
@rachel: They probably just won’t smile as broadly during the high kicks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That’s what worries me. ;-)
manyakitty
@Baud: Yeah, Schumer’s old enough to be pretty much out of f*cks.
Spanky
@Kay:
Second Amendment remedy. After 4 years I’m thinking a vast majority would be relieved.
OzarkHillbilly
@rachel: What, like grabbing themselves by the pussy? On the more serious side, yes they can. Not sure what the repercussions might be beyond getting fired.
Kay
@Morzer:
Schumer, IMO, is operating under ordinary political norms. He’s very good at that so it makes sense that would be his approach. The Left faction of the Democrats, in my opinion, made an error that takes them out of the running as “effective opposition” almost immediately because they saw an advantage to promoting the narrative that Trump was elected because of economic insecurity. It fit beautifully at the moment they used it and I don’t have any problem with advocates using what they have, but in terms of effective opposition Trump I think it was a huge error, disquallifying, so it won’t be them.
Since no one is doing anything at the federal level anyway, and ordinary political positioning is insufficient to this challenge, Democrats should focus on accruing actual power at the state-level tier because that’s the last check if all the other institutions continue to fail. It’s hard for Democrats and liberals to start thinking in those terms, because we’re the strong federal government Party by ideological and traditional bent but we have to adapt. It’s an emergency, mostly because of voting rights. While it is true that the federal protections are the last resort on voting rights, there is no rule that says we can’t focus on the FIRST set of protections, which are state laws. States run by Democrats do this now. Voter suppression gets a lot of coverage but there is an equal and opposite force and that’s shoring up and expanding voting rights at the state level. That happens now. If Democrats win some states it can be accelerated.
It’ll be a race. Trump, the GOP Congress and Republican courts will be curtailing voting rights at the federal level but Democrats can be shoring up and expanding voting rights at the state level at the same time, but to do that they have to control more states.
laura
Happy Christmas Eve Eve. I’m in Satby’s shoes – hoping to tidy the hovel today to at least the standard of cleanliness one expects from the lonesome highway gas station bathroom.
Elder brother and family are driving up from Van Nuys and dad from the North Bay, and it’s going to be a weatherful stormy day.
Younger brother and his gal are heading to Tahoe before joining us on Sunday. 1-3 feet of snow expected to fall, so I’ve got something to fret about.
Wishing all and sundry happy times with family and friends and a brief respite from the fuckery that’s afoot.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: For sure. When the Repubs end SS and Medicare they will just say that DEMS made such a mess they had to do it.
OzarkHillbilly
@rachel: What, like grabbing themselves by the pu$$y? On the more serious side, yes they can. Not sure what the repercussions might be beyond getting fired.
Patricia Kayden
@Morzer: A godly man who grabs women’s private parts and engages in racist discourse. ”Tis a shame how libtards deride him! The man’s humility would put our Lord Jesus Christ to shame. Or so I am told by the pious Evangelicals who support him.
LAC
It’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If lynch or her stand in had ordered him, he didn’t release it, but something got leaked, then what? A shitstorm of press (WAPO leading the way) speculating on sinister motives, etc. and we might still be at the same shitty place.
I was disappointed because the table was set for this nonsense and a bunch of us in this country got dithery and fell for it. I am one of those black women voters who kept her eyes on the prize and was not swayed but heard enough of the vapors here and elsewhere to be less than sanguine about things. But I never thought that some bullshit about emails was more important than the level of vileness that trump represented.
Procopius
Oh, for FSM’s sake. “Finely tuned moral compass.” He’s been feeding at the government trough his whole working life and devoted years and years to pursuing the Clintons. Obama has done many stupid things with regard to trying to appease the aggressors, but appointing this slime bag to any government job was one of the bigger ones. Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Along those exact lines, I found it very interesting and perceptive of the coming times that the state of California is investigating 2 police departments for violations of civil rights: Two ‘deadliest’ police departments in US to be investigated in California
OzarkHillbilly
I found this kind of surprising: Deutsche Bank reaches $7.2bn settlement with US in mortgages case I had figured they would wait for the Trumpocalypse. But then I read this:
Yep, just as I figured.
Betty Cracker
@germy: I don’t doubt there would have been leaks had Lynch or a deputy stepped in and told Comey to stop interfering with the election. He couldn’t control the NYC FBI office, and that was a massive failure of leadership on Comey’s part — or else he played a deliberate role in the ratfuck. I’m honestly not sure which. I hope it’s the former so that he might at least feel shame for mishandling the incident and damaging his agency’s image. That’s likely the only blowback he’ll ever feel.
OzarkHillbilly
@Procopius:
More like a weathervane.
david
New York Times: Was Barack Obama Bad for Democrats?
I’m so happy you guys were encouraging everyone to subscribe to the NYT in the aftermath of the election because y’all needed to support ‘real journalism’… feh.
Procopius
@bystander: I’m still baffled by that unforced error. What could Bill have been thinking? He couldn’t possibly have thought the meeting would go unnoticed, could he? I keep trying to fit in into a conspiracy theory, and it just won’t go. I suppose this will be just one more of the millions of questions that will never be answered for me. Really, that planted a serious, if small, seed of doubt.
Botsplainer
@Morzer:
Yeah, but when he applies his handicap of suppressed votes and sanctimonious law enforcement pricks, he’s even better than a scratch golfer.
germy
@Betty Cracker:
I suspect in the circles he travels in, he’s getting more “high fives” than blowback.
EBT
@Procopius: He forgot, for a moment, the power of Clinton Derangement Syndrome.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: Just read it, thanx.
Betty Cracker
@germy: If he’s a ratfucker, he’s surely on top of the world at his success. But I’ve read that Comey honestly does see himself as a heroically independent G-man and is disturbed enough by the talk about his role in the election that he’s thinking about holding a press conference to tell his side of the story. I don’t doubt he’s a sanctimonious prick at best. But if you’re explaining yourself after the fact, you fucked up.
randy khan
@OzarkHillbilly:
This has been said once in this thread, but it bears repeating: The Rockettes will grin and bear it because if they don’t they will have trouble finding work in New York again. It’s hard enough to find a full time gig as a dancer in New York because of the competition, but if it’s known that you intentionally did something that wasn’t in the approved routine, nobody will want to hire you, no matter what the reason was.
One other thing worth mentioning – the Rockettes and the members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir likely will get paid their standard rates for the performances (because of their contracts), but for a normal inauguration the committee wouldn’t be paying and it would come out of the pockets of Radio City and the Mormon church. In this case, it may be that the committee had to offer actual money, though, given the lack of enthusiasm for the whole event.
Elizabelle
Glad to hear that Amir is still with us.
Moving house, eh? A likely excuse. But can imagine it would take time to pack up all the books he has read.
He has that, over our PEWW-OTUS.
Amir Khalid
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I have wound up in a Shah Alam housing development so new it’s not yet on the map used by Uber and Grabcar and the local taxi companies. This, alas, severely limits the mobility of an invalid not really well enough to drive. (Shah Alam is a newish factory town and the seat of Selangor state’s government.)
Bianca says hi.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That’s been my take, drunk on his own media reputation, and as even this puff piece says, more than a little afraid of Jason Chaffetz.
The piece offers two sources to back the blame Lynch narrative: A Hoover Institute lawyer, and an anonymous retired “FBI official” who worked closely with Comey. I wonder if said official worked closely with Robert Hansen, and went to Opus Dei bible study with Hansen and Louie Freeh.
hovercraft
China Weighs Response to New U.S. Trade Foe
By Mark Magnier
……..“China like every other country is closely watching the policy direction the U.S. is going to take,” said a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Thursday, without mentioning the nominee’s name. “Cooperation is the only right choice for both sides.” ……
Mr. Navarro’s appointment—and the Trump team’s threats to name China a currency manipulator and to erect high tariffs against it—drew fire in China outside official circles. Their rhetoric is based on “wrong ideas,” said Cheng Dawei, a Renmin University of China economics professor and former trade advisor to Beijing. But “China won’t make the first move.”
She said that China was using the time before the new administration takes power to collect evidence should it need to launch retaliatory trade cases against the U.S. “China is now preparing some weapons,” Ms. Cheng said. China’s Commerce Ministry “is quite busy now, I’m sure.”
Tough U.S. steps against China would likely prompt calibrated retaliatory moves by Beijing, economists and foreign trade analysts said.
“This is China’s style, not to announce it but just do it,” said Gary Hufbauer, a former Treasury official and fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “Their objective will be to parry what Trump does with targeted reprisals in areas of U.S. vulnerability.”
Among China’s likely targets, say trade experts: Boeing Co. aircraft and U.S. farm exports from Midwestern Republican states. Canceled Boeing orders would hurt U.S. shareholders, labor unions and the U.S. trade deficit, prompting pressure on the new administration, said Derek Scissors, an economist at data provider China Beige Book International. As of last month, China is awaiting delivery of 292 Boeing jets.
Blocking soybean or other U.S. food exports would prompt action by Republican Senators whose constituents lack a large manufacturing base, Mr. Scissors added. China expects to import 86 million tons of soybeans in the 2016-2017 season, including 30 million tons from the U.S.
Beijing also could look to pressure U.S. multinationals such as General Motors Co., which relies on China as its largest sales market. “Some companies that already invest in China, we’re likely to push them to lobby Trump,” Ms. Cheng said…….
To retaliate, China also could make use of informal trade barriers—making health claims against American food products, for example—that are highly technical and difficult to counter in the WTO but hurt U.S. exporters, some experts said. The U.S., Japan and Europe use similar non-trade barriers.
Trade battles between the world’s two largest economies would hurt both sides, economists said. When the U.S. slapped tariffs on imports of Chinese tires in 2009, it saved up to 1,200 jobs, according to a Peterson Institute study. But it cost U.S. consumers around $1.1 billion, or around $900,000 per job, in higher tires prices in 2011 and cut retail spending in other areas, leading to an overall loss of 2,500 jobs, the institute calculated. China, meanwhile, retaliated by blocking U.S. chicken exports, leading to $1 billion in lost U.S. sales.
“Even if U.S. companies move back to the U.S., it doesn’t mean manufacturing jobs will come back since U.S. companies will use automation to save money,” said Ms. Cheng, who said she hopes Mr. Navarro can visit China to bolster his understanding. “This policy is against the world economic trend,” she added.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: You are our pre-Christmas Eve present, Amir. Delighted to hear that you and Bianca are well, although occupied.
And good on Siubhan for keeping in touch.
Now: will you recover enough to drive, in the future? Is that a pleasure now in your past?
Jeffro
@rachel:
Don’t the Brits flip the bird with two fingers (pointer and middle)? That would work. And it would look like a salute.
I wanna hear more about the Inaugural Alterna-concert…what a great way to show the Orange Assclown how well received he is by the majority.
JPL
@Amir Khalid: Hello to you!
OzarkHillbilly
@randy khan: As I suspected.
To do otherwise would be fiduciary malfeasance.
Jeffro
Meanwhile, speaking of reverse-aspirational goals: North Carolina is no longer considered a democracy.
There are blue states and red states and failed states, I guess.
hovercraft
Trump Reportedly Bullish On Nuclear Expansion: ‘Let It Be An Arms Race’
President-elect Donald Trump reportedly doubled down on his call Thursday to “greatly strengthen and expand” the United States’ nuclear capability.
In a conversation with NBC’s Mika Brzezinski, Trump reportedly said: “Let it be an arms race.”
Brzezinski shared Trump’s off-the-air remarks with viewers on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday after she said she spoke with Trump and asked him to clarify his tweet.
“Let it be an arms race,” Brzezinski said Trump had told her. ”We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”
On Thursday, Trump tweeted that America’s nuclear capabilities would be necessary until the world “came to its senses” on nuclear weapons:
As the The Guardian noted, Trump’s statement Thursday came after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces, especially with missile complexes that can reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems.”
At a news conference Friday, Putin seemed undisturbed by the nuclear developments.
“Of course the U.S. has more missiles, submarines and aircraft carriers, but what we say is that we are stronger than any aggressor, and this is the case,” he said, according to the New York Times, adding: “As for Donald Trump, there is nothing new about it, during his election campaign he said the U.S. needs to bolster its nuclear capabilities and its armed forces in general.”
“It’s not us who have been speeding up the arms race,” he also said, according to AP.
Sean Spicer, Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, said that Trump’s comments were a “response” to other countries talking about bolstering their own nuclear capabilities.
“It was in response to a lot of countries. Russia, China and others are talking about expanding their nuclear capability,” he said on Fox News, according to the Associated Press.
“We’re not going to sit back and watch other nations threaten our safety,” he said on NBC’s “Today.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and twitter suggests to me that she was wearing PJ’s for this “conversation” about deliberately stoking a nuclear arms race? Somebody check on Papa Zbig, I suspect he may have had some kind of circulatory event this morning.
germy
Did anyone watch Rachel Maddow interview Kellyanne last night?
I didn’t see it.
germy
Doesn’t drumpf owe millions and millions and millions to Deutsche Bank?
mai naem mobile
I was watching CNBC Squawk Box this AM and they had James Woolsey on this AM. I caught the interview already underway so it’s possible they discussed but it appeared all they discussed was nuclear weapons and then the Iran deal. Nothing about the hacking . This is with the former head of the CIA, not some nobody. I’ve only known Woolsey as a RWNJ Neocon. I didn’t know Woolsey was CIA director under Clinton and was an olive branch to the Neocon at that time. Also Woolsey was head of a group for Eugene McCarthy in 68 and is a big green energy guy.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: Thanks for posting that.
I was checking out moving to the Raleigh area. Brakes on that, for a while. Although would love to be there to support Governor-Elect Roy Cooper. And the incoming attorney general, Josh Stein, is a Democrat too.
I hope they will have some legal recourse against what the legislature has done. Although I hear it comes down a lot to state law. Oh joy.
Now looking at relocating to California.
I’m a Virginian, but ready for a new home elsewhere, and — except for North Carolina — pretty much restricting my search to blue states. Loved living in Long Beach a few years ago; looking at moving west, again.
Amir Khalid
I’ve never been big on the romance of motoring or driving. I like to look at sports cars because they’re pretty, but I’m not a petrolhead and never could be. I reckon my driving days are well behind me, what with the ongoing health issues and all, but it’s only a problem right now because of the poor (i.e. no) public-transport options is this very very new party of town.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: You are a pioneer!
Corner Stone
@germy: Not only no but FUCK NO.
hovercraft
@germy:
I didn’t, but I just read this write up of it, which is quite positive.
Rachel Maddow Catches Kellyanne Conway Flat-Footed Over Trump’s Nuke Tweet
By Karoli Kuns
There is a video of the interview at the link. This is how he concludes his write up.
Bobby D
@mai naem mobile: Woolsey is a shitbag. He was CIA, then sucked govt tit at Booz Allen Hamilton (big engineering/defense contractor), and whatdya know, guess who owns Booz Allen? The Carlyle Group. I’d trust Woolsey about as far as I could throw him.
Taylor
@Betty Cracker: He’d better keep his mouth shut if he’s under investigation for violation of the Hatch Act.
I wouldn’t count on Trump pardoning him. That would just taint his win.
I still think Obama will pardon him. Time To Move On and all that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I did catch Maddow’s final segment, an explanation about her view of the importance of civil discourse and discussion, and in what few minutes I did see, Maddow did push back, more than I would have expected, on the nuclear confusion and hair furor calling out Martha Raddatz by name in his ninety- minute hates. KAC did look unwontedly rattled by having to explain the nuke stuff.
Bobby D
@germy:
Great, another useless union. I’m all for the concept of unions, but my personal experience with them has been awful (was repped by SEIU, as a professional engineer for Cal state govt…how in the hell is a civil engineer repped by a food service and janitors union?) They don’t represent constituents well, and are prime example why people like me, who should be among their biggest backers, despises them.
For the Rockette ladies, Blue-flu/sick-out time. “sorry, I can’t make it today, I’m not feeling well. I have blood coming out of my wherever”.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: A lot of those criticisms can be laid out at Misery’s doorstep too.
Corner Stone
@Bobby D:
I can throw him about 1000X farther than I would ever trust him. He’s a conspiracy nut and also just a plain nutjob.
hovercraft
@Taylor:
I don’t think he’s under investigation, who would investigate him? And I doubt Obama would ever pardon him, he’s not fired him, but I’m sure he’s pissed off about the way he behaved. Comey is just upset that his reputation as a straight shooter has been hurt, and so he wants to give a presser to clear himself of any wrongdoing. Too late mothaphucka, you will go down in history as one of the biggest reasons the Shitgibbon won. You cannot unring a bell.
J R in WV
@Baud:
“GMA saying Tiger Woods is golfing with Trump this morning.”
Now we know who this Tiger person really is. Although his treatment of his former wife was kind of a huge clue. A scumbag dolt with no morals. No surprise, but still kind of sad. Had a lot of potential, threw it away on nothing.
Like Johnny Manziel the almost quarterback.
Corner Stone
@Jeffro: It reads like the author doesn’t understand US democracy very well. And with this statement it is evident he knows absolutely nothing about Republicans:
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Good luck.
germy
@J R in WV:
Why do we make these people heroes in the first place? People who can do one thing ridiculously well. Hit a ball into a hole. I sort of expect someone who spends his entire life becoming the best person in the world to hit a ball into a hole to be an uninformed asshole on every other subject in life, whether it’s politics or marriage.
OzarkHillbilly
@Bobby D:
I suggest you take the time to read the rest of the comments relating to this news. You will learn a few things.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Wasn’t Woolsey a big “Saddam did 9/11” guy?
IIRC and IANAL, the Hatch Act is pretty specific about what kind of undue influence can be prosecuted and Comey didn’t come close to doing anything addressed by it.. And while Comey absolutely should be fired, there’s a better than even chance that the end result would be FBI Director Rudi Giuliani.
gvg
@Kay:
which also means he won’t shut up after his term in office. Oh joy. Even if (lol) he is very unpopular, if he doesn’t die in office we are still going to hear from him. yuck.
Taylor
@hovercraft: My understanding was that an investigation was started after a complaint by George W. Bush’s ethics counsellor, though maybe someone can correct me on this.
mai naem mobile
@OzarkHillbilly: they said Barclay’s is not settling because they think they’ll get a better deal with Lumpy
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Have you ever seen the video for Green Day’s song “Holiday”? It’s oddly disconcerting for dancers to not smile while they perform because we’re so used to it.
mai naem mobile
@Bobby D: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Woolsey is a nut job but I had never bothered looking up his background. He’s got a bit of a strange background. I wonder if serving under Clinton made him go nuto because apparently he never had a one on one with Clinton during his short time at the CIA. Aldrich Ames went down under him.
Iowa Old Lady
@hovercraft: It’s interesting to see the moments when Conway tries to spin away from a question. The media should take that as a indication that that’s a question worth pursuing.
Elizabelle
@Iowa Old Lady: Good advice. I will start looking for that tell.
Although I continue my broadcast news blackout, and will have to be paid to watch that shit-ass Kellyanne. Paid.
hovercraft
@Iowa Old Lady: @Elizabelle:
I’m also not willing to watch, cable “news”, I only read the written accounts. They don’t drive my blood pressure up as much as seeing and hearing the lying liars lie, while the interviewer remains polite and lets them get away with it. The payday would have to very rich to get me watch that bitch, my dislike for her rivals my feelings towards the shitgibbon.
Elizabelle
@hovercraft: I like reading, because you can be selective, and you get a fuller account than broadcast is willing to do. That said, I have not read a story about the shitgibbon in months**. Get enough through skimming headlines and osmosis. I am just not interested in him. Or excuses for the people who voted him in.
Don’t recall where I saw it, but someone noted that we are a nation of consumers, not citizens.
Fuck yes. And see what happens there. You get to live it, consumers.
** did read that TheWrap article about his problems with getting A-list stars for the inauguration. Get used to it, shitgibbon.
hedgehog mobile
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for checking! Amir we wuv you.
Ella in New Mexico
I’m interested to see what kind of highly-tuned moral compass he’ll have when Trump’s goons are figuratively dragging him through the streets of DC by a rope, spitting and cursing at him, only to be summarily executed by firing squad.
Will he be able to rise above the politics of the New America he has wrought?
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: that’s funny – me and Mrs Fro are looking at moving west (from VA, no less) once we get the kiddos off to college. CO or OR, most likely.
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly: missouri’s??
James Powell
@Weaselone:
But if you polled the great mass of American voters, they’d recall that many acts of felonious corruption, high crimes & misdemeanors, and satanic practices had been discovered and incontrovertibly proved. That’s what a constant campaign of vilification – led by the supposedly liberal New York Times – will do for a political party with the right friends and the will to power.
James Powell
@Ella in New Mexico:
No. Into that vacuum stepped Comey, an FBI director who has very shrewdly convinced the Village Courtiers that he has a finely tuned moral compass and that, unlike every other person in the Beltway, he always rises above politics.
Mike G
Exactly who decided Comey has a “finely tuned moral compass that allows him to rise above politics”?
If you’re a “made man” in the DC Village do you just make up your own self-flattering catchphrase and everyone else just pretends it’s true, like McCain’s “I’m a maverick” bullshit?
The FBI have frequently been politically dubious, now they’ve basically turned into the Trump Secret Police.