The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott has a piece up today about Team Trump’s plan to respond to the Mueller report. The plan is, there is no plan. Aides know Trump would ignore any strategy they create anyway, so they aren’t bothering with it.
“We would always put together plans with the knowledge that he wouldn’t use them or they’d go off the rails,” one recently departed official told me. “And at this point, with Mueller, they’ve decided they’re not even going to do that.”
“It’s like, ‘Jesus, take the wheel,’” the source added, “but scarier.”
Okay then. There are some pretty salty quotes from Giuliani in the story. Here’s one on Trump drafting responses to Mueller’s questions a while back:
“Answering those questions was a nightmare,” he told me. “It took him about three weeks to do what would normally take two days.”
You don’t say. Here’s Giuliani, pretend lawyer, on trying to control the raging, overgrown toddler who pretends to be president:
Giuliani initially pushed back on the prediction that Trump would take center stage after the report drops. “I don’t think following his lead is the right thing. He’s the client,” he told me. “The more controlled a person is, the more intelligent they are, the more they can make the decision. But he’s just like every other client. He’s not more … you know, controlled than any other client. In fact, he’s a little less.”
Jesus, Rudy — you’re lucky Trump doesn’t read.
Here’s Giuliani on Trump’s busy schedule:
There was the sheer problem of finding time—Giuliani recalled one instance when they were working on the list and Chief of Staff John Kelly broke in to tell Trump about the migrant caravan, which grabbed the president’s attention immediately. And there was the specificity of the questions themselves: “He’s got a great memory,” Giuliani said. “However, basically we were answering questions about 2016, the busiest year of his life. It’s a real job to remember.”
Yeah, gotta drop everything to respond to the national threat posed by [dun-dun-DUN] The Caravan. Something tells me this isn’t the last time we’ll hear excuses for Trump’s failure to remember events that occurred in 2016.
Anyhoo, cool strategy, bro. I’m sure it’ll all work out.
Open thread!
Corner Stone
Such a thoroughly racist POS.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
You never ask that question. It’s bad juju, even in jest. You’ve doomed us all Betty! Game over man, game over!
Corner Stone
This shit house ratfucking going on in North Carolina is just amazeballs.
TenguPhule
Trump: “SATAN GUIDE MY COCK!!!”
TenguPhule
None of these assholes has ever worked a real job in their fucking lives.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
What gets me is they didn’t even try to hide it. It was just done in plain view with easily traceable links back to the offending parties.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Look, nobody said these guys were smart.
rikyrah
I don’t know why…but, this made me LOL
nasruddin
He has a great memory, as long has his Reminder is present to remind him to remember.
Unless his Chief of Distractions shows up to distract him. Except when they’re the same person, or when he thinks they’re the same person, when they aren’t.
I think I have it straight now, but if not let me know.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule:
Now that’s not quite fair. It must be damned hard work to knock little old ladies and everyone else out of his way when Guiliani spots a microphone.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: How do we know for certain that Flynn was the only top military brass who was compromised by the Russians. What about Kelly? It would be irresponsible not to speculate. If the Theranos chick could pull wool over immigrant son Mattis’s eyes, how do we know that Putin didn’t?
gene108
Trump bragged, in October 2017, that he had “one of the greatest memories of all time”.
I wonder, if that statement can be used against him court, when he says “I don’t remember”?
sdhays
@Corner Stone: Yeah, I wish they would unpack that more. How was the “migrant caravan” a thousand miles from the border something worth disturbing the “President” in the middle of something else? And notice how Giuliani says how it “grabbed Spankee’s attention immediately”. I’ll bet that means that Trump raged and bitched about it for a solid 20-60 minutes, after which no action or new decision was made and Kelly went back to sipping his mug of baby tears and Trump moved on to Executive Time, multitasking with his bowls.
Corner Stone
@nasruddin: You’ve almost got it. His Chief Reminder is there to Remind him that it’s time for the next Distraction to happen. That way there’s nothing for anyone to be Reminded of.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve simply assumed that anyone in a uniform supporting Trump is compromised by Russia one way or another to save time.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I’m watching Dallas Woodhouse, the shitbird executive director of the NC GOP. He looks and sounds terrible and he’s completely subdued compared to his normal on air antics.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: Good idea.
Adam L Silverman
By now, as is always the case with this crowd, someone has printed it out, used a highlighter on it, and slipped it to the President.
TenguPhule
I see Trump’s morning Coke run was especially white today.
Jeffro
Why were the questions a nightmare, if Trumpov & Co were innocent and all this stuff is just a #WitchHunt? How hard is it to just say “we broke no campaign finance laws, took no meetings with the Russians, and were not aware of any plot to release stolen emails for maximum damage to the Clinton campaign?”
Unless, of course, they aren’t able to say those things without committing perjury and obstruction of justice.
And unless, of course, the Special Counsel already knows that.
The Dangerman
They are being driven around by an IMMIGRANT? Does Tucker Carlson know?
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: It’s going to bring down the scumbag county sheriff too. Always a great political mission statement for the sheriff: “I’m the law and order candidate, which is why I’ve hired a convicted felon to steal absentee ballots to ensure my reelection!”
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@schrodingers_cat:
Does the media still try to prop up Kelly as some noble man in uniform who’s protecting us all from the horrors of Trumpism?
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
But did they remember to bold and use ALL CAPS so that he could see it?
Adam L Silverman
@nasruddin: You may have forgotten something.
Mike E
@Adam L Silverman: He knows his peeps are going to jail, including a certain “minister”…heh
TenguPhule
And we mark Schindler’s List 25th anniversary.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Well played.
rikyrah
Let’s be honest…they DID have a strategy…it was called
Paulie Walnuts is our mole…
And now, he knows that Bobby Three Sticks KNEW that Paulie Walnuts was a mole and responded accordingly….
I have to LOL everytime I think about Bobby Three Sticks delaying things with Paulie..
UNTIL HE GOT DOLT45’S ANSWERS IN WRITING..
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH AH
dmsilev
Oh Lord, please let Fox and Friends read Rudy’s description of the President out loud on their show. Please please please.
Jeffro
@Corner Stone: @Adam L Silverman: They’ve been caught with their pants so far down, the belt loops caught on the underground sprinkler system.
They’re so busted, they’re calling themselves the Gallagher Watermelons
They’re in such hot water, they’re Ramen-publicans.
They’re such crooks, they’re…the epitome of the modern GOP.
Let’s go, national snooze media…get. on. it. You don’t really think NC is the only state they’ve been pulling this crap, do you?
Mandalay
Randy Rainbow’s latest hatchet job on Trump is his best ever: Trump’s Favorite Things
trollhattan
Is “Jesus take the wheel” the new “Devil get out!!!” [smacks true believer on forehead]
Trump would have totally nailed leading D-Day.
TenguPhule
They really are getting worse in real time.
Amir Khalid
Why is it such a job to remember what Trump did in 2016, or where he went or, whom he met and spoke to? Didn’t his campaign keep some kind of diary or log book?
TenguPhule
@Amir Khalid:
Somebody spilled beer on the campaign planner calendar.
Gelfling 545
@TenguPhule: I’d say that’s a sensible approach.
Doug Gardner
@TenguPhule: Ah yes, the old possessive instead of plural: Judge’s vs Judges – not to mention the random capitalization of common nouns (again).
ruemara
@Adam L Silverman: I’m going to enjoy their sentencing. If it happens. It’s also very likely that they’re caught, they’re obvious AF about being crooks, we get that new election and people vote for them again anyway because enough white people are ok with criminals as long as they have the proper conservative party affiliation. I’d like to see them go down in flames and enter a federal jail for election fraud, but I won’t hold my breath.
Jeffro
@TenguPhule: You mean, spilled some ‘skis…
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
To be fair, I can understand why it would be tough to keep everything straight. How many lies did he tell in that campaign, anyway? Nobody could keep that many lies straight. Shit, Don Vincenzo Coccotti, the master Sicilian liar from True Romance would have his hands full keeping that shit straight.
Kay
Worst political reporters in the country. It’s not even close. They suck. They may be good at other types of reporting or newsgathering, I cannot say, but their political reporters are terrible.
Stand like bedrock. They GO INTO this believing Republican governance is the only legitimate type, and all other voters are interlopers. REAL America is Republican. These random people in Wisconsin who were just elected? Just placeholders until the natural GOP leaders return.
Kay
Worst political reporters in the country. It’s not even close. They suck. They may be good at other types of reporting or newsgathering, I cannot say, but their political reporters are terrible.
Stand like bedrock. They GO INTO this believing Republican governance is the only legitimate type, and all other voters are interlopers. REAL America is Republican. These random people in Wisconsin who were just elected? Just placeholders until the natural GOP leaders return.
JPL
@TenguPhule: That is sick.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m still mystified by the Theranos stuff. Either he willingly bought into a story or didn’t care enough to fact check the story. IMO, Mattis has tried to stay mum and quietly resist about 90% of what Trump says/does so he can continue in his role. However, the sending troops to the border stunt and then the “no smoking gun” on Khashoggi murder really pushed my buttons. At this point I think we have to conclude that every single person in the Trump orbit is compromised in one way or the other and/or complicit.
SFAW
@Mandalay:
If you scroll down the replies a bit, there’s a photo with the “headline”: “Trump Arrives in Moscow”
Good fun. As in “still laughing” good fun.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
Squi? Or Bret? Or some other drunkard?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TenguPhule: No kidding. I had to write an annual report of my activities, which was one reason among many that I kept records. You know, things like calendars and meeting minutes and memos to the file. This is not rocket science.
Kay
@Corner Stone:
The funniest part of Theranos is she did it deliberately. She stacked the board with people who would have no clue about blood science. It was vital that she keep anyone who knew anything far away from that company.
It’s just such magical thinking, because of course she had to HIRE lab techs and they all knew it was a scam immediately.
The lowliest lab tech knew MUCH more than that ultra-heavyweight board.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone:
The caravan bullshit, was definitely the turning point for me too.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
I think it’s more of a “Let’s find some way to weasel out of acting responsibly or honestly” thing for the RWMFs
Kay
Anyone who is supporting Warren should take heed:
Lingering clouds, folks. You-all know the drill by now. This is what the NYTimes does when they’re targeting a candidate.
They don’t like Warren and we know how this goes when they all decide they don’t like the candidate. Ask Al Gore. Or Hillary Clinton.
Ask yourselves if this can be gotten past, because the die is cast and the narrative is being created.
rikyrah
@Kay:
TELL THAT TRUTH
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat: I had no faith in any of them from the beginning. They voluntarily decided to work for Trump. That was the tell.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Warren will have to shoot a FTFNYT editor on Fifth Avenue to get them to stop.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
To be fair, none of the people who got sucked into the con artist’s bullshit were any less ignorant.
The Moar You Know
They will not hesitate to drop the Alzheimer’s card at some point. You can take that shit to the bank.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Fox News says hi.
scott (the other one)
@Kay: Said it before, and I’ll say it again: I do not believe the FTFNYT being this bad is an accident. And while I do not doubt for a moment there are many reasons—including deep-seated hatred of the Clintons, embarrassment over being tagged as liberals, the need to keep the millionaires and billionaires who live nearby happy, and many others—this level of terribleness reeks to me.
Putin is worth billions. I doubt it would take more than a few million to get kompromat on half a dozen editors. And all he’d ask is for them to skew headlines a bit more than they’re already inclined to. And then sit back and smile at the resulting (faster) degradation of our entire system.
We know Russia has compromised the NRA and at least a few GOP elected officials, not to mention the President of the United States of America. Why on earth wouldn’t they go after the press? It would be so easy and so fruitful.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
Publisher, not editor. Pinche Sulzberger is carrying on the “I fucking hate Demon-rats” tradition he learnt on/at his daddy’s knee.
Well, I guess the editor has culpability, too, but I’m thinking more of a “fish rots from the head” thing.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: I’ll trade tax returns for basic literacy. JFC. This fucking country.
sukabi
@TenguPhule: privilege has it’s perks
Dan B
OT: DOJ’s new chief spokesperson is the former spokesperson for the Liberty Council, a SPLC hate group for its rabidly anti LGBTQ stance. She’s spoken at an event for the anti-gat baker Jack Phillips. She’s a graduate of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
When does the DOJ get an event planner from the KKK or Proud Boys? Are there more job slots to fill?
waspuppet
@TenguPhule: He’s got a great memory for the things everyone remembers easily, but You can’t expect a guy with a great memory to remember stuff that’s hard to remember.
Jesus, these people. He’d have it so easy if he just said “I don’t have a great memory.” But no — he has to have the absolutely best and strongest everything, even when he’s admitting he’s failing.
sukabi
@sdhays: had prearranged for Kelley to come in 10 minutes after Giuliani arrived to deliver “urgent” brown alert.
TenguPhule
oh snap.
Martin
I just want to stand in front of the WH with the ‘Jump You Fuckers’ sign.
Corner Stone
@Kay:
How about something like this? “Ok, can you show me an internal peer review of how exactly this technique works? Oh, you can’t because proprietary and blah blah? Thanks, I’ll see myself out.”
Corner Stone
@Dan B:
What does she have against Tommy Guns? See here, see.
Aleta
What could be scarier than “He’s out of control, but God picked him and it’s Jesus’ turn to drive.”
Jay
@Kay:
No More Mister Nice Blog is covering it,
And FTFNYT.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I know you hate all of these people, but there is no indication or information whatsoever that any of the other senior military leaders were compromised. As for Mattis and Theranos – that is not his finest hour, but for anyone with any experience with the military it is not surprising. Senior military leaders are usually very, very open to highly credentialed civilians. Especially if the connection is made by someone they know. This can cause problems when those highly credentialed civilians, or those falsely claiming them – and there are plenty of these folks out there, have their own ulterior motives for what they’re going to get out of the connections.
The dark and dirty secret of retired senior military leaders is that they need jobs. Yes, they have an excellent retirement package, but you’re talking about a lot of men and women who are in their mid to late 50s, usually with several masters degrees, and absolutely no work experience outside of the military. They usually have one or more children in college or finishing it, their spouses largely have no careers of their own as they’ve been willing to follow their husbands or wives around for the past 30 plus years, they suddenly have a mortgage, or, in some cases, a second mortgage if they’re staying in the area where their last assignments were and they suddenly have to get civilian housing. Because they’re retired general officers/flag officers, and that is perceived as something that can and will open doors at all levels of government and business, they are highly sought out for corporate boards regardless of whether they have any experience in the business that those boards oversee. Mattis agreeing to be on the board, based on what was a technical pitch outside of any of his areas of expertise, is not surprising. That the pitch was actually garbage is also not surprising.
You need to think of retired military personnel as men and women who have been institutionalized for the better part of 20 to 30, and in the case of general officers/flag officers 30 to 40 years, and have suddenly been released into society with almost no transitional training. And you need to recognize that there is almost a cottage industry of both people with legitimate credentials and people with bogus credentials who make a living pitching both legitimate and bogus projects to these people.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
The scam these days is to get enough “suckers” in the door in a steady stream, that algorythmic trading takes over.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike E: I have trouble believing he wasn’t up to his own eyebrows in this. It is just the type of scheme he’d participate in.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone:
And the father says, “The Aristocrats!”
PaulWartenberg
I am willing to bet trump does have a plan: it involves calling in Erik Prince’s mercenary army to arrest everybody from Hillary and Obama and Mueller on down the list, and replace the CIA by signing up Russia’s GRU as a third-party vendor to outsource all our intel needs.
It sucks as a plan, but granted this is pretty much the only move trump would make.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone: Pretty simple: pretty blonde.
different-church-lady
@PaulWartenberg: It may end up happening that way, but it won’t be because Trump planned it out.
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule: Is it wrong to think we are comparatively lucky pResident tRump wasn’t in the WH at the peak of the War
WithOn Drugs?Steeplejack (phone)
@Kay:
Is that quote from the Times? Who’s the reporter/columnist?
PaulWartenberg
@Corner Stone:
what’s funny/sad about that: Harris’ primary campaign apparently pulled the same sh-t (stealing/destroying absentee ballots) on a fellow Republican Pittenger… THE INCUMBENT (which made Pittenger the only incumbent to lose a primary this year).
Harris cheated against a fellow Republican before cheating against the Democrat. You’d think the state GOP would be hanging him for the whole embarrassing mess right about now (or at least Pittenger using his party connections to nail Harris to the nearest wall).
Mandalay
@Kay:
They’re doing a similar thing to Sherrod Brown: “Hey readers, remember that supposed dirt that the Republicans dug up on Sherrod Brown that went absolutely nowhere? Well it’s our responsibility as journalists to dredge it up again and wave it under your nose…”
Betty Cracker
@Mandalay: Sure is. I’ll share with the class.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Sounds like Ghouliane is trying to pre-spin Trump’s answers they must be screwed up. I am predicting a a short answers like “entrapment!”, “harassment (the TRUE kind were little people question rich people, not the kind of stuff that is really the woman’s fault)” , “Who cares dude?” and “Boring! To long, didn’t read.”
PaulWartenberg
@Kay:
there’s a solution to all this.
EVERY FCKING PERSON IN New York City NEEDS TO DROP THEIR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE FCKING TIMES.
With a shared note saying “STOP FCKING OVER DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES YOU MORONS”
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule: If you say “they’re getting more obvious in real time”, then I agree with you.
Booger
@Corner Stone: See, once Theranos has all of the Infinity Stones in the Infinity Gauntlet, then he can wreak his (spoiler alert) cosmic genocide with snap of his fingers. At least that’s how I understand it.
PJ
@Kay: Every Democrat who thinks about running is going to get smeared with non-substantive attacks by the media before they are slammed by the GOP, and it’s going to be worse for women. (Just look at all the articles swiping at Pelosi since before the mid-terms.) It’s the swift-boating model repeated ad infinitum. Candidates are just going to have to fight back and plow through it.
Jay
@PaulWartenberg:
Plus the NC Supreme Court went from 5/4 Democratic Party to 8/1 Democratic Party in the election.
PaulWartenberg
@Mandalay:
Is it just me or is the New York Times obsessing over finding THE PERFECT DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE WHOSE SH-T SMELLS LIKE LAVENDER AND WHO LOOKS JUST LIKE JFK.
Because their willingness to kneecap every sensible, practical Democratic candidate for 2020 before 2018 is even over reeks of suicidal wishful thinking.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: That’s straight out of D’Souza’s documentary on Soros.
Kay
@Corner Stone:
One of them did ask for info, repeatedly, and they chased him off the board.
They were greed-crazed, basically. They saw billions in revenue coming from consumers ordering blood tests in drugstores.
My daughter told me there’s a new Theranos-like company for fertility testing. She’s waging a one woman whistleblower campaign against them.
The Moar You Know
@Adam L Silverman: The other dirty secret is that their pay is appalling by civilian standards. Fine while you’re in and getting fed and have some sort of substandard roof over your head; completely different ballgame when you’re out and gotta pay for all that yourself.
I make far more as a contractor than any of our people have ever made while in the military.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I honestly didn’t think this dumb DNA story had “legs” the way butter emails did. It’s not a complex story, I thought. It’ll be hard to conflate it with unrelated things, which is what happened in the butter emails saga. Looks like I was wrong. I wonder if it matters, though. Is it just that the NYT dislikes Warren, or will they smear any Democrat? Maybe they could give the party a list of potential nominees that they’re willing to treat fairly and let us decide among that group?
trollhattan
@Kay:
True enough, there’s been suspicion and discontent going back at least as far as crafting the CFPB–which our financial betters hate and where do they all work and live, anyway?
Watch for stormclouds to form in the vicinity of Kamala Harris. Here’s a taste.
Kay
@PJ:
Truthfully the best would be new- no national profile at all. That’ll set them back a little on narrative-creating.
I accept reality. The reality is we have to deal with them and they hate our candidates. It’s not our fault but it is our problem.
Mandalay
@SFAW: When it comes to going after the Trump Administration he’s the best comedian out there by a mile for my money. SNL, Colbert and the rest seem so crude and contrived in comparison.
boatboy_srq
@waspuppet: It’s always a hustle with tRump, and the hustle is always tRump. In a less visible, less formalized environment and without Daddy’s seed money to get him started, he’d be an escort charging by the hour. His turnaround cycle is short as his attention span, and his projects last just long enough to fleece his rubes before he moves on.
If I were (for example) KSA, at this point I’d be winding down my investments in tRump Inc because I’ve got about all I’m likely to get from the Carnival-Barker-In-Chief, and because my money will do more good elsewhere, even if that’s buying munitions for Iranian dissidents already known to Tehran.
The Moar You Know
@Corner Stone: Read Bad Blood. The whole Theranos thing was like a multi-layer marketing scheme all composed of psychopaths looking for a sucker. They found plenty.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t think she ass-kissed enough as a senator, honestly. They were on twitter grumbling that she wasn’t approachable enough.
This is horrible and cynical I know, but how hard is it to become one of their favorites? Not that hard, I bet! Just give them enough info to feed the big, empty maw of political “news”.
What do they want? A nice plane for the campaign? Give them that :)
Boris, Rasputin's Evil Twin
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Heck, even Hitler kept colored pencils on his desk to mark his correspondence, to keep track of which lie he told to which party. Trump’s not that organized.
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker:
Joey Lieberman and James Jimmy Boy Webb come to mind.
Humdog
Have I missed discussion of how Bernie’s camp is coming after Beto? David Sirota trying to make the fact that small donors in Texas supported his Senate bid by claiming the oil industry is backing Beto. Liz Breunig claiming that progressive Texans don’t like Beto. Beto raised more money from small donors than Wilmer, so Beto is a threat, evidently, especially since reports came out that Beto visited Barack Obama’s offices at Obama’s request.
If the MSM doesn’t undercut our potential candidates, the non-Dem trying to crash the party will do it for them.
Adam L Silverman
@Dan B: Kupec is one of Leonard Leo’s merry band of mischief makers, but only mischief in line with a strict constructionist understanding of the Framers’ intent. I see they booted Isgur Flores over to Rosenstein’s shop.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t hate them or love them.
Aleta
The flow chart for two years of administration actions right there.
jl
Giuliani does do a good job in describing the nightmare of working with Trump. He really understands Trump. And given Rudes’ recent twitter experience, we now understand why. They are two peas in a pod. We missed something close to a prior Trump phenomenon, when Giuliani’s ridiculous presidential run immediately disappeared on first contact with reality without a trace.
Poor Rudy, his political ambitions were before his time, and his randomly generated election pitch was off the mark.
Kay
She’s undocumented. I am literally afraid for her. I sincerely hope she doesn’t regret putting herself in the crosshairs of the wildly powerful and vicious, mean-spirited people in the Trump Administration.
sm*t cl*de
@Kay:
Um, bedrock doesn’t stand, it kind of lies there flat under everything else.
schrodingers_cat
@Humdog: The knives were out for Beto, since before the election check out Jonathan Martin and the assorted NYT political desk clowns.
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg: Actually this appears to have been going on for over four years. At least.
Dan B
@Dan B: Correction: New DOJ spokesperson was at Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBT legal group.
Too many groups doing similar things.
Chyron HR
@Adam L Silverman:
I think six months or a year ago that I said your, “Please remember that our generals are divine beings ordained by God as the rightful rulers of the human race,” shtick was wearing thin.
It ain’t gotten any fresher since then.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Agreed. Plane and bus rides. BBQs. Tire swings. If they are desperate for validation like Chozick, accommodate them, as stupid and cynical as it is. If that cranky old fuck McCain could manage to charm that bunch of snakes, it can’t be that hard.
Corner Stone
@Booger:
I read somewhere that the underlying goal was to collect all blood samples on planet Earth. At which point Grand Mistress Holmes would devise the ultimate DNA structure for a being that would protect the citizens of Earth from comic book character villains. Or maybe she was just going to sell all that data to Big Insurance and retire to a beach somewhere. I guess we’ll never know now.
MattF
So, Trump is incompetent, lazy, moronic, ignorant, poorly advised, uncontrollable, narcissistic, pathologically dishonest, and gullty as hell. Is that a problem?
cain
@Corner Stone:
No kidding. It just amazes me after all that shit concerning about voter fraud and then of course they are the ones doing it. How do their supporters even defend this behavior? Even better, our evangelical friends are seeing their president who they think is God’s response to Obama – not even willing to join in on any religious thing. Just sat there with his arms crossed. I’d like to hear how these assholes defend all of this bullshit. No doubt by “Well liberals would have done it, we’re making sure we do before they do it!”
Adam L Silverman
@The Moar You Know: Yep. Especially for people who are, essentially, on call 24/7. And they go from having people like me around that can help vet and filter stuff for them to having no one like that.
zhena gogolia
@SFAW:
So funny!
trollhattan
@Dan B:
Three words saying nothing. Perfect cover for Republican ratfvckers.
Ruminants Squandering Fodder
Quantums Jelling Aristocracy
Collective Asserting Upholstery
Dan B
@Corner Stone: anti-gat
Guns n Gays… one or the other in every pot.
Everybody wins!
Corner Stone
@PaulWartenberg:
They have absolutely zero interest in doing this. There are no legitimate D candidates, only interlopers who must be hounded out of power.
different-church-lady
@Kay: Playground bully rules: the less sense the taunt makes, the more it wounds.
It’s a no-win situation: go into battle with a “weakened” candidate (even thought the wound does not make a scrap of sense) or give in and give up on a person who would make a good president because of bullshit.
The only way out it to get The NYT and others to stop enabling the bullies. I don’t see it happening. They’re too addicted to neutral, sanitized reporting of the bullies’ bullshit.
ruemara
@Kay: Not to bring back PTSD of 2015-16, but I think it’s the start of the 2020 campaign to salt the earth for any other democratic candidate that isn’t Bernie Sanders. There’s been a strange uptick in these types of articles for the past month. Something is moving underneath the surface.
cain
@ruemara:
balloon-juice wide party, with wine, whiskey, and pets.
NonyNony
@Kay: I think it’s far simpler than that – many of them make a lot of money and don’t like paying taxes. That makes them natural Republicans.
The ones that aren’t Republicans despite that fact work very hard to be ‘balanced’ and they’ve internalized this idea that if you’re ‘balanced’ you will say negative shit about the side you sympathize with to prove your ‘balance’. Fox New isn’t ‘balanced’ because they never say bad things about Republicans, only Democrats. So if you want to be the opposite of that you’ll say bad things about Democrats.
What this means in practice is that the worse the Republicans get, the more Democratic-leaning reporters will keep digging up trivial bullshit to try to find something to keep things ‘balanced’. And the more Republican-leaning reporters will keep digging up trivial bullshit to find something to change the conversation to how the Democrat sucks.
Throw in an audience of Republican voters who love to hear about how Democrats suck and leftists who love to hear about how Democrats suck and a national overarching narrative that Gen-X and older have been raised on that Democrats suck and always disappoint and you end up with a media culture that will flock to stories about how the Democrat once forgot their Mom’s birthday that apparently totally counterbalances the ritual human sacrifices that the Republican performs every month in honor of Shub-Niggurath.
(And yes, petty High School bullshit about who is more congenial in the airplane probably comes along with it too. But make no mistake – many of these hacks are just Republicans – especially at the NYT – and they’re itching to find anything bad they can write about Democrats because they want that sweet, sweet tax break).
Honus
@TenguPhule: I like the capitalized, possessive “Judge’s” in a tweet by an obviously intelligent well-educated person who graduated summa cum lauded from Wharton.
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
Calling Amnesty International! Stat!
TenguPhule
@cain:
I do not drink….wine.
Adam L Silverman
@Chyron HR: They’re not, nor should they be considered to be.
TenguPhule
eggnog creme brulee cheesecake
cain
@Kay:
This is similar to the right and media setting up AOC as the next Hilary Clinton to demonize. Mark my words. It’s being setup that way.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker:
We should trust Cole’s radar on this. His previous experience as a member of the knuckle-dragger party is valuable. His gut told him e-mails was going to be a constant anchor and he told us immediately and we didn’t believe him (probably because there was nothing we could do about it).
Yes.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: You BASTARD!
cain
@TenguPhule:
No, everyone knows Fox News is compromised. But a lot of people think the New York Times is a legit news source (and it is) but this shit their pulling is definitely some part of the new york time that’s like the FBI New York office. A fucked up part of the place that is full of assholes.
ET
1. tRump has no attention span so reading/writing anything longer than simple sentences is beyond him.
2. he thinks this is BS/fake news.
3. he thinks being president is being above the law.
4. they don’t have a full compliment of staff INCLUDING – and most importantly here – the lawyers.
5, he thinks he can twitter himself out of this.
OF COURSE this wasn’t easy – putting answers together coherently and in a way to not self incriminate would be challenging for anyone but given all the above (plus the things not included) would make the process 1,000,000 times for difficult for him. Maybe that is the real reason McGann left.
NY Robbin
@cain:
Easy. “Anything that keeps a democrat from power is fine by me!”
different-church-lady
@ET:
I think you’re giving him too much credit: he want to Tweet, so he does. There’s no thought process behind it.
Betty Cracker
@ruemara: I’ve noticed it too.
A Ghost To Most
@TenguPhule:
That sounds excellent. Or do I owe someone an apology?
randy khan
It does seem to me that not planning a response to the Mueller report probably is the right thing for the staff to do. Most important, it’s 100% true that Trump will do what he wants regardless of what’s been planned. But they also have the problem that none of them probably have any idea what’s likely to be in the report, since everyone who might have useful information is unlikely to tell them about it.
So the right course is just to polish up your resume and hope you can bail before it’s too late, and otherwise just continue your evildoing for as long as you can get away with it.
Colleeniem
@Adam L Silverman: They can’t get by on a retirement package that is higher than the us average salary? They HAVE to go to whatever unsavory board that will take them? If they couldn’t manage their personal finances for the future while enjoying one of the steadiest salaried, most comprehensive benefits package in the modern US, they have no one but themselves to blame for their lot. They are not owed multiple homes.
Mandalay
@trollhattan: What bothers you about that article, which seems to be a legitimate news story? Perhaps I’m missing something, but it looks like straight reporting of what happened. In fact The Bee specifically didn’t “go there” by suggesting that Harris knew about the accusations yet gave Wallace a job; they stated that Harris was unaware of the situation.
I don’t think that story is dead because it’s hard to believe that Harris really was unaware of that $400k settlement until contacted by The Bee. At a minimum she surely would have been aware that her “director of the Division of Law Enforcement” was facing an accusation of harassment while she was still A-G, yet she still allowed him to come onto her Senate team.
Corner Stone
I’m basically out of 2020 primary mode ATM. With the exception that I will donate/work for/etc anyone running for the D nomination that is not Bernie or Biden. I’m not sold on Warren but if that’s the way the dice roll then I’ll go for her. Everyone else right now is like a smudged portrait at 20 feet so I plan to give it some time.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: I am just suspicious of people who are willingly agree to work for this administration, even if they happen to be members of the military. The generals who agreed to work for T gave his administration a degree of respectability that it did not deserve.
mapaghimagsik
@TenguPhule: They honestly don’t see anything wrong with it.
ruemara
@Betty Cracker: I’m worn out with it already. I want to ignore these people, but you know this will affect people who we need to vote for Dems in 2020. I will never consider any of these people reliable narrators again. The “left” is more dangerous than the right because all they see is an opportunity to come at our throats for power, while fascism is on the rise worldwide and the GOP are now outright violating the Constitution because they lost. Assholes.
Corner Stone
@randy khan:
And just as true is that Trump will change his story multiple times in 24 hours of the report. There is nothing to plan for. Trump knows what he did, that’s been obvious for two years.
Gelfling 545
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And it’s not like they have to even do it themselves. They have “people “ for that. Unless of course they don’t want any witnesses.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone:
Actually, I doubt he does, at least in the sense of understanding that it was wrong. He has no concept of right and wrong in the first place.
Mandalay
@PaulWartenberg:
Not quite. It’s more that they are obsessed with mindlessly parroting lame Republican talking points about any Democrats who might run in 2020.
PJ
@Kay: In some ways, if newness to the media BS machine will be an advantage, Beto would be a good choice to look at. The media will go with his Hispanic nick-name and drunk driving arrest, but that didn’t seem to have much effect in Texas, and, if that’s all there is, I don’t think there’s anything particularly negative to sully him with. This is one advantage that Obama had – he was new to national politics and was also squeaky-clean.
Dan B
@Adam L Silverman: Wasn’t aware of the Federalist connection to Kupec.
Federalist convos must be a laugh riot. Whatever happens to the Hookers and Blow that is the “fun” side of conventions? Is there any room for the wink-wink aspect when you’ve got killjoy like Kerri on board? As much fun as a Phyllis Schlafley reception.
Corner Stone
Dear Lord in Heaven, can we please bury Saint GHWB now?
trollhattan
@Mandalay:
My point–you haz missed it. I will frame it up for you.
Whatever occurs around Harris will henceforth be magnified nationally. She has the buzz of a potential presidential candidate who must be taken seriously (unless she announces she’s not running, then the plans go back on the shelf). Will the NYT leave this story untouched? My vote: nein. Hopefully she is forthright about this and doesn’t play “It didn’t cross my desk.”
In Sacramento she does not carry the same star label she does nationally, simply because her everyday strengths and weaknesses are known from her AG stint. Stay tuned.
Adam L Silverman
@Colleeniem: You’re missing my point. They’re highly trained and educated to do specific things, which don’t normally translate well into the civilian sector. At the same time they do have an excellent retirement package, but they still want to work and make money, and their professional portfolios leave them in something of a deficit. So they’re heavily recruited for corporate boards. That’s the point.
different-church-lady
@Mandalay:
Do not use ‘lame’ as a synonym for ‘bullshit’. As we saw, the talking points are catastrophically powerful and effective. This is is bullshit with a three-digit atomic number.
chris
Since Warren has come up this news seems germane. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Senate Repubs have put another fox in the henhouse.
Senate confirms Mulvaney protege Kraninger as director of the CFPB.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
Not going to do a calendar comparison but seem to recall it taking about a month-and-a-half to plant McCain, so HW’s arrangements seem lightning fast by comparison.
TenguPhule
@A Ghost To Most: Its a recipe.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone: I’ve lost track, are we in week three yet?
Corner Stone
@different-church-lady: At some level Trump knows right and wrong. Like the sly way he described his going into the dressing room of underage girls because he was the owner and wanted to make sure everything was just right. He knew that was wrong, he just didn’t think any of it should apply to him.
He also knows what money laundering and lying and light treason he’s don through the years was wrong. And is now scared to death someone is going to hold him to account for the first time in his GD forsaken miserable life.
PJ
@Kay: Make sure you give them a cute nickname, like Frank “Pancho” Bruni, or treat them like your adorable liberal daughter-in-law, like Maureen Dowd. And make sure the snacks and drinks are decent and plentiful.
Of course, if you are Trump, you can force them into a pen and feed them Lay’s potato chips and they still won’t be bothered to investigate you and instead will write about Hillary being not-friendly-enough to them.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
All of the major holiday food groups.
Alcohol, sugar, eggs and cream.
Tenar Arha
@ET: McGann got Kavvy on the bench. He was just smart enough to seemingly avoid legal jeopardy, but I have my? anyway that he receives the public comeuppance he richly deserves.
NotMax
@sdhays
Must have been fresh off the printer 8 by 10 glossy satellite photos* of the women bathing/cavorting in a river with their tops off.
*with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one
@TenguPhule
I don’t drink pets.
Schlemazel
@TenguPhule:
it is slander to refer to a tiny mushroom as a cock
mapaghimagsik
@Adam L Silverman:
Adam, I love your stuff, but as someone from a military family, the idea that they are institutionalized is beyond hyperbole. It sounds as though “Thank you for your service” isn’t enough and we should be all taking the knee.
I’ll edit to add that I work with a goodly number of them and they’ve adjusted just fine, and they don’t expect me to kiss their rings.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: The media are going to crucify her with it. Watch. She pissed a shitload of Natives off with that stunt and there are going to be a ton of them lining up to call her every name rhyming with “racist” for doing so. All they need is an outlet willing to slow-drip their grievances. They’ll be provided one.
Kind of an own goal on her part, really. Like I said in a comment on this a few weeks back, tribal membership is a BIG FUCKING DEAL to those in tribes. The last thing they want is some white woman declaring herself one of them, especially with a DNA test (which is the last thing the tribal folks want to use to determine membership, as they know a lot of them might not qualify). Stay clear of Native politics unless you’re a member. You’re gonna get burned bad otherwise.
And I gotta say, personally, it makes me seriously question Warren’s judgement when she takes a challenge from Donald fucking Trump. Treating him as serious or thinking he’s going to admit he is wrong is idiotic and betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of human nature.
TS (the original)
@schrodingers_cat:
Just reading the book on Theranos – could not believe the Mattis story – then I thought about the fact that he took a position in the trump administration – there is some stupid in everyone.
TenguPhule
@NotMax: Touche.
Fair Economist
@PaulWartenberg:
Only because they would publish endless articles about there being “clouds of suspicion” that said person had some horrible intestinal disease making them unfit for the Presidency.
“Lavender: The Smell of Toxicity Pervades XXX’s Campaign.”
different-church-lady
@Kay:
I hear that gender reassignment surgery is quite difficult.
Fair Economist
@The Moar You Know:
Which she didn’t do.
Darn facts, messing up a good smear.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
If he pops his head back up on the seventh day, somebody better shoot that fucking zombie in the head.
TenguPhule
@Fair Economist:
Bengazhi says hi.
Swift Boats expects a card and a kiss.
Patricia Kayden
@gene108: It didn’t help when he was deposed in regard to Trump U. Multiple uses of “I don’t remember” aren’t usually helpful for defendants.
Colleeniem
@Adam L Silverman: I understand and agree that your point that they are highly desirable for certain roles and opportunities; but your post implied economic hardship. That is mostly false…I would contend that many senior military officials desire equivalent prestige in their civilian roles that they had while in the military; totally understandable with regard to human nature and personality traits of the people who achieve those ranks. But their economic stability is not the primary driver.
Schlemazel
So Oct 10-11 the Dow dropped 1377 points. Looks like Dec 4-6, which is only 2 trading days are going to drop another thousand.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpQ2XeyXcAA4CPH.jpg
Since the tax scam bill was signed the Dow is off 1.1%
Corner Stone
@The Moar You Know:
Beyond the extremely poor way she handled that issue with Native Americans on the whole, the being put into a box by Trump and then responding was the worst thing she could have done. Trump is never going to stop calling her Pocahontas. He’s never going to acknowledge anything, even if that stupid test came back 75% positive.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: They are Republicans mostly, so short of running as an R there is not much that a Democrat can do.
PJ
@The Moar You Know: Would you stop repeating Republican talking points? She never claimed she was Native American, never claimed membership of a particular tribe, never used it to get a job or an education. What she said was that she had been told by her family, as apparently many Oklahomans are, that they had some Native ancestry. That’s it. She took the DNA test to prove that she was being truthful, but all it did was give Republicans new ammunition, because they will twist anything into slander (and because no one in the media cares that Trump said he would give her a million dollars if she could prove her ancestry). She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t, and I think she took the smart step. (I realize that the number of people in the media and the voting public who care about truthfulness are diminishing.)
PJ
@Colleeniem: It’s also a nice paycheck for minimal work. Some people have post-retirement careers of being on several boards.
Adam L Silverman
@mapaghimagsik: I’m not saying that their rings need to be kissed. I am saying that they don’t have any private sector experience and in some ways are somewhat sheltered. And that has to be understood. And as with any explanation of this type, it doesn’t apply to every one of them.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
The most science background I have is basic high school and college intro classes, plus I try to keep up with it in the popular news.
I read the fawning New Yorker article about Theranos and thought, “This doesn’t make any sense.”
So, once again, I, an arts major working as a secretary, somehow managed to figure out shit that supposedly highly educated white dudes could not. ?♀️ This has been happening to me since at least the run-up to the Iraq War when I listened to Colin Powell testify about Iraq’s WMDs and thought, “This makes no sense. Is he lying?”
(Spoiler alert: he was.)
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
If the term “the khaki bubble” doesn’t already exist, it ought to.
Gelfling 545
@Kay: I really hardly glance at the NYT anymore but I had to put in a comment telling them that if they are intending to manipulate the 2020 primary and election as they did 2016 to at least have the spine to say so outright instead of this weaseling around.
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: Warren didn’t in any way hint that she had tribal membership — in fact, she went way out of her way to draw a distinction between having a little NA ancestry and being a member of a tribe. But thanks for the instructive demo of how quickly wingnut framing takes hold. Yeah, Warren is doomed, I guess.
Colleeniem
@PJ: Totally. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t do this. I just expect them to have some savvy about it, and if they are doing something unsavory, they should be called out for their immorality and/or incompetence and not fall back on their previous life’s laurels. I’m a hopeless optimist (crazy person?) that way.
rikyrah
@Humdog:
We will lay waste to them. Not tolerating their foolishness in 2020. Period.
Gelfling 545
@PaulWartenberg: I’m sure they were aware and thought: Damn, this guy is good!
eemom
@PJ:
God knows I am no fan of the NYT, but did you folks even READ that article about Warren? The DNA test was an utterly moronic move on her part for reasons that have nothing to do with republican talking points.
Among other things, it is absolutely true that Native Americans were furious about it. Who the hell are you to tell them she “took the smart step”?
eemom
why the fuck am I in moderation??
Gelfling 545
@different-church-lady: Actually, I think this is what unnerves him. He’s done a lot of stuff and has absolutely no clue whether any of it was right or wrong; legal or illegal.
PJ
@Colleeniem: I agree completely, but too often you hear, “I had no idea what was going on!” In my personal experience with boards (which is limited), many board members are expected to be rubber stamps for management, and board members are happy to do the stamping. This has nothing to do with being in the military, just that notions of due diligence can often be slack, and also that a board member who puts too many of the wrong questions to bigwigs may not be a board member for very long. Fiduciary duty is a real thing, but it seems very light until the shit hits the fan and the lawsuits start. Of course, it’s also very rare that directors are held liable.
Mandalay
@trollhattan: I’m probably being extra dense today, but I’m still not getting your point. It’s a legitimate news story. There’s no fire, but there’s surely smoke, and any other candidate would get the same treatment.
Harris’s office has explicitly stated she knew nothing:
Fair enough. If that’s true it doesn’t reflect well on Harris’s organizational skills, but apart from that it’s a complete non-story. But if she did know…
So how much do you think Harris knew about Wallace’s situation?
PJ
@Gelfling 545: Well, when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
@Betty Cracker:
I suspect it may be two things:
1) The candidates that Sanders backed did not do well in the midterms, so his/their influence is waning.
2) Their biggest success story, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has figured out that it’s better for her career and her constituents if she hitches her star to Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic establishment rather than being a Bernie-style gadfly no one wants to work with.
Their last chance to seize power is to get the band back together and win in 2020, but I think it’s too late for them. 2020 is going to be about making the party even more inclusive, and one shouty old white guy isn’t going to look quite as “anti-establishment” when he’s up against a crop of much younger, dynamic candidates.
Also, a prediction: I think Hillary is going to be the kingmaker (or queenmaker!) and rally Democratic donors behind the scenes, but she will not run herself.
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
Remember the NYT’s HILLARY SEXUAL HARASSMENT SCANDAL where she had HR counsel the guy, fined him, and moved his victim to a different position where he could no longer contact her?
It’s going to be like that with Harris. Lots of headlines and “gathering clouds,” not a whole lot of meat.
trollhattan
@Mandalay:
An update:
My $0.02–Wallace was high enough in the AG office this should 1. have been within Harris’ purview in real time and 2. sufficiently serious to have warranted scrutiny and resolution before she brought him to DC with her. If it was settled in 2017 by Becerra why is it coming to light at the close of 2018?
Maybe there’s nothing to see here even in the #MeToo era but I’ll be surprised if the national media don’t grab the story and give it a run up the old Dart the Dem flagpole.
cain
@TenguPhule:
But you do drink.. whiskey/scotch?
Jay
@Mandalay:
It depends on the Internal Policies in play. “Settlements” are ususally a result of no direct admissions and are accompanied by NDA’s.
When one Fortune 100 Company finally let a VP go, we, the proles, through leaks and the sudden onset of multiple Work Place Sexual Harassment Seminars, learned that he had been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault 18 times, and spent most of his workday, watching pron on his PC. It was only when one Claimant laid criminal charges, that the “issue” made it outside the confines of HR, who had been telling their staff, ( but not the rest of the employee’s), to never be alone 1:1 with him for close to a decade.
Ladyraxterinok
@PJ: I finally completely realized this in 08.
The media, the GOP will smear any dem who runs ror prez or might be a candidate. We just have to be prepared.
Has there been any dem prez since Wilson that the GOP has believed was legimately president?
The given today for the media and the GOP is that ALL democrats are illegitimate, not just elected officials.
See as proof the actions of GOP legislators in NC,WI, MI.
Jay
@The Moar You Know:
She never claimed Tribal Membership.
They are attacking her over an MSM/RWNJ constructed Strawman, and some of the venal, are using the issue for their own InterTribal fights and bloodletting, and their own 15 minutes of fame.
See NoMoreMisterNiceBlog’s post.
Ladyraxterinok
@Kay: IIRC the GOP led by HW did extensive pre-emptive oppo reaseach on any possible dem prez candidate in 88.
There were several anti-Bill people in Arkansas they teamed up with.
The book The Hunting of the President by Conason and Lyons is a mindboggling depiction of the lengths the GOP will go to in order to maintain their ‘rightful’ (god ordained) position at the top.
eemom
@Jay:
The Native Americans who decried what she did are “MSM/RWNJ”?
Again, who are you to dismiss their issues?
Ladyraxterinok
@Ladyraxterinok: And DESTROY any democratic usurper.
Ladyraxterinok
@cain: IIRC Harris (the beneficiary of this election tampering) is a SoBaptist preacher who teaches that the Bible mandates that women are subordinate to men .
Maybe he allowed this to come out because he was afraid of what he might say or do in a House with so many young strong women who would not bow to his god-ordained superiority//
Betty Cracker
@eemom: It does appear to have been a bad move politically since it gave the NYT a DEMS IN DISARRAY opening, but it’s completely false to imply that Warren claimed tribal membership. I don’t think the NYT did that, but Moar did, and it totally is a false wingnut narrative.
pluky
@Adam L Silverman: maybe he knows what will be found when the press starts examining ballot returns from other places in NC.
Mandalay
@trollhattan:
Right, there’s nothing to see if Harris truly was unaware of the allegations and the settlement. But it’s surely over for her in 2020 if it can be shown that she knew about Wallace’s situation before The Bee contacted her. Again, it’s a completely legitimate news story about a potential 2020 candidate, and doubly so given Harris’s political positions.
But I don’t understand why you are conflating that specific story with the media going after Democrats. I have nothing against Harris, but I WANT journalists to research what she knew and when she knew it. As things stand:
– It’s really hard to believe that Harris would have kept Wallace on her staff if she knew about his disgusting behavior.
– It’s really hard to believe that Harris knew nothing about the accusations against Wallace.
Something’s gotta give there.
TenguPhule
@cain: Yep.
cwmoss
@Colleeniem: Even generals gotta eat until they’re old enough to start collecting their retired pay, which might be a few years after they retire.
trollhattan
@Mandalay:
I think it’s a legitimate story deserving attention. It’s just breaking and relevant. I’m watching to see of the national media take it to 11 specifically because she’s considered a leading potential candidate for 2020 and they relish taking a pound of flesh because of that alone. The next few days will be instructive.
Mandalay
@Jay:
I agree with all of that. However:
– Let’s be blunt: she came out of that skirmish as the loser, whatever the merits of her case.
– WTF was she even thinking to bring the subject up herself? Did she really think she was going to win any hearts and minds with the result of a DNA test? She exercised terrible judgement by electing to roll around in the dirt with Trump et al.
cwmoss
@cwmoss: Looks like I’m mistaken. I believe retired pay starts upon separation. I stand corrected. Still, like Adam points out, generals are compensated less than their private sector counterparts.
Colleeniem
@cwmoss: Their retirement starts when they leave the service. It’s not based on age if you are career military (served 20+ years).
Corner Stone
@trollhattan:
Mmmm…relish…
Mandalay
@trollhattan: Gotcha. I guess we are 95% in agreement actually. However, I don’t want her to run in 2020 if – and only if – she lied about her ignorance of what Wallace had done. Otherwise she’ll just get pounded as a hypocrite and a liar by her Democratic rivals if she runs, and that will delight Republicans.
(To be clear: I have absolutely no clue if she lied or not. It’s hard to believe she did, and it’s also hard to believe she didn’t.)
Viva BrisVegas
@Mandalay:
What you seem to be saying is that Republican swiftboating works really well and any targeted democrats should just take their lumps as supinely as possible.
mapaghimagsik
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, no one has private sector experience until they get into it. I’ll grant that some acclimation can be helpful, but I still think the idea that they are ‘sheltered’ or ‘institutionalized’ is over the top. They had a long-term career, they weren’t born in a bubble.
Sure, every once in a while you see the one that needs to reconsider their regulation haircut. But we all have to adjust to changes in culture. And as another person said, they got a nice pension. Most of us don’t even get that. And if its not enough then maybe they can re-examine their career choices, just like the rest of us have to when we can’t buy the toys we want.
NotMax
@mapaghimagsik
And cost of living ameliorating PX privileges for life.
Platonailedit
@Kay:
It has already brainwashed the (self-certified) brilliant bj ‘jackals’.
Matt McIrvin
@ruemara: There seems to be a sudden explosion of True Lefty attacks on Beto O’Rourke, motivated by some idea that centrists are trying to coronate him.
Mnemosyne
@Matt McIrvin:
The only politician who’s allowed a coronation is Bernie, apparently. ?
Mandalay
@Viva BrisVegas:
Warren went looking for trouble. She found it and she lost. Dumb move.
And what you seem to be doing is fabricating smears. Go fuck your eyeball with a ballpoint pen asswipe.
Captain C
@Kay:
All while living in a metro area that’s in very little danger of ever going Full Metal Republican, so there’s no personal danger to them (even before you add in their privilege).
Chris Johnson
@scott (the other one): I’ve been starting to say that. It’s not a stretch, not in the least.
In the age of Facebook, all dead tree newspapers are doomed. People who’re into comics and cartoonists knew this years before everyone else because that’s what got cut first. I have a bunch of cartoonist friends and take an interest in their world so I was hearing about this a decade ago and it’s not gotten better.
WaPo has Bezos.
NYT has Russia.
Somebody’s got to pay for the shit and it ain’t ‘readers’, so thank capitalism because the alternative was straight-up death like so many other newspapers all over the country. But not the Post, not the New York Times, oh FUCK no. Some nice mobster from another country will come up with the money to keep the Gray Lady’s head held high. And all ya gotta do is double down on a tendency to favor the rock-ribbed reactionary… and then, you find yourself saying the most Pravda-esque shit, but goodness no you can’t let your standing in the world dwindle, or your livelihood erode. Getting wiped out by BuzzFeed and shitty facebook memes is for OTHER newspapers. You’re ever so much more important.
**spit**
Traitors are easy to make when they badly need money and must maintain their position.
J R in WV
@PaulWartenberg:
The New York Times, while capable of honest and responsible reporting on mundane issues, is dedicated to political fascism today, yesterday and forever, until someone busts the ownership/publishers for their racism and fascism.
Their preferred candidate is someone like Mr. Josip Stalin, with just a little bit of Mr. Adolph Hitler, whom they loved back in the mid-1930s. Mr. Stalin was popular a little longer than Mr. Hitler, who had that messy denouement after his joyful little try at ruling the world failed.
I’m not kidding at all. You can look up coverage of Stalin from the period from his take over from Lenin until the great man died on their archive. Full of Great Man moving History adulation, just like Mr. Hitler got throughout the 1930s. They didn’t drop their love for him until war was declared, in fact they were part of why the US didn’t declare way on the Third Reich until after Mr. Hitler declared war on the US.
So loving them some fascist Republicans isn’t a surprise at all. It’s the family tradition for the past 3 generations. Frankly, they should have stood trial with the other Nazis after the war, any of the wars, really. Such a shame, as they do great reporting on everything but politics. It’s so obviously at the command of the dear leaders in charge!
J R in WV
@Ladyraxterinok:
Eisenhower? ; – )
Viva BrisVegas
@Mandalay:
Hey dickwit, Warren went looking for nothing. The Republicans brought the whole fake indian/pocahontas shtick to her.
Not the other way round, shit for brains.
She lost because pea brains like you think it’s a good move for Democrats to surrender to Republican ratfucking.
Grow a spine.