Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

I really should read my own blog.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Not all heroes wear capes.

When we show up, we win.

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

Second rate reporter says what?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

So many bastards, so little time.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Cole is on a roll !

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / I see my Kellyanne walking away

I see my Kellyanne walking away

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This seems ludicrous to me given that Obama’s wardrobe advisor was not pushed out after the tan suit debacle:

The Office of Special Counsel has recommended the removal of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway from federal office for violating the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work.

Of course, she won’t be removed. I expect Jonathan Turley to write a piece defending her within a few hours.

Let’s do a little House fundraising. Give here to the Balloon Juice fund to defend the seventeen most vulnerable Democrats in the House (almost all first-termers we gave to in 2018).

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You can also give to Dan McCready, running in the special in NC-09 here.

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Reader Interactions

151Comments

  1. 1.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Anyone who seriously thinks that Trump is going to fire her is delusional. She knows where the bodies are buried, her revenge if she were fired would make Omaraosa’s look tame by comparison.

  3. 3.

    Kay

    They’re all gross and corrupt but she’s easily in the top five for “petty and mean-spirited”

    She’ll probably get a promotion.

    Bottom ‘o the barrel hires. All of them.

  4. 4.

    Kay

    Remember when she didn’t know Pelosi doesn’t negotiate with her but instead negotiates directly with Trump?

    Just dumb.

  5. 5.

    cmorenc

    Abraham Lincoln had his “Team of Rivals”
    Donald Trump has his “Boll of Weevils”.

  8. 8.

    SFAW

    I expect have more than a feeling that Jonathan Turley to write a piece defending her within a few hours.

    Fixed.
    Also: would this be the kind of thing upon which noted Constitutional scholar Glenn Griftwald would opine? Inquiring “minds” want to know.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    Well, bonkers match in Brazil v. Australia–Brazil was ahead 2-0 but Aussies just got 1 during first half stoppage time.

    And that, my friends, is socialism.

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    Kellyanne is the prototype Trump staffer–aggressively nasty to everybody Trump considers an enemy (i.e. 98% of the planet), lies not just with ease but actual pleasure, praises the boss no fewer than every third statement.

    Hearing Navarro interviewed on the radio this a.m., he’s taken notes because he apes Kellyanne’s technique to a T.

  14. 14.

    john b

    @Amir Khalid: No. From the linked article:

    The Office of Special Counsel is charged with enforcing the Hatch Act and is not to be confused with now-former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation. The office is run by Henry Kerner, whom Trump nominated to the post.

  15. 15.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The lyrics express the author’s discontent with the present and his yearning for a former love named Marianne, whose memory is strongly evoked by an old familiar song. In an interview Scholz was asked, “Who is Marianne?” He replied, “There actually is a Marianne. She wasn’t my girlfriend.” He explained that when he was 8 or 9 years old he had a much older cousin who he thought was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and that he was “secretly in love” with her (laughs).[13] But he has also stated that the lyrics were inspired by his emotions after a school love affair ended, and were influenced by the lyrics of the Left Banke song “Walk Away Renee.”[5] Maximum Guitar author Andy Aledort pointed out that the guitar chord progression of G-D/F#-Em7-D that follows the line “I see my Marianne walking away” also comes from “Walk Away Renee.”[5] Aledort also explains that the guitar solo is unusual in that it incorporates mordents and inverted mordents, which are more typically used in baroque music.[5]

    None of this mid-70’s hair rock does diddly for me.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    The Office of Special Counsel has recommended the removal of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway from federal office for violating the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work

    Doesn’t this pretty much apply to the entire Trump family.

    ETA. I haven’t thought about the song referenced by the thread title in years.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    @raven: Everything’s recycled in popular music. ;-)

    https://slate.com/culture/2002/02/did-mozart-plagiarize.html

    […]

    But here’s where the story gets interesting. According to Buch’s recently conducted research—based on the discovery of an audience member’s diary, a book of vocal texts found in the Austrian National Library, and old newspaper ads—Dervish was performed before The Magic Flute was written and was very likely heard by Mozart. Both Dervish and Flute feature princes as their protagonists as well as simple jester-sidekicks. In Flute, the latter is Papageno, the lovably dopey bell-ringing man-bird; in Dervish, it’s Mandolino, a wacky fisherman with a magic fool’s cap and—ding, ding!—a set of bells too. Both sidekicks have female counterparts (Mandolino with Mandolina, Papageno with Papagena); the princes share their mission—to win a princess—with the help of a secret observer; and magic everyday items serve as important props.

    Even the music is somewhat similar, despite Dervish being a far less cohesive, intelligent, and grandiose work. Dervish’s overture opens with three stately chords, just like the Magic Flute’s—many people remark on Mozart’s interest in the mythical and Masonic importance of the number 3. Dervish features an aria almost identical to Papageno’s famous anthem. And bells, a brand-new operatic element at the time, are used in both pieces.

    Calling Mozart a plagiarist would be going too far; the musicians from within his theatrical community borrowed freely from each other as colleagues and partners who made livings off ticket sales. And it’s not uncommon for classical-music composers to quote one another; using age-old tunes like the dirgey Dies Irae (used most notably in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique), chorales of Bach (in tons of music from the Baroque to the present day), or famous folk tunes like the Eastern European melody that first appeared in Smetana’s Moldau and later showed up in Naftali Herz Imber’s score for the Jewish “Hatikva.” […]

    Still, interesting factoid about Marianne/Renee. Thanks!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: It was playing on the radio as I was driving to work today.

    (Kinda sad that the hugely wealthy DC region has so many horrible FM music stations…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    A slight problem

    OK, here’s the issue: the Constitution wasn’t designed to deal with people who want to actively subvert it from a position of power.

    ………………….

    In case you’ve been under a rock, Donald Trump averred last night in an interview that if a foreign entity were to come to him with dirt on his Democratic opponent, not only would he not tell the FBI, but he would use the information. In one interview, he gave the green light to Russia, North Korea, and anyone else who is benefiting from having him in the White House to unleash hell on his opponents. While by the strict Constitutional definition this isn’t treason, it’s sedition, subversion, espionage. I’m sure Trump would say “Well, we’ve interfered in plenty of elections.” I’m just waiting for that tweet, because it’s what he believes. Yes, the US has been wrong, during the Cold War, of what Trump is inviting foreign actors to do. That doesn’t mean that a sitting President of the United States should then turn around and apply the same standards to this country. This is definitely a textbook case of chickens coming home.

    Of course, Trump wouldn’t be able to get away with any of his malfeasance were it not that the leader of one of the chambers of Congress has abrogated all his Constitutional responsibilities. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is, I will argue, destroying the Constitution far more effectively than Trump is. Trump is a buffoon, and could be contained were the Senate to exercise its responsibilities. People are excoriating Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not frogmarching Trump out of the West Wing. “Dems in disarray” is the order of the day. But not one single journalist camps outside of McConnell’s office and hounds him as to why it seems that he’s not doing even the bare minimum of his job. As dangerous as Trump is, he can do what he does, including inviting subversion of our electoral processes, because of Mitch McConnell, and that reptilian shell-dweller gets a free pass from the media and those pounding on Pelosi.

    And here is why impeachment isn’t the end all and be all it’s made up to be: These people don’t care about the Constitution. They use it to get elected, but they have absolutely no fealty to it. Imagine if Richard Nixon had hinted at foreign power for help to keep him in power. For all his many crimes, he was no traitor. Such a suggestion comes out of Trump’s mouth without a second thought. McConnell prevented President Barack Obama from even receiving a vote on his choice to replace Antonin Scalia, and called it his “proudest moment”. Yes, he disdained his Constitutional responsibility and was proud of it. Much like the South in 1861, the Republican Party has no use for the Constitution. An impeachment won’t shame it. It will feel no remorse at being stained with it. It will just simply ignore it.

  20. 20.

    Kathleen

    @Raven: And the Four Tops. Don’t know how to link from the effing phone. Also sorry to hear about ailing pups. Playing thread catch up as usual.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: I’ll give you full points for The Left Banke, but I am going to have to take some away for calling Boston hair rock.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: No, they handle all the ethics rules for the Federal government. The President and almost all of his appointees, with the apparent exceptions of FBI Director Wray, DNI Coats, DCI Haspell, and former SecDef Mattis, just ignore them.

  27. 27.

    TomatoQueen

    KellyAnn v the Hatch Act pisses me right off. I’m subject to it. So is every other Federal employee, and the higher up the ladder, the more restrictions. Office of Special Counsel has been around for ever and doesn’
    t do much other than make up weird Hatch Act scenarios the better for padding their esoteric all-hands memoes. If I can figure those out, then KellyAnn can do it too, and like it. If she can’t, then she can fuck off, and ought to have done.

  28. 28.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:

    (Kinda sad that the hugely wealthy DC region has so many horrible FM music stations…)

    Does this not describe every major metro area? Don’t travel like I once did but commercial radio seems dead as a dead thing.

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Navarro has always been like that. He once propositioned Joy Ann Reid on air. Offered her money to do something for him. That’s what got him banned from MSNBC/NBC. He has a long history of being crude for no good reason, being a misogynist, and being a crackpot.

    As for Conway, this was her actual response:

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: If her defense doesn’t start following her instructions on set plays, it looks like Brazil’s goalie is going to cut a bitch!

  31. 31.

    Cacti

    I expect Jonathan Turley to write a piece defending her within a few hours.

    With a companion piece from alleged liberal and “legal scholar” Alan Dershowitz.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    OK, here’s the issue: the Constitution wasn’t designed to deal with people who want to actively subvert it from a position of power.

    This is a problem with any top-level system. You can make low level systems work even if the people in them don’t believe in their goals by threats from above, but that can only work as long as there’s some kind of oversight from people who have the power to enforce the rules. When you get to the top level, like a national constitution, the system can only work as long as the people working in it want it to work. Without people within the government who want the system to work, the Constitution is just a bunch of words.

  37. 37.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah:

    Imagine if Richard Nixon had hinted at foreign power for help to keep him in power. For all his many crimes, he was no traitor.

    This is factually wrong. Nixon, working through Kissinger and Madame Chenault, sabotaged the peace negotiations with the Viet-Cong in order to get elected. Johnson allowed him to get away with it because he was worried if he took it public it would rip the country completely apart. Another fine example of those elected and/or appointed to lead in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave acting as if this is the land of fragile and home of the timid.

  41. 41.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: JFC I hate these people.

    Regarding the Brazilian keeper: she might want to cut a bitch but she has serious work to do on her own game first. But I will say that the amount of megs Brazil has is mighty impressive.

    @TomatoQueen: This. All of this. I hate these fuckers so much.

  42. 42.

    cmorenc

    You can’t shame true sociopaths. And if they’re they kind that are, by nature, also belligerently arrogant sociopaths, like feral monkeys they’ll just hurl stinky shit they can concoct and hurl it back at you.

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: I’m in complete agreement with yesterday’s half time panel of the France-Norway game that the way the VAR is being used and the adjustment of the rules around it, are a mess, and basically makes it impossible to be a defender or play defense within one’s own 18 yard box, and has resulted in several very bad and game changing goals. The only one who defended it was Lalas, who I thought wasn’t a very good player, is a terrible commenter, and who needs to lay off the human growth hormone before his head gets any bigger.

    According to the rules applied just now, and as described as their “officiating” commenter, the first goal in the US-Thailand game wasn’t offsides. Which you knew from just watching it. The US player was onside when the ball was struck and only became offside because of play by the Thai goalie and a Thai defensewoman. The two inadvertent handballs leading to cards and goals by penalty kicks should never have been called, which is why they weren’t by the referees in position and on the field. And at least the penalty kick, which lead to a goal, that was called on the South African defender for cleating her opponent was also a terrible call. She’d played the ball, lost her balance, was falling backwards and the opponents offensive movement carried her into the contact that was penalized. Yesterday’s almost same type of contact in the France-Norway game was a little easier to justify as a penalty, but the one called on the South Africa defender was a terrible call.

    And none of this is on the referees on the field. They’re in position and not calling these in real time because they’ve recognized they’re inadvertent and they don’t want to inject themselves into the game and make their officiating what decides the game. All of this is on the VAR officials and FIFA for doing video review in this way. The gold standard for video review is Rugby Union’s TMOs. The referee on the field and the linesmen are miced. The TMO official is miced. The review video is shown on the big screen so that everyone in the stadium and watching on TV can see it, not on one of those small viewers only the referee and the VAR officials see, and everyone in the stadium – fans, players, coaches – and watching on TV can see and hear everything. Complete transparency. What they’re doing in this Women’s World Cup is crap.

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah: That’s why I keep saying that this is not going to end well.

    All the old checks and balances are gone. When Trump can get away with literally openly advocating sedition in a public taped interview and the GOP are okay with that, while the House Democrats are 2 steps behind trying to play by the old rules of engagement, it doesn’t take a genius to see that FUBAR is the future.

  47. 47.

    dnfree

    Keep putting up these requests for candidate support. It’s kinda early to start…but the situation isn’t good.

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: Nope. They are an advisory body only because up until now, if they issued an opinion, it was taken seriously. As is the case with virtually everything else in the US Federal government that we’ve learned about over the past 2 and 1/2 years, things that people thought were enforceable rules, regulations, and/or laws have turned out to be, at best, guidelines really. If not mere suggestions.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Agree with all you wrote. Another unintended consequence is the disruptive impact on the game’s flow. “Alright you twenty-two, just relax a min’ while we consider what just happened. Stay on the pitch though, we’ll get right back to ya.”

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Exactly, Three of the last five elected Republican presidents (I’m not counting Ford as he wasn’t), were only able to get elected because they solicited and received the assistance of hostile foreign powers and/or broke other laws (George Will stealing a briefing book and delivering it to the Reagan campaign team).

  52. 52.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman:

    who I thought wasn’t a very good player, is a terrible commenter, and who needs to lay off the human growth hormone before his head gets any bigger.

    Triple yes on those. I don’t want VAR in soccer. The RU (which I’ve seen) might work but I want more concrete action taken in regards to diving, outrage fouls/Oscar nominations (OMG, HE JUST PUNCHED MY FACE! Immediately pops up when foul not given), and general shit play which detracts from the game. I’m thinking more of the men’s game in that regard. VAR slows the game down. If the ref didn’t see it, keep playing. Some shit will be missed. We don’t have to interject technology into ever facet of our lives. *goes back to grumbling at clouds*

  53. 53.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    I can’t remember the last time I listened to terrestrial radio. Probably during some gigantic weather/​traffic fiasco when I was trapped on the road. SiriusXM all the way!

    ETA: Actually, I listen to FM radio when I’m housesitting for the RWNJ brother in Las Vegas. The college station is a good jazz/​modern outlet, and there’s also a very strong Latin soul station that has a lot of content seemingly syndicated from SoCal.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: I played goalie at every legal from rec pee wee league to college club to adult rec league to grad school intramural before hanging up my cleats. I’ve also done some refereeing – not like Mayhew has. And some youth coaching. I realize the game has changed over the years. That rules, and therefore the officiating, has changed, and that these are both good and bad things at the same time. And I’ve got no problem with using video review appropriately. But what they’re doing is a mess. Especially in the close games.

  55. 55.

    Mandalay

    Some heartwarming news:

    Nearly a year after U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter suggested his wife was to blame for their alleged misuse of campaign funds, Margaret Hunter was headed to court Thursday to change her not guilty plea, which could pave the way for her to testify against her husband…

    Former U.S. prosecutor Jason A. Forge said it’s rare for one spouse to plead out when the other’s case has not been resolved…

    “I would say it’s a virtual certainty that she’s cooperating with the government and therefore will be testifying against her husband,” Forge said, adding he believes that makes the case “winnable.”

    There are plenty of vile politicians out there, but for me Duncan Hunter is the worst of the lot. A thoroughly nasty scumbag, and piece of shit as human being. I’ll be heartbroken if that fucker wriggles out of going to the slammer.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: If they used it the way they use TMO in Rugby Union, I think they’d be okay. But I’ve also noticed that the Rugby Union refs are far more interactive, and because they’re on open mics for the whole game, it is much more transparent and obvious to those watching in the stadium and on TV.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    The English Premier League is implementing VAR in the coming season, and fans are already looking forward to the post-match arguments that they anticipate will follow in its wake. Most EPL sides will have big video screens to show VAR replays, but a few, including Liverpool, will not. A microphone on the ref was recently tried out in an Australian professional match, and people seemed to like it; but then that ref was a competent one and made no glaring errors.

  59. 59.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: Definitely, but FIFA is slow to change and transparency isn’t their forte. I have a similar cv to yours, but with a fair bit more overseas experience (and that’s prior to the AF play). I really enjoyed youth coaching.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: I also played a bit in Scotland when I was in grad school there before I just started doing martial arts again full time.

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    @Mandalay:

    I’ll be heartbroken if that fucker wriggles out of going to the slammer.

    Lot of that going around. Literal crooks, adulterers and traitors, but their districts still vote them in.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: Yes. But in the good old days it never would have gotten that far. The first OLC warning would have either been used to correct the behavior or used as the documentation for termination if there was a second infraction.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    Brazil has one last bitter pill, should they care.

    This is the first time in 24 years a team has blown a two-goal lead at Women’s World Cup to lose – Germany were 2-0 up against Sweden in the group stage in 1995 before going down 3-2.

    In addition, this is the first time in the history of the tournament that Australia have come from two goals down to either win or draw.

    The Matildas are so much fun to watch I’d have been majorly bummed were they to not advance. Today helps their odds immensely. “Unleash the Kerr!”

  65. 65.

    Raven

    @Leto: In my storied career in parks and rec I started two decent sized kids soccer programs. I was never any kind of expert but I thought it was a lot better for kids to run than it was for them to stand in one place and hope the ball didn’t come to them all summer! I always tell people to go to any little league field and look in the outfield where the kids dig holes standing there for hour on end! I’ve been out of it for over 20 years but, in the olden days, soccer was great because it hadn’t been infected by fucking moron parents nearly as much as football, baseball and hoops. I’m sure it has now but it was cool when parents KNEW they didn’t know shit about the game!

  66. 66.

    trollhattan

    @TenguPhule:
    Will note without further comment that he was reelected after his miseads became public and he blamed the whole mess on his loving wife.

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    @Steeplejack: We’ve got SXM and it’s pretty good, but they repeat a lot of stuff too. “We’ve got 300 channels and they’re playing the same stuff again!!”

    The best radio stations I’ve heard in the last 10 years or so are WYSO in Yellow Springs, OH (NPR) and WVXU at Xavier University in OH (much more of YSO than VXU). But they’re not pure music stations.

    WRNR is a great little station in Annapolis, MD, but they’re so low-power that it’s almost impossible to pick them up in the DC area. I haven’t actually listened to them in a decade or more.

    I should figure out how to get a few decent internet radio stations hooked up to my Android phone one of these days…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  69. 69.

    Kent

    If the Hatch Act thing gets too hot, they’ll just move Kellyanne over to a cushy PR position in the Trump Campaign. Which is probably better for her anyway as she won’t be subject to Federal pay restrictions and there is a lot more graft to be had in campaigns than in the White House (unless your name is Trump). The 2020 campaign is already ramping up. She’ll be on TV just as much as a Trump Campaign official as she would be as a White House Official and that is the only purpose she serves anyway. It’s not like she is busy writing policy papers in the White House or shit like that.

    Sorry folks, but the only way we will ever be rid of Kellyanne is when Trump gets defeated.

  70. 70.

    lee

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Is this a new rule or a new interpretation on an old rule?

    Yesterday’s almost same type of contact in the France-Norway game was a little easier to justify as a penalty….

    Barely.

    The defender was pulling their body back a bit to make sure they didn’t collide with the player. They contacted the ball and then contacted the other player in the follow thru.

    Either way, I’m with the majority of the commentators during the France-Norway game that it is 100% bullshit.

  74. 74.

    Mandalay

    @trollhattan:

    …he was reelected after his miseeds became public…

    He was, but with a greatly reduced share of the vote (51.7% in 2018 vs. 63.5% in 2016).

    Yet even if Hunter goes to the slammer it seems he can remain in Congress!….

    If Hunter wins reelection and is subsequently convicted, there is no constitutional provision or House rule that explicitly requires him to lose his seat, even if he is imprisoned and unable to vote on behalf of his district.

  75. 75.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: I was part of a summer overseas travel team. We played/trained in England, Germany, and Spain. Was an absolute blast, learned a ton, just irritated me that I had to go back to my team at home :p

    @Raven: That sounds like it was a blast. Disagree with the shithead parents. They were there at the upper levels. I was surrounded by them for a long time (1983-1998). One of the things I did with my youth teams was introduce myself to the parents and then in no unconditional terms told them that if they got out of line, I’d remove them myself. I had had such toxic experiences with parents/fans, that I refused to allow that to replicate on the teams I coached. We didn’t always win the game, but my parents were much more behaved. Win in my book.

  76. 76.

    Kent

    @Adam L Silverman: This is old news. She’s been kneeling since the Kaepernick thing started in 2016. No one ever really paid much attention when it was just friendlies and the odd tournament. Now that soccer is back on the world stage we’ll hear about it more. She knows what she is doing. She also just started a gender-neutral “lifestyle” brand with 3 other US soccer players and they are selling $125 printed t-shirts as their first product: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/style/womens-world-cup-megan-rapinoe-christen-press-re-inc-fashion-brand.html

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lee: Hence the “was a little easier” I thought both calls were bad. I thought the call against South Africa was the worse of the two, but that neither should have been called.

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lee: Most of the white professional male players in leagues in the US don’t sing it. They stand there and look awkward while it plays.

  81. 81.

    Kent

    @Mandalay:

    @trollhattan:

    …he was reelected after his miseeds became public…

    He was, but with a greatly reduced share of the vote (51.7% in 2018 vs. 63.5% in 2016).

    Yet even if Hunter goes to the slammer it seems he can remain in Congress!….

    If Hunter wins reelection and is subsequently convicted, there is no constitutional provision or House rule that explicitly requires him to lose his seat, even if he is imprisoned and unable to vote on behalf of his district.

    Pelosi now runs the House. They can refuse to seat him if they want to. This came up with the election fraud case out of North Carolina. I’m not exactly sure what guidelines Pelosi has to follow. But I think she has widespread lattitude here.

  82. 82.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: @lee: I forgot there was a requirement for the women to sing the national anthem. Want her to sing? Pay the superior women’s team the same as the men’s. This is what Warren is talking about with pay discrimination. The superior women’s team is paid less than our kindergarten level men’s team. It’s a joke. I hope they zoom in on every USMNT member who doesn’t hold their hand over their heart (many) or move their lips (many) when the anthem is playing during their prematch, and then berate them. Assholes.

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Another Scott:

    but they repeat a lot of stuff too.

    Ain’t that the truth. I listen to their Real Jazz station a lot, and I think I’ve heard Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island, for instance, enough to last me the rest of my life. Yeah, it’s a nice tune, but after a couple of hundred times (it seems like), not so much.

  85. 85.

    eemom

    You want a 70s earworm? I gotcher 70s earworm right here.

    Baby, baby, don’t get hooked on me….

    Woke up with it today for God knows what reason.

    eta: Oh yeah, I have SXM too. That probably explains it.

  86. 86.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Adam L Silverman: The singing of The Star-Spangled Banner has become such a shrieking contest at sporting events that if I were on the team I’d be hard-pressed not to cover my ears and grimace.

    The national anthem is generally not played/sung at sporting contests in other nations, to my knowledge.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    Remember the Maine! 2019 Edition

    Two oil tankers have been “attacked” in the Middle East. Trump is blaming Iran.

    I still think he is too much of a coward to actually start a war.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: I never sing. I stand at attention with my hand over my heart. I don’t sing, because I can’t carry a tune and I won’t inflict that on anyone.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I can understand non-American players in the MLS not singing the US national anthem, but they would all have played international football in their time. Standing respectfully for another country’s anthem is a part of the prematch etiquette they should be very familiar with.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: I liked Pompeo’s statement that the only state in the region with the capabilities, expertise, and/or proxies to do this is Iran. Which is not true. The Israelis do. The Saudis do. The Emiratis do. The Qataris do. We do. The Russians do. The Pakistanis do. The Indians do.

  92. 92.

    Mandalay

    @Kent:

    Pelosi now runs the House. They can refuse to seat him if they want to.

    Right, but it’s just serendipity that Democrats own the House while Hunter is facing a prison sentence.

    Surely anyone in Congress going to prison should automatically lose their seat (and perks)?

  94. 94.

    raven

    @Leto: I started in 78 and was very involved with the American Coaching Effectiveness Program. We had an 18 hour course for youth sports coaches that was quite good. We also had a code of conduct that we enforced. The other thing I did was to coach in my own programs, if I couldn’t engage in the proper behavior I couldn’t ask other people to do so. Shit finally wore me down and I went another direction. I remember fighting with crazy parents about winning and losing and saying. “yea, In was in a war where we never lost a battle (wrong) but we still lost the war, tell me all about it”.

  95. 95.

    James E Powell

    @Kent:

    Sorry folks, but the only way we will ever be rid of Kellyanne is when Trump gets defeated.

    I would be that even post-Trump Kellyanne will still be a regular on the cable shows. She will lie repeatedly, the shows will know that, and they will continue to bring her on to lie some more.

  97. 97.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I am watching The Dog Rescuers on Channel 5 and if I am lucky I may stop crying in about November.

  98. 98.

    Leto

    @raven: My dad participated in that program too. He coached football and track for a number of years. Crazy parents. So many stories.

    “Yeah, Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan was bad, but let me tell you about the real war: explaining why Little Jimmy isn’t starting (because he’s slow as molasses, has three left feet, keeps handling the ball, and doesn’t want to be out here in the first place) to “Can I speak with your manager” Carol and her husband, “Do you know who I am/Do you know how much I spend on this” Bob. =|

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Pompeo and Trump are clearly trying to assert US supremacy with respect to foreign policy in the region. From the Guardian.

    Pompeo did not present evidence for his claim.

    Tehran denied all responsibility and its foreign minister suggested that others could be trying to provoke a conflict between Iran and the US. The incident took place on a day Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, bluntly rejected the proposal of a resumption of US-Iranian talks, suggested by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on a visit to Tehran.

    Abe is widely thought to have had the blessing of Donald Trump in offering to open a channel of communications between the US and Iranian leaders.

    But after Khamenei’s rejection, Trump followed suit, posting a tweet saying: “While I very much appreciate PM Abe going to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal. They are not ready, and neither are we!”

  100. 100.

    Leto

    @Litlebritdifrnt: That was a good program (sniff sniff). I’m watching “Cycling Around Japan” on my local PBS station. Half hour show, a local cyclist cycles around one of Japans prefectures over the course of three-four days. They show local arts/crafts, food, and all sort of interesting stuff. This week is Hakkaido.

  103. 103.

    Raven

    @Leto: In was told more than once that I had no business running kids sports programs because I didn’t have kids. My wife got some of that because she worked in breastfeeding education and promotion without having breastfed.

  104. 104.

    Seanly

    I fully expect Kellyanne to get the Habermann treatment where, like Hope Hicks, they do some Morrisey-style photo shot. Or maybe they go with the Emmett Kelly look – that hideous frown of hers can stop a heart but maybe it’d look sympathetic with her in clown makeup.

  105. 105.

    Martin

    @Mandalay: True, but the House can expel a member with a ⅔ vote. I think even in this partisan state, enough House GOPs would vote to evict him. I mean, having a member who can’t vote doesn’t help them, and voting to keep him in office is just going to be a campaign ad against all of them. Giving Pelosi a potential additional vote isn’t that much of a harm.

  106. 106.

    TenguPhule

    @Martin:

    I think even in this partisan state, enough House GOPs would vote to evict him. I mean, having a member who can’t vote doesn’t help them

    None of their sitting members right now are interested in voting for anything a Democrat might approve of.

  108. 108.

    TenguPhule

    @Brachiator:

    I still think he is too much of a coward to actually start a war.

    This is the worst possible timeline, so I wouldn’t be so sure.

  109. 109.

    Fair Economist

    @Another Scott: It’s ridiculous what’s called “plagiarism” these days.

    Even the music is somewhat similar, despite Dervish being a far less cohesive, intelligent, and grandiose work. Dervish’s overture opens with three stately chords, just like the Magic Flute’s—many people remark on Mozart’s interest in the mythical and Masonic importance of the number 3. Dervish features an aria almost identical to Papageno’s famous anthem. And bells, a brand-new operatic element at the time, are used in both pieces.

    Three chords for the opening is plagiarism? How many hundreds of pieces open that way? And using the same *instrument*? So every piano piece since Cristofori is plagiarized? How ridiculous.

    Now basing an aria on somebody else’s anthem, yes, that would count, although as the article does admit, it wasn’t considered particularly problematic at the time.

  113. 113.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I’ve seen clips, but I was never in the US during hockey season so I have not seen a whole match. I have no idea what prematch etiquette in the NHL entails. It’s my understanding that, per NHL rules, the brawling takes place during the match rather than in the pre-match.

  115. 115.

    japa21

    @Adam L Silverman: I bet 75% of the people attending a game in Chicago consider Kapernick to be a traitor. Then they go ahead and yell and scream all the way through the anthem. The irony is that the guy who sings the anthem is really good and few of them can even hear him.

  116. 116.

    Barbara

    @Leto: When my kids were little, one of them played on a team coached by the guy who took over the role of managing the league, like doing schedules and assigning kids to teams. He told me that he was inundated daily with complaints, that some parents were so abusive that he often reminded them that he was, you know, a volunteer. Guy used to be the U.S. ambassador to a small but strategic U.S. ally in a complicated part of the world. He said he had to use all of his diplomatic skills to deal with the soccer parents. Now that there are travel and developmental leagues, I think the worst noise is no longer in the recreational leagues. My son had several friends who stopped being willing to play in travel leagues.

  119. 119.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: Basically most teams have a roster with Americans, Canadians, and a variety of Europeans. Mostly Swedes, Finns, Norwegians, Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, and a few German’s (like Tuka Rask, who lost last night despite playing an amazing Stanley Cup playoffs). So most of the players are standing there on the ice, shuffling, trying to stay warm and loose, while the anthem is being played.

  120. 120.

    Adam L Silverman

    @japa21: I don’t understand why the Boston Bruins hired Chris Christie to sing the anthem at their home games.

  121. 121.

    rikyrah

    THREAD:

    I see Sanders is romanticizing FDR today and all the wonderful “socialist” programs he got passed while ignoring *how* he got them passed and *why* they were popular at the time – because they prioritized white men.

    — Old Lady Dem (@oldladydem) June 12, 2019

    Old Lady Dem (@oldladydem) Tweeted:
    Social Security excluded 65% of black workers.
    In order to pass Medicaid, they gave the states control over its administration so individual states could discriminate as to which populations received benefits, just like they did with food assistance. https://twitter.com/oldladydem/status/1138929054348955651?s=17

  122. 122.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Barbara: you should have heard the parents of the team my daughter played last night (U14 competitive soccer). I thought one woman was going to have a stroke. The referee was one of the best we have had, but the abuse he was taking was crazy (we have a parent’s code of conduct which is enforced). You couldn’t pay me enough to do that.

  123. 123.

    ThresherK

    @rikyrah: Save me from the Wilmerites who canonize FDR, ignore what he had to do to get some things done, and in the same breath tell everyone that Bill Clinton invented “triangulation”.

  124. 124.

    Raven

    @Barbara: When I interviewed for the job I’ve had for 18+ years I had no background in online course development. Our program had just begun and the meetings with the “content experts” were often contentious and they were looking for people who could work in that kind of setting. The guy who hired me had kids who had played all the way up to AAU level basketball and he said “if you can run kids sport programs you can do anything. You can learn the technology. . .” faculty are almost as fucking ridiculous as parents. I guess he was right.

  127. 127.

    lee

    Both my daughters refereed youth soccer up to U16.

    One is still certified and still picks up games when she is in town.

    They both enjoy the work. Occasionally they have bad parents/coaches but they been trained to handle both.

  128. 128.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Fair Economist: like Tom Petty successfully suing the Strokes for their intro to “Last Night”, which is just an A chord. Petty really had rights to that?

  130. 130.

    Jay

    In the pages of this report, you’ll read about these, and many more:

    – a U.S. federal money-laundering case was sabotaged by a Moscow attorney turned Congressional lobbyist, who obstructed justice, set up a dubious charity in Delaware to dismantle a landmark American human rights act— all before trying to influence a U.S. presidential race;

    – Russian mobsters in Spain, despite a mountain of incriminating evidence compiled over the course of a decade, all went free by, among other things, enlisting Spanish jurists to spread a malevolent defamation campaign against one of his country’s most committed counterterrorism and organized crime magistrates;

    – the Kremlin directed effort to pass laws in the Belgian and French parliaments that would effectively nullify the Yukos shareholder court decisions and render them unenforceable against the Russian Federation;

    – the eccentric president of a NATO and EU member-state sided against his own government in favor of a hostile foreign one, to which he’s been financially and politically connected for years.

    https://www.4freerussia.org/misrule-of-law/

  131. 131.

    Leto

    @Barbara: Parents are assholes, but soccer parents are a special type because they’re typically rich assholes. And all that that implies. Travel/developmental leagues have been around for decades, so not out of character on that front.

    @Raven:

    faculty Officers are almost as fucking ridiculous as parents

    But I repeat myself :p

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam “Vanilli” Silverman. :)

  132. 132.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Leto: parents on my daughter’s team were largely doctors, lawyers, and corporate execs. It was an outspoken group….

  134. 134.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: Would we better off if FDR had done what Ted Kennedy did 35 years later, which was to torpedo universal health coverage because it wasn’t broad enough? FDR may have compromised in some instances where he did not need to. That’s hard to unravel all these many years later, but the most egregious loopholes were closed over time.

  135. 135.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Another Scott: The late WNKU was also fabulous in the greater Cincinnati area. Too many, it was the best of the bunch. I’m still sad.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    Can I just say that my mind has gone back to Omar filing a joint return with her husband……
    The problem being…
    Not only before they were married..

    But when she was MARRIED TO SOMEONE ELSE ???

  138. 138.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    The singing of The Star-Spangled Banner has become such a shrieking contest at sporting events that if I were on the team I’d be hard-pressed not to cover my ears and grimace.

    The guy singing at the “Garden” last night sang it straight, did a good job. Held “free” a little long, started to waver ever-so-slightly out of tune, but except for that, was pretty good.

    That said, I miss Roger Doucet singing “O Canada.”

  139. 139.

    rikyrah

    @Barbara:

    @rikyrah: Would we better off if FDR had done what Ted Kennedy did 35 years later, which was to torpedo universal health coverage because it wasn’t broad enough? FDR may have compromised in some instances where he did not need to. That’s hard to unravel all these many years later, but the most egregious loopholes were closed over time.

    No, of course not, but, FDR is held out as this great standard, when the truth of the matter is….
    Obamacare was the first expansion of the American Social Safety Net that DID NOT HAVE IN ITS DESIGN…
    The exclusion of huge swaths of the American populace.
    It took the John Roberts Court to do that.

  140. 140.

    A Ghost To Most

    @raven: I coached soccer for two years 94-95. The only parent I ever had a problem with was the one who tried to recruit me for League of the South.

  141. 141.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: He was a great standard considering the time period in which he lived. Medicare, actually, is probably the first program that did not have racial animus baked into its design. Although it did piggyback on Social Security, almost every person who has attained the age of 65 qualifies.

    I do think it’s important to remind people that racial disparity was embedded into government programs well past the Civil War. FDR, and anyone else, was going to run smack into racial animus in trying to combat poverty.

  142. 142.

    Leto

    Here’s some happy news:

    Sarah Sanders Is Leaving The White House

    One of the few remaining original members of Donald Trump’s administration is leaving her job. Sarah Sanders is stepping down as Press Secretary. Donald Trump tweeted:

    After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas… She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas – she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!

    Sanders has been with the Trump White House since the inauguration where she started as Deputy Press Secretary before getting promoted in July of that year to her current post.

    She hasn’t held a press briefing in three months.

    I wish I could be paid for three months without doing my job. Nice gig if you can get it.

  149. 149.

    Buckeye

    @Another Scott:

    The best radio stations I’ve heard in the last 10 years or so are WYSO in Yellow Springs, OH (NPR)

    I need to start listening to WYSO’s music programs again. I’ve fallen out the habit of listening to much radio, even before I transferred to my current job. Where they play the pop music I Heart station, which drives me up the wall.
    Sad thing is, SW Ohio used to have excellent independent radio stations of most every every genre. That’s long gone.

  150. 150.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Nixon, working through Kissinger and Madame Chenault, sabotaged the peace negotiations with the Viet-Cong in order to get elected.

    So true. Last night we decided the last Republican president who wasn’t a traitor was probably Dwight Eisenhower, Ike.

    Nixon conspired with North Vietnamese communists.

    Ford pardoned Nixon for his criminal acts while in office.

    Reagan conspired with the Iranian revolutionaries to keep American diplomats captive until after he won election and was being inaugurated.

    George H W Bush participated in the Iran-Contra conspiracy, selling weapons to Iran and using those funds to support (illegally) the fascists in Central America.

    George W Bush attacked Iraq for made up reasons, spent billions of dollars and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people to do so, allowed Osama bin Laden to escape Tora Bora into Pakistan, Ignored Intelligence Community warnings about attack with air liners, allowed Saudi royals to escape America in private jets when every civilian aircraft was grounded. There’s more, the guy was extreme.

    Now Trump. Confesses to accepting foreign election help on national TV, and Mitch McConnell won’t do anything about it.

  151. 151.

    J R in WV

    @Raven:

    I had no business running kids sports programs because I didn’t have kids.

    And how many people running presidential campaigns have themselves been elected to ANYTHING!??!?

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