Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

This fight is for everything.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

The willow is too close to the house.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

I was promised a recession.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / This Is Just Weird: Russia’s SVR Chief Allowed Into US To Meet With DCI Pompeo

This Is Just Weird: Russia’s SVR Chief Allowed Into US To Meet With DCI Pompeo

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Sergey Naryshkin, the Chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, was placed under US sanctions back in 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea. Nevertheless, Naryshkin was allowed to enter the US last week and subsequently met with DCI Mike Pompeo. Part of what we know of the trip was learned, of course, because the Russians decided to make it public. First in reporting at Tass, which was then highlighted by the Russian Embassy in DC.

What I find interesting is the reason presented: consultations with counterparts regarding terrorism. Ordinarily this type of senior principal to senior principal meeting would be reserved, outside of an official visit or summit, for dealing with a high level, quickly emerging threat the details of which no one would be willing to commit to regular secure channels for fear the details and/or the urgency could get lost in the shuffle. But from the reporting that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to CBS, this was about discussing “the joint struggle against terrorism”.

While it is possible that this is an attempt to cover for a more serious, important, and urgent reason to meet, this whole thing just seems weird. If the meeting was about something that important and urgent, both sides would have worked hard to keep it quiet until well after whatever they were concerned about had been prevented or dealt with.

For now, file this between the Hmm Files and the X-Files.

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  1. 1.

    TKH

    senior principal to senior principal, not principle. In the Drumpf administration nobody senior has any principles.

  2. 2.

    MJS

    You know, I’m just going to go ahead and file this in the already overstuffed, “Russia controls our government file.” That way, I’ll know where it is when it turns out to be as nefarious as it appears to be.

  6. 6.

    jl

    Maybe emergency meeting to deal with the emerging Dutch spy threat. I read that Dutch intelligence hacked the whole Russian hacking operation, and effing watched the hackers hacking away from the security and PC cameras. For several years, running up to the 2016 election. Damn Dutch are dangerous little fekkers.

    Certainly should be alarming to Putin and his flunky Lil’ Donnie.

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    And some of our trolls magically re-appeared as soon as Russian collusion was back in the news to try and knock the story down. Hmmm …. ?

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    OT: Trey “Innovative Hair Style” Gowdy is stepping down to spend more time with his Benghazi news clippings collection:

    House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) won’t run for another term, he announced Wednesday, making him the latest GOP chairman to announce he’s heading for the exits in recent months.

    “I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political elected office,” Gowdy said in a statement. “Instead I will be returning to the justice system. Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system.”

    His announcement makes him the ninth Republican committee chairman to announce he’s leaving, the second this week alone, and the second Oversight chairman in less than a year, as former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) quit to take a job at Fox News last year.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: If he’s returning to the justice system, then he’s either being lined up for a Federal judiciary nomination, a second stint as a US Attorney, or a senior appointment at DOJ or FBI.

  12. 12.

    MJS

    @dmsilev: 1. Gowdy has no skills. 2. Now his recent statements that are not completely in line with Republican talking points make a lot more sense.

  15. 15.

    TheDeadlyShoe

    It’s definitely Turkey and their “Operation Olive Branch” and its unfortunate pile of dead children.

  16. 16.

    mai naem mobile

    Trey Gowdy not running for reeelection. Things that make you go hmmm. …hmmm. .mm are they done looting or is he going to get caught up in treasonous activity???

  17. 17.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I can see something like this happening in a normal administration, if we had better relations with Russia, to get everyone on the same page. I’d be a little concerned if I were Pompeo about meeting with the heads of two Russian services (and apparently it was almost three). The way I would arrange such a meeting would be to call in the heads of some of our other intelligence services as well, like State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. And presumably Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence, would be the one to convene it.

    So yeah, this is weird and possibly dealing with something urgent. North Korea?

  18. 18.

    Bobby Thomson

    I don’t see what’s so interesting about a meeting of Russian senior management with a subordinate.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    Maybe someone somewhere decided it would be good…PR?…for Trumpov & Co, to be seen working with the Russians against the terrists?

    But I can see what other folks are saying about it being re: Turkey, too.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: Interesting thet it mentions committee chairmen. Seems like they are confident that Dems will win the House and they don’t want o be around to play “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Puddinhead: Only if they’re waiting until January 2019 since the announcement doesn’t indicate he’s resigning immediately, just not standing for reelection.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: Not really. In the post Gingrich reforms that broke the House of Representatives, the seniority perks were gotten rid of. It used to be that the top line chairmanships went to the most senior members of the majority. And they could remain chairmen as long as they liked barring scandal or something else strange happening. The rules since the mid 90s is that the chairmanships are awarded to cronies of leadership, not the most senior and/or most experienced congresspeople. And there is a limited amount of time one can serve as chair. This is how a fairly junior member like Chaffetz was able to become Oversight chair. Once these guys and gals finish their terms as chair, that’s pretty much it for them in terms of power. So seeing some of them retire isn’t surprising.

  33. 33.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I’m going to argue it’s not Turkey. Turkey has been a constant point of contention between the US and Russia, and, before that, the Soviet Union. For this group to be discussing it, we would need MUCH MUCH better relations with Russia. If that’s what Pompeo is discussing with these folks, it’s of a piece with him meeting with two Russians, namely that he’s very naive about this or much too friendly with those folks.

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    @jl:
    The crafty Dutch! First they kill the leather shoe industry now they take down the Russian spy apparatus. Could their so-called “windmills” kill our “beautiful clean coal” next?

    Stop the Duitch!

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: The travel ban portions can be waived by the State Department for specific reasons upon request. For instance, if someone needed a life saving medical treatment that could only be had in the US. Or if a close relative who is an American citizen or resident alien is terminal and/or died.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Or Dolt 45 convinced him the president has the power to fire Supreme Court justices and Gowdy should be getting his ducks in a row while he’s waiting in the wings.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: Department of State Intelligence and Research. It is State’s in house intel department. It is the smallest office in the US intel community and is shorthanded as INR.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: True. McConnell has already announced that at least on the Senate side, there will be no regular order for Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal or appropriation bills. He wants one or more year on year CRs as he doesn’t want his caucus having to formally commit to specific controversial funding items going into the midterms.

    It is amazing that these folks can tie their shoes.

  47. 47.

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

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It is amazing that these folks can tie their shoes.

    That’s why Putin wants them in power. Dysfunctional, incompetent, and controlled by money.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    @Adam L Silverman:

    there will be no regular order for Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal or appropriation bills

    JFC…

    He needs to go. He’s basically saying he will not perform an essential function of his job as a Senator. That’s fucking ridiculous. And because Kentucky his ass won’t get recalled. He should at least have the dignity to step down from the Speakership.

  52. 52.

    Elmo

    Discussing options for asylum and a dacha on the Black Sea? It would be irresponsible not to speculate!

  53. 53.

    Ryan

    If we apply the same standards for troof that the Republicans are concerning #LeakTheMemo, it’s obvious that Trump is a Russian spy who’s worked for the Kremlin for decades.

  57. 57.

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

    @WaterGirl:
    Because idiot voters who don’t deserve to live in a free society will blame the Democrats more than the Republicans, despite their majority, just like the previous shutdown.

  58. 58.

    Vor

    @Yutsano: didn’t Trump call for an end to the sequester last night? I assume that means they would actually have to pass a budget and stop kicking the can down the road with CRs.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: It hasn’t been explicitly reported, but it is the only way that this guy would have been allowed through immigration at the airport.

    To protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies – foreign and domestic. Same one Cheryl and I and many others have taken.

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    Siding with the GOP, Ryan sees possible ‘malfeasance’ at the FBI
    01/31/18 12:54 PM
    By Steve Benen

    With many federal law enforcement officials, including Donald Trump’s handpicked FBI director, pushing back against the release of the “Nunes memo,” is there any chance they might get some help from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)?

    Apparently not. Here’s what the Wisconsin Republican told reporters at a Capitol Hill briefing yesterday:

    “There may have been malfeasance at the FBI by certain individuals. So it is our job, in conducting transparent oversight of the executive branch, to get to the bottom of that. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. And so, what we want is all of this information to come out so that transparency can reign supreme and accountability can occur.”

    Yes, now that you mention it, it was kind of amusing to hear Ryan talk about the importance of executive branch oversight after House Republicans have done effectively nothing to check Donald Trump over the last year. His comments about “transparency” weren’t much better given the circumstances.

    The comments followed an unconfirmed Fox News report that the Speaker, in comments to reporters at a breakfast yesterday, said in reference to the memo and the FBI, “Let it all out, get it all out there. Cleanse the organization.”

  61. 61.

    Mike in NC

    Sergey Naryshkin, the Chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, was placed under US sanctions back in 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea.

    Will be seen departing Dulles Airport tonight with two aides carrying large suitcases stuffed with $100 bills. Dollars are still acceptable as street currency in Russia.

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    Paul Ryan Is the Silent Partner in Trump’s War on the Rule of Law
    By
    Jonathan Chait

    In early January, FBI director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein met with House Speaker Paul Ryan and asked him to rein in his attack dog, Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Nunes, who also attended the meeting, had supposedly “recused” himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, but in fact was running an increasingly vicious counter-investigation against the Department of Justice in an attempt to defend the administration. Wray and Rosenstein worried that Nunes’s subpoenas were threatening to expose sensitive law-enforcement documents. But, CNN reported on January 4, “it became clear that Ryan wasn’t moved and the officials wouldn’t have his support if they proceeded to resist Nunes’ remaining highly classified requests.”

    Since then, Nunes’s campaign against federal law enforcement has escalated. He has compiled a secret memo making wild allegations of conspiracies and even criminality against all of Trump’s legal antagonists. The entire conservative media infrastructure, goaded on by Trump himself, is foaming at the mouth to publish the Nunes memo. Democrats insist the memo is a distortion of the underlying intelligence regarding the FBI, but the Department of Justice also warns that publishing this underlying intelligence — which would be necessary to refute Nunes’ allegations — “would be extraordinarily reckless” and compromise national security.

    A side effect of Nunes’s campaign to discredit Trump’s investigators is to threaten to burn down the credibility and effectiveness of federal law enforcement. Here is the point that is largely absent from this drama: This is all happening because Paul Ryan wants it to happen.

  63. 63.

    TenguPhule

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    So yeah, this is weird and possibly dealing with something urgent. North Korea?

    At some point Cheryl, you really must stop giving Trump’s minions the benefit of the doubt.

    Russia is getting more intel on US and allied assets inside of Russia from this meeting. Count on it.

  65. 65.

    Sloane Ranger

    Apparently a lot of Repub legislators on their way to a retreat were on a special train which was involved in an accident when their train hit a garbage truck in Virginia. CNN is reporting that the truck driver is dead but the Repubs only suffered minor injuries. I’m afraid my better nature forced me to feel bad about my initial reaction when I heard this.

    No mention of terrorism to date.

    Reports that Repubs with medical qualifications performed first aid. Do you think they’ll bill the people they helped?

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yutsano: It is what it is. I have no idea what Ryan is going to have the House do. But considering that Title III of the Congressional Budget Act mandates that the President submit his budget on 1 February and that CBO must produce its budgetary report to the appropriate House Budget Committee by 15 February and that by 1 April the House Budget Committee prepares its concurrent budget resolution and the House must vote on it by 15 April and we only have about 9 days left on the latest and fifth short term Continuing Resolution for Fiscal Year 18, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to make any of these required benchmarks.

  68. 68.

    T S

    @Vor: The only thing that the GOP has to actually listen to Trump on are obvious, theatrical xenophobic gestures or things that flatter Trump or make him look tough. Budgets…eh, Trump doesn’t care. It’s accounting stuff. He wants the grand tough guy / racist things.

  71. 71.

    Yutsano

    @Adam L Silverman: Well Paulie Boy has the House on the Hastert Rule on steroids. The only way to get the next CR is with the Democrats, and he knows that. And he’s not even close to discussing any Democratic priorities. Hell I have no clue if the House is doing anything beyond the 20 week abortion ban. It’s obvious by now they really have zero interest in the actual governing part.

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: In the House, provided Ryan can hold 214 votes out of about 240 or so in his caucus, it doesn’t matter if every Democrat votes no. In the Senate McConnell needs 9 or 10 Democratic senators/senators that caucus with the Democrats to vote for cloture so they can vote on whatever appropriation bills or omnibus bill or CR. The actual vote to pass only requires 51 votes, so if he could get past the cloture vote, which is a vote on allowing the actual vote to happen, he wouldn’t need any Democrats either. This is where you see the complete lack of seriousness with the GOP leadership in Congress. They could have used the budget resolution to delineate that the appropriations bills would be covered under the 51 vote, simple majority reconciliations rules in the Senate. Instead they used that gimmick for the tax bill.

    At this point it isn’t clear they’ve got anything close to consensus on even another short term CR after the current one expires next week. And given they spent most of last week on official travel (Ryan led a congressional delegation to the Middle East for a couple of days) or at home in their districts, and today the GOP caucuses were headed for their annual retreat in W VA before their train hit a garbage truck (one dead – I think the passenger in the garbage truck and a couple of congressional staffers and at least one member sent to hospital for treatment), this is going to put them either farther behind. They’re not in DC trying to hammer out even a year on year omnibus CR to get us through to October. And some members were taking to the news reporters about just wanting to go home to their districts to be with their families given the crash today. Which means that this week is now functional over in terms of work for Congress because the GOP caucuses aren’t going to be up to doing much.

  74. 74.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: Don’t discount a third possibility: he’s turning his part-time Draco Malfoy cosplay act into a full time job with the upcoming Harry Potter movie. Maybe he’ll work at Universal Studios HP World as a “come get your picture with Draco Malfoy” double.

  78. 78.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @TenguPhule: Your scenario is possible. I took it into account in discussing the possibility that Pompeo is being very naive. But I don’t have enough information to come to a conclusion one way or another. I know it’s tempting to take the worst possible interpretation, but it’s not good analysis.

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: I just googled:

    Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution requires the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” This clause, known as the Take Care Clause, requires the President to enforce all constitutionally valid Acts of Congress, regardless of his own Administration’s view of their wisdom or policy.Nov 6, 2014

    I wanted to bold the whole thing, but I restrained myself. I am so angry at what Trump is doing to our country that I could scream.

  83. 83.

    geg6

    This may have been discussed in one of the SOTU threads, but can someone please explain to me why Ivanka was wearing the bedspread my brothers had on their twin beds in the early 1960s?

  84. 84.

    MattF

    I’d put this in the ‘hiding in plain sight’ folder. I’ll bet that Pompano and Naryshkin are discussing something critical.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    @Leto:

    Maybe he’ll work at Universal Studios HP World as a “come get your picture with Draco Malfoy” double.

    Hey, it’s a more honest living than being a Republican politician at this point.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @geg6:

    Rich people love to wear ugly but expensive clothes so they can emphasize that they’re able to afford something that no one else would be caught dead wearing. It’s like Ann Romney and the $1,000 fish t-shirt. The point is to make people ask how much it cost.

  88. 88.

    Yutsano

    @Mnemosyne: Honestly doing three card monte on an NYC street corner is more honest work than being a Republican politician these days. My only hope is Newhouse somehow gets primaried out of his seat.

  90. 90.

    bemused

    @geg6:

    As I didn’t watch SOTU last night, I had to find a photo to see her 1960’s bedspread outfit and I burst out laughing. Even worse than I imagined.

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: I know, I know! Ivanka has no taste.

    It was discussed a bit on the SOTU, apparently she had some expensive designer – who must have used the bedspreads you refer to.

  94. 94.

    germy

    Interesting thread about how quietly democracy can disappear. From someone who experienced it.

    So if you're waiting for the grand moment when the scales tip and we are no longer a functioning democracy, you needn't bother. It'll be much more subtle than that. It'll be more of the president ignoring laws passed by congress. It'll be more demonizing of the press.— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) January 30, 2018

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    @bemused: @geg6: We must all be wrong! When I googled for a photo of the dress, I found this:

    Whether you’re a fan of President Trump’s daughter and trusted adviser or not, you can’t deny that Ivanka Trump is a natural-born fashionista. From her father’s inauguration ceremony to visits on the world stage, you can always rely on the first daughter to take your breath away with her distinctive-savvy fashion choices. In fact, I think when it comes down to Trump attending an event, the universal question everyone asks in their heads is: what is she gonna wear? Tonight, Ivanka Trump’s State of the Union dress has made it loud and clear that nothing has changed — she’s still a modern muse with her own unique identity in the mundane-ish sphere of politics.

    On Jan. 30, Trump arrived to the State of the Union donned in a black, red, and white plaid dress, apparently designed by Oscar de la Renta. The multi-layered outfit is decorated with frills on the sleeves and folds, which add modish, chic touches to an otherwise simple dress. Trump also paired her outfit with a matching plaid belt, strapped just above her waist. Just minutes before the State of the Union began, the White House advisor snapped a fun video debuting her gown on her Snapchat, and honestly, though she kept it simple, she looks really elegant.

    edit: please excuse me while I vomit.

  97. 97.

    germy

    It's a mistake to think a dictatorship feels intrinsically different on a day-to-day basis than a democracy does. I've lived in one dictatorship and visited several others–there are still movies and work and school and shopping and memes and holidays.— G. Willow Wilson (@GWillowWilson) January 30, 2018

  101. 101.

    germy

    Looking out at Cryin’ Chuck and Lyin’ Ted, Crazy Bernie and Pocahontas, Dicky Durbin and Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, Jeff Flakey and Liddle Bob Corker, President Trump calls for unity.

    — Matt Viser (@mviser) January 31, 2018

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: They didn’t blame the Democrats more than the Republicans. The blaming of Republicans was split because “I blame Trump” was an option. You and I may argue that it makes more sense to blame the Congressional Republicans than Trump, but blaming Trump is fun.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    I didn’t watch most of the Joe III speech last night, but here is a summary from Nancy L at the Washington Monthly:

    Many have spent the past year anxious, angry, afraid. We all feel the fault lines of a fractured country. We hear the voices of Americans who feel forgotten and forsaken…

    And that nagging, sinking feeling, no matter your political beliefs: this is not right. This is not who we are…

    This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us – they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection.

    For them, dignity isn’t something you’re born with but something you measure…

    Their record is a rebuke of our highest American ideal: the belief that we are all worthy, we are all equal and we all count. In the eyes of our law and our leaders, our God and our government.

    That is the American promise.

    But today that promise is being broken. By an Administration that callously appraises our worthiness and decides who makes the cut and who can be bargained away.

    They are turning American life into a zero-sum game.

    Where, in order for one to win, another must lose…

    We are bombarded with one false choice after another:

    Coal miners or single moms. Rural communities or inner cities. The coast or the heartland.

    As if the mechanic in Pittsburgh and the teacher in Tulsa and the daycare worker in Birmingham are somehow bitter rivals, rather than mutual casualties of a system forcefully rigged for those at the top.

    As if the parent who lies awake terrified that their transgender son will be beaten and bullied at school is any more or less legitimate than the parent whose heart is shattered by a daughter in the grips of opioid addiction.

    So here is the answer Democrats offer tonight: we choose both. We fight for both. Because the strongest, richest, greatest nation in the world shouldn’t leave any one behind.

  105. 105.

    Chris

    @germy:

    The press picks a side. The military picks a side. The judiciary picks a side. This part should already feel familiar.

    No kidding.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @Yutsano: Not sure what it was, but it must have been some good stuff. Especially since the side effects have to last long enough that you can get through the humiliation of days of people reading about the travesty you created.

  111. 111.

    Calouste

    @Adam L Silverman: In the UK, even cabinets that include such shining lights as David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson manage to get budgets of in time for the Queen’s Speech. Of course, if they didn’t, Liz would be rather miffed. She might even raise an eyebrow.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    In other news, GovExec – Full DC Circuit rules CFPB structure is Constitutional after all:

    In a break for creators of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an appeals court on Wednesday reversed a previous ruling and declared the independent structure of the controversial agency to be constitutional.

    The full U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit overruled a September 2016 decision by its three-judge panel that had called the agency’s structure unconstitutional because the director has wide-ranging power with little oversight. The case involves a New Jersey mortgage lender challenging a $109 million fine levied by the bureau.

    Wednesday’s 5-3 ruling in PHH Corp. vs. CFPB, written by Judge Nina Pillard, attracted three concurring and three dissenting views. “The Supreme Court eighty years ago sustained the constitutionality of the independent Federal Trade Commission, a consumer-protection financial regulator with powers analogous to those of the CFPB,” she wrote, citing the 1935 case Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.

    “In doing so, the court approved the very means of independence Congress used here: protection of agency leadership from at-will removal by the president. The court has since reaffirmed and built on that precedent, and Congress has embraced and relied on it in designing independent agencies,” as it did when it created the CFPB in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.

    Liberal and consumer groups cheered the ruling. “This isn’t just a victory for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, this is a victory for consumers everywhere,” said Allied Progress executive director Karl Frisch. “The D.C. Circuit has soundly rejected attempts by Wall Street special interests to cripple the bureau by challenging its constitutionality. Equally important, the court has reaffirmed the CFPB’s independence from the Trump administration, rejecting the notion that a president should be able to replace the agency’s director without cause.”

    […]

    Good, good.

    But it’s infuriating that we have to continue to fight these battles. As long as that is the case, we have to fight them every single day. We cannot take anything for granted.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    Yutsano

    @Calouste: In the UK even the opposition has an interest in governing. It’s pretty easy to be against government. It’s something else entirely to actually be in power and then undermine the very institutions you’ve been elected to steward.

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Calouste: Because if they don’t they can get voted out of office. Forget the British even lndia manages to do it, and did it even during the era of coalition governments in the nineties and aughts.

    ETA: But the bestest constitution in the world never made any allowances for human failings.

  117. 117.

    Mike J

    Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned Wednesday morning following a report she had bought shares in a tobacco company last summer shortly after assuming her post running the nation’s public-health agency.

  118. 118.

    ET

    @dmsilev: that is is big one to step down. I really think it says something about the state of the GOP. Won’t be sad to see him go. I do find it interesting is that he seems to be on the outside when it comes to the witch hunt surrounding DoJ at the moment.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mike J:

    Has anyone dug around the CDC’a website to see if they were proposing new rules on tobacco, or did she get caught before she could get the memo written?

  120. 120.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: Well before everyone slits their wrists in despair for the Republic; remember Woodrow Wilson was just as authoritarian, a racists douche as Trump, lot more competent, popular and we got our democracy back.

  123. 123.

    Yutsano

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: A better comparison on the incompetence front is Warren G Harding. He barely cobbled together a Cabinet of sycophants and thieves that literally looted everything they could before Harding was voted out. Combine the two and we’re back in the Roaring 20’s again.

    And we remember how that ended up.

  125. 125.

    WaterGirl

    @Mike J:

    …report she had bought shares in a tobacco company last summer shortly after assuming her post running the nation’s public-health agency

    Wow. The balls on these people. They think the rules don’t apply to them.

  126. 126.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Bobby Thomson: Likely the most racists, authoritarian prick ever to live in the White House and overrated, I see a link here. But Wilson had successfully enacted a police state that was arresting and deporting American citizens who spoke out against his policies.

  127. 127.

    Yutsano

    @WaterGirl: Look at how much time and how much pressure it took to get Tom Price to quit. And that probably doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the things he probably did get away with now that are swept under the rug.

    Having said that…I still want a full court press on removing DeVos. She’s doing some evil shit and she gotta go.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: IANAL, but the excerpt seems clear that Cordray’s appointed replacement was valid and that Trump stepping all over her with Mulvaney was illegal.

    But another judge ruled earlier that Mulvaney was OK – temporarily, so who knows…

    As always, lawyers can argue about anything (it’s what they’re paid to do). I assume Trump will appeal and the SCOTUS may decide to hear it (though they shouldn’t). So I don’t expect that the battle is over.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  129. 129.

    Amir Khalid

    @Calouste:
    Of course, in Britain — or any functioning democracy — a party in power that plainly can’t or won’t perform a fundamental task of government is inviting certain defeat at the next election. In America, this is not a sure thing.

  131. 131.

    Chris

    @Amir Khalid:

    Distrust of and cynicism towards the government is popular in probably every country in the world. But to my knowledge the U.S. is still unique, at least among developed democratic nations, in having a huge voter bloc that considers non-functional government something to aspire to.

  135. 135.

    Shana

    @bemused: And, as usual, too tight. People, wearing a size too small just makes you look heavy because it doesn’t skim over your body, it bunches where it should float. Jeez these people.

  137. 137.

    Yutsano

    @Joe Miller: See, this is what I get when I don’t listen to myself. I knew he had died in office, but voted out stuck in my head. Thank you.

  138. 138.

    germy

    When Silent Cal died, Dorothy Parker asked “How can they tell?”

    Robert Benchley replied “He had an erection.”

    (Parker’s quote is more or less well known, but Benchley’s quote never made it to the newspapers for some reason.)

  139. 139.

    geg6

    @Shana:

    Yeah, she has bit of the sausage look happening. But it doesn’t matter because the dress is so ugly, it’s almost hypnotic. Just saw it full length on another site and the horrible asymmetric hem makes it even worse than the fugly plaid and fraying sleeves originally made it seem.

  141. 141.

    PsiFighter37

    Seeing that Trump’s approval in Monmouth poll is at 42%, up 10% since last month. This country is so fucked. Thanks a lot to the corporations that released Orwellian press releases about 1-time bonuses while pocketing a 14% permanent tax break.

    F.M.L.

  142. 142.

    Boatboy_srq

    Looks to me like a department head visiting a field office to meet with the subordinate in charge of the site. Which perspective makes me more uncomfortable rather than less.

    #NotNormal
    #NotPatriotic

  143. 143.

    catclub

    OT but possibly coming soon:
    When the PA State Supreme court ruled strongly against a GOP Gerrymander, I predicted it would get to USSC, while many experts here said that could not happen because it is strictly a state law matter. … well

    The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc may be preparing an attack on state sovereignty in order to maintain a Republican gerrymander through the 2018 midterms.

    Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated the state’s current congressional map, ruling that it favored the GOP in violation of the state constitution and ordering a new, nonpartisan map. Republican legislative leaders asked Justice Samuel Alito, who reviews emergency appeals out of Pennsylvania, to block the decision. Because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision involved only state law, Alito should’ve denied the request outright. Instead, he has ordered voting rights advocates to respond, raising the real possibility that a majority of the justices will vote to halt the ruling. If they do, the intervention will mark an extraordinary expansion of the court’s power to prevent states from protecting their residents’ voting rights.

    Slate has the full article

  145. 145.

    catclub

    @schrodingers_cat: and it is even worse than I first thought – the GOP majority could use the 2000 Bush v Gore decision ( the one that explicitly says never use this decision as precedent)
    as precedent to overturn a state supreme court on state election laws.

  146. 146.

    Mnemosyne

    @catclub:

    States only have the rights that conservatives want them to have. Goes back to the Fugitive Slave Laws, if not earlier.

  147. 147.

    MisterForkbeard

    @PsiFighter37: It’s a normal reaction to the SOTU and the usually positive “Look all we did in our first year!” triumphalism, no matter how false it is. Though some of it is due to major companies going all-in to prove the tax cut was a good thing by loudly giving out minor one-time bonuses while pocketing huge amounts of cash.

    I wouldn’t expect this to continue.

  149. 149.

    clay

    @germy: Say what you will about the Star Wars prequels, but some parts of them really resonate:

    “So this is how democracy dies — to thunderous applause.”

  150. 150.

    Lapassionara

    @WaterGirl: Yes! This is what drives me crazy.

    In other news, my news feed just now said FEMA has reversed course and is staying in Puerto Rico. That’s positive.

  151. 151.

    cmorenc

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @dmsilev: If he’s returning to the justice system, then he’s either being lined up for a Federal judiciary nomination, a second stint as a US Attorney, or a senior appointment at DOJ or FBI.

    My two educated guesses are, in order:

    1) Federal judiciary nomination (to either District court in SC or to the 4th Circuit. A 4th Circuit nomination for Gowdy might be especially tempting for Trump and Gowdy, because although the 4th Circuit for a long time one of the more conservative federal appellate courts, but Obama’s six successful nominations to the 4th Circuit fundamentally changed the balance to a decidedly more moderate inclination. Gowdy’s nomination to the Federal District Court in South Carolina would merely be a pure political plum for him, but nominating him to the 4th Circuit would have much more strategic impact.

    2) FBI or Justice Dept – put him in the FBI to monitor, investigate, and take counter-measures to deep state forces trying to undermine the Trump Admin. Put Dudley DoRIGHT in charge of ferreting out the hostiles within the FBI.

  152. 152.

    cain

    I read a lot of books, and occasionally, something would unexpectedly catch me by surprise and I thought this snippet from this book would be amusing to share. The background is that the city of Chicago has been taken over by carribean voodoo priest, whose turned most of the city into zombies except for a select few. The woman Adalia is able to channel the universe and is kind of a priest but she’s only 14 years old. There are trying to figure out where this asshole is.

    “Can you feel it?” said Adalia. “He’s where the wind touches the earth. He’s where the dark is strongest. He’s under the world and over it. He lives in the space between your thoughts, touches your dreams, and gives us nightmares that make us fear the fading of the sun. He sits aside the water, drawing power from it. He is the leader of the Damned.”
    The room fell silent. Val looked at Danny, her face as surprised as everyone else’s.
    Rex stepped into the quiet first. “Okay. Where’s that?”
    “Shit,” said John, “that’s easy. He’s in Trump Tower.”

    After that is a nice adventure where Trump Tower gets fucked up and apparently Trump likes to keep anti-artillery weapons on his roof. Surprise ending!

    ETA – sorry if offtopic, I figured we could use a laugh.

  153. 153.

    Chris

    @cain:

    Ah, the good old days when Trump was a punchline and Alternate-Hill-Valley-1985 was just a bad future timeline…

    That book of yours isn’t a Dresden book I somehow skipped over, is it? (I don’t think it is, but sorcery, Chicago, I had to ask. Also sounds like something a Dresden character might say).

  154. 154.

    JoeyJoeJoe Junior Shabadoo

    @PsiFighter37: it’s just one poll. Monmouth consistently gave shithead a higher approval than other polls before December, and the 32 number in that months poll was lower than his approval in any other poll since the beginning. Don’t worry unless his approval rises across multiple polls for an extended time

  155. 155.

    Just One More Canuck

    @PaulWartenberg: the accident was in Virginia – the train was headed for the Greenbrier in West Virginia (not close to Balloon Juice World Headquarters)

  156. 156.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    because the Russians decided to make it public. First in reporting at Tass, which was then highlighted by the Russian Embassy in DC.

    As well as the weirdness of the meeting, there is the weirdness of the Russian media boasting about an event that their US hosts had preferred to hush up. At this point they’re just gloating about their ownership of the Trump administration.

  157. 157.

    Chris

    @Sm*t Cl*de:

    At this point they’re just gloating about their ownership of the Trump administration.

    Very definitely, yes.

    It’s not just gloating for the sake of gloating, either. They’re announcing to the world, every chance they get, that the U.S. is closed for business and that they’re the ones to talk to now. The world’s got the message loud and clear, and has at least ever since the Palestinian Authority’s president asked the Kremlin to put in a word for them at the White House a year or so ago. Didn’t do the Palestinians any good, but it certainly set the tone – he wasn’t the last guy to do something like that.

    And note that whether or not Republicans in Congress are actually compromised, their furious efforts to cover for Trump are basically doing Putin’s job for him. Anyone outside the Fox News circuit looking in is going “there is no fucking way these people are that desperate to cover for Trump, to the point that they’ve now declared war on their main police agency, one that’s stuffed with their own loyalists no less, unless there’s something real there.”

  159. 159.

    central texas

    I don’t see anything weird about it. Just good business practice to make sure that you have the “cops” greased before the con. Or maybe good customer service. The SVR is coming to make sure they are doing everything that their customer, the GOP, wants and needs to remain in power. They know the elected portions of the GOP are and will do their part but needed assurances that the security apparatus will stay out of the way. I’m surprised they didn’t also get together with the NSA.

  160. 160.

    Mnemosyne

    @Sm*t Cl*de:

    At this point they’re just gloating about their ownership of the Trump administration.

    And we have Americans on both the right and the left with their heads in the sand, still denying what Moscow is saying to the whole world with their outside voices.
    /headdesk

  163. 163.

    The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion

    @Another Scott: yeah, that’s awesome except for the part where it no longer matters because the Trump-appointed thief who runs it now is castrating it from the top.

  164. 164.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That was the oath I took, I think – but it was almost 50 years ago, and I was upset and not paying enough attention at the time… very nearly 48 years ago to be more exact. March 1970.

    I think I did better than Nunes, or McConnell, or Trump, or…. any of these traitorous Republicans.

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