Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: “Living in the Awful Parts of the Past”

Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: “Living in the Awful Parts of the Past”

by | 71 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

In case y’all were wondering why the NYTimes is dutifully whitewashing “nice” Midwestern Nazis, yet again…


.

I, for one, think it is time and past time that Iowa lose its first-in-the-nation-caucus status, because they don’t deserve it, and I want Rep. Steve “Pig Muck” King to get his full credit for the loss of all those media-tourist dollars.

Where I took my title here from:

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ll just leave this here:

    Special counsel for the US Department of Justice Robert Mueller is investigating an attempt by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to block the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlement activity, according to The Wall Street Journal.

    The probe is part of a larger investigation by Mueller into Kushner and his conversations with foreign leaders, including Israelis, during the two-month transition period between the November election and the time Trump took office. Under the Obama administration, the United States abstained and the only one of 14 countries on the UNSC not to approve the December 2016 measure. But the decision not to use its veto power to block the move, something it also did in 2011, was widely seen as a form of tacit approval of the resolution by the Obama administration.

  5. 5.

    Peale

    You do have to admit, defending western civilization is profitable. I mean, look at how rich Orban and his cronies are becoming, all in the name of saving Hungary from Muslims and homos and a wealthy Jew.

  8. 8.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Weird.

    I don’t get the WSJ, and I see you gave the whole JP story. Nothing anywhere else that I’ve seen…

    Surely there is something more there. Kushner has no direct authority, so his opinion is nothing more than an opinion, so I’m not seeing why Mueller would care. There must be something more going on…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    ruemara

    Well. That’s a very clear idea of who he is. I suppose we can say we are now blessed that these folks feel no need to be demure. I would prefer a winning lottery ticket.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: This happened before the President had taken office. Apparently Jared started working the phones before he was an unpaid Senior Advisor to the President for Everything in an attempt to get other UN members, both permanent Security Council and rotating Security Council members, to oppose what the official US government was actually doing. That’s why Mueller has added it to the investigation. I think Mueller is going to see if there was money involved. As in wealthy Jewish Americans or Israelis who were opposed to what the Obama Administration was doing were using Jared as a front with a promise they’d help out with the underwater mortgage at 666 5th Avenue.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: I find it interesting, given who owns the Jerusalem Post and their editorial slant for both news and opinions, that the Jerusalem Post is covering it.

    And it is one more brush back against the President’s closest circle to remind them that they should not be footloose and fancy free during the holidays.

  15. 15.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Adam L Silverman: Because I do not know these things and am too lazy to look them up (due to a surfeit of food), who owns the Jerusalem Post and what is their editorial slant on news and opinions?

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    @O. Felix Culpa: It’s currently owned by a Tel Aviv based conglomerate. It supposedly has a centrist position for both reporting and editorials, but Brett Stephens was the editor in chief in 2002 and I’ve always found it to be right of center since it abandoned it’s pro Labor Party stance back in the late 80s/early 90s.

  17. 17.

    B.B.A.

    @Adam L Silverman: Is this a Logan Act case? I thought it was unenforceable, which is why after over 200 years on the books it’s never been enforced (except for two indictments, both dismissed before trial, which don’t really count in my book).

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @B.B.A.: Maybe.

    He clearly violated the Logan Act. What Mueller seems, however, to be doing is following the money. Mueller has access to all the intel from the Joint Counterintelligence Task Force he inherited from Comey. What he’s now doing is the slower and more tedious process of following the money. What you’re likely to see is that a lot of the indictments he’s going to bring are going to be financial crimes, which will allow him to protect the intel sources and methods. The question in this case, since Israel didn’t want this to happen, was whether Jared was in touch with Bibi about it or someone on Bibi’s behalf about it? And was a promise of something – financial help for his underwater real estate investment in Manhattan – offered and/or solicited?

  20. 20.

    scav

    I particularly like the image of this seemingly calm sea with a little overcrowded boat overflowing with Capt Orange and asst crew all studiously avoiding with their eyes the foreground ripple with the ‘duh-dunt. dun-dunt. duh-dunt’ music playing. Maybe add a little Flynn rat scurrying down a cable to a still smaller personal craft (also being strenuously avoided). Behind them, in utter silence, in yet another unobserved direction, emerges an entirely unexpected shark’s fin. How many are down there and where are they! Ah, the stagecraft.

  21. 21.

    Mary G

    Thread from someone with experience in the Balkans:

    But trust your gut: trust that sick, queasy feeling you’ve had for months, trust your anxiety, and trust the fear you see in your neighbors eyes. All is not well, and everything won’t be OK. Not unless both ordinary citizens and responsible politicians act today.— Jasmin Mujanović (@JasminMuj) November 26, 2017

  25. 25.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)

    That guy really, truly needs to go. How long has he been in office anyway? However long it’s been, it’s been that long too long.

  30. 30.

    No Drought No More

    In their private and unrecorded talks about the death camps, I assume FDR & Churchill must have broached the subject of informing the public of all they knew- which was essentially everything. They did no such thing, of course. But they must have asked themselves at that point, “what if we do, and the D-Day invasion is defeated on the beaches?”. Assume for a moment the American people been fully informed (of the ongoing genocide of the Jewish people) on such a catastrophic June 6th. FDR most likely surmised at that point Americans of King’s stripe might well prevail in persuading congress that it wasn’t sufficient cause to continue the war in Europe; that another attempt was not worth the cost of gambling yet more American lives (and that perhaps as soon as the elections of November 1944). To say the least, such a terrible decision would have marked our country eternally as an active collaborator of Nazi Germany. But to repeat: there is no doubt it nonetheless would have been OK with legions of Americans just like King during WW2 America, too.

  32. 32.

    Aleta

    The Jerusalem Post is repeating a WSJ story from Nov 21st; it’s readable using this link from WSJ reporter Rebecca Ballhaus’s twitter account.

    Mr. Trump posted a Facebook message the day before the U.N. vote—after he had been elected but before he had assumed office—saying the resolution put the Israelis in a difficult position and should be vetoed.

    Mr. Trump also held a phone conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, whose government had written a draft of the resolution. Egypt proceeded to call for the vote to be delayed, but the resolution passed the following day, with then-President Barack Obama’s administration declining to block it.

    Israeli officials said at the time that they began reaching out to senior leaders in Mr. Trump’s transition team. Among those involved were Mr. Kushner and political strategist Stephen Bannon, according to people briefed on the exchanges. The White House referred questions to Mr. Kushner’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, and to a White House lawyer.

    The motivation for the Mueller team’s questions about the U.N. is unclear. Investigators typically ask a host of questions over the course of a probe, and inquiries don’t necessarily indicate suspicion.
    …
    The Mueller team’s questions come as investigators scrutinize Mr. Kushner for his initial omission of any foreign contacts from a government form required to obtain a security clearance, The Wall Street Journal previously reported, citing a public letter from congressional investigators. Mr. Kushner later updated the form at least three times to include what he has said were more than 100 contacts with more than 20 countries.

    That security clearance form deception looks like a useful opening for them to begin circling.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I recall Nazi propaganda from WWII in which the NYT was blasted for being owned by Jews.

    My how times have changed.

  38. 38.

    Ken

    “Sometimes the truth is arrived at by adding all the little lies together and deducting them from the totality of what is known.” – Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

    Actually, that whole section is relevant. A few more choice quotes:

    Lord Vetinari stood at the top of the stairs in the Great Hall of the Palace, and looked down on his clerks. They’d taken over the whole huge floor for this Concludium. Chalked markings – circles, squares, triangles – were drawn here and there on the floor. Within them, papers and ledgers were piled in dangerously neat heaps. And there were clerks, some working inside the outlines and some moving noiselessly from one outline to another bearing pieces of paper as if they were a sacrament. Periodically clerks and watchmen arrived with more files and ledgers, which were solemnly received, assessed and added to the relevant pile. Abacuses clicked everywhere. Hour after hour it went on, with a patience that at first terrified and then bored. It was the warfare of clerks, and it harried the enemy through many columns and files. They didn’t hurry. Peel away the lies, and the truth would emerge, naked and ashamed and with nowhere else to hide.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    This could turn real ugly real fast.

    The desperate [Pakistani] government had called out the army after an abortive operation to disperse hundreds of activists of a religious group camping at an arterial traffic intersection of the federal capital since the start of this month.

    Earlier on Saturday, the authorities finally launched an operation to retrieve Faizabad intersection from Tehreek-e-Labbaik protesters after weeks of negotiations and nudging by the courts, but the police action only multiplied the government’s problems amid a worsening law and order situation in Islamabad and other cities.

    At the end of the day, at least six protesters had been confirmed dead, while more than 200 people – including protesters and law enforcers – were injured. Source

    Some more detailed info here, including this info:

    Meanwhile, some social media platforms — including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube — were blocked on web browsers across the country.

    Besides Islamabad, protestors and LEAs’ officials are facing off in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Sambrial in Sialkot district.
    [snip]
    Metro bus services in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi have been suspended today as well.

    In view of the situation, educational institutes in Lahore will remain closed for two days, Punjab government sources said on Sunday.

    Protests held in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resulted in at least one death and left dozens injured, besides the 250 injuries reported in Islamabad.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    @Major Major Major Major

    Estranged: Your city has lost a 60-year-old sister.

    Japan’s third-largest city, Osaka, and San Francisco became sister cities in 1957 — part of a project to twin Japanese cities with American counterparts to foster peace between former enemies and celebrate historical ties.

    Sixty years later, that relationship is slated to come to an abrupt end. The cause of the breakup? A statue installed this year that commemorates the foreign “comfort women” forced to work in brothels by the Japanese army during World War II and the decades before.

    The statue was unveiled in downtown San Francisco in late September to relatively little fanfare in the United States. But it has prompted dramatic headlines in Japan, with Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura pledging Friday to end the sister city relationship after San Francisco officially designated the memorial city property this week. source

  47. 47.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @Ken: Come to think of it, Reacher Gilt and the current president* have a fair amount in common. Gilt was much more competent, though. The president*’s competence level is much closer to Crispin Horsefry’s.

  48. 48.

    Camassia

    Since Steve King (from a state named for a Native Nation, no less) is such a ‘blood and soil’ fan, I hope he will be departing from Turtle Island for Europe soon. The sooner the better.

  52. 52.

    Aleta

    @NotMax: That’s a shame (for the organizations that do exchanges based on it). I wonder where Osaka will turn — or maybe they have other sibling cities in other countries.

  56. 56.

    burnspbesq

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Evasion (Code Section 7201) is always a felony. When DOJ wants to deal, they allow the bad person to plead to Section 7207, delivering a fraudulent return (in exchange for something, needless to say).

    Smart lawyers always try to get rid of the 7201 count(s) if they have any leverage, because conviction under 7201 has collateral estoppel effect on the fraud penalty in the subsequent civil action.

  57. 57.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @NotMax: That’s interesting, we were the first city in the country to have a comfort women’s remembrance statue, and while our Japanese sister city’s mayor complained, we’ve maintained our sister relationship. We have a pretty sizable Korean population in the city.

  58. 58.

    Boussinesque

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I remember tearing up going through the A-Bomb museum and the surroundings the first time I was in Hiroshima in 2003. After I finished there, I pulled out my guidebook to see what else was in the area, saw another map mark nearby. Turned the pages to see what it was…and it was listed as a separate monument to the Korean POW victims of the bomb, constructed off to the side, years later, with private funds. Apparently their names were not included in the cenotaph with the eternal flame outside of the museum. Needless to say, it took a bit of the shine off the whole experience.

  60. 60.

    fuckwit

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: About 25 years ago I worked for a company owned by a Korean guy. We did a deal with Sumitomo. When their representatives came over to visit from Japan, the CEO refused to meet with them, shake their hands, talk with them, or even look at them.

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    @aangus:

    It’s gonna get ugly, soon.
    N’est pas?

    Should be “N’est-ce pas?”

    Where is Omnes? I’m having to pinch hit as the resident French grammar pedant.

  65. 65.

    Ian G.

    Jason Isbell is the reason why Doug Jones (and Alabama in general) needs our support, not derision. There are decent people down there, and think of how much more difficult it must be to live as a decent person there as opposed to a place like New York or California.

    Also, Isbell’s father is a house painter. Sounds blue collar to me. When is he gonna get interviewed about his voting preferences?

  66. 66.

    Skepticat

    Orban and his ilk conveniently forget, of course, a certain nation with its entire existence possible only because of immigrants.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    @PIGL:

    I love Slivovitz. My family (mothers side) are Slovak or at least lived in Slovakia before the war.

    AS far as I know there is no Slovak, in fact no Balkan of any flavor in my background. My only central European family tree branch is NE Swiss German, believed to have escaped the French Revolution beheading phase into Switzerland in the late 1700s.

    But I met a Serbian lady (escaped from the Yugoslavian Civil War) and her family when she married an old friend. Home made Slivovitz was involved, and wow is that potentially great fluid !!! I’m sure it can be done inexpensively and produce a poor product, but when rural guy does it because he loves it, both the making and the sipping, Wow.

    I avoided sensitive conversation topics so I don’t know their politics, but she did flee to a mongrel state like the US, and married a leftist philosophy professor, so I expect she isn’t a fascist. Very sweet and pretty young woman, of course so many women are young to me, old fart that I am.

    Steve King appears to be especially vile, from all I can tell from here. A unique blend of fascist and racist, and totally unaware of the mongrelized nature of the American population. Unaware of lots of things, actually. I would give $5 to receive his DNA analysis.

  70. 70.

    Smut Clyde

    @Uncle Cosmo: Hungarian Nazis like the Arrow Cross crowd and their modern-day revivalists (Gorka’s mob) never cease to amaze. How could they convince themselves that there was any place for Magyars in Nazi ideology or the Reich that was not gas-chamber-related?

Comments are closed.