Dense Pence, who will never be asked to bring the potato salad to the Mensa picnic, declines to follow Trump’s lead and dismiss the Mueller investigation as a “hoax,” but “respectfully” requests that Mueller’s team wrap it up for “the good of the country.”
.@MitchellReports asks @VP if he thinks Bob Mueller’s investigation is a “hoax” pic.twitter.com/ec9kaiqN0t
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 10, 2018
In your dreams, you beady-eyed, hypocritical, Bible-humping traitor. “Woke” George Will in The Post:
Donald Trump, with his feral cunning, knew. The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive public figure. And Pence, who has reached this pinnacle by dethroning his benefactor, is augmenting the public stock of useful knowledge. Because his is the authentic voice of today’s lickspittle Republican Party, he clarifies this year’s elections: Vote Republican to ratify groveling as governing.
Not sure I concur with Will’s assertion that Pence has eclipsed Trump in sheer repulsiveness, but Will makes a good point about what Pence’s servility says about today’s Republican Party.
Anyhoo, as we should always remember when Pence emerges from an undisclosed location to burble about the investigation, Manafort, whose every move was designed to extract money from Russian oligarchs, urged Trump to choose Pence as VP, and Pence oversaw the transition, in which an unregistered foreign agent who has since acknowledged lying to the FBI was installed as National Security Adviser — in the face of warnings from the acting AG. Pence is every bit as dirty as Trump.
It’s also worth putting the Mueller investigation in context:
Benghazi, 4 years, 0 indictments
Clinton emails, 2 years, 0 indictments
Russia collusion, 14 months, 23 indictments
Scoreboard, mofos. And tickety-fucking-tock.
schrodingers_cat
Nesting Russian dolls of treason.
LAO
I really need a day off from the relentless deluge of corruption and scandal. I don’t think that I’m going to get it, but it would be nice.
germy
He’s angry about what’s happened to his Grand Old Party. He should have seen it coming 38 years ago.
I tried this logic with a RWNJ. It didn’t work. He saw it as proof that the Shrillary investigations were somehow a sham. (Meaning they were too incompetent to uncover her obvious wrongdoing)
jeffreyw
Yarrow
Pence is a traitor. He knew. He worked with Flynn. Manafort brought him in. He’s just as guilty as the rest of them.
Those 23 indictments are the tip of the iceberg. Tick tock, motherfuckers.
paradox
I’ve been on the record for weeks for Mueller to get the freak on it and release the truth. Does anyone really think Mueller doesn’t know enough to cogently make a simple statement? Really?
According to Sarah Kendzior the longer Mueller waits the greater the chance Trump and his henchmen gum up the works or de-legitimize it. They’ll just ignore what happens then. Think they won’t? Think again, the law means nothing to them.
We need indictments and all of the truth as soon as possible, fucking yesterday. America Justice: waiting and waiting and waiting waiting and waiting and waiting waiting and waiting and waiting waiting and waiting and waiting waiting and waiting and waiting waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen. Mueller very well could have already failed.
Tickety-tock, yes, there goes your country. Bye-bye.
Yarrow
@LAO: You have to take those days off. They will not come to you.
catclub
You could add Fast and Furious and Solyndra investigations, for completeness.
or start adding Pruitt investigations and numbers of people quitting.
terraformer
Unregulated capitalism is a threat to democracy, and Republicans are traitors to the self-governing ideal of this country. They do so by their GOP acronym:
Gaslight: what you have personally seen and experienced is/was not real or true; instead, what the GOP says represents the only “real” truth.
Obstruct: they explicitly or implicitly stop any legislation or action that results in less inequality in terms of the application of law, the economy, and/or regulation.
Punish: they apply government power specifically against those people or entities that do not support the GOP.
LAO
@Yarrow: I fear you are right. And in honor of that, I say…tick tock MF.
Chet
Add “5 guilty pleas” to the Mueller line on the scoreboard.
Major Major Major Major
fuckem
mai naem mobile
Does anybody remember the article about Reince Preibus a couple of months ago about what he was doing post-Dolt45 admin. He was making something like $5K/a phone call from corporations who wanted advice on dealing with Dolt45. He said he talked to Dolt45 frequently – seemed like it was daily. Cohen’s alleged sale of access to POTUS seems to put this in a different light.
bemused
One could be arguing for eternity on which swamp beast is the most repulsive.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
Jonny Scrum-half
@paradox: Agreed. Unless Mueller’s results are shocking and indisputable, every day that goes by allows the propaganda to get deeper into the country, making it that much harder to reverse.
kindness
I have an aversion to liking any column by George Will unless it is about baseball. But I will admit to liking the cut of his jib with that piece. Honesty, even in small doses, from important Republicans is a good thing.
@paradox: Mueller is playing out the clock. If he released his report now, this Congress would be able to bury it with AG Sessions help. If Mueller releases it after the fall elections, they won’t be able to.
justawriter
Sadly, Mensa, like other once respectable organizations, has been overrun by conservative loudmouths who seek to dominate the forums through volume and repetition. It’s like being on Reddit, just with better spelling. I am afraid Pence and the Great Cheeto would be applauded by a large minority of members if they ever showed up at the AG (annual gathering, which will be held in Indianapolis this year).
Betty Cracker
@kindness: That’s my guess about Mueller’s timing too, but honestly, I have no idea. It is an enormously huge global web of corruption and intrigue the team is unraveling, so possibly that just takes a long time. I don’t think Trump’s propaganda about the investigation resonates much outside his own base, and nothing would convince those idiots that Trump is corrupt and compromised.
bemused
Love this comment.
The Other Chuck
@justawriter: What’s that effect where people who are intelligent in one area think they’re geniuses in everything, and have no idea how inept they really are? Some variant of Dunning Kruger, but I think there’s a different name.
Maybe it should just be called the “Mensa Effect”, because that’s what these people are. I wouldn’t let these people walk my dog.
bemused
@bemused:
Men aren’t sending their best people.
Yarrow
@LAO: Even I, with my white-hot rage at what these traitors have done and are doing to our country and my relentless focus on the Trump Russia treason operation, have taken days off. You just have to. For the most part there is nothing the average person can do outside of calling representatives, protesting when appropriate, and working to elect Democrats. Spending all your energy following this crap just depletes your own energy and you don’t have as much energy when you really need it. I also like to remind myself that our side being depleted of energy helps them because we can’t fight as hard. That convinces me to take that break.
Take some time, rest, do some self-care, play with your cute pup and do anything else that refreshes you. You’ll feel better and you’ll be much more energized to fight another day.
MJS
@Jonny Scrum-half: Yes, by all means, hurry through a multi-tiered investigation so the already stupid don’t have time to get more stupid. Or, you could work to build a seamless case, and reel in as many who are involved as possible.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Happy birthday again! Seems like you’ve earned a do-over. How was the cake?
Yarrow
@paradox:
Don’t need to read further. The purveyor of sadness and despair is not fighting for us.
The Ancient Randonneur
Another interesting point is that Bibi was seen in public with that same Russian oligarch (Viktor Vekelsberg) just a few days ago. I believe Netanyahu was in Russia for a Holocaust Remembrance event. Putin, Trump, Vekelsberg, and Netanyahu are all thieving criminals.
Mike in NC
Pence is the new Spiro Agnew: a corrupt stooge chosen because he’d never upstage his even more corrupt master. He will be going down with the rest of the rotten crew.
Omnes Omnibus
@kindness: @Betty Cracker: I don’t think that Mueller is timing things politically. I think that he is building a complete case and that takes time.
justawriter
@The Other Chuck: I’ve seen it referred to as the Nobel Disease because of the number of laureates who fell into quackery after winning the prize like Linus Pauling and Vitamin C or Kary Mullis and, well, just about everything. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease
trollhattan
@kindness:
Will’s revered Ronny Reagan helped lay the path that led to Trump and Will was part of it. Now you volunteer to take the trash out? Too late, George.
germy
@MJS:
When it is proved that this administration is in reality a criminal operation, what of Gorsuch? I personally think he should be removed, and Garland should be nominated and given a hearing, after the midterms.
TaMara (HFG)
Is trending on Meriam-Webster. If you’re not following them on twitter, you’re missing out on serious Dolt45/GOP daily burns.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker:
Yes. It’s so vast that even those of us who are following it obsessively know only a bit of what Mueller and his team know. He is doing his job the right way and it takes time.
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed.
germy
The Moar You Know
George Will almost understands the party he spent his whole life building and defending. Not quite there yet, but definitely starting to get a handle on it.
MattF
@Mike in NC: Agnew was much smarter than Pence and had better speechwriters. But, also, comically corrupt.
rikyrah
Awe naw muthaphucka,
You getting an orange jumpsuit too, Race Bannon.
Patricia Kayden
Only guilty people demand the end to investigations into their wrongdoing. Pence must think we’re all idiots like Trump supporters.
feebog
@Omnes Omnibus:
Prezactly. Mueller only gets one chance to get it right, and he by nature a cautious man to start with. I am satisfied with the pace of this investigation. There will be additional interviews of the inner circle of conspirators while the are hashing out the terms of Trumpov’s day in the hot seat. Frankly I would not be surprised to see him refused an interview and make Mueller issues a grand jury subpoena. That alone will take months to resolve..
germy
The VP’s brother is a busy critter:
Schooley said he looks like the aging portrait Pee Wee Herman keeps in his attic.
MattF
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes. Also, it’s guaranteed that the evidence Mueller is gathering will eventually get out. Maybe not soon enough to save our necks, but that’s a different question.
The Moar You Know
@paradox: Fuck your “record”. You’re a nobody. No one gives a shit what you think.
I think Mueller knows how to prosecute a case to win, and unless you’re a US Attorney commenting under a new name at a pretty unknown blog, you do not.
rikyrah
BREAKING: Democrats Just Released the Russian Facebook Ad Motherlode:
– 3,393 ads purchased
– 11.4 million American users exposed to those ads
– 80,000 pieces of organic content
– 126 million Americans exposed to organic propaganda
– 470 Facebook pages;https://t.co/2vWj93vUSI
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 10, 2018
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: omg so good! Today is much better too so far (I am awake as you may have noticed).
germy
None of our business.
rikyrah
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is a NO on Gina Haspel to lead the CIA: “For the Senate to confirm someone so involved with the program to highest position at the CIA would in effect tell the world that we approve of what happened, and I absolutely do not.” pic.twitter.com/xANaU8axdD
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) May 10, 2018
lamh36
I was MIA on the internet yesterday so I may have missed the discussion about this, but…
ICYMI: Maxine Waters SHUT THIS MUTHA DOWN!!!!
YASSSSS
#NotOneSecond!!!!
“Yesterday, on the House floor, Ranking Member Maxine Waters had #notonesecond for Republican efforts to undermine anti-discrimination policies. Watch ⬇”
https://www.facebook.com/FinancialDems/posts/164598980882306
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Glad today is better. Yumm…cake…
MattF
@germy: Between him and his LLC. LLCs are people, my friend, and they have a right to privacy.
rikyrah
Iran hawk billionaires Sheldon Adelson, Bernie Marcus and Paul Singer didn’t just make a big investment in Trump.
They contributed a combined 44% of individual contributions to the GOP’s House election efforts and 47% to the GOP’s Senate efforts. https://t.co/CVvEkp2Kui pic.twitter.com/98PzZRAbyU
— Eli Clifton (@EliClifton) May 8, 2018
trollhattan
@germy:
I haven’t been sufficiently good for deserve that. We may need a virgin sacrifice; I volunteer Pence.
rikyrah
Dubious explanations follow revelation of payments to Cohen
Rachel Maddow reviews the implausible explanations from corporations exposed as having paid Donald Trump confidant Michael Cohen sums totaling millions of dollars, including claims of paying for his expertise in healthcare and accounting.
germy
@rikyrah: Gosh, Glenn. This tweet hasn’t aged well:
Elizabelle
@germy: I agree. Gorsuch is in a stolen seat. Can him too.
rikyrah
Avenatti: Cohen selling access to the highest office in the land
Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels, talks with Rachel Maddow about the revelations in a document he published to the web about money paid to Michael Cohen, arguing that the most charitable explanation of what that money was for was selling access to the president.
rikyrah
Avenatti: Michael Cohen only really has one employer
Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels, talks with Rachel Maddow about what conclusions can be drawn from the financial information that has been made public so far about Donald Trump confidant Michael Cohen.
rikyrah
How Gina Haspel destroyed evidence of the CIA’s torture program
Rachel Maddow looks back at when the CIA torture program was exposed and how 92 tapes of interrogations were destroyed on the orders of Gina Haspel.
Brachiator
@LAO:
I know exactly what you mean!
Sometimes I have to step away from news or the Internet, because even if I dip in to check on something trivial, there is a headline for something evil Trump and his minions are doing.
Ironically, the only safe place you can go to hear “good news” about these jokers is Fox News, and that is simply not acceptable.
rikyrah
Troubling questions linger about Haspel’s role in CIA torture
Senator Ron Wyden talks with Rachel Maddow about why he is voting against the nomination of Gina Haspel to be director of the CIA.
MattF
@rikyrah: Well, jeepers, someone had to do it.
NotoriousJRT
@The Moar You Know:
@paradox: Fuck your “record”. You’re a nobody. No one gives a shit what you think.
I think Mueller knows how to prosecute a case to win, and unless you’re a US Attorney commenting under a new name at a pretty unknown blog, you do not
Ok. I need not pick up my electronic pencil. Except the blog is somewhat known.
efgoldman
@Jonny Scrum-half:
You have it backwards. Mueller is being slow and deliberate BECAUSE he wants his results to be shocking, etc… When he gets indictments he’ gone to make them stick; the spider will have the flies in an unbreakable web.
As far as the propaganda: Nobody pays attention any more except the already converted. Fox is not ginning up new voters; neither is Rudi Nounverb911. Several election cycles ago someone called the flying monkey mouth breather mindset “epistemic closure.” They talk to each other – one big circle jerk,.
clay
@rikyrah: What is “organic content”?
Brachiator
@germy:
So, according to Saint Greenwald, it’s only normalization when Democrats supposedly lend support? Why does anyone take this clown seriously?
The Other Chuck
I’ll say one thing for the American Oligarchs: they’ve been driving consumerism out of my life. I second-guess any decision to buy anything at all now, and make sure to look in thrift stores first or just do without. I aim where possible to make every day Buy Nothing Day. I’m tired of putting money in the pockets of evil people.
I still buy stuff, it’s a slow start. But capitalism on the whole is now something I have to hold my nose for.
The Other Chuck
@clay: And is it Cal Organic content, or USDA Organic content?
Betty Cracker
@germy & @Elizabelle: That would be justice, but I don’t think there’s any chance of rooting Gorsuch out of the SCOTUS or shit-canning the incompetent, corrupt and fanatical boobs Trump is currently installing in lower level federal courts. That would require this country to squarely face the magnitude of the GOP’s crimes and complicity. We haven’t ever showed that kind of courage as a country.
rikyrah
Grassley tries to nudge Supreme Court justices into early retirement
05/10/2018 09:37 AM EDT
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Thursday encouraged Supreme Court justices flirting with retirement to immediately step down, saying he would like to push through a nominee before the midterm elections.
“I just hope that if there is going to be a nominee, I hope it’s now or within two or three weeks, because we’ve got to get this done before the election,“ he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “So my message to any one of the nine Supreme Court justices, if you’re thinking about quitting this year, do it yesterday.“
Grassley’s blunt talk came as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is racing to fill a range of judicial vacancies with conservatives as a hedge against the chance that Republicans lose the Senate in November.
germy
@Brachiator:
He won a prize of some sort, apparently.
And I imagine he’ll backtrack about his stupid tweet. Something like “I said democrats LIKE feinstein, not feinstein herself…”
LAO
@paradox: @Jonny Scrum-half: Not to pile on, but federal criminal investigations take time. Based on my experiences, the Mueller team is moving much faster than an ordinary investigation.
ETA: Also, prosecutors don’t make statements on the record, during an investigation, because it’s unethical.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: We should start right now and demand it. Saying that it will never happen is a self fulfilling prophecy. Looking forwards not backwards is what gave us the current atrocity. Unless Rs are made to pay for their excesses, they will continue to get worse.
FlipYrWhig
@germy: Remember when Greenwald was very proud of Rand Paul’s statements about standing fast against Pompeo, after which Paul rolled over as usual? The same Rand Paul from the Paul family that Greenwald how-dare-you’s anytime it’s suggested that he supports them? Greenwald is a such a fucking chump.
The Other Chuck
@germy: To be fair to Greenwald, Queen Feinstein has never really cared about who gets trampled by the Security State before. She still supports constitutional amendments to ban flag burning.
germy
@The Other Chuck:
I’ve become the same way.
And further, I’ve become more aware of contractors I hire. I need some carpentry and plumbing done in my house. I was about to call one local company, but decided to check the owner’s social media account. Tweets calling the Parkland kids “phonies” and facebook “favorites” including Donald J. Trump and “gun owners for freedom”
Nope. Not hiring them.
rp
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/994569740340400133
Surely this is peak Greenwald, right?
Mr.Mack
@The Other Chuck: That is a legit perspective…but I wonder if in the end, that’s not hurting low end workers. I tend to buy very little in the way of luxury goods, almost nothing really, but I like to spend money putting local people to work, usually the service/trade industries. There are companies, like, Hobby Lobby, that I will not do business with, but when I need material I pretty much have to purchase from Home Depot or Lowes, both of which support R’s disproportionately.
germy
@FlipYrWhig:
That’s what happens to a person who can never admit to being wrong about anything.
efgoldman
@germy:
For the 936544752589th time: It’s not going to happen, unless there’s something criminal enough to cause his impeachment and removal. There isn’t, congress won’t (nt even if Dems take over). Forget it. .
trollhattan
@LAO:
Suspect a significant factor is how many new directions it has taken, as though a surgeon began removing an appendix and ended up chasing cancer throughout the abdominal cavity. Do you really want him on a time clock?
Rob in CT
@Brachiator:
“Only Democrats have agency.”
Republicans simply are, like a natural disaster.
rikyrah
Devin Nunes Is Willing to Endanger Intelligence Assets to Protect Trump
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 10, 2018
Recently I wrote about Rep. Devin Nunes’ threats to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt over documents he has demanded from the Justice Department, even though he hasn’t bothered to read the ones that have already been released. I mentioned that we didn’t know anything about the most recent documents Nunes has subpoenaed because they are classified, but Sessions has said that his request is “not grantable.” A subsequent report in the Washington Post tells us why.
Initially Nunes responded by saying that his subpoena didn’t refer to an individual. That’s not true.
Nunes’ response to DOJ’s refusal to comply with the subpoena is appalling.
rikyrah
Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has cut a $30 million check to the House GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, a massive cash infusion that top Republicans hope will alter the party’s electoral outlook six months before Election Day.
The long-sought donation was sealed last week when, according to two senior Republicans, House Speaker Paul Ryan flew to Las Vegas to meet with the billionaire at his Venetian Hotel.
gene108
@germy:
Hillary is still escaping justice for the murder of Vince Foster, the cocaine smuggling ring she and Bill ran in the 1980’s, the murder of the two boys, who found out about it by tying them to railroad tracks, and a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria that has no basement.
Do you really think she would let herself get caught for the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other American?
/what the fever swamp attributes to Hillary or on a good day just assumes murdering her enemies is something she is capable of, if given the chance.
We live in two realities as a country.
rp
@Rob in CT: He’s the same way about the US. Only we have agency, and anything a country like Russia does is a response to us.
Jack the Second
Is the Clinton email investigation over?
MattF
@rikyrah: It’s almost as though Nunes is acting on behalf of some foreign power. Or… maybe… acting on behalf of some agent of some foreign power. I wonder why Ryan lets him do this.
Sigh. And I wonder why protecting the identity of intel sources is controversial. Of course, if a Democrat did what Nunes is doing there would calls for immediate public hangings on the Mall. And trials later.
The Other Chuck
@Mr.Mack: Honestly, if the consumer orgy ever stopped, a lot of people would get hurt, of course. I think I’m in no danger of precipitating that. It’s just a mindset change, really, the knowledge that buying from any large publicly traded corporation is quite likely enriching someone who not only doesn’t deserve it, is quite possibly a real and active enemy to ideals of freedom, democracy, and hell, even capitalism. #NotAllCorporations, of course, but it’s the default assumption now.
I’d like to say I try to buy small and local, always, but I’m not really as strident as I sound quite yet. It’s really more of an internal switch that flipped at this point.
germy
@gene108:
Thanks (in part) to an Australian.
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
Yes. How dare those… peons make his racism look dirty!
@germy:
I’m not aware of any way this can be done. I know there’s theoretically an impeachment mechanism, but isn’t it two thirds of congress?
The Other Chuck
@rp: Pretty much the same reason I (and most other people) jumped off Noam Chomsky’s train: for such a smart guy, he holds dear the notion that any enemy of the USA is automatically better.
West of the Rockies
I’m morally, existentially offended that Pence is being interviewed as a very serious person. In a more just parallel universe, he would be selling used appliances in Muncie.
hitless
@Frankensteinbeck: It would be possible to nominate two non-Gorsuch judges to the court…
NorthLeft12
I absolutely hate to agree with the odious George Will, but this description of the Repubs
Is dead on. Groveling, ignorant lickspittles kinda has a nice ring to it.
Mike in NC
@MattF: Nunes, of course, is another GOP pol up to his elbows in Russian mob money.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Good analogy.
Needs surgical removal, significantly strong chemo to make sure it does not come back, and new habits and preventive measures going forward. Takes time, but it’s necessary.
Ella in New Mexico
@germy:
As angry as an antediluvian lickspittle four-flusher watching his lifetime vocation as haughty scold of all things Liberal being outdone by a pleibean pettifogger can be
and SO very lickspittle
MattF
@Mike in NC: I suppose that when it became clear Russia under Putin had become a kleptocracy– that we (i.e., the US) had a big problem. Obvious in retrospect.
LAO
@NorthLeft12: Merriam-Webster, this morning:
efgoldman
@MattF:
His corruption was the old fashioned kind of graft: He took bribes across his desk for handing out construction contracts
Major Major Major Major
@germy: 15,000-word tweetstorm about the word ‘like’
@efgoldman: we should pack the court.
mattH
@germy: You ask the loser/idiot why he keeps voting them in if they are so incompetent? (Would potentially suppress the RWNJ vote if nothing else)
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Yes! Everyone be sure to put this ON your Facebook page if you have one…tweet it out…get the word out!
Jeffro
@NorthLeft12: @LAO:
It’s almost like Will is calling today’s Republicans…deplorable.
gene108
We will never fully find out how corrupt Trump and the Republicans have become. There’s just so much corruption.
The only thing I hope is our voters continue to be energized in 2018, 2020, and beyond.
The only thing that will force Republicans to change is electoral defeats. Defeats so consistent that Republicans no longer propose to cut taxes on the rich to boost the economy, because they know that is a losing issue.
Jonny Scrum-half
@LAO: I understand that. I’m not saying that Mueller should cut corners or leak or try the case in the press. That’s not his job. But I still think that someone – not sure who – should give more pushback against the relentless disinformation and propaganda that comes non-stop from the right-wing media. Even if it’s just reiterating what’s in the public record, which is already pretty damning, but doing in on a platform and in a manner that shows that the right-wing arguments about “hoax,” “witch hunt,” “no evidence of collusion” are the lies that they are.
Jamey
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, this. Like how al Qaeda don’t observe 9/11 by staging new attacks: They’re not inattentive spouses who observe anniversaries out of reflex; they are methodical and strike when good and ready.
Immanentize
@LAO:
What has continued to amaze me is how Mueller’s investigation continuously ends up being 6 months ahead of the news. He was looking deeply into the payments via Cohen last November! Compared to other big complicated money laundering/drug cartel investigations I’ve been involved in, this investigation is like warp six. Just because we are not getting a play by play (a la Whitewater) doesn’t mean it isn’t moving right along.
The fact that team Mueller are actively seeking the President’s testimony tells me they are very far along indeed, because they will realistically only have one shot at Trump while he is President.
Also, I expect Mueller will follow DOJ guidelines and will either announce a bunch of stuff before June is over, or he will wait until after the November elections. Because that is what is supposed to be done.
MCA1
@MJS: Srsly. It’s not in Mueller’s mandate to time his findings and moves for maximum political advantage for one party or the other, or to rush through one of the most complex webs of criminality ever seen in a set timeframe so as to limit the ability of his targets to try to delegitimize the entire undertaking. He’s not god, and he’s not been appointed as fucking Savior of America.
I get people’s fretting about that ongoing campaign to poison the well of whatever the end results of these investigations are, but that’s not Mueller’s fight to fight. It’s not his fault that the media will not give equal time to Democrats defending him, and it’s not his fault that the GOP has been so debased and degraded as to be full-on complicit enablers in Mad King Orange’s attempts to destroy every norm of governance we’ve built up over 240 years.
Mueller’s been told to come at the king, and I’d prefer he aim well and not miss.
MattF
@Jonny Scrum-half: Well, sure. But fighting against the tsunami of Trumpian lies and disinformation is difficult, unnerving, and unrewarding. And, quite possibly, dangerous. It’s the way Trump’s chief sponsor in the Motherland deals with it, it works, and it’s not going to end or peter out. Not ever.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Happy belated birthday, M4
Villago Delenda Est
I agree with Dense.
We should wrap this up. By throwing Donald and Dense into a supermax for the rest of their utterly worthless lives.
pat
BTW, Dana Milbank has an interesting piece about how he is so relieved that Haspel has been nominated, and not Tom Cotton. In other words, it could always be worse. ;-(
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Does anyone have any idea why Nunes wants to get this intelligence asset so much? Does he think it is a Democrats? Someone who really could sink Trump? I just do not understand what is motivating this fight.
MattF
@Immanentize: I think that questioning Trump would be the climax of the investigation, so in Mueller-time, we’re near the end. In real-time? Who knows.
Jeffro
To brighten up everyone’s day, ladies and gentlemen, I present Alexandra Petri’s latest: A Memo Justifying My First-Class Travel (an homage to Scott Pruitt, and also gum wads in barf bags, which are basically the same thing)
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
As I walked past the tv a few days ago I saw a blurb that 64% of the country want the Mueller investigation to continue. If you do the math, it supports your argument that the anti Mueller propaganda doesn’t take hold beyond his base. And his base is crazy.
MattF
@Immanentize: I think Nunes wants to present the Intel community with a demand they cannot and will not satisfy. He then has an excuse for impeaching Sessions, Rosenstein, etc.
No Drought No More
Permit to point out that writers in fact emulate Donald Trump himself when they label politicians with cute little nicknames like “Dense Pence”. When they do, they commit a disservice. as it unwittingly lends a certain credence to Trump’s political judgement. Imitation being the most sincere form of flattery, that is.
mai naem mobile
@MCA1: I think there’s people who may be expecting too much from Mueller. I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer. I am just saying this because of my memories of Fitzmas and the Dolt45 admin is the Bush admin on steroids.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
No.lie.told.
MomSense
@The Other Chuck:
Same for me. I’m reusing the material from thrift store items to make new things. I’ve gotten my son wearing clothes with visible mending. I’m buying my food mostly from the farmers market and co-op (which has locally raised and caught produce, meats, and seafood). Even the yarn I’m buying is either swapped or purchased from local sources. Fuck the big corporations. We literally don’t have enough resources on our planet to support all this consumption. At this rate we need 4 or 5 more to feed our purchasing habits.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Never gets old
rikyrah
@paradox:
To quote the Wire Poet Omar Little:
MCA1
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed. Nothing’s going to change if Democrats don’t start pushing the Overton Windows back to the middle, on a whole host of issues. This should be done by demanding (not asking for, or trying to get a debate started about) their preferred outcome, and then labeling anyone with an “R” after their name a [traitor/gun humper/bigot/misogynist/monopolist/corporate shill/warmonger/whatever] the second they don’t concede. Take a lesson from the Parkland kids: state what you want and mock the intellectually bankrupt attempts of the right in opposition to that goal.
Betty’s right on the larger point, unfortunately. This country is not in position for an actual truth and reconciliation, on anything, really. Apologies and admitting mistakes is not exactly our strong point here. I don’t think it’s uniquely American by any stretch, but what we are quite good at is expressing our inwardly felt shame by just going silent for a little bit. We might reckon with ourselves internally, but either way we assume everyone else perceives whatever process occurred only in our heads, and then we excel at erupting in projectionist anger and resentment at anyone who would ask for actual outward contrition as unfairly rubbing our failures in our faces. See, e.g., every use ever of “political correctness” as a dodge for “please stop being an asshole.”
Shana
@rikyrah: Gee whatever happened to “can’t appoint a justice in the middle of an election”? I know, I know, IOKIYAR.
Betty Cracker
@No Drought No More: That would be a great point if a) Trump invented nicknames, and b) everyone, even pseudonymous nobodies who post on almost-top 10K blogs, had an equal obligation to maintain the standards of national discourse.
Villago Delenda Est
@No Drought No More: FYI, he was called “Congressman Dense” while Donald was still doing his shitty “reality” TV show.
West of the Rockies
@Villago Delenda Est:
I hope Pence knows that. I truly hope he knows people regard him as a dense dullard, as a pontificating putz, and that it stings.
Rob in CT
@rp:
Exactly.
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
He was a better snarly attack dog than Pence, a spokespiece for Nixon’s thoughts and somebody hired to piss off hippies (sound familiar?). “Nattering nabobs of negativity” is so very far from Pence’s grasp.
rikyrah
@TaMara (HFG):
Outside of Pete Souza, the other place I never thought that some of the best shade towards Dolt45 would come from would be Merriam-Webster. Their shade has been surprising, but wonderful.
MJS
@Betty Cracker: Wait, your name isn’t really Betty Cracker?
trollhattan
@West of the Rockies:
What Pence has in his…uh…favor is being an almost literal blank slate. Whomever did Baby Huck’s makeover can remold Pence into whatever they like, since nobody has a grasp of his non-existent personality. Then they script everything and roll him out into public for tiny timeslices only. Rest of the time he just plays the mute Sterny McSternface. Like always. What to do about Mother, though….
Origuy
@clay: When you put a post or ad on Facebook, they track how many people it gets sent to. They call that “reach”. Organic reach includes all of your friends who see it, and their friends if the comment or share it, etc. Paid reach includes the people who see it because you have “boosted” it. When you boost a post, you specify the geographic locations and interests of the people you are trying to reach. Organic reach is better because you are more likely to respond to a post you got through a friend than one someone paid to show you.
trollhattan
@West of the Rockies:
Think I figured out that Pence and Gomert were never in congress at the same time. They could have formed a mental density black hole and the whole place would have collapsed into itself. I hope Gomert and Nunes never hang out, that would be dangerous as hell.
Kay
He bores me too much to get mad at him.
Just keep in mind, he was unpopular in Indiana when Trump hired him. They don’t even like him much there.
Ian G.
@The Other Chuck:
I have my problems with Chomsky, but he understood the moral imperative of voting for Hillary in 2016 and is under no illusion that Shitgibbon is a normal American politician doing normal American things.
Greenwald is a pathetic lickspittle who probably gets paid by the Russian government to sing Shitgibbon’s praises. Comparing him to Chomsky is an insult to Chomsky.
TenguPhule
@bemused:
All of em, Katie.
wkwv
@No Drought No More: I thought that went back to Bush and Turd Blossom.
TenguPhule
@Jonny Scrum-half:
What makes you think its not?
Remember, we’re already PAST the point where Hollywood rejects this script as too outrageous to be believable.
And when Mueller delivers, he has to do so with the certain knowledge that it has to be UNQUESTIONABLE by the average American citizen who may be on a federal jury.
He’s going to have to take very complicated issues and concepts and translate it down into simple American engrish.
TenguPhule
@germy:
Nothing in the Constitution or legal framework to remove him.
To get rid of him would require resorting to extra-ordinary measures.
TenguPhule
@feebog:
Ask us for anything but time.
The ultimate problem is that as Trump gets more unhinged, he accelerates the entropy he is maximizing in the federal government. So the closer Mueller gets, the worse the situation becomes.
TenguPhule
@FlipYrWhig:
You misspelled Russian Asset.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@justawriter: No surprise, every description of Mensa I ever heard was it was dudebro heaven. A gf mine told me she went a Mensa meeting once and she was constantly propositioned by drunks boasting about their IQs.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Every Democrat should have the attitude of either
Ted Lieu
or
Maxine Waters
Felanius Kootea
Where’s Amir Khalid? I’ve been meaning to ask him what happens to Anwar Ibrahim now that Najib Razak is on his way out. I’ve never understood the relationship between Mahathir and Ibrahim and the latter’s on and off jailings in Malaysia for sodomy (always when he’s close to contesting an election).
rikyrah
@clay:
Jonny Scrum-half
@TenguPhule: I’m not saying that it’s not going to be both shocking and indisputable. I’m hoping that it is. There’s just such a rot in a substantial fraction of our citizenry that it’s a heavy load to place on one guy to get it right.
Alexander von Humbug
@Rob in CT: Yay, Murc’s Law!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Other Chuck:
“Computer Programmer” is the phrase you are looking for.
TenguPhule
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Cue MajorMajorMajorMajor and hilarity ensues.
TenguPhule
@Jonny Scrum-half:
As Kay has pointed out, we shouldn’t be here. All of the other checks and balances failed to do their fucking jobs.
TenguPhule
Wapo now reporting Israel is launching attacks into Syria again.
trollhattan
@Jeffro:
That’s great, she’s a treasure! Speaking of treasures, Calvin Trillen in a very similar vein. Includes bonus Molly Ivins ref.
WereBear
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Reminds me of my favorite Mensa story:
West of the Rockies
@Kay:
And yet they just voted for his less-telegenic brother.
Kelly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: As a retired software guy with decades of experience this is painfully true.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@efgoldman:
No to mention “convicted of a felony” seems to be one of those things the believers can’t deny. After all, they love judging people.
danielx
@Kay:
Yup. Mitch Daniels was bad enough, but he was your ordinary garden variety corporate Republican. Obnoxious, but at least it’s easy to understand where such a person is coming from and there’s usually some logic motivating their actions, even if you don’t agree with that logic.
Pence is a sanctimonious dimwit with a talent for stepping in his own shit. About the only talent for which he’s noted, too.
sdhays
I heard on the radio today that according to Giuliani, Spanky didn’t know about the payments to Michael Cohen. What pisses me off is how the media quotes Giuliani without any caveats after the last two weeks. According to Giuliani, Spanky doesn’t know when he found out about the payments to Stormy Daniels – they’re still trying to figure that out! This after Giuliani stating different things as fact, contradicting the Preznit. So why does the media take anything he says at face value?
ruemara
@germy: Glenn, nearly always a hyperbolic wrong article.
TenguPhule
New NRA president says gun control activists are ‘civil terrorists’
That certainly didn’t take long.
NineDragonSpot
@The Moar You Know: I am on record, and have been for some months, that NineDragonSpot deserves moar ice cream. Maybe all the ice cream.
Amir Khalid
@Felanius Kootea:
You rang?
So here’s the deal, as announced ahead of the election:
1) Right now Dr M becomes PM. This has already happened; he was sworn in a few hours ago. Anwar’s wife Dr Wan Azizah, who is Keadilan party president, becomes Deputy PM.
2) Dr M tells the Agong (i.e. the king) to pardon Anwar. Anwar gets out of jail (he’s serving time on a gay sex charge trumped up by Najib) and is free to reenter politics.
3) Some Keadilan backbencher resigns their parliamentary seat so that Anwar can stand for it. Anwar becomes an MP again, and is eligible for a Cabinet post. Presumably he relieves Dr Wan Azizah as DPM.
4) Dr M resigns after two years as PM, sparing us the prospect of a 97-year-old PM. Anwar succeeds him and finally achieves a lifelong ambition.
rikyrah
Kay,
I don’t know if you will see this, but thank you on your commentary about that Evil Azz Mulvaney shutting down the division that protected student loan abuses. Your words were so on point, and only emphasized to me why I miss you on the FrontPage.
Tenar Arha
@Betty Cracker: @rikyrah: Scott Lemieux published something today (?) in the New Republic. Here’s his excerpt at LGM.
ETA (ugh, me with not enough words to explain my context of quoted blog post) He published something about the Supreme Court, that is.
Jeffro
@TenguPhule: The NRA as a…civil rights organization? B.O.L.D., Ollie, that is just frickin’ bold right there.
I guess that makes the Las Vegas shooter the new Rosa Parks?
Mandalay
@germy:
FFS. That says far more about your zeal to dig up old posts in an attempt to discredit someone than the reality a few weeks ago:
You should be shitting on Feinstein, not Greenwald. Feinstein was ready to vote for Haspel back in March. Feinstein did a big U-turn, but only because she had to.
And yet you’re going after Greenwald for accurately reporting her position at the time…
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
Elizabelle
@ Betty: your blogpost title reminds me of an old joke:
Waynski
@West of the Rockies: Muncie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXejpU-Xss
Omnes Omnibus
@Mandalay: Her position at the time was undecided. It is right there in your block quote.
Mnemosyne
@Mandalay:
Really, we’re supposed to be “shitting” on Feinstein for making the right choice?
You are the reason we lose. Why the hell should Democrats ever do what the “left” wants if the “left” is going to shit on them no matter what they do?
Also, your blind support for Russian asset Glenn Greenwald has been noted.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
GG knew that “undecided” meant that Feinstein was going to vote for Haspel, because he’s fucking psychic that way. ?
And he has about the same track record as every other public psychic out there.
justawriter
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’m tempted to say “Not all Ms” (as Mensans are wont to refer to themselves), but yeah, it’s a self-fulfilling stereotype. There are lots of fun, insightful and even liberal people in the organization, but there’s an awful lot of bullshit artists who make me cringe.
Gravenstone
@Villago Delenda Est: Yup, name given him by his former colleagues in the House. Guess he made an impression, alright.
chopper
@Mandalay:
when did they redefine “undecided” as “sure thing!”? was there a memo?
TerryC
@MomSense:
I plant native fruit and nut bearing trees, more than 8,000 since retiring four years ago. We should get our first plums this year.
Mnemosyne
@chopper:
When a Democrat said it. SATSQ.
Rand Careaga
@germy:
Political correctness run amok! O, the humanity!
MomSense
@TerryC:
I am soooo envious.
Rand Careaga
@MJS:
Betty (not her real name) is the great-great granddaughter of General Mills, whose bravely innovative but foolhardy deployment of the forces under his command brought the Union to grief in the Second Battle of Bull Run.
Rand Careaga
@TenguPhule:
I would not, of course, suggest a Second Amendment remedy, but a lightning strike, or even an incautious swallow at a fashionable Georgetown beanery, with no one at the table prepared or willing to invoke Dr. Heimlich, would serve the purpose admirably.
BruceFromOhio
No fucking way is this George Will!
Invasion of the Pundit Snatchers!
Kathleen
@BruceFromOhio: I have a theory. George is acting as the “voice of the Rethuglican establishment” who is telling Trump, “Thank you for your service but we’ve decided to move the project in a different direction”. He’s not off script. He’s on the new script. I think Rethugs realize it’s time to give the media a young, handsome, slick, “charismatic” new Nazi with shiny jack boots to deflect attention from scandals so they can make sure the entire party is not outed as the traitors they are. Trump is on his way out.
trnc
@germy:
If there hasn’t already been a psych study devoted to wingnut logic, there needs to be. I especially love how they believe that congressional republicans can’t figure out how to refer an indictment when EVERYONE JUST KNOOOOOOOWS she’s guilty, but those same congresspeople know how to manage or create fiscal policy. It’s the same way they think govt can’t do anything right except for executions and bomb dropping.
Miss Bianca
@feebog: “When you come at the King (or even the Clown Prince, in this case), you best not miss.”
Words to fuckin’ live by.
stinger
@rikyrah: That’s hi-larious, coming from an 84-year-old senator. Grassley is very big on preventing (Democratic) presidents from fulfilling their responsibilities, and on encouraging (liberal) justices who are about his own age to step down. Step down yourself, big mouth. He’s my senator and I HATE him.
Mnemosyne
@Kathleen:
I’m sure they want to try, but who is that person going to be? It sure ain’t George Will — he’s even older than Trump IIRC.
Felanius Kootea
@Amir Khalid: Thanks Amir! Hope you get to see this post in this long-dead thread. I can’t help but think that something else will happen to thwart Ibrahim. Just seems to be a pattern.