Secretary Pompeo appears to be scheduled to have a very, very bad Wednesday, Earlier today he released a letter he sent to Congressman Engel, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he made it very clear that the State Department was not going to comply with his and Congressman Schiff’s requests for information regarding the mess that President, his senior staff and appointees, and his private attorneys have made around Ukraine and the mishandling of US government information by misclassification.
I’m concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career FSOs. pic.twitter.com/QRtMaXlhQM
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 1, 2019
Unfortunately for Secretary Pompeo the Department of State’s Inspector General has other ideas:
The inspector general's office obtained the Ukraine-related documents "from the acting legal advisor of the Department of State,” the letter said. A lot of anticipation about what the goods are https://t.co/UpVVs8UJnu
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) October 1, 2019
What the State Department IG wants to brief Congress on isn’t exactly clear yet, but, apparently, the leaks have begun.
This, I’m told, is PART of the IG’s urgent request to Congress.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 1, 2019
State Department staffers were truly shocked by the directive, which the IG denied. It appears that Pompeo is threatening his officers if they comply with Congressional inquiries.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 1, 2019
For when this is confirmed please credit me as the founder of @forensicnewsnet
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 1, 2019
I’m told that @OversightDems received a report on this from a government employee in the last hour.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 1, 2019
Ruh Roh!
And, apparently, what little support Secretary Pompeo had left in the State Department is gone. He has lost the building!
Since the memo detailing Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart was released, dozens of Foreign Service officers have joined a private Facebook group for those considering quitting their jobs, a member of the group told POLITICO. https://t.co/eWblGclr8s via @politico
— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) October 1, 2019
From Nahal Toosi at Politico:
When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused House Democrats of trying to “intimidate, bully, and treat improperly” State Department employees in their impeachment inquiry, his words rang hollow to more than a few staffers in Foggy Bottom.
If anything, critics inside and outside the department say, Pompeo has done little to protect U.S. diplomats from a virtual war waged on them by President Donald Trump’s administration. His abrupt withdrawal earlier this year of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine – whom Trump disparaged in a call at the heart of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry – also has raised questions about Pompeo’s willingness to stand up for staffers facing political attacks.
That ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch , is due to to be deposed later this month by House staffers, according to a committee aide. Her case, meanwhile, has already rattled career government staffers. Many of them believe Yovanovitch, a veteran diplomat, is one of the most prominent victims of what they say is the contempt and paranoia with which Trump and his aides view the Foreign and Civil Service.
“What the administration appears to want are political operatives who are loyal not to the United States but to the president in furthering his personal, political and financial goals,” said Philip Gordon, a former senior official in the Obama administration who co-authored a recent op-ed defending Yovanovitch. “That’s where it’s demoralizing for the career diplomats.”
A current State Department staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his job, described the Pompeo letter as “the height of irony.”
Pompeo’s letter also drew derisive comments from people who remember his time as a congressman, when he loudly pressured the Clinton-led State Department to release information about the 2012 attack that killed four Americans, including an ambassador, in Benghazi, Libya.
“It is a bit rich,” said Gordon, who reported to Clinton during her time in Foggy Bottom.
Some veteran government employees fear the revelations from the impeachment inquiry will further demoralize the Foreign Service and others who work for the State Department.
One sign of that? Since the memo detailing Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart was released, dozens of Foreign Service officers have joined a private Facebook group for those considering quitting their jobs, a member of the group told POLITICO.
Much more at the link!
So much for the Department of Swagger.
I hope everyone is enjoying this special Jewish New Year and Days of Awe edition of Infrastructure Week!
Open thread!
Cheryl Rofer
You left out that Ambassadors Kurt Volker and Masha Yovanovich have arranged to testify to Congress, despite Pompeo’s edict that they SHALL NOT
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: It wasn’t breaking news! I also left you the moat with snakes and alligators and “honey” and “Sweetheart” post to you.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: I thought someone did that already.
Actually the sadism involved in Trump’s fantasies about the border is pretty sickening. I missed the “honey” and “Sweetheart” stuff and somehow think I’ll get by without.
And now the kitties are calling me to the living room to read dead-tree magazines.
Jerzy Russian
It looks like the secretary picked the wrong week to quit drinking, smoking, sniffing glue, etc.
Cheryl Rofer
I’ll drop one other thing. North Korea fired off two missiles into the Sea of Japan.
Always negotiate from a position of strength. Talks are planned with the US for Saturday.
Elizabelle
That is tragic, and it’s on purpose. Brain drain among the well-qualified.
Do not forget, you have State Department personnel who have been drawn into trying to make Benghazi 2 out of Hillary’s emails from years ago.
I bet the DOS personnel have a betting pool on when Pompeo goes down.
Adam L Silverman
@Jerzy Russian: He has, instead, decided to travel with the Blue Footed Booby of Budapest.
cain
@Jerzy Russian:
I might need to take it up too… not quitting drinking during this time :)
Mary G
Lots of respondents to Pompeo’s tweets are dragging him as being a coward who couldn’t testify for eleven hours like Hillary did.
Trump’s administration has been crippling the State Department since Rex Tillerson’s bullshit “reorganization,” but I’m sure there are plenty of offended professionals with receipts. Not everybody can just retire or take a chance that they’ll get another job that covers the mortgage, so people gritted their teeth, said “yessir” and waited for this day. It’ll take decades to recover all the knowledge and expertise the Trumpanzees have pissed away, though.
SFAW
“Alexa, impeach ALL the motherfuckers already.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Cheryl Rofer: from a position of near total ignorance, not even knowing what EEZ is, I am inferring that these reports are “not good”
but he sends trump letters addressing him as “Your Excellency”
JPL
@Adam L Silverman: What’s the honey and sweetheart posts about? Maybe I don’t want to know though
Gin & Tonic
While Pompeo may have a very bad Wednesday, I plan to have a very good one, marking 43 years of wedded bliss with the estimable Mrs. G&T. It hasn’t always been peaches and cream, but the good far outweighs the difficulties, and on balance, we have been extremely fortunate. Three healthy, intelligent, accomplished and humane children and two delightful grandchildren (doing our part to despoil the planet, I guess,) no major health crises, reasonable financial security, and a multitude of shared experiences on five of the seven continents (so far.) Couldn’t ask for much more out of life.
Your sappy moment in between the schadenfreude.
Mary G
@JPL: He constantly called Kirsten Nielsen those, usually before she could finish her first sentence. Hard to feel bad for her, but it is disgusting.
ETA: @Gin & Tonic: Congratulations and thanks, I needed that.
zhena gogolia
@JPL:
cain
@Mary G:
And all of them will be considered “Obama appointees or Democrats”
Mike in NC
Pompeo was a Tea Party congressman. Totally in over his head at both CIA and State, but he’s one of the most loyal Trump Whisperers. He’ll never leave.
delk
What did they think would happen when they threatened former colleagues over bullshit Hillary emails?
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Exclusive Economic Zone. Usually 200 nm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_economic_zone
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic:Congratulations!
What is happening in Ukraine? I saw this on Twitter?
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: EEZ == Exclusive Economic Zone, I think. IOW, Japan’s territorial (for some values of territorial) waters.
“Little rocket man” is working on getting Donnie’s attention, or, failing that, showing the world that the USA is a paper tiger when headed by Donnie. Probably more of the latter.
Grrr….
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Congratulations to you and your bride. That’s lovely.
Mike in NC
@Gin & Tonic: Congrats on all accounts.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: There has for some time been a tentative outline for a peace process in the Donbas, called the Steinmeier Formula. this would allow some form of elections and some form of limited autonomy or self-rule in the “DPR” and “LPR” areas. Zelenskyy has reportedly approved moving forward. This is extremely unpopular among many, and viewed as capitulation to Russia.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Exclusive Economic Zone. Basically territorial waters plus a whole bunch of other waters.
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: Excellent! Congratulations!
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The North Koreans, and everyone else around the world, know that trump is weak, easily manipulated and assuming their intel services conduct highly specialized operations like reading the US political press, they know that he is absolutely desperate for some ‘victory’, a win he can bellow about for the howler monkeys at his rallies. They know trump with throw South Korea and Japan under the bus in exchange for “more cameras than the Oscars”, as the halfwit described the great success of the Singapore summit
ETA: and I don’t doubt that KJU and the people around him take special pleasure in pulling shit like this knowing trump will just start babbling about the beautiful letters. I’d bet one is on its way for his breakfast table.
Adam L Silverman
@JPL:
Adam L Silverman
@JPL:
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
I assume that Zelinskyy’s hand is being forced because he publicly embarrassed Trump. Somebody’s gotta demonstrate for the rest of the world that it doesn’t pay to oppose Putin’s puppet, and everyone else had better fall in line.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Mazel Tov!
chris
@Gin & Tonic: Congratulations!
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: The saddest part of this is I think the policy is over how DHS would use drones for surveillance at the border. And if that’s the case, then the President wanted her to shoot down our own drones.
Ladyraxterinok
@JPL: Reported thatTrump said to female head of Homeland Security
Gin & Tonic
@Mnemosyne: Zelenskyy campaigned, in part, on his plans for resolving the war. This isn’t that surprising.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: Kyiv Post article on it from earlier today:
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/ukraine-agrees-to-steinmeier-formula-green-lights-elections-in-occupied-donbas.html
Fair Economist
@Gin & Tonic: Congratulations and have a wonderful anniversary!
Booger
This guy graduated top of his class??
delk
@Gin & Tonic: Congratulations!
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Congratulations!
Our 16th will be Saturday.
Quinerly
@Jerzy Russian: ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman:
and she was fired, she didn’t quit, she would have stuck around for more.
Adam L Silverman
@Booger: A good chunk of that assessment had to with squaring his meals properly in the dining hall, having his shoes shined properly, and having his pants creased properly. So…
Quinerly
@Gin & Tonic: congrats!
Raven
@Gin & Tonic: Right arm. . .
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s the real insanity in all of this. That all of these people, these senior appointees who carried equivalent rank to 4 and 3 star generals and admirals in their Senate confirmed positions or in their White House appointments witnessed all of this and didn’t think: “this man is insane, I have to warn everyone!” Instead they just thought they needed to manipulate him a bit better. Except for Stephen Miller, who, as reported in the article, took all of this in and “saw an opportunity”.
And there is another issue here too. Which is that these two NY Times reporters sat on this until it was time do publicity for their forthcoming book on the topic. So they had all of this news to break and report months and months ago and they decided to sit on it until it could make them the most money. This is also an issue for The New York Times leadership.
chris
OT: Apologies if it’s been previously noted.
Jeffro
The ‘West Wing’ version of this script has a Republican Senator (probably ailing, on his way out) denouncing Pompeo on the Senate floor, asking “whut exactly in tarnation the Yoo-Nited-States Secruhtary of STATE is doin’ runnin’ around the world with clowns and malcontents, trying to unprove what has already been proven – that this is an illegit-ta-mate president of these Yoo-Nited States”
(fade to black)
(hopefully just the tv show and not the Republic itself)
Adam L Silverman
Well this should pretty well finish irony off. Also, self awareness.
zhena gogolia
@chris:
That’s great.
RAVEN
Jeffro
@Gin & Tonic: Major, major (but not Mx4) congratulations! Mrs Fro and I are only about halfway to your marker, so I might hit you up for some tips on how to go the distance (or a reasonable facsimile thereof LOL)
Adam L Silverman
@chris: Thanks for posting that:
geg6
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She didn’t quit because she was getting her jollies kidnapping children and putting them in cages. She deserves to be treated like that and much, much more. Her silence since being fired is as damning as her actions in office. Fuck her. Just fuck her.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman:
Yes indeed. The NYT needs to stop this shit.
Someone (here?) had the interesting idea that a lot of their digital subs were Russian $$$. Who knows. I don’t know people subscribing the FTF NYTimes right and left, but I do know a lot of people who have dropped their subs, in disgust.
Kelly
@Adam L Silverman: A moat thru the Sonoran Desert. I’d expect that in Mel Brooks movie!
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
Congratulations! And I thought that our 13 years was a lot …
HumboldtBlue
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s fantastic! Congratulations.
I have a cat. So there’s that.
TS (the original)
Seems trump has ensured that Russia takes over Ukraine. Putin is laughing all day every day – at his success in separating the US & Europe, the UK & Europe and the decimation of democracy in both countries.
The fallout from trump will take at least a generation – or maybe more – to get wiped from the planet.
jl
@Kelly: ” A moat thru the Sonoran Desert. I’d expect that in Mel Brooks movie! ”
Is Mel Brooks writing this thing? He’s a frickin’ genius of black comedy.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
It was me. I’m suspicious like that, especially when the NYT crowed to their stockholders that their bacon was saved by a sudden upsurge in digital subscriptions.
Mailing the Sunday NYT to Moscow is prohibitively expensive, don’t’cha know?
RedDirtGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Wow, congrats!!!
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s wonderful. Congratulations to both of you!
RedDirtGirl
@Mike in NC: And a Dominionist, to boot, I hear!
Aleta
In her new book, “Blowout,” Rachel Maddow explains how Russian President Vladimir Putin uses his country’s energy supply to manipulate power in Ukraine.
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/maddow-on-corruption-in-the-oil-and-gas-industry-70309445760
Booger
@Adam L Silverman: That’s…good…to…know. Also, awesome title.
Another Scott
Twitter:
(Insert “This Is Fine” graphic here)
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Booger: You’re welcome and thanks.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Silly Adam. Blackwater.
“Snakes on a Plain.”
;)
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Why do seemingly all right-wingers use the term “leftist” now? It seemed to start within the last 2 or 3 years
Chetan Murthy
I’m guessing that Don Bedsore got these ideas of shooting migrants in the legs, from Butcher Bibi.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: I think you are right about that, and I think you are right about the “deep state” choking off Russian money flowing into our politics, and that’s why the NRA and many Republicans are on the ropes financially.
I truly think the FTF NYTimes is compromised, although it also does some (but not all) good reporting.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: The company formerly known as Blackwater probably would put in a bid.
Mike in DC
@Gin & Tonic: Indeed, there were protests this evening in the Maidan over it. I suspect he will be compelled to walk it back. I’d rather Russia not get an unequivocal win that Trump can spin to lift sanctions.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Zero Mostel would have made one hell of a trump
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: @Adam L Silverman: Starting to think that newspapers need to start inserting “conflict of interest” clauses in their reporters’ contracts or terms of employment agreements or whatever they are using when they hire reporters – the opposite of a nondisclosure agreement, if you will: a FULL DISCLOSURE agreement, meaning that you could be sued for sitting on information you obtain during the course of your work that you decide you’re saving for your book deal, rather than reporting. Kay is right – this shit is getting out of hand, and it’s part of what’s wrong with modern journalism.
MisterForkbeard
@Gin & Tonic: Congratulations! I’ve been away from the home the past few days and have been fiercely missing MissusForkbeard.
Your story has really made me smile. Gonna bring my lady a big bunch of flowers tomorrow night when I get home.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I do not know comrade.
Kelly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: John Goodman should play Bill Barr in the upcoming Trump movie
Chetan Murthy
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Young pup, when we were young and had hair, and Newtie the Petootie roamed the corridors of Congress molesting innocent staffers, the GrOPers had an entire *list* of epithets they’d use against progressives and liberals. Those were better times, with a better, more intelligent breed of GrOPer. No more moral, but more intelligent. Times have changed, and the breed has degraded so that today, they can’t hold more than a few epithets in their little brains without passing out. So it’s “leftist” and “socialist” and that’s about it.
Pity them. Uh, after you bury them and put a wooden stake thru the coffin lid, of course.
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: Yep. That’s what he really wants. A separation wall like the one the Israelis built. That’s why he keeps demanding concrete, which is what the Israeli wall is made of.
HumboldtBlue
Here is an American in which we can take pride.
Allyson Felix has won more world titles and claimed more medals than anyone in track and field history with 26 overall including 12 golds in the World Championships.
Felix gave birth to a premature baby girl in November 2018 and just dominated the Worlds in Doha.
chris
@RedDirtGirl: There is video of Pompeo talking approvingly of the Rapture.
Matt McIrvin
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Liberals stopped cringing at “liberal”.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I’m going to be working this into my talks at the end of the month. If I’m ever actually told how long I have to speak.
chris
@Aleta: She’s talking about it now. Think I’m gonna have to read it.
NotMax
@Kelly
Bobcat Goldthwaite.
Or zombie Edward Arnold.
Mike in DC
@Chetan Murthy: They will be pushed to using “communists” and “radicals” after losing a few more elections.
Elizabelle
@Miss Bianca: I like your idea of conflict of interest clauses.
FelonyGovt
@Gin & Tonic: Congrats! Mr. FelonyGovt and I also celebrate our 43rd anniversary this month.
Bluegirlfromwyo
@Adam L Silverman: If I Did It: the Trump Nepotism edition.
NotMax
@Mike in DC
“Godless communists” in more than casual mouth foaming.
;)
Kattails
@Gin & Tonic: Oh that is absolutely wonderful, hearty congrats and felicitations and all that. It takes some doing. Many more happy anniversaries to you both.
Mary G
@FelonyGovt: Happy Anniversary to you too!
Villago Delenda Est
This fucking knob needs to be impeached, and then tossed in prison for the rest of his life.
Jay
Ken
@Villago Delenda Est: I assume you mean Pompeo, but there are an unprecedented number of candidates.
dimmsdale
One thing I’m still hoping for, Adam, is a grand congressional hearing that exposes ALL the threads tying together the Koches, Mercers, Murdochs, that young Facebook whelp, various grubby Russian oligarchs, and hopefully fines or sends to prison a healthy number of them. See that on the horizon at all, or is it just a pipe dream?
Since it’s an open thread, I’ll just add that the next Democratic president had damn well better cleanse the Civil Service of every single Republican appointed by either GWB or Donald Trump, right down to the guy who issues parking stubs in the Commerce Dept. garage. One of the biggest failures of the Obama administration was to let some of these politically appointed Republican maggots remain in place when the administration changed, rather than boot them out as per long-standing custom; they passive-resisted Obama policies, and don’t deserve their taxpayer-generated salaries.
p.a.
@Gin & Tonic: ??????
prufrock
@Adam L Silverman: I think I mentioned this before, but I’ll repeat it here. My grandfather was a Hudson High grad (class of 39). The leader of the Corps of Cadets when he was a plebe was William Westmoreland.
Success at West Point is no predictor of future success anywhere else.
Quinerly
Related. Just posted on Daily Beast.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-pompeo-pushed-out-his-own-ukraine-representative-kurt-volker-to-quiet-a-growing-scandal
Villago Delenda Est
@Gin & Tonic: You brighten my evening. Hugs to Mrs. G&T for letting you be with us occasionally!
Villago Delenda Est
@Ken: Yes, Pompeo, and the reference is to his institution of higher learning.
Captain C
@Miss Bianca: Sued and immediately terminated, with no parachute of any color.
Kelly
@NotMax: Gary Busey for Trump?
p.a.
@Kelly: @Kelly: an orangutan. a not especially well-trained orang. and it will still be an insult to our primate cousins.
Gin & Tonic
@Raven: Since that ended up nearly as good as new, I don’t consider it a major health crisis. It was inconvenient, and at times depressing, but it’s over and I can do everything I did before.
Uncle Cosmo
@chris:
What that motherfucker deserves is the Crapture – lifted bodily high into the air & dropped face down into a full uncovered septic tank.
Jay
Jay
Mai naem mobile
OT why does Trumpov call Adam Schiff liddle’. Schiff is. 5’11” which is not liddle. Also Trumpov lies about his height like everything else. He is supposedly 6’4″ but shorter than his son who is 6’1. He looks about the same height or a hair shorter than Trudeau who is.supposed to be 6’2″ Obama is 6’1″ and looks taller in pictures next to him. I know there are slightly more important things going on in the world than his height but jeezus why would a tall guy lie about his height?
Jay
Mai naem mobile
@Kelly: I think John Goodman should play Pompeo and Nathan Lane should play Bill Barr. Lisa Kudrow should play Ivanka. Robert DeNiro could pull off Barr as well.
Jay
Kattails
@geg6: Glad you have the priorities straight here.
@Adam L Silverman: (You couldn’t give me 2 minutes to enjoy G & T’s nice news, could you? Sorry file under Messenger: do not shoot.) OK so it can’t be that they live in some kind of perfect bubble where contrary information can’t penetrate or be accepted. Aside from that being entirely contrary to the job description– one should stay alert and open, yes?–it’s that these people should only have listen to Trumplestilskin et al. He can’t form sentences. He can’t form coherent thoughts. He rants. He babbles. His history of abusing others is thoroughly documented going back long before it became politicized by the *presidency. I mean, the quantity of tinfoil for the hats just staggers the imagination. Yet these people are tasked with maintaining the structure of one of the largest and most advanced civilizations the planet has ever seen. It’s horrifying.
Jay
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mai naem mobile: I think the guy who played Buddy Garrity on FNL should play Pompeo. Or Stephen Root
Jay
Citizen Alan
@chris:
Rather ironic, I think, for someone who has taken the Mark of the Beast.
sdhays
@Mai naem mobile: Meryl Streep should play the Preznit. It would give Liddle’ Hands a heart attack if they showed it on the prison’s movie night.
Geoboy
@Chetan Murthy: I don’t think Bibi gave Trump the idea to shoot migrants in the legs. Bib’s much more of a “shoot clearly identified nurses in the head” kind of guy.
Chetan Murthy
@Mai naem mobile:
he’s 5’9″ and wears lifts
lgerard
@Mai naem mobile:
Brilliant!
Chetan Murthy
@Geoboy:
IIRC, the IDF was given explicit orders to shoot Gaza protesters at their protests, in the knees: “shoot to cripple”. Explicit orders. B/c it makes more wounded, and while dead people incite condemnation and not much more, live wounded people are a living reminder to any protester of what lies in store. It’s about terrorizing them, not just stopping them.
Ladyraxterinok
@dimmsdale: Luciane Goldberg hated dems but was kept on in fed govt when Bill became president. She watched and waited , then mentored and coached Monica. Not good to keep people on who were set in place by previous admin of different party.
We do have civil service rules in place. That was a major step forward for our govt at end of 19th, beginning of 20th century. IIRC Trump gang was looking for a way to get around those rules.
Jay
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
??????
Ladyraxterinok
@Kelly: One brother was in HS classes with Busey. Weird he was in some Hagee end time movies, I think.
Had bad opinion of him, but liked him in Buddy Holley movie
Kayla Rudbek
@Gin & Tonic: congratulations! My first date with Mr. Rudbek was 26 years ago this week as well.
Ladyraxterinok
@Jay: Clark was attacked a lot when he was in the dem presidential primary in o4. I liked him when I heard him In person. Never really understood why he was so attacked. Maybe because he didn’t exactly fit stereotype of general held by either the left or the right?
West of the Rockies
@Mai naem mobile:
Wow, that would be an excellent cast!
jl
@sdhays: ” Meryl Streep should play the Preznit. ”
Rosie O’Donnell is my choice.
Ladyraxterinok
@Jay: Thanks for posting.
Jay
thalarctosMaritimus
@Gin & Tonic:
Congratulations! Wishing you many more years of happiness.
mr. thalarctos and I never used our replacement-value allotment, so you can have one of those 2. See–books are all balanced again!
Ladyraxterinok
@Jay: Police accept no opposition.
Maybe they remember Obama worked several yrs as a community organizer? And think the work gives people unacceptable ideas?
Jay
@Ladyraxterinok:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Clark_2004_presidential_campaign
Uncle Jeffy
Congrats to M/M G & T. Mrs UJ an I wii celebrate 50 in November and we’ve never seen an administration as corrupt as this one.
Ladyraxterinok
@Jay: You sure get info from pretty awful happenings. I don’t see how you stand it.
NotMax
@Jay
Does he know about the whole Communist thing? (rhetorical question)
“Red China? Not my thing, but Ivanka says it looks nice on an orange tablecloth.”
NotMax
@Jay
Was gonna post about the point blank shooting in the chest of the protestor yesterday when first read about it but fell asleep before I could find a second credible source to corroborate it.
Ladyraxterinok
@Jay: Thanks. I didn’t know this existed. Some of what’s discussed there I remember very well.
When he spoke in Tulsa, he said being in the military had helped teach him how important and necessary affirmative action is. The military, in his experience, gave everyone the opportunity to achieve the highest they were capable of. He was quite impressive.
chopper
@Mai naem mobile:
yeah, but in terms of weight you gotta be pretty obese to not be ‘liddle’ compared to drumpf.
joel hanes
@Kattails:
it can’t be that they live in some kind of perfect bubble where contrary information can’t penetrate or be accepted
Lance Mannion explains how and why Republican fealty to Trump works:
https://lancemannion.typepad.com/lance_mannion/2019/09/victims-of-historic-proportion-1.html
Back in the bronze age of blogs, when Cole was a young punk Republican warblogger, Mannion was much cited and linked. He never stopped, and in recent months he’s been doing some great work.
Jay
@Ladyraxterinok:
@Ladyraxterinok:
I have been an anti facist my whole life. 99% of what we do is build resiliant, self supporting communities.
Cops don’t like that. We don’t need them.
In my youth, I was a SHARP “thug”, in my old age, a Community Guard and Medic.
I stand watch outside of Synagogs and Mosques on a regular shedule, walk though the Unhomed Communities dealing with medical issues, show up at the protests with a backpack full of water and first aid for the protestors, ally with the food banks and other social services, to try to aid the community.
My first real “home” was the Woodward Squat, where I found a Community. Like minded people.
Yeah, digging in is dark and soul sucking, but you work the system and get somebody dentures, and they can chew food for the first time in years, find somebody a home, get somebody a job,
Priceless.
Ruckus
@Mai naem mobile:
Because he’s incapable of telling the truth about himself or pretty much anything else on the planet, but especially about himself. He is way, way up there on the narcissism scale, like over 100% up there. Every single thing in the world is always about him. And since he’s a worthless piece of shit, he has to lie about everything, but especially about himself. And he’s been doing this for a long time, I’m betting at least 72 of his 73 yrs.
Mai naem mobile
@Ladyraxterinok: I think you’re confusing Luciane Goldberg with Linda Tripp but I might be wrong. I thought Luciane was a publisher or had some kind of position in books or magazines.
Also more suggestions for a Trumptitanic cast –
David Morse as Brad Parscale, Ed Harris as John Kelley and Val Kilmer for Bannon.
mrmoshpotato
Awwww…..it almost makes you feel…..nah, fuck ’em.
Betting pool on how long until Pompeo is out? Will they bring back the oily dinosaur to try lifting Russian sanctions again?
How many more crimes will we be greeted with in the morning?
Mai naem mobile
@chopper: duh I forgot about the BMI thing. That actually makes more sense even though height is easily figured out comparing to other people of known heights.
dimmsdale
@Ladyraxterinok: Right, there are civil service rules in place, but as you probably know most of the top cabinet positions (and the underlings they bring in with them) are political appointees exempt from civil service rules (which are supposed to isolate and protect the bulk of federal agency staff from political considerations). The political appointees bring their MAGA with them into their jobs, and unless they’re booted out when administrations change, their MAGA stays with them as they continue. That was a huge failure on the Obama administration’s part; it can’t continue under a New Democratic president if democracy is going to be preserved (IMO).
Mai naem mobile
@Ruckus: I read/heard sonehwere that he got very little attention from his mom when he was around 2 till three because his mom had issue with a birth and spent a lot of time in the hospital that year. Anyhow, the theory is that that is where he gets.his lack of empathy and other psych issues.
Ruckus
@Mai naem mobile:
Possibly but he’s such a mess that I’d bet there is more to it than just this. His dad was about as far from sainthood as his spawn is and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. And lot’s of people have shitty childhoods and actually grow up in spite of it. Shit for brains hasn’t yet and isn’t capable of it before he finishes his dive into total senility.
Remember, he’s wealthy and successful, why should he change now?
Man do I crack my self up.
Ruckus
@Chetan Murthy:
Great link.
greenergood
@Mai naem mobile: RE: Liddle: Somewhere (maybe Kos?) I read the other day that ‘Liddle’ is a reference for Pizzagate-type CT followers because Schiff is somehow connected (board member? volunteer?) to the Liddle Kidz foundation, which sponsors physiotherapy sessions for children and thus is obviously a haven for peadophiles … not posting links because I’m not internet-sophisticated enough to know which ones are slimy and I don’t want my ‘puter to be slimed.