We Have Always Been at Trade War with China
April 5, 2018 10:09 AM Subscribe
China retaliated for US tariffs, slapping duties on soybeans, planes, and autos (Reuters), after Trump escalated his trade war on Tuesday by threatening to impose new tariffs on $50 billion in imported goods ranging from bakery ovens to ball bearings (Politico). With the US trade deficit rising to a near nine-and-a-half-year high and the jobs market tightening (Reuters) – and Trump-voting states hit hard by the new Chinese tariffs (CNBC) – China's state media assured the nation will win any trade war with the US (Reuters). White House trade adviser Peter Navarro now promises Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will lead high-level discussions with Chinese officials to avert a trade war (Bloomberg). Today, China has just filed a complaint at the WTO over US tariffs (MarketWatch). Yesterday, Trump tweeted, "When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose!"
Elsewhere across the scorched landscape of American politics:
• Mueller told Trump’s attorneys the president remains under investigation but is not currently a criminal target (Washington Post) while Mueller's team has been questioning Russian oligarchs (CNN). And Judge Amy Berman Jackson skewered Manafort's civil case challenging Mueller's powers (Reuters).
• Exiting National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster delivered a parting shot to Russia—"Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability. [...] Russia brazenly, and implausibly, denies its actions, and we have failed to impose sufficient costs.."— prior to the Treasury Department's expected additional sanctions against Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin (Washington Post), even as expelled US diplomats leave Russia (CNN).
• EPA watchdog says he didn't have all the facts when he found that Scott Pruitt's condo rental didn't violate ethics rules (CNBC). Pruitt said renting from wife of an energy lobbyist whose firm had clients with business before his agency "was like an Airbnb situation" (Fox News).
• John Bolton Runs Into Potential Ethics Issues Before He Becomes Trump’s National Security Advisor: John Bolton is continuing to meet with White House attorneys over possible conflicts of interest. Although he resigned from his foundation in last month, his two political action committees are currently holding on to money they raised. Bolton is slated to take over as President Trump's national security advisor April 9 (CNBC).
• How America's Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers In Trump's War On the Media: Sinclair Broadcast Group forced all of its local anchors to read the same Orwellian script inveighing against anti-Trump "fake news" in the mainstream media: "Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’…This is extremely dangerous to a democracy." The resultant supercut video went viral (Deadspin).
• A Fierce Opponent Of The Endangered Species Act Is Picked To Oversee Interior’s Wildlife Policy: Susan Combs, a former Texas state official who compared proposed endangered species listings to “incoming Scud missiles” and continued to fight the Endangered Species Act after she left government, now has a role in overseeing federal wildlife policy (Washington Post).
• And, perhaps worst of all, Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Claims Porn Star Described President Trump’s Genitalia In Unaired ‘60 Minutes’ Clip: “She can describe the President’s genitalia in great detail,” Avenatti told Megyn Kelly on her show, resulting in groans from the host and her audience (NY Daily News).
Time Until Trump's First Term Is Over: 2 Years, 9 Months, 2 Weeks, 2 Days (there are 215 days left until the 2018 midterm elections).
Elsewhere across the scorched landscape of American politics:
• Mueller told Trump’s attorneys the president remains under investigation but is not currently a criminal target (Washington Post) while Mueller's team has been questioning Russian oligarchs (CNN). And Judge Amy Berman Jackson skewered Manafort's civil case challenging Mueller's powers (Reuters).
• Exiting National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster delivered a parting shot to Russia—"Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability. [...] Russia brazenly, and implausibly, denies its actions, and we have failed to impose sufficient costs.."— prior to the Treasury Department's expected additional sanctions against Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin (Washington Post), even as expelled US diplomats leave Russia (CNN).
• EPA watchdog says he didn't have all the facts when he found that Scott Pruitt's condo rental didn't violate ethics rules (CNBC). Pruitt said renting from wife of an energy lobbyist whose firm had clients with business before his agency "was like an Airbnb situation" (Fox News).
• John Bolton Runs Into Potential Ethics Issues Before He Becomes Trump’s National Security Advisor: John Bolton is continuing to meet with White House attorneys over possible conflicts of interest. Although he resigned from his foundation in last month, his two political action committees are currently holding on to money they raised. Bolton is slated to take over as President Trump's national security advisor April 9 (CNBC).
• How America's Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers In Trump's War On the Media: Sinclair Broadcast Group forced all of its local anchors to read the same Orwellian script inveighing against anti-Trump "fake news" in the mainstream media: "Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’…This is extremely dangerous to a democracy." The resultant supercut video went viral (Deadspin).
• A Fierce Opponent Of The Endangered Species Act Is Picked To Oversee Interior’s Wildlife Policy: Susan Combs, a former Texas state official who compared proposed endangered species listings to “incoming Scud missiles” and continued to fight the Endangered Species Act after she left government, now has a role in overseeing federal wildlife policy (Washington Post).
• And, perhaps worst of all, Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Claims Porn Star Described President Trump’s Genitalia In Unaired ‘60 Minutes’ Clip: “She can describe the President’s genitalia in great detail,” Avenatti told Megyn Kelly on her show, resulting in groans from the host and her audience (NY Daily News).
Time Until Trump's First Term Is Over: 2 Years, 9 Months, 2 Weeks, 2 Days (there are 215 days left until the 2018 midterm elections).
I do wonder if the tariffs on Chinese goods will hurt Amazon, which seems to sell a lot of Chinese knockoffs directly and indirectly.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:13 AM on April 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:13 AM on April 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Mod note: What Zed said about megathread guidelines, and resist the urge to fill with chatter!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:14 AM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:14 AM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
can we just make a general ban on speculating about, describing, or depicting the president's genitalia part of the thread rules from here on out
posted by murphy slaw at 10:18 AM on April 5, 2018 [101 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 10:18 AM on April 5, 2018 [101 favorites]
Mod note: When the president's genitalia are in the news you may discuss the news about his penis, but let's try to keep the jokes and riffing out of it, surely we've all heard every possible penis joke already.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:31 AM on April 5, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:31 AM on April 5, 2018 [32 favorites]
can we just make a general ban on speculating on, describing, or depicting the president's genitalia part of the thread rules from here on out
In retrospect, I ought to have included instead the more important Stormy Daniels requests 'suspicious' bank information related to hush payment (CNN): “As Secretary of the Treasury, it is well within your authority to release the requested [suspicious activity report] information to allow the public to learn critical information relating to the payment. Indeed, if the payment was made as innocently as Mr. Cohen has suggested, there should be no objection to the prompt release of the [report],” Avenatti wrote to Mnuchin.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:31 AM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
In retrospect, I ought to have included instead the more important Stormy Daniels requests 'suspicious' bank information related to hush payment (CNN): “As Secretary of the Treasury, it is well within your authority to release the requested [suspicious activity report] information to allow the public to learn critical information relating to the payment. Indeed, if the payment was made as innocently as Mr. Cohen has suggested, there should be no objection to the prompt release of the [report],” Avenatti wrote to Mnuchin.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:31 AM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
Trump’s Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan
posted by Artw at 10:35 AM on April 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:35 AM on April 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
Matthew Yglesias, Vox: The Wisconsin Supreme Court election shows the blueprint for a Democratic wave
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:39 AM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
Democrats are holding Hillary Clinton’s gains in the suburbs while clawing back her rural losses.I'd like to see this replicated a few more times across the county before jumping on the wave bandwagon.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:39 AM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
So, about Dwayne Johnson: on the screen, he plays a meat head, or an oaf, or a fratboy, or some combination of the above. But when seated and interviewed, he comes across as none of the above. What's more, he wrestled, not boxed, to fame, and his muscles come from Samoa, not from steroids.
So if Murdoch and company think he's a controllable dunce, they're wrong. They better have something much more substantial as a lever over him.
posted by ocschwar at 10:43 AM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
So if Murdoch and company think he's a controllable dunce, they're wrong. They better have something much more substantial as a lever over him.
posted by ocschwar at 10:43 AM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
Trump’s Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan
Bares repating, the fertile soil of fascism isn’t the stressed rural poor, it’s frat boys and prep school students and small business owners.
posted by The Whelk at 10:44 AM on April 5, 2018 [139 favorites]
Bares repating, the fertile soil of fascism isn’t the stressed rural poor, it’s frat boys and prep school students and small business owners.
posted by The Whelk at 10:44 AM on April 5, 2018 [139 favorites]
As I understand it, none of the tariffs, on either side, have actually gone into effect. They're basically threats, designed to get the sides to start discussions. Is that correct?
posted by Thorzdad at 10:44 AM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 10:44 AM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bares repating, the fertile soil of fascism isn’t the stressed rural poor, it’s frat boys and prep school students and small business owners.
Robert Mercer, the richest and most influential fascist in the country, is a Randian Comp. Sci. nerd.
posted by Artw at 10:47 AM on April 5, 2018 [37 favorites]
Robert Mercer, the richest and most influential fascist in the country, is a Randian Comp. Sci. nerd.
posted by Artw at 10:47 AM on April 5, 2018 [37 favorites]
Where is stuff about The Rock coming from? He's currently off my radar and I don't see a mention of him in the roundup.
posted by rhizome at 10:48 AM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 10:48 AM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
So the discussion about the Endangered Species Act rule is kind of inside-baseball. There's a pretty good explanation here but E&E news is paywalled.
Basically, the ESA allows for 3 categories of species: Endangered (which means, going to go extinct if we don't do something very soon); Threatened (could become endangered in the foreseeable future); Candidate (self-explanatory).
The statute (Section 9) says: no TAKE of ENDANGERED species, which means no killing (even accidentally), no chasing, no hunting, no harassing, no disturbing in almost any way. If you do something that changes the way an Endangered Species hunts its food and it gets measurably fewer calories in a day, that can be considered "take". The rules are very strict, for good reason, because these species are seriously at risk.
Threatened species are not subject to the same statutory protection, but because they are likely to become Endangered relatively soon without protection, the USFWS passed a rule applying the same provisions to them generally. As a result, it's equally illegal to kill or harass a threatened animal or plant as an endangered one, unless there's a applicable species-specific rule that has a separate provision. That's what Rule 4(d) is: it applies the same protections to Threatened species as Endangered.
The proposal from the Trump Administration would revoke Rule 4(d), thus revoking those protections from any Threatened species that doesn't have a species-specific rule in place.
There are hundreds of threatened species out there, and the current regulatory structure means that the distinction between threatened and endangered is kind of blurred: the same protective mechanisms apply to both categories. Right now, it's as illegal to catch a Green Sturgeon, which is Threatened, as a Sakhalin sturgeon, which is Endangered. Striking the blanket protection for Threatened species means the green sturgeon is functionally unprotected, unless FWS issues a rule that applies just to that species.
Of course, this all has to do with real estate and energy development. Industry hates the ESA and doesn't care about its successes.
I will point out that the frequent claim that ESA interferes with military land use is kind of bullshit. Military land in the US hosts the highest proportion of endangered/threatened species of any public lands, because development and public access are so restricted. The military know how to plan for and around endangered species issues, and incorporate it into their training programs. It's not nearly the problem the GOP likes to claim.
(For me, professionally, this proposal is a problem because I evaluate both types of protected species together. Having to split them apart and then go find out if the Threatened species have species-specific protections will be a major hassle.)
posted by suelac at 10:51 AM on April 5, 2018 [74 favorites]
Basically, the ESA allows for 3 categories of species: Endangered (which means, going to go extinct if we don't do something very soon); Threatened (could become endangered in the foreseeable future); Candidate (self-explanatory).
The statute (Section 9) says: no TAKE of ENDANGERED species, which means no killing (even accidentally), no chasing, no hunting, no harassing, no disturbing in almost any way. If you do something that changes the way an Endangered Species hunts its food and it gets measurably fewer calories in a day, that can be considered "take". The rules are very strict, for good reason, because these species are seriously at risk.
Threatened species are not subject to the same statutory protection, but because they are likely to become Endangered relatively soon without protection, the USFWS passed a rule applying the same provisions to them generally. As a result, it's equally illegal to kill or harass a threatened animal or plant as an endangered one, unless there's a applicable species-specific rule that has a separate provision. That's what Rule 4(d) is: it applies the same protections to Threatened species as Endangered.
The proposal from the Trump Administration would revoke Rule 4(d), thus revoking those protections from any Threatened species that doesn't have a species-specific rule in place.
There are hundreds of threatened species out there, and the current regulatory structure means that the distinction between threatened and endangered is kind of blurred: the same protective mechanisms apply to both categories. Right now, it's as illegal to catch a Green Sturgeon, which is Threatened, as a Sakhalin sturgeon, which is Endangered. Striking the blanket protection for Threatened species means the green sturgeon is functionally unprotected, unless FWS issues a rule that applies just to that species.
Of course, this all has to do with real estate and energy development. Industry hates the ESA and doesn't care about its successes.
I will point out that the frequent claim that ESA interferes with military land use is kind of bullshit. Military land in the US hosts the highest proportion of endangered/threatened species of any public lands, because development and public access are so restricted. The military know how to plan for and around endangered species issues, and incorporate it into their training programs. It's not nearly the problem the GOP likes to claim.
(For me, professionally, this proposal is a problem because I evaluate both types of protected species together. Having to split them apart and then go find out if the Threatened species have species-specific protections will be a major hassle.)
posted by suelac at 10:51 AM on April 5, 2018 [74 favorites]
So if Murdoch and company think he's a controllable dunce, they're wrong. They better have something much more substantial as a lever over him.
Hasn't he been vague enough on policy that it's plausible that he could just... already agree with them, levers or no?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:52 AM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
Hasn't he been vague enough on policy that it's plausible that he could just... already agree with them, levers or no?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:52 AM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
@rhizome:: A lot of speculation in the air due to this: http://digg.com/2018/mohammed-bin-salman-the-rock-dinner-why
posted by mosk at 10:53 AM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by mosk at 10:53 AM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Hasn't he been vague enough on policy that it's plausible that he could just... already agree with them, levers or no?
Every time I've ever heard of a pro wrestler's politics it's been because they're libertarians or Republicans. I have no idea why people think The Rock would be any different.
posted by haileris23 at 10:58 AM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
Every time I've ever heard of a pro wrestler's politics it's been because they're libertarians or Republicans. I have no idea why people think The Rock would be any different.
posted by haileris23 at 10:58 AM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
Progressive candidates to watch for 2018 midterms (The Nation)
posted by The Whelk at 11:02 AM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:02 AM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Every time I've ever heard of a pro wrestler's politics it's been because they're libertarians or Republicans.
Don't forget Mick Foley, who is famously a progressive Democrat.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:05 AM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
Don't forget Mick Foley, who is famously a progressive Democrat.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:05 AM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
Mod note: lazycomputerkids, if you have a point to make, you'll need to do it much more directly and much less obliquely; politics megathreads are moderated much more strictly for noisiness than other threads.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 11:08 AM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 11:08 AM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
Fundraisers to support the teacher strikes:
OK: https://www.gofundme.com/together-we-are-stronger-march
KY: https://www.gofundme.com/kentucky-teachers-strike-fund
posted by Chrysostom at 11:08 AM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
OK: https://www.gofundme.com/together-we-are-stronger-march
KY: https://www.gofundme.com/kentucky-teachers-strike-fund
posted by Chrysostom at 11:08 AM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
The Guardian's Jessica Valenti on Twitter: Kevin Williamson has been fired from The Atlantic.
From Jeffrey Goldberg's letter to staff: "The language he used in this podcast—and in my conversations with him in recent days—made it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views."
lolololol next time maybe don't hire people who call for women who have abortions to be hanged bruh
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:09 AM on April 5, 2018 [158 favorites]
From Jeffrey Goldberg's letter to staff: "The language he used in this podcast—and in my conversations with him in recent days—made it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views."
lolololol next time maybe don't hire people who call for women who have abortions to be hanged bruh
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:09 AM on April 5, 2018 [158 favorites]
So much for the tolerant right-of-center!
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:11 AM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:11 AM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
The Whelk: "Progressive candidates to watch for 2018 midterms (The Nation)"
There are some pretty good folks on here. There's also Dennis Kucinich.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:11 AM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
There are some pretty good folks on here. There's also Dennis Kucinich.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:11 AM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
Kevin Williamson has been fired from The Atlantic.
Whoever hired him needs to go, for being a fucking idiot.
See also the idiot NY Times opinion page editor.
posted by Artw at 11:15 AM on April 5, 2018 [22 favorites]
Whoever hired him needs to go, for being a fucking idiot.
See also the idiot NY Times opinion page editor.
posted by Artw at 11:15 AM on April 5, 2018 [22 favorites]
I don't get why The New Yorker manages to succeed doing mostly what it's always done and the Atlantic, theoretically a very similar media organ, seems to descend further into clickbait and stunt hires as time goes on.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:19 AM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 11:19 AM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
The Mystery of the Baklava Man Streets, sweets and Syria meet in the story of an elusive Vancouver vendor and his fight for human rights and democracy in the Levant. [Christopher Cheung, The Tyee]
"“He won the elections as an independent and was not appointed by the Assad regime — really elected, that means he was chosen by the voice of the people. That’s very, very rare.”
posted by porpoise at 11:20 AM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
"“He won the elections as an independent and was not appointed by the Assad regime — really elected, that means he was chosen by the voice of the people. That’s very, very rare.”
posted by porpoise at 11:20 AM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards accused Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner of making an offer that felt like a "bribe" during a meeting back in January 2017. (CNN.com)
"Jared and Ivanka were there for one reason: to deliver a political win...In their eyes, if they could stop Planned Parenthood from providing abortions, it would confirm their reputation as savvy dealmakers. It was surreal, essentially being asked to barter away women's rights for more money."posted by mikepop at 11:20 AM on April 5, 2018 [44 favorites]
Goldberg probably panicked when the number of subscription cancellations vastly outnumbered the number of racists who decided to finally sign up for one.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:21 AM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:21 AM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
There might have been an uptick that spooked them, but the Atlantic has been on a downward slide for 20 years.
posted by rhizome at 11:28 AM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 11:28 AM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
KrangTNelson [via Twitter]:
WILLIAMSON: I think women who have abortions should be hanged
ATLANTIC: lol! u don’t mean that
KW: I do
A: jokes!
KW: not a joke. I dream of immolating scores of women whenever I close my eyes
A: please just say it was a joke so we can keep u
KW (thinks for a few seconds): ...no
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:33 AM on April 5, 2018 [80 favorites]
WILLIAMSON: I think women who have abortions should be hanged
ATLANTIC: lol! u don’t mean that
KW: I do
A: jokes!
KW: not a joke. I dream of immolating scores of women whenever I close my eyes
A: please just say it was a joke so we can keep u
KW (thinks for a few seconds): ...no
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:33 AM on April 5, 2018 [80 favorites]
From Jeffrey Goldberg's letter to staff: "The language he used in this podcast—and in my conversations with him in recent days—made it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views."
"Turns out he actually believed all that stuff I hired him for saying!"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:36 AM on April 5, 2018 [99 favorites]
"Turns out he actually believed all that stuff I hired him for saying!"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:36 AM on April 5, 2018 [99 favorites]
Incredible Sinclair story from Katie Chrystler on Twitter:
My #Sinclair story: I used to produce for a Sinclair station in Utah. One morning, corporate told my EP that we HAD TO do a live satellite interview with an author who wrote an “expose”-type book President Obama. Given the title, author bio & summary of the book...posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:37 AM on April 5, 2018 [174 favorites]
my EP and I could tell that this was going to be an incredibly biased interview. But because Sinclair told us it HAD TO BE LIVE we had no time to prepare any sort of non-biased/balanced/fair coverage...
So instead of doing the interview on live TV, we faked out Sinclair by pretending to do the interview during a commercial break — complete with Q&A, graphics, etc. to make corporate THINK we did the interview without ever putting it on TV.
There were lots of other issues with Sinclair, but that’s the one that sticks with me personally.
The Atlantic re: Kevin D Williamson
posted by Existential Dread at 11:46 AM on April 5, 2018 [47 favorites]
From Jeffrey Goldberg's letter to staff: "The language he used in this podcast—and in my conversations with him in recent days—made it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views."NYT, re: Quinn Norton
Despite our review of Quinn Norton's work and our conversations with her previous employers, this was new information to us. Based on it, we've decided to go our separate ways.Hard to decide which excuse is shittier: we vetted this person but had no idea about all her public statements, or we knew all about this person's public statements but decided not to believe him.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:46 AM on April 5, 2018 [47 favorites]
One task that far too many news sources fail at: understanding that certain views aren't somehow too shitty to be held sincerely by real-life people. It's a combination of projection and tunnel vision. (That, mixed with enough internal normalization of the shittiness in question that it doesn't immediately repulse editors enough to refuse publishing them regardless of the sincerity of the views. Williamson wouldn't have been hired if he'd once made a personal threat about Goldberg, even if he tried taking it back as a "joke" or whatever.)
This is one motivator for the standard Trump-voter articles -- "Okay, but given that they can't really believe this stuff, because this stuff is inherently beyond the pale... what's actually going on here?"
I know that listing the publications that seem less prone to this (e.g the New Yorker) is a jinx... but risking that nonetheless, I'd say Vox is one of the few to get it, at least when it comes to their analysis of Trump's effect on legitimizing toxicity.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:47 AM on April 5, 2018 [38 favorites]
This is one motivator for the standard Trump-voter articles -- "Okay, but given that they can't really believe this stuff, because this stuff is inherently beyond the pale... what's actually going on here?"
I know that listing the publications that seem less prone to this (e.g the New Yorker) is a jinx... but risking that nonetheless, I'd say Vox is one of the few to get it, at least when it comes to their analysis of Trump's effect on legitimizing toxicity.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:47 AM on April 5, 2018 [38 favorites]
In 2018, journalism that is Genuinely Fair and Genuinely Balanced requires rejecting the dangerous lies of authoritarian hatred. It requires the field of debate to be the field of basic respect for human dignity. It requires an outspoken opposition to the increasingly powerful political forces who wish to punish human beings based on their culture and identity.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:50 AM on April 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:50 AM on April 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
the fertile soil of fascism isn’t the stressed rural poor, it’s frat boys and prep school students and small business owners.
Well - sort of. The leadership of the current fascist movement isn’t the rural poor, because the rural poor are struggling to survive and don’t have the copious free time to work on creating a fascist state in the United States.
But they - like the poor of many other areas - are fertile soil for anyone who is willing to take the time and effort to organize with them. In some places, it’s Redneck Revolt, or the IWW, or the DSA. In some places, it’s fascists. It’s whoever is promising to “get the bosses off their back.”
And I think making those frat boys and prep school students public is key to this. To show that in fact, the people fomenting turmoil and calls to “drain the swamp” are in fact feeders on that swamp or people who profit on that swamp, people who will not be impacted by any laws applied to rural populations. So exposes like this are actually really crucial.
posted by corb at 11:51 AM on April 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
Well - sort of. The leadership of the current fascist movement isn’t the rural poor, because the rural poor are struggling to survive and don’t have the copious free time to work on creating a fascist state in the United States.
But they - like the poor of many other areas - are fertile soil for anyone who is willing to take the time and effort to organize with them. In some places, it’s Redneck Revolt, or the IWW, or the DSA. In some places, it’s fascists. It’s whoever is promising to “get the bosses off their back.”
And I think making those frat boys and prep school students public is key to this. To show that in fact, the people fomenting turmoil and calls to “drain the swamp” are in fact feeders on that swamp or people who profit on that swamp, people who will not be impacted by any laws applied to rural populations. So exposes like this are actually really crucial.
posted by corb at 11:51 AM on April 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
In 2018, journalism that is Genuinely Fair and Genuinely Balanced requires rejecting the dangerous lies of authoritarian hatred. It requires the field of debate to be the field of basic respect for human dignity. It requires an outspoken opposition to the increasingly powerful political forces who wish to punish human beings based on their culture and identity.
In other words, the media needs to embrace its liberalism.
posted by Gelatin at 11:53 AM on April 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
In other words, the media needs to embrace its liberalism.
posted by Gelatin at 11:53 AM on April 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Great, now let’s get Jeffrey Goldberg, the stupidest man in the world, fired too. He is obviously unfit.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:54 AM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 11:54 AM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
Trump is supposed to be talking about tax reform in West Virginia, but has instead launched into a greatest-hits parade of ranting about MS-13 cutting people up. And he’s brought back an old fan favorite, rigged elections:
Trump holds up what were supposed to be his brief introductory remarks on tax reform. "That would've been a little boring. A little boring," he says.posted by zachlipton at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
Trump boasts about winning West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. He claims that 20,000 to 25,000 people were unable to get in to his sold-out 2016 campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia.
Trump holds up what were supposed to be his brief introductory remarks on tax reform. "That would've been a little boring. A little boring," he says.
WGBH's David Bernstein writes the four progressives running for the open DA seat in Suffolk County (Boston and three suburbs) could split the vote and hand the election to a candidate (and current assistant DA) who is the only one to oppose a criminal-reform bill that recently passed the state legislature by overwhelming margins (only five Republicans in the House opposed it).
posted by adamg at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by adamg at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is one motivator for the standard Trump-voter articles -- "Okay, but given that they can't really believe this stuff, because this stuff is inherently beyond the pale... what's actually going on here?"
Yes, but it works the other way around as well, many conservatives honestly can't believe that liberals would actually share their means for a better society, which is why they imagine that our politics are performative and hypocritical. Yes, they are racist and bigoted, but they are also narrow-minded in the sense that they can't imagine other people having different values. I see this most often with people who think money is the only motivator in the universe. As a consequence, they see people who choose to be nurses or teachers or gardeners as failed humans, people who have had to take a lower path because they weren't smart enough to be investment bankers or reality TV personalities.
posted by mumimor at 12:02 PM on April 5, 2018 [91 favorites]
Yes, but it works the other way around as well, many conservatives honestly can't believe that liberals would actually share their means for a better society, which is why they imagine that our politics are performative and hypocritical. Yes, they are racist and bigoted, but they are also narrow-minded in the sense that they can't imagine other people having different values. I see this most often with people who think money is the only motivator in the universe. As a consequence, they see people who choose to be nurses or teachers or gardeners as failed humans, people who have had to take a lower path because they weren't smart enough to be investment bankers or reality TV personalities.
posted by mumimor at 12:02 PM on April 5, 2018 [91 favorites]
I copy/pasted wrong. Should have been:
Also, he literally threw his speech into the air. Which probably made speechwriter Stephen Miller sad, so I’m ok with that.
posted by zachlipton at 12:06 PM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
! Trump repeats his wild lie about voter fraud, baselessly claiming that "millions" of people are committing crimes: "in many places, like California, the same person votes many times...they always likes to say that's a conspiracy theory. It's not a conspiracy theory."By definition, a theory under which millions of people join together to commit crimes together is a...conspiracy theory.
Also, he literally threw his speech into the air. Which probably made speechwriter Stephen Miller sad, so I’m ok with that.
posted by zachlipton at 12:06 PM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
The political imagination of an entire country in general but of the respectable op-ed upper class types specifically is extremly artificially limited. Whatever you want to call the Washington Consensus (neoliberalism, both sideism, etc) it’s clear that it doesn’t work. Literally anything is possible now.
posted by The Whelk at 12:07 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 12:07 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
One task that far too many news sources fail at: understanding that certain views aren't somehow too shitty to be held sincerely by real-life people. It's a combination of projection and tunnel vision. (That, mixed with enough internal normalization of the shittiness in question that it doesn't immediately repulse editors enough to refuse publishing them regardless of the sincerity of the views. Williamson wouldn't have been hired if he'd once made a personal threat about Goldberg, even if he tried taking it back as a "joke" or whatever.)
I've said it before, but I'll repeat - I think we somehow got shunted into the High Weirdness By Mail parallel universe, where all of a sudden, the cranks and weirdos profiled in the book are now in charge. I had the original book in 1990 or so and thought, "ha ha look at the freaks!" I mean, that's how Nazis and extreme-right-wing politics were presented! As weird shit, not stuff that real people who vote actually believe! Ah, the innocence of a bygone era...
But now I'm re-reading the old MeFi thread with a more anthropological eye. Maybe it's time for journalists and pundits to do the same - there are real people who really believe this stuff and they vote, and lots of us Nice Liberals (tm) didn't and still don't quite believe it. Here is where humanities and social science education comes in so handy - it might not lead to a six-figure income but it does lead to insight about the world.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:10 PM on April 5, 2018 [26 favorites]
I've said it before, but I'll repeat - I think we somehow got shunted into the High Weirdness By Mail parallel universe, where all of a sudden, the cranks and weirdos profiled in the book are now in charge. I had the original book in 1990 or so and thought, "ha ha look at the freaks!" I mean, that's how Nazis and extreme-right-wing politics were presented! As weird shit, not stuff that real people who vote actually believe! Ah, the innocence of a bygone era...
But now I'm re-reading the old MeFi thread with a more anthropological eye. Maybe it's time for journalists and pundits to do the same - there are real people who really believe this stuff and they vote, and lots of us Nice Liberals (tm) didn't and still don't quite believe it. Here is where humanities and social science education comes in so handy - it might not lead to a six-figure income but it does lead to insight about the world.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:10 PM on April 5, 2018 [26 favorites]
Also, he literally threw his speech into the air. Which probably made speechwriter Stephen Miller sad, so I’m ok with that.
ha ha remember when we elected (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ president that was great
i'm sure that every republican member of congress is super jazzed that the president is blowing off the one issue they're not afraid to run on and ranting about imaginary voter fraud instead. at least this way they'll have a prepared excuse when they lose.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:11 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
ha ha remember when we elected (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ president that was great
i'm sure that every republican member of congress is super jazzed that the president is blowing off the one issue they're not afraid to run on and ranting about imaginary voter fraud instead. at least this way they'll have a prepared excuse when they lose.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:11 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
InsideEPA: Rob Porter, a top former aide to President Donald Trump who was fired earlier this year over domestic abuse allegations, is reportedly a source of information about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's ethical transgressions that are threatening his future at the agency, after Porter's relationship with a top former Pruitt aide soured, sources say.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:18 PM on April 5, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:18 PM on April 5, 2018 [41 favorites]
I’ve seen a lot of folks in this administration come under attack with help from the White House, but the sustained multi-dimensional attack on Pruitt is something else. And I’m really curious who in the administration keeps throwing him under the bus (on preview, ah, that’s certainly unexpected). Just now, we have:
CBS, Scott Pruitt asked to use sirens in D.C. traffic and was told no for non-emergency
CBS, Scott Pruitt asked to use sirens in D.C. traffic and was told no for non-emergency
Several weeks after taking the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Scott Pruitt was running late and stuck in Washington, D.C., traffic. Sources tell CBS News that he wanted to use his vehicle's lights and sirens to get to his official appointment, but the lead agent in charge of his security detail advised him that sirens were to be used only in emergencies.This guy’s replacement then started handing out contracts:
Less than two weeks later that agent was removed from Pruitt's detail, reassigned to a new job within the EPA.
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Tom Carper also said in the letter that they want to know why Perrotta and one of his business partners received an EPA security contract. Perrotta, they noted, citing the Associated Press, runs a side business called the Sequoia Security Group. His business partner, Edwin Steinmetz, who runs another security company, was awarded a $3,000 contract to sweep Pruitt's office for bugs. "Two other contracts," both under the $3,500 threshold for public reporting, "were given for the purchase of biometric locks."Meanwhile, from the Daily Beast, Scott Pruitt’s Lobbyist Landlord Did, In Fact, Lobby The EPA:
“Mr. Hart,” Pruitt claimed in an recent interview with Fox News on Wednesday, “has no clients who have business before this agency.”posted by zachlipton at 12:19 PM on April 5, 2018 [59 favorites]
A review of lobbying disclosure forms and publicly-listed EPA records, however, suggests that Pruitt is either lying or is woefully unfamiliar with the operations of his own agency.
Far from being removed from any EPA-related interests, Hart was personally representing a natural gas company, an airline giant, and a major manufacturer that had business before the agency at the time he was also renting out a room to Pruitt. One of his clients is currently battling the EPA in court over an order to pay more than $100 million in environmental cleanup costs.
Literally anything is possible now.
"The American version of the politics of inevitability is something like, the free market’s going to bring about democracy and happiness, and those are just the rules and there’s not really much that can be done one way or the other. Eventually you hit some sort of a crisis where it dawns on you that progress is not automatic. It dawns on you that there aren’t really rules to history."
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:22 PM on April 5, 2018 [25 favorites]
"The American version of the politics of inevitability is something like, the free market’s going to bring about democracy and happiness, and those are just the rules and there’s not really much that can be done one way or the other. Eventually you hit some sort of a crisis where it dawns on you that progress is not automatic. It dawns on you that there aren’t really rules to history."
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:22 PM on April 5, 2018 [25 favorites]
Pruitt's colleagues -- or whomever -- certainly do seem to have it out for him, although given all the corrupt acts he's said to have committed, Pruitt seems to have it out for himself, too.
posted by notyou at 12:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by notyou at 12:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
This would be my drawing of EPA head Scott Pruitt, whom I attempted to render as a cloudy, toxic waste site, which he is.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:32 PM on April 5, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:32 PM on April 5, 2018 [42 favorites]
I’ve seen a lot of folks in this administration come under attack with help from the White House, but the sustained multi-dimensional attack on Pruitt is something else.
The hits just keep on coming. The Washington Post reports, via leaks through several anonymous officials:
The hits just keep on coming. The Washington Post reports, via leaks through several anonymous officials:
White House officials also are uneasy with the administrator’s recent publicity push with conservative media outlets, including his appearance on Fox News.posted by Doktor Zed at 12:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Pruitt and EPA officials were warned against his sitting down with Fox and other outlets. The same message was later relayed by Chief of Staff John F. Kelly in a phone call, with Kelly expressing dissatisfaction with Pruitt’s previous interviews, according to a senior White House official. But the administrator continued his media tour.
Questions surrounding Pruitt’s public account of his management decisions have been sharpened by recent revelations about his unusual rental arrangement last year.
The lease, for example, provided for the use of a single room. “All other space is controlled by the landlord,” it stated. But several EPA officials have confirmed that Pruitt’s adult daughter stayed in the condo apartment’s second bedroom for a period when she was working at the White House last year.[...]
Samantha Dravis, a longtime adviser who serves as senior counsel and associate administrator in EPA’s Office of Policy, submitted her resignation last week to work in the private sector. Her decision to leave is unrelated to Pruitt’s recent ethics woes, according to several agency officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter. But it comes at a time when he is relying on an increasingly narrow set of advisers to navigate decision-making.
The American version of the politics of inevitability
The inevitable counter being the politics of eternity: "An eternity politician seduces the populace with a vision of the past in which the nation was once great, only to be sullied by some external enemy. This focus on the past and on victimhood means people think less about possible futures, less about possible solutions to real problems."
Once Snyder's concept of politics-of-inevitability paving the way for politics-of-eternity gets in your head, it's impossible not to see it everywhere you look.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:36 PM on April 5, 2018 [28 favorites]
The inevitable counter being the politics of eternity: "An eternity politician seduces the populace with a vision of the past in which the nation was once great, only to be sullied by some external enemy. This focus on the past and on victimhood means people think less about possible futures, less about possible solutions to real problems."
Once Snyder's concept of politics-of-inevitability paving the way for politics-of-eternity gets in your head, it's impossible not to see it everywhere you look.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:36 PM on April 5, 2018 [28 favorites]
~Trump repeats his wild lie about voter fraud, baselessly claiming that "millions" of people are committing crimes: "in many places, like California, the same person votes many times...
~He claims that 20,000 to 25,000 people were unable to get in to his sold-out 2016 campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia.
If nothing else, this...president...pretty much proves you can get away with just bald-faced lying to the public, and suffer zero fallout. It’s disheartening, to say the least.
That he’s still fixated on the election is troubling.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:40 PM on April 5, 2018 [21 favorites]
~He claims that 20,000 to 25,000 people were unable to get in to his sold-out 2016 campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia.
If nothing else, this...president...pretty much proves you can get away with just bald-faced lying to the public, and suffer zero fallout. It’s disheartening, to say the least.
That he’s still fixated on the election is troubling.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:40 PM on April 5, 2018 [21 favorites]
The inevitable counter being the politics of eternity
Well in the interview, at least, he doesn't claim "inevitability" and "eternity" are the only two choices.
Since 2016 I've been living in, as the meme says, "That horrifying moment when you're looking for an adult, then realize you're an adult. So you look for an older adult, someone successfully adulting...an adultier adult." But we're the grown-ups now and we have to be the ones to fix stuff.
Or as Cory Booker said, "The arc of the universe does not just naturally curve toward justice -- we must bend it."
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:47 PM on April 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
Well in the interview, at least, he doesn't claim "inevitability" and "eternity" are the only two choices.
What I mean by the politics of responsibility is the attempt to create a political system that makes sense over the course of one life, where there’s enough equality that young people think the system is not stacked against them and that they can grow up without resentment. [...] What I’m trying to do is to keep us sliding from the first thing to the other thing — from the dream to the nightmare. I’m trying to get us to wake up and just take our little bit of responsibility for this world.I'm reallly going to have to read the book. This captures really well the way things feel to me since 2016. "There really is good and evil. Some things really are better and some things really are worse" and "there aren’t really rules to history" and "Responsibility fundamentally involves caring what’s true and what’s not."
Since 2016 I've been living in, as the meme says, "That horrifying moment when you're looking for an adult, then realize you're an adult. So you look for an older adult, someone successfully adulting...an adultier adult." But we're the grown-ups now and we have to be the ones to fix stuff.
Or as Cory Booker said, "The arc of the universe does not just naturally curve toward justice -- we must bend it."
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:47 PM on April 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
Samantha Dravis, a longtime adviser who serves as senior counsel and associate administrator in EPA’s Office of Policy, submitted her resignation last week to work in the private sector. Her decision to leave is unrelated to Pruitt’s recent ethics woes, according to several agency officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter. But it comes at a time when he is relying on an increasingly narrow set of advisers to navigate decision-making.
You'd think it's unrelated, but actually nope!
You'd think it's unrelated, but actually nope!
InsideEPA, an EPA trade sheet, reports that Scott Pruitt’s downfall is the work of disgraced former White House aide Rob Porter, who leaked damaging information against Pruitt to retaliate against a former girlfriend who told White House officials about his history of domestic violence. As was basically reported at the time, Porter’s downfall seems to have started when a former girlfriend, Samantha Dravis, went to White House officials and told them what she knew about Porter’s past, particularly his abuse of two ex-wives. Dravis was a top aide to Scott Pruitt, the EPA Administrator.posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:48 PM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
Washington Post: Why Mitch McConnell is bragging about holding up Merrick Garland from the Supreme Court, two years later
Criticism of the article: it'd save a lot of digital ink for it to just say "Because he's a sociopathic traitor scumfuck."
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:48 PM on April 5, 2018 [74 favorites]
Criticism of the article: it'd save a lot of digital ink for it to just say "Because he's a sociopathic traitor scumfuck."
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:48 PM on April 5, 2018 [74 favorites]
cjelli: "You can get away with a lot of things for a while. That's not to say you can get away with them forever."
"If something cannot go on, it will stop." -- Herb Stein
posted by Chrysostom at 12:49 PM on April 5, 2018
"If something cannot go on, it will stop." -- Herb Stein
posted by Chrysostom at 12:49 PM on April 5, 2018
Well in the interview, at least, he doesn't claim "inevitability" and "eternity" are the only two choices.
Right: you need a progressive vision of the future than can be actively worked toward. Otherwise you're going to fall into inevitability or eternity, and once you get into inevitability it's hard to keep it from flipping to eternity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Right: you need a progressive vision of the future than can be actively worked toward. Otherwise you're going to fall into inevitability or eternity, and once you get into inevitability it's hard to keep it from flipping to eternity.
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
~Trump repeats his wild lie about voter fraud, baselessly claiming that "millions" of people are committing crimes: "in many places, like California, the same person votes many times...
How do we get someone to call him out on this? Seriously?
- Is this a thing we expect a politician in CA to give a press conference about?
- Does the CA Secretary of State hold a press conference, and then make a formal request, for the President to share any proof of voter fraud he has with them?
- Do we tweet this at Arnold, and have him call Donny out on twitter, so it bubbles up and gets under his skin?
I think it is dangerous to allow this to go unanswered: His base heard it, his base believes it. This is part of the narrative that makes people support voter disenfranchisement .
How do we get him (or, realistically, someone in his administration) to walk it back, publicly?
posted by das_2099 at 12:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [41 favorites]
How do we get someone to call him out on this? Seriously?
- Is this a thing we expect a politician in CA to give a press conference about?
- Does the CA Secretary of State hold a press conference, and then make a formal request, for the President to share any proof of voter fraud he has with them?
- Do we tweet this at Arnold, and have him call Donny out on twitter, so it bubbles up and gets under his skin?
I think it is dangerous to allow this to go unanswered: His base heard it, his base believes it. This is part of the narrative that makes people support voter disenfranchisement .
How do we get him (or, realistically, someone in his administration) to walk it back, publicly?
posted by das_2099 at 12:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [41 favorites]
Not that anything is too stupid for this crowd, but targeting someone because you're angry with one of their employees seems super weird.
posted by phearlez at 12:53 PM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by phearlez at 12:53 PM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
If sheer pettiness is what eventually saves the republic, I won’t complain.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:54 PM on April 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:54 PM on April 5, 2018 [16 favorites]
Not that anything is too stupid for this crowd, but targeting someone because you're angry with one of their employees seems super weird.
He isn't targetting the employer...her's targetting the ex. Where do you think he got the info re: all of the shady things Pruitt is doing? I don't think Pruitt and Porter are hanging out, sharing stories of how they have defrauded the government. I think Dravis told Porter about it.
He is trying to hit her...so he is bombing her boss. And, from that perspective, it worked:
She is leaving, he is under scrutiny.
It is super scummy, and just the sort of thing you could expect from someone that is a serial abuser.
posted by das_2099 at 12:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
He isn't targetting the employer...her's targetting the ex. Where do you think he got the info re: all of the shady things Pruitt is doing? I don't think Pruitt and Porter are hanging out, sharing stories of how they have defrauded the government. I think Dravis told Porter about it.
He is trying to hit her...so he is bombing her boss. And, from that perspective, it worked:
She is leaving, he is under scrutiny.
It is super scummy, and just the sort of thing you could expect from someone that is a serial abuser.
posted by das_2099 at 12:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
> Also, he literally threw his speech into the air.
Look at the other people in that fucking photo, shaking their heads at what an OUTRAGEOUS CHARACTER we all have in President Trump, laughing uproariously at his whimsical japes, and just, you know, eating his shit by the barrelful. When do you think the last time someone gave that god damn jackass any substantive criticism to his face was?
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:05 PM on April 5, 2018 [44 favorites]
Look at the other people in that fucking photo, shaking their heads at what an OUTRAGEOUS CHARACTER we all have in President Trump, laughing uproariously at his whimsical japes, and just, you know, eating his shit by the barrelful. When do you think the last time someone gave that god damn jackass any substantive criticism to his face was?
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:05 PM on April 5, 2018 [44 favorites]
I simply meant that it doesn't seem like Dravis is getting splattered with any of this crappy stuff Pruitt is doing, so leaking information about Pruitt to get to her is pretty indirect. But I guess it's possible the point was to damage her relationship with her boss and, being a abuser garbage person, he'll use any tactic he can come up with to hurt her. Perhaps the resignation is a jump-or-be-pushed because Pruitt is blaming her for Porter's action, in which case Porter is succeeding.
posted by phearlez at 1:06 PM on April 5, 2018
posted by phearlez at 1:06 PM on April 5, 2018
Nazi update: Nazis are rallying on Runescape
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:16 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:16 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yes, they are racist and bigoted, but they are also narrow-minded in the sense that they can't imagine other people having different values.
See also the standard defense when called out for racism: "I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking!"
No, not everyone else is thinking that. Mostly just you, racist dude.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
See also the standard defense when called out for racism: "I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking!"
No, not everyone else is thinking that. Mostly just you, racist dude.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
CNN: President Trump considered replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week, despite the EPA head's ongoing scandals.
Sure. Why not? This somehow wasn’t stupid enough.
posted by zachlipton at 1:24 PM on April 5, 2018 [58 favorites]
Sure. Why not? This somehow wasn’t stupid enough.
posted by zachlipton at 1:24 PM on April 5, 2018 [58 favorites]
President Trump considered replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week, despite the EPA head's ongoing scandals.
For those confused, this is because Pruitt is a) an attorney and b) already confirmed by the Senate and so could become Acting Attorney General overseeing Special Counsel Mueller.
Yerp.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:28 PM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
For those confused, this is because Pruitt is a) an attorney and b) already confirmed by the Senate and so could become Acting Attorney General overseeing Special Counsel Mueller.
Yerp.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:28 PM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
It's horrifying to think that one of the few things that could save us from a complete constitutional crisis is Scott Pruitt's daughter's summer internship.
posted by suelac at 1:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [51 favorites]
posted by suelac at 1:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [51 favorites]
Jeffrey Goldberg/The Atlantic's "we thought he was just kidding" excuse over Kevin Williamson also perfectly applies to the 'Liberal Press' treatment of Donald Trump for YEARS because he was "entertaining"/"good copy". So, do we measure Williamson's tenure in less-than-a-Scaramucci or in X-times-Quinn-Norton?
Every time Trump rants about "voter fraud", my "Trump's Mirror" alarm goes off - either he is damned well aware that his electoral victory in some key states was due to ratfucking the vote much more directly than has yet been revealed, or he's telling his surviving minions to work harder on ratfucking the midterms.
And we all should know that Melania has never been allowed to give the Donald any substantive criticism to his face under threat of deportation.
Pruitt would be a perfect AttorneyGeneral/Accomplice for Trump - they think alike, in all the worst ways.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:32 PM on April 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
Every time Trump rants about "voter fraud", my "Trump's Mirror" alarm goes off - either he is damned well aware that his electoral victory in some key states was due to ratfucking the vote much more directly than has yet been revealed, or he's telling his surviving minions to work harder on ratfucking the midterms.
And we all should know that Melania has never been allowed to give the Donald any substantive criticism to his face under threat of deportation.
Pruitt would be a perfect AttorneyGeneral/Accomplice for Trump - they think alike, in all the worst ways.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:32 PM on April 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
BuzzFeed: These Messages Show Julian Assange Talked About Seeking Hacked Files From Guccifer 2.0
Relatedly, CNN reports that Roger Stone, on day he sent Assange dinner email, also said 'devastating' WikiLeaks were forthcoming:
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
Relatedly, CNN reports that Roger Stone, on day he sent Assange dinner email, also said 'devastating' WikiLeaks were forthcoming:
Roger Stone appeared on the InfoWars radio show the same day he sent an email claiming he dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- and he predicted "devastating" upcoming disclosures about the Clinton Foundation.By the way, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Roger Stone never gave the House Intelligence Committee a copy of the email, now leaked to the press, in which he claimed to have "dined" with WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange. (Washington Examiner)
Stone's comments in his August 4, 2016, appearance are the earliest known time he claimed to know of forthcoming WikiLeaks documents. A CNN KFile timeline shows that on August 10, 2016, Stone claimed to have "actually communicated with Julian Assange."[...]
In the interview with Jones on InfoWars, Stone said that he believed Assange had proof of wrongdoing at the Clinton Foundation.
"The Clinton campaign narrative that the Russians favor Donald Trump and the Russians are leaking this information, this is inoculation because as you said earlier, they know what is coming and it is devastating," Stone said in the InfoWars interview. "Let's remember that their defense to all the Clinton Foundation scandals is not that 'we didn't do,' but 'you have no proof, yes but you have no proof.'
"I think Julian Assange has that proof and I think he is going to furnish it for the American people," Stone said.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
This Town Just Banned Assault Weapons. Anyone Who Refuses To Give Theirs Up Will Be Fined $1,000 A Day.
posted by Artw at 1:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [47 favorites]
posted by Artw at 1:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [47 favorites]
Every time Trump rants about "voter fraud", my "Trump's Mirror" alarm goes off - either he is damned well aware that his electoral victory in some key states was due to ratfucking the vote much more directly than has yet been revealed, or he's telling his surviving minions to work harder on ratfucking the midterms.
Or that deep down in his incompetent soul, he knows his election was illegitimate.
posted by Gelatin at 1:35 PM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
Or that deep down in his incompetent soul, he knows his election was illegitimate.
posted by Gelatin at 1:35 PM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
This Town Just Banned Assault Weapons. Anyone Who Refuses To Give Theirs Up Will Be Fined $1,000 A Day.
I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, but... surely this is a violation of the takings clause?
posted by BungaDunga at 1:38 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, but... surely this is a violation of the takings clause?
posted by BungaDunga at 1:38 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
And we all should know that Melania has never been allowed to give the Donald any substantive criticism to his face under threat of deportation.
I think there would also be "Fear of what happens to people who mess up Putin's plans," in there as well.
It's horrifying to think that one of the few things that could save us from a complete constitutional crisis is Scott Pruitt's daughter's summer internship.
I don't even care, whatever it takes. Pee tape, internship shenanigans, complete dumbfuckery, if it contributes to taking Trump down I'm good.
Pruitt's overall pattern seems to be "Grift big, as often as possible," to the point of absurdity; it's not like he could not afford his own legal lodgings, but what would be the fun of doing that without somehow doing a shady deal at the same time?
posted by emjaybee at 1:42 PM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
I think there would also be "Fear of what happens to people who mess up Putin's plans," in there as well.
It's horrifying to think that one of the few things that could save us from a complete constitutional crisis is Scott Pruitt's daughter's summer internship.
I don't even care, whatever it takes. Pee tape, internship shenanigans, complete dumbfuckery, if it contributes to taking Trump down I'm good.
Pruitt's overall pattern seems to be "Grift big, as often as possible," to the point of absurdity; it's not like he could not afford his own legal lodgings, but what would be the fun of doing that without somehow doing a shady deal at the same time?
posted by emjaybee at 1:42 PM on April 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
NYT, Job Changes for E.P.A. Officials Who Questioned Scott Pruitt:
posted by zachlipton at 1:44 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.Pruitt is obviously an ethical (and environmental) disaster, but it's clear with the amount of attention being directed to his nonsense and not to others' that there's a very organized campaign afoot.
The concerns included unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail, according to people who worked for or with the E.P.A. and have direct knowledge of the situation.
Mr. Pruitt bristled when the officials — four career E.P.A. employees and one Trump administration political appointee — confronted him, the people said.
The political appointee, Kevin Chmielewski, was placed on administrative leave without pay, according to two of the people with knowledge of the situation. Mr. Chmielewski was among the first employees of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, serving as a senior advance official. The two people, who are administration officials, said that Mr. Chmielewski flagged some of his concerns about Mr. Pruitt directly to the White House’s presidential personnel office.
...
Mr. Allen, a decorated 30-year retired Army officer, was transferred to a different office within the E.P.A., where he mostly works alone, according to two agency officials, one of whom described the setup as “an unmarked grave.”
posted by zachlipton at 1:44 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, but... surely this is a violation of the takings clause?
I assume they know that and are prepared with a substitute ban, and are trying to use this as a “this is how serious we are” rather than “we are literally going to fine everyone who may not even have heard of this law the price of their house for keeping a magazine.”
posted by corb at 1:45 PM on April 5, 2018
I assume they know that and are prepared with a substitute ban, and are trying to use this as a “this is how serious we are” rather than “we are literally going to fine everyone who may not even have heard of this law the price of their house for keeping a magazine.”
posted by corb at 1:45 PM on April 5, 2018
I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, but... surely this is a violation of the takings clause?
Aha, the argument is that it's not a taking if the state isn't taking it for its own benefit, but is melting them down or whatever.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Aha, the argument is that it's not a taking if the state isn't taking it for its own benefit, but is melting them down or whatever.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Anonymous post from at least one Sinclair employee wishing they could quit.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:48 PM on April 5, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:48 PM on April 5, 2018 [21 favorites]
"I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, but... surely this is a violation of the takings clause?"
The mayor of Highland Park, whose similar ordinance survived constitutional scrutiny, is a long-time opponent of the NRA and she ran for Illinois attorney general this year (didn't win). The Deerfield ordinance stands a very good chance of surviving, since the 7th Circuit has already ruled these constitutional in Illinois.
There are also not that many gun owners in Deerfield (half the people who spoke against the ordinance were imported from out of town), and definitely it's a town where a lot of people can afford a $1000/day fine.
"“we are literally going to fine everyone who may not even have heard of this law the price of their house for keeping a magazine.”"
Oh, they are totally going to do that. (Also, it's a town of 19,000 people, everyone will have heard about it, and the median home value is around $500,000, that's a lot of days to refuse to comply.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
The mayor of Highland Park, whose similar ordinance survived constitutional scrutiny, is a long-time opponent of the NRA and she ran for Illinois attorney general this year (didn't win). The Deerfield ordinance stands a very good chance of surviving, since the 7th Circuit has already ruled these constitutional in Illinois.
There are also not that many gun owners in Deerfield (half the people who spoke against the ordinance were imported from out of town), and definitely it's a town where a lot of people can afford a $1000/day fine.
"“we are literally going to fine everyone who may not even have heard of this law the price of their house for keeping a magazine.”"
Oh, they are totally going to do that. (Also, it's a town of 19,000 people, everyone will have heard about it, and the median home value is around $500,000, that's a lot of days to refuse to comply.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
(Also in the above story, a rejected proposal to spend $70,000 on bulletproof desks (yes, more than one) and a request to use lights and sirens to get to dinner at Le Diplomate.)
posted by zachlipton at 1:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 1:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Is the nature of a punishment for noncompliance relevant to the takings clause? My completely non-expert reading of it tells me that it's only about compensation -- as in the amount given to someone who complies, not the amount taken from someone who doesn't. Excessive fines might be considered cruel and unusual, and this might be legally questionable on other grounds, but not a failure of "just compensation". How far off am I?
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:58 PM on April 5, 2018
posted by InTheYear2017 at 1:58 PM on April 5, 2018
I feel like Scott Pruitt is going to need his own Wiki just to keep track of the number of scandal hits in the last two weeks. The NYT story linked above is the real deal - look at the credentials being bandied about here:
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:59 PM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, also raised questions about Mr. Pruitt’s spending, according to three E.P.A. officials. He remains in his job but is considering resigning, agency officials said. Mr. Jackson came to the agency from the office of Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, who like Mr. Pruitt had been a major critic of regulatory moves made under President Barack Obama, and is a prominent climate change skeptic.When even Inhofe's employee can't stomach your corruption, hoo boy...
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:59 PM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
@jeffzeleny: President Trump says he did not know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Asked why Cohen made payment, Trump said: "You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen is my attorney you’ll have to ask him." Trump adds he did not know where Cohen got money
posted by zachlipton at 2:01 PM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 2:01 PM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
I'd love to see this assault weapons ban hold up in Illinois. In Arizona, jurisdictions can't melt down seized or surrendered guns or otherwise destroy them. They can't keep them indefinitely. They have to sell them. The GOP legislators have told the courts that it is in the best interests of the state to increase the supply of guns. I wish I were making this up.
posted by azpenguin at 2:02 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 2:02 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
And Josh Marshall tweets: So Scott Pruitt's Downfall Came When Disgraced WH Aide Rob Porter Leaked his Ethics Stuff Because Pruitt's Top Aide Was Porter's Ex-Girlfriend Who Spilled the Beans about Porter's Domestic Abuse. Got that?
It's really a perfect Ouroboros of corruption, tangled and twisting and eating its own tail.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:03 PM on April 5, 2018 [44 favorites]
It's really a perfect Ouroboros of corruption, tangled and twisting and eating its own tail.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:03 PM on April 5, 2018 [44 favorites]
@jeffzeleny: President Trump says he did not know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Asked why Cohen made payment, Trump said: "You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen is my attorney you’ll have to ask him." Trump adds he did not know where Cohen got money
Welp then. Now he's throwing Cohen under the bus. Cohen could be at risk for serious sanctions here, and I'd like to see him decide to save his own bacon by giving up the goods on Trump. Will it happen? I doubt it. I'd love to see it.
posted by azpenguin at 2:04 PM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
Welp then. Now he's throwing Cohen under the bus. Cohen could be at risk for serious sanctions here, and I'd like to see him decide to save his own bacon by giving up the goods on Trump. Will it happen? I doubt it. I'd love to see it.
posted by azpenguin at 2:04 PM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
It looks like the Highland Park ordinance was actually tailored pretty well, providing for a maximum fine of 1000$. Leaving aside the issue of the items in question, I think the Deerfield one may not pass constitutional muster on 8th Amendment grounds against excessive fines - especially after US v. Bajakajian. Because there seems to be no limitation to the fine, it would reach the amount the Supreme Court found unconstitutional in that case in just one year, and the fine would be over the million mark in five years - it would seem to be really difficult to argue, no matter how wealthy the community, that the fine was proportional to the offense.
However, I think they wouldn’t be able to challenge that aspect - the fines themselves - unless they were actually levied against someone? So in that case, it might well hold up because it would be hard to see who would want to be the test case.
posted by corb at 2:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
However, I think they wouldn’t be able to challenge that aspect - the fines themselves - unless they were actually levied against someone? So in that case, it might well hold up because it would be hard to see who would want to be the test case.
posted by corb at 2:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
So if Trump had no knowledge the NDA on Daniels is DOA right?
posted by PenDevil at 2:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [28 favorites]
posted by PenDevil at 2:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [28 favorites]
The fines are discretionary -- $250/day to $1000/day -- and Illinois's own state fines for firearms offenses start at $2500/offense, some serious ones begin at $25,000/offense.
It's $2500/offense for possessing bottle rockets in Illinois. I don't think $250 to $1000/day is wildly out of line with other Illinois statutory fines that are routinely allowed.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:11 PM on April 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
It's $2500/offense for possessing bottle rockets in Illinois. I don't think $250 to $1000/day is wildly out of line with other Illinois statutory fines that are routinely allowed.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:11 PM on April 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
And last night on CNN, Keith Davidson, the lawyer who cut deals for Daniels and McDougal, said the whole truth has not been told. It also sounds like Mikey "Sez Who?" leaned on him hard to speak to the media: "Davidson said he was contacted in recent weeks by Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who encouraged him to go out and reveal what he knew about his clients and their agreements. He said Cohen argued that the women had waived attorney-client privilege by going public with their stories.
"'He suggested that it would be appropriate for me to go out into the media and spill my guts,' Davidson said."
And Daniels's current lawyer, Michael Avenatti/@MichaelAvenatti, sounds like he's having the time of his career with Trump's clowns: "Where have the two legal geniuses of our time, Michael Cohen and David Schwartz, gone? Forced to sit down by Mr. Trump after repeatedly making a disaster of their case on national television and being mocked by every real lawyer in America? #didtheygotolawschool #basta"
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:13 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
"'He suggested that it would be appropriate for me to go out into the media and spill my guts,' Davidson said."
And Daniels's current lawyer, Michael Avenatti/@MichaelAvenatti, sounds like he's having the time of his career with Trump's clowns: "Where have the two legal geniuses of our time, Michael Cohen and David Schwartz, gone? Forced to sit down by Mr. Trump after repeatedly making a disaster of their case on national television and being mocked by every real lawyer in America? #didtheygotolawschool #basta"
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:13 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
CNN: Lewandowski to Democrats: I'm not answering your 'f---ing' questions
"Republicans sided with Lewandowski, saying he had spent hours before the panel answering questions pertinent to the inquiry."
Wow.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
"Republicans sided with Lewandowski, saying he had spent hours before the panel answering questions pertinent to the inquiry."
Wow.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
Aaand we have a Republican Senator (Dean Heller, R-NV) admitting that gerrymandering, voter suppression, and Democratic apathy are needed for Republicans to win: US Senator Dean Heller is banking on low voter turnout as his path to victory this November (Colton Lochhead, Las Vegas Review-Journal):
“If we have 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state of Nevada or more, I can’t win,” Heller said. “Let me say that again, if we have 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state of Nevada, I can’t win. (Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Adam) Laxalt can’t win.”posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [33 favorites]
Numbers released this week by the Nevada secretary of state’s office show Democrats outnumbering Republicans in the Silver State by about 59,000. That’s down significantly from 2016, when the Democrats’ lead was nearly 90,000.
CNN: Lewandowski to Democrats: I'm not answering your 'f---ing' questions
So... is contempt of Congress not really a thing, or does it involve a 2/3 majority vote or something?
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [50 favorites]
So... is contempt of Congress not really a thing, or does it involve a 2/3 majority vote or something?
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [50 favorites]
Maybe, but half the point of what Cohen was getting paid for was to, presumably, provide exactly this kind of arms-length deniability; it seems far more like that he wasn't paying anyone $130,000 out of pure personal generosity, but was instead claiming to do so in order to specifically not implicate Trump. Cohen enabled Trump to say what he's saying today, and it seems wildly unlikely that Cohen would turn on Trump for doing the very thing Cohen set him up to do.
That's true, but I get the sense that Cohen was scrambling when he said what he did and that he hadn't thought it through. These guys are not used to the idea that someone might actually challenge the NDAs. Cohen could be disbarred depending on what the facts of the case turn out to be. Is he willing to go that far for Trump?
posted by azpenguin at 2:32 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's true, but I get the sense that Cohen was scrambling when he said what he did and that he hadn't thought it through. These guys are not used to the idea that someone might actually challenge the NDAs. Cohen could be disbarred depending on what the facts of the case turn out to be. Is he willing to go that far for Trump?
posted by azpenguin at 2:32 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Didn't Obama do the whole "throwing the speech in the air" thing first?
Though he did it after reading the whole thing as part of a mic drop.
posted by asteria at 2:42 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Though he did it after reading the whole thing as part of a mic drop.
posted by asteria at 2:42 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
How do we get someone to call him out on this? Seriously?
- Is this a thing we expect a politician in CA to give a press conference about?
- Does the CA Secretary of State hold a press conference, and then make a formal request, for the President to share any proof of voter fraud he has with them?
CNBC: Trump Tosses Out The Script — Literally — In Rant On Immigration And Voter Fraud "California's top elections official, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, said: 'It is sad the president continues to recycle the same old lies. Frankly, it is tiring to have a conspiracy theorist in the White House.'" He continued, "His dishonesty and his rants dishonor the thousands of local election officials and volunteers who who work hard to administer our elections with integrity. Trump was even forced to dissolve his sham election commission, which was a waste of taxpayer dollars and failed to provide a shred of evidence to support his voter fraud lies."
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom tweeted, "Says the guy who put together a pointless committee on this very subject that was later shut down because it failed to produce a single piece of real evidence of the “millions of illegal voters.” CA will stick with the facts, thanks. 👋🏽" and "The President of the United States is spreading conspiracy theories that flame xenophobia and racism. Even if this happens nearly every day, I refuse to allow this to be normal."
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:45 PM on April 5, 2018 [73 favorites]
- Is this a thing we expect a politician in CA to give a press conference about?
- Does the CA Secretary of State hold a press conference, and then make a formal request, for the President to share any proof of voter fraud he has with them?
CNBC: Trump Tosses Out The Script — Literally — In Rant On Immigration And Voter Fraud "California's top elections official, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, said: 'It is sad the president continues to recycle the same old lies. Frankly, it is tiring to have a conspiracy theorist in the White House.'" He continued, "His dishonesty and his rants dishonor the thousands of local election officials and volunteers who who work hard to administer our elections with integrity. Trump was even forced to dissolve his sham election commission, which was a waste of taxpayer dollars and failed to provide a shred of evidence to support his voter fraud lies."
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom tweeted, "Says the guy who put together a pointless committee on this very subject that was later shut down because it failed to produce a single piece of real evidence of the “millions of illegal voters.” CA will stick with the facts, thanks. 👋🏽" and "The President of the United States is spreading conspiracy theories that flame xenophobia and racism. Even if this happens nearly every day, I refuse to allow this to be normal."
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:45 PM on April 5, 2018 [73 favorites]
This is a crazy detail from a WaPo article about the gulf between Trump's GET TOUGH rhetoric and the realities the military faces in fighting its current wars, For Trump and his generals, ‘victory’ has different meanings
Trump came to office promising to give the Pentagon a free hand to unleash the full force of U.S. firepower. His impatience was evident on his first full day in office when he visited the CIA and was ushered up to the agency’s drone operations floor.posted by peeedro at 2:45 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
There agency officials showed him a feed from Syria, where Obama-era rules limited the agency to surveillance flights — part of a broader push by the previous administration to return the CIA to its core espionage mission and shift the job of killing terrorists to the military.
Trump urged the CIA to start arming its drones in Syria. “If you can do it in 10 days, get it done,” he said, according to two former officials familiar with the meeting.
Later, when the agency’s head of drone operations explained that the CIA had developed special munitions to limit civilian casualties, the president seemed non-plussed. Watching a previously recorded strike in which the agency held off on firing until the target had wandered away from a house with his family inside, Trump asked, “Why did you wait?” one participant in the meeting recalled.
This NYTimes piece on Pruitt is prime, including this bit: Mr. Pruitt, who often ran late, wanted to use the lights and sirens to expedite local trips in Washington to the airport or to dinner, including at least one trip to Le Diplomate, a trendy French restaurant that he frequented. Such use was not consistent with agency policy, but Mr. Weese was unsuccessful in stopping it.
He ACTUALLY USED THE LIGHTS to get to dinner because he was late. I cannot even believe it.
(Of course I'm still strung up about Pruitt sending his college-age daughter to the White House for an internship with a known predator. WTF.)
posted by suelac at 2:51 PM on April 5, 2018 [29 favorites]
He ACTUALLY USED THE LIGHTS to get to dinner because he was late. I cannot even believe it.
(Of course I'm still strung up about Pruitt sending his college-age daughter to the White House for an internship with a known predator. WTF.)
posted by suelac at 2:51 PM on April 5, 2018 [29 favorites]
Later, when the agency’s head of drone operations explained that the CIA had developed special munitions to limit civilian casualties, the president seemed non-plussed. Watching a previously recorded strike in which the agency held off on firing until the target had wandered away from a house with his family inside, Trump asked, “Why did you wait?” one participant in the meeting recalled.
He's been publicly and explicitly thirsting for the blood of innocent family members of suspected terrorists for over two years now. He wants to murder civilians (and has done so, and will continue to do so). This should be a known thing.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:51 PM on April 5, 2018 [91 favorites]
He's been publicly and explicitly thirsting for the blood of innocent family members of suspected terrorists for over two years now. He wants to murder civilians (and has done so, and will continue to do so). This should be a known thing.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:51 PM on April 5, 2018 [91 favorites]
Also, he literally threw his speech into the air.
Y'know how, when you're first feeling that wave of punchiness, and you give a little Bronx cheer and start giggling for no reason? And it's usually followed by a sigh and a slide into more laughing/crying? That's not this. It should be, but it's not.
He's losing - well, if not it, then whatever it was he had. He's literally Hopeless. He's got open field ahead of him and the trumpets and hounds of Kelly and The Generals are getting further and further away. He's headed to the gorge at top speed and he's thinking, "I'm gonna make it! Ha ha this is great!"
posted by petebest at 2:51 PM on April 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Y'know how, when you're first feeling that wave of punchiness, and you give a little Bronx cheer and start giggling for no reason? And it's usually followed by a sigh and a slide into more laughing/crying? That's not this. It should be, but it's not.
He's losing - well, if not it, then whatever it was he had. He's literally Hopeless. He's got open field ahead of him and the trumpets and hounds of Kelly and The Generals are getting further and further away. He's headed to the gorge at top speed and he's thinking, "I'm gonna make it! Ha ha this is great!"
posted by petebest at 2:51 PM on April 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
He ACTUALLY USED THE LIGHTS to get to dinner because he was late. I cannot even believe it.
Maybe a coincidence, but this awesome lifehack is something Russian oligarchs are famous for doing. It's so widespread there's a protest movement about it.
posted by theodolite at 2:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
Maybe a coincidence, but this awesome lifehack is something Russian oligarchs are famous for doing. It's so widespread there's a protest movement about it.
posted by theodolite at 2:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [39 favorites]
Talking about Trump throwing his script in the air today is a missing the forest for the trees situation. It happened during an unhinged racist rant where he claimed towns in Long Island have been liberated from an immigrant rape epidemic.
posted by peeedro at 2:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 2:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [38 favorites]
@jeffzeleny: President Trump says he did not know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Asked why Cohen made payment, Trump said: "You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen is my attorney you’ll have to ask him." Trump adds he did not know where Cohen got money
Michael Avenetti @MichaelAvenatti exults: "We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath. #searchforthetruth #basta" Seriously, "Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!! The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can't have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it. #nodiscipline #thanksforplaying #basta"
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
Michael Avenetti @MichaelAvenatti exults: "We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath. #searchforthetruth #basta" Seriously, "Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!! The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can't have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it. #nodiscipline #thanksforplaying #basta"
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:07 PM on April 5, 2018 [53 favorites]
(Of course I'm still strung up about Pruitt sending his college-age daughter to the White House for an internship with a known predator. WTF.)
Remember the scene in Jaws where the corrupt mayor is upset that the tourists are afraid to go swimming, so he coerces one of his lackeys to wade out into the probably shark-infested water, dragging his reluctant wife and unsuspecting grandchildren along with him?
Pruitt is that lackey.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:09 PM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
Remember the scene in Jaws where the corrupt mayor is upset that the tourists are afraid to go swimming, so he coerces one of his lackeys to wade out into the probably shark-infested water, dragging his reluctant wife and unsuspecting grandchildren along with him?
Pruitt is that lackey.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:09 PM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
It's been less than two hours, so it's time for the story to get even stupider again. Turns out that if you have the sweetest housing arrangement in DC, you should probably pay your damn rent on time. Politico, Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt was at times slow to pay the rent on his $50-per-night lease in a Capitol Hill condo, according to two people with knowledge of the situation — forcing his lobbyist landlord to pester him for payment.posted by zachlipton at 3:13 PM on April 5, 2018 [21 favorites]
...
Though President Donald Trump told reporters “I do, I do” when asked Thursday whether he had confidence in Pruitt, an administration official said the president has begun asking friends and advisers what he should do about Pruitt.
On his way back from an event in West Virginia, Trump said he was considering how to respond to reports about Pruitt’s activities. “I have to look at them,” Trump said. “I’ll make that determination.”
But the president said repeatedly that he thinks Pruitt has done “a fantastic job.”
“I think he’s a fantastic person,” Trump added. “I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Scott Pruitt, and they love Scott Pruitt.”
I'm just enjoying that Pruitt's ugly demise is simply collateral damage to Porter's revenge on his ex.
posted by chris24 at 3:19 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 3:19 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
So far it looks like the last reptilian standing among Trump's advisors will be Stephen Miller. What has the Nosferatu of Santa Monica been up to?
posted by benzenedream at 3:19 PM on April 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 3:19 PM on April 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
You can't have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it.
While that's true, isn't the argument Cohen is making that the parties to the agreement are Daniels and Cohen rather than Daniels and Trump? I could certainly make an NDA with a person where I pay them money and in return they don't speak about a third party. That would be perfectly legal. What I couldn't do is have that agreement bind said third party without their knowlege to also be silent. Also if I were the attorney for said third party it would be pretty goddamn dubious if I claimed to be paying the money out of the goodnews of my heart with no recompense.
But the mere fact that an agreement between two people concerns a third party is unremarkable as far as I can tell. I suppose it's hard to get into legal details on twitter what with the character limit.
posted by Justinian at 3:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
While that's true, isn't the argument Cohen is making that the parties to the agreement are Daniels and Cohen rather than Daniels and Trump? I could certainly make an NDA with a person where I pay them money and in return they don't speak about a third party. That would be perfectly legal. What I couldn't do is have that agreement bind said third party without their knowlege to also be silent. Also if I were the attorney for said third party it would be pretty goddamn dubious if I claimed to be paying the money out of the goodnews of my heart with no recompense.
But the mere fact that an agreement between two people concerns a third party is unremarkable as far as I can tell. I suppose it's hard to get into legal details on twitter what with the character limit.
posted by Justinian at 3:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental
See, I think the thing that's gonna get Pruitt shitcanned is that he has the unforgivable temerity to be a bigger, more flagrant, more petty, more vengeful grifter, narcissist, and cheapskate than his boss, and Trump won't tolerate anybody stealing his asshole spotlight.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
See, I think the thing that's gonna get Pruitt shitcanned is that he has the unforgivable temerity to be a bigger, more flagrant, more petty, more vengeful grifter, narcissist, and cheapskate than his boss, and Trump won't tolerate anybody stealing his asshole spotlight.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
given trump's severe case of oppositional defiant disorder, i wouldn't count on pruitt's demise just yet. the more people who tell trump that pruitt has to go, the more determined he'll be that he stays.
posted by murphy slaw at 3:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 3:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
While that's true, isn't the argument Cohen is making that the parties to the agreement are Daniels and Cohen rather than Daniels and Trump?
Yes, Cohen claims that Trump is just a third-party beneficiary. Of course, the fact that the NDA includes considerations provided to Daniels that only Trump himself can deliver creates problems with that, I think. IANAL and certainly not YL, bub.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:23 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Yes, Cohen claims that Trump is just a third-party beneficiary. Of course, the fact that the NDA includes considerations provided to Daniels that only Trump himself can deliver creates problems with that, I think. IANAL and certainly not YL, bub.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:23 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
So far it looks like the last reptilian standing among Trump's advisors will be Stephen Miller.
Also indestructible: Zinke. He'll be one of the last loyalists in the Trumperbunker for sure.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:23 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also indestructible: Zinke. He'll be one of the last loyalists in the Trumperbunker for sure.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:23 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yes, Cohen could write a contract between him and Stormy to prevent her from talking about Trump. I think the issue is more that there are considerations promised in the NDA that only David Dennison/Trump can agree to and deliver. If Trump doesn't even know about the contract, how could those provisions at the heart of the agreement still stand.
posted by chris24 at 3:24 PM on April 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 3:24 PM on April 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
given trump's severe case of oppositional defiant disorder, i wouldn't count on pruitt's demise just yet. the more people who tell trump that pruitt has to go, the more determined he'll be that he stays.
Counterpoint: the insulting stuff (Vox) Pruitt said about Trump in 2016 is getting a bunch of renewed publicity, so that could tip the scale.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Counterpoint: the insulting stuff (Vox) Pruitt said about Trump in 2016 is getting a bunch of renewed publicity, so that could tip the scale.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
While that's true, isn't the argument Cohen is making that the parties to the agreement are Daniels and Cohen rather than Daniels and Trump?
IANAL, but my understanding is that the problem is that all of the remedies for noncompliance with the NDA involve awarding things to "David Dennison" (trump). If he was unaware of the contract, he's not a party to it. Therefore the contract exists, but it has no provisions for enforcement.
aside from that, Daniels was convinced to sign the contract under the understanding that trump was a party to it, which is "fraud in the inducement".
posted by murphy slaw at 3:27 PM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
IANAL, but my understanding is that the problem is that all of the remedies for noncompliance with the NDA involve awarding things to "David Dennison" (trump). If he was unaware of the contract, he's not a party to it. Therefore the contract exists, but it has no provisions for enforcement.
aside from that, Daniels was convinced to sign the contract under the understanding that trump was a party to it, which is "fraud in the inducement".
posted by murphy slaw at 3:27 PM on April 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
@kylegriffin1: Michael Avenatti tells @AriMelber that, following Trump's new remarks about Stormy Daniels, he'll be making a petition on Monday to depose Trump.
Cohen has been running around making representations about an agreement his client now purports to not know about. For example, the latest motion to compel arbitration states "Defendant Donald J. Trump hereby joins in defendant Essential Consultants, LLC’s motion to compel arbitration."
What's that based on? Trump, personally, is moving to compel arbitration based on an agreement he's not a party to and doesn't know about? That doesn't sound like something that a judge would take too kindly to.
posted by zachlipton at 3:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [40 favorites]
Cohen has been running around making representations about an agreement his client now purports to not know about. For example, the latest motion to compel arbitration states "Defendant Donald J. Trump hereby joins in defendant Essential Consultants, LLC’s motion to compel arbitration."
What's that based on? Trump, personally, is moving to compel arbitration based on an agreement he's not a party to and doesn't know about? That doesn't sound like something that a judge would take too kindly to.
posted by zachlipton at 3:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [40 favorites]
Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental
He sounds like a textbook case of the Al Capone Principle: that a predator/crook in one area, in which they have the cover to get away with it, will nonetheless often end up getting nailed elsewhere because the fundamental sense of entitlement that drives them also drives them to a bunch of other petty grifts, which eventually get noticed.
posted by acb at 3:33 PM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
He sounds like a textbook case of the Al Capone Principle: that a predator/crook in one area, in which they have the cover to get away with it, will nonetheless often end up getting nailed elsewhere because the fundamental sense of entitlement that drives them also drives them to a bunch of other petty grifts, which eventually get noticed.
posted by acb at 3:33 PM on April 5, 2018 [18 favorites]
On top of the issues mentioned above, there's also the question whether Michael Cohen, an in-house attorney at the Trump Org, was acting as an agent of the Trump org/Trump or on his own accord. There are likely communications that blur the line even further than his employee relationship already does, because Cohen is not a very good lawyer. You don't get to turn the "client/not my client" switch on and off at will.
posted by melissasaurus at 3:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by melissasaurus at 3:34 PM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
We know DJT hates it when one of his underlings get too big for his britches. From the above-mentioned NYT article on Pruitt.
this:
'E.P.A. employees gawked at the size and grandeur of Mr. Pruitt’s refurbished desk, with some comparing it to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, officials said in interviews.'
and this:
'Mr. Weese, the security official, questioned Mr. Pruitt’s desire to use flashing lights and sirens in his motorcade — a perk more commonly associated with the presidency'
and this:
'“He wanted to be treated like he was the president,” said David Schnare, a prominent conservative lawyer and climate change skeptic'
posted by feste at 3:36 PM on April 5, 2018 [26 favorites]
this:
'E.P.A. employees gawked at the size and grandeur of Mr. Pruitt’s refurbished desk, with some comparing it to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, officials said in interviews.'
and this:
'Mr. Weese, the security official, questioned Mr. Pruitt’s desire to use flashing lights and sirens in his motorcade — a perk more commonly associated with the presidency'
and this:
'“He wanted to be treated like he was the president,” said David Schnare, a prominent conservative lawyer and climate change skeptic'
posted by feste at 3:36 PM on April 5, 2018 [26 favorites]
To top this all off, adultery is a crime in New York, where Trump's marriage is filed. A contract to cover up a crime is certainly not legal, and AFAIK there's no case law on whether extramarital sex in Nevada constitutes a crime for someone married in New York.
I wonder if Mueller has a copy of Cohen's bank records from October 2016 yet. I've written at length about this before, but the idea that Cohen is just dishing out 6-figure settlements out of his own pocket is so fucking insane I can't fathom why he's not being pressed on it.
posted by 0xFCAF at 3:39 PM on April 5, 2018 [27 favorites]
I wonder if Mueller has a copy of Cohen's bank records from October 2016 yet. I've written at length about this before, but the idea that Cohen is just dishing out 6-figure settlements out of his own pocket is so fucking insane I can't fathom why he's not being pressed on it.
posted by 0xFCAF at 3:39 PM on April 5, 2018 [27 favorites]
Let's just crack open this email from the White House Press office, shall we? (h/t Mark Knoller) Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle en route Washington, D.C.
I'm just gonna repeat that last bit there: "en route Washington, D.C." Once again, to be be clear, the plane he's on was taking him to Washington D.C. Where he lives and works. Washington. D.C.
Scrolling...Pruitt is doing a fantastic job...ok got to look into his stuff...national guard...Amazon bad...don't know about the payment...ask Cohen he's my lawyer...Pruitt's still fantastic...ok time to wrap this up:
I'm just gonna repeat that last bit there: "en route Washington, D.C." Once again, to be be clear, the plane he's on was taking him to Washington D.C. Where he lives and works. Washington. D.C.
Scrolling...Pruitt is doing a fantastic job...ok got to look into his stuff...national guard...Amazon bad...don't know about the payment...ask Cohen he's my lawyer...Pruitt's still fantastic...ok time to wrap this up:
Thank you very much everybody. I'll see you back in New York. Thank you.posted by zachlipton at 3:49 PM on April 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
"Nothing we say will convince him!"
"Let's get the TV to tell him."
posted by chris24 at 7:56 AM'
@jdawsey1 (WaPo) - 5:32 PM
One thing that frequently happens in West Wing: Aides try to get TV guests to make certain points on shows Trump is watching. POTUS listens more when the advice is on TV, they say.
---
You literally can't make it up.
posted by chris24 at 3:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [89 favorites]
"Let's get the TV to tell him."
posted by chris24 at 7:56 AM'
@jdawsey1 (WaPo) - 5:32 PM
One thing that frequently happens in West Wing: Aides try to get TV guests to make certain points on shows Trump is watching. POTUS listens more when the advice is on TV, they say.
---
You literally can't make it up.
posted by chris24 at 3:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [89 favorites]
Thank you very much everybody. I'll see you back in New York. Thank you.
Hopefully this means he's already planning on leaving office.
posted by runcibleshaw at 3:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
Hopefully this means he's already planning on leaving office.
posted by runcibleshaw at 3:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [17 favorites]
The folks at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had a conference call today to update supporters in their various efforts. Here's the PDF. Highlights:
In December 2017, two months after oral hearings in CREW’s groundbreaking lawsuit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Donald J. Trump to stop the president’s systematic violations of the emoluments clauses of the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign, state and local governments, United States District Judge George Daniels dismissed the case on standing and justiciability grounds. CREW believes that several aspects of the ruling are faulty, and we have filed an appeal in the Second Circuit.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
Parallel to our emoluments lawsuit, to strengthen our ability to break through on the question
of legal standing, CREW became outside counsel to Maryland and the District of Columbia
in a still-pending similar lawsuit against the president for violating the Constitution’s anti-
corruption clauses. In November 2017, federal court Judge Peter J. Messitte granted
subpoena power to the attorneys general of Maryland and D.C. in the case, ordering
President Trump’s business to preserve records related to the lawsuit. In a landmark March
2018 decision, Judge Messitte ruled that the Maryland and D.C. have standing and that the
case could proceed – a huge victory for accountability and a step toward meaningful curbs
on corruption.
On March 20, 2018, a federal judge granted CREW summary judgement in our landmark case
against the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the second time the Court has ruled against the
FEC for dismissing CREW’s complaint against a dark money group that spent millions in federal
elections. The first time, in September 2016, Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the FEC acted
“contrary to law” by dismissing a complaint against American Action Network (AAN), which spent millions on ads without revealing its donors. He found that the FEC’s analysis “blinks reality” and returned the case to the FEC to correct its error. Nevertheless, the three Republican commissioners once again blocked action against the organization, leading Judge Cooper to again correct the commissioners on their continued failure to follow the law.
In February 2018, CREW and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) sued
Scott Pruitt and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for apparently violating federal records laws by systematically failing to create and maintain documents of essential EPA activities. In addition to Pruitt’s and the EPA’s seeming violation of the Federal Records Act (FRA), the suit alleges further violations by Archivist of the United States David Ferriero and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for failing to properly enforce the law. Pruitt and other EPA political appointees have reportedly told EPA staff not to create a written record about substantive matters, including major changes to a water quality rule. Pruitt has also reportedly prohibited staff from bringing cellular phones into meetings and directed staff not to take notes to avoid the creation of any record of his questions and directions, and he uses phones other than his own to deal with important EPA-related matters so the calls do not show up in his call logs.
More seriously, Trump just ordered the Trade Representative to consider an additional $100B worth of tariffs on China in retaliation for their tariffs, which are in retaliation for our tarriffs. Mr. "We are not in a trade war with China" sure seems to be in a trade war with China.
posted by zachlipton at 3:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 3:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [36 favorites]
The Line of Succession at EPA goes [Obama EO 1/13/2017]:
posted by notyou at 4:01 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
- Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency [Vacant]
- General Counsel (Matthew Z. Leopold)
- Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste [Renamed the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) in 2015, but the old name is used in the 2017 EO.] (Barry Breen [acting]) ...and then a bunch more.
posted by notyou at 4:01 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
According to CEA Larry Kudlow it's not a trade war; it's a bracing ride on a rainbow.
posted by notyou at 4:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by notyou at 4:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [11 favorites]
So far it looks like the last reptilian standing among Trump's advisors will be Stephen Miller.
The second round is already worse, like John Bolton. And this guy is likely to be Pruitt's replacement. Unless Pruitt replaces Jeff Sessions, which could still happen. And John Kelly is there, he's as bad as any of them, he absolutely belongs in the "reptilian" category. Chris Christie is angling to get back in and every person on FOX is one segment away from a cabinet nomination.
The absolute best case we can hope for here is Trump can't get anyone new confirmed in an election year, he's left playing musical chairs with the few Senate confirmed officials he has left after scandals, and the government is even more crippled than it is currently, instead of actively destructive.
Edit: I forgot batshit kooks Peter Navvaro and Larry Kudlow coming in because Jared liked a book title on Amazon.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
The second round is already worse, like John Bolton. And this guy is likely to be Pruitt's replacement. Unless Pruitt replaces Jeff Sessions, which could still happen. And John Kelly is there, he's as bad as any of them, he absolutely belongs in the "reptilian" category. Chris Christie is angling to get back in and every person on FOX is one segment away from a cabinet nomination.
The absolute best case we can hope for here is Trump can't get anyone new confirmed in an election year, he's left playing musical chairs with the few Senate confirmed officials he has left after scandals, and the government is even more crippled than it is currently, instead of actively destructive.
Edit: I forgot batshit kooks Peter Navvaro and Larry Kudlow coming in because Jared liked a book title on Amazon.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:08 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wheeler hasn't been confirmed yet as deputy and given the backlog in the Senate, and the rate at which Trump's piling in more advice and consent duties, it could be a while yet.
posted by notyou at 4:11 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by notyou at 4:11 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mr. "We are not in a trade war with China" sure seems to be in a trade war with China.
China seems to be doing a good job of targeting their response to specific industries in red states. Good. They may have heard of the Leopards Eating Faces school of economic thought.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [32 favorites]
China seems to be doing a good job of targeting their response to specific industries in red states. Good. They may have heard of the Leopards Eating Faces school of economic thought.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [32 favorites]
@SegravesNBC4: DC government issues citation to owner of apartment Scott Pruitt rented because they did not have proper license to rent the unit. Possible fine of $2,034
Sure. Why not?
posted by zachlipton at 4:31 PM on April 5, 2018 [57 favorites]
Sure. Why not?
posted by zachlipton at 4:31 PM on April 5, 2018 [57 favorites]
Endangered species are the real threats (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
She sees what far too many environmental advocates do not: that these are all creatures who would devour us if they had their way. […]posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:45 PM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
Considering that Combs managed to object to almost every species proposed to be added to the protected list while she was in Texas, I have taken the liberty of guessing her objections to some of the species currently on there:
The Amur leopard? This is a deadly killing machine with sharp teeth and patterns intended to help it VANISH from sight, only to strike when we least expect it. We cannot rest comfortably until we are certain that none of these are lurking in the underbrush.
The black rhino? Say what you will about human beings, but we are not IMMENSE, ARMORED MACHINES with pointed horns. At least, I’m not. These are also, presumably, responsible for rhino viruses. Do not Google this; let the allegation stand. […]
The Sumatran elephant? Enormous gray monster with a hose for a face and two large valuable pieces of ivory you AREN’T ALLOWED (?!?) to take, for some reason? Get rid of it.
The Sumatran rhino? ANOTHER ONE. We can agree, I think, that we do not need so much rhino redundancy.
The blue whale? I recently read an article saying that bowhead whale mating songs are “as complex as jazz,” so if “La La Land” is accurate, these whales would be absolutely EXHAUSTING to date. The blue whale is even less musically gifted, and we should not be sorry to see it go.
Bluefin tuna? Sounds tasty.
For what it's worth, the line of succession at EPA only applies until the president appoints an interim replacement. And scuttlebutt is that the preferred successor to Pruitt would be Susan Bodine, the head of enforcement (and previously head of the Superfund office under W).
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Russian U.N. Ambassador (to Britain, re: Skripal): "You're playing with fire, and you'll be sorry".
This is fine.
posted by Gaz Errant at 4:54 PM on April 5, 2018 [20 favorites]
This is fine.
posted by Gaz Errant at 4:54 PM on April 5, 2018 [20 favorites]
Possible fine of $2,034
That’s almost six weeks’ rent!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [34 favorites]
That’s almost six weeks’ rent!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [34 favorites]
Boris Johnson is like the bent copper who stiches up a guilty criminal because he's too lazy and arrogant to find the evidence and so allows the criminal to walk free on appeal.
posted by acb at 4:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 4:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Why Trump went after Bezos: Two billionaires across a cultural divide
Hahahaha. Man, that's just gonna burn Donny Two-Scoops if he hears of that. The Washington Post is just poking the…er…bear, at this point.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 5:05 PM on April 5, 2018 [54 favorites]
Some of Trump’s aides and allies say his beef with Amazon, Bezos and The Washington Post, which Bezos owns separately from the behemoth online retailer he created, stems from Trump’s lifelong rivalry with billionaires who surpass him on lists of the planet’s richest people.
For many years, Trump personally lobbied the editors who craft Forbes magazine’s annual estimation of billionaires’ wealth, arguing his claim of a higher net worth. In the new list, Bezos for the first time holds the top position, at $112 billion; the magazine dropped Trump to No. 766, with a value of $3.1 billion, down $400 million in the past year.
Hahahaha. Man, that's just gonna burn Donny Two-Scoops if he hears of that. The Washington Post is just poking the…er…bear, at this point.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 5:05 PM on April 5, 2018 [54 favorites]
The Sinclair Horrorshow Is the Result of Decades of Failing to Take Media Consolidation Worries Seriously
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:43 PM on April 5, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:43 PM on April 5, 2018 [38 favorites]
@kylegriffin1 (MSNBC)
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse: "Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts. China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He’s threatening to light American agriculture on fire."
@jaketapper
”Let’s absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us. This is the dumbest possible way to do this.” 2/2
---
Leopards. Faces.
posted by chris24 at 5:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [43 favorites]
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse: "Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts. China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He’s threatening to light American agriculture on fire."
@jaketapper
”Let’s absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us. This is the dumbest possible way to do this.” 2/2
---
Leopards. Faces.
posted by chris24 at 5:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [43 favorites]
@NBCNews: NEW: Federal investigators obtained a search warrant tied to Paul Manafort on March 9, according to a Special Counsel's Office filing in the Manafort case. MORE: The filing states that Manafort has been served with seven search warrants for his property, banks, a hard drive, e-mail accounts, five phone lines, and a storage locker.
Nobody has an actual link to the filing because that would be helpful or something, but jeez, what could have possibly been left as late as March?
posted by zachlipton at 5:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
Nobody has an actual link to the filing because that would be helpful or something, but jeez, what could have possibly been left as late as March?
posted by zachlipton at 5:58 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
At least we don’t hear much about the pivot that’s coming any second now.
posted by notyou at 5:59 PM on April 5, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by notyou at 5:59 PM on April 5, 2018 [25 favorites]
For sake of clarity, because I wasn't entirely sure: Sasse describing Trump's plan as "setting American agriculture on fire" was nonliteral, and is strictly about Chinese retaliatory tariffs. (I had thought it possible that Trump explicitly threatened to in some way stop all food exports to China, to "punish" China, but this has not yet happened.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:04 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:04 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Juli Briskman has an editorial in the WaPo that very effectively frames her lawsuit as pushback against a much wider problem, Why I’m suing for my right to flip off the president:
These are the stories that have made news, but this facilitation of speech suppression is creeping throughout the private sector. Take, for example, Protect Democracy, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization helping me bring my lawsuit. Members of the group have told me that their mission — preventing a slide to a more authoritarian form of government — has made it difficult for them to rent office space in Cambridge, Mass.; landlords, they say, fear retaliation from the federal government.posted by peeedro at 6:13 PM on April 5, 2018 [113 favorites]
This sort of behavior is familiar to people living in Egypt, Hungary, Thailand, Turkey and Russia, where the ability to do business increasingly depends on being seen as favorable to the regime. As a result, companies in each of these countries do not hire or do business with known dissenters. And that pressure — making citizens choose between their pocketbooks and their principles — starts a downward spiral that ultimately dismantles a democracy.
Let’s call this “autocratic capture.” Autocratic capture is not new to the world, but it is new to this country, and it is up to all of us to keep it from taking root. Our democracy depends on it. As James Madison warned in the early days of the United States, the “value and efficacy” of free elections “depends” on Americans’ “equal freedom” to examine the “merits and demerits of the candidates.” But if Americans can keep their jobs only when they refrain from criticizing the president, then that freedom is lost. And once the freedom to speak is lost, then the rest of our constitutional rights will not be far behind.
Well, the March 9th warrant is related to investigations that are ongoing that we don't currently know about. Interesting.
@nycsouthpaw
The search warrant affidavits the Special Counsel has handed over to Manafort's team so far:
DETAILED LIST OF SEVEN WARRANTS
- The seizure of funds from 3 banks is news, I think.
- The description of last month's search warrant suggests Ty Cobb mayyybe could've been wrong in his estimation that Mueller was just about to wrap this baby up.
@nycsouthpaw
The search warrant affidavits the Special Counsel has handed over to Manafort's team so far:
DETAILED LIST OF SEVEN WARRANTS
- The seizure of funds from 3 banks is news, I think.
- The description of last month's search warrant suggests Ty Cobb mayyybe could've been wrong in his estimation that Mueller was just about to wrap this baby up.
On April 4, 2018, the government produced in redacted form, and for the first time, an affidavit supporting a search warrant that had been obtained on March 9, 2018. That affidavit likewise contains redactions—albeit more substantial ones—relating to ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort. SCREENSHOTposted by chris24 at 6:14 PM on April 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, but... surely this [municipal assault weapons ban] is a violation of the takings clause?
Doesn't seem like that should apply if you can drive to the next town over and sell your weapon for full price. The government isn't really taking it, or even depriving you of the use of it (outside of the city). You could keep it at your mom's house downtown or in your locker at the gun range down the road, for example.
posted by msalt at 6:24 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Doesn't seem like that should apply if you can drive to the next town over and sell your weapon for full price. The government isn't really taking it, or even depriving you of the use of it (outside of the city). You could keep it at your mom's house downtown or in your locker at the gun range down the road, for example.
posted by msalt at 6:24 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Leopards. Faces.
I don’t know that you can really call Senator Sasse, of “Sen. Sasse will not be attending the convention and will instead take his kids to watch some dumpster fires across the state, all of which enjoy more popularity than the current front-runners,” a leopard, exactly. He’s been pretty clear that face eating was about to happen for a long while now.
posted by corb at 6:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
I don’t know that you can really call Senator Sasse, of “Sen. Sasse will not be attending the convention and will instead take his kids to watch some dumpster fires across the state, all of which enjoy more popularity than the current front-runners,” a leopard, exactly. He’s been pretty clear that face eating was about to happen for a long while now.
posted by corb at 6:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
McClatchy: Mueller probe tracking down Trump business partners, with Cohen a focus of queries
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators this week questioned an associate of the Trump Organization who was involved in overseas deals with President Donald Trump’s company in recent years.posted by chris24 at 6:41 PM on April 5, 2018 [23 favorites]
Armed with subpoenas compelling electronic records and sworn testimony, Mueller’s team showed up unannounced at the home of the business associate, who was a party to multiple transactions connected to Trump’s effort to expand his brand abroad, according to persons familiar with the proceedings.
Investigators were particularly interested in interactions involving Michael D. Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal attorney and a former Trump Organization employee. Among other things, Cohen was involved in business deals secured or sought by the Trump Organization in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
The move to question business associates of the president adds a significant new element to the Mueller investigation, which began by probing whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded in an effort to get Trump elected but has branched far beyond that.
Or Senator "votes with Trump 87% of the time" Sasse. Seems like the Leopards are eating a face which came with a healthy side order of hypocrisy.
posted by Rumple at 6:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 6:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [19 favorites]
hopefully the president is just blowing off steam as he plays chicken with one of the largest markets on earth with the entire agricultural sector strapped to the hood of his car
we have passed the straw that broke the camel’s back so long ago that the only thing left is a giant haystack standing in the camel’s last known location
posted by murphy slaw at 6:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [63 favorites]
we have passed the straw that broke the camel’s back so long ago that the only thing left is a giant haystack standing in the camel’s last known location
posted by murphy slaw at 6:56 PM on April 5, 2018 [63 favorites]
Giffords center on the Takings Clause and gun laws.
While I'm sure some would disagree, this is basically similar to other arguments I've heard about why gun bans do not violate the 5th amendment.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
While I'm sure some would disagree, this is basically similar to other arguments I've heard about why gun bans do not violate the 5th amendment.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
I dunno if I think that Sasse is really the one whose face is being eaten by leopards. I think that farmers are. You'd think that farmers would be familiar with the concept of reaping what you sow.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:03 PM on April 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:03 PM on April 5, 2018 [15 favorites]
a significant new element to the Mueller investigation, which began by probing whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded in an effort to get Trump elected but has branched far beyond that.
That's misleading at best. I'd say more about the rationale for this framing, but even recently the appointment of special counsel was in the news w/r/t Trump as a target. Russia's interference with the campaign and any related matters. From the get-go. From the beginning. It has "branched" because of the oceanic-garbage-whorl's worth of corrupt dealings that weren't even hiding. Plain-sight braggadociousments that were Always. In. Scope.
(i) any links an or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).
It's not "tacked on", it's not "new", it's not "oh hey he's going over here now, well what won't that guy investigate?" From. The. Beginning. Wiggy the Clown was deep in dirt with all those fucking colluders - his vaunted "business empire" - and his candidacy, not to mention his squeaky electoral passage, was a direct result of all that. These things are not irrelevant, and that writer/editor/publication either knows it or should know it. That's more normalizing fuel in the Trumpers' barbecue out of laziness, ill-conceived bothsidesism, or some other bullshit.
posted by petebest at 7:07 PM on April 5, 2018 [34 favorites]
That's misleading at best. I'd say more about the rationale for this framing, but even recently the appointment of special counsel was in the news w/r/t Trump as a target. Russia's interference with the campaign and any related matters. From the get-go. From the beginning. It has "branched" because of the oceanic-garbage-whorl's worth of corrupt dealings that weren't even hiding. Plain-sight braggadociousments that were Always. In. Scope.
(i) any links an or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).
It's not "tacked on", it's not "new", it's not "oh hey he's going over here now, well what won't that guy investigate?" From. The. Beginning. Wiggy the Clown was deep in dirt with all those fucking colluders - his vaunted "business empire" - and his candidacy, not to mention his squeaky electoral passage, was a direct result of all that. These things are not irrelevant, and that writer/editor/publication either knows it or should know it. That's more normalizing fuel in the Trumpers' barbecue out of laziness, ill-conceived bothsidesism, or some other bullshit.
posted by petebest at 7:07 PM on April 5, 2018 [34 favorites]
hopefully the president is just blowing off steam as he plays chicken with one of the largest markets on earth with the entire agricultural sector strapped to the hood of his car
For a man who eats at McDonald's like they filed for Chapter 7, I doubt he cares if some pig farmers have to switch it up to cattle or whatever he likes.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:13 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
For a man who eats at McDonald's like they filed for Chapter 7, I doubt he cares if some pig farmers have to switch it up to cattle or whatever he likes.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:13 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wondered earlier why Cohen would be willing to stick out his neck for Trump instead of rolling over to save any semblance of a career. Now that I see that Murller is poking around Cohen’s work with Russian deals, I have to wonder if the motivation isn’t a pardon.
posted by azpenguin at 7:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 7:20 PM on April 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Remember that Cohen was the back-channel for a Russia-Ukraine "peace deal," and there have been conflicting stories as to whether he hand-delivered it to Flynn or, as he would later claim, threw it away unopened. He's got exposure here that goes well beyond being an awful lawyer who got himself into the world's worst contracts final exam hypothetical.
posted by zachlipton at 7:30 PM on April 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 7:30 PM on April 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
He’s been pretty clear that face eating was about to happen for a long while now.
All while voting for the leopards, every. Single. Time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:30 PM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
All while voting for the leopards, every. Single. Time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:30 PM on April 5, 2018 [12 favorites]
How Local News Stations Are Rebelling Against Their Sinclair Overlords
posted by Chrysostom at 7:44 PM on April 5, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:44 PM on April 5, 2018 [37 favorites]
@jdawsey1 (WaPo) - 5:32 PM
One thing that frequently happens in West Wing: Aides try to get TV guests to make certain points on shows Trump is watching. POTUS listens more when the advice is on TV, they say.
The White House has denied that the president gets his briefings from Fox News, so Jennifer Rubin recaps recent aimed-at-Trump televised appearances from Sanders, Nielsen, and Kudlow and suggests, When you are not allowed to speak the truth, maybe it is time to leave.
Also of note, stupid fences make bad neighbors: Mexican president rebukes Trump over border threats. In a televised address President Peña Nieto, who will be stepping down in November due to term limits, notes the Mexican Senate and all four presidential candidates in the upcoming July 1 elections have denounced Trump's recent actions and says, "As president of Mexico, I agree with those remarks." He added, "If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, [due] to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn to, not to Mexicans."
posted by peeedro at 7:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
One thing that frequently happens in West Wing: Aides try to get TV guests to make certain points on shows Trump is watching. POTUS listens more when the advice is on TV, they say.
The White House has denied that the president gets his briefings from Fox News, so Jennifer Rubin recaps recent aimed-at-Trump televised appearances from Sanders, Nielsen, and Kudlow and suggests, When you are not allowed to speak the truth, maybe it is time to leave.
Also of note, stupid fences make bad neighbors: Mexican president rebukes Trump over border threats. In a televised address President Peña Nieto, who will be stepping down in November due to term limits, notes the Mexican Senate and all four presidential candidates in the upcoming July 1 elections have denounced Trump's recent actions and says, "As president of Mexico, I agree with those remarks." He added, "If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, [due] to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn to, not to Mexicans."
posted by peeedro at 7:46 PM on April 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
While I'm sure some would disagree, this is basically similar to other arguments I've heard about why gun bans do not violate the 5th amendment.
Especially if it applies to assault rifles (and, presumably, firearms of equal or greater power) but not to less powerful weapons. Keep your pea shooter, your grandpa’s revolver, your .22.
I’m also in favor of letting the NRA bankrupt themselves with lawsuits against a jillion municipal governments with umpteen appeals each. Go nuts. Hire all the lawyers you want, then hire more lawyers to force civil employees to issue permits, Kim Davis style. That should be good for the next 30 fucking years. And maybe it will inspire the 3% of the population that has all the guns to to create a Bundyville somewhere in the sticks, where they can all open-carry to their heart’s content.
posted by Autumnheart at 7:48 PM on April 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
Sounds like this big raises thing is going around:
Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the bureau, according to salary records obtained by The Associated Press.posted by Chrysostom at 7:50 PM on April 5, 2018 [37 favorites]
Mulvaney has hired at least eight political appointees since he took over the bureau in late November. Four of them are making $259,500 a year and one is making $239,595. That is more than the salaries of members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, and nearly all federal judges apart from those who sit on the Supreme Court.
AP, Trump wants out of Syria, but don’t say ‘timeline’
President Donald Trump has spoken: He wants U.S. troops and civilians out of Syria by the fall. But don’t call it a “timeline.”posted by zachlipton at 7:54 PM on April 5, 2018 [21 favorites]
Wary of charges of hypocrisy for publicly telegraphing military strategy after criticizing former President Barack Obama for the same thing, the White House has ordered Trump’s national security team not to speak of a “timeline” for withdrawal. That’s even after Trump made it clear to his top aides this week that he wants the pullout completed within five or six months.
It wasn’t the result top national security aides wanted. Trump’s desire for a rapid withdrawal faced unanimous opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence community, all of which argued that keeping the 2,000 U.S. soldiers currently in Syria is key to ensuring the Islamic State does not reconstitute itself.
But as they huddled in the Situation Room, the president was vocal and vehement in insisting that the withdrawal be completed quickly if not immediately, according to five administration officials briefed on Tuesday’s White House meeting of Trump and his top aides. The officials weren’t authorized to discuss internal deliberations and requested anonymity.
If those aides failed in obtaining their desired outcome, it may have been because a strategy that’s worked in the past — giving Trump an offer he can’t refuse — appears to have backfired.
Rather than offer Trump a menu of pullout plans, with varying timelines and options for withdrawing step-by-step, the team sought to frame it as a binary choice: Stay in Syria to ensure the Islamic State can’t regroup, or pull out completely. Documents presented to the president included several pages of possibilities for staying in, but only a brief description of an option for full withdrawal that emphasized significant risks and downsides, including the likelihood that Iran and Russia would take advantage of a U.S. vacuum.
Ultimately, Trump chose that option anyway.
I’m also in favor of letting the NRA bankrupt themselves
I'd be interested in funding a public interest org that just goes around seeking to intervene in NRA suits to burn up their budget (legitimately, on the issues). Or, volunteering for it.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:00 PM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'd be interested in funding a public interest org that just goes around seeking to intervene in NRA suits to burn up their budget (legitimately, on the issues). Or, volunteering for it.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:00 PM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
A record-setting 309 women are running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives – the majority of them Democrats. That previous record of 298 was set in 2012.
This is huge. There are women running for congressional seats that have never been held by a woman before. Four out of five seats in the House are held by men.
posted by zarq at 8:09 PM on April 5, 2018 [86 favorites]
This is huge. There are women running for congressional seats that have never been held by a woman before. Four out of five seats in the House are held by men.
posted by zarq at 8:09 PM on April 5, 2018 [86 favorites]
To repurpose something I've said before, Trump isn't the kind of leader who wants us to stay in Syria, or who wants out of Syria. He wants "results, dammit", and there are a lot of people see that specifics-allergic attitude as synonymous with leadership. (Well, he's also torn between a wanting to please Putin and wanting to kill Syrians. A year from now he'll split the difference by straight-up allying with Assad or something.)
Regarding the new Assange revelation… it's been pointed out in several places that he was publicly talking up the Seth Rich conspiracy drivel at the time of those leaked messages, which means he was being entirely duplicitous about it, and not just opportunistic.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:16 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
Regarding the new Assange revelation… it's been pointed out in several places that he was publicly talking up the Seth Rich conspiracy drivel at the time of those leaked messages, which means he was being entirely duplicitous about it, and not just opportunistic.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:16 PM on April 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
ELECTIONS NEWS
** 2018 Senate -- TN: Mentioned earlier, MTSU poll shows Dem Bredesen up 45-35 on GOPer Blackburn [MOE: +/- 4%]. This doesn't seem impossible - Blackburn is not super well-known, Bredesen was a popular two-term governor - but does seem a bit high. Hasn't been much independent polling of this race yet.
** AZ-08 special -- Byler: Why you shouldn't expect this race to be PA-18 redux.
** 2018 House:
** 2018 Senate -- TN: Mentioned earlier, MTSU poll shows Dem Bredesen up 45-35 on GOPer Blackburn [MOE: +/- 4%]. This doesn't seem impossible - Blackburn is not super well-known, Bredesen was a popular two-term governor - but does seem a bit high. Hasn't been much independent polling of this race yet.
** AZ-08 special -- Byler: Why you shouldn't expect this race to be PA-18 redux.
** 2018 House:
-- WI-01: NYT look at the Paul Ryan race.** Odds & ends:
-- TN-02: Inumbent GOP rep John Duncan looks to be involved in some serious campaign finance violations. District went Trump 65-30.
-- As the Dem target map expands, GOP faces tough decisions on triage.
-- Counting has been slow - they went to all mail-in ballots for this election - but it appears that Anchorage, AK has kept their Democratic mayor and rejected an anti-trans "bathroom bill." I have mixed feelings about all-postal elections, but it should be noted this seems to have resulted in record voting.posted by Chrysostom at 8:19 PM on April 5, 2018 [35 favorites]
-- Noted earlier, does the WI Supreme Court election provide a Dem blueprint? Compared to Clinton, Dallet basically lost a bit in the cities, tied in the suburbs, and way over-achieved in the boonies. And her campaign was explicitly anti-Trump. Related, Enten: This is bad news for Trump and for Scott Walker.
-- As expected, Tim Pawlenty is in for the race for MN governor. He was twice governor in the past, but was elected with sub-50% numbers each time, and is not real fondly remember.
-- Dems contesting record number of legislative seats in South Dakota (101 of 105).
Politico, Warren: I’ll serve my full Senate term if reelected
Elizabeth Warren said she would serve her full six-year term in the Senate if reelected this November.posted by zachlipton at 8:31 PM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]
“Yes, that’s my plan. I’m running for the United States Senate in 2018,” Warren told reporters Thursday, when asked if she would commit to serving out her full term. “I am not running for president of the United States. That’s my plan.”
Manny Fernandez, NYT: In Texas, Ted Cruz Is Facing an Unusual Challenge: A Formidably Financed Democrat
But political analysts say [ Representative Beto O’Rourke's ] chances are a long-shot at best, despite his fund-raising skills [ $13.2 million raised so far]. He remains unknown to many voters, even as he has kept up a hectic travel schedule and visited 228 of the state’s 254 counties. In the Democratic primary last month, Mr. O’Rourke lost a number of counties to two lesser-known Democratic rivals, including the Hispanic-dominated border area of the Rio Grande Valley, parts of East Texas and the northern Panhandle region.posted by ZeusHumms at 9:29 PM on April 5, 2018 [10 favorites]
...
The issue often comes down to voter turnout. In last month’s primary elections, Democrats surged to the polls in record-breaking numbers. More Democrats voted early this year than voted early in the presidential election year of 2016. In the end, though, they were still outvoted: A total of 1.5 million votes were cast by Texas Republicans in the primary, compared to 1 million by Democrats.
Stretch that map. Donate. Some should go to the DCCC.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:37 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ironmouth at 9:37 PM on April 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would suggest *not* donating to O'Rourke, given that he's already getting shit-tons of money. One of the vulnerable Dems or Sinema or Rosen would give a lot more bang for the buck.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:44 PM on April 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:44 PM on April 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
Big News, Maryland has Autmocratic Voter Registation!
"YES!!! Automatic Voter Registration just became the law in Maryland—Hogan neither signed nor vetoed it after the General Assembly passed it last week with a veto-proof majority, which means it became law today. This is a HUGE moment for voting rights in our state."
basically you automatically register at 18 if you get a Driver's license, a state ID, or basically interact with the state government in any way like receive benefits or insurance or healthcare.
posted by The Whelk at 9:47 PM on April 5, 2018 [117 favorites]
"YES!!! Automatic Voter Registration just became the law in Maryland—Hogan neither signed nor vetoed it after the General Assembly passed it last week with a veto-proof majority, which means it became law today. This is a HUGE moment for voting rights in our state."
basically you automatically register at 18 if you get a Driver's license, a state ID, or basically interact with the state government in any way like receive benefits or insurance or healthcare.
posted by The Whelk at 9:47 PM on April 5, 2018 [117 favorites]
Loony Left Updates: OK Gov Fallin can't leave a plane without meeting protestors and striking workers - teamsters working on state capitol building refuse to cross teacher picket line - Burgerville employees in Portland, Oregon will be allowed to vote on forming a union, which would make it the first fast food union in the United States- Hundreds come out for unarmed Black man Saheed Vassell murdered by NYPD- Spokane Washington gets official DSA Chapter -
posted by The Whelk at 9:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [83 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [83 favorites]
The Whelk, everyone knows you have to post multiple updates in some incredibly idiosyncratic format to be taken seriously.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 PM on April 5, 2018 [61 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:09 PM on April 5, 2018 [61 favorites]
Maryland, my Maryland, indeed.
That said, I feel like this would be a greater victory if it happened in a state that isn't already reliably super-blue (the current, and VERY temporary, occupant of our Governor's mansion notwithstanding).
posted by CommonSense at 11:00 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
That said, I feel like this would be a greater victory if it happened in a state that isn't already reliably super-blue (the current, and VERY temporary, occupant of our Governor's mansion notwithstanding).
posted by CommonSense at 11:00 PM on April 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Politico, Warren: I’ll serve my full Senate term if reelectedThat's a fairly misleading headline and lede. "That's my plan" is not the same as "that's my promise," or "that's my expectation," or "that's my strong preference." Empirically, everyone in both DC and the professional betting markets expect her to run. Nothing she has said indicates that she will not run (merely, in the common parlance, that she has no current plans to run, which is the standard -- and very reasonable -- dodge so far in advance). And finally, nothing she has said recently suggests that she doesn't want to run, much less that she considers it immoral to ask her to run. I mention all this because in the past, Warren fans have been admonished for asking her to run in the apparent face of her unwillingness. So it seems worth reiterating the point that nothing in this statement or any recent statement of hers indicates that she will not run or does not wish to run; rather, here and elsewhere she is just engaging in the usual dodging-the-question, which is of course the rational strategy to pursue so far out when the limelight can only hurt.
Elizabeth Warren said she would serve her full six-year term in the Senate if reelected this November.
“Yes, that’s my plan. I’m running for the United States Senate in 2018,” Warren told reporters Thursday, when asked if she would commit to serving out her full term. “I am not running for president of the United States. That’s my plan.”
As a side note, it is not a coincidence that Politico is framing it this way, or that the The Hill's headline in March was Warren: 'I'm not running for president'. The center and center-right prefer she not run and are fairly eager to frame any declaration of non-intent as a promise. (See eg, the people affirming and supporting the Hill's article in its Twitter thread.) That article, notably, was discussing her interview with Chuck Todd in March, in which she said:
"I take it as a no you're not pledging to serve your full six-year term if you win reelection?" Todd asked in response.Ie, about as deliberate a non-answer answer as you would get from anyone considering a run in 3 years.
"I already told you. I have no intention of running for the United States, for president," she responded. "This government is working better and better and better for a thinner and thinner slice at the top. I am in these fights, and I am in this fight to retain my Senate seat in 2018. That's where I'm focused. That's where I'm going to stay focused. I'm not running for president."
"So no pledge, though, on the six years?" Todd asked, one last time.
"I am not running for president," Warren responded firmly.
posted by chortly at 11:01 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
China seems to be doing a good job of targeting their response to specific industries in red states. Good. They may have heard of the Leopards Eating Faces school of economic thought.
China’s strategy is simply to use their economic weight to ensure that the arbiters of this stupid clusterfuck are voted out in their next respective elections, to be replaced by elected officials who have exceedingly small chances of continuing this absurd nonsense of an economic policy. China doesn’t even care beyond that, knowing full well that this situation is so colossally stupid that it won’t be anything but temporary.
If China thought this situation had real gravity to their national interests, they’d simply start threatening to sell off the U.S. debt they hold, en masse. “Psst, hey Donnie. Let me show you how big boys burn things to the ground.”
I just can’t get over how unbelievably stupid this whole situation is.
posted by Brak at 11:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [48 favorites]
China’s strategy is simply to use their economic weight to ensure that the arbiters of this stupid clusterfuck are voted out in their next respective elections, to be replaced by elected officials who have exceedingly small chances of continuing this absurd nonsense of an economic policy. China doesn’t even care beyond that, knowing full well that this situation is so colossally stupid that it won’t be anything but temporary.
If China thought this situation had real gravity to their national interests, they’d simply start threatening to sell off the U.S. debt they hold, en masse. “Psst, hey Donnie. Let me show you how big boys burn things to the ground.”
I just can’t get over how unbelievably stupid this whole situation is.
posted by Brak at 11:21 PM on April 5, 2018 [48 favorites]
- Burgerville employees in Portland, Oregon will be allowed to vote on forming a union, which would make it the first fast food union in the United States-
It’s worth noting, since people have wondered about modern labor action, that this is not the beneficent Burgerville deciding to waive the process. This is Burgerville, which has been union busting like a motherfucker, including firing a union organizer for supposedly stealing a chicken patty, after a three day strike and massive informational picket at multiple locations across multiple states, deciding it really doesn’t want the NLRB to view all that concerted union action and make a decision on the merits of the case, so they’re hoping they can drop enough anti union propaganda for two weeks that people will vote no.
Nice try, fuckers.
posted by corb at 11:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [55 favorites]
It’s worth noting, since people have wondered about modern labor action, that this is not the beneficent Burgerville deciding to waive the process. This is Burgerville, which has been union busting like a motherfucker, including firing a union organizer for supposedly stealing a chicken patty, after a three day strike and massive informational picket at multiple locations across multiple states, deciding it really doesn’t want the NLRB to view all that concerted union action and make a decision on the merits of the case, so they’re hoping they can drop enough anti union propaganda for two weeks that people will vote no.
Nice try, fuckers.
posted by corb at 11:25 PM on April 5, 2018 [55 favorites]
I would suggest *not* donating to O'Rourke, given that he's already getting shit-tons of money. One of the vulnerable Dems or Sinema or Rosen would give a lot more bang for the buck.
You know we all respect the hell out of your congressional race analysis, so could you please name some vulnerable Dem names? Do you mean Heitkamp? McGaskill? Are Rosen and Sinema NOT vulnerable? How about "whoever wins against X" districts, like Rohrbachers? What are some races so unlikely to be won that folks should save their money -- Nunes? Thx in advance.
posted by msalt at 11:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
You know we all respect the hell out of your congressional race analysis, so could you please name some vulnerable Dem names? Do you mean Heitkamp? McGaskill? Are Rosen and Sinema NOT vulnerable? How about "whoever wins against X" districts, like Rohrbachers? What are some races so unlikely to be won that folks should save their money -- Nunes? Thx in advance.
posted by msalt at 11:57 PM on April 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
I think McCaskill and Donnelly (IN) are probably the most vulnerable. Tester, Heitkamp, and Manchin seem like they look vulnerable against "generic R" matchups but come through when an actual name is matched against them. That obviously only holds true until it doesn't but I feel better about their chances in this environment than the races in Missouri and Indiana.
posted by Justinian at 2:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 2:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Eric Trump just liked a tweet that was a picture of a sign in a snowy field that reads "IN JUST TWO YEARS DONALD TRUMP FIXED GLOBAL WARMING"
I am really curious: why did he or whoever is doing his social media like that tweet? I mean with what intent? Did somebody say, cynically, yeah, we'll get these rubes to believe this. Or did they say, YEAH YOU'RE RIGHT PREACH. Or were they 'ho ho ho how darling." I mean, really. The sign's existence is funny, but only if you hate Trump and fear global warming. I mean, most sane people do.
Oh I ran out of steam trying to give a fuck as to how these people think.
posted by angrycat at 2:23 AM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
I am really curious: why did he or whoever is doing his social media like that tweet? I mean with what intent? Did somebody say, cynically, yeah, we'll get these rubes to believe this. Or did they say, YEAH YOU'RE RIGHT PREACH. Or were they 'ho ho ho how darling." I mean, really. The sign's existence is funny, but only if you hate Trump and fear global warming. I mean, most sane people do.
Oh I ran out of steam trying to give a fuck as to how these people think.
posted by angrycat at 2:23 AM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
Re. the snowy field sign: I guess E.T. thinks he can make people believe that it's actually getting colder all the time. And everything that has "Trump" and "fixed" in it is shiny, so...of course.
posted by Namlit at 3:29 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Namlit at 3:29 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
why did he or whoever is doing his social media like that tweet?
Because it suits these fuckers to use the phrase "Global Warming" (rather than Climate Change) and to take it literally.
It simply allows them to dismiss any thought of human influence on the planet by saying, every time it snows, "Look, it's cold - Global Warming is a hoax".
Obviously this particular tweet appeals to a Trump because it also fits DJT's narrative that he is the most-hardworking-est Prez evah and he is just fixing shit left, right and centre.
posted by jontyjago at 3:40 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
Because it suits these fuckers to use the phrase "Global Warming" (rather than Climate Change) and to take it literally.
It simply allows them to dismiss any thought of human influence on the planet by saying, every time it snows, "Look, it's cold - Global Warming is a hoax".
Obviously this particular tweet appeals to a Trump because it also fits DJT's narrative that he is the most-hardworking-est Prez evah and he is just fixing shit left, right and centre.
posted by jontyjago at 3:40 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
Boom? ABC News, Mueller has evidence raising questions about Prince testimony on meeting with Russian: Sources
Still, the idea that Nader sent Prince information about Dmitriev ahead of the meeting seems particularly notable, since it's the sort of thing that could be proved independently, and it could contradict Prince's testimony that it was just a chance meeting.
posted by zachlipton at 3:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [34 favorites]
Nader has submitted to three interviews with special counsel investigators and four appearances before a federal grand jury in Washington since agents stopped him at Dulles International Airport in January, served him with a grand jury subpoena and seized his electronic devices, including his cell phone. Documents obtained by Mueller suggest that before and after Prince met Nader in New York a week before the trip to the Seychelles, Nader shared information with Prince about Dmitriev, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News, which appears to be inconsistent with Prince’s sworn testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives investigative panel.So you're telling me that Prince's ridiculous story about a completely unmemorable random meeting over a beer doesn't hold up? Color me unsurprised. On the other hand, Nader is a pretty problematic witness and really not the person you'd want at the center of a case.
"I didn't fly there to meet any Russian guy," Prince told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in November. He testified that he travelled to the Seychelles for a meeting with United Arab Emirates officials about possible business opportunities, and they introduced him – unexpectedly – to Dmitriev.
...
Sources say Nader -- who worked at the time for the Emirati leader, known as "MBZ” – tells a different story. According to multiple sources, the U.A.E., an important U.S. ally increasingly eager to be seen as a global powerbroker, wanted to bring a Russian close to the Kremlin together with someone Nader believed was a trusted confidant of members of the incoming administration.
Sources tell ABC News Nader met with Prince at New York's Pierre Hotel a week before the Jan. 11, 2017 meeting in the Seychelles, and later sent Prince biographical information about Dmitriev, which, according to those sources, noted that Dmitriev had been appointed by Putin to oversee the state-run sovereign wealth fund.
Nader says he then facilitated and personally attended the meetings, including one between Prince and Dmitriev, at a resort owned by MBZ off the coast of East Africa, the sources told ABC News. One of the primary goals of the meeting, Nader told investigators, was to discuss foreign policy and to establish a line of communication between the Russian government and the incoming Trump administration, sources told ABC News.
Still, the idea that Nader sent Prince information about Dmitriev ahead of the meeting seems particularly notable, since it's the sort of thing that could be proved independently, and it could contradict Prince's testimony that it was just a chance meeting.
posted by zachlipton at 3:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [34 favorites]
chortly: "That's a fairly misleading headline and lede. "That's my plan" is not the same as "that's my promise," or "that's my expectation," or "that's my strong preference.""
Unless you give Sherman's answer, it's not a no.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Unless you give Sherman's answer, it's not a no.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Boom? ABC News, Mueller has evidence raising questions about Prince testimony on meeting with Russian: Sources
For those timeline-ing the events ... the ABC televised report (but not the article) states that the NYC meeting between George Nader and Erik Prince at the Pierre Hotel occurred on January 3, 2017, and that Nader then sent Prince detailed bio information about Dmitriev within 24 hours.
posted by pjenks at 4:48 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
For those timeline-ing the events ... the ABC televised report (but not the article) states that the NYC meeting between George Nader and Erik Prince at the Pierre Hotel occurred on January 3, 2017, and that Nader then sent Prince detailed bio information about Dmitriev within 24 hours.
posted by pjenks at 4:48 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
How Local News Stations Are Rebelling Against Their Sinclair Overlords
Well,, they do control the memes of production.
As for Mueller going back repeatedly to the well of Manafort - we don't see what he sees. While 45 is grossly incompetent and incapable of cunning, and incapable of deciding who he does business with on the basis of their capability and cunning, smarter others have seen him as a useful mark and set things up with a degree of intelligence and hardening against public scrutiny. Mueller's target really isn't primarily 45; his job is to untangle the puppetry of the POTUS and, when he lays his hand on the table, to have the very strongest evidence to shut this shit down. Manafort hasn't flipped yet - he's still fighting - and Mueller hasn't stopped digging, so there's something in there that's worth having.
I'm reminded - as so, so often - of Capone, not because 45 is like him, but because he got taken down by the IRS, which had the right tools to cut the mob away from the system in ways that the other agencies did not. This is all about money, and it's the money that will betray them. Mueller is following the money.
(And for your Friday morning amuse bouche, imagine the size of the dossier that Mueller will be handing over to the IRS for its consideration...)
posted by Devonian at 4:49 AM on April 6, 2018 [41 favorites]
Well,, they do control the memes of production.
As for Mueller going back repeatedly to the well of Manafort - we don't see what he sees. While 45 is grossly incompetent and incapable of cunning, and incapable of deciding who he does business with on the basis of their capability and cunning, smarter others have seen him as a useful mark and set things up with a degree of intelligence and hardening against public scrutiny. Mueller's target really isn't primarily 45; his job is to untangle the puppetry of the POTUS and, when he lays his hand on the table, to have the very strongest evidence to shut this shit down. Manafort hasn't flipped yet - he's still fighting - and Mueller hasn't stopped digging, so there's something in there that's worth having.
I'm reminded - as so, so often - of Capone, not because 45 is like him, but because he got taken down by the IRS, which had the right tools to cut the mob away from the system in ways that the other agencies did not. This is all about money, and it's the money that will betray them. Mueller is following the money.
(And for your Friday morning amuse bouche, imagine the size of the dossier that Mueller will be handing over to the IRS for its consideration...)
posted by Devonian at 4:49 AM on April 6, 2018 [41 favorites]
msalt: "You know we all respect the hell out of your congressional race analysis, so could you please name some vulnerable Dem names? Do you mean Heitkamp? McGaskill? Are Rosen and Sinema NOT vulnerable? How about "whoever wins against X" districts, like Rohrbachers? What are some races so unlikely to be won that folks should save their money -- Nunes? Thx in advance."
Wait, you mean you don't know who sits in ID-01? (it's Raúl Labrador, he's retiring to run for governor)
On the Senate side, I mostly agree with what Justinian said. I'd say Joe Donnelly (IN) and Claire McCaskill (MO) are clearly the most vulnerable incumbent Democrats, with Heidi Heitkamp (ND) in third. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Jacky Rosen (NV) are the most promising challengers; as we have talked about, Phil Bredesen (TN) might have a decent shot, too, but he also is very personally wealthy.
On the House side, eh. I don't like to get too into it until the primaries have shaken out (especially in CA, with the top two thing). So unless there's a candidate you have a strong feeling about, I'd probably hold off.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
Wait, you mean you don't know who sits in ID-01? (it's Raúl Labrador, he's retiring to run for governor)
On the Senate side, I mostly agree with what Justinian said. I'd say Joe Donnelly (IN) and Claire McCaskill (MO) are clearly the most vulnerable incumbent Democrats, with Heidi Heitkamp (ND) in third. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Jacky Rosen (NV) are the most promising challengers; as we have talked about, Phil Bredesen (TN) might have a decent shot, too, but he also is very personally wealthy.
On the House side, eh. I don't like to get too into it until the primaries have shaken out (especially in CA, with the top two thing). So unless there's a candidate you have a strong feeling about, I'd probably hold off.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
Ambasador Vassily Nebenzia has been quoting the trial from Alice in Wonderland - at great length - in the UN, in arguments about the Salisbury novichok case, proving that the Chewbacca Defense sounded better in the original Russian. So far down the rabbit hole... (The Brits came back with Conan Doyle, so it's a fair fight.)
But one excerpt did catch my attention, and I hope that Michael Avenatti is also familiar with the work.
`He must have imitated somebody else’s hand,’ said the King. (The jury all brightened up again.)
`Please your Majesty,’ said the Knave, `I didn’t write it, and they can’t prove I did: there’s no name signed at the end.’
`If you didn’t sign it,’ said the King, `that only makes the matter worse. You MUST have meant some mischief, or else you’d have signed your name like an honest man.’
posted by Devonian at 5:42 AM on April 6, 2018 [27 favorites]
But one excerpt did catch my attention, and I hope that Michael Avenatti is also familiar with the work.
`He must have imitated somebody else’s hand,’ said the King. (The jury all brightened up again.)
`Please your Majesty,’ said the Knave, `I didn’t write it, and they can’t prove I did: there’s no name signed at the end.’
`If you didn’t sign it,’ said the King, `that only makes the matter worse. You MUST have meant some mischief, or else you’d have signed your name like an honest man.’
posted by Devonian at 5:42 AM on April 6, 2018 [27 favorites]
The Brits came back with Conan Doyle, so it's a fair fight
To hell with a fair fight, how about some passages from One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich?
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:12 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
To hell with a fair fight, how about some passages from One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich?
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:12 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
Alexandra Erin: Can we just stop for a moment to take in the fact that the head of the EPA, on top of being corrupt, is obviously in mortal terror for his very life at the hands of some unseen enemies, and no one in the media seems to be connecting those dots?
She makes a good point. Why is he acting like someone with a target on his back? Is it paranoia, or does he have reason to be so scared?
posted by happyroach at 6:31 AM on April 6, 2018 [103 favorites]
She makes a good point. Why is he acting like someone with a target on his back? Is it paranoia, or does he have reason to be so scared?
posted by happyroach at 6:31 AM on April 6, 2018 [103 favorites]
To hell with a fair fight, how about some passages from One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich?
Boris Johnson Compares Russia to Raskolnikov From Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'
It's a bit like that scene in The Crown where Eden talks to Nasser in Arabic, except one's a patriarchal over-educated Old Etonian dangerously out of his depth but not knowing it and provoking major international crises through ego-driven missteps, and the other... oh.
I think UK governance may have some long-term structural issues.
posted by Devonian at 6:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [14 favorites]
Boris Johnson Compares Russia to Raskolnikov From Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'
It's a bit like that scene in The Crown where Eden talks to Nasser in Arabic, except one's a patriarchal over-educated Old Etonian dangerously out of his depth but not knowing it and provoking major international crises through ego-driven missteps, and the other... oh.
I think UK governance may have some long-term structural issues.
posted by Devonian at 6:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [14 favorites]
My theory on Pruitt, having made myself sick reading about him in depth recently, is that his security detail is part of the need to be seen as some kind of Big Shot. He must be super important if he has like two dozen armed security around him 24/7, right?
posted by Myeral at 6:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Myeral at 6:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [19 favorites]
Is it paranoia
“Smart,” “rational,” and “a good judge of objective reality” are not descriptors we would use for any of the clowns in this clown car, I’m not sure why Pruitt would be different.
I mean, “stupid,” “narcissistically inflated sense of self importance,” and “gripped with the projected fear that everyone else in the world is as spiteful, vengeful, and evil as he is” seem much more likely.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [32 favorites]
“Smart,” “rational,” and “a good judge of objective reality” are not descriptors we would use for any of the clowns in this clown car, I’m not sure why Pruitt would be different.
I mean, “stupid,” “narcissistically inflated sense of self importance,” and “gripped with the projected fear that everyone else in the world is as spiteful, vengeful, and evil as he is” seem much more likely.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [32 favorites]
My theory on Pruitt, having made myself sick reading about him in depth recently, is that his security detail is part of the need to be seen as some kind of Big Shot. He must be super important if he has like two dozen armed security around him 24/7, right?
Maybe. But that doesn't explain his need for a $43k soundproof phone booth. Typically, Big Shots want to be heard.
posted by zakur at 6:47 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Maybe. But that doesn't explain his need for a $43k soundproof phone booth. Typically, Big Shots want to be heard.
posted by zakur at 6:47 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Having a SCIF in your office is a DC status symbol. He wants to play at being Manly Man CIA director, instead of in charge of the wussy liberal EPA that he hates.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:54 AM on April 6, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:54 AM on April 6, 2018 [22 favorites]
If I were Pruitt, I would have armed guards around me, soundproof booths in my office, my phone down the toilet and signs on the front door reading HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS AIRBORNE SYPHILIS INSIDE, DON'T COME IN.
If I am never actually informed personally that I'm replacing Sessions as Attorney General and becoming the person in charge of Making All This Russia Nonsense Go Away For Mr. Trump, I can pretend that it hasn't happened and not have to hire a food taster.
posted by delfin at 6:56 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
If I am never actually informed personally that I'm replacing Sessions as Attorney General and becoming the person in charge of Making All This Russia Nonsense Go Away For Mr. Trump, I can pretend that it hasn't happened and not have to hire a food taster.
posted by delfin at 6:56 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Trump administration hits 24 Russians with sanctions over 'malign activity'
posted by gnuhavenpier at 7:02 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by gnuhavenpier at 7:02 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Having a SCIF in your office is a DC status symbol. He wants to play at being Manly Man CIA director, instead of in charge of the wussy liberal EPA that he hates.
Umm, also if you're busy negotiating with lobbyists, all-and-sundry, to actively assist in their profiting from massive environmental destruction and ecosystem genocide, then it probably helps if the few people left in the agency who joined up because they believe in the 'Protection' aspect don't overhear.
The irony is that no amount of bodyguards would ever be able to protect him from people educated in the natural sciences if they were sufficiently pissed off.
posted by Buntix at 7:09 AM on April 6, 2018 [25 favorites]
Umm, also if you're busy negotiating with lobbyists, all-and-sundry, to actively assist in their profiting from massive environmental destruction and ecosystem genocide, then it probably helps if the few people left in the agency who joined up because they believe in the 'Protection' aspect don't overhear.
The irony is that no amount of bodyguards would ever be able to protect him from people educated in the natural sciences if they were sufficiently pissed off.
posted by Buntix at 7:09 AM on April 6, 2018 [25 favorites]
Trump administration hits 24 Russians with sanctions over 'malign activity'
"Impose" is different than "enforce".
posted by PenDevil at 7:13 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
"Impose" is different than "enforce".
posted by PenDevil at 7:13 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Pruitt is certainly a paranoid narcissist with delusions of grandeur, but some of his shenanigans look like the reasonable actions of a fully corrupt crony who is selling the environment to those who would burn it down and not leaving a paper trail.
His violations of the Federal Records Act and his banishment of cell phones from meetings are most troubling. I think he's setting policy that he knows would cause outrage if they were even KNOWN about.
And he only hates the EPA to the extent that it stands between him and his own fiefdom of post-apocalyptic road warriors.
On preview: what Buntix said also.
posted by Horkus at 7:14 AM on April 6, 2018 [16 favorites]
His violations of the Federal Records Act and his banishment of cell phones from meetings are most troubling. I think he's setting policy that he knows would cause outrage if they were even KNOWN about.
And he only hates the EPA to the extent that it stands between him and his own fiefdom of post-apocalyptic road warriors.
On preview: what Buntix said also.
posted by Horkus at 7:14 AM on April 6, 2018 [16 favorites]
Ordinary objects magically become guns — as soon as a black man touches them (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Suppose we close all the gun shows. Suppose we close all the loopholes. Suppose we take guns off the shelves at sporting goods stores. It will not matter, because of this mysterious phenomenon (observed mostly by police officers in the moments before an “officer-involved shooting”) where a completely innocuous object becomes, for a moment or two, a gun. It can even be a child who picks it up.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:20 AM on April 6, 2018 [110 favorites]
It cannot be that police officers do not know what guns look like. They seem perfectly capable of wielding them themselves. It is not that they do not know what cellphones look like. It can only be magic, and the magic does not change. […]
Later, when officers are called upon to justify their actions in these deaths, what matters is not whether their fear was reasonable, but whether the fear was real. And what is more frightening than impossible sorcery? Fear brings a magic all its own, by which cellphones become guns and people “bulk up” to run through bullets. It transforms teenagers into Hulk Hogan, into demons. You cannot say for certain what object will mutate next. It could be a Bible. It could be a hand in a pocket. With a fear so immense, you are right to act no matter how harmless the target may seem — whether it is a cellphone, or a pipe, or a father, or a child.
That is what makes these deaths justified: that moment of fear, that transforms something ordinary — a father, an iPhone — and makes it deadly. If these things could not be, if there were no fearful magic involved, these deaths would be utterly senseless.
No, it certainly cannot be that it is not happening at all.
So it is clear we can never solve the gun epidemic in this country. It is not because we cannot pass the laws. It is because there is sorcery happening, and until we stop this sorcery, there can be no progress.
A federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan today upheld Massachusetts's ban on assault weapons. Gun owners sued last year after state AG Maura Healey proposed an order extending the law to "copy cat" weapons similar to the ones named in the original 1994 law save for a name change or minor modifications. In his ruling (2.2M PDF), Judge William Young said the weapons are weapons of war of the sort even Justice Scalia said were not covered by the 2nd Amendment. He concluded:
Both their general acceptance and their regulation, if any, are policy matters not for the courts, but left to the people directly through their elected representatives. In the absence of federal legislation, Massachusetts is free to ban these weapons and large capacity magazines. Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and available to their law-abiding citizens. These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous, and robust debate about these matters. We call it democracy.posted by adamg at 7:22 AM on April 6, 2018 [32 favorites]
Justice Scalia would be proud.
The idea of Cargo Cults has been banging around in my brain lately, and I think to an extent it may apply to the entire Trump administration. Almost none of them have any real governmental experience, so their only idea of how the head of an executive branch acts and what the head of an executive branch does comes from TV, movies, and FOX news.
What we've got is sort of a Cargo Cult Presidency with Cargo Cult administrators.
Pruitt thinks being the secretary of a branch of government as being like those cool boss dudes in the spy movies he likes. So he wants a top secret phone booth in his office, and lots of bodyguards in shades, dark suits, and with those wikkid kewl transparent ear thingies. Because to him that's what "being the secretary of whatever" means. It means taking private jets everywhere and having bodyguards and top secret cool stuff in his office.
He's seeking the appearance of what he imagines the office involves viewed through the lens of his media exposure to the idea of top government officials. It's Cargo Cult. He has a vague half notion of how it's supposed to look, so he does that. But since he has no idea of what's actually involved he can't do anything more.
Same goes for Carson. He's obviously not been watching as many spy thrillers, so he's got his idea based on FOX stories about government waste and officials living high on the hog on taxpayer money. So he orders super expensive dining room furniture and office remodels. Because like Pruitt he has no idea what he's supposed to actually do or what his agency is supposed to actually do. He's going through the motions of what he imagines, based on his own media exposure, tells him the appearance of being a top government official is.
And the same applies to Trump. What does a President actually do? He has no clue. His knowledge of presidenting is based entirely on FOX and movies. So he takes important phone calls, and meets with important people, barks orders to his underlings, makes "tough calls" by going with his gut, and promises to fix everything. Like the rest of his administration, he's doing it all based on a fuzzy, movie and FOX news created, image of the superficial appearance of the Presidency not any actual understanding of the job as it truly exists.
It's Cargo Cult from top to bottom. They're just mimicking the surface appearance of what they misunderstand the job to entail. There's no need to think that Pruitt has any real reason for his bodyguards, they're just his image of what a very important government official looks like that's all.
posted by sotonohito at 7:32 AM on April 6, 2018 [137 favorites]
What we've got is sort of a Cargo Cult Presidency with Cargo Cult administrators.
Pruitt thinks being the secretary of a branch of government as being like those cool boss dudes in the spy movies he likes. So he wants a top secret phone booth in his office, and lots of bodyguards in shades, dark suits, and with those wikkid kewl transparent ear thingies. Because to him that's what "being the secretary of whatever" means. It means taking private jets everywhere and having bodyguards and top secret cool stuff in his office.
He's seeking the appearance of what he imagines the office involves viewed through the lens of his media exposure to the idea of top government officials. It's Cargo Cult. He has a vague half notion of how it's supposed to look, so he does that. But since he has no idea of what's actually involved he can't do anything more.
Same goes for Carson. He's obviously not been watching as many spy thrillers, so he's got his idea based on FOX stories about government waste and officials living high on the hog on taxpayer money. So he orders super expensive dining room furniture and office remodels. Because like Pruitt he has no idea what he's supposed to actually do or what his agency is supposed to actually do. He's going through the motions of what he imagines, based on his own media exposure, tells him the appearance of being a top government official is.
And the same applies to Trump. What does a President actually do? He has no clue. His knowledge of presidenting is based entirely on FOX and movies. So he takes important phone calls, and meets with important people, barks orders to his underlings, makes "tough calls" by going with his gut, and promises to fix everything. Like the rest of his administration, he's doing it all based on a fuzzy, movie and FOX news created, image of the superficial appearance of the Presidency not any actual understanding of the job as it truly exists.
It's Cargo Cult from top to bottom. They're just mimicking the surface appearance of what they misunderstand the job to entail. There's no need to think that Pruitt has any real reason for his bodyguards, they're just his image of what a very important government official looks like that's all.
posted by sotonohito at 7:32 AM on April 6, 2018 [137 favorites]
John Bowden, TheHill: Trump: I ‘probably’ won’t attend White House correspondents' dinner
Side note: Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to be there.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
Side note: Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to be there.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
It's Cargo Cult from top to bottom.
Interesting, but not persuasive. Pruitt is a former rep and AG. He knows damn well what his office should look like.
Carson just has lousy and expensive tastes.
And the same applies to Trump. What does a President actually do? He has no clue.
OK, here I agree. Trump's mighty WALL is his fake runway, calling the cargo planes down to deliver cases of Diet Coke.
posted by SPrintF at 7:47 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
Interesting, but not persuasive. Pruitt is a former rep and AG. He knows damn well what his office should look like.
Carson just has lousy and expensive tastes.
And the same applies to Trump. What does a President actually do? He has no clue.
OK, here I agree. Trump's mighty WALL is his fake runway, calling the cargo planes down to deliver cases of Diet Coke.
posted by SPrintF at 7:47 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
It's Cargo Cult from top to bottom.
The thing is that the actual cargo cults were a lot saner and grounded in reality than the entitled-born-rich-arsewanks who coast on their trust funds and connections and wreck the world for the rest of us through their self-importance and ignorance.
Wonder if it's possible to just retcon the term.
posted by Buntix at 8:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
The thing is that the actual cargo cults were a lot saner and grounded in reality than the entitled-born-rich-arsewanks who coast on their trust funds and connections and wreck the world for the rest of us through their self-importance and ignorance.
Wonder if it's possible to just retcon the term.
posted by Buntix at 8:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Cargo cults weren't about a return to a imaginary better past, though many other cults are....they were a reaction to the sudden appearance and then disappearance of an entirely different technological order through a ritual frame.
Trump's a charlatan, and are his voters/rubes are his more typical cultists. The WALL is going to remove all of thesethetans aliens around them so they can be free/great again.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:06 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Trump's a charlatan, and are his voters/rubes are his more typical cultists. The WALL is going to remove all of these
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:06 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
I have an uninformed hypothesis that cargo cults were, at least at first, not the product of magical thinking but the product of rational people only familiar with naked eye navigation.
posted by LarsC at 8:15 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by LarsC at 8:15 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking was exactly the term I was trying to recall. IANAA, IANYA.
posted by Buntix at 8:20 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Buntix at 8:20 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Real life cargo cults were largely a mix of anticolonial pretest and cults of personality. What sontohito referred to is the pop culture definition largely created by Feynman. And perhaps we should leave the derail there.
posted by Candleman at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
She makes a good point. Why is he acting like someone with a target on his back? Is it paranoia, or does he have reason to be so scared?
I wouldn't piss on Pruitt if he was on fire, so I have to assume it's a pretty common opinion. I think the only thing that makes him unusual in this administration is that he doesn't think it the badge of honor the rest of them seem to.
posted by phearlez at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
I wouldn't piss on Pruitt if he was on fire, so I have to assume it's a pretty common opinion. I think the only thing that makes him unusual in this administration is that he doesn't think it the badge of honor the rest of them seem to.
posted by phearlez at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
You cannot say for certain what object will mutate next. It could be a Bible. It could be a hand in a pocket. With a fear so immense, you are right to act no matter how harmless the target may seem — whether it is a cellphone, or a pipe, or a father, or a child.
Speaking of that, here's an article from the Onion:
Black Father Gives Son The Talk About Holding Literally Any Object
posted by zabuni at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2018 [49 favorites]
Speaking of that, here's an article from the Onion:
Black Father Gives Son The Talk About Holding Literally Any Object
posted by zabuni at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2018 [49 favorites]
And one more from the Onion:
Report: This Not A Gun
Angry Onion is the best Onion.
posted by zabuni at 8:27 AM on April 6, 2018 [30 favorites]
Report: This Not A Gun
Angry Onion is the best Onion.
posted by zabuni at 8:27 AM on April 6, 2018 [30 favorites]
Regarding the Sinclair employees who fear quitting because of fines- I feel like there should be some sort of GoFundMe to help them with these fees if they quit. I would donate to it. Has anyone heard of or seen anything like this happening? Google didn't turn anything up for me.
posted by robotdevil at 8:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by robotdevil at 8:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Madeline Albright in the NYT warns of the dangers of fascism in the time of Trump.
posted by stonepharisee at 8:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [40 favorites]
posted by stonepharisee at 8:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [40 favorites]
He also wanted a bulletproof desk, though, and had apparently instilled such paranoia in his security team that they broke down the door of his home to reach him because he took an afternoon nap. I feel like he's definitely paranoid, but it's an open question as to why:
Option 1: He's a narcissist, and decided that because he's so important and so powerful, somebody must surely be out to get him. Like how Roger Ailes was by all reports legitimately terrified that al-Qaeda would have him assassinated.
Option 2: He's internalized the right-wing narrative that environmentalists are terrorist maniacs, which is not entirely uncommon in the Midwest. For instance, a few years back an EPA water-permitting rule for large animal feedlots was stymied by farm groups whose members voiced persistent fears -- again, by all appearances sincere fears -- that because these permits are public records, environmental groups would comb through them for farm addresses and then blow the farms up.
Option 3: He's actually in danger thanks to some past corrupt activity that made him the enemy of someone who might actually have the EPA administrator assassinated in his office. This is the most far-fetched of the lot, but Pruitt's been in bed with shady oligarchs for a while now and sometimes that means taking sides against another shady oligarch.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
Option 1: He's a narcissist, and decided that because he's so important and so powerful, somebody must surely be out to get him. Like how Roger Ailes was by all reports legitimately terrified that al-Qaeda would have him assassinated.
Option 2: He's internalized the right-wing narrative that environmentalists are terrorist maniacs, which is not entirely uncommon in the Midwest. For instance, a few years back an EPA water-permitting rule for large animal feedlots was stymied by farm groups whose members voiced persistent fears -- again, by all appearances sincere fears -- that because these permits are public records, environmental groups would comb through them for farm addresses and then blow the farms up.
Option 3: He's actually in danger thanks to some past corrupt activity that made him the enemy of someone who might actually have the EPA administrator assassinated in his office. This is the most far-fetched of the lot, but Pruitt's been in bed with shady oligarchs for a while now and sometimes that means taking sides against another shady oligarch.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
I think that's a misreading of what he's been doing and why. Demanding that the government pay to fly him first class 'as a security measure' isn't about security, it's about leveraging security as a bogeyman to make your life nicer and more pleasant.
Specifically it's about avoiding the hoi polloi. From Here are some of the threats that allegedly require Scott Pruitt to fly first class:
Specifically it's about avoiding the hoi polloi. From Here are some of the threats that allegedly require Scott Pruitt to fly first class:
Update: Pruitt speaks! Associated Press correspondent David Eggert reported Wednesday afternoon that the administrator said he needs to fly first class to avoid, in Eggert’s words, “unpleasant interactions with other travelers.”posted by scalefree at 9:01 AM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
ZeusHumms: "John Bowden, TheHill: Trump: I ‘probably’ won’t attend White House correspondents' dinner"
Good. It should be abolished.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:06 AM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
Good. It should be abolished.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:06 AM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
After this latest round of tariff threats from Trump, I realized that Trump genuinely believes trade wars will be easy for him to win--because of our large trade deficits, we can threaten more tariffs than the adversarial nation. There simply aren't $100 billion of U.S. imports that China can raise tariffs on, so at some point they have to fold. What Trump probably hasn't considered is that China also imports a ton of debt from us in the form of Treasury bonds. If China chooses to sell (or even just stop purchasing!) Treasuries, interest rates will spike on not just government debt but mortgages, business loans, etc. There are probably other economic levers China has that I'm not aware of as a random news junkie. Additionally, China also can punish the Trump Crime Family *personally* by pressuring countries in their orbit to quash any business deals the Trump Org has in the works. In contrast, I assume Xi doesn't care nearly as much about the exact size of his personal fortune, and I doubt Trump could impact Xi's fortune in the same way.
Which brings me to the scary part: if China retaliates to massive tariffs by selling Treasuries or fucking with the Trump Org directly, Trump will be scrambling to find more leverage to reraise with. Ultimately, I fear that Trump thinks of the military and the nuclear arsenal as the final giant all-in bet that will force anyone to fold in a standoff.
posted by johnny jenga at 9:07 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Which brings me to the scary part: if China retaliates to massive tariffs by selling Treasuries or fucking with the Trump Org directly, Trump will be scrambling to find more leverage to reraise with. Ultimately, I fear that Trump thinks of the military and the nuclear arsenal as the final giant all-in bet that will force anyone to fold in a standoff.
posted by johnny jenga at 9:07 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
the right-wing narrative that environmentalists are terrorist maniacs
Not just a narrative, but a legal framework in the U.S. at least: the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. From the citations of that Wikipedia article, a Guardian opinion piece of a few months ago:
I released 2,000 minks from a fur farm. Now I'm a convicted terrorist—by Kevin Johnson.
posted by XMLicious at 9:11 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
He also wanted a bulletproof desk
Know who else's life was saved by durable furniture?
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:20 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
Know who else's life was saved by durable furniture?
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:20 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
Not just a narrative, but a legal framework in the U.S. at least: the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.
And look who was one of the act's original sponsors: Sen. Jim Inhofe, Pruitt's mentor-slash-puppetmaster.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:22 AM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
And look who was one of the act's original sponsors: Sen. Jim Inhofe, Pruitt's mentor-slash-puppetmaster.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:22 AM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
House ratings changes from Cook. 13 changes, all towards the Dems.
CA-21: Valadao (R) | Likely R to Lean Rposted by Chrysostom at 9:22 AM on April 6, 2018 [49 favorites]
IA-02: Loebsack (D) | Likely D to Solid D
NV-03: OPEN (Rosen) (D) | Toss Up to Lean D
NV-04: OPEN (Kihuen) (D) | Lean D to Likely D
NJ-03: Tom MacArthur (R) | Likely R to Lean R
NJ-05: Josh Gottheimer (D) | Lean D to Likely D
NY-18: Sean Patrick Maloney (D) | Likely D to Solid D
NC-09: Robert Pittenger (R) | Likely R to Lean R
OH-10: Mike Turner (R) | Solid R to Likely R
WA-03: Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) | Solid R to Likely R
WA-05: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) | Likely R to Lean R
WI-07: Sean Duffy (R) | Solid R to Likely R
WV-03: OPEN (Jenkins) (R) | Solid R to Likely R
Re: the Deadspin article on Sinclair broadcasting:
As one source put it, journalism school didn’t teach them how to respond when the corruption is coming from inside the house.
. . . SIGH
“I feel that Sinclair threw its employees under the bus,” a local news anchor said about being compelled to tape the now-infamous denunciation of the news media. “I feel that we have been used as pawns in whatever political game they’re playing at the corporate level.”
As opposed to what? Do they not appreciate that local news is part of forming public opinion? Did they think Sinclair cared about people? Their spokesman is Boris fucking Epshteyn. That should really be all anyone needs.
It's a sucky situation to be sure, but c'mon. We felt like we were being used to push an agenda? Well . . Yeah. That's . . that's the job. Ideally that agenda takes care of people and promotes good. But hey.
You see that door, Timmy? The one that says, "Do Not Enter, DANGER, Poisonous Radiation and Flying Rats, Keep Out" on it? Okay, don't go in that door ok?
posted by petebest at 9:25 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
As one source put it, journalism school didn’t teach them how to respond when the corruption is coming from inside the house.
. . . SIGH
“I feel that Sinclair threw its employees under the bus,” a local news anchor said about being compelled to tape the now-infamous denunciation of the news media. “I feel that we have been used as pawns in whatever political game they’re playing at the corporate level.”
As opposed to what? Do they not appreciate that local news is part of forming public opinion? Did they think Sinclair cared about people? Their spokesman is Boris fucking Epshteyn. That should really be all anyone needs.
It's a sucky situation to be sure, but c'mon. We felt like we were being used to push an agenda? Well . . Yeah. That's . . that's the job. Ideally that agenda takes care of people and promotes good. But hey.
You see that door, Timmy? The one that says, "Do Not Enter, DANGER, Poisonous Radiation and Flying Rats, Keep Out" on it? Okay, don't go in that door ok?
posted by petebest at 9:25 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Hey, Chrysostom, when Cook Political Report posts these things, are they posting *all* the changes in polling, or just the ones that look good for Democrats? I ask because I'm not familiar with Cook's political leanings (if any). I'm assuming it's all the changes, but I just wanted to make sure.
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Regarding the Sinclair employees who fear quitting because of fines-
Wait, what? I missed that story. Are they working under indentured servitude? Seems like that would be illegal. Though of a piece with the abusive NDAs of O'Reilly and Trump as abuse of contract law goes.
posted by msalt at 9:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wait, what? I missed that story. Are they working under indentured servitude? Seems like that would be illegal. Though of a piece with the abusive NDAs of O'Reilly and Trump as abuse of contract law goes.
posted by msalt at 9:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
What we've got is sort of a Cargo Cult Presidency with Cargo Cult administrators.
You may be right as to Trump, but I think this is a bad misreading of Pruitt. When he was AG of Oklahoma, he literally engaged in a campaign of repeatedly suing the EPA to strike down various regulations. He is a proud friend of the oil and gas industry and is also equally proud to be enemy #1 of environmentalists everywhere.
Trump is stupid but Pruitt is malicious, and specifically malicious against the agency he now controls. It's like when Rick Perry bumbled about eliminating federal agencies, but Pruitt means it and he is in a position to very nearly make it happen.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 9:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
You may be right as to Trump, but I think this is a bad misreading of Pruitt. When he was AG of Oklahoma, he literally engaged in a campaign of repeatedly suing the EPA to strike down various regulations. He is a proud friend of the oil and gas industry and is also equally proud to be enemy #1 of environmentalists everywhere.
Trump is stupid but Pruitt is malicious, and specifically malicious against the agency he now controls. It's like when Rick Perry bumbled about eliminating federal agencies, but Pruitt means it and he is in a position to very nearly make it happen.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 9:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
New poll from WaPo (open in incognito to skirt paywall)
Tens of millions of Americans have joined protests and rallies in the past two years, their activism often driven by admiration or outrage toward President Trump, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll showing a new activism that could affect November elections.
Their writeup and accompanying video tries to present this as a "both sides are doing it" thing but the detailed results are, well:
Q: Please tell me if you have done each of the following activities in the past two years, or not. Combined: Attended a political rally, speech, or campaign event/Attended an organized protest, march, or demonstration of any kind.
Show results by: Liberal
Rallygoer 32%
Non-rallygoers 68%
Show results by: Conservative
Rallygoer 15%
Non-rallygoers 85%
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [16 favorites]
Tens of millions of Americans have joined protests and rallies in the past two years, their activism often driven by admiration or outrage toward President Trump, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll showing a new activism that could affect November elections.
Their writeup and accompanying video tries to present this as a "both sides are doing it" thing but the detailed results are, well:
Q: Please tell me if you have done each of the following activities in the past two years, or not. Combined: Attended a political rally, speech, or campaign event/Attended an organized protest, march, or demonstration of any kind.
Show results by: Liberal
Rallygoer 32%
Non-rallygoers 68%
Show results by: Conservative
Rallygoer 15%
Non-rallygoers 85%
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [16 favorites]
Wait, what? I missed that story. Are they working under indentured servitude? Seems like that would be illegal. Though of a piece with the abusive NDAs of O'Reilly and Trump as abuse of contract law goes.
There's a clause in their contracts that says they forfeit a fairly large sum if they quit before the contract term is up.
posted by scalefree at 9:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
There's a clause in their contracts that says they forfeit a fairly large sum if they quit before the contract term is up.
posted by scalefree at 9:41 AM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Regarding the Sinclair employees who fear quitting because of fines-
Wait, what? I missed that story. Are they working under indentured servitude? Seems like that would be illegal. Though of a piece with the abusive NDAs of O'Reilly and Trump as abuse of contract law goes.
It came up previously either in this thread or a previous thread, but LMGTFY (and also google it for myself because I forgot the details).
From the link:
"One employee did, however, quit after being forced to interview citizens with loaded political questions that he felt did not represent real journalism. Sinclair then sued him for nearly $6,000 in damages. In some cases, employees must pay up to 40% of their annual salary to Sinclair."
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
runcibleshaw: "Hey, Chrysostom, when Cook Political Report posts these things, are they posting *all* the changes in polling, or just the ones that look good for Democrats? I ask because I'm not familiar with Cook's political leanings (if any). I'm assuming it's all the changes, but I just wanted to make sure."
It's everything, it's just that in the current environment, things are moving to the Dems.
The big three ratings outfits (Cook, Sabato, Gonzales) are all *temperamentally* conservative, but not necessarily *politically* conservative, if you follow me. So, they tend to start out early with district ratings that assume that things will go as they have in the past, incumbents tend to win, etc. Then, as new data comes in - polls, fundraising numbers - they adjust accordingly. Since we started with a GOP House but it's clearly a Democratic environment, we're seeing a lot of ratings changes toward the left.
FWIW, the ratings guys (they are all guys, unfortunately) tend to be pretty good at this - I don't have the figure to hand, but the accuracy of ratings at the end of the campaign is high.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:47 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
It's everything, it's just that in the current environment, things are moving to the Dems.
The big three ratings outfits (Cook, Sabato, Gonzales) are all *temperamentally* conservative, but not necessarily *politically* conservative, if you follow me. So, they tend to start out early with district ratings that assume that things will go as they have in the past, incumbents tend to win, etc. Then, as new data comes in - polls, fundraising numbers - they adjust accordingly. Since we started with a GOP House but it's clearly a Democratic environment, we're seeing a lot of ratings changes toward the left.
FWIW, the ratings guys (they are all guys, unfortunately) tend to be pretty good at this - I don't have the figure to hand, but the accuracy of ratings at the end of the campaign is high.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:47 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
It also says a lot about how bad our income inequality and precarity problems are that these people aren't in a position to surrender 5 months' pay in order to stand up for their deepest principles. I mean, I'm sure that's a genuine issue for them and I'm not saying they're bad people for it, but it kind of sucks for us as a society.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 9:48 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 9:48 AM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
Show results by: Liberal
Rallygoer 32%
Non-rallygoers 68%
Show results by: Conservative
Rallygoer 15%
Non-rallygoers 85%
Ahhh the old Both Sides are Doing It [but one side twice as much].
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:53 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Rallygoer 32%
Non-rallygoers 68%
Show results by: Conservative
Rallygoer 15%
Non-rallygoers 85%
Ahhh the old Both Sides are Doing It [but one side twice as much].
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:53 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
I'm curious as to how well a lawsuit would go if a Sinclair anchor sued on the basis that corporate policy harmed their credibility as a journalist. Because that and screen presence are all they've got and they should absolutely be able to break the contract for fear it would affect their career.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:53 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 9:53 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
Well, it's not only the prospect of being sued, but of never working again. I get the impression that TV news is a pretty small world, and in some markets, more than one outlet is owned by Sinclair. Honestly I don't know what I'd do if I were in that position. Perhaps not go out in a blaze of glory but rather attempt to reskill or network on the DL and then resign once I had a new gig lined up.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:53 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:53 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Trump’s Increasingly Secret Air and Drone Wars.
The US has quietly stepped up secrecy over its air wars in Afghanistan and Yemen since President Donald Trump entered office.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the new practices – discovered by the Bureau through interviews with past and present US military officials – “deeply disturbing”.
posted by adamvasco at 9:55 AM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
The US has quietly stepped up secrecy over its air wars in Afghanistan and Yemen since President Donald Trump entered office.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the new practices – discovered by the Bureau through interviews with past and present US military officials – “deeply disturbing”.
posted by adamvasco at 9:55 AM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm curious as to how well a lawsuit would go if a Sinclair anchor sued on the basis that corporate policy harmed their credibility as a journalist. Because that and screen presence are all they've got and they should absolutely be able to break the contract for fear it would affect their career.
I was thinking that same thing. If memory serves me correctly, the infamous denunciation of the mainstream media from the supercut wasn't led into with anything like "the following is an editorial statement from Sinclair Broadcasting." Doing so would have made clear -- accurately -- that the anchors were reading someone else's words. Instead, the stations implied those words were the personal opinion of the journalists (and it's telling that while conservatives routinely complain that liberal bias creeps into mainstream news coverage, they had no qualms about blatant editorializing during a newscast).
Doing such a thing should spell the end of a legitimate journalist's career -- for that matter, so should working at Fox. There's no way an actor could be held to a contract that required them to mutilate their face as part of a performance. Credibility is what journalists have, and Sinclair forced many of them to sacrifice theirs.
posted by Gelatin at 9:59 AM on April 6, 2018 [20 favorites]
I was thinking that same thing. If memory serves me correctly, the infamous denunciation of the mainstream media from the supercut wasn't led into with anything like "the following is an editorial statement from Sinclair Broadcasting." Doing so would have made clear -- accurately -- that the anchors were reading someone else's words. Instead, the stations implied those words were the personal opinion of the journalists (and it's telling that while conservatives routinely complain that liberal bias creeps into mainstream news coverage, they had no qualms about blatant editorializing during a newscast).
Doing such a thing should spell the end of a legitimate journalist's career -- for that matter, so should working at Fox. There's no way an actor could be held to a contract that required them to mutilate their face as part of a performance. Credibility is what journalists have, and Sinclair forced many of them to sacrifice theirs.
posted by Gelatin at 9:59 AM on April 6, 2018 [20 favorites]
Does China have screws they can turn against Russia? If they really wanted to assert themselves and humiliate the US, forcing Putin to make Trump call off a trade war would be a good way to do it.
posted by condour75 at 10:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by condour75 at 10:00 AM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Some more interesting very-much-not-both-sides crosstabs from that poll:
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
Show results by: Rallygoer
**NET Approve**
30%
Strongly approve 19%
Somewhat approve 10%
**NET Disapprove**
70%
Somewhat disapprove 7%
Strongly disapprove 62%
Don't know 1% [lol god bless these people]
Q: How likely are you to vote in the congressional election in 2018 - are you absolutely certain to vote, will you probably vote, are the chances 50-50, or less than that?
Show results by: Rallygoer
Absolutely certain to vote 83%
Probably vote 10%
Chances 50/50 4%
Less than 50/50 1%
Don't think will vote (Vol.) 1%
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:04 AM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
Show results by: Rallygoer
**NET Approve**
30%
Strongly approve 19%
Somewhat approve 10%
**NET Disapprove**
70%
Somewhat disapprove 7%
Strongly disapprove 62%
Don't know 1% [lol god bless these people]
Q: How likely are you to vote in the congressional election in 2018 - are you absolutely certain to vote, will you probably vote, are the chances 50-50, or less than that?
Show results by: Rallygoer
Absolutely certain to vote 83%
Probably vote 10%
Chances 50/50 4%
Less than 50/50 1%
Don't think will vote (Vol.) 1%
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:04 AM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
Meanwhile in Russia: In Russia, a democratically elected mayor finally succumbs to Putinism.
For a government that claims to be popular, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime is strikingly afraid of elections. On the national level it has tamed them with a series of administrative obstacles and the removal of opponents. On the regional level it has created a system that essentially allows incumbent governors to hand-pick their challengers. And on the municipal level it has decided to do away with alternate candidates altogether.posted by scalefree at 10:11 AM on April 6, 2018 [14 favorites]
Directly elected mayors were once the norm in Russian cities. Today they are fast approaching extinction. As of last week, only eight of Russia’s regional capitals — less than a 10th — still allowed citizens to elect their mayors. As of this week, the number is down to seven.
The latest casualty in the Kremlin’s campaign is Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city of roughly 1.5 million. On Tuesday, the regional legislature abolished direct elections for the city’s mayor, replacing them with a bureaucratic appointment procedure. The discussion in committee took all of 15 minutes; the law was passed in three readings on one day; and no one bothered with providing even a formal justification, except that doing away with elections would save taxpayer money.
and no one bothered with providing even a formal justification, except that doing away with elections would save taxpayer money.
Sounds familiar, where have I heard that before...
Sounds familiar, where have I heard that before...
“A D.C.-based political group wants to force Wisconsin taxpayers to waste money on special elections at a time when our Legislature is ready to adjourn for the year,” Walker said. “It would be senseless to waste taxpayer money on special elections just weeks before voters go to the polls when the Legislature has concluded its business.”posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:37 AM on April 6, 2018 [33 favorites]
Because it suits these fuckers to use the phrase "Global Warming" (rather than Climate Change) and to take it literally.
It was a big mistake for climate scientists to knuckle under to the deniers' disingenuous braying about cold weather disproving global warming. The problem IS that the globe is warming and that weather becomes more unstable as that happens. By switching to "climate change" they ceded the framing war to the deniers, who claim that the change from global warming to climate change was an admission of error.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:38 AM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
It was a big mistake for climate scientists to knuckle under to the deniers' disingenuous braying about cold weather disproving global warming. The problem IS that the globe is warming and that weather becomes more unstable as that happens. By switching to "climate change" they ceded the framing war to the deniers, who claim that the change from global warming to climate change was an admission of error.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:38 AM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
I don't have any problem with reframing the issue as anthropogenic climate change and then defending it as a more accurate description, since science can always admit to changing descriptions as they become more refined.
The deniers are willfully blind to this issue anyway. climate is not weather, and it may be that as the waters around greenland become diluted by glacial run-off and the gulf-stream possibly fades, the east coast of the US actually gets remarkably colder.
Climate change deniers just naturally fit with the "anything Obama was for I'm against" narrative anyway, so voting is our best defense.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
The deniers are willfully blind to this issue anyway. climate is not weather, and it may be that as the waters around greenland become diluted by glacial run-off and the gulf-stream possibly fades, the east coast of the US actually gets remarkably colder.
Climate change deniers just naturally fit with the "anything Obama was for I'm against" narrative anyway, so voting is our best defense.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
A D.C.-based political group wants to force Wisconsin taxpayers to waste money on special elections
Does Gov. Walker fly commercial coach?
posted by rhizome at 10:46 AM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Does Gov. Walker fly commercial coach?
posted by rhizome at 10:46 AM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Looks like we finally have an answer to that ancient conundrum of the irresistible force vs the immovable object. The irresistible force wins.
Inside a White House in tumult, John Kelly’s clout dwindles.
Inside a White House in tumult, John Kelly’s clout dwindles.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, White House chief of staff John Kelly wasn’t on the line.posted by scalefree at 10:50 AM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
When Trump tapped John Bolton to be his next national security adviser, Kelly wasn’t in the room.
And when Trump spent a Mar-a-Lago weekend stewing over immigration and trade, Kelly wasn’t in sight.
Kelly, once empowered to bring order to a turbulent West Wing, has receded from view, his clout diminished, his word less trusted by staff and his guidance less tolerated by an increasingly go-it-alone president.
Emboldened in his job, Trump has rebelled against Kelly’s restrictions and mused about doing away with the chief of staff post entirely. It’s all leading White House staffers and Trump allies to believe that Kelly is working on borrowed time.
In recent weeks, Trump has governed at breakneck pace, ousting aides and issuing surprise policy announcements on Twitter, recreating the helter-skelter feel of his first months in office. Kelly’s allies maintain that his retreat is strategic. They suggest that the belief that Kelly was Trump’s savior was an overstated idea all along and that the chief of staff is now content to loosen the reins and allow an increasingly comfortable president to govern from his gut.
But those close to the president say that Trump has increasingly expressed fatigue at Kelly’s attempts to shackle him and that while Trump is not ready to fire Kelly, he has begun gradually freezing out his top aide.
Trump recently told one confidant that he was “tired of being told no” by Kelly and has instead chosen to simply not tell Kelly things at all, according to a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Trump’s West Wing, once the rumors begin that an aide’s exit is forthcoming, the “stink” on that staffer never leaves, according to one of the nearly dozen White House aides, former administration officials and outside advisers who spoke to The Associated Press under the same conditions.
Trump: I ‘probably’ won’t attend White House correspondents' dinner
Side note: Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to be there.
So a man who says he's brave enough to take on a school shooter is still scared of a dinner. And he'll put a female subordinate there instead of him. What a guy.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [33 favorites]
Side note: Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to be there.
So a man who says he's brave enough to take on a school shooter is still scared of a dinner. And he'll put a female subordinate there instead of him. What a guy.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [33 favorites]
@BrookingsInst: US tax revenues this year will be lower than any non-recession time of the last 50 years
Let's just hop on in the 'ol wayback machine all the way back to...September: Clip and save quote from Mnuchin: “Not only will this tax plan pay for itself, but it will pay down debt,”
That Mnuchin is allowed to wander this earth without being asked about this every single day is a disgrace.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on April 6, 2018 [88 favorites]
Let's just hop on in the 'ol wayback machine all the way back to...September: Clip and save quote from Mnuchin: “Not only will this tax plan pay for itself, but it will pay down debt,”
That Mnuchin is allowed to wander this earth without being asked about this every single day is a disgrace.
posted by zachlipton at 11:01 AM on April 6, 2018 [88 favorites]
Meanwhile in Russia: In Russia, a democratically elected mayor finally succumbs to Putinism.
For a government that claims to be popular, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime is strikingly afraid of elections. On the national level it has tamed them with a series of administrative obstacles and the removal of opponents. On the regional level it has created a system that essentially allows incumbent governors to hand-pick their challengers. And on the municipal level it has decided to do away with alternate candidates altogether.
Directly elected mayors were once the norm in Russian cities. Today they are fast approaching extinction. As of last week, only eight of Russia’s regional capitals — less than a 10th — still allowed citizens to elect their mayors. As of this week, the number is down to seven.
...
posted by scalefree at 10:11 AM on April 6 [4 favorites +] [!]
Staunch anti-communists used to point to the USSR as evidence that Communism inevitably leads to totalitarianism. We now have solid proof that totalitarians lead to totalitarianism and the question of whether Communism does is still unsettled.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:12 AM on April 6, 2018 [38 favorites]
For a government that claims to be popular, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime is strikingly afraid of elections. On the national level it has tamed them with a series of administrative obstacles and the removal of opponents. On the regional level it has created a system that essentially allows incumbent governors to hand-pick their challengers. And on the municipal level it has decided to do away with alternate candidates altogether.
Directly elected mayors were once the norm in Russian cities. Today they are fast approaching extinction. As of last week, only eight of Russia’s regional capitals — less than a 10th — still allowed citizens to elect their mayors. As of this week, the number is down to seven.
...
posted by scalefree at 10:11 AM on April 6 [4 favorites +] [!]
Staunch anti-communists used to point to the USSR as evidence that Communism inevitably leads to totalitarianism. We now have solid proof that totalitarians lead to totalitarianism and the question of whether Communism does is still unsettled.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:12 AM on April 6, 2018 [38 favorites]
So a man who says he's brave enough to take on a school shooter is still scared of a dinner.
Also not brave enough to throw out a baseball on opening day.
posted by peeedro at 11:13 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Also not brave enough to throw out a baseball on opening day.
posted by peeedro at 11:13 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's my birthday so I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, O Universe, to deliver us one hell of a scoop this afternoon, please and thank you.
posted by Aubergine at 11:13 AM on April 6, 2018 [58 favorites]
posted by Aubergine at 11:13 AM on April 6, 2018 [58 favorites]
That Mnuchin is allowed to wander this earth without being asked about this every single day is a disgrace.
Of course it takes a certain amount of time to see the benefits of all of the investment back into the economy that these tax breaks will allow for.
Being from Kansas, I know that if that never materializes, it just means that taxes are still too high, regulations too restrictive, and we need to take drastic steps to get spending under control.
---
I try not to be sarcastic on the internet but it is hard these days, mefi.
posted by history_denier at 11:19 AM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
Of course it takes a certain amount of time to see the benefits of all of the investment back into the economy that these tax breaks will allow for.
Being from Kansas, I know that if that never materializes, it just means that taxes are still too high, regulations too restrictive, and we need to take drastic steps to get spending under control.
---
I try not to be sarcastic on the internet but it is hard these days, mefi.
posted by history_denier at 11:19 AM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
In terms of the snowy sign about global warming, IIRC it’s intended to be humorous. The sign is outside a candy store in a small MN town, and it’s poking fun at the fact that we’ve gotten like a foot of snow in the last week and single-digit lows, despite it being the first week of April. I could be wrong and maybe the store owner is a Trump-voting climate denier.
posted by Autumnheart at 11:28 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Autumnheart at 11:28 AM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
(For that matter, it could well be making fun of Trump’s claim that climate change is a hoax, plus his ongoing insistence that he can personally affect global-scale events just by tweeting about how he thinks it should be.)
posted by Autumnheart at 11:31 AM on April 6, 2018
posted by Autumnheart at 11:31 AM on April 6, 2018
I could be wrong and maybe the store owner is a Trump-voting climate denier.
I don't see a meaningful difference between "LOL global warming amirite" and "carbon dioxide is good for the planet, don't let (((Soros))) tell you otherwise." It's as little a joking matter these days as racism, and if you wouldn't give a person saying "it's just a non-PC joke, c'mon" a pass, you shouldn't for this either. As for it possibly poking fun at Trump, we're so through the authoritarian looking-glass now that it's impossible to tell earnest from satirical and I make a habit of not giving people the benefit of the doubt on questions of Poe's Law.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:36 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
I don't see a meaningful difference between "LOL global warming amirite" and "carbon dioxide is good for the planet, don't let (((Soros))) tell you otherwise." It's as little a joking matter these days as racism, and if you wouldn't give a person saying "it's just a non-PC joke, c'mon" a pass, you shouldn't for this either. As for it possibly poking fun at Trump, we're so through the authoritarian looking-glass now that it's impossible to tell earnest from satirical and I make a habit of not giving people the benefit of the doubt on questions of Poe's Law.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:36 AM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Had a bit of a laugh this morning when a pundit on 1A asserted without proof that Trump was referring to the migrant caravan in Mexico as "a metaphor for the immigration problem."
No. Trump wouldn't know a metaphor if it bit him on the ass. If you've observed him for more than two seconds, you quickly realize he is driven by concrete, simple perceptions that would never allow for any literary device. Hysteron proteron is not in his toolkit.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
No. Trump wouldn't know a metaphor if it bit him on the ass. If you've observed him for more than two seconds, you quickly realize he is driven by concrete, simple perceptions that would never allow for any literary device. Hysteron proteron is not in his toolkit.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:43 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
'It's a joke' isn't a defense when the joke reinforces a false and damaging understanding of how the world works: the problem is that the statement reinforces a false and damaging understanding, not that it's too serious. Whether or not it's poking fun at Trump is moot within that context.
Of course it’s a defense. Because it’s a joke about the weather, on a sign outside a candy store in a small town. It is not official government policy being disseminated by an official government functionary ffs. Jesus. What’s next, pinning the responsibility for the success of Russian propaganda on the Onion?
posted by Autumnheart at 11:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
Trump knows what a metaphor is. He recited that snake poem at every stupid rally.
That said, he's being absolutely literal about the caravan, but still. We go a little overboard here with parsing his words and actions under the assumption that he's profoundly cognitively impaired.
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
That said, he's being absolutely literal about the caravan, but still. We go a little overboard here with parsing his words and actions under the assumption that he's profoundly cognitively impaired.
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Had a bit of a laugh this morning when a pundit on 1A asserted without proof that Trump was referring to the migrant caravan in Mexico as "a metaphor for the immigration problem."
The fact it's the latest in a series of human rights marches (named Via Crucis) & that its participants are fleeing persecution, plan on turning themselves in & asking for asylum at the border doesn't seem to be getting much traction. I think if people understood that it would have much more support.
posted by scalefree at 11:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
The fact it's the latest in a series of human rights marches (named Via Crucis) & that its participants are fleeing persecution, plan on turning themselves in & asking for asylum at the border doesn't seem to be getting much traction. I think if people understood that it would have much more support.
posted by scalefree at 11:51 AM on April 6, 2018 [12 favorites]
How “Effective” Is Scott Pruitt, Really?
“Governing by press release”—that’s how David Hayes, Environmental Impact Center’s executive director, described Pruitt’s strategy in an email. He likely intended it as a negative. But in Trump’s world, the press release—or the television appearance, or the tweet—is everything. The positive glow of a press release, however, only lasts so long. If Pruitt continues to lose court battles over his regulatory actions, he also stands to lose Trump’s support. After all, there’s nothing Trump hates more than losing court battles.posted by T.D. Strange at 11:52 AM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
Lawsuits are still brewing over Pruitt’s delay of an Obama-era clean water rule, his repeal of vehicle emissions standards, and his decision to allowed the continued use of the controversial pesticide chlorpyrifos. Environmentalists and other opponents of Pruitt shouldn’t assume he will lose these challenges. He’s not only indefatigable and experienced in litigation, but has help: “Mr. Pruitt has outsourced crucial work to a network of lawyers, lobbyists and other allies, especially Republican state attorneys general, a network he worked with closely as the head of the Republican Attorneys General Association,” according to the Times.
Pruitt’s reported political ambitions—to become the next U.S. attorney general, or even president—indicate he fully intends to follow through on his deregulatory agenda. He should not be underestimated. To date, though, most of his alleged accomplishments are hollow or incomplete.
In terms of the snowy sign about global warming, IIRC it’s intended to be humorous.
It wasn't all that humorous in 2015 when the sign read
JOIN THE
MOVEMENT
#CARAMELAPPLELIVESMATTER
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:00 PM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
It wasn't all that humorous in 2015 when the sign read
MOVEMENT
#CARAMELAPPLELIVESMATTER
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:00 PM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
Of course it takes a certain amount of time to see the benefits of all of the investment back into the economy that these tax breaks will allow for.
I wound up talking to a guy on a bus last week who over the course of conversation self-identified as a Republican (which shocked the shit out of me because we'd already covered the fact that he's a roboticist, a student, and a Canadian-American dual citizen like myself). We were talking about politics to begin with, but it was a civil conversation where mainly I felt like maybe he was studying me? (Bougie liberals like myself are dime a dozen in both of our neighborhoods so I'm not sure why this was necessary but whatever.) Anyway, it was immensely satisfying that my literal parting exchange with him as I exited the bus was about Medicare for all and how that's paid for (which was...a fairly rich question coming from someone who lived in Canada until college?). He said quite matter-of-factly in reply to my suggestion that the revenue problem is solvable by raising more revenue (yeah I am working on my TED Talk about this shocking finding) said, "Well, but then the economy stagnates."
Me: I don't think that's actually born out by the available empirical evidence oh hey this is my stop nice meeting you byeeeeee!!! :D
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:04 PM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
I wound up talking to a guy on a bus last week who over the course of conversation self-identified as a Republican (which shocked the shit out of me because we'd already covered the fact that he's a roboticist, a student, and a Canadian-American dual citizen like myself). We were talking about politics to begin with, but it was a civil conversation where mainly I felt like maybe he was studying me? (Bougie liberals like myself are dime a dozen in both of our neighborhoods so I'm not sure why this was necessary but whatever.) Anyway, it was immensely satisfying that my literal parting exchange with him as I exited the bus was about Medicare for all and how that's paid for (which was...a fairly rich question coming from someone who lived in Canada until college?). He said quite matter-of-factly in reply to my suggestion that the revenue problem is solvable by raising more revenue (yeah I am working on my TED Talk about this shocking finding) said, "Well, but then the economy stagnates."
Me: I don't think that's actually born out by the available empirical evidence oh hey this is my stop nice meeting you byeeeeee!!! :D
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:04 PM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
The fact it's the latest in a series of human rights marches (named Via Crucis) & that its participants are fleeing persecution, plan on turning themselves in & asking for asylum at the border doesn't seem to be getting much traction.
My knowledge that this so-called "caravan" consists of refugees planning to apply for asylum at the US border, which is a fully legal process, comes from MetaFilter, and not -- not at all -- from NPR.
(I'll also note that NPR also constantly frames the Oklahoma teacher's strike as a dispute over pay, when the teachers' demands very much includes addressing the chronically underfunded school system itself.)
posted by Gelatin at 12:06 PM on April 6, 2018 [26 favorites]
My knowledge that this so-called "caravan" consists of refugees planning to apply for asylum at the US border, which is a fully legal process, comes from MetaFilter, and not -- not at all -- from NPR.
(I'll also note that NPR also constantly frames the Oklahoma teacher's strike as a dispute over pay, when the teachers' demands very much includes addressing the chronically underfunded school system itself.)
posted by Gelatin at 12:06 PM on April 6, 2018 [26 favorites]
Well, then by all means call them up and lecture them about denying climate change.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:12 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Autumnheart at 12:12 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
NYT: Chief of Staff Advised a Resistant Trump to Fire E.P.A. Chief by JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and LISA FRIEDMAN
"John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, told President Trump last week that Scott Pruitt, his embattled administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, needed to go, according to two officials briefed about the conversation, following damaging allegations of ethical infractions and spending irregularities by the E.P.A. chief.
"But Mr. Trump, who is personally fond of Mr. Pruitt and sees him as a crucial ally in his effort to roll back environmental protections, has resisted firing him, disregarding warnings that the drumbeat of negative headlines has grown unsustainable, and that more embarrassing revelations could surface."
posted by reductiondesign at 12:20 PM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
"John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, told President Trump last week that Scott Pruitt, his embattled administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, needed to go, according to two officials briefed about the conversation, following damaging allegations of ethical infractions and spending irregularities by the E.P.A. chief.
"But Mr. Trump, who is personally fond of Mr. Pruitt and sees him as a crucial ally in his effort to roll back environmental protections, has resisted firing him, disregarding warnings that the drumbeat of negative headlines has grown unsustainable, and that more embarrassing revelations could surface."
posted by reductiondesign at 12:20 PM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mod note: Maybe let's drop the candy store sign thing at his point.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
It continues to get stupider. Politico, Pruitt was 'the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill', in which he was only supposed to stay for six weeks:
posted by zachlipton at 12:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [79 favorites]
They drew up a lease running from February through April of 2017, said the people familiar, in order to make sure neither they nor Pruitt ran afoul of ethics rules, which prohibit political appointees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Under the terms of that lease, Pruitt paid a cut-rate of $50 per night to live in the Hart’s condominium.This isn't really the point, but I was not informed that anybody was still making Kato Kaelin jokes in this our year of 2018.
That favor turned into a headache for the couple when Pruitt repeatedly asked to extend his lease and the couple began to wonder if he would ever leave. “There were gentle questions regarding, ok, when are you going to leave and what have you...and they even started sending him ads of places close by that he could rent,” said the first person.
“Scott Pruitt is the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill. He is the long-term houseguest who takes advantage of his hosts and refuses to take a hint about when it’s time to leave,” the second person said.
A spokesman for Pruitt did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Harts eventually told Pruitt, who had to be reminded repeatedly to pay his rent, that they had plans to rent the room to somebody else — and that he needed to find another place to live, according to the people familiar with events. They also informed him in early August that they were changing the locks on their door.
posted by zachlipton at 12:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [79 favorites]
Okay, wait. I haven't been keeping up well. Is the going theory that Pruitt is under so much fire because it's just his turn and everything is caving in on him now, or is there strong suspicion that Sessions is driving this to undermine him as a possible replacement or something?
As usual, nothing in this regime is too melodramatic and ridiculous for reality. It's never nuanced enough for fiction, but reality doesn't seem to give a damn anymore.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:28 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
As usual, nothing in this regime is too melodramatic and ridiculous for reality. It's never nuanced enough for fiction, but reality doesn't seem to give a damn anymore.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 12:28 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
He's collateral damage in the Rob Porter fiasco.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:33 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:33 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
I think this probably means something. 2015 email from Felix Sater to Michael Cohen about a letter of intent for Trump Moscow.
posted by scalefree at 12:38 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 12:38 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
He's collateral damage in the Rob Porter fiasco.
And the fact that we are being spared a probable constitutional crisis* by the crazed revenge of a former WH staffer and abuser on his ex that coincidentally happens to splash onto Pruitt is just perfect for this timeline.
* Trump replaces Sessions with Pruitt, Pruitt fires or neuters Mueller
posted by chris24 at 12:40 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
And the fact that we are being spared a probable constitutional crisis* by the crazed revenge of a former WH staffer and abuser on his ex that coincidentally happens to splash onto Pruitt is just perfect for this timeline.
* Trump replaces Sessions with Pruitt, Pruitt fires or neuters Mueller
posted by chris24 at 12:40 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Trump knows what a metaphor is. He recited that snake poem at every stupid rally.
That said, he's being absolutely literal about the caravan, but still. We go a little overboard here with parsing his words and actions under the assumption that he's profoundly cognitively impaired.
He's intellectually lazy and emotionally stunted.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:49 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
That said, he's being absolutely literal about the caravan, but still. We go a little overboard here with parsing his words and actions under the assumption that he's profoundly cognitively impaired.
He's intellectually lazy and emotionally stunted.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:49 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
And the fact that we are being spared a probable constitutional crisis*
I certainly hope so, but Pruitt hasn't gone anywhere yet:
Pruitt Is the Right’s Trial Run for Ignoring Mueller
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:49 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
I certainly hope so, but Pruitt hasn't gone anywhere yet:
Pruitt Is the Right’s Trial Run for Ignoring Mueller
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:49 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
ZeusHumms: "John Bowden, TheHill: Trump: I ‘probably’ won’t attend White House correspondents' dinner"
Good. It should be abolished.
Agree x1000, though I will say I think it's a useful reminder that everyone who opts to go to this inappropriate embarrassment (most everyone in government journalism) should remain a target of a skeptical eye. It's a good reminder of the ubiquity of the cult of access.
It's a sucky situation to be sure, but c'mon. We felt like we were being used to push an agenda? Well . . Yeah. That's . . that's the job. Ideally that agenda takes care of people and promotes good. But hey.
Most journalists can't see this because they're too invested in the idea of the view from nowhere. They won't let themselves acknowledge that news is impossible to report absent some bias, given that it inherently involves selecting what to report and what not to report. If they can't accept that how do you expect them to examine the impact of their framing or embrace the idea that they might have a moral obligation beyond simply speaking?
posted by phearlez at 12:55 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Good. It should be abolished.
Agree x1000, though I will say I think it's a useful reminder that everyone who opts to go to this inappropriate embarrassment (most everyone in government journalism) should remain a target of a skeptical eye. It's a good reminder of the ubiquity of the cult of access.
It's a sucky situation to be sure, but c'mon. We felt like we were being used to push an agenda? Well . . Yeah. That's . . that's the job. Ideally that agenda takes care of people and promotes good. But hey.
Most journalists can't see this because they're too invested in the idea of the view from nowhere. They won't let themselves acknowledge that news is impossible to report absent some bias, given that it inherently involves selecting what to report and what not to report. If they can't accept that how do you expect them to examine the impact of their framing or embrace the idea that they might have a moral obligation beyond simply speaking?
posted by phearlez at 12:55 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
The administration's moves on tariffs -- first on steel and aluminum and now specifically targeting China -- have been causing volatility in the stock market. North Korea, Iran, and other provocations have likewise caused market swings, as did various tweet storms until people re-calibrated how seriously to take the president's statements.
It seems like arbitrage and high-frequency trading profit off of market volatility regardless of whether stocks ultimately show persistent gains, so hedge funds must enjoy this kind of chaos.
Has anyone seen any articles discussing the idea that generating chaos might be a way of paying back Robert Mercer and Co. for their support?
posted by duoshao at 1:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
It seems like arbitrage and high-frequency trading profit off of market volatility regardless of whether stocks ultimately show persistent gains, so hedge funds must enjoy this kind of chaos.
Has anyone seen any articles discussing the idea that generating chaos might be a way of paying back Robert Mercer and Co. for their support?
posted by duoshao at 1:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
I called my Iowa U.S. Senators (both Republicans) to ask if they agreed with the President that this trade war was "good, and easy to win" and/or that "when you're $500 billion down, you can't lose!", given the importance of soybean exports to China in the Iowa economy. I was told that both senators have issued statements criticizing the administration's actions and calling on the administration to not provoke Chinese retaliation against American agriculture. I applauded the statements and noted that the President has heard the Senator's requests and responded by threatening an additional tariff on $100bn of Chinese goods, precisely the opposite of what the senators requested. I suggested, crazy as it is to say out loud, that perhaps Donald Trump doesn't actually care about the economy of the state of Iowa. I expressed my joy at how fortunate it was that Senators Ernst and Grassley could join together to deny the President a Senate majority and could achieve pretty much any administration action they wanted. I questioned whether this was likely based on the senators' evident terror of receiving an angry tweet, and their lack of concern regarding the President doing the bidding of the Russian Federation in undermining America's economy and status in the world in order to protect the only human beings he cares about, himself and his immediate family. I was thanked and my messages will be passed along
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:34 PM on April 6, 2018 [129 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:34 PM on April 6, 2018 [129 favorites]
Has anyone seen any articles discussing the idea that generating chaos might be a way of paying back Robert Mercer and Co. for their support?
That would imply strategic intent by Trump. We've seen no evidence that he has the mental capacity to devise or implement that sort of thing & a huge mountain of evidence that he doesn't due to thought patterns resulting from his narcissism that cause him to respond in the moment to urges & impulses.
posted by scalefree at 1:37 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
That would imply strategic intent by Trump. We've seen no evidence that he has the mental capacity to devise or implement that sort of thing & a huge mountain of evidence that he doesn't due to thought patterns resulting from his narcissism that cause him to respond in the moment to urges & impulses.
posted by scalefree at 1:37 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
He was already going to resign at the end of his term, due to sexual harassment scandals. Presumably there's some new scandal.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:52 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:52 PM on April 6, 2018 [2 favorites]
That would imply strategic intent by Trump. We've seen no evidence that he has the mental capacity to devise or implement that sort of thing & a huge mountain of evidence that he doesn't due to thought patterns resulting from his narcissism that cause him to respond in the moment to urges & impulses.
Sure, long term and complex strategies are unlikely, but this is no more complicated than "visit Mar-a-Lago with foreign dignitaries to drive up membership costs".
posted by duoshao at 1:55 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sure, long term and complex strategies are unlikely, but this is no more complicated than "visit Mar-a-Lago with foreign dignitaries to drive up membership costs".
posted by duoshao at 1:55 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ok but does this mean he's running out on the $84,000 in settlement money he claimed he'd pay back?
posted by zachlipton at 1:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 1:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Woooooooooooooot! Sorry, but that guy is such a creeper. Now let's see what he did that was even worse.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:02 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:02 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Has anyone seen any articles discussing the idea that generating chaos might be a way of paying back Robert Mercer and Co. for their support?
It's the other way round. Mercer supported Trump because Trump is incapable of governing well.
posted by benzenedream at 2:09 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's the other way round. Mercer supported Trump because Trump is incapable of governing well.
posted by benzenedream at 2:09 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
There is so much going on that it is hard to digest. I'm finally getting down to read this long form New Yorker article about the Saudi Crown prince, and this stands out:
M.B.Z. arrived at the meeting, in the Trump Tower penthouse, with an entourage of about thirty people. He was dressed in combat boots and jeans, and some of his men were armed. For most of the first hour, he and the Trump aides engaged in a relatively conventional discussion of Middle East policy, but the talk grew more animated as the two sides realized that they shared a common fixation on Iran. The meeting evolved into a planning session on how the Trump White House would confront the Iranian regime in the Gulf.
A few weeks later, just after the Inauguration, Kushner began advocating a new outreach to Saudi Arabia. In his plan, Trump would visit Riyadh for a summit of fifty-five Muslim-majority countries. “Jared was the engine for all this,” the former defense official said. In a single gathering, Trump could introduce himself to the Muslim world, reëstablish America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, put Iran on notice, and communicate to everyone present how the Administration felt about M.B.S. “The whole establishment was opposed to it—State, D.O.D., Treasury, everyone,” the former defense official said. There were concerns about endorsing M.B.S. and rupturing the relationship with bin Nayef. “The fear was: You can’t engage with M.B.S. You can’t be doing this stuff, because that’s going to upset things. It might show favoritism. We’ve got a partner. Let’s stick with stability.”
What is this even? I've been writing and rewriting my thoughts about this article for a while, but in the end, it's so disastrous I can't. The evens are gone. I'll be out stocking up on canned food for a while.
posted by mumimor at 2:12 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
M.B.Z. arrived at the meeting, in the Trump Tower penthouse, with an entourage of about thirty people. He was dressed in combat boots and jeans, and some of his men were armed. For most of the first hour, he and the Trump aides engaged in a relatively conventional discussion of Middle East policy, but the talk grew more animated as the two sides realized that they shared a common fixation on Iran. The meeting evolved into a planning session on how the Trump White House would confront the Iranian regime in the Gulf.
A few weeks later, just after the Inauguration, Kushner began advocating a new outreach to Saudi Arabia. In his plan, Trump would visit Riyadh for a summit of fifty-five Muslim-majority countries. “Jared was the engine for all this,” the former defense official said. In a single gathering, Trump could introduce himself to the Muslim world, reëstablish America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, put Iran on notice, and communicate to everyone present how the Administration felt about M.B.S. “The whole establishment was opposed to it—State, D.O.D., Treasury, everyone,” the former defense official said. There were concerns about endorsing M.B.S. and rupturing the relationship with bin Nayef. “The fear was: You can’t engage with M.B.S. You can’t be doing this stuff, because that’s going to upset things. It might show favoritism. We’ve got a partner. Let’s stick with stability.”
What is this even? I've been writing and rewriting my thoughts about this article for a while, but in the end, it's so disastrous I can't. The evens are gone. I'll be out stocking up on canned food for a while.
posted by mumimor at 2:12 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
Blake Farenthold (R) has resigned from Congress
we mourn the loss of another great statesman
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:15 PM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
we mourn the loss of another great statesman
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:15 PM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
from way up thread:
> they are also narrow-minded in the sense that they can't imagine other people having different values. I see this most often with people who think money is the only motivator
> The political imagination of an entire country in general but of the respectable op-ed upper class types specifically is extremly artificially limited.
not sure if this has been linked, but...
The Teachers' Strikes Have Exposed the GOP's Achilles Heel - "Last week, Republicans in Oklahoma voted to raise taxes on fossil fuel companies, so as to increase pay for public sector workers..."
posted by kliuless at 2:16 PM on April 6, 2018 [36 favorites]
> they are also narrow-minded in the sense that they can't imagine other people having different values. I see this most often with people who think money is the only motivator
> The political imagination of an entire country in general but of the respectable op-ed upper class types specifically is extremly artificially limited.
not sure if this has been linked, but...
The Teachers' Strikes Have Exposed the GOP's Achilles Heel - "Last week, Republicans in Oklahoma voted to raise taxes on fossil fuel companies, so as to increase pay for public sector workers..."
posted by kliuless at 2:16 PM on April 6, 2018 [36 favorites]
Seems like a good time to call your congresspeople and let them know that this idea is not compatible with freedom of the press:
Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And 'Media Influencers' [Forbes]
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:18 PM on April 6, 2018 [57 favorites]
Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And 'Media Influencers' [Forbes]
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:18 PM on April 6, 2018 [57 favorites]
Competition: find the best graph showing how bad the US student debt problem actually is
I was looking at the steady increase in reporting on how dangerous and insane the debt situation is, from student loan defaultments to private equality basically burning down businesses for the insurance money, and I realized I felt this exact feeling before. Fall of 2007.
posted by The Whelk at 2:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [40 favorites]
I was looking at the steady increase in reporting on how dangerous and insane the debt situation is, from student loan defaultments to private equality basically burning down businesses for the insurance money, and I realized I felt this exact feeling before. Fall of 2007.
posted by The Whelk at 2:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [40 favorites]
Seems like a good time to call your congresspeople and let them know that this idea is not compatible with freedom of the press
I know everyone is panicking over this, going so far as to speculate that critical journalists could have trouble leaving the country, and I understand the impulse to assume the worst when it comes to DHS, but this really seems like pretty bog standard media monitoring stuff to me.
posted by zachlipton at 2:31 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
I know everyone is panicking over this, going so far as to speculate that critical journalists could have trouble leaving the country, and I understand the impulse to assume the worst when it comes to DHS, but this really seems like pretty bog standard media monitoring stuff to me.
posted by zachlipton at 2:31 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
jfc this is an alarming graph right here. Nearly half of the US Federal Government's financial assets are student loans, up from 27% in 2015.
posted by halation at 2:38 PM on April 6, 2018 [53 favorites]
posted by halation at 2:38 PM on April 6, 2018 [53 favorites]
The New Yorker's online Daily Cartoon has been getting a lot more political lately, with most of them featuring Trump. But the EPA got one from NYer regular Peter Kuper earlier this week and today featured Pruitt by name about his not-environmental issues.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:40 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:40 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
M.B.Z. arrived at the meeting.... communicate to everyone present how the Administration felt about M.B.S.
who are MBZ and MBS?
posted by thelonius at 2:51 PM on April 6, 2018
who are MBZ and MBS?
posted by thelonius at 2:51 PM on April 6, 2018
M.B.S. is crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. M.B.Z. is crown prince of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:53 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:53 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
I know everyone is panicking over this, going so far as to speculate that critical journalists could have trouble leaving the country, and I understand the impulse to assume the worst when it comes to DHS, but this really seems like pretty bog standard media monitoring stuff to me.
Well, that's certainly their story, though they didn't word it quite so delicately:
Well, that's certainly their story, though they didn't word it quite so delicately:
DHS Press Secretary Tyler Q. Houlton [via Twitter] —posted by Atom Eyes at 2:54 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Despite what some reporters may suggest, this is nothing more than the standard practice of monitoring current events in the media. Any suggestion otherwise is fit for tin foil hat wearing, black helicopter conspiracy theorists.
Manafort's legal team isn't done challenging Mueller. Today, they filed a Bill of Particulars demanding the Special Counsel identify "how the Defendant 'caused' the alleged actions", "the generally alleged false and misleading statements", and "the alleged 'accomplices' and 'others'". This is the kind of fishing expedition high-priced attorneys embark on for a Friday afternoon, but good luck getting Mueller or the judge to take the bait.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Weren't we talking just this morning about how low-profile Rick Perry has been at Dept of Energy? The New Yorker has a piece about corruption in the department, and retaliation against a whistleblower.
posted by suelac at 2:59 PM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by suelac at 2:59 PM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
black helicopter conspiracy theorists
You mean your voting base?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:05 PM on April 6, 2018 [20 favorites]
You mean your voting base?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:05 PM on April 6, 2018 [20 favorites]
Happy Friday. CNN, Jenna McLaughlin, Jim Sciutto and Carl Bernstein, Exclusive: Trump adviser played key role in pursuit of possible Clinton emails from dark web before election
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
A Donald Trump foreign policy adviser pushed government agencies to review materials from the dark web in the summer of 2016 that he thought were Hillary Clinton's deleted emails, multiple sources with direct knowledge tell CNN.My initial quick read of this is that an awful Trump advisor got offered a bunch of fake emails by someone and tried to give them to a wide variety of government agencies to try to get Clinton in trouble (which is interesting in light of all the Trump campaign folks who didn't go to law enforcement when they became aware of information about hacked documents), none of which took the bait. I fear this is going to be used to start another round of right-wing attacks that the FBI never looked for the Clinton emails or something equally stupid.
Joseph Schmitz approached the FBI and other government agencies about material a client of his had discovered that Schmitz believed might have been Clinton's missing 30,000 emails from her private e-mail server, sources say. The material was never verified, and sources say they ultimately believed it was fake.
His push is the latest example of Trump advisers who were mixed up in efforts to find dirt on Clinton during the presidential campaign. Schmitz was one of the first people Trump named to his campaign's national security and foreign policy team. The team, showcased in a March 2016 photo, was thrown together early in Trump's successful run as he faced mounting pressure to prove his ability to pull in high-level advisers who could help prepare him for the White House.
posted by zachlipton at 3:15 PM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
Orrin Hatch sold out and supported Trump and all he got was this lousy t-shirt.
posted by peeedro at 3:40 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 3:40 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
Need a [real] or [fake] on that Orrin Hatch photo, peedro
posted by yoga at 3:56 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by yoga at 3:56 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Need a [real] or [fake] on that Orrin Hatch photo, peedro
Saw it yesterday, pretty sure it's real. Here's the post it came from.
posted by scalefree at 4:00 PM on April 6, 2018
Saw it yesterday, pretty sure it's real. Here's the post it came from.
posted by scalefree at 4:00 PM on April 6, 2018
Hatch buys his T-shirts at Very Old Navy.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [16 favorites]
Today, they filed a Bill of Particulars demanding the Special Counsel identify "how the Defendant 'caused' the alleged actions", "the generally alleged false and misleading statements", and "the alleged 'accomplices' and 'others'". This is the kind of fishing expedition high-priced attorneys embark on for a Friday afternoon, but good luck getting Mueller or the judge to take the bait.
The beauty of this is Mueller's response can go from "nope" to deciding how many pages to return, since I'm sure in the Manafort file there's hundreds of pages that could be responsive.
And Friday Afternoon Filings only work to induce stress if you're unprepared.
Muller and his team of US Attorneys has literally been preparing their whole careers for this moment.
posted by mikelieman at 4:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
The beauty of this is Mueller's response can go from "nope" to deciding how many pages to return, since I'm sure in the Manafort file there's hundreds of pages that could be responsive.
And Friday Afternoon Filings only work to induce stress if you're unprepared.
Muller and his team of US Attorneys has literally been preparing their whole careers for this moment.
posted by mikelieman at 4:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Not this again. S.C. Republicans introduce bill to consider secession over gun rights.
posted by scalefree at 4:03 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 4:03 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Real, as tweeted by Hatch’s communications director.
posted by peeedro at 4:03 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by peeedro at 4:03 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
A Donald Trump foreign policy adviser pushed government agencies to review materials from the dark web in the summer of 2016 that he thought were Hillary Clinton's deleted emails, multiple sources with direct knowledge tell CNN.
That's got to be related to this WSJ story:
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:04 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
That's got to be related to this WSJ story:
Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers.And this follow up story.
In conversations with members of his circle and with others he tried to recruit to help him, the GOP operative, Peter W. Smith, implied he was working with retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, at the time a senior adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.
“He said, ‘I’m talking to Michael Flynn about this—if you find anything, can you let me know?’”
...
Those investigators have examined reports from intelligence agencies that describe Russian hackers discussing how to obtain emails from Mrs. Clinton’s server and then transmit them to Mr. Flynn via an intermediary, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the intelligence.
A longtime Republican activist who led an operation hoping to obtain Hillary Clinton emails from hackers listed senior members of the Trump campaign, including some who now serve as top aides in the White House, in a recruitment document for his effort.Matt Tait's version of this story.
The activist, Peter W. Smith, named the officials [Bannon, Conway, Clovis, Flynn] in a section of the document marked “Trump Campaign.” The document was dated Sept. 7, 2016. That was around the time Mr. Smith said he started his search for 33,000 emails Mrs. Clinton deleted from the private server she used for official business while secretary of state.
...
He and his associates said they were in touch with several groups of hackers, including two from Russia they suspected were tied to the Moscow government, in a bid to find any stolen emails and potentially hurt Mrs. Clinton’s prospects.
...
The document was included in a package of opposition research Mr. Smith shared through an encrypted email with Matt Tait, a cybersecurity expert who once worked for British intelligence. Mr. Tait said he was approached last summer by Mr. Smith, who wanted him to help verify whether emails offered to the group by hackers came from Mrs. Clinton’s private server.
After discussing his project by phone and in emails Mr. Smith gave him a document called the “KLS research packet,” which contained articles Mr. Smith planned to use for opposition research, Mr. Tait said. The packet cover sheet is the document that listed the Trump campaign officials. Mr. Smith’s name and phone number are typed at the bottom of it.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:04 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
Not this again. S.C. Republicans introduce bill to consider secession over gun rights.
Par for the course, 'cause I'm pretty sure in a few years this entire country is going to need Radical Reconstruction Two.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:08 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Par for the course, 'cause I'm pretty sure in a few years this entire country is going to need Radical Reconstruction Two.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:08 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
Radical Reconstruction Two? We never successfully finished Radical Reconstruction One...
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:27 PM on April 6, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:27 PM on April 6, 2018 [36 favorites]
Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Homeland Security
Which brings us to the LA Times, Soumya Karlamangla, Amid deportations, those in U.S. without authorization shy away from medical care
_Sec_. _2_. _Ending "Catch and Release"_. (a) Within 45 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall submit a report to the President detailing all measures that their respective departments have pursued or are pursuing to expeditiously end "catch and release" practices. At a minimum, such report shall address the following:At 7pm on a Friday night. This, of course, follows last year's memo on the same topic, so there's a case that it's more for PR value than anything else (except why roll it out at 7pm on a Friday night then?), but the clear intent is to crack down on asylum claims and further expand the use of immigration detention.
Which brings us to the LA Times, Soumya Karlamangla, Amid deportations, those in U.S. without authorization shy away from medical care
St. John’s, which treats more immigrants who lack legal status than any clinic in the state, often hears from patients who are afraid they’ll run into federal authorities on their way to the clinic, employees said. In the last several months, staff members have practiced forming a human chain around the facility, in case immigration agents do show up one day.posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on April 6, 2018 [34 favorites]
...
Many healthcare providers said they had to conduct special training on anxiety and depression related to deportation because so many people were experiencing such problems.
“We have kids coming in and crying, ‘What if they deport my dad?’” said Mangia, with St. John’s. “I don’t think we can underestimate the mental health impact.”
Some health workers recounted stories of children in border counties coming to school with two backpacks, one with their pencils and books, the other with their belongings in case their parents get deported. Others said they’d heard kids talking about who would take care of them if their parents were taken away.
Moving Air Continues to Vex American President
Another L for America today as its president, Donald J. Trump, was once again vanquished by air moving through space at a high velocity. Commonly known as the phenomenon "Wind," it made quick work of the world leader and his hair.posted by kirkaracha at 5:37 PM on April 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
Commonly known as the phenomenon "Wind," it made quick work of the world leader and his hair.
Hm.
Someone should mention to him that climate change will also make the winds stronger.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:45 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Hm.
Someone should mention to him that climate change will also make the winds stronger.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:45 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
jfc this is an alarming graph right here. Nearly half of the US Federal Government's financial assets are student loans, up from 27% in 2015.
And per the latter link the answer to whose fault it is appears to genuinely be "Obamacare" for once, because some sort of program was put in place to balance the accounting in such a way as to count as "revenue-positive"—with that revenue deriving from an accelerated issue of loans from the Federal Direct Student Loan Program?
posted by XMLicious at 5:59 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
NYReview of Books on new edition of the Works of Caesar. Too timely in the most unnerving PKD 'the roman empire never died' way.
"Cicero praised Caesar’s Commentaries—the first example we have of Latin historical prose—as “naked, straightforward, and graceful, stripped of rhetorical ornament as of clothing.” Too long and too good a read to be Caesar’s official reports to the Senate, these must have been written for wider public consumption, presumably with an eye to the consular elections of 49: Caesar constantly emphasizes that he is acting on behalf of the Roman state, and that the Roman people are making huge territorial gains in Gaul. He writes with considerable style and attention to narrative, with exciting battles and detailed descriptions of encampments, bridge construction, and ship-building, and with an emphasis on the speed and scale of operations: the word “quickly” occurs sixty-two times, and “big” more than two hundred.
We naturally hear little of Caesar the man as opposed to the calm, decisive, and brilliant general. We must turn to his later biographers for accounts of the trimming, shaving, and plucking, the fringed and belted senatorial tunic, the comb-over he adopted to hide his baldness (and his relief when the Senate voted to give him the honor of wearing a laurel wreath at all times), the mosaic flooring he carried on campaigns to furnish his tent, his “falling sickness” (probably epilepsy), or his notorious aversion to alcohol. "
posted by rc3spencer at 6:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [14 favorites]
"Cicero praised Caesar’s Commentaries—the first example we have of Latin historical prose—as “naked, straightforward, and graceful, stripped of rhetorical ornament as of clothing.” Too long and too good a read to be Caesar’s official reports to the Senate, these must have been written for wider public consumption, presumably with an eye to the consular elections of 49: Caesar constantly emphasizes that he is acting on behalf of the Roman state, and that the Roman people are making huge territorial gains in Gaul. He writes with considerable style and attention to narrative, with exciting battles and detailed descriptions of encampments, bridge construction, and ship-building, and with an emphasis on the speed and scale of operations: the word “quickly” occurs sixty-two times, and “big” more than two hundred.
We naturally hear little of Caesar the man as opposed to the calm, decisive, and brilliant general. We must turn to his later biographers for accounts of the trimming, shaving, and plucking, the fringed and belted senatorial tunic, the comb-over he adopted to hide his baldness (and his relief when the Senate voted to give him the honor of wearing a laurel wreath at all times), the mosaic flooring he carried on campaigns to furnish his tent, his “falling sickness” (probably epilepsy), or his notorious aversion to alcohol. "
posted by rc3spencer at 6:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [14 favorites]
The WaPo has an article revealing the existence of a DHS biometric information program operating within Mexican detention centers since the GWB administration, U.S. gathers data on migrants deep in Mexico, a sensitive program Trump’s rhetoric could put at risk:
Operating in detention facilities in southern Mexico and here in the capital [of Mexico], Department of Homeland Security officials have installed scores of screening terminals to collect migrants’ fingerprints, ocular scans and other identifying features, including tattoos and scars.posted by peeedro at 6:07 PM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
...
The information gathered is immediately forwarded to DHS and other U.S. law enforcement and intelligence databases, alerting American officials if an individual in Mexican custody is a convicted criminal or in a category known as “Special Interest Aliens,” which includes potential extremists, according to current and former U.S. officials who described the program on the condition of anonymity because many of its details have not been public
...
Gustavo Mohar, a former top Mexican intelligence and immigration official, described the biometric program as “part of the bilateral package and the immigration policy of Mexico to prevent criminals or bad people from passing through Mexico and going to the United States.”
“This biometric interchange is a preventative measure to identify people of risk; it’s not that we’re letting pass gang members, rapists, everything that man said,” Mohar added, referring to Trump. “It’s frankly an open lie, what he’s saying.”
...
Angry Mexican senators this week also approved a nonbinding resolution calling on Peña Nieto to break off cooperation with the United States on security and migration issues. Laura Rojas, the head of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said in support of the resolution that Trump’s behavior has been “permanently and systematically disrespectful and insulting,” and based on “prejudices and misinformation,” while making “frequent use of threats and blackmail.”
Such talk is unnerving to the U.S. diplomats who have worked for decades to overcome mistrust in Mexico and persuade authorities here to allow American officials to work alongside them despite the risk of public backlash.
rc3spencer: People might be interested in the on-line supplementary essays on Julius Caesar. (All a single PDF but it downloads fast). The collapse of the Roman Republic bears too many resemblances to current American problems for comfort.
posted by CCBC at 6:18 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by CCBC at 6:18 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
Backpage got seized by the government today. Keep an eye on what the DOJ does with the site's information. This will end up being less about combating trafficking, and more about punishing sex workers. Watch who ends up actually getting prosecuted due to Backpage. This is a nationwide prostitution bust.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [46 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:21 PM on April 6, 2018 [46 favorites]
On the Pruitt beat, there’s some ongoing rumors that underlying his strange behavior is a serious opioid drug problem.
I recognize this sounds a little crazy, but...
Consider the obsession with secrecy (building soundproof rooms?), his insistence on flying private, and pair that with his security forces having to bust through the door to his room because he didn’t respond to repeated inquiries only to be found “napping.”
posted by leotrotsky at 6:26 PM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
I recognize this sounds a little crazy, but...
Consider the obsession with secrecy (building soundproof rooms?), his insistence on flying private, and pair that with his security forces having to bust through the door to his room because he didn’t respond to repeated inquiries only to be found “napping.”
posted by leotrotsky at 6:26 PM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
Consider the obsession with secrecy (building soundproof rooms?), his insistence on flying private, and pair that with his security forces having to bust through the door to his room because he didn’t respond to repeated inquiries only to be found “napping.”
...and giving significant raises to his close subordinates, even after being told “No” from the White House.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:33 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
...and giving significant raises to his close subordinates, even after being told “No” from the White House.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:33 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Moving Air Continues to Vex American President
Related: "Who wore it better?"
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:43 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
Related: "Who wore it better?"
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:43 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
NYT, Kushner Partner in 666 Fifth Ave. Says It Has Deal to Sell, in which the Kushners are buying out Vornado to take full ownership of 666 Fifth Ave (which, incidentally, I walked past the other day, and the little "Kushner Companies" plaque really startles you in that "damn these assholes are everywhere" sort of way). There's a $1.4B mortgage due in 10 months, the building isn't worth what they paid for it, and sketchy deals to get financing from China and Qatar have fallen apart, which makes me wonder where they're getting the money now.
posted by zachlipton at 6:51 PM on April 6, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:51 PM on April 6, 2018 [19 favorites]
Trump signs memo ending 'catch and release' immigration policy
As part of the memo, Trump asked Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to produce a list of military facilities that could be used to detain illegal immigrants.
So we're at concentration camps.
posted by adept256 at 7:10 PM on April 6, 2018 [107 favorites]
As part of the memo, Trump asked Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to produce a list of military facilities that could be used to detain illegal immigrants.
So we're at concentration camps.
posted by adept256 at 7:10 PM on April 6, 2018 [107 favorites]
There's a $1.4B mortgage due in 10 months, the building isn't worth what they paid for it, and sketchy deals to get financing from China and Qatar have fallen apart, which makes me wonder where they're getting the money now.
Это тайна.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:47 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
Это тайна.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:47 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
On the Pruitt beat, there’s some ongoing rumors that underlying his strange behavior is a serious opioid drug problem. . . . his security forces having to bust through the door to his room because he didn’t respond to repeated inquiries only to be found “napping.”
The sirens-flashing dinner drives, and the "no recordings, no notes" soundproof-booth bulletproof-desk keep-me-away-from-them-on-the-plane paranoia sounded like classic speed dependency (no pun intended). Which one would need to pass out to come down from.
*shrug* Or he's a huuuuuuuge dickhead. Yeah yeah, the both, yes.
posted by petebest at 7:59 PM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
The sirens-flashing dinner drives, and the "no recordings, no notes" soundproof-booth bulletproof-desk keep-me-away-from-them-on-the-plane paranoia sounded like classic speed dependency (no pun intended). Which one would need to pass out to come down from.
*shrug* Or he's a huuuuuuuge dickhead. Yeah yeah, the both, yes.
posted by petebest at 7:59 PM on April 6, 2018 [13 favorites]
The deadline for Paul Manafort's lawyers to file any motions to suppress evidence was set by the judge a month ago for tonight at midnight. At almost 10:30, they drop a "hey can we not just have the weekend but all of Monday too? We want to suppress the results of searching his house" filing.
What I'm saying is, there's increasing amounts of evidence his lawyers might also suck.
Also, DOJ will allow all members of the House and Senate Intel committees to view the FISA applications in the Russia investigation as "an extraordinary accommodation based on unique facts and circumstances," but Nunes wants further documents and is threatening to sue. So be prepared for a lot more nonsense there.
posted by zachlipton at 8:10 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
What I'm saying is, there's increasing amounts of evidence his lawyers might also suck.
Also, DOJ will allow all members of the House and Senate Intel committees to view the FISA applications in the Russia investigation as "an extraordinary accommodation based on unique facts and circumstances," but Nunes wants further documents and is threatening to sue. So be prepared for a lot more nonsense there.
posted by zachlipton at 8:10 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Wait, so... is "catch and release" some actual policy that can actually be ended? I thought that was just a nationalist sound bite complaining how it's a terrible, terrible thing that habeas corpus exists and people aren't supposed to be indefinitely detained, or something. But the Reuters "article" (which contains only one sentence... adept256 quoted it in its entirety) doesn't appear to question that it's a real thing, nor do articles in The Hill and the NYT.
On preview, zachlipton linked to the text of the memo; the only substantial thing it appears to do is order a bunch of reports, but as he notes it's basically foreshadowing more xenophobia and anti-immigrant crap.
posted by XMLicious at 8:11 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
On preview, zachlipton linked to the text of the memo; the only substantial thing it appears to do is order a bunch of reports, but as he notes it's basically foreshadowing more xenophobia and anti-immigrant crap.
posted by XMLicious at 8:11 PM on April 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
On preview, zachlipton linked to the text of the memo; the only substantial thing it appears to do is order a bunch of reports, but as he notes it's basically foreshadowing more xenophobia and anti-immigrant crap.
And Backpage is the attack on sex workers, which is predominantly women. Rights are going to get tightened.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:22 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
And Backpage is the attack on sex workers, which is predominantly women. Rights are going to get tightened.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:22 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Re: Backpage. I have a friend who is a special agent in the Human Trafficking Group at DHS. He's very happy about this because it's something they've been working towards that they think will make a difference. Not to say the seized assets can't be used to go after sex workers, but they were definitely being used for trafficking and its shutdown is a very good thing in his opinion.
posted by chris24 at 8:42 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 8:42 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
My willpower is doing double duty tonight preventing me from ranting against prohibition and the harms it does to sex workers. Suffice to say its complicated.
posted by Justinian at 8:50 PM on April 6, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 8:50 PM on April 6, 2018 [15 favorites]
Welcome to the normal, low-end furniture for Trump Cabinet members store! (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Hi, and welcome to a definitely normal, inexpensive retailer of normal furniture at reasonable prices. Thanks for coming in, Mr. Secretary!posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:54 PM on April 6, 2018 [17 favorites]
First, do you need office supplies? Be sure to check out our pens, which are $800 apiece and made of the shin bones of a saint. We also have cheap, low-end pens (ballpoint, with one color of ink) for $100, if you want to save.
Obviously, we offer a range of very affordable tables and chairs. These really run the gamut! On the high end, we have a saber-tooth tiger leather piece stuffed with an actual member of the middle class. Or you’ll probably want one like this — made from that same cheap and reasonable material, but it swivels! Or, if you’re desperate to save, on the low end, we have a barely acceptable, shoddy, disgusting chair that begins at the cheap price of $5,000. This hideous chair is made from the pelt of only a single snow leopard, and no effort was made to give the snow leopard a classical education.
As an aside, there was this recent thread about craigslist and prostitution, I recall backpage being mentioned there. We covered a lot of ground there on the complicated stuff.
My own personal opinion is that without legal venues for sex workers it's pretty obvious what happens next.
posted by adept256 at 8:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
My own personal opinion is that without legal venues for sex workers it's pretty obvious what happens next.
posted by adept256 at 8:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [7 favorites]
We Deeply Regret Hiring the Perpetrators of the Salem Witch Trials as Opinion Columnists (Bob Vulfov, McSweeney's)
Last week, after many fruitful discussions with the gentlemen behind the Salem witch trials, we here at The Atlantic made the decision to hire those men as opinion columnists. This was done in an effort to strengthen the diversity of thought within our op-ed section. We wanted to introduce some fresh, new, and extremely scary ideas into the mix. Although we were well aware of these individuals’ controversial views on due process and medicine, we simply could not pass up an opportunity to ignore massive red flags under the guise of nonpartisanship.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:01 PM on April 6, 2018 [49 favorites]
At the time we hired the Salem witch trial perpetrators, we were well aware of the inflammatory pamphlets they had distributed in the town square. We strongly believed no one’s life work should be judged by an intemperate pamphlet that depicts the female brain as being split into witch and non-witch halves. We refused to dismiss these men simply because they’ve openly stated that a woman who raises her voice has entered into an unlawful covenant with the Devil. Such a thought should not preclude these men from having fruitful careers at The Atlantic. […]
The perpetrators of the Salem witch trials are gifted writers and have been nothing but professional in all of our interactions. We still believe they are capable thought leaders with something valuable to say, even if that thing is that women are naturally predisposed to witchcraft because they are more susceptible than men to the Devil’s charms. Although we can no longer keep them employed at The Atlantic, we will be sure to write them glowing letters of recommendation, which they can parlay into gigs at the New York Times’ op-ed section.
Not to say the seized assets can't be used to go after sex workers, but they were definitely being used for trafficking and its shutdown is a very good thing in his opinion.
This is dangerous territory. Everything that can be used for any purpose can and will be used for a bad purpose. Banning opioids because people have overdosed. Banning cryptocurrencies because someone can buy drugs with them. Banning e-mail encryption because someone has plotted against a government. Not to cast aspersions upon him but it's unsurprising that your friend the DHS agent is going to see the law enforcement side, and not so much the impinging on various freedoms side.
posted by xigxag at 9:06 PM on April 6, 2018 [25 favorites]
This is dangerous territory. Everything that can be used for any purpose can and will be used for a bad purpose. Banning opioids because people have overdosed. Banning cryptocurrencies because someone can buy drugs with them. Banning e-mail encryption because someone has plotted against a government. Not to cast aspersions upon him but it's unsurprising that your friend the DHS agent is going to see the law enforcement side, and not so much the impinging on various freedoms side.
posted by xigxag at 9:06 PM on April 6, 2018 [25 favorites]
I've always thought the last minute Paul Manaforte stuff was about delaying the prosecution and dragging the thing out for as long as possible. It's exactly what I would do if the charges against me could lead to a whopping 300 years in prison and the president's lawyer was negotiating a pardon with mine.
posted by xammerboy at 9:07 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by xammerboy at 9:07 PM on April 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
My own personal opinion is that without legal venues for sex workers it's pretty obvious what happens next.
It's now clear that Backpage was much more involved in creating the ads, sometimes editing illegal content from them & even creating fake ads on rival sites that pointed back to them. Backpage has always claimed it doesn’t control sex-related ads. New documents show otherwise.
posted by scalefree at 9:10 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's now clear that Backpage was much more involved in creating the ads, sometimes editing illegal content from them & even creating fake ads on rival sites that pointed back to them. Backpage has always claimed it doesn’t control sex-related ads. New documents show otherwise.
posted by scalefree at 9:10 PM on April 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
Mod note: I think Backpage is becoming a derail now.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:12 PM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:12 PM on April 6, 2018 [11 favorites]
In other news, California's Better Senator, Kamala Harris, guested on The Ellen Show, kinda-denied running for the 2020 White House, and incurred the wrath of the Right Wing Media for a 'death joke':
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:23 PM on April 6, 2018 [68 favorites]
ELLEN DEGENERES: If you had to be stuck in an elevator with either President Trump, Mike Pence, or Jeff Sessions, who would it be?
KAMALA HARRIS: Does one of us have to come out alive?
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:23 PM on April 6, 2018 [68 favorites]
Via Crucis; who's in it, what's it about & what's it like? A photo essay. On the road with the migrant caravan fleeing violence in their homelands.
posted by scalefree at 10:27 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 10:27 PM on April 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Geez Louise. Open the border, take all comers. We need ‘em, they need us. That message sells, too, right and left.
posted by notyou at 10:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by notyou at 10:58 PM on April 6, 2018 [19 favorites]
That message sells, too, right and left.
With everyone but racists, who are apparently plentiful but not a majority. So: fuck the racists, take the moral stand, get people on your side by pushing policies based on common sense and common decency. It's so painfully obvious that this is the correct strategy for democrats everywhere, maybe enough of them will finally figure it out this time around.
posted by contraption at 11:22 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
With everyone but racists, who are apparently plentiful but not a majority. So: fuck the racists, take the moral stand, get people on your side by pushing policies based on common sense and common decency. It's so painfully obvious that this is the correct strategy for democrats everywhere, maybe enough of them will finally figure it out this time around.
posted by contraption at 11:22 PM on April 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
I'm living in a different timeline apparently because if there's one thing the last couple years have shown in this one it is that a huge percentage of the country are either consciously or subconsciously racist and "open the border, take all comers" is in no possible sense a message which would sell to 95% of the right and probably 40% of the left.
That is not commentary on whether it is good policy. But I find it impossible to see what in the last 8 years would lead one to believe it would be effective messaging to win elections.
posted by Justinian at 11:35 PM on April 6, 2018 [33 favorites]
That is not commentary on whether it is good policy. But I find it impossible to see what in the last 8 years would lead one to believe it would be effective messaging to win elections.
posted by Justinian at 11:35 PM on April 6, 2018 [33 favorites]
tl;dr - anybody for whom open borders would be an effective message is already a Democrat and probably already voting.
posted by Justinian at 11:36 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 11:36 PM on April 6, 2018 [3 favorites]
I don't think putting immigrants in "military detention centers" will sell well. I also can't believe he's considering making being caught sneaking over the border a felony. Moral considerations aside, this will be hugely expensive. Is there no bottom to these people's hate? Does their stupid, pointless, massively expensive, un-Christian, amoral, racist, unpractical hate have to be the most important thing in the universe?
posted by xammerboy at 11:42 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 11:42 PM on April 6, 2018 [9 favorites]
Their entire sense of self is based on being superior to the "others" and either having power over them or keeping away from them (both of which are based on de-humanizing them). In their minds, America is only the most powerful and greatest nation in the world if the White Males are running it, and if Trump is a piss-poor example of a White Male and is still in charge, it means you don't have to be smart, honest or any of those other 'virtues', just powerful. And that's the mindset of his 'base'.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:52 PM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:52 PM on April 6, 2018 [18 favorites]
I guess I understood "take all comers" to be at least a little hyperbolic. I think letting in anybody who shows up at the border wanting to announce themselves and make a claim for asylum from a violent home country is a policy that would be widely supported if well explained and advocated for. The racists can win when they're riled up and everyone else is apathetic, but the tables will turn if the Democrats take on the mantle of moral right and economic realism and fairness vs. the flailing bigoted kleptocracy of the Trumpists. Or we're just fucked, but I'd rather make a go of it than not.
posted by contraption at 12:01 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by contraption at 12:01 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
he's considering making being caught sneaking over the border a felony.
So, my only understanding of this comes from John Oliver, but would this at least make it so that they’re entitled to lawyers? If they’re not currently because immigration is a civil matter, wouldn’t making it a felony mean they get lawyers?
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:34 AM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
So, my only understanding of this comes from John Oliver, but would this at least make it so that they’re entitled to lawyers? If they’re not currently because immigration is a civil matter, wouldn’t making it a felony mean they get lawyers?
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:34 AM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
On a different point, I find myself wondering if Trump's whole will I/won't I with the SC depo is a matter of:
a) His instinct that this is reality-show moment with a big show down between two leading characters, and he's playing that for as much of that as he's worth
b) He really has broken with reality and believes that he's a unicorn that shits rainbows and Mueller will just be wowed by him
c) He's gone all in on the divine right of kings idea
d) All of the above
And that ultimately, he'll ride in, plead the fifth a bunch of times, and ride out, having a perhaps not unjustified idea that Congress will do nothing.
posted by angrycat at 12:51 AM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
a) His instinct that this is reality-show moment with a big show down between two leading characters, and he's playing that for as much of that as he's worth
b) He really has broken with reality and believes that he's a unicorn that shits rainbows and Mueller will just be wowed by him
c) He's gone all in on the divine right of kings idea
d) All of the above
And that ultimately, he'll ride in, plead the fifth a bunch of times, and ride out, having a perhaps not unjustified idea that Congress will do nothing.
posted by angrycat at 12:51 AM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
Illegal entry is already a misdemeanor, and felony if you do it after you've previously been deported. There are thousands of prosecutions a month to the point where it's a large portion of the federal justice system.
Absent special circumstances, my understanding is that there's not a ton a lawyer can usually do for an illegal re-entry charge besides argue for a shorter sentence. As one federal public defender put it:
Absent special circumstances, my understanding is that there's not a ton a lawyer can usually do for an illegal re-entry charge besides argue for a shorter sentence. As one federal public defender put it:
Defending a person charged with violating Title 8 U.S.C. 1326 can be a challenging venture. At face value, you are defending a person who is sitting across a table from you and who is charged with being here. Ah. The multiple defenses should come easily to mind, right? And what complicates the matter is that many of these poor souls are facing astronomical jail terms. So the equation goes something like this: a pretty defenseless case with a hardcore sentence. And then you think to yourself, Today is a good day to retire.posted by zachlipton at 12:58 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
I have a theory on Trump wanting to meet with Mueller to answer questions too. In short, he never seriously considered it, knows how that looks, and so had it leaked that he wants to meet with Mueller but his lawyers won't let him. It's what almost anyone would do in his circumstances.
And... It would be almost unthinkably stupid to meet with Mueller and answer questions even if you're innocent. There's no lawyer that would recommend a client do that ever under any circumstances. There's a real risk of inadvertently committing a crime just by remembering something wrong. Think about every TV show you've ever seen ever where the lawyer tells their client not to talk to the cops, not to talk to anyone without them present (to mainly object). Think about Clinton. He was impeached for lying to congress, not for anything he did. I guess the one difference here is that Trump's lawyers probably don't trust him to not blurt something incriminating out even after they tell him not to answer a question.
posted by xammerboy at 1:20 AM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
And... It would be almost unthinkably stupid to meet with Mueller and answer questions even if you're innocent. There's no lawyer that would recommend a client do that ever under any circumstances. There's a real risk of inadvertently committing a crime just by remembering something wrong. Think about every TV show you've ever seen ever where the lawyer tells their client not to talk to the cops, not to talk to anyone without them present (to mainly object). Think about Clinton. He was impeached for lying to congress, not for anything he did. I guess the one difference here is that Trump's lawyers probably don't trust him to not blurt something incriminating out even after they tell him not to answer a question.
posted by xammerboy at 1:20 AM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
There's no lawyer that would recommend a client do that ever under any circumstances.
Counterpoint: These are the lawyers who drafted contracts and prior filings for Trump. There's no bottom limit to their stupidity.
posted by mikelieman at 3:52 AM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Counterpoint: These are the lawyers who drafted contracts and prior filings for Trump. There's no bottom limit to their stupidity.
posted by mikelieman at 3:52 AM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
And... It would be almost unthinkably stupid
I'm gonna stop you right there. This is a man who doesn't understand how the Post Office works, even after it was repeatedly explained to him. I suspect he is dumb enough that he has to be reminded to breathe.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:09 AM on April 7, 2018 [40 favorites]
I'm gonna stop you right there. This is a man who doesn't understand how the Post Office works, even after it was repeatedly explained to him. I suspect he is dumb enough that he has to be reminded to breathe.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:09 AM on April 7, 2018 [40 favorites]
The War on Science Is Over. The Republicans Won. New Republic, 5 April 2018
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 4:26 AM on April 7, 2018 [79 favorites]
...An investigation published Monday by Reveal shows just how far the Trump administration will go to deny climate change. The Interior Department delayed the release of an 87-page report on flooding risks in U.S. national parks for 10 months, for the sole purpose of deleting every mention of the phrase. Doing so “prevented park managers from having access to the best data in situations such as reacting to hurricane forecasts, safeguarding artifacts from floodwaters or deciding where to locate new buildings,” according to the article...The article also talks at length about the ceaseless efforts of Lamar Smith, who's been the chair of the House Science Committee for five years, to impugn climatology and the people who study it. I sat in on the Science Committee's hearings three years ago and saw them wrecking shit left and right with Lamar Smith at the helm. I don't know what it's going to take to turn the country around on these issues.
Such interference has proven common for the Trump administration, and it appears to be influencing scientists and members of the voting public. Late last year, NPR released data showing that many researchers are now avoiding the phrase “climate change” in grant proposals to the National Science Foundation, the independent government agency that funds the bulk of U.S. research. And last week, a Gallup poll found that the percentage of independent voters who “believe global warming is caused by human activities” fell to 62 percent in 2018, and 8-point drop from last year. Only 35 percent of Republicans believe likewise, compared to 40 percent in 2017.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 4:26 AM on April 7, 2018 [79 favorites]
I don't know what it's going to take to turn the country around on these issues.
Elections.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:46 AM on April 7, 2018 [66 favorites]
Elections.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:46 AM on April 7, 2018 [66 favorites]
Sam Wang: An Antidote for Gobbledygook: Organizing The Judge’s Partisan-Gerrymandering Toolkit
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:08 AM on April 7, 2018 [17 favorites]
We propose that mathematical tests fall into two categories: tests of unequal opportunity and tests of durable outcome. These tests draw upon ideas borrowed from racial discrimination law, while extending that doctrine in directions that are unique to the category of partisanship.SSRN
Opportunity is easily defined and corresponds to a core principle of democracy: it should be possible to vote out a candidate or incumbent.
...
Test of unequal opportunity are easily conceptualized as an extension of racial discrimination. Where partisans comprise a small fraction of the population, the appropriate procedure is to examine individual districts. Where partisans comprise close to half the voters of a state, a statewide evaluation is necessary.
However, party is a more mutable characteristic than race. Therefore one may ask whether a partisan advantage is durable. Our second standard, testing for inequality of outcome, addresses this problem by probing whether a particular arrangement is likely to be robust to likely changes within a redistricting cycle. This can be gauged not just by waiting for multiple elections to pass (which would vitiate the remedy) but by gauging the partisan effects of a map by examining likely outcomes under a variety of conditions. This is well within the reach of modern expert witnesses.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:08 AM on April 7, 2018 [17 favorites]
I don't know what it's going to take to turn the country around on these issues.
Elections.
And people who (should) care about these types of things voting.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:50 AM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
Elections.
And people who (should) care about these types of things voting.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:50 AM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
If you are strong of stomach and can stand staring into the abyss for a while, here's a devastatingly unwavering write-up of some days in the life of Milo Yiannopoulos in the Spectator. Aside from the profile it paints of an horrifically broken man, it casts light on those who used him, presumably while they recognised what he was, and the astonishingly facile use of cruelty as a tool. A trademark of the brutes that deserves special study.
posted by Devonian at 7:07 AM on April 7, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 7:07 AM on April 7, 2018 [26 favorites]
Because the enemy of our enemy is still a monomaniacal capitalist with world-domination plans:
Trump's enemy is not your friend: why we shouldn't defend Amazon (Thomas Frank, Guardian)
Trump's enemy is not your friend: why we shouldn't defend Amazon (Thomas Frank, Guardian)
Confronting concentrated, autocratic economic power is what Democrats used to do. It was the definition of the species. They fought against monopolies in oil and food and transport that ripped off producers with one hand and consumers with the other. But now it’s Trump who, in his clumsy and authoritarian way, is trying to swipe that legacy.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:22 AM on April 7, 2018 [34 favorites]
I am making a tricky point here, so let me be clear: I don’t like Amazon, and I don’t like Donald Trump either. I would approve enthusiastically if a president started enforcing antitrust laws, but that’s not what Trump is proposing to do. What we are being offered instead is a choice between the worst president of our lifetimes and one of the most rapacious corporate enterprises in the country. And, eagerly, we are lining up with one or the other.
This in turn seems to me an almost perfect representation of the wretched choices available to Americans these days, as well as the megadoses of self-deception we are swallowing in order to make them. It is everything that is wrong with our politics, and it extends from the most sweeping matters of state right down to the individual reader.
NYT, Kushner Partner in 666 Fifth Ave. Says It Has Deal to Sell
Oh hey, speaking of 666 5th Ave, in A Saudi Prince's Quest to Remake the Middle East, the New Yorker reports (via @kylegriffin1):
Oh hey, speaking of 666 5th Ave, in A Saudi Prince's Quest to Remake the Middle East, the New Yorker reports (via @kylegriffin1):
A financial analyst with knowledge tells New Yorker that, despite his previous claims, [renowned crook and father of Jared] Charles Kushner pitched a huge renovation of 666 5th Avenue to the Qataris.posted by FelliniBlank at 7:42 AM on April 7, 2018 [21 favorites]
The Qataris declined, citing dubious business logic. Jared's ally MBS then blockaded Qatar.
I'm not defending Amazon. I'm defending;
1) truth - the USPS is not losing money on the Amazon deal
2) the 1st amendment - Trump's attacks on Amazon are nothing but an obvious ploy to attack the Washington Post
3) Rule of law - Trump is trying to destroy any institution that can hold him accountable
Amazon isn't my friend, it's also not the threat to democracy, to millions of POC and LGBT, to world peace, to survival of our species that Trump is. If people want to play KPD vs. SPD while the Nazis take over, go ahead. I'm not.
And a repost of Josh at TPM's take on it.
McCabe, Amazon and Defending the Republic from Donald Trump
posted by chris24 at 7:51 AM on April 7, 2018 [112 favorites]
1) truth - the USPS is not losing money on the Amazon deal
2) the 1st amendment - Trump's attacks on Amazon are nothing but an obvious ploy to attack the Washington Post
3) Rule of law - Trump is trying to destroy any institution that can hold him accountable
Amazon isn't my friend, it's also not the threat to democracy, to millions of POC and LGBT, to world peace, to survival of our species that Trump is. If people want to play KPD vs. SPD while the Nazis take over, go ahead. I'm not.
And a repost of Josh at TPM's take on it.
McCabe, Amazon and Defending the Republic from Donald Trump
posted by chris24 at 7:51 AM on April 7, 2018 [112 favorites]
And another repost in the same vein...
WaPo (Ronald Klain) - I stand with Andrew McCabe
WaPo (Ronald Klain) - I stand with Andrew McCabe
[McCabe], and others, may well have deserved to face some consequence, perhaps even to have their government service ended. But, in the era of Trump, that is not the right question. In these instances, we need to ask not whether an individual did something wrong; the question is whether there is any reason to believe that is why Trump took action. In McCabe’s case, the answer is obvious.posted by chris24 at 8:04 AM on April 7, 2018 [59 favorites]
From Trump’s own words, it is clear that he had McCabe fired not for anything he did wrong, but for what he did right: His refusal to pledge political loyalty to Trump, his determination that the investigation of Trump and his campaign continue without compromise, and his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee corroborating Comey’s damning account of Trump’s obstruction.
McCabe’s firing serves Trump’s purposes, whether or not McCabe did anything wrong. And every FBI agent investigating matters that Trump finds uncomfortable, every intelligence officer reporting on Russian efforts to corrupt our democracy, every career civil servant doing his or her duty in the face of political pressure has been sent a chilling message: Cross the president at your peril. He will single you out, he will harass you publicly, he will find a way to end your career. He may even deny you a pension you have spent decades earning through selfless public service.
This, then, is the challenge that confronts Trump’s opponents dedicated to protecting the rule of law from his political power. Standing up to Trump may indeed involve standing unequivocally with imperfect people, people who may have done something wrong — to stop the president from perpetrating an even bigger wrong, with an even greater cost to our system.
The War on Science Is Over
While we're beating up on obnoxious and unhelpful writing, words can't express how fucking weary I am of this sort of glib facile self-indulgent defeatist clickbait hyperbole. Are there more than a token amount of professional writers, talking heads, journalists, media figures, what have you, left who are at all mindful of the fact that their words have power and influence and consequence in the world and exercise care in how they sling them around?
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:24 AM on April 7, 2018 [28 favorites]
While we're beating up on obnoxious and unhelpful writing, words can't express how fucking weary I am of this sort of glib facile self-indulgent defeatist clickbait hyperbole. Are there more than a token amount of professional writers, talking heads, journalists, media figures, what have you, left who are at all mindful of the fact that their words have power and influence and consequence in the world and exercise care in how they sling them around?
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:24 AM on April 7, 2018 [28 favorites]
Frank can be obnoxious, no doubt (his attachment to high society has always seemed odd given his avowed politics), but I'm not sure that confessing that his social position makes him feel vulnerable to ideological apparatus is 'both-sidesy.' I feel like most issues of The Baffler have had rougher patches than that one.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:26 AM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:26 AM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
Devonian: "If you are strong of stomach and can stand staring into the abyss for a while, here's a devastatingly unwavering write-up of some days in the life of Milo Yiannopoulos in the Spectator. Aside from the profile it paints of an horrifically broken man, it casts light on those who used him, presumably while they recognised what he was, and the astonishingly facile use of cruelty as a tool. A trademark of the brutes that deserves special study."
There doesn't seem to be a there there at all. What a completely empty person.
posted by octothorpe at 8:32 AM on April 7, 2018 [17 favorites]
There doesn't seem to be a there there at all. What a completely empty person.
posted by octothorpe at 8:32 AM on April 7, 2018 [17 favorites]
Maybe if Thomas Frank wasn’t one of the chief voices of leftist misogyny and racism in denial for the past 2-3 years we would give him the benefit of the doubt. As it is, he’s one of the “it’s all about class“ mansplainers on the left, so when he talks about being seduced by Trumpian rhetoric, you’re goddamn right it’s terrifying.
And the Baffler is published by Win McCormack’s son, and has been supported by the McCormacks for a while. It’s always been a rich white boy’s plaything.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:37 AM on April 7, 2018 [22 favorites]
And the Baffler is published by Win McCormack’s son, and has been supported by the McCormacks for a while. It’s always been a rich white boy’s plaything.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:37 AM on April 7, 2018 [22 favorites]
@NBCNews: NEW: Federal investigators obtained a search warrant tied to Paul Manafort on March 9, according to a Special Counsel's Office filing in the Manafort case. MORE: The filing states that Manafort has been served with seven search warrants for his property, banks, a hard drive, e-mail accounts, five phone lines, and a storage locker.
Politico has an update on another piece of Friday-night lawyering from Manafort's attorneys: Manafort Moves to Suppress Evidence Found in Storage Unit—Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman say FBI illegally accessed the locker, then returned with warrant.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:50 AM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
Politico has an update on another piece of Friday-night lawyering from Manafort's attorneys: Manafort Moves to Suppress Evidence Found in Storage Unit—Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman say FBI illegally accessed the locker, then returned with warrant.
The FBI first got into the Alexandria, Va. storage unit last May with the assistance of an employee who worked at two or more of Manafort's companies, an agent told the federal magistrate judge who issued the warrant. Then, the agent used what he saw written on so-called Banker's Boxes and the fact there was a five-drawer filing cabinet to get permission to return and seize many of the records.Lately Manafort's motions seem drenched in flop sweat (his lawyers also requested a last-minute extension on a Friday deadline to file a motion to suppress evidence found in a search of Manafort's Alexandria condo in July).
In a motion filed Friday night in federal court in Washington, Manafort's defense team contends that the initial entry was illegal because the employee did not not have authority to let the FBI into the locker. The defense also argues that the warrant was overbroad and that agents seizing records went beyond what limits the warrant did set.[...]
The warrant U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan issued for the storage locker on May 27 authorized FBI agents to seize virtually any financial or tax records relating to Manafort or his business partner Rick Gates. Also approved for seizure were any records relating to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, his Party of Regions, a pro-Ukraine think tank called the European Center for a Modern Ukraine and a slew of offshore companies connected to Manafort.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:50 AM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
supported by the McCormacks for a while. It’s always been a rich white boy’s plaything.
That explains a lot.
I didn't think he was saying he was seduced, more like...tempted? Given his track record and his tunnel vision, it's not surprising. But maybe that's not significantly less disturbing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:00 AM on April 7, 2018
That explains a lot.
I didn't think he was saying he was seduced, more like...tempted? Given his track record and his tunnel vision, it's not surprising. But maybe that's not significantly less disturbing.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:00 AM on April 7, 2018
Hey guys, the solution to guns is more guns!
posted by tocts at 9:04 AM on April 7, 2018 [77 favorites]
A South Carolina congressman pulled out his own loaded handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday to make a point that guns are dangerous only in the hands of criminals.But ... oh no, pesky facts! The first "good guy with a gun" on the scene of the Giffords shooting very nearly shot the bystander who had wrested the gun from the actual shooter!
Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman placed the .38-caliber gun on a table during the "coffee with constituents" meeting at a Rock Hill restaurant, news outlets reported.
"I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords," Norman said, referring to the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot outside a grocery store during a constituent gathering in 2011.
But before we embrace Zamudio's brave intervention as proof of the value of being armed, let's hear the whole story. "I came out of that store, I clicked the safety off, and I was ready," he explained on Fox and Friends. "I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket here. And I came around the corner like this." Zamudio demonstrated how his shooting hand was wrapped around the weapon, poised to draw and fire. As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. "And that's who I at first thought was the shooter," Zamudio recalled. "I told him to 'Drop it, drop it!'"This doesn't even get into the stupid fucking rambo fantasies of idiots like Ralph Norman. Dude, you are not a member of SEAL Team Six. You're a delusional old white dude who is significantly more likely to kill himself (purposefully) or others (accidentally) with his pistol than ever get a chance to react to a shooter with it in self defense.
But the man with the gun wasn't the shooter. He had wrested the gun away from the shooter. "Had you shot that guy, it would have been a big, fat mess," the interviewer pointed out.
posted by tocts at 9:04 AM on April 7, 2018 [77 favorites]
A South Carolina congressman pulled out his own loaded handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday...
Not just a constituent meeting, a meeting with women from Mothers Demand Action, a group fighting for sensible gun regulation to reduce gun violence. It's like showing up hammered to a meeting with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
posted by chris24 at 9:17 AM on April 7, 2018 [98 favorites]
Not just a constituent meeting, a meeting with women from Mothers Demand Action, a group fighting for sensible gun regulation to reduce gun violence. It's like showing up hammered to a meeting with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
posted by chris24 at 9:17 AM on April 7, 2018 [98 favorites]
If you are strong of stomach and can stand staring into the abyss for a while, here's a devastatingly unwavering write-up of some days in the life of Milo Yiannopoulos in the Spectator. Aside from the profile it paints of an horrifically broken man, it casts light on those who used him, presumably while they recognised what he was, and the astonishingly facile use of cruelty as a tool. A trademark of the brutes that deserves special study.
I found this quite interesting, though perhaps because on MetaFilter's advice before now I avoided learning anything about him apart from the titles of a few articles he wrote for Breitbart. Of his fans:
It was worth clicking on if only to see Spectator USA's illustration of Trump dressed up as Napoleon from Napoleon Crossing the Alps astride the Twitter logo instead of a horse.They are not all monsters but some are very stupid.
posted by XMLicious at 9:20 AM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
"I'm not going to be a Gabby Giffords," Norman said
Aside from the how offensive (to the Mothers and Giffords) a statement like this is, it's—once again—transparent idiocy. You're one person, up on a stage, in a room full of people you wish were armed, virtually without restriction, and you're saying your one weapon is going to protect you if somebody decides to shoot you? I'd ask who falls for this shit, but I guess we already know.
posted by Rykey at 9:39 AM on April 7, 2018 [49 favorites]
Aside from the how offensive (to the Mothers and Giffords) a statement like this is, it's—once again—transparent idiocy. You're one person, up on a stage, in a room full of people you wish were armed, virtually without restriction, and you're saying your one weapon is going to protect you if somebody decides to shoot you? I'd ask who falls for this shit, but I guess we already know.
posted by Rykey at 9:39 AM on April 7, 2018 [49 favorites]
stupid fucking rambo fantasies of idiots like Ralph Norman. Dude, you are not a member of SEAL Team Six
These kinds of guys deserve all the mockery, but it's also true that actual SEALs are not immune to numbnuts gun culture, or validating (and, after their service, marketing to) its adherents.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:41 AM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
These kinds of guys deserve all the mockery, but it's also true that actual SEALs are not immune to numbnuts gun culture, or validating (and, after their service, marketing to) its adherents.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:41 AM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman placed the [loaded] .38-caliber gun on a table during the "coffee with constituents" meeting at a Rock Hill restaurant, news outlets reported.
So there are safe ways to do this, but not many, and I very much doubt this yahoo practiced them. Basic gun-safety training: do not point the gun at something you do not intend to shoot. "On a table in a coffee shop" is not a gun-position that's likely to meet this criterion. Holstered is best, pointed at the ground acceptable if you absolutely must take the damn thing out.
posted by jackbishop at 9:43 AM on April 7, 2018 [21 favorites]
So there are safe ways to do this, but not many, and I very much doubt this yahoo practiced them. Basic gun-safety training: do not point the gun at something you do not intend to shoot. "On a table in a coffee shop" is not a gun-position that's likely to meet this criterion. Holstered is best, pointed at the ground acceptable if you absolutely must take the damn thing out.
posted by jackbishop at 9:43 AM on April 7, 2018 [21 favorites]
Also, (so as not abuse Edit, sorry): if the entire country is the Wild West fantasy the gun crowd imagines it to be... why wouldn't somebody pulling out a handgun—congressman or not—itself be perceived as a shooting about to happen, with the predictable carnage ensuing? If I shoot a congressman dead because I see him pull out a weapon at a town hall, is that justifiable self-defense in the eyes of these fucking morons?
posted by Rykey at 9:44 AM on April 7, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by Rykey at 9:44 AM on April 7, 2018 [36 favorites]
South Carolina is also not an Open Carry state.
posted by chris24 at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
Basic gun-safety training: do not point the gun at something you do not intend to shoot. "On a table in a coffee shop" is not a gun-position that's likely to meet this criterion.
Now we can be friends again
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
Now we can be friends again
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
why wouldn't somebody pulling out a handgun—congressman or not—itself be perceived as a shooting about to happen, with the predictable carnage ensuing?
Because this congressman is white.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2018 [65 favorites]
Because this congressman is white.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:47 AM on April 7, 2018 [65 favorites]
If I shoot a congressman dead because I see him pull out a weapon at a town hall, is that justifiable self-defense in the eyes of these fucking morons?
Depends; is he black?
(On preview, semi-jinx, Rust Moranis.)
posted by GrammarMoses at 10:05 AM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
Depends; is he black?
(On preview, semi-jinx, Rust Moranis.)
posted by GrammarMoses at 10:05 AM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
"South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum." -- James L. Petigru
posted by kirkaracha at 10:44 AM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:44 AM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
Oh my god, Devonian. What an excellent writer Tanya Gold is - with a little extra edge in devastating cruelty. I remember when she described Susan Boyle's first BGT appearance the cruelty was unwarranted: "[Subo in her gold lace dress] looked like a pork chop on a doily" but where Milo is concerned it's absolutely fitting to the target, like completing a jigsaw puzzle with a bang! and a cheer. "He looks like his mother." Woah, my eyes are sizzling just reading that. Had to rush in and comment before I read the rest.
Tanya Gold had a stint at the Guardian and reading the comments under her pieces was the very first time I saw what anti-semitism looks like disguised for respectable literate people. She had disgusting internet stalkers before it was a known thing in the UK, and the paper very slow and slouch to recognise it - disgracefully so. Anyhow I'm halfway through her article and suspecting I might even be feeling sorry for Yiannopoulos by the end, poor vain little deluded fascist fantasist moron that he is. Bringing in the hipster vote, Bannon, yeah, how brilliant, much strategy.
posted by glasseyes at 10:49 AM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
Tanya Gold had a stint at the Guardian and reading the comments under her pieces was the very first time I saw what anti-semitism looks like disguised for respectable literate people. She had disgusting internet stalkers before it was a known thing in the UK, and the paper very slow and slouch to recognise it - disgracefully so. Anyhow I'm halfway through her article and suspecting I might even be feeling sorry for Yiannopoulos by the end, poor vain little deluded fascist fantasist moron that he is. Bringing in the hipster vote, Bannon, yeah, how brilliant, much strategy.
posted by glasseyes at 10:49 AM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
I might even be feeling sorry for Yiannopoulos
If that doesn’t make you say hmmm, nothing will. Oh, that poor helpless boy!
Fuck him and fuck that.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:23 AM on April 7, 2018 [19 favorites]
If that doesn’t make you say hmmm, nothing will. Oh, that poor helpless boy!
Fuck him and fuck that.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:23 AM on April 7, 2018 [19 favorites]
Man, sometimes you feel sorry for awful people, because they are never going to be alright in themselves. Tanya Gold did enough of a demolition job in that article, I think neither ill wishes nor horrified expressions add anything to the devastating effect of it. In other words, I think you are reading things into me feeling sorry for the guy that I do not intend.
posted by glasseyes at 11:42 AM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by glasseyes at 11:42 AM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
Lots of gay kids with no so great childhoods grow up to be productive members of society, not self-loathing hate dragons and willing avatars of trolololol-Nazism. And isn't Milo still here on an O-1 "genius" visa? Can we get some Democrats campaigning on immigration reform that restricts O-1 visas to actual geniuses, not fucking Milo and Melania?
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:48 AM on April 7, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:48 AM on April 7, 2018 [34 favorites]
Could you have shot the Senator for pulling out a gun? Maybe. My understanding is that if you're a cop the standard is merely that you feel threatened. As long as that's the standard, I don't see why a cop couldn't shoot anyone and any time and get away with it. It sure seems like its been working out that way.
posted by xammerboy at 11:52 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 11:52 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
I feel sorry for Milo, and awful people in general, because they are awful, and, I suspect, incapable of any genuine happiness or satisfaction. In fact it seems like their own incapacity for sympathy is one of the things that makes them awful.
Like, there's a massive list of people I feel more sorry for, but I genuinely do feel sorry for these awful shitgibbons, at the same time as desperately trying to figure out how to best counter their obvious harm.
posted by aspersioncast at 11:53 AM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
Like, there's a massive list of people I feel more sorry for, but I genuinely do feel sorry for these awful shitgibbons, at the same time as desperately trying to figure out how to best counter their obvious harm.
posted by aspersioncast at 11:53 AM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
There are lots of people who are likewise incapable of any genuine happiness or satisfaction, but still manage not to be awful shitgibbons. Save your sympathy.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:57 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:57 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
Sorry but this seems like an awfully silly fight. "Save your sympathy" i.e. don't have the feelings/reaction you are having, etc... come on - is it really necessary to do that? No one is saying that he's not horrible.
posted by Golem XIV at 12:02 PM on April 7, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Golem XIV at 12:02 PM on April 7, 2018 [22 favorites]
Mod note: Enough on whether people can/should/mustn't/etc feel whatever way for Milo Yiannopolis.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:03 PM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:03 PM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
Axios Trump-whisperer Jonathan Swan has a post a piece that, without directly quoting even anonymous White House officials, sounds like Donald talking about himself in the third person: Trump's Freak-Out Moment
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:06 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
We can’t overstate the severity of President Trump’s buyer's remorse from signing last month's spending bill. It could even be a turning point in his presidency, on the issue of immigration and his level of cooperation with Republican leaders; Sources who’ve discussed it with Trump say it freaked him out to see the array of usually friendly faces on Fox News’ opinion shows ripping into him for signing a bill that spent a ton of money, but gave lots away to liberal priorities and did little for his signature promise to build a wall.Trump's official schedule has no public appearances listed for the weekend, and indeed, he's had none since he derailed Thursday's West Virginia tax reform roundtable with his ranting. In short, it's bunker time at the White House as he and his cronies desperately try to come up with a plan for his spiralling presidency.
Truth is that Trump had little clue what was in the largest spending bill ever passed. Conventional wisdom on Capitol Hill has been that nothing will happen on immigration after the early failure to cut a deal this year. Republican leadership sources were telling us that the court decision to keep DACA alive took away Trump’s deadline and removed the pressure on Congress to act. But now some of those sources are nervous, realizing that Trump won’t let the issue fade into the background.
Trump wants action to toughen immigration laws, and he’s hopping mad that it hasn't happened. He’s grasping at whatever executive tools are available. But watch for him to force action before the end of September, when the government funding expires.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:06 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
Will Sommer with a big dose of schadenfreude: Right Richter: Doxxin' Season
[…] Paul Nehlen — the Paul Ryan primary challenger who has decided affiliating himself with vile internet racists is a winning electoral strategy — went nuclear on a rival alt right figure.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:47 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
Fed up with attacks from infamous Twitter troll (and Major League desecrator) Ricky Vaughn, Nehlen took to alt right Twitter alternative Gab and published what he claimed was Vaughn's real name.
Nehlen revealing personal details about someone else on the alt right was the equivalent of using chemical weapons — even his ideological allies weren't going to be happy about it. After HuffPost followed up on Nehlen's revelation and published what they say is Vaughn's real identity, Gab deleted Nehlen's account, further limiting his social media reach after his earlier Twitter ban.
This middle school-level social media slapfight is notable mainly because it shows how quickly the alt right is self-destructing. Within the course of a few days, Nehlen — the most prominent alt right politician — and Vaughn took one another out of their racist movement.
As for Vaughn, according to HuffPost, he turned out to be a lobbyist's son and Middlebury graduate.
In short, it's bunker time at the White House as he and his cronies desperately try to come up with a plan for his spiralling presidency.
"Harass minorites, enrich ourselves, deny everything."
posted by jaduncan at 12:50 PM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
"Harass minorites, enrich ourselves, deny everything."
posted by jaduncan at 12:50 PM on April 7, 2018 [11 favorites]
Lately Manafort's motions seem drenched in flop sweat (his lawyers also requested a last-minute extension on a Friday deadline to file a motion to suppress evidence found in a search of Manafort's Alexandria condo in July).
To emphasize this point, they forgot that "suppress" is supposed to have two Ps in the title of their storage unit motion and originally missed one of their redactions of the name of the person who originally let the FBI into the storage unit. The guy with perhaps the most well-known legal trouble in the country right now has stunningly mediocre lawyers.
posted by zachlipton at 1:17 PM on April 7, 2018 [10 favorites]
To emphasize this point, they forgot that "suppress" is supposed to have two Ps in the title of their storage unit motion and originally missed one of their redactions of the name of the person who originally let the FBI into the storage unit. The guy with perhaps the most well-known legal trouble in the country right now has stunningly mediocre lawyers.
posted by zachlipton at 1:17 PM on April 7, 2018 [10 favorites]
"I spent thirty years powerless and dependent and miserable and alone"
Oh honey, you're going to spend the next thirty that way, too.
He is angry: “It’s so boring! … I’m not a political pundit. I don’t know why people ask me about this shit.” This is his flaw as a political activist, and the reason he fell. He doesn’t know much and, worse, he doesn’t want to.
This absolutely defines him and pretty much everyone on the right: He doesn't know much and, worse, he doesn't want to.
posted by elsietheeel at 1:18 PM on April 7, 2018 [41 favorites]
Oh honey, you're going to spend the next thirty that way, too.
He is angry: “It’s so boring! … I’m not a political pundit. I don’t know why people ask me about this shit.” This is his flaw as a political activist, and the reason he fell. He doesn’t know much and, worse, he doesn’t want to.
This absolutely defines him and pretty much everyone on the right: He doesn't know much and, worse, he doesn't want to.
posted by elsietheeel at 1:18 PM on April 7, 2018 [41 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Lawmakers of the House Judiciary Committee are angrily accusing the Department of Justice of missing the Thursday Deadline for turning over UNREDACTED Documents relating to FISA abuse, FBI, Comey, Lynch, McCabe, Clinton Emails and much more. Slow walking - what is going on? BAD!
Bad boy! That's a bad Jeff Sessions! Go in your crate!
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:57 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
Lawmakers of the House Judiciary Committee are angrily accusing the Department of Justice of missing the Thursday Deadline for turning over UNREDACTED Documents relating to FISA abuse, FBI, Comey, Lynch, McCabe, Clinton Emails and much more. Slow walking - what is going on? BAD!
Bad boy! That's a bad Jeff Sessions! Go in your crate!
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:57 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
What does the Department of Justice and FBI have to hide? Why aren’t they giving the strongly requested documents (unredacted) to the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE? Stalling, but for what reason? Not looking good!
Still poking Jeff. Not looking good.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:07 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
What does the Department of Justice and FBI have to hide? Why aren’t they giving the strongly requested documents (unredacted) to the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE? Stalling, but for what reason? Not looking good!
Still poking Jeff. Not looking good.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:07 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
I’m at today’s march for believers in the #QAnon conspiracy theory. Will post if I see anything interesting.
Come for the 24 hours live steam from "Dead Cat", stay for the admiralty law.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:19 PM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
Come for the 24 hours live steam from "Dead Cat", stay for the admiralty law.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:19 PM on April 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
On the wraithing of John Kelly. WaPo, Parker/Dawsey/Rucker, ‘When you lose that power’: How John Kelly faded as White House disciplinarian
After White House chief of staff John F. Kelly pressured President Trump last fall to install his top deputy, Kirstjen Nielsen, atop the Department of Homeland Security, the president lost his temper when conservative allies argued she wasn’t sufficiently hardline on immigration. “You didn’t tell me she was a [expletive] George W. Bush person,” Trump growled.He's introduced a new game show though:
After Kelly told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier in a January interview that Trump’s immigration views had not been “fully informed” during the campaign and had since “evolved,” the president berated Kelly in the Oval Office — his shouts so loud they could be heard through the doors.
And just 11 days ago, Kelly grew so frustrated on the day that Trump fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin that Nielsen and Defense Secretary James Mattis both tried to calm him down and offer pep talks, according to three people with knowledge of the incident.
“I’m out of here, guys,” Kelly said — comments some interpreted as a resignation threat, but according to a senior administration official, he was venting his anger and leaving work an hour or two early to head home to decompress.
Under Kelly’s watch, the president now has “Policy Time,” sessions once or twice a day where advisers present and argue their competing views over a specific issue, with Trump presiding. He has also implemented bi-monthly Cabinet meetings, with a focused agenda, as well as restored order to the morning senior staff meeting. And attendance for most Oval Office meetings is still run through Kelly’s office.But none of it is really going that well:
Kelly requested that staffers back-brief him when the president violated his processes — for instance, by calling a staffer to demand action after watching a Fox News segment. But several aides said they found Kelly difficult when they retroactively filled him in. He often repeated a version of the same response: “I guess you’re the chief of staff now, so why don’t you handle it?”posted by zachlipton at 2:21 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]
...
In an off-the-record session with reporters, parts of which later were reported, Kelly also said that when he called Tillerson to let him know he was fired, the secretary of state was on the toilet with “Montezuma’s revenge.” Though White House aides said Kelly was simply joking — and the State Department contested his version of the phone call — many staffers found the comment unnecessarily crude and demeaning.
Trump is executing the opposite of the "First they came for the..." meme: meticulous alienating every possible ally as he spirals down. If Mueller doesn't seem to be in a hurry, that's probably why.
posted by msalt at 2:22 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by msalt at 2:22 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
In short, it's bunker time at the White House as he and his cronies desperately try to come up with a plan for his spiralling presidency.
"Harass minorites, enrich ourselves, deny everything."
...start a war...
posted by Autumnheart at 2:30 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Harass minorites, enrich ourselves, deny everything."
...start a war...
posted by Autumnheart at 2:30 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
This absolutely defines him and pretty much everyone on the right
Oh but, secretly, what he is, which Gold reveals him as underneath the denials and surface charm, is venal, vain, vacant, cowardly and actively malevolent*, which I guess goes for most of those other people too**. That article is a masterful piece of journalism. This is how you do 'what's going on with the Trump supporters', people!
**Who I am sorry for because they are pathetic to the same extent of their stupid evilness.
*They also said that he once used the password Kristallnacht for a joke.
I telephone him in Miami to ask if this is true and he says yes, instantly. After all this time, I wonder why he doesn’t lie to me. And then he says, and this is the most truthful thing he has said to me, though he says it calculatingly and without self-pity: “I’m drawn to the darkness. I’ve always been drawn to the darkness.”
posted by glasseyes at 2:39 PM on April 7, 2018 [9 favorites]
Oh but, secretly, what he is, which Gold reveals him as underneath the denials and surface charm, is venal, vain, vacant, cowardly and actively malevolent*, which I guess goes for most of those other people too**. That article is a masterful piece of journalism. This is how you do 'what's going on with the Trump supporters', people!
**Who I am sorry for because they are pathetic to the same extent of their stupid evilness.
*They also said that he once used the password Kristallnacht for a joke.
I telephone him in Miami to ask if this is true and he says yes, instantly. After all this time, I wonder why he doesn’t lie to me. And then he says, and this is the most truthful thing he has said to me, though he says it calculatingly and without self-pity: “I’m drawn to the darkness. I’ve always been drawn to the darkness.”
posted by glasseyes at 2:39 PM on April 7, 2018 [9 favorites]
I also can't believe he's considering making being caught sneaking over the border a felony. Moral considerations aside, this will be hugely expensive.
Not if the program pays for itself by using the 20 years-life prisoners as unpaid farm and factory labor. Or it doesn't even need to pay for itself, if the people running the prisons and businesses make a huge profit.
11 million undocumented immigrants is a large population base for a slave economy. And if they extend the program to anyone who "looks illegal" that's potentially 40+ million Americans. From the white supremacists point of view, they would get the free labor, and it would suppress activism on the part of the Hispanic population.
posted by happyroach at 2:42 PM on April 7, 2018 [16 favorites]
Not if the program pays for itself by using the 20 years-life prisoners as unpaid farm and factory labor. Or it doesn't even need to pay for itself, if the people running the prisons and businesses make a huge profit.
11 million undocumented immigrants is a large population base for a slave economy. And if they extend the program to anyone who "looks illegal" that's potentially 40+ million Americans. From the white supremacists point of view, they would get the free labor, and it would suppress activism on the part of the Hispanic population.
posted by happyroach at 2:42 PM on April 7, 2018 [16 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
What does the Department of Justice and FBI have to hide? Why aren’t they giving the strongly requested documents (unredacted) to the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE? Stalling, but for what reason? Not looking good!
Still poking Jeff. Not looking good.
Trump's going after Rosenstein here, probably because of he's catching up with his almost-lawyer's appearance on Fox News on Wednesday: ‘Joe DiGenova: “What we are seeing now is conduct by two public officials, Robert Mueller & Rod Rosenstein, that is unethical, unprofessional, an embarrassment to the U.S. government, and is undermining equal enforcement of the law.” #Hannity’ And also Fox & Friends on Thursday: "Rep. Devin Nunes puts Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein in the hot seat, threatening to sue for unredacted documents"
(And InfoWars is currently peddling the idea that Rosenstein's wife, a lawyer who apparently once represented Bill Clinton back in the 90s, represents some kind of conflict of interest. Watch to see if that fetid smear percolates up to the Fox News ecosystem in the next week.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:54 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
What does the Department of Justice and FBI have to hide? Why aren’t they giving the strongly requested documents (unredacted) to the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE? Stalling, but for what reason? Not looking good!
Still poking Jeff. Not looking good.
Trump's going after Rosenstein here, probably because of he's catching up with his almost-lawyer's appearance on Fox News on Wednesday: ‘Joe DiGenova: “What we are seeing now is conduct by two public officials, Robert Mueller & Rod Rosenstein, that is unethical, unprofessional, an embarrassment to the U.S. government, and is undermining equal enforcement of the law.” #Hannity’ And also Fox & Friends on Thursday: "Rep. Devin Nunes puts Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein in the hot seat, threatening to sue for unredacted documents"
(And InfoWars is currently peddling the idea that Rosenstein's wife, a lawyer who apparently once represented Bill Clinton back in the 90s, represents some kind of conflict of interest. Watch to see if that fetid smear percolates up to the Fox News ecosystem in the next week.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:54 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
Ooh! If white smoke comes out do we get a new president?
posted by kirkaracha at 3:32 PM on April 7, 2018 [106 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:32 PM on April 7, 2018 [106 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!
@ChaseMit: Bragging about a building that was just very publicly on fire is a pretty perfect encapsulation of this entire presidency
@goldietaylor: Yannow, you can just say firefighters.
Reports of one serious injury at the scene.
posted by zachlipton at 3:51 PM on April 7, 2018 [69 favorites]
@ChaseMit: Bragging about a building that was just very publicly on fire is a pretty perfect encapsulation of this entire presidency
@goldietaylor: Yannow, you can just say firefighters.
Reports of one serious injury at the scene.
posted by zachlipton at 3:51 PM on April 7, 2018 [69 favorites]
Oh wow, looked at some posts from QAnon believers talking all about Trump's secret genius. Bonkers. The thing they're hanging on now is that someone asked "Q" to tell Trump to say "tip top" in the SOTU in January, then he did—on Easter, not during the SOTU. But they conveniently ignore the fact that "tip top" is in his personal lexicon and it was only a matter of time before he said it again.
This was when he stood in front of the White House and said he didn't know what that building was called, which to these believers is "obviously" a secret code. Ugh.
posted by defenestration at 3:57 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
This was when he stood in front of the White House and said he didn't know what that building was called, which to these believers is "obviously" a secret code. Ugh.
posted by defenestration at 3:57 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
A prediction: one of Trump's people will decide to lean into the conspiracy and have him purposefully say things to embolden those who believe it. Since the "indictments" are private, his doing so will be enough evidence for confirmation of his heroic destruction of imaginary deep state pedophile rings, for these true believers. Based on the (admittedly very small group) of QAnon marchers, they appear to be a boomer crowd. They will be mobilized by this conspiracy to vote for his reelection, based totally upon unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.
The political weaponization of conspiracy theories... Scary stuff.
posted by defenestration at 4:03 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
The political weaponization of conspiracy theories... Scary stuff.
posted by defenestration at 4:03 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
@CeFaanKim: Per FDNY: 3 alarm fire on 50th floor of Trump Tower contained but not under control. 1 civilian inside building critically injured. 3 firefighters suffered minor injuries.
That tweet is from 7:05. Trump tweeted that the fire was out at 6:42. There is still no official word the fire is out or even under control.
posted by zachlipton at 4:24 PM on April 7, 2018 [49 favorites]
That tweet is from 7:05. Trump tweeted that the fire was out at 6:42. There is still no official word the fire is out or even under control.
posted by zachlipton at 4:24 PM on April 7, 2018 [49 favorites]
DJT engulfed in flames: What fire?
posted by Literaryhero at 4:40 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 4:40 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
did they save the “this is fine” dog?
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:48 PM on April 7, 2018 [87 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:48 PM on April 7, 2018 [87 favorites]
CNN reports that a male resident of Trump Tower is dead. The fire, in the President's own building, which the President claimed was put out, and which he boasted was contained due to the quality of his building, is ongoing, and has killed someone.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:23 PM on April 7, 2018 [62 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:23 PM on April 7, 2018 [62 favorites]
Jesus, how fucking irresponsible is it to say that the fire is contained when it isn't? What if people didn't evacuate the building because the president said everything was OK?
posted by octothorpe at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [37 favorites]
The President has had time to tweet about how great Scott Pruitt is, but he has not had time to correct or delete his tweet claiming that his well-designed building allowed a fire to be put out, while the fire is ongoing and has killed someone.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
Anyone know who lives (on preview: lived) on the 50th floor? The residents of the tower — full-floor types — are pretty well documented (e.g. as of 2016, 48-49 was used car magnate and bank fraudster Ernie Garcia, and 51 was art dealer and illegal gambling ring proprietor Helly Nahmad), but I can find no info on who does live or ever has lived on 50.
Also, remember that the floors on Trump Tower are inflated, so floor 50 is really just the 40th one. I’m sure that shit’s a huge help to firefighters.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
Also, remember that the floors on Trump Tower are inflated, so floor 50 is really just the 40th one. I’m sure that shit’s a huge help to firefighters.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
CNN reports that a male resident of Trump Tower is dead
Not to make light, but the idea that he could have been watching Fox News and known that Trump said "NBD, all good now," after which he decides to stay in place.
posted by rhizome at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
Not to make light, but the idea that he could have been watching Fox News and known that Trump said "NBD, all good now," after which he decides to stay in place.
posted by rhizome at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don't know if anyone else listened to the Sam Harris podcast with Scott Adams (Dilbert Creator / Trump Supporter). It reminds me of QAnon. I checked it out just to better understand the perspective of a prominent supporter. It was crazy. In a nutshell, every statement, every action Trump makes is a brilliant piece of misdirection, carefully and calculatingly made to achieve his ultimate goals.
Obviously, I don't buy it. But if one does, you accept that we live in a kind of post-truth society where the real goals of politicians are understood by a kind of osmotic communication between them and their supporters. Every factual reality is fair game to be bent in achieving some never stated ulterior motive that constitutes "winning".
posted by xammerboy at 5:28 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
Obviously, I don't buy it. But if one does, you accept that we live in a kind of post-truth society where the real goals of politicians are understood by a kind of osmotic communication between them and their supporters. Every factual reality is fair game to be bent in achieving some never stated ulterior motive that constitutes "winning".
posted by xammerboy at 5:28 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
CNN: Gowdy on Pruitt: 'I don't have a lot of patience for that kind of stuff'
A few hours later:
@realDonaldTrump
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:37 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
A few hours later:
@realDonaldTrump
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:37 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
I hadn’t realized anyone had died.
.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:39 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:39 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
They will be mobilized by this conspiracy to vote for his reelection, based totally upon unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.
That crowd was already mobilized to vote for his reelection. The Trump base are mostly the foolish and easily led and do believe a number of conspiracy theories. That climate change is a fraud, that the gays, blacks, and Hispanics are going to destroy the country, that there's a conspiracy against coal which has nothing wrong with it, and so on and so forth. That "their" country is being taken away from them. And that base is still mobilized. The people that held their nose and voted for him may be falling off but don't think that the ones that ate up Trump's lies during the campaign are going to stay home in November.
posted by Candleman at 5:43 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
That crowd was already mobilized to vote for his reelection. The Trump base are mostly the foolish and easily led and do believe a number of conspiracy theories. That climate change is a fraud, that the gays, blacks, and Hispanics are going to destroy the country, that there's a conspiracy against coal which has nothing wrong with it, and so on and so forth. That "their" country is being taken away from them. And that base is still mobilized. The people that held their nose and voted for him may be falling off but don't think that the ones that ate up Trump's lies during the campaign are going to stay home in November.
posted by Candleman at 5:43 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
His bold actions where they just killed the Clean Air act, which was giving us the record clean air.
Uh-hunh.
Pull the other one, your Highness. It has bells on.
posted by Archelaus at 5:46 PM on April 7, 2018 [13 favorites]
Uh-hunh.
Pull the other one, your Highness. It has bells on.
posted by Archelaus at 5:46 PM on April 7, 2018 [13 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
I came for the totally stoopid random capitalizations in this tweet—but stayed for the asinine WTFs and non-sequiturs. Thanks Donald!
posted by Rykey at 5:47 PM on April 7, 2018
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
I came for the totally stoopid random capitalizations in this tweet—but stayed for the asinine WTFs and non-sequiturs. Thanks Donald!
posted by Rykey at 5:47 PM on April 7, 2018
Pruitt’s round-the-clock security has cost taxpayers nearly $3 million (WaPo). He has 18 full time officers in his security detail. He took security with him to attend the Rose Bowl and Disneyland so those death threats haven’t slowed him down at all.
posted by peeedro at 5:50 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 5:50 PM on April 7, 2018 [14 favorites]
Clearly, Pruitt has all the pizzagate receipts...
But what possible situation would require that the head of the EPA has an SCIF? I just can't fathom any rational rationale for that...
posted by Windopaene at 5:58 PM on April 7, 2018
But what possible situation would require that the head of the EPA has an SCIF? I just can't fathom any rational rationale for that...
posted by Windopaene at 5:58 PM on April 7, 2018
It never stops with this guy!
Banned From the Banking Industry for Life, a Scott Pruitt Friend Finds a New Home at the EPA
Banned From the Banking Industry for Life, a Scott Pruitt Friend Finds a New Home at the EPA
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency has tasked a banker who was banned from the banking industry for life with oversight of the nation’s Superfund program.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:12 PM on April 7, 2018 [30 favorites]
In May, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation fined Oklahoma banker Albert Kelly $125,000. According to a consent order, which The Intercept obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the FDIC had “reason to believe that [Kelly] violated a law or regulation, by entering into an agreement pertaining to a loan by the Bank without FDIC approval.”
Two weeks later, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appointed Kelly to lead an effort to streamline the Superfund program. In July, the FDIC went further, banning Kelly from banking for life. The “order of prohibition from further participation” explained that the FDIC had determined Kelly’s “unfitness to serve as a director, officer, person participating in the conduct of the affairs or as an institution-affiliated party of the Bank, any other insured depository institution.”
But Pruitt, who had received loans from Kelly’s bank, apparently didn’t find Kelly’s unfitness to serve in the financial industry as disqualifying his longtime friend from serving as a top official at the EPA. Since May, Kelly, or Kell as he was known in Oklahoma, has led the effort to streamline the Superfund program — which oversees remediation of some of the country’s most toxic sites.
Fabulous. The Bridgeton landfill will just be radioactive and on fire indefinitely now.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:19 PM on April 7, 2018
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:19 PM on April 7, 2018
“Well-built building” now said on Twitter not to have sprinklers in higher units. WTF is that legal: couldn’t it doom the entire building in a bug enough fire?
posted by wenestvedt at 6:45 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 6:45 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Honestly, I'd be more surprised if Trump's buildings didn't skimp on sprinklers and other safety measures.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:48 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 6:48 PM on April 7, 2018 [8 favorites]
According to USA Today, New York didn't start requiring sprinklers in new residential units and hallways until 1999. Trump Tower was built in 1983.
posted by biogeo at 6:52 PM on April 7, 2018
posted by biogeo at 6:52 PM on April 7, 2018
But you know, here's the thing: you can actually add safety measures to a building even if the law does not require it! Who knew?
posted by SPrintF at 6:54 PM on April 7, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 6:54 PM on April 7, 2018 [39 favorites]
Fingers crossed for underinsured.
posted by Artw at 7:00 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 7:00 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
The political weaponization of conspiracy theories...
Isn't that redundant? They all seem to involve politics and weapons.
posted by petebest at 7:07 PM on April 7, 2018
Isn't that redundant? They all seem to involve politics and weapons.
posted by petebest at 7:07 PM on April 7, 2018
US officials: Trump-Netanyahu call grew tense over plans to leave Syria
In his haste to withdraw from Syria, Trump stands alone. The Pentagon, the State Department and CIA are all deeply concerned about the potential ramifications if the US leaves behind a power vacuum in Syria, as are Israel, Arab leaders and other nations in the US-led coalition that has fought IS in Iraq and Syria since 2014.Why the urgency? Presumably because:
The US president made clear his patience was running out as he met top national security aides on Tuesday. Yet the meeting concluded with no hard-and-fast deadline handed down, leaving Trump’s team struggling to deduce how fast is fast enough for Trump, according to officials briefed on the meeting who weren’t authorized to discuss it and requested anonymity.
The disagreement between Trump and his team has played out in chaotic and increasingly public fashion. […]
As the White House was talking up a US withdrawal on Wednesday, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran were meeting in Ankara […]posted by Joe in Australia at 7:07 PM on April 7, 2018 [12 favorites]
Re: “well-built building,” lest we forget:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
.@dubephnx If we didn't remove incredibly powerful fire retardant asbestos & replace it with junk that doesn't work, the World Trade Center would never have burned down.
3:47 PM October 2, 2012
Also worth googling Trump+asbestos+EPA. Fun times.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:23 PM on April 7, 2018 [15 favorites]
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
.@dubephnx If we didn't remove incredibly powerful fire retardant asbestos & replace it with junk that doesn't work, the World Trade Center would never have burned down.
3:47 PM October 2, 2012
Also worth googling Trump+asbestos+EPA. Fun times.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:23 PM on April 7, 2018 [15 favorites]
A man died, four firefighters (a term available for noting people who fight fires regardless of gender) are injured, and Trump's response was to brag about how well-built his building is and then go out to dinner at his hotel.
posted by zachlipton at 7:33 PM on April 7, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 7:33 PM on April 7, 2018 [38 favorites]
Incidentally, the @ in that 9/11 tweet, Randy Lee Dube (@dubephnx) is a fun read right now. In relation to sprinkler code violations at Trump Tower, the phrases “negligent homicide” and “felony murder” come up.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:37 PM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 7:37 PM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well it's not shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, but...
That dube guy is a little too Seth Abramson for me to go through all of it.
posted by rhizome at 7:41 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
That dube guy is a little too Seth Abramson for me to go through all of it.
posted by rhizome at 7:41 PM on April 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Asbestos isn't even a fire retardant; it's an insulator.
SPrintF: "But you know, here's the thing: you can actually add safety measures to a building even if the law does not require it! Who knew?"
Very few residential buildings have anything but the minimum mandated safety equipment. Fewer still are voluntarily updated as requirements change. Even wealthy people would rather spend on granite countertops and platinum doorknobs.
posted by Mitheral at 7:42 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
SPrintF: "But you know, here's the thing: you can actually add safety measures to a building even if the law does not require it! Who knew?"
Very few residential buildings have anything but the minimum mandated safety equipment. Fewer still are voluntarily updated as requirements change. Even wealthy people would rather spend on granite countertops and platinum doorknobs.
posted by Mitheral at 7:42 PM on April 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
Asbestos isn't even a fire retardant; it's an insulator.
...which was commonly used for fireproofing. This seems way over on the "eating crackers" end of the spectrum.
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on April 7, 2018 [15 favorites]
...which was commonly used for fireproofing. This seems way over on the "eating crackers" end of the spectrum.
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on April 7, 2018 [15 favorites]
Why the urgency? Presumably because:
As the White House was talking up a US withdrawal on Wednesday, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran were meeting in Ankara […]
Syrian government accused of chemical attacks on civilians in eastern Ghouta
Trump is ready to pay back Putin and taking his orders to withdraw from our actual President. Assad knows it. Oh, and it's John Bolton's first day on the job.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:53 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
As the White House was talking up a US withdrawal on Wednesday, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran were meeting in Ankara […]
Syrian government accused of chemical attacks on civilians in eastern Ghouta
Trump is ready to pay back Putin and taking his orders to withdraw from our actual President. Assad knows it. Oh, and it's John Bolton's first day on the job.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:53 PM on April 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
The New York Times on the Trump Tower fire:
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:34 PM on April 7, 2018 [105 favorites]
Dennis Shields, a resident who said he lived on the 42nd floor, described the scene.Trump Tower’s fire alarm system is dependent on getting texts from childhood friends. Is that normal? It seems not normal
“You could smell the smoke and you could hear things falling like through the vents,” he said. “It just smelled like sulfur.”
He said there were no orders to evacuate but he received a text message from Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael D. Cohen.
Mr. Shields, who said he grew up with Mr. Cohen, continued: “He said, ‘Are you in the building?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘You better get out ASAP.’ That’s how I knew to get out, otherwise I’d still be in there.”
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:34 PM on April 7, 2018 [105 favorites]
Why would Cohen know whether or not to get out of the building?... Better even than someone that lives there?... I think I'm going crazy because I'm picturing Trump texting the world that the fire is over while telling Cohen to tell any friends to get out.
posted by xammerboy at 8:45 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by xammerboy at 8:45 PM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump Tower’s fire alarm system is dependent on getting texts from childhood friends. Is that normal? It seems not normal.
High rises are designed to contain fires first to apartments and then to sections of floors (you've probably seen the fire doors with the magnetic release mechanisms holding them open in apartment building and hotel hallways. It is standard practice in cities for firefighters to instruct residents to remain in place in a high rise fire unless you are directly affected by it or its smoke.
The reason is that evacuating a building can both interfere with the firefighting and that people get hurt taking the stairs in a panic - heart attacks, falls, and such.
posted by srboisvert at 8:52 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
High rises are designed to contain fires first to apartments and then to sections of floors (you've probably seen the fire doors with the magnetic release mechanisms holding them open in apartment building and hotel hallways. It is standard practice in cities for firefighters to instruct residents to remain in place in a high rise fire unless you are directly affected by it or its smoke.
The reason is that evacuating a building can both interfere with the firefighting and that people get hurt taking the stairs in a panic - heart attacks, falls, and such.
posted by srboisvert at 8:52 PM on April 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
Americans have, I think, a moral obligation to look at the photos coming out of Ghouta. They are horrifically graphic, and I have a little boy who is just a little younger than the one I've seen in the pictures, lying on a blanket next to a woman that I'm guessing is a female relative if not his mother. If it weren't for the stain by his mouth, he would look like he was taking a nap.
These are people our country refuses to admit as refugees.
This is what happens when we, as a nation, abdicate our moral responsibility and elect as president someone like Donald Trump.
posted by joyceanmachine at 9:13 PM on April 7, 2018 [60 favorites]
These are people our country refuses to admit as refugees.
This is what happens when we, as a nation, abdicate our moral responsibility and elect as president someone like Donald Trump.
posted by joyceanmachine at 9:13 PM on April 7, 2018 [60 favorites]
Americans have, I think, a moral obligation to look at the photos coming out of Ghouta.
Yeah. Just ran across a video. It's horrific, unimaginable. But you're right, we have a duty to bear witness.
WARNING Extremely graphic video of dead bodies, a lot of them. I cannot stress this enough. I'm on the bubble about even posting this but goddamnit it has to be stopped & failing that it must be witnessed to bring meaning to their deaths. This is what it means to be a supporter of Trump, to also support this senseless, brutal massacre of innocent lives.
@leahmcelrath
Yeah. Just ran across a video. It's horrific, unimaginable. But you're right, we have a duty to bear witness.
WARNING Extremely graphic video of dead bodies, a lot of them. I cannot stress this enough. I'm on the bubble about even posting this but goddamnit it has to be stopped & failing that it must be witnessed to bring meaning to their deaths. This is what it means to be a supporter of Trump, to also support this senseless, brutal massacre of innocent lives.
@leahmcelrath
Videos from this latest chemical weapons attack by Assad against civilians in Syria distinctly bring to mind the types of effects we saw in the 2013 Ghouta attack, which involved neurotoxins.posted by scalefree at 9:48 PM on April 7, 2018 [15 favorites]
Al Jazeera article on the chemical attack at Douma/دوما in Eastern Ghouta, posted about an hour ago. A slightly higher-quality version of the video scalefree links to—with clean non-creepily-distorted audio—was posted by the White Helmets twitter account.
posted by XMLicious at 11:49 PM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 11:49 PM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
I don't know what we can or should do militarily or diplomatically to stop the carnage in Syria. Maybe we can't stop it. I don't know.
But I do know this. Millions of Syrians have fled this nightmare. More than half of the country. They have lost their families, their possessions, and in some cases a hand or an eye or a child, in the process. And we can help them without going to war. We can let them flee here. We can keep them safe.
And each of us personally can donate to send money and supplies to the ones who are still living in camps.
The White Helmets
The International Rescue Committee
The UN High Commission on Refugees
The UN Children's Relief Fund
Doctors Without Borders
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:39 AM on April 8, 2018 [64 favorites]
But I do know this. Millions of Syrians have fled this nightmare. More than half of the country. They have lost their families, their possessions, and in some cases a hand or an eye or a child, in the process. And we can help them without going to war. We can let them flee here. We can keep them safe.
And each of us personally can donate to send money and supplies to the ones who are still living in camps.
The White Helmets
The International Rescue Committee
The UN High Commission on Refugees
The UN Children's Relief Fund
Doctors Without Borders
posted by OnceUponATime at 2:39 AM on April 8, 2018 [64 favorites]
It's the second fire in that building this year. Trump and Giuliani opposed and Trump lobbied against requiring sprinklers until 1999, because in 1999 they grandfathered in existing firetraps in New York. The building gets extra fire protection (not clear what that entails) whenever Trump stays there.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tower-fire-second-2018-blaze-in-sprinkler-free-residence/
The below story lists six, not four, injured firefighters, of 190 who responded. Deceased is Todd Brassner, 67, an art dealer.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tower-fire-todd-brassner-victim/
posted by Don Pepino at 4:14 AM on April 8, 2018 [18 favorites]
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tower-fire-second-2018-blaze-in-sprinkler-free-residence/
The below story lists six, not four, injured firefighters, of 190 who responded. Deceased is Todd Brassner, 67, an art dealer.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tower-fire-todd-brassner-victim/
posted by Don Pepino at 4:14 AM on April 8, 2018 [18 favorites]
Someone close to me texted me that they were having recurring dreams about working in the WH. And I was like, yeah, sounds like a weird stress dream, imagining something like the walk down the hall to the Oval Office wherein the doors open and blood pours out something like out of The Shining except the blood is orange or something
and then he texted, 'no, my job was to make Obama happy.'
I haven't stopped bitterly laughing about it since because it's so fucking sad. Like, "Please, don't leave, I'll sneak you cigarettes. Do you want me to kneecap McConnell? Are you bummed your daughters are mocking your dad jeans? They look great, sir! No, sir, you do not have a broke-ass jump shot. Do you want to slap my face? Anything, just don't leave us."
posted by angrycat at 4:25 AM on April 8, 2018 [46 favorites]
and then he texted, 'no, my job was to make Obama happy.'
I haven't stopped bitterly laughing about it since because it's so fucking sad. Like, "Please, don't leave, I'll sneak you cigarettes. Do you want me to kneecap McConnell? Are you bummed your daughters are mocking your dad jeans? They look great, sir! No, sir, you do not have a broke-ass jump shot. Do you want to slap my face? Anything, just don't leave us."
posted by angrycat at 4:25 AM on April 8, 2018 [46 favorites]
45's staunch defence of his innocence has kicked Sunday off with a doozie...
Brian Klaas: Trump’s lawyers not having a good morning—paves the way for the obvious question: wouldn’t it be “rigged” if Mueller/the FBI ended the Russia investigation without putting Trump under oath?
@realDonaldTrump
“The FBI closed the case on Hillary, which was a rigged investigation. They exonerated her even before they ever interviewed her, they never even put her under oath.....” and much more. So true Jesse! @WattersWorld
posted by Devonian at 5:13 AM on April 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
Brian Klaas: Trump’s lawyers not having a good morning—paves the way for the obvious question: wouldn’t it be “rigged” if Mueller/the FBI ended the Russia investigation without putting Trump under oath?
@realDonaldTrump
“The FBI closed the case on Hillary, which was a rigged investigation. They exonerated her even before they ever interviewed her, they never even put her under oath.....” and much more. So true Jesse! @WattersWorld
posted by Devonian at 5:13 AM on April 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
As its Sunday and a slow news day lets revisit Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob.
posted by adamvasco at 5:57 AM on April 8, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 5:57 AM on April 8, 2018 [13 favorites]
It's probably not going to be a slow news day for long. 45's just tweeted that Putin and Iran have a 'big price to pay' for the CHEMICAL (sic) attacks in Syria. Not sure whether you can declare way by tweet, but these are exciting times for social media.
posted by Devonian at 6:09 AM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 6:09 AM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh is he going to bomb an empty shack again?
posted by Artw at 6:13 AM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:13 AM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
Has there been any word from this administration about the current killings in Gaza?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:40 AM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:40 AM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
I watched the video of the attacks. My stomach didn't turn, but I'm a mummy who can walk. Do not watch that if empathy is a human emotion you feel. It is horrific. Don't watch it. I'm a horrible person, I'm immune, so...don't.
The thing I came in to say is to expand on this:
Millions of Syrians have fled this nightmare. More than half of the country. They have lost their families, their possessions, and in some cases a hand or an eye or a child, in the process. And we can help them without going to war. We can let them flee here. We can keep them safe.
What happens when we let in refugees from war-torn regions, ones that even happen to be Muslim? What horrors does our country face? This. Or I mean, sometimes they even establish propaganda networks on our soil, with the support of our tax dollars...those filthy liberals, amirite? I know I'm being smarmy, but that's a link to the Somali-Minnesotan wikipedia explainer page and the Somali college radio station I used to listen to, and god forbid work for. I did nothing but benefit from the fact that these people ran away to where I was. I was lucky they were there. I would have been lucky even without the war, because I both lived in a state where Somalis were already and because I lived in a state that understood the value of taxpayer-funded music and news media, but ffs, they had a war and I had a community and I'm nothing but glad for their presence. Look up the number of terror attacks by Somali-Americans. Look up the drain on social resources. You'll find NONE. I'm gonna say the stereotypical thing, but hey, it's true - I'm lucky because of the food, the friends, and the welcoming people. I was just a dumb kid, and they were part of a community that took me in and was a part of what formed me.
If anyone says taking Syrian refugees is a net negative...I mean...no. No. It is not that. You're wrong if you think that. There is nothing else to say except things appropriate for the Fucking Fuck thread.
This is America and we are better than not welcoming them. We need them. It's coarse to say they belong here, but they do. If there are refugees, anywhere, I want them in my community, and I hope to high heaven you do too. This is what we're supposed to be about. I don't want to talk about if we're causing the war right now. I have no direct control over that. I have control over my attitude. My attitude, as a right-thinking American, is that if I can offer my home and my community and my resources, I will.
posted by saysthis at 6:43 AM on April 8, 2018 [79 favorites]
The thing I came in to say is to expand on this:
Millions of Syrians have fled this nightmare. More than half of the country. They have lost their families, their possessions, and in some cases a hand or an eye or a child, in the process. And we can help them without going to war. We can let them flee here. We can keep them safe.
What happens when we let in refugees from war-torn regions, ones that even happen to be Muslim? What horrors does our country face? This. Or I mean, sometimes they even establish propaganda networks on our soil, with the support of our tax dollars...those filthy liberals, amirite? I know I'm being smarmy, but that's a link to the Somali-Minnesotan wikipedia explainer page and the Somali college radio station I used to listen to, and god forbid work for. I did nothing but benefit from the fact that these people ran away to where I was. I was lucky they were there. I would have been lucky even without the war, because I both lived in a state where Somalis were already and because I lived in a state that understood the value of taxpayer-funded music and news media, but ffs, they had a war and I had a community and I'm nothing but glad for their presence. Look up the number of terror attacks by Somali-Americans. Look up the drain on social resources. You'll find NONE. I'm gonna say the stereotypical thing, but hey, it's true - I'm lucky because of the food, the friends, and the welcoming people. I was just a dumb kid, and they were part of a community that took me in and was a part of what formed me.
If anyone says taking Syrian refugees is a net negative...I mean...no. No. It is not that. You're wrong if you think that. There is nothing else to say except things appropriate for the Fucking Fuck thread.
This is America and we are better than not welcoming them. We need them. It's coarse to say they belong here, but they do. If there are refugees, anywhere, I want them in my community, and I hope to high heaven you do too. This is what we're supposed to be about. I don't want to talk about if we're causing the war right now. I have no direct control over that. I have control over my attitude. My attitude, as a right-thinking American, is that if I can offer my home and my community and my resources, I will.
posted by saysthis at 6:43 AM on April 8, 2018 [79 favorites]
Meanwhile, in the not-a-trade-war with China, Trump tweeted an olive branch of sorts: "President Xi and I will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade. China will take down its Trade Barriers because it is the right thing to do. Taxes will become Reciprocal & a deal will be made on Intellectual Property. Great future for both countries!" Meanwhile, Larry Kudlow was on Fox Business this morning to reassure everyone, "This process may turn out to be very benign." (coming from him, this is as sure an omen of a total shitshow as you could want).
Trump also defended his embattled Chief of Staff, or at least attack Jeff Bezos's paper: "The Washington Post is far more fiction than fact. Story after story is made up garbage - more like a poorly written novel than good reporting. Always quoting sources (not names), many of which don’t exist. Story on John Kelly isn’t true, just another hit job!"
The Washington Post's "‘When you lose that power’: How John Kelly faded as White House disciplinarian" of course quotes unnamed sources who make Trump look weak, e.g. "This official explained that Kelly initially viewed his job as babysitting, but now feels less of a need to be omnipresent, while Trump, who once considered Kelly a security blanket, feels increasingly emboldened to act alone."
And let us remember when Trump criticizes anonymous leaks, he's the biggest offender in the White House—and he regularly phones Philip Rucker, co-author of the WaPo piece.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:44 AM on April 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
Trump also defended his embattled Chief of Staff, or at least attack Jeff Bezos's paper: "The Washington Post is far more fiction than fact. Story after story is made up garbage - more like a poorly written novel than good reporting. Always quoting sources (not names), many of which don’t exist. Story on John Kelly isn’t true, just another hit job!"
The Washington Post's "‘When you lose that power’: How John Kelly faded as White House disciplinarian" of course quotes unnamed sources who make Trump look weak, e.g. "This official explained that Kelly initially viewed his job as babysitting, but now feels less of a need to be omnipresent, while Trump, who once considered Kelly a security blanket, feels increasingly emboldened to act alone."
And let us remember when Trump criticizes anonymous leaks, he's the biggest offender in the White House—and he regularly phones Philip Rucker, co-author of the WaPo piece.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:44 AM on April 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
Has there been any word from this administration about the current killings in Gaza?
That would depend entirely on if Fox and Freinds have been reporting on it.
posted by Artw at 7:02 AM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
That would depend entirely on if Fox and Freinds have been reporting on it.
posted by Artw at 7:02 AM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
That would depend entirely on if Fox and Freinds have been reporting on it.
That half-hour turnaround between the Fox & Friends segment on the Syria chemical attack and Trump tweeting out one of his most threatening tweets during the conflict is stunning, even by Trump's standards of being triggered by what he watches on cable news.
More worrisomely, Fox & Friends ended by effectively daring Trump to act: "Segment closes with: 'All eyes now, guys, will now be on President Trump to see what his response is... after a chemical attack last year, he ordered airstrikes that decimated a Syrian airbase, a move that garnered praise from America's allies around the world.'"
It's bad enough that Trump can be baited with a tweet in international affairs, but if Fox News can dictate his reactions like this, we're in worse trouble than we feared. (OK, we probably feared exactly that in at least one of the megathreads.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:13 AM on April 8, 2018 [30 favorites]
That half-hour turnaround between the Fox & Friends segment on the Syria chemical attack and Trump tweeting out one of his most threatening tweets during the conflict is stunning, even by Trump's standards of being triggered by what he watches on cable news.
More worrisomely, Fox & Friends ended by effectively daring Trump to act: "Segment closes with: 'All eyes now, guys, will now be on President Trump to see what his response is... after a chemical attack last year, he ordered airstrikes that decimated a Syrian airbase, a move that garnered praise from America's allies around the world.'"
It's bad enough that Trump can be baited with a tweet in international affairs, but if Fox News can dictate his reactions like this, we're in worse trouble than we feared. (OK, we probably feared exactly that in at least one of the megathreads.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:13 AM on April 8, 2018 [30 favorites]
So Fox and Friends is encouraging him not to follow the suggestions of his advisors and continue to maintain a military presence in the region using this as a good reason to do so, but to bomb, declare "mission accomplished" and leave? If Fox and Friends wants to be proxy president it would be cool if they would think things through.
posted by Selena777 at 7:25 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Selena777 at 7:25 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Washington Post's "‘When you lose that power’: How John Kelly faded as White House disciplinarian" of course quotes unnamed sources who make Trump look weak, e.g. "This official explained that Kelly initially viewed his job as babysitting, but now feels less of a need to be omnipresent, while Trump, who once considered Kelly a security blanket, feels increasingly emboldened to act alone."
They also show us Trump's great power, turning the people he hires into simpering puddles:
posted by dis_integration at 7:29 AM on April 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
They also show us Trump's great power, turning the people he hires into simpering puddles:
Both [Kelly's] credibility and his influence have been severely diminished, administration officials said, a clear decline for the retired four-star Marine Corps general who arrived with a reputation for integrity and a mandate to bring order to a chaotic West Wing.Trump Wraithed yet again. Trump's fundamental skill is diminishing his underlings until they wither into wretched skeksis.
posted by dis_integration at 7:29 AM on April 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay.
Notice that the alliterative insulting nickname he chose for Putin alongside "Animal Assad" is..."President Putin." Strong words, as always.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:33 AM on April 8, 2018 [14 favorites]
Notice that the alliterative insulting nickname he chose for Putin alongside "Animal Assad" is..."President Putin." Strong words, as always.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:33 AM on April 8, 2018 [14 favorites]
Huh.
@RealDonaldTrump (2013): Let the Arab League take care of Syria. Why are these rich Arab countries not paying us for the tremendous cost of such an attack?
@RealDonaldTrump (2013): President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your "powder" for another (and more important) day!
@RealDonaldTrump (2013): AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!
posted by scalefree at 7:39 AM on April 8, 2018 [12 favorites]
@RealDonaldTrump (2013): Let the Arab League take care of Syria. Why are these rich Arab countries not paying us for the tremendous cost of such an attack?
@RealDonaldTrump (2013): President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your "powder" for another (and more important) day!
@RealDonaldTrump (2013): AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!
posted by scalefree at 7:39 AM on April 8, 2018 [12 favorites]
Susan Collins is on the Sunday shows rewriting the history of how she lied to Maine voters and sold her vote on the tax scam bill for absolutely nothing:
“No, I really don’t,” Susan Collins says to @jaketapper when asked if she believes she was lied to by GOP leaders that they would move on health care bills to win over her vote on tax bill
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:47 AM on April 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
“No, I really don’t,” Susan Collins says to @jaketapper when asked if she believes she was lied to by GOP leaders that they would move on health care bills to win over her vote on tax bill
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:47 AM on April 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
It’s not a lie if you are both winking to each other like crazy.
posted by Artw at 8:09 AM on April 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:09 AM on April 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
Glenn Greenwald very upset at popular Twitter joke.
posted by Artw at 8:19 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 8:19 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
oh lol
greenwald himself is becoming a twitter joke at this point -- not a very popular one, tho
posted by halation at 8:31 AM on April 8, 2018 [20 favorites]
greenwald himself is becoming a twitter joke at this point -- not a very popular one, tho
posted by halation at 8:31 AM on April 8, 2018 [20 favorites]
Greenwald has a fascinating habit of attacking precisely the same thing that Trump is attacking at any given moment. I watched him live on the Jimmy Dore (Seth Rich conspiracist/controlled-opposition-Left) Show yesterday for as long as I could stand it (about half an hour) and the entire time Glenn was ranting breathlessly about the evils of the Democratic Party while Dore beamed and nodded. No mention of the actual ongoing civilizational/existential crisis that's actually burning everything down right now.
I do not understand Greenwald's mind and probably never will. I don't think (don't think) that he's directly compromised or collaborating, but a definition escapes me. "Useful idiot" doesn't quite cut it. Maybe just "fucking asshole."
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:47 AM on April 8, 2018 [23 favorites]
I do not understand Greenwald's mind and probably never will. I don't think (don't think) that he's directly compromised or collaborating, but a definition escapes me. "Useful idiot" doesn't quite cut it. Maybe just "fucking asshole."
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:47 AM on April 8, 2018 [23 favorites]
A monstrous arrogance dwarfed only by an equally monstrous ego that is, nevertheless, so frail that it requires constant reward and approval, leading to inevitable radicalization and a shrinking, but intensifying, base of support.
If you’re a foreign power in the manipulating idiots game, Greenwald seems as easy to manipulate as Trump.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:53 AM on April 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
If you’re a foreign power in the manipulating idiots game, Greenwald seems as easy to manipulate as Trump.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:53 AM on April 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mic.com (yeah, I know): Leaked neo-Nazi chat room shows a movement self-destructing in real time
Full chatlogs at Unicorn Riot: A Year Inside The Failed Neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party.
TWP was Matt Heimbach's creation and is the group that dissolved in March around the whole weird actual-cuckoldry scandal.
More discussion from Daily Beast.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:55 AM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
Full chatlogs at Unicorn Riot: A Year Inside The Failed Neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party.
TWP was Matt Heimbach's creation and is the group that dissolved in March around the whole weird actual-cuckoldry scandal.
More discussion from Daily Beast.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:55 AM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
In Greenwald's defense The Intercept Brazil is far from arseholish and the reporting and investigative journalism being done there is far superior from anything being produced by other news organizations, and highly necessary.
He is an American so I guess he is allowed to have views on that countries disfuncional political system as he likes even though some them go against the mefi grain.
posted by adamvasco at 8:58 AM on April 8, 2018
He is an American so I guess he is allowed to have views on that countries disfuncional political system as he likes even though some them go against the mefi grain.
posted by adamvasco at 8:58 AM on April 8, 2018
Holy Jeez, Greenwald's explicitly going to bat for Kevin Williamson and Ross Douthat (using the reactionary/alt-right terminology in saying that they "trigger" us) and linking a NYT article about liberals not being inclusive enough of differing opinions.
....guys I'm starting to think Glenn isn't on our side.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:03 AM on April 8, 2018 [33 favorites]
....guys I'm starting to think Glenn isn't on our side.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:03 AM on April 8, 2018 [33 favorites]
Mod note: Kinda feel like "Glenn Greenwald does a bad tweet" is a variety of consequenceless low-hanging fruit that we could just stop plunking given how the conversation rarely goes anywhere new or interesting.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:05 AM on April 8, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:05 AM on April 8, 2018 [30 favorites]
RE: Syria and refugees....
So I went to listen to a talk here at UPenn back in February that featured Joe Biden, Jeb Bush, Anne C. Richard, Michael Doyle, and Dau Jok. The topic was People and Policy Adrift: A 21st Century Framework for Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and Immigration Policy.
It was 90% garbage and pablum, though I will say that Anne C. Richard (Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration under President Obama) and Michael Doyle had some interesting stuff to say, especially around the proposed Model International Mobility Convention.
But I digress.
At one point, the topic of how to "sell" a more liberal immigration policy to the American people came up. I'm paraphrasing, but Joe Biden said something to the effect of:
"EVEN IF you can't sell it to someone on the basis that it is the right thing to do, we oughtta be able to convince folks that it's in their naked self-interest. Look at Europe. When a million refugees are taken into Germany, into other places, there's a political cost to pay. That's reality. We didn't help! So what happens is, these far right groups get emboldened because they can make political hay out of it. And this means that Putin, who is working very hard to help embolden these forces and destabilize Europe, well, he gets stronger. This weakens American security! If we helped, if we took in more refugees, the political costs for Germany and Europe are reduced, and American security is strengthened. We oughtta be able to sell that to folks."
This just reinforced to me that the Democratic establishment really does think that this is an arc in the West Wing. That if we can just find the right way to sell this stuff, things will get better.
But the thing is, Putin getting stronger through far right groups gaining strength in Europe is NOT A BAD THING to many many many people in the US. The right wing of American politics is not some principled bloc that deep down will do the right thing for American security if they can just be persuaded to think of things that way. There is no redeeming the Republican party. A rapist is President, our domestic institutions are being actively dissolved or weaponized to enrich the few and destroy the many, children are fleeing from being gassed and we won't help, and we pose an active existential threat to all life on Earth. There's no Act 2 that redeems this in time to wrap things up in Act 3.
For all the major ways in which Joe Biden is problematic (and he is, I know) this fundamental flaw in thinking is emblematic of the larger problem. There's no making peace with cancer. There's only the targeted destruction of the cancer cells and constant vigilance should they ever start to replicate again, or there's death.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:14 AM on April 8, 2018 [21 favorites]
So I went to listen to a talk here at UPenn back in February that featured Joe Biden, Jeb Bush, Anne C. Richard, Michael Doyle, and Dau Jok. The topic was People and Policy Adrift: A 21st Century Framework for Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and Immigration Policy.
It was 90% garbage and pablum, though I will say that Anne C. Richard (Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration under President Obama) and Michael Doyle had some interesting stuff to say, especially around the proposed Model International Mobility Convention.
But I digress.
At one point, the topic of how to "sell" a more liberal immigration policy to the American people came up. I'm paraphrasing, but Joe Biden said something to the effect of:
"EVEN IF you can't sell it to someone on the basis that it is the right thing to do, we oughtta be able to convince folks that it's in their naked self-interest. Look at Europe. When a million refugees are taken into Germany, into other places, there's a political cost to pay. That's reality. We didn't help! So what happens is, these far right groups get emboldened because they can make political hay out of it. And this means that Putin, who is working very hard to help embolden these forces and destabilize Europe, well, he gets stronger. This weakens American security! If we helped, if we took in more refugees, the political costs for Germany and Europe are reduced, and American security is strengthened. We oughtta be able to sell that to folks."
This just reinforced to me that the Democratic establishment really does think that this is an arc in the West Wing. That if we can just find the right way to sell this stuff, things will get better.
But the thing is, Putin getting stronger through far right groups gaining strength in Europe is NOT A BAD THING to many many many people in the US. The right wing of American politics is not some principled bloc that deep down will do the right thing for American security if they can just be persuaded to think of things that way. There is no redeeming the Republican party. A rapist is President, our domestic institutions are being actively dissolved or weaponized to enrich the few and destroy the many, children are fleeing from being gassed and we won't help, and we pose an active existential threat to all life on Earth. There's no Act 2 that redeems this in time to wrap things up in Act 3.
For all the major ways in which Joe Biden is problematic (and he is, I know) this fundamental flaw in thinking is emblematic of the larger problem. There's no making peace with cancer. There's only the targeted destruction of the cancer cells and constant vigilance should they ever start to replicate again, or there's death.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:14 AM on April 8, 2018 [21 favorites]
Because stupidest timeline... the Citigroup study where Trump gets his $1.50 per Amazon package? Even ignoring that it doesn't even apply to Amazon specifically, its dubious methodology, and that it was driven by competitors UPS and Fedex, it also makes a giant math error. Corrected, the $1.50 is actually 11 cents.
posted by chris24 at 9:17 AM on April 8, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 9:17 AM on April 8, 2018 [16 favorites]
"If we helped, if we took in more refugees, the political costs for Germany and Europe are reduced, and American security is strengthened. We oughtta be able to sell that to folks."
This logic seems flawed. He posits an inevitable "political cost" to taking in refugees, and argues that spreading the risk means "American security is strengthened." But since he posits right-wing backlash as an inevitable consequence of accepting refugees... why would the same thing not happen in the US?
There are obvious arguments for the US taking in more refugees but this one makes very little sense. I see literally no way to "sell that to folks."
posted by halation at 9:23 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
This logic seems flawed. He posits an inevitable "political cost" to taking in refugees, and argues that spreading the risk means "American security is strengthened." But since he posits right-wing backlash as an inevitable consequence of accepting refugees... why would the same thing not happen in the US?
There are obvious arguments for the US taking in more refugees but this one makes very little sense. I see literally no way to "sell that to folks."
posted by halation at 9:23 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yikes - must have missed it earlier, but ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR STAY PENDING APPEAL. (Re: Felons reestablishment of voting rights in Florida)
Was this judge in the military? Because I have never gotten a public ass-chewing like that outside the military.
posted by ctmf at 9:30 AM on April 8, 2018 [80 favorites]
Was this judge in the military? Because I have never gotten a public ass-chewing like that outside the military.
posted by ctmf at 9:30 AM on April 8, 2018 [80 favorites]
But since he posits right-wing backlash as an inevitable consequence of accepting refugees... why would the same thing not happen in the US?
I think he was talking about the right-wing backlash in Germany being more effective because objectors could point to the US and say, "See? We didn't need to take these refugees in! The US didn't do it!"
If more countries accept refugees, the argument strengthens that they do so as a moral imperative to address the humanitarian crisis. There may be right-wing backlash in all such countries but it would be less likely to find a foothold in people not already immersed in that mindset.
posted by SpaceBass at 9:33 AM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
I think he was talking about the right-wing backlash in Germany being more effective because objectors could point to the US and say, "See? We didn't need to take these refugees in! The US didn't do it!"
If more countries accept refugees, the argument strengthens that they do so as a moral imperative to address the humanitarian crisis. There may be right-wing backlash in all such countries but it would be less likely to find a foothold in people not already immersed in that mindset.
posted by SpaceBass at 9:33 AM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yikes - must have missed it earlier, but ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR STAY PENDING APPEAL. (Re: Felons reestablishment of voting rights in Florida)
Was this judge in the military? Because I have never gotten a public ass-chewing like that outside the military.
Any context on this ruling and what it means?
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:43 AM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Was this judge in the military? Because I have never gotten a public ass-chewing like that outside the military.
Any context on this ruling and what it means?
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:43 AM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I take it to mean the court ordered them to fix their broken sham system; the state whined that the court can't tell them how to do it and besides, that's not enough time; the court said they're not telling the state how to do it, only TO do it. By the deadline. Get hot.
Also, feel free to escalate over our head. Good luck with that. Clock's ticking.
posted by ctmf at 9:50 AM on April 8, 2018 [21 favorites]
Also, feel free to escalate over our head. Good luck with that. Clock's ticking.
posted by ctmf at 9:50 AM on April 8, 2018 [21 favorites]
And don't miss the court's last line there:
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:56 AM on April 8, 2018 [138 favorites]
This Court does not play games. This Court is not going to sit on Defendants’ motion and run out the clock. If the Eleventh Circuit finds that a clemency scheme granting unfettered discretion to elected officials—with personal stakes in shaping the electorate—over Plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights passes constitutional muster, this Court must accept that holding. Until that day, if it ever comes, this Court DENIES Defendants’ request for a stay.That is as close to a federal judge telling a state governor "fuck you and the horse you rode in on" as you will ever see in a public document.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:56 AM on April 8, 2018 [138 favorites]
Holy cow, that ruling is as beautiful a righteous ass-chewing as I’ve ever seen in a judicial ruling. It really is worth reading and, at only six pages, a wonderful little pick-me-up in these dark times.
posted by darkstar at 9:57 AM on April 8, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 9:57 AM on April 8, 2018 [10 favorites]
this article provides more context
posted by pyramid termite at 9:59 AM on April 8, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 9:59 AM on April 8, 2018 [15 favorites]
Victim in Trump Tower Fire identified as Andy Warhol Art Dealer.
posted by valkane at 10:24 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by valkane at 10:24 AM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's a beautiful document from the Tallahassee court; I don't know how the Governor will be able to handle this panning
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:59 AM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:59 AM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Republicans Seize on Impeachment as an Issue ((direct NYT) via Politicalwire)
"As Republican leaders scramble to stave off a Democratic wave or at least mitigate their party’s losses in November, a strategy is emerging on the right for how to energize conservatives and drive a wedge between the anti-Trump left and moderate voters: warn that Democrats will immediately move to impeach President Trump if they capture the House."
Goin' Full Collusion, eh GOP? Well, hats off to your chutzpah. Frankly, you'll be doing us a favor going for broke like that. We'd probably wallow in better jobs or some other weak tea. Best to just put it all on the line. Elect Trump once, shame on you. Keep him in office, . . shame . on . . uh, we can't lose to Trump again.
posted by petebest at 12:21 PM on April 8, 2018 [15 favorites]
"As Republican leaders scramble to stave off a Democratic wave or at least mitigate their party’s losses in November, a strategy is emerging on the right for how to energize conservatives and drive a wedge between the anti-Trump left and moderate voters: warn that Democrats will immediately move to impeach President Trump if they capture the House."
Goin' Full Collusion, eh GOP? Well, hats off to your chutzpah. Frankly, you'll be doing us a favor going for broke like that. We'd probably wallow in better jobs or some other weak tea. Best to just put it all on the line. Elect Trump once, shame on you. Keep him in office, . . shame . on . . uh, we can't lose to Trump again.
posted by petebest at 12:21 PM on April 8, 2018 [15 favorites]
On second thought, elect Trump once, shame on us. What the actual fuck.
posted by petebest at 12:23 PM on April 8, 2018 [28 favorites]
posted by petebest at 12:23 PM on April 8, 2018 [28 favorites]
I can't come up with some reason Democrats -wouldn't- impeach Trump the second they capture the House. I mean, he's colluding with foreign powers, and his entire administration is about as corrupt as it's humanly possible to be.
But hey, sure. Let's -defend- that as a strategy. See how far that works. I'm sure that won't backfire in any way, right?
posted by Archelaus at 12:30 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
But hey, sure. Let's -defend- that as a strategy. See how far that works. I'm sure that won't backfire in any way, right?
posted by Archelaus at 12:30 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, isn’t that basically the Republicans admitting that Trump is guilty (if he’s not, then impeachment is a nothingburger), and openly calling to further obstruct justice?
posted by Sys Rq at 12:33 PM on April 8, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 12:33 PM on April 8, 2018 [14 favorites]
Putting the wedge the other way, convincing potential voters who hate trump that the DNC/DCCC/other centrist bodies at the heart of the Democratic Party won’t do anything about him would seem a far more plausible and winning strategy, not that I’d want to give these fuckers ideas.
posted by Artw at 12:37 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:37 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Reasons not to impeach Trump: keep the presidency in the hands of a weak, manipulable twit with low approval ratings. Ride a blue wave all the way to 2020 when it’s needed for both the presidency and nationwide legislative redistricting.
posted by migurski at 12:37 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by migurski at 12:37 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
More realistically the centrist reason not to impeach would be a theoretical future situation in whichRepublicans COULD impeach or otherwise be obstructive but decide not to out of gratitude.
This shit writes itself, scarily enough. They should look into shoring up against that.
posted by Artw at 12:40 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
This shit writes itself, scarily enough. They should look into shoring up against that.
posted by Artw at 12:40 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
The problem is that Republicans impeached Clinton over what many Democrats considered to be specious reasons (let's not discuss that). So the Republicans can act (for the moment, before any reports are filed) as if any impeachment attempt against Trump would be for specious reasons also.
posted by acrasis at 12:47 PM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by acrasis at 12:47 PM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
Yeah, isn’t that basically the Republicans admitting that Trump is guilty (if he’s not, then impeachment is a nothingburger), and openly calling to further obstruct justice?
No, the Republicans are projecting their worldview of "power by any means" onto the Democrats. Because Republicans believe that the sole purpose of investigations and jurisprudence is to crush your enemies (e.g. people named "Clinton") regardless of whether there is actual criminal guilt, they think that Democrats believe the same thing. This is also why the House Intelligence Committee's investigation was such a joke, because Nunes didn't see any reason to continue an investigation that wasn't going to hurt any Democrats.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 12:48 PM on April 8, 2018 [24 favorites]
No, the Republicans are projecting their worldview of "power by any means" onto the Democrats. Because Republicans believe that the sole purpose of investigations and jurisprudence is to crush your enemies (e.g. people named "Clinton") regardless of whether there is actual criminal guilt, they think that Democrats believe the same thing. This is also why the House Intelligence Committee's investigation was such a joke, because Nunes didn't see any reason to continue an investigation that wasn't going to hurt any Democrats.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 12:48 PM on April 8, 2018 [24 favorites]
Reasons not to impeach Trump: keep the presidency in the hands of a weak, manipulable twit with low approval ratings. Ride a blue wave all the way to 2020 when it’s needed for both the presidency and nationwide legislative redistricting.
cons: further Russian theft of elections due to lack of consequences, nuclear winter
posted by leotrotsky at 12:53 PM on April 8, 2018 [32 favorites]
cons: further Russian theft of elections due to lack of consequences, nuclear winter
posted by leotrotsky at 12:53 PM on April 8, 2018 [32 favorites]
Mod note: None of us are going to decide whether or not Trump gets impeached, so maybe let's not keep armchair quarterbacking it an nth time.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:02 PM on April 8, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:02 PM on April 8, 2018 [27 favorites]
As Democratic leaders scramble to ensure a Democratic wave in November, a strategy is emerging: promise that Democrats will immediately move to impeach President Trump if they capture the House.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:10 PM on April 8, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:10 PM on April 8, 2018 [16 favorites]
It's been mentioned previously in the thread, but I'll 2nd that the New Yorker article "A Saudi Prince's Quest to Remake the Middle East" is a great deep-dive into some of the big players in the region's conflicts, with the bonus of more Cambridge Analytica fuckery.
The only thing they didn't mention was the 100 page glossy magazine put out here in the US by the Trump's buddy at the National Enquirer which heaps on praise for the new Crown Prince. They claim no one outside of their staff had any influence on it being published, including Saudi Arabia itself, which seems... odd.
posted by bluecore at 4:12 PM on April 8, 2018 [10 favorites]
The only thing they didn't mention was the 100 page glossy magazine put out here in the US by the Trump's buddy at the National Enquirer which heaps on praise for the new Crown Prince. They claim no one outside of their staff had any influence on it being published, including Saudi Arabia itself, which seems... odd.
posted by bluecore at 4:12 PM on April 8, 2018 [10 favorites]
Donald Trump Baltic States Cold Open - SNL
“First up, a big congratulations to Vladimir Putin,” Trump said. “He won a great, great, very transparent victory in the Russian election. Fantastic job, Putin. Even though no one has ever been tougher on Russia than I am, including Hitler.”posted by kirkaracha at 5:21 PM on April 8, 2018 [33 favorites]
...
“Here is the thing that no one else is saying and I’m the only one who’s willing to actually say this,” Baldwin’s Trump concluded. “I don’t care about America, OK? This whole presidency is a four-year cash grab and admitting that will probably get me four more years, but I do not care about any of you.”
New York Times editor says Trump attacks on press are out of control.
Dean Baquet was responding to a tweet in which the president attacked his main rival.
posted by adamvasco at 5:41 PM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
Dean Baquet was responding to a tweet in which the president attacked his main rival.
posted by adamvasco at 5:41 PM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
The twitter machine is all abuzz with chatter about airstrikes happening in Syria. No one knows if it's the United States, Israel, or both, but lots of things are flying around very loud and fast.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:23 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:23 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Nice to see Baquet take a break from shrimp and cocktail weenies to raise a point of order.
posted by rhizome at 6:30 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 6:30 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Twitter speculation is its Israeli airstrikes, and the Pentagon denied it's US.
Maybe they wanted to act first this time before Trump tipped off where to move everything away from.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:21 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Maybe they wanted to act first this time before Trump tipped off where to move everything away from.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:21 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh man, about that New Yorker article...
Remember how, in the context of coordinated political campaigns aimed at reorganizing the ME, Mohammed bin Salman and reps from the UAE and Cambridge Analytica types and I assume like an actual cloven-hoofed consultant all met with The Rock?
And we only know about it because The Rock, who has long rumored to have political ambitions, was dumb enough to instagram it (and then delete it)?
I feel like an absolute crazy person, but there has been a lot of The Rock hagiography bubbling up on reddit recently. Like to the point where it’s kind of...weird.
I CANT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS IS A REALISTIC THING TO WORRY ABOUT
posted by schadenfrau at 7:48 PM on April 8, 2018 [40 favorites]
Remember how, in the context of coordinated political campaigns aimed at reorganizing the ME, Mohammed bin Salman and reps from the UAE and Cambridge Analytica types and I assume like an actual cloven-hoofed consultant all met with The Rock?
And we only know about it because The Rock, who has long rumored to have political ambitions, was dumb enough to instagram it (and then delete it)?
I feel like an absolute crazy person, but there has been a lot of The Rock hagiography bubbling up on reddit recently. Like to the point where it’s kind of...weird.
I CANT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS IS A REALISTIC THING TO WORRY ABOUT
posted by schadenfrau at 7:48 PM on April 8, 2018 [40 favorites]
NY Daily News: Close friend of man killed in Trump Tower fire says President once called victim 'crazy Jew'
Why's it gotta be this way.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:08 PM on April 8, 2018 [61 favorites]
Why's it gotta be this way.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:08 PM on April 8, 2018 [61 favorites]
Brassner wasn't the only resident of Trump Tower to say "‘I have to get out of here". Remember Keith Olbermann moving out in '16? My comment at the time is "why would a person with a minimum of scruples and a right mind EVER live in a building with the name TRUMP on it?" And if you'd asked me in the '90s, I'd have said the same thing.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:24 PM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:24 PM on April 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
I work in commercial real estate in a major metropolitan area. I don't know how things work in NYC, but I'm reading that Trump Tower wasn't retrofitted with sprinklers, and that there were no building-wide alarms or communications to other tenants triggered by the (very substantial) fire. That's bugfuck crazy to me.
Installing sprinklers wouldn't cost Trump anything, as costs like that are passed on to tenants as operating expenses, and tenants rarely grumble about fire-life-safety expenses. Sprinklers are STANDARD in all office towers in my metro. Assuming you don't have sprinklers, your alarm system must be fantastic. With sprinklers, it's more-or-less safe to assume a typical fire won't spread; without, who knows what could happen, so you need alarms going off on floors 45-55 immediately when a smokehead is triggered.
Conclusion: all Trump Tower tenants should leave ASAP. Fire codes were established for a reason, which was to prevent cities from burning down when one electrical short or loose cigarette activates a fire. Very basic property management didn't happen here, and someone may have died because of it. I would assume all corners were being cut until proven otherwise.
posted by johnny jenga at 9:33 PM on April 8, 2018 [38 favorites]
Installing sprinklers wouldn't cost Trump anything, as costs like that are passed on to tenants as operating expenses, and tenants rarely grumble about fire-life-safety expenses. Sprinklers are STANDARD in all office towers in my metro. Assuming you don't have sprinklers, your alarm system must be fantastic. With sprinklers, it's more-or-less safe to assume a typical fire won't spread; without, who knows what could happen, so you need alarms going off on floors 45-55 immediately when a smokehead is triggered.
Conclusion: all Trump Tower tenants should leave ASAP. Fire codes were established for a reason, which was to prevent cities from burning down when one electrical short or loose cigarette activates a fire. Very basic property management didn't happen here, and someone may have died because of it. I would assume all corners were being cut until proven otherwise.
posted by johnny jenga at 9:33 PM on April 8, 2018 [38 favorites]
Art Collector and Bon Vivant Dies in Trump Tower Home He Couldn’t Sell
Friends of Mr. Brassner said he had been trying to move since the election of President Trump in 2016, which brought increased security and activity to the building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, but he could not sell his 50th-floor apartment, which he estimated to be worth $2.5 million in 2015.posted by T.D. Strange at 9:38 PM on April 8, 2018 [27 favorites]
“It haunts me,” said Stephen Dwire, 67, a musician and music producer who had been friends with Mr. Brassner since they were 14-year-olds in Harrison, N.Y., in Westchester County. “He said, ‘This is getting untenable,’” Mr. Dwire said. “It was like living in an armed camp. But when people heard it was a Trump building, he couldn’t give it away.”
Forgive this tardy reaction, I've just been stupefied (which, shame on me).... Am I to understand that President Trauma points to what he sees as America's weakness on asbestos as being the actual, dominant cause of 9/11?
It should go without saying that it is beyond insane to have a president--anyone--in 2018 advocating for asbestos, and yet, here I am, saying it.
posted by riverlife at 10:05 PM on April 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
It should go without saying that it is beyond insane to have a president--anyone--in 2018 advocating for asbestos, and yet, here I am, saying it.
posted by riverlife at 10:05 PM on April 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
Trump argued against retrofitting NY City buildings with sprinklers (it's not as entirely crass as it sounds, and he did eventually retrofit one of his towers).
“People feel safer with sprinklers,” Trump said in 1999, according to The Times. “But the problem with the bill is that it doesn’t address the buildings that need sprinklers the most. If you look at the fire deaths in New York, almost all of them are in one-or two-family houses.”
posted by Rumple at 10:19 PM on April 8, 2018
“People feel safer with sprinklers,” Trump said in 1999, according to The Times. “But the problem with the bill is that it doesn’t address the buildings that need sprinklers the most. If you look at the fire deaths in New York, almost all of them are in one-or two-family houses.”
posted by Rumple at 10:19 PM on April 8, 2018
Forgive this tardy reaction, I've just been stupefied (which, shame on me).... Am I to understand that President Trauma points to what he sees as America's weakness on asbestos as being the actual, dominant cause of 9/11?
Yes. He has a weird affinity for the stuff; just guessing but maybe something he had drilled into him by his father.
posted by scalefree at 10:19 PM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yes. He has a weird affinity for the stuff; just guessing but maybe something he had drilled into him by his father.
posted by scalefree at 10:19 PM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
Very basic property management didn't happen here, and someone may have died because of it.
A solid description of the Trump Administration, and pretty much every Trump Enterprise before it.
meanwhile (about 500 comments ago):
The Whelk: "Progressive candidates to watch for 2018 midterms (The Nation)"
There are some pretty good folks on here. There's also Dennis Kucinich.
Kliph Nesteroff's nostalgia blog found a little bit of Kucinich history when he was interviewed by Tom Snyder right after the recall election he survived as Mayor of Cleveland.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:23 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
A solid description of the Trump Administration, and pretty much every Trump Enterprise before it.
meanwhile (about 500 comments ago):
The Whelk: "Progressive candidates to watch for 2018 midterms (The Nation)"
There are some pretty good folks on here. There's also Dennis Kucinich.
Kliph Nesteroff's nostalgia blog found a little bit of Kucinich history when he was interviewed by Tom Snyder right after the recall election he survived as Mayor of Cleveland.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:23 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Now this is intriguing. It suggests a roadmap for unwinding Trumpism altogether.
How Trump thrives in ‘news deserts’ Relentless use of social media and partisan outlets helped him swamp Clinton and exceed Romney’s performance in places lacking trusted local news outlets.
posted by scalefree at 10:24 PM on April 8, 2018 [27 favorites]
How Trump thrives in ‘news deserts’ Relentless use of social media and partisan outlets helped him swamp Clinton and exceed Romney’s performance in places lacking trusted local news outlets.
posted by scalefree at 10:24 PM on April 8, 2018 [27 favorites]
There's been quite a bit of commentary on Twitter that a high ROI move for Tom Steyer, etc. would be to make some investments in local newspapers.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:31 PM on April 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:31 PM on April 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
No one thing will save us, and I'm not even sure if it's possible to recognize that saving has happened, but that doesn't make it wasted effort.
posted by rhizome at 12:20 AM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 12:20 AM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
Very basic property management didn't happen here, and someone may have died because of it. I would assume all corners were being cut until proven otherwise.
Trump Tower is on 5th avenue right?
I guess Trump was right after all. He killed a guy on 5th Avenue and he didn't lose any supporters.
posted by Justinian at 1:19 AM on April 9, 2018 [164 favorites]
Trump Tower is on 5th avenue right?
I guess Trump was right after all. He killed a guy on 5th Avenue and he didn't lose any supporters.
posted by Justinian at 1:19 AM on April 9, 2018 [164 favorites]
There was a significant ICE raid in Grainger county, TN this week. This is a good rundown, but it minimizes the fact that 97 people were arrested. This short piece is from the perspective of one of the people who was arrested. Local law students are trying to help. Religious leaders are speaking out against it. This business was a real shithole, paying workers in cash to avoid payroll taxes, and violating sanitation and safety rules; however, the people who run the place were not among the 97 arrested.
Autoplaying videos in all links after the first.
posted by heatvision at 3:16 AM on April 9, 2018 [24 favorites]
Autoplaying videos in all links after the first.
posted by heatvision at 3:16 AM on April 9, 2018 [24 favorites]
This business was a real shithole, paying workers in cash to avoid payroll taxes, and violating sanitation and safety rules; however, the people who run the place were not among the 97 arrested.
Perfectly illustrating why some GOP voters, particularly in agriculture, vote to keep immigrants illegal while at the same time using their labour: to maximise profits while keeping their workers scared of reporting terrible labour practices to the authorities.
posted by PenDevil at 3:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [54 favorites]
Perfectly illustrating why some GOP voters, particularly in agriculture, vote to keep immigrants illegal while at the same time using their labour: to maximise profits while keeping their workers scared of reporting terrible labour practices to the authorities.
posted by PenDevil at 3:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [54 favorites]
Who could possibly have forseen that one day we might need to be taken seriously about WMDs and about regime change in a Middle-Eastern dictatorship, and credibilty on those subjects wasn't a valueless thing to be thrown away in the course of military adventurism.
Now that we're facing such an insurmountable task in the form of getting everyone to take us seriously about those issues, it's fortunate that we didn't let Vladimir Putin install a U.S. Secretary of State whose bosom he'd pinned a medal on, to disassemble the State Department under the guise of saving money and handicap our diplomatic efforts on the international stage. Oh wait, we did let that happen.
posted by XMLicious at 5:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
Now that we're facing such an insurmountable task in the form of getting everyone to take us seriously about those issues, it's fortunate that we didn't let Vladimir Putin install a U.S. Secretary of State whose bosom he'd pinned a medal on, to disassemble the State Department under the guise of saving money and handicap our diplomatic efforts on the international stage. Oh wait, we did let that happen.
posted by XMLicious at 5:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
How Trump thrives in ‘news deserts’ Relentless use of social media and partisan outlets helped him swamp Clinton and exceed Romney’s performance in places lacking trusted local news outlets.
I think we've found a paid model for news! Use it as a loss leader to convince the population to elect leaders you can bribe to give you sweetheart deals and tax cuts!
posted by leotrotsky at 6:32 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
I think we've found a paid model for news! Use it as a loss leader to convince the population to elect leaders you can bribe to give you sweetheart deals and tax cuts!
posted by leotrotsky at 6:32 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
White House has no plan for countering Comey (Matthew Nussbaum, Politico)
“Former FBI director James Comey is about to return to the national spotlight with the release of his memoir next week — but the White House is doing little to prepare for the onslaught,” Politico reports.
“These officials said it’s understood within the West Wing that laying out an advance media strategy is largely a futile exercise since President Trump could blow up any prepared talking points with a single tweet.”
Yes, the Executive Branch is in a state of triple-guessing paralysis because of the addled tweetphasia the theoretical leader suffers from. Michael Wolff's book was accurate, and is proving to be more so every day.
Per the painfully insightful "Q anon" posts, Trump is not only preparing to topple all pedophiles and human traffickers with a single massive onslaught any minute now, but he's also laid out a brilliant strategy to wrest financial control from the bad guys and give everyone free money. Some say Trump is, himself, Qanon.
Which- wow. I don't think we could find a more bracing example of "black is white, night is day" than this. Perhaps facts, reality, empirical evidence - perhaps these things are functionally meaningless and and the only thing that matters is what makes it on Fox and Friends. (It isn't but damn. We're essentially shut down because the GOP elected a maniac and they're really goddamned pleased about it.) Corporate news clearly has no interest in fixing this.
Senior aides hope a trip to South America and summit with the Japanese prime minister will keep Trump's mind off the book.
Yeah, someone jangle some keys in front of him for 3 more years.
posted by petebest at 6:41 AM on April 9, 2018 [35 favorites]
“Former FBI director James Comey is about to return to the national spotlight with the release of his memoir next week — but the White House is doing little to prepare for the onslaught,” Politico reports.
“These officials said it’s understood within the West Wing that laying out an advance media strategy is largely a futile exercise since President Trump could blow up any prepared talking points with a single tweet.”
Yes, the Executive Branch is in a state of triple-guessing paralysis because of the addled tweetphasia the theoretical leader suffers from. Michael Wolff's book was accurate, and is proving to be more so every day.
Per the painfully insightful "Q anon" posts, Trump is not only preparing to topple all pedophiles and human traffickers with a single massive onslaught any minute now, but he's also laid out a brilliant strategy to wrest financial control from the bad guys and give everyone free money. Some say Trump is, himself, Qanon.
Which- wow. I don't think we could find a more bracing example of "black is white, night is day" than this. Perhaps facts, reality, empirical evidence - perhaps these things are functionally meaningless and and the only thing that matters is what makes it on Fox and Friends. (It isn't but damn. We're essentially shut down because the GOP elected a maniac and they're really goddamned pleased about it.) Corporate news clearly has no interest in fixing this.
Senior aides hope a trip to South America and summit with the Japanese prime minister will keep Trump's mind off the book.
Yeah, someone jangle some keys in front of him for 3 more years.
posted by petebest at 6:41 AM on April 9, 2018 [35 favorites]
Sean Sullivan, WaPo: GOP increasingly fears loss of House, focuses on saving Senate majority
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:57 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
To many, the Senate is emerging as a critical barrier against Democrats demolishing President Trump’s agenda beginning in 2019. Worse yet, some in the GOP fear, Democrats could use complete control of Congress to co-opt the ideologically malleable president and advance their own priorities.On the other hand, Democrats are defending 26 Senate Seats, Republicans are defending 9.
Democratic enthusiasm is surging in suburban districts that House Republicans are struggling to fortify, causing GOP officials, donors and strategists to fret. They have greater confidence in the more rural red states Trump won convincingly that make up the bulk of the Senate battlefield.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies are seeking to capitalize on concerns about the House. He is leading an effort to motivate conservative voters by reminding them that his side of the Capitol has the unilateral power to confirm federal judges and Trump administration nominees.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:57 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Relentless use of social media and partisan outlets helped him swamp Clinton and exceed Romney’s performance in places lacking trusted local news outlets.
I'd suggest that it's more that Trump's base are likely to seek out partisan outlets (especially Fox News) because they want to be told what they want to hear rather than get actual news. I know a few Trump supporters through work and family. They have access to local and regional news that's at least moderately accurate, but spurn it as "fake" (long before that was Trump's catchphrase) and consume "real" news that's effectively propaganda.
posted by Candleman at 7:24 AM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'd suggest that it's more that Trump's base are likely to seek out partisan outlets (especially Fox News) because they want to be told what they want to hear rather than get actual news. I know a few Trump supporters through work and family. They have access to local and regional news that's at least moderately accurate, but spurn it as "fake" (long before that was Trump's catchphrase) and consume "real" news that's effectively propaganda.
posted by Candleman at 7:24 AM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
Yeah but those folks are irredeemable. The folks who are redeemable—the ones who are “political” for only the few days in front of a Presidential election—don’t have informed local sources to turn to, and haven’t had in the months prior when they might have formed foundational opinions via osmosis, and so rely on the sources close at hand.
posted by notyou at 7:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by notyou at 7:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
They have access to local and regional news that's at least moderately accurate, but spurn it as "fake" (long before that was Trump's catchphrase) and consume "real" news that's effectively propaganda.
In other words, they decide not to examine and read critically.
posted by rc3spencer at 7:32 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
In other words, they decide not to examine and read critically.
posted by rc3spencer at 7:32 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
From The Guardian: Fox News accidentally displays graphic showing it is least trusted cable network
During a segment on Sunday on Media Buzz, host Howard Kurtz was discussing with the Republican pollster Frank Luntz a Monmouth University poll which asked respondents if the media regularly or occasionally reports fake news.posted by Merus at 7:36 AM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
The graphic that came up on screen showed results from another question, about what cable news outlets respondents trusted more. Fox News was last at 30%, behind CNN and MSNBC, both regular targets of attacks by President Donald Trump.
Unfortunately that AP article in the Guardian has a glaring factual error: the poll wasn't asking which network was most trustworthy, it was asking whether people trusted each network more or less than they trust the President. So naturally, a lot of Trump supporters trust the President and Fox News equally, and don't show up in the low 30% figure given. The AP has screwed up here.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:39 AM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:39 AM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thad Cochran's (R-MS) replacement, Cindy Hyde-Smith, will be sworn in later today.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:40 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:40 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
edeezy: "billionaires aren't going to save us"
I'm not saying they will. I'm saying that, if I'm a very wealthy person with liberal to progressive views, supporting local news reporting would be a good investment, certainly a better one than putting up ads for impeachment. It's like getting more people registered and voting - it's good for our civic culture and democracy in general, it also happens to benefit the left.
We shouldn't expect billionaires to save us. But to the extent they are interested in furthering progressive causes - and some of them are - this would be a good way to go about it, and we'd all benefit.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:17 AM on April 9, 2018 [38 favorites]
I'm not saying they will. I'm saying that, if I'm a very wealthy person with liberal to progressive views, supporting local news reporting would be a good investment, certainly a better one than putting up ads for impeachment. It's like getting more people registered and voting - it's good for our civic culture and democracy in general, it also happens to benefit the left.
We shouldn't expect billionaires to save us. But to the extent they are interested in furthering progressive causes - and some of them are - this would be a good way to go about it, and we'd all benefit.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:17 AM on April 9, 2018 [38 favorites]
Inside Elections/Gonzales ratings changes for gubernatorial races. These are a mix of good and bad for Dems. Note that Gonzales has a "Tilt" category the other two shops don't use, it means "really narrow advantage."
posted by Chrysostom at 8:23 AM on April 9, 2018 [22 favorites]
AK: Toss-up => Tilt RI think we've talked about this, but House results are pretty strongly correlated to who holds the White House and presidential approval. Senate results are somewhat correlated, but less so. Governor results aren't much at all, they seem to most be about local factors. So not a surprise we're seeing some races move right.
MI: Toss-up => Tilt D
MN: Likely D => Lean D
NV: Toss-up => Tilt D
RI: Solid D => Likely D
WI: Likely R => Lean R
posted by Chrysostom at 8:23 AM on April 9, 2018 [22 favorites]
Reuters poll:
Nationwide, whites over the age of 60 with college degrees now favor Democrats over Republicans for Congress by a 2-point margin, according to Reuters/Ipsos opinion polling during the first three months of the year. During the same period in 2016, that same group favored Republicans for Congress by 10 percentage points.posted by Chrysostom at 8:33 AM on April 9, 2018 [32 favorites]
Republican Governor and certified insane person Matt Bevin just promised to veto the Kentucky Republican's tax cuts for the rich and 2 year budget bills.
There's a good chance KY Republicans will actually override him, there's not much else they can actually do without raising taxes, which is obviously out of the question.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:33 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
There's a good chance KY Republicans will actually override him, there's not much else they can actually do without raising taxes, which is obviously out of the question.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:33 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
Matt Bevin just promised to veto the Kentucky Republican's tax cuts for the rich and 2 year budget bills.
Nice. Feeling the heat is an OK substitute for morality.
posted by rhizome at 8:37 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nice. Feeling the heat is an OK substitute for morality.
posted by rhizome at 8:37 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
CNN: Michael Anton, also known as the blogger "Publius Decius Mus" and author of the essay "The Flight 93 Election," resigned from his position as National Security Council spokesperson yesterday.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:37 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:37 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Nice. Feeling the heat is an OK substitute for morality.
I think you're misunderstanding here, Bevin wants FAR more spending cuts than the KY Republicans delivered, and it's not clear what he actually wants on tax "reform", but you can bet it's not increasing revenue. He's not feeling the heat from the left, at all. The Republicans in the legislature might be, because they restored most of Bevin's proposed cuts. He wants the state equivalent of the Ryan-Trump budget.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:41 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
I think you're misunderstanding here, Bevin wants FAR more spending cuts than the KY Republicans delivered, and it's not clear what he actually wants on tax "reform", but you can bet it's not increasing revenue. He's not feeling the heat from the left, at all. The Republicans in the legislature might be, because they restored most of Bevin's proposed cuts. He wants the state equivalent of the Ryan-Trump budget.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:41 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Oh. That wasn't at all apparent from the linked story.
posted by rhizome at 8:43 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 8:43 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm not saying they will. I'm saying that, if I'm a very wealthy person with liberal to progressive views, supporting local news reporting would be a good investment
Or , you know, investing in public broadcasting cause the problem that a handful of rich people control the media is one we had at the start of the last century too
posted by The Whelk at 8:49 AM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
Or , you know, investing in public broadcasting cause the problem that a handful of rich people control the media is one we had at the start of the last century too
posted by The Whelk at 8:49 AM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
Uh oh. Looks like McCain has some concerns again.
posted by Twain Device at 8:51 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Twain Device at 8:51 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Or , you know, investing in public broadcasting cause the problem that a handful of rich people control the media is one we had at the start of the last century too
It doesn't have to be one rich person making the purchase.
posted by scalefree at 9:00 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
It doesn't have to be one rich person making the purchase.
posted by scalefree at 9:00 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
The tawdriness of the Greitens case escalates and I'm here for all of it. The ex-husband of the woman in this case has been harassing the Greitens family.
“When I didn’t respond to his anonymous emails, he sent me a letter,” Sheena Greitens said. “When a letter to me didn’t produce the desired response, he contacted my parents. When letters didn’t satisfy him, he made his accusations public on Twitter. And finally, when targeting our family on social media didn’t fulfill his agenda, he secretly recorded his wife admitting to the affair and began shopping the audio tape to news outlets.”
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:16 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
“When I didn’t respond to his anonymous emails, he sent me a letter,” Sheena Greitens said. “When a letter to me didn’t produce the desired response, he contacted my parents. When letters didn’t satisfy him, he made his accusations public on Twitter. And finally, when targeting our family on social media didn’t fulfill his agenda, he secretly recorded his wife admitting to the affair and began shopping the audio tape to news outlets.”
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:16 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Looks like Virginia is on the brink of expanding Medicaid.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:17 AM on April 9, 2018 [28 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:17 AM on April 9, 2018 [28 favorites]
David Leonhardt has an op-ed, The Tragedy of James Comey. That's tragedy in the literary sense.
posted by zachlipton at 9:30 AM on April 9, 2018 [76 favorites]
James Comey is about to be ubiquitous. His book will be published next week, and parts may leak this week. Starting Sunday, he will begin an epic publicity tour, including interviews with Stephen Colbert, David Remnick, Rachel Maddow, Mike Allen, George Stephanopoulos and “The View.”We're going to see a lot of Comey now and a lot of over-the-top praise for him. It's going to be sickening. I'm not sure viewing him as a tragic figure is the right lens to analyze his actions, but hero certainly won't be either.
All of which will raise the question: What, ultimately, are we supposed to make of Comey?
...
[numerous paragraphs devoted to explaining his independence and integrity and his obsessive need to publicly maintain that reputation].
..
Comey, however, decided that he knew better than everyone else. He was the righteous Jim Comey, after all. He was going to speak truth to power. He was also, not incidentally, going to protect his own fearless image. He developed a series of rationales, suggesting that he really had no choice. They remain unpersuasive. When doing the right thing meant staying quiet and taking some lumps, Comey chose not to.
His tragic mistake matters because of the giant consequences for the country. He helped elect the most dangerous, unfit American president of our lifetimes. No matter how brave Comey has since been, no matter how honorable his full career, he can never undo that damage.
As he takes over the spotlight again, I’ll be thinking about the human lessons as well the political ones. Comey has greater strengths than most people. But for all of us, there is a fine line between strength and hubris.
posted by zachlipton at 9:30 AM on April 9, 2018 [76 favorites]
The Moscow Midterms - How Russia could steal our next election.
Bit of a weird speculative excercise, but the answer is very easily, given how utterly compromised the Republicans are.
posted by Artw at 9:36 AM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
Bit of a weird speculative excercise, but the answer is very easily, given how utterly compromised the Republicans are.
posted by Artw at 9:36 AM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
Zuckerberg is testifying before Congress tomorrow (he's there doing meetings today, yes, in a suit), and his written statement is available. Most of it isn't new—long lists of bullet points of ways they'll surely get it right this time without changing their core business model—, but this bit seems significant:
posted by zachlipton at 9:39 AM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
Our security team has been aware of traditional Russian cyber threats — like hacking and malware — for years. Leading up to Election Day in November 2016, we detected and dealt with several threats with ties to Russia. This included activity by a group called APT28, that the U.S. government has publicly linked to Russian military intelligence services.Unsurprisingly, this is pretty much the vaguest bit of the document. But I think it's new that DC Leaks was acting on Facebook. This also says that other "bad actors" were acting to interfere in the election who weren't the Internet Research Agency. We need way more public disclosure of what this was about, and pardon me if I don't particularly trust the House Energy and Commerce committee to ask the right questions.
But while our primary focus was on traditional threats, we also saw some new behavior in the summer of 2016 when APT28-related accounts, under the banner of DC Leaks, created fake personas that were used to seed stolen information to journalists. We shut these accounts down for violating our policies.
After the election, we continued to investigate and learn more about these new threats. What we found was that bad actors had used coordinated networks of fake accounts to interfere in the election: promoting or attacking specific candidates and causes, creating distrust in political institutions, or simply spreading confusion. Some of these bad actors also used our ads tools.
We also learned about a disinformation campaign run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) — a Russian agency that has repeatedly acted deceptively and tried to manipulate people in the US, Europe, and Russia. We found about 470 accounts and pages linked to the IRA, which generated around 80,000 Facebook posts over about a two-year period.
posted by zachlipton at 9:39 AM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
NYT:
The federal government’s top ethics official has taken the unusual step of sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency questioning a series of actions by Administrator Scott Pruitt and asking the agency to take “appropriate actions to address any violations.”posted by Chrysostom at 9:42 AM on April 9, 2018 [35 favorites]
"As Republican leaders scramble to stave off a Democratic wave or at least mitigate their party’s losses in November, a strategy is emerging on the right for how to energize conservatives and drive a wedge between the anti-Trump left and moderate voters: warn that Democrats will immediately move to impeach President Trump if they capture the House."
Te Republicans tried this tactic with George W. Bush, too, only to have Nancy Pelosi unilaterally take impeachment off the table -- but before the full extent of W's incompetence, fecklessness, and mendacity were known.
I don't think Republicans really want to go there in 2018 -- they risk firing up more voters than their base. Trump is much more of a known quantity, and when the people of this nation look at him, they do not like what they see.
(We've debated the pros and cons of impeachment here on the blue many times, but the Democrats must not be tricked into unilaterally disarming this time. One possible line would be "We should reserve judgment until Special Counsel Mueller finishes his investigation," though that line may put Mueller's job even more at risk.)
posted by Gelatin at 9:45 AM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Te Republicans tried this tactic with George W. Bush, too, only to have Nancy Pelosi unilaterally take impeachment off the table -- but before the full extent of W's incompetence, fecklessness, and mendacity were known.
I don't think Republicans really want to go there in 2018 -- they risk firing up more voters than their base. Trump is much more of a known quantity, and when the people of this nation look at him, they do not like what they see.
(We've debated the pros and cons of impeachment here on the blue many times, but the Democrats must not be tricked into unilaterally disarming this time. One possible line would be "We should reserve judgment until Special Counsel Mueller finishes his investigation," though that line may put Mueller's job even more at risk.)
posted by Gelatin at 9:45 AM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Editorial: As vultures circle, The Denver Post must be saved
Another factor: Critics on both sides of America’s ever-widening political divide heap blame for the loss of readership on claims — too many of them credible — that newsrooms have lost sight of their responsibility to be truly objective. Such criticisms help fuel spectacularly successful social media companies, which also reap profits from links to traditional newsroom offerings.
Another regrettable result of the fracturing of newsrooms has been the rush by political interests to lavish investments in echo-chamber outlets that merely seek to report from biased perspectives, leaving the hollowed-out shells of newsrooms loyal to traditional journalistic values to find their voice in the maelstrom.
They begin by calling their owners corporate raiders with no interest in news or civic responsibility. How often does an editorial piece say that about the newspaper's owners?
It's a resignation letter.
posted by adept256 at 9:54 AM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
Another factor: Critics on both sides of America’s ever-widening political divide heap blame for the loss of readership on claims — too many of them credible — that newsrooms have lost sight of their responsibility to be truly objective. Such criticisms help fuel spectacularly successful social media companies, which also reap profits from links to traditional newsroom offerings.
Another regrettable result of the fracturing of newsrooms has been the rush by political interests to lavish investments in echo-chamber outlets that merely seek to report from biased perspectives, leaving the hollowed-out shells of newsrooms loyal to traditional journalistic values to find their voice in the maelstrom.
They begin by calling their owners corporate raiders with no interest in news or civic responsibility. How often does an editorial piece say that about the newspaper's owners?
It's a resignation letter.
posted by adept256 at 9:54 AM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
Is there any polling on the popular appeal of impeachment? I would have thought that "Vote dem and you'll get Day One impeachment for emolument violations and conduct unbecoming" or whatever would be reeaaaaally motivational.
posted by Slackermagee at 9:56 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Slackermagee at 9:56 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Meanwhile, Trump ally Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is calling for "fast-tracking" the impeachment of the country's top judge. Reasons? The judge is a woman and she's critical of the president's deadly crackdown on drugs. PLEASE don't give Trumpy ideas...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark. Mueller just seized $10 million from a bunch of Manafort's bank accounts including one belonging jointly to his daughter and son in law, to pay his bail.
@big_cases New filing in United States v. Manafort: .Order
posted by scalefree at 10:04 AM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
@big_cases New filing in United States v. Manafort: .Order
posted by scalefree at 10:04 AM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
Is there any polling on the popular appeal of impeachment? I would have thought that "Vote dem and you'll get Day One impeachment for emolument violations and conduct unbecoming" or whatever would be reeaaaaally motivational. .
Well, maybe, but then when the impeachment dies in the Senate because the Republicans, once again, choose party over country, it'd have a proportionally large de-motivational effect. For the Democrats, simply promising to check the Trump agenda and perform oversight on his crooked administration should be enough.
posted by Gelatin at 10:13 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well, maybe, but then when the impeachment dies in the Senate because the Republicans, once again, choose party over country, it'd have a proportionally large de-motivational effect. For the Democrats, simply promising to check the Trump agenda and perform oversight on his crooked administration should be enough.
posted by Gelatin at 10:13 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
Is there any polling on the popular appeal of impeachment?
It's currently around 39%, sometimes a little higher. His 'strongly disapprove' numbers would probably have to get to around 70% before impeachment got majority support, and that 70% strong disapproval would necessarily require a minimum ~10 point drop in his approval rating.* Unfortunately his approval rating has been basically flat for over a year now. We seem stuck with the status quo until something big happens (e.g. Mueller indicts/gets convictions for Trump family members or current staff; Trump approves a military action that gets a lot of soldiers needlessly killed; Trump's economic policies unambiguously cause a major recession).
There are more popular, more effective platforms for Democrats to run on such as a federal jobs guarantee, the Dream Act, and preserving the ACA.
* This is possible, but only just. About two-thirds of Trump's supporters (i.e. almost exactly the 27% crazification factor) say they will never change their mind about supporting Trump, so there's a hard ceiling there that makes it unlikely that his approval rating will get much lower than 30% even if something really significant happens.
posted by jedicus at 10:15 AM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
It's currently around 39%, sometimes a little higher. His 'strongly disapprove' numbers would probably have to get to around 70% before impeachment got majority support, and that 70% strong disapproval would necessarily require a minimum ~10 point drop in his approval rating.* Unfortunately his approval rating has been basically flat for over a year now. We seem stuck with the status quo until something big happens (e.g. Mueller indicts/gets convictions for Trump family members or current staff; Trump approves a military action that gets a lot of soldiers needlessly killed; Trump's economic policies unambiguously cause a major recession).
There are more popular, more effective platforms for Democrats to run on such as a federal jobs guarantee, the Dream Act, and preserving the ACA.
* This is possible, but only just. About two-thirds of Trump's supporters (i.e. almost exactly the 27% crazification factor) say they will never change their mind about supporting Trump, so there's a hard ceiling there that makes it unlikely that his approval rating will get much lower than 30% even if something really significant happens.
posted by jedicus at 10:15 AM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
We've debated the pros and cons of impeachment here on the blue many times, but the Democrats must not be tricked into unilaterally disarming this time.
Brian Buetler: Don't Absolve Trump Of His Impeachable Offenses
We can't accept "look forwards, not backwards" again, and we should be ready for Democrats to try it anyways. We can't allow them to. If Obama had looked backwards, many of the people who enabled the rise of Trump, and are now serving in the Trump administration, would have been convicted felons and/or war criminals.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:16 AM on April 9, 2018 [64 favorites]
Brian Buetler: Don't Absolve Trump Of His Impeachable Offenses
We can't accept "look forwards, not backwards" again, and we should be ready for Democrats to try it anyways. We can't allow them to. If Obama had looked backwards, many of the people who enabled the rise of Trump, and are now serving in the Trump administration, would have been convicted felons and/or war criminals.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:16 AM on April 9, 2018 [64 favorites]
AP, Trump family hotel business asked Panama president for help, in which Trump Organization lawyers wrote the President of Panama and the foreign secretary to "URGENTLY" intervene in the judicial dispute over the hotel's management.
This is corrupt as hell.
posted by zachlipton at 10:17 AM on April 9, 2018 [84 favorites]
This is corrupt as hell.
posted by zachlipton at 10:17 AM on April 9, 2018 [84 favorites]
Impeachment will be impossible until the moment that it becomes inevitable. We shouldn't shy away from the subject. We should talk about it, explain it, justify it, normalize it, and wait to take action on it until the moment when Mueller's revelations or Trump's own damage to the economy or blundering into war kicks his legs out from under him.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:18 AM on April 9, 2018 [61 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:18 AM on April 9, 2018 [61 favorites]
Impeachment will be impossible until the moment that it becomes inevitable. We shouldn't shy away from the subject. We should talk about it, explain it, justify it, normalize it, and wait to take action on it until the moment when Mueller's revelations or Trump's own damage to the economy or blundering into war kicks his legs out from under him.
And one of the things that will make it inevitable is if Senate Republicans see refusing to convict Trump as dooming their own political careers because of the taint of being an accessory after the fact. Democrats should also point out that the information currently in the public domain indicates Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, and that Republicans are selling the country out -- again -- by protecting him.
The Trump brand is toxic now, will be toxic in November, and will be especially toxic in 2020. For years, Reagan made Democrats second-guess themselves and surrender without a fight rather than face the perceived strength of the Republican brand. It's time to turn those tables.
posted by Gelatin at 10:24 AM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
And one of the things that will make it inevitable is if Senate Republicans see refusing to convict Trump as dooming their own political careers because of the taint of being an accessory after the fact. Democrats should also point out that the information currently in the public domain indicates Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, and that Republicans are selling the country out -- again -- by protecting him.
The Trump brand is toxic now, will be toxic in November, and will be especially toxic in 2020. For years, Reagan made Democrats second-guess themselves and surrender without a fight rather than face the perceived strength of the Republican brand. It's time to turn those tables.
posted by Gelatin at 10:24 AM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
This essay by Doug Muder at the Weekly Sift is really good.
Trump’s long-term effect on American democracy: How worried should we be?
Trump’s long-term effect on American democracy: How worried should we be?
Is Trump simply a bad cold that American democracy will eventually throw off and return to good health? Or is his administration a cancer that our country might fight for a while, but will eventually succumb to? How do we even think rationally about such questions, rather than alternately give in to rosy denial or black despair as the mood strikes us?posted by OnceUponATime at 10:30 AM on April 9, 2018 [23 favorites]
...
The old model of democratic breakdown was the coup: Caesar illegally taking his army across the Rubicon, seizing Rome, and proclaiming himself Dictator for Life. That was the path of many 20th century dictators like Muammar Gaddafi in Libya or Saddam Hussein in Iraq. But 21st century autocrats have realized the usefulness of maintaining the trappings of democracy.
...
Unlike a coup, though, the subversion of a once-democratic system takes time. While you are corrupting some of the referees, suborning some opposition leaders, and rewriting some rules, the still-intact parts of the system can rise against you — if enough people recognize what is going on and transcend their previous differences. Putin, you may remember, did not become a dictator overnight.
...
Levitsky and Ziblatt don’t end with specific predictions, but my impression after reading their book is that 2018 is crucial. Neither complacency about American democracy’s resilience nor hopelessness about turning things around is warranted. The outcome is still undetermined.
...
Long term, both parties need to figure out how to strengthen the norms of forbearance and tolerance, which were in trouble long before Trump arrived on the scene. Unless we can re-establish them, getting past Trump will not solve our problems. His failure, if it happens, might simply be a training example for new and better demagogues.
That this is our reality alone should be impeachable.
Daniel Dale (Toronto Star): A Fox News guest advocating military action against Syria just turned his head away from the host, looked straight into the camera and said, "President Trump, I am speaking to you directly." True!
posted by chris24 at 10:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [61 favorites]
Daniel Dale (Toronto Star): A Fox News guest advocating military action against Syria just turned his head away from the host, looked straight into the camera and said, "President Trump, I am speaking to you directly." True!
posted by chris24 at 10:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [61 favorites]
>Asbestos isn't even a fire retardant; it's an insulator.
>>...which was commonly used for fireproofing. This seems way over on the "eating crackers" end of the spectrum.
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on April 7 [13 favorites +] [!]
Point well taken. Oh the other hand, trading off fewer fire deaths (~10/M) for increased mesothelioma deaths (~25/M) is a losing proposition.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:42 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
>>...which was commonly used for fireproofing. This seems way over on the "eating crackers" end of the spectrum.
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on April 7 [13 favorites +] [!]
Point well taken. Oh the other hand, trading off fewer fire deaths (~10/M) for increased mesothelioma deaths (~25/M) is a losing proposition.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:42 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh the other hand, trading off fewer fire deaths (~10/M) for increased mesothelioma deaths (~25/M) is a losing proposition.
Not to mention that this trade-off isn't even real, since asbestos has been replaced largely by other materials which are also fire resistant or fireproof (fiberglass, stone wool, even cellulose insulation has fire retardant chemicals added).
posted by biogeo at 10:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
Not to mention that this trade-off isn't even real, since asbestos has been replaced largely by other materials which are also fire resistant or fireproof (fiberglass, stone wool, even cellulose insulation has fire retardant chemicals added).
posted by biogeo at 10:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
Hey, Tammy Duckworth had her baby.
Bowlsbey 2056!
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:57 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Bowlsbey 2056!
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:57 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Stormy Daniels' opposition to compel arbitration is a delightful document, filled with using the words of Trump and Cohen against them. It features section titles like "Mr. Cohen Claims Mr. Trump Had Nothing to Do With the Agreement" and "Mr. Trump and the White House Deny Any Involvement With the Settlement Agreement," and "Mr. Trump Was Incapable of Consenting to a Contract Which Imposed Duties on Him That He Was Supposedly Unaware Of."
And it comes with a declaration from Clifford where she says of course she wouldn't have signed an agreement only with Essential Consultants, LLC, because that "would not have made any sense for many reasons." Indeed.
posted by zachlipton at 10:59 AM on April 9, 2018 [51 favorites]
And it comes with a declaration from Clifford where she says of course she wouldn't have signed an agreement only with Essential Consultants, LLC, because that "would not have made any sense for many reasons." Indeed.
posted by zachlipton at 10:59 AM on April 9, 2018 [51 favorites]
Credit where due department: I've complained that NPR has an annoying tendency to frame the Oklahoma teacher's strike as a dispute about pay, and not about the appallingly underfunded condition of the state's education system in general.
But this morning, they were forced to admit it when they reported that teachers rejected a proposed funding increase for the state education budget as insufficient. So, progress, and good on the teacher for hanging tough.
posted by Gelatin at 11:00 AM on April 9, 2018 [32 favorites]
But this morning, they were forced to admit it when they reported that teachers rejected a proposed funding increase for the state education budget as insufficient. So, progress, and good on the teacher for hanging tough.
posted by Gelatin at 11:00 AM on April 9, 2018 [32 favorites]
We can and should continue to support Mueller's investigation and hold Trump accountable for his actions, but impeachment is a political act that needs to be handled very strategically. Unless and until we have 67 Senators willing to convict, impeachment in the House will not only be a waste of time, it will actively backfire by emboldening Trump. He will say "See? The Senate didn't convict, therefore NO COLLUSION." As OnceUponATime said above, impeachment will be impossible until it is inevitable. We have to keep our powder dry and wait until things get so bad that removing Trump from office is the only conceivable outcome.
tl;dr: I think it's dangerous to set up an expectation that, if we win the House, we will impeach on day one.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:01 AM on April 9, 2018 [24 favorites]
tl;dr: I think it's dangerous to set up an expectation that, if we win the House, we will impeach on day one.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:01 AM on April 9, 2018 [24 favorites]
Yes, Trump has touted various House Intelligence Committee proceedings, which are obvious whitewashes, as "exoneration," so a Senate acquittal would be a gift to him.
I hope Mueller sends a copy of his report to the NY State attorney general, who prosecutes Trump and his fellow crooks on a host of charges from money laundering to conspiracy.
I also expect a Democratic president (tttcs) would be unlikely to pardon Trump, if Federal charges are not forthcoming until after 2020. The point about "looking forward not backward" enabling more Republican bad acts should be fresh in Democratic politicians' minds, and more, the electorate will not likely be in a forgiving mood.
posted by Gelatin at 11:09 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
I hope Mueller sends a copy of his report to the NY State attorney general, who prosecutes Trump and his fellow crooks on a host of charges from money laundering to conspiracy.
I also expect a Democratic president (tttcs) would be unlikely to pardon Trump, if Federal charges are not forthcoming until after 2020. The point about "looking forward not backward" enabling more Republican bad acts should be fresh in Democratic politicians' minds, and more, the electorate will not likely be in a forgiving mood.
posted by Gelatin at 11:09 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's 2pm, and you know what that means, right? The most anticipated event of the last five minutes or so...The CBO's new 10-year budget baseline!
Some lowlights include:
A $1T budget deficit by 2020 (nearly so in 2019), two years sooner than prior estimates
The tax cuts and spending deal add $2.7T to the deficit over 10 years, with public debt approaching 100% of GDP by 2028, but they will stimulate demand for labor, lowering the unemployment rate
Average GDP growth of 1.9% over 10 years, no matter what Trump says. 3.3% this year, 2.4% next year, then forecast to grow at 1.7%.
As a result of this debt:
posted by zachlipton at 11:09 AM on April 9, 2018 [95 favorites]
Some lowlights include:
A $1T budget deficit by 2020 (nearly so in 2019), two years sooner than prior estimates
The tax cuts and spending deal add $2.7T to the deficit over 10 years, with public debt approaching 100% of GDP by 2028, but they will stimulate demand for labor, lowering the unemployment rate
Average GDP growth of 1.9% over 10 years, no matter what Trump says. 3.3% this year, 2.4% next year, then forecast to grow at 1.7%.
As a result of this debt:
The likelihood of a fiscal crisis in the United States would increase. There would be a greater risk that investors would become unwilling to finance the government’s borrowing unless they were compensated with very high interest rates; if that happened, interest rates on federal debt would rise suddenly and sharply.And we've taken on all this debt not to invest in ourselves, not to build infrastructure or improve people's lives, but to hand out tax cuts to corporations and the rich. It's generational warfare, and the people who passed these tax cuts are going to be long gone by the time the rest of us really grapple with what they did to us.
posted by zachlipton at 11:09 AM on April 9, 2018 [95 favorites]
Stormy Daniels' opposition to compel arbitration is a delightful document, filled with using the words of Trump and Cohen against them.
As a follow-up act, Avenatti made an appearance on CNN to tease tomorrow's release of a composite sketch of the goon who threatened Daniels in 2011, along with the offer of "a significant reward" for finding him—and yesterday he tweeted a photo of Daniels with "the foremost forensic artist in the world" preparing the illustration. Say what you will about his sharp business practices in taking over the Tully's Coffee chain, the man knows how to work the news cycle.
Oh, and the Daily Beast reports that Daniels has crowdfunded over $305,000 for her legal fees.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:28 AM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
As a follow-up act, Avenatti made an appearance on CNN to tease tomorrow's release of a composite sketch of the goon who threatened Daniels in 2011, along with the offer of "a significant reward" for finding him—and yesterday he tweeted a photo of Daniels with "the foremost forensic artist in the world" preparing the illustration. Say what you will about his sharp business practices in taking over the Tully's Coffee chain, the man knows how to work the news cycle.
Oh, and the Daily Beast reports that Daniels has crowdfunded over $305,000 for her legal fees.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:28 AM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
Trump to decide on US response to Syria gas attack 'within 48 hours'
I expect the response will be "nothing". I don't know what the right response might be, but I wish the media would stop pretending that Trump is engaged in ratiocination.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [12 favorites]
I expect the response will be "nothing". I don't know what the right response might be, but I wish the media would stop pretending that Trump is engaged in ratiocination.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [12 favorites]
Unless and until we have 67 Senators willing to convict, impeachment in the House will not only be a waste of time, it will actively backfire by emboldening Trump.
when it came to talk about impeaching bush, i was one of those who argued against it with that kind of logic and i still feel i was right, in that case
this is a more difficult case, i think - first of all, i think the american people need an investigation of trump and his administration that isn't going to be limited by republicans and it may be that impeachment and trial is the best way to accomplish that - remember that in the case of the iraq war, what happened wasn't really unknown and the bush administration's inability to prove WMDs was plain - here we have a situation where much is unknown and much is going to be controversial
second of all, the process itself may put so much political pressure on republicans that they may be forced to give in
i'm still not 100% sure, but i think there's a better argument for impeaching trump even if he can't be convicted
posted by pyramid termite at 11:34 AM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
when it came to talk about impeaching bush, i was one of those who argued against it with that kind of logic and i still feel i was right, in that case
this is a more difficult case, i think - first of all, i think the american people need an investigation of trump and his administration that isn't going to be limited by republicans and it may be that impeachment and trial is the best way to accomplish that - remember that in the case of the iraq war, what happened wasn't really unknown and the bush administration's inability to prove WMDs was plain - here we have a situation where much is unknown and much is going to be controversial
second of all, the process itself may put so much political pressure on republicans that they may be forced to give in
i'm still not 100% sure, but i think there's a better argument for impeaching trump even if he can't be convicted
posted by pyramid termite at 11:34 AM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
I would be perfectly happy with a parade of congressional committees, chaired by Democrats this time, investigating collusion, corruption and violations of the emoluments clause.
posted by SPrintF at 11:41 AM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 11:41 AM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
I would be perfectly happy with a parade of congressional committees, chaired by Democrats this time, investigating collusion, corruption and violations of the emoluments clause.
Which is a subtext we should always read into the regular "Republicans fear loss of House" articles. Losing control of either house of Congress means Republicans there will no longer be able to help Trump cover up his incompetence and corruption. And furthermore, it's likely that Democratic investigators could learn just how complicit Republican members of Congress were in the Russia collusion and covering up Trump's crimes, rather than holding him accountable.
posted by Gelatin at 11:45 AM on April 9, 2018 [45 favorites]
Which is a subtext we should always read into the regular "Republicans fear loss of House" articles. Losing control of either house of Congress means Republicans there will no longer be able to help Trump cover up his incompetence and corruption. And furthermore, it's likely that Democratic investigators could learn just how complicit Republican members of Congress were in the Russia collusion and covering up Trump's crimes, rather than holding him accountable.
posted by Gelatin at 11:45 AM on April 9, 2018 [45 favorites]
i'm still not 100% sure, but i think there's a better argument for impeaching trump even if he can't be convicted
I'm working under the assumption that, if we're patient, information will come out that will ensure both impeachment and conviction. So I don't want to waste our chance too early.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:47 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm working under the assumption that, if we're patient, information will come out that will ensure both impeachment and conviction. So I don't want to waste our chance too early.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 11:47 AM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
we have to wait until the dems control the house, absolutely
posted by pyramid termite at 11:50 AM on April 9, 2018
posted by pyramid termite at 11:50 AM on April 9, 2018
Sean Hannity on Twitter: Glad our arrogant Pres. is enjoying his taxpayer funded golf outing after announcing the US should take military action against Syria
(2013)
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:51 AM on April 9, 2018 [63 favorites]
(2013)
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:51 AM on April 9, 2018 [63 favorites]
I would be perfectly happy with a parade of congressional committees, chaired by Democrats this time, investigating collusion, corruption and violations of the emoluments clause.
Absolutely. It doesn't have to be an impeachment proceeding. Tie him up in investigations for the rest of his presidency. Make him seethe.
posted by scalefree at 11:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Absolutely. It doesn't have to be an impeachment proceeding. Tie him up in investigations for the rest of his presidency. Make him seethe.
posted by scalefree at 11:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Sean Hannity, or at least my rendering of this pig ignorant hate monger and conspiracy theorist.
Happy Monday!
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:56 AM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
Happy Monday!
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:56 AM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
And we've taken on all this debt not to invest in ourselves, not to build infrastructure or improve people's lives, but to hand out tax cuts to corporations and the rich.
This is the same model that many corporations have been destroyed to when they're bought out. Take on a ton of debt, pay the execs and shareholders, and then declare bankruptcy once the debt payments are untenable. It's no surprise that the nation is going the same route.
posted by azpenguin at 11:58 AM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
This is the same model that many corporations have been destroyed to when they're bought out. Take on a ton of debt, pay the execs and shareholders, and then declare bankruptcy once the debt payments are untenable. It's no surprise that the nation is going the same route.
posted by azpenguin at 11:58 AM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese (2008)
Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity
punk cover version
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:59 AM on April 9, 2018 [42 favorites]
by John Cleese (2008)
Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity
punk cover version
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:59 AM on April 9, 2018 [42 favorites]
Hoo boy. An Internal Email Contradicts Scott Pruitt's Account of Controversial Raises
An email that suggests Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt personally signed off on a controversial pay raise for a favored aide last month is roiling the agency.posted by zachlipton at 12:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [56 favorites]
In the last few days, top staffers became aware of an email exchange between one of two aides who received such a raise and the agency’s human resources division. In mid-March, Sarah Greenwalt, senior counsel to the administrator, wrote to HR in an attempt to confirm that her pay raise of $56,765 was being processed. Greenwalt “definitively stated that Pruitt approves and was supportive of her getting a raise,” according to an administration official who has seen the email chain.
A second administration official confirmed the exchange. The email “essentially says, ‘The administrator said that I should get this raise,’” the official told me. Both spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private correspondence. A request for comment sent to an EPA spokesman was not immediately returned.
...
After the interview, top aides, including Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, began corralling files that appeared to contradict Pruitt’s statements. Both administration officials described it as a way of “getting ahead” of the IG’s investigation. Greenwalt’s email, however, has proved the most troubling, according to the two administration officials. “It’s an ‘oh, shit’ moment that they’re trying to figure out before the IG finds the email,” said one. “Because it’ll be damn near impossible to have Sarah explain her way out of it.”
i'm still not 100% sure, but i think there's a better argument for impeaching trump even if he can't be convicted
I also think it's not clear that it's a foregone conclusion he can't be convicted unless we have 67 Senators ready to vote that way at the moment articles of impeachment are passed. Public opinion can be fickle in general. In the case of Trump specifically, where so much of his support is based on his ability to flout the rules with impunity, actually putting him on trial and making him answer questions under oath in front of the Senate might just be catastrophic enough for his numbers to turn a few more Republicans against him. Someone has to run as the courageous vanguard of the new and improved country-over-party Republicans 2.0, why not Marco Rubio or whoever?
posted by contraption at 12:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
I also think it's not clear that it's a foregone conclusion he can't be convicted unless we have 67 Senators ready to vote that way at the moment articles of impeachment are passed. Public opinion can be fickle in general. In the case of Trump specifically, where so much of his support is based on his ability to flout the rules with impunity, actually putting him on trial and making him answer questions under oath in front of the Senate might just be catastrophic enough for his numbers to turn a few more Republicans against him. Someone has to run as the courageous vanguard of the new and improved country-over-party Republicans 2.0, why not Marco Rubio or whoever?
posted by contraption at 12:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Personally I think Ds should run on local issues and the promise that a D congress will fully investigate the Trump administration from top to bottom for corruption to collusion and hold them accountable. Avoids the I word, expands it beyond one man and one bad act, and yet basically gets us to the same place if/when crimes are found.
posted by chris24 at 12:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [44 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 12:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [44 favorites]
210 days, 8 hours, 45 minutes
Until the midterms.
posted by petebest at 12:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Until the midterms.
posted by petebest at 12:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Someone has to run as the courageous vanguard of the new and improved country-over-party Republicans 2.0, why not Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio is a sweaty quisling made of ambition and gelatin, a creature with neither spine nor brain. "Bravery" is not within his ability.
posted by emjaybee at 12:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [30 favorites]
Marco Rubio is a sweaty quisling made of ambition and gelatin, a creature with neither spine nor brain. "Bravery" is not within his ability.
posted by emjaybee at 12:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [30 favorites]
I think we’ve more than once bemoaned the withering of the hopeful imagination in our politics, but if ever there was a time to offer a positive vision of what we can become, this is it. The past 18 months, save a few shining moments, have been an unrelenting parade of sordidness and bleakness. In my local district (CA-48) I’m leaning toward the Dem challenger who most convincingly leavens the usual Anti-Trump bromides with dollops of future-vision. My guess is there are other voters who feel similarly.
posted by notyou at 12:26 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by notyou at 12:26 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Marco Rubio is a sweaty quisling made of ambition and gelatin
Right, that's why I picked him as an example of a Republican in the Senate who'd vote to convict Trump without a second thought if it were to his clear political advantage.
posted by contraption at 12:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
Right, that's why I picked him as an example of a Republican in the Senate who'd vote to convict Trump without a second thought if it were to his clear political advantage.
posted by contraption at 12:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
I’m leaning toward the Dem challenger who most convincingly leavens the usual Anti-Trump bromides with dollops of future-vision.
Beto O'Rourke is uncommonly good at this. His platform's uncompromisingly liberal but he always adds that he'll work with anyone on either side of the aisle, even Trump himself, if they'll work with him. Now we know Trump would never do that but Beto won't close that door in principle. He even couches his opposition to the Wall in strictly positive terms:
Rep. Beto O'Rourke Corrects Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Border Wall Assumptions
Beto O'Rourke is uncommonly good at this. His platform's uncompromisingly liberal but he always adds that he'll work with anyone on either side of the aisle, even Trump himself, if they'll work with him. Now we know Trump would never do that but Beto won't close that door in principle. He even couches his opposition to the Wall in strictly positive terms:
Rep. Beto O'Rourke Corrects Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Border Wall Assumptions
Monday evening, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders shared a pro-border wall opinion piece on Twitter and this comment: "Ask El Paso, Texas (now one of America's safest cities) across the border from Juarez, Mexico (one of the world's most dangerous) if a wall works."posted by scalefree at 12:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [118 favorites]
El Paso replied.
"Walls have nothing to do with it," El Paso Congressman Beto O'Rourke tweeted back, less than an hour after Sanders' message. "We’ve been ranked 1st, 2nd or 3rd safest city for last 20 years, including before any wall. In addition to great law enforcement, our safety is connected to the fact that we are a city of immigrants. We treat each other with respect & dignity."
>Oh the other hand, trading off fewer fire deaths (~10/M) for increased mesothelioma deaths (~25/M) is a losing proposition.
>>Not to mention that this trade-off isn't even real, since asbestos has been replaced largely by other materials which are also fire resistant or fireproof (fiberglass, stone wool, even cellulose insulation has fire retardant chemicals added).
posted by biogeo at 10:55 AM on April 9 [4 favorites +] [!]
Not to extend the derail too much longer, but I was referring to the implication of Trump's lament that banning asbestos was bad due to the fire deaths it putatively prevented. Asbestos killed more people than it saved. Even under his own assumptions (that the things you mention don't exist), he's still wrong.
In summary, Trump: wrong in so many ways.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:42 PM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
>>Not to mention that this trade-off isn't even real, since asbestos has been replaced largely by other materials which are also fire resistant or fireproof (fiberglass, stone wool, even cellulose insulation has fire retardant chemicals added).
posted by biogeo at 10:55 AM on April 9 [4 favorites +] [!]
Not to extend the derail too much longer, but I was referring to the implication of Trump's lament that banning asbestos was bad due to the fire deaths it putatively prevented. Asbestos killed more people than it saved. Even under his own assumptions (that the things you mention don't exist), he's still wrong.
In summary, Trump: wrong in so many ways.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:42 PM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
Exactly. There needs to be a consistent and constant ramping up of pressure both up to and beyond the 2018 midterms. We don't need everybody. Assuming the Senate stays roughly even, we need approximately 16 Republican Senators to turn on their moron traitor President.
We'll need them, but only a midterm drubbing of their party, after lengthy investigations in the House, followed by an impeachment vote in the House, finally followed by a lengthy and very public trial (bigger than the Clinton impeachment, certainly).
We just need to make their spinelessness and self-preservation work for us.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
We'll need them, but only a midterm drubbing of their party, after lengthy investigations in the House, followed by an impeachment vote in the House, finally followed by a lengthy and very public trial (bigger than the Clinton impeachment, certainly).
We just need to make their spinelessness and self-preservation work for us.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA.
It didn't take long for Trump's bald-faced assertion, echoed by "EPA says 'unprecedented' number of death threats against Pruitt" (Fox News), to unravel:
First, Buzzfeed's Jason Leopold @JasonLeopold quickly responded:
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [85 favorites]
While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA.
It didn't take long for Trump's bald-faced assertion, echoed by "EPA says 'unprecedented' number of death threats against Pruitt" (Fox News), to unravel:
First, Buzzfeed's Jason Leopold @JasonLeopold quickly responded:
This is bullshit of the highest order.And Associated Press backed this up: "A nationwide search of state and federal court records by the AP found no case where anyone has been arrested or charged with threatening Pruitt. EPA's press office did not respond Friday to provide details of any specific threats or arrests."
I had filed a #FOIA with EPA for any records of death threats made against Scott Pruitt.
EPA said it had zero recorss.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [85 favorites]
Like many people, I have no interest in Scott Pruitt dying early; I merely want him to die in jail
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
NYT: F.B.I. Raids Office of Trump’s Longtime Lawyer Michael Cohen
The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York.
posted by sporkwort at 12:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [170 favorites]
The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York.
posted by sporkwort at 12:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [170 favorites]
Wowzers. The wolves are circling awfully close, Mr President!
posted by notyou at 1:01 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by notyou at 1:01 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
I feel like Michael Cohen absolutely doesn't want to go to jail and will absolutely spill the beans on decades of Trump criminality and he is our salvation 🙏 Person With Folded Hands Emoji
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Michael Cohen is not our salvation. He is a criminal and if he turns on trump it will be only for himself and won't give "us" a single thought.
posted by Sophie1 at 1:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 1:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Michael Cohen is not our salvation.
Who cares, the gossip and the dirt and the tea will be fantastic.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:07 PM on April 9, 2018 [36 favorites]
Who cares, the gossip and the dirt and the tea will be fantastic.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:07 PM on April 9, 2018 [36 favorites]
Popehat: A federal search of an attorney's office is a Very Big Deal, requiring layers of approval, including at DoJ. See USAM 9-13.420
posted by PenDevil at 1:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [47 favorites]
posted by PenDevil at 1:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [47 favorites]
If the raid truly is for a state criminal investigation, then Trump's pardon ability won't be able to save ol' Michael "Sez Who?" Cohen.
posted by Existential Dread at 1:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Existential Dread at 1:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
The arguments that attorney-client privilege applies to a matter the client insists he was unaware of and had nothing to do with are going to be hilarious. As are the inevitable counter-arguments involving the crime-fraud exception.
That Cohen and Trump have tried to have it both ways by insisting Cohen is Trump's lawyer when it's convenient and that he's not when it's inconvenient is going to come back on them so hard.
posted by zachlipton at 1:12 PM on April 9, 2018 [56 favorites]
That Cohen and Trump have tried to have it both ways by insisting Cohen is Trump's lawyer when it's convenient and that he's not when it's inconvenient is going to come back on them so hard.
posted by zachlipton at 1:12 PM on April 9, 2018 [56 favorites]
Which is a subtext we should always read into the regular "Republicans fear loss of House" articles. Losing control of either house of Congress means Republicans there will no longer be able to help Trump cover up his incompetence and corruption. And furthermore, it's likely that Democratic investigators could learn just how complicit Republican members of Congress were in the Russia collusion and covering up Trump's crimes, rather than holding him accountable.
and
Personally I think Ds should run on local issues and the promise that a D congress will fully investigate the Trump administration from top to bottom for corruption to collusion and hold them accountable. Avoids the I word, expands it beyond one man and one bad act, and yet basically gets us to the same place if/when crimes are found.
Que standard por que no los dos? I don't think anyone on any side respects when pols dodge answering a question completely, but folks running don't need to. "I don't know if we should or shouldn't impeach President Trump because for the last two years Republicans have either impeded investigations or flat-out refused to ask questions. Put me in office so we can actually do real investigations and I'll be glad to answer that question afterwards."
It's not like we have a shortage of news and evidence to back this up. Do we have Corey Lewandowsky cursing at committee members? Nobody who has seen 5 minutes of law or government tv fiction would believe that he left that room without sanction. Run that shit in every market. It's made to order "these people aren't really doing their jobs" fodder.
posted by phearlez at 1:13 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
and
Personally I think Ds should run on local issues and the promise that a D congress will fully investigate the Trump administration from top to bottom for corruption to collusion and hold them accountable. Avoids the I word, expands it beyond one man and one bad act, and yet basically gets us to the same place if/when crimes are found.
Que standard por que no los dos? I don't think anyone on any side respects when pols dodge answering a question completely, but folks running don't need to. "I don't know if we should or shouldn't impeach President Trump because for the last two years Republicans have either impeded investigations or flat-out refused to ask questions. Put me in office so we can actually do real investigations and I'll be glad to answer that question afterwards."
It's not like we have a shortage of news and evidence to back this up. Do we have Corey Lewandowsky cursing at committee members? Nobody who has seen 5 minutes of law or government tv fiction would believe that he left that room without sanction. Run that shit in every market. It's made to order "these people aren't really doing their jobs" fodder.
posted by phearlez at 1:13 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
Six Trump Doral Conflicts of Interest in Miami - links to Miami New Times, owned by Village Voice Media
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen
I wonder what is going on with the New York FBI these days. During the election campaign it seemed like there was a faction there which was friendly with (former federal prosecutor) Rudy Giuliani, who were leaking damaging anti-Clinton stuff, who re-assured the New York Times that the FBI had seen no link between Trump and Russia, and who may have threatened to leak the info about more e-mails being found on Anthony Wiener's laptop, causing Comey to send his infamous letter to Congress.
Felix Sater was an informant working with the New York FBI for many years, and Trump himself may have done the same at some point.
Are those same people now in charge of the raid on Michael Cohen?
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [17 favorites]
I wonder what is going on with the New York FBI these days. During the election campaign it seemed like there was a faction there which was friendly with (former federal prosecutor) Rudy Giuliani, who were leaking damaging anti-Clinton stuff, who re-assured the New York Times that the FBI had seen no link between Trump and Russia, and who may have threatened to leak the info about more e-mails being found on Anthony Wiener's laptop, causing Comey to send his infamous letter to Congress.
Felix Sater was an informant working with the New York FBI for many years, and Trump himself may have done the same at some point.
Are those same people now in charge of the raid on Michael Cohen?
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [17 favorites]
If the raid truly is for a state criminal investigation,
Looks like it's still federal. Per Cohen's lawyer, this is an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York based on a referral from Mueller.
That US Attorney would be Geoffrey Berman, "who Trump interviewed for the position in a huge breach of tradition"
Also, just before this broke: President Donald J. Trump Presides Over the Signing of One Federal Decision Memorandum of Understanding for Major Infrastructure Projects. Which...you know what that means...it's infrastructure week!
posted by zachlipton at 1:16 PM on April 9, 2018 [48 favorites]
Looks like it's still federal. Per Cohen's lawyer, this is an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York based on a referral from Mueller.
That US Attorney would be Geoffrey Berman, "who Trump interviewed for the position in a huge breach of tradition"
Also, just before this broke: President Donald J. Trump Presides Over the Signing of One Federal Decision Memorandum of Understanding for Major Infrastructure Projects. Which...you know what that means...it's infrastructure week!
posted by zachlipton at 1:16 PM on April 9, 2018 [48 favorites]
Are those same people now in charge of the raid on Michael Cohen?
It's a good question. My hope is that the FBI agents who supported Trump against Clinton are facing the reality of a President who wants to destroy them and are now attempting to repent for their evil deeds. But who knows?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's a good question. My hope is that the FBI agents who supported Trump against Clinton are facing the reality of a President who wants to destroy them and are now attempting to repent for their evil deeds. But who knows?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
🎶Cohen won't save you
Billionaires won't save you
I haven't got the faintest idea
Everything seems to be up in the air at this point 🎶
posted by condour75 at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [20 favorites]
Billionaires won't save you
I haven't got the faintest idea
Everything seems to be up in the air at this point 🎶
posted by condour75 at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [20 favorites]
Also, just before this broke: President Donald J. Trump Presides Over the Signing of One Federal Decision Memorandum of Understanding for Major Infrastructure Projects.
If Trump has learned nothing else (assuming he's even marginally capable of learning at all, that is), you'd think he would realize by now that he should run screaming and hide anytime someone mentions a bridge, tunnel, viaduct, roadway, or infrastructure in general.
But thanks to the gods of hilarity, he hasn't.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
If Trump has learned nothing else (assuming he's even marginally capable of learning at all, that is), you'd think he would realize by now that he should run screaming and hide anytime someone mentions a bridge, tunnel, viaduct, roadway, or infrastructure in general.
But thanks to the gods of hilarity, he hasn't.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Vanity Fair is reporting that the FBI also raided Cohen's New York hotel room (hilariously missed by the paparazzi staking out Conor McGregor).
This isn't really the point, but why is Cohen staying at the Loews Regency? Didn't he and his family go on a New York real estate binge, buying multiple properties in Trump buildings?
posted by zachlipton at 1:26 PM on April 9, 2018 [20 favorites]
This isn't really the point, but why is Cohen staying at the Loews Regency? Didn't he and his family go on a New York real estate binge, buying multiple properties in Trump buildings?
posted by zachlipton at 1:26 PM on April 9, 2018 [20 favorites]
This isn't really the point, but why is Cohen staying at the Loews Regency? Didn't he and his family go on a New York real estate binge, buying multiple properties in Trump buildings?
Who would want to live in one of those death traps?
posted by jedicus at 1:29 PM on April 9, 2018 [75 favorites]
Who would want to live in one of those death traps?
posted by jedicus at 1:29 PM on April 9, 2018 [75 favorites]
Marco Rubio is a sweaty quisling made of ambition and gelatin
Let's not get personal, bub.
posted by Gelatin at 1:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [146 favorites]
Let's not get personal, bub.
posted by Gelatin at 1:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [146 favorites]
Doug Mataconis: This is a big deal. Law enforcement usually needs a very good reason to raid the office of a lawyer and potentially seize documents that may be covered by the attorney/client privilege.
Julian Sanchez: It really can’t be overstated how extraordinary this is. And it seems dubious it’s just about a potential campaign finance violation.
posted by chris24 at 1:37 PM on April 9, 2018 [44 favorites]
Julian Sanchez: It really can’t be overstated how extraordinary this is. And it seems dubious it’s just about a potential campaign finance violation.
posted by chris24 at 1:37 PM on April 9, 2018 [44 favorites]
Six Trump Doral Conflicts of Interest in Miami - links to Miami New Times, owned by Village Voice Media
I can't speak to any of the other events, but since I attended #4 at Doral both times it was there I can speak vaguely authoritatively. That event was there exactly twice and the first time was before the election, so if it was an effort to curry favor it was pretty farsighted; the contract was for two successive years, signed in 2015 and not renewed. This year, which was a location chosen after the election, they moved back to Miami Beach.
The same organization had booked other events at the Old Post Office building, which is now the Trump property in D.C. being sued (reasonably) for violating the emollients clause. They had a 2016 event, though were not real thrilled about it. They were contractually committed for 2017 and 2018 but actually cancelled the 2017 event with weeks to go, forfeiting their cost and moving to other locations.
You can certainly argue that was too late for the straw that broke the camel's back, though no-refund deals make decisions like that harder I think. But I'd argue the timelines don't back up the assertion that they chose that property to curry favor; this is more proof that presidents should divest because even if nobody is trying to be shady [1] the appearance of impropriety is inevitable and it's almost impossible to know what's really going on. This is either what I claim - an org getting sucked into the appearance of shenanigans - or actual efforts at corruption. Neither is good for the country.
1: I mean obvs TRUMP is trying to be shady but I was speaking in the hypothetical
posted by flag it and shut up at 1:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
I can't speak to any of the other events, but since I attended #4 at Doral both times it was there I can speak vaguely authoritatively. That event was there exactly twice and the first time was before the election, so if it was an effort to curry favor it was pretty farsighted; the contract was for two successive years, signed in 2015 and not renewed. This year, which was a location chosen after the election, they moved back to Miami Beach.
The same organization had booked other events at the Old Post Office building, which is now the Trump property in D.C. being sued (reasonably) for violating the emollients clause. They had a 2016 event, though were not real thrilled about it. They were contractually committed for 2017 and 2018 but actually cancelled the 2017 event with weeks to go, forfeiting their cost and moving to other locations.
You can certainly argue that was too late for the straw that broke the camel's back, though no-refund deals make decisions like that harder I think. But I'd argue the timelines don't back up the assertion that they chose that property to curry favor; this is more proof that presidents should divest because even if nobody is trying to be shady [1] the appearance of impropriety is inevitable and it's almost impossible to know what's really going on. This is either what I claim - an org getting sucked into the appearance of shenanigans - or actual efforts at corruption. Neither is good for the country.
1: I mean obvs TRUMP is trying to be shady but I was speaking in the hypothetical
posted by flag it and shut up at 1:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Make
Attorneys
Get
Attorneys
(Via Reddit megathread)
posted by memebake at 1:42 PM on April 9, 2018 [73 favorites]
Attorneys
Get
Attorneys
(Via Reddit megathread)
posted by memebake at 1:42 PM on April 9, 2018 [73 favorites]
Michael Cohen is so sketchy as a lawyer this could be about almost any case at all and I imagine they'd find something dirty. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they went into his filing cabinet and found nothing but swarms of spiders.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:42 PM on April 9, 2018 [49 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:42 PM on April 9, 2018 [49 favorites]
How long til the Syria bombing starts?
@stevebruskCNN
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant. (from @jeffzeleny )
@ddale8
Retweeted Steve Brusk
After this, Trump is going into his Syria-related meeting and dinner with military leaders.
---
And the tweets about how unfair the FBI is to Cohen compared to Crooked Hillary are going to be lit.
posted by chris24 at 1:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
@stevebruskCNN
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant. (from @jeffzeleny )
@ddale8
Retweeted Steve Brusk
After this, Trump is going into his Syria-related meeting and dinner with military leaders.
---
And the tweets about how unfair the FBI is to Cohen compared to Crooked Hillary are going to be lit.
posted by chris24 at 1:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
There really is a tweet for everything.
@MichaelCohen212 (January 2016): Freezing outside with my friend @Weatherford5 after having my office raided of my #MakeAmericaGreatAgain clothes!
posted by zachlipton at 1:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
@MichaelCohen212 (January 2016): Freezing outside with my friend @Weatherford5 after having my office raided of my #MakeAmericaGreatAgain clothes!
posted by zachlipton at 1:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
The Wall Street Journal now confirms the FBI raided three locations with their warrant on Cohen: "Federal investigators on Monday searched the office, home and Manhattan hotel room of President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, seizing communications between the lawyer and his clients that cover topics including payments to the former porn actress known as Stormy Daniels, according to a person familiar with the matter."
And never-Trumper GOP political op Rick Wilson @The RickWilson puts this into context:
And never-Trumper GOP political op Rick Wilson @The RickWilson puts this into context:
Process this fact, because right now the President is tearing out his wispy hair poof...posted by Doktor Zed at 1:58 PM on April 9, 2018 [126 favorites]
There's a meaningful chance Robert Mueller's team now has all of the many, many NDAs Trump had with his many, many women.
And Trump's tax returns.
NBC: "A person familiar with the matter told NBC News that this was not a subpoena requesting documents from Cohen. Instead, the source said, this was a court-authorized search, which means there was sufficient probable cause for a federal judge to agree that a search involving the President’s personal attorney could occur without any advance notice to Cohen."
posted by chris24 at 1:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [67 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 1:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [67 favorites]
I hope Michael Cohen's lawyer has a lawyer.
Can you imagine how much paperwork it took to raid the offices of the personal lawyer of the President of the United States!
posted by Sophie1 at 1:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [58 favorites]
Can you imagine how much paperwork it took to raid the offices of the personal lawyer of the President of the United States!
posted by Sophie1 at 1:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [58 favorites]
Even Geraldo is saying:
Unfortunately for @realDonaldTrump-now confidential communications w his attorney @MichaelCohen212 have been seized-assuming seizure handled legally to honor attorney client privilege-then every & anything bad that’s ever been done between them can be fodder for a feast. Big Dealposted by Brainy at 2:01 PM on April 9, 2018 [17 favorites]
I hope Michael Cohen's lawyer has a lawyer.
Oh, but he does. Remember this guy?
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh, but he does. Remember this guy?
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Make
Attorneys
Get
Attorneys
....and so on that occasion, Mr. Trump proclaimed that he was not worried about any investigations or lawsuits because he had the utmost faith in his attorney.
"Yes," the reporter said. "But Mr. Cohen himself is now under investigation."
Mr. Trump smiled. "Then my attorney will get an attorney."
The reporter sighed. "Yes, but then what happens when that attorney is investigated?"
"You can't fool me, young lady!" Mr. Trump smirked. "It's attorneys all the way down!"
posted by lord_wolf at 2:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [74 favorites]
Attorneys
Get
Attorneys
....and so on that occasion, Mr. Trump proclaimed that he was not worried about any investigations or lawsuits because he had the utmost faith in his attorney.
"Yes," the reporter said. "But Mr. Cohen himself is now under investigation."
Mr. Trump smiled. "Then my attorney will get an attorney."
The reporter sighed. "Yes, but then what happens when that attorney is investigated?"
"You can't fool me, young lady!" Mr. Trump smirked. "It's attorneys all the way down!"
posted by lord_wolf at 2:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [74 favorites]
Instead, the source said, this was a court-authorized search, which means there was sufficient probable cause for a federal judge to agree that a search involving the President’s personal attorney could occur without any advance notice to Cohen.
It's extraordinary. The amount of deference a judge would give to the President and/or his attorney would be considerable. No-one would want to put their signature to that Order without significant, compelling, and likely-undeniable cause.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:05 PM on April 9, 2018 [42 favorites]
It's extraordinary. The amount of deference a judge would give to the President and/or his attorney would be considerable. No-one would want to put their signature to that Order without significant, compelling, and likely-undeniable cause.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:05 PM on April 9, 2018 [42 favorites]
I think this is a pretty good indication that there is definitely a there there -- you don't just raid an attorney's office without really good reason.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [22 favorites]
i'm guessing it's all the crime he's been criming
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:07 PM on April 9, 2018 [161 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:07 PM on April 9, 2018 [161 favorites]
No I mean obviously he's a lizard person
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
We need a giant metal chicken named Bob as a raid mascot. Knock, knock, motherfucker.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
2016:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Says.
Says who?
all the polls.
2018:
No Knock
Who's there?
The FBI, with probable cause to toss all your drawers
posted by Cold Lurkey at 2:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [34 favorites]
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Says.
Says who?
all the polls.
2018:
No Knock
Who's there?
The FBI, with probable cause to toss all your drawers
posted by Cold Lurkey at 2:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [34 favorites]
Bloomberg: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller went to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided the matter involving President Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen should be handled by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of N.Y. rather than Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the matter."
posted by chris24 at 2:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 2:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
There really is a tweet for everything.
Yes there is.
@MichaelCohen212
@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!
posted by chris24 at 2:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
Yes there is.
@MichaelCohen212
@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!
posted by chris24 at 2:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
Aha, so Mueller found some dirty dirt-dirt-dirt on Cohen and, like the badass Boy Scout he is, passed it up the chain so the appropriate authorities could move on it. I like that in a person.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
I’m bet all the best lawyers will be fighting over who gets to represent Trump after this.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 2:18 PM on April 9, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by C'est la D.C. at 2:18 PM on April 9, 2018 [34 favorites]
This says MSNBC reported Cohen is staying at the hotel because there was a burst pipe at his home. And I believe his home is Trump Park Avenue.
It's not a good week for Trump real estate marketing.
posted by zachlipton at 2:18 PM on April 9, 2018 [52 favorites]
It's not a good week for Trump real estate marketing.
posted by zachlipton at 2:18 PM on April 9, 2018 [52 favorites]
@KevinMKruse
When Trump learns all the details of this Cohen story, he's going to be angriest over the revelation that Cohen stayed at a non-Trump hotel.
posted by chris24 at 2:20 PM on April 9, 2018 [54 favorites]
When Trump learns all the details of this Cohen story, he's going to be angriest over the revelation that Cohen stayed at a non-Trump hotel.
posted by chris24 at 2:20 PM on April 9, 2018 [54 favorites]
@KevinMKruse
When Trump learns all the details of this Cohen story, he's going to be angriest over the revelation that Cohen stayed at a non-Trump hotel.
He may not have wanted his conversations overheard by the FSB.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [38 favorites]
When Trump learns all the details of this Cohen story, he's going to be angriest over the revelation that Cohen stayed at a non-Trump hotel.
He may not have wanted his conversations overheard by the FSB.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [38 favorites]
Which presumably also makes it even harder for 45 to formulate any path that closes things down, because it's now metastasized into an investigation into Cohen under different and non-federal authorisation running in parallel.
Mr Cohen really must have been very naughty, given the collective intake of breath from legal Twitter.
posted by Devonian at 2:23 PM on April 9, 2018 [17 favorites]
Mr Cohen really must have been very naughty, given the collective intake of breath from legal Twitter.
posted by Devonian at 2:23 PM on April 9, 2018 [17 favorites]
Meanwhile...
@markmackinnon (Globe & Mail)
Turkish media reporting that the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, has arrived off the coast of Syria - and is being harassed by low-flying Russian warplanes (CNN Turkey)...
posted by chris24 at 2:24 PM on April 9, 2018 [23 favorites]
@markmackinnon (Globe & Mail)
Turkish media reporting that the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, has arrived off the coast of Syria - and is being harassed by low-flying Russian warplanes (CNN Turkey)...
posted by chris24 at 2:24 PM on April 9, 2018 [23 favorites]
Trump to decide on US response to Syria gas attack 'within 48 hours'
This makes perfect sense since the decision process probably goes like this:
Staffer puts mark on a park bench and places a newpaper with the question mark in a wastebin.
The next day Staffer buys a hotdog from a vender.
Putin's answer is written in ketchup on the hotdog.
posted by srboisvert at 2:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
This makes perfect sense since the decision process probably goes like this:
Staffer puts mark on a park bench and places a newpaper with the question mark in a wastebin.
The next day Staffer buys a hotdog from a vender.
Putin's answer is written in ketchup on the hotdog.
posted by srboisvert at 2:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
Which presumably also makes it even harder for 45 to formulate any path that closes things down, because it's now metastasized into an investigation into Cohen under different and non-federal authorisation running in parallel.While it is widely believed that multiple states (including New York) have their own investigations in progress, the comments above yours don't establish anything new in that regard. Presuming that you were responding to:
"Special Counsel Robert Mueller went to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided the matter involving President Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen should be handled by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of N.Y. rather than Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the matter."that only establishes that a separate group within the federal Department of Justice was pursuing this angle, not that any "non-federal" agencies were involved. (Or in other words: "the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of N.Y." is a federal, not New York, law enforcement official. Perhaps this is clear to you, in which case please disregard, but divisions between various overlapping governmental entities under our system can be confusing to people who are used to other systems.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:30 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
T.D. Strange: Oh, but he does. Remember this guy?
Interestingly, the lawyer quoted in the NYT piece is actually not that guy (David Schwartz) but a different lawyer, Stephen Ryan, who Cohen has retained since last year. At least on paper, this Ryan fellow seems a lot more put together than Schwartz.
posted by mhum at 2:33 PM on April 9, 2018
Interestingly, the lawyer quoted in the NYT piece is actually not that guy (David Schwartz) but a different lawyer, Stephen Ryan, who Cohen has retained since last year. At least on paper, this Ryan fellow seems a lot more put together than Schwartz.
posted by mhum at 2:33 PM on April 9, 2018
"Special Counsel Robert Mueller went to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided the matter involving President Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen should be handled by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of N.Y. rather than Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the matter."
Is it not much easier for Trump to fire a US Attorney?
posted by leotrotsky at 2:33 PM on April 9, 2018
Is it not much easier for Trump to fire a US Attorney?
posted by leotrotsky at 2:33 PM on April 9, 2018
There's a meaningful chance Robert Mueller's team now has all of the many, many NDAs Trump had with his many, many women. And Trump's tax returns.
IIRC Mueller has had access to Trump's tax returns from the moment he took office. He can just call up the IRS and ask for them.
Could there be a technical issue over whether Cohen actually IS Trump's attorney? I'm pretty confident that just announcing he is, to a press conference, is not enough to create a privileged relationship. Cohen stopped working for the Trump Organization last year, for one thing.
Is a formal retainer agreement required? Payment of money? Since Trump also has other attorneys, how do courts differentiate between "his" lawyer and a fixer/spokesman who happens to have a law degree?
posted by msalt at 2:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
IIRC Mueller has had access to Trump's tax returns from the moment he took office. He can just call up the IRS and ask for them.
Could there be a technical issue over whether Cohen actually IS Trump's attorney? I'm pretty confident that just announcing he is, to a press conference, is not enough to create a privileged relationship. Cohen stopped working for the Trump Organization last year, for one thing.
Is a formal retainer agreement required? Payment of money? Since Trump also has other attorneys, how do courts differentiate between "his" lawyer and a fixer/spokesman who happens to have a law degree?
posted by msalt at 2:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
... Cohen is staying at the hotel because there was a burst pipe at his home. And I believe his home is Trump Park Avenue.
Jeez, there's been a lot of potentially document-destroying incidents at Trump properties recently.
(This is mostly a joke, but I did just read the "MetaFilter prescience" thread, soooo...)
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 2:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
Jeez, there's been a lot of potentially document-destroying incidents at Trump properties recently.
(This is mostly a joke, but I did just read the "MetaFilter prescience" thread, soooo...)
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 2:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
Ah yes, I was getting my attorneys mixed up. Although any legal action against Cohen because of bad things he did qua NY lawyer would involve state authorities, right?
posted by Devonian at 2:35 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Devonian at 2:35 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is a formal retainer agreement required? Payment of money?
Those are helpful, but usually it's just the conduct of the parties that determines whether a solicitor-client relationship exists. Often it's not even that weak standard, if the lawyer is already on record somewhere else, and it's helpful to assume they are acting, until that perception is corrected.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Those are helpful, but usually it's just the conduct of the parties that determines whether a solicitor-client relationship exists. Often it's not even that weak standard, if the lawyer is already on record somewhere else, and it's helpful to assume they are acting, until that perception is corrected.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Is a formal retainer agreement required? Payment of money? Since Trump also has other attorneys, how do courts differentiate between "his" lawyer and a fixer/spokesman who happens to have a law degree?
No. No. and They don't, really, unless it's a question of ineffective counsel on a criminal appeal. The attorney has to assume they'll be treated as an attorney even if they are acting in a non-law but still advisory-type role (like, if I'm a CPA and an attorney, I can't "just" be a CPA to some clients, I have to treat the relationship as if I'm an attorney to all of them). There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get out of that presumption, and Cohen is not a good enough lawyer to have done that properly.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:41 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
No. No. and They don't, really, unless it's a question of ineffective counsel on a criminal appeal. The attorney has to assume they'll be treated as an attorney even if they are acting in a non-law but still advisory-type role (like, if I'm a CPA and an attorney, I can't "just" be a CPA to some clients, I have to treat the relationship as if I'm an attorney to all of them). There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get out of that presumption, and Cohen is not a good enough lawyer to have done that properly.
posted by melissasaurus at 2:41 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
FBI Raids Home, Office of Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen, Who Could Be Guilty of So Many Crimes (NY Mag)
Cohen is clearly in a lot of trouble. This is not a case of a highly respected pillar of the community being suddenly revealed to have a dark side. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Cohen’s career is that up to this point he has avoided prison. Cohen is fond of threatening people that Trump needs to intimidate; the subjects of his threats include journalists who report unflattering things about Trump. Cohen has been involved in Trump’s murky business dealings with Russia, along with his childhood friend, legitimate businessman Felix Sater, who once stabbed a guy and was also convicted of a mob-linked pump-and-dump scheme.posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:44 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
Perhaps more pertinently, Cohen facilitated hush payments to women who had sexual encounters with Trump. At the very minimum, he seems to have committed a clear campaign-finance violation by making a payment to Stormy Daniels in October 2016 that was intended to help Trump’s campaign and that exceeded campaign-finance law. Somebody also sent a person to threaten Daniels to keep quiet, and given Cohen’s handling of the matter, he would be a prime suspect for having arranged the threat, or at least having knowledge of it.
There's a meaningful chance Robert Mueller's team now has all of the many, many NDAs Trump had with his many, many women. And Trump's tax returns.
As mentioned before, the tax returns have likely been in the SC's files since the first round of requests. There's a well defined process, and the Prosecutors get assigned their very own IRS Officer to liaise.
BUT the idea that a big stack of Cohen's "NDA"'s are now in Mueller's team's hands.... That's got some meat on it..
posted by mikelieman at 2:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
As mentioned before, the tax returns have likely been in the SC's files since the first round of requests. There's a well defined process, and the Prosecutors get assigned their very own IRS Officer to liaise.
BUT the idea that a big stack of Cohen's "NDA"'s are now in Mueller's team's hands.... That's got some meat on it..
posted by mikelieman at 2:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
Could there be a technical issue over whether Cohen actually IS Trump's attorney? I'm pretty confident that just announcing he is, to a press conference, is not enough to create a privileged relationship. Cohen stopped working for the Trump Organization last year, for one thing.
The Washington Post, from last year: Michael Cohen Will Stay Trump’s Personal Attorney — Even In The White House
Cohen left the Trump Org in January of last year to avoid "perceived conflict" and became Trump's personal attorney in an ambiguous capacity outside the White House Counsel's office. Cohenbullshitted explained, "I’m just going to continue technically in the role that I play for Mr. Trump as president of the Trump Organization. I’m just going to be doing it as Donald Trump as president of the United States." So make of that what you will.
@stevebruskCNN
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant. (from @jeffzeleny )
CNN's Jim Acosta @Acosta updates: "Raid on Cohen office sinking in at Trump World. One source close to WH saying 'Mueller has gone rogue.'"
There's an ominous ring to "Monday Night Massacre", isn't there?
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:52 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
The Washington Post, from last year: Michael Cohen Will Stay Trump’s Personal Attorney — Even In The White House
Cohen left the Trump Org in January of last year to avoid "perceived conflict" and became Trump's personal attorney in an ambiguous capacity outside the White House Counsel's office. Cohen
@stevebruskCNN
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant. (from @jeffzeleny )
CNN's Jim Acosta @Acosta updates: "Raid on Cohen office sinking in at Trump World. One source close to WH saying 'Mueller has gone rogue.'"
There's an ominous ring to "Monday Night Massacre", isn't there?
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:52 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
"Special Counsel Robert Mueller went to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided the matter involving President Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen should be handled by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of N.Y. rather than Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the matter."
That's likely because of the privilege issues. There's going to have to be incredible firewall procedures to prevent Mueller's team from reading what would be privileged communications between Trump and Cohen, and an entire second team of investigators and prosecutors to determine what is privileged and what would be challenged under the crime-fraud exception to prevent contaminating the ongoing investigation.
Alternatively, the Cohen raid is only about the Stormy case, not Russia collusion, and Rosenstein decided that's collateral to the special prosecutor investigation. There's still privilege issues, but less critical to maintaining the credibility of the other Russia related investigation.
It's probably both realistically, the amount of crimes is seemingly endless, and so to are the privilege problems with the president's lawyer being part of all of them. It's a good day for DOJ job security, and a bad day for anyone who wants Mueller to on and hurry up with it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:52 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
That's likely because of the privilege issues. There's going to have to be incredible firewall procedures to prevent Mueller's team from reading what would be privileged communications between Trump and Cohen, and an entire second team of investigators and prosecutors to determine what is privileged and what would be challenged under the crime-fraud exception to prevent contaminating the ongoing investigation.
Alternatively, the Cohen raid is only about the Stormy case, not Russia collusion, and Rosenstein decided that's collateral to the special prosecutor investigation. There's still privilege issues, but less critical to maintaining the credibility of the other Russia related investigation.
It's probably both realistically, the amount of crimes is seemingly endless, and so to are the privilege problems with the president's lawyer being part of all of them. It's a good day for DOJ job security, and a bad day for anyone who wants Mueller to on and hurry up with it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:52 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
Robert Costa (WaPo): "Briefly reached a WH official. Official said the WH doesn't have a strategy for the Comey book. Paused. Then said that should answer my question of what's the strategy for dealing with Cohen news."
posted by chris24 at 2:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [92 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 2:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [92 favorites]
I'm just imagining what Mueller must have shown the US Attorney's office, to make them go "Holy shit, ok, raid that motherfucker."
I mean. Was it like, boxes of evidence? Or like one incredibly incriminating email chain?
posted by emjaybee at 2:56 PM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
I mean. Was it like, boxes of evidence? Or like one incredibly incriminating email chain?
posted by emjaybee at 2:56 PM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
I used to wonder how my father could stay glued to our old black-and-white television set watching old Sam Ervin & Co. go after Tricky Dick when the weather was so nice, but here I am at midnight pressing refresh.
posted by pracowity at 2:57 PM on April 9, 2018 [137 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 2:57 PM on April 9, 2018 [137 favorites]
I'm just imagining what Mueller must have shown the US Attorney's office, to make them go "Holy shit, ok, raid that motherfucker."
Probably that CNN interview with the attorney’s attorney would do the trick, TBH.
posted by Artw at 3:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Probably that CNN interview with the attorney’s attorney would do the trick, TBH.
posted by Artw at 3:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Tomorrow's FOX and Friends is going to be critical (let that sentence sink in for a second...), if FOX goes all in on THIS IS THE DEEP STATE COMING FOR TRUMP, it could prompt him to lash out at Mueller and maybe even try to fire him. If FOX leads with Hilary Clinton for the 1000th day in a row and tries to ignore the Cohen raid, maybe he's calmer.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
From Wonkette: ...it’s worth noting that the Interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York is Geoffrey Berman, a Trump appointee awaiting confirmation by the Senate. In other words another deep state shill who’s in the tank for Hillary.
posted by Capt. Renault at 3:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 3:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [30 favorites]
Could there be a technical issue over whether Cohen actually IS Trump's attorney? I'm pretty confident that just announcing he is, to a press conference, is not enough to create a privileged relationship.
Remember that last week or so (I'm sure it's been less than a Scaramucci...) that Trump said Michael Cohen was his lawyer. Cohen says he's Trump's attorney, Trump says Cohen's his attorney... the presumption there is going to be that, yes, Cohen actually is Trump's attorney.
posted by azpenguin at 3:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Remember that last week or so (I'm sure it's been less than a Scaramucci...) that Trump said Michael Cohen was his lawyer. Cohen says he's Trump's attorney, Trump says Cohen's his attorney... the presumption there is going to be that, yes, Cohen actually is Trump's attorney.
posted by azpenguin at 3:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Geoffrey Berman, a Trump appointee awaiting confirmation by the Senate
Not only a Trump appointee who he *interviewed* against protocol, but a former law partner of one Rudy Guiliani.
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
Not only a Trump appointee who he *interviewed* against protocol, but a former law partner of one Rudy Guiliani.
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, according to a person familiar with the case
posted by Artw at 3:13 PM on April 9, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by Artw at 3:13 PM on April 9, 2018 [35 favorites]
And if Cohen isn't Trump's attorney...none of the privilege issues are relevant anyway, he's just a co-conspirator and apparent target of a criminal investigation. There'd be no legal benefit to Trump actually trying to claim Cohen isn't his attorney, they were trying to do that in a nonlegal setting in TV interviews to win the news cycle, or something, over the Stormy contract details.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ryan, Cohens lawyer, said in his release that the material seized was privileged (though not specifying Trump). And surely Mueller would have had to demonstrate Cohen was Trumps lawyer for this to happen at all?
After years of seeing paranoid IANAL and IAALBIANYL on every anonymous internet board it’d be almost comical to see Cohen wriggle out of this relationship.
posted by Rumple at 3:17 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
After years of seeing paranoid IANAL and IAALBIANYL on every anonymous internet board it’d be almost comical to see Cohen wriggle out of this relationship.
posted by Rumple at 3:17 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
@stevebruskCNN
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant. (from @jeffzeleny )
More from CNN:
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant. (from @jeffzeleny )
More from CNN:
A White House official said Trump had been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding Cohen's office, and that Trump knew about the raid before the news broke.[...]And their story also contains the fun fact that Cohen appears to have been let go from his "strategic alliance" with powerhouse international lobbyist-law firm Squire Patton Boggs:
A source close to the White House warned that Mueller's decision could push Trump in the direction of taking action against the special counsel's office.
This source, who has long said the President could still fire Mueller based on conversations with Trump and close advisers, believes the President could view the raid as crossing a red line and said among the actions Trump could take is replacing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight of the probe.
A source familiar with the situation said agents visited Cohen's office this morning at the law firm Squire Patton Boggs in New York. Angelo Kakolyris, a spokesman for Squire Patton Boggs, said, "The firm's arrangement with Mr. Cohen reached its conclusion, mutually and in accordance with the terms of the agreement."posted by Doktor Zed at 3:27 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
"We have been in contact with federal authorities regarding their execution of a warrant relating to Mr. Cohen," he continued. "These activities do not relate to the firm and we are in full cooperation."
Michael Cohen is so sketchy as a lawyer this could be about almost any case at all and I imagine they'd find something dirty. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they went into his filing cabinet and found nothing but swarms of spiders.
I was picturing bats.
posted by Servo5678 at 3:31 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was picturing bats.
posted by Servo5678 at 3:31 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
MSNBC is showing Trump's on-camera reaction, which is like 5+ minutes of over-the-top defensive freakout.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:32 PM on April 9, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:32 PM on April 9, 2018 [14 favorites]
He says that Sessions should never have recused himself. This is an omnirant.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Let's check in on how Trump is taking the news:
Here he describes the execution of a judicially authorized search warrant as a break-in: TRUMP: "Just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys. Good man. And it's a disgraceful situation, it's a total witch hunt, I've been saying it for a long time." via @justinsink
@jdawsey1: Trump also criticized Jeff Sessions for recusing himself, per pooler @tparti, while angrily venting on Cohen raid. No one, he said, "is looking at the other side, referring to Clinton's emails and "many, many" other things.
And this then transitioned into: @stevenportnoy: "BREAKING: "It will be met with force," Trump says of Syrian chemical strike, per pooler @CeciliaVega."
The video is even worse. He's just angry and panicking. Link when we have one.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [60 favorites]
Trump addressed the Cohen raid at the top of the military leadership meeting.Holy crap it's an "attack on our country?" His constant conflation of what's good for him and what's good for the country is one of the most transparent things about his behavior as President.
Quick comments: its a disgraceful situation.
I have this witch hunt constantly going on.
Its an attack on on our country...what we all stand for.
Also called the special counsel the most conflicted group of people I have ever seen.
Trump went on to criticize AG Jeff Sessions for recusing himself and repeatedly said no one is looking at the other side, referring to Clintons 30k emails and many many other things.
Here he describes the execution of a judicially authorized search warrant as a break-in: TRUMP: "Just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys. Good man. And it's a disgraceful situation, it's a total witch hunt, I've been saying it for a long time." via @justinsink
@jdawsey1: Trump also criticized Jeff Sessions for recusing himself, per pooler @tparti, while angrily venting on Cohen raid. No one, he said, "is looking at the other side, referring to Clinton's emails and "many, many" other things.
And this then transitioned into: @stevenportnoy: "BREAKING: "It will be met with force," Trump says of Syrian chemical strike, per pooler @CeciliaVega."
The video is even worse. He's just angry and panicking. Link when we have one.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [60 favorites]
Trump won't stop talking about Hillary's "acid washed" emails. Thought that was just for denim. Also- WOW deflect much?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 3:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 3:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Here's some of that video. And here he is venting at Sessions for recusing himself without telling someone so he could fire him and replace him.
He doesn't seem well.
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
He doesn't seem well.
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
I mean. Was it like, boxes of evidence? Or like one incredibly incriminating email chain?
Predicted pleasant side benefit to Mueller investigation: Boomers suddenly motivated to upgrade their computer skills so they can convert their files themselves.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Predicted pleasant side benefit to Mueller investigation: Boomers suddenly motivated to upgrade their computer skills so they can convert their files themselves.
posted by Jacqueline at 3:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Now would be a very good time for Mueller to indict some people for "collusion".
posted by Justinian at 3:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [14 favorites]
CNN has video of questions after the statement and someone yelled "why don't you just fire Muller?" "we'll see what happens."
There was more word salad but I can't even attempt to paraphrase. Nothing surprising, other than disparaging the investigation and saying it's found "nothing".
posted by Brainy at 3:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
There was more word salad but I can't even attempt to paraphrase. Nothing surprising, other than disparaging the investigation and saying it's found "nothing".
posted by Brainy at 3:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
That has to be the scariest press conference yet. It combined a constitutional crisis with threats of war.
posted by diogenes at 3:41 PM on April 9, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by diogenes at 3:41 PM on April 9, 2018 [55 favorites]
Here's that "we'll see what happens" about firing Mueller clip too. Quick transcript:
"I think it's a disgrace what's going on. We'll see what happens..Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing and in finding nothing that's a big statement because you know the person who is in charge of the investigation -- you know all about that - Deputy Rod Rosenstein he wrote the letter very critical of Comey.posted by zachlipton at 3:41 PM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well I turned out to do the right thing (firing Comey). If you look at all of the things he's done and the lies and you look at whats going on at the FBI..turned out I did the right thing. But it turns out he also signed the FISA warrant -- Rod Rosenstein whose in charge also signed the FISA warrant and he also wrote the letter that fired Comey and he was right about that. He was absolutely right about that."
Alternatively, the Cohen raid is only about the Stormy case, not Russia collusion, and Rosenstein decided that's collateral to the special prosecutor investigation.
Well, if it's ONLY about Stormy Daniels, wouldn't Cohen's public statements that he was NOT representing Trump remove any privilege? "possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, " suggests that is the case.
posted by msalt at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well, if it's ONLY about Stormy Daniels, wouldn't Cohen's public statements that he was NOT representing Trump remove any privilege? "possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, " suggests that is the case.
posted by msalt at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
It certainly feels like he's going to fire Mueller. Or at least try.
posted by defenestration at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by defenestration at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2018
It was also a totally inappropriately framed question! Instead of saying, "Are you considering . . . ? or Do you have comments on the status of . . . ?" it sounded like the journalist shouted out, "Well, why don't you just fire Mueller?" or something baiting like that. WTF, media? This is not a fucking game for ratings.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:45 PM on April 9, 2018 [27 favorites]
You don't know that it wasn't a Breitbart "reporter" or something, FelliniBlank. TrumpCo gives press passes to people like fucking Infowars. So it seems unlikely that question was yelled by a legitimate journalist.
posted by Justinian at 3:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [29 favorites]
It combined a constitution crises with threats of war.
As he sat next to Bolton, on how he'll act regarding Syria: "You'll find out very soon. Probably after the fact."
So we have a fact coming.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
As he sat next to Bolton, on how he'll act regarding Syria: "You'll find out very soon. Probably after the fact."
So we have a fact coming.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
The smack he talked about Rosenstein just now also does not help Trump any wrt the pattern of obstruction of justice he's been building up over the last year.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:48 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:48 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
At the beginning of that rant, he described Cohen as one of his “personal attorneys” so that appears resolved.
posted by Rumple at 3:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 3:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don't understand Russia's game when it comes to Syria. Is Putin trying to orchestrate a conflict between the US and Russia in Syria? If so, to what end?
posted by diogenes at 3:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by diogenes at 3:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mueller, a Republican previously appointed FBI Director by a Republican, who was made Special Counsel by a Republican appointed by Trump, went to that Republican who referred it to a Republican US Attorney appointed by Trump, who went to an impartial judge and got a no-knock warrant of the president's attorney to be executed by an FBI led by a Republican Trump appointee.
Well played Deep State.
posted by chris24 at 3:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [193 favorites]
Well played Deep State.
posted by chris24 at 3:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [193 favorites]
If Cohen claims he's acting as one of his own attorneys, does that mean he can't ever be searched?
posted by msalt at 3:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by msalt at 3:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
The great part is, Mueller and DOJ just referred this matter out of his own inquiry over to the New York feds since it had to do with Stormy, etc. Totally proper, totally prudent. Yet Trump's entire tantrum was about Mueller. Hey, Donald, nobody even mentioned Russia, and yet you're frothing at the mouth about Russia and collusion for 10 minutes. Could he possibly telegraph any harder that Cohen is up to his ass in Russian shenanigans?
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:56 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:56 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
I don't understand Russia's game when it comes to Syria. Is Putin trying to orchestrate a conflict between the US and Russia in Syria? If so, to what end?
Russia has one remaining airbase from which they can project power in the Middle East, and that's in Syria. The rebellion against Assad threatens that airbase, so they support Assad. I don't think it goes much further than that. It's exactly what we would do if we had an airbase in Syria.
posted by dis_integration at 4:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
Russia has one remaining airbase from which they can project power in the Middle East, and that's in Syria. The rebellion against Assad threatens that airbase, so they support Assad. I don't think it goes much further than that. It's exactly what we would do if we had an airbase in Syria.
posted by dis_integration at 4:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
Russia has one remaining airbase from which they can project power in the Middle East, and that's in Syria. The rebellion against Assad threatens that airbase, so they support Assad. I don't think it goes much further than that. It's exactly what we would do if we had an airbase in Syria.
Isn't there a line of thinking that Russia is so closely aligned with Assad that a chemical attack would require Putin's tacit approval?
posted by diogenes at 4:05 PM on April 9, 2018
Isn't there a line of thinking that Russia is so closely aligned with Assad that a chemical attack would require Putin's tacit approval?
posted by diogenes at 4:05 PM on April 9, 2018
It's exactly what we would do if we had an airbase in Syria. Or, ahem say, . . a base in Qatar.
posted by rc3spencer at 4:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by rc3spencer at 4:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Russia also uses a warm water port in Syria and has a lengthy political and cultural relationship with Syria and the Baathists going way, way back into Soviet days.
posted by notyou at 4:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by notyou at 4:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
Or, ahem say, . . a base in Qatar.
All bets are off when financing for 666 Fifth Ave is on the table.
posted by Existential Dread at 4:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
All bets are off when financing for 666 Fifth Ave is on the table.
posted by Existential Dread at 4:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up megathread.
posted by notyou at 4:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [144 favorites]
posted by notyou at 4:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [144 favorites]
Stephanie Ruhle: Reminder - In addition to being the longtime personal lawyer to @realDonaldTrump, Michael Cohen is the Deputy National Finance Chairperson of the RNC.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [109 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [109 favorites]
So I don't know a whole lot about the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, but the privilege belongs to the client -- not the attorney -- and typically in crime-fraud exception cases, courts look at the client's intent to determine whether the exception applies. That would be Trump's intent. Trump's intent to commit a crime. Trump's intent to use his lawyer to commit, cover-up, or further a crime.
I eagerly await commentary from lawyers with lots of expertise in the crime-fraud exception, to hear about the specifics of New York law and the decision-making process of the judge signing off on the warrant w/r/t criminal intent.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
I eagerly await commentary from lawyers with lots of expertise in the crime-fraud exception, to hear about the specifics of New York law and the decision-making process of the judge signing off on the warrant w/r/t criminal intent.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:15 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, according to a person familiar with the case
The Washington Post has updated its story with some small but significant details:
"Calling around the president's circle. His allies are taken aback. Rattled. Worry the president has a small legal team that lacks a heavy hitter. Worry that Mueller is making big moves and, in essence, prodding the president to finally sit down for an interview..."
In fact, it sounds more like some are engaged in wishful thinking:
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:18 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
The Washington Post has updated its story with some small but significant details:
Among the records seized were those related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump, according to another person familiar with the investigators’ work.Meanwhile, there's trouble brewing among the Trumpists, says the Washington Posts's Robert Costa @costareports:
Investigators took Cohen’s computer, phone and personal financial records as part of the search of his office at Rockefeller Center, the second person said.
"Calling around the president's circle. His allies are taken aback. Rattled. Worry the president has a small legal team that lacks a heavy hitter. Worry that Mueller is making big moves and, in essence, prodding the president to finally sit down for an interview..."
In fact, it sounds more like some are engaged in wishful thinking:
Giuliani on phone w/ Post. Will POTUS now consider firing Mueller or Rod R?Incidentally, The New Republic has to have experienced the worst journalistic timing with the publication this morning of its think piece If Everything Is a Russia Bombshell, Nothing Is.
"I don’t think that’s in the cards. Too explosive, the whole process is too near the end."
Giuliani: "The only thing that's happening, perhaps, is that Mueller is trying to compel the president to testify. There is the legal battle and the public-relations battle, and this kind of thing amps up the pressure to get it all over with."
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:18 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
When DJT said "and an attack on our nation, truly," I the bone-chilling sensation that the little 'truly' is an artifact of somebody spinning that specific theory, that an attack on DJT is an attack on our nation, no wait hear me out it, it truly is.
Like, I doubt he has the mental acuity to make that leap, that an attack on me is tantamount to an attack on our nation. Maybe he does, or maybe these are just random bellicose words falling from his lips. But it doesn't feel that way in the clip? It feels very deliberate. Like somebody is in his ear reminded him of that construction.
Which is truly fucking scary. Because if that's where we are, Jesus.
posted by angrycat at 4:24 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
Like, I doubt he has the mental acuity to make that leap, that an attack on me is tantamount to an attack on our nation. Maybe he does, or maybe these are just random bellicose words falling from his lips. But it doesn't feel that way in the clip? It feels very deliberate. Like somebody is in his ear reminded him of that construction.
Which is truly fucking scary. Because if that's where we are, Jesus.
posted by angrycat at 4:24 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
@jdawsey1 (Josh Dawsey-WaPo)
"He made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake," Trump says, ripping into Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
@speechboy71 (Michael Cohen-Boston Globe)
Retweeted Josh Dawsey
So we're clear: this terrible mistake is not obstructing justice on behalf of Donald Trump
posted by chris24 at 4:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [89 favorites]
"He made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake," Trump says, ripping into Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
@speechboy71 (Michael Cohen-Boston Globe)
Retweeted Josh Dawsey
So we're clear: this terrible mistake is not obstructing justice on behalf of Donald Trump
posted by chris24 at 4:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [89 favorites]
@ShimonPro (CNN)
FBI’s Public Corruption squad in the New York field office conducted the Cohen raids today.
posted by chris24 at 4:31 PM on April 9, 2018 [22 favorites]
FBI’s Public Corruption squad in the New York field office conducted the Cohen raids today.
posted by chris24 at 4:31 PM on April 9, 2018 [22 favorites]
Ken White ("Popehat") expanding on his earlier tweet: Feds Raid Office of Trump Lawyer Who Paid Off Stormy Daniels. This Is a Big Deal.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Stephanie Ruhle: Reminder - In addition to being the longtime personal lawyer to @realDonaldTrump, Michael Cohen is the Deputy National Finance Chairperson of the RNC.
Lordy, I hope there are books.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
Lordy, I hope there are books.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
Republican congressman (TX-23) speaks out in support of Mueller.
@Alex_Panetta (Canada Press)
Texas Republican lawmaker Will Hurd, on raid: "Bob Mueller should stay. He should be allowed to turn over every rock, pursue every lead... This was done by the US atty in NYC. A judge there agreed there was probable cause."
posted by chris24 at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [36 favorites]
@Alex_Panetta (Canada Press)
Texas Republican lawmaker Will Hurd, on raid: "Bob Mueller should stay. He should be allowed to turn over every rock, pursue every lead... This was done by the US atty in NYC. A judge there agreed there was probable cause."
posted by chris24 at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [36 favorites]
Ok, here's a transcript of The Rant, not including the post-presser Q&A, via Daniel Dale.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Here's a full transcript from TPM, including the Q&A.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:45 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 4:45 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
an attack on DJT is an attack on our nation
L’État, c’est moi (NYT May 2017)
posted by Rumple at 4:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
L’État, c’est moi (NYT May 2017)
posted by Rumple at 4:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
> It's my birthday so I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, O Universe, to deliver us one hell of a scoop this afternoon, please and thank you.
posted by Aubergine on April 6
Happy Belated! Please note: swamp-related birthday wishes may take at least one business day to process.
posted by Johann Georg Faust at 4:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by Aubergine on April 6
Happy Belated! Please note: swamp-related birthday wishes may take at least one business day to process.
posted by Johann Georg Faust at 4:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [42 favorites]
Here's a full transcript from TPM, including the Q&A.
"I’ve been President now for what seems like a lengthy period of time." Lord knows that's true.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on April 9, 2018 [50 favorites]
"I’ve been President now for what seems like a lengthy period of time." Lord knows that's true.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on April 9, 2018 [50 favorites]
Michael Cohen is the Deputy National Finance Chairperson of the RNC.
Oh hey maybe this has something to do with the Russia --> NRA --> GOP money pipeline!
posted by Jacqueline at 5:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Oh hey maybe this has something to do with the Russia --> NRA --> GOP money pipeline!
posted by Jacqueline at 5:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Oh hey maybe this has something to do with the Russia --> NRA --> GOP money pipeline!
Wouldn't that have stayed with Mueller's team, then? It reads to me like the Russia investigation unearthed misbehavior that isn't directly related to the scope of Mueller's authority to investigate, which is why it was handed off to SDNY. Seems more likely it's just regular financial misbehavior rather than election-related crime.
posted by suelac at 5:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wouldn't that have stayed with Mueller's team, then? It reads to me like the Russia investigation unearthed misbehavior that isn't directly related to the scope of Mueller's authority to investigate, which is why it was handed off to SDNY. Seems more likely it's just regular financial misbehavior rather than election-related crime.
posted by suelac at 5:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
an attack on DJT is an attack on our nation
Part of me goes, yep, Trump has symbolized America more than anyone for a couple decades before he got his current gig.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Part of me goes, yep, Trump has symbolized America more than anyone for a couple decades before he got his current gig.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:03 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Carol Leonnig, the WaPo writer who helped break the story just told Chris Hayes that this FBI investigation has been going on regarding Cohen for many weeks. This was not something new that just popped up and happened.
posted by chris24 at 5:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [12 favorites]
Seems more likely it's just regular financial misbehavior rather than election-related crime.
Maybe not election-related as far as the Special Counsel's scope, but to reiterate the Washington Post's scoop:
Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, according to a person familiar with the case. (Emphasis added because this could wind up tainting Trump's victory politically, even if it doesn't involve Russian interference.)
In fact, it's Trump who, unprompted during his Rant, brought up Russia: "So this has been going on — I saw one of the reporters, who is not necessarily a fan of mine, not necessarily very good to me. He said, in effect, that this is ridiculous; this is now getting ridiculous. They found no collusion whatsoever with Russia. The reason they found it is there was no collusion at all. No collusion." (What's the over-under that this reporter even exists?)
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [19 favorites]
Maybe not election-related as far as the Special Counsel's scope, but to reiterate the Washington Post's scoop:
Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, according to a person familiar with the case. (Emphasis added because this could wind up tainting Trump's victory politically, even if it doesn't involve Russian interference.)
In fact, it's Trump who, unprompted during his Rant, brought up Russia: "So this has been going on — I saw one of the reporters, who is not necessarily a fan of mine, not necessarily very good to me. He said, in effect, that this is ridiculous; this is now getting ridiculous. They found no collusion whatsoever with Russia. The reason they found it is there was no collusion at all. No collusion." (What's the over-under that this reporter even exists?)
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [19 favorites]
Wouldn't that have stayed with Mueller's team, then? It reads to me like the Russia investigation unearthed misbehavior that isn't directly related to the scope of Mueller's authority to investigate, which is why it was handed off to SDNY. Seems more likely it's just regular financial misbehavior rather than election-related crime.
What's lovely, though, is that once they have him dead-to-rights on 27 felony counts for this stuff, Cohen will have lots of incentive to cooperate on other matters.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
What's lovely, though, is that once they have him dead-to-rights on 27 felony counts for this stuff, Cohen will have lots of incentive to cooperate on other matters.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
What's he talking about with the "insurance policy"?
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 5:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 5:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
In that very short rant, he used "disgrace/disgraceful" a total of 9 times, sometimes right after another:
posted by zakur at 5:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
And it’s a disgraceful situation.The man is not well.
And it’s a disgrace. It’s, frankly, a real disgrace.
And I think it’s a disgrace.
And you look at what took place and what happened, and it’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.
So I just think it’s a disgrace that a thing like this can happen.
Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on.
I think it’s disgraceful, and so does a lot of other people.
posted by zakur at 5:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
RNC removes National Deputy Finance Chair Michael Cohen from their website.
posted by chris24 at 5:23 PM on April 9, 2018 [82 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:23 PM on April 9, 2018 [82 favorites]
Did You Know? Nixon had a personal lawyer, Herbert W. Kalmbach. He handled the President's ratfucking payoffs and miscellaneous corruption, and was also the deputy finance chairman for CREEP. Wound up doing six months of prison time.
posted by theodolite at 5:27 PM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 5:27 PM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
Search for MICHAEL COHEN on GOP website and you get 1 result from October 2011. Literally had article about his appointment as a National Deputy Finance Chair disappear as I clicked on it!
posted by pjsky at 5:28 PM on April 9, 2018 [53 favorites]
posted by pjsky at 5:28 PM on April 9, 2018 [53 favorites]
What's he talking about with the "insurance policy"?
one of the emails between Peter Strockz or whatever his name is and his paramour used those words, the goons say it proves a deep state conspiracy. He's trying to remind his base of that.
posted by vrakatar at 5:31 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
one of the emails between Peter Strockz or whatever his name is and his paramour used those words, the goons say it proves a deep state conspiracy. He's trying to remind his base of that.
posted by vrakatar at 5:31 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
one of the emails between Peter Strockz or whatever his name is and his paramour used those words, the goons say it proves a deep state conspiracy. He's trying to remind his base of that.
Peter Strzok's 'insurance policy' text message looks bad. But it doesn't look like a smoking gun.
posted by scalefree at 5:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Peter Strzok's 'insurance policy' text message looks bad. But it doesn't look like a smoking gun.
posted by scalefree at 5:33 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
(Thanks for providing all the twitter links, from someone who never got on the twitter train!)
posted by tarantula at 5:34 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by tarantula at 5:34 PM on April 9, 2018
Mueller is going to wind up taking down everybody around Trump, leaving him to assert "I had no idea!" all alone. Cakeworthy prediction.
posted by rhizome at 5:35 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 5:35 PM on April 9, 2018 [10 favorites]
When it rains, it pours. From Schmidt and Haberman at the NYT:
The special counsel is investigating a payment made to President Trump’s foundation by a Ukrainian steel magnate for a talk during the campaign, according to three people briefed on the matter, as part of a broader examination of streams of foreign money to Mr. Trump and his associates in the years leading up to the election.posted by yasaman at 5:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [30 favorites]
Investigators subpoenaed the Trump Organization this year for an array of records about business with foreign nationals. In response, the company handed over documents about a $150,000 donation that the Ukrainian billionaire, Victor Pinchuk, made in September 2015 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in exchange for a 20-minute appearance by Mr. Trump that month through a video link to a conference in Kiev.
Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer whose office and hotel room were raided on Monday in an apparently unrelated case, solicited the donation. The contribution from Mr. Pinchuk, who has sought closer ties for Ukraine to the West, was the largest the foundation received in 2015 from anyone besides Mr. Trump himself.
Remember how Trump has Lou Dobbs dial into meetings? Funniest thing is all the people he wants fired for the "witch hunt" are Republicans appointed by Trump or by Trump appointees.
@LouDobbs
End the Outrageous Witch Hunt- @GreggJarrett: AG Jeff Sessions is incompetent, the FBI is corrupt & Robert Mueller & Rod Rosenstein are unethical & abusing the legal process. They all deserve to be fired. #MAGA #TrumpTrain #Dobbs
@woodruffbets (Daily Beast)
Joe DiGenova tells Lou Dobbs he thinks Congress should impeach Rosenstein and Wray
posted by chris24 at 5:37 PM on April 9, 2018
@LouDobbs
End the Outrageous Witch Hunt- @GreggJarrett: AG Jeff Sessions is incompetent, the FBI is corrupt & Robert Mueller & Rod Rosenstein are unethical & abusing the legal process. They all deserve to be fired. #MAGA #TrumpTrain #Dobbs
@woodruffbets (Daily Beast)
Joe DiGenova tells Lou Dobbs he thinks Congress should impeach Rosenstein and Wray
posted by chris24 at 5:37 PM on April 9, 2018
Lordy, I hope there are books.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:39 PM on 4/9
[11 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Probably two sets...
posted by Mental Wimp at 5:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by leotrotsky at 4:39 PM on 4/9
[11 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
Probably two sets...
posted by Mental Wimp at 5:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [25 favorites]
and the understatement of the year award goes to Marcus S. Owens:
The payment from Mr. Pinchuk “is curious because it comes during a campaign and is from a foreigner and looks like an effort to buy influence,” said Marcus S. Owens, a former head of the Internal Revenue Service division that oversees tax-exempt organizations. He called the donation “an unusual amount of money for such a short speech.”posted by murphy slaw at 5:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [14 favorites]
@jaketapper
Former sr. law enforcement official calls US Attorney Berman "a Boy Scout, a straight shooter. He would never do anything for attention. But he also would never look the other way. He does his duty. He does the right thing. For the right reasons."
- Also says "there's a really high standard for a raid on a lawyer's office. Not just the president's lawyer - any lawyer. Either they proved that he was so uncooperative they couldn't get the information from subpoena or they had proof there was destruction of evidence."
- Source says US Attorney would have had to have received sign-off for raid from head of criminal division of DOJ and perhaps DAG Rosenstein as well.
posted by chris24 at 5:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [21 favorites]
Former sr. law enforcement official calls US Attorney Berman "a Boy Scout, a straight shooter. He would never do anything for attention. But he also would never look the other way. He does his duty. He does the right thing. For the right reasons."
- Also says "there's a really high standard for a raid on a lawyer's office. Not just the president's lawyer - any lawyer. Either they proved that he was so uncooperative they couldn't get the information from subpoena or they had proof there was destruction of evidence."
- Source says US Attorney would have had to have received sign-off for raid from head of criminal division of DOJ and perhaps DAG Rosenstein as well.
posted by chris24 at 5:40 PM on April 9, 2018 [21 favorites]
Why would Trump, who has a great deal of interest in enriching himself and zero interest in charity, take payment to his foundation for a speech instead of a check to him personally?
posted by zachlipton at 5:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 5:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Because the Foundation is a piggybank for him that he doesn't pay tax on?
posted by chris24 at 5:49 PM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:49 PM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
And a foundation can spend or otherwise move money around more easily?
posted by vrakatar at 5:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by vrakatar at 5:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
In other words: to launder it.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:51 PM on April 9, 2018 [66 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:51 PM on April 9, 2018 [66 favorites]
Local Sinclair Update. KDNL does not have it's own news dept, but local garbage person Jamie Allman has his own right wing news and opinion show instead. He just got fired for his remarks about Parkland.
That's good and all, but he's been repping the batshitinsane for a while.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
That's good and all, but he's been repping the batshitinsane for a while.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:55 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
another snippet from his rant featuring the "what's good for Trump is good for the Nation" idea:
posted by murphy slaw at 5:57 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Our economy is incredible. The stock market dropped a lot today as soon as they heard the noise of this nonsense that’s going on. It dropped a lot. It was up — way up, and then it dropped quite a bit at the end. A lot.it's a nice economy you got here. it's be a real disgrace if the FBI set it on fire.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:57 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
Redditors discussing how all this is basically the plot of Arrested Development writ large and "Netflix is really upping their reboot game"
posted by Jacqueline at 5:57 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Jacqueline at 5:57 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Our economy is incredible...
Shut the fuck up Donny.
@matthewjdowd (ABC)
Stock market gains in the first 444 days of a Presidency:
Obama - 32.5%
Clinton - 32.2%
GW Bush - 21.4%
Trump - 20.7%
posted by chris24 at 5:58 PM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
Shut the fuck up Donny.
@matthewjdowd (ABC)
Stock market gains in the first 444 days of a Presidency:
Obama - 32.5%
Clinton - 32.2%
GW Bush - 21.4%
Trump - 20.7%
posted by chris24 at 5:58 PM on April 9, 2018 [39 favorites]
IIRC, Trump has used foundation money in the past for
a) a donation that was part of the settlement of a lawsuit against him, and
b) payment for a large painting of his face.
Also, all of the stock indices were up today.
posted by msalt at 5:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
a) a donation that was part of the settlement of a lawsuit against him, and
b) payment for a large painting of his face.
Also, all of the stock indices were up today.
posted by msalt at 5:59 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Well, on one hand, comparing stock market gains like that is pretty much meaningless. Obama came into office immediately after the recession, so it would be surprising if the percentage gain after a year and a half weren't unusually high. On the other hand, the way Trump talks about the stock market as if it bends to his every whim is even more meaningless, so c'est la guerre, I suppose.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 6:05 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 6:05 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
@maggieNYT: Trump is angrier than he has been at any point in the many fuming news cycles, according to two people close to him. What that ultimately translates to is unclear.
it translates to me wishing i had seen this 15 minutes ago when i was the grocery store so i would have had an excuse to buy that crazy-d triple peanut butter dreyer's ice cream
posted by entropicamericana at 6:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [54 favorites]
it translates to me wishing i had seen this 15 minutes ago when i was the grocery store so i would have had an excuse to buy that crazy-d triple peanut butter dreyer's ice cream
posted by entropicamericana at 6:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [54 favorites]
Meanwhile, tonight on Fox with Tucker Carlson... and [real]
PANDAS EXPOSED: Pandas are aggressive and sex-crazed.
posted by chris24 at 6:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [57 favorites]
PANDAS EXPOSED: Pandas are aggressive and sex-crazed.
posted by chris24 at 6:25 PM on April 9, 2018 [57 favorites]
I like how the Parkland kids are the electrified third rail of shooting your stupid mouth off, and people can't stop touching it.
posted by ctmf at 6:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [114 favorites]
posted by ctmf at 6:39 PM on April 9, 2018 [114 favorites]
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz @ShimonPro reports from inside Trumpland:
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
CNN: White House official said there was no discussion about the president not talking about Cohen raid. He wanted to talk about it, the official said, and react to the news that had enraged him for the last two hours.Plus this from his colleague Jim Acosta @Acosta: "Trump learned of the Cohen raid earlier in the day from one of his aides, I’m told. Conversations on how the president should handle it followed. Trump is 'furious,' as so many of us are hearing."
“You can see how angry he is,” a White House official said.
CNN: There’s a sense those close to President Trump are scrambling behind the scenes in the wake of Cohen raids. This seems to have struck a nerve unlike anything else we’ve seen so far.
Sources talking to @GloriaBorger say President Trump is more angry at Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein than Robert Mueller.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
Daniel Dale has a good recap of the day. It's worth highlighting that before the Choen apocalypse hit, there were at least three massively significant stories breaking today, not to mention the ongoing developments with Syria and whether we're about to strike it (and things that have effectively fallen off the radar, but shouldn't, such as say Gaza and the upcoming North Korea summit or even just Trump's declarations about the treatment immigrants from literally Friday night) (all have previously been mentioned in this thread, but I think there's value in grouping them together):
- Trump Organization lawyers threaten the government of Panama over Trump's hotel, confirming the worst fears of everyone who cares what a conflict of interest is. Compare and contrast this conflation of personal and national interests with Trump declaring that executing a search warrant on Cohen is an "attack on our country."
- Pruitt was caught lying about a raise for his staffers.
- And the CBO's 10-year budget baseline says we'll soon hit trillion-dollar deficits as a result of the tax cuts
I'm not saying this because I think the Cohen story and the Pinchuk speech story are distractions—they're all important stories—, but these are massive scandals in their own right, all directly impacting the rule of law and the fundamentals of our nation's government, and they don't even make the front page. Everything happens too much now, and nobody even has 30 seconds to ponder how much debt we're leaving our grandchildren and to what end.
Also in today's recaps, Matt Apuzzo, who broke the Cohen raid story today, summarizes the legal situation:
Finally, @MattGertz: If Trump goes down over a paid speech involving a major Clinton Foundation donor all the writers should be fired.
posted by zachlipton at 6:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [93 favorites]
- Trump Organization lawyers threaten the government of Panama over Trump's hotel, confirming the worst fears of everyone who cares what a conflict of interest is. Compare and contrast this conflation of personal and national interests with Trump declaring that executing a search warrant on Cohen is an "attack on our country."
- Pruitt was caught lying about a raise for his staffers.
- And the CBO's 10-year budget baseline says we'll soon hit trillion-dollar deficits as a result of the tax cuts
I'm not saying this because I think the Cohen story and the Pinchuk speech story are distractions—they're all important stories—, but these are massive scandals in their own right, all directly impacting the rule of law and the fundamentals of our nation's government, and they don't even make the front page. Everything happens too much now, and nobody even has 30 seconds to ponder how much debt we're leaving our grandchildren and to what end.
Also in today's recaps, Matt Apuzzo, who broke the Cohen raid story today, summarizes the legal situation:
The searches open a new front for the Justice Department in its scrutiny of Mr. Trump and his associates: His longtime lawyer is being investigated in Manhattan; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is facing scrutiny by prosecutors in Brooklyn; his campaign chairman is under indictment; his former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying; and a pair of former campaign aides are cooperating with Mr. Mueller. Mr. Mueller, meanwhile, wants to interview Mr. Trump about possible obstruction of justice.Pardon me if I don't care much for the target/subject distinction with all this going on.
Finally, @MattGertz: If Trump goes down over a paid speech involving a major Clinton Foundation donor all the writers should be fired.
posted by zachlipton at 6:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [93 favorites]
Tomorrow's FOX and Friends is going to be critical (let that sentence sink in for a second...)
Apparently, the new trade term is 'FOXINT briefing'. I'm not very sure that's a joke.
posted by Devonian at 6:49 PM on April 9, 2018 [23 favorites]
Anyone remember that time a guy burned to death in Trump Tower
posted by theodolite at 6:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [120 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 6:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [120 favorites]
@maggieNYT: Trump is angrier than he has been at any point in the many fuming news cycles, according to two people close to him. What that ultimately translates to is unclear.
@maggieNYT
But both Trump and Cohen believe this is really Mueller and that farming it out to SDNY was a fig leaf. Both sources say that this has crossed the "red line" that Trump laid out for Mueller going outside his purview in intvw w @nytmike @peterbakernyt and me last July
@brianstelter (CNN)
Trump's public venting about the Cohen raid being an "attack on our country" is "a fraction of what he is saying in private," @maggieNYT says on @AC360. "He's 'bouncing off the walls,' according to one source"
---
@samstein (MSNBC)
Hannity’s show, which must have spent 100s of hours talking about speaking-fee related donations to Clinton and Clinton foundation $$$, now wondering (without self awareness) what the big deal is over the $150k speaking fee Trump go from a Ukrainian oligarch
posted by chris24 at 6:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
@maggieNYT
But both Trump and Cohen believe this is really Mueller and that farming it out to SDNY was a fig leaf. Both sources say that this has crossed the "red line" that Trump laid out for Mueller going outside his purview in intvw w @nytmike @peterbakernyt and me last July
@brianstelter (CNN)
Trump's public venting about the Cohen raid being an "attack on our country" is "a fraction of what he is saying in private," @maggieNYT says on @AC360. "He's 'bouncing off the walls,' according to one source"
---
@samstein (MSNBC)
Hannity’s show, which must have spent 100s of hours talking about speaking-fee related donations to Clinton and Clinton foundation $$$, now wondering (without self awareness) what the big deal is over the $150k speaking fee Trump go from a Ukrainian oligarch
posted by chris24 at 6:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
The $25 million Trump University fraud settlement was finalized today, so that must be a big relief for the president to have that off his plate.
posted by peeedro at 7:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 7:02 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
@maggieNYT: Trump is angrier than he has been at any point in the many fuming news cycles, according to two people close to him. What that ultimately translates to is unclear.
CNN's Brian Steltzer @brianstelter glosses Haberman's CNN interview just now: “Trump's public venting about the Cohen raid being an "attack on our country" is "a fraction of what he is saying in private," @maggieNYT says on @AC360. "He's 'bouncing off the walls,' according to one source"”
Trump's been deprived of Hope Hicks's calming influence for barely more than a week, and we're already witnessing him melt down in public, King Lear without Cordelia–style.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
CNN's Brian Steltzer @brianstelter glosses Haberman's CNN interview just now: “Trump's public venting about the Cohen raid being an "attack on our country" is "a fraction of what he is saying in private," @maggieNYT says on @AC360. "He's 'bouncing off the walls,' according to one source"”
Trump's been deprived of Hope Hicks's calming influence for barely more than a week, and we're already witnessing him melt down in public, King Lear without Cordelia–style.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [18 favorites]
I think the next 24 hours may be some of the most critical in our nation.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
omfg you know what? I'm ready. do the thing, Trump, fire Mueller, blow everything up, send the country into constitutional crisis, we will take to the streets and find out once and for all whether the rule of law is fucking salvageable in this country. I'm tired of this slow jittery anxiety-inducing burn.
I'm sure this is a terrible thought for reasons people will probably explain to me, but that's where I'm at tonight. Do the thing, Trump, do it.
posted by lalex at 10:57 AM on April 10 [5 favorites +] [!]
That's the thing I thought. But then I saw this article on Vox
The past 48 hours of big Syria news, explained
Why Trump might be about to attack Syria — again.
and remembered that the movie Wag the Dog exists, which is about
a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer fabricate a war to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal
and I thought oh my god these people are too stupid to fake a war so they'll just fight a real one and this is the dumbest timeline so of course it'll be North Korea AND Syria (note that's not what the Vox article says, it's just me speculating) and here's Rorschach's death scene in Watchmen so who even knows what to think?
posted by saysthis at 7:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm sure this is a terrible thought for reasons people will probably explain to me, but that's where I'm at tonight. Do the thing, Trump, do it.
posted by lalex at 10:57 AM on April 10 [5 favorites +] [!]
That's the thing I thought. But then I saw this article on Vox
The past 48 hours of big Syria news, explained
Why Trump might be about to attack Syria — again.
and remembered that the movie Wag the Dog exists, which is about
a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer fabricate a war to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal
and I thought oh my god these people are too stupid to fake a war so they'll just fight a real one and this is the dumbest timeline so of course it'll be North Korea AND Syria (note that's not what the Vox article says, it's just me speculating) and here's Rorschach's death scene in Watchmen so who even knows what to think?
posted by saysthis at 7:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [7 favorites]
Trump's been deprived of Hope Hicks's calming influence for barely more than a week
I seriously would have said, if asked, that her leaving was at least 4 Scaramuccis ago. Time has lost all meaning.
posted by greermahoney at 7:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [84 favorites]
I seriously would have said, if asked, that her leaving was at least 4 Scaramuccis ago. Time has lost all meaning.
posted by greermahoney at 7:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [84 favorites]
Washington Post's in-house Trump whisperer Philip Rucker recaps Donald's Case of the Mondays: ‘A Bomb On Trump’s Front Porch’: FBI's Cohen Raids Hit Home For The President
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:29 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Shortly after the raids began Monday morning, Trump received a heads-up at the White House. He huddled in the Oval Office with Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer who oversees its handling of the Mueller probe, as well as with White House counsel Donald McGahn and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, officials said.We'll see if Trump tweets angrily about totally untrue and unfair leaks to the WaPo first thing tomorrow morning.
Other aides said they did not understand what was happening and struggled to pinpoint the significance of the seizures. Many officials sought to keep their distance from the developments, deferring comment until a strategy was determined.
Aides said they viewed Trump’s late-afternoon comments to reporters as a necessary venting session. He had been grousing privately about Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, a Trump appointee who oversees the Mueller investigation because of Sessions’s recusal.
He complained about Rosenstein again Monday in private, a White House adviser said, and stewed all afternoon about the warrant to seize Cohen’s records, at times raising his voice. Trump said that Rosenstein approved the warrant, that he wished Rosenstein was not in the job and there was no one making the prosecutors follow the rules, the adviser said. Trump complained sharply about Sessions and Mueller and asked detailed questions about who was behind the move — and said that people would be more critical of such a warrant if it wasn’t intended to damage the president.
Still, a senior White House official said late Monday that no “imminent” personnel changes were expected.[...]
Trump “won’t like that Cohen is in the crosshairs, but you have to remember: He’d prefer the heat be on Cohen than on him,” said one of the president’s advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “His goal will be to figure out how much vulnerability he has.”[...]
There was fear in Trump’s orbit that the president is liable to erupt in anger in coming days, escalating his attacks against Mueller at a time when his attorneys are negotiating a possible interview. And there was concern in some quarters that Trump, who has been shaking up his administration in recent weeks, may also seek to terminate Mueller.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:29 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
All the rightwing nutjob talk about how some on Mueller's team donated to Clinton. Well, NY District US Attorney Geoffrey Berman was a max donor ($5,400) to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
posted by chris24 at 7:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [34 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [34 favorites]
Hannity’s show...now wondering (without self awareness)
[citation needed]
Seriously I don't believe that fucker has been un-self-aware for even a moment. He knows he's manipulating the president and doing immense damage to our republic and doesn't give a shit. It's just a big ego trip to him, kingmaker, man behind the throne. When it comes to handing out treason awards he should be first in line and the tragedy is that he won't suffer even one bit no matter what happens.
Speaking of scum, does anyone know who was the reporter in the NYT transcript who was daring Trump to fire Mueller?
posted by xigxag at 7:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [19 favorites]
[citation needed]
Seriously I don't believe that fucker has been un-self-aware for even a moment. He knows he's manipulating the president and doing immense damage to our republic and doesn't give a shit. It's just a big ego trip to him, kingmaker, man behind the throne. When it comes to handing out treason awards he should be first in line and the tragedy is that he won't suffer even one bit no matter what happens.
Speaking of scum, does anyone know who was the reporter in the NYT transcript who was daring Trump to fire Mueller?
posted by xigxag at 7:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [19 favorites]
Trump complained sharply about Sessions and Mueller and asked detailed questions about who was behind the move — and said that people would be more critical of such a warrant if it wasn’t intended to damage the president.
There's a lot here.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
There's a lot here.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:38 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Aides said they viewed Trump’s late-afternoon comments to reporters as a necessary venting session
Another step in the normalization of treating the President of the United States like a tantrum-prone toddler who has to be carefully managed to avoid disturbing the other restaurant patrons.
posted by allegedly at 7:44 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
Another step in the normalization of treating the President of the United States like a tantrum-prone toddler who has to be carefully managed to avoid disturbing the other restaurant patrons.
posted by allegedly at 7:44 PM on April 9, 2018 [62 favorites]
@JuddLegum (ThinkProgress)
I’d like to dedicate this day to everyone who dismissed the Stormy Daniels story as a “distraction”
posted by chris24 at 7:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [85 favorites]
I’d like to dedicate this day to everyone who dismissed the Stormy Daniels story as a “distraction”
posted by chris24 at 7:50 PM on April 9, 2018 [85 favorites]
@LouDobbs Twitter Poll
#LDTPoll: Do you believe the corrupt leadership and actions of the DOJ and FBI are now so outrageous and overwhelming that President Trump should fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?
Yes: 34%
No: 66%
74,413 votes ` 14 hours 31 minutes left
You have to be logged in to twitter and have voted to see the results. These numbers are current as of 10.52pm est
posted by pjsky at 7:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
#LDTPoll: Do you believe the corrupt leadership and actions of the DOJ and FBI are now so outrageous and overwhelming that President Trump should fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?
Yes: 34%
No: 66%
74,413 votes ` 14 hours 31 minutes left
You have to be logged in to twitter and have voted to see the results. These numbers are current as of 10.52pm est
posted by pjsky at 7:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [16 favorites]
Al Capone : tax evasion :: Donald Trump : Stormy Daniels and the illegal NDA
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 7:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 7:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
Wow, I just got home from work and am seeing this Trump meltdown. It is delicious.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [11 favorites]
and remembered that the movie Wag the Dog exists, which is about
a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer fabricate a war to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal
Which was released roughly the same time that Bill Clinton ordered the firing missiles into the Sudan and Afghanistan trying to kill Osama bin Laden in retaliation for the Al Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (Operation Infinite Reach). A significant number of people thought a purpose of the attacks was to distract people from Clinton's sex scandal.
What a fucked up world we live in.
posted by srboisvert at 8:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer fabricate a war to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal
Which was released roughly the same time that Bill Clinton ordered the firing missiles into the Sudan and Afghanistan trying to kill Osama bin Laden in retaliation for the Al Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (Operation Infinite Reach). A significant number of people thought a purpose of the attacks was to distract people from Clinton's sex scandal.
What a fucked up world we live in.
posted by srboisvert at 8:06 PM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Maybe outrage fatigue is finally catching up to me, but I feel like I just can't be moved to care all that much about this turn of events. This is what, only the nine thousandth day of stories about the "chaos" and "turmoil" in the White House, and hoo boy, nobody's ever seen Trump this close to snapping. A constitutional crisis is looming, and this latest step is the one that will break our system for certain, and surely this...
I dunno. This fucker's doubled down on every bit of his vile, willfully ignorant, autocratic traits and behaviors since the campaign, and he's only been rewarded for it. Even worse, the people in the world who can stop him don't just allow it—they fall all over themselves to justify why he should be allowed to stay in office, literally with the future of the human race in his hands.
You've kept me sane this past year and half, MeFi, so I promise I'm not directing this frustration at all of you. It's this fucking *reality,* is all. It's late, and I'm going to bed, hoping to wake up with a better attitude. For now, I'll believe there's some goddamn justice in the world when I see it.
posted by Rykey at 8:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [61 favorites]
I dunno. This fucker's doubled down on every bit of his vile, willfully ignorant, autocratic traits and behaviors since the campaign, and he's only been rewarded for it. Even worse, the people in the world who can stop him don't just allow it—they fall all over themselves to justify why he should be allowed to stay in office, literally with the future of the human race in his hands.
You've kept me sane this past year and half, MeFi, so I promise I'm not directing this frustration at all of you. It's this fucking *reality,* is all. It's late, and I'm going to bed, hoping to wake up with a better attitude. For now, I'll believe there's some goddamn justice in the world when I see it.
posted by Rykey at 8:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [61 favorites]
I logged into the two twitter accounts I haven't touched in years just to vote NO twice on Lousy Dobbs' poll. After the first vote, the NOs had gone up to 69%... after the second it was 70% NO. I don't now if it's a sign that the Dobbs followers are not following him or that the word got out to people outside the bubble, but it seems a good sign. Maybe Comrade Dobbs forgot to notify his Russian Troll Network. Anyway, I now consider him the #2 fictional cult leader named Dobbs after Bob of the Subgenius.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:19 PM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:19 PM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
The poll is now at 71% NO.
posted by apartment dweller at 8:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by apartment dweller at 8:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Let's not get into moment-by-moment updates on the poll?
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:23 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:23 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
Josh Marshall, for TPM Prime, talking about the Cohen raids:
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
It simply doesn’t add up. This is something you do when there is major criminal activity and delay or warning will lead to destruction of evidence. That’s not the NDA with Stormy Daniels.We have ourselves a Nixonian constitutional crisis, just much, much stupider.
So what is this about? I don’t know. I will say however that a number of knowledgeable lawyers have suggested to me that we shouldn’t take at face value the idea that Mueller decided that this was unrelated to his case or outside his purview. This may be an effort to insulate himself, or attempt to insulate himself, from Trump’s retaliation. Mueller knows (likely with more detail than we do) that Trump has already tried to fire him.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:36 PM on April 9, 2018 [26 favorites]
It simply doesn’t add up. This is something you do when there is major criminal activity and delay or warning will lead to destruction of evidence. That’s not the NDA with Stormy Daniels.
My guess is it's his money laundering.
posted by scalefree at 8:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
My guess is it's his money laundering.
posted by scalefree at 8:53 PM on April 9, 2018 [13 favorites]
Wow, I just got home from work and am seeing this Trump meltdown. It is delicious.
it's hard to enjoy how much he's suffering when the inevitable lashing out will hit so many undeserving people.
goddamnit trump, you've even taken my schadenfreude away from me.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
it's hard to enjoy how much he's suffering when the inevitable lashing out will hit so many undeserving people.
goddamnit trump, you've even taken my schadenfreude away from me.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:00 PM on April 9, 2018 [31 favorites]
Another bit of fuckery that's been swamped by the rest of the shitstorm today: Andy Slavitt gives a readout of the new proposed rules for the ACA for next year (Twitter | ThreadReader)
The “Bring Back 2007 Insurance Market” rule has been released.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:08 PM on April 9, 2018 [46 favorites]
Trump put out a final rule affecting the ACA for 2019. Here’s what it did:
-lowered protections for ppl w pre-ex
-increased the cost of coverage
-increased barriers to enrollment
How does it weaken pre-ex protections?
-allows states to create a lower benchmark for what a plan covers
-allows states and insurers to create “substitutes” for essential benefits
-taking a shot at risk adjustment (what creates the ability to cover sick ppl wout penalty)
How does this increase the cost of coverage?
-Insurers will now be able to raise rates by up to 15% without justification
-lowers requirements that premiums be spent on claims or given back
-Allows insurers to skip the shopping/exchange process
-Continuing non compliant plans
Time out: read the last tweet again. These are rules coming from the “free market”, “shopping is good” party.
Abdication if profits to insurers at the cost to consumers. Why?
How do barriers to enrollment increase?
-Reduce access to impartial navigators
-Increase burden of eligibility to low income populations
This rule sits on top of:
-repeal of mandate (10-15% prem increase)
-short term plans
-end CSR
-reduce act value of plan
-cut 90% of ads
-end in person help
-cut OE in 1/2
-burdensome payments added
-5 or 6 more
I hear folks saying “bottom line this for me Slavitt. How bad?”
1) It’s an effort to create a very different vision that looks like 2007. To the extent allowable by law,Mort insurers charge what they want, cover what they want & make what they want in profits.
2) Insurers are making a lot of money in the exchanges. A lot. Which means they don’t need these incentives and loosening of the rules. They need the opposite. We should be commoditizing and forcing shopping not the opposite. Silly.
3) But the resiliency of the ACA prevails to a large degree. Most protections can’t be gotten rid of without Congress. So they take swings at it 4 now.
All while people want the opposite. Improve, repair, make the law work.
More analysis and insights in coming days. Thx /end
Speaking of normalization, Boston Globe columnist Michael Cohen @speechboy71 observes, "It's pretty remarkable to see TV analysts openly discussing firing Mueller as a 'choice facing the president' ... as opposed to an impeachment-level offense to obstruct justice"
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [104 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:09 PM on April 9, 2018 [104 favorites]
O to be a spider under the table at the Clinton household today.
posted by threementholsandafuneral at 9:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by threementholsandafuneral at 9:11 PM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]
When the Muslim ban hit and it was time to take to the streets, I had the flu.
I have a major commitment to be at a convention out of town this weekend. Like, personal commitment, professional, financial.
I would really like it if I wasn't that guy who was always absent when it's time to take to the streets, please. Can we maybe hope for not firing Mueller? At least not this week?
(Additionally, the closer we get to the mid-terms before this all caves in, the better, right?)
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have a major commitment to be at a convention out of town this weekend. Like, personal commitment, professional, financial.
I would really like it if I wasn't that guy who was always absent when it's time to take to the streets, please. Can we maybe hope for not firing Mueller? At least not this week?
(Additionally, the closer we get to the mid-terms before this all caves in, the better, right?)
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
ELECTIONS NEWS
** 2018 Senate:
Reminder that we have special elections in Florida (probably safe Dem hold) and Iowa (decent shot at Dem pickup) tomorrow.
Also, I'm way late on May special elections write-up, try to get that out tomorrow.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [43 favorites]
** 2018 Senate:
-- TN: Enten: Senate polling this far out isn't super predictive, which is reason to be skeptical of Bredesen pulling this one off.** 2018 House:
-- FL: Gov Rick Scott finally formally jumped into this race. Ratings outfits have moved the race to Tossup. Polling Twitter is more skeptical of him, and feels it's more (Enten, for example). Pro-Scott argument is: he won the governor's race twice. Anti-Scott is: a) both times were under 50%, b) both times were in pro-GOP environments, not at all like this year, c) Nelson is well liked and Scott is not so much.
-- IN: Joe Donnelly is probably the most endangered Dem incumbent, but he's putting up big fundraising numbers, while the GOP is locked in a bloody primary battle.
-- TX: Inside the Beto O'Rourke fundraising machine.
-- TX-27: Farenthold's resignation from this seat sets up a special election - there was initially some confusion over this, but it looks like it is happening. Seat is pretty solidly red (Trump 60-37).** Odds & ends:
-- Noted earlier, this WP article on the GOP starting to give up on the House and focus on the Senate. To the extent this is actually accurate, it may be self-fulfilling. The GOP shot at keeping the House is still pretty decent - I'm bullish on Dem chances, and I'd still say they still have at least a 1/3 chance. But if they start pulling cash and people out, a fair number of marginal seats could tip over.
-- In a classic case of Dems can't ever do right in the eye of the media, CNN asks if we're getting too cocky about taking back the House. The prospect of success can excite people, you know!
-- Enten (who has been busy) also takes a look at the accuracy of Cook House ratings this far out from the election: Tossups won by the party holding the seat 45% of the time, Leans 69%, Likelies 84%, Solids 99%.***
-- Noted earlier, Gonzales moved a bunch of governor ratings, some left, some right.
-- TN Dems running in 97 of 99 TN House districts and 15 of 17 Senate districts.
-- Voter pre-registration of teens in California is skyrocketing.
-- DC City Council to examine lowering voting age to 16 for all elections.
-- The long-running effort by the NV GOP to force recall elections of Dem state senators they didn't care for has finally been killed off.
Reminder that we have special elections in Florida (probably safe Dem hold) and Iowa (decent shot at Dem pickup) tomorrow.
Also, I'm way late on May special elections write-up, try to get that out tomorrow.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:46 PM on April 9, 2018 [43 favorites]
[Let's not get into moment-by-moment updates on the poll?]
I get this, but at the same time can we acknowledge the likelihood that the President is watching this poll, and that your vote on this shitty fucking Lou Dobbs Twitter poll is thus, without being hyperbolic, quite likely to exert more influence over the fate of the Republic than your 2016 ballot?
posted by contraption at 9:56 PM on April 9, 2018 [40 favorites]
I get this, but at the same time can we acknowledge the likelihood that the President is watching this poll, and that your vote on this shitty fucking Lou Dobbs Twitter poll is thus, without being hyperbolic, quite likely to exert more influence over the fate of the Republic than your 2016 ballot?
posted by contraption at 9:56 PM on April 9, 2018 [40 favorites]
AP, Trump family hotel business asked Panama president for help
Update: the law firm representing the Trump Organization in Panama would like it to be known that they did this all on their own, it's totally routine for them, and nobody at the Trump Organization knew about the letter until today.
So, uh, wouldn't you think lawyers would normally mention "hey, we're writing the President of Panama on your behalf" sometime before sending such a letter? Trump's lawyers sure seem to (claim to) freelance a lot.
posted by zachlipton at 10:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [41 favorites]
Update: the law firm representing the Trump Organization in Panama would like it to be known that they did this all on their own, it's totally routine for them, and nobody at the Trump Organization knew about the letter until today.
So, uh, wouldn't you think lawyers would normally mention "hey, we're writing the President of Panama on your behalf" sometime before sending such a letter? Trump's lawyers sure seem to (claim to) freelance a lot.
posted by zachlipton at 10:10 PM on April 9, 2018 [41 favorites]
-- “Trump's public venting about the Cohen raid being an "attack on our country" is "a fraction of what he is saying in private,"
-- "Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Berman was an Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for the Iran/Contra matter, where he successfully prosecuted a former CIA employee for tax fraud." And Trump is now surprised that this guy, who he appointed in January of this year, is willing to go ahead and raid Michael Cohen's office and residence?
Two important parts of the Trump world view are behind these developments, IMHO:
1) He thinks every government employee (that he picked) works for him directly and owes him personal loyalty;
2) He has the impression that attorney client privilege creates a cone of legal immunity around lawyers, like they're a "base" in a grade school game of tag. There are situations where he seems to have believed that simply having an attorney in the room, or on a conference call, magically allowed everyone else to safely discuss crimes, even if the attorney just listens.
posted by msalt at 11:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
-- "Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Berman was an Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for the Iran/Contra matter, where he successfully prosecuted a former CIA employee for tax fraud." And Trump is now surprised that this guy, who he appointed in January of this year, is willing to go ahead and raid Michael Cohen's office and residence?
Two important parts of the Trump world view are behind these developments, IMHO:
1) He thinks every government employee (that he picked) works for him directly and owes him personal loyalty;
2) He has the impression that attorney client privilege creates a cone of legal immunity around lawyers, like they're a "base" in a grade school game of tag. There are situations where he seems to have believed that simply having an attorney in the room, or on a conference call, magically allowed everyone else to safely discuss crimes, even if the attorney just listens.
posted by msalt at 11:14 PM on April 9, 2018 [33 favorites]
Jamie Lees writes on the wonder that is a Stormy Daniels performance at a strip club in St. Louis.
... Stormy Daniels dancing here neutralizes all of that. Tonight, everyone paid $50 just to be in the same room as her. That takes any advantage that the men might've had and flips the power balance upside-down. You're paying just to exist in her orbit and then you're going to pay even more if you want even 30 seconds of her personal attention. If you want a t-shirt, a photo or an autograph, you'll be paying again. It's $5 for an autograph, $20 for a photo .... all cash. Who has the power now?
And then the lights go low and there she is, the woman who might play a big part in saving us from the 24/7 shitshow that is the current administration. She's just about the only person that our "grab 'em by the pussy" leader won't publicly trash, which just proves her omnipotence. And it seems extra poetic that our savior could end up being a smart, take-no-shit sex worker and mother. The boss lady is walking right in front of us, where we can all hand her cash just for existing, bless her. (I’d like to hand Robert Muller some cash, too, but until he books his own strip tour, we’ll just have to make it rain on Stormy.)
posted by Bella Donna at 12:43 AM on April 10, 2018 [95 favorites]
... Stormy Daniels dancing here neutralizes all of that. Tonight, everyone paid $50 just to be in the same room as her. That takes any advantage that the men might've had and flips the power balance upside-down. You're paying just to exist in her orbit and then you're going to pay even more if you want even 30 seconds of her personal attention. If you want a t-shirt, a photo or an autograph, you'll be paying again. It's $5 for an autograph, $20 for a photo .... all cash. Who has the power now?
And then the lights go low and there she is, the woman who might play a big part in saving us from the 24/7 shitshow that is the current administration. She's just about the only person that our "grab 'em by the pussy" leader won't publicly trash, which just proves her omnipotence. And it seems extra poetic that our savior could end up being a smart, take-no-shit sex worker and mother. The boss lady is walking right in front of us, where we can all hand her cash just for existing, bless her. (I’d like to hand Robert Muller some cash, too, but until he books his own strip tour, we’ll just have to make it rain on Stormy.)
posted by Bella Donna at 12:43 AM on April 10, 2018 [95 favorites]
@joshscampbell (former FBI, CNN analyst):
This tonight from a former FBI colleague:
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
“I’ve been an FBI special agent for 20 years and have only seen a handful of searches executed on attorneys. All of those attorneys went to prison.”
posted by chris24 at 3:21 AM on April 10, 2018 [118 favorites]
This tonight from a former FBI colleague:
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
“I’ve been an FBI special agent for 20 years and have only seen a handful of searches executed on attorneys. All of those attorneys went to prison.”
posted by chris24 at 3:21 AM on April 10, 2018 [118 favorites]
And it begins...
@realDonaldTrump
Attorney–client privilege is dead!
@realDonaldTrump
A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!
posted by chris24 at 4:11 AM on April 10, 2018 [34 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Attorney–client privilege is dead!
@realDonaldTrump
A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!
posted by chris24 at 4:11 AM on April 10, 2018 [34 favorites]
Going along with Josh at TPM's doubts posted earlier that this is just about Stormy, here is a thread where Preet Bhahara and and former DOJ spokesman and current MSNBC Justice Analyst Matthew Miller basically agree that it's possible that the reason SDNY executed this is because they have a "clean" team to handle the attorney-client issue and Mueller doesn't. So it's possible it's still related to Mueller and Russia even though SDNY did it. (Reminder: Preet is the former US Attorney for SDNY.)
@PreetBharara: I need to see more specific reporting before I'm 100% convinced this is a full-on "referral" to SDNY. I could be completely wrong but such a referral seems peculiar. Of course much is peculiar these days. If Cohen flips, for example, and has Russia-related information to testify about, Special Counsel and SDNY are going to share this witness?
Matthew Miller: any possibility that what happened is SDNY executed it as the clean team?
Preet Bharara: Yes that's what I was thinking
Preet Bharara: As @matthewamiller just suggested, it seems that if the Mueller team were retaining the Michael Cohen piece, they would still need a "clean team" (or "taint team") to deal with the sensitivities of A-C privilege. That could be SDNY
Sam Stein (MSNBC): explain for us non-lawyers please
Matthew Miller: would mean that sdny collects all the evidence, sorts out non-privileged material and gives it to Mueller. I.e. the case wasn’t really referred to them.
posted by chris24 at 4:26 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
@PreetBharara: I need to see more specific reporting before I'm 100% convinced this is a full-on "referral" to SDNY. I could be completely wrong but such a referral seems peculiar. Of course much is peculiar these days. If Cohen flips, for example, and has Russia-related information to testify about, Special Counsel and SDNY are going to share this witness?
Matthew Miller: any possibility that what happened is SDNY executed it as the clean team?
Preet Bharara: Yes that's what I was thinking
Preet Bharara: As @matthewamiller just suggested, it seems that if the Mueller team were retaining the Michael Cohen piece, they would still need a "clean team" (or "taint team") to deal with the sensitivities of A-C privilege. That could be SDNY
Sam Stein (MSNBC): explain for us non-lawyers please
Matthew Miller: would mean that sdny collects all the evidence, sorts out non-privileged material and gives it to Mueller. I.e. the case wasn’t really referred to them.
posted by chris24 at 4:26 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
taint team
let's go with "clean team" on this one OK?
posted by thelonius at 4:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [86 favorites]
let's go with "clean team" on this one OK?
posted by thelonius at 4:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [86 favorites]
I don't know: a crass double-entendre such as “taint team” does convey the appropriate level of gravitas for this particular state of affairs.
posted by acb at 4:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by acb at 4:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Just heard on the radio that the fact that this was an attorney's house means it's a much more stringent set of hoops to jump through to get the warrant.
Instead of "detective gets approval from supervisor, then they get a judge to sign it", they have to go to the SDNY first and then to also get the okay from the US District attorney in the area - who would have been appointed by the president. (I may be forgetting someone; basically, it's more people and more of them higher-up.)
This was all cheering because a) this means that they must really have cause to search, and b) even people appointed by Trump were forced to admit "yeah, something stinks, go get 'em."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:40 AM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Instead of "detective gets approval from supervisor, then they get a judge to sign it", they have to go to the SDNY first and then to also get the okay from the US District attorney in the area - who would have been appointed by the president. (I may be forgetting someone; basically, it's more people and more of them higher-up.)
This was all cheering because a) this means that they must really have cause to search, and b) even people appointed by Trump were forced to admit "yeah, something stinks, go get 'em."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:40 AM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
For those who like me are on anti-anxiety meds and worried they can't handle any more, Paul Krugman's sweet calming voice is here to sooth us today: Obamacare’s Very Stable Genius
posted by mumimor at 4:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 4:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
Axios: First look: Harvard poll sees wave of young voters this fall
"A new national poll of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP), located at the Kennedy School of Government, finds a marked increase in the number of young Americans who indicate that they will 'definitely be voting' in the upcoming midterm Congressional elections."posted by chris24 at 4:48 AM on April 10, 2018 [25 favorites]
The big picture: "37 percent of Americans under 30 indicate that they will 'definitely be voting,' compared to 23 percent who said the same in 2014."
"Young Democrats are driving nearly all of the increase in enthusiasm; a majority (51%) report that they will 'definitely' vote in November, which represents a 9-percentage point increase since November 2017 and is significantly larger than the 36 percent of Republicans who say the same."
Adam Davidson (New Yorker):
Michael Cohen is the most important non-Trump in the Trump business world.posted by T.D. Strange at 4:53 AM on April 10, 2018 [64 favorites]
He oversaw nearly all the foreign deals as the Trump Org shifted its focus to sketchy third-tier overseas oligarchs. He was not part of the Trump Org legal team in any real sense. Trump Org lawyers either set up contracts for deals others had brought or they handled litigation.
Cohen did neither. He was a deal maker. The only non-Trump deal maker doing all those international deals. He, Ivanka, and Don, Jr., were the entire global development team at a time when the company was exploring dozens of deals all over the world.
If he were to flip, it would be Ivanka and Don, Jr. who should be most worried. We know, of course, that the Trump Org did business with corrupt politicians, sanctions-violators, money launderers, etc. The only open question is how much they knew about their partners' activity.
Cohen knows how much they knew. He knows what he told them. He is also the most obvious link between Trump and Russia. He oversaw the deal in Georgia which was, explicitly, a first attempt at a former Soviet deal with the goal of a ring of Trump properties all over the CIS. Cohen flew to Kazakhstan and negotiated the failed deal there with Timur Kulibayev, a close ally of Putin's.
Cohen then worked on the Trump Moscow deal in 2015/2016. In none of these deals was he acting like a traditional lawyer--simply advising, writing contracts, etc. He was in the country, meeting with the partners, structuring the deal, going back to NY and explaining the deal to the big boss and his kids. Other than the President, nobody knows as much as Cohen. (And Cohen does seem to have a good memory).
It was stunning that Trump made Cohen his sole personal attorney post-election. Cohen left the Trump Org to form a firm with one client: the President. But Cohen had never acted as a regular attorney for Trump. He had always been the fixer/deal-maker. So, the move to his new private firm seems solely designed to provide attorney-client privilege. To get his documents out of the Trump Org and into a private office.
Kellyanne's husband DGAF.... (Reminder, George Conway was also Paula Jones attorney in her suit against Bill Clinton and worked with Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge in the 90s to go after the Clintons.)
@realDonaldTrump: Attorney–client privilege is dead!
George Conway @gtconway3d
Retweeted Donald J. Trump
https://www.justice.gov/usam/usam-9-13000-obtaining-evidence#9-13.420
9-13.420 - Searches of Premises of Subject Attorneys
posted by chris24 at 5:02 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: Attorney–client privilege is dead!
George Conway @gtconway3d
Retweeted Donald J. Trump
https://www.justice.gov/usam/usam-9-13000-obtaining-evidence#9-13.420
9-13.420 - Searches of Premises of Subject Attorneys
posted by chris24 at 5:02 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
Lost in yesterday's craziness...
Buzzfeed: The White House Won't Say If Trump Thinks It Should Be Illegal To Pay For Sex
Buzzfeed: The White House Won't Say If Trump Thinks It Should Be Illegal To Pay For Sex
Last Friday, two weeks after a former Playboy model alleged Donald Trump tried paying her after sex, the Trump administration seized backpage.com, an adult personal site that was allegedly facilitating sex work.posted by chris24 at 5:14 AM on April 10, 2018 [53 favorites]
The move raised questions about whether Trump supports the Justice Department busting backpage.com, which officials alleged in an indictment Monday was "notorious for being the internet's leading source of prostitution advertisements."
BuzzFeed News asked the White House if Trump supports the bust, how he responded to allegations that he tried to pay for sex, and if he believes sex work should be criminalized. A White House spokesperson said to ask Trump's personal lawyer.
"I refer you to the President’s outside counsel," said deputy White House press secretary Lindsay Walters.
Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, who was raided by the FBI on Monday afternoon, did not respond to questions.
let's go with "clean team" on this one OK?
The US Attorney's manual uses the term "Privilege Team", since they sort out the privileged documents.
posted by mikelieman at 5:15 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
The US Attorney's manual uses the term "Privilege Team", since they sort out the privileged documents.
posted by mikelieman at 5:15 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
It was stunning that Trump made Cohen his sole personal attorney post-election. Cohen left the Trump Org to form a firm with one client: the President. But Cohen had never acted as a regular attorney for Trump. He had always been the fixer/deal-maker. So, the move to his new private firm seems solely designed to provide attorney-client privilege. To get his documents out of the Trump Org and into a private office.
Oh, I didn't understand this before. This is interesting.
posted by mumimor at 5:16 AM on April 10, 2018 [21 favorites]
Oh, I didn't understand this before. This is interesting.
posted by mumimor at 5:16 AM on April 10, 2018 [21 favorites]
Axios: One of the sources said: "Mueller's investigation has been drip, drip. This was a giant leap forward ... a personal hit. ... They were moving in inches. Today, they moved a mile."
posted by chris24 at 5:20 AM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:20 AM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
All the rightwing nutjob talk about how some on Mueller's team donated to Clinton. Well, NY District US Attorney Geoffrey Berman was a max donor ($5,400) to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
This is the type of stuff that makes my brain short circuit. Last night I heard how Berman is an honest, smart, upstanding person.
posted by armacy at 5:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
This is the type of stuff that makes my brain short circuit. Last night I heard how Berman is an honest, smart, upstanding person.
posted by armacy at 5:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
All the rightwing nutjob talk about how some on Mueller's team donated to Clinton. Well, NY District US Attorney Geoffrey Berman was a max donor ($5,400) to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
This is the type of stuff that makes my brain short circuit. Last night I heard how Berman is an honest, smart, upstanding person.
I think a lot of Republicans thought they could manage Trump like they had managed Bush Jr. They were wrong.
Also, they imagined that a criminal couldn't rise to the presidency. That all the rumors were "fake news". They were wrong about that, too.
posted by mumimor at 5:28 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
This is the type of stuff that makes my brain short circuit. Last night I heard how Berman is an honest, smart, upstanding person.
I think a lot of Republicans thought they could manage Trump like they had managed Bush Jr. They were wrong.
Also, they imagined that a criminal couldn't rise to the presidency. That all the rumors were "fake news". They were wrong about that, too.
posted by mumimor at 5:28 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
New from CNN this morning...
Search warrant reveals Mueller's interest in Manafort's actions during Trump campaign
Search warrant reveals Mueller's interest in Manafort's actions during Trump campaign
Search warrant documents used by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators reveal how agents zeroed in on potential criminal activity related to Paul Manafort's time as Donald Trump's campaign chairman. The documents, used to obtain a search warrant in building the case against Manafort, were revealed in a court filing late Monday night. Manafort has pleaded not guilty in two federal cases, and the charges he faces do not include allegations about his time on the campaign. The search warrant makes clear -- despite recent criticisms from the White House and others that the pursuit of Manafort was not connected to Trump or the 2016 election -- that Mueller is also focused on actions connected to the campaign.posted by chris24 at 5:28 AM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
Investigators in a search warrant application last July told a judge in Virginia that they sought evidence related to Manafort's interactions with a Russian real estate magnate and were suspicious of possible campaign finance violations. Specifically, the investigators sought from Manafort's apartment records "involving any of the attendees of the June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower" and anything involving Aras and Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire and his son tied to the meeting, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and to a possible earlier unsuccessful attempt to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Manafort attended the meeting, which was facilitated by the Agalarovs and attended by their publicist and an employee of their company, and a Russian lawyer who was believed to be bringing revealing information about Hillary Clinton. Manafort was in the meeting, along with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner.
Also overshadowed last night, the budget rescissions seem dead in the water.
WaPo: Key Senate Republicans warn White House against pursuing spending cuts
WaPo: Key Senate Republicans warn White House against pursuing spending cuts
An incipient push to reverse some of the $1.3 trillion in 2018 spending that Congress pushed through last month might already be dead, given early opposition from two key Republican senators who said Monday that they were unlikely to support the move.posted by chris24 at 5:43 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Aides to President Trump are working with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to craft a “rescission” bill that would take advantage of special legislative procedures to roll back tens of billions of dollars in federal appropriations.
While the omnibus spending bill that passed last month was the product of a compromise between Republicans and Democrats, largely due to Senate rules requiring a three-fifths majority votes, the Trump administration could send up a package of cuts that could pass the Senate on a simple majority vote under procedures set out in the 1974 statute governing the federal budget process. But it is not at all clear that a rescission bill could get a simple majority in the Senate, with Republicans holding a slight 51-49 majority and Democrats inclined to oppose cuts to the deal they already negotiated and passed.
Two Republican “cardinals” — powerful lawmakers who chair Senate Appropriations subcommittees — said Monday that they were perplexed by the talk of a rescission bill just weeks after the passage of the omnibus.
“I’d obviously have to look at what’s in it, but I do not understand reopening a hard negotiation on a budget package that has just been completed,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the subcommittee on transportation, housing and urban development, and related agencies. “To me, the administration would be better advised to focus on this coming fiscal year. We’re just starting up the hearings in the Appropriations Committee, and that would be a far better approach.”
Asked Monday if appropriators were throwing cold water on the notion of pursuing rescissions, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “Well, this one is. Just off the top, my initial response is no,” said Murkowski, who chairs the subcommittee on interior, environment and related agencies. “You know, we worked hard. It’s not a perfect package. Nothing is. But as individual appropriators, I know we all worked hard on our accounts and tried to get the priorities that we could.”
Opposition from Collins and Murkowski — as well as the indefinite absence of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — would mean that Republicans would be unable to muscle through a rescission bill on their own. GOP leaders would need to peel off several Democrats, and while some red-state Democrats seeking reelection this year might be compelled to vote with Trump, they would also come under considerable pressure to stick with the deal that they had already voted for.
"involving any of the attendees of the June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower" and anything involving Aras and Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire and his son tied to the meeting, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and to a possible earlier unsuccessful attempt to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
I remember first reading about this and going OMG about 2 decades ago ( subjective time ), and that I was in shock, since it was so clearly egregious.
And here we are, all this time later, and it looks like Mueller's making my dreams come true.
I need to step away for a while, and have a good cry.
posted by mikelieman at 5:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
I remember first reading about this and going OMG about 2 decades ago ( subjective time ), and that I was in shock, since it was so clearly egregious.
And here we are, all this time later, and it looks like Mueller's making my dreams come true.
I need to step away for a while, and have a good cry.
posted by mikelieman at 5:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
from the Axios link (above):
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [111 favorites]
Take a minute to think about the history unfolding before our eyes. You have the president’s top lawyer getting raided by the FBI, prompting the president to warn of an epic attack on government and signaling he might try to can the special counsel investigating him.yay?
This is on the eve of the arguably most powerful and well known CEO of our generation getting grilled by Congress, in part because the Russians used his platform to try to elect the man at the center of it all.
History books will be written about this — and you were there to see it all unfold.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [111 favorites]
That dumb “Chinese curse” thing about interesting times turns out to be true then.
posted by Artw at 5:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
I've frequently wished we could just fast-forward to the tell-all books in about a decade or so.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:52 AM on April 10, 2018 [73 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:52 AM on April 10, 2018 [73 favorites]
In a recent hate-read thread about dating Jewish men, some of the commenters mentioned that there are parts of America in which people love to have Jewish doctors and lawyers because they assume that anybody with a Jewish last name must be brilliant at doctoring and lawyering.
I can only assume that this is how Cohen got his job with Trump.
posted by clawsoon at 5:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
I can only assume that this is how Cohen got his job with Trump.
posted by clawsoon at 5:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
@jessehawken: Trump is like the Michael Bay remake of BEING THERE
posted by chris24 at 5:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [76 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [76 favorites]
IIRC there's at least one biography that describes Trump saying he prefers Jewish accountants to handle his money because they're supposed to be so good at it...so, yeah.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:57 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 5:57 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
History books will be written about this — and you were there to see it all unfold.
If those history books don't constantly point out how Burn-After-Reading level *stupid* it all is, I'm going to throw a fit. We're living through the most remarkable parade of idiots in known memory. Truly world historically stupid shit going down now, and you're all here to witness it, folks. Can't wait to see how dumb the documents coming out of Cohen's office are. Probably a file cabinet marked "PRESIDENTIAL CRIMES".
posted by dis_integration at 5:58 AM on April 10, 2018 [60 favorites]
If those history books don't constantly point out how Burn-After-Reading level *stupid* it all is, I'm going to throw a fit. We're living through the most remarkable parade of idiots in known memory. Truly world historically stupid shit going down now, and you're all here to witness it, folks. Can't wait to see how dumb the documents coming out of Cohen's office are. Probably a file cabinet marked "PRESIDENTIAL CRIMES".
posted by dis_integration at 5:58 AM on April 10, 2018 [60 favorites]
In a recent hate-read thread about dating Jewish men, some of the commenters mentioned that there are parts of America in which people love to have Jewish doctors and lawyers because they assume that anybody with a Jewish last name must be brilliant at doctoring and lawyering. I can only assume that this is how Cohen got his job with Trump.
@paulkrugman: One under-appreciated virtue of Trump is dispelling ethnic stereotypes. The next time someone talks about smart Jewish lawyers, think Michael Cohen. The next time they talk about clever Jewish financiers, think Steve Mnuchin.
posted by chris24 at 5:58 AM on April 10, 2018 [32 favorites]
@paulkrugman: One under-appreciated virtue of Trump is dispelling ethnic stereotypes. The next time someone talks about smart Jewish lawyers, think Michael Cohen. The next time they talk about clever Jewish financiers, think Steve Mnuchin.
posted by chris24 at 5:58 AM on April 10, 2018 [32 favorites]
The next time they talk about smart brain surgeons, think Ben Carson.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:00 AM on April 10, 2018 [69 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:00 AM on April 10, 2018 [69 favorites]
As I was getting the hell out of lower Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks, I had that same sudden realization of hey this is history, and it's happening around me right now!
It was no consolation at all.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:01 AM on April 10, 2018 [92 favorites]
It was no consolation at all.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:01 AM on April 10, 2018 [92 favorites]
Mod note: A couple deleted. Let's drop the side conversations on how rich people are and ethnic stereotypes, and stick more to focusing on the news. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:16 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 6:16 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
In none of these deals was he acting like a traditional lawyer
Apparently not a wartime consigliere, either
posted by schadenfrau at 6:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
Apparently not a wartime consigliere, either
posted by schadenfrau at 6:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
I can only assume that this is how Cohen got his job with Trump.
I know for a fact that it is.
You remember my lunch with Trump, yeah? At the conclusion of that meeting, when my dad came to pick me up, he and Donald caught up for a few minutes, during which the entirety of the conversation pivoted on the fact that he'd been beaten in litigation. He'd been forced to settle at terms he resented, and he blamed it entirely on not having competent lawyers.
"Listen, [name]," he told my dad, "I really need some better lawyers. You must know some real sharks. Killers.*" He went on in this vein for awhile, and the context made his thought process, his little onboard syllogism, absolutely crystal clear: the guy before me has a Jewish name, and therefore identifies as a Jew; all Jews know one another, and especially all Jewish lawyers; all Jewish lawyers deploy their sneaky Hebraic wiles to best advantage in court; if I want effective representation, I want a Jew; there is no better way to find one than to ask the Jew standing in front of me."
I have no reason at all to believe his thinking has changed differently in the intervening 29 years.
*This language was so vivid, and weird, and memorable, that it was both shocking and somehow not-shocking to hear the same sentiments expressed virtually word-for-word at various points in the debates, in the course of post-election table talk, etc. It's so vivid, in fact, that I knew immediately when some reported chunk of Trump mouthfartery was authentic — these words are fixations, reliable indicators that he is in fact the one speaking.
And, of course, it also sheds curious side-light on his reported fascination with Shark Week.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:27 AM on April 10, 2018 [165 favorites]
I know for a fact that it is.
You remember my lunch with Trump, yeah? At the conclusion of that meeting, when my dad came to pick me up, he and Donald caught up for a few minutes, during which the entirety of the conversation pivoted on the fact that he'd been beaten in litigation. He'd been forced to settle at terms he resented, and he blamed it entirely on not having competent lawyers.
"Listen, [name]," he told my dad, "I really need some better lawyers. You must know some real sharks. Killers.*" He went on in this vein for awhile, and the context made his thought process, his little onboard syllogism, absolutely crystal clear: the guy before me has a Jewish name, and therefore identifies as a Jew; all Jews know one another, and especially all Jewish lawyers; all Jewish lawyers deploy their sneaky Hebraic wiles to best advantage in court; if I want effective representation, I want a Jew; there is no better way to find one than to ask the Jew standing in front of me."
I have no reason at all to believe his thinking has changed differently in the intervening 29 years.
*This language was so vivid, and weird, and memorable, that it was both shocking and somehow not-shocking to hear the same sentiments expressed virtually word-for-word at various points in the debates, in the course of post-election table talk, etc. It's so vivid, in fact, that I knew immediately when some reported chunk of Trump mouthfartery was authentic — these words are fixations, reliable indicators that he is in fact the one speaking.
And, of course, it also sheds curious side-light on his reported fascination with Shark Week.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:27 AM on April 10, 2018 [165 favorites]
@CNNPolitics
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) says he doesn't think President Trump will oust special counsel Robert Mueller: "I think it would provoke some sort of reaction by Congress, I think he knows that"
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 6:29 AM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) says he doesn't think President Trump will oust special counsel Robert Mueller: "I think it would provoke some sort of reaction by Congress, I think he knows that"
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 6:29 AM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
I think it would provoke some sort of reaction by Congress
Yeah, I'm sure they would find it "concerning".
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:37 AM on April 10, 2018 [40 favorites]
Yeah, I'm sure they would find it "concerning".
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:37 AM on April 10, 2018 [40 favorites]
Yes, reasons to doubt them, but we're getting more pushback from elected Rs than normal.
@GarrettHaake
“I have confidence in Mueller, the president ought to have confidence in Mueller, & I think ... it would be suicide for the president to fire Mueller, to want to talk about firing Mueller, the less the president said on this whole thing, the better” @ChuckGrassley on FBN
posted by chris24 at 6:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
@GarrettHaake
“I have confidence in Mueller, the president ought to have confidence in Mueller, & I think ... it would be suicide for the president to fire Mueller, to want to talk about firing Mueller, the less the president said on this whole thing, the better” @ChuckGrassley on FBN
posted by chris24 at 6:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
And their story also contains the fun fact that Cohen appears to have been let go from his "strategic alliance" with powerhouse international lobbyist-law firm Squire Patton Boggs
Carole Cadwalladr has pointed out that Squire Patton Boggs were the lawyers who sent The Guardian a "Pre-Action Protocol for Defamation" ahead of her initial May 2017 story on Cambridge Analytica.
posted by rory at 6:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Carole Cadwalladr has pointed out that Squire Patton Boggs were the lawyers who sent The Guardian a "Pre-Action Protocol for Defamation" ahead of her initial May 2017 story on Cambridge Analytica.
posted by rory at 6:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Politico: Inside Puerto Rico’s Plan to Influence the Midterm Elections: Frustrated by Congress’ response to Hurricane Maria, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is preparing to drop a ‘hammer’ in targeted states in 2018
“We need to demonstrate that we have a hammer,” Rosselló said. “Congressmen need to know that if we go to their office, they can’t just give us a happy talk, as has happened in the past. So, if you’re going to give us happy talk and then take actions that clearly affect the people of Puerto Rico, then the only strategy that we have left ... is to go to your districts.”posted by chris24 at 6:54 AM on April 10, 2018 [164 favorites]
Rosselló kicked off the effort in January with a trip to Florida, which was already home to many Puerto Ricans before they were joined by many more displaced by the hurricane—but which also holds critical elections this year for governor and U.S. Senate in addition to a collection of tight House races.
With Senate and House races getting priority, Rosselló and allies have already started voter-registration drives in Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, and are eyeing New Jersey, Ohio and Texas. They’ll build a list of voters to activate, put money and effort into keeping after them all year long and push them to the polls for the primaries and midterms. There will be more travel and fundraising to support the efforts.
Rosselló’s model: Cuban-Americans, who for 60 years have mobilized what is still fewer than 2 million people into a force that’s shaped American politics and foreign policy. Compare that with the 5.6 million Puerto Ricans concentrated in just a few states. Details are still coming together, but Rosselló thinks that under these circumstances he can kick-start that kind of action in just a few months and keep building it into the 2020 election.
“Puerto Rico has never had a structure like the one that we’re forming. It has never demonstrated to have the national wherewithal and political power that we hope to showcase in this election,” he said. “And if we do that, I think it will start pressing on these issues of second-class citizenship, equality, and then what are the solutions for Puerto Rico.”
As always I'm completely behind in the megathreads so pardon the randomness of this comment, but I wanted to share something hopeful with all y'all. While driving around the State to talk to residents last weekend Beto O'Rourke found a dog, Blondie, in Matador, TX pop. 589. That was one of the larger towns he went to that day. He called the owner (facebook link). Dog safe and clearly by that twitter video she endorsed Beto for Senate 2018. This is who I get to vote for this November.
posted by dog food sugar at 7:10 AM on April 10, 2018 [86 favorites]
posted by dog food sugar at 7:10 AM on April 10, 2018 [86 favorites]
Simon Maloy (MMFA): fun to remember that the only reason Bob Mueller is even in the picture is because Trump threatened Comey (via tweet) with audio recordings that didn't exist. really shaping up as one of the great world historical self owns
posted by chris24 at 7:18 AM on April 10, 2018 [40 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:18 AM on April 10, 2018 [40 favorites]
Rosselló kicked off the effort in January with a trip to Florida, which was already home to many Puerto Ricans before they were joined by many more displaced by the hurricane—but which also holds critical elections this year for governor and U.S. Senate in addition to a collection of tight House races.
Austin, TX.
Right now it's gerrymandered to have 0 congressional representatives.
And influx of Puerto Ricans could turn it into 5 reps overnight.
posted by ocschwar at 7:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [36 favorites]
This happened on Fox.
Aaron Rupar (Think Progress)
Incredible. @RandPaul argues Mueller's investigation is bad because it's too expansive, immediately gets called out for his hypocrisy by @BillHemmer.
"How did you feel about Ken Starr in the 90s?" Hemmer asks.
"You know, I may not have been as consistent back then," Paul says.
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [72 favorites]
Aaron Rupar (Think Progress)
Incredible. @RandPaul argues Mueller's investigation is bad because it's too expansive, immediately gets called out for his hypocrisy by @BillHemmer.
"How did you feel about Ken Starr in the 90s?" Hemmer asks.
"You know, I may not have been as consistent back then," Paul says.
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [72 favorites]
Last week Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert pushed back against the view of the Trump White House as chaotic, saying: “You won’t believe this, but this White House seems to function just about the same as every other White House."
He just resigned.
posted by neroli at 7:37 AM on April 10, 2018 [81 favorites]
He just resigned.
posted by neroli at 7:37 AM on April 10, 2018 [81 favorites]
I have witnessed Tom Bossert saying some crazy shit on CNN. He is not a shrinking violet when it comes to defending this administration and its crimes. If he's resigning voluntarily there is something significant going on.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
Take a minute to think about the history unfolding before our eyes. You have the president’s top lawyer getting raided by the FBI, prompting the president to warn of an epic attack on government and signaling he might try to can the special counsel investigating him.
[...]
History books will be written about this — and you were there to see it all unfold.
I'll just wait for the satiric historical novel, Infrastructure Week, thanks.
posted by dannyboybell at 7:43 AM on April 10, 2018 [116 favorites]
[...]
History books will be written about this — and you were there to see it all unfold.
I'll just wait for the satiric historical novel, Infrastructure Week, thanks.
posted by dannyboybell at 7:43 AM on April 10, 2018 [116 favorites]
If he's resigning voluntarily there is something significant going on.
Something like Bolton coming in an cleaning house/replacing existing staff with his own folks? I am not saying its impossible/implausible that Bossart is leaving because of something too sketchy even for him, but seems more likely he got axed by the new not-quite big boss.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Something like Bolton coming in an cleaning house/replacing existing staff with his own folks? I am not saying its impossible/implausible that Bossart is leaving because of something too sketchy even for him, but seems more likely he got axed by the new not-quite big boss.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Jennifer Jacobs, White House reporter for Bloomberg, says Bossert is basically being fired at the request of Guy Who Really Loves Wars John Bolton.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
Josh Marshall has a roundup of key TPM Cohen articles going back thirteen months.
posted by mikepop at 7:48 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by mikepop at 7:48 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
I called the DC offices of my Iowa U.S. Senators (both Republican) to ask whether they agreed with the President that Special Counsel Mueller has committed "an attack on our country" and on "what we all stand for". Neither had issued a statement regarding this matter. Senator Ernst has not issued a recent statement on her website regarding the Special Counsel's investigation, but, said the staffer, she may have said something on CNN yesterday. Senator Grassley has issued repeated statements saying that Special Counsel Mueller should be permitted to complete his investigation. I applauded these statements and asked whether Senator Grassley had sponsored legislation to protect Special Counsel Mueller. I was informed that he had not.
I told Senator Grassley's staffer that people like me who have not been elected as a U.S. Senator are expected to impotently wish for things, but in the case of people who have been granted legislative power by the populace of a state, such as Senator Grassley, it is more appropriate to, when possible, pass legislation effectuating change in the universe, using the power that has been granted unto them by the populace.
I told Senator Ernst's staffer that my understanding of the founding of this country was that the people were rebelling against a Monarch who was above the law and could commit moral obscenities without repercussions. I said that it is vital that we adhere to the Founding Fathers' wish that their President should not be above the law. I expressed my wish that she should immediately issue a statement in support of Special Counsel Mueller being able to complete his investigation, and that she should sponsor legislation to protect his critical mission, and to protect the nature of our country as a democracy and not an autocratic regime in which the head of state is above the law. I was thanked and my messages will be passed along
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [124 favorites]
I told Senator Grassley's staffer that people like me who have not been elected as a U.S. Senator are expected to impotently wish for things, but in the case of people who have been granted legislative power by the populace of a state, such as Senator Grassley, it is more appropriate to, when possible, pass legislation effectuating change in the universe, using the power that has been granted unto them by the populace.
I told Senator Ernst's staffer that my understanding of the founding of this country was that the people were rebelling against a Monarch who was above the law and could commit moral obscenities without repercussions. I said that it is vital that we adhere to the Founding Fathers' wish that their President should not be above the law. I expressed my wish that she should immediately issue a statement in support of Special Counsel Mueller being able to complete his investigation, and that she should sponsor legislation to protect his critical mission, and to protect the nature of our country as a democracy and not an autocratic regime in which the head of state is above the law. I was thanked and my messages will be passed along
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [124 favorites]
Sinclair TV chairman to Trump: 'We are here to deliver your message' (Jon Swaine, Guardian)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [34 favorites]
David D Smith, whose company has been criticised for making its anchors read a script echoing Trump’s attacks on the media, said he briefed officials last year on a system that would enable authorities to broadcast direct to any American’s phone.It's nice to see real journalistic integrity in these days of modern time.
“I just wanted them to be aware of the technology,” Smith said in an interview. He also recalled an earlier meeting with Trump during the 2016 election campaign, where he told the future president: “We are here to deliver your message.”
Sinclair is the biggest owner of local TV in the US, and may soon reach 72% of American households if a proposed $4bn takeover of a rival is approved by federal regulators. It is accused by critics of having a conservative bias, which it denies.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [34 favorites]
Here's your CSPAN link for Zuckerberg in Congress later. Here's the link for chat for all your hot-take, spicy quips, and facepalming needs.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
may soon reach 72% of American households
Since fewer than 50% of Americans actually get their news from TV, this is somewhat inaccurate; I assume if this claim is based on anything substantive it should be something more like "72% of American retirees."
posted by aspersioncast at 8:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
Since fewer than 50% of Americans actually get their news from TV, this is somewhat inaccurate; I assume if this claim is based on anything substantive it should be something more like "72% of American retirees."
posted by aspersioncast at 8:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
In general I'm skeptical of generational arguments, especially ones involving "inevitability." The same Baby Boomers who fueled the hippie movement brought us Reagan, for example, and hypocritically refused to legalize marijuana as soon as they had their own kids to fret over.
That said, structural changes in technology combined with generational change can matter a lot -- GenXers did tend to have more fragmented views than Boomers because cable TV, zines and the Internet inform one very differently than 3 big TV networks everyone watches.
So when as crabby old farts transfixed by Fox News die off, things will change. They might not get better, as InfoWars and the Daily Stormer replace Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, but I think they might simply because web alternatives can't command cable TV's mass audience.
posted by msalt at 8:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
That said, structural changes in technology combined with generational change can matter a lot -- GenXers did tend to have more fragmented views than Boomers because cable TV, zines and the Internet inform one very differently than 3 big TV networks everyone watches.
So when as crabby old farts transfixed by Fox News die off, things will change. They might not get better, as InfoWars and the Daily Stormer replace Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, but I think they might simply because web alternatives can't command cable TV's mass audience.
posted by msalt at 8:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
if the CSPAN link above doesn't appeal, you can fire up your Oculus Rift and watch Zuck's testimony in VR
[real]
posted by halation at 8:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
[real]
posted by halation at 8:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ah, yes, the Oculus Rift, a product which enriched shit-head creator and Trump-supporter Palmer Luckey.
posted by defenestration at 8:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by defenestration at 8:56 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
ABC News's Jon Karl @jonkarl—"SCOOP: ABC News has learned Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. He had no role in raid of Cohen's office. Another recusal that will make @realDonaldTrump unhappy."
The New York Times's Adam Goldman @adamgoldmanNYT—"SCOOP: Rod Rosenstein Personally Approved F.B.I. Raid on Trump Lawyer, Officials Say https://nyti.ms/2GMtC21 @shearm @mattapuzzo"
(You may supply your own "Donny Two-Scoops" jokes as needed.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:57 AM on April 10, 2018 [66 favorites]
The New York Times's Adam Goldman @adamgoldmanNYT—"SCOOP: Rod Rosenstein Personally Approved F.B.I. Raid on Trump Lawyer, Officials Say https://nyti.ms/2GMtC21 @shearm @mattapuzzo"
(You may supply your own "Donny Two-Scoops" jokes as needed.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:57 AM on April 10, 2018 [66 favorites]
may soon reach 72% of American households
...that means AVAILABLE to 72% of American households. Like FoxNews and CNN are available to nearly all households that get cable or satellite TV, which is not quite all households, and their actual reach is only 2-3 million viewers for their most popular shows, which is still less than The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory (chosen because they're the most popular series right now, not as an indicator of general TV quality).
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:58 AM on April 10, 2018
...that means AVAILABLE to 72% of American households. Like FoxNews and CNN are available to nearly all households that get cable or satellite TV, which is not quite all households, and their actual reach is only 2-3 million viewers for their most popular shows, which is still less than The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory (chosen because they're the most popular series right now, not as an indicator of general TV quality).
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:58 AM on April 10, 2018
Remember when Trump insisted on personally interviewing US Attorney candidates? Norms are there for a reason.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:01 AM on April 10, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:01 AM on April 10, 2018 [25 favorites]
"Listen, [name]," he told my dad, "I really need some better lawyers. You must know some real sharks. Killers.*" He went on in this vein for awhile, and the context made his thought process, his little onboard syllogism, absolutely crystal clear: the guy before me has a Jewish name, and therefore identifies as a Jew; all Jews know one another, and especially all Jewish lawyers; all Jewish lawyers deploy their sneaky Hebraic wiles to best advantage in court; if I want effective representation, I want a Jew; there is no better way to find one than to ask the Jew standing in front of me."
(1) The Jews Trump most respects (and fears) are the ones that in his eyes are the toughest and most sharklike.
(2) When Trump made Stormy Daniels watch 4 hours of Shark Week, he told her that he hated sharks and wanted them all dead.
(3) I'm tired of this shit.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:05 AM on April 10, 2018 [51 favorites]
(1) The Jews Trump most respects (and fears) are the ones that in his eyes are the toughest and most sharklike.
(2) When Trump made Stormy Daniels watch 4 hours of Shark Week, he told her that he hated sharks and wanted them all dead.
(3) I'm tired of this shit.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:05 AM on April 10, 2018 [51 favorites]
So, that NYT scoop - who is leaking that? Who does it help? It seems to me like someone trying to get Rod Rosenstein fired.
This whole administration is so disorienting.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:05 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
This whole administration is so disorienting.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:05 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
Suddenly, Michael Cohen, the bag-walking, dick-swinging swagger-monkey wannabe thug attorney and consigliere for Donald Trump’s far-flung penile enterprises is scared. If Cohen had a lump of coal in his ass the moment those search warrants arrived, he could have popped out a diamond. He realizes how deep this hole can become if he doesn’t roll over. He doesn’t have the resources to defend himself, and Trump isn’t exactly known for paying his bills in the first place. Cohen is scared, and he’s not alone.
posted by growabrain at 9:10 AM on April 10, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by growabrain at 9:10 AM on April 10, 2018 [22 favorites]
(note that the above delightful shit-talking is from Rick Wilson, so apply as much salt as you are accustomed to)
posted by murphy slaw at 9:14 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 9:14 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Roger Stone said in July 2016 Russians were 'most likely' behind WikiLeaks emails and doing it to help Trump
Longtime Trump associate Roger Stone said several times in July 2016 that Russia was most likely the source for hacked emails released during the Democratic National Convention and that it was not far-fetched to say the purpose was to help Donald Trump's presidential campaign, according to a CNN KFile review of Stone's interviews and appearances.posted by kirkaracha at 9:17 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
...
Asked Monday for comment, Stone told CNN, "I'm publishing my own time line that will only make you look foolish."
It seems to me like someone trying to get Rod Rosenstein fired.
On the other hand, now that this information is out, isn't firing Rosenstein even more unambiguously obstruction?
posted by neroli at 9:17 AM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
On the other hand, now that this information is out, isn't firing Rosenstein even more unambiguously obstruction?
posted by neroli at 9:17 AM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
The NYT sources "three government officials."
posted by fedward at 9:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
The early-morning searches enraged Mr. Trump, associates said, setting off an angry public tirade Monday evening that continued in private at the White House as the president fumed about whether he should fire Mr. Rosenstein. The episode has deeply unsettled White House aides, Justice Department officials and lawmakers from both parties, who believe the president may use it as a pretext to purge the team leading the investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.Since his staff is clearly in "every man for himself" mode I don't think it's possible to read into that whether they see it in their interest to hurt Rosenstein, or that they want to signal the heightened risk to people in Congress in order to get more protection for Rosenstein and Mueller, or that they're trying to induce press panic over obstruction charges in order to affect the coverage in a way that gets their message across to Trump. With three sources, all three approaches could be true.
posted by fedward at 9:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
In memory of Tom Bossert's sad departure let's revisit his corpse-eyed 17-minute defense of Nazis at Charlottesville.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Special Counsel Mueller plans to issue a report on Obstruction of Justice this summer, prior to the completion of his investigation. This is what I have wished for since the day he was appointed.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:20 AM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:20 AM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
Subpoena it is then!
ABC: President Trump 'less inclined' to sit down with special counsel for interview after raid on personal attorney: Sources
posted by chris24 at 9:29 AM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]
ABC: President Trump 'less inclined' to sit down with special counsel for interview after raid on personal attorney: Sources
posted by chris24 at 9:29 AM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]
So, that NYT scoop - who is leaking that? Who does it help? It seems to me like someone trying to get Rod Rosenstein fired.
Yes and no. On one hand, Rosenstein is definitely in Trump's crosshairs—per the NYT article, "Mr. Trump is now again telling associates that he is frustrated with Mr. Rosenstein, according to one official familiar with the conversations."—and currently under attack by Capitol Hill Trumpists on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
On the other, this leak portrays Rosenstein, and Mueller, as scrupulously executing departmental procedures for obtaining this warrant, which ought to undercuts Trump's accusations of impropriety, again per the NYT article, "The involvement of Mr. Rosenstein and top prosecutors in New York in the raid of Mr. Cohen’s office makes it harder for Mr. Trump to argue that his legal problems are the result of a witch hunt led by Mr. Mueller."
Meanwhile, ABC's Jonathan Karl updates his earlier scoop with this significant detail: "A sourced briefed on the matter says the Berman recusal was approved by ... Rod Rosenstein"
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:30 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yes and no. On one hand, Rosenstein is definitely in Trump's crosshairs—per the NYT article, "Mr. Trump is now again telling associates that he is frustrated with Mr. Rosenstein, according to one official familiar with the conversations."—and currently under attack by Capitol Hill Trumpists on the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
On the other, this leak portrays Rosenstein, and Mueller, as scrupulously executing departmental procedures for obtaining this warrant, which ought to undercuts Trump's accusations of impropriety, again per the NYT article, "The involvement of Mr. Rosenstein and top prosecutors in New York in the raid of Mr. Cohen’s office makes it harder for Mr. Trump to argue that his legal problems are the result of a witch hunt led by Mr. Mueller."
Meanwhile, ABC's Jonathan Karl updates his earlier scoop with this significant detail: "A sourced briefed on the matter says the Berman recusal was approved by ... Rod Rosenstein"
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:30 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Rosenstein still has the Comey letter. Feels like some sort of boss-level unlockable acheivement to get it.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:34 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:34 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
Here's a thought/question.
Since this case was (apparently) referred to the New York office, does that mean it continues, even if Mueller is fired as Special Counsel?
posted by Tabitha Someday at 9:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Since this case was (apparently) referred to the New York office, does that mean it continues, even if Mueller is fired as Special Counsel?
posted by Tabitha Someday at 9:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
President Trump 'less inclined' to sit down with special counsel for interview after raid on personal attorney: Sources
I think Mueller is very good at his job and knows that if he could have persuaded Donald Trump to ignore his lawyers and make the legally irresponsible decision to sit down for an interview, he would have done so. Instead he has gone through the many legal hurdles required before ordering an unanticipated raid on the records of the President's personal lawyer. Wheels are turning.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:36 AM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
I think Mueller is very good at his job and knows that if he could have persuaded Donald Trump to ignore his lawyers and make the legally irresponsible decision to sit down for an interview, he would have done so. Instead he has gone through the many legal hurdles required before ordering an unanticipated raid on the records of the President's personal lawyer. Wheels are turning.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:36 AM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Mueller isn’t going to be able to issue a report on obstruction of justice if Trump fires everybody in a rage.
posted by gucci mane at 9:37 AM on April 10, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 9:37 AM on April 10, 2018
If Rosenstein signed off on it, then firing him (which seems like it'd be necessary in order to fire Mueller anyway) would likely get rid of whatever part of the Cohen matter is outside Mueller's purview as well.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:37 AM on April 10, 2018
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:37 AM on April 10, 2018
Since this case was (apparently) referred to the New York office, does that mean it continues, even if Mueller is fired as Special Counsel?
This investigation will continue until the Attorney General (Acting or otherwise un-recused) quashes it. This is one reason that Trump supporters suggest that firing Mueller would be ill-advised,
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:38 AM on April 10, 2018
This investigation will continue until the Attorney General (Acting or otherwise un-recused) quashes it. This is one reason that Trump supporters suggest that firing Mueller would be ill-advised,
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:38 AM on April 10, 2018
Special Counsel Mueller plans to issue a report on Obstruction of Justice this summer, prior to the completion of his investigation.
I'm already looking forward to the sequel.
posted by Gelatin at 9:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm already looking forward to the sequel.
posted by Gelatin at 9:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
President Trump 'less inclined' to sit down with special counsel for interview after raid on personal attorney
It seems apparent (slash I-predict) that Trump is just going to retreat further and further until he's in a fetal position under the Resolute Desk while nobody is left to wonder where he is.
posted by rhizome at 9:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
It seems apparent (slash I-predict) that Trump is just going to retreat further and further until he's in a fetal position under the Resolute Desk while nobody is left to wonder where he is.
posted by rhizome at 9:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
On the other, this leak portrays Rosenstein, and Mueller, as scrupulously executing departmental procedures for obtaining this warrant, which ought to undercuts Trump's accusations of impropriety
lol facts. I mean, seriously, talking about something undercutting Trump's accusations against people on these issues implies there's anything resembling support there anyway. The fig leaf is irrelevant. His supporters will believe him over any other source - that's part of what his behavior grooms them for (whether he does it knowingly or instinctively I wouldn't guess but it doesn't seem to matter). Congress has shown no sign of being serious about his behavior so why would that matter either?
I'm not saying it doesn't matter but I'm not sure I think it changes anything whether his idiotic assertions have vague deniability or not.
posted by phearlez at 9:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
lol facts. I mean, seriously, talking about something undercutting Trump's accusations against people on these issues implies there's anything resembling support there anyway. The fig leaf is irrelevant. His supporters will believe him over any other source - that's part of what his behavior grooms them for (whether he does it knowingly or instinctively I wouldn't guess but it doesn't seem to matter). Congress has shown no sign of being serious about his behavior so why would that matter either?
I'm not saying it doesn't matter but I'm not sure I think it changes anything whether his idiotic assertions have vague deniability or not.
posted by phearlez at 9:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
New York Times: Raid on Trump’s Lawyer Sought Records of Payments to Women
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [31 favorites]
The F.B.I. agents who raided the office of President Trump’s personal lawyer on Monday were looking for records about payments to two women who claim they had affairs with Mr. Trump, and information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer’s role in silencing one of the women, several people briefed on the investigation said.In addition, CNN's Shimon Prokupecz @ShimonPro reports, "The FBI search warrant on Michael Cohen included seeking documents related to Cohen's taxi medallion business." This could be related to the NY Daily News's scoop last year that Cohen owed New York State nearly $40G in unpaid taxi taxes. (On top of that, as any New Yorker will tell you, the taxi medallion racket in the city used to be one of the most egregiously corrupt businesses.)
The search warrant carried out by the public corruption unit of the Manhattan federal attorney’s office seeks information about Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy model who claims she carried on a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump shortly after the birth of his son in 2006. Ms. McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company, whose chief executive is a friend of Mr. Trump’s.
Agents were also searching Michael D. Cohen’s office for information related to Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, who says she also had sex with Mr. Trump while he was married.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:46 AM on April 10, 2018 [31 favorites]
I love the fact that it's the public corruption unit targeting Cohen, and that the focus is narrowly on payoffs to sex workers. Both facts hem in Trump and hit him where it hurts the most politically.
posted by msalt at 9:49 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by msalt at 9:49 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
It seems apparent (slash I-predict) that Trump is just going to retreat further and further until he's in a fetal position under the Resolute Desk while nobody is left to wonder where he is.
He's not, though. That's the problem. He's going to continue to lash out, and I fear for what (or who) gets destroyed when he does so. I refer you to this very detailed post about malignant narcissists:
"It can be very tempting to try to argue with them, to present facts that contradict how they act or what they say. The impulse to unravel their game, to expose them, can be very high. But this is not a logical person. They are by nature extremely impulsive, and will go down fighting, refusing to ever admit guilt, even if all the facts are laid out. You cannot win against their faulty logic, so the best option is to remove yourself from the situation before it gets worse.
Malignant narcissists are both impulsive and patient, which is one reason they can be so destructive to others. They may lash out sporadically one moment, and plot revenge the next, taking a small situation (sometimes something seemingly unimportant) and striking months later in revenge. If possible, removing yourself from their influence is the best course of action."
posted by anastasiav at 9:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [35 favorites]
He's not, though. That's the problem. He's going to continue to lash out, and I fear for what (or who) gets destroyed when he does so. I refer you to this very detailed post about malignant narcissists:
"It can be very tempting to try to argue with them, to present facts that contradict how they act or what they say. The impulse to unravel their game, to expose them, can be very high. But this is not a logical person. They are by nature extremely impulsive, and will go down fighting, refusing to ever admit guilt, even if all the facts are laid out. You cannot win against their faulty logic, so the best option is to remove yourself from the situation before it gets worse.
Malignant narcissists are both impulsive and patient, which is one reason they can be so destructive to others. They may lash out sporadically one moment, and plot revenge the next, taking a small situation (sometimes something seemingly unimportant) and striking months later in revenge. If possible, removing yourself from their influence is the best course of action."
posted by anastasiav at 9:50 AM on April 10, 2018 [35 favorites]
Since this case was (apparently) referred to the New York office, does that mean it continues, even if Mueller is fired as Special Counsel?
Yes. This is now under the purview of the SDNY. It no longer has anything to do with Mueller.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Yes. This is now under the purview of the SDNY. It no longer has anything to do with Mueller.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Reports are that Mattis is staying in town, too, after saying he was going to be heading to NV. I guess now that the gang's all here for the forthcoming Syria announcement, we're getting our war (crimes) on.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:00 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 10:00 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mod note: Couple comments deleted. Let's not dig further into doomsday scenarios, we all know things are bad and nobody's under any illusions there; we don't need to keep repeating the most alarming hypotheticals we can think of. Let's stick to things actually happening.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:09 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:09 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
and information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer’s role in silencing one of the women, several people briefed on the investigation said.
The National Enquirer gets caught up too! Now that is a delightful cherry on top.
posted by srboisvert at 10:18 AM on April 10, 2018 [24 favorites]
The National Enquirer gets caught up too! Now that is a delightful cherry on top.
posted by srboisvert at 10:18 AM on April 10, 2018 [24 favorites]
This is now under the purview of the SDNY. It no longer has anything to do with Mueller.
We don't know enough to know that. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, the DOJ could be using SDNY as the source of the privilege/taint/clean team that is isolated from Mueller's team and only passes along documents subject to the rules of the investigation. Like how the new Manafort charges were filed in Alexandria and not DC there could be some venue-specific stuff related to crimes committed solely in NY (say, any fraud related to taxi medallions), but I wouldn't begin to speculate on the possible permutations of what is prosecuted where and by whom.
posted by fedward at 10:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
We don't know enough to know that. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, the DOJ could be using SDNY as the source of the privilege/taint/clean team that is isolated from Mueller's team and only passes along documents subject to the rules of the investigation. Like how the new Manafort charges were filed in Alexandria and not DC there could be some venue-specific stuff related to crimes committed solely in NY (say, any fraud related to taxi medallions), but I wouldn't begin to speculate on the possible permutations of what is prosecuted where and by whom.
posted by fedward at 10:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
As for this, or anything else really, hurting Trump with his base/cultists it isn't and won't. On the pro-Trump boards they're literally, no fooling, calling for Trump to order the US military to raid the FBI and DOJ in retaliation.
It's asking the wrong question to ask what they think a raid by the US military on the FBI would discover. It isn't about facts and discovery, it's about payback for perceived slights to their leader (and, presumably, them longing for a military dictatorship headed by Trump).
Their position is that Trump is beset by evil people who are acting maliciously to hurt him because those people are anti-Trump. To them that's what matters, not facts, not laws, not reality, they boil it all down to one simple question: is this pro-Trump or anti-Trump? If the latter they're against it, if the former they're for it.
Likewise, absolutely anything Trump does or says is 100% correct and genius. He hasn't fired Mueller? That's because he's too smart to fall for that and clearly Mueller **WANTS** to be fired so as to fuel the anti-Trump brigades but Trump outfoxed him and is letting him run his pathetic little investigation. If Trump ever does fire Mueller then that would obviously be the proper course of action because Trump took that action therefore it was proper. It's tautological.
The question, then, is not how anything will play out among Trump's supporters, but how it will play for everyone else. Will it inspire Democratic turnout, will it turn up enough filth that even the supposedly mainstream Republicans will get fed up and skip voting? That's
posted by sotonohito at 10:20 AM on April 10, 2018 [43 favorites]
It's asking the wrong question to ask what they think a raid by the US military on the FBI would discover. It isn't about facts and discovery, it's about payback for perceived slights to their leader (and, presumably, them longing for a military dictatorship headed by Trump).
Their position is that Trump is beset by evil people who are acting maliciously to hurt him because those people are anti-Trump. To them that's what matters, not facts, not laws, not reality, they boil it all down to one simple question: is this pro-Trump or anti-Trump? If the latter they're against it, if the former they're for it.
Likewise, absolutely anything Trump does or says is 100% correct and genius. He hasn't fired Mueller? That's because he's too smart to fall for that and clearly Mueller **WANTS** to be fired so as to fuel the anti-Trump brigades but Trump outfoxed him and is letting him run his pathetic little investigation. If Trump ever does fire Mueller then that would obviously be the proper course of action because Trump took that action therefore it was proper. It's tautological.
The question, then, is not how anything will play out among Trump's supporters, but how it will play for everyone else. Will it inspire Democratic turnout, will it turn up enough filth that even the supposedly mainstream Republicans will get fed up and skip voting? That's
posted by sotonohito at 10:20 AM on April 10, 2018 [43 favorites]
The F.B.I. agents who raided the office of President Trump’s personal lawyer on Monday were looking for records about payments to two women who claim they had affairs with Mr. Trump, and information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer’s role in silencing one of the women, several people briefed on the investigation said.
I wish the article was clearer about what the underlying federal crime is here. Campaign finance related?
posted by phearlez at 10:24 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wish the article was clearer about what the underlying federal crime is here. Campaign finance related?
posted by phearlez at 10:24 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Will it inspire Democratic turnout, will it turn up enough filth that even the supposedly mainstream Republicans will get fed up and skip voting? That's
Oh, no, they got sotonohito!
Seriously, you nailed it. Trump is their sports team now, and they want the team to win no matter what, even if it takes cheating and even if it hurts them personally.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:27 AM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
Oh, no, they got sotonohito!
Seriously, you nailed it. Trump is their sports team now, and they want the team to win no matter what, even if it takes cheating and even if it hurts them personally.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:27 AM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
I wish the article was clearer about what the underlying federal crime is here.
Pretty sure it's crimes plural, probably covering a variety of areas. Cohen is a dirty dirty boy.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Pretty sure it's crimes plural, probably covering a variety of areas. Cohen is a dirty dirty boy.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
As for this, or anything else really, hurting Trump with his base/cultists it isn't and won't.
On the other hand, his base keeps shrinking. For instance, the final results of Lou Dobbs's aforementioned poll "Do you believe the corrupt leadership and actions of the DOJ and FBI are now so outrageous and overwhelming that President Trump should fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?" finished with only 25% voting yes. That's right, Trump missed the Crazification Factor by two points.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
On the other hand, his base keeps shrinking. For instance, the final results of Lou Dobbs's aforementioned poll "Do you believe the corrupt leadership and actions of the DOJ and FBI are now so outrageous and overwhelming that President Trump should fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?" finished with only 25% voting yes. That's right, Trump missed the Crazification Factor by two points.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Based on the reporting so far my top bet for the primary target of the search would be campaign finance violations and/or money laundering related to the payoffs, but the sky's the limit on what else they might find.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:35 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wish the article was clearer about what the underlying federal crime is here. Campaign finance related?
Money laundering, says Popehat in a new Op-Ed in the NYT.
posted by fedward at 10:37 AM on April 10, 2018 [28 favorites]
Money laundering, says Popehat in a new Op-Ed in the NYT.
There are reports that the warrant sought evidence of bank fraud and campaign finance violations, which is consistent with an investigation into allegations that the Daniels payment was illegally sourced or disguised. (For example, routing a payment through a shell company to hide the fact that the money came from the Trump campaign — if that is what happened — would probably violate federal money-laundering laws.)He also goes into the implications of the raid and the stuff about what he calls a "dirty team" when privilege is involved:
Second, the search demonstrates that federal prosecutors and supervisors in the Justice Department concluded that Mr. Cohen could not be trusted to preserve and turn over documents voluntarily. The same regulations that require prosecutors to seek high-level approval for a warrant to search a law office also instruct them to use the least intrusive means to obtain evidence from a lawyer, and to consider requesting voluntary cooperation or serving a subpoena. Mr. Cohen’s lawyer has loudly protested that he had been cooperating. This search warrant means that prosecutors — including the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the criminal division at the Justice Department — believed that Mr. Cohen could not be trusted to respond fully to a subpoena or might destroy documents.The kicker, of course, is something I edited out of my comment above about SDNY: "And the law is clear: If investigators executing a lawful warrant seize evidence of additional crimes, they may use that evidence." SDNY executed a lawful warrant and presumably scooped up an entire office full of evidence of additional crimes. The dirty/clean/taint/privilege team will go through it for any evidence that Cohen was involved in the planning or commission of other crimes (Trump, RNC, or other) and maybe a bunch more people will get caught in the nets.
Third, the search suggests that prosecutors most likely believe that Mr. Cohen’s clients used his legal services for the purpose of engaging in crime or fraud. Attorney-client communications are privileged, which is why it’s so unusual and difficult for prosecutors to get approval to search a law office. Justice Department regulations require federal prosecutors to set up a system to have a separate group — a so-called dirty team — review the files and separate out attorney-client communications so that the investigators and prosecutors won’t see anything protected by the privilege.
posted by fedward at 10:37 AM on April 10, 2018 [28 favorites]
I wasn't awake for the whole thing, but Fox and Friends seemed to spend more time talking about the border (I couldn't see the TV but it sounded like they had aerial video of people sneaking across). When they finally did get around to talking about the Cohen raid, it was very low key and they seemed to be trying to spin a narrative that it might be over something unrelated to Trump.
I was only half awake / half listening (the guy I'm seeing is the one who watches it and I just overhear it and occasionally shout at the TV) so I might have missed a more in-depth segment.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was only half awake / half listening (the guy I'm seeing is the one who watches it and I just overhear it and occasionally shout at the TV) so I might have missed a more in-depth segment.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
2016 lesson #1: Credible is in the eye of the beholder
posted by Golem XIV at 10:44 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Golem XIV at 10:44 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
If it helps anyone, my Trump-supporting brother apologized to me for voting for him and Trump being "such an idiot." I kept my more bitter thoughts to myself because we were at a baby shower surrounded by his grandchildren and it would have been rude to utter them.
I have high hopes he'll stay home in 2018/2020. Wishing for him to vote Dem seems a little much, but I'll take staying home.
posted by emjaybee at 10:52 AM on April 10, 2018 [85 favorites]
I have high hopes he'll stay home in 2018/2020. Wishing for him to vote Dem seems a little much, but I'll take staying home.
posted by emjaybee at 10:52 AM on April 10, 2018 [85 favorites]
As the march to (further) war continues, Max Fishes has a column analyzing the options, America’s Three Bad Options in Syria (cw: picture of victims at the top of the article).
He lays out three categories of military actions. We can do something useless like bomb an empty runway again, which doesn't materially change anything other than make the President look tough for domestic audiences. We can escalate the conflict by arming rebels, which means Russia and Iran will escalate, and more Syrian civilians die. Or we can have a full on war with the intent of toppling the Syrian government, which has the negative consequences of a disturbingly high likelihood you wind up fighting Russia and the usual question of what hell you've unleashed once you've created a power vacuum.
All these options suck. Bombing a runway (maybe President Two Scoops will do two runways this time?) isn't going to stop more children from being gassed. Invading and taking out the Assad government, with Russian troops in the way, can't possibly go better than the last several times we've tried that particular strategy.
I honestly don't know what any President is supposed to do in this situation, but I also know we've picked the very worst person among us to decide and surrounded him with some of the worst advisors.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on April 10, 2018 [37 favorites]
He lays out three categories of military actions. We can do something useless like bomb an empty runway again, which doesn't materially change anything other than make the President look tough for domestic audiences. We can escalate the conflict by arming rebels, which means Russia and Iran will escalate, and more Syrian civilians die. Or we can have a full on war with the intent of toppling the Syrian government, which has the negative consequences of a disturbingly high likelihood you wind up fighting Russia and the usual question of what hell you've unleashed once you've created a power vacuum.
All these options suck. Bombing a runway (maybe President Two Scoops will do two runways this time?) isn't going to stop more children from being gassed. Invading and taking out the Assad government, with Russian troops in the way, can't possibly go better than the last several times we've tried that particular strategy.
I honestly don't know what any President is supposed to do in this situation, but I also know we've picked the very worst person among us to decide and surrounded him with some of the worst advisors.
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 AM on April 10, 2018 [37 favorites]
John Barrasso, who chairs the Senate environment committee, put out a dueling press release after the Democrats' saying that there have too been credible threats, and that the Dems are selectively quoting the documents they reference.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:55 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
The Carper-Whitehouse letter directly quoted “law enforcement sensitive information” that “should not be further disseminated without the concurrence of the [Office of the Inspector General] OIG” of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or “without Secret Service approval.”So it seems like we have contradictory findings from within EPA, where the OIG (which works independent of Pruitt and is headed by Obama appointee Arthur Elkins Jr.) has found at least one "direct" death threat against Pruitt, but the Homeland Security office doesn't agree.
“I am deeply troubled that members of the committee would publicly release law enforcement sensitive information regarding the safety and security of a cabinet member and his family,” said Barrasso. “This letter selectively quotes non-public documents. Any reasonable reading of these documents supports the Office of the Inspector General’s statements that Administrator Pruitt faces a ‘variety of direct death threats.’ This is exactly why members should not publicly disclose information that relates to the safety of a cabinet member. It is also why this committee will not hold a hearing on this issue.”
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:55 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
I would absolutely not be surprised that there are threats against Pruitt. People are angry, and he's a prime target because people can see changes in environmental protection as affecting them and their communities in immediate ways. I expect we don't know the full extent of the threats.
That said, do other cabinet heads get the same kind of security? Does the head of DHS have a 20-person security detail? Does the head of DOI? DOD? I suspect not.
And at least part of his problems are self-inflicted: people would not be nearly so enraged at him if he were not so self-aggrandizing, arrogant and presumptuous.
posted by suelac at 11:00 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
That said, do other cabinet heads get the same kind of security? Does the head of DHS have a 20-person security detail? Does the head of DOI? DOD? I suspect not.
And at least part of his problems are self-inflicted: people would not be nearly so enraged at him if he were not so self-aggrandizing, arrogant and presumptuous.
posted by suelac at 11:00 AM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
So it seems like we have contradictory findings from within EPA
What it seems is that John Barrasso claims there is super-secret evidence that Pruitt has faced death threats, but refuses to produce it. That means that the Democrats are right -- there is no public evidence of death threats that might attempt to justify, albeit slightly, Pruitt's obvious corruption.
If there is, put up or shut up. We are past the point where any Republican can claim with any credibility that a "reasonable reading of these documents" supports their position, but no they can't show them, because security concerns.
posted by Gelatin at 11:01 AM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
What it seems is that John Barrasso claims there is super-secret evidence that Pruitt has faced death threats, but refuses to produce it. That means that the Democrats are right -- there is no public evidence of death threats that might attempt to justify, albeit slightly, Pruitt's obvious corruption.
If there is, put up or shut up. We are past the point where any Republican can claim with any credibility that a "reasonable reading of these documents" supports their position, but no they can't show them, because security concerns.
posted by Gelatin at 11:01 AM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
Grassley and Graham have both come out with statements [asserting] urging that Trump [will] not fire Mueller, using similar language essentially saying you're too smart to do that/it would be suicidal. Grassley and Graham (and Ryan and McConnell, not to mention a whole lot of other high-ranking Republicans and White House staff) have to know that Trump's dirty. There's no other way to read the public evidence. I'm not sure what their endgame is, though, because they're walking that fine line between calling the President a crook and supporting his criminality. My guess is that they're secretly hoping that Trump goes down without taking the party with him, but they know that is a tricky thing to accomplish. It will take both houses of Congress looking the other way plus a boost from the courts, which they know they control the top of. But I'm not sure exactly who is and isn't implicated and how they plan to navigate through the public and legal courtrooms to preserve themselves. It's clear from his remarks regarding Trump and Rohrabacher getting paid by Putin that Ryan knows the game, and I can't help but believe McConnell knew in advance about the fix, because he was so confident about denying Merrick a seat on SCOTUS. Whether Mueller has the goods on this or not, I am dying to know, but I guess I have to be patient.
We truly live in interesting times.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:02 AM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
We truly live in interesting times.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:02 AM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Republicans warn Trump against axing Mueller
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is pressing for the Senate Judiciary Committee to take up his legislation aimed at insulating Mueller from any attempt to fire him. Tillis is in discussions with Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) about merging two separate Mueller protection bills and then persuading Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley to pass them.posted by T.D. Strange at 11:04 AM on April 10, 2018 [22 favorites]
“It’s a good bill that’s going to have enduring value beyond this presidency. I think the president’s frustrated, I may be if I were in the same position,” Tillis said. “But I do think it’s a bill that’s worthy of a mark-up in Judiciary and sending it to the floor.”
What I quoted is the statement, as it appears in my email inbox. It doesn't seem to be posted online anywhere.
What it seems is that John Barrasso claims there is super-secret evidence that Pruitt has faced death threats, but refuses to produce it. That means that the Democrats are right -- there is no public evidence of death threats that might attempt to justify, albeit slightly, Pruitt's obvious corruption.
Both sides are citing to unreleased, internal documents to make their case. The Democrats' money quote that "EPA Intelligence has not identified any specific, credible, direct threat to the EPA administrator" comes from an Office of Homeland Security memo that has not been released in full (but note that even the quote refers to EPA Intelligence and not the agency as a whole). Barrasso counters that by saying OIG disagrees, without releasing that finding. Without primary sources to assess on either side, I'm just trying to parse their words.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:09 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
What it seems is that John Barrasso claims there is super-secret evidence that Pruitt has faced death threats, but refuses to produce it. That means that the Democrats are right -- there is no public evidence of death threats that might attempt to justify, albeit slightly, Pruitt's obvious corruption.
Both sides are citing to unreleased, internal documents to make their case. The Democrats' money quote that "EPA Intelligence has not identified any specific, credible, direct threat to the EPA administrator" comes from an Office of Homeland Security memo that has not been released in full (but note that even the quote refers to EPA Intelligence and not the agency as a whole). Barrasso counters that by saying OIG disagrees, without releasing that finding. Without primary sources to assess on either side, I'm just trying to parse their words.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:09 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I honestly don't know what any President is supposed to do in this situation, but I also know we've picked the very worst person among us to decide and surrounded him with some of the worst advisors.
This is part of how the whole American view on the situation causes nothing but despair. You can believe military action is always bad, sure, but the end result of "don't intervene because that's also bad" means the suffering just goes on. You can believe military action can be a good thing as long as it's done carefully and purposefully (I do), but we have a terrible track record for that. Like, once upon a time there was a thing called a "raid" where you go in with boots on the ground to take out a thing and then, y'know, leave, but America doesn't do that apparently. It's not a "win" unless conditions on the ground are such that the place is a fully functioning peaceful democracy ready to apply for statehood.
Politics always shifts those goalposts. Always. (I wanted Obama to act, but I also fully believed Republicans would support him only until he took action, whereupon they'd turn Syria into an albatross around his neck forever.)
But even if you believe military action can be executed to some good... it definitely won't be that way with these guys.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:10 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
This is part of how the whole American view on the situation causes nothing but despair. You can believe military action is always bad, sure, but the end result of "don't intervene because that's also bad" means the suffering just goes on. You can believe military action can be a good thing as long as it's done carefully and purposefully (I do), but we have a terrible track record for that. Like, once upon a time there was a thing called a "raid" where you go in with boots on the ground to take out a thing and then, y'know, leave, but America doesn't do that apparently. It's not a "win" unless conditions on the ground are such that the place is a fully functioning peaceful democracy ready to apply for statehood.
Politics always shifts those goalposts. Always. (I wanted Obama to act, but I also fully believed Republicans would support him only until he took action, whereupon they'd turn Syria into an albatross around his neck forever.)
But even if you believe military action can be executed to some good... it definitely won't be that way with these guys.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:10 AM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
Barrasso counters that by saying OIG disagrees, without releasing that finding. Without primary sources to assess on either side, I'm just trying to parse their words.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:09 AM on April 10 [+] [!]
Yeah, but that's the thing. Barrasso doesn't quote, he just asserts.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:13 AM on April 10, 2018
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:09 AM on April 10 [+] [!]
Yeah, but that's the thing. Barrasso doesn't quote, he just asserts.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:13 AM on April 10, 2018
Needy, Rage-Filled Trump is the Perfect Candidate for Conservatives Now
I believe Trump remains popular precisely because he's under siege. The more he's attacked -- by liberals and the Resistance, by anti-Trumpers on the right, by law enforcement -- the more his sense of grievance inspires fellow-feeling in the deplorables, who also feel sorry for themselves because everyone doesn't defer to them. [...]posted by tonycpsu at 11:14 AM on April 10, 2018 [78 favorites]
Trump unrealistically expects universal adulation, fails to get it, and cries out in anguish. Past presidents, most of whom were emotional adults, knew they'd be attacked and tried to appear above the fray, not just reveling in the admiration of their supporters but ignoring, or appearing to ignore, their antagonists and critics. Trump can't do that because he's so emotionally needy -- when he's under attack, the attack is completely distracting to him.
And that's precisely what resonates with his admirers. They wouldn't want the Reagan of "Morning in America" and the 49-state landslide; they certainly wouldn't want a Barack Obama, who tried to remain presidential even as antagonists endeavored to drag him down. Trump happens to have a whiny, aggrieved personality, and that suits heartland white voters perfectly. They feel sorry for themselves, and they like a president who feels the same way about himself.
Every attack on Trump resurfaces his sense of grievance, and that strengthens the bond between Trump and his base. So no wonder the anti-Trump movement is failing. Attacks are nutrients to the Trumpers.
He does quote, though: "Any reasonable reading of these documents supports the Office of the Inspector General’s statements that Administrator Pruitt faces a 'variety of direct death threats.'"
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:15 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:15 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Without primary sources to assess on either side, I'm just trying to parse their words.
I am not attacking your credibility, HZSF, but that of any Republican. We're way past the point where we can accept "we have proof of what we say, but you can't see it" from any Republican. The truth is not in them. The default stance on anything they say should be "prove it." If they can't, too bad for them.
In addition, there's the fact that independent FOIA requests also failed to get any information about death threats from EPA, which supports the Democratic position. And again, discussing the issue does not at all concede that the existence of any death threat, credible or no, justified Pruitt's obvious corruption.
posted by Gelatin at 11:16 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
I am not attacking your credibility, HZSF, but that of any Republican. We're way past the point where we can accept "we have proof of what we say, but you can't see it" from any Republican. The truth is not in them. The default stance on anything they say should be "prove it." If they can't, too bad for them.
In addition, there's the fact that independent FOIA requests also failed to get any information about death threats from EPA, which supports the Democratic position. And again, discussing the issue does not at all concede that the existence of any death threat, credible or no, justified Pruitt's obvious corruption.
posted by Gelatin at 11:16 AM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
He does quote, though: "Any reasonable reading of these documents supports the Office of the Inspector General’s statements that Administrator Pruitt faces a 'variety of direct death threats.'"
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:15 AM on April 10 [+] [!]
Well, kinda. The quoted part is sort of contextless, and since he's grinding an ax, it's sort of suspiciously abbreviated, compared to the full sentence quoted by the Democrats.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:15 AM on April 10 [+] [!]
Well, kinda. The quoted part is sort of contextless, and since he's grinding an ax, it's sort of suspiciously abbreviated, compared to the full sentence quoted by the Democrats.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:19 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wait a minute...
What if Pruitt is actually citing fears of a natural death at the hands of the.... the environment?
This explains his actions regarding trying to -proof everything and the many hands on his security detail that are, apparently, sworn to protect him from what end may come. Moreover, maybe he thinks his actions of shitting on the environment have either A) caused Mother Nature to want him dead in earnest and/or early or B) serve as his means of attempting to defeat the environment itself and, thus, live forever, all shiny and chrome.
This seaon's writers should be fired or lauded. I don't know which.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:22 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
What if Pruitt is actually citing fears of a natural death at the hands of the.... the environment?
This explains his actions regarding trying to -proof everything and the many hands on his security detail that are, apparently, sworn to protect him from what end may come. Moreover, maybe he thinks his actions of shitting on the environment have either A) caused Mother Nature to want him dead in earnest and/or early or B) serve as his means of attempting to defeat the environment itself and, thus, live forever, all shiny and chrome.
This seaon's writers should be fired or lauded. I don't know which.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:22 AM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
And not to abuse the edit window, Barrasso's assertion is a derail, since the question isn't whether any death threats have been leveled, but whether the number were extraordinary enough for a cabinet member to justify the elaborate security Pruitt demanded. The GOP is very good at moving the goalposts and we are very bad at noticing.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:22 AM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:22 AM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
So no wonder the anti-Trump movement is failing.
Is it?
posted by EatTheWeek at 11:23 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
Is it?
posted by EatTheWeek at 11:23 AM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
chris24: Hannity’s show, which must have spent 100s of hours talking about speaking-fee related donations to Clinton and Clinton foundation $$$, now wondering (without self awareness) what the big deal is over the $150k speaking fee Trump go from a Ukrainian oligarch
A general comment on how people view the world, recently certified through a non-political discussion about how you do polling right: it's not biased if it's supporting something you believe.
suelac: That said, do other cabinet heads get the same kind of security? Does the head of DHS have a 20-person security detail? Does the head of DOI? DOD? I suspect not.
The cost of Betsy DeVos’s security detail — nearly $8 million over nearly 8 months (Emma Brown and Devlin Barrett for Washington Post, April 7, 2017)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:24 AM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]
A general comment on how people view the world, recently certified through a non-political discussion about how you do polling right: it's not biased if it's supporting something you believe.
suelac: That said, do other cabinet heads get the same kind of security? Does the head of DHS have a 20-person security detail? Does the head of DOI? DOD? I suspect not.
The cost of Betsy DeVos’s security detail — nearly $8 million over nearly 8 months (Emma Brown and Devlin Barrett for Washington Post, April 7, 2017)
Federal marshals are protecting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos at a cost to her agency of nearly $8 million over nearly eight months, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.Pruitt isn't the only one running scared and/or fond of pretending they're part of a paramilitary organization.
The Education Department has agreed to reimburse the marshals $7.78 million for their services from mid-February to the end of September, said a marshals spokeswoman — an average of about $1 million per month.
Marshals will continue providing security for the education secretary for the next four years, or until either agency decides to terminate the arrangement, under an agreement signed last week. There was no information immediately available about what that would cost beyond September.
While the department is spending the additional money on DeVos’s security, members of the in-house security team that guarded previous secretaries remain on the payroll. But they are not guarding DeVos and have not been assigned new duties, said a department employee who was not authorized to speak to a reporter and asked for anonymity.
A department spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he could not comment on personnel decisions. He said the agency deferred to the federal marshals’ threat assessment and determination about what would be necessary to keep the secretary safe and able to do her job.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:24 AM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]
It's not a "win" unless conditions on the ground are such that the place is a fully functioning peaceful democracy ready to apply for statehood.
And this is the problem of the hypocritical stance of the US acting like the police of the world.
We ourselves are not (and never have been) a fully functioning peaceful democracy.
Funding and using our military might around the world (hundreds of bases inflicted on other countries), and deciding when to correct the behavior of other governments while our behavior has always been just as reprehensible. We just choose as a culture to not examine the countless invasions, murders, bombings, regime changes, election meddling, and bribery we employ for our ends. The rest of the world sees it plain as day.
posted by rc3spencer at 11:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [22 favorites]
And this is the problem of the hypocritical stance of the US acting like the police of the world.
We ourselves are not (and never have been) a fully functioning peaceful democracy.
Funding and using our military might around the world (hundreds of bases inflicted on other countries), and deciding when to correct the behavior of other governments while our behavior has always been just as reprehensible. We just choose as a culture to not examine the countless invasions, murders, bombings, regime changes, election meddling, and bribery we employ for our ends. The rest of the world sees it plain as day.
posted by rc3spencer at 11:25 AM on April 10, 2018 [22 favorites]
This letter selectively quotes non-public documents.
Barrasso should talk to that Nunes guy, who has actual experience selectively quoting non-public documents for political purposes. It didn't work out well for him.
posted by fedward at 11:26 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Barrasso should talk to that Nunes guy, who has actual experience selectively quoting non-public documents for political purposes. It didn't work out well for him.
posted by fedward at 11:26 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Moreover, maybe he thinks his actions of shitting on the environment have either A) caused Mother Nature to want him dead in earnest and/or early or B) serve as his means of attempting to defeat the environment itself and, thus, live forever, all shiny and chrome.
C. Montgomery Burns: Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she’s losing. Well I say ‘hard cheese.’
posted by Mayor West at 11:28 AM on April 10, 2018 [37 favorites]
C. Montgomery Burns: Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she’s losing. Well I say ‘hard cheese.’
posted by Mayor West at 11:28 AM on April 10, 2018 [37 favorites]
>> So no wonder the anti-Trump movement is failing.
> Is it?
Are you talking about the anti-Trump movement on the right (to the extent that there is one) or the larger set of people who oppose Trump across the political spectrum?
In terms of setting the agenda for the GOP, I see very little evidence that so-called #NeverTrump has a seat at the table. There are mutterings of passing bills to prevent him from firing Mueller, which amounts to little more than a hedge so they can say Trump was never really a Republican if it turns out he's up to his ears in crimes. (Ron Howard, please pick up the white courtesy phone.) And at the end of the day, if the most they're willing to do is not let him fire the guy investigating him, well, I don't see much to celebrate there.
But yeah, in terms of opposing Trump's agenda in a broader sense, sure, there are some successes. The legal process has to play out, and public pressure, some hard work getting people to the polls in special elections, and a large uptick in activism on a wide array of issues makes it feel like maybe Trump isn't going to get tired of winning anytime soon. But the quote there was about anti-Trump sentiment within the GOP, and I really think that's what matters as long as they control Congress.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
> Is it?
Are you talking about the anti-Trump movement on the right (to the extent that there is one) or the larger set of people who oppose Trump across the political spectrum?
In terms of setting the agenda for the GOP, I see very little evidence that so-called #NeverTrump has a seat at the table. There are mutterings of passing bills to prevent him from firing Mueller, which amounts to little more than a hedge so they can say Trump was never really a Republican if it turns out he's up to his ears in crimes. (Ron Howard, please pick up the white courtesy phone.) And at the end of the day, if the most they're willing to do is not let him fire the guy investigating him, well, I don't see much to celebrate there.
But yeah, in terms of opposing Trump's agenda in a broader sense, sure, there are some successes. The legal process has to play out, and public pressure, some hard work getting people to the polls in special elections, and a large uptick in activism on a wide array of issues makes it feel like maybe Trump isn't going to get tired of winning anytime soon. But the quote there was about anti-Trump sentiment within the GOP, and I really think that's what matters as long as they control Congress.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Sinclair Media ups the ante on its mustache-twirling villainy:
resisterhood [via Twitter]: This is wild: Sinclair is inserting its own editorial content before and after anti-propaganda ads on its networks, calling the ads “misleading,” from “groups known for liberal bias” and urging viewers not to “buy into the hysteria and hype.” Never seen anything like this. [embedded video clip]
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [84 favorites]
resisterhood [via Twitter]: This is wild: Sinclair is inserting its own editorial content before and after anti-propaganda ads on its networks, calling the ads “misleading,” from “groups known for liberal bias” and urging viewers not to “buy into the hysteria and hype.” Never seen anything like this. [embedded video clip]
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:33 AM on April 10, 2018 [84 favorites]
That sounds like grounds for a full make-good on the ads.
posted by azpenguin at 11:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 11:39 AM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
"Any reasonable reading of these documents supports the Office of the Inspector General’s statements that Administrator Pruitt faces a 'variety of direct death threats.'"
Any number of people have said on Twitter that he should GDIAF. Lack of the word "credible" is important here.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:40 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Any number of people have said on Twitter that he should GDIAF. Lack of the word "credible" is important here.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:40 AM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
While the department is spending the additional money on DeVos’s security, members of the in-house security team that guarded previous secretaries remain on the payroll. But they are not guarding DeVos and have not been assigned new duties
Wow, so DeVos insists on massive personal security, but doesn't trust her own department security to provide it? How paranoid is that?
So do those unused DOEd security guards just sit around the break room watching Fox?
posted by suelac at 11:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Wow, so DeVos insists on massive personal security, but doesn't trust her own department security to provide it? How paranoid is that?
So do those unused DOEd security guards just sit around the break room watching Fox?
posted by suelac at 11:41 AM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
You don't know that it wasn't a Breitbart "reporter" or something, FelliniBlank. TrumpCo gives press passes to people like fucking Infowars. So it seems unlikely that question was yelled by a legitimate journalist.
Following up on this; it appears the person who yelled "So why don't you just fire Mueller?" a couple times was Jon Decker, a Fox News Radio reporter.
posted by Justinian at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [38 favorites]
Following up on this; it appears the person who yelled "So why don't you just fire Mueller?" a couple times was Jon Decker, a Fox News Radio reporter.
posted by Justinian at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [38 favorites]
DeVos insists on massive personal security, but doesn't trust her own department security to provide it?
Well but her brother needs to make payroll.
posted by rhizome at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [35 favorites]
Well but her brother needs to make payroll.
posted by rhizome at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [35 favorites]
Since those editorial messages were delivered before & after a purchased ad slot, would there possibly be legal recourse to sue for the advertising fee to be refunded?
It seems that such a vigorous denouncement of an ad would certainly contradict the purpose of the advertisement. If I'd paid for an ad hyping my mattress store & the network wrapped my advertisement with "perspective" indicating that it's important to consider that there are many, many fine mattress stores in the area & that Kevin's Mattress is exceptionally well recommended and that my ad didn't properly appreciate this fact, I'd sue.
But then, given Sinclair's contractual stipulations re: their on-air journalists, I wouldn't be surprised if the ad contract had some sort of language supporting Sinclair's right to add content before, after, or mid-ad if desired.
posted by narwhal at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
It seems that such a vigorous denouncement of an ad would certainly contradict the purpose of the advertisement. If I'd paid for an ad hyping my mattress store & the network wrapped my advertisement with "perspective" indicating that it's important to consider that there are many, many fine mattress stores in the area & that Kevin's Mattress is exceptionally well recommended and that my ad didn't properly appreciate this fact, I'd sue.
But then, given Sinclair's contractual stipulations re: their on-air journalists, I wouldn't be surprised if the ad contract had some sort of language supporting Sinclair's right to add content before, after, or mid-ad if desired.
posted by narwhal at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
@EamonJavers: Asked if Michael Cohen is still the president’s attorney, Sanders says: “I’m not sure, I’d refer you to Michael Cohen on that.”
Ahhhhhha. Trump and Cohen just had dinner at Mar-a-Lago and Cohen is actively litigating the Stormy Daniels case, but, sure, let's just pretend they don't know each other.
posted by zachlipton at 11:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
Ahhhhhha. Trump and Cohen just had dinner at Mar-a-Lago and Cohen is actively litigating the Stormy Daniels case, but, sure, let's just pretend they don't know each other.
posted by zachlipton at 11:51 AM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
But then, given Sinclair's contractual stipulations re: their on-air journalists, I wouldn't be surprised if the ad contract had some sort of language supporting Sinclair's right to add content before, after, or mid-ad if desired.
I work in advertising and our contracts have language allowing us to make alterations to approved ads. However, we would only do that if necessary and we would never do anything that changed the intent of the ad. We also wouldn't run art or copy around the ad that says "this ad here is misleading" "this ad is from a company with shady business practices" etc. Doing any of that would be grounds for a lawsuit and I don't exactly think our contract would protect us.
posted by azpenguin at 11:54 AM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
I work in advertising and our contracts have language allowing us to make alterations to approved ads. However, we would only do that if necessary and we would never do anything that changed the intent of the ad. We also wouldn't run art or copy around the ad that says "this ad here is misleading" "this ad is from a company with shady business practices" etc. Doing any of that would be grounds for a lawsuit and I don't exactly think our contract would protect us.
posted by azpenguin at 11:54 AM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
I work in advertising and our contracts have language allowing us to make alterations to approved ads. However, we would only do that if necessary and we would never do anything that changed the intent of the ad. We also wouldn't run art or copy around the ad that says "this ad here is misleading" "this ad is from a company with shady business practices" etc. Doing any of that would be grounds for a lawsuit and I don't exactly think our contract would protect us.
Aside from the lawsuit aspect, ad revenue is the lifeblood of a tv broadcaster, no? Start meddling with your advertisers and you could be facing dire financial repercussions fairly quickly, I would guess. Even if you are as large as a Sinclair.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:57 AM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Aside from the lawsuit aspect, ad revenue is the lifeblood of a tv broadcaster, no? Start meddling with your advertisers and you could be facing dire financial repercussions fairly quickly, I would guess. Even if you are as large as a Sinclair.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:57 AM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
In normal world, you'd hope this would be more than enough to scuttle their approval for acquiring even more stations, but in the actual world, they seem to be actively banking on Trump somehow just forcing it through the approval process.
posted by BungaDunga at 12:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 12:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Re Barrasso's actual statement, please do recall that former rodeo doctor John A. Barrasso III is a lying and corrupt sack of sage grouse droppings who will say anything he feels he can get away with as long as it's good for the extraction industry.
WY politics is a Good Ol' Boys club full of rootin'-tootin' gun-waving cowboy LARPers (the top three of whom are all blatant DC insiders who somehow don't get associated with "The Swamp").
posted by aspersioncast at 12:11 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
WY politics is a Good Ol' Boys club full of rootin'-tootin' gun-waving cowboy LARPers (the top three of whom are all blatant DC insiders who somehow don't get associated with "The Swamp").
posted by aspersioncast at 12:11 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
Jordan Fabian (The Hill): Q: Does Trump believe he has the power to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel?
.@PressSec: “He certainly believes he has the power to do so.”
Bianna Golodryga (CNN): When pressed by @PaulaReidCBS (twice) that he have to fire Rosenstein to set that into motion, Sanders referred to unnamed Justice officials who told her otherwise.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:13 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
.@PressSec: “He certainly believes he has the power to do so.”
Bianna Golodryga (CNN): When pressed by @PaulaReidCBS (twice) that he have to fire Rosenstein to set that into motion, Sanders referred to unnamed Justice officials who told her otherwise.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:13 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
Queen jokes that noisy plane 'sounds like President Trump' during cordial chat with Sir David Attenborough
... and then added 'or president obama' but that's a lifetime of practiced impartiality kicking in. As for David, he abhors climate change denialists.
posted by adept256 at 12:14 PM on April 10, 2018 [18 favorites]
... and then added 'or president obama' but that's a lifetime of practiced impartiality kicking in. As for David, he abhors climate change denialists.
posted by adept256 at 12:14 PM on April 10, 2018 [18 favorites]
New from Quinnipiac:
PUBLIC SUPPORTS MUELLER. New Q Poll--By 5-to-1, Americans OPPOSE firing Robert Mueller (69%-13%). Even Republicans said by 55%-22% that President Trump should not fire Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 12:20 PM on April 10, 2018 [45 favorites]
PUBLIC SUPPORTS MUELLER. New Q Poll--By 5-to-1, Americans OPPOSE firing Robert Mueller (69%-13%). Even Republicans said by 55%-22% that President Trump should not fire Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 12:20 PM on April 10, 2018 [45 favorites]
Queen jokes that noisy plane 'sounds like President Trump' during cordial chat with Sir David Attenborough
That's a bad headline. She was comparing the plane noise to the loud aircraft engines that would accompany any U.S. president's visit. (Not that I believe she doesn't secretly loathe trump. She almost certainly does just that.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:21 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
That's a bad headline. She was comparing the plane noise to the loud aircraft engines that would accompany any U.S. president's visit. (Not that I believe she doesn't secretly loathe trump. She almost certainly does just that.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:21 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
I think Zuck is starting to get some of the questions he didn't anticipate. Minors' texts collected by Messenger app? Browser activity collected by facebook even when logged out? He stonewalls professing ignorance. Really? Also some interesting q's from Cantwell about connections between Palantir, CA and Facebook during Trump campaign.
posted by rc3spencer at 12:42 PM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by rc3spencer at 12:42 PM on April 10, 2018 [39 favorites]
Lindsey Graham just asked Zuck who was Facebook's biggest competitor, and he couldn't come up with one. Then, "do you think you have a monopoly?" and Zuck replied, "I don't feel like I have one", which drew laughs from the entire room. That hurts.
Except then Graham went on to suggest Facebook could self-regulate, so same ole Graham. He's so close to the right answer sometimes, but has never once gotten there, much less followed through.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [50 favorites]
Except then Graham went on to suggest Facebook could self-regulate, so same ole Graham. He's so close to the right answer sometimes, but has never once gotten there, much less followed through.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [50 favorites]
Or does the taint team take care of the taint so the clean team can do its work taintless?
Yes, this. The taint team keeps tainted stuff (outside the scope of the warrant) from the clean team.
posted by exogenous at 12:55 PM on April 10, 2018
Yes, this. The taint team keeps tainted stuff (outside the scope of the warrant) from the clean team.
posted by exogenous at 12:55 PM on April 10, 2018
Did we know this?
Yashar Ali (New York mag): Zuckerberg says that Facebook employee(s) have been interviewed by the Special Counsel's office.
Jim Sciutto (CNN) #MarkZuckerberg confirms FaceBook is "working with" the Special Counsel's office and that FaceBook employees have been interviewed in the probe.
posted by chris24 at 12:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [18 favorites]
Yashar Ali (New York mag): Zuckerberg says that Facebook employee(s) have been interviewed by the Special Counsel's office.
Jim Sciutto (CNN) #MarkZuckerberg confirms FaceBook is "working with" the Special Counsel's office and that FaceBook employees have been interviewed in the probe.
posted by chris24 at 12:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [18 favorites]
Did we know this?
Apparently, yes:
emptywheel [viat Twitter]:
FORFUCKSAKE NEWS OUTLETS.
If you really didn't know that Facebook was working with Mueller then you didn't read the fucking Internet Research Agency indictment. THIS IS NOT NEWS.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:02 PM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
Apparently, yes:
emptywheel [viat Twitter]:
FORFUCKSAKE NEWS OUTLETS.
If you really didn't know that Facebook was working with Mueller then you didn't read the fucking Internet Research Agency indictment. THIS IS NOT NEWS.
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:02 PM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
Mod note: A few deleted. Sorry, let's skip the taint jokes; everyone's got one, doesn't mean we need to bring them out in company.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [54 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [54 favorites]
@KevinMKruse: "The Senate will now adjourn for two hours as we try to track down one of our grandchildren to help us come up with some actual questions here."
@Bakari_Sellers: Man, Zuckerburg could’ve walked into a senior center and gotten the same if not better questions.
@KFILE: How many of these questions to Zuckerberg could be answered by having staff do a Google search prior to hearing?
@brandonmakes: Is this how a Genius Bar employee feels every day?
posted by chris24 at 1:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [77 favorites]
@Bakari_Sellers: Man, Zuckerburg could’ve walked into a senior center and gotten the same if not better questions.
@KFILE: How many of these questions to Zuckerberg could be answered by having staff do a Google search prior to hearing?
@brandonmakes: Is this how a Genius Bar employee feels every day?
posted by chris24 at 1:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [77 favorites]
Facebook hearing update: after an hour and a half of largely wasted time with questions asked by people who don't understand what they're asking, Sen. Durbin finally cut to the core of the issue by asking if Zuckerberg would share what hotel he stayed in last night and all the people he's messaged this week." A long deer-in-the-headlings moment before he finally answered "uhhhhh.....no."
It's a stunt question to be sure, but it's also a big part of the actual question at the heart of this. Should Facebook, or anybody else, track that kind of information and keep it in a database forever?
Zuckerberg ducked what could have been some real questions about tracking and behavioral advertising (including tracking of people who aren't Facebook users), questions that apply not just to Facebook, but to the entire industry. Unfortunately, the Senators asking them largely don't know enough about the subject to understand how significant those questions are and what it means for Zuckerberg to duck them.
posted by zachlipton at 1:11 PM on April 10, 2018 [50 favorites]
It's a stunt question to be sure, but it's also a big part of the actual question at the heart of this. Should Facebook, or anybody else, track that kind of information and keep it in a database forever?
Zuckerberg ducked what could have been some real questions about tracking and behavioral advertising (including tracking of people who aren't Facebook users), questions that apply not just to Facebook, but to the entire industry. Unfortunately, the Senators asking them largely don't know enough about the subject to understand how significant those questions are and what it means for Zuckerberg to duck them.
posted by zachlipton at 1:11 PM on April 10, 2018 [50 favorites]
Dick Durbin: "Would you tell us what hotel you stayed in last night?"
Zuckerberg: "Uh... no, Senator."
Dick Durbin: "Do you tell us who you messaged this week?"
Zuckerberg: "No, Senator"
Dick Durbin: "I think that's what this is all about."
posted by Sophie1 at 1:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [106 favorites]
Zuckerberg: "Uh... no, Senator."
Dick Durbin: "Do you tell us who you messaged this week?"
Zuckerberg: "No, Senator"
Dick Durbin: "I think that's what this is all about."
posted by Sophie1 at 1:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [106 favorites]
If the privilege team finds evidence of an unrelated crime in communications where privilege applies, am I right to assume that this would not be actionable?
For sake of argument let's say it's a document that implicates the client but was given to the attorney after the crime was committed so it's not something where the attorney conspired.
posted by duoshao at 1:14 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
For sake of argument let's say it's a document that implicates the client but was given to the attorney after the crime was committed so it's not something where the attorney conspired.
posted by duoshao at 1:14 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
On the one hand, it would be great to hear Facebook grilled by people who know what technical questions to ask. On the other hand, at this point, technologically clueless septuagenarians are Facebook's core demographic, so a tough question at that level might be more effective.
posted by condour75 at 1:16 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by condour75 at 1:16 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
Hey, don't underestimate Senator Grassley's tech savvy:
Chuck Grassley [via Twitter] —
I now h v an iphone
3:32 PM - 13 Feb 2012
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:20 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
Chuck Grassley [via Twitter] —
I now h v an iphone
3:32 PM - 13 Feb 2012
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:20 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
If the privilege team finds evidence of an unrelated crime in communications where privilege applies, am I right to assume that this would not be actionable?
There is a crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. This applies if the client was in the process of committing or intended to commit a crime or fraudulent act, and the client communicated with the lawyer with intent to further the crime or fraud, or to cover it up. So, I believe the evidence would be actionable.
This is covered in the excellent Popehat NY Times op-ed that fedward posted above. Note that the author, Ken White, is a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor.
posted by exogenous at 1:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
There is a crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. This applies if the client was in the process of committing or intended to commit a crime or fraudulent act, and the client communicated with the lawyer with intent to further the crime or fraud, or to cover it up. So, I believe the evidence would be actionable.
This is covered in the excellent Popehat NY Times op-ed that fedward posted above. Note that the author, Ken White, is a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor.
posted by exogenous at 1:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
WaPo: Fox News Radio reporter: Trump mouthed ‘thank you’ for question about firing Mueller
posted by chris24 at 1:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 1:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [37 favorites]
SHS gets a lot of flack for a lot of good reasons. But it wouldn't at all surprise me if they did have Justice officials who told them that Trump has the power to fire Mueller. I think it's more likely that she's bullshitting because she always does, but it's not unreasonable to believe the core argument that Trump could fire Mueller. Unlike Starr, who was operating under Congressional (ie Legislative Branch) authorization, Mueller is a special counsel operating under Executive Branch authorization. As a member of the Executive Branch he can probably be fired by Trump, even directly, if Trump wants to go nuclear enough.
What's that? The special counsel regulations say the AG has to do it and since he's recused the deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, is the guy? True enough. And as head of the executive branch Trump could himself revoke the regulations which contain those provisions. And since those provisions are no longer operative he could fire Mueller.
It would be the executive equivalent of McConnell getting rid of the legislative filibuster. Completely nuclear power grab. But I think he could do it.
posted by Justinian at 1:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
What's that? The special counsel regulations say the AG has to do it and since he's recused the deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, is the guy? True enough. And as head of the executive branch Trump could himself revoke the regulations which contain those provisions. And since those provisions are no longer operative he could fire Mueller.
It would be the executive equivalent of McConnell getting rid of the legislative filibuster. Completely nuclear power grab. But I think he could do it.
posted by Justinian at 1:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
There is a crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. This applies if the client was in the process of committing or intended to commit a crime or fraudulent act, and the client communicated with the lawyer with intent to further the crime or fraud, or to cover it up. So, I believe the evidence would be actionable.
It could be, but the crime-fraud exception would have to apply to that specific crime. Any documents related to a crime committed by one of Cohen's clients that he was not a party to would still fall under attorney-client privilege.
Going back to Pruitt...
Politico: EPA removes staffer who OK’d report on Pruitt’s security
Supposedly over issues from his military service.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
It could be, but the crime-fraud exception would have to apply to that specific crime. Any documents related to a crime committed by one of Cohen's clients that he was not a party to would still fall under attorney-client privilege.
Going back to Pruitt...
Politico: EPA removes staffer who OK’d report on Pruitt’s security
Supposedly over issues from his military service.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Justin Sink (Bloomberg): zuck left his notes open and out during the recess, so those photos may hit the wires shortly
posted by chris24 at 1:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 1:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
While we can hope that the whole shitshow will get a happy ending, all of this demonstrate how fragile democracies are. All the checks and balances, all the vettings, all the procedures, all these finely-tuned safeguard mechanisms have been rendered useless because a few bad actors - and not even smart bad actors - have decided that they don't give a fuck. It's democracy eating itself. How it is even possible that the POTUS is able to micromanage the country according to his whims and fancies without any sort of procedural oversight? And how come 40% of the voters are still fine with that? The US democracy may prove ultimately resilient, but some post-trauma analysis will be necessary. I wish that other democracies are better prepared and hardened against such a frontal assault, but I'm not really sure.
posted by elgilito at 1:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by elgilito at 1:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
In Russian poisoning news, Yulia Skripal has been released from the hospital.
Her father Sergei remains hospitalized after the poisoning, which Britain says took place on the orders of the Russian government.posted by hanov3r at 1:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
"This is not the end of her treatment but marks a significant milestone," said Dr. Christine Blanshard, medical director of Salisbury District Hospital.
She said she would not provide details about Yulia Skripal's condition for reasons of patient privacy. The 33-year-old has been taken to a secure location.
@KevinMKruse: "The Senate will now adjourn for two hours as we try to track down one of our grandchildren to help us come up with some actual questions here."
@Bakari_Sellers: Man, Zuckerburg could’ve walked into a senior center and gotten the same if not better questions.
@KFILE: How many of these questions to Zuckerberg could be answered by having staff do a Google search prior to hearing?
@brandonmakes: Is this how a Genius Bar employee feels every day?
Hey, look at all the assholes!
When gun rights activists do this sort of shit to try to disqualify gun control advocates, we rightfully treat them with contempt. Perhaps the same should be done here.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
@Bakari_Sellers: Man, Zuckerburg could’ve walked into a senior center and gotten the same if not better questions.
@KFILE: How many of these questions to Zuckerberg could be answered by having staff do a Google search prior to hearing?
@brandonmakes: Is this how a Genius Bar employee feels every day?
Hey, look at all the assholes!
When gun rights activists do this sort of shit to try to disqualify gun control advocates, we rightfully treat them with contempt. Perhaps the same should be done here.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
@Bakari_Sellers: Man, Zuckerburg could’ve walked into a senior center and gotten the same if not better questions.
Why does media persist in playing along with the idea that hearings are always about getting answers? It's been half a century since HUAC, can we not just acknowledge that many hearings - possibly all hearings that are this high-profile - are about making appearances and creating future campaign ads? Yeah, many of these questions could have been answered by Google. But then there wouldn't be video of the Senator asking the question or video of Zuckerberg giving the answer.
I don't mean to exclusively denigrate the value of that, either. Certainly a public drubbing that doesn't get any follow-up is pretty pointless, but perception matters. Seeing execs answer questions matters. As far as I know there was never a single legal consequence for the cigarette company execs who sat there and said, one after another, that they didn't believe their product caused cancer. But that unquestionably mattered in the public discourse.
posted by phearlez at 1:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
Why does media persist in playing along with the idea that hearings are always about getting answers? It's been half a century since HUAC, can we not just acknowledge that many hearings - possibly all hearings that are this high-profile - are about making appearances and creating future campaign ads? Yeah, many of these questions could have been answered by Google. But then there wouldn't be video of the Senator asking the question or video of Zuckerberg giving the answer.
I don't mean to exclusively denigrate the value of that, either. Certainly a public drubbing that doesn't get any follow-up is pretty pointless, but perception matters. Seeing execs answer questions matters. As far as I know there was never a single legal consequence for the cigarette company execs who sat there and said, one after another, that they didn't believe their product caused cancer. But that unquestionably mattered in the public discourse.
posted by phearlez at 1:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
What's that? The special counsel regulations say the AG has to do it and since he's recused the deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, is the guy? True enough. And as head of the executive branch Trump could himself revoke the regulations which contain those provisions. And since those provisions are no longer operative he could fire Mueller.
Because those regulations create binding legal obligations they would have to be revoked through a formal rulemaking process governed by the Administrative Procedure Act, involving a proposal that DOJ would take public comments on (with a window that's supposed to last for 60 days absent an urgent need to move quicker) and a final version that shows the department considered the input from those comments. Moreover, the official signing off on the rule can't have decided to definitely make the proposed change in advance, or they're not honestly considering the public comments. Rules made outside of this process get overturned in court.
So no, it's not that simple. Thankfully.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Because those regulations create binding legal obligations they would have to be revoked through a formal rulemaking process governed by the Administrative Procedure Act, involving a proposal that DOJ would take public comments on (with a window that's supposed to last for 60 days absent an urgent need to move quicker) and a final version that shows the department considered the input from those comments. Moreover, the official signing off on the rule can't have decided to definitely make the proposed change in advance, or they're not honestly considering the public comments. Rules made outside of this process get overturned in court.
So no, it's not that simple. Thankfully.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
When gun rights activists do this sort of shit to try to disqualify gun control advocates, we rightfully treat them with contempt. Perhaps the same should be done here.
Yeah no. It's possible to have a valid opinion on something without being an expert. But it's not really possible to ask good probing questions of a company at a Senate hearing when you know basically nothing about them, not even that they are an advertising-based company.
I'm not sure how being disappointed that septuagenarians who've never used computers or Facebook were asking useless questions is some affront to democracy, but hey...
posted by chris24 at 1:46 PM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
Yeah no. It's possible to have a valid opinion on something without being an expert. But it's not really possible to ask good probing questions of a company at a Senate hearing when you know basically nothing about them, not even that they are an advertising-based company.
I'm not sure how being disappointed that septuagenarians who've never used computers or Facebook were asking useless questions is some affront to democracy, but hey...
posted by chris24 at 1:46 PM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
I will take your word for it, HZSF. Here's hoping the law still matters!
posted by Justinian at 1:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Just in the environmental context, courts have already smacked down a decent number of attempted rollbacks for trying to dodge the APA process, so it's definitely still a thing. I'm not saying Trump wouldn't try, of course, but he'd have a rough time. Even in the Supreme Court, the conservatives are big on proper rulemaking procedure because it keeps the dreaded "administrative state" in check.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:52 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:52 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure how being disappointed that septuagenarians
I'm eagerly awaiting the explanation of why this is pertinent and not just shitty agism.
posted by phearlez at 1:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
I'm eagerly awaiting the explanation of why this is pertinent and not just shitty agism.
posted by phearlez at 1:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
I think there's a middle ground here:
@ASankin: While it's totally legit to dunk on old senators for asking dumb questions about Facebook, this is the level of knowledge that most people have about a thing they use every day. You shouldn't have to be a tech expert to understand the privacy of your online data.
@zeynep: Look, Senators have smart people briefing them, and they have tried to ask reasonable questions. But they often get lost in the details and that's the point. An ordinary person *cannot* meaningfully consent to this level of complexity and obscurity.
I, too, wish the vast majority of these questions were more well-informed, and the lack of knowledge of most of these Senators have made most of these hearings a tremendous waste of time, in that they're occasionally asking questions that cut to the heart of online tracking and behavioral advertising and they don't even realize when Zuckerberg is ducking them.
But I do think Tufekci has a point. That Senators don't understand this is a problem, but it's also indicative of the fact that Faebook's users (not to mention the non-users Facebook tracks) don't understand it either. And in that environment, consent is meaningless. Even if we, as one Senator asked about, went to an opt-in regime instead of opt-out, we'd just have European-style cookie banners on every webpage, the web would be less usable, and there'd still be all the same tracking that happens now. If Senators can't begin to frame meaningful questions about the topic, it's equally unreasonable to expect users of technology to exercise meaningful control over how their data is used.
posted by zachlipton at 1:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [52 favorites]
@ASankin: While it's totally legit to dunk on old senators for asking dumb questions about Facebook, this is the level of knowledge that most people have about a thing they use every day. You shouldn't have to be a tech expert to understand the privacy of your online data.
@zeynep: Look, Senators have smart people briefing them, and they have tried to ask reasonable questions. But they often get lost in the details and that's the point. An ordinary person *cannot* meaningfully consent to this level of complexity and obscurity.
I, too, wish the vast majority of these questions were more well-informed, and the lack of knowledge of most of these Senators have made most of these hearings a tremendous waste of time, in that they're occasionally asking questions that cut to the heart of online tracking and behavioral advertising and they don't even realize when Zuckerberg is ducking them.
But I do think Tufekci has a point. That Senators don't understand this is a problem, but it's also indicative of the fact that Faebook's users (not to mention the non-users Facebook tracks) don't understand it either. And in that environment, consent is meaningless. Even if we, as one Senator asked about, went to an opt-in regime instead of opt-out, we'd just have European-style cookie banners on every webpage, the web would be less usable, and there'd still be all the same tracking that happens now. If Senators can't begin to frame meaningful questions about the topic, it's equally unreasonable to expect users of technology to exercise meaningful control over how their data is used.
posted by zachlipton at 1:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [52 favorites]
Hey, look at all the assholes!
When gun rights activists do this sort of shit to try to disqualify gun control advocates, we rightfully treat them with contempt.
Uh, no. As someone who is probably less fond of gun control than the average Mefite (but still a fan of much better rules than we currently have) I fully support disdain for any sort of attempt to question, let alone legislate, a thing without some reasonable baseline understanding of said thing.
I don't care if said thing is guns or online social media. I heard some of the questions on NPR while I was driving home from work and they varied from uncomfortably supportive ('what do people expect from a service that is free', which, well, yea, if only other folks understood that as well) to woefully worded/not comprehensible/irrelevant.
So, yes, if someone's job is authoring bills that will or will not regulate a facet of society then yes, they should understand it or they should burn the midnight oil and drink some coffee (decaf, whatever) to have it explained to them by their aids, nieces/nephews, grandkids, or interns cousin's friend who is a freshman CS major or something. This is not a bridge too far for folks working for us in government.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:57 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
When gun rights activists do this sort of shit to try to disqualify gun control advocates, we rightfully treat them with contempt.
Uh, no. As someone who is probably less fond of gun control than the average Mefite (but still a fan of much better rules than we currently have) I fully support disdain for any sort of attempt to question, let alone legislate, a thing without some reasonable baseline understanding of said thing.
I don't care if said thing is guns or online social media. I heard some of the questions on NPR while I was driving home from work and they varied from uncomfortably supportive ('what do people expect from a service that is free', which, well, yea, if only other folks understood that as well) to woefully worded/not comprehensible/irrelevant.
So, yes, if someone's job is authoring bills that will or will not regulate a facet of society then yes, they should understand it or they should burn the midnight oil and drink some coffee (decaf, whatever) to have it explained to them by their aids, nieces/nephews, grandkids, or interns cousin's friend who is a freshman CS major or something. This is not a bridge too far for folks working for us in government.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:57 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
I'm eagerly awaiting the explanation of why this is pertinent and not just shitty agism.
The second half of the sentence that says "who've never used computers or Facebook." I'll gladly retract the septuagenarians. While more common among septuagenarians I'd feel the same regardless of age. And I'd feel the same if a senator asked stupid questions about guns. You have staff and resources to ask pertinent and valuable questions. Having people with no knowledge of the topic in an expert setting was counterproductive.
posted by chris24 at 1:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
The second half of the sentence that says "who've never used computers or Facebook." I'll gladly retract the septuagenarians. While more common among septuagenarians I'd feel the same regardless of age. And I'd feel the same if a senator asked stupid questions about guns. You have staff and resources to ask pertinent and valuable questions. Having people with no knowledge of the topic in an expert setting was counterproductive.
posted by chris24 at 1:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
I was hoping someone would ask Zuckerberg if he still thinks Facebook users are "dumb fucks" for trusting him.
posted by defenestration at 2:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
posted by defenestration at 2:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
elgilito And how come 40% of the voters are still fine with that? The US democracy may prove ultimately resilient, but some post-trauma analysis will be necessary. I wish that other democracies are better prepared and hardened against such a frontal assault, but I'm not really sure.
You sort of answered your own questions with the first sentence I quoted.
Why can Trump get way with what he does? Because around 40% of the country is OK with that.
When people say things like "America is better than this" they're wrong. America isn't better than this. Those 40% are part of America. We'd like to pretend they aren't, just as they'd like to pretend that we aren't, but we all are. And that's where things get complicated.
The simple, regrettable, fact is that a large number of Americans are not only uncommitted to the ideals of democracy but actively hostile towards those ideals. They do not want a representative democracy with rights assured for all. They want a dictatorship under a dictator they like and approve of. The have looked at democracy, they have rejected it, and they have decided that an authoritarian government with theocratic and white supremacist leanings is more what they're after.
The critical difference between Trump and Bush, or Trump and Reagan, or even Trump and Nixon, is that Trump is sufficiently stupid/senile/privileged that he's willing to go further than they were. Truth is, I think Nixon could have weathered the Watergate storm if he'd been as shameless and stubborn as Trump, he didn't fall because he committed crimes, he fell because he had a vestigial sense of shame and an insufficient egotism to think he could get away with it. If he'd brazened it out, dared Congress to impeach him, gotten on TV and the radio and boldly declared that anyone who made a fuss about Watergate was a Communist agitator he'd have survived.
Because, then as now, a whole lot of Republican voters are basically looking for a quasi-fascist dictator to turn America into a white Christian ethnostate.
The flaw is not in our system, it's in our voters, in our population.
Why are our prisons so awful? The answer is simple: our prisons are awful because a sizable percentage of Americans actively want them to be awful. Why do our prisons exist as brutal places where institutionalized torture and abuse are commonplace? Because many/most Americans want that, and the rest don't care enough to fight against it.
Why do the police get away with murdering black men? The answer is simple: the police get away with murdering black men because a sizable percentage of Americans actively want young black men to be killed by the police.
All these problems are deeply related, in fact I'd argue they're all basically the same problem.
We on the white liberal side of things deluded ourselves into believing that while we might have differences with conservatives we were, at least, all on the same page with regards to things like democracy, justice, and civil rights. But we aren't, and we never were.
Because we've been in such deep denial for so long, in part because we were very successful at driving overt expressions of the authoritarian and white supremacist beliefs of our fellow Americans into the shadows, we failed to address the root problem.
You can't solve a problem if you don't acknowledge that it exists, and while our black fellow citizens were screaming warnings at us, we on the white side of liberalism pretended they were hysterical and their warnings could not possibly be rooted in reality.
And now here we are.
Where we go from here is up in the air. But if we want to make any progress at all the very first thing we have to do is recognize that the people of color, women, LGBT people, and other minorities we'd been steadfastly ignoring were 100% right and that a large portion of America is genuinely, no fooling, devoted to the idea of America as a white, Christian, ethnostate.
As long as we keep trying to pretend that Republicans are fellow believers in America as a democratic, multi-ethnic, nation with liberty and justice for all we will never be able to make progress. Because that is a lie.
Why can Trump get away with what he's doing? Because somewhere between 40% and 50% of Americans want what he's doing.
posted by sotonohito at 2:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [142 favorites]
You sort of answered your own questions with the first sentence I quoted.
Why can Trump get way with what he does? Because around 40% of the country is OK with that.
When people say things like "America is better than this" they're wrong. America isn't better than this. Those 40% are part of America. We'd like to pretend they aren't, just as they'd like to pretend that we aren't, but we all are. And that's where things get complicated.
The simple, regrettable, fact is that a large number of Americans are not only uncommitted to the ideals of democracy but actively hostile towards those ideals. They do not want a representative democracy with rights assured for all. They want a dictatorship under a dictator they like and approve of. The have looked at democracy, they have rejected it, and they have decided that an authoritarian government with theocratic and white supremacist leanings is more what they're after.
The critical difference between Trump and Bush, or Trump and Reagan, or even Trump and Nixon, is that Trump is sufficiently stupid/senile/privileged that he's willing to go further than they were. Truth is, I think Nixon could have weathered the Watergate storm if he'd been as shameless and stubborn as Trump, he didn't fall because he committed crimes, he fell because he had a vestigial sense of shame and an insufficient egotism to think he could get away with it. If he'd brazened it out, dared Congress to impeach him, gotten on TV and the radio and boldly declared that anyone who made a fuss about Watergate was a Communist agitator he'd have survived.
Because, then as now, a whole lot of Republican voters are basically looking for a quasi-fascist dictator to turn America into a white Christian ethnostate.
The flaw is not in our system, it's in our voters, in our population.
Why are our prisons so awful? The answer is simple: our prisons are awful because a sizable percentage of Americans actively want them to be awful. Why do our prisons exist as brutal places where institutionalized torture and abuse are commonplace? Because many/most Americans want that, and the rest don't care enough to fight against it.
Why do the police get away with murdering black men? The answer is simple: the police get away with murdering black men because a sizable percentage of Americans actively want young black men to be killed by the police.
All these problems are deeply related, in fact I'd argue they're all basically the same problem.
We on the white liberal side of things deluded ourselves into believing that while we might have differences with conservatives we were, at least, all on the same page with regards to things like democracy, justice, and civil rights. But we aren't, and we never were.
Because we've been in such deep denial for so long, in part because we were very successful at driving overt expressions of the authoritarian and white supremacist beliefs of our fellow Americans into the shadows, we failed to address the root problem.
You can't solve a problem if you don't acknowledge that it exists, and while our black fellow citizens were screaming warnings at us, we on the white side of liberalism pretended they were hysterical and their warnings could not possibly be rooted in reality.
And now here we are.
Where we go from here is up in the air. But if we want to make any progress at all the very first thing we have to do is recognize that the people of color, women, LGBT people, and other minorities we'd been steadfastly ignoring were 100% right and that a large portion of America is genuinely, no fooling, devoted to the idea of America as a white, Christian, ethnostate.
As long as we keep trying to pretend that Republicans are fellow believers in America as a democratic, multi-ethnic, nation with liberty and justice for all we will never be able to make progress. Because that is a lie.
Why can Trump get away with what he's doing? Because somewhere between 40% and 50% of Americans want what he's doing.
posted by sotonohito at 2:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [142 favorites]
If Trump can buy himself, say, three months of time, that might start to look appealing even if he expects to lose the case at the end of that clock.
That's the beauty of the preliminary injunction. When a judge finds that the rule being challenged is hurting the plaintiff right now (e.g. by stopping any independent federal investigation of the 2016 election) and that there is "a reasonable likelihood" that they'll win the case in the end, then that judge can order it suspended immediately while the suit proceeds.
That's the tool courts have used to block enforcement of Trump's travel bans, and it would serve just as well for the special-counsel rule.
(Note that the special counsel bans were not APA rulemakings -- the relevant law explicitly allows the President to set immigration limits within certain boundaries, and the question is about where those boundaries are. This would be a different legal question, and one where Trump would find it much harder to convince Roberts and Kennedy, at least, that he's not full of shit.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:06 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
That's the beauty of the preliminary injunction. When a judge finds that the rule being challenged is hurting the plaintiff right now (e.g. by stopping any independent federal investigation of the 2016 election) and that there is "a reasonable likelihood" that they'll win the case in the end, then that judge can order it suspended immediately while the suit proceeds.
That's the tool courts have used to block enforcement of Trump's travel bans, and it would serve just as well for the special-counsel rule.
(Note that the special counsel bans were not APA rulemakings -- the relevant law explicitly allows the President to set immigration limits within certain boundaries, and the question is about where those boundaries are. This would be a different legal question, and one where Trump would find it much harder to convince Roberts and Kennedy, at least, that he's not full of shit.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:06 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
I was hoping someone would ask Zuckerberg if he still thinks Facebook users are "dumb fucks" for trusting him.
If ever there was a time to turn someIM transcripts and screenshots into an absurd congressional floor prop, today was that time. a missed opportunity.
posted by halation at 2:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
If ever there was a time to turn someIM transcripts and screenshots into an absurd congressional floor prop, today was that time. a missed opportunity.
posted by halation at 2:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Unfortunately, the Senators asking them largely don't know enough about the subject to understand how significant those questions are and what it means for Zuckerberg to duck them.
What we need is more technologically adept Senators, for instance Beto O'Rourke who's been online since the days of BBSes & founded & ran his own ISP in New York before moving back home getting into politics.
posted by scalefree at 2:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
What we need is more technologically adept Senators, for instance Beto O'Rourke who's been online since the days of BBSes & founded & ran his own ISP in New York before moving back home getting into politics.
posted by scalefree at 2:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [20 favorites]
Report: Mueller Is Investigating New Seychelles Meetings
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating previously unreported meetings in the Seychelles that included several foreign power players, according to an investigation by NJ.com. The January 2017 meetings were attended by “foreign influencers” from countries like “Russia, France, Saudi Arabia and South Africa,” and were "part of a larger gathering" hosted by United Arab Emirates’ Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, according to the report.posted by chris24 at 2:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
Several of the meetings occurred around the same time as an already-reported gathering between Blackwater’s Erik Prince, Russian businessman Kirill Dmitriev, and the crown prince. That meeting was brokered by George Nader, who has been of interest to Mueller. Flight records show that people in the Saudi financial system, and others holding passports from Egypt and Singapore flew into the Seychelles in the second week of January.
Alexander Mashkevitch, an “alleged financier of Bayrock, an investment vehicle linked to Trump,” was also reportedly on the islands during that time period. Nader flew to the islands on January 7, and Dmitriev flew in on January 11. Mueller has been expanding the scope of his investigation to look at the relationships that Trump and his associates may have had with foreign funds in the years running up to the election.
> Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating previously unreported meetings in the Seychelles that included several foreign power players ... The January 2017 meetings were attended by “foreign influencers” from countries like “Russia, France, Saudi Arabia and South Africa,” and were "part of a larger gathering" hosted by United Arab Emirates’ Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan
GODDAMNIT is there any country that has *not* tried to buy this administration?
And if so, why the hell not? It seems like the US government is on sale, for cheap.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:13 PM on April 10, 2018 [19 favorites]
GODDAMNIT is there any country that has *not* tried to buy this administration?
And if so, why the hell not? It seems like the US government is on sale, for cheap.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:13 PM on April 10, 2018 [19 favorites]
Mueller is Sysiphus.
posted by klarck at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by klarck at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Is Mueller really just looking into some of this stuff now, or is this just the first we're hearing about it?
posted by kirkaracha at 2:18 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 2:18 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Certainly he didn't just start today.
posted by rhizome at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
You get a raid! You get a raid! Everybody gets a raid! /oprah
European Commission raids Murdoch's Fox offices in London
European Commission raids Murdoch's Fox offices in London
The British offices of the Murdoch entertainment empire 21st Century Fox have been raided by investigators from the European Commission, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. It is understood that competition watchdogs gained access to the company’s offices in Hammersmith, west London, early today to seize documents and computer records.posted by chris24 at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2018 [48 favorites]
The precise nature of the confidential investigation, which is believed to be in its early stages, is unclear. The building is home to Fox Networks, the company’s channels business. The European Commission has powers to raid businesses suspected of abusing their dominance of a market or being involved in a price fixing cartel. Investigators are able to take copies...
American whites are not going to just stand, bow, and gesture to the throne as they back away from the dais of majority. Before 2010, they were largely complacent, as everything was -- as far as they could tell -- going okay. Obama was a shot across the bow. Now they're awake. Wearing red hats. GOTV. Buying assault weapons. I'm having a hard time envisioning a peaceful transition of power from an endless succession of old white dudes to e.g. young black women. If only more old white dudes were as frothingly ineffective as Trump is.
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
They want a dictatorship under a dictator they like and approve of.
Jeet Heer posted a quote yesterday that I felt encapsulates our current moment.
posted by Existential Dread at 2:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [155 favorites]
Jeet Heer posted a quote yesterday that I felt encapsulates our current moment.
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:[source]
There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
posted by Existential Dread at 2:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [155 favorites]
If only more old white dudes were as frothingly ineffective as Trump is.
Well, they're at least as old and out of touch. It's a waiting game in the long run (5-20 years). A waiting game they simply can't win. Re: death, etc.
posted by rc3spencer at 2:23 PM on April 10, 2018
Well, they're at least as old and out of touch. It's a waiting game in the long run (5-20 years). A waiting game they simply can't win. Re: death, etc.
posted by rc3spencer at 2:23 PM on April 10, 2018
they're making more old white dudes every day, bro
posted by entropicamericana at 2:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 2:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [41 favorites]
They're actually making less old white dudes every day. More non-white dudes and women according to most demographic projections. Thus the old white dude panic of the last 10 years.
posted by rc3spencer at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by rc3spencer at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
they're making more old white dudes every day, bro
well, but it's kind of like take-a-penny-leave-a-penny
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
well, but it's kind of like take-a-penny-leave-a-penny
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
Sen. Sullivan (R-AK): "Dorm room to billionaire.. only in America, right?"
Zuck: "Well, you see, ah,"
Sullivan: "But you couldn't do it in China, right?"
Zuck: "Uh, well, there are actually some large Chinese internet companies.."
Sullivan: "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY YES."
posted by theodolite at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
Zuck: "Well, you see, ah,"
Sullivan: "But you couldn't do it in China, right?"
Zuck: "Uh, well, there are actually some large Chinese internet companies.."
Sullivan: "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY YES."
posted by theodolite at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
They want a dictatorship under a dictator they like and approve of.
Seems similar to the attitude by the Pence-types towards religion. They want a repressive caliphate with sharia law, but it should be flying the banner of their God not somebody else's.
posted by duoshao at 2:30 PM on April 10, 2018 [32 favorites]
Seems similar to the attitude by the Pence-types towards religion. They want a repressive caliphate with sharia law, but it should be flying the banner of their God not somebody else's.
posted by duoshao at 2:30 PM on April 10, 2018 [32 favorites]
Haberman reports that Alan Dershowitz is dining with Trump at the White House tonight. He's probably there to advise Trump about the Mueller investigation I should think. But I can't help feel like Trump might do something crazypants like fire Sessions and try to make Dershowitz the next AG. He... wouldn't do that would he?
posted by Justinian at 2:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 2:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nationals of Chad are being unbanned from the United States, with the White House saying the country has "improved its identity-management practices."
Do we know any former officials who are lobbying on behalf of Chad now?
posted by zachlipton at 2:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Do we know any former officials who are lobbying on behalf of Chad now?
posted by zachlipton at 2:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
they're making more old white dudes every day, bro
Yeah, but while old white dudes of today are exactly as backwards relative to their non-old-white-dudes contemporaries as previous generations of old white dudes were, they are marginally less backwards relative to their old white dude forbears.
So progress.
posted by duoshao at 2:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah, but while old white dudes of today are exactly as backwards relative to their non-old-white-dudes contemporaries as previous generations of old white dudes were, they are marginally less backwards relative to their old white dude forbears.
So progress.
posted by duoshao at 2:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
they're making more old white dudes every day, bro
But probably not as many as are dying off. Remember what a giant demographic bubble the Boomers are. I'm personally approaching old white dude status but my generation is comparatively small.
posted by octothorpe at 2:38 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
But probably not as many as are dying off. Remember what a giant demographic bubble the Boomers are. I'm personally approaching old white dude status but my generation is comparatively small.
posted by octothorpe at 2:38 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Haberman reports that Alan Dershowitz is dining with Trump at the White House tonight. He's probably there to advise Trump about the Mueller investigation I should think. But I can't help feel like Trump might do something crazypants like fire Sessions and try to make Dershowitz the next AG. He... wouldn't do that would he?
Sure. And then Trump will appoint Jeffrey Epstein czar of child sex trafficking and they can have a reunion.
posted by ryoshu at 2:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
Sure. And then Trump will appoint Jeffrey Epstein czar of child sex trafficking and they can have a reunion.
posted by ryoshu at 2:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
Millennials are expected to outnumber Baby Boomers within a year. Within a decade, Gen X will overtake the Boomers as well. In that time, the ranks of the Silent Generation will also decline by almost two-thirds. (I don't want to look forward to the decimation of a population that includes my parents, older relatives, mentors, and family friends, but I also don't want that cohort to take me with them.)
posted by Iridic at 2:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by Iridic at 2:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [19 favorites]
Do we know any former officials who are lobbying on behalf of Chad now?
Remember how it was bullshit that Chad was even on the list to begin with?
Remember how it was bullshit that Chad was even on the list to begin with?
US officials say an office supply issue was a major reason the African country of Chad was hit with travel restrictions by the United States.posted by chris24 at 2:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
Donald Trump’s administration added Chad in an order last month that a judge put on hold this week. Chad’s inclusion was perplexing because the country cooperates closely with the US on counter-terrorism.
It turns out a seemingly pedestrian issue was to blame: Chad ran out of passport paper.
All countries had been given 50 days to take several steps that included providing a recent passport sample. Chad couldn’t comply, and its offer to provide a pre-existing sample wasn’t sufficient.
The homeland security department says there were other reasons Chad was added, too. The department says the US is working with Chad to resolve them.
That's the tool courts have used to block enforcement of Trump's travel bans, and it would serve just as well for the special-counsel rule.
Katy Tur has Geoff Bennett on MSNBC and he has the source of SHS' assertion that there is DOJ opinion that Trump has the power to fire Mueller. He didn't reveal the name but the guidance they are giving Trump is that Trump, as head of the executive branch, has Constitutional authority to fire Mueller and the Constitution supercedes any regulation.
posted by Justinian at 2:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Katy Tur has Geoff Bennett on MSNBC and he has the source of SHS' assertion that there is DOJ opinion that Trump has the power to fire Mueller. He didn't reveal the name but the guidance they are giving Trump is that Trump, as head of the executive branch, has Constitutional authority to fire Mueller and the Constitution supercedes any regulation.
posted by Justinian at 2:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
He didn't reveal the name but the guidance they are giving Trump is that Trump, as head of the executive branch, has Constitutional authority to fire Mueller and the Constitution supercedes any regulation.
Stupid Watergate continues.
"Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." - Nixon
posted by chris24 at 2:48 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
Stupid Watergate continues.
"Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." - Nixon
posted by chris24 at 2:48 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
ordering an unanticipated raid on the records of the President's personal lawyer.
Since the NY arm of the FBI was supposedly at-odds with the Comey/DC branch, which prompted much scuttlebutt over why and why-then of Comey's "reopening the email investigation" press conference that GOT US IN THIS GODDMANED MESS . . *cough* excuse me. /breathe
I wonder if it was in fact as mythically tight as we currently believe the Mueller-squad tactics to be such that they got this apparently high-level approval to toss the Sez Who guy's office, apartment, AND hotel without some MAGA-infected fucknut blabbing to Giuliani about how the shit was a-comin'.
If so, sweet. And what does that say about that alleged former NY-DC FBI feud? Is that all Comey-under-the-bridge now? Or did DC just double-down?
posted by petebest at 2:49 PM on April 10, 2018
Since the NY arm of the FBI was supposedly at-odds with the Comey/DC branch, which prompted much scuttlebutt over why and why-then of Comey's "reopening the email investigation" press conference that GOT US IN THIS GODDMANED MESS . . *cough* excuse me. /breathe
I wonder if it was in fact as mythically tight as we currently believe the Mueller-squad tactics to be such that they got this apparently high-level approval to toss the Sez Who guy's office, apartment, AND hotel without some MAGA-infected fucknut blabbing to Giuliani about how the shit was a-comin'.
If so, sweet. And what does that say about that alleged former NY-DC FBI feud? Is that all Comey-under-the-bridge now? Or did DC just double-down?
posted by petebest at 2:49 PM on April 10, 2018
Ah, our old friend the unitary executive.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:49 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:49 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sure. And then Trump will appoint Jeffrey Epstein czar of child sex trafficking and they can have a reunion.
I am reminded by the investigative raid on Cohen looking into the payments to Daniels, that about the same time Jane Doe -- while appearing to be prevailing on the preponderance of evidence -- withdrew her lawsuit against Trump and Epstein.
I am hopeful that as a result of the Daniels' NDA being tossed, what other people will be unencumbered? If the Jane Doe settlement agreement is as full of holes as Daniels' appears to be, I do not believe there would be anything preventing her from being re-filed.
posted by mikelieman at 2:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
I am reminded by the investigative raid on Cohen looking into the payments to Daniels, that about the same time Jane Doe -- while appearing to be prevailing on the preponderance of evidence -- withdrew her lawsuit against Trump and Epstein.
I am hopeful that as a result of the Daniels' NDA being tossed, what other people will be unencumbered? If the Jane Doe settlement agreement is as full of holes as Daniels' appears to be, I do not believe there would be anything preventing her from being re-filed.
posted by mikelieman at 2:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
WSJ, Trump to Sign Executive Order for Revamp of Federal Aid Programs
posted by zachlipton at 2:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
President Donald Trump is set to sign a broad executive order urging a revamp of federal government aid programs Tuesday, invigorating a contentious debate from which Republicans hope to gain momentum before the November elections.Here's the order itself, Executive Order Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility. It lays out a bunch of the usual stuff about how welfare traps people in poverty and orders agencies to review their existing programs to see whether they should impose work requirements if they haven't already.
Mr. Trump is expected to issue the order privately, amid a flurry of news around his administration’s groundwork for a possible military strike against the Syrian government and a series of fiery tweets about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s raid on his longtime private lawyer.
The executive order lays out broad principles for overhauling government aid programs to require that more participants prove they are working or trying to find jobs, a person familiar with its contents said. It also instructs federal agencies to propose changes to the programs they oversee and craft new regulations if necessary.
posted by zachlipton at 2:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
while appearing to be prevailing on the preponderance of evidence -- withdrew her lawsuit against Trump and Epstein.
Might as well wait until Daniels' suit completes. There's no need to duplicate effort and money, and if the contracts or NDAs are ruled null and void everybody else will be able to piggyback on that. There's no reason to think that Cohen used anything but a template for everybody, however many.
posted by rhizome at 2:56 PM on April 10, 2018
Might as well wait until Daniels' suit completes. There's no need to duplicate effort and money, and if the contracts or NDAs are ruled null and void everybody else will be able to piggyback on that. There's no reason to think that Cohen used anything but a template for everybody, however many.
posted by rhizome at 2:56 PM on April 10, 2018
I'm all for a unitary executive IF the entire expenditure of the Treasury on the Executive Branch consists ONLY of the President's remuneration for service. If there's only ONE PERSON vested with the responsibilities, that's all I'm paying for.
posted by mikelieman at 2:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 2:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Ah, our old friend the unitary executive.
Unitary executive seems to only be acceptable under odd-numbered administrations. Under even-numbered presidents it's referred to as Executive Overreach.
posted by duoshao at 2:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
Unitary executive seems to only be acceptable under odd-numbered administrations. Under even-numbered presidents it's referred to as Executive Overreach.
posted by duoshao at 2:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
I'm all for a unitary executive IF the entire expenditure of the Treasury on the Executive Branch consists ONLY of the President's remuneration for service. If there's only ONE PERSON vested with the responsibilities, that's all I'm paying for.
Government drowned in a bathtub, you say? It's more popular than you think.
posted by jaduncan at 3:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Government drowned in a bathtub, you say? It's more popular than you think.
posted by jaduncan at 3:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Robert Costa (WaPo): House Intel Chair Devin Nunes privately told several colleagues today that it's time for House GOP to hold Rosenstein and Wray in contempt of Congress, should they refuse to hand over requested docs, according to two people familiar with the discussions...
...Nunes is having priv talks re: contempt w/ mbrs of House Judiciary and Oversight Cmmts + Freedom Caucus, the people said... they're readying potential proceedings, looking at how it could work
posted by chris24 at 3:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
...Nunes is having priv talks re: contempt w/ mbrs of House Judiciary and Oversight Cmmts + Freedom Caucus, the people said... they're readying potential proceedings, looking at how it could work
posted by chris24 at 3:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Haberman reports that Alan Dershowitz is dining with Trump at the White House tonight. He's probably there to advise Trump about the Mueller investigation I should think.
@swin24 (DailyBeast)
The Dersh, last night to @thedailybeast re: Michael Cohen raid: “It’s a tactic generally used against organized crime, against very serious, very serious criminals and lawyers who are operating outside of the protections of the law.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-are-treating-michael-cohen-like-a-mob-lawyer-trump-allies-say
@MikeDelMoro (ABC)
Dershowitz who said yesterday the raid sends the message that cooperation is “not going to be rewarded by Mueller,” Dershowitz?
@maxwelltani (DailyBeast)
Last night on Hannity, Dershowitz literally said: "I don't give advice to the president. Except on television - if he wants to listen, he can listen."
posted by chris24 at 3:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
@swin24 (DailyBeast)
The Dersh, last night to @thedailybeast re: Michael Cohen raid: “It’s a tactic generally used against organized crime, against very serious, very serious criminals and lawyers who are operating outside of the protections of the law.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-are-treating-michael-cohen-like-a-mob-lawyer-trump-allies-say
@MikeDelMoro (ABC)
Dershowitz who said yesterday the raid sends the message that cooperation is “not going to be rewarded by Mueller,” Dershowitz?
@maxwelltani (DailyBeast)
Last night on Hannity, Dershowitz literally said: "I don't give advice to the president. Except on television - if he wants to listen, he can listen."
posted by chris24 at 3:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
Say, didn't Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the Elf get held in contempt for lying under oath at his confirmation hearing?
Yeah, well why not now.
posted by petebest at 3:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, well why not now.
posted by petebest at 3:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Law Is Coming, Mr. Trump
slnyt and, if true, delicious......
posted by lalochezia at 3:45 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
slnyt and, if true, delicious......
posted by lalochezia at 3:45 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Michael Cohen to CNN: FBI was 'professional, courteous, respectful' in raids, counter to Trump's depiction
The comments contrast with President Donald Trump who complained Monday that agents "broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys."
Suddenly full of kind words for the FBI, eh Mikey?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [62 favorites]
The comments contrast with President Donald Trump who complained Monday that agents "broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys."
Suddenly full of kind words for the FBI, eh Mikey?
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [62 favorites]
Say what you will about Devin Nunes, but he's a tenacious fucker isn't he?
posted by notyou at 3:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by notyou at 3:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
[Michael Cohen] said that he is very loyal to Trump but after what happened on Monday, he'd rethink how he handled the payments to Daniels because of the impact on his family.
We've all had that moment of clarity where we question whether we should have spent one-hundred-thirty-thousand dollars of our own money to buy the silence of someone who definitely didn't have an affair with our client while simultaneously failing to get our client to sign the agreement, or even to notify him of the existence of the agreement, so that the agreement is less of an agreement and more of an example of absurdist performance art
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:50 PM on April 10, 2018 [108 favorites]
We've all had that moment of clarity where we question whether we should have spent one-hundred-thirty-thousand dollars of our own money to buy the silence of someone who definitely didn't have an affair with our client while simultaneously failing to get our client to sign the agreement, or even to notify him of the existence of the agreement, so that the agreement is less of an agreement and more of an example of absurdist performance art
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:50 PM on April 10, 2018 [108 favorites]
Asked if he was worried, Cohen said; "I would be lying to you if I told that I am not. Do I need this in my life? No. Do I want to be involved in this? No."
THAT IS HOW SANE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FEELING FOR LIKE TWO YEARS NOW YOU ASSHOLE
posted by vrakatar at 3:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [110 favorites]
THAT IS HOW SANE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FEELING FOR LIKE TWO YEARS NOW YOU ASSHOLE
posted by vrakatar at 3:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [110 favorites]
@joshtpm
Revealing here that this is suddenly a VERY subdued, non-confrontational Michael Cohen. Like night and day. I think we know why.
@EricColumbus (Obama Justice & DHS)
Replying to @joshtpm
We’re still a ways from Cohen flipping on Trump, but his PRAISING THE FBI AGENTS WHO RAIDED HIM brings us a fair bit closer.
---
A couple mentions of the impact on his family might worry Trump. (Remember Gates?)
posted by chris24 at 4:01 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Revealing here that this is suddenly a VERY subdued, non-confrontational Michael Cohen. Like night and day. I think we know why.
@EricColumbus (Obama Justice & DHS)
Replying to @joshtpm
We’re still a ways from Cohen flipping on Trump, but his PRAISING THE FBI AGENTS WHO RAIDED HIM brings us a fair bit closer.
---
A couple mentions of the impact on his family might worry Trump. (Remember Gates?)
posted by chris24 at 4:01 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Mueller, a Republican previously appointed FBI Director by a Republican, who was made Special Counsel by a Republican appointed by Trump, went to that Republican who referred it to a Republican US Attorney appointed by Trump, who went to an impartial judge and got a no-knock warrant of the president's attorney to be executed by an FBI led by a Republican Trump appointee.
Well played Deep State.
posted by chris24 at 18:55 on April 9
The Law Is Coming, Mr. Trump, April 10, 2018:
posted by biogeo at 4:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
Well played Deep State.
posted by chris24 at 18:55 on April 9
The Law Is Coming, Mr. Trump, April 10, 2018:
In fact, the raids on the premises used by Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, were conducted by the public corruption unit of the federal attorney’s office in Manhattan, and at the request not of the special counsel’s team, but under a search warrant that investigators in New York obtained following a referral by Mr. Mueller, who first consulted with the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. To sum up, a Republican-appointed former F.B.I. director consulted with a Republican-appointed deputy attorney general, who then authorized a referral to an F.B.I. field office not known for its anti-Trump bias. Deep state, indeed.Huh.
posted by biogeo at 4:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [33 favorites]
So who's on the editorial board of the NYT and what's their account number?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
We’re still a ways from Cohen flipping on Trump
This is not an evidence-based statement. We are still a ways from knowing definitively that Cohen has flipped on Trump.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:07 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
This is not an evidence-based statement. We are still a ways from knowing definitively that Cohen has flipped on Trump.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:07 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
CNN: President Donald Trump is considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, multiple people familiar with the discussions tell CNN, a move that has gained urgency following the raid of the office of the President's personal lawyer.
Such an action could potentially further Trump's goal of trying to put greater limits on special counsel Robert Mueller.
This is one of those stories that absolutely 100% comes from Donald Trump phoning someone at CNN and launching a trial balloon.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
Such an action could potentially further Trump's goal of trying to put greater limits on special counsel Robert Mueller.
This is one of those stories that absolutely 100% comes from Donald Trump phoning someone at CNN and launching a trial balloon.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
CNN is freaking me out. People in a position to have contacts who would know are speaking like the firing of Rod Rosenstein by Trump is absolutely imminent. And that the real question now is whether Sessions gets canned as well. I think we are hitting the real tipping point into crisis this week.
posted by Justinian at 4:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Quinta Jurecic, normally deputy manager of Lawfare but slumming it over at the New York Times, It’s Mueller, Not Trump, Who Is Draining the Swamp
It’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing Mr. Mueller as a savior, an omniscient narrator who will soon reveal all. While there’s no way of knowing how important this narrative of corruption will be to the investigation as a whole, it does make plain that many of the problems unearthed by the special counsel are beyond his power as a prosecutor to resolve.posted by zachlipton at 4:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [30 favorites]
Instead, addressing them will require political will. The prosecution of Mr. Manafort may bring some justice, for example, but the loopholes that made his graft possible continue to exist for others to potentially exploit. In the absence of stricter, better-enforced regulations, foreign money will still be able to flow into United States elections.
These are issues to which Mr. Mueller cannot provide a solution, however long the public waits. Mr. Mueller is both a prosecutor and a storyteller. But the response to the story he tells is up to the country to determine through politics.
Cohen is sounding like someone who knows the jig is up. At least I hope so. He knows exactly what the FBI got and he likely knows beyond a doubt that he's hosed.
posted by azpenguin at 4:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 4:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
!! NYT, Haberman and Schmidt, Trump Sought to Fire Mueller in December
posted by zachlipton at 4:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [41 favorites]
In early December, President Trump, furious over news reports about a new round of subpoenas from the office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, told advisers in no uncertain terms that Mr. Mueller’s investigation had to be shut down.That's twice Trump has tried to fire Mueller, yet McConnell continues to insist as recently as today that there's no need to protect Mueller.
The president’s anger was fueled by reports that the subpoenas were for obtaining information about his business dealings with Deutsche Bank, according to interviews with eight White House officials, people close to the president and others familiar with the episode. To Mr. Trump, the subpoenas suggested that Mr. Mueller had expanded the investigation in a way that crossed the “red line” he had set last year in an interview with The New York Times.
In the hours that followed Mr. Trump’s initial anger over the Deutsche Bank reports, his lawyers and advisers worked quickly to learn about the subpoenas, and ultimately were told by Mr. Mueller’s office that the reports were not accurate, leading the president to back down.
Mr. Trump’s quick conclusion that the erroneous news reports warranted firing Mr. Mueller is also an insight Mr. Trump’s state of mind about the special counsel. Despite assurances from leading Republicans like Speaker Paul D. Ryan that the president has not thought about firing Mr. Mueller, the December episode was the second time Mr. Trump is now known to have considered taking that step. The other instance was in June, when the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, threatened to quit unless Mr. Trump stopped trying to get him to fire Mr. Mueller.
...
The venting has usually been dismissed by his advisers, many of whom insist they have come to see the statements less as direct orders than as simply how the president talks, and that he often does not follow up on his outbursts.
One former adviser said that people had become conditioned to wait until Mr. Trump had raised an issue at least three times before acting on it. The president’s diatribes about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Mr. Rosenstein and the existence of the special counsel have, for most of the White House aides, become a dependable part of the fabric of life working for this president.
posted by zachlipton at 4:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [41 favorites]
The fate of the Republic is apparently dependent on the President's staff repeatedly ignoring him.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:15 PM on April 10, 2018 [62 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:15 PM on April 10, 2018 [62 favorites]
@rcohen [Sen. Warner's comms director]: When @MarkWarner delivered his “red line” speech to warn against firing Mueller back in December, a lot of people asked: “why now?” This is why.
Is there a reason Sen. Warner didn't just straight up tell us Trump tried to fire Mueller back in December? This is so much easier when we all just say what we know instead of leaving weird hints.
posted by zachlipton at 4:28 PM on April 10, 2018 [28 favorites]
Is there a reason Sen. Warner didn't just straight up tell us Trump tried to fire Mueller back in December? This is so much easier when we all just say what we know instead of leaving weird hints.
posted by zachlipton at 4:28 PM on April 10, 2018 [28 favorites]
Can I just say that I fervently hope that Mitch Fucking Goddamn McConnell is caught in this snare of Mueller's because holy fuck is that guys the sleaziest of fucking sleaze. Sorry.
posted by yoga at 4:41 PM on April 10, 2018 [82 favorites]
posted by yoga at 4:41 PM on April 10, 2018 [82 favorites]
There's a saying that you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to be faster than the next guy. Jokes about fitness aside, 45's not very good at that kind of running, and the bear is starting to eat people faster than 45 can manoeuvre them into its maw. Who's next, Kushner? That would be hilarious.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
@JohnJHarwood: Longtime associate Roger Stone tells me he doesn’t think Trump will fire Mueller. recommends instead that he fire Sessions and Rosenstein, then instruct new acting AG to rewrite/limit Mueller’s authority to only Russia collusion probe
That was followed by: CNN reporting that Trump now considering version of his strategy
Everyone's prepared to take to the streets if Trump fires Mueller. Nobody has a playbook for this scenario, and it's an extraordinarily unacceptable one.
posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
That was followed by: CNN reporting that Trump now considering version of his strategy
Everyone's prepared to take to the streets if Trump fires Mueller. Nobody has a playbook for this scenario, and it's an extraordinarily unacceptable one.
posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Can I just say that I fervently hope that Mitch Fucking Goddamn McConnell is caught in this snare of Mueller's because holy fuck is that guys the sleaziest of fucking sleaze. Sorry.
He's dirty. Ryan is dirty. Pence is dirty. It's just a matter of if Mueller casts that net wide enough.
posted by azpenguin at 4:45 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
He's dirty. Ryan is dirty. Pence is dirty. It's just a matter of if Mueller casts that net wide enough.
posted by azpenguin at 4:45 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
This is Lawrence O'Donnell's bit on the Mark Warner speech last December. It's despairing.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:46 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:46 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
@JohnJHarwood: Longtime associate Roger Stone tells me he doesn’t think Trump will fire Mueller. recommends instead that he fire Sessions and Rosenstein, then instruct new acting AG to rewrite/limit Mueller’s authority to only Russia collusion probe
um, isn't this sort of a no-take backsies situation? if Mueller uncovered crimes that were under his authority to investigate at the time he did so, those crimes don't suddenly disappear, right?
the time for this strategy would be at the beginning of the investigation, and even then it would look shady as hell.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:48 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
um, isn't this sort of a no-take backsies situation? if Mueller uncovered crimes that were under his authority to investigate at the time he did so, those crimes don't suddenly disappear, right?
the time for this strategy would be at the beginning of the investigation, and even then it would look shady as hell.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:48 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
also, not to abuse the edit window: Roger Stone is not one quarter as clever as he thinks he is.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:49 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 4:49 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
Can the scope even be retroactively narrowed?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:50 PM on April 10, 2018
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:50 PM on April 10, 2018
Wouldn't Mueller just be able to go "lol ok, I'm referring the investigation of all these other crimes to my colleagues in assorted FBI offices across the land," just like he just did with Cohen? Like, if a cop finds out a crime isn't in their jurisdiction, they don't just decide no crime happened, they bring it to the attention of the people whose jurisdiction it is in.
posted by yasaman at 4:51 PM on April 10, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by yasaman at 4:51 PM on April 10, 2018 [23 favorites]
Sure, but that doesn't do anything to prevent the use of evidence that's already been collected. They could declare that, in the future, his investigative abilities are restricted to "content that can be proven to have a link topic X" instead of "topic X and anything that seems like it might be related." (There's a difference between a police warrant for "illegal drugs in the house" and "illegal drugs, and any evidence of activities that might be connected to drug use, sales, or other crimes.")
But there is no simple way to declare "all the evidence you've found so far that doesn't relate to this specific crime is to be thrown out."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:53 PM on April 10, 2018
But there is no simple way to declare "all the evidence you've found so far that doesn't relate to this specific crime is to be thrown out."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:53 PM on April 10, 2018
NY Magazine: Today’s 5 Best Quotes From Freaked-Out Trump Sources, Ranked
5. Washington Post: “There was fear in Trump’s orbit that the president is liable to erupt in anger in coming days, escalating his attacks against Mueller at a time when his attorneys are negotiating a possible interview.”posted by Doktor Zed at 4:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [69 favorites]
Source: “Trump’s orbit”
4. NY Times: “Mr. Trump’s advisers have spent the last 24 hours trying to convince the president not to make an impulsive decision that could put the president in more legal jeopardy and ignite a controversy that could consume his presidency.”
Source: “several people close to Mr. Trump”
3. Vanity Fair: “He’s sitting there bitching and moaning. He’s brooding and doesn’t have a plan.”
Source: “a Republican close to the White House”
2. Politico: “He’s losing his shit,” the operative added. “We’re at a different level now.”
Source: “a GOP operative close to the White House”
1. Buzzfeed: “Jesus take the wheel.”
Source: “a former White House official”
TPM: "Said Fox’s Bret Baier: The President is facing 'the most serious and consequential personnel decision of his life tonight.'”
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Full numbers when I get home, but Dems have easily held Florida Senate 31, in the first of tonight's two special elections.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:55 PM on April 10, 2018 [46 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 4:55 PM on April 10, 2018 [46 favorites]
Nobody has a playbook for this scenario [narrowing Mueller's authority], and it's an extraordinarily unacceptable one.
I think that'd be covered by the language on the Nobody is Above the Law page: "…firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (the person overseeing Mueller), or taking other actions to prevent the investigation from being conducted freely."
posted by reductiondesign at 4:55 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think that'd be covered by the language on the Nobody is Above the Law page: "…firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (the person overseeing Mueller), or taking other actions to prevent the investigation from being conducted freely."
posted by reductiondesign at 4:55 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
"Said Fox’s Bret Baier: The President is facing 'the most serious and consequential personnel decision of his life tonight.'”
Of course it sounds just like a promo for The Apprentice.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Of course it sounds just like a promo for The Apprentice.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
We have only just begun to scratch the surface of the stupid being served today. NBC News, Ben Collins, Russia-linked account pushed fake Hillary Clinton sex video
*takes shower*
posted by zachlipton at 4:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
A pornographic video that falsely claimed to show Hillary Clinton engaged in a sex act has been traced back to an account that Reddit acknowledged on Tuesday is linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency.It's not entirely clear to me what the basis for the attribution to Russia is beyond Reddit including the account on its list of suspected IRA accounts.
The account, Rubinjer, was the Russia-linked agency’s most popular account on Reddit and received almost 100,000 upvotes, or Reddit’s version of Facebook’s “likes,” in its lifecycle before it was shut down by the site.
One of Rubinjer’s posts on Reddit’s largest pro-Trump community, r/The_Donald, titled “This is How Hillary gets black votes,” links to an animated gif of the fake porn video that is still available on the platform. The same sex tape was posted five times to PornHub under the name “Leaked Hillary Clinton’s Hotel Sex Tape with Black Guy,” and also the porn site SpankBang.
The video was viewed more than 250,000 times on Pornhub.
*takes shower*
posted by zachlipton at 4:56 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
Meanwhile the European Aviation Safety Agency has issued a missile warning for the Eastern Mediterranean.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 4:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 4:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Text of the notification linked above:
Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-ground and / or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean...
posted by diogenes at 5:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-ground and / or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean...
posted by diogenes at 5:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
WaPo, Justice Dept. to halt legal-advice program for immigrants in detention. This is a program where some detained immigrants (53,000 last year) get an hour seminar on the basics of their rights, immigration law, and how court proceedings work. DOJ will audit "the program’s cost-effectiveness."
Read this story along with last week's executive order that they should figure out more ways to detain immigrants, and a pattern continues to emerge.
posted by zachlipton at 5:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [49 favorites]
Read this story along with last week's executive order that they should figure out more ways to detain immigrants, and a pattern continues to emerge.
posted by zachlipton at 5:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [49 favorites]
"Said Fox’s Bret Baier: The President is facing 'the most serious and consequential personnel decision of his life tonight.'”
So why goad him on?
posted by rhizome at 5:13 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
So why goad him on?
posted by rhizome at 5:13 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Sotonohito: Because, then as now, a whole lot of Republican voters are basically looking for a quasi-fascist dictator to turn America into a white Christian ethnostate.
Speaking as a European person, it's always been painfully obvious that a significant percentage of people in any society do enjoy the kind of "strong man" that we've seen (and still see) in dictators and populists. While some of us are appalled by the bombast, the bragging, the incompetence, the disregard for truth and so many red flags, lots of people just lap it up: the terrible jokes, the funny nicknames, the DGAF attitude, the overt or not so overt call to violence. It's attractive. Lots of pre-WW2 Europeans wanted a Hitler, a Mussolini, a Franco or a Stalin, and, for a while, were happy to have one. So one of the questions many post-WW2 European societies had to solve was: how can we make sure that won't happen again in our democracies? Because the temptation is always there, the foul beast is always lurking, trying to get out, trying to rise again, we know that.
From that perspective, Trump is just a banal populist, not very smart but with a remarkable grasp of what those 40% want to hear and how they want to hear it - that's the very definition of populism. What is not banal, however, is that not only he did manage to get in power in a democracy well known for (and proud of) its legalism, but that he's still riding the wave and destroying stuff that he should not be allowed to destroy in the first place, and he does that by tweeting. There are some giant institutional and societal loopholes somewhere, and that's something that will have to be fixed once the horror show is over (and again, not just in the US).
posted by elgilito at 5:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [96 favorites]
Speaking as a European person, it's always been painfully obvious that a significant percentage of people in any society do enjoy the kind of "strong man" that we've seen (and still see) in dictators and populists. While some of us are appalled by the bombast, the bragging, the incompetence, the disregard for truth and so many red flags, lots of people just lap it up: the terrible jokes, the funny nicknames, the DGAF attitude, the overt or not so overt call to violence. It's attractive. Lots of pre-WW2 Europeans wanted a Hitler, a Mussolini, a Franco or a Stalin, and, for a while, were happy to have one. So one of the questions many post-WW2 European societies had to solve was: how can we make sure that won't happen again in our democracies? Because the temptation is always there, the foul beast is always lurking, trying to get out, trying to rise again, we know that.
From that perspective, Trump is just a banal populist, not very smart but with a remarkable grasp of what those 40% want to hear and how they want to hear it - that's the very definition of populism. What is not banal, however, is that not only he did manage to get in power in a democracy well known for (and proud of) its legalism, but that he's still riding the wave and destroying stuff that he should not be allowed to destroy in the first place, and he does that by tweeting. There are some giant institutional and societal loopholes somewhere, and that's something that will have to be fixed once the horror show is over (and again, not just in the US).
posted by elgilito at 5:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [96 favorites]
um, isn't this sort of a no-take backsies situation? if Mueller uncovered crimes that were under his authority to investigate at the time he did so, those crimes don't suddenly disappear, right?
Asha Rangappa wrote on this situation in December: Why it’s Far Worse for Trump to Fire Rosenstein than to Fire Mueller. It doesn't make the crimes disappear, but Rosenstein supervises Mueller, including approving various investigative steps, and installing a full on Trumpist Deputy AG would give that person the opportunity to stop subpoenas and searches and other steps and ultimately seek to shut the whole thing down.
posted by zachlipton at 5:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Asha Rangappa wrote on this situation in December: Why it’s Far Worse for Trump to Fire Rosenstein than to Fire Mueller. It doesn't make the crimes disappear, but Rosenstein supervises Mueller, including approving various investigative steps, and installing a full on Trumpist Deputy AG would give that person the opportunity to stop subpoenas and searches and other steps and ultimately seek to shut the whole thing down.
posted by zachlipton at 5:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
So one of the questions many post-WW2 European societies had to solve was: how can we make sure that won't happen again in our democracies?
Compulsory, well-funded, universal public education that includes a strong civics component would be a start.
posted by contraption at 5:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [66 favorites]
Compulsory, well-funded, universal public education that includes a strong civics component would be a start.
posted by contraption at 5:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [66 favorites]
I know it's Fox but I've seen this completely inappropriate framing in other outlets, painting the issue as a "complicated decision" rather than what it actually is: illegally obstructing justice vs, uhhhh, not?
to be fair, when you're a cornered narcissist with no respect for the rule of law and the cops are closing in, it's a pretty complicated decision.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:32 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
to be fair, when you're a cornered narcissist with no respect for the rule of law and the cops are closing in, it's a pretty complicated decision.
posted by murphy slaw at 5:32 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mark Zuckerberg’s Chair on Capitol Hill Has a Nice Big Extra Cushion by the Washingtonian. Weird.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
I know it's Fox but I've seen this completely inappropriate framing in other outlets, painting the issue as a "complicated decision" rather than what it actually is: illegally obstructing justice vs, uhhhh, not?
Jon Favreau (Pod Save America): This is the President’s primary source of information and advice communicating to him that an impeachable offense is merely a staffing decision. Fox is a cancer on America.
posted by chris24 at 5:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [67 favorites]
Jon Favreau (Pod Save America): This is the President’s primary source of information and advice communicating to him that an impeachable offense is merely a staffing decision. Fox is a cancer on America.
posted by chris24 at 5:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [67 favorites]
So one of the questions many post-WW2 European societies had to solve was: how can we make sure that won't happen again in our democracies?
Firm regulation of the finance industry, universal healthcare, a living minimum wage. Just basically stop allowing people to be stepped on, and much more of them will be less angry and out of ideas.
Michael Moore has covered this, by visiting countries who have attained it.
posted by rc3spencer at 5:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Firm regulation of the finance industry, universal healthcare, a living minimum wage. Just basically stop allowing people to be stepped on, and much more of them will be less angry and out of ideas.
Michael Moore has covered this, by visiting countries who have attained it.
posted by rc3spencer at 5:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
a gentle reminder that many of the worst Trumpists are plenty comfortable, have jobs and health care, and actually benefit from an unfettered financial industry
posted by prize bull octorok at 5:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [50 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 5:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [50 favorites]
a gentle reminder that many of the worst Trumpists are plenty comfortable, have jobs and health care, and actually benefit from an unfettered financial industry
Rich people gonna rich. Fortunately there's not that many of them.
posted by rc3spencer at 5:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Rich people gonna rich. Fortunately there's not that many of them.
posted by rc3spencer at 5:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Asha Rangappa: 👀 One important consequence of Trump firing Rosenstein and replacing him with lackey: If Mueller finds evidence of obstruction but opts not to charge POTUS bc of constitutional concerns, new DAG can choose *not* to make report public and keep it under wraps.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
I know we've been burned before, but Rachel Maddow says she's about to break news on the Mueller investigation.
posted by waitingtoderail at 5:51 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by waitingtoderail at 5:51 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
I love me some Rachel Maddow. She's great. But the next time she breaks some truly major news (as opposed to superb analysis) will be the first. Her show is not a show based on cutting edge investigative journalism.
posted by Justinian at 5:55 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:55 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
If a new Trumpist DAG tried to bury Mueller's report, the unexpurgated version would be leaked in less than a week. There's no way in the Internet Age that the Trumpists could keep it under wraps for long. And Mueller unquestionably has a backup plan for this possibility.
The real issue is that without the political willpower in D.C., very little can be done against a sitting president, which is why a Dem turnout in the midterms may well be the Republic's last chance for a generation.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
The real issue is that without the political willpower in D.C., very little can be done against a sitting president, which is why a Dem turnout in the midterms may well be the Republic's last chance for a generation.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
I guarantee whatever is on Maddow's show is already posted in this thread, and you'd learn the "breaking" news faster by rereading every linked article in here than watch and wait for her to finally tell you what it is.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
Yeah, it's nothing.
posted by waitingtoderail at 6:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by waitingtoderail at 6:05 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Not so nothing. She has former acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente's contemporaneous notes from a March 2017 conversation with Comey where Comey tells him Trump pressured him on the investigation, confirming Comey's version of the story. (Plus a letter from January 2018 where Boente tells DOJ that Mueller has requested an interview with him, and a letter a couple weeks later that tells Boente his notes mentioned previously are unclassified despite earlier notice that they were Top Secret.)
posted by chris24 at 6:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 6:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
Public release of the notes corroborating Comey saying Trump pressured him to drop the Russia investigation seems like something.
posted by defenestration at 6:25 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by defenestration at 6:25 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
@philiprucker: Alan Dershowitz to WaPo on his dinner with Trump: “That’s where he gets my legal advice, on television. I do not have a lawyer-client relationship with him and therefore did not give him legal advice.”
I mean he didn’t come to dinner to discuss the Yankees (who are down by 13 runs in the 6th), and the idea he was giving military advice instead is even more terrifying, but this does sound like a guy who is acutely aware of what happens to people who give Trump legal advice.
posted by zachlipton at 6:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
I mean he didn’t come to dinner to discuss the Yankees (who are down by 13 runs in the 6th), and the idea he was giving military advice instead is even more terrifying, but this does sound like a guy who is acutely aware of what happens to people who give Trump legal advice.
posted by zachlipton at 6:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Does that make us all Dershowitz's clients? Like Time magazine person of the year?
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Damn, full contemporaneous corroboration of Comey’s account.
posted by defenestration at 6:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by defenestration at 6:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
She's going through Comey's testimony to the Senate committee and Boente's notes on their conversation and it matches basically exactly. Pretty clear contemporaneous confirmation that Trump did ask Comey to "clear the cloud" on Russia after asking Sessions and others to leave.
posted by chris24 at 6:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 6:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Does that hold up at all?
posted by gucci mane at 6:36 PM on April 10, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 6:36 PM on April 10, 2018
I was told the idea of Rachel Maddow breaking news was risible...??
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:37 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Seems similar to the attitude by the Pence-types towards religion. They want a repressive caliphate with sharia law, but it should be flying the banner of their God not somebody else's.
You give them too much credit. They don't even really care about the god part, only that they're the ones get to decide what 'god' wants. That's really the problem with Islam; it already has leaders and the leaders aren't them.
posted by ctmf at 6:38 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
You give them too much credit. They don't even really care about the god part, only that they're the ones get to decide what 'god' wants. That's really the problem with Islam; it already has leaders and the leaders aren't them.
posted by ctmf at 6:38 PM on April 10, 2018 [16 favorites]
She says that have a few more documents they're still reporting on so there's possibly more coming.
posted by chris24 at 6:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by chris24 at 6:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
The documents also include a request for Boente to go to Special Counsel. He was having the FBI review their classification to take them with him.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Maybe Rosenstein is leaking the goods before he gets canned.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
And what does that say about that alleged former NY-DC FBI feud?
A Trumpist NY office could still sabotage this. They simply call everything privileged and give nothing to Mueller. Capture and kill strategy on anything Cohen had.
Granted, Cohen isn't acting like that's what's happening, but he's screwed either way. I'm not sure the NY office having kompromat on him for all time is something he would consider a good outcome.
posted by ctmf at 6:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
A Trumpist NY office could still sabotage this. They simply call everything privileged and give nothing to Mueller. Capture and kill strategy on anything Cohen had.
Granted, Cohen isn't acting like that's what's happening, but he's screwed either way. I'm not sure the NY office having kompromat on him for all time is something he would consider a good outcome.
posted by ctmf at 6:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I really hope these aren't fake.
posted by gucci mane at 6:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 6:47 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don't want to call anyone out in particular but I bet you feel foolish for saying Maddow never breaks news.
I really hope these aren't fake.
The Rather fakes were also typewritten, were they not? I assume it's much easier to fake typed memos than handwritten ones. Particularly since they are from, like, last year or less and you can just ask Comey or Boente "hey dude are these real?".
posted by Justinian at 6:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
I really hope these aren't fake.
The Rather fakes were also typewritten, were they not? I assume it's much easier to fake typed memos than handwritten ones. Particularly since they are from, like, last year or less and you can just ask Comey or Boente "hey dude are these real?".
posted by Justinian at 6:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's easy to lose track of this one amid all the chaos. WaPo, Senate committee closes in on new war resolution vote
posted by zachlipton at 6:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [30 favorites]
Key members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday that they had resolved the biggest stumbling block to writing a new resolution to govern the ongoing war on terrorist groups.Facebook is absolutely important, don't get me wrong, but if only the same kind of attention that was paid to the Zuckerberg hearing today was devoted to the question of when and how the President is allowed to use military force as he's currently contemplating using said force in a war Congress never authorized. Just a thought.
Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the panel, and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) each said that they had reached a compromise on the “sunset” provision of when new war authority would expire, clearing the way for a committee debate to try to replace the existing September 2001 war resolution.
Corker said he probably would unveil the compromise legislation Thursday and then hold a full markup April 19, following a huddle Tuesday morning with Kaine that won over his support. “We wouldn’t be advancing it unless we thought Tim was going to support it. He’s been the driving force on the Democratic side,” Corker said.
posted by zachlipton at 6:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [30 favorites]
The evisceration of the Trump administration, by the numbers. The accompanying swearing-in photo of the vast majority of original Trump staffers being X-ed out brings the LOLs.
See also "You're Fired": A timeline of Team Trump departures
posted by kirkaracha at 7:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
See also "You're Fired": A timeline of Team Trump departures
posted by kirkaracha at 7:04 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Sam Stein: Among Dem plans for constitutional armageddon: have a large group of legal luminaries fan out across the country for a counterpunch media blitz.
I acknowledge it says "among Dem plans". Still, the only Democratic plan for responding to a blatant authoritarian power grab which completely flouts the rule of law that I've heard so far is "have a bunch of lawyers give some speeches". Which... I expected nothing and yet I'm still disappointed.
posted by Justinian at 7:07 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
I acknowledge it says "among Dem plans". Still, the only Democratic plan for responding to a blatant authoritarian power grab which completely flouts the rule of law that I've heard so far is "have a bunch of lawyers give some speeches". Which... I expected nothing and yet I'm still disappointed.
posted by Justinian at 7:07 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
Public release of the notes corroborating Comey saying Trump pressured him to drop the Russia investigation seems like something.
It also seems like a tie-in with Comey's book tour, which starts exactly a week from today. It's entirely likely we'll see more such leaks to back him up in the next several days.
As we've seen from Trump's rant yesterday, Comey is definitely on his mind, even as administration officials have repeatedly lamented (anonymously) that the White House has no strategy for countering the portentously titled A Higher Loyalty.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
It also seems like a tie-in with Comey's book tour, which starts exactly a week from today. It's entirely likely we'll see more such leaks to back him up in the next several days.
As we've seen from Trump's rant yesterday, Comey is definitely on his mind, even as administration officials have repeatedly lamented (anonymously) that the White House has no strategy for countering the portentously titled A Higher Loyalty.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, the South America trip was supposed to be the book distraction,
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:17 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:17 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Still, the only Democratic plan for responding to a blatant authoritarian power grab which completely flouts the rule of law that I've heard so far is "have a bunch of lawyers give some speeches". Which... I expected nothing and yet I'm still disappointed.
First, the GOP has all three branches. What exactly do you propose they do? Second, one thing that a lot of people have bitched about for years is that the Dems don’t do messaging. Well, that’s one thing they CAN do in this case and one thing they have plans to do. Look, I know the Dems in the past have been more than disappointing. They’ve been feckless and wish washy. But things are no longer what they were. These races are no longer the national party’s to win. Indivisible. Postcards to Voters. Teachers strikes. Parkland survivors. And so on. This is the future. How about a little less Eeyore? So many people skipped voting in the past because they thought there was no point. Maybe we shouldn’t feed that narrative.
posted by azpenguin at 7:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [68 favorites]
First, the GOP has all three branches. What exactly do you propose they do? Second, one thing that a lot of people have bitched about for years is that the Dems don’t do messaging. Well, that’s one thing they CAN do in this case and one thing they have plans to do. Look, I know the Dems in the past have been more than disappointing. They’ve been feckless and wish washy. But things are no longer what they were. These races are no longer the national party’s to win. Indivisible. Postcards to Voters. Teachers strikes. Parkland survivors. And so on. This is the future. How about a little less Eeyore? So many people skipped voting in the past because they thought there was no point. Maybe we shouldn’t feed that narrative.
posted by azpenguin at 7:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [68 favorites]
Even Newt is trying to dissuade Trump.
@PeterWSJ:
Newt Gingrich says that if Trump fires Special Counsel Bob Mueller it would be a “disaster” that would “split” the Republican Party. https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-says-trump-has-power-to-fire-mueller-1523406965
posted by chris24 at 7:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
@PeterWSJ:
Newt Gingrich says that if Trump fires Special Counsel Bob Mueller it would be a “disaster” that would “split” the Republican Party. https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-says-trump-has-power-to-fire-mueller-1523406965
posted by chris24 at 7:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Still, the only Democratic plan for responding to a blatant authoritarian power grab which completely flouts the rule of law that I've heard so far is "have a bunch of lawyers give some speeches"
Brian Schatz D-HI seems to think something is up
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:26 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Brian Schatz D-HI seems to think something is up
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:26 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm starting to really regret voting for an unconscionably unqualified, misogynistic, racist, crooked shitbag for President.
posted by petebest at 7:26 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by petebest at 7:26 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Laurence Tribe: Anyone advising Trump he has power to remove Mueller better read In re Hennen (1839), reaff’d by CJ Taft (1926) and CJ Roberts (2010), holding that POTUS cannot personally remove an officer appointed by a member of his Cabinet unless an Act of Congress greenlights such removal.
posted by chris24 at 7:31 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:31 PM on April 10, 2018 [12 favorites]
Oh god, and Schatz is tweeting from the future!
posted by unknowncommand at 7:31 PM on April 10, 2018
posted by unknowncommand at 7:31 PM on April 10, 2018
Does a senator telling us to be ready to mobilize soon cause a little panic in anyone? Maybe I’m just naïve but this seems... different.
posted by greermahoney at 7:32 PM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by greermahoney at 7:32 PM on April 10, 2018 [27 favorites]
First, the GOP has all three branches. What exactly do you propose they do?
I've said the same thing, many times, in these threads when people call for Democratic legislative action. If Trump goes through with this and the Republicans do nothing it means the institution of Congress has failed. Expecting a failed institution to work out if we just try harder is a recipe for disaster. The solution is no longer legislative; it is mass mobilization. That's what the Democrats need to call for. Taking to the streets.
I see from fluttering hellfire that they may do just that. If so, I'm mollified.
posted by Justinian at 7:32 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
I've said the same thing, many times, in these threads when people call for Democratic legislative action. If Trump goes through with this and the Republicans do nothing it means the institution of Congress has failed. Expecting a failed institution to work out if we just try harder is a recipe for disaster. The solution is no longer legislative; it is mass mobilization. That's what the Democrats need to call for. Taking to the streets.
I see from fluttering hellfire that they may do just that. If so, I'm mollified.
posted by Justinian at 7:32 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]
Brian Schatz D-HI seems to think something is up
He tweeted, "I don’t know what’s going to happen and I claim no special knowledge but please be ready to mobilize."
And earlier this afternoon, "The time for private reassurances is over. The time for public courage is now." And before that, "It is no longer credible for Republicans to express overconfidence Mueller will not be fired. No one can be sure of that. The solution is to enact a law."
If he'd been reading half the articles that have been linked in the megathread today, he'd be really freaking out.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
He tweeted, "I don’t know what’s going to happen and I claim no special knowledge but please be ready to mobilize."
And earlier this afternoon, "The time for private reassurances is over. The time for public courage is now." And before that, "It is no longer credible for Republicans to express overconfidence Mueller will not be fired. No one can be sure of that. The solution is to enact a law."
If he'd been reading half the articles that have been linked in the megathread today, he'd be really freaking out.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]
The fate of the Republic is apparently dependent on the President's staff repeatedly ignoring him.
This isn't that new of a thing: That time a drunk Richard Nixon tried to nuke North Korea
posted by Jacqueline at 7:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
This isn't that new of a thing: That time a drunk Richard Nixon tried to nuke North Korea
posted by Jacqueline at 7:33 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
ELECTION RESULT
Dem HOLD in Florida Senate 31:
vs 2016 presidential result margin: Dem improvement of about 25 points.
vs 2012 SD-31 result margin: Dem underperformance of about 19 points. (seat was uncontested in 2016)
GOP lead in the Florida Senate is reduced to 23-16 (1 vacancy).
posted by Chrysostom at 7:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [29 favorites]
Dem HOLD in Florida Senate 31:
Berman [D] 74.8%Margin changes compared to previous races:
Donnally [R] 25.2%
vs 2016 presidential result margin: Dem improvement of about 25 points.
vs 2012 SD-31 result margin: Dem underperformance of about 19 points. (seat was uncontested in 2016)
GOP lead in the Florida Senate is reduced to 23-16 (1 vacancy).
posted by Chrysostom at 7:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [29 favorites]
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp: Trump ‘asked me to switch parties’
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:36 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
vs 2012 SD-31 result margin: Dem underperformance of about 19 points.
-19 on a 75-25 victory? They won in 2012 by 85-15? Huh I guess Obama's coattails were quite long.
85-15 in 2012 to 63-38 or whatever in 2016 was not a fun shift. Glad to see it come back a bunch.
posted by Justinian at 7:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
-19 on a 75-25 victory? They won in 2012 by 85-15? Huh I guess Obama's coattails were quite long.
85-15 in 2012 to 63-38 or whatever in 2016 was not a fun shift. Glad to see it come back a bunch.
posted by Justinian at 7:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump to host GOP leaders for dinner after Mueller attacks
House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn are all expected to attend, the sources said.
There have been many meatloafings great and small, but this will be one for the meatloaf-books.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [34 favorites]
House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn are all expected to attend, the sources said.
There have been many meatloafings great and small, but this will be one for the meatloaf-books.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [34 favorites]
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp: Trump ‘asked me to switch parties’
how can he keep winning when he doesn't know how ANYTHING WORKS
posted by murphy slaw at 7:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
how can he keep winning when he doesn't know how ANYTHING WORKS
posted by murphy slaw at 7:59 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]
There have been many meatloafings great and small, but this will be one for the meatloaf-books.
No spoilers, but we'll all be calling it The Brown Wedding by the next day.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [21 favorites]
No spoilers, but we'll all be calling it The Brown Wedding by the next day.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [21 favorites]
I feel like the most obvious thing for Trump to do is enact whatever firings he's gonna do in conjunction with a strike on Syria. It'd take advantage of the "strong leader" bullshit that gets spouted whenever we bomb somebody new(ish) and give other Republicans something "more important to focus on" or whatever they'll say.
Thing is, to really draw media attention away from Justice dept. firings, Trump would have to go way beyond the blow-up-an-empty-shack-after-warning-the-Russians bullshit. I mean sure, Brian Williams will probably want to gush about the beauty of killing machines in action regardless, but they've already played the airstrike card. Kinda hard to believe it'll have the same value twice.
Plus I'm a little surprised we haven't seen a strike yet anyway. Half of me thinks the White House really wants to save it for when they start their ___-day night massacre, and the other half thinks they haven't hit Syria yet because Uncle Vlad said no.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:15 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
Thing is, to really draw media attention away from Justice dept. firings, Trump would have to go way beyond the blow-up-an-empty-shack-after-warning-the-Russians bullshit. I mean sure, Brian Williams will probably want to gush about the beauty of killing machines in action regardless, but they've already played the airstrike card. Kinda hard to believe it'll have the same value twice.
Plus I'm a little surprised we haven't seen a strike yet anyway. Half of me thinks the White House really wants to save it for when they start their ___-day night massacre, and the other half thinks they haven't hit Syria yet because Uncle Vlad said no.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:15 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
So, he invites the heads of the five families legislative branch over for dinner, and demands their loyalty? Makes sure they know they'll be found just as guilty as he is if they don't help him put a stop to it?
posted by wabbittwax at 8:16 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by wabbittwax at 8:16 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
Trump to host GOP leaders for dinner after Mueller attacks
"McConnell said Tuesday that he was almost certain Mueller wouldn't be fired and that the special counsel did not need any special protections from Congress, though the Kentucky Republican wouldn't say how he could be so sure."
"Similarly, Cornyn warned that "it would be a mistake" for Trump to order the firing of Mueller. But Cornyn also declined to endorse legislation in Congress aimed at insulating him from presidential interference."
"I think he can’t predict what the backlash would be, so my advice to him is: Let Mueller do his job," Cornyn said in an interview."
These guys probably already know that the plan is to replace Rosenstein instead of firing Mueller. With someone sympathetic to Trump controlling the investigation they could still claim Mueller is being allowed to do his job.
Also worth noting that insulating Mueller from interference is completely different than preventing him from being fired. It's a win-win for the GOP: they can pretend like they stood up to Trump and prevented him from firing Mueller while letting him interfere freely with the investigation via Rosenstein's replacement.
posted by duoshao at 8:16 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
"McConnell said Tuesday that he was almost certain Mueller wouldn't be fired and that the special counsel did not need any special protections from Congress, though the Kentucky Republican wouldn't say how he could be so sure."
"Similarly, Cornyn warned that "it would be a mistake" for Trump to order the firing of Mueller. But Cornyn also declined to endorse legislation in Congress aimed at insulating him from presidential interference."
"I think he can’t predict what the backlash would be, so my advice to him is: Let Mueller do his job," Cornyn said in an interview."
These guys probably already know that the plan is to replace Rosenstein instead of firing Mueller. With someone sympathetic to Trump controlling the investigation they could still claim Mueller is being allowed to do his job.
Also worth noting that insulating Mueller from interference is completely different than preventing him from being fired. It's a win-win for the GOP: they can pretend like they stood up to Trump and prevented him from firing Mueller while letting him interfere freely with the investigation via Rosenstein's replacement.
posted by duoshao at 8:16 PM on April 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
ELECTION RESULT
GOP HOLD in Iowa Senate 25:
vs 2016 presidential result margin: Dem improvement of about 14 points.
vs 2010 SD-25 result margin: Dem improvement of about 4 points. (seat was uncontested in 2014)
GOP lead in the Iowa Senate is extended to 29-20-1.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:21 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
GOP HOLD in Iowa Senate 25:
Sweeney [R] 55.9%Margin changes compared to previous races:
Freese [D] 43.9%
vs 2016 presidential result margin: Dem improvement of about 14 points.
vs 2010 SD-25 result margin: Dem improvement of about 4 points. (seat was uncontested in 2014)
GOP lead in the Iowa Senate is extended to 29-20-1.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:21 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
These guys probably already know that the plan is to replace Rosenstein instead of firing Mueller
I’m worried that this is exactly why they’re being vocal about Mueller. They already know it’s gonna be Rosenstein. I would feel better if more of them were talking about Rosenstein.
posted by greermahoney at 8:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I’m worried that this is exactly why they’re being vocal about Mueller. They already know it’s gonna be Rosenstein. I would feel better if more of them were talking about Rosenstein.
posted by greermahoney at 8:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Rosenstein's replacement would require Senate confirmation, no?
posted by saturday_morning at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nunes says on Fox News that he plans to impeach Rosenstein and Wray.
posted by Brainy at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
zachlipton: We have only just begun to scratch the surface of the stupid being served today. NBC News, Ben Collins, Russia-linked account pushed fake Hillary Clinton sex video
This is just an early sample of the fake videos we can expect to see in the future: The Era of Fake Video Begins -- The digital manipulation of video may make the current era of “fake news” seem quaint. (Franklin Foer for The Atlantic, April 6, 2018)
Also, deepfakes is/are a significant enough thing that there are currently 12 "deepfakes" articles on Motherboard, with coverage ranging from AI battles of moderation vs content creation and uploading on porn sites to bitcoin mining malware loaded in deepfakes sites.
And more in this depressing realm: This algorithm automatically spots “face swaps” in videos -- But the same system can be used to make better fake videos that are harder to detect. (Emerging Technology from the arXiv of MIT Technology Review, April 10, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
This is just an early sample of the fake videos we can expect to see in the future: The Era of Fake Video Begins -- The digital manipulation of video may make the current era of “fake news” seem quaint. (Franklin Foer for The Atlantic, April 6, 2018)
In a dank corner of the internet, it is possible to find actresses from Game of Thrones or Harry Potter engaged in all manner of sex acts. Or at least to the world the carnal figures look like those actresses, and the faces in the videos are indeed their own. Everything south of the neck, however, belongs to different women. An artificial intelligence has almost seamlessly stitched the familiar visages into pornographic scenes, one face swapped for another. The genre is one of the cruelest, most invasive forms of identity theft invented in the internet era. At the core of the cruelty is the acuity of the technology: A casual observer can’t easily detect the hoax.Minor notes: the use of "dank" brings to mind "dank memes" more than "dingy basement dwelling" when talking about internet users; similarly, the use of "democratize" seems to be similarly employed in a worryingly "ironic" sort of way. Both terms could be seen as honest uses of the terms, or cheeky praise to trollmasters and edgelords.
This development, which has been the subject of much hand-wringing in the tech press, is the work of a programmer who goes by the nom de hack “deepfakes.” And it is merely a beta version of a much more ambitious project. One of deepfakes’s compatriots told Vice’s Motherboard site in January that he intends to democratize this work. He wants to refine the process, further automating it, which would allow anyone to transpose the disembodied head of a crush or an ex or a co-worker into an extant pornographic clip with just a few simple steps. No technical knowledge would be required. And because academic and commercial labs are developing even more-sophisticated tools for non-pornographic purposes—algorithms that map facial expressions and mimic voices with precision—the sordid fakes will soon acquire even greater verisimilitude.
Also, deepfakes is/are a significant enough thing that there are currently 12 "deepfakes" articles on Motherboard, with coverage ranging from AI battles of moderation vs content creation and uploading on porn sites to bitcoin mining malware loaded in deepfakes sites.
And more in this depressing realm: This algorithm automatically spots “face swaps” in videos -- But the same system can be used to make better fake videos that are harder to detect. (Emerging Technology from the arXiv of MIT Technology Review, April 10, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:24 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
This has been covered elsewhere, but the deep fakes are obvious fakes. This is no more a sky-is-falling scenario than the advent of photoshop.
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:27 PM on April 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
fluttering hellfire: Brian Schatz D-HI seems to think something is up
Also a general, gentle reminder: if possible, please include text of tweets or a summary of the content when you link to Twitter. Vague references, particularly to text, images or video that might disappear, can be misleading or counter-productive.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
I don’t know what’s going to happen and I claim no special knowledge but please be ready to mobilize.Or, Brian Schatz is reminding everyone to be ready (Move On's Mueller Firing Rapid Response Events page) in case Trump's staff don't shrug off this round of tirades at Mueller. That's the feeling I get when he writes "I don’t know what’s going to happen and I claim no special knowledge".
7:18 PM - 10 Apr 2018
Also a general, gentle reminder: if possible, please include text of tweets or a summary of the content when you link to Twitter. Vague references, particularly to text, images or video that might disappear, can be misleading or counter-productive.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:34 PM on April 10, 2018 [17 favorites]
Millions of people still read and believe WorldNetDaily, Infowars, and Natural News. Just because we think it's obviously fake/baised doesn't mean everyone, or even a significant number of people will agree. Even we enlightened and engaged posters here get tripped up with bullshit stories on a regular basis. Fake videos will only ever get better and more difficult to tell from authentic, and we just lost an election in large part due to the electorate's inability to critically process news sources.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:35 PM on April 10, 2018 [13 favorites]
Brainy: Nunes says on Fox News that he plans to impeach Rosenstein and Wray.
This is similar noise from other right-wing sources (current Duck Duck Go search results for "impeach resenstein," where the first hits are Daily Caller, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit, all with publish dates in the last week). What chance is there that Nunes can get any traction with this? Because actually initiating that process seems like the sort of thing that would split the Republican party, and instead sounds like Nunes trying to butter up Trump and say "hey, I'm looking out for you, pal!"
posted by filthy light thief at 8:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
This is similar noise from other right-wing sources (current Duck Duck Go search results for "impeach resenstein," where the first hits are Daily Caller, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit, all with publish dates in the last week). What chance is there that Nunes can get any traction with this? Because actually initiating that process seems like the sort of thing that would split the Republican party, and instead sounds like Nunes trying to butter up Trump and say "hey, I'm looking out for you, pal!"
posted by filthy light thief at 8:39 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Rosenstein's replacement would require Senate confirmation, no?
It's my understanding that Trump can use the Vacancies Reform Act to appoint any Senate-confirmed official (or certain high-level career DOJ officials) to do the job for at least 210 days (why Mulvaney is head of CFPB, for example). There's some legal questions about that exactly, the Act doesn't exactly contemplate creating the vacancy yourself by firing someone and there are arguments that you can't do that, but he could still do it and then any fighting over whether it's legal would happen much later.
Of course, if Rosenstein is impeached, as Nunes is now promising, that would make it even easier for Trump to install whoever he wants.
posted by zachlipton at 8:40 PM on April 10, 2018
It's my understanding that Trump can use the Vacancies Reform Act to appoint any Senate-confirmed official (or certain high-level career DOJ officials) to do the job for at least 210 days (why Mulvaney is head of CFPB, for example). There's some legal questions about that exactly, the Act doesn't exactly contemplate creating the vacancy yourself by firing someone and there are arguments that you can't do that, but he could still do it and then any fighting over whether it's legal would happen much later.
Of course, if Rosenstein is impeached, as Nunes is now promising, that would make it even easier for Trump to install whoever he wants.
posted by zachlipton at 8:40 PM on April 10, 2018
My point wasn't that people won't be fooled. My point was that this is not a new problem despite the new technology.
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:40 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
history provides slim pickings in federal impeachment of officials
posted by lalochezia at 8:48 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by lalochezia at 8:48 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Bill Kristol: I'm honored to be a founding director of Republicans for the Rule of Law. You (and President Trump) can see our first TV ad--defending the Mueller investigation--on Fox and Friends in DC tomorrow morning. But why wait? Take a look at it on our website now. https://www.ruleoflawrepublicans.com/
I still don't know how to process living in a world where Bloody Bill Fucking Kristol is a good guy.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:49 PM on April 10, 2018 [62 favorites]
I still don't know how to process living in a world where Bloody Bill Fucking Kristol is a good guy.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:49 PM on April 10, 2018 [62 favorites]
People are spending money on ads to communicate to the president when he watches TV. That Kristol piece is for an audience of one. This is fucking bonkers.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [61 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:54 PM on April 10, 2018 [61 favorites]
I honestly don't know if that Kristol ad is going to help or hurt.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:03 PM on April 10, 2018
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:03 PM on April 10, 2018
Here's a real basic script for writing your legislator. Not super eloquent, but hopefully, it gets the job done.
[Congress Person]posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 9:41 PM on April 10, 2018 [21 favorites]
Robert Mueller must be protected by legislative statute. It is clear that Donald Trump has tried to fire him at least twice in order to obstruct justice in the probe of his campaign. This circus of grifters and conmen are an imminent threat to rule of law in our Republic.
In order to rise to the defense of this country, I expect that you will use all available means to pressure Senators Grassley and McConnell to pass a bi-partisan bill to protect Robert Mueller. If they will not agree to do so, I expect you will deny unanimous consent and use all procedural rules to halt business in the Senate until such time that Congress protects Robert Mueller is protected from firing by an executive clearly intent on obstructing justice.
Sincerely,
[your name]
This is no more a sky-is-falling scenario than the advent of photoshop.
I'm with cjelli, this is hugely important. Used to be that video was real proof. Now, like photos, they become all the more questionable. Mediated reality becoming less and less dependable / reliable.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:51 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'm with cjelli, this is hugely important. Used to be that video was real proof. Now, like photos, they become all the more questionable. Mediated reality becoming less and less dependable / reliable.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:51 PM on April 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
People are spending money on ads to communicate to the president when he watches TV. That Kristol piece is for an audience of one. This is fucking bonkers.
the Situationists' Society of the Spectacle feels like it may be achieving its singularity. The most powerful man in the world has made it clear to any who may wish to communicate with him that if you're NOT on TV, you're not relevant. And so he sits alone in his high tower on one of his golden thrones, eats KFC or whatever and surfs the options available in this ten thousand channel universe. Also the interwebs.
Tho come to think of it, this is more Philip K Dick than anything.
posted by philip-random at 10:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
the Situationists' Society of the Spectacle feels like it may be achieving its singularity. The most powerful man in the world has made it clear to any who may wish to communicate with him that if you're NOT on TV, you're not relevant. And so he sits alone in his high tower on one of his golden thrones, eats KFC or whatever and surfs the options available in this ten thousand channel universe. Also the interwebs.
Tho come to think of it, this is more Philip K Dick than anything.
posted by philip-random at 10:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [26 favorites]
i really hate that the cultural critics of the 60s where right. TV rots your brain.
posted by The Whelk at 10:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:10 PM on April 10, 2018 [15 favorites]
ProPublica: Sessions Turned to Convicted Fundraiser for Advice on U.S. Attorneys
posted by Chrysostom at 10:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:53 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
The most powerful man in the world has made it clear to any who may wish to communicate with him that if you're NOT on TV, you're not relevant.
Not the only reason that I tend to think of this as the O'Blivion Administration...but surely the primary reason.
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
Not the only reason that I tend to think of this as the O'Blivion Administration...but surely the primary reason.
posted by adamgreenfield at 10:58 PM on April 10, 2018 [9 favorites]
the cultural critics of the 60s where right. TV rots your brain.
or as Marshall McLuhan suggested, TV is your brain.
And Brian Oblivion.
posted by philip-random at 11:25 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
or as Marshall McLuhan suggested, TV is your brain.
And Brian Oblivion.
posted by philip-random at 11:25 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
i really hate that the cultural critics of the 60s where right. TV rots your brain.
The thing is, they weren't really cultural critics, as much as media theorists--I think that the distinction matters, because (e.g.) McLuhan's ideas have been very mischaracterized in popular imagination, and the actual ideas about the effect of a medium on one's brain/mind, the collective impacts and effects of mass communication and media, are particularly salient and important in the age of the Internet Research Agency, Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. The things that mediate your reality shape your perceptions, thoughts, worldview far more fundamentally than most of us realize, and much more than any specific information conveyed by the mediating devices. Neil Postman summarized this really well:
The thing is, they weren't really cultural critics, as much as media theorists--I think that the distinction matters, because (e.g.) McLuhan's ideas have been very mischaracterized in popular imagination, and the actual ideas about the effect of a medium on one's brain/mind, the collective impacts and effects of mass communication and media, are particularly salient and important in the age of the Internet Research Agency, Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. The things that mediate your reality shape your perceptions, thoughts, worldview far more fundamentally than most of us realize, and much more than any specific information conveyed by the mediating devices. Neil Postman summarized this really well:
Each medium, like language itself, makes possible a unique mode of discourse by providing a new orientation for thought, for expression, for sensibility. Which, of course, is what McLuhan meant in saying the medium is the message.posted by LooseFilter at 12:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [22 favorites]
[Our media] are rather like metaphors, working by unobtrusive but powerful implication to enforce their special definitions of reality. Whether we are experiencing the world through the lens of speech or the printed word or the television camera, our media-metaphors classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, color it, argue a case for what the world is like.
What is peculiar about such interpositions of media is that their role in directing what we will see or know is so rarely noticed. A person who reads a book or who watches television or who glances at his watch is not usually interested in how his mind is organized and controlled by these events, still less in what idea of the world is suggested by a book, television, or a watch. [...] We do not see nature or intelligence or human motivation or ideology as “it” is but only as our languages are. And our languages are our media. Our media are our metaphors. Our metaphors create the content of our culture.
I sure missed Al Franken during the Zuckerberg hearings...
Mueller had multiple reasons for having New York carry out the search, but one I haven't heard mentioned that I think HAD to be paramount is that Trump can't pardon crimes against the state, only federal crimes.
The intent thing is also interesting to me. Did Mueller have to prove that Trump was intending to commit a crime via Cohen? Meaning, he likely has evidence that Trump has knowledge of the Stormy payoff?
posted by xammerboy at 12:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Mueller had multiple reasons for having New York carry out the search, but one I haven't heard mentioned that I think HAD to be paramount is that Trump can't pardon crimes against the state, only federal crimes.
The intent thing is also interesting to me. Did Mueller have to prove that Trump was intending to commit a crime via Cohen? Meaning, he likely has evidence that Trump has knowledge of the Stormy payoff?
posted by xammerboy at 12:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Mueller had multiple reasons for having New York carry out the search, but one I haven't heard mentioned that I think HAD to be paramount is that Trump can't pardon crimes against the state, only federal crimes.The searches of Michael Cohen's office, home, and hotel room were carried out by agents acting under the authority of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, under federal warrants. That is not the same as "having New York carry out the search" if you mean officials of the State of New York.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
About firing Rosenstein: who could replace him? Wouldn't every serious lawyer-person decline at this point? It has never been clearer that everything Trump touches is somehow corrupt, and that he demands absolute loyalty while not returning the favor, and doesn't understand that the people in his administration are not his personal serfs.
Another thing I wonder about is Roger Stone's idea about limiting the Mueller investigation to purely collusion with Russia, which echoes Trump's "no collusion" thing. It's as if they believe that they can somehow get away with this detail, even though there is plenty of evidence already in public knowledge. Isn't that weird?
posted by mumimor at 1:16 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Another thing I wonder about is Roger Stone's idea about limiting the Mueller investigation to purely collusion with Russia, which echoes Trump's "no collusion" thing. It's as if they believe that they can somehow get away with this detail, even though there is plenty of evidence already in public knowledge. Isn't that weird?
posted by mumimor at 1:16 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Wouldn't every serious lawyer-person decline at this point?
I think at this point we have to take seriously the idea he would appoint a non-serious lawyer-person. Pruitt would have been my assumption except recent events appear to have rendered that impossible.
and the other half thinks they haven't hit Syria yet because Uncle Vlad said no.
stannis sotto voce: "Vova."
posted by Justinian at 1:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
I think at this point we have to take seriously the idea he would appoint a non-serious lawyer-person. Pruitt would have been my assumption except recent events appear to have rendered that impossible.
and the other half thinks they haven't hit Syria yet because Uncle Vlad said no.
stannis sotto voce: "Vova."
posted by Justinian at 1:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
If a new Trumpist DAG tried to bury Mueller's report, the unexpurgated version would be leaked in less than a week.
Along with several dozen fake copies prepared in an office in Russia, drowning out the signal with broad-spectrum noise. One would claim that aliens exist and have been manipulating elections, one would be a hastily rewritten copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and several would just pepper the claims with lurid and fantastic sexual allegations that would suck the oxygen out of any serious debate.
posted by acb at 2:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Along with several dozen fake copies prepared in an office in Russia, drowning out the signal with broad-spectrum noise. One would claim that aliens exist and have been manipulating elections, one would be a hastily rewritten copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and several would just pepper the claims with lurid and fantastic sexual allegations that would suck the oxygen out of any serious debate.
posted by acb at 2:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Al Jazeera English's Listening Post: “Pulling the strings: Sinclair Broadcast's 'fake news' scandal” (~8 min., alt link)—somewhat more informative than the stories I've seen on U.S. channels, at least in the days after it went viral
posted by XMLicious at 2:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 2:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
the cultural critics of the 60s where right. TV rots your brain.
Well, they were near the problem, just a few decades ahead of the research, and in the wrong field of study to talk about the brain. It's inactivity that kills the brain. TV isn't necessary for the damage, it just makes the hours fly by easier.
posted by rc3spencer at 3:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well, they were near the problem, just a few decades ahead of the research, and in the wrong field of study to talk about the brain. It's inactivity that kills the brain. TV isn't necessary for the damage, it just makes the hours fly by easier.
posted by rc3spencer at 3:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Not particularly useful information, but Rod Rosenstein is referred to as "the Rod" within the Justice Department.
posted by saysthis at 3:36 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
A former U.S. attorney helps Axios readers interpret the raid: "Here’s what must have happened: Mueller bumped into evidence of criminal conduct that was beyond his scope, so he referred it to the Rod," Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.I don't know how to feel about that.
posted by saysthis at 3:36 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I still don't know how to process living in a world where Bloody Bill Fucking Kristol is a good guy.
I believe Marvel Comics can explain it best:
Basically, Kristol's vision still requires at least the appearance of functioning political order. Remember, neoconservatism, in some variations, is in part the theory that political elites must keep the rest of the country and the world in order and provide a meaningful narrative of political order and purpose, the better to protect the common people from the harsh, nihilistic truth that power is just power.
Trumpism, by comparison, is just the howling abyss unleashed.
posted by kewb at 3:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [42 favorites]
I believe Marvel Comics can explain it best:
DOCTOR OCTOPUS: Desperate times are upon us. There are those of us in the criminal community who understand this. To lose against the Void will be to lose everything.
SPIDER-MAN: What happens if we win?
DOCTOR OCTOPUS: Then I will kill you.
-- Sentry vs. The Void #1
Basically, Kristol's vision still requires at least the appearance of functioning political order. Remember, neoconservatism, in some variations, is in part the theory that political elites must keep the rest of the country and the world in order and provide a meaningful narrative of political order and purpose, the better to protect the common people from the harsh, nihilistic truth that power is just power.
Trumpism, by comparison, is just the howling abyss unleashed.
posted by kewb at 3:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [42 favorites]
stannis sotto voce: "Vova."
I'm sorry, but what does this mean?
posted by Hal Mumkin at 3:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm sorry, but what does this mean?
posted by Hal Mumkin at 3:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, god, Trump's awake and tweeting:
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:01 AM on April 11, 2018 [30 favorites]
The Failing New York Times wrote another phony story. It was political pundit Doug Schoen, not a Ukrainian businessman, who asked me to do a short speech by phone (Skype), hosted by Doug, in Ukraine. I was very positive about Ukraine-another negative to the Fake Russia C story!"Jesus take the wheel," as a former White House official said yesterday.
So much Fake News about what is going on in the White House. Very calm and calculated with a big focus on open and fair trade with China, the coming North Korea meeting and, of course, the vicious gas attack in Syria. Feels great to have Bolton & Larry K on board. I (we) are[...]
....doing things that nobody thought possible, despite the never ending and corrupt Russia Investigation, which takes tremendous time and focus. No Collusion or Obstruction (other than I fight back), so now they do the Unthinkable, and RAID a lawyers office for information! BAD!
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:01 AM on April 11, 2018 [30 favorites]
I'm sorry, but what does this mean?
I believe it’s the correct Russian contraction of Vladimir, rather than “Vlad”.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 4:01 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
I believe it’s the correct Russian contraction of Vladimir, rather than “Vlad”.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 4:01 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
I didn’t obstruct justice Your Honor (other than I fought back).
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:08 AM on April 11, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:08 AM on April 11, 2018 [38 favorites]
No Collusion or Obstruction (other than...
Yes, more of these types of tweets, please.
posted by Rykey at 4:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
Yes, more of these types of tweets, please.
posted by Rykey at 4:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
An Erick Erickson tweet started an exchange with David Corn (Mother Jones) last night that confirms the absolute cravenness of Republicans.
EE: Best line of the night from talking to a GOP congressman: "It's like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump."
DC: Will he speak up? (I didn't think so.)
EE: No way. He won't. He even said he can't or he'd get primaried.
DC: How does he justify being silent about a president whom he considers to be evil and dumb? Pure careerism?
EE: Yes, keeping his job, but he's pissed because he thinks he is going to lose because of Trump.
DC: And thanks for sharing, Erick. This is why our republic is in trouble.
posted by chris24 at 4:38 AM on April 11, 2018 [83 favorites]
EE: Best line of the night from talking to a GOP congressman: "It's like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump."
DC: Will he speak up? (I didn't think so.)
EE: No way. He won't. He even said he can't or he'd get primaried.
DC: How does he justify being silent about a president whom he considers to be evil and dumb? Pure careerism?
EE: Yes, keeping his job, but he's pissed because he thinks he is going to lose because of Trump.
DC: And thanks for sharing, Erick. This is why our republic is in trouble.
posted by chris24 at 4:38 AM on April 11, 2018 [83 favorites]
So, this anonymous GOP congressman is (a) knows Trump is a dangerous idiot but is terrified to speak up because it would cost him his job; but is also (b) angry at Trump because sticking with him will cost him his job.
Brain surgeons, these folks.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:42 AM on April 11, 2018 [46 favorites]
Brain surgeons, these folks.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:42 AM on April 11, 2018 [46 favorites]
So, there's a lot going on with this...
@realDonaldTrump
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
---
Definitely not the worse it's been....
I think we know the reason things are not so good now...
Yeah, everything is "very easy"...
Sure, Mr. Unilateral America First is the perfect person to get everybody to work together...
Donny pushed for a new arms race...
posted by chris24 at 4:44 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
---
Definitely not the worse it's been....
I think we know the reason things are not so good now...
Yeah, everything is "very easy"...
Sure, Mr. Unilateral America First is the perfect person to get everybody to work together...
Donny pushed for a new arms race...
posted by chris24 at 4:44 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
That’s what I don’t understand. If you know Trump is an evil troll and you believe you’re going to lose because of it, why the hell would you not do the right thing? Scared of a Twitter-bashing? The wussiness makes me want to tear my hair out.
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
Donny also went in 40 minutes from taunting Russia and threatening attack to lamenting our poor relationship and wanting to help them.
I guess he remembered who his boss is.
posted by chris24 at 4:57 AM on April 11, 2018 [32 favorites]
I guess he remembered who his boss is.
posted by chris24 at 4:57 AM on April 11, 2018 [32 favorites]
There’s little chance he wrote that last tweet. It’s too cohesive and measured.
posted by _Mona_ at 4:59 AM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by _Mona_ at 4:59 AM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
Is it still possible to tell which tweets were written by Trump vs his staff depending on the device used to post?
posted by Jacqueline at 5:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Jacqueline at 5:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
That’s what I don’t understand. If you know Trump is an evil troll and you believe you’re going to lose because of it, why the hell would you not do the right thing? Scared of a Twitter-bashing? The wussiness makes me want to tear my hair out.
I put my hope in their eventual perception of "I've got nothing left to lose, so it's therefore time to be principled" as the "Manly" Way Out. All signs point to this administration shitting itself to death so thoroughly and continually that, between now and October, we may well see an increase in congressional Republicans taking that path.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I put my hope in their eventual perception of "I've got nothing left to lose, so it's therefore time to be principled" as the "Manly" Way Out. All signs point to this administration shitting itself to death so thoroughly and continually that, between now and October, we may well see an increase in congressional Republicans taking that path.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is it still possible to tell which tweets were written by Trump vs his staff depending on the device used to post?
No. For example, all tweets, including both Russia ones, this morning were written from iPhone. No Android.
posted by chris24 at 5:12 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
No. For example, all tweets, including both Russia ones, this morning were written from iPhone. No Android.
posted by chris24 at 5:12 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
That’s what I don’t understand. If you know Trump is an evil troll and you believe you’re going to lose because of it, why the hell would you not do the right thing? Scared of a Twitter-bashing? The wussiness makes me want to tear my hair out.
No one in the GOP thinks that anything Donny is doing is innately wrong. They might object to the tone, or how far he's ratcheted up the crazy messaging, but that's just because they don't want the mask torn off of the machine before the midterms. Policy-wise, this is all fundamentally in line with what GOP leadership wants: a white ethnostate funneling tax revenues into the hands of defense contractors. Asking a Republican to do the right thing is no different than asking a fox to do the right thing once he's inside the henhouse; it's fundamentally at odds with who and what they are.
posted by Mayor West at 5:12 AM on April 11, 2018 [50 favorites]
No one in the GOP thinks that anything Donny is doing is innately wrong. They might object to the tone, or how far he's ratcheted up the crazy messaging, but that's just because they don't want the mask torn off of the machine before the midterms. Policy-wise, this is all fundamentally in line with what GOP leadership wants: a white ethnostate funneling tax revenues into the hands of defense contractors. Asking a Republican to do the right thing is no different than asking a fox to do the right thing once he's inside the henhouse; it's fundamentally at odds with who and what they are.
posted by Mayor West at 5:12 AM on April 11, 2018 [50 favorites]
God, I don't need to be pulling out my old authorship-identification code from my (BAD!) thesis to try to figure out which tweets are Trump's and which are probably staffers'. I have things to do, damn it.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:15 AM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:15 AM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
I guess it's what those in the GOP are afraid of. Do they really think our society is under serious threat? I'm guessing that in their heart of hearts, they look to say Andrew Jackson and George W and say, see, people kept their heads down under the bozos, they worked, they raised their families, their children grew up safe.
I'm guessing based on nothing but life and my gut, that those who in the GOP who have concerns are yes legit concerned but not THAT concerned because hey, when has America ever foundered well there was the Civil War but that was SPECIAL because of slavery but we FIXED IT and then things were fine. Because America lasts FOREVER and somehow the white people and their kids mostly get along okay.
I'm writing this thing about my ancestors who left Tennessee and their slaves in 1856 to escape the coming war. The Oregon Trail wasn't a picnic, but how nice is that, to be white and enjoy slavery and whoops war is coming let's take our white asses to another part of America bye slaves enjoy living in the South during the Civil War. So for these ancestors, with a hiccup in the American experiment, they just amscrayed out of harms way but remained Americans.
So we have centuries of this feeling of permanence.
And how do you defeat that idea of American exceptionalism? They don't believe in science. So you can't throw facts in their face. You can sneer at them and deem them untouchable, and then they relate to Trump's sense of persecution.
I have no fucking clue and I'm scared and poor Syria.
posted by angrycat at 5:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
I'm guessing based on nothing but life and my gut, that those who in the GOP who have concerns are yes legit concerned but not THAT concerned because hey, when has America ever foundered well there was the Civil War but that was SPECIAL because of slavery but we FIXED IT and then things were fine. Because America lasts FOREVER and somehow the white people and their kids mostly get along okay.
I'm writing this thing about my ancestors who left Tennessee and their slaves in 1856 to escape the coming war. The Oregon Trail wasn't a picnic, but how nice is that, to be white and enjoy slavery and whoops war is coming let's take our white asses to another part of America bye slaves enjoy living in the South during the Civil War. So for these ancestors, with a hiccup in the American experiment, they just amscrayed out of harms way but remained Americans.
So we have centuries of this feeling of permanence.
And how do you defeat that idea of American exceptionalism? They don't believe in science. So you can't throw facts in their face. You can sneer at them and deem them untouchable, and then they relate to Trump's sense of persecution.
I have no fucking clue and I'm scared and poor Syria.
posted by angrycat at 5:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
Things which include making a twitter bot that analyzes each of 45's tweets to establish author, I guess?
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
There's already one of those: https://twitter.com/TrumpOrNotBot
It seems to reckon the latest few were probably him, but only just: 50% > P < 60%
This is a tad concerning [nbc - highlighting mine]
It seems to reckon the latest few were probably him, but only just: 50% > P < 60%
This is a tad concerning [nbc - highlighting mine]
His comments follow an alleged chemical attack on a rebel enclave near Damascus over the weekend, and come after Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin warned American military assets would be targeted in the event of a strike against Syria.posted by Buntix at 5:36 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
"If there is a strike by the Americans, then we refer to the statements of President [Vladimir] Putin and the chief of staff that the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired," he told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV.
Multiple sources reporting this morning that Paul Ryan won't run for re-election.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:40 AM on April 11, 2018 [52 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 5:40 AM on April 11, 2018 [52 favorites]
Great - just doing my lunch-time catch up with things Trump and as I'm reading his Arms Race tweet, what pops up on the shuffle? Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood...
posted by jontyjago at 5:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jontyjago at 5:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Brave Sir Ryan ran away.
The only man fit to write Ryan's epitaph is Dan Phiffer.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
The only man fit to write Ryan's epitaph is Dan Phiffer.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
No one in the GOP thinks that anything Donny is doing is innately wrong.
Did any of you guys listen to the Deep Dive Into the Mind of Jeff Flake on This American Life this week? It was interesting and frustrating. When Yertle was doing a Lucy With the Football with DACA-for-your-tax-scam vote, Zoe Chace says that of course this is all for show because Flake loves the tax scam. His supposed power to force a DACA vote via threatening to withhold his vote for tax cuts is ludicrous because he fucking adores tax cuts.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Did any of you guys listen to the Deep Dive Into the Mind of Jeff Flake on This American Life this week? It was interesting and frustrating. When Yertle was doing a Lucy With the Football with DACA-for-your-tax-scam vote, Zoe Chace says that of course this is all for show because Flake loves the tax scam. His supposed power to force a DACA vote via threatening to withhold his vote for tax cuts is ludicrous because he fucking adores tax cuts.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Multiple sources reporting this morning that Paul Ryan won't run for re-election.
And still won't stand up to Trump. Worthless chickenshit piece of shit.
posted by chris24 at 5:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [50 favorites]
And still won't stand up to Trump. Worthless chickenshit piece of shit.
posted by chris24 at 5:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [50 favorites]
The only man fit to write Ryan's epitaph is Dan Phiffer.
I've never been sadder that the PSA crew is all on Pacific time. I need their tweets right now.
posted by gladly at 5:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I've never been sadder that the PSA crew is all on Pacific time. I need their tweets right now.
posted by gladly at 5:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I would say that TrumpOrNotBot is less than entirely reliable, given that it gave yesterday's outbursts "Attorney-client privilege is dead!" and "A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!" a 21% probability of being written by the great sage himself.
posted by Buck Alec at 6:01 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Buck Alec at 6:01 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Real question: if you're Paul Ryan (I know, *shudder*), what is the political calculus in Ryan not running for re-election? That you don't want to serve in the House if you're in the minority? Or that you've been told you're going to be replaced as Speaker?
I always think the main political calculus is about re-election, and while I love IronStache, Ryan was really not likely to lose his seat in that district.
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:02 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I always think the main political calculus is about re-election, and while I love IronStache, Ryan was really not likely to lose his seat in that district.
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:02 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
One previous speculation from Mefites was that he wants to get out before he's permanently stained by his association with Trump so that he can run for a higher office later.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
Okay, that makes sense. But DAMN is that guy already permanently stained.
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
One previous speculation from Mefites was that he wants to get out before he's permanently stained by his association with Trump so that he can run for a higher office later.
'Bout two years too late on that one.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [31 favorites]
'Bout two years too late on that one.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [31 favorites]
my guess is that paul ryan's either keeping his options open for a presidential run in 2020 or he's decided to go to private life and cash in on the many opportunities he'll have open for him
staying in office and having one's reputation ruined by continued association with trump doesn't seem like such a great option and he doesn't have the guts to stand up and say no
posted by pyramid termite at 6:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
staying in office and having one's reputation ruined by continued association with trump doesn't seem like such a great option and he doesn't have the guts to stand up and say no
posted by pyramid termite at 6:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
One previous speculation from Mefites was that he wants to get out before he's permanently stained by his association with Trump so that he can run for a higher office later.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAdeepbreathHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
One thing that sustains me is that Ryan and McConnell will go down in history as much responsible for this as Trump. Ryan's place is assured, and it's not as a future president.
I'm laughing at Ryan, not tofu. I believe he could think this.
posted by chris24 at 6:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAdeepbreathHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
One thing that sustains me is that Ryan and McConnell will go down in history as much responsible for this as Trump. Ryan's place is assured, and it's not as a future president.
I'm laughing at Ryan, not tofu. I believe he could think this.
posted by chris24 at 6:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
what is the political calculus in Ryan not running for re-election?
He got his tax cuts, nows the time to cash out in the private sector? He figures no chance of running for president for 7 years, might as well wait out the blue wave in Wisconsin getting rich and then run for senate/governor/president when the time is right? That’s my guess
posted by dis_integration at 6:08 AM on April 11, 2018 [30 favorites]
He got his tax cuts, nows the time to cash out in the private sector? He figures no chance of running for president for 7 years, might as well wait out the blue wave in Wisconsin getting rich and then run for senate/governor/president when the time is right? That’s my guess
posted by dis_integration at 6:08 AM on April 11, 2018 [30 favorites]
Yep, that was also the response last time this came up. I on the other hand think he's banking on Republican voters being low-information voters and you can never go wrong with that.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
GrammarMoses That’s what I don’t understand. If you know Trump is an evil troll and you believe you’re going to lose because of it, why the hell would you not do the right thing?
They're playing the odds.
They don't know for a fact that sticking with Trump will cost them their seats, but they've got very good reasons to think that opposing Trump will.
Whether in the form of a primary challenge or just Trump bashing them and therefore them losing in the general election, most of the Congressional Republicans are justifiably nervous about going against Trump.
Sticking with Trump is risky, but they think they can survive better by sticking with Trump than going against him. It's pure political calculus and a desire to keep their seats.
posted by sotonohito at 6:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
They're playing the odds.
They don't know for a fact that sticking with Trump will cost them their seats, but they've got very good reasons to think that opposing Trump will.
Whether in the form of a primary challenge or just Trump bashing them and therefore them losing in the general election, most of the Congressional Republicans are justifiably nervous about going against Trump.
Sticking with Trump is risky, but they think they can survive better by sticking with Trump than going against him. It's pure political calculus and a desire to keep their seats.
posted by sotonohito at 6:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Ryan's place is assured, and it's not as a future president.
I hope that's not going to be on a cake.
posted by MtDewd at 6:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
I hope that's not going to be on a cake.
posted by MtDewd at 6:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
That you don't want to serve in the House if you're in the minority?
My bet would be that being a Republican in Congress right now who's not a true believer in Trumpism is just a miserable goddamn experience, and they see no point in staying if they can't advance their actual agenda.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
My bet would be that being a Republican in Congress right now who's not a true believer in Trumpism is just a miserable goddamn experience, and they see no point in staying if they can't advance their actual agenda.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I hope that's not going to be on a cake.
Cakes are generally reserved for celebrations of your wrongness. I believe a hat or other article of clothing would be more appropriate here.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 6:17 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Cakes are generally reserved for celebrations of your wrongness. I believe a hat or other article of clothing would be more appropriate here.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 6:17 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm thinking that with Republicans afraid of being primaried, after the primary season a lot may be coming out anti-Trump, especially as a pivot to the "middle" before the general election.
As for Ryan getting out, I'm getting the impression that being a Republican in Congress right now is a horrific experience. Pressures from the radical right, being primaried, having to kowtow to Darth Gump, having to defend Darth Gump or else lose part of your base, and being loathed by a major portion of your constituents for supporting Trump.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:18 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
As for Ryan getting out, I'm getting the impression that being a Republican in Congress right now is a horrific experience. Pressures from the radical right, being primaried, having to kowtow to Darth Gump, having to defend Darth Gump or else lose part of your base, and being loathed by a major portion of your constituents for supporting Trump.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:18 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Okay, that makes sense. But DAMN is that guy already permanently stained.
Pfft, I imagine there are dozens of Ryan hagiographies being written right now, even by NeverTrumpers. So-called "moderate" conservatives are extremely desperate to put Trump in their rear view mirror so that they can propose the exact same policies, just with nicer words and a gentler tone.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:20 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
Pfft, I imagine there are dozens of Ryan hagiographies being written right now, even by NeverTrumpers. So-called "moderate" conservatives are extremely desperate to put Trump in their rear view mirror so that they can propose the exact same policies, just with nicer words and a gentler tone.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:20 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
Ryan is despised by Ds and Is for refusing to constrain Trump and his dead-eyed granny starving. And now he's despised by Rs for being a sellout establishment RINO traitor to Trumpism. He has no constituency besides the Kochs. Which isn't nothing obviously, but eventually you need voters.
posted by chris24 at 6:20 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 6:20 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
All I see is more and more contests in which there is an unpopular president, a raft of party-wide scandals, and now, vanishing incumbency advantage.
posted by eclectist at 6:21 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by eclectist at 6:21 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Pfft, I imagine there are dozens of Ryan hagiographies being written right now, even by NeverTrumpers.
Yeah the most infuriating thing about Ryan is the way he constantly suckers the press into believing that he is a Serious and Principled Wonk who just Wants Fiscal Responsibility at the same time as he's drowning grandma in lead-poisoned water after picking her pocket and sending half to Charles Koch, half to his reelection campaign. This resignation is probably going to reinforce all of that. Not: coward runs from the dumpster fire he started, but, man of principle bows out of his own accord.
posted by dis_integration at 6:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
Yeah the most infuriating thing about Ryan is the way he constantly suckers the press into believing that he is a Serious and Principled Wonk who just Wants Fiscal Responsibility at the same time as he's drowning grandma in lead-poisoned water after picking her pocket and sending half to Charles Koch, half to his reelection campaign. This resignation is probably going to reinforce all of that. Not: coward runs from the dumpster fire he started, but, man of principle bows out of his own accord.
posted by dis_integration at 6:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
Oh Paul, we won’t just forget.
/GlennClosevoice
When this Randian zombot arises anew in 5 years I will take personal pleasure in reminding anyone who will listen what a loathsome, cowardly, selfish monster he showed himself to be.
My hope is that he gets caught up in the Mueller investigation, cooperates, what with all that cowardice, and finds himself locked out of the wingnut welfare circuit and forced to confront the fact that he was never one of the übermenschen.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
/GlennClosevoice
When this Randian zombot arises anew in 5 years I will take personal pleasure in reminding anyone who will listen what a loathsome, cowardly, selfish monster he showed himself to be.
My hope is that he gets caught up in the Mueller investigation, cooperates, what with all that cowardice, and finds himself locked out of the wingnut welfare circuit and forced to confront the fact that he was never one of the übermenschen.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
might as well wait out the blue wave in Wisconsin getting rich and then run for senate/governor/president when the time is right?
Senate would be out until at least 2020 for him. Same with Governor, and I'm pretty sure Walker won't actively help Ryan's chances at running for president.
I'm shocked Ryan didn't try to push through his pet project of slashing Social Security, but I'm guessing Trump told him it was never going to happen.
Trying to speculate for what Republican would run for Ryan's seat, my first guess would be Robin Vos.
posted by drezdn at 6:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Senate would be out until at least 2020 for him. Same with Governor, and I'm pretty sure Walker won't actively help Ryan's chances at running for president.
I'm shocked Ryan didn't try to push through his pet project of slashing Social Security, but I'm guessing Trump told him it was never going to happen.
Trying to speculate for what Republican would run for Ryan's seat, my first guess would be Robin Vos.
posted by drezdn at 6:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Ryan won’t be on the wingnut welfare circuit, he’s on the big boy ticket like Eric Cantor. He’ll be welcomed into Wall Street like a conquering hero, because he is. He delivered their tax cuts. He’s going to be as rich as Mitt Romney.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:30 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:30 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
Okay, that makes sense. But DAMN is that guy already permanently stained.
You don't have to outrun the lion, you just have to outrun the slowest antelope in the pack.
Unless a new crop of untainted politicians with rock-solid Conservative tribal bona fides shows up, the Trump-administration shitheel who's got the least dirt sticking to him will be in an advantageous position with those US voters who, for tribal/ideological/religious/&c. reasons, would never vote for a Democrat or anyone with the whiff of liberalism about them.
posted by acb at 6:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
You don't have to outrun the lion, you just have to outrun the slowest antelope in the pack.
Unless a new crop of untainted politicians with rock-solid Conservative tribal bona fides shows up, the Trump-administration shitheel who's got the least dirt sticking to him will be in an advantageous position with those US voters who, for tribal/ideological/religious/&c. reasons, would never vote for a Democrat or anyone with the whiff of liberalism about them.
posted by acb at 6:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Unless a new crop of untainted politicians with rock-solid Conservative tribal bona fides shows up,
Many of the Republican Governors are mostly free of Trump taint, and weren't revealed to be spineless.
posted by drezdn at 6:35 AM on April 11, 2018
Many of the Republican Governors are mostly free of Trump taint, and weren't revealed to be spineless.
posted by drezdn at 6:35 AM on April 11, 2018
"Yeah the most infuriating thing about Ryan is the way he constantly suckers the press into believing that he is a Serious and Principled Wonk "
My great hope is that Ryan's vanity about being considered Serious and Principled is big enough that he actually does take at least some small stands against Trump (protects Mueller, for example), because the press would fawn all over that shit and he could ride triumphantly into retirement as a principled conservative statesman if he did that, and that would obviously be what went in the history books about him. So everyone cross your fingers for Paul Ryan's vanity and ego.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:38 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
My great hope is that Ryan's vanity about being considered Serious and Principled is big enough that he actually does take at least some small stands against Trump (protects Mueller, for example), because the press would fawn all over that shit and he could ride triumphantly into retirement as a principled conservative statesman if he did that, and that would obviously be what went in the history books about him. So everyone cross your fingers for Paul Ryan's vanity and ego.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:38 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
Well, if Paul Ryan has any of the success that's about to drop for former Speaker Boehner.
Well, you could have done all of that as Speaker of the fucking House, John.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [108 favorites]
I'm joining the board of #AcreageHoldings because my thinking on cannabis has evolved. I'm convinced de-scheduling the drug is needed so we can do research, help our veterans, and reverse the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities. @AcreageCannabis(slTwitter)
Well, you could have done all of that as Speaker of the fucking House, John.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [108 favorites]
Whatever Ryan's reasoning, you just know that in the event of a Trump resignation or removal he'll be the first one on the phone to Mike Pence even if he only gets to warm the VP chair for all of five minutes before 2020. He just doesn't want to be around for all the messy stuff between now and then, heaven forbid he would have to make a tough call. I don't put a lot of stock in Gingrich saying a Mueller firing would split the party, but maybe Ryan has seen enough internal polling and heard from enough of his congressional colleagues that he knows it would be much messier than he wants to deal with since he can barely deal with the freedom caucus while the Republicans have control of all three branches. And possibly dealing with that from the minority party in the house after the midterms, with the freedom caucus likely going totally feral if they no longer have to toe the line now and then to hold the house majority caucus together, is definitely not a situation that Ryan would thrive in. I think whoever gets the minority leader job if the Dems take the house is going to hate every moment of it, they're going to be treated like the meekest of substitute teachers by the freedom caucus unless they are a freedom caucus member.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 6:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Trying to speculate for what Republican would run for Ryan's seat
There's already a Republican gunning for the seat: meet Paul Nehlen, Nazi stan and all-around loathsome piece of shit*.
* Not that Paul Ryan isn't also an all-around loathsome piece of shit, bigot, white supremacist, etc.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:44 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
There's already a Republican gunning for the seat: meet Paul Nehlen, Nazi stan and all-around loathsome piece of shit*.
* Not that Paul Ryan isn't also an all-around loathsome piece of shit, bigot, white supremacist, etc.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:44 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Senate would be out until at least 2020 for him. Same with Governor, and I'm pretty sure Walker won't actively help Ryan's chances at running for president.
If Ryan hopes to duck a Blue Wave this year, it's hard to see why he thinks he'd do better in 2020. I strongly doubt Trump will get any more popular with two years of a (tttcs) Democratic House and/or Senate.
posted by Gelatin at 6:46 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
If Ryan hopes to duck a Blue Wave this year, it's hard to see why he thinks he'd do better in 2020. I strongly doubt Trump will get any more popular with two years of a (tttcs) Democratic House and/or Senate.
posted by Gelatin at 6:46 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
So today Ryan is the top story. What is he supposed to distract us from, and what will Trump do to become the top story again?
posted by infinitewindow at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2018
posted by infinitewindow at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2018
Whatever Ryan's reasoning
The New York Times reported, with a straight face, "Explaining his decision to his Republican colleagues Wednesday morning at a meeting in the Capitol, a subdued Mr. Ryan said he wanted to spend more time with his children, who live in the same town where the speaker grew up." [emphasis added because this is the stereotypical excuse trotted out whenever a seriously ugly scandal is coming down the pipeline]
His dinner tonight at the White House along with Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, and John Cornyn is going to be … interesting. Will last month's rumor about Ryan is resigning the Speakership and Steve Scalise taking over come true?
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
The New York Times reported, with a straight face, "Explaining his decision to his Republican colleagues Wednesday morning at a meeting in the Capitol, a subdued Mr. Ryan said he wanted to spend more time with his children, who live in the same town where the speaker grew up." [emphasis added because this is the stereotypical excuse trotted out whenever a seriously ugly scandal is coming down the pipeline]
His dinner tonight at the White House along with Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, and John Cornyn is going to be … interesting. Will last month's rumor about Ryan is resigning the Speakership and Steve Scalise taking over come true?
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
If Ryan hopes to duck a Blue Wave this year, it's hard to see why he thinks he'd do better in 2020. I strongly doubt Trump will get any more popular with two years of a (tttcs) Democratic House and/or Senate.
If Democrats sweep to power in a wave of righteous electoral indignation, and within 2 years, fail to fix the damage caused by the Republicans, a significant proportion of the population will blame them and reflexively vote for the Republicans to fix things. This has been borne out by experience from other countries (i.e., the Icelandic Independence Party having presided over the country's economic crisis, been swept out in the “pots-and-pans revolution”, and then swept right back in a few years later when the left-wing parties failed to promptly solve everybody's problems).
posted by acb at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
If Democrats sweep to power in a wave of righteous electoral indignation, and within 2 years, fail to fix the damage caused by the Republicans, a significant proportion of the population will blame them and reflexively vote for the Republicans to fix things. This has been borne out by experience from other countries (i.e., the Icelandic Independence Party having presided over the country's economic crisis, been swept out in the “pots-and-pans revolution”, and then swept right back in a few years later when the left-wing parties failed to promptly solve everybody's problems).
posted by acb at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
I'm joining the board of #AcreageHoldings because my thinking on cannabis has evolved.
"Also, they're going to pay me an absolute buttload of money."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [34 favorites]
"Also, they're going to pay me an absolute buttload of money."
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [34 favorites]
white people talking about cannabis legalization pisses me off because none of these wealthy fuckers are talking about what decriminalization means for the communities of color that have been devastated by our drug laws.
Seriously capitalism as it belongs to white people making money can fuck off right to hell.
posted by Annika Cicada at 6:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [98 favorites]
Seriously capitalism as it belongs to white people making money can fuck off right to hell.
posted by Annika Cicada at 6:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [98 favorites]
"Also, they're going to pay me an absolute buttload of money."
"Also, my arthritis is kicking in big time and wouldn't you know HTC is a helluva pain reliever and I don't want to go to jail for smoking unlike all them coloured fellows."
posted by PenDevil at 6:57 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
"Also, my arthritis is kicking in big time and wouldn't you know HTC is a helluva pain reliever and I don't want to go to jail for smoking unlike all them coloured fellows."
posted by PenDevil at 6:57 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
If Democrats sweep to power in a wave of righteous electoral indignation, and within 2 years, fail to fix the damage caused by the Republicans, a significant proportion of the population will blame them and reflexively vote for the Republicans to fix things.
While this situation seems possible, at least in the United States, the true "swing voter" is almost gone. Younger folks, just now entering the electorate are seeing the Republican party for what it is: A group of white ethnonationalists who want to deport them and/or their friends, load them up with non-dischargable educational debt, legitimise hate against LGBTQ people, and let them die in schools because of easy access to military-grade firearms.
The Republican party are in dire straights with younger voters because, at least right now, the party you first bote for tends to be whom you will vote for going forward. These amazing young adults have already started climbing the mountain to address these issues. I hope they will stay engaged and motivated for years to come.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 7:00 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
While this situation seems possible, at least in the United States, the true "swing voter" is almost gone. Younger folks, just now entering the electorate are seeing the Republican party for what it is: A group of white ethnonationalists who want to deport them and/or their friends, load them up with non-dischargable educational debt, legitimise hate against LGBTQ people, and let them die in schools because of easy access to military-grade firearms.
The Republican party are in dire straights with younger voters because, at least right now, the party you first bote for tends to be whom you will vote for going forward. These amazing young adults have already started climbing the mountain to address these issues. I hope they will stay engaged and motivated for years to come.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 7:00 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
The degree to which Boenher got dragged in that Tweet at least gave me a tiny bit of life. Also, the Crooked Media guys are up. Pfeiffer notes that Kevin McCarthy would seem to be the frontrunner to run for Ryan's seat.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:00 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:00 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm joining the board of #AcreageHoldings because my thinking on cannabis has evolved. I'm convinced de-scheduling the drug is needed so we can do research, help our veterans, and reverse the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities. @AcreageCannabis
(slTwitter)
Well, you could have done all of that as Speaker of the fucking House, John.
Shameless political hypocrites are incredibly convenient when you are lobbying for the legal exclusion of the people you spent decades criminalizing from the industry.
posted by srboisvert at 7:02 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
(slTwitter)
Well, you could have done all of that as Speaker of the fucking House, John.
Shameless political hypocrites are incredibly convenient when you are lobbying for the legal exclusion of the people you spent decades criminalizing from the industry.
posted by srboisvert at 7:02 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
i would probably be less skeptical about the whole "teh youth / demographics will save us" attitude if we weren't still trying to stamp out confederates and nazis ityol 2018
that said, i'd love to be wrong
posted by entropicamericana at 7:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
that said, i'd love to be wrong
posted by entropicamericana at 7:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
I'm joining the board of #AcreageHoldings because my thinking on cannabis has evolved.
"Also, they're going to pay me an absolute buttload of money."
I AM SO IRRITATED EVEN THOUGH THIS IS KINDA GOOD NEWS
Well, you could have done all of that as Speaker of the fucking House, John.
I mean, no, he probably couldn't have. And also, there are a lot of other terrible things that he wanted to do and now will not. So.
It sucks that he gets to waltz into the commercial cannabis industry and cash in. But if it gets us to de-scheduling I'll take it. Maybe if Ryan gets stoned enough he'll stop trying to starve everyone's grandma and some life will return to his dead eyes.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
"Also, they're going to pay me an absolute buttload of money."
I AM SO IRRITATED EVEN THOUGH THIS IS KINDA GOOD NEWS
Well, you could have done all of that as Speaker of the fucking House, John.
I mean, no, he probably couldn't have. And also, there are a lot of other terrible things that he wanted to do and now will not. So.
It sucks that he gets to waltz into the commercial cannabis industry and cash in. But if it gets us to de-scheduling I'll take it. Maybe if Ryan gets stoned enough he'll stop trying to starve everyone's grandma and some life will return to his dead eyes.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Kevin McCarthy is a freedom caucus shithead, to be sure, but remembering that Paul Ryan did nothing, nothing, to stop this scorched earth White House agenda. So there's basically status quo except for Ryan is out. I'll call that a moral victory.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:04 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
the man is so deranged.
I mean, a mainstream politician - POTUS! - saying "stop the arms race" and "all nations need to work together" in the context of a missile strike you'd be like WOW. what would the MAGAhats and the chickenhawks and military industrial complex think of this?....who knows, maybe he is a peacenik....aaaaaaaand 1/4 of a second later he's back to crazy "fire and fury" mode and you realize, it's just a spasm. the first thing that pops in his head....and its gone.
posted by lalochezia at 7:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
the man is so deranged.
I mean, a mainstream politician - POTUS! - saying "stop the arms race" and "all nations need to work together" in the context of a missile strike you'd be like WOW. what would the MAGAhats and the chickenhawks and military industrial complex think of this?....who knows, maybe he is a peacenik....aaaaaaaand 1/4 of a second later he's back to crazy "fire and fury" mode and you realize, it's just a spasm. the first thing that pops in his head....and its gone.
posted by lalochezia at 7:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
Legalization needs to come with previous convictions being voided.
It isn't enough to ease the pain going forward, we need to admit that the whole thing was a mistake.
And if a bunch of white execs are itching to make billions off it, that seems like an easy thing for them to agree to.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [62 favorites]
It isn't enough to ease the pain going forward, we need to admit that the whole thing was a mistake.
And if a bunch of white execs are itching to make billions off it, that seems like an easy thing for them to agree to.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [62 favorites]
Given that a significant proportion of the young people are watching Jordan Peterson videos and railing against “entitled liberal bullshit” on the part of their GenX elders, we may be right to worry.
posted by acb at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by acb at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
white people talking about cannabis legalization pisses me off because none of these wealthy fuckers are talking about what decriminalization means for the communities of color that have been devastated by our drug laws.
I was on the resolutions committee for my state senate district (in MN) and I was happy to see that many of the resolutions that came through regarding legalization of marijuana specifically referenced clearing criminal records, releasing people who are imprisoned, and including the people who are currently dealing in the organized distribution that would result from legalization. I can't remember the wording anymore but basically it was very clear that people selling pot illegally today should have a seat at the legalization table.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
I was on the resolutions committee for my state senate district (in MN) and I was happy to see that many of the resolutions that came through regarding legalization of marijuana specifically referenced clearing criminal records, releasing people who are imprisoned, and including the people who are currently dealing in the organized distribution that would result from legalization. I can't remember the wording anymore but basically it was very clear that people selling pot illegally today should have a seat at the legalization table.
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
i would probably be less skeptical about the whole "teh youth / demographics will save us" attitude if we weren't still trying to stamp out confederates and nazis ityol 2018
Yeah, I think the thing I am seeing with the youth is just that the divide is bigger and that kind of center doesn't really exist - people are either hard left or hard right or they just 'don't care about politics'. I...have no idea how this will play out in future years though I'm desperately hoping 2019 has to be better, while possessing no evidence about it.
posted by corb at 7:08 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Yeah, I think the thing I am seeing with the youth is just that the divide is bigger and that kind of center doesn't really exist - people are either hard left or hard right or they just 'don't care about politics'. I...have no idea how this will play out in future years though I'm desperately hoping 2019 has to be better, while possessing no evidence about it.
posted by corb at 7:08 AM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
If Democrats sweep to power in a wave of righteous electoral indignation, and within 2 years, fail to fix the damage caused by the Republicans, a significant proportion of the population will blame them and reflexively vote for the Republicans to fix things.
Well, maybe. But Trump will have been running for re-election with an absolutely dismal record and dismal popularity -- is there any hope of him becoming more popular as his agenda is stymied and Democratic investigations reveal even more of his corruption and incompetence? Trump will be a millstone around he necks of the entire Republican Party in 2020, and I strongly doubt Democrats will be in the mood to give Ryan a pass if and when he tries to claim he had nothing to do with Trump.
posted by Gelatin at 7:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well, maybe. But Trump will have been running for re-election with an absolutely dismal record and dismal popularity -- is there any hope of him becoming more popular as his agenda is stymied and Democratic investigations reveal even more of his corruption and incompetence? Trump will be a millstone around he necks of the entire Republican Party in 2020, and I strongly doubt Democrats will be in the mood to give Ryan a pass if and when he tries to claim he had nothing to do with Trump.
posted by Gelatin at 7:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is there a difference between the centre and “don't care about politics”? Did there use to be more stridently passionate centrists/moderates outside of career politics?
posted by acb at 7:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by acb at 7:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
that said, i'd love be to wrong
Each generation manages to get rid of a percentage of their hateful assholes before those assholes pass their beliefs onto the next generation. We're in a better place than our parent's generation and future generations will be in a better place compared to us but each step only gets us half the distance to the goal. Our great grandchildren will still be dealing with some percentage of bigoted assholes.
posted by cmfletcher at 7:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Each generation manages to get rid of a percentage of their hateful assholes before those assholes pass their beliefs onto the next generation. We're in a better place than our parent's generation and future generations will be in a better place compared to us but each step only gets us half the distance to the goal. Our great grandchildren will still be dealing with some percentage of bigoted assholes.
posted by cmfletcher at 7:11 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
rc3spencer: "Ironstache it is then! Great news."
I would remind you that WI-01 has an active Democratic primary.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:13 AM on April 11, 2018 [28 favorites]
I would remind you that WI-01 has an active Democratic primary.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:13 AM on April 11, 2018 [28 favorites]
Each generation manages to get rid of a percentage of their hateful assholes
Counterargument: As horrors of the past (e.g. WWII) pass from living memory, we are doomed to repeat them.
posted by gwint at 7:17 AM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
Counterargument: As horrors of the past (e.g. WWII) pass from living memory, we are doomed to repeat them.
posted by gwint at 7:17 AM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
And yet here we are with an unhinged sociopath as President. It's almost like some major component of the democracy formula is either missing or grossly out-of-whack. Hm.
posted by petebest at 7:18 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by petebest at 7:18 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Excommunicated Cardinal is right - there really is no such thing as a swing voter anymore. I am more worried about voter apathy than outright defections. Disappointed Dems whose party fails to fix everything all at once in one day won't defect to the Republicans, they'll just stay home and whine about how they caaaan't vote for Reasons.
Young people are indeed less Republican, with one exception: young, white men - the same group who made up the Nazi marchers in Charlottesville.
Women of color are staunch Democrats whatever their age, and college-educated white women are more and more so.
Young people are indeed more liberal and more energized than ever before, but it's not as simple as "wait for old people to die and then we'll be home free."
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:21 AM on April 11, 2018 [34 favorites]
Young people are indeed less Republican, with one exception: young, white men - the same group who made up the Nazi marchers in Charlottesville.
Women of color are staunch Democrats whatever their age, and college-educated white women are more and more so.
Young people are indeed more liberal and more energized than ever before, but it's not as simple as "wait for old people to die and then we'll be home free."
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:21 AM on April 11, 2018 [34 favorites]
I’d like to see cannabis taxes go towards straight up reparations, honestly. Maybe some rehabilitation or training programs too. Clear criminal records entirely and help the people we fucked over. Seems so obvious.
What’s weird is that there’s a glimmer of hope inside me that in five years it might actually be possible? At least in some states.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [41 favorites]
What’s weird is that there’s a glimmer of hope inside me that in five years it might actually be possible? At least in some states.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [41 favorites]
I was on the resolutions committee for my state senate district (in MN)....I can't remember the wording anymore but basically it was very clear that people selling pot illegally today should have a seat at the legalization table.
This is incredible and awesome and thank you for sharing.
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is incredible and awesome and thank you for sharing.
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Formerly-esteemed law professor Alan Dershowitz was on CNN this morning claiming that a) there is "obviously" no exception to attorney-client privilege that is relevant in Michael Cohen's case, and b) taint teams are unconstitutional and the government can never look at any lawyer's confidential documents, no matter what crimes the lawyer commits.
Surely he's on Trump's shortlist for Supreme Court Justice by now!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Surely he's on Trump's shortlist for Supreme Court Justice by now!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Boomers once thought all they had to do was wait for all the old people to die, too.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:23 AM on April 11, 2018 [83 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:23 AM on April 11, 2018 [83 favorites]
Wasserman reactions:
Not every day you see a Speaker up against a potential loss of majority just say "fold." Decision could wreck remaining GOP morale in fight for House.posted by Chrysostom at 7:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Speaker Paul Ryan's retirement would move #WI01 from Solid R to Lean R at @CookPolitical, w/ the potential for race to become even more competitive.
There are still 19 states where filing deadlines haven't passed, home to 58 GOP members currently running for reelection. How many more retire?
Breaking: GOP source close to Speaker Ryan emails March internal campaign poll showing Ryan beating Randy Bryce (D) 55%-34%, w/ GOP leading generic ballot 48%-36% in #WI01.
It's also worth noting that even Alan Dershowitz says that initiating Mueller's firing would be terrible and counter-productive.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
the Trump-administration shitheel who's got the least dirt sticking to him <<== this is not Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan is splattered.
posted by h00py at 7:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by h00py at 7:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Breaking: GOP source close to Speaker Ryan emails March internal campaign poll showing Ryan beating Randy Bryce (D) 55%-34%, w/ GOP leading generic ballot 48%-36% in #WI01.
HUH. That is...that is interesting.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
HUH. That is...that is interesting.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Holy shit, when it rains, it pours: Dennis Ross [R-FL-15] is retiring.
District went Trump 53-43, Romney 52-47, so within reach for a flip.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [47 favorites]
District went Trump 53-43, Romney 52-47, so within reach for a flip.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [47 favorites]
I mean, I remember with great clarity his shit-eating grin up behind Tr*mp during the State of the Union and other times.
posted by h00py at 7:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by h00py at 7:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
I would like you all to know that I've spent well-nigh the last hour trying to figure out what features I could extract from Trump's Twitter feed that would get me in the ballpark of being able to classify the tweets as Trumpian or not.
So far I've got readability score (possibly Flesch-Kincaid grade level), ratio of capital letters to all characters, occurrence of isolated capitals (like "build wall through M")...someone stop me.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [24 favorites]
So far I've got readability score (possibly Flesch-Kincaid grade level), ratio of capital letters to all characters, occurrence of isolated capitals (like "build wall through M")...someone stop me.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [24 favorites]
Dennis Perkins, AVClub: Stephen Colbert blows the lid off of Tucker Carlson's panda plagiarism on The Late Show
Tucker Carlson's rant was predated by a very similar rant on the Colbert Report.
Tucker Carlson's rant was predated by a very similar rant on the Colbert Report.
Calling Carlson’s fear-foraging feint away from presidential disaster “literally something I did on my old show when I played an insane person,” Colbert went on to note their further similarity of “acting incredibly stupid while wearing an ill-fitting suit.”posted by ZeusHumms at 7:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [56 favorites]
this is not Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan is splattered.
Compared to whom? Given that centrists are hailing the exceedingly un-Trumpian moderate wisdom of George W. Bush, while in Brexit-era Britain, oligarchically cashed-up war criminal Tony Blair has been successfully rehabilitated as a symbol of the anti-Brexit, non-Corbynista “sensible centre”. Ryan might be banking that, after enough water has passed under the bridge, he can reinvent himself similarly.
posted by acb at 7:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Compared to whom? Given that centrists are hailing the exceedingly un-Trumpian moderate wisdom of George W. Bush, while in Brexit-era Britain, oligarchically cashed-up war criminal Tony Blair has been successfully rehabilitated as a symbol of the anti-Brexit, non-Corbynista “sensible centre”. Ryan might be banking that, after enough water has passed under the bridge, he can reinvent himself similarly.
posted by acb at 7:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Not every day you see a Speaker up against a potential loss of majority just say "fold."
Isn't this what John Boehner did?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Isn't this what John Boehner did?
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
@kylegriffin1:
Inbox: Today, U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will introduce the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act. The new legislation merges two parallel efforts into one unified, bipartisan bill.posted by Chrysostom at 7:38 AM on April 11, 2018 [83 favorites]
Cook moves Ryan’s district from Solid R to Lean R
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:46 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:46 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
I don't see McConnell allowing a vote on the bill to protect Mueller. NBC News:
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:48 AM on April 11, 2018 [52 favorites]
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reiterated Tuesday he hadn't "seen clear indication yet that we have to pass something to keep him from being removed, because I don't think that's going to happen."Here is something for you to see, Senator McConnell, that could be described as "a clear indication": it is the fact that the President has repeatedly ordered that the Special Counsel should be fired! That could be described as "a clear indication", could it not
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:48 AM on April 11, 2018 [52 favorites]
I mean, a mainstream politician - POTUS! - saying "stop the arms race" and "all nations need to work together" in the context of a missile strike you'd be like WOW. what would the MAGAhats and the chickenhawks and military industrial complex think of this?....who knows, maybe he is a peacenik....aaaaaaaand 1/4 of a second later he's back to crazy "fire and fury" mode and you realize, it's just a spasm. the first thing that pops in his head....and its gone.
He's pure stimulus and response. That's why all the "Trump's strategy" talk has always been nonsense. He's President Goldfish. He's fat, orange, stupid, and possesses no short term memory.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:48 AM on April 11, 2018 [44 favorites]
He's pure stimulus and response. That's why all the "Trump's strategy" talk has always been nonsense. He's President Goldfish. He's fat, orange, stupid, and possesses no short term memory.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:48 AM on April 11, 2018 [44 favorites]
Oh, god, Trump's awake and tweeting
He hasn't stopped, either.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:49 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
He hasn't stopped, either.
Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy!It's going to be nuts at the pool spray after Trump's 11 AM signing of H.R. 1865 "Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017".
Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:49 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
While I'm not convinced Bryce or the other Dem would have won, leaking a poll like that is some weak-ass "I wouldn't have lost, see" bullshit.
posted by drezdn at 7:50 AM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 7:50 AM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
Isn't this what John Boehner did?
Boehner was more driven by the crazies in the GOP caucus. He basically decided, “fuck this, I don’t wanna deal with this anymore.”
posted by azpenguin at 7:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Boehner was more driven by the crazies in the GOP caucus. He basically decided, “fuck this, I don’t wanna deal with this anymore.”
posted by azpenguin at 7:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Compared to whom?
All the non-granny starving people who came before him and who will hopefully come after him. He should be whole-heartedly tarred with the brush of someone who was prepared to smile at the back of an ignorant tyrant just so he could push his desire for disgraceful health legislation that would actively harm the occupants of his supposedly beloved country.
I'm not grarring at you, acb, at all. It's him, he's just so bloody awful. I hope no-one forgets what a fucking piece of shit he is/was.
posted by h00py at 7:52 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
All the non-granny starving people who came before him and who will hopefully come after him. He should be whole-heartedly tarred with the brush of someone who was prepared to smile at the back of an ignorant tyrant just so he could push his desire for disgraceful health legislation that would actively harm the occupants of his supposedly beloved country.
I'm not grarring at you, acb, at all. It's him, he's just so bloody awful. I hope no-one forgets what a fucking piece of shit he is/was.
posted by h00py at 7:52 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Legalization needs to come with previous convictions being voided.
I'm not sure about every state that has gone commercial, but we are definitely doing this in CA.
And so long as we have to court market logic, I'm happy with cannabis profiteers displacing prison-industrial profiteers (and lobbying to make that happen, even if Paul Ryan gets a paycheck).
Straight-up reparations are obviously incredibly controversial, but a lot of cannabis taxes are funneled into community oriented programs, and some licensing regimes have community employment requirements, etc.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
I'm not sure about every state that has gone commercial, but we are definitely doing this in CA.
And so long as we have to court market logic, I'm happy with cannabis profiteers displacing prison-industrial profiteers (and lobbying to make that happen, even if Paul Ryan gets a paycheck).
Straight-up reparations are obviously incredibly controversial, but a lot of cannabis taxes are funneled into community oriented programs, and some licensing regimes have community employment requirements, etc.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
I don't see McConnell allowing a vote
If there was one piece of civics knowledge that I would like to beam into the brains of every American, it's that the leaders of the House and Senate determine what bills get brought to a vote. It seems like the Democrats can't do anything right now because they actually can't. They can write the greatest Medicaid for All bill imaginable, but it literally can't be voted on. A pretty startling number of Americans are not aware of this fact of procedure.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [88 favorites]
If there was one piece of civics knowledge that I would like to beam into the brains of every American, it's that the leaders of the House and Senate determine what bills get brought to a vote. It seems like the Democrats can't do anything right now because they actually can't. They can write the greatest Medicaid for All bill imaginable, but it literally can't be voted on. A pretty startling number of Americans are not aware of this fact of procedure.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [88 favorites]
Surely Nancy Pelosi is the most likely to succeed Ryan.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:54 AM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:54 AM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
Pedantry about discharge petitions here, but basically yeah.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
He's pure stimulus and response.
Worse, his preferred operant conditioner is Fox & Friends. For example, Matthew Gertz aligns Trump's tweets this morning with segments on that programme: Fox & Friends, at 6:20 am, asks a talking head about Russia's promise to shoot down U.S. missiles, then forty minutes later Trump tweets about "nice and new and 'smart!'" ones that are coming; next, the F 'n' F anchor talks about U.S. sanctions wrecking the Russian economy: "their market has dropped maybe 10-20%, ruble dropped, their steel company has dropped 50%", then half and hour later, Trump tweets, "Russia needs us to help their economy".
This is like a senile grandpa shouting at the TV, except he's in the Oval Office, not a living room recliner.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:58 AM on April 11, 2018 [29 favorites]
Worse, his preferred operant conditioner is Fox & Friends. For example, Matthew Gertz aligns Trump's tweets this morning with segments on that programme: Fox & Friends, at 6:20 am, asks a talking head about Russia's promise to shoot down U.S. missiles, then forty minutes later Trump tweets about "nice and new and 'smart!'" ones that are coming; next, the F 'n' F anchor talks about U.S. sanctions wrecking the Russian economy: "their market has dropped maybe 10-20%, ruble dropped, their steel company has dropped 50%", then half and hour later, Trump tweets, "Russia needs us to help their economy".
This is like a senile grandpa shouting at the TV, except he's in the Oval Office, not a living room recliner.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:58 AM on April 11, 2018 [29 favorites]
Surely Nancy Pelosi is the most likely to succeed Ryan.
I mean, until she's sworn in as President after the impeachment.
I hope she picks Hillary as VP.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:59 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
I mean, until she's sworn in as President after the impeachment.
I hope she picks Hillary as VP.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:59 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
Now up to 41 42 43 retiring House Republicans.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:02 AM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:02 AM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
Saw a tweet from a former Wisconsin political insider who thinks that Ryan's resignation might be related to an affair.
posted by drezdn at 8:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 8:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
I was thinking: Michael Cohen and Paul Ryan. That's two Trump horcruxes in two days.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [71 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [71 favorites]
A pretty startling number of Americans are not aware of this fact of procedure.
This phrase applies pretty widely to most functions of government and law in the US, and we really need to do something about it. It would be a rewarding long-tail effort for liberals and progressives. And hard to oppose on supposed/espoused conservative principles if done right.
I think maybe we have rose-colored glasses as to the efficacy (and certainly the biases) of old-school civics classes, but these days people are largely clueless as to how the Federal government really works and are misled by popular representations of both criminal and civil law, in both directions: thinking they have rights they don't (a good example is the shrinkage of the 4th Am.), and being unaware of rights they have (prominent examples are debt collection, employment and housing).
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
This phrase applies pretty widely to most functions of government and law in the US, and we really need to do something about it. It would be a rewarding long-tail effort for liberals and progressives. And hard to oppose on supposed/espoused conservative principles if done right.
I think maybe we have rose-colored glasses as to the efficacy (and certainly the biases) of old-school civics classes, but these days people are largely clueless as to how the Federal government really works and are misled by popular representations of both criminal and civil law, in both directions: thinking they have rights they don't (a good example is the shrinkage of the 4th Am.), and being unaware of rights they have (prominent examples are debt collection, employment and housing).
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
it's that the leaders of the House and Senate determine what bills get brought to a vote
Sure, literally. But at a system level that's overstated. The leaders of the House and Senate are subject to behind-the-scenes pressures, this-for-that dealing, is-this-the-hill-I-want-to-die-on questioning and all that just like everyone else. McConnell is the first I've noticed (and maybe I just never noticed) that either has the full support of a lot more people in private to completely run roughshod, or he just uniquely DGAF. Boehner, for example, had to do things he didn't want to do. In any case, the more there are no consequences to McConnell's personal standing, the more it comes true, and it sure isn't the lockstep GOP gonna bring consequences.
posted by ctmf at 8:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Sure, literally. But at a system level that's overstated. The leaders of the House and Senate are subject to behind-the-scenes pressures, this-for-that dealing, is-this-the-hill-I-want-to-die-on questioning and all that just like everyone else. McConnell is the first I've noticed (and maybe I just never noticed) that either has the full support of a lot more people in private to completely run roughshod, or he just uniquely DGAF. Boehner, for example, had to do things he didn't want to do. In any case, the more there are no consequences to McConnell's personal standing, the more it comes true, and it sure isn't the lockstep GOP gonna bring consequences.
posted by ctmf at 8:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!”
There is, in fact, always a tweet.
@walaa_3ssaf No, dopey, I would not go into Syria, but if I did it would be by surprise and not blurted all over the media like fools.
5:09 AM - 29 Aug 2013
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:13 AM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!”
There is, in fact, always a tweet.
@walaa_3ssaf No, dopey, I would not go into Syria, but if I did it would be by surprise and not blurted all over the media like fools.
5:09 AM - 29 Aug 2013
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:13 AM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
Saw a tweet from a former Wisconsin political insider who thinks that Ryan's resignation might be related to an affair.
With whom? Laura Ingraham? Ayn Rand? Ofpaul?
I've been wondering if the spate of quitting Republicans has to do with dirty money; since the NRA has now been revealed to have accepted Russian funding, and so many Republicans are funded by the NRA, well...I wouldn't be surprised if dirty money might have something to do with Ryan's resignation. I'm not sure if the Russians funneled money into every two-bit House seat, though; that's a bit of a stretch.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:14 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
With whom? Laura Ingraham? Ayn Rand? Ofpaul?
I've been wondering if the spate of quitting Republicans has to do with dirty money; since the NRA has now been revealed to have accepted Russian funding, and so many Republicans are funded by the NRA, well...I wouldn't be surprised if dirty money might have something to do with Ryan's resignation. I'm not sure if the Russians funneled money into every two-bit House seat, though; that's a bit of a stretch.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:14 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
What if impeachment starts to look inevitable, and there's enough evidence released implicating Pence that he's clearly not viable either? Is there a possibility we'll see the Republican congress move forward with impeachment proceedings before the midterm, so that they can have their guy as the third in line for succession?
posted by contraption at 8:19 AM on April 11, 2018
posted by contraption at 8:19 AM on April 11, 2018
With the number of establishment Republicans calling it quits and likely Dem pickups winnowing the number of "moderates" even farther, I'm starting to wonder if Mark Meadows is going to end up a viable candidate for minority leader next year.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
The problem with civics classes or history classes (citation: my degree is in teaching social studies grades 6-12, though I have not done so for quite a long time) or anything classes is that there's a limited amount of time (and history stubbornly just keeps happening yet the school year does not expand to fit the new bits) and the people you're trying to teach are at wildly varying levels of maturity and development. I taught Civics to 9th graders and they were engaged and we learned things but they were also 14-year-olds, with a 14-year-old's understanding of the world, and 4 years yet to go before they even could vote and if that is literally the only time in their lives when someone was able to give them factual, well-researched information about systems of government in general, the US government in particular, current events and critical reading of the news, and Major Historical Moments In Governance, well, it doesn't matter how good I was at doing that. It will all have been mostly forgotten by the time those same kids turned 26 and had to figure out how they should feel about the law that was just passed that they heard about in passing off the TV in the doctor's office. In a democracy, you can't really have mass numbers of people just checking the fuck out of learning about governance before they're even eligible to vote. Well, I mean, you can, but *gestures around*
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [78 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:25 AM on April 11, 2018 [78 favorites]
This phrase applies pretty widely to most functions of government and law in the US, and we really need to do something about it. It would be a rewarding long-tail effort for liberals and progressives. And hard to oppose on supposed/espoused conservative principles if done right.
♪♫♬ "I'm just a bill, yes I'm only bill..." ♪♫♬ t "Weeee the People, in order to form a more perfect union..." ♪♫♬
How many of my fellow Gen-Xers remember things to the tune of the beloved Schoolhouse Rock? I wonder if a deep-pocketed donor could fund catchy three-minute civics lessons for broadcast on TV and cable, and as onlined ads for YouTube and Facebook.
Make 'em catchy and entertaining and repetitive, Like SHR was, and maybe we can get loyal Americans to hum along. ♪♫♬ "There is no 60-vote requirement to pass legislation in the Senate, it's just Republicans refusing the previously routine cloture vote" ♪♫♬ or whatever.
posted by Gelatin at 8:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [47 favorites]
♪♫♬ "I'm just a bill, yes I'm only bill..." ♪♫♬ t "Weeee the People, in order to form a more perfect union..." ♪♫♬
How many of my fellow Gen-Xers remember things to the tune of the beloved Schoolhouse Rock? I wonder if a deep-pocketed donor could fund catchy three-minute civics lessons for broadcast on TV and cable, and as onlined ads for YouTube and Facebook.
Make 'em catchy and entertaining and repetitive, Like SHR was, and maybe we can get loyal Americans to hum along. ♪♫♬ "There is no 60-vote requirement to pass legislation in the Senate, it's just Republicans refusing the previously routine cloture vote" ♪♫♬ or whatever.
posted by Gelatin at 8:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [47 favorites]
In a world where school teaches people to be curious, teaches them to research and teach themselves, and teaches them to fucking care, that social studies jump-start would be enough. but *gestures around*
posted by ctmf at 8:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by ctmf at 8:29 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
Talking Points Memo:
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:34 AM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
At a press conference Wednesday, shortly after Ryan announced his retirement from Congress at the end of his current term, a reporter asked about Trump “openly talking about firing Bob Mueller and potentially firing the deputy attorney general.”Speaker Ryan knows that Trump is not going to do the thing he has already repeatedly done because someone in the White House assured him that he is not going to do it. Someone. In the White House. That is how Speaker Ryan knows what is going to happen. Everything is OK.
“What are your thoughts on that?” the reporter asked.
“My thoughts haven’t changed,” Ryan said. “I think they should be allowed to do their jobs. We have a rule of law in this country and that’s a principle we all uphold. I have no reason to believe that that is going to happen and I have assurances that it’s not.”
“Why?” the reporter asked.
“Because I’ve been talking to people in the White House about it,” Ryan said.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:34 AM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
i would probably be less skeptical about the whole "teh youth / demographics will save us" attitude if we weren't still trying to stamp out confederates and nazis ityol 2018
Not to say the new nazis aren’t an actual thing (they are), nor that we shouldn’t be fighting them (we should), but we should also remember that the cameras are only pointing at them, not the millions of millennials and younger who are against their insanity.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
Not to say the new nazis aren’t an actual thing (they are), nor that we shouldn’t be fighting them (we should), but we should also remember that the cameras are only pointing at them, not the millions of millennials and younger who are against their insanity.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
More Talking Points Memo: Exiting his party’s Tuesday luncheon, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) had the following exchange with reporters asking about the possibility Trump will attempt to end the investigation he has repeatedly called a “witch hunt.”
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [181 favorites]
SENATOR HATCH: He’s not going to do that.This is some Samuel Beckett shit right here
REPORTERS: How do you know that?
HATCH: He’s just not going to do it.
REPORTERS: How can you be so confident?
HATCH: I’m quite sure he won’t do it … unless there’s something really bad that happens.
REPORTERS: Why not pass a bill to protect him as a prophylactic measure?
HATCH: I’m not for that. I don’t think we should do that.
REPORTERS: Why not?
HATCH: Because it’s up to the President, and I don’t think he’s going to do that.
REPORTERS: But he’s openly contemplated it.
HATCH: I don’t think he’s going to.
REPORTERS: Has he told you that?
HATCH: No.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [181 favorites]
The Parkland Students are successfully navigating the system in part because they had an outstanding Civics teacher.
posted by Rumple at 8:40 AM on April 11, 2018 [108 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 8:40 AM on April 11, 2018 [108 favorites]
You know, the GOP needs to find a real candidate for WI-01 in relatively short order - the filing deadline is June 1, and their only active candidate is literal Nazi Paul Nehlen.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
I put my hope in their eventual perception of "I've got nothing left to lose, so it's therefore time to be principled" as the "Manly" Way Out.
The thing is, anyone with the integrity to do that, even eventually, would've done so already. We've seen so many Points of No Return again and again. The raging racist candidacy announcement? Pussy-grabbing? Insulting gold star families? "Hey, maybe creditors to the national debt will have to take a haircut?"
Not one of the people who've left the White House have spoken up with real honesty (unless Omarosa counts, and... no). And I'm pretty sure the only cabinet appointees who haven't made it through confirmation have all pulled out of their own accord.
Anyone with the integrity to speak up has been pre-screened out of this whole shitshow.
Pfft, I imagine there are dozens of Ryan hagiographies being written right now, even by NeverTrumpers.
@ananavarro: Ryan’s a good, compassionate man. But allowed Trump to define him. Did him so much harm. Painful to watch. Paul chose to stay silent & inert when faced w/actions that went against his principles, in order to be a team player. He’ll now be free to find his voice again, if he wants
They're already trying.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
The thing is, anyone with the integrity to do that, even eventually, would've done so already. We've seen so many Points of No Return again and again. The raging racist candidacy announcement? Pussy-grabbing? Insulting gold star families? "Hey, maybe creditors to the national debt will have to take a haircut?"
Not one of the people who've left the White House have spoken up with real honesty (unless Omarosa counts, and... no). And I'm pretty sure the only cabinet appointees who haven't made it through confirmation have all pulled out of their own accord.
Anyone with the integrity to speak up has been pre-screened out of this whole shitshow.
Pfft, I imagine there are dozens of Ryan hagiographies being written right now, even by NeverTrumpers.
@ananavarro: Ryan’s a good, compassionate man. But allowed Trump to define him. Did him so much harm. Painful to watch. Paul chose to stay silent & inert when faced w/actions that went against his principles, in order to be a team player. He’ll now be free to find his voice again, if he wants
They're already trying.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
In other retiring Speaker of the House news, Ohio's (GOP) House Speaker is retiring, as he comes under FBI investigation for corruption.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
I just want one person to follow-up with Hatch or McConnell or whatever other asshole is spouting that nonsense by asking how they're conducting this interview since, as they just admitted, they're deaf and blind.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is some Samuel Beckett shit right here
Reminded me of Who's On First.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:45 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Reminded me of Who's On First.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:45 AM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
I wonder if a deep-pocketed donor could fund catchy three-minute civics lessons for broadcast on TV and cable, and as onlined ads for YouTube and Facebook.
This could definitely be done. Here's Stan Smith from American Dad explaining the Iran-Contra affair with a catchy tune in the Schoolhouse Rock style, for instance. I remember hearing a lot about Iran-Contra growing up during it as a kid, but never understood what it was about until seeing this episode of the show.
posted by Servo5678 at 8:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
This could definitely be done. Here's Stan Smith from American Dad explaining the Iran-Contra affair with a catchy tune in the Schoolhouse Rock style, for instance. I remember hearing a lot about Iran-Contra growing up during it as a kid, but never understood what it was about until seeing this episode of the show.
posted by Servo5678 at 8:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
Today's XKCD comic kinda hits close. Here's to hoping that the extent of the grief, angst, and horrors of the Trump millennium recede into the dark past, and become lessons for the future, rather than jokes from an era.
posted by rp at 8:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by rp at 8:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
@NBCNews: JUST IN: US Defense Sec. Mattis says US is still assessing evidence from purported chemical attack in Syria, and the US military is ready “to provide military options if they are appropriate as the president determines.”
That the Secretary of Defense seems to be a few miles behind the President's twitter account when it comes to evidence and military force seems concerning.
posted by zachlipton at 8:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
That the Secretary of Defense seems to be a few miles behind the President's twitter account when it comes to evidence and military force seems concerning.
posted by zachlipton at 8:53 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
TPM, Ezra Cohen-Watnick To Join DOJ As National Security Adviser To Sessions. This is the guy who was on the NSC and got into Nunes's cockamamie unmasking scheme where he made a show of rushing to the White House to brief the White House on documents he obtained from the White House. And now he's going to work for Sessions.
posted by zachlipton at 8:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 8:56 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
@ananavarro: Ryan’s a good, compassionate man. But allowed Trump to define him. Did him so much harm. Painful to watch. Paul chose to stay silent & inert when faced w/actions that went against his principles, in order to be a team player. He’ll now be free to find his voice again, if he wants.
He’s not.
Paul Ryan would end Social Security and Medicare for all Americans tomorrow if he could. He spent his entire Congressional career trying to do so, and half succeeded by blowing up the federal budget for a generation.
Paul Ryan is an evil fuckstain. He should never be welcome in politie society, and neither should anyone who praises him. Including Resistance Hero Ana Navarro.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:57 AM on April 11, 2018 [78 favorites]
I taught Civics to 9th graders and they were engaged and we learned things but they were also 14-year-olds, with a 14-year-old's understanding of the world, and 4 years yet to go before they even could vote
Maybe it should be an 11th or 12th grade class, taught once whatever US and world history and associated literature is on the curriculum has been delivered (or at least alongside it), and closer to the age of majority? Pitched as a part of the transition to adult citizenship?
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:00 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Maybe it should be an 11th or 12th grade class, taught once whatever US and world history and associated literature is on the curriculum has been delivered (or at least alongside it), and closer to the age of majority? Pitched as a part of the transition to adult citizenship?
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:00 AM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
I am not sure that characterizing Ryan as spinelessly unable to defend his principles (whatever the hell those may be) is the right way to go.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:03 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
sinclair continues to try to justify its fake news promos by claiming that CNN has said the same thing
there's two problems with this
one - CNN didn't use 44 local news teams of its journalists as sock puppets
two - they claim to be interested in our concerns about this and give us a link to submit them in the video, but they don't allow comments on the you tube video
isn't that cowardly?
this is linked from wwmt, channel 3, kalmazoo's web site
also, yesterday, they had the morning's temperature wrong again - fake weather, anyone?
posted by pyramid termite at 9:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
there's two problems with this
one - CNN didn't use 44 local news teams of its journalists as sock puppets
two - they claim to be interested in our concerns about this and give us a link to submit them in the video, but they don't allow comments on the you tube video
isn't that cowardly?
this is linked from wwmt, channel 3, kalmazoo's web site
also, yesterday, they had the morning's temperature wrong again - fake weather, anyone?
posted by pyramid termite at 9:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I wonder if a deep-pocketed donor could fund catchy three-minute civics lessons for broadcast on TV and cable, and as onlined ads for YouTube and Facebook.
Make 'em catchy and entertaining and repetitive, Like SHR was, and maybe we can get loyal Americans to hum along.
Catchy, repetitive 3-minute civics lessons? You mean like how literally every teen I know can repeat every word in Hamilton?
posted by fedward at 9:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [56 favorites]
Make 'em catchy and entertaining and repetitive, Like SHR was, and maybe we can get loyal Americans to hum along.
Catchy, repetitive 3-minute civics lessons? You mean like how literally every teen I know can repeat every word in Hamilton?
posted by fedward at 9:07 AM on April 11, 2018 [56 favorites]
@ananavarro: Ryan’s a good, compassionate man. But allowed Trump to define him. Did him so much harm. Painful to watch. Paul chose to stay silent & inert when faced w/actions that went against his principles, in order to be a team player. He’ll now be free to find his voice again, if he wants
They're already trying.
You can sense the desperation from Navarro to put this whole ugly fracas behind us so that she and the rest of the "moderates" can go back to killing off the poor and PoC just a tiny bit more slowly and painfully.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
They're already trying.
You can sense the desperation from Navarro to put this whole ugly fracas behind us so that she and the rest of the "moderates" can go back to killing off the poor and PoC just a tiny bit more slowly and painfully.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:10 AM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
The Failing New York Times wrote another phony story. It was political pundit Doug Schoen, not a Ukrainian businessman, who asked me to do a short speech by phone (Skype), hosted by Doug, in Ukraine. I was very positive about Ukraine-another negative to the Fake Russia C story!
At the time, Trump's audience laughed at him, the Guardian reported:
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
At the time, Trump's audience laughed at him, the Guardian reported:
US presidential candidate Donald Trump made a bizarre appearance via video link to a major gathering of European politicians in Kiev on Friday, in which he promised to create a “very, very strong” US military and suggested organising “a safe zone some place in Syria”.It sounds as though, two and a half years later, Trump is still touchy about this event.
The audience, who were enjoying a four-course dinner during the video link, occasionally broke into laughter at his responses.[...]
[...]Trump’s video link was subject to a delay of several seconds, which appeared to confuse Trump. Nevertheless, he was able to touch on a number of major foreign policy issues in his opening remarks.[...]
“My feeling toward the Ukraine and towards the entire area is very, very strong. I know many people that live in the Ukraine, they’re friends of mine, they’re fantastic people,” said Trump, who referred repeatedly to “the Ukraine”, apparently oblivious to the fact the use of the definite article when referring to the country is considered insulting by Ukrainians.[...]
Unfortunately, Trump’s video link was cut off before the assembled politicians had a chance to begin a question-and-answer session with the Republican frontrunner.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
Seems the entire country has collectively forgotten that Ryan was Romney's running mate in 2012.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:15 AM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:15 AM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
Bloomberg: Mueller seeks subpoenas for 35 witnesses for Manafort trial
This would be to appear on July 10 at trial, with the names of the witnesses to be filled in later.
If Manafort is really going to trial, Mueller is demonstrating he plans to put on a show.
posted by zachlipton at 9:19 AM on April 11, 2018 [41 favorites]
This would be to appear on July 10 at trial, with the names of the witnesses to be filled in later.
If Manafort is really going to trial, Mueller is demonstrating he plans to put on a show.
posted by zachlipton at 9:19 AM on April 11, 2018 [41 favorites]
Fanatic, Fraud, Factotum: The Rise and Fall of Paul Ryan
He’s been very sucessful in convincing the media those are not his actual principals and instead he’s very earnestly been working for fiscal responsibility.
But he couldn’t have come this far without those beliefs aligning with his party. The only thing separating Paul Ryan and any other Republican is a baby face, good hair and several hundred million in Koch funds. That and knowing when to cash in.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:20 AM on April 11, 2018 [72 favorites]
The critics who flay Ryan as a coward have never understood that his actions are a form of idealism. To Ryan, the greatest danger to liberty lies not in a president who defies the rule of law but in high tax rates and a functioning social safety net. When Ryan speaks with pride about the policy accomplishments he helped carry out with Trump, he is not spinning. In Ryan’s worldview, he has struck a powerful blow for liberty against the socialist hordes. Ryan leaves his endangered majority convinced he has done his job well. It is a triumph of his own propaganda that so few people believe he is actually sincere about this.Chait does a good job summing up Ryan’s career. He really does have real principals and deeply held beliefs, and he’s been very effective at realizing them. He believes the poor should starve. He believes all government services and subsidies should go to the rich. He believes taxation of the rich is theft, while at the same time believing the poor and middle class should bear the entire tax burden for the sole benefit of the rich.
He’s been very sucessful in convincing the media those are not his actual principals and instead he’s very earnestly been working for fiscal responsibility.
But he couldn’t have come this far without those beliefs aligning with his party. The only thing separating Paul Ryan and any other Republican is a baby face, good hair and several hundred million in Koch funds. That and knowing when to cash in.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:20 AM on April 11, 2018 [72 favorites]
I'd like to see a reporter ask McConnell if he is concerned that Mueller may find that he's complicit in any Russian collusion or coverup.
posted by azpenguin at 9:30 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 9:30 AM on April 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
My FB feed just showed me a post from a distant relative about how the video coming from Syria is made up of "crisis actors". I've heard of that in domestic shootings, but this is new. I get that there are no good options in Syria and that can make one despair, but how do we deal with the percentage of the population that doesn't even agree on reality? (Ok, I know we've had denial on everything from climate change to Russia, but is the only option to outvote these folks?)
posted by obliquity of the ecliptic at 9:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by obliquity of the ecliptic at 9:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
This would be to appear on July 10 at trial, with the names of the witnesses to be filled in later.
Whelp, I guess it’s time to put in my birthday cake order.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
Whelp, I guess it’s time to put in my birthday cake order.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:31 AM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
Newsweek: Trump Is So Angry, He Mostly Just Eats and Watches TV
Guess I have something in common with him after all.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [118 favorites]
Guess I have something in common with him after all.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [118 favorites]
Missed Connections with Cambridge Analytica on Twitter
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Catchy, repetitive 3-minute civics lessons? You mean like how literally every teen I know can repeat every word in Hamilton?
Ahem. We Gen-Xers already market tested the format.
True story: back when I was working in international development, I was meeting with one of my host country's cabinet ministers to discuss a critical project. During our discussion, he urged international developers to really get to know the felt needs of their host countries.
"For example, right there in the Constitution of our country it tells you what we are most interested in." Then he asked me, "Do you even know what your own Constitution says about why your country was formed?"
Reader, I paused for a moment, and then, proud as a peacock, I told him. "1. To form a more perfect union, 2. Establish justice, 3. Ensure domestic tranquility, 4. Provide for the common defense, 5. Promote the general welfare, and 6. Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."
He was taken aback and visibly impressed. I could tell he'd probably given this same spiel to a lot of Americans before and likely hadn't ever received quite so confident, if strangely sing-songy, answer to his question...
posted by darkstar at 9:37 AM on April 11, 2018 [140 favorites]
Ahem. We Gen-Xers already market tested the format.
True story: back when I was working in international development, I was meeting with one of my host country's cabinet ministers to discuss a critical project. During our discussion, he urged international developers to really get to know the felt needs of their host countries.
"For example, right there in the Constitution of our country it tells you what we are most interested in." Then he asked me, "Do you even know what your own Constitution says about why your country was formed?"
Reader, I paused for a moment, and then, proud as a peacock, I told him. "1. To form a more perfect union, 2. Establish justice, 3. Ensure domestic tranquility, 4. Provide for the common defense, 5. Promote the general welfare, and 6. Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."
He was taken aback and visibly impressed. I could tell he'd probably given this same spiel to a lot of Americans before and likely hadn't ever received quite so confident, if strangely sing-songy, answer to his question...
posted by darkstar at 9:37 AM on April 11, 2018 [140 favorites]
New on the schedule, a press sec briefing at 3:30p EDT.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:37 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 9:37 AM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
@krassenstein On Sunday, James Comey's interview with ABC News will air.
It has already been taped and will be a bombshell I am told:
- Interview left people in the room "stunned"
- Many on hand described it as "surreal"
- Trump should be VERY afraid I am told.
10:21 AM - 11 Apr 2018
posted by scalefree at 9:37 AM on April 11, 2018 [84 favorites]
It has already been taped and will be a bombshell I am told:
- Interview left people in the room "stunned"
- Many on hand described it as "surreal"
- Trump should be VERY afraid I am told.
10:21 AM - 11 Apr 2018
posted by scalefree at 9:37 AM on April 11, 2018 [84 favorites]
how do we deal with the percentage of the population that doesn't even agree on reality? ... is the only option to outvote these folks?
Yes.
I've been listening to the You Are Not So Smart podcast lately. The past several episodes are all on variants to this theme. I found the episode The Unpersuadables particularly enlightening.
But, yes. Vote them out. Work hard to improve and fund education, particularly in reality-based science, civics, and understanding how journalism works. That seems to be the only thing that can lessen the always non-zero don't-live-in-reality population. The Dark Ages are a good example of when this went the wrong way.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
Yes.
I've been listening to the You Are Not So Smart podcast lately. The past several episodes are all on variants to this theme. I found the episode The Unpersuadables particularly enlightening.
But, yes. Vote them out. Work hard to improve and fund education, particularly in reality-based science, civics, and understanding how journalism works. That seems to be the only thing that can lessen the always non-zero don't-live-in-reality population. The Dark Ages are a good example of when this went the wrong way.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
Based on my brief research, Brian Krassenstein does not appear to be a reputable source.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:39 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
My FB feed just showed me a post from a distant relative about how the video coming from Syria is made up of "crisis actors". I've heard of that in domestic shootings, but this is new.
New to you, perhaps, but the Russian-Syrian attempt to smear the White Helmets has been ongoing since day one.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
New to you, perhaps, but the Russian-Syrian attempt to smear the White Helmets has been ongoing since day one.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
Apparently all that Comey interview info is from an Axios article, which might be more reputable.
posted by Brainy at 9:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 9:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
Well, ABC's promo for the interview involves Comey comparing Trump to a mob boss (not a stretch, but it'll be interesting to see the reaction to it being said on a "respectable" outlet, and Axios says a "source present at the interview" also said "some described the experience as surreal."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I just rewatched the I'm Just a Bill Schoolhouse Rock this morning to remind myself how in detail it gets about why it's so darn hard for a bill to become a law (my 30-year-old impression mainly just being that Bill isn't real hopeful about his future through much of it). It does cover the possibility of Bill dying in committee, features the word "Congressman" a bunch and does not depict a single female, but ultimately still falls back on the notion that good faith is happening throughout this process. That's the main thing making it obsolete.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:45 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:45 AM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments deleted. Periodic reminder that we're asking folks to aim for fewer and higher-signal comments, less one-liners and digressions. Thanks!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:51 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Failing New York Times wrote another phony story. It was political pundit Doug Schoen, not a Ukrainian businessman, who asked me to do a short speech by phone (Skype), hosted by Doug, in Ukraine. I was very positive about Ukraine-another negative to the Fake Russia C story!
Jake Tapper: The story says: "The event, his first foray into global politics during the campaign, was set up by Doug Schoen, a veteran political consultant and pollster who works with Mr. Pinchuk, according to a person familiar with how the speech was arranged.” It then goes on to say: “Mr. Schoen, a frequent Fox News guest, has known Mr. Trump for years and contacted him personally to set it up at the end of August 2015, according to the person."
Maggie Haberman: Political pundit Doug Schoen, who works for that Ukrainian businessman, arranged the speech ...as our story says.
posted by chris24 at 9:59 AM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Jake Tapper: The story says: "The event, his first foray into global politics during the campaign, was set up by Doug Schoen, a veteran political consultant and pollster who works with Mr. Pinchuk, according to a person familiar with how the speech was arranged.” It then goes on to say: “Mr. Schoen, a frequent Fox News guest, has known Mr. Trump for years and contacted him personally to set it up at the end of August 2015, according to the person."
Maggie Haberman: Political pundit Doug Schoen, who works for that Ukrainian businessman, arranged the speech ...as our story says.
posted by chris24 at 9:59 AM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Since Disney's ABC plans to air such a combative interview, it will be interested to see whether the Disney/Fox merger is jeopardised and whether Trump's love of Rupert Murdoch outweighs his hatred for Disney. Especially in the context of the comparatively uncontroversial AT&T/Time Warner merger being opposed by the Department of Justice, unless the hated CNN is spun off.
Unless these mergers are being judged in a neutral and even-handed way, which I believe is a possibility we can readily discard.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Unless these mergers are being judged in a neutral and even-handed way, which I believe is a possibility we can readily discard.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:05 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
catchy three-minute civics lessons for broadcast on TV and cable
Both have segments more in the 10 minute range, but Adam Ruins Everything and Drunk History are aiming for this. I believe Adam started on YouTube, so I imagine that would be fertile ground. Let's take back viral videos and internet celebrity from the dudebros!
posted by soelo at 10:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
Both have segments more in the 10 minute range, but Adam Ruins Everything and Drunk History are aiming for this. I believe Adam started on YouTube, so I imagine that would be fertile ground. Let's take back viral videos and internet celebrity from the dudebros!
posted by soelo at 10:06 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
You know how one sometimes needs a good cry? Well today I revisited all the Hamilton videos, and this one released the tears I needed to tear.
In retrospect, even though the Obama administration didn't realize all the promise we'd dreamt of, it did realize the dream of democracy being for all, not only in America, but everywhere. And Hamilton was the artistic expression of that dream.
I can see how that provoked a counter-reaction, even among some "liberals". And if I needed a reminder I got it yesterday at a dinner party with people who were all radical leftists and very, very white. The only person on my side had an Indian in-law.
posted by mumimor at 10:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
In retrospect, even though the Obama administration didn't realize all the promise we'd dreamt of, it did realize the dream of democracy being for all, not only in America, but everywhere. And Hamilton was the artistic expression of that dream.
I can see how that provoked a counter-reaction, even among some "liberals". And if I needed a reminder I got it yesterday at a dinner party with people who were all radical leftists and very, very white. The only person on my side had an Indian in-law.
posted by mumimor at 10:28 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
The Daily 202: Trump fury after Cohen raids prods Hill Republicans to take sides on Mueller - James Hohmann, Washington Post
Every time President Trump threatens to fire Bob Mueller, it gets harder for congressional Republicans to dismiss questions about why they are not protecting the special counsel.And more and more of them are openly taking sides, putting up commercials and op-eds stating opinions.
"Mr. Trump’s frustrations have tended to flare up in response to developments in the news, especially accounts of appearances of witnesses, whom Mr. Trump feels were unfairly and aggressively approached by investigators. They include his former communications director, Hope Hicks, and his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. The venting has usually been dismissed by his advisers, many of whom insist they have come to see the statements less as direct orders than as simply how the president talks, and that he often does not follow up on his outbursts. One former adviser said that people had become conditioned to wait until Mr. Trump had raised an issue at least three times before acting on it.”...
“In the past, Trump’s impulses could be tempered by the calming presence of loyal aides like Hope Hicks and longtime security chief Keith Schiller. But both Hicks and Schiller are gone, leaving Trump to operate largely unchecked,” Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reports. Three blind quotes from his piece:posted by ZeusHumms at 10:30 AM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
- “He’s brooding and doesn’t have a plan,” said a Republican close to the White House.
- “I could see him having a total meltdown and saying, ‘[Screw] it, I’m firing all of them,’” said a Trump friend. “Trump’s just doing his own thing now.”
- “This is very dry tinder. If someone strikes a match to it, you could see it catching fire,” said a former official.
ZeusHumms: “Trump’s just doing his own thing now.”
And before he was listening to ... Hope Hicks? Kellyanne Conway? Keith Schiller?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
And before he was listening to ... Hope Hicks? Kellyanne Conway? Keith Schiller?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:43 AM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Talking Points Memo: The reassignment of dozens of senior career Interior Department (DOI) officials last year may have violated federal law, a damning internal report released Wednesday found. But investigators with the DOI Inspector General’s office said they were unable to say definitively because the agency failed to properly document their reasons for ousting the employees.
Good news everyone, the perpetrators failed to properly document their crimes and will therefore probably get away with it
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:48 AM on April 11, 2018 [69 favorites]
Good news everyone, the perpetrators failed to properly document their crimes and will therefore probably get away with it
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:48 AM on April 11, 2018 [69 favorites]
Surely a failure to document a termination or reassignment is its own offense.
posted by rhizome at 10:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 10:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
Univision Jezebel Slot: Trump's Latest Judicial Nominee Once Promoted Literature That Claims the Pill Causes 'Violent Death'
Wendy Vitter is the wife of disgraced former Senator David Vitter whom Stormy Daniels almost-but-not-quite ran against in 2009. And now you know... the rest of the story
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:09 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
Wendy Vitter is the wife of disgraced former Senator David Vitter whom Stormy Daniels almost-but-not-quite ran against in 2009. And now you know... the rest of the story
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:09 AM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
While I'm not convinced Bryce or the other Dem would have won, leaking a poll like that is some weak-ass "I wouldn't have lost, see" bullshit.
The WI-01 primary is in August. I haven't seen any polling that compares IronStache to Cathy Myers (is there any?), though everyone is acting and talking as though Bryce has already won the primary. It's just weird how she's been kinda skipped over. Whoever gets the Dem nom (and while both candidates sound great I do hope that Cathy Myers is given her due consideration) will be immeasurably helped by likely having Nehlen as their opponent instead of Ryan.
Anyway, to repeat, her name is Cathy Myers.
Cathy Myers Cathy Myers Cathy Myers Cathy Myers.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [46 favorites]
The WI-01 primary is in August. I haven't seen any polling that compares IronStache to Cathy Myers (is there any?), though everyone is acting and talking as though Bryce has already won the primary. It's just weird how she's been kinda skipped over. Whoever gets the Dem nom (and while both candidates sound great I do hope that Cathy Myers is given her due consideration) will be immeasurably helped by likely having Nehlen as their opponent instead of Ryan.
Anyway, to repeat, her name is Cathy Myers.
Cathy Myers Cathy Myers Cathy Myers Cathy Myers.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:22 AM on April 11, 2018 [46 favorites]
Let's see, the last several Republican Speakers of the House after they retired.
Newt Gingrich. (Became the bobble-head version of Chuckie the killing doll.)
Dennis Hastert. (Prison for paying out blackmail to cover-up child-molesting)
John Boehner. (Going to join the Board of Marijuana-growing corporation.)
Paul Ryan. ???
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:24 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
Newt Gingrich. (Became the bobble-head version of Chuckie the killing doll.)
Dennis Hastert. (Prison for paying out blackmail to cover-up child-molesting)
John Boehner. (Going to join the Board of Marijuana-growing corporation.)
Paul Ryan. ???
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:24 AM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
@ananavarro: Ryan’s a good, compassionate man. But allowed Trump Ayn Rand to define him.
'Nuff said. The man had barely let the ink dry on tax cuts he swore blind would boost the economy before insisting we had to slash Social Security because deficits. (Narrator: Social Security does not contribute to the national deficit.) "Good" and "compassionate," my eye.
posted by Gelatin at 11:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [31 favorites]
'Nuff said. The man had barely let the ink dry on tax cuts he swore blind would boost the economy before insisting we had to slash Social Security because deficits. (Narrator: Social Security does not contribute to the national deficit.) "Good" and "compassionate," my eye.
posted by Gelatin at 11:26 AM on April 11, 2018 [31 favorites]
Despite his steelworker image Randy Bryce is perhaps the most Extremely Online democratic primary candidate this side of Brianna Wu, so it's probably not a surprise that he's the only WI-01 hopeful who's gained a foothold with the online commentariat. Plus his strategy has been to ignore the primary altogether and run against Ryan from the get-go, so if you're paying attention to his publicity and not local coverage of the race you could be forgiven for not even knowing it's contested.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:27 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:27 AM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
NYT, Raid on Trump’s Lawyer Sought Records on ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape
The F.B.I. agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump’s lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump was heard making vulgar comments about women, according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant.posted by zachlipton at 11:32 AM on April 11, 2018 [32 favorites]
The search warrant also sought evidence of whether the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tried to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
...
Federal prosecutors are investigating Mr. Cohen for possible bank fraud, but they are also scrutinizing whether these efforts amounted to improper campaign donations to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, who had been planning to make a decision this week about whether to sit down with the special counsel for an interview, has taken a more adversarial tone toward Mr. Mueller since the warrant was executed on Monday. Although he had said for months that he wanted to be questioned by Mr. Mueller, his stance has changed since Monday, and the prospect of him willingly being questioned is far less likely, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reiterated Tuesday he hadn't "seen clear indication yet that we have to pass something to keep him from being removed, because I don't think that's going to happen."
The Washington Post's Greg Sargent poses a question: Will Republicans keep enabling Trump’s worst designs?* Here’s a big test.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
The Washington Post's Greg Sargent poses a question: Will Republicans keep enabling Trump’s worst designs?* Here’s a big test.
The absurdity of McConnell’s argument points to something that has always been puzzling about this debate. If Republicans were to act now, it would make it less likely that Trump would either try to remove Mueller or succeed at it. They themselves say they don’t want that outcome to come to pass. Yet they won’t act to make that less likely on the grounds that it probably isn’t going to happen.* Rather than rely on Betteridge's Law of Headlines to save us, please consider calling your Senator (the Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121) or using Fax Zero and/or Resist.bot.
But we already know that Trump has repeatedly tried to remove Mueller in the past. We know he is seriously considering taking various steps that might accomplish this. And, crucially, we know he has been testing what he can get away with. Note this key revelation from The Post today:Within the president’s orbit, people described Trump as furious and “lit up” by the recent developments, and floating a trial balloon to test the boundaries of trying to halt Mueller’s burgeoning probe.If Trump is “testing the boundaries,” then why would he not conclude that there are no boundaries as long as Republicans refuse to say what the consequences of crossing this line will be? If Trump does take this plunge, their predicament could get more difficult, not less. The pressure on them to take even more drastic steps against Trump will increase. Yet at the same time, Trump’s base may rally more vigorously behind the president against Mueller, making acting even harder. Why not act now with a more modest step in order to make a much more explosive clash later less likely?
“His anger is unabated,” said a Republican strategist in frequent touch with the White House, who added that the mood there is “extremely grim.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:41 AM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
Anyway, to repeat, her name is Cathy Myers.
Thanks for the reminder, I've liked everything I've heard against her, and her opponent has a few knocks against him that people tend to overlook.
posted by drezdn at 11:42 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thanks for the reminder, I've liked everything I've heard against her, and her opponent has a few knocks against him that people tend to overlook.
posted by drezdn at 11:42 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Univision Jezebel Slot: Trump's Latest Judicial Nominee Once Promoted Literature That Claims the Pill Causes 'Violent Death'
I express my disappointment with NPR fairly regularly, but to their credit, this morning they had a solid piece pointing out that shelied about failed to disclose pushing fact-free anti-abortion garbage.
The main problem I had with the piece was its seeming confident that her disregard of basic standards of facts and evidence would be any obstacle at all to a confirmation hearing full of Republicans.
posted by Gelatin at 11:47 AM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
I express my disappointment with NPR fairly regularly, but to their credit, this morning they had a solid piece pointing out that she
The main problem I had with the piece was its seeming confident that her disregard of basic standards of facts and evidence would be any obstacle at all to a confirmation hearing full of Republicans.
posted by Gelatin at 11:47 AM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
I made some templates of Trump and posted them in Projects in case anyone needs an illustration for a meme they're working on. I'll add some different scenes if people find them useful.
posted by mikepop at 11:58 AM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by mikepop at 11:58 AM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
What the heck is going on with Quinnipiac? They are one of the best rated pollsters and their latest Congressional Ballot is D+3 (which is D+1 after weighting). D+1. Which I'd write off as a fluke except their last poll was also showing a big shift against the Ds. Ipsos and Yougov, another well rated and an okay-rated pollster, have it at like D+10 for the same time period.
I'm not saying we should look at Quinnipiac rather than the polling average. Rather, I'm wondering why such a well respected pollster is showing a big consistent move towards the Rs in the generic ballot which is not showing up anywhere else. (nota bene, fuck Rasmussen). When decent pollsters are consistently showing D+10 and another very good pollster is consistently showing like D+1 to D+3 there is some kinda methodological fight going on that I wish I understood.
posted by Justinian at 12:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm not saying we should look at Quinnipiac rather than the polling average. Rather, I'm wondering why such a well respected pollster is showing a big consistent move towards the Rs in the generic ballot which is not showing up anywhere else. (nota bene, fuck Rasmussen). When decent pollsters are consistently showing D+10 and another very good pollster is consistently showing like D+1 to D+3 there is some kinda methodological fight going on that I wish I understood.
posted by Justinian at 12:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
drezdn: "Thanks for the reminder, I've liked everything I've heard against her, and her opponent has a few knocks against him that people tend to overlook."
This. Bryce would, of course, be 30 million times better than Ryan, and he's got some positives, but he also has some flaws that would be super easy to harp on, like not paying child support.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
This. Bryce would, of course, be 30 million times better than Ryan, and he's got some positives, but he also has some flaws that would be super easy to harp on, like not paying child support.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Paul Ryan Will Retire as the Biggest Fake in American Politics - By Charles P. Pierce, Esquire.com
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
If he hadn't done so much damage, we could laugh him off the national stage—like Joe Biden did [in the 2012 Vice-Presidential debate]In that light, I'd like to dedicate Alexander O'Neal's "Fake [YouTube]" to Speaker Ryan.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
"I'm joining the board of #AcreageHoldings because my thinking on cannabis has evolved..." - johnny b, weed dealer
seems like: if you put enough cash in front of a rich person, their thinking will evolve. a corollary to the Lewis observation?
it is definitely time to commute/vacate/pardon (ianal) every fucking possession and minor dealing conviction.
posted by j_curiouser at 12:07 PM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
seems like: if you put enough cash in front of a rich person, their thinking will evolve. a corollary to the Lewis observation?
it is definitely time to commute/vacate/pardon (ianal) every fucking possession and minor dealing conviction.
posted by j_curiouser at 12:07 PM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
The Hill:
The Senate Judiciary Committee is moving forward with legislation to limit President Trump's ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.posted by Chrysostom at 12:07 PM on April 11, 2018 [61 favorites]
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants to add the bill to the panel's business meeting agenda scheduled for Thursday, a spokesman for the senator confirmed to The Hill.
Me either. However, it strikes me as ridiculous to think the Speaker of the House would be retiring in a D+1 environment (which would indicate Republican GAINS in November.)
posted by Justinian at 12:24 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 12:24 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's pretty clearly an outlier. 538 average is currently D+6.7.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:27 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 12:27 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
538 also assured me that Wisconsin was a lock for Clinton in November 2016 when all my experience living here was telling me otherwise.
posted by servoret at 12:36 PM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by servoret at 12:36 PM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
Just a thought about the Republicans saying "Trump shouldn't/won't fire Mueller/Rosenstein but let's not do anything to stop him": Some of them may be looking at the likelihood that the process of passing a "protect him" law will infuriate Trump and he'll decide to do it "while he still can", thus precipitating that crisis they want to prevent. And combined with Comey's book and media tour, this may be closer to shooting a flame thrower than "tossing a match" at the incendiary 45.
And his repetitive all-caps "NO COLLUSION" declaration is just consistent with his decades of dealings with mobsters, domestic and foreign. He never does Collusion, which has negative legal ramifications; he does perfectly acceptable Cooperation, Collaboration, or just Concurrence (or if he knew any business buzzwords that don't start with 'co', Synergy... yeah, that's it, Synergy).
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
And his repetitive all-caps "NO COLLUSION" declaration is just consistent with his decades of dealings with mobsters, domestic and foreign. He never does Collusion, which has negative legal ramifications; he does perfectly acceptable Cooperation, Collaboration, or just Concurrence (or if he knew any business buzzwords that don't start with 'co', Synergy... yeah, that's it, Synergy).
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Seems like a con game to me. They WANT Trump to fire Mueller, but they know they need to give the appearance of not wanting him to do it. So they say something non-committal. And when he fires Mueller, all these guys that said it would be a terrible mistake will do NOTHING about it, other than pretend to be gravely concerned.
posted by wabbittwax at 12:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by wabbittwax at 12:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
I'm not saying we should look at Quinnipiac rather than the polling average. Rather, I'm wondering why such a well respected pollster is showing a big consistent move towards the Rs in the generic ballot which is not showing up anywhere else. (nota bene, fuck Rasmussen). When decent pollsters are consistently showing D+10 and another very good pollster is consistently showing like D+1 to D+3 there is some kinda methodological fight going on that I wish I understood.
posted by Justinian at 12:00 PM on April 11 [2 favorites +] [!]
I've been thinking about a tangentially related topic. Most good polling tries to identify "likely voters" as a key subset of respondents. However, as the last election shows, the candidates on the ballot actually determine to a large extent the likelihood of voting for many respondents. I'm not sure how polling methodology adjusts for this in specific match-ups, especially when comparing one match-up to another.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:46 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 12:00 PM on April 11 [2 favorites +] [!]
I've been thinking about a tangentially related topic. Most good polling tries to identify "likely voters" as a key subset of respondents. However, as the last election shows, the candidates on the ballot actually determine to a large extent the likelihood of voting for many respondents. I'm not sure how polling methodology adjusts for this in specific match-ups, especially when comparing one match-up to another.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:46 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants to add the bill to the panel's business meeting agenda scheduled for Thursday, a spokesman for the senator confirmed to The Hill.
Chuck, that’s a pretty quick pivot from your comments, was it yesterday?
posted by leotrotsky at 12:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Chuck, that’s a pretty quick pivot from your comments, was it yesterday?
posted by leotrotsky at 12:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Seems like a con game to me. They WANT Trump to fire Mueller, but they know they need to give the appearance of not wanting him to do it. So they say something non-committal. And when he fires Mueller, all these guys that said it would be a terrible mistake will do NOTHING about it, other than pretend to be gravely concerned.
Like they have done with every single one of Trump's other terrible policies and temper tantrums.
Many, having not so long ago decried Obama as an "overreaching executive" or some such hogwash.
No Republican deserves the benefit of the doubt. Not Susan Collins, not one.
posted by Gelatin at 12:48 PM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
Like they have done with every single one of Trump's other terrible policies and temper tantrums.
Many, having not so long ago decried Obama as an "overreaching executive" or some such hogwash.
No Republican deserves the benefit of the doubt. Not Susan Collins, not one.
posted by Gelatin at 12:48 PM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
They WANT Trump to fire Mueller
I don’t think that’s true, because it would severely fuck them in the midterms and force them into a wedge between their crazy voters and the rule of law.
I think they’re hoping he’ll keep ranting and fuming but not actually bite the bullet and force them to make a decision. Because then they’ve got zero good options. They go against Trump then they’re instantly primaried by the MAGAtzis.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:51 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
I don’t think that’s true, because it would severely fuck them in the midterms and force them into a wedge between their crazy voters and the rule of law.
I think they’re hoping he’ll keep ranting and fuming but not actually bite the bullet and force them to make a decision. Because then they’ve got zero good options. They go against Trump then they’re instantly primaried by the MAGAtzis.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:51 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
They WANT Trump to fire Mueller
I don’t think that’s true, because it would severely fuck them in the midterms
Hi, welcome to our timeline! Let's get caught up: The 2016 election was a Republican wave which occurred right after Mitch McConnell stole a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court from a sitting President, a literally unprecedented theft of power never before seen in our country, completely disregarding the written text of the Constitution. This was widely celebrated among Republican voters as a cunning ploy with excellent outcomes for furtherance of their agenda, and did absolutely jack shit to encourage Democratic turnout.
Let me know if there's anything else you need to know about what's happened in the last two years. This universe is a bit of an odd duck and you'll be surprised to hear what John Boehner is up to these days.
posted by 0xFCAF at 12:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [116 favorites]
I don’t think that’s true, because it would severely fuck them in the midterms
Hi, welcome to our timeline! Let's get caught up: The 2016 election was a Republican wave which occurred right after Mitch McConnell stole a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court from a sitting President, a literally unprecedented theft of power never before seen in our country, completely disregarding the written text of the Constitution. This was widely celebrated among Republican voters as a cunning ploy with excellent outcomes for furtherance of their agenda, and did absolutely jack shit to encourage Democratic turnout.
Let me know if there's anything else you need to know about what's happened in the last two years. This universe is a bit of an odd duck and you'll be surprised to hear what John Boehner is up to these days.
posted by 0xFCAF at 12:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [116 favorites]
white people talking about cannabis legalization pisses me off because none of these wealthy fuckers are talking about what decriminalization means for the communities of color that have been devastated by our drug laws
Except my old classmate Cynthia Nixon:
Except my old classmate Cynthia Nixon:
“There are a lot of good reasons for legalizing marijuana, but for me, it comes down to this: We have to stop putting people of color in jail for something that white people do with impunity,” Nixon said in a video her campaign released Wednesday.posted by nicwolff at 12:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [146 favorites]
“The simple truth is, for white people, the use of marijuana has effectively been legal for a long time. Isn’t it time we legalize it for everybody else?”
However, it strikes me as ridiculous to think the Speaker of the House would be retiring in a D+1 environment (which would indicate Republican GAINS in November.)
It is also an environment where he is relatively powerless. His majority and Speakership hang on the approval of the Freedom Kook-us at all times. The slightest deviation from Trump orthodoxy or attempt to pass something that can actually pass the Senate gets him pilloried by the Teahadis. The environment is broken to the point where, outside of reconciliation bills, virtually nothing CAN get done.
So he is in a position of power, one that he openly and vocally didn't want before he took it, that makes him nothing but a punching bag. He got the one thing passed that he was there to do, massive corporate tax cuts. He can retire from Congress and receive his rewards from his corporate benefactors and smoke a lot of weed with Boehner.
This is not to express any sympathy for Paul Ryan, mind you. He is a bird's turd. And in the immortal words of Super Chicken, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
posted by delfin at 12:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
It is also an environment where he is relatively powerless. His majority and Speakership hang on the approval of the Freedom Kook-us at all times. The slightest deviation from Trump orthodoxy or attempt to pass something that can actually pass the Senate gets him pilloried by the Teahadis. The environment is broken to the point where, outside of reconciliation bills, virtually nothing CAN get done.
So he is in a position of power, one that he openly and vocally didn't want before he took it, that makes him nothing but a punching bag. He got the one thing passed that he was there to do, massive corporate tax cuts. He can retire from Congress and receive his rewards from his corporate benefactors and smoke a lot of weed with Boehner.
This is not to express any sympathy for Paul Ryan, mind you. He is a bird's turd. And in the immortal words of Super Chicken, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
posted by delfin at 12:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS - MAY - part 1
Boilerplate: Lots of law comes out of state legislatures, plenty of it bad. These elections don't get much attention, doubly so for special elections. Because of the small scope, a small amount of your money or time could help elect these folks! Please pitch in, if you can!
posted by Chrysostom at 1:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [22 favorites]
Boilerplate: Lots of law comes out of state legislatures, plenty of it bad. These elections don't get much attention, doubly so for special elections. Because of the small scope, a small amount of your money or time could help elect these folks! Please pitch in, if you can!
====Also an election in South Carolina HD-69 that is a Republican running unopposed.
May 1 - Florida House 39 - Ricky Shirah
HD-39 is currently an R seat (the incumbent resigned to take a federal job); R won 62-38 in 2016, ran unopposed in 2014, and won 65-35 in 2012. The rural-ish district between Orlando and Tampa was won by by Trump 58-39 and by Romney 56-43. The Rs control the Florida House by about 35 seats.
=> Likely GOP hold.
====
May 1 - Florida House 114 - Javier Fernández
HD-114 is currently a D seat (the incumbent resigned after a residency scandal); D won 51-49 in 2016, R won 53-44 in 2014, R won 51-49 in 2012. The suburban Miami district was won by Clinton 56-42 and by Obama 50-49.
=> Clearly a pretty purple district, but in the current environment, Dem should be favored.
====
May 1 - Massachusetts Senate First Suffolk - Nick Collins
SD-First Suffolk is currently a D seat (the incumbent resigned to take a private sector job); D ran unopposed in 2016, won 73-14 in 2014, and 84-16 in a 2013 special. The district was won by by Clinton 81-16 and by Obama 80-19. The Ds control the Massachusetts Senate by about 25 seats.
=> Collins is unopposed, those races are pretty easy to win.
====
posted by Chrysostom at 1:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [22 favorites]
servoret: "538 also assured me that Wisconsin was a lock for Clinton in November 2016 when all my experience living here was telling me otherwise."
Really? Because I'm pretty sure that 538 was the forecaster that, more than anyone else, pointed out that Trump had a realistic chance.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:04 PM on April 11, 2018 [34 favorites]
Really? Because I'm pretty sure that 538 was the forecaster that, more than anyone else, pointed out that Trump had a realistic chance.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:04 PM on April 11, 2018 [34 favorites]
Mental Wimp: "I've been thinking about a tangentially related topic. Most good polling tries to identify "likely voters" as a key subset of respondents. However, as the last election shows, the candidates on the ballot actually determine to a large extent the likelihood of voting for many respondents. I'm not sure how polling methodology adjusts for this in specific match-ups, especially when comparing one match-up to another."
Most of the the generic ballot polling we're seeing now (Rasmussen is an exception) are of registered voters. They switch over to likely voter models closer to the election. We've seen some real struggles in the post-2016 environment with accurate likely voter models - you might remember we've even seen pollsters putting out different forecasts for different models.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:08 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Most of the the generic ballot polling we're seeing now (Rasmussen is an exception) are of registered voters. They switch over to likely voter models closer to the election. We've seen some real struggles in the post-2016 environment with accurate likely voter models - you might remember we've even seen pollsters putting out different forecasts for different models.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:08 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Here's a question it just occurred to me to ask - do we have a Secretary of State?
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [47 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [47 favorites]
538 also assured me that Wisconsin was a lock for Clinton in November 2016 when all my experience living here was telling me otherwise.
538 predicted that Trump had a 1 in 6 chance of winning Wisconsin.
posted by parallellines at 1:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
538 predicted that Trump had a 1 in 6 chance of winning Wisconsin.
posted by parallellines at 1:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
do we have a Secretary of State?
No.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
No.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2018 [13 favorites]
Your friendly reminder that comments are due by close of business today (5 pm MST, I presume) on the Bears Ears Monument Management Plan. This local group has kindly provided some suggestions on what to include in your comments. Comments can be submitted to the BLM on their website. (The document you're commenting on is the Federal Register notice from January 16.)
It only takes a few minutes to comment, and it is very gratifying. Even if you only hit the most basic talking points, your comments provide justification for good decisions, and help to make bad decisions less politically tenable.
posted by compartment at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
It only takes a few minutes to comment, and it is very gratifying. Even if you only hit the most basic talking points, your comments provide justification for good decisions, and help to make bad decisions less politically tenable.
posted by compartment at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2018 [18 favorites]
They WANT Trump to fire Mueller
I don’t think that’s true, because it would severely fuck them in the midterms
Probably the best outcome for the GOP is:
- Trump does not fire Mueller
- Trump fires Rosenstein and replaces him with someone with GOP bonafides
- Rosenstein replacement subtly steers investigation into safer waters
- Bonus: GOP uses this favor to Trump as leverage to get him to continue to toe the GOP line as he recently seems to be heading off the reservation after most of his minders left or got marginalized
So the "protect Mueller from being fired" shtick is probably a fig leaf -- Congress needs to do something to also protect the independence of the investigation.
posted by duoshao at 1:17 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don’t think that’s true, because it would severely fuck them in the midterms
Probably the best outcome for the GOP is:
- Trump does not fire Mueller
- Trump fires Rosenstein and replaces him with someone with GOP bonafides
- Rosenstein replacement subtly steers investigation into safer waters
- Bonus: GOP uses this favor to Trump as leverage to get him to continue to toe the GOP line as he recently seems to be heading off the reservation after most of his minders left or got marginalized
So the "protect Mueller from being fired" shtick is probably a fig leaf -- Congress needs to do something to also protect the independence of the investigation.
posted by duoshao at 1:17 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
An Erick Erickson tweet started an exchange with David Corn (Mother Jones) last night that confirms the absolute cravenness of Republicans.
Erickson has written an article (blog post? whatever "The Maven" is) about the whole conversation now and it is completely bananas. Here is a choice quote which, again, is attributed to a sitting republican congressman:
!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:17 PM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Erickson has written an article (blog post? whatever "The Maven" is) about the whole conversation now and it is completely bananas. Here is a choice quote which, again, is attributed to a sitting republican congressman:
"[I]f we get to summer and most of the primaries are over, they just might pull the trigger if the President fires Mueller. The sh*t will hit the fan if that happens and I'd vote to impeach him myself. Most of us would, I think. Hell, all the Democrats would and you only need a majority in the House. If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over. At least then we could sleep well at night."(Censored in the original.)
!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:17 PM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Who had "Deputy NSA Nadia Schadlow" in the next-to-leave-pool? Time to collect your winnings.
CNN: Deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow resigns
posted by hanov3r at 1:19 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
CNN: Deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow resigns
Schadlow is the third senior national security official to resign or be pushed out in the wake of national security adviser John Bolton's entrée to the White House. She submitted her resignation on Tuesday, according to a copy of her resignation letter obtained by CNN, and a senior White House official said she will remain in her role until April 27 to assist with the transition.(The use of "or be pushed out" here is mildly ominous)
posted by hanov3r at 1:19 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow resigns
Bolton's knives are sharp.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Bolton's knives are sharp.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
(Oops, meant to say 5 pm Mountain Daylight Time deadline -- not Mountain Standard Time.)
posted by compartment at 1:24 PM on April 11, 2018
posted by compartment at 1:24 PM on April 11, 2018
attributed to a sitting republican congressman
So, we're looking for someone in the House who...
--Goes on TV to defend Trump on a regular-enough basis that it's mentioned a few times
--Has been in his seat since at least 2009 (Nancy Pelosi cafeteria comment)
--Is from a very Red district that Trump won
Surely we can narrow this down to a dozen candidates for Forrest Gump Hater of the Year?
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, we're looking for someone in the House who...
--Goes on TV to defend Trump on a regular-enough basis that it's mentioned a few times
--Has been in his seat since at least 2009 (Nancy Pelosi cafeteria comment)
--Is from a very Red district that Trump won
Surely we can narrow this down to a dozen candidates for Forrest Gump Hater of the Year?
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
ABC News: Trump administration weighing drug testing for food stamps
Paul Ryan might leave, but the starve-the-poors miasma will keep stinking up the joint.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [60 favorites]
Paul Ryan might leave, but the starve-the-poors miasma will keep stinking up the joint.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [60 favorites]
If Cohen had copies of the "Access Hollywood" footage, any chance he also had the Apprentice outtakes?
posted by unknowncommand at 1:32 PM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by unknowncommand at 1:32 PM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
Erickson has written an article (blog post? whatever "The Maven" is) about the whole conversation now and it is completely bananas. Here is a choice quote which, again, is attributed to a sitting republican congressman:
I would bet that most republican congresspeople agree with him but are too craven to ever say anything on the record against Trump. Do you think that they'll all follow him right over the cliff out of fear of the wrath of his supporters or if not, at what point will they finally bail?
posted by octothorpe at 1:33 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would bet that most republican congresspeople agree with him but are too craven to ever say anything on the record against Trump. Do you think that they'll all follow him right over the cliff out of fear of the wrath of his supporters or if not, at what point will they finally bail?
posted by octothorpe at 1:33 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
(if I may add some detail to my earlier comment on white people talking about cannabis legalization: I work in Tech in Texas and a lot of the people I encounter round these parts are "gun-totin', pot smoking libertarians" who take more a live and let live approach to social issues. These people that I encounter regularly are excited about legalization for the dollar signs only and when I bring up issues of racism and the war on drugs they look at me as if I am the one who is completely out of her mind for even daring to mention such a thing. I am glad in other parts of the country things are different and so help me god I'm trying to leave this state as soon as god and the child support division of the state of Texas allows me to leave.)
posted by Annika Cicada at 1:33 PM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by Annika Cicada at 1:33 PM on April 11, 2018 [27 favorites]
ABC News: Trump administration weighing drug testing for food stamps
The Onion: Entitled Deadbeat Finally Breaks Out Of 20-Year Cycle Of Government Dependency
posted by Buntix at 1:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [75 favorites]
The Onion: Entitled Deadbeat Finally Breaks Out Of 20-Year Cycle Of Government Dependency
posted by Buntix at 1:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [75 favorites]
Do you think that they'll all follow him right over the cliff out of fear of the wrath of his supporters or if not, at what point will they finally bail?
I predict maybe not a sea-change but at least a wind-blowing-over-water-in-a-pothole change after primary season is over. They're all running scared from the base for fear of being primaried. Once that blows over, they're only running against Democrats, not other, crazier Republicans.
Also the comments in Erikson's blog are.... kind of breathtaking. I don't mean the ever-present #MAGA UR A #RINO nonsense but things such as this incisive commentary:
I mean... what?
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:41 PM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
I predict maybe not a sea-change but at least a wind-blowing-over-water-in-a-pothole change after primary season is over. They're all running scared from the base for fear of being primaried. Once that blows over, they're only running against Democrats, not other, crazier Republicans.
Also the comments in Erikson's blog are.... kind of breathtaking. I don't mean the ever-present #MAGA UR A #RINO nonsense but things such as this incisive commentary:
He along with the legion of other babbling incompetents have turned the Republican Party of Lincoln and Reagan into the RINO WHIG Democrat Lite Repubs. A Party that daily demonstrates that it also is Progressive and just want the changes to come more slowly.
I mean... what?
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:41 PM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
Every time I think we've seen the most pointlessly evil thing said or done in the name of Trump, one of them comes along & moves into the floor below it.
@civilrightsorg WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge
posted by scalefree at 1:48 PM on April 11, 2018 [117 favorites]
@civilrightsorg WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge
posted by scalefree at 1:48 PM on April 11, 2018 [117 favorites]
Cynthia Nixon's beating the drum of recreational legalization, and I have to say I like that the beat shes playing goes racial justice first, tax revenue second.
Of course Cuomo responded by saying hes still opposed to legalization but studying the possibilities wasn't off the table. . .
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:49 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
Of course Cuomo responded by saying hes still opposed to legalization but studying the possibilities wasn't off the table. . .
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:49 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
The current acting Secretary of State is John J. Sullivan, who was formerly Deputy Secretary.
Sullivan worked in the Defense and Commerce departments for the W. administration. No diplomatic experience before his appointment last year, but he seems to take the foreign service seriously, and the officers return his respect.
Incidentally, his uncle was the late William H. Sullivan, Kennedy's ambassador to Laos (and director of the covert bombing campaigns there), and Carter's ambassador to Iran during the Islamic Revolution (where he clashed with National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski over the latter's unconditional support for the Pahlavi regime).
Pompeo will likely assume office by the end of the month. But if things go (even more) pear-shaped in Syria before then, Sullivan might play a more important and assertive role than expected.
posted by Iridic at 1:55 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Sullivan worked in the Defense and Commerce departments for the W. administration. No diplomatic experience before his appointment last year, but he seems to take the foreign service seriously, and the officers return his respect.
Incidentally, his uncle was the late William H. Sullivan, Kennedy's ambassador to Laos (and director of the covert bombing campaigns there), and Carter's ambassador to Iran during the Islamic Revolution (where he clashed with National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski over the latter's unconditional support for the Pahlavi regime).
Pompeo will likely assume office by the end of the month. But if things go (even more) pear-shaped in Syria before then, Sullivan might play a more important and assertive role than expected.
posted by Iridic at 1:55 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Rosie M. Banks: since the NRA has now been revealed to have accepted Russian funding
Are you talking about this story: NRA, In New Document, Acknowledges More Than 20 Russian-Linked Contributors (NPR, April 11, 2018, with embedded and linked copy of NRA's response)?
posted by filthy light thief at 1:59 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
Are you talking about this story: NRA, In New Document, Acknowledges More Than 20 Russian-Linked Contributors (NPR, April 11, 2018, with embedded and linked copy of NRA's response)?
The NRA said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., unveiled on Wednesday, that the sum it received from those people was just over $2,500 and most of that was "routine payments" for membership dues or magazine subscriptions.It could go deeper than this, and maybe the FBI might turn up more information, but for now the NRA has appeared to limit its apparent ties to Russia.
About $525 of that figure was from "two individuals who made contributions to the NRA."
...
One high-profile Russian NRA supporter, state bank official Alexander Torshin, has cultivated a years-long relationship with the organization — but he was placed under sanction by the United States with other Russians last week.
The NRA acknowledged that Torshin, a Kremlin-linked politician, is a life member of the NRA, and has been since 2012. "He has paid membership dues, but has not made any contributions," NRA general counsel John Frazer wrote to Wyden.
Now, however: "Based on Mr. Torshin's listing as a specially designated national as of April 6, we are currently reviewing our responsibilities with respect to him," Frazer wrote.
...
"Given the extraordinarily time-consuming and burdensome nature of your requests, we must respectfully decline to engage in this beyond the clear answers we have already provided," Frazer wrote.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:59 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
Worse, his preferred operant conditioner is Fox & Friends. For example, Matthew Gertz aligns Trump's tweets this morning with segments on that programme: Fox & Friends, at 6:20 am, asks a talking head about Russia's promise to shoot down U.S. missiles, then forty minutes later Trump tweets about "nice and new and 'smart!'" ones that are coming; next, the F 'n' F anchor talks about U.S. sanctions wrecking the Russian economy: "their market has dropped maybe 10-20%, ruble dropped, their steel company has dropped 50%", then half and hour later, Trump tweets, "Russia needs us to help their economy".
Just a budgetary reminder that when Bill Clinton fired missiles at Afghanistan and Sudan in Operation Infinite Reach the cost was almost a billion dollars. $770 Million dollars. Just for the armaments not for the operational costs. And it also resulted in a dud missile falling into the hands of the Chinese giving them a missle nice tech boost.
That amount to money would permanently resolve the budget crisis in any one of number of high population US states's pensions.
posted by srboisvert at 2:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Just a budgetary reminder that when Bill Clinton fired missiles at Afghanistan and Sudan in Operation Infinite Reach the cost was almost a billion dollars. $770 Million dollars. Just for the armaments not for the operational costs. And it also resulted in a dud missile falling into the hands of the Chinese giving them a missle nice tech boost.
That amount to money would permanently resolve the budget crisis in any one of number of high population US states's pensions.
posted by srboisvert at 2:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
@civilrightsorg WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge
Brown is more than 50 years old. The only reason to remain silent about it is one does not want to make public the fact that one disagrees with it. This stance alone, never mind her obvious preference for ideology over evidence, renders her unfit to be a judge. [Narrator: The Republicans will confirm her.]
posted by Gelatin at 2:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [60 favorites]
Brown is more than 50 years old. The only reason to remain silent about it is one does not want to make public the fact that one disagrees with it. This stance alone, never mind her obvious preference for ideology over evidence, renders her unfit to be a judge. [Narrator: The Republicans will confirm her.]
posted by Gelatin at 2:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [60 favorites]
It's been a couple minutes since a Pruitt scandal broke, so here we go. NYT, Scott Pruitt’s Idea to Update an E.P.A. Keepsake: Less E.P.A., More Pruitt
posted by zachlipton at 2:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [58 favorites]
When Scott Pruitt wanted to refashion the Environmental Protection Agency’s “challenge coin” — a type of souvenir medallion with military origins that has become a status symbol among civilians — he proposed an unusual design: Make it bigger, and delete the E.P.A. logo.This is the EPA seal. Scott, what are you smoking?
Mr. Pruitt instead wanted the coin to feature some combination of symbols more reflective of himself and the Trump administration. Among the possibilities: a buffalo, to evoke Mr. Pruitt’s native Oklahoma, and a bible verse to reflect his faith.
Other ideas included using the Great Seal of the United States — a design similar to the presidential seal — and putting Mr. Pruitt’s name around the rim in large letters, according to Ronald Slotkin, a career E.P.A. employee who retired this year, and two people familiar with the proposals who asked to remain anonymous because they said they feared retribution.
...
Another person who was involved in the debate said that Mr. Pruitt had expressed disapproval of the agency’s seal, a round flower with four leaves. He felt it looked like a marijuana leaf. Mr. Pruitt also requested that the agency order other items — including leather-bound notebooks, fountain pens and stationery — from which he wanted to omit the E.P.A. seal and upon which he wanted to feature his name prominently, according to Mr. Slotkin and the person who participated in the discussions about the seal. Ultimately, the items retained a small version of the seal, according to several people familiar with the orders.
posted by zachlipton at 2:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [58 favorites]
The only reason to remain silent about it is one does not want to make public the fact that one disagrees with it.
Or that one has absolutely no idea what it is, which is also a possibility I would not rule out when considering a Republican nominee.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [24 favorites]
Or that one has absolutely no idea what it is, which is also a possibility I would not rule out when considering a Republican nominee.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [24 favorites]
@civilrightsorg WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge
I wonder where she stands on Dred Scott and Korematsu?
posted by leotrotsky at 2:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
I wonder where she stands on Dred Scott and Korematsu?
posted by leotrotsky at 2:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
filthy light thief: It could go deeper than this, and maybe the FBI might turn up more information, but for now the NRA has appeared to limit its apparent ties to Russia.
Follow-up from a previous NPR piece: "Nobody is running background checks when they're sending in your check," Feldman said (as quoted in an NPR article, posted April 9, 2018). "There's no way that NRA would even know if someone is a Russian citizen or a Russian national."
Apparently they found a way to know if someone's a Russian citizen or national, per their report to Wyden.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:04 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Follow-up from a previous NPR piece: "Nobody is running background checks when they're sending in your check," Feldman said (as quoted in an NPR article, posted April 9, 2018). "There's no way that NRA would even know if someone is a Russian citizen or a Russian national."
Apparently they found a way to know if someone's a Russian citizen or national, per their report to Wyden.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:04 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wendy Vitter is David Vitter’s wife. Not just any nominee refusing to answer whether she agrees with desegregation.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:05 PM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:05 PM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
Can I make an assumption about her stance re: Marbury?
posted by mosk at 2:05 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by mosk at 2:05 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
@grynbaum: Michael Cohen said today that "I’d rather jump out of a building than turn on Donald Trump,” according to @DonnyDeutsch, who ate lunch with him at Barneys in Manhattan.
Given that a number of people who displease the powers that be in Russia seem to wind up falling out of windows under suspicious circumstances, that's an interesting choice of words.
posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on April 11, 2018 [40 favorites]
Given that a number of people who displease the powers that be in Russia seem to wind up falling out of windows under suspicious circumstances, that's an interesting choice of words.
posted by zachlipton at 2:08 PM on April 11, 2018 [40 favorites]
Hi, welcome to our timeline! Let's get caught up: The 2016 election was a Republican wave which occurred right after Mitch McConnell stole a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court from a sitting President, a literally unprecedented theft of power never before seen in our country, completely disregarding the written text of the Constitution.
You’re missing my point. You think Dems are fired up now? Can you imagine how fired up they’ll be if Orange Puff fires Mueller? Repubs are already in for a historic trouncing, but if Mueller gets canned the Blue Wave becomes a Tsunami.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:10 PM on April 11, 2018
You’re missing my point. You think Dems are fired up now? Can you imagine how fired up they’ll be if Orange Puff fires Mueller? Repubs are already in for a historic trouncing, but if Mueller gets canned the Blue Wave becomes a Tsunami.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:10 PM on April 11, 2018
MO Gov Eric Greitens - R is about to make a statement an hour before the legislative committee report is released.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:16 PM on April 11, 2018
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:16 PM on April 11, 2018
538 weighs in. Transcript of a chat between Micah Cohen, Perry Bacon Jr. & Nate Silver. What Would Happen If Trump Fired Mueller? Or Rosenstein? Or Sessions?
posted by scalefree at 2:17 PM on April 11, 2018
posted by scalefree at 2:17 PM on April 11, 2018
UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS - MAY - part 2
====posted by Chrysostom at 2:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [21 favorites]
May 5 - Texas House 13 - Cecil Webster
HD-13 is currently an R seat (the incumbent resigned to take an outside job); R won 79-21 in 2016, 87-13 in a 2015 special, and was unopposed in 2014. The district was won by by Trump 77-20 and by Romney 76-23. The Rs control the Texas House by about 40 seats.
=> Dem candidate is the same person who lost in 2016. District is probably just too darned red, though.
====
May 15 - Alabama House 4 - Juanita Healy
HD-4 is currently an R seat (the incumbent was removed from office after being convicted of mail fraud); R won unopposed in 2014, and 70-30 in 2010. No presidential info, sorry (AL charges an exorbitant amount for this data). The Rs control the Alabama House by about 40 seats.
=> Scandal always injects some uncertainty, and there is also an independent running. That said, probably not much of a chance here.
====
May 15 - Alabama Senate 26 - David Burkette
SD-26 is currently a D seat (the incumbent resigned to take an outside job); D won unopposed in 2014 and 2010. No presidential info, sorry (AL charges an exorbitant amount for this data). The Rs control the Alabama Senate by about 20 seats.
=> Looks like safe Dem, from what I can tell.
====
May 15 - Pennsylvania House 48 - Clark Mitchell
HD-48 is currently a D seat (the incumbent was appointed as a judge); D won unopposed in 2016, 59-41 in 2014, and unopposed in 2012. The Washington County district went for Trump 55-41 and Romney 53-45. The Rs control the Pennsylvania House by about 40 seats.
=> This one could be interesting. Conor Lamb country, and this is a place where downballot Dems can still be elected, but things are trending red.
====
May 15 - Pennsylvania House 68 - Carrie Heath
HD-178 is currently an R seat (the incumbent took another government job); R won unopposed in 2016, 82-18 in 2014, and unopposed in 2012. The rural norther tier district went for Trump 75-2150-47 and Romney 67-31.
=> Pretty solid GOP.
====
May 15 - Pennsylvania House 178 - Helen Tai
HD-178 is currently an R seat (the incumbent took another government job); R won 61-39 in 2016, and unopposed in 2014 and 2012. The Philly suburbs district went for Trump 50-47 and Romney 56-43.
=> Good opportunity for a Dem flip here.
====
Greitens is telling us it's all lies and a "witch hunt." He's even saying it's just like "witch hunts in Washington DC," if the connection was somehow too subtle.
The Missouri House cancelled its session for the rest of today through Monday in preparation for the report. It's got to be a damn ugly report if lawmakers are finding it necessary to flee the Capitol at great speed and just give up on the rest of the week before they let anyone see it.
posted by zachlipton at 2:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
The Missouri House cancelled its session for the rest of today through Monday in preparation for the report. It's got to be a damn ugly report if lawmakers are finding it necessary to flee the Capitol at great speed and just give up on the rest of the week before they let anyone see it.
posted by zachlipton at 2:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
"Are you using 'witch hunt' the same way President Donald Trump is these days?"
Tie these weaselly fuckers to Trump as tightly as possible.
posted by rhizome at 2:26 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Tie these weaselly fuckers to Trump as tightly as possible.
posted by rhizome at 2:26 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
The Royale in STL is having a report reading party with drink specials tonight.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:28 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:28 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
UPCOMING SPECIAL ELECTIONS - MAY - part 3
posted by Chrysostom at 2:35 PM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
====Also, Arkansas House 83, with no Dem filed.
May 22 - Arkansas Senate 16 - Teresa Gallegos
SD-16 is currently an R seat (the incumbent passed away); R won unopposed in 2016, in a 2015 special, and in 2012. The rural district near Conway was won by by Romney 71-26 (sorry, no 2016 numbers). The Rs control the Arkansas Senate by about 15 seats.
=> At least we're running someone this time.
====
May 22 - Arkansas Senate 29 - Steven McNeely
SD-29 is currently an R seat (the incumbent resigned to take a federal job); R won unopposed in 2016 and 2012. The exurban Little Rock district was won by Romney 77-21 (sorry, no 2016 numbers).
=> Again, at least we're running someone.
====
posted by Chrysostom at 2:35 PM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
Scott Pruitt has worked his entire career with one aim in mind: to kill the EPA entirely. He's been well paid to do so, both in public and private employment. Even more though, it's been clear to me as a long-time watcher of his activities that this isn't just a job for him, but nearly his entire animating principle.
In that light, it comes as no surprise to me at all that one of the most dedicated and persistent enemies of the the idea of an agency that regulates environmental pollution dislikes its logo.
posted by bonehead at 2:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
In that light, it comes as no surprise to me at all that one of the most dedicated and persistent enemies of the the idea of an agency that regulates environmental pollution dislikes its logo.
posted by bonehead at 2:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [12 favorites]
Welp, Greitens isn't safewording out of the Governorship. Figures.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:38 PM on April 11, 2018
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:38 PM on April 11, 2018
Scott Pruitt has worked his entire career with one aim in mind: to kill the EPA entirely.
"Kill" is apparently the most appropriate word for what he thinks he's doing considering he's also going to give out commemorative medallions with his name on them so he can pretend like he's an extreme badass undertaking a military operation full of danger instead of sitting in meetings with rich assholes where he promises to do as little as possible.
posted by Copronymus at 2:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
"Kill" is apparently the most appropriate word for what he thinks he's doing considering he's also going to give out commemorative medallions with his name on them so he can pretend like he's an extreme badass undertaking a military operation full of danger instead of sitting in meetings with rich assholes where he promises to do as little as possible.
posted by Copronymus at 2:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [9 favorites]
From a KMOV article about Greitens' statements about the upcoming report:
posted by mhum at 2:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
The criminal trial is set to begin on May 14, and the governor remained confident he will be exonerated.To be clear, May 14 is 33 days away from today. So, uh, does Greitens think that "your day in court" literally means that trials last for one day?
"In 33 days this will all come to a close, because in the United States of America, you get your day in court," he said.
posted by mhum at 2:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
Maybe he's a big Phoenix Wright fan.
Re: Pruitt, my read of his paranoia has included 1/3 odds that he fears for his life because he's a total narcissist who imagines everyone sees him as Public Enemy #1, and the Times article makes me think that's a low estimate.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:52 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Re: Pruitt, my read of his paranoia has included 1/3 odds that he fears for his life because he's a total narcissist who imagines everyone sees him as Public Enemy #1, and the Times article makes me think that's a low estimate.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:52 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Of course Cuomo responded by saying hes still opposed to legalization but studying the possibilities wasn't off the table. . .
After years of dodging blame for NYC's traffic and transit funding woes, Cuomo finally convened a group last year to study the possibility of implementing congestion pricing in NYC. The panel said "yeah do it." Cuomo's response was... to call for further study. "Let's study the issue" is what he says when he means "I'm not going to do this but it might possibly be unpopular to say so."
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
After years of dodging blame for NYC's traffic and transit funding woes, Cuomo finally convened a group last year to study the possibility of implementing congestion pricing in NYC. The panel said "yeah do it." Cuomo's response was... to call for further study. "Let's study the issue" is what he says when he means "I'm not going to do this but it might possibly be unpopular to say so."
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Former US Senate candidate Roy Moore has filed a countersuit against Leigh Corfman, one of the women who accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. Moore wants a state judge to stop all proceedings in Corfman's defamation lawsuit, calling the suit "frivolous and groundless," according to the countersuit filed late Monday in Circuit Court in Montgomery County, Alabama. Corfman sued Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, in January....
Corfman told The Washington Post in November that Moore molested her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. Moore later said he didn't know her. [CNN]
Last month, Moore posted a ""grievance-filled note" to Facebook and solicited donations for his legal defense fund. [Chicago Tribune]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:59 PM on April 11, 2018
Corfman told The Washington Post in November that Moore molested her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. Moore later said he didn't know her. [CNN]
Last month, Moore posted a ""grievance-filled note" to Facebook and solicited donations for his legal defense fund. [Chicago Tribune]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:59 PM on April 11, 2018
@frankthorp: JUST IN: Feinstein says she and Grassley have agreed to not take action on the bill to protect the special counsel this week, but instead will place the bill on the Judiciary Cmte's markup calendar next week
She cites concerns over "an amendment we haven't been able to review that could undermine the investigation." Does anyone know what this amendment is and who is offering it?
posted by zachlipton at 3:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
She cites concerns over "an amendment we haven't been able to review that could undermine the investigation." Does anyone know what this amendment is and who is offering it?
posted by zachlipton at 3:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
Daily Beast. Michael Cohen: "I Just Want My Stuff Back"
Now that's a day-brightening headline.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
Now that's a day-brightening headline.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
Trump just signed a law, Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which equates human trafficking and consensual sex work. (Cross-posted in more detail on the closure of Craigslist Personals Section post)
posted by filthy light thief at 3:08 PM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 3:08 PM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
"Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017" roll call votes in the House and Senate. Very few votes against.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:12 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:12 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well, sure. In an election year, who wants to be defending Online Sex Trafficking? The "Libertarian" postures of someone like Paul Ryan or even Rand Paul evaporate very quickly under any sort of political pressure.
posted by msalt at 3:19 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by msalt at 3:19 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Re: Pruitt, my read of his paranoia has included 1/3 odds that he fears for his life because he's a total narcissist who imagines everyone sees him as Public Enemy #1, and the Times article makes me think that's a low estimate.
For a while I thought some of what was going on might be that he's having some sort of affair and is using the ludicrous security to keep it under wraps, but the challenge coin thing is so incredibly dumb that it has me leaning toward pure narcissism.
posted by Copronymus at 3:20 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
For a while I thought some of what was going on might be that he's having some sort of affair and is using the ludicrous security to keep it under wraps, but the challenge coin thing is so incredibly dumb that it has me leaning toward pure narcissism.
posted by Copronymus at 3:20 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Rand Paul did vote against it though.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
The Greitens Report (cw: detailed descriptions of sexual assault)
Here's the Kansas City Star story, with the same warning.
posted by zachlipton at 3:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Here's the Kansas City Star story, with the same warning.
posted by zachlipton at 3:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
The tl;dr is that Greitens is an honest-to-god monster.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:33 PM on April 11, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 3:33 PM on April 11, 2018 [36 favorites]
@HouseInSession (that's Billy House, who covers the House for Bloomberg, and his name brings me great joy): In a statement, Nunes now thanking Rosenstein for his cooperation in letting House Intelligence Committee members view a nearly unredacted version of the "EC" that may have kicked the Russia investigation. Contempt charges appear diffused, for now...
The swing from "we're about to impeach Rosenstein and Wray" to "next week the Senate will at least consider a bill to protect Rosenstein even if we probably won't pass anything" has been awfully fast, even by 2018 standards.
The tl;dr is that Greitens is an honest-to-god monster.
Thank you. I was trying to figure out how to sum up what I was seeing without dumping this horrifying shit in the thread, and yeah, you've got it.
The Star says a second report will be coming out too, this one focusing on whether his campaign illegally used his veterans charity's donor list.
posted by zachlipton at 3:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
The swing from "we're about to impeach Rosenstein and Wray" to "next week the Senate will at least consider a bill to protect Rosenstein even if we probably won't pass anything" has been awfully fast, even by 2018 standards.
The tl;dr is that Greitens is an honest-to-god monster.
Thank you. I was trying to figure out how to sum up what I was seeing without dumping this horrifying shit in the thread, and yeah, you've got it.
The Star says a second report will be coming out too, this one focusing on whether his campaign illegally used his veterans charity's donor list.
posted by zachlipton at 3:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Probably the best outcome for the GOP is:
- Trump does not fire Mueller
- Trump fires Rosenstein and replaces him with someone with GOP bonafides
- Rosenstein replacement subtly steers investigation into safer waters
I'm not sure this would work out so well for Trump. First, if he shoves Rosenstein out of the way (whether via firing or recusal), then any person who agrees to take his place will be doing so knowing that their job description is "obstruct justice while appearing not to be obstructing justice." And I just don't think there's going to be a long line of people ready to take a job with a huge built-in risk of landing them in the hoosegow, except for one of the current minions, none of whom have any mainline GOP cred.
Second, if Trump were to make such a move, Mueller would absolutely drop a whole festively-beribboned gift basket of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice charges on him literally the next morning. There is no way someone as thorough and careful and non-dumb as Mueller doesn't have several dead-person switches ready to go.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
- Trump does not fire Mueller
- Trump fires Rosenstein and replaces him with someone with GOP bonafides
- Rosenstein replacement subtly steers investigation into safer waters
I'm not sure this would work out so well for Trump. First, if he shoves Rosenstein out of the way (whether via firing or recusal), then any person who agrees to take his place will be doing so knowing that their job description is "obstruct justice while appearing not to be obstructing justice." And I just don't think there's going to be a long line of people ready to take a job with a huge built-in risk of landing them in the hoosegow, except for one of the current minions, none of whom have any mainline GOP cred.
Second, if Trump were to make such a move, Mueller would absolutely drop a whole festively-beribboned gift basket of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice charges on him literally the next morning. There is no way someone as thorough and careful and non-dumb as Mueller doesn't have several dead-person switches ready to go.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [10 favorites]
Full Frontal: We Used All Our Detective Skills to Figure Out Which Congressman Delivered the “Profanity-Laced Tirade” in Safeway and We’re 100% Right
Spoiler: "Rep. Peter T. King is your Safeway Sweary Gary." Includes supporting data and many alternate epithets for Erick Erickson.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:44 PM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
Spoiler: "Rep. Peter T. King is your Safeway Sweary Gary." Includes supporting data and many alternate epithets for Erick Erickson.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:44 PM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
If Nunes is easing off, that's really bad news, given how much of a Trump bootlick he's proven to be.
posted by Yowser at 3:45 PM on April 11, 2018
posted by Yowser at 3:45 PM on April 11, 2018
The Greitens trial and potentially pardoning himself could be a dress rehearsal for Missouri and National Republicans to do nothing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:52 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:52 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
If Nunes is easing off, that's really bad news
@emptywheel
Retweeted Kyle Griffin
Great news! Nunes has a spy at DOJ.
@emptywheel
Retweeted Kyle Griffin
Great news! Nunes has a spy at DOJ.
@kylegriffin1: Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who was removed from Trump’s National Security Council by H.R. McMaster, is joining the Department of Justice as a national security adviser to Jeff Sessions, a source familiar with the matter told TPM.posted by chris24 at 3:55 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
What Would Happen If Trump Fired Mueller? Or Rosenstein? Or Sessions?
I don't think Trump is going to fire Mueller or Rosenstein or Sessions. He's too much of a coward, he never actually fires people himself, and I believe he would have a hard time finding someone who would.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't think Trump is going to fire Mueller or Rosenstein or Sessions. He's too much of a coward, he never actually fires people himself, and I believe he would have a hard time finding someone who would.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:58 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Greitens trial and potentially pardoning himself could be a dress rehearsal for Missouri and National Republicans to do nothing.
I get the impression that Missouri Republicans are almost eager to deal with Greitens in a way that National Republicans won’t even whisper about in suburban parking garages, late at night. We’ll see.
posted by orange ball at 3:59 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
I get the impression that Missouri Republicans are almost eager to deal with Greitens in a way that National Republicans won’t even whisper about in suburban parking garages, late at night. We’ll see.
posted by orange ball at 3:59 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
He will never, ever, fire Sessions, who is the glue that binds this white supremacy white house.
Speaking of which, has Sessions been fired for perjury yet?
posted by Yowser at 4:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Speaking of which, has Sessions been fired for perjury yet?
posted by Yowser at 4:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Or that one has absolutely no idea what it is, which is also a possibility I would not rule out when considering a Republican nominee.
I watched the video, and that was my interpretation. It seemed like a classic bullshitter's response, "Oh that's not for me to decide, that's up to the court." She had a default "safe" response, but due to the topic, made herself look worse by not answering.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:08 PM on April 11, 2018
I watched the video, and that was my interpretation. It seemed like a classic bullshitter's response, "Oh that's not for me to decide, that's up to the court." She had a default "safe" response, but due to the topic, made herself look worse by not answering.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:08 PM on April 11, 2018
Maybe it should be an 11th or 12th grade class, taught once whatever US and world history and associated literature is on the curriculum has been delivered (or at least alongside it), and closer to the age of majority? Pitched as a part of the transition to adult citizenship?
I'm sure the conversation has moved on, but this was how it was for me. American Government was a 12th grade history class, after 11th grade American History. I remember it only vaguely, as a boring and not that informative curriculum, but I wonder if it was better than I thought at the time.
I remember only two things from that class: 1)the classroom had subscriptions to a plethora of newspapers and we were assigned to read the same topics in multiple papers and compare and contrast the way the sources presented them 2)It was an election year and we were required to do a certain number of volunteer hours with any campaign.
I phone banked for (Bill) Clinton and block-walked with my boyfriend's uncle who was running for judge. I'm sure that experience at 17 had a lot to do with my enthusiasm to vote once I turned 18.
posted by threeturtles at 4:16 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm sure the conversation has moved on, but this was how it was for me. American Government was a 12th grade history class, after 11th grade American History. I remember it only vaguely, as a boring and not that informative curriculum, but I wonder if it was better than I thought at the time.
I remember only two things from that class: 1)the classroom had subscriptions to a plethora of newspapers and we were assigned to read the same topics in multiple papers and compare and contrast the way the sources presented them 2)It was an election year and we were required to do a certain number of volunteer hours with any campaign.
I phone banked for (Bill) Clinton and block-walked with my boyfriend's uncle who was running for judge. I'm sure that experience at 17 had a lot to do with my enthusiasm to vote once I turned 18.
posted by threeturtles at 4:16 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Greitens has made a lot of Republican enemies in the statehouse by running as an “outsider” and positioning himself as much against them as against the Democrats. He doesn’t have many friends in his corner.
posted by EarBucket at 4:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by EarBucket at 4:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
from the "place your bets" dept.:
NRCC Chairman: ‘There Won’t Be A Lot’ More House GOP Retirements
narrator: they did not keep it under ten
posted by murphy slaw at 4:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
NRCC Chairman: ‘There Won’t Be A Lot’ More House GOP Retirements
The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm, said Wednesday there would be more retirement announcements ahead from among his ranks — but fewer than 10.
“I am convinced that there won’t be a lot of other retirements coming,” the chairman, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) told MSNBC’s Chick
“Okay, but you don’t rule out that more may come,” Todd responded. “But you think you will keep it under ten?”
“Oh, I think for sure,” Stivers said. “You know, I thought there would be potentially two more.”
narrator: they did not keep it under ten
posted by murphy slaw at 4:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
Full Frontal: We Used All Our Detective Skills to Figure Out Which Congressman Delivered the “Profanity-Laced Tirade” in Safeway and We’re 100% Right
Spoiler: "Rep. Peter T. King is your Safeway Sweary Gary."
Wonkette came to the same conclusion.
posted by hydrophonic at 4:36 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Spoiler: "Rep. Peter T. King is your Safeway Sweary Gary."
Wonkette came to the same conclusion.
posted by hydrophonic at 4:36 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Would that I could develop some kinda Confidence Transfer Device that sucks the confidence from the Greitenses and Pruitts and Trumps (et cetera, ad nauseum) of the world and purifies it before parceling out the minor fraction of confidence my many smarter friends of all varieties need to move forward. I would not mind the jerks living 30-40 years with the complete lack of confidence so many of my wise and lovely friends have suffered for decades.
posted by lauranesson at 4:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by lauranesson at 4:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [55 favorites]
Pompeo will likely assume office by the end of the month.
But something has come up in time for his Senate confirmation hearing tomorrow, according to McClatchy DC: Pompeo Failed to Disclose Chinese Business Connection
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [39 favorites]
But something has come up in time for his Senate confirmation hearing tomorrow, according to McClatchy DC: Pompeo Failed to Disclose Chinese Business Connection
CIA Director Mike Pompeo failed to disclose last year that he owned a Kansas business that imported oilfield equipment from a company owned by the Chinese government.Meanwhile, Pompeo, having neither a sense of shame nor irony, has reached out to Hilary Clinton for prepping advice about his confirmation hearings, despite his calling her response to the Benghazi attacks "morally reprehensible" (Politico).
That omission, on the questionnaire Pompeo was required to fill out for Senate confirmation to lead the spy agency, could cause a problem for him in Thursday’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be President Donald Trump's secretary of state.
The issue with the Chinese company, which was confirmed in a series of documents obtained by McClatchy this week, never came up during his confirmation hearings last year. Many senators contacted Wednesday were reluctant to comment until they had more information.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [39 favorites]
I want a huge poster of the sweary safeway rant. I want them as triple size billboards all over long island. And in every county that went GOP in 2016. That is pure long island/nyc gommbah wannabe spleen right there.
posted by vrakatar at 5:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by vrakatar at 5:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
The tl;dr is that Greitens is an honest-to-god monster.
That report should come with several trigger warnings.
He should be in prison for the rest of his life.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
That report should come with several trigger warnings.
He should be in prison for the rest of his life.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
That report should come with several trigger warnings.
Here is my sincere opinion: in the year 2018, there is no longer any morally reasonable explanation to have the letter R next to your name. If those days existed, they are gone. A big-tent party controls the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, and it is counter to the basic principles of small-D democratic governance.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:40 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Here is my sincere opinion: in the year 2018, there is no longer any morally reasonable explanation to have the letter R next to your name. If those days existed, they are gone. A big-tent party controls the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, and it is counter to the basic principles of small-D democratic governance.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:40 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
WaPo, Robert Costa, Bannon pitches White House on plan to cripple Mueller probe and protect Trump, in which Bannon gives his thoughts to the newspaper because nobody will take his calls
posted by zachlipton at 5:41 PM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
Stephen K. Bannon, who was ousted as White House chief strategist last summer but has remained in touch with some members of President Trump’s circle, is pitching a plan to West Wing aides and congressional allies to cripple the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to four people familiar with the discussions.The idea that Mueller is going to go "yeah, sure, we'll just shred all our interview transcripts because you retroactively invoked executive privilege" is downright hilarious. The number of people goading Trump into firing Rosenstein is not.
The first step, these people say, would be for Trump to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the work of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and in recent days signed off on a search warrant of Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Bannon is also recommending the White House cease its cooperation with Mueller, reversing the policy of Trump’s legal team to provide information to the special counsel’s team and to allow staff members to sit for interviews.
And he is telling associates inside and outside the administration that the president should create a new legal battleground to protect himself from the investigation by asserting executive privilege — and arguing that Mueller’s interviews with White House officials over the past year should now be null and void.
“The president wasn’t fully briefed by his lawyers on the implications” of not invoking executive privilege, Bannon told The Washington Post in an interview Wednesday. “It was a strategic mistake to turn over everything without due process, and executive privilege should be exerted immediately and retroactively.”
...
“If you say [Bannon's] name in front of the president, it’s not a pretty sight,” said a senior administration official. “The president really goes off about him.”
posted by zachlipton at 5:41 PM on April 11, 2018 [33 favorites]
Here is my best guess at the simplest, most direct theory of the case for Trump and Russian collusion. Note that this isn't all encompassing. It doesn't even include things like Don Jr and the Russia meeting. So there could be a bunch more. This is just what I think is the easiest to understand and relatively straightforward to prove connection.
Access Hollywood uncovers the tape of Trump bragging about sexual assault. Wapo and NBC News hear about it and are on the story. The latter two, at the least, and possibly Access Hollywood all go to NBC-at-large and the Trump campaign for comment weeks in advance. That's how it works; you go for comment from the party or parties involved. So the Trump campaign and Michael Cohen know this is coming out in advance. Cohen generally makes this stuff go away. But he can't now because too many people have the story. So the next best thing is to get it buried by as much other news as possible. TrumpCo knows Wikileaks, via Russia, have the Podesta emails. Maybe TrumpCo have them as well via the Don Jr meeting (OK I WORKED IT IN BUT THIS IS UNNECESSARY). So Cohen and Wikileaks aka The Russians coordinate a dead mans switch so that the Podesta emails start going out as soon as the Access Hollywood tape leaks.
The Access Hollywood tape comes out via NBC News and, boom, within hours the Podesta emails start being dumped. In the short run it isn't effective at stopping the sexual assault bragging story of course. But the emails keep coming out over the next weeks leading up to the election long after (I can't believe I'm saying this) the story of Trump bragging about sexual assault fades away.
Boom, that's it. TrumpCo learns the tape is coming out via being asked for comment. TrumpCo knows Wikileaks has the emails via either Stone or the Don Jr meeting. Cohen does the Cohen thing and coordinates the release with Wikileaks. Conspiracy to defraud the United States, plus a myriad of charges related to dealing in stolen material and such.
I can't say this is right but it fits what we know so far, the warrants on Cohen and what we know about them, and is simple and direct.
posted by Justinian at 5:45 PM on April 11, 2018 [51 favorites]
Access Hollywood uncovers the tape of Trump bragging about sexual assault. Wapo and NBC News hear about it and are on the story. The latter two, at the least, and possibly Access Hollywood all go to NBC-at-large and the Trump campaign for comment weeks in advance. That's how it works; you go for comment from the party or parties involved. So the Trump campaign and Michael Cohen know this is coming out in advance. Cohen generally makes this stuff go away. But he can't now because too many people have the story. So the next best thing is to get it buried by as much other news as possible. TrumpCo knows Wikileaks, via Russia, have the Podesta emails. Maybe TrumpCo have them as well via the Don Jr meeting (OK I WORKED IT IN BUT THIS IS UNNECESSARY). So Cohen and Wikileaks aka The Russians coordinate a dead mans switch so that the Podesta emails start going out as soon as the Access Hollywood tape leaks.
The Access Hollywood tape comes out via NBC News and, boom, within hours the Podesta emails start being dumped. In the short run it isn't effective at stopping the sexual assault bragging story of course. But the emails keep coming out over the next weeks leading up to the election long after (I can't believe I'm saying this) the story of Trump bragging about sexual assault fades away.
Boom, that's it. TrumpCo learns the tape is coming out via being asked for comment. TrumpCo knows Wikileaks has the emails via either Stone or the Don Jr meeting. Cohen does the Cohen thing and coordinates the release with Wikileaks. Conspiracy to defraud the United States, plus a myriad of charges related to dealing in stolen material and such.
I can't say this is right but it fits what we know so far, the warrants on Cohen and what we know about them, and is simple and direct.
posted by Justinian at 5:45 PM on April 11, 2018 [51 favorites]
i think ive become seth abramson 1/417.
posted by Justinian at 5:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [73 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [73 favorites]
Looks great on paper, but I think it needs to be expanded to about 60 tweets and 15 PS's before I fully jump on board.
posted by gucci mane at 5:49 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 5:49 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Gee, what a surprise.
@NivElis (The Hill)
Corker on price of tax cut according to CBO: “If it ends up costing what you said here, it could well be one of the worst votes I ever cast.”
---
@adamdavidson (New Yorker)
Old: Trump is innocent.
New: Trump is guilty of tons of stuff, but NOT collusion. And it's not cool to look at the other stuff.
Soon: OK, he conspired with Putin and is nakedly corrupt, but it takes a colluding corrupt grifter to restore America!
@jmchao
Later: I know he started the nuclear apocalypse, but is it wise to change leadership in the middle of a crisis?
posted by chris24 at 5:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [77 favorites]
@NivElis (The Hill)
Corker on price of tax cut according to CBO: “If it ends up costing what you said here, it could well be one of the worst votes I ever cast.”
---
@adamdavidson (New Yorker)
Old: Trump is innocent.
New: Trump is guilty of tons of stuff, but NOT collusion. And it's not cool to look at the other stuff.
Soon: OK, he conspired with Putin and is nakedly corrupt, but it takes a colluding corrupt grifter to restore America!
@jmchao
Later: I know he started the nuclear apocalypse, but is it wise to change leadership in the middle of a crisis?
posted by chris24 at 5:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [77 favorites]
Time for another "White House in Disarray" story, this time with missiles (and 21 sources!). WaPo, Trump chooses impulse over strategy as crises mount
In a White House known for chaos, the process of developing the U.S. response to the Syrian government’s alleged latest gas attack was proceeding with uncharacteristic deliberation, including several national security briefings for President Trump.The story goes on to say that a few weeks ago, Trump demanded US troops be out of Syria within 48 hours, only to agree to six months after Mattis talked him down. Now he's tweeting about missiles). The decision-making process isn't so great:
But then Wednesday morning, Trump upended it all with a tweet — warning Russia, the Syrian government’s backer, to “get ready” because American missiles “will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ ”
White House advisers were surprised by the missive and found it “alarming” and “distracting,” in the words of one senior official. They quickly regrouped and, together with Pentagon brass, continued readying Syria options for Trump as if nothing had happened.
...
“It’s just like everybody wakes up every morning and does whatever is right in front of them,” said one West Wing aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share a candid opinion. “Oh, my God, Trump Tower is on fire. Oh, my God, they raided Michael Cohen’s office. Oh, my God, we’re going to bomb Syria. Whatever is there is what people respond to, and there is no proactive strategic thinking.”
Senior U.S. officials describe a president who is operating largely on impulse, with little patience for the advice of his top aides. “A decision or statement is made by the president, and then the principals — Mattis or Pompeo or Kelly — come in and tell him we can’t do it,” said one senior administration official. “When that fails, we reverse-engineer a policy process to match whatever the president said.”posted by zachlipton at 6:10 PM on April 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
Here is my best guess at the simplest, most direct theory of the case for Trump and Russian collusion.
I mean, if you were pitching me a movie, I'd go, "Hey, you might have something there, have a 5-page treatment on my desk by next Friday."
The problem with your theory is that the sequence of events is also fully explained by the simple fact that Trump has been financial bedfellows with all sorts of unsavory Russian folks for decades, and didn't want that made public, which sent all sorts of grifters and con men and hangers-on and Russian state actors running around like crazed weasels throwing whatever shit they could find up in the air to distract everyone from everything AND line their own pockets AND position themselves as indispensable to Trump AND get a bunch of not-really-openly-racist-and-sexist-but-they-still-believe-this-shit grumpy white people mad at Hillary and/or excited about Trump.
No need for Cohen & Assange coordinating on some perfectly-timed dead-man's-switch - just a bunch of greedy assholes jockeying for position and looking out for number one. And a bunch of voters conditioned to believe utter bullshit by years of right-wing-media indoctrination.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:15 PM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
I mean, if you were pitching me a movie, I'd go, "Hey, you might have something there, have a 5-page treatment on my desk by next Friday."
The problem with your theory is that the sequence of events is also fully explained by the simple fact that Trump has been financial bedfellows with all sorts of unsavory Russian folks for decades, and didn't want that made public, which sent all sorts of grifters and con men and hangers-on and Russian state actors running around like crazed weasels throwing whatever shit they could find up in the air to distract everyone from everything AND line their own pockets AND position themselves as indispensable to Trump AND get a bunch of not-really-openly-racist-and-sexist-but-they-still-believe-this-shit grumpy white people mad at Hillary and/or excited about Trump.
No need for Cohen & Assange coordinating on some perfectly-timed dead-man's-switch - just a bunch of greedy assholes jockeying for position and looking out for number one. And a bunch of voters conditioned to believe utter bullshit by years of right-wing-media indoctrination.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:15 PM on April 11, 2018 [25 favorites]
In general, sure, but you do need an explanation for the Podesta email dump via Wikileaks starting within hours of the tape going public. I guess you could say that the Russians and Wikileaks wanted to help Trump so they decided to do that on their own with no input from the campaign. But they would have had to do so in minutes when the tape broke. It's possible but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by Justinian at 6:20 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:20 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Soon: OK, he conspired with Putin and is nakedly corrupt, but it takes a colluding corrupt grifter to restore America!
Oh, my sweet summer child. Here is the real "soon" after Trump is impeached or resigns in disgrace or whatever: Trump is actually a Democrat and has always been a Democrat who FAKELY took over the Republican party based on his LYING pack of LIES. Think about it: elitist billionaire from New York, who once registered as a democrat, he contributed to democrats, Hillary attended his wedding. Also he's a racist and we all know the democrats are the REAL racists what with their "soft bigotry of low expectations" and whatnot. So the real disgrace falls on the democrats so we need to elect more real American republicans to clean up Washington &c.
That's what we can really expect when Trump is finally, publicly ,and irrefutably disgraced.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 6:26 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
Oh, my sweet summer child. Here is the real "soon" after Trump is impeached or resigns in disgrace or whatever: Trump is actually a Democrat and has always been a Democrat who FAKELY took over the Republican party based on his LYING pack of LIES. Think about it: elitist billionaire from New York, who once registered as a democrat, he contributed to democrats, Hillary attended his wedding. Also he's a racist and we all know the democrats are the REAL racists what with their "soft bigotry of low expectations" and whatnot. So the real disgrace falls on the democrats so we need to elect more real American republicans to clean up Washington &c.
That's what we can really expect when Trump is finally, publicly ,and irrefutably disgraced.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 6:26 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
@grynbaum: Michael Cohen said today that "I’d rather jump out of a building than turn on Donald Trump,” according to @DonnyDeutsch, who ate lunch with him at Barneys in Manhattan.
I keep coming back to this. Surely the line you'd use if you knew Trump did nothing wrong was "Donald Trump did nothing wrong" rather than "I'll never turn on him." To say you'd rather self-defenestrate rather than turn on your old boss implies that you could turn on him and are choosing another course of action instead.
Also, I know I posted that Bannon thing above, mainly because I'm still laughing at retroactively calling taksies-backsies on interviews to Mueller, but why does it exist? I don't understand why "advise on obstructing justice from some guy who doesn't work at the White House and isn't welcome there" isn't a get your own blog kind of situation. If Bannon wants to send a letter to the President, he knows the address just like the rest of us; it doesn't have to be specially delivered in the newspaper.
posted by zachlipton at 6:28 PM on April 11, 2018 [45 favorites]
I keep coming back to this. Surely the line you'd use if you knew Trump did nothing wrong was "Donald Trump did nothing wrong" rather than "I'll never turn on him." To say you'd rather self-defenestrate rather than turn on your old boss implies that you could turn on him and are choosing another course of action instead.
Also, I know I posted that Bannon thing above, mainly because I'm still laughing at retroactively calling taksies-backsies on interviews to Mueller, but why does it exist? I don't understand why "advise on obstructing justice from some guy who doesn't work at the White House and isn't welcome there" isn't a get your own blog kind of situation. If Bannon wants to send a letter to the President, he knows the address just like the rest of us; it doesn't have to be specially delivered in the newspaper.
posted by zachlipton at 6:28 PM on April 11, 2018 [45 favorites]
I guess you could say that the Russians and Wikileaks wanted to help Trump so they decided to do that on their own with no input from the campaign. But they would have had to do so in minutes when the tape broke. It's possible but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Despite what every TV detective says, coincidences do happen in real life - and are probably more likely to happen given said "bunch of crazed weasels" scenario.
And, c'mon, if Cohen & co were sharp enough to pull off that kind of scheme then, what the fuck are they doing now? Did they all get lobotomies in Jan 2017? I'm really reluctant to assign Evil Genius Brilliance to a group of schmucks who have otherwise demonstrated the strategic and tactical capabilities of slime molds.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Despite what every TV detective says, coincidences do happen in real life - and are probably more likely to happen given said "bunch of crazed weasels" scenario.
And, c'mon, if Cohen & co were sharp enough to pull off that kind of scheme then, what the fuck are they doing now? Did they all get lobotomies in Jan 2017? I'm really reluctant to assign Evil Genius Brilliance to a group of schmucks who have otherwise demonstrated the strategic and tactical capabilities of slime molds.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [11 favorites]
Parenting in the Trump era update: Today my six-year-old came home and said that he'd heard that Donald Trump "did sex to" a bunch of women who weren't his wife, and he was in trouble. And he wanted to know why he was in trouble, and also, mom, what's sex?
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [152 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [152 favorites]
If Bannon wants to send a letter to the President, he knows the address just like the rest of us; it doesn't have to be specially delivered in the newspaper.
posted by zachlipton at 6:28 PM on April 11 [3 favorites +] [!]
Except, as mentioned umpty-ump times before, Trump doesn't read; he gets all his information from television. If the papers carry it, then maybe Faux Nooz will.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:28 PM on April 11 [3 favorites +] [!]
Except, as mentioned umpty-ump times before, Trump doesn't read; he gets all his information from television. If the papers carry it, then maybe Faux Nooz will.
posted by Mental Wimp at 6:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
"Something you sign a non-disclosure agreement after, honey. You'll understand when you're older."
posted by soundguy99 at 6:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [64 favorites]
posted by soundguy99 at 6:37 PM on April 11, 2018 [64 favorites]
In general, sure, but you do need an explanation for the Podesta email dump via Wikileaks starting within hours of the tape going public.
If Wikileaks/GRUccifer had been holding the Podesta hacked e-mails in reserve as a countermeasure, then it's possible that they could have orchestrated the leak in immediate response to the Access Hollywood tape. They'd obtained them in March, but as far as October surprises go, they were more distracting than incriminating. The timing on the Podesta e-mails is very tight, but given the swift turnaround on topicality we regularly see with Kremlin-backed trolls on Twitter, it's not outside the realm of possibility.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
If Wikileaks/GRUccifer had been holding the Podesta hacked e-mails in reserve as a countermeasure, then it's possible that they could have orchestrated the leak in immediate response to the Access Hollywood tape. They'd obtained them in March, but as far as October surprises go, they were more distracting than incriminating. The timing on the Podesta e-mails is very tight, but given the swift turnaround on topicality we regularly see with Kremlin-backed trolls on Twitter, it's not outside the realm of possibility.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Our kid is 13, and we've had to explain a lot crap to him in the past two years that we would have rather not.
posted by mollweide at 6:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 6:39 PM on April 11, 2018 [23 favorites]
Donald Trump Takes Out Paul Ryan, and ‘It’s Going to Be a Civil War’
Ryan owns his share of the blame; too often, he behaved as if he was some deferential junior VP at a Trump resort and not the leader of the House of Representative in a co-equal branch of government. The idea, popular among the House leadership, that a diet of ass-kissing and deference would make Trump into a normal President who didn't need the political equivalent of Depends was always a strategic mistake.posted by kirkaracha at 6:48 PM on April 11, 2018 [22 favorites]
Ryan is now paying the price. The rest of his caucus will pay in the Fall.
Today my six-year-old came home and said that he'd heard that Donald Trump "did sex to" a bunch of women who weren't his wife, and he was in trouble.
I had the same conversation with my six-year-old 20 years ago. Only it was about Bill Clinton.
posted by valkane at 6:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
I had the same conversation with my six-year-old 20 years ago. Only it was about Bill Clinton.
posted by valkane at 6:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
Hey guys, what's this "Greitens" story about, I haven't really bee- JEEeeeeeZUS CHRIST wtf is this?! Oh man, that is seriously capitol-R wrong y'all. Wow. Damn. cw for sure.
He [Greitens] also panned the committee's process, which conducted its work behind closed doors, and for not waiting until after his criminal trial begins in May before releasing its findings. He said the attacks against him are part of a "political witch hunt."
Interesting choice of idiom.
“And I said, I think you’re screwed up from being in the Navy,” she told lawmakers.
Yeah, I was going to guess one of the, uh, yeah.
Wow.
posted by petebest at 7:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
He [Greitens] also panned the committee's process, which conducted its work behind closed doors, and for not waiting until after his criminal trial begins in May before releasing its findings. He said the attacks against him are part of a "political witch hunt."
Interesting choice of idiom.
“And I said, I think you’re screwed up from being in the Navy,” she told lawmakers.
Yeah, I was going to guess one of the, uh, yeah.
Wow.
posted by petebest at 7:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
That's what we can really expect when Trump is finally, publicly ,and irrefutably disgraced.
byline is Maggie Habermann
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
byline is Maggie Habermann
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:00 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
I had the same conversation with my six-year-old 20 years ago. Only it was about Bill Clinton.
That's how fifth-grade me learned that oral sex was a thing. My whole class was baffled - why would anybody do THAT?
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [38 favorites]
That's how fifth-grade me learned that oral sex was a thing. My whole class was baffled - why would anybody do THAT?
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:02 PM on April 11, 2018 [38 favorites]
Missouri AG Josh Hawley calls for Gov Greitens to resign immediately.
In a no doubt unrelated factoid, Hawley is currently for US Senate.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:10 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
In a no doubt unrelated factoid, Hawley is currently for US Senate.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:10 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
The rest of that Rick Wilson piece makes it clear he's only sad Paul Ryan wasn't able to actually repeal Social Security and Medicare:
Rick Wilson made Trump. Rick Wilson is less redeemable than even Bill Kristol, who at least seems to be trying to make some tangible amends in service of the rule of law. Rick Wilson is still peddling the same shit as made him rich and gave us Trump, sniping in his snide little voice as if he's just a casual observer and not utterly responsible.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:14 PM on April 11, 2018 [57 favorites]
Ryan’s unfulfilled agenda, including entitlement reform, is now a dead letter, along with the hopes so many in the conservative movement had reposed in him. The Kochs and dozens of other free-market folks were invested in Paul Ryan's future. Those investments were squandered like Granny's Social Security check at the Trump Taj Mahal. Regardless of who replaces Ryan, the agenda of limited-government conservatism based on fiscal probity, personal responsibility, free trade, and limited government is as dead Donald Trump’s marriage.And lines line this:
Nancy Pelosi is in her crone cavern, cackling with glee, knowing that the Democrats are now in play in almost 80 Congressional seats.Make lines like this:
The election season will now feature a Republican leadership fight with all the reality-TV tropes we’ve come to expect in this vulgar, stupid age as it inevitably devolves into a shabby bidding war over who will be more amenable and obedient to Donald Trump.Coming from Rick Wilson a fucking farce. You did this, Rick. You made Trump happen. Your brand of blackbag, racebaiting, red meat stirring, facist courting, lying brand of campaigning to the worst of brand of humanity in service of slightly more polished monsters like Jeb Bush, created the party electorate that wanted the real brand of exactly what you sold them cheap imitations of for 30 years.
Rick Wilson made Trump. Rick Wilson is less redeemable than even Bill Kristol, who at least seems to be trying to make some tangible amends in service of the rule of law. Rick Wilson is still peddling the same shit as made him rich and gave us Trump, sniping in his snide little voice as if he's just a casual observer and not utterly responsible.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:14 PM on April 11, 2018 [57 favorites]
Nancy Pelosi is in her crone cavern, cackling with glee, knowing that the Democrats are now in play in almost 80 Congressional seats.
Wait, wait, wait.
Is she on the island?!
posted by leotrotsky at 7:28 PM on April 11, 2018 [86 favorites]
Wait, wait, wait.
Is she on the island?!
posted by leotrotsky at 7:28 PM on April 11, 2018 [86 favorites]
She is. I ran into her when the conga line passed through the taco bar line. Oh, how we cackled.
Re: Greitens -- dude's refused to step down, does Hawley actually have the power to make him step down, or is that just political grandstanding? And if he won't step down, what happens next?
posted by palomar at 7:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
Re: Greitens -- dude's refused to step down, does Hawley actually have the power to make him step down, or is that just political grandstanding? And if he won't step down, what happens next?
posted by palomar at 7:43 PM on April 11, 2018 [35 favorites]
Like, I figure impeachment is next, but like another batshit lunatic sexual assaulting fuckstump in office I feel like dude's not gonna go gentle into that good night.
posted by palomar at 7:46 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by palomar at 7:46 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I hate that this thread has made me paranoid about Dwayne The Rock Johnson guest hosting HQTrivia today and one of the questions being about US Presidents.
posted by BeginAgain at 7:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by BeginAgain at 7:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
The AG can't "make" a sitting governor resign, or impeach him on his own. That has to be the legislature. He's going to trial on a Class E felony, that's 4 years in Missouri. So either he beats it and Missouri Republicans do nothing; or he goes to jail. Or in a rational world they start impeachment tomorrow, but in a rational world that would've already happened with a criminal indictment.
Missouri Republicans still have a couple weeks here to come up with impeachment proceedings, we forget how slow things used to move before every 15mins was another major national scandal, but the longer it drags on the longer it looks like they're going to back him till the bitter end.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:49 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Missouri Republicans still have a couple weeks here to come up with impeachment proceedings, we forget how slow things used to move before every 15mins was another major national scandal, but the longer it drags on the longer it looks like they're going to back him till the bitter end.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:49 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
The story goes on to say that a few weeks ago, Trump demanded US troops be out of Syria within 48 hours
Wait what the fuck, I mean even for Donald Trump, what the fuck. I couldn't move myself out of an apartment on 48 hours notice if I already coincidentally had a u-haul rented and waiting outside.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [51 favorites]
Wait what the fuck, I mean even for Donald Trump, what the fuck. I couldn't move myself out of an apartment on 48 hours notice if I already coincidentally had a u-haul rented and waiting outside.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:01 PM on April 11, 2018 [51 favorites]
ELECTIONS NEWS
** 2018 House:
** 2018 House:
-- WI-01: In a story you may have seen somewhere, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced he would not be running for re-election. Consensus seems to be that this moves the district to Leans GOP. More broadly, though, it may push more GOP reps to retire - we're still before the filing deadline in 19 states - and neuter Ryan's fundraising abilities.** 2018 Senate:
Reax: -- FL-15: Shortly after the Ryan news, Dennis Ross announced he was also retiring. District moves to Likely GOP initially.
-- NRCC chief Steve Stivers thinks there may be additional retirements, but "under 10." GOP is ALREADY at high-water mark for retirements since WWII.
-- WA-05: Elway research poll has incumbent GOP Cathy McMorris Rodgers up narrowly over Dem challenger, 44-38. [MOE: +/- 5.0%]
-- GOP worried about quality of candidate recruits (Washington Examiner, so grain of salt)** Odds & ends:
-- FL: GOP candidate Scott seems to have already gotten himself into some possible campaign finance violations.
-- MO: Mason-Dixon poll has incumbent Dem McCaskill up 45-44 on GOP challenger Hawley [MOE: +/- 4.0%]
-- Lots of teachers filing to run for office in Oklahoma.posted by Chrysostom at 8:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
-- The Republican Governors Association is reserving airtime in several states that make sense (AK, CT, KS, MN). They also reserved in TN, which is making folks think there may be some vulnerability there.
-- In "hold my beer" territory, the PA House GOP finally considered a popular bill to move to non-partisan redistricting that it's been bottling up for months. It did so by gutting the original language and replacing it with language that would make the process even MORE partisan. This would be a constitutional amendment, which is difficult in PA, so it's mostly theater, but shows the contempt these people have for the voters.
palomar: "Like, I figure impeachment is next, but like another batshit lunatic sexual assaulting fuckstump in office I feel like dude's not gonna go gentle into that good night."
This Post-Dispatch story has next steps, which are a little complicated, as MO has a weird impeachment process.
The Lt. Gov is also calling for Greitens to resign. I don't see him surviving this.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:12 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
This Post-Dispatch story has next steps, which are a little complicated, as MO has a weird impeachment process.
The Lt. Gov is also calling for Greitens to resign. I don't see him surviving this.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:12 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
DJT's tweet "Big show tonight on @seanhannity! 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews"
Daily Beast's recap
Daily Beast's recap
Hannity accused Mueller, currently Trump’s main foe, of prosecutorial impropriety—from “looking the other way,” as a federal prosecutor in Boston, at serial killer and gangster James “Whitey” Bulger’s crimes to prosecuting the wrong man for a post-9/11 anthrax attack. Along the way, he made mention of Democratic donors, connections to the Clinton family, and FBI agents who texted anti-Trump messages after the election.posted by ASCII Costanza head at 8:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
The accusations against Greitens are detailed and don't seem like the kind of story one would make up. In fact, this may be the creepiest story of sexual assault this year, and this is a heck of a year for me to be saying that.
posted by xammerboy at 8:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 8:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
For people who've spent so much time working the levers of American power, even writing the rules for it, Republicans understand astonishingly little about how our government actually works.
@RandPaul BREAKING: FBI admits that @realDonaldTrump haters still have Top Secret security clearances which allows them to access sensitive private information!
posted by scalefree at 8:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
@RandPaul BREAKING: FBI admits that @realDonaldTrump haters still have Top Secret security clearances which allows them to access sensitive private information!
posted by scalefree at 8:29 PM on April 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
At least Hawley will still have the secret text messaging issue to contend with in his run against McCaskill.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:31 PM on April 11, 2018
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:31 PM on April 11, 2018
> Parenting in the Trump era update: ... And he wanted to know why he was in trouble, and also, mom, what's sex?
Please make sure your little darling doesn't find out about Greitens, or it will be scars for life . . .
>The Lt. Gov is also calling for Greitens to resign. > Missouri AG Josh Hawley calls for Gov Greitens to resign immediately.
These are the highest profile Republicans to call for Greitens to resign, and suggests a fairly unified push for resignation may be taking shape.
But, none of them can force Greitens to resign. Greitens is independent of the state Republican Party, has no particular ties with the party or any other state leaders, and has his own independent funding sources. He has no particular reason to protect the interests of the state or the Republican Party and every reason to protect only his own interests.
That's why I have been saying for a while that the most likely thing Greitens will do is ride this out to the bitter, bitter end.
Reason is that riding it out is the one and only chance he has to continue his political career. If he can survive this now, even by the skin of his teeth, then the scandal will be old news by the 2020 election when he'll run for re-election as governor, and really old news by the 2024 presidential election, which is his ultimate goal.
So that is a slim chance, but a real one. On the other hand, if he resigns now is political career is over forever.
From the game theory perspective there is only one move with any chance whatsoever of winning, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't play it to the hilt.
posted by flug at 8:40 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Please make sure your little darling doesn't find out about Greitens, or it will be scars for life . . .
>The Lt. Gov is also calling for Greitens to resign. > Missouri AG Josh Hawley calls for Gov Greitens to resign immediately.
These are the highest profile Republicans to call for Greitens to resign, and suggests a fairly unified push for resignation may be taking shape.
But, none of them can force Greitens to resign. Greitens is independent of the state Republican Party, has no particular ties with the party or any other state leaders, and has his own independent funding sources. He has no particular reason to protect the interests of the state or the Republican Party and every reason to protect only his own interests.
That's why I have been saying for a while that the most likely thing Greitens will do is ride this out to the bitter, bitter end.
Reason is that riding it out is the one and only chance he has to continue his political career. If he can survive this now, even by the skin of his teeth, then the scandal will be old news by the 2020 election when he'll run for re-election as governor, and really old news by the 2024 presidential election, which is his ultimate goal.
So that is a slim chance, but a real one. On the other hand, if he resigns now is political career is over forever.
From the game theory perspective there is only one move with any chance whatsoever of winning, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't play it to the hilt.
posted by flug at 8:40 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
FBI admits that @realDonaldTrump haters still have Top Secret security clearances which allows them to access sensitive private information!
Ok, I'm going to have to admit then that DoD does too. Even if it's just me.
posted by ctmf at 8:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
Ok, I'm going to have to admit then that DoD does too. Even if it's just me.
posted by ctmf at 8:47 PM on April 11, 2018 [26 favorites]
How possible is it that Hannity and Trump work together to "create" the "news" that shows up on his show?
posted by gucci mane at 8:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 8:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Greitens has other scandals, the aforementioned issue with the Confide app and financial shadiness with his veteran's charity. Missouri hates him. He makes John Ashcroft look positively milquetoast.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh and to the KC friends here, I've been reading the KC Star for govt news since the P-D paywalled everything a couple of weeks ago.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:54 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:54 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Zuckerberg hearings, condensed (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Senator: Welcome to the Facebook hearings on Capitol Hill, which, if you have even the faintest understanding about what Facebook does with data, will leave you enraged and frustrated. These two days will be like being trapped in a glass box watching your aging parents try to install a software update. Hours will pass as they keep minimizing windows and double-clicking things, expecting this to achieve some effect, and you will pound on the glass until your fists are numb.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:25 PM on April 11, 2018 [61 favorites]
Senator 1: Mr. Zuckerberg, we hear that you started Facebook in your dorm room.
Mark Zuckerberg: Senator, yes.
Senator 1: I will now haltingly read a question that an aide who understands this technology better than I do has prepared, but I will mangle it slightly so that its premise is obviously wrong.
Zuckerberg: Senator, the answer to the specific question you have asked is, “No, Facebook has never done that.”
Senator 1: I feel like there is something more I ought to ask, but I won’t.
Senator 2: Mr. Zuckerberg, I hear that you started Facebook in your dorm room.
Zuckerberg: Senator, yes.
Senator 2: And are you still in college, young man?
Zuckerberg: (With faint contempt) Senator, no.
Senator 2: (With a triumphant look) Every computer screen contains millions of megapixels. Facebook has 2.1 billion users. So how many millions of bytes, or milibytes, do you include in this face book?
Zuckerberg: Senator, that question involves a specific number and I will have to get back to you.
Post(pre?)-dinner group photo: look at these assholes
A smiling McConnell is the darkest of portents. Trump looks like Satan himself, as he always does when he's just meatloafed someone and is basking in happy dominance. McCarthy and Cornyn want to hear about the rabbits again.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
A smiling McConnell is the darkest of portents. Trump looks like Satan himself, as he always does when he's just meatloafed someone and is basking in happy dominance. McCarthy and Cornyn want to hear about the rabbits again.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:31 PM on April 11, 2018 [15 favorites]
Post(pre?)-dinner group photo: look at these assholes
And all of them giving the Trump Upraised Thumb sign of loyalty.
posted by scalefree at 9:41 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
And all of them giving the Trump Upraised Thumb sign of loyalty.
posted by scalefree at 9:41 PM on April 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
He's [Greitens] going to trial on a Class E felony, that's 4 years in Missouri
What the fuck? *TRIGGER WARNING*
Dude restrained a woman in his basement, sexually assualted her, raped her, took photos of her naked body against her will, then used those photos to blackmail her and that’s a class E felony with a sentence of four lousy years?!??
What. The. Fuck?!?
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:50 PM on April 11, 2018 [63 favorites]
What the fuck? *TRIGGER WARNING*
Dude restrained a woman in his basement, sexually assualted her, raped her, took photos of her naked body against her will, then used those photos to blackmail her and that’s a class E felony with a sentence of four lousy years?!??
What. The. Fuck?!?
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:50 PM on April 11, 2018 [63 favorites]
He's only being prosecuted for invasion of privacy for the photo.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:53 PM on April 11, 2018 [14 favorites]
Another recent development in the Greitens scandal is that Sheena Greitens reportedly wrote a letter to the Missouri House Committee investigating the affair where, among other things, she whines that, after finding out about the affair, the mistress's husband had been harassing the Greitens on social media, stalking them, demanding apologies, contacting friends and relatives, making public accusations on twitter, etc.
So this is the best defense they could muster?
They don't seem to realize that first of all, the overall gist of her response confirms and supports the testimony of the mistress and her husband, far more than refuting it. The guy is angry, a-n-g-r-y, and has EVERY reason to be.
Beyond that, Sheena's letter casts Greitens' judgement in just about the least favorable light possible.
First, he engaged in an extended, abusive affair at the exact same time he was working to launch his very public campaign for governor. In which a major theme was what an honest, upright, straight-shooting stand-up guy he was, in comparison to the sleazelords currently in office.
Second, even after he knew that the affair was pretty widely known in his social circle--it's been fairly described as "the worst-kept secret in the world", and Sheena's letter details how the husband worked to spread the word among the Greitens family and social circle--Greitens just plowed ahead with his campaign without trying to make amends, doing anything wrap up the affair in some reasonable way, OR disclosing it openly and dealing with it publicly early on.
Basically he just left it there in place as a time bomb that he--or anyone with a modicum of brainpower--KNEW was bound to go off sooner or later. He made the bet that when it did go off, he would be able to ride it out somehow.
And went with that, all the way.
In short, even trying to view the whole affair in the most positive possible light for Greitens, it still shines the spotlight on him as clearly lacking in sound judgement and basic human decency.
Knowing the rest of the details now, which are only all too believable, all I can say is:
Today I'm embarrassed for Missouri.
posted by flug at 9:55 PM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
So this is the best defense they could muster?
They don't seem to realize that first of all, the overall gist of her response confirms and supports the testimony of the mistress and her husband, far more than refuting it. The guy is angry, a-n-g-r-y, and has EVERY reason to be.
Beyond that, Sheena's letter casts Greitens' judgement in just about the least favorable light possible.
First, he engaged in an extended, abusive affair at the exact same time he was working to launch his very public campaign for governor. In which a major theme was what an honest, upright, straight-shooting stand-up guy he was, in comparison to the sleazelords currently in office.
Second, even after he knew that the affair was pretty widely known in his social circle--it's been fairly described as "the worst-kept secret in the world", and Sheena's letter details how the husband worked to spread the word among the Greitens family and social circle--Greitens just plowed ahead with his campaign without trying to make amends, doing anything wrap up the affair in some reasonable way, OR disclosing it openly and dealing with it publicly early on.
Basically he just left it there in place as a time bomb that he--or anyone with a modicum of brainpower--KNEW was bound to go off sooner or later. He made the bet that when it did go off, he would be able to ride it out somehow.
And went with that, all the way.
In short, even trying to view the whole affair in the most positive possible light for Greitens, it still shines the spotlight on him as clearly lacking in sound judgement and basic human decency.
Knowing the rest of the details now, which are only all too believable, all I can say is:
Today I'm embarrassed for Missouri.
posted by flug at 9:55 PM on April 11, 2018 [19 favorites]
The ex-husband was thrown out of his band over this.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:09 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
What. The. Fuck?!?
Yea....today's report is a lot more than what was known before. If everything in there is accurate, he's been WAY undercharged.
Also this story is kind of weirdly personal to me, I had an interview right out of law school to work with Jay Nixon's transition team, which I REALLY wanted at the time, and ended up bombing the interview and not getting it. I keep picturing the reverse of that, and getting that position with the Grietens' team only to learn this about the man you thought you were signing up to work for. As much as I don't want to for willing Republicans, its really a "there but for the grace go I..." situation.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:11 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
Yea....today's report is a lot more than what was known before. If everything in there is accurate, he's been WAY undercharged.
Also this story is kind of weirdly personal to me, I had an interview right out of law school to work with Jay Nixon's transition team, which I REALLY wanted at the time, and ended up bombing the interview and not getting it. I keep picturing the reverse of that, and getting that position with the Grietens' team only to learn this about the man you thought you were signing up to work for. As much as I don't want to for willing Republicans, its really a "there but for the grace go I..." situation.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:11 PM on April 11, 2018 [6 favorites]
I met someone that worked on Jay Nixon's campaign. He said the campaign work was awesome but in any downtime, Jeff City was boring AF.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:15 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:15 PM on April 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Tomorrow Trump will be giving a talk in the Rose Garden. This could turn into another crazefest like the one from last year February.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:23 PM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Tomorrow Trump will be giving a talk in the Rose Garden. This could turn into another crazefest like the one from last year February.
February's will read like the Gettysburg address in comparison.
posted by scalefree at 10:59 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
February's will read like the Gettysburg address in comparison.
posted by scalefree at 10:59 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Trump chooses impulse over strategy as crises mount
The scary thing is that no serious external crises threatening the US have come up (aside from slow stuff like climate change, the budget deficit, etc.) It's almost all self-created.
What if a serious adversary decides to take advantage of us, e.g. China invades Taiwan tomorrow? Does anyone thing the State Dept. and DOD could mount any sort of coherent response?
posted by msalt at 11:14 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
The scary thing is that no serious external crises threatening the US have come up (aside from slow stuff like climate change, the budget deficit, etc.) It's almost all self-created.
What if a serious adversary decides to take advantage of us, e.g. China invades Taiwan tomorrow? Does anyone thing the State Dept. and DOD could mount any sort of coherent response?
posted by msalt at 11:14 PM on April 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
Today my six-year-old came home and said that he'd heard that Donald Trump "did sex to" a bunch of women who weren't his wife, and he was in trouble. And he wanted to know why he was in trouble, and also, mom, what's sex?
Your son expressed that so well! Just tell him that you get in big trouble if you do sex to a woman, whether or not if she is your wife. You have to play sex with women, and if it's not just your wife, all of the women get to know about it all. Which gets really complicated and sometimes hurts peoples feelings.
posted by msalt at 11:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
Your son expressed that so well! Just tell him that you get in big trouble if you do sex to a woman, whether or not if she is your wife. You have to play sex with women, and if it's not just your wife, all of the women get to know about it all. Which gets really complicated and sometimes hurts peoples feelings.
posted by msalt at 11:21 PM on April 11, 2018 [37 favorites]
We've got a live one here. AP, Jake Pearson and Jeff Horowitz working late, $30,000 rumor? Tabloid paid for, spiked, salacious Trump tip
I'm working blind because my legal analysis follows aren't commentating in the middle of the night, but it's really sounding like Cohen was, at the very minimum, at the center of a conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws by paying hush money, and the National Enquirer was central to that effort. And as usual, the cover-up is causing way more problems. Did Trump father a child with this mystery employee? I don't know; he very well may not have, but the truth of the underlying allegation is irrelevant to what Cohen and friends did to hide it.
All I know is, this could be quite the public "remarks on tax cuts for American workers" tomorrow if they don't cancel it.
Oh, and David Boies is trash and his firm is certainly leaning into its reputation.
posted by zachlipton at 11:24 PM on April 11, 2018 [29 favorites]
Eight months before the company that owns the National Enquirer paid $150,000 to a former Playboy Playmate who claimed she’d had an affair with Donald Trump, the tabloid’s parent made a $30,000 payment to a less famous individual: a former doorman at one of the real estate mogul’s New York City buildings.The story is well-reported and worth reading in full, complete with Enquirer staffers saying their editors ordered them to stop working on the story before they were finished. The Enquirer editor says he killed the story because it wasn't true. The AP has apparently been chasing this down for months, and the woman at the heart of the story, who AP is not naming, denies it. Sajudin, for his part, will only talk if there's money involved.
As it did with the ex-Playmate, the Enquirer signed the ex-doorman to a contract that effectively prevented him from going public with a juicy tale that might hurt Trump’s campaign for president.
...
The Associated Press confirmed the details of the Enquirer’s payment through a review of a confidential contract and interviews with dozens of current and former employees of the Enquirer and its parent company, American Media Inc. Sajudin got $30,000 in exchange for signing over the rights, “in perpetuity,” to a rumor he’d heard about Trump’s sex life — that the president had fathered an illegitimate child with an employee at Trump World Tower, a skyscraper he owns near the United Nations. The contract subjected Sajudin to a $1 million penalty if he disclosed either the rumor or the terms of the deal to anyone.
Cohen, the longtime Trump attorney, acknowledged to the AP that he had discussed Sajudin’s story with the magazine when the tabloid was working on it. He said he was acting as a Trump spokesman when he did so and denied knowing anything beforehand about the Enquirer payment to the ex-doorman.
...
On Wednesday, an Enquirer sister publication, RadarOnline, published details of the payment and the rumor that Sajudin was peddling. The website wrote that the Enquirer spent four weeks reporting the story but ultimately decided it wasn’t true. The company only released Sajudin from his contract after the 2016 election amid inquiries from the Journal about the payment. The site noted that the AP was among a group of publications that had been investigating the ex-doorman’s tip.
During AP’s reporting, AMI threatened legal action over reporters’ efforts to interview current and former employees and hired the New York law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which challenged the accuracy of the AP’s reporting.
I'm working blind because my legal analysis follows aren't commentating in the middle of the night, but it's really sounding like Cohen was, at the very minimum, at the center of a conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws by paying hush money, and the National Enquirer was central to that effort. And as usual, the cover-up is causing way more problems. Did Trump father a child with this mystery employee? I don't know; he very well may not have, but the truth of the underlying allegation is irrelevant to what Cohen and friends did to hide it.
All I know is, this could be quite the public "remarks on tax cuts for American workers" tomorrow if they don't cancel it.
Oh, and David Boies is trash and his firm is certainly leaning into its reputation.
posted by zachlipton at 11:24 PM on April 11, 2018 [29 favorites]
will read like the Gettysburg address
Fourscore and seven scaramuccis ago ...
posted by riverlife at 11:42 PM on April 11, 2018 [39 favorites]
Fourscore and seven scaramuccis ago ...
posted by riverlife at 11:42 PM on April 11, 2018 [39 favorites]
scaryblackdeath: " Like, once upon a time there was a thing called a "raid" where you go in with boots on the ground to take out a thing and then, y'know, leave, but America doesn't do that apparently. It's not a "win" unless conditions on the ground are such that the place is a fully functioning peaceful democracy ready to apply for statehood."
If only. The US isn't happy unless the government (usually dictatorship of some flavour) they have put in place is beholden to US military industrial complex and has signed over control of a big chunk of natural resources to US corporations.
The Card Cheat: "The Boomers once thought all they had to do was wait for all the old people to die, too."
Well it's arguably happened. EG: while there are racists in the Senate there aren't any that rise to Strom Thurmond levels.
posted by Mitheral at 11:46 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
If only. The US isn't happy unless the government (usually dictatorship of some flavour) they have put in place is beholden to US military industrial complex and has signed over control of a big chunk of natural resources to US corporations.
The Card Cheat: "The Boomers once thought all they had to do was wait for all the old people to die, too."
Well it's arguably happened. EG: while there are racists in the Senate there aren't any that rise to Strom Thurmond levels.
posted by Mitheral at 11:46 PM on April 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Yeah, but Matt Heimbach ("the next David Duke," per the SPLC) is 27. Andrew Anglin of the Daily Stormer is 33. Jason Kessler, who spearheaded the Charlottesville Unite the Right fiasco, is 34.
posted by msalt at 12:01 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by msalt at 12:01 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
WI-01: In a story you may have seen somewhere, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced he would not be running for re-election. Consensus seems to be that this moves the district to Leans GOP.
Are any names being floated to run against Nehlen in the GOP primary?
posted by murphy slaw at 12:10 AM on April 12, 2018
Are any names being floated to run against Nehlen in the GOP primary?
posted by murphy slaw at 12:10 AM on April 12, 2018
Yeah, but Matt Heimbach ("the next David Duke," per the SPLC) is 27. Andrew Anglin of the Daily Stormer is 33. Jason Kessler, who spearheaded the Charlottesville Unite the Right fiasco, is 34.
You're very right to point this out, and vigilance regarding them, their ilk and their activities is essential, but in reading the TWP Discord logs over the past few days I've only confirmed the impression I got from watching video from around the time of Unite The Right: there just aren't that many of these cats, and their influence is radically limited.
None of this will bring back Heather Heyer, of course, or heal DeAndre Harris, but for my money the armed, casually racist, 'roided out cops in America's 20,000 police forces, departments and agencies constitute a far greater and more present threat to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than anything any of these individuals or their groups can muster. It'll be a generational effort to even begin to move the needle on this issue, whereas my sense is that the circa-2016 alt right as we've known it is already succumbing to schism, drama and organizational weakness.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [48 favorites]
You're very right to point this out, and vigilance regarding them, their ilk and their activities is essential, but in reading the TWP Discord logs over the past few days I've only confirmed the impression I got from watching video from around the time of Unite The Right: there just aren't that many of these cats, and their influence is radically limited.
None of this will bring back Heather Heyer, of course, or heal DeAndre Harris, but for my money the armed, casually racist, 'roided out cops in America's 20,000 police forces, departments and agencies constitute a far greater and more present threat to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than anything any of these individuals or their groups can muster. It'll be a generational effort to even begin to move the needle on this issue, whereas my sense is that the circa-2016 alt right as we've known it is already succumbing to schism, drama and organizational weakness.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [48 favorites]
For people who've spent so much time working the levers of American power, even writing the rules for it, Republicans understand astonishingly little about how our government actually works.
@RandPaul BREAKING: FBI admits that @realDonaldTrump haters still have Top Secret security clearances which allows them to access sensitive private information!
Simpler explanation: he is well aware that his core audience don't know, and is being intentionally disingenuous/continuing to peddle dog whistle narratives/disgracing American democracy/shamelessly selling out the little that remains of his integrity.
Just a thought.
posted by jaduncan at 12:47 AM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
How stupid do you have to be to not realize that there is an absolutely massive non-political civil service filled with people who vote across the gamut?
posted by Yowser at 1:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Yowser at 1:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
How stupid do you have to be to not realize that there is an absolutely massive non-political civil service filled with people who vote across the gamut?
Same stupid as Obama wants to steal my medicare!!! stupid.
posted by mumimor at 1:32 AM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
Same stupid as Obama wants to steal my medicare!!! stupid.
posted by mumimor at 1:32 AM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
I swear I was just trying to read this New Yorker review of "Three Tall Women" and the damn "most popular" box is calling... Ronan Farrow has more on the AMI story: The National Enquirer, a Trump Rumor, and Another Secret Payment to Buy Silence, including the extent to which AMI hired a team of lawyers to convince AP to shelve the story last year, then ran with their own version of it 30 minutes after the New Yorker called them for comment.
To believe AMI's version, you have to believe they paid $30,000 for an unsubstantiated tip and then promptly killed the story without doing the kind of persistent dirty work they did to break the Edwards story. Oh, and it's the second time, that we know of so far, they've done that kind of expensive favor for to shut down a derogatory story about Trump. On the other hand, if the goal was just to provide cover to Trump, I'm not understanding why they'd release Sajudin from the $1M exclusivity clause. Still, it seems to be paying off:
To believe AMI's version, you have to believe they paid $30,000 for an unsubstantiated tip and then promptly killed the story without doing the kind of persistent dirty work they did to break the Edwards story. Oh, and it's the second time, that we know of so far, they've done that kind of expensive favor for to shut down a derogatory story about Trump. On the other hand, if the goal was just to provide cover to Trump, I'm not understanding why they'd release Sajudin from the $1M exclusivity clause. Still, it seems to be paying off:
One A.M.I. source told me, “Pecker’s not going to take thirty thousand dollars from company funds to shut down a potentially damaging story about his buddy without making sure it got back to him so he could get credit.” In 2017, the company began acquiring new publications, including Us Weekly and Men’s Journal. According to the Times, last July Pecker visited the Oval Office and dined at the White House with a French businessman known for brokering deals with Saudi Arabia. Two months later, the businessman and Pecker met with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.posted by zachlipton at 2:44 AM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
oh shit I'm reviewing Hamilton videos also 'cause I wanted to show "The Ten Duel Commandments" to make a point in class about the ongoing influence of Biggie Smalls, and it would be more suitable for class than Cardi B's more recent "Washpoppin."
But I'm watching Obama introduce the cast at the WH and I'm legit crying. I'm going to have to do some serious mind jujitsu in class if I want to keep it together.
posted by angrycat at 2:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
But I'm watching Obama introduce the cast at the WH and I'm legit crying. I'm going to have to do some serious mind jujitsu in class if I want to keep it together.
posted by angrycat at 2:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
How stupid do you have to be to not realize that there is an absolutely massive non-political civil service filled with people who vote across the gamut?
Ah, newspeak covers this. I believe the D voting civil service are now included in the 'deep state' subset. Also R voting civil service employees who are insufficiently enthusiastic.
posted by jaduncan at 2:58 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
Ah, newspeak covers this. I believe the D voting civil service are now included in the 'deep state' subset. Also R voting civil service employees who are insufficiently enthusiastic.
posted by jaduncan at 2:58 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
AKA "@realDonaldTrump haters", if you prefer. Obviously THOSE guys shouldn't have a security clearance.
It helps to see the fascism if you just strip it back to the underlying axiom that people that personally oppose Donald Trump should not be allowed to participate in any high security state endeavor and should, presumably, thus be rendered unemployable by the agencies they work at. I have heard that type of thing called a purge when discussed in developing nations, but of course I'm sure that Paul is not actually a fascist but is instead the infinitely better person who is merely playing with the fire of authoritarian fascist tropes.
Not that that's a distinction that matters if it actually starts, of course.
posted by jaduncan at 3:13 AM on April 12, 2018 [24 favorites]
It helps to see the fascism if you just strip it back to the underlying axiom that people that personally oppose Donald Trump should not be allowed to participate in any high security state endeavor and should, presumably, thus be rendered unemployable by the agencies they work at. I have heard that type of thing called a purge when discussed in developing nations, but of course I'm sure that Paul is not actually a fascist but is instead the infinitely better person who is merely playing with the fire of authoritarian fascist tropes.
Not that that's a distinction that matters if it actually starts, of course.
posted by jaduncan at 3:13 AM on April 12, 2018 [24 favorites]
For anyone else: AMI = "American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer"
posted by rhizome at 3:58 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 3:58 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
The morning tweets from Trump are saner by contrast to yesterday's (but may match up with Fox & Friends segments just the same):
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him. Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!* San Diego Union-Tribune: Gov. Brown Approves Adding 400 National Guard to Border Security EffortsBrown wrote to a letter to the secretaries of homeland security and defense to inform them, "Your funding for new staffing will allow the Guard to do what it does best: support operations targeting transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers along the border, the coast and throughout the state." But he also added, "“Let’s be crystal clear on the scope of this mission. This will not be a mission to build a new wall. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life. And the California National Guard will not be enforcing federal immigration laws."
California Governor Jerry Brown is doing the right thing and sending the National Guard to the Border*. Thank you Jerry, good move for the safety of our Country!
Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”
Good luck to Mike Pompeo during his Confirmation Hearing today. He will be a great Secretary of State!
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
Hmm. The interesting thing is "fire . . . in December." Which, I mean not to be paranoid, but he could be trying to lay the groundwork for the idea that he was cool with Mueller's investigation until Mueller allegedly overreached with Cohen.
Also, what's the story with Brown not following Oregon's lead and not employing the National Guard to promote fascism in whatever iteration.
posted by angrycat at 4:50 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Also, what's the story with Brown not following Oregon's lead and not employing the National Guard to promote fascism in whatever iteration.
posted by angrycat at 4:50 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
I would guess it has something to do with this:
Brown said the troops would be deployed statewide to “combat transnational crime.”
Jerry Brown is taking federal money and using it. I can't say for sure that's he conning Trump but given his political position it seems really unlikely that he'll be doing what Washington believes he will be doing. If, for example, he uses the National Guard to catch human smugglers, then at least in my opinion that would be an OK use. That business has turned really really nasty in the last few decades.
posted by rdr at 4:59 AM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
Brown said the troops would be deployed statewide to “combat transnational crime.”
Jerry Brown is taking federal money and using it. I can't say for sure that's he conning Trump but given his political position it seems really unlikely that he'll be doing what Washington believes he will be doing. If, for example, he uses the National Guard to catch human smugglers, then at least in my opinion that would be an OK use. That business has turned really really nasty in the last few decades.
posted by rdr at 4:59 AM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
Peter Schorsch (Publisher, Florida Politcs):
@SenBillNelson leads @ScottforFlorida 50% to 44% in new @PPPpolls survey.
Poll’s turnout model is Dem+1, but it has @RealDonaldTrump at only -2 fav/unfav & respondents went +3 for DT over Clinton.
In other words, this is where the race really is.
Already a comeback: Poll shows Bill Nelson leading Rick Scott by six points
posted by chris24 at 5:06 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
@SenBillNelson leads @ScottforFlorida 50% to 44% in new @PPPpolls survey.
Poll’s turnout model is Dem+1, but it has @RealDonaldTrump at only -2 fav/unfav & respondents went +3 for DT over Clinton.
In other words, this is where the race really is.
Already a comeback: Poll shows Bill Nelson leading Rick Scott by six points
posted by chris24 at 5:06 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
The morning tweets from Trump are saner by contrast to yesterday's
They look staff-written though.
posted by duoshao at 5:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
They look staff-written though.
posted by duoshao at 5:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
"the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”
"We will be greeted as liberators."
posted by mikepop at 5:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
"We will be greeted as liberators."
posted by mikepop at 5:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also, what's the story with Brown not following Oregon's lead and not employing the National Guard to promote fascism in whatever iteration.
Unlike Oregon, California actually shares a border with Mexico, and some nasty stuff (human trafficking, mainly) really does happen there. If we take Brown at his word that he's deploying the Guard to prevent crime and not to harass immigrants, I don't blame him for accepting the federal funds.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:51 AM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
Unlike Oregon, California actually shares a border with Mexico, and some nasty stuff (human trafficking, mainly) really does happen there. If we take Brown at his word that he's deploying the Guard to prevent crime and not to harass immigrants, I don't blame him for accepting the federal funds.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:51 AM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
White House has no plan for countering Comey (Matthew Nussbaum, Politico)
The Trump White House outsourced the anti-Comey campaign to the RNC, and their playbook has been promptly leaked to CNN: Exclusive: Inside the GOP Plan to Discredit Comey
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:29 AM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
The Trump White House outsourced the anti-Comey campaign to the RNC, and their playbook has been promptly leaked to CNN: Exclusive: Inside the GOP Plan to Discredit Comey
The battle plan against Comey, obtained by CNN, calls for branding the nation's former top law enforcement official as "Lyin' Comey" through a website, digital advertising and talking points to be sent to Republicans across the country before his memoir is released next week. The White House signed off on the plan, which is being overseen by the Republican National Committee.[...]What's going to be truly telling, however, is how much these talking points will be echoed by pro-Kremlin trolls and IRA bots.
Republicans hope to remind Democrats why they disliked Comey by assailing his credibility, shining a new light on his conduct and pointing out his contradictions -- or the three Cs.[...]
The Republican plan against Comey is built around several aggressive arguments, according to the plan obtained by CNN, including these:
1) "Comey has a long history of misstatements and misconduct," including damage caused to the FBI because of "bizarre decisions, contradictory statements and acting against Department of Justice and FBI protocol."
2) "Attempts to smear the Trump administration are nothing more than retaliation by a disgraced former official."
3) "Comey isn't credible -- just ask Democrats." The digital ads will show several Democrats calling for Comey's resignation after he injected himself into the 2016 presidential race, including House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who is shown saying: "All I can tell you is the FBI Director has no credibility."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:29 AM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
>> Each generation manages to get rid of a percentage of their hateful assholes
> Counterargument: As horrors of the past (e.g. WWII) pass from living memory, we are doomed to repeat them.
Update:
Holocaust Is Fading From Memory, Survey Finds
posted by gwint at 6:39 AM on April 12, 2018 [66 favorites]
> Counterargument: As horrors of the past (e.g. WWII) pass from living memory, we are doomed to repeat them.
Update:
Holocaust Is Fading From Memory, Survey Finds
Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials, believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans, and 66 percent of millennials, cannot say what Auschwitz was. Only 39 percent of Americans know that Hitler was democratically elected.See also: ‘It is like we have regressed 100 years’: Report warns of resurgent global anti-Semitism
posted by gwint at 6:39 AM on April 12, 2018 [66 favorites]
Already a comeback: Poll shows Bill Nelson leading Rick Scott by six points
Scott will pour gazillions of his own money into TV ads pegging Nelson as some super-lefty-Hillary-loving-freedom-hating-small-busines-killer and I'll bet you a cake that Nelson barely squeaks by in Nov because of the racist baby boomers in places like the Villages that will eat Scott's garbage like it was a half-priced buffet at the Golden Corral.
I've called and begged Nelson's staffers to get the senator to tout his accomplishments but I have a feeling they're terrified that if they do it will give Scott ammunition to use against him with the nearly-deads. Nelson is for all practical purposes a moderate Republican in Democrat's clothing. He's done a lot of good for Florida but like most Dems he doesn't understand that if you don't constantly tell your constituents about what you've done and make stands against all the bad Republicans have done you make it harder to appeal to an otherwise apathetic Dem base.
If we weren't living through the dumpster fire of the Trump administration Nelson would get trounced in Nov.
posted by photoslob at 6:44 AM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
Scott will pour gazillions of his own money into TV ads pegging Nelson as some super-lefty-Hillary-loving-freedom-hating-small-busines-killer and I'll bet you a cake that Nelson barely squeaks by in Nov because of the racist baby boomers in places like the Villages that will eat Scott's garbage like it was a half-priced buffet at the Golden Corral.
I've called and begged Nelson's staffers to get the senator to tout his accomplishments but I have a feeling they're terrified that if they do it will give Scott ammunition to use against him with the nearly-deads. Nelson is for all practical purposes a moderate Republican in Democrat's clothing. He's done a lot of good for Florida but like most Dems he doesn't understand that if you don't constantly tell your constituents about what you've done and make stands against all the bad Republicans have done you make it harder to appeal to an otherwise apathetic Dem base.
If we weren't living through the dumpster fire of the Trump administration Nelson would get trounced in Nov.
posted by photoslob at 6:44 AM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
They look staff-written though.
Dictated most likely. They're not PR fluff, Trump had a hand in them. But too coherent for him to have actually done the writing.
posted by scalefree at 6:48 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
Dictated most likely. They're not PR fluff, Trump had a hand in them. But too coherent for him to have actually done the writing.
posted by scalefree at 6:48 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
A lot of those Comey attacks are going to be effective, because they’re true. He is a feckless partisan hack. He did repeatedly violate longstanding DOJ procedure. He did interfere in a criminal investigation for political purposes. He should have been fired, by Obama. Democrats were right to say so at the time.
But, he did all of that for TRUMP.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:49 AM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
But, he did all of that for TRUMP.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:49 AM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
What it's like inside the Evangelical bubble. Christian Host: Evangelicals Back Trump Because His Oval Office is Scandal-Free
posted by scalefree at 7:01 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 7:01 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
Christian Host: Evangelicals Back Trump Because His Oval Office is Scandal-Free
the rest of the goddamn white house is a shambles, though.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
the rest of the goddamn white house is a shambles, though.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
"Dude restrained a woman in his basement, sexually assualted her, raped her, took photos of her naked body against her will, then used those photos to blackmail her and that’s a class E felony with a sentence of four lousy years?!?? "
It's actually a Class D felony with 7 years, I believe. So the initial charges rose out of a news report (that the victim did not cooperate with) which focused on a consensual affair with revenge porn, a narrative that largely came from the ex-husband, who was pissed at his ex-wife and not interested in whether she was coerced or blackmailed.
Because everyone found out about it at the same time from the press, by the time the state's attorney was ready to charge, the statehouse committee investigation was well underway. My guess, having been involved in these kinds of crime/official misconduct things before, is that the prosecutors judged that waiting for the sworn testimony to the statehouse committee (which they can then use) would be better than conducting a simultaneous but separate set of depositions. It's possible that the legislative investigators asked the prosecutors to wait until they concluded their investigation, or that there were issues of burden of proof or similar that required things to happen in a particular order. It's also politically smart, if you're getting ready to charge the governor with very serious and salacious crimes, and you know the statehouse is about to issue a hella damning bipartisan report, to wait for the report, which dramatically simplifies your PR issues and cuts off the governor's ability to claim to the judge you're charging him for political reasons rather than criminal ones, or that the political aspect of the crimes mean it should be in the hands of the legislature.
I would expect further charges before Friday, on the much more serious sexual assault and battery, regular assault and battery, false imprisonment, and other ugly charges, now that this report is public. There may be frogmarching. (I would also expect the victim to file a civil suit at some point, since she's got great evidence of being harmed and has lost the ability to protect her privacy, which was why she didn't initially report any of it.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [47 favorites]
It's actually a Class D felony with 7 years, I believe. So the initial charges rose out of a news report (that the victim did not cooperate with) which focused on a consensual affair with revenge porn, a narrative that largely came from the ex-husband, who was pissed at his ex-wife and not interested in whether she was coerced or blackmailed.
Because everyone found out about it at the same time from the press, by the time the state's attorney was ready to charge, the statehouse committee investigation was well underway. My guess, having been involved in these kinds of crime/official misconduct things before, is that the prosecutors judged that waiting for the sworn testimony to the statehouse committee (which they can then use) would be better than conducting a simultaneous but separate set of depositions. It's possible that the legislative investigators asked the prosecutors to wait until they concluded their investigation, or that there were issues of burden of proof or similar that required things to happen in a particular order. It's also politically smart, if you're getting ready to charge the governor with very serious and salacious crimes, and you know the statehouse is about to issue a hella damning bipartisan report, to wait for the report, which dramatically simplifies your PR issues and cuts off the governor's ability to claim to the judge you're charging him for political reasons rather than criminal ones, or that the political aspect of the crimes mean it should be in the hands of the legislature.
I would expect further charges before Friday, on the much more serious sexual assault and battery, regular assault and battery, false imprisonment, and other ugly charges, now that this report is public. There may be frogmarching. (I would also expect the victim to file a civil suit at some point, since she's got great evidence of being harmed and has lost the ability to protect her privacy, which was why she didn't initially report any of it.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [47 favorites]
Evangelicals Back Trump Because His Oval Office is Scandal-Free
Only if you have an incredibly self-serving definition of the word "scandal", but sure. Scandal-free.
posted by lydhre at 7:12 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Only if you have an incredibly self-serving definition of the word "scandal", but sure. Scandal-free.
posted by lydhre at 7:12 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm a Floridian like photoslob and share many of his concerns. I'll say this, though -- there's reason for hope.
I have a friend who was an unpaid consultant on Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist's campaign against Rick Scott. He says the mistake they made (other than having a weak candidate) was holding their powder too long against Scott. (He urged against it.) They had a schedule for spending their ad money, to make it last through election day, and mostly held to it. They started later and spent steadily. Scott, on the other hand, started earlier and spent like crazy in the last couple of weeks - including $12.8 million of his own money in the home stretch.
The Crist team saw their lead erode and opened up the spigots. My friend says their polling showed they gained back some of the lost ground but ran out of time. He thinks they needed to start earlier, put Scott in a deeper hole, and then be ready to match him at the end. So maybe, just maybe, they've learned their lesson. And given the stakes, there should be more national money available.
If nothing else, Nelson is far more popular than Crist was at that point, especially on the Space Coast. And I've noticed Nelson doing much more of late via FB to tout his accomplishments. Scott has won twice against weak candidates with a GOP/Tea Party tailwind at his back. He doesn't have that this time.
posted by martin q blank at 7:13 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
I have a friend who was an unpaid consultant on Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist's campaign against Rick Scott. He says the mistake they made (other than having a weak candidate) was holding their powder too long against Scott. (He urged against it.) They had a schedule for spending their ad money, to make it last through election day, and mostly held to it. They started later and spent steadily. Scott, on the other hand, started earlier and spent like crazy in the last couple of weeks - including $12.8 million of his own money in the home stretch.
The Crist team saw their lead erode and opened up the spigots. My friend says their polling showed they gained back some of the lost ground but ran out of time. He thinks they needed to start earlier, put Scott in a deeper hole, and then be ready to match him at the end. So maybe, just maybe, they've learned their lesson. And given the stakes, there should be more national money available.
If nothing else, Nelson is far more popular than Crist was at that point, especially on the Space Coast. And I've noticed Nelson doing much more of late via FB to tout his accomplishments. Scott has won twice against weak candidates with a GOP/Tea Party tailwind at his back. He doesn't have that this time.
posted by martin q blank at 7:13 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
@senorrinhatch:
Anyone advising the President — in public or over the airwaves— to fire Bob Mueller does not have the President or the nation’s best interest at heart.
Full stop.
posted by chris24 at 7:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [54 favorites]
Anyone advising the President — in public or over the airwaves— to fire Bob Mueller does not have the President or the nation’s best interest at heart.
Full stop.
posted by chris24 at 7:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [54 favorites]
You know, I listened to the audiobook of Eric Greitens's autobiography, and he seemed like a very driven but pretty idealistic guy: Rhodes Scholar, involved in charity work, Navy SEAL with multiple deployments, and then started a non-profit to help other veterans.
But at some point he either got high on his own supply or dropped a mask he'd worn for decades, and then the awful assault on that woman. WTH, man?? Your future was wide open in front of you and you chose this?
posted by wenestvedt at 7:18 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
But at some point he either got high on his own supply or dropped a mask he'd worn for decades, and then the awful assault on that woman. WTH, man?? Your future was wide open in front of you and you chose this?
posted by wenestvedt at 7:18 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
What's going to be truly telling, however, is how much these talking points will be echoed by pro-Kremlin trolls and IRA bots.
And the so-called "liberal media,"if when they amplify these talking points instead of reporting "Republicans are attempting to smear a civil servant for having a narrative damaging to Trump."
posted by Gelatin at 7:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
And the so-called "liberal media,"
posted by Gelatin at 7:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
(BTW, the state's attorney who charged Greitens, Kim Gardner, is a Democratic African-American woman, who's hated by police unions for her aggressive investigations into police misconduct. I don't think we have to worry the old boy's club will protect Greitens from further charges, I think Gardner takes zero shit and knows EXACTLY how men in positions of authority abuse their power.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [73 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [73 favorites]
Chrysostom: Lots of teachers filing to run for office in Oklahoma.
The elections are going to be fascinating - more teachers, more scientists, better for America!
I was talking with my colleagues yesterday, and we were bemoaning the fact that we're dealing with regulations that are written by people who have little to no direct knowledge of what they're regulating, which means that public agencies shift their priorities and plans every few years, often with consultant support because there's not enough time for the existing staff to handle their day-to-day work AND incorporate and report upon new requirements.
So we're scrambling around, reacting to new laws, spending taxpayer funds on consultants to support production of new reports or change our operating procedures, but resulting in limited improvements to the actual agency outputs.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
The elections are going to be fascinating - more teachers, more scientists, better for America!
I was talking with my colleagues yesterday, and we were bemoaning the fact that we're dealing with regulations that are written by people who have little to no direct knowledge of what they're regulating, which means that public agencies shift their priorities and plans every few years, often with consultant support because there's not enough time for the existing staff to handle their day-to-day work AND incorporate and report upon new requirements.
So we're scrambling around, reacting to new laws, spending taxpayer funds on consultants to support production of new reports or change our operating procedures, but resulting in limited improvements to the actual agency outputs.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
scalefree: @civilrightsorg WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge
Oddly, that fact was missing from the semi-critical coverage by NPR yesterday, which did play a clip of her past public statement encouraging people to push their pro-life doctors to put false medical statements in brochures to counter her statement that she suggested people simply talk to their doctors about debunked medical ideas.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Oddly, that fact was missing from the semi-critical coverage by NPR yesterday, which did play a clip of her past public statement encouraging people to push their pro-life doctors to put false medical statements in brochures to counter her statement that she suggested people simply talk to their doctors about debunked medical ideas.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Credit where due, NPR's coverage seemed to make a point of debunking Vitter's claim that she wasn't really advocating the junk science codwallop in the anti-abortion brochure. The story makes clear that her denials are lies, and also that no one in Congress followed up on the matter.
posted by Gelatin at 7:40 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Gelatin at 7:40 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
Senator Menendez (D-NJ) is essentially accusing Mike Pompeo of obstruction of justice. Pompeo is already saying he "doesn't recall" whether Trump asked him to do anything with regard to the Russia investigation, and saying he won't discuss the nature of his private conversations with the President.
In related news, I do not understand why this man wants this job.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:04 AM on April 12, 2018 [26 favorites]
In related news, I do not understand why this man wants this job.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:04 AM on April 12, 2018 [26 favorites]
Michael Kotick does the right thing in CA.
@Kotick4Congress
Our campaign has some big news. As of today, I am withdrawing my candidacy from the #CA48 congressional race. When I entered this race, one of my top priorities was to see Dana Rohrabacher defeated by a Democrat in November.
- Under California's top-two primary system, the current crowded field of 16 candidates does not ensure this will happen. Our country is laced with division and the most important job for those who care about their community is to bring people together.
- Each Democratic candidate would represent our community well. Moving forward, I will be supporting @HarleyRouda. Harley has shown a consistent commitment to building support from the community-up and continues to gain momentum and momentum wins races.
- I maintain a firm commitment to serving the community & actively engaging to help defeat Rohrabacher & elect Dems up and down the ballot. I am deeply grateful for your support throughout this campaign. This country & our communities are worth fighting for and we’re not done yet.
posted by chris24 at 8:08 AM on April 12, 2018 [99 favorites]
@Kotick4Congress
Our campaign has some big news. As of today, I am withdrawing my candidacy from the #CA48 congressional race. When I entered this race, one of my top priorities was to see Dana Rohrabacher defeated by a Democrat in November.
- Under California's top-two primary system, the current crowded field of 16 candidates does not ensure this will happen. Our country is laced with division and the most important job for those who care about their community is to bring people together.
- Each Democratic candidate would represent our community well. Moving forward, I will be supporting @HarleyRouda. Harley has shown a consistent commitment to building support from the community-up and continues to gain momentum and momentum wins races.
- I maintain a firm commitment to serving the community & actively engaging to help defeat Rohrabacher & elect Dems up and down the ballot. I am deeply grateful for your support throughout this campaign. This country & our communities are worth fighting for and we’re not done yet.
posted by chris24 at 8:08 AM on April 12, 2018 [99 favorites]
In related news, I do not understand why this man wants this job.
This goes for all of them. It's clear by now that you can make a lot of money just waiting on the sidelines for Trump & Co to get rid of any pesky regulations or tax issues that you might have without getting caught up in the horror that must be working directly for him. Even if you want to make money, the odds are you're just going to end up needing a lawyer (the good ones have got to be taken by now), publicly humiliated by Trump, fired possibly while on the loo and having that hit the news and being the image everyone has of you forever, and so forth. These people already have money. They're going to make money even without signing up for the whatever vortex of hell the White House is, so it just makes no sense.
I mean there's the egos, but you have to balance that against the fact that your ego is going to get crushed by Trump's, and in the most public way possible.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 8:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
This goes for all of them. It's clear by now that you can make a lot of money just waiting on the sidelines for Trump & Co to get rid of any pesky regulations or tax issues that you might have without getting caught up in the horror that must be working directly for him. Even if you want to make money, the odds are you're just going to end up needing a lawyer (the good ones have got to be taken by now), publicly humiliated by Trump, fired possibly while on the loo and having that hit the news and being the image everyone has of you forever, and so forth. These people already have money. They're going to make money even without signing up for the whatever vortex of hell the White House is, so it just makes no sense.
I mean there's the egos, but you have to balance that against the fact that your ego is going to get crushed by Trump's, and in the most public way possible.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 8:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Pompeo is complaining that we don't have an ambassador to South Korea. Unmentioned: the reason there is no U.S. Ambassador to South Korea is because President Trump has not nominated an ambassador to South Korea.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [54 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:15 AM on April 12, 2018 [54 favorites]
murphy slaw: "Are any names being floated to run against Nehlen in the GOP primary?"
I haven't seen that anyone has actively expressed interest yet. Priebus was briefly floated, but said no. I know one of the state senators in the district also pretty much said he wouldn't run.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
I haven't seen that anyone has actively expressed interest yet. Priebus was briefly floated, but said no. I know one of the state senators in the district also pretty much said he wouldn't run.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
...still at it. (Why? I don't know!) I've now got a corpus of Trump tweets from 2016 to early 2017, since that's about when he was forced to give up his ancient Android phone and it becomes a lot harder to determine who's tweeting.
I now have all of the tweets in the corpus scored on the Dale-Chall readability formula, ratio of capital letters to all letters, number of isolated capitals, and occurrences of a list of adjectives like "bad", "fake", and "great". I may start playing around with TensorFlow tomorrow.
In the mean time, it may interest (but not surprise) you to know just on a cursory eyeball examination that if the Android/iPhone division is a reliable indicator, Trump's 2016 tweets average out at around a 5th- to 9th-grade reading level, while the suspected staffer tweets generally range from around 9th to 11th grade. So there's that.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:17 AM on April 12, 2018 [65 favorites]
I now have all of the tweets in the corpus scored on the Dale-Chall readability formula, ratio of capital letters to all letters, number of isolated capitals, and occurrences of a list of adjectives like "bad", "fake", and "great". I may start playing around with TensorFlow tomorrow.
In the mean time, it may interest (but not surprise) you to know just on a cursory eyeball examination that if the Android/iPhone division is a reliable indicator, Trump's 2016 tweets average out at around a 5th- to 9th-grade reading level, while the suspected staffer tweets generally range from around 9th to 11th grade. So there's that.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:17 AM on April 12, 2018 [65 favorites]
A lot of those Comey attacks are going to be effective, because they’re true.
And because many on the left, among Democrats, and in the media are incapable of forming temporary strategic alliances and will happily take such bait if it makes them look ideologically pure or ostentatiously objective. We saw this with Trump's proxy attacks on Amazon, and there's no question that we'll see this with Comey.
At least the Washington Post's Greg Sergent is pre-emptively calling bullshit on this approach: "There will be a powerful temptation for neutral observers to proclaim that both parties are being equivalently inconsistent about Comey. But this is wrong, and caving to this temptation will only help bad-faith actors accomplish their goal of obfuscating the true nature and points of disagreement in this debate, which have important public consequences."
What's important is judging whatever Comey has to say about Trump on their merits, not entering into the RNC's debate about his character. Who knows, maybe Comey has had the chance to appreciate the damage his Hilary letter has done, to the country itself as well as his own cherished reputation. We'll see if he's able to start expressing regret and making amends (he's got a long way to go).
Meanwhile, Sean Hannity - that's unofficial presidential advisor Sean Hannity - has begun the assault on Comey on Fox: "Comey wouldn't know a real mob boss if he investigated one for an illegal server", "If Comey is really looking for mobsters at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he missed one - the Clinton crime family.", "With apologies to Don Corleone, come on my show, Jim. Act like a man!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:17 AM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
And because many on the left, among Democrats, and in the media are incapable of forming temporary strategic alliances and will happily take such bait if it makes them look ideologically pure or ostentatiously objective. We saw this with Trump's proxy attacks on Amazon, and there's no question that we'll see this with Comey.
At least the Washington Post's Greg Sergent is pre-emptively calling bullshit on this approach: "There will be a powerful temptation for neutral observers to proclaim that both parties are being equivalently inconsistent about Comey. But this is wrong, and caving to this temptation will only help bad-faith actors accomplish their goal of obfuscating the true nature and points of disagreement in this debate, which have important public consequences."
What's important is judging whatever Comey has to say about Trump on their merits, not entering into the RNC's debate about his character. Who knows, maybe Comey has had the chance to appreciate the damage his Hilary letter has done, to the country itself as well as his own cherished reputation. We'll see if he's able to start expressing regret and making amends (he's got a long way to go).
Meanwhile, Sean Hannity - that's unofficial presidential advisor Sean Hannity - has begun the assault on Comey on Fox: "Comey wouldn't know a real mob boss if he investigated one for an illegal server", "If Comey is really looking for mobsters at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he missed one - the Clinton crime family.", "With apologies to Don Corleone, come on my show, Jim. Act like a man!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:17 AM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
chris24: "Michael Kotick does the right thing in CA."
This is a good thing. That said, there are still six Democrats remaining in the race.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is a good thing. That said, there are still six Democrats remaining in the race.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
See, Failing NY Times? This is why you're failing, and Business Insider is everyone's go to source for trusted news:
But the President is actually a hard worker who challenges those around him to re-think status quo ideas, according to Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, and Jason Miller, who worked as a senior communications advisor on the campaign.posted by xigxag at 8:19 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
"He's the single hardest working individual I've ever met," Lewandowski told the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council event in London on Thursday.
"Donald Trump wakes up at 4.30 a.m., 5 a.m. every day and he finishes at 11 p.m. And he repeats that cycle every single day."
As a result, Lewandowski said, the President expects a lot from his staff.
"What he expects, demands, and deserves is perfection because that's what he does every single day. I can tell you this because I spent almost two years every day with him, thousands of hours."
Doktor Zed The thing is, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Comey is not a Democratic ally, he did all he could to hand the election to Trump, and he should never be forgiven for that crime. Anyone offering him book deals, or speaking fees, or consultancies, or praise on TV, or anything else to 'rehabilitate' him is doing harm to America.
Comey was the single worst mistake Obama ever made. He should have known that appointing Republicans was a bad idea, he especially should have known that appointing Republicans to security or military positions over Democrats is a slap in the face to his own party and essentially a concession that the Republicans are morally superior in those fields, and he should have known that a lifelong Republican like Comey would abuse his position at the FBI (seriously, does no one remember Hoover?).
The only tiny spot of light in the whole sordid affair is that Trump rewarded Comey as he eventually rewards all his loyalists: by abusing him, throwing him under the bus, and humiliating him.
So no, I do not agree that we should now be feting Comey and trying to paint him as anything but the vile snake he is. More than any other single person in America Comey is responsible for Trump defiling the White House, that can't be forgiven and forgotten.
posted by sotonohito at 8:26 AM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
Comey was the single worst mistake Obama ever made. He should have known that appointing Republicans was a bad idea, he especially should have known that appointing Republicans to security or military positions over Democrats is a slap in the face to his own party and essentially a concession that the Republicans are morally superior in those fields, and he should have known that a lifelong Republican like Comey would abuse his position at the FBI (seriously, does no one remember Hoover?).
The only tiny spot of light in the whole sordid affair is that Trump rewarded Comey as he eventually rewards all his loyalists: by abusing him, throwing him under the bus, and humiliating him.
So no, I do not agree that we should now be feting Comey and trying to paint him as anything but the vile snake he is. More than any other single person in America Comey is responsible for Trump defiling the White House, that can't be forgiven and forgotten.
posted by sotonohito at 8:26 AM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
"the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS.
He keeps saying this. To what is he referring? Did some military action of ours in the 15 months actually remove ISIS, or is this just another ridiculous lie?
posted by greermahoney at 8:30 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
He keeps saying this. To what is he referring? Did some military action of ours in the 15 months actually remove ISIS, or is this just another ridiculous lie?
posted by greermahoney at 8:30 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
"the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS.
He keeps saying this. To what is he referring? Did some military action of ours in the 15 months actually remove ISIS, or is this just another ridiculous lie?
Raqqa *was* recaptured by American trained Iraqi troops with American air support, and ISIS has lost control of most of the territory it once held. Trump is basically not responsible for this, because it's the outcome of a military operation begun under the Obama administration, but yes, it happened while he was President and he didn't do anything to totally botch it.
posted by dis_integration at 8:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
He keeps saying this. To what is he referring? Did some military action of ours in the 15 months actually remove ISIS, or is this just another ridiculous lie?
Raqqa *was* recaptured by American trained Iraqi troops with American air support, and ISIS has lost control of most of the territory it once held. Trump is basically not responsible for this, because it's the outcome of a military operation begun under the Obama administration, but yes, it happened while he was President and he didn't do anything to totally botch it.
posted by dis_integration at 8:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Doktor Zed The thing is, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
And the perfect is the enemy of the good.
There will come a time when Comey will face his own reckoning. If his book tour turns out to be a full-court press to rehabilitate his image instead of going after Trump—who, let us never forget, has done far worse, and will likely do more, than Comey did—then screw him and the high horse he rode in on. If he has the goods on Trump's obstruction of justice with regard to the Russia probe, then let him start with that. We need all the help we can get.
But this is already turning into an example of what the RNC is hoping the opposition will do when Comey's back in the spotlight.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:41 AM on April 12, 2018 [55 favorites]
And the perfect is the enemy of the good.
There will come a time when Comey will face his own reckoning. If his book tour turns out to be a full-court press to rehabilitate his image instead of going after Trump—who, let us never forget, has done far worse, and will likely do more, than Comey did—then screw him and the high horse he rode in on. If he has the goods on Trump's obstruction of justice with regard to the Russia probe, then let him start with that. We need all the help we can get.
But this is already turning into an example of what the RNC is hoping the opposition will do when Comey's back in the spotlight.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:41 AM on April 12, 2018 [55 favorites]
These people already have money. They're going to make money even without signing up for the whatever vortex of hell the White House is, so it just makes no sense.
You can't apply this logic to them; nothing about the way they pursue more money than they (or even several generations of descendants) can really use makes sense from the standpoint of us normals (and I say that even from a very comfortable upper-middle-class position that I am thankful for every day). Most any sane person would be 99% focused on yay I just pocketed 3 million bucks and 1% man I wish I had the other million that went to taxes. They're inverted, and trying to understand that in any logical manner is doomed to failure.
The best explanation I have ever come up with, other than just pants-wetting levels of selfishness and internal unsatisfiable misery, is that what they really want is to be is so mind-numbingly Rockefeller level rich and powerful that they'll do anything to get it. They can't yet do anything and be sure they'll feel no consequence so obviously they're not done.
My backup theory is that they already see themselves that way and just can't understand that they may do this and find themselves actually having to knuckle under to someone else.
posted by phearlez at 8:42 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
You can't apply this logic to them; nothing about the way they pursue more money than they (or even several generations of descendants) can really use makes sense from the standpoint of us normals (and I say that even from a very comfortable upper-middle-class position that I am thankful for every day). Most any sane person would be 99% focused on yay I just pocketed 3 million bucks and 1% man I wish I had the other million that went to taxes. They're inverted, and trying to understand that in any logical manner is doomed to failure.
The best explanation I have ever come up with, other than just pants-wetting levels of selfishness and internal unsatisfiable misery, is that what they really want is to be is so mind-numbingly Rockefeller level rich and powerful that they'll do anything to get it. They can't yet do anything and be sure they'll feel no consequence so obviously they're not done.
My backup theory is that they already see themselves that way and just can't understand that they may do this and find themselves actually having to knuckle under to someone else.
posted by phearlez at 8:42 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
Another purged in the Night of the Long Moustache
Ricky Waddell, the No. 2 official on the National Security Council (NSC), plans to leave his post as new national security adviser John Bolton seeks to form his own team.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
Ricky Waddell, the No. 2 official on the National Security Council (NSC), plans to leave his post as new national security adviser John Bolton seeks to form his own team.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
(Correction: not Iraqi forces, but the "Syrian Democratic Forces" who are a motely crew in control of northeastern Syria with American help. Battle of Mosul was Iraqi forces. What a mess we've made)
posted by dis_integration at 8:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by dis_integration at 8:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, Sean Hannity - that's unofficial presidential advisor Sean Hannity
Surely you mean Probable Serial Sexual Harasser Sean Hannity (NBC News, long-ish). Axios explainer is pithier:
Surely you mean Probable Serial Sexual Harasser Sean Hannity (NBC News, long-ish). Axios explainer is pithier:
The accusation: Debbie Schlussel told Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station KFAQ that Hannity repeatedly attempted to lure her to his hotel during a book signing event in Detroit. She said Hannity called her after the show and yelled at her, "it was made clear to me that I didn't go back to his hotel with him after."posted by saysthis at 8:44 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
The defense: Hannity told the New York Daily News that Schlussel has been lying about him for "well over a decade" and that she "has a history of making provably false statements against me in an effort to slander, smear and besmirch" his reputation.
WaPo: The GOP’s new pro-Trump spin on Comey is utter nonsense
CNN reports that Republicans will argue that Comey overstepped his boundaries — a reference in part to his decision to announce at a July 2016 news conference that he had closed the probe into Clinton while also strongly criticizing her. Republicans, then, will cite Comey’s handling of the Clinton investigation, and Democratic criticism of it, as reasons that we should question Comey’s credibility.posted by chris24 at 8:47 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
But at the time, Republicans themselves repeatedly used Comey’s criticism at that press conference as ammunition against then-candidate Clinton. This includes the Republican National Committee, which ran ads featuring footage of Comey’s presser. Trump himself quoted Comey’s comments to blast Clinton (though he completely misrepresented those comments) as a “disgrace and and embarrassment to our country.” The Republican argument, then, is that Comey’s criticism of Clinton — which Republicans and Trump themselves repeatedly cited — is grounds to question his credibility right now.
This display of disingenuous bad-faith nonsense mirrors what we’ve seen right from the top. Trump himself absurdly used Comey’s handling of the Clinton email probe as his phony pretext for firing Comey, even though he had wielded Comey’s criticism as campaign ammo. Now he’s going to cite it to delegitimize Comey’s criticism of his own conduct in trying to obstruct and derail the investigation into his and his cronies’ conduct, a good deal of which is a matter of public record at this point.
Republicans will muddy the waters further around this by pointing out that Democrats criticized that Comey conduct then, and by arguing that they are merely making the same argument now that Democrats did. Republicans will say on this basis that if Democrats currently seize on Comey’s criticism of Trump, it’s inconsistent. But there simply isn’t an equivalent inconsistency here. The Democratic argument is that Comey’s conduct toward Clinton was wrong — their argument is still the same on this front — and that Comey’s current testimony about Trump’s conduct has legitimate revelatory value.
We should of course reserve judgment about the second point until we hear what Comey has to say. But there’s nothing inherently contradictory or inconsistent about making those two arguments simultaneously. Both of them can easily coexist as correct. Comey’s current claims very well may have inherent news value for what they tell us about the current president’s conduct — we can evaluate these claims against an existing set of known facts about that conduct — and there’s no reason that critics of Comey’s previous conduct toward Clinton are somehow disqualified from saying so.
Republicans are not simply offering an argument that is the partisan inverse of the Democratic argument. If they were doing that, they’d say something like, “Comey was right when he criticized Clinton, but he’s wrong about Trump.” But they are saying something different, something like this: “Even though we cited Comey’s criticism of Clinton at the time, we’re now saying he was wrong to offer it, which proves his criticism of Trump is not to be believed.”
This is just the old Republican fog machine at work. And it may be effective. But observers who succumb to the seductive idea that there is an equivalence in partisan rhetorical gamesmanship here will just be rewarding the asymmetric disingenuousness and bad faith that suffuses the GOP argument, by helping to spread the confusion — and distraction from potentially legitimate revelations about Trump’s conduct — that it is designed to sow.
Comey is not a Democratic ally
He doesn't have to be. We can hold multiple thoughts in our head at once. Thought 1: He handled the Clinton investigations incredibly poorly, totally misread, like, everything, and handed the election to the guy no one thought would win and he is extremely culpable for that. Thought 2: Trump committed obstruction of justice right to this same guy's face, and he's now calling him on it publicly, which he should because that's a crime and the man is, or was, a cop. These are not contradictory thoughts. He's not running for Democratic office, he's not pitching himself as a Democratic strategist or fund-raiser. He doesn't have to be a Democratic ally in order to provide valuable information about and push-back against the crimes being committed by the President of the United States.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:49 AM on April 12, 2018 [170 favorites]
He doesn't have to be. We can hold multiple thoughts in our head at once. Thought 1: He handled the Clinton investigations incredibly poorly, totally misread, like, everything, and handed the election to the guy no one thought would win and he is extremely culpable for that. Thought 2: Trump committed obstruction of justice right to this same guy's face, and he's now calling him on it publicly, which he should because that's a crime and the man is, or was, a cop. These are not contradictory thoughts. He's not running for Democratic office, he's not pitching himself as a Democratic strategist or fund-raiser. He doesn't have to be a Democratic ally in order to provide valuable information about and push-back against the crimes being committed by the President of the United States.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:49 AM on April 12, 2018 [170 favorites]
Allies and friends are not the same thing. Alliances are about strategy and temporary mutual benefit. Jim Comey is absolutely not a friend, nor are the NeverTrump Republicans like Bill Kristol who many of us find ourselves uncomfortably agreeing with. In other contexts they will be foes, but at the moment, our interests are aligned. That's what alliances are. You don't have to like or trust your allies, merely understand that it is to your personal benefit to work with them, or at least not fight against them, as long as their interests align with yours.
The time for recriminations against Comey will come if and when we save the republic from Trump and his allies. In the meantime, we only hurt ourselves by focusing on attacking him. It is certainly valuable to remind ourselves that he's not our friend and not to be trusted with our long-term interests, but right now we need him, and we do ourselves no favors but undercutting his integrity regarding his criticisms of Trump.
posted by biogeo at 8:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
The time for recriminations against Comey will come if and when we save the republic from Trump and his allies. In the meantime, we only hurt ourselves by focusing on attacking him. It is certainly valuable to remind ourselves that he's not our friend and not to be trusted with our long-term interests, but right now we need him, and we do ourselves no favors but undercutting his integrity regarding his criticisms of Trump.
posted by biogeo at 8:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
TIME's new cover is pretty great. "TIME’s new cover: Donald Trump relied on Michael Cohen to weather the storm. Now the President is on his own"
posted by christopherious at 8:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by christopherious at 8:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
Emphasis mine: ...that the president had fathered an illegitimate child with an employee at Trump World Tower...
I really dislike that term, even though I know everyone understands what it means when it's used. It originates with the old laws that treated a child born out of wedlock differently than others. Today, the child is not the illegitimate person in this equation. It's at most one of the two parents.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:55 AM on April 12, 2018 [35 favorites]
I really dislike that term, even though I know everyone understands what it means when it's used. It originates with the old laws that treated a child born out of wedlock differently than others. Today, the child is not the illegitimate person in this equation. It's at most one of the two parents.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:55 AM on April 12, 2018 [35 favorites]
Comey is not a Democratic ally
Neither is anyone Mueller is flipping in his investigations, but we'll take their damaging/incriminating information, thank you.
posted by mikepop at 8:56 AM on April 12, 2018 [67 favorites]
Neither is anyone Mueller is flipping in his investigations, but we'll take their damaging/incriminating information, thank you.
posted by mikepop at 8:56 AM on April 12, 2018 [67 favorites]
Yeah, good on Kotick to get out. I wish he had backed Kierstead instead of Rouda, though.
posted by notyou at 8:57 AM on April 12, 2018
posted by notyou at 8:57 AM on April 12, 2018
Ryan may be forced out of the speakership by summer.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:08 AM on April 12, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 9:08 AM on April 12, 2018 [16 favorites]
Jason Schwartz, Politico: MSNBC’s surging ratings fuel Democratic optimism
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Fox News and CNN both lost viewers from the first quarter of 2017 to the first quarter of 2018 — dropping 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively — as did pretty much every major cable network, according to Nielsen. MSNBC, on the other hand, surged to a 30 percent gain in the same period.The article further notes that some Democratic operatives see MSNBC as a fundraising tool.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Comey is not a Democratic ally
Neither is anyone Mueller is flipping in his investigations,
lots of talk for the past few years about divided America, Republicans vs Democrats, Right vs Left, progress vs regress, whatever. With no solid sense as to how this might be mended. How do you get back to a nation of differences that is not hopelessly DIVIDED?
Could it be as simple as, "forget your affiliations and/or biases, what about The Law?" Which, of course, isn't simple at all. Nevertheless here we are, angling closer and closer to a question that is perhaps more divisive than any other, but it's a different sort of divide:
Do you believe in the rule of law?
posted by philip-random at 9:18 AM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
Neither is anyone Mueller is flipping in his investigations,
lots of talk for the past few years about divided America, Republicans vs Democrats, Right vs Left, progress vs regress, whatever. With no solid sense as to how this might be mended. How do you get back to a nation of differences that is not hopelessly DIVIDED?
Could it be as simple as, "forget your affiliations and/or biases, what about The Law?" Which, of course, isn't simple at all. Nevertheless here we are, angling closer and closer to a question that is perhaps more divisive than any other, but it's a different sort of divide:
Do you believe in the rule of law?
posted by philip-random at 9:18 AM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
From WaPo: The Daily 202: Paul Ryan’s party is over (By James Hohmann, with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve)
-- Stop mistaking Trumpism for conservatism. Most of the press coverage in the past 24 hours says matter-of-factly that the party has moved to the right. That’s not quite correct. The party has moved toward Trump, who has redefined modern conservatism in his more nationalistic mold and made what was historically a movement of ideas into, mostly, a cult of personality. “Ryan’s retirement means America no longer has a conservative party,” observes The Post’s Editorial Board. “Republicans are decreasingly conservative and increasingly reactionary.”posted by ZeusHumms at 9:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
The conventional wisdom when Trump took office was that Ryan would be in the driver’s seat on policymaking because the new president didn’t have many core convictions. While the speaker has played a hugely consequential role at shaping what the tax overhaul looked like, for example, the chattering class underestimated Trump’s penchant for disruption and domination.
Do you believe in the rule of law?
The problem with this is that the law does not automatically equal justice. The law is enforced unjustly, against people of color, against those without means to defend themselves. The law is rarely enforced against politicians, the wealthy, financiers, and cops. The rule of law is not a unifier in an unjust society.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:24 AM on April 12, 2018 [47 favorites]
The problem with this is that the law does not automatically equal justice. The law is enforced unjustly, against people of color, against those without means to defend themselves. The law is rarely enforced against politicians, the wealthy, financiers, and cops. The rule of law is not a unifier in an unjust society.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:24 AM on April 12, 2018 [47 favorites]
I really dislike that term, even though I know everyone understands what it means when it's used. It originates with the old laws that treated a child born out of wedlock differently than others. Today, the child is not the illegitimate person in this equation. It's at most one of the two parents.
For what it's worth, the AP Stylebook agrees with you.
For what it's worth, the AP Stylebook agrees with you.
illegitimate Do not refer to the child of unmarried parents as illegitimate. If it is pertinent to the story at all, use an expression such as whose parents were not married.posted by phearlez at 9:31 AM on April 12, 2018 [27 favorites]
The article further notes that some Democratic operatives see MSNBC as a fundraising tool.
"Some Democratic operatives" should have their vocal cords disabled.
Comey is not a Democratic ally
Politics is a game of alliances. If you're drop-dead partisan about Comey, I'd say it's likely you're just as tribal as the FoxNewsians on the right.
posted by rhizome at 9:33 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
"Some Democratic operatives" should have their vocal cords disabled.
Comey is not a Democratic ally
Politics is a game of alliances. If you're drop-dead partisan about Comey, I'd say it's likely you're just as tribal as the FoxNewsians on the right.
posted by rhizome at 9:33 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
The rule of law is not a unifier in an unjust society.
I guess that the evidence speaks for itself.
The law is enforced unjustly, against people of color, against those without means to defend themselves. The law is rarely enforced against politicians, the wealthy, financiers, and cops.
But that said, how do we get to justice without some sense of what the law might be? I mean, whose Justice are we talking about here? In America, I'm assuming its basis would be the Constitution, or else what are we talking about?
The failures seem to be failures of implementation, no?
posted by philip-random at 9:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
I guess that the evidence speaks for itself.
The law is enforced unjustly, against people of color, against those without means to defend themselves. The law is rarely enforced against politicians, the wealthy, financiers, and cops.
But that said, how do we get to justice without some sense of what the law might be? I mean, whose Justice are we talking about here? In America, I'm assuming its basis would be the Constitution, or else what are we talking about?
The failures seem to be failures of implementation, no?
posted by philip-random at 9:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
-- Stop mistaking Trumpism for conservatism. Most of the press coverage in the past 24 hours says matter-of-factly that the party has moved to the right. That’s not quite correct. The party has moved toward Trump, who has redefined modern conservatism in his more nationalistic mold and made what was historically a movement of ideas into, mostly, a cult of personality. “Ryan’s retirement means America no longer has a conservative party,” observes The Post’s Editorial Board. “Republicans are decreasingly conservative and increasingly reactionary.”
Absolute nonsense! Anybody who wished to look at what conservatives say to each other, particularly when they think everybody else isn't looking, can tell you that nothing has changed in the Republican Party except how open they are willing to be about who they are and what they believe. Trump has changed the party, but only in their aesthetics, not in policy!
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:45 AM on April 12, 2018 [50 favorites]
Absolute nonsense! Anybody who wished to look at what conservatives say to each other, particularly when they think everybody else isn't looking, can tell you that nothing has changed in the Republican Party except how open they are willing to be about who they are and what they believe. Trump has changed the party, but only in their aesthetics, not in policy!
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:45 AM on April 12, 2018 [50 favorites]
Former Pruitt aide alleges litany of wasteful spending, extravagant travel by EPA chief, in which a former Trump campaign aide and Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff for operations traveled to cities because he wanted to go there rather than for official business, asked his staff to "find reasons" to get home to Oklahoma over the weekends, and insisted on flying Delta for the frequent flyer miles, among other ethical failings.
---
@Kevinliptakcnn: Sen. Roberts says @realDonaldTrump said during meeting that he has assigned advisers including Larry Kudlow to take another look at TPP. Sen. Sasse says Trump deputized Kudlow along with Robert Lighthizer to look at reentering TPP. Sasse says Trump suggested it might be “easier to join now” that eleven other nations have come to an agreement.
Some commentators think this is a case of Trump telling everyone what they want to hear (Trump previously likened TPP to sexual assault), though it's also possible he came around to the idea that his mission to fight with China is best achieved through some kind of partnership with other nations...across the Pacific...
That he doesn't realize that "easier to join now" means we don't get to write the damn thing in negotiations is part of the problem.
posted by zachlipton at 9:45 AM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
---
@Kevinliptakcnn: Sen. Roberts says @realDonaldTrump said during meeting that he has assigned advisers including Larry Kudlow to take another look at TPP. Sen. Sasse says Trump deputized Kudlow along with Robert Lighthizer to look at reentering TPP. Sasse says Trump suggested it might be “easier to join now” that eleven other nations have come to an agreement.
Some commentators think this is a case of Trump telling everyone what they want to hear (Trump previously likened TPP to sexual assault), though it's also possible he came around to the idea that his mission to fight with China is best achieved through some kind of partnership with other nations...across the Pacific...
That he doesn't realize that "easier to join now" means we don't get to write the damn thing in negotiations is part of the problem.
posted by zachlipton at 9:45 AM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
I presume Pruitt is one of those computer-illiterate types who creates a new email account every time he forgets his password.
Looking at those usernames I can guarantee none of their passwords is very strong. Man has very limited imagination.
posted by scalefree at 9:46 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
Looking at those usernames I can guarantee none of their passwords is very strong. Man has very limited imagination.
posted by scalefree at 9:46 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.
Sounds like Trump to Bannon: message received, and go fuck yourself
posted by zachlipton at 9:48 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
Sounds like Trump to Bannon: message received, and go fuck yourself
posted by zachlipton at 9:48 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
I don't care if Comey is an ally or not. If he allows the dam to crack a little more as far as Trump is concerned, I'll take it. I'm not worried about getting things done right now, we need to stop as much harm as possible and go from there. Stabilize the patient (aka the country), then start fixing things. How we get there is a bridge we'll cross when we get to it.
posted by azpenguin at 9:50 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 9:50 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
Trump previously likened TPP to sexual assault
Sorry! I naturally assumed that was an old story from the campaign era. Nope, it's from 15 minutes ago. He ordered his advisors to look at reenetering it and insulted everyone who cares about sexual assault and/or trade policy by comparing it to rape? What the hell?
posted by zachlipton at 9:51 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
Sorry! I naturally assumed that was an old story from the campaign era. Nope, it's from 15 minutes ago. He ordered his advisors to look at reenetering it and insulted everyone who cares about sexual assault and/or trade policy by comparing it to rape? What the hell?
posted by zachlipton at 9:51 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
Regarding TPP, That he doesn't realize that "easier to join now" means we don't get to write the damn thing in negotiations is part of the problem.
Maybe this is one of those stopped clock moments where Trump manages to get the result I'd want (the deal without all the insane copyright/IP giveaways and other sops to US companies) for all the wrong reasons. Though I'm sure he'll find a way to fuck it up even more.
posted by phearlez at 9:51 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
Maybe this is one of those stopped clock moments where Trump manages to get the result I'd want (the deal without all the insane copyright/IP giveaways and other sops to US companies) for all the wrong reasons. Though I'm sure he'll find a way to fuck it up even more.
posted by phearlez at 9:51 AM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
Meanwhile, Sean Hannity - that's unofficial presidential advisor Sean Hannity - has begun the assault on Comey on Fox: "Comey wouldn't know a real mob boss if he investigated one for an illegal server", "If Comey is really looking for mobsters at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he missed one - the Clinton crime family.", "With apologies to Don Corleone, come on my show, Jim. Act like a man!"
That’s pretty rich coming from Sean Hannity. Has he EVER appeared on a show that wasn’t his own, or at least friendly territory? Say what you will about Bill O’Reilly (disgusting, bloviating, douche-bag, what-have-you), he at least had the intestinal fortitude to appear on shows like The Colbert Report and even had a sense of humor about it. Hannity is a pathetic coward and a bully and I would relish the opportunity to say that directly to his pusillanimous, porcine face. And I hope Comey goes on Hannity’s show and does the very same.
posted by wabbittwax at 9:52 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
That’s pretty rich coming from Sean Hannity. Has he EVER appeared on a show that wasn’t his own, or at least friendly territory? Say what you will about Bill O’Reilly (disgusting, bloviating, douche-bag, what-have-you), he at least had the intestinal fortitude to appear on shows like The Colbert Report and even had a sense of humor about it. Hannity is a pathetic coward and a bully and I would relish the opportunity to say that directly to his pusillanimous, porcine face. And I hope Comey goes on Hannity’s show and does the very same.
posted by wabbittwax at 9:52 AM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
News outlets using euphemisms for rape instead of saying rape is infinitely more infuriating than their reluctance to call liars liars.
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:52 AM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:52 AM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
Senator Menendez (D-NJ) is essentially accusing Mike Pompeo of obstruction of justice.
And if there's one thing Senator Bob Menendez knows, it's public servants abusing our trust!
I can't believe this guy is gonna coast to re-election. Surely the people of New Jersey can find a better Democrat?
posted by Justinian at 10:00 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
And if there's one thing Senator Bob Menendez knows, it's public servants abusing our trust!
I can't believe this guy is gonna coast to re-election. Surely the people of New Jersey can find a better Democrat?
posted by Justinian at 10:00 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
New Jersey is still basically a machine state.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:02 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:02 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
The problem with this is that the law does not automatically equal justice. The law is enforced unjustly, against people of color, against those without means to defend themselves. The law is rarely enforced against politicians, the wealthy, financiers, and cops. The rule of law is not a unifier in an unjust society.
This is not contradictory to the need for the rule of law. The rule of law is necessary, but not sufficient, for a just society. This is like saying that a beating heart does not automatically equal health, and its action of pumping blood through the body also acts to disseminate toxic substances that can be fatal. It's technically true, but kind of missing the source of the problem, and suggests a "solution" that would actually be lethal.
posted by biogeo at 10:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
This is not contradictory to the need for the rule of law. The rule of law is necessary, but not sufficient, for a just society. This is like saying that a beating heart does not automatically equal health, and its action of pumping blood through the body also acts to disseminate toxic substances that can be fatal. It's technically true, but kind of missing the source of the problem, and suggests a "solution" that would actually be lethal.
posted by biogeo at 10:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
There may be frogmarching.
One can only hope, apparently. That Greitens testimony is so chilling. It's amazing that in a gunsoaked lawless state like [insert your state here], that guy isn't immediately shot by everyone in range.
posted by petebest at 10:09 AM on April 12, 2018
One can only hope, apparently. That Greitens testimony is so chilling. It's amazing that in a gunsoaked lawless state like [insert your state here], that guy isn't immediately shot by everyone in range.
posted by petebest at 10:09 AM on April 12, 2018
@peterbakernyt: Scalise clears the way for McCarthy to become speaker. "I've never run against Kevin and wouldn't run against Kevin,” he tells @FoxNews. "He and I are good friends.” [Fox News clip]
Promises don't always stay promised, but that now means the "I think Putin pays" Trump guy is now the frontrunner for Speaker of the House.
posted by zachlipton at 10:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
Promises don't always stay promised, but that now means the "I think Putin pays" Trump guy is now the frontrunner for Speaker of the House.
posted by zachlipton at 10:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
Context of my earlier comment re: rape.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:12 AM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:12 AM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
How do you get back to a nation of differences that is not hopelessly DIVIDED?
You kick out all the Americans and let someone else use it for a while. Maybe Canada; they may be divided but at least they'll usually be polite about it.
The Teahadis' answer is to rig the media and news sources so that any arguments against their narrative as to what America is, what it stands for and who is a real American citizen get shouted down and ignored. There are no significant divisions if only one side matters. Rigging the laws and the FCC to enable seamless and symmetrical multimedia barrages is their greatest achievement and their best weapon for winning (and stealing) elections.
Do you believe in the Rule of Law?
Which in and of itself is not enough. That question is one of Hannity's favorite mantras, repeated umpteen times a day as he rails on about Hillary's Many Felonies and Rigged Investigations and Exoneration Before Investigation and Corrupt Clinton Foundation Billions and No Equal Justice Under The Law.
And, well, of course there is no equal justice under the law but not quite the way he means it. It's a simple formula: if you are rich enough and influential enough, you will never face a jury for anything meaningful. Ever. Partly because you can afford the best legal teams possible, partly because you have sway in the circles that would bring charges in the first place, partly because generally you don't get to be that rich and influential without understanding the first rule of committing crimes: DON'T PUT YOUR OWN FINGERPRINTS ON THE GUN. YOU HAVE PEOPLE FOR THAT.
This is why I have high hopes that Trump flunkies will do time but zero expectation that Trump will ever be indicted, let alone convicted of anything. Because even he likely gets the idea that that's why political hitmen exist; to say what you can't, do the dirty work you shouldn't, and to take the fall if a fall must be taken. Trump has these hitmen; half-a-dozen are in Mueller's clutches right now. But just like how Al Capone only got hit for tax evasion, there are enough layers between Trump and Putin that I don't believe that a solid enough line will ever be able to be drawn and proven. It's going to take money-related issues (of which there are plenty, but return to that Rich and Influential part above) to even attempt to tar Trump personally.
I have no illusions that Hillary is 100% clean, either. No one spends a quarter-century immersed in DC and walks away with tidy hands. That grain of truth is all that conservatives need to keep that No Equal Justice chant going, even if what they're doing is tribalistic demanding harsh penalties for their opponents' minor offenses and treating their own felonies like parking tickets.
posted by delfin at 10:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
You kick out all the Americans and let someone else use it for a while. Maybe Canada; they may be divided but at least they'll usually be polite about it.
The Teahadis' answer is to rig the media and news sources so that any arguments against their narrative as to what America is, what it stands for and who is a real American citizen get shouted down and ignored. There are no significant divisions if only one side matters. Rigging the laws and the FCC to enable seamless and symmetrical multimedia barrages is their greatest achievement and their best weapon for winning (and stealing) elections.
Do you believe in the Rule of Law?
Which in and of itself is not enough. That question is one of Hannity's favorite mantras, repeated umpteen times a day as he rails on about Hillary's Many Felonies and Rigged Investigations and Exoneration Before Investigation and Corrupt Clinton Foundation Billions and No Equal Justice Under The Law.
And, well, of course there is no equal justice under the law but not quite the way he means it. It's a simple formula: if you are rich enough and influential enough, you will never face a jury for anything meaningful. Ever. Partly because you can afford the best legal teams possible, partly because you have sway in the circles that would bring charges in the first place, partly because generally you don't get to be that rich and influential without understanding the first rule of committing crimes: DON'T PUT YOUR OWN FINGERPRINTS ON THE GUN. YOU HAVE PEOPLE FOR THAT.
This is why I have high hopes that Trump flunkies will do time but zero expectation that Trump will ever be indicted, let alone convicted of anything. Because even he likely gets the idea that that's why political hitmen exist; to say what you can't, do the dirty work you shouldn't, and to take the fall if a fall must be taken. Trump has these hitmen; half-a-dozen are in Mueller's clutches right now. But just like how Al Capone only got hit for tax evasion, there are enough layers between Trump and Putin that I don't believe that a solid enough line will ever be able to be drawn and proven. It's going to take money-related issues (of which there are plenty, but return to that Rich and Influential part above) to even attempt to tar Trump personally.
I have no illusions that Hillary is 100% clean, either. No one spends a quarter-century immersed in DC and walks away with tidy hands. That grain of truth is all that conservatives need to keep that No Equal Justice chant going, even if what they're doing is tribalistic demanding harsh penalties for their opponents' minor offenses and treating their own felonies like parking tickets.
posted by delfin at 10:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Promises don't always stay promised, but that now means the "I think Putin pays" Trump guy is now the frontrunner for Speaker of the House.
And right after saying that, he was encouraged to keep it secret when Steve Scalise said “That's how you know that we're tight" and Paul Ryan said “What's said in the family stays in the family.”
You better believe that the gavel is in part a reward for silence.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
And right after saying that, he was encouraged to keep it secret when Steve Scalise said “That's how you know that we're tight" and Paul Ryan said “What's said in the family stays in the family.”
You better believe that the gavel is in part a reward for silence.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:16 AM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
>Do you believe in the rule of law?
The problem with this is that the law does not automatically equal justice
I came up with a nice formulation for my thoughts on this.
1) I believe that nobody is above the law. No "divine right of kings" no fricking "droit du seigneur" no "l'état, c'est moi" no "if the president does it, it's not illegal." There are written rules which anyone can look up, and they apply to the rich as well as the poor, the powerful as well as the weak. This is the proposition that people are usually defending when they defend "the rule of law."
2) It's okay if some powerless people are beneath the notice of the law. Their actions are already constrained by their powerlessness. They can't do very much harm. It's the powerful who most need to be constrained by the law, since that may be the ONLY constraint on the amount of harm they can do.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:20 AM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
The problem with this is that the law does not automatically equal justice
I came up with a nice formulation for my thoughts on this.
1) I believe that nobody is above the law. No "divine right of kings" no fricking "droit du seigneur" no "l'état, c'est moi" no "if the president does it, it's not illegal." There are written rules which anyone can look up, and they apply to the rich as well as the poor, the powerful as well as the weak. This is the proposition that people are usually defending when they defend "the rule of law."
2) It's okay if some powerless people are beneath the notice of the law. Their actions are already constrained by their powerlessness. They can't do very much harm. It's the powerful who most need to be constrained by the law, since that may be the ONLY constraint on the amount of harm they can do.
posted by OnceUponATime at 10:20 AM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
I have no illusions that Hillary is 100% clean, either.
an important thing to make note of in this the year of our lord 2018
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [118 favorites]
an important thing to make note of in this the year of our lord 2018
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [118 favorites]
No one spends a quarter-century immersed in DC and walks away with tidy hands.
I'm so tired of this lie.
posted by biogeo at 10:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [90 favorites]
I'm so tired of this lie.
posted by biogeo at 10:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [90 favorites]
How do you get back to a nation of differences that is not hopelessly DIVIDED?
I don't see evidence of such a nation in our history. We wouldn't even war with Nazi Germany until Pearl Harbor (three years after the war started.)
posted by rc3spencer at 10:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
I don't see evidence of such a nation in our history. We wouldn't even war with Nazi Germany until Pearl Harbor (three years after the war started.)
posted by rc3spencer at 10:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
@JaxAlemany: A source tells me that Trump called yesterday and asked source to go on TV to call for Trump to fire Mueller.
This remake of Inception sucks.
Also, the Comey book drip-drip continues with James Comey: John Kelly Called Trump ‘Dishonorable’ for Firing Me.
Well seeing as Trump is obviously a man who cares a great deal about honor, that will really show him.
posted by zachlipton at 10:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [22 favorites]
This remake of Inception sucks.
Also, the Comey book drip-drip continues with James Comey: John Kelly Called Trump ‘Dishonorable’ for Firing Me.
Well seeing as Trump is obviously a man who cares a great deal about honor, that will really show him.
posted by zachlipton at 10:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [22 favorites]
I now have all of the tweets in the corpus scored on the Dale-Chall readability formula, ratio of capital letters to all letters, number of isolated capitals, and occurrences of a list of adjectives like "bad", "fake", and "great". I may start playing around with TensorFlow tomorrow.
Meant to post this before: Text analysis of Trump's tweets confirms he writes only the (angrier) Android half. It's done using the twitteR R* package. It's got some interesting classifiers, particularly
I suspect there is some confounding in that his ghostwriter/s seem to mimic his style to a degree in some respects/tweets, presumably to curry favour with him rather than as a forensic countermeasure.
* Personally I'd go for feeding him to Pandas on Jupyter, but mostly just so I could say I did.
posted by Buntix at 10:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
Meant to post this before: Text analysis of Trump's tweets confirms he writes only the (angrier) Android half. It's done using the twitteR R* package. It's got some interesting classifiers, particularly
Thus, Trump’s Android account uses about 40-80% more words related to disgust, sadness, fear, anger, and other “negative” sentiments than the iPhone account does. (The positive emotions weren’t different to a statistically significant extent).The 'disgust' related words (and phrases such as 'like a dog') do seem to be a major tell of his. Similarly his use of the word 'clean'. [vice news supercut video of Trump saying clean. 2:17]
I suspect there is some confounding in that his ghostwriter/s seem to mimic his style to a degree in some respects/tweets, presumably to curry favour with him rather than as a forensic countermeasure.
* Personally I'd go for feeding him to Pandas on Jupyter, but mostly just so I could say I did.
posted by Buntix at 10:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
That’s pretty rich coming from Sean Hannity. Has he EVER appeared on a show that wasn’t his own, or at least friendly territory? Say what you will about Bill O’Reilly (disgusting, bloviating, douche-bag, what-have-you), he at least had the intestinal fortitude to appear on shows like The Colbert Report and even had a sense of humor about it. Hannity is a pathetic coward and a bully and I would relish the opportunity to say that directly to his pusillanimous, porcine face. And I hope Comey goes on Hannity’s show and does the very same.
We're also just shy of nine years since beacon of courage Sean Hannity promised he'd be waterboarded to prove it's not torture and he still owes us that.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
We're also just shy of nine years since beacon of courage Sean Hannity promised he'd be waterboarded to prove it's not torture and he still owes us that.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:36 AM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
James Comey: John Kelly Called Trump ‘Dishonorable’ for Firing Me.
Well seeing as Trump is obviously a man who cares a great deal about honor, that will really show him.
No, but Kelly taking Comey's side will drive Trump nuts and lead to even more disfunction if not Kelly's dismissal.
posted by chris24 at 10:41 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Well seeing as Trump is obviously a man who cares a great deal about honor, that will really show him.
No, but Kelly taking Comey's side will drive Trump nuts and lead to even more disfunction if not Kelly's dismissal.
posted by chris24 at 10:41 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Greitens watch: Missouri Senate Majority Leader calls on him to resign.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
No one spends a quarter-century immersed in DC and walks away with tidy hands.
My mother and my aunt spent their careers as civil servants in DC. My grandfather spent his career as a civil servant in DC. My great great grandfather was a civil servant in DC.
DC is full of people who spend their lives doing their best to serve their country doing unglamorous, largely unnoticed work. As a general class, these are people who believe in their government, believe in public service, and believe in doing their jobs honestly and well. These are people who advise elected officials, who implement their decisions, and who hold them accountable as whistleblowers when they violate the law.
The idea that DC is a tremendously corrupt place is a carefully cultivated lie by those who want us to believe that good governance is impossible, and that the federal government in particular is an enemy that needs to be weakened or destroyed. This is a campaign that has been waged for decades, finding its most powerful voice in Reagan with his lie about the most frightening words being "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Its apotheosis was Trump's "Drain the swamp!" line, and current manifestation is the "Deep State" conspiracy theories on the Right.
The reality is that the United States has enjoyed remarkably low levels of public corruption over the last century, thanks in large part to the culture of civil service in DC. But by falsely painting DC as a den of corruption, those who want to exploit the government for corrupt purposes have conditioned the public to be incapable of telling the difference between normal political conflict and negotiation and actual corruption, preparing the way for their own corrupt behavior to seem relatively benign compared to the public's false perceptions of what already happens. And thus we have the era of Trump, where all the most corrupt individuals in politics are now free to smash and grab whatever they can, and the civil service of DC finds itself powerless to defend the interests of a public which despises them.
So yeah. I'm really tired of the lie that a career spent in DC as a public servant, elected or otherwise, necessarily entails some level of corruption. This is exactly the lie that brought us to where we are now, and... I'm just so, so tired.
posted by biogeo at 10:49 AM on April 12, 2018 [322 favorites]
My mother and my aunt spent their careers as civil servants in DC. My grandfather spent his career as a civil servant in DC. My great great grandfather was a civil servant in DC.
DC is full of people who spend their lives doing their best to serve their country doing unglamorous, largely unnoticed work. As a general class, these are people who believe in their government, believe in public service, and believe in doing their jobs honestly and well. These are people who advise elected officials, who implement their decisions, and who hold them accountable as whistleblowers when they violate the law.
The idea that DC is a tremendously corrupt place is a carefully cultivated lie by those who want us to believe that good governance is impossible, and that the federal government in particular is an enemy that needs to be weakened or destroyed. This is a campaign that has been waged for decades, finding its most powerful voice in Reagan with his lie about the most frightening words being "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Its apotheosis was Trump's "Drain the swamp!" line, and current manifestation is the "Deep State" conspiracy theories on the Right.
The reality is that the United States has enjoyed remarkably low levels of public corruption over the last century, thanks in large part to the culture of civil service in DC. But by falsely painting DC as a den of corruption, those who want to exploit the government for corrupt purposes have conditioned the public to be incapable of telling the difference between normal political conflict and negotiation and actual corruption, preparing the way for their own corrupt behavior to seem relatively benign compared to the public's false perceptions of what already happens. And thus we have the era of Trump, where all the most corrupt individuals in politics are now free to smash and grab whatever they can, and the civil service of DC finds itself powerless to defend the interests of a public which despises them.
So yeah. I'm really tired of the lie that a career spent in DC as a public servant, elected or otherwise, necessarily entails some level of corruption. This is exactly the lie that brought us to where we are now, and... I'm just so, so tired.
posted by biogeo at 10:49 AM on April 12, 2018 [322 favorites]
* Personally I'd go for feeding him to Pandas on Jupyter, but mostly just so I could say I did.
Tucker Carlson says they're both vicious biters & sex starved so it'd be an interesting death for sure.
posted by scalefree at 10:50 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Tucker Carlson says they're both vicious biters & sex starved so it'd be an interesting death for sure.
posted by scalefree at 10:50 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Doug Jones becomes 46th co-sponsor of Equality Act, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to civil rights law.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:52 AM on April 12, 2018 [81 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:52 AM on April 12, 2018 [81 favorites]
Doktor Zed: "There will come a time when Comey will face his own reckoning."
Whether or not I agree with your greater message, this is nonsensical. Where is W's reckoning? Where was Reagan's? The evil among us continue to do so unless we call them out. The people who insist we ignore their crimes until a later date are the people who are staving off that reckoning forever.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
Whether or not I agree with your greater message, this is nonsensical. Where is W's reckoning? Where was Reagan's? The evil among us continue to do so unless we call them out. The people who insist we ignore their crimes until a later date are the people who are staving off that reckoning forever.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:53 AM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
I assumed Zed meant when Comey met his hypothetical creator and was judged, which is apparently something some folks believe.
posted by Justinian at 11:06 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 11:06 AM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Another day, another Scott Pruitt ethics issue. While he was in Oklahoma, he suppressed a report that looked into wrongdoing by a trust set up by the state to buy homes in two lead-contaminated towns in the Superfund site in the northeast corner of the state. It found “considerable circumstantial evidence that a conspiracy may have existed” and irregularities with the bidding process that resulted in a contractor getting a windfall of more than $1 million.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
(I was thinking more about history judging Comey, though that's cold comfort for us stranded in the present era.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:10 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
"The idea that DC is a tremendously corrupt place is a carefully cultivated lie by those who want us to believe that good governance is impossible, and that the federal government in particular is an enemy that needs to be weakened or destroyed."
Hear hear. This ought to be an explicit part of Democratic messaging. We are the party of good government. We support civil service as an honorable profession, and care about how effectively your taxes are managed and spent for the public good, rather than just the amount you pay. And there needs to be a crystal clear distinction between government and politics. The GOP talking points machine is pretty good and eliding folks disgust with politics with their own hatred of the modern state.
posted by jetsetsc at 11:12 AM on April 12, 2018 [60 favorites]
Hear hear. This ought to be an explicit part of Democratic messaging. We are the party of good government. We support civil service as an honorable profession, and care about how effectively your taxes are managed and spent for the public good, rather than just the amount you pay. And there needs to be a crystal clear distinction between government and politics. The GOP talking points machine is pretty good and eliding folks disgust with politics with their own hatred of the modern state.
posted by jetsetsc at 11:12 AM on April 12, 2018 [60 favorites]
Paul Ryan can’t possibly have made a deal with the Devil (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
Paul Ryan did not make a deal with the devil. That much is obvious.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:13 AM on April 12, 2018 [49 favorites]
His piano-playing has not improved. He has not become any wiser. He has not been able to travel widely and see the great sights of the present and past. Helen of Troy has not made him immortal with a kiss, and he has not gotten to go to a single witches’ sabbath (although he has heard continually about witch hunts).
He has not become able to fly. (Scott Pruitt has, and Tom Price has, often, and at great expense.) There is no picture of him in a closet that ages and becomes hideous while he himself remains boyish. The picture of him that has become more and more embarrassing to look at is the one that appears on TV, every day, where everyone can see it. […]
Some mornings he looks in the mirror and wonders whether it was worth it, just to increase the deficit.
Sometimes — he is almost too afraid to voice the thought aloud — he thinks that increasing the deficit was not always his cherished wish. That it was something different. Something to do with Jack Kemp, maybe.
(He got to see Jack Kemp, once, in a dream, but Jack just looked disappointed and turned away.)
Undermining the institutions of this democracy? Was that the wish? He does not think that was the wish. If he was doing this to protect the institutions, then what were all these hearings casting vague suspicion on the FBI?
He tries to remember.
Trump just had a whole bunch of people thank and praise him for the tax cuts, then they turned up the music and he walked out as the press tried to ask him if he's firing Rosenstein or Mueller.
posted by zachlipton at 11:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 11:21 AM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
You know, I listened to the audiobook of Eric Greitens's autobiography, and he seemed like a very driven but pretty idealistic guy: Rhodes Scholar, involved in charity work, Navy SEAL with multiple deployments, and then started a non-profit to help other veterans.
But at some point he either got high on his own supply or dropped a mask he'd worn for decades, and then the awful assault on that woman. WTH, man?? Your future was wide open in front of you and you chose this?
Rhodes Scholar: does not require you to believe women are people.
Involved in charity work: does not require you to believe women are people.
Navy SEAL: does not require you to believe women are people.
Start non-profit for veterans: does not require you to believe women are people.
He didn't recently choose to become this guy. He's always been this guy. I'm sure he's genuinely very kind, generous, and loyal to people who he believes are actual people. I have a lot of extended family like that. They would shoot a stray dog on their land without hesitation, and if prison weren't a possible outcome, they would do the same to any not-really-people they felt offended by. But they were very loving toward me until I grew my own opinions. It was confusing and disturbing as hell to my younger self.
posted by tllaya at 11:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [130 favorites]
But at some point he either got high on his own supply or dropped a mask he'd worn for decades, and then the awful assault on that woman. WTH, man?? Your future was wide open in front of you and you chose this?
Rhodes Scholar: does not require you to believe women are people.
Involved in charity work: does not require you to believe women are people.
Navy SEAL: does not require you to believe women are people.
Start non-profit for veterans: does not require you to believe women are people.
He didn't recently choose to become this guy. He's always been this guy. I'm sure he's genuinely very kind, generous, and loyal to people who he believes are actual people. I have a lot of extended family like that. They would shoot a stray dog on their land without hesitation, and if prison weren't a possible outcome, they would do the same to any not-really-people they felt offended by. But they were very loving toward me until I grew my own opinions. It was confusing and disturbing as hell to my younger self.
posted by tllaya at 11:23 AM on April 12, 2018 [130 favorites]
How do you get back to a nation of differences that is not hopelessly DIVIDED?
I don't think we were ever undivided. Nor do I think any nation is especially united. People in general tend to be factitious and argumentative. Hell, go to any Star Wars forum and ask what they think of Rogue One and you'll see massive division.
The problem is that America isn't divided on matters of policy, but much more essential matters.
We are divided between those who accept the reality of climate change and those who don't. More generally, we are divided between those who accept reality in general and those who don't.
And most fundamentally we are divided on the quintessential question: is America, or should America be, a multi-ethnic nation based on secular principles and liberty and justice for all, or should America be a white Christian ethnostate with an unofficial (or official) class hierarchy where laws bind but don't protect the lower classes and protect but don't bind the upper classes?
That's not the kind of division where people can just shrug it off and agree to disagree or be friends anyway.
America has **ALWAYS** been a deeply divided nation. The grand sweeping promises of equality and law in our Constitution existed alongside clauses enshrining slavery, reflecting deep divisions from our earliest moments as a nation.
We've occasionally papered over the cracks in emergencies, but mostly America has existed in a sort of low grade pre-civil war with itself for its entire existence.
And the division has always been the same: should America be a white Christian ethnostate with a class system, or should America be a multi-ethnic nation based on liberty, equality, and justice for all?
I'm no more willing to join hands and sing kumbaya with the advocates of white Christian supremacy than they are willing to agree that I'm a "real American". This isn't a matter of Mac vs PC or other superficial and ultimately unimportant differences, this is real and deep and often unbridgable.
*******************************
As for Comey, I don't say we shouldn't take what he gives us in terms of evidence against Trump. But that doesn't mean being nicey nicey with him or pretending that he's a decent person. He made Trump President, there's only one category that such a person fits: enemy. He may be an enemy we can exploit for gain, and if so I say do it. But treating him like he's a decent person is wrong.
posted by sotonohito at 11:31 AM on April 12, 2018 [45 favorites]
I don't think we were ever undivided. Nor do I think any nation is especially united. People in general tend to be factitious and argumentative. Hell, go to any Star Wars forum and ask what they think of Rogue One and you'll see massive division.
The problem is that America isn't divided on matters of policy, but much more essential matters.
We are divided between those who accept the reality of climate change and those who don't. More generally, we are divided between those who accept reality in general and those who don't.
And most fundamentally we are divided on the quintessential question: is America, or should America be, a multi-ethnic nation based on secular principles and liberty and justice for all, or should America be a white Christian ethnostate with an unofficial (or official) class hierarchy where laws bind but don't protect the lower classes and protect but don't bind the upper classes?
That's not the kind of division where people can just shrug it off and agree to disagree or be friends anyway.
America has **ALWAYS** been a deeply divided nation. The grand sweeping promises of equality and law in our Constitution existed alongside clauses enshrining slavery, reflecting deep divisions from our earliest moments as a nation.
We've occasionally papered over the cracks in emergencies, but mostly America has existed in a sort of low grade pre-civil war with itself for its entire existence.
And the division has always been the same: should America be a white Christian ethnostate with a class system, or should America be a multi-ethnic nation based on liberty, equality, and justice for all?
I'm no more willing to join hands and sing kumbaya with the advocates of white Christian supremacy than they are willing to agree that I'm a "real American". This isn't a matter of Mac vs PC or other superficial and ultimately unimportant differences, this is real and deep and often unbridgable.
*******************************
As for Comey, I don't say we shouldn't take what he gives us in terms of evidence against Trump. But that doesn't mean being nicey nicey with him or pretending that he's a decent person. He made Trump President, there's only one category that such a person fits: enemy. He may be an enemy we can exploit for gain, and if so I say do it. But treating him like he's a decent person is wrong.
posted by sotonohito at 11:31 AM on April 12, 2018 [45 favorites]
But that doesn't mean being nicey nicey with him or pretending that he's a decent person.
I like Comey. I watched the speech where he called Clinton irresponsible, and I thought he was tough but fair. Clinton really should have educated herself more about technology, privacy, hacking, etc. (Of course as we saw in the Zuckerberg hearings that applies to pretty much every 60+ year old politician in Washington.) And Lynch really should have stayed away from the Clintons while her Department was investigating them. Neither of those mistakes were criminal actions, but they were mistakes, and it was reasonable for Comey to call them out as it did. Comey's speech did not do any permanent damage to Clinton's polling. In fact, he cleared her of any crimes.
As for the letter just before election day. 1) He wrote that letter to Jason Chaffetz, and sent it privately only to him. Chaffetz is the one who decided to leak it to the press, and I think it might more fairly be called the "Chaffetz letter" than the "Comey letter." 2) I remain fairly convinced that Rudy Giuliani's friends in the New York FBI office would have leaked the existence of those e-mails on Wiener's laptop to the press, even if Comey had not written that letter. I think the risk of those leaks sort of forced Comey's hand.
I think the worst you can really say about Comey is that he has a flair for the dramatic and kind of loves being the center of attention (and it means he can tell a heck of a story, as we saw in the Intelligence Committee hearings). But I believe he was trying to follow the dictates of his conscience, operating under the constraints of a crazy political situation.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:35 AM on April 12, 2018 [36 favorites]
I like Comey. I watched the speech where he called Clinton irresponsible, and I thought he was tough but fair. Clinton really should have educated herself more about technology, privacy, hacking, etc. (Of course as we saw in the Zuckerberg hearings that applies to pretty much every 60+ year old politician in Washington.) And Lynch really should have stayed away from the Clintons while her Department was investigating them. Neither of those mistakes were criminal actions, but they were mistakes, and it was reasonable for Comey to call them out as it did. Comey's speech did not do any permanent damage to Clinton's polling. In fact, he cleared her of any crimes.
As for the letter just before election day. 1) He wrote that letter to Jason Chaffetz, and sent it privately only to him. Chaffetz is the one who decided to leak it to the press, and I think it might more fairly be called the "Chaffetz letter" than the "Comey letter." 2) I remain fairly convinced that Rudy Giuliani's friends in the New York FBI office would have leaked the existence of those e-mails on Wiener's laptop to the press, even if Comey had not written that letter. I think the risk of those leaks sort of forced Comey's hand.
I think the worst you can really say about Comey is that he has a flair for the dramatic and kind of loves being the center of attention (and it means he can tell a heck of a story, as we saw in the Intelligence Committee hearings). But I believe he was trying to follow the dictates of his conscience, operating under the constraints of a crazy political situation.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:35 AM on April 12, 2018 [36 favorites]
Trump just had a whole bunch of people thank and praise him for the tax cuts, then they turned up the music and he walked out as the press tried to ask him if he's firing Rosenstein or Mueller.
It's super normal that I'm enormously relieved that a banal photo op in the Rose Garden didn't end in a constitutional crisis, right.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:39 AM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
It's super normal that I'm enormously relieved that a banal photo op in the Rose Garden didn't end in a constitutional crisis, right.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:39 AM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
I really really wish people would stop asking Trump if he's going to fire Rosenstein or Mueller. The man has no concept of object permanence: maybe if you stop reminding him he won't keep stewing over it.
posted by suelac at 11:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [74 favorites]
posted by suelac at 11:43 AM on April 12, 2018 [74 favorites]
OnceUponATime I'm fairly sure that's the lie he's told himself.
But let's be honest for a moment. Giving Chaffitz the letter was the same as giving it to the press, Comey knew as well as you and I do that Chaffitz would immediately broadcast it far and wide.
Comey knew there were active investigations into Trump, he said nothing. Instead he did his absolute and utmost best to sink Clinton's campaign.
I'm sure he's convinced himself that he was a firm but fair man in an impossible spot who did the best he could. People lie to themselves all the time, it is not our responsibility to believe those lies or to help them maintain those lies. He was a Republican, he helped his Party win the election by sabotaging the Democratic candidate.
In fact, he cleared her of any crimes.
Yes, he said that quietly once, and then loudly denounced her as a very bad person in a protracted televised scolding.
All the while knowing that Trump was under investigations both for his criminal business dealings and for his ties to Russia. that information he chose to withhold from the American people, while he thought that what America really needed to hear was his thundering denunciations of Clinton as a very bad (if, maybe, technically, not criminal) person.
He did such a horrible and evil thing that there can be no redemption for him. If he spent the rest of his life working to make amends for his crimes it would be insufficient and he would still die as the man who gave us Trump. And he isn't even trying to apologize and make amends, he's still claiming that somehow he was right. So fuck him.
Yes, I'll take whatever information he gives and use it against Trump. No that doesn't make him an ally. It makes him, at absolute best, an enemy who has given us something useful.
posted by sotonohito at 11:46 AM on April 12, 2018 [59 favorites]
But let's be honest for a moment. Giving Chaffitz the letter was the same as giving it to the press, Comey knew as well as you and I do that Chaffitz would immediately broadcast it far and wide.
Comey knew there were active investigations into Trump, he said nothing. Instead he did his absolute and utmost best to sink Clinton's campaign.
I'm sure he's convinced himself that he was a firm but fair man in an impossible spot who did the best he could. People lie to themselves all the time, it is not our responsibility to believe those lies or to help them maintain those lies. He was a Republican, he helped his Party win the election by sabotaging the Democratic candidate.
In fact, he cleared her of any crimes.
Yes, he said that quietly once, and then loudly denounced her as a very bad person in a protracted televised scolding.
All the while knowing that Trump was under investigations both for his criminal business dealings and for his ties to Russia. that information he chose to withhold from the American people, while he thought that what America really needed to hear was his thundering denunciations of Clinton as a very bad (if, maybe, technically, not criminal) person.
He did such a horrible and evil thing that there can be no redemption for him. If he spent the rest of his life working to make amends for his crimes it would be insufficient and he would still die as the man who gave us Trump. And he isn't even trying to apologize and make amends, he's still claiming that somehow he was right. So fuck him.
Yes, I'll take whatever information he gives and use it against Trump. No that doesn't make him an ally. It makes him, at absolute best, an enemy who has given us something useful.
posted by sotonohito at 11:46 AM on April 12, 2018 [59 favorites]
It keeps hitting me anew that the Feds are currently going through Michael Cohen's stuff, having overcome the high bar of evidence required to obtain a search warrant against an attorney. It seems overwhelmingly likely that prosecutors will seek Cohen's testimony against Trump regarding decades of misdeeds. I am not kidding when I suggest that the Trump family should follow the lead of fellow Omnigate participants Julian Assange and Viktor Yanukovych and go into exile. They could live in relative comfort, perhaps in subtropical Sochi. They could run a media empire claiming to be the legitimate American government. They could make a lot of money. It seems more pleasant than the likely alternatives.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:56 AM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:56 AM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
I flagged your comment as fantastic, blogeo. I agree that "Corrupt Government!" is a right-wing talking point designed to reduce people's trust in government; after all, it was Trump who came up with "Drain The Swamp!" and his voters just ate it up with a spoon. Ironic considering his corruption, but I think we've been over that.
I also hate hearing "why are you so hard on Politician X for being a harasser/financially shady/ etc.? Do you expect your politicians to be Boy and Girl Scouts? Let it slide because it's Our Team!" No. I want squeaky-clean Boy and Girl Scouts in high places. I want people who are honest with money and keep their hands to themselves. There's nothing about government service that needs to be corrupt.
And I'm glad to see more teachers, scientists, and ordinary middle class people running for office. We need a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints in politics. Having nothing but lawyers, business people, and the scions of the wealthy in office is toxic to our democracy. Not to mention -- scientists know what is good for science, and teachers know what is good for education. We need their perspectives.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:57 AM on April 12, 2018 [64 favorites]
I also hate hearing "why are you so hard on Politician X for being a harasser/financially shady/ etc.? Do you expect your politicians to be Boy and Girl Scouts? Let it slide because it's Our Team!" No. I want squeaky-clean Boy and Girl Scouts in high places. I want people who are honest with money and keep their hands to themselves. There's nothing about government service that needs to be corrupt.
And I'm glad to see more teachers, scientists, and ordinary middle class people running for office. We need a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints in politics. Having nothing but lawyers, business people, and the scions of the wealthy in office is toxic to our democracy. Not to mention -- scientists know what is good for science, and teachers know what is good for education. We need their perspectives.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:57 AM on April 12, 2018 [64 favorites]
I won't dispute the rest because it's okay for us to have different opinions, Sotonohito. But this part:
Comey knew there were active investigations into Trump, he said nothing.
It's normal and expected that law enforcement should say nothing about active investigations. Comey said to the House Intel Committee that he only commented on the Clinton investigation because it was closed.
Even without Comey's confirmation, those who were paying attention should have known very well that shady stuff was going on between Trump and Russia. A former CIA director said in the New York Times "In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation".
The Director of National Intelligence announced on behalf of the entire intelligence community that Russia was responsible for the hacking of the DNC.
Michael Flynn had dinner with Putin. Carter Page went to Moscow and gave a speech denouncing America's "hypocritical focus on democratization." Paul Manafort had to resign when it turned out he'd been getting secret payments from a pro-Russia party in Ukraine.
If NONE of that -- all of which was known before the election! -- was enough to convince people that there was something shady going on between Trump and Russia, I don't know that a Comey statement would have made a difference, even if if it hadn't been against policy to make one. Plus I think he, like Obama and many pundits and even many people on MeFi, assumed Clinton would win anyway, and then the FBI could investigate Trump at their leisure.
I think Comey made mistakes, but I don't think he was trying to torpedo Clinton's candidacy.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [31 favorites]
Comey knew there were active investigations into Trump, he said nothing.
It's normal and expected that law enforcement should say nothing about active investigations. Comey said to the House Intel Committee that he only commented on the Clinton investigation because it was closed.
Even without Comey's confirmation, those who were paying attention should have known very well that shady stuff was going on between Trump and Russia. A former CIA director said in the New York Times "In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation".
The Director of National Intelligence announced on behalf of the entire intelligence community that Russia was responsible for the hacking of the DNC.
Michael Flynn had dinner with Putin. Carter Page went to Moscow and gave a speech denouncing America's "hypocritical focus on democratization." Paul Manafort had to resign when it turned out he'd been getting secret payments from a pro-Russia party in Ukraine.
If NONE of that -- all of which was known before the election! -- was enough to convince people that there was something shady going on between Trump and Russia, I don't know that a Comey statement would have made a difference, even if if it hadn't been against policy to make one. Plus I think he, like Obama and many pundits and even many people on MeFi, assumed Clinton would win anyway, and then the FBI could investigate Trump at their leisure.
I think Comey made mistakes, but I don't think he was trying to torpedo Clinton's candidacy.
posted by OnceUponATime at 12:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [31 favorites]
Instead he did his absolute and utmost best to sink Clinton's campaign.
When I hear you saying this it reminds me of that xkcd comic where he must confess he rates his pain at a one because what he could imagine is far, far worse. Don't you think he had it in his power to do far worse?
Like, um, actually recommending charges? Or selectively leaking any damaging-looking emails that he had access to? Launching spurious investigations into Clinton's campaign higher-ups and leaking about those?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
When I hear you saying this it reminds me of that xkcd comic where he must confess he rates his pain at a one because what he could imagine is far, far worse. Don't you think he had it in his power to do far worse?
Like, um, actually recommending charges? Or selectively leaking any damaging-looking emails that he had access to? Launching spurious investigations into Clinton's campaign higher-ups and leaking about those?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
condemning him as '[doing] such a horrible and evil thing that there can be no redemption for him' prior to hearing his side of the story is doing the RNC's work.
I don't believe he's done such horrible and evil things that there is no possibility of redemption.
But the thing is, he's not seeking any pardon or excuse for the horrible evil things he's done. He's trying to say, "whatever I did in the distant, uncertain past, the important thing is, here is THE TRUTH about this asshole who's in office now." (Only, in very polite formal-civil-servant language.) I don't think we should exonerate him for past offences when he's not admitting those caused any problems.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
I don't believe he's done such horrible and evil things that there is no possibility of redemption.
But the thing is, he's not seeking any pardon or excuse for the horrible evil things he's done. He's trying to say, "whatever I did in the distant, uncertain past, the important thing is, here is THE TRUTH about this asshole who's in office now." (Only, in very polite formal-civil-servant language.) I don't think we should exonerate him for past offences when he's not admitting those caused any problems.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 12:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Comey's no hero. As with Mueller, Democrats are latching onto him as a possible savior from Trump. It's doubtful that either of them are. Comey's book is not going to be a nail in Trump's coffin. With all the buildup to Mueller's report, I suspect it's probably unlikely that it will meet what we're all expecting. I'd love to be wrong about that but it just seems unlikely.
The thing is, Comey created and ran a year-long FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. On the basis of no realistic evidence that she'd done anything wrong. When other people, including Colin Powell, had also used private emails while Secretary of State. Comey did that while she was running for President. Which her opponents bashed her with in ads, interviews and stump speeches. He finished that investigation right before the Democratic National convention, concluding that she'd done nothing illegal. He then publicly ripped into her for being "extremely careless" about the way she had handled sensitive information and documents. As if he was trying to justify why he'd spent a year of the Bureau's time and energy on a waste of time.
So that's July. Fast-forward to October. It's less than 2 weeks before the election and Comey announces he's reopening the investigation into Clinton's email server. Because of Anthony Weiner's laptop. He took sides in the final days of the election to attack her. Again. And to publicly tar her by association with Anthony Weiner. Her polling dropped by around 10 points. Trump cheers Comey for this. "It took a lot of guts." As if Comey hadn't just attacked Trump's political opponent at a time when he desperately needed a boost. As if bashing Clinton wasn't already a national pastime for Republican government employees. Because attacking her perceived (not actual!) credibility and trustworthiness was a constant during the election. Remember, by this point most of the sane pundits agreed that not only had Trump lost the three debates, but was going to lose the election.
Two days before the election: for a second time, Comey announces that Clinton didn't do anything wrong. Too little, too late and damage done. Her poll numbers weren't going to recover.
We can talk about angry, supposedly disenfranchised white people and red state voters all we like, but Comey's partisan antics helped hand the election to Trump. He is as responsible as anyone else for Clinton's loss. And I'm sorry he's has buyer's remorse, but that doesn't make him a hero.
posted by zarq at 12:20 PM on April 12, 2018 [66 favorites]
The thing is, Comey created and ran a year-long FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. On the basis of no realistic evidence that she'd done anything wrong. When other people, including Colin Powell, had also used private emails while Secretary of State. Comey did that while she was running for President. Which her opponents bashed her with in ads, interviews and stump speeches. He finished that investigation right before the Democratic National convention, concluding that she'd done nothing illegal. He then publicly ripped into her for being "extremely careless" about the way she had handled sensitive information and documents. As if he was trying to justify why he'd spent a year of the Bureau's time and energy on a waste of time.
So that's July. Fast-forward to October. It's less than 2 weeks before the election and Comey announces he's reopening the investigation into Clinton's email server. Because of Anthony Weiner's laptop. He took sides in the final days of the election to attack her. Again. And to publicly tar her by association with Anthony Weiner. Her polling dropped by around 10 points. Trump cheers Comey for this. "It took a lot of guts." As if Comey hadn't just attacked Trump's political opponent at a time when he desperately needed a boost. As if bashing Clinton wasn't already a national pastime for Republican government employees. Because attacking her perceived (not actual!) credibility and trustworthiness was a constant during the election. Remember, by this point most of the sane pundits agreed that not only had Trump lost the three debates, but was going to lose the election.
Two days before the election: for a second time, Comey announces that Clinton didn't do anything wrong. Too little, too late and damage done. Her poll numbers weren't going to recover.
We can talk about angry, supposedly disenfranchised white people and red state voters all we like, but Comey's partisan antics helped hand the election to Trump. He is as responsible as anyone else for Clinton's loss. And I'm sorry he's has buyer's remorse, but that doesn't make him a hero.
posted by zarq at 12:20 PM on April 12, 2018 [66 favorites]
They could run a media empire claiming to be the legitimate American government. They could make a lot of money.
. . . But that's what they're doing now. Why fly to some place where they don't speak American real great and be in the sun a lot? It's fine, these things never go anywhere. They're in the fabled catbird seat!
posted by petebest at 12:22 PM on April 12, 2018
. . . But that's what they're doing now. Why fly to some place where they don't speak American real great and be in the sun a lot? It's fine, these things never go anywhere. They're in the fabled catbird seat!
posted by petebest at 12:22 PM on April 12, 2018
The emails were certainly public prior to the election and yet it seems that Comey's statement probably had an effect on the election's outcome. And didn't he reopen the investigation with the discovery of Wiener's computer and comment then?
posted by orange ball at 12:23 PM on April 12, 2018
posted by orange ball at 12:23 PM on April 12, 2018
Mod note: Y'all we're kinda making tedious loops on the Comey thing at this point, maybe let's chill on that for now and save further for when there actually is something substantial further to talk about.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
I don't really have much of an opinion on Comey but I'm really curious if Comey will explain what the hell was up with the New York FBI office and Rudy G. and how they were systematically working against Clinton and for Trump though and that Comey's behavior was supposedly due to that.
posted by srboisvert at 12:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 12:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
It keeps hitting me anew that the Feds are currently going through Michael Cohen's stuff, having overcome the high bar of evidence required to obtain a search warrant against an attorney. It seems overwhelmingly likely that prosecutors will seek Cohen's testimony against Trump regarding decades of misdeeds.
So, are there any ways that the 5th amendment can be gotten around with an unwilling witness? Granting immunity, for example? Or, if Cohen is tried and either convicted or acquitted first, can he then be forced to testify without the ability to claim 5th amendment since his testimony wouldn't incriminate himself?
I could imagine a hybrid -- convict him first, then grant him immunity for everything else and demand his testimony -- but don't know if that works in the real legal world.
posted by msalt at 12:44 PM on April 12, 2018
So, are there any ways that the 5th amendment can be gotten around with an unwilling witness? Granting immunity, for example? Or, if Cohen is tried and either convicted or acquitted first, can he then be forced to testify without the ability to claim 5th amendment since his testimony wouldn't incriminate himself?
I could imagine a hybrid -- convict him first, then grant him immunity for everything else and demand his testimony -- but don't know if that works in the real legal world.
posted by msalt at 12:44 PM on April 12, 2018
I agree that "Corrupt Government!" is a right-wing talking point designed to reduce people's trust in government; after all, it was Trump who came up with "Drain The Swamp!" and his voters just ate it up with a spoon. Ironic considering his corruption, but I think we've been over that.
Conservatives believe that government is inherently corrupt because they want to rid it of all elements and functions that they do not directly control, as well as all regulations that would prevent them from assuming that control. The Swamp is shorthand for "anyone, INCLUDING Republicans, who does not give Trump and Trumpoids all the power and control." It's amazing how fast that "drown government in a bathtub" mantra turns around when they can use it to their advantage.
posted by delfin at 12:48 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
Conservatives believe that government is inherently corrupt because they want to rid it of all elements and functions that they do not directly control, as well as all regulations that would prevent them from assuming that control. The Swamp is shorthand for "anyone, INCLUDING Republicans, who does not give Trump and Trumpoids all the power and control." It's amazing how fast that "drown government in a bathtub" mantra turns around when they can use it to their advantage.
posted by delfin at 12:48 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
Conservatives believe that government is inherently corrupt because they want to rid it of all elements and functions that they do not directly control, as well as all regulations that would prevent them from assuming that control.
Given how Pruitt, Carson, etc. have acted when they had their hands on the public purse, I'd say that they believe government is inherently corrupt because they all know damn well how they would do it.
posted by Etrigan at 12:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [35 favorites]
Given how Pruitt, Carson, etc. have acted when they had their hands on the public purse, I'd say that they believe government is inherently corrupt because they all know damn well how they would do it.
posted by Etrigan at 12:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [35 favorites]
So, are there any ways that the 5th amendment can be gotten around with an unwilling witness? Granting immunity, for example?
Immunity does have 5th amendment implications and the government does have some kinda shitty ways to get unwilling witnesses to testify but if Cohen believes Trump would pardon him for basically everything, including criminal contempt, I doubt any of it would work.
posted by Justinian at 12:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Immunity does have 5th amendment implications and the government does have some kinda shitty ways to get unwilling witnesses to testify but if Cohen believes Trump would pardon him for basically everything, including criminal contempt, I doubt any of it would work.
posted by Justinian at 12:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
CNN's MJ Lee: Former Trump doorman Dino Sajudin has issued a statement:
"Today I awoke to learn that a confidential agreement that I had with AMI (The National Enquirer) with regard to a story about President Trump was leaked to the press. I can confirm that while working at Trump World Tower I was instructed not to criticize President Trump's former housekeeper due to a prior relationship she had with President Trump which produced a child."posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [73 favorites]
Even Newt is trying to dissuade Trump.
Well, sort of. Turns out he has his own approach to cutting the Gordian Knot. It's not pretty.
Fox’s Mike Huckabee pushes GOP to use police in war on FBI.
Gingrich compares FBI raid of Trump lawyer to Nazi secret police.
Well, sort of. Turns out he has his own approach to cutting the Gordian Knot. It's not pretty.
Fox’s Mike Huckabee pushes GOP to use police in war on FBI.
He told Hemmer that to expedite release of the documents, “Maybe [GOP congressmen] should have gotten the Capitol police to go over to the FBI and conducted the same kind of raid on the FBI that the FBI went and conducted on Michael Cohen, the president’s private attorney.”It seems like an aggressive approach. But Newt has a unique perspective on the situation that requires this response.
Gingrich compares FBI raid of Trump lawyer to Nazi secret police.
"It ain't the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you're faced with armed men. And you have had no reason to be told you're going to have that kind of treatment," he continued.posted by scalefree at 12:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
"That's Stalin. That's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI."
That kid's gonna call for trump's throne by ritual combat.
I, uh... I kinda want to see him and the Schwarzenegger kid team up and fight crime.
posted by Etrigan at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
I, uh... I kinda want to see him and the Schwarzenegger kid team up and fight crime.
posted by Etrigan at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
So, are there any ways that the 5th amendment can be gotten around with an unwilling witness? Granting immunity, for example?
Immunity works; often, plea bargaining works when they don't want to offer full immunity. (Of course, he might be counting on the president to pardon him - but Trump hasn't shown any great loyalty to past supporters; only people he can get something from in the future.) The usual pressure is "cooperate, and we charge you with X and recommend a sentence of Y years; don't cooperate, and we charge you with X, A, B, C, and tell the judge we suggest locking you away for life."
That's about it; the 5th is designed to be strong. However, it doesn't apply (directly) to civil trials; while a person can take the 5th there, unlike criminal settings, the judge and jury aren't required to assume that there's no implication of guilt. I don't know how easy it is for a civil case to subpoena evidence gathered by a criminal court.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2018
Immunity works; often, plea bargaining works when they don't want to offer full immunity. (Of course, he might be counting on the president to pardon him - but Trump hasn't shown any great loyalty to past supporters; only people he can get something from in the future.) The usual pressure is "cooperate, and we charge you with X and recommend a sentence of Y years; don't cooperate, and we charge you with X, A, B, C, and tell the judge we suggest locking you away for life."
That's about it; the 5th is designed to be strong. However, it doesn't apply (directly) to civil trials; while a person can take the 5th there, unlike criminal settings, the judge and jury aren't required to assume that there's no implication of guilt. I don't know how easy it is for a civil case to subpoena evidence gathered by a criminal court.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2018
In yon previous megathread 1.5 Scaramuccis ago, there was news of Robert Mercer's Secret Adventure, where rich assholes exploited a tiny New Mexico town's volunteer reserve police force to obtain concealed carry privileges in all 50 states.
So, that scam is now over. Bloomberg Politics: Tiny Town Shuts Police Program That Gave Robert Mercer a Badge.
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [72 favorites]
So, that scam is now over. Bloomberg Politics: Tiny Town Shuts Police Program That Gave Robert Mercer a Badge.
“Because of the notoriety this was bringing, I decided to go ahead and disassemble the unit,” [Mayor] Salazar said. The Businessweek story “didn’t put the town in a very good light.” He said [Police chief] Norwood’s intentions were good, but the “program got a little bit too big for him and a lot of the reserves kind of took advantage of that fact.”Please play the world's tiniest violin as you mourn this tragic turn of events. Fuckers.
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [72 favorites]
"It ain't the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you're faced with armed men. And you have had no reason to be told you're going to have that kind of treatment," he continued.
"That's Stalin. That's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI."
So... it's a good thing that's not even close to being a description of what actually happened, which Cohen himself described as polite and professional?
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
"That's Stalin. That's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI."
So... it's a good thing that's not even close to being a description of what actually happened, which Cohen himself described as polite and professional?
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
@nycsouthpaw: It’s a measure of how vulnerable to compromise Trump is that he was effectively blackmailed for tens of thousands of dollars by a doorman with only a secondhand story.
If they paid this much for “doorman says somebody once told me,” just how much is out there? It’s a big building. They had a lot of doormen.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [28 favorites]
If they paid this much for “doorman says somebody once told me,” just how much is out there? It’s a big building. They had a lot of doormen.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [28 favorites]
Can a witness be granted immunity unwillingly? I know a pardon must be accepted but does transactional immunity?
posted by Justinian at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
Breaking from NBC News:
Trump, Mueller teams prepare to move forward without presidential interview
Monday’s raid on Trump’s personal lawyer upended talks for the president to sit down with investigators.
Trump, Mueller teams prepare to move forward without presidential interview
Monday’s raid on Trump’s personal lawyer upended talks for the president to sit down with investigators.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office and President Donald Trump’s legal team are now proceeding with strategies that presume a presidential interview will likely not take place as part of the Russia investigation, after months of talks between the two sides collapsed earlier this week, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:05 PM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
... Prior to Monday’s raid, Mueller’s team had been aiming to finalize a report on its findings on whether the president has tried to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation in the coming months, as early as May or as late as July, three sources said. That timeline hinged in part on reaching a decision on a presidential interview, these people said. One person familiar with the investigation described a decision on an interview as one of the last steps Mueller was seeking to take before closing his investigation into obstruction.
Now, according to two sources, Mueller’s team may be able to close the obstruction probe more quickly as they will not need to prepare for the interview or follow up on what the president says.
The raid on Cohen “significantly complicated” any negotiations for the president’s legal team, according to a person familiar with the discussions, who also cautioned that “you never say never” in terms of a possible interview. This person said the president’s legal team is still in frequent contact with Mueller’s team on other issues related to the investigation.
The president’s lawyers declined to comment for this report.
Three sources familiar with the investigation said the findings Mueller has collected on Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice include: His intent for firing former FBI Director James Comey; his role in the crafting of a misleading public statement on the nature of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son and Russians; Trump’s dangling of pardons before grand jury witnesses who might testify against him; and pressuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
Mueller would then likely send a confidential report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia investigation. Rosenstein could decide whether to make the report public and send its findings to Congress. From there, Congress would then decide whether to begin impeachment proceedings against the president, said two of the sources.
Rosenstein met with the president at the White House on Thursday. A White House official told reporters the meeting was about "routine department business." A Justice Department spokeswoman said it was part of a scheduled meeting with officials from other agencies as well as DOJ.
The special counsel's office did not respond for a request for comment on this report.
Since the FBI raid seizing Cohen’s documents and electronics, Trump has soured on the idea of sitting for an interview with Mueller, people familiar with his thinking said. Trump’s lawyers were wary of him agreeing to a sit-down, but in the days before the raid they had started initial preparations for Trump take part in a possible interview in part because the president could overrule their advice, people familiar with the discussions said.
Prior to the FBI raid on Cohen, Trump’s legal team also had been preparing various approaches depending on how discussions with Mueller concluded, people familiar with the matter said.
If Trump were to decline a voluntary interview, his legal team discussed making the case that a sitting president can’t be subpoenaed, according to people familiar with the discussions. The argument hinges on the idea that a sitting president can’t be indicted, with Trump’s lawyers surmising that if a president can’t be indicted he can’t be subpoenaed.
Two people familiar with the investigation said they expect a flurry of activity from Mueller’s office on the investigation in the next six weeks around the one-year anniversary of his appointment as special counsel.
"Today I awoke to learn that a confidential agreement that I had with AMI (The National Enquirer) with regard to a story about President Trump was leaked to the press. I can confirm that while working at Trump World Tower I was instructed not to criticize President Trump's former housekeeper due to a prior relationship she had with President Trump which produced a child."
Well, that explains the boilerplate paternity clause in the Stormy Daniels/EC LLC agreement.
posted by mikelieman at 1:07 PM on April 12, 2018 [22 favorites]
Well, that explains the boilerplate paternity clause in the Stormy Daniels/EC LLC agreement.
posted by mikelieman at 1:07 PM on April 12, 2018 [22 favorites]
Can a witness be granted immunity unwillingly? I know a pardon must be accepted but does transactional immunity?
Yup. If you're immune, you have no need to avoid self-incrimination. At which point you no longer have the right to refuse to answer.
posted by ocschwar at 1:07 PM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yup. If you're immune, you have no need to avoid self-incrimination. At which point you no longer have the right to refuse to answer.
posted by ocschwar at 1:07 PM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yes, that's what I was getting at. Whether you can force an unwilling witness to accept immunity and thus penetrate their 5th amendment claim. Thanks.
posted by Justinian at 1:08 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:08 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't really have much of an opinion on Comey but I'm really curious if Comey will explain what the hell was up with the New York FBI office and Rudy G. and how they were systematically working against Clinton and for Trump though and that Comey's behavior was supposedly due to that.
I just came across this section of Clinton's book, "What Happened":
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:08 PM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
I just came across this section of Clinton's book, "What Happened":
There was a rash of leaks designed to damage my campaign, including the quickly debunked false claim that indictments were coming relating to the Clinton Foundation. Then Rudy, one of Trump’s top surrogates, went on Fox News on October 26 and promised “a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next two days.” It was just two days later that Comey sent his letter. On November 4 Rudy was back on Fox News and confirmed that he had advance warning. “Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it,” he said. At the same time, he tried to backpedal on his statement.I really do hope he covers this in the book.
...
Several months later, Comey was questioned about this in that same Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “Did anybody in the FBI during this 2016 campaign have contact with Rudy Giuliani about the Clinton investigation?” asked Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont. Comey said it was “a matter the FBI is looking into” and that he was “very, very interested” to learn the truth. “I don’t know yet, but if I find out that people were leaking information about our investigations whether to reporters or private parties, there will be severe consequences,” Comey said. This is a crucial question that must be answered. Comey owes it to the American people to say whether anyone at the FBI inappropriately provided Giuliani, Kallstrom, or anyone else with information. The bureau’s new leaders and the Justice Department Inspector General have a responsibility to investigate this matter fully and ensure accountability.
posted by OnceUponATime at 1:08 PM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
Fox’s Mike Huckabee pushes GOP to use police in war on FBI.
He told Hemmer that to expedite release of the documents, “Maybe [GOP congressmen] should have gotten the Capitol police to go over to the FBI and conducted the same kind of raid on the FBI that the FBI went and conducted on Michael Cohen, the president’s private attorney.”
Oddly enough, I agree. Republicans are dishonestly -- but I repeat myself -- pretending the search warrant was some egregious abuse of procedure, rather than having by all accounts been carried out by the book under unusually strict standards of evidence and scrutiny.
So I say yes, absolutely! If a Republican congressperson has actual evidence of wrongdoing that they can pass to the Capitol police that can convince a Federal magistrate to issue a warrant under elevated levels of scrutiny, then go for it. I doubt it, though, since Republicans seem to be so reliant on cheating they've forgotten how the rule of law works.
They're getting reminders.
(As for Gingrich, it's your party who is aligning with actual Nazis, and everyone knows it.)
posted by Gelatin at 1:09 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
He told Hemmer that to expedite release of the documents, “Maybe [GOP congressmen] should have gotten the Capitol police to go over to the FBI and conducted the same kind of raid on the FBI that the FBI went and conducted on Michael Cohen, the president’s private attorney.”
Oddly enough, I agree. Republicans are dishonestly -- but I repeat myself -- pretending the search warrant was some egregious abuse of procedure, rather than having by all accounts been carried out by the book under unusually strict standards of evidence and scrutiny.
So I say yes, absolutely! If a Republican congressperson has actual evidence of wrongdoing that they can pass to the Capitol police that can convince a Federal magistrate to issue a warrant under elevated levels of scrutiny, then go for it. I doubt it, though, since Republicans seem to be so reliant on cheating they've forgotten how the rule of law works.
They're getting reminders.
(As for Gingrich, it's your party who is aligning with actual Nazis, and everyone knows it.)
posted by Gelatin at 1:09 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
Dammit, I conflated Newt & Huck's comments. I'm pretty sure they broadly agree but the comments were made by different people.
posted by scalefree at 1:13 PM on April 12, 2018
posted by scalefree at 1:13 PM on April 12, 2018
I really do hope he covers this in the book.
And they say print is dead! This is where we are learning about contemporary history!
posted by armacy at 1:13 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
And they say print is dead! This is where we are learning about contemporary history!
posted by armacy at 1:13 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
If Trump were to decline a voluntary interview, his legal team discussed making the case that a sitting president can’t be subpoenaed, according to people familiar with the discussions. The argument hinges on the idea that a sitting president can’t be indicted, with Trump’s lawyers surmising that if a president can’t be indicted he can’t be subpoenaed.
Someone owes Bill Clinton an apology
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
Someone owes Bill Clinton an apology
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
No, it's just that a sitting Republican president can't be indicted by their playground rules. Sitting Democratic presidents, should there ever be any again, can and should be indicted early and often.
posted by fedward at 1:17 PM on April 12, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by fedward at 1:17 PM on April 12, 2018 [27 favorites]
Someone owes Bill Clinton an apology
If you can retroactively impose executive privilege can you also retroactively unimpeach someone? Asking for a friend.
posted by scalefree at 1:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
If you can retroactively impose executive privilege can you also retroactively unimpeach someone? Asking for a friend.
posted by scalefree at 1:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
“Maybe [GOP congressmen] should have gotten the Capitol police to go over to the FBI and conducted the same kind of raid on the FBI that the FBI went and conducted on Michael Cohen, the president’s private attorney.”
Yeah, I've been in the FBI building. Presumably the Capitol police are not suicidal.
posted by Preserver at 1:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I've been in the FBI building. Presumably the Capitol police are not suicidal.
posted by Preserver at 1:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
"It ain't the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you're faced with armed men. And you have had no reason to be told you're going to have that kind of treatment," he continued.
What exactly does Newt Gingrich think* law enforcement officers do? Knock on your door and say, "We think you've committed a crime, can we pretty please borrow all your documents, phones, and computers?" I mean, I guess in theory it's nice that Republicans are finally starting to worry about police abuse of power, but we all know it's only abuse if straight white Christians are the ones suffering.
*Yeah, I know it's all performative. If you like, exchange "Newt Gingrich" with "anyone who believes Newt Gingrich".
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:25 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
What exactly does Newt Gingrich think* law enforcement officers do? Knock on your door and say, "We think you've committed a crime, can we pretty please borrow all your documents, phones, and computers?" I mean, I guess in theory it's nice that Republicans are finally starting to worry about police abuse of power, but we all know it's only abuse if straight white Christians are the ones suffering.
*Yeah, I know it's all performative. If you like, exchange "Newt Gingrich" with "anyone who believes Newt Gingrich".
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:25 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
Pardon me, I should have said "straight white Judeo-Christians".
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 1:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
It ain't the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you're faced with armed men.
This is a new direction for the conservative movement! Better grab one of these before they sell out.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
This is a new direction for the conservative movement! Better grab one of these before they sell out.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
"It ain't the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3 in the morning and you're faced with armed men. And you have had no reason to be told you're going to have that kind of treatment," he continued.
"That's Stalin. That's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI."
So... it's a good thing that's not even close to being a description of what actually happened, which Cohen himself described as polite and professional?
Radley Balko has some choice tweets nominally aimed at Newt and his newfound concern over no-knock raids and what they really entail out in the world, rather than a polite but firm visit like Cohen got. A sampling:
"That's Stalin. That's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI."
So... it's a good thing that's not even close to being a description of what actually happened, which Cohen himself described as polite and professional?
Radley Balko has some choice tweets nominally aimed at Newt and his newfound concern over no-knock raids and what they really entail out in the world, rather than a polite but firm visit like Cohen got. A sampling:
Check out this one, Newt:and
Last year, Toledo cops broke down man's door, busted out several windows, and shot and killed his two dogs. They were looking for drugs. They found a single pill. It was for high blood pressure.
http://www.wtol.com/story/36720927/homeowner-accuses-tpd-of-raiding-wrong-house
You want to talk about Gestapo tactics, Newt? Talk to the two Detroit women wrongly raided and roughed up by a team of masked DEA agents. For over 10 years, the women have tried to get the DEA to release the agents' names so they can sue. No luck. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/08/30/for-nine-years-dea-withholds-names-of-masked-agents-who-violently-raided-two-innocent-women-federal-court-shrugs/?utm_term=.d8fc54eff078posted by phearlez at 1:30 PM on April 12, 2018 [83 favorites]
Michael Avenatti is on MSNBC right now saying that they've been informed that Cohen will be pleading the 5th under any questioning in his case. I would assume that means Daniels and Avenatti will win by default if TrumpCo fail on the procedural stuff.
posted by Justinian at 1:44 PM on April 12, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 1:44 PM on April 12, 2018 [26 favorites]
CNN: White House is prepping an effort to undermine Rosenstein
The White House is preparing talking points designed to undermine Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's credibility, according to sources familiar with the plan.
The plan calls on President Donald Trump's allies to cast Rosenstein as too conflicted to fairly oversee the Russia investigation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
The White House is preparing talking points designed to undermine Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's credibility, according to sources familiar with the plan.
The plan calls on President Donald Trump's allies to cast Rosenstein as too conflicted to fairly oversee the Russia investigation.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
> Daniels and Avenatti will win by default if TrumpCo fail on the procedural stuff.
Which makes the (previously linked) cover of Time magazine ("Stormy") all the more on-point. It's a pretty unbelievable turn of events.
So, for those with legal experience - what does a pleading-the-5th default judgement against the Stormy NDA mean for all the other NDAs that Trump has? (Excuse me, I mean, all the other NDAs executed by lawyers who were definitely not working on behalf of Trump.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
Which makes the (previously linked) cover of Time magazine ("Stormy") all the more on-point. It's a pretty unbelievable turn of events.
So, for those with legal experience - what does a pleading-the-5th default judgement against the Stormy NDA mean for all the other NDAs that Trump has? (Excuse me, I mean, all the other NDAs executed by lawyers who were definitely not working on behalf of Trump.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
Regarding TPP, That he doesn't realize that "easier to join now" means we don't get to write the damn thing in negotiations is part of the problem.
Maybe this is one of those stopped clock moments where Trump manages to get the result I'd want (the deal without all the insane copyright/IP giveaways and other sops to US companies) for all the wrong reasons. Though I'm sure he'll find a way to fuck it up even more.
Trump is insisting it be on his own terms. And right now how can anyone actually negotiate with the US? He's just as likely to decide at the last minute he's got new demands or doesn't want to sign. And even if you get him to sign, you've no guarantee that he'll not rip it up a month later out of a fit of pique or because he suddenly realized where your countries were or something else....
posted by lesbiassparrow at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
Maybe this is one of those stopped clock moments where Trump manages to get the result I'd want (the deal without all the insane copyright/IP giveaways and other sops to US companies) for all the wrong reasons. Though I'm sure he'll find a way to fuck it up even more.
Trump is insisting it be on his own terms. And right now how can anyone actually negotiate with the US? He's just as likely to decide at the last minute he's got new demands or doesn't want to sign. And even if you get him to sign, you've no guarantee that he'll not rip it up a month later out of a fit of pique or because he suddenly realized where your countries were or something else....
posted by lesbiassparrow at 1:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
If anybody was wondering on how John Kelly's feeling these days, take a look at photo #4 (first link). Worth way more than a thousand words.
@RealDonaldTrump Just had an Agricultural Roundtable with memembers [sic] of Congress and Governors.
I will be making remarks on the large scale TAX CUTS given to American families and workers at 1:45 P.M. from the Rose Garden. Join me live: http://45.wh.gov/RtVRmD
posted by scalefree at 1:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
@RealDonaldTrump Just had an Agricultural Roundtable with memembers [sic] of Congress and Governors.
I will be making remarks on the large scale TAX CUTS given to American families and workers at 1:45 P.M. from the Rose Garden. Join me live: http://45.wh.gov/RtVRmD
posted by scalefree at 1:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
Losing a civil case is bad; losing a civil case because your lawyer is pleading the Fifth Amendment is badder.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [51 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [51 favorites]
WaPo, FBI raid sought Trump lawyer’s communications with bank that loaned him money against his taxi business
posted by zachlipton at 1:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
A federal investigation into what role President Trump’s personal attorney played in facilitating payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump is also examining the lawyer’s interactions with a bank that gave him loans against his taxi business.Few details here, but this potentially loops back to one of the unanswered questions about Cohen's actions: what did he tell the bank when he took out the loan to pay Daniels? It's possible he had a pre-existing line of credit, but if he applied for a new loan, they usually want to know what the money is for. I don't think he wrote "pay hush money for Donald Trump" on the application.
When they raided the office of Trump lawyer Michael D. Cohen on Monday, FBI agents sought his communications with New York-based Sterling National Bank about taxi medallions owned by Cohen, according to a person familiar with the search warrant.
The request indicates that prosecutors may have interest in specific financial transactions that Cohen undertook while using his taxi business as collateral.
posted by zachlipton at 1:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
I'm assuming that lawyers who plead the Fifth Amendment regarding their client relationships get disbarred? Or did they never get around to codifying that?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:54 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:54 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
While pleading the 5th is a solid defense in a criminal trial (not a guarantee, but it puts a sharp burden on the prosecutor), it is NOT a defense against being disbarred. "I'm not going to talk about any crimes I may or may not have committed while acting as a lawyer" is not going to save him.
Rule 8.4 says: "It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to ... commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer ... [or to] engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation." (Emphasis added.)
No conviction is needed.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
Rule 8.4 says: "It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to ... commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer ... [or to] engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation." (Emphasis added.)
No conviction is needed.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
So let's say the White House succeeds in geting Rosenstein out of the way and finds a replacement that will try to get rid of Mueller.
"Under Department of Justice regulations, the special counsel, Mueller, can only be fired 'by the personal action of the Attorney General' for 'misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause.'"
So what happens if Trump tries to fire Mueller, and Mueller says no?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
"Under Department of Justice regulations, the special counsel, Mueller, can only be fired 'by the personal action of the Attorney General' for 'misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause.'"
So what happens if Trump tries to fire Mueller, and Mueller says no?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
Rosenstein is too conflicted because Trump is such a relentless dick to him. Same as everyone else in Trump’s orbit. You can’t judge him fairly if he’s enough of a dick, which is why he’s a dick to everyone. Checkmate, libs!
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:06 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:06 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Wheeler's in at EPA.
Reuters: Senate confirms former coal lobbyist as deputy at EPA
posted by hanov3r at 2:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
Reuters: Senate confirms former coal lobbyist as deputy at EPA
The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and senate aide, as deputy at the Environmental Protection Agency by a vote of 53 to 45.Oh, well. It was nice to have clean air for at least a few years.
posted by hanov3r at 2:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
NY Post: Comey: Trump asked me to investigate ‘pee tape’ to reassure Melania
[insert piss joke here, christ I'm tired]
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [25 favorites]
[insert piss joke here, christ I'm tired]
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [25 favorites]
Comey: Trump asked me to investigate ‘pee tape’ to reassure Melania
Wouldn't that imply there could be a pee tape? After all, if the alleged event didn't happen there would be no reason for an investigation.
Right?
posted by Twain Device at 2:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
Wouldn't that imply there could be a pee tape? After all, if the alleged event didn't happen there would be no reason for an investigation.
Right?
posted by Twain Device at 2:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon said any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted
posted by clawsoon at 2:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 2:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon said any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted
Should be pointed out that that was two days ago, which means basically forever, and today they were being rather more calm about the whole thing.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Should be pointed out that that was two days ago, which means basically forever, and today they were being rather more calm about the whole thing.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
NYT publishes a letter from two senators and three congresspersons to Scott Pruit, asking him to explain multiple allegations of profligate spending and possible misuse of office. Included in the questions:
posted by hanov3r at 2:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
- attempting to get a $100k/mo private jet
- booking on Delta, not the government contracted carrier, to accrue frequent flier miles
- lots of stuff about expensive security things
posted by hanov3r at 2:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
This thing where Comey is a witness to high crimes and messy drama by the President and dribbles out what he knows through leaked excerpts and promotional teasers for press interviews instead of just testifying to everything he knows is incredibly obnoxious. ABC is sitting on its interview for days while dropping little clips to milk this for all its worth, and scoops are being divided up among media outlets for maximum exposure.
This isn't a game and we're not here for his aggrandizement. Put him under oath somewhere, have him tell us absolutely everything, then send him off someplace where we don't have to hear from him anymore. If we need him to testify in court or any hypothetical impeachment proceedings, we'll bring him back.
posted by zachlipton at 2:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [113 favorites]
This isn't a game and we're not here for his aggrandizement. Put him under oath somewhere, have him tell us absolutely everything, then send him off someplace where we don't have to hear from him anymore. If we need him to testify in court or any hypothetical impeachment proceedings, we'll bring him back.
posted by zachlipton at 2:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [113 favorites]
Comey has almost certainly already done exactly that with Mueller's team. He probably did it just after he was fired.
posted by VTX at 2:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by VTX at 2:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [24 favorites]
> Put him under oath somewhere, have him tell us absolutely everything, then send him off someplace where we don't have to hear from him anymore.
For the first, I believe Mueller already did; presumably he told Mueller (and thus "us the people") absolutely everything and handed over his copious contemporaneous notes. This grand tease is just for us the proles, so that we can admire how clever he was.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind if he disappeared and shut up for a while, but it pleases me to think that if it is irritating me a bit, it must be irritating TrumpWorld something fierce.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:31 PM on April 12, 2018 [21 favorites]
For the first, I believe Mueller already did; presumably he told Mueller (and thus "us the people") absolutely everything and handed over his copious contemporaneous notes. This grand tease is just for us the proles, so that we can admire how clever he was.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind if he disappeared and shut up for a while, but it pleases me to think that if it is irritating me a bit, it must be irritating TrumpWorld something fierce.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:31 PM on April 12, 2018 [21 favorites]
That said, we're stuck in the hellscape of mining the Comey book for snippets as our means of figuring out what the hell has been happening in the past few years, so here's the AP's contribution: In new book, Comey says Trump ‘untethered to truth’. The new bits include:
posted by zachlipton at 2:36 PM on April 12, 2018 [25 favorites]
Former FBI Director James Comey blasts President Donald Trump as unethical and “untethered to truth” and calls his leadership of the country “ego driven and about personal loyalty” in a forthcoming book.I'm sure Comey has told Mueller everything. I do mean publicly. We're coming up on a year and a half of this. We shouldn't just be learning now there's new secret information that influenced DOJ's judgement in the damn Clinton investigation. We need less drama and more public explanations.
...
The 6-foot-8 Comey describes Trump as shorter than he expected with a “too long” tie and “bright white half-moons” under his eyes that he suggests came from tanning goggles. He also says he made a conscious effort to check the president’s hand size, saying it was “smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so.”
...
Comey writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton. But he says he believes he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making his statement, noting that the Justice Department had done so in other high profile cases.
Every person on the investigative team, Comey writes, found that there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and that the FBI didn’t find that she lied under its questioning.
He also reveals for the first time that the U.S. government had unverified classified information that he believes could have been used to cast doubt on Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s independence in the Clinton probe. While Comey does not outline the details of the information — and says he didn’t see indications of Lynch inappropriately influencing the investigation — he says it worried him that the material could be used to attack the integrity of the probe and the FBI’s independence.
...
After Clapper briefed the team on the intelligence community’s findings of Russian election interference, Comey said he was taken aback by what the Trump team didn’t ask.
“They were about to lead a country that had been attacked by a foreign adversary, yet they had no questions about what the future Russian threat might be,” Comey writes. Instead, he writes, they launched into a strategy session about how to “spin what we’d just told them” for the public.
posted by zachlipton at 2:36 PM on April 12, 2018 [25 favorites]
CNN appears to be studiously ignoring the reasonable alternative explanation to the Comey story. That is to say that Trump asked Comey to investigate because he did the pee thing and wanted to know if there was a tape, and the Melania excuse was a pretext.
Given who we are talking about this possibility cannot be dismissed. It's probably like 40/60 against.
posted by Justinian at 2:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
Given who we are talking about this possibility cannot be dismissed. It's probably like 40/60 against.
posted by Justinian at 2:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
While it is a bit annoying that we're getting little bits here and there about the Comey interview and book, if there's one thing that delights me about it, it's that this is happening reality show style and this time Trump is on the wrong end of it.
posted by azpenguin at 2:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 2:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
I too am nauseated by the Comey redemption attention tour, but please believe me when I say that the last fucking thing I want to hear about, ever again, are the words “Clinton” and “investigation” in any proximity to each other whatsoever.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:50 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 2:50 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
We shouldn't just be learning now there's new secret information that influenced DOJ's judgement in the damn Clinton investigation.
It sound like this CNN story from a year ago all over again, Sources: Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake.
posted by peeedro at 2:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
It sound like this CNN story from a year ago all over again, Sources: Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake.
posted by peeedro at 2:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
azpenguin: While it is a bit annoying that we're getting little bits here and there about the Comey interview and book, if there's one thing that delights me about it, it's that this is happening reality show style and this time Trump is on the wrong end of it.
Is he, though? Sure, he's not the hero in this story, but he's still President of the United States. Maybe I'm bitter and worried that nothing will happen, and even as it does, this "reality show" rolls on as the EPA puts another Captain Planet villain in a position of greater power, ICE makes the life of immigrants a living hell, conservative and unfit judges get appointed for life.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Is he, though? Sure, he's not the hero in this story, but he's still President of the United States. Maybe I'm bitter and worried that nothing will happen, and even as it does, this "reality show" rolls on as the EPA puts another Captain Planet villain in a position of greater power, ICE makes the life of immigrants a living hell, conservative and unfit judges get appointed for life.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
WaPo continues the damn Comey parade, James Comey’s memoir: Trump fixates on proving lewd dossier allegations false
The nation’s intelligence chiefs had just finished briefing Donald Trump on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election when FBI Director James B. Comey stayed behind to discuss some especially sensitive material: a “widely circulated” intelligence dossier contained unconfirmed allegations that Russians had filmed Trump interacting with prostitutes in Moscow in 2013.There's a lot of excerpts in here, many duplicate other things we've read today, but this stands out as new:
The president-elect quickly interrupted the FBI director. According to Comey’s account in a new memoir, Trump “strongly denied the allegations, asking — rhetorically, I assumed — whether he seemed like a guy who needed the service of prostitutes. He then began discussing cases where women had accused him of sexual assault, a subject I had not raised. He mentioned a number of women, and seemed to have memorized their allegations.”
The January 2017 conversation at Trump Tower in Manhattan “teetered toward disaster” — until “I pulled the tool from my bag: ‘We are not investigating you, sir.’ That seemed to quiet him,” Comey writes.
Trump did not stay quiet for long. Comey describes Trump as having been obsessed with the prostitutes portion of the infamous dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, raising it at least four times with the FBI head. The document claimed that Trump had watched the prostitutes urinate on themselves in the same Moscow suite that President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stayed in previously “as a way of soiling the bed,” Comey writes.
Trump offered varying explanations to convince Comey it was not true. “I’m a germaphobe,” Trump told him in a follow-up call on Jan. 11, 2017, according to Comey’s account. “There’s no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way.” Later, the president asked what could be done to “lift the cloud” because it was so painful for first lady Melania Trump.
...
A week after the Trump Tower meeting, on Jan. 11, Comey writes that Trump called him and said he was concerned about the dossier being made public and was fixated on the prostitutes allegation. The president-elect argued that it could not be true because he had not stayed overnight in Moscow but had only used the hotel room to change his clothes. And after Trump explained that he would never allow people to urinate near him, Comey recalls laughing.
“I decided not to tell him that the activity alleged did not seem to require either an overnight stay or even being in proximity to the participants,” Comey writes. “In fact, though I didn’t know for sure, I imagined the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow was large enough for a germaphobe to be at a safe distance from the activity.”
Comey writes that Obama sat alone with him in the Oval Office in late November and told him, “I picked you to be FBI director because of your integrity and your ability. I want you to know that nothing — nothing — has happened in the last year to change my view.”Trump also ranted to him about how unfairly he was being treated for his "Our country’s so innocent?" whataboutism. Yet when it comes to whether Trump broke the law, Comey is cautious:
On the verge of tears, Comey told Obama, “Boy, were those words I needed to hear . . . I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
“I know,” Obama said. “I know.”
“I have one perspective on the behavior I saw, which while disturbing and violating basic norms of ethical leadership, may fall short of being illegal,” he writes.posted by zachlipton at 2:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
President Heel: "I'll take the heat. I don't care," Trump said, quipping, "My whole life has been heat."
posted by notyou at 2:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by notyou at 2:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Twitter: It's real.
Um.
Chris Hayes retweeted @nycsouthpaw: The pee tape is such a great MacGuffin—everywhere and nowhere, pursued and scorned, coveted by the great and the good and striking fear into the hearts of the wretched, though none can predict its actual value.
Um.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:58 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
Um.
Chris Hayes retweeted @nycsouthpaw: The pee tape is such a great MacGuffin—everywhere and nowhere, pursued and scorned, coveted by the great and the good and striking fear into the hearts of the wretched, though none can predict its actual value.
Um.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:58 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
While it is a bit annoying that we're getting little bits here and there about the Comey interview and book, if there's one thing that delights me about it, it's that this is happening reality show style and this time Trump is on the wrong end of it.
I'm sick of it. We don't need another reality show, we don't need the talking heads getting all their "both sides" points, we don't need the drama, we don't need the idea of milking everything for every last penny and eyeball. What we need is for people of integrity, wherever they are, to stand up and say what they know, as publicly as possible, as loudly as possible. This reality show shit and "politics as sport" needs to stop.
posted by nubs at 3:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [40 favorites]
I'm sick of it. We don't need another reality show, we don't need the talking heads getting all their "both sides" points, we don't need the drama, we don't need the idea of milking everything for every last penny and eyeball. What we need is for people of integrity, wherever they are, to stand up and say what they know, as publicly as possible, as loudly as possible. This reality show shit and "politics as sport" needs to stop.
posted by nubs at 3:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [40 favorites]
He also reveals for the first time that the U.S. government had unverified classified information that he believes could have been used to cast doubt on Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s independence in the Clinton probe.
How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe
The document, obtained by the FBI, was a piece of purported analysis by Russian intelligence, the people said. It referred to an email supposedly written by the then-chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), and sent to Leonard Benardo, an official with the Open Society Foundations, an organization founded by billionaire George Soros and dedicated to promoting democracy.The Problems With the FBI’s Email Investigation Went Well Beyond Comey.
The Russian document did not contain a copy of the email, but it described some of the contents of the purported message.
In the supposed email, Wasserman Schultz claimed Lynch had been in private communication with a senior Clinton campaign staffer named Amanda Renteria during the campaign. The document indicated Lynch had told Renteria that she would not let the FBI investigation into Clinton go too far, according to people familiar with it.
Current and former officials have argued that the secret document gave Comey good reason to take the extraordinary step over the summer of announcing the findings of the Clinton investigation himself without Justice Department involvement.
...
From the moment the bureau received the document from a source in early March 2016, its veracity was the subject of an internal debate at the FBI. Several people familiar with the matter said the bureau’s doubts about the document hardened in August when officials became more certain that there was nothing to substantiate the claims in the Russian document.
A recent report in The New York Times raised the prospect of another factor in Comey’s calculations. Early last year, another FBI investigative team had found a memo or email hacked by the Russians in which a Democratic operative expressed confidence that Lynch would protect Clinton. According to the Times, Comey worried that if Lynch were involved in the Clinton announcement and the Russians leaked the document, then voters would not trust the inquiry.I can't find it in the transcript right now, but I think Comey testified that these media reports about this document were inaccurate, but said he could not describe the ways in which they were inaccurate. Maybe now he can.
But Comey did not confront Lynch, demand that she recuse herself or raise the matter with the deputy attorney general, Sally Yates, former Justice Department officials told me. Instead, he sent an aide to confer with David Margolis, a respected senior Justice Department official, who has since died. Margolis never raised the issue with department leadership. Two former officials who have seen the document told me that it was never a real concern. Comey and his defenders, they insisted to me, are now engaged in “revisionist history.”
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:03 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
KrangTNelson [via Twitter]:
the piss tape coming out would be pretty fuckin funny, but nowhere near as funny as when thousands of conservatives reflexively livestream themselves chugging piss in solidarity with president big boy
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [85 favorites]
the piss tape coming out would be pretty fuckin funny, but nowhere near as funny as when thousands of conservatives reflexively livestream themselves chugging piss in solidarity with president big boy
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:15 PM on April 12, 2018 [85 favorites]
Israel's Channel 10 (via Axios), White House urged Israel to end Poland Holocaust bill dispute
posted by zachlipton at 3:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
The Trump administration has urged Israel several times in the last few weeks to try to solve the crisis that erupted with Poland over a controversial law which makes it illegal to attribute crimes committed during the Holocaust to Poland.What a Holocaust Remembrance Day...
A senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry told me: "The Americans made clear they don’t like the Holocaust law, think it is unacceptable and asked the Polish government to fix it. But at the same time they told us Poland is an important U.S. ally, especially in NATO, and also an Israeli ally and therefore there is a need to deal with the crisis carefully and not damage the alliance."
Senior Israeli officials told me the U.S. conveyed their messages in several channels both to the Israeli government and to opposition leaders and asked them to temper their public rhetoric against Poland:
posted by zachlipton at 3:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
“He just rolled on, unprompted, explaining why it couldn’t possibly be true, ending by saying he was thinking of asking me to investigate the allegation to prove it was a lie. I said it was up to him.”Imagine attempting to explain to Donald Trump how it's logically impossible to prove a negative.
posted by zixyer at 3:26 PM on April 12, 2018 [35 favorites]
It's easy to overlook that the Steele Dossier alleged that Trump did not merely request that sex workers should urinate in front of him, a fairly mainstream kink, but the he asked them to urinate in order to symbolically defile a bed he was told had been used by the first black President of the United States and his First Lady, the act of a deranged racist sociopath incapable of shame.
But that hardly sounds like our President now, does it?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:27 PM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
But that hardly sounds like our President now, does it?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:27 PM on April 12, 2018 [39 favorites]
“For about the fourth time, he argued that the golden showers thing wasn’t true, asking yet again, ‘Can you imagine me, hookers?’” Comey writes of their March 30, 2017, call.
Wait, is he saying "if I wanted Russian women to urinate on my bed, they'd have done it for free and were definitely not hookers"
posted by BungaDunga at 3:32 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
Wait, is he saying "if I wanted Russian women to urinate on my bed, they'd have done it for free and were definitely not hookers"
posted by BungaDunga at 3:32 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
Remember when Trump said it couldn't be true because he was a "germaphobe"? It's like a Klan member saying he couldn't have lit that burning cross because he dislikes being on fire.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:32 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:32 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
The president-elect argued that it could not be true because he had not stayed overnight in Moscow but had only used the hotel room to change his clothes.
This bit does not seem consistent with other accounts of the story. The Guardian reported Trump checked in sometime on November 8th, and he filmed the music video at the hotel early in the morning on the 9th. Schiller reportedly testified it was after a morning meeting when he turned down the offer to "send five women" to Trump's room and that Trump would later go to bed alone in Moscow.
All I know about investigating things comes from playing Phoenix Wright, but that's taught me this is surely the sort of contradiction about which you'd shout "OBJECTION!" and wave around your attorney's badge.
Anyway, I wish I didn't know any of this.
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
This bit does not seem consistent with other accounts of the story. The Guardian reported Trump checked in sometime on November 8th, and he filmed the music video at the hotel early in the morning on the 9th. Schiller reportedly testified it was after a morning meeting when he turned down the offer to "send five women" to Trump's room and that Trump would later go to bed alone in Moscow.
All I know about investigating things comes from playing Phoenix Wright, but that's taught me this is surely the sort of contradiction about which you'd shout "OBJECTION!" and wave around your attorney's badge.
Anyway, I wish I didn't know any of this.
posted by zachlipton at 3:38 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
Many germophobes are under the mistaken belief that urine is sterile
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
Oh good grief. NYT, James Comey Has a Story to Tell. It’s Very Persuasive.
posted by zachlipton at 3:41 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
As for his controversial disclosure on Oct. 28, 2016, 11 days before the election, that the F.B.I. was reviewing more Clinton emails that might be pertinent to its earlier investigation, Comey notes here that he had assumed from media polling that Clinton was going to win. He has repeatedly asked himself, he writes, whether he was influenced by that assumption: “It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls. But I don’t know.”The fucking hubris of this man.
He adds that he hopes “very much that what we did — what I did — wasn’t a deciding factor in the election.” In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 3, 2017, Comey stated that the very idea that his decisions might have had an impact on the outcome of the presidential race left him feeling “mildly nauseous” — or, as one of his grammatically minded daughters corrected him, “nauseated.”
posted by zachlipton at 3:41 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
I think it should have been a bigger deal that Trump repeatedly claimed to have met Putin and also repeatedly claimed to have not met Putin and even to not know who Putin is. I think most journalists encountering this fact found it so excruciatingly stupid that they involuntarily disregarded it.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:43 PM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:43 PM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
That's always been my assumption, as I've posted numerous times in this thread. Comey spoke because he believed Clinton would win. Obama didn't speak because he believed Clinton would win.
posted by Justinian at 3:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [52 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [52 favorites]
lalex: "I can visualize this conversation to the point of feeling like I was there, and I really miss having such a preternaturally humane person in office."
I don't disagree with you, but it does remind me of my least favorite quality of Obama, which is his desperate need to believe in the goodness of others. Comey should not have had his forgiveness.
posted by TypographicalError at 3:46 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
I don't disagree with you, but it does remind me of my least favorite quality of Obama, which is his desperate need to believe in the goodness of others. Comey should not have had his forgiveness.
posted by TypographicalError at 3:46 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
Comey notes here that he had assumed from media polling that Clinton was going to win.
On October 28th 2016, FiveThirtyEight put Trump's chance of victory at 21%. This is more probable than randomly selecting a predetermined Spice Girl.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
On October 28th 2016, FiveThirtyEight put Trump's chance of victory at 21%. This is more probable than randomly selecting a predetermined Spice Girl.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Apparently I consider "this thread" to be the string of threads leading from this one all the way back to November of '16. I meant "these threads" in case anyone searched for my previous comments in this particular thread. Sorry for the inconvenience.
posted by Justinian at 3:54 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 3:54 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
So are we believing that "to reassure Melania" is ever something that would occur to him?
posted by rhizome at 3:54 PM on April 12, 2018 [66 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 3:54 PM on April 12, 2018 [66 favorites]
Oh, hey, it's not gonna cost an extra arm or leg to visit a national park after all.
The Hill: Zinke backs off plan for big national park fee increases
The Hill: Zinke backs off plan for big national park fee increases
The National Park Service said Thursday it will increase most entrance fees at parks that currently charge them by $5, much less than the increase of as much as $45 that Zinke proposed in October. That would have raised a vehicle pass for the most-visited parks during their peak periods to $70.posted by hanov3r at 3:56 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
I dunno, it seems somehow fitting that Comey's nagging fear that he may have some responsibility for Trump's election would be published in the New York Times.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:56 PM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:56 PM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
As I found myself shouting a lot at the time, FiveThirtyEight et al. posting probability of winning, rather than the raw percentages of how much of the vote each candidate could expect, must have been a contributing factor to people’s expectations. The race was always really close in those swing states. “She has an 80% chance of winning” was such meaningless bullshit, and it undoubtedly contributed to Democratic complacency re: the need to go and vote.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 3:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
To me, it very transparently sounds like the kind of explanation someone comes up with after the fact. Like: I need to know this thing, what is a reasonable, not suspicious, even sympathetic reason to want to know this thing. I know! It will make my beautiful wife feel better! Then I can seem like a good guy and also pass it off as bitches be crazy, amirite?
posted by yasaman at 3:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by yasaman at 3:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
The New York Times model had Clinton at 92% on October 28, and Sam Wang’s Princeton Election Consortium gave her even higher odds. And one Irish bookie had already paid out bets on Clinton!
posted by mbrubeck at 3:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by mbrubeck at 3:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
“She has an 80% chance of winning” was such meaningless bullshit
They also routinely published stories with titles like "Donald Trump is Just a Normal Polling Error Away From Winning". Before the election 538 was routinely and roundly disparaged for overstating Trump's chances and posting clickbait articles trying to scare people in order to drive traffic. Including on Metafilter.
Now they get yelled at for not doing enough to tell people Trump might win. But they did. I changed Nate Silver's name in my bookmarks to Nate Gold after the election.
posted by Justinian at 4:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
They also routinely published stories with titles like "Donald Trump is Just a Normal Polling Error Away From Winning". Before the election 538 was routinely and roundly disparaged for overstating Trump's chances and posting clickbait articles trying to scare people in order to drive traffic. Including on Metafilter.
Now they get yelled at for not doing enough to tell people Trump might win. But they did. I changed Nate Silver's name in my bookmarks to Nate Gold after the election.
posted by Justinian at 4:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
I knew the horse was going to win, therefore I didn't see the problem with breaking one of its legs.
posted by runcibleshaw at 4:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [45 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 4:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [45 favorites]
So are we believing that "to reassure Melania" is ever something that would occur to him?
I can see why a reporter characterized it that way, but I think Trump meant something more like "give me ammunition to use in my inevitable fight with my wife about this issue." Obviously Comey couldn't genuinely prove a negative, but he could enable Trump to say, "I had Jim Comey look into it and he says it's bullshit, too."
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
I can see why a reporter characterized it that way, but I think Trump meant something more like "give me ammunition to use in my inevitable fight with my wife about this issue." Obviously Comey couldn't genuinely prove a negative, but he could enable Trump to say, "I had Jim Comey look into it and he says it's bullshit, too."
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
The New York Times model had Clinton at 92% on October 28, and Sam Wang’s Princeton Election Consortium gave her even higher odds. And one Irish bookie had already paid out bets on Clinton!
In the months before the election, I carried around a $100 bill, and dared each and every Trump fan I met to put their money where their mouth was. NOT ONE took me up on it.
posted by mikelieman at 4:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
In the months before the election, I carried around a $100 bill, and dared each and every Trump fan I met to put their money where their mouth was. NOT ONE took me up on it.
posted by mikelieman at 4:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
This 'prove the pee tape unreal' thing - more of the 'recourse to fundamental problems in philosophy to get me out of a political bind' that I've come to associate with this administration.
I wish it was all over and I was watching the Scorsese movie of it, Trumpfellas, with Rick Gates as the Ray Liotta narrator living the rest of his life like a schnook (in federal prison).
posted by Mocata at 4:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wish it was all over and I was watching the Scorsese movie of it, Trumpfellas, with Rick Gates as the Ray Liotta narrator living the rest of his life like a schnook (in federal prison).
posted by Mocata at 4:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
On October 28th 2016, FiveThirtyEight put Trump's chance of victory at 21%. This is more probable than randomly selecting a predetermined Spice Girl.
First, 538 was the outlier in election predictions. Others had Clinton's chances as high as 97%. A lot of people right here on MetaFilter were slamming 538 for being too pessimistic, right up until election day.
Second, 80% is a chance the people have a really hard time grasping. It's lower than, e.g., your odds of surviving Russian Roulette or rolling anything other than a 7 on two dice (83.3%), but it's high enough that most people are surprised when then 20% hits. 538 themselves talked a lot about this leading up to the election.
posted by reventlov at 4:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
First, 538 was the outlier in election predictions. Others had Clinton's chances as high as 97%. A lot of people right here on MetaFilter were slamming 538 for being too pessimistic, right up until election day.
Second, 80% is a chance the people have a really hard time grasping. It's lower than, e.g., your odds of surviving Russian Roulette or rolling anything other than a 7 on two dice (83.3%), but it's high enough that most people are surprised when then 20% hits. 538 themselves talked a lot about this leading up to the election.
posted by reventlov at 4:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
It's really the least of Trump's improper requests of the Justice Department, but "please use government resources to investigate an allegation for the sake of my marriage" is also unethical. The FBI is not there to reassure Melania of things.
posted by zachlipton at 4:06 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 4:06 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
Second, 80% is a chance the people have a really hard time grasping. It's lower than, e.g., your odds of surviving Russian Roulette or rolling anything other than a 7 on two dice (83.3%), but it's high enough that most people are surprised when then 20% hits. 538 themselves talked a lot about this leading up to the election.
So they openly knew there was a problem with leading with the probabilities rather than the polling numbers, but continued to do so anyway. I fail to see how this is remotely applauseworthy.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:07 PM on April 12, 2018
So they openly knew there was a problem with leading with the probabilities rather than the polling numbers, but continued to do so anyway. I fail to see how this is remotely applauseworthy.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:07 PM on April 12, 2018
So are we believing that "to reassure Melania" is ever something that would occur to him?
"To reassure Melania" = one or both of the following --
a) To make sure Melania can't collect bigtime on the prenup
b) To make sure Melania can't win custody, i.e., lucrative child support
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:10 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
"To reassure Melania" = one or both of the following --
a) To make sure Melania can't collect bigtime on the prenup
b) To make sure Melania can't win custody, i.e., lucrative child support
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:10 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]
One of us is badly mistaken about the breadth and depth of 538's data analysis during the election, Sys Rq, but I won't argue about it more so I don't get ModWhacked.
posted by Justinian at 4:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:11 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
So are we believing that "to reassure Melania" is ever something that would occur to him?
Persuading Melania that she does not have grounds for a contested divorce is something that would occur to him. Even with a pre-nup, a judge can award a lot of support to the non-adulterous spouse, especially if childcare is involved.
A pre-nup might mention arrangements for children, but the court gets to decide if those arrangements are in the best interest of the child; decisions based on a child that doesn't exist at the time of signing would get a thorough review.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:12 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
Persuading Melania that she does not have grounds for a contested divorce is something that would occur to him. Even with a pre-nup, a judge can award a lot of support to the non-adulterous spouse, especially if childcare is involved.
A pre-nup might mention arrangements for children, but the court gets to decide if those arrangements are in the best interest of the child; decisions based on a child that doesn't exist at the time of signing would get a thorough review.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:12 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
I doubt the type of person who was regularly checking in with 538 was the type of voter who would have potentially stayed home on election day out of complacency because Clinton's numbers looked good.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:13 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:13 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
For the record, I HATE when 'percentage likelihoods' are applied to things that are controlled by human behavior (even mass human behavior). Odds on sporting events are universally bogus to me, even when turned into 'point spreads'. The 'degree of uncertainty' for polls is not much better, and any direct predictions of American Presidential races rarely adequately factor in the effect of the undemocratic Electoral College and the manipulative actions of one party on them (which weren't optimized until Romney/Ryan lost but were before Trump was nominated). That's why the "odds the Democrats will take over the House" causes me headaches from eye-rolling.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:21 PM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:21 PM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]
Humans are rarely capable of being driven by raw estimates of probability; we are driven by narrative. If John Kerry was estimated to have a 21% chance of defeating George W. Bush, we Mefiosi would regard him as having a pretty good shot, since the universe simply would not allow George W. Bush to be re-elected. Similarly, a Donald Trump with a 21% chance of victory would in fact have no chance of victory at all, since the universe would not allow someone like Donald Trump to be elected President of the United States. What a silly universe that would be!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:23 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:23 PM on April 12, 2018 [11 favorites]
Wait a second. The President fired the head of the FBI, who promptly sat down to write a book in which he speculates that the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton Moscow is large enough to watch from a distance as prostitutes urinate on the bed where another President once slept.
And that sentence somehow makes sense. What has happened to us?
posted by zachlipton at 4:26 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
And that sentence somehow makes sense. What has happened to us?
posted by zachlipton at 4:26 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
The Southern Strategy happened to us. :(
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [24 favorites]
All those years of GOP/Villager ranting about morality and decorum was bullshit projection
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
Can we please not go through the who called it, who didn't discussion again? It's been done repeatedly in past threads and there's no new information here.
posted by Candleman at 4:30 PM on April 12, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 4:30 PM on April 12, 2018 [16 favorites]
US foreign policy is a fscking mess because their country is run by a compromised reality star with incipient dementia #739:
Trump on Syria attack: ‘Very soon or not so soon at all!’
The report is legitimately terrifying.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:34 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
Trump on Syria attack: ‘Very soon or not so soon at all!’
The report is legitimately terrifying.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:34 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
As much as it's annoying that we're getting all these book spoilers, can we bring it around to the substance of what's being printed in the book and apparently discussed in the interview that's suppose to happen? Suddenly, the pee tape is back in the news, did Chris Hayes say "it's real"? I don't understand Twitter's layout. Also, can the president tell the head of the FBI to just go and investigate what amounts to a huge rumor? And why would you have somebody investigate something that you said didn't happen?
posted by gucci mane at 4:35 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 4:35 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
I am very much ready for this day to be over oh wait there is still more news somebody please make it stop. Trump’s allies worry that federal investigators may have seized recordings made by his attorney
posted by zachlipton at 4:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [103 favorites]
President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.Michael, is you making recordings of a criminal fucking conspiracy? Stupidest. Damn. Watergate.
Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him.
“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?”
...
It is unknown whether Cohen taped conversations between himself and Trump. But two people familiar with Cohen’s practices said he recorded both business and political conversations. One associate said Trump knew of Cohen’s practice because the attorney would often play him recordings Cohen had made of his conversations with other top Trump advisers.
posted by zachlipton at 4:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [103 favorites]
And why would you have somebody investigate something that you said didn't happen?
This is literally the plot of a 30 Rock episode - Jack hires a detective to dig into his own past... to find evidence that he didn't have a secret identity as a prolific cookie jar collector.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
This is literally the plot of a 30 Rock episode - Jack hires a detective to dig into his own past... to find evidence that he didn't have a secret identity as a prolific cookie jar collector.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [19 favorites]
The Washington Post: President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.
Stupid Watergate Any% World Record Speedrun.wmv
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:40 PM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
Stupid Watergate Any% World Record Speedrun.wmv
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:40 PM on April 12, 2018 [42 favorites]
'Trump's Mirror' applies to many more than that asshole, and dates back to the 'Moral Majority'. You want a accurate guide of our collective morals? Check out the Top 10 TV Shows... In the 80s, "Dallas" and "Dynasty" established our image of the rich and what we wanted to be/do when we get rich. And "The Sopranos" was more popular than any of the formulaic cop shows at the time. That's why I temper any hope I may have for America with the knowledge of the popularity of "The Walking Dead" and "Game of Thrones"... but then, it takes a much smaller audience to be #1 these days.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:41 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:41 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
To clarify: Chris Hayes's "It's real" was a joke tweet. It's a one-line joke often used on Twitter as a response to any official statement made by the administration that can be in any way construed to be referencing the pee tape.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:41 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:41 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Trump’s allies worry that federal investigators may have seized recordings made by his attorney
It's Lordys all the way down.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's Lordys all the way down.
posted by Rust Moranis at 4:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
And why would you have somebody investigate something that you said didn't happen?
This is literally the plot of a 30 Rock episode...
It's also the plot of Orson Welles's oddest film, Mr. Arkadin:
This is literally the plot of a 30 Rock episode...
It's also the plot of Orson Welles's oddest film, Mr. Arkadin:
Orson Welles’s Mr. Arkadin (a.k.a. Confidential Report) tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war European landscape.posted by Atom Eyes at 4:49 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
One associate said Trump knew of Cohen’s practice because the attorney would often play him recordings Cohen had made of his conversations with other top Trump advisers.
I can totally see the recording of implicating conversations with associates being Trump's go-to tactic to get people under his thumb, and it explains a lot about the ridiculous lengths some of his allies will go to to wreck their own lives in service of protecting him (also, hi there Trump's Mirror re: Trump Tower wiretapping claims), and if that's what he did and that horse has left the barn, oh boy could things get very interesting very quickly.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:09 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
I can totally see the recording of implicating conversations with associates being Trump's go-to tactic to get people under his thumb, and it explains a lot about the ridiculous lengths some of his allies will go to to wreck their own lives in service of protecting him (also, hi there Trump's Mirror re: Trump Tower wiretapping claims), and if that's what he did and that horse has left the barn, oh boy could things get very interesting very quickly.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:09 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
Faked cleanup at Hunters Point Shipyard much worse than Navy estimates. 90 to 97 percent of cleanup at two sites is questionable—“biggest case of eco-fraud in U.S. history”
It's a good thing the EPA is on the job to hold these men to justice. Hahahahahaha, oh I'm so funny. Pruitt will spend the next 2 weeks designing a custom medal to award them with & at least one will end up with a job offer on his staff.
posted by scalefree at 5:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
It's a good thing the EPA is on the job to hold these men to justice. Hahahahahaha, oh I'm so funny. Pruitt will spend the next 2 weeks designing a custom medal to award them with & at least one will end up with a job offer on his staff.
posted by scalefree at 5:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
Speaking of the EPA, this happened sometime in the middle of the Comey drama: White House Abruptly Orders EPA To Loosen Clean Air Rules In Polluter Giveaway
The worst part of this has been the dead silence on this from San Francisco's elected officials, many of whom have had various levels of ties with the Shipyard project's developer. Whistleblowers and neighbors have been calling this out for years, and now the worst suspicions are confirmed, yet there's no outcry from our representatives about an issue that raises enormous racial, economic, and environmental justice concerns, not to mention jeopardizes 12,000 desperately needed housing units.
posted by zachlipton at 5:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
With little notice, President Donald Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to dramatically overhaul national clean air standards and make it easier for industry to pollute in areas where it’s already dangerous to breathe.Faked cleanup at Hunters Point Shipyard much worse than Navy estimates.
The executive order ― titled “Promoting Domestic Manufacturing and Job Creation ― Policies and Procedures Relating to Implementation of Air Quality Standards” ― reverses an Obama-era decision. The 2015 decision allowed the EPA to intervene in states that fail to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards, forcing them to adopt federal regulatory plans to reduce ozone emissions that generally come from power plants, refineries and cement factories.
It opens the door to drastic changes in how science is used to set clean air rules, disqualifying huge amounts of peer-reviewed public health research in favor of industry-backed studies in a move that builds on steps EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has already taken.
The worst part of this has been the dead silence on this from San Francisco's elected officials, many of whom have had various levels of ties with the Shipyard project's developer. Whistleblowers and neighbors have been calling this out for years, and now the worst suspicions are confirmed, yet there's no outcry from our representatives about an issue that raises enormous racial, economic, and environmental justice concerns, not to mention jeopardizes 12,000 desperately needed housing units.
posted by zachlipton at 5:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [41 favorites]
Stop. The. Damn. News. ABC, President Trump poised to pardon Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, sources say
posted by zachlipton at 6:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [56 favorites]
President Donald Trump is poised to pardon Scooter J. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, according to sources familiar with the president’s thinking.That's kind of the least subtle message to his staff I can imagine short of him pre-signing pardons for all of them. Also, I thought he was against anonymous leakers?
The president has already signed off on the pardon, which is something he has been considering for several months, sources told ABC News.
posted by zachlipton at 6:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [56 favorites]
Also, I thought he was against anonymous leakers?
No, he's against the other team.
posted by Slothrup at 6:27 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
No, he's against the other team.
posted by Slothrup at 6:27 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
For those who don't recall (and don't read the article), Libby was convicted of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice. And Trump is going to pardon a guy convicted more than 10 years ago...whose sentence was already commuted in 2007, less than 4 months after his conviction.
So he's pardoning a guy who was convicted 10+ years ago who has already had his sentence commuted 10+ years ago, whose crimes were exactly those many of the President's associates are being charged with.
posted by Justinian at 6:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [62 favorites]
So he's pardoning a guy who was convicted 10+ years ago who has already had his sentence commuted 10+ years ago, whose crimes were exactly those many of the President's associates are being charged with.
posted by Justinian at 6:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [62 favorites]
I like that the President's magazine-owning buddy paying $30k to buy the silence of someone accusing the President of having a secret child barely qualifies as news today, that's fun
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [72 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:29 PM on April 12, 2018 [72 favorites]
Oh and NYtimes is saying Trump is doubling down into the Amazon/Post Office thing by ordering a report.
It’s really exhausting. Is the dam bursting already?
posted by Brainy at 6:31 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
It’s really exhausting. Is the dam bursting already?
posted by Brainy at 6:31 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
That's kind of the least subtle message to his staff I can imagine short of him pre-signing pardons for all of them. Also, I thought he was against anonymous leakers?
Trump has no policies, no principles (ha!), no loyalty to his party in general, George W Bush, Dick Cheney or Scooter Libby in specific, no consistency at all in anything but racism, greed & revenge. He may as well have taken out a full page ad in the NYT saying "I will pardon you!"
posted by scalefree at 6:33 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
Trump has no policies, no principles (ha!), no loyalty to his party in general, George W Bush, Dick Cheney or Scooter Libby in specific, no consistency at all in anything but racism, greed & revenge. He may as well have taken out a full page ad in the NYT saying "I will pardon you!"
posted by scalefree at 6:33 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
RECORDINGS.
Oh. Oh my sides. My poor startled cat!
I think my favorite quote is the one where the anonymous dumbass wonders aloud, to a reporter, “did they find the tapes?”
Well if they didn’t find them, they know to start looking. You dumb fuck.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:33 PM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
Oh. Oh my sides. My poor startled cat!
I think my favorite quote is the one where the anonymous dumbass wonders aloud, to a reporter, “did they find the tapes?”
Well if they didn’t find them, they know to start looking. You dumb fuck.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:33 PM on April 12, 2018 [34 favorites]
Oh and NYtimes is saying Trump is doubling down into the Amazon/Post Office thing by ordering a report.
Oh puhleaze, like he'd ever read it. Or do literally anything with it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh puhleaze, like he'd ever read it. Or do literally anything with it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
The US Justice Department website is out of date, but it indicates that this is only the third pardon Trump has issued, the others being to former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and to the sailor Kristian Mark Saucier, who was convicted of various security-related offenses. They make a bizarre collection; maybe Arpaio was sending a signal about contempt of court, but what's the deal with Saucier?
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:38 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:38 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Are there possible state-level charges against Cohen that Trump couldn't pardon?
(The answer I'm looking for here is "yes", if that helps...)
posted by uosuaq at 6:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
(The answer I'm looking for here is "yes", if that helps...)
posted by uosuaq at 6:39 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm guessing the President was in a conference call with his lawyers and said he needed people to believe he would pardon them if only they would play ball, and an exasperated Don McGahn said "Well, I guess you could pardon Scooter Libby!", and everyone cracked up, except Trump who said "Do that" and hung up the phone
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:40 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:40 PM on April 12, 2018 [13 favorites]
Saucier was pardoned as a kind of fuck-you to Hillary Clinton, Joe. He was the guy Trump always referenced when saying Clinton belonged in jail for her email stuff.
posted by Justinian at 6:42 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:42 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
Saucier has been a cause celebre on the right because he was convicted of what Clinton wasn’t: careless handling of classified info (in his case, he had taken photos of nuke sub parts).
posted by notyou at 6:42 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by notyou at 6:42 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Daily Beast, Swin/Stein, providing the comic relief portion of the evening Scott Pruitt’s Lobbyist Landlord Being Pressured to Leave His Firm. No, we're not crying for the lobbyist's job, we're scrolling down...let's meet the newest administrator from Oklahoma (Oklahoma):
The living arrangement caused headaches in real time as well. Pruitt was described by numerous sources as a disastrous tenant, with one comparing him to Owen Wilson’s character in You, Me and Dupree. According to three people familiar with events, Pruitt would not take out the trash during his time staying at the townhouse believing that a cleaning service would do it for him. There was no cleaning service that came with the apartment, however. And the garbage bags piled up to the point that Vicki Hart was forced to tell him to put them in the canister and to bring that canister out to the street the next time he left the building.posted by zachlipton at 6:42 PM on April 12, 2018 [30 favorites]
“Tenant from hell,” said one source.
The EPA declined to comment on Pruitt’s trash habits and condo-guest conduct.
This Scooter Libby pardon is just so out of left field. Curious what the explanation will be.
posted by notyou at 6:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by notyou at 6:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
Just got an email from the local Mueller Firing Rapid Response detailing plans & logistics should action be triggered.
posted by scalefree at 6:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
Firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would be the first step to firing special counsel Robert Mueller and blocking the investigation. Congress — and especially Republicans — must immediately make clear that firing Rosenstein would cross a red line.It goes on from there with reasons why firing Rosenstein would be unjust. This is NOT pulling the trigger, just preparing us for it.
Firing Rosenstein = An Attack on Mueller.
Let’s be clear: firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is the first step to firing special counsel Robert Mueller.
Rosenstein is Mueller’s boss. Department of Justice regulations say that Rosenstein is the only one who can remove Mueller, approve the direction of his investigation and control his funding.
Rosenstein is protecting Mueller and his investigation. He stated repeatedly that there was not “good cause” to fire special counsel Mueller -- the only lawful reason to fire the special counsel -- and gave Mueller the green light to investigate top Trump officials like Paul Manafort.
There is no good reason to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
posted by scalefree at 6:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [29 favorites]
Note on audio tapes: actually recording them was not illegal, as New York is a one-side-consent state. According to the article, though, Cohen frequently mentioned this to people as he played them tapes of other people in a blatant "don't fuck with me" form of intimidation.
posted by msalt at 6:46 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by msalt at 6:46 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
My understanding was Scooter Libby didn't want a pardon because acceptance is an admission of guilt. Wasn't that why W only commuted his sentence in the first place? Did Trump bother to consult Scooter before floating this idea, or was just the floating the whole point?
posted by SpaceBass at 6:46 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by SpaceBass at 6:46 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
I wouldn't be surprised if it's something Bolton requested, he and Scooter Libby were closely allied during the Bush days...
posted by janewman at 6:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by janewman at 6:47 PM on April 12, 2018 [23 favorites]
Ahh, that makes sense. Maybe he needs to be pardoned in order to take a job in the administration?
posted by notyou at 6:49 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by notyou at 6:49 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
This Scooter Libby pardon is just so out of left field. Curious what the explanation will be.
One explanation: Comey, who was Deputy Attorney General at the time, appointed Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald (Attorney General John Ashcroft had recused himself) to investigate the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, which eventually resulted in charges against Libby.
posted by bluecore at 6:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
One explanation: Comey, who was Deputy Attorney General at the time, appointed Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald (Attorney General John Ashcroft had recused himself) to investigate the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, which eventually resulted in charges against Libby.
posted by bluecore at 6:51 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
Libby’s felonies would have prevented him from practicing law, but the ‘pedia says he was reinstated in 2016. So Bolton doing him that favor isn’t it.
Weird.
It’s always something with this clownshow!
posted by notyou at 6:55 PM on April 12, 2018
Weird.
It’s always something with this clownshow!
posted by notyou at 6:55 PM on April 12, 2018
I don't think it's much of a mystery. It's a blatant, obvious, and straightforward message to his staff and associates. Don't cooperate with any investigations and lie if you have to, and if you get in trouble you'll be pardoned.
That's it. There's no deeper meaning.
posted by Justinian at 6:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [48 favorites]
That's it. There's no deeper meaning.
posted by Justinian at 6:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [48 favorites]
Libby’s felonies would have prevented him from practicing law, but the ‘pedia says he was reinstated in 2016. So Bolton doing him that favor isn’t it.
There is no point to it. That's the point of it. It's purely about sending a signal.
posted by scalefree at 6:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
There is no point to it. That's the point of it. It's purely about sending a signal.
posted by scalefree at 6:59 PM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
I don't think Trump would come up with this insult against Comey on his own, but I can certainly see him tasking some staffer with researching actions he could take that would undermine Comey's legacy. Government by petty revenge.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:00 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:00 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
A senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry told me: "The Americans made clear they don’t like the Holocaust law, think it is unacceptable and asked the Polish government to fix it. But at the same time they told us Poland is an important U.S. ally, especially in NATO, and also an Israeli ally and therefore there is a need to deal with the crisis carefully and not damage the alliance."
I sincerely hope the Israelis took a deep breath and then told their good friends in the Trump administration to go fuck themselves.
posted by zarq at 7:05 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
I sincerely hope the Israelis took a deep breath and then told their good friends in the Trump administration to go fuck themselves.
posted by zarq at 7:05 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
Note on audio tapes: actually recording them was not illegal, as New York is a one-side-consent state. According to the article, though, Cohen frequently mentioned this to people as he played them tapes of other people in a blatant "don't fuck with me" form of intimidation.
If he played taped conversations with clients for this purpose he is going to get, in the words of his patron, 'schlonged.' Big time. Believe me.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:05 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
If he played taped conversations with clients for this purpose he is going to get, in the words of his patron, 'schlonged.' Big time. Believe me.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:05 PM on April 12, 2018 [14 favorites]
A senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry told me: "The Americans made clear they don’t like the Holocaust law, think it is unacceptable and asked the Polish government to fix it. But at the same time they told us Poland is an important U.S. ally, especially in NATO, and also an Israeli ally and therefore there is a need to deal with the crisis carefully and not damage the alliance."
I want both of my friends to like me so I'm agreeing with both of their opposing positions. The epitome of Trump.
posted by scalefree at 7:18 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
I want both of my friends to like me so I'm agreeing with both of their opposing positions. The epitome of Trump.
posted by scalefree at 7:18 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
they told us Poland is an important U.S. ally, especially in NATO, and also an Israeli ally and therefore there is a need to deal with the crisis carefully and not damage the alliance
Since when does the Trump administration care about NATO allies, and what does a spat between Poland and Israel have to do with NATO anyway? It's not even as if Poland is likely to leave NATO; they're practically a frontline state. I don't believe this rationale; there has to be another explanation.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:26 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Since when does the Trump administration care about NATO allies, and what does a spat between Poland and Israel have to do with NATO anyway? It's not even as if Poland is likely to leave NATO; they're practically a frontline state. I don't believe this rationale; there has to be another explanation.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:26 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Are there any other rationales for what 45 does besides:
1. Russia told him to
2. Because Fuck Obama/Hilary/Democrats that's why
3. Fox and Friends said he should
4. Random outbursts for the hell of it/to vent spleen
I feel like that covers all his actions. Scooter would be some combination of 2 and 4.
Poland, I feel like is a 1. Sow chaos in NATO, fuck with Israel.
posted by emjaybee at 7:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [21 favorites]
1. Russia told him to
2. Because Fuck Obama/Hilary/Democrats that's why
3. Fox and Friends said he should
4. Random outbursts for the hell of it/to vent spleen
I feel like that covers all his actions. Scooter would be some combination of 2 and 4.
Poland, I feel like is a 1. Sow chaos in NATO, fuck with Israel.
posted by emjaybee at 7:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [21 favorites]
I feel like that covers all his actions. Scooter would be some combination of 2 and 4.
Also greed, lust & filling the aching void at the center of his being where his soul should be. He's absolutely, totally, purely selfish.
posted by scalefree at 7:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also greed, lust & filling the aching void at the center of his being where his soul should be. He's absolutely, totally, purely selfish.
posted by scalefree at 7:45 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
5. The most naive, transparent, smug attempt at "negotiating strategy" that he thinks is terribly clever.
posted by ctmf at 7:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by ctmf at 7:57 PM on April 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
It's a blatant, obvious, and straightforward message to his staff and associates. Don't cooperate with any investigations and lie if you have to, and if you get in trouble you'll be pardoned.
Everyone knows not to count on Trump delivering on any promise.
posted by ctmf at 8:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Everyone knows not to count on Trump delivering on any promise.
posted by ctmf at 8:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Ah, the cherry on top of this utterly absurd day.
@BenBartenstein: White House must not have gotten the memo. Says VP Mike Pence will meet tomorrow with #Peru President Kuczynski, who resigned 3 weeks ago
posted by zachlipton at 8:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [68 favorites]
@BenBartenstein: White House must not have gotten the memo. Says VP Mike Pence will meet tomorrow with #Peru President Kuczynski, who resigned 3 weeks ago
posted by zachlipton at 8:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [68 favorites]
Just got an email from the local Mueller Firing Rapid Response detailing plans & logistics should action be triggered.
Wait, that's a real thing?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:35 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wait, that's a real thing?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:35 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wait, that's a real thing?
Mueller Firing Rapid Response
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:40 PM on April 12, 2018 [27 favorites]
Mueller Firing Rapid Response
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:40 PM on April 12, 2018 [27 favorites]
Wait, that's a real thing?
The idea is simple. Sign up with your local group & if/when Mueller (or Rosenstein) gets fired, an email & SMS blast goes out to all of us & we immediately hit the streets, converge on a preset spot & show Trump, America & the world that we stand with Mueller & the rule of law, that Trump is NOT above the law. His firing cannot be allowed to remain as a fait accompli & Congress MUST act to continue America as a democracy & not allow it to fall into authoritarianism. Our strength is in our numbers so the more people join us, the louder our voice will be. There's currently 300,000 people signed up across America. Join us & add your voice so when the day comes you can help save American democracy.
posted by scalefree at 9:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
The idea is simple. Sign up with your local group & if/when Mueller (or Rosenstein) gets fired, an email & SMS blast goes out to all of us & we immediately hit the streets, converge on a preset spot & show Trump, America & the world that we stand with Mueller & the rule of law, that Trump is NOT above the law. His firing cannot be allowed to remain as a fait accompli & Congress MUST act to continue America as a democracy & not allow it to fall into authoritarianism. Our strength is in our numbers so the more people join us, the louder our voice will be. There's currently 300,000 people signed up across America. Join us & add your voice so when the day comes you can help save American democracy.
posted by scalefree at 9:01 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
White House must not have gotten the memo. Says VP Mike Pence will meet tomorrow with #Peru President Kuczynski, who resigned 3 weeks ago
Sit him down with Ted Kaczynski, he'll never know the difference.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
Sit him down with Ted Kaczynski, he'll never know the difference.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:02 PM on April 12, 2018 [18 favorites]
ELECTIONS NEWS
** AZ-08 special -- OH Predictive Insights poll has GOPer Lesko up 53-43 on Dem Tipirneni [MOE: +/- 4.38%]. That actually wouldn't be a bad result, as the district went Trump 58-37, and the early voting has been pretty strongly favoring Lesko. Notably, though, the GOP has felt compelled to spend nearly $1M here.
** 2018 Senate:
** AZ-08 special -- OH Predictive Insights poll has GOPer Lesko up 53-43 on Dem Tipirneni [MOE: +/- 4.38%]. That actually wouldn't be a bad result, as the district went Trump 58-37, and the early voting has been pretty strongly favoring Lesko. Notably, though, the GOP has felt compelled to spend nearly $1M here.
** 2018 Senate:
-- FL: PPP poll has Dem Nelson up 50-44 on GOPer Scott [no MOE listed]** 2018 House:
-- NJ: Monmouth poll has Dem Menendez up 53-32 over likely GOP opponent Hugin [MOE: ±3.7%].
-- TN: GOP Sen Corker says he won't campaign against Dem hopeful Bredesen. (FYI, this is premium locked content, but can confirm that's what it says)
-- CA-48: Mentioned earlier, another Dem has dropped out of this race, which is one of the ones where there's a concern too many Dem candidates may result in getting locked out of the top two slots. Six Dems are still in.** Odds & ends:
-- WI-01: Good item from DKE on who might all be interested in the GOP nom for Paul Ryan's old seat.
-- Dem candidates are on aggregate the most liberal crop since at least 2002.
-- Single-payer now polling about even with Obamacare.posted by Chrysostom at 9:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [28 favorites]
-- PA to eliminate paperless voting machines prior to 2020.
-- CA gov: PPIC poll has Dems tantalizingly close to locking up the top two slots. Newsom (D) 26%, Cox (R) 15%, Villaraigosa (D) 13%, Allen (R) 10%, Chiang (D) 7%, Eastin (D) 6% [MOE: ±3.2%]
-- NJ legislature has passed automatic voter registration, now just pending Gov Murphy signature.
The Libby Pardon: Trump’s Object Lesson in Presidential Firewalls (Marcy Wheeler)
Libby was Bush’s firewall because he was ordered–by either PapaDick Cheney and/or Bush–to out Valerie Plame as an object lesson to CIA people pushing back on their shitty Iraq case. By refusing to flip, he prevented Patrick Fitzgerald from determining whether Bush had really ordered that outing or whether Cheney and Libby freelanced on it.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:22 PM on April 12, 2018 [36 favorites]
Libby risked prison, but didn’t flip on Cheney or Bush. He avoided prison time with a commutation, not a pardon. While PapaDick pushed hard for pardon, it didn’t happen, in large part because Bush had far better lawyers than Trump has.
Here’s some of the differences between Libby and Trump’s many firewalls:All that’s before the fact that the crimes that Trump and his are facing are far, far uglier even than deliberately exposing the identity of a CIA officer to warn others off of exposing your war lies.
- Manafort, Kushner, and Cohen are exposed to state charges, in addition to federal (even ignoring how the Russian mob may treat them).
- Libby was the bottleneck witness. You needed him to move further, or you got nowhere. Not so with Trump, because so many people know what a crook he is.
- Bush commuted but did not pardon Libby, then refused, against PapaDick’s plaints, because (smarter lawyer) lawyer counseled that’d be obstruction. Trump can’t fully pardon his firewall, for same reason: bc these witnesses will lose Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination (which, as it happens, Cohen is invoking as we speak in a civil suit, which also can’t be dismissed by pardon).
- Di Genova and Toensing (who are not good lawyers but pound tables well) haven’t figured out that this won’t be a one-off: This won’t be one (Manafort) or two (Cohen) people Trump has to pardon. And THEY DON’T KNOW the full scope of who Trump would have to pardon here. There are too many moving parts to pull this off.
- And finally, because Trump is in a race. As I noted before, Mueller has already signaled he will label dangling pardons — as Trump has already done — as obstruction of justice. That presents far more risk for Trump, even assuming Mike Pence wants to go do the route of half-term infamy that Gerald Ford did by pardoning his boss.
I like the idea of the Mueller rapid response, but man, I cannot make their times if it ends up being, say, noon on a workday (the nearest one to me is a half hour drive away). Heck, 5 p.m. to the location is showing up an hour late in rush.
*grumbles about living in smallville where nobody is holding any protests*
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
*grumbles about living in smallville where nobody is holding any protests*
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
I think they'll be just warming up by 6 pm.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:27 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:27 PM on April 12, 2018 [12 favorites]
I like the idea of the Mueller rapid response, but man, I cannot make their times if it ends up being, say, noon on a workday (the nearest one to me is a half hour drive away). Heck, 5 p.m. to the location is showing up an hour late in rush.
2PM is the cutoff. Before then we go for 5PM, after then we go for 5PM the next day.
posted by scalefree at 9:31 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
2PM is the cutoff. Before then we go for 5PM, after then we go for 5PM the next day.
posted by scalefree at 9:31 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
As for the AZ-08 special, I’m watching to see what the margin is. If it’s within 10 then the GOP is going to really start freaking out. I don’t see any way for Tipirneni to win this; the demographics of the district are just too hardcore for a Dem to overcome. Lots of retirees (these are the people that kept Arpaio in office so damn long) and a lot of people that will vote for a rabid skunk if it has a R next to it on the general election ballot. But if it’s within 10 then the state party is going to be getting really worried and we might actually start dreaming about taking the state senate - we came damn close not too far back. (If the Dems managed to get the house, senate and governor office, boy, is there a laundry list of stuff to get done in a hurry. So many GOP laws to repeal.).
Worth noting that the districts in AZ are drawn by an independent commission. So this isn’t a gerrymandered seat; it pretty much balances out here and we’ve had some evenly split congressional delegations over the years.
posted by azpenguin at 9:32 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
Worth noting that the districts in AZ are drawn by an independent commission. So this isn’t a gerrymandered seat; it pretty much balances out here and we’ve had some evenly split congressional delegations over the years.
posted by azpenguin at 9:32 PM on April 12, 2018 [9 favorites]
All the Ways Trump Can Shut Down the Mueller Probe
Trump has demonstrated that he is more than willing to undermine the rule of law, and even suggested that no one can investigate him as president. But how, from a legal and procedural standpoint, would this happen? And what would happen if Robert Mueller, or Rod Rosenstein, or both, were defenestrated?posted by kirkaracha at 9:37 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
"All of this is unclear, because none of this has happened before," says Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School and a former prosecutor in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "None of it's been tested."
Still, Rodgers offers some guidance on how Trump could effectively dissolve the Russian probe.
Where Every Senate Republican Stands on the Mueller Investigation
Most Republican Senators have scoffed at the idea that Trump would even consider terminating Mueller, but it's becoming harder and harder to dismiss it as impossible, or even unlikely. Politico reported that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley will allow a vote on a new bipartisan bill to protect Mueller from the president's wrath. A handful of Senate Republicans have said they would support such legislation, but most still feel confident that our impulsive, unpredictable president with a demonstrated lack of respect for traditional political norms would never do such a thing.posted by kirkaracha at 10:04 PM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
Here's where every Senate Republican stands on the issue:
azpenguin: As for the AZ-08 special, I’m watching to see what the margin is. If it’s within 10 then the GOP is going to really start freaking out. I don’t see any way for Tipirneni to win this; the demographics of the district are just too hardcore for a Dem to overcome. Lots of retirees (these are the people that kept Arpaio in office so damn long) and a lot of people that will vote for a rabid skunk if it has a R next to it on the general election ballot. But if it’s within 10 then the state party is going to be getting really worried and we might actually start dreaming about taking the state senate - we came damn close not too far back.
Yes. Taking it is close to impossible, but we are planning to make them work for it very, very hard, which they've never had to do before. We are mostly hoping to move the needle significantly, and we're feeling pretty good about our chances there. (Bonus: Hiral is a genuinely good candidate.) My LD abuts CD-08, and we are sending lots of folks to canvass and otherwise volunteer. Tomorrow (Friday the 13th) there is a voter texting campaign happening, and there are canvasses this weekend. If any of you want to help, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the people in charge of these efforts.
posted by Superplin at 10:17 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
Yes. Taking it is close to impossible, but we are planning to make them work for it very, very hard, which they've never had to do before. We are mostly hoping to move the needle significantly, and we're feeling pretty good about our chances there. (Bonus: Hiral is a genuinely good candidate.) My LD abuts CD-08, and we are sending lots of folks to canvass and otherwise volunteer. Tomorrow (Friday the 13th) there is a voter texting campaign happening, and there are canvasses this weekend. If any of you want to help, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the people in charge of these efforts.
posted by Superplin at 10:17 PM on April 12, 2018 [20 favorites]
Here's where every Senate Republican stands on the issue:
They couldn’t put that info in a list or a table or something easily scannable? I don’t have an hour to read this stuff, man. This is one story of 80 every day.
*grumble*
posted by greermahoney at 10:20 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
They couldn’t put that info in a list or a table or something easily scannable? I don’t have an hour to read this stuff, man. This is one story of 80 every day.
*grumble*
posted by greermahoney at 10:20 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
They couldn’t put that info in a list or a table or something easily scannable? I don’t have an hour to read this stuff, man. This is one story of 80 every day.
Won't be pretty but I'm working my way through the list. I'll say right now that passing it looks plausible, assuming a fair number of the fuzzy yeses stand fast.
posted by scalefree at 10:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Won't be pretty but I'm working my way through the list. I'll say right now that passing it looks plausible, assuming a fair number of the fuzzy yeses stand fast.
posted by scalefree at 10:24 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
According to three people familiar with events, Pruitt would not take out the trash during his time staying at the townhouse believing that a cleaning service would do it for him. There was no cleaning service that came with the apartment, however. And the garbage bags piled up to the point that Vicki Hart was forced to tell him to put them in the canister and to bring that canister out to the street the next time he left the building.Let me get this straight. Scott Pruitt, Trump's head of EPA, refuses to take out his own garbage, believing despite evidence that someone else will clean it up for him, letting his garbage pile up in his own living space rather than do a simple, obvious chore.
I'm sorry, this is too on the nose for this character to be believable. No one is that cartoonishly one-dimensional.
posted by biogeo at 11:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [188 favorites]
I'll try to put up a sheet on GDocs tomorrow but here's my quick summary:
Hard yes: 7
Soft yes: 9
Undecided/unknown: 13
Soft no: 13
Hard no: 9
Soft yes & no is fuzzy, I made a judgement call. These are people who've made a career from hedging bets & being opaque. If all the hard yes stick & half the soft yes & undecided/unknown break yes it comes to 17-19 yes, 2 or 4 votes short of cloture. So it's at least plausible if a bit uphill.
posted by scalefree at 11:21 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
Hard yes: 7
Soft yes: 9
Undecided/unknown: 13
Soft no: 13
Hard no: 9
Soft yes & no is fuzzy, I made a judgement call. These are people who've made a career from hedging bets & being opaque. If all the hard yes stick & half the soft yes & undecided/unknown break yes it comes to 17-19 yes, 2 or 4 votes short of cloture. So it's at least plausible if a bit uphill.
posted by scalefree at 11:21 PM on April 12, 2018 [10 favorites]
If you're wondering what's up with the Mueller bill in Senate Judiciary, the inside baseball is over at Grassley-Feinstein feud threatens Mueller protection plan. Nobody trusts each other, with good reason, nothing gets done, forget it, Jake, it's Congress.
A plausible vote count is great, but the thing has to make it to the floor somehow first. And a Mueller protection plan isn't the Rosenstein protection plan we need, like, tomorrow.
posted by zachlipton at 11:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
A plausible vote count is great, but the thing has to make it to the floor somehow first. And a Mueller protection plan isn't the Rosenstein protection plan we need, like, tomorrow.
posted by zachlipton at 11:28 PM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
Thank you, Scalefree! That was super-kind of you, and I shan’t forget it.
posted by greermahoney at 11:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by greermahoney at 11:55 PM on April 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
Everyone knows not to count on Trump delivering on any promise.
It is pretty much a typical Trump Promise: a weak show designed to reassure the suckers, without putting any real effort or commitment into it. If he was really serious about pardoning his people, he would pardon one of the people already under indictment.
If he does pardon anybody, it'll pretty much be done on impulse, in a rage.
posted by happyroach at 12:15 AM on April 13, 2018
It is pretty much a typical Trump Promise: a weak show designed to reassure the suckers, without putting any real effort or commitment into it. If he was really serious about pardoning his people, he would pardon one of the people already under indictment.
If he does pardon anybody, it'll pretty much be done on impulse, in a rage.
posted by happyroach at 12:15 AM on April 13, 2018
If all the hard yes stick & half the soft yes & undecided/unknown break yes it comes to 17-19 yes, 2 or 4 votes short of cloture.
It's late so maybe I'm missing something.... but cloture is 60 votes and there are 49 Democrats in the Senate. So 17 Republican yays would mean an easy cloture vote? Hell 18 Republicans would mean a veto-proof majority?
posted by Justinian at 1:46 AM on April 13, 2018
It's late so maybe I'm missing something.... but cloture is 60 votes and there are 49 Democrats in the Senate. So 17 Republican yays would mean an easy cloture vote? Hell 18 Republicans would mean a veto-proof majority?
posted by Justinian at 1:46 AM on April 13, 2018
Yeah I think my adding was a bit off. It is, as you say, late. Or early now actually. We only need 11 not 21.
posted by scalefree at 3:09 AM on April 13, 2018
posted by scalefree at 3:09 AM on April 13, 2018
2PM is the cutoff. Before then we go for 5PM, after then we go for 5PM the next day.
Correction:
If actions are triggered BEFORE 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ 5 p.m. local time.
If actions are triggered AFTER 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day.
* This is the general plan—please confirm details on your event page, as individual hosts may tailor their events to their local plan.*
I think they'll be just warming up by 6 pm
What will people do? Stand around and chant? How long can that go on for? Will bored-but-angry people get fighty? What about people who have to bring their kids? I'm worried about bathrooms, about people getting hungry/thirsty and about too much free-floating anger leading to fights or property damage. Any Occupy veterans got any insight on how to keep people, well, occupied?
I keep up with news and MetaFilter enough that I'm not worried about missing the announcement.
I think you should sign up anyway. Because the organizers (local and national) send out press announcements about how many RSVPs they have. More RSVP's gets more press attention and getting the word out is important. Also. There is a safety in numbers effect. The more people who are reported to have signed up, the more other people feel safe joining them. Finally, there is a deterrent effect. Just knowing that 320,000 people have signed up must make Trump a little nervous about what will happen. Imagine if it were 5 million! And if you are a Republican Congress member, knowing for sure that even 1000 angry people showing up at your office door might make you more motivated to protect Mueller.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Correction:
If actions are triggered BEFORE 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ 5 p.m. local time.
If actions are triggered AFTER 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day.
* This is the general plan—please confirm details on your event page, as individual hosts may tailor their events to their local plan.*
I think they'll be just warming up by 6 pm
What will people do? Stand around and chant? How long can that go on for? Will bored-but-angry people get fighty? What about people who have to bring their kids? I'm worried about bathrooms, about people getting hungry/thirsty and about too much free-floating anger leading to fights or property damage. Any Occupy veterans got any insight on how to keep people, well, occupied?
I keep up with news and MetaFilter enough that I'm not worried about missing the announcement.
I think you should sign up anyway. Because the organizers (local and national) send out press announcements about how many RSVPs they have. More RSVP's gets more press attention and getting the word out is important. Also. There is a safety in numbers effect. The more people who are reported to have signed up, the more other people feel safe joining them. Finally, there is a deterrent effect. Just knowing that 320,000 people have signed up must make Trump a little nervous about what will happen. Imagine if it were 5 million! And if you are a Republican Congress member, knowing for sure that even 1000 angry people showing up at your office door might make you more motivated to protect Mueller.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
That'll teach me to read numbers at 2AM.
posted by scalefree at 3:20 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 3:20 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
OK here's the sheet. Remember, these are kind of fuzzy as GOP Senators are especially good at taking all sides of an issue before voting time. GOP votes to protect Mueller.
posted by scalefree at 3:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 3:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Unfortunately there's only one GOP vote in the Senate that matters: McConnell. I can't see him ever allowing a Mueller vote. There's nothing too evil for McConnell.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:41 AM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:41 AM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
Perry Bacon & Dhrumil Mehta, 538: Democrats’ Chances Of Winning The Senate Are Looking Stronger
posted by nangar at 4:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by nangar at 4:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
Post-ABC poll: Majority of Americans support Mueller’s probe of Russia, Trump campaign (WaPo)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 4:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Post-ABC poll: Majority of Americans support Mueller’s probe of Russia, Trump campaign (WaPo)
The 69-25 in support aligns pretty well with the Quinnipiac poll from 2 days ago that showed 69-13 supported Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 5:02 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
The 69-25 in support aligns pretty well with the Quinnipiac poll from 2 days ago that showed 69-13 supported Mueller.
posted by chris24 at 5:02 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
I don't think Graham is a "hard no" since he is sponsoring the legislation. Tillis is also a co-sponsor and is missing from the spreadsheet.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:05 AM on April 13, 2018
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:05 AM on April 13, 2018
It sure would be nice if every single publication of record weren't gaming out all the different ways the corrupt president could get the special investigation off his back. At this point they're basically doing homework for the kids who never do their fucking homework.
Note on audio tapes
I am nearing 40 and therefore old enough to have e.g. recorded a demo tape on a Fostex 4-track, but I have not taped anything in literally decades. The story also referred to how Cohen played back "digital audio files" for people as though it was some arcane coding trick.
Congress got so much grief for their clear lack of a clue about Facebook, I feel like someone needs to point out how all these "tapes" illustrate a profound ineptitude on someone's part, or a blatant inaccuracy. The only possible argument I could see for using *actual tape* is that it couldn't be scraped off your XP-running Russia compromised sekrit computer, and clearly none of these idiots is sharp enough to reason through anything remotely that savvy.
Seems more likely some combination of: An outdated term being thrown around by olds; The media's credulous repetition of said term; and/or the people involved relying on eighties technology.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [23 favorites]
Note on audio tapes
I am nearing 40 and therefore old enough to have e.g. recorded a demo tape on a Fostex 4-track, but I have not taped anything in literally decades. The story also referred to how Cohen played back "digital audio files" for people as though it was some arcane coding trick.
Congress got so much grief for their clear lack of a clue about Facebook, I feel like someone needs to point out how all these "tapes" illustrate a profound ineptitude on someone's part, or a blatant inaccuracy. The only possible argument I could see for using *actual tape* is that it couldn't be scraped off your XP-running Russia compromised sekrit computer, and clearly none of these idiots is sharp enough to reason through anything remotely that savvy.
Seems more likely some combination of: An outdated term being thrown around by olds; The media's credulous repetition of said term; and/or the people involved relying on eighties technology.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [23 favorites]
PopBitch: Seeing as it's so tightly wrapped up in the current Trump imbroglio, for 24 hours we're dropping the paywall on our National Enquirer/American Media, Inc series – so you can find out for yourself exactly how sketchy the whole thing is:
posted by acb at 5:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by acb at 5:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [37 favorites]
audio tapes
A hint that more than Trump might be concerned that the National Deputy Finance Chair of the GOP could have tapes.
@MichaelAvenatti
In last 18 mos, Mr. Cohen negotiated yet another hush NDA, this time on behalf of a prominent GOP donor who had a relationship with a LA woman, impregnated her and then made sure she had an abortion. The deal provided for multiple payments across many months. #basta
posted by chris24 at 5:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
A hint that more than Trump might be concerned that the National Deputy Finance Chair of the GOP could have tapes.
@MichaelAvenatti
In last 18 mos, Mr. Cohen negotiated yet another hush NDA, this time on behalf of a prominent GOP donor who had a relationship with a LA woman, impregnated her and then made sure she had an abortion. The deal provided for multiple payments across many months. #basta
posted by chris24 at 5:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
Don't worry, Mark Warner has a plan for when Trump fires Rosenstein: wait two days, then wait for Republicans to do nothing.
Dems Prep a Plan if Rosenstein Is Fired
Dems Prep a Plan if Rosenstein Is Fired
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, told a group of Democratic colleagues on Wednesday that they should adhere to a one- or two-day cooling-off period if Trump fires Rosenstein, according to three congressional sources. Rosenstein met Thursday with Trump amid reports that the White House is preparing an effort to undermine the deputy attorney general’s credibility.posted by T.D. Strange at 5:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
“The first 24 to 48 hours, if and when that happens, we should stay calm; we should do our best to reach out across the aisle and talk to our colleagues and say, ‘Seriously, we cannot allow this to happen.’ Just don’t go immediately to DEFCON-1,” said a member of Congress who attended the meeting but asked for anonymity to discuss it candidly. “We should not say anything—let the dust settle for a minute. What I took from it is it’s better to build a coalition across the aisle than just to come out guns a-blazing saying, ‘We’ve got to impeach him now.’”
I am nearing 40 and therefore old enough to have e.g. recorded a demo tape on a Fostex 4-track, but I have not taped anything in literally decades. The story also referred to how Cohen played back "digital audio files" for people as though it was some arcane coding trick.
They don't want to say "Cohen has MP3s" for fear that the RIAA will launch its own investigation.
(Or fear that someone will leak them and then by the end of the week they'll have dance remixes and mash-ups and be sampled in the next Drake album.)
posted by delfin at 5:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [23 favorites]
They don't want to say "Cohen has MP3s" for fear that the RIAA will launch its own investigation.
(Or fear that someone will leak them and then by the end of the week they'll have dance remixes and mash-ups and be sampled in the next Drake album.)
posted by delfin at 5:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [23 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and..... ....untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
---
Yes, he really just said how Comey mishandled the Clinton case, which is what elected him, will go down as one of the worst mistakes in history. Yes it will. Just didn't think you'd admit it, you fucking moron.
posted by chris24 at 5:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [80 favorites]
James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and..... ....untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
---
Yes, he really just said how Comey mishandled the Clinton case, which is what elected him, will go down as one of the worst mistakes in history. Yes it will. Just didn't think you'd admit it, you fucking moron.
posted by chris24 at 5:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [80 favorites]
"We should not say anything—let the dust settle for a minute. What I took from it is it’s better to build a coalition across the aisle than just to come out guns a-blazing..."
truly, our democratic MoC are Living Profiles In Courage, so wise and insightful to understand their republican colleagues will surely, SURELY put aside partisan difference and join with them in our country's hour of need, if only they are cautious and thoughtful and collegial and accommodating and don't do anything to make them feel attacked or uncomfortable, because it definitely always works out when they employ that strategy
posted by halation at 5:30 AM on April 13, 2018 [27 favorites]
truly, our democratic MoC are Living Profiles In Courage, so wise and insightful to understand their republican colleagues will surely, SURELY put aside partisan difference and join with them in our country's hour of need, if only they are cautious and thoughtful and collegial and accommodating and don't do anything to make them feel attacked or uncomfortable, because it definitely always works out when they employ that strategy
posted by halation at 5:30 AM on April 13, 2018 [27 favorites]
'I fired Comey because he elected me and that was one of the worst decisions in history' is a hell of an argument.
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on April 13, 2018 [50 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:33 AM on April 13, 2018 [50 favorites]
I'm signed up for the Rapid Response alert. They do text you once a week or so. So far it's been one political quiz/test and one fundraising link.
What do you do there beyond waving angry signs? Talk to people. Network. Listen.
Try to start thinking in terms of what a general strike means today. You can do homework about stuff like the history of strikes and how they work - especially major political general strikes - and how to prepare yourself to take part in one. I wrote this comment a billion scaramuccis ago about basic, practical general strike preparation tips and ideas.
Another thing you can do is prepare a protest bag or other ready to go collection of stuff, like markers and sign making materials, or signs. Then the usual protest day/hike stuff, like water canteens, snacks, sunscreen, good shoes, a first aid kit.
Will it make a difference? Who the fuck knows? We're in weird, uncharted territory and Constitutional crisis aren't known to be pretty or fun. Sitting at home on the internet doesn't appear to be helping things much.
Last, as I was skipping up thread, I saw a couple of comments about the problem of jobs an protests, and I think I touched on this in my linked comment above.
If you find yourself wanting to join the protest if possible - try to talk to your employers now and discuss your options like any other emergency appointment, like a potential birth, or a sick pet. Keep a protest-ready bag or even just a sign or sign materials ready to go in your car or at your desk. (Is that conspicuous? Isn't that the point? Is it comfortable or easy? Goodness no.)
I also want to earnestly ask you to reflect and ask yourself what it means to keep going to work and paying taxes if democracy is crumbling and marching into fascism. Ask yourself what it means if your hard work is used for, well, ongoing atrocities and the kleptocracy stealing not just from us, but our future, and those who follow us.
Ask yourself where your line in the sand is and try to discover it and identify it.
Because the tide is rising.
The Rapid Response signup link again.
posted by loquacious at 5:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [63 favorites]
What do you do there beyond waving angry signs? Talk to people. Network. Listen.
Try to start thinking in terms of what a general strike means today. You can do homework about stuff like the history of strikes and how they work - especially major political general strikes - and how to prepare yourself to take part in one. I wrote this comment a billion scaramuccis ago about basic, practical general strike preparation tips and ideas.
Another thing you can do is prepare a protest bag or other ready to go collection of stuff, like markers and sign making materials, or signs. Then the usual protest day/hike stuff, like water canteens, snacks, sunscreen, good shoes, a first aid kit.
Will it make a difference? Who the fuck knows? We're in weird, uncharted territory and Constitutional crisis aren't known to be pretty or fun. Sitting at home on the internet doesn't appear to be helping things much.
Last, as I was skipping up thread, I saw a couple of comments about the problem of jobs an protests, and I think I touched on this in my linked comment above.
If you find yourself wanting to join the protest if possible - try to talk to your employers now and discuss your options like any other emergency appointment, like a potential birth, or a sick pet. Keep a protest-ready bag or even just a sign or sign materials ready to go in your car or at your desk. (Is that conspicuous? Isn't that the point? Is it comfortable or easy? Goodness no.)
I also want to earnestly ask you to reflect and ask yourself what it means to keep going to work and paying taxes if democracy is crumbling and marching into fascism. Ask yourself what it means if your hard work is used for, well, ongoing atrocities and the kleptocracy stealing not just from us, but our future, and those who follow us.
Ask yourself where your line in the sand is and try to discover it and identify it.
Because the tide is rising.
The Rapid Response signup link again.
posted by loquacious at 5:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [63 favorites]
Pete Souza: President Obama was the first sitting President (and probably not the last one) to visit a federal prison.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:46 AM on April 13, 2018 [75 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:46 AM on April 13, 2018 [75 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: "His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history."
'I fired Comey because he elected me and that was one of the worst decisions in history' is a hell of an argument.
You realize that by this he means Comey should have sent her to prison.
posted by saturday_morning at 5:52 AM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
'I fired Comey because he elected me and that was one of the worst decisions in history' is a hell of an argument.
You realize that by this he means Comey should have sent her to prison.
posted by saturday_morning at 5:52 AM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
'I fired Comey because he elected me and that was one of the worst decisions in history' is a hell of an argument.
I get the joke but he literally means the decision to drop the investigation was the botch job. Amazingly, without jeff sessions exercising restraint and forbearance, we would be smack dab in the middle of the Hillary Clinton Trial right now
posted by dis_integration at 5:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
I get the joke but he literally means the decision to drop the investigation was the botch job. Amazingly, without jeff sessions exercising restraint and forbearance, we would be smack dab in the middle of the Hillary Clinton Trial right now
posted by dis_integration at 5:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
He could mean that - and he definitely thinks it - but I think he's rehashing the same arguments he used when he fired Comey which was because Comey was too unfair to Clinton. He's trying to get Ds and Is on his side and playing up their complaints about Comey. As the GOP is also doing with their tweets and LyinComey.com site. And just like last year when he was shocked by the bad reaction to the firing, he can't contemplate or understand that people can recognize that Comey made a mistake on one thing, but that doesn't mean they don't recognize he's right when it comes to Trump's obstruction and collusion.
posted by chris24 at 5:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump: "His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history."
@ThePlumLineGS (WaPo)
Let's be very blunt about this argument from Trump and Republicans:
It's nothing but disingenuous bad-faith horseshit. At the time, Trump and Rs positively highlighted Comey's handling of the Clinton case in ads and on the stump.
More on that here: http://wapo.st/2GW6Ogn
---
@kylegriffin1 (MSNBC)
Trump praised Comey for his handling of the Clinton case before the election, touting Comey’s “guts” and saying he’d “brought back his reputation” by temporarily reopening the investigation. https://wapo.st/2qs6MSg
posted by chris24 at 6:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [39 favorites]
@ThePlumLineGS (WaPo)
Let's be very blunt about this argument from Trump and Republicans:
It's nothing but disingenuous bad-faith horseshit. At the time, Trump and Rs positively highlighted Comey's handling of the Clinton case in ads and on the stump.
More on that here: http://wapo.st/2GW6Ogn
---
@kylegriffin1 (MSNBC)
Trump praised Comey for his handling of the Clinton case before the election, touting Comey’s “guts” and saying he’d “brought back his reputation” by temporarily reopening the investigation. https://wapo.st/2qs6MSg
posted by chris24 at 6:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [39 favorites]
I get the joke but he literally means the decision to drop the investigation was the botch job. Amazingly, without jeff sessions exercising restraint and forbearance, we would be smack dab in the middle of the Hillary Clinton Trial right now
When someone begins ranting about Clinton, I ask them to rephrase their allegations in the form of a federal criminal indictment, and if they can't do that, then STFU.
And that's the theme. Whenever these nitwits end up in court, they are full of fail.
posted by mikelieman at 6:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
When someone begins ranting about Clinton, I ask them to rephrase their allegations in the form of a federal criminal indictment, and if they can't do that, then STFU.
And that's the theme. Whenever these nitwits end up in court, they are full of fail.
posted by mikelieman at 6:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH.
Says the man about to pardon Scooter Libby.
posted by chris24 at 6:14 AM on April 13, 2018 [81 favorites]
Says the man about to pardon Scooter Libby.
posted by chris24 at 6:14 AM on April 13, 2018 [81 favorites]
You know I really hate "branding." I know it's an effective sort of advertising, but to me it always feel so transparent when Trump must use "Crooked Hillary" or "Lyin' and Leakin' Comey."
We need a means of educating people how to fight propaganda.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
We need a means of educating people how to fight propaganda.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
We need a means of educating people ...
The Republican war on our education system is not a coincidence.
posted by jferg at 6:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [80 favorites]
The Republican war on our education system is not a coincidence.
posted by jferg at 6:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [80 favorites]
Fox & Friends suggesting some Wag the Dog action to Trump.
@MattGertz (MMFA)
Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt is just asking if bombing Syria "would be a bigger story than Comey's book that is released on Tuesday."
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 6:21 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
@MattGertz (MMFA)
Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt is just asking if bombing Syria "would be a bigger story than Comey's book that is released on Tuesday."
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 6:21 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
I also want to earnestly ask you to reflect and ask yourself what it means to keep going to work and paying taxes if democracy is crumbling and marching into fascism. Ask yourself what it means if your hard work is used for, well, ongoing atrocities and the kleptocracy stealing not just from us, but our future, and those who follow us.
Ask yourself where your line in the sand is and try to discover it and identify it.
Apparently the line is "unless a cop tells you not to, and by the way indemnify us against any wrongdoing."
posted by phearlez at 6:53 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
Ask yourself where your line in the sand is and try to discover it and identify it.
Apparently the line is "unless a cop tells you not to, and by the way indemnify us against any wrongdoing."
By participating in this event, you agreeI'm signed up, but boy do these profiles in courage over at MoveOn really bring that take it to the barricades vibe.
(i) not to engage in any act of violence or violation of any applicable law,
(ii) to obey the orders of authorized event marshals and law enforcement authorities, and
(iii) that event organizers and sponsors will not be responsible for any injury or damage to your person or property resulting from or occurring in the course of your participating in the event, and you agree to release and forever hold harmless event organizers and sponsors, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from liability for any such injury or damage.
posted by phearlez at 6:53 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
@ShimonPro (CNN)
DOJ not involved in Libby pardon. Justice Department spokesman confirms there is there is no current petition seeking a pardon on file with the Justice Department’s Office of Pardon Attorney. @LauraAJarrett
posted by chris24 at 6:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
DOJ not involved in Libby pardon. Justice Department spokesman confirms there is there is no current petition seeking a pardon on file with the Justice Department’s Office of Pardon Attorney. @LauraAJarrett
posted by chris24 at 6:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
I wish protest time was set at something that works better for most working stiffs because not everyone has a job they can leave in an "emergency" and not get penalized. I can't rsvp because odds are higher that I can't promise to make it unless Mueller firing time happens when I have free time. There are good reasons to schedule protests when more folks can make it, you know? Just wishing they'd move it to say, 6 pm on all days or something.
Oh, speaking of: I just found out the March for Science is combining with Tax Day to have the protest this Saturday (here, at least). Kind of disappointing that hasn't been publicized more, I was wondering if that was happening again this year.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh, speaking of: I just found out the March for Science is combining with Tax Day to have the protest this Saturday (here, at least). Kind of disappointing that hasn't been publicized more, I was wondering if that was happening again this year.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm signed up, but boy do these profiles in courage over at MoveOn really bring that take it to the barricades vibe.
They can't exactly say "let's get together to break shit and ignore lawful orders to disperse!" since that would itself be a crime.
posted by jedicus at 7:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
They can't exactly say "let's get together to break shit and ignore lawful orders to disperse!" since that would itself be a crime.
posted by jedicus at 7:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
I just put up a new Fucking Fuck post in MeTa for all of your fucking fuck needs.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:08 AM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 7:08 AM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
I wish protest time was set at something that works better for most working stiffs because not everyone has a job they can leave in an "emergency" and not get penalized.
jenfulllmoon: My understanding is that we are going and STAYING. This isn't a nice little 30 minute protest. This is a "shut it down until this gets put right" protest. That you can't make it until later is great. It means that you will be able to swap in for people who need to leave. Please do RSVP. As someone said upthread, the numbers of people who RSVP are useful in and of themselves to help prevent the firing of Mueller.
posted by mcduff at 7:09 AM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
jenfulllmoon: My understanding is that we are going and STAYING. This isn't a nice little 30 minute protest. This is a "shut it down until this gets put right" protest. That you can't make it until later is great. It means that you will be able to swap in for people who need to leave. Please do RSVP. As someone said upthread, the numbers of people who RSVP are useful in and of themselves to help prevent the firing of Mueller.
posted by mcduff at 7:09 AM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
A good deep dive on the GOP's issues, with details on specific races and more.
Politico: GOP breaks the glass as House outlook darkens: The party is scrambling to shore up seats deep in Trump country, where incumbents won by double digits in 2016
Politico: GOP breaks the glass as House outlook darkens: The party is scrambling to shore up seats deep in Trump country, where incumbents won by double digits in 2016
Republicans are rushing to shore up congressional seats deep in the heart of Trump country as they come to an alarming realization: In this midterm election, few GOP lawmakers are safe.posted by chris24 at 7:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
GOP leaders are pressing Republicans lawmakers in conservative areas to get their sluggish campaigns in order. They’re pleading with major donors to open their wallets for incumbents in seats previously thought to be secure. And they’re polling districts President Donald Trump won comfortably just a year-and-a-half ago, searching for signs of trouble.
While most of the party’s efforts have been focused on defending swing districts, Republicans are increasingly turning their attention to more conservative areas, from suburban Phoenix to rural Virginia, fearful that they too could be casualties of a midterm bloodbath. [...]
On Monday, veteran GOP pollster John McLaughlin, who advised Trump’s 2016 campaign, delivered a presentation to Florida Republican legislators in which he warned that the party was failing to invigorate the president’s supporters. He said many Trump voters were likely sit out the midterms, a dynamic that could endanger lawmakers in conservative areas.
At one point, McLaughlin showed a slide highlighting the Republican drop-off in special elections since the start of the 2018 cycle and noting that Democrats had improved their performance by 14 percentage points on average.
“Republicans are losing elections because they don’t understand and are not appealing to Trump voters, and Trump voters are staying home because the Republican establishment has no clue how to get them out,” McLaughlin said in an interview.
They can't exactly say "let's get together to break shit and ignore lawful orders to disperse!" since that would itself be a crime.
I can tell you from personal experience that it's possible to create sign-up pages that don't include "disperse if the cops tell you to" and promises to indemnify me against any future lawsuits. It's a choice.
posted by phearlez at 7:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I can tell you from personal experience that it's possible to create sign-up pages that don't include "disperse if the cops tell you to" and promises to indemnify me against any future lawsuits. It's a choice.
posted by phearlez at 7:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nobody needs to be pointing out how Trump once praised Comey because that doesn’t matter. The main issue here is that he fired Comey in order to obstruct justice, and then went and told the very people that were ostensibly being investigated, when he didn’t think anybody would be listening. The narrative here shouldn’t be “Trump use to like Comey!” it should be “Trump fired Comey in order to stop the investigation into the crimes he committed!”
posted by gucci mane at 7:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 7:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
I don't think Graham is a "hard no" since he is sponsoring the legislation.
Didn't read so from the pull quote but I'll amend.
"Though Graham co-authored a bipartisan bill that would offer protections for Mueller last year, he now doesn't seem to think passing legislation is necessary. "I've talked to Trump. I think he understands the consequences," he said. "I think it'd be the end of his presidency, for the political chaos.""
Tills is also a co-sponsor and is missing from the spreadsheet.
Yeah, I did miss him. Thanks.
posted by scalefree at 7:14 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Didn't read so from the pull quote but I'll amend.
"Though Graham co-authored a bipartisan bill that would offer protections for Mueller last year, he now doesn't seem to think passing legislation is necessary. "I've talked to Trump. I think he understands the consequences," he said. "I think it'd be the end of his presidency, for the political chaos.""
Tills is also a co-sponsor and is missing from the spreadsheet.
Yeah, I did miss him. Thanks.
posted by scalefree at 7:14 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
I know this was yesterday and was therefor lifetimes ago BUT, this strict adherence to "follow the Watergate playbook", and I CANNOT get over the SHEER stupidity of Cohen potentially having taped recordings with his clients.
It's as if these fucks have NO clue about history. Cohen would have been about 6 or 7 when Watergate was in the news heavily. He lived (albiet as a kid) through the actual hearings!
FUCK HOW CAN PEOPLE BE SO DENSE
posted by Twain Device at 7:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
It's as if these fucks have NO clue about history. Cohen would have been about 6 or 7 when Watergate was in the news heavily. He lived (albiet as a kid) through the actual hearings!
FUCK HOW CAN PEOPLE BE SO DENSE
posted by Twain Device at 7:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Graham is now in support. From Tuesday when the two Mueller protection bills were combined...
"“Special counsels must act within boundaries, but they must also be protected. Our bill allows judicial review of any decision to terminate a special counsel to make sure it’s done for the reasons cited in the regulation rather than political motivation. I think this will serve the country well,” Graham said in a statement."
posted by chris24 at 7:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
"“Special counsels must act within boundaries, but they must also be protected. Our bill allows judicial review of any decision to terminate a special counsel to make sure it’s done for the reasons cited in the regulation rather than political motivation. I think this will serve the country well,” Graham said in a statement."
posted by chris24 at 7:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
In light of the criticism of Move On's "no violence, and we're not responsible for any laws you break" boilerplate I would just like to link this...
Peaceful protest is much more effective than violence for toppling dictators
Peaceful protest is much more effective than violence for toppling dictators
"Researchers used to say that no government could survive if just 5 percent of the population rose up against it," Chenoweth says. "Our data shows the number may be lower than that. No single campaign in that period failed after they'd achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5 percent of the population." She adds, "But get this: every single campaign that exceeded that 3.5 percent point was a nonviolent one. The nonviolent campaigns were on average four times larger than the average violent campaigns."posted by OnceUponATime at 7:18 AM on April 13, 2018 [72 favorites]
GOP breaks the glass as House outlook darkens
Wow, that Politico headline really confused me for a minute. I was all "The Republicans are having a Jewish wedding?"
posted by neroli at 7:18 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Wow, that Politico headline really confused me for a minute. I was all "The Republicans are having a Jewish wedding?"
posted by neroli at 7:18 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
If Trump fires Mueller, we should definitely all go to protests about it. The bigger the response is, the better.
That said, we should be realistic in our expectations. Don't expect Mueller's firing to lead to an actual general strike, or mass direct action in the streets, or people refusing to pay their bills or go to work. Realistically, it's probably mostly just going to be a bunch of extremely online liberals showing up. You're not going to see people risk their livelihood for an issue that doesn't directly, personally touch them.
The rule of law is important, and the ability to hold the president accountable is important, but it's not like this would be the first time a corrupt and criminal president avoided prosecution. There would be outrage, but the country would not shut down over it.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:20 AM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
That said, we should be realistic in our expectations. Don't expect Mueller's firing to lead to an actual general strike, or mass direct action in the streets, or people refusing to pay their bills or go to work. Realistically, it's probably mostly just going to be a bunch of extremely online liberals showing up. You're not going to see people risk their livelihood for an issue that doesn't directly, personally touch them.
The rule of law is important, and the ability to hold the president accountable is important, but it's not like this would be the first time a corrupt and criminal president avoided prosecution. There would be outrage, but the country would not shut down over it.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 7:20 AM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
Maybe this is bullshit meets reality week, what with Putin mocking Trump over Syria, the Comey book and obviously this:
Trump Wants Back Into the TPP. Not So Fast, Say Members. NYTimes / Keith Bradsher
posted by mumimor at 7:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [41 favorites]
Trump Wants Back Into the TPP. Not So Fast, Say Members. NYTimes / Keith Bradsher
Officials in Japan, Australia and New Zealand reacted coolly on Friday to Mr. Trump’s remarks that he would be interested in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership after rejecting it so publicly just a year ago. While the United States would significantly bolster the pact if it signed up, its entry would require intense negotiations — and current members will expect significant concessions from the American side.Basically, the current TPP is better for the members than the one that included the US, and the US doesn't have a lot of leverage with Trump at the helm.
Comparing the multicountry trade agreement to “a glasswork,” Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, cautioned against any efforts to change it to accommodate Mr. Trump.
“It’s difficult to bring part of the pact and renegotiate it,” he said, calling it a “well-balanced pact” that carefully addressed the needs of the current 11 member nations.
posted by mumimor at 7:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [41 favorites]
Trump cannot fire Mueller. He can fire Rosenstein. From the e-mail I just received from Indivisible Chicago:
"Hey folks, sorry for so many emails, but we want to make sure everyone is kept up to date on a potential Mueller firing. Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Pelosi have sent out letters warning that we could see a firing of Rod Rosenstein very soon and we've been told Congressional democrats have indicated they think a firing could be as early as today.
If the firing happens this weekend, the weather is expect to be bad. Rain on Friday is expected to start at 4pm and Saturday and Sunday look terrible. Don’t let this deter you! Find your rain gear and have it ready or buy a poncho. Make your plans for what you will do in the event that Trump triggers a protest.
I wanted to pass along a message from the national organizers as well about why we care so much about a Rosenstein firing. "
posted by W Grant at 7:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
"Hey folks, sorry for so many emails, but we want to make sure everyone is kept up to date on a potential Mueller firing. Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Pelosi have sent out letters warning that we could see a firing of Rod Rosenstein very soon and we've been told Congressional democrats have indicated they think a firing could be as early as today.
If the firing happens this weekend, the weather is expect to be bad. Rain on Friday is expected to start at 4pm and Saturday and Sunday look terrible. Don’t let this deter you! Find your rain gear and have it ready or buy a poncho. Make your plans for what you will do in the event that Trump triggers a protest.
I wanted to pass along a message from the national organizers as well about why we care so much about a Rosenstein firing. "
posted by W Grant at 7:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
it's not like this would be the first time a corrupt and criminal president avoided prosecution. There would be outrage, but the country would not shut down over it.
Consider what happened in South Korea. I don't see why that could not happen here under the right circumstances. And, a lot of people feel do directly threatened by Trump.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
Consider what happened in South Korea. I don't see why that could not happen here under the right circumstances. And, a lot of people feel do directly threatened by Trump.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
In light of the criticism of Move On's "no violence, and we're not responsible for any laws you break" boilerplate I would just like to link this...
Peaceful protest is much more effective than violence for toppling dictators
"Researchers used to say that no government could survive if just 5 percent of the population rose up against it," Chenoweth says. "Our data shows the number may be lower than that. No single campaign in that period failed after they'd achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5 percent of the population." She adds, "But get this: every single campaign that exceeded that 3.5 percent point was a nonviolent one. The nonviolent campaigns were on average four times larger than the average violent campaigns."
You know, I appreciate the sentiment, and would be interested in exploring the data. That article though....
I dunno. TED Talks already rub me the wrong way, usually. And some of the phrasing in there...
"...security forces are much more likely to open fire -- and individual police or soldiers are much more likely to follow that order -- if the opposition is shooting at them. That's a human reaction, since people don't like to be shot at..."
Well, yeah. Soooooooo how about the people that are protesting who are already being murdered? Like, by the cops? Is their reaction not also "human"? Or are cops and soldiers the only ones worth considering from a humanizing perspective?
"...I'd add that violence is controversial and can engender sympathy for police and soldiers at the other end of dissidents' rifles. "
Yeahhhhhhh. I think the ship has sailed on the ridiculous bloated cult of Cop and Soldier hero worship. Also, the "dissidents" are frequently actually innocent humans being murdered by the state. If we're going to refer to violent state power as Police and Soldiers, maybe let's refer to the oppressed and brutalized people beneath them as, I dunno, Citizens or something.
I dunno. Sometimes these "you can't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house" arguments just piss me right off.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:27 AM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
Peaceful protest is much more effective than violence for toppling dictators
"Researchers used to say that no government could survive if just 5 percent of the population rose up against it," Chenoweth says. "Our data shows the number may be lower than that. No single campaign in that period failed after they'd achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5 percent of the population." She adds, "But get this: every single campaign that exceeded that 3.5 percent point was a nonviolent one. The nonviolent campaigns were on average four times larger than the average violent campaigns."
You know, I appreciate the sentiment, and would be interested in exploring the data. That article though....
I dunno. TED Talks already rub me the wrong way, usually. And some of the phrasing in there...
"...security forces are much more likely to open fire -- and individual police or soldiers are much more likely to follow that order -- if the opposition is shooting at them. That's a human reaction, since people don't like to be shot at..."
Well, yeah. Soooooooo how about the people that are protesting who are already being murdered? Like, by the cops? Is their reaction not also "human"? Or are cops and soldiers the only ones worth considering from a humanizing perspective?
"...I'd add that violence is controversial and can engender sympathy for police and soldiers at the other end of dissidents' rifles. "
Yeahhhhhhh. I think the ship has sailed on the ridiculous bloated cult of Cop and Soldier hero worship. Also, the "dissidents" are frequently actually innocent humans being murdered by the state. If we're going to refer to violent state power as Police and Soldiers, maybe let's refer to the oppressed and brutalized people beneath them as, I dunno, Citizens or something.
I dunno. Sometimes these "you can't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house" arguments just piss me right off.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:27 AM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
'I fired Comey because he elected me and that was one of the worst decisions in history' is a hell of an argument.
His narcissism cannot allow that he had any help in getting elected. If he could I think he'd claim that he actually cast all the votes himself. That's narcissism.
posted by scalefree at 7:29 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
His narcissism cannot allow that he had any help in getting elected. If he could I think he'd claim that he actually cast all the votes himself. That's narcissism.
posted by scalefree at 7:29 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
The Daily 202: Trump’s plan to pardon ‘Scooter’ Libby sends a message to witnesses in Mueller probe - By James Hohmann With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve for the Washington Post.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
President Trump’s plan to pardon Lewis “Scooter” Libby is the latest signal to his associates that he has the power and inclination to reward those who stay loyal during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.Interesting signal.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
AP: Trump Lawyer Fights To Shield Items Seized In FBI Raid
A federal prosecutor’s office said a hearing has been scheduled before U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood for Friday morning to address Cohen’s request for a temporary restraining order related to the judicial warrant that authorized the search.[...]posted by Doktor Zed at 7:36 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
FBI and Justice Department officials in Washington and New York have refused to discuss the case publicly or say what crimes they are investigating, but people familiar with the investigation have told The Associated Press the search warrant used in the raids sought bank records, business records on Cohen’s dealing in the taxi industry, Cohen’s communications with the Trump campaign and information on payments made to a former Playboy model and a porn actress who say they had affairs with Trump.
Those people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential details.
> Don't expect Mueller's firing to lead to an actual general strike, or mass direct action in the streets, or people refusing to pay their bills or go to work.
> posted by One Second Before Awakening at 3:20 PM on April 13
Opposite thing to eponysterical? The moment Trump moves to shut down Muller or the investigation, if the US does not come to a screeching halt, and stay that way until the fucker is jailed, then I fear the US is lost.
posted by stonepharisee at 7:36 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
> posted by One Second Before Awakening at 3:20 PM on April 13
Opposite thing to eponysterical? The moment Trump moves to shut down Muller or the investigation, if the US does not come to a screeching halt, and stay that way until the fucker is jailed, then I fear the US is lost.
posted by stonepharisee at 7:36 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
I really shouldn't post every Krugman opinion-piece, but look at the rage here:
On the other hand, I do have some insight into how Ryan — who has always been an obvious con man, to anyone willing to see — came to become speaker of the House. And that’s a story that reflects badly not just on Ryan himself, not just on his party, but also on self-proclaimed centrists and the news media, who boosted his career through their malfeasance. Furthermore, the forces that brought Ryan to a position of power are the same forces that have brought America to the edge of a constitutional crisis.posted by mumimor at 7:46 AM on April 13, 2018 [91 favorites]
About Ryan: Incredibly, I’m seeing some news reports about his exit that portray him as a serious policy wonk and fiscal hawk who, sadly, found himself unable to fulfill his mission in the Trump era. Unbelievable.
Look, the single animating principle of everything Ryan did and proposed was to comfort the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted. Can anyone name a single instance in which his supposed concern about the deficit made him willing to impose any burden on the wealthy, in which his supposed compassion made him willing to improve the lives of the poor? Remember, he voted against the Simpson-Bowles debt commission proposal not because of its real flaws, but because it would raise taxes and fail to repeal Obamacare.
A little Friday cheer-up from the WaPo, Whatever happened to Trump ties? They’re over. So is most of Trump’s merchandising empire:
In 2015, Trump listed 19 companies that were paying him to produce or distribute Trump-branded consumer goods.posted by peeedro at 7:53 AM on April 13, 2018 [65 favorites]
In recent weeks, only two said they are still selling Trump-branded goods. One is a Panamanian company selling Trump bed linens and home goods. The other is a Turkish company selling Trump furniture.
Of the rest, some Trump partners quit in reaction to campaign-trail rhetoric on immigrants and Muslims. Others said their licensing agreements had expired. Others said nothing beyond confirming that they’d stopped working with Trump. Their last Trump goods are now being sold off, often at a discount: One cologne is marked down from $42 to $9.99 for an ounce.
“Success by Trump,” the website says. And below that: “Clearance.”
I dunno. Sometimes these "you can't use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house" arguments just piss me right off.
The original sentiment meant that you can't vote out liberal democracy, or purchase socialism- capitalism cannot be used to end capitalism. It was a rejection of social democracy in favor of revolutionary socialism, not of violence. Unfortunately, it's one of those sayings that is very easy to encounter outside of its original meaning and misuse.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
The original sentiment meant that you can't vote out liberal democracy, or purchase socialism- capitalism cannot be used to end capitalism. It was a rejection of social democracy in favor of revolutionary socialism, not of violence. Unfortunately, it's one of those sayings that is very easy to encounter outside of its original meaning and misuse.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
mumimor, I like and depend on big pull quotes, but could you please not make the whole thing a link?
posted by michswiss at 7:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by michswiss at 7:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Kimba Wood, huh. Won't be long until we're revisiting nannygate.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
mumimor, I like and depend on big pull quotes, but could you please not make the whole thing a link?
Sorry, never again…
posted by mumimor at 7:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sorry, never again…
posted by mumimor at 7:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
if anyone is so inclined, erica orden @eorden is live tweeting this mornings hearing in the Michael cohen case.
firt bit WTF is that the president has a lawyer there - Joanna Hendon of Spears & Imes . . . not weird that hed have a lawyer but sort of surprised anyone would take him on as a client.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:02 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
firt bit WTF is that the president has a lawyer there - Joanna Hendon of Spears & Imes . . . not weird that hed have a lawyer but sort of surprised anyone would take him on as a client.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:02 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
“Well, yeah. Soooooooo how about the people that are protesting who are already being murdered? Like, by the cops? Is their reaction not also "human"? Or are cops and soldiers the only ones worth considering from a humanizing perspective?”
Maybe engage with the material with a little more respect and acknowledge that Chenoweth has thought a lot more about this than you have and knows a lot more about this than you have? She’s an extremely well respected political scientist. Her data is quite good-indeed it was damn near revolutionary when it came out. There’s a lot to criticize as well- she hasn’t grappled sufficiently with the selection issue. It’s important to note that she’s not only talking about the US in most cases. She’s talking about general patterns in the data. There’s a world and knowledge to be produced outside of “how should I judge this in relation to Trump”.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:03 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Maybe engage with the material with a little more respect and acknowledge that Chenoweth has thought a lot more about this than you have and knows a lot more about this than you have? She’s an extremely well respected political scientist. Her data is quite good-indeed it was damn near revolutionary when it came out. There’s a lot to criticize as well- she hasn’t grappled sufficiently with the selection issue. It’s important to note that she’s not only talking about the US in most cases. She’s talking about general patterns in the data. There’s a world and knowledge to be produced outside of “how should I judge this in relation to Trump”.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:03 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Mod note: Cleaned up mumimor's link a bit.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:05 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:05 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
Trump furniture
Is this a euphemism for toilet bowls?
posted by acb at 8:06 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
Is this a euphemism for toilet bowls?
posted by acb at 8:06 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
AP: Russia Says Britain Staged Chemical Attack in Syria
Guess were about to see who the president sides with here?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [33 favorites]
Guess were about to see who the president sides with here?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [33 favorites]
At the close of the Trump White House's second full week without a comms director, Murdoch's Wall Street Journal has a slew of anonymous leaks from inside Trumpland: Trump Forced to Juggle Syria Response, Rage Over Mueller Probe
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
“Gary Cohn used to tell us to ignore the chaos, that it can’t win in the long run,” one aide said early in the week, referring to the president’s former economic adviser. “It’s not only looking like it can, but that it is.”[...]These strategic leaks to the most Trump-friendly establishment media outlet are of course complementing the same lines pitched more feverishly on Fox News talking head shows.
The [Cohen] raid, based partly on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election campaign, suggested prosecutors were focusing on Mr. Trump’s personal life. Mr. Trump, one aide said, was “pissed off.”
Mr. Mueller, a White House official said, “appears to have gone from looking at Russian meddling to a quixotic search for the blue dress”—a reference to the stained dress worn by Monica Lewinsky during a liaison with former President Bill Clinton.
The result: Two people who spoke to Mr. Trump during the week said they came away thinking both Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed Mr. Mueller, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions would soon be gone, potentially sparking a political and constitutional crisis.
“It’s a matter of when, not if,” said one person who has discussed the matter with Mr. Trump.
“Eventually, it will happen,” a second person said, adding that the Cohen raid was “not good for the long-term relationship between the president and Sessions and Rosenstein.”[...]
People close to the president said they believed the decision to raid Mr. Cohen’s properties has helped build sympathy for the president. “I think he’s inching closer to being viewed as a victim in this investigation,” said one person close to the president. “If he gets there, then he can throw pardons and firings left and right.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
it's not like this would be the first time a corrupt and criminal president avoided prosecution
No doubt. But, if Trump shuts down the felony investigation into himself and Congress does not restart the investigation or impeach and convict the President, it would be the first time an American President has been rendered fundamentally above the law and incapable of being subject to law. It would change the nature of the American constitution from one in which individuals are theoretically treated equally under the law, to one in which there is a Monarch who is above the law. A similar system to the one which was overthrown in 1776.
There would be no clear limit to the crimes which the President could commit with impunity. There would be no clear bottom to the dark hole the American people would be hurled into.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [80 favorites]
No doubt. But, if Trump shuts down the felony investigation into himself and Congress does not restart the investigation or impeach and convict the President, it would be the first time an American President has been rendered fundamentally above the law and incapable of being subject to law. It would change the nature of the American constitution from one in which individuals are theoretically treated equally under the law, to one in which there is a Monarch who is above the law. A similar system to the one which was overthrown in 1776.
There would be no clear limit to the crimes which the President could commit with impunity. There would be no clear bottom to the dark hole the American people would be hurled into.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [80 favorites]
Gary Cohn used to tell us to ignore the chaos, that it can’t win in the long run
looks at cohn's statement
looks at the second law of thermodynamics
clears throat
posted by murphy slaw at 8:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [52 favorites]
AP: Russia Says Britain Staged Chemical Attack in Syria
Absolutely no one is expected to believe this, and that feels significant to me. With covert info-ops exposed, Putin is reverting to Cold War style poker-faced insult-to-injury fabrications.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:28 AM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
Absolutely no one is expected to believe this, and that feels significant to me. With covert info-ops exposed, Putin is reverting to Cold War style poker-faced insult-to-injury fabrications.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:28 AM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
I would rather not think about "heat death" in the context of the US political turmoil though.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:31 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:31 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Donald Trump: When You're Feeling Low, Just Remember I'll Be Dead In About 15 Or 20 Years (The Onion, 2013)
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:32 AM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:32 AM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
Soooooooo how about the people that are protesting who are already being murdered?
I think you're hinting at the question "Why should we be non-violent when they use violence against us?" That could be read as either a moral or a tactical question. As a moral question I really struggle with it -- I'll leave it to the moral philosophers and your own conscience.
But as a tactical question, it makes me think of a specific example. A case where a dictator used violence against non-violent protesters with the specific aim of turning a non-violent protest into a violent rebellion, because he thought he had a better chance of winning against violent rebels than against peaceful protesters.
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:36 AM on April 13, 2018 [35 favorites]
I think you're hinting at the question "Why should we be non-violent when they use violence against us?" That could be read as either a moral or a tactical question. As a moral question I really struggle with it -- I'll leave it to the moral philosophers and your own conscience.
But as a tactical question, it makes me think of a specific example. A case where a dictator used violence against non-violent protesters with the specific aim of turning a non-violent protest into a violent rebellion, because he thought he had a better chance of winning against violent rebels than against peaceful protesters.
When Syrians rose up as part of the wave of Arab Spring protests against Middle East dictators in 2011, Assad quickly decided to emulate his father, Hafez, and try to tamp down the protests through the use of force. The goal was to turn the broad-based protest movement from a political struggle — which Assad’s unpopular regime was bound to lose — into a military one, where his control of the army meant he might be able to kill his way to victory.(Emphasis mine.) I don't know if the protesters really had a choice but to take up arms in self defense. But the fact that Assad seems to have believed a violent rebellion was less of a threat to him than the original peaceful protests really says something, to me.
"It was very much a strategic decision that the regime made, to militarize the conflict right away," Glenn Robinson, an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, told me in an interview. "I think in their mind, and correctly, if this becomes a political battle where populations matter, the regime probably only has support of a third of the country. ... If this becomes a political contestation, the opposition has the numbers."
The grim way of implementing this plan, slaughtering protestors en masse until they were forced to pick up arms in self-defense, got Assad the war he wanted. In July 2011, defectors from Assad’s regime formed an organized militia called the Free Syrian Army to protect protesters and strike back at Assad. By January 2012, the Syrian uprising had devolved into a full-blown civil war pitting the FSA and other assorted rebel groups against Assad and his supporters.
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:36 AM on April 13, 2018 [35 favorites]
This is utterly remarkable. Former DCI calling out POTUS as creating an administration of unqualified idiots.
@JohnBrennan Your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey. As the greatest Nation history has known, we have the opportunity to emerge from this nightmare stronger & more committed to ensuring a better life for all Americans, including those you have so tragically deceived.
@JohnBrennan Your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey. As the greatest Nation history has known, we have the opportunity to emerge from this nightmare stronger & more committed to ensuring a better life for all Americans, including those you have so tragically deceived.
@RealDonaldTrumpJames Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and.....posted by scalefree at 8:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
@RealDonaldTrump....untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
Well, Brennan's been pretty fiery for a good long while now on thinking Trump's a shameful piece of shit. Not that it's not kind of remarkable, but it's a steady state, endless-now "this is what the last decade-long year and half has been like" flavor of remarkable.
posted by cortex at 8:44 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by cortex at 8:44 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Within the context of contemporary America, I earnestly prefer to consider half-ass vs. actual resistance instead of violent vs. nonviolent resistance. I am as guilty of self-preserving cowardice as anyone, and is that not the crux?
posted by The Gaffer at 8:45 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by The Gaffer at 8:45 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeahhhhhhh. I think the ship has sailed on the ridiculous bloated cult of Cop and Soldier hero worship.
Well, except it hasn’t, is the problem. It still seems very much alive and comfortable with the mushy middle of white “moderates.” I don’t think these people have much of a political orientation other than “I don’t want to be bothered or made to feel uncomfortable in any way whatsoever, regardless of whether the people making me uncomfortable are justified.”
The state perpetrating violence on peaceful protestors = the state are the ones making everyone feel bad. They’re the villains.
The state perpetrating violence on justifiably violent protestors = fuck those hippy trash thug protestors, they got what was coming to them.
It’s not fair, and is pretty horrific to think about, bc who the hell do you ask to show up for that? but none of this has ever been fair. MLKJr didn’t arrive at nonviolence as a political strategy by accident. And the NAACP didn’t position Rosa Parks in that bus to orchestrate a more media-friendly inciting incident for the bus boycott (rather than rally around Claudette Colvin, the not-as-media-friendly teenager who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat 9 months prior) because they weren’t aware of the power — and necessity — of controlling the media narrative. From what I’ve read, successful social movements are generally ruthlessly pragmatic, because they have to be.
It’s not fair at all. But it’s still true.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:46 AM on April 13, 2018 [38 favorites]
Well, except it hasn’t, is the problem. It still seems very much alive and comfortable with the mushy middle of white “moderates.” I don’t think these people have much of a political orientation other than “I don’t want to be bothered or made to feel uncomfortable in any way whatsoever, regardless of whether the people making me uncomfortable are justified.”
The state perpetrating violence on peaceful protestors = the state are the ones making everyone feel bad. They’re the villains.
The state perpetrating violence on justifiably violent protestors = fuck those hippy trash thug protestors, they got what was coming to them.
It’s not fair, and is pretty horrific to think about, bc who the hell do you ask to show up for that? but none of this has ever been fair. MLKJr didn’t arrive at nonviolence as a political strategy by accident. And the NAACP didn’t position Rosa Parks in that bus to orchestrate a more media-friendly inciting incident for the bus boycott (rather than rally around Claudette Colvin, the not-as-media-friendly teenager who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat 9 months prior) because they weren’t aware of the power — and necessity — of controlling the media narrative. From what I’ve read, successful social movements are generally ruthlessly pragmatic, because they have to be.
It’s not fair at all. But it’s still true.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:46 AM on April 13, 2018 [38 favorites]
I think you're hinting at the question "Why should we be non-violent when they use violence against us?" That could be read as either a moral or a tactical question. As a moral question I really struggle with it -- I'll leave it to the moral philosophers and your own conscience.
But as a tactical question, it makes me think of a specific example. A case where a dictator used violence against non-violent protesters with the specific aim of turning a non-violent protest into a violent rebellion, because he thought he had a better chance of winning against violent rebels than against peaceful protesters.
One answer for both, the examples of Gandhi, MLK & Mandela. Nonviolence can be very difficult to maintain in the face of violence but in the long run it has a solid track record.
posted by scalefree at 8:48 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
But as a tactical question, it makes me think of a specific example. A case where a dictator used violence against non-violent protesters with the specific aim of turning a non-violent protest into a violent rebellion, because he thought he had a better chance of winning against violent rebels than against peaceful protesters.
One answer for both, the examples of Gandhi, MLK & Mandela. Nonviolence can be very difficult to maintain in the face of violence but in the long run it has a solid track record.
posted by scalefree at 8:48 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Yeahhhhhhh. I think the ship has sailed on the ridiculous bloated cult of Cop and Soldier hero worship.
Well, except it hasn’t, is the problem. It still seems very much alive and comfortable
I think 'ship has sailed' was intended to mean 'too late, we're stuck with it' (at least for now)
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well, except it hasn’t, is the problem. It still seems very much alive and comfortable
I think 'ship has sailed' was intended to mean 'too late, we're stuck with it' (at least for now)
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
>>> Each generation manages to get rid of a percentage of their hateful assholes
>> Counterargument: As horrors of the past (e.g. WWII) pass from living memory, we are doomed to repeat them.
> Update:
> Holocaust Is Fading From Memory, Survey Finds
Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials, believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans, and 66 percent of millennials, cannot say what Auschwitz was. Only 39 percent of Americans know that Hitler was democratically elected.> See also: ‘It is like we have regressed 100 years’: Report warns of resurgent global anti-Semitism
I realize the thread has moved on from this sub-topic, but I wanted to share one last item, via an old Kurt Vonnegut article I just ran across, this quote from Susan Sontag:
[Sontag] was asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, and she said that 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction.posted by gwint at 8:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [64 favorites]
Well, except it hasn’t, is the problem. It still seems very much alive and comfortable with the mushy middle of white “moderates.” I don’t think these people have much of a political orientation other than “I don’t want to be bothered or made to feel uncomfortable in any way whatsoever, regardless of whether the people making me uncomfortable are justified.”
This describes my entire extended (white, upper middle class) family's position on cop worship. Over Christmas dinner last year the big political talking points were how awful Trump is, how great Bernie is, and how people not only need to shut up and comply and let the police do their jobs, we also need to give police much more support, materially and emotionally, because their jobs are so hard and they're just here to protect us all.
posted by palomar at 8:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
This describes my entire extended (white, upper middle class) family's position on cop worship. Over Christmas dinner last year the big political talking points were how awful Trump is, how great Bernie is, and how people not only need to shut up and comply and let the police do their jobs, we also need to give police much more support, materially and emotionally, because their jobs are so hard and they're just here to protect us all.
posted by palomar at 8:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'll be interested in this hey think of how Gandhi and MLK would have handled it when we acknowledge that the text I quoted from MoveOn doesn't simply call for non-violence, it opens with a requirement that you obey the orders of authorized event marshals and law enforcement authorities.
I'm cool with a promise of non-violence, even if I have complicated feelings about violence and property and protest. But to ask me to simply shrug and walk home if I'm ordered to disperse when the whole point of this massive mobilization is to cry out over someone subverting the structure of the legal system? Fuuuuuuuuuuck that, and fuck the idea that Gandhi and MLK would have just gone the fuck home if they were told to.
In my case the mobilization point is less than a few miles from where DC cops kettled up a bunch of folks, getting them to voluntarily move to an area... and then engaged in an unconstitutional arrest. That took years to sort out and eventually cost the taxpayers of the city a bunch of money. The end result with regards to accountability? Police Chief at the time Charles Ramsay moved on up to top job in Philly. His second in command, Newsome, believed to be the person who actually ordered the process, just took over as DC Chief.
So yeah, I call bullshit on MoveOn wanting to talk up the critical importance of going out and making our voice heard.... so long as nobody says hey, you're impeding traffic and making this uncomfortable for commuters.
posted by phearlez at 9:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
I'm cool with a promise of non-violence, even if I have complicated feelings about violence and property and protest. But to ask me to simply shrug and walk home if I'm ordered to disperse when the whole point of this massive mobilization is to cry out over someone subverting the structure of the legal system? Fuuuuuuuuuuck that, and fuck the idea that Gandhi and MLK would have just gone the fuck home if they were told to.
In my case the mobilization point is less than a few miles from where DC cops kettled up a bunch of folks, getting them to voluntarily move to an area... and then engaged in an unconstitutional arrest. That took years to sort out and eventually cost the taxpayers of the city a bunch of money. The end result with regards to accountability? Police Chief at the time Charles Ramsay moved on up to top job in Philly. His second in command, Newsome, believed to be the person who actually ordered the process, just took over as DC Chief.
So yeah, I call bullshit on MoveOn wanting to talk up the critical importance of going out and making our voice heard.... so long as nobody says hey, you're impeding traffic and making this uncomfortable for commuters.
posted by phearlez at 9:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
scalefree All of the instances you mentioned had violence lurking in the background as an unspoken threat. Deal with these non-violent people or you'll have to deal with their violent successors.
MLK would not have succeeded had it not been for the looming presence of Malcolm X and the other civil rights activists willing to employ violence.
The power structure had a choice, make (minimal, limited) concessions to the non-violent forces, or brush them off and have to deal with the background violent forces as they become violent.
Also, putting Mandela in with non-violent protesters is stretching things a lot. He started non-violent, no argument at all, but as the Apartheid government shut off all legal non-violent avenues he and the ANC did engage in violence both as a means of protest and targeting specific individuals and institutions.
In his "I Am Prepared To Die" speech to the court, Mandela explicitly stated that he'd committed acts of violence and believed they were necessary for the success of his cause. And I think he was right.
I agree that non-violence is a great way to maintain the moral high ground and a non-violent face for a movement can be a great force for progress.
But history shows that non-violence is not universally successful (see: Mandela) and that having people willing to use violence as the alternative to dealing with the non-violent face is essential to the success of the non-violent face.
posted by sotonohito at 9:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
MLK would not have succeeded had it not been for the looming presence of Malcolm X and the other civil rights activists willing to employ violence.
The power structure had a choice, make (minimal, limited) concessions to the non-violent forces, or brush them off and have to deal with the background violent forces as they become violent.
Also, putting Mandela in with non-violent protesters is stretching things a lot. He started non-violent, no argument at all, but as the Apartheid government shut off all legal non-violent avenues he and the ANC did engage in violence both as a means of protest and targeting specific individuals and institutions.
In his "I Am Prepared To Die" speech to the court, Mandela explicitly stated that he'd committed acts of violence and believed they were necessary for the success of his cause. And I think he was right.
I agree that non-violence is a great way to maintain the moral high ground and a non-violent face for a movement can be a great force for progress.
But history shows that non-violence is not universally successful (see: Mandela) and that having people willing to use violence as the alternative to dealing with the non-violent face is essential to the success of the non-violent face.
posted by sotonohito at 9:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
Mod note: Heya, let's maybe just leave the long "this is mostly a derail" personal followup stuff to something like mefimail instead of playing it out in-thread.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:11 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
You know I really hate "branding." I know it's an effective sort of advertising, but to me it always feel so transparent when Trump must use "Crooked Hillary" or "Lyin' and Leakin' Comey."
It's the whole RNC. The hit squad registered http://lyincomey.com on March 28th and had it up and running a week later.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
It's the whole RNC. The hit squad registered http://lyincomey.com on March 28th and had it up and running a week later.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:13 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
FWIW I don’t think this is a derail at all. We seem to be rapidly approaching the moment when these will be actual choices we are forced to make on a grand scale.
I don’t know that it’s possible to say whether or not nonviolent resistance movements owe their success to the threat of violence from more militarized resistance groups, since any injustice great enough to inspire a broad nonviolent resistance movement in the face of state-sponsored violence is also going to inspire violent resistance. They aren’t independent.
And I might be showing my lack of academic knowledge or relative youth on this, but: my impression was that the end of apartheid in SA was the result of a long struggle that included enlisting foreign powers and a foreign media strategy for things like divestment, all of which depended on the sympathetic portrayal of the ANC. I don’t think that can be divorced from nonviolent resistance.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
I don’t know that it’s possible to say whether or not nonviolent resistance movements owe their success to the threat of violence from more militarized resistance groups, since any injustice great enough to inspire a broad nonviolent resistance movement in the face of state-sponsored violence is also going to inspire violent resistance. They aren’t independent.
And I might be showing my lack of academic knowledge or relative youth on this, but: my impression was that the end of apartheid in SA was the result of a long struggle that included enlisting foreign powers and a foreign media strategy for things like divestment, all of which depended on the sympathetic portrayal of the ANC. I don’t think that can be divorced from nonviolent resistance.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
Re: MoveOn’s boilerplate: surely this is about liability? And we might run into this issue with any online platform that we use to organize. Because of our dumb new world.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 9:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
and yea, the flame of protest guttered and died out, and Democracy was lost, for none had the courage to disobey the MoveOn.org legal disclaimer
posted by theodolite at 9:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [70 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 9:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [70 favorites]
So yeah, I call bullshit on MoveOn wanting to talk up the critical importance of going out and making our voice heard.... so long as nobody says hey, you're impeding traffic and making this uncomfortable for commuters.
posted by phearlez at 9:01 AM on April 13 [1 favorite +] [!]
As a frequent marcher and a volunteer Safety Marshall, I'd like to point out that MOST people who have shown up to the marches and protests I have attended and volunteered at are not prepared to deal with violence from Counter Protestors or Police. And if there was a threat of violence, many would not show up to protest. As a Safety Marshall we are there to provide a border, or barrier, between the people protesting and the police and any counter protestors that are there. We are volunteering to put ourselves in harms way to protect the protestors, and we are trained to defuse and deescalate situations. So, from my perspective, if you want to get violent, great. Please go do it on YOUR time and PLEASE DO NOT DRAG ME OR ANYONE ELSE IN TO IT! Yes, I meant to say that very, very loudly. Let me know when you are going to do your violent protest, I will likely join you.
There is a time and place for everything. I am all for freedom of expression and for standing up to Fascism and Racism and Oppression and I am very ok with things being violent, HOWEVER I do not see any compelling reason to make a crowd of protestors that includes elderly people, handicapped people, babies and children, minorities of every type, who did not sign up for violence, a crowd that contains a large pool of vulnerable people, I see no compelling reason to drag them into a situation that will make them not only feel unsafe, but BE unsafe. And for minorities that are typically and historically singled out for violent reactions from Police, who have a high probability of being targeted and blamed, I believe it would be a crime against humanity to drag them in to a situation making them targets, not by choice, but by an angry person's hubris.
Please, leave the protest if you cannot be non-violent, and go plan your own protest and let us know when and where that will be, and let each of us make a decision to be there for the violence or to not be there for the violence.
posted by W Grant at 9:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [121 favorites]
posted by phearlez at 9:01 AM on April 13 [1 favorite +] [!]
As a frequent marcher and a volunteer Safety Marshall, I'd like to point out that MOST people who have shown up to the marches and protests I have attended and volunteered at are not prepared to deal with violence from Counter Protestors or Police. And if there was a threat of violence, many would not show up to protest. As a Safety Marshall we are there to provide a border, or barrier, between the people protesting and the police and any counter protestors that are there. We are volunteering to put ourselves in harms way to protect the protestors, and we are trained to defuse and deescalate situations. So, from my perspective, if you want to get violent, great. Please go do it on YOUR time and PLEASE DO NOT DRAG ME OR ANYONE ELSE IN TO IT! Yes, I meant to say that very, very loudly. Let me know when you are going to do your violent protest, I will likely join you.
There is a time and place for everything. I am all for freedom of expression and for standing up to Fascism and Racism and Oppression and I am very ok with things being violent, HOWEVER I do not see any compelling reason to make a crowd of protestors that includes elderly people, handicapped people, babies and children, minorities of every type, who did not sign up for violence, a crowd that contains a large pool of vulnerable people, I see no compelling reason to drag them into a situation that will make them not only feel unsafe, but BE unsafe. And for minorities that are typically and historically singled out for violent reactions from Police, who have a high probability of being targeted and blamed, I believe it would be a crime against humanity to drag them in to a situation making them targets, not by choice, but by an angry person's hubris.
Please, leave the protest if you cannot be non-violent, and go plan your own protest and let us know when and where that will be, and let each of us make a decision to be there for the violence or to not be there for the violence.
posted by W Grant at 9:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [121 favorites]
This seems like a good place to mention that Ask A Korean! is running an excellent ongoing series on Korea's Nine Years of Darkness -- covering the soul-sucking hopelessness of the Lee and Park administrations, and the mass demonstrations that finally put an end to the authoritarian "New Right" hegemony in South Korea.
(I lived in Korea for much of the period T.K. writes about, and have followed the politics fairly closely since, and I'll say that T.K.'s narrative seems quite accurate.)
I'd be wary of drawing too many direct inferences from the Korean experience. All countries are unique, but South Korea is uniquer than most, especially when it comes to things like mass mobilization. But IMO it's important to learn what we can from that and other examples of successful popular resistance to elected tyrants.
posted by shenderson at 9:39 AM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
(I lived in Korea for much of the period T.K. writes about, and have followed the politics fairly closely since, and I'll say that T.K.'s narrative seems quite accurate.)
I'd be wary of drawing too many direct inferences from the Korean experience. All countries are unique, but South Korea is uniquer than most, especially when it comes to things like mass mobilization. But IMO it's important to learn what we can from that and other examples of successful popular resistance to elected tyrants.
posted by shenderson at 9:39 AM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
Man violence just happens. We’re near a breaking point. We will probably have violence. I’m not commending it as a tactic, but I think one way of realizing how serious this is is acknowledging protesting is dangerous. Keep the babies at home. This wil not be the love fest of the women’s march time
posted by angrycat at 9:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 9:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Violence does not just happen. We are not powerless over it. Take Safety Marshall training. Learn how to deescalate it. Deescalation can work. Self restraint. Anger management classes have a lot of excellent techniques for defusing your own anger and frustration. Violence just happens is a general statement of opinion that eliminates any sense of responsibility, personal or communal.
posted by W Grant at 9:49 AM on April 13, 2018 [63 favorites]
posted by W Grant at 9:49 AM on April 13, 2018 [63 favorites]
Man violence just happens. We’re near a breaking point. We will probably have violence.
The greater the perception of the likelihood of violence at the marches, the smaller the marches will be.
posted by gurple at 9:50 AM on April 13, 2018 [39 favorites]
The greater the perception of the likelihood of violence at the marches, the smaller the marches will be.
posted by gurple at 9:50 AM on April 13, 2018 [39 favorites]
I walked through the Act 10 protests in Wisconsin every day on my way to work. The trick they did was, whenever things started to get rowdy, the crowd would chant "PEACEFUL- PEACEFUL- PEACEFUL" to themselves and they'd start chilling out.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:58 AM on April 13, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:58 AM on April 13, 2018 [33 favorites]
Refusal to agree to blanket acceptance and obedience of police orders, regardless of constitutional authority, is not violence.
Abusive authorities will no doubt claim it is, but protest leaders should not accept and encourage that framing.
posted by phearlez at 9:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Abusive authorities will no doubt claim it is, but protest leaders should not accept and encourage that framing.
posted by phearlez at 9:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Kakistocracy........
I was SOOOOO disappointed to read that the origin word Kakistos = worst
is the opposite of Aristos = best............
I really thought it had to do with caca in Spanish cos so much Spanish comes from greek......
posted by Wilder at 10:00 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
I was SOOOOO disappointed to read that the origin word Kakistos = worst
is the opposite of Aristos = best............
I really thought it had to do with caca in Spanish cos so much Spanish comes from greek......
posted by Wilder at 10:00 AM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Rosenstein Tells Confidants He’s About to Be Fired
(NBC News, via Politicalwire)
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “has struck a stoic and righteous tone in private conversations he has had this week about the fate of his job as President Trump has launched public criticism against him and considered firing him,” NBC News reports.
“One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity.”
Also interesting: “Rosenstein has said in recent private conversations that history will prove he did the right thing by firing Comey in May 2017, claiming that the American people do not have all the facts about what led to his decision to write the memo that led to Comey’s dismissal.”
Everybody say Stop hey what's that sound
posted by petebest at 10:00 AM on April 13, 2018 [49 favorites]
(NBC News, via Politicalwire)
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “has struck a stoic and righteous tone in private conversations he has had this week about the fate of his job as President Trump has launched public criticism against him and considered firing him,” NBC News reports.
“One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity.”
Also interesting: “Rosenstein has said in recent private conversations that history will prove he did the right thing by firing Comey in May 2017, claiming that the American people do not have all the facts about what led to his decision to write the memo that led to Comey’s dismissal.”
Everybody say Stop hey what's that sound
posted by petebest at 10:00 AM on April 13, 2018 [49 favorites]
They are related, though. You can write "kakkistocracy" instead if you prefer, that would be "rule by the shittiest."
posted by biogeo at 10:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 10:01 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
Quebec Mosque shooter told police he was motivated by Canada’s immigration policies [in reaction to Trump's Muslim ban]
He told police during his police interrogation that the final straw came Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, when he watched news coverage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban and Mr. Trudeau’s tweet. The Prime Minister wrote: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.”posted by maudlin at 10:02 AM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
“I was watching TV and I learned that the Canadian government was going to take more refugees, you know, who couldn’t go to the United States, and they were coming here,” the killer said. “I saw that and I like lost my mind. I don’t want us to become like Europe. I don’t want them to kill my parents, my family.
Rosenstein Tells Confidants He’s About to Be Fired
That's... not the headline you linked? The article you linked is titled "Rosenstein Tells Confidants He’s Prepared to Be Fired". And the article just says that Rosenstein has come to accept the possibility of being fired. There's no news about the likelihood of his firing here.
Don't make my heart skip a beat for nothing!
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:06 AM on April 13, 2018 [51 favorites]
That's... not the headline you linked? The article you linked is titled "Rosenstein Tells Confidants He’s Prepared to Be Fired". And the article just says that Rosenstein has come to accept the possibility of being fired. There's no news about the likelihood of his firing here.
Don't make my heart skip a beat for nothing!
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:06 AM on April 13, 2018 [51 favorites]
Mod note: If y'all want to continue to have a sprawling argument about protest tactics and strategy and philosophy I'm gonna suggest you contrive a separate space for it. Talking about newsworthy developments in specific plan or things occurring is a decent fit for this thread; just going at each other about the general concepts to expend nervous energy not so much.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:09 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:09 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
I was SOOOOO disappointed to read that the origin word Kakistos = worst
is the opposite of Aristos = best............
I really thought it had to do with caca in Spanish cos so much Spanish comes from greek......
Caca comes from Greek κάκκη (specifically human shit), which, although Liddel & Scott give no etymological connection to kakos (evil, bad), it seems hard for me to believe these are false cognates.
So yeah, it's a shit-tocracy
posted by dis_integration at 10:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
is the opposite of Aristos = best............
I really thought it had to do with caca in Spanish cos so much Spanish comes from greek......
Caca comes from Greek κάκκη (specifically human shit), which, although Liddel & Scott give no etymological connection to kakos (evil, bad), it seems hard for me to believe these are false cognates.
So yeah, it's a shit-tocracy
posted by dis_integration at 10:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
The URL says "about to be fired" -- probably the editors changed the headline between when petebest posted and when you clicked.
posted by biogeo at 10:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 10:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
9 essential lessons from psychology to understand the Trump era - Brain Resnick, Vox
Here are the social science lessons I keep coming back to, to help me explain what’s happening in America in the Trump era. Perhaps you’ll find them helpful too.posted by ZeusHumms at 10:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
•Rooting for a team alters your perception of the world.
•We can be immune to uncomfortable facts.
•Leaders like Trump have special powers to sway public opinion.
•People don’t often make decisions based on the truth.
•Political opponents are often really, really bad at arguing with one another.
•White people’s fear of being replaced is incredibly powerful.
•It’s shockingly easy to grow numb to mass suffering.
•Fake news preys on our biases — and will be very hard to stamp out.
•Conspiracy theories may be rampant, but they’re a specific reaction to a dark, uncertain world.
An uncomfortable theme you might notice here is that our leaders, the groups we were born into, and, increasingly, our echo-chambered media ecosystems can bring out the worst psychological biases that exist in all of us.
In other words, no one, be they Democrat or Republican, is inherently stupid. “At the end of the day, we’re all human beings and we use the same psychological processes,” Dominique Brossard, a communications researcher at the University of Wisconsin Madison, recently told me.
All of these people - and I use that term with reservations - don't have singular vices. They have long-established habits of corruption; it's safe to assume that anything they've been caught at once is part of a large pattern of the same activities.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
"In other words, no one, be they Democrat or Republican, is inherently stupid."
Brian, I'm gonna have to ask you for some degree of support for that statement.
posted by Gaz Errant at 10:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [35 favorites]
Brian, I'm gonna have to ask you for some degree of support for that statement.
posted by Gaz Errant at 10:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [35 favorites]
Am I the only one reading that Rosenstein article as a subtle hint that he's been paid off by Trump-sympathetic parties and is going to be vacationing in all the best non-extradition countries for his extended retirement?
posted by Yowser at 10:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Yowser at 10:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trump donor Elliott Broidy named in Ukraine criminal probe
(Also he looks like he could have been separated at birth from Trump).
posted by Rumple at 10:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
(Also he looks like he could have been separated at birth from Trump).
posted by Rumple at 10:23 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
> "Only 39 percent of Americans know that Hitler was democratically elected."
Good, because he wasn't. Unless you're counting the 1934 vote that took place AFTER he was already in power and the Nazi Party was the only legal political party in Germany, which I don't think I'd call "democratically".
posted by kyrademon at 10:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
Good, because he wasn't. Unless you're counting the 1934 vote that took place AFTER he was already in power and the Nazi Party was the only legal political party in Germany, which I don't think I'd call "democratically".
posted by kyrademon at 10:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
Greitens watch: IL gov Rauner calls for him to resign.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:24 AM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
The message is sent.
Washington Post: Trump pardons ‘Scooter’ Libby, former Cheney chief of staff who was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:25 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
Washington Post: Trump pardons ‘Scooter’ Libby, former Cheney chief of staff who was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:25 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
AP: Russia Says Britain Staged Chemical Attack in Syria
Which would seem to be an admission by Russia that international inspectors are likely to find evidence of a chemical weapon attack, anyway.
posted by Gelatin at 10:28 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
Which would seem to be an admission by Russia that international inspectors are likely to find evidence of a chemical weapon attack, anyway.
posted by Gelatin at 10:28 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
There was no reason for Trump to pardon Libby now rather than at the end of his term. His sentence was commuted, his voting rights had been restored, his ability to practice law had been restored. He has been essentially made whole despite participating in one of the scariest acts of political retribution in our generation.
It is simple witness tampering, and a flagrant middle finger to the rule of law. The only reason to do this, and to do this now, is to send a message to anyone thinking about lying to the FBI that if you do that to cover up the administration's crimes, you will be pardoned for it.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:30 AM on April 13, 2018 [87 favorites]
It is simple witness tampering, and a flagrant middle finger to the rule of law. The only reason to do this, and to do this now, is to send a message to anyone thinking about lying to the FBI that if you do that to cover up the administration's crimes, you will be pardoned for it.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:30 AM on April 13, 2018 [87 favorites]
0xFCAF While I agree that's the intended message, I'm less convinced that anyone contemplating rolling on Trump is getting it as Trump intends.
Trump has a lifelong history of hanging his buddies out to dry and taking malicious delight in hurting those who counted him as an ally. Look at Chris Christie for example. Christie groveled before Trump like no one else, and his reward was a constant stream of deliberate abuse and humiliation.
I doubt many of the people who have dirt on Trump are so foolhardy as to imagine they can count on a pardon from a man as fickle, cruel, and faithless as Donald J. Trump.
posted by sotonohito at 10:37 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
Trump has a lifelong history of hanging his buddies out to dry and taking malicious delight in hurting those who counted him as an ally. Look at Chris Christie for example. Christie groveled before Trump like no one else, and his reward was a constant stream of deliberate abuse and humiliation.
I doubt many of the people who have dirt on Trump are so foolhardy as to imagine they can count on a pardon from a man as fickle, cruel, and faithless as Donald J. Trump.
posted by sotonohito at 10:37 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
The flaw in this message is the assumption that Trump will still be President/still remember who you are by the time you are arrested, tried, convicted and ready for your pardon.
posted by mikepop at 10:37 AM on April 13, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by mikepop at 10:37 AM on April 13, 2018 [42 favorites]
"In other words, no one, be they Democrat or Republican, is inherently stupid."
Brian, I'm gonna have to ask you for some degree of support for that statement.
How politics makes us stupid - Ezra Klein, Vox.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:37 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Brian, I'm gonna have to ask you for some degree of support for that statement.
How politics makes us stupid - Ezra Klein, Vox.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:37 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
The state perpetrating violence on peaceful protestors = the state are the ones making everyone feel bad. They’re the villains.
Counterpoint: At the time, Americans overwhelmingly blamed the Kent State shootings on the protesters, not on the National Guard and its leaders, least of all Ohio governor Rhodes.
posted by Gelatin at 10:39 AM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
Counterpoint: At the time, Americans overwhelmingly blamed the Kent State shootings on the protesters, not on the National Guard and its leaders, least of all Ohio governor Rhodes.
posted by Gelatin at 10:39 AM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
Broidy is the usual class act you see associated with Trump and crew. Under investigation for trying to bilk the Malaysian Prime Minister Razak and family out of millions (promising to end US investigation into their theft of billions of Malaysian state funds), snitched to authorities on people he bribed after getting caught. Deals in security forces for the UAE (sigh) and is tied to the George Nader shenanigans. The list is pretty endless. These people. Ugh.
posted by rc3spencer at 10:39 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by rc3spencer at 10:39 AM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
Out of curiosity: is there anything Scooter Libby would know that could lead to charges for other Republicans? Should Democrats be looking for Scooter to answer questions in 2019?
posted by Mister Fabulous at 10:40 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Mister Fabulous at 10:40 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
I know we all know this, but the fact that he ranted this morning about how James Comey is a "LEAKER & LIAR" and then promptly pardoned someone who was convicted of perjury in connection with leaking is a clue this pardon wasn't issued in good faith.
posted by zachlipton at 10:41 AM on April 13, 2018 [64 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 10:41 AM on April 13, 2018 [64 favorites]
I'm less convinced that anyone contemplating rolling on Trump is getting it as Trump intends.
I expect most of his associates are aware that he is as loyal and reliable as Jack Napier, but that doesn't keep him from insisting that people should trust him because he's got their backs.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I expect most of his associates are aware that he is as loyal and reliable as Jack Napier, but that doesn't keep him from insisting that people should trust him because he's got their backs.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:42 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Eh, hasn't Mueller already indicated that he regards "dangling of pardons" as obstruction of justice?
I don't think this scheme is as clever as the President thinks it is.
posted by notyou at 10:49 AM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
I don't think this scheme is as clever as the President thinks it is.
posted by notyou at 10:49 AM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
Pack your briefs ladies and gentlemen: we're girding for the unknown.
posted by notyou at 10:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by notyou at 10:54 AM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
Oh Lordy may I just point out that as a PWD, protesting carries with it risks. My peeps at ADAPT get dragged out of chairs on the regular. I’m not advocating smashing windows but neither do I believe that I can magic myself out of an unsafe situation. I will be protesting. Risk assessment is never stupid, however
posted by angrycat at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [36 favorites]
File under "We Care A Lot" -- The U.S. Has Accepted Only 11 Syrian Refugees This Year (Deborah Amos for NPR, April 12, 2018)
The Trump administration has condemned a suspected chemical weapons strike in Syria and is considering military action. "We are very concerned, when a thing like that can happen, this is about humanity," President Trump said earlier this week.posted by filthy light thief at 11:02 AM on April 13, 2018 [47 favorites]
But humanitarian organizations are challenging the president's commitment to humanity when it comes to Syrian civilians — particularly those seeking refuge in the United States.
In 2016, near the end of Barack Obama's presidency, the U.S. resettled 15,479 Syrian refugees, according to State Department figures. In 2017, the country let in 3,024. So far this year, that number is just 11. By comparison, over the same 3 1/2-month period in 2016, the U.S. accepted 790.
Which would seem to be an admission by Russia that international inspectors are likely to find evidence of a chemical weapon attack, anyway.
Their story seems to be that there was no chemical attack, that is was staged as in pure theatre:
It's bizarre just how far the Russian "state" has gone in abandoning all diplomatic norms and even the pretence of good faith. Everything they say now seems to be infowars level propaganda and disinfo. Have to wonder what ace in the hole they think they have to go all in and just bet the farming regions in this way.
posted by Buntix at 11:03 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
Their story seems to be that there was no chemical attack, that is was staged as in pure theatre:
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, released statements by medics from Douma's hospital who said a group of people toting video cameras entered the hospital, shouting that its patients had been struck with chemical weapons and causing panic.[Indy]
The medics said none of the patients were hurt by chemicals.
Maj Gen Konashenkov said Britain was "directly involved in the provocation".
It's bizarre just how far the Russian "state" has gone in abandoning all diplomatic norms and even the pretence of good faith. Everything they say now seems to be infowars level propaganda and disinfo. Have to wonder what ace in the hole they think they have to go all in and just bet the farming regions in this way.
posted by Buntix at 11:03 AM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
This seems like a good place to mention that Ask A Korean! is running an excellent ongoing series on Korea's Nine Years of Darkness -- covering the soul-sucking hopelessness of the Lee and Park administrations, and the mass demonstrations that finally put an end to the authoritarian "New Right" hegemony in South Korea.
(I lived in Korea for much of the period T.K. writes about, and have followed the politics fairly closely since, and I'll say that T.K.'s narrative seems quite accurate.)
I'd be wary of drawing too many direct inferences from the Korean experience. All countries are unique, but South Korea is uniquer than most, especially when it comes to things like mass mobilization. But IMO it's important to learn what we can from that and other examples of successful popular resistance to elected tyrants.
posted by shenderson at 1:39 AM on April 14 [9 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
shenderson, this is incredible! It would be disturbing, if I hadn't seen Trump, but honestly, this is the leavened, drama-free, exasperation-free political metaphor I've been searching for, written by a damn good writer to boot. You've done a good thing posting this here, and I hope everyone else takes a look at it. What South Korea went through is bad, and the 6 part series is only up to part 4 so far (oh it gets BAD), but after reading, I feel like I can quantify the damage. That's something I think a lot of us badly need.
It was only in the days after Trump was elected that I had moments I thought Trump might kill America. He won't. America proved he won't through protests and growing opposition, but up to now it's been a grimly determined slog of no. I'm reading this story, seeing what South Korea went through, and I see that same grimly determined slog, and I'm seeing that there was violence in the streets and that hundreds died, but I also know that we know how this story ends, and for the first time in a while, I'm feeling slightly less grim.
South Korea is us. Seriously. Read this.
posted by saysthis at 11:04 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
(I lived in Korea for much of the period T.K. writes about, and have followed the politics fairly closely since, and I'll say that T.K.'s narrative seems quite accurate.)
I'd be wary of drawing too many direct inferences from the Korean experience. All countries are unique, but South Korea is uniquer than most, especially when it comes to things like mass mobilization. But IMO it's important to learn what we can from that and other examples of successful popular resistance to elected tyrants.
posted by shenderson at 1:39 AM on April 14 [9 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
shenderson, this is incredible! It would be disturbing, if I hadn't seen Trump, but honestly, this is the leavened, drama-free, exasperation-free political metaphor I've been searching for, written by a damn good writer to boot. You've done a good thing posting this here, and I hope everyone else takes a look at it. What South Korea went through is bad, and the 6 part series is only up to part 4 so far (oh it gets BAD), but after reading, I feel like I can quantify the damage. That's something I think a lot of us badly need.
It was only in the days after Trump was elected that I had moments I thought Trump might kill America. He won't. America proved he won't through protests and growing opposition, but up to now it's been a grimly determined slog of no. I'm reading this story, seeing what South Korea went through, and I see that same grimly determined slog, and I'm seeing that there was violence in the streets and that hundreds died, but I also know that we know how this story ends, and for the first time in a while, I'm feeling slightly less grim.
South Korea is us. Seriously. Read this.
posted by saysthis at 11:04 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
It's bizarre just how far the Russian "state" has gone in abandoning all diplomatic norms and even the pretence of good faith. Everything they say now seems to be infowars level propaganda and disinfo. Have to wonder what ace in the hole they think they have to go all in and just bet the farming regions in this way.
Maybe an intelligence asset in the White House?
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:07 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Maybe an intelligence asset in the White House?
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:07 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
And because there's too much going on to celebrate those who are fighting the good fight: Face-Off: Elizabeth Warren Vs. Trump's Consumer Watchdog, Mick Mulvaney (Chris Arnold for NPR, April 12, 2018)
And fuck yeah to Elizabeth Warren and Carolyn Maloney for putting pressure to Mulvaney, despite their limited ability to do anything to make him do his fucking job.
Oh, and there's the closing paragrah:
posted by filthy light thief at 11:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [79 favorites]
In Thursday's hearing of the Senate banking committee, Warren faced off with Mulvaney.So, is that the next phase of your plan to undermine the Bureau?
"I want to take a look at what would have happened if you had gotten your wish and the CFPB had been abolished," she said. Since its creation, the bureau has returned a total of $12 billion to consumers by clawing back money from companies that cheated them. The people who benefited, Warren says, included seniors, students and active-duty military.
"Here's what you don't get, Mr. Mulvaney. This isn't about me. This is about about active-duty military. It's about first responders and students and seniors and families ... and millions of other people who need someone on their side when consumers get cheated," Warren said.
She added: "You are hurting real people to score cheap political points."
Thursday's hearing was part of Mulvaney's mandated semiannual report to Congress on the activities of the CFPB. It was his second of back-to-back sessions.
In a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney said the bureau used to bring several enforcement actions a month against financial companies. She pressed Mulvaney:
Maloney: "So let me ask you how many enforcement actions has the bureau initiated since you took over?"
Mulvaney: "We have initiated none since I've been there."
Maloney: "So it's zero."
Mulvaney said he is bringing a less aggressive approach. His vision for the CFPB is one that is run with more humility and prudence. Maloney asked him, "Does your new approach involve bringing any actual enforcement actions?"
Mulvaney countered that there were 100 active investigations and 25 ongoing lawsuits, though he acknowledged that the suits were initiated under the previous Obama-era director.
Mulvaney insisted that he is enforcing the law. About the bureau itself, he said: "I have not burnt the place down."
And fuck yeah to Elizabeth Warren and Carolyn Maloney for putting pressure to Mulvaney, despite their limited ability to do anything to make him do his fucking job.
Oh, and there's the closing paragrah:
Under Mulvaney's watch, the CFPB has dropped an investigation into a payday lender and announced that it will reconsider a rule to put stricter limits on companies that make high-interest, short-term loans. Consumer groups point to campaign contributions Mulvaney received from payday lenders when he was in Congress and say he is doing the industry's bidding. Mulvaney has said the campaign contributions do not constitute a conflict of interest.So, there's also that.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:10 AM on April 13, 2018 [79 favorites]
We are the party of good government. We support civil service as an honorable profession, and care about how effectively your taxes are managed and spent for the public good, rather than just the amount you pay.
"We're the party of good government. When we're elected we do our jobs faithfully. The other guys scream about government being useless or worse, then get into office and prove it."
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
"We're the party of good government. When we're elected we do our jobs faithfully. The other guys scream about government being useless or worse, then get into office and prove it."
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:12 AM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
It is simple witness tampering, and a flagrant middle finger to the rule of law. The only reason to do this, and to do this now, is to send a message to anyone thinking about lying to the FBI that if you do that to cover up the administration's crimes, you will be pardoned for it.
The other reason to do it is the flagrant middle finger part. It's nutball passive-aggressive venting. Trump has been impotently enraged all week, and this is like skywriting, "FUCK YOU MUELLER FBI DOJ RULE OF LAW FUCK ALL OF YOOOOUUUUUUUU. You're not bigger than me, I'm the biggest, I can pardon anybody I want, and I will, so there."
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:14 AM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
The other reason to do it is the flagrant middle finger part. It's nutball passive-aggressive venting. Trump has been impotently enraged all week, and this is like skywriting, "FUCK YOU MUELLER FBI DOJ RULE OF LAW FUCK ALL OF YOOOOUUUUUUUU. You're not bigger than me, I'm the biggest, I can pardon anybody I want, and I will, so there."
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:14 AM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
That's why I love Warren...but really don't want her to run. She's a great Senator. There's other good 2020 executive candidates, there's not really another Senator who's as effective in hearings, as unabashedly progressive, has full command of every policy issue, and really pushes real policy solutions like Warren does. We need her there.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [65 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [65 favorites]
Schadenfreude Dept: Trump administration officials looking to escape to the private sector are getting a rude awakening: No one wants to hire them.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [77 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [77 favorites]
Maybe an intelligence asset in the White House?
That's got to be the least reliable Trump card in the history of trump cards, though.
I guess it could be that they realise that if/when he goes down then things are going to very badly for them, so they're basically cornered and accelerating the situation as much as possible. The more damage and chaos they can cause to everyone else the better off (relatively) they will be.
posted by Buntix at 11:16 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's got to be the least reliable Trump card in the history of trump cards, though.
I guess it could be that they realise that if/when he goes down then things are going to very badly for them, so they're basically cornered and accelerating the situation as much as possible. The more damage and chaos they can cause to everyone else the better off (relatively) they will be.
posted by Buntix at 11:16 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Further excerpts from James Comey’s book, if the existing ones are anything to go on (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and then, on Dec. 14, 1960, I, James Comey, was born. The initials, as Reinhold Niebuhr would tell us, are no coincidence.posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:17 AM on April 13, 2018 [46 favorites]
I have been called a human humblebrag. I certainly couldn’t speak to the truth of that statement, except to say that where I come from, we don’t like bullies and their mean words. Bullies are mean and small, not like myself (I stand 6-foot-8, with a head of lush dark hair and eyes that pierce into the souls of everyone I encounter, like the eyes of a hawk who has read Reinhold Niebuhr (I wrote my thesis on Reinhold Niebuhr.)).
I would venture to say that I am the protagonist of my own life and perhaps the lives of many others. Certainly, no one else has as yet stood up to take on this grave responsibility, and it was my honor to rise to this challenge. It is a little embarrassing to describe myself: I stand, as mentioned, about 6-foot-8, like an oak with a firm sense of right and wrong and large, capacious hands. When I first seized Donald Trump’s, I took a mental note (and later, a physical note; I maintain scrupulous contemporaneous notes) that they had vanished into mine, like a dormouse curled up inside an oven mitt. But most hands do that when confronted with mine, except President Barack Obama’s, and — I hope — Reinhold Niebuhr’s, if we ever meet, in this life or the next.
Not to draw any parallels to my time as a prosecutor against the Mob, but when I met Donald Trump, one couldn’t help but note certain similarities. Donald Trump would frequently ask me if I would like to be “made,” but I made a point to fob him off with a joke, saying, “I think I’ve been made already, Donald Trump, by a far higher power, as Reinhold Niebuhr would suggest.” Donald Trump did not laugh at these jokes. He never once laughed in my presence. I think it is a grave danger to democracy for a man never to laugh.
After we met, I glanced over at Jeff Sessions to see what he thought of it all, and although he spoke not a word his pursed, pink lips seemed to say that he was a weak, small man with no gumption. He was pleading with me with his downcast eyes to do the right thing. With my eyes I said right back, I will. I always have. I never swerve from what I believe, and you can bet a shiny nickel that I never will, sir.
Thank you, Jeff Sessions’s eyes whispered. They glistened like marbles that were wet from being held in a dog’s mouth. As I stared at them I wondered: Has this man read the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr? I have read the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr.
I kept trying to read the Constitution to Donald Trump, but he did not take to it. I gave out mints to all my staff with their copy of “Lean In,” and with those mints, I included a line from the Constitution. But when I tried to impart a lesson, he ate the wrapper and spat it out in my face.
The Inspector General report on McCabe was sent to Congress, and the leaking has begun. Former F.B.I. Deputy Director Is Faulted in Scathing Inspector General Report. We'll probably have a copy drop publicly later today, as during the peak madness portion of the afternoon.
posted by zachlipton at 11:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 11:22 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Comey's book is not going to be a nail in Trump's coffin.
To anyone who's paying attention, it is painfully obvious that Trump is now beyond the reach of facts. As negative information piles up about just how despicable and incompetent a human being he is, his approval rating by the masses doesn't budge an inch and his GOP enablers do nothing more than express "concern." Stop even implying that there are any nails for this zombie's coffin. He will be removed from office when and if the courts or the voters direct him to the door.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
To anyone who's paying attention, it is painfully obvious that Trump is now beyond the reach of facts. As negative information piles up about just how despicable and incompetent a human being he is, his approval rating by the masses doesn't budge an inch and his GOP enablers do nothing more than express "concern." Stop even implying that there are any nails for this zombie's coffin. He will be removed from office when and if the courts or the voters direct him to the door.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
Buntix Have to wonder what ace in the hole they think they have to go all in and just bet the farming regions in this way.
In addition to presumably having leverage on Trump, I think they're largely counting on realpolitik.
Russia has a lot of nukes and leftover ICBM's from the USSR days, presumably several of those still work. That's a pretty big factor to consider when pushing back against Russia.
Further, Russia is pushing into areas where neither EU nor the USA nor China have any real interests. The US has a theoretical interest in Syria, but no really solid material interest. Same with Ukraine.
I think in large part Russia is counting on the other big powers not caring enough about their territorial and influence grabs to risk going toe to toe with an atomic power. That gives Russia leverage in the long run, and I can't help but suspect that's what Putin is after.
Sure, Russia has interests in Syria, but I think mostly they're interested in getting the other world powers to back down, partially because that helps Putin's domestic politics since he needs to be seen as a strong leader by the Russian people, and partially because it establishes a pattern.
Making something happen once is hard. Making something happen **AGAIN** is a lot easier. If Russia can get the EU, USA, and PRC to back down and give Russia what it wants in Crimea (as it has) and in Syria (as looks increasingly likely) then that's going to make it that much less likely that the USA, EU, and PRC will stand up to Russia the next time.
Russia is playing a long game to try and erode boundaries and normalize Russian supremacy, this sort of blatant BS is part of it. If they can make the rest of the world accept their naked BS here then it makes it easier to force the world to accept the naked BS later.
And its a psychological power thing. Making people tolerate and accept a naked lie is basically making them submit.
posted by sotonohito at 11:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
In addition to presumably having leverage on Trump, I think they're largely counting on realpolitik.
Russia has a lot of nukes and leftover ICBM's from the USSR days, presumably several of those still work. That's a pretty big factor to consider when pushing back against Russia.
Further, Russia is pushing into areas where neither EU nor the USA nor China have any real interests. The US has a theoretical interest in Syria, but no really solid material interest. Same with Ukraine.
I think in large part Russia is counting on the other big powers not caring enough about their territorial and influence grabs to risk going toe to toe with an atomic power. That gives Russia leverage in the long run, and I can't help but suspect that's what Putin is after.
Sure, Russia has interests in Syria, but I think mostly they're interested in getting the other world powers to back down, partially because that helps Putin's domestic politics since he needs to be seen as a strong leader by the Russian people, and partially because it establishes a pattern.
Making something happen once is hard. Making something happen **AGAIN** is a lot easier. If Russia can get the EU, USA, and PRC to back down and give Russia what it wants in Crimea (as it has) and in Syria (as looks increasingly likely) then that's going to make it that much less likely that the USA, EU, and PRC will stand up to Russia the next time.
Russia is playing a long game to try and erode boundaries and normalize Russian supremacy, this sort of blatant BS is part of it. If they can make the rest of the world accept their naked BS here then it makes it easier to force the world to accept the naked BS later.
And its a psychological power thing. Making people tolerate and accept a naked lie is basically making them submit.
posted by sotonohito at 11:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
When Zuckerburg spoke before Congress, he said his "team" would "follow up" on more than 40 items, as documented by Wired, citing who asked those at the time unanswerable questions. The last question he'd have to follow up on was if Zuckerberg’s team can get back to the committee within 72 hours.
Louise Matsakis also rounded up how Facebook is fighting state privacy laws around the country, and included this good summary quote:
Louise Matsakis also rounded up how Facebook is fighting state privacy laws around the country, and included this good summary quote:
“I’m sitting here watching Mark Zuckerberg say he’s sorry and that Facebook will do better on privacy, yet literally as he testifies lobbyists paid by Facebook in Illinois and California are working to stop or gut privacy laws,” says Alvaro Bedoya, a professor and the executive director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law School. “If Facebook wants to do better on privacy, it needs to put its money where its mouth is, it needs to stop paying lobbyists to gut critical privacy initiatives in these states."posted by filthy light thief at 11:26 AM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
Trump administration officials looking to escape to the private sector are getting a rude awakening: No one wants to hire them.
That article is delightful, and it points to one of the few ways we can prevent this from happening again in 20 years: Don't normalize, don't excuse; anyone who supported this administration needs to be told, "nah, I don't want to do business with you."
Let them be corporate pariahs. Companies can issue statements: "well, I don't hate them, but... I just don't want to work with them. Their judgment seems... poor; I don't think I could trust them with important decisions."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:32 AM on April 13, 2018 [46 favorites]
That article is delightful, and it points to one of the few ways we can prevent this from happening again in 20 years: Don't normalize, don't excuse; anyone who supported this administration needs to be told, "nah, I don't want to do business with you."
Let them be corporate pariahs. Companies can issue statements: "well, I don't hate them, but... I just don't want to work with them. Their judgment seems... poor; I don't think I could trust them with important decisions."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:32 AM on April 13, 2018 [46 favorites]
South Korea is us. Seriously. Read this.
This is not the first time he's put forward that thought--from 2016, during the impeachment protests.
posted by anem0ne at 3:16 AM on April 14 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]
I'm almost compelled to FPP this, will leave it to mods to tell me no or anem0ne/shenderson to do the honors. I'd take 1-2 days to reseach, feel free to memail links if you'd like me to (or I'll do the same if y'all claim it, but let's take further discussion to memail).
posted by saysthis at 11:33 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
This is not the first time he's put forward that thought--from 2016, during the impeachment protests.
posted by anem0ne at 3:16 AM on April 14 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]
I'm almost compelled to FPP this, will leave it to mods to tell me no or anem0ne/shenderson to do the honors. I'd take 1-2 days to reseach, feel free to memail links if you'd like me to (or I'll do the same if y'all claim it, but let's take further discussion to memail).
posted by saysthis at 11:33 AM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
zachlipton: The Inspector General report on McCabe was sent to Congress, and the leaking has begun. Former F.B.I. Deputy Director Is Faulted in Scathing Inspector General Report. We'll probably have a copy drop publicly later today, as during the peak madness portion of the afternoon.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
The report’s release, which had been anticipated for months, comes days before the release of a memoir by James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director who was fired by President Trump last May.The timing is shady as hell, given that it's critical of McCabe, but Michael E. Horowitz was announced as President Barack Obama’s nominee for Department of Justice Inspector General in July 2011, confirmed by the United States Senate on March 29, 2012, and he was sworn in on April 16, 2012. Furthermore, it looks like (based on my superduper superficial internet review) that he's a generally stand-up guy.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
THE GOVERNMENT’S OPPOSITION TO MICHAEL COHEN’S MOTION FOR A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER makes for some fun reading (the number of typos is a clue how rushed these proceedings have been):
First, Cohen’s claim that he has confidential communications with multiple clients appears to be exaggerated. For example, Cohen has told at least one witness that he has only client – President Trump.5posted by zachlipton at 11:34 AM on April 13, 2018 [46 favorites]
5 And there is reason to doubt that even communications with his only publicly identified client regarding payments to Stephanie Clifford, who is also known as Stormy Daniels, would be protected by attorney-client privilege. Among other things, President Trump has publicly denied knowing that Cohen paid Clifford, and suggested to reporters that they had to “ask Michael” about the payment. See Kevin Liptak, Trump Says He Didn’t Know About Stormy Daniels Payment, CNN.com(Apr. 6, 2018), https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/05/politics/donald-trump-stormy-daniels/index.html
...
Fourth, the USAO-SDNY has specific reason to doubt that the seized materials will include the volume and nature of attorney-client communications that Cohen claims. This is because the USAO-SDNY has already obtained search warrants – covert until this point – on multiple different email accounts maintained by Cohen, and has conducted a privilege review of the materials obtained pursuant to those warrants. The results of that review, as resported by the USAO’s Filter Team, indicate that Cohen is in fact performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump.
Here's the OIG report on McCabe
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:35 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:35 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's bizarre just how far the Russian "state" has gone in abandoning all diplomatic norms and even the pretence of good faith. Everything they say now seems to be infowars level propaganda and disinfo. Have to wonder what ace in the hole they think they have to go all in and just bet the farming regions in this way.
It's easier to understand if you take into account that the stupidity in this timeline is not confined to the US and UK. Putin scored well in this bunch of gambits, but all he's gained so far is:
1. Control of Syria. A booby prize if ever there was one.
2. The Sevastopol navy base.
3. The Koktebel beach resorts.
4. A bankrupt coal mining region in Ukraine.
He's not really playing 11D chess.
posted by ocschwar at 11:36 AM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
Impressive work by Trump's Mirror.
Reno rally, 11/5/16.
Reno rally, 11/5/16.
"There's virtually no doubt that FBI Director Comey and the great, great special agents of the FBI will be able to collect more than enough evidence to garner indictments against Hillary Clinton and her inner circle, despite her efforts to disparage them and to discredit them. If she were to win this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial."posted by chris24 at 11:40 AM on April 13, 2018 [54 favorites]
If Russia can get the EU, USA, and PRC to back down
The Communist Party of China is aligned with Putin on the issue of Syria. Calling for further investigation into the alleged chemical attacks, warning against escalating Western military aggression.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 11:47 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Communist Party of China is aligned with Putin on the issue of Syria. Calling for further investigation into the alleged chemical attacks, warning against escalating Western military aggression.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 11:47 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
The other guys scream about government being useless or worse, then get into office and prove it.
I've pointed out before that P.J O'Rourke made this quip about the Republican Party back in 1991.
posted by Gelatin at 11:52 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
I've pointed out before that P.J O'Rourke made this quip about the Republican Party back in 1991.
posted by Gelatin at 11:52 AM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
Twitter is buzzing with news of a White House announcement concerning Rosenstein between 2 and 4 EST. Also I looked directly into the firehose of the #rosenstein hashtag but thankfully whiskey is in my very near future
posted by salix at 11:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by salix at 11:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
This is because the USAO-SDNY has already obtained search warrants – covert until this point – on multiple different email accounts maintained by Cohen, and has conducted a privilege review of the materials obtained pursuant to those warrants. The results of that review, as resported by the USAO’s Filter Team, indicate that Cohen is in fact performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump.
I don't know enough to know what a covert search warrant could uncover on email accounts. Would the USAO and SDNY see content of emails or just names of senders and recipients, sort of like phone records?
posted by gladly at 11:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't know enough to know what a covert search warrant could uncover on email accounts. Would the USAO and SDNY see content of emails or just names of senders and recipients, sort of like phone records?
posted by gladly at 11:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nice snark from Robert Khuzami, the US Attorney prosecuting Cohen:
Although Cohen is an attorney, he also has several other business interests and sources ofposted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:55 AM on April 13, 2018 [26 favorites]
income. The searches are the result of a months-long investigation into Cohen, and seek
evidence of crimes, many of which have nothing to do with his work as an attorney, but rather
relate to Cohen’s own business dealings. As set forth below, unlike a search of a traditional law
office, the information gathered thus far in the investigation suggests that the overwhelming
majority of evidence seized during the searches will not be privileged material, but rather will
relate to Cohen’s business dealings.
Nevertheless, because Cohen holds himself out as a practicing attorney, each of the
search warrants contains the following provision...
The other guys scream about government being useless or worse, then get into office and prove it.
I've pointed out before that P.J O'Rourke made this quip about the Republican Party back in 1991.
The rest of those quotes sure make him seem like a fucking idiot though.
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:56 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
I've pointed out before that P.J O'Rourke made this quip about the Republican Party back in 1991.
The rest of those quotes sure make him seem like a fucking idiot though.
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:56 AM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
[Russian] Control of Syria. A booby prize if ever there was one.
Except I think Kheimim is their only air base in the region.
posted by exogenous at 11:57 AM on April 13, 2018
Except I think Kheimim is their only air base in the region.
posted by exogenous at 11:57 AM on April 13, 2018
1. Control of Syria. A booby prize if ever there was one.
2. The Sevastopol navy base.
3. The Koktebel beach resorts.
4. A bankrupt coal mining region in Ukraine.
5. The defeat of the post-WW2 liberal world order, with the EU and NATO shattering as the USSR and Warsaw Pact did, fragmenting into mutually hostile ethno-nationalist/neo-traditionalist authoritarian states (in progress)
posted by acb at 11:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
2. The Sevastopol navy base.
3. The Koktebel beach resorts.
4. A bankrupt coal mining region in Ukraine.
5. The defeat of the post-WW2 liberal world order, with the EU and NATO shattering as the USSR and Warsaw Pact did, fragmenting into mutually hostile ethno-nationalist/neo-traditionalist authoritarian states (in progress)
posted by acb at 11:57 AM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
Except I think Kheimim is their only air base in the region.
Also, having a naval base on the other side of the Bosphorus would be strategically useful if one is to project power around the Mediterranean. Though if Syria falls through, this could be satisfied by anti-Western populists in a post-EU Italy or Greece leasing one in return for natural gas or something.
posted by acb at 11:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, having a naval base on the other side of the Bosphorus would be strategically useful if one is to project power around the Mediterranean. Though if Syria falls through, this could be satisfied by anti-Western populists in a post-EU Italy or Greece leasing one in return for natural gas or something.
posted by acb at 11:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
I agree that Brexit was an unambiguous win for Putin; whereas the appointment of Trump probably has Putin's underlings tentatively questioning whether things have perhaps gone a little too far, before they plummet through the trap door into the underground shark tank
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:59 AM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Just chipping in my perspective as being one of the many middle class people in a country where we were raised to never EVER protest, with the threat of state violence hanging over it, which came true when we did start showing up on the streets: listen to W Grant. I credit a lot to the Safety Marshalls (that job basically was led by the youth wing of a political party, full disclosure) when we were tear gassed. They were ready, they knew how to quickly corrall the genuinely politically naive crowds, and they did a lot to provide the cover needed as people were escaping (and yes, while a few more hot-headed ones would dare to fling back the tear gas canisters back to the police)
posted by cendawanita at 12:03 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 12:03 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Press Conference from The Notorious S.S.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:05 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:05 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Might be worth bookmarking this Bloomberg graphic: How Trump Could Fire Robert Mueller, in case any sort of hypothetical massacre happens on, say, Friday Night that would cause you to need to know the current order of succession at DOJ.
posted by zachlipton at 12:07 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 12:07 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
Brief Kentucky update: half the state's schools are out for the second time in 10 days for teachers to protest again after Bevin signed the bill that eliminates teacher pensions.
He did veto the Republican tax and budget bills, and the legislature is voting right now to override.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:07 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
He did veto the Republican tax and budget bills, and the legislature is voting right now to override.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:07 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
Also, the writer of that blog suggests a few things to deal with conservatives/Republicans:
1. Measured Assumption of Bad Faith. A common liberal mistake is to think within the liberal system. They assume that their opponents care about the rules just as much as they do. This is a mistake
As demonstrated abundantly by this morning's disastrous NPR interview with a member of the so-called "Freedom Caucus," in which the Representative Dave Brat unleashed a Gish Gallop of falsehoods, distortions, and faulty premises, all but unchallenged by the feeble Rachel Martin.
posted by Gelatin at 12:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
1. Measured Assumption of Bad Faith. A common liberal mistake is to think within the liberal system. They assume that their opponents care about the rules just as much as they do. This is a mistake
As demonstrated abundantly by this morning's disastrous NPR interview with a member of the so-called "Freedom Caucus," in which the Representative Dave Brat unleashed a Gish Gallop of falsehoods, distortions, and faulty premises, all but unchallenged by the feeble Rachel Martin.
posted by Gelatin at 12:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
Actual quote from White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (reading from a script): "Instead of being remembered as a dedicated public servant in pursuit of justice, like so many of his other colleagues at the FBI Comey will forever be known as a disgraced partisan hack that broke his sacred trust with the President of the United States."
I think it's plausible that the script intended for Sarah Sanders to imply that many FBI agents are dedicated public servants, but that is not what Sarah Sanders said in the video.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
I think it's plausible that the script intended for Sarah Sanders to imply that many FBI agents are dedicated public servants, but that is not what Sarah Sanders said in the video.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
How politics makes us stupid - Ezra Klein, Vox.
Yes, I read that article via the blue last week. Population-level tribalism causing cognition issues does not support the statement "no one is fundamentally stupid".
posted by Gaz Errant at 12:13 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes, I read that article via the blue last week. Population-level tribalism causing cognition issues does not support the statement "no one is fundamentally stupid".
posted by Gaz Errant at 12:13 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
@rebeccaballhaus:
NEWS: RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel has accepted Elliott Broidy’s resignation from the finance team in a phone call, per source familiar. Story soon on @WSJ w/@bykowicz.posted by Chrysostom at 12:14 PM on April 13, 2018 [26 favorites]
The rest of those quotes sure make him seem like a fucking idiot though.
Even this one?
Even this one?
Watching Republicans in Washington is like watching lemmings, if lemmings jumped into cesspools instead of off cliffs.posted by kirkaracha at 12:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
I'm looking forward to the RNC and Congressional Republicans returning all the money that Elliott Broidy raised for them!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [27 favorites]
The rest of those quotes sure make him seem like a fucking idiot though.
Well, yeah. Even if you look at the first half of that particular quote, his complaint is that the Democrats have research saying you should eat your vegetables and so they're no fun. But given that the best the Republicans could do for president the last two times was George W. Bush and Trump, good old fashioned boring technocratic competence looks better and better.
posted by Gelatin at 12:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Well, yeah. Even if you look at the first half of that particular quote, his complaint is that the Democrats have research saying you should eat your vegetables and so they're no fun. But given that the best the Republicans could do for president the last two times was George W. Bush and Trump, good old fashioned boring technocratic competence looks better and better.
posted by Gelatin at 12:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Twitter is buzzing with news of a White House announcement concerning Rosenstein between 2 and 4 EST.
Trump is seriously going to can Rosenstein right before the weekend and week when Jim Comey is already scheduled to appear in extended live interviews on like every single national news show? Smart move, bruh.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:20 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Trump is seriously going to can Rosenstein right before the weekend and week when Jim Comey is already scheduled to appear in extended live interviews on like every single national news show? Smart move, bruh.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:20 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Actual quote from White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (reading from a script): "Instead of being remembered as a dedicated public servant in pursuit of justice, like so many of his other colleagues at the FBI Comey will forever be known as a disgraced partisan hack that broke his sacred trust with the President of the United States."
Wow. It really does all hinge on where you put that comma.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [50 favorites]
Wow. It really does all hinge on where you put that comma.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [50 favorites]
Axios, in its hallmark house style, is touting an "exclusive excerpt" from Comey's book, which amounts to a series of bullet points:
• "Though this was not the first time I’d seen the new president, it was the first time I had seen him in his new office. He didn’t look comfortable. He was sitting, suit jacket on, close against the famous Resolute desk, both forearms on the desk."Meanwhile, independent journalist Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior poses Questions I wish Comey would answer:
• "As a result, he was separated from everyone who spoke to him by a large block of wood."
• "In dozens of meetings in that space with Presidents Bush and Obama, I cannot recall ever seeing them stationed at their desk. They instead sat in an armchair by the fireplace and held meetings in a more open, casual arrangement."
• "That made sense to me. As hard as it is to get people to relax and open up with a president, the chances are much better in the sitting area, where we can pretend we are friends gathered around a coffee table. There, the president can try to be one of a group, and draw the others out to tell him the truth."
• "But when the president sits on a throne, protected by a large wooden obstacle, as Trump routinely did in my interactions with him, the formality of the Oval Office is magnified and the chances of getting the full truth plummet."
• "[S]itting at the desk once used by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, he launched into one of his rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness monologues."
• "I had often wondered why, when given numerous opportunities to condemn the Russian government’s invasions of its neighbors and repression — even murder — of its own citizens, Trump refused to just state the plain facts."
• "Maybe it was a contrarian streak or maybe it was something more complicated that explained his constant equivocation and apologies for Vladimir Putin."
1) Why did you dismiss Harry Reid's open letters asking you to share with the public vital info about Trump's collusion with Russia?posted by Doktor Zed at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2018 [39 favorites]
2) Why did you not correct the erroneous NYT headline about the FBI seeing no tie between Trump and Russia?
I think it's plausible that the script intended for Sarah Sanders to imply that many FBI agents are dedicated public servants, but that is not what Sarah Sanders said in the video.
You're overlooking the more dangerous part of Sanders' statement. Members of the FBI up to and including the Director don't have a sacred trust with the President. The do with the laws of the United States.
posted by Gelatin at 12:23 PM on April 13, 2018 [74 favorites]
You're overlooking the more dangerous part of Sanders' statement. Members of the FBI up to and including the Director don't have a sacred trust with the President. The do with the laws of the United States.
posted by Gelatin at 12:23 PM on April 13, 2018 [74 favorites]
Twitter is buzzing with news of a White House announcement concerning Rosenstein between 2 and 4 EST. Also I looked directly into the firehose of the #rosenstein hashtag but thankfully whiskey is in my very near future
posted by salix at 2:55 PM on April 13 [+] [!]
Does anybody have links to said buzz they could share? How reliable is the sourcing? This is not showing up in my Twitter feed.
posted by scarylarry at 12:24 PM on April 13, 2018
posted by salix at 2:55 PM on April 13 [+] [!]
Does anybody have links to said buzz they could share? How reliable is the sourcing? This is not showing up in my Twitter feed.
posted by scarylarry at 12:24 PM on April 13, 2018
Trump is seriously going to can Rosenstein right before the weekend and week when Jim Comey is already scheduled to appear in extended live interviews on like every single national news show? Smart move, bruh.
The President is always keen to redirect the cameras back toward himself and will use whatever shiny bauble is near at hand. Last week it was possibly missiling Syria. Maybe this week it's possibly ankling Rod Rosenstein?
Who knows anymore. We've haven't really digested Scooter Libby yet!
posted by notyou at 12:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
The President is always keen to redirect the cameras back toward himself and will use whatever shiny bauble is near at hand. Last week it was possibly missiling Syria. Maybe this week it's possibly ankling Rod Rosenstein?
Who knows anymore. We've haven't really digested Scooter Libby yet!
posted by notyou at 12:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Huh, this surprises me a bit:
BREAKING: House Speaker Paul Ryan, in NBC interview, backs Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California as his successor.posted by Chrysostom at 12:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Paul Ryan plans to remain Speaker until the new Congress is sworn in, correct?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
The GOP's finance team was Steve Wynn, Michael Cohen and Elliott Broidy. All were brought on in 2017 at the request of Trump.
The. Best. People.
posted by chris24 at 12:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [54 favorites]
The. Best. People.
posted by chris24 at 12:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [54 favorites]
@JoyAnnReid reports: GOP source to me just now: “the Libby pardon is aimed at Manafort.”
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:28 PM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:28 PM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
House Speaker Paul Ryan, in NBC interview, backs Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California as his successor.
"This is how we know we’re a real family here."
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:28 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
"This is how we know we’re a real family here."
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:28 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
Paul Ryan plans to remain Speaker until the new Congress is sworn in, correct?
He *plans* to, yes. There's been some talk of overthrowing him sooner.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
He *plans* to, yes. There's been some talk of overthrowing him sooner.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
@JoyAnnReid reports: GOP source to me just now: “the Libby pardon is aimed at Manafort.”
...and so Mueller adds another count of obstruction of justice to his draft indictment.
posted by Gelatin at 12:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [41 favorites]
...and so Mueller adds another count of obstruction of justice to his draft indictment.
posted by Gelatin at 12:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [41 favorites]
ocschwar: It's easier to understand if you take into account that the stupidity in this timeline is not confined to the US and UK. Putin scored well in this bunch of gambits, but all he's gained so far is:
1. Control of Syria. A booby prize if ever there was one.
A note here: as detailed in this 2017 article by Imran Rahman-Jones for BBC Newsbeat, Russia's ties to Syria are complicated, and can be drawn back to "at least to Cold War times, when the Soviet Union gained influence in Syria in the 1970s, giving aid and arms," then through Arab Spring, when Russia lost a partner in the region when Gaddafi was ousted as the leader of Libya, when "Russia had several billions dollars' worth of arms sales pending to Libya," through to the present, when a relatively limited Russia (in terms of their global political presence) uses their role in Syria to get a seat at the international political tables of discussion.
Missing from that list of reasons Putin supports Assad is something I believe I heard on NPR but I'm now having trouble in sourcing -- the idea that Putin sees Assad's "Right to Rule" as a direct parallel to Putin's own position in Russia, and by supporting Assad, he's supporting his own position in Russia.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
1. Control of Syria. A booby prize if ever there was one.
A note here: as detailed in this 2017 article by Imran Rahman-Jones for BBC Newsbeat, Russia's ties to Syria are complicated, and can be drawn back to "at least to Cold War times, when the Soviet Union gained influence in Syria in the 1970s, giving aid and arms," then through Arab Spring, when Russia lost a partner in the region when Gaddafi was ousted as the leader of Libya, when "Russia had several billions dollars' worth of arms sales pending to Libya," through to the present, when a relatively limited Russia (in terms of their global political presence) uses their role in Syria to get a seat at the international political tables of discussion.
Missing from that list of reasons Putin supports Assad is something I believe I heard on NPR but I'm now having trouble in sourcing -- the idea that Putin sees Assad's "Right to Rule" as a direct parallel to Putin's own position in Russia, and by supporting Assad, he's supporting his own position in Russia.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
the Libby pardon is aimed at Manafort
Are we supposed to believe Manafort paid all his state and local taxes while he was concealing his income from the Federal government? If not, I don't see how Trump can keep him out of prison.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [25 favorites]
Are we supposed to believe Manafort paid all his state and local taxes while he was concealing his income from the Federal government? If not, I don't see how Trump can keep him out of prison.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [25 favorites]
@JoyAnnReid reports: GOP source to me just now: “the Libby pardon is aimed at Manafort.”
Hey New York resident Paul Manafort, let me introduce you to Eric Schneiderman.
posted by chris24 at 12:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
Hey New York resident Paul Manafort, let me introduce you to Eric Schneiderman.
posted by chris24 at 12:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
Are we supposed to believe Manafort paid all his state and local taxes while he was concealing his income from the Federal government? If not, I don't see how Trump can keep him out of prison.
And a smart, prudent person would realize that and act accordingly.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
And a smart, prudent person would realize that and act accordingly.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Trump, on the other hand, just got played by Joe diGenova into stepping on his own dick some more.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think everybody was just instructed to leave the room except for Keitel, Krebs, Jodl, and Burgdorf.
@realDonaldTrump
DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
Trump, on the other hand, just got played by Joe diGenova into stepping on his own dick some more.
Victoria Toensing -- diGenova's wife and half of the nutjob legal duo that was, and then wasn't, on Trump's legal team -- is Scooter Libby's attorney.
posted by chris24 at 12:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [31 favorites]
Victoria Toensing -- diGenova's wife and half of the nutjob legal duo that was, and then wasn't, on Trump's legal team -- is Scooter Libby's attorney.
posted by chris24 at 12:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [31 favorites]
Wait. McCabe is Comey? I know there's a lot of characters in this drama, but if we're going to be double-casting parts, that really needs to be explained in the Playbill.
posted by zachlipton at 12:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [65 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 12:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [65 favorites]
"den thieves and lowlifes", aside from being a bizarre characterization to use for corrupt law enforcement, is possibly the most perfect deployment of trump's mirror yet
posted by murphy slaw at 12:41 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 12:41 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!!
I'm stating the obvious here, but Trump did not read the OIG report. The OIG report states that McCabe lied to Comey about leaking to the WSJ. Comey wanted to avoid confirming the existence of the Clinton Foundation investigation, McCabe went behind Comey's back to talk to the WSJ about it, and then made all innocent to Comey, like "who could be leaking around here?".
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:42 PM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
I'm stating the obvious here, but Trump did not read the OIG report. The OIG report states that McCabe lied to Comey about leaking to the WSJ. Comey wanted to avoid confirming the existence of the Clinton Foundation investigation, McCabe went behind Comey's back to talk to the WSJ about it, and then made all innocent to Comey, like "who could be leaking around here?".
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:42 PM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes! Tricksy Agentses, we HATES them!! Noo... but agentses helps us, they swears to work for us... NO THE AGENTSES ARE WICKED AND BETRAYED US! HISS! GOLLUM! GOLLUM.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [81 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [81 favorites]
(pony request that links to Trump's twitter instead link to @realpresssecbot)
It's so much more insane when it's on official letterhead.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [23 favorites]
It's so much more insane when it's on official letterhead.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [23 favorites]
It was always about controlling women and getting rubes' votes.
@davidfrum
The most militant pro lifer I know just emailed me that he saw no legitimate public concern in an RNC official paying for an abortion.
posted by chris24 at 12:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [91 favorites]
@davidfrum
The most militant pro lifer I know just emailed me that he saw no legitimate public concern in an RNC official paying for an abortion.
posted by chris24 at 12:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [91 favorites]
Wait. McCabe is Comey?
It makes sense if you've seen Mulholland Drive.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:45 PM on April 13, 2018 [56 favorites]
It makes sense if you've seen Mulholland Drive.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:45 PM on April 13, 2018 [56 favorites]
Honestly, EMRJKC'94, I'm starting to think Gollum's tweets would be actively more coherent.
posted by Archelaus at 12:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Archelaus at 12:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
I'm stating the obvious here, but Trump did not read the OIG report. The OIG report states that McCabe lied to Comey about leaking to the WSJ. Comey wanted to avoid confirming the existence of the Clinton Foundation investigation, McCabe went behind Comey's back to talk to the WSJ about it, and then made all innocent to Comey, like "who could be leaking around here?".
Not only did McCabe lie to Comey, Comey asked him to recuse from the Clinton investigation which pissed McCabe off.
@mkraju (CNN)
DOJ IG also shows McCabe recused himself from second Clinton email investigation, noting that Comey asked McCabe to "drop off" Oct. 2016 call about the Clinton emails on Weiner laptop. McCabe "unhappy about it." Call was a day before Comey told Congress about reopening of probe
posted by chris24 at 12:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Not only did McCabe lie to Comey, Comey asked him to recuse from the Clinton investigation which pissed McCabe off.
@mkraju (CNN)
DOJ IG also shows McCabe recused himself from second Clinton email investigation, noting that Comey asked McCabe to "drop off" Oct. 2016 call about the Clinton emails on Weiner laptop. McCabe "unhappy about it." Call was a day before Comey told Congress about reopening of probe
posted by chris24 at 12:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
NYT is breaking now that Trump called Michael Cohen today just “to check in.” (So go ahead and add another count of obstruction.)
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [51 favorites]
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [51 favorites]
NYT, Trump Called Michael Cohen as Their Lawyers Went to Court Over Seized Trump Documents
posted by zachlipton at 1:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
President Trump phoned his longtime confidant, Michael D. Cohen, to “check in” on Friday as lawyers for the two men went to court to block the Justice Department from reading seized documents related to Mr. Cohen’s decade of work for Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the call.Bunch of geniuses over here.
It is not clear what else they discussed in a call that came days after a series of F.B.I. raids. Depending on what was said, the call could be problematic for both men, as defense lawyers often advise their clients not to talk to each other during investigations. Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen still were trying to determine what exactly was seized.
posted by zachlipton at 1:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
NYT is breaking now that Trump called Michael Cohen today just “to check in.” (So go ahead and add another count of obstruction.)
That, I'm going to go ahead and call conspiracy to obstruct justice. For both of them, assuming Cohen didn't hang up the phone instantly.
posted by Gelatin at 1:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [31 favorites]
That, I'm going to go ahead and call conspiracy to obstruct justice. For both of them, assuming Cohen didn't hang up the phone instantly.
posted by Gelatin at 1:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [31 favorites]
If Trump pardons Cohen for any and all past Federal crimes, does the Federal investigation into Cohen end immediately?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
The results of that review, as resported by the USAO’s Filter Team, indicate that Cohen is in fact performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump.
Trump has said multiple times that he doesn't work with email. Was Hope Hicks subpoenaed on all of this?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Trump has said multiple times that he doesn't work with email. Was Hope Hicks subpoenaed on all of this?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
East Manitoba, you left off the link to the actual tweet. (OMG I am so happy this exists)
@realGollumTrump
@realGollumTrump
Countsil just plops Macabé report scroll- which is filthy disasters! He LIED! LIED! LIED! WE HATES IT! Macabé enchanted whole by the Comey - Macabé IS Comeys!! Faces melt & twist into same face of LIES! No collruding precious! All mades up by tricksy den of thieves! Fat LOSERSES! https://twitter.com/realGollumTrump/status/984884065911365633/photo/1posted by phearlez at 1:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [33 favorites]
I keep coming back to this bit in the Broidy story:
The Smoking Gun did a profile of Davidson last week, and it reveals a deeply shady law practice: Celeb Dirt To Be Sold? You Better Call Keith.
In his statement, Mr. Broidy apologized to his family. “It is unfortunate that this personal matter between two consenting adults is the subject of national discussion just because of Michael Cohen’s involvement,” his statement said. “Mr. Cohen reached out to me after being contacted by this woman’s attorney, Keith Davidson. Although I had not previously hired Mr. Cohen, I retained Mr. Cohen after he informed me about his prior relationship with Mr. Davidson.”It really seems like Davidson and Cohen had some kind of racket going together, where Davidson represents the woman, Cohen represents the man, and they cook up a hush agreement together. Davidson also represented Clifford and McDougal, so that's at least three such cases they did this together. As Laura Rozen put it, "It almost sounds like Cohen in cahoots with Davidson to blackmail Broidy?"
The Smoking Gun did a profile of Davidson last week, and it reveals a deeply shady law practice: Celeb Dirt To Be Sold? You Better Call Keith.
Davidson is currently a defendant in three separate lawsuits charging him with being a shakedown artist with a JD (he bristles at claims that extortion is a foundational element of his practice). His accusers are Hogan, one of the stars of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and a waiter at a celebrity-drenched West Hollywood restaurant. Davidson has also been the target of federal and state criminal investigations stemming from the Hogan sex tape case. While those probes did not result in criminal charges, they uncovered questionable behavior on the part of Davidson, whose disciplinary record already includes a California state bar suspension for professional misconduct.Then it gets really damn weird. As in, Davidson flies across the country to threaten the reporter with claims that the gossip website is a front for the mob to try to kill the story (it goes on into further weirdness from this excerpt):
While some of Davidson’s lawyering might charitably be described as unorthodox, a lengthy investigation by The Smoking Gun has revealed that the attorney--who has practiced since 2000--has also apparently engaged in the kind of activities that result in severe disciplinary sanctions, such as directing clients to lie, splitting legal fees with non-lawyers, defying a judicial injunction, and practicing law while under suspension.
On March 18, Davidson arrived at 9:30 AM for a meeting at the same Greenwich Village restaurant where he had previously been interviewed. Within minutes of sitting down, the grim-faced attorney said, “Bill, while you’ve been investigating me, I’ve been investigating you.”posted by zachlipton at 1:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [47 favorites]
He then reached into his bag and retrieved a file folder, from which he removed a two-page document. Davidson explained that the memo he was about to hand over was prepared by an unnamed private investigator with whom he often works.
The document--which had several redactions at the top of its opening page--made a series of stunning claims that were purportedly backed up by intelligence reports. The Smoking Gun and this reporter, the memo stated, were connected to an international narcotics distribution ring overseen by an organized crime family in Italy. Aiding in these illicit endeavors, the memo alleged, was an attorney at the New York law firm which incorporated The Smoking Gun’s parent company. The web site was some kind of an elaborate front operation, according to the document Davidson eventually returned to his manila folder.
DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
I know I should be used to it by now, but every so often I am stunned that something like this is an actual statement by the actual president of the United States.
Maybe it's time for a West Wing rewatch. It served me well during the Bush years.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [27 favorites]
I know I should be used to it by now, but every so often I am stunned that something like this is an actual statement by the actual president of the United States.
Maybe it's time for a West Wing rewatch. It served me well during the Bush years.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [27 favorites]
East Manitoba, you left off the link to the actual tweet.
Er. From what I'm seeing, East Manitoba's comment preceded the timestamp on that parody account tweet.
(Also, EM's sounds much more like actual Gollum speak to me.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Er. From what I'm seeing, East Manitoba's comment preceded the timestamp on that parody account tweet.
(Also, EM's sounds much more like actual Gollum speak to me.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
It really seems like Davidson and Cohen had some kind of racket going together, where Davidson represents the woman, Cohen represents the man, and they cook up a hush agreement together.
c.f. What Dahlia Lithwick wrote in Slate last week about the NDA racket: Secret Handshake—The depressing truth at the center of the O’Reilly and Trump settlement agreements. "More and more, it looks like there are only about eight guys negotiating, advising, and also mediating the shoddy NDAs that govern what women can and (mostly) can’t say about the men who rule Hollywood, the media, and the U.S. government. It’s all so cozy and beautiful, really. Unless you’re the alleged victim, and nobody lets you in on the joke."
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [38 favorites]
c.f. What Dahlia Lithwick wrote in Slate last week about the NDA racket: Secret Handshake—The depressing truth at the center of the O’Reilly and Trump settlement agreements. "More and more, it looks like there are only about eight guys negotiating, advising, and also mediating the shoddy NDAs that govern what women can and (mostly) can’t say about the men who rule Hollywood, the media, and the U.S. government. It’s all so cozy and beautiful, really. Unless you’re the alleged victim, and nobody lets you in on the joke."
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [38 favorites]
If Trump pardons Cohen for any and all past Federal crimes, does the Federal investigation into Cohen end immediately?
Yes, but... then he can be forced to testify about everything he knows about the Stormy Daniels affair, and any other details of his dealings with Trump. People who can't be convicted can't take the 5th.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yes, but... then he can be forced to testify about everything he knows about the Stormy Daniels affair, and any other details of his dealings with Trump. People who can't be convicted can't take the 5th.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Oh I assumed it was just a mistake in pasting, it was so similar. I guess EM has a comedy soulmate out there!
posted by phearlez at 1:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by phearlez at 1:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
If Trump pardons Cohen for any and all past Federal crimes, does the Federal investigation into Cohen end immediately? -- Yes, but..
And California and New York AGs warm up their bullpens.
posted by chris24 at 1:36 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
And California and New York AGs warm up their bullpens.
posted by chris24 at 1:36 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Whoa, that Cohen/Davidson stuff is really eye-opening, I had no idea those two connected in so many different places. That certainly sounds like quite the racket they have going.
posted by gucci mane at 1:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 1:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
NYT is breaking now that Trump called Michael Cohen today just “to check in.” (So go ahead and add another count of obstruction.)
He is visibly colluding inside of his own collusion investigation. We already have Trump's Mirror, Trump's Razor and Trump's Theorem, now we have Trump's Inception.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:41 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
He is visibly colluding inside of his own collusion investigation. We already have Trump's Mirror, Trump's Razor and Trump's Theorem, now we have Trump's Inception.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:41 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
Chad Pergram: "Fox has learned that from sources familiar with the President's thinking there are no plans to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein“tonight” or at least in the near future. When queried, sources noted that did not preclude Rosenstein from being fired down the road."
The only person I know familiar with his thinking is the guy himself, so.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:45 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
The only person I know familiar with his thinking is the guy himself, so.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:45 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
Whoa, that Cohen/Davidson stuff is really eye-opening, I had no idea those two connected in so many different places. That certainly sounds like quite the racket they have going.
A racket, you say?
posted by Gelatin at 1:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
A racket, you say?
posted by Gelatin at 1:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [9 favorites]
WSJ, Trump Seeks Large Strike in Syria; Mattis Urges Caution
President Donald Trump is prodding his military advisers to agree to a more sweeping retaliatory strike in Syria than they consider prudent, and is unhappy with the more limited options they have presented to him so far, White House and other administration officials said.Don't worry, he's getting the best advice though, from his lawyers (and John Bolton, who wants a "ruinous" attack):
In meetings with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Mr. Trump has been pushing for an attack that not only would punish the Syrian regime but also exact a price from two of its international patrons, Russia and Iran, a White House official said.
“He wants Mattis to push the limits a little bit more,” the official said.
Mr. Mattis has resisted, worried that the administration lacks a broader strategy in Syria and that military strikes could trigger a dangerous clash with Russia and Iran, U.S. officials said.
Over the past two days, the Pentagon has had two opportunities to launch attacks against Syria in reprisal for a suspected chemical weapons attack, but Mr. Mattis halted them, according to U.S. and defense officials.
Aides said Mr. Trump is tightly focused on the Syria problem and has been quizzing staff about the best response—even members of the legal team defending him in the Russia investigation. Mr. Trump has asked for briefing materials and was moved by images of children with foam bubbling from their mouths, symptoms of chemical weapons poisoning, aides said.posted by zachlipton at 1:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
Mr. Trump has asked for briefing materials and was moved by images of children with foam bubbling from their mouths
I feel obligated to repost: The U.S. Has Accepted Only 11 Syrian Refugees This Year
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
I feel obligated to repost: The U.S. Has Accepted Only 11 Syrian Refugees This Year
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
When a guy named "Mad Dog" is the only adult in the room, we're in a lot of trouble.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:52 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:52 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm seeing multiple reports on Twitter that Fox News claims an unnamed Congressman has drafted but not filed articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.
posted by scalefree at 1:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 1:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Why is it that Trump is so "moved" by these images of dead children? Last time this happened we heard the same thing. It sounds like BS.
posted by gucci mane at 1:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 1:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm seeing multiple reports on Twitter that Fox News claims an unnamed Congressman has drafted but not filed articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.
posted by scalefree at 15:54 on April 13 [1 favorite +] [!]
Nunes. We already knew this.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 15:54 on April 13 [1 favorite +] [!]
Nunes. We already knew this.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Ugh. He'd better be talking with some lawyers -- he probably* doesn't have actual legal authority to launch a big attack on the Syrian government.
ISIS in Syria was covered, however loosely, by the al Qaeda AUMF. Last year's Tomahawk delivery and whatever this turns out to be ... ???
Someday Congress needs to reassert its authority here.
--------
*The White House says it has the authority, but won't release the secret 7-page memo that explains it.
posted by notyou at 1:56 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
ISIS in Syria was covered, however loosely, by the al Qaeda AUMF. Last year's Tomahawk delivery and whatever this turns out to be ... ???
Someday Congress needs to reassert its authority here.
--------
*The White House says it has the authority, but won't release the secret 7-page memo that explains it.
posted by notyou at 1:56 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
Why is it that Trump is so "moved" by these images of dead children? Last time this happened we heard the same thing. It sounds like BS.
Maybe because he is still a human being? If you have any strictly positive amount of empathy, you'll be moved by child victims of chemical attacks.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:56 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Maybe because he is still a human being? If you have any strictly positive amount of empathy, you'll be moved by child victims of chemical attacks.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:56 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Mr. Trump has been pushing for an attack that not only would punish the Syrian regime but also exact a price from two of its international patrons, Russia and Iran
This would constitute a shift of strategy from the previous airstrike which Russia was informed of ahead of time, along with their ally Assad.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
This would constitute a shift of strategy from the previous airstrike which Russia was informed of ahead of time, along with their ally Assad.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Why is it that Trump is so "moved" by these images of dead children? Last time this happened we heard the same thing. It sounds like BS.
You know what- I actually believe him on this one, specific, narrow thing. I'm not certain why, but I think those images really do bother him. He's famously susceptible to images, he really hates blood, and he doesn't have the sort of mental abilities to screen out his visceral reaction that most commanders-in-chief would.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
You know what- I actually believe him on this one, specific, narrow thing. I'm not certain why, but I think those images really do bother him. He's famously susceptible to images, he really hates blood, and he doesn't have the sort of mental abilities to screen out his visceral reaction that most commanders-in-chief would.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
He's so moved that he'll bomb their country, but not so moved he'll let them seek refuge in ours.
They might grow up to vote Democrat.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2018 [25 favorites]
They might grow up to vote Democrat.
posted by T.D. Strange at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2018 [25 favorites]
Manu Raju, CNN: Nunes picks his next fight with Rosenstein and focuses on Comey: Sends letter, along with Goodlatte and Gowdy, demanding copies of Comey memos memorializing conversations with Trump - by Monday
posted by BungaDunga at 1:59 PM on April 13, 2018
posted by BungaDunga at 1:59 PM on April 13, 2018
He's incapable of being moved by psychological suffering, but he's very capable of disgust and graphic violence that involves visible bodily fluids still grosses him out. That's all there is to it.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:00 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:00 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
Maybe because he is still a human being? If you have any strictly positive amount of empathy, you'll be moved by child victims of chemical attacks.
On 9/11 he boasted that he now had the tallest building in downtown Manhattan*. Fuck him, he has no human feelings or positive amount of empathy. Anything we hear that even hints of humanity is a sales pitch/cover story by a staffer.
* And it was a lie. He didn't.
posted by chris24 at 2:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [49 favorites]
On 9/11 he boasted that he now had the tallest building in downtown Manhattan*. Fuck him, he has no human feelings or positive amount of empathy. Anything we hear that even hints of humanity is a sales pitch/cover story by a staffer.
* And it was a lie. He didn't.
posted by chris24 at 2:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [49 favorites]
Moved implies empathy. This doesn't sound like empathy. The Time Donald Trump Turned Away in Disgust While a Man Was Bleeding to Death in Front of Him.
posted by scalefree at 2:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 2:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
Why is it that Trump is so "moved" by these images of dead children? Last time this happened we heard the same thing. It sounds like BS.
It's like his horror/fascination with nukes: he's such a narcissistic shell of a human that what it takes to disturb him is images of poisoned children or the prospect of mass destruction. And, once aroused, he responds in his typically histrionic, overwrought and melodramatic manner.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:02 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's like his horror/fascination with nukes: he's such a narcissistic shell of a human that what it takes to disturb him is images of poisoned children or the prospect of mass destruction. And, once aroused, he responds in his typically histrionic, overwrought and melodramatic manner.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:02 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
ABC News is confirming recordings were seized. Can’t link because the thread is eating my posts when I try.
posted by Brainy at 2:05 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Brainy at 2:05 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Trump, Cohen spoke Friday as feds look into seized recordings, sources say
Federal agents who raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this week seized recordings, sources familiar with the raid tell ABC News.posted by T.D. Strange at 2:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
@nycsouthpaw
This call to Cohen is another indication of the poor quality of Trump’s legal advisors. If for no other reason, you gotta assume Cohen’s lines are all tapped.
posted by chris24 at 2:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
This call to Cohen is another indication of the poor quality of Trump’s legal advisors. If for no other reason, you gotta assume Cohen’s lines are all tapped.
posted by chris24 at 2:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
Kyle Cheney (Politico): Three House GOP chairmen -- Goodlatte, Gowdy and Nunes -- demand Comey's memos, which triggered the special counsel probe, from Rosenstein.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:06 PM on April 13, 2018
posted by BungaDunga at 2:06 PM on April 13, 2018
@NormEisen: this is a set-up. if he turns over, subject of an investigation (Trump) will learn evidence against him & tailor story; if doesnt turn over, fired. disgraceful to ask for these highly sensitive materials in order to put #Rosenstein in a bind and create a pretext for termination.
@qjurecic: this absolute clown
Nunes asked Rosenstein to give him documents or he'd impeachment him. Rosenstein gave him the docs. Oops! Better send along an even more ridiculous request on an even more ridiculously accelerated timeline, so Nunes can threaten impeachment again when RR fails to produce
We shouldn't expect anything better from Nunes anymore. But from Gowdy, who has essentially admitted that his time in Congress was a long con on his constituents, this is appalling
posted by zachlipton at 2:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
@qjurecic: this absolute clown
Nunes asked Rosenstein to give him documents or he'd impeachment him. Rosenstein gave him the docs. Oops! Better send along an even more ridiculous request on an even more ridiculously accelerated timeline, so Nunes can threaten impeachment again when RR fails to produce
We shouldn't expect anything better from Nunes anymore. But from Gowdy, who has essentially admitted that his time in Congress was a long con on his constituents, this is appalling
posted by zachlipton at 2:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
I don't see how impeachment of Rosenstein is even a threat. Rather than trying to corral the entire House GOP to vote to obstruct justice, wouldn't it be easier for the President to, I don't know, fire an employee that everyone agrees he has the right to fire?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Can I just offhand comment that Quinta Jurecic's Twitter feed is by far the best one on this stuff? She's very good.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 2:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's okay to concede that Trump might actually be moved by photos of murdered children. He's still a terrible president.
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:14 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:14 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
I don't see how impeachment of Rosenstein is even a threat.
It's not. The threat is a stunt. Nunes is playing to his base. He's up for re-election, the primary is in June.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's not. The threat is a stunt. Nunes is playing to his base. He's up for re-election, the primary is in June.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's okay to concede that Trump might actually be moved by photos of murdered children. He's still a terrible president.
Which is more likely, Trump is adamant about a Syria attack much larger than the military wants because of pix of children? Or...
1) It's a distraction from Comey and Russia
2) It'll likely get him praise and a bump in the polls
3) It'll allow him to pretend to be tough on Russia.
Sorry, Occam and Trump's Razor prevent me from conceding.
posted by chris24 at 2:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Which is more likely, Trump is adamant about a Syria attack much larger than the military wants because of pix of children? Or...
1) It's a distraction from Comey and Russia
2) It'll likely get him praise and a bump in the polls
3) It'll allow him to pretend to be tough on Russia.
Sorry, Occam and Trump's Razor prevent me from conceding.
posted by chris24 at 2:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
BuzzFeed News: A Former Russian Spy Worked On A Trump Moscow Deal While Trump Was Running For President
This story is crazy because it implies that the President told a lie about not having business dealings with Russians
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [34 favorites]
This story is crazy because it implies that the President told a lie about not having business dealings with Russians
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [34 favorites]
Sorry, Occam and Trump's Razor prevent me from conceding.
You don't have to. It can be both. He does have a bunch of kids and he's inclined to....pre-digested, easily packaged moralizing? Dead kids is that. You can be a psychotic wreck and know you're supposed to get really mad about that. So you channel your youngest and do so (And then wait for applause, because it's about you.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
You don't have to. It can be both. He does have a bunch of kids and he's inclined to....pre-digested, easily packaged moralizing? Dead kids is that. You can be a psychotic wreck and know you're supposed to get really mad about that. So you channel your youngest and do so (And then wait for applause, because it's about you.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
@ZekeJMiller (AP)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers finalize an override of Republican governor's veto of $480M tax hike that helps pay for education.
posted by chris24 at 2:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [51 favorites]
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers finalize an override of Republican governor's veto of $480M tax hike that helps pay for education.
posted by chris24 at 2:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [51 favorites]
Wait, did this Cohen call thing leak TODAY? Within what, an hour or two?
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Wait, did this Cohen call thing leak TODAY? Within what, an hour or two?
The hearing Trump was "checking in" about was at 10:30 AM, so yeah, within a couple hours.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:42 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
The hearing Trump was "checking in" about was at 10:30 AM, so yeah, within a couple hours.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:42 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
From the NYT:
Mr. Cohen wants his lawyers to be able to review the files and withhold privileged material before prosecutors can see them. As an alternative, he asked that an independent lawyer be allowed to review the files first. A judge scheduled a follow-up hearing for Monday and ordered Mr. Cohen to attend. The judge, Kimba M. Wood, was upset that he was not in court Friday.
He decided not to show up in court? That's a curious decision.
posted by angrycat at 2:59 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
Mr. Cohen wants his lawyers to be able to review the files and withhold privileged material before prosecutors can see them. As an alternative, he asked that an independent lawyer be allowed to review the files first. A judge scheduled a follow-up hearing for Monday and ordered Mr. Cohen to attend. The judge, Kimba M. Wood, was upset that he was not in court Friday.
He decided not to show up in court? That's a curious decision.
posted by angrycat at 2:59 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
I've got a feeling this crazy news day isn't through with us yet.
posted by diogenes at 3:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by diogenes at 3:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
His lawyer came to court, but couldn't adequately speak to the number and type of privileged communications in Cohen's possession. Cohen spent the afternoon, after talking to Trump earlier, smoking cigars outside with shady characters (incredible photo, another one): "Michael Cohen is spending a lovely 80-degree day sitting on bench outside his Manhattan hotel, smoking a cigar. Tells photogs he wants to send his mom all the great pics they have of him. #cantmakethisup"
posted by zachlipton at 3:02 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 3:02 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
Michael Cohen channeling his inner Sam Nunberg
posted by notyou at 3:03 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by notyou at 3:03 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
Wait, did this Cohen call thing leak TODAY? Within what, an hour or two?
The hearing Trump was "checking in" about was at 10:30 AM, so yeah, within a couple hours.
Consider for a moment: Who leaked it? Trump almost certainly has his personal lawyer in his address book. He can retire to a private room any time he wants and just make a phone call.
Did Trump leak it? Did Cohen leak it? How many people are in the room with the President when he's talking to his personal attorney?
It's just weird.
posted by 0xFCAF at 3:05 PM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
The hearing Trump was "checking in" about was at 10:30 AM, so yeah, within a couple hours.
Consider for a moment: Who leaked it? Trump almost certainly has his personal lawyer in his address book. He can retire to a private room any time he wants and just make a phone call.
Did Trump leak it? Did Cohen leak it? How many people are in the room with the President when he's talking to his personal attorney?
It's just weird.
posted by 0xFCAF at 3:05 PM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
Mr. Cohen wants his lawyers to be able to review the files and withhold privileged material before prosecutors can see them. As an alternative, he asked that an independent lawyer be allowed to review the files first.
Meanwhile in 1973:
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
Meanwhile in 1973:
After an initial refusal to comply on the grounds of executive privilege, Nixon offered to remit the tapes to a respected U.S. Senator, John C. Stennis, a Democrat from Mississippi. Sen. Stennis would listen to the tapes himself, then summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor's office.Mr. Cohen was presumably absent from court today because he was trying to create a shortlist of deaf New Yorkers to assist the court.
The explanation was that Stennis would be sensitive to matters of national security contained within. However, Stennis was famously hard-of-hearing, therefore it is believed that President Nixon did not want the tapes entered into the public record, because they contained recordings of Nixon using coarse language and racial epithets, and – preeminently – implicated himself in the "cover-up" surrounding the Watergate break-in.
Cox refused the compromise that evening. Nixon's response was to have the special prosecutor fired the next day, in a chain of events later known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:06 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
So this is another FU to the rule of law? What the fuck, man. Federal judges are terrifying; I can't imagine trying to deliberately piss one off. I mean, he could say he was sick or something, not sit out in the sun so the judge would be sure that he was skivving off.
posted by angrycat at 3:08 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 3:08 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Did Trump leak it?
Most likely Trump called up a news organization and told them that he called Michael Cohen today and everything was going to be fine. Why wouldn't he?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:08 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Most likely Trump called up a news organization and told them that he called Michael Cohen today and everything was going to be fine. Why wouldn't he?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:08 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Incidentally, NYT's updated the headline to their story about the Trump-Cohen calls to something more dramatic and added some more anonymous leaks: Isolated and Unnerved, Trump Sees New York Inquiry as Greater Threat Than Mueller
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
President Trump’s advisers have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation in New York poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel’s investigation, according to several people close to Mr. Trump.And more about the Cohen evidence apropos of today's court hearing:
As his lawyers went to court on Friday to try to block prosecutors from reading files that were seized from his longtime personal lawyer and fixer this week, Mr. Trump found himself increasingly isolated in mounting a response. He continued to struggle to hire a new criminal lawyer, and some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves.
Prosecutors argued that the previously seized emails revealed that Mr. Cohen was “performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump.” They said their investigation was focused on Mr. Cohen’s business dealings, not his work as a lawyer.[...](Hat tip to Newsdiffs.org, especially since the NYT has a habit of updating stories like this several times.)
Prosecutors demanded all communication with the campaign — and in particular two advisers, Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks, according to two people briefed on the warrants.
Prosecutors also seized recordings of conversations that Mr. Cohen had secretly made, but he told people in recent days that he did not tape his conversations with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen frequently taped conservations with adversaries and opposing lawyers, according to the two people briefed.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
Isolated and Unnerved, Trump Sees New York Inquiry as Greater Threat Than Mueller
Yeah, it's *possible* he wasn't an active participant in collusion, just the beneficiary. Money laundering and other financial crimes? Toast.
(and he doesn't think obstruction is a crime, just fighting back, so...)
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
Yeah, it's *possible* he wasn't an active participant in collusion, just the beneficiary. Money laundering and other financial crimes? Toast.
(and he doesn't think obstruction is a crime, just fighting back, so...)
posted by chris24 at 3:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
(and he doesn't think obstruction is a crime, just fighting back, so...)
I look forward to the look of confusion on his face, which is the same color as his orange jumpsuit.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I look forward to the look of confusion on his face, which is the same color as his orange jumpsuit.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Cohen spent the afternoon, after talking to Trump earlier, smoking cigars outside with shady characters (incredible photo, another one): "Michael Cohen is spending a lovely 80-degree day sitting on bench outside his Manhattan hotel, smoking a cigar. Tells photogs he wants to send his mom all the great pics they have of him. #cantmakethisup"
Cohen's entourage in these pics includes, per @ropebelt: "Rotem Rosen (sitting at right of Cohen) is blood diamond mogul/smuggler Leviev’s pal, CEO of AFI-USA, biz partner and brother-in-law of Alex Sapir, son of now-deceased Tamir Sapir, owner of Sapir Organization that partnered with Trump and Bayrock. source: medium.com/mosaic2/diamond-kings-luxury-condos-corrupt-cops-and-chinese-spies-e429def34a66"
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
Cohen's entourage in these pics includes, per @ropebelt: "Rotem Rosen (sitting at right of Cohen) is blood diamond mogul/smuggler Leviev’s pal, CEO of AFI-USA, biz partner and brother-in-law of Alex Sapir, son of now-deceased Tamir Sapir, owner of Sapir Organization that partnered with Trump and Bayrock. source: medium.com/mosaic2/diamond-kings-luxury-condos-corrupt-cops-and-chinese-spies-e429def34a66"
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
Rotem Rosen accompanied Trump to Russia in 2013, trying to facilitate the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
@nycsouthpaw: So is the man to Cohen’s left, Rotem Rosen, wearing... decorative handcuffs?
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
I feel like when the dust settles, any historians remaining will be perplexed not simply by how Trump was able to win the Presidency, but instead, how he managed to live his notorious life without amassing a criminal record.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:23 PM on April 13, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:23 PM on April 13, 2018 [26 favorites]
instead, how he managed to live his notorious life without amassing a criminal record.
@mattyglesias
The Mueller investigation keeps revealing, first with Manafort and now with Cohen and I think ultimately with Trump, that there is a ton of un-prosecuted white collar crime in America.
---
Emphasis on white.
posted by chris24 at 3:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [140 favorites]
@mattyglesias
The Mueller investigation keeps revealing, first with Manafort and now with Cohen and I think ultimately with Trump, that there is a ton of un-prosecuted white collar crime in America.
---
Emphasis on white.
posted by chris24 at 3:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [140 favorites]
So wasn’t there suppose to be a Sessions press conference between 2-4 PM EST? It’s now 3:30 in Portland and I’m at Applebees waiting to see this.
posted by gucci mane at 3:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 3:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
You start investigating white collars, you might find Russian ties.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [79 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [79 favorites]
@nycsouthpaw: So is the man to Cohen’s left, Rotem Rosen, wearing... decorative handcuffs?
These guys live their entire lives as gangster cosplay
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
These guys live their entire lives as gangster cosplay
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
So wasn’t there suppose to be a Sessions press conference between 2-4 PM EST? It’s now 3:30 in Portland and I’m at Applebees waiting to see this.
posted by gucci mane at 18:29 on 4/13
That seems to have been the unsubstantiated-rumor contingent of Twitter
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 3:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 18:29 on 4/13
That seems to have been the unsubstantiated-rumor contingent of Twitter
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 3:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Jason Leopold, who wrote the "former Russian spy" story upthread, is saying Felix Sater is contradicting Cohen's testimony to Congress on Trump Moscow
But, I really can't emphasize this enough, the big story here is Donald Trump was actively trying to build in Moscow throughout the entire time he was seeking the GOP nomination. And Cohen was at the center of that effort. As Trump was denying Russian ties, I can only imagine how many such ties Cohen was actively making, and how many will be found in his email and files.
posted by zachlipton at 3:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [35 favorites]
NEW: Michael Cohen told congressional investigators he stopped working on Trump Moscow deal in January 2016.Working on it with a former GRU officer who provided intelligence to the US. So we can add lying to Congress to Cohen's list of legal problems. And given that, it's interesting he's sitting outside having a cigar with Rosen today.
But we now know that Felix Sater told special counsel and House and Senate Intel he and Cohen were working on it well into June 2016
But, I really can't emphasize this enough, the big story here is Donald Trump was actively trying to build in Moscow throughout the entire time he was seeking the GOP nomination. And Cohen was at the center of that effort. As Trump was denying Russian ties, I can only imagine how many such ties Cohen was actively making, and how many will be found in his email and files.
posted by zachlipton at 3:34 PM on April 13, 2018 [35 favorites]
I've said it before but I do wonder how all the pro-Trump guys at the FBI feel about their decisions now.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:35 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
how he managed to live his notorious life without amassing a criminal record.
Reagan sold illegal arms to Iran through a terrorist cutout. The entire Bush Administration committed war crimes and falsified intelligence to start an illegal war. Most of Wall Street was guilty of crimes that brought down the global economy, and Obama instructed DOJ to do nothing.
The two tiered justice system has been a thing for all of American history, especially for rich, white, Republicans.
It would've been an outlier for Trump to be charged with anything, ever. Which is why he wasn't. There's thousands of Trumps in America.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [58 favorites]
Reagan sold illegal arms to Iran through a terrorist cutout. The entire Bush Administration committed war crimes and falsified intelligence to start an illegal war. Most of Wall Street was guilty of crimes that brought down the global economy, and Obama instructed DOJ to do nothing.
The two tiered justice system has been a thing for all of American history, especially for rich, white, Republicans.
It would've been an outlier for Trump to be charged with anything, ever. Which is why he wasn't. There's thousands of Trumps in America.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [58 favorites]
"It almost sounds like Cohen in cahoots with Davidson to blackmail Broidy?"
Popehat agrees.
@Popehat
Here's the thing about Broidy's statement. It's . . . odd, the way it talks about Cohen. It's almost as if he is implying that Cohen was in on the blackmail, not really on his side. /1
/2 The way he describes it, Cohen just shows up, "Oh hai, you're being blackmailed, fortunately I have a good relationship with the blackmailer's lawyer, so if you hire me I can help you pay the blackmail."
/3 It really reminds me of Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Craig Brittain's revenge porn scam: "Oh hai, I am real attorney david blade, and I can negotiate getting this revenge porn taken down, and I totally exist separately from the revenge porn site."
posted by chris24 at 3:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [31 favorites]
Popehat agrees.
@Popehat
Here's the thing about Broidy's statement. It's . . . odd, the way it talks about Cohen. It's almost as if he is implying that Cohen was in on the blackmail, not really on his side. /1
/2 The way he describes it, Cohen just shows up, "Oh hai, you're being blackmailed, fortunately I have a good relationship with the blackmailer's lawyer, so if you hire me I can help you pay the blackmail."
/3 It really reminds me of Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Craig Brittain's revenge porn scam: "Oh hai, I am real attorney david blade, and I can negotiate getting this revenge porn taken down, and I totally exist separately from the revenge porn site."
posted by chris24 at 3:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [31 favorites]
So wasn’t there suppose to be a Sessions press conference between 2-4 PM EST?
There was an investiture ceremony for US District Court Judge for D.C. Trevor McFadden today that Sessions and Rosenstein attended. The Washington Post's Spencer Hsu @hsu_spencer reported:
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
There was an investiture ceremony for US District Court Judge for D.C. Trevor McFadden today that Sessions and Rosenstein attended. The Washington Post's Spencer Hsu @hsu_spencer reported:
WATCHING Attorney General Jeff Sessions just declined to respond to a CNN reporter's question if there are any changes in the department's leadership, as he arrived at the U.S. district courthouse in D.C. for investiture of new judge.CNN's Katelyn Polantz @kpolantz says Sessions called him specifically "our good Deputy Attorney General".
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has left the courthouse after chatting with several judges, and shaking his head with a smile when asked for comment. In his remarks, Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a shout out to his deputy by name.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
@NormEisen: this is a set-up. if he turns over, subject of an investigation (Trump) will learn evidence against him & tailor story; if doesnt turn over, fired. disgraceful to ask for these highly sensitive materials in order to put #Rosenstein in a bind and create a pretext for termination.
The solution is elegantly simple. If the demand for documents isn't a thinly veiled attempt to obstruct justice (ha) but instead actual Republican oversight (haha), then have Rosenstein turn the documents over to the committee Democrats. They can inform the committee at large if they see any wrongdoing, and won't be inclined torush copies over leak the documents to the White House.
Fat chance.
posted by Gelatin at 3:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
The solution is elegantly simple. If the demand for documents isn't a thinly veiled attempt to obstruct justice (ha) but instead actual Republican oversight (haha), then have Rosenstein turn the documents over to the committee Democrats. They can inform the committee at large if they see any wrongdoing, and won't be inclined to
Fat chance.
posted by Gelatin at 3:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
Holy crap.
McClatchy, Sources: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier
And you mean Michael Cohen tweeting a photo of the cover of his passport didn't prove anything?
posted by zachlipton at 4:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [95 favorites]
McClatchy, Sources: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier
The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter.It's real.
Confirmation of the trip would lend credence to a retired British spy’s report that Cohen strategized there with a powerful Kremlin figure about Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
It would also be one of the most significant developments thus far in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House. Undercutting Trump’s repeated pronouncements that “there is no evidence of collusion,” it also could ratchet up the stakes if the president tries, as he has intimated he might for months, to order Mueller’s firing.
...
Cohen has vehemently denied for months that he ever has been in Prague or colluded with Russia during the campaign. Neither he nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment for this story.
It’s unclear whether Mueller’s investigators also have evidence that Cohen actually met with a prominent Russian – purportedly Konstantin Kosachev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — in the Czech capital. Kosachev, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of a body of the Russian legislature, the Federation Council, also has denied visiting Prague during 2016. Earlier this month, Kosachev was among 24 high-profile Russians hit with stiff U.S. sanctions in retaliation for Russia’s meddling.
But investigators have traced evidence that Cohen entered the Czech Republic through Germany, apparently during August or early September of 2016 as the ex-spy reported, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is confidential. He wouldn’t have needed a passport for such a trip, because both countries are in the so-called Schengen Area in which 26 nations operate with open borders. The disclosure still left a puzzle: The sources did not say whether Cohen took a commercial flight or private jet to Europe, and gave no explanation as to why no record of such a trip has surfaced.
And you mean Michael Cohen tweeting a photo of the cover of his passport didn't prove anything?
posted by zachlipton at 4:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [95 favorites]
Reason Magazine: Trump Announces Unprecedented Support for Legalizing Marijuana
I'm torn between being happy that something good might happen and scared because this might make him genuinely popular.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:03 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm torn between being happy that something good might happen and scared because this might make him genuinely popular.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:03 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
To be clear to those not spending every waking minute immersed in this thing like some of us, Mueller putting Cohen in Prague in summer 2016 would be in my opinion the biggest single piece of news yet in this investigation (which doesn't involve an actual indictment).
posted by Justinian at 4:08 PM on April 13, 2018 [52 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:08 PM on April 13, 2018 [52 favorites]
Hell, it may be bigger than most of the indictments.
posted by Justinian at 4:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 4:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Can someone explain it like I'm five?
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:10 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:10 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
It confirms another part of the Steele Dossier. You know, the fake one that's totally fake and contains no true facts except for the ones that keep getting confirmed.
What are we down to on the unconfirmed list, The Pee Tape and... ?
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 4:13 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
What are we down to on the unconfirmed list, The Pee Tape and... ?
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 4:13 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
AE: The short answer is: One of the most significant claims of the Steele dossier is that Michael Cohen travelled to Prague in August of 2016 to meet with Russian officials and intelligence to coordinate. Cohen vehemently denied that he was anywhere near Prague and says he has never been there.
Mueller putting him in Prague during that period would get us about 50% of the way to direct conspiracy between Trump and Russian intellgience.
posted by Justinian at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [68 favorites]
Mueller putting him in Prague during that period would get us about 50% of the way to direct conspiracy between Trump and Russian intellgience.
posted by Justinian at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [68 favorites]
Can someone explain it like I'm five?
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [47 favorites]
The dossier says that after Paul Manafort was fired, Cohen traveled to a European Union country (later reports claim it was the Czech Republic) in late August or early September to meet with Russian officials, and that the meeting took place under the cover of a Russian NGO, Rossotrudnichestvo.https://www.vox.com/2018/1/5/16845704/steele-dossier-russia-trump
One topic of this meeting was “coverup and damage limitation” around Manafort’s Ukrainian work and efforts to “prevent the full details of Trump’s relationship with Russia being exposed.” According to the dossier, after August, Cohen continued to manage Trump’s relations with Russia, but after this point, contacts were made to Russia’s “trusted agents of influence” instead of officials.
Cohen also supposedly discussed how to make “deniable cash payments” to hackers working under Kremlin direction, and how to cover up those operations.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [47 favorites]
Trump's lawyer, Cohen, has continuously denied going to Prague;
he was alleged to have gone there as part of the controversial "Steele Dossier". So
evidence confirming that Cohen went to Prague and lied about it would be huge.
Presumably, he lied about it because the illegal coordination implied in the dossier did actually occur there.
Trump has claimed that he's a huge germaphone
and there's no way that the alleged tape showing him with
prostitutes actually happened. But others think Putin has blackmail capable of
ending Trump's presidency.
I don't know which to believe, crazier
shit has definitely happened.
Recently, Cohen tweeted a photo of his passport, claiming he'd never
even entered Prague. This is a pretty bad
alibi, even if what you actually did there was technically
legal - why deny non-illegal activity?
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
he was alleged to have gone there as part of the controversial "Steele Dossier". So
evidence confirming that Cohen went to Prague and lied about it would be huge.
Presumably, he lied about it because the illegal coordination implied in the dossier did actually occur there.
Trump has claimed that he's a huge germaphone
and there's no way that the alleged tape showing him with
prostitutes actually happened. But others think Putin has blackmail capable of
ending Trump's presidency.
I don't know which to believe, crazier
shit has definitely happened.
Recently, Cohen tweeted a photo of his passport, claiming he'd never
even entered Prague. This is a pretty bad
alibi, even if what you actually did there was technically
legal - why deny non-illegal activity?
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Cohen is alleged in the Steele Dossier as having gone to Prague in Aug of 2016 in order to coordinate further cooperation with the Russian government, to shore up the evidence, and to make payments for the Russian hackers.
posted by gucci mane at 4:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 4:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
@PreetBharara (Former USA for SDNY)
Note: the career prosecutors in SDNY can't be fired by Donald Trump
Trump Sees Cohen Inquiry as Greater Threat Than Mueller
posted by chris24 at 4:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
Note: the career prosecutors in SDNY can't be fired by Donald Trump
Trump Sees Cohen Inquiry as Greater Threat Than Mueller
posted by chris24 at 4:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
Reason Magazine: Trump Announces Unprecedented Support for Legalizing Marijuana
I'm torn between being happy that something good might happen and scared because this might make him genuinely popular.
By the same token, if the rest of Trump's base is anything like my parents, this may be the only thing he could do to alienate them.
posted by the return of the thin white sock at 4:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
I'm torn between being happy that something good might happen and scared because this might make him genuinely popular.
By the same token, if the rest of Trump's base is anything like my parents, this may be the only thing he could do to alienate them.
posted by the return of the thin white sock at 4:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Cohen is alleged in the Steele Dossier as having gone to Prague in Aug of 2016 in order to coordinate further cooperation with the Russian government, to shore up the evidence, and to make payments for the Russian hackers.
Incidentally, I ask again, what was Paul Ryan's real reason for visiting the Czech Republic, with its Putin-aligning President and Prime Minister and its deep penetration by Russian intelligence during last month's congressional recess?
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:24 PM on April 13, 2018 [26 favorites]
Incidentally, I ask again, what was Paul Ryan's real reason for visiting the Czech Republic, with its Putin-aligning President and Prime Minister and its deep penetration by Russian intelligence during last month's congressional recess?
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:24 PM on April 13, 2018 [26 favorites]
Justin Miller (DailyBeast)
Cohen told Congress he didn't go. If Mueller finds otherwise, it's a violation of 18USC1001, the same charge as lying to the FBI
posted by chris24 at 4:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
Cohen told Congress he didn't go. If Mueller finds otherwise, it's a violation of 18USC1001, the same charge as lying to the FBI
posted by chris24 at 4:25 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
Cohen told Congress he didn't go. If Mueller finds otherwise, it's a violation of 18USC1001, the same charge as lying to the FBI
Hey guys! Hey guys! One guess what one of the statutes Scooter Libby was charged under was? And for which Trump just pardoned him? Can you guess?
posted by Justinian at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [77 favorites]
Hey guys! Hey guys! One guess what one of the statutes Scooter Libby was charged under was? And for which Trump just pardoned him? Can you guess?
posted by Justinian at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [77 favorites]
Another detail from the Steele Dossier - the meeting was allegedly scheduled for Moscow, but they changed it to Prague for plausible deniability. This shows a consciousness of guilt.
posted by bluecore at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by bluecore at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
I'm torn between being happy that something good might happen and scared because this might make him genuinely popular.however, an equally likely outcome is Fox News changing the name of The Sean Hannity Show to Dank Sean's 420 Blaze-It Hour and everyone being fine with it.
By the same token, if the rest of Trump's base is anything like my parents, this may be the only thing he could do to alienate them.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [38 favorites]
Hey guys! Hey guys! One guess what one of the statutes Scooter Libby was charged under was? And for which Trump just pardoned him? Can you guess?
And what was derided as a technicality at the time.
posted by rhizome at 4:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
And what was derided as a technicality at the time.
posted by rhizome at 4:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Cohen also supposedly discussed how to make “deniable cash payments” to hackers working under Kremlin direction, and how to cover up those operations.
Significantly, there is a lot of evidence that Cohen had been making "deniable can payments" for Trump/other Republicans domestically. Proving he was in Prague at that time (which he has repeatedly denied) gives the entire dossier more credibility.
Nothing "salacious" in the dossier is proven, but the parts which would constitute "criminal collusion" appear to have more merit.
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 4:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Significantly, there is a lot of evidence that Cohen had been making "deniable can payments" for Trump/other Republicans domestically. Proving he was in Prague at that time (which he has repeatedly denied) gives the entire dossier more credibility.
Nothing "salacious" in the dossier is proven, but the parts which would constitute "criminal collusion" appear to have more merit.
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 4:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Mod note: I know it's Friday night but let's rein in the chattiness or take it to the chat room!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
She's apparently retweeted it with different wording:
When another parent catches you bringing a nut based butter to the school bake sale
(I thought the first iteration was funnier, but it's all about that photo!)
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
When another parent catches you bringing a nut based butter to the school bake sale
(I thought the first iteration was funnier, but it's all about that photo!)
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Random thought: what if some of Trump's advisers told him that support of cannabis legalisation would provide cover for getting rid of Sessions (who as AG has been very much in favour of stringent enforcement of Federal drug laws vis a vis cannabis)? It's too n-dimensional chess a move for Trump to've come up with it himself, but someone else might've suggested it (and then he gets an AG who's not recused).
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 4:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 4:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
CNN, FBI seized recordings between Trump's lawyer and Stormy Daniels' former lawyer. Yep, recordings of Keith Davidson, who represented Clifford and McDougal and who we've been talking about today. I'd speculate they're unlikely to show either attorney upholding the finest traditions of the bar.
---
Chris Hayes reminds us that Cohen sued Buzzfeed for publishing the dossier. He really, really went all in on never going to Prague and the dossier being fake. If Cohen lied about going to Prague, it's a damn big deal, and could point to the strongest possible forms of collusion. None of this wink wink nudge nudge stuff don't ask too many questions, but straight up treasonous plots.
posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [67 favorites]
---
Chris Hayes reminds us that Cohen sued Buzzfeed for publishing the dossier. He really, really went all in on never going to Prague and the dossier being fake. If Cohen lied about going to Prague, it's a damn big deal, and could point to the strongest possible forms of collusion. None of this wink wink nudge nudge stuff don't ask too many questions, but straight up treasonous plots.
posted by zachlipton at 4:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [67 favorites]
Re: the marijuana story: A local paper in my very-purplish county (lots of agriculture, but also coastal tourism, tech and a college town) had an article that reported that overall alcohol sales are down over 10% where medical marijuana is legal, over 15% where recreational pot is legal. It's a big deal, with the growers of 'prestige' wine grapes among the most anti-pot and some growers of other crops considering a change of acreage usage... so the change in policy may be a 'wash' here in California.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Can someone explain it like I'm five?
Also, the supposed definitive falseness of Cohen's Prague trip has always been Trump & Co.'s hammer to dismiss the rest of the Dossier. 'This isn't true, the rest of it is BS too!'
posted by chris24 at 5:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Also, the supposed definitive falseness of Cohen's Prague trip has always been Trump & Co.'s hammer to dismiss the rest of the Dossier. 'This isn't true, the rest of it is BS too!'
posted by chris24 at 5:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
Further, [the Steele Dossier] alleges that Cohen, Kosachev and other attendees discussed “how deniable cash payments were to be made to hackers in Europe who had worked under Kremlin direction against the Clinton campaign.”
If I'm comprehending this correctly, the Prague revelation implies not simply that Kremlin-backed hackers obtained the Clinton/DNC emails and disseminated them with the Trump Organization's co-operation, but that the Trump Organization was involved in secretly paying the hackers. It's plausible the hackers were partially paid with Trump's own money.
Does that qualify as collusion? Maybe!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:18 PM on April 13, 2018 [42 favorites]
If I'm comprehending this correctly, the Prague revelation implies not simply that Kremlin-backed hackers obtained the Clinton/DNC emails and disseminated them with the Trump Organization's co-operation, but that the Trump Organization was involved in secretly paying the hackers. It's plausible the hackers were partially paid with Trump's own money.
Does that qualify as collusion? Maybe!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:18 PM on April 13, 2018 [42 favorites]
The Cohen-Davidson cons must have been obvious to Avenatti for some time now. Wonder if he has anything to share with Mueller.
posted by klarck at 5:18 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by klarck at 5:18 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Anyone got any updates on that Alfa Bank thing?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:22 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:22 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
We're gonna need a new thread.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [16 favorites]
Something's happening
@kaitlancollins: Press pool in Lima with Vice President Pence is rushing back to the hotel unexpectedly. White House is telling the press pool that’s here in Washington to gather.
posted by zachlipton at 5:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
@kaitlancollins: Press pool in Lima with Vice President Pence is rushing back to the hotel unexpectedly. White House is telling the press pool that’s here in Washington to gather.
posted by zachlipton at 5:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
THINGS NEED TO STOP HAPPENING FOR A FEW MINUTES ONCE IN A WHILE.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [76 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:32 PM on April 13, 2018 [76 favorites]
ABC and NBC confirm. I'm guessing a major Syria attack?
@tarapalmeri (ABC)
We’ve been unexpectedly rushed to hotel in Lima, Peru with VP’s motorcade. No further guidance.
@vmsalama (NBC)
Press traveling with Vice President Pence in Peru say they've now been rushed unexpectedly back to the motorcade, heading back to hotel. Not planned.
posted by chris24 at 5:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
@tarapalmeri (ABC)
We’ve been unexpectedly rushed to hotel in Lima, Peru with VP’s motorcade. No further guidance.
@vmsalama (NBC)
Press traveling with Vice President Pence in Peru say they've now been rushed unexpectedly back to the motorcade, heading back to hotel. Not planned.
posted by chris24 at 5:37 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Pentagon Correspondent for Middle East, Joe Tabet:
Just-in: US administration official confirmed to me that a decision to strike #Syria has been taken.
Supposedly an announcement coming in 30 minutes.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:42 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
@ragipsoylu (Washington correspondent for Turkish media): Trump to provide statement on Syria in 30 minutes
9pm from the East Room
I don't know what the right thing to do in Syria is, honestly. I don't think anybody really does. It's horrifying, and there are no remotely good outcomes. I do know more bombs aren't going to help. I also know that Donald Trump is pretty much the person I'd trust least in the world to decide, surrounded by advisors who are nearly as terrible.
posted by zachlipton at 5:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
9pm from the East Room
I don't know what the right thing to do in Syria is, honestly. I don't think anybody really does. It's horrifying, and there are no remotely good outcomes. I do know more bombs aren't going to help. I also know that Donald Trump is pretty much the person I'd trust least in the world to decide, surrounded by advisors who are nearly as terrible.
posted by zachlipton at 5:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [32 favorites]
NYTimes: President Trump to Make Statement About Syria
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:44 PM on April 13, 2018
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:44 PM on April 13, 2018
More on the marijuana comments.
Unlike the Reason article, the WP one seems to make it clear this is Trump saying whatever he has to say to get Justice Department nominees through. That Gardner thinks this is sufficient is laughable. This is the same President who said he wanted a deal on DACA, etc. Vague promises with no action are generally not useful, but thats especially true with Trump.
I wouldn't read any actual policy change into this.
posted by thefoxgod at 5:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Unlike the Reason article, the WP one seems to make it clear this is Trump saying whatever he has to say to get Justice Department nominees through. That Gardner thinks this is sufficient is laughable. This is the same President who said he wanted a deal on DACA, etc. Vague promises with no action are generally not useful, but thats especially true with Trump.
I wouldn't read any actual policy change into this.
posted by thefoxgod at 5:44 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
@davidfrum
The most militant pro lifer I know just emailed me that he saw no legitimate public concern in an RNC official paying for an abortion.
i swear it's almost like all these stuffy mediocre white dudes who are the "thinking man's" republican are denser than a hypothetical quark star. that this sort of shit is a surprise to them kinda puts to pasture any notion that they're incisive observers or commentators.
Plus you will notice the Frum still protects said hypocrite's identity and reputation from merely the consequences of their words and actions being linked to their identity.
They're shocked. They're appalled. They're still providing though.
posted by srboisvert at 5:45 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
The most militant pro lifer I know just emailed me that he saw no legitimate public concern in an RNC official paying for an abortion.
i swear it's almost like all these stuffy mediocre white dudes who are the "thinking man's" republican are denser than a hypothetical quark star. that this sort of shit is a surprise to them kinda puts to pasture any notion that they're incisive observers or commentators.
Plus you will notice the Frum still protects said hypocrite's identity and reputation from merely the consequences of their words and actions being linked to their identity.
They're shocked. They're appalled. They're still providing though.
posted by srboisvert at 5:45 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
Twitter is blowing up, so if you're not tired of watching history happen yet get to a tv.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
@SimonMaloy (MMFA)
PUNDIT: [in front of mirror] what's most important now is that we support our commander-in-chief
what's MOST important now is that we support our commander-in-chief
what's most important NOW is that we support our commander-in-chief
what's most important now is that WE supp
posted by chris24 at 5:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
PUNDIT: [in front of mirror] what's most important now is that we support our commander-in-chief
what's MOST important now is that we support our commander-in-chief
what's most important NOW is that we support our commander-in-chief
what's most important now is that WE supp
posted by chris24 at 5:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [28 favorites]
For all your live-blogging and reaction needs, MeFi Chat is go.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 PM on April 13, 2018
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:00 PM on April 13, 2018
Some English-language Twitter lists from Syria:
reuters/lists/syria
ramahkudaimi/lists/syria
Reports of blasts in Damascus while Trump was speaking.
posted by zachlipton at 6:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
reuters/lists/syria
ramahkudaimi/lists/syria
Reports of blasts in Damascus while Trump was speaking.
posted by zachlipton at 6:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
From this afternoon...
@ChrisMurphyCT (Sen. - CT)
So Mattis doesn't want to strike Syria because it risks dragging U.S. into a broader war with Russia and Iran, but he has to do it anyway because Trump tweeted about it.
Welcome to the Trump national security nightmare we've been waiting for.
---
From the 10th...
Spencer Ackerman: (DailyBeast) - Trump’s Military Strike on Syria Will Be Illegal
posted by chris24 at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
@ChrisMurphyCT (Sen. - CT)
So Mattis doesn't want to strike Syria because it risks dragging U.S. into a broader war with Russia and Iran, but he has to do it anyway because Trump tweeted about it.
Welcome to the Trump national security nightmare we've been waiting for.
---
From the 10th...
Spencer Ackerman: (DailyBeast) - Trump’s Military Strike on Syria Will Be Illegal
posted by chris24 at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
What military strike is legal?
posted by photoslob at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by photoslob at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
One authorized by Congress and which conforms to the Geneva convention. There is no world in which this strike can be said to fall under the existing AUMF.
posted by Justinian at 6:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 6:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [30 favorites]
August 2013.
@realDonaldTrump
The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!
posted by chris24 at 6:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [61 favorites]
@realDonaldTrump
The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!
posted by chris24 at 6:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [61 favorites]
Operation Orange Distraction is Go!
With extreme prejudice.
Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk):
My colleagues @annemp13 and @syknapptic have been geolocating Syrian CW sites to monitor the reconstitution of Damascus’s CW program. All that work will come in handy for the BDA over the next few days.
(BDA stands for "Bilateral Destruction Agreement")
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:21 PM on April 13, 2018
With extreme prejudice.
Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk):
My colleagues @annemp13 and @syknapptic have been geolocating Syrian CW sites to monitor the reconstitution of Damascus’s CW program. All that work will come in handy for the BDA over the next few days.
(BDA stands for "Bilateral Destruction Agreement")
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:21 PM on April 13, 2018
@Travon
Trump : "Gassing innocent Syrians is bad and I'm going to bomb you for it!"
Innocent Syrians: "can we take refuge in America to escape a murderous dictator?"
Trump: "no way you terrorists!"
posted by chris24 at 6:24 PM on April 13, 2018 [64 favorites]
Trump : "Gassing innocent Syrians is bad and I'm going to bomb you for it!"
Innocent Syrians: "can we take refuge in America to escape a murderous dictator?"
Trump: "no way you terrorists!"
posted by chris24 at 6:24 PM on April 13, 2018 [64 favorites]
MSNBC: Syrian state television has broken into its broadcast to state that Syrian air defense forces have launched counter-strikes against "the British, French, and American aggression".
posted by XMLicious at 6:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 6:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
chris24:
@Travon
Trump : "Gassing innocent Syrians is bad and I'm going to bomb you for it!"
Innocent Syrians: "can we take refuge in America to escape a murderous dictator?"
Trump: "no way you terrorists!"
Here's the thing on that.
Per maudlin's comment above, that's the literally the rhetoric that in turn literally led to people being murdered and grievously injured in a mosque in Quebec by a white Canadian terrorist who believed Syrian refugees were some kind of threat.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
@Travon
Trump : "Gassing innocent Syrians is bad and I'm going to bomb you for it!"
Innocent Syrians: "can we take refuge in America to escape a murderous dictator?"
Trump: "no way you terrorists!"
Here's the thing on that.
Per maudlin's comment above, that's the literally the rhetoric that in turn literally led to people being murdered and grievously injured in a mosque in Quebec by a white Canadian terrorist who believed Syrian refugees were some kind of threat.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
Leith Aboufadel (@leithfadel) of Al-Masdar News reports:
Massive explosions right now in east Damascus. The site appears to be the Dumayr Airbase, which is the installation used by the Syrian Air Force to launch airstrikes on the East Ghouta.posted by FelliniBlank at 6:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [18 favorites]
Airstrikes now reportedly hitting multiple locations across the country. People are reporting airstrikes in Masyaf and Mezzeh
Military source in Damascus says Mezzeh not hit, but Barzeh was just hit.
Wow, the US struck one of Damascus’ most densely populated suburbs. Jaramana reporting strikes.
Wave after wave of cruise missiles hitting Syria; it is not stopping. Over 40 minutes of cruise missiles.
Source near Mezzeh seems to confirm no strikes, but several nearby.
This is the largest strike on Syria’s capital....possibly ever
And he adds: Interesting to note: all sites targeted do not have Russian air assets present.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [24 favorites]
So Trump waited until Assad achieved his objectives, eliminating rebels near the capital, and then launched a sea-based missile attack with no risk, after giving Assad and Russia days of advanced notice.
Not impressed.
posted by msalt at 6:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
Not impressed.
posted by msalt at 6:46 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
You know how this is going to be spun tomorrow, or shortly thereafter, right? I realize I'm preaching to the choir:
"I responded with cruise missles. So many. It was fantastic. Assad, he had no chance. You see what Obama didn't do? Corrupt Hillary wouldn't have taken this action."
Meanwhile...
Per FelliniBlank's comment above...
And also...
Oldest city in the world is being bombed right now.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:52 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
"I responded with cruise missles. So many. It was fantastic. Assad, he had no chance. You see what Obama didn't do? Corrupt Hillary wouldn't have taken this action."
Meanwhile...
Per FelliniBlank's comment above...
And also...
Oldest city in the world is being bombed right now.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:52 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Mod note: One-line reactions or venting can go to the chat room; please try to add new information or constructive analysis in the thread.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
The International Rescue Committee (before this news broke): Isolated airstrikes won’t save Syrian lives: what Trump can do to help
The IRC urges the Trump administration to lead the international community toward a political solution and a unified diplomatic strategy—the only way to end the suffering of the Syrian people.posted by OnceUponATime at 6:56 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
The U.S. military response to the chemical attack last year in southern Idlib that is thoughts to have killed around 70 people did not change the course of the war or make Syrian civilians safer.
An isolated U.S. strike in response to the Douma attack in the absence of a long-term diplomatic strategy could lead to an uncontrollable escalation that puts more civilians in harm’s way and pushes peace further out of reach.
Here's a streaming link for the Pentagon briefing, expected at 10pm.
posted by zachlipton at 6:57 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 6:57 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
The military spokesman actually said directly that they did everything possible to avoid hitting Russian targets in the air strikes. Also, they're all done.
posted by msalt at 7:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by msalt at 7:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
General Dunford says, "This wave of air strikes is over." There were manned aircraft involved.
Defense Secretary Mattis mentioned the Chemical Weapons Convention; the Wikipedia article United States and weapons of mass destruction still says the same thing it did in 2016 when we were briefly discussing chemical weapons in a pre-election U.S. political thread:
posted by XMLicious at 7:15 PM on April 13, 2018
Defense Secretary Mattis mentioned the Chemical Weapons Convention; the Wikipedia article United States and weapons of mass destruction still says the same thing it did in 2016 when we were briefly discussing chemical weapons in a pre-election U.S. political thread:
In 1993, the U.S. signed the CWC, which required the destruction of all chemical weapon agents, dispersal systems, chemical weapons production facilities by 2012. Both Russia and U.S. missed the CWC's extended deadline of April 2012 to destroy all of their chemical weapons.[32] The United States destroyed 89.75% of the original stockpile of nearly 31,100 metric tons (30,609 long tons) of nerve and mustard agents under the terms of the treaty.[33] Chemical weapons destruction resumed in 2015 with expected completion by 2023.[34]I'm assuming the Trump administration did not accelerate the program.
posted by XMLicious at 7:15 PM on April 13, 2018
This was a relatively small strike, and Mattis and Dunford suggest that no further strikes are planned. This sounds a lot like Mattis won the argument over Trump and Bolton's desire for a larger strike.
That's very interesting. Mattis was supposed to be waning in this administration.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
That's very interesting. Mattis was supposed to be waning in this administration.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:17 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
So avoiding Russian targets and focusing on chemical weapons plants just before investigators are scheduled to show up, isn't this helping them hide evidence?
posted by Literaryhero at 7:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 7:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yeah, Mattis just said it was basically twice the firepower of last year, on three targets vs. one. One big difference was the use of manned aircraft.
posted by chris24 at 7:20 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 7:20 PM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
Worth noting that we've been bombing Syria every single day since 2014. The only thing different about this is the targeting of Assad regime sites instead of ISIS/"rebel"/whoever, and the danger of hitting Russian forces.
The Pentagon is saying it's limited to chemical weapons sites, which might be good as far as that goes. There's no good answers in Syria, but this is when we need a President we could trust is making this decision for the good of American and allied interests in preserving the world order. We don't have that. At all.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
The Pentagon is saying it's limited to chemical weapons sites, which might be good as far as that goes. There's no good answers in Syria, but this is when we need a President we could trust is making this decision for the good of American and allied interests in preserving the world order. We don't have that. At all.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
@joshrogin: Pentagon reporter points out that Assad has been using chemical weapons on a regular basis so why attack now? Mattis has no real answer.
Whether any individual thinks the strikes are justified, advisable, and legal or not, we shouldn't have to have a President that makes us wonder, even for a second, whether he's using military force based on his judgement of the best interests of the nation or because his lawyer got caught doing lots of crimes.
posted by zachlipton at 7:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [70 favorites]
Whether any individual thinks the strikes are justified, advisable, and legal or not, we shouldn't have to have a President that makes us wonder, even for a second, whether he's using military force based on his judgement of the best interests of the nation or because his lawyer got caught doing lots of crimes.
posted by zachlipton at 7:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [70 favorites]
we shouldn't have to have a President that makes us wonder, even for a second, whether he's using military force based on his judgement of the best interests of the nation or because his lawyer got caught doing lots of crimes.
Maddow went there immediately after Trump stopped talking. Full video is 3 minutes.
"The perception that @POTUS may have ordered these strikes in part because of scandal will affect the impact and the effectiveness of these military strikes, unavoidably," @maddow said after Trump's Syria remarks. "Even if the tail is not wagging the dog.”
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
Maddow went there immediately after Trump stopped talking. Full video is 3 minutes.
"The perception that @POTUS may have ordered these strikes in part because of scandal will affect the impact and the effectiveness of these military strikes, unavoidably," @maddow said after Trump's Syria remarks. "Even if the tail is not wagging the dog.”
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:29 PM on April 13, 2018 [21 favorites]
What fraction of a Scaramucci was Trump saying he was pulling out US troops and leaving Syria for others to deal with?
posted by perhapses at 7:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by perhapses at 7:31 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Worse yet, it's conceivable that Trump and Putin agreed that it would be a good time for chemical weapons to be used, justifying a highly distracting missile strike. Last year's strike came at a very useful time for Trump, too.
posted by msalt at 7:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by msalt at 7:33 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Last year's strike came at a very useful time for Trump, too.
Last year's strike barely lasted one news cycle. This one's over. There are no more planned, "unless Assad uses chemical weapons again". This one won't be in the news cycle by Tuesday.
Cohen will be.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:36 PM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
Last year's strike barely lasted one news cycle. This one's over. There are no more planned, "unless Assad uses chemical weapons again". This one won't be in the news cycle by Tuesday.
Cohen will be.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:36 PM on April 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
A message from Russia (via Tweet, because 2018 sucks): "A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris."
It goes on to say that "Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible."
"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented" does sound ominous.
posted by zachlipton at 7:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
It goes on to say that "Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible."
"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented" does sound ominous.
posted by zachlipton at 7:39 PM on April 13, 2018 [19 favorites]
VOA's Steve Herman @W7VOA: "The sudden preparation for an announcement by @POTUS caught even some senior administration officials by surprise." (It will be interesting to find out who wasn't in the loop on this decision.)
Speaking of Trump administration officials, another bigot among them has been found out, CNN's KFile reports: HHS Official Shared Post Saying 'Forefathers' Would Have 'Hung' Obama, Clinton For Treason
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [36 favorites]
Speaking of Trump administration officials, another bigot among them has been found out, CNN's KFile reports: HHS Official Shared Post Saying 'Forefathers' Would Have 'Hung' Obama, Clinton For Treason
A political appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services shared an image in 2017 that said "our forefathers would have hung" Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for treason, a CNN KFile review has found.The. Best. People.
Ximena Barreto is a far-right political pundit who in December 2017 joined the Trump administration as deputy director of communications at the department.
Barreto was placed on leave by the department on Monday after the liberal watchdog Media Matters reported that Barreto called Islam "a cult" and pushed the false Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which alleged that Clinton was part of a child-sex ring based in part at a Washington, DC, pizza restaurant.
A subsequent KFile review of her Twitter account "RepublicanChick" found that Barreto also repeatedly used the hashtag #BanIslam and twice shared conspiracy theories about the death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. Barreto also shared a conspiracy theory that French President Emmanuel Macron was controlled by the Rothschild family and that Clinton and Obama were controlled by investor and Democratic mega-donor George Soros. Both the Rothschilds and Soros are frequent targets of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [36 favorites]
A pre-designed scenario is being implemented.
This phrasing strikes me as intended to mess with the heads of those presently speculating on whether the strikes were secretly coordinated with Russia. The embassy twitter accounts are pretty masterful in their trolling.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
This phrasing strikes me as intended to mess with the heads of those presently speculating on whether the strikes were secretly coordinated with Russia. The embassy twitter accounts are pretty masterful in their trolling.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:43 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm not seeing it above, but didn't the Russian ambassador to the UN, some time in the last 24 hours, claim that Britain secretly carried out the Douma chemical attack? I would have thought
posted by XMLicious at 7:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
A pre-designed scenario is being implemented.is intended to mesh with that: suggesting that Britain faked a chemical attack by the Syrian government so that the U.S. could carry out this strike.
posted by XMLicious at 7:47 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
The "pre-designed scenario" in Russia's tweet doesn't refer to the actions of the US/UK but to Russia's response. They're saying they prepared a response in advance in case this happened and they are now going to implement the prepared response.
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
The latest anti-Mueller screen (from none other than Sean Hannity) is that he let Boston mobster Whitey Bulger literally get away with murder and helped send four innocent men to prison when he worked in the US Attorney's office in Boston. Naturally, there are holes in the story, as the Boston Globe reports: There's no evidence Mueller ever had anything to do with the Bulger case - which was handled by the (yes, corrupt) Boston FBI office and a separate Justice Department unit - and the four innocent men were framed by another mobster, not Bulger. Note that the story was written by Shelley Murphy, who, unlike Hannity, actually spent a good part of her professional life covering Bulger and other Boston mobsters.
posted by adamg at 7:52 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by adamg at 7:52 PM on April 13, 2018 [17 favorites]
Assad has used chlorine gas dozens of times in the last year or two. I still have not heard a reasonable rationale from the Pentagon or the White House on why this particular occurrence rated a response when the other 20 or 30 times didn't? You don't have to tell me what the real reason is, I think we all know that, but rather what their rationale is?
Or are they simply not bothering to provide one and hoping we don't notice this is out of nowhere?
posted by Justinian at 8:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Or are they simply not bothering to provide one and hoping we don't notice this is out of nowhere?
posted by Justinian at 8:01 PM on April 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
Some good news to end the day, Trump's latest military trans ban has failed again for now.
The Trump administration's latest effort to bar transgender people from serving in the military remains on hold for now, a federal judge ruled Friday night in a decision finding strong constitutional protections against anti-transgender discrimination.posted by chris24 at 8:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [49 favorites]
"The ban specifically targets one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, and must satisfy strict scrutiny if it is to survive," US District Judge Masha Pechman ruled in assessing the "history of discrimination and systemic oppression of transgender people" in the US.
In order for the ban to be found to be constitutional under strict scrutiny — one of the toughest constitutional standards to meet — the government would have to show that the ban is advancing a compelling government interest and that "the means chosen 'fit'" that interest "so closely that there is little or no possibility that the motive for the classification was illegitimate . . . prejudice or stereotype."
Assad has used chlorine gas dozens of times in the last year or two. I still have not heard a reasonable rationale from the Pentagon or the White House on why this particular occurrence rated a response when the other 20 or 30 times didn't?
Chlorine gas is the kind of thing rebels could quite easily fake in order to draw outside intervention.
Take some bleach. Add some ammonia. Voila. Chlorine.
Sarin takes much more willfull self-deception to attribute to rebel action.
posted by ocschwar at 8:27 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
And Mattis could not say that we had evidence that Assad had used sarin, only chlorine. I'd been operating on the assumption that we had evidence of Sarin or other sophisticated nerve agents. But no, it's the same stuff that's been used continuously for over a year.
That makes the timing of the response rather, shall we say, suspect. If this strike was justified today then it was justified a year ago... but we waited a year? For reasons?
posted by Justinian at 8:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
That makes the timing of the response rather, shall we say, suspect. If this strike was justified today then it was justified a year ago... but we waited a year? For reasons?
posted by Justinian at 8:30 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
How many Scaramuccis ago was the Iranian hacker story? I get the impression that if Trump disclosed the aliens, forgave all federal student loan debts, broke up the banks, disbanded the Fed, and agreed to total nuclear disarmament on Monday, he'd have respawned the news cycle by Wednesday with an unhinged tweetstorm declaring himself both King and against monarchies or some such.
This analysis has been verified constructive. Check with your local analysis dealer for more information. Additional exegesis may not apply.
posted by petebest at 8:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
This analysis has been verified constructive. Check with your local analysis dealer for more information. Additional exegesis may not apply.
posted by petebest at 8:38 PM on April 13, 2018 [12 favorites]
And Mattis could not say that we had evidence that Assad had used sarin, only chlorine. I'd been operating on the assumption that we had evidence of Sarin or other sophisticated nerve agents
Lots of corpses with no skin injuries, just a foamed up mouth.
That pretty much excludes chlorine and blistering agents, and indicates a nerve gas.
posted by ocschwar at 8:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [5 favorites]
Well, Trump might not get his ego fix from the nutosphere.
@maxwelltani:
Laura Ingraham questioning the Syria strike: "I guess it feels good because there are horrible things happening there. But what do we really accomplish here tonight in Syria? This is not why Donald Trump got elected."
---
And Alex Jones started crying about the betrayal.
posted by chris24 at 8:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
@maxwelltani:
Laura Ingraham questioning the Syria strike: "I guess it feels good because there are horrible things happening there. But what do we really accomplish here tonight in Syria? This is not why Donald Trump got elected."
---
And Alex Jones started crying about the betrayal.
posted by chris24 at 8:40 PM on April 13, 2018 [10 favorites]
Mini-Trump Matt Bevin is not dealing with the teacher revolt in Kentucky well, at all.
Bevin: ‘I guarantee’ a child was sexually assaulted because teachers attended protest [real]
That's right, he literally blamed teachers for children being raped.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:50 PM on April 13, 2018 [43 favorites]
Bevin: ‘I guarantee’ a child was sexually assaulted because teachers attended protest [real]
That's right, he literally blamed teachers for children being raped.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:50 PM on April 13, 2018 [43 favorites]
One authorized by Congress and which conforms to the Geneva convention. There is no world in which this strike can be said to fall under the existing AUMF.
How is the AUMF even legal, though? As a signatory to the UN Treaty it's illegal for the US to attack another country unless in self-defense or if authorized by the Security Council. Treaties are the "supreme law of the land" equivalent to the Constitution (according to the Constitution).
posted by kirkaracha at 8:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
How is the AUMF even legal, though? As a signatory to the UN Treaty it's illegal for the US to attack another country unless in self-defense or if authorized by the Security Council. Treaties are the "supreme law of the land" equivalent to the Constitution (according to the Constitution).
posted by kirkaracha at 8:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
And Alex Jones started crying about the betrayal.
Shit is amazing. Jones has been going through a rough time, clearly (you can tell from the absolutely unnecessary interjection about child custody), and to be betrayed by his ... god emperor or whatever the fuck, must be the last straw. Dude is completely losing it, and he just can't handle realizing his hero is also a lizard person. I think I'm not supposed to enjoy his tears but I kinda do.
posted by dis_integration at 8:57 PM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
Shit is amazing. Jones has been going through a rough time, clearly (you can tell from the absolutely unnecessary interjection about child custody), and to be betrayed by his ... god emperor or whatever the fuck, must be the last straw. Dude is completely losing it, and he just can't handle realizing his hero is also a lizard person. I think I'm not supposed to enjoy his tears but I kinda do.
posted by dis_integration at 8:57 PM on April 13, 2018 [13 favorites]
Bevin: ‘I guarantee’ a child was sexually assaulted because teachers attended protest
Might be a good argument to fund education well enough to keep teachers from striking then, mightn't it, Bevin?
(Not saying Bevin's assertion has a shred of legitimacy. Just pointing out the logical extension of his outrageous reasoning.)
posted by Rykey at 8:59 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
Might be a good argument to fund education well enough to keep teachers from striking then, mightn't it, Bevin?
(Not saying Bevin's assertion has a shred of legitimacy. Just pointing out the logical extension of his outrageous reasoning.)
posted by Rykey at 8:59 PM on April 13, 2018 [11 favorites]
I just want to state for the megathread record that John Bolton started his job on Monday.
On Friday the 13th we launched missile strikes against Syria.
Anyone who is clamoring for some inside-baseball "well ACTUALLY there is more restraint here than you realize" was either asleep during the Bush administration or too young to have done their homework.
There's a reason why Congress, even those sane(ish) Republicans who are now basically extinct, refused to confirm him the first time around. I think this is only just the beginning of some real Dr Strangelove shit. Buckle in, pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living, etc etc.
posted by mostly vowels at 9:04 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
On Friday the 13th we launched missile strikes against Syria.
Anyone who is clamoring for some inside-baseball "well ACTUALLY there is more restraint here than you realize" was either asleep during the Bush administration or too young to have done their homework.
There's a reason why Congress, even those sane(ish) Republicans who are now basically extinct, refused to confirm him the first time around. I think this is only just the beginning of some real Dr Strangelove shit. Buckle in, pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living, etc etc.
posted by mostly vowels at 9:04 PM on April 13, 2018 [45 favorites]
Reuters: Pro-Assad official says targeted bases were evacuated on Russian warning
"We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," the official said. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official said.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:07 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
"We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," the official said. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official said.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:07 PM on April 13, 2018 [22 favorites]
Bevin: ‘I guarantee’ a child was sexually assaulted because teachers attended protest
@JoanAlker1: Umm what about Governor Bevin’s Medicaid work requirement for parents that doesn’t come with any assurance of child care?
Gov. "figure out a way to be away from your children or die" is the worst messenger for this crap.
Anyway, I leave you with the foreign policy analysis of a woman who appeared to be under the influence on my bus, upon being told of the strikes by her companion: "He just pressed the bomb??? Man we better get loaded all night long."
posted by zachlipton at 9:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [43 favorites]
@JoanAlker1: Umm what about Governor Bevin’s Medicaid work requirement for parents that doesn’t come with any assurance of child care?
Gov. "figure out a way to be away from your children or die" is the worst messenger for this crap.
Anyway, I leave you with the foreign policy analysis of a woman who appeared to be under the influence on my bus, upon being told of the strikes by her companion: "He just pressed the bomb??? Man we better get loaded all night long."
posted by zachlipton at 9:15 PM on April 13, 2018 [43 favorites]
We Are a War-Making People
We are a war-making people. We try to find a way to mitigate this most basic fact. We try to gussy it up with humanitarian gloss and a thick coat of euphemism. But, today, from our armchairs and recliners, we love the boom-boom. On Friday night, you could almost see the entirely justified skepticism with which the TV reporters have approached this administration* drain away at the first cool video of a missile coursing through the darkened Syrian sky. The echoes of how gleefully TV got onboard with the Iraq adventure were quite distinct; Brian Williams was positively giddy reading out the list of Naval vessels involved in the action. God, TV loves itself a good war.posted by kirkaracha at 10:09 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
...
We are making war in Syria. We are not “intervening.” We are not engaging “pinpricks.” We are not “sending a message” or, worse, “holding Assad responsible” for what he has done to his own people. (This latter bit seems to have been the banality of choice for Democratic politicians.) We are making war in Syria and we are killing Syrians, and perhaps Kurds and Russians, too. Not as many as Assad has killed, but we now have a body count in that country, too. This was kicking the hornet’s nest. Again. Let us at least be honest about that as subsequent events unfold.
It does seem like there's a distinct Bolton touch on this. I haven't tried any detailed textual analysis, but there was something different about Trump's statement on the bombings. It was at once more superficially polished and more deeply unhinged than any other set of prepared remarks I've heard that guy deliver -- as if he were suddenly in the hands of a much more skilled handler than he has been until now. And the stresses of this past week certainly would have offered an unusually favorable time for Bolton to lay his eggs in Trump's brain.
That said, I haven't spent a lot of time scrutinizing Bolton's MO. I'd be interested in whether more seasoned Bolton-watchers have a similar read.
posted by shenderson at 10:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
That said, I haven't spent a lot of time scrutinizing Bolton's MO. I'd be interested in whether more seasoned Bolton-watchers have a similar read.
posted by shenderson at 10:11 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
Good News Dept: You might remember way back last July, the Democrats flipped two quite red legislative seats in Oklahoma. It's not unreasonable to think that was a fluke, and that the GOP would re-take them in the regular election this fall.
But filing has now closed, and in one of those seats (Senate 44), the GOP isn't going to run *anyone*.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [113 favorites]
But filing has now closed, and in one of those seats (Senate 44), the GOP isn't going to run *anyone*.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:12 PM on April 13, 2018 [113 favorites]
Brief Backpage.com update -- the arrest was a week ago, and earlier today WaPo had Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer pleads guilty in three states, agrees to testify against other website officials.
In a remarkable three-paragraph admission in his federal plea agreement, Ferrer wrote that “I conspired with other Backpage principals … to find ways to knowingly facilitate the state-law prostitution crimes being committed by Backpage’s customers.”
His California plea agreement indicates prosecutors will seek no more than five years in prison, and federal prosecutors agreed that any sentence in Arizona would run concurrently to that. The Texas plea agreement also caps Ferrer’s prison exposure at five years, court documents show.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
In a remarkable three-paragraph admission in his federal plea agreement, Ferrer wrote that “I conspired with other Backpage principals … to find ways to knowingly facilitate the state-law prostitution crimes being committed by Backpage’s customers.”
His California plea agreement indicates prosecutors will seek no more than five years in prison, and federal prosecutors agreed that any sentence in Arizona would run concurrently to that. The Texas plea agreement also caps Ferrer’s prison exposure at five years, court documents show.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:16 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
President Trump: "We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."
Defense Secretary Mattis: "Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year." Will the assault on Assad continue? "That will depend on Mr Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future... Right now this is a one-time shot and I believe it sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again."
These statements are technically compatible, but the vast gulf in emphasis is like a good-cop, bad-cop routine. There is no reason to believe this limited attack will change the Assad regime's calculus for deciding to use chemical weapons, nor Russia's calculus for choosing to aid Assad. I don't think Mattis believes that is likely, and I don't think Trump cares whether it is likely. Trump wanted to give an action-movie speech, and he got his chance. It's much more enjoyable than giving a speech about Rod Rosenstein or Michael Cohen.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Defense Secretary Mattis: "Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year." Will the assault on Assad continue? "That will depend on Mr Assad should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future... Right now this is a one-time shot and I believe it sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again."
These statements are technically compatible, but the vast gulf in emphasis is like a good-cop, bad-cop routine. There is no reason to believe this limited attack will change the Assad regime's calculus for deciding to use chemical weapons, nor Russia's calculus for choosing to aid Assad. I don't think Mattis believes that is likely, and I don't think Trump cares whether it is likely. Trump wanted to give an action-movie speech, and he got his chance. It's much more enjoyable than giving a speech about Rod Rosenstein or Michael Cohen.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:21 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Last year's [Syria air] strike barely lasted one news cycle.
I think that seriously understates its political value. It stopped a spiral down, rallied the faithful, and offered a counter-argument on collusion. (“He bombed Russian jets!” - never mind that Russia will sell Syria the replacements.)
Didn’t some moderate pundit gush “Trump became our president today!” ?
posted by msalt at 10:23 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I think that seriously understates its political value. It stopped a spiral down, rallied the faithful, and offered a counter-argument on collusion. (“He bombed Russian jets!” - never mind that Russia will sell Syria the replacements.)
Didn’t some moderate pundit gush “Trump became our president today!” ?
posted by msalt at 10:23 PM on April 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
We are a war-making people
What’s this ‘we’ shit, Esquire reporter?
Okay, more accurately, we are a nation run by war-making people and it's going to be damned hard for the rest of us to change that without committing acts of war ourselves...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
What’s this ‘we’ shit, Esquire reporter?
Okay, more accurately, we are a nation run by war-making people and it's going to be damned hard for the rest of us to change that without committing acts of war ourselves...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:55 PM on April 13, 2018 [29 favorites]
Lots of corpses with no skin injuries, just a foamed up mouth.
That pretty much excludes chlorine and blistering agents, and indicates a nerve gas.
The Wikipedia entry on chlorine describes its effects as,
Chlorine reacts with water in the mucosa of the lungs to form hydrochloric acid, destructive to living tissue and potentially lethal., this article about WWI use of gas weapons in the American Journal of Public Health lists its characteristics in a table as
Physiological classification: Lung injurantand
Physiological action: Burns upper respiratory tract, and both an eye-witness account in the AJPH article and the poem “Dulce et Decorum est” mention foaming from the mouth or in the lungs.
So perhaps someone more knowledgeable can comment, but the video and photos from Douma showed effects consistent with those produced by a chlorine gas attack as I've understood it.
posted by XMLicious at 11:19 PM on April 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
XMLicious - when chlorine gas exposure kills, it does so by irritating the lungs and causing fluid to leak from the blood vessels that are in he lung tissue. The fluid enters the airspaces and can lead to foaming at the mouth. This takes some time. But, exposure to that much chlorine also causes redness of the eyes and tearing through similar irritation. If there’s enough, it can burn the skin. Table 2 in this link has good information.
In an article by Margaret Hartmann in New York magazine, a toxicologist gives his opinion:
Alastair W.M. Hay, a professor of toxicology at Leeds University, said the images of dozens of bodies with foam at the mouth but no other injuries were more consistent with nerve agent exposure than a chlorine attack. “That’s suggestive of something that was very toxic, and people have pretty much died where they were when they inhaled the agent,” he said. “They’ve just dropped dead.”
“Chlorine victims usually manage to get out to somewhere they can get treatment,” Hay added, while viewing video of casualties who died in a basement apartment. “Nerve agent kills pretty instantly.”
posted by Emmy Noether at 11:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
In an article by Margaret Hartmann in New York magazine, a toxicologist gives his opinion:
Alastair W.M. Hay, a professor of toxicology at Leeds University, said the images of dozens of bodies with foam at the mouth but no other injuries were more consistent with nerve agent exposure than a chlorine attack. “That’s suggestive of something that was very toxic, and people have pretty much died where they were when they inhaled the agent,” he said. “They’ve just dropped dead.”
“Chlorine victims usually manage to get out to somewhere they can get treatment,” Hay added, while viewing video of casualties who died in a basement apartment. “Nerve agent kills pretty instantly.”
posted by Emmy Noether at 11:51 PM on April 13, 2018 [20 favorites]
I agree, most of us do not sit around on a Friday night blogging about how we “love the boom-boom” like that BS Esquire dude.
Before you continue to reply in this vein, note that the pullquote you read appears to have given you exactly the wrong impression of the article you seem to be decrying. I understand these threads are pretty fast-moving and you might not have felt like you had time to click through. Here's the first sentence, so you can have a proper taste: "The most basic thing to remember is that the air strikes ordered by the president* on Syria on Friday night are preposterously contrary to the Constitution and almost certainly illegal on their face."
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:03 AM on April 14, 2018 [20 favorites]
Before you continue to reply in this vein, note that the pullquote you read appears to have given you exactly the wrong impression of the article you seem to be decrying. I understand these threads are pretty fast-moving and you might not have felt like you had time to click through. Here's the first sentence, so you can have a proper taste: "The most basic thing to remember is that the air strikes ordered by the president* on Syria on Friday night are preposterously contrary to the Constitution and almost certainly illegal on their face."
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:03 AM on April 14, 2018 [20 favorites]
Reuters: Pro-Assad official says targeted bases were evacuated on Russian warning
"We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," the official said. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official said.
Okay, this was hours ago, and... shouldn’t this be a bigger deal? The Russians warned the Syrians that we were going to strike, so they were ready for us? And then we went out of our way to avoid hitting anything that looked like it might be Russian? And did I see someone say that a populated area got hit? Did we kill a bunch of innocent Syrians in a plot with the Russians to distract people from the Michael Cohen investigation? Because that’s sure what it looks like to me....
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:28 AM on April 14, 2018 [49 favorites]
"We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," the official said. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official said.
Okay, this was hours ago, and... shouldn’t this be a bigger deal? The Russians warned the Syrians that we were going to strike, so they were ready for us? And then we went out of our way to avoid hitting anything that looked like it might be Russian? And did I see someone say that a populated area got hit? Did we kill a bunch of innocent Syrians in a plot with the Russians to distract people from the Michael Cohen investigation? Because that’s sure what it looks like to me....
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:28 AM on April 14, 2018 [49 favorites]
Picture me, a naive preteen, having this conversation with my father in the car upon hearing the news on the radio, whom I harbored a particular disaffection for -
Me: Why were we even in Iraq (Desert Storm)? War is stupid.
Dad: We made a mistake in Iraq, that's for sure.
Me (glimmer of hope that dad agrees): What mistake?
Dad: We didn't go for his head.
Me: But we shouldn't have been there in the first place! It's stupid!
Dad: Doesn't matter now. We should have got his head.
Me: That's barbaric! A warmonger collects heads! Are we headhunters? No wonder we fight all the time. Why don't you take my head off if you want heads so much Dad?
Dad: You'll understand one day. Now stop talking.
Dad stops talking and we lapse back into our usual uncomfortable silence. I knew words like "warmonger" at 11 because I read waaaaay more than any parent should have to put up with and learned to use my big boy words to bully people into silence. Dad was being kind by engaging with me at all.
But his voice was in my head as I read the news about Syria. What I understand now that I didn't then is that the US does this limited, badly applied warfare stuff all the time. Iraq 2 happened, Saddam hung, and I realized I shouldn't ask my dad if he thought that was a good thing, but it would have been a lot cleaner if we had claimed the trophy skull on the first go-round. Dad was, in a stomach-turning way, right. I don't know if that's what he meant, but I do know leaving Saddam in place for Shrub2 to swoop in like an avenging son was a disaster for us, Iraq, and the rest of the world.
There is part of my lizard brain that cheers for Assad getting "comeuppance" and Trump for "making a stand". Another part of me is horrified that we're in getting involved in Syria. Another part thinks it's a good thing we're limiting this to destroying Assad's ability to use chemical weapons, and that part sincerely hopes that since the US is going to throw its outsize military weight around anyway, that we do it through surgical strikes on key facilities, and that we do it consistently enough that we become a credible deterrence to people using chemical weapons.
Then I realize, hahahaha, no saysthis, when have we ever been that consistent? Ever since the Cuban missile crisis, nearly every US military engagement has been some form of diplomatic scalp-taking for the voters at home. The average American isn't nearly principled enough to want that, and with Trump our trigger man?!?!?! NOPE. If Russia warned the Syrians to get their military assets out days ago, it was a pointless strike. If it didn't, the Russians will sell them more planes and bombs tomorrow. And even without Russian involvement, water+ammonia = chlorine gas, Assad would do that if he can't use nerve gas, and we haven't reacted to that based on the multiple times it's been reported. Trump was taking a scalp. That's all it was. Stupid f**king showmanship, reality TV with bombs, courtesy of my tax dollars.
Credible deterrence looks like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Kurdish military power. It's quiet, consistent, and makes itself felt through the (arguably) democratic commitment of an entire people and nation. That's not what happened tonight.
So no, dad. We shouldn't have gone for Saddam's head. We should have kept up the sanctions, and we should have kept our bloodlust in check. And if we start a war, we should be ready to finish it. The very reason the US "loses" wars is that we aren't ready to finish them, and we don't finish is because a minority of us cave to bloodlust and then the majority recoil at the cost. That's the reason democracies usually don't go to war at all.
And after a year of the sweet schadenfreude of watching Trump's slow breakdown under Mueller, after seeing the Arab Spring and watching it shake the Middle East everywhere but Iraq and Saudi Arabia, after watching Xi Jinping follow Putin's path while sidestepping the former's mistakes, after watching Indonesians' horror as Ahok was jailed for blasphemy and redoubled hope for Jokowi, after watching the US alt-right eat its own tail while support for Democrats surges, after watching Facebook finally succumb to a Myspace-level bottoming out of public support, and after watching cryptocurrency and the dark web and Mastadon grow...I think I have a handle on what I'd say to my dad -
Dad, never take the scalp, never collect the head, never feed the demons. Be a slowly encroaching tidal wave. The truly evil will destroy themselves or purge the evil from themselves in terror of you, and the good will make use of the available tools to rebuild, and slowly but surely, evil will be ground down to a nub, the scalp-takers will be left to history's footnotes, and those who refrained will be remembered forever. Be Mueller.
Is this how deification happens? Maybe, but this time we're playing with nukes. In the face of the nukes and the manchildren with their fingers on the triggers, I will be Mueller. I think a lot of America is with me right now.
posted by saysthis at 12:33 AM on April 14, 2018 [53 favorites]
Me: Why were we even in Iraq (Desert Storm)? War is stupid.
Dad: We made a mistake in Iraq, that's for sure.
Me (glimmer of hope that dad agrees): What mistake?
Dad: We didn't go for his head.
Me: But we shouldn't have been there in the first place! It's stupid!
Dad: Doesn't matter now. We should have got his head.
Me: That's barbaric! A warmonger collects heads! Are we headhunters? No wonder we fight all the time. Why don't you take my head off if you want heads so much Dad?
Dad: You'll understand one day. Now stop talking.
Dad stops talking and we lapse back into our usual uncomfortable silence. I knew words like "warmonger" at 11 because I read waaaaay more than any parent should have to put up with and learned to use my big boy words to bully people into silence. Dad was being kind by engaging with me at all.
But his voice was in my head as I read the news about Syria. What I understand now that I didn't then is that the US does this limited, badly applied warfare stuff all the time. Iraq 2 happened, Saddam hung, and I realized I shouldn't ask my dad if he thought that was a good thing, but it would have been a lot cleaner if we had claimed the trophy skull on the first go-round. Dad was, in a stomach-turning way, right. I don't know if that's what he meant, but I do know leaving Saddam in place for Shrub2 to swoop in like an avenging son was a disaster for us, Iraq, and the rest of the world.
There is part of my lizard brain that cheers for Assad getting "comeuppance" and Trump for "making a stand". Another part of me is horrified that we're in getting involved in Syria. Another part thinks it's a good thing we're limiting this to destroying Assad's ability to use chemical weapons, and that part sincerely hopes that since the US is going to throw its outsize military weight around anyway, that we do it through surgical strikes on key facilities, and that we do it consistently enough that we become a credible deterrence to people using chemical weapons.
Then I realize, hahahaha, no saysthis, when have we ever been that consistent? Ever since the Cuban missile crisis, nearly every US military engagement has been some form of diplomatic scalp-taking for the voters at home. The average American isn't nearly principled enough to want that, and with Trump our trigger man?!?!?! NOPE. If Russia warned the Syrians to get their military assets out days ago, it was a pointless strike. If it didn't, the Russians will sell them more planes and bombs tomorrow. And even without Russian involvement, water+ammonia = chlorine gas, Assad would do that if he can't use nerve gas, and we haven't reacted to that based on the multiple times it's been reported. Trump was taking a scalp. That's all it was. Stupid f**king showmanship, reality TV with bombs, courtesy of my tax dollars.
Credible deterrence looks like South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Kurdish military power. It's quiet, consistent, and makes itself felt through the (arguably) democratic commitment of an entire people and nation. That's not what happened tonight.
So no, dad. We shouldn't have gone for Saddam's head. We should have kept up the sanctions, and we should have kept our bloodlust in check. And if we start a war, we should be ready to finish it. The very reason the US "loses" wars is that we aren't ready to finish them, and we don't finish is because a minority of us cave to bloodlust and then the majority recoil at the cost. That's the reason democracies usually don't go to war at all.
And after a year of the sweet schadenfreude of watching Trump's slow breakdown under Mueller, after seeing the Arab Spring and watching it shake the Middle East everywhere but Iraq and Saudi Arabia, after watching Xi Jinping follow Putin's path while sidestepping the former's mistakes, after watching Indonesians' horror as Ahok was jailed for blasphemy and redoubled hope for Jokowi, after watching the US alt-right eat its own tail while support for Democrats surges, after watching Facebook finally succumb to a Myspace-level bottoming out of public support, and after watching cryptocurrency and the dark web and Mastadon grow...I think I have a handle on what I'd say to my dad -
Dad, never take the scalp, never collect the head, never feed the demons. Be a slowly encroaching tidal wave. The truly evil will destroy themselves or purge the evil from themselves in terror of you, and the good will make use of the available tools to rebuild, and slowly but surely, evil will be ground down to a nub, the scalp-takers will be left to history's footnotes, and those who refrained will be remembered forever. Be Mueller.
Is this how deification happens? Maybe, but this time we're playing with nukes. In the face of the nukes and the manchildren with their fingers on the triggers, I will be Mueller. I think a lot of America is with me right now.
posted by saysthis at 12:33 AM on April 14, 2018 [53 favorites]
One thing that I think will be thrown a lot around in the coming days is that Britain and France were in on this, the administration using the allies as proof this wasn't some mere distraction from Trump's woes. Especially when it sounds like we accomplished nothing but maybe killed some civilians.
posted by angrycat at 12:52 AM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 12:52 AM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Um. Russian military sez Syrian air defense downed 71 out of 103 missiles, as per the AP.
You this kind of shit is going to perplex and enrage Trump. His urge is to strike back, projectile vomit all over his adversary, whatever his philosophy is, but this is the hand that feeds him, Putin, before whom he grovels.
And yet he sure liked the Orb and the connections with the Saudis as explained hither and yon--that's got to get in the way of the Russia relationship, right? I mean Russia and the Saudis are on opposite sides of this thing, yeah?
posted by angrycat at 1:17 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
You this kind of shit is going to perplex and enrage Trump. His urge is to strike back, projectile vomit all over his adversary, whatever his philosophy is, but this is the hand that feeds him, Putin, before whom he grovels.
And yet he sure liked the Orb and the connections with the Saudis as explained hither and yon--that's got to get in the way of the Russia relationship, right? I mean Russia and the Saudis are on opposite sides of this thing, yeah?
posted by angrycat at 1:17 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Boy I'm mad today. Look at this (Vox):
posted by saysthis at 2:04 AM on April 14, 2018 [25 favorites]
On Thursday, he [Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey] promised to give them the 20 percent raise they’ve been asking for — 10 percent next year and 10 percent more the following year. He also said he would restore $1 billion in school funding that has been cut since the recession.Two months ago Ducey was this posture (tuscon.com):
[...]
He just left out one major detail: how to pay for it.
Ducey, who is up for reelection in November, made vague references to growing state revenues and “strategic efficiencies” that would cover the cost. He said he would work with lawmakers to find the money.
The governor’s $10.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2019, which begins in July, represents a spending increase of $315 million from the current budget, including $190 million in discretionary K-12 spending increases.Vox says
[...]
In 2015, his first year in office, Ducey cut District and Charter Additional Assistance to the tune of $116 million — a cut he has never restored.
District and Charter Additional Assistance was once one of the main funding sources school districts and charters tapped to pay for ongoing maintenance needs — fixing air conditioning units, repaving parking lots, repairing busted pipes and buying classroom supplies like textbooks, computers and desks.
Last week, Arizona Educators United said they were willing to set a date for a statewide strike, but hadn’t picked one as of Friday. About 24,000 educators have signed a petition saying they would participate in a walkout if lawmakers don’t meet their demands.MOAR STRIKES. MOAR.
posted by saysthis at 2:04 AM on April 14, 2018 [25 favorites]
shouldn’t this be a bigger deal? The Russians warned the Syrians that we were going to strike, so they were ready for us? And then we went out of our way to avoid hitting anything that looked like it might be Russian?
Look, I get it, but that info is coming from Syria, who, with Russia, has an incentive to say shit to embarrass the US, so we shouldn't take it as given.
And hitting any Russian personnel would have been pure insanity--we do NOT want to give Russia a pretext for direct escalation.
posted by Room 101 at 4:53 AM on April 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Look, I get it, but that info is coming from Syria, who, with Russia, has an incentive to say shit to embarrass the US, so we shouldn't take it as given.
And hitting any Russian personnel would have been pure insanity--we do NOT want to give Russia a pretext for direct escalation.
posted by Room 101 at 4:53 AM on April 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Um. Russian military sez Syrian air defense downed 71 out of 103 missiles, as per the AP.
MOAR STRIKES. MOAR.
We may need to be a little more specific this week.
One thing that I think will be thrown a lot around in the coming days is that Britain and France were in on this, the administration using the allies as proof this wasn't some mere distraction from Trump's woes.
France was (supposedly) the source of the proof of use of chemical weapons.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:59 AM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
RON HOWARD: They didn't. MOAR STRIKES. MOAR.
We may need to be a little more specific this week.
One thing that I think will be thrown a lot around in the coming days is that Britain and France were in on this, the administration using the allies as proof this wasn't some mere distraction from Trump's woes.
France was (supposedly) the source of the proof of use of chemical weapons.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:59 AM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yes. Industrial action, please, not airstrikes/drone strikes/etc.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:02 AM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:02 AM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Um. Russian military sez Syrian air defense downed 71 out of 103 missiles, as per the AP.I follow a lot of academic weapons policy nerds on twitter (for reasons) and they are saying that this is *highly improbable*. Earlier, Russia said that they did not use their anti-missile systems, and the Syrians said they downed approximately twenty (20) of them using their systems. It is likely that twenty (20) is a lot closer to the truth than 71.
posted by chrchr at 5:05 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
they are saying that this is *highly improbable*
It's more throwback-style posturing, likely meant to embellish the S-400 system (pictured in theater) that Russia has been provocatively exporting. The same system involved in the Russia/Turky nuke deal.
It's like when we were putting then-new Patriot batteries everywhere and talking up their (actually kinda iffy) capabilities.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:12 AM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's more throwback-style posturing, likely meant to embellish the S-400 system (pictured in theater) that Russia has been provocatively exporting. The same system involved in the Russia/Turky nuke deal.
It's like when we were putting then-new Patriot batteries everywhere and talking up their (actually kinda iffy) capabilities.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:12 AM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Question about that, because I have no clue: does "downing" a missile stop that missile from detonating, or cause it to detonate in the air? Or does it merely knock the missile off course to detonate in a place on the ground other than its target? If my question sounds like it's informed by Hollywood and my imagination, that's because it is.
posted by Rykey at 5:14 AM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Rykey at 5:14 AM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
I saw some AP report I think saying France was saying that Russia had been alerted prior to the strikes. Sorry no link.
posted by angrycat at 5:22 AM on April 14, 2018
posted by angrycat at 5:22 AM on April 14, 2018
It depends on the model of intercepting missile, and luck. Earlier models (US and Russian) were not "hit to kill" -- they just tried to get close and then blow up. If that detonates or shreds the incoming missile, great. If it knocks it off target, less great but OK.
More recent models are "hit to kill" (Russia's is in testing) and actually try to hit the incoming missile directly. But, again, there's a lot of luck involved and knocking it off course is still a possible if less desirable outcome.
And more often than not, or that anyone who makes them or deploys them wants to admit, the interceptors just miss completely.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:23 AM on April 14, 2018 [7 favorites]
More recent models are "hit to kill" (Russia's is in testing) and actually try to hit the incoming missile directly. But, again, there's a lot of luck involved and knocking it off course is still a possible if less desirable outcome.
And more often than not, or that anyone who makes them or deploys them wants to admit, the interceptors just miss completely.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:23 AM on April 14, 2018 [7 favorites]
You guys wanna vote in another stupid Lou Dobbs Twitter poll?
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:37 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 5:37 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
You guys wanna vote in another stupid Lou Dobbs Twitter poll?
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:37 PM on April 14 [1 favorite +] [!]
No. But why not. Fuck Lou Dobbs. Social media engagement? Engage this. Advertisers are like "whoa you're getting a lot of attention, more contracts for you." Rinse repeat until they all have dumb polls. Boycott advertisers.
Advertise to this. (this in both cases is three staunchly raised middle fingers. I grew an extra hand in my chest for the extra middle finger power.)
posted by saysthis at 5:59 AM on April 14, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:37 PM on April 14 [1 favorite +] [!]
No. But why not. Fuck Lou Dobbs. Social media engagement? Engage this. Advertisers are like "whoa you're getting a lot of attention, more contracts for you." Rinse repeat until they all have dumb polls. Boycott advertisers.
Advertise to this. (this in both cases is three staunchly raised middle fingers. I grew an extra hand in my chest for the extra middle finger power.)
posted by saysthis at 5:59 AM on April 14, 2018 [15 favorites]
Reuters: Pro-Assad official says targeted bases were evacuated on Russian warning
"We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians
Of course they did. There's no way -- well, I wish I could there was no way Trump and Bolton would risk war with the Russians by not giving them notice to evacuate their people from certain targets, but even so it appears that saner heads did prevail on that count. So, as with the previous strike, the Russians got their people out and knew where the attack was coming, which information they of course passed on to their Syrian allies. This expensive and risky action will have done nothing but assuage Trump's ego and maybe provide a little distraction from his lousy press.
posted by Gelatin at 6:35 AM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
"We have absorbed the strike", the official told Reuters. "We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians
Of course they did. There's no way -- well, I wish I could there was no way Trump and Bolton would risk war with the Russians by not giving them notice to evacuate their people from certain targets, but even so it appears that saner heads did prevail on that count. So, as with the previous strike, the Russians got their people out and knew where the attack was coming, which information they of course passed on to their Syrian allies. This expensive and risky action will have done nothing but assuage Trump's ego and maybe provide a little distraction from his lousy press.
posted by Gelatin at 6:35 AM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Mission Accomplished!
Seriously, Cadet Bone Spurs tweeted that this morning, and more:
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:46 AM on April 14, 2018 [28 favorites]
Seriously, Cadet Bone Spurs tweeted that this morning, and more:
A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!I'd swear Bolton convinced him to use Dubya's old catchphrase, just to mess with everyone.
So proud of our great Military which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There won’t be anything, or anyone, even close!
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:46 AM on April 14, 2018 [28 favorites]
Michael Cohen’s visiting Prague would be a huge development in the Russia investigation (Philip Bump, WaPo)
It suggests that Cohen took over management of the relationship with Russia after campaign chairman Paul Manafort was fired from the campaign in August (because of questions about his relationship with a political party in Ukraine). Cohen is said to have met secretly with people in Prague — possibly at the Russian Center for Science and Culture — in the last week of August or the first of September. He allegedly met with representatives of the Russian government, possibly including officials of the Presidential Administration Legal Department; Oleg Solodukhin (who works with the Russian Center for Science and Culture); or Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign relations committee in the upper house of parliament. A planned meeting in Moscow, the dossier alleges, was considered too risky, given that a topic of conversation was how to divert attention from Manafort’s links to Russia and a trip to Moscow by Carter Page in July. Another topic of conversation, according to the dossier: allegedly paying off “Romanian hackers” who had been targeting the Clinton campaign.posted by Barack Spinoza at 6:48 AM on April 14, 2018 [36 favorites]
There is a lot there — but it hinged on Cohen’s having traveled to Prague. If he was not in Prague, none of this happened. If he visited Prague? Well, then we go a level deeper.
The premise of these attacks is that governments must be punished for using chemical weapons. But it seems that the only way of militarily achieving that in this context requires warning Russia ahead of time, allowing Assad to move his technology out of the way, and negating the punishment on Assad. The whole thing is a dangerous and expensive mess achieving only theatrical impact and possible civilian casualties. If discouraging the use of chemical weapons was the goal, NATO allies would be better off keeping their bombs and instead applying vastly more severe financial sanctions on Assad's ally Russia. But that's not going to happen, for reasons. What has happened instead is a distraction from those reasons.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:07 AM on April 14, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:07 AM on April 14, 2018 [17 favorites]
McClatchy special correspondent Peter Stone. Everything seems to circling round Ukraine.
Cohen's wife is Ukranian and he has business ties there.
Cohen, who came out of nowhere to occupy a prominent spot in Trump’s orbit, has his own unique links to Russia and Ukraine. In fact, he might be one of the missing links that ties the president to shady figures and shady money from the former Soviet Union (familiarly known as FSU).
Rolling Stone has a A Brief History of Michael Cohen's Criminal Ties.
Buzzfeed: - Before he became President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen worked on behalf of a company controlled by another wealthy and well-connected man: Viktor Topolov, a politician whose associates are members of the Russian and Ukrainian underworld.
posted by adamvasco at 7:58 AM on April 14, 2018 [52 favorites]
Cohen's wife is Ukranian and he has business ties there.
Cohen, who came out of nowhere to occupy a prominent spot in Trump’s orbit, has his own unique links to Russia and Ukraine. In fact, he might be one of the missing links that ties the president to shady figures and shady money from the former Soviet Union (familiarly known as FSU).
Rolling Stone has a A Brief History of Michael Cohen's Criminal Ties.
Buzzfeed: - Before he became President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen worked on behalf of a company controlled by another wealthy and well-connected man: Viktor Topolov, a politician whose associates are members of the Russian and Ukrainian underworld.
posted by adamvasco at 7:58 AM on April 14, 2018 [52 favorites]
Thanks adamvasco. Michael Cohen just earned his own damn category in my "evidence of collusion" section (I'm up to ten categories. So much for keeping it simple and brief, dammit. There's too much.) I'll work some of your links into next time I'm at a real computer.
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:36 AM on April 14, 2018 [43 favorites]
posted by OnceUponATime at 8:36 AM on April 14, 2018 [43 favorites]
TPM has also done a bunch on Cohen, his background, shady businesses, etc, going back in multiple articles to 2016. This article links to a lot of them.
TPM: Going Deeper on Michael Cohen (Like the FBI! )
posted by chris24 at 8:44 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
TPM: Going Deeper on Michael Cohen (Like the FBI! )
posted by chris24 at 8:44 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
This might be a bit too chatfilter, and I'm sure it's come up before, but what is the crime of collusion? Is it a crime? Donald Trump went on TV and asked the Russians to hack e-mails for him. Why isn't that enough to charge him with a crime?
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:47 AM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 8:47 AM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
'Collusion' not a crime, but a way to describe a combination of a series of possible crimes. Just the meme of the day, really.
posted by rc3spencer at 8:49 AM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by rc3spencer at 8:49 AM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Collusion" isn't a federal crime except solely in antitrust law. That's why Mueller has been charging people with good old-fashioned conspiracy.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:50 AM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:50 AM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
what is the crime of collusion? Is it a crime?
It is partial evidence towards many serious crimes and conspiracies. Special Counsel Robert Mueller referred to the concept of collusion in this document regarding Paul Manafort
It is enough to be part of a body of evidence indicating various serious crimes. In isolation, it could be waved off as a joke or hyperbole. Mueller will surely use this evidence as part of his argument if he is allowed to complete his investigation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:00 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
It is partial evidence towards many serious crimes and conspiracies. Special Counsel Robert Mueller referred to the concept of collusion in this document regarding Paul Manafort
As relevant here, the memorandum specified that the followingDonald Trump went on TV and asked the Russians to hack e-mails for him. Why isn't that enough to charge him with a crime?
allegations against Manafort “were within the scope of [the Special Counsel’s] investigation at the
time of [his] appointment and are within the scope of the [Appointment] Order”:
• Allegations that Paul Manafort:
Committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government
officials with respect to the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with
the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United
States law
It is enough to be part of a body of evidence indicating various serious crimes. In isolation, it could be waved off as a joke or hyperbole. Mueller will surely use this evidence as part of his argument if he is allowed to complete his investigation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:00 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
Collusion is a fancy word for "hinky shenanigans together." It's not a crime; the details are potentially evidence of crimes.
Which is part of why him yelling "no collusion! no collusion!" is hilarious; there is nothing illegal or immoral about "colluding with Russia." Collusion has an implication of cheating or deceiving people, but not all cheats and deceptions are illegal. (Collusion is necessary to throw a surprise birthday party for someone.)
The issue is not, "did the president's campaign team collude with Russia," but "was that collusion by methods and for purposes that are illegal in the US?" If the team's meeting with Russia was for the purpose of making sure Russian news broadcasts were friendly to Trump, there's no crime. (No crime here; I have no idea what's legal in Russia.) If they were discussing Trump-branded merchandise at the next Olympics held in Russia, again - that'd be collusion; it wouldn't be of direct interest to the courts.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 9:08 AM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
Which is part of why him yelling "no collusion! no collusion!" is hilarious; there is nothing illegal or immoral about "colluding with Russia." Collusion has an implication of cheating or deceiving people, but not all cheats and deceptions are illegal. (Collusion is necessary to throw a surprise birthday party for someone.)
The issue is not, "did the president's campaign team collude with Russia," but "was that collusion by methods and for purposes that are illegal in the US?" If the team's meeting with Russia was for the purpose of making sure Russian news broadcasts were friendly to Trump, there's no crime. (No crime here; I have no idea what's legal in Russia.) If they were discussing Trump-branded merchandise at the next Olympics held in Russia, again - that'd be collusion; it wouldn't be of direct interest to the courts.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 9:08 AM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
The premise of these attacks is that governments must be punished for using chemical weapons. But it seems that the only way of militarily achieving that in this context requires warning Russia ahead of time, allowing Assad to move his technology out of the way, and negating the punishment on Assad.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:46 AM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
Milo's fighters and bombers took off, joined in formation directly overhead and began dropping bombs on the group. He had landed another contract with the Germans, this time to bomb his own outfit. Milo's planes separated in a well coordinated attack and bombed the fuel stocks and the ordnance dump, the repair hangars and the B-25 bombers resting on the lollipop-shaped hardstands at the field. His crews spared the landing strip and the mess halls so that they could land safely when their work was done and enjoy a hot snack before retiring.That's some catch, that Catch-22.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:46 AM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
It can still be a lie when he says it to the FBI, though, no?
posted by ctmf at 9:50 AM on April 14, 2018
posted by ctmf at 9:50 AM on April 14, 2018
warning Russia ahead of time, allowing Assad to move his technology out of the way, and negating the punishment on Assad.
Why is this not it's own scandal? The WWE-wrestlification of international war? This is not normal, okay, or -afaik- based on any standard. It's literally colluding with the enemy . . right?
posted by petebest at 10:00 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
Why is this not it's own scandal? The WWE-wrestlification of international war? This is not normal, okay, or -afaik- based on any standard. It's literally colluding with the enemy . . right?
posted by petebest at 10:00 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
Still insisting "No Prague, no Prague, you're the Prague." No photo of the cover of his passport this time, though.
Michael Cohen
Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:10 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Michael Cohen
Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven!
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:10 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm no law-person, but I think of the word "collusion" the same way I think of a word like "dishonesty." While there's no law on the books against being dishonest per se, lots of manifestations of dishonesty—forgery, fraud, lying under oath—are crimes. Same thing with "collusion": you won't find it in criminal statutes, but lots of manifestations of it (helping someone obstruct justice, price-fixing, criminal conspiracy) are illegal.
So when Trump crows "See, they can't prove collusion!" it's (shocked face) a red herring, because it's beside the point, because nobody's investigating collusion per sev.
posted by Rykey at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
So when Trump crows "See, they can't prove collusion!" it's (shocked face) a red herring, because it's beside the point, because nobody's investigating collusion per sev.
posted by Rykey at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
I have never been to Prague
He'd earlier said he hadn't been to Prague since 2001.
posted by chris24 at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2018 [19 favorites]
He'd earlier said he hadn't been to Prague since 2001.
posted by chris24 at 10:20 AM on April 14, 2018 [19 favorites]
I have never been to Prague
Maybe he went to a Prague suburb?
posted by Emera Gratia at 10:32 AM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Maybe he went to a Prague suburb?
posted by Emera Gratia at 10:32 AM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Why is this not it's own scandal? The WWE-wrestlification of international war? This is not normal, okay, or -afaik- based on any standard. It's literally colluding with the enemy . . right?
It's the weekend. Most of Congress is back home in their districts. Come Monday they'll be back & the Dems at least will be asking the hard questions & this will be one of them. I've said from the start that one thing that could rile up the Republicans is if Trump steps on one of their prerogatives. Given that this attack isn't covered by the AUMF & Trump has no other valid authority for it, I expect they may be joining in too. It's the epitome of Wag the Dog, this time for real. No matter how many times Trump says "Mission Accomplished!" this is far from over.
posted by scalefree at 10:33 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's the weekend. Most of Congress is back home in their districts. Come Monday they'll be back & the Dems at least will be asking the hard questions & this will be one of them. I've said from the start that one thing that could rile up the Republicans is if Trump steps on one of their prerogatives. Given that this attack isn't covered by the AUMF & Trump has no other valid authority for it, I expect they may be joining in too. It's the epitome of Wag the Dog, this time for real. No matter how many times Trump says "Mission Accomplished!" this is far from over.
posted by scalefree at 10:33 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
By the time this is over he'll "clarify" that he never went into Prague castle.
posted by ocschwar at 10:40 AM on April 14, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 10:40 AM on April 14, 2018 [6 favorites]
I thought I heard that Stormy was working with a sketch artist on the guy who threatened her. Has that been released yet? Are they waiting for a lull in the Cohen news cycle?
posted by Horselover Fat at 10:41 AM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Horselover Fat at 10:41 AM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
I thought I heard that Stormy was working with a sketch artist on the guy who threatened her. Has that been released yet? Are they waiting for a lull in the Cohen news cycle?
I forget why but her attorney said they were going to hold off on the unveiling.
posted by scalefree at 10:46 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I forget why but her attorney said they were going to hold off on the unveiling.
posted by scalefree at 10:46 AM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
To be fair to Cohen, he let Buzzfeed photograph and publish the inside of his passport. Of course, you can have more than one passport, and you can travel within the Schengen Area without acquiring additional passport stamps, but "he showed the cover of his passport" is unfair.
I want to believe all this stuff as much as the next raging liberal, but one thing gives me pause in all of this: According to almost everything we know, Trump did not want to win this election. He wanted to go out, have a good time with his adoring crowds, pump up his image, and land himself a sweetheart deal playing the Liberal Media Victim for the rest of his life.
So if you're running what is basically a sham candidacy, why even bother sending your lawyer to Prague to try to coordinate Russian dirt? Getting yourself tied up with the Russian government sounds like more of an inconvenience than anything. Of course, there's the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, but in that case the Russians came to them - hardly an annoyance. And that meeting was with Junior, not the man himself.
Trump himself is sloppy; we know this because he's a moron and will frequently out his own scams in public. Yet every single other person in his campaign has been implicated in something by now. How is it that we've gotten incriminating dirt on every person in the campaign except the single dumbest one of them all? It doesn't make any sense.
What if... Trump himself did not want to win, but his campaign was full of True Believers who wanted to please their boss / dad / father-in-law. Everyone was willing to lie, cheat, steal, and collude to get him the win, but Trump himself just didn't give a shit and wasn't going to go the extra mile to get entangled with the KGB just to score a gig he didn't even want in the first place.
Trump famously can't even pay attention during his security briefings. Do you think he was getting detailed reports on all of his subordinates' campaign activities? Maybe Cohen called him up in the middle of Fox and Friends to see about going to Prague and Trump just said "Yeah yeah yeah do whatever fine" because he wasn't even listening.
We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he was the only one who didn't actually care. I say this not to exculpate him, but to try to square the reality of what we know happened in the campaign with the strange donut hole of evidence - that every person in Trump's orbit is concretely connected to illegal activity, but we are somehow missing anything on Trump himself. Maybe he's just extraordinarily careful? ... but he isn't.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:47 AM on April 14, 2018 [37 favorites]
I want to believe all this stuff as much as the next raging liberal, but one thing gives me pause in all of this: According to almost everything we know, Trump did not want to win this election. He wanted to go out, have a good time with his adoring crowds, pump up his image, and land himself a sweetheart deal playing the Liberal Media Victim for the rest of his life.
So if you're running what is basically a sham candidacy, why even bother sending your lawyer to Prague to try to coordinate Russian dirt? Getting yourself tied up with the Russian government sounds like more of an inconvenience than anything. Of course, there's the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians, but in that case the Russians came to them - hardly an annoyance. And that meeting was with Junior, not the man himself.
Trump himself is sloppy; we know this because he's a moron and will frequently out his own scams in public. Yet every single other person in his campaign has been implicated in something by now. How is it that we've gotten incriminating dirt on every person in the campaign except the single dumbest one of them all? It doesn't make any sense.
What if... Trump himself did not want to win, but his campaign was full of True Believers who wanted to please their boss / dad / father-in-law. Everyone was willing to lie, cheat, steal, and collude to get him the win, but Trump himself just didn't give a shit and wasn't going to go the extra mile to get entangled with the KGB just to score a gig he didn't even want in the first place.
Trump famously can't even pay attention during his security briefings. Do you think he was getting detailed reports on all of his subordinates' campaign activities? Maybe Cohen called him up in the middle of Fox and Friends to see about going to Prague and Trump just said "Yeah yeah yeah do whatever fine" because he wasn't even listening.
We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he was the only one who didn't actually care. I say this not to exculpate him, but to try to square the reality of what we know happened in the campaign with the strange donut hole of evidence - that every person in Trump's orbit is concretely connected to illegal activity, but we are somehow missing anything on Trump himself. Maybe he's just extraordinarily careful? ... but he isn't.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:47 AM on April 14, 2018 [37 favorites]
I want to believe all this stuff as much as the next raging liberal, but one thing gives me pause in all of this: According to almost everything we know, Trump did not want to win this election.
The thing about that scenario is that he subsequently very obviously obstructed justice regarding the investigation into other people in his organization, presumably because he couldn't stand the ego hit of any challenge to his legitimacy once in office. His team colluded with Russians, whether or not he personally was involved. But he, personally, committed crimes to attempt to cover up that fact. And the more of a fact it is revealed to be, the more we raging liberals can justifiably be excited.
But yes, you're probably right that during the campaign he was more interested in business/mob deals with Russians than their electoral help.
posted by saturday_morning at 10:54 AM on April 14, 2018 [34 favorites]
The thing about that scenario is that he subsequently very obviously obstructed justice regarding the investigation into other people in his organization, presumably because he couldn't stand the ego hit of any challenge to his legitimacy once in office. His team colluded with Russians, whether or not he personally was involved. But he, personally, committed crimes to attempt to cover up that fact. And the more of a fact it is revealed to be, the more we raging liberals can justifiably be excited.
But yes, you're probably right that during the campaign he was more interested in business/mob deals with Russians than their electoral help.
posted by saturday_morning at 10:54 AM on April 14, 2018 [34 favorites]
He didn't want to win, but he for sure wanted to stay on the good side of past and future creditors.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:55 AM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:55 AM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
TL;DR: the strongest evidence we have that Trump didn't do anything illegal during the campaign is that he hasn't told Lester Holt about it in a nationally-televised interview yet.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:00 AM on April 14, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:00 AM on April 14, 2018 [39 favorites]
I wrote this like a hundred scaramuccis ago: I believe Trump is literally owned by the Russians, he is so deep in debt to Russian, and Russian-affiliated, creditors that he has no choice of his own about wether he wants to be president. I don't think he or the Russians expected him to win, but I think the Russians got lucky and are profiting from his win. Trump is obviously profiting, but probably not enough to pay his dues, which are probably in the 1-2 billion scale.
TL;DR: the strongest evidence we have that Trump didn't do anything illegal during the campaign is that he hasn't told Lester Holt about it in a nationally-televised interview yet.
But he did.
posted by mumimor at 11:02 AM on April 14, 2018 [21 favorites]
TL;DR: the strongest evidence we have that Trump didn't do anything illegal during the campaign is that he hasn't told Lester Holt about it in a nationally-televised interview yet.
But he did.
posted by mumimor at 11:02 AM on April 14, 2018 [21 favorites]
I think the "Trump didn't want to win" thing is more complicated than that, like he probably was terrified of the responsibility and constraint and public (and legal) scrutiny into his life that comes with being president, but that fear wasn't even a minor speed bump in front of his narcissistic drive to win at all costs, his unchecked ambition, and his sense of being entitled to a win. I think the "he didn't even want to win" narrative was probably something he and his inner circle floated to keep his ego from getting bruised in the case of a (very likely at the time) loss.
posted by jason_steakums at 11:13 AM on April 14, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 11:13 AM on April 14, 2018 [24 favorites]
But he did.
What crimes committed during the campaign did he admit to?
posted by greermahoney at 11:14 AM on April 14, 2018
What crimes committed during the campaign did he admit to?
posted by greermahoney at 11:14 AM on April 14, 2018
his campaign was full of True Believers who wanted to please their boss / dad / father-in-law. Everyone was willing to lie, cheat, steal, and collude to get him the win
Don't forget "Grab all the money they can as fast as they possibly can." (Like, Flynn actually being on a foreign payroll and Tillerson cutting sweetheart oil/gas deals.)
We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he was the only one who didn't actually care. I say this not to exculpate him, but to try to square the reality of what we know happened in the campaign with the strange donut hole of evidence - that every person in Trump's orbit is concretely connected to illegal activity, but we are somehow missing anything on Trump himself.
It wouldn't actually surprise me if this turned out to be more-or-less the case, with the added wrinkles of 1) regardless of what he actually knew before the election about illegal cooperation with Russia, since then he has definitely obstructed justice regarding the various Russia investigations; and 2) likely that he's going all in with said obstruction because he doesn't want his financial ties to various Russian oligarchs/criminals exposed (because huge blow to his ego - proof he's nowhere near as rich & successful as he claims - plus Trump getting money from Russians almost certainly involved a variety of financial crimes, like tax evasion or money laundering.)
IMO, this would explain his behavior to some degree - he keeps yelling "No Collusion!" and seems genuinely confused when nobody believes him and the investigations continue (as in, he's actually kinda telling the truth for once about his own personal knowledge of Russian election shenanigans), but a lot of the reason he's worked up about shutting down the investigations is because he knows (or suspects) that he's in big trouble if his financial deals with Russians become clear - remember how worked up he gets every time there's a leak that the deals of Kushner & the Trump sons & the Trump businesses & now Michael Cohen are coming under scrutiny.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:21 AM on April 14, 2018 [6 favorites]
Don't forget "Grab all the money they can as fast as they possibly can." (Like, Flynn actually being on a foreign payroll and Tillerson cutting sweetheart oil/gas deals.)
We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he was the only one who didn't actually care. I say this not to exculpate him, but to try to square the reality of what we know happened in the campaign with the strange donut hole of evidence - that every person in Trump's orbit is concretely connected to illegal activity, but we are somehow missing anything on Trump himself.
It wouldn't actually surprise me if this turned out to be more-or-less the case, with the added wrinkles of 1) regardless of what he actually knew before the election about illegal cooperation with Russia, since then he has definitely obstructed justice regarding the various Russia investigations; and 2) likely that he's going all in with said obstruction because he doesn't want his financial ties to various Russian oligarchs/criminals exposed (because huge blow to his ego - proof he's nowhere near as rich & successful as he claims - plus Trump getting money from Russians almost certainly involved a variety of financial crimes, like tax evasion or money laundering.)
IMO, this would explain his behavior to some degree - he keeps yelling "No Collusion!" and seems genuinely confused when nobody believes him and the investigations continue (as in, he's actually kinda telling the truth for once about his own personal knowledge of Russian election shenanigans), but a lot of the reason he's worked up about shutting down the investigations is because he knows (or suspects) that he's in big trouble if his financial deals with Russians become clear - remember how worked up he gets every time there's a leak that the deals of Kushner & the Trump sons & the Trump businesses & now Michael Cohen are coming under scrutiny.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:21 AM on April 14, 2018 [6 favorites]
Trump himself is sloppy; we know this because he's a moron and will frequently out his own scams in public. Yet every single other person in his campaign has been implicated in something by now. How is it that we've gotten incriminating dirt on every person in the campaign except the single dumbest one of them all? It doesn't make any sense.
Umm...
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."
...and then he didn't have another press conference the rest of the campaign. Three and a half months.
posted by chris24 at 11:33 AM on April 14, 2018 [47 favorites]
Umm...
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."
...and then he didn't have another press conference the rest of the campaign. Three and a half months.
posted by chris24 at 11:33 AM on April 14, 2018 [47 favorites]
Come Monday they'll be back & the Dems at least will be asking the hard questions & this will be one of them.
I want to believe that, but I don't, really. With the amount of in-one's-face illegality and misdemeanors, which continue to roll out like a mighty shitriver, this will be a hallway conversation quickly buried. I mean, there's a day and a half yet before then. The field for the next news scandal is still wide open. What manner of affrontery awaits?! Sexual? Fiduciary? Diplomatic? Techno-social? The collective mind reels.
. . . one thing gives me pause in all of this: According to almost everything we know, Trump did not want to win this election. He wanted to go out, have a good time with his adoring crowds, pump up his image, and land himself a sweetheart deal playing the Liberal Media Victim for the rest of his life.
Point of order: this presumes Trump was running his own show. It's likely enough to mention; maybe he wasn't. Can Russia and the Mercers elect a dancing ham sandwich? Let's find out! (Spoiler alert: yeah, probably.)
posted by petebest at 11:39 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
I want to believe that, but I don't, really. With the amount of in-one's-face illegality and misdemeanors, which continue to roll out like a mighty shitriver, this will be a hallway conversation quickly buried. I mean, there's a day and a half yet before then. The field for the next news scandal is still wide open. What manner of affrontery awaits?! Sexual? Fiduciary? Diplomatic? Techno-social? The collective mind reels.
. . . one thing gives me pause in all of this: According to almost everything we know, Trump did not want to win this election. He wanted to go out, have a good time with his adoring crowds, pump up his image, and land himself a sweetheart deal playing the Liberal Media Victim for the rest of his life.
Point of order: this presumes Trump was running his own show. It's likely enough to mention; maybe he wasn't. Can Russia and the Mercers elect a dancing ham sandwich? Let's find out! (Spoiler alert: yeah, probably.)
posted by petebest at 11:39 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
Missing from that list of reasons Putin supports Assad is something I believe I heard on NPR but I'm now having trouble in sourcing -- the idea that Putin sees Assad's "Right to Rule" as a direct parallel to Putin's own position in Russia, and by supporting Assad, he's supporting his own position in Russia.
If we're going to re-enact the Congress of Vienna and re-establish the divine right of kings, can we at least restore the Romanovs and Bourbons instead of these douchebags?
At least the first time around we got good art out of the bargain.
posted by ocschwar at 11:40 AM on April 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
Point of order: this presumes Trump was running his own show. It's likely enough to mention; maybe he wasn't.
It's an act. Like everything else... ( The Apprentice is a Mark Burnett Production. )
Trump likely doesn't know who the EP is, and the best fit for the evidence I see is -- as mentioned by 0xFCAF -- is "We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he"was the only one who didn't actually care is a nitwit.
posted by mikelieman at 11:49 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
It's an act. Like everything else... ( The Apprentice is a Mark Burnett Production. )
Trump likely doesn't know who the EP is, and the best fit for the evidence I see is -- as mentioned by 0xFCAF -- is "We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he"
posted by mikelieman at 11:49 AM on April 14, 2018 [9 favorites]
Two Decades of War Have Eroded the Morale of America’s Troops
posted by The Whelk at 11:58 AM on April 14, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:58 AM on April 14, 2018 [19 favorites]
Trump did not want to win this election.
I thought this too, but the whole Cambridge Analytica thing made me rethink. His team was working side by side with Facebook to microtarget voters, and using CA analysis to develop messaging that then became Trump's slogans (Drain the Swamp, MAGA). Seems like a lot of effort for a lark.
posted by duoshao at 12:13 PM on April 14, 2018 [26 favorites]
I thought this too, but the whole Cambridge Analytica thing made me rethink. His team was working side by side with Facebook to microtarget voters, and using CA analysis to develop messaging that then became Trump's slogans (Drain the Swamp, MAGA). Seems like a lot of effort for a lark.
posted by duoshao at 12:13 PM on April 14, 2018 [26 favorites]
warning Russia ahead of time, allowing Assad to move his technology out of the way, and negating the punishment on Assad.
Why is this not it's own scandal? The WWE-wrestlification of international war? This is not normal, okay, or -afaik- based on any standard. It's literally colluding with the enemy . . right?
I disagree with a lot of things about what the US does with its military but avoiding a direct confrontation with Russia that could lead to nuclear war is not one of the things I disagree with.
posted by srboisvert at 12:18 PM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
Why is this not it's own scandal? The WWE-wrestlification of international war? This is not normal, okay, or -afaik- based on any standard. It's literally colluding with the enemy . . right?
I disagree with a lot of things about what the US does with its military but avoiding a direct confrontation with Russia that could lead to nuclear war is not one of the things I disagree with.
posted by srboisvert at 12:18 PM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
According to almost everything we know, Trump did not want to win this election.
Perhaps he didn’t want to win, and perhaps, like many people, he believed he had no real chance of winning. But one thing is certain: Donald Trump wanted to get close enough to winning that he could spend the rest of his life claiming that the election was stolen from him by Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and people with black and brown skin.
This is also what Vladimir Putin wanted. He wanted a powerful political movement undermining confidence in American elections, civil society, mainstream media, and political institutions. He wanted to undermine the American political mainstream, and in particular, Hillary Clinton. Trump and Putin had a common enemy, and they colluded to undermine them.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:26 PM on April 14, 2018 [81 favorites]
Perhaps he didn’t want to win, and perhaps, like many people, he believed he had no real chance of winning. But one thing is certain: Donald Trump wanted to get close enough to winning that he could spend the rest of his life claiming that the election was stolen from him by Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and people with black and brown skin.
This is also what Vladimir Putin wanted. He wanted a powerful political movement undermining confidence in American elections, civil society, mainstream media, and political institutions. He wanted to undermine the American political mainstream, and in particular, Hillary Clinton. Trump and Putin had a common enemy, and they colluded to undermine them.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:26 PM on April 14, 2018 [81 favorites]
Since it looks like Cohen and Davidson were working together to blackmail people over sexual improprieties, that would make Trump his mark.
It's an interesting twist to the "I'll always protect Trump" claim.
posted by duoshao at 12:27 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
It's an interesting twist to the "I'll always protect Trump" claim.
posted by duoshao at 12:27 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
"We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected because he" was the only one who didn't actually care is a nitwit.
Hehe, no. No, he's guilty as shit, I'm just suggesting he didn't need to know the amount of Russian/GRU/Ukranian/Fascist support he enjoyed because "others" were tracking and driving that. He was totally aware of that support and broke all laws repeatedly and with relish. But he's an addled fucking monster not a competent one.
posted by petebest at 12:38 PM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
Hehe, no. No, he's guilty as shit, I'm just suggesting he didn't need to know the amount of Russian/GRU/Ukranian/Fascist support he enjoyed because "others" were tracking and driving that. He was totally aware of that support and broke all laws repeatedly and with relish. But he's an addled fucking monster not a competent one.
posted by petebest at 12:38 PM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's an act. Like everything else... ( The Apprentice is a Mark Burnett Production. )
The journalist behind Popbitch's investigative series on the National Enquirer, Kit Lovelace @kitlovelace, has posted a lengthy Twitter thread about this current po-mo evolutionary stage of celebrity culture, touching on the dubious convention that our celebrities' public images are merely performative personae that are legally separate from their private identities:
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:39 PM on April 14, 2018 [16 favorites]
The journalist behind Popbitch's investigative series on the National Enquirer, Kit Lovelace @kitlovelace, has posted a lengthy Twitter thread about this current po-mo evolutionary stage of celebrity culture, touching on the dubious convention that our celebrities' public images are merely performative personae that are legally separate from their private identities:
Donald Trump has used the excuse too, saying that the demeaning things he said to women on The Apprentice were just part of his character. Donald Trump, the host of The Apprentice ≠≠≠ Donald Trump, the man.[...]American politics, in this argument, is Trump's latest stage for his reality-tv persona, and we're still uncertain how to reconcile his public image as the "Predisent" and the actual fact that he's in the White House as we type. The explanation that his presidential campaign was just a stunt that he didn't expect to pull off is one way to cope with the fact he's obviously unqualified for the office. Reality will assert itself sooner rather than later, however, and we'd better hope it catches up to Trump before us.
What's happened since then? Reality TV. This strange, paradoxical medium that broke out in 2000 – and hinges on us being in a state of permanent suspension of disbelief. That we know the people we're seeing are 'real', but doing things we also know are staged.[...]
Fact and fiction began to curl up from either side and fold over into this weird middle section where it's not immediately clear what's real and what isn't. Who do you reckon is more authentic? The Larry David of Curb, or the Hulk Hogan of Hogan Knows Best?
What about the Donald Trump? In 2004, when the original Apprentice series aired, the actual Donald Trump suffered his third corporate bankruptcy, while the host of The Apprentice paraded around with his branded helicopter and fancy, fabricated boardroom.[...]
The same thing happened with The Celebrity Apprentice reboot and Trump's fourth corporate bankruptcy (albeit they were a year apart this time). Reality TV showed one thing; reality showed another...
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:39 PM on April 14, 2018 [16 favorites]
What if... Trump himself did not want to win, but his campaign was full of True Believers who wanted to please their boss / dad / father-in-law. Everyone was willing to lie, cheat, steal, and collude to get him the win, but Trump himself just didn't give a shit and wasn't going to go the extra mile to get entangled with the KGB just to score a gig he didn't even want in the first place.
I believe this might be true, and, if so, puts him out of the reach of the law and of impeachment and conviction. However, his administration is still fruit of a tree tainted by an illegal collaboration between his campaign and a foreign, hostile government, and, I naïvely believe, should be subject to court proceedings undoing the election. I know many don't believe this to be possible, but they wouldn't have believed it possible for SCOTUS to put Bush into office by fiat, either.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:20 PM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
I believe this might be true, and, if so, puts him out of the reach of the law and of impeachment and conviction. However, his administration is still fruit of a tree tainted by an illegal collaboration between his campaign and a foreign, hostile government, and, I naïvely believe, should be subject to court proceedings undoing the election. I know many don't believe this to be possible, but they wouldn't have believed it possible for SCOTUS to put Bush into office by fiat, either.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:20 PM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
We may come to find out that Trump was the single person in his entire organization not breaking the law to try to get him elected
No, we may find out that he was the one person who really didn't understand what was going on. Plenty of those laws don't hinge on comprehensive understanding - his team had meetings with Russia; he was involved in payments of hush money; he signed a letter of intent to build a tower in Moscow. He might claim he didn't know what was going on or didn't realize some of those were crimes, but that doesn't mean he's off the hook for them. And that's without getting into "attempting to get a foreign agent to hack his opponent's accounts."
He may be the only one on the campaign who didn't realize what laws they were breaking, but he's still guilty of breaking them.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:23 PM on April 14, 2018 [45 favorites]
No, we may find out that he was the one person who really didn't understand what was going on. Plenty of those laws don't hinge on comprehensive understanding - his team had meetings with Russia; he was involved in payments of hush money; he signed a letter of intent to build a tower in Moscow. He might claim he didn't know what was going on or didn't realize some of those were crimes, but that doesn't mean he's off the hook for them. And that's without getting into "attempting to get a foreign agent to hack his opponent's accounts."
He may be the only one on the campaign who didn't realize what laws they were breaking, but he's still guilty of breaking them.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:23 PM on April 14, 2018 [45 favorites]
Trump is a criminal, and he’s always been a criminal.
posted by gucci mane at 1:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [40 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 1:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [40 favorites]
10 Russian hackers gain access to emails of both US political parties
20 Russians give Democrats’ emails to WikiLeaks
30 Russians give Republicans’ emails to Michael Cohen
40 Michael Cohen and friends use the emails to blackmail all and sundry
50 Cohen et al give 50% of proceeds to Russian hackers
60 GOTO 10
posted by skyscraper at 1:42 PM on April 14, 2018 [35 favorites]
20 Russians give Democrats’ emails to WikiLeaks
30 Russians give Republicans’ emails to Michael Cohen
40 Michael Cohen and friends use the emails to blackmail all and sundry
50 Cohen et al give 50% of proceeds to Russian hackers
60 GOTO 10
posted by skyscraper at 1:42 PM on April 14, 2018 [35 favorites]
He may be the only one on the campaign who didn't realize what laws they were breaking, but he's still guilty of breaking them.
Ah yes, the jellybean defense.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:43 PM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ah yes, the jellybean defense.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:43 PM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
(Minor update, my art is being used on tenant organizing canvassing)
posted by The Whelk at 1:57 PM on April 14, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:57 PM on April 14, 2018 [26 favorites]
10 Russian hackers gain access to emails of both US political parties
20 Russians give Democrats’ emails to WikiLeaks
30 Russians give Republicans’ emails to Michael Cohen
40 Michael Cohen and friends use the emails to blackmail all and sundry
50 Cohen et al give 50% of proceeds to Russian hackers
60 GOTO 10
Oh Jesus goddamn Christ I bet this is one of the actual IRL loops in this fucking...rat king, like a rat king made of all the stupidest, most brain damaged lab rats, this absolutely absurd fucking rat king of an actual global conspiracy
And if the writers stay true to form, this will be the reason Trump goes down.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:12 PM on April 14, 2018 [29 favorites]
20 Russians give Democrats’ emails to WikiLeaks
30 Russians give Republicans’ emails to Michael Cohen
40 Michael Cohen and friends use the emails to blackmail all and sundry
50 Cohen et al give 50% of proceeds to Russian hackers
60 GOTO 10
Oh Jesus goddamn Christ I bet this is one of the actual IRL loops in this fucking...rat king, like a rat king made of all the stupidest, most brain damaged lab rats, this absolutely absurd fucking rat king of an actual global conspiracy
And if the writers stay true to form, this will be the reason Trump goes down.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:12 PM on April 14, 2018 [29 favorites]
Yeah, I'm not buying either the "Trump didn't know what he was doing or the" He didn't really want to win" narrative. Sure, it's a comforting, contemptuous thought that the whole thing was a fluke, but that ignores the effort he put in to win, and the effort he's putting in to deflect investigation.
Frankly, I think the "didn't want to win" line is an attempt to assuage our collective guilt at allowing Trump to win; if we didn't anticipate his win and do more to stop him, well that's OK, it was just an accident anyway. Assuming he's not guilty by way of stupidity also gives Trump a pass on his current actions the way Reagan was given.
I'm not going to underestimate the enemy again. I'm going to assume at the least he knows what he's doing, even if we can't catch him.
posted by happyroach at 2:19 PM on April 14, 2018 [17 favorites]
Frankly, I think the "didn't want to win" line is an attempt to assuage our collective guilt at allowing Trump to win; if we didn't anticipate his win and do more to stop him, well that's OK, it was just an accident anyway. Assuming he's not guilty by way of stupidity also gives Trump a pass on his current actions the way Reagan was given.
I'm not going to underestimate the enemy again. I'm going to assume at the least he knows what he's doing, even if we can't catch him.
posted by happyroach at 2:19 PM on April 14, 2018 [17 favorites]
40 Michael Cohen and friends use the emails to blackmail all and sundry
This also explains how they managed to suppress dissent at the GOP convention and make sure delegates voted for Trump.
posted by duoshao at 2:27 PM on April 14, 2018 [19 favorites]
This also explains how they managed to suppress dissent at the GOP convention and make sure delegates voted for Trump.
posted by duoshao at 2:27 PM on April 14, 2018 [19 favorites]
40 Michael Cohen and friends use the emails to blackmail all and sundry
Yes, it all makes sense now.
I just couldn't figure out what was actually going on with Republicans. I couldn't make myself believe the entire Republican party was in cahoots with Putin, but this is completely believable. And Broidy must be the tip of the iceberg.
posted by maggiemaggie at 2:33 PM on April 14, 2018 [18 favorites]
Yes, it all makes sense now.
I just couldn't figure out what was actually going on with Republicans. I couldn't make myself believe the entire Republican party was in cahoots with Putin, but this is completely believable. And Broidy must be the tip of the iceberg.
posted by maggiemaggie at 2:33 PM on April 14, 2018 [18 favorites]
Things that haven't come up yet: What was behind that weird tweet with a burger and did any of the Russian meddling affect electoral college votes/ faithless electors.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:34 PM on April 14, 2018
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:34 PM on April 14, 2018
Adam Davidson's Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency is a really good read. He's far more optimistic about the timeline than I am, and it's way too likely we'll be looking back on that headline later saying "damn I wish that was the end stage," but I do think he's right that the deeper the investigation gets into Trump's business dealings, the more the country will see Trump not as the Apprentice character he portrayed himself to be, but as a conman and a crook. There's a distinction between everyone "knowing" that because there were news reports about Trump's corrupt business dealings and everyone really knowing it.
The branding during the campaign of the imagery of Trump's plane and the trappings of wealth were incredibly powerful. It resonates with you in a way that, say, intellectually about his Trump University scam doesn't. It turns out that branding of FBI agents raiding your office is also pretty powerful, which is why they've gone to such great lengths to discredit the FBI.
I'm not really sure "end stage" is the right term for what comes after the "turning point" (in both his examples, the Iraq war and the financial crisis, most of the suffering and misery came well after the turning point, dragging on for years and years), but I do think it's certainly a new stage.
The branding during the campaign of the imagery of Trump's plane and the trappings of wealth were incredibly powerful. It resonates with you in a way that, say, intellectually about his Trump University scam doesn't. It turns out that branding of FBI agents raiding your office is also pretty powerful, which is why they've gone to such great lengths to discredit the FBI.
I'm not really sure "end stage" is the right term for what comes after the "turning point" (in both his examples, the Iraq war and the financial crisis, most of the suffering and misery came well after the turning point, dragging on for years and years), but I do think it's certainly a new stage.
There is no longer one major investigation into Donald Trump, focussed solely on collusion with Russia. There are now at least two, including a thorough review of Cohen’s correspondence. The information in his office and hotel room will likely make clear precisely how much the Trump family knew. What we already know is disturbing, and it is hard to imagine that the information prosecutors will soon learn will do anything but worsen the picture.posted by zachlipton at 2:41 PM on April 14, 2018 [31 favorites]
Of course Trump is raging and furious and terrified. Prosecutors are now looking at his core. Cohen was the key intermediary between the Trump family and its partners around the world; he was chief consigliere and dealmaker throughout its period of expansion into global partnerships with sketchy oligarchs. He wasn’t a slick politico who showed up for a few months. He knows everything, he recorded much of it, and now prosecutors will know it, too. It seems inevitable that much will be made public. We don’t know when. We don’t know the precise path the next few months will take. There will be resistance and denial and counterattacks. But it seems likely that, when we look back on this week, we will see it as a turning point. We are now in the end stages of the Trump Presidency.
The timing of Cohen’s search warrant and the announcement of Paul Ryan’s retirement is interesting.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:42 PM on April 14, 2018 [74 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:42 PM on April 14, 2018 [74 favorites]
He did want to win. He just didn't want the job that came with winning. And he's doing a whole lot of dodging those responsibilities while gutting the place for everything that's not nailed down.
I suspect that his best possible result would've been: Hillary wins; a few places were really close; he demands a recount (and got at least one), Hillary still wins, and the courts shut down the "recount recount recount" demands - and he spends the rest of his life declaring that he was the "real" president.
Right now, I think he's vacillating between "what can I get away with now that nobody can stop me" and "ofuck how do I keep those bastards, those disloyal lying cheating bastards, from telling the wrong people everything" and "people don't like me as president NOT AN ACCEPTABLE THOUGHT what do I do to prove to everyone that I'm the man, the guy in charge, that I can do anything and they all wish they were me?"
Somewhere in the back of his mind is the awareness that "tell the wrong people" includes a chance of him facing criminal charges, but he's avoided that for so much of his life that he doesn't even know how to measure it as a possibility.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:46 PM on April 14, 2018 [27 favorites]
I suspect that his best possible result would've been: Hillary wins; a few places were really close; he demands a recount (and got at least one), Hillary still wins, and the courts shut down the "recount recount recount" demands - and he spends the rest of his life declaring that he was the "real" president.
Right now, I think he's vacillating between "what can I get away with now that nobody can stop me" and "ofuck how do I keep those bastards, those disloyal lying cheating bastards, from telling the wrong people everything" and "
Somewhere in the back of his mind is the awareness that "tell the wrong people" includes a chance of him facing criminal charges, but he's avoided that for so much of his life that he doesn't even know how to measure it as a possibility.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:46 PM on April 14, 2018 [27 favorites]
Cohen was the key intermediary between the Trump family and its partners around the world; he was chief consigliere and dealmaker throughout its period of expansion into global partnerships with sketchy oligarchs. He wasn’t a slick politico who showed up for a few months. He knows everything, he recorded much of it
If you're going to be a billionaire narcissist who disdains strategizing, planning & keeping track of anything in the world around you it helps to have somebody equally corrupt but detail oriented to be your mentat.
posted by scalefree at 2:51 PM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
If you're going to be a billionaire narcissist who disdains strategizing, planning & keeping track of anything in the world around you it helps to have somebody equally corrupt but detail oriented to be your mentat.
posted by scalefree at 2:51 PM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
Yeah, I'm not buying either the "Trump didn't know what he was doing or the" He didn't really want to win" narrative. Sure, it's a comforting, contemptuous thought that the whole thing was a fluke, but that ignores the effort he put in to win, and the effort he's putting in to deflect investigation.
Frankly, I think the "didn't want to win" line is an attempt to assuage our collective guilt at allowing Trump to win; if we didn't anticipate his win and do more to stop him, well that's OK, it was just an accident anyway. Assuming he's not guilty by way of stupidity also gives Trump a pass on his current actions the way Reagan was given.
I'm not going to underestimate the enemy again. I'm going to assume at the least he knows what he's doing, even if we can't catch him.
posted by happyroach at 6:19 AM on April 15 [2 favorites +] [!]
I don't care if he knows or not. Gotta shoutout here to Blindight, which is the best scifi I've ever read about fighting something that might be intelligent or not, but which definitely will kill you and all you love (and which is conveniently available to read for free online, but prepare to have your will to live broken if you read that for the first time in the midst of the Trump presidency). Just f**king remove the tumor already.
I mean c'mon. The Vox explainer on presidential pardon power, in which they mention how Andrew Jackson pardoned a former Confederate Senator even though there was a law disbarring former Confederate officials from serving in government, the Senator sued, went through the Supreme Court, the court said the pardon stood. Now Orange Capone has this toy. Why wouldn't he pardon Libby just to fuck with libtards? P-Zombie Polly Billionaire President wants a dopamine cracker. WTF? Why would anyone ascribe Actual Human Intelligence to such an act? "Mission Accomplished"???? Dude.
Meanwhile Axios says "Pentagon announces 2,000% increase in Russia trolls since Friday" (the day of missile strikes), Axios also says Comey says in his book of his decision to release info about Clinton emails, and I have no f**king idea why I would put this in his book or why if I was a James Comey but it's pretty much the dumbest thing a James Comey could ever say
THE DUMBEST TIMELINE, PEOPLE. sure I'm cherry-picking some headlines of the day, but... Do not ascribe intelligence to this malignant presence. It is the yawning maw of irrationality and Lovecraftian evil. Do not underestimate it either. JUST. REMOVE. IT.
posted by saysthis at 3:04 PM on April 14, 2018 [31 favorites]
Frankly, I think the "didn't want to win" line is an attempt to assuage our collective guilt at allowing Trump to win; if we didn't anticipate his win and do more to stop him, well that's OK, it was just an accident anyway. Assuming he's not guilty by way of stupidity also gives Trump a pass on his current actions the way Reagan was given.
I'm not going to underestimate the enemy again. I'm going to assume at the least he knows what he's doing, even if we can't catch him.
posted by happyroach at 6:19 AM on April 15 [2 favorites +] [!]
I don't care if he knows or not. Gotta shoutout here to Blindight, which is the best scifi I've ever read about fighting something that might be intelligent or not, but which definitely will kill you and all you love (and which is conveniently available to read for free online, but prepare to have your will to live broken if you read that for the first time in the midst of the Trump presidency). Just f**king remove the tumor already.
I mean c'mon. The Vox explainer on presidential pardon power, in which they mention how Andrew Jackson pardoned a former Confederate Senator even though there was a law disbarring former Confederate officials from serving in government, the Senator sued, went through the Supreme Court, the court said the pardon stood. Now Orange Capone has this toy. Why wouldn't he pardon Libby just to fuck with libtards? P-Zombie Polly Billionaire President wants a dopamine cracker. WTF? Why would anyone ascribe Actual Human Intelligence to such an act? "Mission Accomplished"???? Dude.
Meanwhile Axios says "Pentagon announces 2,000% increase in Russia trolls since Friday" (the day of missile strikes), Axios also says Comey says in his book of his decision to release info about Clinton emails, and I have no f**king idea why I would put this in his book or why if I was a James Comey but it's pretty much the dumbest thing a James Comey could ever say
"I don’t remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that she’s going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out...I have asked myself many times since if I was influenced by that assumption. I don't know. Certainly not consciously, but I would be a fool to say it couldn't have had an impact on me."and apropos of nothing, here is Vox saying that two black men were arrested for sitting at Starbucks and here is a WaPo story about a "Wisconsin man who blew himself up might have been white supremacist making ISIS-style bombs".
THE DUMBEST TIMELINE, PEOPLE. sure I'm cherry-picking some headlines of the day, but... Do not ascribe intelligence to this malignant presence. It is the yawning maw of irrationality and Lovecraftian evil. Do not underestimate it either. JUST. REMOVE. IT.
posted by saysthis at 3:04 PM on April 14, 2018 [31 favorites]
Adam Davidson's Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency is a really good read.
*lights cigarette*
Needs a NSFW tag.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:06 PM on April 14, 2018 [30 favorites]
*lights cigarette*
Needs a NSFW tag.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:06 PM on April 14, 2018 [30 favorites]
So it wasn't just Trump's tweet.
@AP BREAKING: French defense minister says Russia was warned ahead of joint US, UK, French military attacks on Syria.
posted by scalefree at 3:07 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
@AP BREAKING: French defense minister says Russia was warned ahead of joint US, UK, French military attacks on Syria.
posted by scalefree at 3:07 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
Quoting from the NewYorker article, but making it a bulleted list:
However, I am unaware of anybody who has taken a serious look at Trump’s business who doesn’t believe that there is a high likelihood of rampant criminality.
In Azerbaijan, he did business with a likely money launderer for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. In the Republic of Georgia, he partnered with a group that was being investigated for a possible role in the largest known bank-fraud and money-laundering case in history. In Indonesia, his development partner is “knee-deep in dirty politics”; there are criminal investigations of his deals in Brazil; the F.B.I. is reportedly looking into his daughter Ivanka’s role in the Trump hotel in Vancouver, for which she worked with a Malaysian family that has admitted to financial fraud. Back home, Donald, Jr., and Ivanka were investigated for financial crimes associated with the Trump hotel in SoHo—an investigation that was halted suspiciously. His Taj Mahal casino received what was then the largest fine in history for money-laundering violations.
I guarantee that most people have no idea of these things, and for that I "thank" Chuck Fucking Todd. The metaphorical Chuck Fucking Todd, of course, which includes the actual Chuck Fucking Todd.
posted by petebest at 3:20 PM on April 14, 2018 [42 favorites]
However, I am unaware of anybody who has taken a serious look at Trump’s business who doesn’t believe that there is a high likelihood of rampant criminality.
I guarantee that most people have no idea of these things, and for that I "thank" Chuck Fucking Todd. The metaphorical Chuck Fucking Todd, of course, which includes the actual Chuck Fucking Todd.
posted by petebest at 3:20 PM on April 14, 2018 [42 favorites]
The Vox explainer on presidential pardon power, in which they mention how Andrew Jackson pardoned a former Confederate Senator even though there was a law disbarring former Confederate officials from serving in government, the Senator sued, went through the Supreme Court, the court said the pardon stood.
Just in case anyone else, like me, was thinking for a second that they might have their entire memory of U.S. history incorrect, I think saysthis meant to type Andrew Johnson.
posted by biogeo at 3:27 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
Just in case anyone else, like me, was thinking for a second that they might have their entire memory of U.S. history incorrect, I think saysthis meant to type Andrew Johnson.
posted by biogeo at 3:27 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
Adam Davidson's Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency is a really good read.
Davidson also has a thoughtful Twitter thread about how reporting on the American occupation of Baghdad during Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003 and on toxic asset–backed CDO's in 2007 compares to covering the Trump White House:
Davidson also has a thoughtful Twitter thread about how reporting on the American occupation of Baghdad during Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003 and on toxic asset–backed CDO's in 2007 compares to covering the Trump White House:
[...]There are many reporters who, now, know a lot about Donald Trump and his ties to shady oligarchs around the former Soviet Union. We know that Michael Cohen was central to those relationships.posted by Doktor Zed at 3:29 PM on April 14, 2018 [28 favorites]
It feels, to me, that we are in the same place we were around the time of that Mission Accomplished sign or the quiet before Bear Stearns and Lehman. This isn't about opinions anymore. Every single person who has looked at the business knows in a simple, clear way. In fact, this one is a lot simpler and clearer than the Iraq occupation or the financial crisis.
The Trump Org made much money through shady deals with corrupt criminals. Most of it will come out. It will be uglier and, somehow, also more pathetic than most realize.[...] But the broad outline of this show is already written. It ends badly, very badly for insiders, not great for the rest of us either.
man, from adam davidson's pen to god's ears.
these grafs captures the perception of the trump org i cobbled together from 18+ months of articles perfectly:
these grafs captures the perception of the trump org i cobbled together from 18+ months of articles perfectly:
The narrative that will become widely understood is that Donald Trump did not sit atop a global empire. He was not an intuitive genius and tough guy who created billions of dollars of wealth through fearlessness. He had a small, sad operation, mostly run by his two oldest children and Michael Cohen, a lousy lawyer who barely keeps up the pretenses of lawyering and who now faces an avalanche of charges, from taxicab-backed bank fraud to money laundering and campaign-finance violations.posted by murphy slaw at 3:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [84 favorites]
Cohen, Donald, Jr., and Ivanka monetized their willingness to sign contracts with people rejected by all sensible partners. Even in this, the Trump Organization left money on the table, taking a million dollars here, five million there, even though the service they provided—giving branding legitimacy to blatantly sketchy projects—was worth far more. It was not a company that built value over decades, accumulating assets and leveraging wealth. It burned through whatever good will and brand value it established as quickly as possible, then moved on to the next scheme.
The best description of Trump I’ve found:
”I saw... its thoughts. I saw what they're planning to do. They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next. Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards.”
—President Thomas Whitmore, Independence Day
posted by valkane at 3:44 PM on April 14, 2018 [15 favorites]
”I saw... its thoughts. I saw what they're planning to do. They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next. Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards.”
—President Thomas Whitmore, Independence Day
posted by valkane at 3:44 PM on April 14, 2018 [15 favorites]
but it had to have been, that she’s going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out
ABC released a clip with the full excerpt: Comey says his assumption Clinton would win was 'a factor' in the email investigation. He wants us to put ourselves in his shoes and understand why he did what he did.
When pressed on this by Stephanopoulos, he actually repeats almost verbatim what he said when he testified last year about how he didn't consider whether releasing the letter would help Trump even for a moment "because down that path lies the death of the FBI as an independent force in American life. If I ever start considering whose political fortunes will be affected by a decision, we're done" (cf. last year's transcript, it's almost word-for-word).
No, I don't know how he can say he considered the polls and not wanting Clinton to seem "illegitimate" immediately before he gives a highfalutin speech about not stopping to think about politics even for a moment lest the entire FBI crumble beneath his feet.
posted by zachlipton at 3:46 PM on April 14, 2018 [22 favorites]
ABC released a clip with the full excerpt: Comey says his assumption Clinton would win was 'a factor' in the email investigation. He wants us to put ourselves in his shoes and understand why he did what he did.
When pressed on this by Stephanopoulos, he actually repeats almost verbatim what he said when he testified last year about how he didn't consider whether releasing the letter would help Trump even for a moment "because down that path lies the death of the FBI as an independent force in American life. If I ever start considering whose political fortunes will be affected by a decision, we're done" (cf. last year's transcript, it's almost word-for-word).
No, I don't know how he can say he considered the polls and not wanting Clinton to seem "illegitimate" immediately before he gives a highfalutin speech about not stopping to think about politics even for a moment lest the entire FBI crumble beneath his feet.
posted by zachlipton at 3:46 PM on April 14, 2018 [22 favorites]
Just in case anyone else, like me, was thinking for a second that they might have their entire memory of U.S. history incorrect, I think saysthis meant to type Andrew Johnson.
posted by biogeo at 7:27 AM on April 15 [3 favorites +] [!]
Yes I did and apologies for that. Andrew Johnson. Lyin' Spellcheck conspired with Crooked Hillary to sell uranium to Colludin' Clippy so Cheatin' Bill Gates could irradiate the Failing Chrome Browser so it couldn't read the Constitution, which lists all the predisents! Sad! I can't help it if Benghazi has such far-reaching effects.
posted by saysthis at 3:49 PM on April 14, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 7:27 AM on April 15 [3 favorites +] [!]
Yes I did and apologies for that. Andrew Johnson. Lyin' Spellcheck conspired with Crooked Hillary to sell uranium to Colludin' Clippy so Cheatin' Bill Gates could irradiate the Failing Chrome Browser so it couldn't read the Constitution, which lists all the predisents! Sad! I can't help it if Benghazi has such far-reaching effects.
posted by saysthis at 3:49 PM on April 14, 2018 [30 favorites]
He did want to win. He just didn't want the job that came with winning.
The irony here is that I believe the single best result as far as Trump was concerned would be what happened to Clinton; winning the popular vote by millions but losing the electoral college.
Think about it. He would have been able to claim he "won" for the rest of his life but was screwed out of the presidency by the bullshit corrupt electoral college and the deep state and Crooked Hillary should be in prison etc etc. It would have been the greatest thing in his life! He got the most votes to be President but none of the responsibility!
But no, instead he got the worst case scenario. The people didn't want him and voted for Clinton but the shit all landed on his head anyway.
posted by Justinian at 3:49 PM on April 14, 2018 [24 favorites]
The irony here is that I believe the single best result as far as Trump was concerned would be what happened to Clinton; winning the popular vote by millions but losing the electoral college.
Think about it. He would have been able to claim he "won" for the rest of his life but was screwed out of the presidency by the bullshit corrupt electoral college and the deep state and Crooked Hillary should be in prison etc etc. It would have been the greatest thing in his life! He got the most votes to be President but none of the responsibility!
But no, instead he got the worst case scenario. The people didn't want him and voted for Clinton but the shit all landed on his head anyway.
posted by Justinian at 3:49 PM on April 14, 2018 [24 favorites]
Maybe Comey is selectively omitting though. How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:52 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:52 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
@JDiamond1: .@VP Pence “stood up and left” when the Cuban foreign minister began delivering his remarks at the plenary session of the Summit of the Americas, @VPComDir tells us. Those of us traveling with VP did not see this as we had already been escorted out for our next movement
Standing up and walking out of stuff he's upset about seems to be Pence's primary contribution to the nation (remember his trip to an NFL game?), but here his operation isn't even competent enough to make sure the press was there to see it.
posted by zachlipton at 3:52 PM on April 14, 2018 [29 favorites]
Standing up and walking out of stuff he's upset about seems to be Pence's primary contribution to the nation (remember his trip to an NFL game?), but here his operation isn't even competent enough to make sure the press was there to see it.
posted by zachlipton at 3:52 PM on April 14, 2018 [29 favorites]
Maybe Comey is selectively omitting though. How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe
It's notable that Nunes and company haven't touched this one at all. If you actually wanted to get to the bottom of whether the FBI was too soft on Clinton, as these guys claim to want to do, surely you'd be interested in a document that says the AG promised the investigation would be a sham, right? That would be the sort of smoking gun you'd make the centerpiece of your investigation.
But no, the document seems to have been a Russian op, one so successful that it would influence the decision-making of the FBI Director. And investigating that might make Comey look bad, but it would also reveal Russian meddling, so Nunes can't touch it.
This could well have been the most successful bit of Russian interference in the election, and nobody can even acknowledge it happened.
posted by zachlipton at 4:02 PM on April 14, 2018 [30 favorites]
It's notable that Nunes and company haven't touched this one at all. If you actually wanted to get to the bottom of whether the FBI was too soft on Clinton, as these guys claim to want to do, surely you'd be interested in a document that says the AG promised the investigation would be a sham, right? That would be the sort of smoking gun you'd make the centerpiece of your investigation.
But no, the document seems to have been a Russian op, one so successful that it would influence the decision-making of the FBI Director. And investigating that might make Comey look bad, but it would also reveal Russian meddling, so Nunes can't touch it.
This could well have been the most successful bit of Russian interference in the election, and nobody can even acknowledge it happened.
posted by zachlipton at 4:02 PM on April 14, 2018 [30 favorites]
Congress should ‘forcefully respond’ if Trump fires Mueller, 245 former DOJ officials say (WaPo):
More than 200 former Justice Department employees are urging Congress to “swiftly and forcefully respond” should President Trump fire Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, or Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who’s overseeing the federal probe.posted by peeedro at 4:03 PM on April 14, 2018 [20 favorites]
“It is up to the rest of us, and especially our elected representatives, to come to their defense and oppose any attempt by the President or others to improperly interfere in the Department’s work,” according to a statement signed by 245 former officials who worked under current and previous administrations, some as far back as Richard M. Nixon’s.
Comey's only explanation of his actions is fundamentally dishonest. At no point in any of these excerts does he grapple with the entire question, he broke the law to reveal the investigation into one canidate while at the same time concealing a far more serious investigation into the other. Both candidates were under FBI investigation. Comey picked one. He has never once even acknowledged that decision, much less explained it. He can't explain it, because it shows his entire moral being is fraudulent, and was from the very first sanctimonious lecture he gave as a Young Republican. His book may contain some factual statements, but James Comey the man, is a lie.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:06 PM on April 14, 2018 [61 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:06 PM on April 14, 2018 [61 favorites]
NYT -- A Hard Lesson in Syria: Assad Can Still Gas His Own People
Whether those particular sites were still in use or not, the conflict in Syria has demonstrated a larger truth: While it is easy to blow up Mr. Assad’s chemical facilities, it is also relatively simple for him to reconstitute them elsewhere, or just turn to a commercially available substance like chlorine to make a crude poison that any nation is allowed to possess.
That may explain why General McKenzie was a little more circumspect than his predecessors in forecasting the long-range effectiveness of the latest strikes.
“I would say there’s still a residual element of the Syrian program that’s out there,” he told reporters at the Pentagon on Saturday.
“I believe that we took the heart of it out with the attacks that we accomplished last night,” he continued. But he added that “I’m not going to say that they are going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future.” Instead, he said, he believed that “they’ll think long and hard about it.”
...
Sophisticated facilities are not needed to produce chlorine, the agent that Syrian forces are suspected to have used a week ago to kill dozens of civilians, including children. It is commercially available, used for water systems. And the nerve agent sarin, which the White House has said may also have been used a week ago, can be produced just about anywhere, as a French intelligence report released on Saturday noted.
The report concludes that “the Syrian military retains expertise from its traditional chemical weapons agent program to both use sarin and produce and deploy chlorine munitions.” The United States, it noted, “also assesses the regime still has chemicals — specifically sarin and chlorine — that it can use in future attacks.”
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:25 PM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Whether those particular sites were still in use or not, the conflict in Syria has demonstrated a larger truth: While it is easy to blow up Mr. Assad’s chemical facilities, it is also relatively simple for him to reconstitute them elsewhere, or just turn to a commercially available substance like chlorine to make a crude poison that any nation is allowed to possess.
That may explain why General McKenzie was a little more circumspect than his predecessors in forecasting the long-range effectiveness of the latest strikes.
“I would say there’s still a residual element of the Syrian program that’s out there,” he told reporters at the Pentagon on Saturday.
“I believe that we took the heart of it out with the attacks that we accomplished last night,” he continued. But he added that “I’m not going to say that they are going to be unable to continue to conduct a chemical attack in the future.” Instead, he said, he believed that “they’ll think long and hard about it.”
...
Sophisticated facilities are not needed to produce chlorine, the agent that Syrian forces are suspected to have used a week ago to kill dozens of civilians, including children. It is commercially available, used for water systems. And the nerve agent sarin, which the White House has said may also have been used a week ago, can be produced just about anywhere, as a French intelligence report released on Saturday noted.
The report concludes that “the Syrian military retains expertise from its traditional chemical weapons agent program to both use sarin and produce and deploy chlorine munitions.” The United States, it noted, “also assesses the regime still has chemicals — specifically sarin and chlorine — that it can use in future attacks.”
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:25 PM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
remember his trip to an NFL game?
Yes, because it wasn't just any NFL game, it was an Indianapolis Colts home game with a halftime ceremony honoring Peyton Manning and retiring his number. Manning is "the first Indianapolis-era player in Colts history to have his number retired." Pence is the former governor of Indiana.
Pence said he was attending to honor Manning and didn't "want to distract from Manning being honored." It turned out Pence planned the walkout in advance and spent $250,000 of taxpayers' money on a publicity stunt and a major insult to Manning.
Yes, because it wasn't just any NFL game, it was an Indianapolis Colts home game with a halftime ceremony honoring Peyton Manning and retiring his number. Manning is "the first Indianapolis-era player in Colts history to have his number retired." Pence is the former governor of Indiana.
Pence said he was attending to honor Manning and didn't "want to distract from Manning being honored." It turned out Pence planned the walkout in advance and spent $250,000 of taxpayers' money on a publicity stunt and a major insult to Manning.
By 8 p.m. Sunday, the top five stories on the Indianapolis Star website were:posted by kirkaracha at 4:33 PM on April 14, 2018 [41 favorites]
• VP Pence leaves Colts game after 49ers players kneel
• Swarens: Throw the flag on Mike Pence’s walkout
• VP Mike Pence tweets same picture from Colts game
• Doyel: Pence uses Colts for political purposes
• Veterans, activists respond to Pence’s Colts walkout
No popular headline about Manning’s number 18 retired by the Colts or his induction into the team’s ring of honor. Judge for yourself about the motives of Pence, a native Hoosier, at the glorious celebration of one of the greatest athletes in the history of the state. He could have stayed away from Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. It's a disgrace that Pence copied his boss and hogged a spotlight he had no business even sharing, never mind owning.
I do think Davidson masterfully chooses his examples, which happen to be key moments in his reporting career, but also of this century in America. The Iraq war and the financial crisis have been two huge "big lie" moments of our era: powerful con men leaving global misery and destruction behind in their wake. And Trump, with his ability to destroy everyone who gets close to him, is the latest continuation of that tradition (I would include the GOP and lies about the tax cuts paying for themselves in that category as well). As David Klion writes, we've spent the 21st century being taken, repeatedly, by fraudsters. Heck, we straight up bring back the con men after people calm down about their last scams (e.g. Bolton and Kudlow) and give them even more power.
Constantly turning the country over to crooks is just not sustainable.
posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on April 14, 2018 [23 favorites]
Constantly turning the country over to crooks is just not sustainable.
posted by zachlipton at 4:35 PM on April 14, 2018 [23 favorites]
I can't help it if Benghazi has such far-reaching effects.
You guys forgot all about the Bowling Green Massacre, didn't you? It's OK, you can admit it.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:37 PM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
You guys forgot all about the Bowling Green Massacre, didn't you? It's OK, you can admit it.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:37 PM on April 14, 2018 [12 favorites]
Re: Cohen in Prague
FWIW, Wittes is tweeting caution on the McClatchy story:
FWIW, Wittes is tweeting caution on the McClatchy story:
A few reasons:posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:47 PM on April 14, 2018 [22 favorites]
(1) The sourcing is relatively thin. It is sourced to two sources familiar with the matter, who are presumably not Mueller shop folks. [...]
(2) The story does not, actually, say that Michael Cohen was, in fact, in Prague at the relevant time. It says that Mueller's investigation has developed some evidence that he was in Prague. It gives no sense of how much evidence or what type of evidence—or how credible it is. Note how the story here hedges on this point, describing the confirmation of Cohen's presence in Prague only in hypothetical terms. The reporters are being careful not to say that Cohen was actually in Prague—merely that Mueller has developed some reason to doubt his denial.
(3) It's a little too good. The Prague meeting is part of the heart and soul of the Steele Dossier. Good intel analysts need to be skeptical of intel that perfectly supports their premises, particularly when it's a bit thin. [...]
(4) It would be absolutely nuts for Cohen to have gone on a campaign predicated on his non-presence in Prague if he had, in fact, been in Prague in the fashion anything like what the Steele Dossier reports. Remember, he even sued Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS over the matter. See complaint, p. 7, para 24. It is certainly possible that Cohen is a big enough idiot to sue a media organization—and thereby invite discovery—over his presence in Prague when he, had in fact, been there, but...
So look, I'm not saying the story isn't true. And I'm not saying it won't be matched/validated by other reporting. But I'm personally going to wait until it is corroborated and fleshed out a bit before I make judgments about it.
So far as I can tell McClatchy is the only outfit with original reporting on this. Everybody else is running with "McClatchy reports..."
posted by scalefree at 4:52 PM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by scalefree at 4:52 PM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm honestly not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Russia fails in U.N. bid to condemn U.S.-led strikes on Syria.
posted by scalefree at 5:04 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Russia fails in U.N. bid to condemn U.S.-led strikes on Syria.
posted by scalefree at 5:04 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
@RichardJConnor 1. Britain and the US bomb the Middle East.
2. Germany doesn't.
3. Germany takes in refugees from chaos that ensues.
4. Britain and the US react with horror at the influx of refugees to Europe.
5. Go to 1.
posted by scalefree at 5:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [58 favorites]
2. Germany doesn't.
3. Germany takes in refugees from chaos that ensues.
4. Britain and the US react with horror at the influx of refugees to Europe.
5. Go to 1.
posted by scalefree at 5:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [58 favorites]
Germany as the good guys in Return of the Nazis was a genius bit of casting. And making the three Allied powers fascists, *chef's kiss*.
posted by chris24 at 5:40 PM on April 14, 2018 [92 favorites]
posted by chris24 at 5:40 PM on April 14, 2018 [92 favorites]
Peyton Manning's Forgotten Sex Scandal, because it isn't. Somebody's going to "honor" Trump someday, but only if everyone forgets. (Ignorance and denial are givens.)
At some point in time I honestly thought we'd be shaking our heads already at how awful Reagan was and what a boondoggle trickle-down was plus Iran-Contra treason amirite. Someday, perhaps.
posted by petebest at 6:09 PM on April 14, 2018 [17 favorites]
At some point in time I honestly thought we'd be shaking our heads already at how awful Reagan was and what a boondoggle trickle-down was plus Iran-Contra treason amirite. Someday, perhaps.
posted by petebest at 6:09 PM on April 14, 2018 [17 favorites]
I hadn't seen this before:
Michael Cohen referred Chuck LaBella, who Tom Arnold claims has dirt on Trump, to Keith Davidson.
Keith M. Davidson said in a statement provided to CNN that Cohen gave his name to entertainment executive and Trump associate Chuck LaBella, who was being written about on Twitter by actor Tom Arnold.
...
"Chuck LaBella has all the dirt," Arnold tweeted in October of last year.
"Chuck LaBella was there and knows all," a second tweet alleged.
A third tweet made a veiled reference to a "Putin call" and other matters supposedly linking Trump to Russia.
...
In response to an inquiry from CNN, LaBella wrote:
"Keith Davidson has never been hired as my counsel. I have never met him. I have never paid him. I have never signed any agreement with him.
On a less serious note, anyone want to propose some Urban Dictionary-style definitions for this newly coined term "Putin Call"?
posted by duoshao at 6:11 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Michael Cohen referred Chuck LaBella, who Tom Arnold claims has dirt on Trump, to Keith Davidson.
Keith M. Davidson said in a statement provided to CNN that Cohen gave his name to entertainment executive and Trump associate Chuck LaBella, who was being written about on Twitter by actor Tom Arnold.
...
"Chuck LaBella has all the dirt," Arnold tweeted in October of last year.
"Chuck LaBella was there and knows all," a second tweet alleged.
A third tweet made a veiled reference to a "Putin call" and other matters supposedly linking Trump to Russia.
...
In response to an inquiry from CNN, LaBella wrote:
"Keith Davidson has never been hired as my counsel. I have never met him. I have never paid him. I have never signed any agreement with him.
On a less serious note, anyone want to propose some Urban Dictionary-style definitions for this newly coined term "Putin Call"?
posted by duoshao at 6:11 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
> he was involved in payments of hush money;
> However, I am unaware of anybody who has taken a serious look at Trump’s business who doesn’t believe that there is a high likelihood of rampant criminality.
At this juncture it is worth remembering that one of the final nails in Nixon's coffin is when this tape (read here, listen here) was released:
Yet, it happens time & time again. Here is a nice photo of one of my 'friends' at the Missouri legislature reaching out to accept a bribe in the form of a giant wad of cash.
My point is, unless you are daily operating a criminal enterprise yourself, you probably have some remaining element of disbelief that anyone could be that crass and frank about their intended criminal acts, and that this type of open criminal behavior could simply be a part of their day-to-day routine and their regular daily conversation.
That real people--responsible leaders, supposedly--can literally discuss handling blackmail and hush money in the same day-to-day conversational tone the rest of us might use when talking about scheduling a haircut or stopping by the grocery store.
We think it is uncommon and far removed from our daily lives. "Real people don't do that." But all experience and history says, at the very top frank and open criminality is far more common than uncommon.
So prepare yourselves to make a mind-shift, because it looks like the smoke is starting to clear that has for decades obscured a business that everyone who has studied it believes was openly criminal from top to bottom. It was no accident--designed and led to go down that precise path.
And the political campaign that grew directly out of that business and led by the very same people wasn't criminal as well?
Yeah . . .
> However, I am unaware of anybody who has taken a serious look at Trump’s business who doesn’t believe that there is a high likelihood of rampant criminality.
At this juncture it is worth remembering that one of the final nails in Nixon's coffin is when this tape (read here, listen here) was released:
John Dean: Where are the soft spots on this? Well, first of all, there’s the problem of the continued blackmail—Even if you are pretty jaded, this is just not the sort of thing you imagine happens in real life. Movies, TV, maybe. But surely REAL criminals are smart enough to avoid outlining their criminality in frank detail when they know their conversation is being recorded?
President Nixon: Right.
Dean: --which will not only go on now, it’ll go on when these people are in prison, and it will compound the obstruction-of-justice situation. It’ll cost money. It’s dangerous. Nobody, nothing--people around here are not pros at this sort of thing. This is the sort of thing Mafia people can do: washing money, getting clean money, and things like that. We just don’t know about those things, because we’re not used to, you know, we’re not criminals. We're not used to dealing in that business. . . .
President Nixon: How much money do you need?
Dean: I would say these people are going to cost a million dollars over the next two years.
Short pause.
President Nixon: We could get that.
Dean: Mm-hmm.
President Nixon: If you—on the money, if you need the money, I mean, you could get the money fairly easily.
Dean: Well, I think that we’re--
President Nixon: What I meant is, you could get a million dollars. And you could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten.
Dean: Mm-hmm.
President Nixon: I mean, it’s not easy, but it could be done.
Yet, it happens time & time again. Here is a nice photo of one of my 'friends' at the Missouri legislature reaching out to accept a bribe in the form of a giant wad of cash.
My point is, unless you are daily operating a criminal enterprise yourself, you probably have some remaining element of disbelief that anyone could be that crass and frank about their intended criminal acts, and that this type of open criminal behavior could simply be a part of their day-to-day routine and their regular daily conversation.
That real people--responsible leaders, supposedly--can literally discuss handling blackmail and hush money in the same day-to-day conversational tone the rest of us might use when talking about scheduling a haircut or stopping by the grocery store.
We think it is uncommon and far removed from our daily lives. "Real people don't do that." But all experience and history says, at the very top frank and open criminality is far more common than uncommon.
So prepare yourselves to make a mind-shift, because it looks like the smoke is starting to clear that has for decades obscured a business that everyone who has studied it believes was openly criminal from top to bottom. It was no accident--designed and led to go down that precise path.
And the political campaign that grew directly out of that business and led by the very same people wasn't criminal as well?
Yeah . . .
Dean: I would say these people are going to cost a million dollars over the next two years. . . .posted by flug at 6:19 PM on April 14, 2018 [39 favorites]
President Nixon: We could get that.
Both candidates were under FBI investigation. Comey picked one. He has never once even acknowledged that decision, much less explained it.
He has explained multiple times that he felt OK talking about the Clinton investigation because it was closed, while he did not feel OK talking about the Trump investigation because it was ongoing. You may not like or believe that explanation, but you can't say he hasn't explained it.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:20 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
He has explained multiple times that he felt OK talking about the Clinton investigation because it was closed, while he did not feel OK talking about the Trump investigation because it was ongoing. You may not like or believe that explanation, but you can't say he hasn't explained it.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:20 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
I don't want to invite more relitigation of 2016, but wasn't the whole thing with Comey's last, ill-timed announcement about additional Clinton emails that it implied the investigation wasn't closed?
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:22 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:22 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Tragically, for the real human lives missile strikes devastate, it's business as usual for the makers of these weapons.
Raytheon, maker of the Tomahawk missiles used in Syria yesterday, saw it's over all stock value increase by nearly 5 billion dollars after the missile strikes.
This is fucked.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 6:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [45 favorites]
Raytheon, maker of the Tomahawk missiles used in Syria yesterday, saw it's over all stock value increase by nearly 5 billion dollars after the missile strikes.
This is fucked.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 6:31 PM on April 14, 2018 [45 favorites]
That said, out of sympathy for our weekend mods, maybe best to table the Comeyology until the book drops.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:32 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:32 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Implied the investigation wasn't closed?
Yeah, he said that having told Congress it was closed and promised to notify them if that status changed, he felt obliged to follow through on that promise and tell them they were looking at more evidence.
He sent the letter privately to Jason Chaffetz as head of the House Oversight Committee, who promptly leaked it to the press.
Personally I think this was scrupulous to the point of stupidity, since of course Chaffetz was going to leak it, and of course conservative media was going to spin it into something much bigger than the minor procedural issue it was. But I do believe he was motivated by stupid over-scrupulousness and not by a conscious desire to harm Clinton's candidacy.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:34 PM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yeah, he said that having told Congress it was closed and promised to notify them if that status changed, he felt obliged to follow through on that promise and tell them they were looking at more evidence.
He sent the letter privately to Jason Chaffetz as head of the House Oversight Committee, who promptly leaked it to the press.
Personally I think this was scrupulous to the point of stupidity, since of course Chaffetz was going to leak it, and of course conservative media was going to spin it into something much bigger than the minor procedural issue it was. But I do believe he was motivated by stupid over-scrupulousness and not by a conscious desire to harm Clinton's candidacy.
posted by OnceUponATime at 6:34 PM on April 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
Raytheon, maker of the Tomahawk missiles used in Syria yesterday, saw it's over all stock value increase by nearly 5 billion dollars after the missile strikes.
This is likely thin consolation, but this is as much about wide ranging re-armament announced by the Pentagon earlier in the week as anything else. Most of the missiles and other expendables currently in use are, after a lot of industry consolidation, made by Boeing and Raytheon.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:35 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
This is likely thin consolation, but this is as much about wide ranging re-armament announced by the Pentagon earlier in the week as anything else. Most of the missiles and other expendables currently in use are, after a lot of industry consolidation, made by Boeing and Raytheon.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:35 PM on April 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Stormy Daniels expected to appear at Michael Cohen's hearing Monday
I will put a tiny statue of Avenatti in my shrine of household gods if she shows up with the composite sketch.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:37 PM on April 14, 2018 [37 favorites]
I will put a tiny statue of Avenatti in my shrine of household gods if she shows up with the composite sketch.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:37 PM on April 14, 2018 [37 favorites]
Cohen: --which won't go on now, these people won't be in prison, there's no obstruction-of-justice situation. It’ll cost money. It’s not dangerous. People around here are pros at this sort of thing. This is the sort of thing we can do: laundering Russian money, and things like that. We know about those things, because we’re used to, you know, we’re criminals. We're used to dealing in that business. . . .
Trump: I moved on her like a bitch.
Cohen: Right, right. So anyway . . .
posted by petebest at 6:39 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Trump: I moved on her like a bitch.
Cohen: Right, right. So anyway . . .
posted by petebest at 6:39 PM on April 14, 2018 [8 favorites]
Bear in mind the investigation was reopened because the FBI had found evidence that Clinton had emailed her assistant. That's what it took for Comey to investigate her.
posted by LarsC at 6:39 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by LarsC at 6:39 PM on April 14, 2018 [13 favorites]
Frankly, I think the "didn't want to win" line is an attempt to assuage our collective guilt at allowing Trump to win;If it helps any, as a casual outside observer I was saying back in early 2016 that Trump (a) had a near-even, with a slight edge to him, likelyhood of winning; and (b) he didn't really want to win because he was happier trolling and whining and shitposting about Crooked [Hillary|Bernie], draining swamps, MAGA-ing, etc.
posted by Pinback at 6:43 PM on April 14, 2018
Huh.
Hunter: Obama inviting impeachment if he strikes Syria without Congress (2013)
Hunter: Obama inviting impeachment if he strikes Syria without Congress (2013)
“I think he’s breaking the law if he strikes without congressional approval,” Mr. Hunter, a California Republican, told The Washington Times. “And if he proceeds without Congress providing that authority, it should be considered an impeachable offense.”posted by scalefree at 6:50 PM on April 14, 2018 [31 favorites]
Mr. Obama this weekend sent Congress a draft resolution authorizing use of force to take out Syria’s facilities for weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons.
But the president said he believes he still has authority to strike unilaterally without backing from Congress, and his aides reportedly said they believe he could still act even if Congress voted next week to reject his request for authorization of force.
Just back from a trip to the Syria-Jordan border last week, Mr. Hunter, who served as a Marine officer in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said he’s leaning against granting Mr. Obama’s request because he doesn’t see evidence the administration has the right objectives in mind.
“Unless the president’s willing to go to war with Syria and send my Marines back in to another country in the region, you don’t just fire warning shots, and you don’t lob a few missiles and say OK, wipe your hands, job well done, they’re deterred,” Mr. Hunter said.
But I do believe he was motivated by stupid over-scrupulousness and not by a conscious desire to harm Clinton's candidacy.
This notion that Comey was motivated by scrupulousness is pure bullshit. Comey was motivated by cowardice. He was afraid that Republicans would say mean things about him and his beloved FBI.
He first violated his duty when he went on his rant about Clinton when he closed the file in July. Having investigators commenting on an investigation is contrary to department rules. Justice department ethics officials warned him about this violation but he defied them -- because he was afraid that if he failed to find a crime and said nothing, he would be criticized by Republicans. But that is no excuse. His job is to stand there silent and take criticism with courage.
There is long standing precedent for not having the investigative cops comment on the evidence. That is because the investigators have extraordinary power to ruin people's lives even if they don't find evidence of a crime. And that was exactly what happened in this case. Commenting on the investigation is supposed to be left to the prosecutors who can weigh the evidence, not the rabid bloodhounds. (Cue your Law and Order opening).
Comey's excuse for defying protocol and not allowing Justice Department prosecutors to make a statement was that he didn't trust his boss, Loretta Lynch. What was this based on? The fact that Lynch had a 15-minute meeting with Bill Clinton at which aides were present and say the conversation consisted of talking about golf, their grandchildren and the Brexit vote of the previous day. Comey took this 15 minute meeting to indicate corruption.
But Comey himself had two meetings with Trump, including a two-hour dinner, in which Trump specifically discussed the investigation. Comey failed to tell the public about these meetings until after he was fired. Protocol for Comey would be to refuse these private meetings to avoid the appearance of corruption. Protocol is to refer the the President to Justice Department officials for this sort of discussion, not the investigators. Again Comey defied protocol.
So Lynch is corrupt for discussing golf and Saint Comey is above reproach for discussing the investigation with a possible target? What hubris!
His second excuse for defying protocol was that there was a phony Russian memo claiming that Lynch had put the fix in. He knew this was phony but he was afraid that if the Republicans got a hold of it, they would say mean things about Comey. Again, this wasn't scrupulousness. This was cowardice - covering his ass for Republicans when he should have been defending Lynch against a Russian propaganda attack.
And then in the week before the election he again defied protocol. Again Justice Department ethics lawyers warned him that it was improper to comment on an investigation in the final days before an election. This is simply never done. It defies all the Justice Department rules. His excuse is that he made a "promise to Republicans" to let them know of any change in status. But there is no rule requiring this notification. There is no "obligation" to do so. And in fact such notification is explicitly forbidden by Justice Department rules immediately preceding an election. He cowardly made up this "promise" just to appease Republicans.
And as it turned out, there was no new evidence of a crime, but there was not enough time to correct the insinuation, which is precisely why there is that rule about not interfering immediately before an election.
He again did this out of cowardice. Republicans might say mean things about him.
And some people say he acted because the NY FBI was going to leak. In that case he should have been investigating the illegal corruption of his own department instead of trying to cover it up by leaking himself. He was acting to protect himself and his reputation, not a constitutional election.
He also says that he did not act out of political considerations, yet contradicts himself when he says that he believed Clinton would win so it wouldn't make any difference. That's as political a decision as it gets.
There's a good reason for the Justice Department rules against commenting on investigations immediately before an election. It's to prevent people like Comey from making mistaken political calculations.
No, Comey was not being scrupulous. He was unscrupulously defying department protocol repeatedly because of cowardice -- and unimaginable hubris that he was above all the rules.
Whether or not he intended to harm Clinton is beside the point. To use his phrase he was "extremely careless" in his defiance of department guidelines, resulting in a terrible outcome. If he had simply followed the rules, none of this would have happened. He allowed his political considerations at every turn to warp his judgement. Chalk this up to hubris and cowardice.
posted by JackFlash at 9:17 PM on April 14, 2018 [141 favorites]
This notion that Comey was motivated by scrupulousness is pure bullshit. Comey was motivated by cowardice. He was afraid that Republicans would say mean things about him and his beloved FBI.
He first violated his duty when he went on his rant about Clinton when he closed the file in July. Having investigators commenting on an investigation is contrary to department rules. Justice department ethics officials warned him about this violation but he defied them -- because he was afraid that if he failed to find a crime and said nothing, he would be criticized by Republicans. But that is no excuse. His job is to stand there silent and take criticism with courage.
There is long standing precedent for not having the investigative cops comment on the evidence. That is because the investigators have extraordinary power to ruin people's lives even if they don't find evidence of a crime. And that was exactly what happened in this case. Commenting on the investigation is supposed to be left to the prosecutors who can weigh the evidence, not the rabid bloodhounds. (Cue your Law and Order opening).
Comey's excuse for defying protocol and not allowing Justice Department prosecutors to make a statement was that he didn't trust his boss, Loretta Lynch. What was this based on? The fact that Lynch had a 15-minute meeting with Bill Clinton at which aides were present and say the conversation consisted of talking about golf, their grandchildren and the Brexit vote of the previous day. Comey took this 15 minute meeting to indicate corruption.
But Comey himself had two meetings with Trump, including a two-hour dinner, in which Trump specifically discussed the investigation. Comey failed to tell the public about these meetings until after he was fired. Protocol for Comey would be to refuse these private meetings to avoid the appearance of corruption. Protocol is to refer the the President to Justice Department officials for this sort of discussion, not the investigators. Again Comey defied protocol.
So Lynch is corrupt for discussing golf and Saint Comey is above reproach for discussing the investigation with a possible target? What hubris!
His second excuse for defying protocol was that there was a phony Russian memo claiming that Lynch had put the fix in. He knew this was phony but he was afraid that if the Republicans got a hold of it, they would say mean things about Comey. Again, this wasn't scrupulousness. This was cowardice - covering his ass for Republicans when he should have been defending Lynch against a Russian propaganda attack.
And then in the week before the election he again defied protocol. Again Justice Department ethics lawyers warned him that it was improper to comment on an investigation in the final days before an election. This is simply never done. It defies all the Justice Department rules. His excuse is that he made a "promise to Republicans" to let them know of any change in status. But there is no rule requiring this notification. There is no "obligation" to do so. And in fact such notification is explicitly forbidden by Justice Department rules immediately preceding an election. He cowardly made up this "promise" just to appease Republicans.
And as it turned out, there was no new evidence of a crime, but there was not enough time to correct the insinuation, which is precisely why there is that rule about not interfering immediately before an election.
He again did this out of cowardice. Republicans might say mean things about him.
And some people say he acted because the NY FBI was going to leak. In that case he should have been investigating the illegal corruption of his own department instead of trying to cover it up by leaking himself. He was acting to protect himself and his reputation, not a constitutional election.
He also says that he did not act out of political considerations, yet contradicts himself when he says that he believed Clinton would win so it wouldn't make any difference. That's as political a decision as it gets.
There's a good reason for the Justice Department rules against commenting on investigations immediately before an election. It's to prevent people like Comey from making mistaken political calculations.
No, Comey was not being scrupulous. He was unscrupulously defying department protocol repeatedly because of cowardice -- and unimaginable hubris that he was above all the rules.
Whether or not he intended to harm Clinton is beside the point. To use his phrase he was "extremely careless" in his defiance of department guidelines, resulting in a terrible outcome. If he had simply followed the rules, none of this would have happened. He allowed his political considerations at every turn to warp his judgement. Chalk this up to hubris and cowardice.
posted by JackFlash at 9:17 PM on April 14, 2018 [141 favorites]
*pulls on seth abramson mask*
So two weeks ago McClatchy reports the extradition of Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin... from the Czech Republic. Two of the three credited reporters? Greg Gordon and Peter Stone.
And one day ago McClatchy reports that Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen was in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, in the summer of 2016... to among other things meet with Russian and/or Eastern European hackers. The credited reporters? Greg Gordon and Peter Stone.
Coincidence? MAYBE.
*rips off seth abramson mask*
posted by Justinian at 9:17 PM on April 14, 2018 [29 favorites]
So two weeks ago McClatchy reports the extradition of Russian hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin... from the Czech Republic. Two of the three credited reporters? Greg Gordon and Peter Stone.
And one day ago McClatchy reports that Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen was in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, in the summer of 2016... to among other things meet with Russian and/or Eastern European hackers. The credited reporters? Greg Gordon and Peter Stone.
Coincidence? MAYBE.
*rips off seth abramson mask*
posted by Justinian at 9:17 PM on April 14, 2018 [29 favorites]
Just a minor bit of hypocrisy by Trump. Not a war crime, treason, separation of powers, emoluments or other Constitutional violation.
Trump Hotel to Employees: Don’t Hire Relatives. An employee handbook for the Trump Hotel Las Vegas also banned ‘[s]exually suggestive or obscene comments or gestures.’ No, seriously.
posted by scalefree at 9:29 PM on April 14, 2018 [11 favorites]
Trump Hotel to Employees: Don’t Hire Relatives. An employee handbook for the Trump Hotel Las Vegas also banned ‘[s]exually suggestive or obscene comments or gestures.’ No, seriously.
posted by scalefree at 9:29 PM on April 14, 2018 [11 favorites]
Since it looks like Cohen and Davidson were working together to blackmail people over sexual improprieties, that would make Trump his mark.
There’s no reason to think it’s a scam on Trump, because Trump’s bad behavior is real - he brags about it. It’s just a necessary if unpleasant cost of Trump Org. business, cleaning up the boss’ messes.
The scam is on the victims, bullied or tricked into accepting legal counsel that is not representing their interests at all - in fact, who is literally conspiring with opposing counsel against them. IANAL but it seems like that fact alone should invalidate these NDAs.
posted by msalt at 9:44 PM on April 14, 2018 [16 favorites]
There’s no reason to think it’s a scam on Trump, because Trump’s bad behavior is real - he brags about it. It’s just a necessary if unpleasant cost of Trump Org. business, cleaning up the boss’ messes.
The scam is on the victims, bullied or tricked into accepting legal counsel that is not representing their interests at all - in fact, who is literally conspiring with opposing counsel against them. IANAL but it seems like that fact alone should invalidate these NDAs.
posted by msalt at 9:44 PM on April 14, 2018 [16 favorites]
@RichardJConnor 1. Britain and the US bomb the Middle East.
2. Germany doesn't.
3. Germany takes in refugees from chaos that ensues.
4. Britain and the US react with horror at the influx of refugees to Europe.
5. Go to 1.
posted by scalefree at 9:31 AM on April 15 [1 favorite +] [!]
Again I'll say, Germany as the good guys in Return of the Nazis was a genius bit of casting. And making the three Allied powers fascists, *chef's kiss*.
posted by chris24 at 9:40 AM on April 15 [+] [!]
I'll go away after this comment, but ya know what I just thought of? The one thing Trump could do to defuse a Dem wave, secure his legacy, and completely confound and drown out Stormy, Mueller, Russia, and the rest of Omnishamblegate for the rest of his term while he preemptively pardons his friends would be a surprise Monday announcement that we're flinging open the doors and letting in a million Syrian refugees. Like we have to do it for border security reasons or something, to stop Assad and Iran from radicalizing them. Like the final defeat of ISIS is we have to Americanize them and make them Republicans.
Given how things have been going, it wouldn't surprise me. It's singly the worst and best act he could take.
posted by saysthis at 10:22 PM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
2. Germany doesn't.
3. Germany takes in refugees from chaos that ensues.
4. Britain and the US react with horror at the influx of refugees to Europe.
5. Go to 1.
posted by scalefree at 9:31 AM on April 15 [1 favorite +] [!]
Again I'll say, Germany as the good guys in Return of the Nazis was a genius bit of casting. And making the three Allied powers fascists, *chef's kiss*.
posted by chris24 at 9:40 AM on April 15 [+] [!]
I'll go away after this comment, but ya know what I just thought of? The one thing Trump could do to defuse a Dem wave, secure his legacy, and completely confound and drown out Stormy, Mueller, Russia, and the rest of Omnishamblegate for the rest of his term while he preemptively pardons his friends would be a surprise Monday announcement that we're flinging open the doors and letting in a million Syrian refugees. Like we have to do it for border security reasons or something, to stop Assad and Iran from radicalizing them. Like the final defeat of ISIS is we have to Americanize them and make them Republicans.
Given how things have been going, it wouldn't surprise me. It's singly the worst and best act he could take.
posted by saysthis at 10:22 PM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
Mod note: It may, once again, be new thread time, if anybody's got the itch.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:42 PM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:42 PM on April 14, 2018 [14 favorites]
Trump would never just accept a refugee. It's antithetical to his zero-sum philosophy where every interaction is a deal, and one side is the fucker and the other is the fuckee. Even if a refugee to the United States were to abase themself before Trump or work for pennies at Mar-a-Lago, the mere fact of escaping the violence and depredation they fled from would presumably mean their situation had improved. And if the refugee gains, then Trump, by his own philosophy, must lose.
If the magic picture box in his bedroom or his daddy Putin told him to do it, that might be a different story. But I can't see him ever conceiving the idea himself.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:55 PM on April 14, 2018 [18 favorites]
If the magic picture box in his bedroom or his daddy Putin told him to do it, that might be a different story. But I can't see him ever conceiving the idea himself.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:55 PM on April 14, 2018 [18 favorites]
Given how things have been going, it wouldn't surprise me. It's singly the worst and best act he could take.
Given everything we know about Trump this would be only slightly less astonishing & unlikely than him dropping trou & laying a golden egg on live TV. We just don't live in a world where that could happen.
posted by scalefree at 11:04 PM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
Given everything we know about Trump this would be only slightly less astonishing & unlikely than him dropping trou & laying a golden egg on live TV. We just don't live in a world where that could happen.
posted by scalefree at 11:04 PM on April 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
this would be only slightly less astonishing & unlikely than him dropping trou & laying a golden egg on live TV. We just don't live in a world where that could happen.
Trump dropping trou on live TV is totally a thing that could happen, except that apparently Trump's wedding tackle is so weird that a porn actress finds it remarkable enough to be describable, so no, that ain't gonna happen
Men cannot lay eggs, golden or otherwise, so I'll give you that
posted by salix at 12:00 AM on April 15, 2018
Trump dropping trou on live TV is totally a thing that could happen, except that apparently Trump's wedding tackle is so weird that a porn actress finds it remarkable enough to be describable, so no, that ain't gonna happen
Men cannot lay eggs, golden or otherwise, so I'll give you that
posted by salix at 12:00 AM on April 15, 2018
But I can't see him ever conceiving the idea himself.
Given everything we know about Trump this would be only slightly less astonishing & unlikely
Exactly. But heel-face turn, and I bet the writers have lots more in store, so vote Democrat anyway. Dude was a reality TV star and is an instinct-driven sociopath. Who knows?
Remember DACA? It randomly occurred to me I hadn't seen an update here, so I went hunting. Here's some incremental news with a good summary of the current state of things from April 12 - NJ Attorney General joins multistate DACA lawsuit against Trump
(USAToday)
I love how on Sunday mornings stateside there's time to stop and remember news from last month. Most weekday mornings I barely have time to enjoy my 6th beer before things start ruining my buzz. I don't think I'd normally drink this much but at least now I get to enjoy the buzz.
'I slept through them': Damascus residents react to US-led strikes (Guardian)
[drinks more to drown guilt of alcoholism over news stress while Syrians just sleep through missile strikes/can we drop alcohol and weed on them instead of missiles #worldpeace]
posted by saysthis at 12:25 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
Given everything we know about Trump this would be only slightly less astonishing & unlikely
Exactly. But heel-face turn, and I bet the writers have lots more in store, so vote Democrat anyway. Dude was a reality TV star and is an instinct-driven sociopath. Who knows?
Remember DACA? It randomly occurred to me I hadn't seen an update here, so I went hunting. Here's some incremental news with a good summary of the current state of things from April 12 - NJ Attorney General joins multistate DACA lawsuit against Trump
(USAToday)
A federal court ruling has temporarily blocked the repeal of DACA as part of a separate lawsuit including California. That court ruling required the federal government to continue to accept DACA renewal applications, although initial DACA applications are no longer being accepted.17 states so far, and sober economic reporting about the damage ending the program does to the NJ economy - "If thousands of residents lose DACA, and thus work permits, the state would face an estimated $1.58 billion drop in annual gross domestic product." Damn. Gonna memorize me that number for next time someone gets yappy about immigrants being a drain on the system.
I love how on Sunday mornings stateside there's time to stop and remember news from last month. Most weekday mornings I barely have time to enjoy my 6th beer before things start ruining my buzz. I don't think I'd normally drink this much but at least now I get to enjoy the buzz.
'I slept through them': Damascus residents react to US-led strikes (Guardian)
[drinks more to drown guilt of alcoholism over news stress while Syrians just sleep through missile strikes/can we drop alcohol and weed on them instead of missiles #worldpeace]
posted by saysthis at 12:25 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
Comey's actions defied long standing rules about involving the department in elections, defied common-sense, and defied the strong advice of numerous peers. He singled Clinton out for behavior plenty of others were guilty of, made an understandable mistake out to be something unforgivably irresponsible, and made it sound as if Clinton were guilty of doing something she did not do: share top secret information critical to this nation's safety with its enemies.
On top of all of this, Comey knew the Russians were likely illegally helping Clinton's opponent. It's really hard to add that into the mix and still think it's a good idea to inform congress (and the world) about newly found emails that likely contain no new information. He didn't even look into a plan to do some kind of quick assessment of what he had found.
Why did he do it? I don't know, but to make these decisions he had to clear several roadblocks that would have prevented almost any clear headed person from acting like he did.
posted by xammerboy at 12:34 AM on April 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
On top of all of this, Comey knew the Russians were likely illegally helping Clinton's opponent. It's really hard to add that into the mix and still think it's a good idea to inform congress (and the world) about newly found emails that likely contain no new information. He didn't even look into a plan to do some kind of quick assessment of what he had found.
Why did he do it? I don't know, but to make these decisions he had to clear several roadblocks that would have prevented almost any clear headed person from acting like he did.
posted by xammerboy at 12:34 AM on April 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
Neither the Mueller investigation nor the New Yorker predictions seem to be harbingers of news that will move the dial. Namely, that Trump knew the Russian were helping him. We already know he isn't a billionaire, lends his name to criminals, involves himself in shady business practices. We know he fired Comey to obstruct justice, dictated his son's press response in regards to the meeting with the Russians, and illegally paid off Stormy Daniels. I want to scream.
posted by xammerboy at 12:51 AM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 12:51 AM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
He again did this out of cowardice. Republicans might say mean things about him.
Sure. I mean, I imagine "being afraid that people will criticize you as unfair" feels much the same as scrupulousness, subjectively. "What can I do that will be unreproachable?" That's what you would say to yourself if you were just terribly afraid of reproach.
And absolutely he was more afraid of reproach from Republicans. And I still think it was stupid of him not to realize they were arguing in bad faith and would reproach him no matter what unless he did their bidding. (But having also mistakenly assumed good faith for too long, I sympathize.)
Comey screwed up, and his mistakes helped get us Trump. And probably his screw ups were related to cowardice, and maybe unconscious misogyny, and certainly a foolish misunderstanding of right wing politics, and the same misguided belief that Trump couldn't possibly win which many people suffered from.
But none of that adds up to "lying" or "corrupt" and those are the allegations I want to take the trouble to address, because that's what Trump will also be saying about him, to discredit his testimony on obstruction.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:55 AM on April 15, 2018 [33 favorites]
Sure. I mean, I imagine "being afraid that people will criticize you as unfair" feels much the same as scrupulousness, subjectively. "What can I do that will be unreproachable?" That's what you would say to yourself if you were just terribly afraid of reproach.
And absolutely he was more afraid of reproach from Republicans. And I still think it was stupid of him not to realize they were arguing in bad faith and would reproach him no matter what unless he did their bidding. (But having also mistakenly assumed good faith for too long, I sympathize.)
Comey screwed up, and his mistakes helped get us Trump. And probably his screw ups were related to cowardice, and maybe unconscious misogyny, and certainly a foolish misunderstanding of right wing politics, and the same misguided belief that Trump couldn't possibly win which many people suffered from.
But none of that adds up to "lying" or "corrupt" and those are the allegations I want to take the trouble to address, because that's what Trump will also be saying about him, to discredit his testimony on obstruction.
posted by OnceUponATime at 3:55 AM on April 15, 2018 [33 favorites]
Comey's book comes out in two days, and the reaction to it will dominate the news cycle, potentially reshape popular understanding of the course of events and certainly color attacks on his credibility. We are beanplating response to framing of a situation that's about to change sharply.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:49 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:49 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
Trump appears finally to have finished his extended Twitter rant this morning:
* Since A Higher Loyalty won't be published until Tuesday, it hasn't received many reviews. Those it has seem generally positive – e.g. "A troubling and important account"—Publishers Weekly; "Absorbing [...] very persuasive"—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times – but this morning, the Washington Post published a thoughtful and balanced critique, which would probably look like a bad review to Trump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:52 AM on April 15, 2018 [29 favorites]
Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!It's like reading a real-time transcription of Nixon's unravelling mid-Watergate White House tapes.
The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book* aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?
Comey throws AG Lynch “under the bus!” Why can’t we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch? Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!
The Syrian raid was so perfectly carried out, with such precision, that the only way the Fake News Media could demean was by my use of the term “Mission Accomplished.” I knew they would seize on this but felt it is such a great Military term, it should be brought back. Use often!
I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His “memos” are self serving and FAKE!
* Since A Higher Loyalty won't be published until Tuesday, it hasn't received many reviews. Those it has seem generally positive – e.g. "A troubling and important account"—Publishers Weekly; "Absorbing [...] very persuasive"—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times – but this morning, the Washington Post published a thoughtful and balanced critique, which would probably look like a bad review to Trump.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:52 AM on April 15, 2018 [29 favorites]
But none of that adds up to "lying" or "corrupt" and those are the allegations
No, they’re going to paint him as biased. And he was. He acted, in plain sight, the way a self-important, somewhat vain man who had never bothered to interrogate his biases against Democrats, and especially against women, would act.
He was biased — against Clinton, in favor of Republicans.
I am not sympathetic to the argument that we have to pretend he wasn’t just because crazy people will seize on the word “biased” and decide it means what they want it to mean. They will do that anyway. We are already in the middle of a Cold War between competing worldviews. The one thing we have going for us is that ours is based in actual reality. Abandoning that advantage to try to shield one idiot who did more to put us in this fucking mess than any other single individual in the whole sordid, stupid Strangelovian drama would be an absolutely Pyrrhic mistake.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:15 AM on April 15, 2018 [38 favorites]
No, they’re going to paint him as biased. And he was. He acted, in plain sight, the way a self-important, somewhat vain man who had never bothered to interrogate his biases against Democrats, and especially against women, would act.
He was biased — against Clinton, in favor of Republicans.
I am not sympathetic to the argument that we have to pretend he wasn’t just because crazy people will seize on the word “biased” and decide it means what they want it to mean. They will do that anyway. We are already in the middle of a Cold War between competing worldviews. The one thing we have going for us is that ours is based in actual reality. Abandoning that advantage to try to shield one idiot who did more to put us in this fucking mess than any other single individual in the whole sordid, stupid Strangelovian drama would be an absolutely Pyrrhic mistake.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:15 AM on April 15, 2018 [38 favorites]
Trump appears finally to have finished his extended Twitter rant this morning:
Nope, not yet.
@RealDonaldTrump Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past. I have many (too many!) lawyers and they are probably wondering when their offices, and even homes, are going to be raided with everything, including their phones and computers, taken. All lawyers are deflated and concerned!
But wait, there's more!
@RealDonaldTrump Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!
posted by scalefree at 6:17 AM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
Nope, not yet.
@RealDonaldTrump Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past. I have many (too many!) lawyers and they are probably wondering when their offices, and even homes, are going to be raided with everything, including their phones and computers, taken. All lawyers are deflated and concerned!
But wait, there's more!
@RealDonaldTrump Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!
posted by scalefree at 6:17 AM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
I don’t mean to get snippy, but there is something about watching this gargantuan, cowardly misogynist who is completely unaware of his own failings burnish his reputation after doing this to us — and to women — that really fucking infuriates me.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:18 AM on April 15, 2018 [37 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 6:18 AM on April 15, 2018 [37 favorites]
Like motherfucker should acknowledge what he did and apologize, profusely, before anyone even considers letting him out of the shame corner.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:20 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 6:20 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
Sarah Sanders' Sunday smirk scoffs Stephanopoulos.
posted by rc3spencer at 6:21 AM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by rc3spencer at 6:21 AM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
These tweets are the ramblings of a hormone engorged teenaged boy in a war of words with the high school debate team captain when the debate captain never responds.
posted by michswiss at 6:23 AM on April 15, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by michswiss at 6:23 AM on April 15, 2018 [27 favorites]
> Trump appears finally to have finished his extended Twitter rant this morning:
Nope, not yet.
Oh, god fucking dammit. He's been at it for two hours this morning.
Incidentally, I'm torn over quoting Trump verbatim and at length, in all his appallingness, and paraphrasing/quoting selectively, just to spare us. The mainstream media tends to choose the latter option, which blunts the impact of when Trump goes off on a rant like this. Moreover, I feel like his tweets transcend the usual "hey, look at this asshole" category of Twitter re-tweets since these are, as Sean Spicer established, "considered official statements by the president of the United States." Although Trump's most intemperate statements don't look out of place in the cesspool of political discourse on Twitter, it must be stressed, repeatedly, that this is supposedly the POTUS attacking - and implicitly threatening - his former FBI director and his predecessor's attorney general in language that's a cross between a gutter tabloid and drunken barroom debate. And instead of triggering a political crisis, it will barely move the needle on Trump's presidency.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:27 AM on April 15, 2018 [14 favorites]
Nope, not yet.
Oh, god fucking dammit. He's been at it for two hours this morning.
Incidentally, I'm torn over quoting Trump verbatim and at length, in all his appallingness, and paraphrasing/quoting selectively, just to spare us. The mainstream media tends to choose the latter option, which blunts the impact of when Trump goes off on a rant like this. Moreover, I feel like his tweets transcend the usual "hey, look at this asshole" category of Twitter re-tweets since these are, as Sean Spicer established, "considered official statements by the president of the United States." Although Trump's most intemperate statements don't look out of place in the cesspool of political discourse on Twitter, it must be stressed, repeatedly, that this is supposedly the POTUS attacking - and implicitly threatening - his former FBI director and his predecessor's attorney general in language that's a cross between a gutter tabloid and drunken barroom debate. And instead of triggering a political crisis, it will barely move the needle on Trump's presidency.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:27 AM on April 15, 2018 [14 favorites]
To be fair, the US has contended with presidents who were intemperate and had to be managed before, their outbursts swept under the carpet and their fingers kept off various buttons. Nixon, famously, was kept on a cocktail of mood-regulating drugs by his handlers, and I'm sure he wasn't the first thundering boor in the Oval Office by a long shot. If anything, Obama's eight years of high-minded, level-headed governance have set a historically unrealistic ideal of the standards of the highest office (and thus the need for mitigations).
posted by acb at 6:42 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by acb at 6:42 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
Of all the things about Trump that astound me, maybe the most astonishing thing is that he doesn't seem to have a clue that the more powerful, intelligent, and effective somebody is—and the more self-assured they are about it—the less they need to prove. Somebody wants to draw a dick coming out of my ear on my picture? Have at it, I'll be over here basking in my privilege—hell, I own stock in the pencil factory.
Or maybe even more astonishing is the fact that he doesn't have a clue that most people can see his thin-skinned bloviating for what it is. Nobody's fooled. I'm surprised the noise from all the eyes rolling and heads shaking isn't deafening from inside the White House alone.
posted by Rykey at 6:45 AM on April 15, 2018 [11 favorites]
Or maybe even more astonishing is the fact that he doesn't have a clue that most people can see his thin-skinned bloviating for what it is. Nobody's fooled. I'm surprised the noise from all the eyes rolling and heads shaking isn't deafening from inside the White House alone.
posted by Rykey at 6:45 AM on April 15, 2018 [11 favorites]
We used to have Fireside Chats, now it's Sunday Twitter Rants.
posted by snwod at 6:49 AM on April 15, 2018 [23 favorites]
posted by snwod at 6:49 AM on April 15, 2018 [23 favorites]
James Comey: Out of Whack.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:58 AM on April 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:58 AM on April 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
@RealDonaldTrump Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!
That's funny, since he's saying that Mueller is better than Comey, when Mueller is the one who is going to put the Trump Crime Family behind bars....
posted by mikelieman at 7:15 AM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
That's funny, since he's saying that Mueller is better than Comey, when Mueller is the one who is going to put the Trump Crime Family behind bars....
posted by mikelieman at 7:15 AM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His “memos” are self serving and FAKE!
@JWGOP
Dang. He's racing through all the cornered crime boss excuses ("I hardly know the guy").....
@maggieNYT
An actual “I hardly know the guy”
---
Well, Donny may be very unhappy this morning, but MacMillan is very happy. Even before this morning's tweetstorm, they'd done their largest first printing ever, 850,000 copies. For comparison, Fire & Fury by the same publisher? 150,000. As of two days ago, they'd already sold 2 million copies.
posted by chris24 at 7:16 AM on April 15, 2018 [33 favorites]
@JWGOP
Dang. He's racing through all the cornered crime boss excuses ("I hardly know the guy").....
@maggieNYT
An actual “I hardly know the guy”
---
Well, Donny may be very unhappy this morning, but MacMillan is very happy. Even before this morning's tweetstorm, they'd done their largest first printing ever, 850,000 copies. For comparison, Fire & Fury by the same publisher? 150,000. As of two days ago, they'd already sold 2 million copies.
posted by chris24 at 7:16 AM on April 15, 2018 [33 favorites]
I’ve never pirated anything before...
posted by orange ball at 7:35 AM on April 15, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by orange ball at 7:35 AM on April 15, 2018 [11 favorites]
New NBC/WSJ poll:
Approve: 39%
Disapprove: 57%
In March, it was 43% approve, 53% disapprove
Ds lead on generic House ballot 47-40. But among high interest voters, Ds lead 57-36. And 66% of Ds show a high interest, versus 49% of Rs.
posted by chris24 at 7:39 AM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
Approve: 39%
Disapprove: 57%
In March, it was 43% approve, 53% disapprove
Ds lead on generic House ballot 47-40. But among high interest voters, Ds lead 57-36. And 66% of Ds show a high interest, versus 49% of Rs.
posted by chris24 at 7:39 AM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!)
I'm the last person to think that education is the main way to prove intelligence, but consider that Comey has bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Religion from William & Mary, as well as a JD from one of the top law schools in the country.
By comparison, Trump managed to eke out a BS in Economics from Wharton after transferring from Fordham University.
I'm also kind of over using grammar and spelling to prove intelligence as well, but that tweet kind of speaks for itself...
posted by elsietheeel at 7:55 AM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'm the last person to think that education is the main way to prove intelligence, but consider that Comey has bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Religion from William & Mary, as well as a JD from one of the top law schools in the country.
By comparison, Trump managed to eke out a BS in Economics from Wharton after transferring from Fordham University.
I'm also kind of over using grammar and spelling to prove intelligence as well, but that tweet kind of speaks for itself...
posted by elsietheeel at 7:55 AM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]
Gowdy is such a weird dude these days. Signs the Nunes letter to Rosenstein asking for the Comey memos, and then...
@rgoodlaw (Just Security)
GOP Gowdy’s STRONG defense of Cohen raid:
"Most important thing we know is that a neutral, detached federal judge has nothing to do with politics signed off on this warrant"
As to Trump’s criticizing Mueller, "I don't know what Mueller was supposed to do other than what he did”
VIDEO
---
And good, but why was it a question Tim?
@kylegriffin1 (MSNBC)
Tim Kaine: “I have decided to oppose the nomination of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. I honor his public service... But in scrutinizing his nomination to be America’s principal diplomat, I cannot overlook grave doubts about his anti-diplomacy disposition.”
posted by chris24 at 8:32 AM on April 15, 2018 [26 favorites]
@rgoodlaw (Just Security)
GOP Gowdy’s STRONG defense of Cohen raid:
"Most important thing we know is that a neutral, detached federal judge has nothing to do with politics signed off on this warrant"
As to Trump’s criticizing Mueller, "I don't know what Mueller was supposed to do other than what he did”
VIDEO
---
And good, but why was it a question Tim?
@kylegriffin1 (MSNBC)
Tim Kaine: “I have decided to oppose the nomination of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. I honor his public service... But in scrutinizing his nomination to be America’s principal diplomat, I cannot overlook grave doubts about his anti-diplomacy disposition.”
posted by chris24 at 8:32 AM on April 15, 2018 [26 favorites]
My interactions with Tim Kaine's office over the past few months have been perplexing. They always send out thoughtful, composed responses, that do actually pertain to the questions I've raised. Except . . . they are all from the cliched 'classic conservative' standpoint.
In the end I always end up asking him (them) why they don't just join the Republican party?
posted by rc3spencer at 9:04 AM on April 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
In the end I always end up asking him (them) why they don't just join the Republican party?
posted by rc3spencer at 9:04 AM on April 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
To be fair, the US has contended with presidents who were intemperate and had to be managed before
Yesterday I learned, from Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, that Truman was the George W. Bush of the Nixon era:
Yesterday I learned, from Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, that Truman was the George W. Bush of the Nixon era:
Back in 1960 most Americans still believed that whoever lived in the White House was naturally a righteous and upstanding man. Otherwise he wouldn't be there. . . .posted by mbrubeck at 9:05 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]
This was after twenty-eight years of Roosevelt and Eisenhower, who were very close to God. Harry Truman, who had lived a little closer to the Devil, was viewed more as an accident than a Real President.
[This shoddy estimate was subjected to a sudden and almost universal revision immediately after Truman's death shortly after the 1972 election. Whether or not this had any direct connection with the recent Nixon landslide is a matter of speculation but facing the prospect of Four More Years in the Nixon/Agnew doldrums, a lot of people suddenly decided that Truman looked pretty good, if only in retrospect.]
a surprise Monday announcement that we're flinging open the doors and letting in a million Syrian refugees
Wish fulfillment fantasy on your part. The thing that made me most skeptical about Clinton taking Wisconsin was how many times I'd be out in public and would hear some guy ranting in conversation about how Crooked Hillary had a plan to emigrate the entire population of Syria to the US. (I live in the Dem stronghold of Milwaukee, not the red hinterlands.)
posted by servoret at 9:06 AM on April 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wish fulfillment fantasy on your part. The thing that made me most skeptical about Clinton taking Wisconsin was how many times I'd be out in public and would hear some guy ranting in conversation about how Crooked Hillary had a plan to emigrate the entire population of Syria to the US. (I live in the Dem stronghold of Milwaukee, not the red hinterlands.)
posted by servoret at 9:06 AM on April 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
even more astonishing is the fact that he doesn't have a clue that most people can see his thin-skinned bloviating for what it is. Nobody's fooled.
He's used to being the richest and highest-status person in the room - normally, nobody's willing to tell him "you sound like a poorly educated whiny teenager," because saying that will lose them their job or their lucrative contract. He probably hasn't had honest feedback about his behavior since he was in grade school, which is why his habits haven't changed since then.
He doesn't allow people who disagree with him to be in his presence, and he doesn't take advice from them. He's flustered because he's never had to deal with negative feedback. People who thought he was a bloviating idiot just didn't watch his show; they didn't write endless thousand-word screeds about exactly how stupid and incompetent he is.
Now, for the first time in his adult life, people are saying "dude you are a clueless talentless hack" over and over, in places where he has to see it. And he doesn't know what to do - so he falls back on what's always worked: Fire everyone critical within his reach, and tell everyone in earshot that he's awesome.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 9:09 AM on April 15, 2018 [59 favorites]
He's used to being the richest and highest-status person in the room - normally, nobody's willing to tell him "you sound like a poorly educated whiny teenager," because saying that will lose them their job or their lucrative contract. He probably hasn't had honest feedback about his behavior since he was in grade school, which is why his habits haven't changed since then.
He doesn't allow people who disagree with him to be in his presence, and he doesn't take advice from them. He's flustered because he's never had to deal with negative feedback. People who thought he was a bloviating idiot just didn't watch his show; they didn't write endless thousand-word screeds about exactly how stupid and incompetent he is.
Now, for the first time in his adult life, people are saying "dude you are a clueless talentless hack" over and over, in places where he has to see it. And he doesn't know what to do - so he falls back on what's always worked: Fire everyone critical within his reach, and tell everyone in earshot that he's awesome.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 9:09 AM on April 15, 2018 [59 favorites]
a surprise Monday announcement that we're flinging open the doors and letting in a million Syrian refugees
This really underestimates the racism of his base. And his racism. Coulter & Co. are already going after him for the Wall, the Omnibus, Syria, TPP, etc. Letting the (in their view) brown hordes in would absolutely lose him his base. Racism is about the only thing he has going for him right now.
posted by chris24 at 9:16 AM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]
This really underestimates the racism of his base. And his racism. Coulter & Co. are already going after him for the Wall, the Omnibus, Syria, TPP, etc. Letting the (in their view) brown hordes in would absolutely lose him his base. Racism is about the only thing he has going for him right now.
posted by chris24 at 9:16 AM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]
I don't think Trump understands the job he has. Which is - it's not hard. It's like the Wizard of Oz jumping around in front of the image of his giant floaty head - "It's me! It's me! I'm the guy up there!" No, dude, shut up and work the levers. You're not . . . /breathes
posted by petebest at 9:16 AM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by petebest at 9:16 AM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
He's been at it for two hours this morning.
Of course Trump tweeted again, this time to brag about how his new the Rasmussen Poll score of 50%* is "much higher than President Obama at same point" before complaining again about "phony[sic] stories and Fake News". It's cold and rainy in D.C. at the moment, so he's been going stir crazy in the West Wing all morning. At least he's getting out of the house now.
* As always, Rasmussen is the exception—literally ever other poll conducted in the past two months shows Trump in the negatives, typically by double-digits.
[It may, once again, be new thread time, if anybody's got the itch.]
At this rate, we're definitely going to need one this afternoon, not least because his reactions to tonight's Comey interview with Stephanopoulos - whatever is revealed during it - will drive him berserk.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:19 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
Of course Trump tweeted again, this time to brag about how his new the Rasmussen Poll score of 50%* is "much higher than President Obama at same point" before complaining again about "phony[sic] stories and Fake News". It's cold and rainy in D.C. at the moment, so he's been going stir crazy in the West Wing all morning. At least he's getting out of the house now.
* As always, Rasmussen is the exception—literally ever other poll conducted in the past two months shows Trump in the negatives, typically by double-digits.
[It may, once again, be new thread time, if anybody's got the itch.]
At this rate, we're definitely going to need one this afternoon, not least because his reactions to tonight's Comey interview with Stephanopoulos - whatever is revealed during it - will drive him berserk.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:19 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
My interactions with Tim Kaine's office over the past few months have been perplexing. They always send out thoughtful, composed responses, that do actually pertain to the questions I've raised. Except . . . they are all from the cliched 'classic conservative' standpoint. In the end I always end up asking him (them) why they don't just join the Republican party?
This is exactly our experience too. My wife sent him an actual hand written letter over his vote for anti-abortion zealot Amy Coney Barrett and recieved an nice, topical response letter...except it boiled down to "I believe she will upold the current law on the books". Well, we don't, Tim. And neither did every other Democratic Senator except Manchin and Donnelly, and you.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:21 AM on April 15, 2018 [16 favorites]
This is exactly our experience too. My wife sent him an actual hand written letter over his vote for anti-abortion zealot Amy Coney Barrett and recieved an nice, topical response letter...except it boiled down to "I believe she will upold the current law on the books". Well, we don't, Tim. And neither did every other Democratic Senator except Manchin and Donnelly, and you.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:21 AM on April 15, 2018 [16 favorites]
Of course Trump tweeted again, this time to brag about how his new the Rasmussen Poll score of 50%* is "much higher than President Obama at same point"
And of course it's not even true.
@ddale8
"Much higher than President Obama at same point" is false even aside from Rasmussen's strong Republican lean. On the same date in Obama's presidency, April 13, 2010, Obama was at 49% in Rasmussen.
- Trump's approval average - always a better measure than any individual poll - is 42.5%, per RealClearPolitics. Obama's was at 48.4% at the same time in 2010.
posted by chris24 at 9:26 AM on April 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
And of course it's not even true.
@ddale8
"Much higher than President Obama at same point" is false even aside from Rasmussen's strong Republican lean. On the same date in Obama's presidency, April 13, 2010, Obama was at 49% in Rasmussen.
- Trump's approval average - always a better measure than any individual poll - is 42.5%, per RealClearPolitics. Obama's was at 48.4% at the same time in 2010.
posted by chris24 at 9:26 AM on April 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
At this rate, we're definitely going to need one this afternoon, not least because his reactions to tonight's Comey interview with Stephanopoulos - whatever is revealed during it - will drive him berserk.
The show is 1 hour, so about 40 minutes of actual interview. The interview was 5 hours. They will supposedly be releasing the entire transcript.
posted by chris24 at 9:28 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
The show is 1 hour, so about 40 minutes of actual interview. The interview was 5 hours. They will supposedly be releasing the entire transcript.
posted by chris24 at 9:28 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro as Cohen and Mueller on SNL
posted by kirkaracha at 9:37 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:37 AM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
they are all from the cliched 'classic conservative' standpoint.
That's because it's Virginia. Conservative no matter who is in office.
posted by jgirl at 9:38 AM on April 15, 2018
That's because it's Virginia. Conservative no matter who is in office.
posted by jgirl at 9:38 AM on April 15, 2018
In the era of Donald Trump, New England’s biggest GOP donor is funding Democrats
Boston hedge fund billionaire Seth Klarman lavished more than $7 million on Republican candidates and political committees during the Obama administration, using his fortune to help underwrite a GOP takeover of the federal government.posted by chris24 at 9:57 AM on April 15, 2018 [78 favorites]
But the rise of Donald Trump shocked and dismayed Klarman, as did the timid response from the Republican-controlled House and Senate, which have acquiesced rather than challenge the president’s erratic and divisive ways. So, in an astonishing flip, Klarman, at one point New England’s most generous donor to Republicans, is taking his money elsewhere: He’s heaping cash on Democrats.
He’s given roughly $222,000 since the 2016 election to 78 Democrats running for Congress, according to federal election data from 2017 and a preview of Klarman’s first-quarter donations provided to the Globe by a person familiar with his giving.
“The Republicans in Congress have failed to hold the president accountable and have abandoned their historic beliefs and values,” Klarman said in a prepared statement to the Globe, opening up for the first time about the reasons behind his change in political giving. “For the good of the country, the Democrats must take back one or both houses of Congress.”
I'm torn over quoting Trump verbatim and at length, in all his appallingness, and paraphrasing/quoting selectively, just to spare us. The media tends to do the latter...
The media reacting to Trump’s tweets and letting him control the news cycle is malpractice by editors. It’s not news that he says outrageous things, it’s not official or policy, and he contradicts himself and lies constantly.
Stop covering it. Especially stop twisting tweets into replies to actual newsworthy stories, which they are not. More accurate to write “the President ignored questions at a brief media appearance, then spent the day watching TV and tweeting to his friends” which is just as true in the specific and much more accurate as a big picture.
At most, run a daily column below the fold listing his tweets, like the weather forecast or box scores.
posted by msalt at 10:17 AM on April 15, 2018 [30 favorites]
The media reacting to Trump’s tweets and letting him control the news cycle is malpractice by editors. It’s not news that he says outrageous things, it’s not official or policy, and he contradicts himself and lies constantly.
Stop covering it. Especially stop twisting tweets into replies to actual newsworthy stories, which they are not. More accurate to write “the President ignored questions at a brief media appearance, then spent the day watching TV and tweeting to his friends” which is just as true in the specific and much more accurate as a big picture.
At most, run a daily column below the fold listing his tweets, like the weather forecast or box scores.
posted by msalt at 10:17 AM on April 15, 2018 [30 favorites]
“The Republicans in Congress have failed to hold the president accountable and have abandoned their historic beliefs and values,” Klarman said, coming to this realization unfortunately at least 20 years too late. I mean, good for him, I guess, and I do appreciate that he'll be supporting Democrats this cycle, but I'm still perplexed at how these buyer's-remorse Republicans see a meaningful distinction between Trump-era Republican policies and pre-Trump Republican policies. They are the same, just now the veneer of respectability has come off.
posted by biogeo at 10:19 AM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
The media reacting to Trump’s tweets and letting him control the news cycle is malpractice by editors.
I have to disagree. Downplaying the damage to the nation of the President's lies and outrageous statements, regardless of medium, would be malpractice. If the President "controlled the news cycle" in any way that effectively benefited his regime, his approval rating would be 70%, and Infrastructure Weeks would be about Infrastructure.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:21 AM on April 15, 2018 [16 favorites]
I have to disagree. Downplaying the damage to the nation of the President's lies and outrageous statements, regardless of medium, would be malpractice. If the President "controlled the news cycle" in any way that effectively benefited his regime, his approval rating would be 70%, and Infrastructure Weeks would be about Infrastructure.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:21 AM on April 15, 2018 [16 favorites]
If the President "controlled the news cycle" in any way
That’s controlling the news cycle in a “taking the helm of a ship” sense. What we have is controlling the news cycle in the manner of “a narcissistic oompa loompa is on board, tantruming with molotovs.”
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:33 AM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
That’s controlling the news cycle in a “taking the helm of a ship” sense. What we have is controlling the news cycle in the manner of “a narcissistic oompa loompa is on board, tantruming with molotovs.”
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:33 AM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
“a narcissistic oompa loompa is on board, tantruming with molotovs.”
President Donkey Kong.
posted by acb at 10:38 AM on April 15, 2018 [16 favorites]
President Donkey Kong.
posted by acb at 10:38 AM on April 15, 2018 [16 favorites]
> I'm not really sure "end stage" is the right term for what comes after the "turning point" (in both his examples, the Iraq war and the financial crisis, most of the suffering and misery came well after the turning point, dragging on for years and years), but I do think it's certainly a new stage.
Why We're Not at the End Stage of the Trump Presidency
Why We're Not at the End Stage of the Trump Presidency
Right now, the public may not understand how deep the rot goes, as most Americans didn't understand the impending calamities in Iraq and global finance, but Davidson is certain that will change. [...]posted by tonycpsu at 10:39 AM on April 15, 2018 [33 favorites]
But here's the difference: The Iraq War and the financial meltdown affected rank-and-file Republican voters personally. In heartland red America from 2003 on, voters lost children and spouses in what they came to realize was a poorly run war premised on falsehoods. A few years later, the financial crisis cost many of them their jobs and their savings. [...]
Conservative voters are never going to care about Trump's corruption because it has no negative impact on them. They haven't lost any money as a result of his dealings in Brazil or Azerbaijan, so why does any of it matter?
It's always interesting, near the end of these threads, to go back to the top to see what was happening all of... eleven days ago. Remember that trade war with China? Can you picture where you were when Stormy Daniels was on 60 Minutes? Good times, man, good times.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 10:40 AM on April 15, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by GhostintheMachine at 10:40 AM on April 15, 2018 [39 favorites]
Superb use of the American Chopper meme
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:50 AM on April 15, 2018 [41 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:50 AM on April 15, 2018 [41 favorites]
Democrats Obtain More Details on Bank CEO’s Outreach to Army
An executive whose bank lent as much as $16 million to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort around the time the banker was seeking to become Army secretary called Army personnel shortly after the election to inquire about the confirmation process, according to information provided by the Pentagon to congressional Democrats.
posted by PenDevil at 10:59 AM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
An executive whose bank lent as much as $16 million to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort around the time the banker was seeking to become Army secretary called Army personnel shortly after the election to inquire about the confirmation process, according to information provided by the Pentagon to congressional Democrats.
posted by PenDevil at 10:59 AM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
Why We're Not at the End Stage of the Trump Presidency
The New Republic's Jeet Heer @heerjeet argues along a similar line of criticism in a Twitter thread:
The New Republic's Jeet Heer @heerjeet argues along a similar line of criticism in a Twitter thread:
[...]But legal reality and political reality are two different things. Trump's family & cronies might go down but he has a political path going forward.posted by Doktor Zed at 10:59 AM on April 15, 2018 [18 favorites]
The best move for Trump is in fact what he's doing: binding himself to the party, keeping the base happy, making it costly for GOP to abandon him. This will insure that even if impeached, he'll not be removed. Trump could pardon any crony or family member who gets charged. And even post-presidency, Trump can use GOP party loyalty as a shield to protect himself from legal consequences. If the GOP still loves Trump, that's going to make it difficult to prosecute him after he leaves office. It'll be a political issue & Dems (as with CIA torture) will fall for rhetoric about need for national healing, moving on, etc.
This is the larger reality. American elites rarely if ever pay for their crimes. And Trump, despite his faux-populism, is as elite as they come: a president. Consider the massive blunders & crimes that have gone unpunished or not nearly punished enough: Vietnam, Watergate (Nixon pardon), Iran/Contra (many pardons), Iraq war, torture, 2008 meltdown. When do elites pay for their crimes?
The GOP might suffer politically, a few underlings might do jailtime before pardons, but we have to prepare for the possibility that Trump will never face a real reckoning. That's the American way.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.posted by kirkaracha at 11:05 AM on April 15, 2018 [15 favorites]— Winston Churchill
Conservative voters are never going to care about Trump's corruption because it has no negative impact on them. They haven't lost any money as a result of his dealings in Brazil or Azerbaijan, so why does any of it matter?
I thought that voters elected Trump because they had lost money, and jobs.
posted by Melismata at 11:09 AM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I thought that voters elected Trump because they had lost money, and jobs.
posted by Melismata at 11:09 AM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
Since we're doing Davidson rebuttals...
@NateSilver538
This is a super interesting piece, and it's fairly convincing that there's a high probability of gross misconduct by Trump or his inner circle. Still, there are only 3 main ways the Trump presidency ends: i) he resigns; ii) he's removed from office; iii) he loses re-election… 1/
- The article doesn't really address the question of how much Congress, and how much voters, will be willing to put up with. Which is fine—it's a good piece. But one shouldn't be too confident that we're at the end-stages for Trump without a theory about the how politics work. 2/
- Trump's problems have (IMO) become considerably more severe over the past 6 months. And yet, his approval rating hasn't worsened (it's actually improved by a point or two). The degree of Congressional resistance hasn't meaningfully increased. 3/
- One can take this point too far. Public and Congress reaction to Trump scandals isn’t necessarily linear. Also, things could be different after the midterms. Reaction to earlier, more minor developments isn't necessarily predictive of the reaction if e.g. Trump fired Mueller. 4/5
- I could probably be convinced by the thesis: "We've passed the point of no return: Trump is in enough hot water that Congress is almost certainly going to have to confront the question of impeachment." But I think it's highly uncertain how that confrontation would play out. 5/5
And a Davidson reply...
@adamdavidson
In answer to @NateSilver538 and @mattyglesias: The politics looks uphill. I am making an argument that it takes some time for the national narrative to adjust to awful facts. I have seen it vividly twice in the last fifteen years. Historians could point to many other examples. Sometimes there are specific media moments. (I will flatter myself by pointing to The Giant Pool of Money and The Big Short, both of which I worked on.) Other times, its simply the accumulation of ugly truths, as in Vietnam, Watergate, Iraq.
There are tipping points in which public opinion flips, dramatically. And the core national narrative changes. I believe that, eventually, more Americans will take in the truth of Trump. I think that Cohen's emails and phone calls will rapidly advance that process. I feel highly confident that more people will be indicted, prosecuted, and more fairly irrefutable evidence will emerge. It will also reframe the things we already have reported. I have no idea if this process takes 3 months or 3 years. I don't know if Trump will be impeached. I find it highly unlikely he'd win reelection but he might. That being said, I think that he is already in something of a lame duck phase. His presidency is, already, in some ways, over.
I would argue that studying polling data in 2003 or studying market sentiment data in 2007 was not helpful in predicting how Americans would feel about Iraq or finance a year later. It would have been better to talk with the people who understand the underlying facts.
Some of the phrases that will come out in reference to Trump's business partners and will become part of our national media diet:
- Terror financing.
- WMD proliferation.
- Sex trafficking.
- Murder.
- Boring old stuff like bribery, sanctions violations, money laundering.
I imagine Ivanka, Don. Jr., and Jared are in extreme legal risk. So, my prediction is based on believing I have a sense of the news flow of the coming year. But, still, I do know I could well be wrong. END
posted by chris24 at 11:10 AM on April 15, 2018 [44 favorites]
@NateSilver538
This is a super interesting piece, and it's fairly convincing that there's a high probability of gross misconduct by Trump or his inner circle. Still, there are only 3 main ways the Trump presidency ends: i) he resigns; ii) he's removed from office; iii) he loses re-election… 1/
- The article doesn't really address the question of how much Congress, and how much voters, will be willing to put up with. Which is fine—it's a good piece. But one shouldn't be too confident that we're at the end-stages for Trump without a theory about the how politics work. 2/
- Trump's problems have (IMO) become considerably more severe over the past 6 months. And yet, his approval rating hasn't worsened (it's actually improved by a point or two). The degree of Congressional resistance hasn't meaningfully increased. 3/
- One can take this point too far. Public and Congress reaction to Trump scandals isn’t necessarily linear. Also, things could be different after the midterms. Reaction to earlier, more minor developments isn't necessarily predictive of the reaction if e.g. Trump fired Mueller. 4/5
- I could probably be convinced by the thesis: "We've passed the point of no return: Trump is in enough hot water that Congress is almost certainly going to have to confront the question of impeachment." But I think it's highly uncertain how that confrontation would play out. 5/5
And a Davidson reply...
@adamdavidson
In answer to @NateSilver538 and @mattyglesias: The politics looks uphill. I am making an argument that it takes some time for the national narrative to adjust to awful facts. I have seen it vividly twice in the last fifteen years. Historians could point to many other examples. Sometimes there are specific media moments. (I will flatter myself by pointing to The Giant Pool of Money and The Big Short, both of which I worked on.) Other times, its simply the accumulation of ugly truths, as in Vietnam, Watergate, Iraq.
There are tipping points in which public opinion flips, dramatically. And the core national narrative changes. I believe that, eventually, more Americans will take in the truth of Trump. I think that Cohen's emails and phone calls will rapidly advance that process. I feel highly confident that more people will be indicted, prosecuted, and more fairly irrefutable evidence will emerge. It will also reframe the things we already have reported. I have no idea if this process takes 3 months or 3 years. I don't know if Trump will be impeached. I find it highly unlikely he'd win reelection but he might. That being said, I think that he is already in something of a lame duck phase. His presidency is, already, in some ways, over.
I would argue that studying polling data in 2003 or studying market sentiment data in 2007 was not helpful in predicting how Americans would feel about Iraq or finance a year later. It would have been better to talk with the people who understand the underlying facts.
Some of the phrases that will come out in reference to Trump's business partners and will become part of our national media diet:
- Terror financing.
- WMD proliferation.
- Sex trafficking.
- Murder.
- Boring old stuff like bribery, sanctions violations, money laundering.
I imagine Ivanka, Don. Jr., and Jared are in extreme legal risk. So, my prediction is based on believing I have a sense of the news flow of the coming year. But, still, I do know I could well be wrong. END
posted by chris24 at 11:10 AM on April 15, 2018 [44 favorites]
But here's the difference: The Iraq War and the financial meltdown affected rank-and-file Republican voters personally. In heartland red America from 2003 on, voters lost children and spouses in what they came to realize was a poorly run war premised on falsehoods. A few years later, the financial crisis cost many of them their jobs and their savings.
I think even this is too optimistic. Republican voters are being hurt right now by Trump policies. The opioid crisis is largely a rural, red state, crisis. Republican voters are disproportionately affected by red state spending policies and cuts in services, education and health care. They don't care, because Trump is white and loves Republican Jesus.
Trump would have to cause a national catastrophe on the scale of a nuclear attack on Omaha, or another Great Depression, in order to overcome the level of partisanship and "lol he triggers the libs" for Republicans to flip on him even as much as they flipped on George W. Bush by the end. They've been radicalized that much more since 2006-08 by a black president. And even that might not be enough if there wasn't clear causal link between the disaster and Trump, "the Dems nuked Omaha" would be a real thing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:20 AM on April 15, 2018 [19 favorites]
I think even this is too optimistic. Republican voters are being hurt right now by Trump policies. The opioid crisis is largely a rural, red state, crisis. Republican voters are disproportionately affected by red state spending policies and cuts in services, education and health care. They don't care, because Trump is white and loves Republican Jesus.
Trump would have to cause a national catastrophe on the scale of a nuclear attack on Omaha, or another Great Depression, in order to overcome the level of partisanship and "lol he triggers the libs" for Republicans to flip on him even as much as they flipped on George W. Bush by the end. They've been radicalized that much more since 2006-08 by a black president. And even that might not be enough if there wasn't clear causal link between the disaster and Trump, "the Dems nuked Omaha" would be a real thing.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:20 AM on April 15, 2018 [19 favorites]
I defy anyone to explain how this is not proof we're all somehow living inside an absurdist novel. Click the link & see for yourselves.
@murcutt007 Jerry Rotonda. CFO of Deutsche Bank.
posted by scalefree at 11:20 AM on April 15, 2018 [30 favorites]
@murcutt007 Jerry Rotonda. CFO of Deutsche Bank.
posted by scalefree at 11:20 AM on April 15, 2018 [30 favorites]
@murcutt007 Jerry Rotonda. CFO of Deutsche Bank
I've been wondering why there hasn't been more discussion in the media about this rogues gallery smoking cigars with Cohen
posted by duoshao at 11:30 AM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
I've been wondering why there hasn't been more discussion in the media about this rogues gallery smoking cigars with Cohen
posted by duoshao at 11:30 AM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
You know, I'm wary of feeling like the narrative has turned a corner. I really felt that way in 2004, and boy was I wrong.
posted by angrycat at 11:50 AM on April 15, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 11:50 AM on April 15, 2018 [17 favorites]
Every so often it occurs to me that, in a White House beset by scandals that include payments to porn stars and Russian leverage nasty enough to keep congresspeople in line and crooked lawyers and mafiosos, there lives a twelve year old boy.
Under the best of circumstances, being raised by a narcissist is hell. Being raised by one in the world's biggest pressure cooker of lies and corruption and deceit is simply unimaginable.
The staff and the cabinet chose to be there. The lawyers knew what they were getting into. Melania married the guy. But Barron was just born into this, and children are incredibly vulnerable to stress, especially long-term stress, especially long-term stress when one parent is a narcissist and cannot by nature provide emotional support.
Narcissists don't protect their children. They don't see them as children; they see them as little adults who stubbornly insist on behaving like children. When a narcissist makes a decision for the family, the childrens' welfare isn't considered. If a child has difficulty with a situation their narcissist parent put them in, the parent considers it weakness on the part of the child.
Every one of the revelations coming about about President Trump, the affairs, the corruption, the incompetence... for Barron, these are things he's finding out about his father. While the whole drama plays out on the international stage.
Meanwhile, he's in the most isolating environment imaginable.
He can't resign. He can't move out. He's a child.
There are a lot of tragedies that are unfolding as a result of President Trump's election, and many of them are playing out on much larger scales. But take a moment to consider the absolutely epic, Shakesperian tragedy levels involved in being this particular man's son at this point in history.
posted by MrVisible at 11:52 AM on April 15, 2018 [71 favorites]
Under the best of circumstances, being raised by a narcissist is hell. Being raised by one in the world's biggest pressure cooker of lies and corruption and deceit is simply unimaginable.
The staff and the cabinet chose to be there. The lawyers knew what they were getting into. Melania married the guy. But Barron was just born into this, and children are incredibly vulnerable to stress, especially long-term stress, especially long-term stress when one parent is a narcissist and cannot by nature provide emotional support.
Narcissists don't protect their children. They don't see them as children; they see them as little adults who stubbornly insist on behaving like children. When a narcissist makes a decision for the family, the childrens' welfare isn't considered. If a child has difficulty with a situation their narcissist parent put them in, the parent considers it weakness on the part of the child.
Every one of the revelations coming about about President Trump, the affairs, the corruption, the incompetence... for Barron, these are things he's finding out about his father. While the whole drama plays out on the international stage.
Meanwhile, he's in the most isolating environment imaginable.
He can't resign. He can't move out. He's a child.
There are a lot of tragedies that are unfolding as a result of President Trump's election, and many of them are playing out on much larger scales. But take a moment to consider the absolutely epic, Shakesperian tragedy levels involved in being this particular man's son at this point in history.
posted by MrVisible at 11:52 AM on April 15, 2018 [71 favorites]
Just imagine if Cohen had been a black guy and had been hanging out with well-known gang members when he was supposed to be in court. The conservative outrage that would result could power a small city.
posted by angrycat at 11:53 AM on April 15, 2018 [47 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 11:53 AM on April 15, 2018 [47 favorites]
I think even this is too optimistic.
I think both are too pessimistic. If everything was irredeemably bad, Ds wouldn't be winning Trump +20 seats in rural Pennsylvania. Major GOP donors wouldn't be funding Ds and saying Ds need to take Congress. Sure, he'll never lose the crazies - and the crazies are 35% - but he, and especially Rs, can't win nationally with 35%. We've seen time and again that Trumpism only really works for Trump. For others it's the kiss of death in generals.
The stock market is down 10% and very jittery. A trade war looms, the economy is fragile and unemployment has nowhere to go but up. Probably safe to say the best economic news of his presidency is behind him. Coulter and Jones and the crazies are turning on him for Syria, the Wall, the spending bill, TPP. The NBC poll above shows he's dropped 5% in R approval in the last month. He's losing people on the margins.
No one thing will take him down. It's death by a thousand cuts and the scenario of possible/probable revelations Davidson lays out is a fucking lot of deep cuts. All of which will further bleed support, further make Congress hard to hold. And once Rs lose elections, hopefully lose the House, lose speakerships and chairmanships and the ability to control subpoenas and investigations, the calculus changes. Will he be impeached? Who knows. But at that point he'll be an obviously criminal lame duck and a dead weight on their election possibilities, facing never ending investigations by numerous House committees, SDNY and hopefully Mueller. A tipping point might just happen.
posted by chris24 at 11:57 AM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
I think both are too pessimistic. If everything was irredeemably bad, Ds wouldn't be winning Trump +20 seats in rural Pennsylvania. Major GOP donors wouldn't be funding Ds and saying Ds need to take Congress. Sure, he'll never lose the crazies - and the crazies are 35% - but he, and especially Rs, can't win nationally with 35%. We've seen time and again that Trumpism only really works for Trump. For others it's the kiss of death in generals.
The stock market is down 10% and very jittery. A trade war looms, the economy is fragile and unemployment has nowhere to go but up. Probably safe to say the best economic news of his presidency is behind him. Coulter and Jones and the crazies are turning on him for Syria, the Wall, the spending bill, TPP. The NBC poll above shows he's dropped 5% in R approval in the last month. He's losing people on the margins.
No one thing will take him down. It's death by a thousand cuts and the scenario of possible/probable revelations Davidson lays out is a fucking lot of deep cuts. All of which will further bleed support, further make Congress hard to hold. And once Rs lose elections, hopefully lose the House, lose speakerships and chairmanships and the ability to control subpoenas and investigations, the calculus changes. Will he be impeached? Who knows. But at that point he'll be an obviously criminal lame duck and a dead weight on their election possibilities, facing never ending investigations by numerous House committees, SDNY and hopefully Mueller. A tipping point might just happen.
posted by chris24 at 11:57 AM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
> No one thing will take him down.
Yabut when someone is saying it's likely we've entered the "end stages" of the Presidency, I think it's reasonable to point out the immense floor there is on Trump's support. The electoral, economic, and foreign policy indicators you cite are relevant, but at the end of the day, we can't be in the end stages, except in the most loose application of that phrase, if none of those indicators are relevant to the people who can actually end his presidency.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:03 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yabut when someone is saying it's likely we've entered the "end stages" of the Presidency, I think it's reasonable to point out the immense floor there is on Trump's support. The electoral, economic, and foreign policy indicators you cite are relevant, but at the end of the day, we can't be in the end stages, except in the most loose application of that phrase, if none of those indicators are relevant to the people who can actually end his presidency.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:03 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
We can still be in the end stages of the Trump presidency while also being in the beginning stages of the Trump dictatorship.
posted by rhizome at 12:07 PM on April 15, 2018 [26 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 12:07 PM on April 15, 2018 [26 favorites]
But take a moment to consider the absolutely epic, Shakesperian tragedy levels involved in being this particular man's son at this point in history.
I suspect Barron will be just fine. Certainly far, far better than the many children whose parents are ripped away from them and deported by or whose parents die when we could have granted them asylum. Sympathy isn't a finite resource and I'm all for extending it even to scions of absentee multimillionaire parents, but let's also keep the scope of tragedy in perspective.
posted by This time is different. at 12:12 PM on April 15, 2018 [51 favorites]
I suspect Barron will be just fine. Certainly far, far better than the many children whose parents are ripped away from them and deported by or whose parents die when we could have granted them asylum. Sympathy isn't a finite resource and I'm all for extending it even to scions of absentee multimillionaire parents, but let's also keep the scope of tragedy in perspective.
posted by This time is different. at 12:12 PM on April 15, 2018 [51 favorites]
My gut instinct is that Trump's political fall will resemble Hemingway's old adage about how someone goes bankrupt: gradually and then suddenly.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:18 PM on April 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:18 PM on April 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
Meanwhile, he's in the most isolating environment imaginable.
Gee I don't know, he' got the greatest brothers and sisters to help look after him right?
posted by rc3spencer at 12:23 PM on April 15, 2018
Gee I don't know, he' got the greatest brothers and sisters to help look after him right?
posted by rc3spencer at 12:23 PM on April 15, 2018
If Barron ever realizes his father is a failure as a human being, he will have have surpassed all expectations for the Trump kids.
posted by benzenedream at 12:30 PM on April 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 12:30 PM on April 15, 2018 [35 favorites]
I've been wondering why there hasn't been more discussion in the media about this rogues gallery smoking cigars with Cohen
They're still trying to identify the participants. Laura Walker is working on it: Updated Michael Cohen entourage photo with verified identities - so far.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:31 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
They're still trying to identify the participants. Laura Walker is working on it: Updated Michael Cohen entourage photo with verified identities - so far.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:31 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
I suspect Barron will be just fine.
Indeed. Barron will undoubtedly be left with all the resources he could ever need to mitigate the damage his father is doing to him. He'll be able to afford all the therapy in the world, and likely never have to work a day in his life.
Of course, his father had the same thing, and chose not to pursue any of it. It is up to the person, to some degree.
Incidentally, the word "monster" comes from the latin "monstrum", from the root "monere": to warn or advise.
posted by mrgoat at 12:47 PM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
Indeed. Barron will undoubtedly be left with all the resources he could ever need to mitigate the damage his father is doing to him. He'll be able to afford all the therapy in the world, and likely never have to work a day in his life.
Of course, his father had the same thing, and chose not to pursue any of it. It is up to the person, to some degree.
Incidentally, the word "monster" comes from the latin "monstrum", from the root "monere": to warn or advise.
posted by mrgoat at 12:47 PM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
There are two upcoming events that could change things:
1) Mueller's report on obstruction of justice.
2) The end of the Republican primaries. The House and Senate primaries run through mid-September, with most happening in June and August.
These guys aren't profiles in courage; they do whatever they need to protect their own ass. Right now with the risk of facing a primary challenger they'll either cling to Trump or keep quiet about him. That could change when they risk being tied too closely to Trump in the general election.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:55 PM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
1) Mueller's report on obstruction of justice.
Mueller’s investigators have indicated to the president’s legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages — with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions.Just based on what we already know publicly it's hard to believe it would clear Trump, so it's likely to damage him and make him more toxic.
2) The end of the Republican primaries. The House and Senate primaries run through mid-September, with most happening in June and August.
These guys aren't profiles in courage; they do whatever they need to protect their own ass. Right now with the risk of facing a primary challenger they'll either cling to Trump or keep quiet about him. That could change when they risk being tied too closely to Trump in the general election.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:55 PM on April 15, 2018 [10 favorites]
What the fuck is Cohen wearing in that photo? It looks like a suit jacket Archie Bunker would have worn to a funeral.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:02 PM on April 15, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:02 PM on April 15, 2018 [11 favorites]
What the fuck is Cohen wearing in that photo?
Less Archie Bunker, more like this.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 1:15 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
Less Archie Bunker, more like this.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 1:15 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
Meanwhile, he's in the most isolating environment imaginable.
Gee I don't know, he' got the greatest brothers and sisters to help look after him right?
I first read this out of context and thought this was about Donald Trump. His siblings don't seem to be that close to him, and seem to know better than to get in his way.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:29 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
Gee I don't know, he' got the greatest brothers and sisters to help look after him right?
I first read this out of context and thought this was about Donald Trump. His siblings don't seem to be that close to him, and seem to know better than to get in his way.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:29 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I surmised in a thread about 10,000 years ago that after the Republican primaries might be a good time to expect impeachment.
I’d like to add a tinfoil hat and suggest the Republicans, knowing they’ll lose the House will go all in on saving the Senate by back stabbing Trump. Paul Ryan’s unusually timed retirement suggests something like this is happening. They’ll wait for Mueller’s report. Then Ryan and mostly Democrats in the House will impeach. Trump could resign, but he’s an egomaniacal dipshit, so he won’t. The Senate will *quickly* vote to convict and clear it from the electoral consciousness. Mike Pence and new VP Ryan will call for unity and distance themselves from all things Trump.
Sure, the House will flip due to the maga hats staying home. But the Senate, previously a toss up due to Trump anger instead leans hard Republican. Especially Missouri and Indiana, and forget about flipping Tennessee and Arizona.
This is my worst nightmare.
posted by Glibpaxman at 2:00 PM on April 15, 2018 [20 favorites]
I’d like to add a tinfoil hat and suggest the Republicans, knowing they’ll lose the House will go all in on saving the Senate by back stabbing Trump. Paul Ryan’s unusually timed retirement suggests something like this is happening. They’ll wait for Mueller’s report. Then Ryan and mostly Democrats in the House will impeach. Trump could resign, but he’s an egomaniacal dipshit, so he won’t. The Senate will *quickly* vote to convict and clear it from the electoral consciousness. Mike Pence and new VP Ryan will call for unity and distance themselves from all things Trump.
Sure, the House will flip due to the maga hats staying home. But the Senate, previously a toss up due to Trump anger instead leans hard Republican. Especially Missouri and Indiana, and forget about flipping Tennessee and Arizona.
This is my worst nightmare.
posted by Glibpaxman at 2:00 PM on April 15, 2018 [20 favorites]
5 of the 8 in Cohen's cigar smoking group are tentatively identified (the 8th, in back right, looks unconnected): Cohen, Rotem Rosen, Dan Elituv, Eyal Ben-Yosef, and Jerry Rotonda. All are associates of Alex Sapir.
Note: Jerry Rotonda is not the CFO of Deutsche Bank, as many have stated. He was the CFO of Deutsche Bank America's Wealth Management branch for six years until 2017 - when he resigned to join Rotem Rosen in founding MRR Development w/ Anand Mahindra, Indian billlionaire. He is still an advisor to Deutsche though.
posted by msalt at 2:00 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
Note: Jerry Rotonda is not the CFO of Deutsche Bank, as many have stated. He was the CFO of Deutsche Bank America's Wealth Management branch for six years until 2017 - when he resigned to join Rotem Rosen in founding MRR Development w/ Anand Mahindra, Indian billlionaire. He is still an advisor to Deutsche though.
posted by msalt at 2:00 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
I'm sure the publishers are loving the free publicity Trump is giving them. Isn't he supposed to understand how publicity works? Nevermind. He's bringing Harry Potter levels of anticipation to political literature, which I honestly did not think he would or could do.
If he called me a scumbag in a tweet I would put it on my resume. I would print it out and frame it.
posted by adept256 at 2:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [24 favorites]
If he called me a scumbag in a tweet I would put it on my resume. I would print it out and frame it.
posted by adept256 at 2:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [24 favorites]
What the fuck is Cohen wearing in that photo?
Ahem.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:08 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
Ahem.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:08 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
>>The media reacting to Trump’s tweets and letting him control the news cycle is malpractice by editors.
>I have to disagree. Downplaying the damage to the nation of the President's lies and outrageous statements, regardless of medium, would be malpractice.
If the media didn't report Trump's tweets, they wouldn't be damaging anything. Focusing on the tweets instead of Trump's policies is precisely how the press IS downplaying the damage.
They should be reporting what is happening IRL, but it's a lot easier to copy and paste his twitter feed, quote a pro- and anti- twitter response, and file your story after 15 minutes without having to check any facts or even call a source for a quote.
If the President "controlled the news cycle" in any way that effectively benefited his regime, his approval rating would be 70%, and Infrastructure Weeks would be about Infrastructure.
If Trump didn't control the news cycle, he wouldn't have been close enough to winning for Russia to push him over the line. At the end of the presidential debates, when voters saw the two candidates without mediation, Hillary had her largest lead of the campaign.
posted by msalt at 2:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]
>I have to disagree. Downplaying the damage to the nation of the President's lies and outrageous statements, regardless of medium, would be malpractice.
If the media didn't report Trump's tweets, they wouldn't be damaging anything. Focusing on the tweets instead of Trump's policies is precisely how the press IS downplaying the damage.
They should be reporting what is happening IRL, but it's a lot easier to copy and paste his twitter feed, quote a pro- and anti- twitter response, and file your story after 15 minutes without having to check any facts or even call a source for a quote.
If the President "controlled the news cycle" in any way that effectively benefited his regime, his approval rating would be 70%, and Infrastructure Weeks would be about Infrastructure.
If Trump didn't control the news cycle, he wouldn't have been close enough to winning for Russia to push him over the line. At the end of the presidential debates, when voters saw the two candidates without mediation, Hillary had her largest lead of the campaign.
posted by msalt at 2:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [12 favorites]
Axios, Trump tried to block Pence national security appointment
posted by zachlipton at 2:46 PM on April 15, 2018 [31 favorites]
Inside the West Wing: Trump was furious when he learned Pence was bringing on Nikki Haley's deputy Jon Lerner, according to three sources familiar with the events. The President believed Lerner was a card-carrying member of the "Never Trump" movement because Lerner crafted brutal attack ads for Club for Growth's multimillion-dollar anti-Trump blitz during the Republican primaries.This has been a really strange little subplot. Pence sharing an advisor with Haley set off a bunch of commentary that this was looking an awful lot like setting up a piece of a post-Trump alliance, or at least playing the moves you'd make if you wanted to prepare for that future.
"Why would Mike do that?" Trump wondered aloud about Pence's decision, according to two sources briefed on the President's private conversations.
Behind the scenes: Trump told Kelly to get rid of Lerner. On Friday, as turmoil unfolded, Pence's team was on the plane to Peru for the Summit of the Americas. Pence's team got wind of what was happening, and when Pence landed he called the President and talked him around on Lerner, according to administration officials familiar with the situation. Trump was in the Oval when Pence called.
posted by zachlipton at 2:46 PM on April 15, 2018 [31 favorites]
This atypically long and detailed report in Politico from a year ago goes into detail about the connections between Trump & Co. (Cohen, Felix Sater, Tevfik Arif and the late Tamir Sapir) and Putin associates (e.g. oligarchs Lev Leviev and Roman Abramovich) through the Port Washington Chabad-Lubavitch community center on Long Island.
Very helpful to understanding Cohen's cigar-smoking group and Trump's business generally. TL/DR: there's no way Trump is unaware of the criminal aspects of his business.
posted by msalt at 3:45 PM on April 15, 2018 [25 favorites]
Very helpful to understanding Cohen's cigar-smoking group and Trump's business generally. TL/DR: there's no way Trump is unaware of the criminal aspects of his business.
posted by msalt at 3:45 PM on April 15, 2018 [25 favorites]
In the era of Donald Trump, New England’s biggest GOP donor is funding Democrats
We don't have the luxury if worrying about this yet, but once the blue wave hits, there will undoubtedly be a lot more corporate and mega-donor money moving from red to blue.
While it will help take congress initially, it will also provide plenty of ammunition for the populist end of both parties to demonize the Democratic party and start building momentum back toward whatever the GOP turns into, or at least away from Dems.
Massive campaign finance reform would be a huge step to both counter that narrative and to fix electoral politics in general. I only hope the Dems have the balls to get it done despite the corporate money influx, and the brains to make it happen before becoming branded as corporate cronies.
posted by p3t3 at 4:28 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
We don't have the luxury if worrying about this yet, but once the blue wave hits, there will undoubtedly be a lot more corporate and mega-donor money moving from red to blue.
While it will help take congress initially, it will also provide plenty of ammunition for the populist end of both parties to demonize the Democratic party and start building momentum back toward whatever the GOP turns into, or at least away from Dems.
Massive campaign finance reform would be a huge step to both counter that narrative and to fix electoral politics in general. I only hope the Dems have the balls to get it done despite the corporate money influx, and the brains to make it happen before becoming branded as corporate cronies.
posted by p3t3 at 4:28 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2018, in which, surprise, Trump is off to Mar-a-Lago tomorrow.
monty-python-run-away.gif
posted by zachlipton at 4:30 PM on April 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
monty-python-run-away.gif
posted by zachlipton at 4:30 PM on April 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
@RealDonaldTrump Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past. I have many (too many!) lawyers
More than one-fifth of the Trump campaign's spending this year has been on legal fees (Buzzfeed): "President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign has spent about $835,000 in legal fees so far this year, or about 22% of its total spending, according to the latest fundraising reports filed quarterly with the Federal Election Commission. [...] The campaign’s legal consulting spending went to at least eight different firms and the Trump Corporation. The bulk of the spending, about $350,000, went to Jones Day, which has represented the campaign since the 2016 election, including any litigation related to it. Two others firms — Harding LLP and Larocca, Hornik, Rosen, Greenberg & Blaha, which are involved in the legal fight with Daniels — were paid a combined $280,000."
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:32 PM on April 15, 2018 [18 favorites]
More than one-fifth of the Trump campaign's spending this year has been on legal fees (Buzzfeed): "President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign has spent about $835,000 in legal fees so far this year, or about 22% of its total spending, according to the latest fundraising reports filed quarterly with the Federal Election Commission. [...] The campaign’s legal consulting spending went to at least eight different firms and the Trump Corporation. The bulk of the spending, about $350,000, went to Jones Day, which has represented the campaign since the 2016 election, including any litigation related to it. Two others firms — Harding LLP and Larocca, Hornik, Rosen, Greenberg & Blaha, which are involved in the legal fight with Daniels — were paid a combined $280,000."
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:32 PM on April 15, 2018 [18 favorites]
I'm kind of surprised that a year in, they've only spent $1m on legal fees. That seems kind of low, given the stakes.
posted by suelac at 4:55 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by suelac at 4:55 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
The report is for the first 3 months of 2018.
posted by marguerite at 4:59 PM on April 15, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by marguerite at 4:59 PM on April 15, 2018 [17 favorites]
Cohen is not a lawyer. Trump's his only client, and he does no legal work for him. Cohen exists solely to "fix things" and handle Trump's business transactions. Nice racket.
Maybe they will re-open the case into Trump's New York real estate fraud. The emails there were fantastic. I don't have it handy, but it was literally Eric emailing the rest of the family: "Hey guys, let's not forget that what we're doing is totally illegal. Don't talk to anyone! The media cannot find out about our agreeing to lie to people about what these properties are really worth, ok? Make sure to email me back that you understand!" Given what they wrote then maybe there are some bombshells on Cohen's tapes, though the message he's sending by hanging out with that murderer's row while he's supposed to be in court sure makes it look like he's not worried...
I really don't think Trump is the worst president we've had. Bush wins that Prize. Nixon was more evil. If you look at his tapes you see a racial slur every five seconds mixed to the tune of completely amoral planning involving trampling on everything decent. But... Trump wins for utter stupidity and dangerous unpredictability. I seriously believe he could wake up and decide to nuke North Korea for political cover. I won't sleep well until he's out of office.
posted by xammerboy at 4:59 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
Maybe they will re-open the case into Trump's New York real estate fraud. The emails there were fantastic. I don't have it handy, but it was literally Eric emailing the rest of the family: "Hey guys, let's not forget that what we're doing is totally illegal. Don't talk to anyone! The media cannot find out about our agreeing to lie to people about what these properties are really worth, ok? Make sure to email me back that you understand!" Given what they wrote then maybe there are some bombshells on Cohen's tapes, though the message he's sending by hanging out with that murderer's row while he's supposed to be in court sure makes it look like he's not worried...
I really don't think Trump is the worst president we've had. Bush wins that Prize. Nixon was more evil. If you look at his tapes you see a racial slur every five seconds mixed to the tune of completely amoral planning involving trampling on everything decent. But... Trump wins for utter stupidity and dangerous unpredictability. I seriously believe he could wake up and decide to nuke North Korea for political cover. I won't sleep well until he's out of office.
posted by xammerboy at 4:59 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
WSJ, Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Used the Same Delaware Company for Payment Deals to Two Women
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, used the same Delaware limited-liability company in two secret deals relating to alleged sexual encounters involving his clients, according to people familiar with the matter.The investigation is also looking into whether he told the truth on his loan application.
Venture capitalist Elliott Broidy paid an initial installment of $62,500 to the company, Essential Consultants LLC, as part of Mr. Cohen’s $250,000 total fee for negotiating a nondisclosure agreement related to Mr. Broidy’s affair with a former Playboy model who alleged he had impregnated her, a person familiar with the matter said.
Federal prosecutors are examining money flowing in and out of Essential Consultants as part of a broad investigation into Mr. Cohen’s activities to silence women with allegations against Mr. Trump or those in his orbit, according to people familiar with the matter.
...
Mr. Broidy paid the remaining fee installments totaling $187,500 directly to Mr. Cohen after the Journal revealed in January that the Clifford payment was made through Essential Consultants, the person said.
...
Separately, Mr. Cohen succeeded around 2013 in killing a story Us Weekly was preparing about an alleged affair between Donald Trump Jr., who had been a judge a year earlier on the television show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” and one of the contestants, Aubrey O’Day, a member of the singing duo Dumblonde, according to people familiar with the matter.
...
According to the people involved in the US Weekly matter, the magazine then owned by Wenner Media had what staffers believed to be a solid source on the alleged affair and called the Trump Organization for comment. They received a call back from Mr. Cohen, who threatened legal action and became so irate that they muted the call while he spoke, one of these people said.
“We were all on speakerphone and huddled around the phone,” this person said. “He was just one of these New York characters where he was just like swearing at us and totally over-the-top threatening.”
The magazine’s staff didn’t believe it was a big story that would be worth a legal fight and had a good working relationship with the elder Mr. Trump on stories related to the TV show “The Apprentice,” so they dropped the story.
posted by zachlipton at 5:00 PM on April 15, 2018 [21 favorites]
Sure, the House will flip due to the maga hats staying home. But the Senate, previously a toss up due to Trump anger instead leans hard Republican. Especially Missouri and Indiana, and forget about flipping Tennessee and Arizona.
This is my worst nightmare.
Successful impeachment before the midterm elections, and then Democrats flip the House? Tomato, to-mah-to: your worst nightmare is me feeling like I’m being way too optimistic.
posted by box at 5:04 PM on April 15, 2018 [15 favorites]
This is my worst nightmare.
Successful impeachment before the midterm elections, and then Democrats flip the House? Tomato, to-mah-to: your worst nightmare is me feeling like I’m being way too optimistic.
posted by box at 5:04 PM on April 15, 2018 [15 favorites]
... as part of Mr. Cohen’s $250,000 total fee...
This dude is running a racket against rich GOPers who can't keep their marriage vows intact. I bet 100 internet funbucks he's in cahoots with that slimy Davison lawyer the whole time.
posted by PenDevil at 5:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [15 favorites]
This dude is running a racket against rich GOPers who can't keep their marriage vows intact. I bet 100 internet funbucks he's in cahoots with that slimy Davison lawyer the whole time.
posted by PenDevil at 5:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [15 favorites]
The other interesting thing in that story is that it confirms that First Republic received "a subpoena from federal authorities about the Stormy Daniels transaction, conducted an internal investigation, and then filed a Suspicious Activity Report with FinCEN. Somebody in the federal government started investigating this months before anything to do with Daniels was public knowledge.
posted by zachlipton at 5:14 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 5:14 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
This dude is running a racket against rich GOPers who can't keep their marriage vows intact.
Interesting thing is it sounds like he and Davidson ran the same scam on Trump.
posted by duoshao at 5:34 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Interesting thing is it sounds like he and Davidson ran the same scam on Trump.
posted by duoshao at 5:34 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Hoo boy. WaPo, Trump, a reluctant hawk, has battled his top aides on Russia and lost, in which we're reminded that anything that might look like we're getting tough on Russia is against the President's wishes:
President Trump seemed distracted in March as his aides briefed him at his Mar-a-Lago resort on the administration’s plan to expel 60 Russian diplomats and suspected spies.posted by zachlipton at 5:35 PM on April 15, 2018 [46 favorites]
The United States, they explained, would be ousting roughly the same number of Russians as its European allies — part of a coordinated move to punish Moscow for the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil.
“We’ll match their numbers,” Trump instructed, according to a senior administration official. “We’re not taking the lead. We’re matching.”
The next day, when the expulsions were announced publicly, Trump erupted, officials said. To his shock and dismay, France and Germany were each expelling only four Russian officials — far fewer than the 60 his administration had decided on.
The president, who seemed to believe that other individual countries would largely equal the United States, was furious that his administration was being portrayed in the media as taking by far the toughest stance on Russia.
His briefers tried to reassure him that the sum total of European expulsions was roughly the same as the U.S. number.
“I don’t care about the total!” the administration official recalled Trump screaming. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Growing angrier, Trump insisted that his aides had misled him about the magnitude of the expulsions. “There were curse words,” the official said, “a lot of curse words.”
...
Initially, the president was hesitant to believe the intelligence that Russia was behind the attack — a fact that some aides attributed to his contrarian personality and tendency to look for deeper conspiracies. To persuade him, his advisers warned that he would get hammered in the press if he was out of step with U.S. allies, officials said.
“There was a sense that we couldn’t be the only ones not to concede to reality,” the Trump adviser said.
The next task was convincing Trump that he should punish Putin in coordination with the Europeans. “Why are you asking me to do this?” Trump asked in a call with British Prime Minister Theresa May, according to a senior White House official. “What’s Germany going to do? What about France?”
He was insistent that the poisoning in the English city of Salisbury was largely a European problem and that the allies should take the lead in moving against Russia.
From that Politico article linked above:
Arif, a former Soviet bureaucrat turned wealthy real estate developer, owns a mansion in Port Washington, an upscale suburb, but he makes a curious patron for the town’s Chabad. A Kazakh-born citizen of Turkey with a Muslim name, Arif is not Jewish, according to people who have worked with him. In 2010, he was arrested in a raid on a yacht in Turkey that once belonged to the founder of the modern Turkish state, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, and charged with running an international underage prostitution ring. Arif was later cleared of the charges.
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
posted by gucci mane at 5:37 PM on April 15, 2018 [18 favorites]
Arif, a former Soviet bureaucrat turned wealthy real estate developer, owns a mansion in Port Washington, an upscale suburb, but he makes a curious patron for the town’s Chabad. A Kazakh-born citizen of Turkey with a Muslim name, Arif is not Jewish, according to people who have worked with him. In 2010, he was arrested in a raid on a yacht in Turkey that once belonged to the founder of the modern Turkish state, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, and charged with running an international underage prostitution ring. Arif was later cleared of the charges.
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
posted by gucci mane at 5:37 PM on April 15, 2018 [18 favorites]
Interesting thing is it sounds like he and Davidson ran the same scam on Trump.
Doesn't it seem more likely that the GOP ended up paying for it? Although, to be fair, we don't know how many other complainants Trump paid off before the Daniels revelations.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:40 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Doesn't it seem more likely that the GOP ended up paying for it? Although, to be fair, we don't know how many other complainants Trump paid off before the Daniels revelations.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:40 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
@DustinGiebel: The new Wes Anderson film looks bad
posted by Going To Maine at 5:49 PM on April 15, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 5:49 PM on April 15, 2018 [27 favorites]
and charged with running an international underage prostitution ring
In the fullness of time, we will discover that just as with everything else, Pizzagate was pure projection.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:58 PM on April 15, 2018 [51 favorites]
In the fullness of time, we will discover that just as with everything else, Pizzagate was pure projection.
posted by adamgreenfield at 5:58 PM on April 15, 2018 [51 favorites]
I am way less worried about Barron and Tiffany specifically because Trump has no interest in them and ignores them. Look what happens with kids he likes (or "likes"). Tiffany was more fortunate to get raised on the other coast, but Barron seems to be one of Melania's few interests in life and if she has any energy, it probably goes to him. Also, rich folks live in big houses, so there's plenty of space to avoid, including the WH.
I love that definition of monster, btw. I've always thought that it's more of a warning, as in "unidentified species, don't know if it's friendly or not but does seem to be large with big teeth."
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love that definition of monster, btw. I've always thought that it's more of a warning, as in "unidentified species, don't know if it's friendly or not but does seem to be large with big teeth."
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
From TPM: Trump Demands Chance To Review His Files Seized In Raids On Michael Cohen.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:34 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:34 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
It doesn't appear Trump is spending any time with Barron. I'm pretty sure his relationship with Melania is over too, he just doesn't know it yet.
posted by xammerboy at 6:36 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by xammerboy at 6:36 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't think either of them care a bit for each other at this point. I believe the rumor mill that except for this presidential thing they would have divorced by now.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:45 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:45 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
Is someone working on New Thread? This one seems a little too long in the tooth to handle the Comey interview and its aftermath.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:47 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:47 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
The question now before the Court is, who should perform the initial review of the seized materials to assess whether they are, or are not, subject to a valid claim of privilege: a taint team consisting of colleagues of the prosecutors assigned to this investigation, or the President, who is the holder of the privilege and, as such, has a unique interest in ensuring that every privileged item is fully protected from improper disclosure? The question answers itself.
It sure fucking does, shitbag
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:48 PM on April 15, 2018 [22 favorites]
It sure fucking does, shitbag
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:48 PM on April 15, 2018 [22 favorites]
I think Trump genuinely believes that attorney-client privilege means that you can enter into criminal conspiracies with your lawyer and both be legally immune
posted by thelonius at 6:54 PM on April 15, 2018 [48 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 6:54 PM on April 15, 2018 [48 favorites]
Because that's the way the American Legal System works, right? At least for him and those like him.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:01 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:01 PM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I bet Trump's worried because he doesn't know what's in Cohen's files. Not only has Trump probably forgotten half the stuff Cohen worked on, but he knows Cohen had a practice of keeping salacious material in reserve. If I were Cohen I wouldn't stand near any open windows, now and for the foreseeable future.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:03 PM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:03 PM on April 15, 2018 [7 favorites]
He's pretty sure that's how it worked on that episode of The Sopranos he watched most of before a woman started talking and he got bored with it.
posted by Etrigan at 7:03 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 7:03 PM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
=================================>
GET READY MEFITES
BECAUSE THE NEW THREAD IS COMING
NICE AND NEW AND 'SMART'
=================================>
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [39 favorites]
GET READY MEFITES
BECAUSE THE NEW THREAD IS COMING
NICE AND NEW AND 'SMART'
=================================>
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [39 favorites]
Oh, bloody hell, ABC just released the full transcript from tonight's 20/20 interview with James Comey just when I hit "post" on the new thread.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]
I've hopelessly Tehhunded myself; I hereby declare thread bankruptcy and I will jump ahead to the shiny new Thread.
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:05 PM on April 15, 2018 [39 favorites]
Marla Maples (portrayed in 90s NYC tabloids as a dimwit floozy)
I've seen a bunch of this in my personal experience - some people are savvy enough to employ the 'dimwit floozy' appearance as a protective mechanism. I'm not surprised to find out just now that she's a small town girl (Cohutta, GA: population was 661 at the 2010 census).
On wikipedia she reads like she was a reasonably intelligent but super pretty young woman who chose to embrace the privilege of her physical appearance and used others' stereotyped perception of her as armour.
I thought at the time that if it was her who leaked the partial tax return, that that was a pretty elegant bit of nose-tweaking by her.
*edit: huh, it only just now dawned on me that she might have played DJT and got what she wanted out of him at a cost that she was willing to pay
posted by porpoise at 7:17 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've seen a bunch of this in my personal experience - some people are savvy enough to employ the 'dimwit floozy' appearance as a protective mechanism. I'm not surprised to find out just now that she's a small town girl (Cohutta, GA: population was 661 at the 2010 census).
On wikipedia she reads like she was a reasonably intelligent but super pretty young woman who chose to embrace the privilege of her physical appearance and used others' stereotyped perception of her as armour.
I thought at the time that if it was her who leaked the partial tax return, that that was a pretty elegant bit of nose-tweaking by her.
*edit: huh, it only just now dawned on me that she might have played DJT and got what she wanted out of him at a cost that she was willing to pay
posted by porpoise at 7:17 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
🍪🍪🍶
posted by petebest at 7:25 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by petebest at 7:25 PM on April 15, 2018 [5 favorites]
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posted by Doktor Zed at 10:12 AM on April 5, 2018 [31 favorites]