Trump held a cabinet meeting today in which cabinet and senior staff members were encouraged to share their thoughts on the glory that is Donald J. Trump and the incomparable honor of working for him:
WH Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to Trump: “We thank you for the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda” https://t.co/L7DEdZUjV3
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 12, 2017
Creepy as fuck. In other news, Newt Gingrich had a change of heart about the Mueller investigation. Here’s what he said a few weeks ago:
Here’s what he said today:
To echo Katy Tur, it’s almost like Gingrich doesn’t know we can see old tweets. But what changed? Were they expecting Mueller to phone in the investigation, and they’re now alarmed by the folks he’s bringing on board?
I think they’re panicking because Kushner and Flynn worked together to make a deal with the Russians to overturn sanctions in exchange for that dodgy Russian bank bailing out Kushner’s distressed asset on Fifth Avenue. Team Trump would love to play the “political newcomer” card, but that’s not plausible with Flynn at the meeting.
Will Mueller & Co. be able to lay that corruption bare? I have no idea, but my feeling is the whole house of cards would come tumbling down if they did. Maybe that’s why Team Trump is using cabinet meetings to puff up Trump’s fragile ego and muttering about firing Mueller.
Open thread!
JDM
To be entirely fair to Mr. Gingrich, he didn’t know at the time of the first tweet that Mueller was planning on actually doing his job.
Crashman06
The puke funnel seems to be prepping the ground for Mueller to be fired.
quakerinabasement
Newt is just as willing as Trump to say the opposite today of whatever he said yesterday. However, he’s just skilled enough to cover his tracks and make it sound as if he’s changed his mind, or has new information. The press never calls him on it.
(Also, he puts a little distance between contradictions. Trump contradicts himself within the space of a paragraph.)
Jack the Second
So, uhh, what happens if Mueller is fired? Either Republicans (hah!) impeach Trump for the obvious obstruction of justice, or we admit our democracy no longer has checks & balances?
hedgehog mobile
Truly Stalinesque. Wait for T’s next rally to be met with “stormy applause “. ?
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s Chuck Schumer’s staff meeting.
Corner Stone
@Crashman06:
God, I hope so.
Felonius Monk
Let them mutter all they want. It may be easier said than done. If I understand the hiring of Mueller correctly, he insisted that Rosenstein hire him under Civil Service rules which means, I believe, he can only be fired for cause and only by Rosenstein. If this is all really true, then Trump’s lawyers making veiled threats about Trump firing Mr. Mueller are uninformed bullshit. Interesting times.
ETA: Mr. Mueller is no dummy. He appears to have Donnie’s number.
lamh36
did y’all see Oliver Stone on CBS This Morning talking up how he never saw Putin be mean to people during the year he was with him for his latest Documentary?
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: That is Grade A.
jl
Thanks, Lady Cracker. I didn’t know these goofs were so stupid as to make a video recording. Sad and dangerous development. Might make a good ad for election time, if he starts making congresspeople do it. I’ll watch the whole thing later, when I have time to recover aferward.
Reince does it better than I imagined: he looks like he is so cynical that he doesn’t give a shit.
Mike in DC
@Jack the Second:
Short answer: shit just got real.
Longer: Democrats raise hell, media ditto, massive weekly or monthly protests until Mueller is either reinstated or Trump is impeached. Short of domestic terrorism or civil war, that’s about the limit of what we can do. Wild card would be a fed up NSA or FBI employee leaking a mountain of raw evidence to the press.
Kay
They’re volunteering for this. We don’t have to feel sorry for them. The Trump kids could gone out on their own too- they were given all the tools necessary to break from daddy.
I know I sound like a 1980’s conservative but they make poor choices :)
I’m all about personal responsibility. Yesiree.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes
@Jack the Second:
No checks or balances. Conservatives will have revealed themselves to be exactly what we always knew they were, and the pretense of “exceptionalism” can be dropped.
And, if they stay in power (much more toward “extremely likely” than “zero chance”), we’ll have a much clearer picture of the desired type of autocracy white America prefers, at least up until the resource and race wars of the 2030s.
lamh36
ok, i know death threatsshould be taken seriously, but this is 2nd Dem to drop out of a race.
Imagine the number of threats Black pols got during Jim Crow or the number of threats MLK and other civil right folks got…what would it be like if any or all of them decided to drop out or quit…smh
it’s a personal decision of course, but still…
LAO
Don’t forget this is the same guy that’s been crashing wedding receptions and parties at his golf facilities since he was elected POTUS. His neediness is astounding.
Seanly
Ah… I was hoping that video would be longer. Did all of the cabinet members have to say something nice about Trump?
The Schumer bit was funny…
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: I didn’t see it, but it doesn’t really surprise me. Stone has been a kook for a long time.
Jeffro
Firing Mueller…or firing Rosenstein because he won’t fire Mueller…ah yes, the actions of an innocent man…
No wonder it’s a “blessing to serve [Trumpov’s] agenda”, amirite there, Rinse?
By the way, can anyone (especially, say, a current GOP member of Congress) name one single thing that this president* has done that is supported by a majority of the American people? I’ll settle for 50% + 1 American. Anything?
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
Oliver Stone makes me vomit.
cervantes
Yep. Why go through all these conniptions to cover up nothing? There is obviously a very big something at the heart of it all or it wouldn’t be happening.
Cheryl Rofer
That video praising the Glorious Leader gave me some respect for Rex Tillerson. You can see on his face that he knows how wrong it is.
Kay
Someone should tell them when they lie to protect someone else it’s still lying:
Maybe they have a good reason! Maybe Trump has bullied them into submission or something but excuse or no excuse these things they say? Still lies.
How do they weasel out of the “under oath” lie? Not this way, obviously, but I’m sure they’re all hard at work coming up with some stupid shit that a 3 year old could see thru. There was a fire and the oath burned up! The oath is under audit! All the oath-givers are out sick!
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
I wonder if Mr. Stone has taken a look at the jackbooted thugs dragging peaceful protesters through the streets of various Russian cities today?
Barbara
@lamh36: A lot of people can be very nice when they are being filmed. I am sure Stone’s presence didn’t stop him from making a lot of late night phone calls to henchmen after Stone had retired for the evening.
Elmo
Open thread, so no such thing as off topic, right?
Everyone needs to go and read today’s Ninth Circuit’s per curiam opinion on the travel ban. It is a thing of beauty. Quotes a Trump Tweet as an “official statement” of the Administration, and quotes an Administration aide to justify doing so. Points out that immigration policy, like all legislation, is properly in the hands of Congress as a “deliberate and deliberative body,” which if that isn’t a subtweet of Orangymandias and his 140-character policy shots, I don’t know what is.
Anyway, go read. It’s a good feeling to be back in a country governed by the rule of law, if only for a day.
Turgidson
Gingrich referenced FEC reports because some of the people Mueller has tapped have recently donated to Democrats. Which of course is conclusive evidence that they’re hopelessly biased to a partisan bottom feeder like Newt.
trollhattan
@Cheryl Rofer:
Holy crap that’s perfect! I’m liking this new Schumer 2.0.
Ruckus
@Kay:
The difference is that you seem to think that they should all have some personal responsibility.
The people you are talking about don’t even have the concept of personal responsibility, let alone an understanding. Remember, for them it is always projection. Always. Projection.
Thoroughly Pizzled
I will die laughing if Ossoff manages to win Newt Gingrich’s old seat. That bastard along with Mitch McConnell will be the representative of this depressing era of our politics.
Barbara
@Cheryl Rofer: That was funny.
Peale
While the White House in our system is given quite a bit of leeway to implement a foreign policy, I’m really not certain how this is different from a bribe. I guess they can say that the Russians were giving gifts in and “hoping” that something favorable would happen for them. But were I suddenly elected president at the age of 10, I think even 10 year old me would find this a bit dodgy. This isn’t a mistake of lack of experience. A novice wouldn’t do this. A novice would think “hey, this looks like a bribe. I’d better check on which bribes are legal.”
Turgidson
@Jeffro:
Probably they useless Syria missile attack. Just because USA!USA!
Nothing else comes to mind.
zhena gogolia
I love that fucking Linda McMahon starts the crap fest off.
Gin & Tonic
@lamh36: Too bad Stone didn’t interview Sergei Magnitsky.
Oh, wait.
Betty Cracker
@Seanly: C-SPAN has video of the entire Carnival of Obsequiousness. Trump sucks his own dick until around the 12-minute mark, then the cabinet members take turns. Gross.
Yoda Dog
@lamh36: No but the man strikes me as the type to smile politely and have a charming conversation with someone right before whispering to a subordinate to make that someone disappear.
So yea, I didnt see the special or know Stone’s angle or the context, buuuutt Hitler loved his dogs too. And both men are first and foremost; murderers. Did Stone have a point besides that Putin being just so damn hot right now?
Felonius Monk
@Kay:
Where is a good Oath-Keeper when you need one? Or did they mis-pronounce OAF-keeper?
trollhattan
@Elmo: He’s gonna be really mad because Seattle isn’t part of Real America and has no business interfering with his bidnez.
Peale
On the plus side, the more time they spend in cabinet meetings like this, the less time they have to run their departments into the grounds. I think there should be cabinet meetings 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Barbara
@Ruckus: I am sure you have all seen it elsewhere but the interview with Ivanka is not to be believed. She didn’t understand how vicious Washington would be. She thought she would be treated with the same respect her father had shown the Obamas. My first reaction was, okay, well I think you are being shown at least THAT much respect (which is to say, virtually none at all) and my second reaction was, does she have an empty space in the brain where memories are formed? But surely, the bad press, the resistance of ordinary people, is getting to her.
jl
@cervantes: If reports are true, Flynn is a crook who took money from foreign governments, didn’t report it, and at the first opportunity took advantage of his position in the Trump transition to deliver the goods to his clients. So, he is done, sooner or later (Edit: unless Trump pardons him).
Evidence points to Kushner to either proposing the deal of cash for favors for Russia, or operating in a panic to show the Trumpsters would surrender to Russian threats to cut off funds for Trump/Kushner real estate business, unless favors where delivered..
How much was Trump involved? If he were competent, common sense says a lot. But there is Trump’s Razor to consider. Trump may be reflexively covering for his favorites, not aware of the extent of deals. The Putin/Russia nexus may have decided to operate through Trump’s flunkies.
I don’t think it makes any difference: Trump should be impeached for obstructing the overall investigation, which is vital to national security, doesn’t make any difference to me whether his avenue was the criminal or IC side of the investigation.
The GOP and a lot of the ‘balanced’ talking head take on this is asinine. They are trying to cut up the corrupt operation into little chunks and analyze each little chunk in isolation, in incoherent and inconsistent ways. Why waste time parsing what Trump meant by ‘hope’? Later Trump fired Comey, and admitted to the whole country that he did it because he wanted to stop the Russian investigation. We know damn well what Trump meant when he said ‘hope’. I think a lot of the voting public has the common sense to figure it out.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
What did Vlad have to get mad about? He’s getting even, doesn’t need mad. He just picks up the phone and smiles while ordering a hit. He knows that it will be done, or he just makes another phone call. Easy peasy, complainer squeesy.
Keith P.
Trump honoring the Clemson Tigers right now. He already bragged about an endorsement a minute in. He did miss another chance when he started talking about the record books.
EDIT: I swear this whole speech feels like it’s leading up to a “Which is exactly what I did in winning the election.” punchline.
Kay
@Ruckus:
Every fucking day they sit there and listen to their boss tell huge lies. They either repeat the lies or imitate potted plants and pretend it isn’t happening. I think they’re all unfit. They are bathed in this bullshit daily. It has to take a toll.
My eldest was playing mini golf with my youngest. The younger cheated. My eldest said “why is that even FUN? YOU know you cheated. How does it even feel like winning?”
They know they haven’t passed any legislation. The whole thing must be surreal. It can’t feel GOOD, not like actually doing something.
George Spiggott
21st Century Cheeto-Faced, Ferret Wearing Shitgibbon
rikyrah
@Felonius Monk:
Uh huh
What is Mueller’s nickname?
Hoodie
@Cheryl Rofer: It would make me respect him even less, if that were possible. He knows that this and everything Trump has done geopolitically has been wrong and he hasn’t resigned. I can see Mattis and McMaster staying to prevent him from nuking Europe for failing to give him the love he deserves, but Tillerson really has no such reason to stay. He’s just there to make sure Exxon has first dibs on Russian oil contracts.
Ruckus
@jl:
You hope enough of the voting public has the common sense to figure it out. And give a shit.
And common sense? If it were all that common, a lot more people would have some.
Raoul
@Jack the Second: I’m (reluctantly) saying option two. There appears to be no bridge too far for the GOP.
When Fox News posted the poll showing over 60% opposed to AHCA, and about 1/4 in favor, and McConnell continues to move the process forward, dooming millions to illness, financial ruin and possibly death, I can’t say that there is anything this GOP won’t do now.
I cannot figure out what the incentives are with polling like that. They are heading for electoral ruin but do not care. Or they appear not to care because they know or suspect the incentives will have drastically shifted by 2018. I don’t know what fresh hell that means, but it is very frightening to speculate what we may face. The end of a long run of this Imperfect Union seems entirely possible.
Still, we must fight for it, for our country and the good it can yet still be. All is not lost, but it looks really shitty right now.
Kay
@Ruckus:
“I ran five miles!” Well, no I didn’t, but I said I did. Those two things can’t feel the same way internally, can they? I hope not. No one would ever do anything. Just say you did it and it’s exactly the same.
Barbara
@Peale: I continue to find Flynn’s descent into a kind of carnival barker with military experience kind of sad and alarming (at one point he was working for us), but think about what Jared Kushner’s father went to jail for — basically, bribing officials with political “donations.” So all this political novice crap really is crap. He knows full well that offering something in order to get something from a public official is a felony.
jl
@Ruckus: We can track the Trump approval rating and monitor the situation. It ain’t going up, that’s for sure.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The entire meeting was a complete fraud.
I wouldn’t even say that they know that they SHOULD be passing legislation.
I have said it…they are sociopaths. And, the legislation they want to pass is horrific. They can’t hide what they want to do.
They control Congress and the WH, and can’t pass shyt.
They have ceremonies for him putting forth ideas.
The curve for inadequate White men is REAL.
The thought..
the mere thought…
of what would have happened with 44 if he had ceremonies on television for presenting a piece of paper?
PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
rikyrah
Spicer now says that when Trump said he’d be willing to testify under oath, he was referring to Mueller, *not* Congress. (via @MSNBC) pic.twitter.com/WClzjdDUQT
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 12, 2017
Gin & Tonic
@Hoodie: I don’t think I could easily name more than about a dozen Secretaries of State, but I’m damn sure I can’t name a more useless one.
Felonius Monk
@rikyrah:
Bobby Three Sticks?
Adam L Silverman
@Felonius Monk: Special Counsels, prior to 1999 Special Prosecutors, are outside of the civil service. I just checked the Office of Personnel Management and there is no guidance regarding hiring a special counsel, though they have an in house section entitled OPM Office of Special Counsel that has nothing to do with what DOJ has done. Here are the rules for hiring a Special Counsel:
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&SID=1400e8e44fcfdb8a88c470ea771500e0&ty=HTML&h=L&mc=true&r=PART&n=pt28.2.600
And here is a summary of them with explainer:
http://www.lecs-center.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230%3Aon-special-prosecutors-usa&catid=44%3Aevents&lang=en
As someone who has done a fair amount of work in both contract and term appointments for the US government, specifically with DOD and Department of the Army elements, I think it is most likely that Mueller was brought on as a Highly Qualified Executive (HQE) and his staff are being brought on as Intergovernmental Personnel Appointments (IPAs). HQEs are term appointment equivalents of Senior Executive Service officers. And IPA are term appointment equivalent of civil service officers. HQEs and IPAs can be terminated with 30 days notice.
Here are the faqs on IPAs:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/intergovernment-personnel-act/
Here are the provisions:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/intergovernment-personnel-act/#url=Provisions
And here are the assignment details:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/intergovernment-personnel-act/#url=Assignment
It is also possible they are doing this under OPM’s short terms staffing guidance, which you’ll find at p. 66 of the link below:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/reference-materials/handbooks/humanresourcesflexibilitiesauthorities.pdf
zhena gogolia
@Hoodie:
Right.
hovercraft
As I posted down stairs:
These people are all pathetic, he just can’t help proving again and again, everything he touches turns to shit. I didn’t have great expectations for this group of corporate ghouls, but like their boss, they’ve all managed to underperform my expectations. They truly are an accomplished bunch! WINNING!
Firing Mueller would make firing Comet look like a genius move. So as this drags on in the media and villagers and his advisors tell him not to do it, the temptation will became more and more difficult for him to resist.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
PHUCK OLIVER STONE.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Bobby Three Sticks.
jl
@Raoul: I think the most probably explanation is that they have pulled this shit so often they think they can get away with it. An important feature, from their point of view is the strategic delay in implementation of the AHCA provisions until just after the next two election cycles. That gives them a window of opportunity to try to BS the public for midterms and next presidential election.
They need to worry about the economy, though. They are misreading recent jobs reports. Recent reductions in unemployment rate is due more to people leaving labor force than increase in jobs. If Fed increases rates, as it probably will, that will further weaken growth. Nothing they can do about that, absent a real economic program. Tax cuts for upper fractions of one percent won’t help with that. A population very riled that Trump betrayed them on his key promises on jobs may be enough to hurt them very badly, on top of the other BS and betrayals.
rikyrah
@Felonius Monk:
I find that humorous.
different-church-lady
@Kay: It’s almost as if a third to a half of the population of this country has collectively decided, “Screw the Ministry of Truth, we’re gonna go ahead and DYI this shit!”
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: The look on Mattis’s face when he was doing that was amazing. At one point he was actually looking at what the President seemed to be reading from in self congratulating himself to see “is that actually what’s written there?” Then at some point where it got too surreal he snapped his head back to center and straightened up like he was going to attention in his seat so as not to lose control of his expression.
nightranger
I don’t think the Russia thing is going to take down the tiny handed fascist. I think simple greed will get him. I hope someone is following the money from this Saudi Arabia arms deal. The way he has been tongue bathing them lately, you just know some of that money must be finding it’s way into his pocket somehow.
Ruckus
@Kay:
The only answer I can give you is the last two words in my last comment.
Always. Projection.
The bigger answer is that they don’t see this as any different than say people saying Hillary Clinton didn’t murder Vince Foster. They know she did, they just know it. They can’t prove it, there isn’t any evidence towards this and tons against it, but they just know it. Like they know that cutting taxes will solve all a nations problems. All that tinkling down will feel good, yes it will. Nice and warm and…………… WAIT A MINUTE, are you pissing on us? How dare you! We gave you everything and for that we get pissed upon? Or do you think they won’t even notice that the rain is warm and has a peculiar odor?
D58826
THat they filmed that nonsense is bad enough but to actually release it.
Somehow trhis article in Redbook seems appropriate to the state of the nation
Now that is one brave Mom
http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/parenting/i-let-my-5-year-old-daughter-dress-me-for-a-week/ar-BBBMGfe?li=BBnbcA0&ocid=iehp
rikyrah
@jl:
The private sector was already slowing down.
Which is why they really should have passed a genuine infrastructure bill.
Our recovery was entirely private sector based.
Doing a robust infrastructure plan would be the kind of public investment that would help the economy.
But, they aren’t interested in a REAL infrastructure bill…because, that would show Government working.
rikyrah
Republicans know their health care bill is super unpopular and so are trying to shield it from public scrutiny. https://t.co/LfTKnWjtnM
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 12, 2017
The Senate’s three tools on health care: Sabotage, speed and secrecy https://t.co/c6V9yvzzmb by @ASlavitt
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 12, 2017
Kay
@rikyrah:
For someone who loves tv so much he’s sure reluctant to testify publicly. Comey got great ratings! Trump should try it.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: As a loyal BJ reader, I will review the links and pester you about minutia, such as right so personal parking spaces, executive washroom keys, and use of government credit cards for three martin surf ‘n’ turf lunches (which I understand are nearly extinct, but Mueller may have to play with the Trumpsters, who still live in the Mad Men days).
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: This is the same guy that had been previously reported on. So only one person has pulled out. This was just a different article about him.
Origuy
“We thank you for the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda”
It probably sounds better in Korean.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I think being credited with doing something and actually doing it are equivalents for Trump, with his raging untreated personality disorders. Compelling the people around him to reflect back some inflated ideal of himself seems to be the only thing that keeps his monstrous insecurities at bay. But yeah, it would chafe a normal person to have to deny reality 24/7. You’d think so, anyway.
NotMax
A germophobe who revels in tongue baths.
(Note as well that this entire exercise in obsequity was all pre-planned – if not pre-scripted – and attendance mandatory. Head of EPA Pruitt was pulled back early from a G7 meeting in Italy to attend.)
Gravenstone
@lamh36: I would think that having the cops show up to his house, even though he never called them (about the asshole who assaulted him in the presence of his children) would be enough to get most people questioning their safety. Gives the threats and harassment a very institutionalized air.
Felonius Monk
@Adam L Silverman: You, sir, are a veritable fountain of information and knowledge. Next time I get to Florida, I’ll buy you a beer or several. :)
Adam L Silverman
@nightranger: The Russia thing is about following the money. All of this, Russia, Saudi (the Saudis are into him for millions – Prince Talal bailed him out of a bankruptcy, the Saudi Mission to the UN owns an entire floor at the Trump World Tower at Turtle Bay, etc), the largest PRC backed bank, which owns the note on Trump Tower and has its Manhattan offices in Trump Tower. It is all about the money.
Gravenstone
@Adam L Silverman: No, the first one to pull out after receiving death threats was in Iowa, facing Rep. King.
Kay
She could go get a real job. She’s got nothing but choices, this woman. Also- she must have missed her father’s campaign which was a spit-flecked hate fest from beginning to end. Has she seen those birther press conferences? Mean-spirited and racist.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
As many people have noted since 2008, white supremacy is a hell of a drug.
And I love that Stone can’t even imagine that Putin wasn’t 100 percent honest with him. Does he think that all of the actors on his sets are the real people his movies are about?
hovercraft
@quakerinabasement:
Newt was the beneficiary of favorable media reporting when he was speaker, they let him lie with impunity, get away with hypocrisy and pretended that he was the “ideas” man. He’s always been full of shit, but he like Twitler was a colorful character who was on the trail of Bill Clinton so they let a lot of his bullshit slide. Newt was the original, ZEGS, all reputation perpetuated by the media.
Newt thought that Mueller would be appointed, have an investigation but everyone would clam up and nothing would be proven and then could all hold up Twitler’s clean bill of health from the unimpeachable Mueller and move on. Unfortunately for them they can’t seem to keep their mouths shut, they’ve pissed off the IC and the Moron in Chief can;t stop incriminating himself.
Kay
So I saw a pix where it looks like Kushner and Bannon were skulking around behind the cabinet members. Are they like the enforcers of this hostage video? They keep the underlings in line?
jl
@rikyrah: From what I have read, interesting to note that the main innovations of the McConnell Senate bill, as opposed to the squashed and obliterated moderate GOPer/Dem effort, is additional strategic delay of the most most unpopular cuts (slower loss of coverage for preexisting conditions, and Medicaid coverage).
Barbara
@Kay: I get the feeling she ignores what she doesn’t want to know.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: The Federal hiring freeze, even though it has been lifted, is also going to have a marked negative effect. A number of Federal departments and agencies have indicated that even though though the freeze was lifted they were going to maintain it. Others are acknowledging it being lifted, but have indicated they intend to downsize through attriting their work force by not filling positions that open up because of retirement or someone just moving to a new job. This will have a cascade effect. Additionally, the skinny budget calls for a new round of base closures. While there is no doubt that we could do a fair amount of consolidation domestically, doing so can have calamitous negative effects on the state and local economy.
Wyatt Derp
@Hoodie:
That’s why he’s staying. If he resigns Chump will give it to someone else just for spite. Tillerson’s gone as soon as the ink dries on the contract.
Adam L Silverman
@Origuy: It sounds better in the Korean dialect they speak in the DPRK.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
I wonder how many of these people will write memoirs after they leave the shitshow, will any of them have the balls to write what it was truly like to live and work in Wonderland? I know you say they are doing this for their country, but will they at least eventually tell the truth? They could make millions.
Adam L Silverman
@Felonius Monk: You are quite welcome. I was just fortunate to work in a couple of start up Army programs where I had to get smart on Federal hiring flexibilities. It occasionally comes in handy.
different-church-lady
@hovercraft: Well, they’ll have a lot of time to fill in their prison cells…
Adam L Silverman
@Gravenstone: I am tracking on that. Has nothing to do with the Binghamton mayoral race. That race has only had one person pull out.
Not that either incident is acceptable.
SatanicPanic
Newt basically is Trump if Trump had had to pull himself up by his own bullsh*t straps.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: I don’t know.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
Most people who hire people want at least some level of competence. dumpf doesn’t care about that and just might not want any level, just because it might show him up. He only values loyalty and it doesn’t really matter if you are actually loyal, only that he thinks you are. And if you show anything less than absolute loyalty, you are worthless fucking scum. He want’s people to support him. If he had the idea to piss off the top of the Empire State building, you’d have to make it happen, stand there and watch, and tell him how great his distance was. Not one word about how cold it might be, how illegal, childish, stupid it is, etc. And you’d have to smile the whole time. Oh and arrange the live TV coverage.
D58826
@rikyrah:
And IIRC, esp. early in the Obama years, gov’t employment at all levels declined due to the austerity fetish. The usual routine of federal dollars bolstering state/local spending didn’t happen. That has acted as a drag on the economy in it;s own right, in addition to the degrading of government services.
Some small hope in KS and the reversal of the Brownbeck experiment. But there is some speculation that he will get a DC job to oversee the experiment at the federal level
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
Second Dem candidate in any race who has had to pull out because of threats.
Lapassionara
@Adam L Silverman: I apologize if I missed it, but did you write up your thoughts on the Qatar mess?
I cannot believe that Trump just turned aa cabinet meeting into an episode of The Apprentice. Sheesh!
I heard recently that 70% of the US economy is consumer spending. Government spending about 12%. I do not know the level of consumer debt, but I have heard that vehicle sales are slowing. So what happens when consumer spending slacks off.
What magic will our Reality Show Host perform then?
Gravenstone
@Adam L Silverman: True. Just pointing out that lamh commented about this being the second Dem to exit a race due to threats, not this race (Binghamton) specifically. Unfortunately, I think we can expect to see this become much more common for a while as the Republicans work more and more aggressively to retain their diminishing political niche. Another example of, if not for cheating Republicans wouldn’t hold any power these days.
jl
The regal prerogatives of life as US president have driven previous presidents mad, quite simply mad. Look what it did to Truman.
‘When you live in the White House, you live pretty high’.
Harry S. Truman-Life at the White House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaOlmCmlylc
rikyrah
@Kay:
You know, if she had taken the First Lady place and actually done it, she wouldn’t be the receptacle of such hostility.
But, she just HAD to be involved with Policy. She has no expertise. She has no qualifications. And, policy means affecting the lives of possibly MILLIONS in this country. Nobody is playing with her. Nobody cares about feelings when there’s an actual PERSON on the receiving in of the sociopathy of her father’s administration.
NotMax
@Ruckus
Don’t give them ideas.
(Picturing the yooge countdown clock on the cable channels: Time Until Historic Urination.)
;)
BTW, it was actually reported with a straight face that Pruitt’s “acting administrative assistant” (exact quote) was left to fill in in Italy.
D58826
@Lapassionara:
short answer – recession.
Now while I don’t want to wish that on the economy, if it does happen I’m sure Hillary will be walking in the woods thinking – better thee than me!
Gravenstone
@D58826:
Apparently there was some discussion of Brownback getting a safe landing as a UN ambassador-at-large. Although his specific portfolio seems to seems to differ. Reports from March had him focusing on food and agriculture, but recent reports appear to have a more faith and religion focus.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: So, if you’ve seen it, what was Mattis’s contribution to the Dear Leader tongue-bath? Or did you make it that far? ; )
D58826
@rikyrah: I’m just shaking my head at the big deal that the media is making of Melania and Barron moving into the WH. Like the first family never lived there before.
I must admit however, I am a bit surprised that she did move to DC. Figured she would find any number of excuses to stay in NY (whatever the sate of the marriage).
Ruckus
@Kay:
They have a level of power, or at least assumed they’d have a level of power, that they would otherwise never have. There are few to none in his cabinet that would be hired by any other president. This was their shot. It does show why they might not be reasonable people for the jobs but I’d bet that most of them had no idea of what they got themselves into. Both from the boss’s direction and from the job direction.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I’ve beat this to death but it’s true- it’s more than “making important decisions”. What she’s doing by insisting on operating in areas she knows nothing about diminishes the accomplishments of people who work hard and prepare. She’s taking something they earned without earning it, exclusively because of her parent. That’s not fair to them.
We can’t keep telling people they have to “work hard and play by the rules” when NONE of our elites do. People will figure this out! They will realize it’s a fraud!
Cheryl Rofer
The video of the entire cabinet praising the Glorious Leader can be found here.
D58826
@Gravenstone: Well they could send him to the antarctic. He could apply his climate denier expertise to explain why the ice shelf is about to calf a berg the size of Kansas
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
Boy…you’re not kidding there…(upchuck)…
Kay
@rikyrah:
Because we do this more and more, right? “I am Ivanka Trump so unlike you I can step into this job and do it better than people who studied and worked and spent decades on it”. Really? So all those chumps who “played by the rules” shouldn’t have bothered, right?
That demeans WORK. It devalues the whole idea. If ANYONE can do what one does as well or better than one does it that means what one does isn’t very difficult or valuable.
NotMax
@Cheryl Rofer
Much as I did like my last meal, have zero eagerness to see it again. So shall pass,.
Oldgold
This is how I imagine Kim Jong Un starts his cabinet meetings.
Damn creepy! I would have guessed that at least one cabinet member would have passed on this ass kissing exercise on steroids. SMH.
Bill Arnold
@Felonius Monk:
Also, if he’s learned anything from Comey and etc, he and his staff have already set up more than one independent cascades of dead-man switches.
Jeffro
@rikyrah:
Seconded. Can you imagine how easy it must have been for Putin to flatter and/or compromise Stone?
Juju
@rikyrah: Did Stone really think that Putin was going to imprison or execute someone in front of him? Is he that stupid or addled?
rikyrah
@Wyatt Derp:
Which is why he’s Secretary of Exxon..
not Secretary of State…he really could give a rat’s ass about the rest of it.
It’s all about the 500 BILLION FOR EXXON.
ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
ALWAYS WILL BE.
Wyatt Derp
@Oldgold:
That kind of independent thought would have disqualified them from their positions before being hired. Seriously, none of these people should be allowed near public service ever again.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
Trumpov’s the guy who went to a boarding school and that was equivalent to his having served in the military
Trumpov’s the guy who “always wanted one of these” (a purple heart)
Only thing sicker than him accepting it, is that someone was deluded enough to give him their in the first place…
NotMax
@Oldgold
The Manchurian Cabinet.
Gin & Tonic
@Elmo: I am not a lawyer, so I am confused. So far two Circuits have ruled against this travel ban, and none have upheld it. Yet everything I read says the case is on the fast track to SCOTUS. I thought you had to have either a dispute between states or a difference of opinion between Circuits to appeal. So on what basis does this get to the Supremes?
Ruckus
@Kay:
I’ve run five miles before. It took me 2 days but I did it. OK I did run 5 miles in one day. Once. Damn near killed me. And I was in good shape, OK good for me.
Some people just don’t have internal/external filters. Had a boy scout/HS buddy who was like this. We’d watch him do something stupid and then he’d turn around and say the exact opposite. He was once stopped for tailgating. He told the cop that his buddy, the tailgatee, was driving too close in front of him. He rolled a car once and tried to tell us that someone cut him off, but another buddy, who was ridding in the car, called bullshit, “You were doing 85 and lost control because you are a fucking idiot!” His dad got a call to come and get him from the local cops for doing something stupid on a Friday night and then running from what the cop said would have been a warning. Dad asked what would happen if he didn’t come and get him. He stayed in jail till Monday. Didn’t learn anything from any of these. He wasn’t technically an idiot, but everyone sure thought he was qualified at least on some level. If I still knew him, I’d call him dumpf.
jl
@Gin & Tonic: I am not a lawyer, but I heard a news report this morning where a real lawyer familiar with the issues said it is very unclear what the SCOTUS will do. May decide to let both stand. And lawyer said there is a difference between the two opinions. 9th circuit upheld stay on statutory grounds, and noted that Trump admin was not performing on promised follow-up on reviewing and improving vetting procedures. Didn’t uphold stay on constitutional arguments re religious freedom. Other court upheld stay on constitutional grounds.
Edit: so I think 9th said the order exceeded statutory authority, and lack of admin action on promised parts of executive order brought up some kind of bad faith, or non-performance issue(?) I’m curious about that from any of the BJ lawyer squad.
Shana
@Kay: “I didn’t get a harumph out of that guy.”
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Well, sure, but those people deserved to have hatred directed at them, unlike her sweet, innocent self. //
Ruckus
@jl:
If there was a lot of what you are inferring to as common sense in this world, only 27% of the population would have voted for this moron in the first place.
Chyron HR
@Gin & Tonic:
They’ll just do it. What can anyone do to stop them?
jl
@Ruckus: So, you have joined the BJ ‘despair caucus’?
Citizen_X
@Kay:
Pfft. At least Al Capone picked up the baseball bat and enforced loyalty at his own staff meetings.
Shalimar
@Adam L Silverman: The woman who was running against Steve King next cycle also pulled out last month in part because of death threats.
Also, too, when I google “Indiana racist congressman”, all the links are about Steve King.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
birtherism! Birtherism alone should have been disqualifying. Never forgot- Donald Trump launched his political career telling racist lies about a birth certificate. It all begins there and it never got any better.
Uncle Cosmo
@Wyatt Derp:
Strenuously disagree. I want them fully & directly involved in public service for at least 20 years – making this kind of stuff for these guys.
joel hanes
Newt’s new-found “loyalty” to Trump (see also Newt’s just-out adulatory book about The Donald)
is the “pro quo” for which Callista’s appointment as ambassador to the Vatican is the “quid”.
MCA1
I guess I just can’t agree with Betty’s assumption that the “house of cards” would fall if Mueller can dig effectively enough to make it clear that what she laid out (or something similar). I used to think that, but then I thought the Access Hollywood tape was the end of the election, and at every subsequent off-ramp I’ve been amazed to see no GOP cars getting off this highway to ruin.
I can’t decide which is more shocking about the fact that Drumpf is on the cusp of 60% disapproval in Gallup, and is closing in on a -30 margin: the fact that it’s not another 15-20 points worse than it is already, or the amount of continued water carrying and weak handwringing the GOP’s engaged in despite this massive level of unpopularity. They seem to have clearly and definitively decided to pursue the choice of thinking they can obfuscate their way through this, enough of the country will eventually forget/forgive or never figure it out, and that this boil will go away and need not be lanced. Ever.
Aleta
“the blessing” ?
So now their defense against the investigation is
1. Opposing Trump and his agenda is a sin against god’s will.
2. Comey and Mueller are corrupt: “You have a director of the FBI deliberately leaking in order to create a special counsel who we’re now supposed to believe is going to be this neutral figure.” -Gingrich
Shalimar
@Aleta: Prosecutors aren’t supposed to be neutral figures. They’re supposed to find evidence of criminal activity and put the perpetrators in prison.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Those are not prerequisites for Supree Court Review, even though they usually wait for an issue to “prcolate” and see if courts below come to any different decsions. But the clearly have the jurisdiction to hear this matter:
In other words, the Supreme Court can hear cases heard by federal appeals courts whenever they want to — including to determine if the appeals court had proper jurisdiction….
jl
@Aleta:
” Comey and Mueller are corrupt: “You have a director of the FBI deliberately leaking in order to create a special counsel who we’re now supposed to believe is going to be this neutral figure.” -Gingrich ”
Mueller is a RINO, and was originally appointed (I think) by the LIBERAL GW Bush.
Go Lil’ Newtie, Go. You are a great messenger. No one believes your BS anymore.
amk
so, when do mcturtle and zegs get to do this in public?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lamh36: I love all these “rebels” who end up on their knees before autocrats.
Lyrebird
Open thread, so… yelling at clouds:
I am NOT very woke, I do not pretend to fully understand intersectionality, but by heaven I cannot fathom how some of the Mothers of the Movement must feel, or how they restrain themselves, when rich white bullies who violently assault reporters get coddled when these folks’ own sons were killed for… selling CDs? pulling over as instructed at a traffic stop?
Ruckus
@jl:
Not completely, but yes.
But to be my age, health condition, depending on SS and the VA, see dumpfsters (here in rather bright blue CA) happy at most people’s misery, and not be at least a bit discouraged? That would take quite a feat of self delusion.
Doesn’t mean one shouldn’t do what is available, use your voice, march if you can, give what monetary support you can afford.
eric
My analysis of Trump’s future: Comey is a professional; Mueller is a professional and has hired a team of professionals. Trump and his team are not professionals. So, think Globetrotters v. Generals. The ONLY is issue is whether people will care, and not whether Mueller will uncover evidence of wrongdoing — we already have that. That said, we have ultimate test of Mencken’s maxim” “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” Osoff winning may matter more a Trump decline than anything Mueller ever finds.
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
With chrome-helmet Gingrich out of the casa, who’s Newt grooming to become Mrs. Gingrich IV?
ruemara
@lamh36: They ain’t us. Some are finding out that progressive virtue signaling they’ve been doing for years is really different than standing up for actual progressive policies.
Adam L Silverman
@Lapassionara: I have not. I am hoping to either get to it late this afternoon/this evening or tomorrow.
Patricia Kayden
What the hell?!! Is this normal? I’m beginning to freak out. These dudes are creepy as hell.
The Moar You Know
@trollhattan: He’s figuring he’s going to have some Handmaids sooner rather than later.
You just know that ambulatory doughball has been waiting all his life for legalized rape.
Patricia Kayden
@Aleta: The people complaining about Mueller and Comey are the same dang people who forced Secretary Clinton to endure how many lengthy and vigorous investigations into emails and Benghazi? Yet when they are involved in real scandals with foreign enemies, they expect to get off scot free. Hell naw. I hope this country shuts down in protest if Trump lifts a finger against Mueller or attempts to intimidate or shut it down in any way.
Ian G.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Oliver Stone has made exactly one good movie in his life, and that movie is now over 3 decades old. Compared to him, M. Night Shyamalan is a fresh new director with a string of hits.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Bullshit! He’s never been to Nantucket.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: That’s what I thought too. Going back even further in time, when scores of ordinary Indians joined Gandhi, they were taking on an Empire that didn’t hesitate to open fire on peaceful protesters. People actually died of the beatings they took in the lathi (baton) charges by the police in those marches.
My grandmother’s sister was in her early twenties. I can’t imagine the courage it must have taken. India of the late 1930s early 40s was a far more traditional and unforgiving society for women than United States of the twenty first century. I don’t know whether I would have had her courage.
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: Good for Oliver Stone because Putin is on record as a ruler who oversees a country rife with human rights abuses. Did Stone expect to see Putin executing an opponent live and in living color right in front of him? Some people should just keep their mouths shut.
Wjs
@Patricia Kayden: Trump can order Rosenstein to fire Mueller for cause and Rosenstein can either carry it out or resign. Wapo had a full editorial on this. Mueller is the existential threat to Trump inc. Why not fire him and throw more sand in the gears?
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: I’ve been thinking the same thing but am afraid to express such sentiments out of fear of being called insensitive. I’ve never been subjected to death threats so I really can’t say what I would do if I was running for office and being subjected to them. Perhaps I would crack under the pressure and quit running too. Democrats have to figure out how to deal with this or we’re going to have scores of candidates dropping out as Republicans coordinate death threats.
CaseyL
The Trump Cabinet Circle Jerk has me seriously, honestly, sick to my stomach.
schrodingers_cat
@Wjs: Because it would be an open admission of guilt.
trollhattan
@lamh36:
They should let John Waters follow Putin around for a month with cameras rolling. That documentary I’d watch.
Patricia Kayden
@Wjs: If the American people tolerate such executive overreach as the firing of Mueller and the stopping of the Russian interference investigation, then we deserve the dictatorship that we get. If we keep letting Trump get away with nonsense, he’s going to get worse and go further until we find ourselves in a country where he and his sycophants do whatever they like — including to us.
GregB
Oliver Stone is going to travel back in time to marvel at how so many Getmans loved Hitler.
“Even with Allied bombs destroying Berlin, parents sent their children in support!”
Quinerly
MSNBC reported that it was Trump’s FIRST cabinet meeting of his administration.
La Passionara
@Adam L Silverman: Great. I look forward to reading it.
Bill Arnold
Skimming through The Trump Documents at “the Onion”, it is clear that the Onion and the Trump administration are in a Poe’s Law arms race.
Any bets on who will win?
Major Major Major Major
I’ve been trying to automate line breaks on the bar labels on a graph all day, I peek my head up and this is the news? Shit, back to the pixel mines, at least that’s something I have control over.
Wjs
@schrodingers_cat: Guilt is a technical term. Trump has never let that stop him. When you don’t have any shame and the Congress is on your side you can do anything. I mean, all of a sudden, they’re going to start caring about this and do something to stop Trump? After caving on everything for months?
Wjs
@Patricia Kayden: we’ve been exactly there for months.
hovercraft
@Lyrebird:
Same as it ever was.
It’s sad but not surprising, the one glimmer of light is that more people are becoming woke everyday. The fact that it takes these things happening to reporters or white people is depressing, but having more woke people is what counts in the end. The rage and the fear for our loved ones never goes away, but we keep going on, what choice do we have?
schrodingers_cat
@Wjs: I am not in the business of predicting what T or his minions in Congress are going to do.
ETA: And getting depressed by something that has yet to happen.
PST
@hovercraft:
Last night I started reading Blind Ambition, which I never read back in the 70s. So far, Dean seems unsparing of himself and others. That’s the book I would like to see serve as inspiration for a disillusioned Trump crony. I especially like the ending. Who will be the new John Dean?
Gin & Tonic
Meanwhile, it is past midnight in Moscow, and Alexei Nvalny is still under arrest. He was taken into custody first thing this morning, as major anti-corruption demonstrations were beginning all over Russia. The electricity and Internet to his HQ were cut off as well.
Gin & Tonic
Misspelled Navalny. Apologies.
Wjs
@schrodingers_cat: That would be an awful business, I agree
TriassicSands
@Wjs:
Rosenstein would have to resign. or lose any credibility he has. Friends of his say he has integrity — being ordered to fire Mueller would test it.
When Nixon ordered Richardson and then Ruckleshaus to fire Cos they refused and resigned. Who did the firing? Someone we all know, at least by reputation — Robert Bork. Does Rosenstein want to go down in history as the twin of Robert Bork?
ruemara
@Gin & Tonic: Can’t wait to see how the Congressional GOP twist themselves into knots to craft a bill making that legal here. Yes, even Grampy Walnuts.
hovercraft
@Patricia Kayden:
Twitler looks at Putin with his 80% approval rating, Erdogan with his ability to jail reporters and silence the judiciary, and Kim Jun Un and his parades and propagandistic media, and he’s jealous, they have what he wants. They get to live in countries where the Dear Leader’s lives are not blighted by criticism, he want’s that.
Elie
@lamh36:
Once the orks see that it works, they will just keep doing it… I understand, mind you, but what if he was already in office and got threats. Would he resign then? Its horrible but we are going to have to be very brave to stand up to this stuff or we’ll just keep backing down..
Quinerly
Good piece up at TPM on one of Trump’s attys: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/does-the-president-have-real-legal-defenders
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Actually, someone like Erroll Morris.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: I’m so old I can remember when a President’s relative getting involved with policy was viewed with outrage and scorn by conservatives.
different-church-lady
@trollhattan: The feces-eating scene would be something, yes.
hovercraft
@Quinerly:
The first meeting with the entire cabinet, with every position filled. Since finding people awful enough and willing to take the jobs has taken so long, this was the first. He started off by making the point that it was his first, but he said it was because the obstructionist democrats that it took this long, and that it was against this backdrop that he was still able to be the most accomplished president since FDR!
We better keep an eye on Mount Rushmore, if they start clearing land, you’ll know what’s up.
different-church-lady
@D58826:
The reporting will be quite interesting when she becomes the first First Lady to move out of the WH.
efgoldman
@Jack the Second:
What (eventually) happened when Nixon fired Archibald Cox on a Saturday nite and also fired (well, one quit) the two attorneys general who refused to do the deed?
A new prosecutor was named, the indictments and convictions kept coming, and eventually he got on the helicopter.
Not exactly analogous (this house and senate are not going to investigate like that one did) but there’s an awful lot of smoke that doesn’t have to do with obstruction.
Camembert
@Kay:
Here’s hoping the Dems are wise enough to present an alternate vision to oligarchic nepotism and/or toadying thereunto going forward. It seems reasonably likely, but you never know.
Elmo
@Gin & Tonic: The Supreme Court takes the cases it chooses to take. A circuit split provides a good reason for the Supreme Court to take up a case. A lawsuit between two states is automatic, because the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in those. But those are by no means the *only* kinds of cases the Supreme Court takes.
bemused
@hovercraft:
DeVos and Tillerson both seem to believe their Prosperity Gospel God had plans for them and plopped the job opportunities in their laps.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
And the police have been very nice to the protestors, of course.
Miss Bianca
@GregB: “People keep saying Hitler is anti-Semitic! Well, I have to tell you *I’ve* never seen him be mean to a Jew!”
Barbara
@Patricia Kayden: It’s not normal. It’s Idi Amin kind of abnormal.
schrodingers_cat
Does anyone really care what Oliver Stone thinks. That he was cray cray was obvious since he made that tedious JFK movie.
Quinerly
@hovercraft:
I actually caught a bit of it in real time but missed the very beginning when he was talking. It was so bizarre that I sat down for a minute. Even commented on it in a dead morning thread. It was especially strange to walk in on it. Had no context at the time.
Jack the Second
@D58826: Yeah, aren’t you supposed to keep your blackmail material private?
Or is this more like the exercises they make some POWs do, where they have to write an essay praising their captors, that they then read over a PA to the rest of the camp? There’s a psychological effect where, once you endorse a position, you will begin supporting it, even if you disagree with the statement while making it.
debbie
That cabinet meeting was creepy. I’m betting Vlad suggested the format to Trump.
@zhena gogolia:
Is there any information about how many arrests were made?
Chyron HR
@Camembert:
Well I’m sure your “Birdie” suit got pretty whiffy after 3 days, too.
Yutsano
@Camembert:
Show me on the doll where Dodd-Frank touched you.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
Do ex-wives of presidents get Secret Service protection? I guess we’ll get to find out.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Jacqueline Kennedy did although that’s not analogous to a divorce.
debbie
@D58826:
I wonder if all of that security will come back to DC too. What’s left to guard in Trump Tower?
Yutsano
@debbie: At least the NYPD will get a break, although they should be charging all of that to the Feds.
Quinerly
OT: For the Katy Tur fans: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/style/katy-tur-donald-trump-nbc.html
akryan
Just wait. The late shows are going to have a field day with this “cabinet meeting”. i can already picture Stephen Colbert destroying it. It’s perfect fodder for an opening SNL skit too. The Trump clown car is going to be a laughingstock again tonight and as usual it will drive him crazy.
rikyrah
Update on previous post:
That lovely portrait is NOT the official portrait for 44. BuzzFeed has the story about it.
I am sad, cause I loved it.
I still want to buy a copy of it.
zhena gogolia
@debbie:
Lots. I don’t remember exactly — WaPo has been covering it.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
You mean protection from the President she leaves?
D58826
@debbie: all those golden walls and fixtures perhaps. Knowing the way Trump has been operating he will want a full SS compliment around Trump Tower on the off chance that he might drop in fore a visit.
On a much more series topic from the NYtimesw:
THat was the info that Der Fuhrer blabbed. Now I’m no IC expert but even I know that you keep that kind of information very very close to the vest. In WWII the fact that the Brits had broken the German Enigma codes was a closely guarded secret.
The fact that the US had broken the Japanese diplomatic codes was also very closely held and lead to several unfortunate results. Due to inter-service rivalry the Army and the Navy took turns breaking the messages and delivering them to FDR. FDR was not allowed to keep the messages, only read them. The result, among other things was he (and whoever else could read them) could not build a time line of events. They had to remember everything, no notes. The other unfortunate result was the top officials, Marshall, Stark, etc. had to lie to Congress during the various investigations that occurred during the war. Once the war was over and the need for secrecy ended these men could tell the full story in the 1946 hearings. They of course looked like fools and were criticized by hostile elements (yes there was a ‘lying fake newsmedia’ in 1946 also) in the media for not telling the public the truth in 1942.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/world/middleeast/isis-cyber.html?smid=tw-share
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: the candidate in Iowa also dropped out. thats 2
D58826
@Quinerly:
Man given the look in that photo I would never want to get on her bad side. That look would melt glass
debit
It seems perfectly clear to me why grown men would suck up so hard to Trump: they were simply afraid he’d send them to the cornfield.
CarolDuhart2
Widowed First Ladies get lifetime secret service protection. Divorced ones apparently don’t.
SatanicPanic
Dennis Rodman is travelling to North Korea, apparently not in official capacity, though really it wouldn’t be that surprising if he were.
D58826
@CarolDuhart2: I have no idea what the usual rules are but I suspect that if there was some level of threat the Sec.Ser. would extend some protection to and ex-wife. SS has to many bad vibes
Quinerly
@D58826:
She’s tough.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
Late to the party, probably already said, but:
Gingrich: “We have always been at war with Eurasia.”
McCain, doddering old fool he is, was right: this is getting Orwellian
D58826
@Quinerly: I just saw the headline so not sure if he was kidding but Charles P Pierce claims he saw her clear a biker bar with that look in IA during the primary. After seeing the picture the story is much more believable
Mnemosyne
@Camembert:
If you need a reason to vote against Trump and the Republicans, you have failed as a citizen.
If you had lived in Nazi Germany in 1932, you would similarly have been bleating, But the Weimar government didn’t give me a good enough reason to vote for them, so they made me vote for the Nazis!
Lurking Canadian
@Peale: Bribery is legal in America. There’s no two ways around it. As long as you call it something else (campaign donation is the most popular choice, but there are others) nobody bats an eyelash if public figures are being paid for their services.
There’s a very famous quote from Betsy deVos in which she says something like “Of course we expect the legislators to do what we want. That’s why we give them money!”
The problem (in my opinion) is that the bar for proving corruption is too damned high. It’s not enough to show A gave B money. It’s not even enough to show B did something A wanted after A gave B money. Official Washington acts like you have to prove B did something A wanted because A gave B money. That is an impossible standard of proof that requires telepathy to meet.
J R in WV
I watched a few minutes of that cabinet meeting, which was NOT a cabinet meeting in the sense of governing at all. I couldn’t watch the whole thing, not at all. It was disgusting~!!
In a real cabinet meeting, the cabinet officers most concerned with the topic of the meeting give their professional opinions about the issue(s) then they all discuss the issues as explicated by the people related to the issue, then the President either decides what to do, or takes the issue under advisement for a decision later on.
This didn’t have a topic – except for the glory of Deal Leader Trump. Despicable.
@Lurking Canadian:
I agree, if you take money from someone and then take action on behalf of that person, busted. Done. Not the way it is now. Our (Republican) Governor, Arch A Moore Jr. was famously corrupt. He was indicted several times and not convicted.
Finally he was taped by a co-conspirator wearing an FBI wire in the back of a limo, meeting with different people doing big business with the state. He pled guilty, then tried to repudiate that plea on the grounds that he didn’t understand what he was doing – after 40 years as a lawyer. Yeah, right, the Judge said.
His daughter is now one of our Senators, Shelly Moore Capito. Famous for traveling all over Europe with dear old Dad, funded by Dad’s suitcase full of cash. We know this because it was part of the guilty plea.
Her husband is an executive with Wells Fargo, appointed to his position just after Shelly Moore Capito voted for a bill the Wells Fargo needed to pass. Amazing the coincidences that happen in Washington, WV, isn’t it?????????????
TenguPhule
@Origuy:
Don’t you mean the original German?