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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Pence in Suspense

Pence in Suspense

by Betty Cracker|  May 10, 201810:07 am| 191 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Goddamned Traitors, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Russiagate, Trump-Russia, Assholes, General Stupidity, Not Normal

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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.

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Reader Interactions

191Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 10, 2018 at 10:13 am

    Nesting Russian dolls of treason.

  2. 2.

    LAO

    May 10, 2018 at 10:16 am

    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.

  3. 3.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 10:16 am

    “Woke” George Will in The Post

    He’s angry about what’s happened to his Grand Old Party. He should have seen it coming 38 years ago.

    Benghazi, 4 years, 0 indictments

    Clinton emails, 2 years, 0 indictments

    Russia collusion, 14 months, 23 indictments

    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)

  4. 4.

    jeffreyw

    May 10, 2018 at 10:20 am

    Mrs. Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian™, explains Vice President Mike Pence’s secrets to pretending to be a Christian. You’re welcome!

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 10:21 am

    Pence is a traitor. He knew. He worked with Flynn. Manafort brought him in. He’s just as guilty as the rest of them.

    Russia collusion, 14 months, 23 indictments

    Those 23 indictments are the tip of the iceberg. Tick tock, motherfuckers.

  6. 6.

    paradox

    May 10, 2018 at 10:21 am

    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.

  7. 7.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 10:23 am

    @LAO: You have to take those days off. They will not come to you.

  8. 8.

    catclub

    May 10, 2018 at 10:23 am

    You could add Fast and Furious and Solyndra investigations, for completeness.

    or start adding Pruitt investigations and numbers of people quitting.

  9. 9.

    terraformer

    May 10, 2018 at 10:24 am

    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.

  10. 10.

    LAO

    May 10, 2018 at 10:26 am

    @Yarrow: I fear you are right. And in honor of that, I say…tick tock MF.

  11. 11.

    Chet

    May 10, 2018 at 10:31 am

    Add “5 guilty pleas” to the Mueller line on the scoreboard.

  12. 12.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 10, 2018 at 10:34 am

    fuckem

  13. 13.

    mai naem mobile

    May 10, 2018 at 10:35 am

    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.

  14. 14.

    bemused

    May 10, 2018 at 10:35 am

    One could be arguing for eternity on which swamp beast is the most repulsive.

  15. 15.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    May 10, 2018 at 10:35 am

    I feel like Men aren't sending us their best people.— Amanda Guinzburg (@Guinz) May 9, 2018

  16. 16.

    Jonny Scrum-half

    May 10, 2018 at 10:36 am

    @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.

  17. 17.

    kindness

    May 10, 2018 at 10:36 am

    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.

  18. 18.

    justawriter

    May 10, 2018 at 10:39 am

    Dense Pence, who will never be asked to bring the potato salad to the Mensa picnic …

    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).

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    May 10, 2018 at 10:43 am

    @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.

  20. 20.

    bemused

    May 10, 2018 at 10:43 am

    Love this comment.

  21. 21.

    The Other Chuck

    May 10, 2018 at 10:43 am

    @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.

  22. 22.

    bemused

    May 10, 2018 at 10:44 am

    @bemused:

    Men aren’t sending their best people.

  23. 23.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 10:46 am

    @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.

  24. 24.

    MJS

    May 10, 2018 at 10:47 am

    @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.

  25. 25.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 10:48 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Happy birthday again! Seems like you’ve earned a do-over. How was the cake?

  26. 26.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 10:49 am

    @paradox:

    According to Sarah Kendzior

    Don’t need to read further. The purveyor of sadness and despair is not fighting for us.

  27. 27.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    May 10, 2018 at 10:50 am

    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.

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    May 10, 2018 at 10:51 am

    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.

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 10, 2018 at 10:51 am

    @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.

  30. 30.

    justawriter

    May 10, 2018 at 10:52 am

    @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

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 10:54 am

    @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.

  32. 32.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 10:54 am

    @MJS:

    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.

    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.

  33. 33.

    TaMara (HFG)

    May 10, 2018 at 10:54 am

    oleaginous

    Is trending on Meriam-Webster. If you’re not following them on twitter, you’re missing out on serious Dolt45/GOP daily burns.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 10:55 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    It is an enormously huge global web of corruption and intrigue the team is unraveling, so possibly that just takes a long time.

    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.

  35. 35.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 10:56 am

    * Pence was selected by one indictee (Manafort)

    * He lied to protect another indictee (Flynn)

    * His chief of staff Ayers is hooked up with third indictee Gates, mobster multitasker Cohen, and Greitens, who's about to go on trial

    Wow I wonder why Pence wants the probe stopped

    — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) May 10, 2018

  36. 36.

    The Moar You Know

    May 10, 2018 at 10:56 am

    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.

    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.

  37. 37.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 10:58 am

    @Mike in NC: Agnew was much smarter than Pence and had better speechwriters. But, also, comically corrupt.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 10:59 am

    Awe naw muthaphucka,

    You getting an orange jumpsuit too, Race Bannon.

  39. 39.

    Patricia Kayden

    May 10, 2018 at 11:00 am

    Only guilty people demand the end to investigations into their wrongdoing. Pence must think we’re all idiots like Trump supporters.

  40. 40.

    feebog

    May 10, 2018 at 11:00 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I don’t think that Mueller is timing things politically. I think that he is building a complete case and that takes time.

    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..

  41. 41.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:00 am

    The VP’s brother is a busy critter:

    Thanks to YOU … I’m Ready to Serve, Again! I am honored to be your 6th District nominee. Let’s take our fight to the Democrats and WIN BIG this fall to show Washington that we stand with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. Watch the video: https://t.co/RdIvrOqotS pic.twitter.com/nFr90L0nJm— Greg Pence (@GregPenceIN) May 9, 2018

    Schooley said he looks like the aging portrait Pee Wee Herman keeps in his attic.

  42. 42.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 11:01 am

    @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.

  43. 43.

    The Moar You Know

    May 10, 2018 at 11:01 am

    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?

    @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.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:02 am

    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

  45. 45.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 10, 2018 at 11:03 am

    @Yarrow: omg so good! Today is much better too so far (I am awake as you may have noticed).

  46. 46.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:04 am

    None of our business.

    Pence won't talk about selling access to the President because it's a "private matter" https://t.co/XOvkNPBrWD pic.twitter.com/a3cmNES457— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 10, 2018

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:05 am

    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

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    May 10, 2018 at 11:06 am

    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

  49. 49.

    Yarrow

    May 10, 2018 at 11:07 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Glad today is better. Yumm…cake…

  50. 50.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 11:07 am

    @germy: Between him and his LLC. LLCs are people, my friend, and they have a right to privacy.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:07 am

    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

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 11:08 am

    @germy:
    I haven’t been sufficiently good for deserve that. We may need a virgin sacrifice; I volunteer Pence.

  53. 53.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:08 am

    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.

  54. 54.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:09 am

    @rikyrah: Gosh, Glenn. This tweet hasn’t aged well:

    And now that Haspel has the support of Obama's top Nat Sec official (James Clapper) & Dems like Dianne Feinstein, you're going to hear all kinds of justifications for this torturer: she was just following orders, with good motives, etc. *That's* normalization — of US torture. https://t.co/DQA9le59p4— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 14, 2018

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    May 10, 2018 at 11:10 am

    @germy: I agree. Gorsuch is in a stolen seat. Can him too.

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:11 am

    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.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:12 am

    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.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:13 am

    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.

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    May 10, 2018 at 11:13 am

    @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.

    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.

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:14 am

    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.

  61. 61.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 11:14 am

    @rikyrah: Well, jeepers, someone had to do it.

  62. 62.

    NotoriousJRT

    May 10, 2018 at 11:15 am

    @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.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    May 10, 2018 at 11:15 am

    @Jonny Scrum-half:

    Unless Mueller’s results are shocking and indisputable, every day that goes by allows the propaganda to get deeper

    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,.

  64. 64.

    clay

    May 10, 2018 at 11:15 am

    @rikyrah: What is “organic content”?

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    May 10, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @germy:

    *That’s* normalization — of US torture.

    So, according to Saint Greenwald, it’s only normalization when Democrats supposedly lend support? Why does anyone take this clown seriously?

  66. 66.

    The Other Chuck

    May 10, 2018 at 11:18 am

    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.

  67. 67.

    The Other Chuck

    May 10, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @clay: And is it Cal Organic content, or USDA Organic content?

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    May 10, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @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.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:20 am

    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.

  70. 70.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:21 am

    @Brachiator:

    Why does anyone take this clown seriously?

    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…”

  71. 71.

    LAO

    May 10, 2018 at 11:23 am

    @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.

  72. 72.

    schrodingers_cat

    May 10, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @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.

  73. 73.

    FlipYrWhig

    May 10, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @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.

  74. 74.

    The Other Chuck

    May 10, 2018 at 11:25 am

    @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.

  75. 75.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:25 am

    @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

    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.

  76. 76.

    rp

    May 10, 2018 at 11:27 am

    https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/994569740340400133

    Yep. The feigned shock over how people close to political power are able to sell influence to corporations is laughable. That’s how DC works for decades: that’s what K Street, the Revolving Door, lobbying sleaze is about. DC elites love to pretend bad things started only w/Trump

    Surely this is peak Greenwald, right?

  77. 77.

    Mr.Mack

    May 10, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @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.

  78. 78.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    such a fucking chump.

    That’s what happens to a person who can never admit to being wrong about anything.

  79. 79.

    efgoldman

    May 10, 2018 at 11:29 am

    @germy:

    what of Gorsuch? I personally think he should be removed

    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. .

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 11:30 am

    @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?

  81. 81.

    Rob in CT

    May 10, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @Brachiator:

    “Only Democrats have agency.”

    Republicans simply are, like a natural disaster.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:32 am

    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.

    For the intelligence agencies, Nunes’s request threatened to cross a red line of compromising sources and methods of U.S. intelligence-gathering, according to people familiar with their views. Intelligence officials fear that providing even a redacted version of the information Nunes seeks could expose that person and damage relationships with other countries that serve as U.S. intelligence partners.

    Initially Nunes responded by saying that his subpoena didn’t refer to an individual. That’s not true.

    A subpoena that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) issued to the Justice Department last week made a broad request for all documents about an individual who people close to the matter say is a sensitive, longtime intelligence source for the CIA and FBI…

    The subpoena, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, demands “all documents referring or related to the individual referenced in Chairman Nunes’ April 24, 2018 classified letter to Attorney General Sessions.” That is the only material the subpoena seeks.

    Nunes’ response to DOJ’s refusal to comply with the subpoena is appalling.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 11:34 am

    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.

  84. 84.

    gene108

    May 10, 2018 at 11:35 am

    @germy:

    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)

    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.

  85. 85.

    rp

    May 10, 2018 at 11:37 am

    @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.

  86. 86.

    Jack the Second

    May 10, 2018 at 11:37 am

    Is the Clinton email investigation over?

  87. 87.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @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.

  88. 88.

    The Other Chuck

    May 10, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @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.

  89. 89.

    germy

    May 10, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @gene108:

    We live in two realities as a country.

    Thanks (in part) to an Australian.

  90. 90.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 10, 2018 at 11:43 am

    @germy:

    He’s angry about what’s happened to his Grand Old Party.

    Yes. How dare those… peons make his racism look dirty!

    @germy:

    I personally think he should be removed

    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?

  91. 91.

    The Other Chuck

    May 10, 2018 at 11:45 am

    @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.

  92. 92.

    West of the Rockies

    May 10, 2018 at 11:47 am

    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.

  93. 93.

    hitless

    May 10, 2018 at 11:48 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: It would be possible to nominate two non-Gorsuch judges to the court…

  94. 94.

    NorthLeft12

    May 10, 2018 at 11:54 am

    I absolutely hate to agree with the odious George Will, but this description of the Repubs

    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.

    Is dead on. Groveling, ignorant lickspittles kinda has a nice ring to it.

  95. 95.

    Mike in NC

    May 10, 2018 at 11:54 am

    @MattF: Nunes, of course, is another GOP pol up to his elbows in Russian mob money.

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    May 10, 2018 at 11:55 am

    @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.

  97. 97.

    Ella in New Mexico

    May 10, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @germy:

    He’s angry about what’s happened to his Grand Old Party. He should have seen it coming 38 years ago.

    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

  98. 98.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @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.

  99. 99.

    LAO

    May 10, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @NorthLeft12: Merriam-Webster, this morning:

    'Lickspittle' basically means what you'd think it means. https://t.co/IrVl1s58uJ— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) May 10, 2018

  100. 100.

    efgoldman

    May 10, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    @MattF:

    Agnew was much smarter than Pence

    His corruption was the old fashioned kind of graft: He took bribes across his desk for handing out construction contracts

  101. 101.

    Major Major Major Major

    May 10, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @germy: 15,000-word tweetstorm about the word ‘like’

    @efgoldman: we should pack the court.

  102. 102.

    mattH

    May 10, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @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)

  103. 103.

    Jeffro

    May 10, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @rikyrah: Yes! Everyone be sure to put this ON your Facebook page if you have one…tweet it out…get the word out!

  104. 104.

    Jeffro

    May 10, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @NorthLeft12: @LAO:

    It’s almost like Will is calling today’s Republicans…deplorable.

  105. 105.

    gene108

    May 10, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    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.

  106. 106.

    Jonny Scrum-half

    May 10, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    @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.

  107. 107.

    Jamey

    May 10, 2018 at 12:12 pm

    @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.

  108. 108.

    Immanentize

    May 10, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    @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.

  109. 109.

    MCA1

    May 10, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    @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.

  110. 110.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 12:21 pm

    @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.

  111. 111.

    MomSense

    May 10, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Happy belated birthday, M4

  112. 112.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 10, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    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.

  113. 113.

    pat

    May 10, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    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. ;-(

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    May 10, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    @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.

  115. 115.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @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.

  116. 116.

    Jeffro

    May 10, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    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)

    We are requesting that Alexandra be strategically seated in business and or first class seating when on official travel. This is a matter of life and death.

    Alexandra feels unsafe on planes, especially when the plane bounces and there is a rapid series of dings BUT NO VOICE COMES ON AFTERWARDS TO EXPLAIN WHAT THE DINGS WERE, and if she were in first class she could have a drink, which would soothe her nerves and allow her to prepare to meet her maker with perfect equanimity.
    …
    In first class they give you a free glass of wine, and a real glass could be used as a weapon much more easily if her life were threatened, and if it were not threatened the wine would be beneficial to her long-term health as long as she drank no more than one glass of it per day (Never mind that new study. Studies are made by scientists, who are not to be trusted), which is to say, again, this is a matter of life and death.

    In economy class sometimes your seatmate is very gregarious, and to escape this in the past Alexandra has pretended to be asleep, but if you are pretending TOO EFFECTIVELY to be asleep they fail to offer you any snacks, and if this trend continued for enough flights she would lack nutrition to survive, and this would endanger her life.

  117. 117.

    MomSense

    May 10, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @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.

  118. 118.

    MattF

    May 10, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @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.

  119. 119.

    No Drought No More

    May 10, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    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.

  120. 120.

    mai naem mobile

    May 10, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    @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.

  121. 121.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @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.

    No.lie.told.

  122. 122.

    MomSense

    May 10, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @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.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Tick tock, motherfuckers.

    Never gets old

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    @paradox:

    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.

    To quote the Wire Poet Omar Little:

    Lesson Here, Babe. You come at the king, you best not miss.

  125. 125.

    MCA1

    May 10, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    @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.”

  126. 126.

    Shana

    May 10, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    @rikyrah: Gee whatever happened to “can’t appoint a justice in the middle of an election”? I know, I know, IOKIYAR.

  127. 127.

    Betty Cracker

    May 10, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    @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.

  128. 128.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 10, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @No Drought No More: FYI, he was called “Congressman Dense” while Donald was still doing his shitty “reality” TV show.

  129. 129.

    West of the Rockies

    May 10, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    @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.

  130. 130.

    Rob in CT

    May 10, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    @rp:

    Exactly.

  131. 131.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 12:53 pm

    @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.

  132. 132.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @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.

    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.

  133. 133.

    MJS

    May 10, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Wait, your name isn’t really Betty Cracker?

  134. 134.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @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….

  135. 135.

    Origuy

    May 10, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    @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.

  136. 136.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    @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.

  137. 137.

    Kay

    May 10, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    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.

  138. 138.

    Ian G.

    May 10, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @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.

  139. 139.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @bemused:

    One could be arguing for eternity on which swamp beast is the most repulsive.

    All of em, Katie.

  140. 140.

    wkwv

    May 10, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @No Drought No More: I thought that went back to Bush and Turd Blossom.

  141. 141.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    @Jonny Scrum-half:

    Unless Mueller’s results are shocking and indisputable

    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.

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    @germy:

    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.

    Nothing in the Constitution or legal framework to remove him.

    To get rid of him would require resorting to extra-ordinary measures.

  143. 143.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @feebog:

    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.

    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.

  144. 144.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:18 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Greenwald is a such a fucking chump.

    You misspelled Russian Asset.

  145. 145.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 10, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @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.

  146. 146.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 1:22 pm

    @lamh36:

    Every Democrat should have the attitude of either

    Ted Lieu

    or
    Maxine Waters

  147. 147.

    Felanius Kootea

    May 10, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    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).

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @clay:

    Organic reach is the number of people who had an unpaid post from your Page enter their screen

  149. 149.

    Jonny Scrum-half

    May 10, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @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.

  150. 150.

    Alexander von Humbug

    May 10, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @Rob in CT: Yay, Murc’s Law!

  151. 151.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 10, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    @The Other Chuck:

    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

    “Computer Programmer” is the phrase you are looking for.

  152. 152.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    “Computer Programmer” is the phrase you are looking for.

    Cue MajorMajorMajorMajor and hilarity ensues.

  153. 153.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @Jonny Scrum-half:

    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.

    As Kay has pointed out, we shouldn’t be here. All of the other checks and balances failed to do their fucking jobs.

  154. 154.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    Wapo now reporting Israel is launching attacks into Syria again.

  155. 155.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    @Jeffro:
    That’s great, she’s a treasure! Speaking of treasures, Calvin Trillen in a very similar vein. Includes bonus Molly Ivins ref.

  156. 156.

    WereBear

    May 10, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Reminds me of my favorite Mensa story:

    After a Mensa conference a group of men notice the salt and pepper shakers on their table have the wrong contents for their labels. They get out pens and lay out napkins and create transfer system to fix it. The waitress notices their labors, glances at the napkins, figures out the problem… and switches the tops of the shakers.

  157. 157.

    West of the Rockies

    May 10, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    @Kay:

    And yet they just voted for his less-telegenic brother.

  158. 158.

    Kelly

    May 10, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: As a retired software guy with decades of experience this is painfully true.

  159. 159.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 10, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Several election cycles ago someone called the flying monkey mouth breather mindset “epistemic closure.” They talk to each other – one big circle jerk,.

    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.

  160. 160.

    danielx

    May 10, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @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.

  161. 161.

    sdhays

    May 10, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    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?

  162. 162.

    ruemara

    May 10, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @germy: Glenn, nearly always a hyperbolic wrong article.

  163. 163.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    New NRA president says gun control activists are ‘civil terrorists’

    Activists pushing for stronger gun laws are engaged in “civil terrorism”, Oliver North, the former Fox News commentator appointed as the next president of the National Rifle Association, has claimed.

    The former Reagan-era security adviser, who was once convicted on charges related to the Iran-Contra affair, also claimed the NRA was the target of a “cyberwar”.

    “They’re not activists – this is civil terrorism. This is the kind of thing that’s never been seen against a civil rights organization in America,” Oliver North told the Washington Examiner, a conservative newspaper. “You go back to the terrible days of Jim Crow and those kinds of things – even there you didn’t have this kind of thing.”

    That certainly didn’t take long.

  164. 164.

    NineDragonSpot

    May 10, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @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.

  165. 165.

    Amir Khalid

    May 10, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    @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.

  166. 166.

    rikyrah

    May 10, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    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.

  167. 167.

    Tenar Arha

    May 10, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @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.

  168. 168.

    Jeffro

    May 10, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @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?

  169. 169.

    Mandalay

    May 10, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    @germy:

    Gosh, Glenn. This tweet hasn’t aged well

    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:

    Feinstein — who is up for reelection in 2018 and facing a primary challenge from the left — took heat this week when she said that she was undecided on Haspel and described her as “good deputy director” at the spy agency.

    “I have spent some time with her. We’ve had dinner together. We have talked. Everything I know is she has been a good deputy director. … I think hopefully the entire organization learned something from the so-called enhanced interrogation program,” she said.

    Progressives, including Feinstein’s top Democratic challenger, seized on the remarks as the latest sign that the decades-long lawmaker is out of touch with a party that is moving increasingly to the left.

    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…

  170. 170.

    TenguPhule

    May 10, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I guess that makes the Las Vegas shooter the new Rosa Parks?

    Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.

  171. 171.

    Elizabelle

    May 10, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    @ Betty: your blogpost title reminds me of an old joke:

    Q: How do you keep a jackass in suspense?

    A: How?

  172. 172.

    Waynski

    May 10, 2018 at 2:21 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Muncie!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXejpU-Xss

  173. 173.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 10, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @Mandalay: Her position at the time was undecided. It is right there in your block quote.

  174. 174.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @Mandalay:

    You should be shitting on Feinstein, not Greenwald.

    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.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @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.

  176. 176.

    justawriter

    May 10, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    @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.

  177. 177.

    Gravenstone

    May 10, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yup, name given him by his former colleagues in the House. Guess he made an impression, alright.

  178. 178.

    chopper

    May 10, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @Mandalay:

    when did they redefine “undecided” as “sure thing!”? was there a memo?

  179. 179.

    TerryC

    May 10, 2018 at 4:51 pm

    @MomSense:

    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.

    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.

  180. 180.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2018 at 4:56 pm

    @chopper:

    when did they redefine “undecided” as “sure thing!”?

    When a Democrat said it. SATSQ.

  181. 181.

    Rand Careaga

    May 10, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    @germy:

    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.

    Political correctness run amok! O, the humanity!

  182. 182.

    MomSense

    May 10, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    @TerryC:

    I am soooo envious.

  183. 183.

    Rand Careaga

    May 10, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    @MJS:

    Wait, your name isn’t really Betty Cracker?

    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.

  184. 184.

    Rand Careaga

    May 10, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    To get rid of [Gorsuch] would require resorting to extra-ordinary measures.

    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.

  185. 185.

    BruceFromOhio

    May 10, 2018 at 5:49 pm

    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.

    No fucking way is this George Will!
    Invasion of the Pundit Snatchers!

  186. 186.

    Kathleen

    May 10, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @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.

  187. 187.

    trnc

    May 10, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    @germy:

    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)

    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.

  188. 188.

    Miss Bianca

    May 10, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    @feebog: “When you come at the King (or even the Clown Prince, in this case), you best not miss.”

    Words to fuckin’ live by.

  189. 189.

    stinger

    May 10, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    @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.

  190. 190.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    @Kathleen:

    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.

    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.

  191. 191.

    Felanius Kootea

    May 10, 2018 at 10:20 pm

    @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.

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