Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Democrats are back in array!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Vive La Resistance / Federal agents mad cuz I’m flagrant

Federal agents mad cuz I’m flagrant

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This post is in: 

The Deep State’s slow motion coup continues:

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is pursuing at least three separate probes relating to alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. presidential elections, according to five current and former government officials with direct knowledge of the situation.

[…]

This counterintelligence inquiry includes but is not limited to examination of financial transactions by Russian individuals and companies who are believed to have links to Trump associates. The transactions under scrutiny involve investments by Russians in overseas entities that appear to have been undertaken through middlemen and front companies, two people briefed on the probe said.

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    I wonder if Comey is trying to slow roll these or if Sessions will cancel them now.

    And will he act on the conclusions of said investigations.

  5. 5.

    Mike in DC

    The minute one of the agencies–ours or one of the European ones–drops word that there’s concrete evidence of collusion, all hell will break loose. Even then, it may take months to dislodge the fuckers from power.

  7. 7.

    Attapooch

    @Yutsano:

    The Intelligence Community doesn’t need to rely on FBI investigations if they don’t want to, I would imagine. They can just release all the information they have to the press and let the investigation take place out in the open.

  8. 8.

    Another Scott

    @Spanky: I assume Doug! is being ironic.

    I assume the folks doing these investigations are taking their oaths seriously.

    “I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  9. 9.

    Roger Moore

    @Yutsano:

    I wonder if Comey is trying to slow roll these or if Sessions will cancel them now.

    I think part of the point of making them public is to make them harder to kill. Remember that the thing that pushed people over the top in favor of impeaching Nixon was when he overtly interfered into the Watergate investigation. It may be true in this case that the crime is worse than the coverup, but the details of the crime are still obscure, while an obvious attempt to derail the investigation would be, well, obvious.

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    I am waiting to hear what Senator John McCain has to say about this before I decide how seriously to take this bit of news.

  27. 27.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    Okay, I tried googling that to see what it means, and now I realize that “I’m Father Flannigan” is equivalent to “Shaka, when the walls fell,” not that there is some semantic content to “Shaka, when the walls fell.” Amirite?

  30. 30.

    JMG

    Having helped them get elected, Comey has Trump and Co. by the balls. They can’t fire him without total meltdown. Sessions can’t shut down the investigation without compromising himself to a degree he can’t take. Imagine Comey having a press conference tomorrow. Whether he knows it or not (probably not, not that bright), he’s in charge of the government if he wants to be.
    That children, is why the FBI has been what it has been for a century.

  31. 31.

    JPL

    @JMG: Trump is probably the only president that can be blackmailed by both domestic and foreign governments though. Nixon wasn’t even that good.

  32. 32.

    Mike J

    So I read today WaPo saying that Trump is going after the media because he wants to be the sole arbiter of truth.

    Until Trump came into office, have you ever seen the media try to determine the truth? It’s almost always, “Dems say climate change is real, Republicans say it isn’t, who are we to decide?”

    Yes, Trump is a massive lying wanker, but I find it hard to defend people who would never call a Republican lie a lie.

  36. 36.

    burnspbesq

    All of us who suffered at Bowling Green must stand in solidarity with the victims of the Swedish Attack.

  40. 40.

    TriassicSands

    My gut tells me that nothing is going to come of the investigation. The Republicans, Sessions, and Comey aren’t going to let that happen. It’s a feeling, not anything based on information, but the Republicans are so corrupt and Sessions and Comey are two of the most corrupt Republicans. We can only hope that the evidence of wrongdoing, if it exists, is so compelling that even these crooks can’t keep a lid on it.

  43. 43.

    JMG

    I think Comey is just a career bureaucrat who never in a billion years thought Clinton would lose. Now, he’s both exhilarated and terrified that he’s the most powerful man in the world. Trump can’t fire him. Sessions can’t say, “I’m quashing your investigation.” They can’t let him go public.So I’d watch my ass if I were him.

  44. 44.

    p.a.

    @TriassicSands: Yes. This. Otherwise, what? Comey took down Hillary to put tRump in to take tRump down??!! What is he, Putin’s brother? Really makes no sense to put any faith in Comey. Or, how riven is the FBI? How many factions? Anti-Hilz, Anti-tRump, Anti-US democratic institutions, Anti-CIA (a given I guess), Anti-NATO…???

  45. 45.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oops. My answer went into moderation because I forgot I can’t use the kitty cat word. The message is in cursive with a tiny pink hat connecting the bottom of the N with the top of the S. I’ll wear it to the gym, where the message seems doubly appropriate.

  46. 46.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    @Baud:

    Darmok and Jalad… at Mar-a-Lago.

    This is brilliant. I have never been more pumped for Baud 2020 than I am right now. In awe.

  49. 49.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Sally Yates has a new twitter account in which she’s saying what she really thinks. Example

    Sally Yates ‏@SaIIyYates 26m
    26 minutes ago

    More
    Just for some perspective:

    Trump’s rally in Florida today had 9,000 people.

    Women’s march in Chicago had 250,000.

    #unpopularpresident

    It’s marked as a parody account but I swear it looks good.

  50. 50.

    Calming Influence

    The Donald (international genius of business et al) : “It’s all good, I’ve covered our tracks.”

    …investments by Russians in overseas entities that appear to have been undertaken through middlemen and front companies…

    The Donald (international genius of business et al) : “Oh fuck! They know about middlemen and front companies?!?”

  51. 51.

    JMG

    There are other pressure points here. What happens when Putin really wants something but Comey and the rest of the law enforcement/intelligence community doesn’t? I don’t envy Trump that decision.

  52. 52.

    jl

    It isn’t a deep state coup if there is evidence that Frump or some of his flunkies or campaign hacks broke the law.
    It wasn’t a coup when an FBI office kept investigating the bogus HRC email scandal.
    It was a waste of money and time, though if a NY state FBI office is full of Frumpers who channel Rudy as some kind of authority figure, maybe better they waste their time reading tens of thousands of emails about nothing than messing up a real investigation.

    Doing stupid unethical press conferences and sending dumbshit letters is close, though. And Comey did do that.
    Best case is that Comey sees himself as some kind of noble truth teller, a real Elliott Ness, a hyper Dick Tracy, and he needs to let off a blast periodically. Sometimes the target is appropriates, sometimes not.

  55. 55.

    Gelfling 545

    @Iowa Old Lady: I always thought that if I were going to have my family waste money on such a thing as a tombstone, I’d want it engraved with “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” Now, I think I’d prefer “Nevertheless, she persisted” on my imaginary memorial.

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    Had a very strange day. Somehow got my weekends mixed up and left for a fiber festival a week early. Called my friend to arrange our meeting place and she reminded me I was a week early. So unlike me. I turned around and returned home to find my house full of smoke, a burning grilled cheese on the stove, the smoke alarm ringing, the dog barking and howling, and my mom acting really out of it.

    After many hours at the ER and all test results inconclusive we are home. Caught a bit of the Nuremburg on the tarmac rally (what the hell was that mess???!!!) and now I’m drinking a beer with a dog on my feet.

  61. 61.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    @jl: I think the problem is I thought “phone banking” meant surfing BJ on my phone while in line at the bank.

  62. 62.

    jl

    @Dog Dawg Damn: That was meant for Baud, but if you were a BJ pres candidate too, shame shame shame.

    Edit: How many vagrants did BJ blog run for president in 2016 anyway? I think problem was we split up our base.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I can kind of picture it, and it sounds amazing. So far I haven’t ordered a “NSP” shirt, but I’ve been collecting images and at this point I think I must have close to 20 different designs. Mitch McTurtle must be utterly flummoxed by the reaction to his tone-deaf words. Good, say I.

  64. 64.

    tobie

    @TriassicSands:

    My gut tells me that nothing is going to come of the investigation.

    I agree with you in part but I’m also convinced that the investigation of Flynn will reveal the coziness of the Trump administration with the Russians and that is something that the Dumpster in Chief will not be able to wave off. To do so would require nuance and intelligence and he hasn’t shown he has either. Yes, his diehards will continue to support him, and they are sizable. I’m afraid the white working class as a whole has gone the route of fascism. But no one else finds his speeches, performances, and the like at all convincing.

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MomSense:

    Hey, MomSense, would you kindly post your Etsy link again? Thought I had bookmarked it last night but now cannot find it. I want to order a couple of your pussyhats for future marches in Atlanta.

  70. 70.

    Calming Influence

    @MomSense: Hope all is well. Where is the fiber festival? (I had to correct “where was the fiber festival…” temporal dissonance.)

  73. 73.

    jl

    @Dog Dawg Damn: When the clips come out on the Frumper rally today, I’ll watch and dream. We could have thrown much worse than that and won bigger.

    I for one hope little Donny had a great time today. Hope he has so much fun he spends most of his time campaigning for 2020 at airports down in Florida doing his patented half baked 2016 campaign stand-up patter.

  75. 75.

    MomSense

    @Dog Dawg Damn:

    If we had won the last election I would be plotting exactly how edgy I could make the NEA to cause all the fundagelicals’ heads to explode. You could be nominating only the best Westminster entries to serve in your cabinet (AKA Baud’s Daugs) and the whole world would be rejoicing and sleeping peacefully st night.

  77. 77.

    jl

    @MomSense: Hell, if we had won, beer smokes and lotto all around. Damn it.

    Edit: and compared to Mar-a-Lago, Motel 6’s for the staff are damn cheap. What we could have done for this country.

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Furiously knitting more since I sold out the other morning.

    @Calming Influence:

    It’s the New England Textile Arts Spa weekend in Freeport, Maine. We take over all the hotels, knit, buy from the Indie vendors, and indulge in lots of drinking and socializing. This year should be amazing since we are all knitting pussyhats and engaged in intense political resistance.

  84. 84.

    cokane

    “Deep State” is a weird ominous sounding euphemism for simply saying “longtime public employees”. It really needs to be dropped.

    I doubt it’s even true that the whole of CIA or FBI are against Trump. But I’m sure some individuals have been responsible for the key leaks.

  87. 87.

    Another Scott

    @raven: Like OO I saw the movie. And I recognized your sarcasem. ;-)

    He died long ago.

    I also remember the various allegations of child prostitution in the area, but I didn’t realize that a grand jury decided they were all made up.

    The Nebraska State Foster Care Review Board submitted the results of a two-year investigation into the alleged physical and sexual abuse of foster children to the Executive Board of the Nebraska Legislature, who were investigating reports of child sexual abuse linked to the credit union. Authorities launched a probe, interviewing a number of claimed abuse victims who said that children in foster care were flown to the U.S. East Coast and were abused at “bad parties”.[3] After investigation, a grand jury in Douglas County (of which Omaha, Nebraska is the largest city and county seat) determined the abuse allegations were baseless, describing them as a “carefully crafted hoax” and indicted two of the accusers on perjury charges.[4] The grand jury also suggested that the abuse stories originated from a vindictive employee terminated by Boys Town, the famed refuge for troubled youths.[4] Later, a federal grand jury concluded that the abuse allegations were unfounded and indicted 21-year-old Alisha Owen, an alleged victim, on eight counts of perjury. The same grand jury also indicted multiple officers of the credit union, including King, for crimes related to the embezzlement of funds from the credit union.[4][5] Alisha Owen served 4-1/2 years in prison.[6]
    Historian Philip Jenkins explored how hot topics such as the Franklin allegations, whether or not they are worthy of attention or credible on their own merits, are seized by political opportunists for their own purposes. He also described how cases such as the Franklin allegations can acquire credibility, even if they lack any credibility inherently, when reported in various media in a credible voice.[1] Numerous conspiracy theories evolved and persist, claiming that the alleged abuse was part of a widespread series of crimes including devil worship, cannibalism, drug trafficking, CIA arms dealing and links with the first Bush Administration.[1]

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  88. 88.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    @MomSense: I would be hanging “Piss Christ” in the entryway to the Department of Justice.

    I’d be writing an EO to changing Motto to “One Nation, Under Dawg”.

    I’d enlist Cristo to put an American Flag Hijab on the Statue of Liberty for a “Week of Mandatory Tolerance & Diversity.”

    It would be so, so good.

  93. 93.

    Lyrebird

    @cokane: I’m with you on this, even knowing that my snark detector & my humor generation abilities are dwarfed by Doug!’s… In this case I fear that repeating the Republican spin just feeds their side.

    Those aren’t leaks, they are whistles being blown!

    I like Josh Marshall’s take…. long but worth reading all the way to the end:

    The facts we are learning speak for themselves. When leaks are this damaging and this tied to the fundamental operations of government, it’s not about the leaks or the motives. It’s about what we’re learning and what we need to know.

  95. 95.

    Glidwrith

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Someone noted a couple of days ago that POTUS, WH and shitgibbon Twitter accounts had in unfollowed her account. This was just after Steve Miller took a test drive on the Sunday shows. I pay as little attention as possible to her, but haven’t noticed any appearances.

    Has she been disappeared?

  96. 96.

    Sab

    @tobie: Wasn’t that the burned CIA guy (fictitious character on American tv) who was the lead character in Burned, an American TV series about a burned CIA agent with a crazy arsonist Irish girlfriend who used to blow things up for the IRA and Bruce Campbell (B list actor in A list body who mostly stars in zombie movies but was great in Burn Notice. Wow, I NEVER recognize popular culture references.

  100. 100.

    Sab

    @tobie: Wasn’t that the burned CIA guy (fictitious character on American tv) who was the lead character in Burned, an American TV series about a burned CIA agent with a crazy arsonist Irish girlfriend who used to blow things up for the IRA and Bruce Campbell (B list actor in A list body who mostly stars in zombie movies but was great in Burn Notice. Wow, I NEVER recognize popular culture references.@Omnes Omnibus: I agree. Justhe quote Mr Campbell himself.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    McClatchyDC from Wednesday (I just noticed it):

    BY TIM JOHNSON
    [email protected]

    One of the key figures in a cyber-treason scandal shaking Russia and possibly related to Russian efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election has been linked to underground criminal forums on the web, something cybersecurity analysts say shows the overlap between Russia’s security services and the criminal underworld.

    Dmitry Dokuchaev, a major in Russia’s FSB security service and its Information Security Center, the nation’s premier unit investigating cybercrime, used the screen name “Forb” when he mingled with the large underground community of Russian-speaking criminals who use the so-called dark web to trade tools for defrauding consumers in the West.

    Dokuchaev’s activities have potential significance to congressional inquiries into President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. Prosecutors under President Vladimir Putin have charged Dokuchaev and his boss with treason, accusing them of collaborating with the CIA just weeks after the Obama administration made public its conclusions that Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election.

    “If you look at his history, he did lots of general cybercrime stuff. He did lots of account takeovers. He did lots of stuff with carding – credit card fraud,” said Vitali Kremez, senior intelligence analyst at Flashpoint, a New York-based firm that provides services to confront cyber threats.

    Whether Dokuchaev or his boss, Sergei Mikhailov, had direct ties with the CIA is not known publicly. But Dokuchaev’s activities open a window onto how Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB – the successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB spy agency – has deep links to the murky world of cybercrime and uses criminals to help reach state objectives.

    “The Russian intelligence services are notorious for using criminal groups to create backstopping or moonlighting for their own benefit,” said Leo Taddeo, who until 2015 headed the cyber division of the FBI’s New York City office. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, “there was a great melding of criminal activity and intelligence gathering activity on the part of the FSB.”

    Dokuchaev’s arrest sometime before the turn of the year made less news than that of Mikhailov, a colonel who was deputy director of the Information Security Center. According to Russian media closely linked to Putin, Mikhailov was led from a room in the nine-story FSB headquarters in Moscow with a sack over his head.

    […]

    If you take this at face value, and add in the (recently mentioned here) rumored ties between Trump and the Russian mob, one could see a sticky web developing around Trump rather quickly. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether any of this stuff is true, but presumably there are people working on investigating it…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sab: I enjoyed the show, but I got a little annoyed when the ex-IRA arms dealer Fiona had moral objections to Michael’s career choices.

    John Mahoney’s turn as “Management” was great

  107. 107.

    taras

    Ish is starting to get a little real.
    If there’s even a scintilla of evidence that the Trump administration coordinated their election efforts with the Russians…
    I can see bodies hanging from gallows.

  109. 109.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MomSense:

    Furiously knitting more since I sold out the other morning.

    I’m in no particular hurry, but would be pleased to order mine through someone I “know,” however virtually. No rush; you have my email address and can send me the Etsy or payment info there if it’s easier.

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And I commend your discretion. But I can say it. Her eyes look (as someone once observed about Barbara Cartland) as though someone had thrown a couple of dead crows at the white cliffs of Dover. KAC looks AWFUL.

  119. 119.

    ? Martin

    How weak is this president?

    A local middle school student, acting with four other students,was responsible for throwing a block of wood at a vehicle in President Donald Trump’s motorcade Friday afternoon, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

    He’s so powerful that middle school kids are going after him.

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    @Attapooch:

    I’ll see your “Darmok” and raise you “The Inner Light.”

    I’m with you, but Mrs. SFAW is a big “Darmok” fan. (And, per BCHS, “Measure of a Man” was also excellent.)

    Of course, perhaps the best Star Trek episode of all time, for any of the series, has got to be “Turnabout Intruder” from TOS.

  126. 126.

    Roger Moore

    @cokane:

    “Deep State” is a weird ominous sounding euphemism for simply saying “longtime public employees”.

    AFAIK, it’s a translation of a Turkish term that was used to describe the way the military and intelligence apparatus existed largely independently of the elected government. Obviously, in Turkey is had all the connotations associated with the military’s tendency to overthrow governments it sees as stepping outside acceptable bounds of secularism.

  132. 132.

    GregB

    Deep state is from the Oliver Stone fever swamps. Great director but not a story teller who is moored to the facts of history in his work.

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’m probably taking a mini road trip Monday in honor of the doughty Kia’s new tires. Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Maybe lunch at the Bavarian Inn. Waiting to hear if Bro’ Man is going to go.

  135. 135.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Jesus, I am watching the Maher overtime. Malcolm Nance is a boss (dude also has a fantastic voice). Wilmore ain’t bad either.

  136. 136.

    Mike in NC

    @Steeplejack (tablet): We went on our honeymoon at the Bavarian Inn way back in 1994. One of the best restaurants, anywhere. It would be fun to go back there. Enjoy.

    PS – The walking tour of nearby Antietam battlefield is incredible, thanks to expert park rangers.

  137. 137.

    Another Scott

    @amk: His body language with her is just horrible. :-( He doesn’t even try to treat her like a human being, let alone his wife.

    Maybe he was looking for another mistress when he was making goo-goo eyes in that picture during Abe’s visit to his Xanadu in Florida.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  138. 138.

    patroclus

    Deep State Schmeep State! Throughout history, in virtually all countries who have large militaries, foreign policy and/or intelligence communities, there have always been elements that leak info and do other things in the propaganda area to influence both policy-makers and law enforcement officials. Turkey is the best modern example, but you could also look to the activities of the Japanese military in the 20’s and 30’s and the German military in the run-up to the selection of Hitler as Chancellor in 1933 (both of those involved much more than just leaks and propaganda). The UK and the run-up to and during the Boer War and the Crimean War are other examples. In the U.S., our military leaked stuff and catapulted the propaganda before WWII (probably legitimately in order to highlight the dangers of the European War) and Vietnam (probably not legitimately). Those were mostly military-related, but in law enforcement, there was Mark Felt (and others) during Watergate, and elements of the French military during the Dreyfuss affair. And, in mostly just policy-influencing, there were the efforts to undermine Carter for his human rights policy and the Church Committee for investigating assassinations and even during the Clinton administration, there was a huge effort by the neo-cons in the IC to demonize Saddam Hussein and instigate “regime change” in Iraq. And, the Iraq war was ginned up because of WMD whoppers flamed by Cheney and forced upon mostly recalcitrant IC operatives because Cheney et. al. knew how much power IC leaks could generate.

    Leaks by the military/IC are common – they are not some sinister Seven Days in May scenario where they are necessarily trying to effect a coup, slow-moving or otherwise. The IC is leaking now because they are trying to influence policy-makers, law enforcement, Congress and the public about stuff that they care about. yes, it is undermining Trump just as it undermined, the Weimar Republic, the Japanese civilian government, various Turkish governments, various UK governments and virtually every U.S. administration since Wilson (as least), including Roosevelt, Truman, Ike, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush and even Obama. Podhoretz, Lake and the likes of Greenwald, in highlighting what they perceive as the sinister nature of an extra-constitutional IC undermining of an elected President are merely fighting back against the leakers – they haven’t discovered anything new, they just don’t like their ox being gored.

    In any event, with the Republicans in charge of Congress and Sessions as AG, I’m extremely doubtful that this will lead to the supposed end goal of removing Trump. More likely, we’ll see some indictments, some prosecutions and some sentence commutations and months and months of leaking and undermining of Trump which might lead to some more sane policies and might not. We’ll see. The IC and FBI, right now, is privy to certain information that is only gradually becoming public. Eventually, it will become public. We’ll just have to wait and see.

  141. 141.

    efgoldman

    @Mike J:

    Trump’s Florida rally draws smaller crowd than identical rally last year

    He probably tried to cheap out on the fee per attendee compared to last year.

    Fuckem

  142. 142.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    “Are Fadder, whose art’s in heaven, hollow be thy name. Thy King came undone, his Will is done, on earth as it is in His Den. A man.”

  143. 143.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I think I figured out Trump finally – he thinks of the presidency as like prize in a contest and not a job. He won the election so the US is his personal property, like a trophy, not he won a poll on what policy to follow. That’s why the weirdness in his admin – he seems them as just some servants that come with the prize and not helpers in his project.

  145. 145.

    efgoldman

    @Another Scott:

    He doesn’t even try to treat her like a human being

    He doesn’t treat anyone like a human being. I’ve seen (many) toddlers with more empathy, consideration, and certainly emotional attachments.

    ETA: Compare any of the thousands of pictures and videos of Obama with kids – any kids.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If she actually had input on her cribbed Michelle Obama speech, then that (and maybe this prayer thing) might show that she’s got some humanity about her. And maybe she’s deserving of some sympathy for the situation she’s in. But I dunno. She’s an adult, and there have been powerful women who have controlled their powerful husbands, so she didn’t have to end up the way she did…

    But either way, there’s no excuse for the way Trump treats her.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    lgerard

    this is too funny

    new york times

    Mr. Trump lowered his combative tone. “Now, that’s what I call a nice question,” he said. “That is very — who are you with?”

    The answer — UNF News — barely registered with Mr. Trump.

    “Good,” the president said. “I’m going to start watching, all right?”

    UNF News is not a television network or a radio network, for that matter. UNF, or Universal News Forever, is the baby, identity, passion and obsession of Kyle Mazza, 19, who posed the question about Mrs. Trump.

  151. 151.

    debit

    @Omnes Omnibus: In many ways he reminds me of my ex. “Look, don’t bother me with why you can’t do it, just get it done!” I imagine the people around Trump hear that a lot.

  153. 153.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Omnes Omnibus: I saw that and I now want to gay marry Malcolm Nance. Bill Maher’s still an asshole, but that was worth the watch.

  154. 154.

    Another Scott

    @debit: Yup. He, and the people around him, think (and have said) that Trump’s pronouncements “will not be questioned”.

    He wants to rule by decree. He wants people to say “how high??” when he says “jump”.

    That’s why he’s a fan of Putin and Kim and Saddam and Stalin and Adolph and all the rest.

    He’s brain damaged, knows nothing about how government and civil society works, and is a danger to all of us.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  155. 155.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Heh. I think was seven when I was supposed to memorize the Our Father, as we called it, and the Hail Mary for catechism class. My older brother told me to start the latter with “Hairy Mary, full of grapes”. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to hurt myself.

    I was seven.

  156. 156.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @debit: I had a boss like that in the army. There, the suggestion that we take the dispute to the CO was enough. It only works here if we, the people, exert our will.

  159. 159.

    CaseyL

    @efgoldman: @Omnes Omnibus:

    Nah – “tastes like chicken” is for reptiles. But little kids probably taste more like pork roast. (And adult humans probably like wild boar.) The other other white meat, if you will.

  162. 162.

    Calming Influence

    @CaseyL: Chubby babies: Mm mm MMM! As for older children, going for the last to be picked in sports is generally a safe bet that they’re well marbled.

  163. 163.

    Mike G

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I think I figured out Trump finally – he thinks of the presidency as like prize in a contest and not a job. He won the election so the US is his personal property

    When I read his tweets I can easily imagine them being bellowed by some African kleptocrat, in front of a crowd herded for his ego gratification, watched at gunpoint by soldiers to ensure they cheer loudly enough. Right before he empties the national treasury and commandeers a 747 to go shopping in Paris.

  164. 164.

    Mnemosyne

    @CaseyL:

    Crocodilians taste like chicken because, like birds, they are the only remaining descendants of the dinosaurs. Basically, the dinosaurs never died, they just evolved into more efficient forms.

    Anyone who’s ever seen an ostrich or angry goose at close range cannot dispute this.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    My wife loved her Saab – 270,000 miles on the original clutch! 1991 900. Finally the A-arm broke off the frame, salt on the roads, we sold it to our mechanic for a parts car.

  166. 166.

    CaseyL

    @Mnemosyne: Yes, that.

    About 20 years ago, at the Seattle zoo, watching an emu roam around its enclosure, my then-boyfriend did a running internal monologue for the bird. It was along the lines of “You, there, on the other side of the fence. Watching me like you own me. Hah! Back in the day my ancestors ate your ancestors. Like popcorn. I remember those days. They will come again.“

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