I miss the good old days (2008-2016) when a person could unplug for 12 hours and not find evidence of traitorous behavior in the highest levels of government and multiple instances of chief executive buffoonery upon reentering the media stream. Here are a few things that caught my eye:
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was warned by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 against accepting foreign payments as he entered retirement, according to new documents obtained by the House oversight committee…
“These documents raise grave questions about why General Flynn concealed the payments he received from foreign sources after he was warned explicitly by the Pentagon,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, in a statement. “Our next step is to get the documents we are seeking from the White House so we can complete our investigation.
This stinks to high heaven, y’all. This specimen simply must be questioned under oath.
I’ve read a theory that Trump die-hards in the wingnut media are recognizing that this Russia business has the potential to bring the orange fart-sack down, so they’re creating an alternative narrative that, while the Trump campaign was thoroughly infested with Russian operators, he was personally clueless about it during the campaign but has now turned wily spy-hunter. That’s the line taken by tabloid trash purveyor David Pecker, Trump friend and aptly named publisher of the National Enquirer.
In another curious turnabout, Trump favorite and notorious Hillary-hater Judge Napolitano of Fox News published an op-ed questioning FBI Director Comey’s handling of the Russia investigation before the election:
How could Comey justify the public revelation of a criminal investigation and a summary of evidence of guilt about one candidate for president and remain silent about the existence of a criminal investigation of the campaign of another? How could he deny knowledge of surveillance that was well-known in the intelligence community, even among his own agents? Why would the FBI director inject his agents, who have prided themselves on professional political neutrality, into a bitterly contested campaign having been warned it might affect the outcome? Why did he reject the law’s just commands of silence in favor of putting his thumb on political scales?
I don’t know the answers to those questions. But the American public, and Hillary Clinton, is entitled to them.
Truth from an unlikely source. Will the fact that even Fox News bigwigs are questioning his precious integrity and impugning his self-cherished aura of bipartisan competence spur Comey to attempt to unshit the bed he so thoroughly shat in 2016? We’ll see.
It also appears that Trump got pantsed by Canada and Mexico after blustering about NAFTA yesterday. He’s agreed to “renegotiations” rather than following through on threats to unilaterally withdraw. Possibly Peña and Trudeau simply explained how the treaty works, just as President Xi held an impromptu “North Korea for Dummies” seminar at Trump’s private club, clueing Twitler in on the complexities of that situation.
Were I a citizen of Canada or Mexico, I’d be dancing with glee at the prospect of the upcoming negotiations with such an easily provoked, idiotic ass. The upside for us? Maybe we’ll get taco trucks on every corner after all, with a Tim Horton’s across the street!
There are at least half a dozen more news items that would be screaming headlines for weeks in a normal administration, such as Trump’s idea to break up the 9th Circuit Court because he doesn’t like its rulings. I didn’t need to read about that after watching the first three episodes of “A Handmaid’s Tale” yesterday.
Anyhoo, I miss the days when a tan suit could cause a media furor. Open thread!
Thoroughly Pizzled
A good man with big plans discovering the constraints of the presidency is a thoughtful tragedy. A wicked man with dictatorial plans discovering the constraints of the presidency is a cause for national celebration.
bystander
Get ready for the Reagan defense of incipient Alzheimer’s. I know nothing, nothing, I tell you. There’s going to be a lot of recycled Schultz gifs from Hogan’s Heroes in the offing.
BTW, I hate these people. Every last one of them.
artem1s
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH….these lick spittles think they are going to get someone in the FBI or the IC to play Ollie North for them. OK sure Flynn thinks he is gonna look charismatic and play victim once he takes the stand, but what he and the rest of the deplorable Russian tools don’t seem to fathom is they are not anywhere in Ollie’s league. They look, act, and slither just like the worms that they are. And none of them have the power base of the Bush Crime Family at their beck and call. Trump ain’t gonna be around to pardon them because he’s going under the bus just as soon as the GOP leadership figure out they need his wide fat ass to cover their complicity. They will be pushing Pence, Ryan or Priebus in front of themselves to cover up the cover up. No one is going under for that sack of feces and his minions.
Waspuppet
He doesn’t know anything about policy, but he’ll hire the best people. Except for the ones who turn out to be Russian spies. He didn’t know anything about them.
swiftfox
As long as the taco trucks offer carne asada, fine. The Canadian version of Dunkin Donuts can stay where they are.
oldster
Having railed about the new Zombie TrumpCare 2.0 for my last few phone-calls, I thought I’d change it up a bit today.
So, inspired by this note from Betty, I spent today’s phone call to DC demanding that my Congressman force the White House to turn over documents about Flynn. And demanding that he vote to release Trump’s taxes.
“He’s got two choices: he can help Americans find out the truth. Or he can be part of the cover-up.”
MattF
@Thoroughly Pizzled: I guess that’s the way it looks from 30,000 feet. But from the ground, the bad ethical categories turn into incompetent, ignorant, and dumb– and not going to change any time soon. Willful, competent, knowledgeable evil is rare– but incompetence and ignorance are everywhere.
This doesn’t excuse Trump’s behavior or mitigate the damage he’s trying to do, but I’m not going to give him ‘credit’ for things that are obviously beyond his capabilities.
rp
That Napolitano quote is absolutely shocking. What’s his endgame?
Roger Moore
Why did he conceal the payments? Because he had been told they were illegal. That’s what rational criminals do; they try to hide the evidence of their crimes so they won’t be caught and punished. It would be far stranger if he had be open about the payments after having been told they were illegal. I don’t see what’s so hard to understand.
Ella in New Mexico
Flynn is literally just the tip of the iceberg here. Several national security/investigative journalism folks on Twitter are claiming that they’re getting good info that Comey is actually working extremely hard to pull together a very strong case regarding the Russian election conspiracy that will be pretty widespread and could take town lots of important players in the Republican world, not just in the Trump campaign–and that is making the pro-Trump, pro-Treason folks very, very nervous.
So of course we’re gonna see Fox News start to clamour for his resignation starting about now.
He made mistakes before, but now I’m beginning to see that the whole Administration made mistakes, too, totally underestimating the severity of the situation, preferring to not appear like they were interfering in the election. They all bet on the inevitability of Hillary winning taking care of this whole mess.
History is gonna have a whole lot of blame to go around for this fucking coup d’tat.
Starfish
The line that I am seeing on Russia from Republicans is that the story is too confusing, and something would have already come out if there was anything there. A lot of stories say that it is too confusing and doesn’t make any sense without any attempt to understand it and calling it a Democratic ploy to undermine his orangeness.
clay
Trump will either go with “Nobody knew that the United States has a lot of good things from NAFTA, nobody ever knew that.”
OR
“NAFTA used to be so unfair to the United States, but since I took office it isn’t unfair any more.”
I noted with amusement that one Dem senator said Trump dropped by the super special N. Korea meeting to do his “ridiculous adjective” bit. What a perfect description.
rikyrah
Dolt45 is up to his eyeballs in hock to the Russian Mafia, who are nothing but satellites of Putin, but Orange Glo is innocent?
PHUCK OUTTA HERE.
Chris
So their defense of Trump is that Trump is a fucking moron?
Well, it has the benefit of being plausible.
rikyrah
@Starfish:
Nope. Naw, Son. Nice try, but the dog won’t hunt.
jl
To be fair to the Great Orange President (or ‘GOP’, which may or many not be coincidence), the argument that he is completely clueless is becoming more convincing as each day goes by. So, if there is something there that involves him personally, the case will have to proven.
Actually, that goes for both of them.
I don’t watch enough of the big corporate media news shows to know, but are the news divas asking the GOP why they can’t do anything? They cannot even manage to remove and replace what they claim are ghastly horrors that are destroying the nation, like the PPACA, because they are fighting with each other like disturbed toddlers, and they fall down and can’t get up. Didn’t even buy a Clapper.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Standard operating procedure on severance/leaving the job.
Accepting what at the moment is almost a million bucks, with more sure to come out, from Russia and Turkey after leaving said job is not SOP. And lying about it on an SF-86 is, technically, a jailable offense (but I have never, ever, ever seen anyone even threatened with prosecution for doing so). It will certainly mean you’ll never get any sort of security clearance again. The security guys get really cranky about that sort of behavior.
SenyorDave
Maybe we’ll get taco trucks on every corner after all, with a Tim Horton’s across the street!
A Tim Horton’s maple doughnut is up there with my favorite foods on earth. But it needs to be in Canada! There is a Tim Horton’s in NYC, near Time Square, and the maple doughnut that I and my wife go from there was barely edible.
rikyrah
@oldster:
Good line. Will spread the word about this too.
germy
I was watching Anthony Atamanuik do his Trump impression and it sent me on a trip down memory lane.
I remember during the Reagan administration, a young comic named Jim Morris became famous imitating Ronnie. He seemed to be everywhere, on talk shows, at political events (the republicans loved hiring him as an after-dinner speaker). I’d see him on TV on almost a daily basis. Finally I was at a comedy club and he appeared unannounced, and took questions from the audience. A real X-Rated show that night.
And then he disappeared! It was after Reagan’s diagnosis.
Morris always portrayed him as “confused” (he’d begin a speech with “So glad to be here tonight in….” the gag being he couldn’t remember where he was)
I remember Morris did a ton of impressions. All of the presidential candidates and quite a few of the villagers as well. But he faded away. Not quite as completely as Vaughn Meader. He’s been working steadily on the lecture circuit. Ten years ago he was imitating George W. But he seems completely off the comedy radar nowadays. I notice he recycled lots of material.
Atamanuik’s Trump is much better than Baldwin’s. More subtle. But I wonder if he’ll have a short career, as the Trump years get less and less funny.
SenyorDave
@bystander: There’s going to be a lot of recycled Schultz gifs from Hogan’s Heroes in the offing.
But Sgt. Schultz was lovable, at least as lovable as a guy who was working for the nazis could be. Of course Trump has his own nazis, and they’re not even lovable.
JPL
@rp: Could it be that by pointing out that Comey’s behavior was unethical, it could give the administration a reason to fire Comey?
SFBayAreaGal
@bystander: How was the Borghese Gallery?
The Moar You Know
Wondering if this nym has been released from jail yet?
ETA: Hoooray! Wasn’t sure what was going on yesterday. Everything I wrote went into a black hole.
Betty Cracker
The Simpson’s recap of the first 100 days…
mouse tolliver
@Starfish:
That’s what they used to say about Watergate as the story was unfolding.
amk
@JPL: That’s my read too. pox news trying to kneecap comey by painting him as incompetent and venal. Karma, comey.
rp
@JPL: Makes sense. Of course, if Comey really is close to indicting a bunch of people, and they fire him to kill the investigation, he could run to the press to create a massive s***storm.
germy
@Betty Cracker: Should be on the front page. Notice as the “camera” sweeps up the stairs, past the trump portrait, the FLOTUS portrait is the nude spread.
germy
aye, there’s the rub
mapaghimagsik
The Simpsons 100 days was amazing. It takes real talent to make this situation remotely funny.
Timurid
@rp:
If they’re backed into a corner and decide to blow up the investigation (fire Comey, break up the agency task forces and transfer the members to various remote outposts), then we’ll have our real constitutional crisis. Their choices will be reduced to “rig/cancel the 2018 and 2020 elections or go to prison.”
Mike J
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/27/the-education-of-donald-trump-237669
germy
Gatchaman
Ha! With Trump negotiating we’ll end up with Mexican water and Canadian football.
Kay
Poor Trump. He’s encountering some real tough guys:
The fact that he’s a horrible negotiator who gives literally no thought to what the other side could do is just so perfect.
Taylor
@Timurid: I don’t think it’s a matter of if Comey will be fired, it’s when. This is much worse than Watergate, which was only about the POTUS fixing the presidential election.
The only way we head off full-blown constitutional crisis is Priebus leaving a loaded gun on Trump’s desk and leaving the room. But in that scenario, I’d say it’s more likely that Trump shoots him in the back.
kindness
It’s always a shock when one of the Fox talkingheads shows actual integrity.
@swiftfox:
Al Pastore or no deal!
Chris
@Mike J:
Idiot.
rikyrah
Looking past governance, Team Trump places a high value on theatrics
04/27/17 10:13 AM—UPDATED 04/27/17 10:32 AM
By Steve Benen
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked a couple of weeks ago about Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, and what the president will have to show for his efforts. “I think what you’ve seen out of this White House,” Spicer replied, “is a very robust agenda of activity.”
I found myself thinking about that phrase quite a bit. The president’s press secretary didn’t focus much on actual substantive gains, but rather, the robust amount of “activity” in and around the White House. Trump and his team may not have accomplishments to speak of, but we’re apparently supposed to marvel at how busy they appear doing … stuff.
Yesterday offered an amazing peek into the Trump administration’s approach to pseudo governance.
* Tax reform: The White House unveiled a one-page tax “plan” that didn’t actually say much of anything. It looked like a table of contents without any contents. Team Trump assured the public that officials are “working on” producing “lots” of details that aren’t yet ready. Why not wait and unveil a proper plan once it’s complete? Because that’s not theatrical – and with the 100-day standard approaching, we apparently need to be reminded of the president’s “robust agenda of activity.”
David Spikes
In all the hoo haw about Chaffetz yesterday I didn’t see any speculation about what seemed to me to be obvious. That some very damning evidence is coming out in the next weeks and Brother Jason doesn’t want to be anywhere near it.
On the please make it so wish list: Trey Gowdy is being pushed as new intelligence com. chairman. Oh yeah, replace the 2nd most unappealing creep in gov’t. with the hands down creepiest.
Goku
@Timurid:
Black storms shake the air
Dark clouds blind us
Although pain and death [may] await us
Duty calls us against the enemy
The most precious good
is freedom
It must be defended
With faith and courage
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Get up, working people
to the battle
[We] have to topple
the reaction
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Republic
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Republic!
And yes, I know they lost (and I changed the lyric from “confederation” to “republic”) but its good for morale. I can’t imagine what would happen if the admin actually tried that. I know shit wouldn’t fly with me
Keith P.
Going off on a tangent, the taco truck on the corner of my neighborhood looks like it had some combination of a head-on collision and an engine explosion. The front axle looks broken, and the hook and front grill look like they were blown off. Damn shame, because it had only been set up for a couple of months.
Kay
@Chris:
They’re incredibly arrogant. How many times did Trump say people in government were stupid and it was all easy in that campaign? Hundreds? It’s delightful to watch them flail around now.
Ivanka wanted credit yesterday for “seriously” studying women’s issues for a couple of hours. Hours. Mere mortals need education and years of experience. She’s an expert having put in HOURS.
Betty Cracker
@Gatchaman: Heh!
SiubhanDuinne
I know not everyone here is a Charlie Pierce fan, but if you feel so inclined, please take a minute to wish him well.
Nicole
I watched all 3 episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale yesterday, too. It’s really good, and really upsetting. I can’t decide how I feel about Serena Joy being cast so much younger and prettier than she is in the book (no reflection on the performance; the actress does great work). Imma think on it.
El Caganer
@rikyrah: I’m really reminded of Three Stooges episodes where they play a work crew of some kind: lots of “Hup-hup-hup,” much frenzied passing around of tools and materials….and you realize after a minute or two that nothing’s actually getting done.
bemused
@Chris:
Stupid, arrogant people. Anyone with an ounce of sense could imagine a WH higher staff job would be extremely hard and complex and wonder if he/she was capable of handling it. Ha, of course not these morons.
LAO
@Gatchaman:
Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man!
No one better exemplifies this, than Trump.
SatanicPanic
I’d love it if this brings down his admin. OTOH if he wants to run for reelection on “I’m stupid and don’t know what my advisers are up to” and “I’ll get to all the things I promised next term” then at least we’re only looking at four years of this dunce.
Kay
Mnuchin should stop looking so gleeful at the prospect of giving his buddies a giant tax cut. It’s really unseemly.
That’s all they really wanted out of Trump- a far Right SCOTUS and a huge tax cut for the 1%. They could give a shit about the rest of his term.
germy
@El Caganer: Is that the one where the dowager gets slathered in paste and covered in wallpaper?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@swiftfox: You can forget about that…I grew up in Michigan and go back a couple times a year to visit the family and friends I have there. Tim Horton’s has a strong beachhead there and is quickly marching south to the Ohio border, which they may have crossed at this point.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: Damn. Hope he’s okay! Charlie is a good guy.
gratuitous
The administration is squirting ink like a panicked squid, isn’t it? I’m guessing that President Trump’s comment about the Ninth Circuit comes from the same knowledge base that had him pronouncing NATO obsolete.
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: Did you catch Atwood’s cameo?
Goku
@Kay:
What evidence is there for this? None I’m assuming and that’s a pretty safe assumption given who’s President
Must be something real juicy in those tax forms. I think it’s the flagrant arrogance and complete disregard for ethics that angers me most
bystander
@SFBayAreaGal: Great! Have you been? It’s not huge but it packs a wallop. Major Berninis and Caravaggios. Just sort of overwhelming. We wanted to walk around the gardens after but it is pouring. You can only stay for two hours and they strictly limit the number of tickets.
We have a day trip to Ostia Antica coming up and a tour of Nero’s Domus Aurea another day. After a 30 year long rehab, they have just opened in February to the public. Evidently there is a virtual reality portion where you are standing in its ruins but seeing what it looked like in Nero’s day.
Edited to add: we were queued up behind a guy from SF who is here researching for a play he’s directing about the Nazi slaughter of Romans to avenge the killing of Germans. Grim.
JPL
@rp: Comey is such an admirable person, that he is more concerned about his personal reputation. Country first is not a term he recognizes. imo
randy khan
The shift to the “he didn’t know” narrative is pretty telling. If nothing else, it means that Trump’s friends at the National Enquirer think that the campaign team was badly compromised, but more importantly it probably means they think he needs to be insulated from them.
My assumption always has been that, absent a smoking gun in the form of a tape or emails, Trump will say he knew nothing about whatever happened. This clearly is step one in setting up that narrative. (I won’t read the article, but I’m wondering if it says that Trump is directing Comey to clear out the nest of rats.)
Betty Cracker
@Goku: Mnuchin’s line about financial disclosures is not just a lie — it’s a parody of the truth that makes a mockery of the very idea of transparency. It was an insult to his listeners’ intelligence, and if the people attending that briefing had any dignity, they’d have rose up as one and starting pelting the bastard with stale muffins and coffee cups.
Betty Cracker
@Goku: Mnuchin’s line about financial disclosures is not just a lie — it’s a parody of the truth that makes a mockery of the very idea of transparency. It’s an insult to his listeners’ intelligence, and if the people attending that briefing had any dignity, they’d have rose up as one and starting pelting the bastard with stale muffins and coffee cups.
randy khan
@Goku:
It’s an impressive lie. We’ve learned more about his financials from leaked tax returns than from him.
raven
So I caught this really nice spanish mackerel yesterday and they need to be eaten as soon as possible. Looks like lunch!
Iowa Old Lady
Given that HRC released returns back to 1977, who is this “anybody else” Mnuchin is talking about?
bystander
@Kay: After saturating myself in Roman history lately, every time I see President Pu$$7gra66er and Ivanka and Uday and Qusay, I can’t help but think of the treachery, deceit and violence that must lurk so very close to the surface. Not to mention incest and avarice. They are truly vile people.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Wow! Better invite a dozen or so friends to help you consume that haul! :)
El Caganer
@germy: I think they made a bunch of different ones. I’m not sure which one made me make the comparison; alas, too many years passed and too many mind-altering chemicals ingested for any accuracy in the ol’ memory.
NorthLeft12
Speaking as one citizen of Canada, I don’t think you really understand us at all. We prefer our politics and government to be dull, reliably competent, and reasonably fair. We really don’t want all this drama, bluster, and bombast. Most of us really believe that agreements and negotiations can be completed that are really win-win.
Negotiating with a histrionic asswipe who seems to pride himself on trying to humiliate the other side, and garner maximum personal publicity is not our idea of a good time.
I know in Canada there are a lot of people that feel the US and Mexico jobbed us, but thanks to our lower dollar we have been able to hold our own. I don’t consider myself much of an expert on NAFTA, but my gut feel is that it has promoted a “race to the bottom” mentality among our countries.
rikyrah
The ‘Game of Thrones’ Administration Can’t Hire Staff
by Nancy LeTourneau April 26, 2017 3:36 PM
According to a Washington Post tracker, Trump has nominated just 37 people to fill the 530 remaining vacant senior-level jobs requiring Senate confirmation. The president has been all over the map in explaining this one. At times, he blames Democrats in Senate for obstruction – which is hard to do when he hasn’t even submitted nominations. At other times, he says he’s not interested in filling all those positions.
As is often the case with Trump, he simply says whatever suits him in the moment or whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear.
Goku
@Betty Cracker: I mean he (Trump, and even Mnunchin) are public servants and work for me and everybody else, even the people who aren’t taxpayers. They are accountable to 300-something million people and even if 1% of them demand to see his tax returns he has a duty to show them. That’s the price of being elected to the highest office of the land. To refuse only shows that he’s hiding something
rikyrah
Ivanka Trump’s Fund for Female Entrepreneurs Requires Scrutiny
by Nancy LeTourneau April 27, 2017 8:00 AM
Mike Allen reports that Ivanka Trump is setting up a fund for female entrepreneurs.
In later reports he says that the fund will be managed by the World Bank — although that is still to be confirmed. But obviously this raises a lot of questions. Dan Primack highlights six of them.
As I’ve already mentioned, the Trump family’s pattern means that Ivanka’s efforts require close scrutiny. Should she fail to be transparent in providing information, that would pose an even bigger issue. So let’s hold Ivanka accountable. But it would be unwise to simply condemn any effort to initiate public/private partnerships within the White House to address domestic or global issues.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: I sure did! WHAP.
I really like the changes so far- I like Ofglen #1’s story being shown to us a little and I like that there are a number of women of color in the story. I think it’s a plausible change, too- I know in the book Gilead was as much about white supremacy as patriarchy, and I didn’t want to see that lost in the TV adaptation, but at the same time I didn’t want to see TV find another excuse to have an all-white cast. But I buy the white Gilead society being so panicked about the collapse in birth rates that women of color would be kept as Handmaids, too. It’s not like there’s not historical precedent for it.
Are you enjoying so far?
Cacti
Absent an immunity deal, the questioning of Flynn will elicit the following response:
“On advice of counsel, I assert my Fifth Amendment rights.”
mainmata
@artem1s: Keep in mind the Orange Monster has the Constitutional power to pardon any of these people, including himself for any federal crime, except impeachment. And don’t think he won’t do it as he has no shame. OTOH, he can’t pardon anyone, including himself for state crimes (watching you NY State AG).
rikyrah
rikyrah
A Case Study in Trump Chaos: NAFTA
by Nancy LeTourneau April 27, 2017 10:11 AM
Yesterday the headlines blared, “Donald Trump to sign executive order withdrawing US from Nafta.” Given that the plan was to sign the order this week, it was obvious that the desperation the White House is feeling about propping up Trump’s ego heading into his 100th day in office was the big driver.
But twenty-four hours later, the story has flipped to, “Trump Rules Out Swift Nafta Exit in Favor of Renegotiation.” How and why did things change so dramatically in just one day? The answer to that question provides us with a case study in why chaos continues to reign in the Trump administration.
First of all, the battle for the so-called “Game of Thrones” continues.
We’ve come to know the players pretty well. On one side are the nativists like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, head of Trump’s National Trade Council. On the other side is the Goldman Sachs wing of the cabinet led by Gary Cohn, Director of the National Economic Council. Members of Congress joined the latter group.
randy khan
@rikyrah:
Not nominating people is extremely strange – you’d think the Pence/Preibus axis would be pushing to fill all of those slots, if for no other reason than to set up the nominees for higher positions in some later administration. (This is one of the principal ways that people get qualified for the top spots.) It makes me wonder if they’re having trouble finding people who are willing to serve in some of these jobs.
Nicole
@rikyrah: Excellent. For what it’s worth, Pelosi’s office has always been very nice when I have called, even though I’m not a constituent. When the Dems lost Congress in ’10 and she was still elected Minority Leader amidst all of the calls for her to step down, I called her office and told the woman answering the phone how glad I was that Pelosi was still going to be Minority Leader and to keep fighting the good fight. The woman sounded on the verge of tears as she said, “Thank you. Thank you very much.”
So, don’t hesitate to call and cheer her on, even if you’re not in her district.
Tokyokie
@rp:
The long-term smart play for Republicans is to oppose Humpty Trumpty on the Russian links. But most Republicans aren’t smart enough to see that.
mainmata
@rikyrah: If the fund ends up, in fact, being managed by the World Bank then there will be accountability and transparency measures in place. My question is whether this “fund” is meant to act as a co-financing arrangement (with other sources) of small women-owned start-ups or is it an actual venture capital fund. Not sure the World Bank gets involved with those or what their role would be in that instance. Also, wondering whether this proposal was whispered to her by Christine and Angela.
SatanicPanic
@mainmata: Can he really pardon himself? I thought that was one of those we don’t know because no one has been shameless enough to try it.
J R in WV
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
There is a Tim Horton’s on the SOUTH side of the Kanawha River… right by a bridge. The Kanawha River is the bottom end of the New River, which flows north from North Carolina but turns west at Gauley Bridge where the Gauley River enters it and the hname changes.
The Kanawha kind of marks the point between Southern West Virginia and the rest of the state.
Just one more canuck
@SenyorDave: Tims used to make a chocolate sour cream glazed that was a piece of heaven with a hole in the middle – unfortunately they stopped making them quite a while ago (at least in the Toronto area AFAIK)
Ohio Mom
@germy: You have REALLY sharp eyes to have caught nude Melania. I had to go back and watch again with my eyes peeled. Definitely a nice little touch.
lollipopguild
@El Caganer: Blazing Saddles- “Gentlemen! We have to do something to save our phoney baloney jobs! Harumpf! Harumpf! Harumpf!
J R in WV
@raven:
I would love to see the spanish whatsit, but I get this message from Flicker:
SFBayAreaGal
@bystander: I loved the Borghese Gallery. I went through it semi quickly and then went back to my favorite Berninis and Caravaggios.
The Nero Domus Aurea sounds fascinating.
Have you been to Pompeii? Another of my favorite places, along with Sorrento and the Isle of Capri. I’m ready to go back.
Quinerly
But emails! Congressional Committee has asked the DOJ to consider criminally prosecuting the company that was involved in maintaining HRC’s private email server. Yes, this is today’s news. It will NEVER END: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-panel-seeks-charges-company-clinton-email-case-47053738
Felonius Monk
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
There were Tim Horton’s in the Columbus area is 2005, yes, 2005.
ruemara
@rp: Rewriting the complicity of the entire GOP media & punditry in selling out America to Russia, installing a puppet dictator moron and generally crafting a violent, disgusting voter base of ignorant ass motherfuckers as a tactic towards power. They just want to have history be kinder to them.
glory b
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: It’s further than that. I have to go to Pennsyltucky for work, there is a Tim Horton’s in Hermitage PA, which is south of Erie.
lollipopguild
@rikyrah: GOP farmers sell billions of dollars of corn, wheat, soybeans and hogs to both Canada and Mexico. Someone made a phone call.
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: “Enjoying” isn’t the right word, but I’m finding it compelling TV, haunting even! The acting and cinematography are outstanding, IMO. Agree with your thoughts on the way they’re handling the intersection of patriarchy and white supremacy so far.
ruemara
@rikyrah: I’ve been saying that we need to tell them we know Trump committed treason and we see them siding with treason and we will remember. The GOP are complicit. They just don’t want you knowing they’re complicit.
germy
@Ohio Mom: The book titles on drumpf’s bed are also amusing. The one by Bill O’Reilly: “Killing A Good Thing”
divF
@raven: Good stuff – we get these guys up here from a very good fish market. I can occasionally talk Madame into eating these (she is more of a New England / cod person).
Shana
@Taylor: Or himself in the foot.
Ohio Mom
@Felonius Monk: I remember it. Near the old COSI (science museum) and the original Wendy’s.
Chyron HR
@rikyrah:
Thank god the Big B has one of his followers primarying that neoliberal third way c*nt.
MJS
@rp: I think Napolitano’s end game is, “Comey is a political hack. Nothing he comes up with or says can be taken seriously.”
Mnemosyne
@bystander:
I already called dibs on Trump using the Uncle Junior defense and pretending to be demented to escape punishment.
The character of Uncle Junior was partially based on the real-life case of Vincent Gigante, a monster who feigned mental illness to escape prosecution.
chris
@mainmata: Can he pardon people when they’re charged or do they have to be found guilty first? Really hope it’s the latter.
ruemara
@Mike J: Having lived it, it’s a textbook example of if the black person does it, it can’t be that hard. No matter how often you save their idiot asses and demonstrate they don’t know what you do, they’ll always believe it was easy, they just need a moment more to get all your know into their heads, while at the controls.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, I initially started to type, “Well, I don’t mean ‘enjoying’ so much as appreciating the attention to the subject and the execution and… well, I don’t execution like in the show literally but…” and then decided I was getting too long-winded. ;) But you know, I am enjoying that this is on the air, and it’s as brutal and heartrending and awful to watch, because it brings up the current patriarchy into everyday discussions. I posted Vulture’s recap of the first episode (Laura Hudson is doing great work with these recaps) and one of the right-wingers I know on my FB page got huffy about it. If the show’s very existence is getting under the skin of Misogynists I Know, I enjoy every moment of it.
Ohio Mom
@germy: The book titles I saw and was able to pause the video and read.
The part that resonated the most with me was when Marge complained that she was already out of her little helper pills and they were supposed to have lasted four years. I don’t have those sorts of meds but if I did, I’d be out of them already too.
rikyrah
The Case Against Single-Payer
Progressives have increasingly embraced the idea of “Medicare for All,” but a public option would more tangibly ameliorate our healthcare woes.
by Joel Dodge
April 27, 2017
Cast out of government, the Democratic Party is up for grabs. And single-payer healthcare has become one of the key fronts in the battle to define the party’s future.
Take the special election in Georgia’s sixth congressional district, where Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff recently found himself in hot water with progressives for his failure to endorse single-payer. “I think we should be focused on incremental progress based upon the body of law on the books,” Ossoff explained, “rather than going back to square one and proceeding from a starting point of ideological purity.”
This sparked a wave of skepticism of Ossoff among a segment of the left. When asked whether Ossoff is a progressive, Sen. Bernie Sanders flatly answered, “I don’t know.” Sanders’s aides pointed to Ossoff’s silence on single-payer as one reason for progressives to be lukewarm toward his candidacy.
Ossoff’s campaign has been analyzed through the prism of the Democratic Party’s internal fight. His incremental theory of healthcare progress eschews Sanders’s social democratic revolution for the pragmatism of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And while some urge Democrats to adopt a more distinctly working-class politics, Ossoff’s high-profile candidacy in a suburban district has kept a middle-class appeal at the party’s forefront. “Ossoff is showing us the path to retaking the House,” tweeted former Clinton aide Brian Fallon. “It runs through the Panera Breads of America.” To which Jacobin magazine contributor Matt Karp quipped: “Two paths forward for the Democratic Party: Medicare For All, or the Fuji Apple Salad with Chicken.”
Meanwhile, progressive enthusiasm for single-payer healthcare is ascendant. Buoyed by the fiery collapse of the GOP’s Obamacare repeal effort, progressives have been quick to promote single-payer as the next horizon in health reform. Rep. John Conyers’s perennial single-payer bill quickly racked up more House co-sponsors than ever before.
There’s a lot to like about single-payer healthcare, but making support for single-payer a litmus test for true progressivism dismisses the learned wisdom of recent generations of health reformers. There might be a better way to make progress toward the vision of single-payer—one grounded in the center-left tradition of pragmatism and incremental reform.
rikyrah
@artem1s:
North, while loathesome, was a ‘true believer’.
This bunch of muthaphuckas don’t believe in anything other than themselves.
My mother said long ago to me – don’t think anyone’s going to jail for you….except your Mama, and as your Mama, I’m telling you -I ain’t going to jail for you.
Which one of these clowns looks like they would go to jail for Dolt45?
Come on, now..
JMG
@chris: As the Nixon pardon showed, a President can pardon someone BEFORE they’re charged, let alone tried.
bystander
@SFBayAreaGal: Never been to Pompeii. It will have to be another trip. Sposo guy was looking at Sorrento rentals for the future.
@Mnemosyne: You can have dibs on the Uncle Junior but my team of attorneys is working on trademarking the Sgt. Schultz gif. And we will try and take the cute edge off him, as Senyor Dave suggests.
Bill Arnold
@Ella in New Mexico:
This has been my reading (of news/tea leaves/twitter/timings and etc) too (for the past several months). Not seeing a clear straight path for a soft landing for the rest of the country, either. (Assuming correctness; biases such as confirmation bias can influence even when one is aware of them.) Building a strong alternative is key. Democrats are an OK placeholder given the two-party bias of winner-take-all election systems.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: Oh! Oh! And have you noticed- no little boys anywhere. There was that shot of the group of little girls in the first episode, and a dress shop for little girls, but not a sign of little boys. I’m sure that’s deliberate, and I wonder if it’ll be explained. Probably whisked off to military camps, BUT- since handmaids are so that the powerful can have children, and in our contemporary society the powerful are loathe to offer up their sons to war, I find it a little hard to buy that the powerful in Gilead would let their sons be taken away for the military.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Another great post! It’s just unfortunate that it takes a Village Idiot like Trump to inspire so much satirical eloquence.
Even though it is sadly obvious that Trump lacks any great deal making skills, his erratic lurching from one position to another creates financial instability that has got to make anyone sane nervous.
chris
@JMG: Doh! How could I forget? Thank you.
AnonPhenom
Unmitigated horse manure. The New York Office was so caught up in the Giuliani/Trump orbit they were using the fictional novel ‘Clinton Cash’ as an investigatory road map while ignoring the stench of pirozhki coming from Trump.
Quinerly
@JMG:
Pretty extensive piece with well sourced links on pardons, treason, federal charges vs state charges: http://crooksandliars.com/2017/04/presidential-pardons-age-orange
Cacti
@SatanicPanic:
The only constitutional restriction on the pardon power is cases of impeachment. The pardon power has always been read broadly by the Courts.
So, yeah, he probably could.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Chris:
So their defense of Trump is that Trump is a fucking moron?
Worked for Reagan…
SatanicPanic
@rikyrah: I agree with this. Single-payer is currently all the rage, but it would mean that Democrats own healthcare and its manly failures again. I’d rather work on card check, climate change, or one of the million other important things than get hung up on single-payer.
Villago Delenda Est
The Reagan defense was essentially “I’m too mentally addled to know what is happening in my own administration”, which is an invitation to invoke the 25 Amendment and remove the dumbshit from office. The alternative is “Yes, I knew about this and I didn’t care” which is impeachment bait. The catch in both cases is that the party of treason will protect Donald. Which means the party of treason must be removed from power, then removed from existence.
Roger Moore
@kindness:
Lengua or GTFO!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy:
Ronald Regean wasn’t an inherintly loathsome person like Trump is. No one ever accused Regean of raping underaged girls for example.
Patricia Kayden
And let’s not allow Pence to hop off the hook since he was responsible for vetting Flynn and obviously failed to do so effectively. When Trump comes tumbling down, he needs to bring down Pence with him.
Mike J
@JMG:
And then they can’t take the 5th.
SatanicPanic
@Cacti: But that’s still going to the outer limits of what most people would consider reasonable. I dunno, I think a president pardoning himself has constitutional crisis written all over it.
Patricia Kayden
@Villago Delenda Est: Reagan may have been in an early stage of alzheimer’s so at least he had a plausible excuse for not knowing what was going on around him. Trump has no such reason for any claimed cluelessness.
Patricia Kayden
Just like Angela Merkel had to educate Trump about trade deals. Trump is literally learning on the job.
Cacti
@SatanicPanic:
I agree. But the above wouldn’t restrain Trump from giving it a go if it came down to it.
Chris
@Patricia Kayden:
Yeah, except he’s learning from foreign leaders. And while some of them may be close enough allies that it’s arguably not that big a deal, the same can’t be said of Xi Jinping.
SatanicPanic
@Cacti: Absolutely he would. The question is whether anyone would respect it. I feel like there’s a 50-50 chance we’ll find out the answer to these questions in the next few years.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Chris:
Trump’s comment about Korea once being a part of China is likely originated with his conversations with Xi Jinping….
TenguPhule
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Only until he starts breaking them with absolute impunity and people get hurt.
Chet Murthy
@Mike J:
Yes, BUT. Remember when GHWB pardoned the Iran-Contra conspirators? The special prosecutor wrote a very, very bitter article about how that basically deep-sixed his investigation. At the time, it was very clear that GHWB was really pardoning himself, by pardoning his co-conspirators, who thus had no incentive to rat on him.
Patricia Kayden
@Ella in New Mexico:
To be honest, I was pretty dang sure that it would be a cakewalk for Secretary Clinton as well. Still in shock how the election went. But as you say, Flynn is just the tip of the iceberg and this administration may come crashing down once the FBI makes its revelations. Or so we hope.
TenguPhule
@Ella in New Mexico:
Pffft. Comey is a Republican Bro until proven otherwise. He’s already a suspect for Russian agency based on his past behavior. Guilty until proven innocent.
Betty
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks, Siubhan. I have been concerned as there have been no posts for a few days.
rikyrah
Watching from my window at work, Urban Prep is going their College Choice Day in Daley Plaza.. The young men look so handsome in their blazers. It’s nice to see people stopping to cheer them on.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
He was telling White House reporters this. Obviously it took them several hours to realize something was wrong about what he’d said.
Spanky
My Congresscritter is getting feisty:
TenguPhule
@Cacti:
I am reliably informed that if he’s taken to Guantanamo, he has no Constitutional rights.
nightranger
Nobody is going to be stupid enough to believe anything the spray tanned fart sack says anymore.
He’s used to jerking around construction contractors and probably thinks that working with world leaders is the same thing.
TenguPhule
@Cacti:
But if he’s not really the president, he can’t pardon anyone.
/Cue a really good lawyer
Jeffro
@mapaghimagsik: That calendar they showed at the end was terrifying.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
To the death. They don’t really have any other options.
Chris
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
Next time he meets the South Korean leader, maybe Trump’ll get a reminder of how America once belonged to the British.
Jeffro
@kindness:
omg yes
rikyrah
.@SpeakerRyan: “People will be better off under pre-existing conditions with our plan.”
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) April 27, 2017
Not a small lie. Not a depends-on-your-perspective lie. A huge, Trump-like, don’t-give-a-shit-what-you-think lie. https://t.co/jZkhASy0Z6
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) April 27, 2017
Ruckus
@Taylor:
I think it’s 50-50 that he know which end of the gun the bullets come out or if he even knows how to operate one.
Mike J
@Jeffro: I tend to agree, but the strength of tacos is the strength of America. A large variety of types, originating from different areas are what make tacos great.
dmsilev
@Spanky: Agent Orange has already taken to Twitter to denounce Hoyer. Guess Steny struck a nerve there.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
If you define better off as dead. Which could be true, from a certain point of view. If they make their lives a living hell on earth by denying them coverage and making their every waking moment a nightmare of pain, death might indeed be seen as a better alternative to that.
Brachiator
@ruemara:
Tell it. Trump’s run for the presidency was part obsession to prove that he was superior to Obama. The crazy thing is that veteran GOP lawmakers got sucked up into Trump’s folly instead of rejecting his ass and saving their party. Now, they have to hang on and provide cover for him.
The people who voted for him are just pathetic, though. They have to keep coming up with new excuses to explain away Trump’s manifest incompetence. His supporters were enthusiastic that he was a hands on president. Now they think he shows how smart he is by delegating all the operational details for fighting ISIS to his generals. He was going to run the government like a lean, smooth business. Now his inability to staff lower level cabinet positions is “proof” that he understands that the best government is small government.
It will be interesting to see what they come up with next.
Jeffro
@Mike J: And I agree with that as well (but I’ll still eat the al pastor ones first!)
TenguPhule
@Mike J: Tacos are indigestion in a tortilla. Bring on the Canadian cuisine south of the border!
Ruckus
@El Caganer:
The next two minutes is when everything turns to shit.
dogwood
@Nicole:
The novel is over 30 years old. The changes to the society it reflects seem true to what Atwood would have done if she wrote it in 2016. Given the situation we are facing in this country, I have taken myself out of the political predictions game. But I will go out on a limb and predict Hulu is gonna get a shitload of Emmy nominations for this series. And as I mentioned last night, a big thumbs up to Stars Hollow’s Rory Gilmore. She is great as Ofglen.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Not really. Step 2 is “Blame the secret Democrat/liberal traitors in government sabotaging Dear Leader!” and already in progress.
Step 3 is “We have to do something about these traitors!” and will not end well.
Jeffro
@dmsilev: Jesus, he’s been on a real tear today…right before lunch time, it looks like. Man needs some tacos!
This
just about split me in two with laughter. Yes, Trumpov, thank you for saving our National Parks! We know it’s always been a big priority of yours. LOL
Mom Says I'm Handsome
@Nicole:
Amazon’s The Man In The High Castle has a fascinating storyline featuring John Smith (a leading Nazi officer in the American Reich) and his son that explores the tension between duty to family and duty to country.
I will be watching Handmaid’s Tale very soon (who doesn’t love the Venn diagram intersection of startlingly prescient dystopian “fiction” and Elizabeth Moss?), but would also put in a strong recommendation for TMITHC — it’s left me thinking long after I’ve watched each episode.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro: Double the irony in that Trump is trying to lease those same parks to drilling and mining companies.
chopper
@Cacti:
“I plead da fif'”
Seanly
I’m trying to figure out which part of the Trump administration is my favorite:
1) Daughter uses her father’s position to further her young grifter career.
2) Pampered rich kid son-in-law being named to head numerous items without any oversight (not even mentioning that he’s completely incompetent and has no chance of succeeding in even one of his roles).
3) Trump’s continuing to misunderstand that NATO members do not pay dues of 2% of GDP to USA.
4) Trump’s continuing ignorance that the President is not a dictator.
5) Congress full of conservative idiots who hate the poor, immigrants, science, female autonomy & choice, and separation of church & state.
6) Beltway and NY media being full of ignorant twits who’d rather still hound the Clintons than go after the extremely ripe targets of Grifter-in-Chief Trump and his grifting family.
7) Probable
And as a pro-tip to Democrats, if we ever get a Democratic President again*, please make ALL appointments solid Democrats. No more Republican or center-right Democrats nominated for positions like FBI Director, judgeships, etc. etc. AKA F*CK COMITY.
*I am cynical enough to think that we might be looking at a soft coup and never be allowed to vote again. All Hail President Kushner!
NorthLeft12
@Patricia Kayden:
Based on his increasingly moronic actions and multiple failures I would dispute that Deadbeat Donald is actually learning anything.
germy
@Seanly:
Can we hide all copies of “Team Of Rivals” from any future Democratic presidential hopefuls?
raven
@J R in WV: Not sure what to say, other folks can see it. What happened when you clicked?
TenguPhule
@Seanly:
Yet.
/The last check in the system dies when Gorsch makes a ruling.
Chris
@Seanly:
This one’s especially funny given that the one and only time the NATO treaty’s actually been invoked was for an attack on the United States, with many of the member states then committing forces to helping the American response.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Well, when you go on a charter you split the fish evenly among the people so we don’t have THAT much. I am getting ready to grill the spanish and there is way too much for two. It doesn’t freeze well so we’ll just eat what we can (as the bohdi eyes me)!
Nicole
@Mom Says I’m Handsome: Thanks for the recommendation; I’ll try it again. I started it and really liked it and then just kind of fell off watching it. I’ll give it a second go. I remember liking the production design a lot and thought it was really well considered.
chopper
@Jeffro:
what national parks? isn’t drumpf selling those off?
Mike J
@germy:
We’re Democrats. We have plenty of rivals inside the party, unless you believe the old joke. Republicans are our rivals, other Democrats are our enemies.
Roger Moore
@mainmata:
You’re overthinking things. I think this is another typical trump trial balloon; they’re throwing ideas out there without any strong intention of following through unless they get a really positive response.
Nicole
@dogwood: I agree; Alexis Bledel is great on it. I have never seen an episode of Gilmore Girls; I only remember her from that character on Mad Men.
Mike J
@Nicole:
Philip K Dick had so many great ideas for stories it’s nice to see when one is well written.
dogwood
@Mike J:
So true. Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportaion did his job and never criticized Obama. The same can’t be said for dozens of dems who were runinning away from him within the first six months.
ruemara
I don’t believe Trump’s ego would allow him to take the Reagan Defense. It would mean he’s not the young, virile stud he thinks he is (don’t laugh, he does)
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: Its a slush fund for bribes. Like the rest of Trump’s “charities”. He and his family only play one note.
SatanicPanic
@Seanly:
Some people over at LGM were suggesting that they weren’t going to confirm anyone who wasn’t a Republican. Not sure if this is true though. I can’t remember that particular moment.
Jeffro
@chopper:
That was his position 15 minutes ago, and will be again 15 minutes from now. He’s a man for all times, no time, every time.
(I know I linked to that Petri column yesterday but it’s just so great!)
Librarian
@germy: Ugh. I can’t stand Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
As most of us know, single payer is great. But and it’s a great big, round, firm but. If you have no healthcare system and are setting one up, that would be the second smartest way to go, universal healthcare, like the VA would be the best. However we are of course not starting from scratch, we have a very flawed but workable healthcare system. Fixing that, making it available and more reasonable is a doable thing. Throwing out everything and starting completely over just isn’t going to happen. People say Medicare for all but Medicare is not the panacea that some think it is. For those who can not afford the huge costs of individual insurance when over 65 it is a wonderful thing. It is not free. If you are 65 now you have paid into it your entire working life and you will pay every month for more than hospital care ($105/month when I turned 65) out of your SS. And that will pay only 80% of your bills. It is far better than nothing but it is not as good as a lot of people’s work insurance. So they would hate it.
What all this boils down to is what smart people like President Obama knew years ago. Healthcare is not simple, the size of the issue makes it that way even if the dysfunction of our current one didn’t. Changing any large, complicated and yes broken system is never easy. One that touches everyone’s life, good or bad, is dramatically more so. It took what 4 yrs to implement the ACA, and that was an incremental change, and was barely ready then, how long would it take to implement a far bigger, far more intensive change?
Jeffro
@ruemara:
Well, maybe not young…but you know, around 35
Sure thing, Don!
ruemara
@dogwood: Democrats are always the enemy of liberals, progressives or Democrats. Nitwits.
Gelfling 545
@clay: kind of like how NATO got un-obsolete so fast.
rikyrah
@Mom Says I’m Handsome:
another thumbs up for The Man in the High Castle
Jeffro
And while I’m linking away here, I see that J-Rubs has once again put the knife in, and twisted…five times, in fact.
Trump’s five biggest deficiencies are on full display.
(please note that the first of these contains several parts of its own)
L
O
L
Villago Delenda Est
@Certified Mutant Enemy: The Chinese count any country that ever was tributary to China as “part of China”. They (the Han) are very arrogant about this. Of course, even they are not stupid enough to think that when the Mongols ruled, the Han were in charge of jack shit.
Another Scott
Dunno if this has been mentioned yet:
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/330846-dems-threaten-to-oppose-short-term-spending-bill-if-gop-pushes-healthcare-vote
Good.
Cheers,
Scott.
HeidiMom
@dogwood: Apparently he was always a class act. Bill Richardson said that when he, then a Democratic congressman, returned to the House after his trip to Iraq to negotiate the freedom of two American hostages held by Saddam Hussein, it was Ray LaHood, then a Republican congressman, who led a standing ovation for him on the House floor.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
You underestimate the power of history rewrites. They’re already trying.
Lapassionara
@mouse tolliver: What I remember about Watergate includes that there was actually a criminal trial in front of Judge Sirrica, whose statements and rulings helped move the story forward. There was also a bizarre event, a plane crash in which someone’s (was it Hunt) wife was killed, and wads of cash was found in her purse. This became a big part of key to the money-laundering puzzle. I wish I could say that the Russian interference scandal would unfold like Watergate, but I have yet to see it.
Elie
OT but just noticed Charlie Pierce is offline based on a note from the editor. Anyone know what is up?
HeidiMom
@rikyrah: “The ‘Game of Thrones’ administration” is an excellent description. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be a Tyrion Lannister anywhere in the mix. At this point I might even appreciate a Tywin Lannister.
The Moar You Know
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Take a look at his record while governor in California. That’ll change your mind.
Or how he sold out his own union members to McCarthy.
Or his charming record on race relations, especially how he opened his 1980 campaign.
Or the mass executions of nuns and priests during the “Dirty Wars” in Argentina and Chile – all done at a time when he was absolutely mentally competent.
The past buries many things but when it comes to that animal, I’ll get the shovel out and exhume them every time. The man was a morally bankrupt monster to a degree that Trump can’t even comprehend much less approach.
Roger Moore
@Patricia Kayden:
There are a lot of people who think Trump is showing signs of Alzheimer’s, too.
TenguPhule
What was that quote from Molly Ivins again? Oh yes, “I think of Texas as the laboratory for bad government”
Perhaps NATO needs to stage an intervention in Texas. Nothing else has worked so far.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
Don’t worry, he’s working on it.
dogwood
@ruemara:
I’m a 63 year old white female Democrat. That label is good enough for me. It’s a huge, diverse often contentious country. I’m all for supporting candidates who can win in the actual districts they represent. Winning the Kos primary or any other purity movement’s endorsement doesn’t mean anything to me. I can live pretty easily with democrats who veer from orthodoxy because even the bluest of blue dogs tend to vote with the party with great consistency. Republicans are my enemy, and anyone who has the guts to throw his or her hat in the ring as a Dem, who has a realistic chance of winning is ok by me as long as they aren’t grifters or kooks.
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know: he didn’t become the subject of two of the Dead Kennedy’s best songs for nothing. The man was evil.
Iowa Old Lady
Forgive the personal note, but I just came home from B&N where for the first time I saw Deep as a Tomb on display. This is basically what authors dream of.
Iowa Old Lady
@The Moar You Know: I think the death of the middle class began with Reagan’s economic moves.
The Thin Black Duke
@The Moar You Know: Thank you. Morally speaking, the only difference between Trump and Reagan is Reagan was a better salesman. “Monster” is the right word to use.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
Because nobody ever got heartburn from poutine.
divF
@The Moar You Know:
I’ll add one more:
“If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with. No more appeasement.” – Gov. Reagan regarding anti-war protestors in 1970. The man was a charming scumbag.
The Moar You Know
@SatanicPanic: Yep. I can tell from the replies who was alive when he was president and who was not (or too young to understand what the guy was). I have seen true evil in the Oval Office. Trump ain’t that. A pale, sad, pathetic echo at best.
Ruckus
@Patricia Kayden:
At the time we had no idea about his dementia. And then it was actively hidden from the public. And as @Roger Moore: states, there are a number of people, myself included, who think that drumpf is showing (ever increasing) signs of dementia. And I also believe that his family is actively taking advantage of that for their own enrichment.
Chet Murthy
@Iowa Old Lady:
QFT.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: That’s an abomination, not food.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
Reagan was evil in his own right, drumpf is evil because he is a moron with a small amount of money, zero class and a truly evil family. And “friends.”
chopper
@The Moar You Know:
this. trump wishes he was half as evil as reagan was.
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know: We’ve seen it twice now! Dick Cheney was no slouch in that department. Trump is an ignorant, belligerent dunce with a history of racism and sexual assault. So evil, but on the evil/stupid scale, stupid is the clear winner. In a way we’re lucky that’s the case, until his bumbling results in a city drowning.
The Moar You Know
@Iowa Old Lady: Truer words never spoken. He broke the unions and then went after everyone else, started the money moving up into the pockets of the wealthy with his insane “tax plan”.
Chris
@The Moar You Know:
Reagan in three sentences:
“We were told four years ago that seventeen millions Americans went to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet.”
Yeah, Ronald was a piece of shit from front to back.
TenguPhule
@Chris: I’ve always supported exhuming his body and dumping it out at sea. The man didn’t deserve to be buried in American soil.
Villago Delenda Est
@TenguPhule: Donald is most definitely working on it. It’s the only thing he’s actually working on, aside from more refined methods of cheating at golf.
Ruckus
@Iowa Old Lady:
Reagan didn’t start the concept of the death of the middle class, but he did give the concept of killing it it’s first major push. Other “notables” in the conservative movement really started that ideal, but Reagan was the point man in the implementation.
It is a simple idea, for simple people, wealth is the only indicator of value, everything springs from that. Even at it’s basic level, the idea of race is involved, in that a black man can not have attained wealth (power) on his own merits, as he has none, he had to steal at least the seed money.
Our country, at least nominally, is based upon the idea that a persons value is inherent in their being alive. Of course conservatives have been fighting this concept since before the country was founded because it makes them no better than anyone else. And that goes against everything they believe and steal to achieve.
Ruckus
Just had a comment go right into the trash, no moderation, no screw off, nothing.
The Moar You Know
Same thing happened to me yesterday. Every single one. Today it’s fine.
Millard Filmore
@JMG:
And then life goes on as normal? Nobody resigns. Nobody steps down from elected office. Republican traitors in Congress stop investigations. Sessions will crush all dissent. Voter suppression goes into high gear. The economy will crash, hard.
The billionaires pushing for this will need a large private reserve of food, fuel, small arms, artillery, ammunition, and serfs to bring in next year’s crops. That will get them through two or three years, until the supply chain of imports dries up. Then they will need razor wire and machine gun towers to keep the hungry horde city folk away from the food in remaining plantations.
Mike in NC
Reagan played a fake cowboy in a bunch of movies. Trump is an actual rodeo clown.
Chris
@TenguPhule:
Well if you dump his body into the sea, then how are people supposed to piss on his grave?
Roger Moore
@Patricia Kayden:
Every president learns on the job; there’s no way of preparing anyone for the position so they are forced to learn by doing. The problem is that trump is starting with the “Government for Dummies” series rather than the advanced seminar.
Millard Filmore
@Mike J:
This assumes the Republican traitors will prosecute. Maybe a state or two will go through a Truth Commission procedure where testimony is required but sentences are forbidden.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I bought an iced coffee this morning at a Tim Horton’s just outside of Columbus. They’ve had a presence here since at least the first time I lived in the area, back in 2005.
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
I have a hard time agreeing with that, because it implies they wouldn’t be just as active enriching themselves if he were mentally competent.
Millard Filmore
@Chris:
Getting arrested for that is on my bucket list!
Mnemosyne
@Iowa Old Lady:
Congratulations! Did you remember to bring your pen and “signed by the author” stickers so you could sign them on the spot?
Mnemosyne
@Chris:
True fact: they have cameras around his tomb to deter people from pissing on it.
ruemara
@Iowa Old Lady: CONGRATS!
@The Moar You Know: If Trump was more competent, he’d be in the vein of Reagan in truth. What’s the axiom, “History repeats itself first as tragedy, next as farce”? Farcial Ronaldus Maximus.
Captain C
@mainmata: If, however, he does pardon someone, then they can’t take the 5th and thus must testify under oath if subpoenaed. This is why Scooter Libby’s sentence was commuted, rather than him being granted a full pardon.
Chris
@Millard Filmore:
Reagan isn’t worth getting arrested for.
Captain C
@randy khan:
I think this plus the fact that they won’t touch any of the Never Trump people, who likely constitute most of the competent (if evil) members of the Republican Party.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
It wasn’t intended as an either or statement, that they wouldn’t be enriching themselves if he wasn’t entering dementia. Nancy theoretically hid the dementia to protect Ronnie’s name and record. The kids here are actively ignoring the dementia to enrich themselves. The difference is that we get to see the dementia this time, not that it will end any better.
Mnemosyne
@Nicole:
This part of the thread is probably dead, but polygamous societies depend on a shortage of boys. That’s why the fundie Mormons abandon their teenage boys — just kick them out on the street to fend for themselves.
I’m guessing it’s going to turn out to be a dynamic like that.
Ruckus
@Mike in NC:
That’s not fair. rodeo clowns play a very important role at a rodeo. Drumpf may be a clown but actual work, actual importance, other than having convinced enough bigots to vote for him?
Now calling him a clown is not out of line, look at how some people around her are scared of clowns. And this clown should scare you, considering who he is and where he sits.
Yutsano
@Roger Moore: What you did there. I see it.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Funny that the curators know how so many people feel about him. I wonder if cameras would have deterred people in Milan in 1945?
TenguPhule
@Millard Filmore:
Not even that long. Without a reliable clean source of water they’ll all be dead within five days.
Nicole
@Mnemosyne: I’m curious. They may decide not to bother to show it, too, but it was such a striking visual moment- a line of little girls in pink dresses that I realized that, other than a mention of Ofglen having a son who escaped to Canada with her wife, there’s no sign of little boys in the show so far. Plenty of young men, as soldiers, etc., but no boys.
J R in WV
In Gilead, the infertile women not married to the high Patriarchy will be in the military roles, won’t they? Surplus in every way.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I’m probably going out there tomorrow.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: All rational people fear clowns.
Roger Moore
@J R in WV:
Hell no. The last thing the patriarchy wants to do with women is to arm them. The military has to be politically allied with the ruling class, or the ruling class won’t rule for long. Having neither read the whole novel nor seen the TV series, my guess would be the infertile women would be married off to men who aren’t yet high enough to get handmaidens but whose loyalty the Patriarchs want to maintain.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore: Nope. Its worse.
Infertile women are sent off to the Colonies AKA Toxic Waste/Superfund cleanup sites to work there and die (no safety equipment).
ETA: And you don’t even want to know what happens to the lesbians
DissidentFish
I don’t know much, and I know less every day but I know this. You can’t unshit a bed. Whatever Comey does will make it worse for him. (Though he could do a lot for the country…)
PPCLI
@artem1s: people forget how good Ollie North was at doing the Ollie North routine. One of the low lights I still remember:
Ollie was being asked about some of that money floating around happening to end up paying for work at his house. So he put on his Bluff Noble Soldier look, and with a catch in his voice. Said that he put in a home security system with that un-accounted for money because “I am willing to go Mano-a-mano with Abu Nidal, but I couldn’t ask my precious wife and children to do that.”
I can’t see Flynn selling something like that.