Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

People are complicated. Love is not.

He really is that stupid.

After roe, women are no longer free.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

It’s a doggy dog world.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

No one could have predicted…

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Not all heroes wear capes.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / It took Long Enough!

It took Long Enough!

by | 169 Comments

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We knew the NY office was corrupt, but now this is finally seeing the light of day.  Halle-fucking-lujah!

(Business Insider)  h/t  rikyrah  who posted the link in the previous thread.

A veteran FBI counterintelligence agent says his supervisor told him to stop investigating Rudy Giuliani and to cut off contact with any sources who reported on corruption by associates of former President Donald Trump, according to a whistleblower complaint obtained by Insider.

The agent, who served 14 years as a special agent for the bureau, including a long stint in Russia-focussed counter-intelligence, claims in a 22-page statement that his bosses interfered with his work in “a highly suspicious suppression of investigations and intelligence-gathering” aimed at protecting “certain politically active figures and possibly also FBI agents” who were connected to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.

Those figures, the statement claims, explicitly included “anyone in the [Trump] White House and any former or current associates of President Trump.”

The statement, which was prepared for staffers of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was apparently leaked and posted in mid-July to a Substack newsletter. Insider has independently obtained a copy of the complaint and verified its authenticity, but has not corroborated all of its claims.

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    I guess the Senate will have to look into this because the House is already doing oversight on anything they can make up.  Since this is real, I’m sure they won’t touch it.

  8. 8.

    Scout211

    So is this a whistleblower or a “whistleblower”?  I think only “whistleblowers” are allowed to be heard in the House, so maybe the Senate will schedule a hearing.

    ETA: And WaterGirl made the same point.

  11. 11.

    Bill Arnold

    Juicy!
    Starting to think that we need a full prison island (no internet) for much of the GOP. (Not a fan of the death penalty unless they are an active mortal threat.)

  14. 14.

    tobie

    Did DOJ IG Michael Horowitz ever deliver his report on the NY FBI Field Office? He promised Congress he would and showed his capacity to work at breakneck speed, when he concluded Andrew McCabe violated some standard of candor on the eve of McCabe retirement.

    I know Horowitz was an Obama appointee but the guy has always struck me as a Comeyesque holier than thou type and a weasel. It was painful to watch him walk back his report that the Russia investigation was properly predicated to placate Republicans in Congress.

  15. 15.

    AM in NC

    Schumer better walk across the hall and let Gym Jordan know about this guy. I’m sure it was just an oversight on Gym’s part. Surely.

  17. 17.

    kalakal

    I’ve been hoping for this shoe to drop for a very long time. The NY FBI has been a TFIG asset   at least since they went all in on that pack of lies masquerading as a book by Schweitzer

  18. 18.

    gene108

    We’ll never fully know the full extent of Russian influence on Trump and his associates, because so many people in positions of power want to ignore it, from this FBI field office to right wing media muddying the waters.

  19. 19.

    tobie

    One thing I don’t understand from the article is how McGonigal could have impeded investigations in 2021 and 2022. He left the FBI in 2018. I guess he still had friends there…but would hw have been that involved in decision-making?

  20. 20.

    Dangerman

    @Bill Arnold: We could seal off Florida fairly easily; let them play Hunger Games shit (saw none of them). Hunger Games not woke.

    Given all the Golf Courses, maybe there’s a variant. Double or worse and we’re sending you to The Villages.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Thanks for pointing that out.  I thought the article had ended with the part I copied. Yes, really excellent article!

    I hope this has some fallout for Wray, who I really think is a teflon weasel.

  25. 25.

    BellyCat

    The retaliation against the whistleblower, listed in the article, is mind blowing. Further, he was also ordered to drop the informant reporting on alt-right online activity. And Gym Jordan refused his testimony. The rot exposed here goes deeper than NYC field office, no doubt.

  27. 27.

    Dan B

    Apparently the NYT wrote an article which praised Kamala Harris work for the Biden campaign.  Two good things in one day!  Is the second coming imminent?  Asteroid?

  28. 28.

    Another Scott

    Made me look… FBI.gov – NY Field Office History doesn’t have anything of specific note since 2010. Maybe they’re too busy to update their history web page, or don’t have the budget for it. Or maybe they spend too much time protecting their friends and messing around in RWNJ politics, rather than staying in their lane and catching bad guys…

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    bbleh

    But … but, the FBI is a corrupt Trump-hating nest of Demo-rats!  The Godhead Himself has pronounced this!

    Obviously then this story is a lie.  A deliberate plant by the Soros-Biden Junta (Destruction of Freedom Division).  That’s what should be investigated!!!  !!!11!!

  39. 39.

    kindness

    Oh…. I wish I could say I was shocked, but I’m not.  The FBI needs to be wiped clean and started over from scratch I guess.

  40. 40.

    eversor

    Guess their religion!  Christians I’m betting.

    Maybe one day we can have a global dealing with Christianity, I’m sure we will.  Maybe eventually we will have a de-Christianization program financed by governments like we handle Nazis, I’m also sure we will.  But till then. Nothing else matters.

  44. 44.

    bbleh

    @kindness: Naw, huge law-enforcement organization with a rep for, ah, strait-laced attitude, of course there are going to be local organizations that lean hard-right, and organizational culture is a thing: it selects for those who conform.  Not at all surprising that here and there this kind of thing has festered.  Quis custodiet ipsos custodies and all.  This is why there are IA and IG organizations.  But even a moderate number of bad apples doesn’t spoil the barrel, and they have done some useful stuff recently, eg concerning 1/6, alleged theft of sensitive defense information, etc etc.

  46. 46.

    Alison Rose

     

    Maybe eventually we will have a de-Christianization program financed by governments like we handle Nazis

    I am gonna once again ask the FPers why the fuck this hateful sack of shit is allowed to spew garbage like this on the site. They are literally comparing all Christians to Nazis, yet y’all just allow this to continue. Explain to me why.

  48. 48.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Mike in NC: patience, patience. The wheels of justice grind slow but exceedingly fine. I suppose the same applies to Bar associations. His license is suspended in at least one location as I recall.  I have a bit of pity for him, he is such a laughingstock. But only a bit .

  50. 50.

    LAO

    @Mike in NC: Rudy’s been suspended from practice with the recommendation that he be disbarred.
    NYS fun fact: all ny attorneys sign their names on the rolls on the day they’re admitted. If that attorney is disbarred, their name is physically crossed out (struck from the rolls).

  57. 57.

    Alison Rose

    @Suzanne: Saying that we need to keep fundie Christians from passing theocratic laws is fine. Comparing all Christians to Nazis and constantly calling for their eradication is so far fucking beyond “fine” that I cannot believe I even need to argue this point.

  59. 59.

    p.a.

    NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) – A former FBI agent accused by U.S. prosecutors of working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska may change his plea in relation to criminal charges of evading U.S. sanctions and money laundering, court records showed on Monday. Charles McGonigal had previously pleaded not guilty.2 days ago

  60. 60.

    Ivan X

    @eversor: I like how you first entirely speculate, then use your guesswork as the foundational basis for an off-topic screed. I guess when you’ve got a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Strong single-issue voter vibes.

    Is what you’re saying any different than if something corrupt happens in Hollywood, saying, “Guess their religion! Jews I’m betting.”?

    Do you presume the religion of honest law enforcement officers cannot be Christian?

  61. 61.

    JPL

    @Alison Rose: you actually don’t have to argue that point.   Religion can be a force for good, and people need to fight back on the evil overtaking it.

  62. 62.

    Bill Arnold

    @eversor:
    You could use “Christian Supremacists” and be pied a lot less, and still argue that 80 (or 90, or 95) percent of Christians are Christian Supremacists.
    E.g. Hindu Supremacists in control of India, or Jewish Supremacists in control of the governing coalition in Israel.

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    @BellyCat:The rot exposed here goes deeper than NYC field office, no doubt.

    indeed.

    it’s a fair estimate that at a minimum, half of the FBI is pro-trumpov or at least trumpov-sympathetic/hates the Dems.

    no wonder investigations of the alt-right, RWNJ politicians, trump-related corruption go slowly (if they go anywhere at all)

  65. 65.

    sab

    @eversor: As a Christian your anti-Christian tirades irritate me.  I am not like that! But I do read history, recent and earlier so I see your point. My first husband was Jewish and he sounded like you, justifiably. Pograms in Ukraine drove his people to America. Highland clearances in Scotland, and general rough times in Switzerland and Ireland drove my various people to North America.

    The genius of of early American government was that a bunch of guys, many of them quite religious, others not so much, decided that religion in government was extremely toxic and should not happen.

    ETA My grandmother with a Catholic Irish father and a Presbyterian Scottish-Canadian mother absolutely abhorred Catholics. For all of my childhood and most of my adulthood I thought she was just a bigoted old lady. This new Supreme Court makes me think she actually had a point.

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    @Alison Rose: I interpret these comments as hyperbolic expressions of frustration, not as plans or legitimate calls to action. Obviously YMMV.

    I was raised in mainline Christianity, and I still consider myself a “cultural Christian” (though I just have absolutely zero interest or opinion about the supernatural aspects of any religion). So maybe I have bias here, but I figure that Christians have enough social power that we can deal with inchoate rage from time to time.

  67. 67.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Bill Arnold:

    … Jewish Supremacists in control of the governing coalition in Israel.

    I am glad my mother didn’t live to see this. She would have been devastated.

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Twitter is always throwing these pop biographies at me, and I read one about Freddy Mercury. I learned that he was raised in a Zorastrian family, and that his funeral service was Zorastrian.

  70. 70.

    japa21

    @Omnes Omnibus:  And yet at times, this commenter can make very insightful comments on other topics.  At least, unlike some we have seen in the past s/he is not a one trick pony.

  72. 72.

    Jeffro

    OT but: in the face of mounting mountains of evidence, Dems consider maybe adding abortion rights to main talking points for 2024

    Ya think?

    (then again this is the WaPo we’re talking about here – 2 steps behind at best)

    After Ohio voters turned out in unexpectedly high numbers Tuesday to reject a Republican-backed referendum that would have made it harder to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, Democrats are eyeing new opportunities to highlight abortion rights in the 2024 election.

    They are pushing new ballot initiatives on abortion access in places like Arizona and Florida, calling out Republicans in states where bans are taking effect, and encouraging President Biden to speak out more forcefully on the issue as he pursues a campaign that so far has focused more on the economy.

    Even as Biden hopscotches the country talking of factory openings and bridge repairs, abortion politics has become a rare consistent source of electoral victories for his party over the past year. The result in Ohio, coming after voters in other Republican-leaning states like Kentucky and Kansas also rejected GOP efforts to restrict abortion, underscores how the issue has already reshaped the political landscape for 2024,

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro:Unlike other issues Democrats have seized on in the past — including gun control, the Affordable Care Act and minimum wage — the abortion issue has shown staying power and crossover appeal in places where the party has struggled. That dynamic confronts Democrats, including Biden, with a need to balance their standard pitch about the economy with a more emotional appeal on an issue that has in the past vexed Democratic candidates.

    Both parties are still wrestling with just how much the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade has remade American politics. With each vote like Tuesday’s, evidence grows that the effect has been seismic.

    SEISMIC!  Seismic, I say!

  76. 76.

    HumboldtBlue

    Wooohooo, Michael Lorenzen of the Phillies just threw the 14th no-hitter in club history!

    Sports provides us with a lot of drama, many tense moments and situations, but few compare the atmosphere of the final three outs of a no-hitter. In addition, Weston Wilson stepped up to the plate today in his first official Major League at-bat and smacked a home run and ended up with three hits and scored three runs.

    Helluva a night for the Phightins!!!

  77. 77.

    bbleh

    @Alison Rose: I don’t think anyone disagrees with you on that point.  It’s hyperbolic and wildly simplistic and arguably mere bigotry.

    The question is whether such expression should be permitted here, and if permitted somehow moderated or policed.  And that’s a much more difficult question, involving qualitative comparisons among ideas on the entire universe of subjects (if comment A is going too far about topic B, then is comment C going too far about utterly different topic D?), the exact balance between what should be deemed appropriate for this site, and (importantly) the resources necessary to police it all.

    I dunno whether JC, WG, and others that contribute have the bandwidth for that.  I would suggest starting with the pie filter.  (Or maybe just merrily abusing him and moving on.)

  79. 79.

    japa21

    @bbleh:  Interesting discussion.  I do wonder if someone went railing about Jew, or Hindus, or Muslims in the same way, whether or not that would cause a trigger to be pulled.

  80. 80.

    Suzanne

    @Jeffro:

    SEISMIC!  Seismic, I say! 

    This is one of my least favorite metaphors. (NERD ALERT.) Seismic forces are not necessarily any stronger than gravitational or wind forces on structures. Seismic movement happens literally all the time. It isn’t definitionally special or significant!

  81. 81.

    Suzanne

    @japa21: I do wonder if someone went railing about Jew, or Hindus, or Muslims in the same way, whether or not that would cause a trigger to be pulled.

     
    To me, that’s punching down, which is not okay. I think equivocating between dominant and marginalized groups is itself a fairly gross power move. I see all of those as some version of white kids complaining that they can’t say the N-word while their black classmates can.

    So yeah, dominant and more privileged groups get to hear some shit, IMO. It’s literally the least they can do.

  82. 82.

    sab

    @Alison Rose: Thank you. I am Christian. My first husband was Jewish (raised Conservative.) I thougt Jesus was either the Son of God or the first Reformed rabbi. Didn’t make much difference to my spiritual life. He was admirable. There were teachings on how to behave and general basic values. Not at all different between tolerant Christians and Reformed Jews.

  83. 83.

    bbleh

    @japa21: and whether s/he was an obvious troll or a persistent one-trick pony or or or.  And that’s just the question of whether to ban them outright or not, not the much more complex one of policing individual posts.

    Not saying it’s at all easy.  I think there may have been a recent example in the news of a company that completely screwed the pooch regarding this issue (among other things) … name begins with, uh, T? U,V,W? X?  something like that.

    I don’t like pie-ing people because they may eventually have something interesting to say, but I got no problem ignoring — or firing back at — obviously offensive comments, even ones directed at me and mine.  For people who just don’t wanna bother, I’d say, consider yourself the blogmaster and pie away.

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    @Ivan X: A variation on that metaphor is that this commenter’s particular obsession sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. He used to hit it all the time. Now he’ll drive a few nails but then he’ll hit it again.

    It doesn’t bother me that much, but I can see how it will offend other people.

  85. 85.

    japa21

    @Suzanne:  I get what you are saying, and why what I was pondering falls into a different category, even if the sentiment is the same.  And, of course, those going after the “Jews” because they control all the money, etc. would not view themselves as punching down.

  86. 86.

    sdhays

    @Mike in NC: I don’t think he can be disbarred since he has so many felony investigations going on. He wouldn’t be able to testify in a hearing without relying on the 5th amendment, so they just have to let him keep his law license.

    That’s a thing, right? I mean, John Eastman wouldn’t just pull that kind of thing out of shit-filled ass, right? He’s a professor at Berkeley!

  87. 87.

    geg6

    Meh.  You can call me when these guys actually face any consequences.  Traitorous mother fuckers.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    @sab: There are some really toxic, harmful, and I would argue un-Christ-like expressions of Christianity, tho….. and I wish there was more opposition from more social-Justice-oriented Christians against it. I know all the reasons that there isn’t. But it does sadden me.

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:  The main thing I appreciate is the commenter getting pushback, every single time.

    Because the message is bigoted, and one note, and offensive.  From a person who can be quite intelligent and informative on other topics.

    And I do wonder if he was screaming about Jews or Muslims, if he would not have been banned.  I think he would have been.

    Speaking of actual Christians:  Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are both still with us.  I think of them every day.

  90. 90.

    sab

    @sab: I had a Lutheran aunt who I think was the only saint I have ever known. She had a fuul life, career, husband, kids.

    She wadn’t worried about the afterlife. She wanted to be good and kind in her life. How you intend to live your life is how you face the world. She lived her life as a kind person. She was a psychiatric social worker dealing with adolescents. Her life and career were challenging.

  92. 92.

    Gin & Tonic

    And yet another thread derailed. Folks, commenters and comments you don’t like can be ignored.

  93. 93.

    sab

    @Suzanne: Yes there are. Christ as a Jew isn’t that far from my Christian education.

    Nutcases who hate Jews have a very weak leg to stand on. But that never stopped them because they do lie like others breathe.

  94. 94.

    Bill Arnold

    @Mr. Bemused Senior:

    I am glad my mother didn’t live to see this. She would have been devastated.

    See also the often-erudite butthurt about the use of Pogrom(s) to describe violent government-encouraged settler rampages in Palestinian arab villages.
    I was guilty of a little rhetorical selectivity as well, so (apologies if I have the English adjective form wrong) “Shia Supremacists in control of Iran”, “Wahhabite Supremacists in control of Saudi Arabia”. Etc. All pretty much the same even if they hate the others.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:   I honestly do not know where these political press corpse people have been.

    In Virginia, as you know, abortion — sometimes couched as “women’s right to healthcare” — is top of the list with Democrats running for office.

    But, I guess the article is pitched more to candidates in red or dark purple states.

    I guess they need to go with the “Democrats as wimps and cowards” framing.  Honestly, I do not read much political reporting these days.

  101. 101.

    Bill Arnold

    @Karen:

    Are you implying that 80% of Jews are Jewish Supremacists? I’m Jewish and hate what Israel is doing.

    No, absolutely not. Was just suggesting to eversor that they could argue that 80 percent of American Christians are at least crypto Christian Supremacists, and people might argue back but at least it’s an arguable position.
    In Israel, it’s that barely-enough coalition governments are controlled by even small subgroups who threaten to drop support, combined with Netanyanu’s personal desire, and need (avoiding prosecution) for power.
    And the polling in Israel and among Jewish people outside of Israel is pretty clearly not in support of theocracy. As Geminid has made clear, the last Israeli election was actually pretty close, but two parties failed to make the proportional representation threshold.

  103. 103.

    Alison Rose

    @Gin & Tonic: I don’t think people calling for mass murder should be ignored. And don’t give them the benefit of the doubt and claim that’s not what they’re saying.

    A group being dominant deserves some punching up. That, in my little bleeding heart opinion, does not include consistent and direct calls for their complete extermination.

    Jesus on a jet-ski, what the hardboiled fuck is even happening.

  104. 104.

    Anotherlurker

    @Suzanne: I agree with you about eversor’s rants. Frustration can build over the years with continued exposure to the irritant .

    My experience with xtianity has been universally bad. From the abuse and horrors of catholic school to being ripped off in business by evangelical churches.

    I don’t often express my frustrations with xtianity, I prefer to keep them to myself.  My rage is centered on the smug hypocrisy I see associated with them and their outsized influence on American society.  I avoid contact with out and proud bible bangers.

    There are many times that I wish I could scream out my true feelings but I just don’t think it’s worth it.

  105. 105.

    japa21

    @Alison Rose: you, and I, and many others, some Christians, such as myself, some not, have frequently called out “Christians” who behave in a not-Christlike manner.  What eversor does is condemn all Christians.  eversor goes even further to say that Christianity is inherently evil, including Christ and all Christians.  That is where it goes to far.  And yes, he basically calls for mass extermination.

  106. 106.

    Jackie

    @Jeffro: Do we have any Jackals in Idaho? I haven’t a clue if Idaho has referendums or initiatives or issues on their ballots that could be used to vote against their rabid anti abortion laws.

  107. 107.

    Dan B

    @sab: I worked with the Seattle Archdiocese for a couple years.  The Archbishop was a nasty piece of work installed to push out Hunthausen who was a warm man and progressive activist.  The staff at the Archbishops was very socially progressive.  It surprised me because the grand poohbahs were not.

  108. 108.

    NobodySpecial

    @tobie: The article isn’t clear, but the part I picked up said the obstruction was years long when he filed the complaint in 2022. Possible the obstruction started with McGonigal and continued with his successors.

  109. 109.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I remember the Firebaggers v Obots thing from 12 years ago

    I still remember a regular here changed their nym to “Botsplainer” after getting called that by another commenter

  110. 110.

    Jackie

    @HumboldtBlue: That’s why I ❤️ baseball!

    No taking a knee or dribbling the ball to run out the clock. The game ain’t over until the final third out and one team is ahead. No tied games in baseball.

  111. 111.

    Dan B

    @Jeffro: Seismic, I like seismic, except for living on top of the Seattle Fault and a hundred plus miles from the Juan de Fuca plate which has produced 9.0 quakes on a regular schedule.

  112. 112.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jackie:

    Yes, but it looks like it’s limited, from Ballotpedia:

    Citizens of Idaho may only initiate legislation as a state statute. Idahoans may also repeal legislation via veto referendum, but cannot place a constitutional amendment on the ballot via initiative. The Idaho State Legislature, on the other hand, may place measures on the ballot as legislatively referred constitutional amendments.

  113. 113.

    Quinerly

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yes. Actually have been here from the very beginning. Only began commenting around summer 2016 or around Oct 2016, though. After one of my first comments (re Comey’s presser re HRC before the election), corner stone jumped me accusing me of being a troll. (Speaking of cs….so many people have left…or don’t comment anymore). I miss corner stone.

    Tonight is the first time I have read comments in about 3 weeks.

    Back to just reading posts and scanning comments looking only for links. Too many threads get sidetracked lately.

  114. 114.

    Jackie

    @sdhays: While Giuliani hasn’t been disbarred, YET, he’s no longer allowed to practice law in NY or DC while his disbarring is being debated.

  116. 116.

    Dan B

    @Karen:  It’s terrible what the right wing extremists have done to Israeli politics.  It seems completely at odds with what Jews around the world are doing.  It paints all Jews with a terrible brush.

  117. 117.

    Alison Rose

    I’m gonna step away but I want to point one thing out: Whenever Ksmiami starts in on their “destroy russia and all russians” shit, many people, including Adam, tell them to can it. In the situation of the war, russia, by virtue of its size and firepower, would be considered the dominant side (though obviously they are getting the shit kicked out of them by Ukraine, and obviously Ukraine is “dominant” when it comes to morality, decency, intelligence, and every other positive trait one could name). So if it is not appropriate for Ksmiami to say all russians should be taken out, why is it okay for eversor to say all Christians should be?

    I don’t want your answers because I’m closing the tab. I just want at least one or two of you shrugging this shit off to maybe use your brains for five seconds.

  118. 118.

    Dan B

    @Suzanne: Moore, an evangelical leader, is shocked by how many ministers tell him their congregants believe the Sermon on the Mount is anti Christian and weak, couldn’t be true that Jesus would say those Demoncrat things.

  119. 119.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Alison Rose: I just want at least one or two of you shrugging this shit off to maybe use your brains for five seconds.

    No can do, voids the warranty.

  120. 120.

    Jackie

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Thanks Goku.

    As an eastern Washington neighbor of Idaho, we are receiving lots of Idahoans seeking OB/Gyn care. Their laws are draconian; including for assisting (aiding and abetting) minors crossing the Idaho/WA border for medical care.

  121. 121.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Dan B: Because, and this is the key point, they’re not actually Christians.  They’re “Christians” who use the term as a tribal marker.  They’d stone Jesus if he came back to the future here and gave the Sermon on the Mount.  Their true deities are Mammon and Moloch.

  122. 122.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    This is BJ,

    A SNARLING MASS OF VITRIOLIC JACKALS

    It is my favorite rotating tag.

    Bemused Senior (Mrs.) went to Catholic school as a child. I met her long after she had rejected it. She came by her skepticism honestly. Her mother was Catholic, her father (brough up evangelical Protestant) was a fierce agnostic.

    I have known a few what I would call “committed believers.” I listened to them politely. They are, as far as I can tell, decent, well meaning people. I disagree with them on many points.

    Organized religion, especially when it achieves temporal power, seems to bring out the worst in some people. Here in the U.S. it has been ascendant for some time and we all see the results. The founders, as far as I can tell, were not merely skeptical of it but considered it a real threat. I agree.

  127. 127.

    Suzanne

    @Villago Delenda Est: I don’t like how lots of conservative Christians try to gatekeep Christianity. So I don’t do it. But I also want liberal Christians to not let the right-wingers have the term. They don’t get to decide who’s Christian and who isn’t.

  133. 133.

    Jeffro

    @Jackie: Do we have any Jackals in Idaho? I haven’t a clue if Idaho has referendums or initiatives or issues on their ballots that could be used to vote against their rabid anti abortion laws.

    I don’t know either.  It seems about as white and rural as a U.S. state gets (see also: the Dakotas, Wyoming), so it would surprise me if things like that would pass there.

    But I’m willing to be surprised!  =)

  135. 135.

    Lyrebird

    @Quinerly: ​
     

    After one of my first comments (re Comey’s presser re HRC before the election), corner stone jumped me accusing me of being a troll.

    Ah, memories! I hope CS is doing fine. Not sure, but Cole might know him IRL.

    You reminded me: I found this blog through reading Steve Gilliard’s blog, and my first nervous comment there got me a “Go Cheney yourself” retort, not in those words. Daunting at the time, funny now.

    I have been thinking I should use the pie filter or skip comments lately.

  138. 138.

    Mousebumples

    @Omnes Omnibus: If you have more invites to spare, I’ll check out BlueSky. I check Twitter periodically (@mousebumples) , or else WG has my email, too. 😊

  144. 144.

    narya

    @HumboldtBlue: Does this mean I have to start watching baseball again? (I would have to pay to watch my Phillies, because I’m out of market, but . . . have contemplated that more than once.)

  145. 145.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @japa21: I do wonder if someone went railing about Jew, or Hindus, or Muslims in the same way, whether or not that would cause a trigger to be pulled.​

    IMO any spiritual persuasion from animism to Zoroastrian that starts pursuing temporal power risks going seriously off the rails. Christianity has more adherents than any other religion, and it’s faced the issue since the Emperor Constantine, but it’s hardly unique.

  147. 147.

    marklar

    @eversor: When you say “guess their religion”, are you referring to the whistleblower and those who assisted them?

    Then again, why even bring it up for this thread? It makes as much sense as my starting a lecture with “Good afternoon, Jews and Gentiles” (which frankly, is no more ridiculous a way to start a presentation than “good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,”– as if my their gender has anything to do with, let’s say, a lecture on dopaminergic contributions to reinforcement).

  148. 148.

    Bill Arnold

    @schrodingers_cat:

    ETA: Rahul Gandhi’s first speech back in the parliament was awesome, he compared Modi to Ravan.

    Can you unpack the “awesome” a bit? Is it related to Dussehra?

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JAFD:

    As some of us olds may remember, today was the 49th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s departure from the White House.

    To commemorate, I had some cottage cheese and catsup for lunch.

    LOL! What about the pineapple ring from a can? Are you skipping dessert?

  151. 151.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    the Drone Wars or the Battle of MetaData?

    Oh my god.  The memories.  That dipshit Greenwald and his laundering wildly misrepresented stolen documents.  The people who actually thought the government was watching their search engine queries.  I remember that damn story about the guy who the NSA visited because of his search terms, except way down at the bottom of the article it turned out the visitor was the local sheriff deputy and it was the IT department at work who’d flagged him making weird searches on his work computer.

  156. 156.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Alison Rose:

    I know your question was one that you are not waiting on for an answer but I just wanted to say that I hate it when good people here get mad at what some asshole posts and then leaves or threatens to leave. Why? Because the asshole wins and everyone else loses. Stick around and club them like a baby seal and enjoy the fact that you are not beating on a sweet, innocent seal-eyed baby seal but rather a detestable waste of organic matter.

    Eversor needs to add an “e” to their nym. Also.

  158. 158.

    Doug R

    We feel free to talk about tumbrels all the time and considering all the damage Domionists have done, I don’t mind a little smack talk about “christians”.

    “Christians” that embraced that bloated treasonous rapist deserve way more heat than they get, but as a recovering Xtian who’s more agnostic than anything I only worry that when you try to weed out a religion, it’s because you’ve got an even worse religion to “replace” it.

  159. 159.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @marklar:

    … “good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,”

    Here is Anna Russell:

    Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. [long pause] And others. [chortle] Oh, of course I know all our members are ladies and gentlemen. What I mean is some of you have brought friends.

  160. 160.

    Bupalos

    @Jeffro: needs about 60% less “abortion” and 125% more “democracy.”

    The stakes are higher than reproductive rights.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @Bill Arnold:in the last Israeli election, the Balad party got 2.85% of the vote, while Meretz recieved 3.15$?%. The tgreshold for Knesset reprezentation is 3.25%, so a total of 6% of the vote was negated under Israel’s system of proportional representation. Balad split from the Arab Joint List, while Labor refused Meretz’s plea to run a joint list.

    So what might have been a 60-60 tie between the anti-and pro-Netanyahu parties became instead a 64-56 majority for Netanyahu’s 4-party coalition. If there had been a tie, a likely outcome would have been a majority coalition with then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz as Prime Minister, and the two Ultra-Orthodox parties defecting to Gantz’s coalition. That  or another election, which would have been the 6th in 4 years.

  165. 165.

    NotMax

    @Kelly

    Current reporting:

    When below they say strong winds, gusts up to 80mph were recorded Tuesday. Less forceful today but still blustery. Dunno if the number of structures in the link below includes those destroyed or severely damaged by the other fires still burning at Kihei (south Maui) and Kula (upcountry central part of the island) or if the number represents strictly those on the west side of the island (I suspect only the latter).

    Strong winds fuel Maui fires; 271 structures impacted; 6 fatalities confirmed; mass evacuation of visitors underway

    From the link:

    West Maui remains without power and has no landline or cellphone service.

  166. 166.

    Kelly

    Enjoyed several days walking around Lahaina on vacation. The first trip was 1988. Poking around galleries and resting under the banyan. I shall miss it.

  167. 167.

    Ivan X

    @Suzanne: Sure, but then why have liberals and Democrats ceded the rhetorical “freedom” to conservatives and Republicans? We all believe in freedom here, too, but they get to carry that brand simply because they’ve shouted it the loudest and have claimed it for themselves. I rarely see any pushback around this, like a Democratic candidate espousing their belief in freedom.

    My only point is that yeah, I’d like to see moderate people push back against the extreme people, too, but by and large we don’t because by definition we’re moderate and they are extreme. It’s a neverending, unsatisfying, exhausting, and in many cases unwinnable battle.

  169. 169.

    Geminid

    @Ivan X: Regarding the “Freedom” issue:

    Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola’s campaign slogan was “Fish Family Freedom,” and those words still head her Congressional web site. It’s a slogan especially adapted to Alaska, but the way she “owns” the Freedom issue stands out.

    I think other Democrats are taking up the Freedom framing, and it may be a winning messaging strategy. The long Republican drive to destroy reproductive freedom has now expanded into a general authoritarianism that tries to restrict American Freedom from libraries to corporate board rooms to polling places, and people more and more are objecting to this.

    And while Republicans like to emphasize the the issue of Economic Freedom, I wonder how impactful that is now. I think most Americans see private enterprise as neccesary but they also do not believe in unqualified freedom for corporations and other private interests.

    They may not want “Big” Government, but I think they don’t want a “Small” Government either.  Democrats are offering a “Medium” Government though, that protects them from exploitation in the many ways private interests can, but still provides the conditions for positive economic growth; and tries to provide the means to participate, primarily through education but also through strategic spending as in the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure, CHIPS+, and “IRA” bills.

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