.
Seems like Madame Pelosi has a good sense of what voters are ready for, right now — they think Trump’s a criminal, but there’s not *yet* a consensus on impeachment:
New Q-poll:
Trump obstructed investigation 54-42
Muller *didn't* clear Trump of wrongdoing 51-38
Trump committed crimes before presidency 57-28
Committed crimes while president 46-46
Trump thinks he's above law 56-41
But: Don't impeach 66-29https://t.co/USaxPnT9R0
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 2, 2019
Of course, those numbers include the predictable ‘If the president did it, it is not illegal’ authority-worshippers, not to mention the Repub diehards who actually admire a guy who’ll get out there and commit the crimes they only dream of getting away with. But as the Misadministration’s cack-handed inability to crime with competence gets more attention, the numbers shift…
Attorney General Barr’s decision to mislead the public in his testimony to Congress was not a technicality — it was a crime.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 2, 2019
As Dana Houle (among others) pointed out, Nancy Pelosi is the person who gets to be President once Trump & Pence are removed (please Murphy the Trickster God) — it’s not good ‘optics’ for her to get too far ahead of public sentiment.
And it’s not as though — for all their loud talk — the Squatter-in-Chief’s familia was acting as though they intended to be around for the long term…
It has been 2 years and the Trump administration still isn't vetting candidates for posts that require Senate confirmation.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) May 2, 2019
TenguPhule
Almost as if they think they won’t need the Senate in the near future.
Major Major Major Major
Good for Pelosi.
Open thread, yes? Does anybody have any streamable buddy/ensemble procedurals to recommend? I’ve run out. (e.g. Bones, House, Elementary)
Gelfling 545
@Major Major Major Major: Person of Interest, the Blacklist and, oddly enough, Lucifer.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TenguPhule: Given that the Senate is in R hands, it’s just flipping off the Constitution. He’s running his own business at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, and it’s no one else’s affair.
Millard Filmore
@Major Major Major Major: How about “Person of Interest”? A Google search shows that it can be streamed. It goes off the deep end sometimes but the production of the show is superb.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
Do you do Brits? I still think Inspector Lynley is one of the best.
ETA: But I don’t know if it’s streamable. It’s old, so maybe it is.
jk
Joe Biden putting his foot in his mouth in 2015
https://www.mediaite.com/election-2020/tbt-joe-biden-waxed-poetic-about-dick-cheney-in-2015-i-actually-like-him-hes-a-decent-man
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: You’ve already done Castle?
hitchhiker
I want the government to be stable. It doesn’t feel stable as long as he’s in office, but it definitely won’t be stable during the impeachment process of getting him out of office.
That’s what those numbers mean. People know we’re fucked, and they’re hanging on to the best way to get unfucked, which they think is the 2020 election. The case Pelosi et al must make is that if we want long term stability, we have to endure the temporary instability and chaos that impeachment proceedings would be.
The reason is, if we do not stomp this bastard into dust, others will surely follow, and they’ll have even less respect for our government than he does, plus they’ll be a lot smarter.
I think Americans are really just waiting for this to be over, as if we could all just go back to the time before he came along to piss all over the place as if nothing had happened. They’re going to take some convincing that that’s not an option.
TenguPhule
@jk:
Oh yes, I’m sure he was. //
Major Major Major Major
@Gelfling 545: Ah, I did recently enjoy roughly 72% of Lucifer.
@TenguPhule: Yep.
Jeffro
Hey Republicans, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives has had to resort to openly accusing the attorney general of the United States of obstruction of justice on behalf of the president of United States, due to his clearly obstructing justice multiple times …
…but tax cuts and judges, am I right?
satby
@Major Major Major Major: a fun one is Lucifer on Netflix.
satby
@Gelfling 545: great list ?
TenguPhule
@hitchhiker:
Americans in general have never really personally experienced blowback in a tangible form that directly impacts them and those around them.
It will be a bitter learning experience.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
There’s that 27% again….//
TenguPhule
What’s sad is that I automatically believe Cuba without a moment’s hesitation.
John Revolta
@Jeffro: …but tax cuts and judges, am I right?
Every Republican: Yes. Yes you are.
TenguPhule
Biden says China is ‘not competition for us,’ prompting pushback from both parties
Lips pursed at the both parties line when only Sanders is quoted.
The Dangerman
@Millard Filmore:
Great first few seasons.
Also, Longmire kinda fits the buddy thing on a couple different levels.
ETA:Also, I really enjoy Murdoch Mysteries. Not really a buddy, but nice ensemble.
Colleeniem
@TenguPhule: Worst of all, It doesn’t take that much imagination. We have all the books and movies, for god’s sake.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: Christ on a cracker that is an awful take from Biden
KSinMA
@Major Major Major Major:
Scott and Bailey.
Raoul
The Senate (and by this, I mean slimeball McConnell) is negating their role of advise and consent for the Cabinet. By meekly accepting incredulously long ‘acting’ leaders, and putting Mulvaney on multiple business cards, Mitch has signaled that this Admin can do whateverthefuck it wants to, as long as Mitch gets to pack the courts as a multi-decade rubber stamp of authoritarian right-wing jurisprudence (impudence, rather).
We are in for decades of work. Work that must be done, if we are to keep this shabby Republic.
Brachiator
This speaks to Trump’s incompetence. He is bad at management and operating as the chief executive of a government, despite all his blowhard nonsense about being a master businessman.
This also speaks to Trump”s personal style. He greatly prefers smaller staffs where he can personally direct a lieutenant to execute his will.
Hitlesswonder
@jk: disqualifying
Dorothy A. Winsor
@jk: Has he seen “Vice”?
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: I know. He’s running a 1998 campaign in 2019.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Its not incompetence when it helps him do what he wants to do.
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
you have no reason not to.
Peale
@hitchhiker: Yep. If the deomcrats are going to move forward with this, they need to convince Democratic voters and independents that its the right thing to do right now. Unfortunately, once again, the voters are squishy, which they are on a lot of issues. If it were 50-50, I’d say “go for it” since that would mean it had full backing of Dem voters. 29% isn’t high enough.
This is why we never get to have a “liberal backlash”. Dem voters are always split on how angry they should be at the GOP. And those that get off on being angry, would just as soon Nancy Pelosi go to jail for “betrayal” as Donald Trump for some reason.
Raoul
@hitchhiker: The reason is, if we do not stomp this bastard into dust, he’ll prosecute and attempt to jail his Dem 2020 opponents.
Seriously. “Lock her up!” was treated as an outrageous joke in the 2016 campaign. Brian Beutler makes a pretty good case that he’ll actually do it now, and that Barr is more than willing to be the guy with the evil brains to pull it off. (Adam Serwer at the Atlantic seems to reluctantly concur).
TenguPhule
@Colleeniem:
Yes, but we never imagined that the other side saw them as instruction manuals.
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
China could have contained IF the USA had done TPP.
But, we left TPP, and thus, left that part of the world open to CHINESE DOMINATION.
Biden is tone deaf and ridiculous here.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
Biden is spot on. Being the second-largest economy is not the same thing as being the second most important world power.
But Trump, Bolton and crew need an enemy for America to oppose and for Trump to humble.
Sanders as an opinion about foreign policy? Who knew?
The latest NPR Fresh Air deals with this topic: New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins says President Trump’s current national security adviser is a hawk who sees America as “a colossus operating anywhere it wants.”
One spurious thought from the ever-despicable Bolton:
TenguPhule
U.S. sending asylum seekers to Mexico while awaiting court ruling, in some cases ignoring own protocols
So while in court over a policy’s legality, the Trumpsters have decided that they need to keep doing it faster and harder.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: It’s not the second-largest. It’s the first, unless you count the EU as a single economic unit. Has been since 2015.
But Biden knows that. We have far larger problems than China at the moment. As Brachiator notes, “Being the second-largest economy is not the same thing as being the second most important world power.”
Gelfling 545
Just wanted to share this. A couple who are friends of my kids have started a local “goatscaping” business called Let’s Goat Buffalo.
They already have a beekeeping operation and hive relocation service. Goats are their next phase.
Also, just wanted to brag that my daughter who is graduating soon (3L can litigate under supervision in NY) just won her first big transparency case against a certain evil elected county official & his minions.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
But it certainly doesn’t hurt. And China has been aggressively moving into regions that Trump has abandoned because its the opposite of what President Obama was doing.
Amir Khalid
@TenguPhule:
If Biden makes light of China exercising its economic and military strength in places like Southeast Asia and Africa, he is not going to be the POTUS the international community needs.
Peale
@Raoul: My guess is that he’ll focus on locking up Hillary Clinton. They really do want this election to be about Trump beating Hillary somehow again. Immigrant bashing and “If you elect Senator Whosit, she’ll let Hillary out of Jail. If you like the idea of Hillary in solitary confinement, vote for me!”.
I’m not much for the “heighten the contradictions” school of thought, but I kind of wish Trump would swing harder at Obama and maybe put him in jail for awhile. He’s the only one I think even the squishy Dems would come out to save with 100% confidence. Lock up Bernie, or anyone else, and the caucus would be split about how bad that really is that he’s in jail. Deep Bench, ya know.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator:
Although it’s not entirely clear from the article what he actually did say, the pull quote is that they aren’t geopolitical competitors, which is silly. I’m so old I remember when his and Obama’s administration was pushing a big trade treaty that was designed to contain China’s geopolitical influence.
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: Goddamit. For the first and hopefully last time, I am in 100% agreement with Bolton. Look at primate evolution, history and ancestry. How could we not be wired from the root for war?
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
Unfortunately thanks to Trump and his crew of goddamn assholes, China’s influence is growing in areas we’ve traditionally dominated.
So while we may have bigger problems then China, its still a big problem on its own.
Sab
@Gelfling 545: I love goats. Adorable, and boy can they clear brush fast. They cleaned out my perennnial bed last fall (except they don’t eat english ivy) and everything good except for monarda/beebalm has come back.
They eat wild grape, blackberry brambles and poison ivy.
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid:
Nope.
colleeniem
@TenguPhule: I’ve been thinking a lot about that these past few years. The Godfather as a how-to, instead of a cautionary tale :(.
TenguPhule
@Peale:
Why? Is blood running in the streets that interesting?
Peale
@TenguPhule: Not certain what the plan is supposed to be here. I mean, Steve Bannon and Frank Gafney have decided that the plan should be a race war. Bernie’s plan is what exactly? Its not like we have an electorate that’s willing to go out of the way to build roads and ports in other countries, loans or no loans. China is taking advantage of our stinginess. What to do, what to do?
mrmoshpotato
@hitchhiker:
Waiting the rest of my life for the SCOTUS to get unfucked doesn’t sound fun.
The Dangerman
@Peale:
But who will rebuild the urban areas that burn to the ground?
TenguPhule
Christ what an asshole.
TenguPhule
@Peale: As far as I can tell, the plan seems to be “Steal all the money and then burn everything down to get rid of the evidence.”
mrmoshpotato
@jk:
Oh Joe. This is our newest model airlock. Get in it. Not paying attention during Bush II? Me thinks Biden might not grasp the amount of repairs the next Democratic president will have to do.
Peale
@The Dangerman: Hopefully, they’d go vote for the Inslee/Hickenlooper ticket before the burning. That’s all I’m hoping for.
VeniceRiley
@Major Major Major Major: Scott & Bailey. I binged the whole thing because I wanted to see more of Suranne Jones after watching Gentleman jack.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843678/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_7
different-church-lady
IT’S MAY 2ND AND I AM FREEZING MY ASS OFF!!! E.O.M!!!
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: Its 78 here and that;s too damn hot. Send some of that cold our way please.
Kathleen
I was hoping ruemara was on the thread. Given her new podcast project, I thought she might find this story interesting:
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/share/2019/03/26/award-winning-cincinnati-author-speak-main-library/3266367002/?fbclid=IwAR1bbjdoPm9qmE601ifLM5KoeFWqLmimKf7cYrvu_7jAClM_V0MMSlHs4Fs
gene108
@hitchhiker:
That’s the Republican Party post-Nixon. They have gotten a lot smarter at getting away with crimes.
Iran-Contra caught some crooks, but not Reagan or GHWB.
Bush, Jr mastered the art of plausible deniability. I mean he never said Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11, but boy, when you say something like “Osama bin Laden is a terrible person, who masterminded the deaths of 3,000 Americans on 9/11/01, and Saddam Hussein is just as bad, and a great threat right now…” people somehow make the connection Saddam did 9/11.
And now Trump, who eagerly accepted help from Russia to get elected, and is personally enriching himself in office.
Even if we nail Trump to the wall, the next Republican President will be worse. Not only will they be openly racist fascists*, but they will be out for revenge for Democrats taking down Trump.
* Republicans always get worse after losing the Presidency. Ford’s loss begat Reagan, GHWB’s loss begat Gingrich and then his son, and losing in 2008 begat Trump.
VeniceRiley
@Gelfling 545: Adorable! If they open in New Orleans they can call that one Geauxt Saints.
mrmoshpotato
@Gelfling 545:
????
And congratulations to your daughter.
(((CassandraLeo)))
Add another vote for Person of Interest, which is also one of the few major network shows to get technology mostly right. Though…
(spoiler warning?)
…at this point I think I would gladly welcome Samaritan if that rid us of Dump and his ilk. There would be fewer casualties at least.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Lucifer wore thin for me somewhere partway through the second season. YMMV.
Procedurals? Gonna spare the temptation to mostly list the (pardon the expression) usual suspects and offer some outliers.
Have you tried Spiral? 6 seasons currently on Prime. Possible drawbacks are that it is (a) very intense (and graphic) and (b) in French w/English subtitles. Judge Roban is IMHO one of the most fascinatingly written and depicted characters in any TV series, and gets better and more complex each season.
Two thumbs way up for Fallet on Netflix. Off the beaten TV track but engaging enough to pass the time (even if determinedly formulaic) is a Ukrainian series listed on Prime as The Dog. Several others worth much more than a peek:
Roba on Prime
Bordertown on Netflix
Trapped on Prime
Mammon on Prime
Broadchurch on Netflix
River on Netflix.
One last item is Iris on Netflix, with the caveat that it is schizophrenic, switching back and forth from edge of your seat intrigue and action to the sappiest of hearts and flowers soap opera. The first episode, especially, gives practically no clue as to what is to follow.
Note: Haven’t checked as to whether some of the above may have disappeared from the respective service’s line-up over time, either in toto or just some seasons which have gone away.
zhena gogolia
@VeniceRiley:
She’s in the Amazon Vanity Fair, but in a very small role.
TenguPhule
Florida approves bill allowing teachers to carry guns in classrooms
Because Florida.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
The Detectorists!!! I think it’s on Amazon though.
Hitlesswonder
@Peale: Let me tell you what I think would happen if Trump locked up Obama: NPR would have on a bunch of dudes with big vocabularies explaining why it was the lawful thing to do based on a strict interpretation of the constitution. And they’d have a liberal on to explain that while he was unhappy about it, he understands that not everyone shares his viewpoint. And then some media personality would chime in explaining that our institutions are holding because Obama had not been executed.
gene108
@mrmoshpotato:
Don’t think Joe realizes the rage in the Democratic base. Not just rage against Trump, but decades of liberals being told to sit down and shut up.
There’s a reckoning coming, Joe, and either you will ride the wave or get crushed, when it comes crashing down.
jk
@mrmoshpotato: @Hitlesswonder: @Dorothy A. Winsor:
That quote is the umpteenth example of Biden’s toolishness. Democrats need to stop viewing uncle Joe as the great savior of the Democratic Party and the only person who can beat Trump. He’s an out of touch, handsy, plagiarizing moron.
Sister Golden Bear
@TenguPhule:
Except for women, POC, and LGBT folks… Just sayin’.
A little story. After one of my surgeries, I had a friend drive me back from the surgical center, which was about an hour away. The wrong time she drove slightly below the legal speed limit — this in California, where the actual speed of traffic is about 10 mph over the posted limit.
I was a bit puzzled until the light belately went on: she’s a black woman. And Driving While Black is definitely a thing.
Mo MacArbie
Now I’m picturing goatscaping as akin to manscaping.
No, I’m not Mickey Kaus. Why do you ask?
VeniceRiley
@zhena gogolia: Yes, I watched the whole season of Vanity Fair already. Loved it. I also watched Dr. Foster, which was epic if you like very horrible & nasty divorces. It’s been a Suranne week. had to catch up before May sweeps TV.
mrmoshpotato
@gene108: I agree.
Whatever happened to Bill Clinton’s budget surplus? Oh right! “Saddam 9/11ed us!” And then there’s all the bloodshed…
Yup. Still pissed about the Darth Cheney/W years.
Sister Golden Bear
@TenguPhule: I will say the white Americans, of either gender, do tend to fit your description. Leopards… people’s faces….
Miss Bianca
@jk: OK, God forbid anybody point out that this quote is from 2015. Which is approximately half an eternity ago in Trump years. Four years ago a *lot* of people said a *lot* of things they might not say now.
I’m not going to go out and ask Joe Biden what he thinks of Dick Cheney now, because that would be a fucking waste of time. I’m also not going to leap to the conclusion that just because he said some nice things about some Republicans once upon a time that that means he would, as President, stock his Cabinet with Republicans or do any other damn dumb thing like that.
I’m getting mighty tired of pre-emptive freakout mode.
rikyrah
The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) Tweeted:
Congressional Democrats:
Subpoena every member of William Barr’s staff.
When the first refuses to show up, cite them for contempt and have them arrested.
This is Barr’s last career stop. Target the people who have futures to consider.
Cut off his legs and work your way up. https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/1124015480874905601?s=17
TenguPhule
@Sister Golden Bear: Its not blowback when they intentionally target you to begin with, that’s persecution.
Kay
@jk:
I worry about him too, A LOT, but we have to respect the collective wisdom of the primary voters and they’re telling pollsters they like him. Maybe they’re exhausted and he’s just familiar and that’s enough.
Mike in NC
@TenguPhule: Will not end well at all.
rikyrah
Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) Tweeted:
I really hate the way Trump and his allies such as Graham talk about the Supreme Court, as if they control it. It’s so corrosive. https://t.co/EPJzhiumeP https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/1124071217705758720?s=17
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca:
Me too!
RedDirtGirl
@KSinMA: Oh god I love them! And Happy Valley!
rikyrah
Ida Skibenes ❄️ (@ida_skibenes) Tweeted:
MAGA
A white man can knowingly mislead the entire country and keep his job.
A white man accused of sexual assault can end up at the Supreme Court.
And a blatantly racist and sexist white man can be president.
Meanwhile, a black woman ends up in prison for voting by mistake. https://twitter.com/ida_skibenes/status/1124052509667090432?s=17
randy khan
@Major Major Major Major:
Unforgotten, a British series on a cold case squad.
debbie
Screw that poll. Trump has been committing crimes since the 1970s.
rikyrah
Ari Berman (@AriBerman) Tweeted:
Great news for voting rights: Colorado becomes 15th state to adopt automatic voter registration https://t.co/zA6pZOlQGB https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1124074244936220673?s=17
VeniceRiley
@rikyrah:
\
that’s kinda genius.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Also, M⁴, as you’re on the younger side you may never have had the pleasure of chomping through the Rumpole of the Bailey buffet.
Quick check shows it is currently only available with a subscription to Acorn, however.
Ruviana
@TenguPhule: Trump’s people see Spanish-speaking soldiers and think “Oh, that’s that Cuban language!”
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Do you know of a site where you can enter the name of a series or program and find out where it is available (if at all)? I have been looking for such a thing.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
There probably is such a site(s) but I rely on the search function on Roku.
Roger Moore
@Peale:
That will only last until the Democrats settle on a candidate. Once there’s a single opponent for him to worry about, he’ll be focused on them rather than Hillary.
different-church-lady
@Sister Golden Bear: That’s not blowback: that’s the primary direction of the wind at all times.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
The Rookie?
randy khan
What the poll tells me is that hearings and investigations are the way to go. Bring in people from Mueller’s staff; bring in witnesses who spoke to Mueller (in and out of the Administration). Dig into the Stormy Daniels payments, and see if there are more like them. There are lots of things to look at, and even if Trump stonewalls where he thinks he can, there’s a lot he can’t stonewall. Remind people weekly – or daily! – who this guy is.
And if the poll numbers change, then think about impeachment.
The goal, after all, is to get rid of him and the enabling Republicans, not to have some symbolic victory that doesn’t have an electoral impact. This is one way that Dems need to think like Republicans.
lamh36
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
Because it ain’t true. The idea of “hard wired” is stupid. And I think we should have learned enough from evolution to understand that human beings (and the higher primates) can do both peace and war.
I am old enough and grounded enough in science to recall Jane Goodall’s error in observing chimps and assuming that they were inherently peaceful. Then she saw a chimp troop meet a competing troop and go to war. Later she observed chimps killing and eating monkeys, etc. But this did not invalidate the earlier observations of peaceful chimps. It just widened our understanding.
Semi-shorter, I get tired as fuck with conservatives trying to fall back onto primitive “human nature” arguments to rationalize behavior that they prefer or admire, and then trying to further justify it by a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution. It is just fucking stupid.
And from the wisdom of James T Kirk
lamh36
gene108
@Major Major Major Major:
I wish it is a take more people have. We look at other countries with envy, only looking at what we think makes them better than us. But really every country has problems, and most countries have more problems and less means to solve them, because we are the richest nation in the world.
Other countries are catching up to us in wealth, but that doesn’t pull us down. It just creates a new equilibrium, where the scales of power are not so tilted towards us, which I don’t think is a bad thing.
lamh36
Does this mean they are going around DOJ and Barr?
Jeffro
@John Revolta:
We need a warning label on these clowns:
Warning: mixing white supremacist lunacy, Randian insanity, and religious-right mania can cause fatal side effects to your democracy.
jk
@Miss Bianca:
Joe Biden has been making cringe worthy, idiotic statements for his entire career and always been a goddamn horse’s ass. If this jackass is the Democratic nominee, it will be a fucking disaster.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
I mean, he’s not exactly wrong when he says China has a ton of problems to deal with. Xi Jinping has been very busy centralizing power towards himself, which in turn is making the the PRC government less flexible than it has been in the past. The argument goes that the regime’s ability to address problems in a relatively open way over the years has set it apart from other less stable authoritarian regimes. With Xi Jinping assuming more power as well as making it less likely that underlings are going to tell him things he doesn’t like, the future stability of the PRC government is a real question.
Brachiator
@jk:
Or we will kick Trump’s ass.
Gin & Tonic
A Twitter thread for Cheryl, if she’s around, on how the NYT fucked up the Hunter Biden story.
Major Major Major Major
@Steeplejack:
I just google “[name of show] streaming”
Gin & Tonic
@lamh36: If I’m not mistaken, Mueller is now a private citizen and can talk to whoever he wants.
Roger Moore
@randy khan:
Exactly. The investigation and hearings have two goals. One is to get at the truth. The other is to get that truth out into the open for people to see it. High profile public hearings is one of the few ways the Democrats have of really pushing this stuff into the media so it keeps showing up on the news every day. Otherwise the daily Trump show will push it off the airwaves and out of people’s attention.
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Cultural Revolution II: Electric Boogaloo
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gin & Tonic:
I can’t wait to hear his testimony. Him being a Republican, I’d be curious to hear what he personally thinks of his party these days. I’ve heard him and Barr described as friends. I also wonder if he still thinks of him as such, and that Trump has “corrupted” him.
Major Major Major Major
@gene108: I was referring to the idea that China is not a geopolitical competitor.
debbie
@TenguPhule:
Chinese leaders have little time to deal with domestic and regional problems because so much of their time is being taken up with making new deals with South America, Africa, etc. etc.
Wake up, Joe!
debbie
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I want to hear Mueller’s parsing of “snitty.”
different-church-lady
@Brachiator: Our psychology allows us to get ahead through both cooperation and competition. That makes us very tricky to understand.
Jeffro
@lamh36: Wow.
Hey Barr, that 4-page letter sure solved all of your and trumpov’s problems, didn’t it? That was really well done.
Kay
This is good news and we should enjoy it. All of Trump’s hires are low quality, but he checks every box- sexist, racist, a crook, a liar and an idiot. He wasn’t just not hired, he was publicly humiliated. The merit system worked.
japa21
@Gin & Tonic: Mueller, I believe, is still with the DOJ, at least for the time being, and the DOJ could prevent him from testifying. The same does not hold true for most of his team who were pulled from different private practices. DOJ can’t prevent them form discussing or testifying.
Jeffro
@japa21: Mueller could just decide this is too important to keep quiet. Failing that, he could resign his position 5 minutes before walking into the Capitol. Desperate times call for more than just ‘by the book’…and I think Mueller has already seen what ‘by the book’ (and an assumption of both professionalism and friendship on Barr’s part) gets him.
japa21
@Kay: One tiny disagreement. Since he and others in the GOP world have no concept of shame, they also have no concept of humiliation. But I think we can be pretty sure that the Dems are not going to let things slide. The WH may not do any vetting (except knowing someone has appeared on Fox) but the Dems will and nothing will be held back.
Kay
Think how bad you have to be to fail Donald Trump’s hiring process. We finally found the bottom. It’s Mr. Moore.
Now at least we have a benchmark.
japa21
@Jeffro: I realize that and hope he does. And I think if Barr pushes to keep him from testifying he will probably do just that. Barr may be smart enough to realize that would be another nail in his coffin, but then again, one would think he would be smart enough to know his initial summary non-summary wouldn’t hold up.
Jay
“Recall, if you will, the lessons of Milton Mayer in his book, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-1945 – namely, the way these changes happen not overnight, but incrementally, like the legendary slow boiling of frogs:
“You see,” my colleague went on, “one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.
… “But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.
“And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.”
It is by small steps of incremental meanness and viciousness that we lose our humanity. The Nazis, in the end, embodied the ascension of utter demonic inhumanity, but they didn’t get that way overnight. They got that way through, day after day, attacking and demonizing and urging the elimination of those they deemed their enemies.”
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2015/11/donald-trump-may-not-be-fascist-but-he.html?m=1
A long and interesting read from Dave Neiwert, from 2015.
VeniceRiley
hearing there is, and IANAL but, there is an emergency break-glass provision in the IC statute that provides for Mueller to go directly to congress with his report. I heard just now on Hardball, so it must be true.
NotMax
If it has been reported I either missed it or forgot. Has the D.C. grand jury been dismissed?
@Kay
Yup. Moore makes Harriet Miers look like Oliver Wendell Holmes in comparison.
;)
TenguPhule
@Kay:
I disagree. I’m afraid he wasn’t incompetent enough to meet Trump’s standards. They plan to dig deeper.
Kay
@japa21:
Oh, I watched the interview that put the nail in the coffin. Trust me, it was humiliating. When she asked him why he told racist jokes about the Obamas over and over he said “black people… women and families” had told him the same joke.
It is AMAZING he made enough money to owe 300,000 dollars in alimony.
TenguPhule
@Jay: History rhymes too well.
frosty
@Major Major Major Major: Might not be buddy but perhaps ensemble and I don’t know about streamable but I really liked “Foyle’s War”.
rikyrah
Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) Tweeted:
I like the way that Kamala Harris is able to come across as coolly amused *and* righteously disgusted at the same time. Seems like the correct stance for 2020. https://twitter.com/emilynussbaum/status/1123724013442932739?s=17
CatFacts
@Roger Moore: Yep. Get the hearings on TV to show the huge part of the country that doesn’t follow politics just what’s been going on here. It’s the safest bet to get a critical mass of public opinion for impeachment. Besides, most of Trump’s circle tend to come across as entitled or whiny or just plain jerks under pressure, so putting tough questions to them on TV could also give the Democrats good fodder for campaign ads.
debbie
@Kay:
I for one look forward to his simmering resentment.
Sister Golden Bear
Because we could use a moment of beauty and serenity:
https://mymodernmet.com/keukenhof-flower-garden-holland/
.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Her lip pursing and scrunching skills are awesome!
Chyron HR
@lamh36:
But on the other hand SHE COP!!!!! COP BAD!!!!! BERNIE OR BURN DOWN HUMAN CIVILIZATION!!!!!
Baud
Some good news.
Raoul
May be just a tiny drop in the bucket, but I realized that this bullshit factory isn’t gonna change just because we blog and tweet, so I wrote to Sen.Cory Gardner just now. I know he’s a spineless twatwaffle, but he is also facing a serious challenge in 2020. So I wrote.
Relatedly, I’m really leaning these days towards impeachment for Barr. I think it opens the WH to all sorts of unwanted scrutiny, helps us get comfortable with the whole process without going after an elected official directly on the first shot, and lets the WH know that hey they can’t just destroy the rule of law.
NotMax
@debbie
Next step, being named U.S. consul to the Cayman Islands? //
rikyrah
??? Beautiful ? ?
https://twitter.com/_SJPeace_/status/1123972540488212480
Has Cole checked in about his nest?
Baud
Both sides.
VeniceRiley
@Major Major Major Major: And … Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Set in early 20th century Australia
Baud
Keep fucking that chicken.
Brant Lamb
@The Moar You Know: Because we have better brains than reptiles?
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
I just realized what the Barr-Rosenstein-beardedguy press conference reminded me of: The GKChP press conference in 1991.
(The guys who kidnapped Gorbachev in 1991. Now all we need is Yeltsin on a tank.)
NobodySpecial
@Major Major Major Major: I’m high on Bayblon Berlin, if you’ve got the Netflix. Berlin during the Weimar Republic, fantastic looking and everyone is dirty.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Poor chicken.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
We are all the chicken now.
Kay
@debbie:
It’s hard though for him to play the victim because that was an objectively catastrophic job interview. I was pleased that it was clear he really, really wanted the job and the desperation, instead of creating sympathy, seemed to make him more awful.
patrick II
This isn’t quite in the same lane as other serial buddy shows, but the first year of “Daredevil ” is really a great buddy movie about a superhero and two good friends. It’s a superhero series and pretty violent , but darn good at what it does.
NotMax
@Kay
Less is Moore.
;)
SiubhanDuinne
A bit O/T, but I’m puzzled. The first back-to-back Dem primary debates are scheduled for June 26-27, and here’s the official list of qualified candidates:
Now, not that I really give a rat’s ass, but can’t help noticing that Tulsi Gabbard is not listed in either category. Apparently she is considered neither “Qualified” nor “Not Yet Qualified.” *
Anybody know? Personally, I’d love to see her disappear from the 2020 race altogether, but I thought she had at least enough of a following to get her on one of the debate stages.
* (Kind of a Schrödinger’s Candidate, with apologies to the Kitty.)
(((CassandraLeo)))
@VeniceRiley: @frosty: These are both very good series.
Nethead Jay
@Steeplejack: Here’s a couple for you:
JustWatch
Can I Stream.it
Both have apps too, I believe.
Jay
@Baud:
And legal twitter points out it’s legal bullshit and just an attempt to distract from disBarr’s lying.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: Where’s that from?
MomSense
@frosty:
Loved loved loved that series. The actor who plays Foyle is a minimalist – one of the greats.
Mai Naem mobile
@Major Major Major Major: don’t k ow if its streamabale but a Brit series Unforgotten. I think it’s in its 4th season. There’s some nice twists in the stories and nobody comes out looking like an unflawed hero.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
We have a robin sitting on her eggs just outside our living-room window. It’s so much fun to watch — we’ve been tracking it since she built the nest.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: Ryan, Swalwell, and Yang qualified? Damn.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The chicken was forced to testify to the House committee in Barr’s place.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Roger Moore:
Exactly. And one of the largest economies in the world imploding into civil war/collapse would be bad for the entire world as well.
While not a 1:1 example, people used think, back in the 80s, that Japan was going to take over the world economically. How did that work out? To be sure Japan is still very important to the global economy, but it’s safe to say they’re not going to be a world power any time soon.
Realities change. China’s economy has been slowing down. If anything, I’d predict that modern global civilization as we know it is going to collapse sometime within the next 100 or so years.
It’s not just China. It’s not even just the US. Everywhere I look I see dysfunction and growing problems. Antibiotics-resistance is growing. Some day soon, many surgical procedures we take for granted will be impossible due to the loss of antibiotics.
Maybe it’s always seemed this way and I just lack the perspective to see that, but human civilization is facing a lot of serious challenges all at once
zhena gogolia
@MomSense:
MICHAEL KITCHEN
Mai Naem mobile
@Major Major Major Major: don’t k ow if its streamabale but a Brit series Unforgotten. I think it’s in its 4th season. There’s some nice twists in the stories and nobody comes out looking like an unflawed hero.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
The Invisible Woman.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Just wait until they deploy their armies of unstoppable robots. //
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I’ll celebrate if they actually get serious jail time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: True, I saw that. Poor chicken.
patrick II
@NotMax:
Me too, and I think its kind of a shame. The premise had such promise; a rebellious son who wants to be his own man who also happens to be the devil. I thought the lead actor overplayed his part. The single best show was when the three ladies, a detective, a psychiatrist, and a demon went to a bar for a ladies night out.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
OT.
With the emperor’s abdication in Japan, read somewhere that there are entrepreneurs there now selling cans of “Hisei Era Air.”*
*Hisei being the name assigned to the years of Akihito’s reign.
TenguPhule
Oh damn.
Peter Mayhew has died.
Chewie!!!!!!!!!!
frosty
@MomSense: @zhena gogolia: Yes! I read an interview where he told the writers they were giving him too many lines, he didn’t need them.
And the WWII history was accurate, too.
Baud
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/02/politics/2020-democrats-donor-threshold-dnc-debates/index.html
debbie
@Kay:
Exactly. “President Trump likes me.”
TenguPhule
Well played, Petri. Well played.
Mai Naem mobile
@Baud: Kapoor is scum. I believe he was one of the ones who had to have two ankle monitors and asked them to be taken off so that he could go jogging. I hope he does hard time in a maximum security prison. None of that white collar minimum security facility shit. That company has caused a lot of misery. The Purdue guys deserve the same treatment.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It’s the 65,000 donors OR 1% in 3 polls, don’t despair Baud.
Baud
Rigged!
debbie
@patrick II:
The novel “I, Lucifer” by Glenn Duncan (if it’s not credited as the inspiration for the drama, then there should be charges of plagiarism) is far better than the series.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Or the damn field will get so big that no one can get 1% in the polls. Only minor sarcasm there.
Bill, have you announced yet? ?
Aleta
@TenguPhule: My friend (academic not govt) wrote that hundreds are advising/training the military, and others are doing counterintelligence for the current govt. (That’s not from the news and not from 2019.)
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
“And I am totally a Democrat! Have been since I marched with MLK!” -Wilmer A. Hole
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m not worried about the debates. I’m just going to sit back and wait for voters to realize how impure all the other candidates are.
SiubhanDuinne
@Kay:
Somehow, somewhere, someone is just getting ready to mouth the words “Hold my beer.”
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I assume a unicorn will be used to test them?
NotMax
@Baud
The question left hanging is what will Mr. Grope-a-dope do or say to attempt yanking the spotlight away from those two nights?
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
LOL, you know how you sometimes have a dream and forget all about it until someone or something reminds you? I had totally forgotten that I dreamt of a unicorn last night, until I saw your comment.
Can’t grasp hold of the dream-narrative. Probably just as well ?
Baud
@NotMax: Can’t worry about what we can’t control.
Plato
2/3rds say don’t impeach???
It’s nuts. What’s wrong with you, america?
Immanentize
Currently, the public woof about Barr not appearing today is that non-Congresscritter lawyers have never asked questions of a witness except in an impeachment proceeding.
Dr. Blasie-Ford is on line one.
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: You mean FTFNYT got a trumped-up (heh) political story exactly backwards?
This is my shocked, shocked face.
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: No, the Prius will only take me so far.
ETA: I would in the past say the pictures of me with porn stars would be disqualifying, but Trump.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: I was thinking more “Hold my Diet Coke”.
Immanentize
@Another Scott: The range of interests and expertise on this blog really suggest it should be in the almost top 8000
Doug R
@Major Major Major Major: Not procedurals, but I like the DC stuff we get on Netflix and Space here like Titans, Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol.
Immanentize
@mrmoshpotato:
Nice.
TS (the original)
@Amir Khalid:
He has never been the POTUS than any community needs
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I just found out the same thing is happening with anti-fungal drugs. Agriculture uses massive amounts of fungicides closely related to ones used in medicine, and multiple resistance is becoming a problem. Fungal infections don’t get the same press that bacterial infections do, but they’re a major risk to people with poor immune function.
Aleta
@Miss Bianca: I despise Cheney and am not into Biden. But I did notice that (unlike Mediaite) TYTs are putting out that quote and clip without identifying it as from 2015. The date doesn’t matter to some, fine. But deciding to omit the information is shabby.
jayjaybear
@Sab:
Nah. You need little lambs for that.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne:
I am very sorry, but the Minister of Nyms has henceforth revoked your ability to use the term “bad ass” in relationship to your nym.
“Nest Egg” and all such derivations are also prohibited (the word “nest,” the word “egg,” etc.)
Jay
@Plato:
The majority of America is trying to stay one paycheck away from bankruptcy, and doesn’t pay much attention to politics.
Even many political junkies, politicians and Talking Heads have a hard time grasping that Impeachment is a process, lasting half a year or more of hearings, investigations and commitee meetings before Articles of Impeachment start to be drafted, *
Many think it’s a simple up/down vote.
Polling data on Impeachment is worth about as much as polling data on the Democratic Party cantidates.
(* I’m quite certain that some venal people are deliberately misrepresenting “Impeachment”.)
Steve in the ATL
@Plato:
Maybe they’re the “summary execution” contingent
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: does she not get a final warning first, with further punishment if she dreams of hearts and rainbows?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay:
It certainly can be. When most Americans think of the Impeachment of a President, the first thing that comes to mind is Bill Clinton’s impeachment that was rushed though the House by the Republican majority. They didn’t care much for it then and it’s poisoned the perception of the process.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: Due Process? Ya been reading those law books again, haven’t ya?
Immanentize
@Jay: @Steve in the ATL:
When the House impeached Clinton, his favorables went to 73%.
Of course Trump is mired in the low 40s and people are set. But the fact is, Presidential impeachment is a political act that undoes a nationwide election. It would be over turning 60+ million votes. I hated that idea when it was Clinton and I pretty much hate it now. But not entirely in this case.
I see the differences, but I hope all of us understand the similarities as well .
But impeaching an appointed figure like Barr — no electoral investment (outside of cult worship).
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
Sadly, skipping immediately to unicorns suggest that she has at least already dreamt of Care Bears. The rules are quite explicit.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
So this would make me the moral majority of America?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Aleta:tyt is a joke. they primaried boring, 85 year old Feinstein and they got 2 measly percent of the vote. they ran a candidate for Public Advocate in deep blue NYC and they got 2% of the vote. 2 percent of the vote is lousy in a general election, but in a primary, where turnout is lower and skews to the left, it’s pathetic.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: I was thinking something similar earlier this evening when I was accidentally giving out free legal advice. I normally do that only on B-J and at cocktail parties. We should easily be top 8,000 with all the SMEs!
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
I thought that was glitter and ice cream poop.
TenguPhule
@Immanentize:
That’s precisely the point. You can non-violently punch 60 million Nazis in the face!
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
Worrisome…. I still understand the difference between Balloon Juice and booze. Sometimes.
D
They don’t worship authority, otherwise they’d be ok with Democrats in authority. They worship authoritarians.
Immanentize
@TenguPhule:
I know, but it is such a drastic remedy, anti-democratic remedy, that one ought to be certain of the threat and the dangers.
TenguPhule
@Immanentize:
Obviously you haven’t had enough booze, because that’s the Balloon Juice talking.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: This is how Nixon was taken down. Hearings, investigations, getting those who do not cover government and politics informed. Build the consensus for Impeaching removing the shitgibbon from office.
Donald Trump needs to pay for ALL his crimes. In and out of office.
Immanentize
@TenguPhule:
Too true!
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: stealing presidential elections is arguably anti-democratic as well!
Immanentize
@Villago Delenda Est:
On May 12, Rosenstein will no longer be a federal employee.
The House needs to proceed like it is investigating a drug cartel. Proceed like Mueller did. March up the ladder of witnesses. Don’t get dazzled by the razzle.
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
I know. I agree. And if that could be proved…. Well Bob’s your Uncle!
TenguPhule
@Immanentize:
I think you may be thinking too hard about this. Just because 60 million idiots have elected to commit national suicide is no reason for the rest of us to honor their decision as democracy in action. Rational Self interest has to prevail.
debbie
@Immanentize:
Bumper sticker!
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: you mocking me because my Uncle Bob is in a Brazilian prison? Uncle by marriage, for the record.
Roger Moore
@jayjaybear:
A kid’ll eat ivy too!
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
Does he know Glenn Greenwald?
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: no, he was just there on business. Cartel money laundering business….
Immanentize
@debbie:
Also a sideways homage to Ian Drury.
Razzle in my Pocket
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL: I like him already
CatFacts
@Major Major Major Major: Endeavour’s on Amazon Prime. And I’ll second the recommendations of Broadchurch and Miss Fisher. Miss Fisher is very light and fluffy, Broadchurch is absolutely not, and Endeavour is somewhere in between, but the ensemble dynamics are some of the best things about all of them.
Keithly
@Roger Moore: Wouldn’t you?
Villago Delenda Est
@Steve in the ATL: I’m reminded of an exchange in the first Avengers movie:
Thor: Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother.
Black Widow: He killed thirty people in two days.
Thor: He’s adopted.
Ohio Mom
@Jay: Lawyers,Guns and Money has a post and many interesting coments on that Milton Mayer quote. I guess it is going around the blogosphere.
@Steve in the ATL: Oh, I remember hearing about Uncle Bob (by marriage) — how much time does he have left in the pokey? Must be hard on the family.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Ah, looking for alternative investment opportunities….
smintheus
The dropping support for impeachment must reflect an increasing number of Democrats, looking at the “leadership” saying they’re opposed to impeachment, and reflecting the Democratic Party’s apparent position back to pollsters. Not long ago, support for impeachment was in the low 40s…before Pelosi made it clear that she was not going to permit impeachment to go forward if she could stop it.
Steve in the ATL
@Ohio Mom: it’s been less hard on his wife since she discovered his girlfriends….
Suzanne
@different-church-lady: We crossed 100 last week. Came just shy 90 today. Pass the snow toward me, please.
Chris Johnson
I have to admit I’m interested in what, if impeachment is ‘too good’ for Trump, Pelosi thinks is worse.
I can think of a number of reasons not to impeach, one of ’em being “Pence is directly controlled by Russia and has been super under the radar. Impeaching Trump would make it waaaay too easy to spin it like the problem is over”. Or “Once enough truth is out, his support will collapse so hard that he will be humiliatingly driven from office in a massive wave election”. Mind you, the latter assumes we have relatively working electoral systems and we know those are under attack too, have been for decades now.
Pelosi’s aggressive but I just hope she’s truly up to speed with all this. Power politicking is fine. Operating on Biden-like assumptions of how things used to work is not. In the long run we’ll find out what this was about. “Impeachment is too good for him” could mean many things, among them ‘we can do worse to the fucker’. Or ‘how distasteful’, which would not be a good look, not now.
joel hanes
@Gelfling 545:
Awesome kids.
Careful goatscaping has been spectacularly useful in the native woodlands of the modest lakeside state park back home.
I think elk and woodland bison were the “original” browsers, and were once numerous.
White-tails, which replaced them, change the forest in a different way.
joel hanes
@Plato:
What’s wrong with you, america?
Trump must be impeached.
But they will never forgive us for doing so,
will never admit that the act could be legitimate.
( They’re still getting revenge for Bork and Nixon;
in some sense, Trump *is* their revenge. Grievance is their forte. )
So this essential step will commit us to a kind of civic surgery,
with the outcome uncertain. This is a grave moment.
I hope we pass the test, and survive the aftermath.