Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let there be snark.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The revolution will be supervised.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / An Unexamined Scandal / Bootless Speculation Open Thread: Why So Agitated, Sen. Graham?

Bootless Speculation Open Thread: Why So Agitated, Sen. Graham?

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Digby, at Salon, has a milder interpretation:

… Graham thinks he’s able to manipulate Trump into doing his bidding. Indeed, according to a friend who knew Graham’s thinking, he literally made that cynical calculation… Someone who has the president’s ear is in a powerful position, and today Graham is closer to Trump than any other senator.

Graham has betrayed his alleged principles and maverick reputation across the board, even as he makes half-hearted efforts to present himself to the press as an independent thinker who breaks with the president when he disagrees with him. He often falls back on his traditional conservative hawk credentials on foreign policy, coming before the cameras and sighing deeply when Trump makes one of his impulsive, ill-informed national security decisions which the GOP establishment perceives as a bridge too far. Graham will say he thinks it’s a mistake and promises to talk to the president about it. Once in a while he’ll feel compelled to weakly criticize Trump’s crude behavior or blatant racism.

… Graham is walking a fine line and has to go beyond flattery to stay in the president’s good graces. It appears he’s discovered the best way to do that is to become a vicious, conspiracy-mongering attack dog. Trump will forgive almost anything if someone goes after his enemies with the same fervor he does…

Yeah, Graham has always seemed to be most comfortable as the Man Behind the Man on the Podium — remember his long partnership with ‘Maverick’ McCain — but his antics over the last year or so have become increasingly unglued.

Perhaps he’s just another indicator that the hardcore Suthrun Treason-in-Defense-of-Slavery throwbacks feel like they’re (at long last!) losing the argument?

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  1. 1.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    Oh for fuck’s sake, Graham. There are plenty of POC, not to mention poorer whites, who get that sort of treatment and worse! I don’t see you writing to the FBI (or whoever, such as the LAPD) demanding an explanation for why a black person was shot to death in their home by police and not allowed to surrender themselves voluntarily.

    That’s different, you say? Because they were a “thug” who “deserved” it? Fuck you, Lindsey.

    His scrunched up face is so ugly, just like he is on the inside.

  3. 3.

    Martin

    Let’s not rule out that Stone has dirt or incriminating evidence on *everyone* in those terabytes of hard drives.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    1) Even before trump came along and McCain announced his cancer, Lindsey has seemed to me to be getting angrier and more bitter as he got older. I don’t think this is unrelated to 1a) the strain of being Lindsey Graham, especially in the Republican Party, in South Carolina or 1b) the McCain campaign was his last chance to become an eminence grise in the big House he’d never get to on his own

    2) he’s probably the best example of Republicans who think you can fuck around with trump and only get a little bit pregnant, which makes (1) above that much worse. He’s a creature of the Village, first and foremost, and he’s probably read every single “What happened to Lindsey Graham?” piece, more than once, and the spiral of shame and rage gets worse.

  6. 6.

    Yarrow

    Why so nervous, Lindsey? You mentioned in some of the things scooped up at Roger Stone’s house?

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    I’m not sure Lindsey has really thought this through…does it feel like he and trumpov have a winning hand here, as Mueller continues to scoop up Individuals 2 through 99?

    Does he not realize the extent of everything (sigint, hard drives, testimony – hours and hours of it, etc) that has already been gathered up?

    Does he think that by throwing silly questions at the FBI he’s somehow secondhand-rallying trumpov’s base, and that it will somehow protect him from the effects of being touched by Shit Midas?

    These questions and more, tonight!, on “Seriously What the F do The Russians Have On You, Lindsey?”

  9. 9.

    Jay

    Stone is a roided out ammosexual rage monster who issues veiled threats all the time.

    He’s pumped out Conspiracy Theories for years about how the Derp State’s always trying to kill him.

    The FBI Agents were working with out pay.

    They should have followed procedure and hit the house hard with flash bangs and tons of teargas, before entering.

  10. 10.

    hilts

    Lindsey’s hysterical, over the top bed wetting routine has become really tiresome. He needs to STFU for awhile.

  11. 11.

    Lapassionara

    Sorry if this is off topic, but, I am in the car all day, driving back to St Louis, and I discover that the biggest news of the day, and what every talking head must pontificate about, is not that Trump decided to withdraw the U.S. from an important treaty with Russia, but that the current Gov of Va needs to resign immediately because of something in 1985. Shiny object, there we go. I see a pattern here.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    @Jeffro:

    ”Does he not realize the extent of everything (sigint, hard drives, testimony – hours and hours of it, etc) that has already been gathered up?”

    The ReThugs have been trying every Democratic Party “scandal” in the Court of Public Opinion and “winning” with a huge assist from the Refs.

    I think they have forgotten about having to actually go to court.

  15. 15.

    Jay

    @Lapassionara:

    Did he? Or did he just twitterz that he was gonna do it?

    Doesn’t the Senate have some say?

    If the US isn’t actually “out” and the treaty’s not actually torn up,

    Will he say something different tomorrow?

  17. 17.

    Lapassionara

    @Jay: what does the Senate have to say? My question too. Was hoping to hear this discussion tonight. Instead the TV is focused on something that happened in 1984. Not that the photo should be ignored, but seriously? Can the news focus on the news with national implications?

    ETA, watching Joy Reid right now. Thinking of going to the Good, Bad, and Ugly

  18. 18.

    lamh36

    @Lapassionara: @schrodingers_cat:

    I get…it an abstract thing to some of you…so I get why for some of you it seems like just some shiny ball of distraction…

    but as you can imagine is NOT an abstract thing for those of us with an actual Blackface…it’s personal.

    So excuse da fuq out of us for even talking about it since in the grand scheme of things it means nothing to you??

    Smh…guess I’ll go talk about it on a blog that can chew gum and call out racist bullshit.

    It a time like this why I understand why folks like Zander, ABL and Elon left this place

  21. 21.

    schrodingers_cat

    @lamh36: I don’t excuse Northam’s behavior. It was wrong. Nor questioning your reaction to it. I don’t think it is an abstraction.

    ETA: I can also see why you would be loathe to forgive him even he if he has been a good elected D policy wise,
    and be annoyed by my reaction.

  22. 22.

    Anne Laurie

    @Lapassionara:

    Did I miss the withdrawal from the treaty thread?

    Me, I’m hoping either Adam or Cheryl have the time to address this topic intelligently, over the weekend.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    Ok, Ladies and Gentlemen..
    Let do a
    WHAT IF…

    What if…..
    They had a party at the Black Student Union at Stanford…
    It is Black History Month…
    Stanford is not that far from Oakland, where the Black Panther Party began….
    And, they have a ‘Be Huey’ night, where you can recreate that famous picture of him in that chair….
    And, a young Cory Booker…trying to impress a cute, hot number with revolutionary tendencies, ..

    Tries to impress said girl with his Huey impression…..and there was
    a picture of it…….

    Yeah…..Uh huh….
    Uh huh???

    Stop with the ” youthfulindiscretion” bullshyt for a man in PHUCKING MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!

    It wasn’t just Blackface…
    It was Blackface AND the KLAN…?
    But…It was a “youthful indiscretion”??

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: It doesn’t mean nothing to me, and to most of us here. I wanted to wait until we knew the facts, and now that there is evidence that isn’t just ratfucking (though the timing is surely ratfucking) it’s a really big deal. I just didn’t want us to do what we did to Shirley (I can’t recall her last name) where the dems threw her and acorn under the bus before we could even allow time for the truth to come out.

    I hope you saw my answer to your question about “Coonman” being a drinking game. I was putting him in the same boat as Kavanaugh, which is pretty much as low as you can go.

  26. 26.

    plato

    I blame the judge who let the traitorous thug out on bail so fast instead of hauling his fugly ass to the jail. Now the thug and minions are crowing in public.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I don’t know the reference to Huey and the chair, so I can’t answer your question. But I do not hear very many people here saying it’s just a youthful indiscretion that doesn’t matter.

    It’s becoming all too clear that a lot of the privileged white men in power are pretty disgusting, and it’s right beneath the surface. Barely hidden in plain sight.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @plato: I read that and thought “maverick???” Apparently the Republicans are required to have a maverick, and after McCain died – who wasn’t even a fucking maverick! – the crown had to go somewhere. I want to throttle our awful media.

  33. 33.

    Jay

    @Lapassionara:

    So, the US hasn’t withdrawn from compliance, yet. Pencil Pence said the US would withdraw, tomorrow. If Russia did not comply to the US terms, in 6 months, Pence said the US would quit the Treaty.

    In the short term, it means nothing. The US has no missiles to deploy, under Needy Amin, probably no place to deploy them, and there are no projects in the MIC pipeline.

    The long term effects are hard to map out.

    The NATO/Moderate position was that the US should pressure Russia to comply, and work to get China onboard as a signatory, that of course is toast now.

    Parts of the MIC thinks that tearing up the Treaty allows the US to develop weapons to counter China, who is not bound by the Treaty.

    What will happen is hard to map out because new missile programs take years to develop, the US is pissing off bigly all the Allied Nations and Europe needed for actual deployment, and can the US afford to offload the costs of such programs onto the backs of the actual people who will have to pay for it given the Debt, Deficit and Tax Cuts for Ogliarches?

    Or is this Putin’s Plot to Soviet Union Collapse the USA?

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    @lamh36:

    It’s horrible. I think people are taking it as some local issue, but it’s just the tip of a horrifying iceberg.

  36. 36.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl: White people threw Shirley under the bus…the same white Dems who are defending Northam cause he is a Dem.

    The two situations are nothing alike. And to compare the two when it came to doctored video of Shirley as opposed to photo and captions on his yearbook page, is no way the same.

    But ya know what. I’m done talking about it here. It’s a work weekend for me anyway so I’ll occupy my time elsewhere until bed time.

    I’ll let rikyrah and others continue the conversation. If they are allowed to in the presence of more important matters

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    @lamh36: It’s not meaningless to me. I wasn’t sure what was happening and it seemed worthwhile to see if it was real or faked by ratfucking Republicans. It’s real so it’s a very big deal.

    I also think that withdrawing from the weapons treaty with Russia is a big deal. I don’t understand what has and hasn’t happened and would welcome a thread on that too.

    There is just so much crap happening all the time it’s hard to keep up with it all. Many things are important at the same time in different ways. It’s hard to decide what is more or most important.

  40. 40.

    Lapassionara

    @Jay: Thank you. If we are in a treaty, if I recall my civics lessons correctly, then the Senate approved it. So, I can not see how the president can just decide to get out. So thanks for the explanation.

  41. 41.

    chopper

    wait, graham is asking why stone was pulled in without the FBI letting him know way ahead of time? and the FBI got tons of data from hard drives etc from his house? i mean graham either can’t put two and two together or he’s trying really hard not to.

    i go with the latter because he’s just the fucking worst. seriously, you look at these assholes and go ‘yeah, i want to work to defend these fuckers’.

  42. 42.

    Thoughtful David

    Digby’s explanation is inadequate to explain Graham’s sudden and total turnaround. He’s a traitor, and there’s kompromat, and it’s being used on him.
    @Jeffro: This is also something I don’t get, about a lot of the less directly involved traitors. For example, Richard Burr, on the Senate Intelligence committee. Does he see supporting Trump as a winning hand? How is that going to work?
    The only explanation that really fits is that all Republicans are compromised.

  43. 43.

    Uncle Omar

    Graham, or as Pierce calls him “Huckleberry J. Butchmeup,” has thought and continues to think that he’s a pretty tough cookie. He suffers from a condition that many of us do in that he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is which he aggravates by not knowing or even suspecting that he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is, then compounds it by thinking he’s a lot tougher than he really is. I await his defenestration at the hands of Trumpov when he commits the lese majeste of touching the shoulder of Trumpov in a show of fellowship.

  44. 44.

    Sab

    @rikyrah: I am white, from a medical family. My son in law is black. His mother is blind from cataracts and won’t have surgery. This is why. She and I were both in high school when the Tuskegee syphilis project ended. I trust doctors because my dad was one, and I can alwsys say so when I am dealing with one. Her, not so much.

    I don’t have strong opinions about him and this as a politician. I have ferociously strong opinions about him as a prospective medical practitioner back in the day. This was so fucking wrong! If he couldn’t see that in 1984, what can anyone say? What would your patients families think if they knew? Absolute destruction of trust.

    He needs to be made an object lesson for young doctors coming up.

  45. 45.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: It cannot be characterized as a youthful indiscretion at 25. There are zero excuses for that photograph. But is he irredeemable because of that alone*? To me, what matters more than the photograph is how he has conducted himself in public life as an elected official after that. But I can see why you would disagree with that and I respect that.
    * I didn’t know the answer to that question, that’s why I asked the question in the last thread.

  46. 46.

    Mike in NC

    There has got to be Kompromat on this shitbird, in addition to him being on the Kremlin payroll. Whiny asshole drama queen.

  47. 47.

    Mandalay

    @Lapassionara:

    it is not meaningless to me. Sorry you think so.

    Glad to hear that, because your comments came across as condescending and dismissive:

    the biggest news of the day, and what every talking head must pontificate about, is not that Trump decided to withdraw the U.S. from an important treaty with Russia, but that the current Gov of Va needs to resign immediately because of something in 1985. Shiny object, there we go.

  49. 49.

    Lapassionara

    @Yarrow: For me, today, driving across the US, and hearing about the treaty issue, I started thinking that my children and grandchildren faced a future that could include nuclear anihilation, and not in some remote time, but fairly soon.

  50. 50.

    Jay

    @Lapassionara:

    The On Matters of National Security clause, that Needy Amin is using for his Winning Bigly Trade Warz, and a spineless cowering Senate means Needy Amin can quit the Treaty.

  52. 52.

    Aleta

    1/2
    More about Northup. His disregard for/working against residents of an historic African American community and state law for environmental justice. (Locating an air polluting compressor station close to a lower income, older, minority community, which is a disproportionate pattern.) In favor of a major donor and powerful pipeline company.

    WaPo, November 9, 2018

    RICHMOND — Virginia air pollution regulators on Friday unexpectedly delayed voting on a permit for a natural gas pumping facility in the historical African American community of Union Hill, after raising questions about how environmental justice issues were considered in the state’s review of the project.

    The pumping station is a crucial component of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a $6 billion project being built by a coalition of companies led by Dominion Energy. The 600-mile pipeline starts in West Virginia and travels through the heart of Virginia into North Carolina.

    Members of the Union Hill community, many of whom are descendants of enslaved workers or free black families who settled there before the Civil War, have accused the builders of imposing the project on an area where many residents are older, low-income and minorities.
    …
    Scores of residents showed up in Richmond to speak against the facility, joined by environmental advocates, packing a public hearing on Thursday and the session on Friday at which the board was scheduled to vote.

    Several members of the board questioned staffers from the state Department of Environmental Quality, which had recommended approving the permit, about whether race and income in Union Hill had been taken into account. State law requires that such facilities not have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities.

    Earlier this year, a governor-appointed advisory board on environmental justice urged Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to put a stop to this and another pipeline project until the concerns of residents could be addressed. Northam has said it’s up to regulators to make sure the projects follow the law.

    WaPo, November 16, 2018

    RICHMOND — Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has removed two members of the state Air Pollution Control Board ahead of a key vote on a controversial natural gas pipeline project, drawing condemnation from environmental groups.

    The air board had delayed a vote last week on a permit for a compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, citing concerns that the facility was disrupting a historically African American community in rural Buckingham County.
    …
    Union Hill residents, many of whom are descendants of former slaves and free black families who settled there before the Civil War, took hope that the board was giving serious review to their environmental justice arguments.

    But that hope turned to outrage Thursday night as word spread that Northam was altering the board’s membership. His office acknowledged that he was removing two members whose terms expired in June but had been allowed to continue serving.

    On Friday morning, the Virginia State Conference NAACP said it was “deeply troubled” by Northam’s action. “We fear disrupting the citizen review board midstream is a disservice to the Union Hill community’s right to a fair and impartial hearing,” the organization said in an email. “The termination of two valued board members at this crucial juncture diminishes the ability of the board to effectively perform its assigned job. Furthermore, the governor’s action may signal to other Board members that asking too many questions about an influential utility’s potential impact on a vulnerable historic community may lead to their removal.”

    “The timing of the Governor’s decision is an affront to the board, the citizens of the Commonwealth, and conceptions of transparency and good governance,” the environmental group Appalachian Voices said via email.

    It was one of seven environmental groups that issued blistering criticisms of Northam’s action. A group called Virginia Pipeline Resisters organized a protest outside the Executive Mansion on Friday, calling on the governor to reinstate Bleicher and Rubin.
    …
    The board said it will take up the vote at its next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 10. A second major natural gas project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, is already being built by a separate collection of companies in the far southwest portion of the state.

  53. 53.

    Aleta

    @Aleta:
    2/2
    WaPo, January 8 2019

    RICHMOND — Virginia regulators on Tuesday approved a permit for a natural gas compressor station in the historic African American community of Union Hill in Buckingham County, angering opponents who vowed to keep fighting in protests and in court.

    The state Air Pollution Control Board voted 4 to 0 on the basis of recommendation from staff of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and under heavy pressure from Dominion Energy, whose executives occupied two reserved rows at the front of the meeting room.

    Dominion, Virginia’s most powerful utility, is leading a consortium of companies in building the $7 billion Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline, which needs the compressor station to keep the gas flowing across the state.
    …
    Tuesday’s vote came after extensive disagreement over the demographic makeup of the area around the proposed site.

    Dominion and DEQ presented survey data based on broad Census Bureau information that claimed the area was sparsely populated and no more than 39 percent minority.

    An anthropologist affiliated with the University of Virginia, however, submitted the results of several years of door-to-door research showing that about 200 people live within a one-mile radius of the site and that 83 percent of them are minorities.

    The issue has been a political sore spot for Northam (D), drawing the ire of environmentalists who otherwise support his policies because he removed two members of the air board who were seen as opponents of the compressor station before they could vote. Northam has accepted extensive campaign donations from Dominion — as have politicians of both parties in Virginia — and attended a political fundraiser with Dominion executives just days before Tuesday’s meeting.

    desmogblog dot com, January 16

    A member of a Virginia state permitting board who last week approved a highly controversial certification for Dominion’s planned Atlantic Coast pipeline has business ties to a company currently collaborating with Dominion on a related gas project, DeSmog has found.

    William (Trip) Ferguson joined three other Air Pollution Control Board members to unanimously approve a permit for Dominion’s Buckingham compressor station. The planned station, which will propel the natural gas as it moves through the 600-mile interstate pipeline, will be built in Union Hill, a largely African-American community settled by free blacks and emancipated slaves after the Civil War.

    The plan has sparked a years-long opposition campaign by activists and concerned residents of Union Hill. Last week’s final approval was met by outrage, as protesters — many chanting “Shame! Shame!” — accused the governor-appointed board of foisting a noxious infrastructure project onto a reluctant community while ignoring critical environmental justice concerns.

    Now, a DeSmog investigation raises questions about the degree of Ferguson’s impartiality when approving this project.

    Ferguson is senior vice president at Harvey Lindsay CRE, a prominent Virginia commercial and industrial real estate company. One of his clients is meat-processing giant Smithfield Foods, which recently partnered with Dominion to create a new energy business.

    In late November, six weeks before the air board’s vote, Dominion and Smithfield Foods announced the creation of a joint venture to produce natural gas from hog manure. With an investment of $250 million, the partnership established a company called Align Renewable Natural Gas to capture gas from pig waste and pump it into Dominion’s pipelines.

    At the time of the announcement, Dominion’s CEO Thomas Farrell specifically cited the construction of the Atlantic Coast pipeline as an incentive for the partnership since the gas produced from the manure will, in his words, “inevitably” make its way through the pipeline, which will run near many of Smithfield Food’s Virginia hog lagoons.

  56. 56.

    Lyrebird

    @rikyrah:

    I think it would be a better parallel, and still WRONG not an indiscretion, if CB had gone to your imagined party dressed as… was it Chris Brown with a domestic violence problem?

    But then it’s still a specific person, which is less dehumanizing than what Northam did.

    @lamh36: you are a pillar here, is all I can say, not that what I say makes much of a difference, but I am wishing you a much better rest of your evening.

  59. 59.

    Mandalay

    Unlike some, Juan Castro isn’t sitting on the fence, clutching his pearls, and waiting for a consensus to emerge:

    “It doesn’t matter if he is a Republican or a Democrat,” Mr. Castro said. “This behavior was racist and unconscionable. Governor Northam should resign.”

    Good for him.

  60. 60.

    plato

    @Jay: Yeah, just read this.

    The judge overseeing the criminal case against ex-Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone says she is considering a gagging order on both him and the prosecution.

    Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the case was “a criminal proceeding and not a public relations campaign”.

    Mr Stone has been charged on seven counts by special counsel Robert Mueller, including witness tampering and lying to Congress.

    He denies any wrongdoing and has made frequent jibes against Mr Mueller.

    Mr Stone, 66, a longstanding ally of the president, has previously vowed to resist any gagging order, saying on Tuesday: “I will fight and the deep state is in panic mode.”

    Yeah, judge, both sides are to blame here. Sheesh.

  61. 61.

    jl

    I go first with Graham pandering to Trumpster base, because he is permanently scared of a GOP SC primary, and is a sad empty craven coward who has to existence outside his miserable political career. Then second, he loves attention, for reasons related to the first.

    The theory that he is trying to manipulate Trump is third, because, could any grown up with an once of sense think that would work? But, maybe Graham is almost as dumb as Trump, or as arrogant, or unrealistic? Then, maybe.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mandalay: Kamala Harris and Phil Murphy (Gov NJ) said the same, and Larry Sabato said a prominent African American elected official from VA was going to do the same, but he didn’t want to use a (Doug Wilder’s) name.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jonathan Martin @ jmartNYT
    [email protected] timkaine hint is hard to miss:
    “I hope the Governor—whose career as an Army officer, pediatrician and public official has always manifested a commitment to justice and equality for all—now takes the time to listen to those he has hurt and reflect on how to move forward.”

  67. 67.

    plato

    Two leading fact-checking agencies have ended their partnerships with Facebook, striking a significant blow to the network’s efforts to fight fake news.

    The social network had paid the Associated Press and Snopes to combat its misinformation crisis.

    But both firms confirmed they stopped checking articles at the end of 2018, and will not renew their contracts.

    Late last year, the Guardian published a report that suggested fact-checking firms were frustrated by Facebook’s lack of transparency.

    The article quoted former Snopes managing editor Brooke Binkowski as saying: “They’ve essentially used us for crisis PR. They’re not taking anything seriously. They are more interested in making themselves look good and passing the buck… They clearly don’t care.”

    In a blog post, Facebook disputed the Guardian’s report, saying it had “several inaccuracies”.

    fuckingbook accusing a new org of having several inaccuracies. Infuriatingly hilarious.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47098021

  69. 69.

    Jay

    @John Revolta:

    Once the US withdraws, Putin can threaten the EU with nukes.

    The EU will have to nuke up.

    This move is further costing the US allies and supporters in Asia and Europe.

    The MIC will push hard for the missile gap to be closed, the US will rack up buttloads of short range nukes that will sit Stateside and useless, for lack of any place close enough to China or Russia to station them.

    Putin’s Puppet wins again.

  70. 70.

    Lyrebird

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

    I don’t see you writing to the FBI (or whoever, such as the LAPD) demanding an explanation…

    Totally agreed. I am praying that some of the current horror show we are in will keep your line of questions going for the public at large.

    I can be both cynical and block-headed, but gosh, for people like Graham, how thick can the irony get? and wasn’t it Jim Webb disputing white privilege a while back? All this outrage over the treatment of Manafort and Stone, versus a Black man just hoping not to be murdered in a traffic stop. Sick sick sick, not new, needs to stop.

  71. 71.

    Mandalay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: OK, I hadn’t seen that, but good for them. I was actually thinking more of Senators Kaine and Warner, and this guy:

    “The picture was in extremely poor taste, no question about that, but his life since then has been anything but,” said Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader of the Virginia Senate. “He’s had a career of helping people of all races.”

    I find the notion that Northam should get a pass because of all the good he has done since the photo was taken deeply offensive and completely misguided.

  73. 73.

    Jay

    @plato:

    Meuller made a filing, based on Stones past behaviour, and the Concord attempted Wikileaks, to gag Stone and his legal team on penalty of jail.

    The judge “bothsiding” looks “fair” and isn’t going to effect Meuller one little bit.

    It’s gonna make life harder for Habs and others relying on “someones” leaks from the Trumpista’s as a meal ticket a lot harder.

  74. 74.

    Mary G

    @lamh36: @rikyrah: It’s an outrage, and like Adam said, it is sheer incompetence for his campaign not to have know about it, and he needs to resign. Today.

    There seems to be an unwritten rule in some white communities that stuff like this needs to be condemned quickly and then it’s just not OK to – I guess they’d say, dwell on it, as if it needs to be swept under the rug. Things get disappeared in their minds? And if you try to discuss it further, they think you are rude or shrill. So you go along. And feel bad.

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Ben Tribbett @ notlarrysabato
    Governor Northam is calling a press conference tomorrow morning.

    my first thought was, “That’s it”, but then I thought, you don’t take questions if you’re just going to announce your resignation and go away

    shrug emoji

  77. 77.

    Sab

    Jay,

    Are you in British Columbia or Saskatchewan? I thought you were in SK but I am often misinformed (by myself.)

  78. 78.

    hueyplong

    Graham is popping veins and Stone is whining about victimhood.

    I’m OK with all that.

    I’m not ok with that yearbook page. If that EVMC yearbook is like mine from another school in the same era, the person picks his own photos to put in there. He/she doesn’t get ambushed by surprise inclusions. I don’t think it’s pearl-clutching to wait a business day for an explanation, but I’m having a heck of a time imagining an explanation that will pass muster.

    For some people, “youthful indiscretion” is a get out of jail free card. For others, it’s a lengthy jail sentence or death by cop. Gets more noticeable all the time.

  79. 79.

    Lapassionara

    @lamh36: Touché. For what it is worth, I was not talking about blog topics. I was talking about the TV news. I had been in a car all day, fretting about nuclear missiles. I really have loved your comments here, even though I have not always said so at the time. Your perspective is valuable, and now that I know from others that I sound condescending, I will stop.

  80. 80.

    Jay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It depends.

    Has anybody figured out which guy is Northam or if he’s in the picture?

    As near as I can tell so far, he’s admitted it’s his yearbook page, doesn’t remember the photo, doesn’t remember the context and doesn’t even remember if he was the guy in blackface or the Klan guy.

    He said he was going to consult the leaders of the Black Community.

    He might be resigning, he might not be resigning.

    EIther way there will be questions, he might even have answers.

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @plato:

    Yeah, judge, both sides are to blame here. Sheesh.

    She must have misheard Mueller’s name as Blabby Three-Sticks.

  84. 84.

    John Revolta

    @Jay: Nuke up or shut up.
    Rather than go to the trouble and expense of starting a new arms race, I believe (and I imagine Putin does too) that the EU is more likely to look the other way when Russian tanks roll into the Baltics.

  85. 85.

    Yarrow

    @Mandalay:

    Unlike some, Juan Castro isn’t sitting on the fence, clutching his pearls, and waiting for a consensus to emerge:

    His first name is Julián.

  86. 86.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Mary G: Yoh might have just described me there. I think this is awful and he should resign. I also dont think its controversial. Like, it is bad and obviously bad and we don’t need to dwell on it because we don’t really dwell on things like murder either – it’s just accepted that the perpetrator is awful and there’s a punishment. I was a little miffed that this was overwhelming the news about the nuclear treaty and so on.

    But actually talking about it needs to happen too, for the victims and to not sweep this kind of stuff under the rug. I’ve adjusted my POV on this due to BJ and lamh6.

  87. 87.

    Mandalay

    Kamala Harris:

    Leaders are called to a higher standard, and the stain of racism should have no place in the halls of government

    Juan Castro:

    This behavior was racist and unconscionable. Governor Northam should resign.

    Ted Lieu:

    Governor Ralph Northam must resign.

    New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy:

    I don’t see the governor’s got any other choice other than to step aside

    Cory Booker:

    *

  88. 88.

    frosty

    @lamh36: I second other commenters’ reactions: please stick around, I love your comments and leaving would leave a big hole in the blog.

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    @Mandalay:

    I find the notion that Northam should get a pass because of all the good he has done since the photo was taken deeply offensive and completely misguided.

    Agree. If he genuinely felt bad about it, he would have admitted it before getting caught and apologized at the time. Instead he just ignored it.

    Was just discussing this with Spawn the Elder, who noted that he and his friends are teenagers who do stupid shit all the time and yet have managed never to wear Klan hoods or blackface. FFS.

  90. 90.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Aleta: Northam’s fate is sealed. This pipeline thing stinks of outright bribery.

    And the yearbook pictures…off the chart.

  91. 91.

    Chetan Murthy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    To me, what matters more than the photograph is how he has conducted himself in public life as an elected official after that. But I can see why you would disagree with that and I respect that.

    With respect, you’re exactly right. It SHOULD be about how he has conducted himself in public life. And what he’s done is HIDE and AVOID these despicable acts he committed as an adult. Let me put it this way: suppose that he’d raped a woman back then, but had been a stalwart supporter of women’s rights in the years since. Would that be OK?

    I grew up in the South, and was subjected to racism all my childhood. It’s very personal for me, that Northam has hidden this fact about his past, instead of confessing it and publicly atoning.

    Of course, there’s no guarantee that he’d have had the career in politics he had, if he’d done that. But that’s only just: for evil acts there are consequences. As a stand-up guy [which is what he wants us to believe he is) he should be willing to accept those consequences.

    So yeah: it is exactly his public life since that (those?) dreadful incident(s), that concerns me.

  92. 92.

    B.B.A.

    I expect Northam’s press conference tomorrow to go about as well as Budd Dwyer’s.

    …too soon?

  95. 95.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @lamh36: It’s not an abstract thing to me either, and I have a frighteningly white face. It’s racist AF and unacceptable from anyone at any age with double digits, and inexcusable at any time in the last 65 years. Unacceptable prior to that but both widespread and tolerated to the point that its institutional adoption was seamless.

    And the institutional racism of the US remains unseen by far too many white folks. because it’s not a disadvantage for us. Also unacceptable.

  96. 96.

    trollhattan

    Can we at least get a Kickstarter up here to buy Lindsey some new underwear? Think of the children.

  98. 98.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    Given how the person tweeting it framed it, I’m pretty sure Tim Kaine was using “move forward” as a euphemism for “resign.” It’s not the usual way of using it, I know, but that did seem to be what the person tweeting thought Kaine meant.

  99. 99.

    Mandalay

    @rikyrah:

    No, we are not going to “move forward” .

    Right, and yet these are Northam’s words in a prepared video statement @ 1:18: “I accept responsibility for my past actions…“.

    But he won’t resign, so how is he accepting any responsibility at all? He wants to “accept responsibility” without consequences. This shit can’t stand. Senators Kaine and Warner really need to crank up the dial to 11 tonight, and tell him to be gone before Monday.

  100. 100.

    Jay

    @John Revolta:

    There this thing that James Brodie came up with in the late 1950’s called Minimally Assured Destruction. Basically, 150 20kt nukes across 2 platforms, prevents a First Strike from taking out all your nukes and the counter response is enough to destroy any enemy nation.

    Nuclear Winter studies show that you don’t even need that many to kill everybody. France already has some.

    The EU relies on the Baltic Members for a lot of stuff critical to the EU economies. They arn’t going to let Pootie Poot take them. They just don’t see the ramping up of War Retoric as being conducive in avoiding a war.

  101. 101.

    Aleta

    @Mary G: incompetence for his campaign not to have know about it

    It’s an assumption not a fact that his people didn’t know about it. To me it’s likely that they did know. If so, the question is what was their reasoning.

    I have a feeling that many politicians with something out there (like a picture or a date rape or domestic violence or another crime) are advised to wait instead of self-reveal. Talk with inner staff about how they would respond to exposure, but hope to get elected first. Work on political connections so others will have their back.

    In other words, follow the pattern for white guys that has worked for several hundred years, especially if they have connections or money or a military record or can do favors.

    It’s not certain to work any more, though it did for Kav. But he did get exposed.

  102. 102.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @plato: Gagging the prosecution is no big deal. They aren’t inclined to talk outside of court anyway. So Stone can’t complain* this isn’t even-handed.

    *justfiably, anyway. He’ll complain until the contempt of court charges land on him & then he’ll complain some more.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    BlueVirginia:

    “The photo, the conduct it captures, and the racist imagery invoked are all indefensible. The photo would be profoundly offensive in any circumstances, but it is also shocking and deeply disappointing to know that it pictures Governor Northam. Virginia’s history is unfortunately replete with the scars and unhealed wounds caused by racism, bigotry, and discrimination. It is imperative that Governor Northam hears and truly listens to those who are hurt by this image as he considers what comes next.” –Attorney General Mark R. Herring

    Herring is a really good guy, and in my top 2 of favorite VA politicians (the other being state Sen. Scott Surovell). I wish he’d gone further.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  104. 104.

    Aleta

    @Mandalay: I think he’s following a step by step plan. Consulting his PR office, taking calls, making his statement, watching his defenders go on twitter and TV, and waiting to see if he needs to resign.

  105. 105.

    Mandalay

    It looks like Northam has no plans to leave. Does anyone know whether Virginia has some equivalent to the open-ended charge of “high crimes and misdemeanors” to somehow force Northam out if he refuses to resign?

  107. 107.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Mandalay: Has Bernie said anything? – I know how much he hates to comment on what he calls “identity politics”

  108. 108.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @lamh36: I’m sorry stress here is adding on to all the stress you already have in your face every day. And I’m sorry you’ve had to spend any part of the day looking at those pictures and the hemming and hawing going on.

    It’s easy for white people, especially those outside the south to fail to see how pervasive the systems of oppression in place were, even in 1984, that such pictures weren’t just ignored but were *part of the landscape* in the south. And those same systems are with us today—whether white people notice them or not.
    Northam could have done good things with his time as governor. Let’s hope his successor succeeds in moving the state on to better things.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    I was about to say that this is the bright side: Justin Fairfax could potentially be governor for the next six years since the state’s constitution says governors cannot be elected to two consecutive terms and Fairfax was elected as lieutenant governor.

    @Aleta:

    Northam is a dead man walking. Someone who loves him needs to sit him down and explain that his career is over and he needs to resign with as much dignity as he can muster.

  111. 111.

    John Revolta

    @Jay: I grew up in the 60s. I know about Mutual Assured Destruction aka MAD. (What, Me Worry?)
    There ain’t nobody gonna throw no nukes nohow. That’s why Putin wants to weaken the EU/ NATO to the point where he could get the Band CCCP back together. I’m not saying it’s realistic, but I think that’s his dream.

  113. 113.

    dww44

    @Jay: Trump is an existential threat to the survival of the country and the world. He should be gone as of yesterday. Someones in a position to do something must do it now. This is just frightening. I’ve also come to understand in the last 2 years the things a President can do with impunity. Maybe the Unitary Executive is not and never has been a good idea.

  114. 114.

    John Revolta

    @Jay: I grew up in the ’60s. I know about Mutual Assured Destruction aka MAD. (What, Me Worry?)
    There ain’t nobody throwing no nukes nohow. That’s why Putin’s shot is to weaken the EU/NATO so he can get the band CCCP
    back together. I don’t know if it’s realistic but I think that’s his dream.

  115. 115.

    Aleta

    @Another Scott: Another piece is the time of that photo. In the late 70s and 80s young white people had begun to join the Klan in increased numbers (small but significant), including in MD and VA and the midwest. There was a lot of hate in Boston on the news.

    Anger was encouraged about court mandated desegregation in Boston public schools and about affirmative action. White supremacists were joining with anti-gov’t people and militia types over Ruby Ridge and Waco. There were pipe bombs and threats to black people in the DC area, VA, other places in the South and prob. the midwest and elsewhere. There was more open publicity floating around from the Klan. 1984 was several years into that. During the 80s there were some Klan marches, I believe in the midwest and one in a VA town.

  116. 116.

    Jay

    @John Revolta:

    MAD is Mutually Assured Destruction which lead the US and the Soviets to build 10’s of thousands of nuclear weapons at the cost of hundreds of trillions of dollars.

    Minimally Assured Destruction requires only 150 warheads at the cost of a couple ten billions.

  117. 117.

    laura

    Late to the blog and topic.
    Yet another white man has people scrambling for some possible reasonable explanation of his disgraceful and debased inexcusable and PURPOSEFULLY OFFENSIVE racist shit-baggery.
    And doing so requires an accommodation by men and women who have to deal with this bullshit day in, day out, sure as the sun will rise, because come on, just this one more time?
    And that same man spent decades hence pretending to be someone decent and in possession of a moral compass who grew up in America and wasn’t blind.
    Resignation is literally, the least he could do. But that’s just my opinion.

  118. 118.

    Mandalay

    Cory Booker:

    These images arouse centuries of anger, anguish, and racist violence and they’ve eroded all confidence in Gov. Northam’s ability to lead. We should expect more from our elected officials. He should resign

    Bernie?….

  119. 119.

    Tazj

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t know if any of you follow Rachel Bitecofer on Twitter. She’s an assistant director of the Wason Center on Public Policy in Virginia. She says that Northam will hold a press conference at 10am tomorrow and will most likely resign.

  120. 120.

    Mandalay

    @Tazj: And via her twitter account:

    The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Demands Governor Northam Resigns

    That was the final nail in his coffin. Now we just need to wait for him to run out of air, which will conveniently happen at around 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

  121. 121.

    Aleta

    @Mnemosyne: I think he will too. But these fcking politicians and their ways. Maybe they have to get permission from big donors or pretend to listen to others or shred their files or steal gold fountain pens or allocate their leftover funds or decide who gets the 1st interview. Nurse vain hopes, convince their wife to forgive them for using her life this way.

  123. 123.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Mandalay:

    “It doesn’t matter if he is a Republican or a Democrat,” Mr. Castro said.

    Of course it does.

    For a Democrat, the existence of something like Northam’s photo is a disqualification. For a Republican it’s a qualification.

  124. 124.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    Donno.

    If I were a politician, which I’m not, I’d have a Scandal File on myself, with a carefully curated and regularly updated apology/resignation letter to kill the story inside of the news cycle,

    Not try to drag it out.

    People wouldn’t be able to bag on about how it wasn’t heartfull, or a non-apology,

    And the news cycle would move on to the next shiny object and I would be free to move on to Consulting, Lobbying or sitting on a Board having dived deep into the memory hole.

  125. 125.

    Another Scott

    So as not to harsh the mellow of the next thread, I’ll put this here.

    Froomkin at WhiteHouseWatch:

    A case study in normalizing Trump, from the New York Times

    February 1, 2019 at 12:41 pm by Dan Froomkin

    I’ve been tweeting a lot about the latest New York Times interview with Trump. Here’s the main article, here’s a partial, edited transcript, here’s a sidebar on Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s colloquy with Trump on press freedom.

    I don’t have that much more to add, although I’ll note that my first tweet definitely struck a nerve.

    Dan Froomkin ✔ @froomkin

    Disappointed in how normalizing NYT’s coverage of Trump interview was this morning. He was talking complete megalomaniacal gibberish, they make it sound like he was answering their questions.

    9:23 AM – Feb 1, 2019

    […]

    Dan Froomkin ✔ @froomkin

    Last night, @peterbakernyt told MSNBC it was a pretty normal interview. It was not. That he thought it was is precisely the problem. https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/trump-says-he-never-talked-to-roger-stone-about-wikileaks-1435675203529 … pic.twitter.com/WKhd1hg9kK

    12:24 PM – Feb 1, 2019

    […]

    Dan Froomkin ✔ @froomkin

    And the NYT’s “5 takeaways” are naive and beside the point. The biggest takeaway is that he’s delusional. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/donald-trump-interview-takeaways.html …

    1:06 PM – Feb 1, 2019

    (See the original for embedded links.)

    Yup.

    FTFNYT’s political coverage is still broken and not getting any better.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  126. 126.

    John Revolta

    @Jay: Bernard Brodie seems to have been theorizing back before the modern nuclear arsenal, and particularly submarines, had been built. I can’t find any mention of him or his theories past 1957. Ah, here’s something:

    “By the time of his death in 1978 he had backed away from his earlier faith that nuclear war could be prevented, or limited once it began.”

  129. 129.

    Aleta

    @Jay: Would you advertise your availability while you still had staff to say ‘the Governor is calling’ or would you wait til the Monday after resigning to make those calls? 12 hours isn’t dragging it out that much.

  130. 130.

    Jay

    @John Revolta:

    Actually he wasn’t. Gynne Dwyer covered it all in one chapter of “On War”, which also became a CBC documentary series. Brodie’s RAND study is still classified. He figured, given the state of the technology, accuracy, hardening, you could go 50/50 on a mix of missiles and subs, 50/50 on a mix of missiles and bombers, or a split between missiles, subs and bombers.

    Nuclear Winter studies showed that under the right conditions, 50, 20kt nukes, kills everybody. 20-150 million from the bombs, 60-200 million from the radiation, everybody else in the world from the onset of a global winter that lasts 10-40 years.

    While the EU has nukes, the issues are:

    – portionality. The theory that you respond to a tactical nuke, with your own, in the hopes that the enemy de-escalates now that you have shown you arn’t bluffing,

    – time lag. The missiles banned by the INF are short range, close, fast and in theory, could “swarm” the Force de Frappe and Chain of Command before they could deploy or respond.

    So, the EU would need response missiles under local command, which brings us a lot closer to nuclear war.

    Pootie Poot under estimates EU resolve because they talk quietly and build infrastructure.

  131. 131.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    I wouldn’t have not known the context and specifics of the photo.

    Less than two hours after the page went “national”, ( 6 o’clock news time East Coast, roughly), ( on a Friday!) the Governor released a statement of “apology”, admission it was his page, but stating he did not “remember” the photo.

    I would have had everything pre-written, got it out with in an hour, the 10 o’clock news would cover it but Needy Amin’s latest shitstorm would drive it below the traffic reports on the Good Morning Possum Holler morning shows, like Pence’s INF pre-mature withdrawl on Saturday.

    Instead, it will be “news” until Monday, because it’s a simple scandal and easy to cover, but the INF withdrawl is “hard” and requires journalmentalism.

  133. 133.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    Calling the firms, I’d wait a few weeks until the google searches on my name dropped below a certain threshold and certain blogs/twitters stopped mentioning me in comments.

    As Governor and a US politician, pretty sure he can go a few weeks with out a paycheck.

  134. 134.

    Aleta

    @Jay: I see what you mean. My opinion was he (of course) remembered the photo and had thought about and probably discussed how to handle its exposure. Seems like he followed the standard plan we’ve seen so often — either convinced himself or convinced by handlers to say things and measure the effect, let others defend him and measure, call the people he pays in DC, call the people who spent their money to get him there. I guess my take is that (like you) he did have statements prepared, but unlike you the resignation part was halfway down the pile and through a flowchart.

    I don’t think of most politicians these days as individuals who decide things by themselves. Only the smart ones — Obama, Pelosi — do. I don’t know much about this guy so I made negative assumptions. All I know is he gave me a big headache today, like so many of them do now. If I’m still missing your point I apologize for being brain stunned tonight … . It’s me not being careful to read carefully. Sorry.

  135. 135.

    Aleta

    @Jay: I was thinking not b/c of paycheck. Thinking that the longer he waits he would lose leverage from implying he has competing offers. My knowledge come from movies not worldly success though. He’ll be fine I’m sure. Job on the pipeline (sickly joke).

  136. 136.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36:

    The two situations are nothing alike. And to compare the two when it came to doctored video of Shirley as opposed to photo and captions on his yearbook page, is no way the same.

    I agree – we know NOW that the two situations are nothing alike. But when this story first broke, I was suspicious that maybe the photo had been doctored or that he was being set up. Once we got more details, then yes, I totally agree. He needs to go. All I was saying is I didn’t want us to toss another Democrat from the bus until we knew whether this was real information or ratfucking.

    In this new world we live it, I think we always need to stop and ask “could this be ratfucking” before we believe it.

  137. 137.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    It’s hard to say. I said in a comment the other day, on Schultz, there’s a point in where for old white males, because of power and prestige, people stop telling you, you are a moron, and instead, start covering for you.

    I know where most of my sins lie.

    I’ve already apologized for most of them and mitigated them.

    But I’m not a politician.

  138. 138.

    Darkrose

    @rikyrah: I agree with everything you said, but I’m also giggling because Corey Booker and I were both Class of ‘91 at Stanford and I’m trying to imagine him dressed up like Huey.

    And those people claiming this is a distraction need to remember that Northram wouldn’t have won without black folks showing up to vote D, like we always do. Insisting that issues concerning your most loyal constituency are distractions is a great way to lose elections.

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