US Politics March 2019: “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled”

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/images/monday/thumb_trump_kim_jong_un_i5c7394b47ce70.jpg

Symmetry, etc.

In like a lyin'!

thoughts and prayers

The health of Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino owner and one of the biggest donors to Republicans, is “dire,” according to his lawyer https://t.co/DbUOsO363d

— POLITICO (@politico) March 1, 2019

bury him in the jerusalem embassy, I mean he paid for it after all..

I will do a little dance when that old turd dies.

his face looks like donald glover's teddy perkins makeup

problem is adelson's wife (presidential medal of freedom recipient - looooool) is just as crazy

meanwhile, what's our favourite melon-headed mclovin cosplayer up to

Incredible pic.twitter.com/q3rEwg4IYo

— Joe Bernstein (@Bernstein) March 1, 2019

he wowed'em at CPAC yesterday

nvr frgt:

http://cdn.liberalamerica.life/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/seb1.jpg

the same way one might wow a baby by jingling a keyring

btw ICYMI, in his latest defense against his corruption charges yesterday, Netanyahu kept saying "fake" and "witch hunt."

the full article that gorka quote comes from is worth a read btw: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/01/trump-national-security-council-225442

extremely normal stuff

During the brief Flynn era, NSC staffers were shocked when two men who said they were associates of Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, showed up at NSC offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, wearing badges that indicated someone in the West Wing had let them on the White House grounds. They came with a 10-point plan for how the United States could turn Venezuela’s strongman president, Nicolas Maduro, into a U.S. stooge. The basics, according to people familiar with the incident, were as follows: The U.S. would release two nephews of Venezuela’s first lady who were in prison on drug charges; in exchange, Venezuela would free a young American man it had imprisoned on dubious weapons charges; then, Trump would meet with Maduro and the two would hash out some sort of arrangement where the U.S. would lift sanctions on the country’s kleptocratic government in exchange for unfettered access by American companies to the oil-rich Venezuelan market.

The entire pitch appeared to be “a pretext for this great business opportunity for them,” one person familiar with the incident said.

To prove their bona fides, the men — Gentry Beach and Wadie Habboush — called Venezuela’s foreign minister in front of the NSC staffers, leaving a voicemail, and showed a picture of themselves with Maduro, another person familiar with the episode said. “They pulled out a picture of them hugging Maduro. They were like, ‘Yeah, we were in Venezuela two weeks ago.’ And they were all doing the Trump thumbs-up sign,” the person said. The incident, details of which were first reported by Mic, so rattled the NSC staffers that they immediately reported it to the institution’s legal officers. One of the staffers was so alarmed at what he was being asked to consider that he drafted a resignation letter. The men pitching the idea even managed to get a meeting with Bannon.

Very cool idea, Netanyahu, to explicitly tie yourself to turns of phrase that are likely to become the 'I am not a crook'-esque go-tos of every future hackneyed Trump impression.

(Rich Little IV tightens mouth into a sphincter and mimes unzipping an invisible zipper hovering six inches from his face) 'Witch hunt! Fake news! Sad!'

'gentry beach'

add it to the already-huge list of real-life pynchon-character names this admin has generated

The two men, identifying themselves as Glenallen Mixon and Willie Dustice,

The men pitching the idea even managed to get a meeting with Bannon.

the "even" in this sentence should be replaced by "unsurprisingly"

totally

Good Mariotti piece:

http://time.com/5540879/trump-mueller-report-investigation-collusion/

Also I'd been wondering what they'd be saying, if anything, in response to this past week and...

Otto Warmbier’s parents have responded. “We have been respectful during this summit process. Now we must speak out. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity...” pic.twitter.com/esU45U8JVL

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 1, 2019

Cummings putting down a marker:

https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/cummings-demands-that-white-house-immediately-comply-with-oversight-committee

I asked a question yesterday in the AOC thread about congressional committee coordination of questioning, and this story in Huffpo today gives a little info about how that works--

Working alongside intergovernmental affairs chief Randy Abreu, {AOC aide Klarissa} Reynoso began her research on Cohen last Thursday when the staff learned the date of Cohen’s committee testimony.

The professional staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform worked nonstop last weekend to draft a list of 35 questions that each Democrat on the panel could choose from, and put their own stamp on.

On Tuesday, after conferring with Ocasio-Cortez, Reynoso met with committee staff to select a question. She chose to pursue the line of inquiry about Trump’s efforts to devalue golf course property to lower his taxes.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sean-hannity-michael-cohen-congress_n_5c78d06fe4b0de0c3fbf7fec

makes sense.

and as someone noted upthread, i'm sure the GOP draft list of questions for the same hearing was something like

ask him if he's a liar
ask him if why he can be trusted if he lied
ask cohen if he'll write a book
ask him if he's gonna make money
ask him if he'll agree to not make money

oh that was the wrong link.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-mastered-michael-cohen-testimony-preparation-staff_n_5c78605ee4b0de0c3fbf4eb9

^^^What was so weird (laughable expected) about watching this was how many congresspeople conducted their questioning that allowed for absolutely no actionable takeaways. Like wtf. AOC did what everyone should've been doing.

otm

i have mentioned it before, but I used to conduct investigations for SF86 clearances. After every single category (residence, education, personal references, employment, then the additional questions about foreign national contacts, drug/alcohol use, etc.) of which the subject lists people who can cover the duration of those timeframes, when you actually went to interview those people, you would always, always ask them if they knew of any other people (not already given to you by the subject) who could also corroborate that timeframe or event. Questioning 101.

And here we go. This is about the timeframe Neal figured initially, IIRC, so hey.

NBC NEWS: Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal has asked the committee’s attorneys to prepare a request for President Trump’s tax returns https://t.co/ECZchGKj8a

— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) March 1, 2019

and the universe cries out for a qualmsley, but hears nothing in return

Scotland wants their money.

Scottish government wins Donald Trump wind power legal costs

Donald Trump's Aberdeenshire golf resort must pay the Scottish government's legal costs following a court battle over a major North Sea wind power development.

Mr Trump battled unsuccessfully in the courts to halt the project before he became US president.

A total of 11 turbines make up the development off Aberdeen.

Judges have now ruled Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd should pay the legal bills incurred.

Glwt

Is it safe to assume the Mueller investigation has already gone through the tax returns?

They have talked with Weisselberg haven't they, I thought several times. So would think they would have some access to the records, though might have thought there might be more outcry from GOP members that they were looking through things like that without direct Presidential permission. Even if it is what a large amount of the population want them to do

I assume Mueller has seen or has the tax returns, but he is somewhat limited in investigative scope. I imagine he could and likely did pass on anything suspicious to SDNY, where obv. Cohen said there are currently several investigations in progress. The question is whether there is anything in the tax returns that would be of interest or suspicion to congress but not to Mueller or SDNY. Maybe just general assholery, like not paying taxes or not paying enough?

Omar 'misstepping' again:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/01/politics/ilhan-omar-engel-statement/index.html

though I don't see anything wrong with this statement. At what point will the Dems give up and stop getting on her tit, or will they keep it up and ostracize her? I don't see her shifting on this topic.

The Israel Lobby will set their dogs on any Congressional representative who fiercely criticizes the Israel Lobby. It is a measure of their power that they can mobilize an instantaneous response, not from the Israeli ambassador, but from inside the Capitol and from US representatives. And not just from representatives in the opposition party, but from Omar's own party. That's a demonstration of power, in case anyone feels like joining Omar as a target.

At what point will the Dems give up and stop getting on her tit? Not any time soon, that's a cinch.

^^^ This whole thing is becoming as ridiculous as saying one cannot be a feminist and criticize Ivanka Trump at the same time.

Trump having a regular one at CPAC

Trump has spent as much time talking about David Weigel during this speech as he has discussing trade policy.

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) March 2, 2019

good afternoon!

very surprised that trump isn't spending all his time talking about the invasion on the southern border

pushing two hours of sweaty extemporizing now

god, this fucking moron

Trump will speak to the CPAC conference in Maryland shortly. Tweets in this thread.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 2, 2019

e.g.,

Trump complains of other presidents not challenging "40%" auto tariffs from China. They were not 40% until China retaliated against Trump's tariffs. They're now back down to 15%.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 2, 2019

the whole speech is nuts

lmao there's like 5 tweets about this guy

Trump says that nobody in Hollywood could play US generals, "These guys are like perfect people." He says he met a general named "Raisin Kane." He said he was incredulous but that yes, the guy said, his name is Raisin "like the fruit." ??? someone help me with this one

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 2, 2019

when he's in defeeeeeeeeeeeeat

surely this

Trump mocks senators with white hair. He says, "I don't have white hair. I don't have white hair."

"Trump has spent as much time talking about David Weigel during this speech as he has discussing trade policy."

is it about his Prog Rock book?

he's claiming Newsom calls him and tells him he's a great president. I find that pretty hard to believe.

I find that pretty hard to believe.

this could be the title of any one of these threads.

We're all used to presidents who lie strategically, for political reasons. We still aren't used to having a president who lies gratuitously, habitually, vainly, and constantly, often for no reason, or maybe just to perk himself up because it feels good to tell a series of self-aggrandizing lies, the way some people feel better after their first cup of coffee.

it's even more reflexive and thoughtless than that. it's like stratching his nuts.

*scratching

https://i.imgur.com/2yR4AQe.png

Love too wear my jammies to work

https://img.discogs.com/G8jlyArG8_dPvZnOIwmMq1Y5NJY=/fit-in/250x251/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-6924032-1429616015-6200.jpeg.jpg

The BBC pic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news for the news story today is Trump cuddling the flag. Has he done it again, or are they just trolling?

he's done it again

meanwhile, his new tweet exonerates him:

"The brand new manuscript for a new book by failed lawyer Michael Cohen shows his testimony was a total lie! Pundits should only use it."

Ah well. Good God that is so weird.

He is a deeply weird man. It's hard to look away, but... must... not look... so hard...

(Aimless leaves computer to go make dinner.)

what book? what the fuck is he talking about? pundits should only use it? what?

perhaps his previous tweet, published just 7 minutes before that, will enlighten you:

"Virtually everything failed lawyer Michael Cohen said in his sworn testimony last week is totally contradicted in his just released manuscript for a book about me. It’s a total new love letter to “Trump” and the pols must now use it rather than his lies for sentence reduction!"

BUT THE FBI BROKE INTO HIS OFFICE

someone in the comments said it has to do with a book pitch cohen made a year ago (when he was still employed by trump), but yeah. trump is really, really dumb

Hopefully he'll die of a BDSM injury

...At one point, Cohen testified that it was true he had shopped around a book about his time with Trump, and that he ultimately turned down a $750,000 book deal. He also testified that he soured on his former employer after the president's response to violence at race-fueled riots in Charlottesville and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

In his tweets Friday morning, Trump said it was "just revealed" that Cohen penned a flattering book after those events occurred — negating Cohen's stated reason for turning on Trump.

But reporting on the book deal dates back to last year, and cites a book proposal — not a full manuscript, which Trump claimed Friday to have seen a "transcript" of. It's unclear if the book was ever written or when precisely the book proposal was shopped around, though Cohen indicated to Congress Wednesday that talks with publishers occurred "early on when I was still part of the RNC."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-attacks-cohen-over-testimony-calls-him-totally-discredited-n978076

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgXc4S-MOfQ

Jesus doesn't want Trump for a sunbeam

That whole Dale tweet thread is amazing. The speech today should also confirm that Trump wears diapers or some other body waste management device, as there's no way in hell he does anything for two hours without peeing.

XP You Think You're A Man, But You're Only A Trump

Actual photo of General Raisin Kane:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/California_Raisin_claymation.jpg

I like how he met a military guy with an obvious nickname and assumed Raisin was his given name

yeah it's a book that, I believe, wasn't even written. what a dumb dumb.

It wasn’t a book, it was a total love letter to “trump”

NEW: House judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler says "tomorrow we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House, to the Dept. of Justice, Donald Trump Jr. ... to begin investigations" https://t.co/T5uriFOXYo #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/OYnNw8ELjZ

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 3, 2019

has Ways & Means chair Neal been dragging his feet on Yam's taxes?

https://revolvingdoorproject.substack.com/p/revolving-door-project-reacts-to

i uh, think he's got this?
http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wamc/files/styles/medium/public/201804/114_rp_ma_1_neal_richard__1_.jpg

sorry hueg but eh

Senate has enough GOP defections to pass national emergency disapproval.

Obv gonna get vetoed and there's no veto-proof majority but at least we're making him own it

Senate has enough GOP defections to pass national emergency disapproval.

No they don't. I read the Vox article that listed the "defectors" and the list included Collins, with Rubio and Romney supposedly "on the fence." I will bet actual money that none of them are going to vote no when it finally comes down. Paul will, Murkowski might, and that'll be it, and one of those will be canceled out by Manchin voting yes.

huh? this bill is the exact type of thing Murkowski and Collins love to defect on, much like the ACA repeal bills, to appear more "middle of the road". and Manchin likes to vote the same way they do (albeit he doesn't always).

not sure why you're dismissing this so confidently.

I mean I know some of the posters ITT get boners loudly posting about how the worst possible outcome is obviously going to happen, but Murkowski/Collins have voted to buck Trump multiple times. they're opportunist bullshitters, but they're usually the two most likely to break ranks, like with his wall bill, or the ACA. especially when they know the bill is going to be vetoed by the President anyway, which absolves them of any 'responsibility'.

Murkowski's been at least consistent on that front.

Murkowski I can see voting no, and Paul too. But I expect less than nothing from Collins, never mind Romney or Rubio.

My senator Tillis actually bothered to write a whole op-Ed criticizing the declaration iirc. I mean I guess he could always still vote no but that would make the op-Ed a pretty weird flex.

Paul has said he will vote no.

wait, what? or do you mean "yes"?

w the Dems

oh ok.

there are butthurt conservatives posting how he "joined the swamp" on twitter now lol

Jane Mayer’s Fox News deep dive is a doozy. Who’s surprised that Trump got debate Qs in advance? Can the guy ever stop projecting???

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

Also enjoyed Remnick’s chat with AOC:

Ocasio-Cortez says that she has tried to keep her focus partly by avoiding watching Trump on television: “He relies and thrives on attention, and so the less attention he’s given, even if it’s just one set of eyeballs, the weaker he is.” She said that watching Trump in the House chamber at the State of the Union address made her feel “sick” and “underwhelmed.”

“He is such a small, mediocre person,” she told me. “I grew up with a real romanticism about America. I grew up in a first-generation household where your parents give up everything, and for me America was the greatest thing ever to exist. To be there on the floor of the House was beyond anything my parents would have ever dreamed of. But the person behind the podium was so unskilled. It was kind of sad.”

sorry, link https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-is-coming-for-your-hamburgers

Trump sez he gave FEMA the order to give Alabama "A plus treatment" after their tornadoes.

He makes disaster relief sound like fucking hotel concierge service ffs

boom...?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/trump-obstruction.html

misleading URL btw

again, so many impeachable offenses, like several a week.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-trump-ordered-officials-to-pressure-doj-to-intervene-against-tiem-warner-att-deal

and it's all out in the fucking open. all this stuff does is confirm what he already said and what we already knew.

Other than a big burst of posting around Cohen's testimony, it feels like the US politics threads have calmed a fair amount since the government shutdown ended. The Dems capturing the House makes Trump less relevant, except as a crash dummy. The new Congressional investigations are only at the starting line. The Green New Deal is still too shapeless and far down the road to get much more from us than general approval of the concept. M4A might have legs, but until 2021 it remains an election issue with a legislative sidebar.

This is a nice chance to take a breather and stretch.

Here, this will help raise blood pressures: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/04/omar-israel-house-democrats-1201881?fbclid=IwAR0BzBylWabRlwhrPGge11rmAV6vHKISKZoVaABeQTPJQuHLNPZuWNdn4mA

So wait, has this not been posted?

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-ny-matthew-whitaker-quits-justice-department-20190304-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2HSuSuVRcHPHIEXUXIjw8TcpTDWhRnr3qRMiMwqpuSt8DAL6owCB0e2tk&fbclid=IwAR3MzZbmDyXx1HqURQ2Ojgm1YitnrIzDcs_Hgne4bETjdiXVyIRYcwQ6ZIQ

this OTT reaction from Dems only seems to prove her point. meanwhile you've got wings of the GOP actively calling her a terrorist. great job, Dems!

like most things nowadays it just feels like bad faith all around. based solely on Omar's comments, does anyone really feel like it's necessary for Democrats to issue a congressional resolution to demonstrate they are against anti-Semitism? i don't think so, which suggests they are signalling something else, like...

questioning support for the U.S.-Israel relationship is unacceptable. (1/2)
— Rep. Juan Vargas (@RepJuanVargas) March 4, 2019

fuck these nerds. guess for the next 2 years the money i usually give to PP & ACLU is going to Omar and primary opponents of every bad faith dickhead trying to run her out of town

Rep. Juan Vargas, "As the duly-elected representative of hundreds of thousands of American citizens, I see it as my duty not to ask questions about America's foreign policy. Really. No questions at all. That's my position."

An excellent Yglesias piece summarizing what we learned from the Mayer reporting: https://www.vox.com/2019/3/4/18249847/fox-news-effect-swing-elections

Robert Mueller's office has notified Judge Amy Berman Jackson about an Instagram post from Roger Stone that could be in violation of Judge Jackson's strict gag order on Stone. https://t.co/UNp0Ux1xi1

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 4, 2019

speaking of predictable events....

Was just watching last nights John Oliver and he was discussing the story about Jared’s security clearance from what, four days ago, that has essentially vanished from the news while everyone gets worked up about Rep. Omar again. Good job media, attaboy Congress.

conrgess is gonna congress, frankly this is a media problem.

After seeing that disgusting wapo op-Ed comparing Omar to Steve King I’m inclined to agree

my own congressman is dining out on supposed anti-semitism among democrats but he has declined nearly all invitations to actually speak with the jewish congregations in his district (there aren't many). he's a perfect example of "anti-semitism" being weaponized in a way that has nothing to do with harms done to (or perceived by) actual jews.

This is crazy, for those fascinated and/or needing a chill way to wind down the evening:

https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/03/04/puzzling-through-the-house-requests/

some GOP rep said on NPR this morning "did Jared compromise security? nothing to see"

he almost certainly did, though

well done Democrats

Representative Ilhan Omar is again under fire for her terrible comments concerning Israel. Jewish groups have just sent a petition to Speaker Pelosi asking her to remove Omar from Foreign Relations Committee. A dark day for Israel!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2019

A dark day for Israel!

I'm pretty sure no one in Israel had a worse day today because of this. It's not exactly like she is committing or even inciting mass murder of Israelis. She didn't even make someone stub their toe or get a paper cut.

theres zero chance he knows A) what she said or B) why people are upset about it

(of course the fact that anyone's upset is idiotic and I suspect none of this is done in good faith and HOLY SHIT DEMS DO NOT DO THE GOP'S JOB FOR THEM)

NYT: “Senate prepares to block wall emergency, setting up rebuke to Trump. The vote would force Mr. Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency, signaling that his grip on Republicans in Congress ma be slipping.”


his grip on Republicans may be slipping, right!

I'm sure some of them like their handies differently

"donald trump has issued an executive order sentencing everyone who voted for hilary clinton to death. the nra is urging its members to form posses and kill everyone who is responsible for their persecution. 12 republican senators are believed to be considering opposing trump's order, dealing a major blow to party unity in a time of great strife and uncertainty for donald trump."

lol

Republicans are like the parent insisting their kid didn't shit on the floor in the dressing room of a JC Penneys

The only "grip" Trump has over Republicans in Congress is their fear of getting primaried out of office by his yahoo supporters. It certainly isn't his inspiring leadership, his shrewd maneuvering for their ultimate advantage, or his prowess at policy.

I'm wondering how this 72 year old man was able to give a vehement, completely insane speech for 2 full hours on Saturday without taking a break or even a sip of water as far as I saw

Insulin Pump full of Stem Cells.

He is high on the one thing that truly stimulates or satisfies him: talking about himself in front of a crowd. Being able to talk on and on, fabulating both nonsense and bullshit while other people listen. If he tells stories about how great he is, and there are people listening, then he can pretend to himself that they are true, and even more, pretend that the other people believe the same thing.

Also, loads of drugs.

And a catheter.

trade wars are good https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/05/trump-ejects-india-from-56bn-tariff-deal-over-negative-trade-barriers

xp I prefer to think of him just freely wetting and soiling himself as he spoke, but nobody mentioning it

good morning!

Trump is def high on more than applause. He does rails of Adderall

The president does rails of Adderall.

whoops: https://www.complex.com/life/2018/12/ex-apprentice-staffer-trump-snorts-adderall-cant-read

if you view everything through the lens of 2020 all GOP lines of attack will be based around:

a. anti-semitism/support of israel
b. socialism
c. infanticide
d. the border wall/racism

thats the modern conservative movement, folks.

yep, if you play those notes one after another, eventually you're going to gather up all of the base. for my father-in-law it's mostly d.) with a healthy dose of b.). for my sister's mother-in-law, it's almost all c.) with a smidgen of b.).

i still don't think a.). is much of a factor with many voters.

I think these four fall into two distinct categories: c) and d) are meant to inflame the base, but a) and b) have as much to do with pleasing lobbyists and large donors

I mean Trump's base by and large is not comprised of taxpayers vulberable to a proposed tax rate of 70%.

They could drop "socialism" and "Israel" from their rants and the base probably wouldn't blink

PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2019

SHOTS!

Trump in with the most efficient précis of the past two years that I've yet encountered.

Trump is def high on more than applause. He does rails of Adderall

The president does rails of Adderall.

― heinrich boll weevil (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 4:23 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

an obese septuagenarian speed-freak is quite an unlikely prospect

and yet

lol

As someone who has took mountains of adderall in my late teens and early twenties (all prescribed, which seems insane in hindsight) i believe the adderally theory. I wouldn’t behave exactly like him, but kind of

*has taken

I honestly don’t think it’s a crazy theory. I can’t imagine how he would have this much energy otherwise.

lots of diet pepsi.

he also just sits in a chair watching tv and firing off tweets all day

He's a president flyover states can relate to.

He's saved all that energy from a lifetime of not exercising.

Exactly. Adderall gives you a lot of cheap, bullshit energy that is good for stuff like tweeting and picking fights and leaves you unable to relax.

Xp

Incredible:

This is a real closing paragraph from an actual Wapo column re. Ilhan Omar. pic.twitter.com/BoBRBXF6Wn

— Eli Valley (@elivalley) March 4, 2019

Of course, the whole Ceasar-story was massively sexist all along. And with Omar, it's with a healthy dose of Islamophobia.

hey Ancient Romans! Do better!

Wish more trenchant op-eds would present arguments as if the last several millennia of political history never happened.

The author is @henryolsenEPPC. The 'ethic center' thinktank that pays him was run by Elliot Abrams for years, the same war ghoul @IlhanMN was questioning in the House recently.

TLDR, this is a pure hit piece - a bootlicker covering for his former bosshttps://t.co/i40JTtKMC7

— Lionel Cosgrove (@LionelCosgrove1) March 5, 2019

^ not bothering to verify bc I assume it’s true

OL I take it you didn't spend the W years reading Lewis Lapham columns in Harper's

Let us not forget the lessons of history, such as when Caveman Ug failed to swiftly exile Caveman Brap after Brap acted imprudently with the communal mastodon pelts.

(You take it correctly.)

It's not fair to compare him to that trash op-ed really, but Lapham's capacity for relating literally anything the Bush admin did to some bit of classical history was astounding

indeed -- and it was basically anything, not just the bush admin

xps The Ethics & Public Policy Center is currently headed by Ed Whelan of Kavanaugh Zillow theory infamy. Great work, WaPo.

You'd think the fourth estate might've seen our current era as a prime opportunity to seize the moral high ground and aspire to something better but not so fucking much.

The WaPo editorial board wishes to keep its spotless record of defending free speech by giving a much-needed voice to the servile toadies of the rich and powerful.

“Veteran suicide is an incredible thing to watch” — @realDonaldTrump

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 5, 2019

wtf

Trump is def high on more than applause. He does rails of Adderall

The president does rails of Adderall.

weird how ppl in this thread keep reminding us of his only likable, relatable trait, aka his very likely frequent drug abuse

New @QuinnipiacPoll: 64% say Trump committed crimes before becoming president and 45% say Trump committed crimes while president

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) March 5, 2019

sure but how many of them will still vote for him

It's nice to see at least that much realism reflected in the general population.

He committed crimes because he's smart, duh.

Yeah, an important metric to measure now is how many people think it's cool having a criminal for a president.

weird how ppl in this thread keep reminding us of his only likable, relatable trait, aka his very likely frequent drug abuse

racist quas-fascist rapist despots are likeable if they are drug addicts?

his only likeable trait IMO was saying bloodsport was his favorite movie. i still think everyone would be better off if he was curbstomped.

no argument from me on that score

Likes Twisted Sister (although it was not reciprocated)

Hates Jeff Sessions

Mortal.

hardcore adderall abuse is not relatable (unless you work in media)

tbf Trump works mainly in media

tough words from a board that embraced "gucci gucci" with open arms

I only said "drug abuse" but sure I'll concede that specific trait is more niche (fwiw I have never done it myself)

Adderall is an evil substance imo

that's a bad o

I don’t fully feel that way i guess. I didn’t enjoy feeling dependent on it.

If it helps people then good for them—i wouldn’t want to disparage that

Yeah, an important metric to measure now is how many people think it's cool having a criminal for a president.

Well he didn't commit Crimes like minorities do, such as stealing a cigarette or attempting to cross a line on the map. He committed ""crimes"" like smart rich white guys do.

they weren't even real crimes, he was just being sarcastic

Fox News Quietly Ditched Trump-Loving Sheriff David Clarke

The one-time Fox News regular, who was previously considered for different senior posts in the Trump administration, was effectively “banned” last year by the network, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The decision was more sweeping than the “soft bans” that Fox has imposed on other guests or contributors, such as former White House official Sebastian Gorka, who was barred from Fox’s “hard news” programming but regularly appeared on opinion shows like Hannity.

And Fox News isn’t the only organization to apparently part ways with the demagogic lawman.

Two knowledgeable sources confirmed that Clarke is also no longer a senior adviser and spokesman for pro-Trump super PAC America First Action, where he landed in late 2017 after he resigned as sheriff and was repeatedly blocked from getting a position in the Trump administration. (For instance, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon wanted to hire Clarke as a White House official, primarily to make TV appearances and take on members of the media.)

...

It’s not totally clear why Fox News hasn’t welcomed Clarke back on its air in more than a year.

“His rhetoric became crazier and crazier and most shows refused to use him,” one source familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast.

Another Fox source suggested that it probably didn’t help that the loud-mouthed sheriff repeatedly bashed high-school-aged Parkland shooting victims—at one point accusing them of being funded by George Soros to “spew anti-gun talking points”—at the same time Fox News was attempting to tread lightly after its primetime star Laura Ingraham faced a massive ad boycott for mocking the students.

So the people running things at Fox, like producers - do these people recognize their hosts and guests as clowns and crazies?

remarkable that mocking the parkland victims and survivors is only one *possible* explanation and does not, by itself, seem like an open-and-shut reason for fox to cut him loose.

i dunno. you'd think they would have declared him to have crossed a line years ago.

seems more likely that clarke and/or gorka took a shit on the green room floor or something

xposts

remarkable that the president of the united states was the leading face of the birther movement, and still promotes the idea in the oval office

tough words from a board that embraced "gucci gucci" with open arms

― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 2:09 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was an excellent lol thank you dc

clarke is like those early nazis who were too crazy for hitler and goebbels etc. once the party had to get down to the business of running a country

like Julius Streicher

House Dems postpone vote rebuking Omar amid pressure from left

What a stupid situation. Dems get a little of power and spend it all getting derailed by this bullshit.

of course

I will keep on saying it because it seems increasingly likely: party's gonna split at some point in the not-too-distant future, probably once it slowly dawns on us that the wheezy rasp in the GOP's hate-filled respiration has developed into an unmistakable death rattle.

love a schism

I will keep on saying it because it seems increasingly likely: party's gonna split at some point in the not-too-distant future, probably once it slowly dawns on us that the wheezy rasp in the GOP's hate-filled respiration has developed into an unmistakable death rattle.

― Gary Ornmigh, Heywood's son (Old Lunch), Wednesday, March 6, 2019 4:00 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's way optimistic. people were saying this in 2015/16, look what happened. fascism is resilient.

people were saying this in 2015/162008

true!

2015/16 is better example given relevant events. But yeah people say it all the time

The survival of the GOP at this point depends largely on a life support system of cheatery and flim-flammery that is, admittedly, still pretty robust. The more power the dems gain and the more dems in power focus their attention on eg redistricting and voter rights legislation and campaign finance legislation, the less viable that life support system is going to become. Having a criminal for a president and a slew of GOP-ers who've hitched their wagon to him certainly doesn't hurt.

unless they just go full autocracy which they are clearly working toward

speaking of focusing att'n on eg voter rights legislation: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/6/1839953/-House-Oversight-Democrats-announce-investigation-into-Georgia-s-war-on-voting

evergreen

At one point, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a close Pelosi ally, pleaded with Democrats: “Everyone stop tweeting!” https://t.co/268pnsXAkm

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 6, 2019

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/ay6he2/my_failed_selfie_attempt_with_the_president_of/

I cant find it now but there was an article (not sure if recent or old), re demographic change and saying that with increasing urbanization by some point in the future (2030? 2040? 2050?), 70% of the population will live in 15 states (and only 30 senators between them). I hadn't actually though about how internal migration would effect that quite so much before (not sure what the figures are now)

I've been hearing the Repugs are dying for 20 years

I will keep on saying it because it seems increasingly likely: party's gonna split at some point in the not-too-distant future, probably once it slowly dawns on us that the wheezy rasp in the GOP's hate-filled respiration has developed into an unmistakable death rattle.

The GOP is more uniform today than ever and old white people aren't going to die off en masse.
Even the 'demographics are destiny' stuff only matters to national races - a uniform GOP can control the state governments and Senate seats of half the country for decades to come unless people start building communes in the Dakotas and shit.

If 30% of the pop can have 70% of the senators, GOP death seems a long way off

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Martha McSally, the first female Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, said Wednesday that she was sexually assaulted by a superior officer, and later, when she tried to talk about it to military officials, she “felt like the system was raping me all over again.”

The Arizona Republican, a 26-year military veteran who retired as a colonel, made the disclosure at a Senate hearing on the military’s efforts to prevent sexual assaults and improve the response when they occur. Lawmakers also heard from other service members who spoke of being sexually assaulted and humiliated while serving their country.

i can only assume that her colleagues, like susan collins, believed that she had in fact been assaulted by someone but did not believe that it was by a superior officer

old white people aren't going to die off en masse.

Fentanyl's pretty cheap; the DSA could make some real progress toward this goal if they'd just get their heads in the game.

good morning!

when did the u go missing

The midterms i think. Fixed everything iirc

wheres those tax retuurns

Whither the qualmsey in the eye of our American tempest, whither

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Martha McSally, the first female Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, said Wednesday that she was sexually assaulted by a superior officer, and later, when she tried to talk about it to military officials, she “felt like the system was raping me all over again.”

McSally in Oct 2018: “But let’s make sure that people are not susceptible to false allegations, that just because someone says something doesn’t make it true.”

It’s grim. She wasn’t seated yet for the kavanaugh vote, but I’m assuming she would have voted for him. Every single senator must personally know many people who have sexually assaulted, if they weren’t assaulted themselves. I’m a complete nobody and I know of many, inside and outside the family. I cannot understand how nearly every single one is so completely hypocritical on an issue that is so intensely personal and direct and emotional.

I've heard that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

NEW: House Democrats are wary of targeting Trump’s adult children, fearing that it could backfire.

Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings is among those who is wary of zeroing in too hard on them.

Story w/ @BresPoliticohttps://t.co/r6kXWq6hN3

— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) March 6, 2019

xp She SAID she would have voted for him, unless you take that as, "I have to say this for my base but luckily I don't have a vote so it's immaterial," which is possible.

Everything, literally everything, they do makes sense when you remember that 90% of what animates Dem leadership is fear of white suburban petite bourgeoisie backlash. They think they lost the Kavanaugh hearings because America loves its boys so much. https://t.co/BPpdJDIQun

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) March 7, 2019

lol

Louie Gohmert says he’s voting against the anti-hate resolution.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 7, 2019

you laugh now but the pro-hate wing of the GOP will clean up in the 2022 midterms

BREAKING: Paul Manafort has been sentenced to less than four years in federal prison. The guideline range was 19 to 24 years. https://t.co/MFlViwSU84

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) March 8, 2019

a preview of future sentencing downgrades

Well, the nation needs to heal . . .

NEW: Judge Ellis says that the sentencing guidelines are "excessive" and he says that Paul Manafort was involved in "lots of good things" he says Manafort is "a generous person." He says Manafort, "has lived an otherwise blameless life.”@GaryGrumbach reporting. https://t.co/XrNx4nNIMU

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) March 7, 2019

hope he gets extraordinarily renditioned

Some fucking bullshit right there ! justice for rich white dudes fuck this place

wonder how much roger stones' buttcheeks will get

Send Roger Stone to prison for felony fashion crime pic.twitter.com/aa27zhXbEC

— Max Burns (@themaxburns) March 7, 2019

Holy shit Manafort has lived the worst possible life and he gets less than a black dude selling weed

I can't believe I'm still naive enough to have thought he'd get a proper sentence. What a joke.

What a joke. Manafort was and has always been a fucking soulless demon, finding the evilest people to support and bringing misery to millions.

Apparently he has sentencing for other stuff next week along with any outstanding SDNY stuff that’s floating out there

there's still a second sentencing hearing for manafort this week, but yeah, the first one was bullshit. (it's also possible that his second sentence will be allowed to serve concurrently with the first, rather than consecutively).

also, gotta love this tidbit:

Manafort’s allocution was notably light on expressions of remorse. He alluded only to the “conduct” that had gotten him into his situation and the “questionable circumstances” he will avoid in the future.

“I was surprised that I did not hear you express regret for engaging in wrongful conduct,” Ellis told Manafort at one point.

xp

Holy shit Manafort has lived the worst possible life and he gets less than a black dude selling weed
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/us/texas-woman-voter-fraud.html

Fucking infuriating

He's going to jail, faces sentencing in front of a DC judge next week -- that's enough for me.

please note how much time the Watergate conspirators served.

notable that the judge (TS Ellis), ronald reagan appointee, was also the one who recently made waves for being a complete dick to the team prosecuting manafort.

Manafort, "has lived an otherwise blameless life.”

What a crock of shit. Does this judge really have the brass to say he unaware of any crimes Manafort committed, apart from the eight counts for which he was indicted and found guilty by a jury, so therefore he's practically innocent? Gee, if you eliminate all his premeditated crimes from consideration, he's a heck of a nice guy!

"Forty-seven months is nothing to sneeze at," said the judge. "That's a very heavy sentence. You have to remember we're talking about a white guy here. He's not some fucking-" [bailiff dives across, knocking microphone away]

— Splitcoil (@Splitcoil) March 8, 2019

ALL the best blameless people

My God, Martha Stewart got a year for trading on a golf course stock tip ...

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) March 8, 2019

Without knowing anything else about Judge Ellis, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be a shame if he found out tomorrow that he has long-undiagnosed testicular cancer.

Also, so far Reality Winner is doing more time for trying to warn us about Russian meddling than anybody is for participating in it.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 8, 2019

No one with the last name of Trump is going to spend even five minutes in jail.

While light sentences aren't going to be surprising in the slightest, I had thought that there would be one fall guy that would receive a heavy sentence for the sake of appearances. But then I'd also thought Manafort might be that guy!

Xpost you mean he's not even gonna visit those guys who sacrificed their...

Aha!

lol ken starr

Just incredible hearing @JoeLockhart describe the differences between Robert Mueller, who has run the most tight-lipped operation in recent memory, and Ken Starr, who used to address the media from the end of his driveway.

As Lockhart spoke, Starr sat right across from him... pic.twitter.com/BpwuLfMLmR

— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) March 8, 2019

Lockhart might as well have blown Ken Starr, if just to repeat the Clinton years.

NEW SCOOP: Trump cheered Kraft’s team to Super Bowl victory with founder of spa where he was bustedhttps://t.co/CqsNwdNRqB

— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) March 8, 2019

While light sentences aren't going to be surprising in the slightest, I had thought that there would be one fall guy that would receive a heavy sentence for the sake of appearances. But then I'd also thought Manafort might be that guy

It's insane. I wasn't really expecting serious consequences for most of these guys but Manafort is a lifelong criminal and a traitor to this country, who committed crimes while IN JAIL. He forced his wife to have sex with his buddies and his daughters changed their last name because they wanted nothing to do with him. He is the exact opposite of someone who is "otherwise an upstanding person". At this point it's like, why are we even doing any of this if the person who gets the harshest sentence is gonna be Reality Winner?

Oh man

when I used to work at investment banks people came to me a lot for exceptions to, like regulatory requirements. It was either always they wanted the "good guy exception" or the "he brings a lot of money to the firm" exception.

Reality Winner better get a ticker tape parade when she gets out.

wow who would have thought that trump would consort with sexual abusers

oh right everyone

(not dismissing the scoop, just saying he’s a fucking scumbag)

I found the discussion of Manafort's sentence on Twitter last night kind of annoying, not that I disagree with the position at all but there were A LOT of people jumping all over each other to point out that ACTUALLY Manafort's sentence is Fine, the bigger problem is that the entire justice system is insanely unnecessarily punitive. which is totally true, but c'mon guys, can't we all just shit on Manafort for an evening? (have to say I'm very glad to see that's what's happening on this board).

it's true, light sentences for people like Manafort will inevitably lead to reduced sentences for non-white people caught with $5 worth of marijuana

The Miami Herald reports:

Seated at a round table littered with party favors and the paper-cutout footballs that have become tradition at his annual Super Bowl Watch Party, President Donald Trump cheered the New England Patriots and his longtime friend, team owner Robert Kraft, to victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 3.

Sometime during the party at Trump’s West Palm Beach country club, the president turned in his chair to look over his right shoulder, smiling for a photo with two women at a table behind him.

The woman who snapped the blurry Super Bowl selfie with the president was Li Yang, 45, a self-made entrepreneur from China who started a chain of Asian day spas in South Florida. Over the years, these establishments — many of which operate under the name Tokyo Day Spas — have gained a reputation for offering sexual services.

Most Christian president ever.

Oh THIS is good:

https://www.axios.com/jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-security-clearance-leak-0a312b92-4a2d-4a70-a7fa-7fb7980d5305.html

The White House this week rejected the committee's request for documents on the process for granting security clearances to staffers.

But the House Oversight Committee in early February had already obtained the leaked documents that detail the entire process, from the spring of 2017 to the spring of 2018, on how both Kushner and Trump were ultimately granted their security clearances.

Kinda brilliant to get Cipollone stonewalling on record only for it to be the case they already had the documents.

lmao at omar’s comments on obama

I personally wouldn't characterize the situation exactly that way, I think "pretty face and a smile" is a little too glib, but absolutely 100% agree that pushback against Obama's cruelest and most draconian policies is warranted and frankly I'm very grateful to see someone willing to risk being a bit too strident the other way when the vast majority of mainstream liberal discourse bends over backwards to give him a pass.

couldn't find a chelsea manning thread, so

Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating Wikileaks.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ordered Manning to jail Friday after a brief hearing in which Manning confirmed she has no intention of testifying. She told the judge she "will accept whatever you bring upon me."

Manning has said she objects to the secrecy of the grand jury process, and that she already revealed everything she knows at her court martial.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/chelsea-manning-jailed-for-refusing-to-testify-on-wikileaks-1.4327902

why you gotta bring us down when Paul Manafort's out here living his otherwise blameless life?

mao at omar’s comments on obama

― PaulDananVEVO (||||||||), Friday, March 8, 2019 10:45 AM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
for reference

Omar says the “hope and change” offered by Barack Obama was a mirage. Recalling the “caging of kids” at the U.S.-Mexico border and the “droning of countries around the world” on Obama’s watch, she argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor.

“We can’t be only upset with Trump. … His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was,” Omar says. “And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. We don’t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.”

My representative!

ilhan omar i luv u

Ilhan Omar is Dr. Morbius and I claim my 5

I really admire Omar's burn it all downess.

time is a flat horseshoe

wow AOC no longer the realest Congressperson

The amount of oxygen this controversy is sucking up is kind of frustrating

friendship ended with alexandria

now ILHAN is my best friend

I see that a typical response to Omar's criticism of Obama's "mirage" is that he was

wait for it...

NOT PERFECT

not like all those other presidents the movement admires

fuck presidents

People are really weird about Obama. There was a funny moment in the Patriot Act ep about student debt where Minhaj says "Barack Obama" and the audience all cheer. Then Minhaj goes on to explain how Obama helped create the current student debt crisis by making the DoE the lender and subsidizing the debt servicing industry

it's not weird to identify how a pol serves his corporate masters

lol I meant his stans are weird, like they've never looked into a single thing he did in office

but he was a ROCK STAR

that's not really so surprising though given what he represented as the first black president, plus his whole hope + change rhetoric, plus consideration of how most Democrats feel about his predecessor and successor.

Obama is still probably the most naturally talented politicians I've ever seen, often he'll give a speech and I'll have to remind myself why I don't really like him

it's weird and sorta hilarious how Dubya has been pretty much completely written out of right-wing orthodoxy in the past couple of years. meanwhile Reagan is still lionized. and it seems like the distinction is mostly just a matter of who Trump decided to bash.

Reagan was already a sort of fictional character while he was president

exactly

he may as well have been computer generated

For the rhetoric course I teach, my students have to analyze five pieces of oratory to see how they observe Ciceronian canons of rhetoric, among which are Reagan's farewell speech from the Oval Office, Trump's inauguration, and Michelle Obama's DNC speech. I played them in class.

I felt distinct waves of discomfort during Trump's; no one wanted to discuss it much. Lots of students know Reagan by name but had never seen him; several praised how "soothing" he sounded, how hopeful (this is the Shining City on the Hill speech). After Michelle O spoke, I felt the love in the room, a sense that Something Had Been Lost.

xp
The psychology isn't hard to understand--and I agree with frogbs--it's just depressing how knee-jerk the adulation is especially since in my example the context of student debt had already been established.

What the hell:

BREAKING: Pentagon 'Thinks' the Air Force Secretary Has Resigned https://t.co/4v70060eAt

— Katie Bo Williams (@KatieBoWill) March 8, 2019

UPDATE: Air Force officials confirm that Secretary Heather Wilson has submitted resignation and will be accepting a position as president of UT-El Paso. She informed her staff earlier today. According to one member of her staff, nobody knew about this until this morning.

— Sandra Erwin (@Sandra_I_Erwin) March 8, 2019

Bill Shine has quit, per White House. The fox executive didn’t last a year in the West Wing. More to come.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 8, 2019

E Pluribus Unum being changed to LOL Nothing Matters

Shucks! I'd just finished Jane Mayer's story about FOX and Bill Shine yesterday!

if everyone quits is Trump our king?

whee, typical trump friday

He's apparently being routed to a campaign role, but even so.

In baseball analysis there is the concept of "replacement-level players." I'm not sure where the baseline is when the doors revolve so quickly.

“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort,” Mr Trump said. “Both his lawyer, a highly respected man, and a very highly respected judge, the judge, said there was no collusion with Russia. It had nothing with collusion. There was no collusion.

He added: “It’s a collusion hoax, a collusion witch hoax. I don’t collude with Russia. The judge… made the statement that this had nothing to do collusion with Russia.”

it's weird and sorta hilarious how Dubya has been pretty much completely written out of right-wing orthodoxy in the past couple of years. meanwhile Reagan is still lionized. and it seems like the distinction is mostly just a matter of who Trump decided to bash.

This is ahistorical. George W Bush had already been more or less disappeared from the Republican hero chart by 2012. He didn't even go to the GOP convention!

collusion witch hoax

without looking it up I rate the probability at about 20% that there is actually a Guided By Voices album called this

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I was going to post literally that!

Well, 'song' instead of 'album' so I guess I'm engaging in a witch hoax of my own.

Beat me to it, both of you.

The Fall: Live at the Witch Hoaxes

It just serves to underscore the extent to which his speech has devolved into an almost meaningless patchwork of words. I suppose it's only a matter of time before he starts regularly bringing his very own neologisms into the mix.

a very highly respected judge, the judge,

what a coincidence that this very highly respected judge would be named "the judge"

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/arresteddevelopment/images/1/15/3x10_Fakin%27_It_%2867%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20130323184627

"devolved"

It's true! My gf noted that Trump sounded almost like a functional human in that Calamari clip from The Apprentice that was floating around last week. He's always been a moron, and especially so since at least the time when he started entertaining political notions, but I think it's safe to say at this point that he's firmly in the 'doddering' phase of his rapid mental decline.

I see that, but must insist on the reams of Sopan Deb transcripts during the 2016 race which gave form to the advanced written Trump impression. The decline over the last three years isn't quite as meteoric as all that.

No, I agree, it's isn't meteoric but it is progressive, like the degradation of elastin which with each passing day brings his wizened sac into measurably nearer proximity to the toilet water's surface.

nobody striking imagery that

plop plop fizz fizz oh what a relief it is

I still think "Very Rude Elevator Screamers" would make an excellent band name but the downside is it would always remind people of Donald Trump

lol

This is one of the most anti-semitic things I’ve ever seen. Also, this reveals so much more about you than it does me... https://t.co/IdfGuWcJZu

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) March 8, 2019

pic.twitter.com/NiWT6cclPr

— saeen (@_Saeen_) March 8, 2019

g_d bless eli

He's always been a moron, and especially so since at least the time when he started entertaining political notions

NB: this was 1987

I knew someone would go there, and it's only natural that that someone would be you, friend.

Okay, political notions that didn't include overtures to Oprah as a running mate.

oh, I thought I was agreeing with you

was this before or after the brain spiders

How is ABC Television allowed to have a show entitled "Blackish"? Can you imagine the furor of a show, "Whiteish"! Racism at highest level?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2014

His political ambitions have always been so thoroughly mixed up with simple self-promotion that even in 2016, after he had the republican nomination, he apparently viewed the election as the world's biggest infomercial on his own behalf.

2016, 2019

he literally sends out emails hawking 2020 campaign merch

(well, the royal "he")

It's just a little stunning to look back at eg that interview that leaked prior to the election where he was praising Hillary Clinton, where he doesn't seem completely incurious or like he was raised in a box and only released into the sunlight for the first time somewhere in his twilight years. Yes, again, he's been a huge blowhard dummy throughout his existence as a public figure, but the erosion in recent years is noteworthy. And not dissimilar to the pre-/post-presidency mental decay seen in GWB.

Parallel lines on a slow decline
collusion witch hoax

Another excellent Eli Valley cartoon:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D0w7HNKX0AAkr00.jpg

Anyone post this amazingness?

https://twitter.com/ScottMStedman

Shit, this:

The video is just jaw dropping pic.twitter.com/xRMxo1arwf

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) March 8, 2019

that fucking family should be put in front of a firing squad

Prince, I discovered, seems to have a Trumpian relationship with the truth. He tried to suggest that a car bomb exploded at Baghdad’s Nisour Square “five minutes” before Blackwater guards shot and killed 14 innocent Iraqis on September 16, 2007. I reminded him that there was no such explosion at Nisour Square. He denied that his current company, Frontier Services Group, is planning to build a “training facility” in Xinjiang, China, where more than a million Uighur Muslims are being held in Chinese detention camps, dismissing a press release confirming the news as a mistranslation from Mandarin. I had to inform him that the press release was issued by his own company, FSG, in English.

https://theintercept.com/2019/03/08/erik-prince-trump-mehdi-hasan/

Bold Prognostication: Not gonna be the last time we hear "Maybe the transcript is wrong"

that fucking family should be put in front of a firing squad

― maura, Friday, March 8, 2019 5:46 PM (ten minutes ago)

oh jesus, don't let treeship hear you

intreeshent proposal

Guys we gotta knock this off

The firing squad is going to be mega-overbooked in 2019, we need to give them some weekends and bump a few into 2020

I would be ok with some Katniss archery squads.

These suggestions of utilizing a firing squad against unpopular public figures are just disgraceful. Did you think for one second about how much more satisfying a public stoning would be? For shame.

Can we just put them all on a diarrhea cruise ship for forever.

Wait...is the ship going to be made of diarrhea?

powered by

Helluva way to go

Just everything on the cruise ship gives you diarrhea and everyone on it has diarrhea. And no one is there to clean. It's a diarrhea prison. I have never been on a cruise but this is how I imagine they could go.

poopship destroyer, in so many words, then

glad we got that sorted

that fucking family should be put in front of a firing squad
― maura, Friday, 8 March 2019 23:46 (yesterday) Permalink

and in re firing squads, i keep thinking that if these people keep parading their inhumanity in public and get rewarded for it, there is going to be a thirst for retribution that hasn't been seen in a long while. like robbespierre type shit.

truth and reconciliation defenestration

Did we catch this? From this weekend's On the Media:

Mexican officials and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are using a secret database to target journalists and advocates at the southern border. This week, On the Media speaks with a reporter on the list who was detained for questioning by Mexican authorities. ...1. Mari Payton [@MariNBCSD], reporter at NBC 7 in San Diego, and Kitra Cahana, freelance photojournalist, on the secret government database of immigration reporters and advocates.

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

I love our new sheriff so much


http://m.startribune.com/hennepin-county-sheriff-endorses-bill-for-driver-s-licenses-for-immigrants-here-illegally/506909692/

if it ends up being Trump v Bernie in the general gonna love the media's wailing and hand-wringing over the ascendant "anti-semitic" left's criticism of Israel being somehow worse than Trump's out n proud "Jews will not replace us" neo nazis & groyper gang.

The fact that Bernie Sanders is Jewish will make absolutely no difference.

republicans being terrible are too dog bites man an angle

i assume some sort of regularly-scheduled satanic rite was involved.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Saturday, March 9, 2019 1:06 AM (thirteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Calvinism + capitalism = monsters like these soulless ghouls

good morning!

that erik prince clip is so deeply satisfying

yeah it really is. but then i think about being alive in a time when half of America's voting public is like "yep, clearly the transcript got it wrong nothing to see here #MAGA" and it's pretty deflating

realDonaldTrump liked this tweet: https://t.co/Gi7GWxwpdI

— Trump Alert (@TrumpsAlert) March 10, 2019

huh

is trump conscious or aware enough of twitter to know what 'liking' things means

almost certainly not

Trump campaign advisor defends White House diversity: “How many black people were in Lincoln’s West Wing?" https://t.co/imYUUn1cez pic.twitter.com/BrinYsqZQq

— The Hill (@thehill) March 10, 2019

Spoiler: It's Katrina Pierson.

'Israel is the nation-state of Jews alone': Netanyahu responds to TV star who said Arabs are equal citizens https://t.co/emzCmPa3cY

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) March 10, 2019

Why is Bibi not in prison yet, I haven’t been keeping up with that story

I believe the NYT suggested some think he is "indispensible" to Israel

meanwhile, icymi while obsessing idiotically over Glenn Greenwald

Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Maduro Burned Aid Convoy https://t.co/jXBw2qdecV

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) March 10, 2019

ctrl+f's "greenw"

...why are you shouting at yourself?

ref to idiot thread

That was already posted twice in the Venezuela thread.

🔥Mueller has “completed his report. It is said to recommend indicting 3 of @realDonaldTrump’s children—Don Jr, Ivanka & Eric—as well as Jared Kushner...Mueller wants Trump himself to be indicted. Barr is said to oppose this.”

Hence, the delay...🧐https://t.co/7Htd7mOhJS

— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) March 10, 2019

what is spectator.us

The Spectator is a right wing UK magazine.

... don't know if they're connected.

there's a 'go to spectator uk' link at the top of the page which leads to the right-wing uk magazine, so i assume they must be?

The columnist had predicted — in a piece published earlier this week in The Spectator — that Mueller would submit his report in an official capacity on Friday, March 8. But that did not happen. Cockburn then went back to his sources to find out why his earlier prediction was wrong. That is when he was told by his sources that the report had been scheduled for a March 8 delivery, but the disagreement between Mueller and Barr over an indictment caused the announcement to be postponed.

see i'm still right

I thought that guy who predicted the rapture died

At a recent round table meeting of business executives, & long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words. The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2019

but he just said yesterday that he actually said "Tim Cook Apple"

yeah but that's a complete sentence. no one really believes he's spoken one of those.

this happened on wednesday - good to know trump's definitely not been stewing on it for nearly a week before taking to twitter to explain that his brain isn't melting, actually, how dare u

Holy shit, he used a big word almost correctly.

By which I mean "recent."

I know it shouldn't be shocking to see the President of the United States get himself caught up in such an obvious and pointless lie, and yet here we are. it's like I'm not fully desensitized yet

not to mention the idea of Donald Trump trying to save "time & words"

when you spend 2+ hours humping the flag and screaming about socialism to a room full of mutants you gotta make up that time on the back end.

Is there like a filter I can use to have every presidential utterance sent directly to my spam folder?

I mean, give me a heads up if he announces that he's sent the missiles a-flying but I'm otherwise just done being reminded of his blighted existence.

DONALD TRUMP ON MARCH 12, 2019: "actually I said tim cuck apple"

The American public could take a page from the book of Trump's parents re: neglecting the living fuck out of him.

yeah, I don't think I recall anything GWB said or did in the final year he was in office. I wish I could tune Trump out like that.

At least GWB was smart enough the stfu during the financial crisis.

Dem 2020 convention: Milwaukee

good morning!

why would they want fucking Milhaukee when they can have Miami

tribute to recently-departed working-class hero penny marshall iirc

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/SawyerBronzeFonz2008.jpg/200px-SawyerBronzeFonz2008.jpg

that's an hour away, should I try to go ???

xpost, but of course, great minds, etc.

!!!

why would they want fucking Milhaukee when they can have Miami

presumably surrendering FL to Yam already

I like Milwaukee, fun town

a buncha late night writers furiously pitching beer jokes right now

presumably surrendering FL to Yam sea level rise already

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius

Milwaukee's great.

Guess they want to make sure they don’t accidentally forget to campaign in the upper Midwest again

that's why Clinton lost, recall

Pelosi:

There have been increasing calls, including from some of your members, for impeachment of the president.

I’m not for impeachment. This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.

https://t.co/VJq71C7F83

She's right. Why announce what you're going to do before the evidence has accumulated and anyone has voted? The House Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation. That's how Watergate began.

healthy government

To slow down Democrats, Colorado Republicans requested a 2,000-page bill be read in its entirety. But Democrats then decided to have the bill read by a computer at a speed incomprehensible to humans https://t.co/uZxQfOIUJf via @denverpost

— Mitchell Byars (@mitchellbyars) March 11, 2019

maybe i'm giving pelosi too much credit, but there's an argument that trump is the ideal candidate to run against in 2020, and impeachment is likely to be a distraction from that, perhaps even one that benefits him.

enh fuckit let’s just hand control of the government over to skynet at this point why not xp

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1PlKQyaneAvKE

It's true that, if the country at large does not endorse impeachment, then pursuing it will only cause a reaction by a majority of voters against the Democrats in 2020. Pursuing investigations, otoh, does not carry the same dangers as continuing straight to impeachment proceedings.

I'm actually with Pelosi on this. Impeachment qua impeachment is way too charged. Far better to just investigate and investigate and investigate and report the results of those investigations and keep a running tally of all of it in easy-for-even-morons-to-understand form so every Democrat running for office, from the local level on up, can run on the platform "Donald Trump is a criminal and a shambling mountain of garbage in vaguely human form - vote Democrat in 2020."

Either that, or hire a disgruntled ex-military sniper to camp out in the woods near Mar-a-Lago. I'm good with either one.

Impeachment is not removal -- the Senate ain't moving an inch on removal. It doesn't mean you don't investigate. Plus, she's the speaker. She can change her mind.

Yeah seriously. I have friends whining and it's like hmm...do I publicly as Speaker indicate impeachment is coming or a high possibility when the House investigation just launched and Mueller report is forthcoming? Where AT BEST both investigations miraculously present open and shut cases and somehow the GOP discovers scruples.

Or, more likely, the narrative that the House investigation has already made its conclusion and is looking for confirmation bias facts only, which could disengage some indie voters, plus be a PR nightmare for her with her leftist supporters if she has to reverse course.

Why choose the option of zero flexibility which only placates your base and leaves you no room to maneuver? She's just preventing cheap, easy sound bytes. Lesser ranking reps have more latitude to be reckless than she does.

The most annoying thing is the press changing her quite cutting statement - "he's just not worth it" - to "[impeachment is] just not worth it".

I've no doubt Pelosi has read Laurence Tribe's To End a Presidency (review in The Atlantic). I haven't read the book, but the review offers a really chilling reason why impeachment isn't worth it (at least until Trump becomes an immanent risk of nuclear conflict): like or not, an impeachment campaign risks a widespread outbreak of right-wing extremist terrorism, or worse. Quotes from Tribe:

Well-justified calls to impeach the president can simultaneously empower him, harm his political opponents, and make his removal from office less likely … Because removing a truly determined tyrant may unleash havoc, the risks of impeaching a president are apt to be most extreme precisely when ending his tenure is most necessary.

Many Americans who voted for Trump view themselves as belonging to a victimized, disenfranchised class that has finally discovered its champion. For some of them, Trump’s appeal is less what he will accomplish programmatically than whom he will attack personally. Were Trump removed from office by political elites in Washington, DC—even based on clear evidence that he had grossly abused power—some of his supporters would surely view the decision as an illegitimate coup. Indeed, some right-wing leaders have already denounced the campaign to remove Trump as a prelude to civil war. This rhetoric, too, escapes reality and indulges pernicious tendencies toward apocalyptic thinking about the impeachment power.

That argument is making a weird (and unsupported by evidence to date) assumption that the right-wing extremist terrorism isn't coming anyway.

there's an argument that trump is the ideal candidate to run against in 2020

That's what they said in 2016

good lord the past few years have been fucked up

That's what they said in 2016

In 2016 voters could only theorize what a Trump presidency would look like. He encouraged them to project whatever wishes and desires they wanted onto him with his many outlandish promises about "winning", bringing back industrial and manufacturing jobs, inflicting pain on CHI-NUH, providing everyone with great cheap medical insurance, making Mexico pay for a border wall, etc. Like any good con, the marks were willing, even eager, to be conned.

Now they've opened the package and have seen what's inside. Not every Trump voter from 2016 is happy about his record so far. For example, there are a lot of farmers in the Midwest who aren't stupid and see exactly how much his policies are costing them, down to the dollar. He's not a blank projection screen any more.

But, I think it's a mistake to see the 2020 election as a simple yes-no referendum on Trump. There will be another major party candidate to compare him to and most 2016 Trump voters are conditioned to view ANY democratic opponent with a jaundiced eye. As of today, he would easily claim more than 40% of the vote against anyone the democrats nominate. It will still be a battle. It won't be the Triumph of the Left.

I think the correct pronunciation is JI-NUH.

My God, it's not difficult. You can call for his head all you want. She can't. She does it now, they hit her with "vendetta" when the time comes.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) March 12, 2019

^ A subject where Richard M. Nixon should, of all people, know what he's talking about.

obviously not surprised at this point but it never stops being depressing how the GOP reaction to a Dem/liberal/left proposal to resolve a problem is not "We think there's a better way to fix it, which is..." but "This problem does not exist at all and you're insane for even suggesting it does." I'm not going to reprint it but in this case I'm talking about Trump signal-boosting some former Greenpeace idiot who's still out here in the year of our lord 2019 denying climate change exists. a Googled this fool's name and saw headlines where he'd referred to AOC as a "twit" so that was enough for me, fuck investigating this asshole any further.

Yeah, in keeping with their death cult status they're uninterested in solving problems which might hinder the impending eschaton.

good morning!

I haven’t been following the news much over the past few days. But I guess trump told a bunch of donors that “democrats hate Jews”? Did I get that right? Sarah sanders, when asked if it’s true that trump thinks that “democrats hate Jews”, during the first press briefing in FORTY-TWO days, said “you’ll have to ask the democrats that”.

Just now realizing that there are no democrats who are also Jews. Very supisious!!!1!

the reporter will have to ask the democrats what Trump thinks? 🤔

They call me Mr. Jexit!

anyone ready to have their morning ruined

Donald Trump takes off his hat at Mar-a-lago - forgetting he's not wearing his toupee. pic.twitter.com/CZQ2B9a66O

— Paul Lee Ticks (@PaulLeeTicks) March 11, 2019

Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better. Split second decisions are....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2019

....needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2019

what the fuck, what has prompted this latest madness

let's talk about planes now. the pilots are flying them up too damn high. it's dangerous. I don't like it. got to make them lower

— wint (@dril) August 18, 2014

omg, trump look so much like my dad without his toupee. (although he probably looks like a lot of dads).

your dad has an unconvincing computer-generated forehead too?

pretty much.

:D

anyway, can't believe the star of one flew over ther cuckoo's nest would do this

Trump's proposed budget would steer $20,000,000 to a hospital project backed by golfer Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus lobbied Trump on the golf course in Florida. Trump personally directed HHS to earmark the funds, Politico reports. https://t.co/KcQN4gVxkK

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 12, 2019

Wonder how much tiger’s projects will get (he was on that same golf outing with Nicklaus)

That hospital's just two miles from me.

This is the most bizarre technique for blowing out birthday candles that I’ve ever witnessed. Mitt Romney is a deeply weird dude. pic.twitter.com/kLGuJawDpv

— Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) March 12, 2019

oh god hairless trump ;_;

Without clicking on the link, I wonder if he uses a blow dryer.

The only explanation for those airplane tweets I can come up with is that Trump asked to fly Air Force one

Donald Trump Awards Donald Trump Trump's 20th Trump Golf Club Championship

Physically, the man looks like some sort of hideous British dessert—some sort of meringue that’s been boiled for a day inside a pair of men’s underpants and somehow tastes exactly like baloney—and stands like he’s in the middle of a windstorm. A thin rivulet of beige liquid has been leaking from his ears since at least 2014.

bologna boiled in old mayo

i've missed romneybot, glad to see he's every bit as tantalisingly almost-human as ever

Mormons aren't allowed to blow twinkies.

The airplane tweets are about boeing's planes being grounded.

Tbf that method does more or less avoid blowing your spit germs over everyone's cake. I don't hate it.

"What are you guys gonna have?" - always a classic birthday cake joke

@CBSThisMorning
.@SenJoniErnst & @SenMikeLee are unveiling a new proposal for paid family leave.

The "Cradle Act" would allow new parents to use Social Security savings to pay for time off after birth/adoption. Users would then delay their retirement to pay the money back.

paid-by-yourself family leave

Are they fucking serious

hell yeah, that's how you win the hearts and minds of voters

Do plane crashes in Africa killing all 157 people on board not get reported in the US or something?

The plane crash isn't what prompted his tweet storm. The grounding of the aircraft model involved in many countries did.

I want to return to when planes were simple enough to be flown safely by drunks

I am scared of flying so of course I watch a lot of plane crash re-enactment shows. The idea that boeing put this new flight feature in the control system of the plane type that crashed twice now and didn't notify or train people on it terrifies me.

The FAA hasn't grounded it yet. Insists it is safe. They may be right but seems like a better idea to be safe?

Trump, despite his tweets, just oversaw the sale of 100 of these planes while in Vietnam...cos of course he did.

see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better.

Maybe he should step back on Twitter and go back to yelling at whoever crosses the village square

Of course Trump is feting the notion of 'old and simple'. Of course he is.

Can't stop, won't stop: Ilhan Omar drives the Fox hordes nuts again.

Omar on Trump and Obama: "one is human, the other is really not" pic.twitter.com/Mwr3TWS09P

— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) March 12, 2019

Boeing should be getting dragged in front of a house committee tbh

Can’t believe my state keeps giving tax breaks to those fuckers when they just spend the money shipping jobs to North Carolina and apparently rails of coke for the avionics engineers

Tomorrow, he suggests replacing Obamacare with leeches

it's interesting to see a Dem like Omar sussing out what any number of Republican reps have for a long time: she's going to be reelected by her district not the national press

that's a real good answer, in terms of not retreating while addressing the disparity between the Grifter and... others

More people need to point out re: Trump that taking on a vaguely-human shape does not in and of itself a human being make.

Chuck Tingle tried to tell us.

furious trump unable to control his blinding crab rage, spilling over with bubbling void tar as he attempts to maintain his human form pic.twitter.com/7d15USDTqM

— Chuck Tingle (@ChuckTingle) October 10, 2016

that's karl malone's handiwork iirc

Do plane crashes in Africa killing all 157 people on board not get reported in the US or something?

Africa is a shithole country and/or countries iirc

Lol, yes that is mine. I’m guessing more people saw that in chuck tingle’s tweet then saw it as the cover image to doonaldjtrump.com, which is why I made it in the first place.

I blame boing boing, who kept using it for their articles without crediting me, even after I contacted them and was told they would stop using it (which was lame because I didn’t want them to stop using it, I wanted them just give me an illustration credit)

I didn't know that was yours! I've remembered it ever since.

I blame boing boing,

Great song!!

hearing that to the tune of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9d4ESlpHY

Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the good times
Blame it on the Boing Boing

wow i didn't know Karl Malone wrote Chuck Tingle's entire bibliography. that's cool

Karl Malone has talent for more than just basketball.

I can't say I'm thrilled!

The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that it’s actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places. They are only getting more deranged with time!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2019

fake Melania confirmed

remember

President Trump pointed to a window in the White House residence, and said: “She’s doing great. She’s looking at us right there.” Reporters turned to look at the spot he indicated, but there was no sign of the first lady. https://t.co/8zLn4h6YPz

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) May 25, 2018

still can't tell whether "fake melania" is a joke or not, either way it's not funny and i don't give a shit

60% joke, 40% I wouldn’t put it past him-ism

Well at this point a certain percentage of real Melania is probably fake anyway.

Fake Melania is so dumb and everyone participating should feel bad

hey don't disparage Fake Melania like that! she my not be the smartest Melania but she has a good heart

I must be dumb then because I'm really starting to think there might be a fake Melania

if there really is a fake melania it's definitely funny

I mean _I_ believe the reason she vanished for like, 3 months that one time is because he beat the shit out of her so I won’t look down on anyone’s baseless theories involving DJT and this administration

the real Melania will never be as fake and dumb as her husband, but she is v definitely both

I must be dumb then because I'm really starting to think there might be a fake Melania

― frogbs, Wednesday, March 13, 2019 8:06 AM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i have a feeling if i searched this board for "fake melania" it'd just be a sequence of frogbs posts so... we know

Is it accurate to call someone 'fake' when she's been slowly replaced cell-by-cell through overexposure to the Thing-like organism posing as her husband? I mean even though those dogs belied their apparent doghood when they erupted into a mass of fleshy tendrils I don't know that I would've called them 'fake' per se.

We're clearly living in a weird horror story at this point so I'm not going to be too hasty in dismissing any possible scenario.

Fake Melania is so dumb that ... it's as likely to be as real as everything else dumb about this man and his life.

agree

some of these posts re melania are....super weird tho

good morning!

(I guess because we're also at the point in my personal lifetime when credulity is at an all-time high and critical faculties at an all-time low, I should point out that I'm 100% goofing on the notion of fake Melania and that my mind has not appreciably eroded as a result of the slow-motion collapse of reality to which we're all bearing witness.)

This presidency is so surreal that I really don't know where I would draw the line when it comes to something so ridiculous I'd dismiss it outright.

simon otm

i think we're all overlooking the possibiity that there's never been a real melania at all

https://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2019/01/03/magazine/04-m-night-shyamalan.w570.h712.jpg

ok i give up enjoy yourselves i guess

BN also otm

fuck does the 'm' in m. night shyamalan stand for... melania?

the fake melania shit being reported by real news sources makes me want to slap people.

and otm that it's not even funny.

slow news day eh

fuck does the 'm' in m. night shyamalan stand for... melania?

― kiss me dadly (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 15:39 (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, the 'M' is short for "M. Night Shyamalan"

everyone involved in this historically terrible fiasco of a government, however they've opted in, are worthy of scorn, derision, ridicule and potential criminal investigation
i am not excepting Barron, who I fully expect to be plotting an overthrow of canada as we speak
but maybe, in general, focusing on actual horrible things they're doing instead of invented craziness is a wiser route

I mean all else aside it's very hard for me to square the existence of a person who would voluntarily put themselves in a situation where they risk regularly seeing Donald Trump's naked body.

focusing on actual horrible things they're doing instead of invented craziness is a wiser route

this is nobel and all but like you said in the start of the post it's all a shitty mess and nobody cares about anything real anyways

*noble

I thought she was in hiding waiting for the swelling etc to reduce from having A Little Work Done.

heh

ABJ: “It’s not particularly persuasive to argue that an investigation hasn’t found anything when you lied to the investigators”

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) March 13, 2019

"Saying I'm sorry I got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency." - Judge in Manafort trial

— John Santucci (@Santucci) March 13, 2019

ABJ announces the sentence:

60 months on Count 1, 30 months of that served concurrently with EDVA sentence
13 months on Count 2, to be served consecutively

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) March 13, 2019

So satisfying that Manafort will be ever-so-slightly older when he's finally released from prison. Wave goodbye to your late sixties and maybe even a little bit of your early seventies, Paul!

He's going to miss at least a couple seasons of his favorite shows. So delicious, this justice.

So 73 months makes last week's 47 months moot. It's an improvement.

so it's 43 months added to 47, right? Minus 9 already served. 6.75 years.

oh, I misread that tweet

Guys it’s gonna amount to a few more months before he’s pardoned anyway

Am I correct in assuming a pardon will also wipe out the $25 million he’s been ordered to pay back?

i'm just curious which "photoshopped image" DJT is referring to? the Alabama thing was a video. did he take a real picture of his wife to be a Photoshop?

Note: Donald Trump doesn't actually understand what 'photoshopping' means or entails.

'photoshop' is just another way that his brain worms have latched onto to say 'fake news'

Do I gotta Snopes dis sumbitch for yall

Eh, I'm given to understand that Snopes is totally photoshop. Sad!

I should probably remind those here that Melania is easily the most disengaged presidential spouse of my lifetime. she is irrelevant. even her husband gets her name wrong sometimes (iirc, "Melanie").

come on Be Best Aimless

Paul Manafort has just been charged in New York by @ManhattanDA with Residential Mortgage Fraud and other crimes

— Aaron Katersky (@AaronKatersky) March 13, 2019

It is still funny that the media agreed with him that the photos are really Melania, shit at unflattering angles, or photographed on low grade TVs

So he is presented with an open goal and whiffs by saying the pics are Photoshopped, implying he agrees the photos aren't actually her.

Which is not what he meant but lol

*shot

Ideally State of New York has several other sealed indictments ready to play, sort of the opposite of the Get Out Of Jail Free card.

Also, Trump can't pardon him for any New York shit.

What do you call an EGOT for crimes https://t.co/dEhVOT6iPx

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 13, 2019

is that 4 jurisdictions? i musta lost one

Also, Trump can't pardon him for any New York shit.

― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, March 13, 2019 1:00 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post P

is this true?

Yes

Trump can only pardon people for federal crimes.

EGOT em all

Well well

Nadler: “Unlike in the hearing room, Whitaker did not deny that the president told him to discuss the Michael Cohen case and personnel decisions in the Southern District.”

— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) March 13, 2019

“While he was acting AG, Whitaker was directly involved in conversations about where to fire 1 or more US attorneys.”

Nadler says Whitaker also in convos re: “scope of SDNY USA Berman’s recusal & whether the Southern District went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case”

— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) March 13, 2019

so is this another one of those "holy shit members of the Trump admin committed felonies in broad daylight" dealies that everyone's just gonna forget about in 2 days

I guess if you are going to break bad, might as well go all the way. That whole thing with Trump having pictures at the Superbowl with the Chinese woman that owned Day Spa's implicated by the FBI in a sex trafficking crime and the owner of the Pat's implicated did not even seem to make much of a blip.

Well, he doesn't even know her, right?

Have we ever seen this degree of brazen, pathological mendacity in American public life? One day he makes a harmless slip of the tongue, something any mentally balanced person would laugh off.

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 14, 2019

(long ranting thread)

that thread is the question i ask every fucking day for the past... 4 years?

does George Conway ever ask this question over the dinner table while looking into his beloved wife's eyes

It's how he starts foreplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLjtdiNLK10

Was at a non-political function recently and GC was in the house, wandering around while everyone tried to keep their distance. He is a certifiable schlub in person.

Birch Bayh has died.

*stereotypically white sounding voice* as a centrist i dont have strong feelings about this one way or another

The House just passed a resolution 420-0 calling for the public release of the Mueller report. https://t.co/XoC5CNBFb1

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) March 14, 2019

https://apnews.com/b7c693b602744f63bddd2efbf52ef5c6

420 huh, nice *tokes*

Yam Republic dogwhistle

Trump to Breitbart on how the left plays tough: "I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point and then it would be very bad, very bad."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 14, 2019

Mmmm yeah how does the military feel about that statement

wait Bikers For Trump is supporting Trump this year?

huge if true

My senator Tillis actually bothered to write a whole op-Ed criticizing the declaration iirc. I mean I guess he could always still vote no but that would make the op-Ed a pretty weird flex.

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Sunday, March 3, 2019 7:37 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I should know better by now than to ever underestimate the spinelessness of these ham-brained fucks.

Gotta say, though, 59-41 is a bigger slap from the Senate than I expected.

VETO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2019

is this how he thinks vetoing works

"i declare Veto"

Veto O'Rourke

prezzing by twit

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/9/96/Vito_portrait.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160306145734

I want to skip to the chapter where we find out who exactly has what dirt on Lindsey Graham.

He went on a "charm offensive" last week or so, doing the interview rounds, and he was wholly unconvincing. "When I agree with the president I will say so, and when I disagree with the president I will say so, too." He brought up Syria and the murder of the journalist in SA as areas in which he disagrees with the president, and the interviewer pressed him and asked, basically, so what are you going to do about it? And he gave the same runaround. "I will do what I can when I can, etc., sometimes behind closed doors, but I am not going to confront this president just for the sake of blah blah..." "I am the same Lindsey Graham I have always been blah blah." "My good friend John McCain didn't agree with Obama on everything but offered to support him when he could, and I am doing the same with blah blah."

He also conceded (no surprise) that he's in the business of politics, so he knows it's more politically beneficial to support Trump than spar with him.

yeah i'm just going to be over here assuming the absolute worst about Lindsey

(re dirt)

why stop there

Eh, the worst is bodies in the basement. I think he just fucks/is fucked by men.

I honestly believe he's more terrified about the latter being made public than the former.

ehh Lindsey has plenty of shit to give him a hard time about let's let this stuff a rest

you know who else has got to be a closet case is orrin hatch

we could ask his son but he is no longer on ILX

ftr my suspicions have nothing to do with Graham being a closet case and everything to do with him being a kiddie fucker

agree with carne asada

So Thom Tillis NC writes a prominent op-ed in the Washington Post arguing against Trump’s emergency declaration and then votes to uphold it?

Is it not more likely that Lindsay's always been an awful piece of shit, and he saw a career opportunity in opposing Trump, but that didn't pan out so now he's firmly on the Trump train? Have none of us ever watched a gangster movie before?

No surprises, but this morn Two-Scoops went from tweeting about helping New Zealand to the "Jewexodus" for the Democratic Party & Obama spying on him (both latter stories from Fox and Friends, natch).

Excuse me, "Jexodus".

who knew you could link the word exodus to the jews

"@twitt_be_cray: @realDonaldTrump go fuck yourself you dumb fuck" When was the last time you had a date-such terrible language (& picture).

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2013