Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Come on, man.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Let there be snark.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

White supremacy is terrorism.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

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

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 127 Comments

This post is in: 

Looks like we need a new thread.  Everyone else is being super respectful, leaving the thread up for folks to meet Mousebumples match amount, which I greatly appreciate.  (Thank you.)

Possible discussion ideas:

Brian Schatz was on Pod Save America last night, and he is optimistic that there will be good results from the current sausage-making in the Senate.

In spite of the disaster we are leaving, are we doing the right thing in getting out of the forever war?  I say yes.  What say you?

Anything else you want to talk about.

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    JoyceH

    Other possible topics: arrest of Thomas Barrack, and Fauci laying down a righteous ouchie on Rand Paul.

  2. 2.

    andy

    Afghanistan going south was inevitable. The only one who conquered the place was Alexander the Great, and he only cared about it because it was his route to India, which he wanted very very badly.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    The chair of TFG’s Inaugural Committee just got arrested by the Feds.

    Tom Barrack charged with illegally lobbying then-President Trump on behalf of UAE

    Thomas Barrack, a private equity investor who is a close friend of former President Donald Trump, was arrested Tuesday morning in Los Angeles on federal charges related to illegally lobbying Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

    Barrack, who was charged with two other men in a seven-count indictment in Brooklyn, New York, federal court, was chairman of Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund.

    The Santa Monica, California, resident is accused with the other defendants of advancing the interests of the UAE at the direction of senior officials of that country by influencing the foreign policy positions of Trump’s 2016 campaign for president, and then the foreign policy positions of the U.S. government during Trump’s presidency through April 2018

  4. 4.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Garland did not decide not to prosecute Ross. The DOJ did file charges against a Trumpy today.  Looks like the rending of garments over Garland’s perfidy was a bit premature.

  5. 5.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Kos has a post up to the effect that the decision not to prosecute Wilbur Ross was made under the Trump administration, not the Biden one. I know we talked about this yesterday.

    Also my publisher is moving house next week and would dearly love to get rid of stock on hand before they have to pay moving costs. They have 3 copies of THE WIND READER. They ship to the US for about $4 and don’t charge sales tax. Please take a look and consider buying, if not my book, then someone else’s. The owner is a young woman and she and her wife are buying their first house. They’re very excited.

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    In spite of the disaster we are leaving, are we doing the right thing in getting out of the forever war? I say yes. What say you?

    Yes, we are. It’s been a long time since we had enough people to seriously affect things in Afghanistan on our own. We should either get serious and send enough people to make a difference, or we should get out completely. There’s absolutely no point in keeping a token force that’s too small to achieve anything but piss people off and draw fire.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’ve heard/seen a couple of interviews with James Clyburn in the last week, and parallel with Schatz (who is pretty damn funny) on infrastructure, the unspoken strategy on voting rights seems to be (indirectly) sweet talking Joe Manchin into a carve-out (and I guess hoping Sinema follows his lead). Clyburn said in one of them that Manchin as persuaded him that abolishing the filibuster outright is not necessary.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ll be genuinely curious to see if Chris Hayes walks back any of his righteous disappointment of last night. He never, to my knowledge, commented on his own egregious behavior with the Tara Reade story.

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    Watch Rand get his ass kicked by (actual) Dr. Fauci!

    (You’d think Fauci was Rand’s neighbor!)

    RAND PAUL: Knowing it's a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement where you said the NIH never funded gain of function research in Wuhan?FAUCI: I've never lied before Congress & I don't retract that statement … you don't know what you're talking about pic.twitter.com/UtWoO2KHsb— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 20, 2021

  14. 14.

    CaseyL

    It was drizzling here in Seattle, a much needed bit of wetness. Now seems the sun is trying to come out.  What’s the opposite of that little jingle, “Rain, rain, go away”?  I want the clouds back and more rain, dammit!

    It has long been a truism that legislation is a process that one shouldn’t look at too closely, because it’s ugly.  That was mostly true when there were earmarks, and legislators did a lot of backroom dealing.  I had hoped that the infrastrucure package, with enough money in it for every state to get some, would bring back some of the old fashioned wheeling and dealing.  It seems not: the GQP has no interest whatsoever in bargaining in good faith.  If Brian Schatz proves to be correct, I will rejoice.  But right now, it’s looking like the entire $5-6B package will have to go through reconciliation – and that’s assuming Mr. Coal-and-Koch and Ms. I-am-a-Social-Media-Personality even vote for reconciliation.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    reposting (before I close this tab and get some damn work done really, Self, I mean it this time) a thread on the Barrack story. My guess, as a dumb guy on the internet, is he needed some of that sweet, sweet sovereign wealth liquidity.

    Chris Megerian @ChrisMegerian 
    Thomas Barrack has been charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent to advance the interests of the United Arab Emirates, the Justice Department just announced.

    Mike Flynn seems to be deep into this.

  16. 16.

    germy

    Washington — A prominent conservative group funneled valuable information about Republican voters between the Republican National Committee and state lawmakers, a move that violated its nonpartisan status and tax law, according to a whistleblower complaint filed Tuesday with the Internal Revenue Service.

    The Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal group, filed the complaint against the American Legislative Exchange Council, which hosts conferences and provides model legislation to state legislators. It alleges that the council provides its 2,000 members, most of them Republican lawmakers, with data from a campaign vendor linked to the Republican National Committee, and that data ALEC members enter in the system goes directly to the RNC. ALEC does not provide similar information about Democratic voters.

    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/complaint-alleges-group-funneled-data-rnc-lawmakers-78948526

  17. 17.

    JoyceH

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I particularly like this bit:

    “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about quite frankly, and I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about.”

    It’s OFFICIAL!

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    @JoyceH: ‘Senator, let me give you all the respect that you are due: You’re a moron who had to self-accredit because no reputable agency would sign off on your skill as a doctor, your next-door neighbor’s only flaw was that he did a less than complete job in beating the shit out of you, and for the love of God would you please comb that head-Tribble once in a while?’

  23. 23.

    dr. bloor

    @mrmoshpotato: Senator Paul seems determined to re-experience the abuse he took from his superiors in med school and residency for being an arrogant dumbass.

  24. 24.

    opiejeanne

    @CaseyL: My. husband looked out the back door this morning and said, ‘Why is the deck wet?”

    I know it rained hard for about 10 minutes in Bothell two weeks ago, a few days after the hideous heat dome, but it hasn’t rained here in a very long time.

    I read recently that earmarks were being discussed as a way to move the infrastructure bill forward with the two individuals you refer to.

  25. 25.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @andy: Also, ATG had a “go with the flow” attitude and didn’t change the places he conquered into Greek city-states. He adapted. Can’t say that for the clusterfuck of generals who succeeded him.

    I thought Russia’s 20-year fiasco would have taught us that regime change was futile. The goal should’ve been to get OBL, marginalize al Queda and then cut and run. But the neocons, other ideas they had.

    But it is heartbreaking and will continue to be, for a long time.

  26. 26.

    germy

    Jeff Bezos announces he’s giving Van Jones $100 million to donate to charity as Jones sees fit. Bezos calls this a “Courage and Civility” award

    — Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) July 20, 2021

    Giving 100 million to Van Jones is like a parody of what an out of touch, super rich person would do.

    — Centrism Fan Acct ? (@Wilson__Valdez) July 20, 2021

  27. 27.

    Van Buren

    I had some alarming and completely unexpected medical  test results last week…then went for more tests…was promised results by end of day Friday…still no call from  Dr. ..I  called yesterday,  staff said he would call today….I am mildly annoyed at this point.

  30. 30.

    West of the Rockies

    The Taliban.  Ugh. Am I wrong, or are they basically an entirely patriarchal, toxic-masculinity, misogynist group of man-boys with guns and swords?

  35. 35.

    germy

    The space race of the 1960s was fueled by American tax payers. This space race is fueled by non-tax payers.

    — Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 20, 2021

  36. 36.

    Fraud Guy

    My wife and her Q curious friends are getting a lot of phone spam targeting either:

    You owe back taxes to the IRS
    or
    You have been chosen for a special Bidenadministrationprogram please call the programadministrator
    (the computer generated voice makes those phrases sound like one word)

    The first one sounds like the classic scam, but the second almost sounds like a push poll trying to rile up people with the special program only Biden supporters could get–and is having that effect in her group.

    Anyone else encountering that?

  37. 37.

    CaseyL

    @opiejeanne:

    My. husband looked out the back door this morning and said, ‘Why is the deck wet?”

     

    My cats had the same question :).

    (They don’t love the rain like I do.)

    I read recently that earmarks were being discussed as a way to move the infrastructure bill forward with the two individuals you refer to.

    Good! Glad to hear there’s some strategizing. Maybe a little stick to go with the carrot?

  38. 38.

    mrmoshpotato

    @CaseyL:

    It was drizzling here in Seattle, a much needed bit of wetness. Now seems the sun is trying to come out.  What’s the opposite of that little jingle, “Rain, rain, go away”?  I want the clouds back and more rain, dammit! 

    ?Rain, rain, stay right here, wet all the land, and then we cheer?

  40. 40.

    dr. bloor

    @Fraud Guy:

    (the computer generated voice makes those phrases sound like one word)

    They no doubt flow a little easier in the original German.

  41. 41.

    Cameron

    @Fraud Guy: I’ve gotten a few of the second type, about a Biden program to forgive student debt. Sounds great, but I’m 70 years old.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    AP has apparently corrected its story to clarify that Biden did not kidnap the Lindbergh baby.

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Fraud Guy: I get text spam asking if I’m interested in a medical residency in Iowa.

    I’m as much of an MD as that scumbag Rand Paul.

  47. 47.

    andy

    @Ruckus: Nope. They had an opportunity to kill OBL and get out clean, but they just had to pull resources away for their Iraq disaster.

  49. 49.

    Mallard Filmore

    @dmsilev:

     

    ‘Senator, let me give you all the respect that you are due: You’re a moron who had to self-accredit because no reputable agency would sign off on your skill as a doctor …

    Not true. He got into a spat with the accreditation agency about a change in policy. Something to do with letting new doctors into the club.

  51. 51.

    Geminid

    @West of the Rockies: The U.S. has been out of the fight in Afghanistan for some months now. The Taliban are experienced, well supplied fighters,  but they haven’t won yet. They are not the only Afgans who will fight.

    So the U.S. will keep an enhanced guard at the embassy, and a few hundred fighters at the airport. And the Government forces will be supplied as long as they can fight.

    If we had pulled out May 1 like trump wanted, there likely would have been a stampede and Kabul would have already fallen. Many assume that is now only a matter of time, but this is not a certainty.

    What is certain is that a lot of blood will be spilled the next few months. And a Taliban victory will not end the bloodshed, and could bring even more.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    On Tuesday, Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the most promising war powers reform legislation in decades as part of the larger National Security Powers Act of 2021 (NSPA). There’s much to commend in this bipartisan, landmark bill that seeks to finally reset the balance of power between the political branches and restore Congress’ constitutional role in determining when the nation goes to war. 

     

    https://www.justsecurity.org/77533/a-giant-step-forward-for-war-powers-reform/

  56. 56.

    germy

    “It’s no accident that those with the greatest to lose from real change to the status quo favor civility,” says Anand Giridharadas, whose book Winners Take All excoriated billionaire philanthropy. “Real change involves a loss of power, and for America to progress, Jeff Bezos needs to lose power. And he will always find that uncivil. We should do it anyway.”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeff-bezos-caps-space-flight-with-dollar100-million-awards-to-van-jones-and-jose-andres?ref=home?ref=home

  57. 57.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Cripes. I didn’t realize  how obnoxious Paul was to Fauci.

     

    RAND PAUL: Knowing it's a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement where you said the NIH never funded gain of function research in Wuhan?FAUCI: I've never lied before Congress & I don't retract that statement … you don't know what you're talking about pic.twitter.com/UtWoO2KHsb— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 20, 2021

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: I would like to see Congress assert its Constitutional authority on a lot of things.  Restoring some balance there might (eventually) stop a lot of Green Lanternism.  In any case, we put too much on the President.

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    Takes its own sweet time doing set-up but once it finally builds up steam, not half bad (although choppy in moving between parallel plot lines). Season 1 only of the Danish series Follow the Money is included with Prime until the end of the month.

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @andy: The Northern Alliance fought off the Taliban for ten years without our help. They must have had more combat skills than you or me.

  62. 62.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    This wasn’t a one-time thing.  Paul has been abusing Fauci for a long time.  Every time Paul gets the opportunity to question Fauci, he attacks.

    It looks like Fauci has had about enough.  His hands were shaking with rage in this latest clip.

    Imagine what it must be like to be a person with Fauci’s expertise and training and experience, being grilled and accused by a fraud like Paul?

  63. 63.

    germy

    @RSA:

    Reminds me of the MyPillow guy, who boasted in commercials that his product was recommended by the National Sleep Institute (or some such agency) and it turned out it was an “institute” founded by the MyPillow guy.

  64. 64.

    karen marie

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Who did decline to prosecute Ross then?  And if it was Barr or whoever replaced him in the last few months, why couldn’t Garland reverse that?

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid: Is that what’s going on?

    The red sun yesterday was kinda wild.  Showed up extra-wild when we tried to take pics of it, too!

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    @germy: it’s beyond parody

    May it serve as a wake-up call (it won’t) to non-billionaire America: these people are so far out of touch, they may as well just stay out in space next time.

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: I listened to WTOP radio out of D.C. this morning, and the weather woman clued listeners in on the source of the haze.

  73. 73.

    karen marie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   I’m starting to get the distinct impression that Chris Hayes is a moron, or – at the least – now believes his own farts don’t stink.  His endorsement of the “if people on the left would stop mocking anti-vac people, they’d get vaccinated” bullshit.

    I’ve had a working theory for a long time that people high up in the media food chain at some point stop looking at news reports that they’re not themselves reading off a teleprompter or been handed to them as bullet points five minutes before they go on air.  I don’t know how anyone watches political chat shows without absolutely losing their mind.  The people opining on them seem to not have even the most basic understanding of anything that’s happened in the last week, much less in the last five, ten, 20 or 40 years.

  74. 74.

    Spanky

    @Jeffro: Yeah, the sky’s a uniform sheen of dirty white as far east here as the Chesapeake Bay, and both sunrise and sunset are red. It makes sense that we’re getting smoke, though I haven’t smelled it like I had from the BC fires a few years ago.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @karen marie: It was someone with the Trump DOJ.  And I don’t know the ins and outs of the referral process.  Maybe he can.  Maybe he will.  Maybe he can’t.  Maybe he won’t.  My point is that it was wrong to jump on him for something that happened under the prior admin.  I am annoyed by the people who are just waiting for him to “betray” us when there is no reason to think that he will.

  79. 79.

    New Deal democrat

    Two important facts for today:

    1. Secret service protection for Trump’s family ends today.

    2. Iran is still really p****d off about, and has vowed revenge for, Trump’s assassination of Qasem Solemani.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:

    @Spanky: my cousin out in Montana (who has to deal with major amounts of wildfire smoke coming down his valley even in a good year) is actually thinking about moving at this point, provided that he doesn’t have to sell his house at a loss.  It’s THAT bad.

  81. 81.

    karen marie

    @Mallard Filmore:   My understanding was as this story lays out – he didn’t want to have to take the recertification exam after he’d been practicing for ten years.

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Incompetent in what sense?  If you’ve been practicing medicine for ten years without keeping up on new practices, procedures and protocols and, thus, cannot pass the recertification exam, I’d say you’re incompetent as a doctor.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:

    The space race of the 1960s was fueled by American tax payers. This space race is fueled by non-tax payers.

    — Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 20, 2021

    Burn.  That is perfect.

    Bezos might be sensitive to that.  At press conference today, he made a point to thank Amazon employees and customers because “you paid for this.”

    The employees??

  83. 83.

    JoyceH

    @Spanky:

    DO NOT MAKE ME START TO LIKE TOM BRADY

    I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but Jonathan Chait says this makes today the worst day of Trump’s life, because he was such a Brady fanboi.

    “In Trump’s mind, Biden is a pathetic loser, and he is the winner. Like Tom Brady.
    Yet here was Brady, inverting the whole hierarchy. Biden is the winner, like Brady, and Winners now are guys who get called sleepy by the Losers for making a small mistake on the way to their triumph.
    Biden and Brady, together at the house Trump used to live in and hoped to never leave, basking in their winner-ness and laughing at Trump. Donald Trump would rather relive Election Night a thousand times than see this day.”
    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/tom-brady-joins-president-biden-at-white-house-to-mock-trump.html

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    @karen marie

    Hayes has been playing the journalistic equivalent of an ambulance chaser for years now since he was moved from the weekend slot. Also a terrible interviewer, paying little to no heed to what the other person is saying, particularly if it might in any way deviate from Hayes’ own pre-decided upon conclusion.

  86. 86.

    JoyceH

    @New Deal democrat: ​
     

    1. Secret service protection for Trump’s family ends today.

    Also cool – they had news clips of Biden holding a cabinet meeting today, and there are the Cabinet Secretaries at the table, and the staffers all ranged around the wall — and Jared was NOT in the room at all!

    That by itself makes it a good day.

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    Heading out for a while, but do keep us apprised on Nancy Pelosi and her reaction to McCarthy’s deplorable 3 selections for the Select Committee.  Jim Jordan.  No way.

    I am hoping Nancy Smash establishes a line in the sand.  If you voted against certifying results from any state, even one, you do not get appointed to this committee.  Takes out Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, and another of the 5 Republicans selected.  Sidesteps any replacements by the Q crowd.

    Hoping Liz Cheney and others did not vote against any certification.

    Jordan was appointed to be a zoo animal (apologies, cheetahs and all others, especially poo-flinging monkeys) and disrupt the proceedings.  Get him out of there.

    I like Biden’s tack of “bipartisan means the voters”, and not the whackaloon congresscritters from bright red seats.

    No need to give them a forum.  They already disbelieve in and disparage the proceedings.  Fuck em.  We can do better without them.  Bring on someone better, or go without Republicans.  They are going to cry, whine and lie no matter who is on that Committee.  It is all they do.

    We do not need to kowtow to them.  We don’t.

  88. 88.

    RSA

    @Omnes Omnibus: Why pursue this somewhat artificial line of attack when there are so many genuine ones?

    Good point. I was hoping Fauci would say (maybe he has some other time?) that people shouldn’t be fooled by the MD after Paul’s name; he has no expertise.  But I think some people are swayed by Paul being a doctor.

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Floyd County, south of Roanoke, might be a good place for your cousin to consider. Or Amherst County, south of the James. And Augusta County and the rest of the Valley is nice, if your cousin wants to come east.

  91. 91.

    StringOnAStick

    @Jeffro: If your cousin is serious about leaving, he might want to take advantage of the real estate boom and get out before everyone else wants to leave the West.

    Sunday we drove to a blueberry farm in the West side of the Cascades and picked 20 lbs.  On the way back to dry central Oregon, the supposed to be wet side had conifers with brown needles on the top sides of all branches, an impact of the drought and a sure sign that this fire season will no doubt get a lot worse.  It’s smokier today where we used to live (Denver area), and extra crispy here.  The city has announced they will stop watering the grass in the parks if the river drops to 880cfs, at which point their water right ends.

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    @karen marie:

    I don’t know how anyone watches political chat shows without absolutely losing their mind. 

    Are you implying that Chuck Todd is an assclown?

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @JoyceH

    Also no gushing over how so much sheer awesomeness could inhabit one body.

    Restored room for staffers once the applause machine was carted away to Elba-lago.

  94. 94.

    Anonymous At Work

    @mrmoshpotato: Eh, just wait until September when people start having SAD and jumping off bridges.  Trust me, Seattle summers are the best it gets.

  96. 96.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Stunner – LA Dodgers hire new manager

    Shit! It’s a whole new ballgame (photo)

  97. 97.

    karen marie

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Yeah, I was a bit taken aback at all the #FireGarland shit on twitter.  People just want SOMEBODY TO GO TO JAIL, and it’s not happening.  It’s very hard to understand, especially when reading foreign news and learning that, for instance, former French president Sarkozy was convicted and imprisoned for bribery – after he left office but still. Latin America has tried and convicted a bunch of presidents. Why can’t we?

    The worst people always seem to not only walk away from charges but continue to fail upward.

  99. 99.

    Jeffro

    @StringOnAStick: yeah, I will be reaching out to him about it and seeing what he thinks about coming east sometime soon.  I doubt he’ll do it, but we’ll see.

    Me and Mrs. Fro used to think about living out west once we retire, but it’s hard to see that happening now.  We might start looking north (upstate NY, Canada)…who knows?

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: The “fire Garland” push is to be expected. There are people who want this administration to fail, and take any and all opportunities to undermine it. These people prey upon the gullible.

  102. 102.

    Betty

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: But there is so much they need to do that will not get bipartisan support and cannot go into reconciliation, including gun regulation, immigration reform, police reform, etc. So they just give that all up? 

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @karen marie:

    People just want SOMEBODY TO GO TO JAIL, and it’s not happening.  It’s very hard to understand,

    I’ve always thought the odds of anyone whose name we recognized doing jail time, especially someone named trump, were long. trumps don’t leave written traces, and judges don’t rule on moral outrage, and almost half the national jury pool wanted trump to have a second term. I was quite and pleasantly surprised that Manafort got convicted.

  105. 105.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy: This recall bullshit won’t be over until mid-September?  Fuck.  I hope Californians can avoid too many stupid ads about it.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @karen marie: We don’t know that he couldn’t pass the exam.   And like I said, why pursue this path which is somewhat murky, when there are so many other lines of attack open?

  107. 107.

    Bill Arnold

    @karen marie:

    And if it was Barr or whoever replaced him in the last few months, why couldn’t Garland reverse that?

    There’s also the question of whether they could reasonably expect a conviction. W. Ross does a good impression of half-senile, and is known to nap during meetings, and can afford a very expensive legal team. (IMO guilty AF, to be clear.)

  109. 109.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jeffro:

    The red sun yesterday was kinda wild.

    Ah. Moon last night in NYState was reddish and dim, and it was first quarter, not a full moon/lunar eclipse.

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty: That’s the whole point of a carve out.  You say that the filibuster doesn’t apply to certain types of legislation.  Then pass it with 50 + Harris.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    @Bill Arnold

    As the green lady said, “These things must be done delicately,” to minimize the appearance of being political retaliation. Evidence sufficient to prove a case is a different creature than evidence sufficient to prompt an investigation.

  114. 114.

    PST

    @karen marie:

    Yeah, I was a bit taken aback at all the #FireGarland shit on twitter. People just want SOMEBODY TO GO TO JAIL, and it’s not happening.

    I honestly expect there will be people going to jail, maybe Tom Barrack, but is was never going to be Wilbur Ross. Given the list of crimes that TFG cronies are guilty of, giving misleading testimony about how you arrived at a decision that was rendered moot by subsequent events is a distraction. It was way too subjective to result in a conviction. It would have been a wasted effort. Referring it to DOJ in the first place was just a way of tossing a hot potato.

  115. 115.

    Bill Arnold

    @New Deal democrat:

    1. Secret service protection for Trump’s family ends today.
    2. Iran is still really p****d off about, and has vowed revenge for, Trump’s assassination of Qasem Solemani.

    Yeah, I’ve watching this too. Iran need not do anything (kinetic), and get their revenge with pure Fear. Just a little chatter on some channels that find their way to the Trumps and the US Secret Service.

  116. 116.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Bill Arnold:

    There’s also the question of whether they could reasonably expect a conviction.

    I really just don’t give a damn about this one.  Sure, I’d love to see him jailed, but ‘misleading congress in a way that’s probably lying while talking about how a question got onto the census’ is at the bottom of prosecutions I care about.  People have made decent arguments that it would even be unwise, because it might interfere with the important prosecutions.  Whether they’re right or wrong, I didn’t care when I thought Garland’s DoJ decided it, and it’s not worth much outrage now that I know Barr’s DoJ decided it.

  117. 117.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: conifers with brown needles on the top sides of all branches, an impact of the drought

    Trees were fried by the crazy heat dome. The drought may have left them more vulnerable. I have a bit of continuous low level anxiety about PNW fire danger. Hoping the Beachie Fire reduced the fuel loads enough to keep fires away from around here.

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @Betty: Democrats can try to push through gun safety measures like expanded background checks. If Republicans block them, Democrats can make this a campaign issue in 2022 and 2024. Virginia Democrats ran on gun safety platforms in 2017 and 2019, and by 2020 they had taken over the legislature and were able to pass a good package of six gun safety measures. The balance of electoral power shifted, at least on this issue. It hurt Republicans badly in suburban districts.

  119. 119.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @andy:

    Afghanistan going south was inevitable.

    Like with Iraq, we’ll never know.  The time to find out if they could be rebuilt as better places was right after they were conquered, and Bush shrugged and lost interest once the tanks stopped rolling.  After 7 years of being left to fester, it was too late for anyone to fix.

  120. 120.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In spite of the disaster we are leaving, are we doing the right thing in getting out of the forever war?

    We were never going to invest the necessary sums to “get out” in any other circumstances, so yes, get it over with. Rip off the bandage.

  122. 122.

    Dan B

    @Jeffro: Smoke from fires in the PNW has produced haze all the way to New York state and possibly farther.  It’s likely there will be more this year and more in coming years since the Jet Stream seems to be setting up to be slower and dip far south over the Midwest bringing more excess rain and more droughts in the western and northeastern US.  It didn’t take long for a new (ab)normal to arrive.  What’s next?

  124. 124.

    karen marie

    @Omnes Omnibus:   I’m basing my belief that he couldn’t pass the exam on the fact that he went to incredible lengths to avoid taking it.  If he could have passed it, why wouldn’t he have just taken it?

    And it’s not “a line of attack,” it’s a statement of fact that he went to incredible lengths to avoid taking it.  People can make their own judgment as to why but …

  125. 125.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @karen marie:

    I’m going to guess you’re north of 40.

    /sigh/

    I look back over my shoulder with painful nostalgia at fifty, bend my balding and greying head to wind, and march on, further North, stooped and resolute.  For I can neither stop, nor turn back. Onward….

  126. 126.

    debbie

    @Fraud Guy:

    I get that shit every day, all the time. I’m sure there’s a massive cloud of federal agents amassing just around the corner to kick in my door and arrest me.

    I received more than 50 calls (I keep track) from a computerized voice warning me my IRS account had been compromised. As the calls continued, the quality of the voice degraded more and more until it was basically static. This reminded me of DS9 and how Odo degraded bit by bit after picking up an infection from his home planet.

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