Apparently the secondary position of the Lajes Protocol has failed.
NEWS: The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee have privately concluded that the HPSCI majority leaked Mark Warner's private text messages to Fox News. https://t.co/pn9uLfGtZN
— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) March 1, 2018
Back in February when the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair, Congressman Devin Nunes, was going all in on his memo, Jullian Assange tried to contact Sean Hannity over twitter to provide him with text messages from Senator Warner. Despite texting a Sean Hannity parody account that was put up when Hannity’s twitter service was temporarily interrupted, the texts managed to make it into the hands of Fox News. No one was quite sure how they got them. Unfortunately for Fox, Hannity, Assange, Nunes, and everyone else screaming conspiracy, Senator Warner, the ranking member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had notified his senate committee colleagues about the text messages, which were with a lawyer who represents a Russian oligarch that Warner was seeking information from.
The NY Times is now reporting that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has now concluded that the texts messages got to Fox News not by way of Ecuador’s most unhygienic house guest, but from the Republican majority of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the committee’s Republican chairman, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat, were so perturbed by the leak that they demanded a rare meeting with Speaker Paul D. Ryan last month to inform him of their findings. They used the meeting with Mr. Ryan to raise broader concerns about the direction of the House Intelligence Committee under its chairman, Representative Devin Nunes of California, the officials said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Nunes, Jack Langer, did not dispute that the committee had leaked the messages, but called the premise of this article “absurd.”
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, declined to comment. In his meeting with the senators, Mr. Ryan made clear that he heard their complaints but noted that he did not run the committee himself, the officials briefed on the encounter said.
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee were briefed on their conclusions in recent weeks and on the meeting with Mr. Ryan.
In a joint statement, Mr. Burr and Mr. Warner acknowledged the meeting with Mr. Ryan and said they had not requested that the speaker take any specific action.
I want to highlight something important; specifically Speaker Ryan’s statement that “he did not run the committee himself”. This is quite true. However, Congressman Nunes holds the chairmanship of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence because Speaker Ryan keeps him in that position. It is solely within the Speaker’s discretion to keep Congressman Nunes as chair, or even as a member of the committee, or to remove him. The Speaker may not run the committee, but he clearly wants Congressman Nunes in that position. And this isn’t the first time Speaker Ryan has run interference for Congressman Nunes. He did the same thing when the FBI and DOJ had concerns about providing the Strzok/Page texts that are part of the DOJ IG’s investigation into the FBI’s actions during their probe of Secretary Clinton’s server and emails. Which also quickly leaked from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This whole mess is in the hands of two men: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA). It could all be put to bed very quickly, but Speaker Ryan, for whatever reason, clearly does not want the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to function properly or to follow the rules of classification/declassification. The real question here is why.
Stay frosty!
Open thread.
Adam L Silverman
Well this sounds like fun!
jonas
Ah, so now we know why a few weeks ago a House member of the committee was whinging that the majority’s entire staff was under investigation for leaking.
JMG
The only logical conclusion (I admit that in politics there’s always a good chance of an illogical explanation) is that an investigation carried to its finish would reveal Ryan was a witting conspirator in the Russian effort to influence the 2016 election.
jonas
@Adam L Silverman: LOL! Was reading elsewhere that Trump was scheduled to make an announcement on steel and aluminum tariffs, except that most of the WH staff was kept in the dark about it so that no one would get to Trump and change his mind before he went before the cameras. Then word leaked and everybody apparently started losing their shit.
Good times. Good times.
HeleninEire
@Adam L Silverman: And why is this news? OF COURSE IT’S ALL FUCKED UP.
Miss Bianca
Wait, WTF? Am I reading this correctly? The Republican majority of the *House* Intelligence Committee…leaked a *Senate* Intelligence Committee leader’s text messages to Fox News??
I mean, I know I shouldn’t be shocked at any instance of the Republicans putting party over country, but I thought there used to be at least an “honor among thieves” level of esprit de corps among Congress critters?
Oh, wait, it’s Devin Nunes and Paul Ryan we’re talking about. Neb’ mind.
Are there going to be any *actual* repercussions over this, do you think? I mean, will Sad-Eyed Granny Starver of the Northlands actually feel some pressure to have to…uh…*do* something about Nunes’s position on the Intelligence Committee?
BruceFromOhio
Party before country, always.
Joyce Harmon
You know, it sure sounds like Nunes and his henchmen didn’t just leak these texts to Fox News, they also leaked them to Julian Assange – how else would he have gotten them? So why are the Republicans on House Intel working hand in glove with Putin’s cut-out for American Democracy Subversion. Have they always been part of the plot or did they just join up recently?
jonas
@JMG: Well, we know that both Ryan and McConnell and the rest of the Congressional leadership were briefed on Russian interference early in the fall of 2016 and both of them basically told Obama that he’d better not do anything about it or they’d go ballistic over it being “politicized.” This is why Reid was so furious when Comey sent the letter about the Hillary emails, but said nothing about the investigation into Russia’s efforts to get Trump elected. Of course they knew the Russians were working to help them. And they welcomed that help.
clay
What do the Warner texts say? Is there a summary of them?
eclare
I clicked on the link, but I didn’t see any mention of the Lajes Protocol, what is this?
ETA> Better phrasing would be definition.
Villago Delenda Est
Nunes must hold stock in a legal paper production company, because he keeps doing things that add to the charge sheet.
Mary G
I thought my opinion of Paul Ryan couldn’t be any lower, but I was wrong. Leaving Nunes in charge of that committee is an act of war against democracy.
Corner Stone
Wait, what? How can it be “absurd” if you don’t deny the leaks came from the comt?
Corner Stone
What a complete coward. History, if there is any, will absolutely not look kindly on ZEGS.
LAO
@Mary G: I have decided that there simply is no floor — congressional republicans are a special breed of loathsome.
Yarrow
If they do they’ll uncover his treason. He’s doing what he can to keep that from happening. Won’t work. Sorry, Paulie.
Brachiator
WTF? This shit is becoming a sad parody of a government.
Funny how deep in the shit Ryan is despite any protestations of non-involvement.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
@jonas:
Mary G posted this in Cheryl’s thread downstairs:
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: I am no fan of Senator Thune — but I think he might be correct:
Corner Stone
@clay:
From what I understand it was mainly a lot of sexting, with some encrypted phrases we have yet to decipher. Like “DTF?” and “WEVS” along with longer code words such as “Bbqhatevwr”
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
– No tariff announcement on schedule issued at 9 PM
– Trump says he wants to announce tariff today, sending officials on mad scramble
– Senior officials say the policy isn’t ready, there’ll be no announcement today, just a “listening session”
– Trump announces tariff
kindness
November 2018 can’t come soon enough.
jonas
The other thing with Ryan and Nunes is that Ryan is probably smart enough to know that Mueller’s going to produce some actionable charges against Trump and Congress will have to decide what to do. Nunes is an idiot, but a useful one to Ryan. He seems to be good at getting on Hannity or talk radio shows and really muddying the waters and claiming the FBI is corrupt, Mueller has conflicts of interest, etc. Regular Fox News/Infowars viewers are thoroughly convinced that Trump is a poor, innocent lamb being railroaded by a Commie-Nazi Volksgerichtshof led by a convicted war criminal in league with Iran and several other liberal-leaning alien spaceships. Sidney Blumenthal and George Soros figure in there somewhere as well, I believe. This means when the time comes, there really won’t be any pressure from the GOP base to take action against Trump. Ryan can just go before the cameras and say that he has “grave concerns” about Mueller’s objectivity and that he doesn’t see the need to move quickly on [whatever Trump gets charged with].
Adam L Silverman
@jonas: And with the exception of Miller and that one really loony (which given this crew is relative) economics advisor that was working with Bannon, no one in the White House wants him to do this. Not even Kevin Hassett, who wrote DOW 36,000.
Amir Khalid
The immediately apparent answer is that Ryan wants to manipulate the secrecy/disclosure of information to his party’s advantage, or failing that to minimise any harm to public perception of it.
A side question: Why is the House Select Committee on Intelligence “permanent”, whereas the corresponding Senate committee is not?
eric
@Yarrow: simply, yes.
bemused
Treasonous thugs.
schrodingers_cat
Did anyone read the long article Vichy Times had about how Kelly helped sink DACA? I have seen it linked several times.
Adam L Silverman
@eclare: It’s an inside nat-sec joke. Nunes’ family is originally from Lajes in the Azores. He’s been trying to leverage his position on the intel committee, both as a member and now as chair, to basically relocate all of the US’s signals and electronic intel capability to Lajes because it will benefit his relatives and their friends.
jonas
@Corner Stone:
If you don’t think there was a problem with leaking the texts (IOKIYAR!), then the article’s underlying assumption that this was a hugely unethical, if not outright illegal, breach of security is “absurd.” Same goes with releasing a political hack-job memo that revealed — and lied about — details of the FBI surveillance of Carter Page.
Redshift
@clay:
There were news articles about them a couple of weeks ago. Basically Nunes/Fox blustered about “Look! A Democrat talking to Russians! That’s the real collusion argle bargle!” and Warner responded “I’m on the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference, of course I was talking to Russians. The Committee approved it.” Then the whole thing went away in a day or so.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: I almost never read anything at the NYTimes site. I see/hear their reporting through MSNBC or sometimes blurbs off twit feeds. Have not seen the article you reference but it makes sense.
Kelly
Republicans are the party of strong national security, law and order, fiscal responsibility and always will be (on the MSM).
Corner Stone
@Redshift: Rubio also came out and said, “Yawn. We knew this because he fully disclosed months ago.”
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Well oiled machine.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: Well oiled machine.
burnspbesq
If someone were to treat Nunes like the second coming of Charles Sumner, I would object but I would understand. A good caning is exactly what he needs.
WaterGirl
@Joyce Harmon: Holy fuck, Batman!
Are the top Republicans so much a part of this scandal that they are willing to risk everything to undermine Mueller, even at the risk of supplying more evidence of their involvement? I say yes.
Wag
@Brachiator:
Not until chuck Todd announces that it is.
So no, never.
jonas
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, Boeing, Caterpillar, the automakers and the construction industry are just gonna luuuuv this.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Ryan conspired with Rohrabacher and Keven McCarthy and swore them to secrecy to keep it a secret after McCarthy said Trump and Rohrabacher were on Putin’s payroll. What Ryan is doing here (and not doing here) is just the logical conclusion of his stance then.
Paul Ryan is a traitor and so is the Turtle.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: I have been quietly singing this all day.. Really, I feel fine.
jonas
@schrodingers_cat: Not surprising. He was a total racist, anti-immigrant dickhole at DHS.
eclare
@Adam L Silverman: Ah, I had read about his wanting to relocate stuff to a Portuguese island, did not realize that was it. Thanks!
Wag
@LAO: I like this version of the song even better.
marcopolo
In light of this thread/post, I urge everyone to go ahead and make a donation to Randy Bryce who is running against Ryan. He definitely has a chance of tossing him out on his @ss. Here is the link for his ActBlue page:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/randy-bryce-for-congress-1?refcode=home
jonas
@Wag: Indeed. You can’t be a serious political reporter or pundit in the Village if your beat is covering a dumpster fire. That would be undignified.
Miss Bianca
@jonas: A friend of mine wants me to go in with her on a property purchase where the house is off-grid. She was mentioning that her solar guy was saying that it would be better to order any parts that might need to be replaced on the solar panels, etc. within the next couple weeks, before the Trumpian tariffs on Chinese solar equipment went into place.
Corner Stone
@jonas:
I am wondering what numbers Boeing is going to publish about how damaging this move will be to their business and/or announcing that due to these tariffs they will be forced to offshore more of their work than they had planned.
I am also surprised that the construction/home builders have not already put out a contract on Trump due to the brutal inflation on lumber from Canada.
Mary G
Per Axios:
I want to feel gleeful about this, but instead it gives me a feeling of foreboding. A deranged, senile narcissist in the presidency can cause irreparable damage to the country. He should take tomorrow off and golf all weekend, along with complaining to his friends over the phone.
Adam L Silverman
@jonas: When it costs $20 for a toilet brush at Wal-Mart, the Trump Train is going to be in trouble.
LAO
@Wag: I can’t believe I never saw that before. Thanks.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: That was the title of my Master’s thesis in comparative religion.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl:
As I’ve been saying for about a year and a half now, they are all traitors. Trump, his family, his associates and members of his team, the top GOP leadership and some of the lower ranking GOP members as well as some Democrats are all traitors. They are going down. McConnell may think he won’t go down for his actions. He is wrong. Tick tock, motherfuckers.
Yellowdog
@jonas: The Dow is off almost 2% since the tariff announcement.
Mary G
Hoocoodanode:
Winning! Also, evidently we get more steel from Canada than China, so we are pissing off our good neighbors.
Corner Stone
The good news is that the markets are absolutely Loving this tariff announcement! Only spiked down about 550 points immediately afterward. Yay!
MisterForkbeard
@Miss Bianca: I mean, the entire Republican Party has (for at least the last 30 years or so) relied on the fact that Democrats actually DO care about the country and won’t reciprocate on their perfidy and norm-breaking.
I’m not sure how much longer this is going to go on. Not that I expect Democrats to respond in kind, but we’re getting to the point where Dems are going to have to be active at the highest levels in essentially calling the Republican party a bunch of a treasonous assholes and proving it, along with other kinds of retaliation.
Gin & Tonic
OK, fucking Larry Kudlow on Twitter just now: “Stocks down 500. Steel tariffs could wreck NAFTA talks. That would be calamitous.” And the DJIA is down almost 600 at this point.
El Caganer
And once again House Speaker Paul Ryan displays all the backbone of a tablespoon of library paste.
tobie
Do we have any idea when and how the tariff will be imposed and enforced? This is being done by executive fiat, not legislation.
ETA: I’m wondering if a complaint will be lodged with the WTO. This could go haywire fast. I’m fastening my seatbelt.
Peale
@Miss Bianca: Nope. They leaked it to “Wikileaks” which is the same as leaking to Fox News. It’s really no longer an organization that is attempting to shine daylight on things the Powers that Be want hidden from view, but a way for the powers that be to settle scores with each other in support of fascism.
bemused
@LAO:
Adventure should be replaced with fubar.
schrodingers_cat
The only person I see covering these trade issues, including the NAFTA talks is Daniel Dale. Our MSM is mostly AWOL on the trade issue.
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: You can beat on it.
bemused
@jonas:
Funny how god people never explore the idea that god may be punishing them for being assholes to people not them.
geg6
To paraphrase Nooners, it would be irresponsible not to speculate that Paul Ryan is a traitorous mother fucker under the thumb of Putin.
Miss Bianca
@MisterForkbeard: Democrats may have to start dropping everything they know about the huge, steaming gobs of GOP-Russian shit – by any means necessary.
“We must subvert the rule of law in order to save it.” And for once, I am afraid I mean that unironically. Strange days, indeed.
piratedan
@El Caganer: he’s got plenty of backbone when it comes to subverting Democracy… the shit that they pull in doing these deeds really tax my better angels
Adria McDowell
@Miss Bianca: “Sad-Eyed Granny Starver of the Northlands…“
LOVE IT.
Aleta
Corner Stone
“Oh, I don’t know. Does it rhyme with shmusha?”
/SRuhle talking to Katy Tur just now about tariff’s and message distraction
*Swoon*
Yutsano
@schrodingers_cat: I wonder if Americans can subscribe to Canadian newspapers. I could probably borrow a cousin’s address if necessary.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Kudlow is one of the President’s outside economic advisors and likely pick to replace Gary Cohn. He’s also an idiot.
El Caganer
@Mary G: Wasn’t there a cite in an earlier thread that this tariff could destroy the Canadian steel industry? Of course, the Chinese might decide to bail it out….
El Caganer
@Adam L Silverman: .”…..but I repeat myself….”
Aleta
bluefish
Entropy.
GregB
If only 65 million people had spoken up about the absolute horror a man like Trump endowed with the power of the presidency would bring.
We are entering the desperate hours.
Adam L Silverman
@tobie: It will be. Begun, the Trade War, has.
Yutsano
@El Caganer: Pretty sure this is gonna go to the WTO and the WTO is gonna smack Dolt45 upside the head with a salmon.
Which, come to think of it, would be a waste of a perfectly tasty fish.
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic:
Leto
@Adam L Silverman: Just for that he needs to be thrown out of Congress. He’s delaying a project I spent a few years working on that really needs to start. On top of the fact that he had his fucking chance during the Congressional EIC and they said NO. It would be a fucking logistical nightmare, on top of the fact that the DoD has been trying for a while now to GTFO out of Lajes. I know these are things you know, just needed a quick vent.
EBT
@Corner Stone: DTF is Dying To Fuck
Brachiator
@Adam L Silverman:
I will really start to worry if Trump orders the construction of a Death Star to counter Putin.
And I am beginning to suspect that Pence is really Sheev Palpatine, standing by in the sidelines.
Corner Stone
Stephanie Ruhle also making a good point – sure China is dumping their steel on the market, but they are dumping it in places like Turkey, et al that are our allies. So we’re going to hurt all of our trading partners?
schrodingers_cat
Question: How can T impose tariffs without any legislation.
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Collect those aluminum cans now for later recycling and retire in luxury!
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
This is very concerning to me. I do not trust what Trump might do should he feel too under attack or frenzied with all the chaos.
I hope there are people in place to prevent him from doing something catastrophic. His threats about North Korea last week were troubling.
Yutsano
@Brachiator:
Nothing in Pence’s past has ever suggested that he is anywhere near that clever or forward thinking.
Mother on the other hand…
El Caganer
@Yutsano: I dunno. He might approve if it were one of those farmed ones loaded to the gills with chemicals.
HeleninEire
So my local pub is HOPPING. It’s attached to a hotel, and a bunch of tourists are stranded. WOO HOO. My friend Liam is talking to a girl from Budapest. She’s younger than his daughters; so no.
Of course I should not talk. That pretty boy from London who I met last night just stopped by to say “Hi, I’m stuck here until Saturday. Wanna have dinner tomorrow?” Yes, I said. He’s young enough to be my son. So I should stop judging Liam, yes?
Mary G
@El Caganer: Yeah, Daniel Dale writes for the Toronto Star and covers Trump better than most American reporters *cough, cough, NYT*, and he says today if the tariff applies to Canadian aluminum & steel, it will decimate their industries. The Canadian dollar is down after the announcement, too.
I guess we will see if Gary Cohn, et al, have any luck in talking Twitler down off the ledge:
I doubt it, though. He is more likely to double down, being the way he is, and the mood he must be in.
Yutsano
@El Caganer: That’s not a salmon. That’s an atrocity that shouldn’t exist.
Also good to point out pretty much all Atlantic salmon in the US is farmed. Spring the extra bucks for the wild Pacific stuff. Your tummy and other organs will be much happier.
Adria McDowell
Benedict Arnold has nothing on these jokers.
LAO
@HeleninEire:
Yes and please enjoy yourself Saturday night.
Cheryl Rofer
@Brachiator: The Russians have beaten him to it.
Adam L Silverman
@Leto: No worries. It’s part of what I’m here for. I’m a full service nat-sec blogger!
Corner Stone
@HeleninEire: Three Cheers for Bombogenesis!
El Caganer
All GF’s retirement funds are tied up in the stock market. Gee, thanks, Mr. President! So much winning!
HeleninEire
@LAO: Thanks for the validation and the permission. Always need a lawyer’s permission. Before the commission of the crime.
Cheryl Rofer
Corner Stone
@Brachiator: That’s no moon!
EBT
@Adria McDowell: I mean, Arnold was our most competent strategist and likely kept us from losing the war early on. Maybe if that dingbat Washington hadn’t spent 18 months lying to Arnold he wouldn’t have left for folks who appreciated him.
marcopolo
@schrodingers_cat: To be fair, there are folks besides Dale covering the issues. However, Dale is both a Canadian reporter (Toronto Star) and he covers the White House which places him in the extra special sweet spot to report on these issues (as the tariffs will hit Canada harder than just about any other country). And, added to that, Dale is also one of the most prolific tweeters around.
(edit–I am so slow I was beaten to the punch my Mary G. 4 minutes ago…sigh)
LAO
@HeleninEire: Hey, you might have fled our fine city, but us NYC’ers have to stick together.
El Caganer
@Yutsano: Yes indeed. I’d love to eat salmon more often, but won’t buy the farmed stuff – I try to avoid any farmed fish or seafood, just in general. Too many unknowns.
Cheryl Rofer
Trade war and arms race all in one morning! No president has ever done more!
clay
@Redshift:
So, just to understand, there was nothing actually incriminating and embarassing in the texts, but Nunes et al are trying to use the mere fact that they exist as somehow damning?
I can’t say I’m surprised, but still… It would be nice if the House Intelligence Committee stopped being an oxymoron.
cain
@Adam L Silverman:
The Lord of Chaos rules. We really do need a Dragon Reborn right now.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: I concur. They’re all traitorous scum.
@HeleninEire: No. Men do deserve to have their hands slapped for centuries of feeling obligated to chase the youngest women possible.
rikyrah
Virginia Republicans Defeat Every Bill Charlottesville Sought After Deadly Rally. Measures dealing with Confederate monuments, independent militias and gun restrictions. #Charlottesvillehttps://t.co/unvx0tsXVB
— Shomari Stone (@shomaristone) March 1, 2018
NotMax
@HeleninEire
“Hey blokes, the crazy American lady is buying!”
:)
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
they are all traitors
Corner Stone
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
That Russian Death Star appears to be painted in the colours of Malaysia Airlines’ MH370-era livery.
Brachiator
@Cheryl Rofer:
Ha! I think we are going to need more than the Rebel Alliance to get out of this scrape.
HeleninEire
@NotMax: YUP. I sure am.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Miss Bianca: Really sounds like the Freedum Caucus has put everyone and everything on the enemies list now.
Corner Stone
This seems to be a pretty good twit read for more blurbs on tariffs:
International Economics and Politics for Bloomberg
Michael McKee. I’m not too familiar with his work otherwise but what he’s twitting about tariffs seems spot on, IMO.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Corner Stone: He’s saying it’s aburd to dare challenge one of our Hard Right Conservatives on it.
cain
@Corner Stone:
“I put on my robe and wizard hat”
schrodingers_cat
@Yutsano: I read his Twitter account everyday. He has been talking about NAFTA for weeks now. Also Canada is our biggest trading partner, ending NAFTA is not going to go swimmingly for us either even if it does damage Canada and Mexico more. This is a lose-lose proposition.
And Russians don’t fucking neat a Death Star they have installed their man in the WH.
celticdragonchick
@Mary G:
Same here. I can’t celebrate this…it’s actually terrifying.
trollhattan
@LAO:
There is no Bill, There is no Ted. There is no excellence.
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
Death Puppet.
trollhattan
@celticdragonchick:
The time for celebration is when there are real and commensurate consequences for these actions. Until then save a spot for me under the dining table in case I need to dive there.
celticdragonchick
@EBT: Congress had more power to decide issues on promotions than Washington I believe…and Arnold was a hothead. Tactically competent, but a hothead.
General Daniel Morgan was at least as gifted as Arnold (his victory at Cowpens was brilliant. Simply brilliant) and came with less then half the bitching and belly aching.
Ksmiami
@Miss Bianca: I want this admin and the gop crushed and eliminated they deserve nothing less
celticdragonchick
@trollhattan:
You got it. Let me know what you want for dinner….
Spanky
Oh good! The Possum Queen is up and talking! Good thing I don’t get the sound here at work.
Corner Stone
@cain: I think the most troubling thing of the Warner exchange was the picture of him in a speedo with one leg behind his head – while standing. Security experts are still trying to determine its import.
schrodingers_cat
@schrodingers_cat: *need not neat have no idea how that typo snuck in.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: @celticdragonchick: And the worst, most infuriating thing about this BS is that *the entire country*, by virtue of Trump’s position as POTUS, has been forced into the position of being the narcissist’s appeasers and “friends”. The worst most narcissists can do, if you’re not related to them or employed by them, is invite you to dinner and force you to wait on it for hours and hours while they endlessly iterate on the themes of how wonderful they are and how badly all their enemies suck.
The worst *this* narcissist can do is all that, plus blow us all to Kingdom Come after having tanked the economy, the environment, and American prestige worldwide.
trollhattan
Breaking: Canada declares war on Florida with surprise initial strike.
They’re more pissed about that hockey (pronounced “haakee”) gold than I thought.
MisterForkbeard
@cain: In this allusion, I think Liberals are the Aiel. And the Dragon Reborn was supposed to sacrifice most of them to save a few.
Alternately, given the fact that the Dragon has three wives, he’s probably an elected Republican.
Spanky
Ok ok ok. Let’s put a little bit of good feelin’ out there …
Leto
@Adam L Silverman: Listen here Jar Jar…
Yutsano
@trollhattan: Heh. Mocked a friend in the CF for that. No response yet but that’s not a big surprise as he’s probably still lost in the wilds of Ontario.
Corner Stone
@Spanky: Let me help you out:
“Blah, blah, blah. Lies, lies, outrageous lies. Trump is strong like bull. Strong leader. Blah, blah, lie, Clinton is the real criminal. Blah, blah. Hail Hydra.”
Miss Bianca
@Spanky: I love this.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Would appreciate a link, if possible
Brachiator
A little comedy relief from CNN.
This just in: The Obama’s dog Bo had a higher security clearance than Jared Kushner.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
Are we supposed to have sympathy for them?
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Tell it.
rikyrah
@geg6:
Absolutely irresponsible…
the ZEGK=TRAITOR
Hoodie
@Corner Stone: these tariffs are moronic. Trump really is stuck in the 70’s. Steel and aluminum production are relatively highly automated, particularly in the US. This won’t create any significant number jobs, it will mostly make mill owners richer and put a lot of mfg workers out of work.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Ok, this cracked me up
Corner Stone
@Hoodie: The companies with capital will accelerate the pace of automation, if they can. And where they can not they will accelerate wage exportation offshore. Automation is coming anyway, but stupid, ill-thought moves like this will only leave the transition period that much harsher.
Chyron HR
WELL
THE IMPORTANT THING
IS THAT THE PSYCHOTIC PIECES OF SHIT CLAIMING TO REPRESENT THE “LEFT”
BURNED THE COUNTRY AND POSSIBLY THE PLANET DOWN
TO SAVE US FROM THE NEOLIBERAL STATUS QUO
RIGHT?
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: No not even one iota, my sympathy is with the central American children seeking asylum being held in cages apart from their mothers.
SFAW
@Yarrow:
Somewhere — Twitter, maybe? Op-Ed comments? Don’t recall — I recently saw a commenter write “tic toc” in reference to Dumbert Dumbert’s Maladministration and Mueller. Thanks to you, my feeble brain said “No, it’s ‘Tick, tock, motherfuckers’!”
And I was glad.
Leto
@cain: It’s an old meme sir, but it still checks out.
I haven’t seen that in a while, but thanks for the laughs :)
Fair Economist
@JMG:
We know Ryan and McConnell were *witting* – they were told the Russians were intervening on behalf of Trump and did everything they could to allow it to continue. The question is were they explicitly part of the conspiracy – communicating with the other conspirators in the Trump campaign and in Russia – or “merely” implicitly part, deciding to aid it on their own.
Spanky
Ah! The joys of a well-(mis)placed prepositional phrase! From the WaPo front page:
Corner Stone
Oh, Sen Sassy. You dog, you!
Emma
@HeleninEire: Good for you! Every woman should have a chance to play games with a pretty boy. Indulge!
Miss Bianca
@Corner Stone: And in other news, this just in: “The enemy of my enemy is actually NOT my friend,” reports shocked leftist.
Fair Economist
@Corner Stone:
Trump wants to the the opposite of everything Obama did.
Obama saved the US auto industry from bankruptcy.
So Trump wants to bankrupt the auto industry. QED.
It helps that he’s very experienced at causing bankruptcies.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
Nothing wrong with Trump that a day working a Nebraska cornfield wouldn’t fix! Sasse is a piece of work.
Hoodie
@Corner Stone: Yep. Trump thinks manly man workers work in coal mines and steel mills, like in pickup truck commercials. Coal is mostly strip mined and industrial robots work in steel mills.
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Also all but obliterates the supposed price advantage accruing to Whirlpool from Dolt 45’s draconian tariffs on imported washing machines.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@trollhattan: And no Carlin too. And we will never get Eddie Van Halen for our video (which is ok because he seems like an a-hole anyways.)
Aleta
Let’s see how conservatives and corporations and intelligent outspoken labor respond or oppose him. He’s probably on the phone saying saying all manner of contrary things to other countries. His need, his fix, is to look tough, take credit, force praise.
Most of his proclamations don’t become exactly what he says. He operates like a developer: go in with a proposal that’s more than you think you can get. See what you get away with. Tough out the opposition, then pretend you’re compromising by changing some things.
The immediacy of stock market response is real; “trade war” hasn’t happened yet. Another real thing is that he’s controlling headlines and the next 4 day news cycle.
GOP-made and Trump-made reprieves are what we all worry about. There’s permanent damage in what gets ignored. If we look past the daily breaking news, there are things to call Congress about today.
Corner Stone
Hahahaha:
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah:I think this is the one.
Gin & Tonic
Via Daniel Dale, here’s Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the tariffs. Word on Twitter is that they’re in part to help shore up Saccone’s prospects in PA-18.
So tank the world economy, destroy NAFTA and piss of our closest neighbor and largest trading partner to (possibly) win one House seat that will be redistricted out of existence later this year.
Jay
@Corner Stone: @clay:
Faux News, using Soviet ReEducation techniques, has conditioned it’s Cult Members to remember only Warner, Democrat,Senate Intelligence Committee, texting with Russians,
Taint, misdirection, illusion.
tobie
@Hoodie: Not only will no jobs be saved with tariffs. God knows how many jobs will be lost, as goods made with aluminium and steel become more expensive here, restricting how much people can buy, and retaliatory tariffs are placed on US goods abroad. This policy is mind-blowingly stupid and represents yet another Trump blunder. As someone here said, about all he’s good at is bankrupting things.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
thanks so much
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: And other countries can slap tariffs too, on finished US goods, you know like those pricey i-phones.
ETA: Unless he backs down we will see global recession. He might when he sees that he will lose $$$ with this stupid policy.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: One of the reasons Apple was down over 3% at one point today. Now about 1.5%, which is a normal size swing, more or less.
stinger
@HeleninEire: Judging, schmudging — just go and have fun!
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: have fun and don’t forget protection!
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Pepper spray?
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
That never stopped him from destroying all the businesses he owned. I can only see this ending with a mob storming the White House, like it’s 1789 all over again. The Republican Leadership won’t do anything to stop him.
Can the president actually apply tariffs without legislation?
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@Gin & Tonic:
Seriously? If that’s true then… I can’t fucking even. These fuckers deserve way worse than just getting voted out of office so they can get plum jobs at think tanks and lobbying firms.
Steve in the ATL
@EBT:
I thought it was “Down”
Steve in the STL
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Leto:
Dude.
Yoda. Yoda Silverman.
Corner Stone
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Adam has a calf muscle that weighs more than Yoda.
trnc
@Adam L Silverman:
He’s also an … Dammit, you beat me to it.
debbie
The FBI should swoop in, arrest Nunes, lock him up, and then call Trump to ask about due process.
Gelfling 545
@Corner Stone: “Trump is strong like bull.“ As my father used to say: strong like bull; smart like chicken.
Doug R
@Mary G:
16% of steel imports come from Canada.
37% of aluminum imports come from Canada.
Softwood is already in dispute, and they want to burn NAFTA?
See why Canada has been signing free trade deals with the rest of the world?
Doug R
@Mary G:
16% of steel imports come from Canada.
37% of aluminum imports come from Canada.
Softwood is already in dispute, and they want to burn NAFTA?
See why Canada has been signing free trade deals with the rest of the world?
Doug R
Why won’t it let me edit/delete 185?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
“I don’t run the committee myself.” This is what leapt out at me, too. No, he doesn’t run the committee. He runs the fucking House of Representatives. Why does anybody take this guy seriously? “What, what do you want me to do? Hey, it isn’t my committee. I’m helpless here. I can’t do anything. What do you think I am, the speaker of the House or something? This is out of my hands, man.”
The guy is such a fucking weakling. How does somebody like that get anywhere? I don’t get it.
afanasia
@Chyron HR: Pace yourself. We’ll need you later.
Gravenstone
@HeleninEire: double date?
Steve in the ATL
@Doug R:
Trump disabled that for Canadians
Lapassionara
@Steve in the ATL: was there a StL meet up?
Steve in the STL
@Lapassionara: no, turns out everyone in the Midwest hates me!