AP: Mueller is taking over a Manafort criminal investigation that predates the Russian counterintel probe https://t.co/51Jjgv8UCm
— Matt Ford (@fordm) June 2, 2017
BREAKING: Special counsel's Trump campaign investigation includes Manafort case, may expand to include Attorney General Sessions.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 2, 2017
.
So… what’s on tapp at the “Stupid Watergate” White House?…
White House confirms: They are reviewing whether to invoke executive privilege to prevent Comey from testifying before a congress next week.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 2, 2017
And it goes without saying – but this is the action of a guilty man afraid he's going to be exposed.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 2, 2017
if the Russia scandal were a fake story created by the fake news media, why would they do this? https://t.co/zUKNNiipaZ
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) June 2, 2017
These are the actions of very guilty who know the noose is tightening https://t.co/gqutAuIdPf
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) June 2, 2017
Cheryl Rofer
Not as much this week as the past several. Good news for those of us who want to relax.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
Just had to Jinx it, didn’t you?
Week’s not over yet.
Major Major Major Major
Somebody stop this ride, I want to get off.
amk
No. of days without twitler tantrum – 0
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
If you don’t have something to hide, why invoke exec. privledge?, said no GOP thug ever. (Unless DemonRat president)
sigaba
How can Trump invoke privilege for conversations he’s talked about on national TV?
George Spiggott
@sigaba:
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory’,” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t- till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!'”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master-that’s all.”
Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. “They’ve a temper some of them- particularly verbs: they’re the proudest- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!”
Through the Looking Glass, Ch. VI
clay
How can the executive branch cancel a legislative hearing? I keep hearing about co-equal branches, check and balances, the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, and so on…
MattF
I expect that at some point Gary Trudeau will do a Guilty Guilty Guilty strip.
Mike in DC
Well, I dunno if we can re-gather next Saturday for the first March for Impeachment, but we’ll give it a shot. Maybe there will have to be monthly (or weekly) pro-impeachment marches to help move it along.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: She missed several! Here’s one. Also, the evening is early.
Sanjeevs
So Nunes asks for details of unmaskings by the Obama admin. And the very helpful IC said Rice asked for one but kindly added that Nunes committee asked for several.
efgoldman
@MattF:
Or republish weekday strips from the Watergate saga, like he’s doing with everything else.
Of course, they’re still apt. The more things change….
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: Dominance. It is all about dominance. Over Comey. Over Mueller. Over Congress.
George Spiggott
Google bomb of president*
amk
@clay: It’s new normal. gop is group of parasites.
Sanjeevs
Everything is projection with these guys.
I’m now certain the vote totals were hacked. By about 3-5 million. Trump told us.
Adam L Silverman
@sigaba: He can’t. That’s why if he pulls this it will wind up in court and he’ll lose.
efgoldman
@Sanjeevs:
Nunes is SO fucking stupid. It’s like watching a Golden competing with a border collie, except the dogs are much more endearing and useful than Nunes could ever be.
Another great RWNJ idea: Rotating committee assignments and chairmanships, without regard to experience or knowledge.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I really don’t know what’s at the back of all this shit. I can make some guesses, but they’re only guesses. But whatever’s there, it must be truly awful, worse than we can guess at.
kd bart
Want to know what Comey was up to this afternoon? Playing in the foursome ahead of a friend of mind at TPC at Potomac.
George Spiggott
@amk:
GOProphiliacs: Political party that gets off on smearing itself with tRump’s shit.
Adam L Silverman
@clay: It doesn’t cancel the hearing. What it does is prevent Comey from testifying until either the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence negotiates an acceptable set of paramaters for the testimony with the Administration, which has the ability to limit what Comey can and cannot be asked about. Or a court, in this case it’ll likely ultimately be a court where the Chief Judge is some guy named Garland, determines that privilege can or cannot be invoked here. Given the President’s tweeting and interviews and other remarks there’s no real privilege to invoke. He can’t stop him talking to Mueller. And he can’t stop something between the great wave of
TokagawaKanagawa and Noah’s flood of leaks if he does try this.Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Still not as explosive as the last few weeks. I could add a couple more in, but they’re just drips in the steady drip-drip-drip.
And the Nunes thing is almost good news. He’s the one who’s been howling about Susan Rice’s (fully justified) requests for unmasking. In a world with any logic that would shut down that avenue of inquiry, but Nunes is a Republican.
chris
“PRESIDENT’S SPOKESMAN SAYS HE CAN’T SPEAK FOR THE PRESIDENT”
Explains a lot.
Cheryl Rofer
This is a nice summary of the major players in the drama.
George Spiggott
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Quite a while back, that right winger Schindler tweeted that his IC contacts said tRump will die in prison, for what that’s worth.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman:
Somebody ate his Sassy Flakes this morning.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
It’ll never happen, of course, but what Comey and the Dems on the committee should do is issue a statement: “Hey, you guys decided to fuck over 200+ years of norms. Live by the fuckover, die by the fuckover. Fuck you.”
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: This is why you don’t make a guy with a degree in Ag Science the head of the Intel Committee. Especially when he spends several years pestering leadership to get on the committee, then to run the committee and he has business ties to Russian and other post Soviet states organized crime. This is a too obvious set of tells that there is a problem.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: He can do it, he’ll lose in court, but it’s a delaying tactic.
George Spiggott
I don’t think Comey’s going away.
Patricia Kayden
If Trump cancels Comey’s hearing, that will just show how much of a Gangster he is. That is not the action of an innocent man.
SiubhanDuinne
Love opera?
Hate opera?
Meh about opera?
Doesn’t matter, you will LOVE this!
(Link to funny)
jl
I don’t understand the legalities of this. Comey is a private citizen now. He can say what he wants, unless it’s classified. He didn’t sign any BS nondisclosure agreement with Trump. Why is this not a laughable piece of hot air nothingburger futile attempt at intimidation?
Why can’t the Congressional committees just tell Trump to piss off?
Edit: Maybe Mueller, or FBI, or some intelligence agency can request Comey not spill some details re ongoing investigations, but that is a different, and more legitimate issue.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: The Dems on the committee could have him in for an interview. But the GOP majority controls the rooms, lights, and cameras.
TenguPhule
@sigaba:
“Because Fuck you, that’s why.”
/Trump’s Position on EVERY FUCKING THING
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman:
As Paul Ryan learned the hard way, lights and cameras are on phones nowadays, and people don’t always leave rooms when asked.
JPL
@Adam L Silverman: If Burr cancels, does it still end up in court?
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Only until it reaches the supreme court.
Precedence? What’s that quaint notion you had?
jl
@Adam L Silverman: So, from what i gather is that the real world mechanics of this is that, Trump has zip power to use executive privilege to stop Comey, but that it will work as a delaying tactic because GOPers in Congress will ask ‘how high?’ when Trump says ‘jump off this cliff, and do it now’?
So, we will see how honest the NC GOPer Senator Burr really is? That will be info that this Trump stunt is guaranteed to produce in the short term.
Edit: seems to me courts can be circumvented easily in this case. Trump invokes executive privilege. Comey informs Trump he is a private citizen now and Trump can piss off. Congress informs Trump to piss off. Hearing occur. Public record. Then the courts can do what they damn well please.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Because Republicans control Congress.
So expect much more trashing of rules, laws and traditional norms.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Trump: Burr, suck my Cheney.
Burr: How hard do you want it?
The GOP always fall in line.
Always.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: No argument here.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: McConnell isn’t Ryan. And the Senate isn’t the House.
Mary G
Is he going to Florida, Jersey, NYC, or maybe staying in the WH for once? Didn’t they have a rally planned in front of the WH at lunch today? Whatever happened to that?
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: I don’t know.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Which will mean absolutely nothing if/when The Republicans in Congress deliberately ignore it in favor of “TAX CUTZ FOEVAH!!!”
jl
Thanks to commenters for info. If GOPer Congress bows to this patent BS, good to use for midterms then.
I don’t recall Burr winning by a landslide in NC.
dm
I don’t think the Trumpistas have thought this through (suprise!).
The advantage of having Comey testify is that he can be “made” to do so under oath. If prevented from testifying under oath, who knows what wild stories he might spin in front of reporters on the Capitol steps.
moops
@Sanjeevs: actually, if everything is projection, then there could well be huge amounts of voter fraud on the part of the GOP. I mean, the polls ahead of the election were really far off…. and if they take the lead in proposing methods of limiting voter fraud then they are perfectly positioned to overlook their actual fraud techniques.
Hobbes83
Well there it is. I don’t think the Feds can show that he was colluding with Russia to commit treason, but the money trail is going to be his undoing(Trump).
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Unfortunately, Senate plays under different rules. McTurtle would love an excuse to use the rules to kick out Democratic members of Senate.
TenguPhule
@dm:
I fully expect Trump to have him detained under national security excuses. In solitary confinement if necessary.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@jl: Burr won’t care. He’s in office until after the 2022 elections, and he’s already said he won’t run again. On the other hand, that might also spur him to buck Trump. Hard to know which.
moops
@dm: I imagine Trump or Bannon knows how actual, factually bad the truth is and are happy to let Comey use his one-squirrel-powered imagination spin tales in public. The media would turn on him. Sticking to the literal truth under oath relieves Comey from any need to spin a plausible yarn. Comey probably doesn’t suspect that he will also be expected to crap all over his own reputation by retelling his own role in throwing the election.
manyakitty
@Major Major Major Major: omg. Thank you for the first real laugh I’ve had in days. Excellent.
jl
Since Adam is here, maybe still, I wonder if he can check my thinking here. Thought I think it is pretty obvious.
The Trumpsters’ cover stories make no sense.
I understand it to be that they wanted to discuss situation in Syria and possible deal on Ukraine and Russian sanctions. Why is the secrecy needed?
Syria is ludicrous. Why would they need a secret channel for that? They don’t need a secret two-way channel to get Russian views and info on Syria situation if they did not trust what they got from the US.
Ukraine: so, supposedly they wanted to explore a deal on removing sanctions on Russia if Russia withdrew from Ukraine. Well… Hoo-Kay, I’ll bite. That would a very interesting deal if we could get it. Why would that need to be secret? As I said in a previous thread, that would be the sort of thing Trump would talk about publicly if he had a serious plan to improve relationship with Russia in a legitimate way. That is the kind of standard deal that is usually called ‘foreign policy’ in a democracy and would be discussed publicly.
But of course, we have reliable reports that the Trumpsters wanted to end Russian sanction unilaterally, not as part of any legitimate win-win deal that required the Russians to do jack squat. But that attempt was blocked, by the sinister Deep State, presumably.
They need to come up with better cover stories.
Omnes Omnibus
@TenguPhule: Can you give it a fucking rest? We get it. You think it’s all over but the violence.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: If the result of every event is foregone conclusion in favor of the Republicans what is the purpose of commenting here and repeating yourself?
dmsilev
@TenguPhule:
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Depressing the rest of us.
voldemort
@Adam L Silverman:
Great Wave of Kanagawa (by Hokusai)
(not Tokagawa).
\pedant
patroclus
I don’t think the issue is sufficiently ripe to make a determination as yet about what would happen if this went to court. First, who would be the plaintiff? That is, what will Burr, Comey and/or Mueller do if Trump’s lawyers claim a privilege. What I think would first happen is a negotiation of sorts between Trump’s lawyers and the Committee as to what they are objecting to and whether it would be possible to allow some testimony but not other testimony. Would they reach an agreement? If so, then Comey (unless he or Mueller objects) will testify but only partially and there wouldn’t presumably be a court fight. If not, then does Burr go ahead and try to hold the hearing? Does Trump then seek an injunction preventing that? Or does Burr cave and cancel the hearing? Who would then challenge that in court? Who has standing to do so? Comey might but would he? The Committee would have standing, but would they? In U.S. v. Nixon, the then committees deliberately deferred to Cox/Jaworski and they were pursuing a criminal investigation. Is Mueller pursuing a criminal investigation into the Comey firing and the Comey memos? Or isnt’ he? That was the Nixon holding – no privilege on the tapes in an ongoing criminal investigation. Maybe Mueller doesn’t think the firing is criminal as yet. The Saturday Night Massacre of Cox (and Richardson/Rickleshaus) wasn’t necessarily a criminal matter. Maybe the real privilege issue will resolve around the Comey memos and not his “testimony.” It might be a different analysis depending on what is being claimed to be privileged.
I don’t think we’re going to know any of this until and unless the issue is joined and in what fashion. Is it Comey-specific? is it Congress-specific? Why can’t it be worked out? In general, I favor delay because it’s all going to come out eventually anyway and if we do have a privilege fight, it’ll allow more maturing of all the other issues other than the Comey firing and it has the added benefit of making Trump look guilty while the fight is ongoing. I’ll withhold judgment until the issue ripens.
moops
@George Spiggott: Re: Comey is all Angry about how he was fired: I just can’t fathom someone that dumb and arrogant that he relishes a chance to testify because he’s angry about how he was treated. Nothing to do with the rule of law, or an investigation into his former bosses. Nope. It’s all about how terrible they treated him. Welcome to the club, dumbass. You went all nutso and helped throw the election for Trump. You thought they would love you? You couldn’t figure out you were a political liability and had a target on your back, former Director of the FBI?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: TP’s been out in the tropical sun a bit too long.
Cheryl Rofer
@jl: I see nothing wrong with your reasoning. What makes this so hard to understand is that we don’t have enough information and there are many possible motives, probably more than one operating. Also a cast of thousands.
The person whose interactions with Kislyak I would most like to know about is Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. He had absolutely no legitimate reason for that contact, and now we know there were at least three interactions.
mai naem mobile
I don’t get it. Comey can still go on Face The Nation, 60 Minutes ,MTP, hell – Colbert would probably do the best intreview. Dolt can’t stop him from doing that.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Not that different from an R-troll, then.
jl
@Cheryl Rofer: I hope their stupidity saves us.
From what I’ve read in the news, Sessions could have said such and so poobahs in the IC investigation asked me not to discuss any contacts I may or may not have had with the Russians.Or just said he couldn’t discuss that in open session, but could talk in closed session.
Why did he feel the need to lie? I don’t understand that, except he is just arrogant and stupid.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Different intention, same result.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Cheryl Rofer: He might have had reason as a Senator(his explanation), but the only relevant committee he was on was Armed Services and that’s a really big stretch.
Cheryl Rofer
@jl: Why he felt the need to lie is what we need to know. It looks like he has something to hide.
Mary G
@Mary G: Tomorrow is Trump’s rally (Politico link)
Not sure if this is good or bad.
Lyrebird
@sigaba: @Adam L Silverman:
Yay. I don’t remember the source, but someone was crowing about the tweet about “tapes” being so wonderful bc it might simultaneously destroy the argument for executive privilege and also serve as court-worthy (IANAL) evidence of witness initimidation!
Living in hope…
jl
@mai naem mobile: I’d like a Daily Show reunion with Colbert, Wilmore and Oliver dishing with Comey.
I guess WH thinks it has power over Congress on this executive privilege possibility, But why wouldn’t Congress just blow the WH off? Comey can say what he wants in public, and Congress could say the whole request is so idiotic. So maybe, OK, they won’t put him under oath, problem solved, and they go ahead with hearings. Trump can run to the court if he wants. He can file a suit that 1 + 1 = 3 too, if he wants, Would make just as much sense. Good luck to him, the hearings would already be over.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Why not? They made one Secretary of Energy, in charge of all the nukes n’shit!
Hmm. Maybe there’s a detectable pattern here….
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
Its beyond satire. As another commentor already mentioned, the place was named after a Frenchie.
Lyrebird
@kd bart: bridge? golf? tennis?
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Unqualified?
You’re hired!
germy
Is it really “too late” for executive privilege?
TenguPhule
@jl:
I’ll take Tax Cuts for $4 trillion, Alex.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Its not like he could just admit to committing high treason in front of everyone.
jl
@efgoldman: Maybe Adam shouldn’t diss Ag Science like that. It isn’t responsible for Nooness.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus: Tune your satire radar a little better.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman:
And boy, was he surprised about that.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s June, weather is nice. Set it up on the steps, with big honkin’ loudspeakers.
moops
@mai naem mobile: I’m sure Bannon likes his chances with Comey out in public pleading his case. Comey would be stepping on rakes pretty much the whole time. In a short time the media would turn on him. The GOP outlets will create the preferred interpretation right out of the gate. The WH already made that clear. They didn’t try to take Comey aside and threaten him. They canned him while he was out of town. They WANT him riled up and erratic. The problem with testifying is he will have a hard time being his own worst enemy. The questioners can control him and get the effect they want.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: He’s a lawyer, not an engineer.
TenguPhule
@dmsilev: Sorry, forgot my /Satire tag.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat: He likes to indulge in mass civil violence fantasys. Can’t say he has the wrong idea. It can be fun
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: There are good Ag Science programs, you people should know that.
I am making my stand today for good Ag Science programs. I will not retreat.
Edit: my understanding is the Ricky thought the Dept Energy was some kind of federally sponsored industry marketing board. So, I guess he was surprised by the nukes, power grids, and science and engineering and all that egghead stuff. Did Ricky major in agricultural marketing, I wonder?
Omnes Omnibus
@TenguPhule: Oh bullshit, I’ve been reading your stuff for months. Your schtick gets old really fast.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: So Trump’s gonna appoint him to the Army Corp of Engineers?
lamh36
I guess somewhere someone really believes her bullshit tweets of support…smh
?BillinGlendaleCA
@moops:
If there’s ONE THING Trump was supposed to be good at, it was firing people. Fucker can’t even do that, too yeller.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: No issue with that. But does it really prepare one to be head of the the House Intel Committee?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Huh? I grew up in the city, though it was small when I was a youngin’.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: It’s mass civil breakdown, thank you very much. And not fantasies so much as predictions.
Our transportation infrastructure is no laughing matter. Nor is the ratfucking going on with the Federal Departments in charge of making sure we can eat, drink and breathe with reasonable security.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: Omnes does have army experience, so that would work against him.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36:
A radish maybe?
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I have the civility and good manners to assume that the BJ commentariate knows all things.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: IOW you got into the ether early.
TenguPhule
ETA: Reconsidered and retracted.
amk
efgoldman
@jl:
Not only Evil Leprechaun, but all of them, from Mango Malignancy down. It’s a combination of stupidity, having no fucking idea how government works, and arrogance. To the extent they think at all, they think they’re invulnerable. Not a goddamned one of them apparently knows any history.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Hmm, that is a problem. Perhaps Asst Treasury Secretary?
moops
@jl: Perhaps they thought back then that all this Russia stuff would have blown over and nobody would come asking, so it was better to not mention anything about Russia so there wouldn’t be enough smoke for someone to ask if there is a fire. Sessions possible has his own independent collusion with a foreign power that is distinct from the Trump connections, but I doubt it. I suspect that as Trump’s Xenophobia and White Pride and Mexican Wall transition planner Sessions was comparing notes with Russia. Do we ban Muslims? How do you keep Russian Assembly so Pure and White? How do you run a “democracy” with a Tyrant at the helm?
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
And when that dominance is shattered…by a hard handshake…by harsh words from incredibly disappointed allies…the only course is to double down and SHOW THEM.
Man, it’s-a gonna be ugly when they come for him. Claw marks on the door frame…
Omnes Omnibus
@TenguPhule: Same here.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
He likes to hurt people just to enjoy making them suffer. Ugly doesn’t begin to describe it.
efgoldman
@Mary G:
I’m sure that dozens of his people will be there. Maybe a hundred!
Bigger than Obama’s inauguration and the January march combined. Or not.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s Friday and after 4pm somewhere.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@TenguPhule: In the days of Andy Jackson we didn’t need no EPA, FDA, CDC, or DMV. Alphabet soup golbydegook!
/GOO Know Knothing Klown
efgoldman
@germy:
If it’s something the “executive” already discussed in public AND brags about bragging to the Russians? Yup, pretty much.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus:
And I do apologize for it. I’m trying hard not to be doom and gloom here (yes, seriously). Its just really hard to muster optimism with each new law, rule or traditional norm gets shattered with no repercussions to the offending Republicans.
I want a nation of laws, not men. I want it so much it bloody hurts. I want Kay and Adam and everyone else to be right and for me to be wrong here.
But I seldom get what I want.
efgoldman
@jl:
AgSci degree from Texas A&M
TenguPhule
@efgoldman: Please note it won’t stop Trump from doing so anyway. Its not like his lawyers risk any sanctions from a judge for using bullshit to delay delay delay.
Tenar Arha
@lamh36: OMG have you seen the replies like “You can’t sit with us.” My fave was this article by Beutler though.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Like the scifi stories of someone aging 60 years in a couple of days. Moldering in the ground by now.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: I think you may need to replace your tube based snark meter.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: “Besides, we all know it’s Obama’s fault anyway!”
/Gods I wish this was satire instead of actual Republican State of Mind
Mike in DC
Against exec priv, they can argue that his comments in interviews, his tweets, and especially the Comey firing letter (asserting that he was reassured privately that he was not under investigation) constitute an effective waiver, at least as regards the rebuttable assertions made by Trump regarding the contents of those private conversations.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Vacuum Tubes no doubt on back order from IBM.
TenguPhule
@Mike in DC:
And how long can good lawyers spin out that line for?
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: MY snark-o-tron 5000 uses transistors!
seaboogie
@lamh36: I believe that her intention is to be a “good girl”, and support her Daddy who adores her in an inappropriate way. Being raised as the cherished child of a man with a serious assortment of severe personality disorders (I’m looking at you, Fred Trump), she is probably managing as best she can.
Has always lived in a warped and insular world, and basically married her Daddy, albeit without the oafish braggadocio.
Absent years and years of therapy, I don’t really expect her to *get it*.
In this same vein, I hope that Melania gets Barron to a good child psychologist as a result of the Kathy Griffin incident, and this kid gets some early intervention and help. Have we ever seen that young boy not wearing a suit – and those pics on “Mommy’s” lap for her birthday?!!!
The warp – it is strong in this family….
jl
@efgoldman:
” AgSci degree from Texas A&M ”
I guess it’s a safe bet his field was not something like quantitative genetics?.
germy
@seaboogie:
I could be wrong, but I doubt The Donald would allow that. It would be an admission of weakness.
Omnes Omnibus
@seaboogie: She’s an adult in her ’30s. She repeatedly has demonstrated that she cares only about her brand and staying rich. She gets no sympathy from me.
rikyrah
BWA HA HA H AH HA
Jason Whitlock Needs A Friend (A Clue, A Seat, And Jesus Too, But Mostly Just A Friend)
Damon Young, 6/2/17
……………………..
I know, from pieces I’ve read about Whitlock, pieces I’ve read by
Whitlock, and conversations I’ve had with people who know him, that he desperately wants to be considered a thought leader. Someone who cultivates, incubates, and creates the types of pieces and opinions and words and ideas that stand the test of time. He wants to be taken seriously.
And the terribly stupid things he says and does are a mark of a man who recognizes those goals are far out of his reach, but still attempts to grasp for relevance, like a pit bull chasing behind a fucking Ferrari.
Extending the car metaphor, he’s an 1998 Altima who wishes to be an
Aston Martin. And knows he’s not and will never be an Aston Martin. But puts Aston rims on his tires and an Aston emblem on his bumper, hoping someone maybe might think he’s one and ask him to race.
But not only is he not taken seriously, he’s become such an easy
punchline and punching bag that he’s virtually radioactive. As far as
Black sportswriters/reporters go, he’s probably one of the three or four most recognizable names. Yet literally zero of his peers —
well, zero of his peers who aren’t currently employed by Fox — would dare cosign anything he says. Just being associated with a Whitlock tweet is like having digital mono.
Athletes collectively hate him.
And not the type of “hate” that’s comprised of the garden variety
skepticism some athletes have towards the media. But actual “if I see that nigga in the street, I’ll slap the shit out of him”
hate. Black Twitter — and by “Black Twitter” I mean “literally every
Black person on Twitter with any sort of relevance and working brain
cells” — despises him. His “Black people with brains” approval rating is at zero. This is a friendless nigga. Even OJ had Al Cowlings. Whitlock has…hats.
Jeffro
@Mary G: They’re gonna run right into us folks at the March for Truth…looking forward to that, that’s for sure!
TenguPhule
@seaboogie: Daemons inbound from the unholy pskers.
seaboogie
@germy: Quite possibly so – when I told my mom over the phone that I was going into therapy (in extreme distress and nearly suicidal after a major breakup at that time), she hung up on me. Having functionally abandoned her kids, she knew (and rightly so) that a lot of my time and money spent in session would be talking about her.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sympathy? No. Understanding? Yes.
We all know people who grew up in dysfunctional families, some worse than others. Some people have enough strength, will and self-reflection to break away and break the chain of dysfunction, some don’t.
germy
Reuters
lamh36
TenguPhule
@germy:
Uncharted waters, here we come.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: He didn’t, but he’s also not up for reelection for two more Senate cycles. He’s got 5 and 1/2 years to go.
Corner Stone
@seaboogie:
Ooohhh, go fuck yourself.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: For now, she’s really low on my list. We have people who have been disenfranchised, people who are likely to lose health coverage, people whose houses are are being covered in racist graffiti, … , people with hangnails, people with disastrous haircuts, … , Barron Trump, … , Tiffany Trump, … , stinging insects, … , Ivanka.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: The Syria explanation makes no sense.
The need to establish secure comms to discuss how to get Russia out of Ukraine, including Crimea, also makes little sense. The Minsk Agreement already establishes what has to happen vis a vis Ukraine and Crimea for Russia to get sanctions relief. What this comms channel (it is not a backchannel, nor is it Track II communications) would supposedly do is already in place.
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes, but that’s the only thing she knows from her upbringing. Be as un-empathic as you wish, but my time in therapy – and when I realized I had new tools and was weary of a regular appointment with grief – in contemplation, helped me to realize the beliefs behind my life choices. Five years on, I am willing to cut my mother some slack. My mother was benignly and passively toxic, Ivanka’s father is malignantly and aggressively so.
Adam L Silverman
@voldemort: Sorry, confused my shoganates with my tsunamis.
seaboogie
@Corner Stone: Shall we talk about your anger…??
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Appalling.
efgoldman
@germy:
It would be unprecedented to do a lot of things. Failing to hold hearings on a SCOTUS nominee; keeping your private businesses while presidenting; nepotism in the WH…..
You break norms you can’t whine about someone else doing it, although no doubt you will.
Corner Stone
@seaboogie: Barron has a graveyard of small pets and animals in his past, I guaran fucking tee you. And he did not go screaming for his mommy, mommy. That’s bullshit.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, I don’t give a shit about her one way or another. She’s just another one of the grifters as far as I’m concerned. Just pointing out that people raised in severely dysfunctional families are often severely dysfunctional themselves, as adults.
seaboogie
@efgoldman: Why I’m holding Mitch McConnell accountable for his hypocrisy.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve either got a lingering low grade summer cold or lingering low grade sinus infection. Will call the doc on Monday AM. This is why I’ve not been around a lot for the past ten days. I feel bleh!
Omnes Omnibus
@seaboogie: I don’t know about CS, but I plan on holding my anger close and using it for nourishment until Trump and his ilk are wiped from the face of the earth. These fuckers are desecrating things are important to me. There must be consequences.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman:
Nice try. We know where you’ve been. And what you’ve done.
seaboogie
@Corner Stone: No pets in the Trump fam (thank Dog), and quit pissing on a young child. He’s being raised in a warped enviro, and he’s an 11 year old kid who puts on suits and sits on “Mommy’s” lap like a show dog in order to survive in that family – why do you vent your anger on this poor kid?
P.S. I once had a young adult man courting me in my early days refer to his mother as “Mommy”, and I was all Nope. Not that, not ever.
dm
@Adam L Silverman: Just say you were talking about the 1707 tsunami in Japan
that also wiped out coastal settlements in what became the Seattle area(different tsunami) and it’s all cool.efgoldman
@seaboogie:
How? Are you a Kentucky voter?
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Sneezing and blowing my nose a lot.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. I didn’t know the name ‘Minsk Agreement’ But it reinforces my point. There’s public record of current agreement on sanction on Russia, including conditions under which they would be lifted.
so, if the Trumpsters were normal politicians, they would say that we need to revisit the process laid out in the Minsk Agreement. And until Trump was in office, the ideas on that could and should perfectly well be discussed in public, or in publicly known meetings with this or that Russian pooh-bah.
i wonder how many of the Trumpster surrogates really believe the BS the Trumspters pump out.
Adam L Silverman
@seaboogie: You dated VP Pence?
Adam L Silverman
@dm: I almost went with the cyclone that sank the Mongol invasion fleet, but figured that was too obscure.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Probably Pence said ‘Mommy’; had to come along on the dates? Would it have made any difference if Pence had said ‘my mom’?
dm
@Adam L Silverman: “Kamikaze” is obscure?
jl
@Adam L Silverman: No. That is a good yarn.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Sorry for the delay in replying, I went to eat something.
Here’s a quick rundown on the Minsk Agreement (by the way, Minsk has never been more peaceful since they signed the agreement, so it’s working!).
economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/09/economist-explains-7
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus: Understood, and am with you on the overarching goals, while still having empathy on my end for the kids caught up in this. Yes, Ivanka is an adult, but her cray and fixated Daddy has a big impact on her, and I see no reason in her life experience for her to know otherwise.
Given that Don Jr and Eric have publicly acknowledged Ivanka’s awesomeness in their efforts to ingratiate themselves with Daddy, this is some Shakespearean level shit.
Old Broad in California
@Adam L Silverman: I hope you feel better soon. Don’t ignore a sinus infection- they’re nasty.
I really appreciate your posts.
Corner Stone
@seaboogie: “Mommy, mommy!” “Some 95 pound redheaded lady cut that fat old man who gropes you once a month’s head off!”
Mommy: “Oh, thank God.”….”Dammit!!”
Adam L Silverman
@dm: No, the phrase is not. Referring to a specific cyclone that sunk a specific invasion fleet might be.
Adam L Silverman
@Old Broad in California: You’re welcome. Honestly I first thought it was just allergies. This spring has been horrible with pollens. I’ll give the doc a call Monday, he’s good about getting me in if he thinks it is appropriate it. And I have a tendency to get a Winter and Summer sinus infection each year. So…
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman: Heh! Nope, dude in question was AA and probably never ate a white bread sando with mayo.
seaboogie
@efgoldman: As Senate Majority leader who was anti everything-Obama.
dm
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, hey — you might like to dip into the Samurai Archives podcast in your copious spare time. Start here, a 17-year Army veteran and military historian tours the site of the battle of Nagashino and sees things that more academically-oriented historians wouldn’t have seen.
seaboogie
@Corner Stone: Yes, this. Loved the commentary on Melania dressing all in black lace, and dressing for the job you want – widow. Said as one who was a widow at thirty-eight.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks.
And if the Minsk Agreement is riddled with loose language, then the secrecy of the Trumpsters is even stranger. SOP would be for Trump to run around yelling that the Obama Minsk deal is crap, and only Trump can turn it into a a Great Trump Deal (TM). Of course, since Trump can’t be bothered to learn what a ‘Minsk’ is in the first place, the whole thing would have to packaged up by his flunkies, including a one page briefing paper, with a green square and star labeled ‘Minsk’ in the middle of it. But Trump would be totally up for being able to blame yet another botch on Obama.
But if the Russians were threatening to cut off financing, or willing to do some cash transfers in advance of favors, then Trump would pay whatever attention he could muster to that. and that would have to be very secret.
Edit: Missed your comment on the sinus problem. Hope you feel better soon.
Adam L Silverman
@dm: Thanks.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Exactly.
Librarian
@Corner Stone: @Corner Stone: @Adam L Silverman: Well, to be fair, the painting was done during the Tokugawa shogunate.
Adam L Silverman
@Librarian: I have a lovely reprint framed that goes in the room with my dan rank certificates, a piece of Japanese kanji that my Sensei did, and a couple of other items of Asian art. Honestly, I’m just feeling bleh and went “tokagawa” “kanagawa” ends in an “awa” I’m good to go.
dopey-o
@sigaba:
If Trump invokes Executive Privilege, is there any reason that Comey can not speak out publicly? Say, on Rachel Maddow’s show. Should Trump sue to stop him, there are a lot of juicy items that might come out in discovery.
It seems the worst-case scenario would be if the White House accused and charged Comey with revealing classified information. Same questions in discovery. Could drag out any number of humiliating facts into the light of day.
jl
@Adam L Silverman:
‘ Honestly, I’m just feeling bleh and went “tokagawa” “kanagawa” ends in an “awa” I’m good to go. ‘
Creeping Trumpism? See, the leader sets the tone, fish rots from the head down, etc. etc, We all have to be be on the watch.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Henry IV and Edward IV – both end in IV.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I’m confident no one in the administration is concerned with my sinuses.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: My high school girlfriend was of Irish descent. When I told my parents the first time that I had a date, when, what time, they asked what her name was. I gave the first name. They said great, what about the last name. I then defaulted to congenital smartass: mcsomething, Irish, Jewish, ends in an ish.
Omnes Omnibus
Mine was Jewish. Her last name was based in a province of Romania. I later married a woman from Romania – hell, that province. Coinkidink!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: The Bilderbergers work in mysterious ways…
Also, little known fact, but the Illuminati can’t make cole slaw to save their lives. Forge a magic bullet? No problem. Make basic side dishes like slaw, potato salad, and baked beans? Problem. How can you trust those guys to covertly run the world if they can’t provision a picnic?
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Potato salad does matter. Well called.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: And the Tri-lateral Commission… Every year for the picnic after the global conspiracy softball tournament (World Zionist Conspiracy, Bilderbergers, Illuminati, Tri-lateral Commission) they volunteer to bring the cups, napkins, and paper plates. Every year. Not once do they offer to bring something that takes some work or some imagination. This is why it is so hard to rule the world from the shadows…//
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Ok, Tiger. Maybe have that doctor of yours dial it back a bit, eh?
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Reminds me of the old single guy I used to work with. Whenever we had a potluck lunch, he bought bags of chips.
He lived by himself, and I don’t think he ever used his stove.
ETA: Must be twenty years or longer since I’ve seen any mention of the tri-lateral commission.
The Lodger
@Adam L Silverman: Not one of the Maccabees?
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus: @Adam L Silverman:
Very bro-tastic, gentlemen…
J R in WV
@amk:
By 2000, when you tell us Pence was claiming no causal link between tobacco and lung disease, my mom had been dead of COPD caused by Pall Malls for over 3 years. So Fuck That Bull Shit!!
Betsy
@SiubhanDuinne: that was gratifying. Thanks
Uncle Cosmo
@jl: Senior thesis: “Trofim Lysenko: Misunderestimated Genius”