Talked to a former Trump campaign staffer who has hired attorney in Russia probe and feels Trump himself should help pay for legal costs…
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 20, 2017
@Acosta "Yeah, I took a job with the Russian mafia. They really should have a better benefits package…"
— Peter Corless (@PeterCorless) May 20, 2017
You knew what he was when you signed up to work for him!
Apparently some of the people on his staff are more gullible than the people who thought he wouldn’t try to take away their health insurance https://t.co/bs7jlksjJN
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) May 20, 2017
A few thoughts from this staffer: "In many ways, the Trump Associates are the real victims here…" https://t.co/uJywsGhR3T
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 20, 2017
Same staffer: "The world going after them and Trump leaving them abandoned on the battlefield. Yet many lives will be ruined in the process" https://t.co/wieSZhNxW3
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 20, 2017
They’re not just politically, ethically, & personally rotten people, they’re also really fucking naive, & cartoonishly stupid.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) May 20, 2017
From the Washington Post, in its role as the paper for a company town whose monopoly industry is politics — “The worst job in Washington right now: Working for Trump“:
… Some White House staffers have turned to impeachment gallows humor. Other mid-level aides have started contacting consultants, shopping their résumés. And at least one senior staffer has begun privately talking to friends about what a post-White House job would look like, according to two people close to the staffer…
…[Trump’s] team is growing increasingly weary. Privately they say that the problem is not an incompetent communications shop, as the president sometimes gripes, or an ineffectual chief of staff, as friends and outside operatives repeatedly warn, but the man in the Oval Office, whose preferred management style is one of competing factions and organized chaos…
One Republican operative in frequent contact with White House officials described them as “going through the stages of grief.” Another said some aides have “moved to angry,” frustrated with a president who demands absolute loyalty but in recent days has publicly tarnished the credibility of his team by sending them out with one message — only to personally undercut it later with a contradictory tweet or public comment.
And a third said that others are sticking around purely for self-interest, hoping to juice their future earning potential. This Republican added that any savvy White House staffer should be keeping a diary. “The real question is, how long do you put up with it?” this person said. “Every one of those people could get a better-paying job and work less hours.”…
Are there no Koch-fueled conservative ‘think’ tanks? Are there no Mercer-paid ‘study groups’?
Take the word of Rick Wilson, “Republican political consultant for almost 30 years” — “If you work for Trump, it’s time to quit“:
…Whether you’re a 20-something fresh off the campaign trail, or a seasoned Washington insider serving in the Cabinet, by now you’re painfully aware that you’re not making America great again; you’re barely making it to the end of the daily news cycle before your verbally incontinent boss, the putative leader of the free world, once again steers the proverbial car into a ditch. On every front, you’re faced with legal, political and moral hazards. The president’s job, and yours, is a lot harder than it looked, and you know the problem originates in the Oval Office…
You learned quickly that your job isn’t actually to serve the nation, manage your agency or fulfill the role you ostensibly play according to the White House org chart. In reality, you spend most of your time fluffing Trump’s ego. Either that or you’re making excuses for not being a more aggressive suck-up. If you’ve been ordained to appear on television as an administration surrogate, you know by now that your task isn’t to advocate for your agency or issue, but to lavish the president with praise…
You already know you can’t save the president because he doesn’t want to be saved. You already know there’s not another, better version of Trump getting ready to show up. You’re smart. You’re loyal. You’re sniffing the wind like a gazelle, nose filled with the scents of predators. You don’t want to break from the pack too soon, but there’s greater risk in waiting too long…
Trump staffers celebrating a successful week on the east balcony of the EEOB. Red cups in view. pic.twitter.com/96pktruZEH
— HansNichols (@HansNichols) May 19, 2017
Big Ole Hound
I hope they all find they do not qualify for un-employment because of a residency requirement.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
Leopards, faces, etc.
notoriousJRT
but the man in the Oval Office, whose preferred management style is one of competing factions and organized chaos…
I don’t believe there is any such thing as “organized chaos” – intentional chaos, maybe, but organized? No.
Teddys Person
That last twitter pic is missing a critical element.
SiubhanDuinne
Very Dickensian. Nice.
Barbara
I look forward to the day when Dana Houle feels free to tell us what he really thinks. Smile.
rikyrah
For the Dolt45 staffers whining to the press:
1. You knew that they were a den of thieves when you signed up with them
2. Got a number for you to remember:
48
That is the number of people who went to prison for Watergate.
Richard Nixon was NOT one of them.
The first one gets immunity.
The rest of you get orange jumpsuits.
piratedan
all that was missing was a person down below with a megaphone shouting “Jump! You Fuckers!”
EDIT: a well done to TP up above, great minds yada yada yada…
debbie
@notoriousJRT:
Try telling that to every CEO in this country.
Roger Moore
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
They thought they were going to be the leopards.
LurkerNoLonger
“I was going over your resume and it appears there is a gap between 2017-2018. Can you explain that?”
“I was in prison.”
“Are you sure you didn’t work for the Trump Administration?”
“Nope. Prison.”
Jay S
How is this supposed to work to juice their future earnings? They expect to be paid informants? Maybe a book deal?
notoriousJRT
@debbie: I still go with intentional.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Fuck me – I’m having a lovely breakfast at the Intercontinental in SYD, and the motherfucking Sea Shepherd crew is here en masse.
I hate those fuckin’ guys. I like the cause but deplore their methods, because they are going to get common working sailors killed.
I’m having to restrain my tongue, although one of them has a really cute partner with a tableful of whining children….
Roger Moore
Of course there are. It’s just that the reward of the best paying jobs will go to the people who display the greatest loyalty, i.e. the last rats to leave the sinking ship.
dmsilev
Re: the last tweet, I suppose it would be gauche to request a reprise of that Wall Street “Jump, you fuckers” sign?
germy
The arctic seed bank that was going to save us all is flooding
p.a.
Projectile vomit while spinning on a lazy susan
Mark
They’ll never be able to wash the Trump stench off of themselves. They have their own poor judgement to blame.
Mnemosyne
Longer version of the video I posted earlier as the perfect Balloon-Juice video: Guy on a road trip finds two puppies, brings them along.
Nobody tell Poco that a dude from California is stealing his schtick. ?
germy
Teddys Person
@piratedan: It was the absolute first thing I thought when I saw that pic (if more techno savvy would insert devil emoji here).
Quinerly
For all of us who adore Joy!: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/20/donald-trump-knows-just-how-bad-the-russia-investigation-can-get
Jeffro
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
This could be the inside baseball bumper sticker of the year, right here.
Tenar Arha
@rikyrah: Thank you!
(OMG I knew there was a fairly “large” number, but I couldn’t remember & I didn’t feel like research this afternoon). ? You’re awesome! ?
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
I love her. ?
SFAW
@germy:
Re: Ted Lieu’s tweet: I noticed the following in his “bio”.
Outstanding.
Teddys Person
@Mark: Agreed, no soap in the world is strong enough to remove the stench of Dolt45, and since none of them believe in or want to fund scientific discovery, they’re up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne:
He has been lounging in the sun, with his ears pricked for ocean and sea gull noises all day. He just ate dinner and is now taking a nap. POCO! Luckiest ex inner city street dog EVER.?
CarolDuhart2
All that extra money will be worthless because all of it will be needed for the pills and therapy and legal bills for the longest to stay. Better to leave now and write Drump off as a mistake in judgement and save the sanity.
Big Ole Hound
@Mnemosyne: Hate people who abandon animals to die. Nice move buster.
Corner Stone
@LurkerNoLonger: What’s not funny is that that is the same exact “joke” they used about the GWB admin.
What is it with these fucking people?
Mnemosyne
@Big Ole Hound:
I wish there was a good way to track those people down so they could spend a little time in jail thinking about their lives. ? Luckily the guy was driving along at just the right time to rescue them.
Corner Stone
@Jay S: Keeping a diary? Shit. That is a guarantee for years and years of being called to testify in court. You will not be able to work anywhere again for like a dozen years.
Corner Stone
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: C’mon, man. Walk over to their table and dump scrambled egg and jam all over the heads of a few of them. Strike a blow for asshole freedom!
Corner Stone
@CarolDuhart2: They are undefinably stupid. They thought they could outsmart the whole world, tame Trump and achieve God-like HERO status for the conservative dominance that is coming to reign for all times.
The Dignity Wraith is going to eat all of them and they will be tarred and broken. Thank goodness.
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: If you haven’t been there before, take the paid tour of the Opera House. It is well worth the money.
Kristine
All about career, nothing about country.
Twist in the wind, you venal sonsabitches.
LurkerNoLonger
@Corner Stone: Shit attracts shit. They are either immoral or amoral…I can’t remember which is worse.
Corner Stone
Those spots will only be for the top layer that is *right under* TV surrogate for Trump admin. Sara Isgur Flores will probably survive because she is well spoken and smoking hot. A few others at her level. The rest? No bueno.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I bet I know how those freakishly adorable border collie puppies ended up in the middle of the road. They probably ate someone’s walls or maybe their leather couch.
I threatened to do that myself.
Of course I never could.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
I still want to know what, if anything, happened (or is going to happen, or is in the process of happening) to the former owner of JGC’s house, the son-of-an-unmentionable who abandoned poor Walter to starve.
I’ve asked several times, and John either has never seen, or ignores, my requests. I know other Juicers are also interested. Please, may we have a bit of finality to this 10-month-old saga?
Steeplejack
Re that “wheels up” party at the Executive Office Building, one of the MSNBC pundits said last night that it wasn’t just the peons; OMB Director Mick Mulvaney was identified among the partygoers.
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
I must say, you have strange tastes, even for a jackal.
(Edited to unfuck blockquote.)
Baud
@LurkerNoLonger:
Fun fact: That’s how Newton described gravity in his fist draft of Principia.
Corner Stone
@MomSense: Man, I know some times have been rocky and all for you. But if you find yourself thinking about eating walls or leather couches please feel free to let me know. I’m sure we can get something worked out.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
There’s another video on his channel where he’s like, Okay, let’s go into the hotel room and see what they’ve destroyed this time.
This may be the reason he decided to take them on a month-long road trip — preserving his stuff at home!
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@LurkerNoLonger: Why not both?
debbie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It’s not like you to show restraint. Is it the jet lag?
MomSense
My dog ate my walls!!! She also ate a quarter of a leather couch and too many pairs of glasses to count!
Those things aren’t even edible.
Jack the Second
@SFAW: You know, I used to describe the Russia-US relationship in terms of Russia being the US’s ex. Back when we were together, in the Cold War, we just had this whole thing that was all-consuming. Our relationship defined us.
Then it ended, and afterwards, Russia was still obsessed with us, but we just stopped caring, we just didn’t want to deal with Russia. We were happiest to never hear from them again. For probably a solid two decades, no one in the US gave a shit about Russia except for some crazy Birchers who still carried a torch.
But now, now I think we’re ready to hate Russia again.
MomSense
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ha! I meant drop my dogs off on the “other side of town”!
Wow I need some sleep.
Back to Durells in Corfu. Thank you to whichever vicious jackal suggested that series. It’s poly cala.
debbie
@MomSense:
A roommate years ago bred her Black Lab and ended up with a litter of 10 — in a no-pets-allowed apartment. Those little buggers chewed through practically all of the baseboards before she could find them homes.
mai naem mobile
I bet these people were feeling real sorry for Bill Clinton’s secretary Betty Cantrememberherlastname when she was racking up huge legal bills because they wanted to embarass Clinton.
Frankensteinbeck
@p.a.:
I think this is a bullshit explanation Trump heard, which he copies because it makes him feel good about himself. His management style is to be lazy and make everyone suck up to him. This happens to result in subordinates pitted against each other, because the next couple of ranks below him become grifting competitions.
MomSense
@debbie:
My labs were terrors but they never ate walls!
scott alloway
@rikyrah: Well said. The ending will be a harsh lesson for many of them. I remember Watergate and the hearings very well. Was 24 and glued to a radio or tv every day.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
After getting completely fucked by the selection committee setting up the NCAA tournament bracket (Graham Hayes of ESPN said it was the biggest screw job he’d ever seen in the 40 or so brackets he’s covered in different sports, and the coaches who vote in the USA Today poll responded by jumping Minnesota to #1 as a statement), they lost today to Alabama 1-0 in nine innings when ,with two on, the ump awarded first base to a player despite the ball missing her by four inches, followed by a bases loaded walk that featured three pitches right over the plate.
Fuck the NCAA.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@debbie:
Wife was with me. She’d have severed my head from my body. As it was, I didn’t even give her my “this is why I hate Sea Shepherd, even though they’re trying to save the whales which we love”, primarily because she’d have stood up abruptly and stomped out.
rikyrah
The HillVerified account @thehill
GOP considers changing Senate rule which would make it easier to confirm Trump’s circuit court picks http://hill.cm/sprFXkp
Corner Stone
@Frankensteinbeck: I have never once heard Trump say this. Some of his surrogates say something along this line but not quite to this degree. On the other hand, I have heard a 100 fucking media personas and pundits say it uncritically and without any check, as if it were just the fucking truth.
It is their CW and they refuse to let it go for any aspect of the truth.
rikyrah
Melissa McEwanVerified account @Shakestweetz 8h8 hours ago
Pence pulled the same “I didn’t know” routine as gov of IN. It’s his go-to. And it turned out he was lying. I have seen this game before.
Melissa McEwanVerified account @Shakestweetz
Replying to @Shakestweetz @joshtpm
In fact, I wrote about it back in February, with documentation.
Don’t Buy Mike Pence’s Innocent Act
Posted by Melissa McEwan
http://www.shakesville.com/2017/02/dont-buy-mike-pences-innocent-act.html
Josie
@debbie: My corgi ate the wall, part of an overstuffed chair, several pairs of shoes and various other items. Finally after about six months, he settled down and has been a perfect gentleman ever since. The upside is that my son learned to keep his things picked up.
Iron City
Last I looked USG building , as well as warships, are dry. No alcohol. Wonder what was in the red cups? Of course ice cold lemonade, right? Steeplejack:
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Didn’t get the chance yesterday – we walked around it, went through the Royal Botanical Gardeb, rode the ferry to Watson’s Bay for lunch, and had to zoom back for a pub tour (went to The Australian, Harts, Hero of Waterloo and Lord Nelson). We’re leaving for Cairns shortly for some time in the rain forest prior to our liveaboard.
I’m going to return home being MORE of a raging drunk than I already am…
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: I guess JC didn’t ever see him again.
That’s about all I recall that he mentioned about him, but I may have missed more.
Cheers,
Scott.
Corner Stone
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Need some Midol? Sounds like you have something that hurts.
moops
Not even a pretense of civic duty or serving the people. All addled amoral ladder-climbers. I wonder what gets them to spill leaks? Feeling like a Big Man to some reporter at a bar? or some chick he is trying to pick up?
LurkerNoLonger
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: You’re right. I wasn’t clear. The immoral-amoral venn diagram of these people is just a complete circle.
rikyrah
The airport lawyers who fought Trump’s Muslim ban are facing a Justice Dept. crackdown
At the height of the chaos surrounding President Donald Trump’s initial travel ban, Jorge Baron sprinted through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to stop a taxiing plane. There were two immigrants aboard who were being ferried back home. Baron and his colleague, both lawyers, had a restraining order from a judge that kept the two men in the country. They were able to stop the plane before it took off. Meanwhile, at airports across the country, protesters gathered as hundreds of lawyers were settling in to take shifts, keeping constant watch over international arrivals and protecting the rights of more than 700 detainees nationwide.
Now, those lawyers who fought to protect travelers from detention and deportation are under fire. Baron’s organization, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), is now embroiled in a battle of its own. The Department of Justice shut down many of their services for four weeks on a surprise technicality, preventing hundreds of immigrants from getting access to lawful representation.
The lawyers at the NWIRP have been working in the Seattle community for over three decades, serving 10,000 immigrants a year. Because it’s tough for a nonprofit to promise full service, years-long support up front to the dozens of immigrants they serve each week, a lot of NWIRP’s services are in assisting “pro se” applicants — temporary work, often for free, that simply helps immigrants deal with emergencies and the myriad complexities of immigration court.
It’s that pro se work that the DOJ is using to shut down services for hundreds of immigrants.
https://mic.com/articles/177674/airport-lawyers-justice-department-trump-muslim-ban#.26trxUUsJ
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Damn, toured pubs without going to the Fortune of War? Too bad. But enjoy the reef, mate. We went all the way up to Port Douglas.
Mnemosyne
@mai naem mobile:
Betty Currie. She ended up adopting Socks the cat when the Clintons left the White House because she’d become very fond of him and he didn’t get along with the Clintons’ dog.
Allowing Socks to be re-homed with someone who loved him and took good care of him until he died at the age of 20 was, of course, yet another reason why the Clintons were the evillest evil people who ever eviled in the history of evil.
debbie
@MomSense:
@Josie:
Long before the Lab had her litter, we left her alone one night to hit the bars. When we came back, she had taken one thing from each of our rooms (there were 3 of us) and chewed them all. I’ve still got the journal with the overly rounded and perforated corner.
But walls! I hope all of this isn’t stress related.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Curry. She took Socks the Cat when the Clintons left the White House.
Now… ask me when my property taxes are due, when I last had my oil changed, or any of several internet passwords I can’t remember and can’t be bothered to jump through the “Forgot your password?” hoops for. In no small part because I can’t remember the answers to the security questions.
Cheryl Rofer
@Frankensteinbeck: I think he deliberately sets them against each other. It’s fun for him to watch, and it keeps them from threatening his job.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Betty Currie killed Socks?
quakerinabasement
A Trump staffer lawyers up and thinks Trump should help pay the bill? Naive AND stupid!
Of COURSE, Trump is not going to pay your bills. He doesn’t pay his own. On top of that, paying your bill would absolutely stink of collusion if Staffer gets convicted. So, no, no help with your legal fees.
rikyrah
Black voters say they’re already losing under Trump
Conversations with Virginian voters help explain that dreadful 12-per-cent approval rating with a community he pledged to make a priority.
By Daniel Dale
Washington Bureau
Sat., May 20, 2017
PETERSBURG, VA.—A struggling post-industrial town. A Christian factory worker praying “constantly” for Donald Trump. Ernarda Davis, 65, is the kind of person Trump vowed to help, living in the kind of place Trump vowed to heal, and she wants badly for her president to succeed.
You’ve heard this kind of story before. Except people who look like Davis don’t usually qualify for 2017 articles about how voters are feeling about Trump.
She is black.
And when she was asked in Petersburg, Va., last weekend how Trump is doing so far, she curved her fingers into a rigid circle.
Zero.
“He needs to get hate out of his heart and open his eyes. And that might help,” she said. “Get hate out of his heart, open his eyes, and see what’s going on.”
The U.S. media narrative of the past year has been dominated by accounts of white Trump voters standing by their man no matter what they hear on the news. Their unyielding loyalty is important. But also noteworthy is Trump’s inability to earn even the fleeting honeymoon support of just about anyone who didn’t vote for him.
No group is so fiercely opposed to Trump as African Americans, a group he had promised to make a top priority.
………………………
Black voters in Petersburg expressed strong displeasure with Trump’s widely criticized plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, a law that cut the uninsured rate among black people in half.
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/05/20/black-voters-say-theyre-already-losing-under-trump.html
JPL
@MomSense: My golden ate walls. He slowed down after awhile, until I brought home the Shar Pei puppy. I still have the persian rug they took a few bites out of. You just can’t toss those rugs. Although I loved all my dogs, I still miss those two.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
I doubt that Pence has ever tried to play that game with a federal prosecutor. If he does, he will quickly discover that I don’t remember is not considered a sufficient answer. ?
Chitown Kev
Just waving hi to all here at BJ…love to lurk (a.k.a “ear-hustling”) here because y’all are simply a very smart bunch of hilarious commenters.
Quinerly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Wikipedia gives good Betty Currie page?. Socks passed in 2009 after a long battle with cancer: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Currie
realbtl
20 years ago when my late wife decided she wanted German Shorthairs I found a book from the 1950s on raising them. A line that stuck with me was something like “expect numerous naughty deeds.” Yup.
Josie
@debbie: It didn’t seem stress related — just puppy chewing on anything available.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
We saw it, he refused to take us – said it was posing as the oldest, and was quite adamant.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes! She kept him for 8 years, and then fiendishly murdered him with cancer on the Clintons’ orders to improve Hillary’s position as Secretary of State.
I’m pretty sure I read it on Red State. Or Breitbart. Or Zero Hedge. One of those.
moops
@Mnemosyne: I would think “I don’t remember” can be taken as “the evidence I have here says you did know and since you can’t remember we will take it as given that at one time you did know and have now forgotten”
I mean, stating you can’t remember means you have nothing to contribute to the topic at hand, even hearsay has standing if the counter-hearsay cannot even be recalled and put on the record.
What they would like to do is refute it, but that would be perjury. What consequences can a prosecutor push on when a witness gives the “I don’t remember” defense?
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer:
Imagine what it must have been like having him for a father. “Your sister doesn’t do that. Why can’t you be more like your sister?”
Mnemosyne
@moops:
IANAL, so I honestly don’t know. I just doubt that Pence has the inner defenses to stand up against questioning from a federal prosecutor rather than just being able to lie to the press.
rikyrah
Javier C. HernándezVerified account @HernandezJavier
As we investigated Kushners in China, their biz partners removed key docs and references to Trump online
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
That’s exactly what it’s like having a narcissist for a parent. Ivanka is the Golden Child; Eric and Don Jr. are the Scapegoats, always forced to scrape for any recognition or attention.
There’s a reason Ivanka seems to have ended up with a spouse who’s just like Daddy Dearest — these patterns are very strong and can be very hard to break without pretty intensive therapy.
Ian G.
Sheriff David Clarke plagiarized his master’s thesis.
I haven’t read the article, but I assume it was Erich Honecker who Clark plagiarized, since Clarke’s vision of “homeland security” is similar.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wonder if whichever intern tweeted this was deliberately mocking the NYT’s affluenza coverage
Omnes Omnibus
@Ian G.: Of course he did.
Baud
@Ian G.: That’s much worse than killing people.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’d be afraid my kids would kill me so they wouldn’t have to wait.
Chris T.
@Mnemosyne: This recent XKCD is relevant. These linear algebra machine-learning systems really do resemble the working of neurons. If you train your brain on garbage inputs, it reacts badly to good ones.
Cheryl Rofer
@Yarrow: Tiffany stays below the radar.
JGabriel
This is an honest-to-god actual headline and summary on the front page of The New York Times, the nation’s paper of record:
I’ve included a link to the editorial in the quote for anyone who wants to read it, but I’m not sure anything can match the purity of that front page headline & summary.
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne:
Never really thought about it in depth before, but…Trumpov, Bannon, and Kushner all are pretty much the same damaged, soulless creatures, aren’t they?
SiubhanDuinne
@Ian G.:
Honestly? Least surprising thing I’ve read all week, including my horoscope.
Mnemosyne
Update from my sickbed:
Good news — my sore throat no longer feels like it’s being jabbed with a knife every time I swallow.
Bad news — my voice currently sounds like I’m doing my best Harvey Fierstein impersonation. Juicers who have met me in person know exactly how funny this image is.
Jeffro
@JGabriel: Alexandra Petri said the same yesterday or the day before in the Post. Both takes are accurate.
Central Planning
@moops: I thought the proper answer is “I don’t recall” – no perjury in that
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer: Her mom was smart to move her across the country. She understands her dad, though. That move after one of the debates where she skilfully deflected his hand was very practiced.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: That happened with the last mayor for D.C. Several of his supporters went to prison but he remains free. Suckers.
Frankensteinbeck
@Corner Stone:
Point granted, but same scenario, different monkeys polishing the turd!
@Cheryl Rofer:
Also a valid point, but I put to you that it’s not a strategy, he’s just a mean shit.
Another Scott
@moops: I thought one of the Lawyer Rules was: “Never ask a witness a question that you don’t know the answer to (or the answer they will give).”
I assume that’s why depositions I’ve seen have seemed like such formalities.
“Mr. Trump – I’m showing you a contract you signed in 2005 for thus and so. Is that your signature at the bottom where it says Donald J. Trump?”
“It looks like my signature, but I don’t remember…”
“That’s fine.”
That kind of thing.
My impression is that witnesses rarely refresh their memory for a deposition – they don’t review their records and notes, because it’s better to say “I don’t remember” if they actually don’t remember.
IANAL though…
Cheers,
Scott.
Quinerly
@MomSense:
My Poco has a deep dark secret. He was left alone for 30 minutes during a thunderstorm and he ate part of his mom’s 10 ft tall solid oak pocket doors. They dated back to the 1890’s and had survived a tornado that devastated his mom’s St. Louis neighborhood at the turn of the last century, they had survived vandals through the the 1960’s when the house was abandoned during urban blight. Plus, he had a $900 vet bill a couple of weeks later when his mouth swelled up and he ran a high temperature….surgery to pull out splinters, infected stuff in his mouth, broken teeth. Luckiest ex inner city street dog EVER.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Yeah because we can totally overlook the fact that he let a man thirst to death, right?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
what time is it in Riyadh? you know trump will see this
mainmata
I love your posts Anne. They’re invariably well-composed to tell a story and use images so well. Thanks. I work in DC for a professional services firm, three blocks from the White House. My client is USAID, which is just on autopilot since there is no leadership at either State or the agency. The Obama era programs were great, science and evidence-based (and a few of the Bush ones too that have long since been continued) but there is just absolutely nothing from Trump at all or Secretary Exxon/Mobil for that matter. The expectation here is that Trump – and Pence – will be gone soon. Trump certainly before the end of the fiscal year. Pence, from a policy perspective, is actually worse than Trump so nothing good will come out of the Executive over the remaining term of office. If Pence is out that means Ryan, which is awful, of course.
Patricia Kayden
@MomSense: How do dogs survive eating all that stuff? My dog ate a bee and had to be rushed to the vet after his face swoll up.
debbie
@Yarrow:
Not relevant to your post, but I felt the need to listen to “I’m a Boy” on YouTube.
JGabriel
@Jeffro:
Of course. The sentiment is unimpeachable (see what I did there?).
But to see it featured in the upper right corner on the front page of our nation’s staid, and frequently useless, paper of record is truly something special.
Yarrow
@JGabriel: And children loved President Obama. Kids know.
@Mnemosyne: I think I caught your cold. Vague sore throat this morning when I woke up. Really tired. Had a very busy morning and early afternoon but napped on the sofa after that. Tired. I’m taking extra Vitamin C and zinc. That’s worked for me in the past if I catch it early enough.
Cheryl Rofer
@Frankensteinbeck: Hard to disagree.
patrick II
After working in the White House’s toxic environment I hope they are able to find some non-Obamacare health insurance that isn’t too strict on pre-existing conditions when they are fired, under indictment and unhireable for a a few years.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
Especially if somebody else has documentary evidence that you knew or should have known. “I don’t recall” might be OK if your memory is the only thing that’s relevant- though in that case invoking the 5th Amendment should work- but it’s not going to work so well when Representative Cummings and DAG Yates are willing and able to testify about the lengths to which they went to keep you informed.
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s a description of what it’s like on a presidential trip, from someone who’s been there with Obama. Now add in the Trumpian craziness and shake.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: 3:46AM.
He’s got a couple of hours yet, right?
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@Quinerly: @Patricia Kayden:
This will age me but my old lab ate a palm pilot, my Leica, and a kickass pair of cowboy boots I bought in Australia.
Oh and a coffee table and lots of Legos.
mainmata
@Barbara: Dana is also a woman’s name, like Robin, unless you actually know this person.
joel hanes
@LurkerNoLonger:
They are either immoral or amoral…I can’t remember which is worse.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
Watch out — this one turned out to be the actual flu, complete with a (mild) fever and body aches. I think I caught it from one of the managers at work and it came on fast. Don’t underestimate it.
I rarely break 100 on the thermometer even when I’m sick, so it was startling to see it tick over to three digits.
Quinerly
@MomSense:
I weep for the boots. That just ain’t right.
Barbara
@mainmata: This Dana is a man — one of the few people I follow on twitter.
frosty
Is there a legal difference between I don’t remember and I don’t recall?
Quinerly
@Patricia Kayden:
Poco is big on eating bees! Catches them in midair and downs them pretty quickly. My dog trainer friend says a lot of dogs do that, no allergic reaction, they taste like honey, apparently.
JGabriel
@MomSense:
A Leica? Did it have an unhingeable drop-down set of lower teeth like an Alien xenomorph’s outer jaw?
Another Scott
@joel hanes: Immoral:
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Cheryl Rofer: Alyssa Mastromonaco told similar stories about Presidential travel on a recent Fresh Air. Her book is on my reading list and apparently Mindy Kaling is gonna make a movie out of it, or try to.
ETA: don’t know what happened with that Amazon link. I’ll try it again: Who thought this was a good idea?
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
For Poco:
Eric the Half a Bee
MomSense
@JGabriel:
Ha! I loved that camera. It went all around the world with me.
lgerard
@frosty:
“I don’t recall” means the matter was too trivial for an important, busy man like yourself to take notice of.
” I don’t remember” means you are stupid
mainmata
@Steeplejack: And, of course, Mulvaney is a really rotten fanatic who really doesn’t care how much random destruction of the federal government happens so long as it makes a statement. Stupid A**hole.
joel hanes
@Patricia Kayden:
That happened with the last mayor for D.C. Several of his supporters went to prison but he remains free.
Same pattern with early-career Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
The incredible corruption of the Wisconsin Republican Party, including judges, managed to break the pattern once he usefully ascended to the Governorship.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
Big smiles! I needed that!
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Was there ever a time in their growing-up when all the Trump kids were together as a fivesome? I mean, to young Barron, Ivanka must seem as impossibly old as his own mother. And Tiff? Did she have any kind of interaction with Uday, Qusay, and Lucrezia when she was a kid? I have a sense of three completely separate families. Not that their father cares one whit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
I love that song.
Chet Murthy
@SiubhanDuinne: ISTR reading that Lucrezia/Uday/Qusay were raised by Ivana until majority (or something like that). Some sort of quote about her saying she raised ’em, and the rest is on Donald. It seems like that’s the same with Tiffany, eh? And Barron (from all reports Putinfluffer doesn’t like being around children).
Of course, the (disgusting) pics of him and Lucrezia-as-a-child are counter-evidence.
Also STR reading (here?) that the Ivana-spawn were interviewed somewhere talking about the terms of their inheritance, and their required roles in public relations for the Trump Org, or some such.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: seems to me I read that trump has said that he took/takes no interest in children until they’re adults. I read a longish piece on line about what great friends Tiff and Ivanka are, and every quote from Ivanka dripped with “I treat as if she were part of the family!” condescension.
fuckwit
You knew he was a snake when you picked him up.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: He is like the mythological kings/patriarchs of yore with multiple wives and concubines.I am surprised that no children outside the three marriages have shown up, yet.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: I had the worst flu I’ve had in years in December. At one point I thought I was going to die because I was coughing so much, despite prescription cough medication, that I simply could not breathe. All the muscles in my extremities seized up, I guess from lack of oxygen, and I could still feel the pain in them two days later. Took over a month to feel remotely back to normal.
That time I had the warning sore throat, pushed too hard and it knocked me out. I’m being really cautious this time. I had commitments early in the day but have been resting, drinking water and taking vitamin C and zinc off and on the rest of the day. Hopefully resting on day one will help and I might not have such a bad bout.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Will add – it looked fun, and would go in a minute.
I’m thinking that there’s a small plane component and Lizard Island in the dive mix.
mainmata
@Jack the Second: I think the dysfunctional relationship metaphor for the Cold War is interesting but the post-Soviet Era description is inaccurate. I worked in Russia in the ’90s and the US was deeply involved in Russia (and the other post-Soviet states) for a long time actually. In the case of Russia, cooperation programs existed until just a few years ago after Putin became so ridiculous. There’s old Russians and new Russians – same as Iran. In both cases, dialogue, to the extent feasible, undermines the paranoid dictatorship. Needless to say, Trump or any of the GOP are not the answer.
Thru the Looking Glass...
Right… this right here… fluffers… just a bunch of professional fluffers for Twitler…
That’s all… and perhaps even less…
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
That sounds like the bug I caught back in March where the cough almost killed me a different way: a bite of sandwich went down my windpipe and my lunch partner had to Heimlich me. That was pretty freaky. ? The weird thing with the bug I had (courtesy of my 11-year-old niece) was that the cough was 100 percent due to postnasal drip, so I could sleep just fine as long as I was positioned right, and I think the Singulair I regularly take helped keep it from turning into bronchitis.
I know things are stressful for you right now, so make sure to slow down and do some self-care. There’s a reason they tell you on the airplane to put your oxygen mask on first — if you pass out while trying to help others, you’re not helping them, either.
WaterGirl
You’re smart. You’re loyal. But you chose to work for the narcissistic sociopath so you deserve every bad thing that comes to you as a result of that.
WaterGirl
@Teddys Person: I love that picture so much. I should seriously think about printing that out and taping it to my door so I see it every time I leave the house and every time I return.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
hmmm… maybe child support is one of the things in the tax returns
Yarrow
@Yarrow: That’s what I’m doing. I do it when I can but I can’t always.
mai naem mobile
@Yarrow: try Umcka.I don’t know where you live but they have it at Sprouts and hippy dippy health food stores. I’ve used it a few times, my family and friends have used it. It’s a South African homeopathic remedy.
Tazj
@Quinerly: My then 6 month old shepherd/husky mix chewed up my stairs when I was in the shower. I was a novice dog owner who had to learn the hard way not leave the dog alone(even for a few minutes) unless he was crated and/or had a bone or a chewy toy. The dog was fine and I fixed the stairs myself, but I had a hard time explaining everything to my husband who I had to convince to get a dog.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
So…Poco and I are deck sitting, Atlantic Ocean sniffing, shrimp eating, Kris Kristofferson Pandora Station listening….In related news, what a great “station.”
RobNYNY
@schrodingers_cat:
As my Constitutional Law professor said about Roe v. Wade, abortion has never been illegal for rich women or rich men’s mistresses.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
King David and King Solomon
Lived merry, merry lives,
With many, many concubines
And many, many wives.
But when old age approached them,
With many, many qualms,
King Solomon wrote the Proverbs
And King David wrote the Psalms.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Cheers to you, Scritch to Poco.
Sab
@MomSense: I locked my German shepherd in a room by herself when I was at work, and she tore up the carpet and pad, and ate a lot of it.
sm*t cl*de
@frosty:
According to the authoritative source of Peter Gabriel lyrics, the two are interchangeable.
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything at all
Quinerly
@Tazj:
What a story! Poco was a street dog for close to two years before rescued. I had had him about 2 years (now a little over 3, he’s probably 8 years old now)when the PDI (Pocket Door Incident) occurred. I knew he was afraid of thunderstorms but I had no idea the damage a dog could do in 30 minutes….Teeth and claws…a mess. It was like he was possessed.
gratutious
You know that if you or I made such a colossally bad career move, we’d be wondering if we’d ever work again, or how far away we’d have to move to get another job. These whiny assholes will walk out in disgrace carrying a box of personal crap on Friday and have a equal-if-not-better job by Monday. None of them will have to worry about missing a meal, how they’re going to make their car payment, or spend a few weeks sitting at home, staring at a daunting pile of unpaid bills.
Then they have the nerve to call the working poor lazy, looking for handouts.
Jump! You Fuckers, indeed.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
❤???
Quinerly
@gratutious:
Yep.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
don’t want to read too much into this, but it is at the very least interesting considering all the reports that they’re all afraid to be out of the room for too long
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That is very, very weird.
Did Obama’s Chief of Staff travel with him on foreign trips? I don’t recall it ever being mentioned – maybe it’s a normal thing.
But if the Chief of Staff is with him, leaving early is very, very strange (if he needs to be there for part of the trip, presumably he needs to be there for the entire trip). The optics are horrible for Trump’s White House (yet again).
Steve “I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment” Bannon must love it.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
I love Poco’s story.
There are so many great dog stories just here on BJ. The way John got Lily, and Rosie, and Thurston. The entire saga of Walter. geg6 and Lovey. You and Poco. There are so many, and I think they would make a great series of kids’ picture books, telling all these great doggy adventures with happy endings.
When I was a little girl, one of my favourite books was “The Big Lonely Dog,” about a Great Dane named (of course) Hamlet. He got in all kinds of trouble but in the end was adopted and beloved by the mother and father and little boy.
ETA: https://www.amazon.com/Big-lonely-dog-Nursery-books/dp/B0007E4U1Y
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Big-lonely-dog-Nursery-books/dp/B0007E4U1Y
Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.
It was abundantly clear from studying Trump’s record:
* He has no actual friends. Zero.
* He views pretty much all of life as a zero-sum game, in which every interaction is a transaction, from which he must “win,” meaning the other party must “lose” defined as ruin/ humiliation/ degradation
* He’s a pathological narcissist, with no loyalty to anyone besides DJT
* Every single person who has ever dealt with him has walked away worse for it
Sympathy? Nope. The writing was all over the wall.
Quinerly
@Another Scott:
Never heard of ANY Chief of Staff traveling with the pres. I read somewhere today 9 out of 14 people traveling with Trump are family and oddly placed individuals that don’t normally travel on these type of trips.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
@SiubhanDuinne:
Okay, what in the world in that link triggered moderation? Grateful if a front-pager could release me. Thanks!
Jeffro
@Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.: “But I didn’t think he was going to write on my wall!”, said the staffer who went to work for the Writing On Other Peoples’ Wall Party’s candidate.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Quinerly:
It’s like the Ship of F’in Fools… they’re collectively looking for a safe place to go into exile…
MomSense
@Quinerly:
Sounds heavenly.
One of our pack of jackals recommended Durrells of Corfu. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend watching it.
Kay
This is the best political article ever. It’s delightful:
The whole rust belt needs counseling. What IS this? Why can’t these people just decide on something and stick with it?
Morzer
@Kay:
There actually exists someone named Biff Rendar? Somehow that small fact makes the day a little brighter.
efgoldman
@Kay:
I’ve been telling you people for years: don’t screw with the band!
Morzer
On the topic of white flight from the White Wail, I can’t help feeling that conservatives really aren’t that good at investing. Seems to me that the negative return on Trump equity was entirely predictable if you took even a brief look at the long list of #Trumpfails that the Talking Ham With Cheese Whiz Topping has racked up in his 70 years of gilded corruption.
misterpuff
@efgoldman: Its amazing what you learn at band camp!
Kay
@efgoldman:
Look, they tried making America great again for 4 whole months. Now they just want the assistant band director to cheer them up.
Ian G.
@Kay:
Well, if anyone was going to have buyers’ remorse over the reality TV imbecile in the White House, it would likely be rust belt Dems who voted Trump and now feel like idiots/assholes for believing a word he said about bringing jobs back. Hopefully, this kind of thing helps the Dems big time in 2018.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ian G.: GM is laying off 4,000 US works, Ford 900, I think most of those will be in the rust belt
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: If they change their votes to us without our changing positions, take the win. Just take the win.
Shalimar
@Another Scott: Pictures of Bannon at the reception show a man wondering when the DTs will end. He does not look well.
Steve in the ATL
Extremely late to the thread, but:
@Another Scott:
That applies only in the courtroom. Depositions are the place to get answers so that there are no surprises in court.
Any decent lawyer (not sure about the lawyers who post here–zing!) prepares his witnesses before they testify. Depositions are a critical part of the litigation process, and are done under oath. And most witnesses don’t want to have to come back for a second deposition as evidence turns up that “refreshes their recollection.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: No one cares.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: merde! off to bed then.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: As am I.
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: Eh?
It’s interesting.
The deposition video I saw of Trump, and ones I vaguely remember reading for the MS antitrust trial, seemed as though, yeah, the witnesses were probably prepped, but they weren’t afraid to say “I don’t recall”. Trump, especially (and unsurprisingly) was hardly cooperative and didn’t seem at all intimidated by the process (even being under oath).
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
sigaba
@Another Scott: I’ve seen these videos. Half the time he pretends that he can’t read anything smaller than an 80-point font, so any question along the lines of “is that your signature” or “is this what you signed” ends up with “I can’t tell.”
The other half of the time he’s telling you, matter of factly, that he doesn’t understand anything in any document he signs and he relies completely on the advice of lawyers and his personal understanding, which is recorded nowhere. Even something like a prom note is an impenetrable nonsense that he can never be held to because he simply doesn’t understand the obligations.
Rugosa
@Teddys Person: Yep.