Here’s the live feed for Supervisory Special Agent in Charge Peter Strzok’s testimony before a joint committee of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees.
I’ve got it cued up to start just as Judiciary Committee Chair Goodlatte starts his opening remarks. Right now the committee chairs and ranking members are still making their statements and SSAC Strzok is waiting to give his. Here’s a transcript of Strzok’s prepared opening statement.
Chairmen Goodlatte and Gowdy, Ranking Members Nadler and Cummings. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before your committees again, this time in an open hearing.
I testify today with significant regret, recognizing that my texts have created confusion and caused pain for people I love. Certain private messages of mine have provided ammunition for misguided attacks against the FBI, an institution I love deeply and have served proudly for more than 20 years.I am eager to answer your questions, but let me first directly address those much-talked about texts.
Like many people, I had and expressed personal political opinions during an extraordinary Presidential election. Many contained expressions of concern for the security of our country — opinions that were not always expressed in terms I am proud of.
But having worked in national security for two decades and proudly served in the U.S. Army, those opinions were expressed out of deep patriotism and an unyielding belief in our great American democracy. At times my criticism was blunt, but despite how it’s been characterized, it was not limited to one person or one party – I criticized various countries and politicians, including Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders, then-candidate Trump and others.
But let me be clear, unequivocally and under oath: not once in my 26 years of defending my nation did my personal opinions impact any official action I took.
This is true for the Clinton email investigation, for the investigation into Russian interference, and for every other investigation I’ve worked on. It is not who I am, and it is not something I would ever do. Period.
I understand that my sworn testimony will not be enough for some people. After all, Americans are skeptical of anything they hear out of Washington. But the fact is, after months of investigations, there is simply no evidence of bias in my professional actions.
There is, however, one extraordinarily important piece of evidence supporting my integrity, the integrity of the FBI, and our lack of bias.
In the summer of 2016, I was one of a handful of people who knew the details of Russian election interference and its possible connections with members of the Trump campaign. This information had the potential to derail, and quite possibly, defeat Mr. Trump. But the thought of exposing that information never crossed my mind.
That’s what FBI agents do every single day, and it’s why I am so proud of the Bureau. And I am particularly proud of the work that I, and many others, did on the Clinton email investigation. Our charge was to investigate it competently, honestly, and independently, and that is exactly what happened.
I’m also proud of our work on the Russian interference investigation. This is an investigation into a direct attack by a foreign adversary – and it is no less so simply because it was launched against our democratic process rather than against a military base. This is something that all Americans, of all political persuasions, should be alarmed by. In the summer of 2016, we had an urgent need to protect the integrity of an American Presidential election from a hostile foreign power determined to weaken and divide the United States of America. This investigation is not politically motivated, it is not a witch hunt, it is not a hoax.
I expect that during this hearing, I’ll be asked about that ongoing investigation. During my testimony before these Committees two weeks ago, I was asked a number of questions, including about the ongoing Russia investigation, that counsel for the FBI instructed me not to answer. Consistent with my obligations, I followed the instructions of agency counsel. However, these exchanges generated significant tension with the Majority Members and numerous time-consuming sidebars and discussions amongst counsel.
Earlier this week, my attorney asked the Committees and the FBI to confer and agree on ground rules about which topics the FBI would allow me to testify about, and which I could not. As recently as last night, the FBI and Congress were still negotiating about what questions I would be allowed to answer here today. My understanding is that the FBI’s Office of General Counsel has provided the Committee with a list of questions that I will be permitted to answer today; the list includes certain questions that I was asked but instructed not to answer during my previous interview by the Committees. I am happy to answer any questions for which I have authorization to answer and where the FBI has directed me not to answer, I will abide by the FBI’s instructions – but let me clear: this is not because I don’t want to answer your questions; if I were permitted to answer, I would. And the answers would doubtless be disappointing to the questioners and undermine the conspiracy narrative being told about the Russia investigation.
In addition, I will testify today as accurately as I can, and to the best of my recollection. Nevertheless, my testimony will necessarily be less accurate, less precise, and less complete than it would be had the Committees not insisted on this unreasonable and unprecedented schedule. Only 36 hours ago I received access to thousands of pages of documents that the Department of Justice turned over to the Committees last week. Unlike the Members questioning me today, I do not have the transcript from my eleven hours of testimony last week. The time available for preparation has been wholly inadequate, as has my access to documents necessary for my preparation.
I understand we are living in a political era in which insults and insinuation often drown out honesty and integrity. But the honest truth is that Russian interference in our elections constitutes a grave attack on our democracy. Most disturbingly, it has been wildly successful – sowing discord in our nation and shaking faith in our institutions. I have the utmost respect for Congress’s oversight role, but I truly believe that today’s hearing is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.
As someone who loves this country and cherishes its ideals, it is profoundly painful to watch and even worse to play a part in.
MomSense
Go Rep Cummings! ?????
japa21
That should have the power to sting except the GOP is immune to that.
Adam L Silverman
Strzok stuck pretty close to his prepared remarks.
rikyrah
This question continues to need to be asked.
Adam L Silverman
Gowdy’s setting himself up to get his tuchas kicked with this opening question.
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
good.
Betty Cracker
Good opening statement by Mr. Strzok. It won’t stop the strutting, malevolent Trumpsters from smearing Strzok for partisan gain for the next few hours, but it provides important context. Republican attempts to derail the investigation into attacks on American democracy have exposed the deep corruption, utter lack of patriotism and spinelessness of that party like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life. It can be overwhelming, and the consequences continue to be unbearable. But we shouldn’t forget these scumbags’ willingness to destroy individuals in their larger quest to trash our system of government. Trump smeared Lisa Page just a few hours ago, in between trashing allies and lying about his accomplishments. “Deep State” is the new McCarthyism.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
This is a little rich, in context of then-Director Comey’s email bullshit.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: They were going to be turned over to the DeVos family backed Bethany Christian Services and then, essentially, fostered and adopted out to true, Christian American families.
Adam L Silverman
@MomSense: @Betty Cracker: He’s right now going to force Goodlatte to either take no for an answer or bring contempt charges.
And Nadler’s tying him Goodlatte up right now because Nadler actually knows the rules, regs, policies, and laws and Goodlatte doesn’t.
Adam L Silverman
I give it another five minutes before Goodlatte just gives up in frustration because Nadler and Cummings have their people all in formation to make his life miserable.
Adam L Silverman
For the love of someone’s/anyone’s Deity or Deities, put some powder on Gohmert’s head before the glare blinds everyone.
Stevie
@Adam L Silverman: Maybe not. Maybe the plan was to turn them all into servants and agricultural laborers like they did with native children stolen from their families.
MagdaInBlack
@Adam L Silverman:
Pretty much what my theory was.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: this is quality posting.
Adam L Silverman
@Stevie: Unlikely. The plan was to adopt them out to good, Christian families that wanted them. Remember, they can’t do adoptions from Russia anymore.
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: That dude’s noggin is huge, pale, and shiny!
Coffee at dawn ☕
@Adam L Silverman: This Dr. Silverman! The famous Christian adoption pipeline (see Haiti).
Adam L Silverman
Ooopsie!
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
My gut feeling is that they genuinely never really thought about it. The goal was to try to stop asylum seekers from coming here by separating them from their families, and all the questions about what to do with the children never really came up. That’s the core of Kelley’s notorious “or whatever” remark; they never had a plan for what to do with the kids because they don’t really think of them as human beings whose futures deserved any consideration. This is what happens when you treat human beings as a means.
Adam L Silverman
Well that’s just creepy…
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
That might rescue them from Hispanophone Catholicism and turn them into proper right-wing evangelical English-speaking Christian(ist)s, but it wouldn’t whiten their brown skins even one bit. And brown skins are disfavoured in Trump’s America.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
“It ain’t over ’til the fat
ladyorange fvcksingstweets.” WWDS?O/T Kavanaugh sounds like disaster in waiting
.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
“Hot unicorn on unicorn action!”
Adam L Silverman
Strzok just handed Gowdy his tuchas!
Adam L Silverman
And that, as they say, is the end of that:
rikyrah
Exclusive: Secret money funds more than 40% of outside congressional ads
Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY
Published 10:58 a.m. ET July 12, 2018
WASHINGTON – Secret donors funded more than four out of every 10 television ads that outside groups broadcast this year to influence November’s high-stakes congressional elections, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Kantar Media data.
Leading the way: Organizations affiliated with billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, whose conservative donor network plows hundreds of millions of dollars into politics and policy debates each election cycle.
Two Koch-affiliated groups account for more than one-quarter of the House and Senate advertising from groups that don’t disclose their donors, according to a tally of broadcast ads tracked by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG).
Those Koch advocacy groups, Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Veterans for America, have trained their advertising fire on five Democratic senators up for re-election from red and purple states: Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
Obvious Russian Troll
@Adam L Silverman: Naturally Trump Tower lost money for everybody else.
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/10/21/how-every-investor-lost-money-on-trump-tower-toronto-but-donald-trump-made-millions-anyway.html
Kay
A bogus arrest of a political opponent on trumped up charges.
Stormy’s crime was opposing the President. Absolutely disgusting. We’ll see if this gets the coverage that Trump’s lawyer not getting invited to parties got. Stormy is of course a porn actress so therefore not worthy of the fawning coverage the has-been Harvard professor gets but since they arrested her for political “crimes” I would think it would merit coverage.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
TELL IT!!
TELL IT!!
That’s EXACTLY what they had planned for those that weren’t given to traffickers.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
A person who looks at Trump and sees “a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow” is clearly delusional.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
I see he’s sporting GowdyHair ver. 4.2b today. It must be hard, being Trey.
Elizabelle
Yea Rep. Smallwell. Motion to subpoena Steve Bannon.
Adam L Silverman
@Obvious Russian Troll: Yep, saw that when it was first published.
D58826
@Adam L Silverman: The only thing that Goodlite and Gowdy are missing to make the witch hunt obvious is a bone thru the nose and a pointed cap
Elizabelle
Why does Gowdy keep passing on voting? Seems to be strict party line.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
This was mass child abduction. These babies and children were going to be adopted and trafficked.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Apparently the law’s been on the books since 2007 and this was its first use:
Mai Naem mobile
So Gowdy,Jordan and Goodlatte are on #TeamRussia and Strzok is on #TeamAmerica
Elizabelle
@MomSense: They’d have to do it under our noses. I don’t think they will be successful. Too much sunshine, too many lawyers watching.
Gin & Tonic
@Obvious Russian Troll: The old saw about recognizing the sucker at the poker table.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: ALEXA!!! Order all the pomade!!!!
J R in WV
Why does Gowdy sound like he represents South Carolina, not southern California? Did he grow up in the deep south somewhere?
Can’t stand listening to attempted gotcha questions from these Russian puppets!! I know I should, to be a better educated citizen, but I’m going to go with what I already know from reading about this stuff, and not listen to the agony.
D58826
Putin is certainly getting his return on his investment. H would clean the clock of every hedge fund manager on Wall Street if he believed in capitalism
eric
@Adam L Silverman: maybe, since they clearly have some free time, they may want to call Jim Jordan in for a talk….
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: Ted Liu is about to get an answer for you.
West of the Rockies
@Kay:
“Trumped up charges” is right.
Yarrow
Just tuned in. What are they voting on?
Adam L Silverman
@Mai Naem mobile: And #TEAMAMERICA tastes like freedom!
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Because Gowdy does represent South Carolina.
Adam L Silverman
@eric: Ya think?
rikyrah
GOP lawmakers threaten FBI agent Peter Strzok with contempt for refusing to answer questions on Mueller probe https://t.co/zZA24FessI
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 12, 2018
Rinehart
@Adam L Silverman: How many white Evangelicals would want brown children in their families? Even if they saw it as a God-given opportunity to ‘win souls to Christ’ and ‘train up a child in the way he should go.’
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Swalwell brought up a motion to subpoena Bannon back to the committee for failing to answer questions under oath and then have him subject to contempt. Gowdy and Goodlatte opened the door when they threatened to subject Strzok to recall this evening and charges of contempt.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: This is such a kangaroo court. I see it working better to inspire our voters than theirs.
Assuming our voters tune in (le sigh).
I am seeing Vincent Price as the witchhunter.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: Oh that’s perfect “President Rainbow Unicorn” it is.
Adam L Silverman
Congressman Cummings, as expected, asks a pertinent and intelligent question.
rikyrah
DA PHUQ?
The EVERLOVING PHUCK???
Bystanders stop racist Oregon man from pushing black teenage girl into traffic
Travis Gettys
12 JUL 2018 AT 08:56 ET
Witnesses stepped in to stop a racist Oregon man from assaulting a black teenage girl as she walked along a Beaverton street.
Police arrested 37-year-old Samuel Corbett outside the convenience store Monday afternoon on a variety of charges after several witnesses reported the abuse, reported KPTV-TV.
Witnesses told police that Corbett had been following the 17-year-old girl screaming racial slurs and threatening to harm her.
“Bunch of, you know, N-word, racial slurs, all you guys should die, if I had a switchblade on me I’d kill you right now,” said witness Ain Avila, who first noticed the incident from his car.
Avila pulled into the gas station parking lot and confronted Corbett.
“I hopped out the car and got him away from her before he pushed her into oncoming traffic,” Avila said.
Gas station employee Douglas Short and another man helped the girl flee to safety inside the store.
“(Corbett) grabbed ahold of her backpack and tried to pull her, but she got free from the strap, and that’s when (Short) intervened,” Avila said.
The assailant then fled, but police arrested him nearby on charges of second-degree intimidation, menacing and second-degree disorderly conduct.
Elizabelle
Apparently, though, many agents in the NY field office do not lay their personal beliefs aside. We need to clean that nest out, as soon as we have the power to do so.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: Got more information on this? This sounds like one to toss in a wingnuts realtive’s face.
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman: The many 120-year-old parents of those fallen soldiers who Trump says begged him to repatriate those remains will be disappointed.
Adam L Silverman
@Rinehart: I have no idea.
D58826
If the GOP only spent 1% of their time looking into Russian interference in the election Putin would be stopped in his tracks. Patriotism the last refuge of scoundrels
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: Damn right. And grill Giuliani under oath about where he got the info he was blabbing all over the Sunday shows.
rikyrah
UH HUH
UH HUH
WATCH: Republican try to stop Elijah Cummings from listing guilty Trump officials at Strzok hearing
Travis Gettys
12 JUL 2018 AT 11:12 ET
Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to stop Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) from listing the guilty pleas by Trump campaign officials obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Cummings called out GOP lawmakers for promising not to interfere with the Mueller investigation, but he said they had recently changed course.
“Now they’re doing the opposite. behind closed doors, they’re asking individuals involved in the Russia investigation hundreds of questions about confidential human sources, FISA applications and potential witnesses in the special counsel’s criminal probe,” Cummings said. “In public, they’re holding emergency hearings, issuing unilateral subpoenas and threatening contempt and impeachment. They even demanded that the top Justice Department law enforcement officer in charge of this investigation said, and I quote, ‘Finish it the hell up.’”
“So what has changed?” Cummings continued. “What has changed?”
Interns held up five large posters showing the faces of three Trump campaign officials and two campaign associates who have pleaded guilty to charges in the special counsel probe.
“Let me underscore, these are not allegations — these are admissions,” Cummings said. “Trump’s national security adviser admitted that he committed these crimes.”
Cummings then moved on to Rick Gates, the president’s deputy campaign chairman, who also pleaded guilty to crimes in the Mueller probe, when committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) cut his microphone.
Goodlatte questioned whether the signs were appropriate, but Cummings and other Democratic lawmakers asked him to cite a rule against them.
The Virginia Republican was unable to do so, and Cummings continued with his list.
Kay
@Adam L Silverman:
I want an inquiry into this. I expect at least the blanket coverage that people being mean to Dershowitz got.
They arrested the woman that Trump paid off after she spoke out against the President. That’s news.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: As bad as that is, good people got between him and his intended victim. This is what I was talking about in that post I did a few weeks back.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: All the more reason to take the House. This hearing motivates me!
opiejeanne
@J R in WV: Gowdy represents South Carolina’s 4th district.
Kay
@Adam L Silverman:
The Trump thugs don’t just threaten her in a parking lot anymore- now that he’s President they arrest her for political crimes.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, okay. Thanks.
MagdaInBlack
@Rinehart:
No one said theyd be raised as “family”…………the concern is for their immortal souls, not their physical comfort within a loving family.
I leave it up to you to determine what you think their status would be within such a home.
Certainly not equals, Im sure.
Anotherlurker
@rikyrah: A blast of hornet spray to the kisser would stop any asshole from pursuing his attacks.
The good thing about hornet spray, rather than a gun, is that the spray won’t kill, but it would sure make the asshole on the receiving end, wish he were dead.
Ladyraxterinok
@Adam L Silverman: They arrest person touched? Not the one touching? What kind of law is that??
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Just my analysis of what we’ve seen unfold. Especially given that Bethany is involved with the foster placements for these kids.
Elizabelle
This story is top interest on WaPost.
The NY Times — not so much. The Grey Lady looks at NATO.
Interchange between Cummings and Strozk was compelling.
Adam L Silverman
Very stable genius!
feebog
Shotgunning questions at a witness is an old tried and true cross-examination technique. Gowdy has it down pat. It may work on a witness not used to testifying but Strozk was having none of it. Gowdy is not nearly as good as he thinks he is. Plus, worst hair this side of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Villago Delenda Est
The Rethugs are covering themselves in shit.
Ladyraxterinok
@Rinehart: I’m confused. Think this was my post??
Yarrow
Well, one thing about this hearing, you can see the Republican traitors on display.
Betty Cracker
Love how Strzok used Hair Gel’s smarmy question to highlight Trump’s despicable behavior during the campaign here.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Rinehart: Indilogical consitancy isn’t a strong point of Evangelicals. They do spend a lot of time bringing Jesus to Catholics for example.
But, if some woman is worried about appearing to be a good TRUE Christians (as in white, Republican) mother and wants a career, taking someone else’s kids is the best way to go since she won’t risk her figure with pregnancy or be tied down for a couple of years taking care of a baby or feel obligated to miss parties or travel because she need to take care of a child she bonded with.
Villago Delenda Est
@feebog: You’d think getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter by Hillary would have cured him of this, but Trey is just not that bright.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: I’m going to go out on a limb and state that not one set of remains will be returned and that anything that is returned, as has been the case in the past, will turn out to not be the remains of US service members who died on the DPRK side of the armistice lines and weren’t recovered or who died in the DPRK after being taken prisoners of war.
LAO
This reminds me of how much I don’t miss cross-examining FBI agents.
D58826
I wonder if any of these GOP s+tts would like to have their private conversions made public.
Elizabelle
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah. I suspect that might be obvious to a casual viewer, too. Stozk as underdog, as well, to these persecuting bloviators.
This transcript is gonna be for the ages.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
I think we all know what he meant.
Elizabelle
I wish Strozk would remind Grandstanding Goodlatte that Virginia went for Hillary in 2016.
Yes, the voters could smell Trump. And voted appropriately.
D58826
I must say that Strozk has the patents of Job. I think I would have picked up the mic on the table and crammed it down goodlits throat by this time
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Goodlatte isn’t very good at this at all.
Ladyraxterinok
@rikyrah: It’s as if there’s some group out there egging the racists on and awarding points for their actions!?! :(
Villago Delenda Est
@Adam L Silverman: His grandfather was from Germany, and was kicked out for avoiding military service by fleeing to America upon his return to Germany. Also, he was a pimp.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: The DPRK blew off a meeting, knock me over with a feather, it’s what they do.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: From the reporting, apparently Dershowitz goes to the beach on Martha’s vineyard nude except for a hat. So pretty much the same thing as a Stormy Daniel strip show. Only far less attractive.
Elizabelle
Getting hammered on Comey’s Lone Rangering.
Comey. The gift that keeps giving.
Strozk is smarter and more honest than the GOP congresswitchhunters grilling him. Comes through.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: Please, folks, it’s Strzok. Do him at least the courtesy of spelling his surname correctly, as Adam has done.
Morley Bolero
@Villago Delenda Est: Ran a brothel in Canada. for a time.
Yarrow
Goodlatte is an ass. What was he whispering with Gowdy about?
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Is the Columbus Police Chief part of Mack’s extremist organization the Constitutional Sheriffs and Police Officers Association?
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Oh. Thanks. Noted.
Adam L Silverman
@Anotherlurker: Hornet spray is made with dursbin, which is a neuro-muscular disruptor. If you spray someone with dursbin, you’re essentially using deadly force.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Thankfully, Goodlatte is retiring after this term. Term-limited out as chairman of this committee.
Seat is supposedly safe for GOP, but I’d love to see it turn.
Adam L Silverman
@Ladyraxterinok: 1) I am not a lawyer. 2) I don’t live in Ohio. 3) I’ve never been to a strip club. 4) I don’t know.
Yarrow
@D58826:
Those must be worth a lot by now!
A Ghost To Most
Thank you all for watching so I don’t have to. I’m testing out the solar and battery system on the mountain escape vehicle.
Adam L Silverman
@feebog: @Betty Cracker: Strzok is a better attorney, especially pertaining to his areas of expertise, which include national security/counterintelligence and FBI/DOJ policy, than Goodlatte, Gowdy, and/or any other GOP member of these two committees.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: You aren’t the only one, so I didn’t mean to single you out. I understand the “Strz” combo doesn’t come that easily to people with no exposure to Slavic languages, but it’s not all that uncommon.
opiejeanne
@A Ghost To Most: What is a mountain escape vehicle?
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: Who’s running for the Dems? It’s easier to win an open seat than against an incumbent. And Virginia is definitely trending blue.
Brickley Paiste
Strzok is coming across as a consummate professional.
LAO
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m aware. Apparently the President is unclear as to who his father was versus who his grandfather was.
Brickley Paiste
@LAO:
Are federal prisoners allowed toupees?
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Is it Czech or Polish? I’ve never seen this particular name.
Gin & Tonic
@LAO: Guess it’s been a while since he’s been to his colorist.
JWL
It was bound to happen, and Strzok drew the card: Jimmy Carter is no longer history’s greatest monster.
grandpa john
@opiejeanne: Living in SC I can state that Gowdy only supports what the rest of his treasonous party supports including trumps tariffs which analyst have said will cost businesss in SC 3 Billion dollars and effect employment . BMW had plans to add another complete assembly line, now they are shifting some of their present work to other countries. .
So that is how traitor Gowdy is helping the working people of SC
Gin & Tonic
@Brickley Paiste: No. I refer to our late and lamented Mayor of Providence, Buddy Cianci.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic:
II think we can all rest assured, based on my past performance here, that I am not spelling it correctly on purpose.//
Brickley Paiste
@Adam L Silverman: You’re being awfully defensive here. WHAT ARE YOU HIDING???
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Agent Strzok is, AFAIK, of Polish background.
NY Robbin
@Elizabelle:
They figured that most Americans wouldn’t care if thousands of brown children just disappeared. Nice to know they were wrong (somewhat . . . )
Elizabelle
Jennifer Lewis is the Democratic nominee for the 6th district.
Waynesboro resident. Mental health counselor, environmentalist, kitten fosterer. 3 cats and a dog.
From an op ed earlier this year, about the district (written by a Republican whingeing about the nominee selection process):
Exploring a bit further now …
LAO
Avengers of insane legislators, I’m going to steal that.
Mnemosyne
@Rinehart:
You misunderstand how these types of adoptions work. The children are expected to be eternally grateful for being “saved” from poverty and Papist false religion, and are expected to stay entwined with the family forever as unpaid labor to pay off that “debt.”
Plus Quiverfull families usually neglect to complete the citizenship paperwork for their new “family members” so the kids don’t dare defy them or leave the family without risking deportation.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Anyway, lots of Polish words and place names beginning with “Strzy” , maybe not so many with “Strzo.”
Elizabelle
You can see why Mueller chose Strzok. Of course, the GOP witch-hunters are using this to discredit Mueller, but I don’t think the hearing is coming that well for them.
Goodlatte is such a partisan. That is clear to someone watching casually.
Joey Maloney
@Adam L Silverman: Makes sense, since Trump also appears unclear on which one is his wife and which his daughter.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I wanted to give you that attaboy since it’s contrary to form.
J R in WV
@J R in WV:
OK, now I have recalled/discovered that Gowdy IS a Rep from SC… my bad. No wonder he talks with a mouthful of mush.
Barbara
@Yarrow: It basically hugs the western spine of Virginia, where it borders West Virginia. No one has to gerrymander districts in this part of the state to keep them red. I was surprised that it was only counted as +13 Republican. VA-5 (Garrett) and VA-10 (Comstock) are the most gerrymandered districts. Comstock should be gone in any semi-normal midterm. Brat (around Richmond) might be gone in a wave. Garrett’s and Goodlatte’s seats are probably safe.
Kay
healthcare is SUCH a good issue for Democrats, especially state Democrats. It won’t get any coverage in the all Trump, all the time national arena, but Democrats could run state-level on JUST health care and public education and win.
A Ghost To Most
@opiejeanne:
A heavily modified and armored 4Runner, capable of tackling all but the worst “roads” in CO. It is our passion and our escape plan.
Platonailedit
@Betty Cracker:
Wow indeed. No more fucks to give guy. Gowdy’s moronic face says it all.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
It’s probably been shortened at some point.
Leto
@LAO: First reply is gold:
Emily@emrelli
13m13 minutes ago
Replying to @rachelweinerwp
Womps and prayers.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
You are hip to the game.
UH HUH
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Sounds valid.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Healthcare, public education, and prosecuting white collar crime. The winning trifecta! Go Dems.
rikyrah
@Kay:
well well well….
uh huh
uh huh
Ruviana
@Rinehart: It was a definite movement among evangelicals for a while. Check out Kathryn Joyce’s The Child Catchers. The was certainly a motivation to save souls for Christ. You cite the quote that Michael Pearl uses in his various books on “Christian child-rearing”. Some of these children died at the hands of their adoptive parents.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO:
JPL
If parts of the transcript can be released, why not let four reps release 1/4 of the transcript.
Cheryl Rofer
stan
Brought to you by the future rulers of Gilead.
Gravenstone
@Kay: Yet the snippet of the complaint I read earlier claimed that ‘she’ initiated the contact, including with three undercover cops present at her show. Yeah, the fix is definitely in here. Um, yay Ohio?
Elizabelle
This is pretty good for the Grey Lady: their website “front page” blurb.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: Looks like a VIP to me.
He’s going for the Steve Bannon casual look, but he’s short a few shirts.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: The League of Unextraordinary Gentlemen and Gentlewomen.
D58826
BUT HER EMAILSEveryone is losing the important issue at stake from now till h+ll freezes over – her emails
LAO
This is brilliant. Trumpverstehers .
rikyrah
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
@KensingtonRoyal
The Duchess of Cambridge, @Wimbledon Patron, and The Duchess of Sussex will attend the Ladies’ Singles Final on Saturday 14th July #Wimbledon
Calouste
@Adam L Silverman: He is probably also unclear whether his daughter’s children are his kids or his grandkids.
Elizabelle
God, I hate Sensenbrenner.
Hillary’s Get out of Jail Free card. Fucker.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Just like LaVoy Finicum:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/get-the-government-s-hands-off-my-foster-kid-subsidies
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Trump’s father was from Germany?
That boy ain’t right in the head.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Tennis over POTUS?
Adam L Silverman
@Joey Maloney: He’s a big picture kind of guy.
Kay
@rikyrah:
The GOP county chair here said they’re moving on health care because of women- because they’re worried that women care about it and vote on it. I don’t know if that’s true- if “women” care about it but I suspect it IS true.
It’s always relegated to the second tier in media- unlike the manly issues of Foreign Policy and War :)
I actually think it’s providers who are driving the support. They had a choice. Get paid lower Medicaid rates or don’t get paid at all. They opted for the second. The rural hospital here is wholly dependent on Medicaid payments. It’s better than not getting paid at all or having to get a judgment and then garnish wages to get paid. It’s a no-brainer for them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
, @Adam L Silverman:
Thanks, and darn it. Because this is clearly a slippery slope thing the Conservatives can understand. Today it’s illegitimate children that are being taken, once it’s established the government can kidnap the children of people accused of crimes then it’s American citizens next, just like asset forfeiture started ast targeting drug dealers.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks, my self esteem is ten feet tall right now!
Kay
@Gravenstone:
Maybe there will be in inquiry. Trump doesn’t control that city- Democrats do. Maybe there will be real oversight.
D58826
Give all of Strzok’s e-mails, it sounds like he doesn’t think very much of any politician
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: My understanding is that most Democrats are running on healthcare. Manchin is making his initial concerns and oppositions regarding Kavanaugh about his judicial opposition to the ACA. This is a smart strategy.
Adam L Silverman
Nadler’s got his guys set up really well. Right now they’re working over Godlatte about releasing the transcript of Strzok’s closed door testimony.
A Ghost To Most
@Elizabelle:
We need to bury them with this.
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
Yep. He created a foul sound bite to be passed on to Hannity and the other Fox News political vultures.
At first I was going to skip this crap entirely, but watching it and how hard the GOP leadership is trying to deflect from Trump’s treason is just amazing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: The idea of watching tennis bores me to tears, but I’d take it over having to be in the same room with Trump.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Glad to help.
Kay
I for one am actually disappointed in the Deep State. They would have done a real public service if they had revealed that Donald Trump was under investigation prior to the election.
Since they revealed everything about Clinton it would have been fairer. They really need to choose. If they violate norms for one side they need to violate norms for the other, or it’s worse. They failed on both.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: Maybe they should haul Hillary in there for some more questions, it worked so well for them last time.
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: Agreed. Historic hearing, really.
Adam L Silverman
@Gravenstone: Can you imagine how that assignment got handed out?
Humdog
@Gravenstone: and @ Kay, I’m sorry to say that I know that a regular part of her act is to put someone’s face between her bare breasts and slap them with them. They must have been doing a sting, maybe a set up since Daniels does this regularly. And, AFAIK, Ohio is the only state to make such contact illegal. Daniels may have also touched a crotch she was “dancing over.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: SAD! Low Energy!
Kay
I hope we learned from this. When it happens again in 2020 and the only revelations we get are about the Democratic candidate can we insist everyone just break ranks and spill? Because ultra-secrecy applied to only one side is worse than either norm-breaking for both or norm-upholding for both. There are only 2 candidates. If we reveal all on one and protect the other that’s not a fair fight. They don’t get extra points for keeping ONLY the secrets of Donald Trump. That actually made a bad situation worse. Two. Not 50. One or the other.
Calouste
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: That’s what happened in Spain under Franco and in Argentina under the junta.
Adam L Silverman
@Calouste: I don’t need to know that and I don’t want to know that!
Baud
@Kay: I’m skeptical, but I thought we were sophisticated enough to see through the propaganda in 2016. I was wrong.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: Its the cotton candy machine he uses to do his hair. Has serious side effects.//
Kay
@Humdog:
I’m not contesting she violated the statute. I don’t know if she did or not. I object to them targeting her for her political views, and because she dared to confront Dear Leader. Fuck them. They’re paid by the public. If they want to get on the sleazy Trump family thug payroll they can be my guest. They need to get off the public payroll. Decide. Figure out who you work for before you go to work.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Barbara: This is the district of my childhood in Roanoke. Jennifer Lewis is smart going against the pipeline. MANY conservatives in the area are protesting the pipelines as the contractors are acting in an arrogant manner.
Kay
@Baud:
If the public were told Clinton was under investigation, and they were, repeatedly, right up until days before the election, then the public needed to be told the other candidate was too. These people aren’t stupid. They must know if they’re applying norms and ethics to one side and not the other in a 2 person race then that gives the unethical candidate and supporters an advantage. I refuse to thank them for keeping Trump’s secrets. Once they violated norms on Clinton that had a duty to even it up. Obviously.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Here’s an Intercept article, but that’s about it:
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/01/separated-children-adoption-immigration/
Adam L Silverman
@D58826: Most people that spend over 26 years serving in the Federal government don’t. Hell I’ve only been doing this work – on contracts and term civil service appointments for a decade – and I don’t think very highly of most of them.
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman sold into slavery is more likely. What good Christian family doesn’t need their own Cinderella?
Baud
@Kay: Right. But what new hell will they through at our 2020 nominee. And do enough of us have the power as voters to recognize and dismiss it as false propaganda?
Starfish
@Amir Khalid & @Rinehart:
A lot of white evangelicals would adopt brown children because brown children are a visible display of the evangelicals spreading Christianity through adoption.
Baud
@Baud: I hate the loss of the edit function.
afanasia
@Adam L Silverman: Taking infants away from their mothers indicates that they are indifferent to whether the babies survive or not.
eponymous
@Rinehart: Slaves.
raven
@Baud: Are you sure? Because I have it
Adam L Silverman
@Humdog: Motorboat America Great Again!//
Baud
@raven: I’m on mobile.
Elizabelle
Love it. Sheila Jackson Lee is holding up Manafort’s mug shot as she rolls off her questions, yes or no.
JMG
@Adam L Silverman: Your post 175 made me laugh as hard as I have in weeks. I’m imagining it being an opening scene in a Hall Street Blues remake.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Can you use the “desktop” interface on your mobile? That is what I had to do to see a full screen on my iPad.
Although I use my laptop for BJ commenting about 95% of the time. Mobile keyboard is too tedious.
raven
@Baud: got it
eponymous
I can’t even see straight anymore, I’m so pissed at these people (MAGAts) and this situation. I h ave totally lost my nice middle aged librul lady persona and am now referring to them as Homo trumpensis, a sub-species.
Baud
@Elizabelle: I suppose I could but I generally prefer the mobile site because it’s cleaner.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JMG:
That anything like “Hill Street Blues”? “Let’s be careful out there.”
Aleta
@LAO: The first Resistance Bubblegum Card. Collect them all.
Elizabelle
Sheila Jackson Lee is doing a fabulous job of getting the context entered into the House transcript.
D58826
@Adam L Silverman: :-) heck I’m not a government employee and if my cat dragged in a politician then first I would shoot the politician and then I would skin the cat.
Seriously it is unfortunate because politics and politicians should be an honorable occupation. It’s the way we run the government. The much venerated founding fathers were first and foremost politicians
Elizabelle
Recess for votes. Reconvene at 2:00 pm.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: I pretty much only use my desktop, but I look really funny on the train carrying it around and finding AC to power it…don’t even get me started on that.
Elizabelle
Peter Strzok is a patriot, as Rep. Jackson Lee described him.
These party over country traitors? Not so much. They’re gonna look like the folks who shut their pie holes as Joseph McCarthy ran amok, although this is worse, because it’s a treasonous president and the bulk of the Republican leadership. Much more perilous times.
Dog save us. Although: it’s votes. Regaining the House and even the Senate, and restoring an actual democracy.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Or as we normally call it, child prostitution.
?BillinGlendaleCA
ABC in LA sez the charges against Ms. Daniels have been dismissed.
D58826
WOw according to MSNBC Congress has a 19% approval rating. That is 18 points higher than it deserves.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Those dang women…LOL
Elizabelle
C-Span will broadcast the entire hearing at 8:00 p eastern tonight; will rejoin the hearing once it reconvenes.
Airing the beginning now, with Goodlatte’s opening statement.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
Bethany? Does Cole know anything about this?
ETA: This sounds like something Steve cooked up.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Border kidnappings have insufficient whiteness to qualify for actual adoption. Sex slaves on the other hand, what upstanding Christian moralizer could resist the chance to despoil a virgin heathen?
Elizabelle
@TenguPhule: No. That is not what we call it. Being stolen and improperly adopted out is bad enough. Stuff it.
Dial it down.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Is it Harry or Meghan who’s a friend of Serena’s? I thought one of them was friends with her first, but I can’t remember which one.
Serena’s husband was adorable at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Just puffed up with pride at how awesome his wife is. ?
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
No, the questions came up. The answer was “fuck em”. And the Trump response was “how can we make a buck off that?”
Adam L Silverman
@JMG: I texted it, along with the screen cap of the Columbus PD statement, to a good friend of mine who’s a SWAT team leader.
eponymous
Just saw: Stormy Daniels charges dismissed.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle:
Every accusation by the Republicans was a confession. They didn’t pizzagate out of thin air.
TenguPhule
@D58826:
That includes the Democrats still in it. Otherwise it would be 19 points higher then deserved.
Mnemosyne
@Calouste:
I saw a really interesting essay from someone from (I think) Chile who could never figure out why her “father” obviously hated her and ignored her as much as possible. Turned out that she was one of those children stolen by the Pinochet regime and given to the “right” families, who often didn’t want them in the first place.
Teddys Person
Aparently, Donnie’s BFF Kim passed him a note in studyhall.
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
But surely his awfulness is merely me being overly dramatic about it! //S
LAO
@eponymous: Justice for Stormy!
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Trump will go out and immediately proclaim victory.
“North Korea retreated from the border!”
Mnemosyne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
This is what Stephen Miller has already been yapping about when he compared stealing these peoples’ kids to taking custody away from parents who get a speeding ticket. He thinks that permanently losing custody of your kids for a misdemeanor violation is a totally valid thing that we should start doing to everyone, not just refugees.
TenguPhule
@Amir Khalid:
Or on drugs. Really really strong drugs.
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: peppermint oil does the same thing…that’s what’s used in the ‘non-toxic’ eco-friendly spray…kills them, and smells great.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Some intelligent district attorney said, Holy shit, what did you assholes do? Release her right fucking now or we’ve got a publicity shitstorm on our hands!
I’m guessing that the local PD decided to get cute but, as usual, didn’t think it through.
TenguPhule
@Ladyraxterinok:
A law designed to allow police officers to touch and have sex with their victims.
zhena gogolia
@Teddys Person:
Here’s how my mind works now, I assumed it was going to be from Kim Kardashian.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
How could we tell the difference?
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
The majority of the kids will be required to be domestic servants to their “Mom” and “Dad.” I realize that’s not as sexy for you as imagining child prostitution, but that’s the case.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@Ladyraxterinok: A patriarchal one. Like when they arrest a prostitute but not the John.
The Other Chuck
@Kay:
First word in the sentence is evidence enough that he’s lying.
Teddys Person
@zhena gogolia: Oh, I forgot about her.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
I believe the only thing NK has ever sent us are the garbage from Kim’s dinners.
MagdaInBlack
@Ladyraxterinok:
I have had several friends who were dancers. It was my understanding if you touch a dancer, you usually end up in the parking lot with 2 big guys explaining why you dont do that.
Thats why this struck me as odd.
I doubt shes dancing at a low end club.
TenguPhule
@D58826:
He’s not that old!
The Other Chuck
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Dude, what do you think happens to the kids whose parents are in jail because they can’t make bail?
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: Well, great. Our national role model for how to deal with the children of “undesirables” is fucking PINOCHET?
Elizabelle
NY Times headline on today’s hearing:
They haven’t, so far, hidden it under an “Analysis” label either.
trollhattan
@A Ghost To Most:
That’s not technically Putin’s “belt.”
Mnemosyne
@MagdaInBlack:
That’s why I suspect that the story got garbled and the law is that she’s not allowed to touch them — it’s an anti-prostitution regulation.
There used to be a weird one in Wisconsin where you were not allowed to ask someone else to buy you a drink — it was considered evidence that you were a prostitute trying to solicit them as a customer.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Meghan
TenguPhule
@Joey Maloney:
The one he wants to stick his dick in is always his wife. Regardless of who she actually is.
trollhattan
@MagdaInBlack:
But, but, but…how else do I tuck the bills under the garter?
Ohio, striving to be Alabama of the North. What say you, Indiana?
Citizen Alan
@LAO:
I believe the name you’re looking for is “Masters of Evil.”
p.a.
@TenguPhule: O/T Kavanaugh sounds like disaster in waiting
Nah: just ask his equals in the press and academia: He’s a wonderful car pool buddy and always knows which fork to use.
QED.
rikyrah
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: He appears to have aged significantly once away from his nightly baths of virgin blood.
Citizen Alan
@Adam L Silverman:
He looks like a Cardassian in disguise.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: I love their love. Pure goals.
Also, I set up my citizenship GoFundMe, since I pretty much need to get this shit done.@
The Other Chuck: Obviously they go live with pixies and unicorns in the happy place until mom & dad come back with no time passing.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
The majority of those abducted children aren’t capable of doing any useful work for years yet. Their owners are going to want an immediate return on their investment.
eponymous
@Mnemosyne: I also keep getting these creepy echoes from the Pinochet days, of “helicoptered” parents, and their stolen children given away to the elect. I seriously hope the parallel is not completely accurate…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I know there was a couple of porn stars busted for soliciting in Indiana.
TenguPhule
@The Other Chuck:
They’re not immediately kidnapped and resold by the federal government.
chopper
@D58826:
whereas i have a job in patents.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: The Chinese are pulling back on a lot of their investments.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: They’re both from LA, so wouldn’t be a surprise.
TenguPhule
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Evidence of ability to understand not present.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Also Fuck you for that really uncalled for insult.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: Yeah, they usually get a receipt.
MagdaInBlack
@trollhattan:
Look her in the eyes and hand it to her nicely, like the gentleman I know you are =-)
As The Tubes said “…you cant touch the merchandise.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MagdaInBlack: Well, in the case of The Tubes, she was behind the glass.
eponymous
@p.a.: Not to mention, he is just *so* wonderful to those little girls he coaches.
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I didn’t realize the Onion had become our new reality.
MagdaInBlack
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
details, details
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
Colorado is the Dark Horse.
pluky
@Mnemosyne: So in a word, slaves.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Rinehart:
Lots. There’s still a big Christianist mythology around “rescuing little brown babies from eternal damnation.” It’s part of the missionary mindset and culture that still sends missionaries to “Christianize” people in Latin America, even though they’re Catholic or members of other Christian denominations. My husband and I encountered it a couple of times during the process of adopting our son from Korea – nice, dim, well-meaning notaries or clerks who congratulated us for the tremendous act of charity we were performing by bringing this little baby from some benighted foreign place into the light of Christendom. Never mind that (a) Korea is close to 30% Christian and (b) we actually are Jews who were planning to (and did) induct him into our secret Jewish cult of latkes and baseball caps that say “SF Giants” in Hebrew.
All that said, I think the separation policy was completely un-thought-through and that Bethany whatever just took advantage of the situation.
MisterForkbeard
@Betty Cracker: I just had a chance to watch that. Holy crap.
And Gowdy sits there with his extremely narrow head and can’t do anything about it.
TenguPhule
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
Not if they had that pilot program up and running for a year.
Sounds the exact opposite of unplanned.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
You’re about 18 months behind, apparently.
Miss Bianca
@TenguPhule: ? Erk? What did Colorado do this time?
The Lodger
@MagdaInBlack: Something tells me (male) undercover vice cops are exempt from parking lot interviews with strip club bouncers.
Elizabelle
@TenguPhule:
I am pieing you. I do not need to read this shit. Makes me sad to have to resort to the pie, because you often put up some intelligent commentary. But not today, apparently.
Buh bye.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: Not sure, but the “Dark Horse” was George Harrison.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: Added to the comment responding to Mnemo, that was rich…like pie!
Domestic short hair tabby (fka vheidi)
@?BillinGlendaleCA: great song
Elizabelle
A fresh thread for the afternoon’s Strzok hearings would be frosty.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@p.a.: I know! If I read one more article about how he won’t be that bad, I’m gonna have to cut a b*tch or two.
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I know. Someone is in a mood today.
ETA: I cannot think of anything that deligitimizes a valid concern like hyperbole and snuff film fantasies. Sad!
Teddys Person
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: Trump picked him for his views on presidents being above the law, but as more comes out, he hits all the RWNJ g-spots.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: At my worst even I’ve not crossed certain lines here. There’s a certain minimum level of respect generally understood among the jackals here. Implying pedophila crossed it for me.
Mandalay
@TenguPhule:
You really need to step away from the keyboard for a while. Go outside and get some fresh air.
maya
So, what brand and vintage of wine is the House Sommelier serving at this gala extravaganza? I had heard that the cellar was tapped out after the Hillary Hearings. Perhaps a fine cask of 1846 amontillado is in order.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: A joke, but also to note: It’s said they arrested her for an accepted part of her known act.
If so, instead of entrapping her, police arrested her for what they had a policy to ignore for 20-30 years. (I’m assuming.) If so that makes her arrest even more of an intentional threat.
Pros know and observe the boundaries of a place in each performance. Comics and singers, too. Clubs tell performers ahead of time, in their own self-interest since they’re vulnerable to charges too. The performer (and the club) control for anyone who was “enlisted” (usually by their friends or their chemicals) to transgress. Though there are pretend transgressions to heighten the act.
Either the club was surprised by the arrest or, hard to believe but maybe not impossible, someone asked the owner to bring her there for this purpose. I suppose whether the club defends her or stays silent might be an indicator.
TenguPhule
@Miss Bianca:
Nothing today, but I am confident, given some time….
Gelfling 545
@Anotherlurker: Hair spray works too. I gave my granddaughter a travel size hair spray to carry in her pocket when she left for college.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@Miss Bianca: In short, yes. I immediately thought of Pinochet the week the story came out and that’s why I dubbed them America’s Los Desaparecidos.
TenguPhule
@Mandalay:
Perhaps I will. I seem to hate everything today.
/Thank you for your courtesy
rikyrah
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
You all kill me – STILL giving them the benefit of the doubt.
THEY.HAD.A.PILOT.PROGRAM.
FOR MONTHS.
THEY.HAD.A.PILOT.PROGRAM.
and, in NO PART OF THAT PROGRAM WAS A PARENT/CHILD REUNIFICATION PLAN.
Because…
for the Bleacher Seats..
THEY.NEVER.INTENDED.TO.GIVE.BACK.THE.CHILDREN.
They ARE that PHUCKING EVIL.
stop trying to get around that.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: Since the charges were pretty quickly dismissed, it may be a moot point.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: The local news here in LA said they’ll all be reunited with their parents tonight. Yeah, I don’t believe it either.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Domestic short hair tabby (fka vheidi): It was also his record label.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@?BillinGlendaleCA: (Too late for editing) I agree with you’re point in general, clubs are usually pretty strict on what they allow and tell dancers that up front and will pull a dancer if they cross the line, especially higher end clubs. They also will either limit dancers alcohol consumption(where that’s even allowed) or really water down their drinks.
eponymous
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Well, accept for the ones they can’t/won’t reunite. Otherwise for the the ones they do reunite, it will be 100% reunification!!
I hate these people so much it’s damaging my health.
sukabi
@rikyrah: when (if) there’s a full investigation into this, the # of children stolen from their parents will be much higher than the 3000+ that has been reported. The conditions the children are held in will be much worse than has been reported. The # of children that are “lost” will be much higher than what’s being reported. They will remain “lost” because this country refuses to look at the many horrible things it does to “invisible” people.
Elizabelle
WaPost: Paul Waldman: The Peter Strzok fiasco wrecks the GOP’s bogus conspiracy theory
What Kay said, too. Deep state informed voters Hillary was under investigation. They NEVER informed re Trump being under investigation for far more serious offenses.
Fucking GOP Congress and FBI NY Field office and their mouthpieces. (Rudy, etc.)
I think these hearings are gonna blow up on Republicans.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
I donated. Also, please enjoy some sea otters bathing in ice. You’re welcome.
Shell
Thats being generous. ‘Ass-kissing toady’ more like it.
Elizabelle
Oh gawd. Jim Jordan is up.
Berating Strzok for not answering “fundamental questions.”
And now Strzok is up to respond. Jordan is interrupting him, Jordan’s time being up.
COULD SOMEONE PLEASE PUT UP A FRESH THREAD? 305 COMMENTS ON THIS ONE.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
I don’t think you realize how young they start their kids on domestic chores.
And I’m not the only one getting creeped out by your obsessive focus on the child prostitution aspect of this situation. Tone it down.
J R in WV
@ruemara:
Glad you’ve jumped into your citizenship process, best of luck!! Keep us posted on the fundraiser, I’m also glad to have a chance to help out!
Mandalay
Strzok still giving as good as he gets, if not better.
The Republicans are certainly throwing out red meat to their base, but to any impartial or uninformed person they are coming across as mega assholes. Preening, shouting, emoting and constantly interrupting Strzok as soon as he attempts to answer questions. If Strzok has a damning response they cut him off.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
And just to be clear, I’m not calling you a pedophile. I am saying that the domestic slavery these kids are going to be subjected to by “Christian” families who expect 100 percent obedience and 100 percent gratitude at all times at the risk of physical abuse is going to be horrific in itself. Focusing solely on the worst case scenario of sexual trafficking minimizes what most of these kids are actually going to be facing.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Adam L Silverman: I want to go to there.
Aleta
eta I am way behind others on the blog ;
I do wonder why she was charged w misdemeanor non-sexual touching when the undercover cops said she touched *them* sexually. Is the law one-sided or did they lie or what?
Barbara
@Rinehart:
Read this article. Haiti Earthquake Adoptions.
It makes me too angry to try to explain the cynical adoption of foreign born dark children by U.S. evangelicals.
Here is an even better one: http://archive.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2010/02/01/orphan_rescue_attempt_hits_nerve_among_haitians/
Elizabelle
@Mandalay: That’s what I see too. And they’re not treating their own Democratic colleagues with any respect. Or, apparently, committee rules either.
It’s a kangaroo court, with bullying, really stupid kangaroos strutting their stuff.
ETA: And hearing these jackasses wail on “bias!” is surreal.
p.a.
re: brown skinned adoptees, I’ll see what Slacktivist has to say. He’s excellent at translating xtianist cultural perversions.
MomSense
The Republicans really just want to discredit the special counsel investigation. Their only focus is the supposed bias of the prosecutors. They do not want to properly investigate Russian meddling in our election and they seem pretty fucking desperate to me. Wonder how many of them are caught up in this themselves?
Gelfling 545
@Gravenstone: Local news says charges have been dropped.
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
You can also check out Libby Anne at LoveJoyFeminism (which is also a Patheos blog). She was raised by Quiverfull parents and has a lot of insight into that specific culture.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: I think most are caught up.
Can you imagine the non-House Judiciary Committee GOP members watching this? If they’re not insane, they are likely as aghast as we are.
And Charlie Dent and John Boehner are doubiy glad they got out while the getting was good.
I’d like to see this destroy the GOP. It’s scary dangerous.
The Midnight Lurker
@Adam L Silverman: Catch me, Adam… I’m fainting with shock & disbelief. Great thread BTW.
Elizabelle
Why does C-Span have this labeled as “Clinton Email Investigation?”
Timurid
@Elizabelle:
Has anyone asked Jordan if he likes gladiator movies?
Zinsky
Donald Trump is traitorous human garbage. Trey Gowdy is a tiny-dicked, in-bred Southern turd burglar who needs to have the living shit beaten out of him.
rikyrah
I have tried to stay out of you all jumping on TenguPhule’s opinion on the child trafficking.
But, why do you all insist that THAT is so far out of the realm of possibility.
This is the country that sold Black babies without a second thought.
And, in 2018, we have evangelical, so-called Christians, justifying ripping away children from their mother without a second hesitation.
It’s ugly – the child trafficking part.
But, no, I don’t trust those ‘Christians’ going over to non-White parts of the world, scooping up those foreign kids. I simply don’t trust them. I don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.
You STEAL people’s children.
You have NO intention of giving them back.
and, somehow, Tengu is out of order, because of the dark, but logical conclusion, that those children can wind up trafficked?
It’s a dark place to go, no doubt, but you gonna tell me, you saw the pictures of those girls – BY THE WAY, WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?, and your mind didn’t GO THERE?
You’re better than me, because my mind went EXACTLY THERE.
Elizabelle
Hank Johnson says it right out loud. The Republicans are going after Strzok to discredit the Mueller investigation. Said it right out loud.
Asparagus Gohmert up right now.
Geez. It’s been Jim Jordan, Steve King, and now Gohmert up in short succession.
Murderer’sImbeciies’ Row.Elizabelle
@rikyrah: I guess some of us are just shits, rikyrah. Or imbecile naifs.
I will agree, everything we hear, after time, turns out to be worse than I had imagined. But no, it was not the first thought at all.
Elizabelle
Fresh thread is finally up.
Kayla Rudbek
@p.a.: Christopher Stroop is another good explainer of Evangelicals. He’s on Twitter and he has a blog as well.
VFX Lurker
@rikyrah: You, I trust.
TenguPhule is not you.
I added TenguPhule to my pie filter at home months ago, because they emit more heat than light.
I regret that the mobile site’s pie filter is inaccessible/inactive at this time. They haven’t changed since I last pied them.
tobie
@Elizabelle: It’s statements like this that remind me of the importance of having experienced politicians on the Democratic side.
James E Powell
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Michael Conrad as Sgt. Phil Esterhaus. One of the greatest actor/character matches in TV history.
“Let’s be careful out there” is how I dismiss my classes on Fridays.
A Ghost To Most
@Mandalay: Sounds like the GOP shit all over itself today. So there’s that.
I spent the day more productively, and now have 200W of sweet solar power charging my secondary battery system in the truck.
Gelfling 545
@TenguPhule: I was trying to figure out what the whole unicorn thing was supposed to mean. I guess my imagination isn’t up to it. Just as well, probably.
sukabi
@Elizabelle: maybe to get some of the “true believers” to watch it? Maybe because who is in charge of labeling is an assholes?
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Oh, I’m not giving them a shadow of a doubt. These kinds of evangelicals have been known to physically abuse their adopted children TO DEATH.
Only read that link if you have a strong stomach. I’m trying to point out to TP that sexual abuse is NOT the worst thing that can happen to these kids. There is a good chance that they will be MURDERED and all of the evangelicals will make excuses for the “parents” who murder the kids.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: I wonder if there should be child advocates investigating that type of adoptive “parent” and showing up at adoption hearings. Aren’t adoption hearings open?
batguano
@Mnemosyne: i so needed otters right now. Thank you
CliosFanboy
@James E Powell: I am so stealing that!!!
CliosFanboy
@rikyrah: let’s wait until there is evidence before going there. but yeah, it’s NOT beyond the realm of possibility…..
CliosFanboy
@batguano: so they were significant otters???
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: Even if they didn’t “plan” trafficking, I don’t think they’d be much bothered if it occurred. They just DON’T CARE what happens to these kids.
jacy
@Mnemosyne:
I can attest that Christianists don’t have any problem adopting little brown kids. It’s a merit badge, like being “pro-life.” I’m in the deep South, and the evil ex’s crazy Dominionist girlfriend adopted both a Romani boy from Russia and a little girl from Guatemala. She dresses them up and trots them out, and then hands them over to the series of nannies while she expounds on what a good person she is for adopting the unwanted. The kids have serious problems, and have already been expelled from a couple of schools, for something bad enough that a million dollar donation couldn’t smooth it over.
TriassicSands
Just came in — I’ve been watching and listening to the Strozok hearing. Donald Trump has killed my ability to be surprised, shocked, or amazed at Republican incompetence and dishonesty. But listening to Republicans like Gowdy, Gommert, and Goodlatte I’m being pushed to the limit.
I hope at some point one of the Democrats will ask Strzok the most important question of all: “Who is the biggest asshole who has questioned you today?”
I doubt Strzok could answer that question. The competition is just too stiff.
The only question the Republicans need to ask:
1. Mr. Strzok, is there any way you can help us undermine the Mueller investigation. Please take all the time you need. Make stuff up if it helps.
Elizabelle
@Gelfling 545: What strikes me is what can happen through just plain incompetence, which the Trump admin has demonstrated throughout. It is quite believable you have some actual crimes against persons, human rights violations, going on on purpose too.
Child stealing, on purpose, should result in prison sentences. Child stealing by incompetence should also be heavily punished. I don’t see how the administration skates on this. Although GOP will try to run interference.
People will be able to understand this. I have to have faith in that. (For now, she adds, sadly.)
Shana
@LAO: Most of Charlie’s nicknames get stolen, as they are pretty terrific nicknames.
A Ghost To Most
Props to Rep. Gutierrez for laying it right out there.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@ruemara: A FB friend of mine has a Reparations Friday post she does encouraging donations to Black women. I will make sure to post a link to your GoFundMe tomorrow :)
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
I think it depends on the state. Some states (mostly red ones, surprise surprise) have almost no oversight over adoption.
To be clear, I am NOT an expert on adoption issues. I just remembered that horrifying post from Libby Anne.
Gravenstone
@Humdog: I recall a fellow senior in my dorm who was to be married shortly after graduation. His bachelor party involved a ‘rhythmic clothing removal specialist’ who likewise used her breasts as weapons of mass facial abuse. The poor guy had a hell of a time explaining his subsequently broken glasses to the fiance.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
IMO, they are trying to shield deliberate crimes by claiming they’re just incompetent. The one thing they learned from the Nazis is that good documentation will be used against you in court, so they avoid documentation so they can claim ignorance.
The Moar You Know
@jacy: It sure is. My crazy Dominionist Deep South relatives have yours beat. Four kids, all profoundly disabled, pulled in from China and Latin America. They get them on government services, load ’em up on anything that brings in taxpayer dollars, and then vote Republican. They’ll just send them back if the benefits get cut. And they brag unendingly to anyone in earshot about what great, loving Christian people they are. At least they’re not working the kids to death, they’re too disabled to be able to work at all.
I have always wondered what their sole biological kid thinks of all this. She’s completely fucked; they use her as a live-in nanny and will do so until she finally flees.
Gravenstone
@Kay: The fact that this was the first time in the 11 years since the law has been on the books that it was applied is rather telling.
moops
@eponymous:
we are so stealing that.
MisterForkbeard
@Elizabelle: The thing is, it’s not like it’s actually HARD to rebut the general Republican conspiracy theory about the FBI, Strzok, and Mueller. It’s just that the media is so obsessed with pretending Republicans are acting in good faith that they don’t make that obvious, easy and fact-based challenge.
It’s a good sign that they’re noticing that the guy actually called to the stand did so easily and forcefully. The entire conspiracy angle is ridiculous.
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
There is a recent story about nasty Unicorns. Serious Warning: it cannot be unread:
Equoid
Trump is not as clever as that unicorn, though. And no rainbows.
Mild spoiler/teaser:
A Ghost To Most
@moops: Common name: Alt Human.
If this shit show has been this bad all day, you folks must be ready to run up the black flag and …
Radiumgirl
@Adam L Silverman: Not looking quite so smug in this one, is he?
A Ghost To Most
Gowdy confirms my already low opinion of South Carolinians. Fucking traitor.
jimmiraybob
Wow. Gohmert really is the angry drunk uncle at the bar. They really need to do sobriety tests before these guys speak in public.
D58826
@A Ghost To Most: Is it possible to have a negative IQ? If it is then Gowdy is the proof case.
TriassicSands
I’m suddenly in love with Congresswoman Watson Coleman. To Pinhead Gowdy: “This isn’t Benghazi!”
Up Next: Donald Trump returns Alaska to Russia. Gets exclusive hotel deal in return.
D58826
The only thing missing over Gowdy’s chair is the noose for the lynch mob
Captain C
Gowdy looks like a grown-up Draco Malfoy at the tail end of a meth bender.
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@rikyrah: I agree my thoughts went there immediately. However, reading Tengu’s comment triggered me and actually made my gorge rise. IDK why my own thought did not make me sick but his/her comment did. Maybe because I assume Tengu is male? IHDK
Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ
@The Moar You Know: I’ve seen several Mormon families do this here in AZ with foster kids. It blows my mind that they who hate government so much are so dependent upon it to “christianize” the poor children.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
It was a common practice in the Deep South to buy female slaves of any age for use as breeding stock, and somehow subsequent generations of slaves were not as dark as those imported from Africa.
How did this happen in a Blessed, White Christian land like the Deep South Bible Belt??
My mind went there too, weeks ago, and the wife! Where are the GIRLS???? We don’t see any pictures or video of tiny female prisoners — WHY NOT?
We see video of little girls being ripped from their mother’s arms, then NOTHING? What’s with THAT?
Deep South Horror Story, part LXXVI in my book. Whether it’s theocratic evangelists in Michigan or in South Carolina, it is a Deep South Horror Story!!
NotoriousJRT
@Adam L Silverman:
Calling SNL & Melissa McCarthy
Mnemosyne
@Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ:
@J R in WV:
My worry is that some people are focusing solely on sex trafficking, but that will happen to a minority of these kids. Physical, psychological, and religious abuse is far, far more likely for the majority of them, and those abuses frequently lead to death at the hands of their foster “parents.”
I think that actual death is worse than the proverbial “fate worse than death.” YMMV.
sukabi
@J R in WV: that’s where my mom’s thoughts went as well…which surprised me a little, since she’s been a bit of the “head in the sand” type. One thing is for certain, she absolutely detests trump and the repubs that are enabling him, as do quite a few of the folks where she lives…we’re talking 80 and older white folks.
J R in WV
@Mnemosyne:
I have to agree that psychological/religious abuse will be both worse and more common with all the fostered/adopted children who have been kidnapped by our (ytch) government. Much more difficult to prosecute, as well.
I hardly know what to even hope is done about this whole situation. Obviously many people deserve to be prosecuted and jailed for their part in taking children from their lawful parents or guardians.
Just as obviously, nothing will be done by the current administration, which is responsible for the vast majority of the abuse ICE agents are committing. Which sucks.
Lauryn Poynor
@feebog:
The Gowdy-an knot, untied.