We talked about this last week — Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to compel the Ukrainian government to reopen an investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s business activities in that country. The purpose is clearly to advance-slime a potential rival. Now Giuliani is being even more blatant about it (NYT):
“There’s nothing illegal about it,” he said. “Somebody could say it’s improper. And this isn’t foreign policy — I’m asking them to do an investigation that they’re doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. And I’m going to give them reasons why they shouldn’t stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government.”
Mr. Giuliani’s planned trip, which has not been previously reported, is part of a monthslong effort by the former New York mayor and a small group of Trump allies working to build interest in the Ukrainian inquiries. Their motivation is to try to discredit the special counsel’s investigation; undermine the case against Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s imprisoned former campaign chairman; and potentially to damage Mr. Biden, the early front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Why are these people not in jail? (Note: rhetorical question!) I’m not a lawyer, but dangling incentives for foreign countries to help bugger a U.S. election — after obstructing an investigation of previous foreign interference in an election for two years — seems like it should at least fall into the category of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Does anyone believe for a second that if another candidate starts to eclipse Biden in the primary, Trump won’t dispatch goons like Giuliani to slime that person too? It’s intolerable.
ruemara
This whole shit show makes me so mad. It’s out in the open corruption, fawning to foreign powers and no one is going to do anything about it.
TenguPhule
Speaking of Improper, the House should have impeached Trump for among other things, violating Congress’s power of the purse.
Now its being normalized.
TenguPhule
Because conventional wisdom has accepted a DOJ memo that Donald Trump can’t be indicted. And the House won’t impeach him. And the Senate won’t convict him.
And nobody wants to talk about what happens after you run out of Constitutional options to remove a dictator.
germy
trollhattan
And also, too, Rudy has no job and no actual power. Why shouldn’t they kick him the the junk the moment he steps from the plane?
MattF
It’s who they are.
burnspbesq
@TenguPhule:
Crock of shit, that is. Fuck right off, Mr. Secretary.
burnspbesq
@trollhattan:
Professional courtesy. The new president of Ukraine is a former comedian.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: So if 80 miles of Wall cost $1.5 Billion, then the cost to do the 1954 miles of the border comes to…(breaks out calculator Colbert style) $36.6375 Billion.
I guess we should tell Mexico so they can cut the check.
ruemara
@burnspbesq: Then he must be a fan of our current clown car administration.
Gravenstone
@ruemara: No one currently in power will do anything about it. The hard part will be getting them out of power, so that responsible parties can then make sure a price is paid. I’d settle for widespread and extended imprisonments for all those involved, but I’d really prefer a more permanent solution to prevent any of them repeating their actions and to discourage any future politicians from going down the same path.
germy
Eljai
What I find particularly disturbing about the FTFNYT article is that it doesn’t provide context. The context is that there is no scandal with Joe Biden’s son or Hillary Clinton — it’s another unsubstantiated right-wing fever-dream. The real scandal is that we have a president who wants to smear his current opponent and jail his former opponent. This is unprecedented and dangerous and yet Vogel just glosses over it.
germy
Waynski
@burnspbesq:
This. Spot on.
Steve in the ATL
Apropos of nothing, I’m in Egypt in a British pub drinking Dutch beer and listening to Motown. It’s a crazy world!
ETA: and eating a gyro
Mike in NC
Since this is another day ending in ‘y’, it follows that we’re subjected to a Trumpian blizzard of bullshit.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Eljai: The New York Times is garbage.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Eljai: That’s how I feel every time someone talks about the Trump Tower meeting being to get “dirt” on HRC without saying that said dirt did not exist.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL:
Now that’s crazy.
schrodingers_cat
@Eljai: But but my betters (more than one FPer IIRC) on this blog told me just last week how important NYT is and the great work it does.
schrodingers_cat
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Amen, photographer friend.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the PUB:
Sounds as though you’re having a good time!
Steve in the ATL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: you don’t know the half of it—it’s a chicken gyro!
#SaveTheLambs
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@schrodingers_cat: Porque no los dos?
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: I love gyros. You should also try fuul.
schrodingers_cat
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Fascist enablers don’t deserve fulsome praise for doing what is their damn job. YMMV.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: #Ramadan
LuciaMia
What a piece of shit this man is. “America’s Mayor”, fuck you!
Kay
So what do we do if they just re-run 2016? Make Biden into Clinton, complete with angry Bernie supporters and any Russian interference they can drum up – because unless Bernie finds 20 or 30% of primary voters who don’t yet know who he is he’s probably not winning so that piece will probably be there too.
JoyceH
I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. Trump is trying to run the country like Putin runs Russia The official government has little actual power while the real power resides with powerful men “with ties to” the leader. These men can fly here and there entirely under the radar and make the deals with no accountability. American oligarchs “with ties to Trump” include Giuliani, Prince, Kushner, and probably a lot more we don’t know about.
rikyrah
Awe ??
The folks at @DisneyUK have created a beautiful Winnie-the-Pooh short-animation in watercolour to celebrate the birth of the newly-named royal baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. It’s hand-drawn by Disney’s Senior Artist, Kim Raymond and absolutely stunning. #Disney pic.twitter.com/21hkUes7vB
— Aodhán Gregory (@AodhanMcGregor) May 9, 2019
rikyrah
????
Scoop: Through FOIA litigation, I’ve obtained docs showing what Russian agents Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin discussed in the 2015 meetings with Fed, Treasury officials.
Hint: They couldn’t stop talking about the NRAhttps://t.co/zIj5EKHzeg
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) May 10, 2019
Waynski
@Steve in the ATL:
“Somebody should sell tickets.” H I in Raising Arizona.
chris
More fakery. Ukrainian official says there is no there there.
(Pardon the Axios link.)
Kay
It’s gross how the NYTimes continues to treat Rudy Giuliani as if he’s some credible “law enforcement” person.
The Trump inner circle, NYTimes connection is disgusting. It’s a kind of cronyism.
Picture Trump as an Arkansas shopping mall developer and then picture the NYTimes coverage.
It’s parochial. These are THEIR celebrities and crooks.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I want to know how many Russian investors does NYT have?
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: bingo
Immanentize
Whatever Biden may or may not be, he is not without powerful friends around the world. Some of whom are probably in the US intelligence services. Do these guys ever consider consequences?
ruemara
@Gravenstone: I like traditional responses to treason. You know, the classics.
Kraux Pas
@schrodingers_cat:
All of them, Katie.
(OK, I don’t actually know.)
kindness
The God Damned NY Times knew exactly what it was doing when it did everything it can to elect Trump. They are only a breath away from Fox News with the blood on their claws.
Honestly with the times in which we live, it is a credit to our side that no one has gone with the 2nd Amendment Solutions toolkit. I mean, Trump regularly begs his peeps to shoot people. Some times they do. But on our side we’re ‘civilized’. Sometimes I despair about that but in the end I’m glad we are who we are.
@Immanentize: We’re still waiting for the IS agencies to save us. All we hear is crickets.
Raven
@kindness: ease up with that bullshit
debbie
@Raven:
How’s Day 6 going?
Mart
@kindness: There was that uncivilized and horrible shooting of repub congressmen at baseball practice. Nuts with guns can be lefties.
Gin & Tonic
@chris: There isn’t. Trust me, this is all complete bullshit.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to give a history of the various Ukrainian prosecutors-general over time, but whatever Rudy comes home with is guaranteed to be made up. People with as little knowledge of the current situation there as him should not get involved. If they think it’s what it was like back when Manafort was throwing his weight around, they will be surprised. But I’m sure the odious Ken Vogel will see fit to print whatever the fuck Rudy tells him. Idiot can’t even spell Kyiv correctly.
Fuck it, my blood pressure is going too high.
The Lodger
@kindness: If the IS agencies did do something to save us, would we know it was them? Consider the importance of protecting sources and methods.
Lapassionara
@MattF: What a terrible person Trump is. And so many people enable this sort of conduct!
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Does Biden’s lawyer get a rebuttal on the front page of the NYTimes? Rudy Giuliani is Trump’s :LAWYER. He’s not a law enforcement source. He’s been a corrupt grifter cashing in on 9/11 for the last 20 years.
If we’re going to publish stories planted by Trump’s lawyers as “news” then let’s hear from Biden’s lawyer. Let’s just drop the pretense completely. The two lawyers can publish under their own names.
jl
Thanks for putting up a post on this outrageous BS. One thing I’d like to know more about is whether 75% or 100% of the Biden corruption allegations are total BS. From what I’ve had time to read about it (not much) the whole story is bogus lies and BS, a pure fabricated smear.
Biden isn’t my first, or second choice for the presidential nomination. May turn out he’s not even in the top four or five. But that makes no difference, need to push back very hard on Trumpsters trotting around the globe and extorting foreign governments who are dependent on us for support in various ways, into manufacturing lies in order to influence our domestic politics. If that is not illegal, it should be, and it is an outrage even if what is gong on is not illegal (and IANAL me has doubts that laws have not been broken).
chris
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks, I was hoping you would weigh in. Somebody just said the same thing on MSNBC.
Steve in the ATL
@kindness:
“But their crossword puzzle!”
jl
@Kay: Maybe NYT has decided that Biden has caught HRC kooties, and every charge, no matter what the provenance or evidence, needs to be aired immediately with maximum credulous enthusiasm and troll-worthy carnsarn?
Or all GOP agitprop is assumed to be accepted fact until proven otherwise?
That seems to be how most of the corporate media works.
jeffreyw
@Steve in the ATL:
Heretic!
#silencethelambs
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: apologies—that hashtag was supposed to be #PartyLikeItsRamadan
I was distracted by an exciting moment in the cricket match on the tele. Haha j/k no offense S_C
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL:
Now I *know* you’re lying.
Steve in the ATL
@ruemara: I’ll drink to that!
Vive la revolution française!
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic: busted!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Have you stayed in a Holiday Inn Express recently? If so I think it’s OK to opine on the topic.
jl
Thing is, IANAL me is under the impression that the Trump 2020 campaign is officially open and doing business. So, running around fishing for help from foreign governments for Trump campaign with lies and BS against likely 2020 opponents, might run into legal problems real quick.
BJ blog legal team, please correct me if I am wrong.
Kay
@jl:
What excuse do they make this time? “We never thought he would win”? They haven’t changed a thing. Who is their other source for Joe Biden news? Bannon? They seem to have some weird crony relationship with him, too. If I were a Biden supporter (I’m not) I would pick another candidate because it’s clear where this thing is going. Christ. I’d rather lose honestly than go thru this bullshit again.
ruemara
Quick question, since some of you are Bostonians. How is it in October? I might (big MIGHT) be there for Podtales Con in October.
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: didn’t see that on the buffet this morning. Will check tomorrow. If they don’t have it I’ll scream don’t you know who I am and how many physicists I know and by the way I’m a diamond elite member of your stupid loyalty program?
Steve in the ATL
@ruemara: Boston weather from late August through mid June: bitterly cold winds, 80% chance of two feet of snow.
Glad I could be so helpful.
jl
@Kay: That it’s Biden right now makes no difference, IMHO. I’ve read that for some strange reason, Trump thinks that Biden is a uniquely dangerous opponent in 2020. So taking down Biden is top priority for the Trumpsters.
Edit: probably bigot reflex in Trump. Biden is an older white guy, so has to be ‘top and terrific’. Probably fears Sanders too, since Trump, bigot, thinks Sanders is sneaky and tricky, and will stretch his $ resources further than expected, for reasons that should be obvious.
But anyone who emerges as a perceived threat will get the maximum lies, BS, and slime job. So, this BS has zero effect my evaluation of Biden as a candidate. It it ain’t him, it would be Warren, Harris, Sanders, Klobuchar, etc. And if no foreign angle against them, then they’ll dredge up stuff from history of anything associated with prominent Dem who ever had a pic with the Dem nominee, or concerning the Democratic Party, and use that.
Kay
I tell people here that Kelly Anne Conway is in charge of Trump’s addiction initiative I love that he gave it to someone who CLEARLY does absolutely no work on it. He basically said “fuck you” to his voters, you’re getting my hack who already has a full time job lying for me on tv. They don’t even try to hide the contempt they have for these people. They didn’t even get ONE of the low quality employees.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: My friend from Sudan used to make it for me. Its more of a street food, so your hotel may be too fancy to serve it. IDK.
@ruemara: Nice. Not a Bostonian but a resident of New England for a long time. You are from NYC right, its not much cooler than that, plus the colors are nice.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: They still vote for him, so may be the contempt is well deserved.
ruemara
@Steve in the ATL: Shush your face.
@schrodingers_cat: Ok. Sorta can’t recall October in NYC well, but I think I know what dressing would be like.
jl
@schrodingers_cat: Fuul is good. But I think it’s kind of like so home foody, and for that reason, so idiosyncratic, hard to standardize for a restaurant menu. Kind of like putting random refrig contents scrambled egg fry on the menu.
Friends at work have brought it to potlucks, but I have never seem it on Middle Eastern restaurant menu.
Kraux Pas
@ruemara:
In the past I would’ve said October has cool, agreeable weather usually until the end of the month. But now it’s in the 70s until February and is cold all Spring and, really, who the fuck knows anymore?
schrodingers_cat
@jl: Anthony Bourdain’s show covered it. Its a popular street food and a working class breakfast.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Cool but not biting cold. Unless you are on water, or near it. Then it will be pretty chilly. Layers and a fall jacket should be enough.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Is Rudy actually dipshit’s lawyer? I know he said he’s working for nothing, which we all know would be crap. I checked the NY Bar and he is listed as currently registered as an attorney in NYS.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
You know the only politician who actually helped them? Obama. He expanded Medicaid. All Trump’s bullshit hasn’t come close to that one act as far as helping them. No one benefited more from Obamacare than rural, low income white people. It isn’t even close.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: If I’m still jobless, I’ll probably go to Podtales, then skip over to NYC for NYC Comic-Con.
patrick II
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Much higher than that. If actually built, parts of the wall would be through very remote and mountainous territory.
Kay
@Ruckus:
I don’t know if NY is different but Ohio doesn’t base whether one is someone’s lawyer on whether one is paid or not. They look at the relationship.
Ruckus
@jl:
Who are the people who own/operate most of the corporate media?
Answer that question and get back to me as to why they are blowing wind up Trump’s ass.
ruemara
@Kay: Yes, but he was black!
tobie
The other thing that’s really frightening to see is how Trump has successfully gone after everyone who has investigated him in the FBI/DOJ. He and Giuliani are not smart enough to do this on their own. They needed help from within the DOJ and I suspect that besides Rosenstein, the figure who did their bidding was IG Michael Horowitz. I found this tidbit in the right-wing blogosphere:
Horowitz wasted no time in finding that McCabe exercised a lack of candor but in the two years since Trump took office he has not found any criminal leaks from the NY FBI.
jl
@schrodingers_cat: I forgot that name they called it, but at a brunch at their house, I got scrambled eggs with ripe figs, dates, a little bit of drizzled honey w fresh mint, and I think cardamom. And some fresh sweet yeast flatbread with some round spice seed in it that tasted like a cross between fennel seed and cardamom (which I remember from Greek and Turkish home made sweet breads too). I need to find out what that round seed pod like spice is.
Anyway, it tasted great. There is lot of great home cooking that is hard to get at restaurants.
patrick II
@tobie:
Speaking of the NY FBI office, wasn’t part of Mueller’s investigation supposed to be of leaks from that office? What happened to that?
evodevo
@Eljai: Vogel: the new Judith Miller…
kindness
@Raven: A little late but I’m working. Re-read that post. I commended our side for NOT going there.
Kraux Pas
@evodevo: C’mon…Isn’t the media’s job to give undue credulity to RW BS so that they don’t have to fear being pegged (as much) as liberally biased and so no one knows what to believe?
Christ, it’s right there in the Federalist Papers.
JaySinWA
@jl: With BS it may well be the possibility of Putin deciding to change horses. OTOH I thought Trump was cheering BS on as one does in a wrestling match.
jl
@tobie: Trump is trying the same method he used against marks he defrauded in his business deals. Go on offense asap, even with ludicrous charges, and try to bankrupt them with legal fees and court time. Looks like he’s adapted that method except using corrupt and lazy corporate press and social media to try to overwhelm opposition. Fool enough of the people for enough of the time to squeak out a win in news cycle, and in elections.
I guess only good news is that approach using lies about immigration bombed in 2018 election. And Trump’s first instinct was to double down on bogus and dishonest immigration scares. Seems like Trump is slow to adapt. I guess the thinking is something like: well, we were too disorganized and incompetent to meet high legal standard for getting charged with campaign finance or other violation in cooperating for foreign influence in the election; but it worked and we are above the law, so let’s make more aggressive and public asks earlier and see what happens. Will that work?
Duane
@Kay: TFNYT could compare Trumpov complaining about John Kerry interferring with foreign policy while he sends his lawyer to Ukraine to interfer with foreign policy.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: It is more exciting than football.
Ruckus
@Kay:
I think that’s everywhere, you can work for nothing. And some lawyers do but use the excuse that the person can’t pay. OK I see why Rudy might work for dipshit for nothing……
But doesn’t one normally still need some sort of an agreement if they haven’t paid a retainer? (All I know is that when I used to work with an attorney when I owned a business, I paid a retainer and had an agreement about what the retainer was for.)
Betty Cracker
@tobie: Their success in removing and defaming career FBI people really is a huge concern, and I agree with you there must be people on the inside making that happen. Trump and Giuliani wouldn’t have a clue how to go about something like that. Not only is it a gross abuse of power, it’s an intimidation tactic to silence anyone else who might be inclined to oppose their lawlessness.
tobie
@patrick II: We really don’t know what Mueller’s brief was. The first public appointment letter from Rosenstein gave him a broad mandate. But then there was a second letter we learned about during the Manafort trial that was mostly redacted. I’ve read that there was a third appointment letter further restricting Mueller’s mission.
Comey initiated an investigation of the NY FBI but he doesn’t know what happened after he was fired. IG Horowitz was supposed to look into this but who knows what he did. My suspicion is that he’s another Rod Rosenstein: an opportunist who will do what he needs to do to stay in the good graces of those in power.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They resented the hell out of a BLACK MAN HELPING THEM
jl
@Ruckus: I think that Trumpsters all just BS nonstop about everything. Impossible to know what anything they say means in the normal sense of the word ‘mean’.
Giuliani and Trump will claim privileges of normal attorney-client relationship when it benefits them, and deny everything when that benefits them. Or make up some new attorney-client relationship no one ever heard of before that gets them whatever they need right now.
I wouldn’t waste too much time figuring out every burst of BS that they emit.
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: I though Giuliani was always bragging about his NY FBI connections. He may be a Mayberry Machiavelli, but he did have friends in high places.
ETA I expect he learned were to go to get someone shivved in his time in office.
tobie
@jl: Unfortunately the Trump administration has been effective in smearing Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Stefan Halper and others, as @Betty Cracker points out. Maybe in Mueller they’ve met their match. Try as they may to paint him as a partisan, that line just won’t stick. But someone or a group of individuals within the FBI has helped the Trump admin take down every single person witness to Comey’s interactions with the President. This has been systematic and it’s sent a signal in the law enforcement community: don’t you dare question Dear Leader or you will lose your livelihood.
jl
@rikyrah: ” They resented the hell out of a BLACK MAN HELPING THEM ”
Also, they lived in states where the GOP protectors and champions denied them access to that help. Or, did as McConnell in KY did, who lied his ass off that new state health care programs due to Obamacare had nothing to do with Obamacare.
Constant fear and hate mongering, incitement against other groups, lies, obstruction and BS are the only tools the GOP and Trumpsters have left, and sad thing is that tool kit still works for them in enough places to keep them in power.
Brachiator
Conflating Trump’s interests with that of the government. Utterly and openly shameless.
Yeah, all these people should be in jail.
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
It may go well with a nice chianti.
JaySinWA
@tobie: If Mueller testifies in ways that the base (or Trump) doesn’t want to hear, he will be smeared as a partisan hack and the press will take it “seriously”.
SFAW
@tobie:
Josh Marshall is similarly concerned about the whole “disappearing one’s enemies” thing. Actually, “concerned” is probably too neutral a word. He’s not doing the “running around with his hair on fire” thing — that’s not Josh’s style — but you can tell he’s taking this shit very seriously.
J R in WV
@Kay:
Seriously? An election with Trump in it, and you use the word honestly? Seriously>???~?!!
If Trump is involved, there is no honesty, anywhere, ever!!!
No offense, Kay, I respect you a lot, but seriously!
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
I kinda assume Rudy isn’t billing Trump nor is on retainer to the WH or 2020 campaign, but who the virtual fvck knows about the actual mechanics of any Trump hangers on?
TBH I hope he’s billing the shit out of Trump and Trump for his part laughs at the idea of paying. Those curs deserve each other.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jl: I would also add Trump is just getting to old to change, but going by Trump’s tax returns it sounds like Trump isn’t the sharpest spoon in the drawer and been coasting on the system is designed to keep the Other in line, not the privileged. I really don’t buy Trump – criminal mastermind, that a lot of you go on about, more like he’s the end project of a system designed to protect trust fund babies from failure.
Baud
Why isn’t de Blasio initiating investigations into Rudy? If he did that, maybe I’ll consider his presidential run for a split second.
rikyrah
@SFAW:
He always did. From the beginning, he’s taken Dolt45 seriously.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Football, or soccer? There are at least events in football, and points scored. Soccer there’s just running around and kicking a ball to no avail. Boring.
tobie
@SFAW: I think we’re all trying to gauge when we’ve crossed the line and are ‘on the road to tyranny,’ as Hillary Clinton, prescient-as-ever, put it last week. Using the power of your office to go after your opponents is one of those red lines, as is limiting the freedom of the press and initiating criminal proceedings against those who investigate you. All three things are happening now. It’s alarming. I wish I knew who in the DOJ and intelligence community is aiding the first and third initiatives. As I said earlier, Trump wouldn’t be able to do this if he didn’t have help from the inside.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jl:
To give an insight into racists thinking – Hitler was convinced Capitalism is a Jewish plot to cause a Marxist revolution so the Jews can marry all the white woman. In these MAGAtards mind’s the only reason they were in economic difficulties is a liberal plot and Obama is proof if it, after all his own mother married a black man. The lack of any evidence for this is merely proof of the conspiracy because after all, the academics who study these things are all LIBERALS! There is a reason why Q-Anon is so popular with Trump’s base.
J R in WV
@jl:
The Trumpettes can emit Bernie Sanders bursts? They’re so screwed!
Ruckus
@jl:
Trump and associates lie and cheat as easy and often as taking a breath. Trump has been doing this for well over 50 yrs, in every aspect of his life. How much money he has, his successfulness as a businessman, what he knows, even his health and physical attributes. He wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and smacked him up side the head, other than it wasn’t something he said. And he doesn’t remember that more than the time it takes for his next breath. He’s a racist piece of shit and is as humane as a piece of used TP. He has not one socially redeeming attribute and the two main reasons that idiots voted for him is – 1. He’s a out and proud racist POS – 2. They think he’s the person he says he is – 3. He hates people that don’t think him being number one is the first goal of everyone – 4. He’s a out and proud racist POS.
Yes I know I can’t count. Get over it.
oldgold
@Kay:
Also, 7 years ago soybeans were $17.00/ bushel.
Today the price of soybeans is $8.00/ bushel.
Amir Khalid
@J R in WV:
You think so, mister? (Ominous silence. Spaghetti-western guitar flourish.)
MomSense
Some stratamessreach person from the Trump 2020 campaign was on MSNBC to comment on Ghouliani’s Ukrainian adventure. He just kept repeating the Rudy is not acting on behalf of the campaign and that he is just a private citizen. Ok so if he’s not acting on behalf of the campaign is he acting on behalf of his client Trump?
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Curs? That’s the best you can do?
Both of them have about a Mount Everest level of climb to get up to cur. And neither of them is or ever has been up to that climb.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
So have I. I believed him the first time he told us all he was gonna go after his enemies.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I’m going to give this a Bingfuckingo
TenguPhule
@J R in WV:
Perhaps leave picking a fight with almost half the planet to Trump? //
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
The old independent contractor vs gainful employee shit.
Good to see the aged business fraud is branching out into politics.
SiubhanDuinne
@jl:
They know it’s a fuul’s errand.
Sab
@MomSense: That guy on MSNBC was Mark Lauder, chairman of Trump’s 2020 campaign.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
There’s no fuul like an old fuul.
Ruckus
@oldgold:
Those poor white meth heads/oxy ghouls wouldn’t know a bushel of soybeans from a brick of hash.
Now the people who used to pay them to work on the farm might know the price of soybeans, but what are the odds they will they blame Trump for the price dropping 213%?
rikyrah
Wild Geerters (@classiclib3ral) Tweeted:
Ben Shapiro going on BBC and demanding conservative Andrew Neil admit he’s a leftist then crying about how unfair it is to be asked critical questions about his book before running away from the interview shows how these American conservatives are accustomed to their safe spaces https://twitter.com/classiclib3ral/status/1126847962020294658?s=17
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
You need you some Sam Kerr time.
Sometimes watching the world’s best at something is its own reward. It’s how I get hooked on random shit like Olympics curling. Who the hell stays up ’til two in the morning watching curling? [raises hand]
rikyrah
????
DJ Kopeman ??? (@DJKopeman) Tweeted:
Imagine going on a bike ride and a bear starts chasing you? Fml https://t.co/uaW4MbmMee https://twitter.com/DJKopeman/status/1126738538207141888?s=17
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Virgin Ben ain’t a virgin now, after getting the Beeb treatment. WTF are these Republican morons (but, I repeat myself) thinking, taking their shitshow on the road overseas?
Bill Arnold
@TenguPhule:
An interesting bit is that it is increasingly blatantly obvious that he has allies in the Justice Department willing and eager to do this for him.
(The corruption is such that there will need to be a massive IG investigation and subsequent purge once Democrats take over…)
Bill Arnold
@rikyrah:
?? That will not end well for young Ben. :-) It went badly, yes, but it will get worse for him.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Holy mother of god! And that was either a griz or European brown bear, no wimpy wambly American black bear. You=food, full stop.
Didn’t you just know the branch would appear? I was thinking backcountry roads are never that clear.
jl
@SiubhanDuinne: @TenguPhule:
You people are fuul of it.
And I think I got full pun pronunciation points for that one, at least the way Egyptians, Saudis and Yemenis pronounce it.
I think the most common name is ful medames.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
Bingo! The Times is heavily in debt since they built their monstrosity in Times Square. They rent out much of the space and they keep getting infusions of cash but I don’t know what banks would lend to an organization so heavily in debt.
It’s also something to keep in mind that they owned property in Times Square (before they built the new building and moved there in 2005 or so I can’t remember when exactly) while Rudy was Mayor. One of his big initiatives was cleaning up Times Square – lots of stories that should have been told by the paper of record but weren’t because they had a financial interest in cleaning up Times Square and increasing the property values.
Nicole
@ruemara: I may be there for Podtales, too. We should try to meet up!
Bill Arnold
From the OP,
We have to assume that there are (veiled, or not) threats involved, too. E.g. for the Ukraine, Russia and US responses to Russian moves.
Foreign intelligence services have a lot of equal-opportunity dirt, one presumes. More, perhaps much more, of it will leak from some of them if they get sufficiently irritated by the DJT administration.
jl
Warren holds a mini town hall on airport shuttle bus.
@mj_lee
Ok this Gate 35X bus ride has legit turned into a mini town hall. Man wants to know why she’s going to Kermit, W Va. She says she has a new opioids bill out, and wants to hold big pharma execs liable
https://twitter.com/mj_lee/status/1126637672221609984
MomSense
@Steve in the ATL:
Go to the Shepheard Hotel. Have a drink and see if someone will take you to see the trunks in the storage room.
Ruckus
@MomSense:
I wonder if their banking habits happen to align with the current occupant of the WH? Where do they get the cash? Exactly who is giving them this lifeline infusion? And why?
I figured they might be in debt, didn’t know they were deep in. That could explain a lot. And with that in mind, think about any of the other large media organizations, what’s their make up, their debt load, and who is helping them with that…….
ETA This could also explain a lot about why the NYFBI office has been pretty quiet up till now and the NY tax authority/AG.
ruemara
@Nicole: woot! Have to figure out flight & lodgings. We got time.
TenguPhule
@Bill Arnold:
I can only speculate that during the two months of government shutdown, Trump and his appointees offered deals to people they couldn’t afford to refuse, because they weren’t getting paid.
If Trump didn’t use that opportunity to suborn his SS security team, he’s stupider then even I thought.
TenguPhule
@Bill Arnold:
If they’re not leaking by now, they’re never going to because they’re just fine with it.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
[Cricket] is more exciting than football.
MomSense
@Ruckus:
Hmm, I hadn’t checked the situation out in awhile but it looks like Brookfield stepped in to help refinance the NYT. NYT refi
debbie
@ruemara:
October in both NYC and Boston: It’s finally cooled off, but hasn’t gotten bitterly cold yet. Central Park, with the changing leaves, is awesome.
rikyrah
Raw Story (@RawStory) Tweeted:
WATCH: GOP congressman Jim Jordan goes on Fox News to encourage Trump Jr. to obstruct Congress https://t.co/lRBYgMkKXd https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1126924955059412992?s=17
rikyrah
Adam Best (@adamcbest) Tweeted:
Warren took time to explain her opioid bill to voters on a shuttle bus.
Biden says he doesn’t “have the time” to talk policy details.
Biden gets 7x more cable news coverage.
This primary should be about policy, not personality. Do better, CNN & MSNBC. https://t.co/fKDsH8usvO https://twitter.com/adamcbest/status/1126885383411781632?s=17
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
I heard that in my car on Sirius but didn’t catch who the Trump Apologist was. (Still don’t know.) But I wanted to do violent things to the radio.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
nope! I once liked basketball, but then I worked for a TV station that broadcast all the state championship games, all classes, dozens of them. I watched them all on the camera monitor… it burned out my Bball receptor neurons.
Now I only like football (USAian) and baseball… If anyone has a problem with that, OK. No one has to watch or enjoy those games. If I knew anything about that, I might enjoy it. But Soccer and hockey (soccer on ice) just don’t do it for me.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Because he lives in New York.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
Remember when the Huffington Post decided they would cover Trump’s 2016 campaign under “Entertainment” rather than “Politics”?
Good times, and thanks for fucking nothing, HuffPo.
debbie
@MomSense:
He’s lying. He is working for the campaign. Rudi, the Oppo King!
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
Fuul me once….
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MomSense: That guy made me what to throw something at my tv. Rudy says he’s doing it to help his client, by which he has to mean help his client’s campaign because what else could he mean? And that guy kept saying Rudy is a private citizen. We don’t interfere with private citizens.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV: I’m not saying you have to enjoy it, but perhaps not insult a sport that’s deeply cherished by other people, some of whom even hang out here?
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
One difference between cricket and football is that football came up in 19th century Britain as a working-class sport, played on Saturday afternoons after work by guys still in their work boots. Cricket, on the other hand, was played by men of some leisure with time to devote to all-day matches that lasted several days. This class divide was reflected in the fact that amateur cricketers were once referred to as “gentlemen” and professionals as “players”.
By the way, cup finals are a football thing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: A friend who lives in Ohio seems to think Jordan’s district might take a hit if they’re forced to redraw the districts. Kay probably knows if that’s valid.
Sebastian
@jl:
Nah, while right in many things you miss the biggest point:
Biden is Obama’s right hand which means he is Obama’s henchman/puppet/whatever. Obama is pulling the strings and by smashing Biden he is smashing Obama because he never got the chance to run against Obama.
tobie
@rikyrah: I don’t know how accurate Politico’s figures are but according to them Bernie, Biden, Warren, and Harris have received the bulk of the coverage in traditional media outlets:
I’ll see if I can dig up more detailed information.
MomSense
@SiubhanDuinne:
Take it from Debbie and me – no good will come from road radio rage. If your neighbors see you, you could end up with a wellness check.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe that guy can provide a list of private citizens (with no other know interests in Ukraine) who can on a whim travel to Kyiv and get a meeting with the newly-elected but not yet inaugurated President.
Nicole
@ruemara: Plenty of time- we can touch base as it gets closer. (We’ll probably get a table for our podcast, and fortunately for me, my stepbrother lives about an hour outside of Boston, so I’m hoping he’ll put me and my husband up as long as I bring the 8-year-old for some time with his cousins. ;) )
tobie
@tobie: Fivethirtyeight has more detail on media coverage. Biden got huge coverage last week when he announced but it’s been cut by a third this week, as has Sanders’. Still, Biden’s media margin is huge.
debbie
@MomSense:
Indeed!
Yutsano
@ruemara: Treason is the only reason why the death penalty can never truly be banned in the US. The Constitution requires death by hanging for treason.
JR
@?BillinGlendaleCA: comes out to a lot more than that when you consider most of the territory is mountainous
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JR: I understand that, think of it as a floor.
Another Scott
@jl: TheWeek:
Yeah, he’s been officially running for re-election for quite a while now.
Cheers,
Scott.
Bill Arnold
@TenguPhule:
You don’t know that for sure, and neither does the DJT team. Therefor they have to worry if they are smart. (Some of them are, or at least are not stupid.) Some has (apparently) leaked already in the last couple of years.
Doug R
@Steve in the ATL:
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CourteousHilariousAsiantrumpetfish-size_restricted.gif
Scuffletuffle
@ruemara: Early October is usually lovely, temps in the 50 to 60s and sunny. You will probably love it.
J R in WV
@Yutsano:
You are wrong. The word “hanging” does not appear in the body of the Constitution, it does discuss required testimony, two witnesses, things like that, but the punishment is left to statute:
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: People have actually died because of injuries in cricket. The American experience is how shall I put it, not universal. Jokes aside, cricket matches can be interminably boring but they can also be exciting, just like almost any other game. To win in cricket you need both strategy and skill.
Frankly, these hah cricket so boring jokes are getting old. People need new material.
TenguPhule
@Bill Arnold:
Donald Trump almost certainly got all our important Russian intelligence assets compromised and murdered and the intelligence services did nothing. He talks on an open line EVERY FUCKING DAY and not a single leak about any of those no doubt incriminating conversations has spilled.
No, we were all fed a load of bullshit about the “men of principle” in the Intelligence Branches. They’re Republican run and they’ve fallen in line.
sgrAstar
@JoyceH: Giuliani is not an oligarch. He’s the servant and factotum of oligarchs. I think that’s a worthwhile distinction- a lot of the real oligarchs would rather not have their fingerprints on these shennanigans, even if they are providing the financing. Rudy, like trump, is a tool. Who’s paying the bills?
Sab
@schrodingers_cat: One of my silly life dreams is to get stuck on a long distance plane trip with a Brit or an Indian and make them explain cricket to me.
I have tried to figure it out but I can’t.
If the trip is really long then maybe I can reciprocate by explaining baseball to them.
schrodingers_cat
@Sab: The problem is that in movies/TV shows that feature cricket, the actors are really lousy cricketers. Downton Abbey comes to mind.
The Lodger
@Another Scott: Where has Lachlan been? I’ve known that since Inauguration Day.
Bill Arnold
@TenguPhule:
I was talking about foreign intelligence services. He can try to coopt them with threats and carrots or whatever to them or their controlling governments, but that’s a dangerous game to play.
The US intelligence services, it’s also still possible that there will be leaks. I’m sure that there are plenty of tempted people with thumb drives, thinking (as IIRC Adam quipped about the Mueller report) about Reality Winner. All it takes is another such person (or more than one), who might be better at opsec.
Gin & Tonic
@Sab:
One of the highlights of efg’s memorial service was having his daughter talk about the infield fly rule, which he apparently made sure she understood from a very young age.