Pelosi forbids further fuckery:
Michael Cohen will come before the @OversightDems & @HouseIntel Committees next week. Congress has an independent duty under the Constitution to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch, and any efforts to intimidate family members or pressure witnesses will not be tolerated. https://t.co/VDc6zE6lwH
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 21, 2019
I can sleep at night now that she’s leading the House. Mostly. Open thread!
Yarrow
I just adore Nancy SMASH talking about her Constitutional duty. Co-equal branch of government, bitches! Way to own your power, Madam Speaker!
Major Major Major Major
Go Nancy!
Adam L Silverman
Adam L Silverman
germy
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, that’s awesome. I love it when they do that sort of thing when Trump is out of the country. It would also be a good time for an indictment or two.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: We’ll see.
Yarrow
@germy: I’m really enjoying getting to learn more about Mayor Buttigieg, even though I struggle to remember how to pronounce his name. He seems like a smart, interesting, thoughtful guy. I’m glad he’s in the race for President. He brings a different perspective than most of the other candidates.
Baud
@Yarrow: Or 10.
TaMara (HFG)
Since it’s an open thread. I received a message and photo of Baby today, he’s doing great. They described him as goofy, which I knew he would become if he felt safe and happy. The photo they sent me was of him on the couch sleeping next to his new best friend.
I”m not sharing it. Just because I’m comfortable sharing my life with random strangers, they probably aren’t. Although, I don’t think of you as strangers! But I thought you’d like the update.
Mike in NC
Going forward, I want to pull up the homepage of the Washington Post every single day, to read about how there’s another investigation being launched by the House Democrats into some sleazy/sinister aspect of the Trump Crime Cartel.
columbusqueen
All hail Nancy, Queen of the West, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, & Slayer of Shitgibbons!
John S.
What makes us cheer Pelosi is what leads assholes like this Neo-Nazi, wannabe terrorist from the Coast Guard to target her.
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (HFG):
Tease!
Baud
@TaMara (HFG): That’s great. Thanks, TaMara.
Viva BrisVegas
@Yarrow:
In my neck of the woods you would pronounce his name as, “butter-gig”. I’ve given up on second guessing American pronunciations.
In relation to the hearings, can Republican members be thrown out for trying to sabotage the testimony of witnesses?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Yeah, but just think how much better this would be going if Tim Ryan, Seth Moulton or Tulsi Gabbard were the speaker! Every American would have a nuclear powered unicorn with beams of love and flowers shooting out of its ass! Why do you hate unicorns?
Betty Cracker
@TaMara (HFG): Glad he’s doing well!
Yarrow
@TaMara (HFG): Thanks for the update. So glad to know he’s doing great.
A Ghost To Most
@columbusqueen: If Nancy and Mueller play their cards right, you may be hailing the next president.
Baud
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Fixed to avoid controversy.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@TaMara (HFG): That’s such great news!
Adam tosses “tease” around at people like it’s a bad word.
Leto
The Supreme Court Just Struck a Huge, Unanimous Blow Against Policing for Profit
Yarrow
@Viva BrisVegas: On his Twitter account it says “BOOT-edge-edge” for the pronunciation. I don’t get that either. It doesn’t add up to the letters for me so I always forget. I think it should be But-uh-guyg.
Baud
@Leto: It’s a good decision, but that description is absolute hyperbole.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara (HFG):
So happy for Baby! He looked pretty goofy in the last picture you shared of him.
Laura Too
@TaMara (HFG): Awesome news, thanks!!
columbusqueen
@A Ghost To Most: From your mouth to God’s ear.
Gin & Tonic
Five years ago today the peaceful demonstrations that had been going on in Ukraine since mid-November ceased to be peaceful, when Viktor Yanukovych gave orders to his police forces to shoot at demonstrators in the streets of Kyiv. At least a hundred were killed, and the reaction to that led to Yanukovych’s fleeing the country in the dead of night two days later.
It may be instructive to remember that Viktor Yanukovych, along with Donald J. Trump (and Ferdinand Marcos, and Mobutu Sese Seko, and…) was a client of Paul Fucking Manafort, currently a guest of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Adam L Silverman
Someone is having a busy evening!
Baud
OT. Drum
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/02/north-carolina-vote-fraud-case-takes-a-dramatic-turn-against-republican-candidate/
Ohio Mom
@Viva BrisVegas: It’s pronounced Boot-edge-edge, according to the note on top of his twitter page.
Buttigieg was not on my radar at all until this thread so Thank you @germy: for bringing him to my attention.
He looks like a very good guy, and he’s young (37) so that means he has a long future ahead of him. I wonder if him having a not-simple name and being gay will slow him down on the national stage.
Gin & Tonic
@Viva BrisVegas:
Pretty rich when you live in a country with places like Woolloomooloo or Yackandandah.
kindness
I had a sad back when we were having to defend the idea of Nancy leading the House again. Too many people had an age thing going acting like a young pup would do as well. Yea, I love me some Nancy Smash!
Mike in NC
@Gin & Tonic: Have you seen “Winter On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom”? It’s on Netflix.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Gesundheit!
RAVEN
(CNN)A Coast Guard lieutenant arrested last Friday on gun and drug charges allegedly wanted to conduct a mass killing.
Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is alleged to be a white supremacist who had a hit list that included prominent Democratic politicians as well as several journalists from CNN and MSNBC. Hasson’s case was first circulated by counterterrorism expert Seamus Hughes and the George Washington Program on Extremism.
Hasson’s hit list includes Democratic politicians — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, Sens. Chuck Schumer, of New York, Cory Booker, of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut and Kamala Harris, of California and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, of Texas — as well as CNN journalists Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Ari Melber and Joe Scarborough.
Gravenstone
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I saw somewhere a listing of prominent Democrats who had not yet entered the race, all of whom were white males. I had to laugh when they listed Seth Moulton, but had the picture of Sherrod Brown (who was also two pics over). Moulton is such a non-entity.
Adam L Silverman
@RAVEN: He seems nice!
Gin & Tonic
@Mike in NC: Yes.
MagdaInBlack
@Adam L Silverman:
I love the way she says “terminated.”
I can just imagine the sparkle in her eyes
Gravenstone
@Baud: That’s a definite “whoops!” moment. Thinking family holiday dinners might become a bit complicated going forward.
Yarrow
@kindness: I had an angry. It pissed me the hell off that people couldn’t see her incredible kill as a legislator and that she’s the best possible person to be Speaker. I relished watching her dispatch her opponents and was thrilled to see her take back the gavel.
I loved Nancy SMASH in her previous time as Speaker but I adore her even more now. She seems to be having fun. She knows her power and knows how to use it. It’s glorious to watch.
A Ghost To Most
@Gin & Tonic: Oz gets a pass for having the best oysters, and the Moreton Bay bug. Also, too, Victoria Bitters.
Kristine
@TaMara (HFG): Glad to hear the good news.
Leto
@Baud: Was it the the “huge” or “unanimous” part that was hyperbole?
@RAVEN: I’m glad that when the Obama DoJ released the report that stated lthat military members were prime targets for white supremacy groups, that Republicans immediately agreed and decided to invest resources to combat this growing problem… wait, we in the dumbest possible timeline possible. Of course that didn’t happen! Instead they whined and cried how Obama hated the military, and how dare he disrespect those valued white citizens!
Baud
@Leto:
Mostly this.
And this
“The landmark decision represents a broad agreement on the Supreme Court that law enforcement’s legalized theft has gone too far.”
Mr Stagger Lee
My hope is if and when the Democrats, regain both houses as well as the presidency, there will be SERIOUS efforts to scour and clean the government. No wimpishness, no cowardice. Rid the place of the rotten stench of Trumpism
Aleta
Today the date set for Cohen to report to prison was changed, from March 6 to May 6. He requested the change bc he’s recovering from shoulder surgery.
Gin & Tonic
@A Ghost To Most: Maybe it’s a function of where one grows up, but I prefer the oysters of the Northeast US.
Kay
@Baud:
Good. Part of yesterday’s testimony was that people were told not to cooperate because “they don’t have anything on us”. Sounds like the son has emails.
A Ghost To Most
@Gin & Tonic: I grew up on NE clams and oysters as well. The quality of shellfish in OZ blew me away.
Brachiator
Trump declares the New York Times an enemy of the people. Does this mean that he will stop leaking news bits to them?
Good story about the 2018 World Inequality Report
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/inequality-is-rising-globally-and-soaring-in-the-u-s.html
Aleta
@TaMara (HFG): { Baby } and { Tamara } too.
A Ghost To Most
OT: I haven’t seen a TBOGG byline at Raw Story for a bit. Has he moved?
Omnes Omnibus
@RAVEN: Forty-nine and a lieutenant? I know the CG uses the Navy’s rank structure, that is still something odd.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@RAVEN: Joe in the Morning, really?
RAVEN
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s a bunch of weird shit.
“In a passage of the letter quoted in the court filing, Lieutenant Hasson wrote, “I am a long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military.”
Another Scott
@A Ghost To Most: Dunno. He’s been recently active on the Twitter machine.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
RAVEN
Lieutenant Hasson’s efforts appeared to intensify in January. The authorities say he searched for a section of Mr. Breivik’s manifesto that advises other mass murderers to begin a six-week cycle of steroids once all their preparations for violent acts are complete. Federal agents said they had found a locked box in his apartment containing more than 30 vials of human growth hormone.
Lyrebird
@Yarrow: I forget who offered “Buddha judge” as an alternative, mighta been his husband.
And no, the letters don’t add up unless I guess you know how to read Maltese or something like that. Does seem like a great person. I’m seriously thinking of making a small donation to some of these unlikely ones, like Yang for instance, so it’ll be such a full slate of debaters that there’s not much room for BS. Lit/fig.
Would be cool to have two Asian Americans on the same debate stage, too. And I’m sure Buddha jedge would be the first candidate with heritage from wherever they pronounce g’s like that…
TS (the original)
@Gin & Tonic: Woolloomooloo – pronounced exactly as spelt wool loo moo loo
TS (the original)
@Another Scott: Not sure if you ever caught up with my many thanks for sorting the auto start video. Whether you did or did not – many thanks.
chris
@A Ghost To Most: I noticed that too but he’s back. Long vacation maybe.
randy khan
@RAVEN:
I shouldn’t make light of this, but I bet Kirsten Gillibrand and Rachel Maddow probably feel like they’ve been left out.
Another Scott
@TS (the original): I did. I’m glad it worked!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
RAVEN
@TS (the original): I had a good buddy from Wollongong .
Bill Arnold
Since open thread, for anyone who hasn’t read it, a very accessible piece by David Wallace-Wells, quite worth reading and passing around to friends/relatives. (Aleta linked it yesterday with different quotes selected.)
Time to Panic – The planet is getting warmer in catastrophic ways. And fear may be the only thing that saves us. (David Wallace-Wells, Feb. 16, 2019)
Particularly important IMO is the emerging willingness of scientists to be overtly political (if still somewhat coy) in the body of their papers (and sometimes in direct public outreach). I’ve been watching this change as well (I read a lot of climate change papers; DWW reads most of them – this is still rare among journalists but it is not hard after some practice.) The change is heartening to see.
Scientists will need to learn how to deal with lawyer-style argumentation which does not present opposing points of view with strength.
Mike in NC
@RAVEN: So, another friend of Roger Stone.
Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
The Coast Guard was his 5th or 6th “job” over the years, and he pushed paper. He didn’t join the Coast Guard at a young age or with any kind of transferrable “achievements”, so, LT.
Mike in NC
@Omnes Omnibus: Heard he was a former enlisted Marine. Possibly the USCG version of a Limited Duty Officer.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jay: Well, the other military branches don’t really do 50ish O-3s, so that little detail stuck out for me.
@Mike in NC: Possibly, but !!RC, the army at least had age caps and the requirement that an officer promoted from the ranks be able to serve 10 years as a commissioned officer before they hit their 20.
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic: I know it’s always about the freshness more than just the name, but at a wedding this summer I had oysters from Bar Harbor Oyster Co. and my god. I can’t forget them.
debbie
@Baud:
By his own son!
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s really a bunch of weird shit, as raven notes. @RAVEN: Alarming, even.
OT, since it’s an open thread, fashion suggestions for a doctor’s appointment, followed by a head MRI an hour later? Dress for ease of changing prior to getting on the slide tray, or pants and a festive top combo so as to look chipper (mostly likely faked) afterwards. I’m not Italian, so there will be no edgy to the point just beyond tasteless footwear involved in any event.
Jay
@randy khan:
Part of his “plan” was killing on both sides of the aisle, to “heighten the contradictions”, along with just general untargetted mass killings.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: He started as a Marine, got out, switched to the Coasties. and they do, indeed, use the Navy’s rank structure.
Ohio Mom
@Bill Arnold: I just saw the obituary in the NYT for the scientist who first sounded the alarm about global warming in 1975 — Forty-four years ago. We’ve been dicking around for almost half a century.
Adam L Silverman
@randy khan: Gillibrand was on the list. A lot of the names were misspelled.
debbie
@RAVEN:
“Alleged”???
RAVEN
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Sweats for mine in the fall. Prepare to count your breath. I don’t care to be told how much time I have to go but they do sometimes tell you or at least ask how you are doing.
RAVEN
@Jay: Helter Skelter. . . .look out now.
Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
The other military branches generally “grow their own”, but the USCG got moved over to Homeland and like Homeland hired a bunch of ex-military folks to fill out the rosters.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Navy suit with light brown shoes – just to fuck with the union-buster?
RAVEN
@Adam L Silverman: Army National Guard too.
Adam L Silverman
@RAVEN: He’s had a very ecumenical military career.
RAVEN
@Jay: Any swingin dick will do.
debbie
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
Go for ease. No jewelry for the MRI. Have Tylenol ready for the headache after the MRI. And good luck.
Aleta
@Mike in NC: Stone and Jones also came to mind at seeing his internet searches shortly before he made the spreadsheet: “what if trump illegally impeached”
“civil war if trump impeached” “social democrats usa”
It’s not just them of course.
Dershowitz yesterday: “unconstitutional coup” (if 25th Amendment used against T) ; and
Dana Milbank, etc: “The Democrats have become socialists.”
RAVEN
@Adam L Silverman: I may have mentioned my buddy who had honorables from the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps and his family Baltimore disowned him because he didn’t join the Navy. His grandfather was in ship building and had a Liberty Ship named after him.
Aleta
@RAVEN: “3 branches of the military” fwiw … but then, he also mentioned 2 years to go before retirement at 30? Typo for 50?
Omnes Omnibus
@RAVEN: Fuck it, maybe I could get command of a ship.
Omnes Omnibus
@Aleta: Most likely 30 years of service.
RAVEN
@Omnes Omnibus: Open the door and lie on the floor, I’m Barnacle Bill the Sailor. . .
Ohio Mom
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Did you ever have a MRI before? They are loud.
I asked for earplugs, was told I wouldn’t need them, then pushed the panic button a few minutes after the clanking started to insist that I really did need earplugs. Which were then supplied.
My main other memory is astonishment at how quickly the contrast dye went from the IV in my arm to wherever it was that triggered a metallic taste in my mouth. Fortunately a short-lived sensation.
I have no memory about what I wore. I always go for comfort and layers since in my experience, anything medical occurs in rooms colder than I like.
Good luck, hoping for unremarkable findings for you.
Aleta
@Omnes Omnibus: ah
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@RAVEN: They told me an hour, and the last one they did ask how I was doing.And since you get a gown to go in, the attire is more for before and after.
@Omnes Omnibus: My doc will never let me live that down, but it’s a great idea. I do have a navy suit and some light(ish)brown shoes. Please be sure to tell the union buster I’ll be defying his sense of style, in case he wants to sense hostility.
@debbie: At least they are quieter than 20 years ago when they looked at my neck, but thanks for the reminder to have a headache remedy.
Bill Arnold
@Ohio Mom:
True given the terrifying scope of the problem[2], but some things have been done, partial list:
– Efficiency standards, and the improved efficiency technologies are globalized if they lower costs. This has been over decades.
– Solar and wind are finally competitive or cheaper than fossil fuel; this was driven by competitive capitalism, much of it in China (which encouraged the competition).
– Slow but continued and now rapidly accelerating progress in electricity storage R&D (both high density for transportation and cheap for dealing with renewables supply variability), and some production (e.g. EVs). Also some promising new developments in long-range low-loss trannsmission[1]
– Natural gas has been a net win vs coal. (It oxidizes out of the atmosphere a lot faster than elevated CO2 levels are reduced.)
We backslid on nuclear power after Chernobyl and again after Fukushima (both of which were in part the result of extra-concentrated stupid), and emerging economies are rapidly increasing energy usage.
[1] e.g. Benefits of High-Voltage Direct Current Transmission Systems (08/01/2018 | Aaron Larson), semi-technical.
[2] TBH looking at my notes, I wasn’t really panicked until the early/mid 2000s.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Ohio Mom: I’ve had 2 and UC gives you earplugs before they put you in – you don’t even have to ask! And it’s so much quieter than they were when I had the first one. I’d forgotten about the contrast taste. This will be with and without contrast so I’ll get out for a breather before the contrast is applied.
Thanks for the good thoughts, everybody.
Adam L Silverman
@RAVEN: You have and that’s harsh.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: My former boss, a retired Army O6, was recalled to active duty as a colonel in the US Army one morning in late July 2012 and then promoted to Rear Admiral Upper Half five seconds later. He’s the only Navy 2 star with a screaming eagle on his uniform.
So let me know if you want me to make a call.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I passed the test. I will diminish…and go into the West…and remain Omnes.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Probably more free time that way.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: to the pie filter, stat!
Adam L Silverman
Busy night:
debit
@Omnes Omnibus: Sad! I wanted to love you and despair.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Pretty awkward for those dudes, huh?
TommoRolassi
@Ohio Mom: The greenhouse warming effect caused by pollution is a big theme in the trashy Heston film Soylent Green, released in 1973 and set in the far distant future…2022
Omnes Omnibus
@debit: What can I say? As Adam hinted, this way I should have my weekends free.
Omnes Omnibus
@TommoRolassi: I remember reading about it in fourth and fifth grade grade science textbooks, circa ’74-75.
TerryC
@Mike in NC: If you ever attended a Campus Sustainability Day or Week or Month in the autumn at a college or university, then you have experienced my modest but identifiable contribution to the climate change fight. I came up with the idea on a phone call in April 2003 and inplemented the first nationwide series of events later that fall with a live PHS broadcast.
Fifteen years of an annual message to the college student population. It pleases me very much nowadays when I ask someone in their twenties about it and they can relate memories of being at Campus Sustainability Day events and being influenced by them. ?