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You are here: Home / Politics / Goddamned Traitors / “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”

“Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”

by Betty Cracker|  August 1, 20181:27 pm| 241 Comments

This post is in: Goddamned Traitors, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Russiagate, Trump-Russia, Assholes, General Stupidity

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I am not a lawyer, but this sounds pretty obstruction of justice-y to me:

..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018

And then there’s this tweet, one of a flurry the angry retiree sent out this morning while loafing in front of Fox News:

Russian Collusion with the Trump Campaign, one of the most successful in history, is a TOTAL HOAX. The Democrats paid for the phony and discredited Dossier which was, along with Comey, McCabe, Strzok and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page, used to begin the Witch Hunt. Disgraceful!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018

Until I got to the “TOTAL HOAX” part, I thought Trump was giving Putin his due: “Russian Collusion with the Trump Campaign” definitely is “one of the most successful in history,” if we’re talking about intelligence operations designed to undermine a foe. Russia succeeded beyond its wildest dreams. But Trump didn’t mean it that way, of course. He’s just incapable of identifying the subject of a complex sentence, one of his countless deficiencies, and thus this is a gaffe in the purest sense: a liar accidentally telling the truth.

Also, it’s weird that a degenerate who’s notorious for shagging multiple women while married to someone else (and then paying them off) plays the “lover” card so often in a flagrantly hypocritical attempt to shame other people who had an extramarital affair (and didn’t have to fork over hundreds of thousands in hush money). It’s a minor thing, but it’s creepy.

This is just a small sample of the shitgibbon’s Twitter output from the Golden Throne-Fox News Media Center of the White House before he deigned to start “work” just before noon today. He was probably tuckered out from leading that bizarre hate-fest in Tampa last night, which attracted deranged conspiracy theorists and garden-variety cultists from all over the state. I know I live among these whack-jobs, but it’s disturbing to see them on my TV in familiar environs.

Some days, I am tempted to tune it all out. It’s just too goddamned much. But the stakes are too high and the outcome too uncertain. So, 96 days to go. I’ll keep plugging away as best I can. You all hang in there too.

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

241Comments

  1. 1.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 1, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    Waiting for a break in the rain so I can run out to the grocery store. Hope I remember to take my I.D. with me this time!

  2. 2.

    Roger Moore

    August 1, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    I am not a lawyer, but this sounds pretty obstruction of justice-y to me

    Yeah, sounds like obstruction of justice to me, too. But the RW assholes are going to argue that the President can’t obstruct justice through his official actions as President. It’s a BS argument, but I’m sure Kavanaugh will support it.

  3. 3.

    Yarrow

    August 1, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    You left out the “smocking gun” and “Alfonse Capone” tweets. He’s terrified because he knows he’s trapped. Tick tock, motherfucker.

  4. 4.

    MattF

    August 1, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    IMO, Trump has crossed the WTF line. This is when you see the written-down version of his ravings and say ‘WTF?’. He’s not actually making any sense.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    August 1, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    @Yarrow: Man, I hope so. Some days, it feels like this shit-show will never end.

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    Rigged Witch Hunt is henceforth the name of my ska band.

    He needs a couple new adjectives to raise that conspiracy pie higher. Hillary Bongwater Rigged Witch Hunt*?

    *Now, with nacho cheese sauce

  7. 7.

    chopper

    August 1, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    this fucking guy.

  8. 8.

    MattF

    August 1, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @trollhattan: You forgot pedophilia.

  9. 9.

    LAO

    August 1, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    This is a good explainer of a basic federal obstruction charge — (18 USC Sec. 1503)

    Elements of an Obstruction of Justice Charge

    The elements required for a conviction on an obstruction of justice charge differ slightly by code section. For instance, prosecutors must prove the following elements for a conviction under section 1503 of the federal statute (influencing or injuring an officer or juror):

    There was a pending federal judicial proceeding;
    The defendant knew of the proceeding; and
    The defendant had corrupt intent to interfere with or attempted to interfere with the proceeding.
    But regardless of the specific section of federal law (1501 through 1521) cited in a particular case, the prosecution need not prove any actual obstruction — the defendant’s attempt to obstruct is enough. The element of intent, which is central to such cases, is also usually the most difficult to prove; although memos, phone calls, and recorded conversations may be used as evidence to establish this.

    source: https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/obstruction-of-justice.html

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    @MattF:
    True, but awfully tricky to spell (especially the Brit version). But, what’s really going on in that imaginary pizza parlor basement, hmmmm?

  11. 11.

    lollipopguild

    August 1, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    He is the “gift” that keeps on giving!

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    It’s surreal to be listening to Tom’s Facebook broadcast; such intelligent conversation, and then realize that dotard dolt is in the Oval Office.

    One bit of good news: NPR reported Trump seems to have chosen a legitimate science advisor. That was a pleasure to hear. I was afraid he’d put in some climate denying hack.

    Tom’s sci fi panel spends a lot of time discussing Frankenstein. Hope you can listen to the podcast later.

    ETA: I’ve never read Mary Shelley’s novel. Will have to do so. Had no idea there was a monster’s view part of the novel.

  13. 13.

    LAO

    August 1, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    Sarah S:

    Sarah Sanders on President Trump saying Jeff Sessions should end Mueller probe: "It's not not an order it's an opinion…He wants to see it come to an end."— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 1, 2018

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    Will nobody rid us of the Republican Traitors in all three branches?

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @MattF:

    He’s not actually making any sense.

    When has he ever made any sense?

  16. 16.

    Felony Govt

    August 1, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    He’s beginning to sound really desperate.

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    NPR reported Trump seems to have chosen a legitimate science advisor. That was a pleasure to hear.

    Sorry no. We thought that about FEMA. Congress made it supposedly impossible to fuck that appointment up.

    He managed to do so anyway.

  18. 18.

    MattF

    August 1, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @Elizabelle: One does wonder how the Monster can be a narrator in an epistolatory novel. A miracle of 19th century postal delivery, I guess.

  19. 19.

    The Dangerman

    August 1, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @Felony Govt:

    He’s beginning to sound really desperate.

    Time for Dr, Feelgood to up the dosage.

    ETA: Maybe someone’s about to be grabbed by the posse.

  20. 20.

    FlyingToaster

    August 1, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: ‽

    My ID is in my wallet (along with the credit cards), but the only people who ask me for it are when I’m doing “buy online, pickup in store”. And they skip that if I can show them the “Come Fetch” e-mail on my phone. It’s so they give the right shopper the right box.

    Egads! Our President* is a fucking moron. I don’t need to show my id at the precinct, because our precincts are (still) small enough that they recognize me & WarriorGirl when I check in to vote. Stop & Shop has no fucking interest in my ID, since my loyalty card (pictureless) tells them who I am and that I’m buying the same fucking gallons of milk and orange juice as last week.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @TenguPhule: Do you know that the science advisor is a bad choice? Do you know that? I’m not surfing for info now, because I’m already listening to that podcast and typing to you and have a solitaire game on in the background …

    What are talking about WRT FEMA? Michael Brown? Or the HR guy who was harassing women and promoting unqualified favorites?

    What are you talking about?

  22. 22.

    MattF

    August 1, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    @TenguPhule: Well, there’s a point in the progression of the RWNJ narrative where only an insider can decode the message. I’m saying that Trump is past that point.

  23. 23.

    JPL

    August 1, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @LAO: Clean up in aisle 3.

  24. 24.

    hitchhiker

    August 1, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    I didn’t think it was possible (because we’ve been assaulted with so much ugliness out of his mouth for so long), but he actually made me cringe with “his lover the lovely Lisa Page” … so personal, so cruel, so fucking nauseating.

    We really are stuck with one of the worst people in America as our president, and it’s still just unbelievable.

  25. 25.

    Yutsano

    August 1, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @LAO: @JPL: How long until the tweet undercutting Possum Queen?

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @trollhattan: win, Win, and WIN on that

    Although “Rigged Witch Hunt” does sound a little more ‘indie’ than ‘ska’…ymmv…

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    What are talking about WRT FEMA? Michael Brown? Or the HR guy who was harassing women and promoting unqualified favorites?

    William Brock Long.

    He was appointed after Congress passed the “People like Michael Brown don’t get to work here anymore”* requirement. He was in charge when Puerto Rico happened.

    *Paraphrased. They required that the head of FEMA actually be a professional.

    Do you know that the science advisor is a bad choice? Do you know that?

    I don’t know for sure. But since Trump is batting a solid 1.00 when it comes to picking awful people, I feel safe that he’s not going to be breaking that streak any time soon.

    And then there’s this.

    Drogemeier has supported the Trump administration in the recent past. In September 2017, Drogemeier came to the defense of Representative Jim Bridenstine from Oklahoma, who was nominated to run NASA. He was eventually passed up due to previous statements on climate change to the House, where he said, “Mr. Speaker, global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago. Global temperature changes, when they exist, correlate with sun output and ocean cycles.”

    Drogemeier defended Bridenstine, who he worked with crafting a weather-research bill, saying “He probably regrets the way he said it… He’d probably say it differently today.” The statement shows a willingness to align with the Trump administration, while also illustrating a belief in publicly supporting the idea that the climate is changing.

    Sticking his neck out to support the Trump has not been a good sign.

  28. 28.

    arrieve

    August 1, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Actually it’s all of them Betty.

    Man, I hope so. Some days, it feels like this shit-show will never end.

  29. 29.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    Of course, it’s obstruction! His whole Goddamn administration and most of the GOP is guilty of obstruction! READ the transcripts released by ‘sneaky’ Dianne Feinstein. There isn’t a Republican alive that wants Mueller to sort this out.
    Trump is just firing up his base, that’s all that can save him now. AND HE IS SUCCEEDING, my friends!

  30. 30.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    Mueller is investigating whether @realDonaldTrump’s used Twitter to intimidate or pressure Jeff Sessions: https://t.co/pUTT83EciI

    Today, @realDonaldTrump uses Twitter to pressure Sessions to end the Russia investigation: https://t.co/K6DwIlfvZT

    — Michael D. Shear (@shearm) August 1, 2018

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    As I mentioned in the last thread, I think it’s very telling that Trumpov chose Al’s full name “Alfonse” (showing, imho, veneration towards a murdering thug) and that Capone’s example (going to prison for tax evasion instead of his many other crimes) is very much on Trumpov’s mind. VERY telling.

    Keep tweeting, asshole.

  32. 32.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    @germy: the things this guy blurts out/tweets in public across August are going to be something all right…flat-out “Tell-Tale Heart” kind of shit.

    Once he breaks, I can see him cutting his own deal to avoid post-impeachment/post-term RICO charges and the loss of every last penny. The things he says about his own underlings and his base are going to be hysterical.

  33. 33.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    The crowd at the Tampa rally was pretty ugly. How long before one of them takes drump’s tweets literally and starts shooting?

  34. 34.

    FlyingToaster

    August 1, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Succeeding in firing up the 27%, sure.

    But the Koch Brothers aren’t supporting him anymore. So please define what “success” means, when the demonic elf in the AG’s office is a professional politician and CAN count.

  35. 35.

    kindness

    August 1, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    I don’t tweet myself. I don’t have the time. But I do tend to look at other’s tweets and pull up the comment tweets in the thread like we have here. One thing I’ve noticed lately, outside of a couple Russian trolls there isn’t anyone proclaiming Trump’s innocence in his tweet threads any longer. Makes me think that even their side is done with the Liar In Chief. God that would be nice. If only we could get Congressional Republicans to see the error of their ways too.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    @Jeffro: That anecdote about Trump having a volume of Hitler’s speeches in his possession in the 1990s is not so funny any more.

  37. 37.

    Shell

    August 1, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    Can someone un-recuse themselves without looking shady? Oh wait, look who Im talking about.

  38. 38.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    @Elizabelle:
    Read last week that Pruitt’s successor has reversed Pruitt’s reversal of a ban on sale of “glider” trucks–new tractors with old, dirty engines. If true, a baby step in favor of humanity.

  39. 39.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 1, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    He was probably tuckered out from leading that bizarre hate-fest in Tampa last night, which attracted deranged conspiracy theorists and garden-variety cultists from all over the state. I know I live among these whack-jobs, but it’s disturbing to see them on my TV in familiar environs.

    I was just reading that Washington Post article on “Q” and now Is Cheryl or Adam going to have to do an article of the conspiracy theorist and Trump just so we can keep tract of what clown just hoped out of the clown car? I though I was pretty up on the Para-Belivable but looks like Trump uncovered all kinds of new crazy.

  40. 40.

    MD Rackham

    August 1, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of “the lovely Lisa Page.”

    As a wild guess, does she bear some resemblance to Ivanka?

  41. 41.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    I am not a lawyer, but this sounds pretty obstruction of justice-y to me:

    Don’t have to be a lawyer. Just have common sense.

  42. 42.

    ChowderHead

    August 1, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    It’s a minor thing, but it’s creepy.

    Please stop reminding us about The Red Peckerwood’s pecker deficiency!!! Yuck!

  43. 43.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    @FlyingToaster: The Koch’s were never relevant to Trump’s agenda. Their money and influence is relevant only to the GOP establishment. Trump just took a parting shot at them as ‘turncoats’, because he can.
    What’s wrong with saying a third of the country supports this guy. Rounding up too much? If you underestimate what these people are capable of, you do so at your own peril. And mine.

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    @Jeffro:
    You could be right, but I can’t have an indy band because my man-bun experiment resulted in injury and ridicule.

  45. 45.

    Yutsano

    August 1, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @Shell: His recusal was because of Department of Justice policy. He would have a bear of a time getting around that now.

    EDIT: not that you’re wrong in the slightest and the KKKeber Elf wouldn’t just rescind his recusal and get to killing the investigation. But it would bring a whole host of problems with that decision. And Dolt45 would just sell him out afterwards.

  46. 46.

    Mike in DC

    August 1, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    Possible future conspiracy indictees:
    Roger Stone
    Julian Assange
    Erik Prince
    The Mercers
    Everyone associated with Cambridge Analytica
    Brad Parscale
    Jeff Sessions
    Mike Pence(post facto)
    Jared Kushner
    DJTJ
    Eric Trump
    Ivanka
    Dana Rohrbacher
    Brian Mast
    The National Rifle Association
    The Republican National Committee
    The RCCC
    The RSCC
    Various Republican congressional figures
    People working in right wing media
    People working in campaign finance
    People working on K street

  47. 47.

    Shell

    August 1, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    there isn’t anyone proclaiming Trump’s innocence in his tweet threads

    Yup, its been downgraded now to “well, okay, but its not a crime…”

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    Trump obstructs justice in real time on Twitter

    I was completely working on something else for today’s post—I’ll still finish it—but I decided to sleep in late and was greeted with this tweet by Donnie Brasco.

    …………………………………

    Now, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow came out later and said this was just Trump’s “personal opinion,” and in no way indicated that he wished to obstruct the Mueller investigation. Yes. And I’m 6’9″ and play point guard for the Lakers.

    Bob Mueller is investigating if Trump’s tweets show a pattern of intimidation and obstruction. That was going to be tough sell… until Trump helpfully sent out a tweet intimidating Jeff Sessions and obstructing. A man with no impulse control, who’s never had to work a day in his life, is the worst kind of person around which to build a fascist takeover. He literally blurts out what Mueller needs to put another nail in his coffin. We should be grateful that Vladimir Putin used such a leaky vessel to attempt to subvert America.

    Even Saint Susan of the Perpetual Concerns was concerned.

    That moment when Susan Collins hears Trump’s Tweet on Sessions: “Jeez!” she gasped as she was read the tweet. “This is unbelievable.”
    via @StevenTDennis

    — Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) August 1, 2018

    She, of course, will rationalize it away. But that moment of unguarded reaction is telling.

  49. 49.

    James E Powell

    August 1, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I’ve never read Mary Shelley’s novel. Will have to do so. Had no idea there was a monster’s view part of the novel.

    When I finally read the novel, I was shocked that it bore almost no relation to the films I’d seen. Spoiler alert: there’s also no bride.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @Mike in DC:

    What a beautiful list :)

  51. 51.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    LOL

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @kindness:

    I think him being denied the ability to block people has changed his twitter thread. Folks coming with the slams and the truth at him are overwhelming the bots.

  53. 53.

    M. Bouffant

    August 1, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @MD Rackham: Nope. When he uses a phrase like “the lovely ____” he’s just exposing his tee vee-host cliched idiocy & lack of actual thought. Surprised he didn’t say “the lovely & talented”.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @Mike in DC:
    Hellofa Christmas list. Please Santa, I’ve been gooood!

    Kan I also haz a Devin Nunes? Please?

  55. 55.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Tick tock, motherfucker.

    never gets old.

    Thanks for the daily affirmation.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    August 1, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    @lollipopguild:

    He is the “gift” that keeps on giving!

    By the way “Gift” is the German word for “poison.” Seems appropriate that it applies to Shitgibbon.

  57. 57.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @trollhattan: I thought “Rugged Witch Hunt”. Visions of Rambo Mueller and a team of ninja witches with big 80’s ratted hair(ick, but what can you do with a vision?) and big toothy snarls. Of course the teeth are perfect and blazing white. Help!

  58. 58.

    AnotherBruce

    August 1, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @Elizabelle: It’s a great novel, but yes, I can see why you would be shocked. The “Monster” was intelligent and emotional in the book. The movies captured some, but not all of the pathos of the book.

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @rikyrah: Almost works as alternate lyrics to “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, hmm?

    “Weee Didn’t Want The Liar”

    “Weee Just Want Him Fired”

    I’ll work on it. Dammit Donnie, I go to a lot of trouble to not (ever) think of Billy Joel songs…

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @James E Powell: The panel was talking about the psychological implications of the novel, and about technology run amok and who will accept responsibility (or not).

    Are there torch-bearing villagers in the novel?

  61. 61.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    Trump is just firing up his base, that’s all that can save him now. AND HE IS SUCCEEDING, my friends!

    You know this how?

  62. 62.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    @trollhattan:

    I can’t have an indy band because my man-bun experiment resulted in injury and ridicule.

    And well it should.

    The ridicule part, not the injury…

  63. 63.

    LAO

    August 1, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    @Yutsano: Sessions certainly won’t resign, and he won’t do anything to imperil his newly created “christian god squad,” so it will be interesting to see if he attempts to placate Trump. And by interesting, I mean totally depressing.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 1, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @FlyingToaster:

    But the Koch Brothers aren’t supporting him anymore.

    Well, he was heard saying, on that Cohen tape that was released the other day: “Get me a Koch, please.”

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @Dan B:
    Ooh, me likie. “Together for the first time–they’re taking names and kicking butts and they’re all out of gum–Robert Mueller and The Rock star in ‘Rugged Witch Hunt’!” [working title: “Shut the Fuck Up, Donny”]

  66. 66.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @LAO:

    he won’t do anything to imperil his newly created “christian god squad,”

    Well, someone’s got to stop all those nuns from being forced to buy contraceptives.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 2:17 pm

    I’m sure other people have already said this, but …

    Some days, I am tempted to tune it all out. It’s just too goddamned much.

    It’s okay to tune it out for a few days or a week so you can catch your breath, get some rest, and come back refreshed. It’s a marathon, and you don’t want to burn out three weeks before the election.

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    This is the 200th anniversary of the original publication of “Frankenstein,” so it’s getting a lot of coverage.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Welp, you get all the internets today. Bask now, in the glory.

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    @Yarrow: Man, I hope so. Some days, it feels like this shit-show will never end.

    I understand, BC. But, something has changed.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 1, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    @AnotherBruce:

    The panel went into a good discussion about the way the monster and Dr. F. had essentially changed roles by the end of the book, with Victor growing ever more monstrous and the monster becoming more and more human.

    The whole program was fascinating.

  72. 72.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    What’s wrong with saying a third of the country supports this guy. Rounding up too much? If you underestimate what these people are capable of, you do so at your own peril. And mine.

    There’s nothing wrong with saying that 1/3 support the guy because it is true. And I’m not saying none of them are capable of causing deadly trouble. It’s just that it won’t be enough. There’s not enough of them that will do anything serious. The authorities will come down hard on the ones that do.

    The fact remains that Trump is incredibly unpopular and has remained unpopular throughout his entire presidency. These people, provided all of those that oppose Trump put in the work, will ultimately be defeated.

  73. 73.

    Fair Economist

    August 1, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @germy: We already had a Trumpie commit mass murder in a newspaper in Maryland.

  74. 74.

    Yarrow

    August 1, 2018 at 2:21 pm

    @Betty Cracker: It’s terrible and it’s going to get worse before we’re done. But Trump has nowhere to go. You can see how he’s flailing with his tweets. Al Capone? As the good guy in the comparison? Really? He’s trapped and just tossing stuff out there in desperation hoping something is going to stick. It’s not going to work.

    And this whole thing is so much worse and so much bigger than just Trump. Rikyrah linked this article in a previous thread and Foer is on the right track here.

    This Is So Much Bigger Than Paul Manafort
    With Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman on trial, America is reckoning with its very serious kleptocracy problem.

  75. 75.

    MattF

    August 1, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    Somewhat OT. Have you wondered what QAnon is? Here’s an explainer. It’s an example of crossing the WTF line.

  76. 76.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    Another snapshot from Trump’s Tampa rally, I tried to take a picture with a father and his daughter while people yelled “CNN sucks” in my face. I am sorry that this little girl had to see that. pic.twitter.com/DIHPpCdbb6
    — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018

  77. 77.

    Gelfling 545

    August 1, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    @Elizabelle: I’d be more concerned if I thought he’d actually read it. I suspect it’s isn’t equipped with a lot of bullet points and probably has a lot of, you know, words and sentences and stuff.

  78. 78.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    We already had a Trumpie commit mass murder in a newspaper in Maryland.

    You’re right, it’s begun.

  79. 79.

    EBT

    August 1, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @MattF: For people who are not internet savvy, 8chan is also known by the name infinitychan (because of the shape of a mobius, and that it has no content rules) or pedochan (because it has no content rules).

  80. 80.

    LAO

    August 1, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    From the Post’s live coverage of the Manafort trial:

    Manafort spent nearly $104,000 in 2010, and more than $444,000 in 2013. Added up, the figures show Manafort spent more than $929,000 on luxury menswear during the five-year period, paid for from foreign bank accounts.

    According to the witness, the menswear was paid for via wire transfers from foreign accounts.

  81. 81.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @LAO: All that money spent on such worthless garbage.

    Shit people buy shit with their wealth. They have no idea what else to do with it.

  82. 82.

    zhena gogolia

    August 1, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I just finished reading a good article on it by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker. I read it many years ago and was bored silly.

  83. 83.

    eric

    August 1, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    What changed” Two Words: Murray Waas. That was the game changer.

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @MattF: Yeesh. Who knew there was THAT much tinfoil in the world?

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @eric: his “imminent obstruction charges” article?

  86. 86.

    Barbara

    August 1, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @AnotherBruce: I began reading it to my son after I read an interesting article in the New Yorker about how reactions to the novel have varied over time. We tend to see it as a scientific parable about not trying to play God, whereas, when Shelley was writing the book she was probably more interested in the power of society to shape experience and make people better — better educated, more socially conscious and so on. Frankenstein Article

    We made it around 50 pages in before he had to go to camp but we will resume when he returns.

    Here is a quote from the article:

    If “Frankenstein” is a referendum on the French Revolution, as some critics have read it, Victor Frankenstein’s politics align nicely with those of Edmund Burke, who described violent revolution as “a species of political monster, which has always ended by devouring those who have produced it.” The creature’s own politics, though, align not with Burke’s but with those of two of Burke’s keenest adversaries, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. Victor Frankenstein has made use of other men’s bodies, like a lord over the peasantry or a king over his subjects, in just the way that Godwin denounced when he described feudalism as a “ferocious monster.” (“How dare you sport thus with life?” the creature asks his maker.) The creature, born innocent, has been treated so terribly that he has become a villain, in just the way that Wollstonecraft predicted. “People are rendered ferocious by misery,” she wrote, “and misanthropy is ever the offspring of discontent.” (“Make me happy,” the creature begs Frankenstein, to no avail.)

  87. 87.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: His support among his base is hovering around 90%. Now that’s a fuckin’ number that has to make St. Ronnie blush, and should make you just marginally more concerned. Have you been watching the videos of his rallies? Not the ‘edited for laughs’ versions you see on Cobert, Meyers, and Noah, but the raw footage? Take a look, get back to me.
    We all keep sitting on our thumbs, waiting for Mueller, waiting for a ‘blue wave’, waiting for unicorns to shoot out of our ass and solve all our problems. Meanwhile, Trump keeps stoking the furnace of hate.
    I have a good friend. We have know each other since Cub Scouts. He’s is a good man whose brain has been completely corrupted by the right wing noise machine. I’ve known this man my whole life. I trust him.
    We had a intimate conversation about all this recently. We both agreed, this could easily end with us shooting bullets at each other.

  88. 88.

    Yarrow

    August 1, 2018 at 2:31 pm

    @germy: I understand where Acosta is coming from but a large part of me says, “Why did you agree to go in the press pen during the 2016? Why did your network cover Turmp’s speeches ad nauseum and show the empty podium for hours? You’re part of the problem.”

    The press corps went along and didn’t push back when they could have. Now it’s leopards, faces, etc.

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @Yarrow: I agree. CNN and The New York Time did immeasurable damage. They own a lot of this.

    They could not masturbate about emails, emails, emails enough, and pretty much handed the megaphone to Trump every chance they got.

  90. 90.

    James E Powell

    August 1, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @FlyingToaster:

    But the Koch Brothers aren’t supporting him anymore.

    I refuse to believe this. Sure, there are points of disagreement, but Trump has delivered for the Koch Brothers. And it’s not like there’s any alternative for them.

  91. 91.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 2:34 pm

    Trump is nuts. Or he is depraved and trying to rally his base using absurd propaganda by peddling very conscious lies. Or both. OK, probably both.
    If the country can rid itself of the incompetent, corrupt and criminal Trumpsters, a quarter to a third of the voters will go down with the ship and live (and vote) for the rest of their lives to redeem yet another lost cause. No reason to worry about those voters who go that way, only thing to do is to beat them politically.

    By this time, salvageable Trump voters have jumped ship and will either stay home since no good GOPers to vote for, or switch sides. Need to concentrate on people who will respond to sensible policy messages, and willing to hear truth about Trumpster collusion with foreign powers to get elected. How much Trump personally was involved is a detail at this point, It’s really just a matter of how competent they were at preserving plausible deniability.

    And, I think important to let corporate media, who are cowards and corrupt to remember that a guilty verdict for Trump personally, and years of appellate decisions is way too low a bar for judging our political leaders.

    That kind of low bar is not needed for the country to render a political decision on whether a political wrong was committed directly against the people (which BTW, is a close paraphrase of Alexander Hamilton’s description of an impeachable offense that was worthy of removal from office).

    So, I think important to contact corporate media and complain when they try to weasel out of reporting the truth on both corrupt and criminally incompetent Trumpster policy and their outrageous lies about what they did.

  92. 92.

    eric

    August 1, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    @Jeffro: yes, but that there is a written document that establishes Trump’s knowledge of Flynn under investigation. This is important for two reasons: (1) it is bad evidence for Trump, (2) someone with an agenda leaked the info that is seemingly not a prosecutor.

  93. 93.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Is your friend a Fox News viewer?

    I think it’s Fox News, plus Trump, that turns people’s brains to mush. Makes them unreachable. But Fox was there first. Do not lay this all on Facebook.

    It’s the other Big Eff in the game.

  94. 94.

    LAO

    August 1, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    His support among his base is hovering around 90%

    The better question is how big is his base? From what I’ve been reading, the number of self-identified Republicans has been steadily dropping since 2016.

    And, what exactly are you suggesting we, at this august blog, do?

  95. 95.

    Mike in DC

    August 1, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: It could, though I think it is still unlikely. The percentage of people identifying as Republicans has declined a few points since Trump was elected. So the remaining ones are mostly Trumpites.
    But they aren’t some unstoppable juggernaut. Trump’s support remains at around 40%. That’s 60% of the population that doesn’t support him. His numbers will dip a bit when the time comes, and our numbers will rise a bit. Either he gets removed from office, or he gets defeated for re-election. If neither of those things happen, then we can contemplate options that do not involve voting or elections. Not before.

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    meanwhile, despite the president* melting down on Twitter, Fox News dot com’s #1 and #2 stories are weirdo tabloid stuff. #3 is how Maxine Waters’ daughter runs a campaign mailer company, and Rep Waters contracts with that company on a regular basis.

    That sounds about right…certainly it was my #3 priority to address today…no other threats to the Republic or anything…

  97. 97.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    @LAO:
    As if there weren’t reason enough to {heart} The Onion.

    High End Persian Rugs Attend Trial In Show of Support for Paul Manafort

  98. 98.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @Yarrow:

    I understand where Acosta is coming from but a large part of me says, “Why did you agree to go in the press pen during the 2016? Why did your network cover Turmp’s speeches ad nauseum and show the empty podium for hours? You’re part of the problem.”

    They’re sad now.

    They accidentally picked the brain labeled “abnormal”

  99. 99.

    Barbara

    August 1, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    His support among his base is hovering around 90%.

    Without putting too fine a point on it, that’s like saying that people who like him like him. As soon as you caveat the population being polled (his “base” or even self-identified Republicans) you have made sure to obfuscate or at least omit a stable denominator from which to make accurate relative comparisons of popularity over time.

  100. 100.

    jeffreyw

    August 1, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    NPR reported Trump seems to have chosen a legitimate science advisor. That was a pleasure to hear.

    Good news and bad…
    It looks like a legitimate trough of water.

  101. 101.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @trollhattan: I’m surprised, because from what I’ve read, he walked all over them.

  102. 102.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @trollhattan: Ostriches should throw a counter demonstration.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @James E Powell:

    Spoiler alert: there’s also no bride.

    Slight correction to your spoiler: Victor Frankenstein starts to assemble a bride for the monster, but has second thoughts and destroys it before he brings it to life.

    Sign o’ the times: Mary Shelley could not imagine the doctor deliberately making the bride infertile so there would be no “race of monsters.” Of course, given the underlying themes of parenthood and conception, it’s an understandable blind spot on her part.

  104. 104.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:
    What do you want me to say? What do you think we should do? Preemptively kill them all before they kill us? All we can do at this point is continue working to elect Democrats at all levels so that the Mueller investigation will be protected and the GOP will locked from power.

    If this thing comes down to shooting then so be it but I’m going to try to ensure it never comes to that and I’m not going to worry my head off about something that may or may not happen.

  105. 105.

    Jeffro

    August 1, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @eric: Agreed for the reasons you noted.

    I think it has finally hit him: his long-time business associate/fellow Kremlin employee/fellow tax-dodger/former campaign manager is actually on. trial. for tax evasion, and it’s gonna proceed swiftly and solidly. On top of that, his long-time “fixer”/mob stooge is on the verge of spilling the beans. about. everything.

    No wonder he’s got “Alfonse” on his mind…

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    August 1, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @EBT:
    8chan is also known as hatechan, again because of the lack of content rules.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    August 1, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @germy:
    [rimshot!]

  108. 108.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @germy: Did reporters have to show up to the press pen when the media was showing the famous empty Trump “podiums” for extended period of time? Though I think they were shown empty lecterns, but that is a different issue.

  109. 109.

    James E Powell

    August 1, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    CNN and The New York Time did immeasurable damage. They own a lot of this.

    They have no regrets. Trump delivers readers and audiences in ways that Hillary Clinton could never hope to match. The NYT, CNN, the entire press/media world – they thrive on this shit.

  110. 110.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @FlyingToaster: I keep pondering the Koch brothers actions. They jump started the whole Tea Party movement. They must be feeling like Dr. Frankenstein at the moment. They’re trying to corral the monsters but there’s little hope of that since the GOP is hoping to realize their fevered utopian Gilead Randian hybrid. It’s like Dr. Strangelove with two evil halves.

    Are the Kochs contemplating their next phase? Will it be a Somali Warlords path? No, Eric Prince and the Cheneys want that. Will it be it be a Jefferson Davis democracy of “the Worthy”?

    I’ll speculate it’s the latter because of their Georgia connections. (and my partner’s sister in law’s relatives!!!)

    But they’re so close to chaos and a tragic realignment of society. A mashup of tales: the Phoenix and (senior moment, grrr) flying too close to the sun.

  111. 111.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 1, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @trollhattan:

    IMPEACH PENCE FIRST!

    That’s the real Kamchatkan KKKandidate right there – with “Mother” as his controller.

  112. 112.

    EBT

    August 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    @Roger Moore: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

  113. 113.

    oatler.

    August 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    I went to one of the Trump tweets shown above and it seems to have been spammed by a bitcoin outfit.

  114. 114.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    @James E Powell: Plus the fucking Sulzbergers and other shareholders got major tax breaks.

    I don’t buy that the newest publisher is some kind of brave truth-teller. No hagiographies for that crew.

  115. 115.

    LAO

    August 1, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    @trollhattan: I honestly laughed out loud when I saw that.

  116. 116.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    @LAO: Be Prepared.

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    @Dan B: Icarus?

  118. 118.

    HRA

    August 1, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    Last night I mentioned being in a shelter in place situation at home with Tiki my dog and Mr. A being at work. It lasted almost 4 hours. Most of all it did what I had not expected to happen. It tamped down my anger and helplessness in the ongoing situation of this horror driven government stoked by the daily tweets of a class A idiot.
    My current update is Mr. A offering me to an surprise on camera interview about last night to a local TV station showing up in our driveway. No makeup on and in around the house work clothes will give Mr. A a mild payback for it.

  119. 119.

    Barbara

    August 1, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Dan B: They seem to think that people “left behind” by a combination of radically free trade and radically reduced economic regulations and safety net will just disappear off the face of the earth. That they would fight back in ways that would be destructive and counterproductive to the Ubermensch class seems to have escaped the smart people in their think tanks.

  120. 120.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @trollhattan: What a great visual.

    Def worth clicking on the Onion link.

  121. 121.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 1, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Chill out, damn it. These people are conspiracy theorists. They have been shooting bullets for long time now. WTF do you think “Freemen on the Land” nonsense, Timothy McVeigh and so on is about? Trump is clothed in the powers of the President of the United States and all that means and Trump has to reach out to the crazies, that’s how desperate Trump is.

  122. 122.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    Icarus…. and the Phoenix, an ugly mashup of parables, mixing painful rebirth and the tragedy of heedless ambition.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    @Dan B:

    In a lot of ways, the Kochs are typical sheltered rich boys. They can’t conceive of any situation from which their giant piles of money would not protect them despite the many lessons of history before them.

  124. 124.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    @Elizabelle: Facebook in a vacuum is benign. The same tool people use to schedule the ladies’ bake sale is used to organize a Klan rally.
    But Zuckerberg fucked us – get that much right, please?

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Oh, I agree re Zuckerberg. It would pain me to give up FB for its good uses, but it is a bad actor, too.

  126. 126.

    FlipYrWhig

    August 1, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Right — the whole thing feels like a meditation on what it’s like to have a dad and no mom, written by an author with a dad and no mom.

  127. 127.

    Yarrow

    August 1, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Isn’t one of the Koch brothers terminally ill? All the money in the world won’t protect him from death.

  128. 128.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    @trollhattan: Yesss! I’m salivating over the cast interview on Colbert! “I love the contrast between the strong silent type and the flying furies who redefine the word fury.”

    Or something. Get me a scriptwriter stat!

  129. 129.

    Betty Cracker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @Yarrow: I’ve got that Foer article saved but haven’t had time to read it yet. I agree with the stated premise: we’ve got a huge kleptocracy problem. If any good comes from this nightmare, maybe that’ll get the airing it deserves. I know that’s been a topic of conversation here before — the white collar criminals running wild and legalized bribery that need to be addressed.

    I’ve been pretty busy today — and sick of thinking about this shit-show — so I’ve only half-followed the news. But I’ve seen some worrisome comments from the judge in the Manafort trial, who I understand is kind of quirky. He told the prosecutors that “being rich isn’t a crime” and allegedly banned the word “oligarch” as prejudicial. WTF?

  130. 130.

    bemused

    August 1, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    @Felony Govt:

    Desperate, maybe but he’s definitely extremely pissed off he cannot have everything go his way and be instantly and unconditionally obeyed and adored. Do toxic narcissists feel fear like rational people do? I’m actually curious about this. Sociopaths/psychopaths/narcissists, however they are described don’t seem to have “feelings” as we experience them.

  131. 131.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    @germy: 3D printed gun to the nun’s heads. Too graphic but if it fired condoms..

    The screaming! The outrage!

  132. 132.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @Betty Cracker: That judge is going to be pissed if the jury finds Manafort guilty.

  133. 133.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 1, 2018 at 3:06 pm

    O/T, although was brought to this point by a train of thought generated by one of the comments above, but: has anyone seen Jon McNaughton’s latest masterpiece?

    It’s hard to choose, but I think my favourite detail might be Sarah Huckabee Sanders fending off a gator (one of three in the painting) with an oar. But like all McNaughton works, Trump Crossing the Swamp is chock-a-block with badly-rendered portraiture and agonised metaphor, all of which requires detailed explanatory notes and a cast of characters cheatsheet on his website.

  134. 134.

    lgerard

    August 1, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    @Yarrow:

    I understand where Acosta is coming from but a large part of me says, “Why did you agree to go in the press pen during the 2016?

    This

  135. 135.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    @Mike in DC:

    If neither of those things happen, then we can contemplate options that do not involve voting or elections. Not before.

    It will be too late then. Contemplate now.

  136. 136.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    “being rich isn’t a crime”

    It is if the money was obtained through illegal means. What a dumbass judge.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    @MaddowBlog: A sitting president – the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation – just publicly called on the attorney general to end the probe. https://t.co/AuImTeOnnV

    — MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 1, 2018

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    YEP

    Let’s be 1000% clear: if you worked with a hostile foreign power during your election, it’s called TREASON. https://t.co/rxROpJ5qXf

    — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 31, 2018

  139. 139.

    James E Powell

    August 1, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Plus the fucking Sulzbergers and other shareholders got major tax breaks.

    What’s galling is that they were already quite wealthy and their taxes were not all that high.

    I wonder if historians will be able to dig out exactly why the NYT carried on its 24 year long smear campaign against the Clintons. The personal animus was so high that they put George W Bush and Trump in the White House – disasters for the nation, but they have no regrets.

  140. 140.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I don’t know what to tell you to do, dude. I live in blood red Texas, I’m just reporting the facts on the ground as they are. If this causes you discomfort — Good. I’ve done my job. And if it’s any consolation – I’m scared shitless.
    I haven’t treated the Juicers to my recent experiences in McAllen. Disturbing to say the least. There are other things – signs posts, if you will, that we seem to keep passing at an alarming rate.
    I’m not someone trying to foment something, cause trouble, or anything like that. I’m just old, dirty hippie trying to make sense of what’s happening. I have grandchildren.
    But I’m not afraid to fight, especially since I have grandchildren.

  141. 141.

    Ksmiami

    August 1, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    @Mnemosyne: lol the most targeted victims in history often had the biggest piles of lucre and the tiniest traces of common sense

  142. 142.

    SFAW

    August 1, 2018 at 3:17 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    and the monster becoming more and more human.

    But did he sing “Puttin’ on the Ritz”?

  143. 143.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 3:17 pm

    Beginning of highly reported Manafort trial and recent Cohen flip is driving new Trump frenzy against the investigation? Probably.
    Would be nice if Butina trial could begin before the election, since been reported that whole thing arose prior to and independently of Mueller and that drags in big chunks of GOP and its corrupt grifting and funding apparatus (mainly NRA).

    It would be very dangerous to the country if Trump tried to shut down big junks of the DOJ, related to Mueller and not, before the election, but would generate a lot of very adverse and infuriating free media during prime time midterm campaign season which we are now entering. And Trump is going to go with his whims and furies of the day. Like a tin pot OT God, Trump will do what Trump will do. If he wants to go into last three months before the midterms shutting down every action of DOJ he doesn’t like, while going on a ‘Collusion with Foreign Powers is Great” media tour, while the Congressional GOP does jack squat, it would get a lot of voters’ attention. I hope that doesn’t happen, but if it does, then it is prime time for us to get out and support House and Senate candidates.

  144. 144.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 3:18 pm

    To undermine the ACA, the Trump administration pushes ‘short-term’ plans
    08/01/18 12:44 PM
    By Steve Benen

    If you thought the Trump administration couldn’t take any additional steps to undermine the Affordable Care Act, think again.

    The Trump administration is clearing the way for insurers to sell short-term health plans as a bargain alternative to pricey Obama-law policies for people struggling with high premiums.

    But the policies don’t have to cover existing medical conditions and offer limited benefits. It’s not certain if that’s going to translate into broad consumer appeal among people who need an individual policy.

    Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News this morning, “For many who’ve got pre-existing conditions or who have other health worries, the Obamacare plans might be right for them. We’re just providing more options.”

    Well, sort of. Short-term plans already existed under the Affordable Care Act, but they only last a few months, and they’re designed to serve as stopgap coverage. The Trump administration is changing the rules, opening the door to insurers offering “short-term” plans that cover 364 days, with the option of two annual renewals.

    …………………………………………………..

    First, these plans will be pretty awful. We’re talking about skimpy coverage that will leave Americans with huge medical bills in the event of a serious illness. That’s because the safeguards and consumer protections at the heart of “Obamacare” won’t apply to these plans.

    Second, those with pre-existing conditions generally won’t even be able to get these plans. If there’s anything close to an American consensus in the health care debate, it’s protecting people with pre-existing conditions, and this approach doesn’t.

  145. 145.

    Amir Khalid

    August 1, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    These new tweets from Trump stink of fear. He’s internalised that Mueller is coming and there’s no way to head him off.

  146. 146.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    Trump calls on AG Sessions to end Mueller probe ‘right now’
    08/01/18 10:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Over the weekend, Donald Trump’s tweets about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe got a little manic, with the president tweeting a series of semi-coherent rants about the probe. It offered compelling evidence that the pressure is starting to take its roll.

    This morning, Trump’s missives took on an even more hysterical tone, culminating in rhetoric we haven’t seen the president use before.

    …………………………….

    But it’s the Sessions tweet that stands out for a reason: a sitting American president – the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation – has now publicly called on the attorney general of the United States to immediately halt a special counsel probe.

    Somehow, in 2018, this isn’t the basis for a major national political crisis, in part because we know Jeff Sessions has already recused himself from the proceedings – making the president’s appeal practically meaningless – and in part because much of the political world has grown inured by Trump’s unhinged antics.

    NBC News’ Benjy Sarlin noted this morning that if the president’s messages “were leaked secret memos, it would be a huge scandal,” but since we’re reading Trump’s over-the-top instructions via Twitter, this somehow seems normal.

  147. 147.

    HeleninEire

    August 1, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    LOL. I am watching Anthony Bourdain in “Parts Unknown.” Every single show is fascinating even if at the start I say something stupid like “how interesting can LA be?” OMG those Asian boys were fantastic.

    I can’t stop binge watching. So both last night and tonight I got the Netflix question “Are you still watching?” Cuz they’re like “really, don’t you have any friends?”

    I am a loser with no friends, so says Netflix.

    Life be grand!! And peace and thank you to Anthony.

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Again, HUNDREDS of ppl are under investigation for #KremlinGate. And in the grand scheme of things, Mueller’s work is just getting started, so that figure will keep growing. The rot is systemic to the point of threatening national security. Time to clean house.

    — Counterchekist (@counterchekist) August 1, 2018

  149. 149.

    Bobby Thomson

    August 1, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @Elizabelle: it never was. That it never got any attention is one of many things that should bring our media shame.

  150. 150.

    raven

    August 1, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    @HeleninEire: Check the one on Houston, season 8

  151. 151.

    Betty Cracker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: It’s a 99% certainty Trump will choose McNaughton to paint a hagiographic official portrait, don’t you think? McNaughton paints the schlockiest crap I’ve ever seen. It’s like a Lee Greenwood song humped Pepe the Frog, which gave birth on canvass. Makes the Dogs Playing Poker and Velvet Elvis paintings look like they should be hanging in the Louvre.

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    August 1, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    @Betty Cracker:
    I think we have at least three interconnected problems that contribute to our kleptocracy problem:

    1) Our financial services business makes way too much money helping foreign kleptocrats hide their money. This both exaggerates Wall Street’s role in the economy and gives them (and the politicians who feed on them) a reason to turn a blind eye to foreign misbehavior.

    2) We’ve made it way too difficult to prove a lot of financial crimes. As I understand it, there’s a broad rule that says our business laws are too complicated for anyone to understand, so just breaking the rules isn’t enough to prove criminal intent. Prosecutors have to prove people were knowingly breaking the rules, which is really difficult unless they’ve been dumb enough to write it down.

    3) We don’t even try very hard to prosecute financial crimes. Most of the time the government only goes for civil remedies, and a lot of the time those don’t even make the criminals pay back all their ill-gotten gains. It makes financial crime into a heads you win, tails you don’t lose situation.

  153. 153.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 1, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    @LAO:

    what exactly are you suggesting we, at this august blog, do?

    Wait, the blog stops at the end of this month? //

  154. 154.

    Rand Careaga

    August 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @germy:

    All that money spent on such worthless garbage.

    Brought to mind this passage from Thomas Pynchon’s 2006 novel Against the Day:

    “Expensive hobby,” marveled the Professor. “Are there such people?”

    “You have to have some idea of the idle money out here. It can’t be all endowments to the church of one’s choice, mansions, yachts and dog-runs paved with gold or what have you, can it. No, at some point that’s all over with, has to be left behind…and still here’s this huge mountain of wealth unspent, piling up higher every day, and dear oh dear, whatever’s a businessman to do with it, you see.”

    “Hell, send it to me,” Ray Ipsow put in. “Or even to somebody who really needs it, for there’s sure enough of those.”

    “That’s not the way it works,” said Scarsdale Vibe.

    “So we always hear the plutocracy complaining.”

    “Out of a belief, surely fathomable, that merely to need a sum is not to deserve it.”

    ”Except that in these times, ‘need’ arises directly from criminal acts of the rich, so it ‘deserves’ whatever amount of money will atone for it. Fathomable enough for you?”

    ”You are a socialist, sir.”

  155. 155.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @Betty Cracker: You’ve slandered quite a few art works of the highest order there. Why drag velvet paintings into this mess? For shame.

    Pepe the frog is much better than McNaughton
    And I feel duty bound to remind people that Pepe the Frog predates Trumpster and alt-right adoption, the artist who came up with Pepe is opposed to alt-right. I read he was going to court and doing other things to try to redeem his Pepe, but I guess his effort has not gone very well.

  156. 156.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:
    You haven’t caused me any discomfort. I think you’re overreacting. They don’t have the numbers or the guts.

  157. 157.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Don’t you think it’s about time that we dropped the ‘theory’ portion of that term when discussing the Trump administration, the GOP, Putin, the Mercers, Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and endless rabble of suspects in this treasonous affair?
    ‘Chill out, dude. Have a refreshing beverage. It will all be over in a short while’, is that your advice?

  158. 158.

    HeleninEire

    August 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @raven: Going in order. I’m on Season 2 Episode 4. I will watch every single one and not be a snob.

    ETA take out the “not”

  159. 159.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    I’m not someone trying to foment something, cause trouble, or anything like that. I’m just [an] old, dirty hippie trying to make sense of what’s happening. I [don’t] have grandchildren.
    But I’m not afraid to fight.

    Right there with ya. I have some obligations to uphold.

  160. 160.

    Wumpus

    August 1, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    @Betty Cracker: The judge is perfectly correct: being rich isn’t a crime, and whether Manafort received all that money from an “oligarch” or just some guy is almost surely legally irrelevant to this tax evasion case. The only legally relevant question is: did Manafort have a bunch of income he didn’t pay taxes on?

    Arguably the judge is actually helping Mueller by focusing the jury’s attention purely on the facts relating to tax evasion and nothing else. Because, based on the facts, Manafort is guilty as hell of tax evasion. And if the facts are crystal clear and the trial was squeaky clean it will be harder for That Guy on the jury to say, “Clearly we have to let him off because this is a politically motivated witch hunt, just like Sean says.”

  161. 161.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 1, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s a 99% certainty Trump will choose McNaughton to paint a hagiographic official portrait, don’t you think?

    Jon McNaughton: a Gilbert Stuart for our times.

  162. 162.

    Brachiator

    August 1, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I wonder if historians will be able to dig out exactly why the NYT carried on its 24 year long smear campaign against the Clintons.

    Have any historians weighed in on this already?

    The personal animus was so high that they put George W Bush and Trump in the White House – disasters for the nation, but they have no regrets

    The NYT certainly tried to disguise their perfidy. The paper endorsed Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton over their GOP rivals. There’s got to be a great story in how their public face was so much at odds with their private hatreds. The publishers and the executive editors of the Times all are dirty, and must have left a record of their decisions.

  163. 163.

    Betty Cracker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @jl: I’ve read of his originator’s efforts, but I’m afraid Pepe is beyond redemption. Sorta like how the swastika originated as a Sanskrit good luck symbol — it may be unfair, but it has been irredeemably corrupted by assholes.

  164. 164.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: And from my perspective, sir – you are grossly underestimating both their strength and their resolve.

  165. 165.

    Roger Moore

    August 1, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    So both last night and tonight I got the Netflix question “Are you still watching?” Cuz they’re like “really, don’t you have any friends?”

    Nah. They’re worried you’ve fallen asleep on the sofa, and they don’t want to waste money streaming if you aren’t awake to watch.

  166. 166.

    Yarrow

    August 1, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: If you’re actually in McAllen, are you volunteering for Beto O’Rourke? Beto’s going to need votes from the Valley to beat Cruz. Or perhaps volunteering for your the Dem in your Congressional district?

  167. 167.

    terry chay

    August 1, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: No his approval is averaging at 84% (and decreasing over the course of his term) and that’s ignoring that >10% of Republicans no longer identify as Republican (4% overall shift). Taking those people into account, the only Presidents to have lower overall average approval within their own party is Ford and Johnson. Not good company to be in.

    His overall approval is terrible given the state of the economy—in fact, it’s actually unprecedented. The only one who comes close to him is Bill Clinton in the middle of his second term, and only because they are the only two with a negative balance in their ledger (overall approval vs. handling of the economy). In fact, when you look at his numbers without knowing it’s Donald Trump, what is unusual is actually how terrible his numbers are.

    The biggest outlier is that the “out party” has only had a 7% approval of him. The next worse is Obama at 14% so the obvious conclusion is people are polarizing/self segregating. However if you assume that, then this means his 84% approval within his own party is abysmal—we are talking well past Nixon at time of impeachment abysmal.

    As for your friend, you and he simply lack an understanding of how politics affects people going to the poll. Your friend, like most Republicans up to and past the day Nixon was impeached, will not change his political views. However, after an economic crash, he will simply “not want to talk about that politics stuff” and will, with an increasingly high degree of probability “not bother to vote.” As for people who lean Democrat, most of them already don’t bother. They have been priced in, and Trump’s behavior has been reversing that trend as seen in the D+13% average swing in special elections so far.

    Even the 2016 election can be seen through that lens. Basically the turnout was depressed. Trump 2016 did worse than Romney 2012 in total numbers almost everywhere. Think of that election as a midterm election, and you can see why the media doing both sides basically skewed the election heavily in favor of Trump.

  168. 168.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    Do you actually know them? Not all are gutless cowards, and most are so brainwashed, they will do whatever they are told to do. Does Radio Rwanda ring any bells?

  169. 169.

    HeleninEire

    August 1, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: LOL. Of course if I’ve fallen asleep in the sofa I couldn’t answer their question.

  170. 170.

    germy

    August 1, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    @jl: The last thing I heard, he went ahead and killed off Pepe.

  171. 171.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @Yarrow: Not my district, but I sent him a check anyway. A small one, to be sure, because I be po’.

  172. 172.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    August 1, 2018 at 3:40 pm

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

    They don’t have the numbers or the guts.

    I’m pretty sure 1/3 is a large enough number to foment a revolution. The real problem is the guts. Big guts. Too many of them are unable to muster a fight from their hover-rounds.

  173. 173.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @germy: Poor Pepe.
    After we lick ’em, the sands of time will restore justice. Probably not in our or our grandkids’ lifetimes, though.

  174. 174.

    Roger Moore

    August 1, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    Of course if I’ve fallen asleep in the sofa I couldn’t answer their question.

    And when that happens they’ll stop autoplaying the next episode.

  175. 175.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Does Radio Rwanda ring any bells?

    It can’t happen here//

    In all seriousness, I’m sure some would, if given the chance. But most won’t. They still have families they have to take care of and risking your life for something greater than yourself (or your immediate friends and family) is a leap most won’t be willing to make

  176. 176.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    August 1, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    @trollhattan: @DanB: Brilliant! God, I needed that.

  177. 177.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Thing to do is donate time and money and talk with people to convince them vote in November. A big turnout is best response to plans to mess with election, and winning a branch of Congress will make a huge difference. Especially if Trump tries to go on an impeachable offense crime spree in the height of the midterm campaign season.

    Edit: and register complaints with the media whenever you catch them weaseling and lying and misdirecting, and trying to duck and cover in order to avoid reporting unpleasant news about the criminals in charge.

  178. 178.

    Yarrow

    August 1, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Beto O’Rourke isn’t “in your district.” He’s a statewide candidate since Senator is a statewide office. You can volunteer for him or volunteer for the Rep in your district or in a neighboring district.

  179. 179.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    I can apparently say the same thing about most of our side as well.

  180. 180.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 3:46 pm

    @Yarrow: Yes, I volunteer. I vote. I march. I canvass. I am in total support of the ‘blue (pink) wave.’ I am doing my dead level damnest to see that thing ends with ballots not bullets.
    What I’ve been trying to describe to you people ain’t my fuckin’ plan, okay?!!

  181. 181.

    Elizabelle

    August 1, 2018 at 3:46 pm

    @Roger Moore: Good comment.

  182. 182.

    Jay

    August 1, 2018 at 3:50 pm

    @terry chay:

    Yup, the Great Orange Bloat got only 23.4% of the electorate out to vote for him.

    Remember the “Milion Man March”?

  183. 183.

    Chyron HR

    August 1, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    Translation: “I’m not afraid to go on the internet and tell other people to fight.”

  184. 184.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @Elizabelle: Elizabelle and The Midnight Lurker; I entertain some dark thoughts about the dangers of Trumps base. I believe the rabid base is small based upon his underwhelming rally numbers but two thousand gun carrying rally members spilling out into the streets of Tampa could be a catalyst if it inspired similar actions around the country. It could be set off by Mueller pressing charges and/or Trump calling for rallies at Federal buildings. 20 armed nut jobs at the Omaha Fed would fizzle but 1,000 would be difficult to corral.

    It’s also in the realm of possibility that hundreds of simultaneous spontaneous rallies would cause many “Good Americans” to withdraw into self preservation mode.

    The resistance to Trumpism has been very quiet lately. The ICE raids and the stolen kids are out of the news. The Keebler Elf’s God Squad is being ridiculed but so was Hitler before the Reichstag.

    At the same moment my LGBT friends are suspicious of Muslims. My black friends feel that this is just another day in Amerikkka. My Muslim friends are afraid but don’t see much hope in building alliances with the LGBT community. The fissures remain and the desire to downplay or ignore the stormclouds on the horizon is palpable. We need respite from the onslaught of awful but not permanently installed blinders.

    I’m reminded of when we got bomb threats and the Mafia Contract against us mighty 20 Chicago Gay Liberation members we came together. We stayed at Hanry Weimhoff’s apartment. We listened to black activists’ advice and the counsel of the Chicago Seven’s friends. But CointelPro already had us on their radar. The Red Squad (Bennie was the leader of our surveillance group.) was keeping detailed notes. Sone people were scared and left. But we hung together and, with great strategic advice, made amazing advances.

    I hope we can do the same today but I don’t believe we can do it without acknowledging, and seriously discussing, some terrible possibilities. It’s nit to live in fear but to have contingency plans. That way we have a better chance of turning the tide.

  185. 185.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 3:54 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:
    Resorting to violence gives the right exactly what it wants. It plays right into their hands. They want to play victim. That’s part of how they win. Don’t ever give them what they want.

  186. 186.

    HeleninEire

    August 1, 2018 at 3:58 pm

    @Roger Moore: Do they? Why?. If I were Netflix I would run it all night long. And then they can charge CNN from whom they bought it, for all night long.

  187. 187.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 3:58 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Right wing nutcases and reactionary groups threatening revolution and violence is nothing new in US history. Texas was full of talk of secession and political violence after Kennedy’s election and he made it clear he was gong to take up Truman’s stalled civil rights and desegregation program. That climate was enough to alarm people who visited the place before Kennedy’s fatal visit.

    And also a good reminder that the idea that the Democratic Party’s efforts on civil right is some kind of new ‘race card’ and abandonment of the male white working class is BS propaganda. It goes back to one of the patron saints of old white male Trumpsters I’ve run into around my area in CA, Truman. When I explain the history to the older ones, and that they have been betrayed but they’ve been mislead into blaming the wrong people I can get some grudging positive responses. But not sure that would work where racism in more embedded in partisan divide.

  188. 188.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 1, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Sorta like how the swastika originated as a Sanskrit good luck symbol — it may be unfair, but it has been irredeemably corrupted by assholes.

    You’ll still see it all over Korea.

  189. 189.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    @Yarrow: Sorry. You’re absolutely right. In my defense, I live in the northern part of the state (it’s big) and I still think in terms of ‘districts’ or ‘areas’ because I’m old and feeble. Most of the political “fight” with that seat is down south, which is why I probably wrote what I did.
    I sent Mr. O’Rourke a check. Most of the canvassing that I do is for local politicians and ballot initiatives. And I don’t ALWAYS DO democrats. In my area, your choice is often between the ‘good’ Republican and the Trumpanzee. A harsh political reality to be sure – but I play with the cards I’m dealt.

  190. 190.

    Kay

    August 1, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    @hitchhiker:

    I didn’t think it was possible (because we’ve been assaulted with so much ugliness out of his mouth for so long), but he actually made me cringe with “his lover the lovely Lisa Page” … so personal, so cruel, so fucking nauseating.

    Me too. Mean-spirited, petty and nasty. That’s Team Trump.

    The Trumpsters seem like they’re getting worse, too. That clip I saw of the mob attacking the reporter- Jesus.

    I would die of shame if I was in that and my kids saw it. Some of those people are grandparents. Good Lord.

    I wonder if the Trump Administration are getting nastier and pettier because they’re afraid the unrestrained crime spree is coming to an end. It could be Mueller but it could also be Democrats taking the House- we’ll finally get some oversight, followed by indictments.

  191. 191.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    Resorting to violence is NOT the plan, and don’t insinuate it is.

    Responding to large-scale violence is the plan.

    No cages.

  192. 192.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: If we have a long enough future history, I think the problem of the Nazi adoption of swastika will eventually fade.The Nazi swastika has a different design than the pre-existing versions that were used all over the world for millennia.

    But it is very dangerous and bad idea to try to revive any use of any version of it now, unless you are doing it solidly within some existing cultural context So, I guess a Native American traditional artist putting an old design on a clay pot is OK.. Only a very long time can fix the problem for society as a whole. (Especially since neoNazi’s are trying out new versions to try to pass off as normal, though their designs have a lot in common with European heraldry. But won’t cause a problem unless the neo-Nazis win and start committing mass murder under their new symbols)

  193. 193.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: I didn’t sign off on ‘no cages’!

  194. 194.

    Kay

    August 1, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    @Jeffro:

    his long-time business associate/fellow Kremlin employee/fellow tax-dodger/former campaign manager is actually on. trial.

    Beautiful how that happened, huh? All the screeching about “not a crime! and witchunt! and the “yawn- nothingburger” from media and yet there it is– he was charged and there’s a trial and there are witnesses and facts and exhibits and he will or will not be convicted.

    At least something still works. The big machine can still sputter into life and ker-chunk along, despite all the background noise.

  195. 195.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    August 1, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    @jl:

    But not sure that would work where racism in more embedded in partisan divide.

    The alt-right types would probably say that Truman was a race traitor or something.

  196. 196.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 1, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    @jl:

    The Nazi swastika has a different design than the pre-existing versions that were used all over the world for millennia.

    True, our perception is also influenced by our culture.

  197. 197.

    The Lodger

    August 1, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Jon McNaughton: a Gilbert Stuart for our times.
    I think you misspelled Dilbert.

  198. 198.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Truman was, by alt-right terms, a complete and despicable race traitor. I think his statements that he was going against his racist heritage and gut instincts with his EO to desegregate the military, that he felt he was forced to do because of black veterans getting beat up and murdered was his personal propaganda line to make it go down better with the Dixiecrats. I read recently that actually, he had a very ambitious desegregation plan, first for federal government, and then for housing, but couldn’t get much of it passed outside the military. Racists understood that very well back when Kennedy talked about his plans. But that history has been erased today. I think we have forgotten a lot of our history because of right wing and corporate propaganda that is subtly injected into corporate dominated media.

    Edit: so Truman ends up an icon with ignorant old white guys who want a real populist who won’t ‘cater’ to minorities.

  199. 199.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m an amateur magician, and I have a lot of old magic junk (yes, my wife hates me for it). It just amazes me how many ‘good luck’ coins handed out by magicians of the day (late 1800’s to late 1920’s) featured a swastika. It used to be considered a sign of good luck, right along with the horseshoe, the four-leaf clover and others. Weird, huh?

  200. 200.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 1, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    @Wumpus:

    And if the facts are crystal clear and the trial was squeaky clean it will be harder for That Guy on the jury to say, “Clearly we have to let him off because this is a politically motivated witch hunt, just like Sean says.”

    This is basically my read on it – the Judge is just trying to limit it to ONLY the most pertinent facts so that no one can claim this was a political hit job. But then, he hasn’t met Trump – Trump will lie about basically anything (see his insistence even today that the Steel Dossier is the cause of the entire investigation) and Republicans will back him up. So kudos to Judge Ellis, but I don’t think it will matter in this case.

  201. 201.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    @YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S):

    I’m pretty sure 1/3 is a large enough number to foment a revolution.

    Sure, if the 1/3rd is evenly distributed around the country. That 1/3rd in Texas is more like 1/300th in California, if that. We shouldn’t underestimate how very regional most Trumpism is.

    As I keep saying, if a bunch of Trumpists from Arizona or Texas think they can march into East LA or other Latino strongholds in Southern California and not meet an armed resistance, they’re in for one hell of a surprise.

    The real problem is the guts. Big guts. Too many of them are unable to muster a fight from their hover-rounds.

    This. Despite their outsized media presence, the effect of the Bundys has been the pathetic Malheur occupation and some hashtag terrorist murders. These guys just aren’t organized enough to pull off some militia-style takeover. Even at the height of the 1990s militia movement, the best they could muster were McVeigh and Rudolph, each of whom couldn’t get more than a couple of people to actively assist them with their crimes.

  202. 202.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 4:24 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: I think the judge should let all the evidence bet entered, and let the jury try on the Ostrich jacket. I hope the judge is doing the right thing. I’ve read BJ legal folks say that this judge is acting the same way he has in other trials, and nothing unusual about his rulings. I hope that is true.

    But I am worried. Seems like the judge, in some of his comments, is temperamentally sympathetic to Trumpsters. IIRC, he’s said and written things that I think are almost identical to Trump’s Al Capone argument: it’s very unfair that they are going after this murderer and extortionist on petty tax charges!

  203. 203.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    @Dan B: Excellent points. And I agree with your conclusion. A riot in Tampa is on the low end for me. A series of bombings, assassinations, reprisal shootings, etc. could go on for decades. To simply shrug and say, “It’s always been like that,” is to ignore the problem.
    Trump is getting these people worked up into a violent frenzy. We’ve already seen people and small groups acting independently. What happens if they actually get their shit organized? Think of someone other than Trump taking the reins – someone smarter, someone more charismatic. Think of Lonesome Rhodes.
    And take it from someone who lived through the sixties – this is much worse.

  204. 204.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: I’m semi-feral, at best. A crowd is a cage.

    From “Anxiety” by Jason Isbell:

    “A crowded room is a burning battlefield
    If I don’t move, I’ll come undone
    My heart beats harder, a hammer striking steel
    Do I walk now or do I wait and run?”

  205. 205.

    James E Powell

    August 1, 2018 at 4:38 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Right – I meant like the movie. With that amazing hairdo.

    I doubt I’d have ever read it but for the fact I saw the Norton Critical edition for a dollar at a Goodwill. I knew next to nothing about the novel or the background. I’m not really a horror story guy, so I was both surprised and pleased that it wasn’t a straight up horror story.

  206. 206.

    Roger Moore

    August 1, 2018 at 4:41 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    And then they can charge CNN from whom they bought it, for all night long.

    Because that’s not how their business works. They pay the companies who made the programs for the right to show them, not the other way around. The also pay for bandwidth. So the really don’t want to be showing you anything unless you’re watching.

  207. 207.

    Mandalay

    August 1, 2018 at 4:49 pm

    So Republican state Rep. and slimy creep Nick Sauer has just bitten the dust in Illinois. He was exposed for posting naked images of his ex-girlfriend (who dumped him for cheating on her) without her consent, and impersonating her while engaging in sexytime chats with other men who liked what they saw. He makes Anthony Weiner seem sweet and innocent.

    And nobody could have predicted that he served on a joint task force on sexual harassment, and co-sponsored legislation designed to require new sexual harassment training for lawmakers.

  208. 208.

    Barbara

    August 1, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    @Mandalay: Maybe he served on the committee to get background information on how to harass women using social media.

  209. 209.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    @Chyron HR: Well… let’s hope and pray it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, let’s wait and see who’s fighting and who’s on the internet then, huh?

  210. 210.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    @LAO: I believe there are things we can do – and – there are different experiences that are vitally relevsnt. TML has experienced McAllen, TX. Trumpism has already imprisoned the first wave, or so it could be. The first battle is nearly complete. The next phase is what? They’ve learned the lesson – stay below the radar. No more photos of crying children.

    My experience is: Muslim friends enduring years of fear. Gay friends with kids whose skin color doesn’t match their dad’s. Fay friends who are so gripped with fear that they fly into rage if there’s any discussion of politics. Relatives who discount our feelings because the “Law” is important and Trump is more pro gay than Obummer. T’day and Xmas are like suffocation, slowly.

    TML is in some stage of PTSD, as are many if my friends. We’ve been screamed at and flamed online. My feeling is there is little faith in voting or getting out the (sheep) to vote or in a fair election. There’s a feeling in the air among minorities that well off whites have undue confidence in the strength of our democratic institutions and an unhealthy faith that dirty tricks and a terror scam will not work to derail the election and thst Mueller will render justice. I for one have not seen much discussion of the odds that Trump will be impeached by this Congress or the Senate or by the Supremes.

    So things look bleak if your rights are under direct or stealth attack. Or if you’ve experienced it first hand.

    I feel there’s a great need for something more to do than vote and get out the vote. The potential for failure is there. There are options. There are pro democracy groups. I’ve heard they tend to tamp down anything but canvassing or letter writing. Is that true? I can’t say. My local org is in a very white neighborhood. My neighborhood is 10 oer cent white. Not likely to be represented. I believe that the Stoneman Douglas kids are doing great. They’re registering voters but they seem to be excellent at clarity of rhetoric and strategic mass communication. They remind me of the Marriage Equality campaign’s skillful strategy and rhetoric. I told Evan Wolfson that he had the best talking points, use of rhetoric, and communications skills I’d ever encountered in an LGBT org. He acted like I’d exposed the magicians tricks.

    I’d also lije to hear more discussions about historicsl parallels to our current dilemma, especially about successful pushback and progressive victories. The popular historicsl records are often far from accurate or contain little of value to the people involved in current struggles. The visible marches are highlighted and the major dynamic tensions but stories of the construction of bonds of love and trust are absent from the story.

    I flash on tge line, “John Lewis was taken under Martin Luther King’s wing.” Next is being beaten at the Edmund Pettis bridge. After that is the March on Washington (omitting the full title). Then the Civil Rights Act. How did the bond develop between MLK and Lewis? I bet there are lessons for today. And hiw did Bayard Rustin persuade King to remove the armed guard from his home and embrace non violence? Bayard Rustin worked for the CIA! What? Flawed people changed the world for the better? What about Bermie Purity? Is flawed but focused better than perfect (ha!) but off track?

    I believe BJ does a good job of expressing opinions and at its best does a great job of telling our stories. And there’s more we can do than get out the vote. As essential as that is we should not put all our eggs and hopes in that basket. We need reminders of what’s worked in the past and stories about what’s working now and what’s not, or not quite.

  211. 211.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    @jl: I’m vaguely familiar with Truman’s civil rights history but what are the relevant points in your recounting? My interest is in the narrative you tell people.

  212. 212.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 5:36 pm

    @jl: More detail! Di you think his desegregstion plans are available on wikipedia or another source? I was too young to recall Kennedy’s push for civil rights but Johnson’s push registered because it was such a shock for a Southerner to do so.

  213. 213.

    chopper

    August 1, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    wait, you have magic junk and your wife hates it?

  214. 214.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 5:45 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It is apparent at this point that the crazies are nit organized and the big Koch money is not going to bankroll the capacity to do so. At the same time I’m worried about friends being panicked by a series of simultaneous rallies in red areas. They keep trying in Portland, OR and the black bloc is falling for the bait. A black bloc vs. white supremacist war can be easily manipulated by the Bannon Miller crowd and their backers. And, to mangle Gandhi, then we lose.

  215. 215.

    Gravenstone

    August 1, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    @MattF: This “Q” character likens himself a modern day Nostradumbass. 5 will get ya 10 it’s just another arm of the Russian active measures bullshit. Stirring up the mentally unstable and unhinged to promote domestic strife

  216. 216.

    rikyrah

    August 1, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    @Dan B:
    Truman came closest to National healthcare than any other President until 44. He actually went to sleep believing that it had been accomplished.
    What derailed it?
    Jim Crow ??

  217. 217.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @Dan B:

    Black Bloc is solely a Northwest US thing. It doesn’t exist south of Sacramento.

    This is what I’m saying — there is NO organized nationwide movement for violence on either side. It’s all regional. I know it’s scary to be in the region where you have both sides gearing up for war, but it’s not happening outside of your area.

    And, sadly, Oregon and Washington are longtime meccas for white supremacists — they’ve been embedded there for years. Remember the Metzgers? They and their followers never went away, they just stopped murdering people in front of witnesses.

    The Black Bloc has been there since at least the WTC protests in the late 1990s. You guys have a regional history of these clashes.

  218. 218.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Me too. I was in Civil Rights as a teenager. The MLK riots were 10 miles away so not close, but.. Then Anti War in Chicago during the Chicago Seven trial and the assasination of Fred Hampton. Gay Liberation, WITCH, Socialists (too much CoIntelPro crazy). My brother’s girlfriend was at Kent State as were classmates of mine. It seemed like a long time with the hangover of the Mc Carthy witch hunt. But we had a pro civil rights administration and a liberal Supreme Court. Today it seems like there’s little way forward through the courts and a vast conspiracy controlling major media and gobbling up social media.

    We’ve got to find ways to empower today’s activists: organizing techniques, history, rhetoric, culture, interlocking interests, and strategy. Among others. Empowering community.

  219. 219.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Dan B:

    Also, if I can go off on a side rant: what the fuck is up with the cops in Oregon and Washington that they let people bring SHIELDS to a protest? LAPD would have that shit ripped out of people’s hands in 5 seconds flat, because they don’t want anyone to start brawls on their watch (well, anyone else … ?)

    Why in the hell are the cops in the Northwest letting right-wing “protesters” bring weapons to a march? That may be a useful thing to start pressuring the local cops about.

  220. 220.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 1, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    Cross-posting in this (mostly dead) thread and the most recent thread: ABC is reporting that the genesis for today’s obstructive tweet-storm was a communication from Mueller:

    Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office wants to ask President Donald Trump about obstruction of justice, sources close to the White House tell ABC News. According to sources, the president learned within the last day that the special counsel will limit the scope of questioning and would like to ask questions both orally and written for the President to respond to.

    Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/special-counsel-mueller-president-obstruction-justice-sources/story?id=56973384

  221. 221.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    @Dan B:

    But we had a pro civil rights administration and a liberal Supreme Court. Today it seems like there’s little way forward through the courts and a vast conspiracy controlling major media and gobbling up social media.

    IMO, that’s because liberals decided that the courts and government would magically stay liberal forever, so they didn’t have to pay attention to elections or legislation anymore.

    We don’t need more “activism.” We need more CANDIDATES. We need more VOTING. What we’re seeing right now is what happens when one side (liberals) decided that the battle was won and voting wasn’t important anymore.

    I’m at the exact opposite place you are: I think that NOT voting is what got us here, and using the tactics that worked when the courts and government were on the side of liberalism is going to work about as well as it did it Northern Ireland in the 1970s when Sinn Fein decided to emulate American Civil Rights and got massacred by the British, kicking off 30+ years of violent civil war.

    Voting and the electoral process is the ONLY thing that will prevent our country from turning into Northern Ireland during the Troubles. If there is no Blue Wave, then open civil war happens next.

  222. 222.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It’s good to hear that Black Bloc is localized. There was a neo Nazi lodge built in Redmond, home base of Microsoft, early in the twentieth century. The only one in the USA! Or so it’s told. The leaders were jailed but they led to the Aryan Nations. I hope they don’t tap a neo-billionaire. We’ve got enough problems without them.

  223. 223.

    Ruckus

    August 1, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    I have an acquaintance who warms up at 6 1/2 min miles. He run the marathon at the end of a full triathlon in under 6 min miles.
    That’s what’s known as not sweating the small stuff.

  224. 224.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    If there is no Blue Wave, then open civil war happens next.

    I remember when this was considered out of bounds crazy talk here.

    Was it just only 2 years ago?

  225. 225.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t believe we’re that far apart. Not voting had been a long neglected disease. It has many roots. My pet peeve is mass communication, but that’s a long story. I’m afraid we may be so far gone that the vote will be corrupted and leave people without alternatives and feeling hopeless. Or the outcome will be so weak that the administration will be able to continue on its path without effective pushback. We need some backup plans and the community building to prevent infighting and siloing. At this point “the movement” is so fractured that it could easily be coopted and thrown completely off course. There’s an abundance of purity grievance and an equal lack of strategic discussion let alone strategic planning. This paves the way for potential danger. So grest care is vital.

    Voting is numero uno. Second us community building. Third is consciousness raising (history, storytelling, culture, etc.) Details at eleven.

  226. 226.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Why in the hell are the cops in the Northwest letting right-wing “protesters” bring weapons to a march?

    Professional Courtesy.

  227. 227.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    there is NO organized nationwide movement for violence on either side.

    Not yet. Trump is dropping rather large hints that he’d certainly like one at his beck and call.

  228. 228.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @TenguPhule: Many scenarios are possible. We’ve had voter suppression, jailing kids, shooting unarmed black people, deportations, and more. So far it’s inspired a tepid response so I’m betting on a slow reversal of the rule of law and simmering resistance. Trump may be an incompetent administrator but his minions are all too bright, even DeVos marches onward.

    The left seems too diffused to mount a strategy. If we remain unfocused there will likely be many little fires for years.

  229. 229.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    @TenguPhule: The Police Union is very right wing. People here are trying to see through the wall of secrecy. We don’t know if there’s moneyed support or just connections to extremist groups.

  230. 230.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Dan B:

    so I’m betting on a slow reversal of the rule of law and simmering resistance.

    We’re there now. They’re pushing on multiple fronts against rule of law and whenever resistance weakens at any point, they start pushing harder so that the ground they’ve gained becomes the new normal.

    And the resistance has been loud…and neutered by the media. I couldn’t believe how fast the immigration abductions fell off the nightly news feeding frenzy. Its getting worse.

  231. 231.

    jl

    August 1, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Dan B:

    I read about Truman’s vision in a paper magazine in barbershop, so I have no link.
    Below is an internet link to his plans to expand desegregation from military to federal civil service, and mentions what housing policy he could enact backfired.

    Harry Truman and Civil Rights
    https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-civil-rights-movement-in-america-1945-to-1968/harry-truman-and-civil-rights/

    I tell people that both parties are to lesser (Dems) or greater (GOP) extent horribly corrupted by big corporate and rich man money, and have been screwing everybody who is not rich. So, Trump voters who went for him for populist reasons were fooled. I ask them to remember that FDR and Truman went after that kind of corrupt influence like gangbusters, unlike anything we’ve seen in at least 30 years. But if they think Truman wouldn’t be smeared today as playing the ‘race card’ by conservatives, they are forgetting history. I tell them that ordinary people should quit being duped and fighting each other and going after the real enemy: corrupt influence of money.

    That pitch seems to work on a lot of people. But, sadly, doesn’t work on the Trumpster in my Central Valley family, who have seem to have caught the bigot bug from the Trumpsters. They just get outraged and howl. Racism is a new and ugly thing in my family’s reactionaries. One teagagger uncle, since passed on, quit listening to Rush after he heard him go after minorities. But, the racism and xenophobia, and general bigotry pitch is such an important part of Trumpsterism, some people in my family are succumbing to it.

  232. 232.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @Dan B: If shit gets real, a whole lot of people are going to be caught flat-footed.

    May the odds be ever in your favor.

  233. 233.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @TenguPhule: Where would money come for that? The Kochs are out so the Mercers and Scaifes may be as well. Federal dollars will be hard to utilize, as of yet.

    Would christianists be able to rally white supremacists? Short of a false flag attack opportunity it would be tough to coordinate.

    Or so I hope.

  234. 234.

    Dan B

    August 1, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    @jl: Thanks much. Our barber doesn’t have magazines, sigh/

    Your narrative sounds excellent. We don’t watch FOX so don’t know their propaganda. Our winger trending relatives seem to be fear based and triggered by the resulting prejudice. Facts elicits a fussilage of talking points masking deep seated fears.

    We don’t wonder anymore how “Good Germans” looked the other way.

  235. 235.

    Platonailedit

    August 1, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    @LAO:

    although memos, phone calls, and recorded conversations may be used as evidence to establish this.

    Do ranting public tweets count?

  236. 236.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    @chopper: Just saw this… and laughed out loud. Yes, I have magic junk, and yes, my wife is always telling me to put it away!

  237. 237.

    Mnemosyne

    August 1, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    I remember when this was considered out of bounds crazy talk here.

    No, the out of bounds crazy talk from you was saying that electoral fixes were impossible and we needed to start the civil war immediately rather than waiting for the midterms.

  238. 238.

    Zeeecube

    August 1, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”

    Fifth Element?

  239. 239.

    TenguPhule

    August 1, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    @Dan B:

    Where would money come for that? The Kochs are out so the Mercers and Scaifes may be as well. Federal dollars will be hard to utilize, as of yet.

    So many people in the executive branch are stealing money from the Federal government in so many different ways that it would not surprise me at this point to find that they’ve squirreled away enough here and there to fund gods only know how many illegal operations/ventures.

  240. 240.

    J R in WV

    August 1, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    Not my district, but I sent him a check anyway. A small one, to be sure, because I be po’.

    Lurker, Beto is a statewide Texas candidate for US Senate. I know this in WV, nearly 1000 miles away. Wake up, dude!!

    Beto for US Senate, running against Raoul Eduardo Cruz, the candidate from Calgary, Canada, member of the US Senate from Republican Texas. And getting very close to Cruz right now. Not my district, indeed!!!!!

    Get out there and volunteer, no charge, free, just work hard for Beto!!!

  241. 241.

    The Midnight Lurker

    August 1, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @J R in WV: Did you read any of my other posts? I made the mistake of saying “district”, was called out on it, and immediately apologized. I know this is an old thread but I can’t let this pass. I do canvass for the democrats, including your good buddy Beto, who is running for Cruz’s seat, and who in their right mind wouldn’t want to see that fucker go. I do canvass, I do volunteer. As a matter of fact, I bet if we stacked up hours volunteering, I might best you. Here in Texas, which is a big state, there are lots and lots of things were trying to get done. You should come down and help out cause we’re a little short handed. Were you aware that there are other candidates on the ballot other than your buddy Beto? Other initiatives? We’re trying to save seats here. Beto would be a big coup, I’ll give you that – but not the whole pie. Get it?

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