Remember, sharing is caring…
This ad should be a commercial on primetime television. pic.twitter.com/RAhU8pBKeU
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 13, 2022
.@POTUS goes on a bike ride pic.twitter.com/sZQ5RJPYit
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) August 14, 2022
.@POTUS: “The big drug companies spent nearly $100 million to beat this bill. And every Republican voted against it.”
We face a choice: “whether we protect the already-powerful or have the courage to build a future where everybody has an even shot.” pic.twitter.com/XXtBPPXnV2
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) August 12, 2022
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 13, 2022
A little nostalgia, for readership capture…
https://t.co/KRhVFeLDab pic.twitter.com/NOAIEhylZg
— Greg Greene (@ggreeneva) August 12, 2022
======
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle:
These "deep fissures within the party" are between Republican officials who defend Trump violently and unreservedly, and those who only do it emphatically. https://t.co/R8p3QdVpw4
— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) August 15, 2022
… [T]he shifting explanations have made it difficult for Republicans, many of whom are eager to please the former president, to come together with a unified defense. They are divided about whether to attack the nation’s top law enforcement agencies and how aggressive to be in those attacks…
The Republican leaders in the Senate and the House, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, have also said that Mr. Garland needs to provide answers.
Mr. Garland, for his part, held a news conference on Thursday defending the way the Justice Department has handled the case.
“Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor,” he said. “Under my watch that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.”…
But… Democrats immediately seized on Republicans’ anti-law enforcement statements.
“I thought in the old days the Republican Party used to stand with law enforcement,” Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I hope some of them do today because this kind of rhetoric is very dangerous to our country.”
She pointed out that when she reviews classified documents she must do so in a secure room. “I can’t even wear my Fitbit,” she said.
Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has called for the director of national intelligence to conduct an “immediate review and damage assessment” and provide a classified briefing to Congress about the potential harm done to national security by Mr. Trump’s handling of documents.
“The fact that they were in an unsecure place that is guarded with nothing more than a padlock or whatever security they had at a hotel is deeply alarming,” he said on “Face the Nation.”…
"I'm impressed Democrats finally got us to say, 'Defund the FBI.’ That makes you look unserious."
– GOP Congressman Dan Crenshaw https://t.co/sNMFgnkDod
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 14, 2022
Yeah, this is gonna fly like a frozen turkey:
Seems like Trump supporters/prominent former Trump administration officials have settled on “he did it but it’s no big deal.”
At least they are no longer spreading conspiracy theories that evidence was planted. https://t.co/wpOA2hpcVp
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) August 14, 2022
p.a.
When a bell rings an angel gets its wings. When tRump farts a TS document goes public.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
Even when things were looking bleak earlier this year, I never stopped enjoying having Dems in control than than Republicans.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Here’s the thread unroll for an informative thread on handling of classified documents. Here’s the start:
1/
“This week in Trumpland has been wild. So I thought I’d put my FSO hat back on and talk about document classification. This is a long one.
A sitting president cannot wave his magic wand and declare something declassified. ”
2/
“He has the authority to read someone into classified programs whenever he wishes, but the documents themselves must go through a review process before being officially declassified.”
3/
“Certain topics, like nuclear programs (including some communication programs that support nuclear deployment), cannot be declassified by anyone. The president included.”
mardam422
He can literally change water into wine.
RandomMonster
Can this week top last week? We’ll see.
bystander
My theory: ‘Rump keeps saying that he declassified all the documents because he has already divulged/sold their contents. He knows that the FBI knows he has committed treason and he’s trying to defuse the charges by saying he had declassified the documents.
gene108
I worked for a company that had some small DoD contacts and subcontracts with larger contractors.
For two projects we needed to have a Secret security clearance to have people working on those projects on our payroll. I got tapped to be the Facility Security Officer. I made sure we were up to date on training, and other backend stuff to comply with government requirements to maintain the security clearance.
I’ve been through several training sessions about insider threats, handling both classified and unclassified documents, and the like.
One thing that’s emphasized is government documents, regardless of classification, are accessed only on a need to know basis. Even unclassified documents are marked For Official Use Only on every single page. If you don’t have an official reason to see the documents, you should mind your own business.
Just because a documents declassified, it doesn’t mean any idiot with a pulse can access it. Plus, there are rules on how official documents are stored, what can be taken out of the office, transmitted electronically, and the process to do take or transmit documents.
Unless TFG has a pressing need to know as he grifts his supporters for cash, and builds his stupid social media platform, there’s no reason for him to have these documents, even if he did declassify them.
Government documents aren’t souvenirs you take with you after your last day on the job.
different-church-lady
@mardam422:
In fact, he can pretty much do that with any substance.
Baud
The AP did an article the other day about the donations Sinema got from Wall Street or something like that. That’s fair game, she deserves it. But shouldn’t the media be doing to same thing to all the Republicans in Congress? I don’t see a reason Sinema should get singled out because she’s only half rotten instead of thoroughly spoiled.
Lapassionara
@mardam422: I think you’ve got that backwards. He changes wine into water.
The Trump 2024 banner has disappeared from our MAGA neighbor’s house. Waiting to see if it is just temporarily gone, or if Trump has lost a fan.
trnc
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s great info. Thanks.
trnc
@gene108: Somebody really needs to start asking every republican who says they have questions for DOJ if they have any questions for DT.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I won’t say I was enjoying it back then, but there was never a point where it wasn’t infinitely preferable to the alternative.
Baud
Hippos are the cutest little murderers.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: The media absolutely should cover Republican corruption, but I think it’s a mash-up of the “only Dems have agency” conundrum and the “dog bites man” trope. Big Pharma lobbyists bought Republicans by the bushel? Ho-hum.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Repeat after me: only Democrats have agency.
Besides, the GQP is supposed to be the Party of Big Business, so it’s perfectly OK when they do it.
ETA: Beaten to the punch by Betty C!
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
@Baud: Only Democrats have agency.
The Republicans are just … there. Only donations to Dems matter, and any donations to Dems are inherently suspicious, and cause an infinitude of clouds, shadows, and hinted-at implications. That’s just math
Edit : or, what Betty Cracker said.
Editedit : or what lowtechcyclist said.
lowtechcyclist
Dropping the facetiousness for a moment, it really is a problem when the media get all ho-hum about the GQP being owned by the corporate world.
Because while it may be ho-hum to the media, and even to those of us who talk politics every day in places like this, there are a lot of people who only have a vague idea about it.
So when they report stuff like this about Dems but not about Rethugs, the implication those low-info types get is that the Dems are more corrupt than the Rethugs. And that false impression is dangerous.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I was just about to make that point in response to everyone who replied. But you said it better.
Geminid
Cincinnati.com has a good op-ed by lifelong Republican and former Bush staffer John M. Bridgeland. Bridgeland discusses his experiences with J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan, and explains why he’s starting the group “Republicans for Ryan.
Former Republican Ron Filipkowski linked to this editorial through his twitter account and asked people in Ohio to share it.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud: Thanks!
BC in Illinois
Mr. Patel is correct.
Donald Trump can stand over a set of documents and say they are declassified.
So can I.
I also am a former official of the US Government. [USN, 2nd Class Petty Officer]
I can stand over a set of documents and say they are declassified.
It will have the same legal effect.
Brachiator
@Baud:
From a 2021 article… Big Pharma likes to spread money around.
Baud
@Brachiator:
That better, but that doesn’t like the donations to a specific vote. That’s what the Sinema article, which just came out, was doing.
Baud
Here’s the article.
hueyplong
@Brachiator: Want to wager what the money split looks like when GOPers chair the committees?
gene108
@Baud:
Republicans being in the pocket of big business is part of whatever passes for a party platform these days. It’s not so much only Democrats have agency, but rather the media’s acceptance of Republican corruption that feeds into the larger narrative of how many in the media treat Republicans as abusers.
All the “better tread carefully with Trump, don’t wanna make MAGA mad” takes that spewed out last week are just part of embracing this idea that Republicans as abusers.
There go two miscreants
@BC in Illinois: “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.”
satby
@Betty Cracker: more “dog bites man” I think. During the 2016 travesty I argued with a well known local (Chicago) newsreader about why his industry was being so unfair to Clinton while basically ignoring all the actual bad stuff already known about TFG. He said everyone knew that about TFG (they didn’t) and it would be a waste of time since he wouldn’t win anyway. So covering Clinton’s perfidy was more important. And he considered himself quite the Oak Park liberal. I haven’t spoken to him since.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Lapassionara:
actually he pays Russian hookers to turn wine into water
Baud
@satby:
When we talk about the “system” that keeps us from making more progress, we’re talking about your former friend.
ETA: Too often we focus on the billionaires and forget about the willing foot soldiers.
Kropacetic
@Baud: Well, you can’t blame Republicans for killing the tax on investors, none of them were gonna vote for that tax anyway. The Democrats were trying to pass it and the Democrats failed because of a Democrat, they’re the only ones accountable for their actions. /lazyMedia
SFAW
@RandomMonster:
Maybe every week can become a (pro-Dems) Infrastructure Week?
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: As we all know, the solution is to get money out of politics, but we’re going in the opposite direction, thanks largely to the thoroughly corrupt Roberts court GOP majority.
I don’t know that stories like the one on Sinema convince low-info citizens that Dems are more corrupt than Repubs. Maybe, but I know it fuels the “no difference” crap.
satby
@Baud: I totally agree. And at some point he trotted out the stupidity that passes for journalistic analysis: if both liberals AND conservatives complain, the news media must be doing something right and hitting that sweet, sweet “view from nowhere” that is the pinnacle of integrity. 🤮
zhena gogolia
@bystander: The Russian news anchors were crowing about how the documents had already been studied in Moscow long ago.
SFAW
@There go two miscreants:
“Unhappy am I with all the powers I possess
But … I-i-i-i-i can’t get next to you”
Sorry, but the meter reminded me of the Temps
Lapassionara
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: LOL
zhena gogolia
@satby: Sounds like he went to the Dean Baquet School of Journalism.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
In that last tweet, Patel is literally wearing a lapel pin with a dollar sign to spell his name (
KashK$H).Total class.
When Dump sends his people, he not sending his best. He’s sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And none, I assume, are good people.
Anyway
@Baud:
Dems want to cap drug prices, allow Medicare to negotiate etc — that’s never been a policy goal of Rs.
TS
Trump’s best friend in Australia – ex PM Morrison (defeated in May election) has himself in a little hot water today and it appears the Governor General (supposedly 100% non political) helped him with his choices.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/scott-morrison-secret-ministry-appointments-covid-19-pandemic/101333856
The GG says it is all legal under the constitution yet it seems to defy the rules of a Westminster system of Government when all ministerial appointments are known & are accountable for the decisions made.
Yet another ex-PM (the one ousted by Morrison) had a few words to say on the ABC (Australia) this evening
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says he is “astonished” the Governor-General was willing to go along with Scott Morrison’s secretive appointment to multiple portfolios within his own cabinet.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/scott-morrison-secret-portfolios-sinister-says-malcolm-turnbull/101335926
Those defending the ex-pm are going through the usual stages of denial.
Seems we all have to fight to keep democracy together when those who think they have the divine right to rule are in power.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
The Lincoln Project put out a great ad on the Inflation Reduction Act (video)
Transcript:
JPL
@Lapassionara: They’re waiting for their DeSantis banner to come.
BC in Illinois
@SFAW:
Yes!
It’s not that I don’t have the power.
It’s just that I just choose not to.
Baud
@Anyway:
But why isn’t it a policy goal for the Rs? Because of corporate donations. Then report on that.
Or treat Sinema as a principled maverick within the Dem party. But no double standards.
Jeffro
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: me likey the “anger or results” framing a LOT
CliosFanBoy
@Geminid: Thanks, I am reading it now. (I get Cincinnati.com to read the Reds news. Apparently, I am a masochist. )
Mo MacArbie
Is it just me (It’s just me), but every time someone here adds an extra “FT” to “FTFNYT” it makes me here a jugband.
Well fuck that fuck that fucking New York Times
Yeah, fuck that fuck that fucking New York Times
They got all the news that’s fit to print
‘Long as you don’t mind that reddish tint
Well fuck that fuck that fucking New York Times
MomSense
Whoever he promised these documents to is going to be pissed. Wonder what they are going to do to mango mussolini?
Betty
@bystander: Based on Bolton’s latest interview and reporting by Robert Costa, this is very possible. He took and kept classified documents in his residence while President.
MomSense
@Mo MacArbie:
Ooh I like that!
JPL
@MomSense: It’s possible that he already passed along copies of the material.
eclare
@Betty: As the saying goes, if the FBI is asking questions, they know the answer. That is what sent Martha Stewart to prison, she thought she could lie to the FBI.
MomSense
@JPL:
True and he could have promised more.
Kropacetic
Suppose Republicans were going to complain no matter what…
Baud
@TS: The right is only barely bound by the letter of the law. The left must also adhere to the spirit of the law as well as all unwritten norms, real or imagined. Twas ever thus.
jonas
@bystander: I don’t know for sure of course, but I think if anything at Mar-a-Lago had actually made it into foreign hands, the NSA and CIA would have picked up on it and we’d be seeing a much bigger freakout in the IC than we are. The FBI sought the search warrant because it became clear that these files *weren’t* in a secure area (some padlocked storage room or something), were at risk, and, more significantly, Trump and his lawyers lied about retaining them.
JPL
Oz’s latest ad shows him shopping at the store for his wife. His wife wants to prepare a crudité platter.
Seriously, wtf? link
Betty Cracker
Obviously, Trump should be prosecuted if he mishandled sensitive documents in a way that harms national security. But regardless of how that shakes out, Tangerine Baal has already damaged U.S. credibility on the world stage. Again. After two solid years of a competent administration trying to clean up the big fucking mess he made during his single disastrous term.
JPL
@jonas: One could hope.
Layer8Problem
@TS: The reasoning on all that seems . . . a little foggy. I’m sure Morrison has a first-rate explanation.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Good lord! His marketing people hate his fucking guts. That’s the only plausible explanation.
eclare
@Baud: I assume you’re talking about Fritz, Fiona’s new brother? I just saw the photos….awww! If I saw that in the wild, I’d be terrified.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@JPL: Don’t they have crudité platters at all the road side diners in rural Pennsylvania
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever read about marketing people.
BTW, was Oz shopping in a New Jersey mall? Because that would be [chef’s kiss].
Kropacetic
@JPL: Crudite sounds awful French. He knows what party nominated him, right?
It’s a veggie platter, bruh.
eclare
@JPL: Those are some odd choices for a crudite platter. Guac and salsa with asparagus? Plus as a comment said, he obviously never shops because he doesn’t realize carts are available!
Immanentize
@JPL:
@Betty Cracker:
My first thought was “deep fake!” created by Fetterman’s comms.
And why is Oz running against Biden when Fetterman is running FOR Pennsylvania? This really is the “phone it in” campaign. I wonder if Oz will even get 27% in the end.
Kropacetic
@eclare: Right? You’re going to serve asparagus raw with dip?
Also, good guac doesn’t come from a package. He chose those items to be expensive. A smarter man may have made his supposed point about inflation while, perhaps, encouraging smarter shopping choices.
JPL
@eclare: I can’t wait for Fetterman’s response. The debate between the two will lit.
Spanky
@Immanentize: Oz is just going through the motions at this point. It has always been about the grift, and he has enough brains to see where actually getting elected has gotten Trump.
So thanks but no thanks!
JPL
@Immanentize: Republicans running for other seats in Pennsylvania, should be concerned. Turnout could suck.
TS
@Layer8Problem:
We’re all waiting to hear it. A few supporters are coming up with the usual excuses – it was legal, well it did no harm, we needed this in the pandemic someone may have been ill, well he isn’t in power now etc etc
But he doesn’t seem to have too many supporters – although the GG is an interesting one. Not sure the latter will keep his job (given there is a massive pension comes after the job he has that to look forward to).
Spanky
@JPL: Fuck ’em.
Kropacetic
@Spanky: Most indeed.
Soprano2
That stuff about a standing order declassifying stuff he takes to the residence is stupid and bogus – when he was president there wouldn’t have been a need to declassify them, would there? As president as much as it pains me to say it he had the right to have those documents. Am I missing something here? If not, why aren’t people in the press making this point?
Baud
@Immanentize:
For a while, Oz was running against Bernie. Running against Biden is a step up for his campaign.
Kropacetic
It would be far too partisan to ask obvious questions about Trump’s ex post facto rationale.
In fact, because this is obviously bad for Trump and the Republicans, it is their responsibility to help it somehow stick to Democrats. This preserves even handedness.
Immanentize
@Soprano2: too much chaff thrown up for reporters to get through it. But we know they don’t need much chaff in the air to turn aside.
Baud
@Soprano2:
I think the mainstream media’s knee-jerk reaction to a Republican statement is “how will Dems respond?” rather than “does this pass the laugh test?”
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: Someone on Twitter pointed out that he calls the store “Wegners” — my God, could it get any worse?
Kropacetic
To be fair, he probably usually sends someone else to shop at his bougie little supermarket.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: Shit! Really!
Are we sure he didn’t say, “Wagner’s? — that’s the horrible mercenary group Russia is using in Ukraine?
Soprano2
@Kropacetic: I’m just surprised that since this has occurred to me, it hasn’t occurred to at least one highly-paid pundit.
Immanentize
@Baud: This is a great insight.
cintibud
@There go two miscreants: I had to look up that quote. From Henry IV pt 1. I love the reply and find it fitting as well:
Glendower: I can call the spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come, when you do call for them?
Ascap_scab
@RandomMonster: Opinions differ. -NYT
eclare
@Kropacetic: One of the comments to the tweet pointed that out and posted a scene from the movie “The Help.”
SFAW
@Mo MacArbie:
FYI: when I write “FTFTFNYT,” it’s an abbreviation for “Fuck The Fucking Trump-Fluffing NYT.”
Kropacetic
Perhaps it did, but then they thought about their paycheck.
Sometimes I think I want to join Twitter, but then I think again…
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: I love Wegman’s and wish there were one closer to me, but that doesn’t look at all like any Wegman’s.
EarthWindFire
@satby: Too bad you haven’t spoken to him. Would love to know his excuses for not covering Trump past wrongdoings the last 5 years.
different-church-lady
We’re gonna need a bigger acronym.
Immanentize
Ken
So can a grapevine.
(Stolen from Pratchett, Small Gods; where it’s phrased much more positively. Something like “People are always asking for miracles, like water into wine. Isn’t it just as much of a miracle that a grapevine can do the same, with only a little sunlight, enzymes, and time?”)
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Wegmans dominates my familial home town near Johnson City NY. Supposedly, that branch of Wegmans is the number one cut flower department In the country. Go figure….
eclare
@Immanentize: That is great!
Ken
@Kropacetic: Did the rest of the ad have him saying “We’re all finding it harder to put food on the table. These filet mignons are $25 a pound, and this small can of French truffles is over $20!”
Kropacetic
@Ken: The universe loves us but isn’t going to make it that easy.
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: That’s hilarious! Retweeted!
kalakal
@Betty Cracker:
That’s definitely the take I get talking to people. Lots of Right wingers love this narrative, they know/expect their politicians to be corrupt because that’s what they’d do given the chance. They assume any politician attacking corruption has to be a hypocrite. The ones that really piss me off are the prolier than thou purity ponies on the ‘left’ when they start spouting this crap.Sinema is pure gold for them,
This is then taken up by a lazy media and becomes an axiom for people who aren’t politics fiends
lowtechcyclist
@JPL: I can see Oz’ “my wife wants some vegetables for crudité” showing up in the next Fetterman ad.
Also, where’s his shopping cart or basket? He’s just walking through a grocery store, picking up unpackaged produce and carrying it in his arms. Who the fuck does that??
Also also, given the prices he quotes, where the fuck is he shopping at, Whole Paycheck? I bet my local independent grocery has better prices, and they can’t purchase in volume.
That would be the sweetest thing, if someone could ID the specific grocery store he was shopping at, and it was in NJ. Which exit do you want to get off of this campaign at, Dr. Oz?
JPL
@Immanentize: Love that!
cain
@JPL: shit – I didn’t even know what that was – I had to look up crudite. Turns out it’s a thing that every American gets – but it sounded really foreign. I do thank Dr. Oz for educating me though. :)
cain
@Kropacetic: That said, I remember going to the grocery store and thinking these vegetables are pretty expensive. There is an argument to be made but not from the GOP side – wages have not matched the price of vegetables.
rikyrah
@Baud:
THAT is why we need to elect more Democrats…to make this Trifling Trick irrelevant.
Layer8Problem
@lowtechcyclist:
Exit 0 would be appropriate. That’s Cape May on the Garden State Parkway.
frosty
@Spanky: I hope it’s about the grift. Fetterman’s emails keep pushing that Oz is rich enough to self fund his campaign. I keep wondering why he would dump his own money into such a loser.
NotMax
Wowsers. Somehow, some way, managed to snatch about seven hours straight of sleep.
Shall attribute it to breathing in a light dosage of fumes from painting yesterday.
;)
Kropacetic
You can make the argument from the GOP side; just leave off anything about possible solutions, especially ones requiring collective action or common interest.
Kropacetic
We can make more money with a losing campaign than a winning one. “Springtime for Trump?” We’ll be declared losers before the first polling station closes.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I mean if Trump can just magically declassify docs, then whose to say Biden didn’t magically reclassify all of them moments after he was sworn in? That would mean that Trump was in violation of the law for holding onto them from that moment on. These made up POTUS powers cut both ways.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: I don’t know why, but when you say “Trifling Trick,” I immediately know it’s Sinema.
Ken
But how could he know that? Other than that he and his lawyers were told this, back in June, when they assured the government there weren’t any such papers.
lowtechcyclist
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Hell, he was violating the laws against theft and possessing stolen property.
Once he was informed that those documents were the property of the Federal government, and not his personal property, and he still refused to hand them all over (at which point it’s intentional rather than merely inadvertent), he was on the hook for those very basic crimes, regardless of classification status.
If they can come after a former President for stealing stuff, they can come after you too, if you steal stuff.
cain
@cain:
Anybody remember arugula gate with Obama asking what the price of arugula was at Whole Foods? How much shit did he get for that?
Funny how Oz doesn’t get much shit for using crudite – french word for “veggie platter”.
Barbara
@JPL:
Does anyone remember when Obama got roasted for remarking on the price of arugula to some local farmers?
JPL
@Barbara: MSM has no filters. Soon they will be talking about both sides.
steppy
I just like that in the first video, they have a replica of those stupid stickers that were used to vandalize gas pumps all over the place. I also like that “feeble doddering” Joe has been replaced with confident Old Handsome Joe.
trollhattan
“Literally stand”
I’m virtually standing while literally sitting, right now! and hereby declassify this post and comment thread.
NotMax
@Barbara
It’s a complicated equation. After all, cultivating arugula is rocket science.
:)
p.a.
@cain: reminds me of the i’net meme:
a charcuterie board is just expensive lunchables
Baud
@trollhattan:
Are you nuts? Why do you want America’s enemies to read Balloon Juice?
trollhattan
@steppy:
Big fan of Dark Brandon. Republicans are always fixated on having things “shoved down their throats” so why not make it a flipped stupid meme?
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: OMG
Kropacetic
If we don’t, who will?
I kid, of course
trollhattan
@Baud: So that they witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational top-10,000 blog. Also, the lamentations of their women.
Kropacetic
Face huggers as a metaphor for forced birthers?
Ken
They won’t bother coming here, they already hang out on TruthSocial.
tam1MI
That is why I think it was such a good move for Schumer to force votes on things where Sinema (and Manchin, not forgetting his dickishness) singlehandedly shot them down, it gave the good Dems ammunition to shoot down the “their both the same” BS. We had the evidence to back us up when we said, “Not all Dems. One Dem.”
NeenerNeener
@Gin & Tonic: yeah, there’s a chain called Wenger’s in PA. He was probably there, and mangled the name since he doesn’t actually live around there.
different-church-lady
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: He COULDN’T reclasdify them becasuse TRUMP WAS STILL STANDING OVER THEM. DUH!!1!
Layer8Problem
@trollhattan: ALMOST top-10,000 blog, damnit!!
SFAW
@Baud:
It will bring them to their knees.
sdhays
@Kropacetic: According to one of the responses, he also misread the price for the salsa, mistaking it for the bruschetta. So, they did this in one take with no plan other than emphasizing the word “crudités” and blaming Joe Biden.
Is it possible Mr. Oz is a liberal mole who has been an awful TV personality for decades just to ingratiate himself with Donnie Trump and torpedo a Senate seat in 2022?
Ruckus
@mardam422:
That’s change water into whine.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
Has your comment been okayed by Steve in WTFKW? Because if it hasn’t, you’re literally in violation of the figurative usage of “literally.”
Or something.
Kropacetic
That’s the most plausible conspiracy theory I’ve heard in years, which is to say that’s utter nonsense.
SFAW
@sdhays:
I think he’s using this whole campaign as a way to get Jeopardy! to make him permanent host.
Hoodie
@JPL: Don’t worry Oz, bananas are still $10.
Hoodie
@Betty Cracker: I think it’s probably “Wenger’s,” but Oz has it mixed up with Wegman’s because he’s never set foot in either before they made that ad.
Ken
Don’t be ridiculous. Trump is the liberal mole* who has been an awful TV personality** for decades just to torpedo several*** Senate seats in 2022.
* Here cite donations to Clinton campaign, hanging around with Epstein, New York City connections, …
** Citation not needed.
*** FSM willing.
Another Scott
@NeenerNeener: Or maybe he mangled it on purpose? I recall that he made some ad outside some sandwich shop and the owners of said shop didn’t appreciate it and responded by saying that the carpetbagger should stay in NJ and people should vote for Fetterman.
“I didn’t say it was Wegman’s, I said it was Throatwobbler Mangrove…”
Cheers,
Scott.
trollhattan
Think our politics are weird? Australia has a few tricks up their sleeves too, mate. Check out mister double-secret powers ex-PM Morrison.
Big fan of coal, Morrison, and Australia is intermittently either the #1 or #2 exporter on the planet. “Bush fires? Good for the landscape, mate!”
Ruckus
@gene108:
I had a secret clearance in the Navy because someone had to be able to access the one compartment that was entry only with clearance and need. It was the only compartment on the ship that had armed guards whenever entry was required, even out at sea. And yes I was armed on in port watch, with one other person, but that was to keep people from illegally boarding the ship. This compartment had an armed guard whenever necessary to keep out anyone who did not have absolute need and clearance to enter. On a heavily armed warship. The government does actually work diligently to keep secrets from being revealed and I imagine that there were a few discussions about SFB’s lack of any concept of reality, risk, his rights and requirements, the reality of someone no longer president having paper that he actually stole from the government. Especially someone who might just decide to sell that access to any bidder.
Hoodie
@JPL: I see a Fetterman ad in the future where a clueless guy from NJ shows up at a Steelers tailgate with crudite and asparagus.
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
He actually may not have had the right to have all of the documents in his possession, even when he was president. Government documents are not just stored in a bankers box conveniently sitting in a room. There is a process for every level of document, often a pain in the ass process and while the president may have access, they do not just sit around where ever the president wants. It just doesn’t work that way. Or at least it isn’t supposed to.
Ken
I’m wondering if the mental classification-declassification battle between Biden and Trump looked something like that scene from Dark City.
jonas
@Soprano2:
That is correct — the president theoretically has the authority to declassify anything, but just saying something’s magically declassified, particularly retroactively, doesn’t work unless you actually go through a declassification process which would include, you know, informing the relevant agencies, directors, marking the documents as declassified, etc. But of course he didn’t do that because the second the DOD or NSA or whoever found out that he was 1. in the habit of walking off with some of the nation’s most sensitive natsec info and then 2. randomly “declassifying” it and stashing it in the WH residence and then carting it off to FL, the amount of shit hitting the fan would have been unfathomable.
The fact that NARA and the FBI spent so long politely negotiating the return of the files, getting a subpoena, etc., is quite frankly surprising given what we’re learning about the sensitivity of the material.
cain
@p.a.: I must know – do people actually eat asparagus raw like that? So far, I’m not impressed with his veggie platter? Where are the snow peas?
also too – can’t crudite be mistaken for some kind of explosive? :D :D
Mike in NC
The Top Secret documents that the Fat Orange Clown stored in a paper bag under his bed were meant for distribution to the fat cat diners at his seedy supper club. They would get them after dessert was served, and then they could show them to one another and trade them back and forth like baseball cards. Membership at Mar-A-Lardass has its privileges!
jonas
@Ruckus:
Indeed. The FBI and Congress need to get to the bottom of who in the Oval Office was letting him do this shit. I’m thinking probably Meadows, but possibly also Javanka, or some slimebucket like Grennell or Ratcliffe.
Kropacetic
Maybe they were considering the sensitivity of the politics. Regrettable though it may be, you have to take it into account when a big chunk of people are ready to start pushing a civil war because vegans were provided a menu option in the same establishment where they eat their meat foods or other such solipsistic annoyances.
Baud
@Mike in NC:
Nuclear secrets as party favors!
Spanky
@NotMax: “Rocket farming”, actually. If not literally.
Ken
That’s where they told TFG and his lawyers that if he had any of those documents he was committing a crime, and thus established the “knowingly” part of all the applicable statutes.
I am seriously wondering why we aren’t hearing anyone on the right screaming ENTRAPMENT!!! because of that.
rikyrah
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Teachers change lives
Jamil Jan Kochai (@JamilJanKochai) tweeted at 2:54 PM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
Let me tell you a story. This is Susan Lung. She taught me to read and write in a single year when I was 7 years old. I’ve been looking for Susan, hoping to thank her in person, for almost twenty years. And then she surprised me at my reading last night. https://t.co/7YW2EPx1CO
(https://twitter.com/JamilJanKochai/status/1558905030874320896?t=xRJFNTMuSkbD5nq53J_D2g&s=03)
different-church-lady
@Hoodie: I can’t find the clip, but there’s a scene in King of the Hill where a guy’s buying hummus and the punchline is an incredulous, “You’ve never seen a football game in your whole life!!”
rikyrah
Jaye T. (@JayeJaybird54) tweeted at 2:03 PM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
Confirmed by teacher friends in Sarasota County Florida:
Recently teachers in Sarasota Co. were told:
*No purchases or donations of any kind of books or reading materials
*No Scholastic book orders for teachers
*No book fairs
Jaye T. (@JayeJaybird54) tweeted at 2:03 PM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
*Parents can request alternative instructional materials for ANYTHING we teach
*If we want to read anything to our kids, we have to get it approved in advance
*Don’t give kids any gifts tied to reading
*Our amazing librarian can’t even do read alouds with our youngest students
Jaye T. (@JayeJaybird54) tweeted at 2:03 PM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
Is this what you want for your children? Only allowing them to use state approved textbooks? Some counties in FL are only allowing textbooks to teach the standards. If a teacher wants to read a book to his/her students in our county, he/she must get it approved first.” #DemVoice1 https://t.co/r9NgYXfN3j
(https://twitter.com/JayeJaybird54/status/1558891987293638659?t=9CPBLQgr7p_PspUK7zcb4A&s=03)
trollhattan
@Baud: Donny gets two scoops of secrets for dessert. It’s the rule.
Baud
@rikyrah:
So no Bible readings?
Kropacetic
I just got a new ad from “Judicial Network” on YouTube. The ad denounces Merrick Garland for not protecting, of all people, Brett Fucking Kavanaugh. I’m not aware that anyone has has successfully harmed Kavanaugh.
“Merrick Garland, bad for the court then and bad for the court now.” I was also not aware that Garland was currently under consideration for a Supreme Court seat.
rikyrah
Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) tweeted at 6:30 AM on Mon, Aug 15, 2022:
1/ If you need a post-weekend update on where we are with Trump’s shifting excuses for having top secret classified information at Mar-a-Lago, recovered when DOJ executed a search warrant last week, here we go. Saturday night is the new big news night.
Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) tweeted at 6:33 AM on Mon, Aug 15, 2022:
2/ Whether the materials found in Trump’s possession at MAL are classified is largely irrelevant to the question of whether DOJ will charge him (or anyone else). None of the 3 crimes DOJ says it’s investigating in its search warrant require proof materials were classified.
Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) tweeted at 6:35 AM on Mon, Aug 15, 2022:
3/ The laws DOJ convinced a judge there was probable cause to believe had been broken included the espionage act & obstruction. That last one is interesting in light of Saturday reports Trump lawyer(s) told DOJ in writing everything classified was turned over in June. Oops, no.
Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) tweeted at 6:41 AM on Mon, Aug 15, 2022:
4/ But Trump’s claim, after trying out other excuses, that it was ok b/c he’d declassified the material is shocking, if unsurprising. IF his claim is true, at best it means Trump put his convenience ahead of the nation’s safety. Congress has asked for a risk assessment from DNI.
(https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1559143191663738881?t=E8Bb6mgmUBfzAY4gcUnoZg&s=03)
Ken
I assume you mean so their names can be added to the charges?
The Lodger
@lowtechcyclist: I thought of that too. I lived in Pennsylvania many years ago and I never saw a Wegmans anywhere. Now it looks like there are 18 of them, so Oz could have actually been shopping in one of them.
Hoodie
@Ruckus: Many years ago I worked for a defense contractor in the DC area. I had both secret and top secret clearances at various times. Secret and confidential documents were always kept in a locked cabinet or desk and top secret stuff was only available in secure rooms with guards that were only accessible to people with TS clearances who had also been read on to the program. These rooms had locked cabinets in which all docs were to be kept while not in active use (e.g., you couldn’t keep them overnight in your desk drawer), white noise generators at the entrance so you could not hear conversations in room and red flashing lights to let people in the room know that an uncleared person (e.g., visiting bigwig) was present and you needed to stow any classified materials. We were constantly reminded as to our responsibility to not leave these docs lying around and there were penalties (e.g., loss of clearance and loss of employment) if you screwed up, even inadvertently. We were also repeatedly told that phone lines in the area were probably subject to eavesdropping by foreign intelligence services and to never talk about any classified stuff outside of the facility or on unsecured means. You never took any of this stuff home and sometimes you would be searched to make sure you didn’t. Of course, this is in addition to the absurdity of the claim that Trump was taking stuff home to work on it given that he spent his copious leisure time in the WH residence watching Fox and eating Big Macs and KFC.
Ken
@rikyrah: There’s precedent for that in Florida law.
I mean, it’s the precedent that made teaching slaves to read a crime, but I didn’t say it was good precedent.
Kropacetic
Big tell here. The state doesn’t want to just filter the reading lists so that it caters to the strictest of faux conservative, faux Christian values. It wants to deny those options for the more inquisitive children with more open minded parents, denying opportunities for these books to be purchased independently.
It has always been about control. They want strict adherence to a culture they dictate.
rikyrah
Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) tweeted at 0:20 AM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
Republicans only “back the blue” when they kill unarmed black people. They HATE the blue when they go after rich, white-collar criminals or defend the capitol. See how that works?
(https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1558685044696309760?t=xyfiRu-yxOKJNL47ll109A&s=03)
Baud
Ken
@Baud: Did the judge add “Also, Sen. Graham made these claims on multiple Fox News and OANN appearances, which cannot by any stretch of the imagination be construed as legislative speech”?
Baud
@Ken:
He should have said that Graham can’t in any way be considered a real legislator.
jonas
@Mike in NC:
Kid Rock yukking it up with Tucker Carlson claims Trump would show “maps and shit” to guests at Mar-a-Lago. “Was I even supposed to be seeing this?” Har! Good times!
The Lodger
@Layer8Problem: I’d prefer Exit -10 myself. That would be about 2 miles off Cape Henlopen, Del.
Layer8Problem
@Baud: . Hey, he’s bought and paid for!
rikyrah
Good morning, today is a great day to check your voter registration. Because Republicans are running a fear campaign fueled with lies and they’re gonna vote. https://t.co/dlCY7Xsj6u
(https://twitter.com/veterans_i/status/1559142456352030721?t=cvqeQYf6yDb_yiq6zWShPQ&s=03)
cain
BTW happy Indian independence day for those who celebrate it. Jai Hind!
The Lodger
@cain: You’re thinking of the thermite platter. I think Ayman al-Zawahiri may have had something to do with that :)
JPL
@Baud: Lindsay is appealing to the 11th. He’ll probably bring it up to the supremes if necessary.
JPL
The Oz ad is old and is being recirculated. hmmm I wonder who did that.
Ken
@JPL: Some have speculated he’s running the campaign on the cheap, so there will be more money left in the campaign fund at the end. Re-running an old ad would be consistent with that.
rikyrah
This entire thread on classified documents, their access and storage…CLAP CLAP CLAP
officebob (@OfficeBob) tweeted at 6:24 PM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
A friend with classified document experience has given me permission to post her comments here, and so…a thread:
1/
“This week in Trumpland has been wild. So I thought I’d put my FSO hat back on and talk about document classification. This is a long one.
A sitting president cannot wave his magic wand and declare something declassified. ”
“He has the authority to read someone into classified programs whenever he wishes, but the documents themselves must go through a review process before being officially declassified.”
“Certain topics, like nuclear programs (including some communication programs that support nuclear deployment), cannot be declassified by anyone. The president included.”
……………………………………….
officebob (@OfficeBob) tweeted at 6:33 PM on Sun, Aug 14, 2022:
“I have had people jailed for far, far less than what the FBI recovered at Mar-a-Lago. I’ve fired employees for taking a single Confidential document out of my facility by accident. Because at the end of the day, it’s MY document and MY ass on the line in an audit. ”
23/
(https://twitter.com/OfficeBob/status/1558959945214701569?t=3bN7_kS7DMWoYcLkHOa-jQ&s=03)
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
What a wonderful story! Happy tears.
Soprano2
@Ruckus: That’s interesting, and the kind of research the press should be doing rather than just quoting TFG saying he “declassified” the documents whenever he had them in the residence. I swear too many members of the press just hate having to do any kind of research on anything. They just want to do the “this side says ‘x’, this side says ‘y’, who knows what the truth is” crap about issues like this.
West of the Rockies
Christ, can you imagine Trump on a bike? He’d look like the Hindenberg coming into Lakehurst.
Soprano2
@jonas: I’ve told people that anyone else with that stuff in their possession would have been arrested on the spot.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
What a terrible story! Tears of rage.
rikyrah
don’t be scared of Rand Paul because he’s a Libertarian
be scared of Rand Paul because his line of thinking is becoming popular within right-wing circles, namely, the idea that any law or constitutional Amendment that limits the power & reach of white men needs to be dismantled
(https://twitter.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1558822630882525186?s=02)
Baud
@cain:
🇮🇳
I wonder how Schrodinger’s Cat is partying.
Old School
@JPL:
Looks like umichvoter.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Isn’t that just a long winded way if saying libertarian?
JPL
wtf This is on MSN
Baud
@JPL:
Trump wants more supporters to kill themselves for him.
Layer8Problem
@Baud: “The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care . . .”
Old School
@Baud: Break out the Flavor Aid!
JPL
Rudy’s a target in the investigation into election fraud in GA. link
Kathleen
@p.a.: When a child gets health care Rand Paul tears the wings off a fly.
Gravenstone
@MomSense: Presumes copies of multiple key docs haven’t already been scanned/copied for disbursement? Which would just add a few more logs upon they pyre we need to burn this particular witch.
Gravenstone
@Immanentize: Like many a Republican, he’s likely counting the campaign donations and saying screw the actual campaign.
Jackie
@cain: Raw asparagus, washed, is great with ranch or bleu cheese dip.
cain
@The Lodger: oh yeah, it was cordite, right??
Kathleen
Kathleen
@CliosFanBoy: I don’t know what’s more depressing- Enquirer or Reds’ performance this year.
Kathleen
@eclare: I missed the name reveal. Fritz is cute name for hippo.
Kathleen
cain
@JPL: WTF will the supremes do with it? It’s not a matter of constitutional policy – it’s pretty clear that the judge has the authority.
Of course, if they did do something – I’ll be interested to see how they will defend Lindsay.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
J R in WV
Regarding grilled cheese sammiches, I need to share a recent innovation I have made to this time-honored food dish.
Thin sliced sweet onions on one side or another of the cheese, between the cheese and the bread. They cook up into delightful tasty grilled onions inside the sandwich. Also, one can use mayo (Hellman’s ideally) on both sides of the bread, to grill the bread in the skillet, instead of butter. I use deli cheddar cheese myself instead of American yellow cheese, it has more flavor.
You need a lot, and also need to watch closely as it can overcook pretty easily compared to butter. This is great if you are low on butter, and need to save it for the corn on the cob later on.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Trump was a registered Democrat for a long while, which, hilariously no one in the GOP 2016 primary bothered to call him on.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What an idiot.
geg6
@Hoodie:
Or, even worse, an Eagles tailgate.
H-Bob
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: “When Dump sends his people, he is
notsending his best. He’s sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And none, I assume, are good people.”On Biden “reclassifying” documents possessed by TFG, I recall that Bush/Cheney reclassified the materials disclosing radiation experiments on American citizens that Clinton had previously declassified. So “reclassification” is a thing! Biden should reclassify every document that Trump purportedly “declassified” in the likely event that the DOJ didn’t get everything in Trump’s possession.
Ruckus
@jonas:
My take on SFB is that he thinks he’s the very top of the heap. He understands how government works about as well as I understand 4th year quantum physics. In shit for brains world, when he was president he could do anything he wanted, in any way he wanted, any time he wanted. But while the president has a lot of power he still has to obey the law. And he has really never done that because he’s about as dumb as a lamp post, which has an IQ of zero. Anyone that told him he couldn’t do something first had to know that it was legal or not. None of them seem to be all that high up the chart of what’s legal and what we want to do that isn’t so they just do what strikes them at any one moment. That’s the Shit For Brains support department. At least some of them have realized that the Jan 6 committee or a court room might not be the best place to obviously lie. SFB has no such concept within a thousand miles of his person.
Kropacetic
Even a lamp post can be expected to perceive whether the sun is bright in the sky or not. By that metric, Trump is dumber than a lamp post.