Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

This really is a full service blog.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: “What Did the President Know, and When Did He Know It?… “

Open Thread: “What Did the President Know, and When Did He Know It?… “

by | 202 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

This answers, this time around, are probably “Not very much” and “He never remembered for more than 48 hours, no matter how often the information was repeated.” But still!…

“With few exceptions,” clause doing a lot of work in that sentence:

Of course, when Nixon got busted, he’d just achieved a landslide 49-state win. This guy?

Reader Interactions

202Comments

  1. 1.

    Trentrunner

    Your weekly reminder that Moscow could release a tape of Trump raping a 13-year-old Ivanka, and NOTHING will happen unless GOP congresspeople decide to do something.

    NOTHING.

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    Tax returns from past 10 years show no “income of any type from Russian sources,” with few exceptions.

    This is already an active meme.

    Colbert is gonna have a field day with it.

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    @Trentrunner:

    Your weekly reminder that Moscow could release a tape of Trump raping a 13-year-old Ivanka, and NOTHING will happen unless GOP congresspeople decide to do something.

    Untrue. At least three quarters of the GOP Congress would start spanking their monkeys while they watched it.

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    The other thing about the taxes is that any Russian money invested in his projects is very likely to be through an business located in an off-shore tax haven rather than coming directly from Russia. Does anyone think trump hasn’t done business with any number of shell companies located in Cyprus, Panama, the Cayman Islands, etc.?

  7. 7.

    Doug R

    I have “no income of any type with any source, with few exceptions”
    Only two exceptions for me.

  9. 9.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @TenguPhule:

    …while blaming his act in “the culture” and “liberal, San Francisco values”, and how it demonstrated their need to install an ascetic, Christofascist theocratic regime, with him at its head….

  10. 10.

    RSA

    Trump lawyer: Tax returns from past 10 years show no “income of any type from Russian sources,” with few exceptions.

    Alternative summary: Trump has taken more than $100 million from Russian sources over the past ten years.

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    WaPo: Trump has a long history of secretly recording calls:

    “There was never any sense with Donald of the phone being used for private conversation,” said John O’Donnell, who was president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in the 1980s.

    For O’Donnell and others who have had regular dealings with Trump through the years, there was something viscerally real about the threat implied by the president’s tweet Friday morning warning that fired FBI director James B. Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

    “Talking on the phone with Donald was a public experience,” said O’Donnell, author of a book about his former boss, “Trumped: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump.” “You never knew who else was listening.”

    I sure hope that any time Donnie asks for classified information that the people who have it find ways to keep it from him. The man – in addition to being: insane, horrible, incompetent, etc. – can’t help but be a blabbermouth who can’t keep a secret.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    burnspbesq

    According to The Hill, Rosenstein plans to spend Saturday interviewing three highly qualified candidates for FBI Director.

    Does he know he’s wasting his time? Trump doesn’t do “qualified.”

  15. 15.

    amk

    @Trentrunner: Yup. Despite the total control of all the prosecutorial powers bestowed on the rethugs (thanks, stupid voters), the cowards are shitscared of that above 40% approval rating even after all the shitshows from day one. All this pitchforks, tumbrels, revolution is just silly fantasy talk.

  17. 17.

    JGabriel

    via TenguPhule:

    Tax returns from past 10 years show no “income of any type from Russian sources,” with few exceptions.

    The Roman policy of crucifying religious subversives was very successful at maintaining traditional state polytheism, with few exceptions.

  18. 18.

    BBA

    I still say the whole Russia thing blows over when Trump decides to invade, I dunno, Cuba? and the press fellates each other on what a bold, daring, presidential move that was, and criticizing him means you hate America.

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    @SiubhanDuinne: He only seems to have problems with words that start with an H. I think he had an abusive stepdad growing up that was an Historian.

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    @amk:

    All this pitchforks, tumbrels, revolution is just silly fantasy talk.

    Of course it is, for anyone from IC or LE looking here.

    If any Republicans should unexpectedly shuffle off of the mortal coil earlier then expected, its just a coincidence.

  21. 21.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Roger Moore:

    There are literally dozens of tax/creditor/ex-spouse havens around the globe. I could literally name an entity We’re All Americans Here LLC, run it from Anguilla (the jurisdiction I used to be authorized to offshore in), and some slob in the Lubyanka could be managing its affairs with there being no visible Russians in leadership positions.

    If I really wanted opacity, I’d do a Panamanian trust with a Bahamian LP, have an Isle of Man corporation acting as the sole member of the LLC.

    No Russians visible.

    Here’s another fun fact – some organizations have been setting up thousands of aged, “off the shelf” offshore companies. Want something that started 3 years ago? It can be bought.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    By this time next week, the vend-o-tron of ‘reasons’ for firing Comey will have spit out that Martians sent a message through one of Dolt 45’s tooth fillings to do so or else Earth would be incinerated and we should hail him as savior of the planet.

    Preposterous? Nothing is too far-fetched when it comes to the kumquat cretin.

  24. 24.

    ThresherK

    Lifelong Nutmegger here.

    After Blowmentum, the FSM has shone on us, and we have two geniune Democratic blue-state Senators. Dick Blumenthal and Chris Murphy have really been out front on this.

    The badge of honor, getting Twitlerstormed, is something all Dems should aspire to.

  27. 27.

    Sentient AI from the Future

    Ok, so 10 years of returns were reviewed…when was his last bankruptcy that Don Jr said was totally taken care of by Russian $ ? Oh, about 10 years ago, you say? Hm.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore:

    The other thing about the taxes is that any Russian money invested in his projects is very likely to be through an business located in an off-shore tax haven rather than coming directly from Russia. Does anyone think trump hasn’t done business with any number of shell companies located in Cyprus, Panama, the Cayman Islands, etc.?

    Great point. This is probably why the investigations are taking so long – unraveling a gazillion shell companies and their payments takes a lot of time.

    It’s ok, I’m fine with however long it takes for Trumpov to be the first POTUS taken out of the Oval Office in handcuffs.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    David A. Graham Retweeted German Embassy
    This is not a subtweet, it is a U-boat tweet

    German EmbassyVerified account @ GermanyinUSA
    Ever experienced pleasure from someone’s misfortune? There’s a #German word for that: Schadenfreude! #WordoftheWeek

  31. 31.

    Calouste

    @RSA: Alternative alternative summary: Trump has been hiding income from the IRS for the past 10 years.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    The statement on the taxes reminds me of the letter issued about Teump’s physical health from his physician during the campaign.

    A lot of effusive praise that no one really believes is true.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    @Gravenstone

    He could just cut to the chase and appoint Kislyak.

    Speaking of Sergey, this Kremlinesque historical revisionism:

    The White House didn’t want anybody to know that President Trump met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, and nobody would have known if Russian media hadn’t published multiple photos of all three of them in the Oval Office. But with that cat out of the bag, the administration — “furious” about the Russian photos — is still pretending like Kislyak wasn’t there.

    Thursday evening, Trump tweeted out a photo of his meeting, and it neither showed nor mentioned Kislyak.

    Indeed, the White House has released its own photos of the meeting, but none of them include Kislyak, even though he was clearly present according to the photos published by TASS, Russia’s state-owned media agency. Kislyak was also absent from the original scheduling of the meeting and went similarly unmentioned in the White House’s readout of the meeting. Source

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    @gene108

    If in person that doctor is anything remotely akin to the way he comes across in public appearances, I wouldn’t trust him to cure a ham.

  41. 41.

    dmsilev

    It’s really a shame that Trump and his lawyers are not aware of all Internet traditions; proper usage is ‘with notably rare exceptions, …’.

  42. 42.

    gratutious

    Uh, “no income of any type” is sort of contradicted by those “few exceptions.” Charles Manson didn’t kill anyone of any type anywhere, with a few exceptions.

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    Josh Marshall had an interesting analysis regarding the letter about Shitgibbon’s taxes (“The Trump Tax Return/Russia Letter Is Full of Holes”). He noted a goodly amount of loopholes, and brought up various other info re: Shitgibbon’s business dealings

  44. 44.

    efgoldman

    @Jeffro:

    This is probably why the investigations are taking so long

    No, they’re not! This is way more complicated, on way more levels, than Watergate, which took 27 months from break in to helicopter ride.
    Patience, Grasshoppers. The grand juries, federal and state, are just getting started. Don’t let doomsday posters like BBA and tanghephule get you wound up. Let your schaden at the incompetence of these buffoons freude away. Get angry, organize, fight back.

  45. 45.

    Bess

    no “income of any type from Russian sources,” with few exceptions

    It isn’t how much money you might have made by betting.

    It’s about how much you owe your bookie and what you’re going to have to do to keep his goons from showing up at your door.

  46. 46.

    kindness

    Looking at the 538 graph it made me miss the days when it was only 27% of Americans who were nuts.

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    Frankly, I’m not sure why anyone is even questioning the letter. Shitgibbon only hires the bestest professionals. That note from his “doctor” was enough to convince me that a 70-year-old with a BMI of 35-plus 29 would be the healthiest person EVAH to occupy the Oval-which-means-no-corner-for-people-to-hide-in Office.

  52. 52.

    efgoldman

    @SFAW:

    the Oval-which-means-no-corner-for-people-to-hide-in Office.

    Then howkum they couldn’t see Kysliak? Where was he hiding?

  54. 54.

    mai naem mobile

    I heard this this AM. Who gives a shit about your income from Russia? We were talying about the money you owed the Russians. These people think we fell off the turnip truck.

  59. 59.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I just saw on Rachel Maddow that some–I don’t know what to call it, a team, a subdepartment, something–of the Treasury Department that deals with looking into money laundering and shit like that has turned over a whole slew of shit having to do with the campaign to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Maybe this will go somewhere.

  60. 60.

    hovercraft

    @Gravenstone:

    @burnspbesq: Saw a chyron on Maddow that Cornyn is among the candidates. Fucking A….

    So you know that to @burnspbesq: ‘s point Cornyn is the front runner. The acting director has already eliminated himself by saying the investigation will continue and by saying that Comey had the support of the agents. The lady from the Bush years with a dodgy torture record is a woman (Alice Fisher), and I can’t remember the fourth one (Michael Garcia, a republican judge from NY), but Cornyn is on record saying the suggestion of “collusion” is phony, so he’s a slam dunk.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Yesterday upon the stair I met a man who wasn’t there. I met the man again today. I wish, I wish he’d go away!

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @clay: Kislyak is considered to be/the RUMINT on Kislyak is that he is the chief Russian Intelligence Service (RIS) handler and recruiter in DC.

  78. 78.

    efgoldman

    @SFAW:

    Hiding in plain sight? Or he has the ability to cloud men’s minds?

    They’ll change the story three times by Monday morning.

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: No, the first firm, which is represented by Morgan Lewis, is partnered with Rosneft. So Morgan Lewis represents a company that is in a development partnership with Rosneft.

  83. 83.

    efgoldman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Cornyn is really stupid, he’s perfect!

    More to the point: As a sitting senator he’ll zip thru confirmation, AND he’s 99%+ sure to be replaced by another RWNJ (Abbot? Even dumber and wingier).
    Which means Orangemandyas never thought of it, it came from someone else.

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    @efgoldman: Some of these investigations started almost a year ago…so yeah, it might take another year, and I think I noted I’m okay with that. And thanks – I’m angry, I’m organized, I’m fighting back.

  91. 91.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @efgoldman:

    Hiding in plain sight? Or he has the ability to cloud men’s minds?

    They’ll change the story three times by Monday morning.

    I feel like I just read The Foundation Trilogy and the Bible mushed into one.

    The Holy Bible, the Asimov Edition.

  92. 92.

    tobie

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    The only thing I don’t get is why would Cornyn want to give up a lifetime Senate seat for a ride in this shit show fail parade of an administration?

    The next question is: why has the entire GOP caucus in the House and Senate decided to hitch its wagon to an administration bound to go down in disgrace. I don’t buy it’s only to lower taxes, drown the government, and destroy all regulation preventing the oil companies from looting and polluting the country. Something else is at stake. Don’t know what it is. I feel like that’s the enigma at the center of everything in US politics these days.

  93. 93.

    efgoldman

    @SFAW:

    Is there any law that says he’d have to resign?

    No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
    – Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone: That’s not what I want, or what I’m recommending. But if that’s what it takes to impeach and convict Trumpov, or force his resignation, or whatever, then that’s what it takes. As long as the various investigations keep moving forward, I’m good with that.

  96. 96.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Yesterday upon the stair I met a man who wasn’t there.

    Must have been L’esprit de l’escalier.

    Especially if you thought of the clever thing you could have said to him only later when it was too late.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    @tobie: because there is no difference between Trump and republicans on the belief that the problems of the country are caused by people who have no power.

  101. 101.

    Steve in the ATL

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    @Roger Moore:

    very likely to be through an business

    Oh Jesus, I hope Steve in the ATL doesn’t see this.

    OMFG I’M NEVER READING THIS BLOG AGAIN! IF YOU NEED ME, I’LL BE AT LGM WITH THE OTHER PEDANTS AND EFGOLDMAN.

  102. 102.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @tobie: 84% of Republicans still support Trump. That primary thing may be driving the officeholders.

    It’s something the rest of us need to be thinking about for the post-Trump era. I suspect that some fraction can be deprogrammed, but more won’t, and they have guns.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie: Foreign money, lots and lots of it, as well as US corporate, laundered through Super PACs tied to GOP members of the House and Senate. Including McConnell and Ryan.

  104. 104.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Corner Stone:

    He only seems to have problems with words that start with an H. I think he had an abusive stepdad growing up that was an Historian.

    My stepdad was a architect, thank you very much. But we did spend a lot of time talking about history!

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: No worries. For a minute I thought it was supposed to be visual with “shadow” and “blue”. But even I couldn’t stretch it that far.

  109. 109.

    Chet Murthy

    @tobie:

    why has the entire GOP caucus in the House and Senate decided to hitch its wagon to an administration bound to go down in disgrace. I don’t buy it’s only to lower taxes, …. Something else is at stake.

    Sure. And they told us, din’t [sic] they? In 2013, they got their report card. It told them to reach out to Latinos, right? What’d they do? Double-down on the racism. This is about keeping power, and they know that the path they’re on, they can’t reverse course. So they have no choice, other than to keep on ahead. It’s a pact. Probably a suicide pact, but it’s possible they can win this. In which case, a lotta people (like us here on this blog, but esp. the dusky-hued ones like me) gotta die, a lotta people gotta be driven out. So a guy like Cornyn, I can imagine the way he’s thinkin’ is:

    Either we go down, in which case, my Senate seat is probably toast, or I do whatever needs doing, for us to win. FBI Dir? Sure, if it needs doing, and I’m the one to do it.

    In sure there are *specific* venial reasons too. But there don’t need to be that many, b/c the entire enterprise is predicated on deep, long-term venial reasons, right? Power for power’s sake. They did what they had to do, to get it, and to keep it. And it’s led them to this pass. But they’re not gonna give up the power -now-. No way, no how. And if half the country needs to be put to the sword, why, so be it, right?

    [And as Charlie and others remind us, they’re not different from Smallgloves in this. He ‘s just a better communicator than they are. That’s it. Otherwise, they’re the same.]

  110. 110.

    Chet Murthy

    urk. I’m in comment jail. Wonder what I did. wish it were possible to learn what words in a comment would land one in jail.

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    No worries, indeed. Still riding the high from the scrumptious lobster tails (broiled) and excellent champagne that constituted last night’s birthday din-din.

    (It may end up being PB&J for next week, but was worth it in spades.)

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    Again: Follow the money!
    1.

    2.

    3.

  118. 118.

    amk

    @Cheryl Rofer: 84% of rethugs? That’s a scary number and scarier nightmare. At this point, I would even take that proverbial 27% of gop to be on the saner side.

  121. 121.

    chris

    @Adam L Silverman: Yup. Al Capone, taxes, etc. Hard though when there’s just so much money sloshing around in US politics. Hope you guys come up with real campaign finance laws sometime.
    ::chortles off to bed. ‘night, all::

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    interesting…

    US Attorney SDNY‏Verified account
    @ SDNYnews
    Acting USAtty Kim: We will not allow the US financial system to be used to launder proceeds of crimes committed anywhere-here or in Russia

    “acting” as in the temporary replacement for Preet Bharara? also interesting

  124. 124.

    Steeplejack

    @Chet Murthy:

    Casino, poker, pussy and penis are the leading causes these days, followed, oddly, by ambient and ambience, which contain the name of a drug.

    ETA: Now that your comment has been released, I will note that if your comment fails because of a forbidden word you will get an explicit message saying that it has gone to moderation. If it disappears with no message, as Adam says yours did, that is another issue, which has not been solved.

    I don’t see any offending words in your comment.

  127. 127.

    tobie

    @Peale: @Cheryl Rofer: @Adam L Silverman: @Chet Murthy: Lots to chew on here, folks, but the desire to hold on to power at all costs seems to be the common theme. It took an economic collapse to get George W Bush voters to stay home or vote for Dems and that lasted for all of 2 years. I really don’t want to have to live through another collapse for the Trumpenproletariat to learn that the GOP’s only aim is to protect the interests of the super rich.

  129. 129.

    lollipopguild

    @Gin & Tonic: The word/words change constantly just to keep everyone on their toes. Swordfish! Beatlebaum!
    Hut sut Ralston on the rillrah. Mairzy dotes.

  130. 130.

    Corner Stone

    @Steve in the ATL: An architect, eh? I notice you did not disavow the abusive part, nor the predilective for using the perverted “a” as opposed to “an” where God and his Children all know it should be there.

  137. 137.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m living for when Trumpov decides his financial empire…his legacy to Ivanka…is at mortal risk and decides to try and “negotiate” an exit. Or not, maybe he just rides it all the way in. Either way, karma’s a b****.

  141. 141.

    Steeplejack

    @efgoldman:

    I lift a glass of Pernod in your honor, sir. And then I think I’m going to punch Hemingway in the puss. He and Gertrude Stein have been talking trash about me all night.

  146. 146.

    Thaddeu

    Less words more action.

    Election 2018 – 542 days to go. In most states, registration closes 30 days before election day.

    http://www.canivote.org/ will show whether one is registered to vote or not.

    Check early, and register if not.

    Getting 10 new voters registered and to the polling booth is possible for everyone – just 1 new voter every month, and a ~50% voting rate will get you there.

  151. 151.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Not looking like any major IC news drop tonight. Unless the Manafort news is it. Maybe the pattern was too obvious? Maybe tomorrow night?

  152. 152.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/opinion/american-fascism-trump.html

    Seventy-three years ago, The New York Times asked the sitting vice president to write an article about whether there are fascists in America, and what they’re up to.

    It was an alarming question. And the vice president took it quite seriously. His article, “The Danger of American Fascism,” described a breed of super-nationalist who pursues political power by deceiving Americans and playing to their fears, but is really interested only in protecting his own wealth and privilege.

    That vice president was my grandfather, Henry A. Wallace. And in my view, he predicted President Trump.

    To be clear, I don’t think the precise term “fascism” — as in Mussolini and Hitler — is fairly applied to Mr. Trump. Mussolini was a proponent of “corporatism,” defined by some as “a merger of state and corporate power.” And through that lens, using that term, my grandfather’s warning looks prescient.

    Much more at the link I highly recommend reading the whole thing.

  155. 155.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @NotMax:

    I was half expecting your retort that you are already older than whoever it was I said you should be as spry as when you get to be their age. (Can’t remember now.)

  157. 157.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Yeah, I saw him say that earlier. He did also say that Comey leaked the the 2004 e-mail back in 2009 though. So I expect Lindsey will be issuing a subpoena to Comey to ask him if he leaked anything or unmasked anyone in this investigation.

  158. 158.

    Adam L Silverman

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): A number of stories, based on interviews with anonymous sources who are close to James Comey, pushing heavily back against the President, what he did, how he did it, how he keeps changing the explanation on it, and welcoming release of the tapes. As well as Miller’s comment about a paper trail. I’ve seen almost a dozen stories at a dozen different outlets all doing similar things. And being tweeted and retweeted at the President’s private twitter account. He’s going to be all wound up on the golden throne tomorrow AM.

  160. 160.

    tobie

    I don’t know how to link to twitter, but Preet Bharara tweeted out the following tonight in response to the tweet posted here earlier from the Acting Attorney General, Southern District New York:

    Congrats to Joon & team in Russian money laundering case (underlying fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, died suspiciously in Moscow jail)

    So the reference to not letting laundered money be invested in the US had to do with the Magnitsky case. Gin and Tonic doesn’t seem to be around tonight. Too bad, because he’s got serious expertise in this area.

  163. 163.

    Aleta

    It burns me up to hear TV analysts object to Trump “not telling the truth” about the upstanding, well-respected Comey, when they ignored, normalized, all his outrageous lies about Pres Obama. And still don’t bring that up in their analysis. Nor any of his campaign lies or how those dovetailed with Russian propaganda. If they can’t say lie … lying …liar, they’re too weak to hold their heads up.

  164. 164.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ah, okay. I guess I was expecting something yuuuge. The slow trickle works, too though. Hopefully, the Doofus-in-Chief embarrasses himself tweeting from his very classy, terrific golden toidy.

  166. 166.

    Steeplejack

    @dance around in your bones:

    I love Luby’s! Or I did. Haven’t been there in decades. But my family lived in Del Rio in the mid-’60s. For a while we had to go to San Antonio about once a month or so to see the orthodontist. The appointment was always on Saturday morning. We would go on Friday night—sometimes the whole family, sometimes just my dad and me—and we always ate at the Luby’s in the (then new) North Star Mall either that night or sometime on Saturday. It was a high point of the trip! That and a mandatory visit to the bookstore in the mall (B. Dalton? Waldenbooks?) so I could get a couple of science-fiction paperbacks or the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels that Ace and Ballantine were reissuing.

  167. 167.

    Adam L Silverman

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Remember, as I’ve been saying for months: Comey believes his own hype/the hype written about him as the last upright person in DC (though we now know in reality that this is really Sally Yates). Regardless, he takes his reputation very, very seriously. It makes him predictable, can lead him to make bad decisions (the JUL press conference and the OCT letter), and allow others, because he’s predictable, to manipulate him as was the case with the NY Field Office on the Abedin/Weiner laptop and emails thing leading to the OCT letter. He will not let the trashing of his reputation stand. And as we’ve seen over and over he isn’t someone who can be intimidated. This should be very interesting.

  169. 169.

    clay

    Charlie Sykes, a conservative commentator, just outlined Cleek’s Law on MSNBC. Only he called it “anti-antiTrumpism.” Said that conservatives are more interested in seeing their enemies outraged than defending Trump.

  170. 170.

    Sanjeevs

    @Adam L Silverman: Someone posted on reddit about the raid yesterday. They work in digital marketing and in early 2016 started seeing these massive ad buys from tiny Republican campaign agencies. Theory was the Russians would make massive ad buys for Republican candidates who were fundraising. The money raised is now legit US sourced cash.

  171. 171.

    Chet Murthy

    @Steeplejack:

    I love Luby’s! Or I did.

    Oh man. I can still remember batter-fried okra! Oh man. But that’s it. I’m sure there was a ton of other great stuff there, but … MmMmMmmmm fried okra!

  172. 172.

    opiejeanne

    I have been AFK most of the day. Have we heard from greennotGreen recently?

    Thanks.

  173. 173.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Ah, yes. I didn’t have time to watch one of her movies this time around. My brother likes those even more than I do, and we have running references to lines like: “I’ll have you know I was the All-England junior fencing champion in 1933!”

  174. 174.

    1000 flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @tobie: For Christian Dominonists, many of whom are convinced we’re in the End Times, there’s every reason under heaven to keep the country under the guidance of the Godly, Christian party rather than those godless, inclusive Democrats with their gay rights and their subversion of the natural, ordained hierarchy of human relationships.

    Don’t ever lose track of that. The efforts of the alt-right and the .01% should not distract us from the other leg of the stool.

  179. 179.

    Adam L Silverman

    Shiny new open thread up. Featuring New York Police Officer on shark sexy time!

  180. 180.

    Peale

    @Sanjeevs: yep. To return to previous topic – my guess as to another reason why a senator like croyn might be giving the FBI gig a thought is that lots of republicans need to interfere with that investigation. I thought that dark money that Republicans have raised was coming from private equity, o hedge funds. The thought that it might be Russia hadn’t crossed my mind.

  181. 181.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    It was a interesting mini-fest as it included a couple of WW2 era movies rarely shown, Demi-Paradise and The Yellow Canary.

    Only one Miss Marple film in the entire mix.

  182. 182.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    In moderation. Maybe because I posted from a different device?

  186. 186.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    One thing I am very concerned about is that James Comey has publicly declined to testify next week to the senate committee, but the deputy AG is going to testify? ABC news link here . What do you think the game with this is?

  187. 187.

    Sanjeevs

    @Peale: I think they’re the real target. What’s the point of a Fincen investigation of Trump? You could impeach him now on emoluments violations or obstruction of justice. There’s no more evidence required just the political will. But they know if they do it Trump will dish the dirt on them. Only way to counter that is to find out what it is and get it out.

  191. 191.

    Steeplejack

    @Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:

    One report said Comey preferred to be subpoenaed, but I didn’t get the eleven-dimensional chess strategy behind that. Maybe so he can say, “Hey, they made me say all that bad stuff!” and avoid burning (GOP) bridges?

  192. 192.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Steeplejack: yea the subpoena thing is pretty silly, can a minority of the committee even do that? It’s probably terminal both-siderism.

  193. 193.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    For some reason I had thought from something you wrote this morning that your birthday was tomorrow (the 13th), not today. Apologies for getting it wrong, and for missing most of it. Hope it was a lovely celebratory day for you!

  195. 195.

    The Lodger

    @Chet Murthy: This may be late, but maybe it’s because you changed your nym back to Chet. New or changed nyms automatically go to moderation, not sure if reusing an old one puts you there too.

  197. 197.

    Sean

    @Another Scott: I have a feeling that this was meant as some kind of failed snarky tweet that was referencing the recorded Flynn conversations, Russia tape rumors and his crazy wiretapping claims. But we can’t be certain with him.

  198. 198.

    Chris T.

    @tobie: Interestingly, Magnitsky ties into Putin’s Hillary-hatred. It was Hillary’s State Department that really focused in on this.

  199. 199.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    Fake Constitution! Shitgibbon only looks on it as a “suggestion”! Only Hitlary supporters (most of whom voted illegally!!!) and the lying MSM care about non-issues like that!

    SPLUNGE!

  201. 201.

    Wilson Heath

    Borrowed money isn’t income in the U.S. federal income tax system, so no, huge influxes of Putin-backed cash wouldn’t show up as income on his Spraytanic Majesty’s returns.

  202. 202.

    OGLiberal

    @tobie: My wife’s theory is that a) they don’t think Trump is going down and b) they don’t think they will ever be out of power because they will disenfranchise enough of “those” people that Dems will never be able to regain power electorally. I’ve always said, “nah!”, but now starting to think she might be right.

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