Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

No one could have predicted…

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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Reader Interactions

299Comments

  3. 3.

    smintheus

    Royal families, especially in places like Britain, are especially averse to having themselves held accountable. The worst they should have to face, in extremis, is a longish vacation in the Caribbean.

  4. 4.

    Yarrow

    Multiple sources I’ve interviewed for my Epstein reporting stress this is not the end of the story. Victims deserve justice. Focus now turns to Maxwell. And how Epstein was allowed to commit suicide (if it was a suicide and not a hit…)— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) August 10, 2019

    Where is Ghislaine Maxwell? Hasn’t she kind of disappeared?

  8. 8.

    Yarrow

    Guess he wasn’t on suicide watch.

    BREAKING: Jeffrey Epstein was in his own cell at the time of his death, and was not on suicide watch, multiple people familiar with the investigation tell @NBCNews. https://t.co/7yCHf9cCJS— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 10, 2019

    @raven: Yeah Clintons and ClintonBodyCount are trending on twitter. Plenty of conspiracy theorists trying to push that idea.

  9. 9.

    MattF

    Epstein was a psychopath, so, IMO, one shouldn’t try to rationalize his emotional state. A bad man, and he’s gone now.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    It is reminiscent of Ken Lay conveniently departing this mortal coil while on his way to prison. But Epstein was under the control of “corrections professionals” and had just had some kind of weird near-strangulation incident, so “who coulda guessed?” does not apply.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Assume you’re back home by now from crazy tacky Pigeon Forge. What route did you end up driving at dawn?

    ETA: Hope you had fun with your old buds despite the stupid location.

  12. 12.

    Chris Johnson

    Consistent with him and Trump running an elaborate Russian entrapment ring.

    This sort of thing is why they get as far as they do: cross ’em, you’re gonna die. I understand McConnell ‘fell and hurt himself’ recently too. I’m thinking the pressure is really, really on.

    We are absolutely not the thing the traitors fear most.

  14. 14.

    B.B.A.

    @B.B.A.: And I’m intentionally vague on who “them” is here, because I’m too angry to think straight… as I should be.

  15. 15.

    Frank Wilhoit

    Follow that principle to its end. It is all, and only, and has always only ever been, about unaccountability. View everything through that frame. You will never be wrong.

  16. 16.

    hueyplong

    @Chris Johnson: I felt intense shame when I realized how much it pleased me that McConnell’s injury was gravity-induced (like falling down stairs or out a window).

    Getting over it was difficult but surprisingly quick.

  17. 17.

    Mary G

    I just feel for the victims, who’ve spent years and years pursuing justice and were finally getting it. At least Acosta lost his job.

  19. 19.

    patrick II

    wiki:

    (Chelsea) Manning was not allowed to sleep between 5 am (7 am on weekends) and 8 pm, and was made to stand or sit up if she tried to. She was required to remain visible at all times, including at night, which entailed no access to sheets, no pillow except one built into her mattress, and a blanket designed not to be shredded…

    Of course that was torture as much as suicide watch, but when keeping someone alive is your true top priority, it can be done. Epstein was a too high-value prisoner not to take the extra steps necessary to keep him alive. 24-hour guards at a minimum. No, it’s not too expensive in the circumstances and the high stakes of his death.

  20. 20.

    feebog

    I read David Boies reply brief for summary judgment in the Maxwell case yesterday. I have not had time to go through some of the attached documents but whew, what a steaming pile of crap this is.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hueyplong: McConnell has balance issues from childhood polio. However, given that he refused to meet with the March of Dimes leadership a couple of years ago who were trying to lobby him not to destroy the ACA, schadenfreude away!.

  24. 24.

    Roger Moore

    @raven:

    They’ll be blaming Clinton, write it down.

    They were blaming Clinton the moment the news broke. His first suicide attempt was blamed on Clinton, and there have been people preemptively blaming any successful attempt on the Clintons before it happened.

  26. 26.

    sdhays

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yep. At this point, I believe it was suicide in that I don’t believe that Epstein wanted to live while being forced to remain in prison for the rest of his life. But someone (or some people) made sure he had the tools and ample opportunity. I don’t know what the exact charges should be, but there should be a serious investigation into how that happened, and the people responsible should be charged.

    @Yarrow: “Funny” how the right jumps to “Clinton Conspiracy” while the guy on tape palling around with Epstein and ogling teenage cheerleaders with him is the guy with actual authority over the prison Epstein was sitting in.

  28. 28.

    LanceThruster

    Rich and powerful women are not exempt either. Alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell is certainly in the mix.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    Everyone remember that Jeanine Pirro’s show on Fox News is on Saturday night. She’s going to be even more lubricated than usual and the show will be completely off the rails.

  32. 32.

    LanceThruster

    “Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out.”

    Claudius – “I, Claudius”

    :—–:

    Bartleby, the Power Elite Scrivener – “I would prefer not to.”

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:

    She’s going to be even more lubricated than usual and the show will be completely off the rails.

    So, same ole same ole.

    Meanwhile, Tucker is off somewhere practicing his squint.

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    What happens to all the other sealed documents in his case? Of course yesterday George Mitchell and Bill Richardson’s names were in the first tranche to be unsealed but what happens to the rest now that the case has ended with his death? If the victims sue the Estate, can we access the information that way?

  40. 40.

    ruemara

    @raven: They already are.

    Well, I’m pretty sure he knew the score. I’m almost nostalgic for that type of crook who put a bullet in his brain once the walls started to close in.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @sdhays:

    At this point, I believe it was suicide in that I don’t believe that Epstein wanted to live while being forced to remain in prison for the rest of his life. But someone (or some people) made sure he had the tools and ample opportunity. I don’t know what the exact charges should be, but there should be a serious investigation into how that happened, and the people responsible should be charged.

    The point I would make is that the range of possibilities is very wide. It’s possible, if very unlikely, that this was an honest mistake. It’s possible that people in the jail thought it was a waste to keep Epstein alive and decided it would be easiest just to let him kill himself. Or they might have been bullied or paid off by somebody who had a reason to want Epstein dead- a list that would include Epstein himself.

  45. 45.

    dww44

    @raven: In my spouse’s email chain among his fellow former college class mates, two of them, he says, have already said that the Clintons ARE indeed responsible for his death.

    Almost none of them, regardless of their political leanings, believe it’s anything other than a hit job. As one of them said in an email exchange, there’s some guard who’s now quite wealthy, just for taking a convenient 5 minute coffee break.

  46. 46.

    patrick II

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Wherever, Adam. If you want to keep a high priority prisoner alive, one with both powerful reasons to believe he will commit suicide or be murdered by people with high resources, you take the extra steps to make sure that doesn’t happen. You don’t find him dead (or in distress according to some stories) in the morning.

  47. 47.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @debbie: Ohio State University already has one sex scandal to deal with, if their Sugar Daddy Wexner is forced to spill his beans, Yikes.

  48. 48.

    dww44

    To add to the CT theories, it was reported on MSNBC or CNN a bit ago that the FBI has assumed jurisdiction over the Epstein case. Hmmm?? Bill Barr, anyone?

  50. 50.

    Fair Economist

    Is the pie filter working on mobile? I’m seeing one poster (I’m sure everybody can guess who) discussing pies on my computer but other stuff on my phone.

  51. 51.

    Chris Johnson

    I understand there’s a lid on the White House, no press?

    I think Trump is in there (or wherever he IS at), absolutely flipping out.

    He is next to die by Putin’s hand. If it was time to kill Epstein, well, I’ve been thinking that Trump and Epstein worked together to compromise so many people that it became possible to cheat Trump into the Presidency. And he’s a bozo, a lousy agent, and there is already a hand-picked successor.

    Pence.

    Trump may die, soon. Melania will disappear. And everything, most notably the NYT and all the captured media, will do a full-court press to make the case that now our long national nightmare is over, because President Pence is all the stability and normalcy we need.

    And of course he is a much better agent for Putin. He can behave himself and is not Trump’s kind of demented and stupid. I’m calling it. President Pence. And I’m not entirely sure McConnell really ‘fell down and hurt himself’. I think the pressure is on, hugely, and if the Russian side doesn’t hold a winning hand, you’re gonna see a surprising number of people turn up dead, and a lot of really weird takes from the ‘media’ about that.

  52. 52.

    Robert Harvey

    @debbie:

    It’s hard to believe that Leslie Wexner@smintheus: was involved in trafficking of underage women. He is not interested in underage women. Or women of any age.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Roger Moore:

    The point I would make is that the range of possibilities is very wide.

    Yes. It’s ALL plausible.

    @patrick II:

    If you want to keep a high priority prisoner alive

    You don’t have to be deliberately trying to let someone die to not think keeping Epstein alive is a super top priority worth extra effort to make absolutely sure of. We care a lot more about justice in this case than even most regular people. There is huge plausible room for an insufficient job to have been done without it being deliberate.

  60. 60.

    JMG

    It is entirely plausible that Epstein killed himself because normal negligence within the prison allowed him to. It says volumes, however, that that is the BENIGN explanation for his death, the best case scenario.

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MomSense: The sealed documents are being released pursuant to a civil suit that is not going away. None of the civil suits will. I expect SDNY will shift their criminal prosecution to the accessories like Ghislaine Maxwell.

  62. 62.

    Yarrow

    There should be — and almost certainly is — video of Epstein’s suicide at MCC. One hopes it is complete, conclusive, and secured.— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) August 10, 2019

    I guess the cells are under 24 hr video monitoring.

  63. 63.

    Fair Economist

    @dww44:

    As one of them said in an email exchange, there’s some guard who’s now quite wealthy, just for taking a convenient 5 minute coffee break.

    If there’s any point in trying to debunk their nonsense, Epstein tried to kill himself earlier and didn’t complain about somebody trying to kill him so he almost certainly was suicidal and an actual *hit job* is unlikely.

    If Preet Bharara’s tweet is accurate, the authorities were clearly negligent in acting to prevent suicide, but that’s not a “hit job”.

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    My hands aren’t cooperating with linking on my phone, but the WaPo article on this says AG Barr, who is in charge of the prison, is “livid” with anger and has ordered an investigation into how he managed this. Yeah, right.

  65. 65.

    different-church-lady

    @Roger Moore:

    The point I would make is that the range of possibilities is very wide.

    Yes, but the range of impossibilities is far, far wider.

    [nods]

  69. 69.

    Adam L Silverman

    @patrick II: I am not arguing that. I have a number of questions. From the get go he should have been on either special watch or suicide watch. They’re variants of each other. This means a prison uniform that cannot be ripped and/or shredded and made into ropes for hanging. The bedding in the cell is the same material. And it cannot be removed from the bed without special tools. It also means 24/7 audio-visual surveillance of the prisoner. Either in person or via remote camera and microphone.

  70. 70.

    different-church-lady

    @Mary G:

    …says AG Barr, who is in charge of the prison, is “livid” with anger…

    “YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TORTURE HIM INTO CLAIMING THE CLINTONS WERE BEHIND IT ALL!!!”

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Chris Johnson: He’s golfing at his New Jersey club, Bedminster. He has a house there and will be there on his August working vacation all week.

  75. 75.

    LanceThruster

    @Yarrow:

    Have already seen one tweet saying it turns out the camera was not operating.

    I would think it would be a standard MO in any staged suicide that tons of misinformation early on helps muddy the waters. Also saw something alleging shenanigans as far as the van retrieving the body.

    Regardless, sure pushed a lot of other stuff out of the news cycle.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: They are the correct Federal law enforcement agency to do so. The Bureau of Prisons is part of DOJ, so FBI, if an investigation is to be done, is the correct office.

  78. 78.

    patrick II

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I didn’t say it was deliberate. I am saying extra steps weren’t taken, probably through lack of imagination. This was a special case, remarkably important and dangerous to the prisoner, and it wasn’t treated that way.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mary G: Epstein is tied to Barr’s father who hired him and there are reports that Epstein and Barr were friendly when Epstein worked for his father. So I have no doubt he’s livid because it is going to lead to calls that Barr is somehow complicit and covering something up.

  80. 80.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Fair Economist: Not trying to be Alex Jones, but the negligence was the “hit job” if he was just some little peon, that his crimes did not affect the powerful, he would be on suicide watch. Most sexual predators with standing in their communities,would do the same thing to avoid shame and embarrassment to their families. (i.e. Jerry Sandusky)

  82. 82.

    patrick II

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Agreed. More should have been done. It just seems his imprisonment from the beginning was treated too routinely. Sharing a cell with an accused murderer?

  84. 84.

    PeakVT

    I want to live in a country where this kind of shit doesn’t happen.

    I will settle for living in a country where this kind of shit isn’t shrugged off as the new normal. Which it will be, no matter whether the cause was incompetence or malfeasance.

  87. 87.

    different-church-lady

    @PeakVT: I don’t think there’s a country anywhere on earth where this kind of shit doesn’t happen.

    But we used to live in a country where this kind of shit didn’t get treated like entertainment.

  88. 88.

    Chris Johnson

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks. I’m really interested to know how much Trump is flipping out. If I’m not wrong that he was working with Epstein to entrap people into Russian involvement (whether with deals or girls), this would make him feel extremely vulnerable. The pictures of him happily smiling with the orphaned baby are from before Epstein died, yes? He didn’t know about it at the time he was photographed? (I don’t think he can fake happy, insane as he is: if he was panicking, he’d be pissy and mean)

  90. 90.

    janesays

    @dww44: What exactly does that mean? Given that Epstein was under federal indictment, I would assume the FBI already had jurisdiction over Epstein’s case. The Southern District of New York was in charge of prosecuting the case, but they do so in coordination with the FBI (as does every U.S. Attorney office in the country). The FBI has investigative jurisdiction with federal criminal cases in the same way that local police departments have investigative jurisdiction over criminal proceedings being prosecuted by their local prosecuting attorney.

  91. 91.

    Yarrow

    Per @KlasfeldReports, federal prosecutors confirm that everything found in the Epstein search warrants will be admissible against others who are charged-they cannot contest the warrants or the evidence introduced from them. The only person with standing to challenge was Epstein.— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) August 10, 2019

  93. 93.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: I understand that. Given the problems with the NY field office and their association with the Russian mob, I’m not quite sure how I feel about their proximity to this investigation. Are they over it? Some other office?

  97. 97.

    A Ghost To Most

    And it ain’t my crowd and it ain’t my night
    but I’d be lying if I said I can’t relate

    I’m just the opening act and the van is packed
    and I’m hauling ass to another state

    And I’m driving north as the sun was rising
    over a Technicolor horizon

    I reached out to touch you but you’re not there,
    You’re a thousand miles away from here

    I turned up the radio,
    heard some preacher talking salvation

    My tank is half full
    and I reached over and changed the station

    I’m just the opening act

  98. 98.

    WhatsMyNym

    @PeakVT:

    I want to live in a country where this kind of shit doesn’t happen.

    I’m having a hard time coming up with such a country. Most are corrupt in someway or another. Especially when it comes down to sex and how young women are treated.

  103. 103.

    dww444

    @RAVEN: I wasn’t bitching about anything. Just making a statement of fact. I’ve long wondered WHY the right despises the Clintons so mightily? Otherwise kind and normal people in my world just go off on the Clintons with no real basis in fact. What did the Clintons do or personify that’s resulted in their being so over the top vilified? The opposition would’ve done the same to Gore, but he conceded to their demands and departed the playing field.

  104. 104.

    JPL

    @Adam L Silverman: How many times do I have to mention that watching Fox News and listening to Rush is not work.
    Some folks are paid to monitor those stations but it is not a requirement of the president.

  105. 105.

    different-church-lady

    @dww444:

    I’ve long wondered WHY the right despises the Clintons so mightily?

    It gives them kicks. And getting kicks is all they care about.

  106. 106.

    The Dangerman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    … even more lubricated than usual …

    So, there is going to be some wet work prior to her accusations about wet work.

    I think we’ve zoomed past double entendres right into triple entendres. Like in baseball, a 3 bagger. Which also has double entendres as it involves Pirro.

  110. 110.

    Sloane Peterson's knee therapist

    Hmmm. Tucker Carlson takes mysterious vacation starting 8/9. Epstein dead less than 24 hours later.
    Just a coincidence? I think not.

  111. 111.

    JPL

    If trump tweets about the democrats mentioned by the witness in the Epstein case, that will be a tell that’s he scared shit less.

  112. 112.

    Spanky

    @Raven: It’s a slow news day. Stand by for four straight posts about canning tomatoes.

    I cut an acre of grass between blog comments, so the day’s not a total waste.

  114. 114.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Roger Moore: @raven: The sun disappeared late yesterday.
    “It’s Hillary’s fault!”

    It’s bright outside right now.
    “Why does Hillary control the Sun?!”

    My air conditioner just turned on, on its timer.
    “Hillary!”

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @dww444:

    but he conceded to their demands and departed the playing field.

    I think the answer is in your own hand here.
    The Clintons were trying to make positive change, and did. They were national politics outsiders, Bill was a southern governor. Hillary wanted to fix healthcare.
    And that’s not the way it’s supposed to work, according to the rich and powerful. So they had to go, which is more difficult than one might imagine. So they had to resort to lying about them, and to make that stick had to do it over and over and over and using consistent stories. Which was what happened. The Clintons were made pariahs because they threatened the rich, wealthy, conservatives with decency and value.

  116. 116.

    Jay

    Yurtle the Turtles fall didn’t bother me all,

    It was the first time he’s brought a motion to the floor in 7 years.

  118. 118.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Ha Ha loved this tweet

    IF THE CLINTONS CAN KNOCK ANYONE OFF AT ANY TIME WHY IS DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENT

  119. 119.

    West of the Rockies

    @opiejeanne:

    Funny how the rightwing media grifters wax and wane… For a year or so, Beck was the big dog, then Bill O. Rush is still around but I think he’s mostly relevant to the over-70 AM radio crowd. Right now, clown prince Hannity is remarkably king. That Pirro even has a show is astonishing. She’s all Botox, make-up and booze, held together by the power of rage.

  120. 120.

    mrmoshpotato

    @trollhattan:

    Meanwhile, Tucker is off somewhere practicing his squint.

    Goes so well with his dog-who’s-just-been-shown-a-card-trick face.

  121. 121.

    LanceThruster

    Everything We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Death

    According to former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, the case against Epstein dies with him:

    Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide ends the criminal case against him because no one else was charged in the indictment. … [It] means that there won’t be a public trial or other proceedings that could reveal evidence of his wrongdoing. Evidence collected via grand jury subpoena won’t be released to the public. It’s still likely that the public will learn additional information from civil cases by victims against his estate or non-criminal investigations (for example, the DOJ OIG investigation).

  123. 123.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Yarrow: Author of book series that ‘True Blood’ was based on wrote one book in which a vampire, working in the mortuary where Elvi’ body was taken, turned him into a vampire. He botched the job , so vampire Elvis was very slow and bumbling and protected by a few vampire fans of the live Elvis.

  131. 131.

    MattF

    OT. I realize that Hugh Hewitt is making a career out of enraging liberals, but I can’t let this pass.

    In his latest column, Hewitt raises the ghost of RFK in order to complain that today’s Democrats are being… unloving… in calling Trump a racist. There’s a level of spite in Hewitt’s writing that just makes my eyes water.

    Time to go read something, take a break, or something.

  133. 133.

    david

    The Right is blaming Clinton (they always do), the Left is blaming Trump (they always do), the conspiracy nuts
    are blaming the FBI and the ‘Deep State’ (they always do).

    But, everyone in power will agree that this closes the chapter, and we must never, EVER, under ANY circumstance
    whatsoever, continue to investigate his misdeeds. Of course, this also means everyone in power will insist that any
    possible involvement that they ever had with him should also be forgotten and that we should all just Move On.

  134. 134.

    Martin

    @LanceThruster: There’s no way they don’t bring charges against others now. Epstein was supposed to lead into that, prosecutors hoping he’d testify against others. The evidence will still take them there.

  138. 138.

    Brachiator

    WTF?? Epstein suicide? I can’t sleep in late during the weekend here in Southern California without all kinds of crazy shit going down.

    NOTHING scares the rich and powerful men like accountability for their actions.

    For cynical me, the title of the Kurosawa film immediately comes to mind. The bad sleep well.

    With Epstein’s death, however it happened, the larger investigation into trafficking will quietly come to a close. All who were involved, and all who helped enable these heinous activities, men and women, will go on with their lives. As if nothing ever happened.

  140. 140.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @dww444: IMHO it started when th hey were in Arkansas. RW went after her before they really started on Bill. The reason?–she was and is a very competent, accomplished woman who had/has a professional career, sccomplishes good things, and serves as a role model for girls and women.

    Also, apparently she was on the Democrats’ staff during the Watergate hearings.

    And her speech at her college graduation showed she was anot afraid to publicly challenge men in power (IIRC she spoke vs Vietnam War just after a male politician commencement speaker had spoken vs anti war movement).

  144. 144.

    debbie

    @sdhays:

    But someone (or some people) made sure he had the tools and ample opportunity.

    Well, Putin felt obligated to protect his asset.

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mrmoshpotato: No, I am going to the gym late as in addition to taking care of my own, I have to go and feed and spend some time with a good friends’ dog while they are out for the weekend. This means I am likely not to be back from the gym till very late and I expect I’ll be showering the grime off at the time. It’s an exciting weekend I have planned.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    @MattF:

    OT. I realize that Hugh Hewitt is making a career out of enraging liberals, but I can’t let this pass

    Hewitt is about as enraging as a wet fart on a windy day.

    Is this a WaPo article? I’ve used up my free reads. What is Hewitt on about?

  148. 148.

    Jay

    @sdhays:

    People commit suicide in prison, all the time. It’s one of the leading causes of death.

    My firm did a jail suicide case a couple of years ago. Dude killed himself in an observation cell 20 feet from a guard. She could have stood up and walked three feet and seen it.— WhatFreshHellIsThisHat (@Popehat) August 10, 2019

  149. 149.

    Martin

    @Brachiator: I don’t think so. I think there’s too much out there. Yeah, it certainly blunts the effort, but there does seem to be a lot of evidence and a lot of witnesses.

  150. 150.

    Jay

    Important context however: Mental health treatment in jails/prisons is abysmal. Committing suicide in jails is far from uncommon. “Suicide, long the leading cause of death in U.S. jails, hit a high of 50 deaths for every 100k in 2014.” Even when on watch. https://t.co/glt6HhH7fy— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) August 10, 2019

  151. 151.

    Martin

    @MattF: Hewitt is hurt that his beloved OC is turning blue. I don’t see any reason why it won’t continue trending that way.

  152. 152.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    she was and is a very competent, accomplished woman who had/has a professional career, sccomplishes good things, and serves as a role model for girls and women.

    I like to say Hillary went all Eleanor Roosevelt on them and wasn’t in the kitchen baking cookies.

  153. 153.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    There’s no way they don’t bring charges against others now.

    I will bet that the case quietly goes away. That’s the way these things usually happen.

  154. 154.

    patrick II

    @Ruckus:

    The Clintons had the added handicap of following St. Ronnie. The republicans thought the problems of the world were solved with Ronnie, only to find that some democratic hillbilly from Arkansas was going to stop their capitalistic Religous Ecstacy from lasting until Jesus returned.

  157. 157.

    LanceThruster

    @Adam L Silverman:

    About the same as the bubble in which many of you encased yourselves during the 2016 primaries and election making a return appearance for 2020, I imagine. Heard about the “sure thing” on the way to Hillary’s coronation from all the VSPs (Very Serious People) in here on a regular basis. But then Putin forced Team Hillary not to deal with certain critical districts… and the rest was history as they say.

    Let the chips fall where they may.

  158. 158.

    Another Scott

    Popehat has no time for those who think L&O is real life (7 part thread)

    […]

    /5 In short, you find it implausible because you’ve accepted the fairy tale version of the criminal justice system, one utterly divorced from the reality. And you’ve managed to convince yourself that your view is “sophisticated” and that thinking this could happen is “naive.”

    […]

    The criminal justice system is staffed by humans that have responded to incentives in the system…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    MattF

    @Brachiator: Hewitt’s simply partisan– which I can deal with– but using RFK as an example to beat up liberals who (correctly!) say that Trump is a racist is several steps over the line. At least, for me.

  162. 162.

    J R in WV

    @hueyplong:

    I felt intense shame when I realized how much it pleased me that McConnell’s injury was gravity-induced (like falling down stairs or out a window).

    Getting over it was difficult but surprisingly quick.

    Should I be ashamed that I felt nothing but grateful for gravity when I heard about Moscow Mitch’s fall injury? No shame at all so far.

    I have had shoulder trouble, can tell how much Moscow Mitch hurts, and am happy to know he won’t do his physical therapy correctly.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @different-church-lady:

    I would guess the pie filter info is stored on the individual device rather than at the BJ servers?

    I think this is the case… the pie sayings may be on the servers, but the actual list and processing the list into pie is on the actual device, Major^4 may correct me if we are wrong about this.

  166. 166.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    I don’t think so. I think there’s too much out there.

    Prince Andrew, for example, has regularly been linked to Epstein. There was a big Vanity Fair article about his connections to these tawdry activities in 2011.

    Nothing ever happened. In fact, it can be argued that Andrew’s game not only gives him immunity, but his game and prestige is used to provide cover for others. He is untouchable and can take the heat of any publicity.

    And then, there is Ghislaine Maxwell.

    Ghislaine Maxwell, a confidante of Epstein’s who has been connected to him for more than two decades and is alleged to have played a critical role in recruiting and grooming underage girls into his sex-trafficking ring. Though Maxwell is a key figure in the Epstein case, she has not yet been arrested and has repeatedly denied accusations against her.

    Her father was publisher Robert Maxwell, a man with powerful friends. Even if they detested Epstein and his activities, favors are owed, and can be called in.

  168. 168.

    Brachiator

    @MattF:

    but using RFK as an example to beat up liberals who (correctly!) say that Trump is a racist is several steps over the line. At least, for me

    I can respect that.

  170. 170.

    different-church-lady

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “Why does Hillary control the Sun?!”

    We should be thankful she does, because that’s probably the only reason it still comes up every day.

  172. 172.

    Jay

    The radioactive Severodvinsk missile engine explosion gets worse & worse. Now it's not just 2 who died but 5 employees of state nuclear concern Rosatom. They were testing an "isotope source of power". A nuclear waste cleanup ship has reportedly showed up https://t.co/8ZR3XctkNe— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) August 10, 2019

  175. 175.

    LanceThruster

    @Another Scott:

    I thought that was reserved for those banking on the big win for Madame Pantsuit.

    The candidate who touted her ability to take that 3am phone call wasn’t even prepared to deliver the customary concession speech till a day later. Talk about being caught flat-footed. When you get blindsided that badly, all one can do is wince.

    I was worried about just how long her coma was gonna last. Then she came out of the woods to lead the resistance. The calls for her to do so were deafening… at least they must have been, because I couldn’t hear them.

    Warm regards back.

  177. 177.

    J R in WV

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    The reason?–she was and is a very competent, accomplished woman who had/has a professional career, sccomplishes good things, and serves as a role model for girls and women.

    She also filed suit to force schools to admit disabled kids, which for some reason many RWNJs really despise. Which shows how sick most RWNJs are. She was ahead of her time by 20+ years!

  178. 178.

    Janesays

    @Robert Harvey: Erm… Wexner is a married man with four children, and has been married to his wife for 26 years. Are you suggesting he’s a closeted gay man? And if so, is that just an educated guess, or is there actual evidence of it?

  180. 180.

    NotMax

    @Jay

    They were testing an “isotope source of power”

    How do you say “Hold my beer” in Russian? //

  181. 181.

    trollhattan

    @MattF:
    IMO Hewitt makes a career out of posing as somebody who pisses off liberals and hippies, since nobody beyond his listeners know who the zaftig fuck even is. He’s never broken though, to I’m sure his everlasting regret. “Why Tucker and not ME?”

  184. 184.

    Raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: I saw where you had mistaken 2 for 3, happens to me all the time. The first guy I talked to at th reunion was from Wisconsin. He was braying about how they could take away all the guns there. I mentioned Madison and got “you know what’s wrong with Madison? All those liberals. even that mayor was an anti war demonstrator? I said, “well that’s ok if you’re a liberal, right”? He just looked at me.

  187. 187.

    Jay

    More than 47,000 people – double the number of a few weeks ago – protested in Moscow today. The Kremlin’s attempts to kill the pro-democracy movement are only making it stronger pic.twitter.com/TCEf4lrEJW— max seddon (@maxseddon) August 10, 2019

    Hong Kongs still going strong,

    Puerto Rico is still going strong,

    Kashmir has started,

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    Me too. I was kinda proud of how I’ve had an empty pie filter list for lo these many months…

    but no more. Lance is outta here to me.

  189. 189.

    patrick II

    @Ruckus:

    Yeah, GWB Sr was president, and he was the first sinner when he raised taxes. The right wing considered him a traitor to the cause too. But then GWB jr. ran to wash away the sins of the father. I think of him as the Oedipal president, doing the exact opposite of his father — tax cut, going on to Baghdad, we don’t need no stinking alliance, no problem with the “vision thing” –ruled by the gut.

    Aside from being the first democrat after St. Ronnie, and a hillbilly from Arkansas, Bill was married to Hillary, a smart ambitious modern woman who the Republicans I know viscerally hated from the beginning. She did not know her place. There were other modern women before her, but none so close to the seat of power.

  191. 191.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    IMO Hewitt makes a career out of posing as somebody who pisses off liberals and hippies

    Hewitt began his punditry career as the conservative side of the argument on public affairs programs on Southern California PBS stations. He often came across as a feeble combination of George Will and David Brooks, with even less to say than either of these guys. Hewitt’s main claim to fame was not that he could piss off anyone, but that he could show up whenever called and fill air time with even tempered empty prattle.

  193. 193.

    NeenerNeener

    @debbie: I used to live in Columbus, and that Wexner is gay is just one of those things that everybody knew. Maybe he was in love with Epstein.

    He was in his mid-50s when he got married….had to leave the company to somebody. Rumor has it the kids are from IVF.

  197. 197.

    sukabi

    They’d rather kill themselves

    Until we’re ass deep in the bodies of the rich I’m going to need actual proof.

  200. 200.

    Gelfling 545

    @Jay: They happen all the time in our county holding center & prison. This is largely because the Sheriff is a right wing idiot who keeps getting voted in by the same rednecks who vote for Chris Collins. He and his operation are and have been under review by the state but have yet to show that they are in compliance. They’ve bern reporting suicide attempts to the state as “inmate disturbances” to avoid scrutiny. He’s the defendant in numerous lawsuits both over the suicides and failure to get proper medical attention for inmates.

  208. 208.

    mainsailset

    I’m going to go out on a limb here. Epstein was a sex addict, he told one of his victims that he had to climax at least 3x a day. So because he has no reputation left to destroy I’m going with he had an auto erotica adventure that took him into the hinterlands.

  210. 210.

    Kent

    Who the hell knows what actually happened and we will probably never know.

    But I find suicide plausable. A psychopath like Epstein who has been operating with impunity his whole life probably has a LOT of dirt and crimes that HE knows about that have not yet been discovered. The accusations to date were probably just the tip of the iceberg. He had to have known that there was a whole lot more shit yet to come out once serious professional investigators start digging for the first time. He could probably plausibly do the math and figure he was never going to see the outside of a prison cell for the rest of his life.

    As for a hit job? Seems to me like powerful people in high places have ways of just making these sorts or “rumors” just go away without needing to resort to mob stuff. Dershowitz is neck deep in Epstein stuff, for example, but he’ll skate clean and still get dinner invitations in the Hamptons and keep his Harvard tenure. People will just say he was too “trusting” of Epstein and move on.

  214. 214.

    LanceThruster

    @Chyron HR:

    Being wise to the previous shenanigans is certainly a help. Forewarned is forearmed. The superdelegates protocol is certainly a hurdle with the packed field, but Bernie is still generating unmatched enthusiasm. You’d think more here would appreciate how he’s shifted the discussion. The debates have shown how mainstream his views within the party have become. A lot of Johnny-come-latelys are trying to claim the progressive leadership mantle for themselves.

    Treat yourself to the Joe Rogan interview with him. He will get people to the polls, particularly the large independent block. People stayed home in 2016. If the Dems run another party approved centrist while ignoring the base, expect a 2nd term for Dolt 45.

  215. 215.

    Jay

    Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton OH. #937-208- 8000I just called to ask if it is common procedure to have medical staff smiling and laughing when 22 people were slaughtered. I was sent to a person. She listened, I told her you know better than that, shameful. She was silent. CALL.— Yvette with a Y (@radiochick841) August 8, 2019

  218. 218.

    germy

    @Jay: Lots of republicans work in hospitals. I’ve encountered conservative nurses. They don’t always do or know what’s best.

  220. 220.

    chris

    No LOL but a bitter chuckle.

    The fact that Anthony Weiner is still alive is proof that the Clinton's don't kill anyone who crosses them.— Philip Klinkner (@pklinkne) August 10, 2019

  225. 225.

    Jay

    18. SDNY statement: “To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment remains ongoing.” pic.twitter.com/KHgfWJcE8T— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) August 10, 2019

    Good thread.

  228. 228.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Chyron HR: How badly is Wilmer going to have it stolen from him by DA STABBISHMENTS this time? Over 5 million votes?

    Oh Wilmer. A forest and knitting needles are calling your name. Go to them.

  230. 230.

    cindiloohoo

    I find it very interesting that two days ago Trump was all smug smiles and thumbs up in that disgusting photo op visit to the hospital in El Paso, but yesterday he was a sweaty, ranty, panicked mess when talking to the press in front of the White House – just before Jeffrey Epstein “committed suicide.”

  231. 231.

    LanceThruster

    @different-church-lady:

    Bernie continues to fill venues. The others… not so much.

    Bernie is beating Trump in head to head polls better than anyone (just like he did in 2016. HRC was in a statistical dead heat which turned out to be spot on).

    Bernie is +5 over Trump in Texas! Biden’s numbers (the frontrunner) are a mile wide and an inch deep. They get worse the longer Creepy Credit Card Joe is out there.

    It’s a bit early for so much smack talk, but with the right VP pick (Tulsi?), we could be looking at 4 consecutive administrations. 16 years! I could die happy.

    Get on board for the big win, folks. Love to have you!

  232. 232.

    Jay

    @germy:

    Naming,

    Shaming,

    Ostracizing them,

    The first three steps towards tumbrels,…..

    Alabama restaurant closing so they won’t have to serve ‘racist’ fans of Fox News ‘asshat’ Brian Kilmeade

  234. 234.

    different-church-lady

    @LanceThruster: Listen, I understand dead-enders gotta dead-end, but you’re not really fooling anyone here, unless you got Poe and his law at your table.

    Not to mention the Tulsi thing being one hell of a tell.

  236. 236.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    Asshat arguing for a permit to host a Straight Pride Parade sinks his own permit because of verbal diarrhea accidentally blurting out “peaceful racist organization”,

  241. 241.

    LanceThruster

    @different-church-lady:

    What is it you all hate about candidates not taking corporate PAC money?

    If you need to rely on big money donors, that’s not democracy, that’s a purchase.

    And that’s my private AND public position.

    YMMV.

  242. 242.

    NotMax

    @Lance Thruster

    with the right VP pick (Tulsi?)

    Jesus F. Christ on a pogo stick. Lay off the sauce, tovarich.

    Shall refrain from belaboring the all too obvious suggestion of where to thrust thine lance.

  244. 244.

    LC

    @LanceThruster:

    It’s a bit early for so much smack talk, but with the right VP pick (Tulsi?), we could be looking at 4 consecutive administrations. 16 years! I could die happy.

    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Dude that’s amazing. Amazing!
    *wipes tear*
    Wow.

  253. 253.

    Jay

    “Lance Thruster” is overcompensating again,

    And Wilmer going on Rogan was a tell. Rogan’s a mysogeny and nazi fluffer.

  255. 255.

    Jay

    An admin encouraged users of the new 8chan to connect directly to the site instead of using onion routing, which causes slowness. Because of the peer-to-peer nature of the new site, this meant that users leaked their true IP addresses. ???https://t.co/ehTbreCRu7— Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (@PugetSoundJBGC) August 9, 2019

  258. 258.

    Quinerly

    Please don’t feed the troll. I came fucking close to it this morning.
    #beme
    #ihaznotwitter

  259. 259.

    NeenerNeener

    @Omnes Omnibus: Odd, because I never heard anything about him being straight the whole time I lived there. I even checked in recently with some co-workers who still live there, and they still think he’s gay.

  264. 264.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I wonder why Epstein’s death brought out the LT troll. The last time I remember that troll being all over multiple threads was when it was taking an anti-HRC victory lap in November of 2016.

  268. 268.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JPL: That one is pretty easy I would think. LT is annoying but doesn’t violate any of Cole’s rules.

  269. 269.

    Jay

    White supremacists were responsible for *ALL* race-based domestic terrorism in 2018. 100%.Trump’s DoJ & Barr then worked **to hide that report from Congress**-all while defunding federal programs to combat white supremacist violence.This is a white supremacist administration. https://t.co/2GvN2tU0fg— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 10, 2019

  270. 270.

    LanceThruster

    @different-church-lady:

    Mike Gravel didn’t make the debates though hitting the required donor tsrgets because he did not poll high enough. He also happened the be completely left off the polls regularly.

    MSNBC misrepresented their own poll numbers on camera in order to kneecap Bernie (Jimmy Dore covered that one). Again, I called it in here with regard to Hillary in 2016. The BJ VSPs predicted I would not show my face after the coronation. Got banned shortly after because [reasons]. It’s clear that it still eats the insides out of many you just how monumentally wrong you all were as the sure thing horse you backed crashed and burned. Someone rigged the wrong goddamn election. Their handpicked Pied Piper blew up in their goddamn smug faces. You know, the ones that bought Schumer’s claptrap about gaining Republican moderates 2 to 1 for the progressive votes they’d lose. Hillary went on a Rachel Maddow townhall stating yhat her substantial primary win margin meant she needed to do nothing to try to appeal to thst boting block.

    You seem to love crunching numbers. Remind me how that all worked out in the final tally? She hurt races all down the ticket… but at least she got that popular vote consolation prize and a book tour out of it.

    And Robby Mook and John Podesta help reignite the Cold War as cover, so there’s that. MIC stocks are doing quite well.

  271. 271.

    MisterForkbeard

    @different-church-lady: I like how he’s trying to say Bernie is the font of all progressivism and that OTHERS are the ones trying to steal his thunder. Because before Bernie no one had thought about single payer healthcare, especially not a first lady in the 90’s. Or raising the minimum wage, like the entire Democratic Party, etc.

    Or that he’s ranting about unmatched enthusiasm for a man who’s somewhere between 3rd and 4th place nationally despite being the runner up last time.

    It’s sad. As is his ridiculous and unrelenting hatred of Hillary.

    ETA: My god he just KEEPS GOING. Like the energizer bunny of angry idiots. Except instead of banging a drum, he keeps smacking himself in the face repeatedly and then getting angry at us for laughing at him.

  273. 273.

    Jay

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Except instead of banging a drum, he keeps smacking himself in the face repeatedly and then getting angry at us for laughing at him.

    Well he is “lance thrusting” so it’s no surprise his Boris Johnson keeps slapping him in the face.

  276. 276.

    Mandalay

    Hoo boy…

    “I watched what happened when those kids from Parkland came up to see me when I was vice president,” Biden says. “Some of you covered it.”

    The Parkland shootings occurred in 2018, a year after he left the vice presidency. It’s likely he means Newtown victims, who came in 2013.

  278. 278.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Mandalay: What’s sad is that all these things DO run together. I have trouble keeping all these school shooting apart. What a fucking terrible timeline.

    Also, Biden is old and while he’s done this sort of thing when he was much younger, it really doesn’t inspire confidence.

  281. 281.

    Yutsano

    @Elizabelle: As I recall, Lance is one of our resident Berners. So yeah, he’s still bitter that Killary denied Wilmer his designated spot on the throne. Let’s ignore the fact she’s been a Democrat since at least the early 70s. Let’s ignore the fact Sanders only begrudgingly joined the party to hijack its infrastructure and use its resources. He simply didn’t win the primary at the end. He then threw a fit about it and encouraged his supporters to join him. At the end of it all there is some (but not all) responsibility there.

    Basically, fuck Bernie Sanders in the ear. I’m glad he’s losing this time around again.

  282. 282.

    Bill Arnold

    @Chris Johnson:

    And I’m not entirely sure McConnell really ‘fell down and hurt himself’.

    There will (probably :-) be more such casualties.
    I’m pretty sure (reasons) that there were a bunch of sermons, including megachurch sermons, queued up and ready to slag (in a coded way but obviously) D.J. Trump’s racism and hatred-stoking and lack of (attempted faux) empathy on Sunday. Some of them will chicken out and talk about Epstein instead. Such a rich buffet of sin!.
    Annoyed at this effect (if true), but the civil suits mean the story of the Epstein pedophile network isn’t going away, and will continue through 2020, and there are plenty of other Sundays between now and the election.

    Since the silly joke is (or will be) out there (and saw it in previous thread): Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)

  285. 285.

    Mandalay

    @MisterForkbeard: Right.

    I don’t think for a moment that Biden is bragging or lying when he says this stuff, but in the end the root cause of his gaffes is a distinction without a difference. He’s “misspeaking” way too much on the campaign trail, and Trump is going to move from “Sleepy Joe Biden” to “Senile Joe Biden” the moment Biden gets the nomination.

    And the Republican attack ads with a scary voice over – “Would you trust Old Joe with the nuclear codes?” – will write themselves.

    And then there’s this from Biden, which is not an example of senility or misspeaking, but raw stupidity:

    “What’s starting to happen is things are different now,” Joe Biden tells reporters of gun control activism. “You have ordinary people who found themselves in the crosshairs — no pun intended — standing up and saying, ‘This has to stop.'”

    #anyonebutbiden 2020!

  287. 287.

    J R in WV

    @Yutsano:

    Basically, fuck Bernie Sanders in the ear. I’m glad he’s losing this time around again.

    And I’m glad he’s losing in 4th place today instead of second place like last time!!

  289. 289.

    Mandalay

    @Cacti:

    If Bernie was the nominee, Trump would win 40+ states.

    And if there’s a “y” in the day of the week you’re an idiot. Just stop.

    Data Collected: 08/01/2019 – 08/05/2019…

    In a hypothetical nationwide general election today — which approximates the outcome of the USA popular vote but not necessarily the outcome of the Electoral College — Democrats Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders defeat by 8 points Incumbent Republican President Donald Trump…
    * Former Vice President Biden 50%, President Trump 42%.
    * Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders 50%, Trump 42%.

  290. 290.

    NeenerNeener

    @Cacti: “The Mooch” was on Maher last night and claimed that if Warren is the nominee Trump will also win 40 states. I don’t know if he said that because the Repubs are really worried about Warren, or if he really believes that.

  292. 292.

    Miss Bianca

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: No, I can tell you for a fact that the only Juicer anywhere close to Alain and his mushrooms was petite moi. I and PizzleTwister are not the same person.

    In PizzleTwister’s case, magic mushrooms could only make him *less* delusional, not more. Sort of Ritalin’s effect on ADD.

  293. 293.

    hueyplong

    The Tulsi 16 year thing was comedy gold. Great to be borderline entertained for once by a troll.

    Don’t think it’s sustainable, though.

  294. 294.

    Elizabelle

    @Yutsano: It’s tiresome, isn’t it?

    And yeah, fuck Bernie. Enough.

    Elizabeth Warren is the real deal. So is Kamala Harris.

  298. 298.

    mrmoshpotato

    @sukabi:

    betting Hillary will be the gops witch decades after she’s passed on.

    Is Hannity still trying to impeach her?

  299. 299.

    Chris Johnson

    Don’t feed the troll.

    There WERE those for whom it was the message, not the mess, back then. I gave real money (not sure how much it compared to Kremlin money the guy happily accepted thinkin’ it was grass roots, and it stings in retrospect) and I went over and voted for Hillary and got some folks to do likewise. So on one hand I got suckered, and on the other hand it was about the message, and the message wasn’t a wrong message, the message was being HIJACKED in a known psy-ops technique by Putin and his crew. The movie ‘Hypernormalization’ had that spelled out years ago, it’s not speculative. Putin did this often, and he jumped on my bandwagon to heighten contradictions.

    This time we don’t need Bernie to have that message. I’m happy that he ditched Tad Devine (maybe that’s why he’s not magically racking up huge numbers now? He doesn’t have the unlooked-for help of Daddy Putin, his usefulness as a stalking horse is over now that the Russians are already INSIDE the government so it’s not necessary for Bernie to ‘win’?) but I’d willingly vote for a replacement with better Left credentials, even for a Senatorial position. I don’t have the rage some have, but I’m super disappointed, and we’re gonna move on.

    Don’t feed the troll. He is nothing more than the disgrace of the Left: the reality that two-bit hired trolls were able to be the face of the Progressive wing when it really mattered, and it cost us all a horrible geopolitical loss. Anybody would have been better than a Russian agent and willing honeypot for the ultra-rich getting ‘elected’ President.

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