Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s possible to be a liberal firebrand without crapping on the party.

When we show up, we win.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

This blog will pay for itself.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

He really is that stupid.

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

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

“woke” is the new caravan.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

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

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Monday Morning Open Thread

Monday Morning Open Thread

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91Comments

  1. 1.

    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 !

  2. 2.

    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.

  4. 4.

    HuCat

    On assumption that GOP would turn quickly: The greater the mass and velocity; the harder it is to change direction.

  5. 5.

    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.

  7. 7.

    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.

  8. 8.

    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.

  9. 9.

    Amir Khalid

    @JAFD:
    I too hope the cardiologist is rescheduling because they can’t wait to share some good news with you.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: Totally predictable that trump would throw the Kurds under the bus. I wonder if the GOP is paying attention.

    Blech.

  12. 12.

    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.

  13. 13.

    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.

  14. 14.

    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.

  17. 17.

    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:

    ●As soon as Trump decided to make political hay out of California’s homeless population, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler accused the (Democratic) state of allowing human feces to pollute its waterways and demanded action. Around the country, 3,508 community water systems are out of compliance with standards; only California attracted the EPA’s attention.

    ●When the House Ways and Means Committee requested Trump’s tax returns, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig flatly refused — though the law says the returns “shall” be turned over if requested.

    ●When another House committee wanted former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to testify about Trump’s efforts to fire special investigator Robert S. Mueller III, White House counsel Pat Cipollone — who is supposed to represent the law, not the president’s personal well-being — happily asserted executive privilege on behalf of this tale of obstruction, though Lewandowski never actually worked in the White House.

    ●Indulging another Trump obsession, the State Department has intensified an investigation of Obama-era officials who sent emails to Hillary Clinton — including by retroactively classifying some of their messages, as The Post reported a few days ago.

    ●When the intelligence community’s inspector general ruled that the whistleblower complaint about Trump and Ukraine should be sent to Congress, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel conveniently offered a contrary opinion. No, the OLC said, “the appropriate action is to refer the matter to the Department of Justice.”

    ●Which was doubly convenient, in fact, because Justice, with great efficiency, determined that — although soliciting assistance from a foreign power on behalf of a political campaign is against the law — Trump had nothing to worry about, on the pretext that prosecutors were unable to assign a dollar value to the help he had solicited. Case closed. Case never even opened, in fact.

    I’m sure that’s just scratching the surface. There will be a lot of damage to undo.

  19. 19.

    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.

  20. 20.

    TS (the original)

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Anybody making a deal with the US from now until the end of time is a fool.

    And that is so horribly true. No-one should trust the US going forward – change of government – you are dropped like a hot potato.

  32. 32.

    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.

  34. 34.

    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.

  36. 36.

    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.

  39. 39.

    trnc

    @Amir Khalid:

    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.

    That’s been the guiding principle since Jan 20, 2017.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @Amir Khalid:

    he’s breaking promises the US made to them and making the US officials who gave the promises look like liars.

    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.

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Lindsey Graham in December 2018:

    America’s worst nightmare is to have reliable allies — like the Kurds who have fought so bravely against ISIS — abandoned and destroyed.

    Mr. President, we will never have partners in the future. Our nation is better than this. Please reevaluate the Syrian withdrawal strategy.

    We will hold Turkey accountable for any actions to destroy America’s Kurdish allies who have fought so bravely against ISIS. If this happens we will, in my view, put Erdogan in the same category as MBS of Saudi Arabia.

    Lindsey Graham since this policy was announced: **crickets**

  50. 50.

    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.)

  51. 51.

    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?

  53. 53.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    .@RichardEngel: "I just spoke to a Kurdish official. He said that the Americans have betrayed us. They have opened the door for a Turkish massacre."t.co/f6CT2i4DOa— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 7, 2019

    Pentagon ‘completely blindsided’ by White House order to pull U.S. forces back from northern Syria green-lighting Turkish invasion: U.S. officials— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) October 7, 2019

    Today is apparently Putin’s birthday. Happy birthday, Vlad! Donnie got you something.

  55. 55.

    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.

  56. 56.

    low-tech cyclist

    Dana Houle:

    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.

    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:

    “Bright idea of mine,” said Ford, “to find a passing spaceship and get rescued by it.”
    “Oh, come off it,” said Arthur. “The chances against it were astronomical.”
    “Don’t knock it, it worked,” said Ford.

  57. 57.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @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?

    [Raises uninjured hand] Far too much thinking and confusion for first thing in the morning.

  58. 58.

    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.

  59. 59.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    @low-tech cyclist: Yes! I couldn’t get my brain to wrap around the reference.

    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…”

  61. 61.

    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”.

  62. 62.

    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.

  63. 63.

    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.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    Michael D. Shear
    @shearm
    JARED KUSHNER ADMISSION: Politico’s Playbook has a new scoop from BORDER WARS, my book with
    @juliehdavis
    —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.”

    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.

  66. 66.

    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.

  67. 67.

    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.

  68. 68.

    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.

  69. 69.

    Aleta

    @Amir Khalid: 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

    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.

    (Wiki) One of the towers is an office tower, and the other a residential tower, consisting of over 200 residences.[1] The complex also holds a shopping mall with some 80 shops and a multiplex cinema. … The property developer is Turkish billionaire Aydın Doğan, in a license-partnership with … (DT.) … Many businesses based in Europe and the Middle East occupy the complex. …
    …
    The Turkish owner of Trump Towers Istanbul, who pays Trump for the use of his name, was reported in December 2015 to be exploring legal means to dissociate the property after the candidate’s call to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. [4] In June 2016, Turkish President Erdogan has been reported to call for the removal of the Trump name from the towers, saying “Trump has no tolerance for Muslims living in the US. And on top of that they used a brand in Istanbul with his name. The ones who put that brand on their building should immediately remove it.”[5]

    In December 2015, Trump stated in a radio interview that he had a “conflict of interest” in dealing with Turkeybecause of his property, saying “I have a little conflict of interest, because I have a major, major building in Istanbul ….

  70. 70.

    jonas

    @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..

    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.

  71. 71.

    Aleta

    @Immanentize:

    Mark Harris @MarkHarrisNYC
    The last of the great TV queens of my childhood is gone. Those guys were all pioneers in their way. RIP with love.

    (NYT obit) Mr. Böll said. “He didn’t have an easy childhood. Abused and bullied, he said he discovered early that they weren’t hitting you if they were laughing.”

  73. 73.

    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.

    And to Trump and those who facilitate his abuses of power, and all the special interests funding his attacks against me: Please know that I’m not going anywhere. You won’t destroy me, and you won’t destroy my family. And come November 2020, I intend to beat you like a drum.

    Oops, forgot to include linky. Here it is: washingtonpost.com/opinions/joe-biden-trump-wont-destroy-me-and-he-wont-destroy-my-family/2019/10/05…

  74. 74.

    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.

  75. 75.

    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.

  76. 76.

    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)…”

  78. 78.

    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?

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    BREAKING NEWS
    President Trump must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, a federal judge ruled.

    Monday, October 7, 2019 9:00 AM EST

    A federal judge on Monday rejected a bold argument from President Trump that sitting presidents are immune from criminal investigations, allowing the Manhattan district attorney’s office to subpoena eight years of the president’s personal and corporate tax returns.

    Lawyers for Mr. Trump were expected to appeal the ruling from Judge Victor Marrero of Manhattan federal court.

  80. 80.

    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.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    @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.

    Tell it, Kay

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    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.

    I am still very angry about what those cretins from the NYTimes kept from reporting about how Dolt45 wanted to treat the migrants.

  83. 83.

    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.

  89. 89.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Citizen Alan:

    For most of my life, I have consistently mixed up Rip Taylor, Rip Torn, and Rod Taylor.

    I’m the same way with Claude Rains, Gale Storm, and Tempestt Bledsoe.

  91. 91.

    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
    heated.world/p/the-climate-right-has-gone-baby-crazy
    which I recommend to y’all.

    Stay well !

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