“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” —Special Counsel Robert Mueller pic.twitter.com/PKqiufo6z4
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) May 29, 2019
The exact opposite of what Barr said in that initial letter, and what Republicans have said since. https://t.co/hI6FQ4KUcB
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 29, 2019
As he exits, Mueller suggests only Congress can "formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing." https://t.co/Jds1Lhrskt
— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 29, 2019
NEW: Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Many constituents want to impeach the president, but we want to do what is right, and what gets results. What gets results."
"The case has to be very compelling to the American people." https://t.co/gbjejBorhT pic.twitter.com/sV8yKuKIhT
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2019
(The Washington Post: “40 House Democrats want to open an impeachment inquiry into Trump”. Plus Republican, for now, Justin Amash.)
The ball is in our court, Congress. https://t.co/idpQo1xItH
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 29, 2019
By slowplaying, she's gradually making Trump look worse without it seeming terribly partisan. His approval rating is down, and Democrats still have plenty of optionality for how to proceed later. https://t.co/uOozJUKzfE
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 29, 2019
Mueller: Did ANYONE do the reading assignment?
Warren: [raises hand]
Mueller: Anyone OTHER than Elizabeth?
— Valerie Aurora (@vaurorapub) May 29, 2019
My takeaways from Mueller's statement:
1) Barr's summary was not an accurate depiction of the report;
2) Yeah, Trump probably committed some crimes;
3) Michael Wolff is full of S**t;
4) Please, for the love of God, Congress, don't subpoena me.— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) May 29, 2019
Mueller literally said if he believed the president had not committed a crime, he would say so. And he wasn't saying so. And then he begged everyone to please read the report in which he meticulously details Trump's crimes without calling them that because OLC says he couldn't. https://t.co/kKdzJYzm7u
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) May 29, 2019
What Robert Mueller basically did was return an impeachment referral. Now it is up to Congress to hold this president accountable.
We need to start impeachment proceedings. It's our constitutional obligation.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 29, 2019
This just jumped out at me: Mueller said: "When a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s effort to find the truth and hold wrong doers accountable." Not "If a subject." Hmmm.
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) May 29, 2019
Finally, yes, this was in the report, but the Special Counsel used his first public comments in more than two years to reiterate this point in the clearest terms, necessitated, it seems, by public comments by Barr and the President to contrary.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 29, 2019
Mueller’s statement is an indictment of a press that focused more on what people had to say about the report than what the report said, because the former was easier to cover. No one has learned anything.
— Adam Serwer?? (@AdamSerwer) May 29, 2019
And also an indictment of how the media gullibly covered the preemptive spin given by the guy who got his job as Attorney General/Top Trump Personal Lawyer by writing an unsolicited 19-page memo about how it was unpossible for Trump to be guilty of anything https://t.co/JRglOdG4pB
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) May 29, 2019
If anyone says Mueller discussed X in his TV statement, but bc it was already in the public record it’s inconsequential:
1.
Determine if that person is a Dem or Repub2.
A. If Dem, keep them far from any Dem campaign
B. If Repub help them get hired by a Repub campaign
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) May 29, 2019
Mueller basically called Barr a huge f***ing liar about why Mueller didn’t indict Trump.#ImpeachBarr
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) May 29, 2019
Mueller has one more service to provide — testimony before Congress and the American people.
If he wants the public to better understand the seriousness of the Russian interference, and prevent others from misrepresenting his work, duty calls once more.
Mueller should testify. pic.twitter.com/7gsmXokcTy
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 30, 2019
?BillinGlendaleCA
I agree with my Congresscritter.
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
Barb 2
I have read the Mueller report – skipping over bits and pieces.
An easier way is to listen via Audible. Knit, make jewelry, clean house etc.
Slate has a podcast of the executive report of the Mueller Report. That is a fast way understand what the report is all about.
The worst part is the way the Russians messed with our elections. That is in part one. There are also excellent books on how tight Trump is with Putin.
MSNBC podcasts covered Mueller appearance before the American voters.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I just bid on a camera over at ebay. It’s an unusual camera, it’s a Samsung Galaxy NX; it’s a mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera that runs Android.
Tony Jay
People haven’t got the time to read your report, Bob. So we need you to do an audio version. We cool?”.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
What’s the point of a camera running Android? What do you get out of that?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You can run other camera apps than the one that comes with the camera, you can put a sim-card in it, and it’s got built in GPS.
ETA: I have the point-and-shoot version, the Galaxy Camera 2.
geg6
@Tony Jay:
This. Not to mention that even people I know who have terminal degrees often don’t read or understand a 400+ page book full of lawyerly writing.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I shot this with my Galaxy Cam 2. It’s really a cool camera. I probably would have used it alot longer if it shot RAW. The NX version shoots RAW.
JPL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: In other words, you really want that camera..
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Heh, yeah.
ETA: I should note, that if I really wanted the camera; ebay always has one for $900 for the body only all the time. I don’t want it that much.
NotMax
No one’s asking you to do a book tour or appear on late night chat shows to plug the book, Mr. Mueller. Testifying publicly before a Congressional committee is the method to defend your work; your task may be completed but the job remains only partly done until then.
germy
Good Morning, Rikyrah
germy
Compare and contrast:
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Never thought of that for a real camera rather than a cell camera.
.
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Pretty.
@germy:
Elections matter.
Tony Jay
@geg6:
Yup. It’s all about clarity. Clarity of the points the report makes, and clarity of understanding for its audience.
Just answer the questions put to you, Bob. Let Congress do its job.
rikyrah
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Great shot.
Hope that you are feeling better?
Another Scott
@Tony Jay: Yup. Especially since:
1) Barr distorted what Mueller’s report said
2) Barr redacted stuff and still hasn’t given Congress a clean copy and all the supporting evidence
3) Mueller argued that it’s Congress’s responsibility to hold the President accountable
it’s imperative for Mueller to testify in pubic. The report doesn’t speak for itself – not after what Barr did to it.
I assume that Mueller will eventually do so, if Barr lets him.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Apparently Samsung didn’t sell too many and it wasn’t attempted again.
@Baud:
@rikyrah: I ran the jpg though software to sharpen it and turn it into a dng(adobe digital negative file). It turned out well. However the sensor is still only a bit larger than a phone sensor. The NX model is APS-C like my others.
I’m feeling much better, thanks. Not 100%, but much better.
germy
plato
If mueller wants to kick the ball to the dems court, he should at least react when they kick it back to him.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
@Another Scott: Mueller resigned, so could Barr really stop a private citizen from testifying? Especially if that now private citizen made it clear it was his belief that Congress should act on his report? I really don’t know if Barr could prevent Mueller from appearing if he’s asked to testify.
arrieve
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Cool picture. I’m still amazed at the quality of detail you can get from point and shoots these days. I have an Olympus micro four thirds that’s my walking around camera because it weights a lot less than the DSLR, and the only thing it doesn’t do well is birds. You really need the big lenses to capture the details.
Baud
@satby:
Dems can also grant immunity if they need to protect Mueller.
satby
@Baud: immunity from ?
And if they did, wouldn’t that end up undermining his testimony by making it appear they were protecting him for his part in whatever crazy conspiracy theory is popular that week?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@arrieve: Yeah, I don’t even have the lens to do birds justice. While I have the 500mm mirror lens(and a 2x teleconverter), it’s not really sharp. My 50-200mm lens is sharp but it’s 200mm. Actually the point and shoot Galaxy Cam can zoom a bit closer than the 200mm. The cameras I regularly shoot with are all APS-C.
OzarkHillbilly
Maga.
SFAW
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
That camera is amazing. To be able to get Denali in that shot, when you’re nowhere near it? Wow!
Good luck on winning the other one.
Baud
@satby:
Barr, if Barr threatens to prosecute. I think it’s too soon for that, but if there is a trail of obstruction from DOJ it may come to that.
I think Mueller will have to be subpoenaed though. We’re probably a month or so away from that IMHO.
debbie
Nate Silver’s “By slowplaying, she’s gradually making Trump look worse without it seeming terribly partisan” says it all for me. Far better and more effective than impeachment hearings.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SFAW: Thanks, but that’s not Denali*, just Mt. San Antonio.
*Back in my days working for Satan, I used to go up to Anchorage. I could see Denali from there on a good day.
Another Scott
@Baud: But immunity doesn’t really apply to Mueller, does it?
I assume nothing about this has changed since May 16:
I don’t know of any legal reason why Barr or Trump could prevent Mueller from testifying, but given this is a day ending in “y” I wouldn’t rule out them trying to come up with some reason if they thought he would be damaging to them.
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
@Baud: they better be planning to impeach Barr too.
Kay
@NotMax:
Mueller has an impossible job- he’s butting up against two restraints- the general idea that they charge or don’t charge, they don’t “sort of” charge (what Comey did- Comey’s gigantic and unethical blunder) and the other is the OLC opinion but it is interesting that he didn’t, actually, just let the work speak for itself. He made a statement to clarify a month after he turned it in. So something wasn’t clear or was being misrepresented – in his own judgment the report wasn’t enough.
I think it’s more difficult for him now to claim he can’t appear and testify. He himself thought a statement was necessary. “The work speaks for itself” was a position he could probably have defended but since he just came out and spoke for it that’s much less persuasive. Now he’s in the position where he’s saying he can defend and clarify his work but he can’t be questioned on it, which is understandably objectionable to a lot of people. He can’t have it both ways.
debbie
@Barb 2:
I downloaded the pdf, but am disappointed the appendices were not included in it.
debbie
@germy:
That ought to be getting lots of attention.
Tony Jay
@Another Scott:
Exactly. If Mueller wants his very carefully written report to be acted on as he clearly thinks he should, he has a responsibility to provide Congress with the information it needs to do so.
That’s probably what this is all about. Barr shouldn’t be standing in the way of the report’s release and shouldn’t be lying about it, but heaven forfend Bob Mueller ever give an honest man cause to doubt that he did everything by the book and according to the non-partisan traditions of the DOJ. So please, Congress, with sugar sprinkles and gold-leaf on top, do your job and force me to tell the truth, will’ya?
SFAW
@satby:
From the charges of conspiracy which
ConsigliereAG Barr will somehow manage to produce as a result of his investigation of the investigators. Said charges will doubtless include former VP Biden, Senator Harris, and Senator Warren, and will be dropped around October 20, 2020. The FTFTFNYT will breathlessly opine on the corruption of the Dems.What really sucks is that four years ago, the above paragraph would be viewed as being beyond absurd. Now? Not so much.
debbie
Fucking Adam Kennedy. Still blaming the Obama administration for allowing the Russians to conspire with the Trump campaign. Victim blaming persists!
Baud
@Another Scott:
Barr will do what Trump tells him to do.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Sarah Sanders has nerve talking about other people’s moral obligations.
Also too, I’m catching up with the late thread about Trump’s advance team wanting the USS John McCain moved or obscured so its presence wouldn’t upset Trump. They all know how unfit he is, but they serve him anyway. Got any comments on their “moral obligation,” Sarah?
OzarkHillbilly
I know you are all as shocked as I.
Kay
@debbie:
Someone needs to convince me she has her own caucus on starting impeachment, and no one has. I feel like the pro-impeachment people haven’t made their case, not on the merits of impeachment but on whether Pelosi alone is the bottleneck.
Pelosi is never going to shift the responsibility to other Democrats in the House, she will and should take the heat, but are we sure there’s majority support for it?
satby
@Baud: @SFAW: ok, I haven’t taken that “investigation” at all seriously because it didn’t seem like anyone else did either, other than the already crazy people. So it didn’t seem like a real threat, just a pacifier for the orange manbaby.
NotMax
@Kay
Have stated previously that would also like to have the associates he brought along with him from the private firm they all worked at, Mr. Quarles and Mr. Zebley, both highly respected in fields judiicial, be compelled to testify within their respective spheres of expertise.
Chyron HR
@debbie:
Is he a Republican or True Progressive (pretending for the sake of argument that there’s a difference anymore)?
SFAW
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
OK, so it only goes as far as Texas, not Alaska. Still pretty good.
debbie
@Kay:
I don’t think so. They’re a vocal minority hogging the microphones. This is as close as I’ve seen to Democratic overreach and it’s making me nervous.
debbie
@Chyron HR:
No, he’s on Trump’s communication team. He seems to be the prime interviewee on NPR.
Kay
@NotMax:
I think he should testify – especially now that he’s put himself in this impossible box where he alone gets to make a statement clarifying his work but no one can question him- that’s not a defensible position- but it is risky because he’s operating outside norms for investigators/prosecutors. We saw how badly this can go with Comey. He’s uncomfortable operating outside rules, which is probably a good thing.
NotMax
@Kay
Yup. A fine line to traverse. Too many people (not you) assume the position of Speaker is 100% identical to being Majority Leader. It’s both more encompassing and more restricting than that.
trnc
This a thousand times. Some WH lackey was on NPR this morning claiming Mueller exonerated DT by not charging him. The interviewer actually pushed back on that for once. However, it’s clear that Mueller still has information and insight that require public testimony. He should be invited to testify, and subpoenaed if he won’t come voluntarily. I hope it doesn’t become adversarial.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW:
You forgot Nancy, AOC, and Ilhan Omar.
SFAW
@satby:
Well, I agree it’s a pacifier, but one for which Barr will marshal the DoJ resources to produce “results.”
Expect indictments of Joseph K Biden, Joseph K Harris, Joseph K Warren, and Joseph K Mueller. Of course, that’s after referrals (if that’s the right word) on Strzok, Page, Comey, Obama, Steele, and Pelosi for Treason. Ah, hell throw Biden in there for the treason charges, too.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I didn’t include them because as of [checks watch] 7:18 AM EDT today, they’re not Presidential candidates.
NotMax
@SFAW
Or they’ll reluctantly give up on drilling in the ANWR and instead turn it into a gulag. //
Baud
FWIW, I thought NBC Nightly News was pretty good last night in covering yesterday’s events.
Everyone wants to microwave instead of slow cook, but that doesn’t necessarily make the meal tastier.
Baud
I welcome Barr’s indictment as a badge of honor.
Baud! 2020!: I wish the motherfucka would try to lock me up.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Great point. I think something like 40 Dems are publicly on board? Like you said, Pelosi isn’t going to put the heat on her members — taking the heat is part of her job, and she knows that. Still, those of us who are in favor of impeachment have an obligation to understand how it works and not complain as if Pelosi is the lone hold-out.
Uncle Cosmo
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “Denial – it’s not just a mountain in Dyslaska.” ;^D
SFAW
@NotMax:
Well, there’s a radar installation on Shemya, and since Russia is now our best friend — thus no need to watch them — it can be re-purposed, and all TEH EVUL Dems can be sent there for “an extended vacation.”
SFAW
@Uncle Cosmo:
I wish I had thought of that one.
Betty Cracker
Twitler this morning:
Not coincidentally, this is the same lame-ass lie Fox News and Sarah Sanders were peddling yesterday.
Twitler last night, quoting his 2020 campaign press secretary/future Fox bot:
As I’ve been saying, this buffoonish attempt to turn the tables offers the best possible grounds for impeachment: Trump not only tried to obstruct an investigation into his own wrongdoing with regard to Russia’s attack on our election on his behalf, he has ignored and/or abetted ongoing and future election interference by a hostile foreign power. It’s not about one petty, clownish narcissist; it’s about election integrity.
MomSense
Audible has a free version of the Mueller report available for download.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: But they are all big old lieberal meanies… enemies of the state… I mean GOP. Or at least FOX. But then I repeat myself
Baud
@MomSense:
Thanks. Just downloaded.
NotMax
@SFAW
“They’ll be kept so busy hugging trees they won’t have time for anything else!” //
satby
Strong storms moving into the area for the next couple of hours. At least no tornado watches this time. The political gloom has been matched to the environmental gloom for several days now.
OzarkHillbilly
@Uncle Cosmo: You should be shot and pissed on for that.
My Side of Town
Don’t want to read the report? Listen to it here for free:
https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9tdWVsbGVycmVwb3J0LmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz
Immanentize
@satby:
For a while I have been saying this would be a good place to start. He has already created many enemies within DOJ. And the public polls against his presentation of the Mueller report. Add that with not responding to subpoenas and contempt of Congress and it adds up to impeachable stuff (and that’s just what we know).
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Totally ???
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I saw 40 too but it’s probably higher than that. It has to be much higher. What she is NOT going to do is go forward without the majority. That’s a disaster on several levels, so impeachment people have to exclude that possibility for me. It’s just a possibility- I don’t know- but they have to know and show.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Have no problem with impeaching Barr??
MomSense
@germy:
It’s been fucking amazing here in Maine with our Governor. Yesterday she signed into law a ban on conversion therapy for minors. No drama just done. Oh and she personally introduced a bill into the legislature to expand access to abortion services by allowing providers who are not MDs to perform abortions. This is great for rural areas where we already have too few doctors.
We should have aborto- tourism. Come to Maine have an abortion, go for a nice walk on the beach, have a lobster roll, and get on with your life.
Honestly the combination of working in child protection and the drama from the forced birth crowd has turned me from pro choice to pro abortion. Let’s get the guilt out of the way. Too many kids are being born into really fucked up situations. I’ve been radicalized by the right wing and the poverty epidemic.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
If they start impeachment proceedings they have to impeach in the House. Pelosi knows this. What she’s making is the impeachment decision itself. For that she needs to count.
Immanentize
@Baud:
Just because you are no longer with DOJ does not mean that you are free to testify regarding anything done while at DOJ. There are laws and regs about this. It’s pretty obvious — even a county court prosecutor in your town cannot testify or talk and what they did in their official capacity because of Attoney/client privilege.
And the client for Mueller is the US. And the Attorney General (probabably with Office of Legal Counsel) gets to stop him from revealing any confidential information he may have regarding his investigation.
In some ways, that was what Mueller was explaining yesterday. Whatever testimony he gives cannot go outside the report as released.
But like Tony Jay suggests, people are not going to read the book, we need the made-for-TV docudrama at some point. I’d say late summer early fall would be best.
Quinerly
@NotMax: ?
NotMax
@MomSense
Any movement on restoring the labor murals to their place?
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think it has to be rock solid. Not “in the public” like she keeps saying, but among House Democrats, because to fail would be catastrophic.
MomSense
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Hey you, I missed your description of not feeling well and went back and found it. Even if you are feeling better now, please go see a doctor and have the 60,000 mile check up. Too many of my friends have been ignoring the feeling off symptoms and waiting until sometting is really wrong. I took my own advice and scheduled my service appointment.
rikyrah
Bianca Delarosa Harris Warren Castro O’Rourke (@Bravewriting) Tweeted:
Pro-Forced Birth Dems,
Freedom of choice or fuck off.
Freedom isn’t reserved for what you approve of, it is not a matter to settle among men, it isn’t even a matter of slaves in chains.
Women wear invisible chains.
Don’t you fucking dare make this shit harder than it is. https://twitter.com/Bravewriting/status/1133997660766031872?s=17
MomSense
@NotMax:
That’s a good question. I haven’t thought of them in a while.
Baud
@Immanentize:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018654358/
NotMax
@Kay
Once again, while she’s not someone I’m prone to quote, when she’s right, she’s right.
“These things must be done … delicately.”
– W. W. of the West
;)
Immanentize
@Kay: Also, we are not close enough to the next election to make supporting Trump hurt Republican congresscritters. If we cannot create pain for Trump supporters in Congress, this whole thing will go down as proof of crazy partisanship. That is already one of the talking head motifs
SFAW
@NotMax:
From the stories I recall, I don’t think there are too many trees on Shemya.
ETA: As an FYI to MomSense — not that you care about this — Shemya would fit inside the western part of Sebago. Not Jordan Bay, however.
Uncle Cosmo
@OzarkHillbilly: Your envious depreciation noted. :p
Save the ammo for self-defense; save the urine for where Senator Yertle is laid to his infernal rest..
Kay
@MomSense:
The analysis of these laws and statements from anti-abortion people is a centimeter thick. They’ve never had to actually explain their position. Pence yammering about sex selection abortion is great, but can one of them tell me how they plan to enforce this? They are going to have to get really far into people’s personal decisions and provider/patient relationship to even REACH these crimes they’re proposing. Pence needs to explain this.
What Roe did was create this space where they may not go. Now that they’re going there, it’s uncharted territory. That they would blithely announce they plan to determine intent in all pregnancy terminations? Wow. There’s no limits on how much they can intrude. They haven’t even limited the GROUP of people they can reach. These laws apply to ALL pregnant women. All of them are subject to investigation.
MomSense
@NotMax:
The mural is going to stay at the Maine State Museum.
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The art of the non-Denali Denali is alive and well in Glendale.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Agreed. I’m thinking this is part of Speaker Pelosi’s calculations.
ETA: Plus, the Dems are hoping Lindsey Graham will get on board.
[I crack myself up sometimes.]
Immanentize
@Baud:
Oh, I know. Starr had so much more freedom than Mueller because Starr was NOT part of the DOJ. He existed completely outside it. His obvious partisan hackery — sponsored by partisan judges — is one of the reasons they got rid of the independent counsel law.
Now, we only have “Special Counsels” who are appointed by and WITHIN the DOJ. Starr was always a private attorney working for himself. Mueller has never been in that position and has worked for the AG (Or Assistant AG). Both systems are super flawed.
ETA to correct autocorrect
Kay
@MomSense:
That conservatives have been lobbying for 40 years to ban abortion without a THOUGHT on how they plan to do that shows how completely cavalier they are about women’s rights, health and privacy. They are completely willing to turn that entire population over to case law– a case by case basis. It’s insane. Women for the next two generations will be subject to whatever is the controlling case in their state at that moment because these pontificating moral SCOLDS didn’t do any fucking WORK to prepare for this.
Baud
@Kay:
Also, women who could be pregnant.
NotMax
@MomSense
Thanks for checking on that.
Maybe a GoFundMe could be established to pay for a competition resulting in painting and installing a new one.
MomSense
@Kay:
It’s invasive as hell – literally. Is it Alabama that wants to impose a 99 year sentence on the physician? Really? It’s why I loved the question Harris asked Kavanaugh about any laws governing mens bodies. He stammered and feigned confusion but the arrogant fucker knew exactly what she meant.
Are they going to have minders follow all females into examining rooms during all of our appointments? When will the laws catch up with their beliefs that oral contraceptives are abortion pills? They don’t want to regulate arsenic in drinking water but pregnancy is another matter. That state legislator in Texas who said they want government so small it will fit inside your uterus had these assholes figured out.
Baud
@Immanentize:
How was he not part of DOJ when independent counsels were inferior officers under Morrison v. Olsen?
Baud
@MomSense:
I like Maine. I’m happy to see it step away from the precipice.
NotMax
@MomSense
Hoping some enterprising playwright is working on creating a production of Lysistrata in Montgomery.
OzarkHillbilly
@Uncle Cosmo: I have plenty of used cat litter for yertle.
Quinerly
Trump babbling right now before he leaves for CO. Slamming Mueller.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
A slight contradiction there Kay in that the group is limited to fetus carrying uteri.
Raven Onthill
While the Democratic leadership is waiting its moment, Trump and the Republicans are stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.
Was this what we voted for in 2018?
And, if you are on Twitter, please forward this to @AppleSupport and @Android. “Revealed: women’s fertility app is funded by anti-abortion campaigners.” – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/30/revealed-womens-fertility-app-is-funded-by-anti-abortion-campaigners. The app is, of course, full of misinformation. Maybe we can get this taken down as fraudulent.
MomSense
@Kay:
It also pisses me off no end that the authors of these pregnancy laws don’t even understand how conception works. They honestly think the woman is pregnant the instant they make their sacred deposit.
And that guy who wants to ban abortion even for ectopic pregnancies because they can just be transferred to the womb. WTAF
MomSense
@NotMax:
It needs to be a musical. Seriously. Let’s song and dance the hell out of this nonsense.
rikyrah
I don’t even know how I found this guy’s Twitter feed, but following his journey with his new animal family has been full of laughs and tears.
https://twitter.com/ParisZarcilla/status/1134075368590204928
Baud
@Raven Onthill:
No. It’s what we voted for in 2016 when we let dead enders and the gullible pretend that we didn’t have a moral obligation to vote for Hillary Clinton.
What we voted for in 2018 was to begin the long, slow process of digging out of the hole we made for ourselves.
MomSense
@Baud:
Thank you. I’m so sick of people acting surprised. The courts are always on the ballot. If your conscience didn’t consider the consequences to the most vulnerable when you made your decision in 2016, then you don’t have a conscience. You are just plain old selfish.
SFAW
@MomSense:
Some don’t understand, but I’d bet a good number do, and don’t care. It’s not about the fetus, or the pregnancy, it’s about Gilead.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
Did Mueller resign, or did he just come to the end of his gig? Either way, I would imagine that he is still bound by the confidentiality rules of the job.
Raven Onthill
@Baud: It is just barely possible that the Democratic leaders have a plan, perhaps to wait until the election is closer, so that Trump’s depredations will be fresh in the public mind, but meantime Trump and the Republicans are stealing everything that isn’t nailed down. Besides, the last dozen times we were told the Democratic leadership had a plan, and asked to wait, it didn’t, and the people who waited fell away.
Without action on the part of the Democratic leadership, the 2018 coalition may wither from despair. When you lead an activist coalition, you’ve got to stay active.
Wapiti
I think Mueller didn’t want to answer the most obvious question: If DoJ policy states that the President cannot be charged by the DoJ, does that mean if the President shot someone on 5th Avenue, with multiple witnesses and the event were captured on live television, then the DoJ wouldn’t arrest or charge him?
Baud
@Raven Onthill:
I pray to God that Dems aren’t chasing activists but are chasing voters instead.
Raven Onthill
@Baud: We have the situation where an intensely activist fascist Republican faction turns out, while the passivists, maybe, if they feel like it, vote Democratic. If not activists, who?
blackcatsrule
@rikyrah: Thank you so much for posting this; I had seen this last year but haven’t kept up, so glad he was able to keep ALL the kitties! What a beautiful family (hoomin included).
Baud
@Raven Onthill:
If our activists were any good at turning out voters, why are we in this situation? Making noise does not equal winning elections. We need a new paradigm that circumvents the activist bottleneck. The old one has failed us.
The Moar You Know
Mueller is clearly terrified of testifying under oath.
He needs to be made to do so immediately.
He’s not our friend and not doing us any favors. I’m tired of pundits reading his tea leaves. He needs to be made to speak before the American people about what these people did.
Uncle Cosmo
@Raven Onthill:
How precisely do you propose to remove the thieves from office when the GOP members of Congress are accessories before, during & after the theft?
Stop being a WATB & let the adults handle this. I don’t like the way the deck is stacked any better than you do but it’s the only game in town that has any chance of getting the necessary results.
@Baud: Bangalore! “Activists” in my decades of experience have expended great effort running in circles screaming & shouting while generating precious little in the way of constructive action: Cue the guy/gal with the bullhorn:
Nitwits.
dww44
@debbie: I fundamentally disagree with Silver. Her equivocating, coupled with her inability to articulate succinctly in front of a camera, does not help our case at all. I have never seen her “dithering” as a positive for Democrats. Quite the opposite.
With all due respect to the various Democratic Committee chairs who are charged with some sort of oversight, it’s pretty sad that the best anti-Trump arguments are coming from Republicans. No equivocating with them. Our leaders are just too timid. They and Mueller, with their adherence to “norms” that the Trump Administration trashes at every turn, just may lose us our functioning government and the “rule of law”.
dww44
@The Moar You Know: This. Until he does that, he doesn’t remain on any sort of vaunted impartial pedestal in my world. His unwillingness to join in the fight to hold Trump accountable, makes him still very much a Republican loyalist.
bemused
@rikyrah:
If men could get pregnant, we wouldn’t even be having this battle for control over your own body. I think it was here that someone commented most men would get that abortion if they wanted it and another commented “and get an oil change at the same time” which still has me laughing. So true.
Michael Cain
Random thought that occurred to me this morning: the Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to try impeachments, but does not require them to actually conduct a trial. McConnell’s track record over the last three years suggests that he would be perfectly willing to say, “The Dems are grandstanding, the votes aren’t there, there’s no reason to waste time badgering the President,” and not have a trial. I wonder if this is affecting Pelosi’s thinking.
bemused
@Kay:
I always admire how you cut to the chase. There is so much media gobbledygook analyzing that just clogs up the discourse, just the facts gets crowded out.
I kept thinking you reminded me of someone with that ability to unfuzz the main points and when I recently saw Dahlia Lithwick on tv, probably on Rachel Maddow Show, I realized you and Lithwick have the same zeroing on the basics.
Jinchi
@Kay:
I understand the political calculus Pelosi is making, even if I think she’s flat out wrong. But she isn’t playing a long game towards impeachment. Pelosi never wants a vote on impeachment. She’s hoping to drag out the investigations long enough that the point becomes moot when he loses re-election.
What annoys me with her stance is that she has repeatedly and publicly made what are absurd and offensive arguments against impeachment.
First that Trump “isn’t worth it”, which trivializes the harm he’s doing to people and the country every day and pushes the ridiculous argument that impeachment would make Trump more popular.
Second, that it isn’t “polling” strongly enough. Polls are irrelevant. Mueller has laid out a damning case against Trump and made it explicitly clear that Congress is the only venue where he can be held accountable. Trump has often bragged that he could shoot someone of 5th avenue and get away with it. Apparently, Pelosi agrees with him.
But the most offensive is her argument that Democrats should wait and let voters remove Trump in 2020.
54% of us voted against him the first time around.
Losing an election is not a punishment for crimes. It’s the fate of most politicians in every election. There is no guarantee that Trump will lose in 2020, even if the majority votes against him. In a country where voter power is significantly limited especially in Presidential elections, it’s a absurd to shift the burden from Congresses shoulders to theirs.
Democrats won a huge victory in 2018, because millions of people were motivated to elect representatives who would hold Trump accountable for his crimes. Impeachment will not motivate those people to stay home in 2020.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
No, Ozark, any woman of fertile age, they want to get into declaring that all oral contraceptives are abortifacient drugs, whether the medical facts support that or not. I’m not sure how they plan to make condoms illegal, or diaphrams, but we all know they want to.
They’re perverts who hate women and need women to be totally and completely subservient to them. They would prefer to make women compelled to have sex with them on demand out in the street, but that might be a small step too far for their womenfolk.
misterpuff
I understand Mueller doesn’t want to be “political” but as a patriot he needs to make sure the American people understand his report because his recommended next step is a “political” step that needs the backing of the American People to give cover to the Dems and pressure the cowardly Repubs to proceed and possible convict.
Unless of course, underneath it all Bob Mueller is just “Party First, Country Second” PseudoPatriot.
MomSense
@Michael Cain:
McConnell, the anti democratic asshole from Kentucky, already said the Senate would quash impeachment.
Jinchi
@Michael Cain: I think we can all agree that there is virtually no chance that the Republican Senate will vote to remove President Trump.
But for impeachment to be seen as a legitimate tool for removing a corrupt official, Pelosi should not be making this political calculation at all. She should lay out a principled standard for when impeachment applies and then enforce it.
The only way to prevent democracy from collapsing into autocracy is for each of the power players to conduct themselves accordingly, despite the serious obstacles presented when a corrupt official holds the most powerful office in the land.
Rosenstein did this when he appointed Mueller as special counsel, despite knowing this would make him a target of a vindictive president and which ultimately cost him his job.
Mueller and his investigative team did their job pursuing the investigation and laying out the evidence in great detail, despite constant attacks and threats to terminate the investigation and the constraints on their authority. Mueller is probably happy to resume life as a private citizen, but the other “14 angry Democrats” are professionals who are at risk of arbitrary termination. Considering the firing and repeated threats of prosecution against Strzok, Page, and McCabe, along with the encouragement of Bob Barr to “investigate the investigators”, this is no small consideration. If Pelosi is unwilling to impeach Trump because it would be blocked in the Senate, why did they bother at all?
The courts have been an important check on Trump’s corruption, but that continues to slip with every new nominee pushed through by McConnell. Barr and the Republican Senate are completely in the tank for Trump.
By constantly rebuffing efforts at impeachment, Pelosi is implicitly stating that the conspiracy between Trump and the Russians was not that bad, and that evidence that he continues to encourage foreign meddling and bribery is simply politics as usual. It’s not surprising that impeachment polls poorly when the Democratic leadership is publicly speaking against it.
Pelosi and the Democrats in the House need to show a bit of courage on this point. They clearly believe he has engaged in offenses against the office of the presidency and crimes that would be prosecutable against any other individual. Make the case against Trump and force the Republicans in the Senate to explicitly demonstrate they will turn a blind eye to corruption for political gain. Give the voters a clear view of where the parties stand on this issue and trust that voters will be on the right side of history.
john fremont
@Michael Cain: Me too. McConnell sat on his hands with Merrick Garland’s nomination and said in the last week that if another Supreme Court opening came up they’d fill it. He’s just that brazen.
celticdragonchick
@dww44: Agree. Timidity is never a good look.
sukabi
@Another Scott: Mueller resigned, so Barr shouldn’t be able to stop him. At least that’s my understanding.
Their wives church group just got very interesting
The Moar You Know
@Michael Cain: Civics class fail. The House tries, the Senate sentences/convicts. The Senate cannot and does not hold the trial. The Senate does say guilty/not guilty/penalty.
Raven Onthill
@Baud: “If our activists were any good at turning out voters, why are we in this situation?”
Our activists and our voters have to feel like working and turning out is worth it, that’s why. At this point the Democratic Party has two wings: liberal and conservative. (And the Republican Party has one wing: fascist.) The conservatives are – oh, what’s the word? – process-oriented, and that’s just not sexy. In many cases the conservatives espouse policies that are actively unpopular. The Democratic leadership has to get more behind the liberal wing, because that is where the energy is.
Fairly conservative economist Brad DeLong: “The baton rightly passes to our colleagues on our left. We are still here, but it is not our time to lead.” – https://twitter.com/delong/status/1100166150845939712
More Delong Links:
https://www.bradford-delong.com/2019/03/passing-the-baton-the-interview.html
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/4/18246381/democrats-clinton-sanders-left-brad-delong
And, damn, I told you all this back in 2010: https://adviceunasked.blogspot.com/2010/01/democratic-party-analysis.html.
Raven Onthill
@Jinchi: “Losing an election is not a punishment for crimes.”
Not punishing the miscreants, ever since, fergawshsakes, Nixon has worked out really badly. There have to be penalties, or they just regroup and return.
Anyhow, this thread is pretty much done. To be continued.
Original Lee
@MomSense: My neighbor, who is a devout Catholic and also a retired MD, is appalled at these abortion laws. She calls them “punishment for an imperfect pregnancy.” She doesn’t like abortion as birth control, but she recognizes that the medical procedure is a necessary tool to protect women’s health. The idea that one of her grandchildren could go to jail for 99 years for terminating an ectopic pregnancy or for failing to implant infuriates her, not to mention all of the third-trimester things that could happen.
Denali
Numbers of Democratic congresspeople for impeachment are at 50 now. I have contacted my Representative, Joe Morelle, to urge him to join them.