Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Fight them, without becoming them!

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Impeachment Hearings / Green Eggs and Ham

Green Eggs and Ham

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This was good. Here’s another impeachment hearings thread.

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121Comments

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    I like that televised hearings introduce us to our good Democratic reps, and that we can just hit mutes when the RepublicOns are up.

    It’s been an education.  I am proud of our Democrats.

    Tulsi is not on any of these important panels, is she?  I have never seen her speak.

  7. 7.

    Leto

    @Elizabelle: You mentioned in a thread downstairs that you were watching the Peanut Butter Falcon and were jarred by the Southern accents. Wanted to say how much I agree with that. I was talking to a friend recently about that, about how it’s not become such a defining feature, specifically Southern accent = fucking moron. Having Collins followed by Gaetz just highlights that.

  8. 8.

    Kraux Pas

    If the law is on your side bang on the law; if the facts are on your side, bang on the facts; if neither is on your side make phony process objections.

     

    How can Rep. Raskin not understand this?

  10. 10.

    Leto

    @burnspbesq: agreed. Highlights what mistermix (?) was talking about a few days ago wrt to all the youngin’s leaving North Dakota. Same thing there; if you were able to get out, you got out. All that’s left is the worst of the lot.

    Jeebus… whoever that fucknuts from Arizona was talking about how Trumpov has restored the military…

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    @MomSense:

    In these hearings it seems the republicans are just soundbite generators for FUX and the other right wing media outlets.

    More or less.  The Republican strategy appears to be that they’re going to turn the whole process into such a circus that nobody can take the process seriously, and then use that lack of seriousness as a grounds for dismissing the whole thing.  I’m sure the media will aid and abet them at every turn.

  15. 15.

    J R in WV

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I don’t think Tulsi has been in town (Washington, DC) for months, as nothing is more important that setting up her next grifting opportunity.

    Thank dawg she hasn’t any chance to rattle the impeachment process, though!

  16. 16.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    If the Republican members are so concerned about the rest of the House business, why are they giving a press conference instead of going back to the floor and voting ?  Wasn’t that what the recess was for?

  18. 18.

    Kraux Pas

    @MomSense: In these hearings it seems the republicans are just soundbite generators for FUX and the other right wing media outlets.

     

    Well reality certainly isn’t going to produce Fox’s talking points for them.

  20. 20.

    Kent

    @burnspbesq: When I lived in Texas we used to drive through that part of the state on occasion to go visit Caddo Lake State Park.  The center of his district is Marshall which is the most brain-dead town I’ve ever been in and I’ve been in a lot of TX towns.  It’s just a horrifying part of the state and Gohmert suits it well.  They like them some Gohmert because he goes to their churches and speaks to them in their Fundie patois.

  24. 24.

    Elizabelle

    @Leto:   Yup. Not getting out of the boat with C-Span callers.  I think GOP types rig the system, or call a lot more than Dems do.

    And yes, it’s sad that [white male] southern accents have become a symbol of lying and bad governance by Republicans.  Unfair, but it was subliminal.

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    A train!  A train!  Would they, could they extort Ukraine on a train?

    Narrator: What the hell do you think?

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    BoJo was photographed with Dilyn outside the polls.  Cannot say if he and Dilyn walked, were chauffeured, or slithered over, though.

    London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s dog Luna advises “Vote Labour!”

    [Can you tell the blog commenting system is hiccupping, at least for me?]

  29. 29.

    Immanentize

    @Leto: On weird language moments — I went to see Ford vs. Ferrari (liked it!) but every one of the Americans in the film, whenever Le Mans came up, said “Le Mon” as if they were friggin native Frenchies. Believe me, almost no one in the US said it that way in the ’70s — certainly not Carroll Shelby (Texan through and through) or Henry Ford II (Asshole). OK, maybe LeBeau on Hogan’s Heroes….

    LUH MAHNZ! That’s how it was pronounced in the good ol’ US of We Know it All! Even on the Wide World of Sports they said, LUH MAHNZ.

    I wonder who decided on that culturally sensitive update?

  30. 30.

    Barbara

    @Elizabelle: I have noticed a lag time for loading both posts and comments.  I usually blame my own computer for this sort of thing, but I don’t actually know what the source of the slow down is.

  32. 32.

    Barbara

    @Elizabelle: So for comment number 30, mine, hitting refresh did not work, but toggling to the previous thread and back did work to make the comment show up.  Have noticed that previously as well.

  35. 35.

    Leto

    @Immanentize: You say potato, I say, “What do you think you are, better than me? Some kind of wise guy?” Potato… insults… potato… insults… lets blow the whole thing up!

    It drives Avalune absolutely nuts to hear people pronounce bruschetta  (bru-sketta) as BREW-SHETTA. I’ve seen a tick develop in the corner of her left eye. I pity the next fool who says that to her.

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    So, the “Beverly Hillbillies mansion” in Los Angeles (actually named “Chartwell”) that sold for a record $150 million recently? Highest price in California history.

    Buyer is Lachlan Murdoch.

    Fuckers

    Priced as high as $350 million as a pocket listing, the estate centers on a 1930s French neoclassical-style chateau of 25,000 square feet that sits on 10 acres. Also trading in the deal was the former home of President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, which sits behind the main estate.

    Hmmm.  An on-site shrine to the President who made Fox News’s utter corruption of American democracy (and profitable!) possible. https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2019-12-11/chartwell-perenchio-estate-bel-air-sells-california-record

    Article is worth a read, fer sure.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Elizabelle: That house has an interesting and dark history, just in back of it was the Reagan LA house

    ETA: Didn’t see your addition, so Murdoch bought the old Reagan property too.  It’s not surprising that Lachlan would want some digs in the area, his dad owns a vineyard not too far away.

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    When will stupid old men in power learn to not attack kids? [asked rhetorically]

    Climate activist Greta Thunberg has changed her Twitter bio to mock US President Donald Trump’s outrage at her winning Time Person of the Year 2019.
    He said she had an “anger management problem” and should go to “a good old fashioned movie with a friend”.

    “Chill Greta, Chill!” he added.

    She then adapted her Twitter bio to say she was “a teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend”.

    On Tuesday Ms Thunberg changed her bio to “pirralha” – the Portuguese word for brat – after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticised her highlighting the plight of Brazil’s indigenous people.

    “Greta’s been saying Indians have died because they were defending the Amazon,” Mr Bolsonaro told reporters. “It’s amazing how much space the press gives this kind of pirralha.”

  43. 43.

    JaySinWA

    @Leto:@Elizabelle: You mentioned in a thread downstairs that you were watching the Peanut Butter Falcon

    I thought at first this was some play on the term “Blue Falcon” but going back to the previous thread it appears to be a movie title.

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    almost no one in the US said it that way in the ’70s

    Beg to differ.

    Although some of us who managed to sit through its headache inducing soundtrack have forever after called the movie “Lemons.”

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    @JaySinWA:   It was a really good movie.  Written for, and starred, a young man with Down Syndrome.  Character wants to be a wrestler.  Also starred Shia LeBouef, and this was the first movie I liked him in.  He was excellent.  (Haven’t seen all his work.)

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:

    There are a few episodes of the Murdochs from Tracey’s most recent show, well worth chasing down. She’s always been among my top favorite comedians.

  55. 55.

    patrick II

    Listening to NPR:  Approximate  quote “Mitch Mcconnell  isn’t sure whether the  Senate will call witnesses or not.  Republicans  feel calling witnesses  might turn  the hearings into a Circus.”

    I think  Lindsay Graham  would turn  that into  a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  57. 57.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: I notice that the real American in the film — Steve McQueen — never says, “Le Mon.”  Just the fake frenchy driver and the narrator going back and forth between Frenchfried English and New York Mad Man.

  58. 58.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: Adding — because no edit right now — I am pretty sure I watched that film when I was a kid.  I had to pull out my old Thunderjet Slot Cars of the Ford GT and the Dino Ferrari after seeing the movie.  To the wonderment of my movie-going friends.

  59. 59.

    Eural Joiner

    @trollhattan: So I posted a comment on the hypocrisy of the right attacking the Barron comment while ignoring Trump mocking Greta. Almost immediately a Trump humper I know replied with “that’s right – when they go low, we go lower, she’s a spoiled brat!”

    Which kinda proved my point?

  61. 61.

    Bill Arnold

    @trollhattan:
    I’m fairly (like 75%) sure that D.J. Trump has never watched/listened to all of Greta’s short UN speech, just to excerpts shown by Fox News.
    Frankly, she delivered that speech with more flair than he exhibits during most of his speaking.

  63. 63.

    James E Powell

    Over at his place, Kevin Drum says:

     

    I don’t think Trump really gets the distinction that dirt on Joe Biden is a personal benefit, not a national benefit of the kind you get during, say, a trade negotiation. To him, his reelection campaign is just another part of his presidency. So why is everyone getting so upset?

    That’s Trump for you. The bigger problem is that I suspect an awful lot of the public doesn’t immediately get the distinction either, and we’ve done a poor job of hammering it home. (emphasis added.)

    Apart from the question of who he is referring to as “we,” I fear he may be right. On the other hand, I’m wondering what else he expects Democrats to do.

  65. 65.

    Kent

    @patrick II:

    Listening to NPR:  Approximate  quote “Mitch Mcconnell  isn’t sure whether the  Senate will call witnesses or not.  Republicans  feel calling witnesses  might turn  the hearings into a Circus.”

    I think  Lindsay Graham  would turn  that into  a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    My understanding is that the House Managers act more or less as prosecutors, presenting a case.  Are you saying the McConnell would prohibit them from calling witnesses in the presentation of the case?   Or that they wouldn’t call rebuttal witnesses in the defense?  I’m not sure how that is really McConnell’s call either way if the President appoints defenders to defend him and they want to call witnesses that the President wants to hear from.   What’s McConnell going to do, say no?  Rather than having ad-hoc GOP senators rising to defend Trump, it would seem the better course would be to have a designated defense team which may or may not be GOP Senators present a coherent and complete defense.  And then let the rest of the GOP bloviate.

  68. 68.

    sdhays

    @Bill Arnold: I suspect that he still doesn’t really know who she is. He’s just vaguely aware that she’s not a fan of his and she got on the cover of Time magazine for real while he had to create fraudulent Time covers to see his ugly face on Time.

  70. 70.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: Believe me, almost no one in the US said it that way in the ’70s — certainly not Carroll Shelby (Texan through and through) or Henry Ford II (Asshole).

    What about the ’60s in which the movie was set?  Actually, check this out at about 7:00 and see how he says it.

  73. 73.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    I liked Ford V Ferrari also, as did wife. Carroll Shelby probably had a much denser accent than his actor doppleganger could muster up. I noticed that Le Mon thing too, but no one pronounced Porsche with the ‘a’ at the end. What’s up with that?

    There is a new series called the Lemon races, where the cars can’t cost more than $500, hence the Lemon name… don’t think anyone expects those cars to run for 24 hours, tho. But maybe that series affected the writers? Had ot be some gear heads in there somewhere…

  75. 75.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Eural Joiner:

    “that’s right – when they go low, we go lower, she’s a spoiled brat!” 

    1. Wow.  2. Nice of them to admit to being scumbags.  3. That spoiled brat that’s working towards a better home planet for all of us!

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Trump and his flying monkeys can’t imagine anybody young doing something on behalf of others and not trying to “get away with something.” Greta, the person, cannot exist in their worldview. I also know for a fact my kid, roughly the same age, knows things I don’t, in part because the science did not exist when I was in school. I can be her grammar checker and that’s about the extent of my input.

  78. 78.

    chopper

    how far the gop has fallen that they’re really this willing to go to the mattresses for donald fucking trump.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    I don’t know about you, but I am loving seeing

    Trump Jr. sheep

    at top of WaPost website, cuz it’s a trending topic.  I don’t love what story is — Jr. killed another endangered animal.

    But I like thinking that some readers looking in will wonder is sheep is descriptive or erotic partner when they see that topic.

  81. 81.

    Mike in NC

    We have to assume that among the real and phoney framed magazine covers in the Trump Collection, there’s one featuring his massive fat ass parked on a golf cart: “Sports Illustrated Douchebag of the Year 2010”

  84. 84.

    J R in WV

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    That house has an interesting and dark history

    Any chance you could provide a little of that history? The LA Times story was pretty interesting, but no dark history at all…

  86. 86.

    catclub

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: She is so much better at this than the old guys.

     

    I would have said  “You would think the president would have better things to do than police a teenager’s twitter posts.”

    sadly, no.

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @J R in WV: If he goes into any more detail, clowns will eat him in his sleep.*

    *That might be just my personal nightmare, but I bet Billin shares it now.  Sorry, Billin.

  89. 89.

    Kent

    @Mary G: First and only time I have actually been thankful to Jeff Bezos.  Apparently he is a big fan of The Expanse and made sure that Amazon picked it up for a 4th and 5th season.

    Sometimes wealth does have its advantages.  I can’t imagine all the SciFi I would get behind and produce if I was worth $160 billion.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    @Kent:

    TheHill (from 7:22 AM ET):

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to hold a vote to acquit President Trump should the president ultimately be impeached in the House rather than move to dismiss any articles of impeachment sent from the lower chamber.

    CNN, citing two Republican senators, reported Thursday that the Senate GOP wants to have a vote for acquittal to try to clear the president of any wrongdoing stemming from his dealings with Ukraine rather than a majority vote to simply dismiss impeachment.

    The Constitution requires articles of impeachment to garner 67 votes in support in order to convict and remove Trump, and the GOP, which holds a 53-47 majority in the chamber, is reportedly certain it can keep the vote from hitting the two-thirds threshold.

    An unidentified senator told CNN that McConnell would not call a vote to proceed to the House’s articles of impeachment unless he knew he had at least 51 votes to end the Senate trial, which would then trigger a vote on the articles themselves.

    Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is close to McConnell, added to the network that it “would make more sense” to move to vote to acquit on the articles of impeachment than on a motion to dismiss and “decide this on a 51-vote threshold, with the potential tie and all the recriminations that would flow from that.”

    McConnell declined to clarify his strategy to reporters during a press conference earlier this week, but hinted senators may have “heard enough” to acquit Trump.

    “It could go down the path of calling witnesses and basically having another trial or it could decide — and again, 51 members could make that decision — that they’ve heard enough and believe they know what would happen and could move to vote on the two articles of impeachment,” he said. “Those are the options. No decisions have been made yet.”

    […]

    Virginia’s governor called a special legislative session on gun violence over the summer. The Teabaggers held the session, then closed it after 15 minutes without taking any action. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if McConnell is thinking of using similar tactics (i.e. saying they’ve heard enough, then calling a quick acquittal vote and going home).

    If he does, it should be taken as more fuel for our righteous anger.

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl:

    How frequently is the “no editing” thing happening to you? Device / browser combination?

    It happens to me once or twice a day, depending on how often I comment.

    System 76 laptop running Ubuntu 18.04.3 and Firefox 71.0. Sometimes repeated refreshes work, other times not so much, Haven’t thought of going to the other thread with a side arrow, will try that next time …

    I haven’t had too much to say about the Impeachment so far… it is what it is as my boss used to say. The Rs are despicable, the Ds appear to be doing well from a technical perspective, not so good from a PR perspective.

     

    ETA to say I got the edit first time for this comment!

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @J R in WV: So is it that you see your comment but don’t get the Edit Comment box?  Or, when it happens, is it that you don’t see your comment until you refresh?

    edit: Just want to be sure I understand what your issue is.  Also, what if you comment 20 times in a day, is it still only once or twice?

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    @Another Scott:  And Democrats took control of both houses of state government after that debacle.  House of Delegates and state senate.

    In addition to having Democratic governor, lt. governor and attorney general.

    Now we are dealing with the Second Amendment absolutists who are trying to have Virginia cities and counties declared Second Amendment sanctuaries.  They flooded Supervisors’ meetings in the Richmond area this week.  Flood of angry white males.  Oh goodie.

  95. 95.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Elizabelle: That’s the thing with the general apocalyptic mindset they have taken. The only way it stops is when they actually figure it out for themselves, or their black hearts finally give out and someone is lowering them in the ground in a pine box.

     

    That’s the main reason why we can’t fix anything, you have too many people (and that number only has to be about 20% of population overall) who’d rather die than to see change that they couldn’t control.

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl:

    Sometimes I don’t get the comment until I update once or twice, and typically when that happens I never get an edit box.

    Other times the new comment shows up, with no edit offered until a couple of updates. Mostly I do get an edit opportunity offered, at least 80% of the time.

    Note that it is really hard to type with a big cat in your lap!

     

    ETA: got edit offer right up this time, as intended.

  99. 99.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

     

    But the ETA I added didn’t appear until I refreshed the page, and when the EPA showed up after one refresh, there was no edit capability offered.

    ETA:  This comment #99 didn’t appear until I refreshed the page, and then there was no edit capability, I refreshed again, and like majik, an edit was offered, which is this… if it takes.

    ETA2… offered after the first edit was updated. It’s really inconsistent, I see no pattern to this bug so far.

     

    ETA3 just testing.

  100. 100.

    chris

    @Jay: Harvey Weinstein’s $25 million settlement is for a civil case. He goes to trial on criminal charges next year.

  102. 102.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @J R in WV: One interesting thing is the elevator to tunnels to the lower levels in the garden.  Building the house basically bankrupted the guy who built it and his wife didn’t like it.  He ended up staying at a hotel in Beverly Hills with a view of the house and was obsessed with looking at though binoculars.  He eventually committed suicide by jumping off one of the towers at Park La Brea claiming that the LA smog had ruined his health.

  104. 104.

    Jay

    @chris:

    yup, and the Civil case settlement won’t cost Harvey or the Studio one single penny,

    and $12 million goes to paying Harvey and the Studio’s lawyers, and recoups most of the costs Harvey, his Lawyers and the Studio paid out to slander, blackball and defame the victims.

    there are multiple justice systems with different punishments and costs for the same crimes. In the eyes of the Law, the Rich and Powerful are special, deserving of special trestment.

  105. 105.

    catclub

    @Immanentize: Thunderjet Slot Cars of the Ford GT and the Dino Ferrari after seeing the movie.

     

    Going to the slot car arcade, and the particular smell of the oil treatment that was put on the tires to increase grip,

    brings back memories.  I never had enough money to race long enough to get good  at it.

    yes on the Ford GT as the best.

  109. 109.

    Dan B

    @Jay:   It’s infuriating when a monster like Weinstein gets his knuckles rapped (not really) and has some sheckles paid.  Justice for the rich seems so, um, quaint.

  112. 112.

    Jay

    And the Russian whataboutism shows up, direct from Russia probably,….

    Guys I would be very curious who gave Gohmert the FDR/Stalin conversation information, about FDR agreeing the Soviets could have the Baltics after WWII, because I only know a few people who referred it regularly, and it’s none of the people he talks to.This is a huge red flag.— Molly McKew (@MollyMcKew) December 12, 2019

  113. 113.

    Jay

    UNC is paying $2.5 million to the Sons of Confederate Veterans to preserve a statue that was built to terrorize black communities, celebrate an army who fought to preserve slavery, and lift up an ahistorical myth about what the Civil War was fought over.https://t.co/G5N57SsWlt— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) December 12, 2019

  114. 114.

    catclub

    @Dan B:

    It is also infuriating that the Catholic church is still dealt with with even more deference than Weinstein got.

     

    It is about time for festivus airing of grievances.

  117. 117.

    Bill Arnold

    @WaterGirl:

    For me, firefox with a loadout of script blockers, almost everything enabled for this site.

    <em>Seems</em> to happen most often if the comment is the last one, hence my thing above to correct minor typo by adding another comment.  But I haven’t enough samples to be sure.

  119. 119.

    Jay

    The 2019 Market Facilitation Program has (1) overcompensated farmers for trade losses, (2) mostly paid wealthy farms, many of which are foreign-owned, and (3) distributed the payments with little or no relationship to financial stress https://t.co/d2wfvfCqPE— Robert Young Pelton (@RYP__) December 12, 2019

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