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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Today In Congressional Delegations That Haven’t Been Cancelled In A Fit Of Presidential Pique: Where In The World Is Lindsey Graham?

Today In Congressional Delegations That Haven’t Been Cancelled In A Fit Of Presidential Pique: Where In The World Is Lindsey Graham?

by Adam L Silverman|  January 18, 20191:46 pm| 167 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, All Too Normal

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Why he’s right here meeting with Erdogan in Ankara!

emIHA Photo/em

I’m sure President Erdogan has important facts for Senator Graham regarding matters under his oversight as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Perhaps Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization has SIGINT that will once and for all put to bed whether Associate Justice “I Like Beer” Kavanaugh was or was not having brewskies with PJ and Squi. I’m sure that Erdogan, being a noted proponent of the Rule of Law, wanted to ensure this got to the right person.

The Daily Sabah has the details:

U. S. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham arrived in Turkey on Friday for meetings with top officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

In both meetings, Erdoğan and Çavuşoğlu discussed with Graham the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria.

It is important to remember that while Senator Graham is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he is not the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s chair. That would be Senator Risch, who has no professional or personal experience with foreign policy or foreign relations. He’s a former prosecutor and former governor from Idaho.

While Senator Graham was en route to Turkey to conduct congressional business far, far outside of his actual duties and responsibilities, the President and his enablers – Mick “Man of a Thousand Jobs” Mulvaney, Bill “I Fix Sexual Harassment Issues for All My Bosses” Shine, Mercedes “My Family Were Refugees, Which is Why it is Important that No One Else’s Can Be” Schlapp, Sarah “I Slept Through the Class on Bearing False Witness at Ouchita Bible College” Huckabee Sanders, Stephen “I Don’t Care if I am Jewish, I can too be a White Supremacist!!!” Miller, and Jared “Shonda for the Goyim” Kushner and Ivanka “Almost a Willowy Shiksa” Trump, decided to further endanger Speaker Pelosi, the other members of the House who were scheduled to go with her on her Congressional Delegation to NATO in Brussels and Afghanistan, as well as the military and civilian personnel scheduled to meet with them in Afghanistan.

After President Trump revoked the use of military aircraft to travel to Afghanistan, the delegation was prepared to fly commercially to proceed with this vital trip to meet with our commanders and troops on the front lines.

— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) January 18, 2019

This morning, we learned that the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well.

— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) January 18, 2019

Whether here or abroad, the Speaker always thanks our troops, diplomats and intelligence community for their heroism & service. The Speaker commends her colleagues on the delegation, who personally & officially have dedicated their lives to protect & defend the American people.

— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) January 18, 2019

Maybe if Speaker Pelosi were to play golf with the President and let him cheat like Senator Graham does, she might be able to go somewhere some day.

And that last bit is serious. Because of changes made in the wake of 9-11, the Speaker of the House flies on official US aircraft for security purposes. This is not a legislative requirement. There is no statute that requires it, however, it has become the customary and routine security arrangements for the Speaker of the House, no matter who he or she is, and no matter how badly they’re annoying the President on policy disagreements. While Speaker Pelosi has the wherewithal to travel commercially, this isn’t a change in policy being made after a review, this is a temper tantrum that placed not just Speaker Pelosi, but other members of the House of Representatives, members of their staffs, members of their security details assigned for the trip, and the military and civilian personnel awaiting them in Afghanistan in danger.

We are off the looking glass and through the map.

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    The Moar You Know

    January 18, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    I tend to not like people who play golf. I am willing to bet Speaker Pelosi does not play the damned game.

  2. 2.

    Uncle Omar

    January 18, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Comrade Donald Fredski Trumpov is enjoying a satisfying belch after devouring 5 leftover hamberders while watching Fox News. So it fcking goes.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    January 18, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    Trump used twitter to threaten Michael Cohen’s father-in-law again. I should be immune to his antics, but the idea that he can threaten witnesses really bothers me.

  4. 4.

    bemused

    January 18, 2019 at 1:54 pm

    @Uncle Omar:

    What’s the story with hamberders? I missed that.

  5. 5.

    The Moar You Know

    January 18, 2019 at 1:56 pm

    Stephen “I Don’t Care if I am Jewish, I can too be a White Supremacist!!!” Miller

    You gotta wonder what went down in that little shit’s upbringing. His parents seem like decent people. But damn, that fucker either hates himself or hates his family but good.

    I would say “getting tired of grown men and women acting like surly teenagers” but, of course, one is sitting in the Oval Office today, and America seems buried up to the neck in them. Immaturity seems a requirement to be an American these days.

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 1:56 pm

    @bemused: He tried to tweet that he was serving the Clemson players hamburgers and misspelled it hamberders.

  7. 7.

    Raoul

    January 18, 2019 at 1:57 pm

    Evidence no. 39,875 that so-called conservatives are bullshit. Conserving rules, constitutional separation of powers, all of it. Pffft.

    They should be up in arms about this huge breach of security. They should understand that Trump just blew open a massive, destabilizing precedent: the Executive branch dictating the travel of a co-equal branch of government, and that in future (s)he could just pull the rug out from under a leader of the other party who has travel plans.

    I won’t do a ‘if Obama did this’, but rather to the future GOP say: When President [Harris/Beto/Klobuchar/etc] cancels Congressional trips for senior GOP House and Senate members, this will be 100% on you for not having swift and sure consequences now against this rogue WH.

  8. 8.

    Face

    January 18, 2019 at 1:57 pm

    @JPL: What does Cohen’s FIL do that puts him in so much Trump-related risk?

  9. 9.

    Uncle Omar

    January 18, 2019 at 1:59 pm

    @Uncle Omar: Hell, I botched the patronymic–it’s “Fredovich,” but I’m sure that Putin views Comrade Trumpov as just another Polish joke anyway.

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:00 pm

    @The Moar You Know: By all the better reporting, his parents were always far more politically conservative than both Santa Monica in general and the Santa Monica Jewish community in specific. I don’t trust Miller’s own recounting that he converted them to conservatism after he had an epiphany from reading Wayne LaPierre’s book.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    January 18, 2019 at 2:00 pm

    @bemused: Trump served up 300 to 1000 hamberders to the Clemson team depending on which tweet you might have seen.

  12. 12.

    The Dangerman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:01 pm

    I wonder if the reason that Pelosi’s trip had to be scuttled was she was going to calm nerves in NATO; not in Putin’s interest.

    So, why is Graham in Turkey? Find out how it helps Russia would be a good first guess.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:01 pm

    @Raoul: When Pelosi zeroes out the appropriation for operating Air Force One next year, I’m going to laugh my ass off.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:01 pm

    @Face: He’s a naturalized Ukranian-American organized crime boss.

  15. 15.

    Emerald

    January 18, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    @Raoul: Wouldn’t work. The GOPers know that a Dem president would never do such a thing.

  16. 16.

    randy khan

    January 18, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    I count having Graham out of the country as a plus, regardless of the reasons.

  17. 17.

    dr. bloor

    January 18, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    @JPL: Donnie leans in on Cohen’s father-in-law too hard, and a witness tampering charge is going to be the least of his worries.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    January 18, 2019 at 2:04 pm

    @Face: The president wants him investigated apparently because his son-in-law spoke with Mueller and is going to appear before congress. His testimony in front of congress is not a sure thing because Cohen is taking trump’s tweets as threats. There needs to be a law against that. Oh wait there already is.

  19. 19.

    Emerald

    January 18, 2019 at 2:04 pm

    @JPL: Cold hamberders.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 2:05 pm

    A couple of things about Trump’s behavior. From an NBC news story about his cancelling Pelosi’s trip:

    Complicating matters, the president’s spiteful overreaction didn’t just affect Pelosi. The Daily Beast had a good report on the broader logistics…:

    According to the report, officials at the Pentagon were blindsided by Trump’s move.

    “We’re still gathering information just like you,” one official said. “We are trying to figure out what is going on.”

    This isn’t the first time the president made a decision affecting the Pentagon without coordinating with anyone at the Pentagon.

    In the Trump administration, amateur hour lasts a lot longer than an hour.

    This is more than amateur hour. Trump doesn’t know or care about rules, procedure, how anything related to government works. He rules by decree, or whim, and leaves others to scramble to figure out how to execute his will.

    And his latest decree is not “presidential,” but the ravings of a petty autocrat:

    The new policy, announced in a memo to department heads, was put in place one day after Trump canceled a military plane for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was planning to lead a congressional delegation to Afghanistan this weekend.

    “Under no circumstances during a government shutdown will any government owned, rented, leased or chartered aircraft support any Congressional delegation, without the express written approval of the White House Chief of Staff,” wrote Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

    “Nor will any funds appropriated to the Executive Branch be used for any Congressional delegation travel expenses, without his express written approval,” Vought’s memo said.

    And yet this is, for now, the new normal. Every day seems to bring some new low, some new spiteful, petty act from our would-be God Emperor.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    January 18, 2019 at 2:05 pm

    This morning, we learned that the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well.

    This is perhaps the most unsettling part of this whole tantrum. Asking terrorists — domestic or foreign — to go after the Speaker? What the ever-loving FUCK?

    If Traitor Turtle weren’t such a fucking amoral, evil, treasonous motherfucker, he would have already gone into the Oval Office and told the Traitor-in-Chief “You do anything like that again, and I’m going to request that Speaker Pelosi start impeachment proceedings, and I WILL MAKE DAMN SURE THAT YOU’RE CONVICTED, you scumbag. Hell, I’m thinking about doing that anyway, you fuck. And that’s in addition to me cutting a deal with prosecutors, to make sure you go to real jail for the rest of your worthless life.”

  22. 22.

    JPL

    January 18, 2019 at 2:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: His father-in-law was business partners with trump also, so I’m not sure what the end game is.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    January 18, 2019 at 2:08 pm

    I just heard that Trump has banned all Congressional use of military planes. First, this makes Melania’s use of a military plane to fly to Florida look even worse; second, how will Lindsey get back home?

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    @Brachiator: Does this mean that Mulvaney personally signed off on Graham’s trip? Or did Graham fly commercial?

  25. 25.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    January 18, 2019 at 2:10 pm

    @Uncle Omar: The Godfather reference is an added bonus. Every person in this administration up to the top is a Fredo.

  26. 26.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 2:10 pm

    @Raoul: Trump and the Trumspters are becoming increasingly lawless in their conduct of the shutdown, and if they keep going at this rate, some of what they have done should be put down on Trump’s eventual bill of impeachment (which I understand will go nowhere). This first occurred to me a few mornings ago when I listened to a news report running down the increasingly random designation of who is considered emergency personnel, who has to show up and work for no pay. The a few days later I see Josh Marshall saying that same thing, and he is stronger smarter and faster than I am.

    The examples keep piling up, and none of them to the advantage of the Trump administration. Our new CA governor, Newsom was blocked by the administration in allowing laid of federal workers to get special unemployment benefits, feds said it was against the rules. And I thought, ‘hew boy, right away, Newsom is going to push the envelop aggressively just like he did on gay marriage, is it wise for him to start this his first week as governor?”

    But I heard a news report that CA has a long standing program for doing so, been in operation since 1950, whenever federal workers run into interruptions in pay, and Newsom claims he is doing nothing unusual. WH didn’t way what is up.

    So, who is being aggressively lawless here? Maybe some BJ lawyer person can fill me in, but right now it looks like WH is the lawless one, and doing pointlessly destructive and disrupti e things. Marshall views these repeated shutdowns as a very slow motion constitutional crisis, and the current one by far the most serious, and I agree.

    And something has gone awry, since infrastructure week has disappeared. Something is up!

    Edit: and of course, the news I am talking about is local news, which actually gives some information, as opposed to national news outlets that fill up time between commercials with a boring version of reality shows.

  27. 27.

    Quinerly

    January 18, 2019 at 2:14 pm

    Interesting TPM piece on Cohen, Trump, and the BuzzFeed piece:
    “When exactly did Trump give Cohen this directive? How did the President transmit the request? Who else knew about Trump’s ask, and in what format did they learn about it?”
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-happened-trump-cohen-period-direct-lie-congress

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 18, 2019 at 2:15 pm

    Hammill has been doing a very good job during this sideshow!

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:16 pm

    @JPL: He’s just muddying the waters for his supporters. The endgame for all his tweeting and his word salad rants and his rallies and Rudy “A Noun, a Verb, I Sound Like a Dumbfuck” Giuliani’s appearances are to make if nothing is true, everything is possible a reality. That’s the strategic communication strategy here.

  30. 30.

    Genine Tyson

    January 18, 2019 at 2:16 pm

    We are off the looking glass and through the map.

    Yeah, I think you need to let that tag line go, Adam. I think we’re off the looking glass, through the map, over the hills (we went), are now at the level of the 9th Circle – or thereabouts.

  31. 31.

    sukabi

    January 18, 2019 at 2:16 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: probably wasn’t mulvaney, more likely Jared as it’s been reported he’s muscled (heh, with his puny arms) mulvaney out at least in all ways but ‘officially’.

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    January 18, 2019 at 2:17 pm

    @Brachiator:
    It’s more than amateur hour. It’s amateur continuous.

  33. 33.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 2:17 pm

    @jl: Forgot to say that Newsom said just this morning that the feds can go screw themselves and he is going ahead with CA unemployment benefits program for fed workers anyway. So, good for him, if my understanding of the situation is correct.

  34. 34.

    Scott P.

    January 18, 2019 at 2:19 pm

    @bemused: He tried to tweet that he was serving the Clemson players hamburgers and misspelled it hamberders.

    Somebody pointed out that Dan Quayle got roasted for decades for misspelling ‘potato’, but in our current environment this sort of thing barely registers even for politically-aware Americans.

  35. 35.

    Nettoyeur

    January 18, 2019 at 2:20 pm

    Maybe a federal employee who is being forced to work without pay while his family goes without food or healthcare (deductibles reset in January) will accidentally let Lindsay Graham’s detail mideast itinerary to some enraged PKK members…

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:20 pm

    @jl: There is very little that the Trump administration can do to Newsom. Moreover, the GOP has, over the years, enabled the states to determine who qualifies for unemployment, how they have to qualify, who gets unemployment, etc. Newsom will do what Newsom decides he’ll do. Because of the shutdown there aren’t a full compliment of attorneys working at DOJ right now.

  37. 37.

    C Stars

    January 18, 2019 at 2:20 pm

    Rudy “A Noun, a Verb, I Sound Like a Dumbfuck” Giuliani

    Perfection.

  38. 38.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    January 18, 2019 at 2:21 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: “Nothing Is True; Everything Is Permitted” –purportedly the final words of Hassan i Sabbah, founder of the Hashashin

    None of these people are anywhere near badass enough to be assassins, to be clear, but the idea has been around for a long time; possibly millennia. In other words, Melania isn’t the only plagiarist in the administration.

  39. 39.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 18, 2019 at 2:22 pm

    @SFAW: Seems like Turltle is setting Trump up for that. Everything I’ve read says the Turtle won’t bother until Trump commits to a budget and knows perfectly well Trump won’t. Trump has already singled what the the solution for the shut down Trump wants when he chewed out his own Secretary of the Treasury for negotiating – Trump is going to let McConnell make a deal with the Dems, then tell the world “What can I do? McConnell betrayed me, I had the Dems on the ropes. Peloisi was secretly begging me to let up, the public was about to lynch the Democrats and then McConnell had be the nice guy low energy beta he is.”

  40. 40.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 18, 2019 at 2:26 pm

    Jared “Shonda for the Goyim” Kushner

    My personal take is “Jared just like Sir Thomas More, except without all that Catholicism. Nothing is outside Jared’s interests; a Jew for all seasons if you will”

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    @The Moar You Know:
    Being a Bal’more girl, I bet Nancy knows duckpin.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:30 pm

    @jl: The real problem is that technically none of these employees – emergency essential working, but not being paid, furloughed, and/or furloughed contractors – are technically unemployed. They have jobs, they’re just either not allowed to be paid for working them or allowed to do them right now.

  43. 43.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 2:30 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Does this mean that Mulvaney personally signed off on Graham’s trip? Or did Graham fly commercial?

    Good question. There’s this:

    Graham’s office told NBC News that he left for Turkey on Wednesday night on a commercial flight.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    January 18, 2019 at 2:31 pm

    Da phuq ?? ?

    ‘She’s Black. I Hate That’: Dance Coach Told Student Her Skin Was ‘Too Dark,’ Suit Claims

    https://www.theroot.com/shes-black-i-hate-that-dance-coach-told-student-her-s-1831845016?

  45. 45.

    Matt

    January 18, 2019 at 2:33 pm

    In both meetings, Erdoğan and Çavuşoğlu discussed with Graham the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi

    Let’s be real about this: the only thing any one of those three is pissed about with that is that THEY don’t get to bone-saw people they don’t like.

  46. 46.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 2:33 pm

    Mick “Man of a Thousand Jobs” Mulvaney, Bill “I Fix Sexual Harassment Issues for All My Bosses” Shine, Mercedes “My Family Were Refugees, Which is Why it is Important that No One Else’s Can Be” Schlapp, Sarah “I Slept Through the Class on Bearing False Witness at Ouchita Bible College” Huckabee Sanders, Stephen “I Don’t Care if I am Jewish, I can too be a White Supremacist!!!” Miller, and Jared “Shonda for the Goyim” Kushner and Ivanka “Almost a Willowy Shiksa” Trump

    You have a rare and precise talent for attaching nicknames to this rogues’ gallery. It’s a skill few writers possess.

  47. 47.

    Raoul

    January 18, 2019 at 2:34 pm

    @Emerald: I don’t know. I think there’s a new energy in the Democratic party. I know a lot of conventional wisdom is that AOC is a flash in the pan. But she is far from the only fired up first term member. Change is coming – the people who are mobilizing now are not the ‘defensive crouch’ Bill Clinton triangulators.
    Seeing Nancy play hardball on the SOTU suggests to me that she smells blood and won’t back down. Schumer is not so great at this, but the senate is a cluster anyway. (nb: He is tweaking Trump on eminent domain, something the Rand Paul end of the GOP used to care about.)

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:34 pm

    @(((CassandraLeo))): I’m using a different version of it. It is from the title of a book about Putin’s Russia. The actual title is: Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia.
    https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-True-Everything-Possible-Surreal/dp/1610396006/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1547840006&sr=1-1&keywords=nothing+is+true

    It’s in my queue of books to read. Which is getting longer and longer.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2019 at 2:35 pm

    @(((CassandraLeo))):
    Never knew the source before, but Jim Carroll worked that into his song, “Nothing is True”

    You get nothing back for all you’ve saved
    Just eternity and a spacious grave
    She said, nothing is true, everything is permitted

    Things just go from bad to worse
    Starts like a kiss and ends like a curse
    But nothing’s true, she said, everything is permitted

    She got jewels on her tongue to time the stars
    She drives all morning in unmarked cars
    But nothing’s true, yeah, it’s all permitted

    She got these special tools just to keep things tight
    They robbed her eyes long ago of light
    But nothing’s true, she told me it’s all permitted

  50. 50.

    Raoul

    January 18, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    @Brachiator:

    “Under no circumstances during a government shutdown will any government owned, rented, leased or chartered aircraft support any Congressional delegation, without the express written approval of the White House Chief of Staff,” wrote Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

    Here’s an easy one for the press to ask: Show us the memo, time stamped so it’s not some backdated bullcrap, authorizing Lindsey Graham’s trip.

    Also, too, there is no White House Chief of Staff. There is an Acting WH COS. Amateurs. [eta: If the Sen flew commercial, that’s his deal. He’s a fool to plan to now fly home commercial, so what’s the security plan for his return?]

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I almost went with Jared “One Day I Hope to be a Real Boy” Kushner or Jared “Betraying my Grandparents’ Legacy Every Day” Kushner.

  52. 52.

    eemom

    January 18, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    Jeez. I mean, I know Erdogan is a murderous dictator, but what did he do to deserve THIS?

  53. 53.

    Captain C

    January 18, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    @(((CassandraLeo))): Fredo mixed with Carlo Rizzi.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    @Brachiator: If he flew commercial, then the answer is no.

  55. 55.

    Raoul

    January 18, 2019 at 2:42 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: If known (or speculated), is Graham in the air on his return? It seems like a big security risk to now fly back at retail if his movements can be predicted and tracked. Or am I being paranoid? (Much as I disdain him, his safety as a sitting Congrescritter is a matter of general national security).

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    January 18, 2019 at 2:42 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I play golf (very badly). We’re not all bad!

    @JPL: We don’t know the circumstances, but Cohen did turn up with a shiner and his arm in a sling today. Hmmm!

  57. 57.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    January 18, 2019 at 2:43 pm

    @germy: I was just thinking that.

    @Adam L Silverman: Ah, makes sense that someone would’ve worked that into a book title. Truly a quote for our age.

    @trollhattan: Nice song lyrics; I’ll try to remember to look it up later.

  58. 58.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 2:43 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, whatever the technicalities, CA has been giving fed workers with temporary interruptions in their pay some kind of special unemployment benefits since 1950, says the local news. But WH emitting apparently empty threats that CA can’t do so now.

    In more news that this administration is either completely incompetent or intentionally sabotaging everything, it is doing its best to bugger up trade negotiations with China. China doesn’t have a huge overall trade imbalance with the rest of the world, but still has a very large one with the US. China needs to transition from depending on foreign demand (exports) to producing more for home grown demand (the economists who helped design China’s recent development say so and I believe them).

    So, China has offered a ridiculously unrealistic offer to make a big dent in its trade deficit with the US over six years. Trump admin sticking with its laughable demand that China do more in two years. So, things don’t good on trade war front with China, due to Trump administration stupidity or malfeasance, or malice.

    When I heard the news of China’s offer this morning, I thought “OK, maybe one Trump policy will end up not in ridiculous disaster’ But nope.

  59. 59.

    randy khan

    January 18, 2019 at 2:47 pm

    @Raoul:

    [eta: If the Sen flew commercial, that’s his deal. He’s a fool to plan to now fly home commercial, so what’s the security plan for his return?]

    He’ll be fine. Nobody thinks Graham is important.

  60. 60.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 2:47 pm

    @debbie:

    I just heard that Trump has banned all Congressional use of military planes. First, this makes Melania’s use of a military plane to fly to Florida look even worse

    In fairness to Melania, flying AWAY from Donald Trump is the most essential use of aircraft ever. https://t.co/WYWffddJde

    — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) January 18, 2019

  61. 61.

    Timurid

    January 18, 2019 at 2:48 pm

    In somewhat related news, somebody may have assaulted Michael Cohen after yesterday’s big reveal…

  62. 62.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:48 pm

    @rikyrah: For anyone wondering, this is Camille Sturdivant, the student who had to deal with this stupidity. She is absolutely stunning:
    https://atlantablackstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Untitled-21.png
    https://kake.images.worldnow.com/images/18028756_G.jpg?auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=800&lastEditedDate=20190117091144
    http://www.435mag.com/csseniorpic.jpg

  63. 63.

    The Moar You Know

    January 18, 2019 at 2:49 pm

    We don’t know the circumstances, but Cohen did turn up with a shiner and his arm in a sling today. Hmmm!

    @Betty Cracker: Take a look at those photos closely. He was in a fight. Got abrasions all over his left hand. The hand he’s trying to hide.

    This is Not Good.

  64. 64.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:50 pm

    @germy: Some of them were tough, as I indicated in comment 51, I had two other options for Jared. And for Ivanka I almost went with “I Have the Same Kidney Condition as My Step-mom”.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:51 pm

    @Raoul: You don’t get to where Schumer did in the New York business world if you’re a nebbish.

  66. 66.

    eric

    January 18, 2019 at 2:52 pm

    @randy khan: he sure as hell does. and he ain’t “nobody.” Just ask him, Lindsey will tell ya!

  67. 67.

    Cacti

    January 18, 2019 at 2:54 pm

    I read this a while back, but it seems as prescient as ever.

    Johan Galtung is a Nobel Prize-nominated sociologist and mathematician, who specializes in predicting societal collapses and upheavals. His model correctly predicted the 1978 Iran revolution, the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, and the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Back in 2000, he predicted that the American empire would be finished within 25 years.

    And damned if it doesn’t look like we’re right on the doorstep of becoming a failed state, 19 years later.

  68. 68.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 2:54 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I suspect he punched something in a fit of anger – a desk? a window? and damaged his hand.

    Maybe he gave Baron the back of his hand for not being perfect enough or something, but I really think it’s more likely he put his fist through an inanimate object (and not Pence).

  69. 69.

    Raoul

    January 18, 2019 at 2:54 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: True. But his tendency to still operate in the mode of past comity and norms has not impressed me. Yurtle has run circles around him (up to now. Not sure the disappearing act is still working).
    I hope Ms. Pelosi is giving the august Senator frequent pep talks.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:56 pm

    @Raoul: I think you’re being paranoid.

    That’s also what people have been saying about you.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    January 18, 2019 at 2:56 pm

    Uh huh ?

    Allan Brauer (@allanbrauer) Tweeted:
    If Bernie Sanders is actually running in 2020, his people would view Tulsi Gabbard as an existential threat to their dream and would be ripping her apart (by sharing facts about her).

    I’m not seeing that anywhere.

    She’s Plan B.

    https://twitter.com/allanbrauer/status/1086344964450074624?s=17

  72. 72.

    Gravenstone

    January 18, 2019 at 2:57 pm

    @Brachiator: So Graham is in Turkey with Mulvaney’s explicit approval? Drag both their asses before the appropriate committee and verify that very act.

  73. 73.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 2:57 pm

    @rikyrah: Maybe she’s his VP choice.

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 2:58 pm

    @randy khan: Other than Graham.

  75. 75.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 18, 2019 at 2:58 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I almost went with Jared “One Day I Hope to be a Real Boy” Kushner or Jared “Betraying my Grandparents’ Legacy Every Day” Kushner.

    My brother in law’s mother is like that – White supremacist Jew. Even under direct questioning from by my Brother-in-Law she makes no sense. So Jared and Miller aren’t one offs. The family theory is the mother lives in some white retirement community, so she hangs around with a lot of out of touch, full of themselves, racists wingnuts and she just follows along without thinking.

  76. 76.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    @Ruckus:

    It’s more than amateur hour. It’s amateur continuous.

    Again, these are not amateurs. These people naturally think like this. Trump is naturally a nasty, petty piece of work, and attracts like-minded people to work for him. But this is how he wants to run the government. And the ridiculous thing is that Trump is pleased with himself. As pleased as he was in deciding on the supremely tacky gesture of serving fast food burgers to those football players.

    This is like Chris Christie’s petty little bridge trick, but at a national level and for the duration of the Trump presidency.

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    @Cacti: His proprietary model that he won’t let anyone else see, with proprietary data he won’t make public? This is the same crap that Bruce Bueno de Mesquita pulled with his predictive model of political violence and terrorism.

  78. 78.

    Cacti

    January 18, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Lest anyone forget, Bernie’s campaign manager was BFFs with Manafort and joined at the hip with him in Ukraine.

    What I wonder about “The Bern” is useful idiot for Moscow or willing accomplice.

  79. 79.

    Quinerly

    January 18, 2019 at 3:02 pm

    @Timurid: further down in the comments there is mention Cohen had scheduled shoulder surgery and that the black eye is debatable. I still fear for him and his family, though. Shit is getting weird….weirder.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 3:02 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Self delusion is a hell of a drug. As is lots of Fox News.

  81. 81.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    @Brachiator:

    As pleased as he was in deciding on the supremely tacky gesture of serving fast food burgers to those football players.

    And he boasted “paid for it out of my own pocket!” as if it was admirable.

    What do you think of this theory? Thread below:

    Okay, hear me out…

    In 2016, the ultra-greedy, short-sighted Trump only cared about one thing:

    Sucking up to Russia to pave the way for the Trump Moscow Hotel and a $300+ mil. payday.

    He didn’t care about the presidency. He actually wanted to lose.

    1/

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) January 18, 2019

  82. 82.

    Cacti

    January 18, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Professional pique aside, is the republic feeling healthy to you these days, Adam? Or, for the past few years really?

  83. 83.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 3:06 pm

    Someone tell Cheryl Rofer that Estonians are now officially concerned that the US has gone off the rails:

    @IlvesToomas
    Around the world we always have taken the US seriously. This descent into utter ludicrousness is the most depressing spectacle in my adult life.
    https://twitter.com/IlvesToomas/status/1086343908265582592

    Maybe he just thinks that Trump’s plan to mail foam bricks to Democratic Congresscritters to be low energy.

  84. 84.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 18, 2019 at 3:08 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The endgame

    There is no endgame. These are assholes, domestic abusers, and narcissists doing what assholes, domestic abusers, and narcissists do. Yes, it muddies the waters, but that’s tangential. They do it because it feels good, and it often helps so they get to keep doing it.

  85. 85.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 3:08 pm

    @Cacti: And then missed the recent Russian sanctions vote.

    That was peak Wilmer. He strolls into an all-day meeting about sexual harassment in his ’16 campaign, but only sticks around for about an hour, and it’s the same hour senators were voting. So at this point he sort of half-asses everything he does, but makes it pay off for him.

  86. 86.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 3:08 pm

    @Cacti:

    I read this a while back, but it seems as prescient as ever.

    Johan Galtung is a Nobel Prize-nominated sociologist and mathematician, who specializes in predicting societal collapses and upheavals. His model correctly predicted the 1978 Iran revolution, the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, and the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Back in 2000, he predicted that the American empire would be finished within 25 years.

    And damned if it doesn’t look like we’re right on the doorstep of becoming a failed state, 19 years later.

    It’s odd. I kinda agree with his conclusions, but disagree with most of his analysis.

  87. 87.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 18, 2019 at 3:11 pm

    @Brachiator:

    And the ridiculous thing is that Trump is pleased with himself.

    Absolutely. Right up until he sees it hasn’t done even a speck of damage to Pelosi emotionally and she continues to dominate him. He’s running down the list of asshole misogynist ‘put a woman under my thumb’ moves he’s always used, but they all depended on him having power over those women.

  88. 88.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 3:13 pm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxKWPiIGToI

    (During confirmation hearings on Tuesday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar questions attorney general nominee Bill Barr over his definition of obstruction of justice.During confirmation hearing)

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 3:16 pm

    @Cacti: I’ve written official analyses that explain that the US’s aging, sclerotic institutions are creating serious national-security issues that will have to be addressed.

  90. 90.

    J R in WV

    January 18, 2019 at 3:19 pm

    @Face:

    What does Cohen’s FIL do that puts him in so much Trump-related risk?

    I’m not totally informed on the inside (thank Dawg ~!!~) but I think he is alleged to be in one or another criminal mob in the NYC area.

  91. 91.

    eemom

    January 18, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    Why is nobody talking about subornation of perjury? That’s a crime too, and even more obviously relevant than obstruction of justice.

  92. 92.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    @jl:

    Newsom is going to push the envelop aggressively just like he did on gay marriage, is it wise for him to start this his first week as governor?

    I saw his ads on the TV machine when he as running, it was the cornerstone of his ads.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 18, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    I wonder if Georgia is on Mitch’s mind….

    Chris Lee @ politico_chris
    New ajc poll out of GEORGIA testing politicians favorability —>
    Donald Trump (R): 37/56 (!)
    Gov. Brian Kemp (R): 37/46
    Stacey Abrams (D): 52/40
    Sen. David Perdue (R): 45/31
    Gov. Nathan Deal (R): 57/26

  94. 94.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    @germy:

    Sucking up to Russia to pave the way for the Trump Moscow Hotel and a $300+ mil. payday.

    He didn’t care about the presidency. He actually wanted to lose.

    But he didn’t lose. And he quickly saw being president as a hell of a grifting opportunity. I also have read that he set up his re-election committee a day after he was inaugurated.

    Also, he really seems to be Putin’s puppet, as are a number of other GOP leaders.

    Maybe he wanted to lose. But Trump is a craven, ego-driven opportunist. He accepted the GOP nomination and ran with it. Towards the end, he even threw some of his own money into the campaign. And very quickly after he was nominated, the GOP leadership decided that Trump was their man and have solidly supported him ever since.

    Maybe this is a bit like the BREXIT vote. The UK Conservative Party didn’t want BREXIT and never thought that it would pass. But then it did. And now the conservatives are running with it, using it to retain power, and scrambling to make it work.

    So, maybe Trump thought he would lose. But once the results were in, he went nuts with all the possibilities for grift and corruption and raw power.

  95. 95.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 3:26 pm

    @Brachiator: So, evidence of a world-historical case of Dunning-Kruger effect. Trump thinks he can grift off both Russia and US governments. Sees repeated failures of his plan (one of which includes, oddly, him winning presidency when he planned to lose) as massive wins, and he repeatedly doubles down.

    Trump’s actions and statements wrt to Russian hotel deal during the campaign are absolutely insane, difficult to explain for a even a person as stupid and ignorant as Trump, if he thought he would win the 2016 general election. So, that is consistent with your theory.

  96. 96.

    Quinerly

    January 18, 2019 at 3:27 pm

    Follow the money. I have thought from the beginning that this ICE detention shit was all about someone getting rich. $11 toothpaste is just a start.
    https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/01/18/11-toothpaste-immigrants-pay-big-for-basics-at-private-ice-lock-ups.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2019%2F01%2F18%2F11-toothpaste-immigrants-pay-big-for-basics-at-private-ice-lock-ups.html

  97. 97.

    germy

    January 18, 2019 at 3:27 pm

    @Brachiator:

    So, maybe Trump thought he would lose. But once the results were in, he went nuts with all the possibilities for grift and corruption and raw power.

    Hoarse mentions that further into the twitter thread.

  98. 98.

    Gelfling 545

    January 18, 2019 at 3:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: With whom Trump presumably has had dealings as, IIRC, Trump hired Cohen as a favor to the f-i-l. Rather unwise to call attention but that’s Trump for you.

  99. 99.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    January 18, 2019 at 3:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Individual-1’s numbers are going to get the most coverage, but what’s really raising my eyebrow is those Kemp and Abrams numbers. Abrams was robbed. We shouldn’t allow anyone to forget it.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    January 18, 2019 at 3:29 pm

    Josh Campbell
    ‏Verified account
    @joshscampbell
    6h6 hours ago
    More
    Those calling for the President’s immediate resignation or removal in response to a news article need to slow their roll. The allegations are explosive, but the step they are missing is the completion of a thorough investigation. Mueller and Congress will get to the bottom of it.

    By “Congress” he means “Democrats in Congress”. Why not say it? “Congress” won’t be getting to the bottom of anything if Republicans can possibly continue to avoid it. Stop rewarding Republicans for bad behavior by continuing to pretend they’re doing their jobs- they’re not. They’re actively getting in the way of other people doing their jobs.

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 3:30 pm

    @Gelfling 545: Yep and yep.

  102. 102.

    AThornton

    January 18, 2019 at 3:35 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Since Google is once again useless … do you have a link?

    (Unless you are the AL Silverman, coauthor of “Cryptogenic Liver Disease in the United States: Further Evidence for Non-A, Non-B, and Non-C Hepatitis.”)

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 3:36 pm

    @rikyrah:

    ‘She’s Black. I Hate That’: Dance Coach Told Student Her Skin Was ‘Too Dark,’ Suit Claims

    I read this story. The stark, open racism made me sick. The participation of teachers, administrators, other parents and students, damn. I hope there were some kids and others in the young woman’s corner.

    One odd thing. One of the coaches was named Murakami. This suggests that he might be of part Asian descent, Japanese American. And yet he was one of the freakin’ ringleaders of the despicable racism.

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 18, 2019 at 3:37 pm

    @AThornton: No because these were not published reports. These were assessments done for various Army, DOD, and other US government agencies I was supporting.

  105. 105.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 3:40 pm

    @Brachiator:

    One odd thing. One of the coaches was named Murakami. This suggests that he might be of part Asian descent, Japanese American. And yet he was one of the freakin’ ringleaders of the despicable racism.

    I don’t find that odd at all.

  106. 106.

    Ryan

    January 18, 2019 at 3:41 pm

    Graham couldn’t give Pelosi and company a ride to Turkey? That’s more than half way to Afghanistan!

  107. 107.

    AThornton

    January 18, 2019 at 3:41 pm

    Have to do a PIA then which would be more work than idle curiosity warrants.

  108. 108.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 3:44 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t know if your comment above was professional pique or not. But by the standards of the forecasting biz, I don’t see that Galtung has a mathematical forecasting model of anything. He has a conceptual model that he can adapt to various situations. He may be a good mathematician, but he doesn’t use much of that for his peace studies and journalism stuff.

    Galtung is like that political scientist that predicted Trump’s 2016 election victory: conceptual model, a checklist of qualitative issues that he can use to argue for trends and approaching crises. I wouldn’t accuse him of fudging a formal forecasting model (which a famous macroeconomist did to puff up the stats for his US election prediction model). But if you have a link showing otherwise, I’ll look at it.

  109. 109.

    zhena gogolia

    January 18, 2019 at 3:50 pm

    This whole thing about the cancelled trip is just making me sick to my stomach. He’s such a dictator, and they’re letting him get away with it. My husband keeps saying, “How can the President cancel a trip by congresspeople? He doesn’t have that authority!”

  110. 110.

    The Moar You Know

    January 18, 2019 at 3:52 pm

    He didn’t care about the presidency. He actually wanted to lose.

    @germy: I don’t believe this, not for a second. He worked way too hard for it, and dragged a bunch of his lowlife friends and at least one hostile foreign power into it (I’m betting two, Saudi “Dismemberment Kingdom” Arabia). He’s lazy. He wanted this.

  111. 111.

    PJ

    January 18, 2019 at 3:54 pm

    @germy: I’ve always thought that Trump didn’t want to win and was caught by surprise when he did win. I obviously didn’t know about the Moscow hotel deal, or any of the other details of his dealings with Moscow besides them actively working for him, but I just figured, as others did, that it was just another grift to boost his name value, and to set the stage for more rallies, books, merch, TV shows, etc. after Hillary won (and of course, his main theme would be about how he and the American people had been cheated out of victory by Hillary and how her whole administration was illegitimate.

  112. 112.

    NotMax

    January 18, 2019 at 3:59 pm

    @j R in WV

    Fine, if Dolt 45 wants to open that door then let’s talk about Ivanka’s father-in-law.

  113. 113.

    The Moar You Know

    January 18, 2019 at 3:59 pm

    One odd thing. One of the coaches was named Murakami. This suggests that he might be of part Asian descent, Japanese American. And yet he was one of the freakin’ ringleaders of the despicable racism.

    @Brachiator: I’ve spent a lot of time with three ethnic groups that absolutely depise black folks:

    Hispanics
    Japanese
    Chinese

    No shock at all here. And FYI, the Japanese and Chinese consider white folks as the equal of blacks: all pretty much subhuman. Always a shocker to the white supremacist types, that anyone would find them inferior.

  114. 114.

    PJ

    January 18, 2019 at 4:00 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @The Moar You Know: Somebody sent a message, and they didn’t use Western Union.

  115. 115.

    Mart

    January 18, 2019 at 4:01 pm

    @Cacti:

    “Lest anyone forget, Bernie’s campaign manager was BFFs with Manafort and joined at the hip with him in Ukraine.”

    For the most part I enjoy Thom Hartman on XM radio. Not too long ago he was broadcasting from RT studios, had Russian apologist (NATO-USA attacker) Professor of Russia – Stephen F. Cohen* on the air regularly, and had a weekly Friday’s with Bernie Sanders hour. I do not think this is all coincidental. Seems like Hartman has distanced himself from this a couple years back. He did have Cohen on a few weeks back for the first time in years. He sounded like a lunatic. So bad Hartman let a caller complain on air the next day about Cohen’s misinformation.

    *Married to Katrina vanden Heuvel editor of the progressive magazine The Nation, also too a Russia apologist.

  116. 116.

    chopper

    January 18, 2019 at 4:03 pm

    Where In The World Is Lindsey Graham?

    jesus that’s gotta be the most boring fucking children’s game ever.

  117. 117.

    H.E.Wolf

    January 18, 2019 at 4:06 pm

    @eemom:

    Why is nobody talking about subornation of perjury? That’s a crime too, and even more obviously relevant than obstruction of justice.

    Our friends at Merriam-Webster are on it:

    https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/1086123856769748992

  118. 118.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 18, 2019 at 4:08 pm

    @Cacti: I am going to be contrarian here; I am reading about Stalin and the teh’ stupid was neck deep in the world in 20’s and 30s. The Soviet Union only looked good because Stalin would simply murder anyone who spoke up about any of his dumber decisions. The reason why the stupid is so obvious now it a) it’s the information age and we see stupid in real time and b) it’s seems to be a special problem with England and the US because the English and US governments are designed deliberately to out their dirty laundry.

  119. 119.

    Fair Economist

    January 18, 2019 at 4:08 pm

    @eemom: I see plenty of people like Democratic Senators talking about subornation of perjury.

    Edit: the link is to a twitter by Sheldon Whitehouse but FYWP. Sorry, you’ll have to search Twitter.

  120. 120.

    ruemara

    January 18, 2019 at 4:09 pm

    United States of Fuckery indeed.

    For those interested, I’ve been enjoying my extra day to explore a bit of Seattle. Just have to figure out dinner.

  121. 121.

    Quinerly

    January 18, 2019 at 4:13 pm

    Totally OT but a giant in the music world has died. RIP Reggie Young. Brownie points and a drink on me if ever in St. Louis, if you can name the song and album where Jimmy Buffet name checks Mr. Young. ?
    https://bestclassicbands.com/reggie-young-guitarist-obituary-1-18-19/

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    January 18, 2019 at 4:16 pm

    @Mart

    Strictly for future reference, it’s Hartmann.

  123. 123.

    ruemara

    January 18, 2019 at 4:20 pm

    @Brachiator: non-black POC racism is definitely a think. The best way to understand it is twofold. Many are the white people of their groups (i.e. the dominate culture & racial group) & the glamour of at least your not black was alluring tomorrow than just whites.

    You have no idea how often I’m told by Native Americans that their groups are hella racist & Latinos too. But I’ve seen it on my friends’ FB pages. They hate us too sometimes. It’s weird.

  124. 124.

    Mart

    January 18, 2019 at 4:22 pm

    @ruemara: As vegetarians visiting Seatlle we found the high end locally sourced vegan/vegetarian restaurants to be crap. Some of the best Asian vegetarian ever.

    We walked from our downtown hotel to Pasta Freska (1515 Westlake Ave N) not knowing what we were getting into. No menu. This strange man with a mustache comes to the table and does a chefs choice menu where he decides what to send out after asking everyone their likes. We thought the food was awesome. In reviews folks either love it, or hate not having a menu.

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    January 18, 2019 at 4:26 pm

    @trollhattan, @(((CassandraLeo))):

    Jim Carroll, “Nothing Is True.”

  126. 126.

    gwangung

    January 18, 2019 at 4:27 pm

    @ruemara: Yeah, it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of anti-Blackness in other POC communities, and activists try to be careful to deal with it. It’s part of the structural racism placed on blacks, it’s personal bigotry and it’s the intersectional compounding of the two.

    Not to say there can’t be healthy discussion here, but the community of each group has to deal with dumping on the blacking community.

  127. 127.

    Quinerly

    January 18, 2019 at 4:28 pm

    Very good piece, imo, following the BuzzFeed piece and matching it up to Mueller’s court filings and Cohen’s plea deal. https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/18/politics/cohen-trump-buzzfeed-court-filings/

  128. 128.

    Martin

    January 18, 2019 at 4:29 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: It doesn’t seem to matter. The program appears to be structured such that if a federal employee isn’t paid, the state can step in and give the employee their pay, and the federal government reimburses later. I think its intent wasn’t to solve federal shutdown problems, but rather general payroll processing problems. Gavin is just being creative here.

    Good on him. That’s some Jerry Brown shit.

  129. 129.

    Steeplejack

    January 18, 2019 at 4:30 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Eh, I don’t know about the shiner part. That just looks like fatigue/​stress/​ill-health shadows under both eyes.

  130. 130.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm

    @ruemara: Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala dealt with this issue well, I thought. Fairness creams are a multi-imillion dollar industry in India. The latter is more self loathing than being anti-black.

  131. 131.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm

    @Martin: The local news report I heard this morning said the CA program was used for previous shutdowns. And this is the first time the feds (or specifically, the WH) has squawked that CA can’t do it and made threats they will take some action against it. (Edit: IIRC, they will not reimburse, but I need to go look and see if I can find something in print to check).

    A minor example of increasing lawlessness of Trumpsters. Not important since apparently an impotent threat. But probably we should keep track of where, and how fast, the Trumpster lawlessness is headed. The national news outlets won’t, since they are still doing the news like theater criticism and coverage of celebrity spats at level that would not pass muster at Tiger Beat. Hell, Teen Vogue has done better political analysis during Trumpster admin than some news joints can produce..

  132. 132.

    Plato

    January 18, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    All this sudden urge to meet with lil kim is another distraction?

  133. 133.

    Gravenstone

    January 18, 2019 at 4:37 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Just because it’s (very) tangentially related to your post. This showed up in a friend’s FB timeline the other day. Of course, one can hate on a thing that they’re also trying to emulate, because human nature is stupid….

    (FYI – Facebook link for those averse to such things)

  134. 134.

    Jeffro

    January 18, 2019 at 4:39 pm

    If people think trumpov’s blowing up/publicizing MOC’s travel (and therefore, security) arrangements is a big deal…wait until the Special Counsel’s report hits the fan and some in the GOP begin to realize their best bet is ditching trumpov. This isn’t even a tenth of what he’ll do.

  135. 135.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 4:40 pm

    @gwangung: To an extent the racism comes from the prejudices from the “old country”. In many of these cultures(East Asian), folk who are darker are seen as lower class even in their own countries(if you’re out in the sun, it means you work the soil…).

  136. 136.

    jl

    January 18, 2019 at 4:41 pm

    @Plato: They decided that the 1000 hamberders stunt had a shorter than expected half-life.

  137. 137.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 4:41 pm

    @Plato: Yes.

  138. 138.

    Martin

    January 18, 2019 at 4:46 pm

    @jl: May have been used for previous shutdowns, but I don’t think that’s why the program was set up. Trying to speak to Adam’s question of how it can be used if they aren’t technically unemployed. I think it was set up to allow the unemployment insurance to be used to cover federal payroll issues. Think of it as a fallback system against the federal systems not being operative for whatever reason. The states could independently cover payroll and then they sort it out on the back end through the reconciliation of the unemployment insurance program. I know there’s a program where the state pays benefits to federal workers in a federally declared disaster. It’d be pretty closely aligned to that.

  139. 139.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 18, 2019 at 4:47 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Wasn’t is true in the west too? Before being tanned came to be looked upon as desirable, having a peaches and cream complexion was priced for ladies. If you were a redneck meant you were a plebeian who had to toil in the fields.

  140. 140.

    Pogonip

    January 18, 2019 at 4:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, can you tell me what McConnell gains from refusing to let the Senate vote?

  141. 141.

    chopper

    January 18, 2019 at 4:52 pm

    @jl:

    people figured out that a hamberder is about a third of a hamburger.

  142. 142.

    sgrAstar

    January 18, 2019 at 4:53 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Jared just like Sir Thomas More,..

    Torturing people in the basement?

  143. 143.

    Original Lee

    January 18, 2019 at 4:55 pm

    @Brachiator: TLDR rest of thread. This is illegal, isn’t it? Since when can the White House require written permission for Congressional delegations? And what about Lindsay Graham, currently delegating in Turkey? I guess his note was pre-signed.

  144. 144.

    Mart

    January 18, 2019 at 4:57 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    To an extent the racism comes from the prejudices from the “old country”. In many of these cultures(East Asian), folk who are darker are seen as lower class even in their own countries

    Couple decades ago very disappointed to learn that the more Spanish in the blood, the higher the cast in Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, and Mexico.

  145. 145.

    Ruckus

    January 18, 2019 at 4:58 pm

    @ruemara:
    It really isn’t all that weird. Humans for ever have been struggling just to survive, many still do. Part of survival is to be the one standing at the end of a situation and part of that is being stronger, being part of the in and surviving group. Part of that is breaking down the other group, strengthening by subtraction. Take the US now. Life is not easy for the bottom 60 or so percent. It is or can be quite a struggle to feed, clothe and shelter ones self. People need someone to blame and they can’t blame the people who dole out the pennies they get for working, that can make their situation worse. In the US this has been done to blacks for the entire existence of the country. Poor whites blame the blacks for trying to take their rightful place as human beings, wealthy whites blame blacks for not willingly suffering their fate as slaves. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The story is often rather similar for any one and every one around the world. People see life as a zero sum effort. If I succeed then you can’t. It’s of course bullshit but a lot of people are math/logic deprived. That includes people with a lot of fancy paper on their walls. In my life I’ve only seen one way around this. Integration in all aspects of life, and smart people running the world that understand that common good raises all boats, tip top end good screws the bottom 90% or even more, sinking all the boats into the mud.

  146. 146.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 5:00 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    @Mart: It may be true in general, I didn’t want extrapolate too far.

  147. 147.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 5:01 pm

    @sgrAstar: Just throw them into a supermasive black hole.

  148. 148.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 5:01 pm

    @ruemara:

    non-black POC racism is definitely a thing.

    Southern racism is its own special thing. And Kansas is Southern adjacent. I have rarely known an Asian American who was so hot to aid and abet white racism as this Murakami person. This is something separate from non-black POC racism.

    There’s a historical thing as well. Kansas has some very old African American communities. And some of the sons of those communities brought home Asian wives after World War II, the Korean War, Viet Nam. This was true in the white Kansas communities as well. And the families had to decide whether to be welcoming or to be racist ass wipes.

    I don’t know whether this Murakami guy is a long term resident or a more recent arrival. But nonetheless his eagerness to be part of the white racist society is striking.

    I also note that one of the young ladies appearing with the black dancer looks as though she may be part Asian.

    You have no idea how often I’m told by Native Americans that their groups are hella racist & Latinos too. But I’ve seen it on my friends’ FB pages. They hate us too sometimes. It’s weird.

    Latino racism is also its own special thing. Latin (and Portugeuse) America had its own racial hierarchy, that put people of African or indigenous descent in categories based on color and ancestry. There is a great deal of self-hatred at play here as well. I know Mexican Americans who clearly have black or indigenous ancestry, but who claim to be Spanish. It’s almost sad to watch the hypocrisy and pretense exhibited here.

  149. 149.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 18, 2019 at 5:14 pm

    @Mart: IIRC correctly from reading the excellent, and excellently named history of Mexico, “Fire and Blood” back when I was in high school, the top tier in Mexican society were full blooded Spaniards who were born in Spain, followed by full blooded Spaniards who were born in Mexico, followed by various permutations of Spanish/New World blood. Naturally, women hopped the first boat back to Spain as soon as they learned they were pregnant.

  150. 150.

    Ella in New Mexico

    January 18, 2019 at 5:20 pm

    @Brachiator: @ruemara:

    my son recently got a natural resource job working in a small office for the state Environment Department with two co-workers, one Navajo and one Hispanic. Son is Anglo as is the boss.

    He’s fed up with the anti-black, racist comments he’s forced to hear all day- coming from the Navajo and Hispanic guys. He’s told them to STFU but they just laugh at him. Apparently there’s been no complaints to HR because there are no black people working there. He’s mentioned it to his boss who also brushes it off, basically says “ no harm done, they’re just joking around, don’t rock the boat”.

    Needless to say he’s looking for a new job.

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2019 at 5:22 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    To an extent the racism comes from the prejudices from the “old country”. In many of these cultures(East Asian), folk who are darker are seen as lower class even in their own countries(if you’re out in the sun, it means you work the soil…).

    This has been an issue with many elites. European aristocrats distinguished themselves from the lower classes by wearing clothing and hats and wigs to keep their skin pale. Later it became fashionable to vacation in sunny climates, and then the rich distinguished themselves from the poor by having tans.

    In Southern California, I’ve noticed some Asian women carrying umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun, but I’ve knew the degree to which any of this behavior was associated with social class.

  152. 152.

    TriassicSands

    January 18, 2019 at 5:33 pm

    Once known as the POTUS, now simply the POS.

  153. 153.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2019 at 5:36 pm

    @Steeplejack:
    That was one kickass first album.

  154. 154.

    Felanius Kootea

    January 18, 2019 at 5:42 pm

    @Brachiator: Have you watched “Get Out”? The bidding scene and who is into it? You might not be so surprised.

  155. 155.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2019 at 5:42 pm

    @Brachiator:

    In Southern California, I’ve noticed some Asian women carrying umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun, but I’ve knew the degree to which any of this behavior was associated with social class.

    Among the older women, it’s about not wanting to get dark; middle aged to younger it’s probably more about not getting skin cancer.

  156. 156.

    Steeplejack

    January 18, 2019 at 6:11 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    Link fixed: “Sheldon Whitehouse on criminal obstruction.”

  157. 157.

    Miss Bianca

    January 18, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    @Scott P.:

    Somebody pointed out that Dan Quayle got roasted for decades for misspelling ‘potato’, but in our current environment this sort of thing barely registers even for politically-aware Americans.

    Yeah, it’s been a while since a Republican politician’s illiteracy and ignorance was considered newsworthy.

  158. 158.

    ruemara

    January 18, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    @Ella in New Mexico: I’m so sorry.

    Ahem. The reason why I structured my answer was because of the class based intracommunity racism & the very different “at least we’re not those lesser beings” racism. The weird is the idea that it won’t be aimed at them – case in point, my internment camp surviving seniors from my friends & Latino haters of BLM.
    However they often demand intersectionality during civil rights issues for their groups from us, even as they shit on us.

  159. 159.

    John Fremont

    January 18, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Ahhh, the devolution of power back to the states that began with the Republican Revolution of 1994. Letting states decide speed limits in the 1990’s for federal highway funding being one of them.

  160. 160.

    Amir Khalid

    January 18, 2019 at 6:41 pm

    @Brachiator:
    If you haven’t encountered it before, you’ll be surprised how racist Asians can be toward Africans and people of African heritage.

  161. 161.

    debbie

    January 18, 2019 at 6:56 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    When I was living in NYC, the animosity between Koreans running vegetable stands and African American communities was palpable.

  162. 162.

    BroD

    January 18, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    Kick-butt post, Adam!

  163. 163.

    Bess

    January 18, 2019 at 7:12 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: That is the situation in Thailand. Women avoid the sunshine because darker skin signifies that you’re just a worker person. You’re not affluent enough or have a good enough job to stay out of the sun.

  164. 164.

    The Pale Scot

    January 18, 2019 at 7:12 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    This stylist is specialized in Afro make-over. Now with more foreign culture being absorbed in China, young lads are trying out this new look.

    Harry Turtledove wrote a book series about an attempted invasion by reptilian space aliens. Their intel was dated so when they arrived during WW2 the whole planet was on a war footing and a stalemate resulted. 30 years later human teens are mimicking lizard body paint fashions, and the lizard teens are wearing toupees and fake beards, driving both groups of parents crazy.

  165. 165.

    Bill Arnold

    January 18, 2019 at 7:16 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    Sheldon Whitehouse has some talent, and his relentless focus on climate change issues is worthy of respect.
    Saw this response to one of his climate change threads today, amused, bold mine:

    It's a hoax, folks.AGW is their only G_d,and @algore is their Profit. — JMTurney (@rascalman4) January 18, 2019

    FWIW, SW is probably wrong (unless being coy) about a DJT administration blind spot re climate refugees: I think blocking future refugees by hardening attitudes is part of their (or their backers’) motivation for their political focus on the US southern border. People don’t generally admit it, but Business As Usual aka RCP 8.5 is unacceptable even to the 0.0001 percent, and one solution is reducing human population by 4 billion or so. AKA gigacide.

  166. 166.

    Amir Khalid

    January 18, 2019 at 7:22 pm

    @debbie:
    Africans started coming to Malaysia for their studies around the turn of the millennium, when private-sector universities really got going here. I presume these institutions did a lot of marketing in African countries where there is much demand for university places but not enough supply. And it was these young people who caught Malaysian racism toward Africans full in the face.

  167. 167.

    debbie

    January 18, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    I hate tribalism.

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