US Politics May 2019: " If I was burned at the stake, I would ask for a mirror"

https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/shutterstock_10062699r.jpg?crop=900:600&width=440

so the Corpse of Grassley returns to a familiar right wing fever swamp talking point.

reptile Grassley: are you looking into whether Steele dossier is russian disinfo?

if the senate had an 8chan caucus

it's fucking maddening !! omg!!

destroy the senate imo

Feinstein and Leahy sound like they are recapping yesterday's bingo game over soft food

did Leahy have his voice box removed ?

Leahy's got a voice box

wow what a petulant disingenuous piece of shit this guy is

thanks obama

well surely all thanks need to go McConnell's way.

lol it's someones elses fault for not warning Trump about Russia ! omg this is despicable

Thank you, @atrupar!

Lindsey Graham saying "Trump is a fucking idiot" on loop.🤣🤣🤣#BarrLied #barrhearing #wednesdaywisdom pic.twitter.com/CBNJ5Q7jfK

— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) May 1, 2019

Subject header of White House Email sent minutes ago might apply to our country as well:

Don’t Call it a Coup. Venezuelans Have a Right to Replace an Oppressive, Toxic Regime.

Venezuelans are Clapping Back at Maduro’s Toxic Masculinity and We Are Here For It.

oh, good morning!

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/bj87x0/im_will_witt_political_influencer_for_prageru_ask/?sort=top

lmao this is awesome

Hi Will, thanks for doing this AMA! My wife's boyfriend and I are huge fans of yours!

March 5: The Special Counsel meets with Barr and informs him that “the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Office’s work and conclusions.”

March 24, early afternoon: The Special Counsel reiterates the purpose of the Mueller report’s executive summaries and introductions.

March 24, late afternoon: Barr sends his now-notorious letter to Congress, which was made public immediately, purporting to outline the Mueller report’s top-line conclusions.

March 25, morning: The Special Counsel’s office informs the Justice Department that his letter to Congress “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions.” It’s not clear who communicated with whom in this instance, or in what form.

March 27: Mueller sends a letter to Barr complaining about the March 24 letter and urging him to release the executive summaries.

Favourite flavour of boot?

Ben Sasse going rogue

Hirono killin it

Well its all being recorded and at some point in the future people will be able to look back and see who's trying to pass themselves off as the voice of conscience.
Cruz bleurrgh. & everybody else here who thinks that being a stooge is a noble pursuit.

in the future these people will all be in crypts made of gold

it ith over.

can't believe that. BS.

If Mueller was so concerned about this shit maybe he should have come to a real conclusion instead of concluding with " Maaaaaaybe? What do you think?"

the report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to lay charges regarding any treasonous stuff with russia and washed its hands of making judgements about obstruction.

so it was conclusive in its own way.

If Mueller was so concerned about this shit maybe he should have come to a real conclusion instead of concluding with " Maaaaaaybe? What do you think?"

Constitutional crisis yet?
Or has it been like that for the last while.
I don't think history is going to be overly kind to senator Graham, probably not the Hon Major Barr neither.

Bruh we be in constitutional crisis mode for a while

Taibbi and Greenwald's tweets p much all "im not owned! im not owned!" at this point

every day or so I have that stark realization that OMG this government is really deeply corrupt

Until I have proof that Greenwald wasn't involved in outing Reality Winner, he's in the shitbox for me.

Yeah this is fun seeing checks and balances crumbling before our eyes. And knowing that the damage this administration is doing could last a generation or until the end of the USA as we once knew it. Another check mark in the “don’t have children” column.

Still seeing effects of Reagan manifesting, can’t imagine what long term pain Trump will deliver us.

Yeah this is fun seeing checks and balances crumbling before our eyes. And knowing that the damage this administration is doing could last a generation or until the end of the USA as we once knew it. Another check mark in the “don’t have children” column.

Still seeing effects of Reagan manifesting, can’t imagine what long term pain Trump will deliver us.

If you’re still seeing the Gipper, kids were probably moot anyway, right?

There was one thing that it appears they are trying to taken as a given, that there was heavy Russian interference in the 2016 election. Not sure to what extent GOP were admitting that previously. But that was the point of the Marsha Blackburn spiel wasn't it?
Apart from that bizarro take on who was behaving in an unprecedented way. That actually sounded like if taken outof context she might have had a point, sounded like it would apply to Barr's behaviour and it took me a moment to realise she was actually talking about the Dems. I was hoping it might be a sign of some GOP discontent with the current farcical state. But they do seem to be turning into a monolithic whole don't they?

power is power

It is astonishing in retrospect how quickly we went from “Iran-Contra is no big deal” to “the Clintons secretly murdered a bunch of their political opponents!” in the space of about five years back in the 1990s.

— David Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) May 2, 2019

is it, though?

uhhh so Barr was subpoenaed didn't show up for his hearing

time to find out if the executive branch is going to have any oversight whatsoever

Legislative, that is

I love a good constitutional crisis in the morning

Begin the impeachment process now

Jerry Nadler to reporters: "We will make one more good faith attempt to negotiate and to get the access to the report that we need, and then, if we don't get that, we will proceed to hold the attorney general in contempt and we'll go from there."

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 2, 2019

why do you keep giving these people chances. arrest him now

Impeachment needed on at least 2 people.
Anybody else need a nice bit of impeachment?
Kavanagh? Do you get a better rate for multiples?

like for once can you spineless idiots just do what the majority of the country that voted you in wants you to do

Democrats ain’t going to do a thing. Wake me up when a single WH staff member or agency executive is sitting in jail for contempt.

The law is a grand, mutual delusion. It requires at least 51% to believe in it for it to work. Republicans no longer believe in it, so Dems are only talking to themselves with this rule of law nonsense.

Gilead!

Dems are just doing the same shit I do to my 4 year old

Last chance!!!
This is your last warning!!!
I'm gonna count to 5...
If you don't testify right this instant, I'm holding you in contempt!
I'm warning you!!!
bUddy yOuR on THin IcE

Sarah Sanders went out on the WH lawn this morning talking some serious shit abt Nadler, clearly provoking him.

I do think they will hold Barr in contempt, whether or not they have the stones to fine much less jail anybody is obv a different matter

ooh perhaps he will be censured! that'll show him!

it's kind of gutsy for sarah sanders to not hold a press conference for a couple months (except for a group of children on bring your kids to work day - i wish that was a joke) and still step out on the lawn to talk shit on a congressmen who is mad about the whole constitutional crisis thing

she sucks so much

Adam Serwer: Barr is a fanatic

Barr’s involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal helps illuminate his conduct today. The administration of President Ronald Reagan had defied federal law by selling arms to Iran in order to fund right-wing guerrillas in Central America, a scandal that led to the appointment of an independent counsel and the convictions of several high-ranking administration officials. When George H.W. Bush took office, he pardoned six officials implicated by the investigation at Barr’s urging.

The Iran-Contra scandal itself speaks to the conception of executive power to which Barr subscribes: that a president can do whatever he wants, even if Congress bars him from doing so, particularly if he is acting in what he believes to be the interests of the country—Trump is famously incapable of distinguishing between national interests and personal ones, between loyalty to him and loyalty to the nation. As Reagan’s former national-security adviser, Robert McFarlane, put it, Reagan “just didn’t believe that it was a legitimate authority of the Congress to say that, that he, rather than the Congress, determined how he would conduct, in this case, the support of the freedom fighters.”

man i wish i could just stop doing huge parts of my job without any repercussions

I know they stopped caring what anybody thinks a looooong time ago but (shame on me) Sanders still(!) surprises w/ the extent to which they do not give a single fuck

The not-giving-a-fuck is the point.

It's about the fucks they don't give, man.

but i was informed by thousands of memes and t-shirts and really bad jokes by the water cooler that it is cool to not give a fuck, and i was encouraged to try to count the number of fucks that various people give, and i counted zero in the picture that was provided and realized that in fact they were proud that i could not find any fucks, and it was supposed to be funny

and the office cool guy made every finger except for the middle one slowly go down by using a fake hand-crank device, and i heard someone say "amazeballs" from the other room

Serwer is so good

The not-giving-a-fuck is the point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzHLTy33qWM

not sure who needed to hear this today, but it’s ok not to be happy all the time. all that matters is that you #FeelYourWay. https://t.co/vPmy1sT0cC pic.twitter.com/XmF0GvMjCg

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) May 1, 2019

the return of Good Pelosi?

“What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday, referring to a House hearing in which he said he was unaware that the special counsel had protested his portrayal of his conclusions. “That’s a crime.”

stephen moore out

Damn, misread that as Miller for half a tick and felt an endorphin rush like you wouldn't believe.

me too

same

Democrats need to give fewer fucks.

stephen miller out

sorry, just wanted to provide that endorphin rush again for everyone

haven't been able to unsee this

Barr is ABSOLUTELY Baby from Dinosaurs—duh, of course, it’s uncanny, you’re blind if you don’t see it—but it’s some pungent mix of hilarious and horrific that the Attorney General is just openly being a criminal and I’m just like “lmao he’s Baby from Dinosaurs.”

— bobby finger (@bobbyfinger) May 2, 2019

does anyone care about pelosi calling barr's actions a crime? seems kind of notable

lol caek

>Barr is ABSOLUTELY Baby from Dinosaurs—
Checks out pic.twitter.com/wEz91wmXut

— k kthxbye (@K_kthxbye) May 2, 2019

Here we go, here we fucking go

NEWS: Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, InfoWars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer and Paul Nehlen from its platforms after designating them "dangerous" https://t.co/Vpd6SEd9h7

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 2, 2019

facebook is fucking shit

lol like any of those accounts are more dangerous than the president's

What do you call a bunch of assholes at the bottom of the garbage dump? A good start.

i look forward to laura loomer handcuffing herself to the front door of facebook hq and live-streaming her protest via the only social media channel left open to her: two tin cans connected by a length of string

Very diverse bunch of assholes, tbf. Progressive.

lol like any of those accounts are more dangerous than the president's

what does Trump do on Facebook?

sell thirty dollar COLLUSION DELUSION t shirts

Also Posts Endgame Spoilers

...all of which involve fat-shaming Thor.

what does Trump do on Facebook?
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Thursday, May 2, 2019 4:00 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh yeah I have no idea, I was conflating w twitter

What do people think of the Democratic questioning of Barr.
Heard criticism of method earlier including Maisie Hirono asking Barr if he thought the President's actions were ok.
I thought that if he answered it would at least have his position documented for history as an act of intentionality at least.
Seemed to be trying to dodge most responsibility.

i meant to mention yesterday, re: complaints that democrats aren't immediately holding barr in contempt and launching a lawsuit:

In previous legal battles over the ambiguous line where Congress’s subpoena power ends and the president’s executive-privilege power begins, courts have said that the Constitution requires both sides to negotiate in good faith to find a solution. If nothing else, Mr. Nadler is establishing a record that House lawyers can point to in any such litigation as they urge a judge to find that the administration’s position is unreasonable.

i've seen that line of reasoning elsewhere recently - that they're taking their sweet time to ask barr politely, over and over, to provide the subpoenaed documents, because they'll need to be able to fully demonstrate later on that they gave them every reasonable opportunity to comply

btw, gotta admire the chutzpah of the barr/GOP argument that Barr shouldn't have shown up to yesterday's House Judiciary Committee meeting because it's not fair that Democrats would use an attorney to question him

https://i.imgur.com/SMpb0fb.jpg?1

you do not, under any circumstances, gotta admire the chutzpah

Actually Trump is scheduled to announce an executive order this afternoon insisting that we all admire the chutzpah, sorry.

rubberneck the chutzpuh

But that chutzpah, it is extraordinary

the Shareef don't like it

There is no point to him testifying anyway

I want to hear from mueller

there's no point to him testifying about the report, but there's definitely value in his testifying about the process, his cahoots w/ WH etc.

Right. And his earlier testimony in front of the house (apr 9) provides the moment that could eventually remove him from office (when he said he wasn’t aware that mueller had any issues with the Barr’s 4-pager, even though mueller had sent a letter and had a phone call about it with him)

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday and both agreed "there was no collusion" between Moscow and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Sanders said that the two briefly discussed special counsel Robert Mueller's report "essentially in the context of that it's over and there was no collusion." She added that she was "pretty sure both leaders were very well aware of (the Mueller report's finding) long before this call took place" because it was "something we've said for the better part of two and a half years."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-putin-discussed-mueller-report-agreed-no-collusion-white-house-n1001706

Reporters ask @realDonaldTrump about his call with #Putin, and specifically about #Putin's reaction to discussion of the #MuellerReport. "He smiled," Trump said.

— Mike Eckel (@Mike_Eckel) May 3, 2019

interesting/terrifying to see this guy's lifelong commitment to lying about literally everything clash with the fact that he's gone senile

"He smiled," Trump said.

So it was a Skype call? A Google Hangout?

bush could see putin's soul through his eyes
trump can sense his smile through the telephone

they were face-timing

Boys, I think America might be done for.

"This administration, unlike the previous one, takes election meddling seriously," she said

just on sheer audacity this is the tops

That 'taking meddling seriously' can be taken in several ways.

at least we take it seriously enough to collaborate! Obama wouldn't even share voter data!

Who is the thread title quote from?

And wtf does it even mean?

I quoted somebody in the April thread. WTF does anything mean anymore?

I believe it's from "The Quotable Karl Malone", 2019 edition

pretty dumb quote imo

i think it was re: the way i was feeling when spending my wednesday morning listening to bill barr lie to everyone while GOP senators pressed him on how the fbi needs to be investigated for spying on trump

the homepage of the washington post has a trump photo that looks like what would happen if alfred e. neuman became a third string mobster

You want a constitutional crisis, what happens if a state like CA or NY or whomever successfully manages to keep Trump off a presidential ballot if he doesn't release his tax returns (or whatever else they require of potential candidates)? Would that withstand legal scrutiny?

there's no legal requirement for a president to release their tax returns so no

Purely as a guess, I don't think that a state can compel a presidential candidate to release information that is regarded as private and privileged under all other circumstances. I'd guess that making ballot access contingent on releasing personal tax records would be struck down under the 'implied privacy rights' in the constitution, but I'd be interested in hearing the legal theory that would allow this.

given the deep love of implied privacy rights on the right wing of the court

never kid yourself that, if a precedent of a more liberal court suits the present right wing of the court, they'll give it big ups in their opinion, but try to narrow the application if they can.

er... don't kid yourself that they won't. (I probably shouldn't have gone for the double negative that time.)

all the Dems in CA need to do is tie up the lawsuit about tax returns in court until they say “sorry, ballots have been done for 2020 and it’s too late” a tactic Republicans use constantly to game elections

But Trump hasn't a prayer of winning CA anyway, so it would be a lot of work for nothing.

Lmao

Despite ridiculously loaded wording, the Harvard-Harris poll finds most Americans opt for "massive funding, taxation, and retooling of the American economy including eliminating the use of oil, coal, natural gas and all fossil fuels" to address climate change. pic.twitter.com/j8Xmi3hKzz

— Geoff Garin (@geoffgarin) May 4, 2019

Sitting in her office with its panoramic view of the National Mall, Ms. Pelosi — the de facto head of the Democratic Party until a presidential nominee is selected in 2020 — offered Democrats her “coldblooded” plan for decisively ridding themselves of Mr. Trump: Do not get dragged into a protracted impeachment bid that will ultimately get crushed in the Republican-controlled Senate, and do not risk alienating the moderate voters who flocked to the party in 2018 by drifting too far to the left.
“Own the center left, own the mainstream,” Ms. Pelosi, 79, said.
“Our passions were for health care, bigger paychecks, cleaner government — a simple message,” Ms. Pelosi said of the 40-seat Democratic pickup last year that resulted in her second ascent to the speakership. “We did not engage in some of the other exuberances that exist in our party” — a reference to some of the most ambitious plans advocated by the left wing of her party and some 2020 candidates, including “Medicare for all” and the Green New Deal, which she has declined to support.

Sitting in her office with its panoramic view of the National Mall, Ms. Pelosi — the de facto head of the Democratic Party until a presidential nominee is selected in 2020 — offered Democrats her “coldblooded” plan for decisively ridding themselves of Mr. Trump: Do not get dragged into a protracted impeachment bid that will ultimately get crushed in the Republican-controlled Senate, and do not risk alienating the moderate voters who flocked to the party in 2018 by drifting too far to the left.
“Own the center left, own the mainstream,” Ms. Pelosi, 79, said.
“Our passions were for health care, bigger paychecks, cleaner government — a simple message,” Ms. Pelosi said of the 40-seat Democratic pickup last year that resulted in her second ascent to the speakership. “We did not engage in some of the other exuberances that exist in our party” — a reference to some of the most ambitious plans advocated by the left wing of her party and some 2020 candidates, including “Medicare for all” and the Green New Deal, which she has declined to support.

Sitting in her office with its panoramic view of the National Mall, Ms. Pelosi — the de facto head of the Democratic Party until a presidential nominee is selected in 2020 — offered Democrats her “coldblooded” plan for decisively ridding themselves of Mr. Trump: Do not get dragged into a protracted impeachment bid that will ultimately get crushed in the Republican-controlled Senate, and do not risk alienating the moderate voters who flocked to the party in 2018 by drifting too far to the left.
“Own the center left, own the mainstream,” Ms. Pelosi, 79, said.
“Our passions were for health care, bigger paychecks, cleaner government — a simple message,” Ms. Pelosi said of the 40-seat Democratic pickup last year that resulted in her second ascent to the speakership. “We did not engage in some of the other exuberances that exist in our party” — a reference to some of the most ambitious plans advocated by the left wing of her party and some 2020 candidates, including “Medicare for all” and the Green New Deal, which she has declined to support.

I read it a few hours ago, giving her credit for "exuberances."

y'know if the entire GOP and like 92% of dems are so hellbent on full-on corporatocracy i feel like we should at least follow the private sector in one respect and implement some sort of enforced retirement policy

(age based, not "term limits" obv)

she's coldblooded aright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7aShcmEksw

"own the centre" gtfo. look at what has happened to every centre-left party in the West. they've either radicalised or become irrelevant. "clean message" equates to "nothing too challenging" and that just ain't it chief

Good morning!

My God, flipping through the channels, Sebastian Gorka on Washington Journal right now, I'd forgetten this clown still existed tbh.

she's -- coldblooded, check it and see
got a fetish for the civility
come on nancy, you can do more than that
she's coldblooded, she's coldblooded

somehow this will immediately be dismissed and forgotten, but 400 ex-federal prosecutors signed off on a statement that:

Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.

https://medium.com/@dojalumni/statement-by-former-federal-prosecutors-8ab7691c2aa1

deep state!

the obviously guilty man has been treated so unfairly by holding the one job in the entire world that prevents him from being indicted

we should give him a couple extra years on the job to make up for it

I'm sure it's an office that he will gracefully exit when his time comes.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/442222-trump-retweets-jerry-falwell-jr-suggesting-his-term-should-be-extended?amp

For a distracting little demented drama, I offer you the tale of crash and burn of the buff, bearded chief of staff of Tennessee's hard-right speaker of the house: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/new-text-messages-detail-drug-use-vulgar-talk-by-speakers-chief-of-staff.

Among the things I love about this story:

-- The guy's name is Cade Cothren. CADE COTHREN. He's not real, he's a living Armie Hammer character.
-- One of the things that came out is a text exchange where Cothren is bragging to Casada that he "fucked (her) in the bathroom" at a restaurant, and Casada says "Only gone for 60 seconds ...R u a minute man???;)”, and Cothren writes back"Yes, I take after you. Like father like son."
-- Cothren bragged about doing coke in his office at the legislative building. Casada was one of the big champions of a bill to drug-test welfare recipients.

Anyway, it's quite a little spectacle.

"In this environment that we live in -- because we as conservatives are winning the intellectual battle -- I'm convinced that some liberal guy living with his mom-and-dad in their basement created this to frame my chief of staff," he told WWTN host Phil Valentine.

lol

always basements with these people. Who can afford a basement?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIy-X8-pEoU

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/07/720967513/trump-pardons-former-soldier-convicted-of-killing-iraqi-prisoner

the degree to which “conservative” accusations are astonishingly actually mere projection seems so consistent that if i was a cop investigating anything, i’d start every one with the conservative accuser. un-insightful non-shockah i guess. xp

Thing is, does it even matter anymore?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR3mUlnAba4ZzJiH2pBp5PQNeIVxp9dLC3ETMyZErX-_vZ27BpgkKEolEIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_aOIm992qc

comments are an interesting exploration of how bubbled this kind of propaganda is; no one even knows or cares what the white house is saying anymore because it's all fucking trite nonsense!

Re that article, like, when the only entities that will “lend” to your are deutschebank and russian oligarchs and you are trying to pad your landing by grifting the fuck out of bk law and the remains of atlantic city, theres a good chance you were _ckmpletly fukd_,nyt. thx for the reminder gray lady.

"While The Times did not obtain the president’s actual tax returns, it received the information contained in the returns from someone who had legal access to it. The Times was then able to find matching results in the I.R.S. information on top earners — a publicly available database that each year comprises a one-third sampling of those taxpayers, with identifying details removed."

he was losing money but he was also a top earner? ?

"There is no 'political convenience' exception to the Constitution of the United States of America." fite!

Except, when there is. The three branches all operate according to whatever they want to happen and can make stick.

it's like they say u gotta lose money to earn money crüt

xp yeah i agree with you aimless. that's a warren quote from the hayes show today. i could only think "i think if there is one, i don't think this one should be one," but mainly because i see trump and his bros as actually v dangerous tho clownlike.

Real estate developers in the 1980’s & 1990’s, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases. Much was non monetary. Sometimes considered “tax shelter,” ......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019

....you would get it by building, or even buying. You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes....almost all real estate developers did - and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport. Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019

'yeah i committed tax fraud but everyone was doing it and anyway the story is all lies kthxbye'

It was sport? That seems like an unfortunate phrase to throw in there.

"for tax purposes"

He seems like an unfortunate person to exist xp

Why would someone want to be president of the government they disdain paying taxes to? Stupid

Because the scope of his thinking is limited to 'guess I'll take me another bite of that there sammich'.

Did anyone actually listen to McConnell’s recent senate speech (the “case closed” one)?

The way he actually speaks the words is incredibly evil. Mitch McConnell is an evil fuck. “They’re grieving. (Long pause). They’re grieving.” he says, describing the democrats

, which would, if one was actively building,

Just listened to The Daily segment on the taxes, recorded before trump’s tweets, and they asked about whether or not it was possible that all the losses were just a very clever accounting trick.

The reporters answered that it could be plausibly be an accounting trick if the losses were only in the low millions, but that the losses (in the billions) were orders of magnitude larger and could only be the result of real, massive losses of money

I...worked on this story for a year...and...he just...he tweeted it out.

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) July 11, 2017

you can tell how much his business was booming by the fact that he lost more money than any other US taxpayer

he keeps doing this but nothing ever happens so why not ?

Duh. You get more money from your dad.

I never understand why people are impoverished. You just ask dad for money, duh

Oh, you meant why he keeps telling everybody exactly how bad he sucks. He does that because his supporters don’t care how he got his money. I thought you meant why he kept going bankrupt throughout his life

Thing is, does it even matter anymore?

not convinced it would ever have mattered tbh

Uber and lyft lost similar amounts of money last year.

Thing is, does it even matter anymore?

It doesn't seem to have brought Qualmsey back so I'm inclined to say no.

If he was losing the *most* money of *anyone* how did he not go under?

Fucking weird

It does sincerely matter to me to know exactly how much of a charlatan the president of my country is. The value of a piece of information is not tied to how much it affects someone's approval ratings IMO.

meanwhile, this morning as the house judiciary committee meets to hold barr in contempt, trump has asserted full executive privilege over the redacted mueller report

the case is so closed that they refuse to talk about it ever again

When given the chance to review the Mueller report before it was publicly released, the White House and the president’s lawyers declined to assert Executive Privilege over any part of it. Once publicly released, it lost any privileged character—the cat is out of the bag. https://t.co/SzcDYhcBNm

— Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) May 8, 2019

just a continuity error

even if Trump is the world's shittiest businessman, how is it even possible to lose that much money in real estate in the 90s?

I think they’re fake numbers and he was cheating on his taxes

NO WAY!

To an extreme degree. Which he basically admitted to this morning

It's because he's smrat.

I've forwarded this theory before but I think for his most ardent fans, Trump has taken on the nature of a GTA avatar. People are living vicariously through his shittiness, watching him sink to depths they themselves could scarcely even imagine (the dude has pissed away more money than I'll see in a lifetime!) and getting away with every last bit of it. He's like a folk hero for people who see no value in life or society.

That can't be a majority of voters though, can it?

Can it?

he's got the support of the voters that really count (senate republicans)

hayooooooo! see what i did there

That can't be a majority of voters though, can it?

Can it?

― Tiltin' My Lens Photography (stevie

It isn't.

here is what his tv friends think:

The hosts of “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday weighed in on a blockbuster New York Times article on Trump’s old tax returns — reporting that showed Trump lost $1 billion over the course of a decade.

The reaction on the Fox couch? Well, it actually makes Trump look good.

“They realize he’s a billionaire,”Ainsley Earhardt said of voters’ possible reaction to the story. “He was campaigning on the trail with his plane behind him that’s as big as a Delta jet, with his name on it. We can’t even fathom that kind of money. So I’m sure — if you have that kind of money you look at tax laws. You buy things to take a loss so that you make more the next year. But that’s not how most of us think.”

She added: “If anything, you read this and you’re like, wow, it’s pretty impressive all the things he has done in his life. It’s beyond what most of could ever achieve.”

He was campaigning on the trail with his plane behind him that’s as big as a Delta jet, with his name on it.

every time he campaigned with his jet behind him i thought it was the tackiest fucking thing possible, but i guess it's really impressive

most of us could never achieve the loss of so much, where would we not put it?

Pretty impressive losses!

Ainsley Earhardt on the NY Times story about Trump's $1 billion+ in business losses: "If anything, you read this and you're like 'wow, it's pretty impressive, all the things that he's done in his life.' It's beyond what most of us could ever achieve." pic.twitter.com/H4QQOWJewm

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) May 8, 2019

fucking bazro world that show is ! it's transmitting from another dimension of hell

The dude on the far right (heh) looks like he ate too much cauliflower last night.

bizarro fuck

I mean...it literally is Bizarro World. They're recasting epic failure as monumental achievement. It's like being jealous of someone who stepped on a landmine because you're unlikely to ever lose quite that many limbs.

i can't even imagine being near a landmine. pretty amazing

let me see if i can make sense of this "bizarre" take:

- more money more problems
- haters gonna hate

have i missed anything?

- very old fake information

the Piers Morgan line of "he bounced back from this to become Prez, it's inspirational" will probably be the standard one from here on out

the Baltimore Orioles ought to hire some of these guys...."the fact that you even got 62 ABs to go hitless in is actually really impressive...most of us would've been benched"

bizarro fuck

trying not to take this personally

lol youre our bizarro fuck tho

*slowly and dramatically counts the number of fucks he gives*

...well actually, i do give one bizarro fuck

He's like a folk hero for people who see no value in life or society

this OTM 1000%

aww stop, you'll make me blush xxp

I feel like there's a really choice Horatio Alger/Ragged Dick joke to be made here but I'm off my game this morning, help

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pelosi-says-trump-is-becoming-self-impeachable/2019/05/08/87464a68-718c-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story

what the fucking fuck is this shit ? i mean this shit is a joke it really is . they should just all go on vacation for the rest of the year and fuck off out of my sight

no worky

the bulk of the content is in the URL

“That could be part of an impeachable offense,” Pelosi said of Trump at Tuesday’s event, which was hosted by Cornell University. “Every day, he’s obstructing justice by saying, ‘This one shouldn’t testify, that one shouldn’t testify,’ and the rest. So he’s making a case. But he’s just trying to goad us into impeachment.”

like ok good to know Nancy thanks for all your work

" this thief just keeps stealing from our cash register and vandalising our stuff , we have him on tape doing it even, he really just wants to get caught. Maybe he'll just turn himself in ro something like that"

oh nancy dont play down this hard, sometimes you gotta make a fucking banker and welp

maybe he'll die

yeah let's just wait it out until he dies . what harm could he even cause in the meantime?

I can see her tactic. She can turn to the moderates elected last November and their constituents and go, "Sigh, see, motherfucker's making us wanna impeach him." But I still dislike it and the modern trend of sticking "self-" where it doesn't belong (I have to deal with "self-introductions" in class).

I saw focus groups of Trump voters in 2016. They thought the fact he was a hugely successful businessman would make him a successful president. The fact he was a loser in business will hurt him. And that is why he’s kept his taxes secret.

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) May 7, 2019

jfc.

(prominent and extremely bad clinton advisor)

what was neera's reaction to the universal Non-reaction to the earlier NYT story about the trump family's long history of laundering, tax fraud, the trump children getting tens of millions from Fred, etc?

even after being prepared a bit for his supporters not caring about what he does wrong, i was still kind of shocked by how little that affected him

he was able to glide past all of it with a pair of "nuh uh, nyt fake, i am a good smart business leader" tweets

the NYT ran the story during the Kavanaugh hearings iirc, which certainly did't help either.

It would not have changed anyone's minds except given women who turned against the president more reason to stand longer in line in November.

ummm we definitely knew this guy was unambiguously terrible at business in 2016

We thought we knew but then the inveterate liar who's only interested in protecting his fabricated reputation said otherwise, so now I don't know what to believe.

But I saw him being rich.

I hope subsequent generations see us for the overly-credulous rubes we are and develop whatever psychological buttressing is necessary to see through the fabrications of serial bullshitters.

I mean, we're clearly fucked on that front, but won't somebody please think of the children.

god I knew this administration was gonna be a corrupt shitshow but the President of the United States bragging about committing tax fraud on Twitter is a new one for me

if he was consistently reporting the *biggest* losses for any american, i'm pretty confident that was some kind of outlandishly illegal accounting. why can't he be investigated and tried for tax fraud? they did it to paul manafort.

the fact that he is "bad at business" seems like the wrong angle here. the times even flagged that some of these numbers make no sense. like the $59 million in interest income one year, after having negligible interest income for the years surrounding it

tax fraud is one of the coolest most badassed things an american can do

That’s great but there are laws against it and sentencing guidelines

i'm pretty confident that was some kind of outlandishly illegal accounting

our country seems very not on the ball when it comes to things like this

see: Tesla, who after nonstop losses suddenly and mysteriously became the most profitable car company on the planet for two quarters, and then magically turned unprofitable again after all their accounting guys quit

if he was consistently reporting the *biggest* losses for any american

oh Treeship, so unaware of the ways of the real estate world. see, losses are good to report, everyone does it. the fact that Trump had the most losses of any US citizen just shows that he is the biggest player in the real estate world!

Or when zillions of dollars worth of mortgage backed securities vanished suddenly

Or turned out to never have really existed

The economy seems somewhat fake to me.

He was campaigning on the trail with his plane behind him that’s as big as a Delta jet, with his name on it. We can’t even fathom that kind of money.

I hope subsequent generations see us for the overly-credulous rubes we are and develop whatever psychological buttressing is necessary to see through the fabrications of serial bullshitters.

But I saw him being rich.

lol

He never really was a businessman. To be actually good at business you need to sell a product or service people find valuable and be rewarded by the market. He never did anything like that—it was just grifting and bullshit.

He would make money by like breaking contracts and threatening lawsuits and shit. Everything he’s ever done has been predatory.

some folk peoples love narcos because they kick ass, and other folk peoples love tax fraud grifters. i took a cultural anthropology survey course once i know shit.

Republicans are supposed to like free market economics. The defense of free market economics (which i don’t buy into) is that the market rewards good actors who do things efficiently, creating a wider social benefit. Trump makes a movkery of all of that. He didn’t even pay the contractors who did work for him.

That’s what’s so stupid about all of this.

That’s great but there are laws against it and sentencing guidelines

apparently if you're a (white, Republican) president they let you do a lot of things that are "against the law".

which make it even more badassed. he's just a lazy whiny vulgar POS like me, and he's doin it to em, by gawd.

truly, the American Dream™

its almost as if the entire Republican party ethos is "do as many financial and sex crimes you can get away with"

Basically by embracing trump they are moving from “the market, however harsh it sometimes seems, is ultimately fair” (an empirically wrong but internally consistent view) to “stealing is good” (weird nihilism)

treesh i think you are talking about never-trumpers who immed snapped into line because while they are ~aware~ of principles of accounting, they love winning, money, nice cars, trophy wives, ivied children more especially money.

They’ve always been rewarding grifters on the sly but trump represents an idea of capitalism that is like just about that

Why would a voter vote for this?

bc he’s instrumental in creating conditions for making the wealthy even wealthier.

and for beyond else he’s being cool and racist, owning the libs, breaking laws and not getting busted.

everyone else*

Yeah i know. Just being rhetorical

this financial news is much less news than him exerting executive privilege, isn't it?

Who cares about the mueller report. I wish I saw the avengers instead of reading it

Avengers probably had more of a measurable impact on the world tbf.

the report is important u can still see the FUCKING AVENGERS GROW UP.

spoiler

Good read: https://theintercept.com/2019/05/07/mueller-report-trump-obstruction/

guessing glenn didn't edit that one

It will be interesting to look back in 5-10 years and reflect on what the ultimate effects of the Mueller Report were. Whole lotta people got mad, whole lotta people got defensive, WaPo sold a dece number of paperback reprints, etc.

brb going watch avengers 😐

I especially liked the part where people in a position to do something about it kept suggesting we were in the midst of a constitutional crisis and then didn't do anything about it. Man, the Donald Trump Years sure were crazy! Thank goodness we're finally safely in the Era of Ivanka.

That the president can issue an executive order of this sort is insane to me. I know these things will never change because of the quasi-dystopian cult of the Founding Fathers but boy the executive wing in the US just has so much power.

Can't wait until he starts wearing a crown and robes of the finest silk.

Meanwhile dems are doing fucking nothing but getting recked by the GOP. That hearing today was pathetic ! They just get shit on and then come up and talk about the weakest shit instead of calling these assholes out. Why would they anyways might get awkward at happy hour ?

“Chairman Nadler is asking the attorney general of the United States to break the law and commit a crime by releasing information that he knows he has no legal authority to have. It’s truly outrageous and absurd what the chairman is doing and he should be embarrassed that he’s behaving this way.”

It’s the house judiciary committee!

'If I were the dems, things would be much better, let me tell you'

I guess they just don’t believe congress has an oversight role

They need to subpoena mueller

This is dumb

Or he should give a pop up q and a in washington square park like vampire weekend did

give yourself a break, ok

Please.

i'll take that advice as well. ffs though it's really infuriating

the Baltimore Orioles ought to hire some of these guys...."the fact that you even got 62 ABs to go hitless in is actually really impressive...most of us would've been benched"

― frogbs, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 11:26 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII) wrote this on thread Nobody Knows Who The Hell Villar: THE 2019 BALTIMORE ORIOLES on board I Love Baseball on Apr 11, 2019

it's kinda cool if you think about it

oh my god how is this real

I love my wife. I apologize for rage tweeting about how Seth Meyers treated her. I don't like him, I think he's a hack, but I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry to anyone I offended.

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) May 8, 2019

I love my wife. I apologize for rage tweeting about how Seth Meyers treated her. I don't like him, I think he's a hack, but I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry to anyone I offended.

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) May 8, 2019

sorry, second one should be

pic.twitter.com/m3m1gXu6IU

— 17 follower guy whose pinned tweet is a reply (@boring_as_heck) May 8, 2019

i feel great that i had no idea what any of that meant until i spent some time googling

i refuse to know

it's totally cool, you're not missing anything as far as i could tell
i really wish seth myers were funnier or colbert was a better interviewer. can't they just do a show ala conan and richter? Why don't more people have two interviewers?

brad otm

House Judiciary Committee voted 24-16 along party lines to hold AG Bill Barr in contempt

you know what THAT means

*crickets*

How is that dude ever going to get another job with this black mark on his name?

his dad will help him. come on fred, donald needs your help him again, come back from the dead

oh wait, sorry, you meant bill barr.

come on fred, come back from the dead and help bill barr, donald's good friend

Roy Cohn, work your dark magic!!

Nadler's speech was no-nonsense.

did eric holder ever face any consequences after being held in contempt for withholding the Fast & Furious docs?

None except to his dignity. But the investigation stopped; don't think the Dems are.

This is interesting: GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Junior.

I'd missed this: White House revoked almost every single press pass (including all WaPo beat reporters) on an impossible new standard. Journos now access only under "exceptions" that can be revoked w/o cause anytime -- and some, like @milbank, barred altogether https://t.co/XNMeVUcSDh

— David Burbach (@dburbach) May 8, 2019

"@milbank eh, be better, bro"

a cool move by people who are definitely not doing anything wrong

Real America

THAT MAN HAS 10 EGGS AND NOTHING ELSE ON HIS PLATE https://t.co/Tt3Yjv1xmt

— 𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕥 𝔾𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕖 (@prof_gabriele) May 8, 2019

https://splinternews.com/a-journey-into-the-yolk-of-darkness-to-find-the-truth-a-1834615475

lol those are prop eggs ! Chris Hayes had a hard hitting exposé just now

Sorry don’t even read the linked article

It’s hard for me not to be pessimistic about all that is happening. I don’t think we’re ever going to see Trump’s taxes or any financial records from Deutsche Bank or anywhere else, there will be endless delays and then the Supreme Court will protect him. We’re not going to see any of his family members or aides or McGahn testify to congress. Mueller will be dissuaded from testifying somehow by the Justice Department and we won’t understand the full impact of the Mueller report until it’s way too late. SDNY is not going to be our savior. Trump won’t be held accountable on emoluments. Congress is not going to impeach. The press will continue their astonishingly disingenuous reporting, the economy will hold up, and I think Trump will be reelected. By 2024 it will be too late to save this country, we will have gone so far down the path to autocracy

those are my darkest thoughts about this. I want to be more hopeful

Don Jr. just got subpoenaed.

get in line, junior

i think Dan S p much otm about everything except Trump getting reelected. i think it'll be ugly but he'll lose.

then the economy tanks like 1 month after the new potus takes office. and that's when the real fun starts.

"i think it'll be ugly but he'll lose." I really hope so

The economy will not hold up. Lest I'm misunderstood, it's not a wish -- it's an inevitability.

yup. and a democratic president, house, and maaaaybe a senate(?) will be left holding the bag.

then a vigorous, nauseating rehab of trump cranks up.

I really don't think the senate will ever be in the hands of the democrats again in my lifetime

yeah don't know why i even entertained the idea of a 'maybe' in 2020. no way that's happening.

This LGM piece resonates strongly with me.

What happens if Donald Trump is president on January 21st, 2021? By “what happens” I mean what follows from that for you personally, both in terms of what political actions and personal life choices you may make.

I realize this is a disturbing and indeed horrifying prospect, but it’s one I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. It goes without saying that all of us will do our best to make sure it doesn’t come to that. But what if does? What then?

Of course a lot depends on how this should come to happen. An at least facially legitimate election is one thing, an apparently stolen one is another. And the possibility exists, even if it’s remote, that the results of the election won’t determine the outcome, and the political situation devolves into something like civil war. (A year ago I would have said the chances of that were so remote as not to be worth considering. I don’t think that’s the case any more).

The reason I’m asking this question is that at some point acceding to creeping fascism becomes collaboration. At what point does an authoritarian takeover become too obvious to be tolerable? At what point does resistance have to become something more than a slogan?

I really don't think the senate will ever be in the hands of the democrats again in my lifetime

― Dan S, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 10:01 PM (nine minutes ago)

I said this about the House in 2004 and 2014!

There are no certainties except (a) Jake Gyllenhaal (b) death

lol

The economy will not hold up. Lest I'm misunderstood, it's not a wish -- it's an inevitability.

You didn’t exactly put a timeline on that, though

Anyone who puts a strict timeline on that is fooling themselves.

well, this is ILX.

I’m willing to go out on a limb. This economy will not last...36 hours

ok i'll stop looking for a living wage then

this is all such shit, I hope you find a living wage

I really don't think the senate will ever be in the hands of the democrats again in my lifetime

― Dan S, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 10:01 PM (nine minutes ago)

I said this about the House in 2004 and 2014!

― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 8, 2019 7:12 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago)

but we have too many states that are resolutely republican

it's sickening to me

how does Congress compel Don Jr, Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon or anyone else to testify. they can't and they won't as far as I can see, we live in a fake democracy

i totally get where you're coming from man, i've been there, but maybe time for bed

lol yes

Demographics favors Dems over the next few decades, at least for the House and Presidency. There's certainly the issue of small population states holding sway over the Senate and holding the threat of filibusters over legislation, and of course a Federalist society packed judiciary.

The Dems were on the defense in the senate in 2018, with some

Demographics favors Dems over the next few decades, at least for the House and Presidency. There's certainly the issue of small population states holding sway over the Senate for the foreseeable future and holding the threat of filibusters over legislation, and of course a Federalist Society-packed judiciary for a generation...

The Dems were on the defense in the Senate in 2018, given they had about twice the incumbents up. It's GOPs turn to play defense in 2020.

I really feel there's been a sea change on the climate issue in the general electorate over the past few years. Few are willing to make personal sacrifices to ensure their great grandchildren don't drown, burn, and starve; and it took 40 years too long, but at least there's a majority recognizing the problem. Head in the sand denialism will be NAGL, and I think majorities are going to start holding denialists accountable...

Might force you to write something independent and critical for a change. https://t.co/QTD1KOja0o

— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) May 8, 2019

well, let's not do anything hasty

Op Ed: Only Someone as Wealthy and Handsome and Well-Endowed as Donald Trump is Man Enough to Return my Press Credentials

milbank's twitter bio reads 'purveyor of fake news', so trump was perfectly justified in revoking his credentials imo

xxxp It took a lot of strength for me not to reply to Milbank, "Yeah, creeping fascism, etc., but you are a pretty shitty journalist."

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/05/09/white-house-website-boston-red-socks-sox-visit-president-trump/

'Siri, how you spell socks?'

anyone have thoughts about the subpoena of don jr, notable because it comes from the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee? very conspicuous for any republican, let alone a committee, to do anything but say "case closed" and stonewall the entire thing

i think Burr heads that committee and he's not running for re-election so maybe he's not quite as eager to carry Trump's water as the rest of the gang, but he's hardly joining #resistance either. definitely not a clown on the level of Nunes though.

Psh, Trump just can't get a break. He spells shit wrong and people complain. He spells "socks" right and people still complain! There's just no winning for this guy.

xpost Didn't Nunes team with Schiff to support getting the entire Mueller intelligence report?

Karl, I think it rattled the WH a little.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Wednesday criticized Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee for not informing him that President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. would be subpoenaed by the panel as part of its ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

In an interview with CBS News, Mulvaney said it was “bad form” for the Republican-led committee to subpoena Trump Jr. without giving him advance notice.

“I have no difficulty with bipartisanship, but to subpoena the president of the United States’s son and not at least get a heads-up, I thought was — let’s say — bad form,” Mulvaney said.

mulvaney knows that as the chief of staff of the well-oiled machine that is the trump administration, he's in a good position to criticize the "bad form" of others

GOOD MOURNING

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a “constitutional crisis” and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.

Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Ms. Pelosi said she agreed with Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who said Wednesday that the nation was in a constitutional crisis after his committee recommended the House hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over an unredacted version of the special counsel’s report, along with the report’s underlying evidence.

“The administration has decided they are not going to honor their oath of office,” she said.

Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would bring the contempt citation to the floor for a vote of the full House “when we are ready.”

Democrats have not settled on a precise date for the vote to hold Mr. Barr in contempt of Congress, though Mr. Nadler said after Wednesday’s vote that he wanted it scheduled “rapidly.”

Democratic leaders may wait to pair the Judiciary Committee’s contempt recommendations with another, most likely from the Intelligence Committee should its conflict with the Justice Department get to that point.

The committee’s chairman, Representative Adam B. Schiff, issued a subpoena on Thursday for Mr. Barr to hand over the full Mueller report and evidence, as well as all counterintelligence and foreign intelligence generated by the special counsel’s investigations. He gave the Justice Department until May 15 to comply. If Mr. Barr ignores that deadline, the Intelligence Committee would probably hold its own contempt proceedings and send another recommendation to the House floor.

There are other possible contempt citations in the wings as well, including for Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel who is under subpoena by the Judiciary Committee, and witnesses in unrelated Oversight and Reform Committee investigations.

“In terms of timing, when we’re ready, we’ll come to the floor,” Ms. Pelosi said. “There might be some other contempt of Congress issues that we want to deal with at the same time.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/us/politics/pelosi-constitutional-crisis.html

rank these things that have all happened in the last couple hours, in terms of importance:

25% tariffs on $200B of chinese goods starts tomorrow
US just seized a north korean ship in retaliation for missile launches
ongoing constitutional crisis

ok, 2 of the 3 are thing that did not happen in the last 2 hours, but otherwise that was a good description of the list, i thought

hadn't heard about the NK ship! sounds spicy

Life over the last couple of years feels kinda like being a tornado chaser who waits until there's like five cyclones whipping through a cornfield and gets out of his jeep to see how long he can leap and dodge between them before being ripped to pieces. Fun, in other words. A lot of fun.

so it's not just sanctions on NK, but a blockade? i guess might makes right in these matters, but that doesn't sound 'legal'

Eh, the metaphor I'd use is more like being kidnapped and stuck in the backseat of said tornado chaser, or learning the bus driver on a mountain road is a member of a death cult.

https://makeagif.com/gif/christopher-walken-annie-hall-gvf8Pt

Or rather

https://dz7u9q3vpd4eo.cloudfront.net/wp-content/legacy/posts/d0744f52-b206-49ea-a7c9-27f820968fbf.jpg

Taken aback by the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena issued to Donald Trump Jr., President Trump on Thursday defended his son, leaning on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to do so.

...“He’s now testified for 20 hours or something — massive amount of time. The Mueller report came out. That’s the bible. The Mueller report came out and they said he did nothing wrong. The only thing is, it’s oppo research,” Trump continued, arguing that his campaign was simply engaged in a routine search for damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

...“My son is a good person. My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller, who frankly does not like Donald Trump — me, this Donald Trump,” he said. “And frankly for my son after being exonerated to now get a subpoena to go again and speak again after close to 20 hours of telling everybody that would listen about a nothing meeting, yeah, I’m pretty surprised.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/donald-trump-surprised-subpoena-son-don-jr

confirmation that trump did not read the mueller report

or rather, he's read as much of the mueller report as he has the bible

You got it wrong: this Donald Trump.

Mueller, who frankly does not like Donald Trump — me, this Donald Trump

omg

This Donald Trump is the new This Fuckin' Guy.

Confirmation that the hole in the front of Donald Trump's head is capable of emitting words that adhere closely enough to the general structure of our language that people still hopefully insist that the sound they hear is anything more than a random collage of words not terribly unlike the utterances of a parrot.

i read that as him saying his son didn't like him

"According to his first wife, Ivana, Donald Trump was never keen on bequeathing his name to anybody," Julia Ioffe wrote in GQ. "It was Ivana who wanted to call their newborn Donald junior. 'You can't do that!' Trump is quoted as saying in Ivana's memoir, 'Raising Trump.' 'What if he - as in that Donald Trump, not this Donald Trump - turns out to be a loser?'"

that would have been embarassing

That anecdote, in complete isolation, is sufficient justification for the woodchipperizing of its subject imo. Who but an irredeemable POS worries that their unborn/newborn baby might be a loser.

I mean, it was a legitimate worry in this instance, but still.

loooooool

"I don't know WHAT TO DO!!"

"Look I can prove I'm the real Donald Trump, and that man is an imposter"

"Me, this Donald Trump, is the real one the other is a fake!"

BAM!

"Phew! That was a close one. You almost shot the fake Donald Trump!"

this guy makes his living by stamping his name on tacky shit

Look, if you're gonna throw shade, at least wait until Congress is done with the guy so he can defend himself.

Personally, I think Tacky Shit Trump has more of a ring to it than Donald Jr., but I can see where it might've made his schooldays rough.

Trump's "joke" about shooting migrants last night has inspired a fraction of the blowback that Ilhan Omar's critique of AIPAC did. Which is telling. https://t.co/yZlepmj1Il pic.twitter.com/Kn8IQfYaGW

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) May 9, 2019

oh for the Left to have one tenth the energy, strategy, and media’s deference of the rightwing outrage machine

media’s deference of the rightwing outrage machine

the right wing controls most of the media. the whole myth of a liberal media bias is the product of the right wing and has been propagated through... the media.

Only someone brainwashed by the liberal media would make such a preposterous assertion.

well, good morning!

it's kind of amazing how an ideology that's supposedly 'losing the culture war' has done such a thorough job of shaping the narrative of liberal bias, conservative victim mentality, both sides-ism (but always always always the left side *more*) etc

i've got casually engaged liberal friends who've parroted the "librul media" line in the post-Obama era about every mainstream entitiy outside of Fox and i'm just how the fuck are you even for real

I remember a kind of hilarious segment on like On the Media (?) where Ira Glass was saying he didn't hear any bias in NPR's reporting, then they brought on a conservative who thought NPR was a liberal Gomorrah and asked him to point out all the liberal bias he could find. Mostly he was mad that the reporters didn't explicitly spell out conservative dogma, or implied that there was a correlation between taxes and govt. revenue.

i think there's an idea even among libs that if you're not actively demonizing gays and POCs, or only doing so 'a little', then you're totally in the tank for the liberal agenda.

corporatism & rah rah militarism/ imperialism? nbd

media bias is real, for example I've noticed sports media is very biased against the Miami Marlins these days

^^We joke, but I saw somewhere that Disney is selling (or trying to sell) Fox Sports Network to Sinclair.

already did:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-sinclairs-purchase-of-baseball-sports-networks-will-affect-you/

House Ways and Means Committee subpoenas Steve Mnunchin over Trump's taxes.

Steve Mnuchin already sadly with the state of his sub poenas

damn, i can't even form a poenas joek properly

tgif

Time to dig up the 10,000 quotes from Republican senators and representatives deploring "the imperial presidency" and extolling the oversight functions of Congress. You could make a one hour supercut of the highlights.

of course, one effect of their constant obama-era complaints is that now that the democrats are making similar claims, the whole thing comes off to the general public as more partisan bickering - this is just a thing that happens in politics now, the opposing party claims that the president and his administration are corrupt and that the only reasonable reaction is to try to grind what they're doing to a halt. 'republicans had #benghazi, now democrats have russiagate, it's all the same', etc

in other words, it's in the GOP's interest to be outraged over bullshit when they're the minority party, because that way when Democrats are outraged over ACTUAL THINGS when they're the minority party, it all starts to seem the same to an outside observer

i agree - i think it is part of this ongoing, multifaceted, almost rhizomatic nonsensical-ization of public life which has the effect of allowing those in power to perpetuate it

just thinking as these subpeonas roll out and are ignored, DNC and the candidates as a chorus should bleat away from here to Nov 2020 a simple refrain w the same frequency and volume as "No Collusion"

WHAT IS THE PRESIDENT HIDING?

over and again ad nauseum. It's dumb but simply demanding the taxes is a rhetorical dead end, it fails to frame GOP's concealment as a tacit admission that something is dirty there

yeah but qualmsey did it

I think he got burnt out because it wasn't working

All these subpoenas just underscore how boneheaded it was for Mueller and his team not to subpoena Trump. Because, what, they were worried it was going to take too long? Boo hoo. They didn't do it and because of their decision report offered no closure, so here we are more or less back where we started.

can't the supreme court just unilaterally impeach trump, for "closure"? i mean they unilaterally made george w bush president because of the dangers of uncertainty or whatever. oh... right

Looks like Mueller is also not planning to show up to his hearing next week

Possibly blocked by DOJ

Trump told POLITICO on Friday that it would be “appropriate” for him to speak to Attorney General Bill Barr about launching an investigation into his potential 2020 rival, Joe Bidenhttps://t.co/f3FGEBoRA4

— POLITICO (@politico) May 11, 2019

cool

can't wait for Dems to strongly condemn this and then fully cooperate with the investigation without even being asked

The question of whether Trump could pressure Barr to probe Biden is coming under scrutiny after Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, said he would be traveling to Ukraine to urge the incoming government there to look at Hunter Biden’s involvement with a Ukrainian energy company that has reportedly been in prosecutors’ crosshairs. The efforts appear to be part of a broader campaign by Trump’s allies to damage the former Democratic vice president’s White House campaign and have raised questions about whether Trump’s team is trying to enlist a foreign government to aid the president’s re-election bid.

questions

lol why wouldn't you if you were him

one tv star is using rudy giuliani, the greatest mind of the 20th and 21st century, to ask another tv star for a favor

Hunter Biden being hired to ‘work’ for Burisma was clearly an attempt to influence Joe - and reflects badly on all involved - but there is no indication that it worked. Biden sr pressured the Ukrainian government into sacking an anti-corruption prosecutor who had absolutely no interest in prosecuting anyone for corruption, least of all Burisma.

He might have a bit more luck with the other strand - potential election interference by the Ukrainian government / security services.

It doesn’t sound like Zelenskiy is going to meet Giuliani personally, though, and he seems smart enough to not want to bet the house on Trump getting re-elected,

lol, trip cancelled, Giuliani calling the new Ukrainian government ‘enemies of the President”. That went well.

also just changed his mind about being gray, has black hair now, not a weird guy at all

what a coincidence that he just so happens to single out the only Muslim congresswomen over and over

Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust. She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?

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

can y'all imagine?

Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?

Nothing. As usual.

Yes, Mr. Trump, I believe my powers of observation wrt things that have already occurred many times over are such that I can imagine what would happen if you expressed the anti-Semitism you're attributing to Rep. Tlaib.

Looking forward to 2020 where dems are running on expanding medicare and tax advantaged job training savings accounts and the gop running on sliming the dems for cheering on the holocaust and practicing infanticide

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/14/steve-bannon-white-house-fbi-trump-meeting

good morning!

umm, this alabama abortion ban? jesus christ

yes fuck this world

Aggressive abortion laws, increased sabre rattling toward Iran, economy teetering under the weight of pointless tariffs. Things are getting real dark, real quick.

garnish with constitutional crisis

Yeah, there's this element to Barr and Trump stonewalling and bringing legal challenges to subpoenas, where commentators will insist there's no legal standing to their positions, but we are clearly in a world where the courts are stacked, and a purely political ruling that goes directly against all constitutional precedents is absolutely a possibility.

The goal is to shut down all the standard legal functions of government as a means to consolidate political power forever, and we are already well down that path.

yup

The US federal government asked the governor of Florida to sign a contract not to disclose which counties had been attacked by Russia https://t.co/E6WX4du9ZK pic.twitter.com/5aPcTPKyqA

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 14, 2019

Folks,

PBS: A cartoon aardvark's teacher just married his husband

Gorka: We are living during the Reign of Terror https://t.co/Mhohjzxwq5 pic.twitter.com/ghikpfYcZK

— Matt Ford (@fordm) May 15, 2019

I had no idea Arthur was an aardvark

I had no idea Arthur was still on TV

pale imitation of the Falwell/Tinky Winky controversy

bringing cartoons to life always seems to be one of those medical advances that is ten years away

https://www.rt.com/usa/459344-arthur-gay-marriage-pbs/

well done with that first tweet guys

Quite useful btw

Thread alert!

Hopping mad about dwindling abortion access? Welcome, we've been waiting for you.

Here are some ways you can show up today in your state -- please settle in for the long haul. We need you now, and we need you for the weeks, months, and years to come.

— Steph Herold (@StephHerold) May 15, 2019

Minnesota has a HOTDISH MILITIA and I am in lurve.

During Wednesday’s 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson said that the Alabama legislature has “gone too far,” in its proposed ban on abortion. Robertson is not faulting the state for its attempt to prevent abortions saying “God bless them,” but says its ban could be successfully challenged.

“It’s an extreme law and they want to challenge Roe vs. Wade but my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one will lose,” he said.

“The Alabama case, God bless them, they’re trying to do something, but I don’t think that’s the case that I’d want to bring to the Supreme Court,” he later reiterated.

The abortion law that’s too extreme for Pat Robertson. Holy shit

Seems more for strategic reasons though

I’m glad mr. ratburn has found happiness. He was alsays a caring if stern teacher but there was a palpable sadness to him too. That’s hopefully over now.

From what i remember. I watched a lot of tv as a kid.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/william-barr-to-pelosi-did-you-bring-your-handcuffs

ha ha ha ha. ha ha ha. ha ha.

Fuck these peope sideways.

Seems like the comment of someone who holds your authority in contempt.

Kinda counting down to the day when the reaction shifts from 'smiled' to 'pulled out a flick knife and sliced off his right ear'.

We'll be counting our way into the camps

Regardless of the likelihood of this guy getting locked up—what the fuck is the purpose of taking it off the table and making a joke out of it?

These people are just greasing the skids.

Maybe you need to be Canadian to fully appreciate the evil that is Conrad Black but this is jaw-dropping to me tbh: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/trump-issues-full-pardon-to-conrad-black-1.4424348?fbclid=IwAR335QVupznWL-6zMZozmFA0TpdW5dByMJ3rHBgBg8ANYcJcHc16GQcvLUY

Is there even any attempt at an argument that Black did not engage in fraud on a large scale or is this just nakedly because he wrote a biography of Trump?

And I enjoyed Black's huge FDR bio a decade ago

So apparently there was. (Two of three mail fraud convictions were eventually overturned but not the obstruction of justice conviction.)

If the accusation is untrue you are obstructing ~injustice~.
-bob marley

fbclid=IwAR335QVupznWL-6zMZozmFA0TpdW5dByMJ3rHBgBg8ANYcJcHc16GQcvLUY

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders described Black as “an entrepreneur and scholar”

What's the American equivalent of "gammon"? pic.twitter.com/b7h9Eh2aaB

— Ana Oppenheim 🌹#LP4MEP (@AnaOpp) May 15, 2019

country ham

I am starting to blame women that they didn't stab these guys in the dick when they had the chance.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-televangelist-jim-bakker-sells-trump-coin-point-of-contact-god-20190516-n6hcry3hprcxjorzkfwxd5nrri-story.html

Trump will shut that shit down if he's not getting a cut.

that is fucking horrifying

So bizarre I kind of want one.

Looking forward to the Vic Berger supercut.

(Vic Berger's Jim Bakker videos)

The fact that Jim Bakker wasn't instantly reduced to a puddle of goo after foisting that into the world is possibly the strongest argument against the existence of god that I've ever encountered.

time travel
god

We've really been on a roll these last few years.

One spoonful of cheese slop will restore your faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOH37W0jPpA

there's something weirdly mesmerizing about all those videos. I think Vic is best when he stays away from Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVz6owGeQX0

like how does he manage to make this so hilarious and terrifying at the same time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4h_VXG8xrM&feature=youtu.be&t=4m

good morning!

I am pretty much convinced that the Dems are going to do absolutely nothing to hold Trump accountable, fuck around during the primaries with a stage full of morons, then hand Trump a convincing electoral college victory. Only hope now is the economy crashes before Election Day, which is some shit.

catastrophizing itt has always sucked and continues to suck, don't do it

ugh, I was too early for the good morning.

.....where are the tax returns?

Where are the saxophones

Do you guys like trump?

honestly, not really a big fan

Me neither. Glad to have some fellowship on this point.

PBKR OTM

can y'all get your own board

or log off for a while until you calm down

"Alienation is the craze" -- Ric Ocasek

https://psmag.com/news/research-suggests-trumps-election-has-been-detrimental-to-many-americans-mental-health

right or wrong. i melt down a lot and i don't think it's the best use of time. but a lot of people feel this way

can y'all get your own board

Sorry, I haven’t done a lot of that here, but I’ve been feeling enraged by the House fucking around lately. You are right, it’s not that helpful.

thanks! i understand the impulse to catastrophize v much, which is prob why i have a huge anxiety attack every time it happens

god, why do i want that stupid $45 coin?

(note that i could ask god this directly if i had the coin)

i suggest we designate some old thread to post existential meltdowns on. it can be like the area 100 feet away from a campsite that everyone agrees is the place to take a dump (in wilderness campsites that don't have bathrooms, i mean)

this is a really good post

talk to the coin

Treeship even started a meltdown thread and won't keep it there -- Is Donald J Trump a psychopath?

re: the mental health article, i was already a little fragile for various reasons prior to trump, so can't say that he's entirely the reason, but having it confirmed that i basically have no future to look forward to and instead will experience a slow-grinding catastrophe for the rest of my (surely and unnecessarily) shortened life upon his election was a nice clincher into some real problems. at least now i know i can live fully in the present as that's all that exists, etc. idk do they really need a study to show that he's bad for people's brains

They don’t need a study. But it is worth pointing out that his “disruptive” style that allowed him to hack the news cycle is basically torturing people.

AMERICA TAKES DRUGS IN PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE

I must have missed in the thread title that this is supposed to be some kind of repository for optimism.

ffs it’s a politics thread. It’s not “catastrophizing” to assess the bleak prospects right now and acknowledge them. Nor do ilxor posts have fuck all to do with the fate of the nation.

“get your own board” is some serious challops

thanks

well dude seriously

i'm gonna do a morbs and abandon the politics thread, enjoy yourself

I am pretty much convinced that the Dems are going to do absolutely nothing to hold Trump accountable, fuck around during the primaries with a stage full of morons, then hand Trump a convincing electoral college victory. Only hope now is the economy crashes before Election Day, which is some shit.

^anyway is this really a dramatically pessimistic take?

Brad it’s far from enjoyable but it can be a place to commiserate. No need to run off.

It’s not “catastrophizing” to assess the bleak prospects right now and acknowledge them.

it is ... if instead of assessing them rationally you assess them through a lens of panic, hopelessness, etc

Yeah, Brad, don’t leave!

i feel like people should be allowed to say pessimistic stuff? pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will and all that

everyone is of course allowed to say whatever they want, up to and including pointing out that gallows "humor" like this

We'll be counting our way into the camps

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII)

isn't really that funny

catastrophe is not inevitable... but it's the way to bet

i'm gonna do a morbs and abandon the politics thread, enjoy yourself

See you in three days!

i can play Brad in his absence

i can play Brad in his absence

characterizing a second trump victory as an inevitability is catastrophizing, it makes me fucking spiral. if y'all wanna post things that make me spiral, i'd rather not be here

anyway I think one can arrive at PBKR’s forecast (and a feeling of hopelessness, I guess?) w/o panicking in the least, but simply by a sober reading of recent developments, autocratic histories, the players involved, the national mood, etc.

none of which is exclusive to working to stop it from happening

everyone is of course allowed to say whatever they want, up to and including pointing out that gallows "humor" like this

/We'll be counting our way into the camps

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII)/

isn't really that funny

We just need to be kind and supportive to one another and what we're going through and what ever nutzoid ways the trauma expresses itself, y'all. These are the times that try etc. But in the end it's important to remember

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXGgWf2lacM

It comes across as a way to abdicate xxpost one of responsibility and needlessly shit on the positive developments that do occasionally crop up

xxp But it could only be an attempt at humor because that could never happen here

Remember how sure we all were Mueller would be fired? Some of us posted about it but countered with follow-up actions that could be taken if it did happen. Others just said defeatist nonsense, and then logged off for the night.

I see much more of the latter than the former.

I'm as guilty of catastrophizing as the next guy but I have to remind myself of who benefits when we flail about in paroxysms of panic. Hint: it ain't us.

Well, as I remind y'all every six weeks when someone posts croaking of doom, I'm a gay Floridian of color. I don't have time for despair because I've been fighting GOP motherfuckers my whole life, including my own family. I'll keep donating, volunteering, and fighting, thanks.

sorry for harshing everybody’s mellow I’m sure everything’s gonna be juuuuust fine

I guess I was catastrophizing so someone could pick me up and say things maybe aren’t so bad. I sincerely don’t want it to add to anyone else’s load.

Things are bad. Things have always been bad for many of us. I suppose farting in a message board is preferable to sitting him chewing on the fag ends of one's despair.

I still think it’s unlikely that Trump wins re-election but if Biden ends up the nominee catastrophic thinking is pretty logical no matter how the election goes. Anyway I don’t think this is the week to castigate people for being overly negative.

But yeah, there are always worthwhile things to do even when feelings of doom are everywhere.

One of the harder lessons about politics is how to pace yourself for the long fight and figure out how that long fight fits into your life's other priorities. Sometimes it is all you can do just to keep a broad sketch of what's happening, without having the attention to take any action beyond maybe voting, but without giving up on politics entirely.

Right now I think that tossing some money into the right channels is about as effective as I can be, but that money can help finance paying a few activists like HOOS enough salary to scrape by, and their passion can be leveraged better than my waning energies.

Please tell me if there's a better place to put shit like this

Holy crap lmao:

"Just $185 of the roughly $652,000 that House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer raised for his re-election fund from January through March came from [small] contributions." https://t.co/ROpQB6xytn

— Alex Kotch 🔥 (@alexkotch) May 15, 2019

he shoulda learned to game those numbers like Cuomo does

breaking: the $185 in small contributions to Steny Hoyer came from a single mistaken transaction on Venmo, when Pam Jergins, intending to pay an acquaintance for some housepainting work he did over the weekend, accidentally sent money to Steny Hoyer instead of Steny Boyer

i'm gonna do a morbs and abandon the politics thread, enjoy yourself

― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, May 17, 2019 4:04 AM

[posts again]

― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, May 17, 2019 4:20 AM

flawless impersonation imo

C'mon

As tensions between Iran and the United States increase in the Middle East, the Pentagon briefing room is being used to host Gene Simmons of Kiss. pic.twitter.com/NauZ0bfkgm

— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) May 16, 2019

Ok, I am finally coming around to this all being a simulation.

He commands an army iirc

House passes Equality act; eight Republicans break party line.

every now and again i remember that in the actual world we live in, the president's lawyer was convicted of paying off a porn actress that the president was cheating on his wife with, and went down for it, and the president's response was to talk shit about him on Twitter

extremely cool and very normal and totally not shameful or embarrassing at all for republicans to support someone like that

That may be true, but at the same time, who among us does not retain a lawyer who was convicted of paying off a porn actress that we were cheating on our wife with, and went down for it, and then talked shit about him on Twitter?

I’m still fond of the one where the president was caught on tape bragging about how good he is at sexually assaulting women, and then, to kind of make up for that, he hired all the women his opponent’s husband cheated on her with to sit in the audience at their debate.

And then got elected

The People spoke.

Sadly, what The People were saying got badly garbled via transmission through a faulty line installed in 1786.

I’m still fond of the one where the president was caught on tape bragging about how good he is at sexually assaulting women, and then, to kind of make up for that, he hired all the women his opponent’s husband cheated on her with to sit in the audience at their debate.

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, May 18, 2019 12:07 AM (thirteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Believe it or not, I remember this. What a prankster.

hey you liberals wanted a sexual revolution and now you got it and you’re complaining idgi

This Iran thing...

Why bother creating a bullshit justification if you’re just gonna bypass congress, just go for it

uh yeah

from last year

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-alqaeda/study-questions-iran-al-qaeda-ties-despite-u-s-allegations-idUSKCN1LN2LE

sic can you post the end of that url for us, thx

Aren't they backing away from Iran escalation now?

Weirdly enough, Trump seems to have been a moderating voice in this instance.

Maybe he's setting up a golf course there.

Trump's ultra-belligerent talk can distract people from the fact that, instinctively, he knows getting involved in a war is risky, dirty, dangerous, and hard work. Remember, he attended a military academy for a while and the distaste for that experience is evident. He's OK with other people taking those risks, facing those dangers, and doing all that work, so long as he can stay totally uninvolved with it, but now that he is president he'd have to get dragged into any wars he starts. He could blunder and stumble his way into a war, but he won't do it coolly and with forethought.

I'm not entirely sure what this thread from a Republican congressman means, but I'm guessing his twitter account got hacked...

Here are my principal conclusions:
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019

Justin Amash was the only republican that didn't come off as a maniac during the Michael Cohen questioning.

He sucks 94% of the time but i’ll give him this: he’s the guy that internet libertarians think Rand Paul is

Reports say he's going to be pardoning legit war criminals on Memorial Day.

I could swear Cobra Commander used to be more subtle than this about his wholesale devotion to evil.

sic can you post the end of that url for us, thx

sorry to report that you in fact posted a url, not a secondary piece of code that undermines stet's ability to have the site pay for itself, or that funds a company that actively subverts Western democracy, on this heartbreaking post-election day

As Trump attacks first Republican to call for impeachment, Mitt Romney says: 'The American people are just not there'

mittens, leading from behind

He could blunder and stumble his way into a war, but he won't do it coolly and with forethought.

i think there's a third way (or maybe a subset ounder blundering and stumbling) that involves other people (like john bolton) deliberately steering the US into a massive conflict, just because there's one else speaking with authority in the room. as of a few days ago, trump was saying that he "disagreed" with some of the policies in iran, which is interesting because he's the president, and he can change the policies with iran anytime he wants. so who is in charge? i assume it's people who know things like, i don't know, what the major cities are in the area, or what languages are spoken, or what historical reasons for the conflict. things that donald trump will never know. it's a dangerous situation to be in, especially when the idiot who should be in charge is prone to overreactions like his tweet from 10 minutes ago:

'If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!'

Listened to a podcast about this today. War with Iran would be a disaster. The other threat is Iran blowing up Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’s desalinization plants and millions of people dying of thirst.

https://geopoliticsalert.com/millennium-challenge-us-navy-lost-simulated-war-iran

No posts in two days, huh

Everyone - not just here, but everywhere - is so fucking burned out on the whole having an openly criminal president thing. House leadership is holding closed door meetings about whether to impeach after McGahn’s no show (Pelosi still opposes) and no one gives a shit. We’re all just waiting to cast our vote in November 2020 I guess

I mean, I get not posting here, too. Just kind of bizarre, like looking back at a 1974 ILX thread and no one’s mentioning the whole Nixon thing

Hard to stay engaged as a Democrat when the House Democrats prefer smelling their own farts to taking any real action to save us.

*bullshit deleted*

they want the people to lead, it’s fucking nervy and scary, hoping it’s all in my head.

and also as the media/pollsters attempt to prenominate someone conceivably a surer loser than Hillary Clinton

Sorta feels like a 'in case of complete untethering of institutional norms, break glass' sitch at this point tbh, everybody waiting around for someone else to use the little hammer. Except the hammer is rapidly melting so...y'know.

I'd rather have silence than howls of despair.

Judge Amit Mehta wrote this yesterday:

hese words, written by President James Buchanan in March 1860, protested a resolution adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives to form a committee—known as the Covode Committee—to investigate whether the President or any other officer of the Executive Branch had sought to influence the actions of Congress by improper means.

Buchanan “cheerfully admitted” that the House of Representatives had the authority to make inquiries “incident to their legislative duties,” as “necessary to enable them to discover and to provide the appropriate legislative remedies for any abuses which may be ascertained.” But he objected to the Covode Committee’s investigation of his conduct. He maintained that the House of Representatives possessed no general powers to investigate him, except when sitting as an impeaching body. Buchanan feared that, if the House were to exercise such authority, it “would establish a precedent dangerous and embarrassing to all my successors, to whatever political party they might be attached.”

Some 160 years later, President Donald J. Trump has taken up the fight of his predecessor.

Everybody's been posting about G.o.T. and Charlie Watts, duh.

some of my deleted bullshit was about need for big performative marches, very aimed at gop. Some dems are sad and scared and soft, need vigorous encouragement on their own platforms. but with a trump given any - even none- results of too much vigor could be bad on the street. so pressure builds.

PORTER: Do you know what an REO is?

CARSON: An OREO...

PORTER: No, not an OREO. An REO.

CARSON: Real estate...?

PORTER: What’s the “O” stand for? pic.twitter.com/zGwHfhajJC

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) May 21, 2019

One big reason for the slowdown in the politics thread is that there's not much of anything new coming out of Congress, either legislatively or investigatively. The Mueller report was successfully quashed, mainly because Mueller did not subpoena Trump and failed to make a forthright finding of obstruction, allowing the Republicans to quash it in the media, because the media of 2019 is a far different animal than the media of 1974 and it cooperated fully in the Republican subterfuge.

Talking about the administration policies has become nearly impossible, because this administration has no policies to speak of, only whims. The Iran stuff is so utterly confused and conflicting that you can't say anything about it that fits a detectable pattern of thought or intention. The escalated trade war with China hasn't yet flowed into the economy and the administration regularly contradicts itself on trade policy. It's stagnation on the one hand and chaos on the other and there's not much left to say past that.

yep, your last sentence there sums it up very nicely. which is why, for instance, I'd put the odds about equal of waking up one day to war with Iran and waking up one day to learn of a "really great, really beautiful deal" with Iran that puts us back in the exact same spot with them as we were in 2016.

As democracies go, it sure seems awful arbitrary.

House Judiciary Committee just subpoenaed Hope Hicks

i guess their plan is to hold the entire trump administration in contempt

they'd better pick up the pace

countdown to Trump coming up with a complimentary nickname for everyone who has been held in contempt by congress, ie, how 'the deplorables' became a badge of honor for idiots

the Held in Contempt panel is going to be amazing at CPAC 2019

contemptibles obv

doesn't work; too many letters for trump

too long; cannot read

Hey maybe if we all agree to use only words comprised three or more syllables Trump will just start doing that confused head cocking thing that a dog does when it hears a weird sound and then wander off in a haze and accidentally lock himself in a shed that a White House gardener accidentally left open and then because no one would ever think to look for him there he just starves to death. It's a long shot but it's worth a try.

am i counting wrong or is contemptible is only two more letters than deplorable

what's this i hear about Pelosi feeling some real heat to do something ?

If you put a lobster in a pot and turn up the heat after it never feels itself die

good morning!

impeachment is trending w/in the Dems it seems

"We do believe that it is important to follow the facts, we believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover up, in a cover up," Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill.

FYI our pres is involved in a cover up nbd tho

she's gonna get the papers, get the papers

Nancy Two times has a nice ring

its a demo its a demo its a demo its a demo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-takes-aim-at-house-democrats-as-they-prepare-to-discuss-impeachment-calls/2019/05/22/a36ea0d0-7c79-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.764d9f9f6367

I literally cannot imagine being so dumb as to be impressed by this behaviour

has anyone asked Trump or his people why the man is so against an investigation into Russian election meddling? it's so bizarre that "leader of the country" is constantly disparaging an investigation into an "attack" on US.

maybe she means the cover up is within another cover up.

on a trivial note, this was a silly move ("populism" at its most gratuitous)

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/444780-warren-ocasio-cortez-rip-game-of-thrones-finale-ugh-this-is

Trump cites Pelosi's statement this morning on a "cover up." "Instead of walking in happily to a meeting, I walk in to look at people who said I was doing a cover-up. I don't do cover-ups. You people know that probably better than anybody," Trump says to reporters.

lol dude even you dont believe this

“I hated the last three episodes … my two favorite characters, destroyed,” Gillibrand said.

rip Qyburn and Harry Strickland

"We do believe that it is important to follow the facts, we believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover up, in a cover up," Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill.

♪♫ very thin ice, very thin ice ♫♪

OMG this sign

Podium set up in the Rose Garden with statistics on the Mueller investigation. pic.twitter.com/cZMytbKbvS

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) May 22, 2019

thats some hamfisted popaganda there ffs

"I don't do cover-ups. You people know that probably better than anybody," Trump says to reporters.

If by this he means his motives and actions are transparent as a six-year-old's, then he is right.

As with so much of the shit he pulls, the content of that WaPo story, in isolation and with no additional context, is really enough to demonstrate how unfit he is for office. Awwww, Pwesident Thinskin McPissypants got a widdle bit of cwiticism and now just can't even with the infrastructure of the country over which he presides? Shut the fuck up and do your fucking job, you mildewed beanbag.

he is doing his job!! sticking it to the libs!

Let me just say this, and I want to say this to the television audience: I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service. I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I could say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their President does cover-ups. Well, I am not doing a cover-up. I've earned everything I've got.

Listen and listen good: if I'm saying words, they must be true.

The court stenographers are all transcribing Pelosi's statement starting with the words "He just took a pass," but heard in full context it's actually a pretty savage burn...

"The reason, maybe it was a lack of confidence on his part that he really couldn't match the greatness of the challenge that we have, and wasn't really respectful of the Congress and the White House working together - he just took a pass."

he's also had a chance to hear from his camp since the first meeting and they told him he could never get the money for that Bill and this is an easy way to just blame the dems

he should have brought candy to the meeting, that always works

he needed to tell her to relax and give her a shoulder massage, like that time w hit merkel. big power move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTQY1Aw9zcs

when i read the times story on this i kept scrolling back to check the date stamp

Trump was searching desperately for a way to slither out of an infrastructure deal ever since Mitch told him he'd never move such a thing through the senate. Nancy offered him a way out. Now they're both happy, even though they are pretending to have had a pre-prom breakup.

— Jeffrey St. Clair (@JSCCounterPunch) May 22, 2019

"I don't do coverups", says the man who forces every single person he shakes hands with to sign an NDA

taps head : can't loss a negotiation , if there is no negotiation

fucking geniuses this guy is !let me tell ya

I don't do coverups", says the man who forces every single person he shakes hands with to sign an NDA tries to cover up his balding scalp daily.

― frogbs, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 3:30 PM (one minute ago)

Man, they fuck everything up...

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/harriet-tubman-20-bill-no-longer-coming-2020-mnuchin-says-n1008861

This is so fucking dumb. He had the “no collusion” sign set up before he even stormed out of the meeting.

i don't do cover ups, says the guy renowned for having his fixer work with national enquirer to purchase the rights of the stories of women he slept with so that his wife won't find out (quite as early as she would have)

we are all dumber, for having lived through this time

if you can call this living!

It's just occurring to me that any non-useless human in his position could easily pivot toward more positive endeavors, even an entirely facile and ineffectual and cynical attempt to do good and bring the country together and put all this divisiveness behind us, and get most people (up to and including those parties who might otherwise continue to investigate and possibly even impeach him) to forget all about the shit he's done. But he is just congenitally incapable of being anything other than a debased piece of shit, even to his own detriment.

yet the GOP Congress contains so many nihilists that even President Jeb! or President Rubio would pass nothing.

he doesn’t do coverups, what about those giant fuckin coats

the giant coat, the hair, the makeup

it's like the *only* thing he does

Trump notes captured by @jabinbotsford:
“They want to impeach me over acts that they did”
“Dems have no achomlishments [sic]”https://t.co/WUGczy4y2c pic.twitter.com/ealXzJEFJM

— Dan Eggen (@DanEggenWPost) May 22, 2019

"intentially"

Autocorrect must really help him out with the tweers

*tweets

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/while-teaching-elizabeth-warren-worked-on-more-than-50-legal-matters-charging-as-much-as-675-an-hour/2019/05/22/9ce56840-7ce0-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f17c02435ad6