Like if Don Knotts played Jack Ruby pic.twitter.com/LYIAeF8uqP
— Father Guido SarDShK (@ZeddRebel) March 31, 2017
Stunning exchange at Senate Intel:
Q: GOP Sen – ‘Why do #Russia active measures work?
A: @selectedwisdom – “Because #Trump embraces them." pic.twitter.com/XWSAzTnjkM
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) March 30, 2017
FLASHBACK — Mike Flynn: “Lock her up! … If I did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail”
Now he wants immunity https://t.co/mJKvZJvyBz pic.twitter.com/zl44VSL7ez
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 30, 2017
Michael Flynn's public offer (https://t.co/jdiBvNCr40) "suggests that he has nothing good to give the prosecutors." https://t.co/CFy1bSdtMX
— David Gura (@davidgura) March 31, 2017
… Although Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner of Covington & Burling, refused to comment for the article, he tweeted out a statement teasing that “General Flynn certainly has a story tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit.”
As an experienced lawyer, Kelner will know that the Justice Department would never grant immunity for testimony on these terms. Prosecutors would first require that Flynn submit to what’s called a proffer session in which Flynn would agree to tell everything he knows in exchange for the prosecutors agreeing not to use his statement against him. Only after the prosecutors heard what Flynn could offer in terms of evidence against others, and had an opportunity to assess his credibility, would they be willing to discuss any grants of immunity or a cooperation deal. At a minimum, the prosecutors would require Flynn’s lawyer to make a proffer outlining the information that Flynn could provide…
I suspect that Flynn’s lawyer is really targeting Congress. He is hoping that one of the Congressional committees will take the bait and grant him immunity in exchange for his testimony. If that happened, it would be extremely difficult to prosecute Flynn after he testified. Remember Oliver North?…
it's him circling wagons, not becoming a supergrass. If there's a case to be made prosecute and offer leniency at sentencing for testimony.
— Father Guido SarDShK (@ZeddRebel) March 30, 2017
There's a very short list of people Flynn would need to be able to incriminate for anyone to take him up on this deal https://t.co/kQG0wY0OgT
— John Tabin (@johntabin) March 30, 2017
Flynn, Page, Manafort…Amazing that of 4 suspects under investigation this guy has been the quietest this week. pic.twitter.com/qJglJ1mnGk
— Father Guido SarDShK (@ZeddRebel) March 31, 2017
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Phylllis
The love of money is the root of all evil. From One Timothy (New Trump Revised Edition).
The Pale Scot
For Whovians,
Rowan Atkinson is Doctor Who
IT”S FRIDAY, YEEAAA
OzarkHillbilly
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: A source has 2 sources. No wonder our news is so fucked up.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
It seems they’re going to get them on money laundering.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
To quote All the President’s Men: “If you guys can get
John MitchellGiuliani that would be beautiful”.Ceci n est pas mon nym
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Let’s say Trump resigns, now or later, and Pence, not yet under indictment, takes over. Do we get a repeat of the Ford-pardoning-Nixon thing? Can they head off our hearing the evidence and Trump facing consequences? Or are there parts of this process which are inevitably going to drag his butt into criminal court, regardless of whatever games his cronies play?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
.
JPL
I’m skeptical of the idea that the walls are closing in on Trump. I would think that he’d want to keep Ivanka from having a formal role, in order to protect her.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Meanwhile, on the Alt-Left:
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@JPL: As his daughter/common law wife,
IvankaLolita couldn’t be compelled to testify.David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
but, but….. revolutionary Susan Sarandon assured us Trump was a pacifist.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
I saw Barbour on msnbc yesterday, he looked panicked and spent his time screaming about the liberal media.
It seems they’re going to get them on money laundering.
NotMax
“It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world, but for
WalesPutin?”bystander
Clinton Watts is coming up on Morning Joe. Just chug some Pepto and let’s watch.
bystander
NB: Joe contends that the “illegal” unmasking of Flynn is “5% of the story.”
NotMax
@
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Never forget that Barbour was prominent among those who traveled to Hong Kong harbor to be handed briefcases stuffed with cash intended for the G.O.P.
bystander
It was Obama’s fault: He didn’t realize quickly enough that the repub candidate would actually collude with Putin.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
bystander
@JPL:
Trump is using Lolita to protect him, not the other way around. Remember we’re talking about a narcissist.
JPL
@bystander: Your jesting, I hope.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@rikyrah: Good morning!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
The New Yorker has a comprising photo of Trump, Bannon, and Conway (photo)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Amazing photo.
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I call bullshit.
debbie
@JPL:
That would assume he is a loving father who puts his daughter before himself. Silly JPL!
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: It’s always Obama’s fault. Have you learned nothing?
ps: how’s your commute?
bystander
@JPL: Sorry, I’m not jesting but it’s not what I think. Joe Scar asked Clint Watts what the Obama administration did wrong. Watts said they didn’t realize quickly enough what was going on with the Russian hacking and why.
bystander
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Why did I expect to see this pic of those three.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@debbie: He doesn’t like being President. It’s boring. If he could just do rallies and ride marine one and be on tee vee every day it would be fine. But he has to live in DC 4 days a week and it’s a boring town. Plus, he’s confined to the oval office most of the day, which means he can’t run around, sexually assaulting women.
He would love to go back to his old life of money laundering, fornicating, golfing all day, talking pussÿ with Howard Stern, and running beauty pageants.
Mr. 35% would welcome the relief of resignation.
debbie
@bystander:
Watts, as in J.C.? Oh, please, he knows nothing — specially, he has no idea what Obama did and didn’t realize.
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I disagree. He may not be happy in his job, but with resignation comes the end of everything Donald. Not even Trump could be delusional enough to think he could go back to Trump Industries and make the kinds of deals and money he made before his campaign began.
lollipopguild
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: People are refusing to kneel before Zod.
Fester Addams
Are they dragging the lake yet?
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: If I need to go downtown, I take the train. Both of my sons live with two miles of work, so their impact will be minor. DIL takes 285 so she’ll have additional traffic. Fulton county schools have spring break next week so that should help. It’s going to be a long time before things get back to normal though.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JPL:
Remember – as a clinical NPD sociopath, he’s not a particularly loyal person at his core. He cocoons himself with his children not out of loyalty to them or adoration for them, but because they insulate him from criticism and consequences.
In addition, he’s not very smart, so he hasn’t thought it through.
BlueDWarrior
@debbie: yeah, that’s why I think short of an authenticated sex tape, Trump will have to be dragged out of office.
JPL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Jared is knee deep in the mess, so it wouldn’t benefit him to walk away. Will no one think of poor Ivanka.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Good.
evodevo
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Probably not. Because that would mean he’s a LOSER, and THAT will never fly in TrumpWorld. I predict he’ll go down in flames, after throwing virtually everyone in the admin out of the plane.
OzarkHillbilly
@BlueDWarrior: He’d have to be getting fucked by a goat for it to make a difference with his base.
Waldo
Hoping all the president’s men cut deals that include prison time. They deserve it, of course, but I’m also dying to see Stone, the dapper douche, rockin’ an orange jumpsuit and prison-issue spectacles.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Fester Addams:
My guess he’s watching football with Jimmy Hoffa.
Sanjeevs
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: General Keith Alexander was on MSNBC last night too. His line was that Putin knows he went too far and the US just needed to be nicer to him.
We’re beginning to see why McCain called this a centipede and why Feinstein and Grassley looked like they did.
Iowa Old Lady
Trump’s morning tweet, about half an hour ago. He’s getting boring even on twitter.
Lurking Canadian
@debbie: Clint Watts and JC Watts appear to be different people. Both are wingnuts, but only one is a former CFL quarterback.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
The former CEO of Exxon turnout to be a blood sucker
hoooooooooocoooooooooooooooooodaaaaaaaaaaaaaanode?!
Peter
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
A presidential pardon prevents federal charges, but a congressional inquiry could still proceed and I have no doubt that Trump tripped over his own dick somewhere along the line vis a vis state election finance law.
Roger Moore
@debbie:
Of course he’ll put his daughter before himself… if that’s the direction the bullets are coming from.
Kay
@JPL:
Comey said at the hearing that “collusion” isn’t a legal term – they use “coordination”. It will be really hard to prove because Trumpsters can point to the (alleged) hackers who were putting the anti-Clinton stuff out publicly and say they got it there, like everyone else.
Trump doesn’t have to tell Russia to do something they want to do and are doing. All he has to do is ride on it. Now, Comey added something else, he also said “knowing or unknowing coordination” which to me implies there could be something illegal with “going along with it” but I don’t know what that would be.
Iowa Old Lady
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: That’s funny but it’s also depressing. People would rather speculate he’s a vampire (and not in a metaphorical way) than deal with reality.
rikyrah
@JPL:
Did the tanker explosion cause the highway collapse or vice versa?
raven
@rikyrah: There was no tanker involved. There were huge spools of pvc or fiberoptic cable stored under the interstate and they caught on fire.
JPL
@rikyrah: It appears to be caused by stupidity, or what Raven said at 51.
Jeffro
@BlueDWarrior: or even then…
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
It depends on how willing the government is to push schedules, cut red tape, and think outside the box. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans was able to get some of the completely collapsed freeway bridges back in service in less than 3 months. It required a combination of novel construction techniques, round-the-clock schedules, and a serious willingness to rush bureaucratic processes that would otherwise have taken longer than that by themselves.
Peter
@Kay: Well, Roger Stone knew what Wikileaks was doing before it did it. That’s one thread to pull on.
kindness
From all this we have learned that that the Republican base would be in favor of horse thieves if Trump was charged with stealing horses. That whole Republicans are more moral and have higher character thing? Not so much.
raven
@Roger Moore: Yea, and this is the state that just approved campus carry again.
Just One More Canuck
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: The inspirations for the Robert Deniro and Joe Pesci characters in “Goodfellas” allegedly(!!) buried one of the victims in a bocce court and would say hi to him whenever they played
Chyron HR
Wake up, sheeple. PVC pipe can’t melt I-85.
Kay
But I guess “unknowing coordination” could be more closely linked than “going along”- it could be coordination with an individual or group by Trumpsters but they don’t have anything to prove Trumpsters knew the individual or group were working with or for the Russian government to interfere in the election.
JMG
I realize this may start something bad here, but I read the thread about this and there seemed to be no answer. Did the other Bostonians here come up with a place to meet Cole tonight? I’m on the Cape now, but might be back in time.
BTW, that thread was marvelous Massachusetts action. If the redcoats had just held their fire at Lexington, the Minutemen would’ve started arguing among themselves about where to have lunch and wound up going home mad at each other. The Revolution would never have started.
JPL
@Roger Moore: You know I live in GA. lol It does appear that the proposed state income tax cut was not passed last night though.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Two points of possible collusion that are very hard to explain away by shrieking “fake news:” 1) The pro-Russia change to the GOP platform (which was the only change the Trump people requested), and 2) Roger Stone’s prediction about Podesta’s emails, which predated the WikiLeaks doc dump.
Roger Moore
@Peter:
And he admitted to talking to Guccifer 2.0, AKA the GRU. That sounds a lot like coordination to me.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JPL:
I think about her a lot, as a cast member in a “women in prison” movie. Brought down so low, so lonely, needing affection and attention, maybe a little discipline…
Roger Moore
@raven: @JPL:
I’ll just say that California is well, and justifiably, known for the amount of red tape that it can throw at projects. Look up the history of the I-710 extension; they’re still arguing about it and trying to figure out if they can push it through 50 years after it was first proposed. But when push came to shove, we were willing and able to figure out how to fix our bridges in a hurry.
Tarragon
I’ve been waiting for an open thread to ask…
Why do 50% of the articles my Trumpy uncle forwards have “Its Happening!” in the headline? For a while I thought it was some sort of tag indicating Hillary is going to be indicted any minute now. But it can be on anything; Hawaiian judge blocks travel ban. It’s Happening!
What IS happening? Are they waiting for something?
raven
Here’s a screencap of the spools under the bridge.
raven
@Roger Moore: At least the didn’t rebuild that monstrosity at the Embarcadero. I also assume, since this is the interstate, that the feds will get in on it.
Kay
@Peter:
But there’s two parts to even that. Stone can “work with” Russians, just like he can “work with” anyone else.
He would have to be working with Russians to do something illegal and lying about Hillary Clinton isn’t illegal, or the entire GOP would be in prison. These people and entities wanted to do this anyway. They had their own reasons for wanting to elect Trump. It’s possible that Trumpsters could have stood back and let them do it without any coordination at all. They’re kind of dumb and they all think they’re geniuses so maybe they didn’t stand back- maybe they jumped in an “coordinated”- but the fact that Russia wanted this for their own reasons might make it hard to prove coordination. Unless there’s money. Money changing hands would help.
Baud
Remember, the National Enquire several days ago was given the go-ahead to throw Flynn under the bus.
jacy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Narcissists will readily sacrifice their children when necessary. Every time. My therapist and I were just having a discussion about narcissistic families and narcissistic parenting — they’ll outwardly look like “good” parents so long as they receive positive reinforcement for doing so. But the minute either their child or outside circumstances trigger them, they’ll cut off that limb as fast they can. You have to remember that a child is only an extension of self to a narcissist. They have no intrinsic value to the narcissist, they only act as a reflection of the narcissist.
JPL
@Baud: Trump saved the day by nabbing the spy, but today Trump said it’s a witch hunt.
OzarkHillbilly
@Roger Moore:
In this new age of Trump, that worries me.
D58826
If memory serves, most if not all of the Watergate gang did not get immunity. It was plead guilty/talk and maybe a lighter sentence. The crusty old GOP judge, first assigned to the case, wasn’t called maximum John Sirrica for nothing.
Of course those were the days where Republicans put country first.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Just One More Canuck: well, at least they had manners.
Ella in New Mexico
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Fortunately, Pence would have to pardon him for such a wide swath of crimes he’d be bound to miss one.
Besides, what are the rules for pardons when you yourself are also under investigation? Do co-conspirators get to use the “Get Out of Jail Free” card for each other?
Manafort gave us Pence, don’t forget. Does anyone really think the “serious guy with the steady hand on the wheel” behind the scenes all those months of the campaign doesn’t know EXACTLY what went down?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: I think Roger is referring to the I-10 bridge in West LA, I think there was fed disaster relief help, but it was pretty much all state decision making.
Kay
@Peter:
For a normal White House there would be an additional risk- that something is uncovered that contradicts their denials but these people lie publicly and constantly every day, so this would be one more public lie to add to the pile.
This idea that “their reputations will be sullied” or “they will no longer be credible” apparently isn’t something that concerns them very much, and why should it? It’s worked okay for them so far. Donald Trump was and is rewarded for lying. Something like 70% of the GOP base believe Obama tapped Trump Tower.
Roger Moore
@OzarkHillbilly:
Almost all of this stuff is handled at the state level, so Trump won’t have much to do with it. If the suburban commuters scream badly enough, you will be amazed at what kind of rules the state government will be willing to bend to get things fixed quickly.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
What too many “hee hee, ha ha, isn’t it funny what hackers do” and non technical types can’t seem to grasp is that unauthorized access by guessing passwords or phishing is in fact a crime.
This extends to black hat hackers, white hat hackers and end consumers of stolen data.
Asking someone to do it publicly is problematic enough; once you start coordinating its use, you become a co-conspirator or accessory after the fact.
raven
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Ah, I get my earthquakes messed up.
raven
@Roger Moore: They are the one’s who have screamed to keep public transportation out of the burbs.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
And e-mails! I want to see the e-mails!!
Oh, wait a minute…. Only DEMs have to provide e-mails, My bad.
Ella in New Mexico
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: And yet It appears that it was Woolsey who alerted the FBI to Flynn’s plans to kidnap Gulen and render him illegally from the US to Turkey-because Flynn was being paid by Erdrogan’s government to act as a foreign agent. Maybe this “casino business” cleverly had prominent people on their “advisory committee” to deflect suspicion. They may have no knowledge of its activities.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
That’s amazing. I don’t read them, but not even Fox News is completely ignoring this.
OzarkHillbilly
@jacy:
My sons can testify to that fact, and yet they still love their mother.
Roger Moore
@raven:
And the state has been willing to listen to them. What makes you think the state will ignore them now?
clay
@Kay:
He doesn’t have to, of course, but he DID. What was the quote, on national TV? “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing….”
Would they be able to demonstrate intent with his own public words? (Kinda like how the court is using his campaign’s words to strike down the Muslim ban.)
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: We tend to remember our earthquakes for some reason. That pic is from the aftermath of the ’71 San Fernando quake, though that interchange(I-5/SR-14) also collapsed during Northridge.
Baud
@JPL: At least Trump was honest enough to admit he’s a witch. Not even Christine O’Donnell would do that.
raven
@Roger Moore: What makes me think the Georgia State Government is incompetent when it come to transportation?
Kay
The Indivisible group met with a rep from Latta’s office. Latta is a go along to get along. He’s further Right than he should be given his district (my part of the district is heavily R but there are areas that are 50/50 or even D) but for some reason he escapes notice for this, perhaps because of his blandness and the fact that no one ever sees him or hears from him. So I was interested that he sent someone to meet with Indivisible who are essentially “the Anti-Trump group”. “Outreach” is not something he does.
raven
Another Scott
Morning everyone. Some welcome rain today in NoVA.
Dean Baker brings the smackdown on a Globe piece about those evil boomers who are destroying the world, and the robots who are taking all the jobs (Hi Martin!) here:
Tell it, Dean!
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott: Good. Robots and boomers are a big talking point among the youngsters on Reddit.
OzarkHillbilly
@Roger Moore: I didn’t say Trump, I said this AGE of Trump. There is a reason for all those *bureaucratic roadblocks*, it’s called building safe things safely for a reasonable amount of money. This being the major artery it is things will be sped up, but as a lifelong carpenter can tell you, speed kills. Literally.
And in this new age of Trump, who cares? Plenty more carpenters where that one came from.
** yes there are other types of bureaucratic roadblocks that have nothing to do with the construction but rather are territorial, and yes they can be moved to the side when the situation calls for it, but over the years, I and mine suffered too many injuries because somebody else was in a fucking hurry. And that was when we mattered, to our union if nobody else.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: He just talked about robots in the excerpt, I’m sure boomers are still destroying the world.
SFAW
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
They must be using last year’s calendar — April Fool’s Day is tomorrow.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
It fits with my experience that Pence’s wife would be his holy warrior. Evangelical women tend to be more devout than their husbands, though there
are plenty of exceptions. Even the thiry year-olds seem like Nancy Reagan at her most starched. Think Phyllis Schafly as a “mean girl”.
Kay
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Right, but “coordinating”. If promoting the hell out of the Wikileaks emails and acting as if they proved horrible things about Hillary Clinton when there was nothing there was a crime the entire cable industry would be in prison.
Trump didn’t have to put them up to this. He could be the incidental beneficiary of the thing. They could have chosen not “Trump” but the least-worst candidate for them who happened to be Trump. It’s even possible that they chose Trump not because of any specific quid pro quo but because they knew he’d be a disaster and that’s obviously not good news for the United States. That’s the “discredit the US” theory. That they wanted to erode trust, create discord.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ella in New Mexico: Only the first conspirator making a deal gets the sweet heart treatment. Everybody else gets a hard time.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Robots vs boomers would be a cool flick.
Another Scott
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: No time to check, but my recollection is that Ford’s pardon was for any crimes Nixon committed in office. Most of Donnie’s alleged crimes were before January 20. I can’t imagine a pardon for everything Donnie has ever done (or will do) being accepted…
Of course, the President’s pardoning power is very broad.
But I think Jester’s being funny here. I can’t see any way that Donnie is actually thinking about resignation. He doesn’t look that far ahead. Look at his tweets over the last 2 weeks about the AHCA… If Donnie resigns, it will be quickly and not something that he’s planned out. (And I don’t expect it to happen without a real (not potential) 25th or Impeachment hammer hanging over his head.)
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Fester Addams: They’ve got the woman with the red dogs under illegal legs, so it seemingly just a matter of time…
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’ve been saying for awhile that he’ll throw everyone under the bus, with the possible exception of Ivanka, before he willingly leaves office. Their relationship is so odd–the daughter-wife dynamic has been evident since she was very young–and if there is one person in the world that he would protect, it would be her. Eric and Don, Jr. will be cannon fodder, though.
We’re already seeing this “everyone under the bus” phenomenon beginning. First it was Flynn they tried to portray as the sole Russian mole in the White House. Now Nunes is going to be hung out to dry. Some resignations have already started. But psychologically being forced to resign means he has lost. I just don’t see how he can do that. He’ll point the finger at everyone and toss out any dirt he’s got on them in an effort to save himself. This includes Mike Pence.
Debbie1
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: “but, but….. revolutionary Susan Sarandon assured us Trump was a pacifist.” Oh, well. I guess that’s why elections (like pencils) have erasers.
Baud
@Debbie1: To be fair, so did the garbage NYT.
OzarkHillbilly
@jake the antisoshul soshulist:
Is there any other way to think of Phyllis Schlafly?
ET
On a utter happy note that I hope doesn’t get lost in the thread, this video of cats ringing a bell for food is ridiculously funny.
Enjoy.
satby
Wow, I slept late today. Good morning everyone! So today, like all days, is officially “root for injuries” day? Cool, I’m on board. Everyday.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: Remember Dense and the cabinet are the folk that trigger the 25th section 4.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: I’m still not allowing myself to believe this will happen — goes too much against my pessimistic worldview, in which the evil generally prospers! But oh how I would enjoy the spectacle of that petulant, revolting sack of shit humiliated before all humanity!
satby
@ET: thanks! That’s great.
JPL
UH OH! The bridge that collapsed on 85 was on the north side, and it appears that there is damage on the south side also.
@Betty Cracker: Trump has not taken responsibility for his actions before, and I’m skeptical that anything will stick to him. The repubs don’ts care that he is profiting off of the presidency, because tax cuts.
raven
@JPL: How could there not have been damage to the other side with the intensity of the fire?
JPL
@raven: I agree but the local nbc station earlier, thought they might be able to open it in a week. Now they are saying it needs to be replaced.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Yarrow:
So on a related topic of clueless narcissists, one of the guys in my office just got suspended in two states because he was too stupid to crack his wallet open and take some minor discipline. He’s in his 70s, fairly stupid, litigious and obstinately shifty. He’s got a collection practice with a core flow that I think can be kept, but the mandatory suspension letters are going to cause some evaporation for whoever steps in, and he’s underutilized his staff levels for the volume capacity he should be marketing.
I was looking at stepping in as placeholder and possibly taking over permanently, but he wants a ridiculous paralegal salary during suspension and frankly has nothing to add besides being reckless and greedy. Yesterday, he was suggesting throwing a diligent, competent staffer under the bus so his ridiculous demand could make the numbers work (my estimate had me putting money in just in order to meet his idiot demand.
A few minutes from now, he gets my “last best final” which he is going to reject. Close of business, his lights go out, and when he gets reinstated, he’ll be starting from scratch at 72.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: There’s damage and there’s tear down and rebuild damage.
Keith P.
@OzarkHillbilly: Dead and rotting in the grave. Or shoveling shit in hell.
bupalos
@JPL: I’m pretty sure he’d be lying to her too. He’s lying to himself. Narcissists don’t really understand that it’s even possible for them to be guilty of things, that doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t have the ability to protect anyone because he doesn’t really understand what’s going on.
Donald Trump was just trying to make the country stronger by making it’s avatar and the greatest man it ever produced even greater, and cementing a friendship with Russia that would stamp out all evil in the world. He was the only one who could have done that, and he had to do whatever he did in order to make that happen.
Kay
@Yarrow:
He throws people under the bus but only to the extent where doing that doesn’t reflect on him- on his judgment for hiring them in the first place. He has too big an ego to even effectively throw anyone under the bus.
The “best people”. These people he surrounds himself with are like a mirror to him. They have to be the best people because he’s the best.
OzarkHillbilly
@Keith P.: With her children fighting like a pack of hyenas over the rotting corpse of her political operation.
JPL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It appears to be tear it down damage.
Sanjeevs
If you watch David Cay Johnston’s talks about Trump on Youtube it looks like Trump will have to be dragged out of office by a SWAT team. And me will nuke the US first if he has to.
JPL
@Kay: Can Trump issue a blanket pardon? We know that Flynn retroactively registered as a foreign agent. That’s not normal.
bupalos
Donald Trump in prison is probably not the best ending here. It sounds great, but the way that would shake out in reality would likely be very iffy. Like lots of domestic terrorism and lots of Republicans like ZEGS getting to hop in the escape pod, and possibly even being remembered as The Serious Wonk That Crossed the Aisle to Do His Duty And Save the Country. Dems need to start thinking about switching to offense, and how the groundwork can be laid here for a more progressive agenda. Including how to trade things like Trump’s last 10 years on earth for a better country and better life for generations of Americans.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
One boomer in particular…
Betty Cracker
@bupalos: Trade his last 10 years with whom? How does the soft landing you envision work?
laura
@Roger Moore: well, some bridges . . . The bay bridge replacement took way to long -thanks Arnold! But the LA freeway bridge repla cement was greased lightening, and as mentioned earlier, novel building technique by C.C. Meyers used railroad bed sections undergirding. I was at the Alliance for Jobs lunch on Wednesday and it was a topic of discussion just before Governor Brown’s presser on the major Transportation package that hopefully gets passed next week. If a certain Steve Glazer gets the stick out of his ass about denying BART workers the right to strike. Thanks to a super majority in the legislature, it’s doable, and badly needed and so overdue. The Reps, as usual, want no increase in any tax ever, and would prefer a funding source that knuckles the poors, so it hangs on the timidity of a handful of dems. Our roadways are crap and this winters weather have taken a huge toll on them.
Think driving down the Oroville dam spillway.
Yarrow
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, but as someone pointed out above, Manafort is the one who pushed for Pence. Why would that be? If Donald knows something–or, heck, if Manafort decides to talk–Pence could be compromised.
@Betty Cracker: He will be. I have confidence. I don’t know if it’ll be impeachment, 25th amendment, or he’ll resign. I think resignation is the last option. I means he lost. I don’t think he can handle it. But maybe he can convince himself it’s his best move, in which case he’ll claim he’s done everything he wanted to do and leave. Still won’t save him from investigation and prosecution, though.
geg6
@JPL:
Pittsburgh just went through this very thing last September, with some minor differences. One of the main arteries into the city from the very populous South Hills is the Liberty Bridge. Some idiot welder from a company contracted to do maintenance caught the bridge on fire (slag fell into an improperly stored plastic vent pipe) and it distorted the steel chord that held most of the load of the bridge, making it too dangerous to open to traffic for 24 days. Fire burned at 1200 degrees F for over a half hour until firefighters could put it out. Contractor had to pay more than $3.5 million in fines for fines and emergency repairs to PENNDOT, another upcoming $500K for the cost of emergency and permanent repairs, over $11K to OSHA for safety violations and another $1K per day to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire for not having a permit for hot work. None of this was covered by insurance. And I can’t tell you how horrible it made traffic going into and out of the city. Be prepared for a long closing and lots of traffic headaches.
geg6
@bupalos:
Trade what? I’m not willing to trade anything to keep that shitty orange Cheeto afloat. Fuck him and fuck that shit.
Yarrow
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That sounds awful. And really stupid on his part. It’s amazing what narcissism can do.
@Kay: I no longer believe that he writes all those tweets. He probably still writes some but a lot are disinformation. I much more believe the National Enquirer angle that Flynn was the lone bad guy Russian mole and look how great Donald was to catch him.
He’s a narcissist, so he can’t really see people he picked as reflecting on him. They are tools for him–a means to an end. When they are no longer useful, they can go. Perhaps must go. That’s why I think that as the noose tightens, he’ll throw everyone under the bus in an effort to save himself. The only one who may be spared is Ivanka because of their weird relationship.
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly:
How old are they? It can take a long time for children, even adult children, to realize just how they’ve been used (and abused) by the narcissist parent. It’s a very deep wound that no one likes to look at. My youngest sister was nearly 50 before she became “woke.”
liberalandlovingit!
@Phylllis:
yea. and “poverty is the greatest violence”.
jacy
@O. Felix Culpa:
My kids are 16 and 11 — they have a pretty good idea that their dad sees them as “things to show off” and to berate when they don’t meet his standards for what his children should be. He’s a devout Catholic and they both identify as agnostic, so that’s a huge thing that’s going on right now. I just stay out of it and try support them and remind them that he does love them, he just has trouble showing it because of the way his parents treated him. He’s not “full-blown” narcissistic all the time, but his mother puts Donald Trump to shame in that department, and he reverts back to that pattern whenever he’s under stress. Which is most of the time. I think sometimes it’s hardest on the kids when he shows flashes of decency and empathy, and then those evaporate like they were never there.
Mobile
@OzarkHillbilly: Naw. The Republican base knows that “a good goat will do that.” (Punchline to a very old and nasty lawyer joke)
O. Felix Culpa
@jacy:
Yes, that behavior raises hope and is never sustained. So the child’s natural, innate hope for a “normal,” loving parent gets dashed. Over and over again. Eventually the child (often not until well into adulthood) has to let go, if they want any kind of healthy balance in their life.
moops
Congress will trip over themselves to offer Flynn immunity. It doesn’t matter what he has. They want to take this from the FBI, and in return for immunity, Flynn can testify that Everything with Russia was Him. He is going to Ollie North this whole thing and sink all the investigations. In return he will be taken care of by the right-wing welfare system for his whole life.
He’ll get to do talk shows and write books and go on tours, just like Ollie
http://olivernorth.com/
He will be a hero because the media will tell the faithful he is a hero.