The Deputy Attorney General and FBI Director Wray are currently before the House Judiciary Committee. DAG Rosenstein is trying to testify, but Congressman Jordan won’t stop screaming at him. Rosenstein has clearly had enough. The live feed is below. I’ve got it set to start with Jordan’s abuse of Rosenstein so you can see just what the climate is like.
Open thread!
M4
Video goes straight to Live on my phone. But can’t say I’m too surprised that it’s just abuse.
smintheus
So old I remember when the public face of Congressional investigations of presidential scandals was the great Barbara Jordan.
Betty Cracker
Too busy to watch, but I saw a clip of Rosenstein subtly shivving the bucket-headed nitwit Jim Jordan, so that happened.
Kay
southpaw
The FBI and the DOJ are supposed to work for ALL the public. I would like to know what the NY FBI agents did to swing the election for Trump. We know they lobbied on behalf of Trump and against Clinton, because it’s in the IG’s report. We’re all paying them. We should see the communications that were exchanged.
I’d like to know why agents from the federal police were working to put their guy in power. This seems important for the public to know, since they have HUGE police powers.
The FBI and the DOJ have put themselves in a position where they appear to be working solely on behalf of the Republican Party. Donald Trump didn’t even garner a majority. It’s dumb for them to take sides. They’re destroying their own credibility.
cmorenc
Trey Gowdy is complaining about investigations starting with a “presumption of guilt”? Gowdy can’t see his own reflection in the mirror, because he himself is a political vampire, sucking the blood out of the country. Gowdy’s best friend for many months was a guy named Ben Ghazzi, with whom Gowdy had many good chats about that evil witch Hillary Clinton.
The Ancient Randonneur
Jordan is too fucking stupid to drop his gloves and say ‘no mas’.
JGabriel
Josh has a post up at TPM with a message from a former federal public corruption prosecutor delineating the risks to the rule of law in letting Trump pick another Supreme Court justice, and pointing out how Democrats should frame their opposition.
Everyone should read it.
The Ancient Randonneur
@JGabriel:
Cosign. It’s chilling. The message is essentially that the canary in the coal mine is dead.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: Rosenstein had the look that said: “mental note: return to office, take file folder, write Jim Jordan on the tab, hand to investigators”.
JPL
This is a pretty good feed with clips of Jordan making an arse out of himself.
Director Wray had the opportunity to express his opinion of the hearing when Rep. Johnson questioned him.
Jeffro
.
JGabriel
Jeepers, Jordan’s a complete and utter moron.
Jeffro
@cmorenc: Gowdy is also complaining about the length of the Mueller investigation. His Benghazi investigation was 950 days long
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Ya know, I think I’m just not going to look at the news today.
In the long term, my outrage, fear, and lust for justice will help keep me motivated to demonstrate, put pressure on public officials, spread the word to everyone I know, and most of all, VOTE.
In the short term, my blood pressure and mental health both need a break.
cmorenc
@JGabriel:
Where are honorable Republicans like the late Howard Baker R-Tenn when the country needs them? Alas, in their graves, every one of them. We’re left with nothing but Republicans who channel the late Joe McCarthy, and a President who channels the late Roy Cohn.
JGabriel
@M4:
There are a couple of short clips of Jordan making an ass of himself over at TPM.
Jeffro
@JGabriel: Agreed – Dems better mentally walk through what will happen if a Trumpov-appointed SCOTUS judge is seated and therefore has a say in what happens to him.
Hell, even if/when we win back the House this fall, Trumpov could easily, EASILY try to take the completely BS position that he doesn’t have to comply with Dem-led House committees’ subpoenas. And where would that case end up? At SCOTUS?
The Republicans are beyond radical/revolutionary…they’re arsonists.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
He should also ask Jordan if he can call Jordan “Josef K.” from now on. Just for shits and grins.
Of course, Jordan is too fucking stupid to get the reference, never mind the point.
cmorenc
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
Exactly. In order to sustain the outrage and energy for the approach to November, it’s important to not burn ourselves out with a nervous breakdown from the intense stress of ongoing events. That’s going to be a hard balancing act, but a necessary one.
Jeffro
Collins is making noise that she won’t vote for a SCOTUS nominee who doesn’t support Roe v Wade. YEAH RIGHT.
Meanwhile, Jeff Flake, already busy backing down…no quid pro quo vote on his precious tariff issue required, just wants the WH to know it’s important to him. OH GOOD.
Profiles in Courage!
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Pretty sure Jim Jordan is already on their radar.
B.B.A.
@Jeffro: yeah but that was about BENGHAZI!!! There is no greater crime or scandal in American history than BENGHAZI!!!!##@!##@!@
Cheryl Rofer
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Jim Jordan is the most unlikable creep in a caucus of thoroughly unlikable creeps. He’s the worst. All of them are awful, but something about him just drives me up the wall. He talks too fast and too loud, he breaks in and overtalks everybody else, he yells and he doesn’t shave and he’s sweaty. He’s the worst. He almost makes Donald Tяump seem appealing.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: While I don’t expect Collins to do the right thing, as I wrote last night, all it would take is her to refuse and then the whole thing comes to a screeching halt. With McCain out for treatment, if just one of Flake, Corker, Collins, and/or Murkowski decided to exercise their actual power, which is to be a caucus of 1 which can control the fate of anything the Senate does, they might actually be effective legislators. I am not counting on any chickens hatching.
Argiope
@JGabriel: Sigh. Jordan is MY moron in OH-4. His opponent is working way uphill in a post-2010 redesigned R +9 district. If anyone wants to throw any money her way, here’s her website. She was my kid’s teacher back in the day. I wish she were a better fit for the district, but you go to war with the candidate you have, etc.
Calouste
@Jeffro: I’m sure that people who kind of understand how the system works, like Stephen Miller, have made it clear to the shitgibbon that as long as he has 5 votes on the “Supreme” Court and 34 in the Senate he can do whatever the fuck he wants.
M4
@Adam L Silverman: “With McCain out for treatment, if just one of Flake, Corker, Collins, and/or Murkowski decided to exercise their actual power, which is to be a caucus of 1 which can control the fate of anything the Senate does, they might actually be effective legislators.”
More than that, in the case of Collins at least, it would be a huge boon to her massive (massive) ego. I’m surprised none of them are taking the bait to be the most powerful person in DC.
Hungry Jo
No one, but NO ONE, expresses concern better than Susan Collins.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: What if a Republican Senator outside of McCain leaves office in the next month for some reason? Massive scandal is uncovered so they resign. They die. That kind of thing. How would that affect the vote?
Spanky
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Sounds like the first step in getting rid of him would be to find his coke dealer.
Hungry Joe
Should have been HUNGRY JOE, of course. For some reason I’m having to re-enter my info every time, and a typo was inevitable.
A Ghost To Most
@Calouste:
The traitor caucus.
JPL
@JPL: Here is the link with several short clips of republicans making arses of themselves.
https://twitter.com/atrupar
WereBear
Like they care. When you have big stick, who needs credibility?
Adam L Silverman
@M4: This is what really surprises me as well. Especially Flake and Corker since they’re both independently wealthy and retiring from the Senate. They have nothing to actually lose and an incredible amount of influence and power that they could wield. In Collins case she used to seem to be good at playing this game. In Flake’s case he is a hard core social and religious conservative, albeit a polite and genteel one, so it’s not surprising that he’d like a solid 5th vote on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, so that would explain his position. I’ve never gotten the impression that Corker is anywhere as doctrinaire. In the case of Collins, this is both in and out of character. She certainly knows how to, and has in the past, leveraged being the necessary vote to maximum effect for whatever it is she seems to want at any given moment. She also likes everyone to talk about whether she will or won’t because she’s a moderate or a centrist or reasonable before just voting with the rest of her caucus. So who knows.
Calouste
@Yarrow: In most cases they would be replaced by another Republican. You would need a Republican Senator in a state with a Democratic governor that doesn’t have a law saying that the replacement must be from the same party.
Spanky
@Adam L Silverman: One could conclude that fear is preventing them from stepping up. Fear of physical pain. Possibly fear of the truth getting out. Of what, who knows?
In any event, I’m sticking with fear unless something else becomes definite.
DeliciousGuac
Jim Jordan will be running against Democrat Janet Garrett in November, in OH-04. This is an R+14 district, and he won against Garrett 68 – 32% in 2016, so it will be tough to flip, but I’ll be sending a few bucks to help her try…
http://www.janetgarrett.com
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Depends on the rules in that senator’s state for replacing him or her. If the governor of that state is a Republican and has clear power to appoint a replacement, either for the remainder of the term or until a special election can be scheduled, than I would expect no significant delays on McConnell’s part. If the senator was from a state with a Democratic governor who had that same power, you would see the chamber become effectively a 50-50 chamber with McCain out. But because the Vice President breaks all ties, McConnell would still remain Majority Leader. And there would be a huge new opportunity to work the refs about how the evil Democrats stole a Republican senate seat because that Democratic governor didn’t do the right thing and appoint a Republican to replace a Republican. The political news media would eat that up.
Yarrow
@Calouste: Do state laws vary on replacement or is it federal law? And how quickly could it happen? Let’s say a Republican senator leaves office in early August, shortly after Kennedy retires. How long would it take for a replacement senator to be seated? Would that happen given the election is not that far away or would they just wait for the election?
Tokyokie
If Senate Republicans allow der Trumpenführer to appoint an utter hack to the Supreme Court, it’s game over: for the rule of law, for the United States, and for Western civilization. Влади́мир Влади́мирович, the world’s most successful gangster and der Trumpenführer’s chief patron, can best thrive in a world without rules, a world in which force of arms is the only factor in settling legal disputes, and that is what he is using the bastard to accomplish. If Trump can use his Scotus flunkies to escape all criminal liability, he will seize total power, because nobody will be left to stop him, the system of checks and balances will have been utterly destroyed. Those in the Republican Party who aid and abet his crimes will soon find, that despite their enabling behavior, they will not materially benefit; they will become human detritus as der Trumpenführer casts them aside, their usefulness exhausted. If der Trumpenführer is, in the opinions of five corrupt jurists, beyond the reach of the law, then there is no law in the United States. Centuries of legal development will be cast aside to satisfy the insatiable ego of one phenomenally crooked, racist bastard. For if the rule of law fails in the United States, it will fail throughout the West in fairly short order. It will be a world defined by chaos and thuggery.
Exactly the world Влади́мир Влади́мирович imagines, with his loyal pooch Donnie begging for treats.
Seems like maybe something Jeff Flake, having already given up his political career, might consider giving up his party loyalty to prevent. But the depth of the depravity of today’s GOP is in perfectly inverse proportion to the party’s vision. which is so myopic as to be legally blind.
Adam L Silverman
@Spanky: It is a simple, logical answer. Given what we know about the President and how he operates, and what has been reported about both, it would not be out of character for him to have had oppo built on his seeming allies to keep them in line. Wayne Barrett reported years ago that the President would offer to host in his executive suite conference room at Trump Tower the divorce negotiations between high profile couples he knew in New York. If I’m recalling correctly he did this for Murdoch’s first divorce. This gave him access to all the dirt that each side’s attorneys were pitching in the negotiations so he could then use it later for leverage.
Kelly
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
Same. I’m volunteering trail work for the Forest Service Friday. Always a satisfying day out with good people. Attending Salem, OR Families Belong Together Saturday. Another guy that hates crowds this will be my first protest rally ever, at 62 years old.
rp
If you want a picture of the future, imagine Jim Jordan quoting Brietbart during a congressional hearing — forever.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: State laws vary. And often there are different parts of the same code that are contradictory. Largely because of poorly drafted legislative language. This is the case in Mississippi and why there was confusion over whether Cochrane would be replaced right away by an appointee or if the seat had to stay vacant until a special election to be held at the same time as the regular midterms in November.
James E Powell
Do Democrats get to ask questions? Will any of them ask about the NYC FBI agents and retired agents? Will anyone ask about Giuliani getting leaks?
Adam L Silverman
@James E Powell: They do get to ask questions. The questioner before Jordan was Congressman Cohen (D-OH).
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Yes, I can see the political media doing that.
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. It’s all just kind of a thought exercise anyway. If a Republican senator were to leave office we’d just deal with that then.
The Other Chuck
FYWP is showing the edit/delete links below the last comment even when they aren’t mine (thankfully the rogue edit link doesn’t actually work)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@JGabriel: I think the question needs to be massaged for conservatives to get in their face why this is bad, for them too
“So let’s get this straight, the President is under investigation for conspiracy with a foreign power to rig his election AND you want to give him to right to appoint one of the judges who are likely to rule on his case? So basically you are saying is conflict of interest doesn’t matter, because Republicans are above the rule of law, like the Communists were in the Soviet Union, and this is great for America? “
Kay
@Jeffro:
They could just lie to her like they did with the health care provisions. Trump Administration assurances are about as valuable as used toilet paper. They’re liars. They lie. Pattern and practice. Every day. It’s worked like a charm for them too. She’s a fool if she relies on them. What’s she gonna do if they trick her again? Impeach the justice?
They’re all pretending that what these people say has some meaning. It doesn’t. SHE may keep her word. Doesn’t matter. They won’t.
Mnemosyne
@M4:
Loath as I am to quote “1776,” I am reminded that they portray the last vote for independence as coming from a guy who does not want to stand out and make history.
It’s really, really hard to get people to reject their peers and stand alone.
VeniceRiley
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, that’s the thing about Collins. Even the rest of the Republican caucus is on to her; and so, are not concerned. They’ll just find out what she is ultimately willing to cave for, and give it to her. They get their justice and she gets Maine a Medicare waiver, or whatever piece of candy she really wants.
I seem to have achieved a state of permanent rage. The permanence is what makes it almost calming. Like global warming, this is my new temperature normal.
James E Powell
@Kay:
What we’ve learned about most of the law enforcement community is that they disdain credibility with anyone except themselves and their RW supporters. They go out of their way to alienate minorities generally and African Americans specifically.
It’s the same with Republicans. What they’ve learned over the last 40 years is that they don’t need to do anything but animate their base. They’ve been winning with this strategy and unless and until they lose like four or five election cycles in a row, they are not going to change their ways.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Í wonder if Jordan and his fellow Meatheads have thought through the wisdom of browbeating and alienating the people overseeing the investigation of the guy they want to protect. Seriously, I can understand the whole “Let’s work the refs!” thing; but unlike the press, the guys they’re beating up on can do something to hurt them back. Can it really be that none of these people understand this?
Cheryl Rofer
Ruckus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
SATSQ
Yes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: I will say it again. Narcissists are the most abusive to their family and allies to keep them under control. That Immigrant Kidnapping scheme of Trump’s was a trial run for hostage taking among the Republicans and the Conservative Doners.
Note – Trump was polluting himself about repealing Rove verse Wade yesterday and the Senate GOP reacted in horror. That’s Trump pressuring these Republican senators to submit to Trump or Trump will destroy the Senate Republican’s chances for reelection. Trump’s wins are pure personal victories, not victories for the Wingnuts or the GOP.
MagdaInBlack
Note how civil it all is
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman:
The person in Chris Murphy’s office said he had some hope about peeling off one or two Rethugs. I laughed bitterly like a character in Phantom of the Opera.
Elie
@Adam L Silverman:
I believe that these folks are under some sort of leverage. Someone or something has something on all of them — or they have been threatened in a really serious way. Could the Russians actually be in control? (I know I know, I sound just crazy, but what the hell is happening with these people who have sold out their power in our democracy?)
Timurid
More FYWP weirdness… this thread has been stuck at 20 posts for an hour. (And after several refreshes of the thread and the entire site… the only thing that revealed the missing posts was replying to the thread.)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Jeffro:
The American public is pro-Row vrs Wade at like 88%, not mention people loath having their rights taken away.
Calouste
@Kay: “Trump Administration assurances are about as valuable as used toilet paper. ”
They’re both shit on a piece of paper.
Elie
@James E Powell:
Somehow the Green Party and some leftists have also aided and abetted the messaging from the hard right. That is still a factor that has not been truly dealt with but has had some terrible consequences for us..
Yutsano
Okay I think the blog may have officially gone to plaid.
oldgold
I have no faith that any Republican Senator will save the day.
I think Robert Mueller could, if he has the goods and acts soon.
Mueller is known as being exceedingly thorough. Generally, I applaud this trait in an attorney; particularly, in a matter as important as this. But, there are occasions when you have to proceed. In my opinion, this is such a time.
D58826
@Jeffro: well there were her e-mails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeffro
@Calouste:
I am thinking all the wrong thoughts about how those numbers might go down so, um, yeah. anyway…
Good point, though. The sooner the Dems (and the country in general) understand that it is not just Trumpov but the entire GOP apparatus that has no principles but power, the better off we’ll all be.
Mike in DC
@oldgold:
I think, best case scenario, he indicts the Russian hackers, plus Stone and Parscale next month. A few days before the Putin summit wiuld be awesome.
Yarrow
@Elie:
Been saying this for the last year and a half or so. The GOP is a criminal organization and the top GOP leadership and many down below that level are traitors. Of course Russia has stuff on them. As Adam has reminded us, Russia hacked the RNC emails as well as the DNC emails but the RNC ones were not released. They’re very useful as blackmail but that’s not the only thing they have on these folks. Of course there is leverage. Does it apply to all Republicans? No. But it does apply to the senior leadership and enough key other Republicans to keep people in line? Sure does.
MomSense
@Yarrow:
That is the one issue that may hold sway with her. For anyone calling or writing to her, I am stressing Roe v. Wade and not the wait until the election angle. That’s a non starter with her.
SiubhanDuinne
@Hungry Joe:
I’ve managed to avoid constant retyping of my (difficult) nym by keeping it in the “Notes” app for quick copy-and-paste into the name field. There’s an autofill for the email address field. It’s still a pain in the ass, but not what it was before I figured out the shortcuts.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Good choice. As she has demonstrated multiple times in the past, she talks a good game, but DOES NOT EVEN BOTHER TO GET ANY CONCESSIONS from McConnell, et al. She just gets some fig leaf “Yes, Suzie, we’ll think about allowing your hot-button issue to come to a vote, but we’ll strip out anything meaningful before it gets to Committee. You good with that?” And she always is “good with that,” and then rolls over to let things go forward without any kind of firm stand — even after it has become clear that her “important” part of a bill gets wiped out.
She is scum. And one of these days, she’ll be my senior Senator. With any luck, she’ll quit before I move there. [Of course, then we’ll have Elliott Cutler running as an Independent against LePage (assuming he runs), and he’ll split the vote again.]
Yarrow
@Elie: Jill Stein attended that dinner in Russia with Putin, General Flynn, etc. Of course the Green party is compromised and part of the problem.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: I love how Flake thinks he’s somehow going to be a hero and on the right side of history in all this. Any day now. His party and its voters are gonna wake up and realize the (t)error of their ways and come flocking back to the *good* kind of Republicanism, with him leading the way in 2020.
I have a better chance of leading the Republican party in 2020, Jeff m’man…
burnspbesq
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
You can work the refs, but when you’ve got the equivalent of Roger Ayers and Ted Valentine, they can fuck you right back on National Teevee at the Final Four.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Yarrow: Remember how the Pennsylvanian Green party was caught taking GOP money to Rat Fornicate the 2004 election? I was talking to Berkeley, Ca Greens at the time and oh they were so smug and proud of how clever that was. The Greens are nothing but a pack of moral nihilist, they believe the system is corrupt so they are exempt from all morality.
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: Hope is important. It is necessary. It is not a strategy. Nor an alternative to one.
rikyrah
JUST IN: After uproar and protests over proposed plan to use the Concord Naval Weapons Station as a facility for immigrant detainees, officials announced Thursday that the East Bay center is “not currently being considered.” https://t.co/rZvpW0AsDs
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) June 28, 2018
piratedan
well, the last time the Republican did the “right” thing was McCain and to be honest, I’d say it was roughly 65% petty vindictiveness/35% I’m not in favor of this legislation when you get down to it.
Flake, is just that, I’ll happily vote to make all of you women chattel, but I’ll smile politely while doing so and while he finds Trump odious per his words, his actions say that the Russians know that he’s been sleeping with either young white boys or not so young black/latina women or perhaps is wealthy for a reason, he’s been bought.
There isn’t an honest broker left in the GOP, they’re either complicit, cowed or compromised.
If we continue down this road, I fully expect that they’ll be some kind of Rubicon where someone takes out someone via some nefarious means and then it will be on like Donkey Kong with President Cartman at the wheel.
Jeffro
@Spanky: @Adam L Silverman: How about just the simple fear that Trumpov knows full well ‘where the bodies are buried’, in terms of the GOP’s dark money/financing – not just the Kochs (everyone knows that stuff) but the NRA-Russia connections, etc. “Abandon me and I’ll tell everyone ALL about it.”
Or perhaps Trumpov knows that Putin has quite a bit of kompromat on GOP politicians – “you’re going to fall in line, or else Vlad’s people will release X…and you don’t want your wife/neighbors/constituents knowing about X, do you?”
But for many of them, it’s the combination of slavish devotion to authority, coupled with decades of Gingrich-style demonization of Democrats as “sick” “traitors” “depraved” “un-American”, etc etc. The Tea Party really has taken over the GOP and not just its voters either. Most GOP House reps are utter loons (hence Jordan today). Goodlatte. King. And on and on. When Trey Frickin’ Gowdy occasionally seems sane when compared to his colleagues, you KNOW that party is just g-o-n-e gone.
Yarrow
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: When Greens reliably win local elections (city council, mayor) and move to statewide elections (state legislators, Governor, etc.) as well as federal positions (Representatives, Senators) then we can talk about them running for president. Otherwise it’s nothing but a ratfucking vanity project funded by people with harmful intent.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t find hope necessary at all. I’ve given up on it. It does nothing for me. I end up feeling worse if I spend any energy or time on hope. Things are or aren’t. I find hoping they’ll be different harmful.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Hell, remember when it was dismissed as crazy when I suggested Republicans would not seat any elected Democrats to allow them to become the majority?
Doesn’t look so crazy now, does it?
Faithful Lurker
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Thanks for phrasing that way. I’m going to steal that. Just saying.
Jeffro
…
Adam L Silverman
@Elie: My professional take based on the open source news reporting, which is the only thing I have to go on just like everyone else, is that just as Putin did with funding both the European neo-Fasisct and neo-Nationalist (the neo-Nationalists could be from either the right or the left, as has been the case in Greece) groups and parties, as well as other social and religious conservative movements and ethnic separatist movements in Europe, so to has he done the same thing in the US. Some of this we know about. We know the network connections, including funding, to the Texas and California secessionist movements. We know the network connections, including funding, to the NRA and white evangelical groups, even though we don’t know the totality of them. And we know several of the key bridging nodes, like the Tennessee GOP operative and attorney who has served as the key connector between the oligarchs close to and working for Putin with the NRA and white evangelical groups. I fully expect that a large amount of Russian money was laundered through American subsidiaries of Russian companies or the relatives of Russian oligarchs who have US citizenship into a number of PACs and SuperPACs and then into Republican campaigns over the past decade or so.
What we’ve seen reported in the news is just the tip of the iceberg. We only see the bit above the water line. Special Counsel Mueller and his team, including the counter-intelligence investigation he inherited upon his appointment, have seen the entire iceberg. Now whether all of these elected officials or various groups that have been compromised realize or recognize they’ve been compromised is a question I can’t answer.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Five Corrupt SC justices means they have ultimate appeal security if charges of high treason are brought against any of the Senators in question.
TenguPhule
@Tokyokie:
And then shit breaks down. Everywhere.
JGabriel
@Jeffro:
I wonder …
Collins knows Trump is bad for the country. As a Republican planning to run again for office, she may not feel comfortable being seen as publicly critical of Trump, but opposing Trump’s SCOTUS nominee on Roe v. Wade grounds may provide her cover.
I’m probably reading too much into this, or giving Collins too much credit, but I wonder if she’s looking for a way to oppose Trump without looking like she’s opposing him.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: The problem is how can you guarantee that a nominee will actually do what they say once they’re on the court. Even if Collins could extract a pledge from the nominee, Senate GOP leadership, and the President that the nominee will not vote to overturn Roe, once confirmed none of those pledges mean anything. It’s not like Congress is going to impeach and remove that now confirmed justice if it turns out they lied to Senator Collins.
Jeffro
@TenguPhule: I must have missed that comment/thread. it’s not crazy, but I don’t see how it happens…you’re saying that Republicans (who?) won’t seat this November’s winners?
What I do see is Trumpov going nuts with the “rigged election” and “illegal voters” bullshit once Election Day is over and Dems have a majority, and I definitely see him telling the Dem House majority (well, its committee members and their subpoenas, anyway) to go pound sand. Both of which will leave our country in a very bad place.
I know they won’t, but I sure wish the GOP would think about the lengths this ‘man’ will go to in order to protect himself, the sheer amount of arson he’s willing to commit. Quite a few of his enablers in Congress are that way, too, unfortunately. “If I can’t keep my privilege, then there’s no point in going out quietly”. Ugh.
MJS
@TenguPhule: No, it still looks crazy. Things are bad enough without making shit up.
Steve in the STL
@piratedan:
QF-mother-effing-T
Adam L Silverman
@Elie: Putin will fund or back or promote any individual, group, and/or political party that serves his ends. It doesn’t matter if it is left or right. There is clearly more being done by Putin on the right, but he does fund hard leftists if it will achieve his objectives.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
Starting, oh, roughly 15 minutes after Citizens United was announced. You’re totally right.
Dorothy Winsor
@Mike in DC: A few days after the summit might be even better. Otherwise, the summit take the spotlight off the indictments. It’s not like Trump would change what he said to Putin because some people committed crimes on his and Putin’s behalf.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow:
That guy is making me look bad…//
TenguPhule
The site is borked but the fucking ads are fucking worse then ever.
JPL
..
JGabriel
@Kay:
People who seek power for its own sake don’t care about credibility. They think having power makes maintaining credibility irrelevant.
Calouste
@Jeffro: Collins just wants plausible deniability, i.e. someone who is willing to lie his (most of the 25 on the list are men) ass off in front of the Senate (all 25), who doesn’t have an actual ruling related to abortion in their past.
JPL
@TenguPhule: Somethings never change. lol
Steve in the STL
@JGabriel:
If you gave her any credit, then you gave her too much.
@Adam L Silverman:
cough roberts cough alito cough…etc.
TenguPhule
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
They see five SC justices giving rule of law the finger. And they’re okay with that.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Fine, you can officially be hopeless. Happy now?//
JPL
@Steve in the STL: We know that the RNC and some republican were hacked by Russia.
It makes you wonder why they haven’t released the emails. Blackmail is my guess.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
As long as you don’t trade hope in for despair, you should be okay. Just keepin’ on keepin’ on can be its own strength as long as you don’t let despair tug at you.
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the STL: Yep.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I’m fine with that. I find hope a distraction at best and actively harmful at worst.
@Mnemosyne: I find despair equally as useless. I’m rather Yoda about the whole thing. Do or do not. Is or is not. I have no time for the rest of it.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
It was last year. I raised the scenario of the current Republican majorities seated now refusing to accept any newly elected Democrats to either House or Senate in a similar fashion to the Al Franken election in order to retain their majority. There is also a rarely invoked rule of expulsion which allows the majority to eject members (normally used for outrageous criminal behavior). It requires a 2/3rds majority to do so, but only of the members actually present for the vote. Call me paranoid, but one midnight secret vote could literally leave the GOP in complete control of Congress.
但她的电子邮件, fka Le Compte de Monte Cristo, etc.
Don’t any of you understand? No matter what, Dear Leader gets a SCOTUS pick.
1. The vile GOP caucus can and will blow out any rules based excess of majority requirement.
2. Your choices are these – whichever asshole is going to be minimally acceptable to Collins, Corker and Flake. If not, McConnell declares recess and Dear Leader appoints someone genuinely vile as a recess appointment. Could be Rudy, could be Pirro, could even be one of his disgusting children – I mean super vile. That person’s vetting will be “how loyal to Dear Leader on a personal basis can you be”; there’s a fairly extensive list of craven chickenshits who’d do it.
You’ll note that my nym now has Mandatin characters in it – I planted a (probably bad) google translate version of “But her Emails”. I choose Mandarin because that will be the universal human language of international trade, finance and diplomacy for at least the next century.
I am not hopeful.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
You think they only started after it was made legal?
Jeffro
….
Adam L Silverman
If anyone was wondering, this is how we got to where we are…
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: I blame Star Trek the next Generation for convincing them that Klingons are good people. //
/takes shelter in flameproof suit
MagdaInBlack
@Adam L Silverman:
I am not in the least opposed to a giant space ark to load them all on and send them off to colonize some lifeless barren planet that resembles their brains.
randy khan
@Jeffro:
I won’t say we should take Collins at her word, but we should remind her of what she said multiple times every day between now and the date of the vote.
Gravenstone
@TenguPhule: Will. you. fucking. STOP!?!?!
Seriously, go find someplace else to doom monger all fucking day long.
sukabi
Strange, I thought “civility” was on the agenda…
Must not apply to everyone equally.
???????
Fair Economist
@Elie: The Green party is working for the Russians. They have gotten substantial funding from RT and support from the troll network. Other counterproductive lefties are working for the Russians too, for conservatives (the Young Turks are funded by right wing media), are fake (Roseanne used to pretend to be leftie), or are useful idiots (Sarandon, probably).
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
If a Republican Senator leaves and McCain is still alive, then the Senate is 49-49 in practical terms until someone is appointed. If the Senator is from a state with a Democratic governor, the appointment of a Dem will shift practical control of the chamber to the Dems (although McConnell would still be the Majority Leader because McCain is still alive). I don’t think there’s any amount of working the refs that would cause a Democratic governor to pick a Republican to fill a vacant seat.
TenguPhule
@Gravenstone: Tell me they can’t do that. Not that they won’t. That my theory is wrong because the rule can’t be exploited by a GOP all in on treason.
TELL ME.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
“The Cloud Computer.”
LOL.
MJS
@TenguPhule: Senator Jones of Alabama and Representative Lamb of PA called. They said to tell you your Cassandra act is wearing thin.
J R in WV
@Mike in DC:
IIRC, he already indicted a dozen or more hackers in Russia. Headlines for a day, Russia won’t be sending them over for a trial. The end!
J R in WV
Testing
cynthia ackerman
Test.
Adam, site has shut me out for over a week.
rikyrah
@VeniceRiley:
I seem to have achieved a state of permanent rage. The permanence is what makes it almost calming. Like global warming, this is my new temperature normal.
I definitely relate to this statement.
danielx
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Can’t be done. And have you seen a recent picture of Newt Gingrich?
danielx
@Jeffro:
Saw that one coming a while ago. HE can and will claim that literally any election for which he doesn’t like the results is invalid, right down to local school boards. He’s already prepared the ground with his mindless minions, and knowing his penchant for fantasy he may even believe it:
“I WANT it to be this way, it SHOULD be this way, therefore it IS this way!”
That’s pretty much his reaction to anything he doesn’t like. Sooner or later reality will slap him upside his ugly head, but it will be too late for a lot of people.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@SFAW: Didn’t Maine pass a ranked choice voting amendment this year? It’s not impossible for a person to serve as a spoiler under RCV, but it’s a lot less likely. I just wish we could do something like this nationwide (though I’d prefer approval voting or a few other systems even more).
MomSense
@Jeffro:
Fucking Flake is exhibit A in my complaint that trump is not an aberration. Trump is the standard bearer of the Republican Party, just a helluva lot more crude. Flake, like the rest of the Republican Party, wants to take away our healthcare causing death and/or financial ruin and misery. Flake voted for massive tax cuts for the wealthy which have created enormous debt and deficits and will be right there to balance the budget by stealing our Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits.
Ruckus
@Yarrow:
False hope is the old saying, “Shit in one hand and wish in the other, and see which fills up first.”
OTOH having no hope at all isn’t all that much fun.
debbie
@Argiope:
His performance was designed to be edited into the campaign ads he’s planning on running. Five bucks says he uses the word “grit” in every fucking one.
Procopius
@Kay:
I cannot bring myself to believe that Susan Collins is so stupid she believes a word McConnell is reported to say to her. Her pious protests are the real bullshit, and the lies that she is said to be told (I don’t even believe they bother lying to her, that’s just what she tells the reporters who don’t care) are just cover so after she votes in the vile way she really wants to she can say, “Oh, dearie me, I believed the nasty man.”