Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

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

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Giving up is unforgivable.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Let there be snark.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Disinformation Operation Incoming!!!!!!! Special Counsel Edition

Disinformation Operation Incoming!!!!!!! Special Counsel Edition

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This is pretty clearly a coordinated disinformation operation intended to both shift the news cycle going into the last weekend before the election and to influence attitudes in advance of, as well as set the conditions to diminish and negate the next round of indictments that everyone expects the Special Counsel’s Office to bring shortly after the mid-term elections. You have your pick of who is involved, let alone bankrolling this insanity. Charles Johnson of LGF has been wondering what his sociopathic namesake and stalker, popularly known as the Rage Furby, has been up to recently as he’s been very quiet. This is the type of thing he’d be involved in. Especially if someone was paying him!

I also am in complete agreement with Rick Wilson, the GOP campaign strategist and campaign communication specialist who is one of the leading NeverTrumpers.

Updated at 1:40 PM (hat tip to Cheryl Rofer in the comments)

Natasha Bertrand is reporting that the Special Counsel’s Office has already reported this to the FBI for investigation.

An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation, according to a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, Peter Carr. “When we learned last week of allegations that women were offered money to make false claims about the Special Counsel, we immediately referred the matter to the FBI for investigation,” Carr said in a statement on Tuesday.

The special counsel’s attention to this scheme—which was brought to the office by a woman claiming she herself had been offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against Mueller—and its decision to release a rare statement about it to reporters indicates the seriousness with which the office is taking the purported scheme to discredit Mueller in the middle of an ongoing investigation.

The special counsel’s office confirmed that the scheme was brought to its attention by several journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging  that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman “to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.” The woman told journalists that she had worked for Mueller as a paralegal at the Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro law firm in 1974. The firm has not returned a request for comment about whether the woman actually worked there.

He “offered to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I would do one thing,” the woman wrote to the journalists in an email, a copy of which I obtained. “In more of an effort to get him to go away than anything else, I asked him what in the hell he wanted me to do. He said that we could not talk about it on the phone, and he asked me to download an app on my phone called Signal, which he said was more secure. Reluctantly, I downloaded the app and he called me on that app a few minutes later. He said (and I will never forget exactly what it was) ‘I want you to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller, and I want you to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect.’”

The woman was not willing to speak to the reporters by phone, so portions of her story have gone uncorroborated.  Around the time that the journalists began receiving the email, Burkman released a video on his Facebook page claiming, without evidence, that Mueller “has a whole lifetime history of harassing women.”  On Tuesday, the day the special counsel revealed that it had referred the woman’s claims to the FBI,  Burkman tweeted a similar allegation.In a statement, Burkman denied knowing the woman who originally alerted journalists to the alleged scheme. But he told me in an email that “on Thursday 1200 NOON ROSSYLN HOLIDAY INN  we will present a very credible witness who will allege that Mr. Mueller committed against her a sexual assault.” Mueller’s spokesman reiterated that the claims are false. Burkman, a conservative radio host, is known for spreading conspiracy theories. He launched his own private investigation into the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, and earlier this year offered $25,000 to FBI whistleblowers for any information exposing wrongdoing during the 2016 election.

Updated at 1:55 PM EDT (hat tip to Cheryl Rofer in the comments)

Updated at 3:55 PM EDT (hat tip to germy in the comments)

Forewarned is forearmed!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

246Comments

  8. 8.

    Luthe

    Does everyone have their “Offensive Things the Shitgibbon Will Say in Pittsburgh” bingo card ready? “My daughter and son-in-law [Ivanka and Jared] are Jewish” is a free space.

  10. 10.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman: I was seeing tremors of this earlier this morning but did not retweet because I didn’t want to give the story legs, but it looks like it’s breaking now. We owe the reporters who are coming forward to say they’ve been approached with this scam. Much better to get it out as a story of GOP ratfvcking than to let it go until the ratfvckers make their claims.

  11. 11.

    germy

    Now will the NY Times, Washington Post, etc. report this correctly as the ratfucking operation it is? Or will they run with “questions have been raised” and “allegations have been made” etc.?

  16. 16.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So according to the article the serious announcement of the accusation will be made in Thursday at noon and the guy behind this is some Conseratwit shock jock. So, BS.

    On the other hand, the GOP is post-Truth now so it might be the fantasy the Republicans in the senate can use.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: No argument here, which is why I went ahead and did the post when I did and why I framed it for what it so clearly was even without Betrand’s and Ali’s reporting.

  19. 19.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @zhena gogolia:

    I hope the FBI does a better job on this than they did on Kavanaugh.

    Since Mueller is one of their own they would be cutting their own throats if they didn’t.

  23. 23.

    germy

    @Amir Khalid:

    What criminal penalties would apply in a case like this?

    That’s a good question, something I wonder about. Aren’t there laws against this sort of thing?

  24. 24.

    waratah

    This morning after a rally in Houston Beto told reporters that 5000 troops was more troops than we had in Afghanistan. El Paso is not a war zone.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    @Luthe:
    Now that Possum Queen has informed us Trump “treasures” the Jews I expect he’s going to let everybody know Just How Much, and also why this attack was really an attack on He, Trump.

  27. 27.

    Sister Golden Bear

    OT: But one final resharing from downstairs yesterday because it’s disturbing enough that I want to make sure the day crew knows about it. (And I finally caught at thread at the beginning).

    —

    It’s just that simple: The Trumpistas and Talibaptists want us dead. Or at the very least, not exist.

    From someone who tracks Trump groups on Facebook, and as a experiment (during the “bathroom bill” attacks), posted a photo of an extremely masculine looking trans man, Buck Angel, (don’t google him at work) and asked which restroom he should use:

    The post got hundreds of comments, finally thousands. Immediately. The Trump supporters had a very clear answer and they were adamant about it. Almost no one answered with “the men’s room”. A few said things like “if they’ve got a v@gina, they use a woman’s room, if they have a pen!s, they use the men’s room.” But the majority of the of the commenters had an answer I hadn’t considered at all. These people had worked out a very simple solution to the problem of transgender people and the norms revolving public restrooms.

    They wanted transgender people to die.

    They were quite explicit about it, very blunt. “They should die.” That simple. That concise. “They should die.”

    Let me be entirely clear about this – they knew what they were saying, they knew exactly what they wanted. They didn’t want a trans man in the men’s room and they didn’t want a trans man in the woman’s room. They wanted the trans man to be dead.

    Of course some of them were more loquacious than that. They had reasons they should die, preferred methods, they expressed their feelings about the fantasized the deaths, but death or something similar was the most common answer. “Stop being”, essentially. A lot of other people answered “they should stay home”, maintaining the status quo without having to deal with the problem while still allowing transgender people to, you know, live, but mostly death or some sort of violence was the preferred option. Comment after comment, they should die, fuck them, stay-at-home, don’t use the bathroom, I’ll kill them if I catch them in the bathroom with my daughter, they should die, they should die, they should die.

    Oh, and in case That’s not plain enough, it wasn’t just death they were threatening. They were threatening anything they could think of. Torture, castration, humiliation, at adults and children alike. Any brutal, vicious insult or threat imaginable. I’ve watched these groups for years, dozens of them. Anyone who watches the news, who’s seen our president make a speech, knows how mean, how grotesque, how petty and ugly these people can be. The things they say about Mexicans, Muslims, about women, gay people, immigrant children. Even if you haven’t been in one of these groups, it’s not hard to imagine. Jesus, our president publicly mocked a disabled man. But I still wasn’t prepared for the comments in this thread. Just sheer, stark, gut level hatred, unencumbered by the slightest empathy. Loathing. Disgust. Raw hate.

    As much time as I’ve spent in these groups, examining these people, I didn’t think anything could shock me. I was wrong. Maybe it shouldn’t have, but it did.

    There is not one single issue that brings the evil out in Trump supporters the way trans-people do, there is no class of people more loathed. More than anything else, gender self-determination symbolizes precisely the social progress that animates the Trump right. They despise it and the people who embody it. Understand this. This issue is central to these people on the right, there is nothing they feel more deeply about. The Trump right does not want a solution to the social problem of trans people and restroom use. They simply do not want trans people to exist. That is what they want. What they demand. Nonexistence.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2188821688063933&set=a.1530642677215174&type=3&theater

    They haven’t put us in cages — yet — but the administration has already started using the power of the government to drive us from public life.

    #WontBeErased #StillFuckingHere

  28. 28.

    Kraux Pas

    @zhena gogolia:

    I hope the FBI does a better job on this than they did on Kavanaugh.

    So, more similar to the job they did finding the MAGAbomber? In fairness, I think their hands were likely tied with the Kavanaugh investigation.

    Also, yet another example of the fact that our media, by and large, does their due diligence and won’t just buy into a story because it fits whatever narrative they’re trying to promote.

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @zhena gogolia: This is a full on criminal referral. It is not a background investigation ordered for a political appointment, which is what Federal judicial nominations are. Its scope cannot be circumscribed by the White House as a background investigation can be.

  30. 30.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Gin & Tonic: Karma is not cosmic justice. Kar == hands in Sanskrit, the English ending ker in baker, maker etc comes from the same root.
    karma == your actions. You always pay for your actions, sooner or later.
    /end Hermione mode.

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Adam L Silverman: Not sure why they’re going with a 30-year-old photo when there are current Federal mug shots.

    The only tragedy in this is that he lived for 89 years.

  34. 34.

    gvg

    What kind of idiots think they are smart enough to frame an FBI agent/former director? These are not smart people.
    It does sound like reporters are being smarter this time and I suspect the FBI has kinda been expecting something. I hope it’s worth taking notes for future analysis on how to handle dirty tricks. Also the woman was smart to be suspicious. She should probably get a lawyer to look out for her though.

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @Gin & Tonic: Are we sure he was whacked? Whitey was 89 years old, serving the “first of two life terms.”

    I have seen “found unresponsive” in the stories.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist

    It’s such a small amount of money. She would be subjecting herself to insane levels media attention, interviews, all kinds of nightmares and they want to pay her 20,000 bucks. Even their bribery schemes are low wage.

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Dear lord.

    In CA supposedly the most money being spent on a statewide office race is Schools Superintendent. While a theoretically non-partisan office and both candidates declare no party affiliation it has squared off as charter vs. public schools, with Tuck getting the billyonaire charter school maven money and Republican endorsement, and Thurmond the teachers union and Democratic backing. $50MM spent so far.

    Yesterday we got a postcard darkly suggesting that Thurmond is a Slum Lord. This, of course, cannot be true since he has not been endorsed by the Kushner Corporation. Anyway, it was anonymous and quite off the wall.

  38. 38.

    Kraux Pas

    @Sister Golden Bear: Well, if it helps, a ballot measure in my state (MA) to affirm legal respect for people’s chosen gender identity (it was passed and is now being challenged) is expected to be approved easily.

    Most people aren’t on board with this sort of discrimination and Trump will get resistance on this from voters and the political class alike.

    They can shovel against the tide of progress, but they aren’t going to win.

  39. 39.

    Princess

    So Ali sees it as a pot to discredit Mueller while Stedman sees it as a plot to discredit the journalists working on Mueller. In Ali’s view, the fake story is the allegation that Mueller is a harasser and the woman is akin to a whistleblower. In Stedman’s understanding the woman herself who is offering the tip is a fake.

    I don’t know which one is right but I wanted to lay it out there that they are coming to different conclusions.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Imagine what that $50 million would’ve gotten the students in that district if it had just been donated to the school district to assist with their expenses?

  44. 44.

    Kraux Pas

    @Kay:

    It’s such a small amount of money. She would be subjecting herself to insane levels media attention, interviews, all kinds of nightmares

    Also, too, legal consequences. I assume up to and including jail time.

    and they want to pay her 20,000 bucks. Even their bribery schemes are low wage

    We can’t have the proles elevating themselves. Suddenly they’ll start having ideas above their station in life.

  47. 47.

    Kent

    Wow. It takes a special kind of breathtakingly profound stupidness to try to frame a current special counsel and former long-time director of the FBI who has the full investigative power of the Federal Government at his beck and call. And who has already demonstrated extreme singleminded determination and discipline in his investigations.

    I mean seriously….the LAST persion in the entire Federal government that you want investigating your ass is Mueller.

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Princess: Mueller is the primary target. The journalists are the secondary target. And it is also a trial run to see if it works. If it does, then they’ll build it out and direct it at Democrats. Remember Graham’s rant about “what happens when it happens to one of yours?” during the Kavanaugh hearing? That was telegraphing this. These people have terrible OPSEC, they don’t have the impulse control to not telegraph everything.

  52. 52.

    The Moar You Know

    In CA supposedly the most money being spent on a statewide office race is Schools Superintendent. While a theoretically non-partisan office and both candidates declare no party affiliation it has squared off as charter vs. public schools, with Tuck getting the billyonaire charter school maven money and Republican endorsement, and Thurmond the teachers union and Democratic backing. $50MM spent so far.

    @trollhattan: Tuck’s fourth shot at the office. He’s not going to stop, the people backing him see a lot of money lying on the table what with the CA teacher’s pension fund and that is money they consider to be their rightful property.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ruemara: We’ll there’s this too:

  57. 57.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    The only tragedy in this is that he lived for 89 years.

    And John Connolly has made it to 78, apparently. Too bad they both made it past 40.

  58. 58.

    Cermet

    THis is good – if what ever it is crawls out from under its rock and pays some low lfe, the FBI will uncover that thing under the rock in no time. The low life woman will be singing like a Canary quicker than a typical high level mobster that has been nailed (they, like the thug low life’s, are all shivering cowards.)

  63. 63.

    Raven

    Fuck this, I gonna take a nap and getup and cook some of that flounder before I go back out and fish.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    Actually, they offered to pay off her credit card debt plus $20,000 above that. Depending on how much credit card debt she has, it could be a lot more than $20K.

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It worked sort of. But it wasn’t a clean kill, so to speak. And it isn’t like it really changed the balance of power in the Senate. I’m a big fan of Franken’s work in the Senate and on the Judiciary Committee, but there wasn’t anything he was going to do in the Kavanaugh hearings that Harris, Klobuchar, and Booker weren’t able to do.

    Being able to take out Mueller, however, would be a completely different scale.

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    @Gin & Tonic: Got you. I don’t watch cable, and the “pencil press” is sometimes slower to publish details.

    Whatever. The guy has kicked. Gone, gone.

  69. 69.

    MattF

    Bear in mind that, at this juncture, Roger Stone has a limited behavioral repertoire. He’s geriatric, his knees hurt, he’s probably incontinent– as de Gaulle said, old age is a shipwreck. Stone’s not as clever or as outrageous as he thinks he is– he may be pals with Alex Jones, but that’s really not such a good thing.

  71. 71.

    Spanky

    @Gin & Tonic: I took a peek at the Boston Globe, figuring they’d be one of the first to put something out, but nope! Something about baseball…

    Nah! Actually, mostly about PGH, the caravan, the EO … pretty much the same subjects we cover here. But no Whitey.

  72. 72.

    hells littlest angel

    @Gin & Tonic: He lived to be 89 years old. There’s no such thing as karma — it’s just a lie people tell themselves to make themselves feel good.

  76. 76.

    PJ

    @Kent: You are full of shit. Al Franken posed for a joke photo pretending to grope the breasts of a woman wearing body armor. It was a stupid, sophomoric joke, but it was not sexual harassment. This has been discussed here a thousand times over.

  82. 82.

    Yutsano

    @Mnemosyne: In her e-mail she mentions something to the tune of $34K left from her late husband. So yeah that’s almost $60K showing up just to get her to lie.

    But it’s bugging me that she won’t talk to anyone else about it.

  86. 86.

    bluehill

    I was expecting an October surprise. I wasn’t expecting one everyday. I guess the plan is to dominate the news cycles with all this stuff and bury the real issues. I get the strategy.

    This is an analytics-based campaign and they are looking at multiple playing fields trying to suppress/discourage some voters and encourage their voters. 80k is all they needed for the presidency. The plan isn’t to get the most total congressional votes just win the most seats. Kanye West may not matter to most people, but he probably isn’t meant to. Just to get some black voters in some key districts to sit out. Coupled with a bunch of social media ads, outright voter suppression tactics and maybe it’s enough.

  90. 90.

    Miss Bianca

    Seriously, how the fuck could these assholes credibly claim to care even if it was true? They made it crystal clear they didn’t care when it was their boy Kavanaugh being (credibly) accused.So it’s OK to be accused of sexual harrassment or assault as long as you’re trying to protect Trump from criminal investigation, but not OK if you are conducting the investigation?

    Oh, what am I thinking…that logic, proportion, or shame within the Trump Administration *haven’t* fallen sloppy dead at this point? *slaps forehead*

  92. 92.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @gvg:

    What kind of idiots think they are smart enough to frame an FBI agent/former director?

    The exact same “idiots” that likely framed a US Senator and now have his scalp hanging from a belt loop.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: I’m right now hiding under my bed, while trying to load the box magazines for my .50 cal sniper rifle and tend my survival seed garden…//

  97. 97.

    Mandalay

    So I thought this click bait article was yet more horse race drivel from Politico, but its actually worth reading despite the headline: David Axelrod: Democrats Are Walking Into Trump’s Trap.

    Axelrod gives his views on just about every Democrat in the running for 2020, and says this:

    “I don’t think people will be looking for a Democratic version of Trump,” he said. “I don’t think they’ll be looking for people who can go jibe for jibe and low blow for low blow. I think people are going to be looking for someone who can pull this country out of this hothouse that we’re in.”

    So I guess Avenatti shouldn’t give up his day job.

  103. 103.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Kent: No, the photo clearly shows he wasn’t touching her breasts. Man, this was so thoroughly discussed at the time. All part of the ratfucking.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    @Adam L Silverman: Howard Fineman’s op ed for the NY Times after the murders at the synagogue.

    Shaking My Faith in America
    The bloodshed in the Tree of Life synagogue is a sign that hatred of The Other is poisoning our public life.

    … I was taught in Squirrel Hill that we were in the one country that was an exception to the history of the human race in general and the Jews in particular. Founded on Enlightenment principles of individuality, freedom, tolerance and justice, the United States was the only place besides Israel where Jews could live at one with their nation, unburdened by fear or confusion about identity.

    Now I must wonder: If Pittsburgh isn’t safe for Jews, if Squirrel Hill isn’t safe, if the Tree of Life isn’t safe, what place is? Without diminishing anyone else’s suffering and death, it’s a sad fact that the Jews often are the canaries in the coal mine of social and political collapse. So, what does the bloodshed in the Tree of Life mean?

    It is a sign that hatred of The Other is poisoning our public life. It’s always been a vivid strain in America, stimulated by the stress of immigrant waves, but one we have overcome time and again. Although we often honor it in the breach, our founding idea remains: that each person here is precious and born with unalienable rights. Now, political enemies in America deny each other’s humanity.

    …. It is a sign that President Trump’s remorselessly cynical, jungle-style vision of how to conduct business and politics is ripping apart a society already under the stress of generational, demographic, technological, economic and social change.

    In physics, the arc of a swinging pendulum diminishes over time. That has been my perhaps too-comfortable view of American history: that the swing of our political pendulum would always slow and find an equilibrium closer to a more perfect union.

    In pursuit of that theory, as a reporter in Kentucky for six years and later across the country for decades, I chronicled the rise of the populist right as just another swing of the pendulum.

    I covered Ku Klux Klan rallies, court-ordered busing, “dirty tricksters” of the right from Richard Nixon to Paul Manafort, and Trump rallies across the country. None of that shook my belief that the country could somehow harvest the energy of protest against “elites” for some eventual good.

    Now I am not so sure. The pendulum seems to be swinging more wildly and widely every day. The whole machinery feels in danger of racing out of control.

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    Avenatti was never going to get through the Democratic primary. Ever. The Democratic base would never vote for him, because our base is not made up of insecure white dudes like the Republican base is.

    It was always a fantasy on his part that was not going to survive the first round of the Iowa caucuses.

  109. 109.

    Spanky

    @Yutsano: This news just in! Whitey Bulger is still dead!

    Dose it make me a bad person that I’m making light of a murder? Wait, I just realized that I don’t really care any more if it does.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mandalay: Axelrod is mostly correct. People aren’t going to simply want a Democratic version of Trump, or even an Independent campaign version of him. But they are going to want someone who will stand up, point out the bullying, and firmly put the President in his place.

  111. 111.

    Cheryl Rofer

  113. 113.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Imagine what that $50 million would’ve gotten the students in that district if it had just been donated to the school district to assist with their expenses?

    It’s for the statewide office, not for a single district. $50 million spread across the 6.2 million students works out to about $8/student.

  114. 114.

    Kraux Pas

    @Elizabelle:

    In physics, the arc of a swinging pendulum diminishes over time. That has been my perhaps too-comfortable view of American history: that the swing of our political pendulum would always slow and find an equilibrium closer to a more perfect union.

    Well, occasionally someone takes it upon themselves to push the pendulum.

  115. 115.

    Spanky

    @Manyakitty:

    Roger Stone in an orange jumpsuit, though? –chef’s kiss

    Cart before the horse and all, but is it too much to hope he gets transferred to Hazelton, WVA?

  117. 117.

    The Lodger

    The district includes Modesto and Lard (excuse me, Manteca), so I imagine many residents aren’t overly fond of San Francisco. (Boy is this edit window slow today.)
    ETA: Replying to Mnemosyne.

  118. 118.

    trollhattan

    @Spanky:
    Wherever he lands, I hope they confiscate the Thing on Roger Stone’s Head.

    Never really thought of Nixon as a prison tat, but it’ll do.

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    @Kent:

    You are promulgating Republican lies about Franken. The “sleeping” woman wasn’t, and he didn’t touch her in those photos. They were both actor/clowns performing in a tour for the troops in the ‘Stans.

    You have commented here something like under a hundred times, I’m calling it a bot or a troll.

  120. 120.

    MattF

    @Cheryl Rofer: Next, there will be a claim is that Mueller has Ebola. Eeek.

    I think, though, that at this point we know the source of contagion. And the mechanism by which it spreads.

  121. 121.

    germy

    Pretty cool that the right wing dirty tricksters figured out a way to remind everyone about the Mueller investigation a week before the election.— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 30, 2018

    Mueller goes silent in the lead up to the election so as to not be seen as pulling a Comey, and then some MAGA clowns drag him right into the middle of it. pic.twitter.com/MmUaw0uGxg— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 30, 2018

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @Kent:
    Except Franken’s hands were not touching any part of her body, moron.

    And, tovarishch, it was what is known in the vernacular as “a joke.”

  125. 125.

    Miss Bianca

    @Elizabelle: Apparently, some people think the Tree of Life must be watered with the blood of those they deem non-patriots. Or something.

    I remember a Hassidic Jewish man telling me that he didn’t believe Israel was the Promised Land – that the Promised Land didn’t need to be in the exact location of historical Zion. He argued that America was the Promised Land for Jews, not Israel.

    He was an older man at the time, so I almost find myself hoping he has already passed. I hate to imagine his faith in America similarly crushed.

  128. 128.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Fineman: “WH also trying to push #Trump into hospital rooms of victims but most want no part of him.”

    In our experience with hospitals, they won’t let someone not invited into a hospital room. I might let him in just so I could order him out… but I’m an odd duck. Would have been hard on the wife when she was in hospital. I sure wouldn’t have let him in to see her at all. No preachers allowed either, and that worked like a charm.

  129. 129.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    isn’t it weird for the GOP to be scaremongering “San Francisco values” inside California?

    Not particularly. His district is in the Central Valley, so complaining about San Francisco values could be pretty effective.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Lodger:

    Meh. Intrastate regional rivalries are not the same thing that Ryan’s PAC is trying to stir up. Modesto is only a 90-minute drive to SF, so it’s not some terrifyingly distant place like it is to Iowans.

  133. 133.

    Barbara

    @Adam L Silverman: It bothered me, however, that Fineman seems to be implying that he wasn’t too worried about all the ambient craziness until it started screaming in his own ear.

  134. 134.

    geg6

    @Kent:

    No, he didn’t. A photo in which he was jokingly fake-grabbing her breasts was weaponized by Roger Stone and a lying Republican woman who partook in several other fake “compromising” situations with Franken voluntarily and in front of cameras and a live audience. He was the trial run.

  137. 137.

    J R in WV

    @Roger Moore:

    It’s for the statewide office, not for a single district. $50 million spread across the 6.2 million students works out to about $8/student.

    Roger, not to rain on your parade, but in lots of school districts, $8/pupil would be a waterfall of cash compared to what they usually have to spend. Like on the reservations, in the farm country, in the rural deep south. Where teachers spend their own money for pencils and paper.

  140. 140.

    MattF

    @NotMax: Yeah, I’d bet that Trump isn’t comfortable in hospitals. And the concept that he may need to express empathy…

  141. 141.

    Elizabelle

    @Kraux Pas: Yeah. I am thinking that what is different is consolidated ownership of the media; making news into infotainment; it’s the controversy and the outrage that sells. “Network” has arrived. And then some.

    Plus, all the think tanks conservatives fund. Unlimited money from the wealthy, which makes them politicians’ actual constituents. A general sense of unease, as technology puts vast swathes of people out of work.

    That pendulum not gonna swing itself.

    We could do a lot to improve the situation, but it’s way harder with all those factors working against us.

  142. 142.

    Jay

    @Mnemosyne:

    “It was always a fantasy on his part that was not going to survive the first round of the Iowa caucuses.”

    Avenatti was/is just trolling The Insane Clown POSus between Court dates.

  146. 146.

    West of the Rockies

    @Miss Bianca:

    Maybe they assume liberals will clutch their pearls and turn on their own and that the villagers will dutifully regurgitate Republican talking points.

  147. 147.

    catclub

    @Kraux Pas:

    by and large, does their due diligence and won’t just buy into a story because it fits whatever narrative they’re trying to promote.

    that ‘by and large’ is doing a lot of work. All that reporting of Hillary’s emails springs to mind. And the media clearly does NOT have a narrative that Mueller is dirty, so not buying into a narrative that they do not hold is not a great leap in journalism.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    Maybe Trump Administration corruption can be back in the news tonight: WaPost breaking:

    Interior Department watchdog refers investigation into Zinke’s conduct to Justice Department

    The agency’s Office of Inspector General is conducting at least three probes related to Secretary Ryan Zinke. A referral to the Justice Department means that prosecutors will explore whether a criminal investigation is warranted.

  150. 150.

    chris

    Thread on Jacob Wohl, another professional liar.

    My little Jacob Wohl story: August 2016, we're sitting around the trading turrets at my office on a bored to tears slow day. Our receptionist said someone was here for his 2pm appointment. None of us had an appointment on schedule. Who is it? we ask? Some guy named Jacob Wohl 1/— KeyserSozeBro (@KeyserSozeBro1) 30 October 2018

  151. 151.

    geg6

    @Mnemosyne:

    Not to mention how he goes on and on and on and on about how only a white male could possibly win as a Dem. Fuck Avenatti. With a rusty chain saw. Sideways.

  152. 152.

    Aleta

    Jacob Wohl
    ‏@JacobAWohl
    6m6 minutes ago

    The MSM has launched a coordinated smear campaign against me, claiming that I offered money to a woman to make accusations against Mueller? Their claims are BASELESS!

    Who is this “woman”?

    The horror.

  153. 153.

    zhena gogolia

    @Adam L Silverman:

    They’ve lengthened his nose and given him a wild look in the eyes that is NEVER there. The maniacal smile is also not a characteristic expression. Trust me, I’ve seen him many times. He usually has a poker face.

  155. 155.

    Elizabelle

    @Miss Bianca: Not faith in America crushed. Just faith in the worst Americans, and an illegitimate president.

    We could do a lot better, no doubt. Please let us right the situation this coming Tuesday.

    I am glad my mother did not live to see Trump’s “rise.” She’s gone since 2014; missed it all.

  156. 156.

    trollhattan

    I know one home that will be awkward this coming Thanksgiving.

    The daughter of a Republican candidate seeking a seat in the Missouri General Assembly has gone public, telling voters to not vote for her dad on election day because of his hateful views. According to the Kansas City Star, Emily West is telling voters in Missouri’s House District 15 to stay clear of her father, Steve West, bluntly stating, “I can’t imagine him being in any level of government.”

    According to the report, the elder West hosts a radio program where he has made repeated anti-Semitic comments as well as attacking gays and minorities. In one broadcast rant he accused Jewish doctors of trading on the pain and suffering of children at the famous St. Jude’s Hospital.

    “St. Judes hospital, they’re cancer research,” he said. “They’re getting kids sick through vaccines and other means, and they are torturing them with these anti-cancer drugs. The St. Jude’s Hospital — it makes me sick how they are are suffering, and all for a little PR for the Jewish cabal.” [surprised he didn’t call it “St. Jews” Hospital]

    According to his daughter, his views are offensive and way outside the mainstream.

  157. 157.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Tim Allen? Looks more like Kushner to be honest.

    Now that you brought him (Tim Allen) up I hate that his stupid show Last Man Standing got brought back. “Conservative” humor (complaining about “lazy” millennials and OMFG political correctness) isn’t popular for a reason.

  158. 158.

    germy

    He said (and I will never forget exactly what it was) ‘I want you to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller, and I want you to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect.’” The man “offered to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I would do” it, she wrote. “He knew exactly how much credit card debt I had, right down to the dollar, which sort of freaked me out.”

    The fake british accent was a nice touch. Was this a parody/tribute to Christopher Steele?

    So who’s going to jail over this? Jacob, Jack… anyone else?

  160. 160.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: I saw a GOP item about Abigail Spanberger on Facebook yesterday. Compare and contrast with Dave Brat’s views.

    I truly think they lengthened her nose. A lot. She was in semi-profile; Brat was not.

  161. 161.

    geg6

    So, Howard Fineman (who would have excellent sources on this having been born and raised in Squirrel Hill) says the White House was calling local officials of both parties (and the House and Senate minority and majority leaders) and telling them that the others had said they were coming to Pittsburgh to try to persuade them to attend his photo op today. Nobody bit.

    https://twitter.com/howardfineman/status/1057321489828065283

    What a bunch of maroons!

  162. 162.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:
    Ditto. Mom lost her enthusiasm for being a Republican because of Reagan and it was slowly downhill after that. I can’t imagine what she’d have thought of Trump. Mom was very big on decorum and politeness.

  163. 163.

    Kraux Pas

    @catclub:

    that ‘by and large’ is doing a lot of work. All that reporting of Hillary’s emails springs to mind. And the media clearly does NOT have a narrative that Mueller is dirty, so not buying into a narrative that they do not hold is not a great leap in journalism.

    This is tricky because, from the reporting I read re: Hillary’s emails, you would get the sense that complaints were mainly overblown. It was clear the FBI found no criminal wrongdoing. Even with the October surprise from Comey, it was pretty clear that this supposed new development in the email case was from a computer directly linked to Hillary and was taken because of the Weiner case.

    That said, a lot of the reporting still did frame it as competing partisan claims, despite providing the context to allow a careful reader to come to the conclusion that this was a nothing-burger. But most people aren’t careful readers. Most skim or even just read the headlines. And the actual problem here was a decision at the management level to turn a nothing burger into a story and to keep it on the front page as much as possible, especially while other important stories were ignored (Trump tax fraud two years too late for example). I don’t really blame the reporters for this. I don’t believe they choose their assignments and aren’t wholly responsible for the overarching bothsiderist culture permeating journalism.

    ETA:

    And the media clearly does NOT have a narrative that Mueller is dirty, so not buying into a narrative that they do not hold is not a great leap in journalism.

    There is a narrative, however, that he is a secret *gasp* Democrat.

  165. 165.

    Jay

    “Lawyers for convicted domestic terrorist Patrick Stein, who had planned to bomb a Kansas mosque and apartment complex where Muslims lived the day after the 2016 election, are offering a charming argument in advance of his sentencing hearing Friday: They say he should get less than 15 years in prison — instead of a potential life sentence — because Donald Trump and rightwing media poisoned his brain against Muslims, so he honestly thought he was acting on the orders of his chosen presidential candidate.”

    https://www.wonkette.com/lawyers-argue-militia-dude-only-following-trumps-orders-to-blow-up-muslims

  166. 166.

    Kraux Pas

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

    Now that you brought him (Tim Allen) up I hate that his stupid show Last Man Standing got brought back. “Conservative” humor (complaining about “lazy” millennials and OMFG political correctness) isn’t popular for a reason.

    One of the few episodes I saw essentially blamed liberals for the culture of fearing our neighbors. As if.

  167. 167.

    PJ

    @Miss Bianca: America has always been about a promise that is often delayed, often denied. Any forward movement in terms of civil rights and basic decency here has been followed by a terrible reaction. The end of slavery and reconstruction was followed by 90 years of Jim Crow. The New Deal and the Civil Rights movement was followed by the right wing backlash that, FSM willing, we are at the tail end of now. It is particularly violent and hateful now because the GOP knows they are losing, and will have lost for a good long time, if they cannot disable democracy now.

  168. 168.

    bemused

    @chris:

    He’s only 20 years old! A long life of felonious endeavors ahead of him if the punk doesn’t land in prison first. Reminds me of James O’Keefe.

  169. 169.

    Barbara

    @Jay: Sometimes you don’t have much to work with, and then again, sometimes you have to make arguments in the best interests of your client. In this case, they aren’t lying, they are asking for mitigation based on — no doubt — what their client told them. They know it won’t make any difference.

  170. 170.

    Elizabelle

    Good cop, bad cop.** WaPost website:

    Paul Ryan dismisses Trump’s vow to end birthright citizenship
    “Well you obviously cannot do that,” the House speaker said in a radio interview with WVLK in Kentucky. “You cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order.”

    Underneath, another article:

    A Trump-inspired history lesson on the 14th Amendment

    In 1898, Wong Kim Ark was a Chinese American cook at the center of a landmark but forgotten Supreme Court decision that upheld birthright citizenship.

    ETA: I like the Kentucky station’s call letters. Like, volk?

    ETA 2: re cops: I mean, with Trump and Ryan. The stories are probably just fine. Have not read either, yet.

  171. 171.

    SFAW

    @Elizabelle:

    So now I need to decide whether to go out and get more popcorn before tonight’s news.

    Ah, screw it, the networks won’t mention it for more than 15 seconds, because they need to spend more time on Fuckhead blaming The Joooos” for bringing it on themselves, because they didn’t support him enough.

  172. 172.

    bemused

    @Kraux Pas:

    We have friends that just loved Duck Dynasty. We tried to watch one show and were so bored, we never watched again. R’s and D’s definitely have different senses of humor.

  173. 173.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Elizabelle: The pendulum swing analogy is resonating with me hard.

    What’s made the last week or so especially difficult is feeling whipsawed. During the Obama years, trans and non-binary people made more progress — both legally and in social acceptance — than I’d ever dreamed I’d see in my life time.

    Yes, the pendulum of hated was still oscillating, but the swings seemed to be gradually dying. And now to see our gains being taken away so quickly…

  174. 174.

    Spanky

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Also his pendulum example is all kinds of wrong.

    Well, he had a vague memory from high school English of “something something widening gyre”, and tried to write something similar. And since he’s predictably science-illiterate he totally screwed the pendulum analogy.

    And yes, like most Republicans he can’t imagine something until it affects him personally.

  176. 176.

    Elizabelle

    @Sister Golden Bear: You would be so heartened by the many trans women I met and chatted with at the Kavanaugh protests, and we have at least two involved with our local Congressional campaign.

    They will not succeed in taking away your rights, although they will try. You have more friends than you think. No doubt it is a scary time, though.

  177. 177.

    lgerard

    @chris:
    Love that story!

    The Wohl of Wall Street is my favorite wingnut.

    He is a Financier and a Political Commentator!

  178. 178.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Whatever you think of the Franken photo, without it he would still be Senator. Democrats wised up to anonymous bullshit accusations like are being dug up for Mueller years ago, after O’Keef hit ACORN. Alas, only after.

    Republicans assume everyone is a scumbag like they are, so they cannot grasp the relevance that there was more than just a woman’s testimony against Kavanaugh. All allegations are bullshit allegations to them, because they think everyone is guilty, so the only crime is being their enemy. It makes it hard for them to grasp what is needed to make an actual scandal.

  179. 179.

    Gelfling 545

    @Kent: This is for the base. They won’t care that it’s proven to be false or if the accuser goes to jail. They’ll just add another layer to the conspiracy theory.

  180. 180.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:
    Did Ryan check with Blanche first?

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that he will introduce legislation to end birthright citizenship after President Trump suggested he could do so through an executive order, The Hill reports.

    Said Graham: “Finally, a president willing to take on this absurd policy of birthright citizenship. I’ve always supported comprehensive immigration reform – and at the same time – the elimination of birthright citizenship.”

  184. 184.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: The British accent schtick is part of the Israeli Black Cube operational repertoire. As well as the Mercer funded group of companies that included Cambridge Analytica, has now rebranded, and is already under retainer with and at work for the Trump 2020 reelection campaign.

  186. 186.

    Schlemazel

    Stone worked this magic with Franken. Wonder if it will work again. Maybe he should have saved it for the big game

  187. 187.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: Wohl’s dad is intimately involved in both the President’s 2016 campaign and his 2020 reelection campaign.

    Also, now I have to update the post again.

  189. 189.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @hueyplong:
    Graham is a mean-spirited asshole with a passionate history of believing ‘hurt the weak’ is the answer to all questions. He and Trump bond quite well.

  190. 190.

    Chyron HR

    @germy:

    Surefire’s official phone number redirects to a voicemail box registered to Jacob’s mom.

    “Jacob? JACOB! I told you not to porn the libs after six PM!!”

  191. 191.

    Bruce K

    It occurs to me that the people being targeted by these investigations seem to think that it’s all personal, because it’d be personal for the man in the White House, and that if they can take down the man at the top, the whole investigation will crumble. They used Schneiderman’s fall to attempt to discredit everything the New York AG’s office has been doing, and they’d probably do the same with Mueller if they could.

    I’d be willing to lay down cash money that Mueller’s thought about this, and has a contingency for it. Not sure what the Office of the Special Counsel’s bus factor is, but it’s got to be higher than “one”.

  193. 193.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:

    Even their bribery schemes are low wage.

    Ok, despite it being so very grimly true, I’m still laughing. =)

  194. 194.

    trollhattan

    It’s like grifter dominoes. Zinke has been a true terrorist in his wholesale giveaway of federal [read: our] resources. Let’s hope this gets traction.

    The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has referred one of its ongoing probes into the conduct of Secretary Ryan Zinke to the Justice Department for further investigation, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.

    Interior Deputy Inspector General Mary L. Kendall, who is currently serving as acting inspector general, is conducting at least three probes that involve Zinke. These include his involvement in a Montana land deal and the decision not to grant two tribes approval to operate a casino in Connecticut. The individuals, who spoke of the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, did not specify which inquiry had been referred to the Justice Department.

    A spokeswoman for the inspector’s office declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, saying, ” I cannot comment on any investigations.” The Justice Department declined to comment, and Interior did not immediately responded to a request for comment.

    A referral to the Justice Department means that prosecutors will explore whether a criminal investigation is warranted. While an agency’s inspector general regularly issues reports on the findings of its inquiries, it only refers cases to the Justice Department when it has determined that there could be potential criminal violations.

    A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due the sensitive nature of the matter, said the White House understands that the investigation is looking into whether the secretary “used his office to help himself.”

    Since taking office in March 2017, Zinke has come under scrutiny for his travel practices as well as other aspects of his job performance, though his aides have dismissed these allegations as politically motivated. Earlier this month, the inspector general’s office released a report finding that Zinke’s decision to allow his wife to travel with him sparked concerns among the department’s ethics officials. Zinke is one of multiple Cabinet members who may leave after the midterm elections, according to administration officials.

  196. 196.

    Raoul

    Jacob Wohl wanted so bad to be like Roger Stone that he decided to skip the 40 years of more or less successful ratf*cking and race his hero to jail.

    Also, this delicious detail from NBC

    Jacob gave us comment at first, but went quiet when we told him Surefire Intelligence’s phone number redirected to a voicemail account registered to his mom.

    Calling him a bumbling idiot would be unfair to the merely clumsy + stupid.

  197. 197.

    Gravenstone

    @Kent: HE. WAS. NOT. GROPING. HER.

    Jesus, ya fuckwit it was an intentional camera angle to make it appear he was. Notice also the pandering grin for said camera. It was all a joke. In poor taste, yes, but there was no there there.

  198. 198.

    jl

    @Raoul: You saying we can’t trust his mom? That’s unAmerican.

    Though, if he is still living in the basement, and she is not in on, might make for anther of those lawsuits to kick out the over aged kid.

  199. 199.

    John Revolta

    @Frankensteinbeck: A picture is truly worth 1000 words. It came out recently that the famous picture of Gary Hart with Donna Rice on his lap was set up, right down to the boat- Monkey Business– that it happened on, by our old friend and Godfather of the Ratfuckers, Lee Atwater.

  200. 200.

    germy

    interesting thread:

    Just popping in to remind everyone Wikileaks’ Julian Assange is a stone cold anti-Semite. Once when he got mad about me not publishing smear documents on Adrian Lamo, he called me “worse than a Jew.”— XENI (@xeni) October 29, 2018

  201. 201.

    Platonailedit

    To prepare for the next 7 news cycles, remember three principles:1. There are no limits2. There is no bottom3. These people lie about everything— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 30, 2018

    Yup, I am with him.

  202. 202.

    jl

    As for birthright ciitzenship, any justice on SCOTUS who claims to be an originalist in any way who would be willing to shoot down 100+ of precedent, and plain meaning of the text, and the plain meaning of the debates and go along with Trump on his scheme shouldn’t be on the court.

    If anyone tries, need to kick them off, or put a few honest justices on SCOTUS to nullify them.

    Good thing is, from news I’ve read on reaction in the polling today, this garbage might backfire in a big big way next Tuesday on the GOP. Only their most die-hard white racist base wants to deal with this crap. Almost everyone else will be disgusted.

  203. 203.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Popehat reminds us that you shouldn’t mess with the FBI.


    (the thread is developing)

  204. 204.

    jl

    @jl:

    Sorry, forgot good tweet on birthright citizenshp. Apologies if already been posted.

    @skantrow
    1/ On birthright citizenship, read the debate in the U.S. Senate, Jan. 30, 1866. The framers of the Civil Rights Act–the immediate precursor to the 14th Amendment, and the first place national citizenship was codified–knew exactly what they were doing
    https://twitter.com/skantrow/status/1057229372631998464

  205. 205.

    Kent

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    So I obviously haven’t followed all the details of the Franken fiasco. But if the entire thing was an attempt to shift power in the Senate it was pretty stupid because all they got was a Dem woman to replace him. If you are going to bring down a Dem senator with fake allegations why not one in a state with a Republican governor like King in ME, Manchin in WV, Durbin in IL, Nelson in FL, Donnolly in IN, Peters in MI, Tester in MT, and so forth? I mean if the whole thing is entirely fake, at least pick a target that will actually shift the balance of power.

    The one that is especially weird is the MN Attorney General race with Ellison. I’m still not sure what to make of that one.

  206. 206.

    Gravenstone

    @Jay: No, he’s been busted trying to enrich himself while seeming to endorse other Dem candidates. He’s at least working a side grift if nothing else.

  207. 207.

    jl

    @Kent: Conway said those disrespectful late night comedians are the cause of all the trouble. Maybe that is it. Gotta start draining the swamp someplace. /s

  210. 210.

    jl

    @Mandalay: Romney is the only nice serious daddy white businessman who ran for president recently who wasn’t either nuts or a crook. And no one liked him. Maybe Trump will put the ‘we need a businessman to fix things up’ idea on the back burner for a while.
    Maybe also be a lesson to perform due diligence on celebrities who want to run.

    We can hope. I think the country will be in the mood for a serious sober candidate in 2020. Crazy serious daddy businessmen and WWE and reality TV celebs need not apply. We can hope.

    Maybe Avenatti can run for a local or state office he is suited for and learn how to do campaigning and the job and sees how things work We can hope.

  211. 211.

    Gravenstone

    @germy: Cocksure little fucks, ain’t they? You’ve got O’keefe’s “Project Veritas” bullshit, and now these geniuses with “Surefire Intelligence”, being conspicuously unintelligent. Talk a big game so no on sees the pathetic little loser behind the words, I guess.

  214. 214.

    Kent

    @John Revolta: And you think somehow Franken could have blocked Kavanaugh or any of the other appelate court judges that are getting pushed through? Because otherwise I don’t think Grassley or McConnell or any other Senate Republicans give the slightest shit about any “hell” that Democrats give them in committee. I think they are immune to it. Only thing that matters is the votes.

  215. 215.

    Kraux Pas

    @jl:

    Romney is the only nice serious daddy white businessman who ran for president recently who wasn’t either nuts or a crook.

    Romney lied almost as much as Trump and he made his money (legally) purchasing companies and stripping the parts for stakeholders. Still pretty crooked.

  218. 218.

    Roger Moore

    @Kent:

    If you are going to bring down a Dem senator with fake allegations why not one in a state with a Republican governor like King in ME, Manchin in WV, Durbin in IL, Nelson in FL, Donnolly in IN, Peters in MI, Tester in MT, and so forth?

    I think Franken was a target of opportunity. There were already incriminating-looking photos of him, even if they were obviously staged for comedic effect, and a woman willing to make accusations. That made it really easy to whip up a scandal. As this attempt to get Mueller shows, though, it’s not so easy to make one up from whole cloth.

  219. 219.

    Rand Careaga

    @MattF:

    Bear in mind that, at this juncture, Roger Stone has a limited behavioral repertoire. He’s geriatric, his knees hurt, he’s probably incontinent– as de Gaulle said, old age is a shipwreck.

    Uh, look, I despise Roger Stone, but my knees are still OK, I’m not incontinent, and I’m older than him by the better part of a month. Can we ixnay on the sweeping generalizations about age until you get there?

  220. 220.

    Kent

    @Roger Moore:

    OK look guys. I don’t want to continue down this thread because honestly I didn’t really follow the Franken events that closely when they happened. I was buried in a new job at the time. Is there some published article somewhere that details how you believe Franken was ratfucked? (as opposed to a bunch of comment threads on blogs) Because I’d be interested in reading it and getting up to speed. I’m 100% willing to believe he was set up just as I’m 100% willing to believe he was a cad. He just seemed to follow the familiar pattern with similar type older liberal guys like Garrison Keiler, Tom Ashbrook, John Hockinberry, etc. And I tend to give women the benefit of the doubt because I’ve been around so many asshole guys in my life.

  221. 221.

    Jay

    @Gravenstone:

    His 503C was fundsplitting through Act Blue, piggybacking off of Beto, like a lot of other Democratic PAC’s do, including Warren’s and Pelosi’s.

    When it was pointed out to him, he stopped it and apologized.

    There’s 162 other Democratic PAC’s that are still fundsplitting through Act Blue off more popular campaigns.

    Not all of those are 501C campaign PAC’s, a bunch are “alternate” non-campaign fundraising.

    Election reporting in the US MSM is particularly excretable.

    According to the MSM reporting so far:

    Chelsea Clinton is running for President.
    Chelsea Clinton is running for the Senate.
    Chelsea Clinton is running for New York Mayor.
    Chelsea Clinton is running for New York State Senate Seat.
    Hillary Clinton is running for President.
    Hillary Clinton is running for a Senate Seat.
    Hillary Clinton is running for New York Mayor.
    Hillary Clinton is running for President again.
    Joe Biden is running for President.
    Elizabeth Warren is running for President.
    Michael Avenatti is running for President.
    Senator Gillibrand is running for President.
    Senator Hirono is running for President.
    Oprah Winfrey is running for President.

    Until a cantidate sets up a 501C, started staffing a Campaign, and ANNOUNCES FORMALLY THEY ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, they arn’t running for President.

    So far, only the Insane Clown POSus, John Delaney, Ken Nwadike, Robbie Wells and Andrew Yang are running for President in 2020.

  222. 222.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kent: What part of “Fraken was a professional comedian making a joke” don’t you understand? I will observe the most effect segment of the media against the Republicans has been comedians so the Conservatives have every interest in suppressing and punishing a comedian.

    Do you also fail to understand there is a refinement process in the arts that is needed to get an effort up to a professional standard were first pass can be pretty awful? Or do you really think things like paintings, movies, music and even jokes spring from their creator’s mind’s fully formed like Athena from Zeus’s head?

  223. 223.

    lgerard

    @germy:

    A company called “Surefire Intelligence” has ties to this Mueller smear.

    Jacob Wohl denied having ties to Surefire.

    Surefire’s official phone number redirects to a voicemail box registered to Jacob’s mom.https://t.co/aVPzVDjGR4— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 30, 2018

    And the addresses of all the world wide “offices” are nothing more then mail drops

  225. 225.

    Citizen Alan

    @Mnemosyne:

    It was always a fantasy on his part that was not going to survive the first round of the Iowa caucuses.

    I don’t think Avenetti has the slightest expectation or desire to win the nomination. It’s just grift, albeit left wing grift instead of right wing grift.

  226. 226.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: Her credit card liability was about $34k, and there were some other bills. Her husband died not long ago and she said he was a big spender. So, maybe a total of $65k-75k max?

  227. 227.

    opiejeanne

    @Kent: One woman, she wasn’t asleep, it was part of a skit they were performing for the USO, and he never actually touched her.

  230. 230.

    joel hanes

    @Kent:

    Kent, you need to find the video of the USO act that Franken and Tweeden were doing on tour.

    And then consider that she consulted with Roger Stone before going public.

  232. 232.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: 20k PLUS paying off every bit of her existing credit card debt. The story did not indicate how much credit card debt there was; it only said the person making the offer knew the exact amount of her existing credit card debt, TO THE DOLLAR.

  234. 234.

    J R in WV

    @trollhattan:

    Ditto. Mom lost her enthusiasm for being a Republican because of Reagan and it was slowly downhill after that.

    My mom was a Republican most of her life, and then spent several years slowly dying of COPD caused by Pall Mall addiction she got from free cigs being passed out at college football games.

    We spent a lot of time together, and while we were alone one afternoon she told me “You can’t ever say anything to your dad, but I’ve been voting for Democrats for years now, ever since the republican party went mad about abortion. It is none of their business how we women regard our health care and I hate that they are deluded enough to think like that!”

    I was a little shocked, pleasantly. I believe she had a cousin or close friend who died as a result of a then-illegal abortion long before I was even a gleam in her mind. So your mothers weren’t the only women who saw what was going on for the truth.

  237. 237.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Platonailedit: Michael Steele spent the run up to the election giggling about Trump and since Charlottesville, he’s been all frowny faced and concerned when he’s brought on to discuss Trump.

    We’ve been completely and utterly failed by our betters.

  239. 239.

    J R in WV

    @Kent:

    Will you please go back to St Petersburg where your kinfolk are running the misinformation campaign?

    Pretty please?

    ‘Cause we’re done with your BS now, Kent.

  241. 241.

    dimmsdale

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh sweet Jeeeezus, Bari Weiss, Tomi Lahren, that empty-headed, AR-15-toting bimbo that Bob Bateman enjoys (rightfully) making fun of on Twitter…….I’m sure there are legions of strapping young RWNJ louts who, like these ladies, bring absolutely nothing to the table but a thirst for their 15 seconds and a shot at the great Republican Grift Teat….the lot of them ought to be sat down in a windowless room and subjected to a day of skilled, dead-on harangues by David Simon. I honestly don’t get how these deep thinkers clog my internet feeds, other than skilled paid-for publicity hacks. (short version: I hear ya, Adam, why indeed!!)

  243. 243.

    Dev Null

    @Amir Khalid:

    It would take an amendment to the US Constitution to do away with birthright citizenship, wouldn’t it?

    Or John Roberts deciding that the framers of the 14th Amendment were insufficiently clear about their intentions … and he’s decided to disambiguate.

    But yeah, those are the choices.

  244. 244.

    Redshift

    @Sister Golden Bear: I remember during the Kavanaugh debacle wingnuts were saying libruls better not do this, because they’ll do it to us,very way more.

    In other words, they were sure it was all fake, but people took it seriously, so surely when they made up allegations prior would take them seriously, too!

    As you say, not smart people.

  245. 245.

    dopey-o

    @trollhattan: st jude hospital -IIRC- was founded bt Danny Thomas, a christian and a comedian of lebanese descent. Marinite Christian, i believe. We have a few of them in our town.

  246. 246.

    taras

    @kent
    that pic was not part of their skit and the photo wasn’t staged.
    “I am ashamed of that photo,” Franken told Minnesota Public Radio. “She didn’t have any ability to consent. She had every right to feel violated by that photo. I have apologized to her. I was very grateful that she accepted my apology. That is all I can say. My intent doesn’t matter. What matters is that she felt the way she felt from this photo and for that I am ashamed.”
    if that was my wife or daughter that Franken did that to, i wouldn’t find anything funny about it and there would be repercussions.

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