Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

After roe, women are no longer free.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The willow is too close to the house.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Another Day of Ugliness

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Another Day of Ugliness

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I haven’t been able to watch all the way through this, but from what I have it’s a good, if crowded, recap:

Reader Interactions

137Comments

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I have to mix and pour concrete for piers today. Blech. By the end of it my shoulder will be screaming. I will probably need a week of constant ice treatments to recover. If I’m lucky. I’m not sure I have enough opiates.

  7. 7.

    Spanky

    @OzarkHillbilly: It might be cheaper to hire someone, ya know, when you factor in the cost of the drugs, forced inactivity  and simply the pain.

     

    But no, someone else will screw something up, so you have to do it yourself.

     

    Three guesses on how I recognize the control freak symptoms.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    Speaking to a roomful of police officers and prosecutors on Tuesday, Attorney General William P. Barr drew a parallel between protests against soldiers during the Vietnam War and demonstrations against law enforcement today.

     

    But this time, he suggested, those who don’t show “respect” to authority could lose access to police services.

     

    “Today, the Americans people have to focus on something else, which is the sacrifice and the service that is given by our law enforcement officers. And they have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves,” Barr said in pointed remarks delivered at a Justice Department ceremony to honor police officers.

    I’m curious whether military veterans see cops in this way.

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    Projection and fear = spot on, and I hope *someone* (I’m looking at you, Nancy Smash) points it out all day today.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    When even your 93-year-old mum can’t shame you into treating the tacky-ass Trumps like honored guests:

    World leaders are laughing at Trump and disrespecting him to his face at the NATO summit, and he’s getting impeached here at home. Here’s hoping the narcissistic injury to his fragile psyche is intolerable.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    NPR headline that came across my feed.

     

    Judiciary Hearing To Open Final Act Of Democrats’ Trump Impeachment Saga

    NPR: Top Stories / by Philip Ewing / 1h

    It’s all a lark for the Village.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    I feel like we should look for examples of people who handle Trump and the low quality Trump hires well, and learn from those people. They had to adjust and they did- they met the challenge that this level of dishonesty and corruption requires.

    So Pelosi and Schiff. What do they do differently than the people who have not effectively handled Trump and the low quality Trump hires?

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    I realize it’s too much to hope for, but I often wish that the Dickhead-in-Chief had a shock collar, so that every time he said something dickish, he’d get zapped.The good part is that he’d get zapped on an hourly* basis. The bad part is that he’d do it so often, he’d become immune to it.

     

    *”Hourly” because he doesn’t have a microphone in front of him 24/7, so I picked a not-unreasonable frequency (Kenneth).

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Wildlife photographer of the year: Lumix people’s choice shortlist 2019 – in pictures

    I rented a towed augur for digging the piers yesterday (and a 33 yr old son to operate it). After returning it I stopped by Lowes to pick up a couple pieces of hardware I was lacking. When I walked out the sun had just dipped below the horizon and there was a murmuration of starlings flying with the afterglow behind them. Just mesmerizing. I must have stood in the parking lot watching them for at least 10 mins. Could not take my eyes off them.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    Do Articles of Impeachment name co-conspirators? I’d like to see Barr’s name at the very top of that list.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    That’s true. Less focus on what he says and more focus on what he does. They also don’t take offense personally when they’re personally attacked, because that’s the game, right? He and his employees say nasty personal things about people which distracts from the crime-committing, abuse of power, etc.

    If we’re all focused on the fact that he lies about Lisa Page and says nasty things about her that are intended to humiliate and sexualize her at the hate rallies, we don’t look at what an abuse of presidential power it is to target an individual, regular citizen like that. Your first impression is this sleazy, decadent old man is stalking a younger woman and you don’t reach the part where he’s the President of the United States and he’s calling for a political prosecution of her. Which in his administration and with his hires in law enforcement might actually happen.

  26. 26.

    Anya

    I am still in rage about the fact that Joe Biden, the two asshole millionaire, Tulsi and the crystal lady are in the race but Kamala Harris is out. And Castro is hanging by a thread. What is wrong with the Dem primary voters?

    Tom Steyer stole Kamala’s voter data and he didn’t even get few hours of bad coverage.

    I know Kamala’s campaign has made numerous errors but WTF, America?

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Do Articles of Impeachment name co-conspirators? I’d like to see Barr’s name at the very top of that list.

    FSM doesn’t love me/us that much.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @Anya:

     

    To be fair, voters don’t have much control about whether rich people or troll candidates stay in the race.

    But still, it is a disappointing situation.

  29. 29.

    Kay

     

    I think there should be follow up questions to the attorney general. What exactly does he mean here? Is he saying police will continue to stay on the public payroll and simply refuse to do their jobs? Couldn’t we just replace them with people who don’t demand subservience and blind obedience from the public? There’s no shortage of police officers. There are so many applicants here they take part time jobs in the hope of eventually filling a full time position.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    He’s basically saying they don’t have to take their jobs as seriously when dealing with critical communities. The police are entitled to phone it in.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @Anya:

     

    OTOH literally all Steyer does is attack Trump and just on that he stays in the race. There’s a LOT of anti-Trump energy in the Dem electorate. I like the ads. They’re like this random man saying Trump is a fraud over and over again. You can’t really object to them if you loathe Trump.

  32. 32.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: Ugh.  Nothing like pouring in winter weather.  Good luck with it before and after.  At least you’ll have all the ice you need right outside your door.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Spanky:   3 reasons why you are wrong:

    #1) I had my son here to help with digging the holes, was hoping we would get to at least some of the concrete. Nope.

    #2) The last time I hired somebody to help with something he lasted 2 hours. I have been trying to hire a roofing contractor for 2 months. IF I can get them to come out here to look at it, I am lucky IF they give me a bid. IF they give me a bid, I have yet to get someone to accept a signed contract. And this is a roof I CAN NOT DO. Because I am too old for that kind of shit. Welcome to the land of hard working, boot strapping, can do, Amurikans!

    #3) Winter is coming. I have to get this concrete poured while the days are still warm enough and the night time temps don’t get too far below freezing. This week might be the last chance I get before winter sets in for real. Probably not, but I can’t bet on it. I can’t wait until my son’s next opportunity to help me. He has a new born baby and a wife, they come first.

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:

    What do they do differently than the people who have not effectively handled Trump and the low quality Trump hires?

    They didn’t climb into the gutter to fight him. They treated him not as he deserved, but like he ought to be treated as an adult who is acting childishly. That was why Schiff’s mafia Don opening gave Trump an opportunity to argue. In the gutter, Trump is King. Out of the gutter, he is just sad.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    WTF CNN???  (I didn’t give them a click.)

     

    Liberal: She was not a callous conservative

    CNN: Most Recent / 21min


    Rremida Shkoza, a Democrat, long thought Republicans had an empathy deficit. But after engaging three Republicans at a Living Room Conversation, she changed her mind — what we’re lacking, she says, is a personal connection with those across party lines

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    San Diego police stopped black people over 35,000 times in ONE YEAR in a city with 88,000 TOTAL black population. Black people were 219% more likely to be stopped than whites, more likely in 85% of the map (10x more likely in the dark red areas). But it gets deeper… (3/x) pic.twitter.com/DECOAXnFJy— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) December 4, 2019

  37. 37.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I’m disappointed that Steyer got into the race rather than running ads to support impeachment like he was doing before. But you’re right about his campaign ads: “Trump is a fraud and a failure” is the key takeaway. That’s a sharp contrast to Bloomberg’s ads, which have a nanosecond shot of Trump looking like an idiot but otherwise focus exclusively on the greatness of Bloomberg. If we have to have billionaires setting fire to piles of cash in the Democratic primary, I prefer the Steyer approach.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Anya:   The billionaires don’t need the “people” to stay in the race, Gabbard and the crystal lady aren’t in the race because they want to be president, and Biden remains as high in the polls as he is because a fair # of DEM voters are scared of losing. They want a known, safe, reliable candidate even if he’s flawed. They are averse to taking a chance on someone they see as a reach.

    As for Kamala’s dropping out, I think it is a testament to her character that she is not going to waste any more time or money in a Quixotic endeavor, when there are things she can do that will make a difference.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

     

    That’s interesting and true I think. I wonder if it’s connected to their respect for the institution itself- Congress or the House. They take their jobs seriously and that’s reflected in how it’s more difficult for Trump to discredit their work or the institution. It’s definitely part of it for Pelosi. She genuinely believes the legislative branch has a vital, co-equal constitutional function- she’s powerful within that branch and not yearning to be in the executive. “You’re in my wheelhouse, Mr. President”.

    In order to defend an institution one would have to actually believe in it.

  44. 44.

    Anya

    @Kay: You have a point. And I know I’ll eventually support the Dem candidate but right now I am super annoyed. I don’t hate Biden but I am seriously worried about his inexplicable ability to put his foot in his mouth and his insistent that he’ll reach out to republicans and all the other insane things that come out of his mouth. I am not even holding his past against him because I think politicians grow with the time but he worries me so much.

  45. 45.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: that may be why the Senate has failed so miserably.  Those in leadership don’t believe in the institution, they believe in personal power.  Merritt Garland isn’t a failure to McConnel, it is proof positive of his personal power.  I doubt he ever considered the Senate as an institution when he did his deed other than to wonder if he had enough personal power to overcome the Senate’s ‘traditions.’ Answer: “yes.”

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I haven’t seen a Bloomberg ad but Steyer is running a lot of them in Ohio.

    I did read Bloomberg’s site out of curiosity and it’s pretty much the definition of “socially liberal but conservative economically”. Yuck. Of all the varieties of “Democrats” ( or people who find it personally an advantage to run as a Democrat this week) I like that one least.

    It’s an AMAZINGLY unambitious agenda, the Bloomberg agenda. It has that technocratic grimness and lack of generosity and hope that I have just come to loathe. No one will fight for “public-private partnership to provide a subsidy based on 5000 qualifying conditions”. Read it and weep.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @Anya:

     

    Biden worries me too and I object to how negative his campaign is and also think a negative campaign with him is a mistake, so that makes me think they’re incompetent.

    Mayor Pete’s campaign is too negative too. The “centrists” better come up with something other than attacking the Left wing of the Party. If that’s all they have they aren’t going to beat Douchebag with patronizing lectures directed at Sanders supporters.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:   Not enough time and too many holes. Besides, I have learned the hard way that when dealing with pain, the best one can do is just get thru it as quickly as possible. Taking breaks just gives the swelling time to set in, which makes things worse.

    I have a minimum of 5 piers I have to get done today. If at the end of those I feel I have reached my limit, I can and will stop.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    Joe Schiavoni
    @JoeSchiavoni
    ·16h
    I’ve got a big announcement coming, and I want you to be part of it.

    Ohio Dem. The big announcement will be that he’s endorsing Mayor Pete. He’s sort of famous in Ohio so in a kind of regional way it’s a big announcement!

  52. 52.

    Anya

    @rikyrah: ?

     

    @OzarkHillbilly: The thing for me is I don’t see Joe Biden’s electability. He looks tired and he is always saying nonsensical things.  He is being handled with kid gloves because Dem candidates are not attacking him but once we get to the national it will be non stop Biden gaff clips until he becomes a joke candidate. I know he’ll be facing Trump but you know how the media treats Trump. They literally turn Hillary’s cough into a 24/7 “is she dying” headlines. That is my fear about Biden. I hope I am proven wrong but I honestly think he won’t be a stronger candidate against Trump. He hasn’t even fought back against the attacks on him and his son.

  54. 54.

    Chyron HR

    @Kay:

    The “centrists” better come up with something other than attacking the Left wing of the Party. If that’s all they have they aren’t going to beat Douchebag with patronizing lectures directed at Sanders supporters.

    That’s a real fucking hoot.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone in the Bernievoloution has dared to suggest to the great one that the reason he lost the 2016 Democratic primary was because he unabashedly hates Democrats.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Kay:

     

    I underestimated Pete, but it’s hard for me to see him overtaking Biden in the centrist lane given Biden wins on experience and minority support.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I agree. I think Biden is going to have real trouble with young people though. The refusal to even recognize their issues as real is infuriating and denies reality. It really isn’t 1987. They have a harder road.

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    On another issue — why would Trump lie about knowing Prince Andrew?  Is it because he lies about everything?  Or can’t he remember?  What?

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Baud:

     

    They’re all having an education forum soon so I have a suggestion for all of them. When they talk about college costs STOP talking as if this is about the PARENTS of college students. It’s just wrong. The STUDENTS take on the debt. I mean, if their parents could fucking pay half their take home to a college each year there wouldn’t be any student debt. I’m mystified why this has become a discussion of the parents. Talk about THEM. The students. And stop pretending everyone packs up at 18 and heads off for exactly 4 years at State U. This has no connection to reality. If you can’t afford college you live at home and attend a cheaper college, or go part time, or delay college and go later. They have a shitload of educational stats collected carefully by the federal government. Read some of them. If they genuinely want to have a college discussion that actually reflects the experience of low and middle class students LOOK at them. How are they doing this? Where do they go to school? WHEN do they go to school? How do they pay for it?

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: That’s exactly what I said to my mother when I was 13 and she said I needed to show her more respect:  “Respect is given where respect is due.”

    Grown up me: “I am surprised I made it to 14.”

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Anya:  

    That is my fear about Biden.

    Mine too, but they don’t see it that way.

    Warren is too female.
    Sanders is too socialist.
    Castro is too Latin American.
    Buttigieg is too gay.
    etc etc

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Baud:

     

    And we already have free college. Ohio (and some other states) have a program called “college credit plus” in high school that is wildly popular. My youngest will graduate high school with either the equivalent of an associates degree or something approaching that, depending on what he wants to take next year and what I allow him to take. Free. Not income qualified. Look at that. Does it work? I mean it doesn’t fit into the ridiculously narrow frame of “residing at a 4 year college beginning at 18 and ending at 22” but since that’s not the uniform college experience of more than half the low and middle income students anyway that shouldn’t matter.

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    @Immanentize:

     

    Is it because he lies about everything?  Or can’t he remember?  What?

    I agree with the first two and would add a third.  Because he’s breathing?

  71. 71.

    Butter Emails

    @rikyrah:

    It’s a self fulfilling type of prophecy/ad hoc justification. Harris got tons of negative coverage in the press that eroded her support before it had time to harden. Therefore she obviously ran a bad campaign which is why the press covered it so negatively.

     

    The press in his country is horribly broken and they’re having an excessive amount of influence on this primary because Democrats are understandably massively risk averse regarding our potential presidential picks following Donald Trump’s election. They also still largely trust the mainstream media. So we get Biden with a solid plurality, a lot of undecideds and people stampeding back and forth between the media’s current crush.

  73. 73.

    Mo' Salad

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It might be cheaper to hire someone to watch the starling murmurations, ya know, when you factor in the cost of the drugs, forced inactivity and simply the pain.

    But no, someone else will screw something up, so you have to do it yourself.

    Three guesses on how I recognize the control freak symptoms.

  74. 74.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Looks like Trump has seen the video

  75. 75.

    Baud

    I do get a little wary imagining how the media will attack our nominee lest we inadvertently normalize such attacks.

  77. 77.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: Barr would have been more happy if he had lived under the Russians Tsars and not in a democracy.

  78. 78.

    Tony Jay

    @Immanentize:

    On another issue — why would Trump lie about knowing Prince Andrew? Is it because he lies about everything? Or can’t he remember? What?

    Because he’s dimly aware that Andrew = Epstein = Never met the guy!

    Yes, it’s also because he lies about everything.

    Oh, he remembers. He just doesn’t care.

    Related issue, I pointed out this morning that the Tory effort to shut down Labour’s wedge issue about the NHS and its future under a Johnson Government (meaning it would be opened up to US corporations) by having the USS Shitberg tell everyone he had no intention of making the NHS part of a US/UK Trade deal was rendered defunct when Anus Mouth made tried to claim he’d never met Andrew.

    “The President has said the NHS is totally safe, are you calling him a liar?”

    (The President tells an obvious lie)

    “Oh fuck you, Don!”

    They’re trying to continue pushing it, but all the air has gone out of that ball. Oh, and now there’s video out there of Johnson laughing along with Trudeau and Macron and Princess Anne as they mock President Florida Guy for his needy Press conferences. I’m awaiting the inevitable Twitter explosion with great anticipation

     

    Edited to add – Ah. He’s seen it. They’re going to be trying to kick down the toilet door in Air Force One but they can’t stop the shitstorm that’s a’coming.

  79. 79.

    satby

    @WaterGirl: it was great, thanks! And my new dogsitter did very well, possibly because he’s not a pet owner so felt no need to stray from my instructions based on “his experience”. What a relief!

  82. 82.

    Butter Emails

    @Baud:

    Look at how the Republicans and liberal ratfuckers attack our candidates. It will be that with the words “some people say” in front combined with disingenuous policy analysis. It’s already been normalized.

  86. 86.

    mrmoshpotato

    I’m still like 40% convinced that if Pelosi held a press conference to announce her view that Trump is too stupid to have demanded that Ukraine investigate Biden in exchange for aid, he’d just blurt out a confession.

    ?????? That’s genius.

    “He’s too stupid to shakedown Ukraine.”

    “Nu uh!  I shook them down on this day by saying…”

  88. 88.

    Tony Jay

    @satby:

     

    Lovely. Now for the BBC to doorstop Johnson asking him does he agree with “His friend Donald” about the Canadian PM and has he himself apologised to the US President for joining in the mockery?

     

    Not really. The BBC will steadfastly ignore the whole matter other than getting numerous Tories and Tory-friendly journalists to discuss how bad this looks for Labour…. somehow.

  90. 90.

    gene108

    I think a lot of people have internalized the sexism of 2016.  There’s a strong belief that if Biden had been the candidate in 2016, he would have beaten Trump, because the “I can’t vote for a woman” folks, would have no problem voting for Biden.

     

    Anyway, the primary is hugely disappointing.

     

    The media has made Trump seem like a super popular incumbent, who cannot be beat, but by the safest Democratic choice for President.

     

    That’s not true.

     

    Democrats are so scared of a Trump second term that they will give up on any hope for a younger, more visionary candidate, because they feel Trump will easily win re-election.

     

    It’s frustrating to explain to people, despite the undying support of elected Republicans, and the Republican base, Trump is historically unpopular.  In states that he eked out a winning margin, like PA & MI, he’s much less popular. Republicans, in general, and specifically in those states, have not faired will in post-2016 elections.

     

    Democratic voters are letting fear take over any semblance of desire for a candidate that will energize voters.  They don’t understand that Democrats can’t win, unless we turn out irregular voters, and I don’t think Biden is the guy, who will get those voters energized.

     

    Anyway, onwards and upwards to Iowa, and New Hampshire, which will hopefully narrow the field to something sensible.

  93. 93.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Cheryl Rofer: Nothings says Super Alpha Male Only the Most Terrific Plus Deluxe than running and hiding. What’s next, leaked pictures of a pillow fort Trump is using in the White House?

     

    You asked it before Cheryl, why aren’t his supporters able to see this?  They go on and on about feminist emasculating men and  that begs the question; how does one emasculate Trump more than he has already done to himself?

  94. 94.

    jonas

    @Baud: Naturally none of that “respect” extends to his own FBI or other IS’s, whom Barr and Trump routinely throw under the bus and call corrupt.

  95. 95.

    germy

    Just received the testimony for witnesses testifying at the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry hearing:
    Dem witnesses:
    Noah Feldman (Harvard) 6 pages
    Pamela Karlan (Stanford) 6 pages
    Michael Gerhardt (UNC) 10 pages
    The GOP witness:
    Jonathan Turley (GW) 53 pages

    — Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) December 4, 2019

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tony Jay: CNN says a reporter just asked Trump about the video, and he called Trudeau “two-faced” and further masked his humiliation by suggesting Trudeau is pissed because Trump pressed him for more money. [insert eyeroll thingie]

     

    Also, Trump is from motherfucking QUEENS, New York City, State of New York, okay? I know Trump recently changed his legal residence to Florida in hopes he can more effectively evade taxes and escape the legal consequences of his criminality. I know Florida has a well-earned reputation for insanity and corruption that fits Trump like a glove, and, unlike NY, Florida voted for the orange ass-weevil in the 2016 election.

     

    BUT! As a Floridian, I feel honor-bound to point out that when the USA finally elected a fascist buffoon, the racist demagogue emerged from the North, not the South as had been expected. America has an insanity and corruption problem, not just Florida. (Sorry to go off, but I feel like the “Florida Man” narrative elides that crisis.)

  99. 99.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Anya: Biden’s an experienced politician whose been playing this game for decades; as unlikely and fantastical as it sounds, just maybe he knows how to do politics and handle the douch bag press?

     

    Otherwise I have heard Biden strength reset on he represents a return to the Obama admin which is seen as the good old days after Trump.

  101. 101.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy:   Trying to baffle with bullshit because bullshit is all they’ve got. If Turley is smart he’ll suddenly get ill the month he is supposed to testify.

  103. 103.

    Cheryl Rofer

  108. 108.

    Tony Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

     

    (Hangs head)

     

    Sorry ma’am. In my defence it was entirely deliberate. 8-)

     

    As to the Mockery Video it would please me enormously if some enterprising Twitterdenizen bombarded the Clinger from Queens with grabs of that picture where Ivanka is leering at Trudeau like she’s got an itch at the back of her throat and ask him “Is this the other face you mean?”

     

    They’ll be picking wreckage out of the mid-Atlantic for months, and you guys can move on to impeaching Pence for being just as bad, with added Godbothering.

  109. 109.

    Alien Radio

    I think Boris has EXACTLY the same kind of legal problems Trump has. I’m pretty certain he’s in the pocket of organised crime (especially since the DUP is just the political wing of the unionists and the Paramilitaries have mostly been focused on building out their commercial criminal activities since the Good Friday Agreement) as well as the Kochtopus and assorted American and Russian elements. Dollars to Donuts he’s been owned by organised crime since some indiscretion in Brussels when he was working for the Telegraph.

  110. 110.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah:

     

    AMEN!!!!

     

    He had a heart attack! Why is he still considered viable? Aside from the fact that he does nothing but scream the same slogans over and over with no indication of how they might be implemented?

  114. 114.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia:
    Why is he still considered viable?

    He has a solid place in the polls and raises (to me) a terrifying amount of money. Every time I see his fundraising numbers, I think that’s money we might as well set on fire, but he’s convinced a great number of people that righteous bellowing passes laws.

  115. 115.

    Sab

    @Kay: Some of those parents are ill-informed enough to co-sign on those college loans. They should not do it, but they do.

  116. 116.

    Elizabelle

    NPR led with the tape of other NATO leaders laughing at Trump.  And with Trump backtracking a bit.

     

    Nice Polite Republicans:  soundclip of a gentle and sane sounding Trump saying Trudeau “is a nice guy.  No really, he’s a nice guy.”

     

    Fuck NPR, although love me some Performance Today.

     

    FWIW, I think it’s healthy to see the vid of world leaders laughing at Trump.  He’s a horrible person to begin with, in the throes of dementia and maybe even madness some times.  And he’s in a horrendously powerful position for which he is wholly unsuited, and cannot be easily removed from it.

     

    It’s all a nightmare, and maybe laughter by international leaders can help.

  117. 117.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tony Jay: No worries — I mock Florida myself, all the time. It’s a target rich environment. I just don’t want to let New York off the hook for producing that ambulatory ocher-tinged ballsack. Speaking of whom:


    There’s always a goddamned tweet. Always!

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    @Sab:   What’s really tragic is when the grandparents sign, and are suddenly in all kinds of trouble beyond their earning years.

     

    Whole thing is a shame, a scandal, and a financial crime.

    With shit like that, we are not a first world country.  Despite other great advantages we enjoy.

  122. 122.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bingo — Sanders has enough money and a prefab base of support to go all the way to the convention if he wants. And it looks like he wants.

    I’m naive enough to have entertained a small, brief hope that his heart attack might cause Sanders to reassess priorities and think about his legacy. I’ve seen significant health issues inspire such reflection in other bullheaded, self-regarding old men. It’s pretty clear now that’s not gonna happen.

    I don’t utterly despise Sanders as most of y’all do, nor am I convinced, as some are, that he’s a Russian agent. The latter is crackpot talk, IMO.

    But Sanders is a self-important gadfly, and any contributions he’s made in terms of moving the Overton window are obliterated by the destructive forces he has unleashed as a presidential candidate. I am so thankful this current run will almost certainly be his last.

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sab: also an obsession with celebrity in general and the royal family in particular. Seems to me he used Chuck and Di (as we used to call them) a few times as lying PR for his properties, that they/she wanted to join Mar a Lago, that they or she wanted to buy a condo in his tower. Didn’t he tell Howard Stern that Di was flirting with him at some point?

     

    You think Anne will get tagged as a nasty woman by Friday?

  126. 126.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:  I would be fine waking up to find St. Bernard has gone on to his eternal rest.

    Appreciate his clear messaging on income inequality, but he is not suited for President and he is tearing the party apart.  Enough

     

    [Reconsidering the “tearing the party apart” comment, because his audience is actually more naturally libertarians and the far left.  It’s interesting to me that there is such a difference between Warren and Sanders supporters.]

  127. 127.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: as one of those utter despisers, I don’t think he’s an agent, but an asset to rather than of the Russians, I think is the distinction borrowed from LeCarré. I don’t think the Russians saw him coming any more than anyone else, including himself. Though I can’t completely let go of the fact that Tad Devine went from working for Corzine to Bernie. On some level, I assume most pols want advisers who agree with them at least a little, especially Himself.

     

    And as much as I hate him, I don’t blame Sanders for the fact that so many people (candidates) bought into his schtick, and that Tom Perez couldn’t figure out a better way to handle debates– I couldn’t either. I have no idea how to do it better, other than drawing lots and having (groan) even more of them.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Though I can’t completely let go of the fact that Tad Devine went from working for Corzine to Bernie. On some level, I assume most pols want advisers who agree with them at least a little, especially Himself.

    To clarify, my suspicions are of Devine, not Bernie. I’m sure the old gas bag is as easily flattered as the other delusional gasbag from the other borough, and that Devine has convinced smarter people he sees the sun shining out of their arse in order to get them to hire him

  129. 129.

    The Moar You Know

    I feel honor-bound to point out that when the USA finally elected a fascist buffoon, the racist demagogue emerged from the North, not the South as had been expected.

    @Betty Cracker:  I personally never expected anything else.  The racism of the north is nastier than that of the south, because it’s hidden.

     

    I will go one step further:  I fully expected the racist demagogue would end up coming from CA.  That didn’t happen, but I fully expect the next one will be from here, and that person will probably not be white as currently defined (but will assuredly not be black).

  130. 130.

    EthylEster

    @Jeffro: The Trump tweet basically cries out for “I know you are, but what am I!”  response.

     

    He’s an asshole, no doubt about that, but JFC, so are a lot of  people these days. It’s like being back in high school. I think the tail of the Trump-showed-us-we-can-say-ANYTHING effect is going to be very long.

  131. 131.

    Bill Arnold

    @Tony Jay:
    Out of curiosity, why hasn’t mockery like “The Tory Broadcasting Corporation” gotten any traction? (Or is there an equivalent that I haven’t found google keywords for?)

  132. 132.

    Bill Arnold

    @germy:

    Noah Feldman (Harvard) 6 pages
    Pamela Karlan (Stanford) 6 pages
    Michael Gerhardt (UNC) 10 pages
    The GOP witness:
    Jonathan Turley (GW) 53 pages

    My rule, and I suspect the rule for many in this short-attention-span era, is to read these statements (or papers in academic literature, or articles in the press) in shortest-first order.

  134. 134.

    Tony Jay

    @Bill Arnold:

     

    The hard right spent so long abusing the BBC as the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation that when Remainers nicknamed it the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation and later on the Boris Broadcasting Corporation, the 14 Tory appointees who actually run the BBC were able to play the “ both sides attack us so we must be doing it right” card.

     

    Stop me if this all sounds depressingly familiar. Same shit, different continent.

  135. 135.

    patrick II

    Turley: This is not a valid impeachment because it is happening too fast, and too much passion, even Turley’s dog is mad.  Perhaps, though, the case for impeachment is so clear it doesn’t take a year to run down every nuance.  Lengthening impeachment hearings to give every witness an opportunity to speaks just gives this president the opportunity for obstruction of justice as he has been doing for three years.  Mulvaney isn’t going to testify, Pompeo isn’t going to testify, Nunes isn’t going to testify, we will never have a “complete” investigation.  However, we already have a clear and damning one.

  136. 136.

    patrick II

    Turley: Not enough historical record to impeach for these reasons.

    We don’t have much of a history of traitorous presidents.  If your crimes are uniquely egregious, evidently  to Turley, they are unpunishable.

  137. 137.

    JDM

    I’m still like 40% convinced that if Pelosi held a press conference to announce her view that Trump is too stupid to have demanded that Ukraine investigate Biden in exchange for aid, he’d just blurt out a confession.

    He already did, in the form of the memo of content of one of the phone calls in question.

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