Just another day when a president's oldest political adviser is convicted on 7 criminal counts including lying to Congress and witness tampering during a break in an impeachment hearing in which the president's tweets from the morning are described as intimidating by the witness.
— Philip Bump (@pbump) November 15, 2019
Roger Stone was convicted on all counts of obstruction, false statements and witness intimidation.
Open Thread
UPDATE 1
1) Trump on his way to impeachment
2) His longtime political adviser convicted on 7 counts
3) His personal lawyer under investigation for ties to 2 indicted associates
All happening around the noon hour on a Friday.
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) November 15, 2019
At least this Friday has the courtesy of news-dumping during normal business hours.
chopper
the bigfoots are happening at a geometric rate. it’s gonna be quite the friday news day.
Nicole
“Forget the myths the media created about the White House. The truth is, these aren’t very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”
La plus ça change…
MomSense
Wow.
burnspbesq
There are a large number of ways in which Trump, Barr, or Benczkowski could still fuck this up. I don’t expect Stone to do time. hopefully I will be wrong.
Baud
Really glad the website update wasn’t scheduled for today.
Patricia Kayden
Keep in mind that Stone isn’t the only individual with connections to Trump who has been convicted of criminal activities. But Trump promised us that he knew “the best people”. He must have meant the best criminals.
EdTheRed
A verdict so nice, y’all posted it twice…
MattF
So, Manafort and Stone– together again, but this time not on K Street.
Patricia Kayden
@MattF: They’re together exactly where they belong and hopefully Trump can join them.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Wow, that’s great news! I forget, has Trump already claimed that he doesn’t know Roger Stone already? Also too, for BJ’s legal beagles, what sentence is he likely to get?
Gin & Tonic
@MattF: I wonder how Charlie Black is feeling today.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
“… and sentenced to 24 hours in prison, less time served”
I’ll try not to be grumpy about whatever his sentence turns out to be. Guilty is guilty, one more little thing tick-tocking that has to have the orange guy sweating or whatever his species does when nervous.
lamh36
Go to jail roger!
Oh and speaking of Chump using his twitter account to intimidate witnesses…once again Kamal Harris prescient!
But Kamala Harris was CRAZY to target Chumo for his twitter account ?
rikyrah
TEE HEE HEE
what good news :)
rikyrah
@EdTheRed:
BWA HA HA HA AH AH AHA
Baud
@rikyrah: Best Friday news dump to date.
jonas
He’s probably now regretting all the times he and his legal team pissed off the judge. Hope she throws the book at him.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Shhhh….it can hear you.
Alain
Such good news on a Friday, what a repellent man. I hope he’s sentenced (and not pardoned!) for many, many years. I expect he’d find some ways to enjoy his new close companions.
Folks, OTR shall return Monday; I’m still sorting out some tech issues in the new home and have one final re-do of my network and all shall be good. I’ve been limping along on phone and tablet, just got my computer all hooked up and updated only to find out my brand-spanking-new display/USB cable is faulty. First world problems, my friends…
Have a great weekend, everybody!
noncarborundum
@Patricia Kayden:
“I like criminals that don’t get convicted. ”
Martin
I know it’s a petty thing, but the GOP counsel would serve himself well if he didn’t keep his head down and look up at the witness like a supervillain. Just pick your head up so you don’t look like a member of SPECTRE.
Martin
He sort of did. His whole ‘drain the swamp’ wasn’t about rooting out corruption, it was about rooting out anyone not loyal to far-right causes. So yes, his ‘best people’ are about those willing, able, and/or corrupted enough to do that efficiently.
mrmoshpotato
@Patricia Kayden: “I have to drain the swamp of all these losers so I can make Trump Swamp. So tremendous, so bigly, so swampy.”
I hope the incoming Democrat hires a good cleaning crew. Lots of swamp stank to remove.
UncleEbeneezer
Warning to Los Angelenos: I had to pick my wife up at LAX last night…holy F…what a shit show!! Took me over an hour to get from Sepulveda to Terminal and back to 105. And this was at 10pm on a Thursday night. I used to live right by LAX (circa 2007) and would pick people up there frequently and unless it was the Holiday rush, I could get in/out in 10-15 minutes.
Kent
Seeing Trump tweeting in real time trying to denigrate, undermine, and intimidate a witness testifying before Congress was honestly the most astonishing thing I have seen in a long time. And then to have Schiff stop the line of questioning from the staff attorney and draw attention to it. Wow. Future generations are not going to believe this shit.
UncleEbeneezer
Help, comment not posting.Nevermind.Raven
My sis lives on 121st right across Imperial and it’s a mess!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Alain: Good luck with resolving your computer issues, It’ll be nice to have OTR back in the morning(really early morning).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@UncleEbeneezer: I was told the new ride-share/cab pick-up area was supposed to improve that, I guess I was misinformed. //
mrmoshpotato
@Kent: Yeah. Why wait to intimidate a witness when you can do it in real time during testimony?
Bravo to the staffer who was tasked with watching Dump’s Twitter account. They have my sympathy.
Alain
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks! I expect we’ll begin with your submission, so be warned! :)
FYI having to work on a computer 2 floors away from me and going back and forth as I try resolutions is good exercise! To which I say: “Phooey!”
Baud
I hope Hillary is enjoying a nice Chardonnay right now.
UncleEbeneezer
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s probably mostly a result of the construction having various lanes closed but oy, what a mess.
On the upside I finally got to try the Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwich and it’s fantastic!! It was well worth the 30 minute wait (though I probably won’t get it again until the wait is substantially less.)
mrmoshpotato
@Alain:
Natasha: You mean “Curses,” daahling.
Boris: Please Natasha. This is kiddie show.
rikyrah
GOP counsel: “When did you realize this concerted campaign against you was a real threat?”
Yovanovitch: “I would say that when you go in to a meeting with somebody and they ask, are you going to be leaving? That is concerning.” https://t.co/bSQiV287X2 pic.twitter.com/hbiXOiRG5B
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 15, 2019
VOR
Witch hunt keeps finding witches.
Fleeting Expletive
I’d like to see a real sentence of ten years, and I’d call it lenient.
JPL
@Baud: If she is still in London, it’s after 5 so why not.
schrodingers_cat
You have to now tap twice on the reply button for the nym of the person you are replying to, to appear in the answer box. Why? Who called for this change? And now the layout has enough white space for my cats to lounge in while the text is in the middle occupying may be 1/2 of the total screen width with huge spaces above and below every comment. Also why is the font of the comment numbers twice that of comment text?
I am not a fan of this layout.
/end mini rant.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Ummm…hehehe
Major Major Major Major
Nobody with a giant Nixon tattoo should be allowed outside a prison.
Alain
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I was wrong. Looks like things are still borked and I won’t have time to check in until Monday pm. So no OTR Monday – you can sleep in!
Steeplejack
Me today.
Ruckus
@Patricia Kayden:
I believe that one of the many things that trump doesn’t know is definitions of adjectives. In this case the word good. He uses it to describe people that will work for him and don’t care about details like criminality. That’s not the common definition of the word.
Gravenstone
@Kent: What happened to the claim that he was only going to watch Nunes’ opening statement?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@UncleEbeneezer: Hope you didn’t have to shiv anyone to get it. Yeah, they’ll have construction on the horseshoe until the people mover is done.
lamh36
Sigh…smh
His campaign sent out emails to these folks telling them that if they didn’t respond to “opt out” by a certain time, their names were going to be included.
Double sigh… On top of everything else, the Buttigieg campaign used a stock photo from Kenya to promote its Frederick Douglass Plan for Black America
Stoyer camp stealing data, Pete camp insulting Black voters and now this. ??♀️
Gin & Tonic
@Alain: I went through some song and dance with WaterGirl on OTR. I submitted a post with ~5 pictures the first day we were on the new site, got the e-mail, but then later she said the post wasn’t anywhere. So I submitted a test post with just one picture – if it’s still there, you can trash it. Then I submitted another post similar to the first, missing, one but with 6-7 pictures, which I guess is my preferred one now, if any of the others turn up.
FlyingToaster
@schrodingers_cat: Oddly enough, I find the new layout easier to read, and easier to find a comment I was trying to remember.
There does seem to be an extra CR/LF at the end of some comments, which is probably from people hitting “Return” before clicking “Post Comment”. Fortunately, that doesn’t bother me. YMMV.
Ruckus
@Major Major Major Major:
On the other hand, having that tattoo really does tell you who he is as he’s running away from the law, doesn’t it……..
The nice side is that he’s old enough not to be able to run fast enough any longer.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Alain: That might work better, I may be headed to Santa Barbara on Sunday, there’s a Mission up there.
Ruckus
@lamh36:
Is it possible that he’s trying not to win?
Or is he just this clueless?
patrick II
@Baud:
The day is young.
patrick II
Clueless, but not because he’s dumb, but a beginner at a national campaign. Running an organization thatgets the details right takes experience. Obama may have been the exception.
Chief Oshkosh
I’m working and didn’t hear about that. In what way did Schiff do that? Did he point it out and move on, or did he remind everyone that witness tampering/intimidation is illegal? Does anyone know if was if the tweets and Schiff’s statement were entered into the hearing records?
Ruckus
@UncleEbeneezer:
Used to be a regular in and out of LAX and often there is so much traffic that nothing helps. However any glitch in the “smooth” movement that is supposed to happen, like construction, will delay the place so bad that no one gets anywhere on time. I think the place was designed by the same guy who did the Disneyland car ride. Looks good, fun even, but really you just go around in circles very slowly until you start to asphyxiate from the exhaust. And have an emergent medical condition caused by seeing your plane taking off while you still are driving around in circles.
It’s not the worst airport in the world, just close.
Immaentize
Warblewarble
HIGH NOON(NUNES) Do not forsake me oh my darlink. Roger hear you loud and clear ,pardon me my slip is showing need to go skating like Kavanuch. ENUFF Too much shit already. Burn tRUMPtuglicans to the ground and salt the earth.
Immanentize
I haven’t read the thread in toto, but Roger can still be a good boy and get points off his guidelines sentencing matrix if he co-operated and told all about everything he knows. Otherwise, no “acceptance of responsibility” benefits.
SFAW
@Steeplejack:
It’s a little bit disconcerting that I was thinking of that same scene.
Immanentize
@patrick II: But the day is also already long.
Ruckus
@patrick II:
Bet you were replying to me.
I call not being able to see the entire picture when trying to do something out of the ordinary to be dumb. He’s running for president. Thinking outside the box is fine. Not thinking of inside the box is dumb. It shows that he’s not really ready to fill those shoes.
Warren has looked at the box and has it covered. She may not be your first choice, she isn’t mine, but she’s got the concept of running. HRC had the concept as well and I voted for her not just because she wasn’t the shit for brains we’ve got, but because she had the entire concept. President Obama had the entire concept. President B. Clinton had about 96% of the concept. No republican in my lifetime has had the concept.
Martin
Good Christ, Jim Jordan is the pure distilled form of the mediocre white male. I keep expecting a celestial glow to emanate around him, as he transcends the mortal plane into mediocre white male immortality.
Kelly
I haven’t read much of anything in toto all week. Crazy amount of stuff going down.
Immanentize
America is Beautiful, America is ill,
America is a bloodstain in a Honkey Tonk … Kill.
For some reason, the energy of Alejandro Escovedo seems to fit this moment.
Ruckus
@Martin:
He’s so mediocre that the white glow is just a shadow that can’t be seen in daylight. Or in darkness.
The Moar You Know
@Martin: I’ll bet there’s an Applebee’s just next door.
sdhays
@Gravenstone: I hope you’re sitting down.
They were lying.
hueyplong
The only thing sweeter than jail time for Stone would be seeing mr tough guy roll on Trump.
sdhays
Until recently, that pretty much described Congress. (And it still pretty describes the Senate, with notable exceptions.)
Steeplejack
@SFAW:
Great minds, etc.
VeniceRiley
Weirdly, I have never had trouble getting in or out of LAX.
I hope Roger Stone gets a nice long sentence. But I expect him to be pardoned faster than you can say Sherriff Joe.
trollhattan
@jonas:
What’s that line? “This is not a book to be taken lightly, it is a book to be thrown across the room with great force.”
Ready, aim, fire! judge.
trollhattan
@VOR:
Everybody around here is either made of wood or is a duck.
catclub
New Orleans New airport is much worse. They also lose baggage. It is also much smaller than LAX. The wait for the planned interstate flyover exit is only three years…. or so.