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Bark louder, little dog.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

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That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

No Justins, No Peace

Accountability, motherfuckers.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Janitorial Duties

Janitorial Duties

by Betty Cracker|  February 20, 201711:00 am| 236 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel, Assholes, General Stupidity, Sociopaths

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A member of the European press asks why leaders in the EU should believe Pence’s conciliatory remarks over Trump’s inflammatory ones:

Reporter: Who should European leaders listen to, you or Trump?

Pence: Trump is "expressing strong support for NATO" https://t.co/DtoRYIiWQk

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 20, 2017

Shorter Pence: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis had to do clean-up duty while visiting Iraq today:

As a part of his global tour to clean up after President Trump, Defense Secretary James Mattis stopped in Baghdad Monday where he sought to reassure Iraqi’s feeling skittish about Trump’s continued insistence that the U.S. should have already taken Iraq’s oil and his suggestion that “we’ll have another chance.”

“We’re not in Iraq to seize anybody’s oil,” Mattis flatly told reporters. The secretary said his visit to Baghdad was to “get current on the situation there, the political situation, the enemy situation and the friendly situation.” But as with several of his recent stops in Europe, Mattis had to spend some of his time in the country smoothing over some of Trump’s more controversial remarks.

As noted in this space many times, everything Trump touches turns to shit, very much including the reputations of people who willingly associate with him, not that Dense Pence had much of a reputation to preserve. Interestingly, Pence seems to be defying gravity better than other Trump admin lackeys thus far, possibly because he started from such a low place — awaiting his firing by the state of Indiana — and because establishment Repubs have a vested interest in keeping Pence relatively unsullied in case Trump’s presidency implodes in scandal.

Speaking of scandal, Josh Marshall and others seem to believe this Felix Sater business is a BFD. I hope so, but it’s certainly looking like Congressional Republicans will countenance any malfeasance to secure tax cuts for billionaires and an opportunity to slash the social safety net.

Still, drip, drip, drip. The mop buckets are a’slosh, and we’re only a month in.

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Reader Interactions

236Comments

  1. 1.

    WereBear

    February 20, 2017 at 11:06 am

    This had to happen. Because no one stopped them. And now they have devolved to (quoting John Oliver) being led by a “sentient circus peanut.”

    As I was saying to Mr WereBear this morning: “For years now we were saying that if they were left unchecked it would come to this. And we were called shrill and panicky and over-reacting. Now look. It’s exactly what we predicted. Where’s our prize?”

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 11:08 am

    All the R’s are dirty with Russian money. There is nothing they can/will do that will not expose themselves.

  3. 3.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    February 20, 2017 at 11:11 am

    … in case Trump’s presidency implodes in scandal.

    IN CASE?!?!

    Isn’t the word you were looking for here WHEN?

    As in, WHEN Trump’s presidency implodes in a greasy puff of smoke, whilst we hear Putin laughing manically in the background?

    Just asking…

  4. 4.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    February 20, 2017 at 11:12 am

    @Corner Stone: Everything I’ve read about Trump and the Russians looks bad… I’m kind of surprised this hasn’t already exploded in their faces…

  5. 5.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 20, 2017 at 11:13 am

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: Today, Nixon burns the tapes, and serves out his term.

  6. 6.

    Feebog

    February 20, 2017 at 11:18 am

    Going back to Doug J.’s post last night, the Trump/Russian entanglement is a very complicated story, and it is going to take multiple investigations to get to the bottom of it. My fear is that even if the media can connect most of the dots, most people are just not going to take the time and effort to understand the complexities involved.

  7. 7.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    February 20, 2017 at 11:18 am

    @Davis X. Machina: I’m quite aware of that… this seems… messier… longer trail… involves a HOSTILE FOREIGN POWER…

    At the rate we’re going, the country’s going to end up ungovernable…

    I’ve never seen anything quite this bad… or so many people this worked up… this isn’t the astro-turfed Tea Party crap…

  8. 8.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 11:18 am

    I hope so, but it’s certainly looking like Congressional Republicans will countenance any malfeasance to secure tax cuts for billionaires and an opportunity to slash the social safety net.

    I stand with Betty, and I might add that democracy was a nice experiment, shame that future generations won’t live in a democratic society.

  9. 9.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 20, 2017 at 11:19 am

    As noted in this space many times, everything Trump touches turns to shit, very much including the reputations of people who willingly associate with him, not that Dense Pence had much of a reputation to preserve.

    I’m hoping that holds true. My fear is that if/when/inevitably the circus peanut goes down, Pence will look normal by comparison. I need him discredited with the Russian ties (or some other malfeasance) before the fall. Like knocking out another leg on an already shaky table.

  10. 10.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 11:19 am

    Rs did not pay a price for the W fiasco. So we are going to get a fiasco of a much greater magnitude with the Rs in charge.

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 11:19 am

    Not near the beating CA is taking but we’re having a nice 24 hour consistent drizzle in the GHMA, and in the low 60s. Fairly pleasant actually, as I have nowhere to go and no set time to be there.

  12. 12.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 11:20 am

    Can I ask the audience – what the hell is a “Celebrity Butcher”?

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    February 20, 2017 at 11:21 am

    So, basically, Mattis and Pence are telling the world to ignore whatever Trump says.

    Good to know.

    In the meantime, Trump’s minions do whatever they want domestically and we “cannot question” them.

    Is that about it?

    (sigh)

    One of the biggest problems with Trump is that he reads or hears a sound-bite and thinks that it’s the same as a well thought-out policy. Sure, everyone in NATO should pay their 2% of GDP for defense. But should it be an iron-clad policy for countries with 25% unemployment? Probably not. But nuance isn’t Donnie’s strong suit.

    The NATO stuff seems to be a side-show though. Apparently Donnie and his minions want to destroy mutilateral agreements like the EU and the UN and so forth because (among other things, like rewarding Putin so Donnie will get his hotels and casinos in Russia) Donnie is such a great negotiator that the US (and he and his minions in on the grift) will win bigly in bilateral “negotiations” with them instead.

    Just like the USA is so much stronger with our internal tariffs on goods that cross state borders, and our 50 state militias that have their own armies, navies, air forces, ICBMs, artillery ranges, nuclear deterrents, etc., our 50 different currencies, etc.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 11:22 am

    @Corner Stone: Paul Ryan?

  15. 15.

    cmorenc

    February 20, 2017 at 11:23 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Speaking of scandal, Josh Marshall and others seem to believe this Felix Sater business is a BFD. I hope so, but it’s certainly looking like Congressional Republicans will countenance any malfeasance to secure tax cuts for billionaires and an opportunity to slash the social safety net.

    I had been thinking along these same lines as well – that the GOP will tolerate Trump just long enough to enact their dream list of radical changes to tax law and social policy before dumping him before he trashes even their greedily miserly vision of the country. Why wait until then? Because they’re scared shitless of provoking Trump’s rabid supporters into retributive rebellion in 2018 and 2020. However – wouldn’t they be able to substantively gain the same objectives before 2018 under President Pence or President Ryan, with their current majorities? What would their precious seats in Congress actually be worth post-2018 if they cannot contain Trump’s rolling authoritarian coup, and he sells out the US post-war order to Russia? The latter thought had to be already on the minds of some, and just dawning brightly to others, among the GOP senators who walked out of their briefing by Comey so uncharacteristically stone-faced that even the most notorious camera-hogs among them shied away from cameras or comments.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:23 am

    I’d be more upset if they were telling people not to ignore Trump on these issues.

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    February 20, 2017 at 11:24 am

    @Corner Stone: Well, when you have too many celebrities around plus there’s a big dinner party coming up and you still need the main course, let’s just say he solves two problems at once.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 11:25 am

    to slash the social safety net.

    The good news, such as it is, is that they can’t seem to get out of their own way on that

    Dave Weigel @ daveweigel
    Jordan gets Q about how nixing Medicaid expansion would affect rural hospitals; says defunding Planned Parenthood would free up $ for them

    Matt Fuller ‏@ MEPFuller 1m1 minute ago
    Planned Parenthood gets about $500 million a year. The Medicaid expansion costs around $70 billion.
    Soooo…about 0.7% of the way there.

    It’s a tough contest to judge, but Jordan just may have been the most obviously stupid member of Flop Sweat Gowdy’s Benghazi committee
    ETA: Dave Weigel is live-tweeting a Q&A Jordan is having with constituents at the Warren Harding Museum. Looks like it was an impromptu response to protesters chanting “Do your job”

  19. 19.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:26 am

    @dmsilev: Soylent Green is Clooney.

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 20, 2017 at 11:26 am

    @Feebog: Adding to the complexity, for anyone who is interested. The NYT report said that one of the key players in the “secret plan” was a Ukrainian MP named Artemenko – which was odd, since he’s a member of the nationalist Radical Party. Now comes news (via Ukrainska Pravda) that he’s been drummed out of that party, but it’s coupled with a report from another MP, former journalist Serhiy Leshchenko (who knows a lot), saying that Artemenko was a frontman for the MP Lyovochkin, who is a member of Oppostion Bloc. OppoBloc is the former Regionals, the Yanukovych party, which was largely created by our old friend Paul Fucking Manafort.

  21. 21.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 20, 2017 at 11:27 am

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    Louise Mensch has taken pretty solid material indicating that there really WASN’T a 15 year old that Weiner was sexting.

    She also has been tracking a plane that involves a Russian bagman.

    Her speculation seems a bit wild, but not implausible as a working theory.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:28 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    not implausible as a working theory.

    Ain’t much that won’t satisfy that standard these days.

  23. 23.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 11:30 am

    We know what the Rs want. We have to fight for what we want. Bleating about the end of democracy is not going to cut it.

  24. 24.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 20, 2017 at 11:32 am

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: I’m not sure the ‘foreign power’ business cuts any ice except with those already opposed to Trump.

    This is a revolutionary situation. The colonists who sought, and received, foreign help from France and the Netherlands didn’t think of themselves as doing anything wrong. They didn’t even mind tossing in with a regime ideologically 180º from them — Bourbon France.

    Trump’s supporters — and that’s the House, Senate, and most of the state governments, until the start voting differently — don’t care where the help comes from so long as liberals get crushed. That’s how civil wars work.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:32 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    You gotta fight
    For your right
    To Demoooo-cracy!

  26. 26.

    Peale

    February 20, 2017 at 11:35 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There you go again. You liberals and your phony metrics of modern success. Hospitals are meant for cities, where there are sick people. It was you liberals who took that idea and said “you know, more people should be near hospitals” and went and spent all of our money building these things that are a more expensive money pit than even public schools. You thought that having healthcare was some kind of marker of a developed country. Well screw that. Our rural people don’t need those kinds of things to pamper them. Never needed them before 1910. Don’t need them now. We’re post modern, now baby, and you’re still using measures that were developed for a modern society.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 11:36 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    since he’s a member of the nationalist Radical Party

    radical Nationalist Party?
    Party for Radical Nationalists?
    Nationalists who Party Radically?

    Whatever they call themselves, they’re all just fucking splitters. Ptooey!

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 11:36 am

    @schrodingers_cat: just one example, but this suggests that the energy is moving into electoral politics

    Buoyed by a wave of progressive activism that began after the election of President Trump, Virginia Democrats plan to challenge 45 GOP incumbents in the deep-red House of Delegates this November, including 17 lawmakers whose districts voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

    Looking for that article at the WaPo, I see that the R Speaker of the VA House of Delegates is retiring, that may be a sign of a weakening party, or an old man, or a guy who wants to graze in the tall grass. But things are moving.

  29. 29.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 11:36 am

    @Baud: Nope, no fight just say that we are lost, we are lost and make it a self fulfilling prophecy.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:37 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yay!

    @schrodingers_cat: We have not yet begun to lose!

  31. 31.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 11:40 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Personally I’m in a dark place, but I’m still fighting the fight with phone calls and such.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 11:40 am

    @Baud: That’s what esteemed commentariat here would have one believe. Favorite tag of FPers is WASF.

  33. 33.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 11:40 am

    Speaking of fine dining, I tried watching a few epi’s of Chef’s Table on Netflix yesterday. They should just rename it what it is “Overhyped Assholes who are Assholes”.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 11:42 am

    @Corner Stone: lol.. My son is a foodie and I used that word before to describe him. He’s going to NOMA in Mexico, so the word fit.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:43 am

    @JPL:

    Personally I’m in a dark place

    White House Situation Room?
    .
    .

    Seriously, I hope you feel better and it’s great you are active.

  36. 36.

    jeffreyw

    February 20, 2017 at 11:46 am

    @Corner Stone: It is my understanding that they are the ones who take care of those Hollywood “what ever happened to ____” types.

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 20, 2017 at 11:47 am

    @Corner Stone: Watch the one with Dominique Crenn.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 11:48 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I take that as part gallows humor, part a call to vigilance, and partly a recognition of the pessimism I have to fight in myself

    @JPL: me too, I have to work to not give in to it

  39. 39.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 20, 2017 at 11:51 am

    @WereBear: “Sentient circus peanut” for the win as best new anti-Trump insult. If he weren’t so dangerous, the name calling would be much more hilarious.

  40. 40.

    Eric U.

    February 20, 2017 at 11:51 am

    we’ve seen proof that Republicans will vote for whatever shit sandwich they are offered, as long as it’s from Team White. I don’t know if the U.S. system can be as easily subverted as the Russian system. They were mostly reverting to what they already knew. But the fact that so many voters are willing and possibly happy to vote for totalitarianism as long as it keeps the minorities down is a big problem.

    The current administration is made up of some really, really stupid people. This is very dangerous in itself, no doubt. OTOH, their assault on our system will be done in the stupidest way you can imagine. If they start bringing in some of the relatively smart, but evil people from the W administration, then we might be in trouble. But those guys seem to be hated by the trumpsters, so we have been lucky so far.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 11:57 am

    @Eric U.: They are also very lazy. That will hopefully limit the damage.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 11:58 am

    He has turned a segment on the Pudge Carlson Show into an international incident

    Swedish police featured in Fox News segment: Filmmaker is a madman
    Trump’s comments about Sweden during his rally in Melbourne, Florida, spawned headlines in newspapers all around the world. The American president later clarified on Twitter, saying that he was referring to a segment on Fox News about a film by filmmaker Ami Horowitz. But the policemen who were portrayed in the segment say that they were misrepresented by Horowitz. ”He is a madman”.

  43. 43.

    Chris

    February 20, 2017 at 11:59 am

    @cmorenc:

    I had been thinking along these same lines as well – that the GOP will tolerate Trump just long enough to enact their dream list of radical changes to tax law and social policy before dumping him before he trashes even their greedily miserly vision of the country.

    The GOP will tolerate Trump for as long as the 27%er base hasn’t soured on him.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:00 pm

    @Feebog: This is what the counterintelligence investigation is for. They will continue to slowly, methodically, work through all of this.

  45. 45.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 20, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    @Chris: That’s essentially forever — 27% is Nixon-boards-the-helicopter numbers.

  46. 46.

    XTPD

    February 20, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: I prefer Blithering Butthole myself.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    February 20, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: This is what the counterintelligence investigation is for. They will continue to slowly, methodically, work through all of this.

    And because they are all complicit, I am sure, I am hoping for a bunch of steadily toppling dominoes, in effect.

  48. 48.

    Chris

    February 20, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Sucks, doesn’t it?

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    February 20, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    @Corner Stone: Ha, we quickly came to the same conclusion!

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    @Corner Stone: Sartorial question: what does one wear to a party for Radical Nationalists?

  51. 51.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Do you have faith in Comey? Even if he has evidence, I wonder if Sessions will bury it.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Before or after Labor Day?

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Ahem…

  54. 54.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 12:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Trump ties.

  55. 55.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 20, 2017 at 12:14 pm

    @Chris: It’s roughly the number you need to maintain to make a country ungovernable.

  56. 56.

    lgerard

    February 20, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    I think people looking for some sort of conspiracy between trump and the Russians are going to end up disappointed. It seems to me more of a simple convergence of interests then anything thing else.

    The Russians know trump. They know he was so cash strapped that he was willing to take on dubious partners and participate in the type of money laundering that goes on in real estate. The (failing) New York Times did a series a year or so ago showing how much of New York’s high end real estate is owned through opaque LLC’s, many with unsettling origin. They know trump is ignorant and incurious. More importantly, they know trump is motivated by vanity and is easily manipulated. With a choice between Clinton and trump it is easy to see why they would actively support trump. The sanctions are killing them, and this is important. With or without Manafort, Page, or Flynn, their interests lie with electing trump.

    Sater’s story is even simpler. Son of a Russian mafia figure, his father wants him to be respectable with a clean career. He screws up, and is charged with a felony. There is nothing that can be done, there is a victim and too many witnesses. He goes to prison. He gets out and gets involved in a pump and dump brokerage, even though he no longer has a securities license. The presence of Italian Mafia figures on the periphery attracts the FBI, and they roll up the operation. Sater is charged.
    There is something that can be done this time. Information on black market weapons can be exchanged. Sater’s indictment is sealed and he is not prosecuted. Much of this is detailed in the book “The Scorpion and the Frog”. Sater goes on to be a front man for Russian “investments”. many run through the unregulated banking system of Iceland before it collapses.

    It is interesting to me that there seems to be so little interest in pursuing Russian organized crime in the US. Even in the biggest case prosecuted so far, the 2010 Medicare Fraud case, the sentences were a joke. Why does anyone think that some hapless Somalians or Syrians pose a threat, but Russian immigrants don’t? Maybe someone can ask trump that at his next press conference.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:19 pm

    @JPL: I have faith that Comey will run true to form: acting within his own self belief in his press as the last honest man in DC. It was this that allowed him to be manipulated by the NY Field Office folks and Congressman Chaffetz in October. Given the amount of abuse he’s received over this, including by Republicans and by his peers within the National Security community, he will keep the CI investigation compartmented. That will include from the AG. And because of the AG’s conflict of interest, including introducing Carter Page to the President, Comey will push to remain the lead as he did with the Clinton email investigation. Simply: Comey is predictable. His predictability turned out to be an asset for those that wanted Secretary Clinton kneecapped. But the CI investigation is compartmented from those folks and they don’t realize that its going to be live by the Comey, die by the Comey. And I certainly trust him more than anyone who the President would nominate to replace him.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:19 pm

    @Baud: Both.

  59. 59.

    Peale

    February 20, 2017 at 12:20 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Since they drink from the skulls of fallen soldiers, I believe it is white tie.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    I’m sure this is fine

    Mary Spicuzza ‏@ MSpicuzzaMJS 17m17 minutes ago
    The Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, is being evacuated.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    February 20, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    @lgerard: Maybe it’s both. Trump needed Russian cash to bail out his failing businesses back in the day, which put him in Putin’s sights. Putin’s blend of white nationalism appealed to nutcases like Bannon, and both Putin and Bannon figured Trump was an easily malleable character who could advance their overlapping interests. Perhaps they drew him in with flattery and cash.

  62. 62.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    @XTPD: I usually go with butthole mouth motherfucker after I have seen a picture of him somewhere, but I have been trying to cut down on inadvertently being exposed.

  63. 63.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    @Baud: #41.

    I don’t think “laziness” is the best descriptor. The republicans, hating big government, have forgotten how to govern. Plus, they view everything through a zero sum prism. It’s impossible to govern such a widely diverse and polarized nation when initiatives are based on 0 compromise, ideological positions…rather than outcomes. A huge, complex country such as are requires a pragmatic understanding of policy and how to implement it ways that fosters a governable country.

  64. 64.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks. Louise Mensch heard through sources that Trump was diagnosed with dementia. (FTD) That would mean access to medical records, I presume. I think he’s batshit insane, but that’s not a medical diagnosis. Have you heard anything along those lines?

  65. 65.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 12:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    what does one wear to a party for Radical Nationalists?

    Something with an appropriate collar height that does not cover up your sweet, sweet Nazi ink.

  66. 66.

    Ryan

    February 20, 2017 at 12:25 pm

    HA! Apology Tour!

  67. 67.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 20, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    The Russian Ambassador to the UN has reportedly died in NY.

  68. 68.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, has died, a day shy of his 65th birthday.

    People die suddenly all the time, but this is beyond creepy.

  69. 69.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 20, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hopefully it is something normal like a kitchen fire.

  70. 70.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 20, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    Churkin (Putin’s UN Ambassador) croaked this morning.

    Sudden cardiac.

    @Corner Stone:

    Something with an appropriate collar height that does not cover up your sweet, sweet Nazi ink.

    You act like white supremacy themed throat tats are bad….

  71. 71.

    XTPD

    February 20, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    @Corner Stone: There’s a Shephard Fairey parody floating around calling Donald a “potato with butthole lips.”

    Also, am I alone in thinking that “blithering buttsex” should be its own hilariously awful porn category?

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Apparently whoever has been calling in the threats moved from Tuesday to Monday this week:
    http://fox6now.com/2017/02/20/breaking-jewish-community-center-closed-and-safely-evacuated/

    WHITEFISH BAY — Officials with the Village of Whitefish Bay say a bomb threat was called into the Jewish Community Center at 10:08 a.m. on Monday, February 20th.

    The Jewish Community Center posted on its Facebook page, Twitter account and its website that the facility is “currently closed and safely evacuated.”

    Jewish Community Center safely evacuated
    Jewish Community Center safely evacuated
    A limited number of students were at the center because of the holiday. Other guests who were on site using the gym and pool facilities were also evacuated.

    Whitefish Bay police are on the scene conducting an investigation.

    Whitefish Bay Police expected to give news conference around 11:30 on JCC bomb threat.

    — Madeline Anderson (@mandersonfox6) February 20, 2017

    This appears to be one of several threats made to Jewish community centers around the country on Monday.

    The Jewish Community Ctr. in Highland Park was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Students moved to nearby fire station while building cleared.

    — St. Paul Police PIO (@sppdPIO) February 20, 2017

    https://t.co/qQUZcExJFn

    — (((Emancip8d Punk))) (@JSilvey70) February 20, 2017

    This is the second time this year that the Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay has been evacuated. On January 31st, the center received a bomb threat. That threat was consistent with threats made to other JCCs around the country. Officials said the threat was deemed non-credible. Yet, through an abundance of caution, the JCC was safely evacuated on that date.

    Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    I am scared to death y’all. I just found myself almost pleasantly agreeing with…Bloody Bill Kristol.
    .
    .
    I am going to dial 9-1 on my phone and wait for a bit to see if this may be some form of stroke indicator.

  74. 74.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 12:33 pm

    Dammit. I hate it when FYWP just blows away a sarcastic comment about Bill Kristol.

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: That threat was consistent with threats made to other JCCs around the country. Officials said the threat was deemed non-credible.

    I guess that’s the good news, but….

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    @JPL: No. Other than what I’ve seen in letters to the editor by mental health professionals and Propane Jane’s tweetstorm on the issue. His father did have Alzheimers. This is not proof of anything, but Alzheimers does often appear to be a congenital/inherited disease. I have seen speculation that one of the reasons that his daughter and son in law need to be with him is because of something like this. That they help him remember details in a way that is non-obtrusive and seen/taken by him as non-threatening and they help moderate his worst impulses. But until or unless someone qualified actually does an examination and a medical diagnoses based on such is publicly released it is just speculation.

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Boizhe Moi…

  78. 78.

    lgerard

    February 20, 2017 at 12:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think that certainly is the case. I just don’t think anyone will find the proverbial smoking gun. The bottom line is that Manafort, Page and Flynn will be persona non grata, and then, although this looks fishy “there is nothing to see here”.
    I agree that people like Bannon are attracted to the white nationalism of Putin, and don’t overlook the religious aspect. Putin wrapping himself with the ultra reactionary Russian Orthodox Church makes him appealing to our religious nuts as well.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:37 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin has died suddenly in New York, Russian Federation confirms

    — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 20, 2017

    http://news.trust.org/item/20170220172523-juapj

    Russian envoy to UN, Vitaly Churkin, dies in New York – foreign ministry
    by Reuters
    Monday, 20 February 2017 17:19 GMT

    MOSCOW, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, has died in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

    The ministry gave no details on the circumstances of his death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died one day before his 65th birthday. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Gareth Jones)

    It is going to be one of those Mondays…

  80. 80.

    Feebog

    February 20, 2017 at 12:38 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This is what the counterintelligence investigation is for. They will continue to slowly, methodically, work through all of this

    All well and good. But questions remain. First and foremost in my mind, will Sessions try to intercede or shut down the investigation at some point? You seem to be confident that he will not, I don’t share that confidence at this point. Second, assuming the investigation reaches the conclusion that members of the Trump campaign actively colluded with Russian agents to rig the election, will the MSM report this accurately and truthfully? Third, assuming the MSM does accurately report the results of the investigation, will that be enough to trigger impeachment proceedings in the House? And a 2/3 Senate vote to convict? Unless Trump is found to be directly involved, I’m not sure it will. If congress does not move to impeach, this moves to a constitutional crisis of monumental proportions..

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Didn’t people in Alaska used to say they were shocked at how off-the-rails Sarah Palin went after she came to national prominence? I think it was said about another Republican– Perry?–relatively impressive in a state career and then broken by the strain of a constant national spotlight. Granted neither of them were that stable to begin with, and Palin clearly decided she wanted to get rich from part-time work, but Trump is the dog who keeps catching cars, it’s not too big a stretch to think the corrupt grifter — in decidedly unimpressive physical condition, he brags about not exercising, FFS– who worked his father’s political and business connections to fail up is getting even more erratic and having some cognitive difficulties in the White House.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 12:42 pm

    I’m waiting for an “FBI says Trump did nothing wrong” story. We’re due for one of those.

    I’m probably not the first person who noticed this but it’s a little like the Whitey Bulgar story, Trump’s criminal friends and the FBI involvement. That happens with local law enforcement too. They end up getting so close to criminals to get information about OTHER criminals they basically end up on the same team.

    It’s like “police plus various criminals versus some other criminals” You’re like “forget it- I can’t even tell which is which anymore” :)

  83. 83.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    February 20, 2017 at 12:44 pm

    I’m glad to see that there are journalists still capable of and willing to do investigative journalism. Decades of argutainment and both-siderism had me doubting.

    It’s a bit like having some folks around who can use a slide rule, build a solid tree house, bake a cake from scratch.

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    February 20, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    A member of the European press asks why leaders in the EU should believe Pence’s conciliatory remarks over Trump’s inflammatory ones

    I heard a snippet of this news story over the weekend and just loved it. The American press is reeling back defensively over Trump’s claims about “Fake News,” and the Republican leadership and Trump’s base keep pretending that everything is under control.

    But the foreign press and foreign leaders have no need to buy into the bullshit. And I don’t think even Trump would be stupid enough to go on a Twitter rampage against, for example, Angela Merkel (“Mekel just WRONG on trade. She’s an enemy of the German people!”).

    Or maybe he really is that stupid.

  85. 85.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 20, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Died of a broken heart brought on by all the baseless slanders alleging Russian involvement in the Ukraine.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:47 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve been planning to do a post on this, but things (you may have noticed a few of these) keep getting in the way. The issue here is:
    1) We’ve got some knucklehead who gets his rocks off calling these in and seeing the news coverage. He may or may not be a hard core anti-Semite, but he’s basically in it for ego gratification. And based on decades of criminological research, it is highly likely it is a he. So step up your game ladies! He may or may not even be in the US, given VOIP technology. And he may never intend to do anything but these calls.
    2) Or he intends to eventually escalate. Specifically after he feels enough of these happen that a sense of complacency has set in. Basically emergency alert fatigue. At that point he actually plants a bomb at one of these locations because he figures he’s got a reasonable expectation of casualties because the threats have become commonplace.
    3) Or even worse he never intends to escalate, but because they become commonplace the coverage drops way off. He doesn’t get his gratification and then escalates in order to get his rush. Basic addictive behavior pattern. Also, serial criminal pattern.
    4) Or, also even worse, he never intends to escalate beyond calling in the threats, but someone else who does want to do real, physical damage to property and harm to people does. He waits until the coverage begins to drop off because the calls are every week or every other week like clockwork. And then this person that wants to cause real harm and hurt Jews decides its time to strike because complacency has set in and some synagogue or JCC isn’t going to take the threat as seriously.

    And I fully expect that this pattern will at some point be fully extended to mosques and Hispanic and Asian churches, as well as Sikh temples. I know that the Hispanic and Asian churches in my area have seen an increase in both vandalism and threats, just as the synagogues and mosques have, because they are viewed as immigrant places (of worship) and therefore acceptable targets despite being churches.

  87. 87.

    JMG

    February 20, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    Sad to say, the sudden death of a Russian male in their ’60s is a demographic probability, not necessarily suspicious in the slightest. That is, it’s the demographic probability that’s sad, not that he probably wasn’t bumped off.

  88. 88.

    eclare

    February 20, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    @Baud: FTW!

  89. 89.

    debbie

    February 20, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    On the overnight broadcast, the BBC was worried that he wouldn’t make it. I must say RT’s selective use of quotation marks isn’t reassuring.

    “died suddenly”
    “of the untimely passing away of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin this morning”
    “completely shocking”

  90. 90.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 12:51 pm

    Trump’s lawyer gave 2 different stories to NYT & WP on the proposal to lift Russia sanctions

    How do you mess that up? Probably top ten important recitation of events he has told in his life. He fucked it all up. He thought no one would notice? They’re completely different.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    February 20, 2017 at 12:51 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The way things are gerrymandered in VA, it will be very tough for the Democrats to pick up more than a few seats (unless there is a wave). Several bills to improve redistricting fairness, fix problems with registrations, etc., were killed this session.

    :-(

    A local paper’s story about a recent ICE raid:

    Thermon Brewster and other men emerged from the hypothermia shelter at Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church on Russell Road in the Mount Vernon Area of Alexandria. Many walked next door to 7-Eleven for cold beers, they said, to begin planning the day out, as is their routine.

    When they began crossing the parking lot towards the Aldi grocery store, opposite Rising Hope, a flurry of at least half a dozen unmarked police cars descended on the group, Ramirez, Roach and Brewster said.

    “Like it was a setup or something,” said Brewster.

    Officers with uniforms reading “POLICE” and “ICE” (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) immediately told the men to stop where they were. The officers didn’t identify themselves other than that, the three men said, and weren’t displaying weapons.

    Roach and Brewster, both Caucasian, were shown pictures of men on a computer, they said, and asked by officers if they had seen any of them. Neither were asked for any kind of identification or nationality information.

    Ramirez, however, was surrounded by officers, along with several other Latino men and told to stand against a wall while keeping their hands visible. Ramirez is a native of El Salvador but said he moved to the United States in 1986, when he was just a boy.

    The Latino men were also asked if they had seen the men on the computer screen, said Ramirez, who attempted to help translate for some of the other men. But, after being singled out, they were also questioned about their immigration status.

    Ramirez said he wasn’t asked for photo identification, just his date of birth, Social Security number and date when he entered the country. He admitted he isn’t a U.S. citizen, but holds a green card and was granted a suspension of deportation by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services because he had been a resident for so long and has three daughters all born in America.

    Officers told Ramirez he was OK, and was free to go. Other men, he said, were shackled and shoved into a large white van.

    When the van pulled up, all three men said, there were already men inside, some of whom were crying. A number of men from the shelter were put in the van, which drove away.

    Ramirez said he knows some of them have minor criminal records, and one was facing charges for a robbery in Washington, D.C. But he also said he had never seen an incident with law enforcement like this in his life.

    Roach and Brewster, longtime residents of the area, echoed Ramirez. “I’ve been here all my life,” Roach said, “I’ve never seen anything like this. It happened really fast, it was like a kidnapping.”

    SINCE THAT WEDNESDAY morning, the three said they’ve seen similar unmarked police cars in the area of the church off and on.

    […]

    After having listened to the story from Ramirez, Roach and Brewster, immigration lawyer Nicholas Marritz of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Falls Church doesn’t believe that was the case across from Rising Hope.

    “Stopping a group of people without reasonable suspicion, seems to be on extremely questionable legal footing to me,” Marritz said. “You have the right not to be seized, based on the color of skin. It’s a violation of Constitutional rights.”

    Marritz said the men’s narrative underscores the need for more people to understand and assert their rights.

    “Everyone is protected by the Constitution,” he said. “You have the right to remain silent, to say ‘I’m not going to tell you about immigration status,’ to ask to talk to an attorney. No one should have to suffer an indignity like this.”

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    It’s clear these raids are intended to intimidate, not to round up criminals. It’s unconstitutional and we need to do what we can to make sure they are stopped and not normalized…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There was speculation that both Governors Palin and Perry are not the sharpest knives in the plastic chopstick drawer. In Perry’s case he was also a weak governor because Texas is set up to have a very weak executive, which is standard in a lot of the Southern states post reconstruction to prevent the Federal government from placing their guy in charge. I can’t remember whether Alaska is set up this way (been a long time since I had to teach state and local government). Regardless, once they left the safe confines of the jobs they new, which had significant constraints and limits on them, they showed themselves for what they always were: not very bright, very ambitious, politically savvy (at the state and local level) politicians that aren’t suited for any higher position. And who wouldn’t be considered as qualified or suited for the positions they held if they lived anywhere other than Texas and Alaska.

  93. 93.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    Alittle O/T: this morning we agreed to have some financial advisors present a form of annuity that with a mere 500k, would allow us to maintain our lifestyle through both our lifetimes even though my spouse is @ 14 years older. Actually, that’s not my point. The man of the duo started dissing government “bureaucrats” and promising that repealing certain Dodd-Frank rules are welcomed and will help small businesses. I went off on him like a rabid rocket. Told him that people don’t get to come in my home, spew, and I’ll just be quiet. I threatened him with the door. My spouse was embarrassed and tried to shut me down. Upshot, I was upset and trembling through their presentation and felt some shame at my vehemence.

    Somewhere between the fluke coronation of Trump and now, I’ve lost my ability to ignore ignorant chit-chat. The even worse news is after they left, I poured myself a glass of wine. I’m smart enough to know that self medicating at 12:30 P.M. is not the answer.

  94. 94.

    Hal

    February 20, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    I have a former co-worker who I am friends with on Facebook. Evengelical Christian Conservative who started out anti-trump, right up to the moment he won, then he decided Jebus must have intended this to happen. This is someone who has expressed previously that Israel must survive in order for the rapture to happen, so anything Israel wants, they should get.

    Now he is an echo chamber for Trump. “The media” lies (he’s always been like that) and the judiciary is out of control. How dare they stop the president from doing what he wants?! Keep in mind this is someone who once expressed an opinion that Obama might not let go of the Presidency and constantly talked about King Obama. Someone who regularly used phrases like rule of law and the constitution, and who could never support Hillary Clinton because she lies and has had people killed, yada yada.

    Any modicum of opposition to Trump is gone for this person. I have no idea what it’s going to take Trump supporters to wake up, but I hope the opposition ignores unity calls and goes after Trump in every way possible, because I think my friend is a strong indicator of how far off the deep end his supporters have gone in order to justify their vote. These people are never going to believe anything bad about Trump, so I say ignore them. Let them have their delusions.

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:53 pm

    @Kay: The speculation is that the NY Field Office is even worse than the Boston Field Office of Whitey Bolger fame. And that if this stuff continues to break into the open through leaks, or shoe leather reporting, or the conclusion of the CI investigation, or some combination that the NY Field Office is in even more trouble than the Boston one was after all the Bolger stuff got exposed.

  96. 96.

    debbie

    February 20, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    @pamelabrown53:

    Embarrassed or not, I hope your spouse agreed not to buy from him. Saying that repealing regulation will be a good thing is a danger sign, if not a red flag.

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    @Feebog: The Attorney General does not control or oversee counterintelligence investigations. Even though the domestic Federal law enforcement component is done by a specialized group of FBI special agents, FBI analysts, and overseen by a dedicated group of professional DOJ prosecutors, CI investigations are owned by the Director of National Intelligence. This is not a law enforcement investigation or issue. This is a spy and mole hunt.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    Franklin Foer ‏@FranklinFoer 4h4 hours ago
    More
    Trump and his kids have travelled around the world with Sater. In fact, the Trump kids went to Moscow with him .

    Trump said he doesn’t know him. I mean, the NERVE of these people. You almost have to admire the brazen lies. They don’t care! They’ll say anything! They must genuinely believe they are untouchable.

  99. 99.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    I know he has fallen out of favor around here but I still find his analysis useful as a thought exercise. 538 has a piece that is really sort of scary. While hair furor does not poll really well with Americans he polls significantly better with registered or likely voters than he does with all adults. We need to get busy registering and motivating that segment that hates Trump but is not voting.

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-polls-differ-on-trumps-popularity/?ex_cid=538fb

  100. 100.

    JMG

    February 20, 2017 at 12:58 pm

    @pamelabrown53: You don’t want any financial adviser stupid enough to talk politics with a potential client w/o knowing the potential client’s politics. The guy was dumb enough to do you a big favor by revealing it.

  101. 101.

    liberal

    February 20, 2017 at 12:59 pm

    @Chris: Exactly. A necessary and sufficient condition for impeachment is plummeting support in the base. It could happen, but it certainly hasn’t happened yet.

  102. 102.

    hovercraft

    February 20, 2017 at 12:59 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Rs did not pay a price for the W fiasco.

    I think they did, in their determination to avoid another Watergate fiasco, they had to all pretend that W was a normal successful presidency, and that made incompetence and mediocrity the norm for their base. They all accepted the fantasitcal justifications and stories that were put out to make W look good. Rove’s “we make our own reality” became the guiding principle of the republicans, all of which all owed them to nominate and elect the shitgibbon. He has an 88% approval rating among republicans which is insane, no sentient human being can look at the last month and think, by Jove that is how a WH and this country should be run.
    Unfortunately we are all paying the price, he’s the president , and his actions are harming all of us.

  103. 103.

    liberal

    February 20, 2017 at 1:00 pm

    @JMG: LOL. Yeah, no shit—what a dumbass.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    February 20, 2017 at 1:00 pm

    Speaking of scandal, Josh Marshall and others seem to believe this Felix Sater business is a BFD. I hope so, but it’s certainly looking like Congressional Republicans will countenance any malfeasance to secure tax cuts for billionaires and an opportunity to slash the social safety net.

    I wonder whether the GOP even knows how dirty Trump might be.

    And there has not been enough reporting on the inside decisions by the GOP bigwigs to back Trump, and exactly what they expect to get from him. We know the broad strokes. But even in the face of the Flynn resignation, the Republicans are sticking hard to “no comment” and “I didn’t hear what the president said.”

    I caught a bit of this Sunday’s worthless Meet the Press, and one of the pundits noted how consistently wrong all the supposedly smart talking heads have been about Trump.

    AMY WALTER: … And whether he can get folks on his team along with him, we’ve been– all the people at this table at one point or another, including you, you, I know me, said, “The Republican Party’s falling apart. They’re never going to coalesce behind the president. They’re never going to stick with him.” Right now they are. And they are not abandoning him, even John McCain.

    But even if they “abandoned” him, the Republicans have nowhere to go,no sane play to make.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 1:03 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I was shocked by that documentary. I was going to delve more into it because the documentary assumed one understood the whole backstory and I didn’t.

    Police really do get too close to informants locally. There are mysterious non-prosecutions, all kinds of things. Everyone knows it. There are just certain defendants where weird shit happens and they end up walking away.

    Here it’s always the “MANN UNIT”- drug enforcement. They’re out of control.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 1:04 pm

    @Schlemazel: While hair furor does not poll really well with Americans he polls significantly better with registered or likely voters than he does with all adults.

    older and whiter than the population as a whole

    as to Nate Silver, I sided with Wang in that particular teapot tempest, because his model seemed to this semi-numerate more data-based– Silver was factoring in momentum, or something like it?– but Silver was right, wasn’t he?

  107. 107.

    JMG

    February 20, 2017 at 1:05 pm

    It’s only been a month. It’s very unlikely even Trump could blunder enough to lose a significant part of his Republican support in that time. When he resigned, Nixon still had support from roughly 50 percent of Republicans. One thing about all those dumb “Trump voters still like Trump” stories is that the people willing to be quoted in them are always, always, always examples of self-proclaimed stupidity. I don’t think the reporters are doing that to make them look bad, it’s self-selection. Trump voters with qualms are keeping a very low profile — probably within their social circles, too.

  108. 108.

    Another Scott

    February 20, 2017 at 1:05 pm

    @hovercraft: Falling approval ratings lag – sometimes by a lot.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  109. 109.

    hovercraft

    February 20, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    @Another Scott:

    One of the biggest problems with Trump is that he reads or hears a sound-bite and thinks that it’s the same as a well thought-out policy………..
    But nuance isn’t Donnie’s strong suit.

    Stop it, it’s not Donnie’s fault, Coery L. says the problem is the staff are not preparing Donnie well enough about the full implications of his pronouncement’s.
    See they don’t have much government experience themselves so how can they all be expected to understand all this complicated shit. But not to worry, they’ve seen the error of their ways, they’ll be more “measured” going forward.

  110. 110.

    Miss Bianca

    February 20, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Yiou’d think, for the good of the country as well as their own bottom lines/brands, Ivanka and Jared could have maybe dissuaded him from this “running for President while mentally incapacitated” idea couldn’t you? Or do I ask too much?

  111. 111.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 1:08 pm

    @JMG:

    For a while I thought the economy tanking would kill his support, but that doesn’t make any sense. The economy here is exactly what it was a month ago and they all think Trump improved it. So what the fuck. I don’t know anything.

    I saw a piece that said Obamacare approval numbers are improving as Obama “recedes”.That’s not rational, so thinking they will be persuaded by some rational argument like “the economy is worse under Trump” is probably not true.

  112. 112.

    Chris

    February 20, 2017 at 1:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The speculation is that the NY Field Office is even worse than the Boston Field Office of Whitey Bolger fame.

    Like I said when the Comey stuff started coming out, we seem to be overdue for a “national conversation” about whether the FBI ever stopped being the cesspool that it was for its first forty years of existence under J. Edgar Hoover. (The original FBI man with a questionable position on organized crime, and many other things). And what to do about it.

    Never happen, of course. Not in this America.

  113. 113.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    I’ll just leave this here:

    That makes at least half a dozen senior Russian diplomats to have died suddenly since late December

    — Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) February 20, 2017

  114. 114.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    @debbie: #92.

    No, we didn’t buy a thing. We are both believers in “do your research” and “understand the fine print”.

    @JMG: #98.
    The problem is while he was throwing a monkey in the wrench, his female counterpart was the opposite…and that was before I exploded. Anyway, the reason I shared this incident is that I’m behaving in uncharacteristically aggressive ways.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    @JMG:

    I can say with some certainty one thing that will make Trump’s approval go down- gas prices going up. We saw rural white working class voters who supported Bush abandon him based on gas going up. They didn’t care about the rest of it. That got their attention.

  116. 116.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 1:13 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    yes, sadly, Nate had it right

  117. 117.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 20, 2017 at 1:14 pm

    @JMG:

    My RWNJ mom (who enthusiastically voted for Wallace in 1968 as a 24 year old – I remember it well, because her trailer trash parents – my grandparents – were over the moon about him too) was a fierce Nixon supporter even at the end. Her position was that she simply didn’t care about what he’d done.

  118. 118.

    trollhattan

    February 20, 2017 at 1:15 pm

    @pamelabrown53: l@JMG:
    Yeah, it’s a tell that perhaps this isn’t your guy. Make sure whomever you use is a fiduciary and not a salesperson looking to extract maximum fees and commissions.

  119. 119.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 1:18 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That makes at least half a dozen senior Russian diplomats to have died suddenly since late December

    Jesus. We’re getting into Hillary Clinton numbers here. #RightOrLeft?YouBeTheJudge

  120. 120.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 1:18 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    I don’t think they ever thought he could win. They assumed Americans couldn’t be that venial and stupid so after November they could just go back to grifting but with the glow of the candidacy, They screwed up by underestimating how stupid voters could be

  121. 121.

    hovercraft

    February 20, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Did he drink any tea recently, or have any perfume spritzed on him?

    Too soon?

  122. 122.

    amygdala

    February 20, 2017 at 1:20 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: If I were the ME assigned to perform the autopsy, I’d be doing so in a lead-lined HAZMAT suit.

  123. 123.

    JMG

    February 20, 2017 at 1:20 pm

    @Kay: Oddly, one thing that helps Trump keep his ratings out of Bush ’08 territory is the difficulty Republicans in Congress are having with Obamacare. Gas prices do matter to people (although never when they do down, funny that) but health care costs matter more. A return to the health care/insurance price hikes of the early and mid 2000s would be a wholly-owned GOP problem.

  124. 124.

    Betty Cracker

    February 20, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    @pamelabrown53: I’ve lost my ability to ignore ignorant chit chat too, and you know what? I think that might be a good thing. People who spew ignorant-ass shit without pushback are emboldened by silence. Maybe if they encounter a spirited rebuttal now and then, they’ll learn to shut their big fat yap at worst or even rethink their ignorant-ass opinion at best.

  125. 125.

    Another Scott

    February 20, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    @Schlemazel: I think Sam’s analysis made more sense, but there was too much of a “garbage-in/garbage-out” thing going on in the last election. Sam had the math, if one assumed that the starting numbers were correct.

    Neither one of them could handle lack of high-quality state polling, and neither one of them could handle voter suppression and voter confusion (ID needed or not?) efforts.

    Nate got lucky based on tweaking his earlier methodology.

    The lesson shouldn’t be that Wang was “wrong” and Silver was “right”, it should be that the GOP will do everything it can to win – even if that means sowing confusion, breaking traditions and rules and laws, and all the rest. And that no lead is safe in those circumstances.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  126. 126.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 20, 2017 at 1:22 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Yeah, it’s a tell that perhaps this isn’t your guy. Make sure whomever you use is a fiduciary and not a salesperson looking to extract maximum fees and commissions

    Here’s the tell: they are selling annuities.

    My Wall Street friends tell me that annuities are a scam and always a bad idea.

  127. 127.

    mike in dc

    February 20, 2017 at 1:24 pm

    If all the Russia stuff turns out to be 100% true, and leads to the ouster of the current president and multiple other politicians…doesn’t our foreign policy imperative become “regime change” in Russia? I mean, how could it NOT be? I’m not saying a shooting war, but clearly we should be doing everything possible to weaken Putin and make his tenure as shaky and brief as possible.

  128. 128.

    Miss Bianca

    February 20, 2017 at 1:24 pm

    @Schlemazel: No excuse. None. Just because you didn’t believe doddery ol’ Grandpa could *really* manage to burn the house down, doesn’t mean you go, “aw, but he was having so much fun playing with the matches, I just didn’t have the heart/stones to stop him!”

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 1:25 pm

    @Schlemazel: I’m feeling too lazy to look it up, but a GOP pollster met with Trump in 2015, and the plan was to get to 15% in some big primaries, finish second to Jeb, and finally be a respected public figure like Buffett and Bloomberg.

    I used to think that he won the primary because of too many establishment types, now I wonder with hindsight if any of them– Bush Rubio Walker Kasich– could have beaten Trump one-on-one

  130. 130.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 1:25 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: #111.

    You know, Adam, why your tweet copies are so unsettling? I feel inexorably pushed into conspiracy theory territory. While I don’t want to be a blind lobster at slow boil, I’d at least like to get some terra firma at how to not get caught up in theories that support my wishful thinking.
    Here, on Balloon Juice, Ive read comments referring to the promised “Whitey” tapes. I don’t want to be waiting for a “Whitey tape” It’s destructive to suspend critical thinking out of fear.

    Maybe you could assist in at least lending your expertise on National Security to mitigate crazy flights of fancy.

  131. 131.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 1:25 pm

    @JMG:

    I think health care is trickier because there’s so much variance. Gas prices are all the same in a given area and everyone in a rural area depends on driving. I bet his demo drive A LOT and not small cars either.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    February 20, 2017 at 1:27 pm

    @pamelabrown53: Good on you. Find a better financial advisor.

    I think we should all push back at these morons. Make them aware they are not the majority.

    #donecoddlingassholes

  133. 133.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 1:27 pm

    @JMG:

    I don’t think the reporters are doing that to make them look bad, it’s self-selection. Trump voters with qualms are keeping a very low profile — probably within their social circles, too.

    I finally managed to bait a Trump voter to say something on our local message board recently. All during the GE and then since the election the board has been deathly quiet, which would make me wonder under normal circumstances since it is so deep red R here.
    Anyhoo, by the third response the guy was cursing at me. The interesting part of that is that even though a moderator gave a tepid “both sides” admonishment, even though I had been very strait laced in the exchange, not one other poster came out to say anything against me or in support of the Trump voter or Trump or anything. It was like someone had tossed a bouncing betty in the middle of duck duck goose session. And they all wanted no part of it.

  134. 134.

    hovercraft

    February 20, 2017 at 1:29 pm

    @Another Scott:
    In January 2009, the economy was in free fall, the wars were an ongoing mess, and yet, via Gallup :

    Bush mainly has members of his own party to thank for the fact that he is ending his presidency with an approval rating above 30%. Republicans’ approval of him rose from 67% in mid-December to 75% in the current poll — their highest rating of Bush in nearly a year. By contrast, approval of Bush remains extremely scarce among Democrats, and continues to fall under 30% among independents.

    I rest my case.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 1:30 pm

    @Elizabelle: I let Vanguard pick my funds and asset allocation, because after ’08 I think boring is good.

  136. 136.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:30 pm

    @Kay: I worked with a retired Army colonel who grew up with Bolgers. He (the retired Army colonel) was a good guy. Had he been running the research center I was in, I would have stayed there.

  137. 137.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:34 pm

    @Miss Bianca: 1) The mental illness stuff is speculation. Some of it may be informed speculation by highly educated, trained, and experienced practitioners, but it’s still just speculation. 2) Do you expect the President’s family dynamics to be any more functional than anyone else’s? For his entire adult life, no one has ever successfully told him no. And he’s never had to actually pay any real price for his failures. Do you think that the daughter who’s livelihood is tied to his organization of small, networked companies and the family name as a brand is going to tell him no if more subtle forms of manipulation have failed?

  138. 138.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    @mike in dc:

    doesn’t our foreign policy imperative become “regime change” in Russia? I mean, how could it NOT be? I’m not saying a shooting war, but clearly we should be doing everything possible to weaken Putin and make his tenure as shaky and brief as possible.

    Why would that have to be the case? Putin is going to do what he is going to do. We should have been prepared with a more aggressive response to his actions against the US than a phone call or an aside verbal warning. Putin is now going after France and Germany and every satellite territory he can lay his hands on. You think Trump or the R’s are going to push back when he swallows more of Ukraine? Or Belarus? Or Poland?
    I am not in favor of a hot war either but, I mean, geez.

  139. 139.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    @Another Scott:
    If it is repeatable it is not a fluke. He has been spot on so far, if 2016 was luck or skill will be seen.

  140. 140.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:37 pm

    @mike in dc: This has always been Putin’s greatest fear. It drove his hostility to Secretary Clinton who he believed, should she be elected, would pursue such a course of action. It is why he moved quickly and brutally to maidan (coup) proof himself after Yanukovych was ousted.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 1:38 pm

    Lewandowski: “if aides like Manafort were contacting Russian officials during campaign, Trump had nothing with it”

    If/ then denial. Why do people bother trying this? If he didn’t know Manafort was contacting Russian officials then he doesn’t know Trump wasn’t.

    The bigger question is why does Trump surround himself with such hinky people? They’re all weird, shady misfits.

  142. 142.

    lollipopguild

    February 20, 2017 at 1:38 pm

    @pamelabrown53: They were always promising a “whitey” tape yet it never appeared. If someone on the right had a “whitey” tape it would have been playing on Fox 24 hours a day.

  143. 143.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    Not meant as an excuse only as an explanation for how they could be so stupid. Also highly possible: They thought they could guide him or get quality people around him. EIther way they fucked up

  144. 144.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 20, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    There’s a lot of “people aren’t giving him a CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCE!!!!!!! whines I’m hearing out there on the exurban borders, where Trump pod people have to interact on a daily basis with folks who despise his dumb ass.

  145. 145.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 1:41 pm

    I obviously don’t know anything about the death of RUS Amb to UN dying, but he’s overweight, 65, and most likely spent the last two or three decades living pretty richly. It all seems suspicious but not like a 40 year old fell into an open elevator shaft. What is gained by him being dead that I am not connecting?

  146. 146.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 1:41 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Not you maybe. You are the exception that proves the rule.

  147. 147.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 20, 2017 at 1:41 pm

    @Kay:

    You realize that in the end, the whole corrupt endeavor is going to be brought down by some incriminating email.

    ?

  148. 148.

    lollipopguild

    February 20, 2017 at 1:41 pm

    @hovercraft: Someone accidentally punched him in the leg with an umbrella.

  149. 149.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 1:43 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That’s easy. No.

  150. 150.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:43 pm

    @pamelabrown53: Here you go:
    1) In regards to allegations of connections between the Russian government, including Russian Intelligence, Russian organized crime (Bratva), the Trump Organization, campaign, and now Administration there are 3 open Federal investigation. One is a counterintelligence investigation. This is the big one. It is a spy and mole hunt. CI investigations are under the Director of National Intelligence.
    2) Speculation regarding the President’s mental health are just that. No matter how well informed.
    3) Putin/the Kremlin have recently arrested four very senior cyber warfare/cyber crime personnel within and without the Russian Intelligence Community. At the same time about a 1/2 dozen Russian officials – diplomats, military, and intelligence – have died. While I don’t believe in coincidences, there is no way to tell right now if there is anything more here than the confluence of mortality rates for Russian men in their 50s and 60s working in stressful positions and a random vehicular accident. This pattern may be indicative that Putin is cleaning up some loose ends or it may be that we’re seeing a pattern where none exists because all of these folks are tied to Putin.

    How’s that?

  151. 151.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 1:43 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Heh.

  152. 152.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    For now, we need to ignore the T believers and work on strengthening the opposition and the soft support. Their fever will break, like it did with W after Katrina. Right now they are too invested. They are still in the honeymoon period.

  153. 153.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Maybe?

  154. 154.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 1:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Delete the maybe.

  155. 155.

    mike in dc

    February 20, 2017 at 1:47 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    If the Russia stuff is true, then Putin just engineered “regime change” in the United States. If it all turns out to be true, then the US government will be roiled in turmoil as Trump is removed along with Republican majorities in Congress during the midterms, particularly those GOPers who appear to have had some inkling of the truth but did nothing. Do we not respond forcefully? So long as Putin is the leader there, he remains a direct threat to our democracy. Taking him down becomes an imperative, in my opinion. Sanctions, bolstering the defenses of his neighbors, information warfare and various other means to undermine him politically and militarily and weaken his support among the oligarchs and the people of Russia. If we had attempted the same thing in Russia, rest assured they would not hesitate to retaliate.

  156. 156.

    Miss Bianca

    February 20, 2017 at 1:48 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: No, I suppose it would be too much to ask of someone in that position to say, “Dad, love you (sort of, I think), but the truth is you’re just not mentally up for this and I’m taking your car keys/cell phone away now.”

    @Schlemazel: Nah, I knew *you* weren’t the one making excuses. Didn’t mean to imply you were.

  157. 157.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 1:48 pm

    OT: Yesterday I finally tried the new Indian restaurant in the neighboring town. Their weekend buffet was highly recommended by both my Indian and non-Indian friends. They were right. It was good, better than good. Some of the stuff could rival good restaurants in Mumbai.

  158. 158.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 1:49 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: You know I’m just given you a hard time for the giggles, right?

  159. 159.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    @lollipopguild: #140.

    Exactly my premise. But my point is I don’t want to allow myself to be sucked in to a leftier, nee patriotic view, bases on conspiracy theories. The best I can do do is not abandon critical thinking and promote journalism and leaks that can be factually corroborated.

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 20, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    @Miss Bianca: by all accounts (which are all gossip, but very believable gossip) the three adult Trumpkins regard Daddy with the awe usually felt by four year olds

  161. 161.

    Kay

    February 20, 2017 at 1:54 pm

    Russia lodged a formal complaint last month with the United Nations over a top U.N. official’s condemnations of Donald Trump and some European politicians, an intervention that underscores the unusual links between the Republican presidential nominee and the Kremlin.
    There is no evidence Trump sought Russia’s assistance, or was even aware of the criticism by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
    Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, told The Associated Press on Friday that he complained to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about Zeid’s remarks.
    Three diplomats familiar with the conversation said the complaint occurred in a private meeting Sept. 13. Churkin angrily protested a pair of speeches by Zeid that denounced “demagogues” and specifically targeted Trump and several populist leaders in Europe, even likening their tactics to Islamic State propaganda.

    Unusual links, indeed! So if it comes out that Russia successfully pulled off a coup, what do we in the public do?

    Marco Rubio just doesn’t seem up to this challenge.

  162. 162.

    artem1s

    February 20, 2017 at 1:54 pm

    @Another Scott:

    the hypothermia shelter at Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church

    I’d be interested to know what the Church’s reaction to this was. Do other religious institutions understand that their relief programs are being targeted to locate possible deportees? I dropped out of mainstream religion after 9/11 because there was no response from the christian community on Ws civil rights abuses. Have all of them forgotten that part of the purpose of the physical structure known as a church was to be a refuge for people who were fleeing from war and/or oppression? Have they forgotten the literal definition of the word sanctuary?

  163. 163.

    hovercraft

    February 20, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    @lollipopguild:
    It’s hard to keep abreast with their creativity.

  164. 164.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    I am kind of feeling sad now because it appears CPAC has uninvited Milo from speaking this year at the event.

  165. 165.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 1:59 pm

    @Kay: Russia could not have done it without Republican help and an assist from the Senator from Vt.

  166. 166.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 1:59 pm

    @mike in dc: A couple of thoughts on that. How was he able to manage that? Who will be along to implement a robust counter at this point in the game?

  167. 167.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 2:04 pm

    @Corner Stone: We need to ask an expert in game theory, obviously.

  168. 168.

    mike in dc

    February 20, 2017 at 2:04 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Those are fair questions. The degree of Republican establishment complicity will be revealed to some extent, and the rest will remain a dark cloud over the GOP. I don’t trust any Republican replacement to implement a robust counter, so it’s likely the initiative will lie with whatever D is elected POTUS afterward. Putin is up for re-election in 2018, and it’s unlikely we could effectively prevent that so quickly, but we could take measures to ensure it’s his last term and that he won’t serve all the way through. Already Congress is contemplating strengthening sanctions, though it’s an open question whether the current president would veto such a measure.

  169. 169.

    Miss Bianca

    February 20, 2017 at 2:05 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: They wouldn’t be the only ones. Remind me to regale the company sometime with a surreal anecdote a friend of mine gave me about getting together with an old college acquaintance of hers at the Trump International Hotel in DC on the day of The Donald’s press conference last week. Spoiler alert: Neither the old acquaintance nor Reince Priebus comes off looking well.

  170. 170.

    Origuy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:08 pm

    @mike in dc: As John Oliver pointed out last night, Putin is using the unsteadiness in the West–which he has helped create– as a propaganda point with his own people. Russians have traditionally wanted strong leaders; real democracy has never gotten a stronghold there. So the best way to undercut his support is to show democracy does work. First thing, of course, is to get rid of Trump in a democratic manner. That’s not to say that other things shouldn’t be tried.

  171. 171.

    germy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:08 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I am kind of feeling sad now because it appears CPAC has uninvited Milo from speaking this year at the event.

    PC run amok!

  172. 172.

    WereBear

    February 20, 2017 at 2:08 pm

    @Elizabelle: #donecoddlingassholes

    Love it.

  173. 173.

    trollhattan

    February 20, 2017 at 2:10 pm

    @Corner Stone:
    He singlehandedly resurrected NAMBLA.

  174. 174.

    WereBear

    February 20, 2017 at 2:11 pm

    @Kay: The bigger question is why does Trump surround himself with such hinky people? They’re all weird, shady misfits.

    For the same reason emotionally damaged people are always hooking up together. They know the territory. It feels comfortable and familiar.

  175. 175.

    germy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:12 pm

    They released footage of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjfm_XOxLOs

  176. 176.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 2:13 pm

    @hovercraft: Besides the Presidential elections of 2008 and 2012, they haven’t paid a price at the polls.

  177. 177.

    Origuy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:13 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: There’s a little Indian restaurant down the street that specializes in Kerela cusine. I’ve been there a few times. They have dishes I’ve never seen in other restaurants, along with standards like butter chicken. I need to get over there for the Saturday buffet sometime.

  178. 178.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 2:16 pm

    @Origuy: This place too is run by Malyalees (people from Kerala, they speak Malyalam). Are you near Albany, NY by any chance?

  179. 179.

    JPL

    February 20, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Could it be a warning to our president also? Putin takes care of those who cross him.

  180. 180.

    Cain

    February 20, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    @Kay:

    Trump said he doesn’t know him. I mean, the NERVE of these people. You almost have to admire the brazen lies. They don’t care! They’ll say anything! They must genuinely believe they are untouchable.

    Of course, Republicans have never had to pay a political price for anything. Iraq war and the shit that happened there and a mere couple of years and they are back in charge.

  181. 181.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I would but Putin keeps killing them off, one by one. We need to make sure that Twitter game theory expert dude is eyeballs on him so we can at least keep him safe as we play this all out.

  182. 182.

    Gindy51

    February 20, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Annuities may be a scam but we inherited three of them from my husband’s mother and they have helped us buy a new geothermal unit, solar panels, cars, and redo most of our home’s interior decorating in the past 7 years.

  183. 183.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    @germy: What I hate about that is that I now find out a few people whose work I appreciate, for the most part, were kinda sorta on board with Milo being some kind of Anti-PC force for good or something. Like Kurt Eichenwald for example. Just disgusting.

  184. 184.

    germy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    @Corner Stone: I didn’t know that. I’m disappointed Eichenwald spouted that bullshit.

  185. 185.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    @Corner Stone: Really? That sucks. Why does everyone except me turn out to be a disappointment?

  186. 186.

    ? Martin

    February 20, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    Another thing to look at:

    But there is another option. Since 1998, another subsection of section 6103 has given whistleblowers permission to share federal returns with Congress. Section 6103(f)(5) provides:

    Disclosure by whistleblower.—Any person who otherwise has or had access to any return or return information under this section may disclose such return or return information to [the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Joint Committee on Taxation] . . . if such person believes such return or return information may relate to possible misconduct, maladministration, or taxpayer abuse.

    Persons who have access under section 6103 include IRS and Treasury officials. They also include state tax officials. Subsection (d)(1) provides that state tax authorities may obtain federal returns to assist in the administration of state tax laws.

    So a state like California or New York, where Trump pays taxes, could request federal returns in order to validate that state laws are being followed, and then could whistleblow those federal returns back to Congress. That’s unproven as a process, but might get explored. New York is in the best position to do this because of the previous investigation related to his foundation which presumably would question his state deductions.

  187. 187.

    zhena gogolia

    February 20, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    @pamelabrown53:

    Good for you. I’ve been spouting off too.

  188. 188.

    Peale

    February 20, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    @Corner Stone: Yep. I wish that interview would have resurfaced later. Like the week before the speech.

  189. 189.

    germy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:24 pm

    @Baud: You’ve been a major disappointment.
    I thought you’d win the primary, but you lost to the hildebeast.

  190. 190.

    zhena gogolia

    February 20, 2017 at 2:25 pm

    @JMG:

    He probably assumed that anyone with a decent amount of money had to be on the “right” side.

  191. 191.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 2:26 pm

    “I thought Milo had good points on PC culture. But with him now supporting child sexual abuse, if conservatives stick with him, they’re evil.”
    A little late there, Kurt.

  192. 192.

    trollhattan

    February 20, 2017 at 2:27 pm

    Inevitable retort to Sweden disaster.

  193. 193.

    zhena gogolia

    February 20, 2017 at 2:27 pm

    @Baud:

    We all get tired of writing “FTW” in response to your comments.

  194. 194.

    Peale

    February 20, 2017 at 2:28 pm

    @trollhattan: I think its just the Greek in him promoting the old idea of the “Greek Love.” Like all conservatives, he’s looking back for an older golden age – in this case homosexuality as it was in 500 BC. And like all modern libertarians, he knows that the purest form of freedom is the ability to buy and sell children.

  195. 195.

    zhena gogolia

    February 20, 2017 at 2:28 pm

    @amygdala:

    А вы думаете, что будет вскрытие трупа? Ха, ха, ха.

  196. 196.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: #148.

    I have to admit that in all of your well thought delineated response that in #3 the words “cleaning up loose ends” struck me because they echoed my own, admittedly, random thoughts. While I used to be fairly immune to conspiracy theories, coincidences are too numerous to just pass them off uncritically.

    Who, or what institutions IYO, will have both the power and perseverance to separate fact from fiction?

  197. 197.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 2:34 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    M1911 .45 in a cross-body draw holster? With tactical body armor in black… just noodling out loud…

  198. 198.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 2:35 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    It is so hard to find decent Indian food in Minnesota despite there being dozens of places. Most have watered their food down for Scandinavian palets. A couple of them try to be high-class but end up just pretentious. One place has (has?) excellent food but the owner started adding things to our bill & then when I was recovering from the cancer we didn’t get back for several months. He chewed us out for not being back (without asking why) and litterally threw our plates down when he brought our food. We have never been back. We now have a couple of places where we know the food is great and we won’t be abused.

    One big change I have seen in all spice-driven cuisines recently is that staff is starting to take the request for heat seriously. We ate at a Sri Lankan place that advertised how hot their stuff was. I asked for a 7 out of 10 and had to argue with the waitress finally saying & would eat what she brought & it was my fault. What came out was bland. When I complained she said “Oh that was just a 3, I didn’t think you would want it that hot”. My reply was “I was going to give you a tip but I didn’t think you wanted one”. That was 15 – 20 years ago and I have had to learn some code words but I never get food like that if I don’t ask for it like that now.

  199. 199.

    trollhattan

    February 20, 2017 at 2:36 pm

    @Peale:
    I’d love to have him chat with our Very Conservative, Female D.A. about his legal theories re. age of consent enforcement.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 2:39 pm

    @lgerard:

    Why does anyone think that some hapless Somalians or Syrians pose a threat, but Russian immigrants don’t? Maybe someone can ask trump that at his next press conference.

    Trump: “Because these Russian immigrants are strong, hard working, bright and honest white folks who will help Make America Great Again, working with this administration to rebuild our nation to the glory it held in the good old days of 1859!” /snark

  201. 201.

    Sloane Ranger

    February 20, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    The House of Commons has just finished its debate on the Dump’s State Visit. The vote went against the Government but it’s an advisory only and the Government made clear that they are still hot to trot. There was a a massive anti Dump protest outside which could be heard as background noise throughout the debate.

    The fight here goes on.

  202. 202.

    Starfish

    February 20, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    @Corner Stone: They are not the true free speech patriots that they thought they were.

  203. 203.

    Corner Stone

    February 20, 2017 at 2:48 pm

    @Schlemazel: I have that problem with spice levels too, sometimes. I take a few minutes to explain that I mean it, and I appreciate their help. I got in over my head recently but it was Indian take out with naan so no one saw me crying in the corner trying to finish.
    I do not go to high end steak places very often any more, except for business now, but when I do I stop the waiter, make sure they are looking at me and say something like, “I don’t mean to be a jerk about this, it’s why I am saying it now. Please tell the chef when I say I want it rare I know what rare is and that is what I want. I will send it back until I get one that is rare. Thank you.”
    I say it pretty even keeled so as to limit my chances of getting the spit-butter treatment, but I just think it helps them to be clear. I get what I want and they move on to turn another top.

  204. 204.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 20, 2017 at 2:48 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    It is actually all about ethics in gaming journalism.

  205. 205.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    February 20, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I was late to discovering Indian food. It is sooo good. I’d kill for some Tandoori chicken now.

  206. 206.

    Baud

    February 20, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    @germy: I blame superdelegates.

  207. 207.

    Origuy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Wrong coast. San Jose, CA.

  208. 208.

    Origuy

    February 20, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    @Schlemazel: Is that the Sri Lanka Curry House? I used to go there when I went to the Twin Cities on business. They had four levels, Mild, Medium, Hot, and Extra Hot. They’d warn non-Indians away from the extra hot, but you could get it if you insisted.

  209. 209.

    pamelabrown53

    February 20, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    @Schlemazel: #196.

    I agree with parts of your last paragraph where even in purportedly authentic restaurants, the definition of “heat” has been revised downward. I’m at the point where “mild” means bland, “medium” is mediocre, and “hot” bears nor resemblance to the original cuisine.

    There’s also a strain of anti-science where too many believe that hot = gastrointestinal problems. While not a scientist, I’ve read that cultures who eat spicy/hot food actually have a lower rate of gastrointestinal problems.

  210. 210.

    GregB

    February 20, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    They have gotten to WWF westler Ivan Koloff, the Russian Bear even.

    https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/ivan-koloff-russian-bear-supreme-wrestling-heel-dies-74-n723176?client=safariM

  211. 211.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 3:02 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): There is no such think as Indian food. Most of the stuff that you get in the US as “Indian food” is typical restaurant food of northern India, particularly Delhi. Most of these restaurants are run by Punjabis.

  212. 212.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 3:03 pm

    @Origuy: You are in an Indian food Mecca, then. I ate more Indian food when I was visiting cousins in SF area than when I went to India itself.

  213. 213.

    Lyrebird

    February 20, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Hmmm… Geee…. might that be why you’d advocate –speaking in abstract terms without advantage to any given political party– that sitting presidents actually, say, put more reliance on their daily briefings and their professional intel officers than, say, on a given scandal-ridden TV network? Perchance?

    (headdesk headdesk deep breath dust off keep moving…)

  214. 214.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 3:05 pm

    @Schlemazel: That restaurant owner sounds like jerk.

  215. 215.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 3:07 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    I know a guy who built a Tree House that he lived in for years. Wood stove, hoisted firewood up with a block-and-tackle, not huge but comfortable, if you weren’t prone to motion sickness.

    I can use a slide rule, and bake a cake from scratch, and build houses on the ground.

  216. 216.

    stinger

    February 20, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    @Miss Bianca: “sometime”

    Is “now” good for you? It’s good for me!

  217. 217.

    cain

    February 20, 2017 at 3:25 pm

    I can’t stand indian food in the U.S. generally got too much spices and too oily, and too much cream. I prefer to make it at home.. and if you have some proficiency in the kitchen, I tend to go to youtube chef – Vahchef, the guy is awesome and everything I’ve made from his site has been really good. To the point that I can’t eat out for indian food anymore.

  218. 218.

    PPCLI

    February 20, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    @JPL: plutonium poisoning?

  219. 219.

    Ksmiami

    February 20, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    @pamelabrown53: no offense but please do not trust financial advisors. I used to market financial strategies and those guys know nothing. Just get a few vanguard index funds across asset classes and keep 20-30 percent in cash in case Trump causes a fin crisis

  220. 220.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 20, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    @cain: I have tried a shrimp curry by Vah Chef. There are something that you can’t recreate at home, the ones that require a tandoor. Mainly grilled meats and breads. Also, South Indian snack foods which require fermentation like dosa and idli.

  221. 221.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    @Origuy: yes it was but at the time they had 1-10

  222. 222.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 3:53 pm

    @Corner Stone: & @pamelabrown53:
    I have bee scared a few times & regretted asking for seriously hot only once. OTOH there is a Caribbean place4 here that plays no games & warns people. I ordered a dish that only came at one level & a lot of warnings. I was glad I had a lot of rice. Holy moly it was hot.

    I’m 65 now & for all the problems I do have hot food is not on the list. Hope that holds

  223. 223.

    Schlemazel

    February 20, 2017 at 3:58 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    We have a couple of Southern Indian places but, yes, most are Northern. It is surprising, to me at least, that many of them are run by Muslims (no beer to cool the fire! ;) ) but one of our all-time favs was run by Sikh’s. The food was really good but they closed for remodeling & never reopened.

  224. 224.

    liberal

    February 20, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    @Ksmiami: yeah…tried to tell my wife that there’s little use in getting a financial advisor, and she resents the fact we havent used on.

  225. 225.

    Miss Bianca

    February 20, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I’ve also been blowing back against lefties who I knew were anti-HRC who are now either meeping about “I can’t believe Trump is president!” or “look, see – it wasn’t just me – look at this righteous interview with Susan Sarandon!”

    I’m just like, “fuck all y’all who thought you were too cool for school. To so fundamentally misunderstand the nature of presidential elections and politics, and not take into account that there are a lot of people out there who are going to suffer for the sake of your ideological purity, is the essence of white privilege. ”

    @stinger: Ha! Well, the short version goes like this: the acquaintance – who is engaged to a Trump administration official who shall remain anonymous – suggested that they meet at The Orange One’s hotel – where she apparently has her own table in the hotel bar. So she and my friend A. are knocking back a bottle of bubbly while the acquaintance is gushing over what LOVELY people the Trumps are – how she’s going to have lunch with Ivanka next week – and A. is trying to keep her jaw from hitting the floor when in drifts a somewhat familiar-looking gent who oozes his way over to the table, exchanging air kisses with the acquaintance. “Did you see the press conference, darling?” asks the gent excitedly. Upon getting the negative, he enthuses at length about what a masterly performance The Donald gave, dwelling on how firmly he had put the press back in its proper place. Then the acquaintance says, “Oh, A – have you met Reince Priebus?”

  226. 226.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 4:10 pm

    @pamelabrown53:

    Next time, if there is any other financial presentation, start off by asking if their legal fiduciary responsibility is to their clients, or ask if they approve of the recent rules that place their fiduciary responsibility onto their clients.

    Really, for a salesman selling annuities to families, criticizing financial regulations intended to protect the marketplace AND the investments of ordinary people is really stupid. It’s like seeking a job in a jewelry store and telling the interviewer that you have always picked up pretty stones and put them in your pocket. Say what? Thanks for coming by, we’ll call you.

    I will confess that I really wanted to put the pretty little stones at Petrified Forest national Park in my pocket instead of back on the ground… but I also wanted to be able to tell the Park Service Ranger at the exit gate the truth, that I didn’t take any stones from the park that’s all about the stones. But I’m not a thief. We can’t be sure about your salesman… now can we?

    I think a glass of wine was in order, really.

  227. 227.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 4:17 pm

    @Kay:

    But Obamacare is safe from the scary Big Black Kenyan Ni**er now, so it’s all good, since the Big Black scary Kenyan can’t take our doctor away now, right? /snark

    That’s the thought process of ignorant bigots… it was dangerous because the scary black guy was in charge, and now a really rich white Republican is in charge, so Obamacare is as safe as, well, Medicare, for example. Crazy, illogical, stupid, but real.

  228. 228.

    stinger

    February 20, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Ooh, ugh, yuck — I’m almost sorry I asked. I’d no idea RNC PR BS was so oily and smarmy and air-kissy. Guess I’ve only seen stills, never a video with audio — thank dog!

  229. 229.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 4:32 pm

    @pamelabrown53:

    As opposed to an annuity, perhaps you should talk to a financial advisor about investing in mutual funds that are composed of financial instruments with a relatively fixed income, like dividend-paying stocks, bonds with regular repayment schedules, etc.

    I’m not qualified to give financial advice, myself, but I feel OK making a suggestion about alternate financial investments you could seek professional financial advice about, from a broker, for example.

  230. 230.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 20, 2017 at 4:35 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    I think it’s so sweet that all these people in the Trump administration spend their money at the joint the boss owns.

  231. 231.

    Miss Bianca

    February 20, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    @stinger: What had me gagging was the level of cognitive dissonance that you’d need to decide that the important thing about that press conference is how the President got away with abusing the press so badly, and not the fact that everything out of Trump’s mouth was Authentic Frontier Gibberish. But yeah – ewwww- the thought of being air-kissed by Reince Priebus or having to shake his clammy hand is pretty gag-inducing, too.

    @SiubhanDuinne: Maybe it’s a clause in their NDA’s!

  232. 232.

    Marjowil

    February 20, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    On a thread last night, Adam was discussing NSA candidates, and someone said, it’ll probably be McMasters because he has the best name. That would seem to be correct:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-announces-h-r-mcmaster-national-security-adviser

  233. 233.

    J R in WV

    February 20, 2017 at 4:53 pm

    @Origuy:

    I ordered an Indian Hot Vindaloo once, the waiter/manager said “Is the gentleman sure?” and I said yes, so he did. The guys in the kitchen were peeking around the edge of the door as I started ti eat it. It was really, really hot, but tangy too. I had 3 beers, extra napkins and rice, but I finished most of the portion, which was really big enough for two people, except that no one else wanted any Indian hot vindaloo.

    There was sweat dripping off my ears, but it was good, not just hot. I like Schezuan Chinese and hot Thai food too. And Mexican… which isn’t really very hot compared to Indian/Thai hot.

  234. 234.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 20, 2017 at 4:54 pm

    @pamelabrown53: The counterintelligence investigators. They’ll have a range of Signals Intel, Electronic (other than Signals) Intel, forensic auditors to look at the financial connections, and a variety of other investigators and prosecutors poring over this stuff from a variety of Intel and related agencies and departments. If a 9-11 style or Bipartisan Congressional Special Investigative Committee or a Special Prosecutor investigation is started, they too will have a cross section of these resources. But the CI folks are going to be doing the most robust investigation.

  235. 235.

    Ksmiami

    February 20, 2017 at 5:32 pm

    @J R in WV: Mutual funds have a really high expense ratio- Especially compounded.

  236. 236.

    Ksmiami

    February 20, 2017 at 5:34 pm

    @liberal: They are in it for commissions / give mes from financial wizards. Even with the fiduciary rules be wary. See private REITS (Scam)

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