Patterico's Pontifications

5/19/2017

Trump, Comey, Russia And A “Significant Person Of Interest” Is Identified

Filed under: General — Dana @ 12:53 pm



[guest post by Dana]

According to The New York Times:

President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.”

The conversation, during a May 10 meeting — the day after he fired Mr. Comey — reinforces the notion that Mr. Trump dismissed him primarily because of the bureau’s investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives. Mr. Trump said as much in one televised interview, but the White House has offered changing justifications for the firing.

The White House document that contained Mr. Trump’s comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting. One official read quotations to The Times, and a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.

(On a side note, has the current trend of unnamed officials reading extremely sensitive, and possibly damaging documents over the phone to major media news outlets become the new norm in political reporting by those who claim to adhere to the highest of journalistic standards?)

Also breaking, from the Washington Post:

The law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign has identified a current White House official as a significant person of interest, showing that the probe is reaching into the highest levels of government, according to people familiar with the matter.

The senior White House adviser under scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president, according to these people, who would not further identify the official.

The revelation comes as the investigation also appears to be entering a more overtly active phase, with investigators shifting from work that has remained largely hidden from the public to conducting interviews and using a grand jury to issue subpoenas. The intensity of the probe is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks, the people said.

The sources emphasized that investigators remain keenly interested in people who previously wielded influence in the Trump campaign and administration but are no longer part of it, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Flynn resigned in February after disclosures that he had lied to administration officials about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Current administration officials who have acknowledged contacts with Russian officials include Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as Cabinet members Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Further down in the report, the focus turns to Jared Kushner:

The White House also has acknowledged that Kushner met with Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., in late November. Kushner also has acknowledged that he met with the head of a Russian development bank, Vnesheconombank, which has been under U.S. sanctions since July 2014. The president’s son in law initially omitted contacts with foreign leaders from a national security questionnaire, though his lawyer has said publicly he submitted the form prematurely and informed the FBI soon after he would provide an update.

Vnesheconombank handles development for the state, and in early 2015, a man purporting to be one of its New York-based employees was arrested and accused of being an unregistered spy.

That man – Evgeny Buryakov – ultimately pleaded guilty and was eventually deported.

For an insightful look at the term, “person of interest” that is used in this Washington Post report, follow this great thread here at Popehat, who right off the bat, observes:

“Person of interest” is a deliberately ambiguous term, evasive. WaPo reporters are smart and know that. Yet they don’t comment on it.

–Dana

671 Responses to “Trump, Comey, Russia And A “Significant Person Of Interest” Is Identified”

  1. It’s becoming increasingly hard to keep up and make sense out of all of this.

    Dana (023079)

  2. corrupt sleazy fbi trash leak like hillary’s diapers

    cowardly p.o.s. torture victim John McCain fakes orgasm in 3 .. 2 .. 1

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  3. Sure am glad we have a leakproof Special Counsel who abhors grandstanding.

    crazy (d3b449)

  4. Now follow the chain of custody from the note-taker to person who put the meeting summary together and distributed it to those who received it…

    crazy (d3b449)

  5. Oops, wrong tab.

    crazy (d3b449)

  6. “Chaos.”
    “Circus.”
    “Laughingstock.”

    Those were just a few of the comments I heard in Berlin this week from senior European officials trying to make sense of the meltdown in Washington…

    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/19/trump-middle-east-trip-saudi-arabia-215163

    Tillman (a95660)

  7. On a side note, has the current trend of unnamed officials reading extremely sensitive, and possibly damaging documents over the phone to major media news outlets become the new norm in political reporting by those who claim to adhere to the highest of journalistic standards?)
    I view it as a step up. At least the Grey Lady is telling us up front they are using a completely unreliable source.

    unregistered spy.

    I am sure all spies register themselves with the proper authorities as soon as they arrive.

    kishnevi (e93d54)

  8. 3. crazy (d3b449) — 5/19/2017 @ 1:21 pm

    Sure am glad we have a leakproof Special Counsel who abhors grandstanding.

    I’m not.

    We’ll find out even less now, because the commmittees and other people will defer to the investigation. (maybe they won’t)

    And if Rosenstein’s philosophy is followed, Mueller will say nothing unless he indicts someone, and then only about what’s in the indictment. And the committees still may not feel free to go ahead becauseof upcoming trial.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  9. At the closed door briefing of the Senators, Rod Rosenstein would say almost nothing.

    He did not say anything about why he wrote the memo (like who asked him) and what was the real reason Comey was fired, except that he did say that when he wrote the memo he already knew that Trump wanted to fire Comey.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  10. Lol, kishnevi.

    Dana (023079)

  11. I commented about this on an earlier post, here.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  12. The New York times story would seem to imply that the meeting with the Russians was not recorded (which is what I thought) except by the Russians, unless it was recorded completely secretly by someone on the American side and not used.

    We learn also now that some document was produced for wider circulation. Apparently theer is nothing in it about revealing secrets, or whoever read that to the New York Times chose not to share what it said.

    The Trump Administration should ask for the Russian transcript of their recording (after all don’t the Russians want to show that they memoriliazed the meeting correctly) telling them they can hand it over to a Congressional committee directly if they like.

    And maybe they should also ask for the recording of the subsequent meeting Trump had with Henry Kissinger.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  13. Dana, this is just a guess, but here’s what I think explains the “reading aloud” business.

    Comey knows that by leaking — either directly or through proxies, but I’d bet $100 his leaks include being a direct source for Jake Tapper at a minimum — he’s deliberately breaching, at a minimum, continuing contractual obligations he has to maintain the FBI’s confidentiality policies. And those deliberate breaches of regulations may also have potential criminal-law implications. At some point, a leaker can be guilty of obstruction of justice, after all!

    Comey’s judgment was irretrievably compromised by his decisions to color outside all of the lines on the Clinton email matter. And then he was recklessly, and probably deliberately, humiliated by Trump in the manner of this firing, which likely has further compromised his judgment.

    But he’s made the calculation that he’ll accept whatever risks attend his current leaking, presumably based on some “greater good” excuse for now doing something indisputably rogue by leaking this way.

    Having taken that plunge, he nevertheless doesn’t want to make it too easy for someone to prove his culpability in the leaking. He knows that he himself is going to be, inevitably, a witness. He surely knows that most good lawyers, in cross-examining him, wouldn’t just stop by asking “Have you ever given a copy of the memo to Jake Tapper?” He knows a good lawyer would also ask, upon receiving a “no” answer to that question, a follow-up question: “Did you otherwise communicate the content or gist of the memo to Jake Tapper?”

    At that point Comey has to say (unless he’s willing to perjure himself), “Yeah, I gave a copy to my buddy/colleague Mr. Smith, so Mr. Smith could read it aloud to Tapper.”

    So going through the drill of using a proxy isn’t an effective shield unless it’s against an incompetent questioner. But sometimes a coy witness lucks out and does indeed get an incompetent questioner. I vividly recall beating my head against the wall in frustration when reading the transcript of Bill Clinton’s first deposition in the Paula Jones case. The follow-up questioning, the questioning necessary to actually pin down Clinton’s story, was slipshod at best. Had it been more competent, it wouldn’t have left Clinton free to debate what the meaning of “is” is.

    Bottom line: this kind of coyness wouldn’t surprise me, and indeed I’d expect it. Ultimately I doubt that it will turn out to be very consequential. But I can’t rule that out.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  14. Remember that Comey has been an artful leaker — sometimes delegated to perform that exact role — for decades. This is just an offshoot of the whole “plausible deniability” concept, applied specifically to the leak context.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  15. (I’m guessing “Mr. Smith” was Benjamin Wittes, btw.)

    Beldar (fa637a)

  16. Right now on Fox they’re discussing the newest comments by “Comey’s Friend”.

    Comey’s friend is code for Senator Chuck Schumer.

    That’s the way I read it anyhow.

    Prove me wrong.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  17. Comey’s friend/Schumer says it made Comey feel icky when Trump hugged him.

    I don’t know Chuck. Unless things take a happy turn Jim Comey might have to get used to being hugged by icky men alot.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  18. Under DoJ rules, “subjects” and “targets” must be explicitly warned that they have been so classified before they’re subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury. Prosecutors therefore have to be very careful about making those determinations and using those terms; they train themselves to be reflexively careful, and un-limbering one of those terms is going to dramatically reduce all chances of voluntary cooperation from the individuals under consideration. Any defense lawyer who’s been letting his client talk to law enforcement authorities under the assumption that the client is a mere witness will immediately instruct his client to thereafter take the Fifth and cease all cooperation upon confirmation of “subject” or “target” status.

    “Person of interest” is thus a deliberately vague, deliberately ominous terms that prosecutors can use in trying to twist arms: “Your guy isn’t a subject or a target — yet — but he’s definitely a ‘person of interest.’ If you want to keep him in that status, bring your guy in to talk to us again.”

    But here, it’s being used in these leaks to sex up the story. In our “ham sandwich nation,” when an ambitious federal prosecutor can find a way to indict the proverbial ham sandwich, I’m sure that every top Administration official and everyone in the White House has made so many official statements and signed so many required-disclosure forms that they all could be, arguably, “persons of interest.”

    So yeah: Deliberate smearing that relies upon public passion and ignorance. This is certainly unfair to Trump and his team. But Trump and his people have handed their enemies the ammunition now being shot at them.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  19. I do love Ken White’s line in that twitter link, Dana:

    And no, adding “significant” doesn’t make it less ambiguous. That’s like saying “no, I STRENUOUSLY object!”

    I’m awfully fond of “A Few Good Men,” but not of its purported screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, whom I have good reason to despise (for reasons I’m obliged to keep to myself).

    See, that’s being coy.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  20. Again, when does the DOJ begin investigating the nest of snakes 🐍 that are leaking classified info and unmasking American citizens. These are felonies and are most likely committed by people on Capitol Hill and NSA. This soft coup began even before Trump was elected. VDH called it… a soft coup perpetrated by Democrats, Democrat operatives with bylines, celebrities, #NeverTrump and – in some cases – the colluding Republican leadership.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  21. This is off-topic but yesterday Mike K described me as a Trump hater and that bothered me all day. I am no more a Trump hater than he is a Trump lover.

    I am worried about Trump’s abilities and temperament, but I don’t hate people who are lacking in skill or intellect. I worry about their ability to do their jobs, especially when they have a job as important as President that directly impacts our lives. I am mentioning this here because there are people who hate Trump — people he has hurt may hate him (especially homeowners adversely affected by his developments and his unsecured bankruptcy creditors), fired employees and people he has personally attacked may, too. But I don’t hate Trump. He is too small a man to feel anything but pity.

    DRJ (15874d)

  22. “Having taken that plunge, he nevertheless doesn’t want to make it too easy for someone to prove his culpability in the leaking. He knows that he himself is going to be, inevitably, a witness. He surely knows that most good lawyers, in cross-examining him, wouldn’t just stop by asking “Have you ever given a copy of the memo to Jake Tapper?” He knows a good lawyer would also ask, upon receiving a “no” answer to that question, a follow-up question: “Did you otherwise communicate the content or gist of the memo to Jake Tapper?”

    At that point Comey has to say (unless he’s willing to perjure himself), “Yeah, I gave a copy to my buddy/colleague Mr. Smith, so Mr. Smith could read it aloud to Tapper.”

    True middle school mean girl fashion… can’t even make this up.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  23. Also, some of these reporters may hate him but some of them may love him. He is a moneymaker for journalism so it’s hard to tell how they really feel.

    DRJ (15874d)

  24. I wonder if any of us are hated as the result of performing our own job responsibilities in whatever line of work we’re in?

    George W. Bush was sure hated. I don’t think the man deserved it. For example.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  25. @ Col. H: I’ve posted before about how difficult it is to go back upstream, through reporters who’re relied on confidential sources, to identify and convict leakers.

    However, one of the credentials mentioned by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in his confirmation hearings last March was his prosecution of a government leaker, General James E. Cartwright: Former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Pleads Guilty to Federal Felony in Leak Investigation. While U.S. Attorney for Maryland, Rosenstein was drafted for this assignment to work in conjunction with DoJ’s National Security Division (Counterintelligence).

    If he’s doing it, and he’s doing his job right, there will be no indication that it’s happening until pretty far along in the process. So don’t hold your breath, but don’t despair either.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  26. They feel overcome with joy at discovering a very durable self loading piñata.

    Rick Ballard (55deaa)

  27. Queeg is dicking his own Nixon.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  28. @24- DRJ, if you recall, Watergate didn’t move too many WaPo papers at the start. Don’t believe journalists are chasing a buck; just pursuing a story to ground.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  29. If one has a position of responsibility and in performing the duties associated with same can advantage or disadvantage, or adversely affect the well-being of other individuals whether lawfully or not, one is bound to be hated by some.

    This is ideological in nature, perpetrated by entrenched people who will not stand for the election of an outsider.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  30. @1. Heard that line before… back in ’73 and ’74.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  31. One can remain hopeful, Beldar. Thanks.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  32. CNN reporting WH lawyers researching impeachment procedures.

    Step 1. Using a damp cloth, wipe off all jowel prints…

    Step 2. Have manservant prepare tray of sliced fruit for family…

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  33. But I don’t think those reporters would have pursued the Watergate investigation if we’d had a Democratic President, DCSCA. Even if they weren’t political as young reporters, they would have never asked for or received permission from the editors to stay on the story with a Democratic President.

    DRJ (15874d)

  34. I’ve now seen the video clip of Comey in his blue suit trying to blend in with the Oval Office curtains, as breathlessly reported by all major media sources, at least 200 times. Yep, the suit and the curtains are the same color! Proof right there of obstruction of justice, isn’t it?

    But Trump’s own suit is almost the exact same shade of blue. Is he also trying to camouflage himself against the Oval Office drapes? It looks at a glance, in fact, like roughly 70% of the men in the room are wearing blue suits.

    This falls in the category of “juicy details told by excited people who feel aggrieved.” It proves exactly nothing, however, and it’s a pretty good example of how something which “advances the narrative” for CNN/DNC’s purposes would be laughably pathetic (indeed, likely to boomerang) if tried in court against a capable opponent.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  35. I wonder if any of us are hated as the result of performing our own job responsibilities in whatever line of work we’re in?

    Probably, deserved or not, but how we do our jobs makes a difference. Doing it respectfully and carefully earns more good will than doing it carelessly and arrogantly, don’t you think?

    DRJ (15874d)

  36. @12. Sammy, can’t imagine a TASS-fotogger wielding a digital camera that is more than a digital camera,, eh…. that records, dices and slices…

    They were idiots for letting them in the Oval.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  37. Most of this tripe was supposed to go to ‘limey’ mensch
    What actually happened a long time ago
    http://www.maxholland.info/2013/08/former-assistant-attorney-general-stan-pottinger-on-confidential-sources-mark-felt-aka-deep-throat-a.html

    narciso (d1f714)

  38. @34. Oh sure they would. DRJ. Party affiliation wasn’t the issue–the crime beyond the burgulary was the cover-up when McCord sent that letter to Judge Sirica and pulling on that thread is what unraveled it.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  39. I’m concerned dana, he hasn’t addressed the Rhodes road show, they moved one official nourazadeh off, but there’s a whole nest still there, pompeo seems a potted plant, that the carnage in caracas is only noted on passing, then again the pace that would have to catch up to be glAcial in Congress is more concerning.

    narciso (d1f714)

  40. Felt could look at the grand jury transcript and leak the story to Woodward that evening that’s dictation not reporting

    narciso (d1f714)

  41. Probably, deserved or not, but how we do our jobs makes a difference. Doing it respectfully and carefully earns more good will than doing it carelessly and arrogantly, don’t you think?

    Yes, it should make a difference. However, what’s considered “careful” or “respectful” can be fairly subjective and open to interpretation.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  42. @6. No cries of ‘ratings grabber’ eh?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  43. 35… wait just a minute, Beldar. Are you saying CNN is an organization full of hacks and prone to be purveyors of fake or biased news?

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  44. 39… and with that, the last thin gossamer of his credibility vanished as if it never existed.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  45. @Dana– on your ‘side note’— beats scrawling notes on a pad in a parking garage at 2 AM.

    Kudos to America’s free press for pressing this from every angle of attack.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  46. @41. You can go review their notes to see– believe they’re at a university for study now. More remarkable is how many decades his identity was kept under wraps.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  47. DCSCA… may your time here be as long as Bob Beckel’s career on cable news.

    Colonel Haiku (c230be)

  48. Breaking news- NBC News reports: Comey agrees to testify in open Senate Intel hearing after Memorial Day.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  49. The palace coup continues to advance. Every day I think that the Washington Post could not be more virulently anti-Trump, but I’m always wrong.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  50. he’s so corrupt and skeevy he’s probably already traded his testimony to soros and tortureboy mccain for a lamborghini

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  51. Comey agrees to testify in open Senate Intel hearing after Memorial Day.

    wasn’t the whole point that drama queen comey, being a corrupt showboating fbi slut, *wanted* to testify in an open hearing?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  52. yes, but this way Comey ensures the questions will be all about Trump firing him not his never-ending snipe hunt

    crazy (d3b449)

  53. @48. Haiku! Gesundheit! Wipe you nose and try not to cry.

    Fox fired a racist, bounced their sexists and cremates their founder… They’re turning into MSNBC before your red, watery eyes, Colonel.

    “…weep no more my lady….” — My Old Kentucky Home

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  54. @52. Happy, what are the Vegas odds he wears a blue suit?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  55. 49. But is he [Comey] going to answer the questions?

    Rosenstein today briefed House members. He still didn’t say anything. Although we already know from leaks that Sessions asked him a question he already knew the answer to. Then brought Rosenstien over to Trump where he expressed his opinion that he had already told Sessions. And then he was told to take what he said and write it up.

    There are other newspaper stories that Comey was “training” Trump and thought by mid-March that he had him (or his staff anyway) trained not to ask questions.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/us/politics/james-comey-memo-fbi-trump.html

    Mr. Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, the editor in chief of the Lawfare blog and a frequent critic of Mr. Trump, recalls a lunch he had with Mr. Comey in March at which Mr. Comey told him he had spent the first two months of Mr. Trump’s administration trying to preserve distance between the F.B.I. and the White House and educating it on the proper way to interact with the bureau.

    Mr. Wittes said he never intended to publicly discuss his conversations with Mr. Comey. But after The New York Times reported earlier this month that shortly after his inauguration Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey for a loyalty pledge, Mr. Wittes said he saw Mr. Trump’s behavior in a “more menacing light” and decided to speak out.

    Mr. Wittes said Mr. Comey told him that despite Mr. Trump’s attempts to build a personal relationship, he did not want to be friendly with the president and thought any conversation with him or personal contact was inappropriate.

    Their conversation took place after Mr. Comey’s phone call with the president, Mr. Wittes said, and Mr. Comey told him that his relationship with the president and the White House staff was now in the right place.

    “‘I think we’ve kind of got them trained,’” Mr. Wittes said, paraphrasing what Mr. Comey told him.

    Sammy Finkelman (0e8c82)

  56. Comey had told Trump he was not under investigation, but Trump wanted him to say that publicly.

    There was also something that Comey wanted to say publicly that DOJ (Rosenstein?) was not allowing him to say.

    That was that Trump had not personally been the target of any wiretap.

    Sammy Finkelman (0e8c82)

  57. a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.

    Unless the NYT is being really coy and trying to obfuscate the possibility that this second official was one of the Russian visitors, this points to someone currently on the White House staff.
    Are there any Obama holdovers still there?
    If not, this means at least one member of Trump’s own staff is cooperating with the Times, albeit not as the primary leaker. (Of course the official who read the quotes over the phone could have pre-arranged matters with the second official.)
    Trump being Trump, I can even imagine him thinking this will help his cause, and arrange the leak himself. But that’s speculation.

    kishnevi (98ea1b)

  58. Best 30 seconds of television today: watching First Lady Melania from behind walk up the steps boarding Air Force One. A tail in motion hasn’t looked that sweet since Billy Wilder filmed Marilyn trotting past a train.

    “Must be the way the weight is distributed.” – Joe [Tony Curtis] ‘Some Like It Hot’ 1959

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  59. one ping, vassili

    Hunt for Red October 1990

    http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=369841

    narciso (d1f714)

  60. Sweet jaysus, DCSCA. When you’re not researching tedious movie quotes, you’re choking your chicken as you leer at the TV.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  61. DCSCA, you do realize that the major malfunction is Trump is only promising to commit every single mistake every other administration has committed since time immemorial.

    I could say I’ve lost faith in Trump. Except go back and look. Look at my comments. I had any.

    We are going to war with the NORKs or Iran, maybe both. This is the last thing I would have wanted, because as a member of the naval service I couldn’t even enjoy going to general quarters in peace time. it is inevitable. It results from America’s favorite passtime. Kicking cans down the road.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  62. An entire week of anonymous sources trying to destroy the new president and the people who work for us. It is despicable and destructive to the nation.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  63. 65. Well, how just how and what kind of creepy? Is it the kind of creepy that confirms nk’s previous assertions about The Donald re Roy Cohn et al?

    urbanleftbehind (620b9a)

  64. @61. Haiku! Gesundheit! Wipe your nose.

    Oh my, Colonel, had no idea you played pitcher and catcher for the other team. Easy to see why you’re offended. And to think even Fox televised it, too.

    “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” – Jerry Seinfeld ‘Seinfeld’ NBC TV

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  65. 59

    It AIN’T TEH MEAT ITS TEH LOTION

    It ain’t teh meat it’s teh lotion
    That makes DCSCA wanna rub
    It ain’t teh meat it’s teh lotion
    It’s the tight grip on his nub
    Well, he’ll take a girl that’s so darn thin
    There ain’t much to her but bones and skin
    One thing about her he can’t understand
    She looks like a woman and not his hand
    It ain’t teh meat it’s teh lotion
    That makes DCSCA wanna rub
    It ain’t teh meat it’s teh lotion
    It’s the tight grip on his nub

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  66. @62. The ‘major malfunction’ is he is surprisingly clueless about civics at that level– even with the best of advice around him. Checks and balances to him are something to do w/a bank statement. A few of these misfires could be overlooked but whether you embrace his intent and mission or not, his steadfast refusal to learn, to take advice and to stop self-inflicting wounds is going to lead to impeachment proceedings.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  67. look at the slide show, and compare with inspector dreyfus’s apocryphal testimony,

    narciso (d1f714)

  68. urbanleftbehind (620b9a) — 5/19/2017 @ 5:23 pm

    First, one must understand that nk is the voice of one, crying in the wilderness. Then one can proceed.

    felipe (023cc9)

  69. @narciso, you have to stress test the equipment. You owe it to your men. So they know you didn’t send them to their deaths with inferior equipment.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  70. @67. Haiku! Gesundheit! Wipe you nose.

    Jealousy is so unbecoming Snow Pea; you can’t help it her legs are better than yours.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  71. the whole dossier dammerung, reminds of the trust,

    http://edwardjayepstein.com/diary/rocca.htm

    this was a false front, Dzerzhinsky put up to entrap white Russians and other counterrevolutionaries, the cubela plot against fidel, was of a similar nature,

    narciso (d1f714)

  72. the whole dossier dammerung, reminds of the trust,

    narciso (d1f714) — 5/19/2017 @ 5:44 pm

    I see what you did there, I like it.

    felipe (023cc9)

  73. “Are there any Obama holdovers still there?” and a private firm

    The chief usher was fired a couple weeks ago but there are still plenty of household staff for Trump to replace before he can begin to spend weekends at the WH rather than a Trump property. Who could he trust to guarantee security (other than personal safety) at the moment? The IC and the FBI both have keen axes still being whetted and a private firm would have access problems. Beyond that, trust is generally an even exchange. Trump has absolutely nothing to offer.

    Rick Ballard (55deaa)

  74. this is deadly serious steve, as you well know,

    http://www.atimes.com/article/trumps-nsc-aide-sidelined-hardline/

    I guess david Sullivan in the early 80s was an analog,

    narciso (d1f714)

  75. look how much barbed wire, they put around inspector dreyfus, the nazgul screams when they tried to unravel the surveillance net

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-ordered-tactics-have-left-isis-no-escape-jim-mattis-says/article/2623628

    narciso (d1f714)

  76. @62. And if any other sitting president– from JFK to Reagan; to the Bushes or Obama and so on had said and done, they’d be under the same scrutiny as The Donald is.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  77. Alan Dershowitz was just opining that there is no basis for this investigation. What’s the crime to which this special counsel is responding? There’s no crime even being alleged. For example even if Trump asked Comey to let it go, it is within his discretion to do that. Dershowitz expects Trump will emerge unscathed… 1 or 2 years later.

    Which probably explains why the Democrats, their surrogates in the media and #NeverTrump colluders are doing it… trying to cripple the administration and prevent progress on his agenda and policies.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  78. @77. Well, it’s a ‘wall,’ anyway. Locale is a mere detail. Just cross it off the list.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  79. 78… I call bullsh*t, even you don’t believe that.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  80. @81. Call? You should be dining on several bowls of it by now given how he’s disappointed you.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  81. it was a metaphor, Obama used the tarp to take over the autocompanies, and his designated commissar, put gop supporting dealerships out of business, lesson learned, he attacked the late Gerald walpin, because he was looking into his pal kevin Johnson’s sweet deal with Americacorps,

    narciso (d1f714)

  82. “And if any other sitting president– from JFK to Reagan; to the Bushes or Obama and so on had said and done, they’d be under the same scrutiny as The Donald is.”

    – DISCO

    I’ve made it back in time for comedy hour. Good deal.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  83. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT9Qh0FZ7-w&feature=youtu.be

    The Donald’s gonna have one sweet ride to Saudi Arabia.

    The plane’s not bad either.

    Orange hair. Orange leather.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  84. 85… Half-witted witticism, light as a feather

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  85. take jfk the dauphin they all drooled over, he made a promise during the campaign to support the anti castro resistance, but first he second guessed the landing site, a little like the crew in Armageddon, then washed his hands of those he had sent into battle, kruschev took the measure of the man in Vienna, and did what he had already promised in the summer of 1960, meanwhile he engaged in half measures, mongoose is the kind of operation, typical to the east bloc, with nearly as much success, and ignored growing reports of the placement of men and material by the soviets, our finest hour, poppycock, this was a game of chicken we very nearly lost,

    narciso (d1f714)

  86. @86. Haiku! Gesundheit! Wipe your nose.

    Stubble again, Sweet Pea? Give up the razor. Use Nair.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  87. @87. … or fully understood. Whatza ‘Cuber’??!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  88. then we have his successor lyndon Johnson, well as moyar pointed out, the diem coup set back the Vietnam project even before the landing at pleiku, he did seem eager to intervene in Dominican republic, to clean up some wet work that had happened to Trujillo, re the former he didn’t quite get cause and effect, as we basically exported the mongoose operation to the gulf of Tonkin, with similar results,

    narciso (d1f714)

  89. of course re the dauphin, we may have been too focused on Judith exner, and ellen rometch, one a gangster’s moll, and another a suspected stasi agent to be focusing on issues of state,

    narciso (d1f714)

  90. 87… right out of the blocks, jfk hosed it, narciso. Spamelot.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  91. A pet peeve of mine as a former military member and later a defense contractor.

    If we were seeing money passed hand over fist to the contractors I didn’t see it. And I was working on contracts among other things.

    When i don’t have to travel the world to test a starter motor for a tank that’s supposed to work under all conditions no matter if arctic or tropical. Whem I don’t need to rent planes to drop it into a lake from 30 thousand feet several times just to see if it still starts the tank, every time, then we can talk. Then I will admit its unfair for defense contractors to charge more for starter motors than you are willing to pay for at *Autozone.

    *I like Autozone.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  92. now we come to Nixon, well as I pointed out, Johnson, probably bolloxed things from the start, however, Nixon was maladroit in presenting his redeployment plan, that involved training forces to take over us responsibilities, he was confronted by irrational folk, who didn’t realize all the bad broth that had been cooked before, the predecessors of the antifa, like the sds, and the resistance, the mobe and other sundry outfits, the modest support operation in Cambodia, was like throwing a red cape to the bulls, and the futile gestures of lake watts, and co, well they’ll need to confront that in the afterlife, of course there was the aftermath of the pueblo incident to deal with,

    narciso (d1f714)

  93. Full disclosure. I don’t know a damned thing about Army tanks. It was a metaphor.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  94. @95. Tanks for your honesty.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  95. Nixon had the same problem Trump has: the media had it in for him.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  96. I have to admit I never really groked the brilliance of Kissinger, accepted a treaty in 72, they could have had in 68, Negroponte was one of those who dissented so they sent him to thessalonika, a rather remote post, embracing the greatest murder, per capita in mao, stalin was in the playoffs,
    which got us the Khmer rouge, as a parting gift, in this hemisphere, I suppose chile was an obvious move, but it was conducted as an arms length transaction,

    narciso (d1f714)

  97. yes, but as the saying goes water is wet, we’re lucky some of the antifa, haven’t moved to adopt their predecessors maximalist agenda, but I’m not sanguine they won’t get there, now will there be a mark felt, who fumbles the ball, he handled the weatherman’s surveillance poorly, and that came out in the wash after Watergate,

    narciso (d1f714)

  98. they published the Rosenstein memo, but effectively ignored it,

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/05/19/nut-job-mainstream-media-propaganda-khalidi-tape/

    narciso (d1f714)

  99. person of interest is identified means one thing to the Washington Post, and something all together different to the rest of Christendom.

    There was this clown on the Five defending the media saying just because they reported all of these leaks that turned out wrong doesn’t mean you get to ignore what they have to say in the future.

    In every single instance of reportage upon topics I have personal experience with, the media has without fail missed key facts and inserted details which were flat wrong.

    THAT”S WHEN THEY WERE TRYING TO GET IT RIGHT!

    Now when they’re maliciously trying to smear I’m supposed to trust their unidentified made up figments of libels and slanders?

    Oh {edit] no.

    Names dates details and video or it didn’t happen. That’s the standard.The socialist media is way over drawn at the Bank of Trust. Three months late on their payment.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  100. I know he is not of the body, but hear him out:

    ttp://insider.foxnews.com/amp/article/55959

    narciso (d1f714)

  101. @96, I don’t know shiite about tanks. But I do know there is no expense spared to provide the boys and girls in uniform the best we can provide.

    I know, I know, I’m giving away secrets, sez the know-nuttings.

    People have been throwing s**t out of aircraft, just to see if would work after the crash landing, since since the U.S. Civil War. Hot air balloons, anyone?

    I can[t imagine what clause of the Constitution I can be violating that wasn’t written by Lenin.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  102. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=us+navy+destroyer+drag+race&&view=detail&mid=B29A7037A0A08A4CE23DB29A7037A0A08A4CE23D&FORM=VRDGAR

    Engineers, what’s wrong this? Shouldn’t you be able to deliver this kind of speed oh a moment’s notice.

    Of course it’s stupid to imagine ships outrunning aircraft. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  103. The latter was a rhetorical question @10l00 P.M. as I already know the answer.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  104. But don’t call it a coup.

    NJRob (520017)

  105. Nixon had the same problem Trump has: the media had it in for him.

    The media had it in for Reagan, too, but Reagan didn’t help them, like some.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  106. There is a Democrat war room out there, dedicated to sticking barbs into the Trump bull, and watching the terribly predictable result.

    One of three things will happen:

    1) Trump will get a clue and STFU.
    2) Trump will get fed up with the BS and quit.
    3) TSWHTF, bigly.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  107. How do these republicans who backstab the American people look at their families with honor and pride? My gosh, these people are criminals and enjoy keeping the middle class down. If the media and the republican party do not change, the voters will. I told my republican rep. his sign up on my property will not happen again. All done with these smelly pieces of waste.

    mg (31009b)

  108. Well around this time, the dems with Chris ‘sandwich’ dodd in the lead were yelling vietnam re el salvador, ed asner was pushing in the press.

    narciso (d1f714)

  109. Back in the Reagan era, I should add.

    narciso (d1f714)

  110. I am mentioning this here because there are people who hate Trump — people he has hurt may hate him (especially homeowners adversely affected by his developments and his unsecured bankruptcy creditors), fired employees and people he has personally attacked may, too. But I don’t hate Trump. He is too small a man to feel anything but pity.

    DRJ, thank you for confirming my impression.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  111. Back in the Reagan era I was naïve enough to believe the saying “any publicity is good publicity” and that having a “celebrity spokesman” was a plus for almost any product. After being stuck at home with the TV on these last 8 months awaiting the (allusive) lung transplant I realize that once I get to see one of my favorite actors on late night TV or some dumbass leftist rally it’s just another let down. Why would I trust Morgan Freeman, Samuel L Jackson, Robert DeNiro about a product they endorse when they have shown themselves to be complete morons in politics? Why would I see another TV show or movie with them in it? Why would I support people with my hard earned cash who endorse economic and political philosophies I find repugnant and anti American?

    When these leftist pigs endorse calling a male a female because they “identify” as one they deny reality. They are promoting a lie. When they fly around the world burning fossil fuel and live in mansions (several of them ) while telling me I should pay more for energy and the planet is in trouble I know they are liars. When 95% of news people supported Hillary and they try and tell me (between anti Trump cheers) that they’re “objective” they’re lying. When they talk about impeachment because of an unsubstantiated “leak” by an unknown/unnamed source they’re lying.

    Then we have mg insist after 8 years of Obummer and only 5 months of Trump it’s the Republicans who have backstabbed the American people and who have no honor and pride. Gove me a friggin’ break.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  112. DRJ, I’m not picking on you. This site has been the source of Trump hate since before the election.

    I was a regular reader and commenter before that and chose to go elsewhere. I started to edge back as the tone moderated.

    My concerns about Trump are that he is an odd type, probably better suited to New York City real estate and TV game shows but he has made a fortune and seemed to want to do some things that the usual politician is unable or unwilling to do.

    The country has more and more come under the rule of the Administrative State, also referred to as The Deep State.

    That seems to consist of the career bureaucracy of the federal government (California has its own problems with the local version) and the intelligence agencies that have grown wildly since 9/11.

    The usual politicians in the federal government, especially the legislature, have become totally dependent on the “donor class” which funds them. That is why Trump’s self funded campaign was probably the only way to break their hold.

    The donor class want open borders and unlimited immigration. That seems to include Muslim immigration even though Muslims are not significant economic contributors to the societies they have invaded in Europe. Most are on welfare and they seek to enter the countries with the “best” welfare programs.

    The McCain-Feingold law made politicians even more dependent on donors and these days most legislators in DC spend their time “Dialing for Dollars” while their staffs write legislation. The staffs, of course, are members of the Deep State.

    The only way to break this iron triangle of politicians, donors and bureaucrats seemed to be to elect a total outside who was not dependent on any of them. Plus he offered to do it with his own money with what contributions people like me were willing to make.

    I contributed more to Romney but I don’t give money to parties or most politicians anymore.

    Trump certainly has his idiosyncrasies but maybe a guy a little crazy was the only one willing to take on the Deep State.

    Right now we are watching a slow, or not so slow, motion coup d’etat.

    If Trump goes down, as you seem to hope, the country will be lost. It will survive for a while with the left controlling the economy and the culture wars a rout, but it will not be a place I want to live.

    There is not much good about being almost 80 years old but not watching what you Trump haters will accomplish is one of them.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  113. I dunno about all that, Rev Hoagie and Mike K, but as for me, if I could travel back in time, I would tie Senator Ted Kennedy to a chair and beat him to death with a lead pipe. Since I can’t, maybe Chuck Schumer would do… oh, I dunno… there are so many options when it comes to the Left.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  114. I don’t hate him. I don’t think that he’s qualified to be President anymore than Anthony Weiner is.

    gim·crack
    ˈjimˌkrak
    adjective
    1. flimsy or poorly made but deceptively attractive.
    “plastic gimcrack cookware”
    synonyms: shoddy, jerry-built, flimsy, insubstantial, thrown together, makeshift; More
    noun
    1. a cheap and showy ornament; a knickknack.

    nk (dbc370)

  115. Therein lies the rub as they say, the election wasn’t about trump as this attempted checkmate isn’t either, I’m not sanguine about the trip to the kingdom because their official and the voice of the strest are something different.

    narciso (d1f714)

  116. As for #NeverTrump, as they lay around and dream of a President Ted Cruz, I just hope they wake up and notice the house is on fire.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  117. On the one hand, without the Cuban adjustment act It’s unlikely I would be here, I suppose you would consider that a blessing, otoh the hmo the outreach to facilitate andropov and chernenko, something only mentioned in passing that counts against him, and of course Mary Joe kopechne.

    narciso (d1f714)

  118. The usual politicians in the federal government, especially the legislature, have become totally dependent on the “donor class” which funds them. That is why Trump’s self funded campaign was probably the only way to break their hold.

    If you really believe that Trump’s campaign was self-funded, and that he did not fully pander to his donor class, not out of need but out of greed (see e.g. Betsy DeVos, the WWF lady, and the other plutocrats in cabinet and cabinet-level positions), well ….

    nk (dbc370)

  119. Betsy devos is still against the juggernaut, consider the primal scream in rolling stone, or the turbas in Bethune Cookman last week, as for mcmahon, she went on two kamikazi runs in Indian territory, before choosing this other path.

    narciso (d1f714)

  120. I don’t hate him. I don’t think that he’s qualified to be President anymore than Anthony Weiner is.

    And who would you elect ? Cruz probably. Another Senator with no (zero!) administrative experience.

    Personally, I would like to see Cruz on the Supreme Court and Trump might just be the guy to do it.

    I just hope you are young enough to get the full “benefit” from your hatred.

    I don’t know how he stands up to this.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  121. Now there is another mirror on that tome:

    http://jimhougan.com/wordpress/?p=96

    narciso (d1f714)

  122. I think the closest parallel to Cruz, was Phil crane, he ran for office somewhat earlier than the Illinois congressman but he’s an important resource.

    It’s hard to tell what’s what in scaramanga’s hall of mirrors

    narciso (d1f714)

  123. Now this belongs in the other thread, but it’s manifestation of derangement nonetheless

    http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=369845

    narciso (d1f714)

  124. Derangement is more often an obsession for something than it is an obsession against something.

    Mike K, I like you and always have, but the “hatred” you think I exhibit for Trump does not come near the hatred I think you exhibit for brown people. And there’s no politician (I agree with you about Cruz, BTW) I would ever view as a capital “S” Savior the way you seem to view Trump.

    nk (dbc370)

  125. It’s hard not to be a cynic in the windy city, but can we focus on things of substance, and not all this chaff.

    narciso (d1f714)

  126. does not come near the hatred I think you exhibit for brown people.

    Where in the world did that come from ?

    I guess I missed something during the months I have not been reading this blog.

    Is this a joke ? A hallucination ?

    Mike K (f469ea)

  127. You have not complained about the “browning” of America and Northern Europe and “multiculturalism” on more than one occasion? And how should I interpret your comment about Muslims up the thread?

    nk (dbc370)

  128. No I still haven’t forgiven him for letting Simpson get away with murder,
    Or endorsing Obama twice:

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/05/19/alan-dershowitz-starts-warning-democrats-about-nothingburger/

    narciso (d1f714)

  129. 130.Derangement is more often an obsession for something than it is an obsession against something.

    However, Mike K was talking about the type of derangement that is against something, that something being Trump. You’re pointing out things with nothing to do with his point. keep up.

    Mike K, I like you and always have, but the “hatred” you think I exhibit for Trump does not come near the hatred I think you exhibit for brown people.

    Ka-Boom! That sure didn’t take long, did it? Hey, Mike K, you filthy racist ba$tard, you have no right to an opinion on neverTrumpers and the obvious coup being perpetrated in America cause you hate on them brown people. So Keep yo racist mouf shut till mg ax fo it.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  130. And you want to abort them all, we’ve already gone full herod,

    narciso (d1f714)

  131. There are more egregious examples, many have which have been dealt with by our host, but sure one could go to the extreme and interpret anti-California-ism as anti-brown, not just anti-Brown.

    urbanleftbehind (847a06)

  132. Those of who live in California, you realize how many compartments have flooded and there is no way to right this ship, why would you want to extend this to the rest of the country.

    narciso (d1f714)

  133. Typical lawyerly horsesh*t out of Chitown.

    Colonel Haiku (273e2b)

  134. I didn’t know Muslims were “brown people.” The ones I know are Caucasian but they must be mutants or something.

    I am always amused by the left’s concern about “brown people” and their inability to function in life without the left’s assistance and domination. If you doubt that, look at any black conservative and the reception he/she gets from the left.

    One small example might be the new Miss USA 2017.


    A nuclear chemist won the Miss USA 2017 contest. For all the criticism that pageants receive for being too much about beauty and not enough about brains, this should be the headline.

    But the new Miss USA is in the news for other reasons. Kara McCullough, from Washington, DC, is facing a backlash for her views on health care and feminism.

    Her comments should open the door for a serious conversation about these issues among young people.

    When asked if she thought affordable health care is a right or a privilege for U.S. citizens, the 25-year-old scientist at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission answered:

    I’m definitely going to say it’s a privilege. As a government employee, I am granted health care. And I see firsthand that for one to have health care, you need to have jobs. So therefore, we need to continue to cultivate this environment that we’re given the opportunities to have health care as well as jobs to all the American citizens worldwide.

    Uppity black girl. Just because she’s a nuclear chemist she thinks her opinion is valid.

    You see how that works, nk?

    Mike K (f469ea)

  135. 133.You have not complained about the “browning” of America and Northern Europe and “multiculturalism” on more than one occasion? And how should I interpret your comment about Muslims up the thread?
    nk (dbc370) — 5/20/2017 @ 6:49 am

    I take it then you believe white becoming the minority in America is a good thing for the country? Why do you feel (not think) the United States is some how obligated to reduce it’s white majority in favor of other races? What’s your stand on sending moslems to Japan and Mexicans to Somalia and Somalians to Israel? And what gives you the right to give my birthright away to a moslem, Mexican or Kenyan?

    There is nothing more racist than anti white racists preaching racism to people who allow more diversity than almost any nation on earth. America is a white country, don’t like it? Bye-bye.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  136. Yes crimethink must be stamped out forever,

    narciso (d1f714)

  137. It isn’t about ethnicity it’s about culture, Dubois despite his PhDs (One might say because but that’s a whole other story) didn’t understand this country, but Booker t did, same with Obama or Keith Ellison vs carson and col eest

    narciso (d1f714)

  138. If you want to get personal, Hoagie, the same right you claim to give my natural born American daughter’s white Christian birthright to immigrant Korean Buddhists. Knock it off, ok? You like your foreign non-white invaders just fine, you just don’t like ours.

    nk (dbc370)

  139. You like your foreign non-white invaders just fine, you just don’t like ours.

    This is getting more incoherent. nk, I worry about you.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  140. Yes but she is not going to have that opportunity because the academic vandals have torn down the temple, how does one write understand in greek?

    narciso (d1f714)

  141. Hoagie knows what I’m talking about. You have been away from these comment threads, and it’s noncupatory anyway.

    nk (dbc370)

  142. While the political axis of power returns to the good old days of ’68, POTUS returns to realpolitik.

    crazy (d3b449)

  143. Is that cromulent word, the colonels in their awkward way kept the papandreoi away but within a generation they were back and scuppered the country

    narciso (d1f714)

  144. I could have kept the conversation at a higher level and continued to ignore accusations of derangement and Trump hatred, I suppose. Meaning, “I didn’t start this”.

    I’ll applaud Trump when he does good and defend him when he is unjustly attacked by the Left. But I’m not going to join the “Trump can do no wrong because he’s Trump” cult. He’ll always be the 1973 Pinto, chosen over the 1966 VW minibus, to me and I’ll always be worrying whether he’ll break down or blow up before we go another mile.

    nk (dbc370)

  145. You have been away from these comment threads, and it’s noncupatory anyway.

    Yes, I have and may be so again but you did attack me for something that doesn’t make sense.

    I understand there are plenty of “brown people” in Raqqa, if you have a desire to be among them.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  146. I understand there are plenty of “brown people” in Raqqa, if you have a desire to be among them.

    You have said that before, to me, almost verbatim, accompanied by other sentences that included “browning of America” and multi-culturalism”. You may remember it, but it’s not important if you don’t. I won’t search for a link to it.

    nk (dbc370)

  147. Dobyi no provyi, let’s wait and sea, like with the next season of star wars rebels, otoh run far away from alien covenant.

    narciso (d1f714)

  148. What do you hear on Spanish tv 24/7 the latest on the late Juan Miguel, the Spanish Elvis, previews for yet another series about a drug kingpin, not takes of cops fighting the infestation, sub zero rversions of access Hollywood and the latest two minute hate for trump, with w it didn’t matter he was on their side with amnesty because of Iraq, and before that something else.

    narciso (d1f714)

  149. Mike K 116,

    You’re welcome, and thank you for confirming mine. You aren’t worth talking to.

    DRJ (15874d)

  150. And fox when not encouraging wholesale debasement with empire and shots fired, is seeding paranoia with the rick ross story.

    narciso (d1f714)

  151. So mass media is painting Latino culture as corridos and lounge singers and hip hop for African American culture

    narciso (d1f714)

  152. You aren’t worth talking to.

    Goodbye.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  153. I want to be clear, Mike K. I respect your medical knowledge and abilities. I would welcome a chance to talk about medicine, especially to learn from you and to share some concerns I have that i think you cold help me with. I also admire your experiences and your desire to help others. But I do not respect your attitude toward those who disagree with you.

    DRJ (15874d)

  154. You don’t need to leave, if that’s what your Goodbye means. I am leaving for The Jury.

    Here is what I hate, Mike K. I hate what has happened to this comment section.

    DRJ (15874d)

  155. Mueller must investigate all of it or it’s worthless…

    “Robert Mueller’s investigation will be incomplete if he does not deal with and resolve the competing narratives about what has transpired. Narrative one is that Donald Trump and/or one or several of his entourage colluded in some manner with the Russians over election 2016. Narrative two is that Democrats and much of the media have not accepted the results of the election and are smearing Trump to drive him from office or seriously wound him to the degree that he will accomplish nothing.

    Although it is possible there is an element of truth in both narratives, it is more likely that one or the other is what we could call the “prevailing truth.” To get at this truth, three areas that are inextricably tied together must be investigated. They interweave like story elements in a novel and form what might be called the über-narrative of American politics over the last several years. For Mueller to separate them or to disregard any of the three will mean his investigation is essentially a useless charade. They are:

    One: the matter of the Hillary Clinton email server. This has resurfaced dramatically in the firing of James Comey, reasons for which are laid out in Rod Rosenstein’s memo. Whether he wrote this memo before or after Trump decided to get rid of Comey is immaterial since the Deputy AG has now stated he stands behind its contents. Further to this portion of the narrative is the overall question of putative Russian government hacking into the Clinton campaign. So far we have seen no public evidence that this is true. We have actually seen circumstantial evidence (the Seth Rich murder) to the contrary. Mueller must also explain why the DNC refused to open its servers to the FBI after it was supposedly hacked by the Russians and why the FBI, incredibly, acquiesced in this. The questions here are endless—including why the FBI gave immunity in so many cases and allowed for the destruction of evidence. If Mueller seeks to resuscitate the reputation of the agency, he’d better provide us full explanations for all this. At this point, declaring key evidential material “top secret” will only be met by justifiable disdain.

    More… https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2017/05/19/mueller-must-investigate-everything-or-its-worthless/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  156. I don’t appreciate the constant ragging on the president with the occasional “if he ever does something right I’ll mention it” tacked on as a fig leaf.

    96% – that’s the ratio of negative media reports on President Trump. Stalin, Mao, Castro, Saddam, and Bin Laden all were given a more even handed generous coverage.

    If Mr. Trump does something good you will never hear about it, because your heads too far up your [edit], and a bigot on top of that first handicap.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  157. I would offer a piece of advice to everyone reading here to google up the transcript of Tucker Carlson’s interview last night with Alan Dershowitz.

    Dershowitz proudly proclaims he’s not a Trump supporter, he voted for Hillary Clinton.

    But he does a very good job of explaining that there is likely no federal crimes involved in any of the Russian/Trump Campaign issues to the extend that details at this point are publicly known.

    Further, he makes a very good point which I agree with and have tried to make here more than once — Trump, as duly elected President and constitutionally possessing ALL POWERS of the Executive under Article II, has every LAWFUL right to direct the Attorney General or FBI Director to shut down any investigation for any reason he deems appropriate.

    The AG and FBI Director possess authority to investigate and prosecute solely as a result of being a operational part of the Executive. They have no independent authority at all.

    The President could lawfully and constitutionally make a determination that any further investigation of Russia and or the campaign is, on balance, more harmful to the overall national interest because it undermines efforts to gain greater cooperation from Russia in the global fight against radical Islam. On that basis, because the continuing investigation is interfering with critical foreign and military affairs, he could order Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller, and the new FBI Director to close the investigation as a matter of “prosecutorial discretion.”

    The Justice Department closes investigations on a daily basis, even when there is evidence of criminal activity, solely as a function of there being more important cases to pursue. Its always a matter of balancing costs and rewards.

    Trump might take a political hit for doing so, but he would be within his constitutional rights if he simply said “ENOUGH” and told everyone to find something else to work on.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  158. One last time.

    But I do not respect your attitude toward those who disagree with you.

    And that consists of?

    But I don’t hate Trump. He is too small a man to feel anything but pity.

    DRJ, thank you for confirming my impression.

    So, you say he is “too small a man to feel anything but pity” and I say this equals hate and you say :

    But I do not respect your attitude toward those who disagree with you.

    I think I got it. My opinion is not able to disagree with yours.

    I left this blog because of the Trump hate and I think it is not yet cooled off. It’s kind of sad you can’t see that.

    Why can’t you see that that sort of comment about a man who has made a billion dollars in real estate and is now trying to reverse the damage that 8 years of Obama have done is hateful ?

    I’ve not accused you of wanting to take a shot at him but there are others who do want to and may yet do so.

    Anyway, it’s not worth debating. At least not with those who take disagreement as an insult.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  159. I point out alvaro uribe’s op ed, up thread, because he had all the right credentials, a doctor not a developer, with some political experience, which was used against him subsequently, (he was part of the airport authority, in Barranquilla, figure what that entails,) he cut through the Gordian knot, of guerillas and the cartels, but they painted him a would be dictator, his successor, Guillermo santos, by all accounts, an honorable man in the 80s, was corrupted by the international blandishments of being a peace maker, the Oscar arias syndrome in spades,

    narciso (d1f714)

  160. Because of over-policing in communities of color and racial profiling, African-American and Hispanic individuals are more likely to receive traffic tickets than white and Asian individuals and are four to sixteen times more likely to be cited for driving without a license without also being cited for an observable offense. –KFI AM-640

    That’s as close as you are likely to ever get to an honest report on illegal aliens in California.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  161. Throwing racism accusations against anyone who is against illegal immigration, the Islamification of Europe/the West or who dares to criticize dishonest race-baiters is the lowest, vilest form of content and the exact opposite of honest debate.

    Leave it for the Lefties, its all they have and it helps make them look as ridiculous as their ideology.

    btw – I also think Trump is unfit for office, same as I felt about Barack Obama and Ma Clinton. The Republican party would have its hands full as it is keeping him on track but with a media 90% dead-set against anything conservative it’s almost an impossible job.

    But they also told me Trump being elected was impossible….up to the evening of the election.

    Never stop calling out the lying liars and let’s see what happens.

    harkin (299d24)

  162. oh btw – I don’t hate Trump I just don’t understand him.

    harkin (299d24)

  163. Here’s a great example from a CNN story out this morning that completely misunderstands the power of the Presidency under Article II:

    Sources say Comey had reached no conclusion about the President’s intent before he was fired. But Comey did immediately recognize that the new President was not following normal protocols during their interactions.
    As The New York Times has reported, after numerous encounters with the administration, Comey felt he had to set the parameters of appropriate protocol very clearly. After the President asked Comey to let it be known publicly he was not under investigation, Comey told the President that if he wanted to know details about the bureau’s work he should ask the White House counsel to communicate with the the Justice Department, according to the Times.

    A duly elected President is entitled to tell the FBI Directer “Screw your protocols and parameters. Answer my questions.”

    Presidents come into power with all the powers under Article II. They are not hamstrung by pre-existing “protocols” put in place by the prior administration.

    Just as Obama could lawfully suspend immigration enforcement by simply starving the agencies charged with enforcement of manpower and resources, Trump could tell the FBI “I consider obstruction of Justice to be low priority offense, and I want you to focus your resources in other areas.”

    The FBI works for the President, not the other way around.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  164. he did the same thing to alberto Gonzalez, with the cooperation of Robert Mueller, thirteen years ago, ‘he felt Ashcroft pressured’ then, over a surveillance program, that was much more modest than the set up we have now,

    narciso (d1f714)

  165. @ # 168

    That’s from a story about how traffic fines are racist, and a legislators plan that with just a little rejiggering they could be focused on white people.

    CA: STATE LEGISLATORS Want Traffic Fines To Be Tied To Income…Because Of “Racism”

    California’s traffic fines are some of the highest in the nation.

    As regular as milking Bessie.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  166. @ shipwreckedcrew: I saw Dershowitz’ bit and was, like you, struck with his passionate embrace of the “unitary executive.”

    I agree with you both that it is the essential baseline for evaluating the raw constitutional power of the POTUS. We see the shadow of the “unitary executive” principle every time someone points out, “Well, Trump could theoretically fire Rosenstein (as Acting AG) for refusing to follow his (Trump’s) [hypothetical future] instruction to fire Mueller, and keep firing down the chain of ‘Acting AGs’ until someone follows the order and fires Mueller.” Firing is the ultimate in (civil) job compulsion. But not everyone takes the moment to ponder the consequences of the POTUS’ undisputed and indisputable right to fire anyone who’s an Article II employee of the federal government, including everyone at the DoJ and the FBI: He also has the right to instruct them, or in their absence someone else/new. And the only direct constitutional constraint on this power is impeachment; indirectly Congress can also push back at the margins through the power of the purse.

    But all that said, I don’t think the unitary executive theory ultimately helps Trump in his current troubles. In particular, I don’t think the unitary executive theory immunizes Trump from charges that, for example, firing Comey was part of a pattern of actions motivated by a conscious, specific intent intent on Trump’s part to obstruct a criminal investigation that might embarrass or even implicate him.

    What it should do, however, is oblige those arguing an obstruction of justice theory against the POTUS to find examples of Trump doing and saying things which have no alternative, proper explanations available for them. In firing Comey, for example, and in most other personnel decisions, Trump had plenty of other plausible reasons for firing Comey than to somehow interfere with or impede the FBI’s on-going national security investigation and spun-off criminal investigations (so far publicly leaked to reveal investigations of Manafort and Flynn, but there may already be others underway that haven’t leaked, or others than may be undertaken based on newly acquired evidence). The fact that this POTUS, or any POTUS, may choose to short-cut the normal chain of command within the Executive Branch in such actions isn’t proof, by itself, of any improper purpose because the POTUS does indeed always have that right under the unitary executive doctrine.

    But when and if a POTUS gets into actions or statements for which there aren’t legitimate explanations other than obstruction, then the POTUS isn’t saved from that evidence by the unitary executive theory.

    Suppose Trump directly phones the FBI agent who’s about to interview Paul Manafort and instructs him: “Don’t ask Manafort a single question about me, including meetings I was at or messages I was sent.” The unitary executive theory says that Trump has that constitutional power; he need not go through the chain of command all the way down through DoJ and the FBI, and he need not immediately jump to dismissal in order to take a discretionary action out of an Article II subordinate’s hands. But when the House Judiciary Committee begins to consider an article of impeachment for obstruction of justice based in part on that instruction to the FBI agent not to ask Manafort about Trump, then Trump isn’t going to be able to defend himself adequately on the basis that yes, he had the constitutional power to do what he did. Having the power isn’t inconsistent with exercising it, intentionally, to achieve an illegal purpose (like obstruction of justice).

    Beldar (fa637a)

  167. That’s just the pretext like the red light cameras, that are one armed bandits from Arizona, in the guise of safety.

    narciso (d1f714)

  168. There has to be an underlying criminal charge and that is by no means certain, how many times do we have to go through this merrygoround?

    narciso (d1f714)

  169. I likewise agree with you, shipwreckedcrew, that Trump could, consistent with the Constitution and his powers as the Executive thereunder, instruct everyone in the Executive Branch (including the FBI and DoJ, plus CIA, DEA, ICE, etc. — everyone with an Uncle Sam badge), to re-prioritize away from investigating and prosecuting obstruction of justice.

    But that would nevertheless be a damned powerful piece of circumstantial evidence indicating a corrupt purpose to achieve an illegal result (suppression of an investigation into him) — no different in theory than Bill Clinton coaching federal employees about to give depositions in the Starr investigation.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  170. No, not a “charge,” narciso — just an investigation. There was no underlying criminal charge in Plamegate, but there was an investigation — and Lewis “Scooter” Libby was convicted of false statements and obstruction of justice in connection with that investigation.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  171. TL, DR: Obstruction of an investigation, without an innocent reason, is evidence of guilt of both the underlying crime and the crime of obstruction of justice.

    nk (dbc370)

  172. 165 see >>> https://patterico.com/2017/05/19/trump-comey-russia-and-a-significant-person-of-interest-is-identified/#comment-1999902

    Watching that interview should help folks better understand what’s afoot.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  173. Hell, they even got me doing it.

    I mean what’s the real headline of this post?

    That President Trump, despite media interference, managed to paste a new nickname on “Nut Job” Comey.

    I would have gone with “Phone-a-Friend” Comey, but that’s one of the reasons I’m not President.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  174. So… expressing a hope for something is now obstruction of justice? You are not a serious man.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  175. But Beldar has the right of it, in the comment he posted just before mine. Only an investigation. Even if it finds no crime.

    nk (dbc370)

  176. 178… what came first… a chicken or an egg?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  177. “No different in theory than Bill Clinton coaching federal employees about to give depositions in the Starr investigation.”

    That seems like a streeeeeeetch.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  178. Streeeeeeeeeeetch” Beldar.

    Like Stretch Armstrong, but with an extra twist to the left.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  179. Looks more like the “powdering of America”… A SHOCKING DISCOVERY IN BOSTON: “The majority of individuals arrested last year for Class A drug trafficking in the city of Boston were not U.S. citizens and most of those non-citizens were Dominican foreign nationals.”

    https://howiecarrshow.com/bpd-dominicans-control-boston-heroin-trafficking/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  180. Let’s dispense with the notion that justice or even punishment is really involved it’s lawfare as wittes ironically named journal is described.

    narciso (d1f714)

  181. And we well know the malpractice in that case.

    narciso (d1f714)

  182. About two months ago, I finished reading Richard Norton Smith’s 2014 biography, On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller. Smith is an able writer, but the book was very difficult for me to get through: I set it aside several times in disgust over the book’s subject and his squirrely political career, and partially in disgust over Smith’s obvious approval of the very parts of that career which I found most repulsive.

    Rockefeller — an eccentric, high-profile, hard-partying New York billionaire with a life-long zipper problem — was an announced or at least rumored presidential candidate continuously from the late 1950s through 1976. Earlier in his career, he’d been a prominent Republican confidante and advisor of that great GOP hero, Franklin D. Roosevelt, throughout WW2. As the long-time governor of New York, he used financial tricks and bond gimmicks and crony capitalism to continuously inflate the size of state government, including a Bernie Sanders approach to college educations. He was complicit in New York City’s self-bankrupting, and nearly led New York State into similar financial collapse Suffice it to say that in every dictionary, Rocky’s photo ought to be next to the definition of “RINO.” He was the utter opposite of a movement conservative.

    He had the attention span of a gnat, lurching from passionate project to passionate project, whether in art or government or romance. He and his family developed — and proudly kept their name front and center on — a Manhattan office complex, Rockefeller Center, wherein resided the National Broadcasting Company, Radio City Music Hall, the Rainbow Room, and the Rockettes. He was dyslexic, secretly (for most of his life, anyway), and insisted that his aides condense their memos and briefs to single-page bullet-pointed items, which he then wouldn’t bother to read. He worked the NY press like a matador and was fixated on their headlines; he cultivated and punished members of the press and leaked like a sieve. And he lurched from political crisis to crisis, improvising constantly, working loyal staffers to and past burn-out stage, and constantly shooting himself in his own foot politically.

    Nelson Rockefeller was the most prominent Republican in New York, though — and far more prominent there, obviously, than elsewhere in the U.S. — throughout most of Donald J. Trump’s life. Intentionally or not, in many ways Trump’s career to date is an homage to Rockefeller’s unrealized ambitions, and Trump is a cartoon version of Rockefeller.

    Rocky had a sad end. By his death he’d alienated almost everyone and everything, and his mistress had to get help to dress his corpse and transport it across mid-town to a more appropriate place for it to be “discovered” after his fatal heart attack.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  183. Rocky had a sad end????

    Hell, by most accounts he went out with a smile.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  184. Eickenrode lost the , Mitchell and Gregory perjured themselves.

    narciso (d1f714)

  185. About two months ago, I finished reading Richard Norton Smith’s 2014 biography, On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller.

    I got about half way and bogged down. Rocky really was a lightweight.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  186. Yes but Nelson learned these skills running the coi in South america.

    narciso (d1f714)

  187. @118. There’s not much good about being almost 80 years old…

    Considering the alternative, for the rest of us, there’s plenty.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  188. @118. There’s not much good about being almost 80 years old…

    Considering the alternative, for the rest of us, there’s plenty.

    Not much but that’s one. That’s a line I used with patients for years,

    Mike K (f469ea)

  189. @118. There’s not much good about being almost 80 years old…

    Considering the alternative, for the rest of us, there’s plenty.

    Depends on what stage he was at. Red Sanders had the same end.

    The sad part was not calling 911 if he was alive. Instead she called her girlfriend and they sat there discussing alternatives while he faded away.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  190. @196. Then doctor, heal thyself.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  191. @197, Look, Doc, don’t want to be ‘rude’ but I’m dealing with an 86 year old mother daily who’s deep into dementia and early alz so every day, every hour is a treasure having her aware and around.

    So stow it.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  192. The media is better at trolling than Trump. When I heard the story that Comey “hid in the curtains at the Oval Office,” I pictured Comey hiding inside a curtain as Trump poked his head inside the room. But when I saw the story reported on TV, the story was now that his blue suit matched the curtains as it did for 3/4’s of the men in the room.

    I was trolled. Now we get this vague but scary phrase “person of interest.” Could it be someone who ordered a vodka martini?

    AZ Bob (07f1eb)

  193. You like your foreign non-white invaders just fine, you just don’t like ours.

    You really don’t get it do you nk? As of today about 1,000,000 or about 2.5% of ALL 44,000,000 legal immigrants to the US are Koreans. Does that sound like “invasion” to you nk? They have an average net worth of $245,000. Does that sound like they are on welfare nk? 47% are professionals and 45% own their own businesses. 89% are high school graduates, 57% college grads, 11% hold PhD’s. IOW, these folks want to come to America just like our forefathers did: to become Americans. They require their kids to speak American English (which I used to teach at the Korean Community Center) and graduate school.

    nk, my point is this is our country and we have a right to limit the number and the demographic of anyone wanting to come here. America was founded by, built by, defended by and driven to the pinnacle of historic power and wealth by white people. That’s a damn fact, like it or not. If at any time I was told this country was going to allow in 30,000,000 Koreans like we did with Mexicans I would be just as much against it. There are not 30 million Koreans who I believe worthy of being American to begin with.

    Our country will should permit any race to enter as long as they did it legally and in a controlled way. Under no circumstances should we allow the volume of any immigration be determined by “diversity” since diversity has nothing to do with building a nation only tearing one down.

    Finally, the truth is Mexicans want to live here because non-Mexicans have created a far more livable society. If that weren’t true they wouldn’t come. So what benefit does America derive from allowing them in? And we haven’t even differentiated between legal and illegal yet, nk. Remember, an anchor baby is a legal American citizen and not counted as either a legal or illegal immigrant. 2 illegal aliens having a baby shouldn’t produce a U.S.citizen. That’s not citizenship, it’s corruption.

    At least you pointed out I can’t be a racist if I like importing Asians. Or maybe I’m a “specialized racist”, a spracist as it were.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  194. Memo.

    To: Adam West
    From: 20th Century Fox Television
    Subject: Missing props

    Adam, we’ve tracked down your missing ‘Batman’ utility belt.
    Melania Trump has it and is wearing it in Riyadh.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  195. @161, WADR, DRJ, you crave an echo chamber. And that’s precisely what’s fueling the divisions across the land.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  196. @197, Look, Doc, don’t want to be ‘rude’ but I’m dealing with an 86 year old mother daily who’s deep into dementia and early alz so every day, every hour is a treasure having her aware and around.

    So stow it.

    DCSCA (797bc

    What is it with this bunch ? You’re the one who brought up “better than the alternative?”

    Jesus ! What a bunch of snowflakes ! First DRJ, then you, who throw around nasty comments all day long.

    Get a life !

    Mike K (f469ea)

  197. Mike K,

    Bullying people with name-calling is small. Trump called all his primary opponents rude names instead of engaging on the merits, which we now know is because he can’t engage on the merits.

    You call people like me haters and apparently think that is substantive disagreement. You have shown no willingness to consider why I don’t like how Trump’s personality impacts his decisions and actions. You don’t even read enough here anymore (or at The Jury where I comment most) to understand my position. But you know I’m a Trump hater because I called him small?

    Here is what I think, if you care: Trump is a small man because he has a limited intellect, attention span, and curiosity. Those are qualities I know you value but Trump doesn’t. In addition, he takes everything personally and his guiding principl is “getting even.” I pity Trump as a person but so what? He doesn’t need my approval and all Presidents are flawed. But I fear how his personality impacts our nation and more important, that he is not doing any of the things he promised — things I care about — and at this point I don’t think he can.

    What I don’t understand is why you think I’m the bad guy. Trump is not succeeding and it has nothing to do with “haters.” It’s because of him.

    DRJ (15874d)

  198. Really, DCSCA? Did you actually claim I want an echo chamber? Who has consistently engaged with you over the years?

    DRJ (15874d)

  199. Those are qualities I know you value but Trump doesn’t.

    That’s interesting. How long have you known him and when was the last time you talked to him?

    I’m interested in hearing from people who know these people and don’t just rely on angry biased media for impressions.

    Have you worked in New York real estate ? Is that where you got to know him ?

    Does that sound sarcastic ? My wife tells me I can be sarcastic but I:m assuming you really do know him.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  200. @206. Yes, you ‘engage’… but funny, DRJ, I see it the other way ’round; I’m usually dodging more flack from all directions than the 8th AF did through all of WW2.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  201. @204. =yawn= Stop the whine and start in on some wine, Doc.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  202. @207- Look, those of us who lived and worked in NYC and his chopper whizzing back and forth over the GSP and the beaches of Long Beach Island to and from AC in the 80s know Trump backwards and forwards. And those of us who’ve had any brush w/his business antics in town know even more. Most of the country only knows him from a frigging scripted TV show– fakery; smoke and mirrors. Back in the day, the three straws that stirred the drink that was Steady Eddie Koch’s NYC were Leona Helmsley, George Steinbrenner and Donald Trump. They were fodder for Murdoch’s tabloid wars for a decade and it was quite a show. So you might wise up and realize a few folks might just know more about him and his act than you think. And the first thing to learn is not to over think him. He just ain’t that complicated.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  203. a few folks might just know more about him and his act than you think.

    I suspect, from watching you here over the years, that you see everything through an angry leftist haze.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  204. President Trump is helping make America more free, more prosperous, more pleasant to look upon.

    He’s been a serendipity and a boon to all the children of the whirl.

    Addled torture-trash like Meghan’s coward daddy, entitled low-energy bushfilth like Jeb and his creepy cryptkeeper war hero p.o.s. daddy, myriad frantic and butthurt amazon turdlord fake news propaganda sluts – lilliputians all! – they will try to crucify him!

    Just like Jesus!

    And Peggy Noonan will sigh and stroke her moist dewy pulitzer.

    This is who they are.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  205. No, Mike K. I do not know Trump personally but I have known other Presidents personally, other CEOs and even other people like Trump. Personal acquaintance is helpful. I think what makes it helpful is that we can observe their behavior and that lets us make judgments about their values, goals, abilities, etc.

    We can observe Trump’s behavior, too, because his actions have been widely reported for decades. His treatment of his creditors (multiple bankruptcies), employees (he delights in making a spectacle of mistreating or firing them so much that he made a show about it), and family (remember his nephew that he denied health insurance?) is instructive. His actions as a perpetual candidate are instructive, too, as are his actions as president. He is not impressive except in knowing how to get attention, and his accomplishments to date bear that out.

    DRJ (15874d)

  206. DCSCA,

    It must be hard to comment at a place that doesn’t host many visitors who share your values. Wanting to see conservatism die is certainly not a common goal here, although it is more common than it was. I respect you for venturing here and trying to engage. I don’t enjoy doing that but I have done it at times. But I like it when liberals and others come here and I hope you will give me some credit for that.

    DRJ (15874d)

  207. He is not impressive except in knowing how to get attention, and his accomplishments to date bear that out.

    I wonder what a coincidence made him a billionaire and made him so well liked among employees and who raised his children.

    I didn’t really think you knew him but I am annoyed by people who use media as a source and then talk as if they knew all about someone.

    I was not a Trump supporter to begin with. I liked Walker but he quickly dropped out.

    You might consider reading this article which I think explains what happened pretty well.

    I was also quite interested to see Bill Kristol, who I used to respect, say he preferred the Deep State.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  208. warning signs ahead, not from louise mensch’s delusional voices, the pictures from Riyadh may not play well back home, if he vetoes the jasta bill or there is a terrorist attack with Saudi roots

    narciso (d1f714)

  209. I wonder what a coincidence made him a billionaire and made him so well liked among employees and who raised his children.

    His daddy (and knowing how to manipulate the government/system) gave him a headstart to becoming a billionaire, and that may be the answer to why they like him. But did you actually refer to his ex-wives as the people “who raised his children,” or are you referring to their nannies?

    DRJ (15874d)

  210. You all surely remember the confession scene from “My Cousin Vinny,” right?

    SHERIFF: At what point did you shoot the clerk?

    BILL GAMBINI [repeating the words to make sure he’s heard them correctly]: I shot the clerk.

    SHERIFF: Yes. When did you shoot him?

    BILL [disbelievingly]: I shot the clerk.

    Poor Bill, played by Ralph Macchio, may not have been the smartest tool in the shed, but he was certainly a sympathetic character, and we felt sorry for him as he naively proved the importance of exercising one’s right to remain silent when accused, even (maybe especially) when one is unjustly accused.

    Trump isn’t nearly so sympathetic, even to many of the voters who voted for him as the “less-worse alternative” and who’d like to support him now. He may be as innocent as Bill Gambini, but he’s creating problems for himself every time he opens his mouth or goes to Twitter. At least Bill Gambini, dull tool or not, had the sense to take his lawyer-cousin Vinny’s advice to restrain himself.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  211. I’ve already read your link but I’m tired of Trump scaremongering. Every decision is urgent and the answer is always more Trump. Where is all that urgency when it comes to expecting him to actually do what he promised? Anyone who voted for him that actually cares about building the wall, eliminating ObamaCare and reining in government must be sad.

    Is Gorsuch enough? I’m glad about Gorsuch but he could still turn out like Roberts. I think Trump promised too much for us to say that’s enough.

    DRJ (15874d)

  212. @214. See, you’ve already expressed a false assumption.

    Certainly don’t want to see ‘conservatism’ “die” but do steadfastly believe rigid, conservative ideologues are modern dinosaurs and contribute nothing to the progress any place on Earth. Pragmatism is the route to a better tomorrow. Hell, even George Will acknowledges the ideologues time has passed.

    I’m hardly a ‘liberal’ but to any hard right ideology anyone left-handed is suspect. But I do give you high marks and extra credit for civility.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  213. demented sleestak chuck grassley and elizabeth wigwam warren are teaming up to regulate and delimit the market for “personal sound amplification products” and the thing is

    nobody seems to even know why [PDF]

    what’s clear though is this (from Mr. Steve Pociask)

    When prices go up, and they will, consumer demand will be repressed. In other words, federal regulation will lead to higher consumer prices and reduced consumer access to affordable personal sound amplification devices – exactly the opposite of what the bill promises to do. Higher prices and limited competition will benefit some big corporations, but it will not help consumers.

    Consumers should be alarmed by some members in Congress trying to override state law. The result will ultimately give consumers less choice and higher prices.

    the gunowners of america think it’s all (vague, inchoate) trickery

    apparently the ruling class wants to do this fascist hyper-regulatory monstrosity all up in it next week

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  214. @211. Years? Bailed on this blog for years after Obama won- twice. You don’t what you’re talking about and even less when it comes to Trump. He’s made the sale— he’s suckered the folks who only know him from the teevee show and the televised rallies. And nobody wants to feel like a Trump-Chump, so your sensitivity is understandable. NYers who’ve experienced his shtick in the 80s know he’s an easy read. He has always had an undisciplined persona and is only comfortable when in control in his own univsse. Ol’Dead Fred didn’t pack him off to military school for nothing. His wives got fed up and his bankers put him on an allowance. The brand’s the thing; the name is all that matters. How many times do you have to hear him boast to the Rooskies or on any medium– from Twitter to television- “I am not under investigation” to comprehend he doesn’t give a damn about what’s best for America– only what’s best for T-R-U-M-P.

    But what a show!!!! And we’re only 120 days in.

    For me the Trump Triumph is effectively neutering the modern conservative ideological movement and steering gov’t ops aboard the ship of state toward pragmatism. Unfortunately, it turns out Captain Queeg is at the helm– and he’s already steaming into a typhoon of his own making.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  215. Anyone who voted for him that actually cares about building the wall, eliminating ObamaCare and reining in government must be sad.

    I still think he will do something but so much depends on Congress. I like the people he has appointed but the Democrats have been slow walking them just as the did Bush’s in 2001.

    In 1994, I was finishing a degree in health policy at Dartmouth having retired from surgery when I had my own back surgery. After the election, I got enthusiastic about working with Congress somehow on health care reform. After all, they won the election in reaction to Hillarycare. Judd Gregg was NH Senator and helped me get some interviews with Congress. I was told that the House committee that would write any health care legislation would use tax lawyers and were not interested in any input from providers.

    Have you looked at the bill the House passed ? It is all about taxes and nothing about health care.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  216. “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,”

    People here applaud this.

    I mean what’s the real headline of this post?

    That President Trump, despite media interference, managed to paste a new nickname on “Nut Job” Comey.

    I am ashamed for my country that people praise Trump trashing Comey, a man he fired to try to stop a federal investigation, to our enemies. I am disgusted by people who would defend that.

    Bill Clinton tried to portray Monica Lewinsky as a nut job. He used Sid Blumenthal to call her a predatory and unstable stalker.

    We hated that then. But apparently some of you — I’m looking at you, papertiger — didn’t hate that because of the behavior, but because the man who engaged in that behavior was a Democrat.

    The next line’s for Mike K:

    Fuck Donald Trump.

    Maybe we can avoid his passive-aggressive bullshit for a few weeks. Oh my, Mike K! The derangement is back! You had better scurry off then! Off you go!

    Patterico (115b1f)

  217. DCSA, I remember your angry leftist posts from before. I’m not surprised you are upset at Hillary losing.

    She should be in prison.,

    Mike K (f469ea)

  218. By the way: I take DRJ at her word that she does not hate Trump, but me? I despise the man.

    It doesn’t mean sub-moronic narcissistic bullying assholes like Trump — and that’s what he is — can’t effect a decent policy outcome here and there, by accident. But that doesn’t mean I have to like him, and I don’t. I despise him. He represents virtually everything that is wrong with our culture. If I could raise my children according to one precept, it would be: Be the opposite of that guy in every way possible.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  219. Oh my, Mike K! The derangement is back! You had better scurry off then! Off you go!

    OK. You are pretty sure the NY Times got it right about that alleged memo to himself, Comey wrote and told a friend about who then read it over the phone to the reporter.

    Do you also want to unfriend me on facebook ?

    I am sorry to see the TDS is still strong.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  220. He represents virtually everything that is wrong with our culture.

    Wow! I’m lucky to to get out of here alive, I guess.

    Hillary was better then, right ?

    Mike K (f469ea)

  221. I am sorry to see the TDS is still strong.

    I am sorry to see you yammer on about the TDS as if I cared to hear you say that for the 73rd time.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  222. @224. He’s projecting, Patterico.

    It’s Trump 101– ‘showboater,’ ‘grandstander’… now ‘nut job.’

    But wow! What a show!!! A SC already and only 120 days in. Larry Hagman couldn’t have played this and better! Because as we know in these times, Americans don’t want to be governed, they wish to be entertained.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  223. Because as we know in these times, Americans don’t want to be governed, they wish to be entertained.

    That never gets old either.

    I haven’t missed much here, have I?

    Back to work. I was enjoying that more anyway.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  224. @225- Surprised? What’s the matter w/you?!!

    Left the 1970s behind nearly 40 years ago. She hasn’t.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  225. sleazy corrupt fbi turdboy comey concocted a phony investigation cause he thought it looked like nifty j. edgar hoover style path to job security

    maybe that’s not nutty but it’s profoundly unhelpful both to the tarnished corrupt fbi and to america more generally

    what i think was nutty was how he made pretendsies that the law required evidence of stinkypig’s intent for her to be indicted for her criminal activities

    comey obstructed justice; he is corrupt, and he is no good

    I applaud his firing.

    I’m puzzled about how Monica comes in here though.

    If you remember, it was actually stinkypig who was in charge of the nuts and sluts campaigns.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  226. oops he thought it looked like *a* nifty j. edgar hoover style path to job security i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  227. @231. Ahhhh… but bet you wish it would. After Trump’s run, the fever may just break.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  228. someone’s not smelling what the rock is cooking i guess

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  229. I profoundly disagreed with Comey’s decision to announce that no reasonable prosecutor would file charges against Hillary.

    However — and I realize this opinion probably makes me entirely alone here — I still respect him. He strikes me as an honorable guy and his treatment at Trump’s hands was and continues to be disgraceful.

    I remain hopeful that he will have the last laugh. I look forward to his testimony.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  230. We had deep fried fresh asparagus the way they do in San Clemente with a herby horseradish sauce.
    Tempura type. effing amazing.

    mg (31009b)

  231. Also, fuck Donald Trump.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  232. That sounds pretty good, mg.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  233. 237 –
    Would you charge Lynch or Rice?

    mg (31009b)

  234. i can’t respect any them swamp people no more

    they were better back before

    when we didn’t need no welfare state

    and everybody pulled his weight

    and gee our old lasalle ran great

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  235. It was Patterico. These places in southern California know how to prepare veggies that make my tastebuds sing. Plus I like trying to figure out how they did it.

    mg (31009b)

  236. how about what he did to alberto Gonzales, to lewis libby, to Stephen hatfill?

    narciso (d1f714)

  237. that sounds tasty and so seasonal too!

    i been doing my strawberry smoothies, and my granny smith apples with peabnut bubber and yogurt dip (you just whisk some peabnut bubber into vanilla greek yogurt)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  238. I am ashamed for my country that people praise Trump trashing Comey, a man he fired to try to stop a federal investigation, to our enemies. I am disgusted by people who would defend that.

    Bet he wears a blue suit to testify, too.

    C’mon, Patterico, Don’t be so self-righteous. Go listen to a few hours of the Nixon tapes. Trump is merely a crass shadow compared to the Big Dick. The heroes in this are the leakers within Trump’s own camp. And you know how this show is going to end– like most dramas: w/a cancellation.

    If the SC does it right, the legal eagles do thorough work and the House puts country before party, you know where this is headed. And an impeachment trial– w/or w/o a conviction, is a great show. But he’ll resign before it gets far enough to damage to the brand. And protecting the brand is everything w/Trump.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  239. Screen Shot 2017-05-20 at 4.28.21 PM

    Fuck Mike Pence too.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  240. merry doesn’t give any particular reason for his animus, although he was not keen on the Syrian strike, so the mexico city policy has been extended against foreign birth control funding, among other things, but lets focus of grishenko and ivanova, the worse kind of acting,

    narciso (d1f714)

  241. @247- ROFLMAO. Recall Nixon & Agnew blamed the media– Washington Post, et al., for corrupting them and making them do what they did. Wonder when someone will leak the new Enemies List.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  242. Mr. P i don’t understand your animosity to the people what are trying so hard to free america from her ever-tightening bureaucratic deep state shackles

    wasn’t this the promise at the chewy center of the Gorsuch nomination?

    Chevron!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  243. “Donate” to a billionaire?!?

    You’re making America grate again, Mikey.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  244. speaking of foozles you maybe noticed i moved on from my mixology phase

    you know why?

    i tell you

    cause you can’t do for real mixologies without buying lots of foreign stuff, and President Trump wants us to buy American and as a good American i try to live my life in a way that is pleasing to Him

    but the one foreign thing I’m having trouble substituting?

    el yucateco! (the king of flavor)

    open to suggestions…

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  245. I thought Trump’s campaign was self-funded and disdained the donor class.😂

    nk (dbc370)

  246. Could be Patterico is just tired of ‘winning.’ After 120 days, it has been exhausting.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  247. Pence is establishment that bottom feeds.

    mg (31009b)

  248. We have been harvesting asparagus for a couple weeks. Lettuce, also.

    mg (31009b)

  249. @226. He represents virtually everything that is wrong with our culture.

    And who’s fault is that? The celebrity culture is nothing new. Ask a relative of Booth… or Lindbergh. It was Ailes who shoved Nixon on to a sound stage in beautiful downtown Burbank in 1968 to say ‘sock it to me?!’ And it was the Reagan’s who courted and cultivated image over substance.

    Nobody made these people fuel this fire but themselves.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  250. pence has a different view that he expressed in the debate, but he’s as loathed among most of the new class for his principle, the Coolidge to harding, yes they have to get there at some point,

    narciso (d1f714)

  251. i don’t have a lot of pence feels one way or the other anymore

    i’m glad he’s no longer in a position of power or influence

    he’s been congenial about breaking the odd tie vote

    but beyond that he doesn’t figure very much in my calculations

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  252. happyfeet – peppers of key west.

    mg (31009b)

  253. bookmarked thank you

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  254. andfuqmikepencetoo
    but what would cnn say?
    they’d say the same thing

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  255. Meh. Railing against ‘the culture of our times’ is a fairly vaporous argument. Like shouting at clouds for bringing rain.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  256. @237. You’re not alone; I agree. Charges should have been filed against her.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  257. I can’t say I had that concoction, I had thai shrimp once, and it was enough for a lifetime, no amount of beverage can wash that down, yikes

    narciso (d1f714)

  258. King Histrionic
    death to J.Edgar Comey
    metaphorically

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  259. The country’s been tracking toward electing a CIC like Trump- the celebrity business tycoon- for 40 years. There’s data on it. And w/luck, this experience will finally work its way through and out the system.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  260. posturingjackass
    tehsmarmysonuvabeach
    hissoapopera

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  261. I guess if felt had become director, he probably would have been like comey, imagine a world where Ellsberg was prevented from writing that chapter of the pentagon papers, or the retrieval of documents had been more thorough and efficient,

    narciso (d1f714)

  262. leftiesneverget
    it’sotherpeoplesmoney
    anditwillrunout

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  263. Another good choice, happyfeet.
    http://www.sadiessalsa.com

    mg (31009b)

  264. Chaos reigns in Queegs WH:

    “The White House staff system is completely broken, maybe beyond repair. It is inconceivable that something like that could have happened on James Baker or Leon Panetta’s watch,” Whipple said, referring to chiefs of staff under previous presidents. “The problem with this White House is that there is no one, including Priebus, who is able to tell the president what he doesn’t want to hear and until there is, this White House will be broken, will be dysfunctional and so will Trump’s presidency.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-worst-job-in-washington-right-now-working-for-trump/2017/05/17/a3d9ec00-3b17-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.35505b3af334

    Fun fact, 48 people went to jail over Watergate. Tricky Dick Nixon was not one of them. The first one gets immunity.
    The rest get orange jumpsuits.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  265. but does it really, Greece after a little groveling, got merkel to bail her out, but the terms were like the vig ray bones demanded in los angeles, the schism did crack the duopoly between the new democrats and pasok and syriza and the anti euro right party are in coalition, as a result,

    narciso (d1f714)

  266. hah this one’s on sale Mr. mg

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  267. the new mexico ones are intriguing too

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  268. Prediction> Two years from now, there will be somewhere between 5 and 10 Democrat operatives serving time as a result of leaks, unmasking and perjury.

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  269. Wish we could buck-up Patterico. Sort of sucks feeling alienated from participants on your own blog.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  270. that is the underlying concern, this is why all the squid ink, sarah carter has been on this beat, but it’s more important to follow the narrative,

    narciso (d1f714)

  271. Meh! Trump was crouching down to be sure King Haddock would not muss his hair when he put the chain around his neck. Obama’s reason for bending over was quite different — it was a reflex upon seeing King Abadaba forgetting for a moment that it was something they did only in private.

    nk (dbc370)

  272. Col. – will Pence be one of them!!

    mg (31009b)

  273. @274. Ahh, but the un-indicted co-conspirator did accept that pardon– an admission of guilt.

    His sentence was life: as Richard Nixon.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  274. Life as Richard Nixon. Ha. He was always down to serve that sentence. Nixon was smart enough to accept the pardon so he could live out the sentence outside of jail. Will Queeg be smart enough? Will his successor be smart enough to forgoe the pardon?

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  275. In reply to to #238, “Also, fuck Donald Trump.” and #247, “Fuck Mike Pence too.” Patterico, you
    are starting to resemble Ashley Judd and Madonna (far lefties/Alinskyites/Dems/babies with soiled diapers), resorting to name calling, as opposed to making a cogent argument. What happened to ya?

    I have seen examples where you are better than that. You can do much better. GLZ.

    Gary L. Zerman (ab669e)

  276. So now Foreign Minister Lavrov says he did not discuss the subject of Comey’s firing with Trump.

    The press account that ran yesterday was the second instance of someone leaking to the press based on reading part of a document to the reporter that the reporter never actually saw.

    So, what should we think? Has the press acquitted itself as sufficiently neutral to warrant a presumption of good faith?

    How do we deal with the question that we have no idea who the leaker is and whether the document is accurate — or even exists at all?

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  277. A credible person in the Trump administration goes out and says: “The story is false and [the media outlets] know it. They are deliberately publishing false information.” Then the ball would be in the media’s court. But where would the Trump administration find a credible person? (Not to be confused with credulous.)

    nk (dbc370)

  278. there’s a constituency among the left, and a portion of the right for the narrative to be true,

    narciso (d1f714)

  279. Mr Feets, before you give up completely, try Tito’s Vodka.

    Made in Texas, so you can be patriotic and still enjoy it.

    kishnevi (082931)

  280. In reply to to #238, “Also, fuck Donald Trump.” and #247, “Fuck Mike Pence too.” Patterico, you
    are starting to resemble Ashley Judd and Madonna (far lefties/Alinskyites/Dems/babies with soiled diapers), resorting to name calling, as opposed to making a cogent argument. What happened to ya?

    I have seen examples where you are better than that. You can do much better. GLZ.

    Here’s my cogent argument: He represents virtually everything that is wrong with our culture. Also, while I profoundly disagreed with Comey’s decision to announce that no reasonable prosecutor would file charges against Hillary, I still respect him. He strikes me as an honorable guy and his treatment at Trump’s hands was and continues to be disgraceful.

    Oh wait, looks like I already said all that. And already made well over a year’s worth of other cogent arguments. All of which you ignored, to name-call me as being like Ashley Judd.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  281. I have seen examples where you are better than that. You can do much better. GLZ.

    Please don’t cherry-pick. You’re upset because I despise Trump, not because of the quality of my arguments. And that’s why you ignore the arguments I have made since 2015, and the arguments I made in this thread.

    I do think there’s a value in putting my cards on the table. When Trump proves himself to be utterly disastrous, you will have no trouble remembering where I stood.

    I don’t expect you or others to admit it then, though. You’ll probably avoid me because I will remind you of how wrong you were.

    I have already accepted that as part of the price I pay for saying what I actually think instead of being a hack. I can live with it.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  282. yes yes i love tito’s – the base liquors are all pretty easy to source but stuff like lillet blanc and campari and maraschino are sorta sui generis

    i’m a circle back and explore some dark liquor cocktails, i still love doing old fashioneds for people especially in fall

    but i’m taking a break for now

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  283. Wish we could buck-up Patterico. Sort of sucks feeling alienated from participants on your own blog.

    I didn’t leave my commenters. My commenters left me.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  284. swc @287

    Lavrov can have his own reasons to be untruthful.

    And then there’s the fact that the WH did not deny the conversation. In a roundabout way it even confirmed the conversation. If it hadn’t, wouldn’t Spicer have denied it and called it fake news?
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/russias-lavrov-denies-discussing-comey-with-trump/article/2623725

    Trump’s spokesman did not join Lavrov in denying the report. “By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. “The investigation would have always continued, and obviously, the termination of Comey would not have ended it. Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations.”

    At least one source for the story is someone who can credibly claim to have inside info, meaning someone on Trump’s own staff, not some Deep State operative who happens to have access to memos. That is true whether or not the conversation happened.

    kishnevi (082931)

  285. At least one source for the story is someone who can credibly claim to have inside info,

    If you believe the reporter.

    nk (dbc370)

  286. because it’s beside the point, it’s become the argument clinic, if there was a lip reading tape, like featured in a recent episode of Hawaii 5.0, they would deny the interpretation, we don’t have the luxury of this garbage

    narciso (d1f714)

  287. Patterico wrote:

    “I didn’t leave my commenters. My commenters left me.”

    Not precisely true. Things have gotten very, very odd in the comments section on this site. Lots of folks just don’t want to battle or deal with the weirdness or garbage comments.

    And I know a couple of commenters, myself included, for whom you have personally stood up. You remain the real deal, sir, whether or not I agree or disagree with you.

    But I think everyone appreciates the posts by you, Dana, and JVW.

    Simon Jester (473673)

  288. No, I’m not actually Andy McCarthy. We were both federal prosecutors, but that’s as close as it gets.

    Unless you consider his column out today, and my post from early this morning about the power of the Executive under Article II.

    He has a very nice and long exposition of the point I made earlier — Trump is entitled to treat the FBI’s investigation of Russian influence in the campaign in any manner he desires, and he has the authority to show the FBI Director to the door if his conduct is not, in the President’s opinion, up to par.

    Impeachment is the political remedy that the Constitution affords — nothing else.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  289. “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,”

    People here applaud this.

    Yes! I do admire his method, because much like your Monica Lewinsky example, the media is arrayed against President Trump. Despite this, the President has the foresight and ability to use the media’s stupidity and prejudices against it and Jujitsu his message through the spears and shields.
    “Comey is a nut job.” rises above the din.

    Why was Comey lurking in the shadows of the Intensive Care Unit?

    Because Feinstein Schumer and Reid had already called dibs on the morgue.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  290. The police use claims of “confidential informants” in search warrant affidavits and the courts have developed tests for “indicia of reliability”, a polite way of saying “How do we know you didn’t make the whole thing up?” (Like they did in the Kathryn Johnston case.) What indicia of reliability have the media given us?

    nk (dbc370)

  291. I am ashamed for my country that people praise Trump trashing Comey, a man he fired to try to stop a federal investigation, to our enemies.

    Quit pretending Hillary’s excuse for losing the election is remotely similar to a legitimate investigation.

    You aren’t fooling anybody but yourself.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  292. And in comment 300 (7:09 pm), papertiger just gave us an indicium of reliability. This is something Trump would do because he knows his mouth-breathing base eats this sh!t up.

    nk (dbc370)

  293. “Comey is a nut job.” rises above the din
    That phrase came from NYT story. So you are implying that Trump initiated the NYT story. Yesterday I said that was possible but doubtful. Do you actually believe that?

    kishnevi (082931)

  294. you take the good you take the bad you take them both and there you have

    the facts of life number one being that the fbi is a profoundly corrupt arrogant and unamerican institution

    number two being that when john mccain’s not faking orgasms he’s waving his pompoms doing cheerleadings for this coup against democracy and freedom

    #theydidsomethingtohisbrain

    how is this not creepy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  295. Quit pretending Hillary’s excuse for losing the election is remotely similar to a legitimate investigation.

    Did I say that this crap is why that idiot woman lost? Never. Stop putting words in my mouth just because my actual words are too difficult to refute.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  296. i think he’s just using “Hillary’s excuse for losing the election” as a metonym for the corrupt comey fbi’s bogus russian snipe hunt, not necessarily suggesting anybody really believes russia had anything to do with the election results

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  297. Dershowitz Says Special Counsel Will Help Trump: ‘He’s Going to Find No Crime’

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  298. Living in California has cracked Patterico.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  299. I’m ashamed that the Senators of my party without objection voted to affirm Comey as the Director of the FBI.

    The man was literally up to his elbows in every miscarriage of justice, and example of democratic party immunity of the last quarter century.

    The white washer of Whitewater. The guy who made sure Marc Rich had free time to help Slick Willie diddle children in his golden years. The guy who orchestrated the political lynching of Alberto Gonzales. The guy who appointed a special prosecutor, jailed the last honest media, and harassed the Bush administration from Plame to Guantanamo.

    Was he involved in the OJ Simpson chase? = Might have missed that one, but he was this close to the hat trick.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  300. Living in California has cracked Patterico.

    I daresay Texan DRJ feels more like I do (with the exception of my detest for Trump on a personal level) than just about anyone here.

    It continues to crack me up that support for Donald Fucking Trump is now the gold standard for conservatism.

    Again. I didn’t leave y’all. You left me.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  301. i think he’s just using “Hillary’s excuse for losing the election” as a metonym for the corrupt comey fbi’s bogus russian snipe hunt, not necessarily suggesting anybody really believes russia had anything to do with the election results

    Democrats thought the Paula Jones lawsuit was bullshit, and as a result they ignored Clinton’s obstruction because a) party loyalty and b) they didn’t like the way the ball started rolling.

    Hackery? You bet!

    Their hackery is now yours.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  302. During the Comey confirmation it was an either or choice between “Nut Job” and Lisa Monaco, the chief counterterrorism advisor to Obama during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

    Talk about Hobson’s choice.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  303. James “Nut Job” Comey, the left’s champion. A paragon of VIRTUE

    (signalling)!

    papertiger (c8116c)

  304. there’s no evidence at all that Mr. President Trump obstructed anything – he’s not even under investigation!

    my goodness

    but there’s a LOT of evidence that the corrupt fbi’s been looking the other way at a whole lot of criminal malfeasance at the fbi itself, at other intelligence agencies, among obama administration officials like susan rice and chunkybutt loretta, at the Clinton Global Criminal Cartel, and of course among stinkypig clinton and her loyalists

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  305. with the exception of my detest for Trump on a personal level

    That’s what I’m referring to Patterico. You take it so personally. You’ve lost a sense of civility over him getting into office. Part of that, it seems like, you just don’t see what other people see anymore around things with the media.

    To many of us, the non-stop drumbeat of hatred towards Trump getting elected is just proof positive that the Federal apparatus has grown beyond control. It’s actively fighting to undermine someone outside the system. Non-stop leaks, manufactured stories, lack of evidence….it’s like when they called the Tea Party racists without proof.

    I don’t think Donald Trump is a gold standard of conservatism or anything, but I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that conservatism will never win. Civil discourse is useless and dead. Memes hold more sway over politics than any reason. It’s the world we live in now and you’re helping to solidify it into place now.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  306. ” chunkybutt loretta, ”

    lol

    newrouter (0841d5)

  307. 22. 116. 166. 205. etc. There seems to be a disagreement here on the meaning of the word “hate” I think this is not something too argue about. People can agree to disagree about the meaning of the word “hate” just like they can disagree about the meaning of the word “mad” and maybe Mike K’s meaning is more natural. I think he’s accusing people of having their judgment colored (by emotion?) so that they are judging Trump too harshly.

    Mike K. for his part, may not be sensitive at all to things that are wrong in the actions and sayings of Donald Trump. There may be a point in some comment even if it is not the same point that is being made.

    Sammy Finkelman (0e8c82)

  308. Mr. newrouter!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  309. it’s as if it’s a game… whether the media is being honest, telling half-truths or spreading malicious and obvious lies, they seem to avoid accountability. Not much notice taken and they will still be considered “go to” news sites, opinion makers and arbiters of what’s factual and what’s not. And it’s a goddamned shame.

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  310. “Comey is a nut job.” rises above the din
    That phrase came from NYT story. So you are implying that Trump initiated the NYT story. Yesterday I said that was possible but doubtful. Do you actually believe that?

    kishnevi (082931)

    I have a vision of Trump pausing the discussion, staccato voiced, “Wait a minute fellas. There’s a reporter at the keyhole.” Then he walks over and speaks directly into the door knob. “Comey’s a Nut Job. Getting on my nerves.” or whatever he said, then returning to the actual conversation.

    Life’s more fun that way.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  311. And I offer the NYT, the WaPo, LAT, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC and ABC, Politico, and several others as prime examples.

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  312. That’s what I’m referring to Patterico. You take it so personally. You’ve lost a sense of civility over him getting into office.

    Oh, please. I will not be lectured to about civility by a Trump supporter.

    When you excuse his monstrously worse incivility, then you lose any standing to complain about mine.

    He’s a cretin on a personal level. Anyone with any level of intellectual honesty knows it and will admit it.

    That’s all I’m saying. I didn’t say his policies are all bad. Just that HE is bad. Pick your personality trait, and he conducts himself precisely the opposite of the way I teach my children to act.

    I. Despise. Him. And this is nothing new. I have said this from Day One.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  313. And he’s the dumbest human ever to hold the office except maybe Andrew Jackson.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  314. I don’t think Donald Trump is a gold standard of conservatism or anything, but I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that conservatism will never win. Civil discourse is useless and dead. Memes hold more sway over politics than any reason. It’s the world we live in now and you’re helping to solidify it into place now.

    I’m helping to solidify it into place by fighting it, while you aren’t, by praising it.

    Gotcha!

    Must be California getting to me, but that makes zero sense.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  315. I don’t think Donald Trump is a gold standard of conservatism or anything,

    Sure you do, DejectedHead. Sure you do. Because that’s the only way your precious little crack about me and California makes any sense.

    Otherwise, I’m criticizing a guy who’s NOT the gold standard for conservatism, and then it makes no sense to make that little joke.

    So you have indeed equated Trump and conservatism. It’s a stupid position, but it’s yours. Own it.

    Or take back your cheap shot.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  316. Ah, Heat Street. Thanks for that, narciso.

    By the way, Louise Mensch of Heat Street, whom y’all cited as proof for that laughable bullshit claim that Obama wiretapped Trump, is now writing about how the Marshal of the Supreme Court has deprived Trump of the pardon power by initiating the impeachment process, as Supreme Court Marshals often do. This we know, because sources.

    https://twitter.com/LPDonovan/status/865998020315316225

    Patterico (115b1f)

  317. And he’s the dumbest human ever to hold the office except maybe Andrew Jackson.

    Patterico (115b1f)

    Fixing to carve an anti-Rushmore monument to worthless Democrat Presidents?

    I don’t think the country has enough granite.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  318. When you excuse his monstrously worse incivility, then you lose any standing to complain about mine.

    Trump derangement syndrome must be caused by the fluoride in the water and the chemtrails in the skies.

    I never praised anything Trump did, yet you’re going on a rant like a schizophrenic. You see a Trump supporter around every corner.

    Or take back your cheap shot.

    Never, it’s held more true through your responses to me.

    You’re fighting shadows.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  319. I never praised anything Trump did, yet you’re going on a rant like a schizophrenic. You see a Trump supporter around every corner.

    So you’re not a Trump supporter, but you think California is getting to me because I criticize Trump. But goodness no you’re not a Trump supporter.

    Well this makes more sense every minute.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  320. Let me not put any words in your mouth, then. What, exactly, did you mean by this, DejectedHead, you non-Trump supporter, you?

    Living in California has cracked Patterico.

    Surely that meant something other than just a nasty insult (which it was). So, what did it mean?

    Patterico (115b1f)

  321. I love nothing better than holding fast to the same principles I have always held, and getting insulted for that on my own blog.

    Mmmm, the satisfaction.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  322. Likely our host has missed it given his schedule, but I have for quite some time, pushed back against these accusations of TDS or anti-Trump hysteria, especially on posts I’ve written. I’ve never been hysterical about Trump, nor lashed out at him without something substantive. I’ve repeatedly asked accusers here to point out what they considered proof of my hysteria, and usually it’s ignored, or what is presented as proof is, well, silly and certainly beneath the intelligence of the commenter. My point is this, there is still this “binary choice” being forced upon “dissenters” by Trump supporters. During the campaign/election, we were hammered with this thinking: if we didn’t vote for Trump, we were voting for Hillary. We had to obey these rules or woe to us. And to reject that premise was unacceptable. Yet here we are, five months into this administration, and we are still being forced into the same binary choice corner.

    Dana (023079)

  323. Yeah, this is the first time I have checked in to politics or this blog in a while, and it’s just in passing, as I am working tonight on a trial (been in it since May 1 and it will last well into next month).

    I just find it kind of astonishing that Trump calls Comey crazy to our enemies (and Comey, while not perfect, is certainly not crazy) and people here are like lol good one!

    I’m not sure why Anderson Cooper apologized for the dump on the desk comment. There’s plenty here who would praise the dump on the desk, and I’m not exaggerating.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  324. it’s not a “principle” per se but we both of us used to believe failmerica had very little time left to course correct

    but now among us it’s just me that believes that cause of if you believe it you have to hope and pray that Mr. President Trump’s presidency is successful and helps us as a nation to where he buys us more time, and he been doing some good things in that respect

    i hope he prevails and the whirl is once again filled with hope laughter and freedom

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  325. I would love to be wrong about Trump, happyfeet. I’m certainly not wrong about the type of person he is, but I could be wrong (and would love to be) about the notion that his general shittiness as a person will screw us as a nation. I have kids. I want the best for them.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  326. Happyfeet,

    I have always said that I hope President Trump is successful n behalf of the nation and what is in our best interest. Obviously, what is considered successful and in our best interest is open for debate.

    Dana (023079)

  327. Mike K. for his part, may not be sensitive at all to things that are wrong in the actions and sayings of Donald Trump.

    The frenzy still seems to be going on.

    Have you unfriended me yet, Patrick ?

    Time for me to go to bed. I get up early.

    Mike K (f469ea)

  328. yes yes maybe President Trump, when faced with adversity, will rise above his faults and shine with sunbeams of principled goodness

    there’s a TON of precedent for this

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  329. “…[S]upport for Donald … Trump is now the gold standard for conservatism.”

    Frankly, that worries the hell out of me. People in their tiny bubbles will apparently believe anything. This guy’s a time bomb: an incompetent, ruthless and rudderless Richard Nixon.

    Again, thank you for having morals and a backbone, Patterico.

    Tillman (a95660)

  330. Andrew Jackson had some pretty good principles. Every citizen votes (more or less) was one of his principles.

    The Federal government shouldn’t be allowed to leverage banking against future tax receipts, was another of his principles. Didn’t have inflation in the country until the Wilson/Roosevelt progressives carved the Fed Reserve system into stone via amendment. That’s a long long time for economic stability due to one man. Cut out a whole bunch of graft too.

    Nipping riots off by threating the ring leaders (ie Calhoun) threatened to hang any man who worked to support nullification or secession. That’s the principle that Lincoln used to justify the Civil War and in turn the end of slavery, originally posited by Andrew Jackson.

    Pretty good one.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  331. Sammy @318. Some Trump supporters are strict monotheists and their deity, Trump, can do no wrong because he is the one who will right all wrongs.

    nk (dbc370)

  332. The frenzy still seems to be going on.

    Have you unfriended me yet, Patrick ?

    You’re the one who’s constantly declaring yourself upset with me. The only thing I have suggested is that if you’re upset with me because I don’t kiss Donald Trump’s ass thoroughly enough to suit you, that you leave me alone and keep it to yourself. But I won’t ban you or unfriend you. I’ll just continue to point out that wandering into someone’s virtual home and complaining about the free ice cream is not always entirely welcomed by the homeowner.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  333. I’ll shoot a mo fo who casts aspersions on my wife. [paraphrased]

    That’s a pretty good principle. Old fashion value.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  334. Living in California has cracked Patterico.

    It meant you’re suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  335. It meant you’re suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    OK. Why, specifically?

    Do you dispute his poor character?

    What that I have said do you dispute, as a factual matter? What is your evidence? Make an argument. See if you can do more than just insults.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  336. Wait, are you the guy who said Trump read a book because he wrote enough tweets to make a book?

    If you take all of Trump’s tweets, print them out, stack them up, bind them together…boom, you have a book.

    Trump read all of those tweets as he wrote them.

    Trump read a book.

    Yes, you are.

    Well. That gives me some context for the current discussion.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  337. @348 Lawd have mercy! (Shaking my head.) I think he’d defend Trump for pooping on his desk.

    Tillman (a95660)

  338. I’m the one who said Trump read a book because he had one on his desk.

    You still owe me a million

    papertiger (c8116c)

  339. OK. Why, specifically?

    Because you’ve turned to hurling insults and attacking others for supporting someone that you openly talk about hating. You’ve become irrational and uncivil. You’re acting like “them”.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  340. @351 On the contrary, Patterico’s the one who’s had to put up with a lot of snide remarks directed at him, here on his own site. He doesn’t attack anyone who doesn’t attack him first. I think that you just get your feelings hurt if he says anything bad about your Dear Leader, and you mistakenly take that personally (and respond accordingly).

    Tillman (a95660)

  341. The answer is pissin’ in the wind…

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  342. Just look at these comments, Patterico. From desk dumps to a nut job running the FBI!
    What a show this guy is generating! Larry Hagman couldn’t have done it better.

    Enjoy it! He’ll get worked through the system like a bad Mexican meal. This has been coming on for 40 years.

    Sure, he’s a cretin; a wretched and sick narcicist wallowing in excess so many love to hate, but entertaining as all hell. And there have been worse; he hasn’t put the names of 58,000 war dead on a memorial wall– yet.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  343. Yes, you are.
    Well. That gives me some context for the current discussion.

    It actually does Patterico. You’re reading a joke and viewing it as “proof” because you’re insistent on believing what you want to believe. Another boogie man that you’ve uncovered to prove your position right.

    That’s Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  344. @ Mike K, who wrote:

    OK. You are pretty sure the NY Times got it right about that alleged memo to himself, Comey wrote and told a friend about who then read it over the phone to the reporter.

    Can’t speak for my host. Wouldn’t want my comment here to be misread to believe that I support James Comey, whom I think abused the public trust invested in him through a magnificent set of misjudgments. But yeah, I would be willing to put $1000 cash on the line in a bet with you, Mike K, with any neutral stakeholder you might mention, on the topic of whether there is indeed such a memo which says exactly that.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  345. In fact, I’ll give you 3-1 odds.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  346. Predictions:

    An aircraft carrier named the U.S.S. Donald J. Trump.

    A U.S postage stamp… first class, of course.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  347. (Psst. If you counter at 5-to-1, I’ll probably take those odds too.)

    Beldar (fa637a)

  348. The gibberish Louise Mensch posted about the SCOTUS “notifying” Trump of impending impeachment was hilarious. Her gibberish about a FISA court issuing an indictment was stupid enough, but you could see how someone could say something that got distorted into that.

    But the details of the “marshall” of the Supreme Court notifying the President of anything, much less an impeachment, is the kind of detail that simply could not be a distortion of a real comment by anyone knowledgeable about anything that the Supreme Court or Congress does in an impeachment.

    And it is specific enough that you know that Mensch just f’ing made it up.

    SPQR (a3a747)

  349. “Then again, recklessly throwing around words like “impeachable” and “treason” before the evidence exists to level those consequential charges also puts party over country.
    Hysteria also erodes trust in our institutions for nothing more than political gain.

    You will, for instance, have to read six paragraphs into Reuters’ recent highly shared scoop headlined “Exclusive: Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians: sources” to learn that “people who described the contacts to Reuters said they had seen no evidence of wrongdoing or collusion between the campaign and Russia in the communications reviewed so far.”

    Talk about burying your lead.”

    http://nypost.com/2017/05/19/sorry-democrats-youre-not-putting-country-above-party-either/

    Colonel Haiku (af8791)

  350. What James Comey needs is a solid half-day cross-examination by a competent lawyer, before a judge who can strike nonresponsive testimony and compel the witness to make a responsive answer. I’ve been utterly confident since his press conference last July that if I had the opportunity to be that cross-examiner, I could force Comey to recant his b*llsh*t testimony about past prosecutions and specific intent, at a minimum. It might take me a whole day to prove to the jury that the rest of his schtick, about how he had to color outside the lines to save the Republic and the Constitution and the rules about what lines the FBI was supposed to stay within, was likewise b*llsh*t, and I doubt that even the best lawyer could get him to admit how profoundly his judgment has been compromised, because he has no clue, and certainly less than a clue than he had before Trump deliberately humiliated him with the way he was fired, about his own “on tilt” status.

    But anyone who doubts that he had the capacity to write and share a competent cover-my-ass memo back back on Feb. 14 (and probably several others to like effect) is badly mistaken, I suspect.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  351. Beldar, I think you underestimate your ability. I think that Comey couldn’t hold up for a full hour under a competent cross-examiner like yourself. Cover-my-ass is probably his only skill, and I doubt he’s all that great at it.

    Unlike Patterico, I think he’s corrupt.

    SPQR (a3a747)

  352. In a sentence: Comey thought the fact that Hillary Clinton was the defendant was an “extraordinary circumstance” that would let him blab about the existence and progress and results of an ongoing criminal investigation.

    That Hillary Clinton was the defendant was the very best reason to color inside the lines and follow every damn rule and stay completely, scrupulously, ruthlessly-damn-the-consequences inside the lines.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  353. *sorry, “potential” defendant.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  354. Because you’ve turned to hurling insults and attacking others for supporting someone that you openly talk about hating. You’ve become irrational and uncivil. You’re acting like “them”.

    Unlike your civil commentary insulting me based on where I live.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  355. I don’t think he’s corrupt. I think he’s been thoroughly corrupted. The fact that he still thinks he’s righteous is what would make him vulnerable, predictable, on cross-x.

    But the person doing the cross-x would have to be a non-politician who is willing to disappear, to fade into the background, to avoid all argument and speech-making. No member of Congress — not Trey Gowdy, not Ted Cruz, not Lindsey Graham, nor any of the others — seems capable of doing that.

    If Mueller lets Comey testify, Comey is going to drink Trump’s milkshake because there won’t be a competent lawyer who can ask a competent set of questions to prevent that.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  356. Mike K @339

    I’m not sure whether you are agreeing with me or not.

    I do think Trump is improving. He’s taking the job seriously. He said he found it harder than he expected. If he found it hard, he’s trying to do a good job (between various distractions, especially searching for signs of political support) because if he wasn’t trying, what would there be about the job as president for him to find hard??

    Sammy Finkelman (0e8c82)

  357. 309. And where you live, all the leaves are brown and your skies are gray.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  358. Unlike your civil commentary insulting me based on where I live.

    It was civil compared to your “Fuck Trump”, “Fuck Pence”, ‘you’re a Trump supporter’ nonsense.

    Look, I get it that you get wrapped up in this stuff. I learned a lot about Ted Cruz because of you and I respected you for it. I also respect you for putting yourself out there and getting doxxed because of it. I stay anonymous because of stories like yours. I have a family I want to respect and I know my opinion means shit. I donated to Ted Cruz’s campaign during the primaries and never pulled for Trump.

    Yet, Trump won. That’s a reality. There are numerous people in that seem like they just don’t want to believe it’s true. To me, and many other people I’m sure, it’s just another American Presidential administration. But in many ways it’s not, leaks abound, it seems like the previous administration set out to undermine him from the beginning, it seems like a bureaucracy is fighting democratic decisions. Things that concern me.

    What are the media talking about…and you? It seems like it’s bad words are of utmost concern. Not showing respect to certain people. Being rude.

    That’s not news to me. That’s being blind to what I think is going on. As a conservative, the state being able to fight reform, greatly concerns me. You’re not talking about that it seems. It seems more about emotion and personal feelings.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  359. Trump’s description on May 10 of fired FBI Director James Comey as a “Nut job” was not an insult, but was an attempt, or was something designed to look like an attempt, at objective analysis.

    I’m not sure whether Trump believed that, or was lying to the Russian diplomats. In either case, it’s not quite right to say that. And I’m not sure which way is worse.

    If it’s his real opinion, he doesn’t understand anything (possibly maybe you could think that Comey could be malicious, but a nut job? Now, what it could be is Trump may not have understood the ins and outs of the ethics code Comey seemed to have, and perhaps it made no sense to him, and he’s misisng the idea that some unknown complicated reasons for things that may not even originate in the mind of the person doing them.)

    If he lied to the Russians, he must think them easy to fool.

    He also said he was not now under pressure. If he really believed that, he’d have to believe that he’d shut down an investigation, and that’s clearly wrong, even the next day. So that moves the needle more toward fooling the Russians, because Putin has said, publicly I think even, that Trump couldn’t do things because he was under pressure, so Trump may have wanted to counter this idea, because then, foolishly, he might think he could reach a deal with them on Syria..

    Sammy Finkelman (0e8c82)

  360. When I was a young pup of a lawyer in the early 1980s, I was assigned by my firm to third-chair an important jury trial for Toyota, a products liability crash-worthiness case in which the plaintiff was a 22-year-old woman who’d been rendered a paraplegic in a one-vehicle accident in which her 1976 Corolla had rear-first into a telephone pole, collapsing her seat back and severing her spinal cord. The lead lawyer whose briefcases I carried was a guy named Dick Miller, who is the best courtroom lawyer I’ve ever seen in my 36 years of practice.

    The plaintiff’s star witness was a Ph.D. metallurgist with an endowed chair in the engineering department of a major American university. In his testimony on direct examination, he had identified, as a demonstrative exhibit, a sample metal bar, maybe five feet in straight length, which the witness testified was identical in all respects to the structural metal bar inside the Corolla’s passenger seat — same alloys, same heat treatments, same everything. The plaintiff’s lawyer offered the exhibit into evidence, and it was admitted as a demonstrative exhibit without objection by Miller (for any such objection would surely have been overruled, merely making Miller look nervous). As soon as the judge said, “So admitted” for the record, the plaintiff’s lawyer took the bar in both hands, strode to the jury box, held it out in front of him, lifted one knee, and with a sharp grunt bent the metal bar into an acute V-angle over that knee. He dropped the bar to the floor, where it clattered loudly as the jury flinched. “Your witness,” said the plaintiff’s lawyer.

    During the next 15 minutes — with an audience that included many practicing lawyers and more than one local judge taking a break — Dick Miller did the single most effective expert witness cross-examination I’ve ever seen. He correctly intuited that this witness had flexible enough ethics to take on this engagement, but not flexible enough ethics to actually lie on the stand. So carefully, methodically, with a series of simple diagrams drawn in magic marker on a butcher-paper pad, took the professor through a comparison of the physics involved in the plaintiff’s lawyer’s in-court demonstration versus the physics involved in the collapse of the seat back in the accident. By the end of the cross-examination, the professor confirmed, without reservation, that the courtroom demonstration was utterly unlike the forces in the collision, and that the bending of the metal bar over the plaintiff’s lawyer’s knee was a cheap, dishonest stunt that actually proved nothing.

    He used the witness’ residual, reliable honesty, in other words, to completely flip the import of the witness’ testimony.

    That could be done with Comey, but it would take a better questioner than is likely to ever actually confront him.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  361. @ SPQR (#363): Thanks for the kind words. I don’t know how good a trial lawyer Comey is. But I would be stunned if he’s not, at a minimum, thorough versed in the art of impeachment based on prior inconsistent statements — and more importantly, defending against such impeachment. The “magic bullets” that papertiger & others hypothesized — all this nonsense about “misprision of felony” that Trump’s would-be defenders are spouting about, his failure to complain after the Feb. 14 meeting, his March congressional testimony, etc. — are the sort of stuff that even an average trial lawyer ought to be able to anticipate and de-fang without breaking a sweat. In fact, I’ll be surprised and slightly disappointed if Comey didn’t craft his CYA memos with exactly that possibility in mind.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  362. Deep in the weeds, but so lawyer readers can appreciate what Miller did (#371): The expert hadn’t been deposed. Miller was not only doing a cold cross-x, it was in a case that he’d only picked up the file on about two weeks before the trial. Lowest pretrial demand was well into seven figures, pretrial offer was zero. Jury verdict was 12/0, no liability.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  363. Is this the Dick Miller you were referring to, Beldar? If so, he had a unique and wise perspective on life and his trade: “After dodging bullets on Iwo, what’s there to fear in the courtroom?”

    Dana (023079)

  364. Let me give you an example of how the cross-x of James Comey, regarding his legal reasoning in the Clinton email investigation, ought to go.

    First the cross-examiner would lay out, fairly and with utter precision, exactly what Comey said in his press conference last July about the specific intent criminal requirement (or lack thereof) of various criminal statutes. This can be done very quickly, using transcripts. The point is simply to re-commit Comey to what’s in those transcripts, the first two steps in a verbal process of “find-fix-flank-finish.”

    Then the cross-examiner would ask Comey about cases he tried while he was a prosecutor — cases he argued to a jury. The cross-examiner would cover the range of different criminal statutes under which Comey had prosecuted people, successfully, on behalf of the People of the United States of America. These are all matters of public record, and the cross-examiner — having used PACER and, probably given the time-frame, having also assigned some warm paralegal bodies to go in person to federal courthouses to sifting through records that aren’t yet digitized — will have all these details in advance. In particular, the cross-examiner and his/her staff would have gathered all of the jury arguments that Comey has ever made as a federal prosecutor. (Flank.)

    I would bet either testicle that those transcripts will include James Comey dutifully and correctly explaining to federal criminal juries that, in applying the trial judge’s instructions in the jury charge, they should find the defendant guilty of the intent elements of the various crimes he’s prosecuted. As part of that, he’ll have made persuasive, common-sense arguments about how a “guilty mind” — specific criminal intent — can only be proved (absent a confession) by circumstantial evidence. In other transcripts, he’ll have instead, or in addition, made the argument that the instructions (and underlying statute and definition of the crime) only require generalized intent, as in intending to tap “Send” when the email containing code-word classified information is being sent to unauthorized recipient John Podesta.

    In other words, I’m pretty sure I can prove that James Comey’s press conference about Hillary was utterly wrong about the law using James Comey’s own past jury argument transcripts and admissions I could extract from Comey based on those transcripts. (Finish.)

    If one asks compound questions, if one argues, if one makes a speech — in other words, if one asks questions like a senator instead of a capable trial lawyer doing a cross-examination of a hostile witness — one forfeits all of the natural advantages that a cross-examiner has. That’s exactly why Jim Comey is eager to testify in public in Congress in response to questions from senators, rather than in public before a judge in response to questions from a decent trial advocate.

    Okay. Enough ranting. It’s after 2 a.m. and there are kids who need chasing off my lawn.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  365. Dana, that’s him.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  366. The obit is wrong, by the way. Miller was a scout sniper who was landed on Iwo by submarine ahead of the first wave. His voir dire on behalf of Toyota included questions about who in the panel might still hold grudges against the Japanese, and he was able to put those questions into a pretty vivid personal context.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  367. She went after yablonskis killers, was the first to reverse a watergate conviction on appeal, hunted Nazi war criminals that’s why I trust her judgement on these things.

    narciso (d1f714)

  368. Ethics rarely affect democrats or Rangel, Johnson, waters would be out of office, it’s just another part of their trick bag, Ballard really thought the prosecutors would examine the ic ig’ s findings, does he still believe in Santa.

    And Louise is an occasional times contributor, not fully on staff, but her delusional architect is off from blog’s from one standard deviation.

    narciso (d1f714)

  369. Have we seen an effective cross examination inn the 21 years that the Clinton’s could have been subject to investigation and or obama, perhaps by judicial watch

    narciso (d1f714)

  370. louise is a favorite hooch of the girly murdoch boys

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  371. for now anyways

    them girls is fickle

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  372. Now there are sad sorts like Louise, one was named Barbara honegger, the first to float the ‘october surprise’ retroactive denial of Reagan’s victory.

    narciso (d1f714)

  373. Of course we know the huntress’s experience with ethics rules they only nabbed her,

    narciso (d1f714)

  374. Maybe Louise was watching chronicles of Riddick, this Moonbat gets a hearing but they even deleted atkinsons YouTube channel.

    narciso (d1f714)

  375. Patterico 311:

    I daresay Texan DRJ feels more like I do (with the exception of my detest for Trump on a personal level) than just about anyone here.

    It continues to crack me up that support for Donald Fucking Trump is now the gold standard for conservatism.

    Again. I didn’t leave y’all. You left me.

    Patterico (115b1f) — 5/20/2017 @ 7:53 pm

    Exactly. And while I don’t hate Trump, I absolutely hate what he and his supporters have done to conservatism and values.

    DRJ (15874d)

  376. lol how the simpering saudi royal perverts think they can buy respect

    even president trump knows better than this

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  377. Meanwhile a whole roster of agents in China were executed from 2010-2016, no one knows how it came to be.

    narciso (d1f714)

  378. now the cnn anderson cooper fake news propaganda sluts wanna do Monica Crowley on Mr. David Clarke

    fake that orgasm John McCain

    fake it for daddy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  379. Clarke ain’t worth it. Cain and West are, with that I do concur with our Telemundo fiend, who missed that forest for the big tree of Univision running Rosa De Guadalupe for 2 prime time hours indicati,g that it hasn’t grown from abuelas into the lowrider and Nomar/Oscar D. demos.

    urbanleftbehind (79883e)

  380. Well they have been buying us off for about 50 years, it accelerated after the oil shock of 73, which empowered tbe,juhaymans the forerunner of bin laden.

    narciso (d1f714)

  381. DCSCA,

    I didn’t realize it was all ideologues you oppose. I thought it was just conservatives, so thank you for correcting me. Is that because you are a pragmatist so you dislike all ideologies, or do you like some ideologies more than others?

    DRJ (15874d)

  382. There is always an excuse to throw someone overboard, ulb, I was speaking of the general tenor of their NBC and ABC related properties fusion the lotus and el chapo

    narciso (d1f714)

  383. An interesting essay for Simon Jester.

    DRJ (15874d)

  384. That is an intriguing way to look at it,

    narciso (d1f714)

  385. Yes it was an out of the blue event, but still.

    http://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/21/comey-mueller-bungled-big-anthrax-case-together/

    narciso (d1f714)

  386. the incompetence of our corrupt fbi has seldom been in question

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  387. Thanks for sharing that link, DRJ. I see from where the next major meme will come. (my emphasis and bold)

    One way to ask that question is to ask what innovation will launch us into the next energetic epoch and leave it’s mark on the environment. Another is to ask what life will look like in that epoch—both what lifeforms could become extinct and what could eventually become possible. After all, it took billions of years and several energy expansions to make oxygen-breathing, flesh-eating, fire-wielding humans possible on Earth.

    Both sides can have a field-day. BTW, what is the “it” in bold, does one suppose?

    felipe (023cc9)

  388. I am reminded of the life of stars, and of the main sequence, that must turn to fusing ever heavier elements until they collapse under their own weight. Is human life just one step in the main sequence, or are we the summit of Creation?

    felipe (023cc9)

  389. 375. Beldar (fa637a) — 5/21/2017 @ 12:23 am

    In other words, I’m pretty sure I can prove that James Comey’s press conference about Hillary was utterly wrong about the law using James Comey’s own past jury argument transcripts and admissions I could extract from Comey based on those transcripts. (Finish.)

    But, in his July 5, 2016 statement, Comey didn’t speak about what the law was – I’m not sure how people could have missed this – but about what the track record was. Where and when prosecutors actually brought cases. He claimed that there were certain conditions that had to be met, de facto, not de jure, and that Hillary Clinton didn’t fit into any of tehse categories.

    https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system

    In our system, the prosecutors make the decisions about whether charges are appropriate based on evidence the FBI has helped collect. Although we don’t normally make public our recommendations to the prosecutors, we frequently make recommendations and engage in productive conversations with prosecutors about what resolution may be appropriate, given the evidence. In this case, given the importance of the matter, I think unusual transparency is in order.

    Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before bringing charges. There are obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent. Responsible decisions also consider the context of a person’s actions, and how similar situations have been handled in the past.

    In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.

    There’s lot of room for cross-examination on that point, but as to the statute, all he would say is that Attorney General Loretta Lynch had said she would follow his advice as to whether or not to prosecute, so that a decision normally made by a prosecutor would have to be made by him (I don’t see how Rosenstein was ignorant of this entire background.

    See

    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/02/us/politics/loretta-lynch-hillary-clinton-email-server.html

    Loretta Lynch to Accept F.B.I. Recommendations in Clinton Email Inquiry

    …..

    Ms. Lynch said she had decided this spring to defer to the recommendations of her staff and the F.B.I. because her status as a political appointee sitting in judgment on a politically charged case would raise questions of a conflict of interest. But the meeting with Mr. Clinton, she acknowledged, had deepened those questions, and she said she now felt compelled to explain publicly her reasoning to try to put the concerns to rest.

    …Ms. Lynch’s reassurance that she will not overrule her investigators is significant. When the F.B.I. sought to bring felony charges against David H. Petraeus, the former C.I.A. director, for mishandling classified information and lying about it, Mr. Holder stepped in and reduced the charge to a misdemeanor. That decision opened a deep — and public — rift.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  390. Consider a human dropped into primordial soup 3.8 billions years ago, when life first began.

    is the “billions” thing a typo or is that a thing now?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  391. We have been on the earth for a tiny faction of time, 1/100,000th of the planet’s existence.

    narciso (d1f714)

  392. oh. the article is riddled with typos

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  393. Left comes unglitterglued after Lavrov denies discussing Comey with Trump

    Don’t stop believing in the media’s imaginary chat friends. Sheer law of averages they’re gonna hook up with a truth telling anonymous eventually.

    That means the Slimes coined the “Nutjob” nickname themselves (possible nursing some grudge).

    papertiger (c8116c)

  394. The author’s essay ducks that saying “assuming life did not parachute in…” It’s an interesting view but only of one point of view.

    crazy (d3b449)

  395. That is a very good point, crazy. Good catch.

    felipe (023cc9)

  396. the realization dawns as Comey forced to offer F.B.I. Recommendations in Clinton Email Inquiry. [YouTube]

    because absolutely nobody believes in Obama’s DoJ hoochie

    papertiger (c8116c)

  397. the atlantic hoochie also ducks the role of climate

    the ice ages were something less than an energy revolution i would think

    but a warming climate is self-evidently a boon to diversity on par with the other factors she mentions

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  398. it’s brilliant how economy-forward President Trump’s visit with the saudi royal perverts has been i think

    lemons and lemonade, smiles all around

    done and done and we’re on to the next one

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  399. Re the above anecdotes about skilled prosecutors and x-examinations. Please click & review http://www.leagle.com/decision/20031090289FSupp2d801_11004/U.S.%20v.%20WILSON – U.S. v. Edwin P. Wilson, 289 F.Supp.2d 801 (USDC-SD, TX, 2003).

    Ya can’t cross an affidavit, affirmed 3/0 on appeal, U.S. v. Wilson, 732 F.2d 404 (5th Cir. 1984) – http://www.leagle.com/decision/19841136732F2d404_11061/UNITED%20STATES%20v.%20WILSON ;
    see also – U.S. v. Wilson, 721 F.2d 967 (4th Cir. 1983) http://www.leagle.com/decision/19831688721F2d967_11490/UNITED%20STATES%20v.%20WILSON
    U.S. v. Wilson, 750 F.2d 7 (2nd Cir. 1984) http://www.leagle.com/decision/1984757750F2d7_1755/UNITED%20STATES%20v.%20WILSON ; and,
    April 28, 2005 ABC Nightline expose “The Most Dangerous Man in American–Conviction of former CIA Agent Overturned on False Affidavit – http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/LegalCenter/story?id=708779&page=1 .

    Thus, too big (Leviathan) government, the deep state & the political class/elite win again – and so much for the 6th Amendment (the Constitution), judicial integrity – and We the People.

    Twilight’s last Gleaming could be approaching. Thus all the more reason, to condemn/fire/or maybe invetigate – Comey for providing cover for Hillary Clinton (Abedin), Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Barack Obama – because if they can get away with how Clinton repeatedly sold the State Department, repeatedly jeopardized classified/secret/to secret material, were responsible for the Benghazi Consulate(?) and refused to come to the aid of our people – we might as well fold the tent and go home – the party – and maybe – the country is over.

    As Judge Lynn Hughes stated in U.S. v. Wilson [at 809] – “Honesty come hard to government.” And the dishonesty just keeps growing. And just think if Hillary Clinton – had won the election. GLZ.

    Gary L. Zerman (ab669e)

  400. papertiger @407 — I mentioned that yesterday when it first came out.

    So you have another instance of the press reporting on a document that was read to them over the phone by an anonymous source, but they never read the document, and then a flat denial by one of the participants to the conversation.

    Sounds like the report of Rosenstein threatening to quit the day after Comey was fired — except that Rosenstein said he never threatened to quit.

    Or like the report that Comey asked for more resources for the Russian investigation the day before he was fired — except McCabe testified the next day the FBI had all the resources they needed for the investigation.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  401. Beldar @375 continued:

    But there are some other questons Comey might be asked on the Clinton e-mail matter.

    For instance, on July 5, he said:

    Second, I have not coordinated or reviewed this statement in any way with the Department of Justice or any other part of the government. They do not know what I am about to say.

    You notice he said he did not coordinate or reviewed this statement and they didn’t know what he was about to say.

    But did they know what his conclusion was? What the bottom line was?

    Another thing: Was there any back and forth with his superiors in DOJ about what his responsibilities were?

    And then again, he did not discuss this statement in any way with the Department of Justice or any other part of the government.

    But did he discuss with anybody who was NOT part of the government? Like Hillary Clinton’s lawyers? I would think, if he was going to criticize her, he would have had to, to avoid ethics violations!

    And another question: Did he discuss this with someone OUTSIDE of the government, who, in turn, might have discussed this with someone who might have passed this on, it maybe eventually reaching, through a few intermediaries, people at DOJ? Did he ever find anything out in that regard, if it did?

    But Comey is not going to be asked about any of this, because, so far, he’s going to be testifying only in front of the Senate (or House) Intelligence Committees, and they are only going to be interested in asking him questions about the Russia investigation, and his dealings and conversations with Donald Trump.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  402. So what actually was discussed with lAvrov, does Carlos slims care, does bezos

    narciso (d1f714)

  403. I think we agreed to partition Poland. (shhhhh)

    What’s so good about Poland anyhow? So many people want to take Poland.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  404. 413, shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 5/21/2017 @ 9:26 am

    So you have another instance of the press reporting on a document that was read to them over the phone by an anonymous source,

    Actually a part of a document, but in this case it may not matter.

    but they never read the document, and then a flat denial by one of the participants to the conversation.

    But the person who apparently, or implicitly, denied this was Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, who is not exactly trustworthy, and might be trying to protect Trump from political fallout.

    More important, it has NOT been denied by anyone in the White House in a position to know, and since this is supposed be taken from an official account of the meeting, a lot of people (in the NSC?) would be in a position to know what U.S. government records said.

    And it has also not been denied by Secretary of State Fox Tillerson this morning on Fox News Sunday, who, when asked, just evaded a direct answer, saying only that Trump wanted to let the Russians know he would not be distracted by this, wwhich is quite consistent with it being true..

    http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2017/05/21/rex-tillerson-on-what-trump-trip-means-for-us-foreign-policy.html

    WALLACE: Mr. Secretary, you were in the Oval Office when the president met with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on May 10th, and according to the official summary, the president told Lavrov: I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut ob. I face great pressure because of Russia, that’s taken off.

    My question to you, sir, as someone who was in that meeting — was he telling the Russians that firing Comey was taking off legal and political pressure?

    TILLERSON: Chris, that’s not my — my interpretation, certainly, of the conversation. And I think what the president was trying to convey to the Russians is, look, I’m not going to be distracted by this — all these issues that are here at home, they — that, you know, affect us domestically. I’m not going to let that distract from our efforts to see if we can engage with you, engage with Russia, and identify areas where we might be able to work together. The president I think reemphasized the message to the Russians that the relationship is at a low point and we need to change that, we need to both work towards trying to improve that.

    So I think the point he was making is I’m not going to be distracted by those things that are happening here at home, nor let them get in the way of the important work of engaging Russia to see what can be done to improve this relationship.

    WALLACE: But, sir, he seemed to be saying that firing Comey would help remove one of the distractions.

    TILLERSON: I — Chris, I just didn’t — my takeaway from that conversation was not that point at all. I think, again, the president was simply saying to the Russians these issues at home are not going to get in the way of my effort and the effort of my government to see if we can find a way to move this relationship forward.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  405. 37.DCSCA (797bc0) — 5/19/2017 @ 3:16 pm

    @12. Sammy, can’t imagine a TASS-fotogger wielding a digital camera that is more than a digital camera,, eh…. that records, dices and slices…

    They were idiots for letting them in the Oval.

    Osama bin Laden also didn’t realize he was being recorded one day in Kandahar in November, 2001. He thought the camera was shooting a silent movie and he let it take place.

    But here, Trump and company probaby thought the Russians were taking only still pictures, and probably outside of the main part of the meeting, and also that the person who took pictures was merely a news correspondent.

    Putin would probably have wanted this recorded, as a double check on Lavrov and Kislyak.

    Anyway, I say again, take up the Russians on their offer to supply a transcript.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  406. the Poland people have the vast coal resources and a meaningful pastry repertoire

    plus they’re sassy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  407. @Louise Mensch. I think her sources lied to her, maybe in an attempt to discredit her, or to limit her influence if she got more of an audience than they wanted. I don’t think she made up this story about a marshal of the Supreme Court herself.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  408. sleazy pentagon piggies getting busted

    At the Pentagon, overpriced fuel sparks allegations — and denials — of a slush fund

    these are the criminal military piggies the voices in John McCain’s head tell him we have to slop to the tune of trillions and trillions of borrowed chineser dollars

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  409. So you’re saying Sergie is lying?

    I’d suspect Tillerson first. He’s a known peddler of climate fraud. If not a pusher then at least a carrier.

    And that’s a wishy washy answer Rex gave there. Could mean anything. Could mean Tillerson was napping on the couch. Missed most of the talk. Left his hearing aid at home maybe.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  410. Link at 163:

    Narrative one is that Donald Trump and/or one or several of his entourage colluded in some manner with the Russians over election 2016. </blockquote. That's actually two separate things:

    1. Trump

    2. One or several of his entourage

    Logic and the evidence point to it being one or several of his entourage, particularly Mike Flynn.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/michael-flynn-donald-trump-russia-influence/

    If multiple Russian government officials said in intercepted conversations that they could use Mike Flynn to influence Trump, it sounds like Donald Trump wasn't in on it. Although they didn't trust him enough to tell him.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  411. Sammy — to me the issue is that we have yet to have a credible on-the-record source confirm or deny the actual words of the conversation — and more importantly the context of the words that are being put down in print by the press without knowing the full context for what they are reporting.

    I can certainly picture in my “mind’s eye” Trump using the words “crazy” and “nut job”. To me that’s hyperbole and atmospherics that are not uncommon with brash and outspoken individuals raised in East Coast cities. This is something that I think is not acknowledged or appreciated well enough — Trump is a product of New York City. He has never felt the need for business or social reasons to have himself “scrubbed” of some of the idiosyncratic features of being raised there. His manner of speaking, and willingness to criticize without a “filter” is pretty common in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

    But apart from the actual words, we still have absolutely NO CONFIRMATION of the context of whatever his comments might have been from a substantive standpoint. This is why having part of a document read, but not the whole document, and then basing reporting on it is so dangerous.

    What if other parts of the document — parts not read to the reporter — go on in detail to explain the context of Trump’s comments about “pressure” and how the firing of Comey related to that? What if its consistent with Tillerson’s testimony today — that what Trump was referring to was political pressure domestically that was hindering his ability to improve bilateral relations — not pressure from the standpoint of being paralyzed by the threat of a criminal prosecution.

    I have even greater concerns about the Comey memo that was reported on. My recollection is that the report had only two short snippets from the memo put in quotes in the article. Was that all the reporter was read – 2 short snippets containing a dozen or fewer words?? If more was read to the reporter, why didn’t he print the entire excerpt word-for-word?

    Does anyone think that Comey’s memo of that meeting, given the subject that was supposedly discussed, is only one paragraph?

    I think the Comey memo probably has a lot less substance to it than is being suggested, and the purpose of leaking the memo wasn’t substantive, but just as a “warning shot” that such memos exist. In a way, it did Trump a favor by giving those around him a good reason to tell him to not go off extemporaneously about Comey and past meetings/conversations between the two of them.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  412. Ah yes Gary I remember reading manhunt and how they ionized Larry barcella, then seeing a few years later was on the defense for bcci.

    narciso (d1f714)

  413. yes yes yes climate change pansies like the deceitful Rex Tillerson and the stripper duaghter lack even the barest soupçon of integrity

    not necessarily a disqualification for the SoS job, but one is wise to be mindful of this when dealing with such people

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  414. oops the stripper *daughter* i mean (ivanka)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  415. I’d take what Tillerson said as basically a confirmation. If that is taken as a denial, then Tillerson lied as well as Lavrov.

    I think anyway what Tillerson’s is really doing is spinning what Trump meant.

    Don’t forget this could also be Trump trying to mislead the Russians.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  416. Didn’t have inflation in the country until the Wilson/Roosevelt progressives carved the Fed Reserve system into stone via amendment. That’s a long long time for economic stability due to one man. Cut out a whole bunch of graft too.

    Papertiger, I assume that comment is based on near total ignorance of the economic history of the US in the 19th century. What may have been the worst depression in US history prior to 1928 was set off by Jackson’s policies. And the regular boom and bust cycles of the 19th century was what made the Federal Reserve seem good idea.

    And he didn’t cut out the graft: he just made sure it was channeled away from his opponents and towards his supporters. (“To the victor belong the spoils!”)

    kishnevi (d764f4)

  417. Well compare to John Browne of no, tillerson was an agnostic.

    narciso (d1f714)

  418. Did the fed resolve the business cycle compare 1873 and 1929

    narciso (d1f714)

  419. I think the Comey memo probably has a lot less substance to it than is being suggested, and the purpose of leaking the memo wasn’t substantive, but just as a “warning shot” that such memos exist. In a way, it did Trump a favor by giving those around him a good reason to tell him to not go off extemporaneously about Comey and past meetings/conversations between the two of them.

    Which may mean that the leaks are indeed from Trump’s own staff.

    I think that Trump was referring to political pressure when he said “the pressure’s off” should be obvious to anyone other than a Clintonista.

    kishnevi (d764f4)

  420. Narciso, I said “made it seem a good idea”. I didn’t say ” it was a good idea”.

    kishnevi (d764f4)

  421. Of course the pressure Trump was talking about is political, but the Russians wouldn’t disntinggish too much between political and legal. In russia, anyway, criminal cases against important people are always political, and don’t have to be based on real violations of law. when Trump says Comey is a nut job, he means the investigation is groundless. That kind of investigation you can indeed stop by firing one person.

    Taking excerpts out of context from the Feb 14 Comey memo is indeed more serious. I highly suspect the spin its being given (no doubt first by the leakers) would collapse if the whole thing was available. But if the quote, however out of context it may be, is accurate, the leakers reputation won’t be hurt much.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  422. Part of the conventional wisdom

    https://eh.net/book_reviews/the-jacksonian-economy/

    Wedont know this memo exists at all sammeh

    narciso (d1f714)

  423. Talking to the Russians about firing the FBI Director, in this context, is the single most incompetent and indefensible thing Trump has done as POTUS. It’s not illegal, probably, nor a ground for impeachment on its own. But there is no universe in which the POTUS should be speaking to the Russians about that subject in those circumstances.

    The man’s big mouth will destroy his own presidency unless he cleans up his act thoroughly and immediately. I genuinely hope he will; I see no reason to be optimistic about that, however, and many reasons not to.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  424. Whereas inflation was dearly desired in the 1890s

    narciso (d1f714)

  425. I’m fond of the first one – but I like the second graph too.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  426. I disagree, by the way, that “political” is the only modifier that can rationally be put on Trump’s “pressure” comment. But even if that’s what Trump meant, and even if (less likely) the Russians understood him to mean that (rather than “pressure from a pending criminal investigation into his affiliates and advisors, the FBI Director being a position which is supposed to be all about criminal investigations rather than politics), it was an inappropriate subject for Trump to be arguing — for the very same reasons it was inappropriate for Obama to make his “flexibility in my second term” comment to the Russians. Obama didn’t have “open mic” embarrassments every day, and had better sense than to knowingly make that kind of comment where it could be overheard and recorded and reported. But even Obama couldn’t have survived a steady, daily drumbeat of such screw-ups, and that’s what Trump is still producing.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  427. @396. DRJ, some more than others, by degree. Like history, it’s not a straight line, but in the long run, a little bitta ‘dis, a little bidda dat. It’s pragmatism, from all points of the compass, which chart a path for progress.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  428. Lavrov: Donald Fredovich, what is it you are doing to conceal from capitalist oppressors of American proletariat that you are unregistered Russian spy?

    Trump: Sergey Viktorovich, I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.

    Well, why not?

    nk (dbc370)

  429. The graphs are a bit deceptive, because comparing the 19th century to the 20th century isn’t apples to oranges. Inflation pre Civil War was linked to private (or state chartered) banks issuing their own notes. Often banks would start to issue too many, leading to a boom, then to a bust when people starting cashing in those notes for gold. And it was often localized. You could have inflation and boom in the West, and stagnation and bust in the Northeast–or vice versa because it was linked to local banks.

    A better standard would be availability of credit, although a quickie search doesn’t show me anything usable.

    kishnevi (d764f4)

  430. Claiming Trunp was talking to the Russians about firing the FBI Director, based on no evidence what so ever, just their good word, is the single most incompetent and indefensible thing the media has done to the POTUS.

    But the day is young.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  431. A govt in that era, would be small enough to in a bath tub’ as norquist put it.

    narciso (d1f714)

  432. Claiming Trunp was talking to the Russians about firing the FBI Director, based on no evidence what so ever, just their good word, is the single most incompetent and indefensible thing the media has done to the POTUS.

    Has the WH issued a denial?

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  433. That’s why I rely on the earlier piece.

    narciso (d1f714)

  434. Gold is the traditional yardstick.

    How about the price of a nice suit?

    One ounce of gold. That hasn’t changed.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  435. Did LBJ ever deny that he had sex with pigs?

    nk (dbc370)

  436. See the link I gave yesterday at 295.

    They did not give any sort of outright denial. And the last sentence in the quote from Spicer can be read as confirming that that alleged quotes are, if not ipsum verbum, accurate about the substance of Trump’s statements.

    If the quotes are fake, why wouldn’t Spicer trot them out as prime examples of “fake news”?

    kishnevi (d764f4)

  437. @442- Whereas inflation was dearly desired in the 1890s

    Inflation doesn’t seem to be on the list. Peep shows, golf tees and Hershey bars beat it out.

    Top inventions/innovations of the 1890s:

    • Zipper • Typewriter • Rubber tires used on bicycles • Carburetor • Diesel engine • X-ray • Radio • Cold cereal • Aspirin • Magnetic tape recorder • Rubber heel (for shoe/boot)• Movie projector • Wireless radio telegraph • Photoelectric cell • Milk safety test • Thermite (industrial material)• Self-powered model airplane • Bolt action rifle • Motion picture camera • Data processing machine • Photocopying machine • Bridle bit (for horse)• Desk top pencil sharpener • Dust pan • Fountain pen • Golf tee • Dry cell battery (Ever Ready) • Steel-framed skyscraper • American Express Travelers Cheques • Book matches • Hershey chocolate bar • Cathode-ray tube • Jell-o • Roll film • Vacuum cleaner • First American subway built • Cracker Jack • Peanut agricultural science • Dirgible • Dixie cup (paper cup)• Dishwasher • Peep show • Escalator • Gasoline powered car • Player piano • Submarine • Double-edge safety razor

    https://www.learner.org/workshops/primarysources/corporations/docs/inventions.html

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  438. nk raises a good point there. LBJ never did issue a denial regarding his rumored pig porking, and we don’t go around calling him Pig [edit]er Johnson.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  439. Re my comments in #440 above, and elsewhere, re what else (besides the Israeli intelligence) Trump said to the Russians in the Oval Office last week:

    It’s fair to observe that the NYT report is thinly, barely sourced. I have no illusions about media honesty, and indeed, I’m very proud to have been among the many bloggers (also including our host) who participated in the “blogswarm” (in Hugh Hewitt’s description) that exposed CBS News’ efforts to swing the 2004 presidential election based on badly forged documents that CBS News damn well knew were hinky when they ran their story.

    It’s wrong, however, to argue that there is zero sourcing in the story. Is the NYT trying to pull another RatherGate here? I certainly don’t dismiss that possibility. And if, for example, Trump was recording the conversation and has definitive evidence that he never said a single word to the Russians about having just fired Comey, then yeah, at that point I’d be persuaded and much relieved.

    But that’s not what my gut tells me. I’ll reserve judgment for now, but my gut tells me that Trump probably used exactly the words he’s quoted as using. And I suspect the Russians wired themselves to record everything in earshot before they set foot on the WH grounds, whether Trump has recordings or not. Maybe the metaphorical limb will turn out to support Trump’s weight, or maybe not, but there’s no question that he’s climbed all the way out to the end of the limb, and if he’s being set up for a limb-sawing party, he’s got a long way to fall.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  440. You both have it backwards lol. LBJ was the instigator not the subject.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  441. that’s assuming corrupt sleazy fbi turdboy comey hasn’t been a russian agent all this time, looking out for the best interests of hillary as she sold them influence

    and an ungodly amount of uranium

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  442. We know that, Spartacvs. And his strategy was “We’ll let him deny it” and we know that too and that is the point we’re making.

    nk (dbc370)

  443. LBJ’s why the flowers in Texas, they are so pretty

    he married up, that one

    and the flowers, they are so pretty

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  444. The point is they haven’t denied it. Odd, don’t you think, that the WH would leave such a damaging claim just hanging up there? What’s the strategery? Do they have one? Are they simply running out of excuses for the POTUS?

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  445. there’s nothing wrong with calling a nutjob fbi pig a nutjob

    especially after the spectacle comey the clownboy made of himself

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  446. I don’t know that it is very damaging judging from the reaction of Trump supporters here.

    nk (dbc370)

  447. 435. You should cite 1907, when J. P. Morgan prevented a depression. By 1929-31 the Fed had forgotten what they needed to do.

    There was also a depression starting in 1913-1914 – Coxey in fact was going to march again, but massive purchases by the Allies because of World War I cut it short.

    I don’t think they ever really understood things. There was no business “cycle” It’s very irregular caused by things causing and reducing monetary expansion.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  448. I thought, and said, that Trump should have taken a “de mortuis nil nisi bonum” approach towards Comey after he fired him, and it reflects badly on him that he did not, but that’s water under Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile now.

    nk (dbc370)

  449. yeah it’s not very damaging at all if you ask me

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  450. POTUS will be damaged beyond repair well before his support among the 27 percenters starts to flag.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  451. it’s not at all unlikely that comey and other oinky fbi pigs have threatened to blackmail president trump

    and I think President Trump has sent a loud and clear signal that he won’t be intimidated by a bunch of sleazy corrupt fbi trash

    that’s for sure the right approach I think

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  452. nk @446. the russians are no longer against capitalism or religion.

    It’s pure KGB now. And their ideology, if they have one, is close to white racism and a selection of conservative social values.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  453. I thought, and said, that Trump should have taken a “de mortuis nil nisi bonum” approach towards Comey after he fired him, and it reflects badly on him that he did not, but that’s water under Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile now.

    He likes to taunt his victims and humiliate them. We’ve seen it all before, it’s a recurring feature of his base character.

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  454. obama the job-raping food stamp slut did a lot of taunting in his time too

    a lot more than trump, actually

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  455. I was comparing the two worst in each century 1893 was a second place one.

    Anyways the inflation in the 1830s were due to exogenous factors

    narciso (3ca8cf)

  456. Trump was trying to make a deal with the Russians on Syria. That’s what actually most of that meeting was about.

    It’s not working.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/world/middleeast/syria-russia-us-convoy.html

    Russian and Syrian officials on Friday strongly condemned an American airstrike on pro-Syrian government forces in southern Syria a day earlier, calling it an act of aggression and rejecting the United States’ justification for the attack.

    “It is illegitimate, it is unlawful and the latest gross violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said in Cyprus, according to the state-run Russian news agency Tass.

    After the airstrike, which American officials said was defensive in nature, Pentagon officials said on Friday that they were working with Russia to prevent similar ground incidents in the future, much as the two countries have done for months to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria.

    “We had a proposal that we’re working on with the Russians right now,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Friday, declining to give details. “My sense is that the Russians are as enthusiastic as we are to deconflict operations and ensure that we can continue to take the campaign to ISIS and ensure the safety of our personnel.”

    ….another channel has been opened in which a three-star general in Washington now speaks regularly with his counterpart in Moscow.

    United States military officials said on Thursday that in the airstrike, American warplanes hit a convoy of pro-government militia forces because it was approaching a base where American and British special operations troops train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State. The officials said the convoy ignored a warning strike.

    For its part, the Syrian government said the United States had no right to defend the base, which was established in Syria without government permission, or to declare areas off limits to pro-government forces.

    Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that the convoy included some Iranian-backed militia forces. But Pentagon officials said it was too soon to say whether Iran had directed the convoy to attack the rebel training base, which is near the border with Jordan.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3)

  457. DCSCA 445,

    To me, pragmatism sounds like doing whatever you think is best at the time. What does it mean to you?

    DRJ (15874d)

  458. What should we make of the assertion that Mueller may be barred by legal ethics rules from serving As Special Counsel?

    crazy (d3b449)

  459. It was civil compared to your “Fuck Trump”, “Fuck Pence”, ‘you’re a Trump supporter’ nonsense.

    People here are not expected to be civil to the politicians we criticize, but we are expected to be minimally civil to one another.

    You started the personal insults with the crack about how where I live is getting to me — not the first time you’ve made such a crack, either. Your best evidence that I was uncivil to you is my saying that you’re a Trump supporter. OK. You’re the kind of non-Trump supporter who insults people when they are, in your opinion, too critical of Trump.

    Lot of that going around.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  460. Are you using the term in a philosophical sense or something else?

    DRJ (15874d)

  461. What should we make of the assertion that Mueller may be barred by legal ethics rules from serving As Special Counsel?

    Desperation? Flop sweat?

    Spartacvs (2db708)

  462. I am getting used to seeing people defend Trump by claiming his critics said something improper or rude, but these are the same people who say nothing when Trump says much worse things over and over and over. Hypocrisy may not be an issue for them so I guess they do it because Trump does it and it works for him. It doesn’t work with me anymore and that’s why I skip most of the comments. It’s gotcha comments and sloganeering, not discussion.

    DRJ (15874d)

  463. Dopey me thought Trump and the King sounded positive on battling terrorism today.

    mg (31009b)

  464. Interesting article, crazy, but there is a large body of caselaw under the relevant legal ethics rules which governs “imputed knowledge” that the article basically omits. I’d need to know more facts before reaching any conclusions. It matters, for example, whether Mueller was an equity partner or a mere employee of the firm. It matters a very great deal what waivers are included in the terms of engagement between the firm and the allegedly conflict-generating clients (presumably Kushner and/or Manafort). I’d frankly be surprised if a firm like WilmerHale (a merged entity primarily comprising lawyers from DC-powerhouse Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and lawyers from Boston-powerhouse Hale & Dorr) — which faces very intricate and complicated ethics questions daily and has a long-established conflicts-checking & resolution routine — did not include, as a boilerplate provision in all of its engagement letters, some fairly broad waivers of potential future conflicts. And finally, I’d be very surprised if Mueller and WilmerHale didn’t do this very analysis before Mueller told Rosenstein he’d accept the appointment. The fact that Mueller plans to bring several other colleagues with him makes me think it even more likely that they’ve run those traps and satisfied themselves that they have means to avoid them. But we’ll see.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  465. You started the personal insults with the crack about how where I live is getting to me

    The comment is totally relevant considering California is overly out of step with the rest of the nation. It’s a comment that the pervasiveness of negative opinion around you wears you down until your opinion conforms to the masses. If you take that as a totally rude and uncivil comment, I don’t know what kind of comments are left to be made.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  466. We can talk about that, mg. I agree it was a good moment for Trump. Why can’t his supporters admit Trump has had bad moments, too?

    You should applaud Patterico for admitting he doesn’t like Trump. Don’t you want journalists to reveal things like that so we know where they are coming from? This is about Trump supporters thinking Patterico has betrayed his tribe, and their hatred for that is obvious. It’s about tribalism, not transparency or good government or America. They love it when the media fawns over Trump. We see it with every Instapundit link.

    DRJ (15874d)

  467. Thank you Beldar. That’s exactly what I was wondering.

    crazy (d3b449)

  468. I thought, and said, that Trump should have taken a “de mortuis nil nisi bonum” approach towards Comey after he fired him, and it reflects badly on him that he did not, but that’s water under Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile now.

    He likes to taunt his victims and humiliate them. We’ve seen it all before, it’s a recurring feature of his base character.

    Well who doesn’t enjoy a good round of trash talk every now and again?

    But I think there’s a method in this comey nutbag storyline.

    If you want to put Hillary in jail.
    You think Donny wants Hilda behind bars?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  469. this idea that the failmerican president needs to be admirable or affable or even “someone i want to have a beer with”

    that made sense when america was a great country full of vigor and promise

    now that it’s a debt-ridden brokedick burgeoningly fascist third whirl sleaze-state, i don’t think we really have that luxury anymore

    if we got someone in that goddamn white house moving the dial towards more freedom and prosperity

    (and at this late date too)

    failmericans can’t afford to be too picky about aesthetics

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  470. Omg, there is something more than this borscht hallucination, quelle surprise?

    narciso (3ca8cf)

  471. I’m not quite convinced of this, although I acknowledge that Prof. Gillers is a well-regarded expert of legal ethics (I’ve disagreed with him before nevertheless), and it’s pretty close to right even if not exactly right:

    If Mueller did not work for any of the three clients [Kushner, Ivanka & Manafort], then when he leaves the firm, he’s purged of any conflicts the firm has because of that work. He’s sanitized. He’s vaccinated,” said Stephen Gillers, a professor of law at New York University who specializes in legal ethics.

    “The public might say, ‘He was at Manafort’s firm, he has a conflict,’” Gillers added. “But the rule is, if he didn’t work on the Manafort matter or learn any confidential information, once he leaves it’s as though he was never there.”

    Each state has its own spin on these ethics rules, and it’s possible that there is District of Columbia precedent right on point that gives Prof. Gillers comfort to make such a blanket pronouncement.

    Regarding the federal regulation (as distinct from the legal ethics) issues, those are waivable by the DoJ. Recall that Mueller needed — and was granted, by bipartisan agreement — action by Congress to grant him a two-year extension to his 10-year FBI Director appointment to permit him to continue into Obama’s first term.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  472. Well who doesn’t enjoy a good round of trash talk every now and again?

    Everyone who can recognize the difference between trash and class, basically. And you’ve self-identified with one group.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  473. @475. It means pragmatism. It is what it is. Don’t over think it.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  474. @477. Meh. People are just angry, Patterico. Mostly middle class.

    Wage gap, changing demographics… $3.79 for a 14 oz. bag of potato chips…

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  475. reach out and touch

    somebody’s hand

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  476. @475. Keep it thermonuclear light, DRJ.

    This seem fairly pragmatic:

    “That’s a lot of hogwash. Don’t kid yourself, there’ll be Russian generals who will react just as I would – the best defense is a good offense. They see trouble coming up, take my word for it, they’ll attack, and they won’t give a damn what Marx said.” – General Bogan [Frank Overton] ‘Fail-Safe’ 1964

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  477. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/20/melania-trump-white-house-leaks-media-238620

    On top of spaghetti;
    All covered w/cheese;
    Trump lost his poor meatball;
    When Melania sneezed.

    Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz, Sean.

    “Mama-mia, that’s a Spicey mea-ta-balla!” – Alka-Seltzer TV commercial, 1975

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  478. 453/456. Oink. Have you ever seen Lady Bird sans make-up? She wasn’t on a quest to beautify America for nothing.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  479. The comment is totally relevant considering California is overly out of step with the rest of the nation. It’s a comment that the pervasiveness of negative opinion around you wears you down until your opinion conforms to the masses. If you take that as a totally rude and uncivil comment, I don’t know what kind of comments are left to be made.

    Yes, I consider this comment to be rude and uncivil:

    Living in California has cracked Patterico.

    It’s pure insult. Nothing more. Don’t try to make it sound substantive and thoughtful.

    Plus, it’s totally off base. Absolutely nothing I say here is in touch with the lunacy of California, except that I criticize Trump (from the right) and many Californians criticize Trump (from the left).

    Patterico (115b1f)

  480. i never saw Lady Bird without makeup

    you know who i bet’s pretty without makeup is that melania trunp

    “a natural beauty” i think they call it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  481. oops melania *trump* i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  482. i been getting my olive oils from California cause Mr. Trump would rather we buy America stuff

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  483. @498/499.

    See link @#85. Depends on if you enjoy her coming or going. Either way should make you happy, Happy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  484. she really is a very pretty lady and she’s super good at getting on planes

    i think she’s really doing good for her first time as first lady

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  485. I think the conflict problem is the fact that it violates DOJ policies, not general rules of ethics from whatever jurisdictions issued their law licenses.

    And its likely that Kushner and Manafort would have to waive the conflict, which I expect they will not do.

    The existence of a perceived conflict of interest on the part of an investigating/prosecuting attorney with DOJ vis-a-vis a target is not easy to step around.

    While DOJ can waive these policies, Rosenstein works for Trump, and Trump can direct him to not waive the policies, and pick a different special counsel if he wishes.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  486. Ha, okay Patterico. Nothing but pure insult. I’ll stop trying to reason with you. Your wish is granted.

    Dejectedhead (e88da6)

  487. Absolutely nothing I say here is in touch with the lunacy of California, except that I criticize Trump (from the right) and many Californians criticize Trump (from the left).

    It’s sad that it has come to this. Despite DejectedHead’s assertion that he doesn’t think of Trump as the gold standard of conservatism, that’s precisely what Trump has become to many of his supporters. Any criticism of Trump is decried as hatred, or symptomatic of TDS, or from a Hillary supporter, or a left-winger.

    No politician should ever be above criticism, but the Trump supporters are now behaving like Obama’s supporters did in 2009.

    Chuck Bartowski (211c17)

  488. Ha, okay Patterico. Nothing but pure insult. I’ll stop trying to reason with you. Your wish is granted.

    Excellent. If you consider “Living in California has cracked Patterico” to be “reasoning” with me, I can live without it.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  489. It’s sad that it has come to this. Despite DejectedHead’s assertion that he doesn’t think of Trump as the gold standard of conservatism, that’s precisely what Trump has become to many of his supporters. Any criticism of Trump is decried as hatred, or symptomatic of TDS, or from a Hillary supporter, or a left-winger.

    No politician should ever be above criticism, but the Trump supporters are now behaving like Obama’s supporters did in 2009.

    It’s Trump Critic Derangement Syndrome, Chuck. TCDS.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  490. Folks who b*tch most about California and Californians are usually cold, wet and leaning on snow shovels.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  491. How’s that Constitutional Vanguard going?

    Dejectedhead (e88da6)

  492. Why any sucker would believe Trump is a ‘conservative’ is mind boggling. If the 2016 party situation was reversed, and 16 weak weenies were running against an old, flawed GOP candidate burdened w/t same problems, he’d have hijacked the Democratic nomination using the same game plan and adapted his sales pitch accordingly.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  493. How’s that Constitutional Vanguard going?

    Slowly, because I have been very, very busy at work, Dejectedhead. I have worked around the clock for months now.

    Note that I am answering the question as if it had been asked in a genuine and friendly way. Even though I suspect it was not.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  494. I am asking it genuinely. I signed up for it when you first set it up and haven’t heard anything really.

    I hear people getting amped at work about a possible state convention, but they’re hung up on things like a balanced budget amendment.

    I get that work gets busy, I’m generally in the same boat as well.

    Dejectedhead (e88da6)

  495. I may have mentioned earlier: I am in a long trial. I won’t talk about the details, but it’s the biggest case I have ever done and I have been preparing for months.

    So yeah, the blog and the group have been on the back burner.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  496. not being able to find black hair products in wyoming is NOT the same as slavery

    Oppression Olympics Ft. BUZZFEED

    josephine adds value to my life

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  497. DCSCA,

    It sounds like you view pragmatism as doing what makes sense in the circumstances. That seems subjective to me, basically you do what you think is right. I suspect Trump does that.

    DRJ (15874d)

  498. @515 happyfeet

    Black people don’t know about lanolin?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  499. @ Dejectedhead:

    “Living in California has cracked Patterico”

    and

    The comment is totally relevant considering California is overly out of step with the rest of the nation. It’s a comment that the pervasiveness of negative opinion around you wears you down until your opinion conforms to the masses. If you take that as a totally rude and uncivil comment, I don’t know what kind of comments are left to be made.

    As a lifelong Californian, I object to the gross generalization of Californians who don’t toe the state’s leftist line nor support Trump (thus far). Living here is difficult, and I can say that personally I have paid a price with family and friends for standing up for my conservative principles and beliefs. No matter how diplomatic I might try to be. (Sort of like here). Ironically, as a right-leaning individual in a blue state, it is I who am perceived as being negative and rude by leftists when I discuss my commitment to limited government, etc, while those who believe government is the answer to all that ails man see themselves as all about unity and positivity. I am the dissenter. But you know what, it hasn’t cracked me up, and I know it certainly hasn’t cracked up our host. I also know from talking with a number of people who are conservatives in this very blue state, that they too have only found more resolve in their commitment to their beliefs, in spite of the inevitable onslaught of attack, dismissal and mockery by the Big Government majority.

    If the negativity of our regional politics were able to crack us up, then Patterico, myself, and a host of other conservative/libertarian residents in this state wouldn’t cease to opine, push back, and extol the virtues of a different sort of government rather than what we currently have. And most certainly, if we we became like those around us who are negative, we wouldn’t be frequenting a site like this.

    Dana (023079)

  500. Black people don’t know about lanolin?

    i’m a strong black woman and i had to google it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  501. Every time I crush one

    From off the Tee

    Some NeverTrumper starts breakin’ down on me

    Stop breakin’ down

    Please, stop breakin’ down

    Stuff like that’s gonna scrunch your face up

    Make you lose your mind

    It’s Sunday night at the

    Democrat Correspondent’s Ball

    They don’t do nothing but make

    Republican Presidents fall

    Stop breakin’ down

    Woo Lordy, stop breakin’ down

    Stuff like that’s gonna give you crowsfeet

    Make you lose your mind

    solo

    Maxine Waters gives Morning Joe

    Her fever dreams

    She wants to bring the hammer

    Down on me

    Stop breakin’ down

    Please, lady

    Stop breakin’ down

    Stuff like that’s gonna mess your wig up

    Make you lose your mind

    Every time I chip one

    Up on the green

    Chuck Schumer starts breakin’ down on me

    Stop breakin’ down

    Please, Chuck

    Stop breakin’ down

    Stuff like that’s gonna stress your hair plugs

    Lordy, make you lose your mind

    outro

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  502. Dana @518:

    Exactly.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  503. Eh… would cease

    Dana (42c5fb)

  504. 518. Dana: I’m familiar with the onslaught of Californian opinion. I’m married to someone that grew up in the People’s Republic of Santa Monica, has friends and family still there, and I too have been looked at as a pariah at parties I have attended.

    Anyways, I do not wish to re-engage in the discussion. I’ve attempted to bring the discussion to a cordial end and am not engaging in any slap fighting with you or Patterico. Your dissent has been noted.

    Dejectedhead (e88da6)

  505. Good luck with your case, Pat.

    Keeping California safe since 1993.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  506. Mostly safe for collective bargaining, but some Christian commerce on a tightly controlled limited basis happens as well.

    Yeah California!

    papertiger (c8116c)

  507. i too have been oppressed for my beliefs

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  508. Might not be a good idea to be brandishing an obsidian dagger when preaching about Huitzilopochtli.

    nk (dbc370)

  509. Well who doesn’t enjoy a good round of trash talk every now and again?

    Everyone who can recognize the difference between trash and class, basically. And you’ve self-identified with one group.

    Beldar (fa637a)

    Did you know Pat has a FUQs

    page? While all the high class toney joints have a FAQs.

    I fit in pretty well.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  510. DCSA — I was born and raised in Calif. Lived there for 40 years.

    Fifteen years ago I moved to a state that is much more liberal than California in terms of being dominated by Democrats in all political institutions.

    I will never live in Calif again. While I live in a liberal dominated state, the liberalism is not nearly as destructive as what I see has happened in Calif. over the last 15 years since I left.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  511. Patterico and Dana stating their opinion is slap-fighting while Trump supporters are civil and caring. No hypocrisy there.

    DRJ (15874d)

  512. 531. Not at all what I was saying.

    Dejectedhead (e88da6)

  513. Trump supporters. Don’t you need to qualify that just a wee bit?

    Civil and caring are code words meaning shut up and give me your stuff.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  514. I support President Trump if that makes me a “Trump supporter” then so be it

    he’s putting it all on the line for America

    I’m not turning my back on him now no sir

    cause i meant what i said and i said what i meant and a pikachu’s faithful ONE HUNDRED PERCENT

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  515. Look, it’s not complicated. We used to live in a country where the far left were either kept in insane asylums or heavily medicated. Regrettably, that isn’t the case any more. The Democrats have no plan. Trump should dig deep and learn from his predecessor and ignore anything that falls outside of what he wants to accomplish. Eventually, it all just goes away.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  516. Living in the Republic of Taxachusetts has cracked my brain box. We think San Clemente is sane. California has such beauty, and the food.
    Best Wishes on your trial Patterico.

    mg (31009b)

  517. Then please explain what you meant.

    DRJ (15874d)

  518. Festivus is not really an acknowledged belief system, so most likely the travisnockasham played no role in the discusussions. Now I raise the concern that trump pulled his punches in the kingdom

    narciso (d1f714)

  519. about what?

    mg (31009b)

  520. Patterico and Dana stating their opinion is slap-fighting while Trump supporters are civil and caring. No hypocrisy there.

    DRJ (15874d) — 5/21/2017 @ 4:10 pm

    Insecurity leads to ugliness. Trump fans are transparent and on occasion resemble Trump in this regard.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  521. I support President Trump if that makes me a “Trump supporter” then so be it

    I’m glad we cleared that up

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  522. 537. I/myself do not want to engage in slap fighting towards Patterico or Dana.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  523. I think Dejectedhead has made his position known. Other folks, naturally, want to pile on. I’m with Dana, DRJ, and Patterico.

    I just visited a former research student of mine who is now spittin’ distance from tenure at Stanford. She is super progressive, but she told me that she fears becoming a “Birther” in her hatred of all things Trump.

    I told her that we needed to find people—on any given side of the aisle— to run for office that we could say about: “I don’t want them to be in office, but they are well meaning and good intentioned folks.” Instead, it’s all about hating and exaggerating and snarking and insulting.

    I continue to not understand people who insult Patterico when he is paying for the site. And if people feel insulted by Patterico, why are they posting?

    Which takes me back to the hating and exaggerating and snarking and insulting.

    And it all just gives more power to statists.

    Simon Jester (473673)

  524. That’s commendable, Dejectedhead. But why did you bring up slap-fighting? Who is engaging in the slap-fighting that you want no part of?

    DRJ (15874d)

  525. Where would she get such a crazy notion, simon like the air on Arrakeen it is spice saturated. Is it brave to say you find trump a loathsome being; that is the default setting.

    narciso (d1f714)

  526. Simon,

    I left a link for you at 398. I suspect you saw it but I think it is interesting so I wanted to make sure.

    DRJ (15874d)

  527. 544. Well, currently, I’d say you’re trying to engage in a slap fight with me by harping on this when I said I didn’t want to partake in it.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  528. On the favored cave platform, as I mentioned before there are garish revenge fantasies like homeland and quantico, where oikophobia reigns, similarly on designated society where the culprit is wait for it, an alt right arms dealer.

    narciso (d1f714)

  529. And Fx is bringing mad maxines delusions to the small screen. Which first were validated by the detestable sen from the bag state

    narciso (d1f714)

  530. Californians are just looking for a better life for their families. I’m ok with them as long as they assimilate. Wearing camo to Wal Mart is a good first step.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  531. into the badlands was pretty cool on the netflix; different at least

    a friend says it reminds him of Samurai Jack, which i never watched

    but I thought the opening credits were pretty nifty

    but this badlands thing also has a very agreeable southern inflection, like maybe it’s sorta kinda set in a post-apocalyptic southern US… i hope they stick with that idea in season 2

    True Blood started out very southern then sorta got over it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  532. According to the wiki it’s set 5 centuries into the future.

    narciso (d1f714)

  533. I see a lot of California license plates around here so I would love for somebody to decode them for me. I think every one I’ve seen started with a number. Does that tell you what county it’s registered in?

    Take Wyoming for instance: the number to the left side of the bucking horse is the county from 1-23.

    Low numbers on the right mean your family lived there a long way back. They even added another digit since I left.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  534. hrm

    they still have working cars and such from the pre-apocalypse 5 centuries earlier then

    i’m thinking this may be one of those suspension of disbelief things

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  535. I saw the first episode of true blood and thought what in the name was that about

    Btw charlaine harris is doing a series for peacock network.

    narciso (d1f714)

  536. R.I.P. Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus

    Just couldn’t compete w/t Trump Administration

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  537. I see a lot of California license plates around here so I would love for somebody to decode them for me. I think every one I’ve seen started with a number. Does that tell you what county it’s registered in

    Unlikely. There are some counties where 1 number plus 3 letters would last them to the end of time, and others that would blow through them in a day.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  538. @530– Aside f/t weather, tend to agree w/you. Moved to California 25 years ago and there has been an evident and marked decline in a number of areas. Disappointing. Experiencing a decade of decline in LA was startling. It is a sewer w/zip codes.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  539. @536. San Clemente really isn’t representative of “California”- well, Southern California anyway- any more than La Jolla is. It is a magnificently beautiful state to be sure– but the barrier islands along the Jersey shore have much better beaches.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  540. Can we stipulate that Patterico subscribes to the “Trump is a Russian Spy” narrative? I think we can, right? Hey, that might pay off well for you. Or it could doom you. Who knows? Usually predicting the future is a game of luck.

    That being said, if you feel you can back off the ledge, better do it soon. You don’t get to back off the ledge after it collapses. Unless you got some kind of magic helicopter.

    jcurtis (5e0492)

  541. There was a similar deep state dynamic between Netanyahu and say meir dagan and some former shin bet chiefs

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266751/trump-and-israel-enemies-system-caroline-glick

    narciso (d1f714)

  542. No, we cannot stipulate to that because it’s just a Trumpkin, that would be you, spewing insults.

    I might stipulate that Trump was, directly or indirectly, an erstwhile bagman helping Russian kleptocrats launder money and find themselves hideyholes in the West.

    nk (dbc370)

  543. I might stipulate that Trump was, directly or indirectly, an erstwhile bagman helping Russian kleptocrats launder money and find themselves hideyholes in the West.

    You might stipulate that if you were an unscrupulous person given to unfounded innuendo besmirching a person you have no evidence on nor reason to besmirch. But since you are a person of higher character I doubt you would stipulate such as it would be rather disappointing for those of us who respect you.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  544. Can we stipulate that Patterico subscribes to the “Trump is a Russian Spy” narrative?

    No, because Patterico has never so much as hinted such a thing. You pulled that out of your nether regions and are trying to attribute it to Patterico.

    Try some intellectual honesty next time.

    Chuck Bartowski (211c17)

  545. Mr. Trump’s a good guy and he’s the best president we’ve ever had

    think about that for a second before you criticize him

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  546. Patterico doesn’t think Trump is a Russian spy. Neither do I.

    He might be a useful idiot, however.

    And you have to admit that buttering up the president of Egypt by admiring his shoes is not the usual diplomacy.

    kishnevi (082931)

  547. DCSCA- Dennis, Massachusetts has better beaches than the Jersey shore.
    Salt Creek
    Doheny State Park
    T-Street
    Lower Trestles
    Cardiff Reef
    Laguna

    mg (31009b)

  548. What if he used the New Cold Coup style j’accuse bandied around currently like:

    An insider source close to our insider source has informed his anonymous source at the Washington Post that 300 confidential insiders inside the White House are the unidentified anonymous sources who overheard Patterico say Trump was a Russian spy

    Then it would be as intellectually honest as this entire “Russian” kerfuffle that began as an agonizing SCREAM by jilted leftists at 9pm November 8, 2016 and has been metastasizing as an all-out Deep State/Media/Celebrity semi civil war and semi hysteric psychotic episode.
    At this point ALL media is FAKE media and all news fake too. They can’t take a piss without saying something derogatory about Trump so nothing they say can be believed as even slightly neutral let alone “objective”. That ship sailed, hit an ice berg and sank with all hands.

    At what point does the solicitation for revolt become revolt itself? At what point does a strictly partisan call foe impeachment become a siren song for sedition?

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  549. The side by side of time with mad magazine.

    narciso (d1f714)

  550. DRJ #546: I read the link and responded by e-mail. Thank you for thinking of me.

    Simon Jester (473673)

  551. Can we stipulate that Patterico subscribes to the “Trump is a Russian Spy” narrative?

    Can we stipulate that you just made that up?

    Patterico (115b1f)

  552. Our FBI is where the corruption starts. This is why

    A) they can’t provide anyone documents like for unmasking requests
    B) they slow walk all subpoenas
    C) they leak data to create fake news
    D) they let Hillary off and Lynch
    E) .. we could go on

    But the rot is in FBI and DOJ.

    Blah blah (44eaa0)

  553. You might stipulate that if you were an unscrupulous person given to unfounded innuendo besmirching a person you have no evidence on nor reason to besmirch. But since you are a person of higher character I doubt you would stipulate such as it would be rather disappointing for those of us who respect you.

    Follow the money Rev. Who has been funding him since his financial implosion back in the casino days?

    Trump stakes? Trump U?

    Spartacvs (78b759)

  554. My main issue now is that I don’t believe anything that the media is putting out. They all cite anonymous sources and documents that haven’t been seen/are classified. They work with hearsay and run with it like it’s truth in an attempt to saturate all coverage with an opinion.

    Their credibility is in the basement.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  555. But the rot is in FBI and DOJ.

    Has it come to this? Trump fans are willing to trash heretofore respected institutions on the altar of expediency to protect the Trump brand?

    Spartacvs (78b759)

  556. My main issue now is that I don’t believe anything that the media is putting out. They all cite anonymous sources and documents that haven’t been seen/are classified.

    Worked well for Fox these many years.

    Spartacvs (78b759)

  557. 577. No idea, I haven’t watched Fox News in about a decade.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  558. I suppose when all the administration sources were blaming a video, whereas persons like paranto and zeist had to tell their story anonymously.

    narciso (d1f714)

  559. So you have never watched Fox? Pull the other one.

    Spartacvs (78b759)

  560. Plus we know journalists collude on stories. Journo-List got bust, twice? ProGameJournalist got busted through Gamergate. They all talk about the same stuff. Take the same angles on stories and so on.

    I just realize what a “connected world” means. It means attempts to force uniformity across the globe/nations/regions.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  561. 580. I watched Fox back in the Early 2000s. I watched 9/11 on Fox. I’m familiar with O’Reilly and Hannity and a couple others. I’m not oblivious, I just haven’t watched them in about a decade when I “cut the cord”.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  562. It’s a very long list of flubs omissions and malfeasance that comey has been a party going back at least a decade.

    narciso (d1f714)

  563. Unconscionable:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/05/21/gingrich-spreads-conspiracy-theory-about-slain-dnc-staffer/?utm_term=.6f672e5a393a

    Nobody has the nose for grift than the original grifter himself. And I hear his wife is being put forward as ambassador to the Vatican. Really? WTF

    Spartacvs (78b759)

  564. The thing is the journolist metastized, Ben Smith went over to buzz feed from politico, Jonathan Martin went over to the times, sargent went to bezos

    narciso (d1f714)

  565. Gift like that 4 million dollar speech in Milan, Shirley you can’t be serious.

    narciso (d1f714)

  566. I know some cases take a longtime to close, say a certain church fire nine years aho

    narciso (d1f714)

  567. Dave is on to something here.
    \

    Insecurity leads to ugliness. Trump fans are transparent and on occasion resemble Trump in this regard.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

    Trump is attacking Comey using cultural shorthand because the actual case is too convoluted to communicate effectively over our limited mediums.

    For instance the FBI still has never examined the DNC’s skevie computer system in the wake of Wikileaks. Instead the Democrats hired Dmitri Alperovitch, who decided after five minutes on the phone that it wasn’t gussifer 2.0, but the Russians who hacked the DNC, then was paid a millions of dollars to expand on his lie later on.

    Then we have Comey appear in open forum before congress signing off on this horse[edit].

    How do you explain that in a tweet after you fire the bought out bastard?

    You can’t.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  568. Comey’s a rat bastard? – too esoteric.

    Comey’s a nutjob? – Now you’re cooking with gas. I can write that one out on a note and pin it in front of my one good eye. Even the hooples will see and understand it immediately.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  569. I think they hired Dmitri Alperovitch to scrub Seth Rich off the redditts.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  570. Kim Dotcom says he was involved beginning, middle, and end, with the DNC email leak.
    Can’t call it a hack because Seth Rich was an insider, supposed to use the DNC computer the exact way he did, as part of his job.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  571. Can you think of a more sweet outcome than Hillary Clinton in prison.

    Just once in my life to see the bad guys get exactly what they deserve.

    Sweet delicious justice.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  572. @568- Family in MA says otherwise. Nothing tops the beaches and bayside of Long Beach Island, NJ.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  573. @585. Callista the Adultress, United States Ambassador to the Vatican.

    “And the hits just keep on coming…” – Lt. Dan Kaffee [Tom Cruise] ‘A Few Good Men’ 1992

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  574. How do you explain that in a tweet after you fire the bought out bastard?

    You can’t.

    papertiger

    Actually, he explained it. He was mad that Comey was investigating Trump’s camp’s collusion with Russia, and so he fired Comey. That part isn’t too hard to understand. Trump’s a crook and doesn’t like accountability.

    The real mystery is why the GOP lacks courage in taking Trump on. Clearly this is leading to a point where the country looks at the GOP the way they look at President Ford. Then you will really see some amnesty.

    Shoulda gone with Cruz!

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  575. Dave was that the WaPo anonymous or the NYT anonymous? Or maybe that was the CNN regurgitant?

    Straight from Begallia’s lips?

    write it in a note a hoople will give a [edit] about.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  576. @557 Kevin M

    They’ve got 99 counties but a b*tch ain’t one. But Yolo is, which I find humorous.

    Pinandpuller (1cbd38)

  577. @560 DCSCA

    The attraction of California beaches isn’t that they are better than New Jersey beaches. It’s that they are about as far as you can get from New Jersey.

    Pinandpuller (1cbd38)

  578. lmao, Pinandpuller. California shores are golden.

    mg (31009b)

  579. Cape Cod Beaches make that jersey sand strip look like a third world runway.

    mg (31009b)

  580. But the rot is in FBI and DOJ.

    Has it come to this? Trump fans are willing to trash heretofore respected institutions on the altar of expediency to protect the Trump brand?

    Spartacvs (78b759) — 5/21/2017 @ 7:57 pm

    In case you haven’t noticed these “heretofore respected institutions” had lost all respect and have been a laughingstock since the Billy Jeff administration. When Billy Jeff’s AG and chief fixer Janet Reno took the position that unless someone in the Clinton White House had already been convicted of a crime there was no basis for reasonable suspicion that they may have committed a crime that should be investigated.

    For those slow on the uptake. Such as you.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  581. You would think a spy ring inside the highest levels of congressional security would be a story.

    narciso (d1f714)

  582. Yes, but who would that story hurt, narciso? There’s your answer.

    Colonel Haiku (0225f2)

  583. Point taken coronello so focus on the stroganoff noodles.

    narciso (d1f714)

  584. What sort of journalist refers to someone as an “American official”? There are other, and much better used, euphemisms to refer to someone in the American government. This is the first time I have ever seen this particular one.

    David Crowley (e5c503)

  585. 586 – “The thing is the journolist metastized, Ben Smith went over to buzz feed from politico, Jonathan Martin went over to the times, sargent went to bezos”.

    Indeed – if you aren’t aware of Journolist, you aren’t aware of the media at all.

    Meanwhile, Trump gives an anti-Obama speech in Arabia and nothing so far……must be trying to mine the snark.

    harkin (b2849d)

  586. Dejectedhead 547,

    You introduced the term slap-fighting and I asked who you thought was doing that. You replied that I was by “harping” on you, so apparently you equate the physical violence of the sport of slap-fighting with online discussions on topics you don’t want to talk about.

    The point of discussions isn’t to tell you how correct you are, as you are well aware since you delight in telling Patterico how wrong he is. However, since you are so fragile, I will gladly leave you alone.

    DRJ (15874d)

  587. Thank you, Simon. I hardly ever check my email anymore but I will make sure to check it today.

    DRJ (15874d)

  588. “Salt Creek
    Doheny State Park
    T-Street
    Lower Trestles
    Cardiff Reef
    Laguna”

    I still remember Killer Dana before the harbor.

    I’ll add:

    Zuma
    Cotton’s
    Newport Point
    SARJ’s
    Tarantula’s
    56th St.
    Huntington Pier

    And the nastiest Left of all….

    The Wedge

    harkin (b2849d)

  589. mg 602,

    Thank you for that link. It makes sense. If a voter’s goal for this election was solely to stop Hillary, he should be happy and it doesn’t matter what Trump does.

    DRJ (15874d)

  590. That would be Sciutto, for administration official or Ian Cameron, is it possible they are talking to themselves?

    narciso (d1f714)

  591. Wisconsinite Coup? They just hired into DHS their scant amount of “muscle”. Not even the lumberjack with the hot wife will want to fight for the cheesers.

    urbanleftbehind (46e69a)

  592. Rachel Campos, the one bright spot for the viral infestation of reality tv, that invaded like andromeda.

    narciso (d1f714)

  593. There’s real news on the world stage today, and this site’s myopic focus remains on a fraudulent narrative manufactured by losers, crybullies, and commie pukes to the detriment of righting our ship and undoing the damage Obama’s treachery reaked on our once free people.

    Reject the lies, ridicule the excuses, laugh at the media assclowns, and support the only man in a position to save our nation from the endless totalitarian evils the Media/Academic/Democrat Party complex are using to bankrupt the country and enslave the American people.

    ropelight (9fd598)

  594. I do enjoy laughing at assclowns. Thanks for your comment (#620), ropelight.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  595. And now I need to go take a shower.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  596. harkin, my memories include Summer days in the late 60’s eating those fried bean burrito belly-bombers and (tortilla) strips with hot sauce in between belly-boarding and girl watching at Huntington Beach and eating Tast-EE-Freeze food while doing the same stuff at Newport Beach. Oh and belly boarding at the Wedge, all while praying you didn’t sever your spine or break your neck.

    Colonel Haiku (0225f2)

  597. And then playing Summer League basketball weeknights and waking up in the morning to do it all over again. Rough life!

    Colonel Haiku (0225f2)

  598. 612. If you want to have a slap fight with me, I’m willing to smack you around. I was just attempting to be cordial, but hey, this is the internet…all rules will break down eventually.

    Yes, you are harping on an issue and attempting to jump into the middle of a conversation that has already completed. You’re attempting to be a petty commenter by hanging your hat on a phrase that, apparently, struck you to the core.

    You asked what I mean. I clarified.

    Yet, even with that explanation, you come back to tune your harp up. Slapping away like a little girl trying to provoke a dispute. I’m not equating anything to any violent sport. I’m saying you’re running in like a little 5 year old kid, angry and crying, and lashing out with a symbolic slap of defiance.

    Hope that clears things up for you DRJ, what discussion did you want to discuss that you think I’m afraid of discussing?

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  599. You said slap-fighting about your discussion with Patterson and Dana. Then you said it about me. Do you think we harp like little girls?

    DRJ (15874d)

  600. Patterico and Dana.

    DRJ (15874d)

  601. You are the one insulting people. Do you want to have an adult discussion or not?

    DRJ (15874d)

  602. I think YOU harp on like a little girl.

    I am insulting you, that’s a slap fight. I’m teaching you by example.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  603. It’s obvious this upsets you … or you are being insulting because you’ve seen it work for Trump and you think it will work for you. I said I will leave you alone and I will. Respectful discussions used to be common here but they aren’t since Trump came along.

    DRJ (15874d)

  604. I posted that before I saw your response, so fone.

    Who were you talking about when you first said slap fight? It wasn’t me. We weren’t talking then.

    DRJ (15874d)

  605. How many times have I read that Seth Rich’s parents are Obama supporters who wish the internet conspiracy theories about their son’s murder would stop interfering with the investigation?

    Well here, 180 degrees opposite to those media reports, Seth Rich’s parents thank internet sleuths for keeping the case alive. [twitter video]

    Also in support of the private investigator who appeared on Hannity regarding the DC Police being told to stand down on the case, nobody was interviewed and no evidence was collected by police from the bar where Seth Rich spent his final hours.

    http://100percentfedup.com/d-c-bar-owner-where-seth-rich-was-last-seen-drops-bombshell-no-employees-of-bar-questioned-by-dc-policenever-asked-for-surveillance-tapesseths-girlfriend-best-friend-speak-out/

    papertiger (c8116c)

  606. Your comment 524 said you weren’t interested in slap fighting with Patterico or Dana. Why did you say that? Is that what you think Internet discussions are — slap fights with people you disagree with? Is that how you approach disagreements in your real life?

    DRJ (15874d)

  607. When you talk repeatedly about how you think Patterico is wrong about Trump, isn’t that harping? Why is that OK but our comments aren’t ok?

    DRJ (15874d)

  608. Tedious…

    Colonel Haiku (0225f2)

  609. Let’s put on your investigator hat DRJ. I said in 524 that I wasn’t interested in a slap fight. When you asked what that meant, I stated that I/myself, did not want to start slap fighting. As I have just demonstrated, slap fighting involves insulting.

    Therefore, I did not want to insult Patterico and Dana.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  610. It might be significant that the Rich family resorts to a twitter video rather than more familiar hosting platforms.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  611. That is interesting, papertiger. I hope they find out the truth.

    DRJ (15874d)

  612. Thank you for clarifying, Dejectedhead.

    DRJ (15874d)

  613. So you think it is not insulting to tell Patterico that “Living in California has cracked Patterico.” Got it. Interesting world you live in.

    DRJ (15874d)

  614. Let me try: Trump has cracked Dejectedhead.

    DRJ (15874d)

  615. Not insulting, right?

    DRJ (15874d)

  616. I didn’t see it as uncivil and rude as it was perceived, no. I’m not offended by your statement, it lacks meaning.

    Dejectedhead (d3cff5)

  617. Papertiger, is the best source you can find for that video an openly antiSemitic twitter feed?
    (Go through that twitter feed, and you’ll stuff about “Zionist banking cabal”, etc.)

    kishnevi (bb03e6)

  618. 419. papertiger (c8116c) — 5/21/2017 @ 9:50 am

    I think we agreed to partition Poland. (shhhhh)

    Well, if we would havew agreed to partition Syria, it might have had a chance of working. But in the meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak Trump showed that the idea was not (yet anyway) in his mind.

    Russia could be given the area around Latakia and Assad could relocate there. There would be a big Iraqi zone – everything the Kurds controlled would be called Iraqi, and maybe anything else that was independent of the central government. Perhaps taht would be called a UN zone. And a small Turkish zone. No Iranian zone. Maybe Lebanese, but with some controls (enforceable by Israeli bombing) on Hezbollah and Iran. Maybe a slightly larger Israeli zone and a Jordanian zone if they wanted it. The rule would be changes by force, and no changes without people being given an real opportunity to move to anotehr zone.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  619. 112. Kevin M (25bbee) — 5/19/2017 @ 10:43 pm

    One of three things will happen:

    1) Trump will get a clue and STFU.
    2) Trump will get fed up with the BS and quit.
    3) TSWHTF, bigly.

    What does TSWHTF mean?

    If Trump will get a clue, he’ll make better tweets, and get people in the White House who will make a better defense (at least of his character) and correct policy. he did alittle bit, with regard to Russia ands Syria. He sent arms to the Kurds which Flynn stopped.

    (Obama had finally decided around January 10, to send arms to a certain Kurdish group, which is, in fact affiliated with Kurds who are terrorists in Turkey or would like to be. But inasmuch as this would have to be delivered mostly or entirely after Trump was president, they decided to get trump’s OK. They contacted Mike Flynn and he said no. Turkey had opposed this.

    U.S. military advice was that this was the best way to take Raqqa – assuming also you didn’t want the Syrian government there, and you didn’t want Russia/Syrian military tactics used, which include chemical weapons and attacks on civilians and on hospitals – and that they were heavily supervising the Kurds and were confident in the people they were dealing with and that nothing would be left over in the Kurdish arsenal to be available for to be contributed for use against Turkey i.e. every weapon sent would be used.)

    He’s not likely to quit.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  620. 597. Dustin (ba94b2) — 5/21/2017 @ 10:40 pm

    He was mad that Comey was investigating Trump’s camp’s collusion with Russia, and so he fired Comey. That part isn’t too hard to understand. Trump’s a crook and doesn’t like accountability.

    What about the idea that Trump knows that he didn’t collude with Russia (to do what?) and the investigation is only after him?

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  621. What does TSWHTF mean?

    it means “the fecal matter will hit the fan” [paraphrased].

    And the partition of Poland rumor, the (shhhhhhhhh) part is so we keep it secret. Secret.

    We don’t want Warsaw to catch on.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  622. Papertiger, is the best source you can find for that video an openly antiSemitic twitter feed?
    (Go through that twitter feed, and you’ll stuff about “Zionist banking cabal”, etc.)

    kishnevi (bb03e6)

    Yeah. It’s Twitter. I think they let anybody in.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  623. If you have been arguing whether or not the phrase “Living in California has cracked [insert name here]” is insulting in over a half-dozen volleys for more than 12 hours, you just might be a snowflake. Ahh, but that’s insulting.

    WTP (5b282a)

  624. Brad Bauman is the source for every single instance and reiteration in it’s myriad forms of the Rich family objects to online outside of Democrat party control investigations into the murder of Seth Rich.

    I know you’ve seen at least one of those.

    Kishnevi – I have a question for you. Why did New York vote overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton and every other Democrat? THe Seth Rich family is Jewish. I wonder if they voted for Hillary?

    They are being systematically cut off from making public statements about their son’s murder and it’s investigation by a Democratic operative and leftist media.

    Unless you watched that twitter video I posted, that you want to impose your own personal speech codes upon, you have likely never heard from the Rich family.
    But you sure read a bunch of Democratic operative Brad Bauman pretending to be family.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  625. 616- DRJ
    I wanted Ted, but the goal was to stop her. I look at Trump as a victory.

    mg (31009b)

  626. @652- America doesn’t: nobody likes him.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  627. “ARE WE STILL AIRING THAT SHIT?!” was the response of one anonymous Fox News political reporter.

    Another decried Hannity’s on-air witch hunt based on Rich’s family’s insistence that they stop re-opening old wounds.

    “The other reporters I’ve talked to are similarly pissed about the whole thing,” another anonymous Fox reporter told the Beast. “Some find it embarrassing, others downright heartless. It’s just gross.”

    Spartacvs (cc1623)

  628. I wanted Ted, but the goal was to stop her. I look at Trump as a victory.

    Then you must be relieved now that Ted revealed his true colors

    Spartacvs (cc1623)

  629. I agree, mg, but she has been stopped. Is that really all you wanted? Would President Kasich be given a pass on everything if he had won? I doubt it, so why give Trump a pass?

    DRJ (15874d)

  630. @654- With apologies to the great Tom Lehrer:

    Gather round while I sing you of Canadian Cruz,
    A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience;
    Call him unprincipled for changing his views,
    “Principles,schminzables” coos Canadian Cruz

    Don’t say that he’s hypocritical,
    Say rather that he’s quite political;
    “Once integrity’s sold out, by next week it’s old news!
    Memories are short,” coos Canadian Cruz

    Some have harsh words for his bait-and-switch ruse,
    But some say their attitude should be one of gratitude;
    Like the wife and the father; their honor abused,
    So easily betrayed by Canadian Cruz

    “You become a conservative hero;
    Showing Texans you’ll stand up for zero;
    In Calgary ‘oder’ Houston, I have proved I can lose,
    And I’ll prove it again,” coos Canadian Cruz.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  631. There’s no difference between Tedtoo and Mawdie.

    Neither inspire. Both preach.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  632. DC often tells up how we just want to be entertained.

    Never realized til now DCSCA just wants a Messiah.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  633. Hospital eyewitness to when Seth Rich was brought in.

    4th year surgery resident here who rotated at WHC (Washington Hospital Center) last year, it won’t be hard to identify me but I feel that I shouldn’t stay silent.

    Seth Rich was shot twice, with 3 total gunshot wounds (entry and exit, and entry). He was taken to the OR emergency where we performed an exlap and found a small injury to segment 3 of the liver which was packed and several small bowel injuries (pretty common for gunshots to the back exiting the abdomen) which we resected ~12cm of bowel and left him in discontinuity (didn’t hook everything back up) with the intent of performing a washout in the morning. He did not have any major vascular injuries otherwise. I’ve seen dozens of worse cases than this which survived and nothing about his injuries suggested to me that he’d sustained a fatal wound.

    In the meantime he was transferred to the ICU and transfused 2 units of blood when his post-surgery crit came back ~20. He was stable and not on any pressors, and it seemed pretty routine. About 8 hours after he arrived we were swarmed by LEOs and pretty much everyone except the attending and a few nurses was kicked out of the ICU (disallowing visiting hours -normally every odd hour, eg 1am, 3am, etc- is not something we do routinely). It was weird as hell. At turnover that morning we were instructed not to round on the VIP that came in last night (that’s exactly what the attending said, and no one except for me and another resident had any idea who he was talking about).

    No one here was allowed to see Seth except for my attending when he died. No code was called. I rounded on patients literally next door but was physically blocked from checking in on him. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and while I can’t say 100% that he was allowed to die, I don’t understand why he was treated like that. Take it how you may, /pol/, I’m just one low level doc. Something’s fishy though, that’s for sure.

    I’m not saying she did.

    All I’m saying is a Democrat candidate for President who wouldn’t gun down a few staffers in the street doesn’t want the job bad enough.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  634. Now it’s anonymous Fox reporters.

    Spataclese scraping the cracks in he linoleum for a crumb of credibility.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  635. Papertiger, is the best source you can find for that video an openly antiSemitic twitter feed?
    (Go through that twitter feed, and you’ll stuff about “Zionist banking cabal”, etc.)

    kishnevi (bb03e6) — 5/22/2017 @ 9:14 am

    Go through the Washington Post or NY Times feed and you’ll likely find the same anti-Semitism and anti-capitalism.

    Will you stop citing them?

    NJRob (1d6111)

  636. Jason Chaffetz (who said he gave 6 weeks ntice in order to make asmooth transition but in the meantime he’s the chairman) said he spoke to Comey Monday night and Comey wants to speak to Mueller before he agrees to go before his committee. (the Oversight commmittee)

    There are certain subjects I think that Comey doesn’t want to testify about. Mueller will surely say Comey should limit his public statements.

    The Intelligence Committee will probably only quesiron him about the Russia investigation and his dealings with Donald trump

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  637. sleazy former fbi pig comey and sleazy former fbi pig mueller should be investigated for collusion i think

    this stinks like somewhere pelosi sat

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  638. 660. Who gave gthe orders to kick everyone out of the ICU?

    Remember this, if Seth Rich was killed,it isn’t at all necessary that it had anything to do with the suggested motive, which could be a big red herring. And I;’m niot even sure what they are suggesting.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  639. Some hearings today. Dan Coates aaid but didn’t want to say that President Trump had wanted him (and anotehr official) to stop the Russia investigation – to push back aaginst it. Breenen said that they had evidence last year – not of collusion but of the possibility of collusion – and the committee already has that mostly and he’d be willing to duscuss that in closed session.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  640. There seems to be an attempt to get this investigation to ficus on Trump, but the evidence really points somewhere else:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/us/politics/russia-trump-manafort-flynn.html?_r=0

    Mr. Flynn’s ties to Russian officials stretch back to his time at the Defense Intelligence Agency, [!] which he led from 2012 to 2014. There, he began pressing for the United States to cultivate Russia as an ally in the fight against Islamist militants, and even spent a day in Moscow at the headquarters of the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence service, in 2013.

    He continued to insist that Russia could be an ally even after Moscow’s seizure of Crimea the following year, and Obama administration officials have said that contributed to their decision to push him out of the D.I.A.

    But in private life, Mr. Flynn cultivated even closer ties to Russia. In 2015, he earned more than $65,000 from companies linked to Russia, including a cargo airline implicated in a bribery scheme involving Russian officials at the United Nations, and an American branch of a cybersecurity firm believed to have ties to Russia’s intelligence services.

    The biggest payment, though, came from RT, the Kremlin-financed news network. It paid Mr. Flynn $45,000 to give a speech in Moscow, where he also attended the network’s lavish anniversary dinner. There, he was photographed sitting next to Mr. Putin.

    A senior lawmaker said on Monday that Mr. Flynn misled Pentagon investigators about how he was paid for the Moscow trip. He also failed to disclose the source of that income on a security form he was required to complete before joining the White House, according to congressional investigators.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  641. There’s seems to be full force attack being made against Jared Kushner. It includes a personal attack on what his company did while he was running his company. The thing is, it’sd coming out right now. There is certainly something to attack.

    Very briefly, they hired a law firm.

    They looked for every kind of loophole to sue tenants in court, and won some cases they should not
    have, And the law also may have been unfair, although the article doesn’t point that out. They they got hit with court costs and low income people got gasnisheed too

    The New Times first ran an editorial Friday, which did not reference the New York Times magazine story, so you didn’t know what it was talking about when it said atenant had given notice, and whose point seemed to end up in that Kushner had some conflict of interest because of Section 8, and that Donald trump, when he claimed that:

    “in business, you don’t necessarily need heart,” he said. “In fact, in business you’re actually better off without it.”

    …was wrong, and that if someone was heartless in business, they’d be heartless too in public service.

    But the president’s actions prove otherwise. His budget plan would gut programs for the most vulnerable, slashing Medicaid, food stamps, disability insurance and public housing.

    It would also eliminate the Legal Service Corporation, which represents poor tenants fighting to stay in their homes. That would be one less concern for Mr. Kushner’s family.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/jared-kushner-poor-tenants-legal-nemesis.html

    Here is the magaqzine article:

    http://nytimes.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx?issue=83262017052800000000001001&page=4&article=4b3b2d3b-254f-4e8f-ab36-d3ef6dd95dd0&key=7CGR04LhRzyHQVmRZFaDng==&feed=rss&google=1

    Shorter link:

    https://www.propublica.org/article/the-beleaguered-tenants-of-kushnerville

    Interview with author. (Says originally just wanted to do astory about how it was like to live there. Says tenants didn’t know who owned it.)

    http://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/tenants-of-kushnerville-have-mass-complaints/

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  642. This is all in Baltimore. Occasionally a tenant or ex-tenant, like Shawanda Hough, wins a case.

    And look at this:

    Rent is marked officially late, they said, if it arrives after 4:30 p.m. on the fifth day of the month. But Westminster recently made paying the rent much more of a challenge. Last fall, it sent notice to residents saying that they could no longer pay by money order (on which many residents, who lack checking accounts, had relied) at the complex’s rental office and would instead need to go to a Walmart or Ace Cash Express and use an assigned “WIPS card” — a plastic card linked to the resident’s account — to pay their rent there. That method carries a $3.50 fee for every payment, and getting to the Walmart or Ace is difficult for the many residents without cars.

    Tenants who pay after the fifth are hit with late fees that start around $40 to $50 and escalate from there, with court fees usually added on as well.

    tghey also sued people who had been tenants and left before it was bought. Like Kamiia Warren, who had in fact given notice. She didn’t have documentation later didn’t know she needed to rpesent evidence in her petition and just gave up. Meanwhile had her bank account raided, and is charged with owing some $5,000 or so.

    In April 2014, she appeared without a lawyer at a district court hearing. She told the judge about the approval for her move, but she did not have a copy of the form the manager had signed. The judge ruled against Warren, awarding JK2 Westminster the full sum it was seeking, plus court costs, attorney’s fees and interest that brought the judgment to nearly $5,000. There was no way Warren, who was working as a home health aide, was going to be able to pay such a sum. “I was so desperate,” she said….Kamiia Warren still had not paid the $4,984.37 judgment against her by late 2014. Three days before Christmas that year, JK2 Westminster filed a request to garnish her wages from her in-home elder care job. Five days earlier, Warren had gone to court to fill out a handwritten motion saying she had proof that she was given permission to leave Cove Village in 2010 — she had finally managed to get a copy from the housing department. “Please give me the opportunity to plead my case,” she wrote. But she did not attach a copy of the form to her motion, not realizing it was necessary, so a judge denied it on Jan. 9, on the grounds that there was “no evidence submitted.”

    The garnishing started that month.

    Warren was in the midst of leaving her job, but JK2 Westminster garnished her bank account too. After her account was zeroed out, a loss of about $900, she borrowed money from her mother to buy food for her children and pay her bills. That February — five years after she left Cove Village — Warren returned to court, this time with the housing form in hand, asking the judge to halt garnishment. “I am a single mom of three and my bank account was wiped clean by the plaintiff,” she pleaded in another handwritten request. “I cannot take care of my kids when they snatch all of my money out of my account. I do not feel I owe this money. Please have mercy on my family and I.” She told me that when she called the law office representing JK2 Westminster that same day from the courthouse to discuss the case, one of the lawyers told her: “This is not going to go away. You will pay us.”

    The judge denied Warren’s request without explanation. And JK2 Westminster kept pressing for the rest of the money, sending out one process server after another to present Warren with legal papers. Finally, in January 2016, the court sent notice of a $4,615 lien against Warren — a legal claim against her for the remaining judgment. Warren began to cry as she recounted the episode to me. She said the lien has greatly complicated her hopes of taking out a loan to start her own small assisted living center. She had gone a couple of years without a bank account, for fear of further garnishing. “It was just pure greed,” she said. “It was unnecessary.” I asked why she hadn’t pushed harder against the judgment once she had the necessary evidence in hand. “They know how to work this stuff,” she replied. “They know what to do, and here I am, I don’t know anything about the law. I would have to hire a lawyer or something, and I really can’t afford that. I really don’t know my rights. I don’t know all the court lingo. I knew that up against them I would lose.”

    A search for “JK2 Westminster” in the database of Maryland’s District Court system brings back 548 cases in which it is the plaintiff — and that does not include hundreds of other cases that have been filed in the name of the company’s individual complexes.

    The vast majority of these cases have been filed by a single small law firm in the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills. The law office of Jeffrey Tapper specializes in “collections” work, with an emphasis on landlord-tenant cases. It has represented several other real-estate management companies, including Sawyer, which retains a stake in many of the Kushner complexes.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  643. 632. papertiger (c8116c) — 5/22/2017 @ 8:53 am

    Well here, 180 degrees opposite to those media reports, Seth Rich’s parents thank internet sleuths for keeping the case alive. [twitter video]

    That account has been suspended, so I don’t know what it really was, or if it really came from them.

    Sammy Finkelman (9fe80b)

  644. An article about Comey from the Tribune papers dated May 24, 2017 (which gives too much credit to Trmp for planning) includes this:

    http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2017/05/24/trump-dropped-the-hammer-on-comey-part-1/

    Comey was a minor assistant US attorney in the late 90’s. He only gained power and money by being the DOJ official who “investigated” and cleared Bill Clinton of any wrong-doing in Clinton’s totally corrupt pardon (for huge payoffs) of criminal financier Marc Rich as Clinton was leaving the Presidency. This is how Comey began his career as a creature of the “swamp” years ago, as a servant of the Clintons….

    …Immediately after doing the Clinton’s dirty work as a DOJ official, Comey resigned from the DOJ and took a position as the head attorney (Counsel) of the Lockheed Martin company, a huge military contractor. While he was in that position Lockheed became a major contributor (millions) to the Clinton Foundation and its fake charity spin-offs. In return for these payment to Clinton Inc., Lockheed received huge contracts with Hillary’s state department. Comey was the chief legal officer of Lockheed throughout this period of contributions to Clinton Inc. in return for State Dept. contracts.

    This kind ofomits the fact that Comey had a position in the Bush admministration And Hillary didn’t take over at State for 8 years. So the ppicture isn’t so simple n late 2012, after overseeing Lockheed’s successful relationship with the Hillary State Department and the resulting profits, Comey stepped down from Lockheed and received a $6 million dollar payout for his services.

    In 2013, the largest bank of England, HSBC Holdings, was deep into a scandal. Investigations by federal authorities and law-enforcement had revealed that for years HSBC had been laundering billions of dollars for Mexican Drug Cartels, channeling money for Saudi banks who were financing terror, moving money for Iran in violation of the sanctions, and other major criminal activity. HSBC’s criminality was pervasive and deliberate by the Bank and its officials. HSBC was a huge Clinton Foundation contributor (many millions) throughout the “investigation” and Bill Clinton was being paid large personal fees for speaking at HSBC events (while Hillary was Sec of State). Eric Holder and the Obama Justice Department did what they were paid to do, and let HSBC off of the hook for a paltry 1.2 Billion dollar fine (paid by its stockholders), and not one Director, officer or management member at HSBC was fired or charged with any criminal. Exactly when everyone involved with HSBC Bank (including the Clintons and all of their “donors”) were being let off without penalty, and cover had to be provided to HSBC, Comey was appointed as a Director and Member of the Board of HSBC (in the middle of the fallout from the scandal). He was part of the effort to cover up the scandal and make HSBC “respectable” again.

    After about a year as HSBC director, despite his lack of any law enforcement experience, no DOJ leadership experience, and no qualifications for the job, Comey was appointed FBI director by Obama. The only qualification Comey had was that the Clinton’s and their cronies knew Comey was in bed with them, was compromised and was willing to do their dirty work. Comey was appointed to the FBI right when Hillary was leaving the State Department, and was vulnerable to the FBI because she had been using a private-server, mis-handling classified information, selling access to favors/contracts from the State Department to Clinton Foundation Donors (including Comey’s Lockheed Martin), and much more. Remember that this was about the time the Inspector General of the State Department found over 2 billion “missing” from the State Department finances during Hillary’s tenure. OK, this gets this a little wrong but it is possible that his appointment ws something the clintons mnaged to gte by Obama and his people. The server was not an issue then. It was completely secret – it came out asa result if subpeneas and questions by the Trey Gowddy (Bengazi) committee.

    I’m not sure what Hillary Clinton’s end game was with that private off the record email account. But there was plenty else to cover up.

    Sammy Finkelman (9fe80b)


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