Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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

In my day, never was longer.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The words do not have to be perfect.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

This really is a full service blog.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

No one could have predicted…

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / House Judiciary Committee On the Mueller Report Live Stream

Reader Interactions

104Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

  2. 2.

    hells littlest angel

    Lessons learned?

    I’m all for slow-walking the impeachment process, but let’s start with something a bit more dramatic. Also, a lessons learned hearing would be more appropriate to inaugurate the Pelosi Administration.

  3. 3.

    Joy in FL

    I appreciate the convenience of having the live stream here on BJ. I don’t have cable TV, and sometimes, these types of hearings are hard to track down.
    Thanks, Adam.

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman: Barr is going to keep doing this. Obstruct, delay, concede a portion of the requested docs, argue some more when it turns out he didn’t turn over everything. Lather, rinse, repeat until Democrats get a clue or the next election happens.

  5. 5.

    dww44

    @TenguPhule: I hope for the sake of us all and for the entire country, that Democrats in Congress get a real clue. They are continually being played by Barr, Trump et al. and they gotta figure out some way to carve out a very public victory or two. If that means going the impeachment route, then, by golly, open an impeachment inquiry and make it very public. Be brave, not cowardly. Be bold, not mealy mouthed.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    Can someone explain what this is about?

    THIS IS MORE THAN 1 MILLION PEOPLE MARCHING!
    Say no to extradition to China! Proud to be HongKonger!#HongKong pic.twitter.com/wBCOlLPsQs

    — Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) June 9, 2019

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: When the British agreed to and actually gave Hong Kong back to the PRC, part of the agreement that the PRC signed – it’s a treaty – prohibited the PRC from extraditing people from Hong Kong to the PRC for prosecution. Xi has decided that he doesn’t have to be bound by that agreement any more and people in Hong Kong are unhappy about it.

  9. 9.

    Raoul

    @TenguPhule: Maybe I’m naive, but we all need to write to our MOCs — ASAP — basically saying this. Saying “please understand that AG Barr is going to slow-walk and dribble out bits of information, specifically designed NOT to paint the accurate picture of the situation. We, through our elected representatives, cannot tolerate this disdain for the separation of powers and the constitutional right of oversight.” etc.

  15. 15.

    hells littlest angel

    @TenguPhule: Nadler already turned down one attempt by Barr to throw a few token documents at him, so I want to think he has forced Barr to turn over something substantial. If not, I have no doubt Nadler’s ready to immediately hold him in contempt.

  16. 16.

    germy

    It sounds like republicans just want to run out the clock without letting anyone actually testify. Longwinded statements followed by “whoops, my time’s up!”

  17. 17.

    germy

    Gohmert looks like he’s ready to ask some intelligent questions. He’s squirming in his seat with a very serious expression on his face.

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    I leave to run some errands, come home, fire up my phone and lookee here, John Dean is testifying before Congress.

    Just as he did the day I graduated high school — our speaker, an alum and NYT editor, started off by pointing out to us that our commencement wasn’t the only happening of note that June day.

    So I have a feeling of deju vu/this is where I came into this movie, even as I hope this is an auspicious sign.

  20. 20.

    Jackie

    I can’t get the live stream link to open, and C-Span moved it to C-Span3 – which I don’t have.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ohio Mom: Congressman Gohmert has, apparently, just been informed that John Dean committed criminal acts during Watergate. And he’s decided to share this information with John Dean.

  24. 24.

    rikyrah

    EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Boston Red Sox star David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz was shot in a Dominican Republic bar by ‘two cops hired by a drug lord who believed the baseball hero was having an affair with his wife’

    David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz, 43, was shot in a club in his hometown of Santo Domingo on Sunday
    Police believe his shooters were hired by a reputed drug lord
    Eddy Feliz Garcia, a local man, was captured by crowds at the scene and was then taken into custody
    Ortiz, who lives part of the year in the Dominican Republic, is in stable condition after surgery
    His representative has denied that it had anything to do with a woman
    ‘Please don’t let me die, I’m a good man,’ Ortiz begged the ER doctor
    Ortiz is a three-time World Series champion during his career with the Red Sox
    He splits his time between Santo Domingo and Miami
    It is unclear if his wife and children were on the island when he was shot
    His father has been giving updates on his condition from the hospital
    Ortiz is adored both in Boston and in the Dominican Republic where he was born
    By MICHAELA FREDA IN BOSTON and JENNIFER SMITH and ADRY TORRES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    PUBLISHED: 10:40 EDT, 10 June 2019 | UPDATED: 15:19 EDT, 10 June 2019

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: Now who can argue with that? I think we’re all indebted to Congressman Gabby-Gohmert Johnson for stating what needed to be said. I am particularly glad that these lovely children are here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed the courage little seen in this day and age.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: If he’d been in Miami, the drug lord would have been able to hire cops who could’ve competently completed the contract killing.

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    Hot boxing! Inside Mike Tyson’s pot empire – from ‘premium cannabis’ to plans for a 420-acre marijuana holiday resort in the California desert with a ‘weed university’ and music festival venue

    Mike Tyson created Tyson Holistic in 2016 where he sells premium strains of cannabis and is developing the 418-acre Tyson Ranch near Desert Hot Springs
    The ranch will be a marijuana resort with a luxury hotel, glamping tents, the longest lazy river in the word, a music festival venue and a Tyson University
    Weed will be sold and visitors will be allowed to smoke anywhere in the park
    In February he threw the inaugural Kind Festival at the site of the future ranch where Miguel and A$AP Ferg performed
    The 52-year-old former world heavyweight champ doesn’t grow any of the weed himself, but works with local farmers and approves the high-grade cannabis
    He’s put his lucrative name on various strains of marijuana, expanded into CBD dog treats, and hemp-oil muscle rub
    His business is in negotiations to build another Tyson Ranch on the border of Florida and Georgia
    By MARLENE LENTHANG FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    PUBLISHED: 12:47 EDT, 10 June 2019 | UPDATED: 14:02 EDT, 10 June 2019

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: The problem with this is we all know what happens when Tyson gets the munchies. And if you don’t, just ask Evander Holyfield.

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: There is that, but there’s more too it.

    The BBC had a story about it this morning. The ever helpful Chinese government plans to modify the extradition rules.

    The latest proposal has come after a 19-year-old Hong Kong man allegedly murdered his 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend while they were holidaying in Taiwan together in February last year. The man fled Taiwan and returned to Hong Kong last year.

    Taiwanese officials have sought help from Hong Kong authorities to extradite the man, but Hong Kong officials say they cannot comply because of the lack of an extradition agreement with Taiwan.

    But the Taiwanese government has said it will not seek to extradite the murder suspect under the proposed changes, and has urged Hong Kong to handle the case separately.

    It’s a mess. The people of Hong Kong are right to be suspicious, but I will be very surprised if they can hold out against these changes for very long.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    germy

    Gaetz is another one attacking Dean.

    “How do democrats plan on paying for medicare for all?” he asks, for the hell of it.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    I think they need to start giving Congressman Gaetz a breathalyzer test prior to letting him ask questions.

  44. 44.

    SenyorDave

    @germy: “How do democrats plan on paying for medicare for all?” he asks, for the hell of it

    How about if we impose a fine of 10% of your personal wealth when you are convicted of a DUI. Then at least the next time Gaetz blows a .22 on the breathalyzer he’ll be contributing in a positive way.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    Ken Cuccinelli Wanted to End Birthright Citizenship & Militarize Border—Now He’s Trump’s Immigration Chief
    The former Virginia attorney general officially started on Monday at DHS.
    Scott Bixby
    National Reporter
    Updated 06.10.19 3:30PM ET / Published 06.10.19 11:51AM ET

    Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli’s long-rumored role as a top coordinator of the Department of Homeland Security immigration policy finally has an official title. According to an email sent to staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday, the longtime border hawk has been named acting director of the agency, whose 19,000 employees orchestrate the country’s immigration and naturalization system.

    “We must work hand in hand with our colleagues within DHS, along with our other federal partners, to address challenges to our legal immigration system and enforce existing immigration law,” Cuccinelli wrote in an email to his new colleagues. “Together we will continue to work to stem the crisis at our southwest border.”

    The note also previews an escalation of Trump’s crackdown on the asylum system, with Cuccinelli vowing to “work to find long-term solutions to close asylum loopholes that encourage many to make the dangerous journey into the United States so that those who truly need humanitarian protections… receive them.”

    As Virginia’s top law enforcement official and in his years serving in the Virginia state senate, Cuccinelli laid a long track of aggressive anti-immigrant policies intended to restrict access to public services, employment, and even citizenship from migrants and their families. That record, combined with his vociferous defense of President Donald Trump on cable news and in conservative media outlets, puts Cuccinelli firmly in line with an administration that has made combating undocumented immigration its top domestic policy goal.

  54. 54.

    Martin

    Honestly, Nadler needs to put forward better conditions because it’s obvious the WH is just dragging things out. Contempt hearing is at 3PM, an unredacted copy to every member of the committee before 3PM. Otherwise, it’s just going to be 2 more weeks before the next negotiation.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    But remember, people like Courtney Milan were being paranoid haters when they said this was why Chua was publicly defending Kavanaugh. It’s all just a strange, unrelated co-inkydink! ?

  56. 56.

    Geoboy

    Hey, are we going to have a thread on the Vice-Admiral who is head of the Naval War College, who is accused of hosting Twister parties in his office, which is also supplied with a margarita machine. It’s reported that his initial defense is to claim that he has a “lighthearted” management style.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    Was listening to the non-political Black women at the job..
    They aren’t pleased about Biden switching on the Hyde Amendment. Not that they are pro-life, just cause if that’s been his position all these years, he should have stuck with it.
    Yes, ‘Uncle Joe’ still has their votes.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    @Geoboy:

    It first popped up a few days ago. Strangely, these anonymous allegations surfaced immediately after it was announced that the college had made huge strides in gender and racial parity for faculty and students.

    But I’m sure it’s a total co-inkydink.

  59. 59.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: OTOH, MoJo:

    So it’s no small irony that this year, thanks solely to Kavanaugh, for the first time ever, the majority of Supreme Court law clerks are female. And perhaps it’s also no small irony that on Friday, feminist icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg publicly gave Kavanaugh kudos for his hiring. In an otherwise deadly dull speech she gave to the 2nd Circuit Judicial Conference in New York, Ginsburg said, “Kavanaugh made history by bringing on board an all-female law clerk crew. Thanks to his selections, the Court has this Term, for the first time ever, more women than men serving as law clerks.”

    The Supreme Court was an entirely male bastion until 1944, when Lucile Loman broke through and clerked for Justice William O. Douglas. Since then, women have remained in the minority well into the 21st Century. A National Law Journal study found that between 2005 and 2017, twice as many men became clerks as women. The man Kavanaugh replaced, Justice Anthony Kennedy, had a particularly egregious record on this front: Between 2005 and 2017 he hired six times as many men as clerks as women.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  62. 62.

    BlueGirlFromWyo

    @Martin: It also encourages all the Cabinet members under fire to stonewall then let out incomplete information. An argument I just made to my Dem congressman.

  63. 63.

    Ohio Mom

    I can’t keep watching, I have things that need doing but I see the steps of this dance:

    Every Republican grandstands off topic, including but not limited to discrediting John Dean (what’s that joke about if you don’t have facts to hit them with, pound the table? They are punching Dean instead of the table);

    John Dean is unshakable and has a delightful wit. He’d be great company at a dinner party;

    The Democrats push onwards, almost grimly, mostly in language that ordinary people may not easily follow but which zeros in on the crimes which have indeed been committed.

    They are well-mannered and conduct themselves with tne decorum fitting the occasion. It won’t make as good TV as those clownish Republicans channeling their inner Rushes and Alex Jones though. Regretfully and sadly.

  64. 64.

    cmorenc

    @Raoul:

    I am completely on board for impeaching Barr now.

    That runs into the same 53 R-US Senator wall that a removal vote on Trump in the senate does. Also, a sufficient majority of the electorate seems primed to want Trump voted out of office in 2020 rather than removed earlier by impeachment. Pelosi is dead-on correct that without a sufficient groundswell of majority public support, impeachment is a losing political strategy, however much the orange jackass deserves it.

    OK, so the theory of initiating impeachment proceedings is that: 1) it will generate the necessary groundswell of public support, once the public gets an accurate picture of how depraved Trump has acted on multiple counts; 2) it will create practical access to the necessary information to achieve the first point. That’s a huge gamble that Trump, Barr, and the GOP won’t be able to turn an actual impeachment process into a winning electoral strategy rather than turning into an effective lever to remove Trump from office.

  65. 65.

    James E Powell

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The problem with this is we all know what happens when Tyson gets the munchies. And if you don’t, just ask Evander Holyfield.

    I did, but I don’t think he heard me.

  66. 66.

    eemom

    @Another Scott:

    And perhaps it’s also no small irony that on Friday, feminist icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg publicly gave Kavanaugh kudos for his hiring.

    wtf, Goddess of my heart?

    Yeah, I get that they have to get along IRL, and she was BFFs with Dead Tony. Whatever.

  67. 67.

    eemom

    @cmorenc:

    Correction:
    Impeach the motherfucker now. The rest is chickenshit.

    Again, Rude Pundit: “That’s why they call it LEADERSHIP. You lead, others follow.”

    I have never been surer of anything in my life. And never more disgusted at political cowardice.

    Of course they’ll WIN, when you play by their fucking rules.

  68. 68.

    randy khan

    @eemom:

    Again, Rude Pundit: “That’s why they call it LEADERSHIP. You lead, others follow.”

    Competent leaders also know where the followers are willing to go.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @eemom: The reporting is inaccurate. Or rather, has an inaccurate spin on it.

  71. 71.

    patroclus

    @Ohio Mom: I met John Dean at Yearly Kos (now Netroots nation) a decade or so back and he is hilarious! He was signing books and it was the end of the day and I was his last one and so I had him all to myself and just peppered him with inane and arcane questions about all aspects of Watergate (especially the movie Dick, which was a classic spoof and the film Elvis meets Nixon) and why he should sue Madonna for riffing off his “Blind Ambition” book with her “Blonde Ambition” tour and he got into it with all sorts of one-liners and repartee. He’s a very witty comic and could have done stand-up – he’s got this dry straight man delivery style that just sets up jokes beautifully. And no, the Nixon dogwalkers didn’t just suggest to him that he should expose Nixon one day…nor did they get Brezhnev stoned…

  72. 72.

    Dan B

    @dww44: Dems are playing Chess. T is playing schoolyard bully. Barr is playing street fight.

    A large chink of the public is loving Bread and Circuses. And we watched the Tony’s last night. More politics than the typical circus!

  74. 74.

    Raoul

    @cmorenc:

    That runs into the same 53 R-US Senator wall that a removal vote on Trump in the senate does.

    I am somewhat persuaded (at the moment) that the R block matters vis Trump. Or at least that the argument that he’d be able to crow “totally exonerated” when it’s just the Senate being manipulated by Mitch.

    But in regards to Barr, the entire point is to damage and muddy Barr to the point that even if he doesn’t resign, he looks to the 55% of Americans who are capable of giving a damn, like he is the absolute shit that he is.

    I don’t care if the Senate won’t try or convict. Air all Barrs filthy laundry in the House. It will inflict losses for the Trump Admin. I think it also helps put paid to the idea that Collins, Gardner and a few others are ‘moderates’ if they go along with a Senate blockade.

  75. 75.

    My Side of Town

    I’m glad they’re starting these hearings. They should educate the public opinion on impeachment and/or the election. I’m not as gungho on impeachment as I was yesterday, but still in favor. Now we’ll get some feedback. I think bringing in John Dean might be a mistake. Malcolm makes a lot of points, but so do the women, but it appears partisan, which it should I guess. Maybe if they Rs all surrender their time to Gohmert.

  77. 77.

    chris

    Someone mentioned Amy Chua’s daughter now clerking for Kavanope. Here is the actual daughter 11 months ago. Everybody lies.

    Hi! The daughter here. Just to clarify one thing: I was college ROTC, went to law school on Army Ed Delay, and am joining the Active Duty JAG Corps right after my circuit clerkship (wherever that will be!). So I won't be applying for SCOTUS anytime soon bc I will be in the Army.— Sophia ChuaRubenfeld (@SChuaRubenfeld) 13 July 2018

  78. 78.

    H.E.Wolf

    @hells littlest angel:

    I’m all for slow-walking the impeachment process, but let’s start with something a bit more dramatic.

    The first witness in the televised portion of Sen. Sam Erwin’s Watergate hearings, in mid-May 1973, was Robert Odle, describing the organizational structure of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP), of which he was the administrative director.

    The Washington Post’s headline the next day: “The First Day of Watergate: Not Exactly High Drama”.

    Approximately 15 months later, in August 1974, there was high drama aplenty.

    It’s likely there’ll be high drama in due course this time, too.

  79. 79.

    MomSense

    @eemom:

    As someone who went to a faculty member, potential advisor, for a meeting only to be chased around his office after he tried to grope me, let’s just say I don’t trust Kavanaugh with female clerks. Kavanaugh gives off even worse predator vibes.

  80. 80.

    Dan B

    @rikyrah: Cuccinelli is also in favor of restoring sodomy laws and recriminalizing abortion, probably birth control as well. He claims Natural Law as his North Star.

    Whrn “the caravan” came there was a group of LGBT asylum seekers who banded together because other refugees from Honduras ans El Salvador were threatening them, much like the government and gangs in Cental.America.

    Worthy vs. Undeserving. Pure vs. Impure. Consistent.

  82. 82.

    Dan B

    @H.E.Wolf: Agreed that the drama will occur and we won’t know until it’s in the headlines and butning up social media for weeks on end. The number one lesson of media communication is repeat until you’re sick of repeating. That’s when you’ve reached the first of your target audience. We can probably get there in less than 15 months these days but the Russians and bots will complicate the process. We’re just tribal creatures after all. We want to be part of the message of our group.

  85. 85.

    My Side of Town

    The Dems should continue to emphasize that Dirty Don is unhinged and his staff didn’t do his dirty work.

  86. 86.

    Yutsano

    @chris: He’s either Opus Dei or Federalist Society. Or both. Very strict Catholic. Won’t let his wife work. Something like 7 kids. So yeah, basically a younger Scalia.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    @chris:
    If in fact that was a fabrication, she should be disbarred. By July she knew whether she was commissioned.

  93. 93.

    Immanentize

    @Raoul:
    I agree about Barr impeachment.. It would be a nice pre-Trump proof of concept and, at the very least, it would take Barr off the board for a good bit of his work.

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: Military.com:

    News of the unconventional career pivot was first reported last year by The Washington Post. Priebus, now 47, was selected for a competitive direct-commission position as a Navy human resource officer, the outlet reported. Priebus required an age waiver to take the job, as the upper age limit for officers without a waiver is 42.

    The Navy offers direct commissions that bypass conventional entry-level training in a number of skilled, high-demand job fields, including public affairs, aerospace engineering and information warfare, among others. While some of these positions allow individuals to enter the Navy at a more senior rank, Priebus will begin his career as an ensign, the lowest officer paygrade.

    A Navy Reserve Force spokesman, Cmdr. Douglas Gabos, told Military.com that Priebus will be attached to Navy Operational Support Center in Washington, D.C.

    “He has yet to receive an official assignment,” Gabos said. “In the near future he will attend Officer Development School (ODS) in Newport, Rhode Island where where all newly commissioned Navy Reserve Officers receive an introduction to military structure, the history of Navy traditions and customs, the military legal system, military etiquette and more.”

    Since Priebus resigned as White House chief of staff in July 2017, he has become president and chief strategist at the Michael Best & Friedrich LLP law firm in Washington, D.C. He has also joined a speaker’s bureau.

    […]

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  97. 97.

    cmorenc

    @eemom:

    Correction:
    Impeach the motherfucker now. The rest is chickenshit.

    Again, Rude Pundit: “That’s why they call it LEADERSHIP. You lead, others follow.”

    You are exactly why I’m content to defer to Nancy Pelosi’s political judgment to pick the battles we can best win toward winning the war, not hotheads like you.

  102. 102.

    eemom

    @cmorenc:

    There are plenty of well qualified non-hotheads who agree with me.

    I have respected Pelosi as much as anybody up to now. But to enable a brazen lawbreaker to continue ever more brazenly to break the law without taking the measures that exist to stop him is a dereliction of responsibility as well as leadership.

    And again, not doing the right thing out of terror of how the wrongdoers might be able to “spin” it is the worst kind of chickenshit.

  103. 103.

    eemom

    wrt Cooch, McAuliffe kicked the shit out of him in our VA governor election back in 2013, thank God. That’s why trump flunky is the best job he could hope to get.

    Not only is he a pure scumbag and a climate change denier, he openly abused his position as AG to harass UVA scholars on the subject.

  104. 104.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Dan B:

    Cuccinelli is also in favor of restoring sodomy laws and recriminalizing abortion, probably birth control as well. He claims Natural Law as his North Star.

    *For purposes of this document Natural Law does not include atmospheric physics

Comments are closed.