Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

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

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

When we show up, we win.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

When I was faster i was always behind.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

We still have time to mess this up!

How stupid are these people?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Bark louder, little dog.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / What a Bunch of Dumbshits

Reader Interactions

215Comments

  1. 1.

    HyperSphericalCow

    Look, forget the myths the media’s created about the White House–the truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

  4. 4.

    Major Major Major Major

    Hahaha, we’d better not lose to these idiots.

    Been a crowded and noisy week here in Turtle Bay because of the UN General Assembly. There were cops training all weekend for this harsh urban environment. Good times.

  7. 7.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    “In fact, they weren’t very bright, and things got out of hand”

    IOW, it’s a day ending in -y in TrumpLand

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Mike Murphy, I believe one of McCain’s campaign aides, just said the Rs have just put the Senate in play. Said a Republican senator told him 30 R Senators would vote to impeach if it were a secret ballot.

    You wanna show your own patriotism, Mike, burn that motherfucker. Name and shame.

  13. 13.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Hahaha, we’d better not lose to these idiots.

    Alas, you can be the biggest dumbfuck in the world and get rich if you’re the only source of something people are desperate to buy. The Republican Party is selling racism.

  15. 15.

    germy

    Young republicans, who I assume are their office assistants in charge of email attachments, etc. are not very bright. And being young conservatives, they’re used to being coddled, because they’re so special and valuable to the cause.

  16. 16.

    patroclus

    I think the whistleblower is the Ambassador to Ukraine. What courage!

    I was against impeachment until today with the release of this smoking gun “transcript.” Now, it is imperative!

  17. 17.

    debit

    @germy: How much do you want to bet that mother of the staffer who fucked up is going to call everyone who got the email and demand it be sent back.

  18. 18.

    Leto

    @Cheryl Rofer: @Amir Khalid: I posted this in the thread below, in response to the recall:

    You can (recall an email). It’s an option in Outlook (also gmail, I believe). There’s “recall”, which recalls an unread email (that part is key, unread). If you’ve already read it…

    There’s also “recall and replace” where you recall the email and replace it with what you ostensibly meant to send. Again, it will recall the unread email. If you’ve already read it, it won’t recall it and you still get the new message. I know these because I’ve seen many, “Oh shit, recall that email!” Moments in the military. This is just incompetence. Dumbshits, indeed.

    The fact they sent the wrong “disinformation points” is just dumb, the fact they don’t know how to work basic Outlook functions is just dumber. It’s Dumb and Dumber irl.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    Love the pictures :)

    ‘Being a working mum and travelling with a baby… it’s a lot but it’s all so exciting!’ Meghan Markle reveals the hardships of taking Archie on royal tour of South Africa

    The Duchess of Sussex met with 12 inspiring female entrepreneurs at a workshop in South Africa today
    Earlier the Meghan and Harry took Archie on his first public engagement to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu
    Meghan then paid a visit to the charity mothers2mothers, which trains and employs women with HIV
    By REBECCA ENGLISH ROYAL CORRESPONDENT IN CAPE TOWN FOR THE DAILY MAIL and AMIE GORDON FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 08:19 EDT, 25 September 2019 | UPDATED: 11:25 EDT, 25 September 2019

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    True open thread?

    Received several small this ‘n’ that’s via Amazon. The fabric bags or pouches inside which some were packed are simply too nice and substantial to throw away, not that I’ll likely ever find a use for them, but ya never know. Some zippered, others with a drawstring.

    Also a very nice set of new martini glasses, stemless and hefty, one of which passed the test for use last night with flying colors. Nothing worth holding on to from the otherwise impressive packaging of those.

    @Major Major Major Major

    For a time lived nearby, corner of 40th and 2nd.

  22. 22.

    The Moar You Know

    Haha, dumber than that! They emailed the recipients asking for the talking points back.

    @Cheryl Rofer: Much to my shock, you can do this in court proceedings. It’s called “clawback”. And then the people who sent it to you in the first place will then try (and sometimes succeed) to get it excluded from evidence, which is probably what they were thinking here (I very much believe this was done on purpose).

    Someone should inform Trump’s Very Low Quality Hires that the press isn’t the courts.

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    Washington Post:

    Several Senate Republicans were stunned Wednesday and questioned the White House’s judgment after it released a rough transcript of President Trump’s call with the Ukraine president that showed Trump offering the help of the U.S. attorney general to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
    One Senate Republican, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said the transcript’s release was a “huge mistake” that the GOP now has to confront, even as they argue that House Democrats are overreaching with their impeachment effort.
    A top Senate GOP aide said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expecting Wednesday’s closed-door lunch to be eventful and possibly tense as Republicans react to the transcript and debate their next step.

    Emphasis added. Someone just won the coveted “understatement of the day” award.

  26. 26.

    debit

    Guys, I feel like it’s the week leading up to Christmas and my parents have been observed surreptitiously cleaning up pony poop in the backyard.

  27. 27.

    Gin & Tonic

    @patroclus: There is not currently an Ambassador to Ukraine. Marie Yovanovich was sacked at Don Jr and Giuliani’s behest, and there is only a Chargé d’affaires at this point. He wouldn’t be in on the conversation(s) anyway.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    @dmsilev:

    Like I keep saying, this is the LEAST BAD thing they’ve got. Everything else is worse.

    So have Congressional Republicans been kept out of the loop about all of the shit Trump has been up to, or are they just pissed that he was blatant enough to get caught?

  29. 29.

    OGLiberal

    @MattF: I was reading Cilliza’s piece and where he presents a similar hypothetical scenario outside of the realm of politics reminds me of the anti-corruption training we have to do every year at my company. They have short videos presenting potential corruption scenarios in the workplace and then ask questions about whether or not what happened was an example of corruptions. The ones that are corrupt are so clearly corrupt that only an idiot or a sociopath would say, “Well, that’s just fine”. Trump is both so, yeah.

  31. 31.

    Mandalay

    @trollhattan:

    “Everybody receiving this, I want you right now to march to the shredder and put in your phone. DO IT!”

    That reminds me of when some wag here suggested that Don Jr. was going to print his incriminating emails, and then put them in the shredder to destroy the evidence.

    That joke wouldn’t work at all if the target was (say) Clinton or Warren instead, but it’s so damn plausible with Don Jr.

  35. 35.

    Barbara

    @Gin & Tonic: She was sacked in May, so would likely not have been in the loop during the relevant period, if we are to believe that it pertains to events that occurred in July. The hold up of the aid was apparently first noted around May/June, so she might have been aware of that.

    I noted that Tulsi Gabbard qualified for the next debate. Boo Hiss. I wonder whether she will be out there pollyanna style opposing impeachment because it’s too divisive, which is where she was yesterday.

  36. 36.

    dmsilev

    @Mnemosyne: I think the surprise and shock among the GOP was that the Trumpistas didn’t stonewall for longer before releasing the summary/recap/not-transcript. They probably thought they’d have at least a week to get all of their talking points in order.

    But yes, you’re right. There’s definitely worse to come.

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    @Gravenstone: The Onion has to maintain at least a veneer of plausibility:
    Beto O’Rourke’s Son Concerned Trump Will Order Ukraine To Investigate Him Next

    EL PASO, TX—Worrying over whether he had ever engaged in any activity that might hurt his father’s candidacy, Henry O’Rourke, the 8-year-old son of White House hopeful Beto O’Rourke, expressed concern Tuesday that President Trump might instruct Ukraine to investigate him next. “What if those Ukrainian guys find out about that time last year I got my recess privileges taken away for acting up in class?” the visibly panicked third-grader said as he repeatedly searched beneath his bed and inside his closet to make sure there weren’t any unfinished school assignments or other incriminating materials that could be used against him or his father. “I don’t think I’ve done anything too bad, but I’d better cover my tracks just in case. Oh God—there is that time I copied my friend Tyler’s math homework! It only happened once, though, and I don’t think he’ll talk. Still, they went after Hunter [Biden], and it’s only a matter of time before they start digging up dirt on me.” The young O’Rourke added that he was glad his father never gained enough influence in Congress for anyone to ever accuse him of abusing his power for his son’s benefit.

  42. 42.

    guachi

    I think there is a small chance some Republican who wants to be President will come out for Trump’s impeachment to get him out of the way so the person can run in 2020.

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    OT:
    My sister brought me two large bags of yellow split peas yesterday. I only know about green split peas. Is there a big difference between them?

  45. 45.

    Barbara

    @The Moar You Know:

    Much to my shock, you can do this in court proceedings. It’s called “clawback”. And then the people who sent it to you in the first place will then try (and sometimes succeed) to get it excluded from evidence

    This is done if you have some kind of privilege over the material, e.g., attorney client (which you don’t if you are emailing it to a third party outside the zone of privilege). This would usually be used when both sides agree to the clawback as part of discovery so that they don’t have to conduct a review that is too laborious or expensive. But there is nothing that would prevent the other side from requesting and receiving non-privileged materials even if they had never seen them before and they fell within the category of information requested. So I doubt that requesting the return of these documents would have any legal significance whatsoever.

  49. 49.

    206inKY

    The first talking point — “no quid pro quo” — was used verbatim in the heading of Aaron Blake’s insta-take in the WaPo within 30 minutes of the document release this morning. Some bad actors are ideologues; others are just extremely lazy.

  50. 50.

    Barbara

    @MattF: Well I can understand why Tulsi might not want to admit that trying to collect favors from foreign dictators is a really bad idea.

  52. 52.

    germy

    @206inKY: The NYT is adept at republican talking points:

    The White House summary of the Trump-Zelensky call does not include an explicit quid pro quo, but immediately after Zelensky talks about U.S. aid, Trump raises his desire for a political investigation: "I would like you to do us a favor though…"— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) September 25, 2019

  53. 53.

    patroclus

    @Mnemosyne: I changed my mind after reading the “transcript.” This is clear evidence of an unacceptable abuse of power which does not even require a quid pro quo. Trump should be impeached and removed forthwith. And impeachment should be sought regardless of the likely Republican acquittal. My prior views about the Mueller flameout and the fact that he didn’t pursue a subpoena to require direct testimony nor indict the kids remain but aren’t all that operative now. The “transcript” is a smoking gun – akin to the June 23 tape in the Nixon example.

  54. 54.

    Barbara

    @dmsilev:

    I hope somebody responded by sending them back a copy of the attachment.

    I hope somebody forwarded it back to them and copied their entire contracts list as BCCs.

  55. 55.

    dogwood

    @rikyrah:
    I like the yellow peas better than the green for split pea soup. They’re a bit sweeter and definitely more visually appetizing.

  57. 57.

    sdhays

    Am I the only one who’s reaction to this is: there’s nothing surprising about these talking points since the entire Republican Party has been saying some version of them for days? It’s not like Democrats just received the plans to the Death Star. What’s dumb is that the press amplifies message discipline instead of detecting it and working around it.

  59. 59.

    Mohagan

    @rikyrah: Thanks for the link. The pictures were great! I love where she is kissing the little girl’s hand.She’s doing great at her new job!

  60. 60.

    Hoodie

    @dmsilev: The WH’s defense now seems to be “yeah, what are you gonna do about it?,” which reflects an attitude that Senate R’s are chumps who will put up with any indignity that that Trump heaps upon them (a justified assumption). I love the “we’d vote to remove him if it were a secret ballot” — what a bunch of cowards. If 30 of them came out in support of impeachment and removal, Trump’s “power” over the GOP would evaporate in a NY minute as Trump’s base would disintegrate into its component factions the minute he becomes a loser. The problem for the GOP before Trump is that it was an increasingly incoherent ideological coalition of business cronies, rich cranks, gun nuts, racists and fundamentalists, all of which was reflected in the 2016 primary field. The only unifying theme to emerge was owning the libs, otherwise known as “winning!” When Trump ceases to win, his base fractures, e.g., they start realigning and making new alliances including, god forbid, alliances with Democrats.

  63. 63.

    Aleta

    @Cheryl Rofer: That’s big.

    Could this in any way affect the national emergency/national security justification the administration has used to raise tariffs on steel, aluminum, etc. ? (I believe that’s a different definition than the one used for the border, but ….)

  66. 66.

    tom darga

    I’m kind of curious why “no one” is commenting that withholding that aid from the Ukraine was a form of direct military assistance to Putin’s forces in that country.

    So, besides the domestic political repercussions of asking a foreign government to investigate a domestic political rival, there is also the “Yet Another thing Trump is doing to assist Putin for reasons that remain less that totally obvious” angle.

  67. 67.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: I still think it is stalling and distraction on the actual whistleblower complaint, to avoid turning it over to the Legislature.

  69. 69.

    germy

    One good thing about the accidental mailing of the talking points:

    When you see them show up verbatim in various “journalists'” tweets and reporting, it makes it easier to spot the moles in the media. I mean, everyone knows Jon Karl is a republican mole masquerading as a journalist, but there are quite a few others under the radar.

  74. 74.

    catclub

    @Hoodie:

    I love the “we’d vote to remove him if it were a secret ballot” — what a bunch of cowards. If 30 of them came out in support of impeachment and removal,

    and also a lie.

    These are the same people who decided they would rather vote against anything Obama wanted, no matter how much it might be good for the country. Party before Country is all they are.

  76. 76.

    germy

    @Leto:

    Congressional Republicans are up to their eyeballs in this. They’re pissed because he keeps showing everyone the goods.

    Congressional Republicans to Trump: “How can we cover your ass if you keep showing it??”

  78. 78.

    PeakVT

    Should I laugh, should I cry, should I punch a wall? So confused. Also sad and angry that I am confused. But happy that something pretty god-damn illegal has been found. But sad and angry that it’s happening in my country.

    Looks like I picked the wrong year to give up drinking.

  79. 79.

    piratedan

    @sdhays: methinks the kicker here is that we have a Presidency that is now under official Congressional Investigation, call it a fulcrum of political exposure where the opportunity to set the tenor for how their party should rally around its leadership and these guys send their coordinated game plan to their opponents. Even in this environment where the media does massive lifting for the GOP POV and getting their proverbial ducks in order, shows that when the shit hits the fan, this Administration is willing to go the extra lengths to find a bathtub to throw the fan into, while it’s still plugged in.

    In a way, it also highlights multiple other thoughts…

    1) just how much heavy lifting on social media Putin’s team must have done to sway this last Presidential election
    2) just how racist and misogynistic our fellow citizens are
    3) that the majority of the media stopped being impartial about politics about three decades ago and how irritatingly blatant they are about who they favor.

  82. 82.

    joel hanes

    @patroclus:

    of this smoking gun “transcript.” Now, it is imperative!

    The transcript is only the gaudy bit.
    Trump has done worse, Much worse. Many times. With enablers and accomplices.

    It is imperative to do a thorough job of documenting the atrocities in the articles of impeachment, both to preserve a record of just how pervasively criminal the entire Republican Party has become, and to give us the grounds to remove as many as possible of those accomplices and enablers from positions of power.

    Also, we want these crimes to be still in the news in the run-up to the 2020 election.
    Also, never interrupt your enemies while they’re in the process of destroying themselves.

    In short: what’s your sudden hurry? Grind these motherfuckers every day for ten months.
    Then make the Senate vote a couple months before the Senators must stand for re-election.

  84. 84.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @HyperSphericalCow:

    Look, forget the myths the media’s created about the White House–the truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

    Excellent, just what I want to hear about a group who can start WWIII.

  85. 85.

    germy

    Dumbshits? I need to check in with the expert:

    Democrats are in trouble. They truly believe their opinions are facts. That is how they present. It works in our Pravda media.— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) September 25, 2019

  87. 87.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Here’s an explainer on the vote against the emergency declaration.

    Wednesday’s vote isn’t expected to stop the actual construction of more fencing; Trump began raiding military construction budgets in order to fund the wall earlier this month. But Democrats introduced the resolution at least in part to pressure Republicans — especially vulnerable senators in swing states — about where they stood. And they weren’t able to avoid it: Because the 1976 law specifies that this resolution is “privileged,” a term that applies to measures the upper chamber must consider, Republicans were unable to prevent it from coming to the floor.

    Trump will veto it. But 11 Republicans voted for it, more than last time.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I want to thank everyone yesterday and last night for asking about my injured wrist. As I feared, it is broken, and I’m waiting to hear from an orthopædic surgeon for an appointment, hopefully today or tomorrow. I expect surgery is in the cards, which is disheartening but probably necessary.

    Meanwhile, I’m in a temporary fibreglass splint, and reminding myself (my mantra during bad times) that if this is the worst thing that ever happens to me, I’ve had a pretty damned good life.

    And now for something completely different, and much more cheerful: HUGE congratulations to Ozark Hillbilly on the birth of his granddaughter! Welcome to little Adelyne Rose ? ❤️

  89. 89.

    catclub

    Reading the transcript, there is Trump’s personal interest, but there is no representation of the interests of the United States.

  91. 91.

    germy

    One more thing, libs:

    One more thing. Barr is getting close to uncovering what the Democrats did with the Russia Hoax and Ukraine may be at the center of it, with the Democrats colluding?— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) September 25, 2019

  92. 92.

    TomatoQueen

    @rikyrah: That baby is adorable. The little outfit is available online this minute in size 4-6 months and 6-12 months for $25, smaller sizes sold out. Not available in stores.

  93. 93.

    joel hanes

    @Leto:

    I’m pretty sure that those recall and replace options only work while the email is contained on purely Outlook servers, and once it jumps a link to a non-Microsoft email relay, it’s gone beyond recall.

    So in this case, the window of opportunity might have been seconds, at most.

  96. 96.

    JWR

    From the close of the “transcript” of the phone call…

    Trump: Congratulations on a fantastic job you’ve done. The whole world was watching. I’m not sure it was so much of an upset, but congratulations.

    This guy! Always has to make the other person look smaller.

  97. 97.

    sherparick

    @HyperSphericalCow: Trump and his minions make Nixon and his gang look like fucking geniuses. But the media goes to great measures to protect Trump since he is such great copy; and his one talent is being able to feed the NY media machine with stories that grab people’s attention.

  98. 98.

    trollhattan

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    “Adelyne Rose”? What a great name. That’s a country song in itself, three-quarter time. Congrats to Granddad and the whole family!

    Best o’ luck with the wrist. How the hell are you typing?

  99. 99.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @debit: I’ve had Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “Goody Goody” running through my head since Monday night. I’m trying to work out a set of filk lyrics that would apply to either Speaker Pelosi or Lady Hale as being the person who knocked the song’s subject off of his heels.

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @debit:

    I played lavish arrangements of The Star-Spangled Banner and America on our piano yesterday afternoon. Hope the neighbors enjoyed it.

    I detest fireworks, but if this succeeds . . . . I’m heading to Home Depot or wherever it is you buy fireworks, and I’m going to set them off in the front yard.

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    The spouse is sending me pics from Chamonix, where she and her buddies just arrived after eleventy hours from SFO. Holy crap, people live there? I want to live there. Watch the glaciers melt from my balcony.

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    @debit:
    I’m all Mulder out loud “I want to believe” but Scully inside “Again, Mulder?”

    People got excited when Pence came back unexpectedly after some trip–“What if Trump had a STROKE???”

    Slippery fuck is slippery.

  110. 110.

    jl

    @germy: They’re still looking for the Holy Grail, the ‘HRC servers’ which will solve all problems and completely obliterate all their opponents forever and ever. I think, beside fabricating dirt on Bidens, in the staff notes dishonestly passed off as a transcript, Trump also asked Ukraine to cough up the HRC servers, which he insanely thinks are discrete and unique physical entities hidden there someplace.

    Besides smoking gun evidence of two crimes, also that 25th Amendment process needs to start asap.

  113. 113.

    patrick II

    Q was just listeningg to Rush. It’s all a plot by Warren and liberal democrats toset rid of Trump and Biden at the same time! Nefarious Genius!

  117. 117.

    jl

    I wonder if Trump thinks the missing basement of the pizza joint where HRC committed her many crimes is hidden someplace in Ukraine. If the GOP could just get their hands on that, HRC and the whole Democratic party would go to jail forever, it would be so bad.

  118. 118.

    joel hanes

    @Immanentize:

    Oh, of course. Playing “White Rabbit”.

    I must have been there during the Sixties, because my memories of it are … unreliable.

    Oh for the days when you could drop the name “Raoul Duke” and people knew what you meant.
    Thanks for the correction.

  119. 119.

    dogwood

    I just read that the OLC is sticking to its ruling that the DNI doesn’t have to report the whistleblower’s allegations to the Intelligence Committees. If this ends up in Court there’s a good chance the OLC’s opinion will be upheld.

  120. 120.

    Immanentize

    @piratedan:

    When it comes to that fantastic note where the… rabbit bites its own head off, I want you to – throw – that – fuckin – radio – into the tub – with me.

    Radio. Not fan, not hair dryer. Please preserve the classics.

  123. 123.

    Uncle Cosmo

    What news of the Untied Kingdom today? What of the Breakshitters? What of Flobalob and Niggle Falange?

  125. 125.

    Immanentize

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    You’ll be full badass soon, pitching at 80+ mph while diving from a plane!!

    Good luck and here’s hoping the surgeon, against all surgeon ethics, says no surgery is required.

  128. 128.

    guachi

    @dogwood: Then this gets dragged out for months and they can tack obstruction charges on to the impeachment. It’s not like there isn’t enough information in the “transcript” already to impeach Trump.

  133. 133.

    Leto

    @germy: exactly. It’s like a bad Chappelle Show skit. Or a Charlie Murphy skit.

    Repubs: Of course the President didn’t/wouldn’t do this.

    Trumpov: Of course I did that!

    Repubs: No, no, he didn’t mean that.

    Trumpov: Of course I meant it, bigly meant it! Let me show you the “transcript” of it!

  138. 138.

    Leto

    @SiubhanDuinne: So I’m playing catch-up with the thread (drove to PT, where you’ll be in a bit ?). That totally sucks about your wrist. Also what you said yesterday wrt to me and everyone else who has been injured worse: everyone is entitled to their pain. What you’re going through sucks and isn’t diminished because some of us have had it worse. I hope your Ortho fixes it with minimal residual scarring and that your back to doing the things you live sooner, rather than later ?❤️

  144. 144.

    Raoul

    Per Taegan Goddard, Cindy McCain is publicly quitting the GOP. No word on what her unfortunate daughter will say about that defection.

    And I doubt there’s been much communication between Miss Lindsey and the widow since John shook off this mortal coil.

  151. 151.

    joel hanes

    One of the Wonkette threads has a bunch of today’s tweets from Republican politicians.

    They’re unanimously determined to keep fucking that chicken.

  155. 155.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Sebastian: At least some of the unintended recipients were on the same Exchange server, since they received the notice about the message recall attempt.

  157. 157.

    guachi

    Trump’s digging himself a deeper hole live on my TV sitting with the President of Ukraine. He’s going on with his loony conspiracy theory about Biden. Making it completely and totally believable that he’d extort Ukraine over this.

  158. 158.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SiubhanDuinne: Wishing you best of luck with the surgery, if that’s what it comes down to. Physical therapy is the key, though, once you’re post-op.

    I hope it wasn’t as painful yesterday as I led you to believe, and sorry if I came across as flip.

  160. 160.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Immanentize:

    You’ll be full badass soon, pitching at 80+ mph while diving from a plane!!

    Left-handed!*

    @rikyrah:

    Thanks, Rikyrah! I always get to the morning threads much too late, but I always enjoy your cheery “Good morning!” greetings.

    *My non-dominant hand. I guess if I had to break a wrist, it’s a mercy it was that one.

  161. 161.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    If it’s any consolation, Mom broke a wrist when she was 90. Six weeks in a cast. Not back to 100% (as wrists go) afterwards – no one expected that – but 95%, definitely.

  163. 163.

    James E Powell

    @jl:

    They’re still looking for the Holy Grail, the ‘HRC servers’ which will solve all problems and completely obliterate all their opponents forever and ever.

    Does this mean they’ve given up searching for the Whitey Tape?

  164. 164.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Leto:

    Thank you; that’s really nice. I will say I care nothing about scarring. I have a long scar that starts above my breasts and goes nearly to my navel from the quad bypass surgery; a companion scar that runs down the inside of thigh and calf from where they harvested the long vein to craft the little bypass thingy-whatsies; and a scar running from behind my ear forward to the center of my throat from where they removed a couple of parotid tumours. They’re all part of my earth suit, and I don’t mind them at all.

    This comment is probably TMI.

  165. 165.

    Gin & Tonic

    @guachi: Zelensky said, in Ukrainian, we have an independent judiciary and we have our own problems to deal with (this according to my son, who’s watching because I can’t.)

  166. 166.

    Marcopolo

    At my mom’s doctor’s office. They have CNN on. CNN is running a “House Ds Supporting Impeachment” counter in real time. 204 currently. What a world.

  170. 170.

    jl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Sorry I haven’t followed the exchanges about your wrist(?) well enough to understand, but looks like you have a serious procedure coming up. Hope everything goes well and you feel better soon.

  172. 172.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    No worries, and I’d be very disappointed if people on this blog stopped being flip for any reason.

    At the ER, they hooked me up to some kind of medieval torture machine for about an hour (I actually addressed the attending physician as “Dr. Torquemada”). It was agonising at the time, but the pain diminished considerably after that.

  175. 175.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    I take that as encouragement, and I’m delighted she made a nearly complete recovery. Hope she’s doing well otherwise; it sounded from your posts during your recent travels that she ended up in much better shape than you had anticipated.

  176. 176.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC reporting that Acting DNI threatening to resign if he’s not “allowed to speak freely to Congress”

  178. 178.

    Gin & Tonic

    So Trump says to Zelensky in the presser “I really hope that you and President Putin can get together and solve your problem.”

    Right. The fucking “problem” is that Russia invaded Ukraine, illegally annexed its territory, lied about it, and has waged a grinding war that has killed over 10,000 Ukrainians.

    What a fucking moron.

  179. 179.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    And you know what? I had a huge brain fart (thank the drugs) and momentarily conflated you and Steeplejack.

    Although you did visit your mother recently, so maybe not TOO off-base.

  181. 181.

    Aleta

    @SiubhanDuinne: I actually addressed the attending physician as “Dr. Torquemada”

    Glad it helped. (Like the old pain cure-all — Hit yourself where it hurts with a hammer and it will feel better when you stop ? )

    Seriously, it’s good to hear that you’re OK. Fond of you, you know.

  184. 184.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @laura: That’s why they founded the IgNobel Prizes, though I don’t think there’s one for governmental stupidity. Yet.

  186. 186.

    jl

    @Gin & Tonic: From the clips I saw, almost like Trump continued the extortion attempt during the press appearance. “Hey, Obama lost you Crimea, and nice that you gettin’ along with Putin now…. so….”

    And looks like Trump thinks there are two sets of servers that are hidden in Ukraine. One with HRC’s emails, and another set that proves the Russian election interference in 2016 is a hoax (hidden by some Deep Staters in FBI and some US cyper security company… I don’t really understand what the conspiracy is supposed to be, I’m not a QAnon expert) Several tweets from Josh Marshall twitter sketch it out, too many to link to. Trump is so addled he believes that stuff. Good Lord, impeachment and 25th Amendment time.

  188. 188.

    catclub

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Acting DNI threatening to resign if he’s not “allowed to speak freely to Congress”

    1. You work for Trump so you should know you will be fired anyway.
    2. Trump’s people would not know to write down that you are forbidden to speak of certain things.
    3. Do it anyway, then quit.

  189. 189.

    The Lodger

    @Gin & Tonic: When I went through that in January 2001, I had the weight used on me. I’d probably have killed the resident.
    I mostly remember two months of being at home, popping opioids and aggressively not catching up on my reading.

  190. 190.

    Gin & Tonic

    @jl: One of my colleagues at work said that the call memo referenced a company called Crowdstrike, which is a legit security outfit. What connection they have escapes me, and I have no idea how or why Trump would know of that company unless somebody stuck a piece of paper under his nose.

  194. 194.

    catclub

    @Gin & Tonic:

    said that the call memo referenced a company called Crowdstrike

    I thought that was part of some RWNJ conspiracy theory that trump is fully wound up on.

  195. 195.

    guachi

    @Felanius Kootea: I was more thinking of someone in the House or, more likely, Senate. I should have been clearer. I think a Senator coming out for impeachment would be a big deal.

  196. 196.

    catclub

    @Felanius Kootea: Another person who may not have actually read the Constitution. Treason is not well defined, but it sure seems to require a wartime ‘enemy’. Has anybody been convicted of treason without a wartime, and without an enemy?

  197. 197.

    Mnemosyne

    So apparently the argument that’s being propagated by the bots and trolls is that Trump was asking for an investigation into Ukraine’s actions in the 2016 election, not Biden, so it’s all good.

    Now one wonders who exactly told Trump it was Ukraine that interfered in 2016, not Russia. ?

  199. 199.

    catclub

    @guachi:

    I was more thinking of someone in the House or, more likely, Senate.

    Who has not already announced a retirement. It is surprising how retirement seems to make Republicans more observant of flaws in their fellow travelers.

  201. 201.

    The Moar You Know

    Has anybody been convicted of treason without a wartime, and without an enemy?

    @catclub: I was going to say “the Rosenbergs”, but that was espionage, not treason. Enemy: sort of. War? No.

    The list of people tried and convicted of treason is real short, and not all of them were executed.

    ETA: going through the list on the Wikipedia: only three executions out of 13 convictions. So no, the penalty is not solely “death” by a long shot.

  203. 203.

    Yutsano

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    orthopædic

    I absolutely love you for this. :)

    I’m going to second Leto here. You’re more than likely looking at some upcoming physiotherapy (screw the anti-Soviet sentiment that made Americans HAVE to have a different term for it!) but the hand stuff looks kind of fun and hey maybe you’ll develop a superpower after it. Seriously I hope you don’t have to go under the knife for this. Hopefully there isn’t shattering because that’s usually when surgery is necessary.

  204. 204.

    catclub

    Things take a long time:

    Butterfield was the White House staffer who revealed that President Richard Nixon was secretly recording conversations. The revelation came about entirely by chance: Butterfield was called to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee’s staff on July 13, 1973. Staff members asked him about memos of conversations that the White House had turned over. The quotations seemed far too detailed to be based on notes. One staffer recalled that John Dean, the White House counsel-turned-informer, had speculated that Nixon might have bugged the Oval Office, so he asked Butterfield if there was a tape-recording system. “I was wondering if someone would ask that,” Butterfield replied. It turned out that he had installed the system, and he proceeded to explain how it worked.

    Once senators knew about the tapes, they moved to subpoena them. Nixon resisted. The challenge went all the way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled 8–0 that Nixon must turn over the tapes. He did, and the tapes revealed the “smoking gun”—tangible evidence that Nixon had ordered a cover-up for the Watergate break-in—that sealed his fate. Impeachment was clearly inevitable. Nixon resigned before the full House took a vote.

    When did Butterfiled reveal there was taping? July 13, 1973!

    When was the ruling that the tapes had to be released? July 25, 1974!

  207. 207.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    My sister brought me two large bags of yellow split peas yesterday. I only know about green split peas. Is there a big difference between them?

    Not a big difference, a little closer to lentils from where green split peas are. They cook about the same, but taste different, like kidney beans don’t taste like PInto beans.

  209. 209.

    Gin & Tonic

    @catclub: I checked on Twitter to see why it was trending, and now I have to go wash my brain.

    It seems that the DNC hired Crowdstrike to do a forensic analysis after their server was hacked, and Crowdstrike concluded it was the Russians. So obviously they are corrupt and part of the Deep State anti-Trump cabal.

    Thing is, they’re a respected company in their field, and I’d bet they’re none too happy about being dragged into this by lunatics and morons.

  210. 210.

    rikyrah

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    MSNBC reporting that Acting DNI threatening to resign if he’s not “allowed to speak freely to Congress”

    First of all, you unqualified muthaphucka, you should have never had the job in the first place.
    The QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL WOMAN was forced to resign.

    Spare me these phucking cowards who ‘ threaten to resign’.

  211. 211.

    J R in WV

    @joel hanes:

    @piratedan:

    a bathtub to throw the fan into

    I believe that the traditional Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference is to a hair dryer.

    In the great Bogart movie Key Largo there’s a scene, in the summertime heat of Florida in pre-air conditioning times, where Edward G Robinson, a typical mobster having taken over the Inn on the Island, is sitting in a bathtub full of cool water, smoking a cigar, with an old-fashioned cast iron fan propped on the foot of the tub… an accident waiting to happen.

    It doesn’t happen in this film, so not a spoiler, really. It IS a great movie, a classic film noir piece of art. Cuban bootlegging IIRC was a big part of the criminal conspiracy going on, and Edward G Robinson needs to get out of the country, which is another complication in the plot.

    Anyway, ETA that this may be the origin of the fan into the bathtub instant death meme. And I think the famous monk Merton died of an appliance, and no one was sure if it was an accident, or a sinful suicide, or even murder…

    “On December 10, 1968 Thomas Merton died of an accidental electric shock from a faulty electric fan in his cottage at the Red Cross Conference Center in Samut Prakan, Thailand. Merton had presented a paper at a conference of monastics that morning.”

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