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You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeachment Trial – January 29, 2020

Impeachment Trial – January 29, 2020

by Cheryl Rofer|  January 29, 202012:54 pm| 167 Comments

This post is in: Impeachment, Live Blogging, Trump Crime Cartel

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Today is the first of two question days. The Democrats are said to have been collecting questions to eliminate duplicates and organize them into topics. What’s your question? Will it be asked?

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Previous Post: « I Love The Unknown
Next Post: Is it Time for Pentagon Papers 2: Electric Boogaloo? »

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    January 29, 2020 at 12:58 pm

    What’s your question?

    “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

    Will it be asked?

    No.

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    reposted from below:

    wait… what? Elliot Engel is the chair of foreign relations, I believe

     Manu Raju‏Verified account @mkraju 11m11 minutes ago

    Engel reveals a 2019 phone call in which he says Bolton suggested that the committee look into Yovanovitch ouster and “strongly implied that something improper had occurred” about her ouster

    This is intriguing because Nancy Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry the day after this call

    Nicole Wallace droppin’ gossip like it’s about to go out of style: Mike Pompeo has lawyered up

  3. 3.

    Spanky

    January 29, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    “Can this nation survive if one of the two ruling parties is allowed to prop up an autocrat in order to subvert the democratic process?”

    I’m guessing that that sort of question would be deemed too shrill.

  4. 4.

    cleek

    January 29, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    “Which hurts more: the operation to remove your spine or the operation to sew your lips to Trump’s anus?”

  5. 5.

    Soprano2

    January 29, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    @cleek: Oh man, I want this question asked too!!!

  6. 6.

    oatler.

    January 29, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 29, 2020 at 1:24 pm

    @dmsilev:

    What is your favorite color?

  8. 8.

    Duane

    January 29, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    “Does anyone here truly believe the 2020 election will be free and fair if the President is the Republican nominee?”

  9. 9.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    January 29, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    @dmsilev: Spit or swallow?

  10. 10.

    Fester Addams

    January 29, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    Not a Q for the impeachment trial but while we’re waiting, at his hate rally the other night trump’s orange makeup looked so dark I’m wondering at what point it counts as blackface?

  11. 11.

    Wag

    January 29, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    I’ll stick with the classics- “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”

    And of course the answer is “Everything, and from the very beginning, when he hatched the nefarious plan.”

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 29, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    What is your quest?

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 1:31 pm

    @Fester Addams:

    His current state of orangeface is quite bad enough.

  14. 14.

    Betty Cracker

    January 29, 2020 at 1:32 pm

    @Fester Addams: I had the same thought! He switched shades after some magazine identified the orange product. The new color is darker, which makes the contrast with the fish-belly white skin around his piggy little eyes, jowl-line and hairline all the more jarring. He needs to dial it back several shades and blend where applied. (Or maybe stop troweling on foundation like a cheap trollop.)

  15. 15.

    A Ghost To Most

    January 29, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    @Comrade Scrutinizer:

    African or European.

  16. 16.

    brantl

    January 29, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    Why has Mr. Trump asked people to investigate fallacious ideas, that have already been proven to be insubstantial, and used illegal methods, to do it? And, if he was innocent, why did he not allow the witnesses to testify? What was the harm?

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker: there were a few people behind him who looked like they thought it was an audition for Jersey Shore, the trump years

  18. 18.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    We’re three/four questions in and they’re all fucking dumb. Trumpov’s shitstain suggesting that calling witnesses is bad, sets horrible precedent, etc… just fucking burn it all down. We had a good run. Also I’m irritated due to information I received about my disability retirement and finding out that I basically won’t be able to work anymore. Ofc, this is way off topic so back rage watching the demise of our country.

     

    Edit: autocorrect got me again. Or as it shall be know: I was Ozarked!

  19. 19.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?

  20. 20.

    brantl

    January 29, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker:  (Or maybe stop troweling on foundation like a cheap trollop.)

    Come now, even cheap trollops have some standards.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    January 29, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: We seek a unifying Democratic candidate. Looking for The Grail was deemed Too Easy.

  22. 22.

    jeffreyw

    January 29, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    @oatler.: yes

  23. 23.

    namekarB

    January 29, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    Only indirectly related to the topic but can someone explain why the Senate doesn’t consider calling the POTUS to testify under oath?

  24. 24.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 1:38 pm

    @Yutsano: heretic for even asking! Burn the witch!

  25. 25.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    @jeffreyw: Sandwich or sammich? The semantics matter.

    @Leto:  I will fruit my pizzas until my dying day!

    I also gave my therapist a terribly wicked idea last night. This will either doom me or have me running marathons by the end of the year. And for someone with spinal cord damage, that’s pretty significant.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Or maybe stop troweling on foundation like a cheap trollop.)

    Cindy McCain sees what you did there. I hope Megan does too

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    January 29, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    @oatler.: no , a hot dog is a taco, unless the bun separates, THEN it’s a sandwich ?

  28. 28.

    Linda M

    January 29, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    What’s your favorite curse word?

  29. 29.

    jeffreyw

    January 29, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    @Yutsano: It is both of those things.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    January 29, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    @Yutsano: yes, if combined with some sort of ham or bacon, plus jalapeños

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    Why is this all Republicans? When do the Democrats get to ask questions?

  32. 32.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    @Yutsano: keep that pineapple talk up, and it might be sooner than you think!!! :p

    Grats on possibly running soon! That’s awesome! My PT thinks he can get me to a 5k in another year. Fingers crossed and all.

  33. 33.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Schumer asked the first question to Schiff. After that, idk. Heading out to PT now. Everyone play nice! At least keep the blows below the neck.

  34. 34.

    jeffreyw

    January 29, 2020 at 1:46 pm

    @Jeffro:

    no , a hot dog is a taco, unless the bun separates, THEN it’s a sandwich

    Your logic is flawed.  A taco is a sammich.  Unless it is open faced.  Then it is a pizza.

  35. 35.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    I can’t listen to these Repub lawyers lie for one nanosecond. I’ll have to rely on recaps.

  36. 36.

    trollhattan

    January 29, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    @jeffreyw:

    Tostada on line #3 for you.

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    January 29, 2020 at 1:57 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Trick question: once pineapple touches a pizza it no longer is a pizza.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    Crow did very well.

  39. 39.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 1:59 pm

    So this whole thing is pretty stupid.

    The D Senators ask questions of the impeachment managers and the R Senators ask the president’s lawyers to keep lying.

  40. 40.

    The Dangerman

    January 29, 2020 at 2:02 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?

    Pineapple on pizza seems OK, but something like, say, Kale in Guacamole, is all kinds of wrong.

  41. 41.

    jeffreyw

    January 29, 2020 at 2:02 pm

    @trollhattan: A tostada is a pizza on a crispy crust

  42. 42.

    BC in Illinois

    January 29, 2020 at 2:05 pm

    Question:

    “If someone, admittedly, shot the Sheriff, but did not in fact shoot the Deputy, shouldn’t their innocence in the case of the Deputy balance out the charge of shooting the Sheriff?”

  43. 43.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 29, 2020 at 2:07 pm

    The questions I have submitted for the Q&A period of the Impeachment Trial: pic.twitter.com/JTHlKJfcNN

    — Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) January 29, 2020

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Love that last question.

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    @zhena gogolia: big old tell, isn’t it?

  46. 46.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Christ, what an . . .

  47. 47.

    The Moar You Know

    January 29, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    Only indirectly related to the topic but can someone explain why the Senate doesn’t consider calling the POTUS to testify under oath?

    @namekarB:  53-47.

  48. 48.

    brantl

    January 29, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    That freaking Deshowitz is once again, bloviating. I can’t see how this person can pretend that Trump did’nt do this for himself, subverted American funds for his own purpose, and for his own aggrandizement. What a fucking putz.

  49. 49.

    germy

    January 29, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    question:

    “Do you think that girls think less of a boy if he lets himself be kissed? I mean, eh, don’t you think that although girls go out with boys like me they – they always marry the other kind?”

  50. 50.

    BretH

    January 29, 2020 at 2:16 pm

    Deshowitz is Hindenburg-level bad at this.

  51. 51.

    brantl

    January 29, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    Dershowitz should publish a book, on his main strength, “Shitsucking as a Way of Life“.

  52. 52.

    wvng

    January 29, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I was listening for a bit and just found it deeply stupid. Republicans ask the WH team a question, the WH team delivers some bull, a Democrat asks the House Managers a question, to which they respond factually and then spend some of their five minutes cleaning up the WH lies. This format is just terrible. It should have been set up with a response then rebuttal.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: is it my hatred of The Cowardly Lion Of The Senate or is question 2 completely nonsensical? “what if the president is only a little bit corrupt?”

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    Brian Beutler @ brianbeutler
    One thing Senate Republicans should consider: Bolton can announce that he’s prepared to testify before the House under subpoena at any moment. Before the trial’s over, the day after. Whenever he wants.

    IANAL: But there’s no need for subpoena, is there? Bolton can just call up his buddy Engel and say “you doin’ anything on the committee tomorrow at 10 or so?”, right?

  55. 55.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Any time a Biden is mentioned in this, a hammer should pop out and smack the person in the head, Wile E. Coyote style. Such bad faith, Mittens Rmoney.

  56. 56.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 2:23 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: *insert Arrested Development gif: I might have committed a little bit of treason.

  57. 57.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 2:23 pm

    SCHIFF IS BRILLIANT!!!!!!

  58. 58.

    RandomMonster

    January 29, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @jeffreyw: A taco is a sammich.  Unless it is open faced.  Then it is a pizza.

    No, then it’s a tostada.

  59. 59.

    germy

    January 29, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    Larry Klayman is suing Wonkette.

  60. 60.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 2:26 pm

    Hahaha, how would you feel if Obama had been caught on the hot mic asking Medvedev to investigate Mitt Romney?

  61. 61.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 2:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Don’t leave a guy hanging!!!

    Edit: saw your follow up; indeed, brilliant.

  62. 62.

    Dan B

    January 29, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    @Leto:  Sorry to hear you got some bad disability news.  E-hugs to you and Avalune.  I appreciate your comments very much.  They demonstrate an even hand at the keel.

  63. 63.

    James E Powell

    January 29, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    What is it, exactly, that the Republicans claim Hunter Biden did that was wrong?

  64. 64.

    clay

    January 29, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    @James E Powell: He met with a Russian operative specifically so he could get dirt on his father’s political opponent.

    No wait, that was someone else…

  65. 65.

    zhena gogolia

    January 29, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    @Leto:

    Schiff points out that if Obama had asked Medvedev to investigate Romney on a hot mic, Republicans would've impeached him faster than you can say "emails" pic.twitter.com/wMmfuoR2L9— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 29, 2020

  66. 66.

    JPL

    January 29, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Did the article state why he thought he looked good in orange

  67. 67.

    Martin

    January 29, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    To the WH council: Since you’re admitting to blackmailing foreign nations to generate propaganda against Democrats to win elections, what other nations did the WH deem as prospective targets for this activity?

    Did the WH identify nations that would be vulnerable to blackmail by Democrats to generate propaganda against Republicans?

    Can we FOIA that list?

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    Grace Segers @ Grace_Segers
    Interesting moment when Schiff, in front of Mitt Romney, raised the hypothetical of Obama asking Medvedev to investigate Romney before 2012. “Does any of us have a question that Barack Obama would be impeached?”

    I misread a commentary on this and thought Schiff had brought up the McConnell-Chao syndicate

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    January 29, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    @James E Powell:

    As best as I can tell (based on Republican blather) is that Joe’s son got himself a job that he was unqualified for, based solely on his family name. This is something no Republican spawn has done or would ever do, in the history of everything. He used his job to…something something ruin RussiaAmerica.

    Therefore: a witch!

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    @James E Powell:

    My guess? Being Joe’s son.

  71. 71.

    Martin

    January 29, 2020 at 2:34 pm

    @jeffreyw: So if a New Yorker eats pizza, does it revert to being a sandwich? Because I am uncomfortable with this contextual definition of sandwich which excludes the question of intent.

  72. 72.

    trollhattan

    January 29, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Uh, did Ted paint that like a good thing or a bad thing? It seems so random. But then, so does Ted.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    January 29, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    @Martin:

    Further, are Chicagoans actually eating pie?

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 29, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    @trollhattan: You know Ted has no friends, because if he had one, they’d tell him how stupid that beard looks on him.

  75. 75.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    @trollhattan:

    According to (New Yorker)  Jon Stewart, what Chicagoans eat is casserole.

  76. 76.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Fucking. Gold.

    @Dan B: Not exactly bad news. Found out that because I will, 99.9% probability, receive disability pay, I won’t be able to earn any other income. Has to be below 80% gross of what I made before, and that wasn’t much. So I basically have to redouble my efforts to secure my retirement revenue streams, now, because they’ll need to last us for the next 40-50 years. Just your everyday Wednesday stuff.

    Thanks for the well wishes :)

  77. 77.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 29, 2020 at 2:39 pm

    @trollhattan: It’s casserole. Topologically indistinguishable from lasagna.

    ETA: Darn you, Amir.

  78. 78.

    chopper

    January 29, 2020 at 2:39 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    it’s not like a romney ever got a cushy job cause of their last name.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 2:40 pm

    @trollhattan:  I was reading twitter too fast– Beutler was drawing hypotheticals from Ted’s excuse-making, and I thought he was quoting Schiff. But I wish the motherfucking Schiff would start saying things like that. Not second-guessing him, just wishing we lived in a world where people paid attention to the massive grifts going on.

    I’m hoping Ted Lieu or somebody starts bringing up the Large Adult and Deeply Damaged Grifting Offspring

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 29, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid: he’s not wrong about that as far as the ‘stuffed’ and ‘deep dish’ kind go, but all those places that serve casserole also make a thin crust pizza that’s much better than NY pizza

    @chopper: the Bushes have been doing it since, I believe, the 1920s?

  81. 81.

    patrick II

    January 29, 2020 at 2:43 pm

    In an impeachment post earlier today I asked if the call for witnesses results in a fifty-fifty tie, and with Romney, Murkowski, and Collins possibly voting for, that might happen, which way will Justice Roberts vote? Two people replied that the Chief Justice has no vote. Scotusblog begs to differ. According to Frank Bowman, the author of the article, the vice president can sit as presiding officer and cast a tie-breaking vote in normal matters, and that includes all impeachments as well, except for the impeachment of a president. Because the founding fathers were concerned about the conflict of interest of a vice president voting against someone in a position he would fulfill, the founding fathers made the Supreme Court justice the presiding officer, and, implicitly, with all of the presiding officer powers intact including tie-breaking votes.
    So, would Roberts pretend he doesn’t want to have the power and not vote? Or, would he vote for or against witnesses?

  82. 82.

    Spanky

    January 29, 2020 at 2:44 pm

    @JPL: Did the article state why he thought he looked good in orange

    Because it’s the new Black?

  83. 83.

    chopper

    January 29, 2020 at 2:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    also make a thin crust pizza that’s much better than NY pizza

    woah there padnuh, let’s not get hasty

  84. 84.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    Liverpool have a premier League match in a few minutes, at London-based relegation battlers West Ham United. West Ham trail Liverpool by a whopping 44 points but are the only EPL side who have not lost to Liverpool this season. Well, not yet.

  85. 85.

    janesays

    January 29, 2020 at 2:49 pm

    @oatler.:  “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”

    To be immediately followed up with, “If you were a hot dog, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?”

  86. 86.

    Juju

    January 29, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    @RandomMonster: so a pizza is a soft tostada?

  87. 87.

    MomSense

    January 29, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    He can shave the beard, but he can’t do anything about that penis nose of his.

  88. 88.

    Juju

    January 29, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    @janesays: am I cooked or raw?

  89. 89.

    Barbara

    January 29, 2020 at 2:54 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Is it your position that if the president went to Wal-Mart and paid for some of the merchandise that he picked up but hid other things in his pants and walked out of the store without paying for them, that he would still be culpable for theft?”

    Or, what BC in Illinois said.

  90. 90.

    takebakawashi

    January 29, 2020 at 2:54 pm

    @patrick II: The Senate sets its own rules, and my understanding is that the rules McConnell instituted specifically for this trial state that motions need a majority of votes to pass; a tie isn’t a majority, so motions will fail on a 50-50 vote without the need for a tie-breaking vote.

    (The post you’ve linked predates the passing of the McConnell rules for the trial.)

  91. 91.

    Juju

    January 29, 2020 at 2:56 pm

    @Barbara: he does wear those weird baggy suits. You might be in to something, maybe he has a stolen ham in his pants.

  92. 92.

    patrick II

    January 29, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    @takebakawashi:

    Thank you.

  93. 93.

    jeffreyw

    January 29, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    @Martin: Revert?  It was already a sammich.  It did become a taco, which as I explained above, is a sammich.  I believe the intent is obvious, although irrelevant.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    January 29, 2020 at 3:01 pm

    @chopper:

    it’s not like a romney ever got a cushy job cause of their last name.

    Someone could compile a list of all the nepotism jobs in DC and change this whole conversation, but I’m afraid the people who might do that don’t want to reveal either their own or their childrens, so it’s a kind of conspiracy of pretending it’s just Biden.

    It would be a loooooong list. But you could do it and it would diffuse the situation for Biden, if for no other reason than it’s a list of well known people and makes them look bad. People would read that.

  95. 95.

    sdhays

    January 29, 2020 at 3:01 pm

    I just saw some of the proceedings while getting some tea and the question was about making it “too easy” to impeach a President would set a “bad precedent” where the House could hijack the Senate’s schedule. What made this impeachment “easy” was Dump’s own “self-impeachment”. They’re actually saying that if the crimes are too obvious, it’s not impeachable.

    I’m glad I’m not watching this shit show.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    January 29, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    @JPL: No. It’s a mystery.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    January 29, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    @chopper:

    I can almost guarantee that if you did that, if you compiled and published that list, all of a sudden we’d be having a nuanced “conversation” about limits and degrees of nepotism and, well, what is MERIT anyway? Can it BE defined?  :)

    Not compiling it is a team effort. Team Nepotism. A lot of them are on it.

  98. 98.

    Mnemosyne

    January 29, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Stewart is a biased witness. It actually is more like a pie — the crust is pressed up the sides of the pan and then the fillings go inside it. Casseroles don’t have a crust, but pot pies do. ? ?

  99. 99.

    Kay

    January 29, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    @chopper:

    And there ARE degrees. Sherrod Brown probably played a role in his daughter getting a job with the Ohio Democrats (she later got elected in a local race) but I decided it was such a miserable job that she took that it was more punishment than reward. She was over-qualified.

  100. 100.

    Mnemosyne

    January 29, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It’s pie. It has a crust. Casseroles don’t have a crust.

  101. 101.

    kindness

    January 29, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    My question would be to MoscowMitch:  Which Caiman Island tax shelter account are you depositing Russia’s money into?

  102. 102.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 29, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    So would those Taco Bell things be sandwich sandwiches?

  103. 103.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 29, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Naw, the New York one is already called a pie, so there’s no differentiation there if you use the same word for the Chicago style.

    But then I’m from a town upstate where the pizza is square. You can get a 12-cut or a 24-cut, which is made on a sheet twice as big and comes in two boxes.

  104. 104.

    JaySinWA

    January 29, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I it arguable that deep dish pizza has a crust. Mostly a mushy containment vessel. And what do I call crushed potato chips or crackers on top of casserole if not a crust?

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    January 29, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    @Mo MacArbie:

    The New York one is incorrectly called a pie. It’s clearly an Italian tostada. ?

    Thin-crust pizzas in Chicago are also cut in squares. It’s way easier to eat than those giant floppy triangles that dump all of the cheese and toppings into your lap as soon as you try to take a bite, folded or not.

  106. 106.

    LuciaMia

    January 29, 2020 at 3:21 pm

    No witnesses, no documents, no first-hand testimony. Moscow Mitch may as well adopt the slogan, “Ignorance is Strength!”

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    January 29, 2020 at 3:22 pm

    @JaySinWA:

    You have been eating the wrong deep-dish pizza pies, my friend. Try something from Giordano’s or Gino’s East. You can’t pick it up and eat it with your hand, but you can’t do that with a slice of apple pie, either.

    Putting crumbled toppings on a casserole clearly makes it a savory cobbler. QED. ?

  108. 108.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 29, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t just mean cut into squares; the whole thing has corners. Thick crust though for more structural integrity.

  109. 109.

    Immanentize

    January 29, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    @Mo MacArbie: Sounds like my home town near Binghamton.
    NURCHI’S! pan pizza

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    @JaySinWA:

    The crushed potato chips/crackers don’t completely cover the casserole, so I wouldn’t call that a crust.

  111. 111.

    LuciaMia

    January 29, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    “What is it, exactly, that the Republicans claim Hunter Biden did that was wrong?”

     

    Just existing, its starting to feel like.

  112. 112.

    LuciaMia

    January 29, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    Hmmm, is a hot dog considered a sandwich?

  113. 113.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 29, 2020 at 3:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Sounds like Mnem needs to go to pizza-eating school.

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 29, 2020 at 3:31 pm

    @Amir Khalid: But if you bake the casserole properly (i.e. with plenty of butter) it will develop a nice crunchy outside – a layer that some might call a “crust” for lack of a better word. Like the outside of a loaf of bread, almost.

  115. 115.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 29, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    @Immanentize: Yup, that’s it. I’m from the other end of I-88.

  116. 116.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 3:35 pm

    @LuciaMia:

    I have come across the phrase “hot dog sandwich”. Since the term hot dog also means the tube of meat, and hotdogs are customarily served in bread for convenient handling, I suppose one could say a hot dog served that way is a sandwich.

  117. 117.

    Immanentize

    January 29, 2020 at 3:35 pm

    @Mo MacArbie: my late great State Senator, Warren Anderson, was responsible for I-88 because he wanted a direct drive from Bingo to Albany.  How he got it involves favors all around.  But I love 88, which we always considered the speed limit.

  118. 118.

    Jay

    January 29, 2020 at 3:36 pm

    @James E Powell:

    1. Took a job on the Burisma Board, while it was being considered for investigation for corrupt practiced.

    2. Took the job, for which he was “unqualified”*, which was offered to him, either based on his father being the VP, or his partnership in an investment firm, or both,

    3. Took the job, despite it being advised, that it was a “bad look”, and opportunity for Disinfo, regarding US relations with Ukraine and Russia,

    4. By taking the Board position, he compromised Putin’s and Firtash’s plans to subvert the Ukrainian Oil and Gas, and Transfer sectors of the Ukraine, to serve Russia, the Mob and the Kleptocrats.

    Keep in mind that #4 is the “biggie”.

    *in Late Stage Capitalism, Board positions are given for a large variety of reasons, from sucking in Investment Capital, influencing sales, forming an informal Monopoly, rewarding a quid pro quo, or as former CEO welfare. Rarely are Board Positions awarded to ensure good oversight of the Corporation and protect Shareholder Value.

  119. 119.

    Juju

    January 29, 2020 at 3:39 pm

    @Amir Khalid: it’s a savory crumble topping.

  120. 120.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    Liverpool lead hosts West Ham 0-1 at the break, thanks to a penalty converted by Mo Salah after a foul on Divock Origi in the area.

  121. 121.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 29, 2020 at 3:46 pm

    @Immanentize: Heh, good job. I remember a trip to Cooperstown where Dad wanted to take the “scenic” Route 7 back. The kind of thing that a driver appreciates but only prolongs the agony for the bored kids in back.

  122. 122.

    trollhattan

    January 29, 2020 at 3:47 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Having spent my yoot going to Lutheran church basement potlucks, I guarantee no casserole ever remotely resembled a Chicago pizza. There would have been fainting spells aplenty.

  123. 123.

    stinger

    January 29, 2020 at 3:56 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I only got her a little bit pregnant, Your Honor!

  124. 124.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 3:57 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    you can’t do that with a slice of apple pie, either

    Hold my beer…

  125. 125.

    James E Powell

    January 29, 2020 at 4:00 pm

    @Jay:

    Thank you. So other than it being a bad look, they don’t have anything. They’ll just shout “Hunter Biden!” and “Burisma!” the same way they shouted Obama/Solyndra and Clinton/Benghazi. They will leak lies and innuendo to the NYT who will eagerly publish them, all the while promising the NYT that the next big revelation, the one that will blow the lid off this Burisma story, the one that will definitely produce the indictment of Hillary Clinton that Republicans have been promising since 1994, is just around the corner and we promise to give it to you first if you just keep printing our leaks on your front page.

    I really do hate these people and I hate everyone who likes them.

  126. 126.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 4:04 pm

    And here I was thinking the pizza wars of 2019 were over. To the ovens!!!

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    January 29, 2020 at 4:04 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    If it’s possible to spill a foodstuff on myself, I will. I can usually handle a normal-sized slice of pizza, but I have been defeated by the giant NY-style slices that are the size of my head.

  128. 128.

    Bruce K

    January 29, 2020 at 4:05 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I read somewhere on Teh Intarweebs that a good guide to answering that question is to examine the demands of the Earl of Sandwich: namely, can you eat it with one hand while playing cards with the other? (Or, alternatively, would the Earl have sent it back as unacceptable?)

    I submit that a hot dog would pass the Earl’s test, and therefore fits a broad definition of “sandwich”.

  129. 129.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 4:09 pm

    @Leto: The Pizza wars will never be settled. Not until there is only One True Pie left.

  130. 130.

    hitchhiker

    January 29, 2020 at 4:10 pm

    @James E Powell:

    Me too.

    I really do hate these people and I hate everyone who likes them.

  131. 131.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 4:16 pm

    A swift, deadly Liverpool counterattack, from a West Ham corner kick, ends with Alexander Oxlade-Chamberlain scoring after an assist from Mo Salah. West Ham 0-2 Liverpool.

    If Liverpool stay in front of West Ham, they will be 19 points ahead of second-placed Manchester City at the top of the EPL. Mathematically, that lead is not yet unsurmountable;but Liverpool would have to lose half of their season’s remaining 14 matches to put their title hopes in danger.

  132. 132.

    Juju

    January 29, 2020 at 4:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: it’s not a good idea to eat anything bigger than your head.

  133. 133.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 29, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    @Amir Khalid: That’s nice. ???

  134. 134.

    geg6

    January 29, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    You have been eating the wrong deep-dish pizza pies, my friend.

    They are all wrong.  Most egregious insult to pizza I’ve ever seen, including pizza with pineapple (which, FTR, is also disgusting, but still 1000X better than that crap they call deep dish pizza in Chicago).  They should be forced to call it something, anything else.

  135. 135.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 29, 2020 at 4:30 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    but I have been defeated by the giant NY-style slices that are the size of my head. 

    That’s why you fold the slice in half.  It isn’t all floppy then.  And how much sauce are they putting on a NY-style pie if the sauce is spilling off?

    (On a related note, a buddy of mine in Michigan is demanding a giant thin crust pizza right now.  I’m being yelled at through text.)

  136. 136.

    geg6

    January 29, 2020 at 4:30 pm

    @Mo MacArbie:

    We have that here in Pittsburgh, too.  We call it Sicilian style pizza.

  137. 137.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 29, 2020 at 4:40 pm

    @Leto:

    To the ovens!!!

    Phrasing!

  138. 138.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 4:43 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: To the pizza baking apparati!!! I can’t wait for that to devolve into oven v grill, gas v wood. It’s the Monty python skit all over again.

  139. 139.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 4:47 pm

    @Yutsano: haha; I’ll see you in sauce hell! And not that white sauce hell we send fruit apostates!!!

    @geg6: While I’m overall anti deep dish, there was a specialty place in the town next to ours in Italy that served a foccia bread/crust that was absolutely marvelous. If I could recreate that I’d be a super happy camper.

  140. 140.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 29, 2020 at 4:48 pm

    @geg6: I’ve seen that term, though much later in life. Back then, we just called it pizza :-). Or is that (::) ? [:::] ?

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 29, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    @Leto: I wish to file a complaint!

  142. 142.

    Miss Bianca

    January 29, 2020 at 4:59 pm

    @geg6: When I started college in Ann Arbor, I was introduced to ham and pineapple pizzas. I enjoyed them. Then I moved to Chicago, and while I was there I enjoyed deep-dish pizza. Now that I live in CO, I don’t eat deep-dish anymore, but still enjoy pineapple on my pizza.

    So, a question: to be politically pizza-correct,  should I wait for the Politically Correct Pizza Front to show up and shove me into my own oven, or should I self-immolate first?

  143. 143.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 29, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Well this got dark!

  144. 144.

    jc

    January 29, 2020 at 5:05 pm

    Can this nation survive, half Fox and half free? (h/t driftglass)

  145. 145.

    J R in WV

    January 29, 2020 at 5:06 pm

    @Leto:

    Found out that because I will, 99.9% probability, receive disability pay, I won’t be able to earn any other income. Has to be below 80% gross of what I made before, and that wasn’t much. So I basically have to redouble my efforts to secure my retirement revenue streams, now, because they’ll need to last us…

    Well perhaps you could develop a skill set which would lead to a high potential for cash payments… something personal and high tech perhaps.

    Like removing unwanted images from hi-tech devices, or lessee, now… I’m reaching here, trying to avoid any hint of criminality, but to make the skill technical enough and difficult enough to allow for high payments, but not cut checks. Just being a wiseass, really.

    ;-}

  146. 146.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 5:09 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    In the cuisine of my people, there is a savoury pineapple relish called paceri nenas, which is eaten with biriani rice and other spicy dishes. So I have no problem with pineapple in pizza,

  147. 147.

    jc

    January 29, 2020 at 5:13 pm

    @James E Powell: And it’s the same way the Trump trolls nit-pick just what percentage of Indian blood E. Warren claims, or something. Or Obama’s birth certificate. Or the emails. It’s an anti-intellectual’s idea of making an intellectual argument. Republicans are work hard at avoiding talking about the elephant in the room, by spinning endless bad faith pseudo arguments.

  148. 148.

    Miss Bianca

    January 29, 2020 at 5:15 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Hey, these are dark days

    @Amir Khalid: Ooh, that sounds dee-licious! May have to try to make some!

  149. 149.

    Captain C

    January 29, 2020 at 5:24 pm

    @Amir Khalid: At this point, if my calculations are right, Liverpool could go 8-1-5* the rest of the way and City couldn’t catch them if they won all 14 remaining league games.  Pretty impressive.

    *which would put them at a pace to get fewer points (a hair under 68) the whole year than they have already in 24 games.

  150. 150.

    J R in WV

    January 29, 2020 at 5:25 pm

    Have tried pineapple/ham on pizza, I too think it needs jalapenos with, or a grinder of red pepper flakes…

    European-style anchovies would work well too. Not the salt-bomb canned seafood product we normally see here. We learned the difference on the NE coast of Spain. Fresh anchovies in tart wine sauce…yumm.

  151. 151.

    Captain C

    January 29, 2020 at 5:29 pm

    Pizza points, from a native New Yorker:

    1) Chicago-style is not pizza.  It is, in the words of Gary Cohen (Beloved Mets Announcer), a “delicious deep-dish tomato pie.”

    2) My favorite pizza topping combo is pineapple and jalapeno.  You will never convince me that this is not absolutely delicious.  If you don’t like it, more for me.

  152. 152.

    Captain C

    January 29, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    @Captain C: I think 8-0-6 would even work.  That prorates to just over 65 points over a full season.

  153. 153.

    Leto

    January 29, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    @J R in WV: Haha <3

    Pam Bondi: living example of why you shouldn’t let your children eat lead paint chips.

  154. 154.

    Sab

    January 29, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    @Amir Khalid: What did people eat before everyone started travelling the world?

    Pinapples in Malaysia. Tomatoes on Italy . Potatoes in Germany and Ireland. Chili peppers in east Asia. Apple pie in USA.

  155. 155.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 6:26 pm

    @Sab: I believe pineapples were also native to southeast Asia. I could totally be wrong. However: no chili peppers before the 15th century. Korean cuisine, for one, looked totally different before chilis.

  156. 156.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 6:28 pm

    @Amir Khalid: @Miss Bianca:  One thing to keep in mind: shallots in SE Asia are MUCH smaller than North American ones. You’ll probably only need one or two.

  157. 157.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 29, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    @oatler.: As they say in Ukraine, хот-дог!

    (I do not in fact know if that’s what they say in Ukraine, but I did see it advertised in the window of a fast-food joint just outside the main RR station in Kyiv in 2011.)

  158. 158.

    sgrAstar

    January 29, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    @Sab: tomatoes are not native to Italy. Shocker!

  159. 159.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 29, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    @zhena gogolia: And Schiff concludes with “You can ask John Bolton” – followed by the mike drop. Brilliant!

  160. 160.

    Yutsano

    January 29, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: I’ll let Gin & Tonic confirm, but I think that’s just a transliteration of “hot dog”. I think anyway.

  161. 161.

    Amir Khalid

    January 29, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @Captain C:

    Liverpool maintain their one-game-at-a-time talk. But I think the aim now is to win all of the 14 remaining matches, go undefeated for the season (become Invincibles, as the English call it), and obliterate the Premier League points record. The one previous side that finished a season as Invincibles, Arsenal in 2004/05, had a lot more draws and won the title wih only 74 points; Liverpool have but one draw so far, have 70 points out of 72, with 42 points still to play for.

  162. 162.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 29, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    @sgrAstar: tomatoes are not native to Italy. Shocker!

    In fact no component of America’s (mis)conception of the “classic Eye-talian dish,” spaghetti with meatballs, is native to Italy (with the possible exception of the spices), to wit:

    • Tomatoes were brought from the Americas in the 1500s & were widely considered poisonous into the 1820s;
    • Noodles were invented in China & introduced into Italy in the 1200s, supposedly when Marco Polo returned from the East and gradually evolving into the myriad forms produced today; and
    • Meatballs are never even associated with pasta & tomato sauce on Italian menus outside of joints catering to turisti americani. Italian polpette are generally served as a main course or in a soup. First found in in the native cooking styles of Shandong, China, the meatball’s history dates back to the Qin dynasty (221-207 BC).

    And there you have it – or as we say in the Old Country, eccolo!

  163. 163.

    brantl

    January 29, 2020 at 7:43 pm

    Dershiwitz is such a douchebag, honest to dog.

  164. 164.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 29, 2020 at 7:49 pm

    @Yutsano: In fact it is – though the Ukes seem to pronounce it “khot-dokh.”

  165. 165.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 29, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: Trying to learn some Russian in HS (as a chess fanatic hot for the latest openings analysis from the CCCP) I was amused to discover that the word ресторан was in fact not pronounced “peck-moe-pahh” but in the Cyrillic alphabet sounded like “restoran” – IOW, French “restaurant” without the last vowel nasalized – which is precisely what it means.

    Today we see Вот! in Russian & think of the Internet Research Agency when in fact it’s pronouced “Vot!” as in “Vot’s dot? Dot’s vot’s dot!” – actually, the equivalent of Italian Ecco! or French Voila!, “There you have it!” or maybe “Lookee here”… which seems kindasorta appropriate for Russki “bots”, нет?

  166. 166.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 29, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    @brantl: Give the turd the name he deserves: Derpowitz.

  167. 167.

    brantl

    January 29, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: I was thinking more douchewitz. But, that’s just me.

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