.
I’d say no.
Harding’s administration was deeply corrupt, but unlike Trump, he actually had little knowledge of it or personal profit from it.
Also, when it all comes out, the corruption here is likely to make Harding’s crew look like amateurs. https://t.co/foPyc8xyZn
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) October 6, 2019
Still think a huge 2020 moment was Howard Schultz's decision not to run. Without a third party spoiler, you need to actually get 50%+1 to win MI/PA/WI, and Trump has been persistently polling in the mid-40s.
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 6, 2019
Another reason CW about impeachment has always been wrong: assumption that because they were waiting for a clear shot that the Dems were wimpy or inept or dumb.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 6, 2019
Scoop: Mulvaney predicts post-impeachment landslide https://t.co/5SwLMm5POK
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) October 6, 2019
Mulvaney is correct. Will it be Warren or Biden though?
— The Beet (@DavidRitchie09) October 6, 2019
JAFD
Good morning everyone !
Got call Friday, my cardiologist wanted to resched today’s appointment for 9:15. So up real early to get ready. I ain’t a morning person.
Regardless, have great week, all you jackals !
PS: FIRST !
JPL
Lindsay things that the whistle blower only counts if they publicly testify. I hope this backfires on them, because they are all traitors to our country.
JPL
@JAFD: I hope your appt goes okay, and good morning to you also.
HuCat
On assumption that GOP would turn quickly: The greater the mass and velocity; the harder it is to change direction.
JoyceH
@HuCat: human nature ain’t physics, it’s psychology. The first few lifeboats off the Titanic were almost empty because the passengers couldn’t believe the ship would really sink. The last lifeboats, though, were crammed full. What we’ve seen so far are just the first lifeboats.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Lindsey thinks trump is going to protect him.
JPL
It appears that trump gave Turkey permission to invade Kurdish territories in northern Syria, The Kurds helped us fight and this is what trump rewards them with. fk.. Also according to AP Giuliani and Perry wanted Ukraine to award trump cronies management of the state controlled gas companies.
Where’s Ozark cuz I need a good blech.
Amir Khalid
In a moment of self-regard, I find myself wondering if Dana Houle lurks here, and picked up on my comment the other day about Nancy Pelosi knowing when to take the shot.
Amir Khalid
@JAFD:
I too hope the cardiologist is rescheduling because they can’t wait to share some good news with you.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: Totally predictable that trump would throw the Kurds under the bus. I wonder if the GOP is paying attention.
Blech.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Your up… good. I posted a comment before I say yours.
JPL
How can so many be afraid of the tweet. We know that the republicans were also hacked by Russia and at this point one assumes that they have some juicy information.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
He’s not just throwing the Kurds uner the bus, he’s breaking promises the US made to them and making the US officials who gave the promises look like liars.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
I like the metaphor Dana Houle is using there.
The people who have been bitching about the wait for impeachment inquiries are pray-and-spray types. Pelosi et al are snipers.
I’ve always been a sniper kind of gal.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ? ??
Raven
RIP Ginger Baker
Betty Cracker
Fred Hiatt (yes, I know) at The Post has a pretty good review of the many ways Trump is corrupting the federal government. Excerpt:
I’m sure that’s just scratching the surface. There will be a lot of damage to undo.
Chris T.
@Amir Khalid: What, “don’t shoot until you see the whites of their robes”?
(Klan robes, that is)
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Did anyone really think the Kurds were special? That somehow, someway, trump would keep promises he didn’t make? He breaks the promises he does make as soon as it is profitable to him. The only question is what did he sell the Kurds out for. I fully expect a corruption investigation to be opened in Turkey into (name a Democratic candidate). Or maybe a Trump Tower Istanbul or Ankara. Maybe a golf course on the Mediterranean.
Anybody making a deal with the US from now until the end of time is a fool.
TS (the original)
@OzarkHillbilly:
And that is so horribly true. No-one should trust the US going forward – change of government – you are dropped like a hot potato.
Lapassionara
@OzarkHillbilly: I think they opened aTrump Tower in Istanbul recently.
Good morning, everyone.
satby
@JAFD: Good morning and good luck at the drs!
@Lapassionara: @rikyrah: and good morning to you too, and everyone!
@OzarkHillbilly: what a horrible betrayal of stalwart allies. I’ll be long dead before we get the destruction of this despicable maladministration fixed.
William W Beam, III
@rikyrah: Good morning.
William W Beam, III
Moderation for “Good morning”? Really?
?BillinGlendaleCA
Oh, I see, wrong user name…eh could a kind frontpager please delete those comments
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Good morning.
satby
@Raven: dude was 80! No idea he was that old. But of course they all are getting to be that old.
satby
So Baud is really taking a break from commenting? ??
OzarkHillbilly
@Lapassionara: So it’s the golf course then.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: I hope it’s just a break.
RAVEN
@satby: Yea, “They” are!
Joe Falco
Regarding the political cartoon at the top, I’d say the only thing made out of bricks or something solid and long-lasting is the Repubs filling judicial appointments with ideological nutjobs and partisans that will last a lifetime.
Betty Cracker
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Done!
JPL
I’m waiting for Lindsay to defend trump on allowing Turkey to invade northern Syria. He’ll probably say that if France had allowed the ISIS prisoners into their country, trump wouldn’t be doing this. No mention of trump towers though.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: Thanks you.
gene108
@JPL:
Would really like a copy of what was said on the call.
We can’t rule out he’s doing this, because of his bottom line.
WereBear
@Joe Falco: I would guess a good percentage are unqualified or corrupt. It’s a start.
JPL
@gene108: you betcha. Trump’s foreign policy is based on his personal profit.
trnc
@Amir Khalid:
That’s been the guiding principle since Jan 20, 2017.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JAFD: Hope all goes well at the cardiologist’s.
debbie
It’s too early to figure out what “CW” means in the tweets up top. Please help!
Lapassionara
@debbie: Conventional Wisdom, I think.
rikyrah
@JAFD:
Have a good appointment ?
rikyrah
@JPL:
Get in the GOP’s face about us betraying the Kurds.
lamh36
Good morning!
Check out the entire thread for videos and pics!
Dorothy A. Winsor
The news about Syria and the Kurds is horrifying. And shameful. This is evil.
debbie
@Lapassionara:
Ah, thanks!
Kay
@Amir Khalid:
Foreign leaders know a lot more about President Trump than the US public does. They speak to him directly and have been for 3 years. They know exactly how corrupt he is and in what specific ways he’s corrupt. It isn’t news to any of them. The US public are the last to know any of this.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Lindsey Graham in December 2018:
Lindsey Graham since this policy was announced: **crickets**
Fair Economist
I don’t think Mulvaney actually believes the nonsense about Trump winning decisively in 2020. He’s trying to BS some very gullible group – online donors, probably. The Trump administration is all about the grift and corruption (see also revelations that *they* were the ones actually trying to extract big corrupt deals from Ukraine – as always with Republicans, accusation is confession.)
low-tech cyclist
In that “Alexander and Burr may defect!” tweet, did anyone else mentally insert ‘Hamilton’ after ‘Alexander’ and (for a few seconds anyway) try to make sense of an apparent reference to a certain musical and the history it’s based on?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@low-tech cyclist: Yes! I couldn’t get my brain to wrap around the reference.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Today is apparently Putin’s birthday. Happy birthday, Vlad! Donnie got you something.
Spanky
@low-tech cyclist: Until you just brought it up, yes. I had only skimmed over that tweet and assumed snark.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That statement the Trump Administration issued is such a window into their character and what bottom of the barrel hires they all are- petty, nasty and loaded with grievance. The reduction in stature had already occurred. This is a statement from a small, weak country.
low-tech cyclist
Dana Houle:
Two problems with this argument:
1) Both the multiple instances of obstruction of justice outlined in the Mueller Report, and babies in motherfucking cages, were absolutely clear shots. They haven’t moved public opinion much because the Dem leaders decided to shrug and move on. People aren’t generally going to pay attention to an issue that their side’s leaders aren’t paying much attention to.
2) There was no guarantee that there was going to be another shot half as clear as those if we waited. Sure, it worked out OK, but it’s like this bit from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
SiubhanDuinne
@low-tech cyclist:
[Raises uninjured hand] Far too much thinking and confusion for first thing in the morning.
Immanentize
Raven:
He was really great. I posted up SWLABR yesterday. That song has great everything — guitar, lyrics, singing and amazing drumming.
Cream’s best, I think.
low-tech cyclist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Glad I wasn’t the only one!
Now that I know he was referring to Sens. Alexander and Burr defecting here in 2019, all I can say is: “I want to be in the room where it happens, the room where it happens…”
low-tech cyclist
@Raven:
Bummer.
Spanky
@Spanky: I don’t know what this says about Google searches, but when I entered “Senator Alexander” to see if it was still Lamar, it autocompleted to “Senator Alexandria Ocasio Cortez”.
Kay
It’s like Day 600 of Chuck Schumer being AWOL in the Democrats biggest fight since Watergate. Does Trump have something on him, or what? Why is he afraid of him? Can we get someone who didn’t know Donald Trump for 50 years? The people who know him are absolutely useless. They’re all afraid of him.
OzarkHillbilly
@Fair Economist: Obsequiousness is a talent Mulvaney has in spades and there is nothing trump desires more in an underling. He’s just telling trump what he wants to hear.
Immanentize
@low-tech cyclist:
FTFY
Kay
Reporters knew this and could have released it to the public but decided not to so they could sell it in a book. They’re keeping the most politically damaging revelations back and timing their release based on book marketing. The President’s political opponents could have actually used this when he was taking money for his wall, but they didn’t know it, because the reporters chose not to reveal it until it was most profitable for them.
The “access” isn’t even about their newspapers. It’s about their side careers. They curry favor with these people because they’re all working side hustles.
Kay
The NYTimes sells their readers a subscription, but the subscription doesn’t buy all the news. In order to get the most salient facts (which are held back, deliberately, so they can be packaged and sold separately) one has to then buy their reporters books, so the information is then a couple of years old.
It’s a racket but everyone’s making a lot of money so it’s working out fine for them.
Immanentize
Where is NotMax? In other obituary news, madcap comedian Rip Taylor also died (84). He was stand up plus physical comedy. Very post-vaudeville. Always manic and fun. He liked throwing confetti.
Ladyraxterinok
@lamh36:
This sort of in-home visit is one of the benefits people In IA really like about early caucus status.
I know several people in Ames who had candidates hold get togethers in their homes. One couple became very good friends with Carter.
Aleta
he’s also (again) prioritizing his personal profit business in Turkey over the lives of people trying to survive. In Turkey there are two towers licensed under his name.
jonas
@JPL:
Oh, it gets even better. Remember the thousands of former ISIS fighters and families who gave up/were captured over the past two years? They’ve been in Kurdish custody up until this point and many would eagerly rejoin the jihad if allowed to escape, because, say, the Kurdish militias had to respond to a Turkish assault. This is why Mattis quit. This, along with N. Korea, is why Bolton was sacked. Congress has to step up and stop this somehow.
Aleta
@Immanentize:
Chyron HR
@Kay:
The time Kushner was told the border wall would be far less effective than other changes and said,
“we’ve wasted the last two years.”“I’ve made a huge mistake.”O. Felix Culpa
Speaking (loosely) of drums, did anyone else read this WaPo op-ed from Joe Biden and cringe? Who is he appealing to with this tough guy talk? The Trumpistas aren’t going to read Biden op-eds. Most of the article was fine, but I thought this final line was embarrassing. Please bring on Harris or Warren.
Oops, forgot to include linky. Here it is: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joe-biden-trump-wont-destroy-me-and-he-wont-destroy-my-family/2019/10/05/9544b9a4-e7cc-11e9-a6e8-8759c5c7f608_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1
jonas
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The normal advising/decision-making protocols are obviously broken. Adam Silverman can probably speak from his own experience to this, but from everything I’ve seen, US forces who have served in Iraq and Syria take our alliance with the Kurds *very* seriously and understand the sacrifices those people have made in fighting the good fight over there and the importance of keeping our promises. This has to have them absolutely demoralized and outraged.
Aleta
@jonas: It gets even worse. On twitter he’s trying to take credit for himself defeating ISIS and implying US forces did most of the fighting and spending. “When I arrived in Washington, ISIS was running rampant in the area. We quickly defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate,…. The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so.” “Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out,” Soon he’ll be complaining no one has thanked him.
Aleta
@O. Felix Culpa:
Media: “It’s a fight between Trump and Biden!!”
Biden: “Join my side!”
Others: “Um I pick (Warren) (Harris) (Casto) (Buttigieg)…”
O. Felix Culpa
@Aleta: Nicely put. And from your keyboard to the FSM’s ears.
Cameron
There is nothing new under the sun. The US has been regularly picking up, then dumping, the Kurds for many years. Is it desperation or delusion that keeps them coming back for more?
Elizabelle
Marcopolo
Good morning folks.
Am at a currently empty house w/ the thermostat off waiting for both the furnace guy & a locksmith to come & do a rekey. I am taking wagers on when in the 4 hour 8-12 window these folks will show.
Also, a reminder—all of us have a role to play in pressuring R Reps & Sens (and thanking our D folks) regarding supporting impeachment. Here’s the # for the congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121
You know what to do. I plan to start my Monday call by asking both Blunt & Hawley why they never hold open admission public town halls. Then whether they support Whistleblowers. The our abandoning our Kurdish allies.
We are pebbles & our voice will be heard.
Have a lovely day.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tell it, Kay
rikyrah
@Kay:
I am still very angry about what those cretins from the NYTimes kept from reporting about how Dolt45 wanted to treat the migrants.
Citizen Alan
@Immanentize:
For most of my life, I have consistently mixed up Rip Taylor, Rip Torn, and Rod Taylor. This has caused me continual mental confusion and occasional social embarrassment.
susanna
@Raven: A good, not so long roundup of Baker’s talent, with videos, at “Open Culture” this morning.
Aleta
@susanna: Thanks.
Elizabelle
@susanna: And this. (Not sure if it’s the same link.)
I really don’t know any of Ginger Baker’s work except with Cream, and of his fearsome reputation (“Beware of Mr. Baker”), so it will be a pleasure to listen to some of these clips over time.
Drumming Legend Ginger Baker In 20 Songs
Musical highlights from the multi-faceted and always eventful career of a seminal drummer.
Felanius Kootea
@Raven: His work with my nymsake (Fela Kuti) was the stuff of legend in Nigeria. RIP Ginger Baker.
Neldob
What the heck is CW?
SiubhanDuinne
@Citizen Alan:
I’m the same way with Claude Rains, Gale Storm, and Tempestt Bledsoe.
SiubhanDuinne
@Neldob:
Conventional Wisdom.
JAFD
Good afternoon, fellow Jackals !
Perhaps I should have mentioned this was an every-two-month checkup, had been on calendar since August, just moved up couple of hours. Mayhaps doctor had important stuf to deal with this afternoon..
Only thing of note, she wants nuclear medicine lab to give me a MUGA (I’ll look it up later, going to take nap now.) scan, they’ll let me know when to come in for it.
Got started early enuf so I could walk up to University Hospital, got my exercise in. Around 80F here today, but cloudy and windy. Wore shorts, likely final time of 2019.
Went to hospital cafeteria after exam, While waiting for lunch to begin, read
https://heated.world/p/the-climate-right-has-gone-baby-crazy
which I recommend to y’all.
Stay well !