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You are here: Home / Politics / An Unexamined Scandal / The Tell: “To Charm Trump, Paul Manafort Sold Himself…”

The Tell: “To Charm Trump, Paul Manafort Sold Himself…”

by Anne Laurie|  April 9, 20175:26 pm| 121 Comments

This post is in: An Unexamined Scandal, C.R.E.A.M., Dolt 45, Election 2016, Foreign Affairs, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel, Not Normal

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How Paul Manafort sold himself to Trump: a 'killer' with no 'Washington baggage' who would work for free, memo shows https://t.co/xKwn4ltk7A

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) April 8, 2017

Of course a perennially hand-to-mouth con man like Donald Trump would immediately snatch at any offer of assistance from a conveniently-placed, self-advertised “killer” with all the right enemies (like establishment GOP assassin Karl Rove!). It’s the photo which the NYTimes chose to place at the top of its story…

….On Feb. 29, 2016, Mr. Manafort, the former lobbyist and Republican operative who now sits at the nexus of investigations into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election, reached out to Mr. Trump with a slick, carefully calibrated offer that appealed to the candidate’s need for professional guidance, thirst for political payback — and parsimony.

The letters and memos provide a telling glimpse into how Mr. Trump invited an enigmatic international fixer, who is currently under investigation by United States intelligence services, a Senate committee and investigators in Ukraine, to the apex of his campaign with a minimum of vetting. The answer? Through family and friends, handshakes and hyperbole.

Mr. Manafort, who has not been accused of any crimes — and who denies any wrongdoing in his political, business and investment dealings — is nonetheless a central figure in the investigation into the interactions of Trump campaign officials with foreign governments. How he got to know Mr. Trump, and how he rose from overseeing the candidate’s operations at the Republican convention to the entire campaign, is very likely to be a focus during coming Senate hearings about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government…

… But who is that aspirational C. Montgomery Burns handing Manafort a suspiciously thick wad of notes? Why, it’s Stephen Miller, currently right-hand mannikin to the much-reviled Steve Bannon!

One might suspect that Jared Kushner, for all his dewy youth, did manage to learn certain lessons about kneecapping the competition from his father, the convicted felon.

Or maybe he’s just an aficionado of GOP tricksterism who’s read up on the Pumpkin Papers…

Effin’ Millenials and their ‘retro’ fads. I could’ve lived a happy life without the current Kremlinology revival.

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Reader Interactions

121Comments

  1. 1.

    Mickee

    April 9, 2017 at 5:35 pm

    This was a fluff piece that suggested Manafort was too ‘soft’ and not rough and tough enough for the Trumper’s so he left. Flat out lie. He was forced out when his shady Ukranian ties were revealed.

    It’s almost like NYT forgot that Manafort recently hired a PR firm to rewrite his history and only needed the willing help of a gullible media to complete the fake story.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    April 9, 2017 at 5:36 pm

    I wonder if the NYT reporters covering Clinton also offered to work for free.

  3. 3.

    Mike J

    April 9, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    Nazi Richard Spencer ran away form his rally yesterday because he was going to get beaten again. Jump in a cab driven by a man from India. Could not keep his mouth shut, got kicked out of the cab.

    https://antifascistnews.net/2017/04/09/richard-spencer-just-got-his-ass-kicked-and-glitter-bombed-videos/

  4. 4.

    bystander

    April 9, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    Don’t get me started on the Times. I don’t regret canceling my subscription in the least.

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    April 9, 2017 at 5:44 pm

    a lie goes halfway around the world before the truth gets its shoes on…
    and no one resigns, the only firings are to insulate the guilty from the evidence…
    our failed media? more like our failing democracy. not done yet, but we’re in the ICU.

  6. 6.

    bystander

    April 9, 2017 at 5:45 pm

    @Mike J: That looks like some fringe violence that could turn a lot uglier. Kinda scary.

  7. 7.

    Yarrow

    April 9, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    Mr. Manafort, who has not been accused of any crimes

    Needs the word “yet” inserted. Not yet been accused of any crimes. He will be.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    April 9, 2017 at 5:58 pm

    Manafort lives but a short elevator ride below Melania. Does anyone really believe he still doesn’t have his hand in?

  9. 9.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 6:06 pm

    @NotMax:

    Does anyone really believe he still doesn’t have his hand in?

    Or maybe not his hand?

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2017 at 6:18 pm

    As I have been pointing out for over a year now, Paul Fucking Manafort is and always has been a bloodsucking mercenary with no loyalty to anyone on Earth except Paul Fucking Manafort. Given the right evidence and the right deal he will sell out his mother without blinking.

  11. 11.

    bystander

    April 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @efgoldman: Surely not a man as honorable as Manafort.

    And when Bannon calls Jared a “cuck,” who is it that Bannon is accusing of having sex with Ivanka? Or does he not know the meaning of cuckold and thinks it’s a veiled way of smearing Jared with another four-letter anti-Semitic slur?

  12. 12.

    Patricia Kayden

    April 9, 2017 at 6:25 pm

    @Mickee: As Schrodinger’s Cat always reminds us, the NYT is awful. Seems like whenever they criticize Trump, they immediately follow up with an article soft-pedaling him and/or his supporters.

  13. 13.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    Words cannot adequately express how disgusted and furious I am about this whole mess we find ourselves in.

  14. 14.

    Lyrebird

    April 9, 2017 at 6:28 pm

    Anne Laurie, I hope you read this comment… ‘cos all I am saying is that even though I am not commenting much right now, I am SO SO SO grateful you are writing and that you are here in the handbasket with the rest of us. Thank you (and John & other FPers too) for what you do.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    April 9, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Schrodinger’s Cat always reminds us, the NYT is awful.

    Or as Baud reminds us, every time the NYT is mentioned, “the NYT is garbage”.

  16. 16.

    Mike J

    April 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @bystander: In the 80s when the right were saying gay people should be locked up to prevent the spread of AIDS, decent people tut-tutted. Now there are literally Nazis in the street saying Jews should be rounded up and gassed.

    Perhaps had we been a little more emphatic in our previous disagreement the bounds of acceptable public discourse would not have moved so far.

  17. 17.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    April 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @bystander: A black guy (likely “mulatto”), so probably Obama.

  18. 18.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    As I have been pointing out for over a year now, Paul Fucking Manafort is and always has been a bloodsucking mercenary

    Campaign consultants never have totally clean hands, but Manafort and his buddies are covered ears to toenails in many, many layers of mud.
    And not the nice clean kind they use on baseballs, either.

  19. 19.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    @Mike J:

    Perhaps had we been a little more emphatic in our previous disagreement the bounds of acceptable public discourse would not have moved so far.

    Perhaps, instead of blaming our reactions. we should blame the assholes.

  20. 20.

    hovercraft

    April 9, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    @Mickee:

    It’s almost like NYT forgot that Manafort recently hired a PR firm to rewrite his history and only needed the willing help of a gullible media to complete the fake story.

    No they know how the game is played. It’s like the “spin room” that’s set up in the presidential debate venues. The media go in there and interview spinners, and then turn around to “report” to us from said “spin room”. This is the game they play, they’re in on the con, it’s the readers who are getting played. Assholes.
    NY Times is garbage, H/T Baud

  21. 21.

    debbie

    April 9, 2017 at 6:55 pm

    @Mike J:

    What a wuss. The photos don’t show it, but I’m hoping the glitter bombing was literal.

  22. 22.

    Patricia Kayden

    April 9, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    @Mike J: It’s hard out there on a Bigot. Sad.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    April 9, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    @bystander:

    And you think that if the situation was reversed, Spencer’s followers would have treated a liberal in a gentlemanly manner?

  24. 24.

    sukabi

    April 9, 2017 at 6:59 pm

    @Mickee: thank you. In all the politeness of Mr. Manafort and Mr. Trump the NYT is whitewashing the facts out of the narrative. Manafort left because his Russian and other connections were getting too obvious.

  25. 25.

    Patricia Kayden

    April 9, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    @GrandJury:

    I am of the opinion that hating on these people and physical violence plays into the hands of demagogues like Cheeto Benito.

    That’s an odd comment. What’s wrong with “hating on these people”? Why shouldn’t Neo-Nazis be hated on? From what I know about Neo-Nazis, they foment violence so the fact that violence targets them isn’t something I’ll lose sleep about. I’ll save my sympathy for victims of racism/Islamophobia, many of which surfaced after Trump’s win.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    April 9, 2017 at 7:06 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Or as Baud reminds us, every time the NYT is mentioned, “the NYT is garbage”.

    I dunno — I really like their comics page.

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2017 at 7:06 pm

    @hovercraft:
    Actually the media is also getting played. It’s just that they don’t give a damn that they are. The media is not about the truth. They never have been. They are about their point of view, which is, give us money and we’ll give you ink or pixels, arranged in some way that we hope makes you give us more money. Of course there are always a few reporters that have actual standards about what they write, but like all of us they need to eat and they’d like to be comfortable. Being honorable is a costly way to live. More costly for some of us than others.

  28. 28.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2017 at 7:07 pm

    @SFAW:
    I see what you did there.

  29. 29.

    raven

    April 9, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    Serious drama at Augusta!

  30. 30.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    April 9, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    @bystander:

    It’s a bit worse than that. Bannon is implying that Jared stands by while someone else has fun with Jared’s wife. Given who has openly fawned over Ivanka, who do you think that is?

  31. 31.

    sukabi

    April 9, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    @raven: unless there’s a yuuuuge alligator on the course there’s no excitement.

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    @raven: How much daylight is left?

  33. 33.

    raven

    April 9, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: 30 minutes. I’m sitting on the deck and the sun is just at the top of the trees.

  34. 34.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini:

    Bannon is implying that Jared stands by while someone else has fun with Jared’s wife.

    Let’s you and him fight!

  35. 35.

    Gvg

    April 9, 2017 at 7:33 pm

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini: actually they are using cuck/ cuckold in a political sense and saying someone is being fooled and used by it’s implied the political professional class. They think they are so cynical and wise but they are actually fools who have been taught a certain useful disbelief. They think they are wise to the con but can’t even evaluate evidence anymore. They also reflexively hate and distrust “Washington”. Trump benefited by them and they thought they were finally getting a champion but now they are falling away. They are falling into distrusting him and his advisors who now are Washington and the opinion leaders of their type aren’t set up to make money off of being in power, only on attacking. They don’t really have an all agreed on agenda either except being against various enemies. Yelling and being rude, cutting off money to help someone, that’s all there is. No final solution, too much work and then who would they complain about? They do like crude offensive statements which is why cuck is their latest fad.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2017 at 7:36 pm

    I really hope Uday saw this reply (the context is French celebrities vowing to leave France if Marine LePen wins)

    Donald Trump Jr.Verified account @ DonaldJTrumpJr
    I’m still waiting for all those celebs here, who promised to do the same, to go!!! #maga

    Father Guido SarDShK‏ @ ZeddRebel 3h3 hours ag
    Do you think if you retweet enough Nazis your Dad will love you more than Jared?

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Campaign consultants never have totally clean hands,

    Manafort has never had even slightly clean hands. He cut his teeth working for Jonas Savimbi and Ferdinand Marcos, and developed the techniques of fomenting ethnic/linguistic division that he later employed for the gangster Yanukovych in Ukraine. Describing him as a “campaign consultant” is a disservice to campaign consultants. He is a sociopath.

  38. 38.

    zach

    April 9, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    @Mickee:

    This was a fluff piece that suggested Manafort was too ‘soft’ and not rough and tough enough for the Trumper’s so he left. Flat out lie. He was forced out when his shady Ukranian ties were revealed.

    To be fair, that was the story in August 2016 as well… Trumpers leaked that Manafort was too low-energy and the Ukraine/Russia stuff was the second reason.

    Of course, it was a lie then as well. Trump’s impulsive but he’s not an idiot. Manafort got Bob Dole to lead the charge of making Trump palatable to the old-guard GOP. Manafort used his connections to get Franklin Graham and the rest of the religious right to fall in line behind a serial adulterer who obviously doesn’t actually care about abortion at all. Manafort saved Trump’s campaign and did more to help him win than all the Russian propaganda combined did to hurt Clinton.

  39. 39.

    hovercraft

    April 9, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    @Ruckus:
    I’ll agree that they are being used, but disagree that they are unwitting dupes, unlike the people who are reading this drivel. As you say they aren’t interested in the truth, they are interested in access, and page views.

  40. 40.

    japa21

    April 9, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    Interesting. Trump’s fantastic strike against Syria took place on Thursday. This was supposed to make him more popular. Yet Gallup’s 3 day rolling polling, which would include 2 days post Syria strike shows absolutely no change. My guess is that while it may have been a boost in some areas, it cost him some of his alt-right support.

  41. 41.

    danielx

    April 9, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    And especially Illinois Nazis.

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    April 9, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    @japa21:

    I pray that that is true if only because it might slow his trigger finger.

  43. 43.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    April 9, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    @zach:

    Trump’s impulsive but he’s not an idiot

    Assumes facts never in evidence

  44. 44.

    John Revolta

    April 9, 2017 at 8:02 pm

    Effin’ Millenials and their ‘retro’ fads.

    And while we’re on the subject: The Rat Pack were a bunch of assholes fifty years ago, and they’re a bunch of assholes today. Being dead has improved them a little, but not enough to really matter.

    That is all.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    April 9, 2017 at 8:03 pm

    Being willing to work for free seems to have great appeal to a cheap prick like Trump. Much more important than being competent, to judge from the quality of his inner circle.

  46. 46.

    Yarrow

    April 9, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    @raven: That was a fantastic end to The Masters.

  47. 47.

    Lurking Canadian

    April 9, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    @japa21: Considering the way he’s been trending lately, staying the same IS a boost in the polls.

  48. 48.

    J R in WV

    April 9, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    Always glad to see a fascist booed down and chased away like that. Glitter-bombed is also appropriate.

    I was a total pacifist for many years, but I have come to believe that some people are unreachable by peaceful means, and have no moral center reachable by civil disobedience. Fascists should just be put in their place, you pick that place.

    Punched, chased away, cab driver puts him out, glitter bombed, perfect!! He’s a coward who’s most fervent desire is to harm a great many other people, which will make him feel powerful and strong.

  49. 49.

    raven

    April 9, 2017 at 8:16 pm

    @Yarrow: Yup!

  50. 50.

    Yarrow

    April 9, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    @raven: The course looked a bit sad without the azaleas blooming. It’s a beautiful course either way, but it’s stunning with the azaleas in full bloom.

  51. 51.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 9, 2017 at 8:26 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: They should be boycotted. Don’t give them subscription money or clicks. Their political coverage of the last election was beyond the pale. They helped elected T. The know where his NYC skeletons are buried, they are the hometown newspaper. Yet it was WashPost that broke most of the T stories. They had but one goal to take down HRC. They succeeded in their jihad against Hillary.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2017 at 8:26 pm

    @Lurking Canadian: Heh, probably true

    Vox has a video explainer of the civil war in Syria that has over 11 million views. When you consider the number of people who (probably) know what Vox is, that suggests a pretty high level of interest and engagement, and probably not people eager to rubber stamp another invasion in the region, one that is from my very much non-experts point of view magnitudes more complicated and dangerous that Iraq

  53. 53.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 9, 2017 at 8:29 pm

    @japa21: The citizenry is less idiotic than the media tublets.

  54. 54.

    HinTN

    April 9, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    @Yarrow: Wish Sergio had made the putt on 18 the first time, but that second shot at it was sublime. I knocked the lampshade off with my hoorah!

  55. 55.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Fuck the fucking New York Times. They are worse than garbage.

  56. 56.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    April 9, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    @MomSense:

    They are worse than garbage.

    Trying to out do Baud? No one can out do Baud!

  57. 57.

    Ian

    April 9, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    how Kellyanne Conway had her children’s Russian wolfhound put down “in a very kind and humane way” to deflate any suspicion of links to Moscow,

    Jesus f*ing Christ!! What the hell???

  58. 58.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 9, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    @HinTN: they both had their chances, which made it a pretty cool ending. I’m happy for Sergio, finally getting his major.

  59. 59.

    Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian

    April 9, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    I hate to be lookist, but Manafort has a very strange head. It looks like a Lego head, with the features painted on.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

  60. 60.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 8:55 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I would never dream of outdoing Baud! I’m practically a Baud groupie!

  61. 61.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 8:57 pm

    @Ian:

    Wait what?

  62. 62.

    SFAW

    April 9, 2017 at 8:59 pm

    @MomSense:

    I’m practically a Baud groupie!

    You really need to get out more.

  63. 63.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    @Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian:

    Ever notice all the fucking Republicans have playmobil/lego hair? Looks like you could just pop it off and snap a combover in another color.

  64. 64.

    geg6

    April 9, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    @MomSense:

    Completely agree. Not fit to wipe shit off my ass. Hell, not fit to wipe shit off my dogs’ asses.

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    @SFAW:

    Let’s be honest, needing to get out more (with non canine/ feline beings) is precisely what all of us BJers have in common.

  66. 66.

    geg6

    April 9, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    @MomSense:

    True. Saddest jackals ever.

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    @geg6:

    As my grandma used to say “the more I see of people, the better I like dogs”

  68. 68.

    lollipopguild

    April 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    @MomSense: I really like Baud. But to grope him? NO. Not unless it pays well.

  69. 69.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    @MomSense:

    Fuck the fucking New York Times. They are worse than garbage.

    But…but…her emails!

  70. 70.

    Millard Filmore

    April 9, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    @J R in WV:

    I was a total pacifist for many years

    As a freshman in high school I thought about being a pacifist. Then I read a book called “Treblinka”.

  71. 71.

    Jeffro

    April 9, 2017 at 9:08 pm

    Still trying to figure out who flips first (now that we know Flynn’s testimony is worth crap) and then who gets indicted first.

    IC must be waiting for the early summer to roll around – that’s when all the big releases hit, right? Fourth of July weekend at the latest? Wasn’t it some W-related douche who said “You don’t roll out new products in August”? THE REPUBLIC CAN’T WAIT ‘TIL AFTER LABOR DAY, IC!!

  72. 72.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    @lollipopguild:

    Ha!!

  73. 73.

    Ian

    April 9, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    @MomSense:
    http://billmoyers.com/story/truth-lies-democracy-journalism-age-trump/

  74. 74.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    @hovercraft:
    I didn’t mean to imply that they were unwilling dupes. As I said they don’t give a shit that they are being used. It’s easier and far cheaper to be used than to do actual work and so long as they make money they are good to go.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 9, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    @Jeffro: Nixon resigned in August.

    Just sayin’.

  76. 76.

    Timurid

    April 9, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    @Jeffro:

    What is supposed to be wrong with Flynn as a witness?

  77. 77.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    April 9, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    @Mike J:

    He has now called for an anti-war movement from the Alt Right, and thought he would join an action in Washington D.C. to speak out against the disaster of sending missiles overseas.

    WTF? I have conservative friends who went to Berkley during the anti-war riots in the 60’s and swore up and down it was really being pushed by guys they knew who had crew cuts. How much of the Purity Poney Hard Left is really the Hard Right?

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
    That assumes facts that are blatantly false. Drumpf is a fucking idiot. Maybe not in the IQ sense but in the real world, he is. If Monty Python was still doing skits he wouldn’t even or ever be in contention for Upper Class Twit of the Year.

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    @Ian

    I feel sick.

  80. 80.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Please FSM, make it so.

  81. 81.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @Timurid:

    What is supposed to be wrong with Flynn as a witness?

    Pure speculation, but it appears that the investigators already have enough on whoever Flynn can implicate that they don’t need his immunized testimony. He needs to be able to give them someone they don’t already have clear in their sights.

    ETA: It’s also possible that someone else (Manafort? Stone?) has given the prosecutors what they need without going public about it. Again, pure speculation.

  82. 82.

    Ruckus

    April 9, 2017 at 9:37 pm

    @J R in WV:
    I looked into being a conscientious objector 50 yrs ago instead of being drafted or enlisting and decided that there were times that pacifism just wasn’t enough in this world, no matter how positive and good it might be. Because as you state there are just some people who think that hurting others, especially those than can not defend themselves is their right. And it isn’t.
    It’s a theoretical lifestyle that is wonderful but like so many other absolute ideals, it doesn’t fit well into many parts of human life, because so many hold truly opposite views.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    @efgoldman:

    They were talking to known foreign agents. We have transcripts. Hubris is a helluva drug. Unless they can implicate the principals, they are not going to get deals.

  84. 84.

    Patricia Kayden

    April 9, 2017 at 9:40 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: True. And since the election, they’re still pumping up Trump and his supporters with puff pieces.

  85. 85.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    @MomSense:

    Unless they can implicate the principals, they are not going to get deals.

    If they buy one-way tickets to Rootie Putooties Paradise, I wonder if the DOJ will let them go.

  86. 86.

    Mary G

    April 9, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    I’m all for women getting equality in the workplace, but both Maggie Haberman and Liz Spayd are embarrassing. They are on the side of power and are condescending as shit if you are a liberal.

  87. 87.

    Timurid

    April 9, 2017 at 9:44 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I sure hope that’s true.
    If Flynn’s testimony is just a luxury for them now, they must be close to a big score…

  88. 88.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 9, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    @MomSense: I hung out with some girlfriends yesterday. This evening, joined another fambly for grilled chicken and ribs outdoors before the weather becomes ratty again. I feel like I am done socializing for weeks now.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    @Mary G: Isn’t Haberman the journalist with whom Tom Levenson was having a dialogue about journalistic standards?

  90. 90.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 9, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: I wouldn’t know, I haven’t clicked on NYT, no has subscription since last November. Their T puff piece about immigration (which totally contradicted the actual speech he gave) was what did it for me. I think they went back and changed that article twice.

  91. 91.

    La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)

    April 9, 2017 at 9:49 pm

    @MomSense: That was an excerpt from a parody. Hard to tell the difference nowadays, I know.

  92. 92.

    Davebo

    April 9, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    So I take a long weekend away from the news and find we are now at war with Syria. Am I missing something? Because that seems like a pretty big deal.

  93. 93.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Heh. I walked in the woods for a couple hours with the dog and emerged covered in mud. I had to take an alternate route home (because I stepped in water up to my knees) and ended up in a field next to a nursing home. A couple of residents were taking a sunbath outside so I stopped so they could pet the dog. That was enough people for one day.

  94. 94.

    SFAW

    April 9, 2017 at 9:55 pm

    @MomSense:

    Let’s be honest, needing to get out more (with non canine/ feline beings) is precisely what all of us BJers have in common.

    You’re not supposed to “say” that aloud, you know.

  95. 95.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    @MomSense: @SFAW: I was out most of the day.

  96. 96.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 9:59 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You need to get a dog.

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 10:03 pm

    @MomSense: I am out too much to have a dog. Wouldn’t be fair to the wee beastie to be cooped up alone all day.

    ETA: I do have a plant though.

  98. 98.

    Yarrow

    April 9, 2017 at 10:05 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Yeah, it was great. Sergio has the best smile and was so, so happy and excited to finally win his first major. And all the players seem to love him, so they were excited for him too. It was a great ending.

  99. 99.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 10:06 pm

    @Mary G:

    both Maggie Haberman and Liz Spayd are embarrassing. They are on the side of power

    Nothing to do with being women; everything to do with who pays them every two weeks.

  100. 100.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 9, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I am out too much to have a dog. Wouldn’t be fair to the wee beastie to be cooped up alone all day.

    So get two dogs. Problem solved!

    I do have a plant though.

    Just for your glaucoma, right?

  101. 101.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 10:08 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I do have a plant though.

    You have a plant; I am a plant. We’re just alike.

  102. 102.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 10:09 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I like the way you think.

  103. 103.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 9, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    @MomSense: thank you!

    Had a lawyer friend years ago who wanted a pet but was at the office too much for a dog so he got a cat. No problem.

    Then he got a second cat because he didn’t want the first cat to be lonely and bored. Ok, that makes sense.

    Then his neighbor moved away and dumped another cat on him, so he became a young single guy with three cats. IIRC, he hasn’t had sex since.

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I am a rock; I am an island. And the plant is a philodendron.

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 10:16 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I am suspicious of your advice.

  106. 106.

    Aleta

    April 9, 2017 at 10:17 pm

    Here’s a pet.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/rabihalameddine/status/851084516168876032/photo/1

  107. 107.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    @Aleta: VERMIN

  108. 108.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 9, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I am suspicious of your advice.

    Ok, you are smarter than I thought.

  109. 109.

    zhena gogolia

    April 9, 2017 at 10:20 pm

    @MomSense:

    I think it’s from a parody.

  110. 110.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2017 at 10:22 pm

    @Aleta:
    Ha!! I’m sure the kid deserved it.

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 9, 2017 at 10:22 pm

    I want to live alone in the desert
    I want to be like Georgia O’Keefe
    I want to live on the Upper East Side
    And never go down in the street

  112. 112.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    April 9, 2017 at 10:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And the plant is a philodendron.

    Of course it is.

  113. 113.

    mouse tolliver

    April 9, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    China mocks Trump missile strike after Xi leaves US: ‘A weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles’

    China’s state-run news agency waited for President Xi Jinping to leave the U.S. before unleashing criticism on President Donald Trump’s Syrian missile strike.

    Although President Xi was visiting Mar-a-Lago when Trump ordered the strike on a Syrian air base, Xinhua waited until China’s president was safely out of the country before mocking the military action.

    “Xinhua, the state news agency, on Saturday called the strike the act of a weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles,” The New York Times reported. “In an analysis, Xinhua also said Mr. Trump had ordered the strike to distance himself from Syria’s backers in Moscow, to overcome accusations that he was ‘pro-Russia.’”

    But how can this be? Our warmongering media seemed convinced that the world would be impressed by our new strongman overlord.

  114. 114.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 9, 2017 at 10:28 pm

    @efgoldman: Russian plant?

  115. 115.

    Aleta

    April 9, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    @efgoldman: If it didn’t have a meaning, Vermin could be a first name.
    Vermin Kushner.
    Vermina Trump.

  116. 116.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: And it’s name is Plant.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 10:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: its, damn it, its.

  118. 118.

    StringOnAStick

    April 9, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    Two days of biking, today mountain biking to get ready to bike the White Rim trail in Canyonlands starting 5 days from now. Starting to feel my age though, these sub 40 friends kicked my butt today.

  119. 119.

    Ian

    April 9, 2017 at 10:38 pm

    @zhena gogolia:
    I sure f*ing hope so.

  120. 120.

    efgoldman

    April 9, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Russian plant?

    Hmmm. Both my paternal grandparents immigrate from Russia.
    Of course, the Russians didn’t count Jews as Russians, so….

  121. 121.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    @efgoldman: So you had cover. I see how it works.

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