Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

The revolution will be supervised.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

We will not go back.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Second rate reporter says what?

Optimism opens the door to great things.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Everybody saw this coming.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / ‘Things We Cannot Have’ Open Thread: Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr Hears A Bus Rumbling Up

‘Things We Cannot Have’ Open Thread: Bill ‘Ever Lower’ Barr Hears A Bus Rumbling Up

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“History is written by the winners.” There’s something of a GOP tradition in sacrificing an Attorney General when the rabble is dangerously dissatisfied with an overconfident regime. Barr assumed there was no bus with a clearance high enough to throw him under, but now he seems to be reconsidering.

As far as I’m concerned, the defenestration cannot happen too soon, or to a more deserving defender of the Kakistocracy.

These are not the responses of a lawyer secure in his arguments:

Former prosecutor steps up…


Rep. Adam Schiff rubs in some non-chemical irritant:

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  2. 2.

    Omnes Omnibus

    What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric!

  3. 3.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    Pepper spray is not a chemical irritant. It’s not chemical” — AG Barr

    Uh, isn’t everything a chemical?

  4. 4.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    So Barr calls Twitler a liar when he said he was just “inspecting” The Bunker.

  5. 5.

    PPCLI

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    And right after that, Barr stated “And see that woman in clerical robes over there on the patio handing out water and first aid items? Will no one rid me of that meddlesome priest?”

  9. 9.

    germy

    Reminder: The House Judiciary Committee expects to see A.G. Barr in front of their committee later this morning. Chairman Nadler has floated issuing a subpoena to Barr if he fails to appear. https://t.co/3OFqgpIeWT
    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 9, 2020

  11. 11.

    MattF

    Also, I don’t see Barr having an unexpected meeting with a bus undercarriage any time soon.

  12. 12.

    germy

    AG Barr is not expected to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, per @politico. The DOJ has informed the committee that he isn't going to comply with the testimony.
    — Hunter Cullen (@HunterJCullen) June 9, 2020

  13. 13.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @PPCLI: Pepper spray is a spiritual thing for William Barr.

    But it still has, like, a chemical composition and properties right?

    Also, too, this seems oddly correct.  Though I wonder how he feels about other people’s use of chemicals in spiritual practices.

  14. 14.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @MattF:

    I don’t see Barr having an unexpected meeting with a bus undercarriage any time soon.

    Ditto.  Nobody minds changing stories in this administration.  They all lie constantly.  Barr’s lies so far make Trump look like the victim and everyone else as evil, which is good enough for the Whiny Ass Titty Baby In Chief.  I wish Barr would piss off Trump and get fired, because Barr is by far the most competent and dangerous person in that administration, but I don’t see signs of it here.

  15. 15.

    Immanentize

    I told the Captain at 6:15 that I needed them to take Onion Belt Hill by 6:45 p.m. I didn’t ever say to any of the troops, “Over the top, Boys! Attack!”

    Except perhaps those Blackwater folks….

    The difference between what Barr said and “tactical orders”

  17. 17.

    West of the Rockies

    Bill Barr and his bloated hangdog face can go straight to hell.

    Oh, wait. Satan says no. Hell has standards.

  19. 19.

    Mary G

    GOP senators ducking on Trump’s deranged tweet about elderly Buffalo man, to my colleague @mkraju:Rubio: “I didn't see it. you're telling me about it. I don't read Twitter. I only write on it."Cornyn: “You know, a lot of this stuff just goes over my head."— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 9, 2020

  21. 21.

    donnah

    Barr is a power hungry toad who has been given free rein by Trump. Anyone can see that his ambitious climb up the political ladder is getting broader and bolder. He is a shameless liar and like the rest of his buddies in the White House, he believes he’s unstoppable.

     

    I can’t see Trump dumping him; he gets so much done for him that he seems willing to let Barr spout off. It’s grotesque that these are the bullies who are running and ruining the country.

  22. 22.

    Nicole

    Oh my God, please, future Biden Admin, please do not let all this fade into the rearview mirror.  There’s plenty you can get them on.  Hell, half of the current Administration appears to have committed voter fraud; I’ll even take that if that’s the easiest thing to prove.

  23. 23.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Mary G:GOP senators ducking on Trump’s deranged tweet about elderly Buffalo man, to my colleague @mkraju:Rubio: “I didn’t see it. you’re telling me about it. I don’t read Twitter. I only write on it.”Cornyn: “You know, a lot of this stuff just goes over my head.”— John Harwood

    Can the reporters ask without mentioning that the statement was on Twitter?  They’re gonna try to dodge the question anyway, but don’t give them such an easy out.

  24. 24.

    laura

    The sheer gall of that man. God bothering handmaiden to authoritarianism on the one hand and lecturing the Federalist Society on the need for the citizenry to show respect for law enforcement or risk any expectation of local cops responding to service calls. He can go to hell and bring all the bagpipes. Also, who funds the Federalist?

  29. 29.

    randy khan

    AG Barr uses painstaking distinctions to defend the use of force against protesters near the White House last Monday.

    Those aren’t distinctions; they’re lies.

  30. 30.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Immanentize: Found it! Mansanto, duh.

    It’s Lucky Nature Doesn’t Need Lables

    Funny how Barr and Monsanto can make opposite points, both in service to avoiding accountability.

    @MattF: Senator, are you aware that the president appears to be untethered to reality?

    Why, of course! Why do you think we have failed to hold him accountable? That would require that he be of this plane of existence.

  31. 31.

    PPCLI

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

     

     

    But it still has, like, a chemical composition and properties right?

    It’s like the Catholic theologian’s metaphysical explanation of the real presence of Christ’s body in the communion bread. Prior to the consecration of the Eucharist, the bread has both the essence and the properties of bread, but after the consecration, it has the essence of the body of Christ.

    (Look, it’s not my theory!)

    In the warehouse, the pepper spray has the essence and the properties / chemical composition of capsaicin. When it is beng used on peaceful protesters it still has those properties, but its essence is the toxic soul of William Barr.

     

    /s

     

     

  33. 33.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @PPCLI: It’s like the Catholic theologian’s metaphysical explanation of the real presence of Christ’s body in the communion bread. Prior to the consecration of the Eucharist, the bread has both the essence and the properties of bread, but after the consecration, it has the essence of the body of Christ.

    Uggh, I thought that shit tasted funny.  Glad I got away from those God-blessed cannibals.

    In the warehouse, the pepper spray has the essence and the properties / chemical composition of capsaicin. When it is beng used on peaceful protesters it still has those properties, but its essence is the toxic soul of William Barr.

    That should be a war crime.

    @jonas: There’s literally a DOJ manual listing pepper spray, along with tear gas, as a “chemical agent.”

    What interest does Barr have in official DOJ documents…?

  34. 34.

    Kay

    CNN
    @CNN
    Trump’s team is beginning to signal a shift that might see the President tone down his rhetoric in a bid to win back independents and moderate suburban Republicans that he needs to win in November

    I love how they still think he’s capable of this. He only has one trick. He’s mean. That’s it. If he could do this he would have done it already.
    I think it’s Jared who clings to this fantasy. I think the actual campaign people know exactly how they won the first time.

  35. 35.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    I thought that was really effective because it ends with the action step and asks viewers to imagine getting rid of him. It’s the best one yet.

    They have to picture succeeding. Democrats are already doing it- they all muse on how great it will be to beat him :)

  37. 37.

    jonas

    Trump is a dementia-addled idiot with authoritarian tendencies, but not the focus to actually carry out most of his worst impulses. Bill Barr, along with Tom Cotton, are smart, focused, and utterly evil. Barr would go full Pinochet in a second if he thought he could get away with it.

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    As a not-chemical, capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) would like a word, or contact of a more physical nature, with the AG. Personally, I’d like to test an entire bear spray can on him. To improve my aim and such.

  41. 41.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @snoey: He’d concede that everything is a chemical, its the “irritant” part.  Good blast of bear spray should focus his mind.

    Make it so.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: 

    We need the blessed Lincoln Project to start running ads about how “Didja ever notice…GOP Senators don’t seem to know much when it comes to what the president* says, does, or tweets? Here are eighty examples of them being ‘late for lunch’ when asked about trumpov’s latest and greatest inflammatory BS…”

  45. 45.

    Mary G

    This thread from an AJC reporter about the elections in Georgia today is gobsmacking. No working machines, poll workers with no training, insanely long lines.

    “This is ridiculous,” says Anita Heard, a 80-year-old who was first in line to vote at 6 this morning and is still waiting to cast her ballot. “Of course,” she says when I ask her if she plans to stay. “I worked for 40 years — where else am I going?” #gapol pic.twitter.com/4Cd8nwagG9— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) June 9, 2020

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay:

    Trump’s team is beginning to signal a shift that might see the President tone down his rhetoric in a bid to win back independents and moderate suburban Republicans that he needs to win in November

    I’m guessing they said that before The Beast tweeted out that the old man bleeding from his ears on a street in Buffalo faked his fall

  47. 47.

    Barbara

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:
    I know he didn’t major in chemistry but neither did I. Yes, all foods are comprised of “chemicals,” and in the case of pepper, the actively irritating ingredient is known as capsaicin.

    Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is an active component of chili peppers, which are plants belonging to the genus Capsicum. It is a chemical irritant for mammals, including humans, and produces a sensation of burning in any tissue with which it comes into contact.

    “Well, your honor, we peed on them, but it’s not like we used chemicals.”
    “Isn’t ammonia a chemical?”

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: That old Trump pivot is coming any minute now!!

    In 2016, around the time Trump was about to clinch the nomination, Jon Favreau (the speechwriter) wrote this article where he took a bunch of statements Trump had made, and assembled them into an anodyne, Presidential-sounding speech that he imagined Trump giving. It was a warning to Democrats that Trump could really be a formidable candidate once he made that pivot, and we should expect it to happen any day now.

    Of course, Trump never did that. He stayed as horrible as ever. And he won running on that. The whole set of assumptions Favreau was operating on was incorrect.

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: I wonder if we can keep these guys on as the Dems’ official ad agency going forward if we pay them double?  They are seriously kicking trumpov’s ass.

  50. 50.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G:

    Rubio: “I didn’t see it. you’re telling me about it. I don’t read Twitter. I only write on it.”

    My god, Rubio is such a buffoonish self-parody. I can’t believe he’s come as far as he has

    Cornyn: “You know, a lot of this stuff just goes over my head.”

    This is the most believable statement I have ever heard from Cornyn. Well and truly I believe that most things go over his head.

  52. 52.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Barbara: Yes, all foods are matter is comprised of “chemicals,”

    .

    “Well, your honor, we peed on them, but it’s not like we used chemicals.”
    “Isn’t ammonia a chemical?”

    “Actually, in that case, it was just rain.”

    “Isn’t water a chemical?”

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: anyone who thinks trumpov can even *remotely* “tone it down” for three days in a row…much less the next five months…is completely koo-koo.

    He’s hooked on OANN, QAnon, crushed Adderall, and his crazy rallies.  Oh and golf, I guess.  That is not something he’s going to give up just so he can give policy speeches.

    (The thought of trumpov giving even a 10-minute serious policy address at this point actually gives me the giggles.  It’s like expecting a mule to work on its conversational French, or something)

  56. 56.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Jeffro: It’s like expecting a mule to work on its conversational French, or something)

    I’ll settle for a President who can speak English.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

    “Isn’t water a chemical?”

    Aren’t people, in the end, just an assortment of chemicals? Is it fair, then, to say that the protestors were deploying chemical agents against the president? Viewed that way, wasn’t the administration’s response especially lenient given the circumstances?

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    Another day ending in “y”… GovExec:

    A new Trump appointee to the United States’ foreign aid agency has a history of online posts denouncing liberal democracy and has said that the country is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”

    In one post, Merritt Corrigan, who recently took up a position as deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote: “Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.”

    Corrigan’s new position in the Trump administration, confirmed by two officials, has not been previously reported.

    Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.

    […]

    Only the best people…

    Grrr…

    We have to vote the monsters out.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  65. 65.

    SFAW

    Bill Barr: “My attitude was get it done, but I didn’t say ‘Go do it.'”

    I am reminded of all those tapes of Mafia bosses saying things like “I want you to kill that weasel. Dead, do you hear me? DEAD! Then cut him up and throw him in the East River. And that other guy? Kill his whole fucking family. I don’t want any misunderstanding here, so to be sure: when I say ‘take care of him,’ I don’t mean buy him a nice house and a nice car — I want you to murder him, so that he can’t testify against me.”

    Barr’s not a complete moron, but he apparently thinks we all are.

  66. 66.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Baud: I’d settle for the mule as president.

    Sold.

    Aren’t people, in the end, just an assortment of chemicals? Is it fair, then, to say that the protestors were deploying chemical agents against the president?

    It’s always about Trump, isn’t it?

  67. 67.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: To be fair, the current batshit theory is that he didn’t actually fake the injury, he just fell on purpose and hurt himself and it wasn’t the poor police officer’s fault.

    Sigh.

  71. 71.

    PPCLI

    @MisterForkbeard: And presumably he used Jedi mind control to force the officers to step over him and continue walking as he lay there unconscious with cranial bleeding.

  72. 72.

    Barbara

    @SFAW: I am sure it’s been written before but I like it especially because Barr apparently fancies himself to be an orthodox Catholic:

    Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?

  73. 73.

    Kelly

    @MisterForkbeard:This is a good idea. “The president made the following statement today: <statement>. Do you approve and agree with him?”

    Most any major Republican:”I didn’t hear him say that. Excuse me I’m late for <something>”

  74. 74.

    SFAW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    the old man bleeding from his ears on a street in Buffalo faked his fall

    Maybe I mis-“read” the video, but it looked like blood was pooling around his head, and I would thing more than just his ears was involved.

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    @Barbara:

    Yeah, a few here have written that. I have also seen Henry’s comment as “turbulent priest,” which would be more in line with clearing out protesters.

  79. 79.

    TheOBP

    @Mary G: I sometimes wonder queasily if what we have here is like German rocket scientists jumping ship to help us against the Soviets. On the other hand, maybe they’re genuine. I left the GOP after Bush 2, Term 1. Maybe it takes some folks a little longer.

  81. 81.

    Barbara

    @Another Scott: I think this is an extreme example of someone interpreting the expectation of tolerance as a form of their own personal oppression because they no longer get to hate, joke, mock and ridicule with the freedom that they had become accustomed to.  “What do you mean I can’t call him a pansy?  That’s tyranny!”

  82. 82.

    Baud

    @L85NJGT: 

    Never. I reject the corrupting influence of both large and small dollar donations. I will never be in the pocket of Big Citizen.

  83. 83.

    germy

    If the stories broadcast by the Trump-endorsed One America News Network sometimes look like outtakes from a Kremlin trolling operation, there may be a reason. One of the on-air reporters at the 24-hour network is a Russian national on the payroll of the Kremlin’s official propaganda outlet, Sputnik.

    Kristian Brunovich Rouz, originally from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, has been living in San Diego, where OAN is based, since August 2017, reporting on U.S. politics for the 24-hour news channel. For all of that time, he’s been simultaneously writing for Sputnik, a Kremlin-owned news wire that played a role in Russia’s 2016 election-interference operation, according to an assessment by the U.S. intelligence community.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/oan-trumps-new-favorite-channel-employs-kremlin-paid-journalist

  85. 85.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kelly: Okay, good point. This would rely on the media actually staying on task and doing their jobs, because Republicans would just shrug and leave anyway. It only gets fixed when reporters FOLLOW them and demand answers.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Ivanka is what a moderate Trump would sound like and she’s a banal, mediocre bore. Completely indistinguishable from that whole set of people who use that awful corporate speak.

    They don’t have anything other than Trump’s meanness. There’s nothing else that sets them apart. He’ll be a mediocre-to- poor moderate candidate. Their initial instincts were correct. There’s only one route. If he’s not offending he’s an ordinary old man. He knows it too.

  89. 89.

    Kelly

    There’s video the Salt Lake City police knocking down and elderly man with a cane at a bus stop. There’s the 75 year old in Buffalo. We need a highlight reel of just police abusing elderly white people. Greg Doucette is up to 423 videos of excessive police force. I haven’t the stomach to keep up anymore.

    https://twitter.com/greg_doucette

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: it’s why I don’t worry too much about a trump dynasty, I don’t think any of the spawn can match his visceral appeal to the worst instincts of the worst people. I do wonder if Hawley or Cotton can match the vulgarity– what his supporters see as his wit– that is also part of his appeal

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    @Matt McIrvin: The TV ads that Donnie’s campaign are running on HGTV have imagery and text to make him appear to be a reasonable liberal that everyone loves. How he got cash to suffering people, and so forth.

    They lie about everything. Expect that to continue.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    I would have asked “why are we all going?” It’s bizarre that Trump takes this whole entourage with him when he supposedly is headed out to speak to the people. You’re the President. Go by yourself.

    They’re just bizarre, odd people. They can’t even credibly imitate how a real President might look. Fake it till you make it, you dopes. It’s just a photograph.

  94. 94.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes, since Barr is so in love with monarchs, he should consider how well that worked with Henry I of England and Tomas Becket. Henry I at lest had the excuse of being hot tempered and prone to speaking without thinking who is listening.

  95. 95.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @MattF: Also, I don’t see Barr having an unexpected meeting with a bus undercarriage any time soon.

    Trump owes Barr, so the bus is only a matter of time. Remember a Trump always defaults on their debts.

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: I think this is why he always goes way off the rails at his hate-fest rallies.  He knows the crowd is there for the ‘good stuff’, not policy.

  99. 99.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Don Jr. comes pretty close in the spite and stupidity departments.

    Unfortunately for the GOP, Jr hasn’t been able to tweet at a black president for around a decade to build up his credibility with the ‘very fine people’ base.  But he’s definitely ready to step right up.  Tucker Carlson too.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    My daughter just won an arbitration on whether her employer could deny her maternity leave pay. It was really unfair. She entered into an employment contract with one health care company and the company was sold to another immediately before the birth of her daughter in January. The new company refused to honor the prior terms on paid leave. She fought it, it went to arbitration in NY, and she just won. Seven thousand dollars, which they need. All I did was cut and paste the part of the NY code I thought might apply and send it to her because I didn’t want to tell her but I had no hope :)

  101. 101.

    scott (the other one)

    @Jeffro: The key to those ads is that they’re conservative Republicans who are horrified by Trump—that’s why they can go after him so hard and not get smeared by the MSM.

    So, yeah, they want Trump gone—but unless I’ve missed something (always a possibility), they’d love to have a Republican Senate and House. Unlike a tiny handful of former conservative Republicans, they don’t WANT the Senate to flip.

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott: I’m telling y’all, we need the Lincoln Project to train its fire on these “I’MLATEFORLUNCH!” GOP Senators who keep ducking questions about trumpov’s statements and tweets.  I have no doubt they’d be merciless.

  103. 103.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay: Colbert had a bit of Invaka speaking and that was outright creepy by even corporate speak standards. It was like watching a life size animationic barbie doll, expect with less personality.

  104. 104.

    Jinchi

    @Mary G: Rubio: “I don’t read Twitter. I only write on it.

    So, ‘I like to be heard. I’m not a listener.’

    Is that supposed to be a good thing for a politician?

  106. 106.

    Mike in NC

    Pepper spray is a delicious dessert topping. They serve it with the chocolate cake at Merde-A-Lago.

  107. 107.

    Jeffro

    @scott (the other one): I don’t get that sense from them…they know the House GOP is absolutely bananas.  And they sure don’t seem to like the Grahams and Cottons of the world.  Plus if Mitch stays in as majority leader, this country will continue to swirl the drain.

    I don’t want to give them too much of the benefit of the doubt here, but my take on it is that they seem fine with the GOP losing the Senate for a cycle or two.

  108. 108.

    Barbara

    @Kay: Good for her! Like you, I have a very jaded view of arbitration. I am glad it worked out for her.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I see her a lot because they stick her in “education” so that’s where she appears most. Horrible. It’s all “skills gap” and “opportunity”. I feel America’s school children should not be forced to listen to this drivel. They think they can stick anyone in front of kids and quality or substance doesn’t matter, like their time has no value. I think this is disrespectful.

  111. 111.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Immanentize: Um, Aunt Ti-T’ai-Po says “labels.” And “Monsanto.” Although some would argue “MonSatan” is a closer rendering.

  112. 112.

    sublime33

    I have felt for quite some time that the two most compromised people in Washington are Lindsey Graham and William Barr. The dirt on Graham is just about to become public. I don’t know exactly what they have on Barr but it must be really good.

  113. 113.

    Barbara

    @sublime33: I hate to tell you but this is how Barr has always been.  It’s just that his previous employers have put him on a shorter leash.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    I was shocked. Now that she won I can tell her it’s akin to winning the lottery.

    She’s really determined though. During the “protect the ACA fight” she called Paul Ryan’s office and got VM. She left a message and then realized she had missed one of the points she wanted to hit so called back. “Hi- me again. One more thing”. I guffawed. I’m familiar with her relentlessness.

  115. 115.

    Bill Arnold

    @jonas:

    There’s literally a DOJ manual listing pepper spray, along with tear gas, as a “chemical agent.”

    While poking, I found another DOJ manual that listed it separately from “chemical agents” (CN/CS gases). He (or a staffer) may have done his homework on this.
    Irrelevant, of course. Bill Barr would be extremely irritated if he took a load of pepper gas/spray in the face, and of course it’s a chemical, whether it is extracted from a plant source or synthesized.

  116. 116.

    trnc

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: Can the reporters ask without mentioning that the statement was on Twitter? They’re gonna try to dodge the question anyway, but don’t give them such an easy out.

    How unbelievably more unprepared can reporters possibly be? It’s a tweet. Any reporter can easily have the tweet ready to look at when they ask the question.

    “I haven’t seen the tweet.”

    “Here it is.”

    What is Rubio going to do at that point? Claim it’s a fake tweet? Take out a pen and blind himself? This shouldn’t be difficult.

  117. 117.

    Just Chuck

    @trollhattan:

    Personally, I’d like to test an entire bear spray can on him

    Why do I suddenly have the urge to watch Kill Bill?  Ah hell, I’ll just give him the flashlight, since I’m pretty sure he never underwent the Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei.

  118. 118.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sublime33:  @Barbara: I don’t really remember Barr from the nineties, and I haven’t done the research, but watching his wheezy speech about “permissiveness” at Notre Dame I did wonder if he hasn’t had some kind of middle-aged ‘crisis of faith’, or some such.  As for Graham, I’ve given up on the idea that he’s being blackmailed. I think the explanation is what he says it is, he’s “relevant”, that is close to power and able to abuse it.

    I think this tweet from Rubio’s former CoS, and Cheney staffer, sums up Graham et al, only without the implied regret.

    CesarConda @ CesarConda

    I’m taking a deep breath. Reminding myself:
    Conservative jurists.
    Pro-life policy.
    Rebuilt military.
    Tax/Regulatory reform.
    REPEAT.
    Okay, I’m good … for now.

    I’m fascinated by this idea that they had to “rebuild the military”, but…. whatever.

     

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @trnc: Great point! Have the damn tweet up on your phone or print it out and ask them to respond. I am grateful to the reporters who are even asking at this point. They should; it’s their job. But a lot of them don’t bother.

  120. 120.

    Barbara

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, I know someone very well who has had actual experience working in the same office at one point and he assures me that Barr has been in favor or unrestrained executive authority for the duration of his career.  The notion that the executive might be a lunatic seems not to matter. I would diagnose deep seated daddy issues, but I don’t care.  I just want him gone.

  122. 122.

    Barbara

    @A Streeter: Henry II had the right idea, to make the church subject to civil authority and he thought that by making his friend and trusted advisor archbishop that’s what he was getting.  No parallel with prior generations.

  123. 123.

    Fleeting Expletive

    About that fence around the White House and all the tributes people posted on it, doesn’t the law require that all of those be preserved as part of the national archives?  Not that dingus knows that or cares, but nevertheless?

  124. 124.

    PPCLI

    @sublime33: I don’t think Barr is compromised. He views Trump as an instrument toward the conservative theocracy with the all-powerful executive that he dreams of.

  125. 125.

    Barbara

    @PPCLI: I mean, when you read his Notre Dame speech it’s just very clear that he is frightened by the prospect of a future where people like him do not wield unchallenged authority.  Underlying his panic is the realization that even if his church holds fast on matters like gay equality and abortion, the fact is, people don’t have to listen.  They don’t have to attend service or tithe.  It’s a sign of how deep seated his panic is that he actually thinks he can change the equation by the use of dogma driven force.   In this, he is as much of a nitwit at his boss.

  127. 127.

    cmorenc

    You all do realize that if unfortunately, Trump does somehow manage to somehow squeak out an electoral college win in 2020 and keep even a narrow Senate majority – one likely result will be Trump nominating Barr to RBG’s then-open SCOTUS seat, in part because *nothing* else will piss off Democrats more than putting Barr on SCOTUS to replace Ginsburg.  That would be an even more enormous affront than Bush I nominating “Uncle Tom” Thomas was to the opening created by Thurgood Marshall’s SCOTUS retirement due to urgent health issues.  Think any GOP senators would have the inclination. let alone the bravery to vote against Barr if Trump somehow wins or cheats his way to a second term?

  128. 128.

    Kay

    Matthew Yglesias
    @mattyglesias
    ·3h
    It’s weird that Democratic Party elected officials get relentlessly hounded about random social media fads, while congressional Republicans just weasel away from public statements by the President of the United States.

    We know they all gave up on asking Trump anything sometime in 2017, but to also extend this exception to the entire GOP Congress?

  129. 129.

    Jinchi

    @Fleeting Expletive: About that fence around the White House

    Anyone have an opinion on whether that fence will come down before Trump leaves office? Logic would suggest that once the street marches end, the fence should disappear, but logic would’ve prevented the fence from ever going up in the first place.

    Still it’s really hard to believe that a president under siege is a good look for his re-election campaign and if the media ever picks up on the “Chicken Coop” framing, it will strike straight at Trump’s ego.

  130. 130.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Conservative jurists.
    Pro-life policy.
    Rebuilt military.
    Tax/Regulatory reform.

    I think we need to rephrase all of these:

    • Unqualified rubber-stamp judges
    • Removing health care for poor women
    • Bloating the military budget
    • Giving the rich more money
  131. 131.

    cmorenc

    @cmorenc: 

    You all do realize that if unfortunately, Trump does somehow manage to somehow squeak out an electoral college win in 2020 and keep even a narrow Senate majority – one likely result will be Trump nominating Barr to RBG’s then-open SCOTUS seat

    Of course, I meant *if* RBG’s health doesn’t hold out past 2024. Which unfortunately, will become increasingly likely with time.

  132. 132.

    scav

    @MisterForkbeard: Rebuilding the military so that it can be deployed (sometimes without identification as a sign of even further pride!) on every American street. Lawn Order!

  133. 133.

    dopey-o

    @PPCLI: @PPCLI:  “conservative theocracy…..”
    Barr is a member of Opus Dei, a conservative catholic cult (CCC ?) which excercises a great degree of control over its members. For example, books must be approved by one’s priest prior to being read. I am not aware of any ‘tell all’ books by former members.

    I do not know what Opus Dei’s political agenda is, though i suspect that Jefferson, Madison et al would not approve.
    IIRC, justices Scalia and Thomas are / were adherents to Opus Dei.

  135. 135.

    jc

    What Barr means by “History is written by the winners” is, after we “win” a second term, there won’t be any Mueller investigation difficulties next time around, we’ll see to that.

  136. 136.

    Exregis

    @Jinchi: Oh well, you beat me to it. I was about to post that the National Park Service is starting to take down some of the chicken coop. Prompted no doubt by the coop decorations (framed and unframed).

  138. 138.

    rp

    @Barbara: Thomas is Catholic. One of the oddities of the current court is that it’s almost all (or all?) Jews and Catholics.

  139. 139.

    Feathers

    @Barbara: He was raised Catholic, to the point of becoming a seminarian before eventually leaving the church. He “reconciled” with the church during the Clinton administration.

    There is a whole cohort of DC pols and hangers on who converted to Catholicism for the authoritarianism. Newt Gingrich, Ross Douthat, Elizabeth Bruenig. There are many more, but those are the ones that popped into my mind and show the diversity of creepy disciplinarians involved.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @Barbara: I don’t know if Thomas is Catholic now but he was raised  Catholic by his grandfather, who according to Thomas was bitterly disappointed when his grandson declined to study for the priesthood.

  142. 142.

    Jinchi

    @cmorenc: likely result will be Trump nominating Barr to RBG’s then-open SCOTUS seat

    Nope. Too old. Barr is 70.

    Stephen Miller is a good bet.

  143. 143.

    Wapiti

    The press should not take a statement of “fact” from Barr without having him under oath.

  144. 144.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dopey-o:

    IIRC, justices Scalia and Thomas are / were adherents to Opus Dei.

    If you read reporting about pols/judges and OD, nobody’s a member, they’re just friends with members, or they’ve been to a few meetings, but never formally joined… Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Alito. I think of myself as a skeptic to conspiracy theories, but that group sets off all kinds of alarms/

  146. 146.

    Barbara

    @rp: He apparently is now, but my understanding is that he and his wife are members of a different denomination.

  151. 151.

    The Moar You Know

    Of course, I meant *if* RBG’s health doesn’t hold out past 2024. Which unfortunately, will become increasingly likely with time.

    @cmorenc:  This election must be won by Dems.  RBG isn’t going to make it to 2024.  Hell, if she makes it until Jan 20 2021 we will have all dodged a bullet that by all rights should have hit us.  She is 87 and has gone two rounds with pancreatic cancer.

    I really wish she’d bowed out during Obama’s first term.  She was in delicate health even then.

  152. 152.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @yellowdog: Yes, Henry II, but that’ the point H II was a popular king and he still had to crawl threw the streets and get publicly flogged to get out of the he mess created by being ambiguous about how he wanted Becket “solved”

  153. 153.

    The Pale Scot

    @Another Scott:

    In October, Corrigan wrote an op-ed in The Conservative Woman, a London publication, decrying “the false song of feminism” and calling for women to take up traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker
    .

    The women playing that tune always seem to have a job and staff. I don’t think that phrase means what they think I means.

  154. 154.

    joel hanes

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Result of an education with no college chemistry courses.

    Result of a deep conviction that when one is in power, any kind of bullshit lie will serve … which is one of the reasons to grab that kind of power.

  155. 155.

    The Pale Scot

    @SFAW:

    Mafia bosses saying things like

    It’s more like this thing that thing the other thing.

    Jersey native

  158. 158.

    catclub

    @Barbara: It’s a sign of how deep seated his panic is that he actually thinks he can change the equation by the use of dogma driven force. In this, he is as much of a nitwit at his boss.

     

    There are LOTS of times when that has worked.

  162. 162.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @MattF:

    Also, I don’t see Barr having an unexpected meeting with a bus undercarriage any time soon.

    Why not?

  163. 163.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @catclub:

    There are LOTS of times when that has worked.

    Given the Trump admin’s track record of constantly stepping on it’s own dick and making the situation worse? I don’t think that will work here and now

  165. 165.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Geminid: In retrospect I think we’re ALL bitterly disappointed Thomas didn’t choose a different career path

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Barr hasn’t really said anything bad about Trump. He also didn’t directly accuse Trump of lying. He just contradicted him in a way that he thinks makes Trump look good. And that’s fine – they contradict each other all the time.

    He just said that the whole thing wasn’t Trump’s fault, and that the Secret Service insisted Trump go down there and the REAL villains are the protesters. These are all things that Trump can be happy with.

    Meanwhile, Barr is doing a lot of things that Trump loves – like going after protesters, creating spurious investigations of Democrats, going after people who investigated Trump, etc.  He’s in no danger whatsoever.

  166. 166.

    MattF

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Barr is entirely loyal to Trump. He doesn’t hesitate to lie or obfuscate in Trump’s defense. And he’s good at what he does– note that whatever Barr has said, the area at the church was cleared and Trump got his photo-op. The senior military guys in Trump’s entourage turned out to be just decorative; Barr got the job done.

  167. 167.

    J R in WV

     

    Just got home from a hosed up dentist appointment, my paper reminder card says 6/9/20 while their computer says 7/9/20. I’m OK with that actually, the longer off it is the better. Even tho my dentist is a kind gentle and compassionate guy, my first dentist didn’t believe in novocaine. So all the fillings he installed had to be drilled out and replaced because there was decay left under every one of them.

    In the original post I see this:

    Barr comes off as some kind of villain.

    and also this:

    ‘Barr says reducing police immunity would result in law enforcement ‘pulling back’’

    Yes!!

    Exactly!!!

    That is what the demonstrators are demanding, you despicable ass!!!

    Now I’ll read the whole thread, and no doubt have other things to say on an otherwise dead thread.

  168. 168.

    artem1s

    Wow, is Barr actually a lawyer? Cause it’s hard to believe he would agree to perjure himself on the air that way if he was.

    His BS made me think of this scene from Michael Clayton

    https://youtu.be/RpttyTyZ-FU?t=24

    Is that OK, you understand or OK proceed?

  169. 169.

    J R in WV

    @Barbara:

    Barr apparently fancies himself to be an orthodox Catholic…

    Barr is a member of an extremely right wing organization of Catholics called Opus Dei, founded by a Spanish fascist priest back in 2 October 1928. I think they believe that everyone in the world is subject to the Pope’s rule. I would object to that, personally. With force, actually.

    I suspect the current Pope would disagree with Barr about almost everything. There is a reason Pope Francis eats in a dining hall — so that they can’t poison him without also poisoning hundreds of other priests.

  170. 170.

    jonas

    @Another Scott: This was another of Trump’s patented “just to own the libs” appointments, kind of like putting a former coal industry lobbyist in charge of the EPA. They know we care about institutions like VOA and our image abroad, so who can they get to do maximal damage to those things? Ah, yes, an authoritarian-loving homophobe should do the trick! Next he’ll probably appoint Seb Gorka chair of the NEH or something, but I probably shouldn’t be putting these ideas out there.

  171. 171.

    jonas

    @J R in WV: While I’ve known Opus Dei members who I would in no way describe as authoritarian in their outlook (very devout Catholics to be sure), their founder was, as you point out, a major Franco devotee, and Barr seems to be really, really into the mirror-shaded dictator stuff.

  172. 172.

    Just Chuck

    @artem1s: Perjury only applies to statements made under oath, not ordinary interviews.  There’s a reason Barr refuses to appear before any committees.

  174. 174.

    low-tech cyclist

    ‘Barr says reducing police immunity would result in law enforcement ‘pulling back’’

    Sounds like extortion to me.

    Not to mention, threatening to cut the police budget by 3% results in law enforcement ‘pulling back.’  Might as well go for the gusto.

  175. 175.

    prostratedragon

    @Barbara:
    Given his father’s role in the Epstein story, I’d say he’s a hereditary factotum to a certain class of people. This is what his clan does.

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