Looks like Trump has set the flying monkeys on Sessions with a vengeance:
Aside from Trump himself, Sessions is probably the most odious figure in an administration chock-full of comically obvious villains. So in one sense, it’s satisfying to see the racist shit-bag get dragged by Trump and his minions. That’s what you get for hitching your White Citizens Council wagon to an unstable malignant narcissist, Jay-uff!
But on the other hand, we all know why Sessions is the object of Trump’s ire — he recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation since he is entangled in it himself, clearing a ground-level ethical hurdle that clowns like Nunes and Gaetz eagerly tunneled under to demonstrate the level of servility Trump demands.
For that reason, the entertainment value of Sessions’ serial humiliations should be tempered with concern about the endgame here. But fuck it — I’m gonna enjoy the show anyway.
Corner Stone
As has been said, AG Sessions is not going ANYWHERE on his own.
Baud
@Corner Stone: And Trump thankfully is to scared to fire him.
Jeffro
@Baud: I guess Sessions’ reasoning is, “Leave me alone so I can really racist-it-up as AG, Donald, and I won’t tell anyone what I know…fire me, and it all comes out”?
Man, the last act of this play is going to be a doozy…
Corner Stone
@Baud: I am wondering about WH Counsel Don McGahn. He was one of the staffers who had an interim clearance. First, why wasn’t he able to be cleared? Second, if Jar Jar is forced out then shouldn’t McGahn be on the hot seat as well?
And if so, after Jar Jar and Ivana Jr leave the WH, then McGahn gets tossed…who’s going to “stop” Trump from doing all the horrible things he has always wanted to do but so far been too afraid to do them.
Bunker mentality. He haz it.
JPL
Trump flew to Mar-a-lago to play golf and now is going to return to attend the gridiron dinner. Imagine if … oh never mind.
rikyrah
I will say it again:
Attorney General White Citizens Council will NEVER resign.
He is living out every White Supremacist fantasy that he’s ever had.
He can only be fired.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Baud: He apparently can’t even talk to Ivanka and Jared and ask them to return to NYC for their own good and his. He wants Kelly to “fire” them.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
The entire GOP is made up of Captain Planet villains.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
McGahn better wonder about keeping HIMSELF out of jail.
But, yeah, HOW COME the WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL can’t get a PERMANENT SECURITY CLEARANCE?
Jeffro
@Corner Stone:
He sure should…he’s about the only one left in the bunker at this point.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@Jeffro:
Insert Hitler reference here
NotMax
“Whaddaya mean the Justice Department isn’t my own personal SWAT team?”
Yutsano
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Captain Planet villains had more depth and substance to them than any of the Dolt45 crew. Every time I see them acting it convinces me more actual votes were changed by the Russians. No one has shown enough competence or intelligence to convince me otherwise.
Corner Stone
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Captain Planet is a washed up 750ml of bourbon a day drunk. He lives in a flop house near the garbage dump and scores some smack after servicing some of the older clientele. If he ever does have a moment of sobriety he looks around and screams in agony. “Pruitt to EPA? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?”
Trabb's Boy
I find this hilarious. Trump can’t fire him without it looking like obstruction, and Sessions knows it. It’s fucking killing Trump that he can’t bully someone into doing what he wants.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Step back from the precipice.
Corner Stone
I think Lou Dobbs is the perfect living persona of Fox News mentality writ large. He used to be a somewhat genial person when on CNN. But as he aged and saw the browning of not only America but his sacred Newsroom happening, he became a bitter old crank. Now he is not even a parody of Lou Dobbs. He is full on Fox’s Lou Dobbs.
Redshift
@Corner Stone:
Apparently, he’s stopped by the fact that he really is afraid to do them himself. How many actions have we heard about that were stopped because he ordered someone to do them and they refused or talked him out of it, any of which he could have just done himself? And the reports From The Apprentice and his business that he could play-act firing people for the cameras, but didn’t like to make the decision.
Once again, things are less awful than they could be because of his weird twisted personality.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito)
As Marvel is in vogue, a passel of Paste Pot Petes.
Jeffro
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Um ok.
@NotMax: I’m just shocked that he seems not to understand that he’s the head of the executive branch. And that he gets his ‘intelligence’ primarily from Fox And Friends.
cope
I’m actually beginning to just about believe that I will live to see these 3-D shit stains get what’s coming to them one by one. What seems less certain is how long it will take for the damage they have done and are doing to be undone.
Calouste
@rikyrah: Yep. The shitgibbon has being in power as a goal, and white supremacy, however much he likes it, as a tool to that end. Sessions has white supremacy as a goal, and the shitgibbon being in power as a tool.
zhena gogolia
When is somebody going to front-page the Rybka story?
Corner Stone
I think this is true simply on the data. Sessions has the power to directly effect people’s everyday lives in a number of ways. But when you step back a little…I mean, Pruitt, Zinke, Wilburrr, DeVos, Punchable Mick Mulvaney. Tom Price is gone but not forgotten. Tillerson is just a clownish stooge who may end up enabling the death of us all through his lazy ineptness. I think on the whole, maybe Grifting Ben Carson may be the most admirable member. At least he’s only wasting our money, paying his kids some grift and denying needed funds to poor people. That earns about an A rating in this fucking Cabinet.
Suzanne
@rikyrah:
Oh no. These people are fucking around with Russian mobsters. Much worse things could happen.
I don’t know why FORDALUVVAPETE anyone would even dream of working for Trump. They obviously have no sense of self-preservation.
NotMax
@Jeffro
Fantasy is seeing Melania peel off a $3000 jacket to reveal an “I’m With Stupid” T-shirt.
bemused
Trump is a chickenshit. He loves to issue orders for others to execute for him but won’t do it himself. He thinks he escapes the blame or responsibility for what fiasco ensues if he can make someone else do his dirty work for him. I worked with someone like that. It was almost as hilarious as it was annoying to watch the contortions he would go through to avoid having his fingerprints on any decision. He would tell other co-workers what to do on his own projects and responsibilities and then actually physically back away from when they said they needed his documentation, signatures etc as if the paperwork had cooties. Everyone knew what he was doing but it didn’t embarrass him at all.
Gravenstone
@Jeffro: The saddest part of this whole debacle is knowing that after the smoke clears (hopefully only metaphorical in nature) that Trump voters will be in no way chastened about their votes. Thus, they will remain a long term threat to this nation and the world at large.
TriassicSands
I think my brain might explode if I were to try to rank Trump administration villains. I would hesitate to use the word “comical” since they are all doing so much damage, led by Zinke and Pruitt.
That said, the racist elf from Alabama doesn’t need to apologize to anyone for just how odious he is. In any other administration he’d be a standout. In Trump’s he’s just one of many in what may be the worst cabinet in American history. As hard as it is to believe, Trump’s may be worse than Reagan’s.
Is Zinke worse than Watt? Yes, because he has a dominant GOP congress to back him up. For sheer incompetence no one tops DeVos, though Carson might compete. Tillerson would be the most incompetent cabinet secretary in almost any other administration.
All-in-all, the level of villainy and incompetence in this administration surely is unsurpassed in my life time (Goes back to Truman and Ike.)
Gravenstone
@zhena gogolia: I’m skeptical. If she really has dirt and given her current position, being extremely vocal about that knowledge tends to the unhealthy extreme.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah:
I wonder about that every single day.
NotMax
@TraissicSands
The Mos Eisley of cabinets.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: IIRC, Lou Hobbs has a wife who is not white.
Corner Stone
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
I am starting to wonder if that wasn’t “leaked” by Ivanka’s PR people themselves.
BruceFromOhio
This made me cackle with glee.
@Jeffro:
I can envision a scenario where the right catalyst kicks them all into supreme self-preservation mode and the circular firing squad starts blazing away just as a line forms outside Mueller’s office. This would make me very happy.
Aleta
Maybe the Apprentices have revolted, told him they won’t leave his Reality Show. They don’t trust he will keep donating slush money to Jared’s legal expenses if they leave.
Magda in Black
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:
Add in the recent reveal about amphetamine use.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Corner Stone:
I hate to admit it, but I have a soft spot for Perry in his glasses. He’s the least personally offensive one of the bunch, and too stupid to concoct a good grift.
Gin & Tonic
@Gravenstone: I’m surprised she hasn’t bludgeoned herself to death yet.
Gravenstone
@Aleta: Without the lever of government power attached to his current role, Kushner can’t extort money for his family debt service, let alone his defense fees. Zero chance he voluntarily gives that up. Honestly he probably only leaves in cuffs, a straitjacket or a body bag.
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Picturing Jared, offspring in tow, standing in front of 666 Fifth Avenue, pointing and telling them, “One day, kids, none of this will be yours.”
Fair Economist
@Corner Stone:
Well, McGahn hasn’t been accused of orchestrating war against one of our allies to get a $185 million loan.
Yet. This *is* the Trump misadministration.
Corner Stone
Why? Why, why, why, WHY?? Does MSNBC give airtime to Kayleigh McEnany (RNC spokesperson) ??!
bystander
@cope: 3-D shit stains? This filter has a sense of humor.
bystander
@Corner Stone: Why? She’s pretty and blonde and she spews with the best of them. That’s why.
Corner Stone
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Son of a…I had fucking forgotten that RICK PERRY is SecEnergy! That is a testament to how full on gonzo nuts, evil and incompetent all the other members of this Cabinet are. Jesus, when Rick Perry is the shining model of laissez faire douchiness. How freaking bad is that.
MattF
@bemused:
I was going to write something like this, but you beat me to it. Trump is a coward. He hires people he can get away with abusing, and when they get into trouble trying to obey his commands, the bus is parked right around the corner, nearby the Rose Garden.
Corner Stone
@bystander: If I didn’t know who she was and I saw her somewhere, and she never opened her mouth. I would turn around and walk away. People who look like that scare me. It’s something about not being able to contain all the evil inside and it just leaks out, like an aura.
Corner Stone
@BruceFromOhio:
After the revelation that Hope Hicks kept a diary* (because OF COURSE she did) why would anyone in the WH ever speak to anyone else? I’d be scared to say Good Morning in the fear that they would transcribe it as a guilty confession.
*Insert meme from The Wire here
rikyrah
Trump pushes Republicans to oppose crucial New York-New Jersey tunnel project
By Mike DeBonis and Josh Dawsey
March 2 at 8:53 PM
President Trump is pushing congressional Republicans not to fund a crucial infrastructure project — a long-delayed plan to build a new rail tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey — setting up a confrontation that could complicate passage of a massive government spending bill this month.
Trump personally appealed to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) this week to target federal funding for the $30 billion Gateway project, which would construct a tunnel into New York’s Penn Station to supplement two aging tubes that are at risk of failing in the coming years.
The project is widely considered to be among the most pressing and most expensive infrastructure needs in the country, and state and local leaders have long sought federal funding to jump-start work on it. But the Trump administration threw the project into doubt late last year by casting aside an agreement reached during the Obama administration that would have the federal government pick up half the project’s cost.
And now, according to four officials familiar with the discussions, Trump has taken a personal interest in making sure no federal dollars flow to a project that is considered critical to his hometown’s long-term economic prosperity.
MattF
@Corner Stone: I don’t have a link, but some columnist in the WaPo mentioned, just offhand, that Hicks has been considered a reliable source of information about the happenings in the White House. I expect to see et tu, Hope real soon.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
“Muthaphucka, is you taking notes on a muthaphuckin’ criminal conspiracy?”
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
MattF
@rikyrah: Not surprised to hear that all the ‘infrastructure’ talk is bullshit.
rikyrah
@MattF:
Dolt45 didn’t read emails ( I swear, he’s a functional illiterate)
HOPE HICKS READ ALL HIS EMAILS FOR HIM.
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: SecTrans Chao and SecDef Mattis seem to have managed to be reasonably ok (bearing in mind that we’re grading on a very lax curve).
germy
@Corner Stone: That diary needs to be handed right over to Mueller. It’s government property.
B.B.A.
@rikyrah: Trains are for commies. Real Americans drive to work in pickup trucks and SUVs. (Or are driven to work in limos. Same thing.)
rikyrah
Chile is used to welcoming migrants. But Haitians don’t always get a warm reception
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
March 01, 2018 07:00 AM
Para leer esta historia en español, haga clic aquí.
SANTIAGO, CHILE — The graying comic yells “Hola negrito” into the crowd gathered at the Plaza de Armas, delivers some one-liners and then spies a couple eating vanilla ice cream.
“Where are you from?” Cristián Matias asks the man and woman, who proudly respond: Haiti.
“It’s a good thing you’re not eating chocolito, otherwise you would eat your fingers,” the street performer quips.
The mostly Chilean crowd laughs. The couple look offended.
Moments later, the comedian drops another insult, this time shouting “Masisi” — a Creole pejorative for gay men — as two young Haitian men cut through the masses.
Matias insisted later to a reporter that he’s not a racist and that the jokes are all in good fun. But Haitians, and experts on racism and discrimination in Chile, say such crude remarks are the kind of subtle — and not so subtle — acts of humiliation and racism the black migrants are routinely subjected to in the South American nation.
“Racism is really strong in Chile right now,” said Yvenet Dorsainvil, a Haitian immigrant and author who moved to Chile nine years ago to attend college. “It’s so strong that sometimes you think people are from another century.”
debbie
@rikyrah:
There were a couple memes on my FB feed this morning, to the effect that Trump had proven himself to be a brilliant businessman by raising the price of steel and aluminum prior to initiating his infrastructure program.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
It’s becoming clear that Trump only wants to spend the bulk of federal dollars on the military and the Wall.
West of the Cascades
@Gravenstone:
Some of the women will – it seems we’ve already seen that in Virginia and in the various special elections that have happened in the last 15 months.
rikyrah
@germy:
just like Spicer’s diaries.
John Revolta
I just enjoy telling myself that someday soon, and for the rest of their lives, everybody associated with this administration is going to be a joke, a subject of scorn, a pariah to decent people and a black mark in our nation’s history. It’s going to be great.
Aleta
The Guardian has a good long readable article about the men who publish articles about race fake-science, despite its debunking long ago, and again and again, and despite its harm. Though it targets the academics, I was hoping it would include AS, and eventually he got a mention.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: Mattis does seem to be the only one holding a reasonably..um..defensible line. ISTM like he keeps daring Trump to fire him all while knowing Trump is incapable of doing it.
Chao is a grifter extraordinaire. It’s scary that I *know* she is doing some evil somewhere but we haven’t heard anything about it.
El Caganer
@Brachiator: and himself.
MattF
@Aleta: John Derbyshire– who was a big fan of explaining things with genes– was a big pal of Sullivan, at least until making those regrettable remarks about little girls.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah:
And none of his Titans of Industry and Masters of The Universe best buddies have said word one to him about this? They had to be salivating over the prospect of all those cost-plus contracts and public/private scamming opportunities.
mozzerb
@zhena gogolia: She doesn’t sound like a particularly believable witness! So produce these tapes, Nastya girl …
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Corner Stone:
She looks like she’s going to grow up to be Kellyanne Conway. And I’m not down with criticizing even RWNJ women for their looks, but it’s exactly what you describe: they both exude horribleness.
Aleta
@Brachiator: He uses taxpayer money as his personal weapon to punish and reward. To make people get in line with his campaign. Like a sadistic father, he wants us to fear that opposition will only get us hurt.
Major Major Major Major
@MattF: I thought Derbyshire got kicked out of polite society for his “The Talk” piece about how white people are genetically superior.
Betty Cracker
@Corner Stone: We recently became cord-cutters, so I no longer have MSNBC. Can’t say I miss it. I see clips of Joy and Rachel, and that was the only worthwhile bit anyway.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Different context but this excerpt from Ike’s speech following the death of Stalin, 65 years ago, seems appropriate.
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: A quote from Mr. D:
That should have been preceded by a ‘wait a minute’ moment, but it was over 10 years ago.
ETA: His internal censor changed ’12’ to ’15’, and he thought, mistakenly, that would be enough.
Ruckus
@Yutsano:
Agreed, 100%
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
You ain’t never lied
Major Major Major Major
@MattF: But he didn’t get fired from the National Review until his white supremacy piece in 2012.
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker: I was going to do it after Tgiving but wimped out. Now I am trying to screw up the willpower to do it after the NFL Combine is over. It only ever seems to be on one of four channels anyway and my son now watches no TV at all. They jacked the price up again in January which really ticked me off but wanted to keep cable channels for the multiple Olympics feeds. There are only so many nights of five hours of figure skating one can take.
Chip Daniels
@Jeffro:
I’m thinking the end scene of Reservoir Dogs.
rikyrah
@Aleta:
Which is why he needs TO DIE IN JAIL.
Brachiator
@Aleta:
Yes, and this is his standard operating procedure even as he brags about what a good dealmaker he is, and how open he is to bipartisanship.
Fortunately, governments and officials who have to deal with him have got wise to his bullshit. Except of course, the Republican leadership.
rikyrah
@Yutsano:
I came to this conclusion months ago.
And, I’ll top you one….
I believe the previous state elections in Kansas were the test run.
Aleta
@MattF: You’re referring to what remarks?
Sullivan’s hatred of powerful women also seems aligned w/ Dshire’s beliefs.
eta. So much of this attitude is in the responses of conservatives and Republicans.
Adria McDowell
@Corner Stone:
Exactly this. And Perry is an idiot, but at least recognizes that he is and tries to listen to people smarter than him at Energy. He is still a major step down from Moniz, though.
@WaterGirl: His wife is Mexican or of Mexican descent. Of course that doesn’t make him any less racist or anti-immigrant. There is also a line of thinking that white men lusting after, loving, or marrying women of color is an act of colonialism itself, which I’ll leave to people much smarter than I am to suss out whether that’s true or not.
MattF
@Aleta: I cited them above.
Corner Stone
@MattF:
15 to 20? What in the actual F?
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
This.
The elf is in his heaven. In power. He will have to be carried out in handcuffs. (Now isn’t that a nice picture to have in your head!) I think it’s good to remember that a lot of the racists don’t just not like the victims of their racism, they don’t like a lot of people. They usually tolerate people they consider equals or loved ones (but not always!) but as they are willing to hate large groups of people for asinine reasons, they seem to have no problem hating people in general. It may be because they are odious people but they are at their core, haters. They just aren’t equal opportunity haters. The elf and drumpf are two peas in a pod, that they would like each other is highly unlikely, if for no other reason that they are fundamentally unlikable.
Major Major Major Major
@Aleta:
Mm, yes, I was in the Castro just last night and with all those assembled, drunk gay men it was just a massacre. Every Friday, the gutters boil over with blood.
j/k it was actually Lesbians Who Tech night at the Castro Theatre. They had several rental moving trucks out front, which was either to move equipment or a joke.
TriassicSands
@Corner Stone:
You’ve hit on what has to be a huge dilemma for left-leaining media outlets.Which Republicans do they seek out for quotes and/or airtime? It’s not like there are currently a lot of honest and responsible Republican commentators. (Zero would be a fair guess.) The media outlets have to give some time (or space) to the Right, but there are currently no credible Republicans to speak for their side. No matter whom the media chooses the people will be delusional, lying sacks of shit. Either that or they can’t speak for the Right. True, some are worse than others, but none of them are worth listening to. So, they get rid of McEnany. Whom should they pick to take her place? If you have a solution to this problem — other than saying they shouldn’t pick anyone, which, for what should be obvious reasons, is not a solution for the media outlets.
I suppose one solution that would be better than the current situation would be for them to worry less about whom they choose and more about either hitting them with a barrage of fact-based questions during the appearance or following an appearance with a fact-checking segment.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: That is
funny. (both jokes)
efgoldman
@Corner Stone:
And if they did? Does he hear anything except “lalalalala”? Words, concepts, contrary opinions, mean nothing to his four year old brain.
Ruckus
@Corner Stone:
It is quite a collection of the worst of the worst isn’t it. I didn’t know that the world could sink that low. I’m amazed that we aren’t all breathing through 20 foot straws.
Corner Stone
@TriassicSands:
Why shouldn’t the answer be zero? If you are a program person and know 100% the guest is simply going to lie about every single thing they are asked, then what resposnibility do you have to present it as “the other side”? Aren’t you damaging your consumers by putting false drivel in their space? And if you change the channel, like I do anytime I see Hugh Hewitt or always did when Joy used to have Boris Epstein on a segment, then aren’t you damaging your product you’re trying to sell to advertisers?
How many liberals does the WSJ Op-Ed page have writing for it? How many lefty types have a one hour segment on Fox News?
Brachiator
@NotMax:
That bit of history makes Trump’s budget proposals look even more insane.
I even suspect that Putin’s announcement about vastly improved nuclear missiles is a bunch of disinformation designed to induce Trump into spending more on useless and unnecessary military projects.
Oh yeah, and a parade.
MattF
@Ruckus: Josh Marshall thinks we’re all half-cooked frogs at this point.
Another Scott
@MattF: I didn’t keep up with it at the time (the article was from 2005) but he was 60 years old then.
Eeewww.
Cheers,
Scott.
clay
@Corner Stone: For cord cutters, a service like PS Vue is a decent substitute for cable. It livestreams most of the common cable channels, including the sports ones. (You can upgrade the service for additional sports, or premium channels, or the like.)
We cut cable about a year ago, and between PS Vue and Hulu, we have access to almost everything we used to watch (except Comedy Central —for some reason, it isn’t on either one).
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
Nothing like shooting one’s self right in the genitals, an own goal of rather epic proportions. He does know how to make enemies and influence people.
Betty Cracker
@Corner Stone: We got Sling TV, which is $20 a month for live-streaming a ton of cable channels, including all the ESPNs, Food Channel, AMC, etc. CNN comes with the package, but not MSNBC.
Corner Stone
As an aside, the edit window keeps disappearing on me today. It will start the usual countdown but I’ll read a comment and come back and it’s closed.
Betty Cracker
@clay: Comedy Central is on Sling TV, if you ever want to switch. How much do you pay for PS Vue, if you don’t mind sharing?
Jeffro
@Brachiator: just like all the other Koch-head Republicans… The only thing they want to spend money on is the military & wall.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: You can bookmark this http://www.livenewschat.eu/politics/ if you need a fix. It picks up MSNBC International which is exactly the same.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: spite as a political philosophy
clay
@Brachiator:
So Putin’s going to do to us what (Republicans claim) Reagan did to the USSR… force us to spend ourselves into dissolution.
Jeffro
@Chip Daniels: please God let’s hope so
Captain C
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Steiner and Wenck aren’t coming. They’re not even breathing hard.
JPL
It’s apparent in the AG goes, so does Mueller. The leader of the house will say that’s not helpful and move along with his libertarian policies that screws most Americans.
Brachiator
@clay:
Yep. And Putin is willing to put a little money in Trump’s pocket in order to achieve his larger goals.
clay
@Betty Cracker: I think it’s $40.
We looked into Sling vs PS Vue. We went with PSV because (at the time — these things are always changing) PSV had more things that we were interested in, like MSNBC and Bravo (for the wife).
And (at the time), it was only $30, so the extra cost vs Sling wasn’t as significant.
But the biggest advantage that sold us on PSV was that it offered on-demand programming for most of its channels, so we weren’t tied to the livestream.
Ruckus
@MattF:
Naw, frogs legs are good!
I doubt that you want to chew on any human legs. We may be half cooked but even if we wait till all done, I still can’t see us as tasty as frogs. We eat too much crap. I’d bet frogs have a better diet. At least than most of us. Some of those hippy organic farmers though………
Annie
@rikyrah:
And also — why was McGahn’s threat to resign enough to stop Dolt45 from firing/trying to fire Mueller last summer? That was the public story, anyway — but how does McGahn have that much clout with Dolt45?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Even though Eric and Don Jr keep knocking… daddy pretends not to hear.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Thanks!
@clay: And thanks for the info!
efgoldman
@Corner Stone:
It’s personal
Ruckus
@clay:
I don’t think that anyone in Reagan’s orbit was smart enough to see it that way, but that is the end result. The USSR spent wildly on the military, without seemingly doing a lot of the development it takes to make things work well and while it may not have been the entire reason, it did help end the power race. Luck on our part more than anything else. Of course we never actually understood that loss of power that happened and continued to this day to overspend and have moved into the spot the USSR once occupied, military race wise. The F35, the V22 Osprey, 2 more nuclear carriers, the overreach in so many parts of the world…… Now increasing the military budget while cutting taxes. It doesn’t matter that Reagan was right or wrong, that over spending on military did or didn’t hurt the USSR, look what it’s doing to us.
germy
A man has shot and killed himself in front of the White House today.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker: Episode 205 of the podcast show Cordkillers (also available on YouTube) evaluated various streaming services. Their recommended approach: decide on the channels or services you want and see who offers the best price and combination. I think how you watch is important as well. One guest noted that he has kids who do a lot of streaming of games, etc and this impacts available bandwidth for tv watching. Some of their recommendations.
I depend on Amazon Prime because I use Amazon services. I recently tried YouTube Tv, which works OK for me, and like it even more since they added TCM, giving me classic movies.
But I do a lot of tv watching on tablets and mobile devices, including commutes.
Another Scott
@Brachiator: RawStory – Donnie may be in Paris on the day of his grand military parade, because of course, why not.
Cheers,
Scott.
RemindsMeOfThatMovie
Lou Dobbs…lol. I didn’t know he was still alive. Not that I wish death on anyone. I want all these aholes alive and coherent to witness the disaster they helped create.
Redshift
@clay:
Emphasis on the “Republicans claim.” From what I understand, once the Soviet archives were opened up after the collapse of the USSR, it was pretty much debunked. I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin believes it, though, since it would fit much better with his worldview that Russia is a world power destroyed by the West, rather than a third-rate power that was puffed up in importance by the Cold War and collapsed under its own weight.
Matt McIrvin
@Ruckus: Turns out the time scale doesn’t work: the catastrophic Soviet spending was well under way before Reagan. They did it to themselves.
Corner Stone
@Brachiator:
I’ve seen the YouTube TV pop up quite a bit at I think $35 monthly. Is that about right? And do you have any kind of grade or rating?
Calouste
@Matt McIrvin: Yep, the invasion of Afghanistan started almost a year before St. Ronnie got elected.
Peale
@Ruckus: the private equity firms want to own that so they can get a price of every fare. That’s the reason. That’s why Christie killed it, too, until he was the lamest duck.
Major Major Major Major
@Peale:
That and to look good for the idiots by hating on Obama.
clay
@Redshift: Yeah, if it wasn’t clear, I don’t subscribe to the Reagan-spent-the-Soviets-into-oblivion theory. But *Republicans* do, which is why it’s ironic (but not humorous) that they’re being the Soviets in this version.
Raven
@Brachiator: Don’t forget Filmstruck and Britbox!
zhena gogolia
Where’s Mnem? Weird Al Yankovic has set the entirety of Hamilton to a polka. Brilliant.
Corner Stone
James E. Powell
@Corner Stone:
I expect that Cohn’s and Mattis’s opposition will have the same impact as Ivanka’s.
And what does it really mean for one of these people to say he opposes something that is being done by the person for whom they work? If they didn’t quit, then they’re okay with it.
Mary G
@rikyrah: @WaterGirl: Remember way back when, September, it seems like a decade ago. Twitler’s lawyer was loudly running his mouth on the patio of a steakhouse right next to a FTFNYT reporter and said things like this:
(Link is to the WaPo story, since I don’t pay for the other paper.)
That had to put a big fat target on McGahn’s back for Bobby Three Sticks and I doubt he will miss, so I have him in my “already toast, but we just don’t know it” column.
Regarding Sessions, it’s hard not to just sit back and root for injuries on both sides, but it is scary as shit for the good of the country,
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
Yep, $35 a month for Amazon Prime members. I think they recently announced a price increase, but I’m grandfathered in. I hate that it has commercials, but I put up with it because it has the services I like, BBC America and a few others. Its DVR is painlessly simple to use and I think stores up to 9 months worth of programs. I can use it on any device.
I am not a big sports person, but there is one bit of goofiness. You can’t watch some football or baseball games if you use a phone or tablet. But you can watch these games if you use a computer or your TV.
Overall it gives me what I want, even local tv channels and is reasonably priced. Programs with commercials might be a dealbreaker for some people. B+
kindness
The way Sessions acts it’s like Mueller has shown him what he has on Sessions discussions with the Russians and letting him know that if he resigns he get’s charged too.
Karma.
Cheryl Rofer
@kindness: Take that one more step. It’s a good reason for Sessions to cooperate with Mueller.
efgoldman
@kindness:
Shouldn’t make any difference. If Mueller’s got the goods, he’ll bring Evil Leprekkkaun down or squeeze him for info, or both
WaterGirl
@Mary G: I remember the idiot lawyer at the restaurant right by the NYT. But I hadn’t remembered those details. Off to read the link.
JMG
@Cheryl Rofer: One step more. It’s also a good reason why Sessions doesn’t seem too worried about getting fired, especially if he let it be known he’d talk if he was.
Corner Stone
@James E. Powell: Zero impact on Trump. Mattis also strongly advocates for a robust State Dept and that has mattered a doodly. IMO, it’s import is more that this is really an isolating policy on many fronts.
Thaddeu
Mobile rights are sold separately from broadcast. Basically comes down to ad form factor/content, and definition of a mobile device.
Frankensteinbeck
@kindness:
I have for a long time thought that Sessions made a deal with Mueller first, before anybody else. Sessions is no great brain, but he’s smart enough for that and a genius compared to the rest of the Numbskull Chorus.
chris
@JPL: Thanks for that MSNBC link. Rachel in real time!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@TriassicSands:
I listen when David Frum and David Jolley and Richard Steele speak.
Spanky
So it’s come to this, where a headline like this elicits a response of “must be another day ending in Y”:
Top of WaPo site.
Spanky
@Spanky:
Makes me long for the days of Tricky Dick talking to the portraits.
Corner Stone
@Spanky:
Normally I would say, “Trust the voices in your head. They are your only friends.” But honestly I don’t think he actually hears voices. I think his mental space is a deep void that doesn’t actually generate thoughts or hallucinations, just sits there in neutral.
Matt McIrvin
@Spanky: In transition to what?
“You fools! This isn’t even my final form!”
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@Matt McIrvin:
Trump is Lord Frieza’s stupid half-brother confirmed.
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: i just heard about that and wondered if it was a brand-new thing or if it had been around a while and i was just too hopelessly unhipster to have heard about it before!
Svensker
@Brachiator:
He hates NYC for not bowing down to his awesomeness. Purely personal pique.