Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republicans in disarray!

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I was promised a recession.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeach the Motherfucker! / “If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost…”

“If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost…”

by | 249 Comments

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Here’s the end of Rep. Schiff’s brilliant closing remarks from last night’s impeachment trial:

At around the same time Schiff was reminding senators of their duty to protect this nation, Donald Trump pinned this bizarre, nonsensical picture to the top of his Twitter feed:

Our politics are cynical and debased and vicious and stupid. Otherwise, a crude, petty, demented crook like Trump would not be president. But as awful as things are, Americans like Adam Schiff are still rising to the occasion. As long as they do, there’s hope for better days.

Schiff’s entire 8-minute summary is here and well worth a listen if you missed it last night.

PS: Don’t forget to call your senators, especially if they’re Republicans: (202) 224-3121.

Reader Interactions

249Comments

  1. 1.

    John S.

    That sort of bizarre, nonsensical crap is what the MAGAts feed on. Their king must sustain his brood.

  3. 3.

    germy

    The picture is not bizarre or nonsensical.  #45 has claimed again and again he was spied on by the Obama administration.

    Well, it is a bizarre, nonsensical picture, but not in trumpworld.

  4. 4.

    Ohio Mom

    I’m developing quite a crush on Schiff. Sometimes I imagine him moving to the Senate and then the White House.

    Big day for Ohio Family today: I’m off to NYC, for the memorial for absolutely favorite aunt. Leaving Ohio Son and Dad begind. Poor Ohio Dad was summarily dismissed from his job Wednesday. He’s meeting with a lawyer this afternoon, wish him luck.

    It’s so nice to know that wherever I go in the world, Ballon Juice and all of you are just a few clicks away.

  5. 5.

    germy

    So what now?  It’s the republicans’ turn to testify?  Are the democrats finished?

    If so, I won’t be tuning in.  I’d rather not watch a bunch of liars.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: Maybe Trump has never used a pair of binoculars? Someone should let him know they only help if the subject is in the distance…

  13. 13.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    He really is outstanding.  I’m very proud of all of our managers.

    From what a I understand, Bernie has been dozing off, a bunch of the Republicans keep leaving, Blackburn is attacking Vindman, and Suzie Q is concerned that the press stay out of the first row of their reserved seating.

    Will we ever get any report from the counter intelligence investigation of Russian election interference?  It would be nice to know just how compromised this Senate jury is.

  15. 15.

    germy

    @MomSense:  Nunes was on tucker carlson.  Carlson said Vindman should go work for Ukraine.  Nunes replied maybe Vindman will.

    These people are unreachable.  Schumer thinks their minds will be changed by Schiff’s testimony?  I disagree.  The only cure is to vote them out.  Send them back to their private sector sinecures.

  16. 16.

    germy

    @Zeddary
    The Mnuchin Cut of Justice League is 47 minutes long, digitally replaces Gal Gadot with Louise Linton, and closes with Bruce Wayne looking straight into the camera to thank President Luthor for retroactively repealing the Estate Tax.

  17. 17.

    germy

    @mattmfm

    · 7h

    CBS News reports that GOP Senators have been warned by Trump team: “Vote against the president, and your head will be on a pike.” How is this acceptable?

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    @germy:

    I think we need to run up the score bigly, because the GOP will be deploying all of their election fuckery.  And they’ll get big assists from Russia and other countries.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ohio Mom: Sorry to be a wet blanket, Ohio is an “at-will employment” state. If Ohio Dad’s experience is anything at all like mine or my wife’s he shouldn’t get his hopes up. It is easy and legal to fire somebody for being too old, the actual laws be damned. The company need only follow what is a well worn path laid down by others before them.

    It is always possible they fucked up in this instance, but they’d have to be idiots to have done so.

  21. 21.

    Jim

    The only thing that matters to the Orange Lump of Poo is that he keeps getting his commission for his Money Laundering System – nothing else .

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @germy:

    The only cure is to vote them out.

    And keep them out.  No backsies just because Dems don’t fix everything perfectly in two years.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    The Republican senators wouldn’t vote to convict even if Twitler shot Chuck Schumer on Fifth Avenue live on CNN. Schiff’s audience are voters, and I for one are fired up and ready to go.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    Team Trump cuts Medicaid:

    The Trump administration is finalizing a plan to let states convert a chunk of Medicaid funding to block grants, even as officials remain divided over how to sell the controversial change to the safety net health program.
    CMS Administrator Seema Verma plans to issue a letter soon explaining how states could seek waivers to receive defined payments for adults covered by Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, according to seven people with knowledge of the closely guarded effort. An announcement is tentatively slated for the end of next week, more than one year after Verma and her team began developing the plan.

    So when Trump promised to cut Social Security and Medicare this week he had already put Medicaid cuts in place.

    He’s telling us he’s vulnerable on it:

    President Donald Trump, who last week lashed out as HHS Secretary Alex Azar over negative health care polling, recently voiced concerns about fueling perceptions that he’s cutting Medicaid and other health care services during an election year, said two officials with knowledge of the president’s comments.

    I’d kick off the Democrats “Trump cuts Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare” campaign in Maine.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    Four senior Democratic lawmakers said HHS must turn over more documents about Medicare and Medicaid chief Seema Verma’s extensive use of public relations consultants, claiming the department has largely been uncooperative with their investigation.
    The lawmakers said information so far provided by the health department has prompted new questions about Verma’s role in shaping communications contracts, including some that helped burnish her personal brand.

    Verma is the corrupt Trump official who was involved in 2 recent scandals, one involving phony reimbursement claims on Ivanka Trump jewelry and the other involving hiring public relations consultants to promote her personal brand. That’s who is leading the huge Medicaid cuts.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    Apparently Collins will be allowed to vote for witnesses in trade for Lisa’s no vote.   I predict it won’t save her.

  30. 30.

    TS (the original)

    I find the tweet with President Obama close to obscene & keep thinking – imagine if any other President did this. Prior presidents did not attack each other in this way anytime, anywhere.

    So a reply from the tweet of god

    In an ideal scenario the President of the United States and the worst human being in the world would be two different people.— God (@TheTweetOfGod) January 29, 2018

  31. 31.

    debbie

    @germy:

    I’d like Schiff to end with a brief recap of polling numbers, such as the one that says more than 70%, both D and R, think there should be witnesses.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: They need to run that campaign everywhere. The only place those cuts are popular is in the golf club locker room and maybe not even there. .

  34. 34.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It is always possible they fucked up in this instance, but they’d have to be idiots to have done so.

    I’m chuckling because I know how likely it is that they are idiots and most likely did fuck up. Remember Lily Tomlin’s phone operator? “We’re (AT&T or whoever). We don’t care. We don’t have to.”

  35. 35.

    Ohio Mom

    Thanks all, even OH.

    Block-granting Medicaid is an old Rethuglican dream. Mayhew/Anderson has explained what a perfectly awful idea this is many times. And I will add my oft repeated observation that Medicaid is what pays for the services disabled adults depend on: group homes, day programs, transportation, job coaching, etc., and of course,, their doctors and health care.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    Burgess Everett
    @burgessev
    ·15h
    Just spoke to Sen. Collins, who confirmed that she wrote a note to Roberts wee-hours Wednesday.
    “I did write a note raising the issue of whether there’d been a violation of the rules” of impugning another senator

    Doing the hard work for the people of Maine- while the Trump Administration tees up cuts to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. There’s really no need to choose whether to go after Trump or whether to go after the GOP Senators- health care is an issue all of them are vulnerable on- as Donald Trump repeatedly tells us, and he’s right.

  39. 39.

    WereBear

    @Ohio Mom: I’m sorry, that massively sucks.

    It seems that being good at your job makes you vulnerable, because you are making more money, and the spreadsheet looks better when they fire you.

    More of the upside down world we struggle with.

  40. 40.

    Ohio Mom

    Dorothy A. Windsor, I think that’s a photoshopped very old photograph. Trump is relatively young in that photo of him in his golden penthouse. He has more hair and is trim. And look how well his suit is tailored.

    Makes a stark contrast to what he looks like now.

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    In other news, our GP retired last year, and we’re finally happy with a replacement.

    We had the first doctor fire us, because even though my research indicated his specialty was the one to choose for Mr WereBear’s chronic illness, he didn’t think so. But he did provide good care before bailing.

    The second doctor got fired by us. Not only did she have the bedside manner of roadkill, she was openly skeptical about his 25 year old diagnosis which has been researched for years by the NIH and was originally done by a very qualified specialist. She wanted to ignore his physical symptoms and give him a psychiatric referral and openly hinted it was “all in his head.”

    Mr WereBear responded with a blistering letter, and we have noticed she has left the practice.

    Third time was finally the charm. This doctor, and the PA who will supervise his care, are knowledgeable, compassionate, and even willing to support me in my crazy health endeavors :)

    A weight has been lifted.

  42. 42.

    Mary G

    Pompeo tweeted that some American firefighters were killed in Australia. Their blood is on conservatives’ hands. The 2000 election they stole meant that we lost eight years we could’ve been dealing with climate change and the Great Recession kept Obama from going all out on it. It’s infuriating.

  43. 43.

    WereBear

    @Mary G:

    Their blood is on conservatives’ hands. The 2000 election they stole meant that we lost eight years we could’ve been dealing with climate change and the Great Recession kept Obama from going all out on it. It’s infuriating.

     

    They endanger the entire planet. That, at least, has gotten some complacent people to become more aware of what’s at stake.

  45. 45.

    evodevo

    @Ohio Mom: Oh, no…so sorry to hear about Ohio Dad – hope he finds something else soon …I finally quit my PO job after 23 years, right before Xmas – Amazon was just horrible this season and as more and more subs quit, and regulars got out, I was doing their work and mine, and being harassed to boot.  I am now enjoying shadenfreude watching management  do OUR work because there aren’t enough peons to go around lol

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear:

    being good at your job makes you vulnerable, because you are making more money, and the spreadsheet looks better when they fire you.

    Dingdingding! we have a winner. That is exactly why they got rid of my wife, tho how they saved money by hiring 3 people to do the job she did by herself, I don’t know.

  51. 51.

    WereBear

    @Mary G: One bright spot was that our local hospital (and we are lucky to have one, being in such a lightly populated area) has a crackerjack patient advocate.

    She was invaluable in finding Third Doctor :) She agreed that there’s something amiss in their training which creates a certain rigidity of mind. This keeps them from versatility, which was what we needed, and finally got.

    Ironically, First Doctor would have been a logical choice for my own condition in terms of treatment, but I didn’t even try, since my rare genetic condition needs even more flexibility and open-mindedness than Mr WereBear’s.

    The last thing I’d wish on anyone in our current health care system is a rare and baffling condition.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Yeah, I wonder if they realize how it looks to regular people when they whine about how bored they are and tattle to the Chief Justice because somebody was mean. Honest to Christ.

    Collins isn’t the only one. From what I’ve seen, the Republican talking points seem to consist entirely of “we’re bored” and “they’re mean.” A carload of tweens on a cross-country trip would have a greater sense of forbearance.

    It’s perfectly obvious they all know Trump is a corrupt, embarrassing piece of shit who should be bounced out of the White House, but they’re scared of his and their base, so complaining about the process is all they have.

  55. 55.

    WereBear

    @OzarkHillbilly: tho how they saved money by hiring 3 people to do the job she did by herself, I don’t know

     

    I’m convinced our stage of capitalism has no more thinking involved than a pirate full of rum.

  57. 57.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    No backsies just because Dems don’t fix everything perfectly in two years.

    Not sure I like this new, naive Baud!

  61. 61.

    Mary G

    A manufacturing plant in Houston blew up and a TV weather person said it showed up on their radar. I hope there aren’t a lot of injuries.

  67. 67.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s perfectly obvious they all know Trump is a corrupt, embarrassing piece of shit who should be bounced out of the White House 

    If the Russthuglicans didn’t know this, I’d argue beating them with a bag of hair might make them smarter through contact.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    I saw some commentary somewhere — maybe Claire McCaskill on MSNBC? — that suggested a lot of the House testimony and video clips featured by the House managers is entirely new to Republican senators because they didn’t watch the impeachment trial and only watch Fox News. Do y’all think that could be true? Aside from a few notable bumpkins, I’ve assumed most Republican senators are evil and craven but generally more informed than GOP voters, but maybe that’s incorrect. Not that it’ll change anything, but interesting if true.

  69. 69.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: The Senator who replaced Isakson is running non stop commercials on that she’ll bring her business sense to Washington, and all I can think of is god help us all.

  73. 73.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’ve seen that comment a lot of places. It’s almost unbelievable, but they are such hacks that it’s probably true.

    I am not a U.S. Senator, but I am well versed in everything they’ve been talking about (although the framing of the arguments the Democrats have been putting forth is new and powerful). It’s disgusting that a Senator would not have educated themselves on the House hearings before this proceeding, but they are disgusting.

  80. 80.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: I took Conway’s op ed as marching orders for Republicans to go and fuck with the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

  83. 83.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: & @zhena gogolia: Wow. I’m not sure which is worse. It’s immaterial to the outcome, but I figured since Republican politicians are Fox News sausage makers, they’d know what’s in the…sausage.

  84. 84.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SFAW: The mobster trash, part of Russia’s stash, The mobster trash, America they want to smash, The mobster trash, They are all mobster trash

  86. 86.

    Kay

    The Trump Apprenticeship program is junk. They scraped some low wage jobs – home health aides, food service- from job search sites and put links on a website. There are for-profit truck driving schools they’ve renamed “apprenticeships”

    Congress gave them hundreds of millions for apprenticeships. WTF did they do with all that money? It’s all cheap, thrown together garbage. No high school student should rely on any of this. They need to be actively warned off it.

    If Propublica or the Texas Tribune are looking for their next expose I would suggest this one. The sleazy Trump cronies must have made a bundle on this crap.

  87. 87.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yeah. If Adam Schiff, Zoe Lofgren, Hakeem Jeffries, Jerry Nadler, etc., think it matters and are working their butts off to save the country, I’m not going to say it doesn’t matter. Fuck that.

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: I think it’s obvious that the Teabagger senators haven’t watched the House hearings, read the summaries, heard or watched the news.  That’s why they’re playing hangman or hiding out in the toilet or sending notes to the teacher during the trial.  They need plausible deniability for their voters.

    “I haven’t seen any evidence of …”

    They want more than anything for this impeachment stuff to go away.  They want to be able to pretend that President Crimey (HT Evan Hurst at Wonkette) is normal and fine and that Democrats are horrible as always.  They know that they can’t pretend like that if they actually look at the evidence.

    They have no other option if they want to preserve their party unity – they’re not stupid.  But they think that their voters are…

    Grr…

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  90. 90.

    WereBear

    @OzarkHillbilly: Quarterly profits at the expense of everything else.

     

    Which is a stupid way of running any business. It gets rid of your best employees, keeps you from offering salaries and benefits to recruit new ones, blows up any attempts at R&D, and eviscerates customer service to its current travesty.

    I am not exaggerating to say I now have trauma from those months I spent on the 800 number for my insurance company while I struggled to get diagnosis and treatment. I now dread telephone customer service as I would root canal, and they don’t give me any drugs for it, either.

    It’s designed to make you give up and let them keep the money.

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    Flunkies assiduously whiting out the words “Trump University” on the leftover literature, using Sharpies to fill in the spaces with that pig in a poke program.

    //

  92. 92.

    Kay

    Ivanka and KellyAnne Conway were in charge of the Trump Apprenticeships. The quality is as low as one would expect from Trump hires. I just hope no naive 17 year old mistakenly stumbles on it and ends up thinking they’re getting training in a good job when they’re really applying for a job as a home health aide or food service worker. Don’t trade this garbage for high school, kids. It’s a rip off.

  95. 95.

    WereBear

    @Betty Cracker:I saw some commentary somewhere — maybe Claire McCaskill on MSNBC? — that suggested a lot of the House testimony and video clips featured by the House managers is entirely new to Republican senators because they didn’t watch the impeachment trial and only watch Fox News. Do y’all think that could be true?

     

    YES. I do. And doesn’t it explain SO MUCH?

  100. 100.

    Another Scott

    @Ohio Mom: I’m sorry about your aunt.  It’s good you’re able to celebrate her life.  Remember the good times.

    I remember how happy you were about OhioDad getting that job.  It must be a gut punch to get that news.  :-(  I hope something good comes of it.

    Hang in there, and best of luck!

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: The Iowa caucuses are Democrat only — but! You can change your party affiliation on the day of the caucuses — and change it bqck if you want to before the election.  The New Hampshire primary is semi-closed.  You can vote in the Democratic primary if you are a Democrat OR if you are registered as “no affiliation” or whatever they call it up there.  Think people who are “independents” or who just want to mess with Democrats.

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    @Ohio Mom:

    Because I apparently do not know how the Intertubez work, I replied to the esteemed Ozark, instead of to you.

    I’m wishing/hoping for the best for you and Ohio Dad.

  104. 104.

    Gin & Tonic

    So I needed a day of respite and shot up to VT yesterday for some downhill. Beautiful day, it was in the single digits in some of the valleys on the way up, but by 10:30 it was up to “I’m wearing too many layers.” Got overcast in the afternoon, but by then I was done – my typical day is to yo-yo until my quads say no mas and then pack up. Surprisingly, I feel good this morning. No falls, no injuries, although I felt apprehensive on the trail where I broke my arm. I don’t know if that will ever go away. Anyway, a really nice break from the bullshit.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Betty Cracker:

    It was McCaskill. I saw it too. And I could scarcely believe it. But it would be consistent with this bizarre time line.

    On a related note, I read that Fox is managing their video coverage of the trial by cutting to commentators when the Democratic managers are doing their presentations, then going to live coverage when Trump’s  defenders are speaking. Not strong enough to check this for myself.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

    They sell them to schools as a replacement for real coursework, so it will be up to schools to not to steer students to this cheap junk the low quality hires threw together.

    The front page of the site is itself a lie. Using my zip code I’m redirected to a home health company. It’s an ordinary low wage job. They scraped it off another job search site. One of their “apprenticeships” is literally an ad for a truck driving school.

    There are good apprenticeships. You just won’t find any of them there.

  108. 108.

    Anya

    America has a YouTube/4 Chan comment section for president. His creepy obsession with Obama is a reason to make people feel uncomfortable but here we are…

  112. 112.

    Kay

    The other grandparents are with my baby this weekend. What if she likes them better? I knew I should have moved to NY immediately.

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … BBC News:

    The American founder of US-based militant neo-Nazi group The Base is directing the organisation from Russia, a BBC investigation has found.

    Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, who uses the aliases “Norman Spear” and “Roman Wolf”, left New York for St Petersburg less than two years ago.

    The Base is a major counter terrorism focus for the FBI.

    Seven alleged members were charged this month with various offences, including conspiracy to commit murder.

    …

    I’m shocked, shocked.

    But Nadler made Collins write a note, so both sides. Amirite?

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    laura

    @Kay: it’s a scam and a grift of the first order. There’s a clip of Rose DeLauro calling it out as such and comparing/contrasting with real apprenticeship programs that lays it out succinctly. I’ll try and find it to link.

  119. 119.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize: At  least when I lived in Iowa, you could change your party registration right at the door on your way in and out.

    You have to be really motivated to mess with the caucuses though, because it’s not just ducking in and out of a voting booth. You spend two or three hours in a school gym on a cold Tuesday night in February.

    ETA: I’ve never been to the R caucuses but I’ve been told they don’t do the double round of voting. They submit a paper ballot and they’re done.

  121. 121.

    Skepticat

    This could not possibly be more appropriate. When I (reluctantly) clicked on the link, I got “Warning! Potential security risk ahead.” YA THINK?

  122. 122.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: As luck would have it, I saw a tweet from the White House touting Ivanka’s bogus jobs training pledge with Honda after I read your comment, so I said I hoped someone was looking into the Trumps’ scam and cc’d ProPublica. I’ve seen a lot of these “announcements” with major companies like Honda, and if you click through to the article, invariably a company spokesperson says they already had a training program in place, but they’re signing onto Ivanka’s stupid “pledge.” It’s all bullshit.

  124. 124.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Betty Cracker: It’s been an on going scandal for a while how few of them even read the laws they propose themselves. So yes I would believe a lot of them couldn’t be bothered to watch The House Hearings.

  125. 125.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @OzarkHillbilly: Exact same thing happened to a chaplain buddy of mine. A chaplain! His salary hit a limit set by a bean counter in central office five years and at least two CEOs ago. So, he gets canned and HR spends about the same in salary “savings” to start the whole thing over again.

    Hey, but the CEO-of-the-Day’s numbers looked infinitesimally better (as in, not measurable) that quarter.

    One of the things I’m grateful for is that my current bosses are ahead of the curve in figuring out that this is just not a way to run a society. They’ve dumped the quarterly-profits-above-all mentality and they and everyone else are much happier.

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    <Thread>CNN @mkraju reports: Senate Republicans say they may not vote for witnesses because Trump will invoke executive privilege and that means drawn out litigation.

    SEVERAL things very wrong with that position.

    1. Good argument that Chief Justice issuing subpoena is final.— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) January 24, 2020

    Oh my heavens. If Donnie doesn’t like it, well, that obviously means it’s impossible. After all, the Senate is run by the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary to the Regional Manager, not half of a co-equal branch of government. It’s just Science.

    It’s the “not my fault, dog ate my homework” excuse.

    I hope voters don’t fall for it.

    They’re flailing and they know it. We have to keep up the pressure.

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    Quiltingfool

    I’ve done all my news reading with this place as my finale.  I like to save the best for last, like dessert!  The cat and I are now going to the sewing room (or as I like to call it, “my happy place”) to work on quilty things.  I am making some quilted pillow shams for a customer and putting a knife pleated “ruffle” on it instead of a gathered ruffle.  First time I’ve done this – so far so good.  Then maybe I get started on another quilt.  I’m an addict.  No rehab for me!

  131. 131.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Another Scott:

    They have no other option if they want to preserve their party unity – they’re not stupid. But they think that their voters are…

    And are they wrong about that?

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    @Anya:

    His creepy obsession with Obama …

    … is like the obsession of the high school moron/bully who is obsessed with the class president, who in addition to being valedictorian, and starting a “Meals on Wheels”-like operation, and inventing a life-saving medical device, and being a math team stud/studette, and world class sculler, does animal rescue, got accepted (with full rides) to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Cornell, and a bunch of others, and is a great person, to boot.

    “I can’t stand that mofo! Why does HE/SHE get all the good stuff? I think I’ll go key his/her car” [which the class pres completely restored from a hulk he/she found in a barn].

  133. 133.

    Another Scott

    @Chief Oshkosh: The +10-15 point swing since January 2017 tells me that lots of voters woke up.  The Teabagger Senators are playing with fire.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  134. 134.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SFAW: Yeah, uh, no. No skiing there.

    Funny story. It’s the highest point in Rhode Island, and the actual “point” is on a parcel owned by Brown University, but until a few years ago the path from the road to that parcel went through private property, and the landowner was *very* uninterested in trespassers. It made this one of the most difficult “highest points” to reach, and threw a wrench into the plans of the kind of people who want to stand on the highest point of every state.

    Some years ago (5? 10? I could probably look it up) that property owner died, and the new owner actually opened and marked a trail. Not sure what the current status is.

  135. 135.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic:

    although I felt apprehensive on the trail where I broke my arm. I don’t know if that will ever go away.

    I was on a cave dig 3 days before my first wedding and I almost got killed when a Buick sized boulder decided to roll over as I was leaning against it. Picked me up and threw me against a wall 15 feet off the floor and stopped rolling just short of me and the 2 guys I landed on top of. It took me at least a decade to get over my fear of big breakdown but eventually I did.

    I suspect, and hope, it will work the same for you.

  137. 137.

    zhena gogolia

    Here we go. Front page of NYT: “Facing Questions about His Son, Biden Turns Calm or Curt.”

  138. 138.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I know I should be over it by now, but I’m still struck by how various enablers have closed ranks to protect Trump. I’m thinking primarily of the Rs and whoever has his financial information (taxes, banking info, etc.), but you could throw in FOX, and to a lesser degree, other parts of the press.

    Is this class solidarity? Are they all afraid of him? Are they all compromised? Are they weak people sucking up to someone powerful?

  141. 141.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks. If I’m still skiing a decade from now I’ll be happy as a clam. Thing is, I have no problem anywhere else, and I go just as fast, but I mostly avoid that one.

  147. 147.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    All these years they had to investigate Hunter Biden and Burisma. For some reason it’s really important right now.

    How about Ivanka?

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Chief Oshkosh: My wife appears to have landed in a much better place. She’s only getting half the pay, but the benefits are far better, it’s only a 20 minute commute, and she doesn’t come home with a migraine every night. At our age (and debt level) those are far more important than a big paycheck.

  152. 152.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: Well, we’ve all seen this coming from a mile away, and it’s up to the Biden campaign to dispense with it as best they can. Biden does tend to have a crappy response to those questions, so this would be a good time fix that. Maybe the campaign can get him to memorize the script from the “Horseshit” ad I posted the other day. It was good as an “explainer.”

  153. 153.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker:

    People vote for someone who represents them.  Republican voters do this even more, because identity is everything to them.  I assume that most elected Republicans are whiny, lazy, proudly stupid and ignorant assholes whose primary motivation is to stick it to the libs.  Evidence keeps pouring in that I am right.  Trump is the apotheosis of this process.

  154. 154.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Are they weak people sucking up to someone powerful?

    The possibility of getting thrown out of a 5th floor window is a powerful incentive to do whatever Vlad tells one to do.

  155. 155.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You think it’s that straightforward? Putin has threatened all of them? Or maybe he has no need to threaten because they see what happens to others who cross him. But that would require them all to believe that Putin is controlling Trump. Given the claims that the House evidence is new to them, I’m not sure they’re aware enough.

  156. 156.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    Their coalition transcends class, but not race.

    This.  They protect Trump fanatically because Trump is the champion of white supremacy.  Once a black man became president it was no longer acceptable for white people (as a group, an identity) to be wrong about anything ever again.  Not even one thing.  Trump must be defended and Democrats denied this victory even though they personally hate Trump, and they only hate him because they have to deal with him and he’s an asshole to them on a regular basis.  They love what he represents.

  157. 157.

    frosty

    Sure there’s a chance to get thrown out of a window. However.  My daily call to Toomey will be that he’s not important enough to threaten, so this must be moral cowardice, not physical cowardice.

  158. 158.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic: I was still caving a lot, big breakdown doesn’t exist in every cave. A year and a half later I was at the bottom of a 600′ Mexican pit looking 30′ up a pile of very large breakdown atop of which was all the pretty stuff and several of my compatriots, loudly ooohhing and ahhhing. BUT…

    The memory of the forces of nature’s indifference to my existence was still too fresh and the fear was bone deep. I could not climb it.

    I hope you ski for another 20 years.

  161. 161.

    Aleta

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  I know I should be over it by now, but I’m still struck by how various enablers have closed ranks

    This made me think: as this authoritarian progression continues as it seems it will, at least I can treat the pain with appreciation that I’m not over it.  (Cold comfort.)

  162. 162.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    Skipped the story but looked at the comments. The Times picks—the five or 10 I looked at—are supportive of Biden and see this as a nothingburger, but not one mentioned Trump’s spawn. Talk about a blind spot you could drive a truck through.

    Trump profits from the corruption-distortion field around him. He and his people are so dirty that it just becomes part of the background and people forget to notice it in the cascade of outrages du jour.

  163. 163.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: //s, pointing out trump’s inherent weakness. They fear their base. They have been feeding that tiger for almost 50 years now and they dare not get off it.

  166. 166.

    BR

    @Kay:

    I’d really love it if your observations and insights, and leads like this one, were somewhere more easy to find and permanent.  I know journalists I’d like to send things you write and sending them comments buried on this blog doesn’t quite carry the necessary weight.

  168. 168.

    Mart

    The fascist playbook includes spewing so much bullshit you can’t keep up with anything. Trumpets are excellent at this. The claim that you cannot impeach the fat bastard as he has committed no crime stands in contrast to the GAO (what was it a week ago?) saying the regime broke the law by withholding the Ukrainian funds.

  169. 169.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: “boring” is the laziest, head-in-the-sand, zero accountability posture for RWNJs I could possibly imagine.  It’s more infuriating than if they were leaping to trumpov’s defense.

    It’s also quite a tell.  Whenever trumpov has called accusations/stories “boring” in the past (such as the NYT report about his family’s multi-generational tax fraud), it’s because they have him dead to rights.  His acolytes have clearly adopted that tactic, and we should never let them or him get away with dismissing a discussion of his pure guilt as “boring”.

  170. 170.

    bemused

    @Betty Cracker:

    FWIW, I heard Sen. John Kennedy, AL, say 9 out of 10 R senators will tell you they haven’t read a full transcript of House impeachment proceedings and the 10th senator who says he has in lying. I’d believe it though. They are lazy and as adverse to evidence and facts as the diehard trump base is.

  171. 171.

    karensky

    Called Senator Toomey twice and hopefully the 10 Pennsylvania’s I contacted yesterday did the same.  Daughter and SIL called him and son called Cory Gardner.  Now contacting my CO buddies to call Cory Gardner.

    That tweet posted by the president* was so bizarre but, well…

    Schiff raised the bar for closing statements for sure!

  172. 172.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: It’s completely true.  We forget – I know I do, or did – that GOP Senators and Reps live entirely within the FoxBubble, where they are outrage-trolled 24/7 by Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, and the like.

    They are seeing it for the first time, and so are millions of Fox viewers.  That’s why yesterday, when I checked, Fox had switched from covering the proceedings to pretending to cover the proceedings, ie, Tucker Carlson was doing his usual schitck while a smaller inset of the impeachment trial, WITHOUT AUDIO, was playing on a corner of the screen.  So that Fox can say “hey, we ‘covered’ it, what are you complaining about?”

    Completely dishonest of them, as usual.

  174. 174.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: The Times is a known quantity, and every Democrat who aspires to the nomination damn well better have a strategy for neutralizing their distortion effect. It absolutely is on the campaign and the candidate to have a plan for that, not just Biden — all of them.

  175. 175.

    Anya

    Adam Schiff makes me proud. He is so dignified and so smart. Complete opposite of the vulgarian.

    by the way, I have donated to Justin Amash because though he’s an original teabagger, in these shameful times, people who take their  job seriously and with principle should be rewarded. Too many unprincipled awful people are winning and their win means our country loses.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Ha! I like “granny”. I loved my paternal grandmother. She was slightly shady, which I picked up from the adults, that she was considered disreputable. She was in the garment workers union, which I knew, but I didn’t know how politically active she was. I saw her as powerful, like a player. Someone people asked for things from. Police used her first name, which just impressed me to no end, that she knew them.

  177. 177.

    Jeffro

    Top five stories on Fox News dot com right now:

    5) Samantha Bee changed her mind about Ivanka trumpov

    4) Bigfoot sighted (yes really)

    3) Shanghai Disneyland closed due to coronavirus

    2) Marsha Blackburn “implicates Vindman in whistleblower conspiracy, draws fire” (wow…there’s spin, and then there’s SPIN…)

    and

    1) Jay Sekulow says Adam Schiff was quoting Alexander Hamilton out of context.  Verily, the biggest news in the land…move along…nothing to see here, folks.  Certainly not a president caught dead to rights betraying his country’s national security and then covering it up.  Ol’ “Shifty”misquoting the 10-dollar Founding Father, that’s #1

  178. 178.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker: I agree.  All I’m saying is that when the NYT continues doing what they’re doing, I’m not holding against the candidate for “failing” to stop the NYT from doing what they do.

  179. 179.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    They’re promoting Bloomberg too, with the same gross parochial fondness they used for Trump. They’re a nightmare on politics. The worst. The WaPo is so much better it isn’t even close.

  181. 181.

    dww44

    @JPL: She is truly truly awful, spending beaucoup monies to convince these folks  that she really truly is a Trump devotee, all the while positioning herself as the front runner ahead of the jungle non-primary election next November.

    My spouse notes that the ad content makes no sense. She claims that her first introduced bill was to declare impeachment illegal and her 2nd bill was to authorize the killing of America’s greatest terrorist enemies.   She bills herself  as  “not a Washington politician”.  The ads do run incessantly.

    She epitomizes what the influx of money has done to our politics. She and husband, Jeffrey Specter, own the firm that owns the NYSE of which her husband is Chair. She supposedly has severed her connections with  the family business, Intercontinental Exchange.  Yeah, but she still sleeps with the owner.  Money bought that Senate seat, no doubt about it.

    Thanks. Johnny Isakson for being a true blue Republican to the very end and opting for re-election 4 years ago when you had already been diagnosed with the very disease that cause your early resignation.  It really is all about the power and nothing else.

  182. 182.

    JWR

    I don’t know if the Dems have addressed this yet, but the “Conservative”, (who’s really a former staffer for Tom Coburn), on the PBS panel of impeachment “experts” continually brings up Nancy Pelosi and the 33 day delay, which tells me that that’s one of the attacks that’s sure to come once the Rs get their time (to lie).

  183. 183.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Too, just a reminder that Clinton addressed all the fake controversies endlessly. It’s just a lie when they say she didn’t. If she had worked for their boy Trump there wouldn’t have been hours of testimony on Benghazi. No one would have known about Benghazi unless a whistleblower happened to appear.

    Trump lied about American casualties in the last attack and not only is there no investigation of any kind., they dropped it immediately. Even I thought that would get some coverage. We have no earthly idea what’s going on, because all of these people lie constantly.

  184. 184.

    MattF

    In her latest column, Jen Rubin makes an argument that I’ve been making to myself for a while now. She notes that, as a narcissist, Trump doesn’t see a difference between his interests and the country’s interests— so, the argument that he used the power of the Federal government for his personal benefit is meaningless to him (and to his cult). The real issue is that he’s unfit, period.

  185. 185.

    WaterGirl

    @karensky:

    Schiff raised the bar for closing statements for sure!

    And he has one more closing argument to go, right?

    Today is the third day of the 24-hours-in-3-days agreement.  Tuesday wasn’t actually part of that, it was for procedural stuff, but the Dems were so smart about using that time, that it was essentially a 4th day of testimony.

  186. 186.

    Kay

    If Clinton followed the Trump script that works like a charm with media she should have just denied anyone died in Benghazi, that’s if she addressed it all. There sure as HELL wouldn’t have been any testimony from her.

    They can whistle in the dark all they want but this is the new standard for transparency and honestly. Rock bottom. I know they fucking loathe Hillary Clinton but I think it’s safe to say she would have earned at least a “C” on it. They promoted the worst because they are poor judges of character. They admire bad people.

  190. 190.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I agree with you there — Times gonna Times. But Biden needs better answers than “no one has ever suggested my son did anything wrong” and “we never discussed it but I trust my son.”

    That’s why I was half-assed hoping the Senate votes to call Hunter Biden to testify in the impeachment trial and he does it. I get the arguments against it, but on the other hand, maybe it’s better to get all that shit out there on the table now.

    It’s not going to go away, not if The Times has anything to say about it and certainly not if Biden continues to react badly to questions about it on the trail. It’s not fair but it is what it is.

  191. 191.

    glory b

    @Baud: I read somewhere that Erik ( brother of Betsy DeVoss) Prince’s right hand guy was on the board of Burisma too. How about asking if he saw anything shady and if he did, why did he stay?

    I have no problem with “Look over there!” It works for them.

  193. 193.

    Just Chuck

    @OzarkHillbilly: All the speculation that Russia somehow either has the goods on all the GOP senators or is actively threatening them flies in the face of a simple fact: it’s what they would do anyway.  This is what they are.

  194. 194.

    john b

    Surprisingly someone answered the phone at Richard Burr’s DC office and apparently wanted to have a back and forth with me. She claimed that witnesses had never been called in an impeachment before. I normally try to be civil with these folks as they’re mostly just doing their jobs. But when she cut me off with a “Thank you for your concern” and I hate to admit that I gave a sarcastic “No Thank YOU” in return. Oh well. This should be tough for them. They are working for awful people.

  196. 196.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I was thinking about that, too.  I wonder if they will barely say anything, then shut the thing down, vote No again about witnesses and documents, and then vote not to convict.

    They want this baby done before the superbowl and the state of the union.

    I am terrible with history, so I don’t recall what it was, but decades ago there was one big vote that would have been impossible for anyone to take individually, so the entire party took that vote, practically in unison.

    But it would take a sense of honor and duty to country for that to happen again, so that’s unlikely.

  198. 198.

    JWR

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    It’s hard for me to imagine what Rs will use to fill their 24 hours.

    Lie, lies, then more lies? I honestly have no idea how they’re gonna pull it off, for 3 days, when all they’ve got is Pelosi’s 33 day delay thing. Maybe Sekulow can stretch out his “Lawyer Lawsuits” schtick.

  199. 199.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MattF:

    as a narcissist, Trump doesn’t see a difference between his interests and the country’s interests— so, the argument that he used the power of the Federal government for his personal benefit is meaningless to him (and to his cult).

    A similar argument could be made for the white nationalists of the Republican Party: Anything is justified if it advances their agenda. In a nutshell, RBG’s seat (and maybe Breyer’s) is almost certainly within reach. The end justifies any means. Deus lo vult.

  200. 200.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Anya:

    I have donated to Justin Amash

    Couldn’t you just send him a nice “Thank You” card? ?

  201. 201.

    piratedan

    what is fucking maddening…. I see all of the effort put forth by the House Managers bringing together what evidence that they have, making the arguments, providing the links between the crimes and the repercussions and why they are crimes to begin with and we have GOP Senators plying with toys and reading books, and essentially dissing the entire presentation.  We have a Supreme Court Justice who apparently is okay with lawyers lying in his courtroom and doesn’t even appear to be up to snuff on the finer points of the law, much less courtroom decorum. The press not only is not allowed to witness what our Public Servants are doing, they aren’t even allowed to question them about the proceedings.

     

    I’ll give this to Mitch, motherfucker knows how to run a sham trial.  Hope he gets his “due process” when we convict his ass for treason.

  206. 206.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @zhena gogolia: Thanks.

    That is an incredible statement. So, of course, it’s not headlined anywhere. I guess we should feel lucky that at least one CBS reporter told one CBS talking head.

  208. 208.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: partisan solidarity, more than class. My own two-bit takes:
    Mitt Romney wants to preserve the trump base– people he despises even more than trump, if for different reasons– for the next generation to fulfill the White Horse/Mormon Kennedy destiny (see also, the silence of the Bush Bros

    Susan  Collins, a (self) known mediocrity, is as cynical and ambitious as McConnell, who has kind of accidentally become important. If Rs keep the Senate, she’ll be chair of Appropriations, which I know is a very powerful position even if I don’t know all the ins and outs

    Lisa Murkowski will not rest while there is a drop or a scrap or a splinter of marketable commodities on the ground of Alaska. It’s a very trumpian view. “There’s great wealth there…”

    Cory Gardner: knows he’s done and is all about the length of the grass when he’s turned out to pasture

    Lamar Alexander: old (I don’t know or care his actual age) and weak, confused by a party and country that have left him behind, and doesn’t want to upset his friends. I remember in the 90s a very liberal college friend from Nashville– one or both of her parents were on the faculty at Vanderbilt– telling me that Lamar!, as we used to call him, was a different kind of Republican. We’ve long since lost touch.

  211. 211.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @germy: One of the respondents at that stream has a nifty saying:

    The people who say Trump is guilty have testified under oath.

    The people who say Trump is innocent are not willing to testify under oath.

  214. 214.

    zhena gogolia

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Trump must be removed. He has damaged national security by withholding military aid from an ally at war for his own personal and political interests and is threatening the integrity of the 2020 election.

  215. 215.

    zhena gogolia

    What’s amazing to me so far: We have groaned and complained about the Republicans’ refusal to call witnesses or subpoena documents. But the Democrats ALREADY HAVE MADE THE CASE. The House impeachment hearings provided ample proof of exactly what happened. The “president” has not offered a SHRED of evidence refuting the case. The whole thing is absolutely crystal clear without a single new witness.

    But they’re not listening. Let’s hope the country is.

  216. 216.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump
    After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.

  217. 217.

    Tenar Arha

    @Betty Cracker:

    My thoughts are that 20 to 25 years ago GOP electeds watched Fox or listened to Limbaugh bc they needed to know what was being said so they could respond to it, but they still watched regular news from habit.

    Now there’s a whole generation of politicians that “grew up” in the bubble. They got elected spouting talking points & taking their cues from that propaganda. It wouldn’t surprise me if a significant number of these legislators are as misinformed as their voters bc they’re in the bubble with them.

    I think the only GOPers not in that bubble live in “purple states” or get interviewed on mainstream cable or NPR, so they don’t sound like raving lunatics in those green rooms & won’t get invited back. It’s why people like Kellyanne Conway still get to spout propaganda, bc they probably don’t sound like that to the bookers or in the green room.

  218. 218.

    SFAW

    @piratedan:

    Hope he gets his “due process” when we convict his ass for treason.

    Would his “due process” by firing squad, hanging, or head on a pike? Yeah, yeah, I know the correct answer is: “por que no los tres?”

  219. 219.

    Kay

    World Economic Forum
    @wef
    · Jan 22
    [email protected] says the USA has pledged to ensure almost 15 million students and workers have the necessary skills to succeed in today and tomorrow’s job market

    I showed you the garbage Ivanka Trump produced on “apprenticeships”, which involved lifting low wage jobs from job sites and announcing they are now “apprenticeships” but we all know the Trumps are liars and cons.
    My question is why do “prestigious” institutions spread this bullshit? I mean, Jesus Christ. If you’re going to call yourselves “the world economic forum” do some vetting and fact-checking.
    Elites discredit themselves. No one did this to them- they did it to themselves. They’re corrupt and lazy and low quality.

  222. 222.

    Just Chuck

    If POTUS’s lawyers are testifying next, they’ll probably end up making a stronger case for impeachment than the Dems ever did.

  223. 223.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Jeffro:

    4) Bigfoot sighted (yes really)

    And if the list went past 5, I guarantee #6 would be: Loch Ness monster sighted!
    Sadly, I have family and have to do business with fucking morons that really, truly believe that Bigfoot is real, that Nessie is real, and that Area 51 is really hiding aliens. They are just that fucking stupid and every single one of them voted for (or claims to have voted for) Trump. And they get very defensive if you question them about any of this.

  224. 224.

    West of the Rockies

    Again, Republican politicians and voters are cheaters or fans of cheaters. (Sorry if I step on any sporto toes here, but today Astros fans and Patriots fans know their teams cheated–they don’t care.  As a Rams fan, yes, I know the team hit into last year’s Super Bowl via a historically bad call.  It made their appearance a little hollow.  And their loss stung a bit less, too, because, well, meh anyway.)

    40% of our nation doesn’t care about cheating.  To them, right does not matter.

    GOTV.  Be like Adam.

  225. 225.

    JWR

    @Kay:

    My question is why do “prestigious” institutions spread this bullshit?

    She’s good at the graft? That’s the only reason I can think of for a “prestigious” institution inviting Ivanka anywhere.

  226. 226.

    Kay

    I’d like to do something different when I retire and I like the private sector, so I thought I could develop low priced senior housing. There’s a need! Nice. Not slumlordy. Affordable w/out a subsidy in case the 1% win and take everything, which seems like a coin flip at this point.

    I would like to convert minimansions to multi-unit but people would probably hate that, right? They want a separate entrance. Seems a shame to knock them down.

    I look at my working class clients and I literally do not know where these people are going to live.

  228. 228.

    Kay

    Affordable w/out a housing subsidy, I mean. They will need health, SSI, and probably food stamps, I would think. It will only work here.

    We have cheap land and the benefit of no one wanting to move here :)

    I won’t say that in the ad campaign. More upbeat, Obviously.

  230. 230.

    Gravenstone

    @germy: Since they’re so hung up on comparing this to a legal trial, as opposed to the political one it actually is  – this seems a clear cut case of jury tampering/intimidation.

  231. 231.

    zhena gogolia

    Wow. This is big news: Trump apparently captured on tape, in small gathering including Lev Parnas, speaking about Amb. Yovanovitch in Ukraine: "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it." https://t.co/WzNDRSoJes— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) January 24, 2020

  233. 233.

    dww44

    @BR:  I agree and Kay was once upon a time a front pager.  Maybe she could be invited and convinced to do a front page post every once in a while.  And this particular topic would be a great one.  I’ve already shared her comments here with my daughter, son-in-law and niece. All are high school teachers.

  234. 234.

    dww44

    @Anya:  I absolutely agree.  I will support any conservative who takes him or herself out of the bubble.  I secretly hope that some anonymous GOP Senators (not on the usual radar screens) will vote to allow witnesses and even perhaps vote to impeach.

  235. 235.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    What is it that you say when you call? Both of my Senators are Republicans. What is a useful thing to say?

    My recommendation is keep it short and simple. The staffers just tally up positions on issues and are not the targets of your persuasion.

    Just say that you are a constituent — important! — and that you want your Senator to vote FOR conviction and removal of the President based on the compelling evidence of wrongdoing. Fin.

  241. 241.

    zhena gogolia

    @taumaturgo:

    Is it bad that the President of the United States told two now-indicted shady businessmen who ran companies called "Fraud Guarantee" and "Mafia Rave" to "take out" the US ambassador to Ukraine in a secret meeting? Because I have to say, it sounds sort of bad.— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) January 24, 2020

  246. 246.

    J R in WV

    @piratedan:

    We have a Supreme Court Justice who apparently is okay with lawyers lying in his courtroom and doesn’t even appear to be up to snuff on the finer points of the law, much less courtroom decorum.

     

    Part of the issue with John Roberts is that this is the very first actual trial of any sort which he has presided over. So, yes, he is somewhat vague on courtroom decorum, as he has never had to enforce that before. He probably didn’t even notice the Republican lawyers lying about testimony because he was too busy keeping track of what he was supposed to do next on his check list he keeps checking things on.

  247. 247.

    dnfree

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     

    @Ohio Mom:

    and I hate to say it, but watch out for lawyers who say they can solve the problem unless you’re sure they aren’t just figuring out a way to make money off you and extend the pain from this shocking experience. I’ve seen that done. Best wishes to you and your husband.

  248. 248.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @WereBear:

    She was invaluable in finding Third Doctor … First Doctor would have been a logical choice for my own condition

    Wait. Mr. WereBear is being treated by a Time Lord?

  249. 249.

    Chris Johnson

    @rikyrah:

    Kellyanne Conway has an Op-Ed in WaPo today saying Democrats should nominate Bernie Sanders, so that should tell you everything you need to know about voting for Bernie Sanders

    Yes. It tells you that Kellyanne Conway and those she works for desperately want Democrats to do the exact opposite of Sanders, which would be Biden.

    They cannot possibly believe Conway will convince anybody to vote Sanders, so they want you to do the opposite.

    Because they have a game plan for running against Biden and are ready to deal with that. (and most likely, against Sanders, as if that was even plausible for him to win the primary). So they want either Sanders (watch the twitter hordes mysteriously turn against him and have all kinds of evidence and information) or Biden (we’re already seeing what they’ll do against him) and not anybody else.

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