Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I really should read my own blog.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

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

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

This really is a full service blog.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

This fight is for everything.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Monday Morning Open Thread: One Can But Hope

Monday Morning Open Thread: One Can But Hope

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But consider the feelings of His Base!…


(Nah, let’s not bother.)

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    Maxine Waters
    Ted Lieu
    Adam Schiff
    Elijah Cummings

    These are just.some folks that I want to see with subpoena power.

    Vote vote vote November 2018!

  4. 4.

    arrieve

    @magurakurin:

    scuttlebutt on Twitter…. indictment for Don Jr. this week…

    Oh please. But only if he brings all his friends and family with him. I’ve been mostly offline the past couple days, and I’m doing a brief catch up in Starbucks in Ghent, Belgium. Looks like I haven’t missed much, which in this world, is kind of reassuring.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    “Where in the Constitution does it mention a person must be fit to serve as president?”

    Actually, the original text of the Constitution (Article 2, Section 1) addresses the “Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office.” Since superseded and further modified by the 25th amendment.

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    Email this morning from a Trump supporter: “Where in the Constitution does it mention a person must be fit to serve as president?”

    My gob is smacked.

  10. 10.

    Quinerly

    Good morning from “The Fabulous Flying Quinerly Traveling Roadshow’.” Poco and I are starting our 1000 mile drive back from the coast of NC to St. Louis. Have a great day, everyone! I’m hoping for another lively and productive Infrastructure Week. Probably my only post on this thread. Lift off!

  11. 11.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    LACONIA, N.H. —

    Earlier in the evening at a campaign forum here, he had yelled, unprompted, about Medicare for all. During his introductory statement, he had bellowed about dentures.

    Now, as the audience groaned at his attacks on other candidates, he snapped.

    “Excuse me! Excuse me!” he thundered. “I’m here to talk, O.K.?”

    The moderator threatened to turn his microphone off. And then Levi Sanders — the son of the Vermont senator this neighboring state knows well — shouted some more.

    Bernie Sanders declined to comment for this article. In an interview in May, he snapped at a question about his son before requesting to go off the record. (link)

    hahhahahahhahahaa

    he’s so nuts, his own father won’t talk about him on the record.

    …and the shouting. the shouting. what wrong with these people.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In the autumn and winter of 2013, the so-called “Frack Master” was one of 16 witnesses who appeared before the committee, which was considering the economic and environmental impact of drilling potentially thousands of shale gas wells.

    “Thank you for your answers and general enthusiasm,” Davies told him. In June 2014, the MPs issued a cautiously supportive report that cited Faulkner five times.

    But Faulkner was not in fact much of a “technical animal” with a “scientific oil background”. According to the US government, he is a fraudster who ran an investment scam worth between $60m and $80m. Hosting websites for oil and gas companies was Faulkner’s only experience with the energy sector before 2009, federal authorities claim. In the mid-2000s, he was an internet entrepreneur listed as the president of a website that sold adult movies and a company called Porn Toys Corp.

    In June this year, Faulkner was arrested by federal agents as he attempted to board a flight from Los Angeles to London. Charged with securities fraud, mail fraud and illegal monetary transactions, he could face decades behind bars. Deemed a flight risk, he is currently detained in a Texas prison. Faulkner claims he was heading to London for a business meeting. According to a court document, when arrested he was carrying 10 1oz gold bars, gold coins, $10,726 in cash, two new cellphones and his birth certificate.

    “He’s a very smart guy, a very good businessman, a very aggressive businessman,” his lawyer, Larry Friedman, told the Guardian. Friedman said Faulkner denies any wrongdoing and is being pursued unfairly. “When people are successful they become targets and he’s obviously become too successful for his own good,” he said. “He had a very high profile on television, he became a celebrity because of his expertise in his subject matter.”

    But in ordering earlier this month that Faulkner be held without bond, a judge in Dallas, Sidney Fitzwater, wrote that the circumstances were “remarkably suspect”, adding: “It is reasonable to draw the inference that Faulkner had been making plans to flee to Lebanon.” His mother, Carole Faulkner – who has acted as his attorney – is thought to be there.

    Just another witch hunt. I am getting more than a little tired of lawyers pleading their case in the media instead of court.

  15. 15.

    Mustang Bobby

    Good morning, Friends, and greetings from the suburbs of Cincinnati as I wrap up a long weekend visit with my parents. Good time, doing honey-do’s for them, and spending time with Dad as he celebrates his 92nd birthday.

    One of those honey-do’s was taking Mom’s 2003 Mini-Cooper for an oil change. Not only could they not do it because the drain plug was stripped out, they had Fox News on in the waiting room. Before I left I changed it to MSNBC. (We made an appointment to get the drain plug fixed this week.)

  16. 16.

    Immanentize

    Good morning All,

    Classes start today for me and my students. Woot! Best hours of my week are always those in the classroom.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    tired of lawyers pleading their case in the media instead of court.

    Me too, but sometimes, the media is the only place that will listen to your BS. I actually had a “no media” policy (with two exceptions) when I was actively representing clients full time. They always wanted my clients to lose, so why bother?

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: And too many times they go on to complain how their client can’t get a fair trial because of all the press coverage (at least 50% of which was driven by their own publicity stunts). I know the game is just to get their name out there front and center, their clients interests be damned, so that next year they can charge another hundred or 2 per hour.

  27. 27.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    When the “Frack Master”, Chris Faulkner was telling MP’s how wonderful horizontal drilling under urban areas was and said “we’ve drilled under Fort Worth, under hospitals, under schools”, I can only hope he was just pulling it out of his barrel of BS and hasn’t really happened.

    This morning I read that congressional aides called Duncan Hunter and his congress buddies the “bro caucus” for hanging out, drinking during the day at DC bar popular with republicans when they were supposed to be working for their constituents. Add “bro caucus” to the Russian collusion/money laundering caucus, evangelical handmaid caucus, Q conspiracy theory caucus, chicken-shit caucus, etc. GOP, what a party.

    This republican era will be known for the most corrupt, money grubbing time ever. It’s a tsunami of swindlers seizing the open, unchecked opportunities to grab all the loot they can.

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    @evodevo

    Dealership where I took landlady with her car had TV in waiting room on to whichever station it is that shows Star Trek reruns.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @bemused:

    When the “Frack Master”, Chris Faulkner was telling MP’s how wonderful horizontal drilling under urban areas was and said “we’ve drilled under Fort Worth, under hospitals, under schools”, I can only hope he was just pulling it out of his barrel of BS and hasn’t really happened.

    It’s happened.

  32. 32.

    JPL

    If the rumors are true about Don Jr. being indicted for perjury, his father would rejoice. Finally something else would take the media’s attention from John McCain. For the president loyalty only runs one way.

  33. 33.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I was afraid it had. I should go research where, etc. but I’m afraid to read how often or extensive it is. Lousy way to start the day but then, all days are like that unless I avoid news completely.

    Nothing, absolutely nothing is too low or despicable for filthy looters to go.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    You all are full of hope this Monday morning. Let’s see what the week brings.

    The café here usually has FOX on. Mr DAW searched and found where they hid the remote, and now he changes it every time he’s in the area, assuming no one beats him with a cane. He doesn’t go as far as MSNBC, just CNN. He doesn’t want anyone stroking out.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @bemused: The only place I have read of is in Texas, where the state lege has passed laws overturning local regulations to ban fracking within city limits. I suspect OK is the same, possibly other oil producing red states.

  43. 43.

    Chetan Murthy

    @OzarkHillbilly: Damn. That is some Fucked. Up. Shit. Growing up in Weatherford & Mineral Wells TX, there were a shit ton of my classmates whose houses drew well water. They’re gonna fuck up their aquifers, and then what’ll they do?

    idiots. Can’t drink petroleum.

  44. 44.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mark Knoller

    @markknoller
    ·
    48m

    Flag back at full staff atop WH. Pres Trump did not issue proclamation on the death of
    @SenJohnMcCain
    , which usually calls for flags to remain at half-staff through the day of interment, which is Sunday at the
    @NavalAcademy
    .

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Every now and again I have to do something to make up for all the times I have slaughtered the language.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    After Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) passed away Saturday evening, President Donald Trump vetoed the release of a glowing statement on the former congressman and prisoner of war, opting to instead post a mere 21-word statement on Twitter expressing “sympathies” for the family, The Washington Post reported.

    According to current and former White House aides who spoke to the Post, top White House officials like press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Chief of Staff John Kelly pushed Trump to sign off on a pre-written statement that praised McCain’s military service and career as a senator, calling the decorated Vietnam War POW a “hero.” That statement, which was written Saturday, was ready for Trump to sign off on this weekend, but Trump rejected it.

    “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” he tweeted Saturday.

    White House aides scrambled to post glowing statements from a slew of other officials instead, according to the Post, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and most other members of Trump’s Cabinet.

    Petty to his core.

  49. 49.

    A Ghost To Most

    @bemused:
    Ask the widow/sister of the two men killed in Frederick, CO how she feels about well lines near houses. That house blowed up real good.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    What’s funny about the McCain hagiography on the news is that they all make him more liberal than he was.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    I hope the Clintons live for another 20 years because I don’t want to witness how the media handles their passing.

  56. 56.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Silica sand fracking has been a big issue in southeastern Minnesota counties. Fracking companies swooped in, bought out land from local folks and got down to business before people started to scream about how it affects their communities. Of course, lot of tension between local pro-frackers who made money and anti-frackers.

    I remember the stories about pipelines under housing development areas that broke and polluted those communities and no residents knew or were told those pipelines were even there.

    But hey, too much regulation. I have heard republican types spout that line all my adult life. They never, ever question whether the deregulation they say they want (usually very vague on specifics) and one reason why they vote for republicans, will be good for them or seriously harmful to them and their families. They only get warm to regulations when it smacks them in the face.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    2 weeks ago my neighbor received a letter from an OK law firm seeking to purchase the mineral rights to her 40 acres in the north eastern corner of Washington Co. (we reside in the NW corner) There is no oil or ng shale in this part of the Ozarks so they aren’t planning on fracking. My first thought was they are looking for new locations for injection wells for fracking waste but to the best of my knowledge we are far away from any viable oil or gas exploration sites. Doe Run owns several parcels over there and I suppose it is possible these lawyers are fronting for a company thinking of doing some prospecting for lead but the demand for lead is down. There is a history of iron mining here with the Pea Ridge mine just down the road from me being reopened and assayed for iron and rare earth metals so that is also a possibility. I really hope it isn’t injection wells they are planning.

    My neighbor just flat out refuses to even think about selling her mineral rights, even after I explained that some of her neighbors over there are likely too and that she could miss out on some additional retirement income (good on her). I think I am going to call these lawyers and see what I can learn (probably not a damned thing) if she will allow me to “represent” her.

  58. 58.

    bemused

    @A Ghost To Most:

    It’s not like there aren’t tons of these stories that are horrifying and should have been preventable. It’s sickening that too many american voters don’t stand up for themselves in the voting booth.

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    Over the past two weeks I have restrung all three guitars. I seem to be getting somewhat better at it, although I did manage to break Sister’s old G string by winding it the wrong way. Restringing will never be my favourite part of guitar ownership, though: handling 0.009″ diameter wire is always going to be a bit scary.

  61. 61.

    Tokyokie

    @Mustang Bobby: Several years ago, I read about a study that concluded that the make and model that was best predictive of the owner’s political leanings was Mini Cooper with liberal. So in other words, the ownership is either completely clueless as to their customer base or intentionally pissing them off.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @eric: Good idea, thanx. Probably state is the only regulatory agency. Pretty much anything goes as far as the county is concerned.

  66. 66.

    bemused

    @Baud:

    I started to gag when I first heard McCain died thinking oh, here we go again, days long media excessively flowery eulogies. It’s slightly more tolerable for me when it’s not a republican but not by much. I can’t help but wonder how bored the media talking heads are having to repeat the same stuff over and over trying to word it differently.

  67. 67.

    Ken

    Has anyone tried to recover earlier versions of the Excel spreadsheet? I have a suspicion it started out with the title “Note to committees: Don’t investigate these – PR”.

  74. 74.

    ixnay

    @Amir Khalid: Mr. Ixnay here. Dan Erlewine’s book “How to Make your Electric Guitar Play Great” is a treasure trove of guitar adjustments, tunings, stringing advice, different ties on tuning posts, etc. Available through Stew-Mac, a great source of luthier gear and parts.

  76. 76.

    J R in WV

    Wife happens to own some mineral rights (not related to our farm tracts!) in upper WV where her grandfather once did some wildcatting 80 years ago with his brothers. We get letters from O&G developers from time to time offering like money per acre and a percentage of production.

    But part of our impeached Supreme Court is that they recently reopened a court case that was long ago settled that property owners did not have to pay production costs out of their royalties. Of course the companies want someone else to pay their production costs. Who supports justices financially>??

    Oil and Gas companies!!! That’s who!!!

  77. 77.

    MattF

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’d look for a geologist or geological engineer for help. There are all sorts of weird rocks that could be valuable if markets go sufficiently crazy– e.g., if Chine decides to fucktrump by cutting back on rare earth exports. It’s quite possible that it’s just a matter of looking stuff up.

  78. 78.

    artem1s

    Auntie Maxine will be the one of the one/two punch. Nancy Smash, two, intends on running the House and getting shit done – people need that as much as they do their revenge. I wish everyone would quit taking her comments out of context. Mueller can continue to get the knockout. As far as I’m concerned impeachment and Congressional hearings have become corrupted vehicles to spread lies about your political enemy (thanks GOP). I’ve never cared about impeachment – I do care about convictions for corruption and collusion.

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