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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!
Damn right I heard that as a threat.
Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.
Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.
Their freedom requires your slavery.
I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.
Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.
Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.
An almost top 10,000 blog!
A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires
Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.
Infrastructure week. at last.
Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.
Bark louder, little dog.
Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?
I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.
Fuck these fucking interesting times.
Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.
In my day, never was longer.
Everybody saw this coming.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Impressively dumb. Congratulations.
We still have time to mess this up!
“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”
Wag
Schiff is kicking ass. He laid out a reasonable need to move forward before more court decisions.
O. Felix Culpa
Already over, but it was solemn and clear. I am proud of our Democratic congressional leadership.
Cheryl Rofer
Sorry it’s late – I’ve been having trouble with my connection. Maybe they will post a recording.
JR
I want to know who pulled back on bribery. They need to be roasted.
Baud
@O. Felix Culpa:
I hope the voting public remembers which party defended the country and the Constitution.
Cheryl Rofer
Baud
@JR:
Reposted from below.
Too many bribery vs. extortion debates, is my guess.
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s a thread on what to expect in Trump’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later today.
Cheryl Rofer
Extreme rightwinger Michael Gerson –
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
Answer: IOKIYAR
OzarkHillbilly
@JR: Also reposted from below:
I think they are just following the KISS Principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Considering how short the attention span of the American electorate is, I suspect they’re right to.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: New version: IOKIYAt
Major Major Major Major
Apparently we’re mad that Pelosi has also scheduled a press conference to talk about the NAFTA renegotiation deal.
MazeDancer
So sad. Heavy heart, teary eyes. Watching Dems do their duty. Knowing
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major: I’m not thrilled, and I would’ve liked them to at least get something bigger in the deal than I’ve heard about (I’m seeing conflicting reports on how much trump has given away on pharma imports). But there are two Dems noisily announcing they’re going to vote against impeachment– Petersen MN and Van Drew NJ– and one of those two is saying there are five or six more who might vote with them, and I predict those two will be getting more press attention than Justin Amash, who’s apparently a Democrat now, so… I’ma trust Pelosi to herd her cats. Also, WTF else can I do.
I do home, as Immentize said in the last thread, that they’re keeping open the possibility of more articles.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
With apologies to Orwell, we have always been mad at Pelosi.
Hildebrand
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Peterson and Van Drew are whistling through the graveyard if they think voting against impeachment is going to stave off the inevitable Republican onslaught calling them Deep State actors trying to stage a coup. No matter what they do the Republicans will call them socialist freaks willing to sell out the God-Emperor. They should find their backbones and actually do the right thing – and if they lose their next election, well, at least they will be able to sleep at night.
O. Felix Culpa
@Baud: So do I.
Spanky
@Baud: Orwell has much to atone for, for writing that how-to manual.
MazeDancer
Sadness watching Dems do their duty because knowing GOP don’t care. That our Democracy hangs by the slimmest of margins: a free election in 2020.
And that Lavrov is in the WH today.
Please Goddess of Liberty stay with us one more time.
Apologies for premature post at #14. Giving up on posting from phone.
mrmoshpotato
C-SPAN3 recording of impeaching the motherfucker announcement.
dr. bloor
@OzarkHillbilly: Yep. Don’t need a lot of charges, just the right one. Getting into the muck that is the Mueller report or charges with wiggle room into what constitutes “bribery,” “extortion,” “quid pro quo,” etc. just opens the gates for the loons to gish gallop the proceedings into mush.
H.E.Wolf
As with the impeachment process against Richard Nixon: not all of the proposed articles of impeachment made it into the final charge… and not necessarily because they were trivial matters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_process_against_Richard_Nixon#Articles_rejected
Chief Oshkosh
@dr. bloor:
Sorry to be a downer, but I think you just defined “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress.”
Neither one of those is hard-and-fast; lots of wiggle room. All anyone has to say is “abuse of power? What does that even mean?”
“Obstruction of Congress”? — Isn’t there supposed to be tension between the branches of government? Sounds like normal separation of powers to me!”
At least with bribery and extortion, either one is an understandable crime.
Well, I guess we’ll see how it goes. It’s about all we peons can do — watch.
PenAndKey
@dr. bloor: “just opens the gates for the loons to gish gallop the proceedings into mush”
The sad part? It’s all but a guarantee they’re going to try and do that anyway.
O. Felix Culpa
While understanding where you come from, I disagree. Watching is not all we can do, at least in the larger political context. With respect to impeachment, we can call our congresscritters and senators and let them know we want them to take their oath of office seriously.
We also can – indeed MUST – work our asses off to get good people elected in 2020. Many different ways to do that: donate, knock on doors, make phone calls, write post cards, register voters, provide snacks for campaign workers, etc. Let’s own and use our power. We’re not dead yet.
O. Felix Culpa
@O. Felix Culpa: Curious. No edit option. Win 10/Chrome.
ETA: And voila! edit function appears after several refreshes.
Chief Oshkosh
@O. Felix Culpa: You know, I agree. It’s cold and damp here. Maybe I should take a walk and have a drink and get my head back in the game. Thanks.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
I think it’s incoherent. I think regular people look at that and think “this is all a game – they’re making deals in the midst of what they’re telling us is a crisis where the President should be removed”I know there will be a lot of substantive explanations about it, that they can “walk and chew gum” but I think they have to decide on some level. Either he’s unfit and should be removed or they can haggle over how many steering columns can come in. It doesn’t hang together. I’m baffled by it, and I bet I’m not the only one. I’m a Democrat and I generally support these people and I’m mystified by this. They aren’t going to be able to hedge their bets. Sometimes you just have to jump and I guess I thought they did. No, apparently. They had a Plan B that completely contradicts Plan A.
NOT a fan of this.
Kathleen
@Baud: I’ve been waiting with bated breath for the new season of “How Democrats Disappointed Me Today.” Rumor has it Nancy Pelosi will get the wilted rose!
O. Felix Culpa
@Chief Oshkosh: Believe me, I’ve been there. Often. Take good care of yourself!
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
Not a one of them is going to get ANY credit for anything good in the trade deal- Trump will screw them, absolutely guaranteed, I would bet my house on it, AND they will get dinged for the bad parts of the trade deal. He will screw them before the press conference is over.
WTF? I mean, Jesus Christ. This thing better have the best labor and environmental protections on the face of the planet and you KNOW it doesn’t. It’s Trump’s.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m rattled enough by it I am wondering if time and energy outside voting is worth it.
Apparently I misunderstood what Democrats were doing. I thought they were impeaching the President, not holding press conferences to hand him his trade deal. We don’t seem to be on the same page.
O. Felix Culpa
Orange man lashes out at FBI director in wake of Justice Department inspector general’s report.
Of course not. Christopher Wray’s version wasn’t in crayon.
catclub
@Kay: Kevin Drum also pointed out that parental leave – for FEDERAL EMPLOYEES only, is not really a good look.
That was traded for authorizing the space cadets.
I am sure that the Democrats view that getting parental leave for federal employees is the first step to wider application, but only wonks like me will see that.
O. Felix Culpa
@O. Felix Culpa: Sigh. Experiencing editing gremlins today. The WaPo linky didn’t copy in my original post, so here it is.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Kay: I think you guys may not be understanding how important maintaining NAFTA in terms if not in name is, not just for you but for your neighbours. Canada supplies nearly half all your oil imports. What do you think will happen if that tap gets turned off, even if only briefly?
What do you think Canada’s reaction (or Mexico’s) to fucking that file up will be?
J R in WV
It is hard for me to post about the Impeachment at this point. I know, we all know that crimes were committed and are being committed today. I must say Eric Swalwell did a great job of questioning a witness, a long series of answers to hard questions: “Donald Trump did.” Sometimes with “Donald Trump” and someone else, as the expanded answer.
But seeing the Republicans and their specific shrieking monkeys, Jim Justice and their lawyers. Oh man, that’s depressing to witness, that fellow humans would sink that low for a common criminal like Trump.
At least I have things to do, constructive things, for rainy days indoors. Scanning old family photos, some of which are just strangers in B&W, but some of which are really interesting slices of life over 100 years ago.
And my knee got the OK to do the exercise bike. And there are small waterfalls in the back yard, which is always an uplift.
Best wishes to all the Jackals out there.
Amir Khalid
@O. Felix Culpa:
Trump probably did get a copy of the IG’s report, but knowing how he is with written materials I’m pretty sure he didn’t read it.
Ohio Mom
This is the day we have waited for (the day efg told us would come).
Will this process eventually remove Trump, no one can yet know, even as we hope with all our might.
But I will be thankful and grateful we made this far.
catclub
I think if the Democrats are not participating in the latest Trump tariffpalooza, then Trump will be blamed for that.
If the Democrats ARE participating, then the blame gets shared around.
Kay
@catclub:
Paid parental leave is a core Democratic policy. That’s an easy trade.
Trump’s crap trade deal is not a core Democratic policy – it’s Trump’s core policy. He will lie about it in 2020 and use it smear Democrats. He’s probably lying about it right now. If his trade negotiator isn’t a huge liar he breaks an unbroken record of Trump hiring bad faith hacks. Trade deals are thousands of pages. How do I KNOW this one has a bunch of toxic crap in it that will come back to bite us?
I’m afraid to even look at what Canada and Mexico got compared to the US. Trump’s a horrible fucking negotiator. He probably gave away the store in return for kissing his ass or hiring one of his gross, sleazy associates.
Kay
Get used to it. If you live in MI, OH, WI or PA you are going to hear this every day until election day.
I cannot imagine what was worth this. They rushed into this for NAFTA 2? Just inexplicable behavior and contradicts everything else they’re saying. This better be the best trade deal ever in the history of the world or it’s inexcusable.