Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Let’s finish the job.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Breaking: Special Counsel Mueller Notifies the Court that LTG (ret) Flynn is Ready for Sentencing

Breaking: Special Counsel Mueller Notifies the Court that LTG (ret) Flynn is Ready for Sentencing

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What we’ll be looking for is exactly what LTG (ret) Flynn allocutes to in his sentencing hearing. You’ll notice that even though LTG (ret) Flynn is not running for office, nor are any of the people he worked for and with in the midterms, that the Special Counsel’s Office has requested a sentencing date at the end of November. After the midterm elections.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

137Comments

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    A congressman on Monday retweeted a post mocking Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, in an episode that underscores the politically fraught terrain Republicans face as they weigh their responses to the accusation.

    On Monday afternoon, one day after The Washington Post published an article in which Ford alleged Kavanaugh assaulted her when the two were in high school in the early 1980s, Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) shared a tweet in which another Twitter user had posted a black-and-white photo of a little boy kissing a little girl on the forehead.

    “Exhibit A. Democrat evidence against Brett Kavanaugh 1963,” the post reads.

    Congressman retweets post mocking sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Did not know who Flynn was before his venom-and-spit RNC rageaholic speech. What a jerk–Lock him up!

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) put out a statement claiming that Ford “deserves to be heard,” and called on Democrats to join Republicans in a process designed “to get the facts expeditiously” — while also insisting that putting the truth first requires Democrats to agree to rush the vote through on the original timeline that Republicans want. To justify this contortion, Hatch blamed Democrats for failing to get the information about Ford out earlier, which he claimed was “in bad faith.”

    Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) similarly blasted Democrats for that same supposed failure, and said that if Democrats don’t agree to the procedure for giving Ford a hearing on terms set by Republicans, then “it’s clear their only intention is to smear Judge Kavanaugh and derail his nomination.”

    And Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, put out a statement that also lodged this criticism against Democrats, while also clarifying that he will proceed with arranging private phone calls between Ford and senators.

    The latest Republican spin on Kavanaugh is just nonsense

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Went outside today and saw blue skies and sunshine for the first time in almost a week. If it continues tomorrow we might attempt to get home, provided the roads south are open.

    The airport in Wilmington is still closed, too, and if it doesn’t open by Wednesday we won’t be going on our trip. At least that would justify asking for a refund.

  10. 10.

    Mart

    I thought the plan was for the Repub party to keep abortion legal so they could keep re-litigating the murder of innocent infants in their mothers womb with their base forever. What happened to traditional Repub values? Placing Kavanaugh on the court.will ruin everything.

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    Nuck Fazis!
    @Johngcole

    I guess I live in an alternate universe but I don’t know why they keep calling this a delay or demanding it happen earlier. There is no date by which someone has to be confirmed, and THIS IS WHEN this sort of stuff is supposed to come out- DURING THE CONFIRMATION PROCESS.

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    @Mart:

    I thought the plan was for the Repub party to keep abortion legal so they could keep re-litigating the murder of innocent infants in their mothers womb with their base forever.

    They threw that out in favor of smashing and looting everything now, then setting the rest on fire to cover their escape route.

  14. 14.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    Popcorn ready. Unsalted butter ready. Too early for champagne or French 75s.

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    @Mart:

    I thought the plan was for the Repub party to keep abortion legal so they could keep re-litigating the murder of innocent infants in their mothers womb with their base forever.

    At some point, though, the rubes notice that you haven’t given them their shiny bauble and start asking questions about why not. Besides, the Supreme Court is vital to the money wing of the party as well as to the abortion wing. With a Kavanaugh on the court, they’re in position to return us to the Lochner era of laissez-faire economics, and they aren’t about to give that up just because it might lose them abortion as an issue. They can always come up with something else to keep the masses distracted while they rob them all blind.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    IF Flynn is getting off that easily, should we assume he gave Mueller a lot of really helpful info?

    Or is Treason just considered a misdemeanor these days?

  21. 21.

    Lurker E. Coyote

    I’m curious: What is the significance of the sentencing being scheduled after the elections?

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: He’s not in the military. He’s retired subject to recall. This is being handled in the civilian courts, not under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    Irony is, apparently, dead.

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    Congressman Long would appear to be another fat ugly bastard. How do these scum get elected to begin with?

  29. 29.

    Gravenstone

    @TenguPhule: So Congressman Long, I assume that you’re also a rapist who feels compelled to defend a fellow rapist in Judge Kavanaugh? No? Prove it!

  34. 34.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    Hey BJ peeps, so my dog Rosie (also a little ravenous scavenger) passed away at the age of 12.5 last weekend.

    We were in the car, returning from the beach, and she just hopped down into the floorboard off the backseat and died. Not even a whimper. Was quite sudden, and we are still fairly upset. The house is now dogless for first time in 15 years (other dog passed a few years ago).

    Anyway, if you care to see the cutest shetland sheepdog Dawg ever created, then check out my tweet: https://twitter.com/Noneya_Mindyers/status/1041756884817010688

    Enjoy yours while they are here!

  35. 35.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    How is it that, to cap off Infrastructure Week, Trump has not yet issued a Tweet supporting the Border Patrol serial killer and his commitment to strong borders? I’m disappointed.

  36. 36.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Mike in NC:
    He’s a typical good ole boy from Misurah.
    My husbands family came from central Missouri….some were auctioneers…..
    Long is about what I’d expect.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lurker E. Coyote: Most likely it is purely coincidence. But there is a DOJ policy about the DOJ not doing anything involving political figures within 60 days of an election that might interfere within an election.

  48. 48.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    @debbie: Thank you. Yes, she had a handsome face. Just picture perfect. Family has had 8 Shelties, and she was the smartest and most intuitive. She knew everyone’s name (including my mom, sister, her two kids, my husband, and my ex-boyfriend, who often babysat her) and would go to them on command, and would also stealthily steal food (tip-toe and sneak around to find it, as well as hoard it in her cubby hole).

    Anyway, shelties are amazing creatures, and I’m already looking forward to finding another one sometime next year.

  49. 49.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Sorry for your loss. We were dogless for over a decade and our last pet, a 17-year-old longhair cat, died in August.

    Within the week we had adopted a kitten and puppy. We did not remember how much work the youngsters are. I think somebody tried to advise us not to go pet-shopping while still grieving… oops.

    The energy is a lot of fun to watch though, when occasionally directed to non-destructive outlets.

  50. 50.

    Anne Laurie

    @Dog Dawg Damn: What a sweet little pixie! Much as I love my papillons, I’ve always had a weakness for blue merle shelties.

    My condolences on your loss; as Joe Biden would say, May the time soon come when the thought of her brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye…

  54. 54.

    bystander

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Condolences. Losing a wonderful being is hard. Take it day by day.

    Is there anyway to join the Lock Him Up chorus at the sentencing? Holding up a TRAITOR sign?

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    @jacy: Can you remind me what the Page and Ohr documents are? Information overload, apparently that has fallen out of my head.

  59. 59.

    smintheus

    @TenguPhule: Ford would be well advised not to hold private discussions with Republicans. They will almost certainly lie, distort, misquote, selectively leak info about things she supposedly told them. And they will weaponize the info she might give them privately to figure out how to manipulate an open hearing to obstruct disclosure, diminish the seriousness of the allegations, and of course impugn her integrity. She has zero to gain from playing by their rules, beyond confirming that she stands by her reported allegations.

    If they won’t hold a committee hearing, then Democrats can simply hold a live session of their own to interview Ford. The TV crews would show up, even if the Republicans were seen to be boycotting the meeting.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Those eyes! And the look while wearing the hat and coat, priceless. So very sorry for your loss. And so sudden, it’s almost impossible to wrap your head around it.

  63. 63.

    The Midnight Lurker

    Does anybody know if anything ever came of Flynn’s plot to kidnap… er, uh rendition that Turkish cleric to Erdogan for 15 mil? Were those charges dropped as part of his plea deal? Because six months seems awfully thin given the things they had him on.

  66. 66.

    debbie

    @TenguPhule:

    Private phone calls, my ass. Make this hearing public, you craven coward. When even Kellyanne is reasoned and restrained, you just know something major is being hidden.

  67. 67.

    randy khan

    NY Times just reported that the committee will hold a hearing on the Ford allegations on Monday, with both testifying.

    A small victory – it puts off the vote at least until next week.

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    But there is a DOJ policy about the DOJ not doing anything involving political figures within 60 days of an election that might interfere within an election.

    Was. There *was* a policy.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Yay! You and the mister will probably be fine. Like I said, the couple I knew who broke up over weather moved to rural Illinois, which is hella more isolated than NYC. How will Samwise be transported? At that time of year, you don’t want him going into the cargo hold of the plane.

  74. 74.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    @WaterGirl: yeah, we call that look “sheltie side eye”. My friend’s sheltie does it too!

    We were going to leave her that day (she was old), but she whined and cried when we were packing up, clearly letting us know she wanted to go too. So we took her with us, and she sat in the backseat, tongue out, smiling the whole time, and then sat on the beach and snapped at flies. Glad she was with us, and not by herself at least. Didn’t seem to suffer.

  78. 78.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    I understand there are several properties in NY which are about to come back on the market.

    Avoid the one on 666th street. I hear its a real dump.

  85. 85.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    Can we infer anything from the ready for sentencing stage? Does it suggest they have exhausted as much cooperation as they are expecting to get? Is it unlikely for Flynn to testify in other cases now?

  86. 86.

    Schlemazel

    @randy khan: I will bet real money right now that he does not. I predict he will soon enough declare she may well have been assaulted but not by him & she is just misremembering the event because it was so trematic.

  90. 90.

    smintheus

    @randy khan: That’s half way to killing Kavanaugh’s nomination. For starters, it’s a full week for Republicans to show what utterly depraved monsters they are. They’ll belittle the allegations, explore insulting new lines of excuses/evasions/delfections, attack the accuser, attack anyone and everyone around the acuser, and basically show off who they are.

    And then the accuser will be seen by the public speaking (one assumes) coherently and rationally and sympathetically, perhaps with a dash of obvious integrity and seriousness of purpose.

    And then Republicans will launch their canned talking points trying to wave away what the public just heard.

    I said yesterday that Kavanaugh’s nomination was in mortal danger because the committee would have to hold a hearing on the allegations, and that no good could come of it for the Republicans. I still think that is accurate. In less than 24 hours they have already demonstrated that they think their arbitrary deadline for a committee vote is more important than trying to ascertain whether Kavanaugh is a violent criminal, and that they’re more concerned about pointing fingers at Democrats than by the alleged facts in question.

  91. 91.

    CarolPW

    @Dog Dawg Damn: So very sorry, she looks like a real love and quite a character. But one bright spot – if you had known what was coming and thought about what she might like to do on her last day, looking at her I suspect that spending time at the beach with her family might be high on her list.

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sukabi: They don’t. I find it interesting, which is why I noted it, that the sentencing hearing scheduling request is for the end of November, not that this really has anything to do with the DOJ guidance about taking actions involving elected and/or appointed officials that could become public within 60 days of an election.

  97. 97.

    sukabi

    @randy khan: Perhaps he can’t withdraw or his amazing disappearing debt reappears.

    Any normal person would have removed themselves from consideration prior to the letter becoming public….or on having a majority if their work kept under wraps….or the questionable financial deals…

    But I think we can assume Kavanaugh is only “normal” hanging out with other degenerates.

  100. 100.

    sukabi

    @Adam L Silverman: mostly sarcasm…but maybe Mueller has decided to let him “participate” in rallies and speeches as he’s done in the last few weeks to see what kind of other nonsense he spouts so his sentencing recommendations will reflect Flynn’s level of “remorse”.

  101. 101.

    smintheus

    Wow, Kavanaugh seems to have blundered. This comes from a WaPo report today:

    Kavanaugh on Monday issued a fresh denial of the allegations, which have roiled his confirmation process. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the committee, said that Kavanaugh told him in a conversation Monday that he was not present at the party in question.

    “If I recall it correctly, he wasn’t even there,” Hatch said. “I believe him. He’s a person of immense integrity. I’ve known him for a long time, he’s always been straightforward, honest, truthful, and a very, very decent man.”

    Dude, your accuser can no longer even specify which year the attack occurred, much less the month and day. But you’re going to tell a Senator that you know you weren’t at the party in question?! So…who were the guys who attempted to rape Ford, and what did Kavanaugh do when he learned they had tried to rape her?

    For somebody we are told is brilliant, Kavanaugh sure comes across as an idiot.

  102. 102.

    debbie

    Well, that didn’t last very long.

    .@AndrewRestuccia and I called many of Kavanaugh's 65 female HS acquittances who signed a letter supporting him. After his accuser came out on Sunday, only TWO said they still stood by him. More than two dozen didn't respond, and two declined to comment. https://t.co/Q7ux6pmzrf— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) September 17, 2018

    Most recently (4 hours ago):

    Five of the 65 women who signed last week’s pro-Kavanaugh letter have now reaffirmed their support publicly or directly to @politico reporters, who have tried to reach out to all signers. Update here: https://t.co/Q7ux6pEaiN— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) September 17, 2018

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    A week delay for Kavenaugh, regardless of the Ford testimony, is another week when more withheld documents are revealed. I cannot say how this will turn out, but a delay is very bad for the nominee in these circumstances.

  106. 106.

    sukabi

    @sukabi: adding that the level of arrogance and stupidity all of the folks charged, indicted, under investigation and or pled guilty have displayed is nothing short of amazing. That’s the only silver lining in this entire thing.

    What happened to keeping your mouth shut and your head down?

  109. 109.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    @debbie: I wouldn’t read too much into that with only 7 responses recorded and none of them dropping support. OTOH they were quick to offer their support when asked, so perhaps the delay of responses is telling.

  111. 111.

    Schlemazel

    @sukabi:
    Lenny Bruce did a whole routine about how guys will never admit cheating, even if the wife walks in on hubby and the side piece in the act he will always deny it. I assume that is what will happen here

  113. 113.

    sukabi

    @YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Signing a letter of support is a bit different than testifying as a character witness…which is where this could go since they are having a public hearing / testimony on this…I expect none of them will be willing to put their asses in the chairs for that.

  114. 114.

    Schlemazel

    @debbie:
    TaMara has the right idea! Call them all to testify and ask the questions she detailed. Since my Senior Senator sits on the Judiciary Committee I emailed her suggesting she do this. She won’t of course because that would not be very neighborly & she is up for reelection this fall

  115. 115.

    CaseyL

    @Dog Dawg Damn: What a cutie! Condolences on your loss – and I think it was a very good thing you took her with you, so her last day was full of fun with her peeps.

  116. 116.

    Jay

    @smintheus:

    Please tell the Members of the Senate, the date, time and place where this Party, where this rape was attempted, that you did not attend, took place.

  117. 117.

    J R in WV

    Carter Page was part of Trump’s foreign policy team for Russia. Bruce Ohr is a senior FBI agent working in counter-intelligence against Russian operatives, who probably had something to do with the FISA warrant to eavesdrop on Page’s communications, obviously a horrible and biased thing for counter-intelligence to do to a lame-brain boy like poor Carter.

  126. 126.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @KSinMA:

    I was aware of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards long before I had ever even heard of Paul Weston or Jo Stafford (mid-1950s). It takes an incredible amount of musical talent to “sing in the cracks between the keys,” so to speak.

    If you possess the fortitude, Google up the YouTube Jonathan & Darlene Edwards rendition of “Take the A Train.” And anything else they ever recorded for a worshipful posterity.

  128. 128.

    James E Powell

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Sure looks like I’ll be moving to New York in November. There are… better times of the year to do so, but…

    A great time to get there! Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade! And the city always gets dressed up for Christmas.

  131. 131.

    Geoboy

    Irony is, apparently, dead. @JohnJHarwood: McConnell complains that Democrats aren’t following “standard bi-partisan process” and “regular order” on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court

    1:45 PM – Sep 17, 2018

    Not dead, murdered.

  132. 132.

    sukabi

    @J R in WV: I can’t wait for the flip side of this where the IC leaks the tapes of Page, Flynn, Stone and one or more of the Trump’s chatting up Russians looking for dirt and or setting up a secret back channel.

  133. 133.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: If they had the votes, they’d vote. That they’ve now scheduled new hearings next week, especially given that Kavanaugh’s response paints him into a corner with no room to maneuver, which is contradicted by the responses defending him put out by Senators Grassley, Hatch, and Cruz, and there is now a whole week for reporters to dig for dirt and rake for muck, rather than vote? Absolutely!

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