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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Call Him Jared

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Call Him Jared

by Anne Laurie|  July 22, 20176:48 am| 258 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Dog Blogging, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Russiagate, Trump Crime Cartel

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ok it is time for that pup enjoying her bath
she did not even get verbal govt approval she just jump in

via https://t.co/RLJNJdqmET pic.twitter.com/yya61pPXLU

— darth:™ (@darth) July 20, 2017

I particularly love the other two dogs, giving Mr. Happy Laps the hairy eyeball — and a wide berth.

Apart from maybe hitting the pool, what’s on the agenda for this summer weekend day?

***********

Speaking of ludicrous instinctive actions from an organism not bred for critical thinking…

NEW: Kushner says he "inadvertently" failed to disclose 77 assets worth over $100 million on disclosure forms https://t.co/74xoXj6yo8

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) July 21, 2017

Who among us has not revised our security and disclosure forms multiple times?

Oh, right, no one, because usually there's zero slack given. https://t.co/MTrHyWsooB

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) July 21, 2017

Jared Kushner failed to disclose dozens of financial holdings that he was required to declare when he joined the White House as an adviser to President Trump, his father-in-law, according to a ­revised form released Friday.

A separate document released Friday also showed that Kushner’s wife, presidential daughter Ivanka Trump, had been paid as much as $5 million from her outside businesses over an 84-day span this spring around the time she entered the White House as a senior adviser and pledged to distance herself from her private holdings.

And they both continue to draw large sums from outside interests: The couple has jointly made at least $19 million in income from business ventures and listed more than $80 million in real estate and other revenues since the start of 2016, the documents show…

Ivanka Trump also listed ­receiving $2.4 million in hotel-related revenue from the Trump International Hotel in Washington. She said she earned $787,500 from a publisher’s advance for her book “Women Who Work,” which debuted in May. And she reported $2.5 million in salary and severance from her “continued participation in employer-sponsored 401(k) plan” of Trump Payroll Corp., a side entity that handles Trump Organization wages.

For his part, Kushner earned millions from his family’s real estate over the past year, his filing shows. He pulled in between $1 million and $5 million between January 2016 and March 9 of this year from BFPS Ventures, a holding company valued at between $5 million and $25 million.

An earlier version of Kushner’s disclosure form described BFPS as a company focused on “real estate in New York.” However, public documents revealed, and Kushner’s legal team later confirmed, that it held a wide range of entities, including an Oklahoma oil and gas firm that has been sold…

Kushner amends disclosure to reflect Russian citizenship.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) July 22, 2017

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Previous Post: « Late Night Open Thread: A Little Silhouette-o of A Man
Next Post: Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against Healthcare Provisions »

Reader Interactions

258Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 6:52 am

    Remember when McCain couldn’t remember how many houses he owned? This seems worse.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    July 22, 2017 at 6:54 am

    Let’s not all be Russian to judgment.

    :)

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 7:08 am

    @Baud: He just happened to look under the cushions of the couch and found $100 million in loose change. It could happen to anybody.

  4. 4.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 7:09 am

    @Baud:

    It’s puzzling, is what it is. Jared and Ivanka volunteered to take these family- bestowed patronage jobs – they both could have kept their various business ventures under the radar, but they don’t want to. They’re more then happy to brag constantly about how much money they have because it’s how they measure worth.

    Except when it comes to turning over documents to Mueller. There they draw a “red line”. Trump family business docs shouldn’t be scary. There will be shady loans and unsavory associations and loads of debt revealed, but having that known never bothered the Trump’s before. The President was fighting a lawsuit on his scam “university” WHEN he was elected. He simply denied it was a scam. They didn’t miss a beat.

    This is the family who just spent a week on Made in America when they make NOTHING in America. Hypocrisy or dishonesty or general sleaze and hinky practices being revealed is NOT the issue- that’s daily for them.

    So what is the issue? Why do they go bananas when anyone serious wants to see records?

  5. 5.

    bystander

    July 22, 2017 at 7:13 am

    Is anyone actually surprised either by the lying under oath, the naked violations of ethics or the non-response of the repubs in Congress?

    All of them act as feloniously as I expect of all of them.

  6. 6.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 7:15 am

    @Kay: One reason, as you point out, is that it reveals the past. The other reason is that it limits their lies in the future. The never want to reveal their “hole cards” so they can lie to make more business deals in the future. Or more troublingly, they can show different sets of books to different people for different purposes. You cant do any of that if everybody knows your shit.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 7:15 am

    @Kay: I believe if the Dems rake back the House, they can demand the IRS release the tax returns. Incentive enough?

  8. 8.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 7:15 am

    @bystander: Agreed.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 7:21 am

    Ohio has a process whereby “any taxing authority” can initiate an audit. The county health department is a taxing authority- they are fed/state/ and local funded. The health department staff don’t do the audit, but they can call for one.

    So about 5 years the county health department initiated an audit of the law office. They come in and set up shop in a room and ask for all your records and then they go over them – we’re small so this only took a day. This is kind of nerve wracking and a little awkward- they’re working away in your office – but people don’t immediately launch a campaign to DESTROY the audit staff when this happens because it’s not that scary.

    It’s terrifying to the Trumps. They plant interviews in the NYTimes to threaten law enforcement, leak shit about the AG, send the liars league out to every media outlet. Trump works harder at hiding records than he does on anything else. So what’s in the records?

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 7:22 am

    @eric:

    The other reason is that it limits their lies in the future.

    If we have learned anything, it is that there are no limits to their lies.

  11. 11.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 7:23 am

    Can we stipulate now that anyone rich enough to forget about $100 million doesn’t need a tax break?

  12. 12.

    Iowa Old Lady

    July 22, 2017 at 7:24 am

    The word “earned” is doing a lot of work in narrating how money was handed to the Kushners.

  13. 13.

    Bobby Thomson

    July 22, 2017 at 7:25 am

    Cut him some slack. The bribes are coming in so fast it takes time to update.

  14. 14.

    Bobby Thomson

    July 22, 2017 at 7:26 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: certainly more work than the Kushners.

  15. 15.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @Kay: The president and vice president are audited every year by law. No telling when it has to be finished or how rigorous it must be, so I’m not holding my breath waiting to learn anything.

  16. 16.

    oldgold

    July 22, 2017 at 7:30 am

    It annoys me that the malignant narcissist, Trumpelthinskin, treats others so poorly that I begin feeling a measure of sympathy for individuals I formerly held in absolute contempt, like Comey, Spicey and jBS.

    I hope the Short-Fingered Vulgarian
    never treats Killer Kale poorly.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 7:33 am

    The Trump Family ethos is “as long as it’s not actionably unlawful it’s fine”. They have the lowest possible standard- criminal. Not just “looks like a crime to me!” but likely to get someone convicted. So when people say “they don’t want to reveal anything because it would make them look bad” I’m thinking “oh, I don’t think that’s the problem- that’s not a problem for them”.

    When you lie about your business constantly and publicly what the hell does it matter what the truth is? It’s not like any of them will admit it. Water off a duck’s back to them. That would be like a minor problem in the Trump Administration. There would be worse problems that day.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 7:33 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: It certainly asserts facts not in evidence.

  19. 19.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 7:34 am

    @Baud:
    It is worse. Owning all those houses doesn’t in itself suggest anything untoward about McCain; they’re just houses, and he does no business involving them with any government entity. Jared owning businesses whose interests could potentially affect the advice he gives his FIL is another, quite troubling matter.

  20. 20.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 7:39 am

    @Amir Khalid: and they were not his houses, they were his wifes, and who knows that that c&nt was doing with all her money

  21. 21.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 7:39 am

    @trnc:

    Right, but what Trump freaked out about was not his personal tax return but records from the business going to Mueller.

    That’s actually consistent with his story- if he says (and he does) that there was no coordination with Russia and that he’s somehow “recused” himself from the business with his magical pretend wall against conflicts then the business shouldn’t be relevant. But why the abject terror at anyone looking? It seems obvious to me that if Mueller is looking at Trump coordination then he would ask for business records- Trump and Mueller disagree on what’s relevant. Okay, fine. But Trump’s response to that is to launch this over the top campaign to stop it?

  22. 22.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 7:46 am

    @trnc:

    The regulatory entity that investigated whether Obama got an unusually low interest rate on his home mortgage was the Federal Elections Commission. That ONE loan triggered an investigation (Malia was cleared of all charges).

    Compare that level of scrutiny to the fact that Trump reveals nothing. It’s not even in the same universe. It’s like 2 different countries with 2 sets of laws. The Obama home mortgage investigation was 9 years ago. Were laws changed in the meantime? What is going on here?

  23. 23.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @Kay: Separate but equal.

  24. 24.

    mai naem mobile

    July 22, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @Baud: I totally get why the media and the Dems did what they did to McCain and his answer to the house question but McCain wasn’t exactly forgetting how many houses they ‘owned’ it’s because they had family living in houses he and Cindy owned – I think his kids,his aunt and maybe his mom. I think they had split ownership houses as well.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @eric:
    Unless they are keeping their property separate, what a person owns is surely also owned by their spouse.

    c&nt

    Even if you replace the vowel with an ampersand, such language is never appropriate in these threads.

  26. 26.

    oldgold

    July 22, 2017 at 7:52 am

    Boss Tweet is bringing his F-game this morning.

  27. 27.

    hueyplong

    July 22, 2017 at 7:54 am

    @Kay: “The Trump Family ethos is ‘as long as it’s not actionably unlawful it’s fine.'”

    Clearly, you’re giving them too much credit, unless you are defining “actionably” down to mean both chargeable and beyond Trump’s ability to hinder or fire any prosecutors who might bring those charges or investigators who would shine a light on them..

    We are in double digits in the count of known facts that would get nearly any other president both impeached and removed from office. And this is just on the topic of sleaze and criminality, setting aside embarrassing incompetence.

    We are one-eighth of the way through a term hilariously dedicated to making America great again. If you think about it, no president, except maybe FDR, has effectuated such sweeping change in perception of the US in so short a time. It’s startling when you take a step back from the daily detail and see what has happened and what has been revealed to no real counter action other than what we all hope the Mueller people are doing behind the scenes.

    You could get pretty depressed contemplating the fact that the Republicans’ only regret is that Trump’s clownish incompetence has limited the damage they contemplate and actively strive to inflict. We’re all degraded to the extent we rely on Trump to keep the GOP from more efficiently enacting its agenda.

  28. 28.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 7:58 am

    @Amir Khalid: that is how John referred to Cindy in front of a hot mic

  29. 29.

    oldgold

    July 22, 2017 at 7:58 am

    This morning’s Trumpty Dumpty Twitter Tripe:

    While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS.

    So many people are asking why isn’t the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?

    What about all of the Clinton ties to Russia, including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian Reset, big dollar speeches etc.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 7:59 am

    @hueyplong: We rely on every tool at our disposal. We obviously can’t control Trump’s incompetence, but if it helps gum up the works, I’ll take it.

  31. 31.

    MattF

    July 22, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Kay: Mueller will have all the documents, and will have all the documents in one place. He’s hiring the best people he can find to decrypt, connect, and analyze them. It’s a nightmare come true for anyone involved in money laundering.

    My current guess is that it’s about 50/50 that Trump et. al. are hiding a major money laundering operation. It would explain the Russians, it would explain the Mueller-fear, it would explain the dodgy DB stuff– it would explain a lot. But we shall see.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @oldgold: Lame-o.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    July 22, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @oldgold: Yup. Hillary has emails, oh no!

    For those who don’t want to link directly to the crazy old man, you can view his rants here
    https://twitter.com/RealPressSecBot

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 8:02 am

    @eric: Please, not even by allusion is it acceptable to refer to women like that. Sorry, crosses a line for me and I hope others as well.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    July 22, 2017 at 8:03 am

    @Baud: It is becoming tiresome.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:05 am

    @JPL: Like a has been rock star trying to recapture his former glory.

  37. 37.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:05 am

    @Barbara: the point of the quote is that John McCain was a disrepectful ass about the very woman on whose wealth (and houses) he has mooched since leaving his prior wife in her time of need.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 8:06 am

    @Baud:

    To be sure, neither Obama nor any of his appointees have been found to have acted improperly in securing mortgages or housing, and many likely have mortgage terms that will seem familiar to many average homeowners.
    Consider President Obama’s Chicago home.
    In 2005, when then-Sen. Obama and his wife Michelle bought their 6,500-square-foot Georgian-revival style home for $1.65 million, they got a discount on their mortgage from Northern Trust because the bank saw it as a chance to build a relationship with a successful couple, according to federal regulators who investigated the deal.
    “During discussions about the mortgage, Northern Trust discussed the possibility of providing investment services to then-Senator and Ms. Obama,” according to a report released Thursday by the Federal Election Commission. “In light of the investment business Northern Trust anticipated receiving from then-Senator and Ms. Obama, Northern Trust approved a discount from the rate on Northern Trust’s internal rate sheet.”

    When I read about it I thought well, that’s fine, it’s a pain in the ass but they should be looking for hinky loans but now I’m thinking “WTF? One loan caused this and Kushner is conducting family business out of the White House and everyone’s like “we can’t find any LAWS that cover this!”

    I was once a volunteer treasurer for a statehouse candidate. We raised 2000 dollars on which I dutifully filed reports probably 8 times over 16 months until the funds were exhausted according to a schedule which is in the state code. I STILL got audited. The records review cost me a full day of work and $60.00 to get copies of bank records. 2000 dollars in the account and I had a name and address for every donor.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:06 am

    Remember that Trump’s honeymoon period literally just ended.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 8:07 am

    * Breaking News Amir’s Guitar Saga *
    My payment for online purchase of guitar, amp, etc. has gone through, finally. The Squier Tele and Fender amp will arrive next week, per the online vendor’s estimate. The cable to connect them should arrive a fortnight later, and a copy of Rock Guitar For Dummies sometime in late August. Grrr.

  41. 41.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 8:07 am

    @eric: So let’s all follow the crudest and most demeaning standard we can point to?

    ETA: As you might have figured by now, your point was lost and what we are left with is the idea that degrading women is okay.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @Amir Khalid: Very cool, Amir.

  43. 43.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @Barbara: I am sorry, but you are missing the point of the post. try harder and save the scolding for children.

  44. 44.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 8:09 am

    @Kay:

    Right, but what Trump freaked out about was not his personal tax return but records from the business going to Mueller.

    He freaks out about everything and hits the defcon 1 button for ANYTHING that he perceives as undermining his personal reign. Personally, I hope we’re starting to get into the kinds of things that really will start to peel off more of his voters that might be sitting on the fence right now (not to mention senators).

    ETA: I’m not disagreeing with your view of his abject terror at having business dealings publicized, by the way.

    Regarding the Obama loan response, maybe I need another cup of coffee, but I don’t understand how it relates to what I wrote.

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 8:09 am

    @eric:
    Doesn’t excuse your calling her that.

  46. 46.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    July 22, 2017 at 8:09 am

    I think a better place for Congresssional Dems to start with than filing a motion to impeach the president is a motion to impeach Jared Kushner. Start smaller and work your way up. They have Kushner dead to rights on multiple felonies, and the talking points come together more simply for something like the Sunday talk shows.

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    July 22, 2017 at 8:10 am

    @Amir Khalid: Rock on, Amir.

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    July 22, 2017 at 8:11 am

    @oldgold: He’s having a tantrum this morning. I’m happy to see it. Shows the stress of the inquiry is eating him up. I want him to be a miserable son of a bitch every moment.

  49. 49.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    July 22, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @eric: Stop digging.

  50. 50.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @Amir Khalid: i did not call her that. John McCain did and it was excused every bit as much as the house gaffe, even though, in my view, it was far more damning in substance. I wrote the post as John would say it. I am sorry it reads that way to you, but if you have a problem with it, tell John Mccain to stop calling his wife that word.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @Kay: Republicans are very sensitive about being investigated by Dems. Even now, they present it as an issue that some people on Mueller’s team donated to Hillary. Can you imagine if Mueller were a Dem?

    It’s something our side hasn’t emphasized enough — our legitimacy in exercising all facets of governmental power.

  52. 52.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @eric: You are no different from the legions of whhite people whining that they should have the right to use the “n” word.

    By the way, you did refer to her that way and only went back to whatever McCain said after you were called on it.

  53. 53.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    July 22, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @eric: No, really. Stop digging.

  54. 54.

    Lapassionara

    July 22, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @Kay: I too wonder why he is just now acting as if he can actually feel shame. We know he thinks everything he does is fine, by definition. The smartest, the best, etc. So why is he sweating this? He said that he could shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Ave, and his base would not care. So why now? Why this?

  55. 55.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I am not digging.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @Amir Khalid: Crank it UP!
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Or maybe not.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym:

    motion to impeach Jared Kushner.

    I’m not sure mere employees are impeachable, and that’s technically what Jared is.

  58. 58.

    Brachiator

    July 22, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @Baud:

    .I believe if the Dems rake back the House, they can demand the IRS release the tax returns.

    No. The IRS cannot do this just because the Congress would like to see the returns.

  59. 59.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:15 am

    I apologize to those that feel ‘I’ used that word to refer to Cindy. that was not my intent. it was to remind that John McCain was far worse a man that his lionization allows him to be considered. I am sorry i did not make my meaning clearer, as the term is a strong and offensive term

  60. 60.

    MattF

    July 22, 2017 at 8:15 am

    @Baud: I’ve read that Mueller will have access to Trump’s tax returns.

  61. 61.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:16 am

    @Baud: I dont think he is even an “employee” I see no evidence that he gets a salary…does he?

  62. 62.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 8:16 am

    @oldgold: This morning, yesterday morning, yesterday mid late afternoon, and every hour of every day for many months now. It’s almost as if they have to spout the same old descredited tripe in order to distract from what is actually happening.

    Oh, and you forgot “We haven’t seen any evidence.”

  63. 63.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @Brachiator:

    Thanks to a little-known and rarely used provision in the law, either the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation may request anyone’s tax returns to examine — including the president’s — from the secretary of the Treasury.

    http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/07/news/economy/trump-tax-returns/index.html

  64. 64.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @Brachiator: He is referring to a law that enables Congress to subpoena the tax returns of individuals. Yes, they can do it for their own review. They cannot release them publicly.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @eric: Sorry Eric, you did not quote McCain, you referred to his wife in the same terms as he.

  66. 66.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @eric: Thank you.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:18 am

    @eric: He’s not paid, but the disclosure form he has amended a gazillion times is what employees have to fill out.

  68. 68.

    eric

    July 22, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @Baud: right, but that means he cant be fired or impeached because he has no job to be fired or impeached from

  69. 69.

    Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.

    July 22, 2017 at 8:19 am

    What stinks even worse is Kushner’s excuse that prior incomplete filings we’re bc an underling/ weed holder [para.] “prematurely pressed ‘Send'” before the complete listing was compiled. I wish I was making this up.

    Of course this excuse wasn’t proferred until he got in trouble several weeks / months after said Send-pressing, which if true means his team saw several items come in after submitting which they knew they should have declared, and rather than declaring them or submitting an amended filing, just sat on them, banking on the possibility of nobody ever discovering them. Which is one of the rare cases where the excuse might be more damning than the embarrassing truth the excuse us meant to hide.

  70. 70.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 8:20 am

    @Amir Khalid: Go out and buy a $5 cable so you can crank as soon as the guitar and amp arrive.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:21 am

    @eric: Regardless of what happens to him, he’ll still be the president’s son in law.

  72. 72.

    Chyron HR

    July 22, 2017 at 8:21 am

    @Barbara:

    what we are left with is the idea that degrading women is okay.

    100+ million American voters just decided that degrading women is okay, and another 63 million actually consider it a positive. Too late to complain now.

  73. 73.

    MattF

    July 22, 2017 at 8:21 am

    @Baud: I suppose Kushner is on Trump’s personal staff. Kind of like a valet who also does Middle East negotiations.

  74. 74.

    oldgold

    July 22, 2017 at 8:22 am

    Comrade Cheetolino, for the umpteenth time, it is Special Counsel, not Special “Council!”

  75. 75.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 8:22 am

    @Betty Cracker: I know, right? I actually get a little irritable if he looks like he’s having fun for a couple of minutes, like when they let him sit in the big trucks and go, “Vrooom.”

  76. 76.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @oldgold: If the president spells it, there must be an element of truth to it.

  77. 77.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 22, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @eric: I too was taken aback by your use of that word and respectfully request that you do not use it going forward. Not everyone remembers that John McCain referred to his wife in that disgraceful manner and I don’t see why we should repeat it, especially without clarifying citation.

    In other news, good morning!

    ETA: I see you apologized. Thank you.

  78. 78.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @eric:

    Why the apostrophes around the word I? You can bold and italicize around here. Is this more of a non-apologetic apology?

  79. 79.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    July 22, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @Baud: The impeachment power reads:

    The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

    The definition of a “civil officer” is:

    By this term are included all officers of the United States who hold their appointments under the national government, whether their duties are executive or judicial, in the highest or the lowest departments; of the government, with the exception of officers of the army and navy.

    That certainly seems to cover a White House senior adviser.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @eric: That is my understanding.

  81. 81.

    zhena gogolia

    July 22, 2017 at 8:26 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    I read it as an implied quotation. But it was badly punctuated.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:26 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I’m not so sure. Advisers typically aren’t officers. Because they only advise. They don’t exercise government powers.

  83. 83.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @oldgold:

    Isn’t 10 in 2 hours a new record?

    This one’s my favorite:

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 16m16 minutes ago
    More

    In all fairness to Anthony Scaramucci, he wanted to endorse me 1st, before the Republican Primaries started, but didn’t think I was running!

  84. 84.

    MattF

    July 22, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: All that definition says is that a ‘civil officer’ is a kind of officer. Term of art.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:27 am

    In Australia, the C-Word is like a synonym for “mate.”

  86. 86.

    burnspbesq

    July 22, 2017 at 8:28 am

    @Baud:

    I believe if the Dems rake back the House, they can demand the IRS release the tax returns.

    Not so. See Internal Revenue Code Section 6103(f). Congressional committees can inspect returns, but only in closed session.

  87. 87.

    zhena gogolia

    July 22, 2017 at 8:29 am

    @debbie:

    WHY IS THIS PERSON THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? WHY???

    господи помилуй, господи спаси нашу бедную родину

  88. 88.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:29 am

    @burnspbesq: Ok thanks. I hope then that people won’t get mad at them for following the law.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:30 am

    @zhena gogolia: Mostly due to white people.

  90. 90.

    bemused

    July 22, 2017 at 8:31 am

    Love the dog bath vid. We have videos of a couple of our Samoyeds doing the same water digging in kiddie wading pool when they were puppies. They lost interest in playing in wading pool as they grew up but go just as crazy when they are trying to get at a critter in ground or tree stump. Dirt flying everywhere.

  91. 91.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 8:31 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    I know! All I can think to console myself is that Trump will go down in history as the worst president ever. I wish I could say that to his face because he would flip out and prove me correct.

  92. 92.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 8:32 am

    @Baud:

    Exactly. If only we’d noticed how angry we were with each other!

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: But does he have an appointment under the national govt or is his relationship more akin to a personal lawyer? My understanding is that it is the latter, but then it has always been purposely muddled.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 8:34 am

    @debbie:

    The way it works is that the next president (me!) will be the best in our lifetimes, and the GOP president who follows me will be the worst ever.

  95. 95.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 8:37 am

    @trnc:
    Already done — I think. Can I use a stereo cable in place of a regular mono guitar cable?

  96. 96.

    SFAW

    July 22, 2017 at 8:38 am

    @Kay:

    Were laws changed in the meantime? What is going on here?

    All relevant laws changed on January 21st. You don’t remember hearing that the entire US Code was amended to add the phrase “except when it applies to [Preznit* Lying Littledick], his family, and Russian agents (covert and otherwise)”? It was on Fox News, they had a big party.

    I’m a little amazed, you’re usually all over stuff like that.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    July 22, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @Baud: OK. These committees could review the returns, but clearly the Trump administration would fight the request on the grounds that it was not in the public interest.

  98. 98.

    burnspbesq

    July 22, 2017 at 8:41 am

    I would love to know what services Ivanka performed for that 401(k) plan that were worth $2.5 million. Seems pretty clear that the plan trustees breached their fiduciary duties to the plan’s participants by overpaying (any major bank or mutual fund company would provide complete and competent administrative services to such a plan for a fraction of that amount). Trusttes are personally liable for those damages under the relevant provisions of ERISA. It’s also strongly possible that that’s a prohibited transaction under Code Section 4975, subjecting the company to excise taxes up to 100 percent of the amount of the transaction.

    Is there nothing these people won’t pillage?

  99. 99.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 8:43 am

    @Baud:
    Sometimes, if used to describe a man. But even then, it can be a term of abuse if used with hostile intent.

  100. 100.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 22, 2017 at 8:44 am

    @Baud: Long live Mahatma Baud!

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    July 22, 2017 at 8:44 am

    @debbie:

    I know! All I can think to console myself is that Trump will go down in history as the worst president ever.

    My, my — aren’t WE the optimist? You think there will be anyone left who will care, after Lying Littledick (aided and abetted by ZEGS, the Turtle, and Vladi Vladimirovich) gets done with this country and the world?

    NB: Before anyone decides to jump on me for my seeming pessimism: it’s a fucking joke.

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:44 am

    @burnspbesq: @Baud: What leaks more than a colander? Congress.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 8:44 am

    @Baud:

    Sold!

  104. 104.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 8:45 am

    @Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.:

    Of course this excuse wasn’t proferred until he got in trouble several weeks / months after said Send-pressing, which if true means his team saw several items come in after submitting which they knew they should have declared, and rather than declaring them or submitting an amended filing, just sat on them, banking on the possibility of nobody ever discovering them. Which is one of the rare cases where the excuse might be more damning than the embarrassing truth the excuse us meant to hide.

    I agree. I’ve never filed a federal security form but everyone who files anything regularly knows that “see it, amend/supplement” is the way to go. It’s Filing 101. You never get dinged for that but WHEN you do it matters. That’s what gets me- the lameness of this- the penny ante sleaze and the 7th grade level excuses. It goes against the idea I had that someone was in charge, there were checks and balances, there was PROCESS.

    Don Jr. had 50,000 dollars in legal advice and he flat-out lied to the NYTimes. ONLY when there was a threat the lie would be revealed did he change his story. Their default mode is “lie”.

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    July 22, 2017 at 8:45 am

    Good Morning,Everyone ???

  106. 106.

    burnspbesq

    July 22, 2017 at 8:45 am

    @Brachiator:

    The bigger problem from Trump’s perspective is that DOJ can get them for use in a grand jury investigation, and can disclose them to the grand jury.

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    July 22, 2017 at 8:46 am

    @burnspbesq:

    Is there nothing these people won’t pillage?

    Yes, probably — but only because they haven’t found it yet, whatever “it” may be.

  108. 108.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 8:46 am

    @SFAW:

    You’re not wrong. Once I set aside all my anger and angst, I find I am an optimist. Or unbalanced.

  109. 109.

    Gvg

    July 22, 2017 at 8:47 am

    @Barbara: you are REALLY missing the point. It should never be forgotten that MCCAIN referred to his wife with that specific word. Eric is making the point that he DOES NOT approve of talking about women that way. He isn’t the only one I have seen do this in other places too. It’s not a general reference to using it himself, nor even other potty mouthed men or women disparaging politicians. It’s using only that one word and only for McCain because it happened and it really was an ugly expose of that mans character which over time gets sort of rehabilitated partly because he has cultivated the press so well and partly because people forget especially when he occasionally does something they like, even accidentally derail a horrible bill.
    You should not be defending McCain. Telling people not to ever use that word in this specific context is actually the opposite of defending women from crude words. I don’t like that word which is why what McCain said really angered me.

  110. 110.

    burnspbesq

    July 22, 2017 at 8:48 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Unauthorized disclosure of return information is a felony, and people have gone up the river for it.

  111. 111.

    oldgold

    July 22, 2017 at 8:48 am

    @debbie:

    In all fairness to Anthony Scaramucci, he once had the good sense to refer to the Dodgy Don as “a hack with a big mouth.”

  112. 112.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 22, 2017 at 8:48 am

    @Kay: T wants to strip people of their citizenship and deport them, if they left out some minor detail in the naturalization forms. The Supreme Court ruled against T’s injustice dept on a case like that. But laws are for little people.

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    July 22, 2017 at 8:49 am

    @Kay:
    I really wish that you would put all your thoughts into a FrontPage post.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:49 am

    @burnspbesq:

    Is there nothing these people won’t pillage?

    Charities for children with cancer?

  115. 115.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 8:50 am

    @burnspbesq:

    I noticed that too. It’s gross. She’s gross. I keep going back to the fact that Ivanka and Jared are making these decisions. I feel as if her horrible father someone mitigates the fact that SHE is making these decisions. It’s like the opposite of the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. He’s so bad her separate horribleness is somehow excused as having something to do with being his daughter- like she’s a victim of him.

  116. 116.

    hueyplong

    July 22, 2017 at 8:54 am

    @Gvg: Hesitant as I am to get into this, I don’t agree with the idea that Barbara and others are taking too strong a line with a single word. The N-word has gotten to the point where you know what a white person is about when he uses it. Women are trying to do the same with the C-word because it has been shown to work in that way. Who am I to say that’s a bad plan?

  117. 117.

    Davebo

    July 22, 2017 at 8:54 am

    @Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.: Not sure they even have electronic filing.

    We always filled it out and mailed it in.

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:54 am

    @burnspbesq: When has that ever stopped a congressional aide doing the bidding of his/her boss?

  119. 119.

    TS

    July 22, 2017 at 8:55 am

    @Baud:

    In Australia, the C-Word is like a synonym for “mate.”

    Not in my part of Australia – and I have lived in 3 of the 4 largest cities in the country.

  120. 120.

    Shalimar

    July 22, 2017 at 8:55 am

    @Baud: White House staff who aren’t subject to confirmation by the Senate aren’t traditionally on the list of impeachable officers. That said, if Kushner is given a security clearance despite clearly being unqualified for one and he continues to act as the most powerful official in the government outside of the president, how else can anyone get rid of him without impeaching Trump himself?

    Presidential advisors aren’t specifically excluded from potential impeachment. We have just never had one guilty of wrongdoing who wouldn’t resign or be fired so the issue hasn’t come up.

  121. 121.

    Gator90

    July 22, 2017 at 8:57 am

    I really have nothing to say, but my daughter wants to see how this blog-commenting thing works, so I’m humoring her. Also too, Trump sucks.

  122. 122.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 8:58 am

    @eric:
    He was appointed, ergo he’s in a job. Which means a certain standard of conduct and performance is expected of him, and that standard can and should be enforced. If he isn’t taking a salary because he reckons he doesn’t need it, that’s beside the point.

  123. 123.

    El Caganer

    July 22, 2017 at 8:58 am

    @oldgold: I dunno. If ‘so many people’ are asking, maybe the President should ask the AG himself. After all, AG isn’t recused from anything to do with HRC, right?

  124. 124.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @Kay: I’m pretty sure she is a victim of his. That’s how she learned the tricks of the trade.

  125. 125.

    BretH

    July 22, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @Amir Khalid: just get a decent guitar cable – you don’t have to spend too much more than $5 but it should be fairly long so you are not anchored to your amp and sturdy enough so the first time you accidently pull it out by stepping on it (and it won’t be the last time) it won’t break where the cable meets the plug.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 9:00 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  127. 127.

    Spanky

    July 22, 2017 at 9:00 am

    @Davebo: Oh, it’s been electronic for at least 8 years now.

  128. 128.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 9:02 am

    @TS: Maybe in the boonies? Or maybe the internet lied to me.

    @Gator90:

    Well said.

  129. 129.

    Spanky

    July 22, 2017 at 9:03 am

    @Shalimar: Depends on whether you consider “arrested for felony and incarcerated” equates to “getting rid of him”.

    Because he can be arrested and jailed. He has no protection from that. And when Dear Dad-in-Law gives him a blanket pardon, let the games begin.

  130. 130.

    Zinsky

    July 22, 2017 at 9:03 am

    Kushner comes from a long line of reptilian criminals, who succeed by gaming the system and using their inherited wealth as a lever and a bludgeon – much like the Mango Mussolini himself. Here’s to hoping they both die in a federal penitentiary, where they belong!

  131. 131.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 9:04 am

    @Spanky: and the way I understand the process is that you have to enter your password on 28 different pages before it will submit. Almost impossible to do “accidentally”.

  132. 132.

    El Caganer

    July 22, 2017 at 9:05 am

    @SFAW: Your cast of characters sounds like something out of a kids’ Halloween book.

  133. 133.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 9:11 am

    @BretH:
    Is ten feet long enough?

  134. 134.

    frosty

    July 22, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @BretH: Way way back, Radio Shack used to sell a guitar cable with a lifetime guarantee. I got 3 or 4 out of that deal before they quit selling them that way.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 9:15 am

    @rikyrah:

    Thanks. I stopped saying I will because I haven’t – I’m not really temperamentally suited to blogging. I was trained that there’s two different kinds of writing – formal and informal- and I can’t shake it. It’s silly but the “post” to me is formal, more constrained, it’s work. I don’t have the kind of ease bloggers have – it’s really its own thing.

    It’s hard to explain so I’ll give an example. About 6 months ago I had a trial with a lawyer on the other side I know quite well. I know him, I know his wife, I know his kids. This thing turned into “which lawyer trumped this bullshit up and how did it go on so long?” – that was the subtext of the trial. Him! Obviously! :)

    So I get worked up ( I know this) and my practice is to write and then let it sit for a bit and re-read and revise because I always tone it down. My first draft is too hot- I’m not comfortable with it. I didn’t in this case when I did my final submission because I didn’t have time. It was due. I regretted it because that’s sort of what happened, what I wrote- seemed true at the time!, but not really – by now I see a whole of other things. So that;s my elaborate explanation. I don’t submit first drafts.

  136. 136.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2017 at 9:17 am

    Only thing I don’t get is al Baghdadi. My usual news sources are pretty quiet this Saturday morning

    David Frum‏Verified account
    Things we learned from @ realdonaldtrump twitter feed this AM:
    1) US has tried & failed to kill ISIS al-Baghdadi. Trump’s need to find a scapegoat for the failure hints that in some way he was at fault
    2) President Trump is thinking hard about the pardon power and asking his lawyers about its scope -first reference to it in his timeline
    3) How Scaramucci excused his past attacks on Trump & support for D candidates: by successfully duping Trump that he supported him all along
    4) As Trump Russia deceptions unravel, his only plan for rallying Rs will be endless attacks on the receding memory of Hillary Clinton
    5) He’s done a fair job these past days of presenting a cool and calm public image. He could not sustain it. He’s cracking in public view.

  137. 137.

    cmorenc

    July 22, 2017 at 9:17 am

    If Trump connives a way to fire Mueller and preemptively pardons Kushner, Trump Jr and Manafort….what then?

    Recall that Impeachment proceedings must begin with the House of Representatives voting to initiate such – as a prerequisite to any Senate impeachment trial and vote even happening, let alone whether 2/3 of the Senate can be persuaded to then vote to remove the President from office.

    And Trump may not even need to pardon Trump Jr, Kushner, or Manfort. What are the chances a Sessions-led Justice Department or any Trump-Appointed US Attorney will undertake to prosecute Kushner or Donald Jr, at least while Trump is still President?

  138. 138.

    frosty

    July 22, 2017 at 9:17 am

    @Amir Khalid: Long enough for playing in your living room. I assume you’ll be sitting witha music stand for books or iPad.

    If the amp has two channels you can plug an iPod or CD player* in one and guitar in the other for playing along.

    * Guitar lesson books still come with CDs.

  139. 139.

    kindness

    July 22, 2017 at 9:20 am

    There should be a thread dedicated to the Senate Parlimentarian throwing out most of the really awful things in the Senate Health Care bill as not being able to be passed using reconciliation. The abortion stuff, the Planned Parenthood defunding, lots of things now require 60 votes to get. Until Mitch fires the current Senate Parlimentarian & hires a new one with more ‘flexible’ views shall we say.

    @cmorenc: I think I have 7 days from now in the pool for Sessions resigning, What’s your date?

  140. 140.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2017 at 9:22 am

    oh, okay

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
    The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist,Al-Baghdadi.Their sick agenda over National Security

  141. 141.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 9:24 am

    @frosty:
    The Fender Champ 20 comes with an auxiliary input suitable for CD players and iPods/smartphones so I should be okay on that front.

    Thanks to you and everyone for the guitar advice and support. You guys are just great.

  142. 142.

    BretH

    July 22, 2017 at 9:25 am

    @Amir Khalid: ten or twelve or even twenty. I remember my Kramer Strat copy came with a 6′ cable that buzzed if you looked at it to hard.

    OH! And in case you haven’t already, you must buy a set of strings and replace the ones that come with the guitar before even tuning them. That’s how they save money by including the cheapest strings possible. Any new strings will do.

  143. 143.

    MattF

    July 22, 2017 at 9:26 am

    @cmorenc: JRubs outlines several scenarios.

  144. 144.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 9:27 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist,Al-Baghdadi.

    Actually true. By focusing on Hillary’s emails, the NYT helped elect Trump president and gave terrorists like al-Baghdadi a big lift.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    July 22, 2017 at 9:29 am

    @kindness:
    I would appreciate that post too. It is pretty important.

  146. 146.

    SFAW

    July 22, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    WTF is he on about now? What did the FTFNYT do now, in Lying Littledick’s “mind”? I mean, I realize he would not tell the truth if his life depended on it, but I figure he’s referring to something that was in the FTFNYT. (I almost said “that he read there,” but realized he’s not smart enough to read that paper.)

  147. 147.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 22, 2017 at 9:41 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
    The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist,Al-Baghdadi.Their sick agenda over National Security

    Huh? I don’t see the connection. Although the FNYT helped get this clown elected, so karma perhaps.

    On another journalism note, Ms. O and I watched Spotlight last night. (Yes, I’m several years behind the curve – why do you ask?) Good flick about journalists doing their job. Wish the FNYT had done its job in 2016.

  148. 148.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 9:44 am

    Here’s to hoping they both die in a federal penitentiary, where they belong!

    I’d love to see that, but I wonder how the “base” would react. The hardcore fans who get rowdy at the rallies. Would there be outbreaks of random violence?

    I mean, they’ve already been acting out, and their guy won. I can’t imagine how they’d react seeing dolt45 and his minions escorted into custody. Add the hate radio and fox people (like shannity) subtly or not so subtly inciting violence.

    And who polices them? The cops with the red MAGA hats?

  149. 149.

    Iowa Old Lady

    July 22, 2017 at 9:45 am

    @oldgold: Is he suggesting no one has ever investigated HRC? He makes me tired.

  150. 150.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 9:46 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: He’s upset because she’s innocent and he’s utterly guilty. Totally unfair!

  151. 151.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 9:47 am

    @germy:

    I’d love to see that, but I wonder how the “base” would react. The hardcore fans who get rowdy at the rallies. Would there be outbreaks of random violence?

    Recently, I’ve heard a couple supporters imply just this kind of thing. As if it would stop any kind of resistance.

  152. 152.

    Lapassionara

    July 22, 2017 at 9:47 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t get the last one. I did not notice any “cool and calm” public image.

    Does anyone have any “laugh out loud” movies to recommend? Can be old. In my world, a lot of close friends and relatives are finding out about bad medical diagnoses, and that, plus the triple digit heat, means I need some laughter in my life.

  153. 153.

    Cheryl Rofer

    July 22, 2017 at 9:48 am

    Huh. Ten tweets in the past few hours. Seems panicky.

    Apparently Fox News had something about a 2015 (2016?) operation to take out Baghdadi that allegedly failed because of a leak.

  154. 154.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 9:49 am

    @Lapassionara: He seemed happy in the fire truck.

  155. 155.

    rikyrah

    July 22, 2017 at 9:49 am

    @debbie:
    They continue to think that someone is playing with them?

  156. 156.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 9:50 am

    @SFAW:

    What did the FTFNYT do now, in Lying Littledick’s “mind”?

    Not a damn thing but he knows a good scapegoat when one browses thru the killary email patch.

  157. 157.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 9:54 am

    @rikyrah:

    Aww, they just miss the days of swaggering around with AR-15s bouncing off their bellies and nattering on about blood of tyrants. Poor dears.

  158. 158.

    Lapassionara

    July 22, 2017 at 9:54 am

    @Baud: Like the 8 year old he is.

  159. 159.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 9:56 am

    @Lapassionara: Girls Trip is getting rave reviews. Some friends of ours saw it last night and said the audience was in hysterics.

  160. 160.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 9:57 am

    @Lapassionara: Dogma, RED, RED 2, Rush Hour, The Holy Grail, Life of Brian,Get Shorty, Airplane, Blazing Saddles, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona….

  161. 161.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 9:57 am

    I don’t understand all the ins and outs but I’m frustrated with how I keep reading this kind of “nothing can be done!” approach to Kushner and Ivanka.

    There is no federal agency that can rein these two in under any theory? The hole was that big? I find that hard to believe.

    Again- Obama was investigated based on a complaint filed with a federal agency. CREW filed the complaint,request for inquiry,whatever you file with the elections administration and I assume they looked for jurisidction and a rule and found it with that agency so filed there. The complaint wasn’t thrown out- it was investigated, up to and including interviewing the agent who issued the mortgage. It can’t be that nepotism MEANS they can’t be held accountable. There’s a whole slew of rules. Find one.

  162. 162.

    danielx

    July 22, 2017 at 9:58 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    HRC isn’t sitting in the Oval Office, and has been investigated so many times everybody but Chaffetz was tired of it.

  163. 163.

    Elizabelle

    July 22, 2017 at 9:58 am

    So I caught some of Scaramucci’s press conference on C-Span Radio yesterday, in the car.

    Nonstop flight to George Orwell-Land. He is smooth and slimy. And the part about “we all love President Trump” or words to that effect? Has that ever been said before about a living current president?

    It was appalling. Getting tired of these snakes in skin suits. (With apologies to snakes.)

  164. 164.

    Bupalos

    July 22, 2017 at 9:59 am

    @Barbara: this is a little ridiculous. It’s a regular “thing” to adopt someone else’s bad behavior in their name and voice to lampoon them, entire memes built on this device. Literally every time the “ni-clang” has been used. You didn’t get it, it’s fine to say “I wish you had made that a little more clear…I didn’t remember about McCain’s history and im not sure other people do either…”

  165. 165.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @Lapassionara: Also Snatch and Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels.

  166. 166.

    Lurking Canadian

    July 22, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Been there, done that. What else you got?

  167. 167.

    TriassicSands

    July 22, 2017 at 10:02 am

    Apart from maybe hitting the pool…

    Hitting the pool? I live in western Washington — I’d have to break the surface ice before jumping in. Yes, an exaggeration, but this has been the coolest July I can remember out of the 21 I have been here for, so far. Most days have had highs in the high sixties. I spoke to a friend in Nevada yesterday and it was only 31°F warmer there. Out of 20 days, 5 have had a high temp of 70°F or above. The highest high was 75°F (one day). The other four days were 71°F, 73°F, 72°F, 71°F, and 70°F. The lowest high was 64°F on 7/1 and 7/13. I don’t like hot weather.

  168. 168.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 10:03 am

    Bill Kristol‏Verified account @BillKristol 1h1 hour ago

    His tweets today are a reminder of the evident fact that while Donald Trump has been president for six months, he is unfit to be president.

  169. 169.

    Gelfling 545

    July 22, 2017 at 10:04 am

    @Barbara: Actually, I got the point immediately and did not for a moment think that the commentor was endorsing demeaning women of which I am one.

  170. 170.

    Lurking Canadian

    July 22, 2017 at 10:04 am

    @Baud: in control theory, an oscillation of monotonically increasing amplitude is a sure fire sign of instability.

  171. 171.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:04 am

    @germy: Wait, does that mean he’s actually fit to be president????

    These liar vs. liar logic puzzles give me a headache.

  172. 172.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:06 am

    @Lurking Canadian: America = Tacoma Narrows Bridge

  173. 173.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Alrighty. Time for day four of the conference.

    Can I take a half sick day Monday morning to sleep?

  174. 174.

    Gelfling 545

    July 22, 2017 at 10:07 am

    @Barbara: He explained. Move on.

  175. 175.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:07 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Perchance to dream.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    July 22, 2017 at 10:08 am

    @Elizabelle:

    He’ll be horrible. Preibus knows more about this than Trump does. Donald Trump takes advice from morons and oddballs and weirdos because he’s now run thru the few nominally competent people he hired. It’s much more likely Trump will be wrong than right. Remember-Donald Trump was told firing Comey would be popular and he believed it. He believes what he wants to believe- that which is most flattering to him. OF COURSE he blames the people he hired. He never takes responsibility for anything. He’s bad at both hiring and firing and that’s 90% of his job.

  177. 177.

    bystander

    July 22, 2017 at 10:08 am

    Discussion on AM Joy about who leaked the intercept about Sessions. Nance suggests either one of the 8 people with clearance around Chump or the Russians to sow more chaos.

    Wouldn’t it be ironical if Sessions ended up lynched?

  178. 178.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 10:09 am

    @Lurking Canadian: Nothing, that’s as low as one can go.

  179. 179.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2017 at 10:13 am

    @Lapassionara: I’m a sucker for Mel Brooks, the Wilder years, esp the original Producers. The Lady Eve. It’s a Mad X4 World. Arthur, you can fast forward to the John Gielgud scenes (“How revolting!”), Duck Soup, A Fish Called Wanda. Maybe not LOL funny but I love the Freshman with Matthew Broderick (one of two movies I can watch him in, with Election another not LOL but great movie) and Brando.

  180. 180.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2017 at 10:14 am

    @Gelfling 545: this is balloon-juice. We only look backward, not forward.

  181. 181.

    oldgold

    July 22, 2017 at 10:15 am

    @debbie:
    “Isn’t 10 in 2 hours a new record?”

    No, it ties God’s long standing Mount Sinai record.

  182. 182.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 10:15 am

    @Baud:

    Wait, does that mean he’s actually fit to be president????

    These are strange times. I find myself agreeing with Jen Rubin and bloody Bill.

    I expect frogs to rain from the sky any day now.

  183. 183.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 10:18 am

    @germy:

    I’d like that tweet better if it had come from anyone else. Everything Kristol says comes untrue.

  184. 184.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:18 am

    @germy: I think if Trump ever looked into the camera and said “I am lying,” space and time as we know it would cease to exist.

  185. 185.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2017 at 10:19 am

    @Baud: nah, the universe has pretty resilient paradox-absorbing crumple zones.

  186. 186.

    frosty

    July 22, 2017 at 10:19 am

    @BretH: I used Ernie Ball Slinkys on my Fender. Super Slinky when you’re ready to start bending notes. I never got any good at it and switched to using a slide in Open E.

  187. 187.

    debbie

    July 22, 2017 at 10:20 am

    @Kay:

    It was said on NPR that both Priebus and Bannon were very vociferous in arguing against his appointment. That can only result in more chaos. Fun!

  188. 188.

    TriassicSands

    July 22, 2017 at 10:21 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I heard a clip of his profound professions of “love” for Trump. I’ve never heard anything remotely like that for the ten presidents who preceded Trump. Nor have I ever haerd anything like the lovefest cabinet meeting in which, one after another, Trump’s underlings expressed the extraordinary honor they felt in getting to serve the most disgusting POS ever to be president. The whole concept of “normal” has been utterly destroyed since January 20, 2017.

  189. 189.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2017 at 10:21 am

    @debbie: yeah, the “Spicer didn’t want to do both jobs while a clown got the credit” leak was pretty obviously Priebus.

  190. 190.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:22 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Fine. But we humans would all be like “Norman. Coordinate.”

  191. 191.

    GregB

    July 22, 2017 at 10:22 am

    In another historic irony, Trump is launching the USS Gerald Ford.

    Also, this Scaramucci fool is going to be giving hagiographic fluffing emissions about Trump worthy of a North Korean ministry of information stooge.

  192. 192.

    different-church-lady

    July 22, 2017 at 10:24 am

    @germy: Do innocent people spend a lot of time talking about the need to pardon themselves?

  193. 193.

    RedDirtGirl

    July 22, 2017 at 10:25 am

    @Amir Khalid: I think he is just quoting McCain there.

  194. 194.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 10:27 am

    Washington Examiner‏Verified account
    @dcexaminer

    Spicer tells Sean Hannity Trump did not want him to go

    Joy Reid‏Verified account
    @JoyAnnReid

    In the end, the final person he lied to and spun was himself. Godspeed, @seanspicer.

  195. 195.

    WaterGirl

    July 22, 2017 at 10:27 am

    @MattF:

    Mueller’s hiring the best people…

    I’m sorry, can this be correct? I thought Trump said he would be hiring all the best people!

  196. 196.

    Elizabelle

    July 22, 2017 at 10:28 am

    @TriassicSands: It was truly disturbing.

    We can see them for what they are. They don’t care.

  197. 197.

    hueyplong

    July 22, 2017 at 10:29 am

    @GregB: Agree. If he gives another presser like yesterday’s, this guy is going to make us stop all the Bohemian Rhapsody stuff and dub him The Fluffer.

  198. 198.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 10:29 am

    @Baud: As far as I can tell, space and time as we knew it has already ceased to exist. Either that or we’ve slipped thru a worm hole and entered another universe..

  199. 199.

    Elizabelle

    July 22, 2017 at 10:29 am

    @debbie: Yeah. Scaramucci might prove to be Trump’s ultimate disaster hire.

  200. 200.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:30 am

    @Elizabelle: Why should they care until we enforce what we see through our votes?

    @OzarkHillbilly: I miss the old universe.

  201. 201.

    WaterGirl

    July 22, 2017 at 10:31 am

    OT, but we are finally getting some rain here in Illinois and I swear it feels like the grass is turning greener right before my very eyes as it has been raining for the past hour. It’s not really possible for it to happen that fast, is it?

  202. 202.

    Lurking Canadian

    July 22, 2017 at 10:32 am

    @WaterGirl: Actually, there is no contradiction. Mueller would be hiring the best investigators. Trump has no interest in investigating anything, so they’re all still available.

  203. 203.

    different-church-lady

    July 22, 2017 at 10:33 am

    @oldgold: @oldgold:

    [TRUMPTEWETS] So many people are asking why isn’t the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?

    What about all of the Clinton ties to Russia, including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian Reset, big dollar speeches etc.

    Dude, “She’s more guilty than I am” may have worked with the rube electorate, but it ain’t gonna work with the judiciary.

  204. 204.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 22, 2017 at 10:34 am

    @WaterGirl: He can still claim responsibility for all the best people being hired.

  205. 205.

    Lurking Canadian

    July 22, 2017 at 10:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Trump has one genuine gift. It doesn’t matter how low you put the bar. He’ll find a way under it.

  206. 206.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 10:35 am

    I miss the old universe.

    The only thing that cheers me up is the thought of all those disappointed republican “lawmakers” who never got a chance to build careers out of attacking, investigating and obstructing President Hillary Clinton. They were drooling at the thought of being the opposition party, but now they have to either run away from reporters or defend the current pile of dogshit.

  207. 207.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:36 am

    @germy: Agreed.

  208. 208.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2017 at 10:36 am

    @different-church-lady:

    So many people are asking why isn’t the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?

    As usual, this is code for “I am asking,” and the answer is shut up you idiot, that’s not part of his portfolio, you petty fucking moron.

  209. 209.

    TriassicSands

    July 22, 2017 at 10:36 am

    @Elizabelle:

    But there’s so much competition. Betsy DeVos won’t go down without a fight! And M. Flynn has a legitimate claim. Sessions stock is on the rise. Oh, the drama. The excitement!

    However, you make a good point, Scaramucci’s greater visibility may work in his favor.

    Popcorn!!!

  210. 210.

    germy

    July 22, 2017 at 10:36 am

    @different-church-lady:

    Uranium deal

    Debunked so many times, but he keeps repeating it. Just like the comments section trolls in my local newspaper.

  211. 211.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2017 at 10:37 am

    @TriassicSands: and he can sink a three foot putt! Isn’t that miniature golf? And his free throw prowess or something? I kept seeing tweets from not-necessarily trumpers about how he was smooth and charming. I thought he was like the creepy starting boyfriend in a bad 1980s romcom who gets pushed out by the earnest slacker, with a script written by a terrified North Korean flack in the Pyongyang presidential palace

  212. 212.

    different-church-lady

    July 22, 2017 at 10:39 am

    @germy: Other than the amount of money they possess, there is no effective difference between the two.

  213. 213.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 10:39 am

    @RedDirtGirl:
    Eric didn’t make that clear enough. He gave the impression that he was himself calling Cindy McCain by that epithet, rather than citing her husband’s use of it. When a person is not careful enough to avoid that kind of slip, they do deserve to be criticised. And that’s what he got in this thread.

  214. 214.

    different-church-lady

    July 22, 2017 at 10:40 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I kept seeing tweets from not-necessarily trumpers about how he was smooth and charming.

    So was Ted Bundy.

  215. 215.

    WaterGirl

    July 22, 2017 at 10:41 am

    @eric: I got that you were referencing the utterly disrespectful way that he referred to his wife, but many did not or perhaps they did but still did not like the reference, so this was a smart way to end the conversation about this. Thanks, Eric.

  216. 216.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 10:42 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not sure about charming, but he is a smooth talker who has a bit of a sing-song voice.

  217. 217.

    TriassicSands

    July 22, 2017 at 10:45 am

    @Elizabelle:

    No, they don’t care. The spectacle of groveling cabinet members was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen in American government. Jefferson, Madison, Washington, et al. would all have had strokes if they witnessed such a horrifying display.

    What would have been helpful would have been if each of the grovelers had been hooked up to a lie detector with the print-out displayed in real time as they spoke. The tracings would have looked like one 10+ earthquake after another — or maybe not.

  218. 218.

    Lyrebird

    July 22, 2017 at 10:52 am

    @Elizabelle: Well I gotta say I love Wonkette’s move to identify Scaramucci with the snake from the Jungle Book movie.

    And I really don’t think Keebler deserves to be linked with that racist liar AG we have… my pet wish is that someone will figure out a great way, maybe just for a day, for Sessions’ name to bring up “thug” on all Internet searches. Just the beginning of what his actions deserve as a response – prison time is more just, but I also would like poetic justice too.

  219. 219.

    scav

    July 22, 2017 at 10:59 am

    @WaterGirl: re the OT grass getting greener. If you can’t actually see the fences moving across the landscape putting you on new and random sides of things, it could just be that low lighting is kind to the appearance of many entities.

    ETA to continue with the random fences and topic theme: Scaramucci is / should be sooo played by a woman on SNL. National tryouts as we type!

  220. 220.

    Seth Owen

    July 22, 2017 at 10:59 am

    @eric: If you are going to use childish language you risk being scolded as one. If anyone is missing the point, it’s you. Several people have pointed out it was inappropriate. An adult would recognize that maybe they messed up and would, perhaps, back off.

  221. 221.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 22, 2017 at 11:01 am

    May I just say, for the record, that I wish HRC had won. This is getting exhausting.

  222. 222.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2017 at 11:05 am

    @scav: ETA to continue with the random fences and topic theme: Scaramucci is / should be sooo played by a woman on SNL. National tryouts as we type!

    I wonder if Lorne Michaels can afford to clone Kate McKinnon.

  223. 223.

    slightly_peeved

    July 22, 2017 at 11:13 am

    @Baud:
    No it isn’t. It’s pretty damn offensive. This is one of those self-perpetuated myths that pops up about our country from time to time.

  224. 224.

    Elizabelle

    July 22, 2017 at 11:13 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: They’d be shredding HRC. We’d be sleeping better, but it would be so ugly. Can you imagine Fuck the Fucking New York Times, home of Clinton Derangement Syndrome, Tiffany division?

    I don’t find Trump to be a legitimate president, at all. Hoping we have to go through this crucible to shed the radicals who have taken over the GOP. Trump can take them all down.

    It’s a civil war, and we need to have and win this fight.

    Anyone who doesn’t see the point of voting in 2018 (or in 2017’s governor’s races): you have my permission to mock and slap them. Asshats.

  225. 225.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 22, 2017 at 11:16 am

    @Elizabelle: Yes, I know. It would be a different kind of exhausting. But at least there would be sane and competent people in the WH. Agreed that we MUST win in 2018 and beyond.

    To quote our 2020 presidential frontrunner, the NYT sucks.

  226. 226.

    Karen

    July 22, 2017 at 11:16 am

    We can all look on the bright side; as long as dolt45 is thinking pardons he isn’t thinking about starting war or playing with the “football”

  227. 227.

    Baud

    July 22, 2017 at 11:20 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Garbage. The NYT is garbage.

  228. 228.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    July 22, 2017 at 11:20 am

    Abraham Lincoln: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

    Franklin Roosevelt: “Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.”

    Dwight Eisenhower: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.”

    Ronald Reagan: “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

    George W. Bush: “As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our Nation, and I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.
    I am honored and humbled to stand here where so many of America’s leaders have come before me, and so many will follow. We have a place, all of us, in a long story, a story we continue but whose end we will not see. It is a story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, the story of a slaveholding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.”

    Donald J. Trump: “While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS”

  229. 229.

    Lapassionara

    July 22, 2017 at 11:20 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: thank you! I had forgotten a fish called Wanda. A fave.

  230. 230.

    Lapassionara

    July 22, 2017 at 11:22 am

    PS. There was a time when I laughed out loud during “Being There,” but now . . ..

  231. 231.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 22, 2017 at 11:25 am

    @scav:

    to continue with the random fences and topic theme: Scaramucci is / should be sooo played by a woman on SNL.

    He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would mind, tbh.

  232. 232.

    lollipopguild

    July 22, 2017 at 11:29 am

    @Lapassionara: Gee, too much like real life? I sometimes feel Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles was predicting trump.

  233. 233.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 11:31 am

    @Gelfling 545: He apologized and I did move on. If his original post had been clearer I would not have objected. But it was hardly clear that he was mimicking McCain in the OP — for instance it was not clear to at least four separate commenters. And just IMO I think that when you do that you need to be really, really clear — extra clear — because a lot of people would love to make casual derogatory references to women, and will basically follow a lead all the way down. I really wish it weren’t like that but it is. That is why I always speak up.

  234. 234.

    opiejeanne

    July 22, 2017 at 11:32 am

    @eric: I got what you were doing. I don’t like the word but understood the context of your use of it.

  235. 235.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 11:34 am

    @Amir Khalid: It’s possible to use a stereo cable, but you have to insert it just part of the way and it’s prone to moving, so it would likely be frustrating.

  236. 236.

    trnc

    July 22, 2017 at 11:40 am

    @TriassicSands: I’m not sure we’ll see all that much of Scarface. Comm directors usually don’t make a lot of public appearances. He’ll just be pulling the marionette strings.

  237. 237.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 11:41 am

    @trnc: Except that Trump apparently likes watching him so who knows.

  238. 238.

    scav

    July 22, 2017 at 11:47 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Scary Smarmy Spice wouldn’t be the point at all: his boss would be the one with the well-exercised pouty lower lip.

  239. 239.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 22, 2017 at 11:49 am

    @Baud: Norman, coordinate!

  240. 240.

    Karen

    July 22, 2017 at 11:56 am

    I am catching up on news, have to take a break in order to keep what little sanity I have left. Then I see this; http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/343122-flight-restrictions-signal-possible-august-vacation-for-trump
    The job of being “signer of worthless papers” and “telling of lies” is so hard that needs a long vacation after six grueling months. According to this six months on “job” gets you 18 days of vacation, who knew? not all the people who put in years before company says they are able to get a two weeks vaccation.

  241. 241.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 22, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    @Karen: Well, he’s Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, you know. From the instant you raise your right hand and are sworn in, you start accumulating 2.5 days of leave time a month. So at the end of a year, you’ve got 30 days saved up.

    BTW, if you have more than 60 days accrued at the end of a fiscal year, the excess above 60 vanishes, so take that vacation time! Of course, Donald is in a leave hole right now…

  242. 242.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 22, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    @Baud: The NYT is garbage.

    I stand corrected. And how did you know I was talking about you? ;)

  243. 243.

    KS in MA

    July 22, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    @Lapassionara: “Hopscotch” (Walter Matthau and Ned Beatty).

  244. 244.

    Karen

    July 22, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I think he has used up leave time for the next couple of years, it seems to me that he has spent more time away from “job” than on the “job;” I don’t think golfing counts as work.

  245. 245.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    @trnc:
    Thanks for the warning. I guess I’ll use the stereo cable for something else, then.

  246. 246.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 22, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    @KS in MA: Hopscotch is one of my favorites! I love when Matthau does a turn as Eleanor Roosevelt. Plus Russian spies.

  247. 247.

    J R in WV

    July 22, 2017 at 1:30 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    I beg to differ here. He was quoting Senator McCain’s own words about his wealthy wife. We know about it because the Senator spoke in front of multiple (at least two) reporters. We can assume he uses such language routinely. I do not understand why she would continue to be associated with such a scoundrel – but different standards I guess.

    But we are allowed to discuss the lack of common manners in the Senator’s daily life, even when we must use his own crude language. I was a sailor in the USN, and I do use crude language often, but never like that, except to make a point about McCain, who I regard as a despicable piece of trash who has failed at everything worthy he has attempted in his entire life.

    I can go into details about why I believe this, but I take my data mostly from his auto-biography, which reveals too much about his dark side. Next to Bottom of his class at Annapolis, for one detail, with Admirals for father and grandfather… just wow.

  248. 248.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 22, 2017 at 1:48 pm

    @KS in MA: @O. Felix Culpa: a fave of mine too. When I first signed up for Netlifx, Hopscotch and House Calls were two of the first hard-to-finds I sent for. A mini-Walter Matthau-Glenda Jackson film festival

  249. 249.

    J R in WV

    July 22, 2017 at 1:54 pm

    @Barbara:

    You are so wrong to criticize Eric for quoting John Sidney McCain III speaking about his wife in front of reporters. If we cannot use his own speech to show his true self, we have no way to put him in the proper space. He is honor-free, as the quote shows.

    Eric did a good job criticizing McCain, and you did a poor job of understanding what he was doing.

    Without quoting a sexist bigot we can’t show how sexist he is. Sorry you don’t like it. I don’t like it either, which is why I criticize McCain for it.

  250. 250.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 22, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    @Baud: Brings to mind the old story about LBJ’s aides who had a foolproof method for telling when their boss was telling the truth:

    When he rubs his nose, he’s telling the truth. When he scratches his ear, he’s telling the truth. When he hitches up his trousers, he’s telling the truth.

    But when he opens his mouth, he’s lying.

    (And 4nick8 LBJ, for raven’s sake.)

  251. 251.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 2:26 pm

    @J R in WV: Go back and look. No quotation marks. So, in J.R.’s world, those of us who don’t have the entire 2008 campaign imprinted on our brains are in the “wrong” when we object to an otherwise random use of the word c*nt to describe John McCain’s wife. That is, unsurprisingly, when we see the word c*nt the user gets the complete benefit of the doubt even when he uses it WITHOUT EXPRESS ATTRIBUTION. That is, unless it is beyond doubt that the word c*nt is being used as a slur, we ladies should shut the fuck up and defer to the men who don’t see what the problem is. Fuck. You.

  252. 252.

    Amir Khalid

    July 22, 2017 at 2:34 pm

    @J R in WV:
    To me, this isn’t about John McCain calling his wife a C-word. There’s surely no dispute that this is a deeply despicable thing for a husband to do, in public or in private. This is about eric calling her that. Even if eric wrote that to mock John McCain, rather than out of some unlikely malice of his own towards Cindy McCain, eric still wound up dropping his own C-bomb on the woman. I don’t see the justification for that.

  253. 253.

    Applejinx

    July 22, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    This-all is at least a little context about why I, for one, didn’t pop up demanding that people be Really Sad that McCain got brain cancer.

    Some things one does not forget, and there have been times when we got a glimpse of McCain’s character, and I’m not surprised he got on well in Washington DC and all the movers and shakers fell all over each other to insist he was a Hero and it was So Tragic and all our hearts go out to him in this difficult painful time, because that is what One Says.

    …in the government ruled by Donald Trump.

    No… no, my heart does not go out to him. To his victims, maybe.

  254. 254.

    satby

    July 22, 2017 at 5:42 pm

    @Barbara: for the record, and way late, I got the reference right away.

  255. 255.

    Barbara

    July 22, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    @satby: satby, I am so tired of this, and honestly, I made peace with eric way up above, so I really hate carping on about this after it should have been dropped, but I don’t understand why others continued to make such a big deal about it. I just don’t see why it is so important that someone be able to make a point using offensive words that it’s worth alienating others when those points are made in an unclear or awkward way. It is still too common for people to use casually derogatory language about women — to make fun of their appearance, or their weight, or to imply that there is something wrong with having typically feminine traits (e.g., calling Lindsay Graham “Miss Lindsay”). I don’t think it’s too much to ask that if you are going to use words that are really offensive you should be really clear about your meaning and context and not assume too much.

  256. 256.

    Procopius

    July 22, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    Minor quibble: They didn’t “earn” millions from the various outside sources, thei “received” that money. Obviously, of course, they had such large incomes because they are so much better educated than the poor slob nailing shingles on a roof or laying asphalt on a road.

  257. 257.

    Procopius

    July 22, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Yeah, that misuse of the English language has always bothered me, too.

  258. 258.

    No One You Know

    July 22, 2017 at 11:49 pm

    @eric: That doesn’t make it acceptable here.

    Nor does McCain’s foulness to his wife make it OK for everyone else to just shot nods contempt. He lost respect himself from others for doing that.

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