• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

75% of people clapping liked the show!

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republicans in disarray!

Trump should be leading, not lying.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Thursday Evening Comic Relief Open Thread: But That’s Their Only Skill Set!

Thursday Evening Comic Relief Open Thread: But That’s Their Only Skill Set!

by Anne Laurie|  August 3, 20175:54 pm| 281 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Nature & Respite, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

FacebookTweetEmail

Aides fold they must stop "dropping off articles on the president’s desk – and then waiting for him to react, with a screaming phone call." https://t.co/yiJNLh4KVO

— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) August 3, 2017

Can’t the fine American folk tradition of “flaming bags of poo on the doorstep” get any respect, these days?

As a respite between important BREAKING NEWS stories, more proof that the guy the Repubs installed in the Oval Office is… not up to the job:

Kelly has told others he faces big challenges but sees biggest one as making sure Trump gets good info. My story: https://t.co/hiwEKC6R1V

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 2, 2017

… “He basically said, ‘The president has to get good briefings, he has to get good intelligence,’” one senior White House official said. “We have to be putting him in a position to make good decisions.”

In the West Wing, many of the president’s most controversial decisions have been attributed to bad information, partially because the president is easily swayed by the last person he has talked to — or the last thing he has read.

For example, he accused President Barack Obama of tapping his phone line in Trump Tower after seeing comments from a conservative talk show host and a Breitbart News article. He has often posted some of his most controversial tweets while watching Fox News and stewing. He has sometimes seemed to view television accounts of the news as more factual than information from people armed with classified information. He has made decisions about legal matters or major policy decisions while consulting with some aides — only to reverse them after talking to family members or friends, who he dials late at night.

He has been given information of dubious quality, from stories by GotNews.com, a blog written by a right-wing provocateur named Chuck Johnson, to segments of debunked documentaries. He has, at times, listened to real estate friends about legislative strategy while ignoring Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell…

Kelly and senior West Wing officials don’t believe Trump will fully change. He is not going to stop tweeting, for example, and they expect him to keep dialing old friends in New York after hours — and that he will likely huddle with aides when Kelly is not around. Senior officials are likely to still give him articles to read without Kelly knowing. “He’s not under the impression he can tell Donald Trump, ‘Oh, you’re going to do it my way,” one Kelly associate said. “He’s not delusional about it.”…

Apart from taking our comfort / entertainment where we can find it, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Breaking News: Special Counsel Robert Mueller Impanels a Grand Jury
Next Post: Mid-Evening Conspiracy Theory Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

281Comments

  1. 1.

    EBT

    August 3, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    What about Cole’s loser governor climbing ONto the sinking Titanic?

  2. 2.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    Question is why has Kelly taken this humiliating and infuriating job?

  3. 3.

    MomSense

    August 3, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    Oh my. This is why you shouldn’t let your peepaw consume right wing media.

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    August 3, 2017 at 6:00 pm

    Procter & Gamble Release an Ad About ‘the Talk,’ and White People Respond With the Wettest, Saltiest, Stupidest White Tears Ever
    Damon Young
    Today 9:00am

    What is “the talk”?

    The talk is literally a talk many black parents have with their children to inform them of the dangers of “existing while black” and the myriad things out there actively trying to kill us.

    You mean like cancer, global warming and hypertension?

    Well, those. And racism. And the police. And America. And Darth Beckys, Darth Susans and Darth Chads. And mysterious casseroles left on tables at company potlucks. And really shitty barbers. And Ray Lewis.

    Ah, I see. Did your parents ever have the talk with you?

    No. They just made me watch Do the Right Thing and read the Farmers’ Almanac. (It had the desired effect.)
    So, the talk might not actually be a singular talk but a series of lessons teaching a young black person how to navigate America?

    I guess you can say that. Think of the talk as a “How to Survive Whiteness” syllabus, with extensive lessons ranging from “racial profiling” to “awkward seasoning.” Sometimes it’s spread over a semester. And sometimes it’s an accelerated weekend course.

  5. 5.

    hw3

    August 3, 2017 at 6:00 pm

    Christ on a cracker. Jim Justice governor of WV is a disgrace.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/03/west-virginia-gov-jim-justice-will-leave-the-democratic-party-at-trumps-rally-tonight/?utm_term=.d91678c53079

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    August 3, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    @EBT:

    and, he didn’t even tell his staff beforehand.

  7. 7.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    Senior officials are likely to still give him articles to read without Kelly knowing.

    This is when Kelly should remind people that Chief of Staff means he’s the chief and they’re the staff and nobody is to pass anything to the big baby without him checking it.

  8. 8.

    p.a.

    August 3, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    Sooooo… leave the report with a couple of valium on a go-forward basis?

  9. 9.

    Anne Laurie

    August 3, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    @EBT: I’m waiting to see if the Blogmaster checks in on that before I post.

    Also, reports of the actual event are liable to be… innaresting.

  10. 10.

    p.a.

    August 3, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    @hw3: keep an eye on his bank accounts

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: patriot. Small “p”.

  12. 12.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:05 pm

    @EBT: Someone might want to take a look at ties he’s got to Russia. What leverage was used to convince him to do that? No one in their right mind would do that right now. Unless they were forced to.

    Different subject–Tom Cotton has dead eyes. It would not surprise me if eventually news came out that he has big secrets. He’s scary.

  13. 13.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:06 pm

    @Mike J:

    This is when Kelly should remind people that Chief of Staff means he’s the chief and they’re the staff and nobody is to pass anything to the big baby without him checking it.

    Trump needs a nanny.

  14. 14.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 6:06 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: To differentiate him from the the Missile or Act, I presume.

  15. 15.

    chris

    August 3, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes, this. In my dreams he’s a secret agent for the intelligence people but I doubt it. Either he’s another nutbar (he is anti-immigrant and pro-wall) or he was coerced.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:10 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: From the guys joining private militias and claiming to be the final arbiters of Liberty and Freedom and proclaiming themselves Patriots with a capital P.

  17. 17.

    wvng

    August 3, 2017 at 6:11 pm

    As a WV Dem who put out signs for Justice and told wavering Dems that he would be better than the alternative, I am thoroughly pissed.

    I would add that the first time I heard him speak in a debate I thought he sounded as unprepared and idiotic as Trump.

  18. 18.

    bemused

    August 3, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    The walls closing in on Trump has cheered me right up. He should be in uber rambling, ranting mode tonight in WVA.

  19. 19.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: His DHS tenure makes me suspicious of his motivations. We have had this conversation before.

    ETA: DHS just deported someone who had a full college scholarship, needless to add, no criminal record.

  20. 20.

    Syphonblue

    August 3, 2017 at 6:13 pm

    In other words, Kelly is trying to make Trump actually do his job. Yeah, good luck with that. I give him 3 weeks before he quits out of frustration or Trump fires him for making him actually work instead of golf and watch Fox News.

  21. 21.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    August 3, 2017 at 6:15 pm

    @EBT: It’s West Virginia. Voting against Sessions could very well have risked Manchin losing his seat.

  22. 22.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute between the government and President Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

  23. 23.

    SatanicPanic

    August 3, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    “We have to be putting him in a position to make good decisions.”

    Well we already know that position is not US President.

  24. 24.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): What’s that have to do with the governor?

  25. 25.

    sharl

    August 3, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    Wellllp, when it rains it pours…

    David Fahrenthold‏ @Fahrenthold 34m34 minutes ago

    NEW: Secret Service vacates Trump Tower command post, after dispute w/ @realdonaldtrump’s company over a lease.
    Secret Service vacates Trump Tower command post in lease dispute with president’s company

    The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute between the government and President Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

    Previously, the Secret Service had stationed its command post — which houses supervisors and backup agents on standby in case of an emergency — in a Trump Tower unit one floor below the president’s apartment.

    But in early July, the post was relocated to a trailer on the sidewalk, more than 50 floors below, a distance that some security experts worry could hamper the agency that protects the president’s home and family.

    The command post appears unlikely to move anytime soon back inside Trump Tower, where the president and his family have rarely gone since moving to the White House.

    On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization said the government should seek space in another location.

  26. 26.

    BC in Illinois

    August 3, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    @Syphonblue:

    I give him 3 weeks

    Or in other words, two Scaramucci Units.

  27. 27.

    efgoldman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    In good news, daughter is in recovery sans gall bladder, already being her wiseass self, SIL reports.
    Me having a wiseass kid. Can you imagine?

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    @jdawsey1
    Mulvaney tells TV reporters at lunch — with the last few minutes on the record — that Kelly is monitoring Oval door, listening to calls.

    https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/893176790318972928

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:21 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Just because you don’t agree with his politics or how he did his job at DHS, doesn’t mean he isn’t a patriot. Nor does it mean he is the right person for this job, but a bad choice for DHS. I do think he will not last long as Chief of Staff given the President and his temperament, but only time will tell.

  30. 30.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 6:21 pm

    Israel Police tells court: Netanyahu suspected of bribery and fraud http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.805112

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @Mike J: Good. This is a good sign.

  32. 32.

    mai naem mobile

    August 3, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    I wonder if Kelly called Mueller on Tuesday after he’d been there a couple of days and told him to hurry the fuck up because Dolt 45 is a cray cray nut job who may start WWIII.

  33. 33.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @efgoldman: Glad to hear she’s doing well!

  34. 34.

    dmsilev

    August 3, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    @efgoldman: Wiseassery runs in the family? Who knew?

    Great news on your daughter’s health; hope you are also doing well.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    “It’s still okay to drop off any “Where’s Waldo?” books. Those keep him occupied for hours on end.”

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:24 pm

    @lamh36: Again: “and water is wet”.

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Why’s it a good sign? What’s it a sign of?

  38. 38.

    lollipopguild

    August 3, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    @efgoldman: She is adopted? Because you are not a wiseass.

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    August 3, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Happy to hear she is doing well.

  40. 40.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: The idea of charging the people who have sworn to take a bullet for you is something something.It triggers aphasia in me. I cannot come up with a word.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    August 3, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    Mean, but I laughed.

    A WaPost reader comment about tonight’s Trumpalooza in West Virginia, with the weathervane governor:

    What has 80 legs and 12 teeth?

    The front row of a Donald Trump rally.

  42. 42.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 3, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    I know the uber-pedants in residence can help me out, as I’ve seen it both ways: “impanel” or “empanel?”

    FYWP prefers the first.

  43. 43.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    @lamh36:

    Mulvaney tells TV reporters at lunch — with the last few minutes on the record — that Kelly is monitoring Oval door, listening to calls.

    As I said above, Trump needs a nanny. Looks like Kelly has become Trump’s nanny. Need some good photoshoppers on that, stat.

  44. 44.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    To be “Acting President Kelly” of course. And I guess it’s possible he has some sense of patriotism to protect the nation (and the world) from the worst of Trump’s excesses.

  45. 45.

    p.a.

    August 3, 2017 at 6:30 pm

    Is Dence stamping his little feet saying if Donnie’s being sheltered out of the loop, why isn’t Mikey IN it? “Mother, what say you?”

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    August 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    @Mike J: And we taxpayers are on the hook for Trump and family’s protection, for years.

    Although I hope Trump will be easier to keep tabs on. As he roams around Club Fed. Maybe the kiddies and Jared too.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    Man, I didn’t know Governor Justice was suffering from economic anxiety. Poor guy.

  48. 48.

    satby

    August 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    @efgoldman: glad to hear she’s doing well!

  49. 49.

    zhena gogolia

    August 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    You can see his response on Twitter — to the right of the main posts.

  50. 50.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I am not making any statement on his patriotism, I am just vary of the guy based on his actions the past few months.

  51. 51.

    p.a.

    August 3, 2017 at 6:32 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Depends on which side of the panel you’re on, and Northern or Southern hemisphere.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    August 3, 2017 at 6:32 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    Sorry, I thought you were just a lowly commenter saying that.

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:32 pm

    @Elizabelle: A question that hasn’t been answered yet: does a former President who is in prison get Secret Service protection?

  54. 54.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    @wvng:
    Didn’t Justice start as a Repuke, then a Indie, then a Dem? He sounds like a slimy opportunist with no spine. No brains either if he plans to jump back on the sinking Titanic

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    @Yarrow: That the Secret Service is not going to knuckle to ridiculous mark ups by the Trump Organization in terms of rent and similar things in order to provide protection for/secure the President’s residences when he’s in residence.

  56. 56.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    August 3, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    It would be too funny if Justice pantses Trump and leaves him hanging. Weirder things have happened once someone is tainted with loser stench.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I had to look it up because FYWP didn’t like it with an “e”.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    @Gin & Tonic

    Empanel is an accepted and acceptable variant spelling which is closer to the usual pronunciation.

    Think axe versus ax, for example.

  59. 59.

    Honus

    August 3, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    @Anne Laurie: you can’t lose being a racist reactionary jerk in West Virginia now. As mike corleone said “it’s the smart move”. Justice was never a democrat anyway.
    P. S. I’m a West Virginia native.

  60. 60.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 3, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    @NotMax: Makes me think of empanadas, which makes me hungry.

  61. 61.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    @efgoldman: Glad you still have a wiseass kid. Really though, glad to hear all went well.

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: One can be a patriot and still have preferences for awful, perhaps even evil, policies.

    @Gin & Tonic: Mmm, empanadas.

  62. 62.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: But it sounds like they’re refusing to pay but then also ending up in a trailer on the sidewalk, which could provide less security. Not like Trump himself is ever there and Melania seems to be living her own life despite her supposed move to the WH.

  63. 63.

    Keith P.

    August 3, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    Given how susceptible Trump is to Internet bullshit, why is he in bed with Russia and not Nigeria?

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    August 3, 2017 at 6:38 pm

    @efgoldman:

    glad to hear the news.

    sending her positive healing thoughts and prayers :)

  65. 65.

    p.a.

    August 3, 2017 at 6:38 pm

    I want to be optimistic, but I’m still waiting for Fitzmas. That tree is looking particularly ragged…

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 6:38 pm

    @Gin & Tonic

    Whereas impanadas are exclusive to Mr. Mxyzptlk’s dimension.

    ;)

  67. 67.

    rikyrah

    August 3, 2017 at 6:39 pm

    “Sanders Democrats” Don’t Own the Left
    Posted by
    Melissa McEwan

    at Thursday, August 03, 2017

    It is not yet 9 months since the last presidential election, and already people are talking about the next one. While I understand the desire to think about the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, at this point we don’t need to be talking about candidates for 2020 before we’ve ensured that we’ll still have free and fair elections. Who’s running doesn’t matter if the election itself is corrupted by foreign influence, voter suppression, and voting machine hacking.

    Nonetheless, people are talking about who they want to run against Trump — and one of the people frequently mentioned is California Senator Kamala Harris. Who used to routinely make the lists of “Women We’d Vote for Who Aren’t Hillary Clinton, to Prove We’re Not Misogynists,” but now is suddenly also insufficiently progressive.

    …………………………….

    The optics here are not good — especially given the attacks on Hillary Clinton, Kirsten Gillibrand, and even Elizabeth Warren just for endorsing Clinton during the last cycle.

    Cooper assures us that racism and misogyny play no role, and that to assert they do is just a cynical attempt by centrists “to win dirty.”
    But if racism and misogyny play no role, then why is it only men of
    color and women who come up for this sort of scrutiny?

    ………………………

    Part of the reason that Black voters and non-Black voters, especially white voters from marginalized communities, joined to deliver crucial victories to Hillary Clinton across the Southern U.S. during the primary is because Sanders’ message of revolution, which centered on upending rather than refining the system, failed to resonate. And contrary to pervasive narratives, it was not because voters in those states are too conservative or were too uninformed to appreciate Sanders’ big ideas.

    The truth is that the prospect of revolution, and the notions of monumental, sudden, chaotic change it conjures, can be utterly unappealing to people desperately longing for comfort and stability.

    This is an idea with roots in Black anti-poverty activism, whose activists have detailed that, for many people living on the precipice, the idea of revolution can be nothing short of terrifying. People struggling to find money to keep themselves fed may be justifiably wary of the consequences of economic tumult for those already in financially precarious circumstances. People whose communities are under constant assault from police, corporations, and gentrifiers may be justifiably anxious about the prospect of further civil turmoil.

    Like Black communities, other marginalized communities may have members who regard the specter of revolution with fear and suspicion. And with good reason: Revolution is not always kind to the vulnerable people.

  68. 68.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 6:39 pm

    Who said it?

    West Virginia Democrat gubernatorial nominee Jim Justice has routinely failed to pay his taxes, fines and bills, hurting West Virginians. But despite owing millions, recently released campaign finance documents show Justice has invested millions of his own wealth in his campaign for governor, while coming up short on his obligations. West Virginians need a governor who is honest and cares about them. Jim Justice has made it clear to voters that what he cares about most is himself.

    The West Virginia Republican party.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    August 3, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    @rikyrah:

    here’s my reply:

    excellent post. thank you.

    Black people are just not against Black people earning money.

    I hear that Deval Patrick works at Bain….and, I shrug.

    Man went to Harvard and Harvard Law School..was a Governor…
    He’s SUPPOSED to get a hook up like that….

    Black people grew up where, more than likely when they went to visit Grandmama’s House, she had three pictures on her wall…

    FDR, JFK and Jesus (and White Jesus at that)

    Two White men from WEALTHY backgrounds.
    During the 1960’s, MLK was added to the wall.

    Go to Grandmama’s house today, and there will be a framed picture of Barack and Michelle Obama in with the family photos.

    You think anyone Black gives two shyts that 44 gets 400k per speech?

    Nope.

  70. 70.

    wvng

    August 3, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: yes, he did all that. Our choices in WV are quite limited. Two actual capable dems running against Justice in the primary were steamrolled. Our state seems to like the kinds of people who take advantage of them.

  71. 71.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 6:44 pm

    I’m offline much of the day while at work, so there may have been discussion of this already, so sorry if it’s old news now.

    Justice Department ordered to release 1950s gay “purge” documents http://nbcnews.to/2unugYP via @nbcnews

  72. 72.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 6:45 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Be honest. Do I sound like a nut when talking about “Acting President” Kelly?

  73. 73.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 6:45 pm

    @yashar
    Following
    More
    NEW: Flynn has updated his disclosure forms to reflect pay from Mercer family controlled Cambridge Analytica
    https://twitter.com/yashar/status/893236329605214212

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: when did I say you sounded like a nut?

  75. 75.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: *wary not vary.

  76. 76.

    A Ghost to Most

    August 3, 2017 at 6:48 pm

    @lamh36: I really hope that the Mercers and Erik Prince get sucked into Mueller’s vortex.

  77. 77.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 6:48 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    You didn’t. I was just wondering if I sounded like one

  78. 78.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:50 pm

    @lamh36:

    NEW: Flynn has updated his disclosure forms to reflect pay from Mercer family controlled Cambridge Analytica

    Of course he has. The Mercers are going to hate when they get dragged into this Russia investigation stuff. Well, they can afford expensive lawyers.

  79. 79.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 6:50 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I don’t think that’s what he’s doing but you didn’t sound too nutty.

    Don’t take my word for whether you are actually a nut, of course, or would sound nutty to anybody else, since I’m a nut.

  80. 80.

    GregB

    August 3, 2017 at 6:50 pm

    Flynn must have rolled over.

    Mueller must be near drowning in dirt.

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    Alright…time for my evening entertainment news…

    First up, Oh Lord…there’s a DeathWish remake movie coming out starring Bruce Willis…

    The NRA crowd folk gon lose they shit, they gonna love it I’m sure. Check out the trailer and tell me ya dont’ see some crazy NRA-lovin’ folk saying/doing stupid shit…

    And of course it’s set in Chicago…

    The Death Wish Remake Is the White Vigilante Movie We Really, Really Don’t Need http://splinternews.com/the-death-wish-remake-is-the-white-vigilante-movie-we-r-1797501990?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Splinter_twitter via @Splinter_news

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    @GregB: Rumor is Flynn rolled months ago and they don’t even need the other players to flip and are not offering deals.

  83. 83.

    Davebo

    August 3, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    DHS can’t deport anyone. That’s EOIR. But yeah, that sucks.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 6:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Just because you don’t agree with his politics or how he did his job at DHS, doesn’t mean he isn’t a patriot.

    Mm. Gotta disagree with you here, Adam. Someone whose vision of the US does not include immigrants or minorities cannot be called a “patriot,” IMO. They may have a self-image as a “patriot,” but that’s not the same thing.

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    @wvng:

    As a WV Dem who put out signs for Justice and told wavering Dems that he would be better than the alternative, I am thoroughly pissed.

    I would add that the first time I heard him speak in a debate I thought he sounded as unprepared and idiotic as Trump.

    I have to confess I paid very little attention to the WV Gov race, but I do remember thinking Justice was, just barely, the lesser of two evils and that the choice was a terrible one.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    @Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe)

    Not a nut so much as someone with maybe a slightly fuzzy idea of what the job of White House Chief of Staff is traditionally (pre-tweet era) supposed to encompass.

    Managing and controlling access to the Oval Office and vetting all communications emanating from same before they are officially released being but the part of the iceberg visible above the water line.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    @lamh36: This is VERY significant. As a conventional Army intel targeteer he would have brought over 30 years of experience in network based analysis for targeting to achieve effects.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 6:58 pm

    @Yarrow: That’s what the Marshal of the Supreme Court told me.//

  89. 89.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 6:58 pm

    ‘The Left’ Should Gaze at Their Own Navel

    I’m pretty scrupulous about avoiding the ongoing fights between the Clinton and Sanders wings of the party, and I’m not going to engage on those terms here. Instead, I’m just going to offer some friendly advice to Ryan Cooper, who was my predecessor as the web editor of the Washington Monthly. He ought to attempt a paradigm shift, at least for long enough to see how it looks.

    Cooper is at pains to explain to us why “leftists” are mistrustful of three African-American politicians whose names are mentioned as serious, potentially viable presidential candidates for 2020. The primary motivation for providing us with this explanation is to beat back accusations that they oppose them as possible contenders because of their race…

    The paradigm shift I’m advocating here involves setting aside for a moment the discussion of what these three African-American politicians need to do to explain their recent history or make symbolic breaks with their past. Instead, “the left” should consider what they need to do to overcome the perception among many African-Americans that the Sanders wing of the party is somewhere between tone-deaf and hostile…

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2017 at 6:59 pm

    @efgoldman:

    What what what? Your daughter had her gall bladder removed?

    FFS, can’t the Universe leave the Goldman family alone for a little while?

    (Hope you are doing well, my friend, and hope my dear mrs. efg is maintaining.)

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    @Mnemosyne: The man spent 45 years as a Marine. Both his sons are also serving. And one of them came home in a flag draped box.

  92. 92.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    @NotMax:
    I guess I figured that a dimwitted President could be easily manipulated by a COS and Kelly, being of the military and based on his statements of the press and Congress, is an authoritarian with little respect for democracy. That and the COS is someone who is only accountable to the president.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Good news.

  94. 94.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:02 pm

    Sarah Lerner‏ @SarahLerner 2h2 hours ago

    Fox News & its viewers truly live in an alternate universe where the Trump-Russia investigation is insignificant.

    8 replies 89 retweets 274 likes

    Maggie Serota @maggieserota

    CNN: Grand Jury
    MSNBC: Grand Jury
    Fox News: Have you ever looked at a starfish? Like really looked at one? They’re weird, man.

    1:21 PM – 3 Aug 2017 from Atlantic City, NJ

    321 replies 6,564 retweets 17,652 likes

  95. 95.

    sm*t cl*de

    August 3, 2017 at 7:02 pm

    @sharl:

    a dispute between the government and President Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space

    Nothing says “class” like “trying to extort more money from the people tasked with your protection”.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:03 pm

    @rikyrah:
    @lamh36:

    I take it some Bro said something recently.

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The man spent 45 years as a Marine. Both his sons are also serving. And one of them came home in a flag draped box.

    He’s deporting College-bound Dreamers who were given full scholarships despite his promises to only deport criminals.

    That is not the kind of country I want to live in, but it’s the country Kelly is working to create. As they say in financial commercials, past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

    Kelly wouldn’t be the first general who turned out to be a terrible person with rotten ideas once he was set free of the need to bow to civilian control.

  98. 98.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    @Mnemosyne: @Adam L Silverman: Mnem, you’re sort of doing the same thing people do where they try to say somebody is or is not a ‘real’ member of a faith group because of their particular interpretation of scripture, and neglect the part where they go to church three days a week and volunteer.

  99. 99.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:05 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: “Die, heretic!”

  100. 100.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 7:06 pm

    @Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe)

    Adam can chime in more authoritatively than I about it, but anyone – anyone – who has successfully risen in the military as Kelly has (and no love lost for him from me, his biases are self-evident) has implanted in their DNA rigid adherence to the concept of chain of command.

  101. 101.

    Miss Bianca

    August 3, 2017 at 7:07 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m sure DHS was also instrumental in deporting eight German exchange students who were coming to Salida, altho’ the article only cirtes “immigration officials” who insisted that the students were coming to work – and so far, I’ve only seen the local paper pick it up – read it and weep:

    http://www.themountainmail.com/free_content/article_1298ff4a-75f7-11e7-9aae-b3c8e4e9e839.html

    I am so fucking disgusted with this country right now – I feel like rubbing every Trumper’s nose in this one: “hey, look, it’s not just Afghan and African kids anymore! How do you like them sausages, huh?!”

  102. 102.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    Noticed Trump didn’t use a VC-25A as AF-1 for his trip today. Airport too small or did somebody think the symbolism wasn’t important enough on a 20 minute flight?

  103. 103.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    @efgoldman: :^)

  104. 104.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:11 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Thanks. Just wouldn’t want to discredit myself.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:11 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I judge people based on their actions, not their words. If you claim to be a great patriot but deport soccer moms and college students as “criminals,” then your words don’t mean shit as far as I’m concerned.

  106. 106.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t see where you’re getting the idea that there’s some longstanding American ideal where we don’t deport people.

    ETA: was Eisenhower not a patriot because of operation wetback?

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I really don’t want to have this argument with you. It will not end well for either of us.

  108. 108.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    @nielslesniewski
    Murkowski now locking in the pro forma schedule.

    No recess appointments.

  109. 109.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    @lamh36:
    So, over/under on when Zinke gets fired?

  110. 110.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I have no more case to lay out.

  111. 111.

    The Thin Black Duke

    August 3, 2017 at 7:16 pm

    Bottom line, the day Kelly aligned himself with Trump is the day when he became just another soldier at the end of an atrocity who was “only following orders”.

  112. 112.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:16 pm

    @Mnemosyne: @Major Major Major Major:
    You’re both stupid and wrong. Derp!

  113. 113.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    @NotMax: Yep. My understanding of Kelly’s views on undocumented immigration is related to his assignment as the SOUTHCOM Commander where he was charged with working with partner country military on interdicting drug, weapons, and human trafficking.

    @Mnemosyne: That he cannot leave that behind now that he’s taken the uniform off does not justify arguing because he’s doing something you don’t like means he isn’t a patriot. What it does mean is that you might want to have a little sympathy, or at least understanding, that he can’t move on from his previous experiences. You don’t have to like him. You don’t have to like his views or what he did at DHS, but a bit of understanding is appropriate. That someone who has seen over a decade of war, and who has lost one son to it, cannot quite move past the experiences of his service isn’t a cause for anger. It is a cause for pity.

    Finally, unfortunately the DREAMers are not protected by law. Unfortunately ICE, as part of DHS, is empowered to remove them. Even though I think that is ultimately self defeating, poor policy, and diverting resources from actual threats. As long as the President is in office ICE, and unless or until the courts or Congress or both intervene, this is going to be what ICE does.

  114. 114.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    The Alt-Left is currently having a meltdown over Kamela Harris.

    They’re freaking out that her popularity will block Bernie in 2020.

    Personally, I think it’s too early to come to any conclusion on Harris. She may turn out to be a good candidate – I just don’t know. But while Bernie’s supporters insist he’s an invulnerable candidate, in reality they threat him like he’s Humpty Dumpty.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I will point out that Operation Wetback happened 10 years before the Civil Rights Act passed, and the CRA passed 53 years ago.

    If Kelly is still operating on a pre-Civil Rights vision of patriotism, that’s kind of a problem.

  116. 116.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Did something happen recently to set this off?

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    @Mike J: He took Marine 1. Anything that close to DC gets a rotary wing for senior leader travel.

  118. 118.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 3, 2017 at 7:20 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: They are? I haven’t heard anything but positives about Harris, with the possible exception of a few people on this blog.

    ETA: Haven’t seen anything disqualifying at least – maybe some “She isn’t as good as current news would suggest.” and some indications she’s not a good administrator.

  119. 119.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: yeah, I mean, whatever, fuck them. Harris isn’t a Saint and I don’t get why she’s been so hastily embraced by a lot of liberals who don’t know her background/record but those dirtbags are something else altogether.

  120. 120.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    No offense, but “I was just following orders” is not a great defense. No sympathy for him from me. He’s an asshole responsible for unnecessary suffering of innocents. His war experiences and the death of his son is no excuse for his actions at DHS. History will not judge him well.

  121. 121.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: She’s going to “block” a 79 year old? I hope so.

  122. 122.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    Hey, this is crazy off-topic, but I think a few weeks ago you said you were planning to come to Atlanta this fall? (I did respond, but the thread was well and truly dead by then.) Anyhow, I should be around, but please let me know details by email (SiubhanDuinne at gmail dot com).

    There are quite a few of us in the area — JPL, Raven, KareninGA, SteveintheATL, others — so with enough advance notice we might be able to put together a nice little Southern Hospitality meet-up.

  123. 123.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: whatever, poopyhead. Talk to the hand.

    @Mike J: she’ll probably move too quickly and make Bernie nervous.

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That someone who has seen over a decade of war, and who has lost one son to it, cannot quite move past the experiences of his service isn’t a cause for anger.

    If someone can’t get over his anger about a war to the extent of taking it out on innocent people, then he needs to retire.

    I will pity him when he stops actively injuring non-criminal women and children and not a minute sooner.

  125. 125.

    The Thin Black Duke

    August 3, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Until the “Alt-Left” shuts the fuck up and joins the struggle against voter suppression, there’s nothing of value they can say to people of color. We don’t need a White Savior, guys.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    August 3, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    The Bernie 2020 fanatics scare me – I think they may basically be holding the party hostage. We may have no choice but to nominate him to keep them from sabotaging whoever does get nominated.

  127. 127.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Looked like a C-32 (757) in the pic I saw (which was in a tweet that has now scrolled several thousand back).

  128. 128.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @lamh36:

    Cooper is at pains to explain to us why “leftists” are mistrustful of three African-American politicians whose names are mentioned as serious, potentially viable presidential candidates for 2020.

    yup. I was just dialing around, look for reaction to today’s news, and instead of covering the bounty of news in the current cycle, alt-left is spending their energy dumping on Harris.

    Sad.

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I’d like to second this with a quick real-world note from my (now-infamous) RWNJ dad and brother. True story:

    I asked them to please keep a tally tonight of all the times that Trumpov’s paid shills bash Bobby Three Sticks on Fox News tonight, since Mueller just empaneled a second grand jury. I was quite shocked at the responses…

    1) My brother – who usually reads a bit more widely than my dad – said that Manafort would go down for X and Flynn would go down for Y, then nothing else would be found(!) and in six months the ‘fake news’ media would be pretending they had never raised anything about Russia. SAY WHAT NOW? Oh and he also complained that Trumpov’s administration was being unfairly accused of “targeting colleges that hold back white men”.

    2) My dad led off his ‘rebuttal’ with a note that he’s glad about the new immigration policy, and then said any charges would come to nothing due to “resignations, pardons, and exoneration”.

    So…that’s kind of a heavy lift on the education front.

    I had to explain to my brother that a) the FIRST grand jury is already looking at Manafort and Flynn; this is about a SECOND grand jury, b) “when’s the last time y’all saw this much smoke and no fire?”, and c) that the Trump admin is indeed looking to sue colleges with affirmative action policies.

    Then, I had to ask my dad a) exactly who was going to resign, be pardoned, then exonerated – and if he’d be ok with Hillz doing the same thing? Just pardon the crooks and herself?, and b) didn’t his own Italian grandma and grandpa come here with no English?

    As you might suspect…no response.

  130. 130.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Bernie will be 78 in 2020. It’s like he has this Lyndon LaRouche personality cult, largely not of his doing

  131. 131.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Bottom line, the day Kelly aligned himself with Trump is the day when he became just another soldier at the end of an atrocity who was “only following orders”.

    Also, this. There’s a reason why Charlie Pierce refers to Trump as the “Dignity Wraith.” Kelly is another example of a previously well-respected person whose underlying flaws were brought to light by getting on board the Trump train.

    Can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you’re only kidding.

  132. 132.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:26 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I’m wary for sure but I only actually know like three of them and I know a lot of idiots, as people who read my complaints can attest to.

  133. 133.

    efgoldman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:26 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am not making any statement on his patriotism, I am just vary of the guy based on his actions the past few months.

    Being a patriot and being an asshole are not mutually exclusive.

  134. 134.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    August 3, 2017 at 7:26 pm

    @Mike J:

    All Bernie brings is dandruff, spittle, mediocrity, imbecility, fraud, bumper sticker sloganeering and narcissism.

    He’s the left version of Trump.

  135. 135.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    No poopyhead. No poopyhead. You’re the poopyhead!

  136. 136.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: They have this vision where somehow, a 70+ something year old lefty scold with baggage eight bags deep and a wife under FBI investigation (to say nothing of a campaign manager who was possibly in cahoots with other campaigns and other countries) rides to glory, wins the nom, and brings America glorious soshulism.

    When in fact we could easily pick a new, younger, smarter, nicer, better-spoken candidate with little/no baggage, and smack the crap out of the GOP in 2020. Sorta like we did in 2008. No wonder they’re worried.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Some of us have been saying that since last year’s Democratic convention when the Broflakes insisted on booing every speaker on live TV.

    It sucks to be right sometimes.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: The orders to deport DREAMers, no matter how ethically wrong I think they are, are not illegal orders. They are shortsighted and, I think, ultimately self defeating. But, unfortunately, not illegal.

    More worrisome is Custom and Border Patrols instructions that CBP personnel at airports the weekend of the initial travel ban were to ignore inquiries from members of Congress and treat attorneys as protestors. The reporting so far does not indicate that those decisions were made anywhere close to Kelly’s level. Rather they were made at the CBP level.

  139. 139.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: his ‘busters are the left version of trumpists but that doesn’t make him the left version of trump.

    @Mnemosyne: for all you know it could be a 400-pound poopyhead in New Jersey!

  140. 140.

    Roger Moore

    August 3, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    @lamh36:

    Cooper is at pains to explain to us why “leftists” are mistrustful of three African-American politicians whose names are mentioned as serious, potentially viable presidential candidates for 2020. The primary motivation for providing us with this explanation is to beat back accusations that they oppose them as possible contenders because of their race

    Because nobody has ever come up with spurious, case by case justifications for why they just happen to dislike each individual minority.

  141. 141.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I think they may basically be holding the party hostage.

    Minus the support from the GOP and Putin, they’re much smaller than you might think.

    Plus Wilmer couldn’t win against Hillary. What’s he going to do against Obama 2.0? LOL

  142. 142.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Let’s talk about STEM degrees some more. That would calm things right down.

  143. 143.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: exactly. I actually didn’t give Harris any thought. She’s only been in office 6 months. And she’s not Obama, who’s charisma and IQ was off the charts. But all the demonizing of Harris is motivating me to take a look at her.

  144. 144.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    @Mike J: I haven’t seen any pictures or images. Just reckoned they’d use Marine 1.

  145. 145.

    sharl

    August 3, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    @sm*t cl*de: That’s our Dear Leader – outside of family (so far), loyalty is a one-way street with him.
    …
    I’ve been meaning to check: how has the Peter Thiel citizenship thing gone down with folks over your way? I usually check in with Matt Nippert’s twitter, and a couple other New Zealanders on occasion, but haven’t lately. My impression is that people have grumbled about it, but the political leadership that quietly OK’d it aren’t likely to suffer any consequences (which certainly feels familiar to a lot of us on this side of the Pacific).

  146. 146.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 3, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    Kyle Griffin‏Verified account @ kylegriffin1
    AP: Flynn updated his financial disclosure to include Cambridge Analytica (run by major Trump donors the Mercers).

    Kellyanne Conway is also run by major trump donors the Mercers… I would love to see her go to jail, but something tells me she’s too smart to leave a finger print, especially when everyone else at the top levels of that campaign seems so easy to manipulate

  147. 147.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:32 pm

    @Roger Moore: “of course I want a woman to be president! Just not her. Or her. Or her.”

    @Yarrow: that thread was fine until Chet went all purity pony about functional programming. Feh!

  148. 148.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 7:32 pm

    @Jeffro: btw note that in both cases, my RWNJ family members had to try and raise other, racially-charged “distractions” when I tried to ask about Trump and Russia. I know the “distractions” are actually serious issues, but – as we all know – it’s what he and the GOP will fall back on as things continue to crumble.

    Attacking affirmative action and cutting legal immigration in half, lordy be. I know Fox is already running MS-13 clips at a feverish pace, but (as the Onion put it not too long ago), at this rate, they’re going to run out of enemies and scapegoats before Christmas…

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:33 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Or cat poop. That’s always an option. ?

    I should probably put the phone down soon anyway. I have the beginnings of a migraine thanks to some ongoing construction work right above my head and it’s making me as ill-tempered as a sea bass with a laser beam on its head.

  150. 150.

    Roger Moore

    August 3, 2017 at 7:34 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    But while Bernie’s supporters insist he’s an invulnerable candidate, in reality they threat him like he’s Humpty Dumpty.

    I’ll believe in the inevitability of Bernie’s candidacy the day he releases all his tax records.

  151. 151.

    Kathleen

    August 3, 2017 at 7:36 pm

    @rikyrah: God forbid white people should be curious or empathetic enough to appreciate how another person feels or what he/she experiences as an African American person. I plan to buy more P&G products.
    Cue NYT, NPR and usual media slime suspects to feature segments on why a P&G commercial offended economically anxious white people who voted for Trump, aided and abetted by “alt left” who will wail that neo liberal corporate shill P&G ignores white people at their peril.

  152. 152.

    japa21

    August 3, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    @Mike J: No wonder he wants to be closer to Trump. They are like lost brothers.

  153. 153.

    Gelfling 545

    August 3, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: No, it’s what I thought when he was appointed, although it could be we’re both nuts.

  154. 154.

    zhena gogolia

    August 3, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Groan!

  155. 155.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    @Yarrow:
    Hey. My only point was that the elitism of some assholes who try to belittle people who pursue humanities degrees is bullshit is all. I didn’t mean for it turn into what it did

  156. 156.

    geg6

    August 3, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    No. Fucking. Way. Over my dead body.

  157. 157.

    Kathleen

    August 3, 2017 at 7:39 pm

    @Yarrow: They all have dead eyes. Miller is a dead eyed Nazi ghoul. They all are. Not a shred of humanity.

  158. 158.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:39 pm

    @Roger Moore: OT: I poked around and made some weighted party ID/trump approval data, it’s interesting. Graphs at the bottom.

  159. 159.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 7:40 pm

    @Mike J

    Dolt 45 lent the big bird to Putin for a rush delivery of some Adam’s ribs.

    (M*A*S*H reference)

  160. 160.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:40 pm

    @Baud: I’m not sure what triggered it. There hasn’t been any news.

  161. 161.

    SatanicPanic

    August 3, 2017 at 7:41 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: oh they better not! I will slap any bro who badmouths her. She’s California’s chance, they better not blow it.

  162. 162.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:41 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    We may have no choice but to nominate him to keep them from sabotaging whoever does get nominated.

    We’d be better off trying to triangulate around them.

  163. 163.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:42 pm

    @Baud:

    There was a lot of bad news for Trump.

    That’s what always triggers a round of Democrat bashing by the Broflakes.

  164. 164.

    Wapiti

    August 3, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    You don’t have to like him. You don’t have to like his views or what he did at DHS, but a bit of understanding is appropriate. That someone who has seen over a decade of war, and who has lost one son to it, cannot quite move past the experiences of his service isn’t a cause for anger. It is a cause for pity.

    Drinking with my old landlord, a Vietnam vet, I said something to the effect that the war was a waste based on nothing. He got angry, and I allowed the conversation to move on. I realized he probably lost plenty of comrades there, and his drinking issues were probably at least partially related, and he might never be able to say that the war was wrong. The country goes to war, and many come back with permanent scars, visible or not.

  165. 165.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    @Mnemosyne: There’s always bad news for Trump.

  166. 166.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: it’s been brewing for a while. What probably happened is that Axelrod mentioned Deval Patrick somewhere, and the dirtbag left FOR SOME REASON decided now was a good time to shit on him as well as Harris and Booker.

  167. 167.

    Kathleen

    August 3, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    @efgoldman: Sending best wishes and healing thoughts to you and the extended Goldman family. I am in awe of your collective trooperiness.

  168. 168.

    Roger Moore

    August 3, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you’re only kidding.

    This is where the party ends
    I can’t stand here listening to you
    And your racist friend
    I know politics bore you
    But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you
    And your racist friend

    [Admittedly, it’s more appropriate to the Bernie bots, but it seemed as if it needed saying in this thread]

  169. 169.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    August 3, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    Will Steve Carrell and Emma Stone win Academy Awards for portraying a sexist pig and a feminist?

    This video says – perhaps (clip)

  170. 170.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    Btw according to the Post right now, Trumpov is busy riling up the crowd in West Virginia about the Russia investigation, saying “They’re trying to cheat you!” (of his leadership, I guess?)

    He will be calling for “Second Amendment patriots to visit the offices of members of Congress” before this is all done…

  171. 171.

    Elizabelle

    August 3, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Don’t let them scare you. They’re a noisy minority who get outsized attention. No reason they get to put a gun to our head.

    Midterms first.

  172. 172.

    debbie

    August 3, 2017 at 7:47 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Glad for the good news. Hope you’re holding your own.

  173. 173.

    Wapiti

    August 3, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    @sharl:

    … the post was relocated to a trailer on the sidewalk, more than 50 floors below, a distance that some security experts worry could hamper the agency that protects the president’s home and family.

    Looks like the Secret Service saw the transcripts of Trumps negotiation, pleading with the President of Mexico. Their negotiation stance is now, “If you can’t give us free space, we’ll have to set up on the sidewalk. If you, your wife, or your kid are in danger, we’ll get up here as fast as we can catch an elevator.”

  174. 174.

    geg6

    August 3, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    You were exactly right. As was amply demonstrated in the thread. I work with tons of highly educated and feted STEM academics. The idea that STEM majors are the most well-rounded and that calculus should be required for all degrees is the most laughable shit I’ve ever heard in my life. I literally LOLed at the claim and frantic and pedantic defense of such a ridiculous notion.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    @Baud:

    Yeah, but we’ve had an extra-special feast of it the last two weeks, so the Broflakes desperately needed to try and stir up some internal conflicts among the Democrats.

  176. 176.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    @Wapiti: It is always corrosive. One way or another. Of everything it touches. Even those of us who seemingly come back okay.

  177. 177.

    Baud

    August 3, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    @Elizabelle: We need to keep them from being electors though.

  178. 178.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    @Wapiti

    Sure that Tiffany’s (right next door to the tower entrance) just loves having a double wide parked directly outside.

  179. 179.

    Elizabelle

    August 3, 2017 at 7:53 pm

    I am going to be happy and wish all success (and even some lucky breaks) to Robert Mueller. I trust that DC Grand Jury to do a good job.

    No room to worry about what Bros might do in 2020. None. That is worlds away from now in time.

    Today as been as fun as learning that Scaramucci got booted. Remember that?

  180. 180.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 3, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    @geg6: Yep. I do think a lot of my fellow STEM majors were decidedly convinced they were rational, well-rounded human beings. They weren’t. Neither was I, though I was a bit better.

    This reminds me of a friend of mine who is convinced he’s highly organized, intelligent, and friendly. He’s actually very selectively curious, prone to bad judgment, and has several irrational dislikes and opinions. He was (incidentally) a BernieBro for some time, though he did vote for Hillary as more of an anti-Trump vote. But he told me several times that “He just KNOWS Hillary did a lot of horrible things and is owned by corporations.”

    …this, in turn, reminds me of a lot of smart Silicon Valley successes. High intelligence, low wisdom, utter inability to empathize or realize that not everyone has the same opportunities or even luck that they did.

  181. 181.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Just checked. Huntington is 300 miles, unlike, say, Camp David which is only 50. I can understand why they took a fixed wing.

  182. 182.

    Elizabelle

    August 3, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    @Baud: That’s for sure.

    We here at BJ would make marvelous, non-faithless electors. We should look into it.

  183. 183.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 7:55 pm

    @Mike J: That makes sense then.

  184. 184.

    sm*t cl*de

    August 3, 2017 at 7:55 pm

    @sharl:

    how has the Peter Thiel citizenship thing gone down with folks over your way?

    Thiel’s purchase of a NZ bolt-hole attracted a fair amount of cynicism, especially the rationale that “he will be a great unofficial abassador for NZ”, when in practice he tried to keep his bolt-hole / tax-haven a secret (it’s not a great display of confidence in the US economy).
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/94207497/peter-thiel-was-in-nz-for-just-9-days-before-becoming-a-citizen

    But the Minister who decided at the time to override usual citizenship criteria in exchange for $$$ has since been sideways-promoted to other responsibilities, depriving the issue of an obvious target. It has not really become a poliical issue. More a source of eye-rolling amusement, as in “What b.s. will our gubblement spout this time in defense of obvious corruption?”

  185. 185.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    @Elizabelle: unless trump won the state through treason, then we’d be faithless.

  186. 186.

    Kathleen

    August 3, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    @lamh36: That will go over well with the WouldaStalkers who have commandeered Booman’s comment section.

  187. 187.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    @efgoldman: True and he may think it is his patriotic duty to get rid of people he deems not worthy enough.

  188. 188.

    Keith P.

    August 3, 2017 at 7:57 pm

    I am getting a kick out of the grin on the face of Maria Cordova, Democratic strategist, as a former Trump campaign manager tries to respond to Trump’s alleged NH “drug den” statement. This could be….duh-duh-DUHHHHH…The Worst Week Ever.

  189. 189.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: DACA is still a protected status, until it expires, so how is deporting people on DACA legal?

  190. 190.

    Timurid

    August 3, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    @geg6:

    That was also the guy whose response to panicky posts during one of the worst TrumpCare passage scares was “walk it off, you sissies.”

  191. 191.

    sukabi

    August 3, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    And in other news the Secret Service has left Trump Tower over disputes on lease terms

  192. 192.

    Kathleen

    August 3, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: It’s all his doing. He feeds it and encourages it. They send him money.

  193. 193.

    Dave

    August 3, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    @Mnemosyne: My impression of Kelley is he’s an authoritarian but the key to that is that he seems to have a very developed fear reaction. His statements regarding threats and how awful and ubiquitous they are strike me as myopic. There are always threats and plots and so forth civilization is more or less always hanging in the balance. So he’s exposed to the intelligence and information out there but he’s failing to put it into context he’s seeing too many patterns and not doing a good job evaluating actual threats instead he’s reacting like someone on the 200th patrol in Baghdad and burnt out.
    And I do find it interesting that like many he misses the real potential civilizational threat that is climate change. I suspect this is because climate isn’t an intentional actor it just doesn’t ping the same way as group X and individual Z are plotting. Now this doesn’t mean he’s a coward; fear isn’t the determinate of cowardice but what you do with it and he may have been a very capable marine general for all I know (really I don’t have an opinion on this he may have been) but that fear reaction plus apparent authoritarian ways does a couple of things for me. One I don’t think I’d like him very much this is a who cares I don’t need to and two I think he is not suited to serve in a civilian political role and I don’t trust him to set good policy (see ICE under his leadership) even if he is truly well intentioned. Obviously this is just my perspective on him and a tentative judgment from observation but that’s what I see in him.

  194. 194.

    Kathleen

    August 3, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: This.

  195. 195.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 8:03 pm

    @Dave: What do they say about the road to hell and good intentions?

  196. 196.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    @Timurid: oh yeah, I remember now. I think I had him pied for a while.

    @Kathleen: very true. So far he’s commented on it about 0.4 times.

  197. 197.

    Calouste

    August 3, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Both Hitler and Mussolini were wounded at the front, and Franco was at one point the youngest general in Spain. I’m sure they all considered themselves patriots, but none of them showed a particular attachment to democracy.

  198. 198.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 8:09 pm

    Keep him focused…right CoS Kelly….right…

    @ddale8
    Trump: “What the prosecutors should be looking at are Hillary Clinton’s 33,000…” A “lock her up” chant, and it is 2016 for eternity.

    @ddale8
    A new goalpost from President Donald Trump (real quote): “There were no Russians in our campaign. There never were.”

  199. 199.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 8:10 pm

    @Calouste:
    Damn son.

  200. 200.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    @Calouste:Thank you for making my point with more eloquence than I could manage.

  201. 201.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    All Bernie brings is dandruff, spittle, mediocrity, imbecility, fraud, bumper sticker sloganeering and narcissism.

    He’s the left version of Trump.

    Nah, he’s the left version of Ron Paul. All cult of personality, craziness, baggage, unknown ties to Russia and obsessive followers.

  202. 202.

    sukabi

    August 3, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I wonder if besides being a greedy opportunist he’s charging excessive rates to the SS so they would seek other space and lessening the likelihood that they might hear or see something he doesn’t want them to.

  203. 203.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Someone might want to take a look at ties he’s got to Russia. What leverage was used to convince him to do that?

    Jim Justice does business with whom?

    He pointed out that he’s paid many tax debts owed by his companies’ former owners. Last year when he completed a $5 million buyback of Mechel Bluestone Inc. from Russian company Mechel OAO, there were outstanding delinquent taxes of $2.5 million each to McDowell and Wyoming counties.

    http://www.whsv.com/content/news/Feds-say-Gov-Jim-Justice-coal-companies-owe-46M-in-fines-411974755.html

  204. 204.

    Dave

    August 3, 2017 at 8:14 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Exactly; I don’t want him where he is I haven’t seen anything from him that makes me believe any competence he may have wont’ be/hasn’t been put to the service of ugly goals and I suspect I really really would not like him. Don’t think he’s at all suited for a civilian political role. He doesn’t have to be as dysfunctional as most of the Trump hangers to be a real problem and he hasn’t shown me the ability to think through a problem set outside of being a Marine. And I don’t think people that see the world in a fear based lens make good leaders in Democracies. On top of that he appears to have significant contempt for congressional oversight and politics in general from what I’ve seen (of course some of those people earn it but it’s not acceptable) and that degree of cheap cynicism may be tolerable in GO if not admirable it is not acceptable as head of DHS or in the CoS.

  205. 205.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 3, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    You just can’t make this stuff up. I pinged the Blogmeister when I retweeted this, so maybe we will get his opinion on local politics.

    Fun fact: Jim Justice sold his coal mines to Russians for $600 million in 2012-recently bought them back for $5 mil. https://t.co/LxU7J8loqr

    — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 4, 2017

  206. 206.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: As Calouste said, respect for democracy is not necessary to be patriotic. Your patriotism includes respect for democratic norms and the Constitution. As Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco have shown, you can think of yourself as a patriot and still have contempt for democracy itself; to have a love of nation that is intertwined with love of borders and ethnicity.

  207. 207.

    Adam L Silverman

    August 3, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: DACA is protected by Executive Order. That’s it. Should the Executive Branch choose to ignore it, then it will be ignored.

  208. 208.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 3, 2017 at 8:16 pm

    @lamh36: Wow. We’ve moved into the “I didn’t ever literally make a Russian national part of my official campaign team, so QED there couldn’t have been any collusion.” I’m impressed.

  209. 209.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 8:17 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: You tweeted one minute after I posted 203 here. :)

    Of course Cole is much more likely to see a tweet than anything at Balloon-juice.

  210. 210.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:18 pm

    @Yarrow:

    obsessive followers

    A certain percentage of whom are the exact same people.

  211. 211.

    weaselone

    August 3, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    More worrisome is Custom and Border Patrols instructions that CBP personnel at airports the weekend of the initial travel ban were to ignore inquiries from members of Congress and treat attorneys as protestors. The reporting so far does not indicate that those decisions were made anywhere close to Kelly’s level. Rather they were made at the CBP level.

    Possibly more worrisome are his comments about separating children from the their parents as well as over-the-top rhetoric regarding gangs, undocumented immigrants and terrorists flocking over the southern border. These comments suggest that he’s not just following legal orders, but rather is a true believer, general racist shithead who shares some of Trump’s delusions and paranoia.

  212. 212.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Mike J:

    Of course Cole is much more likely to see a tweet than anything at Balloon-juice.

    That fuckin guy, amirite? I don’t think he’s ever responded to one of my tweets.

  213. 213.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    It’s Russians all the way down. Jaysus.

  214. 214.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: It wasn’t just that. There was plenty of What Properly Educated People Should Know as well.

  215. 215.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 3, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @lamh36: Oy, would I love to see that momser in the slammer for the rest of his unnatural life…

  216. 216.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:21 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I guess Boris Epshtyn (sp?) doesn’t count because he’s a naturalized citizen?

  217. 217.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 8:21 pm

    @Mike J: WHOA

  218. 218.

    Jeffro

    August 3, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: WHOA WHOA

  219. 219.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 3, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    @Elizabelle: When I first heard that, the answer was “The first row at a Willie Nelson concert.”

  220. 220.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    August 3, 2017 at 8:23 pm

    Catching snippets of Trump’s rally on TV. It is a straight-up campaign rally. Unbelievable! There’s no campaign—he won. But he’s stuck in a time loop. And so is the audience. The woman right behind Trump’s left shoulder alternates between a “Drain the Swamp” sign and a “Trump-Pence” sign.

    (Haven’t read this whole thread, only down to about #139 so far.)

  221. 221.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 8:24 pm

    @weaselone: Yes. Thank you. He has left meetings in a huff, he does not seem to tolerate dissent. Media is already giving him loving tongue baths. His DHS actions remind me of I was just following orders, defense, that was rejected in the Nuremberg trials.

  222. 222.

    lamh36

    August 3, 2017 at 8:24 pm

    @ZekeJMiller 36m36 minutes ago
    Scuffle breaks out as Trump supporter grabs a protestor’s sign. Local security guy seems to grab protestor around neck
    https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/893256914603323393

  223. 223.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 3, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    @Jeffro: WHOA^3

  224. 224.

    jl

    August 3, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: I think Trump campaign showed some real and rare political courage when they turned down real Russians in their campaign events You know how the GOP wingnuts and their friends have a real man crush on Vlad. Can you imagine what a cameo by Putin at a Trump rally would have done? Boffo. Win the primary the very next day and have Fox and Friends swooning forever.

  225. 225.

    Chyron HR

    August 3, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH (if true).

    @lamh36:

    A new goalpost from President Donald Trump (real quote): “There were no Russians in our campaign. There never were.”

    RON HOWARD: There were Russians in his campaign.

  226. 226.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 3, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    @Mike J: The management at this blog aims to please.

  227. 227.

    jl

    August 3, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Justice makes Trumpian deals. Maybe that’s his appeal in a Trump voting state.

  228. 228.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    @lamh36:

    @ddale8
    A new goalpost from President Donald Trump (real quote): “There were no Russians in our campaign. There never were.”

    Boris Epshteyn was born in Russia, but as far as I know is a loyal American.

  229. 229.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 8:28 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I was and am totally on your side. Your original point was that we need people of all types and that it’s good for someone who is enthusiastic about, say, Literature, to study it instead of being forced into a STEM major where they would not be happy. Makes total sense to me.

  230. 230.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:30 pm

    Lordt, I can’t keep up with the threads or the comments. Someone asked, somewhere, if there was a meaningful difference between “impanel” and “empanel.” I didn’t see an answer but I did notice this at TPM:

    The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that the Washington, D.C. grand jury “began its work in recent weeks” and is separate from the one assisting with the probe into President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The impanelment of that jury predated Mueller’s appointment as special counsel.

    Reuters confirmed, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that Mueller convened a grand jury.

    The empanelment of a new, separate grand jury reflects the scope of Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election and whether any members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

  231. 231.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    @Mike J:

    Boris Epshteyn was born in Russia, but as far as I know is a loyal American.

    All righty then!

  232. 232.

    eclare

    August 3, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    @rikyrah: One thousand times this. I’m a white woman, pretty advantaged, but I am a freaking accountant, I crave stability. I think boring is underappreciated. It feels like I am in an abusive relationship with this government.

  233. 233.

    Felonius Monk

    August 3, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    From Steve M. regarding Trump rally tonite:

    Axios’s Mike Allen noted yesterday that Obamacare repeal failed in the Senate in part because Trump chose not to name any red-state Democratic senators to his cabinet.
    [One] possibility that was kicked around was Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for a job like Secretary of Energy. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is a Democrat but has a close relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and might have played ball on a conservative replacement.
    But now we know that if Manchin needs to be replaced, Justice will replace him with a Republican. And we also know that there could be a vacancy at the Department of Energy if, as has been rumored, Trump moves Rick Perry from there to the Department of Homeland Security, to replace the new White House chief of staff, John Kelly.

    So the follow could really happen: Perry goes to Homeland Security. Manchin goes to Energy. Justice picks a Republican replacement senator. And we get to go through the Obamacare repeal-and-replace nightmare all over again, because Trump just can’t let it go.

  234. 234.

    jl

    August 3, 2017 at 8:33 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: If I understand Merriam-Webster correctly, they are just two alternative spellings.

  235. 235.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 8:33 pm

    @Mike J: And there it is. And I might add I remember reading something about Manchin’s Russian ties. I hope that’s not being used as leverage.

  236. 236.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:33 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Wait, da fuh?

  237. 237.

    Mike J

    August 3, 2017 at 8:35 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t want to denigrate foreign born Americans. Most of them are better citizens than the natural born.

  238. 238.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 8:36 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Yep. We’ve discussed that previous and are both in agreement. It’s kind of obvious once you see it.

  239. 239.

    NotMax

    August 3, 2017 at 8:38 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Please see #58, above.

  240. 240.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    August 3, 2017 at 8:42 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    He has left meetings in a huff, he does not seem to tolerate dissent.

    The good thing about that, is that Generalissimo Francisco Kelly will likely be unable to corral Trump and be frustrated and quit

  241. 241.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:42 pm

    @Mike J:

    He now works for Sinclair Broadcasting pushing Trump and pro-Russia propaganda, so I guess it depends on your definition of “loyal.”

  242. 242.

    Roger Moore

    August 3, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Your original point was that we need people of all types and that it’s good for someone who is enthusiastic about, say, Literature, to study it instead of being forced into a STEM major where they would not be happy.

    And not just not happy; not everyone is necessarily cut out for a STEM job. STEM people are loath to admit it, but some people’s brains just don’t work that way. They’ll just fail out if you try to make them into STEM majors.

  243. 243.

    Roger Moore

    August 3, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    @eclare:

    I think boring is underappreciated.

    There’s the good kind of exciting and the bad kind of exciting. Boring is greatly preferable to the bad kind of exciting.

  244. 244.

    jl

    August 3, 2017 at 8:47 pm

    @Felonius Monk: Why would Manchin do that? Even Manchin… he had far more job security and far more status in the Senate.

  245. 245.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I had a friend in high school whose parents really, really wanted him to be an engineer, but he hit a wall where he just could not comprehend higher math any further. And, yes, he recognized that there was a certain irony attached to the fact that he was Asian-American.

  246. 246.

    Felonius Monk

    August 3, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    @jl:

    he’d have more job security and status in the Senate.

    I agree, but , in the opinion of some, Manchin’s bona fides as a Democrat sometimes seem a little shaky.

  247. 247.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    @Roger Moore: I know plenty of STEM people who are happy to point this out.

  248. 248.

    jl

    August 3, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    @Felonius Monk: Maybe Manchin figures that Mueller will clean house down to HUD Secty, and he’ll be succeed to presidency before 2020? Other than that, why would Manchin do it? Even for a hack (and I think Manchin is a hack), it seems like an odd move.

    @Felonius Monk: But even if he has no particular loyalty to Democratic Party, seems like this is a good time time stay under cover.

  249. 249.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    August 3, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    Wow, Elizabeth Holtzman has aged really well, or else she was a youngster during Watergate.

    ETA: She was on Chris Hayes’s show.

  250. 250.

    Yarrow

    August 3, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    @jl: If he’s compromised then he could be blackmailed into taking the job.

  251. 251.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 3, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @jl: he’s gonna lose his reelection probably, right?, so…

  252. 252.

    Roger Moore

    August 3, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    We don’t like to talk about it, but even most of us STEM-types eventually reach a place where our ability to comprehend the math runs out. My comprehension ran out when I got to differential equations, which meant I was never going to wind up in physics even if I had wanted to.

  253. 253.

    Felonius Monk

    August 3, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    @jl: No argument from me. I see no advantage for Manchin to do this either.

  254. 254.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 3, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    @Baud: Seems to be going around, like the flu.

  255. 255.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    @Roger Moore: I find math easy to understand when I can relate it to something physical but esoteric pure math is beyond me. That’s why I changed my math major to physics.

  256. 256.

    sharl

    August 3, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    @sm*t cl*de: Thanks! The article you linked, along with the video snippets it contains, really helped fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of the situation. Some time ago I had seen that the office which released Thiel’s citizenship application paperwork had redacted some of the information, and I incorrectly assumed that the appeal to the Ombudsman would take months to be resolved, which is what happens so often with requests filed with our government for information releases under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It’s nice to see that NZ has a faster response time (or at least did in this case).

  257. 257.

    rikyrah

    August 3, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I would love to see her go to jail, but something tells me she’s too smart to leave a finger print, especially when everyone else at the top levels of that campaign seems so easy to manipulate

    her hubby was in Russia several times during the campaign..

    I’m just sayin’.

  258. 258.

    clay

    August 3, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    STEM people are loath to admit it, but some people’s brains just don’t work that way.

    I teach mathematics (high school level). I am more than happy to shout drom the rooftops that some people’s brains are NOT hardwired for STEM… but admin and parents and politicians get mad if we say that kind of thing out loud.

  259. 259.

    clay

    August 3, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I’ve had students of Chinese or Indian descent who have done poorly in math. Some accept it, but some have actually said “I can’t fail math; I’m [fill-in-the-blank ethnicity].”

    I always tell them, there are over a billion Chinese [or Indian] people. They can’t ALL be good at math.

  260. 260.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    @clay: Really, that’s just stupid. I know plenty of Indian non STEM majors and people not so good at math.

  261. 261.

    Miss Bianca

    August 3, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: hey, happy BD again! I think the thinking has advanced to next spring – my friend here who used to live in Atlanta told me about a neat concert at a place called the Tabernacle taking place in March. As I recall, early March is probably quite a nice time in Atlanta – is anything blooming yet? But I would love to convoke the local jackals when I get there – the GA contingent seems like quite a hoot!

  262. 262.

    Origuy

    August 3, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    Converging the threads: there’s a chain of after-school tutoring shops called the Russian School of Math. They’re all over the country. They claim to use a technique for teaching math developed in the former Soviet Union. I don’t know anything more about them than that.

  263. 263.

    Miss Bianca

    August 3, 2017 at 9:34 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: There’s a part of me that wants to say, “hell no, we won’t go!” to Bernie fanatics; there’s another part of me that wants to say, “fine. Let’s try it your way. ‘Bernie would have won’? Well, let’s see about that.”

    Have I mentioned lately that I am really, really tired of Whitenuss?

  264. 264.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 9:49 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    One of my Indian friends from high school rebelled against her parents by getting a PhD and becoming an English professor instead of an MD.

    Her younger siblings succumbed to the pressure, though. Her sister became a pediatrician, but I’m not sure which medical field her brother went into. Their father was a cardiologist, so there was some you need to go into the family business pressure.

  265. 265.

    clay

    August 3, 2017 at 9:59 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: By ‘that’, do you mean my students’ attitude, or my response?

    Look, I know it’s a blatant and untrue stereotype that all Chinese and Indians are math whizzes, but a lot of these students have internalized this stereotype. And even worse, their parents have as well. (I’ve had a lot of parent conferences over B’s.)

    I try my best to get them to realize that their self-worth isn’t all tied up in STEM proficiency, but it’s a real uphill battle sometimes.

  266. 266.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    @clay: Your students.

  267. 267.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 3, 2017 at 10:03 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I have seen that with doctors in general though, not just the Indian ones.

  268. 268.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    Hmm. I had a comment disappear into the ether. Did it end up in the trash?

  269. 269.

    J R in WV

    August 3, 2017 at 11:04 pm

    @Mike J:

    It’s a 7,000 foot runway… 150 feet wide. Probably a little small for a 747 sized aircraft.

  270. 270.

    Patricia Kayden

    August 3, 2017 at 11:10 pm

    @wvng: Wasn’t he a Republican in 2015 before he ran for Governor?

  271. 271.

    Anonymous patient

    August 3, 2017 at 11:17 pm

    I am told by friend who is retired Lt in law enforcement that Joe Manchin is widely believed to be mobbed up with Pittsburgh mob. Friend is not given to rumor-mongering at all.

  272. 272.

    CaseyL

    August 3, 2017 at 11:40 pm

    @Kathleen: I didn’t know P&G was under attack again (remember when they were supposed to be “Satanic” because their logo had Merlin in it?). I always prefer to buy P&G because it’s the only paper products company I know of that isn’t part of Koch Industries.

  273. 273.

    J R in WV

    August 3, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    I saw a post (perhaps linked by Cheryl) that said that Gov. Justice sold his coal business to Russian interests for $600,000,000, and bought it back for $5,000,000.

    That’s a 595 million dollar profit, isn’t it?

    Just saying.

  274. 274.

    Bobby Thomson

    August 3, 2017 at 11:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The man spent 45 years as a Marine. Both his sons are also serving. And one of them came home in a flag draped box.

    As I recall, the hero of Ticonderoga and Saratoga had a stint of military service himself.

  275. 275.

    Bobby Thomson

    August 4, 2017 at 12:05 am

    @Roger Moore:

    I’ll believe in the inevitability of Bernie’s candidacy the day he releases all his tax records.

    That’s the same day I’ll believe he isn’t corrupt.

  276. 276.

    tomtofa

    August 4, 2017 at 12:27 am

    @Steeplejack (phone):
    Didn’t see the show, but she’s 75, so I guess she’s aged well ;-)

  277. 277.

    Ithink

    August 4, 2017 at 10:21 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    I agree wholeheartedly; this is something I’m currently dealing with right now. Some people would rather put others down trying to get ahead than address their own insecurities & failures in Life! Whatever you go to college for, make it happen & the career will come later.

  278. 278.

    Ithink

    August 4, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    @Mike J:

    Good. He frankly doesn’t deserve tax payer funded protection if he’s gonna be that blatantly disrespectful of most citizenry and the service themselves. Hire his own damn security with whatever limited funding he has left in his Russian-owned oligarchic bank accounts…

  279. 279.

    Ithink

    August 4, 2017 at 4:22 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    I co-sign all of this!

  280. 280.

    Ithink

    August 7, 2017 at 10:38 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    THIS. All of this!

  281. 281.

    Ithink

    August 7, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    @clay:
    Thank you for challenging these persistent and annoying racial stereotypes! They’re so unequivocally counterproductive to every individual’s potential as a student; nobody can be good at all things all the time. Just not practical or possible!

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - way2blue - SINALEI, SAMOA—RESPITE EDITION—FEBRUARY 2025.  (second of five) 7
Image by way2blue (7/13/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • Geminid on Late Night Open Thread: Buyer’s Remorse (Jul 14, 2025 @ 5:17am)
  • something fabulous on Late Night Open Thread: Buyer’s Remorse (Jul 14, 2025 @ 4:38am)
  • BellyCat on Late Night Open Thread: Buyer’s Remorse (Jul 14, 2025 @ 4:27am)
  • cain on Late Night Open Thread: Buyer’s Remorse (Jul 14, 2025 @ 4:13am)
  • cain on Late Night Open Thread: Buyer’s Remorse (Jul 14, 2025 @ 4:07am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!