Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Not all heroes wear capes.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let there be snark.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Friday Morning Open Thread: Really?

Friday Morning Open Thread: Really?

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Warren’s best mom voice: I’m not mad at you, I’m just very, very disappointed with you.

And I missed this, Wednesday:

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105Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I’d also just point out that most of the military and state security services f*cking loathe the guy,

    Anybody have any idea where Peter Wolf gets this? I would be very surprised if this was true considering the general political lean in our armed forces.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Trump has consolidated power w/in the Republican party such that Congressional republicans seem unwilling to oppose him under any circumstances.

    My fear is that our voters will be disappointed when Democrats aren’t as unified when we take back the government.

  10. 10.

    Sab

    Jackels: get your flu shot. It’s not too late.My sister who goes to China all the time already has. My other sister who works for a pharmaceutical company on a college campus has not. Go figure.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    Mangy Jay
    @magi_jay
    ·15h
    This is indeed a very dangerous situation in terms of our democracy, but it is still not a dictatorship. Do not minimize the power that taking back the House has given us. It has prevented more damage to healthcare & has facilitated investigations.

    Yeah, I think I disagree with this. You can’t cordon off Democrats from the increase in executive power and the decrease in congressional power. It’s true that’s not the fault of Democrats, but it doesn’t matter. Not congressional Democrats fault, very much congressional Democrats problem.
    When Republicans decided to hand congressional power to Trump, they weakened the whole branch.

    In fact, I would even argue that claiming “Democrats” in Congress are somehow not affected will just cause Democratic voters to blame Democrats for the weakened state of the institution and branch.
    There’s the executive and then there’s the legislative. The legislative branch is now dramatically weaker and that includes Democrats in that branch. It has to. And it has. We’ve all seen it.

    We’ll look back on Hillary Clinton’s hours of testimony on Benghazi and think “remember when they used to do that?” They’ll simply refuse to appear and refuse to turn anything over. They already mostly do.

  12. 12.

    Kirk Spencer

     

    @satby: I don’t have polls, but since the ’70s the polls done generally showed enlisted leaning Democratic and officers leaning Republican. All the usual civilian reasons applied and I see little reason for it to be different now.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I have seen some polls like that too, but 2 things make me ask:

    #1, he said “Most” which means “to the greatest extent.” I am always careful to never use the word when speaking of a majority, like 52%. Maybe once it gets above 66%, 75% without a doubt, and certainly something short of 99%. He may well have a different threshold than I. I’d like to know what it is.

    2nd of all, he said “Loathe”. I don’t remember ever seeing a poll where one of the questions was, “Do you loathe…” Considering our military’s general political lean, I really doubt it applies.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    I am not mad at the trial. It is going the way that I thought it would.

    The GOP is a party full of traitors ?

    Should never be forgotten, and folks need to act accordingly in November.

  18. 18.

    Van Buren

    We may not be living in a dictatorship (yet) but I am definitely going to revise my 5th grade curriculum on separation of powers and balance of power.

  22. 22.

    Kay

    Congress has X power. When congressional Republicans hand 80% of it to the executive branch, and set that precedent, congress has less power. The whole branch. Democrats can’t just hang onto their own, independent of the institution as a whole. The thing itself is weaker.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MJS: Meanwhile, just under 50 percent of respondents had a negative view, including 45.1 percent whose opinion of him was “very unfavorable.”

    So if this is the poll he’s using, most isn’t even a majority. I am surprised the “very unfavorable” is as high as it is. The article doesn’t give it but I wonder what the commissioned officer/ enlisted personnel breakdown is. I wonder if the Eddie Gallagher pardoning had an affect in officers’ opinions.

  26. 26.

    Dave

    @Baud: I suspect he’s talking about senior leadership where if even if their personal politics leans reactionary they probably find Trump personally detestable. Small enough community that anecdotes aren’t as obviously flawed a metric as otherwise.

    he may just be assuming that to know Donald is to loathe him something I suspect is true but if he’s basing it on that then it’s definitely not a supported assumption.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    I took the Bernie Bro in my house out to dinner last night and then we watched “Arbitration” on tv. It’s a movie.

    I swear I didn’t pick it for this reason but Susan Sarandon is in it. I couldn’t resist- “oh, Susan Sarandon. She’s a Bernie Bro. Like you”

    I can’t resist.

  28. 28.

    John S.

    @Van Buren: Excellent! At least some children somewhere can still get an education in civics.

    My wife teaches 7th grade science, and in her school they barely even touch on the subject.

    I’m a politically active adult primarily because of my AP Government teacher and the week long trip to Washington DC she took our class on.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    You can’t cordon off Democrats from the increase in executive power and the decrease in congressional power. It’s true that’s not the fault of Democrats, but it doesn’t matter.

    To the extent that the increase in executive power has been growing for a long time, during GOP and DEM presidencies and congresses, the blame is on both parties. trump is just the next step.

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    What comes next? Expect massive efforts to keep Democrats from voting or prevent their votes from counting. The focus will be minority communities. I’ve spent years fighting suppression. I expect the worst election cycle we’ve ever experienced. We all have to fight for fairness.— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) January 31, 2020

  31. 31.

    MJS

    @OzarkHillbilly: Agreed, but note that the tweet says military “and state security service.” I’m not sure what he means by that, but if he’s referring to CIA and other such agencies, Trump’s constant denigrating and questioning of those agencies probably has had a corrosive effect on his standing with them.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Heh, maybe that’s why I’m not on twitter? Yeah, that’s the reason, I’m bland, sober and give reasoned analysis. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    Gross hack Dershowitz is on Twitter defending his work. He won’t answer the “President arrests his political opponents” question though, because he’s a fraud.

    People never know when to quit. Have you noticed that? Lamar Alexander could have retained his unearned reputation as some kind of moderate statesman if he had simply quit instead of staying on until he was 80. He’s a multimillionaire. He would have been fine. They hang around and hang around and eventually they have to actually do something and that reveals them.

  35. 35.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I think so too. Huckabee was on stage last night with Trump complaining that Democrats were running political campaigns in Iowa. She objects to that. Only the Trump and Huckabee families should be permitted to speak.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Sab:

    I’m making progress. He’ll vote for the nominee if I’ll vote for the nominee, and I will. Even Bernie.

    I think that’s fair and I think he does too.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MJS:

    but note that the tweet says military “and state security service.”

    Ahh, that 2nd part slipped by me. Thanx.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m sure this is fine:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Thursday named Timothy Shea, one of his closest advisers, to be the next top prosecutor in the nation’s capital.

    Shea will lead the largest U.S. attorney’s office in the country, which has been historically responsible for some of the most significant and politically sensitive cases the Justice Department brings in the U.S.

    He is a senior counselor to the attorney general and was Barr’s right-hand man helping institute reforms at the federal Bureau of Prisons after Jeffrey Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

    Now that the DOJ functions as the White House’s legal arm rather than an independent law enforcement agency, what’s to stop Barr and his appointees from prosecuting Trump’s political and business rivals and letting allies who break the law off the hook?

  42. 42.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kay: Dershowitz reminds me of those heavyweight boxers who stay in the ring too long. Flabby, out of shape and ultimately depressing as hell.

  43. 43.

    Nelle

    We went down to the airport late last night to pick up the Warren volunteer we’re housing until after the caucuses.  She came via DC and my congresswoman was on the same flight.  She recognized me with her broad smile.  Of course.  Somehow, I keep giving her larger checks than I had intended.  What’s not to love about me?

    She may not be as progressive as I would like but is more than many in her evenly divided district are comfortable with.  She’s first term and one of the hardest working politicians I’ve seen.  Cindy Axne is working for flood relief in her most conservative areas.  I hope they can see that.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: Come Monday morning there are injunctions on Bolton’s book and he has restraining order not to speak about what he talked to trump about.

    Voting suppression comes next.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Nelle:

    Cindy Axne is working for flood relief in her most conservative areas. I hope they can see that.

    But where does she stand on guns and Jesus?

  48. 48.

    danielx

    @Betty Cracker:

    Not a damn thing.

    At this point I’m wondering if there’s anything at all that’s off limits, down to and including ordering sites like this one to be shut down. In the public interest, you know?

    Success beyond Barr’s unitary executive dreams! As for “what comes around, goes around”, if certain measures are taken to ensure a Democrat never again wins the presidency, what’s to worry about?

  49. 49.

    Skepticat

    The Portland, Maine, paper is headlining that Collins will vote for witnesses and documents. I suppose that means only that the outcome is predetermined and thus she can “look” independent, but I thanked her anyway.

  52. 52.

    guachi

    So which two Republicans will be given a pass to vote for witnesses knowing there won’t actually be witnesses?

    I suspect that it will be only mildly beneficial as no Republican will vote to convict.

  53. 53.

    Anya

    @OzarkHillbilly: They probably loathe him because he’s a loathsome, no-nothing vulgarian but that doesn’t mean they don’t support his odious policies. Why else are his fired or resigned generals all silent, specially Mattis?

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    From the Iowa Caucuses thread downstairs:

    I am going to be caucusing with a 7 year old, so the stupidity of a crucial political January in-person event starting at 7 pm has been in the front of my brain lately as I think about the stories of doorknockers being turned away by husbands as they ask to speak to the wives too https://t.co/YmaKTwXWhn

    — Louise Seamster (@louise_seamster) January 29, 2020

    I wonder what her 7 yr old did to deserve such a hateful punishment?

  56. 56.

    Sab

    @Kay: my oldest nephew, in Columbus, blew his first ever vote by voting for Nader. He is wiser now. He has an immigrant father ( a Republican??!) and an immigrant wife. And an American born baby. This stuff isn’t unimportant to him.

  57. 57.

    laura

    Just seeing Kamala Harris’ beautiful face at the top of the post pisses me off about our campaign industry so very much. Millions wasted, useless stupid debates, misogynior + propaganda and she was out well before a single vote could be cast.         I still hate this week.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: He was on Morning Edition this morning being defensive about people understanding what he said and what it means.  He kept trying to talk over the interviewer, but she kept interrupting him.  She didn’t ask the “can he arrest his opponent” question, though.  I wish someone would ask Dersh if Trump could use the full power of the Justice Department to launch investigations of his opponents.  https://www.npr.org/2020/01/31/801515969/alan-dershowitz-clarifies-a-point-made-in-the-trump-impeachment-trial

  60. 60.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly: The mom doesn’t have a babysitter? I think the larger discussion was about how caucuses effectively discriminate against women and people with disabilities, given how much time the process takes and how few accommodations there are for them.

  61. 61.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    @John S.: Nice!  My wife teachers AP Gov and she hears from former students often on how she inspired them to pay better attention to politics.  She also takes her class to D.C. ever year. Cheers!

  63. 63.

    Booger

    @Kirk Spencer: Well, the ending of the draft has resulted in a non-representational, self-selecting slice of the population joining the armed forces. IIRC, this has slowly led to a significant demographic shift in who enlists.

    There’s an interesting corollary to this, which is Veteran preferences in Federal hiring. Military composition changes over time, service is a conduit to government employment, the Federal Government slowly begins to look less and less like the average American.

    Discuss.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: Looks like Dershowitz is on a clarification tour to rehab his image. Last night he was on Twitter challenging people to publicly debate him like a common Charlie Kirk. What bullshit. He said what he said, and he made that preposterous argument in service to a vile kleptocrat.

  65. 65.

    pajaro

    I’m a long-time lurker.  I just wanted to thank all of you for helping keep me sane over the last few months/years.  I also want to say, as someone who has cared about this stuff for more than 50 years, that while our current circumstances are really scary, we have ways to oppose the slide toward authoritarianism, both within and outside of the political system.  Unlike 4 years ago, we have some idea of what may be coming with voter suppression, and the pick-ups in crucial states in the Midwest in the last election makes it harder for the bad guys to steal this thing than it would have been four years ago.

    So best to all of you on this troubling day.

  68. 68.

    Sab

    Couple of threads back I said my BIL had died. Many jackals responded. I hadn’t been through this before. Your comments meant a lot

    Anyone notice I can’t spell jackel after 10 + years on this website.

  70. 70.

    Sab

    @satby: So far okay, but it is early. Also haven’t heard from Baton Rouge. He is sort of out of the loop since so far away geographically but not emotionally.

  75. 75.

    satby

    @Sab: been thinking about you and the family. It’s hard even when expected. And it sounded like it happened sooner than you thought it might. Hugs.

  79. 79.

    Sab

    I was amazed by how comforting the jackels comments were. I didn’t think anyone would even notice. Thanks guys.

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    @Sab: it seems like we hardly knew him.

    I’m glad to hear you are hanging in there.  First, there is getting through it all.  You will be busy and exhausted.  Then there is getting on with it.  Many power thoughts your way.

  84. 84.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @danielx: People can blow this off because Trump and his minions are useless and lazy, the real danger is if someone competent comes along.

  85. 85.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I wonder if Trump will be satisfied with Alexander’s “he did it but it’s not impeachable” position or political Collins and Murkowski votes for witnesses. It would be rich if he went after them anyway.

    It’s a sad day on both sides of the Atlantic.

  87. 87.

    jimmiraybob

    Is it irony when the son of Orthodox Jews argues a completely novel legal theory, that flies in the face of all other interpretations in the specific context in which he’s arguing, that a powerful national leader should be unconstrained in their application of power as long as they believe it to be in the national interest?  Or maybe the word I’m looking for is tragedy.  Is there such a thing as ironic tragedy?

    Asking for future reference.

  88. 88.

    laura

    @Sab: often, this blog community feels like the last episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show – a giant, comforting group hug that moves in tandem to grab the tissue box.

  89. 89.

    montanareddog

    so today will see the UK leave the EU; and, probably, the acquittal of the shitgibbon, removing the last constitutional shackle from a relentlessly vindictive moron with no impulse control.

     

    Maybe Putin will declare 31st January a national holiday in the future: “Cold War Victory Day”

  90. 90.

    Chris Johnson

    @montanareddog: For now.

    I’d call it overreach. It’s his death warrant, the idiot. Putin is overextended even in his home country. This is bad for him: draws too much attention.

  91. 91.

    jimmiraybob

    @montanareddog: Maybe Putin will declare 31st January a national holiday in the future: “Cold War Victory Day”

    I think that it’s only logical to contract with the GRU to run Trump’s 2020 campaign (from the White House would be a classic touch for Unindicted Co-Conspirator Individual No. 1).

    You know, in the national interests.

  92. 92.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Booger: I was in from 1980 to 2000. Enlisted. Navy. From my perspective the service is more diverse than the general population.  As the only way for many poor kids to get continuing education (in a vast variety of skills) and money for college, enlistment attracted everyone from kids from the Southeast Navaho and Zuni reservations to single teenage moms from Appalachia. Now that we are in the cycle of endless war it has higher risks but it’s still one of few options for many. Some of my more racist fellow service members got a real shock having to serve  under minority officers and senior enlisted…they also freaked out at the numbers of interracial marriages.   They did not all learn not to be assholes but, they learned to shut up or be reprimanded for insubordination.  And some actually learned not to be quite so racist.

  93. 93.

    CliosFanboy

    @MJS: Pompeo was a foul-mouthed bully who made few friends. And, generally speaking, the  intelligence community dislikes Russian assets in the US government.

  95. 95.

    FlyingToaster

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    The mom doesn’t have a babysitter?

    On a Monday night?  Good luck with that.  I could get babysitters on weekends relatively easily; weeknights, hardly ever.  Both college kids and high school kids have too tight a weekday schedule, and preschool teachers have to be up as early as us, if they’re not caucusing themselves.

    Once upon a time in Missouri (the 60’s, natch), the GOP and Democrats had different caucus dates, so my parents traded off with some retired Republican neighbors.   They watched us on D caucus night, and my dad took care of their parakeets on R caucus night.

    I find caucuses to be profoundly undemocratic; it would be infinitely more useful to have Democratic Town Committees (like here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts).  So the persuading and delegates happen with the activists, and everyone who can be bothered has the opportunity to vote, not just the people who can take an evening off work/childcare/housecleaning.

  96. 96.

    catclub

    @Kay: The future presidents and congress.

    They’ll simply refuse to appear and refuse to turn anything over. They already mostly do.

    I think when the GOP loses the executive office, hopefully this year, they will shred every document related to Trumps misadventures – document retention laws be damned.

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    @Sab:

    I missed this news.  I’m so sorry, Sab.  Sending you a big hug.

    We had confirmation of some bad news for one of my son’s classmates.  He had a bad fall and is now paralyzed from the waist down.  16 years old.  I just don’t know how a family copes with all that.

  99. 99.

    ziggy

    When is Tony Jay going to come back on and do some Britsplainin about what is happening today? I always love his posts.

  101. 101.

    Sab

    @MomSense: Wow. He will get on with life, but still wow. I know kids who have done that. Met them when my mom did PT. Kids are resilient but still wow.

  102. 102.

    Mike in Pasadena

    Most of the military loves Trump. So much for the ignorant Peter Wolf’s opinions. (That has to be a fake name, right? I mean, they left out “and the” between first and last names.)

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @Mike in Pasadena: This ended up in spam because you had a crazy link in the URL field. I deleted it.  So check the URL field on whatever device/browser you posted this comment from.  Otherwise, you will likely go into spam again.

  104. 104.

    artem1s

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I can believe the military loathes Trump. But I know they irrationally loathed Clinton and not W for draft dodging.  So while they may never support a coup for Dolt, they also aren’t going to be inclined to support any Dem in the WH either.

  105. 105.

    rekoob

    @Quinerly:  Great news! Looks like a nice January day, with warmer temperatures over the weekend and a colder spell to follow — a classic New Mexican winter. If you can, have a drink for me at The Compound.

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