Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

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

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

We will not go back.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Fight them, without becoming them!

The lights are all blinking red.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Second rate reporter says what?

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Optimism opens the door to great things.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / “39 Minutes”: The Comey Memos Leak

“39 Minutes”: The Comey Memos Leak

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That’s how long it took the Repubs to spill the entire file… (15-page PDF at the link):


 

Excellent explainer: The Washington Post, “What the Comey memos say”.

Choice Axios pullquote:

…During their private dinner: “The conversation, which was pleasant at all times, was chaotic, with topics touched, left, then returned to later, making it very difficult to recount in a linear fashion…It really was a conversation-as-jigsaw-puzzle in a way, with pieces picked up, then discarded, then returned to.”…

 
Different areas of expertise, same question:


Expert analysis:

Reader Interactions

196Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    I am utterly mystified as to why Team Trump thinks the release of these memos help his case.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @rikyrah: I guess? “Hey, let’s pour lighter fluid on our crotches and strike a match!” Honest to Pete, it wouldn’t surprise me at this point.

  9. 9.

    lumpkin

    @Betty Cracker:

    Well, there’s no reason the DNC emails should have helped team Trump either but with the help of the NYT et al, they sure did. I think “the narrative” is different this time around, though. Now it’s more like “beleaguered WH in disarray” and this just adds to that.

  10. 10.

    sherparick

    @Betty Cracker: Maybe it is Pence having his right-wing Christianists Congressional friends blow up Trump so he can get in the White House. But then I remember that Pence is as dumb as door knob, and realize he and they somehow thinks this help Trump (also, even for the Village Media, the Republican “outrage” at Comey or McCabe “leaking” to the press will be a little hard take from guys who leaked this memorandum 39 minutes after it was released to Goodlatte, Nunes, and Ryan.

  14. 14.

    Bill Arnold

    Re Dana Houle:

    Hey @realDonaldTrump, are you going to just stand by while President Pence uses the House Repubs to hurt you by releasing the Comey memos?

    Alternatively, there are many House Repubs who are willing to take active measures to install a President Pence and it was their doing. Not sure which it is, or if it’s both, or if other actors are involved.

  15. 15.

    kindness

    39 minutes? Really? That is all it took? Any one know who dropped the memos (Devin)?

  16. 16.

    JMG

    The House Republicans would never have leaked the whole memos. They were looking forward to intensive “editing” and then leaking but the Dept. of Justice beat them to it.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @Betty Cracker

    Need you ask?

    “But the strawberries, that’s where I had them. I proved with geometric logic that a duplicate key to the icebox existed.”

    Bananas Republicans. ‘Round the twist, the lot of ’em.

    And, however briefly, it moves the name Mueller below the fold and they adhere to magical thinking of that then equating to a permanent state of out of sight, out of mind.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    Meanwhile, at the home office, sports.ru writes “Wenger’s leaving Arsenal. Turns out you can step down even after being in power for 22 years,” Throwing shade like that takes some balls. Hope nobody at sports.ru steps out on his balcony for a smoke.

  21. 21.

    FlipYrWhig

    Am I overthinking it to interpret “They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk” as a prison rape joke?

  22. 22.

    debit

    @JMG: I agree. The House Republicans have a history of leaking sensitive information, the DOJ figured that if they were going to be forced to hand it over, why not get it out there AND make the House GOP look (even more) irresponsible.

  25. 25.

    Steve in the ATL

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

    We need a volunteer to watch Fox and report back what evil they think these memos show.

    No mention of the memos, just Benghazi and Hillary’s emails.

    I’m speculating, of course. I have Fox “News” blocked so no one in my house accidentally sees it and loses IQ points.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    Racist Bannon, puh-leeze.

    For those of us who eagerly devoured Johnny Quest, Race may have been the straightest of straight arrows but he was a vital member of the good guys, and undeserving of having his name dragged through the mud like that.

    ;)

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @FlipYrWhig:

    No. That’s exactly what it means.

    I think Trump’s best hope is that this whole episode just goes on the huge and growing shit-pile of “powerful people who were never prosecuted”. Mistakes were made. The sleaze is rising around us- we may drown.

  30. 30.

    Weaselone

    The spin in the wingularity is essentially the Trump tweet. See, no evidence of collusion in memos. They also refer to Comey quoting Trump’s own statements about there not being collusion as evidence so checkmate libtards.

  31. 31.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: I didn’t provide a link, at least partly for that reason. But it’s like anything else, if you take reasonable precautions and don’t do anything stupid, you’ll be OK.

  32. 32.

    MattF

    Bear in mind that ‘disloyalty to Donald Trump’ is actual treason– not metaphorical, but literal and criminal. So, the memos prove that Comey is a traitor, period. All that other stuff about duty, truth, honor and so forth is bullshit and beside the point.

  33. 33.

    martian

    I’ll bet Comey’s misogyny towards Lynch is completely invisible from his own perspective because it’s polite, not raging. She’s a “good person”.

    And calling Holder “smooth” is getting under my skin in a way I can’t quite find words for yet. It wasn’t a compliment.

  34. 34.

    clay

    @Weaselone: Comey’s memos are exclusively about his encounters with Trump. So unless *Trump* admitted to collusion in front of Comey, then of course the memos wouldn’t have any evidence about it!

    It would take a real stupid person to think that these memos exonerate Tru…… oh.

  35. 35.

    kd bart

    “These are the guys Trump put together for what turned out to be the biggest heist in American history: the 2016 Election heist. Manafort and Flynn were going to contact the Russians and make them hack the DNC, Assange and Wikileaks had to release the hacked e-mails, Rudy Giuliani had to get the NY FBI Office involved and leaking to the Right Wing Media. even Jason Chaffetz got in on it, all he was supposed to do was leak a confidential memo from the FBI Director. Only Michael Cohen was driving us nuts – just because he set this up, he felt he could bust Trump’s balls for an advance on the money we were going to steal. He didn’t mean anything by it; it was just the way he was”.

  37. 37.

    Weaselone

    Also, the Republicans have egg on their faces because the memos were released in their entirety. The goal had been to justify impeaching/firing Rosenstein if he failed to turn over documents or to damage the case by passing the memos along to Trump and selectively leaking them to the press.

    This release isn’t a perfect solution, but it does minimize the damage done and puts the Republican ratfuckers off balance a bit.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): This was on Mediaite

    “This is a former head of the FBI. He is the former deputy attorney general of the United States. He is a former United States attorney. He is conducting himself like a complete Bozo the Clown. And he does enormous damage to the Federal Bureau of Investigation by conducting himself this way.”

    I did not watch the clip, because watching clips from Fox news is above my pay grade.

    https://www.mediaite.com/tv/mark-levin-says-bozo-the-clown-comey-is-doing-enormous-damage-to-fbi-by-being-petty-superficial/

  41. 41.

    SFAW

    the Comey memos reenforce that, how obsessed Trump was with Putin, from time he took office

    Trigger Warning: Brain bleach might be needed:

    Lying Littledick as Glenn Close? What’s the matter Shitgibbon, Vladi stopped calling you? “One and done” might apply to more things than playoffs.

    [With apologies to Glenn Close, who is 100 times better at what she does than Shitgibbon is at ANYTHING he does. Well, except being an obese, racist, fascist pig]

  42. 42.

    martian

    @Just One More Canuck: Yeah. I feel like there’s so little here that I can’t fairly label it as racism, but I’m getting a vibe. Or maybe he just has a certain level of suspicion and contempt for all Democrats. But I’m getting that Kelly feeling, that civil norms are keeping ugly things under wraps with him.

  43. 43.

    low-tech cyclist

    @rikyrah:

    Black family endures months of harrassment before finally moving

    Direct link to RawStory

    The mayor spotted the graffiti — which read “kills n*gs” and “get out n*ggers” — around the same time as family, but he doesn’t share their concerns.

    “That’s a pretty building, and it’s right on the corner there in the downtown area, and I was just more concerned with getting the paint off the building than I was anything else,” said Mayor Casey Burnett.

    Yeah, you’ll have a town with clean walls and evil human beings. Progress!

    “I think this will blow over in a day or two.”

    He hopes.

    Friendship, TN. Friendship for whites.

  44. 44.

    Lee

    So Trump wanted/expected Comey to leak that he was not a target of an investigation.

    Just wanted to point out that if Comey had kept with FBI tradition and not &*(#&$*(# comment on investigations he wouldn’t expect you to be his toady as much and you would have had a clear ‘We don’t do that’ response.

    They more I read and watch Comey the more I dislike the fellow.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    @MattF:

    Bear in mind that ‘disloyalty to Donald Trump’ is actual treason– not metaphorical, but literal and criminal.

    One assumes you meant “in Trump’s (and RWNJs’) eyes,” because — although I am not a lawyer, etc., etc., — I don’t think “disloyal to the Oval Office Occupant” rises to the level of “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”

  47. 47.

    MomSense

    @Betty Cracker:

    Maybe they are really team Pence? Maybe they are just as fucking stupid as we have always thought they were.

    I really can’t stand them.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    @MattF:

    (e.g., Nunes) as well.

    Who SHOULD be investigated for treason. He may not be guilty of it, but at least it would get him to STFU for awhile. [Yes, I am aware of the (non-comedic) ironic — or should that be “hypocritical”? — nature of that comment.]

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @martian:
    The misogyny read loud and clear to me as well. Women in power bother him. More evidence he found an excuse to make himself feel good indulging his hate for Hillary Clinton.

    @kd bart:
    Heh. Although I get it’s a reference, in real life, I think they hired Trump. He’s too stupid to be behind anything.

    Which reminds me. Is anyone else getting the impression Comey is in weird denial about Trump’s mental faculties? His own notes suggest that Trump’s a rambling, senile dimwit, but Comey never wants to put it together.

  54. 54.

    Lee

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Which reminds me. Is anyone else getting the impression Comey is in weird denial about Trump’s mental faculties? His own notes suggest that Trump’s a rambling, senile dimwit, but Comey never wants to put it together.

    I’ve never seen him comment one way or the other on it. It might just be that Comey is trying to stick with the ‘I just call them like I see them’ shitck.

  55. 55.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @MattF:
    Yeah, but even on his tour now, he insists Trump is at least a little smart. Maybe this is one of his Honest Man quirks. It’s just unacceptable to say the president and his staff are stupid racists.

  56. 56.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    Read all the memos up on TPM. Interesting things were a) how DJT admitted hearing from Putin about “most beautiful hookers in the world”; b) Reince’s inolvement in Flynn scandal. I wonder if Reince has been interviewed by Mueller.

  57. 57.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    Quit calling Pence Race Bannon. Race was a savvy man of action, who was good in a fight, sharp minded, risked his life for others, and was loyal to the Quest family.

    Other than both having white hair, which happens with aging, they have nothing in common.

    Edit: If you are going to compare Pence to a carton character Snifley Whiplash is more appropriate. Both are dumb, not as smart as they think they are, and fundamentally evil.

    ***************

    Thanks to the commentariat for the advice on exercise in the morning thread.

  58. 58.

    Tokyokie

    @Weaselone:

    The spin in the wingularity is essentially the Trump tweet. See, no evidence of collusion in memos. They also refer to Comey quoting Trump’s own statements about there not being collusion as evidence so checkmate libtards.

    Similarly, last week’s Champions League results with Liverpool and Roma advancing show no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia. In fact, the overwhelming weight of evidence in the universe shows no such collusion.

    @martian:

    And calling Holder “smooth” is getting under my skin in a way I can’t quite find words for yet. It wasn’t a compliment.

    Coney thinks Eric Holder, not Billy Dee Williams, used to be a TV pitchman for malt liquor. Two black guys with thin mustaches, how’s a fella supposed to tell them apart?

  59. 59.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: Racists are letting their freak flag fly. Tomorrow they’ll be rallying in Atlanta. Schools in Michigan had to shut down because of Confederate-carrying bullies. A fireman in Kansas spit on a three year old Black boy. A 14-year Black kid was shot at after asking for directions in Michigan. A pregnant Black soldier was physically assaulted by an elderly White woman at a restaurant.

    I could go on and on. Thanks Trump.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    @different-church-lady:

    He does other things?

    I meant throughout his life. Although, I have to admit, he’s probably a lot better at bankrupting his own businesses than Ms. Close would ever be.

    ETA: And lying. He lies far better than she ever would. And “behaving” like a sleep-deprived toddler; I can’t see her doing that.

  61. 61.

    Scott P.

    I don’t know that Congress leaked the memos. I have heard that Obama declassified the memos before he left office by Executive Order. They weren’t released before now because the investigation hadn’t progressed far enough.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    Ron DeSantis, an idiot House back-bencher whom Trump has already endorsed for Florida’s GOP gubernatorial primary, tweeted his impressions of the Comey memos last night. A sample:

    I guess he really believes that?

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    @Tokyokie:

    Similarly, last week’s Champions League results with Liverpool and Roma advancing show no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia. In fact, the overwhelming weight of evidence in the universe shows no such collusion.

    You forgot “So suck it, libtards!”

  64. 64.

    Tim C.

    @JMG: Yup. Could also be a GOPer who hates Trump, but more likely someone else making sure the memos went out unfiltered.

  65. 65.

    p.a.

    @Betty Cracker: @rikyrah: They may or may not be idiots, but they are smart enough to know their ‘strongly support’ followers are certifiable idiots: they’re banking on them to keep a foundation of influence enough to maintain a viable admin. (Not viable in a prog sense of doing good of course, just to continue the leeching.)

  67. 67.

    tobie

    According to Comey, Loretta Lynch recused herself from the Clinton email investigation about the brouhaha over her tarmac meeting with Bill. I’ve often wondered why the Deputy AG didn’t take over then. Comey always acts like he had nowhere to turn in July so he had to do the press conference himself. But he could have gone to the second in command at the DOJ if he had such concerns. He’s been in DC in a long time. He knows the rules and he broke them.

  68. 68.

    No Drought No More

    “I used to think all Russians were diabolically clever until I met Boris” is a great line a movie.

    Republican operatives have always been as full of shit as is Trump, but had until very recently been accorded an undue respect by democratic party politicians like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton eulogized Nixon as a worthy teacher of American values, and Obama often enough praised Reagan for reasons I will never understand. Meanwhile, while democrats hummed Kumbaya to themselves, republicans played hardball, never hesitating to express contempt for the values of the democratic rank and file or their party, and democratic leaders have, by and large, kicked back in silence and took it, tine and time again, without so much as raising their voices in righteous indignation. Republicans have slandered democrats for decades with impunity, and I submit they still do. It’s a sad day for the country when Nicole Wallace exhibits more fight against the nation’s mortal enemies than any congressional democrat (or former democratic presidents and presidential candidates). But that day is upon us. All indications are Donald Trump is a goddamn traitor to his country, over and outré. It’s long past time democrats cease pretending otherwise, and began to uphold their oaths of office to defend the country. There exists no need to wait for Mueller’s report to attack the mortal enemies of American democracy- and by that, I mean attack ALL of them, including their republican “colleagues” in congress. It’s time to shit-can Kumbaya, and start talking turkey instead. Get down to brass tacks, what choice have republicans left us?

  69. 69.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker:

    I guess he really believes that?

    Quite possibly. Republicans elect people just like them, which means a large portion of Republican congressmen are dumb as shit racists with no grasp of reality. They honestly believe their own dogma, and are insulated enough that they never get smacked in the face with things like ‘Wait, I don’t want MY Medicare taken away!’

    Presumably Democrats also elect people just like us? It would explain why our representatives never agree on anything and there are just two or three trolls who do nothing but remind the rest of us we’re not pure like them.

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

    @Just One More Canuck: @martian: Smooth is not a compliment, and it may well be bigotted. I would love an interviewer to ask Comey if he thought he was, “smooth.”. Then if he says no, ask how Holder was different.

    Comey is a Republican. The boys joke about black people and prison rape all the time.

  73. 73.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @No Drought No More:

    Obama often enough praised Reagan for reasons I will never understand.

    It’s not complicated. Reagan completely transformed the direction of the US government and society. Obama wanted to do the same thing, in the opposite direction. Like him or hate him (and no one here likes him), Reagan led a gigantic pendulum swing in our nation’s politics.

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    @tobie:

    He knows the rules and he broke them.

    Many times. Again and again. Even after he knew he broke them in July, he rushed to break them again in October. This is the most critical point about Comey-not-a-hero. Let him have his public fight against Trump. I’ll watch. But not a hero.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    @Patricia Kayden:

    @rikyrah: Racists are letting their freak flag fly. Tomorrow they’ll be rallying in Atlanta. Schools in Michigan had to shut down because of Confederate-carrying bullies. A fireman in Kansas spit on a three year old Black boy. A 14-year Black kid was shot at after asking for directions in Michigan. A pregnant Black soldier was physically assaulted by an elderly White woman at a restaurant.

    I could go on and on. Thanks Trump.

    Yep. I know all about those incidents.
    And, yes, these are Dolt45’s people.

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    The kids are alright.

    Remember after you guys walk out, volunteer! Spend the rest of your day working in your community. This is also a day of service in remembrance of the Columbine Victims. #NationalSchoolWalkout

    — David Hogg (@davidhogg111) April 20, 2018

  80. 80.

    bjacques

    @gene108: Pence is Otto Pilot from “Airplane”. That was the peak of his career, which deflated after that. He never got another good part, mainly because of his limited acting range, so naturally he blamed Liberal Hollywood for keeping him and other conservatives down. He finally went into politics–another white guy running on a grievance against Political Correctness.

  85. 85.

    germy

    .@TulsiGabbard’s consultant, Chris Cooper of the Potomac Square Group, is no ordinary Russian agent. Cooper is allegedly one of seven identified as being at the center of illegal Russian lobbying efforts reaching into the Trump campaign and Congress.https://t.co/VeYuxzQus5 pic.twitter.com/u7qfZxZ5z8— Patrick (@TrickFreee) April 19, 2018

    U.S. military action in Syria could escalate into a war with Russia and Iran. Russia has already stated they will respond to any U.S. military attack against Syria. Is this our mission? How does going to war with Russia over Syria serve the interests of the American people?— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) April 13, 2018

  86. 86.

    Dev Null

    @Dave: Didn’t see a response in comments, so I’ll take a whack at this.

    From the comments at Laura Rozen’s thread:

    Bruce R @Flit_BruceR

    There’s no way Comey could know exactly what the classified redactions on the Congressional copy would be, so he’d be making a fully traceable leak. Plus journos have stated their source is Congressional.

  87. 87.

    Barbara

    @Betty Cracker:

    I am utterly mystified as to why Team Trump thinks the release of these memos help his case.

    Devin Nunes has no background in criminal law, either investigation or enforcement. Look at this objectively: Comey has already testified or disclosed what Trump told him and the memo was written to memorialize that conversation soon in time after it occurred. So there is nothing “new,” which all by itself makes Comey look truthful, but the parts that Comey doesn’t get into when describing the conversation provide cringe worthy details to bolster the case that Trump is obsessed with Putin in ways we might not understand but know are really, really bad. Only a blithering idiot like Devin Nunes could possibly think that Comey rose to occupy the law enforcement positions that he did without knowing how to protect himself from accusations of lying or worse.

  88. 88.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Hell, for VDE “forfeit” is a friggin love pat.

    I’m appalled at the lack of love shown TenguPhule and Goku in matters such as this.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @Barbara:

    Devin Nunes has no background in criminal law, either investigation or enforcement.

    However, I’m hoping he has a bright future in the criminal justice system.

  92. 92.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Betty Cracker: He can believe whatever he wants. Funny how Republicans aren’t outraged that these memos were leaked by Nunes. I thought they were against leaking.

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    Cruz tries to sing the praises of the president who bullied him
    04/20/18 09:23 AM—UPDATED 04/20/18 09:31 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) relationship with Donald Trump has been difficult at times. After all, Trump has gone after Cruz’s wife and suggested Cruz’s father played a role in the JFK assassination.

    For his part, the Republican senator has told Americans that Trump is a “pathological liar,” a “bully,” a “narcissist,” “utterly amoral,” and my personal favorite, a “sniveling coward.”

    It was therefore of interest when Time magazine named the president one of the most influential people of the year, and the editors turned to Cruz to sing Trump’s praises. This is what the Texan came up with:

    President Trump is a flash-bang grenade thrown into Washington by the forgotten men and women of America. The fact that his first year as Commander in Chief disoriented and distressed members of the media and political establishment is not a bug but a feature.

    The same cultural safe spaces that blinkered coastal elites to candidate Trump’s popularity have rendered them blind to President Trump’s achievements on behalf of ordinary Americans. While pundits obsessed over tweets, he worked with Congress to cut taxes for struggling families. While wealthy celebrities announced that they would flee the country, he fought to bring back jobs and industries to our shores. While talking heads predicted Armageddon, President Trump’s strong stand against North Korea put Kim Jong Un back on his heels.

    President Trump is doing what he was elected to do: disrupt the status quo. That scares the heck out of those who have controlled Washington for decades, but for millions of Americans, their confusion is great fun to watch.

  94. 94.

    Barbara

    @SFAW: Just for example, compare Devin Nunes to Trey Gowdy. I don’t like Gowdy, he obviously had a partisan axe to grind on Ben Ghazi and wasted all of his time doing so — although, really, given his political orientation, it probably kept him from doing equally or even more destructive things with his time. Gowdy used to be a prosecutor and he sees how this is going, and has said more than once words to the effect of, if Trump isn’t guilty he should stop acting like he is. As far as I am concerned, Nunes is in the same boat. He did something, whether it was inadvertent or intentional, but he did something that put him in the crosshairs and he has been acting like a guilty man for a while now.

  95. 95.

    LAO

    What the what?

    Shadowing Comey: @CNN has learned the Republican campaign to discredit the former FBI director is now turning to lions, including this fury costumed creature who will be tailing Comey on his upcoming book tour. This gives new meaning to the role of tracker…. pic.twitter.com/Jgks4gtOUD— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) April 19, 2018

    Welcome to American in the year 2018. Just how stupid can we get?

  96. 96.

    Barbara

    @Patricia Kayden: They didn’t even redact all the parts that really should have been and so leaked information that should not have been disclosed. So to his list of politically maladroit leaks, you can also add leaking information that was likely classified. Nunes truly is an idiot.

  97. 97.

    rikyrah

    Rubio’s argument on presidential ‘deference’ starts to unravel
    04/20/18 10:25 AM
    By Steve Benen
    ……………………………….
    And then Rubio changed his mind and helped confirm Bridenstine to the post. Yesterday on the Senate floor, he explained why.

    “My view of it is … that we give great deference to the president on choosing qualifications. It is my view that, the more important the job, the more discretion the president deserves.”

    This is a terrible argument. The more important a position, the more the Senate should rubber-stamp a president’s nominee? The significance of the Senate’s advise-and-consent role is diminished when members are considering nominees of great import? All of this seems entirely backwards.

    In fact, at a certain level, Rubio knows how absurd this is – because he made the opposite argument last year:

    “My view is that the president deserves wide latitude in their nominations, but the more important the position is, the less latitude they have.”

    Complicating matters, of course, is the fact that Rubio reflexively opposed many of Barack Obama’s nominees for cabinet and other high-ranking posts – even when the Floridian knew they’d be confirmed anyway – because he had no interest in presidential “deference” or “discretion.”

    It’s almost as if Rubio’s principles are malleable and easily put aside for the sake of partisan convenience.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    Pence Mocks Raul Castro After Election: ‘Looks Like You’re The One Leaving’
    By Associated Press | April 20, 2018 6:55 am

    HAVANA (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is responding to outgoing Cuban leader Raul Castro, telling him on Twitter that “we’re here standing with the Cuban people.”

    Pence tweeted in response to a quote from Castro, who said Pence “couldn’t take it and left” during his appearance last weekend at an international summit in Peru.

    Pence responds, “looks like you’re the one leaving,” and says the U.S. won’t rest until Cuba “has free & fair elections, political prisoners are released & the people of Cuba are finally free! (hashtag)CubaLibre”

    The vice president walked out of the Summit of the Americas when Cuba’s foreign minister was recognized to speak after him. Pence slammed Cuba as a “tired communist regime” in his speech.

  103. 103.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: Pence doesn’t want free and fair elections for people of color here in the good ole USA. Who is he fooling with his nonsense about wanting them in foreign countries?

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    They might not be able to prove “collusion” but the problem is they’re going to find criminal actions in TrumpWorld and crimes are…against the law. That’s why they’re freaking out. It’s hilarious. They’re operating under the ASSUMPTION that Trump is criminal in areas OTHER than Russian collusion. This is the DEFENSE of this President.

    Trump was not subject to the ordinary “vetting” process of Presidential candidates. We know jack shit about this guy. That NY media knows it doesn’t matter. The public didn’t know it.

    If the Mueller investigation continues that will come out. Mueller can’t come upon criminality and just ignore it. He has to refer it. It’s not a choice. He can’t ignore it. They’re acting as if the NYTimes “red line” actually exists in law and it just doesn’t.

    If I investigate you for theft and in the process I find out you’re a drug dealer I can’t just say “not theft! Must ignore!”

    There is no “red line”. If Mueller doesn’t have jurisdiction someone else will. He HAS to pass it on.

  106. 106.

    Yarrow

    OT – An update on the Guadalcanal vet in hospice who wanted to talk with other vets. I also posted this in the thread from yesterday.

    Update: The hospice reports that multiple Guadalcanal vets reached out to talk w/ this patient. (Response was "absolutely amazing!" they say) Sadly, his family has withdrawn the request because he's having trouble speaking now. Please keep these folks in your thoughts today.— Andrew deGrandpre (@adegrandpre) April 20, 2018

    So great that so may Guadalcanal vets reached out but sad that it didn’t work out. May the kindness of all who helped be of comfort to the family at this time.

  111. 111.

    LAO

    Interesting short piece by Frum in the Atlantic

    My favorite quote:

    (Notice that not even The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which did so much to publicize it in advance, ever alludes to the Nunes memo now. It has popped like a soap bubble, leaving behind only a faint residue of scum.)

    faint residue of scum. I think I may change my nym.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    They might not be able to prove “collusion” but the problem is they’re going to find criminal actions in TrumpWorld and crimes are…against the law.

    Ok, Kay…that line just cracked me up.

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    That’s why they’re freaking out. It’s hilarious. They’re operating under the ASSUMPTION that Trump is criminal in areas OTHER than Russian collusion. This is the DEFENSE of this President.

    so true.

    But, Kay, they can totally prove Collusion.
    When I say that the Curve for Unqualified White Men is REAL….I mean it.

    HOW many examples do we have of Dolt45 World meeting with….contacting Russians…
    How many?
    You can basically count the people not around him that DON’T have a Russian connection on one hand.

    I will say bring it up again…

    WHAT IF….
    JUST ONE of these connections had happened during 44’s Term?

    I’m not asking of the, what, couple dozen…

    What, if there was JUST ONE?

    Yeah. I know. Whatever.

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    @Barbara:

    As far as I am concerned, Nunes is in the same boat. He did something, whether it was inadvertent or intentional, but he did something that put him in the crosshairs and he has been acting like a guilty man for a while now.

    As I said: hoping for a bright future for him in the criminal justice system. I don’t think HE would view it as “bright,” but I sure will.

  117. 117.

    JMG

    @Tokyokie: This is off topic, but a deli/bodega on Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn not far from my son’s apartment has a four-foot tall cardboard cut out of Billy Dee Williams endorsing Colt 45. It’s the real antique deal. Serious marketing game displayed there.

  119. 119.

    PaulWartenberg

    @Betty Cracker:

    they seemed to think there was something in Comey’s memos that would have conflicted with the statements he made to committees that he sat before soon after his firing. they wanted to see if there was anything they could charge him with re: Lying to Congress.

    they were also thinking there was stuff in there that would embarrass Comey or make him look worse to the Beltway media elites.

    the trump people just do not see the things THEY do and say that end up being more embarrassing – and liable – than anything Comey said/did. Now THEY are the ones who have to explain Putin being a pimp for Russian hookers and the fact that the West Wing were terrified if Flynn was wired.

  120. 120.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @SFAW: Glad you like them, I’m still learning to use the sky tracker gizmo; but I’m really impressed with the results of really long exposures. I’ve got one that I’m saving for “On the Road” that’s got something special in it.

  123. 123.

    chris

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s a wonderful picture, thank you.

    I see that Death Valley is a dark sky preserve, have you ever been there? For some reason, too many horse operas probably, I wanted to go there when I was a kid. Not now though because I’d just dry up and blow away in the hellish heat.

  124. 124.

    Gin & Tonic

    In completely unrelated news, I had a visit with my surgeon yesterday, probably my last for some time. He is “very pleased.” So if you’re interested and have been following the saga of my arm for 13+ months now, here’s [TRIGGER ALERT} how it looks as of yesterday. Not a very good photo, shot from an iPhone off a mediocre computer monitor, explaining that moiré pattern. But a lot of fusion there, which will most likely all fill in over time.

    It’s been a long road.

  125. 125.

    Barbara

    @Kay:

    If the Mueller investigation continues that will come out. Mueller can’t come upon criminality and just ignore it. He has to refer it. It’s not a choice. He can’t ignore it. They’re acting as if the NYTimes “red line” actually exists in law and it just doesn’t.

    All I want to add is, it might not happen all the time, but it is very typical to go looking for one crime and find another — go looking for insider trading and find tax evasion or structuring, or vice versa. To state that Mueller should just “ignore” those criminal activities he happens to find along the way is to effectively immunize suspected criminal activity when it is engaged in by high officials. Yes, I understand that in some cases (like with Ken Starr) this principle can get extended to levels of absurdity, but if that happens, our recourse is to use the vote to deter it, which is what happened in 1998.

  127. 127.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chris: I have been to Death Valley several times, always in the summer, mostly related to a business trip to Las Vegas. Having spent most of my life within several miles of the Atlantic Ocean, I find it oddly fascinating. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in Vegas or LA and can spend a couple of extra days.

    But it’s really hot. Highest temp I experienced was 121, and I was desperately hoping for 122, because that’s 50 Celsius, and I wanted evidence of that for my European friends.

  129. 129.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @chris: I’ve been to Death Valley a couple of times back when I was a kid, the last time was 50 years ago. Madame and the kid want to go and I’m game. There are other place that are a bit closer and just as dark(Trona Pinnacles, the Alabama Hills, Amboy Crater…).

  131. 131.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    Wow, then I’m really in trouble. I spend 90% of the day on such sites. No problem as long as you don’t click the wrong thing. (Tfu, tfu, tfu, ne sglazit’)

  133. 133.

    West of the Rockies

    @SFAW:

    Well, to be fair, he furrows his brow, shakes his head, and chuckles resignedly. That’s gotta be worth something.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    Republican tax plan delivers massive rewards for Wall Street
    04/20/18 10:50 AM
    By Steve Benen

    If you were one of those Americans who argued last year, “Wall Street giants deserve a massive tax break because they don’t appear to have nearly enough money,” the Associated Press had some news today that should make you feel much better.

    An analysis by The Associated Press shows the nation’s six big Wall Street banks saved at least $3.59 billion in taxes last quarter, thanks to the recently enacted Trump tax law.

    Banks typically kick off the earnings season, and their reports for the January-March quarter are giving investors and the public their first glimpse into how the new tax law is impacting Corporate America. Banks historically paid some of the highest taxes, due to their U.S.-centric business model. Before the Trump tax cuts, these banks paid between 28 to 31 percent of their income each year in corporate taxes.

    The results show why banks supported the tax overhaul. Tax rates at banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley dropped to between 17 and 23 percent.

  137. 137.

    trollhattan

    @SFAW:
    Pence–getting his 1962 on. Now why pray tell are they handling the Sov…er…Russians so very differently than Cuba?

  138. 138.

    trollhattan

    @rikyrah:
    You can’t see it but this is my astonished face. Trump may be wrecking the house but by gawd as a party guest he sure as hell delivered a damn fine tax break.

    Now would somebody please come pick up all these hookers?

  139. 139.

    SFAW

    @West of the Rockies:

    Well, to be fair, he furrows his brow, shakes his head, and chuckles resignedly. That’s gotta be worth something.

    Not to mention his steely-eyed gaze, designed to convey resolve and gravitas.

  140. 140.

    The Other Chuck

    @Villago Delenda Est: Much as I’d like to see them tried and hung for treason, your violence fantasies point to something different. Frankly, your shtick has worn itself out and I think you’re a greater danger to civil discourse than a whole stable full of trolls.

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Race Bannon = Mike Pence is apparently a meme that’s been around for a year or so. There was apparently a comic strip character named Race Bannon, and Pence apparently bears a resemblance to him. I had never heard of the comic (Johnny Quest) and only vaguely of the Race Bannon reference. In fact, until recently I thought it referred to Steve Bannon and his love of white supremacy, but it’s nothing to do with him or racism as far as I can discern. (Except, of course, that Pence is as racist as the day is long.)

  144. 144.

    bystander

    Just hearing on MSNBC that the DNC is bringing suit against Russian government, Trump campaign and Wikileaks for the hacking.

  145. 145.

    Dev Null

    @Dev Null: Nancy LeTournaeu at WashMo posits another uh, possibility:

    It is unclear at this point whether [Nunes’ et al] demand to have the Comey memos released to Congress was an attempt to [cherry-pick Comey’s memos] or whether it was simply a request that they thought Rosenstein would deny, providing an excuse for him to be fired. But based on what we now know about the memos, I doubt their intent was for these documents to become public, because they basically corroborate everything Comey has said at the exact same time that the former FBI director is traveling around the country to promote his book.

    In other words, it looks like Rosenstein responded to their demands by not only releasing these memos to the congressional committees, but by allowing them to be released publicly. That cuts off either aim Trump’s enablers had in mind. They can’t hold him in contempt of Congress or impeach him for refusal to comply and they can’t cherry-pick what is released to the public.

    OTOneHand, 39 minutes from receipt of 15 pages of memos to the AP having the memos in hand is quick work, even for Speedy GoNunes.

    OTOtherHand, there’s still the fact that journos say “Congress”.

    I vote for stoopid.

    Since there were multiple leaks of the memos (TPM claims to have received them independently of the AP), it’s possible that both Nunes & Rosenstein leaked them.

  148. 148.

    Fair Economist

    @chris: Most areas near Death Valley are dark sky too. I had some nice stargazing from outside a motel in Panamint Springs. I’ve been to Death Valley a number of times in the spring, and it’s been hot but tolerable, and it’s an interesting place although you have to drive a lot (the attractions are widely spaced). I’ve never been in the summer. One of the park rangers said that when it’s above 120 you feel panic when you step outside because your body *knows* it has no business out in the sun in that kind of heat.

    My neatest trip was during one of the epic blooms because I’d seen Death Valley in its usual desolate state with nothing green and it was really striking to see it covered in wildflowers. It would have been a lot less jawdropping if I had not seen it before – I saw a bloom at Anza Borrego (a desert park in San Diego county) and while it was pretty, it wasn’t shocking the way Death Valley was, because I hadn’t seen Anza as a very dry desert before.

  150. 150.

    NorthLeft12

    how obsessed Trump was with Putin, from time he took office

    And not in a way that could be interpreted as protecting the interests of the country that had just foolishly elected him President either.

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    @Yarrow: Let me tell you from experience — having trouble speaking is way different than not wanting to listen, to hear. I wish the family could find a way to just record the vet’s well wishes and thoughts and play it for the man. “My name is Joe, I was in the First at the ‘Canal….”. It could be meaningful.

  152. 152.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic: 50C? I’d die, right after I sent a picture of a thermometer home to Nova Scotia. Humidity here runs around 50% on cold days in the winter. Right now it’s 6C and 87%.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Please go and send us pictures. At this point that’s the closest I’ll ever get.

  153. 153.

    Immanentize

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks from him.
    He’s at school with his friends — they got him some “Supreme” brand underwear which as the Immp describes it, is a ridiculously overpriced brand that once literally sold bricks to the gullible. Mockery abounds.

  154. 154.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    CORRECTION (couldn’t edit in time): Johnny Quest was apparently an animated TV cartoon, not a comic strip. Not in any way part of my youthful experience, as you can probably tell, but I know there are folks here who take their comics and cartoon characters very seriously, and I don’t want to get yelled at.

  155. 155.

    Dave

    @Dev Null: Then assuming it wasn’t Democrats getting ahead for once the House GOP is even dumber than I thought. And I thought they were pretty damned dumb.

  160. 160.

    NorthLeft12

    @SiubhanDuinne: Johnny Quest was a popular Saturday morning TV cartoon show [I watched it religiously as a ten year old] that was kind of an action/thriller/sci fi show. Johnny Quest was a young teen whose father was some kind of scientist and Race Bannon was a manly man who served the family as driver, pilot, and muscle on their various adventures around the world battling the forces of evil, etc.
    There is a very strong resemblance between Pence and Bannon. Exact same hairdo and colour.
    They also had an Indian [from the real India c/w turban] teenage boy that I believe they adopted [exact status unclear] and a small dog named Bandit. No Mom Quest around [believe she had died] and virtually no other females besides the very infrequent love interest for Race.

  162. 162.

    Leto

    @Gin & Tonic: I always get a kick out of telling my European friends about my 60C+ summers in Saudi, Kuwait (with 80% humidity), and Iraq. It’s the, “You’re joking…” face. I then show them the pic of the thermometer that was hanging on the gym tent in direct sunlight that stopped measuring at 140F, with the needle being about 10 degrees past that. Fun deployments…

  163. 163.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NorthLeft12:

    Thanks for the additional background. I was never that much of a fan of TV animation, and in any case it first aired in 1964-65 and I was newly married, working, and moving from the ATL to NYC at that time. But it sounds harmless and enjoyable for those of the right age.

  165. 165.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @NorthLeft12:
    That was of course in the original series of the 60s. There was a third series in the 90s that featured Race’s niece as a regular character.

    What was it about shows around that time that had missing mother syndrome?

  166. 166.

    Dev Null

    @Immanentize: I haven’t seen details of the handoff process, but unless the DoJ handoff to the House was to both chair and ranking member, 39 min from handoff to AP publication is too quick for the Dems.

    Even if the handoff was to both parties, thinking unlikely to be Dems because:

    1) Dems would likely want to read the memos first because of course they would, and that’s waaaay more than 39 minutes; and

    2) having read the memos, House Dems might well choose to hold their fire so’s to be able to make Nunes look even more the jackass when he (inevitably) cherry-picked. (That’s what I’d have done, anyway, so of course that’s what House Dems would do, amirite?)

    Incidentally, as I commented (at #145) in a reply to self (duh, sorry …) Nancy LeTourneau at WashMo thinks Rosenstein leaked the memos…

    … but that doesn’t explain why journos are saying “Congress”.

  168. 168.

    Dev Null

    wrt the general theme of “why did Speedy GoNunes leak Comey’s memos when the memos make Trump look worse?”, Jonathan Bernstein makes an interesting argument here:

    House GOP Radicals want to make things to go “Boom“

    Everyone is assuming that in doing this, the House radicals are seeking to protect Trump. But it’s very possible that they are seeking a Saturday Night Massacre type event for their own reasons. How did the release of the Comey memos help Trump, for instance? They certainly burnished the reputation of Nunes to the strong conservatives who might help him overcome a surprisingly competitive re-election campaign — both through national fundraising and district support:

    Statement from Chairman Goodlatte, Chairman Gowdy, and me on the Comey memos: https://t.co/rfmvM1JoyX

    — Devin Nunes (@DevinNunes) April 20, 2018

    It’s hard to tell the difference between protecting Trump and pushing him towards a potentially grave confrontation for other reasons. But if what many House Republicans are doing is playing the True Conservative game, then we should expect them to seek out procedural maneuvers that will split the House Republican conference. If we think about it that way, then goading Trump into taking acts that would force an impeachment confrontation makes a lot of sense, at least in terms of achieving their goals.

  170. 170.

    ? Martin

    Republicans didn’t leak those memos. Rosenstein did, or released them in such a way to ensure they leaked. The GOP set a trap for him: Withhold the memos and be held in contempt so Trump could fire him, release them to the committee leaders so the GOP could decide what to leak and to whom. Rosenstein couldn’t win. His best option was to release the memos but ensure that they got leaked in full, and widely so that they couldn’t get weaponized. And that’s exactly what happened. I don’t know the mechanics of how it happened, but they leaked because Rosenstein wanted them to leak, not because the GOP did.

  171. 171.

    burnspbesq

    @SFAW:

    However, I’m hoping he has a bright future in the criminal justice system.

    The voters of his district are going to sentence him to life in Fresno. If you don’t see that as sufficient punishment, I don’t know what to tell you.

  173. 173.

    Dev Null

    @? Martin: Then why are journos saying “Congress”? (which I see stated by multiple outlets)

    Possible that Rosenstein and Congress leaked ’em …

  174. 174.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Gin & Tonic: Congratulations! I know it’s been a horrible painful slog. Wrists are hard–there is so much stress on the bones and soft tissue from all the movement they do.

  175. 175.

    Mike J

    By Sunday mornimy Republicans are going to be complaining about how Comet leaked this memo.

  176. 176.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Yeah, thought it referred to the Breitbart Bannon as well. Never for a moment occurred to me it might refer to anyone else, and fail to see what possible connection or application it has to Pence (of all people); any supposed resemblance is quite superficial.

  177. 177.

    Citizen Alan

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Jonny Quest was a product of its time. Growing up as a kid it was easily my favorite cartoon. And in terms of animation and storytelling, it holds up remarkably well. That said, a lot of it is shockingly racist by modern standards. The only recurring villain is Doctor Zin, your typical Yellow Peril mad scientist type, and depictions of non-white cultures range from superstitious comic relief characters to savage cannibals who have never seen white folks before.

  179. 179.

    Brachiator

    This has been a busy ass day, but it also looks like there is just a mess o’stuff popping up on the Internets regarding Trump, Comey, etc.

    Here Comey asserts, basically, that Trump asked him to leak about an ongoing FBI investigation

    Others have probably noted this as well, but obviously Trump is obsessed with making sure that he always look good. More than doing whatever he thinks a president should do. Absolutely fixated like a deranged adolescent with looking good, making sure his “victories” are pure and total, “the best ever.” No collusion. Democrats can only be losers in his eyes.

    And the rest of the country has to endure this nonsense.

  180. 180.

    Jack the Second

    @Betty Cracker: Well, who do you think the highest level member of Team Trump with the attention span to read 15 pages of text is? Hell, do they even have any literate interns who can read for them?

    Chances are Trump, et al is relying on hemming and hawing reports (or misreading sarcasm) and not anything resembling firsthand knowledge.

  181. 181.

    Citizen Alan

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Well in the 1960’s. you couldn’t actually have a female character who did anything productive or who advanced the plot in any way except as a peril monkey. And you certainly couldn’t have a mother figure on hand who could watch after the boys while Dr Quest was traveling the world fighting communist spies or else the boys would never get to tag along and there wouldn’t be a show to watch. So you might as well skip to the Chase and not have a mother figure at all. IIRC, the back plot was that Mrs. Quest had previously been murdered by “foreign agents,” which justified the government basically assigning a CIA assassin to be the permanent male nanny for a widowed scientist and two preteen boys. It was telling that in the few episodes where Jade (Race’s occasional love interest who is also a femme fatale freelance spy) showed up, at the end the two of them would make out while Johnny and Haji looked on disgusted and all the kissing and girly stuff.

    Oh, and yes, one of the main characters was a kid from India named Haji who the Quest family basically just “acquired” in an Adventure. He wore a nehru jacket and a turban, and he was accomplished at snake charming and performing the Indian rope trick. Like I said, shockingly racist by modern standards.

  182. 182.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: It probably would be a better picture if you take it again without that watch band in it.

    …

    Oh.

    ;-)

    Excellent news. Congratulations and keep it up!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  185. 185.

    Another Scott

    @? Martin: Maybe Rosenstein setup a Dropbox called “Congress leaked them”?

    ‘Where did you get the Comey memos?’

    ‘Congress leaked them’

    Maybe?!

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  187. 187.

    T.L.

    @Frankensteinbeck: I think Comey doesn’t want to bolster a non compos mentis defense should Trump be indicted, either before or after leaving office. He said something to the effect of saying that Trump is not all there, let’s him off the hook. I think he doesn’t want the press and public to provide Trump with any excuses whatsoever for his moral repugnance, I think that’s his concern.

  188. 188.

    Anotherlurker

    Race Bannon sued Dr. Quest for custody of Johnny and Hadji.
    Harvey Birdman was the attorney for Dr. Quest.

  191. 191.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Citizen Alan:
    True, but it’s incredible that a POC character was even in a show in the 1960s as a main character portrayed in a positive light. Credit where credit is due.

  192. 192.

    T.L.

    @Betty Cracker: I think Republicans (i.e. Nunes) intention was to leak Comey’s memos (aka evidence in active criminal investigation) — in which is detailed conversations where Trump and Priebus asked Comey to leak classified information they thought would be favorable for Trump — in order to prove that Comey’s a leaker, just as Trump has claimed. So they leaked memos that detail Trump and Priebus urging Comey to leak to ostensibly prove that Comey’s a leaker. Which is absurd, and there’s some key distinctions here. When Comey released a small portion of his memos, only after the FBI had redacted any classified/sensitive information, the memos were not yet evidence since no one was investigating Trump yet for obstruction of justice — though Comey and his team were considering it around the time he was fired because of the events detailed in the memos. Whereas House Republicans leaked evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation, potentially of obstruction of justice, and Trump and Priebus asked Comey to leak classified information.

  196. 196.

    DissidentFish

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Yeah. As an Indian American kid in the 1960’s, Hadji on Jonny Quest was representation that was nowhere else. The stereotypes are only clear in retrospect. I always took the Nehru jacket to just be a white kurta, which we wore in family pictures ourselves (with my Virginia-born mom in a sari!)

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