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Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

“woke” is the new caravan.

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

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

This blog will pay for itself.

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In my day, never was longer.

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

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

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There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

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If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Hunter Trolls The Oversight Committee

Open Thread: Hunter Trolls The Oversight Committee

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I’m quietly working away when I get an alert saying that “Hunter Biden has entered the building” (I’m paraphrasing). This guy is done with these fools:

 

They are freakin’ melting down and I’m here for it

Open thread

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  6. 6.

    Paul M Gottlieb

    Nancy Mace is becoming more and more unhinged in her desperate quest for attention. I fully expect her to blow a dead possum on OAN, just for the memes

  7. 7.

    JWR

    Nancy Mace is a real piece of work. I’d put her right up there with Stefanick in the bad Mean Mouthers league. And BTW, whatever became of Jim Jordan’s subpoena, anyway?

    ETA Fixedit.

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    Jeez. This exchange was stupid. And Nancy Mace and the clown who backed her up….

    We pay these people for this?

  13. 13.

    TaMara

    @TaMara:

    Marjorie Taylor Greene is very upset that Hunter Biden walked out during her time. (Should be noted that all the other networks cut away from the hearing during Greene’s 5 minutes because of the move)

  14. 14.

    jimmiraybob

    Nancy Mace to Hunter, “You have no balls.”

    Wait a minute, wasn’t one of the nutcase twins, can’t remember if it was Boebert or MTG, just waving around dick pics on the floor of the house? Have these not been entered into evidence? Someone must clear this up!!!  America demands to know!!!!

  15. 15.

    TaMara

    @Baud: House Oversight is holding hearings to hold Hunter in contempt. He shows up, the rethugs meltdown on live TV and then he walks out when MTG starts her rant, taking the live feed with him.

    Boss moves

  16. 16.

    Jackie

    @Baud: Apparently the MAGA hearing was set to charge Hunter for Contempt of Court and Hunter waltzed right on in. Chaos ensued…😂

  18. 18.

    Tony Jay

    RepMace – “Is a woman… is a woman…  is a woman allowed to read out a list of focus tested zingers designed to get play on MAGAworld outlets?”

    😂 What a bunch of knobs.

    Oh, and FTR, in answer to your question, the women in your cult are allowed to do whatever their menfolk tell them to do and no more. So finish making that sammich and go ask your Y-crom Master, toots.

  20. 20.

    TaMara

    And they get stuffed in a locker by Moskowitz:

    Moskowitz: Here is the subpoena to representative Scott Perry, who did not comply. Here is the subpoena to mark meadows who did not comply. Here is the subpoena to Jim Jordan who did not comply with a lawful subpoena.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    Good gourd. Mace should spontaneously combust every time she pretends to be a victim of gender-based discrimination in service of her woman-oppressing caucus, which she does A LOT. And now she has the temerity to accuse someone else of white privilege? Jeebus.

    I suppose she is useful as an example of people who use “the woke agenda” as their own personal squid ink cloud. Maybe the NYT could assign a beat writer to her.

  22. 22.

    Butch

    “You have no balls?”  How nicely put.  Exactly the kind of dignified language I expect from an esteemed member of the House of Representatives.

  23. 23.

    raven

    @Leto: And she got her masters here at UGA!

    eta. I see no reference to her service on her Wiki page. She graduated from the Citadel and didn’t serve in the military?

  26. 26.

    matt

    What’s with all the trashy, foul mouthed women of the Republican Party? They’re making the halls of Congress into a beer hall.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Looking forward to ALL the late-night comics tonight. Heck, I might even give SNL a try this week!

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @TaMara:

    Should be noted that all the other networks cut away from the hearing during Greene’s 5 minutes because of the move

     
    Also, risk of dick pics.

  32. 32.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I’m spending way too many brain cells trying to translate Mace-ish into English. What does white privilege have to do with it? Wouldn’t a rant like that in English be expressed with “you have a lot of nerve”? How does that become “you have no balls”?

  33. 33.

    Quinerly

    @TaMara:

    I was (accidentally) listening to it live so didn’t recognize Mace’s voice at first. She’s sure gotten really nuts in the last 6 months. I guess she’s auditioning for a Trump administration.

  35. 35.

    rikyrah

    With her phucking clownish behavior, will the MSM finally stop pushing the fallacy that Nancy Mace is anything other but a crazy azz MAGA-ite like the rest of the GOP Conference?

  36. 36.

    Anonymous At Work

    I’m more tickled at Trump declaring that he’ll deliver a personal statement at his civil fraud trial’s closing arguments.  I just wonder Judge Engoron will put on his popcorn.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    I guess the best thing is that the media would have ho-hummed this atrocious if Hunter hadn’t shown up.

  40. 40.

    Quinerly

    @JWR: I was listening. Not watching. My initial thought was, “wtf is going on with Stefanik’s accent?” Mace had gotten off my radar.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    @Anonymous At Work:I’m more tickled at Trump declaring that he’ll deliver a personal statement at his civil fraud trial’s closing arguments.  I just wonder what Judge Engoron will put on his popcorn.

    Whiskey?

  48. 48.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Leto:

    that’s a Citadel grad for ya. SC isn’t sending their best or brightest

    The Citadel that no one would bother to storm. :^D

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    @Barbara:

    I had read about that a few weeks back.

    I truly thought a year plus ago she was one of the only sane women in the Repug caucus. I will have to look it up…isn’t her district Mark Sanford’s old district and where Colbert’s sister ran 10 plus years ago?

  54. 54.

    brendancalling

    That is 100% fucking hilarious. I love it when someone pulls a Bugs Bunny stunt on the GQP.

    @schrodingers_cat: “Look at my boobs?” The woman IS a boob, what the British would call “a right tit,” among other things.

  57. 57.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @rikyrah: Precisely.  And when Independents/Libertarians say it they are really just telling us they don’t really mind Fascism.

  58. 58.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Barbara:

    It might have something to do with her break-up with her fiance.

    Ah yes, the one she was talking at the prayer breakfast about not having time to get laid by him before the breakfast.

  59. 59.

    Barbara

    @Quinerly: I don’t really know, but I think she ended up in a more favorable district after redistricting, so she apparently now gets more mileage out of sounding insane.

    When I see people like her, and like Stefanik, all I can think is that power is one hell of an addiction.

  64. 64.

    Barbara

    @Jeffro: Although I hadn’t thought about it much, there is apparently a risk that a non-lawyer who is being represented by counsel can’t just get up and talk to the court without opening himself up to cross-examination.  I assume that a motion to clarify will be filed by the plaintiffs, and the risk of being subject to cross-examination will cause him to desist with this plan.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    Even Fox hasn’t figured out how to spin this clusterfuck yet…their top story is the actual facts about what happened(!)

    I’m shocked they haven’t cut away to a CARAVAN!!!1! story or something

     

    ETA: apparently they are getting their bearings…one chyron says “Hunter flees the room in the face of GOP questions”. whew, I was worried for a second there (!)

  67. 67.

    Leto

    @Phylllis: *insert Robin Williams character from the end of Goodwill Hunting gif: son of a bitch, stole my line… (absolutely amazing improve line that they kept)

  71. 71.

    JWR

    @Quinerly:

    Mace had gotten off my radar.

    Yeah, it’s when they start popping off, and about God knows what, that she and Stefanick become nearly indistinguishable one from the other. Oh yeah, and then there’s the venom. Gotta say it with poison on their tongues.

  72. 72.

    TBone

    Hunter is a dominator and this is the only time you’ll hear me say I think that’s a good thing.  I hope!

  73. 73.

    Ken

    I’m mildly surprised they didn’t push ahead with (what was obviously) their original plan, and vote to hold Hunter in contempt, even as the Democrats on the committee kept saying “He’s right there” and Hunter jumped up and down waving his arms.

  75. 75.

    Lyrebird

    @Betty Cracker: And now she has the temerity to accuse someone else of white privilege? Jeebus.

    Ya beat me to it.

    And I guess misusing “wokeness” is like voter fraud,

    it does occasionally happen,

    done by Republicans!

  77. 77.

    cain

    @TaMara: This is exactly the kind of performative trolling I am here for! Way to go, Hunter – that’s how you use your agency – the meltdown must feel good.

  80. 80.

    jinchi

    “You have no balls” followed by “can’t a woman speak” is quite the combination of gendered harassment/victimization coming from Mace.

  85. 85.

    TriassicSands

    Nancy Mace continues to be utterly disgusting. She is every bit as bad as Greene, Boebert, Jordan, Gaetz, et al.

  86. 86.

    Tony G

    @Baud: She’d better get busy with the hand jobs if she wants to be seriously considered as a contender for the position of GOP-Looney-Tunes-Lady.

  89. 89.

    Almost Retired

    I’m sort of curious as to what nonsense MTG spewed after the cameras cut away.  Maybe if there are no cameras, she’s completely measured and logical?  Nah…..  Her spittle-flecked rants are about as coherent as the Tasmanian Devil, but with less spinning and twirling.

  91. 91.

    jimmiraybob

    @Almost Retired: Apparently, after Raskin pointed out that Ashli Babbitt’s death was not a murder and that “…it was a tragedy that people died because Donald Trump put them at risk,” her head exploded (figuratively speaking).

  92. 92.

    opiejeanne

    @jimmiraybob: I don’t know what that magnets and water nonsense was in reference to. Something that cost a lot of money, but I have no idea what it was.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Quinerly: Mark Sanford made his political comeback by winning the coastal 1st CD after Tim Scott moved up to Senator. Sanford lost the 2018 primary to Katie Arrington after he criticized Trump. Arrington was a lightweight and lost the seat to Joe Cunningham.

    Cunningham one of 41 Dems who flipped seats that year. He was the first Democrat to represent the 1st since the party realignment of the 1970s.

    When Mace ran against Cunningham in 2020, it was a purple district and she projected a more moderate-conservative image in order to win it. I think that’s what got national media hooked on her.

    Redistricting made the district more Republican for 2022, so now Mace talks more like a hardliner. I think she has her eyes on Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat. It comes up again in 2026.

  97. 97.

    jimmiraybob

    @opiejeanne: ​  Bizzaro exPres Trump made some rambling remarks about water ruining magnets. Once agin proving his status as stable genius.​​
     

    Edit: magnetic elevators.

  101. 101.

    cain

    @jimmiraybob:

    Nancy Mace to Hunter, “You have no balls.”

    “Madam Representative – I believe the honorable Madam Representative Greene has publicly shown evidence that this is not true”

  102. 102.

    piratedan

    @jinchi: I would have thought with all of the Hunter Biden porn that they’ve examined that they would have evidence by now that he does actually have balls….

  105. 105.

    Jay

    @opiejeanne:

    TTIFG was trying to talk about how the switch from steam to magnetics on US Aircraft Carriers rendered them useless because magnets don’t work if they are wet.

    This TTIFG Brain Fart has been brought to you by Miller Lite, drink beer, not water.

  106. 106.

    Bill Arnold

    @opiejeanne:
    ETA others above say elevators. OK. He’s been concerned about the catapults previously.
    ETA2: here, for example Why Trump asked the Wasp’s crew ‘electric or steam?’ (Mark D. Faram and Joe Gould, May 28, 2019), which mentions both catapults and elevators.
    It was related to the catapults used to launch aircraft from aircraft carriers. They used to be steam-powered. The newfangled ones (I don’t know how new) use electromagnets and apparently Trump believes for some reason that the Navy does not know how to use electricity on ships, because wires might get wet, e.g. in the example he used, by poring a glass of water on the electromagnet coils. (The Navy knows how to use electricity on ships…)
    Haven’t studied Trump’s history with this “controversy”. Clear enough that D.J. Trump is grossly and willfully ignorant, though.

  107. 107.

    Jackie

    More (continuing) House GQP mayhem: Mike Johnson is afraid the HFC is going to boot him from his Speakership, so he’s running to TIFG to enlist his help/approval. This should end well!

    Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) “is reaching for the ultimate lifeline on Wednesday — Donald Trump, the leader of the GOP Party who has sought to mold the House Republican Conference in his image,” The Messenger reports.

    “The nascent speaker is facing a potential revolt from conservative hardliners after he struck a deal with Senate Democrats on a government spending framework that could avoid a government shutdown next weekend.”

    Said Johnson: “I’m planning to give him a call today to talk him through the details of it. He and I have a very close relationship. He’s been an enthusiastic supporter of my leadership here, and I expect he’ll be doing that again.”

  108. 108.

    Leto

    @opiejeanne: it’s in relation to the new Navy catapult system on aircraft carriers. It uses a magnetic catapult system instead of the older hydraulic system. Trumpov has railed against that since basically 2016, so he’s just pulling out an older grievance. It’s super stupid but that’s who he is.

     

    Edit: Bill got it above at #106. The asset is just a deeply stupid person.

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    @Bill Arnold: I think the Gerald R. Ford is the first aircraft carrier to use electro-magnetic catapults. All the new ones will have them. They put less stress on the regular fighter jets and can be tuned up or down depending on the weight of the aircraft. If they tried to launch a drone with a steam catapult it would disintegrate.

  111. 111.

    Baud

    Am disappointed to learn that Navy ships don’t have actual catapults for hurling stones at the enemy.

    Do they have trebuchets at least?

  113. 113.

    Leto

    @Baud: they do! They’re called… battleships! Unfortunately they’re not allowed to come out and play anymore.

    @Geminid: correct, the Ford class carriers utilize that new technology. Less stress on both the aircraft and catapult system, ships will no longer need to plan for a steam boiler anymore, and it should be safer for the personnel to operate. One of the recommendations the Navy review process made was, “do not include so many new technologies on one ship.” It was a test bed for sooo many new pieces of tech, that helped delay it for so long.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @Baud: There are electro-magnetic rail guns on a few of the new destroyers. They can fire a 5″ projectile a long distance..

    I think those are place holders more or less. The newer generation of Navy ships including the Ford have electrical generating capacities greater than they can use right now. This could be for energy weapons that are not yet ready for deployment.

  116. 116.

    Librarian

    “Are women allowed to speak.” Always the victim. Acting like a victim is their go to move. Every single time.

  117. 117.

    Ken

    @Jackie: Prediction: 30 minutes after his call with Trump finishes, Speaker Johnson schedules an emergency session to vote for articles of impeachment for Biden, and whips hard for immediate passage.

    Quid pro quo, Clarice….

  119. 119.

    smith

    Just saw the punch line from Comer’s trainwreck of a hearing today — they failed to vote contempt of Congress against Hunter Biden. Every time that committee tries to do its performance art in public, they get pantsed by well-prepared and fired up Dems. Especially liked this one, from Moscowitz, of course.

  123. 123.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Leto: A million years ago I was in Charleston for some business reason, ended up in a bar kind of bored. Bar had some board games and some Citadel guys, one of whom thought he could play backgammon. Led to a quick sawbuck in my pocket.

  128. 128.

    smith

    @rikyrah: Apparently TFG and his lawyers refused to agree to the judge’s rules as to what he could say (can’t introduce new evidence in closing arguments). I’m guessing his lawyers anticipated this, and the whole charade was a show for the rubes and gullible media (but I repeat myself).

  130. 130.

    Jackie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Apparently TIFG’s team didn’t respond to Engoron’s conditions in a timely fashion:

    ””Not having heard from you by the third extended deadline,” Engoron writes. “I assume that Mr. Trump will not agree to the reasonable, lawful limits I have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement.””

  131. 131.

    Geminid

    @Leto: Not only does the aircraft carrier Ford have the Navy’s first electromagnetic catapaults, it embarked last May with the Navy’s first shipboard service dog. A Navy Times article said that Sage, a 3 year old yellow lab, shipped with the Ford as part of an experimental program to help support crew morale. The chaplain in charge of Sage got 120 hours of training from the pup’s Virginia Beach provider, “Mutts with a Mission.”

    The Ford ought to make it back to Norfolk any day now. The ship’s deployment was extended by 2 months on account of the Israel/Hamas war, but it finally left the Mediterranean last week.

  133. 133.

    Leto

    @Geminid: any time we were around working dogs, it was an utter contest of wills to not go and pet them. We were repeatedly warned not to, but man… the overwhelming urge to pet them, call them good boys/girls… I’m glad that crew had him. Ship duty can be really isolating/lonely (despite being surrounded by hundreds of people).
    @rikyrah: Apartheid Clyde now urging “race based science” in next white supremacist move.​
     

    Edit: at my first assignment, Shaw AFB, I was part of the security forces augmentee brigade. Basically SF never had enough people so would pull people from all across base to help them. We’d man the gates, ride on patrol, just a good waste of training for most of us. Anyways, I was in the SF building one day when what I thought was a fucking bear popped around the corner. My immediate reaction was to press myself against the wall, as if it wouldn’t notice me (camouflage!) and just leave me be. No, it was just a gargantuan floof pulling against his leash, trying to get down the hall. Guy I was with, and the handler, both had a good laugh.

  134. 134.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @Leto:

    did she serve in the Corp of Cadets? I remember you mentioning your aunt went there before.

    I’m wondering too. It would be weird to subject yourself to the cadet experience for no good reason.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @Leto: Sage the Yellow Lab is famous now. Video clips of her include one put up a week ago from the birthday party sailors threw for her.

    The Navy’s designation for Sage is, “Expanded Operational Stress Control Canine.”  .

  136. 136.

    Jackie

    House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is apparently unhappy about being cyberbullied by Republican colleagues.

    Axios reports that Johnson, in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, demanded that House Republicans should “stop criticizing him and his budget negotiations on social media.”

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) reportedly chewed out Johnson during the meeting and demanded that the GOP-led House do more to cut spending levels.

    Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), meanwhile, openly fumed to reporters about Johnson’s performance as House speaker ever since he replaced former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last year.

    “Before we could even get together, he announced the terms of the surrender,” fumed Davidson, who also said of Johnson, “He should never have been hired.”

  139. 139.

    Eyeroller

    @Geminid: Long ago, ships had cats.  Their main purpose was to control rodents, but the crew usually very much treated them as pets.  The Endurance expedition to the South Pole (Shackleton) had a ship’s cat named Mrs Chippy (a pet of the carpenter Harry McNish) and many sled dogs.  As soon as they got into trouble, Mrs. Chippy (and a young dog that was also a pet) were shot.  McNish never forgave Shackleton.  (The sled dogs were also eventually shot, and eaten.)

    Some Navy ships also used to have goats as mascots.  They were originally on board for meat and milk but when that became unnecessary by the late 19th century, they turned into pets.

  143. 143.

    karen marie

    @rikyrah: “Rescinds”? When was permission granted?

    Defendants represented by counsel are never allowed to speak to the judge except as a witness or during a colloquy about testifying or to complain about their lawyer, or after a verdict as part of sentencing. I figured Trump was just confused about the timing. It makes no sense that Engoron would have agreed to allow Trump to speak outside the witness box and without cross exam.

  144. 144.

    Eyeroller

    @Baud: They are electromagnets so have wires with large currents running through them, but I think by now the Navy knows how to waterproof their infrastructure when necessary.

  147. 147.

    smith

    @karen marie: Permission was granted to, I guess, represent himself in closing arguments subject to conditions that limited him to the same kind of arguments his lawyers would be subject to. Predictably, TFG and his lawyers refused to agree, so the judge said no go. I don’t think TFG was ever serious about this — he was putting on a show and Engoron called his bluff.

  148. 148.

    dmsilev

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Permanent magnets, like the sort people stick to their refrigerator doors? Yeah, no problem, they won’t care one whit about being underwater. Electromagnets, coils of wire like what you might see in an electric motor? By default no, they’ll short out and die, but it’s certainly possible to design for “can survive being doused”.

  149. 149.

    LadySuzy

    @Ken: Prediction: the deal with President Biden is over. Speaker accepts to shut down the government because the Boss has asked for it.

  150. 150.

    artem1s

    @Quinerly: ​ 

    I guess she’s auditioning for a Trump administration.

    Maybe she thinks she can be the next Squeaker after the MTV bumps Johnson?

  152. 152.

    jimmiraybob

    If dinosaurs, chickens, sheep, snakes and people could get along on Noah’s Ark surely there’s a way to bring peace to our Republican caucus. Thus spoketh the leader Johnson.

    – Book of MAGA

  153. 153.

    Another Scott

    @Jackie:

    More from TheHill.com:

    Thirteen Republicans joined with Democrats to vote against the rule for a trio of bills, preventing the chamber from debating and voting on the measures — which are unrelated to spending. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), the vice chair of the House GOP conference, changed his vote to oppose the rule shortly before the vote closed, a move that allows him to bring up the rule for another vote at a later time.

    The final tally was 203-216. Republican leadership canceled an afternoon vote series following the revolt.

    The GQP still can’t count.

    [ womp, womp ]

    Jeffries and Schumer and lots of others said that poison pills were DOA. But they had to vote on them anyway, huh.

    Johnson, however, expressed confidence that the deal would remain intact after the rule failed.

    “It’s gonna survive,” Johnson said during an interview on Fox News Channel. “What I’ve told Ralph Norman and Chip Roy, who are my close friends, I’m also a conservative hardliner, that’s been my entire career in Congress and all of my years as a legislator. Cutting spending, this is a big priority for us, the Republican Party.”

    “What we negotiated in the topline agreement for the appropriations going forward is an innovation,” he continued. “We’re trying to get back to 12 appropriations bills instead of ruling and governing by omnibus spending bills. We’ve done that, we achieved that at the end of last year and now we have to get into the individual spending bills.”

    See above. Poison pills aren’t going anywhere. (But that doesn’t mean that the good guys will get everything they want, of course.)

    Lots of people are talking about another CR that runs until March to give them time to get the appropriations bills done. We’ll see soon.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  154. 154.

    KJPennington

    Marjorie Trailer-Queen trying to be relevant ….. 😂

    Crockett handed their ass to the whole lot of the repugs in that chamber.  God I love that woman.

  156. 156.

    opiejeanne

    Thanks everyone for telling me what the idiot was referring to when he was fussing about magnets.

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