Whisteblower attorney @MarkSZaidEsq confirms to me that a second whistleblower has come forward, and Zaid is representing him. More to come —
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 6, 2019
There are mounds of official records, there are numerous personal communications, and plenty of contemporaneous notes to either/both execute the ratfucking or cover asses. There is also no expectation of reciprocating loyalty. First mover advantage is real. The 45th whistleblower won’t be remembered. The first and now second one will be.
Cheryl Rofer
Will be interesting to see when Republican office holders realize that first mover advantage is real. I keep tweeting that at them.
leeleeFL
First, maybe!?
Glad to hear there will be more! With what we already knew before he ran, and all we have learned since, 45 might be an under-estimation of the number!
Also too, wht would I get a message from BJ that I wasn’t filtering anyone?
Uncle Jeffy
Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Meet the Press and sounding totally incoherent. Sen. Murphy just shaking his head in disbelief.
NYCMT
What first mover advantage for office holders? For all of them, the rancid impenetrable trumpite faction is a majority canvass in primary elections. This will remain true until the shitbag dies. For a party that has discovered democratic centralism as the only principle for public political action, there is no path out that does not involve departure from public office.
debbie
FSM, please let this Zaid guy not be another Avenatti.
PaulWartenberg
there’s gonna be more whistleblowers than a marching band tournament.
PaulWartenberg
@debbie:
I think the seriousness of what Zaid’s office does – handling federal employees going into whistleblower protection, meaning national security matters that are life and death – his need to protect the clients outweighs any ambition he might have.
geg6
@debbie:
He’s a pretty famous whistleblower attorney. Gives off no Avenatti vibes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zaid
terben
Whistleblowing, like voting, should be done early, and often.
MattF
Lawyer has advice for people who think that they can ‘help’ deal with a narcissistic sociopath.
PaulWartenberg
There’s gonna be more whistleblowing than a Bogie/Bacall cosplay convention.
Ramiah Ariya
Does not matter. They are all partisan Obama-holdover deep state operatives who have committed treason.
debbie
@PaulWartenberg:
@geg6:
Thanks, this is very good to know.
Sab
@MattF: chris linked to that yesterday. I googled him, and in addition to being a lawyer he has also written an amazing YA novel. I couldn’t put it down.
rikyrah
I love the title of this post ?
rikyrah
@MattF:
Read it yesterday. Dude is trying to warn them. They are playing a suckers game.
Nixon didn’t go to jail…
But, 50some of his flunkies did.???
Fair Economist
@Uncle Jeffy: At first Ron Johnson was one of those Republicans who occasionally complained about Trump’s more egregious misdeeds and opposed election meddling. Then he went to Moscow – literally; he took a trip – and turned into one of the Children of the Corn types. Presumably they dumped some kompromat on him. I imagine he is stressed out from whatever threat the Russian have on him and am not surprised he is incoherent.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
What I find hard to believe is that it’s taken all this time. What did people think they were dealing with? They saw what happened to Michael Cohen. They saw how he treated Jeff Sessions. Why did Rick Perry ever think Donald Tяump would treat him any better? Why does Barr think he’s going to come out in one piece? Why does Giuliani? Donald Tяump’s life is littered with people he’s used up and then wadded up and thrown away like a snotty Kleenex. Shit, if I were one of his own children, I’d be worried. Nobody ever gets near this guy and comes away without getting fucked over.
JoyceH
In a sane world the Ukraine stuff would have already finished off Trump. We are no longer in that sane world but he’s badly wounded. Now if the whistleblowers would just bring us the readouts on the Putin and MBS calls, that oughta do it. Consider what this guy says in public, the calls should be hair raising.
JPL
NBC is saying several whistleblowers. hmmm The asshole is going to be tweeting about deep state.
rikyrah
I believe that Perry’s name will not remotely come out of this whistleblower ‘s mouth??
Amir Khalid
@leeleeFL:
Could Balloon Juice be hinting that there’s someone you need to filter?
rikyrah
@Fair Economist:
Yep. He is one of the July 4th Senators???
delk
Speaking of whistling, this just came up on a playlist
Calouste
@Fair Economist: I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re going to see a suicide or two at one point. Some people might just not be able to handle the pressure.
Elizabelle
@MattF: That’s a really good thread.
Good morning, jackals.
Fair Economist
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Guiliani is moving out into dementialand with Trump so I can see him not figuring things out. Barr is surprising. I’d have thought he wouldn’t want to see the inside of a jail cell.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Calouste: Hillary strikes again???
dmsilev
@JPL: People should start tweeting whistle pictures at him. Plus the occasional kazoo for variety.
Roger Moore
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Rick Perry is not very bright, so it’s easy to imagine that he thought he would be treated better. More generally, I think a lot of these people have assumed they can avoid trouble by keeping a low profile, which Perry managed to this point.
Fair Economist
@Calouste: Considering Putin is the prime mover behind this, I would not be surprised to see some “suicides” too.
Aleta
It’s going to turn out that sooo many people have been deeply concerned all along. Troubled even.
Ked
Until Pence or maybe one of the top-level cab secs turns, I don’t find the whistleblower narrative too interesting beyond what actual deliverables they have… and frankly Trump’s own-goals are what really are driving the current impeachment movement. Protect them, of course, but the Republican mindset is fundamentally “us vs. them” so whistleblowers are – regardless of their personal politics – instantly designated as Them, so to true Republicans they no longer matter.
This is why there is no first-mover advantage for elected officials. A traitor becomes Them, who is to be opposed at all costs. This is what Trump is trying to enforce on Romney in the recent tweetstorm. If anything, it’s a last-mover advantage, since the last to go gets to say he’s moving to reinforce orthodoxy, to make sure he stays a part of “Us.”
The transformation we want to enact is the Othering of Trump. What can be done to make the Senate Republicans – and a large enough amount of primary voters – reject Trump as a member of their protected and god-blessed group? I have no easy answer, but it looks like there’s some cracks showing.
Served
I think this is all a first step, casting off of the ship, to get to the calls on the server. I have a terrible feeling that what is in those is incredibly damaging to the country and reveals some deep intelligence secrets, on top of the crimes committed in all of them
Starfish
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Speaking of Jeff Sessions, was that email thing real?
Kay
Where is our globe-trotting attorney general? Still in Italy, hard at work for the Trump campaign? Weird how the DOJ is now just completely irrelevant on…law breaking. I’m shocked how fast that whole institution collapsed in a smoking heap of corruption and self-dealing.
SFAW
@Fair Economist:
He probably thinks that, as AG, he can exert a lot more control over his own fate in that regard. I have no idea if that could be true (both my speculation re: Barr and whether he can “self-pardon” so to speak).
Aleta
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): As Ivanha reassuringly said (yesterday), you gotta have priorities.
SFAW
@Aleta:
Susan Collins’s brows are furrowing so deeply, I can HEAR it from here in central MA.
Juice Box
We were forced to listen to another couple talking in loud voices at lunch. Texas accents. The wife wants “him gone! He’s disgusting!” Her revolting husband shut her down on that and other matters throughout the meal. I still kind of suspect that she’s going back to her red state and voting against the Orange Idiot. It warmed my heart (although the spouse almost had a coronary listening to them).
jonas
My concern is that as more of these whistleblowers come forward, the probability of one of them being a ratfucking plant designed to discredit all the other whistleblowers approaches 1.
Keith P.
@Fair Economist: That Russia trip RJ went on wasn’t that one that a bunch of Congressman took on the Fourth of July?
Ramiah Ariya
There is not much speculation or talk in the media about how Donald Trump’s attempt to pin 2016 election interference on Ukraine is directly in line with Russia’s goals. Most pundits have been writing about it as if it is Trump’s ego or conspiracy theory oriented mind that gives rise to the Ukraine theory. But Trump’s pivot to “corruption” shows that he is not really that addled. There should be more written about the Russia angle, and the possibility that POTUS is directly helping them.
SFAW
@jonas:
Good point. One hopes that the ratfucker is someone like Wohl, Burkman, or O’Keefe.
JMG
The Cabinet officer completely safe from Trump is Elaine Chao. He’s not gonna mess with Mitch’s wife.
Kay
I think the explanation for why the entire GOP and conservative “movement” are backing this is simple- they went all in, and all means all. They have to take it all the way. They sped past the exit ramps long ago. The decision to follow Dear Leader was made sometime in 2017 and there’s no upside to bailing now. A 25% chance of surviving this is better than a 0% chance.
Roger Moore
@jonas:
This is why it’s important for whistleblowers to bring documents rather than just assertions.
mad citizen
@Fair Economist: Did not know the Ron Johnson history. Saw earlier on the Geist/Todd segment that Ron Johnson is guesting on Meet the Press later this morning (now? I don’t watch it). The show had a title today, something like “Democracy in Crisis”. Why do these shows still exist? Can’t we have a day off?
I saw a Q Anon SUV yesterday–late model clean vehicle, young-ish woman driving, which was surprising. On the back was a Trump sticker and a large “Q”; side window had the Q in a rabbit outline. These people will never be reached (view the MI congresswoman’s town hall segment on CNN), they are in a very different reality. This whole thing boils down to what reality does one want to live in? What is the real world? It’s be nice to for most of us to live in a fact-based world; seems necessary to have for self-rule to keep going.
jonas
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
First, Perry is, shall we say, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Second, you’d think a warning flag might have been when the president appointed him energy secretary because he was under the impression that the Department of Energy has a lot to do with overseeing oil and drilling — whereas it’s mostly about managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile and national laboratories. Which is why Obama’s DOE secretaries tended to be Nobel-prize winning physicists, and not a dimbulb former governor.
schrodingers_cat
@Ramiah Ariya: Is this supposed to be joke?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@SFAW: John Mitchell went to jail.
Kay
If Democrats hadn’t taken the House the whistleblowers wouldn’t have had anywhere to go. They tried the DOJ. Corrupted.
It is just amazing to realize how little protection we actually had. A different result in 2018 and this crime spree would have continued unabated. What if The Caravan scare tactic had worked? A lot of savvy political types thought it would. We’re one media-fueled racist scare tactic away from collapse.
MattF
@Kay: Also, many of the former never-Trumpers backed, e.g., Cruz or Huckabee. They aren’t disoriented, economically distressed moderates. They are RW radicals. They aren’t going to suddenly become Democrats under any circumstances.
cmorenc
@Fair Economist:
Barr sees himself as able to ride the storm out unscathed, whether Trump successfully brazens this out or else gets tossed or voted out – as positioned to potentially get a seat on SCOTUS if Trump + GOP senate majority survives, and at worst as a prominent permanent rich grifter on the RWnut welfare circuit on Fox + think tanks etc.
SFAW
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
As bad as Mitchell was, I don’t think he was at Barr’s level re: being the fox watching the henhouse (or whatever cliche works re: Barr’s criminality and “consigliere-ness”).
But I hope history repeats itself in that regard.
clay
@JMG: Ha ha, like Mitch gives a shit about his wife as anything other than a proxy to power.
Aleta
You start to gamble, you get a few big wins (or rewards from T), then when you start to lose you keep going to get it back again. Even after you’ve lost everything. Even after you’re borrowing against your future. Sometimes they have to drag you out to get you to stop. Apparently Sir Casino selected for these types.
eta Manipulative abusers do this reward-withdraw to their children to get compliance.
Chief Oshkosh
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
He doesn’t. He’s made statements to the effect that his purpose in life is to protect The Unitary REPUBLICAN Executive. He has, in fact, devoted his life to it. Recent statements indicate that he is resigned to ending up being part of the kindling that keeps that fire going.
In other words, he’s insane.
Kay
@MattF:
I agree. Let’s not forget the money they’re making, either. Right wing grift is hugely profitable.
Don’t kid yourself though- I check in on Trumpy Twitter occasionally. There’s already 500 40 second videos showing Trump striding resolutely through a pack of howling whistleblowers in heavy rotation on Facebook. It’s a whole alternate reality. It’s an industry.
Fair Economist
@Keith P.: Yeah, rikyrah mentioned that upthread. I had forgotten the timing. Putin does have a theatrical sense, blackmailing a bunch of Republican Congresscritters to turn traitor in Moscow on July 4th.
Anya
@Roger Moore: I’ve read some wingnut tweets and it was amusing how they were trying to argue that Rick Perry is a misunderstood genius who is stuck with an undeserved reputation as a moron. As proof they keep pointing out that he was served as Texas Governor.
WaterGirl
David, when I saw the title of this post, I was hoping it was yours. I was gonna be mad if someone besides you came up with that perfect title.
Rand Careaga
There’s clearly a downside, from the standpoint of a GOP officeholder, to sticking with the short-fingered vulgarian, but for most of them there is no upside to bailing on him: no Maine voter who presently despises Susan Collins’ cowardice and mendacity in l’affaire Kavanaugh is going to forgive her merely for casting a symbolic, opportunistic and futile vote to convict in the Senate, whereas that fraction of her electorate that still worships the slime Trump walks on will resent her perceived apostasy very deeply indeed.
Romney’s a special case, because, well, Utah, and should he ever decide to proceed past his present cautious brow-furrowing, he’s got nothing to lose: he can be Senator-for-life out in Momoland if he chooses, and if he still harbors the presidential bug (it has been known to flare up in some victims as regularly as malaria), well, Trump’s “base” is never going to accept him, so if he is to have a prayer of ever being the GOP standard bearer again, it will require the present iteration of the party, which has degenerated into a Stalinesque cult of personality, to be burnt to the ground, and something more rationally plutocratic to rise from the greasy ashes.
Keith P.
@Fair Economist: It was an absolutely disgraceful episode almost eclipsed by the Dems’ inability or unwillingness to use it against them. If RJ was a D, Fox News would not say his name without adding “who jet-setted to Moscow to party with Putin on our Great Nation’s birthday”. Every time.
Kay
Whistleblowers, if you’re listening, we now need the Russian and China calls, please. A drop once a week would be nice, but use your own judgment. Let’s see who he sold out to get “dirt” on Biden in China. We all know it infected the trade negotiations. We just need a witness or two.
Don’t bother bringing anything to the DOJ. Waste of time, and really just a form of obstruction at this point.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ramiah Ariya:
On the contrary! Trump’s pivot to ‘corruption’ shows that he is so far up his own ass that he thinks he’s chasing real evidence that Hillary actually did frame him and Russia, and Biden actually did perform crimes to enrich his son. Start from that assumption, and you can see the thought process where Trump is actually a hero. He keeps trying to explain that to the public and is angry and confused that everyone else doesn’t see it.
FelonyGovt
I hope this is the whistleblower who supposedly has first hand knowledge. Although the “hearsay” objection to our current whistleblower was essentially nullified by Trump’s own big mouth.
jonas
@Ramiah Ariya: There are two angles to this Ukraine imbroglio. The first is an attempt by Paul Manafort and his legal team to discredit figures in the Ukrainian government and press who he feels were responsible for ratting out his involvement with the disgraced Yanukovych regime, including the millions in secret kickbacks that got him in trouble with the IRS. Manafort’s people were coordinating with Giuliani on this when Giuliani stumbled on the fact that Hunter Biden had sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company at the time when Manafort engaging in his own political skulduggery, and when then-VP Joe Biden was pressuring Ukraine to dump its notoriously corrupt state prosecutor. It was Giuliani who first saw the opportunity to use this story to attack Biden. The second thread is one certainly suggested to Trump by Putin (and reinforced by Russian trolls on alt-right internet forums), namely that it was the Ukrainians, along with liberal sympathizers in the IC, who actually hacked the DNC servers and framed Russia for the crime. WaPo has a good timeline here.
MattF
@Rand Careaga: Also, Trump’s attack on Romney pretty much sealed Romney’s Senator-for-life status in Utah. I’m certain that ‘hmm, maybe I shouldn’t attack Romney’ simply never occurred to Trump.
Kay
@Rand Careaga:
It’s true. Independents and Democrats already loathe Collins. She jettisons Republicans she’s definitely done for. I don’t think it’s complicated at all. They’re all telling themselves they’ll juice turnout in the base and make up for it, which is what all flailing politicians tell themselves. “If we can just get white working class men up to EIGHTY SIX PER CENT turnout we can pull this off!”
sdhays
@Ked:
That’s true to some degree, but the whistleblowers’ have lots of documents and anecdotes which basically write themselves. That’s a big reason why the media “smells blood in the water” – they don’t actually have to do much work. The stories are coming to them, and they’re really bad, so the media does actually seem to be turning. At least for now.
It’s hard for me to imagine this Republican Party turning on Dump, but this Republican Party has been coddled for decades by the mainstream media. If they actually start being treated with a tenth of the contempt they deserve – and Liddle’ Hands’ daily word vomit admitting to new and stupider crimes makes it difficult for the media to catch their breath and go back to thinking Republicans aren’t contemptible – they might crack.
JPL
@Uncle Jeffy: I did manage to catch Todd raising his voice.
I’m beginning to wonder if the floodgates are opening.. I refuse to hope though.
JPL
@dmsilev: Bring on the vuvuzelas
sdhays
@Kay: Kavanaugh was her Rubicon. Once she voted for him, she was going to be Lady LePage going into 2020. I figured she would retire since she has to win outright, not a plurality like LePage did (as I understand it, federal elections in Maine will now use ranked choice voting). I’m actually surprised that she’s trying run again.
Amir Khalid
Please to excuse off-topic football comment.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have taken a 0-1 lead against home side, mighty Manchester City!
hilts
OT
RIP Ginger Baker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSpW6MePb10
Mai naem mobile
@Fair Economist: Sen Kennedy of LA kind of turned into more of a Trumpov defender after he went to Russia as well. I really would like to know what Jon Huntsman has to say. He is another one who I think was gone around the time Coats’ went. The story was that he was looking into running for Utah governor but I think it was an excuse.
JPL
@Mai naem mobile: So do I.
btw buckle your seat belts.. the president isn’t playing golf today. What’s up with that.
Aleta
a second whistleblower has come forward
Yesterday some newsguy said the top GOPers were refusing to come on today’s Sunday am shows. Defense has become hazardous, at least until they get a script update and new casting.
sdhays
@Mai naem mobile: Rand Paul too; he became much more Dump supporting after his trip to Russia. The reporting of that trip where Republican Senators went on a kind of mysterious junket to Russia and came back brainwashed was another one of those things that a non-sleeping media would have worked harder to get to the bottom of.
oldgold
I watched the Sunday morning programs.
The GOP screaming table pounders and purveyors of what-aboutism were very ineffective.
The few offered-up what I think is the best defense. That is that what the President did was wrong, but not did rise to an impeachable offense; particularly, given the election is just around the corner – let the voters decide.
I do not necessarily think this defense is a winner. But, eventually it is the defense the GOP is going coalesce around.
germy
@SFAW:
Wohl and Burkman, yes.
O’Keefe took down ACORN. He’s also an idiot, but seems to have more credibility in the fever swamps.
Mai naem mobile
@sdhays: I believe her husband is a poltical consultant and is probably getting a nice little percentage of all that money she will get in campaign donations through ad buys etc. Nobody is going to care about that after she loses or if she wins she worries about it in 6 years if anybody remembers
Aleta
@hilts: thanks
germy
@sdhays: And didn’t they go on the Fourth of July?
Betty Cracker
Here’s Ron Johnson making a fool of himself on MTP:
Donald Trump believes a crackpot “Deep State” conspiracy theory, so every Republican either has to follow suit or risk the Wrath of Twitler. So far, they’re either hiding out or following Trump down the rabbit hole.
It’s good to see the media starting to identify the conspiracy theory for what it is. I was worried they’d reject that element in favor of a phony “both sides” narrative. For Republicans who sign up, there are all sorts of implications of endorsing that conspiracy theory, including that Putin was the innocent party in 2016 and that every US intel organization — plus allied intel organizations — lied because they were out to get Trump. Republicans need to be asked repeatedly if they believe this.
Villago Delenda Est
I suppose Donald is somewhat befuddled that there are people in the government who actually take their oaths of office seriously, unlike Donald.
West of the Rockies
@NYCMT:
Sadly, Trump and his satellite Rumplings may go, but the 50 million+ who support them are with us for longer. The xenophobic hatred in this world (in the US, Europe, and everywhere else) is the disease. Trump is a symptom.
JoyceH
@jonas: Oh, there’s a lot more to the Ukraine business than Manafort’s revenge! If Ukraine can be framed for the 2016 election meddling, then presto, Russia is absolved, and so long sanctions!
MattF
Talking points about that ‘massacre’ on Fifth Avenue.
Amir Khalid
YES!! 0-2! Wolves double their lead over Man City in injury time. A home defeat looms for the defending champions, who will be left eight points behind EPL leaders Liverpool.
Aleta
Ginger Baker – Bill Frisell – Charlie Haden
I knew him for this stuff
chris
@Betty Cracker:
A few days ago some wise soul remarked that “Deep State” makes much more sense if it’s taken to mean “The Rule of Law.”
Mandalay
@Rand Careaga:
There is an upside to bailing if you are confident that Trump won’t survive his term, or won’t run in 2020, or will lose in 2020.
Attack Trump as a liar, a coward, and a traitor who cannot be allowed to continue to destroy the country. Paint yourself as a patriot who has tried to remain loyal to the president of our great nation, but can no longer stay silent as blah…blah…blah.
If Trump goes down then Republicans in Congress who speak out against him will be in far better shape than all the lickspittles who remained silent. Of course if Trump survives all this then those who bailed will be completely fucked, but if you’d rather be a dead hero than a live coward it’s a viable strategy.
(Not that I see any Republican heroes in Congress. Maybe Romney is the only one who comes close, but others have already pointed out he can safely attack Trump without risking his seat, so he’s hardly courageous.)
JPL
@Betty Cracker: The only thing missing was Todd asking Johnson why he was spreading conspiracy theories started by Putin…
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@debbie: Late as always, so likely already answered, but not to worry about Mark Zaid on that score. He’s a bona fide whistleblower attorney with real chops and years of experience. He knows how to FOIA things that are important, and has the experience to determine what will be. Many of us in the lawyer biz were hoping that would be the choice. There’s another attorney involved who likely brought in Zaid for just that expertise. I don’t have enough information (about the another attorney) to verify that assumption. I do know Zaid is an excellent choice.
scottinnj
When will we get whistleblowers on Jared/Ivanka/Don Jr/Eric? They are up to their necks in it and none of them are as smart and/or good at covering their tracks as their dad/father in law. Yes that is a low bar, but they fail to clear it.
Chris Johnson
@Calouste:
Oh, you mean ‘murdered like Epstein, but let’s pretend it was suicide’?
Jinchi
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
“Oops”
Actually, Rick Perry is apparently one of the brightest in the whole administration. Sure he wanted to shut down the DOE, but once he discovered what it actually did, he pretty much sat back and let the agency run on autopilot.
SFAW
@germy:
Yeah, but since then, people have pretty much been onto him, I think.
sdhays
@germy: Yes! If they were Democrats, Faux News would remind people of these “Commie” Democrats staying in Russia during the American Holy Day every time their names were mentioned. But for Republicans, it’s almost forgotten.
MattF
@Mandalay: Yes, but safety in numbers. If every R is a lickspittle, then all they need is more spittle, which Trump will supply.
Just Chuck
The dam is cracking. Question is, will it burst before 2020 when the media and most of the pols will press a “move forward” narrative? Nixon’s impeachment inquiry survived into a second term. Trump’s likely wouldn’t.
Kay
@Villago Delenda Est:
If we survive this, though, it’s an opportunity to take a good look at who we hire and why and how they get promoted. There should have been more whistleblowers and the pushback should have started a long time ago. There were too many go-along to get alongs. The car ran off the road and the guard rails failed. We need to look at why the guard rails were so weak and flimsy.
Why were our institutions so weak that so many of them failed when faced with a reality tv show host and sleazy real estate developer? Imagine if they had had a formidable foe- someone smarter and more serious than this collection of failed Fox hosts? Sean Fucking Hannity brought us to our knees? Really?
sdhays
@Kay: As I recall, the US Attorney’s scandal in the W Administration didn’t come out due to whistleblowers. It came out due to some actual reporting (but maybe my memory is fuzzy). We should have recognized how compromised the DoJ was by how long that shit went on before anyone said anything.
Betty Cracker
Nobody does insults like the inhabitants of the British Isles:
#FilthyPieceOfToerag is the top trend on Twitter right now. :)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The wagons, they are circling. Roy Blunt was never gonna make anyone forget Daniel Webster, but he’s not an obvious buffoon like Johnson or on-going breakdown like Lindsey Graham.
Amir Khalid
@Just Chuck:
Per Wkipedia,
The Snte and House impechment enquiries began only after Nixon’s second inauguration.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I never even heard that our lovely lovers were leakers, but now we’re back to the Benghazi/emails strategy– once again, like immigration and ‘voter fraud’ demagoguery, GOP strategies that predate trump but that he weaponizes even more effectively than they do: Prove the negative. Refuse to take the answer for an answer, keep on saying there are “serious questions” (a phrase in my mind forever associated with Monsignor Russert).
PPCLI
@jonas: I have a similar concern. Hopefully the forces of good are aware as well.
Though perhaps the knowledge that whatever they may say will need to be said under oath will be a deterrent.
Chris Johnson
The thing to watch out for here… so, ask yourself this question.
If Russia wanted to burn Trump, as in have him wiped out and completely ruined, BUT retain control of the American government, what would they do?
I do not believe Trump was ever meant to last this long. He was meant to blow up early, flake out, stroke out, anything… and turn it over to Pence, who has discipline and could run the country for Russia. (“Well, you got what you wanted, Mike. Leave me alone.”)
At this point they can’t really rely on Pence either, so the question is, who else does Russia have as back-up? Other than McConnell, Tulsi Gabbard, Barr etc? Who, that could step into a leadership position as if they were some kind of answer to the Trump problem, while actually being exactly the same thing with more coherent motives?
So for that reason, don’t get too excited about Trump blowing up. He’s meant to blow up, he’s meant to fail, he was never the main plan. Look to Republicans who get mysteriously AMAZING news coverage, especially places like the New York Times. I am very suspicious of Paul Ryan (who is apparently back) for that reason. He’d make for a great Russian agent, that guy, plus he knows when to get out of Dodge. Some of these people are more knowing and willing agents than others. Some of them you don’t have to take ’em to Moscow on Independence Day and threaten them: they’ll happily ally with Russia if they can get something out of it, and often they are ideologically soulmates. We’re far from done with those.
Immanentize
@hilts:
She was like a bearded rainbow….
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s funny because as soon as they settle on a story, i.e., “Trump wasn’t serious,” Trump blows that defense up with comments like this:
Then a reporter asked if Cadet Corruption Crusader had investigated anyone who ISN’T running against him, and he said, “I’ll have to get back to you.” Both excuses are patently absurd.
Bill Arnold
@Anya:
Re Rick Perry’s alleged smarts, Politico, 2016:
The selling of Rick Perry’s smarts – He’s no MIT physicist, but the ex-Texas governor’s supporters are pitching him as a serious policymaker who has the chops to lead the department. (ANDREW RESTUCCIA and DARIUS DIXON, 12/26/2016)
He started wearing “smart glasses” in 2015 it appears.
Column: Will smart-looking glasses do the trick for Rick Perry? (Meghan Daum, June 11, 2015)
artem1s
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Classic enablers syndrome. Most NPD’s have an innate ability to spot someone who has codependency issues. Once they get your attention, the game begins. The more resistant you are to getting drawn into their mythology, the harder they will work to convince you that you are their bestest friend in all the world. Part of the allure is the chase. Once you are in the fold, the gas lighting starts. But only as long as they need you. Then you are suddenly on the outside and unable to even spot the moment when everything went to hell. People react differently to being on the outside. Lindsey types grovel even harder to get back in the door. Occasionally the NPD will find the rube useful or entertaining enough to let them flit around and play with. Some people recognize what they are dealing with and gets out as fast and quietly as they can. The NPD will react to this in various ways depending on the situation. Most of the ‘get out’ types fled the administration a loooong time ago. Most were attacked as being not good enough or Dump tried to ‘fire’ them in order to save face and preserve his status with the rest of the ‘inner circle’.
Anyone who has gone thru a relationship with an NPD takes any route out, even if it means having their reputation soiled. Looks to me like Perry tried to get out quietly, but left it way too late. Lindsey is going down with the ship no matter what it costs him. His identity is too tied up in trying to please the strong authoritarian in his life. It’s why he gravitated toward McCain all those years. But he’s dead now and Lindsey needs a father figure that hates him and makes him feel guilty about his sexual orientation. The religious fanatics have been trained from birth to gravitate toward someone like Dump. They will have their Jimmy Swaggert moments and then go right back out and find another con man to follow.
MattF
Lou Dobbs on Twitter is unhappy with Lindsey Graham.
TomatoQueen
@Amir Khalid: Most gratifying result. Also, David Luiz does something clever for Arsies & not seen by me since Steven Taylor used to do it fairly often for us, the ol defender scores on a neck-twisting header. And now for Matty Longstaff’s debut alongside brother Seany. Is the plural of Longstaff Longstaves? Blaydon Races.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s forgetting, I guess, that Giulinia floated interference in China re: the Biden “investigation” on Fox news several times.
It was absolutely stage two of the plan. Ukraine, then China. They announced it!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
and trump is not-joking about China again on twitter, but they think they have an answer, and barring George Romney’s ghost coming in the night to slap Willard around and say “Go take your balls back from that buffoon”, I don’t see them shifting course.
Another Scott
‘morning all.
Twitter:
“The past isn’t over. It isn’t even past.”
We have to fight them every single day. Lives are at stake.
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@Mandalay:
I think you need to attack him as somebody who threatens the Republican party; not enough primary voters care if he’s bad for the country.
Mai naem mobile
@JPL: I wonder how healthcare for POTUS is taken care of on a daily basis. Do they get their vital signs taken everyday? I just wonder if the WH doctor would catch Trumpov if he stroked out or before he stroked out with an elevated blood pressure.
Aleta
@SFAW: fallen leaves are collecting in the furrows
Kay
@sdhays:
Barr is actively obstructing an investigation into Donald Trump and not a peep out of any of them. It’s appalling.
This is their job. They’re not doing it. Which is how we have this odd series of events where they are completely missing in action. We could have an entire investigation into systemic corruption in the Trump Administration where the DOJ is irrelevant. They’re simply not there. I mean, we’re patching it together here, making do with IG’s and House committees, but where the FUCK are our law enforcement lawyers? They’re just hoping they can sit this one out and no one will notice?
MattF
@Mai naem mobile: One wonders. What pills does he take every day?
Eolirin
@Mandalay: This is unfortunately not how movement conservatism works. It is far better to lose your seat than to be disloyal to the party. Disloyalty is excommunication. No cushy well paying think tank, consulting or lobbying job. Loss of all social access to the club. You become a permanent pariah.
Keeping your seat isn’t worth screwing over your entire future.
Not that being disloyal helps with keeping your seat much, as your donor access goes away, which makes a tough reelection even tougher. Even if it would be tactically better, you’re not allowed to do that without the party leadership deciding that’s what’s going to happen. As a result, if the Republicans turn on Trump it’ll be all of them all at once, and it’ll be because the party apparatus has decided to cut him loose to save itself. The individual incentives do not allow for bottom up bravery.
Amir Khalid
@TomatoQueen:
David Luiz, nominally a defender, seems to offer more in attack than in his designated job. Arsenal should make him an attacking midfielder.
How do you fancy Newcastle’s chances against Man Utd?
Bill Arnold
@oldgold:
See also this, as a preview of another sort of legal argument that might get used to defend Trump to against a Ukraine-focused impeachment. (Politico). I’d be interested in comment from lawyers.
(I can’t tell from a quick shim of his publications whether or not he’s a partisan, perhaps not. IANAL.)
Is It Ever OK for a President to Ask a Foreign Country to Investigate a Political Rival? – Sometimes, yes—which is why Donald Trump’s potential impeachment hinges on his motive in doing so. (EDWARD B. FOLEY, October 06, 2019)
germy
@MattF:
I think he crushes and snorts them, whatever they are.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
Agreed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SFAW:
I used to think Susans Collins was a weak but sincere moderate. Since Kavanaugh, I’ve been wondering if she were just a pure fraud, as cynical, partisan and ambitious as Mitch McConnell. I read this a couple weeks ago, and all doubt was removed
Also, she initially ran on term-limits, vowing to serve no more than two terms. This will be her fifth.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
An important point to remember is that the wistleblowers weren’t going to do much good until we got a Democratic majority in at least one house of Congress. It wouldn’t have done them any good to blow the whistle if their reports were just going to be ignored by Devin Nunes. OTOH, we did get regular leaks of embarrassing material during 2017-18, which IMO represented the most effective way of getting information out there when Congress was just going to bury it.
Just Chuck
@Amir Khalid: Ah, thanks for the clarification. For some weird reason I thought it started earlier than that, but Watergate itself was less than a year before. Oh well, the political landscape is … different now, so my comparisons aren’t really apt anyway.
Whatever… I grew up in the 80’s, so I’m gobsmacked that it was the *republicans* who sold us out to Russia. Then again, selling the country out has been their MO since before Lincoln’s body was cold.
Kay
@sdhays:
They’re (supposedly) prosecutors. They’re not even going to review any of this? It’s insane. Every single one of them is individually derelict in their duties. If we didn’t want them to have individual duties of affirmative action when faced with illegality we could save a lot of money and just hire clerks to replace them all. We hire fucking LAWYERS for a reason. That’s what we’re paying them for- the supposed elevated standards and expertise of their profession, which apply individually to each of them. This isn’t about what Barr is- we know what he is- this is about a whole low quality tier beneath him who have decided they can cover their asses and lay low and hope Congress handles it for them. No. Do your job.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: We all saw it, Senator Blunt. It was on TV. The fool in the WH said “what happened in China was worse than what happened in Ukraine.” He didn’t look or sound like he was kidding. Go gaslight one of your party faithful.
Just Chuck
@Chris Johnson: I’m positive Putin didn’t think Filthy Toerag USA Edition was going to be elected at all. He just wanted to sow division here to distract from the anti-sanctions agenda he was pushing. Osama Bin Laden expressed surprise that the twin towers completely collapsed the way they did; I think Putin might have felt similarly about the elections. The blowback in 2020 is likely to be a lot worse than he would have liked had T(oerag) not been elected .
germy
Aleta
@Another Scott: very anecdotal (+ in only three areas, govt, university and medical) but I have impression that more people are being demoted or encouraged to leave their jobs if they speak out. And it doesn’t take many, because once an example is set, others quickly become more cautious. Maybe that explains the emotional intensity of those who gave early warnings about authoritarianism — a cascade effect (if you will) remains after the instigator is gone.
Bill Arnold
@Betty Cracker:
One pathetic thing is that he believes in (or possibly, was actively manipulated into believing in) a single particularly silly conspiracy theory. Advanced conspiracy theorists believe in a distribution of multiple conflicting conspiracy theories/normal theories all at once. (Sorta serious here.)
germy
Mandalay
Gym Jordan on This Week:
The same approach as Blunt, the same approach as Rubio: Of course Trump wasn’t being serious! it’s all just a joke!
Just Chuck
@artem1s:
I’m fine with outing the hypocrites, but this kind of rumor-mongering should be beneath us.
Ladyraxterinok
@Ked:
The large Evangelical base has been and continues to be told daily on TV and in church that God has annointed and chosen Trump. That to oppose Trump is to oppose god.
A really, truly Christian DOES NOT go against god.
That is a mind-set I don’t think can be broken. See JimBakker show YouTube videos and esp frequent guest Lance Walnau. Walnau recent appearances really drive the message home!
Kay
@sdhays:
When the public hired a special prosecutor that wasn’t supposed to mean our entire corps of full time federal prosecutors just stopped doing their jobs as to the Trump Administration. It wasn’t supposed to be “ok, that’s it, everyone take the next 3 years off”. They’re afraid of Barr? This ridiculous, privileged, well-connected mediocrity who is a political appointee?
My God, what do they when faced with a less well-bred career criminal? People who don’t have this veneer of respectability? They must be terrified.
StringOnAStick
@Kay: excellent point, Kay. Is there such a thing as them being considered mandatory reporters? I could lose me dental hygienist license if I fail to report evidence of elder or child abuse, but these lawyers can just turn a blind eye to illegal acts in their department?
No One of Consequence
Esteemed Jackalry and associated Jackal-adjacent,
A good Sunday to you all, and may our Republic be here next week at this time.
The subject matter at hand led me to offer this. (Stick around through the chorus at least.)
Jethro Tull – The Whistler : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Q2L1Tt1Hk
A well-played fife and throwback to ’77.
Stop this timeline, I want to get off. Or, hey could you drop me off in ’73 or so?
Yeesh.
Peace,
– NOoC
Sloane Ranger
CNN is not doing itself any favours. I’ve been watching Inside Politics and the show that follows it hosted by Jake Tapper and they were both talking about how bad the optics were in Joe Biden involving himself in Ukraine when his son had financial interests there and quoting various Democratic Presidential candidates who said they wouldn’t allow their VP to act as JB did. Plus Tapper had some member of CREPT (Commitee to Re-elect President Trump) on you was claiming that there was footage of Biden making a quid pro quo demand of Ukraine in relation to his son. Neither Tapper nor the Democrat pushed back on this.
This is clearly going to be the next line of defense, both sides do it and the Democrats are hypocrites.
In vaguely related news, the wife of a US diplomat here in the UK has done a bunk after she killed a motorcyclist while driving on the wrong side of the road. It happened here in Northamptonshire but the story has gone national. This was after assurances were received that she would remain in the country. She’s claiming diplomatic immunity.
SRW1
@MattF:
Some Trumpites seem a tad unnerved.
Mandalay
@artem1s:
You’re diminishing yourself far more than Graham with that vile garbage.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
Trump brings the two main cancers of our polity– the influence of money and race-based resentment– together in an almost unique package. His combination of shamelessness and the boorish, blustery buffoonery that makes what we used to call Angry White Males think he’s a common-sense tough guy, just like them! And if he’s so stupid, how come he’s a self-made billionaire (he’s neither of those things, of course, but the TeeVee told them otherwise for thirty years). Mitt Romney, a prep school by way of Wall St toff, couldn’t sell it like he could. Paul Ryan could seduce the Beltway with his earnest Eddie Haskell horseshit, but the arrested adolescent Randian always shone through. Jeb Bush couldn’t not show his Walker’s Point ass. Ted Cruz communicates his belief in “First Tier Ivies” with every breath. The closest thing we’ve seen to trump is W, who for all the things that made him the second-worst president since Nixon (if not Buchanan, if not ever) didn’t radiate the kind of hatred trump does, and couldn’t resist going for Social Security privatization, right out loud and right out in the open.
jonas
@Kay: It’s all projection, ultimately. One of Trump’s most flagrant tells is accusing others of the very corruption he has either committed, or assumes he *would* commit, given the opportunity. I can’t recall where I saw it, but back in 2016, when it became clear Trump was carrying water for the Russians’ campaign interference, someone reported that the *real* story was the Trump Org’s (including Kushner’s) connections to all sorts of corruption and bribery in China. Not sure if anyone every pursued that, but it would explain Trump’s bizarre confidence that his trade war bluster and tariffs would quickly bring China to heel. H seems to have been thinking “I know people, I have connections — we’ll make a deal” and then it blew up in his face because he quickly made it impossible for the Chinese to make concessions without national humiliation.
Ladyraxterinok
@Ramiah Ariya: Saw yesterday that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine (on democraticunderground). IIRC poster said it was in a Twitter thread but poster had not seen elsewhere. Anyone see anything about Russia doing this?
Ruckus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
That’s how this works. The narcissist draws you in, uses you until he’s done with you and then stomps on your head, figuratively. Because once you are in he has not one iota of concept of you, what you are doing for him, only what you’ve done to him. Notice that trump has only now in his brain. Only Now. Yesterday, last week are meaningless to him, Only Now is his timeline. So if you aren’t 100% loyal, he will burn you – because you were not loyal. You can be loyal for 100 yrs, then one time you are only 99% loyal, he’ll either run you over or have you run over, by a train. It’s why people will give up themselves to keep from being run over. And trump has a lot of power/position to screw anyone in his path. The only saving one’s self is running away as soon and as fast as possible. And you will pay a price for having involved yourself in the first place. Read the twitter stream that @MattF: posted.
eclare
@Sloane Ranger: Saw that, horrible. No words.
Kay
I think the cooling on Trump support with WWC is not impeachment. I think it’s that the economy is cooling in these states ahead of eastern and western states, and people are noticing. Trump’s economic promises didn’t pan out. I think there was an early warning sign, too, which his administration ignored: the tax cut wasn’t popular. They knew it didn’t benefit them.
I don’t recall a tax cut ever being unpopular before. That was a first for me.
It is funny though that with all the media trips to interview Trump voters in diners they’re completely ignoring the slump in manufacturing and agriculture in these states. They were only interested in it as a “feelings” thing – what do they FEEL? They’re still basically ignoring them.
zhena gogolia
@Ramiah Ariya:
Yes, yes, yes! they all act as if these are two completely different stories.
Ruckus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Exactly. No one walks away unharmed. No one.
Amir Khalid
Goldang it, my mouse just broke.
Aleta
@Kay: Prosecutors are supposed to have power to make decisions independently, yes? Is this power being removed for prosecutors? * Is this another effect of running government like a business?
*In other areas where workers are losing this power, I like to simplistically blame business management school models, and the type of people who ascend.
Ruckus
BJ is eating my comments.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: My cat said the exact same thing last night.
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
I’ll add an extra layer to that. Republicans are used to excellent message discipline, because they don’t give a pony’s uvula about the truth so they might as well follow whoever comes up with the catchiest slogan. Trump has the loudest megaphone, but he keeps using it to confess. This makes things very difficult for other Republicans.
@Villago Delenda Est:
I don’t think he has any idea anyone is doing that or even grasps the concept. He can’t think outside his own box, so what he sees is a conspiracy to destroy him motivated by spite, greed, and lust for power. Mostly spite.
sdhays
@Kay: When the Acting DNI forwarded his legal question to the DoJ about how he should handle this, we don’t have any evidence (yet?) that Barr actually intervened. They concluded that there was no legal offense there – not even enough to warrant further investigation – , on their own.
The rot runs deep.
ThresherK
@Sloane Ranger: I’m an American who knows my share of Britishisms, but can you tell me what “done a bunk” means? Genuine question, no snark. Is it like going into a bunker, proverbially?
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: Goldang,so that’s what SWLABR stood for!
45 B-side to “Sunshine of Your Love” – & I always liked it better.
BTW, how be the Immp? And howzis Da?
trollhattan
@scottinnj:
Now see here, those children are doing High Quality Work on behalf of Their Country and should not be confused with Obvious Corrupt Children like Hunter Biden. Leave the Trumpettes aloooooone!
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: An old woman with no fucks left to give, gotta love it.
Ladyraxterinok
@SFAW:
Looking back, Mitchell basically comes across as a good ol’ boy just doing his job for the GOP team. There was no treason and deals with Russia or other countries then. Even the worst GOPer would never ever considered that!
Aleta
@Rand Careaga: I picture Collins and others as relying on, and still swayed by, a promised fallback occupation.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: If your cat had a better publicist, we would have seen a newspaper story about the snake killing.
Amir Khalid
@ThresherK:
To do a bunk means to go/run away.
trollhattan
@MattF:
Good god, somebody dart Dobbs and fit him in a jacket with extra long sleeves. Have him checked for rabies.
rikyrah
@Ramiah Ariya:
The one person on that consistently has been Maddow
Bill Arnold
@Ladyraxterinok:
Don’t know (nothing in a 20 second search), but see this:
What Putin Got From the Trump-Zelensky Phone Call – The biggest beneficiary of the Ukraine scandal is, sure enough, the Kremlin. (MOLLY K. MCKEW, October 06, 2019)
sdhays
@Kay: Aren’t soybeans basically rotting in the fields in Iowa due to the trade war with “Jhyna”? Iowa went pretty handily for Dump in 2016, but Obama won it pretty solidly twice and Liddle’ Hands probably can’t win without it.
Ruckus
@Ked:
If and only if trump was a “normal” politician.
He’s not. He’s not actually a politician in the least. He holds a political job but isn’t filling it as a politician, only as the narcissist that he is. It’s like flying in space and entering a worm hole, nothing is “normal” because the person supposedly in charge is not in any way normal.
Ramalama
@Aleta: Wait, Bill Frisell’s not dead…?
MattF
@Kay: Well, fwiw, I got slaughtered on taxes, and I know I’m not the only one. Several middle-class tax shelters got creamed. And I get a quarterly reminder of that when I pay estimated tax. I think Rs overplayed their allegiance to the 0.1 percent.
sdhays
@Ramalama: Don’t believe the diagnosis of his demise from some “doctor” in the Senate chamber. //
Sloane Ranger
@ThresherK: It means to run away. Damn, just seen that Amir Khalid got in before me.
News reports are that she’s back in the States.
cwmoss
@Amir Khalid: I thought the Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leicester 3-1!
Aleta
@Ramalama: Don’t think so. I meant I knew G Baker as a jazz drummer, didn’t know Cream in real time.
Ruckus
@Chief Oshkosh:
Just along the same lines, look at most of the enablers of trump.
First, they are all RWNJs, not all there in the first place.
Second, that implies that reality is not the same for them as the rest of us.
Third, someone like Barr may be doing what he is doing out of some twisted idea of either/or self preservation or 100% support for trump, in the mistaken idea that he can manipulate things in his favor.
As many have pointed out, Nixon walked away, a lot of his enablers did time.
Sebastian
Trump’s calculation was to run this like the mob. No notes and instructions by innuendo only. And when investigated, stonewall and Omerta. Nobody talks.
His problem is that once people start confessing the whole thing collapses. We have seen this happen when mob operations are taken down, all it takes is one guy laying it all out to the prosecutors. Here we need a bit more because of GOP and entrenched power (media, commerce, etc) but the amount of information and corroborating evidence is simply staggering. It’s as if someone dropped a fucking house on them! Haha
They are all coming down hard. At this pace these fuckers won’t survive Christmas. Fuck, I don’t know how they’ll survive this month!
Happy Sunday fellow patriots and jackals! Here is to the downfall of House Trump. Let us savor.
debbie
@sdhays:
Anybody remember the original version of Invaders from Mars? A person will fall through a seemingly dry sandy spot into the Martians’ ship where they drill something into the back of the person’s head changing him into an automaton doing their bidding.*
This is what’s going on when GOOPers visit Russia.
(*One of the first “converts” is Erik’s dad. Movie was supposed to be an allegory of the Red Scare.)
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
As sad as that is, it made me laugh out loud.
Ladyraxterinok
@JPL: @JoyceH:
I feel like I’ve lost the plot—Again!!—. Why does Ukraine play such a big role in all of this, from at least Manafort on?!?
How did Manafort get involved in deals in Ukraine in the 1st place?
It seems like such an unexpected country to play such a big role
debbie
@Villago Delenda Est:
Donald is learning that the whole freakin’ country is filled with counterpunchers.
Ruckus
@oldgold:
I think the voters did decide.
We took the house and in 2016 more of us voted for the dem candidate in 2016. It is our election laws and most probably voter meddling that got us where we are.
debbie
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
Thanks. You don’t know how much your endorsement means to this legal dweeb!
Ladyraxterinok
@sdhays: Nixon admin??
Sebastian
@Calouste:
Yes. Suicide like he shot himself three times in the back of his head. Or fell out of the window. Or drowned in the bathtub.
People been dying like flies in Russia. What makes us think it won’t happen here? We already had Epstein.
debbie
@sdhays:
Soybeans can be stored in silos for years.
Another Scott
@Rand Careaga: +1
She had plenty of opportunities to bail before and didn’t. She’s going down with the ship.
Or deciding not to run for re-election. Maybe heading some private college or or “public service organization” or something – that seems to be a popular.
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
NO, it is supposed to be the take from the White House regarding everyone in the government who isn’t currently on call to fellate Trump. With a sarcastic wit turned to the description.
germy
@debbie: That’s what the pyramids are for.
mrmoshpotato
“I think we should stop texting about the crimes, and maybe tell the crimes over the phone so that the crimes don’t leave little crime footprints.”
germy
@Sebastian: Joshua Brown was shot in the mouth and chest on Friday. He’s the brave young man who testified for the prosecution at Amber Guyer’s trial.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@debbie: I’m glad to hear it helps!
@J R in WV: is there a pupdate? I’ve been thinking about them – and you and Mrs JR. Also sending “go home” thoughts to them.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ladyraxterinok:
Manafort is a Russian agent. He was heavily involved when Ukraine’s president was more or less a Russian agent. Think ‘Trump.’ Manafort coming to work for the Trump campaign was one of the giant red flags that Putin was running the show. Ukraine is the most Western country actively involved in a conflict with Russia, so you have the perfect place to hunt for the kind of ‘clues’ that conspiracy theorists use to hatch their insane beliefs. The Biden thing and Hillary’s emails were what hatched.
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
Again, as we both keep saying, it’s a classic narcissist move. He has convinced himself that his enemies are doing/have done the exact same things that he has, so therefore it’s okay for him to retaliate using the same weapons. There’s pretty much no way to convince him otherwise because it’s part of how he’s protecting his fragile core. He’s the real victim, in his mind.
mrmoshpotato
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
You mean Dump’s Soviet shitpile money laundering mobster children?
Fuck ’em!
Mnemosyne
@jonas:
I think I remember seeing the attack on Biden via Hunter Biden coming from the Berniebros in 2016. Yet another piece of evidence that they were being fed Russian propaganda even if they didn’t realize the source.
Amir Khalid
Something has finally happened: Longstaff Minor scores for Newcastle. 1-0, and Man Utd don’t look like they can equalise.
Kelly
@debbie:
Silos are full. Most of them were grown with borrowed money. Interest clock keeps ticking.
mrmoshpotato
@mad citizen:
Why? To sell dick pills and tell you what drugs your doctor should prescribe.
germy
https://wnyt.com/politics/the-latest-lawyer-says-2nd-whistleblower-backs-complaint/5516585/?cat=10114
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Has no one pointed out to Trump’s defenders that his demands for a Biden inquiry is only based on hearsay?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mrmoshpotato: it looks like MSNBC is running a bunch of recorded “in depth discussion” type shows tonight in place of the prison shows. I won’t watch, but I take it as a hopeful sign that they think there’s money to be made talking impeachment
Ladyraxterinok
@debbie: Isn’t problem that there are no workers coming over the border to harvest them? So they rot in the fields?
Ladyraxterinok
@germy: Warning to people in Dallas and TX? Don’t testify against cops?
Read that there were many shots in body
James Powell
I saw a re-elect Trump TV ad yesterday during the Michigan State @ Ohio State game. It was a paranoid rant about how the swamp was out to get the greatest president ever.
Did anyone else here see it? I wondered if they were running the ad because his polling shows this Ukraine thing is hurting him.
debbie
@Ladyraxterinok:
I don’t think so. I think soybean farming is pretty much all mechanized.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James Powell: probably, also they might well have more money than they know what to do with so why not?
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
It ends Newcastle 1-0 Man Utd. Team mediocre beats team dreadful.
germy
@Ladyraxterinok:
Front and back. Horrible.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ladyraxterinok: I’ve seen soybeans harvested in a field behind my house. A big machine comes along and does it. One driver. Corn is like that too.
Mnemosyne
@zhena gogolia:
Last night I was mocking a commenter-turned-troll who was trying to insist that if the House investigated the Ukraine allegations, that means that they have to drop any investigation into Russia.
They’re. The. Same. Corruption. You can’t look at Ukraine without Russia. It’s like trying to come up with a policy about Taiwan that ignores China.
Steve in the ATL
@Amir Khalid:
That’s too bad. You should buy a new guitar.
Gin & Tonic
@Ladyraxterinok: Paul Fucking Manafort is a bloodsucking mercenary who has the scruples of the proverbial scorpion and will go anywhere that pays him. Look at his history in Africa and Asia. The Yanukovych party simply held out the bag of money, and there he went.
hilts
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Susan Collins is as phony as a $3 bill. I hope Maine voters finally wake the Hell up and send her packing next year.
Kay
Oh, come at her Tulsi. Please proceed.
Tulsi should probably start thinking about how she’s going to keep her House seat instead of worrying about how to protect Donald Trump from Elizabeth Warren. Without the House seat she’s a more malicious, less popular Marianne Williamson.
Sebastian
@Ladyraxterinok:
I think that soy, wheat, and corn are heavily automated. Produce on the other hand is immensely labor intensive. There have been some advances, e.g. they have succeeded in automating baby lettuce but not romaine and iceberg, oranges are also partially automated if I recall correctly.
It’s California and the South that suffer the most from the immigration crackdown.
Mnemosyne
@Ladyraxterinok:
Russia is pissed that Ukraine not only declared independence after the Soviet Union broke up, but allied themselves with Western Europe instead of Russia. They’ve been trying to re-annex them ever since.
That’s why all of the assholes like Manafort who tried to manipulate elections in Ukraine have ties to Russia.
hilts
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Starting at 9 pm, MSNBC is airing back to back specials,, the first hosted by Ari Melber will cover the latest news on the Impeachment front. At 10pm, Rachel hosts a special based on her new book.
Betty
@germy: Not a coincidence, I am sure. Just stunning.
Barry
@Fair Economist: “Barr is surprising. I’d have thought he wouldn’t want to see the inside of a jail cell.”
Barr is a long-term member of the System – which one might call
The Deep State, if one were accurate.
Trump is both not a member of the System, and an extremely unusual sociopath.
Barr is likely not used to this.
rikyrah
@sdhays: Rand’s Daddy was all in for Russia….so, I don’t know if I put him in with the others.
The Moar You Know
@MattF: Don’t go there on Balloon Juice. I’ve been told many times by multiple commenters that I’m a fucking liar for claiming the same happened to me.
Which it did. And fuck the inevitable replies, in advance.
rikyrah
@Kay:
We can do better than Tulsi in Hawaii?
Steve in the ATL
@The Moar You Know: seriously? Who did that? Real commenters or trolls? I thought it was widely understood that the cuts screwed the middle class.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I don’t think that you like me saying this, but White Supremacy is why they were so weak. I stand, without hesitation, that this would not have gone I. If this was 44.
All of the “institutions” would have ” stood”.
You might disagree with me, but this is my viewpoint.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yup. They go the direction the money blows. See 2016.
J R in WV
@debbie:
This is very true, until the moment when there is no available space for millions of tons of a new crop of soybeans. Which is where i think these farmers are right now.
Silos, which cost a ton of money to build, and take months to erect once all the materials are ordered and schedules for delivery.
J R in WV
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
The two puppies are home with us, have learned where lunch is.
Were gone 8 days, are really skinny, are given all the puppy chow they are willing to chow down.
They have learned to bark or otherwise make noise to signal they want in or out. Big progress so far, but I have until next Thursday to teach them to walk on a leash to go to the Vet clinic~!!~ So big challenges still to come…
Doug R
@Kay:
Good scary stuff, but you’re missing the bigger picture.
2018 had the highest turnout for a midterm since 1914 which was a big deal itself because 1914 was the FIRST election people could directly vote for their Senator.
In 2018, 8,000,000 MORE people voted Democrat, the wave would have been even bigger were it not for gerrymandering.
Kay
@The Moar You Know:
I feel like it was a profound thing. They did a tax cut and people were like “well, this sucks”. They don’t even run on it anymore. As I mentioned, I watch the Trumpster produced videos (not all of them) all the evidence that he “improved America” consists of him getting on and off Air Force One with patriotic music playing, interposed with dark, jerky video of Rachel Maddow yelling.
I don’t even know why they like the Air Force One videos. He has some issue with walking or balance or something. He’s gripping the rail like he’s going to fall. There’s something off there- he puts down his feet like he doesn’t know the ground will be there. Maybe it’s the secret high heels. They DO pitch him forward in an odd way, the lifts in his shoes.
Kay
As I have mentioned, I am a girther, because there is no way that my middle son, who is the same height as Donald Trump and not obviously, visually obese, weighs more than Donald Trump, who is obviously and visually obese.
But this has now been compounded because some idiot jackal posted a link that said that Trump’s tiny hands ONLY make sense if he’s 5′ 9″ or 5′ 10″. Apparently hand length is always proportionate to height and there’s a cast somewhere of douchebag’s actual hand, so we know how long it is. So now I have that to think about.
Doug R
@Chris Johnson:
https://i.imgur.com/eD9eeH5.gif
MattF
@The Moar You Know: I’m… surprised to hear that. I thought it was common knowledge that if you live in a state with a significant income tax and high property values, your Federal taxes would go up. Mine certainly did.
Doug R
@Kay:
https://goodmenproject.com/politics-2/donald-trump-almost-definitely-five-foot-nine-bbab/
J R in WV
@J R in WV:
Now the little girl has eaten her first shoe !!!
Puppies 1 – JR 0
TomatoQueen
@Amir Khalid: You mischaracterize. The correct way: “TOON remembers how to play football long enough for two Geordie brothers to boss the midfield and for one of them, Wor Matty Longstaff, to score on his debut, at the age of 19, the youngest player ever to score on his Newcastle Premier League debut.” Howay the Lads!
Villago Delenda Est
@Kay: What Donald does show is how the Electoral College is an utter failure. It did not do what the Founders intended; serve as a check on electing some reckless, corrupt demagogue. In fact, it went out of its way to install the vile creature in office.
Abolish it. It no longer serves any purpose other than to allow an authoritarian racist political party to maintain its grasp on power.
J R in WV
@Ladyraxterinok:
Nope, this is industrial farming, soybeans and field corn are harvested with giant combine machines which dump into giant trailers being pulled behind the harvester machine. Low employee input, expensive machinery, loans to buy the equipment, etc.
prostratedragon
“Penalty Box,” Astor Piazzolla
(That’s the rest of the world dancing off.)
Another Scott
@Doug R: I’m convinced!!11
Photo of Donnie standing with Hulk Hogan (supposedly 6’7″)
There’s a cinderblock wall in the background, so a rough scale is that Hogan is 1/2 a block taller, or (very roughly) 4″. So, Donnie’s no more than 6’3″ (and likely less given the inflation in wrestler dimensions).
He’s not 10″ shorter than Hogan.
Could he be wearing Herman Munster shoes? Possible, but seems unlikely.
I assume Donnie is ~ 6′ 1″ (he’s a little shorter than Obama who is supposedly 6′ 1″). He’s not 5’9″. Maybe he was taller when he was younger.
His weird posture could be the result of an old back injury or small lifts or simply years of bad posture or something.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
TomatoQueen
@Amir Khalid: Sorry, didn’t see this earlier. I never ever fancy our chances against them. In recent memory, we have prevented them from drubbing us at home rather more often than seems likely, and they in turn have showed us what’s what at their place with some consistency. The commentators seem to get a giggle out of saying This Is Not the ManU side of the Ferguson Era, to which I say that’s just an invitation to the blues. But I think your lot should have no trouble with them next weekend.
Another Scott
@Villago Delenda Est: +1
With any luck, Team D will flip enough state legislatures and governors to make the NPVIC a reality so that we don’t have to wait for the constitutional amendment process to fix it.
Cheers,
Scott.
TomatoQueen
@Another Scott: I am guessing prostatitis, the posture is very much like Robert Duvall’s in The Paper, where such disease or worse is one of the sub themes, and he’s the right age for it. Or it could be a combination of old man who never exercises ailments yielding a posture that’s there because he can’t do anything else.
Ruckus
@Kay:
He could have balance/sensory issues, for the reasons you said and/or for internal sensory functional issues. In any case he has so many issues and his biggest one concerns the basic premise of who and what he is, that an actual physical medical condition that affects his balance would probably be a minor issue. His narcissism overrules everything else in his life, including his physical health because he “can’t possibly” be getting old, or having issues, because he is “perfect,” at least in his minds eye. And he is, in his eyes, nothing like what we see and experience. We see a dramatically deficient, old human with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. He sees the exact opposite.
NotMax
@Another Scott
Wouldn’t put a lot of faith in the NPVIC, as it will be tied up in the courts for years if enough states sign on. Plus even some avid proponents of the NPVIC argue it still must be granted Congressional approval (under Article I, section 10 of the Constitution) once the requisite number of states sign on before it can go into effect.
Ruckus
@TomatoQueen:
He is certainly of the age range for prostrate issues such as BPH or cancer, but prostatitis normally is seen in younger men. And doesn’t actually normally cause postural issues, unless possibly extreme cases.
Even so his biggest issue is the narcissism, because it rules all decisions and views that he might possibly not be the healthy, buff, stud that he thinks he is.
TomatoQueen
@Ruckus: That’s why I’m leaning more to a combination of old man and always sedentary problems, not just one thing. Some of the dementias have physical aspects, Alzheimer’s for one has cardiac effects. Anyone of that age with those eating habits and lack of exercise is bound to show deterioration which I think is accelerating.
Another Scott
@NotMax: I have no doubt that there would be lawsuits, but since the states choose their electors I’m not worried too worried. Of course, it would be better if things were fixed in the Constitution itself. Trouble is, I fear that these days once we start messing with it then there will be all kinds of pressure to mess with other parts of it that could be very dangerous…
Ultimately, governments have to rule with the consent of the governed. And they also need to have a sensible majority to function reasonably fairly and efficiently. We’ve all seen how dysfunctional the UK and Israel’s governments are since they seemingly can’t construct a majority. All kinds of mischief could happen in the USA if things fracture too much more, or if a majority of people come to believe that US elections are a sham…
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mohagan
@Kay: @debbie: I’ve read where the terrible rain and flooding have compromised some of the silos and they have burst; hence rotting soybeans from water damage.
Ruckus
@TomatoQueen:
OK just a bit of misunderstanding there. Yes he has a lot of issues, and he’s a fucking mess of a human.
opiejeanne
@James Powell: We just saw that ad during the Raiders/Bears football game.
Neldob
@Kay: I hope you put this comment on the nyt comment section somewhere. More people than our little mongrel pack needs to see it.
joel hanes
@clay: @Mohagan:
I’m currently in Iowa.
They’ve had a record wet summer and early fall, and many of the fields have had ponds of standing water off and on for months, with three big rains just within the last few weeks, and much of that water is still on the ground.
At this date, the crops and the ground should be drying or already dry, and the harvest begun.
Instead, the fields are mud, much of the crop is brown heads on green plants, and fungus and rot are starting to damage the part of the crop that wasn’t killed earlier by standing water.
The ground is too wet and soft to get the machinery into the fields to harvest, and the crop is mostly too wet and green to be harvested anyway.
The next couple weeks are forecast dryer, but it looks like some of the farmers will actually have to wait for a hard freeze to firm up their fields enough to permit combining.