Just fucking arrest them:
The planned impeachment testimony from a Pentagon official responsible for Ukraine policy was delayed for several hours Wednesday after several of President Trump’s congressional allies staged a demonstration against the probe and barged into a secure facility on Capitol Hill.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper was due to speak at 10 a.m. in closed testimony focused on the mechanics of U.S. security assistance for Ukraine and fallout from the White House’s decision to withhold it for several months. But conservative lawmakers disrupted her session as it was about to begin, refusing to leave the secure room where impeachment witnesses have met with lawmakers.
The demonstration marked the latest attempt by Republicans to discredit the probe into whether Trump ordered the hold on military aid to pressure Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, into launching investigations that would benefit Trump politically. It follows explosive testimony Tuesday from a key U.S. diplomat, who detailed for impeachment investigators how he was told that Trump had made release of the aid package contingent on a public pledge by Zelensky to investigate the Biden family and the 2016 U.S. election, undercutting Trump’s repeated denials of a quid pro quo.
Seriously. Just have Capitol Police arrest them. Then continue the hearings with armed guards, and censure every fucking one of them. The end. The time for playing nice is over with these pigfuckers.
West of the Rockies
A parade of pudgy, aging white men, all indignant about how unfair everyone is being to them and their porcine leader.
“This is so UNFAIR!”
guachi
If I intentionally brought a cell phone into a SCIF I’d have my access and clearance suspended (I have TS/SCI) and it would probably be completely stopped from me after an investigation.
I don’t know, specifically, as I’ve never seen anyone stupidv enough to do this.
Accidentally? Yes.
Intentionally? Never.
PaulWartenberg
I agree.
code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/sections/22-1322.html
Have the city arrest them. Put them in city jail cells for the night, see how they like it. :)
ruemara
That would be great. Except if I recall correctly, it requires the DOJ to hold them. Happy to be wrong, though. Anyone know? Also text ResistBot and follow the prompts to demand censure & consequences for this action.
Betty Cracker
Shouting nonsense and milling around eating pizza is easier than answering reporter questions about this:
From clips I’ve seen online, reporters are hounding them about Trump’s shakedown anyway, which is somewhat heartening?
Ladyraxterinok
Remember Cheney holding secret meetings with oil people? We never learned what was discussed.
And there was a black Representative ranking minority party member of a committee who needed to hold some hearings,
He was shunted off to some cramped dusty room. And then GOP turned off lights and AC/heating to close down the hearing.
The Moar You Know
@guachi: I heard of someone recently who got access revoked and fired for bringing their cellphone into a SCIF in order to PLUG IT INTO A COMPUTER TO RECHARGE IT. Cellphone got taken and burned, and they had to sanitize the entire system. Even quite a few of the people who know the rules are fucking morons.
I wish I was making this up.
But yeah, you can’t take a phone into a SCIF. Most have sniffers to deter you from even getting near the entrance with one. A bit mystified why this one did not.
JamesKPolkEsq
Confiscate their electronic devices. All of them, for national security purposes.
Three weeks from now, when the wingnut outrage de jour has moved on 18 times, they all need to be charged with “Mishandling Classified Information”.
No free passes anymore.
mrmoshpotato
Van Jones tonight (probably not): Today was the day the entire GOP became Russthuglican Traitorous Trump Trash.
Mandalay
Well that sounds all fine and dandy on the internet, but how would it actually happen in real life?
Who picks up the phone and makes the call, and who answers that call, to result in Gaetz getting arrested?
IANAL but I’m sure the Republicans had evaluated the risk of being arrested before getting up to their shenanigans, and correctly decided it was zero.
ruemara
@mrmoshpotato: Him? He’s full on a disinfo agent. Fuck Van Jones.
MattF
Their audience is Trump + Fox News. They’d love to go to jail, IMO— unless the caption reads ‘the Fascist perp walk.’ I think a threat of disbarment and (maybe) censure could be effective.
rikyrah
Perp walk all these muthaphuckas.
Chyron HR
Has anyone tried explaining to them that they only stole Florida because Jeb! was running the state back in 2000?
mrmoshpotato
@guachi: Oops! Accidentally brought my cell phone into a SCIF! Gotta tweet this out to the world!
hueyplong
@MattF: “They’d love to go to jail” is one theory. Another is that they are testing how far they can go down the brownshirt road without consequence.
Confiscate their phones and review them.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
A group of about 30 of these assholes rushed the door, so a sniffer was kind of moot at that point. It does make me nervous about security inside the House, though.
Immanentize
C’mon lock ’em up folks. Article I Speech and Debate clause prevents that arresting behaviour.
mrmoshpotato
@ruemara: Hence my “probably not.” :)
But today would be a great day to declare Dump became President! /S!
Mnemosyne
@Immanentize:
Article 1 says that you can storm into a secured area with contraband goods (their cell phones) and occupy it?
rikyrah
Clap clap clap clap clap
germy
They’re gone, and testimony begins.
David Hunt
I’d like to add an addendum to the “Just arrest them” suggestion. That being: as they’re being released from jail, remind each of the idiots that use of deadly force is authorized to protect the SCIF and you’re going to have a talk with the marines(?) who guard the entrance about how upset you are about national security being compromised by the allowed breach of the SCIF.
clay
@hueyplong:
A third theory is that they are too dumb and privileged to realize that something they do could possibly be wrong.
Mnemosyne
@David Hunt:
Apparently one of the penalties for bringing your cell phone into a SCIF area is having it confiscated and destroyed. I’d be cool with that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: That, and Congress isn’t covered by the same rules that govern military behavior.
germy
rikyrah
Trump increasingly exposed as walls close in on Ukraine scheme
Rachel Maddow looks at the accumulation of damning testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry, and the criminal legal woes of everyone involved in Rudy Giuliani’s “outside channel” on Donald Trump’s Ukraine scheme.
Fair Economist
#LockThemUp
Llelldorin
At the very least, these idiots should be censured.
Fair Economist
In all seriousness, we need to borrow a bit from the Republican playbook on this (with the exception that we’re talking about real security issues). Every time any of those Republicans tweets or is interviewed, all we should talk about is how he violated military security and needs to be in jail. Over and over, until they leave public life. Nothing they say or do should get any attention or oxygen, just the fact that they are criminals.
rikyrah
Demings wants Sondland to ‘clear up’ contradictions with Taylor
Rep. Val Demings, member of the House Intelligence Committee, talks about hearing the testimony of former Ambassador Bill Taylor in the Trump impeachment inquiry, and her interest in hearing again from Ambassador Sondland on the parts of his testimony that conflict with what Taylor told the impeachment committees today.
Fair Economist
There were 30 of them, right? That makes them the “Dirty Thirty”.
Chip Daniels
There are in America right wingers who would be willing to suffer violence and jail time in defense of their racism.
These pudgy pink palmed assholes are not those.
hitchhiker
They discussed this plan yesterday with trump, who is very obviously desperate to change the subject.
That’s why giving them oxygen (jail, arrest, cameras, microphones) is counterproductive. We want the testimony. They want the media to repeat their cries of injustice.
Seems like the best solution is to let them clear out and then do a press conference mocking them. Expose their stupidity and dishonesty by naming ALL of the 48 Republicans who are ALREADY taking part in the depositions. Get a Republican prosecutor up there to talk about how closed-door depositions work.
And above all, name a date when public testimony can begin. That’s the only thing that will stop this charade. They’re counting on their ability to rend their garments to make public testimony a farce, like during the Kavanaugh hearings … it’s their only play at this point, and it won’t be effective.
Why? Because the witnesses will all be credible, calm adults with receipts, like Blasey-Ford was. They didn’t go crazy on her, and they won’t go crazy on Bill Taylor or the others, because this time the person they’ll be sobbing over will be trump … the guy who has just spent 3 years being a prick to everyone who doesn’t slobber over him. They’ll try very hard not to get any justice on them, but it won’t work out, at least not in the House.
cain
@Betty Cracker:
Thats probably the most work these assholes have done all year.
Mnemosyne
@Fair Economist:
It’s not military security that they violated. It’s NATIONAL security.
cain
@hitchhiker:
Just have the sergeant in arms come in and take all their cell phones and have them destroyed.
Democrats should come in and eat their pizza.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Jesus, this is just sad. But it’s all they have left, I guess. How pitiful.
germy
WaPo
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Holy crap!
Alex Morgan just announced she’s pregnant.
We just lost our best attacking option for Olympic gold.?
Raven Onthill
I think it is at least two crimes: (1) witness tampering under 18 U.S.C. 1512 and (2) espionage under 18 U.S.C. 793. Beyond the criminal penalties which are not likely under the current administration, the House has at its disposal reprimand, censure, and expulsion.
This is my post on the details, with cites and quotes from what I believe to be the relevant laws: adviceunasked.blogspot.com/2019/10/penalties-for-storming-house-hearing-in.html
And, yes, their cell phones ought to be destroyed. It might be nice to bill them for the efforts required to resecure the space as well.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: They could be censured by the House and the Speaker could have their office moved to the nearest broom closet.
David Hunt
@JamesKPolkEsq: I’d add that at least some of those asshats almost certainly have malware on their phones that has been placed there by actual foreign spy agencies. Go over their phones with a fine toothed comb and then wait for them to say one word about national security.
Okay, that’s not the way to handle spy shit. But revoke and clearance to view classified into from every one of the jerks that brought an electronic device into that room.
opiejeanne
Someone on Twitter just asked where Pelosi is. She’s at her brother’s funeral. These cowards waited until she was out of town to pull this stunt.
chris
So there were guards at the door to the SCIF? Isn’t their job to stop unauthorised entry by assholes of any stripe? I’m missing something here.
opiejeanne
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @?BillinGlendaleCA: Willie Brown did that to a fellow Democrat when he didn’t vote with the pack. Came back from recess and found his desk wedged into a tiny janitor’s closet.
PJ
I blame their culture.
Mnemosyne
@chris:
It’s easy for a large group to overwhelm one or two guards, unfortunately. There were about 30 Republican assholes doing this.
oldster
Lock these fuckers up. And if they resist arrest, then shoot them down like dogs.
These violent, thuggish assholes need to get a taste of what ordinary citizens put up with every day.
God I hate them.
Oh — and if you have a Republican representative? Call them up and demand that they condemn the outrageous violent, thuggish riot. Make your Republican own it. Let them know how pissed off you are.
We need to get back to the phones, get back in the streets, peacefully, but forcefully. Not like the thugs. Like true Americans. And let the Republicans know that we have had enough of their crimes.
rikyrah
Chicago prosecutors reveal new thread in Giuliani associates case
Rachel Maddow relays breaking news from the Washington Post that Chicago prosecutors are working with SDNY after recognizing indicted Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman from their own investigation of Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash.
burnspbesq
@Immanentize:
Maybe yes, maybe no. I’d be happy to argue that what those fuckheads did wasn’t a “legislative act” that the Speech and Debate Clause is intended to protect.
rikyrah
Trump reaches end of legal rope on ‘executive immunity’ excuse
Rachel Maddow alerts viewers that Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, Donald Trump’s lawyers will appeal federal ruling that Trump’s claims of executive immunity are “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure,” in a case that could not only expose Trump’s taxes, but could expose Trump himself to criminal scrutiny.
Chief Oshkosh
@hitchhiker: Sure, but if the rule is that non-secure cell phones are to be confiscated, then by your “adults in the room” argument, their cell phones should be confiscated. If the rules also state that the cell phones must have all content extracted, assessed, and saved, and the phones subsequently destroyed, then so be that also.
burnspbesq
@rikyrah:
They argued it. The Second Circuit panel was … skeptical, to say the least.
Omnes Omnibus
By all means, let’s join in a game of symbolic retribution against these useless fucks. Or the Democrats could just do their jobs professionally like they actually did and let the contrast stand.
Chief Oshkosh
@Mnemosyne:
Should read: It’s easy for a large group THAT HAS A FEW BRAVE INDIVIDUALS to overwhelm one or two guards, unfortunately. There were about 30 Republican assholes doing this.
So, that consideration doesn’t apply here.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: That doesn’t work when you’re dealing with small children, or those with the mental mindset of small children. I’ll defer to the Speaker, she knows about dealing with children.
HumboldtBlue
@opiejeanne:
Sheesh, you’re right, that’s exactly what they did.
Fucking traitors the lot of them.
Some reporters in Tampa Bay have put together a fascinating story about the Scientologists eneded up owning nearly all of downtown Clearwater, Florida.
MattF
I suspect that McConnell saying he ‘doesn’t recall’ any conversation with Trump about that phone call is what’s got Trump most worried.
Fair Economist
@?BillinGlendaleCA: They should also be removed from any committee that requires security clearance, and barred from any secured meetings.
Gin & Tonic
In other Russian-asset news, Andrew Yang has reportedly hired Tad Devine.
Kattails
I don’t trust any of the idiots who pulled that stunt as far as I can throw a Steinway. Testimony has resumed? Cell phones should have been confiscated. Reading the very helpful link to Mieke Eoyang’s Twitter thread about security. Could the area have been cleaned up that fast?
I don’t care whose reps they are. Call all of them. Call the ringleaders even if you’re out of state. Just convey the disgust of those watching this from outside. Even if it just rattles the staff, and I’m sorry to say that, but no decent human being should remain on the staff of traitorous thugs.
On the other hand, I have a developing fantasy of taking out a full page ad in the Post thanking all the people who are holding the line in all the departments, however demoralized they must be. Can’t afford it unfortunately.
mrmoshpotato
@PJ:
It’s their nature to be traitorous Trump trash. The whole damned Russthuglican party is now.
They just had to find a father figure who was completely out in the open about being a walking pile of shit with no desire to hide it.
Gravenstone
And buried under this current avalanche of bullshit is news that Trump has ordered that all sanctions on Turkey be dropped. The same Turkey that he and his mouth breathing SoS were making mouth noises about punishing, potentially including military action just a day or two ago…
MisterForkbeard
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: This is why women shouldn’t be hired for the women’s olympic competitions. Clearly, lady stuff happens and we should just field a team of dudes instead.
More seriously: Congrats to her! Always happy to hear that someone (who wants it) has a new kiddo on the way.
HumboldtBlue
Pa. Governor Tom Wolfe says the Keystone State will not be the next state to ban abortion.
Fair Economist
I think a better approach than immediate arrest is to just pile on the pressure, without limit. File charges, do investigations, hijack their public communications, etc.
RedDirtGirl
IOKIYAR!
jl
The GOP is becoming a fascist party. Physical intimidation, the Big Lie, and smears are the go to moves now. They have nothing else.
Nice to see link to a report on this blog earlier today that half the population is wise to the scam and want Trump impeached AND tried, AND removed from office.
After his miserable bad faith totally dishonest performance this morning on the Erdogan fiasco, should happen by this Friday. Can write up and pass impeachment today, trial tomorrow, kicked out on Friday.
rikyrah
Amb. Taylor: ‘More Ukrainians would undoubtedly die’ because of Trump’s decisions
The top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine told Congress that the president’s choice to withhold security assistance to Ukraine until it agreed to dig up dirt on the Bidens would endanger the lives of Ukrainians.
Oct. 22, 2019
Yutsano
@Gin & Tonic: Oh Jeebus. I knew he sounded like a complete idiot on Rachel’s show. He doesn’t have to go and rub the salt in deeper.
Kattails
Huh? I wanted to edit my comment to be a bit less edgy, but the comment editor said I didn’t have permission…. ??? to edit my own comment while there was time left?
chris
@Mnemosyne: The guards are Marines, no? Hard to imagine them backing down because DUI Matt yelled at them.
germy
This belongs on the front page. It sort of says it all:
The Dangerman
Absofuckinglutely (sp?). Arrest them and, if they don’t go quietly, pepper spray them. If they still won’t go, carry them out.
I assume that the charges wouldn’t stick as Trump would presumably pardon them (I assume it would be a Federal crime, but IANAL).
Time to make examples of all these POS.
rikyrah
Dem Rep on Taylor deposition: ‘If you’re a patriotic American, it has to be a sad day’
Rep. Andy Levin tells Lawrence O’Donnell that the deposition of Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, added “many bricks” “to the edifice for the case of impeachment against Donald Trump.” Lawrence also discusses with Rep. Peter Welch and Evelyn Farkas.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: Ah the days when you actually knew who the Speaker of the Assembly was, the days of Willie and Big Daddy.
rikyrah
Fmr. Undersecretary of State: Gordon Sondland ‘in great jeopardy’ after Taylor deposition
Wendy Sherman tells Lawrence O’Donnell that “listening to the detailed accounting that Bill Taylor gave, it’s very hard to not believe him and very easy to question Sondland.” Lawrence also discusses with Jeremy Bash and Evelyn Farkas.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
So they should be allowed to carry away any recordings they made inside a SCIF room and give them to whoever they want because they shouldn’t face any penalty for doing this?
Come on, man. Be sensible.
Gravenstone
Haven’t seen a list of participants in today’s antics yet, but this is a list of the Freedumb Caucus members, who were the core of it. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were the totality of participants.
patrick II
I would not have arrested them. I would have confiscated phones before they could leave, starting with the guy taking pictures. More effective, less martyrdom.
mrmoshpotato
@jl:
Fixed free of charge. No need to thank me. ?
geg6
@HumboldtBlue:
The Clearwater Scientology thing is old news. Leah Remini covered it on her show “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” months ago. I think it was a two-parter. Creepy town, Clearwater. I haven’t visited there for years (I have an old high school friend who lives there), but I’ll never go back now. The downtown is completely a ghost town, mainly because Scientology has bought up all the real estate and there aren’t enough Scientologists in the world to occupy it.
Mnemosyne
@chris:
They can’t shoot a member of Congress, so what do you expect one or at best two guys to do against a group of determined assholes?
@Chief Oshkosh:
Given who the ringleaders were, I suspect that some liquid courage was passed around before they attempted this. Glug glug. ?
And, no, it doesn’t take any particular courage to lead a mob.
geg6
@HumboldtBlue:
I love my governor. And I sure hope our Lt. Governor succeeds him now that he’s term limited.
Ladyraxterinok
@germy:
Is her family being protected? Is she?
I read that women in public eye are trashed and threatened on social media. And that some have left to protect themselves.
mrmoshpotato
@Mnemosyne:
Liquid courage is just Trump trash Gaetz’s nature.
rikyrah
@MattF:
I got a chuckle when I read that.
piratedan
i can see both sides of coin here…
1) they get arrested and while that is awesome on the surface, they get to perpetuate the victim persona and start using that platform about what the fuck ever… You know its bullshit, I know its bullshit, but as propaganda for the RW Noise machine it would be like nectar and to these asshats, they would probably get a Faux News Countdown timer until they are all released from custody.
2) We let them rant, okay, we dalayed the hearing for five hours, but outside of the stunt, what did they gain? Did they get any juicy soundbites to use against Dems? Anyone get unhinged other than the usual GOP professional victim squad? Are the optics good, no, but if you know its a stunt, its like letting your three year old complete their tantrum in Wal-Mart before you continue on with your shopping
3) since its a violation to bring those devices in, confiscate them. Patiently tell them that they are violating the law that EVERY-FUCKING-BODY-ELSE abides by, get it on camera. Take their phones, have them watch while they are destroyed by protocol. Then ask their GOP colleagues in the committee to ask them to leave. If not, have them expelled from the chamber because they are breaking the law. I would have adored seeing this, but then it also panders to giving them attention beyond what they deserve and it further delays the process.
with a corrupt DOJ in place, there’s only so much you can do unless you’re willing to escalate, while I wouldn’t mind that per se, if you don’t have to and want to be seen as the adults in the room, you don’t.
Does that mean I wouldn’t enjoy watching Rep Gaetz physically restrained and perhaps even tazed while being subdued… no it doesn’t.
randy khan
@MisterForkbeard:
+100
Also, the Olympics are 9 months away, and she’s due in April. Given the insane level of fitness someone like her has, you never know.
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: McTurtle pulled an Alberto?
Steve in the ATL
@Mnemosyne:
The Skousen version says that, but limits this right to Republicans only
Duane
Yesterday while Sen. Kennedy was choking on his republican lunch and not paying attention, Moscow Mitch and bratva decided to “attack the process of impeachment.”
If what happened in the House today is an example of an attack, imagine what the rat bastards in the Senate might do.
HumboldtBlue
@geg6:
I’m a Pennsylvania native. I would have voted for Tom Wolfe.
I just read about the Clearwater story on Monday.
Ladyraxterinok
@hitchhiker:
From the 1st part of your comment sounds like Sciff and Pelosi handled everything just right. Essentially ignored all the behaviour that was designed to provoke behavior good for hrs of TV outrage!
Martin
@Mnemosyne: Have Capitol police remove them from the premises and confiscate their electronic devices. If they resist, then you have a charge to arrest them.
This is no different from any citizen creating a disruption during Congressional testimony. You don’t have to press charges, but you can still restore order.
mrmoshpotato
@Kattails:
Gonna have to exhume him first. And you’ll probably just have bones to throw around.
Related.
jl
Only thing Trump said this morning about his disgraceful Erdogan deal that was true was that what he did was ‘special’. It certainly was, but not in the way he meant. On the other hand, Trump has a unique capacity for spilling the beans and his guts, either explicitly or implicitly, so who knows?
I think the news media needs to be more aggressive in reporting that Trump’s rationale of bringing the troops home to justify his Erdogan fiasco is a Big Lie on its face. I heard in the news that the withdrawn US Syrian troops were not going to come back to the US, they were to be moved to Iraq. But even that was messed up because Iraq announced that they could not stay there. And of course, the net effect of Trump’s moves over the last month is plus 1000 to 2000 troops overseas. With the special assignment of more troops to Saudi Arabia, apparently has human shield to prevent more possible attacks on oil fields from Houthi forces or Iran. Trump’s stated justification is the mysterious assertion that the Saudi Arabia will pay the expense in some undefined way.
I need to catch up on the US troops assigned to guard Syrian oil fields. I heard Trump said he thinks US can take the oil and profit. But that is so fantastical and disgusting that I wonder if I heard it right.
Turning US troops into human shields for a country we don’t have an defense treaty with, idiotic decisions that allow a NATO ally to take advantage of us, threatening other NATO allies with escaped terrorist forces as a result of aforementioned idiotic decision, and using US troops as muscle to enforce international natural resource piracy as US policy is certainly ‘special’
If Congress did its constitutional duty, Trump would be out of office by Friday, Oct 25 at 9AM, or whenever the federal business day starts.
germy
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Yeah, that’s what I said.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@The Moar You Know:
Yeah, that’s pretty goddam stupid. First, bringing it in in the first place. Second, connecting an unclassified computing device to a classified computer? This is kindergarten stuff. This person should not have access to that space.
As for the moron Men’s Wearhouse riot, I’m beyond speechless. But I really hope there is some enforcement that can be taken.
germy
Meanwhile…
Matt McIrvin
@Chyron HR: Well, Trump is running the whole country now, so same deal.
germy
JoS. A Bank riot.
Sally
They elected a reality show host as as their party avatar. This is what they want and who they are. This is who and what they worship. Secret, unrecorded meetings with Putin, secret, hidden phone calls with dictators. They rob the bank in broad daylight, and praise their transparency.
Jeffro
@Gin & Tonic: Looks like we need to prepare for Jill Steins 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 at the rate we’re going.
Anything that subtracts from the eventual Dem candidate’s total (including people who just stay home) is a vote for the Trumpublicans – that HAS to be part of the Dems’ message from here on out.
delk
Rep. Alex Mooney (R. W.Va.) shared audio of a phone call he made from inside a secure room at the Capitol where Democrats were attempting to interview a witness as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
oatler.
This sounds like the kind of stunt that in 1860 would have provoked, uh, civil war.
Ladyraxterinok
@Gravenstone:
Saw somewhere Steve King was there/planned to be there
sdhays
@Omnes Omnibus: I agree, Schiff did the right thing by not engaging these assholes during their stunt. But there should be consequences. Censure, ethics violations, something. It’s the witness intimidation aspect that bothers me. They need to know that they can’t pull these stunts with absolute impunity.
Keith P.
@The Moar You Know: I’m surprised a SCIF PC has functioning USB ports…you get better auditing by xfering files over a secured network.
chris
BC in Illinois
@jl:
And now they have a Putsch to memorialize.
The Congressional Basement Putsch.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I can see not paying a penalty for the actual riot, but I don’t think the national security violations should be allowed to pass without penalty. YMMV.
Kattails
@mrmoshpotato: Ok, where did you dig that up?
NotMax
Kee-friggin’-rist. If I go back to bed with head and feet, respectively, 180 degrees from where they were when I woke up, will it reboot today?
:)
jl
Oh, Lord, Josh Marshall’s twitter says Trump thinks he can appropriate Syria’s oi. IIRC when he took office he said when the US gets involved in Middle East we have a right to take possession of the oil we want and bring it home, or some such nonsense.
And GOP congressdope McCarthy just said that there was no quid pro quo because Trump’s extortion plot failed? Good to know
Bank robbers and hit men will like that legal reasoning. If you have to run out of the bank and can get away because you see the cops coming, or you miss shooting your mark in the head, you get a gimme, a get out of jail free card. Trump agrees, he once said only ratfinks cooperate with the dirty rat fuzz.
Well, if the GOP wants to adopt that line, fine by me. If history is any guide, Trump will undercut them tomorrow by saying he’s gong to try the extortion scheme again, because he got some more of the best terrific people and good chance it will work this time. Trump will think because he advertised the idea in public, it’s OK.
Unbelievable stuff happening. Search for ‘joshtpm twitter’ to see his feed today. Just too much for one or two links.
Steve in the ATL
@Keith P.: when I worked in banking we disabled all the USB ports. Surely government agencies with security concerns are at least that diligent!
Ladyraxterinok
@Steve in the ATL:
Wow! Looked that guy up in Wikipedia. He was sure something else!
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah my antennae went right up when he heh indeeded Tulsi saying that America interferes in elections too. That has been a MAGA talking point.
Miss Bianca
Is there a list of the Dirty Thirty out there? Want to check to see if my Congress critter was among them before I fire off the appropriate Sternly-Worded Response to his office.
@Gravenstone: Ah, thanks.
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Ha. Pull the other one.
;)
Mike in NC
@jl: As a candidate, Fat Bastard mused about re-invading Iraq to grab the oil, otherwise what did “we” get out of the whole misadventure with Dubya?
His brain is broken.
Steeplejack (phone)
Meanwhile, Trump is speaking in public. Thread:
Aleta
August 18, 2016: Donand J. Trump Remarks in Charlotte, North Carolina: Building a New American Future
(There are a lot of sorry laughs at that link.)
Mary G
Some honest lawyers have had enough:
Matt McIrvin
@jl: “Attempted murder. Is that even a crime? Do they give out Nobel Prizes for Attempted Chemistry?”
Aleta
Re: @Steeplejack (phone):
March 10, 2016: Twelfth Republican Debate in Miami
citizen.org/news/donald-trump-clean-government-reformer/
Martin
@Mary G: Some honest bar associations needs to start revoking law licenses.
cain
@David Hunt:
Confiscate their phones, check for malware and then announce that these phones have malware on them and were actively spying and then bring charges of bringing equipment with spying software on it to these folks. It will embarrass the shit out of them.
NotMax
@Martin
AFAIK having a license not a requirement for the AG position.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Steeplejack (phone):
Trump said they’re building a wall in Colorado.
This is an official speech, by the way, not a campaign rally.
Aleta
Re: @Steeplejack (phone):
Bloomberg, Sept. 16
TS (the original)
@MattF: Hope trump starts to regret the lack of records about who said what to whom when. As for McConnell I do not recall is the alternative to lying when the truth is not as you would want it.
Ladyraxterinok
@BC in Illinois:
Beerhall Putsch 1923. Hitler and Gen Ludendorff attempt to take Bavaria. It failed, those killed became Nazi martyrs, Hitler’s trial gave him prominence and a platform. In prison he wrote Mein Kampf. (Info from wikipedia)
SFAW
@clay:
Well, Matt “Being a Parking Lot Attendant at a Bar is Hard” Gaetz was their ringleader, so …
Mary G
Daniel Dale is in our top ten imports from Canada:
Catherine D.
@BC in Illinois:
Brought to you by a parcel of putzes.
NotMax
@Aleta
Who ordered the Hamm on lie?
;)
The Golux
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That’s way too kind. More like a T J Maxx riot.
Aleta
@Steeplejack (phone): So he just gave New Mexico away?
cain
@Mnemosyne:
Actually Trump’s lawyers are literally saying that they can shoot someone on 5th avenue and local authorities cant do anything. Nobody says that person Trump shot couldn’t be a member of congress. Literally, trump can gun down everyone in Congress and he cant’ be investigated.
Mary G
Mary G
@Mary G:
Ladyraxterinok
@Steeplejack (phone):
Does he also think New Mexico is a foreign country. IIRC Ann Landers or Dear Abby would now and then get letters complaining that someone demanded they put more postage on a letter to NM because ‘it was going tons foreign country’!
Mnemosyne
@cain:
Trump can, but he ain’t a US Marine. They would probably get court-martialed, and no presidential pardon in sight.
The guards probably did the best they could under the circumstances, and I don’t blame them for not turning it into even more of a shitshow.
Mary G
@Mnemosyne: Congresspeople all have that special little pin on their lapel, and the Capitol Police have learned the hard way that the pin-wearer is always right. It was probably very stressful to have two opposing groups going at it.
I’d like to see Nancy SMASH move to censure all of them for breaking into a meeting the House rules forbid to them with electronics, and demand they turn over the phones. That lame “tweets by staff” can’t go unanswered.
Ruckus
@Mike in NC:
His brain is still broken. Only there is no fixing it.
Too old, too diseased, too stupid, too racist, too trump.
NotMax
Now we know one of the things Mulvaney and those Republican Congressslugs were cooking up at Camp David.
mrmoshpotato
@Kattails: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_E._Steinway
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: It’s worth a try!
Martin
@NotMax: No, but it does send a message for those still practicing.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack (phone): No more New Mexico?
Obligatory
HumboldtBlue
Here’s a list of the assholes who decided the Constitution no longer matters.
Martin
@Steeplejack (phone): So are we building walls around blue states now? Not that it would surprise me.
Martin
@HumboldtBlue: Only one from CA, and he’s already going to prison, so honestly he doesn’t have a lot to lose in all of this.
Mary G
@HumboldtBlue: The stupid, it burns:
They’re members of the freaking committees!
Miss Bianca
@Mary G: Can we just build a wall around Ken Fucking Buck? Or at least CO-4?
NotMax
@Steeplejack
All it takes is a U.S. map and a Sharpie…
HumboldtBlue
@Mary G:
I am literally laughing out loud!
I had no clue!
O. Felix Culpa
@Aleta: As a proud New Mexican, the news of our secession from the Union is highly exaggerated.
The Dangerman
@Martin:
I thought it was the Wifey that was going to prison (shit, I can’t keep track of these crooks without a program).
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
So, basically, they don’t like what they’re hearing behind closed doors and know that they need to shut the process down or they’re all screwed.
HumboldtBlue
@O. Felix Culpa:
Oh, you didn’t hear? New Mexico is going to pay for Colorado’s wall!
Mnemosyne
@The Dangerman:
Duncan is trying to hide behind his wife, but he seems to have forgotten that a wife is allowed to testify against her husband if she wants to, she just can’t be involuntarily compelled to do so. At least, that’s what my “Law & Order” viewings seem to indicate.
chopper
@Mary G:
sweet southern-fried jesus in a chicken basket, the fail is strong with these guys.
Kathleen
@ruemara: This.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: Who’s gonna pay for it? NEW MEXICO!
david
This is why Republicans win. They are bullies. The Democrats are cowards.
The GOP knows this, and uses it to their advantage over and over again.
As soon as the GOP faces resistance, they whine and play victim. The media
falls for it over and over again. And, then the Democrats retreat.
If this is really a fight for democracy, if this is Civil War 2.0, then the Democrats
need to develop a spine. Time to call the bluffs. Arrest them. If possible and if
necessary, vote to expel them from Congress and demand the various state governors
hold special elections or name replacement reps. This also holds true for the executive
branch. If they refuse to cooperate, round them up. Until they are held accountable and
until they face active resistance and actual consequences to their gamesmanship,
they will continue to escalate the obstruction and the destruction of norms.
That “blue wave” wants to make a difference, now is the time.
Mary G
@chopper: I’m gonna steal that.
Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman have a post on the Plum Line about the stupidity:
Kattails
@mrmoshpotato: ahem. Yes but you originally linked to a quick video of someone throwing a skeleton at a scooter, which was a fairly odd image to have just lying around for such a use, and anyway you missed my pun about digging + skeleton, where I was trying to get back at you, darn it. I almost added that I was talking about pianos, not Stephen Miller, but had already hit send and am not allowed to edit my stuff.
OK what’s Beethoven doing now? … He is of course de-composing.
I’ll just show myself out.
Steeplejack
@Aleta, @Ladyraxterinok:
Hey, if you’re on the wrong side of the wall . . .
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
TS (the original)
I can probably work out 7 levels of separation from trump. Does that give me executive privilege?
Giuliani Associates Parnas And Fruman Plead Not Guilty, Raise Executive Privilege Concerns
Immanentize
@david:
I do not agree that the Democrats are the problem.
I think you may be part of the problem
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
And notes could be placed in their personnel files that would prevent them from being nominated to any committees for the rest of their lives.
Argiope
@TS (the original): Sadly no, but we all feel sorry for you.
Martin
Well, this is comforting:
OCSIO is White House Office of the Chief Information Security Officer. The head of the WH infosec team has resigned, apparently in protest, and the WH infosec team is being forced out.
I’m guessing that they were an active threat to WH efforts to cover up their crimes.
debbie
@rikyrah:
I heard a bit of that hearing when the judge asked whether Trump could be prosecuted if he went out on Fifth Avenue and shot someone. The lawyer tried some circular arguing, then said that Trump could not be prosecuted until he left office. That led to the “repugnant” remark. Unbelievable!
Just Chuck
@Martin: We really are going to have to rebuild our entire national security apparatus from scratch in 2021, aren’t we?
Martin
@Just Chuck: Yep. Plus our State Department. Our Immigration services, campaign finance, and some other stuff.
TS (the original)
@Martin: Not so comforting to the long term staff who are either being forced to resign, or resign in protest. It is comforting to know there are still people who have not sold their souls to trump.
RobJ
Censuring these fuckers would be entirely wrong when by majority vote the House can strip them of all committee assignments, office space, and office funding. The only thing these cretins have constitutional authority to do is cast a vote on matters put to the House as a whole. Everything else is just House rules.
debbie
@HumboldtBlue:
Gym Jordan sits on that committee. Did he leave the hearing to go join his little buddies?
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Duncan Hunter, represent!
Mnemosyne
@david:
Just out of sheer curiosity, is there anything that you think is the fault of the Republicans, or is the blame for every problem equally shared?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@david: Having been in a pint size version of this problem EVERYONE is at fault because the microsecond you punch the bully in the face everyone who was demanding you do something about it screams “oh the violance, can’t you see that bully is crying, were is my fainting couch”
The Dems are doing it right, they forcing the public to make them punch the bully in the face.
Ella in New Mexico
@O. Felix Culpa: He’s building a beautiful wall in Colorado. And he’s quite confident he’s gonna “win New Mexico”.
Of course, this assumes, among a thousand other things, that New Mexico forgives him for not even knowing WE’RE the fucking southern border of Colorado and that he pays the bills for his latest rally in Albuquerque/RR. And that the NM Republicans make him the only one on the Primary ballot. And that he’s still even on the ballot in Nov 2020.
“When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME!!”
NotMax
NotMax
Brain burp coding fix.
Schnooks Brothers Riot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax:
The new site doesn’t fix that.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
As it’s still in need of retooling, one can hold out hope.
:)
NotMax
@NotMax
Don’t want to leave the impression I’m not optimistic about it, however it is not ready for prime time yet.
dww44
@Just Chuck: Probably, if we get the chance. I don’t wish ill on the economy but it would be altogether nice if a market correction occurred sooner rather than later, as whatever Democrat hopefully carries the day in 2020, she/he doesn’t need to be a one termer because the market crashed under her/his watch. Any impartial observer knows that we are overdue a correction.
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: Hey OO. Good to see you.
Cheers,
Scott.
Amir Khalid
The up/down arrows in the bottom-left corner have apparently taken an unannounced leave of absence. Drat.