"A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March."https://t.co/6DwY2Z1VYW
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) January 9, 2019
AP source: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein expected to leave his position soon after William Barr is confirmed as attorney general. https://t.co/rG3Xb366sy
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 9, 2019
I would really like to spend a day away from the news and not turn it on to Breaking News every frickin’ day.
Indict the MOFO already.
Open thread
Frankensteinbeck
THIS TIME FOR SURE.
satby
Seconded
White & Gold Purgatorian
So a couple of days ago Mueller’s grand jury was extended for 6 more months, but today his report will be submitted by early March. How many freakin’ timelines are we living in, anyhow?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@White & Gold Purgatorian:
Ever heard of the “Berenstein” Bears multiverse conspiracy theory?
TaMara (HFG)
I’m just glad by the time I heard the news, MSNBC was reporting he was staying until the report was concluded.
dmsilev
Meanwhile, Lord Pissypants is throwing another tantrum:
trollhattan
@Frankensteinbeck:
“Nuttin’ up my sleeve…PRESTO!” [rawrrr]
“Whoops, wrong hat.”
TaMara (HFG)
@dmsilev: JFC
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Stable Genius!
The Dangerman
Indeed, but how would that work with the shutdown?
OK, sure, Trump might be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, but would he fold his hand and open the government back up? Fuck no, he’d have the shittiest of shit fits. He might start flinging poo off the Truman Balcony.
Anything is possible.
White & Gold Purgatorian
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Um, surely you mean Berenstain Bears …
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
Like I said in the last thread, I’m betting there are women here who’ve dealt with this.
HeleninEire
Nancy just went for the throat. Responding to Trumps claim that Fed workers are fine with the shutdown. “He thinks they can just ask their father for money” OH HOLY HELL
Chip Daniels
@Frankensteinbeck: Something tells me Nancy has a lifetime of dealing with men like Trump.
Joy in FL
How is anyone still calling it “Russian meddling?”
rikyrah
This sort of makes me think that Rosenstein is gonna break with that DOJ Memo and has approved Mueller INDICTING a sitting President.
JPL
@HeleninEire: The shutdown would end if someone would run that as an ad.
artem1s
so done being ‘presidential’ again.
SiubhanDuinne
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I was trying to type a comment gently correcting the (quite understandable) misspelling of “Berenstain” as “Berenstein,” but whichever spelling I used, autocorrect wanted to turn it into a diatribe on beer steins and beer stains, and ain’t nobody got time for that.
plato
@HeleninEire: Zing. Wonder how many media morons got that. Without someone explaining it to them.
Highway Rob
@Joy in FL: “Meddling” suggests Scooby Doo was involved. On the other hand, the only president we happen to have at the moment looks like you could pull a rubber mask off him to find Old Man Cheevers underneath, so there’s that.
(Yes, my four-year-old just got the DVD set recently.)
SiubhanDuinne
@<a [email protected]HeleninEire:
AWESOME SMASH
Frankensteinbeck
@Chip Daniels:
He’s trying to shut her down psychologically before she can realize she has power over him and start wielding it. The problem is, like you said, Pelosi knows this game much better than he does, and it’s way too late for that kind of play. But it’s all he’s got, because a woman wielding power over him is so bad, he’s even confused (and angry) Schumer doesn’t side with him.
dmsilev
@HeleninEire: I see that she is still skilled at wielding her Gavel of +5 Smashing.
kindness
Except Barr isn’t going to be confirmed…..
sixthdoctor
This is what we’re dealing with.
catclub
@JPL: All the people who thought Donald Trump had a better handle on regular people’s lives than Hillary Clinton, because he was a down to earth Billionaire, can suck on it.
Frankensteinbeck
@SiubhanDuinne:
And it’s going to torture him, and he knows it. A woman is making fun of him. A woman he can’t hurt back. She’s psychologically dominating him in exactly the terms he understands. I’m sure it’s deliberate.
chopper
@The Dangerman:
dude can barely chew his food. as to walking, he takes a limo to cross the fuckin’ street.
dmsilev
@sixthdoctor: Remember that NYT story a few days ago where did yet another “let us now voyage to the exotic lands of Trump supporters” piece and quoted some woman as saying something like “I’m disappointed because he’s not hurting the right people”? Trump is a symptom of the underlying disease.
kindness
@chopper: Trump’s ideal being would be as a Ferengi.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Badass Smash. I am a Nancy Pelosi fangrrrrl.
@kindness: Yes. There may be a delay or two or three on the way to Mr. Barr’s swearing in.
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
“He’s not hurting who he needs to be hurting.” And yes, he is.
JPL
@catclub: Who would have thought that a failed business man wouldn’t know how to run a government.
Aleta
He wants something in exchange for reopening the government. Because he owns the government, like it’s a golf course. It’s Donnie’s Pay to Play. What to give him … … how about a kick out the door and to the curb.
cmorenc
@rikyrah:
Neither Mueller nor Rosenstein are likely to break with this longstanding DOJ policy. What’s more likely is that if Mueller could lay out clear grounds for future indictment of Trump once out of office, or else has obtained an indictment under seal that won’t be unsealed until after Trump leaves office.
Of course, the issues of whether Trump has committed indictable / impeachable offenses will still be on the table for potential inclusion in Mueller’s report. If so, expect great noise and friction among the House, the DOJ, and Trump about release of that particular info.
chopper
@Highway Rob:
(pulls away mask) my god, it’s Albert Tross, the guy that runs the mill!
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: @Frankensteinbeck: Nancy SMASH didn’t get to the highest level evah for a woman in American politics without knowing exactly how to play grandiose narcissists like a freaking Steinway. And she goes right in for the kill. She’s got much better things to do than try to have a rational conversation with the president.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Ah yes, the Mengele Effect.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@White & Gold Purgatorian: @SiubhanDuinne: The spelling (or misspelling) of the name is actually central to the conspiracy theory.
C Stars
@SiubhanDuinne: This is genius. In one sentence she brings it back to how weak and ineffectual he actually is, and reminds us subtly of the recent swept-under-the-newsdump revelations about how Trump and pere are, per overwhelming evidence, tax (and draft) frauds.
plato
chopper
@kindness:
yeah, but ferengis are actually good at business.
C Stars
@Mary G:
Really, that goes for everyone in DC. But especially Pelosi.
WaterGirl
@White & Gold Purgatorian: Here’s what I posted on the previous thread:
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: I know, I loved that.
Ohio Mom
Am I to understand Mueller is going to be finished by March?
As I slog through winter, I’ll have crocuses AND whatever explosion ensues from the investigation’s report to look forward to.
ThresherK
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No,but I have heard of the Build-A-Bear Group.
Elizabelle
@cmorenc:
We don’t know what Mueller has turned up. Trump is a clear and present danger to us all, and he may very well have conspired to cheat his way to the presidency.
That DOJ memo may not be worth the paper it’s printed on. It was drafted for a self-serving purpose. And why would an agency memo have more weight than the US Constitution? Or criminal charges against a criminal president?
I don’t think Trump is worth much deference at all. He is ruining the presidency and common good every day he remains in office.
Mind you, I am not pushing for impeachment. I want the Republicans the fuck out of there.
chopper
@Aleta:
it’s like refusing to pay child support unless your ex gives you something new in exchange. fuck no, it’s an agreement, pay the goddamn bill.
japa21
So Trump says he won’t open the government unless he gets his wall. He is offering nothing in return. Hardly a negotiation. Of course the GOP states the Dems are refusing to negotiate because they won’t promise the wall.
Somebody yesterday on the radio station I was listening to said why don’t the Dems just give him some money, say 1.5 billion. My response to that is, even though he would probably go along with it, it is like a negotiation with a toddler. They want something and scream and scream and finally a parent says “Okay, just this once.” That never ever works.
Forget the part where the Dem base would be in an uproar.
JPL
@HeleninEire: This is the clip of Nancy going for the throat. mediaite link
rikyrah
???
Judah Maccabeets? (@AdamSerwer) Tweeted:
The daily caller decided to post fake revenge porn because they don’t like AOC’s politics
https://t.co/oM4dEM41PY https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1083084167829749760?s=17
debbie
@sixthdoctor:
He’s still operating under the Eric Cartman Doctrine.
Doug R
@Elizabelle: There’s an earlier Watergate era memo that implies the president can be indicted.
WaterGirl
@cmorenc: The odds are against it, for sure, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Even on the Lawfare podcast it seems some feel that it’s not as cut and dried as everybody things, and if the president’s actions are as damning as I think they are going to be shown to be, I do think it might go that way.
debbie
@JPL:
Nice. I also like the way they’re sticking together as a team and dividing responsibilities amongst themselves.
dmsilev
@rikyrah: Reading the replies to that tweet turned up this:
Can we get some new writers? The plots for this timeline have stopped making sense.
Highway Rob
@chopper: Albert Tross? What flavor is he?
Aleta
@dmsilev: (If true) I read it’s a photo of the woman who turned evidence of her sexting w/ A. Weiner over to a RW media outlet. But that couldn’t possibly be true, especially not w/ the reputable Daily Caller involved, right?
piratedan
Ok Donnie, you want a wall?
Here’s what you gotta do….
1) rescind the GOP tax cut
2) demand that Mitch McConnell resign
3) fully fund the ACA
4) sign the bills that we give you to sign
5) remove Brett Kavanaugh from the bench
6) sign off on DACA protection
7) grant asylum to all entrants that are not on a terrorist watch list
8) get those kids out of cages and back with their parents
9) apologize to them
Then we’ll appropriate money for a wall after we get done with environmental studies and handling land purchases at a fair price from their current owners and we work out a system to handle the tribal lands with policing their own reservations.
Let me know when you’re ready to make all of that happen…
Frankensteinbeck
@Highway Rob:
He’s bloomin’ SEA BIRD flavor.
Aleta
@plato: That’s wonderful. The limerick that is.
The Dangerman
@piratedan:
We’ll start with the studies of the Rio Grande river section …
Cheryl Rofer
Why the RWNJs are so frightened of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Read the whole thing.
rikyrah
Where?Is?The?Lie?
https://twitter.com/funder/status/1083104681323384847
rikyrah
I read this tweet and my eyebrows arched ??
All the while thinking..
WTF???
https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1083103941049700361
JPL
@rikyrah: haha Thank you for the link since I stopped streaming after Chuck and Nancy.
debbie
@rikyrah:
“It all started with the candy…”
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
I’m also going to repeat myself from this morning: Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi raised 5 children. She knows that you never give in to a tantrum. You just continue saying “no” and wait calmly until the toddler wears himself out.
Baud
Rexit?
cmorenc
@Elizabelle:
The DOJ policy regarding no indictment of a sitting president was created on Oct 16, 2000 (i.e. in the waning days of Bill Clinton’s administration, and before the Nov 2000 Presidential election) – and long predated the Trump Administration. True, its existence is very convenient for Trump, but it wasn’t a creation of his Administration.
True also that whether this c.2000 originated DOJ policy is actually sound legal principle or would be upheld by the courts is questionable – but the key for practical purposes is that Mueller regards himself as bound by DOJ policy, so the product of his investigation could cast Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator, or possibly even obtain an indictment under seal that only becomes active once Trump leaves office – but unless Mueller changes his mind or (even less likely) the current incarnation of the DOJ reverses itself on the policy – no currently effective indictment will result, at least not on any federal criminal charges.
chopper
@Baud:
BOO-URNS!
White & Gold Purgatorian
@(((CassandraLeo))): Yes. I was being deliberately obtuse. Very successfully, it seems.
TaMara (HFG)
@HeleninEire: Oh, my, that’s going to leave a mark.
Highway Rob
@Frankensteinbeck: I’m sorry, I’m afraid this administration has become entirely too silly, and I’m putting a stop to it.
…oh, would that it were.
Mnemosyne
@cmorenc:
I think the decision is going to heavily depend on what crimes Mueller has found. It would be sophistry of the highest order for DOJ to say, Yes, we have evidence that the president conspired directly with the Russians to change votes and fix the election, but we can’t prosecute him because he’s the PRESIDENT!
White & Gold Purgatorian
@WaterGirl: That makes sense. Still, not convinced the media’s sources really know when Mueller will be finished this time, either. This will take the time it takes.
Anya
@dmsilev: did they as her who was he supposed to hurt?
Shana
@rikyrah: Well you know the ladies like when you bring them candy.
Brachiator
O/T Old, dumb ass conservatives are, really dumb ass
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: Thank you. I think we are in agreement there.
Jeffro
@cmorenc: I’m telling y’all, Rosenstein is hanging in there to make sure every MOC and possibly the entire American public sees that full report
Anya
@rikyrah: I didn’t listen to the mofo but WT actual F?
Gravenstone
@japa21: Actually if he wants’ his’ wall, then I say appropriate the money – with one stipulation. Trump would be the sole contractor allowed. Donald J. Trump the individual, not Trump Industries/Company/what have you. Get to work, lardass. That wall won’t build itself.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: OMG this is so true. My husband is a part of a Whatsapp family group. Guess who shares the most bullshit memes and is responsible for most forwarded messages in the group about a dozen people? His 80 year old uncle. He was in the news business too, he worked for the All India Radio before he retired.