Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

In my day, never was longer.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The willow is too close to the house.

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / McCabe and Mr. Mueller

McCabe and Mr. Mueller

by | 233 Comments

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I don’t know if Trump will end up firing Mueller and I don’t know what the significance of firing McCabe is, but…it doesn’t mode well for Trump not firing Mueller. If Trump fires Mueller, nothing will happen immediately. Congress will do nothing. The right-wing media will back Trump. Bret, Bari, and Bobo will take a one or two day break from the global war against the Oberlin student council but that’s probably about it.

But none of that matters anyway. What matters is what happens in November. And if Mueller is fired, the left will be energized. And if the left is energized, we take back the House. Nothing else matters.

There’s a perverse irony to this for Never Trumpers. They claim to hate and fear Trump and I take them at their word on that. But they hate and fear angry hippies anymore. Now, their only hope of containing Trump is that hippies get angry enough to flip the House because if Dems take the House back it won’t be because Dems made a thoughtful moderate argument that won over all the Burkeans in the inner-ring suburbs, it will be because a lot of pissed off liberals voted and got everyone they know to vote. (Don’t get me wrong — Trump won’t be removed if Democrats take the House back, but there will be real investigations.)

The elections in November are the only thing that matters. All this bullshit about norms and so on is a waste of time. Give to the Balloon Juice fund that is split equally among all eventual Democratic nominees in House districts currently held by Republicans.

Goal Thermometer

Update. This is one of the greatest movies ever made. See it if you can.

Reader Interactions

233Comments

  2. 2.

    PsiFighter37

    Just ask Ana Navarro, Rick Wilson, and Bobo what they think about Mittens running for UT-SEN.

    That tells you all you need to know about ‘Never Trump’ Republicans. They are as useless as the cardboard on an empty roll of toilet paper when you just took a giant dump and realized that you’re out of squares.

  3. 3.

    PsiFighter37

    Just to add: Jeff Flake could easily run as a Democrat in Arizona and win the Senate race in style in November. The fact that he’s retiring, continues to vent about decency, and continues to vote for all of Trump’s nominations and policies, should tell you all you need to know about the most vociferous of the ‘Never Trump’ faction.

  5. 5.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Yeah, I really don’t understand why kids at Oberlin or Berkeley seem to bother so many reasonable [sic] Republicans more than this feculent homunculus squatting at the top of the federal government. I know David Broder never got over the rampaging, scaaaaary-ass hippies in 1968 in Chicago, but, shit, he’s been dead for ten years now. I can’t believe his horror at what happened 50 years ago was so catching that every gasbag with an op-ed since has taken the same sickness, but I guess that’s what happened. These people will never get over 1968, not even the ones who wouldn’t be born for 20 years after that.

  7. 7.

    Doug!

    @Mowgli:

    One of the all time greats. I don’t love all Altman or all Cohen but they work together brilliantly in this.

  9. 9.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @PsiFighter37: Hell, he could caucus with the Dems today, and throw a huge monkey wrench into things. He’s a phony just like every other Never Trumper. Navarro’s another one I don’t want to hear from either.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    Broke my rule about not donation unless pictures of baby and/or guard dog are included, but you put one up the other day, so I coughed up $25.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    @Lyrebird:

    McCabe and Mrs. Miller was a film directed by Robert Altman and starring Julie Christie as a madam and Warren Beatty as a kind of Western hombre who looks as if he belongs in Beverly Hills. So when I started talking about McCabe at dinner my husband came out with “McCabe and Mr. Mueller.” Just like Doug.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    it will be because a lot of pissed off liberals voted

    I’m saddened that this isn’t the norm.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    We had two friends over Wednesday night, supposedly well educated fellows, and when the discussion got to politics they both mentioned voting for Hillary Clinton with a sigh, as if they just had to do it but felt really torn about it; and the phrase “the Democrats have to get away from identity politics” was also spoken.

  16. 16.

    Lyrebird

    @zhena gogolia: thanks, didn’t even know what to Google… I’m now a tad less culturally illiterate!

    Once upon a time I was semi-literate in Russian, btw, but did not get as far as reading much Gogol.

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    #NeverTrumpers are still trying to have it both ways – Parker, Rubin, Wilson are still quick to call out perceived ‘dirty hippie’ leanings of today’s Dems (YEAH RIGHT) and above all avoid endorsing Wittes and Rauch’s “Boycott the Republicans” kind of proposal. I appreciate that they at least stand up for their principles and call out Trumpov & Co for their many illegal, unconstitutional, scummy dealings, but things are well past the point where that’s enough.

    Let’s slap the GOP down, hard, this November. Sort of the electoral version of ‘kill ’em all, and let God sort ’em out’. After that, Kathleen, Jen, and Rick can go back to worrying about dirty hippies doing things like…providing health care for all our country’s citizens and keeping predatory lenders off of peoples’ backs.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:

    Hell, he could caucus with the Dems today, and throw a huge monkey wrench into things. He’s a phony just like every other Never Trumper.

    Flake doesn’t have to caucus with anyone. Just vote along with the bullshit he keeps talking.
    All those Never Trumpers are actively working to defeat D candidates in races up and down the state/federal level.

  22. 22.

    JPL

    Someone better give the asshole meds

    The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

  25. 25.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro: Don’t forget asshole Tom Nichols who continues to shit all over a Democratic agenda. At every opportunity. I hate that fucking guy.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia: Did you ask them what specific identity political stance we need to get away from? Just curious what people who say that would have us do.

  31. 31.

    Lapassionara

    @Baud: Really. This is why I said that I need a vocabulary lesson. Civil rights is the fundamental organizing principle of the Democratic Party. Why are we now calling basic civil rights for all citizens, “identity politics”?

    Sheesh.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Bret, Bari, and Bobo will take a one or two day break from the global war against the Oberlin student council

    I want to buy that sentence a normally colored beer.

    @Baud: I mostly avoid political arguments IRL, but this and critiques of “political correctness” always make want to badger people into explaining what they mean. Especially because people who use them think they’re being thoughtful (anti-identify politics, people who read BoBo) or edgy (anti-PC, people who like Bill Maher).

  35. 35.

    Patricia Kayden

    I could care less about Never Trumpers. They’re part of the reason we have Trump in office. Keep in mind that they would have backed any other Republican Clown who won the primaries. Trump is just too crass for their taste.

  38. 38.

    Mary G

    Statement from Hillary, bringing truth:

    Let me just say Hillary Clinton is more classier than I will EVER be.You will not have me out here explaining the things I said from every interview I do.No ma'am. pic.twitter.com/pN8locAbSz— Amene (@Ange_Amene) March 17, 2018

    (It’s in the picture, I hope a front pager can find a better copy and post it. Seems like the more I get to know Hillary, the better I like her.)

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Interesting observation

    Kyle Cheney @ kyledcheney
    This is the *first* time realDonaldTrump has used Mueller’s name in a tweet.

    realDonaldTrump
    The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

  43. 43.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    As soon as I challenged the one who said that, he resorted to, “Let’s not talk about politics.”

  45. 45.

    Brachiator

    I have been soooo waiting for this thread title!!

    Thanks for not disappointing!

    The evocation of the great Altman film even works for where the country is now. With Trump, corruption and venality rolls into the community, polluting and undermining it. Neither those who are cynical and mildly corrupt themselves, nor the innocent, flawed dreamers can withstand the onslaught of determined, powerful corporate interests.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia:

    I assume you then put your dinner fork to his throat and said, “No, motherfucker, I want to know what the fuck you meant by identity politics!”

  53. 53.

    Mary G

    @Baud: It is a bit uncanny, isn’t it? She is made of steel.

    ETA: Pun thread below!

    Today I saw a Honda Odyssey with ILIAD on the license plate. It made my day.— Shannon Last (@shannon_last) March 16, 2018

  56. 56.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Don’t many FPers and commenters quote him (Tom Nichols) approvingly?

    I don’t know about “approvingly” but I do agree he shows up way too often as an exemplar of some point to be made. Which I disagree with and disavow wholeheartedly. Tom Nichols is fucking scum and should be pushed into the tiny perv closet along with John Schindler.
    I think Rick Wilson has a good sense of humor, but just like his fellow travelers J Rubin, David Frum and Liz Mair, they are all still out to fuck every D candidate they possibly can. All the while grifting of the R gravy train.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    @Lapassionara:

    Why are we now calling basic civil rights for all citizens, “identity politics”?

    The RWNJs are assholes with oak leaf clusters, but they are REALLY good at finding short, pithy denigrating phrases and repeating… repeating… repeating… repeating… repeating…

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    Didn’t Mrs. Miller do it for money? If so, that’s another fitting theme.

    Mrs Miller maybe is fond of McCabe, and he loves her, but she makes him pay for her services anyway. She is also much smarter than he is, and tries to warn him when the powerful interests roll into town. He doesn’t listen. The movie is tragically lyrical.

    A lot of people thought that they had Trump figured out, and thought that he would be easy to block or control or contain. He ain’t Superman, but right now he is rolling over the people who think that they are wise to his game.

  66. 66.

    FlipYrWhig

    @zhena gogolia: “Get away from identity politics” means “trick burly white bigots into voting for us.” It’s not going to work. Burly white bigots are Republicans. They like being Republicans. They’re not sitting around waiting to be convinced into changing their minds by some clever promise they’ve never heard before. They consider people like your friends the enemy. It’s such a weird fantasy.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    i think I would enjoy having a couple of jars with this twitter Nixon guy

    James Comey @ Comey
    Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.

    Richard M. Nixon @ dick_nixon
    Sorkin needs to give it a goddamn rest.

    @Baud: Rigged system! Rigged system!

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    @zhena gogolia:

    As soon as I challenged the one who said that, he resorted to, “Let’s not talk about politics.”

    OMG, don’t they always do that? They can never answer the question, never defend whatever GOP person X has recently done or the legislation that the GOP is pushing, etc etc etc.

    They run, they resort to “whataboutism”, they try to raise some made-up Hillary issue…they just never want to get behind what they’re really behind.

  76. 76.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I don’t know if Trump will end up firing Mueller and I don’t know what the significance of firing McCabe

    Saturday Night Massacre XVII: Mueller Never Dies!
    @Lapassionara:

    Why are we now calling basic civil rights for all citizens, “identity politics”?

    Because for the vast majority of whites, calling someone a racist, even implying that there are racists around, is much worse than actual racism. Bigotry is an issue to be swept under the rug. It’s easy for the bigots to plant any harmless sounding euphemism for their horrors that they want in soil like that.

  78. 78.

    Lapassionara

    @efgoldman: Yes. I recall when we had the power of oratory on our side. Now, we have the people who do something called “messaging” for a living.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    I been shedding them racist asshole people out my life like a dog that just ran through a sprinkler in the yard.

  84. 84.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The Never Trumpers are still Rethuglican swine deserving of tumbrel rides. They are still part of a party that has building toward Donald for the last 50 years. They’re all complicit in Donald’s betrayal of the Constitution, no matter how much they protest, because they’ve been butthurt about treating Blahs as humans for that same 50 years.

    Fuckem.

  85. 85.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    It was some completely unmemorable British pop song from a couple of years before.

    I keep looking on the TCM schedule to see if that movie comes up again. At least now I can remember the name.

  86. 86.

    Jeffro

    Maggie Haberman has a tweet up saying that Trumpov & Co just (as in, the past couple of days) received a list of questions from Mueller that would be a part of any interview with the Special Counsel’s office. Any wonder why Trumpov is melting down?

  87. 87.

    mai naem mobile

    I just think there’s more to Dolt45s crimes than just money laundering and collusion. He is just freaking out too fucking much for that . I’m wondering more along the lines of under age hookers, sex trafficking and murder. It’s worse than what we were assuming early on.

  88. 88.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Bonnie: The title of the post is a pun on the name of the movie McCabe and Mrs. Miller (as Raven said, but I’m clarifying just in case you’re having a day akin to one of my worst days, where it’d take me time to realize that the post had a title.

  94. 94.

    JPL

    @Jeffro: could be an explanation of Trump’s latest tweet. Truthfully, I have no idea what he will do next, but I assume it won’t be good.

  95. 95.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    One of the classic movie channels, the one that still does classic movies, had one today about Sean O’Casy, with Julie Christie and Maggie Smith as the women he was torn between. I was tempted to watch it just for those two actresses. My first exposure to Maggie Smith was Gosford Park. I’m curious to see one of her earlier roles.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @JPL: He can’t believe that someone, anyone, won’t rid him of this meddlesome Special Counsel. And he doesn’t have the guts to jump out there himself…yet…

  98. 98.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    My first exposure to Maggie Smith was Gosford Park. I’m curious to see one of her earlier roles.

    Well, there is the movie she won the Best Actress Oscar for, “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.”

  100. 100.

    Lapassionara

    @Villago Delenda Est: Truth. Why does anyone call Republicans conservative. They are radicals and have been for years. They deserve all the shame and opprobrium we can give them, if only they could feel shame.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    He can’t believe that someone, anyone, won’t rid him of this meddlesome Special Counsel. And he doesn’t have the guts to jump out there himself…yet…

    Trump is trying to rid himself of anyone who might prevent him from doing something stupid. It is quite a game he is playing with himself.

  108. 108.

    Chet Murthy

    @mai naem mobile:

    under age hookers, sex trafficking

    wut? There’s that woman who was raped by Littledick when she was 13. There’s the “models” his company trafficked from Europe to NYC (yeah, like we’re gonna believe he didn’t try to schtup ’em when they were powerless). Maybe he didn’t order a murder. But the rest? We’ve known about that stuff since before the election.

  110. 110.

    Gin & Tonic

    I normally (almost always) hate “Promoted” Tweets, but props to Nissan USA for supporting @BlackGirlsCode.

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: Ha, I was trying to remember the actor’s name. It’s familiar but I can’t place him in anything.

    @Mary G: That’s one of those titles, book and movie, that’s been on my list forever but I never seem to get around to. I usually like to read the book first, but I think I know enough about Jean Brodie that I don’t have to worry about spoilers. The Remains of the Day is one where I really wish I’d read the book first.

  113. 113.

    Gin & Tonic

    So Election Day in Russia is underway. Who do you guys think will win? Real sense of suspense and uncertainty, isn’t there?

  126. 126.

    Lapassionara

    @schrodingers_cat: Me too. I loved the opening with the aria soundtrack. I have seen it many times, and have sought out other Merchant-Ivory films and enjoyed them also.

  128. 128.

    marv

    I have never been more certain that this blog is on the right track, not just when Doug made the McCabe and Mrs. Miller reference, but when so many early comments were right there with him. Say what you will, but Altman had a pretty big view of what it is to be human

  130. 130.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: Completely OT, but here’s a CNN story about a malfunctioning ski lift in Georgia (the country, not the state.) There’s an embedded Instagram video that you could use to teach your students how to swear – it’s pretty funny, actually, as long as you don’t think about the people likely being injured.

  131. 131.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: Speaking of skiing. Congrats on your anniversary day and good for you on popping in on the first responders with a thank you.

  136. 136.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: Maybe I need to go back to Mykonos to fully heal my elbow thing from 1992. But I’d need to find the Canadian girl too. Sounds like too much effort.

  142. 142.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: Drunk (of course) walking an even drunker Canadian girl to her hotel. She stumbles into me. I fall. i have my right hand in the pocket of my jacket. I can’t get my hand out to break my fall. I take the impact on my right elbow. Arm doubles in size. Girl runs away. Some nerve damage. I couldn’t fully straighten the arm for 20 years.

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    My first exposure to Maggie Smith was Gosford Park. I’m curious to see one of her earlier roles.

    Murder by Death. You won’t regret it. David Niven and Maggie Smith have a fine old time chewing the scenery as Dick and Dora Charleston. It’s a very funny parody of classic detective capers with a terrific ensemble cast.

  146. 146.

    chris

    Looking for Russian election news, found this at the Guardian. Grifters all the way down.

    Secretive religious charity run by top US housing officials raises questions
    GJH Global Ministries, which made its website private after inquiries by the Guardian, does not appear to have a clear purpose

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne: OMFG!

    Dora Charleston: I don’t understand. Why would anybody want to steal a dead, naked body?

    Dick Charleston: Well, dear, there are people who, um…

    [whispers rest into her ear]

    Dora Charleston: Oh, that’s tacky! That’s REALLY tacky!

  148. 148.

    Brachiator

    @Gin & Tonic:

    So Election Day in Russia is underway. Who do you guys think will win? Real sense of suspense and uncertainty, isn’t there?

    In Mother Russia, the exit polls are really exit poles, used to spear the bodies of anyone who fails to vote correctly.

  155. 155.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: No gin involved. It is more of a summer drink. Also, Steve and I could only play a few WASP locations and most WASPs don’t really have a sense of humor.

    ETA: Or an early evening drink. A martini before dinner, sure. Doesn’t spoil the palate like many other drinks do.

  156. 156.

    RemindsMeOfThatMovie

    Finally something I can agree with DougJ on. He doesn’t know what is going to happen. Has no idea what is going on. So I feel so comfortable knowing that DougJ has told me that, hey no biggy if he fires Mueller. Just vote in Nov. Such comfort knowing that’s it’s no big deal other than the fact it is.

    At least he didn’t mention the Applebees salad bar.

  157. 157.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    most WASPs don’t really have a sense of humor.

    They do golf humor, don’t they? For that matter the lime green pants with the whales are a joke.

  159. 159.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I adored David Niven. He also wrote two memoirs, and a WW2-era romantic novel I quite enjoyed (Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly). I think he wrote them all himself, no ghosts, although I may be wrong on that. But all three books were entertaining and intelligent. Wonder if I still have them someplace.

  162. 162.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Gin & Tonic: if you really want to be part of the act, you can’t be dropping lines from the 1970’s.

    Now let me tell you about this bit Omnes and I have been working on about “getting small”.

  164. 164.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Dora Charleston: Thank you. You are?

    Jamesir Bensonmum: Bensonmum.

    Dora Charleston: Thank you, Benson.

    Jamesir Bensonmum: No, no, no, no, no… Bensonmum. My name is Bensonmum.

    Dick Charleston: Bensonmum?

    Jamesir Bensonmum: Yes, sir. Jamesir Bensonum.

    Dick Charleston: Jamesir?

    Jamesir Bensonmum: Yes, sir.

    Dick Charleston: Jamesir Bensonmum?

    Jamesir Bensonmum: Yes, sir.

    Dick Charleston: How odd.

    Jamesir Bensonmum: My father’s name, sir.

    Dick Charleston: What was your father’s name?

    Jamesir Bensonmum: Howard. Howard Bensonmum.

    Dick Charleston: Your father was Howard Bensonmum?

    Dora Charleston: Leave it be, Dickie. I’ve had enough.

  167. 167.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman: @Omnes Omnibus: whale pants and a Brooks Brothers fun shirt? Comedy gold! That’s how you roll at the yacht club’s St. Patrick’s day mixer. And ignore the fact that we don’t accept people of Irish descent as members.

  172. 172.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    How faded are they?

    Just so. Enough that you know I didn’t buy them this season, but not so faded that I might look poor, old sport.

  174. 174.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: that’s the one. A scathing indictment of the New England WASP sense of humor and fun.

    ETA: and right now, scores of lurkers are thinking “of course those two assholes were thinking the same thing!”

  179. 179.

    efgoldman

    @Steve in the ATL:

    you know I didn’t buy them this season

    In the early 70s (pre-mrs efg) I dated a woman with much too much money and much too little sense. She came home one day with a $90 pair of pre-faded jeans with leather patches from Louis of Boston. That’s ~$540 in 2018 money.

  184. 184.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Gin & Tonic: ones of lurkers? I was assuming some people have gone out and come home already, as I did. And that lurking on B-J is a de rigeur pre-party ritual on the west coast.

    @efgoldman: a great argument for bringing back 90% tax rates!

  186. 186.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman:

    There aren’t even scores of commenters

    It sure feels like it when Brachiator, TenguPhule, and Corner Stone take over a thread

  187. 187.

    efgoldman

    @Steve in the ATL:

    a great argument for bringing back 90% tax rates!

    Rates were still pretty high in the early 70s. Most of her money was insurance payouts and from trust funds. Mostly not taxable from then or now.

  190. 190.

    efgoldman

    @Steve in the ATL:

    It sure feels like it when Brachiator, TenguPhule, and Corner Stone take over

    But never this late. They’re daytime/early evening folks.

    ETA: I think this is after Tangupule’s bedtime. He’s very young

  192. 192.

    catclub

    Why is more not being made of Sessions – yet again- forgetting that he recused himself of all matters either Russia OR Clinton?

  194. 194.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Goku is a kid. TP is just a violence porn asshole.

    I was under the long time impression that he was no older than his 20s. Don’t remember where i got it. Maybe it’s just his maturity level.

  195. 195.

    Amir Khalid

    @catclub:
    Didn’t you see the “except maybe sometimes” clause in Sessions’ recusal statement? It’s there if you squint at it just right.

  197. 197.

    Ruckus

    @sukabi:
    That’s good.
    I’d bet that a lot of agents feel the same way.

    ETA Also, it sounds like working at the FBI is a fun job. Wait, what’s the definition of fun again?

  198. 198.

    Mary G

    Just saw on twitter that Elvis Costello released “This Years Model” 40 years ago. I am an old.

  199. 199.

    Chet Murthy

    @Steeplejack: srsly, no joking, man. You don’t remember? She filed civil suit (I assume state of limitations ran out) and was about to go public, but then decided to drop the lawsuit (apparently got threats on her life). Right before the election, IIRC. She’s in her 30s now.

  203. 203.

    sukabi

    @Ruckus: it would be nice push back if the FBI rules of conduct, as explained in that thread, were laid out on tv… Just the juxtaposition of standards of conduct for the FBI vs the assclowns in the executive branch would shut down a bunch of the nonsense

  204. 204.

    eemom

    @RemindsMeOfThatMovie:

    So I feel so comfortable knowing that DougJ has told me that, hey no biggy if he fires Mueller.

    Yup.

    Don’t mind the kewl kids. Cyber dick swinging at this place is like the highlight of their lives.

  205. 205.

    Yarrow

    @Jeffro: That’s been up since January. Says it was last updated on 2/20/18. Is there something else new there? It’s a good resource but needs updating almost daily!

  208. 208.

    NotMax

    Crossfire about to begin on TCM (also plays again Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern). Proto-noir classic which even the presence of normally milquetoasty Robert Young as a dogged police investigator couldn’t dilute.

    Robert Ryan portrayed a tautly strung sociopath like no one else.

    Sunday’s showing immediately followed by another, much lesser budget yet interesting story of a sociopath, Gun Crazy.

  210. 210.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sukabi: is The Beast up and tweeting? Here’s another link for Paul Ryan to ignore, that Meuller probably is not

    Data Firm Tied to Trump Campaign Talked Business With Russians
    But Christopher Wylie, who helped found and develop the company’s voter-profiling technology, said Lukoil showed interest in how the company used data to tailor messaging to American voters.
    “I remember being super confused,” said Mr. Wylie, who took part in one of the Lukoil meetings.
    “I kept asking Alexander, ‘Can you explain to me what they want?’” he said, referring to Mr. Nix. “I don’t understand why Lukoil wants to know about political targeting in America.”
    “We’re sending them stuff about political targeting — they then come and ask more about political targeting,” Mr. Wylie said, adding that Lukoil “just didn’t seem to be interested” in how the techniques could be used commercially.

    ETA: hmm… messed up that link.

  211. 211.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Hello everyone. I had a thought for the long dead thread downstairs about the guy found not guilty of assault of his attackers. Every is like “but how could he even be charged?” Well let me tell you it used to happen every day in County Courthouses. I used to sit in court during first appearances (usually because I was waiting for a particular case) the Sheriffs would bring in a guy charged with assaulting his wife (or girlfriend) Judge would read him his charges, then his rights, then tell him that if he managed to bail out he couldn’t go back to the house unless it was with a Sheriff to collect his belongings, etc., etc. The very next person they brought in, wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs would be the wife (or girlfriend) who was charged with defending herself from the attack, Judge would read the charges, female would say “but he was strangling me” (bearing in mind the guy had literally been in front of the Judge being charged with Felony strangulation of a female) and the Judge would go through the same bullshit about bail etc., and she couldn’t go back to the house without a Sheriff to collect her belongings. Great, unless of course there were children in the house, in which case the children would have to be taken into DSS custody because neither parent was allowed back to the house. Didn’t matter that the female was later found not guilty of assault because of self-defense because by the time the thing came to trial the kids had been in care for months if not years and DSS decided that it was in their best interests to stay there. I literally saw this shit every day. I do not know if it was the police officers who would encourage the guy to press charges or if it was the Magistrates once he got to jail but sure as shit SOMEONE was telling him that he could also press charges for his wife slapping him about when she fought back from the assault, you can be sure that he didn’t come up with it himself. This is the way the system works and it sucks because it is all set up to make money for the a) Police Department, b)the Bail Bondsmen and c) the Court System.

  216. 216.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Don’t forget the Coen brothers first movie, Blood Simple (1984), at 1:45 EDT this morning. Young Frances McDormand in her screen début!

  219. 219.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @NotMax: You forgot a Robert! I looked up Crossfire on IMDB because I’m sure I’ve seen it, but my memory’s a bit hazy. I thought that was Lizbeth Scott’s first noir appearance, but the internet tells me it’s Gloria Grahame.
    ETA: @opiejeanne: Thanks, I’m gonna have to have a Maggie Smith/Film noir film fest to catch up on all these recommendations

  227. 227.

    Another Scott

    @Litlebritdifrnt: What a horrorshow.

    And totally believable.

    After hearing about the horrors of the system in Missouri (e.g. Ferguson, and elsewhere around the country), it’s amazing that there hasn’t been an uprising against the injustice of it all.

    :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  229. 229.

    Ruckus

    @sukabi:
    No, it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference.
    The assclowns don’t give a damn about standards, morals, ethics, etc. No one on the conservative side of the aisle, from the lowest peon to the current president thinks that any of those are anything to worry or even think about whatsoever.

  230. 230.

    T S

    Y’all are a bunch of ass faces. Every. One. of. You. And I love all you assfaces, even if you don’t care much for me.

    Live and let love.

  232. 232.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @zhena gogolia: Late 2D thread, but..may I suggest that every time assholes bitch about “identity politics” we counter with something like

    You know what the worst kind of “identity politics” is? The kind that uses use color or gender or first language or sexual orientation or whatever to identify & target people to fuck over!

  233. 233.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SiubhanDuinne: Co-sign avec enthousiasme! Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Peter Falk, & notably Truman Capote as Lionel Twayne…if “Dick & Dora Charleston” didn’t already alert you to what’s (largely) afoot…

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