Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I was promised a recession.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You cannot shame the shameless.

We still have time to mess this up!

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Friday Morning Open Thread: Remember When August Was A Slow News Season?

Friday Morning Open Thread: Remember When August Was A Slow News Season?

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Hard to imagine what the Friday News Dump might be this week…

So, it’s up to us decent people, as usual…

Reader Interactions

223Comments

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Rain most of Thursday, but not torrential chez NotMax. Occasional big winds. Storm has slowed to 6 mph, so harder to say when it will really impact. And now the forecasts are for it not to show a definitive shift westward (from NNW) until Saturday. However predictions are changing hourly.

    Have bounced between internet and internyet only a few times, some multi-hour power outages reported nearby but so far still on here.

  4. 4.

    J R in WV

    And so:

    Kyle Griffin ✔ @kylegriffin1
    · 6h

    Eric Swalwell told @maddow tonight that the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a meeting tomorrow on Hillary Clinton’s emails. The day after Michael Cohen’s plea agreement, that’s what was scheduled.

    These guys attempting to manage the largest and more complex organization in the world are clowns with a deep criminal background. Wasting time, effort, energy on a fruitless sniping expedition against one of the best humans in America, who without being elected to anything made it possible for disabled kids to go to school. But wait, duh, the theocrats hate that, giving crippled kids a way to escape the control of their xtian masters is evil!!

    Perhaps we could get enough of them arrested for felony violations to change the attitude of the remaining less criminal clowns. Just two or three Senators in jail would stop this landslide of fascist judicial appointments, for example.

    G’Morning, all, hope all our jackals in Hawaii are staying comfortable and dry!!

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    @J R in WV:

    But wait, duh, the theocrats hate that, giving crippled kids a way to escape the control of their xtian masters is evil!!

    Given how Jesus healed the lame, your sentence is jammed with irony.

    Unfortunately, putting senators in jail (on what charges?) would not slow the GOP down. They are behind Trump all they way, and see him as useful in getting their agenda done. And the clock may be ticking, so the Republicans have to get all they can from Trump before he self-destructs or is removed from office.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    So… I see that things were kind of… interesting, yeah that’s the word, during my brief hiatus.

  8. 8.

    oatler.

    Thinking of Eddie Barzoon’s late night shredding session in “The Devil’s Advocate”.

  9. 9.

    J R in WV

    OK, so now for the first time I’ve learned something important and timely from Twitter:

    Matt Horn
    ‏ @maxui
    Aug 22

    Dear #American friends.
    I am a White South African living in South Africa.
    I promise you the governement is not taking white owned land
    nor is there a white genocide being perpetuated here.
    Your president is a fucking loon,.
    Thanks
    Matt

    When Matt got to the sentence about the loon, that wasn’t the important news. Actually, maybe, on second thought, maybe it was. No telling where you will learn something if you keep you eyes open, is there.

  10. 10.

    raven

    We bit the bullet and bought a Niro yesterday. Even though there is lot of info that hybrids don’t save money and are not eco-friendly we are on the bus!

  11. 11.

    J R in WV

    @Brachiator:

    Irony intended, thanks.

    Unfortunately, putting senators in jail (on what charges?) would not slow the GOP down.

    Well, how about the same sorts of charges congressmen have been arrested for. If two R senators were in jail, they wouldn’t have the votes to confirm any appointments until they win some elections. I’m just hoping that R senators are just as honest as R congressmen… extending that to see what happens without those criminal votes.

    Perhaps Turtle could be busted for accepting something from someone he shouldn’t have? Total optimistic speculation. I would rather be asleep, personally, but since that doesn’t seem to be an option, I’ll just noodle around being optimistic.

    After all, it’s Friday now!!

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    @J R in WV:
    This latest right-wing absurdity circulating in America reminds me of the time some RWNJ claimed there were parts of Birmingham, Britain, where no non-Muslim dared set foot.

  14. 14.

    satby

    @NotMax: Good to hear it’s not been too bad so far, but potentially 50 inches of rain is frightening ?!
    Waiting for it to be over for you. And that it turns west soon.

  17. 17.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Brachiator:

    Given how Jesus healed the lame, your sentence is jammed with irony.

    Who said anything about Jesus? The conversation was about christians.

  20. 20.

    montanareddog

    @Brachiator:

    And the clock may be ticking, so the Republicans have to get all they can from Trump before he self-destructs or is removed from office.

    This illuminates a fundamental flaw of the US Constitution: if Trump, who appears to have cheated his way into office by illegally suppressing relevant info (the affairs) and with the support of manipulation by foreign powers, is somehow removed he will be replaced by Pence. But Pence got into office on the coattails of that same cheating. And with the pardon power, Pence can wholly legally make the whole thing go away and proceed to govern for another 2+ years.

    That there is no mechanism to force new elections is ridiculous. At least in Parliamentary systems, the government can fall.

  24. 24.

    Platonailedit

    Gullibles gonna be gullibled.

    Bots and Russian trolls spread misinformation about vaccines on Twitter to sow division and distribute malicious content before and during the American presidential election, according to a new study.

    Scientists at George Washington University, in Washington DC, made the discovery while trying to improve social media communications for public health workers, researchers said. Instead, they found trolls and bots skewing online debate and upending consensus about vaccine safety.

    The study discovered several accounts, now known to belong to the same Russian trolls who interfered in the US election, as well as marketing and malware bots, tweeting about vaccines.

    Russian trolls played both sides, the researchers said, tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine content in a politically charged context.

    “By playing both sides, they erode public trust in vaccination, exposing us all to the risk of infectious diseases. Viruses don’t respect national boundaries.”

  25. 25.

    Platonailedit

    Apparently, the totus is awake even after midnight, tweeting. Good, the fucker is getting worried.

  26. 26.

    Platonailedit

    Repost. Fuck the msm concern trolls

    Democrats strategy of keeping mum on impeachment in the halls of Congress is beginning to take its toll on Republicans.

    Not only does it force THEM to discuss impeachment – for the first time – but even Trump is talking about his own impeachment.#TheResistance set the table.

    — Grant Stern (@grantstern) August 23, 2018

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: I’d give you one but during my 3 days on the river Manafort has been found guilty, Cohen has pleaded guilty, and Pecker has flipped. Maybe if I spent a whole week on the river, Donny Jr would would be indicted, Ivanka would accuse trump of sexual assault when she was a child, and Eric Jr would flip. Just imagine what would happen if I was gone for a month.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    Friday hasn’t happened yet, but I think that it was a good week for our side. Mueller dropping an indictment would be absolutely delicious ? way to top off this week.

  35. 35.

    Platonailedit

    During the presidential campaign:

    * WSJ killed op-ed on Trump's mafia ties

    * Multiple outlets, most notably NYT, lied about Trump's Kremlin ties and FBI investigation after being briefed on them

    * Multiple outlets killed Trump porn star and hush money stories

    — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) January 18, 2018

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    You all do realize that we got to this point with Cohen because of a porn star…karma is indeed wicked and full of irony.??

  39. 39.

    Platonailedit

    The turd’s touch killed whatever little reputation they had
    nyt
    wikileaks/assange
    cnn

  45. 45.

    immanentize

    @NotMax: Good luck and stay safe!
    @raven: Cool on the Niro. Less fuel emission is a good thing no matter what. I just hooked up my rooftop solar Sunday. Every day, even when it’s been cloudy, I have returned more power to the grid than I used. It feels, at least, like I am doing something.

  46. 46.

    Cermet

    @Platonailedit: While certainly the russian bots need to be stopped but exactly how is being “Pro-vaccine” trolling? While their motives may be suspect I’d like to see how there is a downside to promoting vaccination? Are they showing data on herd protection and pointing out how those that don’t vaccinate their children are putting other children at risk? Oh, the terrible trolls …telling the truth is so very bad and might encourage people to post these facts … ;) While their purpose isn’t to really help, of course, in this case, there isn’t exactly any harm if they are providing the correct information.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @debbie:

    I still don’t understand what’s gotten into Sessions. I sure as hell don’t believe he’s doing this out of a sense it honor and duty.

  50. 50.

    gene108

    @montanareddog:

    The people, who wrote the Constitution did not want to copy Britain’s system of government, because they could not conceive of it without a king at the head, and they believed America was above having political factions vying for control of government.

    Given the fact the people writing the Constitution had very little to go on as models – they primarily had Britain and revolutionary France – I am surprised it has lasted* as long as it has.

    As far as Pence being able to pardon Trump, it already happened, when Nixon resigned and his former VP, now President Ford, pardoned him.

    Trump, and McConnell to a lesser extent, has shown so much of what made American government function is an honor system, held together by the belief voters would punish politicians for breaking it, and therefore nothing has been codified into law.

    * Also luck in having a man of Lincoln’s ability come to power, when the country was heading into civil war and FDR, when the economy looked hopeless.

  51. 51.

    Amir Khalid

    @debbie:
    About the killings of white South Africans? I think Fox put the story in a video on their YouTube channel. I saw it in the video’s title but didn’t feel like watching.

  53. 53.

    Jager

    Spent two weeks off line in an old house perched on a bluff over the Pacific in Westport CA. Spent the first week with my 14 year old grandson, we fished, hiked, built a drone and crashed it into the ocean due to pilot error. Mrs. J joined us the 2nd week after spending some time with her dad in New York. Then I winged off to my HS reunion, about 40% MAGATS and a lot of classmates look like beachballs with arms and legs. It was fun, mostly hung out with the people I’ve kept in touch with anyway. The old football coach showed up, man he is older than the game.

  55. 55.

    immanentize

    @Cermet:
    Did you ever read Ender’s Game? The point of the Russian trolls is to create a dispute and amplify the dispute. Just like Ender’s brother and sister did as Locke and Hobbs on the forums. The Russians want to draw people into the argument which hardens positions. And you can’t do that without exciting both sides of the debate. So they had to send out pro vaccine information in order to allow them to increase the antivax posting. See?

  58. 58.

    Lapassionara

    @raven: We had a hybrid and loved it. 48 mpg on the highway. IIRC, the studies that say they don’t save money assume that people get a new car every four or so years. We drove ours for more than ten years. The negative is the special battery, and those are getting better with each new model. I think you will be glad to have it.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    But that was before federal prosecutors investigating Cohen subpoenaed A.M.I. Pecker’s friendship with Trump now seems to be over. According to a source close to A.M.I., Pecker and Trump haven’t spoken in roughly eight months. Howard remains particularly angry at Trump, two people close to Howard told me. “There is no love lost,” one person familiar with Howard’s thinking said. Another person said Howard “hates Trump” and feels “used and abused by him.”

    So often with the Trump Administration you can’t even enjoy it when the co-conspirators flip because the flippers are such uniformly horrible people that you’re also pleased Trump screwed them. The worst people in the country, to a man or woman. The dregs.

  61. 61.

    JPL

    @immanentize: After the Manafort verdict and the Cohen plea, the bots were out in force, but this time spreading anti-immigration crap, because of the murder of Mollie Tibbetts.

  62. 62.

    immanentize

    @Kay: But somehow Trump makes them all feel that their relationship with him is special. That he really loves them. That they are in the grift together. That this time, dear, it will be different.

  63. 63.

    gene108

    @Cermet:

    Wonkette wrote a piece on how QAnon followers are alienated from their families. Knowing anti vaxxers it is the same sort of thing. People, who can be agreeable on many things, will get hostile, when one of their deeply held beliefs – vaccines have all sorts of bad side effects – gets put down. Real relationships can end, because you cannot convince the anti-vaxxer his/her position is wrong, because of constat reinforcement on social media,

    Wonkette piece https://www.wonkette.com/qanon-lawsuit

  64. 64.

    immanentize

    @JPL: You know, I actually find some cold comfort in the fact that, really, the only thing the right still has is anti-immigrant anger. Even the anti-Hillary stuff seems so weak.

  65. 65.

    Platonailedit

    @debit: Great read, thanks. There was a reason that Mueller filed so many ‘unreasonable’ charges. So many anchors tied to that thug.

    Loved this part.

    It’s also unlikely that a Trump pardon would at least get Manafort out of jail temporarily while awaiting state trials. Judge Amy Berman Jackson in D.C. took Manafort’s jury tampering so seriously that she revoked his bail. One of those state judges would probably deny bail, too, even if Manafort is pardoned for this alleged tampering. And that would put Manafort in state jail, not “Club Fed.” That’s another reason Manafort might not want a federal pardon: he might prefer federal prison over any state prison.

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    There may be some post-apartheid programme going on to encourage property ownership by non-whites. I didn’t watch that Fox video, so I don’t know what they’re claiming. But if white people’s property were being confiscated wholesale to achieve this, I doubt very much it could be kept secret from the rest of the world. I tend to believe that white South African man J R in WV quotes in #9: he says it ain’t happening.

  67. 67.

    But her emails!!!

    @Baud:
    Redistribution of land to compensate for losses during apartheid is a thing, although as far as I know, plans have revolved around turning over land held by the government combined with seizing land with compensation and redistributing it.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: White farmers: how a far-right idea was planted in Donald Trump’s mind

    On Wednesday night, the Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson once again talked about the alleged plight of white South African farmers on his Fox News program.

    On Twitter, Donald Trump indicated that he had been watching. The president’s tweet called for further study, but treated the “large scale killing of farmers” as a settled fact, when reporting indicates that against the background of a generally high murder rate in South Africa, there is no evidence of white farmers being specifically targeted.

    But Trump’s tweet came at the end of a long process whereby the far-right idea of “white genocide” in South Africa had been mainstreamed, working its way from far-right websites and forums, into the rightward edge of mainstream media, and then into policy proposals. News Corp outlets have played an outsized role in that process.

    More recent advocacy for South Africans on the racist far right has been brought about by the government’s moves on land reform, and some skilled and relentless entrepreneurship from the South African far right on the issue.

    A key figure in this enterprise is Simon Roche, a senior member of the millennialist, white nationalist and survivalist group the Suidlanders, who in their own words exist to “prepare a Protestant Christian South African Minority for a coming violent revolution”, or race war.

    In 2017, Roche traveled extensively in the United States and beyond, promoting the idea that whites in South Africa were under attack, and at risk of ethnic cleansing.

    Roche appeared not only at far-right conferences like “American Renaissance”, and on a whole range of “alt-right” podcasts, but also in interviews with “alt-light” figures with large, crossover audiences, such as Stefan Molyneux and Mike Cernovich.

    @Cermet: Russian trolls ‘spreading discord’ over vaccine safety online

    Bots and Russian trolls spread misinformation about vaccines on Twitter to sow division and distribute malicious content before and during the American presidential election, according to a new study.

    Scientists at George Washington University, in Washington DC, made the discovery while trying to improve social media communications for public health workers, researchers said. Instead, they found trolls and bots skewing online debate and upending consensus about vaccine safety.

    The study discovered several accounts, now known to belong to the same Russian trolls who interfered in the US election, as well as marketing and malware bots, tweeting about vaccines.

    Russian trolls played both sides, the researchers said, tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine content in a politically charged context.

    “These trolls seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord in American society,” Mark Dredze, a team member and professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, which was also involved in the study, said.

    “By playing both sides, they erode public trust in vaccination, exposing us all to the risk of infectious diseases. Viruses don’t respect national boundaries.”

  73. 73.

    immanentize

    @But her emails!!!: Yes, I remember reading that during the recent election, one issue was about how aggressive the various parts so intended to be about land reform and redistribution of government owned property….

    So again, a kernal of truth which was utterly buried in racist manure.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @immanentize:

    That they are in the grift together.

    This is cynical but after years of small town law practice I’ll tell you a hell of a lot of victims of cons got there because the con convinced them they were now on the “smart team” and screwing someone else. They WANT to be in on it. That’s the whole appeal. The whole fucking mess comes out of a bad place. There are not a lot of pure motives, for the scammer or the scammed. Trump knows this. It’s why he has so much contempt for them when they whine. He’s not wrong about that.

    They’re all bad. Some of them are criminals and some of it is actionable but it’s all bad.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Cermet: They could be overtly pro-vaccination but also act like an idiot or an irrational flamer, to discredit that side of the argument to people who value being reasonable.

    I’ve often thought that the point of some types of troll behavior is to goad the other side into freaking out in a manner that seems more irrational to people new to the debate. One could short-circuit the process by just playing the part of the freaker-outer.

  78. 78.

    Platonailedit

    Dear @realDonaldTrump -if you are concerned about voices being silenced, how do you feel abt a govt leader & his lawyer conspiring with National Enquirer to kill negative stories about him & doing hit pieces on said leader’s opponents? https://t.co/gKPIKQ3mPV— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) August 24, 2018

    The turd is whining again about soshul media ‘censorship’.

  79. 79.

    immanentize

    @debit: I would sure like to know more about that hold out. I have seen prosecutors go back over juror’s voir dire answers when they act so fervently as single hold out. There was a moment in the trial when the parties were having discussions about improper juror behavior. Usually that is something g like a juror posted something about the trial on Facebook. But sometimes there is more there. I wonder if the juror issue during trial related to this holdout. Also, with the information regarding the hold out, the prosecution is much more likely to retry Manafort on the 10 remaining charges.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Platonailedit, debbie,

    Sniff sniff… You guys hurt my feeling and it’s the only one I’ve got left after I had all the other’s surgically removed. (I considered suing the quack for missing the one in the little toe on my left foot)

    Jay, I will not be bought (but I can be rented)

    @JPL: It was a pleasant 3 day interlude of beautiful weather, stunning vistas, good conversations with an long time running buddy, and shitty fishing.

  81. 81.

    debit

    @immanentize: There was actually an article about this person. Can’t remember where I found it (maybe WaPo?) but that day there was a massive delay in the proceedings, that one juror sent a message to the judge and said, essentially, “the other jurors are talking shit about Manafort and ignoring your instructions.” The judge interviewed her, and the other jurors, who denied it, and the complainer eventually said, “I have nothing more to say.” The trial resumed, so obviously it was a nothing burger, but it doesn’t sound like she made many friends in her pool. My guess? She really was trying to cause a mistrial and fuck shit up, in an effort to help Trump/Manafort.

  84. 84.

    Kristine

    @Brachiator:

    And the clock may be ticking, so the Republicans have to get all they can from Trump before he self-destructs or is removed from office.

    Thing is, that only works if Pence is removed as well. He’s the one behind the scenes helping to push all this crap along.

    As for McConnell, he merits his very own Circle of Hell. Except he’d probably push out the Devil and take his job.

  85. 85.

    low-tech cyclist

    “There can be no whitewash at the White House.” – Richard Nixon, April 30, 1973

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Platonailedit:

    You had to end with one belly aching point, dontcha?

    Yes.

    The trip is over. Didn’t want to be on the river when the wkend “hordes” showed up. (this particular river doesn’t get all that much attention during the summer, but we certainly would have seen more the the 3 boats and 6 people we did over the past 3 days)

  88. 88.

    montanareddog

    @gene108:

    As far as Pence being able to pardon Trump, it already happened, when Nixon resigned and his former VP, now President Ford, pardoned him.

    I know that, of course. But Nixon was not an illegitimate president. Despite CREEP, he would have won easily anyway and it did not seem unreasonable that his VP succeeded him.

    This time feels very different because, without the cheating, Trump (and then Pence in the scenario we are discussing) would not have been president. The fact that a beneficiary of the cheating can assume power, and pardon the cheaters, and kill the investigation into the how the cheating happened seems a fundamental issue to me. Nixon got off but his cronies did not. This GOP would have no qualms about a pardon for Trump’s whole family and crew.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    If Trump shot Michael Cohen in broad daylight, here’s what Republicans would say

    House speaker Paul Ryan: “If these reports are true – I emphasize IF – then yes, I’m very concerned. I don’t think the president should be killing people in broad daylight in front of Tiffany’s. But I’m not a legal expert, I could be wrong.”

    White House press secretary Sarah Sanders:
    Associated Press: “Ms Sanders, did the president shoot his former lawyer in an effort to stop him from testifying against the president?”
    Sarah Sanders: “No, he did not.”
    AP: “Are you saying that the shooting was not motivated by Mr Cohen’s recent plea deal, or rather that the president did not shoot him?”
    SHS: “You’ve got my answer, Jim. No, no, no.”
    AP: “Ms Sanders, I’m still not clear what –”
    SHS: “The answer is no. No as in no. N. O. It’s these kinds of questions that have turned the American people against the press.”

    CNN:
    Anderson Cooper: “We’re seeing incredible images here. The president being taken into custody. Kellyanne, what can you tell us?”
    Kellyanne Conway: “I’m not going to comment on rumors, Anderson.”
    AC: “Kellyanne, these are not rumors. The president has handcuffs around his wrists. You’re seeing the same footage we are.”
    KC: “You’re free to see things your way. I have an alternative perception.”
    AC: “But how can you possibly –”
    KC: “Let’s agree to disagree, Anderson!”

    Senator Mitch McConnell:
    “People die every day in this country. I’m not going to let myself get sidetracked by these distractions.”

    More at the link.

  95. 95.

    Shell

    So Hunter is now blaming his wife. Is there some new Scumbag of the Year award this guy is vying for?

  96. 96.

    sherparick

    @Brachiator: Another thought that occurred to me last night, and explains McConnell, Hatch, Grassley, and Graham becoming Trump’s leading champions in the Senate for firing Sessions (and thereby Rosenstein and Mueller and stop all this prosecuting of Republicans and their donors) is that I expect many in the donor class of the Republican Party (that 1,000 or so families of billionaires and multi-millionaires who always know they will get a call back in person from their Senator or Speaker Ryan), saw what Manafort just got convicted of and they, like Trump, had the thought “hey, I have done the same thing as Manafort (evade taxes while using foreign bank accounts, file false tax returns, etc.), except with much more money. If they can send Manafort to jail for that they could send me to jail to!!! Time to shut this Muelller shit down!! Time to start prosecuting Democrats for bad email practices and registering black voters!!,” and so communicate this thought to Senators McConnnell, Grassley, Graham, and Hatch. Hence, the day after the convictions of Manafort and Cohen’s guilty plea, these Senators signal that they are fine with Trump firing Sessions.

  100. 100.

    sherparick

    @J R in WV: Tell Matt, more than half of us know he is a loon. The problem is 40% of the country is as loony as he is and have been for 60 years. And also, most of ruling rich are loony also.

  101. 101.

    dlw32

    I know I’m annoying but I hate when they do this… that pie chart is wrong… flat out wrong. At a glance implies that one third (33%) of the eligible voters aren’t voting based on the size of the wedges.

    It’s actually 45% assuming their numbers are correct. So why not draw the pie chart with right proportions? Then at a glance you’d see that not quite half the pie are people who need to gather a clump of crap right now!

  102. 102.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Very good news from Randolph County, GA: Within the last hour, the Board of Elections determined that all nine polling places will remain open on Election Day in this rural, majority African American county.

    Yay!

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @montanareddog:

    it did not seem unreasonable that his [Nixon’x] VP succeeded him.

    Ford was never elected — just appointed by Nixon as VP. It was similar in that Ford was appointed, many said, because he had agreed to pardon Nixon. We may never know, but Pence probably has a better argument to the office and its powers than Ford did.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Platonailedit: I know. At the end of day one, a husband and wife duo in a canoe paddled past and he said in a very friendly way, “We always camp here.” to us. I replied, “Hey! You’re intruding upon our peace and tranquility here!”

  108. 108.

    JPL

    @Immanentize: The consultant was recommended by the republican running for governor.
    Brian Kemp is currently Secretary of State and has purged hundreds of thousands from the voters list, so it’s no surprise that he would recommend the consultant.

  110. 110.

    Central Planning

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    and shitty fishing.

    All fishing is shitty. Especially ice fishing.

    This past week, I was with a bunch of cow orkers and they were discussing ice fishing, and one guy mentioned he catches perch. Another person had never heard of that kind of fish, so I told them it was named perch because they like to rest on sunken branches at the bottom of lakes, like they are perching on them.

    I may have forgotten to tell them that is not true.

  111. 111.

    RedDirtGirl

    Thinking of NotMax and everyone in Hawaii. Be safe!
    OT? Gotta vent for a minute. Going through elderly parent shit right now. My 86 year old dad had a bad summer. Congestive heart failure, minor heart attack, in and out of the hospital, now much weaker and frailer than ever. Has been falling. A lot. He and his 76 yo wife spend most of the time in Spain (her country), but he always comes to the states for a few months in the summer and she joins him for part of that time. She didn’t come early when he was hospitalized here back in June, and she still plans on heading back without him on Labor Day, leaving him alone, with my sister in the next town. I have expressed my concern with this plan, but she is pissed that I won’t just pretend everything is hunky dory. I’m heading up there this weekend. OK. Just had to put this out into the world. Now I’ll get back to work. Thanks for “listening”, jackals.

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Immanentize:

    Right. They terminated his contract a couple of days ago. The BoE vote was just this morning.

    @JPL:

    It’s insane and offensive beyond belief that Kemp refuses to step down as Secretary of State during his campaign for governor.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Central Planning:

    All fishing is shitty. Especially ice fishing.

    Fishing is an excuse to drink beer, especially before noon. Ice fishing is an excuse to drink brandy, especially before you walk, ski, skate, drive out onto the ice.

  115. 115.

    Zinsky

    Mitch McConnell and Roger Stone have done more damage to American democracy over the past 25 years than almost any other human beings. McConnell engineering the theft of Merrick Garland’s rightful Supreme Court seat is the single most perfidious act. Stone has helped at least three vile and unqualified men become president (Reagan, Dubya and Trump) through sheer treachery, misinformation campaigns and vote suppression. Both shut have their noses flattened before they are imprisoned for the rest of their putrid lives.

  116. 116.

    Central Planning

    @OzarkHillbilly: I actually used to fish all the time as a kid. Usually caught snapper and flounder.

    Now, I’d rather do all the stuff associated with fishing and just not the fishing part.

  118. 118.

    Jeffro

    Great piece up over at TPM : Manafort knows the whole story

    Too bad he won’t roll over on Trumpov, ’cause Paulie most certainly does know everything on both sides (RICO and Russia)

    …So Trump pardons Manafort. Manafort is free and clear no matter what. There seems little question that a President who took a bribe would be committing a crime, one he could be prosecuted for after leaving office. Indeed, I don’t think we have to guess. Consider that there was an extensive investigation into Bill Clinton’s last day in office pardons, particularly the pardon of Marc Rich. Small world. Mary Jo White was originally appointed to investigate the matter. She was later replaced by none other than James Comey in 2002. The investigation finally concluded in 2004 with no finding of illegality.

    We don’t need to rehearse the specifics of the Marc Rich pardon. The key is that the existence of the investigation makes clear that no one thought that there could be no crime as a constitutional matter. In other words, it was apparently treated as a given that as a matter of law and constitution it was possible for Clinton to have committed a crime in pardoning Marc Rich – presumably by some sort of bribery. The facts just didn’t back it up. So this does not seem far-fetched. And this would not be just any pardon. It appears to be the one Trump knows might be necessary to keep the full truth from ever coming to light.

    As a separate matter, let me go back to my “We Know Trump is Guilty” post from last week. As I said, by the terms I explained, we already know Trump is guilty. If he is this deep into the planning of pardoning Paul Manafort, someone with whom he has little personal relationship and who has clearly committed a host of financial crimes, we really, really know Trump is guilty. Indeed, we have a key additional fact in hand which we may have strongly suspected but did not know: Paul Manafort must know things that could destroy Trump, members of Trump’s family or both. There is no other plausible explanation for this commitment to grabbing the pardon kryptonite by the hands and swallowing it whole. Scratch that. There’s no other explanation, plausible or not.

    Rudy Giuliani is telling the Post that over the “last two to three weeks” (in other words, over the course of the Manafort trial) Trump has “expressed anger and frustration about how [Manafort] has been treated.” “He feels Manafort has been mistreated. Nobody in a case like this get’s (sic) raided in the middle of the night, put in solitary confinement.”

    As we strongly suspect from Mueller’s pursuit of Manafort, the Special Counsel Office’s appears to believe that it is Manafort who knows the full story. This appears to be something on which Trump and his nemesis, former FBI Director Mueller, agree.

  122. 122.

    JPL

    @Immanentize: Since GA Tech is on your son’s list, you should make some popcorn and watch Deliverance together. As the crow flies, the high school is fairly close to me and before a game against a high school from northern GA, the local school played Dueling Banjo’s which I could hear from my deck. It was creepy.

  123. 123.

    Wumpus

    The US is on its second republic; the first was from 1781-1788 under the Articles of Confederation.

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    Fox News dot com’s #1 story right now, despite the Manfort conviction, Cohen plea deal, Pecker immunity, National Inquirer’s “killed Trumpov stories vault”, and president* whining that “flipping is unfair” is…Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s using Uber instead of ‘regular’ taxis. Liberal hypocrite!!

    It’s great. There will always be some liberal, somewhere, doing something to feed the Outrage Machine. Closest thing to perpetual motion man has ever invented.

  126. 126.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: My wife has been saying I’m all wrong for years.

    @Central Planning: I still like to fish but my idea of the perfect fishing trip is sitting on the bank of some deep river hole late at night with a couple poles, some bait at the end of tight lines, and little bells on the rod tips to let me know a catfish has decided to intrude on my lat night reveries. Unfortunately, I tend to fall asleep by 9PM.

  127. 127.

    The Other Chuck

    @Cermet: The pro-vax “trolls” posted the article to attract comments by the anti-vax trolls (all bots mind you). The purpose was solely to ignite a flamewar and create divisions, so they were acting in bad faith and therefore very much trolls.

  132. 132.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I saw that too. I am sure Twitler would like to pardon Paulie, but it just makes him (Twitler) look even more guilty and doesn’t even get Manafort out of jeopardy.

    My worry is that they’ll let him out on bail and then he’s gone. I want him in the hole until he’s worm food.

  133. 133.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @OzarkHillbilly: We went backpacking in the Adirondacks one summer. First day’s campsite, half a day’s walk into the woods, was on the shores of Cranberry Lake. Nobody around. We hadn’t even seen another soul on the trail.

    As we were enjoying the solitude we noticed a boat on the lake. And it was moving toward our part of the lake. And then actually turning our way. And getting closer. And then it landed (there was a canoe landing spot near us, though I don’t recall an actual pier) and 40 young people tromp off the boat and march past us into the woods. The last one turns, grins at us, and says “enjoy your wilderness experience!”

    I was aware that the SUNY Forestry school had a summer camp in the area, but this was still unexpected. At any rate we didn’t see them again, and the remainder of the trip continued pretty much in isolation except for a ranger or two.

  135. 135.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @JR: So if we follow the French path, is 2020 when we’re due for the tumbrels? I”m good with that.

  136. 136.

    p.a.

    @OzarkHillbilly: Best fishing story I have not involving hook/human interfaces: I was trout fishing, wading stationed knee deep on an outside bend of a river, late spring, when I hear upstream (to my left) a commotion. Loud canoers. Oh well, nice day, I can wait out the disturbance. 2 Coleman canoes come into view, 2 guys in each, giving the impression they’re feeling… pretty good. No paddles, they’re using cheap hardware store snow shovels- straight wood handles, orange plastic scoops. I almost fell in from laughing. Bunch of Bud 6 packs hanging off the canoes in the water. Got them to throw me a couple cans as they passed by. Fish caught? Can’t remember…

  137. 137.

    Procopius

    @gene108: Minor quibble: the people writing the constitution did not have revolutionary France as a model. The draft of the constitution was completed in 1787. As my Google search tells me, “The Constitution was written during the Philadelphia Convention—now known as the Constitutional Convention—which convened from May 25 to September 17, 1787. It was signed on September 17, 1787.” The French Revolution did not begin until June 14, 1789. However there were other constitutions in existence, and other republics. The delegates to the Philadelphia Convention were well read in history. Machiavelli wrote The Prince, for example, in 1513, and a history of the Republic of Florence, as well as a translation of Titus Livius’s history of the Roman Republic, in which he developed thoughts about an ideal republic. Since you bring the subject up, I think I need to read more about what the sources actually were the the Founders adopted. History is so cool.

  138. 138.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: From the article:

    But there is no way Kavanaugh should be confirmed while he may be the deciding vote on a case directly impacting double jeopardy law and the Trump investigation.

    That’s true, there is no way he SHOULD be confirmed under those circumstances. But does any of us believe this kind of conflict of interest will even be considered by the Senate?

  140. 140.

    The Other Chuck

    @gene108: Revolutionary France did not exist until two years after the Constitution was finalized. France in fact informed some of its system from ours.

    Our system of law however is an unbroken line straight from Britain, with the governing authorities changed of course.

  141. 141.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    That is the deal. Sessions recuses himself and defends the investigation, and Mueller doesn’t X. I’m not sure what X is, but we’re spoiled for choice. ‘Dump a pile of evidence he already has on Sessions into state courts’ is a good one. ‘Tell his IC buddies to leak every embarrassing fact of Sessions’ life’ is another. It’s not like Sessions feels any loyalty to Trump to begin with, and he’s smarter than the other gibbering monkeys surrounding The Orange Stain. As long as he had some way to keep Trump from firing him – and he clearly does – he would let Trump go down in flames for two bucks and a chance to horsewhip a negro. The racist bastard is getting both.

  142. 142.

    The Other Chuck

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I have every bit of faith that every last Senate Republican will in the end turn out to be a craven despicable cowardly traitor. And more than a few Democrats. Get used to saying “Justice Kavanaugh”.

  143. 143.

    Librarian

    @gene108: The constitution was written before the French Revolution. The framers’ primary sources were the British constitution, the colonial governments, and the new state constitutions.

  145. 145.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @p.a.: My own personal favorite fishing memory does not involve intruders, quite the opposite in fact. Back packing in the Big Horn mountains, heading up Florence Canyon made day 2 camp below the Powell lakes. Late night discussions led me and my compatriot Ken to get up at 4 am to make the hike from app 9,000 ft to Powell lakes at app 11,000 ft. I remember at one point losing the trail and finding ourselves inching along a ledge on a 300′ high shear face (or at least my memory says it was) in the predawn darkness and looking down to see a 100′ waterfall some distance below us.(again, or at least my memory says it was) We reached the lakes just as the sun rose over Mather (??) Peak behind us and the above timberline grasses and bare crags took on an otherworldly glow that warmed my half frozen digits, and all the while the lakes were 2 perfect deep blue sapphires in a golden setting.

    I felt like I was standing at the beginning of time.

    Oh yeah, we caught a half dozen foot + long cutthroat trout for breakfast that tasted so good the late sleepers in our crew said, “Screw the trail, let’s go get more.”

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    @montanareddog:
    Oh it can obviously fail here as well. There’s just little to be done about it except watch it explode and hope that we can vote the assholes out to start over. After all we did start with a revolution. Why should there be any other way but the American way?

  148. 148.

    Repatriated

    @Baud: I can, though it’d be not so much a formal deal as the understanding that anything short of maximum effort to stay in his position and protect the investigation would be construed as obstruction if justice.

  150. 150.

    Yarrow

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Sessions made the first deal with Mueller. That’s my bet.

    Yes. He made that deal very, very early and that’s part of why he won’t leave. He can’t. Trump will have to fire him. Of course he likes the job and being able to hurt people, so bonus for him. But the real thing keeping him there is that he cannot leave due to the deal he made.

  151. 151.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Frank Thorp V @ frankthorp
    CORKER calls Trump’s South Africa tweet “a base stimulator”

    Q: What do you mean? What is his base that would be stimulated?

    CORKER:“Well, there are portions of those who support the president that are—I’m sure that generates excitement. I mean, it’s—you know what I’m saying…”

    …. but I’m too chickenshit to say it out loud, the Senator did not conclude

  152. 152.

    Yarrow

    @Frankensteinbeck: There’s plenty of “X” to choose from with Sessions and what he’s hiding. But let’s start with his connections to Russia and all those contacts he “forgot” to mention during his confirmation process. They have him on that sort of thing and plenty more that isn’t public. He’s a traitor and the only reason he’s still there is he’s protecting the Mueller investigation.

  153. 153.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Platonailedit: And Putin just lets these a-holes do what ever they want? Does he realize that kind of stuff will come back and bite Russia in the south end? It’s not like the Russian population is isolated and the only information they get is state approved like during Stalin, these dumb ideas can infect the Russian population too.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    The most unreported story on @Rep_Hunter? You cannot maintain a security clearance if you can’t manage your personal finances. It makes you susceptible to being turned by spies. Did I miss his being revoked? If not how did/does he have a clearance?
    Overdrafted 1100 times?

    I don’t know about spies but I wouldn’t hire Hunter or his wife because they are morons. Do something. Buy overdraft insurance. Get a loan. Reduce your expenses. Have someone who can read a bank statement help you. Do something. But to just keep paying the penalties? 1100 times? My God.

  157. 157.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Cermet:

    While certainly the russian bots need to be stopped but exactly how is being “Pro-vaccine” trolling?

    It is when you have a sock puppet account that’s Anti-Vac posting at the same time.

  158. 158.

    Elizabelle

    @The Other Chuck: I have every bit of faith that you are full of crap for saying that so authoritatively at this point. This is not normal times. Kavanaugh is a terrible nominee. Appointed by a possibly illegitimate POTUS who is in deep legal jeopardy.

    I don’t think there is any reason we should get used to saying “Justice Kavanaugh.” Fight it, fight it, fight it.

    You are an impotent blowhard.

  159. 159.

    Elizabelle

    29 days left of summer. Today is a gorgeous clear and almost cool day in central VA. Yesterday felt like early fall.

    Happy Friday, jackals.

  160. 160.

    Yarrow

    @Elizabelle: Summer cannot end soon enough. Hate it.

    @Elizabelle: Speaking of this, is everyone calling their Senators asking them to delay the Kavanaugh nomination process? I was going to do it yesterday and I completely spaced out and forgot. I’ll do it today. We all need to be leaning on our Senators about it, both Republicans and Democrats. Let them know we’re here.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    WSJ reporting that Alan Weisselberg, basically trump’s accountant, has been granted immunity

  164. 164.

    Elizabelle

    @Yarrow: I love all the seasons. And the summer produce.

    Yes, calling is good. Lucky enough to live in Virginia, with the marvelous Tim Kaine and Mark Warner as senators. Planning to call relatively moderate Republicans’ district offices, and to write to the senators. History is not going to treat them kindly if they rubberstamp Trump’s nominee, knowing what they know now.

    Yarrow: in which state do you live?

  167. 167.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    If we’re just finding out about Weisselberg now, did trumpy already know about it when he went on his rant about ‘flippers’ yesterday? or was that Wednesday? I’m caught in the trump time warp

  168. 168.

    Elizabelle

    @Gin & Tonic: That sounds wonderful! We lived in Newport, RI for a spell when I was in grade school. Loved it! One of my 4 favorite places ever lived. (Military brat.)

    I went to a Fidos After Five at the local botanical garden. Busiest evening I have seen there all summer; glorious weather, happy dogs, people eating and drinking wine and beer. Good music, a 7-piece band including horns that played everything from Al Green’s Love and Happiness to Uptown Funk.

    Got to enjoy weather like yesterday’s. It is a gift.

  169. 169.

    debit

    @Elizabelle: I love summer, even the crappy hot and humid parts. No day is so awful that I can’t either ride my bike or hit a lake for some pathetic attempt at kayaking. Unless it’s raining; then I can curl up with a cat or two and nap.

    Happy Friday to you as well!

  171. 171.

    Elizabelle

    @debit: I think I might go ride a bike in a bit. Too nice not to.

    Rain or terrible weather is good too. Gives one an excuse to stay indoors and enjoy reading or whatever.

  172. 172.

    rikyrah

    The day just keeps getting good :)

    Allen Weisselberg, Longtime Trump Organization CFO, Is Granted Immunity in Cohen Probe
    Weisselberg earlier this year was subpoenaed to testify before grand jury

  175. 175.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @sherparick: Maybe, but also keep in mind they are career politicians, know Trump is a dead man walking now and telling Trump sweet little lies to keep the toddler in chief from breaking the GOP by doing some truly dumb. It’s quite easy to see Trump if he felt cornered trying to blackmail the country by crashing the economy by imposing a 100% trade tariffs on all imports or something similar. Remember Trump did say yesterday if he was impeach there would be a recession.

  176. 176.

    Elizabelle

    The Weisselberg news is a game changer, methinks.

    Also, NYC Attorney General Cyrus Vance Jr. considering going after The Trump Organization. Tax fraud, whatever else turns up as a result of Michael Cohen (and now, Allen Weisselberg).

    I wonder if Weisselberg always knew The Donald would land him in the crosshairs.

  178. 178.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Another: Lanny Davis identifies Allen Weisselberg as Trump exec who received Michael Cohen’s Stormy ‘retainer’ invoices – which got plussed up to $420,000

    Cohen’s attorney identified the chief financial officer of the Trump organization as the person Cohen sent invoices to
    After paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 he submitted invoices as a lawyer on ‘retainer’ with the company
    He hand-wrote $50,000 for ‘tech services’ as an additional charge
    Also billed $35 for a wire fee
    His fees were then ‘grossed up’ for tax purposes so he wouldn’t see them diminished, and he got an additional $60,000 bonus
    Davis first said invoices went to the CFO, then named Weisselberg
    He later backed off an said he was ‘guessing’ and that he didn’t
    Weisselberg was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury investigating, it was reported last month
    Charging document mentions an ‘Executive-1’ as well as ‘Executive-2’ who signed off for approval
    The company inaccurately put them down as ‘legal expenses’
    Weisselberg runs the Trump Organization with Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump

  179. 179.

    Platonailedit

    Time to make a new enemies list, I guess.

    People providing info to federal prosecutors about hush money payments:
    • Michael Cohen
    • Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg• American Media CEO David Pecker
    • American Media CCO Dylan Howard

    https://t.co/fsfZREtZxz

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 24, 2018

  180. 180.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    I don’t know about spies but I wouldn’t hire Hunter or his wife because they are morons.

    Well, according to Dun-con, it’s only his wife who is the problem, because she handled all the finances. I’m so old that I can remember, back when they were indicated, someone wondering how long it would take for one of them to shiv the other. Apparently the answer is “Less than 48 hours.” If I were Dun-con, and I were “sleeping” in the same bed as Margaret Hunter, I would dose up heavily on the meth or caffeine.

    Alexa, order ALL THE POPCORN!

  183. 183.

    Elizabelle

    John McCain stopping any cancer treatment. Sign he is in his last days. NY Times breaking news.

  184. 184.

    Immanentize

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Elizabelle:
    I should point out that just because people are granted immunity (Wesselberg, Pecker, Howard, etc.) does NOT necessarily mean that they flipped or cut a deal. Prosecutors often grant immunity to secure grand jury testimony of smaller fishes, whether those people want to testify or not. Then, immunized, if they do not spill everything — and I do mean everything including documents, records, emails, texts, etc. — they they are on the hook for contempt of court or perjury. Immunity is a wicked tool of prosecutors.

  185. 185.

    Martin

    Update on the midterms. Here in CA-45, I’m getting polled multiple times per day for the congressional race – something completely new. We have a great candidate, Elizabeth Warren protege Katie Porter. She’s not the most polished politician, but she knows her shit, has great policies, and will do the actual job of representing the district. This isn’t the first time we’ve had two females (Republican Mimi Walters is the incumbent) to choose from in this district, nor the first time I knew the Democratic candidate personally (family friend Beth Krom).

    The race is basically a dead-heat, but Mimi’s internal polling must be pretty bad because she tweeted out last night that she’s holding hearings on climate change and its devastating impact on CA droughts and wildfires. She has a 4% approval record with the league of conservation voters. She’s been toeing the GOP line on climate forever.

    I’m going to go out on a limb and predict I never see a canvasser for Mimi. I’ve already met 4 for Katie since the primary – pretty sure none of them ever canvassed before based on the interaction, and I’ll be jumping in to help soon. Feeling a little optimistic here. We’re one of the tipping point races, so we’ve got to pull this one out. Fundraising is going pretty well:

    Candidate Raised Spent Cash on Hand Last Report
    Mimi Walters (R) • Incumbent $2,926,804 $1,795,463 $1,524,411 06/30/2018
    Katie Porter (D) $2,067,985 $1,287,154 $780,831 06/30/2018

    Katie’s a bit behind, but she had to spend on the primary where Mimi didn’t, and being that close to an incumbent is pretty good. I expect DCCC is going to unload on this race for once, and Katie will definitely have the volunteer advantage.

  186. 186.

    Platonailedit

    Finally, the mofo’s years of tax evasions, money laundering, racketeering and other financial skulduggery will see the light of the day. It should have been done years ago.

  189. 189.

    cain

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    It’s insane and offensive beyond belief that Kemp refuses to step down as Secretary of State during his campaign for governor.

    It’ completely unethical. If he’s unethical now, think of what he’ll be as governor.. There needs to be some serious attack ads against him. Nevermind that he’s been purging voter rolls.

  190. 190.

    A Ghost To Most

    Oh, hell yes. The fraudulent and fragile wall Shitler built around himself is caving in on him and his family.

    Fuckem. Fuckem ALL.

  194. 194.

    cain

    @Jeffro:

    Fox News dot com’s #1 story right now, despite the Manfort conviction, Cohen plea deal, Pecker immunity, National Inquirer’s “killed Trumpov stories vault”, and president* whining that “flipping is unfair” is…Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s using Uber instead of ‘regular’ taxis. Liberal hypocrite!!

    Considering that pretty much everyone uses Uber/Lyft in most of the cities, I don’t think this is going to really work unless you’re some 80 year old who is afraid of their cell phone.

  196. 196.

    Martin

    I think the news that Trump was picking front page stories for the Natl. Enquirer has some pretty serious implications. That suggests that it was not an independent entity but one that was effectively part of the Trump campaign. Not only is that illegal, but it pretty much annihilates any first amendment defense AMI would put up. I think AMI as a corporation is pretty fucked here.

    Once Trump’s kids are named in indictments by the state, and Trump realizes he can’t pardon them, he’s going to completely lose his shit.

  199. 199.

    Martin

    @cain:

    I don’t think this is going to really work unless you’re some 80 year old who is afraid of their cell phone.

    So, Republicans, then.

  200. 200.

    JPL

    @Immanentize: In your opinion, if he is called on to testify again would he be likely to be granted immunity for that testimony? I’m looking for a snowball effect.

  201. 201.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF: Surrender Donald. LOL. Good on the wags who put that one up.

    I was never in Maryland enough to tire of seeing the Mormon Temple. Loved seeing it loom up on the beltway, or catching a glimpse when in Maryland neighborhoods. (Being from Virginia, MD seems quite exotic to me!)

  203. 203.

    Immanentize

    @Elizabelle: Exactly. And maybe LAO covered this as well, but when people said Cohen made no deal, they are missing the whole long procedure that is a federal criminal case. Cohen’s “deal” was the very charges to which he pleaded guilty. Now, he has no fifth amendment right to not incriminate himself on those charges, so — to get the most favorable sentencing for the crimes he pleaded guilty to, he must give the prosecutor and court complete and accurate information about everything he knows about those cases. This would include a visit of two to a grand jury…. If he doesn’t come completely clean,not only does he risk perjury or contempt charges regarding the grand jury, he will not be able to claim his “substantial assistance” and ” acceptance of responsibility” bonus points in his federal sentencing which can allow the judge to greatly reduce his presumptive sentence.

  206. 206.

    Elizabelle

    David just put up a fresh thread, starring Weisselberg and Cohen. Hope they live up to their comic and star billing.

    @MattF: I love Maryland’s neighborhoods, and all the winding leafy roads with homes from the 1920s to 40s. Not cookie cutter. Had a job for a florist, briefly, delivering high end arrangements, and really enjoyed driving the unfamiliar. Virginia, of course, has beautiful neighborhoods and landscapes too. I loved how some of Montgomery County turned rural, not so terribly far from the beltway.

  207. 207.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: Who is he? Cohen? Oh yes, he will be called again. I think his attorney has already been trying to correct a bit of his previous Senate testimony…. But No one needs to give Cohen immunity — as I said up above, his guilty plea has the very same effect as a grant of immunity.

  209. 209.

    Aleta

    Thousand curses on the Republicans in Congress who will start to slink back from T or shift gears in their mouth after blocking investigations as long as they could. To get their touchdown on taxes and get the fix in on healthcare-finance-environment.

  210. 210.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Elizabelle:

    . I loved how some of Montgomery County turned rural, not so terribly far from the beltway.

    And turned into Fredneck. I.Do.Not.Miss.

  211. 211.

    catclub

    @Cermet: read the post again:

    Russian trolls played both sides, the researchers said, tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine content in a politically charged context.

    “By playing both sides, they erode public trust in vaccination, exposing us all to the risk of infectious diseases. Viruses don’t respect national boundaries

    .”

    They generated controversy for the sake of controversy

  214. 214.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF: Yes. Noticed that. Maryland is much better with land planning for green space. (Although they failed massively with allowing development above Ellicott City.)

  216. 216.

    BlueGirlFromWyo

    @Shell: This isn’t new to Hunter. Blaming the wife was Bob McDonnell’s schtick too. Why any woman would marry a GOP politician is beyond me.

  218. 218.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    When I got home from being in the Navy, New River had not yet become a “National River” with the Park service and nationwide publicity. We could go down to the mouth of Glade Creek, which caused great wide sandy beaches on the river bank, and camp and fish. For as long as we wanted to.

    There was no one else there. One or two fishermen might float by on a weekend, and the huge unit trains and daily Amtrak trains across the river. But that was it. No one else. No more. National Rivers get a lot of traffic, compared to the same quality river without the recognition.

    There has been good development, the Park Service is trying to preserve some of the history, the ghost towns are no longer being pillaged for building material, etc. But a lot of people now. Good for the local economy! Formerly nearly deceased coal towns are tourist meccas all summer long.

  220. 220.

    Brachiator

    @sherparick:

    and they, like Trump, had the thought “hey, I have done the same thing as Manafort (evade taxes while using foreign bank accounts, file false tax returns, etc.), except with much more money. If they can send Manafort to jail for that they could send me to jail to!!!

    Interesting point. I recently listened to a conservative podcast where the guests suggested that tax evasion really should not be a crime. And that rich people should be able to contribute to the government, or not, based on their whims.

  221. 221.

    J R in WV

    @JPL:

    In OzarkHillbilly’s defense, and mine, I want to point out that Deliverance was supposed to have happened on the Chattahoochie River in NW Georgia, not in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Misery, not in WVa, in Georgia.

    Also, Duncan Hunter, he must not care much for the relationship he has</strike had with Mrs Hunter, throwing her under the bus first thing. No more marital associations for him~!!~

  223. 223.

    J R in WV

    @Librarian:

    The framers’ primary sources were the British constitution…

    Well this is just wrong. To this day there is NO Written Constitution in Britain, nor was there in the late 1700s. They operate on tradition, some of which is codified into law, but there is no founding document like a constitution.

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