Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

People are weird.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / “When in danger, when in doubt…”

“When in danger, when in doubt…”

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“Run in circles, scream and shout.”

My sister and I used to mock an extra-flinchy relative with that derisive couplet behind her back. It also applies to the current POTUS, who’s been losing his shit on Twitter all morning:

Robert Mueller and Leakin’ Lyin’ James Comey are Best Friends, just one of many Mueller Conflicts of Interest. And bye the way, wasn’t the woman in charge of prosecuting Jerome Corsi (who I do not know) in charge of “legal” at the corrupt Clinton Foundation? A total Witch Hunt…

….Will Robert Mueller’s big time conflicts of interest be listed at the top of his Republicans only Report. Will Andrew Weissman’s horrible and vicious prosecutorial past be listed in the Report. He wrongly destroyed people’s lives, took down great companies, only to be……..

…..overturned, 9-0, in the United States Supreme Court. Doing same thing to people now. Will all of the substantial & many contributions made by the 17 Angry Democrats to the Campaign of Crooked Hillary be listed in top of Report. Will the people that worked for the Clinton….

…Foundation be listed at the top of the Report? Will the scathing document written about Lyin’ James Comey, by the man in charge of the case, Rod Rosenstein (who also signed the FISA Warrant), be a big part of the Report? Isn’t Rod therefore totally conflicted? Will all of….

…the lying and leaking by the people doing the Report, & also Bruce Ohr (and his lovely wife Molly), Comey, Brennan, Clapper, & all of the many fired people of the FBI, be listed in the Report? Will the corruption within the DNC & Clinton Campaign be exposed?..And so much more!

It has been incorrectly reported that Rudy Giuliani and others will not be doing a counter to the Mueller Report. That is Fake News. Already 87 pages done, but obviously cannot complete until we see the final Witch Hunt Report.

We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report. This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!

Interestingly, Trump hasn’t bothered to deny the reports about Kelly’s imminent resignation, even though “John Kelly” has been trending on Twitter all morning. Sounds like the reports of the two not speaking to each other are true — no one’s left to enforce limits to “executive time,” so it’s all Fox News and Twitter today for Spanky as we all await the Cohen and Manafort sentencing documents.

Reader Interactions

252Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    Wasn’t Rudy Gulliani the source of the news for the whole we aren’t going to be doing anything about Mueller report? 85 blank pages I suppose!

  3. 3.

    David Hunt

    It was my understanding that the phrase came from aviation. Basically translated to “If you’re lost, start moving in a circle and call for help.” Keeping your location roughly unmoving would help triangulate your position so you could get a correct heading.

    I might even be right about that…

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Richard M. Nixon @ dick_nixon
    Coming for the son, I guess.

    put me down with the twitter ghost of corrupt presidents past

  7. 7.

    RepubAnon

    Wow, I’m so impressed by the civility displayed by Mr. Trump. To follow his example, I’ll start calling him Drooling Dotard Donald.

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    When I read the last tweet in that series, I’m reminded of why you’re not supposed to use “this” without a following now or a very clear antecedent. What is “this” that shouldn’t happen to another president ever again?

  11. 11.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @schrodingers_cat:
    It’s a standard narcissist’s rant when they get caught. Everything is someone else’s fault, appeals to authority, it’s unfair that people are picking on him, everyone who says he’s guilty is biased and a bad person. Most or all of it wild misrepresentations or flat-out lies. Interesting side note: He believes every word the moment it’s out of his mouth.

  12. 12.

    germy

    This should never again be allowed to happen to a future republican President of the United States!

  13. 13.

    dogwood

    Another bomb threat and evacuation at CNN. Trump gets a big personal pay-off from these tweets, and that’s all that matters to him.

  14. 14.

    Jerzy Russian

    In this day and age, is there anyone who refers to someone else’s wife as “lovely”? Anyone who is not an asshole, I mean.

  15. 15.

    germy

    Reminder: the more fevered the rant from Trump, the more he knows an unavoidable shame is bearing down on him.

    For the rest of us, these head-spinning Beetlejuice freak-outs are like a dinner bell.

    Something tasty is about to get served up.

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 7, 2018

  16. 16.

    A Ghost To Most

    I am convinced by Rudy’s behavior that he played a part in the conspiracy that has yet to be revealed.

    Eta thanks, BC, for gathering up the tweetstorm.

  17. 17.

    germy

    Bernie Sanders says Dems now in House majority will pass Medicare for All & other issues, and will make it so Senate has to vote. Stephen Colbert presses him – why would the Senate have to vote? Sanders says he believes “enormous pressure” from public will make Republicans move.— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) December 7, 2018

    It’s going to be totally wild when Bernie Sanders meets Mitch McConnell for the first time. https://t.co/cdWtwkJ1ch— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 7, 2018

  18. 18.

    Tokyokie

    @Jerzy Russian: I’ve long used it to describe actresses I like, as in “the lovely and talented Maggie Cheung.” But always in a rather sarcastic way, even though I find Maggie Cheung to be both lovely and talented.

  19. 19.

    A Ghost To Most

    Let’s be honest, if Jeffrey Epstein was Trump’s next nominee for the Supreme Court, every Republican Senator would vote to confirm him

    – David Jolly

  21. 21.

    dogwood

    @germy:
    The Democrats will probably send a lot of decent legislation to the Senate where it will never see a vote. Bernie, and a good share of his “progressive” allies, will then blame Democrats for the failure.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    Sanders says he believes “enormous pressure” from public will make Republicans move.

    Well, he’s not as big a moron as the Moron-in-Chief, but not for lack of trying.

  25. 25.

    germy

    @dogwood:

    The Democrats will probably send a lot of decent legislation to the Senate where it will never see a vote. Bernie, and a good share of his “progressive” allies, will then blame Democrats for the failure.

    Of course, who else would they blame? Certainly not the obstructionists…

  26. 26.

    Timurid

    @cain:

    ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKE JACK A DULL BOY.
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  27. 27.

    Gelfling 545

    @schrodingers_cat: Sorry, I don’t think Google Translate has thst language yet.
    Makes me wonder if some “counter report” should get written whether it will be comprehensible to humans.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    the more he knows an unavoidable shame is bearing down on him.

    Right. As if that motherfucker could/would ever feel shame.

  31. 31.

    dmsilev

    I trust that the “counter report” will use geometric logic to prove, once and for all, that Hillary ate the strawberries.

  37. 37.

    Ian G.

    Reading these tweets make me yet again hope that all the Big Macs over the years will finally cause the coronary artery to give out and we’ll be rid of him the easiest way possible.

    Anywho, I’m basically feeling like my 8 year old self waiting to open Christmas presents the way these tweets have me anticipating the Mueller drops.

  41. 41.

    germy

    @trollhattan:

    This is the worst thing ever said about Elvis!

    Elvis met with Nixon and offered to help round up drug users. He made the offer while high on drugs.

    Nixon gave him a badge in honor of the visit.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jerzy Russian: I’ve noticed that Trump finds really creepy, personalized ways of referring to women he perceives as enemies. Someone will write a PhD thesis on his names for Hillary Clinton someday, but it goes beyond that. For example, he always refers to Lisa Page, former FBI attorney, as Peter Strzok’s “lover.” That’s kind of a weird thing for a infamous serial philanderer to do.

  48. 48.

    A Ghost To Most

    @chris:
    They held on to all this hate and spite for 150 years, waiting for this chance.

    If you think they are going to quit now, you underestimate them. They will double down.

  51. 51.

    Jay C

    @germy:

    SRSLY? Come January, Bernie Sanders will have been in Congress for 28 years, 12 of them in the Senate. And he blithely assumes (or is trying to convince us that he assumes) that “public pressure” is going to sway Republican Senators ( and in the Majority) to sign off on a progressive agenda?
    For realz, Bernie?

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: he believes “enormous pressure” from public will make Republicans move.

    ah, the return of the mill-youngs and mill-youngs of young people outside of Mitch McConnell’s window!

    It’s going to be totally wild when Bernie Sanders meets Mitch McConnell for the first time.

    Or Conor Lamb, or Dan Lipinski, or Seth Moulton…

    I was tempted to watch Colbert last night, because I figured the comedian was likely to hold Wilmer to a higher standard than the starry-eyed Chris Hayes.

  55. 55.

    TenguPhule

    This should never again be allowed to happen to a future President of the United States!

    It won’t, if only because there will be standards for President and they will be enforced.

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    When Barack Obama was sworn into the Oval Office, he was for security reasons not allowed to use his Blackberry, and he complied with that. I don’t think he even had a personal or official Twitter account while in office; if he did, his use of it never made the news. And he would never have used it to taunt people or abuse public servants for doing their job.

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    @Ian G.:

    Reading these tweets make me yet again hope that all the Big Macs over the years will finally cause the coronary artery to give out and we’ll be rid of him the easiest way possible.

    Unfortunately that would only be easy for him. The rest of us would be left a seriously fucked up mess.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    @Ian G.:

    Anywho, I’m basically feeling like my 8 year old self waiting to open Christmas presents the way these tweets have me anticipating the Mueller drops.

    LOL…

    I don’t think anything will drop until 4:45 pm EST today.

  67. 67.

    Amir Khalid

    @germy:
    I see Wilmer hasn’t learned much since 2016 about how things get done in Washington. He sounds as ignorant now about that as he was then. And yet he still sees a future POTUS in the mirror.

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    @Jay C:

    Come January, Bernie Sanders will have been in Congress for 28 years, 12 of them in the Senate. And he blithely assumes (or is trying to convince us that he assumes) that “public pressure” is going to sway Republican Senators

    To be generous to him, that’s how things USED TO and are supposed to work.

    Of course, all that changed 24 years ago.

  70. 70.

    hitchhiker

    @Betty Cracker:

    his names for Hillary Clinton

    I had to admire the creepy way that “crooked” implied corruption and old age and disability all in one little word. He never gets tired of saying it. The HW avalanche of gooey press this week also reminded me how much “fun” W used to have giving nicknames to his friends and to the press. Remember Turdblossom?

    T***p’s use of ugly names is — like everything else he does — a distortion of what in other people is mostly innocent. He really is the goddamn worst person in the country.

  71. 71.

    TenguPhule

    @Amir Khalid:

    When Barack Obama was sworn into the Oval Office, he was for security reasons not allowed to use his Blackberry, and he complied with that. I don’t think he even had a personal or official Twitter account while in office; if he did, his use of it never made the news. And he would never have used it to taunt people or abuse public servants for doing their job.

    please stop rubbing the salt into our wounds. It burns.

  72. 72.

    JPL

    @germy: The fact that the current commander and chief wants to break the law should receive media attention. At least they gave five minutes of coverage to Mrs. Morales

  75. 75.

    Mike in DC

    @Jharp: I expect further dot-connecting to occur. More puzzle pieces put together. I think the major indictments happen in the first half of next year, and any report re Trump drops before next Labor day. What happens next depends upon a bunch of factors.

  76. 76.

    catclub

    @Amir Khalid: I am pretty sure he was tweeting by 2016. I would not be surprised if over 80% of his tweets were: “Sign up for healthcare insurance at healthcare.gov !”

  77. 77.

    Schlemazel

    @catclub:
    I associated it with the military since those are the guys I first heard it from. The explanation near the top, about it being advice for a lost pilot sort of sounds believable.

  78. 78.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: I could be wrong, but I recall there being this big to-do when he finally started using his old Twitter handle the day after leaving office. I think. It’s hard to tell these things anymore honestly.

  79. 79.

    tobie

    @chris: The judge is a 75 year old Reagan appointee named Royce Lambeth. Judging from the entry on him on Wikipedia, Royce seems like a cantankerous character but it’s hard glean any consistent political or ideological bent. I’ll let the lawyers on the blog weigh in…

  80. 80.

    hitchhiker

    Just got this in a fundraising email from the T***p campaign:

    The swamp is so eager to stop us that they might even challenge us with a LIBERAL Republican who can’t stand that we’re actually keeping our conservative promises.

    Apparently he thinks he’s gonna get primaried?

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    andrew kaczynski @ KFILE
    As a Fox and Friends host in 2013, Nauert said a swim class sponsored by the St. Paul, Minnesota YMCA and Police Department for Somali-American girls was an example of how, “Sharia law is now changing everything.”

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @tobie: Holy fuck, Royce Lambeth is still with us, and only 75? Unless my memory is really off the rails, he was the judge, one of them, who rubber-stamped every goony motion/suit/whatever (NAL) filed by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy back in the 90s

  84. 84.

    Mike in NC

    Fat Bastard offers so many tweeted questions, most without correct punctuation. His bizzare stream-of-consciousness bullshit is completely off the charts. Looks like the media love fest for GHWB (and dismal comparisons to his own criminal administration) this past week has sent him over a cliff.

  88. 88.

    tobie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yup. But apparently he’s also a big defender of Native American rights against the encroachments of the US govt. Maybe there is something ideological there along the lines of Grover Norquist’s pledge to shrink govt down to a size where it can be drowned in a bathtub. I’d like to know if a 3 judge panel or the full bench can review this decision.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    president* bwah bwah bwah sure is having a bad day…would be great if he could give one of those freewheelin’ no-holds-barred pressers right around 4pm…I’m sure he wouldn’t incriminate himself in the slightest…

  90. 90.

    TenguPhule

    Extreme fear is once again sending Wall Street into chaos. Investors are debating whether the longest bull market in American history is nearing an end or just taking a breather.

    From “Tariff Man” tweets and inverting yield curves to the arrest of a Chinese executive, there is no shortage of headlines keeping investors awake at night.

    Why the stock market is freaking out

    @rikyrah: Wheeeee!

  93. 93.

    Kay

    Jerome Corsi is now a serious player in the conservative movement :)

    You-all just have no idea how horrible and patronizing these people were to liberals in law school. OMFG- insufferable.

    I cannot tell you how many lectures I endured from young conservative men. This was at the peak, when they all thought they were Federalist Papers scholars. Now it’s like this motley collection of crazy old men who sell useless crap on cable channels.

    One. Big. Grift. It’s profitable, too. It will continue as long as everyone is making money. The DeVos family recently invested in some kind of brain-scanning, intelligence-o-meter, useful only for sorting people into “worthy” tiers and “unworthy” tiers.

    You can’t even tell the marks from the cons anymore- it’s all the same group of people.

  95. 95.

    lumpkin

    Weird how they keep boasting about the number of pages in the “counter report”. Kinda like a stupid person’s idea of how to brag about their reading.

  96. 96.

    Mandalay

    @Tokyokie:

    I find Maggie Cheung to be both lovely and talented

    I’ve never heard of her, but this is certainly a notable talent:

    In Center Stage, Cheung performed in Cantonese, Mandarin and Shanghainese fluently, switching languages with ease. In Clean, she performed in fluent English, French and Cantonese.

  97. 97.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @germy: Well, I’ve been saying much the same but trying not to be too pie-in-the-sky about it. I believe some legislation we like will get through after the shit hits the fan and the rest of the rats see the writing on the wall and jump (did I mix enough metaphors?) Because I believe we have some smart, capable politicians on our side beginning with Nancy Smash! And they will know how to pick their battles and work all the angles.

    So I’ve been predicting “more than zero between now and 2020”.

  98. 98.

    Barbara

    @Amir Khalid: I am pretty sure that they worked out some arrangement for Obama to use a blackberry. The frustration for Clinton is that they refused to work out a similar arrangement for her as SOS. Of course, all of that is different from the president using a personal cell phone to make calls involving any kind of discussion about official matters.

  100. 100.

    Ken

    @TenguPhule:

    It won’t, if only because there will be standards for President and they will be enforced.

    I’m hoping it will be named the “Donald Trump Presidential Corruption Act”.

  102. 102.

    catclub

    @Kay:

    The DeVos family recently invested in some kind of brain-scanning, intelligence-o-meter

    I bet they bought it from the scientologists

  104. 104.

    TenguPhule

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I believe some legislation we like will get through after the shit hits the fan and the rest of the rats see the writing on the wall and jump (did I mix enough metaphors?) Because I believe we have some smart, capable politicians on our side beginning with Nancy Smash! And they will know how to pick their battles and work all the angles

    Yes, but have you seen the average quality on the other side?

    Suicidal Overconfidence is an understatement.

  105. 105.

    Chris Johnson

    Already 87 pages done, but obviously cannot complete until we see the final Witch Hunt Report.

    ‘cos you need the full 88 to complete. Yes?

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    As if that motherfucker could/would ever feel shame.

    Here’s where it gets tricky because he’s a toxic narcissist: he won’t feel shame but he can be publicly shamed by having his lies and schemes revealed. As the Hoarse Whisperer says, the worst possible moment for a narcissist is when someone reveals that they were never fooled by the narcissist’s lies. That’s what triggers their cocooning and emotional breakdown … until they get their equilibrium back and start plotting revenge on the enemy that exposed them.

    Because, of course, the problem is not that they lied, the problem is that their enemy exposed their lies and embarrassed them. ?

  107. 107.

    TenguPhule

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Trump’s untimely death sans conviction and execution by a court of law would give McConnell and Pence and the whole GOP enough squid ink to cripple the Federal Government by the numbers. Our Elected Democrats aren’t yet ruthless enough to do what needs to be done and say “fuck civility”.

  108. 108.

    Ken

    @SFAW: The HoarseWhisperer explains that. The narcissistic personality still feels shame but does not react as a normal person. Instead it lashes out, lies, throws tantrums, and so forth, until it convinces itself it was in the right all along.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    Have you ever read Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man? Science-y folks tell me that Gould’s actual science is now outdated, but he gives a really good explanation of how “race scientists” of the Victorian age stacked the decks to always get the results they wanted, which just happened to show that they and their own social class were naturally more civilized and intelligent than anyone else.

  112. 112.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    You can’t even tell the marks from the cons anymore- it’s all the same group of people.

    A snake eating its tail. All the while the two demons on either shoulder are shouting “FASTER!”

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @catclub:

    A “brain-performance” business backed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has agreed to stop advertising success rates for children and adults suffering from maladies such as attention deficit disorder, depression and autism after a review found the company could not support the outcomes it was promoting.

    Why are they like this? What happened to them?

  115. 115.

    stinger

    I never heard of Mrs. Ohr before, but when Trump tweets that a woman is “lovely”, I automatically assume that she’s older, not skinny, and doesn’t have long blonde hair. In other words, he’s insulting her. It’s as if I referred to the current White House occupant as “well-informed, kind-hearted, and self-effacing”. Except that his idea of taking down a woman is by demeaning her physical appearance. She is INADEQUATE EYE CANDY.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ken:

    Exactly. A normal person feels shame and thinks, I should stop doing that thing because it’s bad. A narcissist feels shame and thinks, That other person is making me feel ashamed. I need to lash out at them in retaliation.

    And, of course, the classic “shame” movie reference ?:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n_w4MV_LwMw

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @Mnemosyne:

    They reject all those earnest, serious climate researchers but then they’re like “Neurocore? Sure. Here’s 5 million dollars. Go burn it to light cigars”

    Some kind of collapse happened – it really doesn’t matter when at this point.

  119. 119.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    Why are they like this? What happened to them?

    They were born and raised with a silver dildo of evil in their mouth.

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Ah, that’s so cute. He thinks he will make it to. 2020.

    I know, right? “RICO” and “resign”, they just kinda go together, don’t they? “RICO-sign”? Whatever. It’ll be part of the charges.

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    They can make money from Neurocore. Climate change will cost them money. Therefore, Neurocore is good science because it lines their pockets, and climate change is bad science because it takes money away from them.

    I actually did one of the better-regarded ADHD brain training programs, which is called CogMed. It was fine, but I didn’t keep up on the refreshers that you have to do. ?‍♀️

  125. 125.

    Noah Brand

    I’m curious: is there a site or a Twitter account or something that just compares the weird claims in Trump’s tweets to the claims made on Fox News? Because obviously, I assume these alternate-reality talking points of his are drawn directly from the Scared Grandpa Network, but it’d be nice to be able to check that assumption against records.

  126. 126.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @TenguPhule:

    The tit-for-tat tariffs with China threaten to overshadow the tax cuts and deregulation that had been helping speed up economic growth. Not only do tariffs lift costs, they disrupt supply chains and force businesses to delay investment decisions

    I see right wing framing about economics creeps into the article.

  129. 129.

    stinger

    @Ken:

    I’m sure he means “f*ckable”, but is (minimally) aware he shouldn’t say that on Twitter.

    I think he means the opposite. He’s angry and lashing out at the people he’s naming, and I’ll bet she’s not “lovely” by HIS STANDARDS.

    For all I know, she’s gorgeous, but solely on the basis of this tweet, I’m thinking she’s not.

  130. 130.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Will Andrew Weissman’s horrible and vicious prosecutorial past be listed in the Report. He wrongly destroyed people’s lives, took down great companies, only to be……..

    …..overturned, 9-0, in the United States Supreme Court.

    I had to look that one up, too. Weissman took down Arthur Anderson for covering up the Enron fraud. He convinced the trial judge to give jury instructions in a way that favored the prosecution. THAT is what the supreme court ruled against. With this tweet, Trump is backing Enron.

  131. 131.

    tobie

    @Mnemosyne:

    climate change is bad science because it takes money away from them.

    Bingo. That’s the rightwing mindset in a nutshell. If there’s no profit in it for me, it must be wrong (or demagogued as wrong).

  132. 132.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @JR:
    I wonder if it’s going to happen in 2019 or 2020. Could it affect Trump’s reelection chances?

  134. 134.

    Aleta

    They’re so discombobulated no one has given him a somber Pearl Harbor tweet that he could twist to make it about himself. Instead I hope some of the traitor’s boats will be sunk today.

  136. 136.

    Martin

    @TenguPhule: The stock market does not like global uncertainty. They want a steady message, not contradictory statements out of the White House every hour. It’s not even the message they particularly care about – the market can respond to things like tariffs and shifts in energy policy. Its the fact that it’s become clear to everyone that Trump is utterly full of shit and can’t be trusted on any statement, and they have no idea what people will and won’t believe. At times like this your money is best kept in a coffee can rather than the S&P 500.

  137. 137.

    Fair Economist

    @SFAW: Sanders is a liar, not a moron. He’s been in Congress decades. He knows perfectly well the majority party controls what comes up and the Republican will ignore the most overwhelming public pressure if it suits them (e.g. criminal background checks). He’s setting up to blame Democrats for Republican inaction.

  138. 138.

    laura

    @hitchhiker: I’m on the Trump campaign email list and do enjoy replying in the subject line-usually demanding that he resign, plus whatever is the outrage de jure.
    The sniveling grifting is b-grade at best, and thinking that people send them money, well, if you’re offering yourself up as a mark and a rube, the fleecing never stops.

  140. 140.

    gwangung

    @Mandalay: Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh appeared in an iconic Hong Kong movie, THE TERRIFIC TRIO, that’s a touchstone for a lot of Asian American feminist geeks. (Think superhero pulp fun on a 90s budget).

  141. 141.

    germy

    “Gerald Casale, founder of DEVO, has written an open letter in response to the band being inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame.”

    Casale was an SDS activist who was present at the Kent State massacre and who was friends with the students who were murdered by the National Guard there. He describes how his hope for an society that evolved toward a better world soured with the conviction that the world was devolving, thanks to the “encroaching fusion of technological advances with the centralized, authoritarian power of the state.”

    Casale describes a 40-year career on the sidelines of America where “the capacity for critical thought and reasoning were eroding fast” thanks to right-wing dumbing-down, and the commodification of rebellion, right up to the 2016 election, with “our vile, venal Mobster-in-Chief (who makes Idiocracy’s Macho Camacho look fit for office) and his corrupt minions rob the nation’s coffers in a shamelessly cruel, Grab-‘Em-By-The-Pussy Kleptocracy.”

    He proposes that Devo was inducted into the Hall of Fame “because Western society seems locked in a death wish” — they’re “the house band on the Titanic.”

  142. 142.

    jl

    Some good entertainment news here. Apparently Rudes will be writing a lot of the counter report. That should be a hoot, Might make for a bromance comedy. Let’s hope there are plenty of typos that create blind links so random people can supply commentary.

  143. 143.

    PPCLI

    @Quaker in a Basement: True, Trump could mean Enron and Arthur Anderson as “great companies” that Weismann took down. But we shouldn’t exclude the possibility that Trump is referring to the Gambino, Genovese and Columbo crime families, who Weismann also contributed to taking down.

  144. 144.

    Martin

    @Martin: And here’s what tariffs produces: Pegatron, one of Apple’s assembly contractors is moving from China to Indonesia, and GM is moving plants from the US to Mexico. Both moves solely to get out of the way of Trumps unhinged economic policy. Pegatron doesn’t come to the US, and GM leaves the US. US workers are either not helped, or are hurt, meantime, everyone is paying 25% more because Trump thinks the Chinese government pays the tariff, when it’s instead levied on US consumers.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    A month after election, new GOP senator already faces investigation
    12/07/18 08:00 AM—UPDATED 12/07/18 08:04 AM
    By Steve Benen

    In one of this year’s most closely watched U.S. Senate races, Missouri’s Josh Hawley (R) stood out for a candidacy chased by dark clouds. The Republican promised voters, for example, not to use his office as a springboard to a higher office, but then broke that commitment within months of becoming state attorney general. Hawley also lied repeatedly about the anti-health care lawsuit he helped file.

    Both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York Times took separate looks at Hawley’s tenure as state attorney general, and both painted deeply unflattering portraits, including criticisms from state judges over his office’s work.

    But he’s a Republican in a red state, so voters last month elected Hawley to the U.S. Senate anyway. A month after the election, however, Hawley’s most serious controversy is already coming back to haunt him. Usually, senators have to wait a while before they find themselves under investigation, but as the Kansas City Star reported, the Missouri Republican is already facing a probe – and he won’t even be sworn in for several weeks.

    Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has launched an investigation into a complaint that Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley used public resources in his successful bid for the U.S. Senate.

    The American Democracy Legal Fund on Nov. 2 filed a complaint with Ashcroft, claiming that Hawley used out-of-state political consultants to direct the activities of public employees in the attorney general’s office to raise Hawley’s political profile as he prepared to mount a campaign for U.S. Senate.

    “Josh Hawley’s flagrant abuse of his taxpayer funded office for his own political gain deserves immediate investigation,” said Brad Woodhouse, ADLF president, in a statement. “We’re heartened to see Secretary of State Ashcroft give this racket further scrutiny.”

  146. 146.

    West of the Rockies

    @Kay:

    Jerome Corsi was (is?) a regular on late-night alien/Bigfoot/CT radio. He’s a grifter who paddled out into the deep end without a pool noodle.

    Soon he’ll be not waving but drowning.

  147. 147.

    opiejeanne

    Thanks for gathering those tweets for us, Betty.

    Today is Pearl Harbor Day. How many ways can he say the wrong thing today?

  148. 148.

    PPCLI

    @germy: Indeed. I wonder how many Democrats were on the Ken Starr team? And how many of Starr’s underlings were Federalist Society Young Pioneers who participated in dirty tricks like the Brooks Brothers Riot (fx Kavanaugh).

  150. 150.

    Quinerly

    Trump Administration downgrading UN Ambassador. It will no longer be a Cabinet level position.

  152. 152.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jerzy Russian:
    The British sometimes decribe a person as “a lovely man” not to mean that he is physically attractive, but rather that he is a really nice guy.

  153. 153.

    germy

    @PPCLI: I know they were drooling at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency. I wonder how many of them felt a tug of disappointment in their hearts when PEETUS won?

  154. 154.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:
    Sounds like the machine scientology had/has, that told if you were sufficiently within their grasp. IOW you believe whatever certain people say.

  155. 155.

    TenguPhule

    @Martin:

    And here’s what tariffs produces: Pegatron

    Megatron’s little known younger brother who decided that the best things in life belonged to other people.

  158. 158.

    catclub

    @Quaker in a Basement: There seems to be a LOT of prosecutor over-reach that is only punished when the defendant has gigantic resources. Prosecutors assume there will be essentially no defense lawyer, because usually that is true. When it isn’t they are too often shown to be very sloppy.

  159. 159.

    Amir Khalid

    @jl:
    I find myself hoping that Rudy G writes legal documents with the same care and consideration that he gives to what he says on television.

  160. 160.

    artem1s

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    I had to look that one up, too. Weissman took down Arthur Anderson for covering up the Enron fraud. He convinced the trial judge to give jury instructions in a way that favored the prosecution. THAT is what the supreme court ruled against. With this tweet, Trump is backing Enron.

    Interesting. Thanks for looking it up, I had no idea.
    I call fake tweet. No way does Trump know who any of those people are. Someone wrote that one for him, or at least suggested he throw in a dig at Weissman. It’s a dog whistle that will go over almost everyone’s head. I wonder who it is really targeting.

  162. 162.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne:
    HEY! Wanted to thank you for the response on the late night thread. I had gone to bed but followed the link (it had not occurred to me to google that word) and that was interesting but stomping around on other links I think you are right. It is possible my dad didn’t get the actual meaning because it had shifted. That would still be a bit of ‘white privilege’ and I am not sure that is better but in one way it is.

  164. 164.

    Mandalay

    @gwangung:

    Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh appeared in an iconic Hong Kong movie, THE TERRIFIC TRIO

    Is that also known as The Heroic Trio? If so, the plot looks…interesting…

    Utterly ridiculous comic book-style popcorn movie filled with insane laugh-out-loud action sequences. Will test your tolerance for campiness and inappropriately bouncy keyboard-driven soundtracks. People ride barrels propelled by dynamite, motorcycles become twirling projectile weapons, indescribable worlds exist beneath manhole covers, heads are severed with throwable bladed chainmail beekeeper helmets, bodies stripped to muscle and bone continue to fight, papers blow around in enclosed laboratories, and hospitals are the most frequent locations for violent crime.

    I don’t know whether Maggie Cheung is lovely, but she is certainly easy on the eyes.

  165. 165.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @catclub:
    I’ve never particularly liked prosecutors in general. Every single one I’ve come across is an arrogant d-bag who, when shown fairly compelling evidence a defendant in a case they prosecuted was innocent, they usually double down. Same with law enforcement.

  166. 166.

    tobie

    @Fair Economist: There’s this assumption that if only the Democrats would go bold, they would win everything. I can see how you would get that impression is you limited yourself to twitter-verse and leftwing blogs. But my sense from the last election is that what swayed most voters, especially in swing districts, was defending existing policy (the ACA, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) and building on past achievements. No Justice Dem candidate won a swing district. I’m thinking of folks like Randy Bryce, Liz Watson, and Jess King.

  168. 168.

    tobie

    @Fair Economist: There’s this assumption that if only the Democrats would go bold, they would win everything. I can see how you would get that impression is you limited yourself to twitter-verse and leftwing blogs. But my sense from the last election is that what swayed most voters, especially in swing districts, was defending existing policy (the ACA, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) and building on past achievements. No Justice Dem candidate won a swing district. I’m thinking of folks like Randy Bryce, Liz Watson, and Jess King. No doubt they were facing uphill battles, but talk of political revolutions tends to scare Americans.

  170. 170.

    Mnemosyne

    @Schlemazel:

    You’re welcome! When I was Googling around, it sounded as though the word persisted in the Detroit area, especially among the Polish community, as a word for junk man or trash picker without the connection to that person being Jewish.

    My BFF is 100 percent Polish (both of her parents were Polish immigrants) and grew up in Detroit, so I may ask her about that. ?

  171. 171.

    Barbara

    @tobie: In fairness, Bryce turned out to have more baggage than a candidate can carry with him and expect to be elected in a swing district.

  172. 172.

    catclub

    @Ken: That, and all the Rudy Giuliani stuff tell me he has never realized he is no longer on the Howard Stern show.

  174. 174.

    TenguPhule

    @Mandalay:

    heads are severed with throwable bladed chainmail beekeeper helmets

    I have to take a moment to admire whoever came up with that.

  176. 176.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: Since Kelly came on later in the process, one might assume he’s being asked about the obstruction-of-justice phase.

    Yes. One might.

  179. 179.

    Mandalay

    How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!…

    Michael Avenatti has agreed to turn over to his estranged wife a corporate jet, Ferrari and other assets as part of their divorce settlement.

    Orange County Judge Carol Henson accepted the agreement stipulating that some of Avenatti’s assets be liquidated and sold for back child and spousal support. He also must pay at least $80,000 to Lisa Storie-Avenatti by Jan. 2.

    Avenatti, who represents porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, previously agreed to pay Storie-Avenatti more than $150,000 a month in child and spousal support.

    Among the assets Avenatti is turning over are a 2017 Ferrari GT Spider, five watches including a Rolex that retails for $12,000, a sculpture by famed architect Frank Gehry and a six-seat business jet worth millions.

  182. 182.

    Mnemosyne

    @different-church-lady:

    With the right warrants, investigators can still monitor your communications from prison.

    Paul Manafort found that out the hard way.

    @rikyrah:

    I don’t think that Kelly was one of the people who was pre-compromised by the Russians like Flynn was, but IMO he’s been participating in the after-the-fact cover-up. And “accessory after the fact” is the kind of thing that can get you a long prison sentence.

  184. 184.

    The Dangerman

    Champagne’s getting cold, but it’s still early on the West Coast (but I like Mimosas and came prepared with lots of OJ).

    Agent Apricot appears more unhinged then usual. Is December 7th really the day Mueller lights him up? I doubt it, but I’m ready (in case of emergency, pop cork, etc.)

  186. 186.

    tobie

    @Barbara: True. We could, though, look at how candidates won in tough districts, and I think the overwhelming evidence would be that they had a pragmatic approach to local and national issues. Maybe I’m wrong but I sense fatigue with loud-mouth politicking after two years of Trump. Populism cannot help but divide the world into us (the people) vs. them. Who the them is varies depending on whether you’re dealing with leftwing or rightwing populism but the division itself is baked into the cake.

  187. 187.

    trollhattan

    @rikyrah:
    The name forced me to look--yes, he’s one of those Ashcrofts–real name is John Robert Ashcroft, son of former USAG John Ashcroft. And he’s a fucking engineer. And his pony is voter I.D.

    The second generation of neocons is coming. Y’all have been warned.

  188. 188.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Kay:

    Why are they like this? What happened to them?

    Part of the appeal of the NeuroCore scam is the anti-medication angle.

  194. 194.

    TenguPhule

    John Kelly has been questioned by the special counsel over potential obstruction of justice, according to CNN.

    The news comes hours after it was reported Kelly is due to depart from his role as White House chief of staff in a matter of days.

    The CNN report stated Kelly was questioned in recent months, becoming the latest high-ranking official from the White House to be brought before federal investigators:

    “Kelly responded to a narrow set of questions from special counsel investigators after White House lawyers initially objected to Mueller’s request to do the interview earlier this summer,” sources said.

  195. 195.

    SFAW

    @Mnemosyne:

    And “accessory after the fact” is the kind of thing that can get you a long prison sentence.

    Fake News! It’s only a process crime!!!

  196. 196.

    West of the Rockies

    @Mandalay:

    I’m sure his ex must be a lovely person, too. //

    In these celeb divorce cases, everyone comes out looking like greedy, terrible people.

  201. 201.

    NotMax

    Heh. From the headline, at first thought you were going for a whole Underdog vibe.

    no one’s left to enforce limits to “executive time,”

    When nanny’s away…

  202. 202.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady:

    One possible reason is that a pro-crypto member of the Securities and Exchange Commission warned at a conference this week that she’s fighting an uphill battle trying to convince the rest of the SEC to approve more bitcoin exchange traded funds.
    “Don’t hold your breath. I do caution people to not live or die on when a crypto or bitcoin ETF gets approved,” said SEC commissioner Hester Peirce.

    So apparently the majority of the SEC are still not drooling morons.

    But this lady needs to go. Far far away.

  204. 204.

    Mnemosyne

    @tobie:

    I think the leading edge of this particular wave was the transgender woman in Virginia who won a state legislature seat by running on improving traffic and infrastructure in her district rather than policing who uses which bathroom.

    Democrats: We Get The Practical Shit Done seems like a pretty good message going into 2020.

  205. 205.

    Eric

    An 87 page report prepared for Trump means an 87 slide PowerPoint presentation where half the pages are cartoons and the other half are each a single line in 48 pt text

  212. 212.

    J R in WV

    @The Dangerman:

    We also keep champagne on hand for sudden announcements of guilty pleas or new indictments. I might have to ice the best bottle in case of Trumpetts being indicted, but there’s always some sparkling wine just in case!

  214. 214.

    The Dangerman

    @SFAW:

    It’s only a process crime!!!

    WTF is a “process crime”? Seems to a be a favorite line of Hannity, so I assume on the Bullshit meter it is pegging the red light at the top.

  215. 215.

    TenguPhule

    @TenguPhule:

    Aslam argued that bitcoin prices could wind up plummeting below $2,000 and even test the $1,500 level.
    “Simply put, the bad news keeps coming just like cockroaches coming out of a hole,” Aslam wrote in a report.

    So Bitcoin is cryptocurrency Donald Trump.

  219. 219.

    A Ghost To Most

    @SFAW: “Process crime” may be my favorite new phrase from these proceedings

    Process crime (noun) :
    Any act taken by a white man in furtherance of the vast right-wing conspiracy.

  220. 220.

    The Dangerman

    @J R in WV:

    I might have to ice the best bottle in case of Trumpetts being indicted.

    Damn, I’d have to go get the really good stuff if a Trumper is effectively perp walked; there’s a place that serves up a Marscapone locally and I’m too fucking cheap to buy it (ridiculously expensive), but I’ll make an exception if a Trumper gets one today. Same place makes fresh mozarella daily (it’s seriously good).

  222. 222.

    Cckids

    @catclub:

    I am pretty sure he was tweeting by 2016. I would not be surprised if over 80% of his tweets were: “Sign up for healthcare insurance at healthcare.gov !”

    I remember in 2016, seeing Obama on The View, when they asked him about Twitter, since Trump was using it so much, he said there was an account, but probably “some intern” was tweeting. He seemed bemused that anyone would think the President had time & attention for such a thing.
    Those were the days.

  224. 224.

    The Dangerman

    @TenguPhule:

    A crime committed in the process of aiding and abetting other crimes.

    But still a crime, right? So, who cares if the person only drove the getaway car, they are still doing slammer time (can’t touch that).

  226. 226.

    jacy

    @Mnemosyne:

    More succintly, a narcissist cannot feel shame, but they can acutely feel embarrassment. And if you cause them to feel embarrassment, you must be punished until their satisfaction in revenge against you outweighs their embarrassment, at which point their equilibrium is restored. Narcissists are like human amebas — they don’t have reason, they just react to stimuli.

  227. 227.

    Mandalay

    @West of the Rockies:

    I’m sure his ex must be a lovely person, too.

    The other day Avenatti said he wasn’t running for president at the request of his “family”. Now we know why.

    The “family” didn’t want him to do anything that would get in the way of him handing over the Ferrari, the jet and “$150,000 a month in child and spousal support”.

  229. 229.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @TenguPhule:
    Good news on the Stand Your Ground front:
    Ohio General Assembly passes firearms bill—but without ‘stand-your-ground’ provisions

    COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio General Assembly passed a firearm bill Thursday, but with a removed provision commonly known as “stand your ground” that had been in the original version of the legislation.

    House Bill 228 passed the Senate Thursday afternoon largely along party lines, after a committee had heavily amended the bill earlier in the day. Shortly before 7 p.m. in the House, the representatives adopted the Senate’s version of the bill.

    “This is still a strong Second Amendment bill, even though some things came out of it,” bill sponsor Rep. Terry Johnson, a Republican from Scioto County told his colleagues on the House floor as he urged them to accept the Senate’s changes.

    The bill now heads to Gov. John Kasich, who had vowed to veto a stand-your-ground measure It’s unclear what he will do now that the bill has changed.

    It also shifts the burden of proof in a self-defense shooting:

    Ohio law requires the gun owner to prove he is innocent, that he was in a situation in which the shooting was lawful and in self-defense.

    But in the country’s other 49 states, the law specifies that the prosecution has to prove the gun owner broke the law in a self-defense shooting.

    It also bans “straw man” purchases of guns where someone buys a gun on behalf of someone else.

  230. 230.

    jl

    @A Ghost To Most:

    ” Process crime (noun) :
    Any act taken by a white man in furtherance of the vast right-wing conspiracy. ”

    I think it has something to do with Trump’s repeated ravings that it’s a damn shame and disgrace what those dirty rat feds did to poor Al Capone, taking him down on measly tax evasion charges. That seems to be continuing sore point with Trump (wonder why?). That general inchoate sentiment needs to be dignified and neatened up for sophisticated high-toned discussions on the news talkies.

  231. 231.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    when you find yourself in danger when you’re threatened by a stranger when it looks like you will take a lickin’

    Oops, that’s Super Chicken.

  233. 233.

    Aleta

    Question in general, not just for today:
    If I understand, for an Obstruction of J finding, it’s possible Mueller may not indict co-conspirators but might just pass the report to Congress. Is this also true for everything else–that he might just send reports to others (at DOJ, etc) to decide whether act on, rather than indicting anyone himself?

  235. 235.

    Ken

    @TenguPhule:

    “Kelly responded to a narrow set of questions from special counsel investigators after White House lawyers initially objected to Mueller’s request to do the interview earlier this summer,”

    Giving Mueller an extra five months to gather evidence, and create questions based on it. Remind me, was Kelly supposed to be one of the smart ones in the room.

  236. 236.

    TenguPhule

    Donald Trump told reporters he will have another announcement at Saturday’s Army-Navy game. The latter is a longstanding contest between the two academies’ American college football teams, for the uninitiated.

    Trump is set to handle the coin toss at the game, but it looks like he’s also planning to throw a curve ball. (Yes, I just employed a baseball pun while discussing a football game … I regret nothing.)

    “I can give you a little hint: It will have to do with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and succession,” Trump said of his plans.

    What that means is anyone’s guess. As is often the case, the Defense Department appears to have no idea what Trump is talking about.

    What could go wrong?

    The mind boggles.

  241. 241.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule: The amusing thing about all the Bitcoin futures and presumably bitcoin ETFs, is that all the trades in them are settled in dollars.

  242. 242.

    Amir Khalid

    @The Dangerman:
    I think Hannity and the rest of that ilk are trying to invent a distinction between actual crimes, involving some kind of harm to a person, and “process” crimes, involving no personal harm — like the distinction between personal fouls and technical fouls in basketball. Of course, criminal law is not basketball.

  243. 243.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TenguPhule: If I had to guess, Trump is going to cause a shakeup and do something stupid in order to try and get any and all Mueller related news out of circulation.

    “I can give you a little hint: It will have to do with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and succession,”

    I’m curious if he’s referring to succession to the Joint Chiefs positions, or whether he’s going to try and change the federal’s government’s succession order somehow to try and freeze out the House now that Pelosi’s there? IIRC correctly, the succession order after the Vice President has to be given by Congress so it’s basically a dead end if he tries it.

  244. 244.

    Chris Johnson

    @TenguPhule: Trump dropping a bombshell at the Army/Navy game?

    “Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Pence is a Russian traitor! This evil man is personally responsible for all the Russian collusion, not me, never me! And so I hereby announce that the new Vice President of the United States is the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who know how to make America great again”

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate. And fuckin’ Pence is of course a total Russian pawn and they all know it. I think Trump is about ready to flip the table.

    I was really sure he was going to bail and flee to Russia… until I saw his face at the summit, until I saw Putin cozying up to others and cutting him dead. The message is, NO Donny you don’t get to run to Daddy and gloat about what you’ve done. It’s being hung on you, and you’re dead to Vlad now. I’m sure he thought he could run to his best buddy and surrogate Daddy. It was a brutal, brutal blow to him to learn he was abandoned and fucked.

    Trump will wreck Putin now… or try to… and the thing is, he is himself a Russian agent and about to be revealed as one. So it’s time for the big dramatic statement, and he trusts nobody because he himself has been a traitor this entire time, and it’s all for nothing. Vlad won’t love him, just as his dad didn’t love him.

  246. 246.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @MisterForkbeard: He knows he and Pence are about to be unseated, he announces that by executive order the presidential succession goes to the Chair of the Joint Chiefs instead of Speaker of the House and then he announces that Hannity is a Six-Star General and the new Chair of JCS.

    Or maybe Ivanka.

    Only half joking. Didn’t he brag on the campaign trail that he was going to get rid of all the generals and replace them with “my generals”? He doesn’t know anything about anything.

  249. 249.

    Mnemosyne

    @zhena gogolia:

    Cole and Marmalade’s YouTube channel also offers excellent cat videos. Their cat parents build them really amazing kitty forts out of boxes. And they have two little sister kittens now!

  250. 250.

    sdhays

    @Amir Khalid: What’s kind of funny about that is that their definition of a “process crime”, such that it is, probably would include “using the wrong email server to do your job”. Unless you’re HRC, of course.

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