Patterico's Pontifications

So what else did he want for his birthday? Chocolate cake?

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:48 am

I love this stuff. Trump has everybody going nuts. Whoever is Mueller’s boss has the power to fire him. Just like every other person on earth. If Trump is his boss and didn’t fire him a year ago he deserves what he gets.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:50 am

so who’s the source, the same ones that said Kushner was under investigation, who said WikiLeaks had been sent prior to release, how many times can a source lie before you burn him, we have some notion of what page and co, were pre spinning to devlin barrett, hiding the pea in the pod,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:54 am

Bannon?

Hoagie, it’s not even that. Who wouldn’t want a prosecutor who was investigating him to be fired? Come on, raise your hands! It’s a story only because somebody wrote it down.

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:01 am

It seems to me many of the folks here would rather side with the enemies of America than with Trump simply out of pure hate. Trump has done everything conservative so far and all they do is b!tch. Frankly, I would have fired Mueller and about a thousand others last January. But that’s me. But as long as Trump is putting conservative policies in place there is no reason for you guys to complain. When he starts acting like Hillary or Schumer or any of the other democrats-cum-communists then complain.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyWnDYrH5Ic/WmpuAzPQPuI/AAAAAAABVok/GToqPXIKeQoKyvtJFECw4_rWyJTdBxJnwCLcBGAs/s1600/1%2B1%2BDT7kLwfVAAE1Ynd.jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:03 am

What is: Bannon?

What does that mean?

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:04 am

They have all supported the administration’s campaign to discredit the FBI and Mueller.

Yeah, because that’s only supposed to work in one direction. Kind of sums up the whole line of reasoning from the anti-Trump crowd.

random viking (8138da) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:05 am

narciso asked who leaked it. I suspect Bannon.

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:11 am

I would think chris ruddy, but we are left to guess, because he made the original claim:

http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/26/source-strzok-hadnt-seen-evidence-of-collusion-after-10-months-on-russia-probe/

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:15 am

Lmao at the true and only conservatives who enjoy mocking Trump. Hey you self righteous educated pawns,he has made more positive moves for the conservative movement than 8 years of the booosh mafia. You hate him because you ain’t him.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:16 am

“They have all supported the administration’s campaign to discredit the FBI and Mueller.“

Lololololololololol

#TheResistance

harkin (d40275) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:25 am

So far the most significant charge floated is that Trump’s firing of Comey was to obstruct a prosecution of Flynn for lying. So now, what? Attempted meta-obstruction?

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:27 am

Find something REAL to charge him with or go home.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:27 am

The DoJ has been so corrupted by Obama that it existed primarily to obstruct justice. I guess the best defense is a good offense, but EVERY. SINGLE. CHARGE. made against Trump was committed every single day by the Holder DoJ.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:30 am

and the coverup was about helping Israel, which according to glenn Simpson, is in league with putin, through Chabad, recall that bit of crazy last spring,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:35 am

The hosts, after questioning the story (which their own network had confirmed) basically shrugged their shoulders. Their take: who cares?

Mulligans all.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:44 am

Yeah, how dare anyone be skeptical about another anonymous NYT/WaPo story about Russia-Trump. After all, the NYT and Wapo are so unbiased and objective!

Trump says its false. And you know its true, because WHY?

Sorry, I’m not a Trump hater – I don’t swallow everything the liberal MSM puts out.

And Trump Didn’t fire Mueller. And Trump has no intention of firing Mueller. So this is important why?

rcocean (a72eb2) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:53 am

I take, and agree with, our host’s points regarding his slavish adherents and boosters — yes, let’s call them what they are: shills — on Fox & Friends and Hannity. “Lickspittle” is another good and fitting term for them.

But if, as I do, you start from the proposition that Trump has awful instincts, always (always!) motivated by his own obsessive megalomania and egotism to serve and build the “Trump Brand,” then this report is actually quite encouraging.

I’m always glad to learn that Trump has been talked out of something incredibly stupid by advisers who actually appreciate the consequences. So while this story doesn’t change my poor regard for Sean Hannity or the Fox & Friends crew or other media Trumpkins, it actually slightly reassures me as to Trump’s willingness to listen to advice, and it also raises Don McGahn slightly in my regard.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:00 am

There is no Joy in Mudville. The Mighty Hammity struck out again.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:08 am

Wait until Hammity gets subpoenaed to testify about the Nunes leaks and realizes how serious this is.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:11 am

You must understand, in order to evaluate this story, that Trump has fired more lawyers when he was a businessman than any twenty average real estate CEOs combined. Trump’s uniform reputation among the legal community, inside and outside Manhattan, was “Won’t listen, won’t pay.” It’s reasonable to presume that some significant number of those firings came after Trump was told, as McGahn probably did here, something along the lines of: “Sorry, but ethically, I can’t follow the instructions you’re giving me,” or “Sorry, but this is so incredibly self-destructive to you in the long term that I can’t allow myself and my firm to be a part of it.”

Nevertheless, there are always plenty of lawyers who themselves are hustlers and self-promoters, trying to bootstrap their own fortunes with a big new client and looking for a headline or two to leverage that. One of them would have been happy to be Trump’s new WH counsel, had Trump decided to proceed despite McGahn’s advice. But as WH counsel, with the public spotlight that attends that job position (his advice is private, his existence emphatically isn’t), McGahn presumably benefited from the restrictions that Trump is bumping up against as POTUS that he didn’t have as head of the Trump Organization, viz: If he fires everyone around him, even the rubes and dupes will figure out that he’s out of control.

This explains not only how McGahn has kept his job, but likewise how other senior advisers like Sessions and Tillerson have too, despite Trump’s public (and ridiculously self-destructive) fulminations against them.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:14 am

This might be the Fox & Friends report you are remembering.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:16 am

Or this, but it’s Fox not Fox & Friends.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:18 am

Imagine if the Sinaloa Cartel had bought a TV network in the 80’s…

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:20 am

and you should consider Mueller’s record re dr. steven hatfield, and bruce ivins, the first was exonerated, the second killed himself, but proved not to be the anthrax mailer, which means he’s till out there 16 years later,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:22 am

uhh…that’s modern day prime time Telemundo or Univision after having ditched their historical dramas and Dynasty clones.

urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:23 am

NYT: Grey Lady Goes Down

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:26 am

Trump may have been floating a trial balloon: how would people react to the firing of Mueller?

More likely McGahn fired this flare off via the media to signal Trump’s attention because he’d revisited doing what he’d intended to do last June.

________

Hannity’s sudden backtrack

His ‘Drunk Uncle’ bit was always a killer on SNL

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:26 am

well cnn was actually funded in part through a partnership with bcci, Lorimar, the folks behind dallas, was a mob laundromat, Michael sindona worked with paramount’s bluhdorn, yadda yadda,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:29 am

ANDREW MCCARTHY: Obama’s Conflict Tanked the Clinton E-mail Investigation — As Predicted: Hillary couldn’t be proven guilty without proving the president guilty as well. “Thanks to Friday’s FBI document dump — 189 more pages of reports from the Bureau’s year-long foray (‘investigation’ would not be the right word) into the Clinton e-mail scandal — we now know for certain what I predicted some eight months ago here at NRO: Any possibility of prosecuting Hillary Clinton was tanked by President Obama’s conflict of interest.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/440380/obama-email-alias-clinton-why-fbi-didnt-prosecute-hillary

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:33 am

OOT..(outrageously off topic)

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:34 am

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn “John Baron” (or a trusted friend) leaked it (as he used to do in NYC to the tabs) to establish Trump’s position at the top of the Executive Branch food chain before the Mueller interview takes place. It’s classic Trump to leak a story then deny and trash it while he enjoys the chaos and the media enjoys the ratings. He’s unlikely to stop because from his point of view he wins either way.

crazy (d99a88) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:38 am

what is the point of leaking the story, now, chris ruddy mentioned it seven monthes ago, but they don’t state a source,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:42 am

Robert Mueller’s a skanky trashy corrupt FBI suckboy

the evidence for this is voluminous as you can see on the internet

he’s one of those losers what came out of the military with severe entitlement issues like piggy-coward John McCain and he’s just gotten more and more sleazy ever since

he should have been fired decades ago

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:43 am

To remind the public POTUS allowed the Mueller investigation to continue even though he had the authority to end it before it started if he really wanted to. Other than that it’s just recycling old news as you said.

crazy (d99a88) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:45 am

i don’t get where CNN Jake Tapper fake news propaganda sluts really have a leg to stand on when they criticize other people’s reporting

how many of their own propaganda sluts did they have to fire last year for crappy reporting?

like a thousand?

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:48 am

yes, but this story allows them to cover other stories, with a pillow, you get the gist,

simpson’s fan fiction, reminds me of a similar project that dan moldea, embarked upon in the 80s, investigating mca’s mob ties

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:52 am

Whenever Trump heads abroad, like clock work one of the deep state Obama sleeper cells prairy dogs up out of his hiding spot, changes his name to “official”, and does his Alex Haig impression for the country.

Ben Burn arm of huffingpuff gets his falopian tube engorged in anticipation and the J. Coddington Voorhees segment tells us how reassuring it is that Trump is listening to Obama’s advisor.

Actually that’s a discredit to Obama. His entire presidency was made up of prairy dogging bureaucrats setting policy

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:56 am

yes yes i get the gist good point Mr. narciso

nevertrump’s desperate to prop up the corrupt panicking trash at the DOJ and the sleazy FBI

slonky donky pinky ponky

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:57 am

34.Robert Mueller’s a skanky trashy corrupt FBI suckboy

Not quite, Mr. Feet; no Trumped up ‘bone spurs’ he:

“In July 1968, [Mueller] was sent to South Vietnam where he served as a rifle platoon leader with Second Platoon, H Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. In December 1968, he earned the Bronze Star with ‘V’ distinction for combat valor for rescuing a wounded Marine under enemy fire during an ambush that saw half of his platoon become casualties. Mueller eventually became aide-de-camp to 3rd Marine Division’s commanding general, General William K. Jones.In April 1969, he received an enemy gunshot wound in the thigh, recovered, and returned to lead his platoon until June 1969.For his service in and during the Vietnam War, his military decorations and awards include: the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V”, Purple Heart Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals with Combat “V”, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with three 3⁄16″ bronze stars, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Parachutist Badge. Reflecting on his service in the Vietnam War, Mueller said “I consider myself exceptionally lucky to have made it out of Vietnam. There were many— many—who did not. And perhaps because I did survive Vietnam, I have always felt compelled to contribute.”

He was a Marine, Mr. Feet. But then, so was Lee Oswald.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:57 am

yeah good for him does corrupt fbi slutboy robert mueller want him a special cookie or just the regular

i’m guessing special

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:00 pm

Careful DC.

Swiftboaters afoot.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:06 pm

The Trumps asked to borrow a Van Gogh but the Guggenheim reportedly offered White House a golden toilet.

http://www.cnn.com/…/guggenheim-white-house-van-gogh-toilet/index.html

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:06 pm

@41. Government Issue, Mr. Feet; chocolate chip.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:08 pm

In June of 2017, only 3-4 weeks after being appointed by Rosenstein, Mueller enjoyed the “glow” of a supposedly sterling reputation in DC, where he was deemed an apolitical straight-shooter who could be trusted to look into the issues that were raised by the intelligence community about Russian involvement — and possible collaboration by officials in the Trump campaign – in the election. Remember the outpouring of support in Mueller’s favor that came out from both sides of Capitol Hill when rumors first circulated that Trump wanted to fire him. That’s all a reflection of the reputation he enjoyed up to that point in time.

But a very real and legitimate issue with the appointment was whether Mueller was the right guy given his history. It wouldn’t have taken long to compile a list of 50 names of prominent, experienced attorneys to serve in the capacity of Special Counsel, AND who had no connection to any individual involved in the investigation. Mueller has worked with, and been friends with, many individuals involved.

IMO the most significant disqualifying fact fact should have been that he was a partner as Wilmer Hale, and another very prominent partner at Wilmer Hale, Jaime Gorelick, was representing Jarod Kushner IN THE VERY INVESTIGATION. While that might not qualify in all respects as an actual “conflict of interest” for Mueller, when combined with his longtime professional and personal affiliation with Comey, Rosenstein should have deemed it enough of an “appearance” problem that Mueller should not have been chosen.

But now looking back on Mueller’s selection in May 2017, its impossible to divorce the selection from the long list of questionable acts he has taken since his appointment that raise concerns about his biases – an more particularly the biases of the team he assembled. He could have picked any attorneys for his team — yet he choose to staff it almost exclusively with campaign contributors to Dem politicians. This is not an “apolitical” investigation – and he knew if from the start. He had to know within days that the FISA warrant was backed up by political opposition research which had never been vetted by the FBI before it was used. He knew that a Dem. Presidential Administration had conducted a counter-intelligence operation against the GOP opposition in the months leading up — and then after — the election. Mueller is either the most tone-deaf “non-politician” to operate in DC — which he’s clearly not — or he was ok with bringing a bunch of politically active attorneys onto his team which would have as its target the leader of the party against whom those attorneys had been politically active.

That makes it quite justifiable to look back on the events of June 2017 and surmise that Trump was correct in his instinct to have Mueller replaced, but it was the “political backlash” which prevented him from doing so.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:08 pm

Remember what they did to this guy?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Cleland

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:08 pm

Mueller enjoyed the “glow” of a supposedly sterling reputation in DC

to this day, on every story manhattantrash lickspittle Michael Bloomberg’s propaganda sluts do on Mueller, they imbed a video:

Why Mueller Is Seen as the Perfect Man for the Job

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:16 pm

Cleland, who left three limbs in Vietnam, was politically euthanized by the Republicans using a familiar early-2000s cudgel: Cleland was an unpatriotic terrorist sympathizer for his opposition to what became the Iraq War and therefore this decorated American soldier was unfit to serve in the Senate. He was publicly disgraced by the GOP establishment, as well as by an opponent, Chambliss, who received a deferment from the Vietnam draft due to an alleged “bum knee” from an old football injury. In other words, the draft dodger Republican was a true patriot for supporting the war, but a triple amputee and Vietnam War hero wasn’t patriotic or courageous enough for re-election. Worse, Cleland was named as part of a rogues gallery that included America’s most visible enemies at the time.
https://www.alternet.org/election-2016/rights-endless-hypocrisy-iraq

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:17 pm

everybody gets a cookie

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:24 pm

48… Since when do leftists care about patriotic veterans regardless of their party?

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:26 pm

The entire process which led to the naming of SC Mueller was thoroughly corrupt. The man himself has exceedingly problematic ethics to begin with. There should never have been an SC and he should never have been given the gig. If we are going to get all moral about things, the man should have resigned months ago. DJT should have fired him.

However, in no way does this mitigate DJT’s dissembling about his desires, if any, to fire Mueller.

The immigration deal is just what so many conservatives warned about: The man has no actual core convictions. He’ll do what it takes to be able to take a victory lap. In this case, it’s about a substantial wall being built. He has to actually build it or he will lose any semblance of legitimacy within his base.

Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:28 pm

Alternate headline: Trump declines to fire Mueller despite evidence of conflicts of interest and a politically biased investigation.

Flip the script by replacing Trump with any Democrat, and that would be the blockbuster news of the day.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:29 pm

I even care about Vets like you hoagie.

But then, I’m a Leftist.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:31 pm

Hope in one hand

Sh’t in the other

See which fills first.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:35 pm

and now a word from famous lawyer Mr. John Hinderaker

That [New York Times Fake News] headline is simply false.

Trump didn’t order Mueller’s firing; if he had, Mueller would be fired. A truthful headline would say that Trump considered firing Mueller; or wanted to fire Mueller; or wished he could fire Mueller. All of which, in my opinion, would do credit to Trump, since Mueller deserves to be fired for exceeding his mandate by pursuing criminal charges against people loosely associated with Trump that have absolutely nothing to do with alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 election.

I think Trump is right when he says that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt, and we can be pretty sure there aren’t any witches – if there were any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, it would have been leaked long ago.

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:41 pm

Look at Ben going off road with the Max Cleland.

Good point Benji. Aren’t you glad we didn’t go with another Bush, despite all of the J. Coddington Voorhees money trying to cram low energy Jeb in our face? I know I am.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:44 pm

there is also this awkward detail considering all the squirrels, re trump and Kushner:

https://www.wilmerhale.com/about/representativeclients/

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:54 pm

in addition, that ad was about a Cleland proposal to unionize the dhs, which it has since become the ministry of silly walks anyways

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 12:56 pm

Paper Tiger

Were you awake during that epoch? Please state your case for/against the Iraq War.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:00 pm

And I really want to hear Hoagies take on what happened to Max.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:03 pm

And if you think I’m ever goingbti stop harping on the brain-deads who brought us Iraq just ask Tom Maguire.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:07 pm

54…
Dope in his one hand
Li’l pink willie in other
been burned am confused

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:24 pm

Fresher McCarthy… http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455696/hillary-clinton-barack-obama-emails-key-decision-not-indict-hillary?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=180124_Jolt&utm_term=Jolt

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:31 pm

Yeah. I voted for Gore. It was before Al went envirogelical. {more like voting for the prairie dog really}

Sorry.

Did that [edit] up your program?

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:42 pm

Is it my fault if you can’t reconcile your own hypocrisy?

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:45 pm

Whatever the truth behind the story, bear in mind that Mueller interviewed with Trump for the FBI position to replace Comey the day before he was named special counsel by Rosenstein. “Presumably, if this conversation occurred, Trump may have explained why he fired Comey and what he was looking for in his replacement. With obstruction now confirmed as a focus of the special counsel investigation, that makes Mueller a possible witness. It certainly raises the issue of whether Trump shared any thoughts material to his firing of Comey,” as Jonathan Turley reminded US last June.

It’s defies belief that Mueller didn’t know Rosenstein was going to appoint him SC the next day. So who interviewed who that day?

crazy (d99a88) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:48 pm

If you remember Clinton when he had his fly zipped was closely triangulating with Newt Gingrich and paying down the debt. I figured Gore would continue in that direction.

No hypocricy to reconcile

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 1:55 pm

That’s unresponsive young man.

Was Iraq a mistake and did you support?

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:00 pm

Comment in moderation?

ropelight (dd21f2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:03 pm

BTW, I’m STILL trying to understand why we needed a Special counsel appointed.

What PRECISELY was the crime Trump was supposed to have committed?

And why is Mueller STILL Investigating it, 7 months later?

rcocean (a72eb2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:06 pm

TRUMPF IS OBSTRUCTING !!111

Yeah, excuse me, but obstructing WHAT?

What crime did Trump commit that needed “obstructing”?

No one seems to know.

rcocean (a72eb2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:08 pm

A commenter of Turley’s makes an interesting point about Trump’s “You fight back” point:

To understand Trump, one must understand the “Integration Clause” (IC) in contract law. As a real estate developer, Trump knows all too well about contracts which is indispensable in the real estate business. Every contract contains an IC which states that this document is the complete and entire agreement between the parties AND all written and oral statements made by Trump prior to this agreement are NOT a part of this contract. Such prior statements have no legal effect. This unaccountability explains why Trump is so indifferent to making hyperbolic assurances and empty promises as a matter of course because he knows they will not be a part of his standard real estate contract!
…When you want to get down to business, the details will be worked out by his cadre of lawyers. Trump is the “big picture” frontman who enjoys being in the limelight- not sweating the details.

crazy (d99a88) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:08 pm

it’s an interesting family

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/954173497168875520.html

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:11 pm

Bulloney.

Most of you don’t give a crap if he violated a law so poutrage about a sealed indictment is just more tear gas to disperse the focus.

Ben burn (094549) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:12 pm

this is why the whole independence boomlet seemed forced

https://www.thelocal.es/20180126/barcelona-terror-cell-also-planned-eiffel-tower-attack?utm_content=buffereb3ca&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:16 pm

Mostly I was hanging out in MSN chatrooms. Back then they hadn’t gone pay to play.

I was reconciled to the fact that we would be shooting the crap out of somebodies country after 911, and that it was out of my miniscule powers to add or detract.

I do remember thinking up until the day we invaded Iraq, that maybe, just maybe Bush would bow to the UN and back out.

Like I said I voted for Gore. California went with the Democrat no matter who I voted for anyway.

Something else that annoyed me about Bush prior to the wars. He unilaterally surrendered most of the Gulf to whomever else was willing to drill it as a sop to Jeb’s re election to Governor of Florida.

So I was never in the Bush corner.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:17 pm

So Bush made you a believer? Or you can say Iraq was a Boner. EZ PZ.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:25 pm

With an Officer of the Court like Mueller under his command he should be sleeping on top of sandbags instead of under them.

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:28 pm

@63: Alternate headline: Obama fires special counsel by never having him appointed.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:28 pm

The Sandbag of Mueller-Sleaze if you will.

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:29 pm

Comment in moderation?

ropelight (dd21f2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:03 pm

Question or suggestion?

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:30 pm

Bush should have fired the guy Sept 12, 2001.

Richard Aubrey (463768) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:45 pm

Remember all those Patterico blog posts about Obama firing the special counsel looking into Hillary Emails, the Learner IRS scandal, and the Benghazi scandal?

Yeah. Me neither.

rcocean (a72eb2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:47 pm

The Anabasis of Muellerphon

Stranded after the unexpected death of the next Satrap of Dee Cee, heroic Muellerphon and 10,000 partisan lawyers investigate their way to the sea and to free Democrat cities.

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:48 pm

Does anyone know what crime Trump committed?

Mueller, Mueller, anyone?

rcocean (a72eb2) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:48 pm

Remember all those Patterico blog posts about Obama firing the special counsel looking into Hillary Emails, the Learner IRS scandal, and the Benghazi scandal?

Yeah. Me neither.

Here’s a plug for conservative treehouse/breirbart/Alex Jones/Fox.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:50 pm

I guess we have to assume enemy action:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/26/syrian-rebels-aims-fight-turkey-battles-kurds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 2:50 pm

mr nk

Sorry for all the cultural appropriation today. I know lawyers are a proud people.

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:02 pm

who even cares if President Trump wanted to fire douchebag FBI gestapo-muppet Robert Mueller

not me that’s for sure

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:04 pm

you could call me apathetic about it

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:05 pm

Trump should fire Mueller before he finds out that there is “no collusion”. Hurry. Hurry.

noel (b4d580) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:07 pm

It looks like the Nunes memo will drop next Wednesday. If it’s as damning as claimed, I’m wondering what inventive ways the media will devise to bury it. No doubt they have Crisis Response Teams already mobilized, with several days to come up with something. Surely it’s not as earth shattering as a decision not to fire someone.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:28 pm

Nunes?

From FoxNews…

“Remember, this began with Devin Nunes. The same Devin Nunes who last year made White House surveillance claims, staged a rush to the White House to purportedly share surveillance information with the administration, but actually took information from the administration and staged a report of it,” Smith told viewers.

Your favorite Fox reporter, Shep Smith.

noel (b4d580) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:36 pm

In none of the 9 realms is shep Smith a favorite:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/report-trump-called-for-campaign-to-discredit-potential-fbi-witnesses

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:39 pm

shep smith’s kind of a wad though isn’t he

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:40 pm

Your favorite Fox reporter, Shep Smith.

Case in point.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:43 pm

They have been ahead of us, by 6 steps:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/01/26/questioning-assumptions-revelations-of-key-fbi-officials-leaking-to-wapo-should-cause-review-of-underlying-media-narratives/

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 3:43 pm

Admiral Ben burn: You remember that thing we had about 30 years ago called the Korean conflict? And how we failed to achieve victory? How come we didn’t cross the 38th parallel and push those rice-eaters back to the Great Wall of China?

Admiral Ben burn: [rips a desk apart] Then take the f[edit]ing wall apart

[shouts]

Admiral Ben burn: brick by brick and nuke them back into the f[edit]ing stone age forever? Tell me why! How come? Say it! Say it!

Papertiger: [incensed] All right. I’ll say it. ‘Cause Truman was too much of a *p[edit] wimp* to let MacArthur go in there

[shouts]

Papertiger: and blow out those Commie bast[edit]s!

Admiral Ben burn: Good answer. Good answer. I like the way you think. I’m gonna be watching you.

Papertiger: [chuckling to his classmates] Good teacher. He really seems to care. About what I have no idea.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:01 pm

Nunes must have a lot to lose sticking his pencil-neck out to maximim.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:02 pm

Tiger

Can’t you answer simple questions? What are the perverse gesticulations about?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:04 pm

Gore must’ve gored your oxen.

Nader must make you mictorate.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:05 pm

Worst morning show:

[ ] Today
[ ] GMA
[ ] CBS This Morning
[ ] Morning Joe
[ ] CNN New Day
[ ] Haiku in his open robe
[X] Fox & Friends

=Haiku!= Gesundheit!

Now that’s nothing to sneeze at.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:10 pm

Ah kinison in back to school, classic.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:12 pm

No one is discrediting the FBI and the DOJ. But they are going after corrupt senior level persons that are violating the law, and have no ethics. If criticizing the top people is demeaning agency, than what has happened to the White House for more than a year is exactly the same. So can the mouth breathers here differentiate between the top people, and the agency itself?

iowan2 (18c6f5) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:16 pm

Nunes hometown newspaper says he’s dirty.

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article196633904.html

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:17 pm

Iowan has jumped the haiku shark.

But ratings have tanked irretrievably.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:20 pm

OK, so the memo will be buried via ad hominem attacks on Nunes. Got it. Anything else?

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:20 pm

ad hominem

He’s your Presidunce.

You have to take the bad with the wurst.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:23 pm

It looks like the Nunes memo will drop next Wednesday
You mean the memo that is so damning not even the Republican Senator who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee can be allowed to see it?

The Democrats won’t need any Crisis teams to respond. The memo, if and when it appears, will be a list of items selected to look damning, with any items contrary to its thesis completely missing, and heavily redacted to protect actual classified information, thereby allowing Nunes to claim the real evidence is in the redacted portions.

Kishnevi (eb30e0) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:24 pm

Siri! Como se dice Who will prosecute the pervy sl_t boy prosecuters? in Latin?

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:28 pm

Nunes must have a lot to lose sticking his pencil-neck out to maximim.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:02 pm

You been burning to take in an intramural softball game?

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:29 pm

Yes, a one party state brooks no dissent,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:31 pm

Sundance has read too many political thrillers.

As an example, a Justice Department official may know one of their aligned colleagues might be scheduled for questioning by congressional oversight. The insider, perhaps from a different sub-department within the DOJ, would have knowledge of the information provided to congress -and- desire to prepare their colleague by leaking the content of the information they have provided

Because that’s a much more efficient way of sharing information than a quick phone call and an accidental-on-purpose running into each other at lunch…

Kishnevi (eb30e0) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:34 pm

No one is discrediting the FBI and the DOJ. But they are going after corrupt senior level persons that are violating the law, and have no ethics. If criticizing the top people is demeaning agency, than what has happened to the White House for more than a year is exactly the same. So can the mouth breathers here differentiate between the top people, and the agency itself?

iowan2 (18c6f5) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:16 pm

What happened to the pervy Secret Service agents who were getting blackout drunk and stiffing damas de la noche in South America? They’re probably running The Boy Scouts now. I hope they didn’t impugn such a fine organization.

Or the TSA agents caught stealing. Wow, there sure are a lot of those. Be prepared for a lot of results if you search that.

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:34 pm

Like an Al queda execution can be blamed on a video, like a war on the tea party can be blamed on some rogue agents in cincinatti, re fast and furious they blamed it on a previous operation

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:36 pm

Nunes hometown newspaper says he’s dirty.

http://www.fresnobee.com/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:17 pm

I’m sure they will get around to voting Nunes out:

There are 1,000 honest, decent and qualified California and American students NOT allowed to enroll in Cal State Fresno. Their parents have paid taxes so qualified students can attend and receive a great education. Instead those that break the law get the seats—and now tax dollars will be spent to provide special services to the law breakers.

“Lamas said the new Dream Outreach Center is expected to facilitate a sense of belonging for students and accomplish a higher rate of student success at the university. Center services will include financial aid guidance, professional development opportunities and referrals for student-support services.

The program will also raise awareness about the college experience of undocumented students within the campus community.

There are NO undocumented students—NONE. They did not leave their paperwork at home—they have NO paperwork, they are here illegally. Period. Why are we making those who violate our laws more comfortable and “encourage” more law breakers to steal college seats from honest kids? No one is stopping them from getting an higher education—they can get it LEGALLY in their home country. Why are we paying for it? Angry yet?

Not Nunes’ Hometown Paper

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:39 pm

The Democrats won’t need any Crisis teams to respond.

They never do. The media rolls those out for them.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:40 pm

The fact that robert Mueller dropped the ball. On the anthrax investigation, that want a disqualifier.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:40 pm

110
cinaede sequi accusantium omnis qui decepit?

(Per Google)

P–vy s–boys was too much for it, apparently, even when I transcribed it as perverted catamites

Kishnevi (eb30e0) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:42 pm

Because that’s a much more efficient way of sharing information than a quick phone call and an accidental-on-purpose running into each other at lunch…

Kishnevi (eb30e0) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:34 pm

meet-cute
Scenario in which two individuals are brought together in some unlikely, zany, destined-to-fall-in-love-and-be-together-forever sort of way (the more unusual, the better).

Urban Dictionary

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:44 pm

P–vy s–boys was too much for it, apparently, even when I transcribed it as perverted catamites

Kishnevi (eb30e0) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:42 pm

I guess we can go with first names like Bruce, Robert, James, Peter, Lisa……..

What’s going on with your shift button? K/k

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:52 pm

So Trump thought about doing something the TDSers would have considered awful. Then he didn’t do it.

This is the best you’ve got???????

Richard Aubrey (463768) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:55 pm

Julius Caesar is a good case in point for a guy who needed to stay in office to stay out of irons. Do Trump and Mueller both think they are going to be the last man standing?

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:55 pm

122

The only thing better would be a confession.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 4:59 pm

Yes highlander rules:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-economy-outlook/imf-raises-global-growth-forecast-sees-trump-tax-boost-idUSKBN1FB1TK

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:00 pm

If Trump had remotely activated count-down on the Football would you torture him to stop millions of deaths?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:01 pm

Of course it wouldn’t take actual torture to break him.

A Big Mac prohibition would work.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:02 pm

No one is discrediting the FBI and the DOJ.

They’ve been discrediting themselves. Anyone who talks about “obstruction of justice” has to first explain why letting Hillary, Huma, etc, off on multiple felony counts — each carrying up to a life term — regarding mishandling top secret and SCI documents and placing them on a homebrew server connected to the Internet. That last, in itself, is a felony.

Why isn’t the Lynch-Bill Clinton meeting obstruction? Why isn’t the FBI’s prearranged verdict obstruction? Why isn’t the clear collusion between the administration, the DoJ and Hillary herself obstruction?

And yet, they want to hang Trump because he asked someone to go light on someone who harmed NOBODY.

Every time I see our host talk about this “obstruction” and “collusion with the Russians” as if it had meaning I just throw up in my mouth.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:05 pm

*…placing them on a homebrew server connected to the Internet isn’t obstruction….

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:07 pm

126

He’s not a governor from Hawaii

EPWJ (4dc563) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:16 pm

Ah the byline on that daily basilisk is Murray waas, he covered the blame trial but subsequently realized he got the story wrong.

Now since the imf usually gets things wrong there could be an earth shattering kaboom

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:18 pm

Well, it’s like this. Trump probably blurted out that he wanted Mueller fired. And he has people working for him who could make it happen. So it’s like he threw a toaster out of a window on a street where Mueller was certain to be walking by, if any of his loyal spear carriers were to go ahead and put the machinery in motion to fire Mueller.

(Yes, yes, I am.)

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:20 pm

Speaking of raw crazy:
https://mobile.twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/956983654126899200

You were saying something about depositions being the repository of truth

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:25 pm

But lets speak more about a firing that never came off:
https://www.stripes.com/news/va-whistleblower-gets-job-in-trump-s-new-accountability-office-1.481509

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:29 pm

So Trump thought about doing something the TDSers would have considered awful. Then he didn’t do it.

This is the best you’ve got???????

You’re assuming they’re after anything. As if the absence of anything would make a difference to them.

Trump’s crime is that he is a Republican in the highest office. The same attempts at delegitimization, the petty ridicule, the constant attacks would happen if Kasich, Rubio, Jeb or Cruz had won. This is what the anti-Trump crowd in the GOP can’t get through their noggins.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:30 pm

On this score, I don’t get banmons complaint although he may have grounds on other issues

http://thefederalist.com/2018/01/26/3-critical-swamp-myths-trumps-national-security-strategy-exposes

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:32 pm

@32. That’s soooooooooo Nixon.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:42 pm

135… You got it, random Viking. They hate all of us not just Trump. He’s just where they zero in. They would hate anybody who beat Hillary Trump is nothing special.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:43 pm

^ 132. Typo

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:44 pm

You Trump haters are lol funny. Great job. Too bad the Gong Show is off the air.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:45 pm

Kukio is my new favorite place on earth.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:46 pm

@50. I Like Ike.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:47 pm

Only scary lartys twoscoops of crazy can explain it:

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-thursday-cable-originals-network-finals-1-25-2018.html

I have expect he’ll off the desk, twitching like belushi.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 5:52 pm

Hannity does a good Queeg.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:05 pm

A byways molder who started out covering hoffa. Segued into mca’jules stein, whose grand daughter is that woman of the people, KAtrina van den heuvel, she’s married to Russia superfan Stephen Cohen. The senior vandenheuel was one of those who found diem in exile along with William Douglas and John f kennedy (what a road movie)

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:30 pm

So, Patterico, how would Congress go about preventing Trump from firing Mueller?

They cannot pass a [valid] law against it (Myers vs US). They could impeach him, I guess, but they can no more charge him with [a specious charge of] obstruction any more than Clinton could be charged with perjury.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:32 pm

BTW, this has been going on for months now. What crime(s) has Mueller found? I mean, if there is obstruction, doesn’t there have to be some crime, the justice of to obstruct? Is this anything more now than a fishing expedition (fishing only in waters likely to contain Republicans)?

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:36 pm

THE ART OF THE SHUTDOWN

“President Trump didn’t respond to the so-called shutdown of the federal government in the way that the political class thought he should. He didn’t get personally involved in detailed negotiations to end the impasse and didn’t convey a sense of crisis to the American people.

When all was said and done, this skirmish showed the dangers of underestimating President Trump and his ability to connect with voters on issues the political elites ignore. His approach worked because he instinctively understood the strategic situation far better than Senate Democrats, establishment Republicans, and his other beltway critics……

…….But it’s important to remember that most voters had an unfavorable view of the president on the day they elected him. A significant number didn’t believe he was qualified to be president but still thought he was preferable to Hillary Clinton.

That reality should haunt Democrats in the wake of the “shutdown” debacle. President Trump, deal maker in chief, broke all the political class rules about how to handle the situation. And, in so doing, he highlighted some of the least attractive features of his opponents’ position. If he is able to keep it up, the Democrats may be at risk of once again making Republicans the lesser of two evils.”

https://scottrasmussen.com/the-art-of-the-shutdown/

Great read, check it out

harkin (d40275) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:40 pm

They were on balance more generous than this panel, its a low bar,

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2018/01/26/probably-not-disaster-conflicted-msnbc-panel-awkwardly-praises

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:49 pm

How about German bots

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2018/01/24/website-supposedly-monitoring-russian-bots-reveals-no-names

Its almost as silly as bob baers hunting Hitler projecg

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 6:54 pm

Is anyone as pathetic as Cryin Upchuck Schumer. The democrats seem to be ready for another beat down. When it happens please go to Canada as promised. Thanks a bunch. Send post cards of the border dip sh!ts.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:00 pm

She’s three rabbits nutz but the gonzo rule applies

http://freebeacon.com/politics/lawyer-snaps-middle-cnn-panel-discussion-why-are-subjecting-me-this

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:01 pm

This might be the Fox & Friends report you are remembering.

If so, it’s the link I used in the post. If that’s the best we both can find, maybe it’s what I remembered.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:04 pm

Trump owes the tax payers – Release the memos at the state of the union address and then put your nose plug on because people will be sh!tting their diapers. Do it Mr. President.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:12 pm

I take, and agree with, our host’s points regarding his slavish adherents and boosters — yes, let’s call them what they are: shills — on Fox & Friends and Hannity. “Lickspittle” is another good and fitting term for them.

But if, as I do, you start from the proposition that Trump has awful instincts, always (always!) motivated by his own obsessive megalomania and egotism to serve and build the “Trump Brand,” then this report is actually quite encouraging.

I’m always glad to learn that Trump has been talked out of something incredibly stupid by advisers who actually appreciate the consequences. So while this story doesn’t change my poor regard for Sean Hannity or the Fox & Friends crew or other media Trumpkins, it actually slightly reassures me as to Trump’s willingness to listen to advice, and it also raises Don McGahn slightly in my regard.

That seems to be a pretty common story: being a brainless buffoon, Trump’s instincts often lead him to consider brainless buffoonery — but he’s often talked out of it. And that is a good thing.

I appreciate having the Beldars of the world around. I’ll confess, there are some commenters for whom I just kind of run my eyes over their comments. You can only read so many paeans to the greatness of Trump or potshots at his critics before you decide you’ve had enough for a lifetime. But the Beldars of the world keep me coming back.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:13 pm

Get more squirrel:

https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/01/oprah-on-2020-run-thats-not-for-me/

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:13 pm

Tiger

Can’t you answer simple questions What are the perverse gesticulations about?

Ben burn

We drew straws.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:17 pm

Every time I see our host talk about this “obstruction” and “collusion with the Russians” as if it had meaning I just throw up in my mouth.

LOL.

Specific citations with quotes, Kevin M.

I’d hate to think you’re gagging on your own puke every morning because of some fantasy that exists only in your head.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:17 pm

Its a game we waste money, already more than the Benghazi inquiry, men and most importantly to Validate the 1.2 billion. Spent on Hillary’s behalf

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:21 pm

That seems to be a pretty common story: being a brainless buffoon, Trump’s instincts often lead him to consider brainless buffoonery — but he’s often talked out of it. And that is a good thing.
When you come down to it, the best things done by Trump are actually the things where he lets others do the work and confines his own contribution to signing off on the final document. The more involved he is, the more screwed up things get.

Kishnevi (5acb5b) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:45 pm

BTW, this has been going on for months now. What crime(s) has Mueller found? I mean, if there is obstruction, doesn’t there have to be some crime, the justice of to obstruct? Is this anything more now than a fishing expedition (fishing only in waters likely to contain Republicans)?

Probably money laundering. The media is fascinated by the flash and sizzle of Obstruction! and ignoring the rest. There were, at the very least, a lot more Russians running around than we usually see in campaigns for POTUS.

Kishnevi (5acb5b) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:52 pm

Remind d me again when the claims were overblown, the men who were there are Benghazi, fighting Al queda could see clearly, the hundred perhaps thousands of casualties from arming the sinaloa and zetas (quiff a hat trick) of course learner prespun Georges admittedly tame if report, and deep sized the evidence till the statute of limitation passes.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:54 pm

Lime the 150 million kicked in to the Clinton foundation, veselberg, prokhorov timkin, blavatsky practically every looter of Russians resources, but that was why steele was hired through fusion

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 7:57 pm

Man, you Trump haters need some loving from your biotch Hillary.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:01 pm

On behalf of all the world’s Beldars, thank you for the kind words.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:05 pm

President Trump’s making the fabulous proposals and providing the crucial thought leadership to help us take that next step to a brighter more prosperous tomorrow!

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:05 pm

If so, the message Trump is hearing is: his most diehard fans would be just fine with it. They have all supported the administration’s campaign to discredit the FBI and Mueller.

How do I parse this without thinking that you believe there is something to be investigated? If there isn’t (as now seems certain), Mueller should hang it up and Trump should fire him if he won’t. The man has been at this for most of a year and the most he has come up with is a lying change against Flynn and an unrelated money laundering charge against Manafort. I know that some (Dave, I and not talking about you) believe that Trump is guilty of being a Putin sleeper agent, but really, hasn’t this gone far enough?

The thing that makes me ill is that we are still talking about this investigation of nada, as if there was some “there” there.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:10 pm

*AM not

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:11 pm

I cannot fault you though for your attitude towards Hannity.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:13 pm

My fault. I should have checked my link. I guess I read your link and mistakenly copied it instead of this one.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:15 pm

It’s not exactly what you mention bu y it is Fox & Friends and they seem to agree with Laura Ingraham that Trump would not consider firing Mueller.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:18 pm

But the Beldars of the world keep me coming back.

I’m sure it has nothing to do with the obligatory references to Trump’s stupidity and megalomania, and the “shills” and “Lickspittle” in the scarce corners of the media that support him. Any commentary beyond that is just a bonus.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:26 pm

And yet there isn’t much in the way of facts, that justify this snipe hunt

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:28 pm

How britannia has fallen:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5315501/Millennials-watching-old-James-Bond-not-impressed.html

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:30 pm

Sorry this o e, although the last link waaitiful:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5424349/theresa-may-gives-her-speech-to-a-half-empty-room-in-davos-as-the-crowds-rush-out-for-donald-trump/amp/

How can there be adequate not to mention great leadership that doesn’t bobble the ball,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:40 pm

I’m pleased to report that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has apparently subscribed to the Beldar Plan:

“There is nothing in the history of the Senate remotely like what we’re facing right now, which is the filibuster being used on everything,” Cruz said in explaining his changing view of the filibuster. “Their base, the hard radical Left, is demanding ‘Fight! Resist!’ And so, every substantive piece of legislation — virtually every one — gets filibustered.”

Cruz’s comments sound a lot like the complaints of frustrated liberal senators not too long ago, objecting to the way Republicans employed the filibuster routinely to block former President Barack Obama’s agenda.

Liberals, who are already critical of the institution of the senate for giving small states the same say as much larger states, have become more passionate in arguing for ending the practice, which they deem nondemocratic and obstructive to implementing a bold progressive agenda.

While for now, the filibuster is a useful tool to stymie President Trump, it’s difficult to envision a scenario in which Democrats regain power after the polarizing Trump era and liberals stand by and allow any combination of 41 Republicans to block everything liberals want to accomplish. If they’re in a position to hike the minimum wage, implement mandatory paid leave, pass sweeping environmental legislation, act on immigration and infrastructure, and build on Obamacare, will they really let a presidency go by in which they get none of it out of deference to a convention they dislike anyway?

The default assumption that the next time Democrats control Congress and the White House they’ll kill the filibuster is prompting a growing number of conservatives to argue in favor of striking first.

“I think if the Democrats ever regain the majority, they’ll end legislative filibuster,” Cruz predicted. “That’s where their conference is. And it doesn’t make any sense for it be a one-way ratchet — for us to have our hands tied and for them to be able to pass with a simple majority.”

The GOP senators who still think the Dems will refrain from nuking the filibuster the next time they have occasion are like those Americans who were still insisting on December 8, 1941, that the Japanese were still peace-loving allies.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:43 pm

Forgot the link for that last quote.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:44 pm

160 – Kishnevi

When you come down to it, the best things done by Trump are actually the things where he lets others do the work and confines his own contribution to signing off on the final document. The more involved he is, the more screwed up things get.

I am very interested in understanding your insider knowledge of how President Trump’s administration works.

The stark differences between the last two administrations’ economic policies are obvious. The current policies – lower corporate tax rate, incenting the repatriation of cash for capital investment, regulatory overhaul, and the unleashing of energy production, to name just a few – were all documented as part of Trump’s economic plan prior to the election and the subsequent hiring of his cabinet and advisors.

President Trump told everyone what he would do, hired the people to do it, gave them marching orders, and presumably held them to account. That is what normal people expect of a President and that is apparently what he delivered. What evidence do you have that contradicts this premise?

Lenny (5ea732) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:47 pm

He has his share of flaws but he has a clue now and again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/01/23/boris-johnson-knows-public-want-brexit-mock-remainers-peril

It hasn’t dawned on you they like to be the minority, they dont think think the left is a exiatential threat

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:49 pm

Who’s bluffing I wonder:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/910636/Saudi-Arabia-prince-gold-plated-hotel-corruption-charges-Prince-Alwaleed-news-latest

narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:58 pm

@176: Unfortunately, Cruz is even more unpopular with Senators than Trump.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:28 pm

If you’re ever in Houston

Boy you better do right

An FBI agent fatally shot a bound kidnap victim on Thursday during a predawn raid meant to rescue the man from his captors at a home in Houston, The Houston Chronicle and other media reported.
Few details including the deceased man’s identity and the motive for the kidnapping were released. A spokesperson for the Houston bureau of the FBI was not immediately available for comment.

Pinandpuller (124ec9) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:44 pm

He must have moved his hand towards his waist.

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:52 pm

Possibly, if they would just say chris ruddy, who has become semi ‘respectable’ twenty years later, but you are left to guess.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/26/2018 @ 9:58 pm

They really ought to charge the victim’s son who called the police to report his father’s kidnapping with at least involuntary manslaughter.

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:04 pm

Not the same thing, probably.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:07 pm

To put one widely spread media myth to rest — Devin Nunes is NOT the author of “The Memo”.

The reason I know that is because Devin Nunes did not go to DOJ to review the approximately 1000 pages of FBI records concerning the Steele dossier, and its use in the FISA process.

The round rules agreed to in Ryan’s Office when Rosenstein and Wray went there to try and avoid a Contempt of Congress citation, was that the Chair and Ranking Member of the Intel Comm., along with 2 Committee staff from each side, could review the records in a SCIF at DOJ. They could take notes, but they could not make copies, and they could not take anything with them. The rules also provided that another member of the Comm could review the documents in place of either the Chair or Ranking Member as their designee.

Schiff went himself, but Nunes sent Trey Gowdy, a former AUSA, to review them for the Comm majority. And it was Comm staffers, not Nune’s office staffers, that went with Gowdy.

So “The Memo” was written by Gowdy and the two staffers based on their notes and their memory. Gowdy did an interview with Erin Burnett on CNN on Wed night where he pretty much laid out what’s in the memo — its a recitation of the all the things the FBI didn’t do in terms of verifying the allegations of the Steele documents, and not informing the FISC about the nature of the documents, their provenance, and the likely biases and prejudices that went into making them. In other words, when the FBI puts up information before a court, it has to explain to the Court where the info came from and why its credible. Gowdy is saying the FBI didn’t do that here — either it didn’t take the time to learn about the background of the documents, or it did know but it submitted them without telling the FISC.

The warrant that resulted basically provided a “counter-intel” cover to what was in reality a “political opposition monitoring” exercise carried out by the Obama DOJ/FBI.

And the expressed biases of the participants as revealed by the IG’s investigation — juxtaposed against the treatment afforded Clinton by many of the very same people — evidence political corruption.

The key is that Clinton was supposed to win, and nothing anyone did in the summer and fall of 2016 was ever supposed to come to light.

Just like the Bay of Pigs was never supposed to come back on the CIA — until it failed miserably. Sort of like Clinton’s campaign.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:33 pm

He must have moved his hand towards his waist.

Damn it Scully. Keep the bullit in your pocket.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:52 pm

What evidence do you have that contradicts this premise?

The fact that Donald Trump has never, since since announcing his candidacy, managed to make an intelligent or thoughtful statement of his own about any policy issue?

The man promised to eliminate the (then) $19T national debt in eight years … by reducing the trade deficit with China.

His plan for fixing health-care was to “make a deal with existing hospitals to take care of people.”

He’s a drooling moron with zero interest in the complexities of policy.

When he (carefully) repeats things he has heard intelligent people say, he may briefly sound like he knows what he’s talking about. But left to his own devices, he can rarely even accurately articulate *his own* (putative) position, much less defend or explain it.

Dave (445e97) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:53 pm

Dave — you have just described every President except for Clinton and Nixon going back to WWII.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:00 pm

Dave — you have just described every President except for Clinton and Nixon going back to WWII.

Baloney.

Trump’s reptilian brain makes Dan freaking Quayle look like Einstein.

Dave (445e97) — 1/26/2018 @ 11:11 pm

Hey Dave, take the complexities of the last 4 presidents and they should be in prison baking bread.

mg (7c0a5d) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:36 am

Whoops wrong blog

EPWJ (4dc563) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:48 am

Tedtoo’s fatal flaw– aside from being Canadian born, a dinosaured conservative ideologue representing a dying era swept aside by Trump, a lousy Churchill mimic and personally unlikable– is he does not inspire. He preaches. And poorly, too. Like Hillary did-w/her subtle, know-it-all nod.

Some in Alberta and several in Texas may embrace that; Americans generally don’t; it’s a total turn off– especially these days. They like the JR Ewings of the world; the bad boys you love to hate, week after week. The ones you give mulligans to.

We’re through the looking glass now and well into a strangely entertaining era where porn star hook-ups and sh!thole language from the presidential podium punctuate news cycles by the hour, not the day and where last week seems like last month; where powerful men with weak characters can be banished for hitting on subordinates yet a confident, brash braggart with a good mix of bad behavior doesn’t get hurt but helped– and makes past personalities of either party appear oh-so-bland, two-dimensional and dull, if not boring by comparison. The Jeb Bush of today wags the finger of an 1880’s schoolmarm; Joe Biden exudes the excitement of a med school cadaver; Mitt Romney the tasteless appeal of plain yogurt; Pelosi, the patter and pallor only Madame Tussauds could admire. The times have changed quickly for them– a landline phone, a desktop PC w/Windows XP; the space shuttle, ‘conservative family values’– already the stuff of museums.

Besides, Tedtoo sold his political soul and debased his character not to mention his family honor to kiss our Captain’s ring after berating him on the campaign trail. Lyin’ Ted was a loser. His career has plateaued. And as w/all senators, can now be burdened by every recorded vote only later to explain. And when he’s explaining in that preachy style– he’s losing. It’s a stale act for the bad boy times. Christie missed the brass ring; so has Tedtoo.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:06 am

Senate rules. Rules and procedures for conducting the business of the Senate.

No input or say so required from judges, the House, President, Pope, or God Almighty. Correct?

What’s to stop Ted from forming a coalition of disgrunts to overturn the filibuster rule?

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:03 am

ConDave

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:30 am

“They’ve been discrediting themselves. Anyone who talks about “obstruction of justice” has to first explain why letting Hillary, Huma, etc, off on multiple felony counts — each carrying up to a life term — regarding mishandling top secret and SCI documents and placing them on a homebrew server connected to the Internet. That last, in itself, is a felony.

Why isn’t the Lynch-Bill Clinton meeting obstruction? Why isn’t the FBI’s prearranged verdict obstruction? Why isn’t the clear collusion between the administration, the DoJ and Hillary herself obstruction?

And yet, they want to hang Trump because he asked someone to go light on someone who harmed NOBODY.”

THIS.

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:37 am

189… None of this is evidence. Other than evidence you are prejudiced against Trump. It’s all opinion and not coherent opinion at that.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:40 am

Boy, is that Trump a great president, or what? America is truly blessed to have The Donald at the helm as our ship of state navigates perilous waters. May he live long and may his leadership endure to guide America’s 3rd Revolution.

ropelight (6cec01) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:59 am

Col, to go easy on a man who served his whole life for his country

EPWJ (4dc563) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:04 am

189 – ConDave who wrote:

When he (carefully) repeats things he has heard intelligent people say, he may briefly sound like he knows what he’s talking about. But left to his own devices, he can rarely even accurately articulate *his own* (putative) position, much less defend or explain it.

Those are opinions. What I’ve found – just on clips on youtube which you cannot contest – is actual evidence he knew and knows precisely what he’s talking about. You can disagree with his policies but no one, after watching these clips, can say he’s a “drooling moron”. In fact, anyone who reads your proclamation after watching these clips would conclude that you are the “drooling moron”. They show a Donald Trump that people like you cannot countenance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rksd80-FCAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305-erOr3jk

Lenny (5ea732) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:18 am

If DJ were here, he would bring up the Billy Madison clip, disco:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/01/the-week-in-pictures-ipod-edition.php

The point is mueller isn’t do any deference, anymore than fitz or comey

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:30 am

Keep ranting about Mueller!

Meanwhile……

Democrats flail and fail to stop another well-qualified Trump judicial nominee

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/democrats-flail-and-fail-to-stop-another-well-qualified-trump-judicial-nominee/article/2647139

We really dodged a bullet when Chairwoman Pantsuit believed the msm In Oct. 2016 that it was in the bag.

harkin (8256c3) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:40 am

The media keeps using these words “collusion” and “obstruction”. They doan mean what they theenk they mean.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:46 am

Hear ees thee awther theeng. Anonymous hearsay is not evidence even if it is printed in a newspaper.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:48 am

She’s over the right target, but in the wrong venue

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/26/megyn-kellys-shock-attack-on-jane-fonda-has-globetrotting-nbc-exec-in-hot-water.html

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:48 am

Megyn Kelly is still cheesed that Matt Lauer was fired before she had a chance to accuse him of sexual harassment. It was like NBC robbed her of $20 million. And she is not at all good as an interviewer. Hanoi Jane is right about that.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:56 am

She was very good at fox, then she stuck a shiv at everyone who worked with her, now she’s in the phantom zone.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:01 am

ropelight @ 199. I see what you’re doing there. You want to provoke the Three Comrades™, Ben!, Tillman and Davedalulu into head exploding hysteria for our amusement. Thank you for helping to Make America Great Again.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:04 am

“And welcome to tonight’s championship Jell-O wrestling match. In this corner, the defending champion, Barbarella. And in this corner, the challenger, Barbie Batlash.”

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:06 am

The Paunch had to go to Davos to suck kneecaps and hope they like him now. He’s just a junior Plutocrat and they don’t like the way he smells.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/26/trump-enters-the-davos-club-by-charming-the-plutocrats/?utm_term=.8bdaa8be7c87

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:11 am

Criminality requires intent..

McGahn recognized the key fact—that Trump wanted to fire Mueller for the wrong reasons. Trump wanted to fire Mueller because his investigation was threatening to him. This, of course, also illuminates the reasons behind Trump’s firing of Comey, which took place just a month before the President’s confrontation with McGahn regarding Mueller. Trump and his advisers have offered various tortured rationalizations for the firing of Comey—initially, for example, on the ground that Comey had been unfair to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. Trump himself came clean in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt and in a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister. In both, Trump acknowledged that he fired Comey to stall or stop the Russia investigation—that is, the investigation of Trump himself and his campaign.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-answer-to-whether-trump-obstructed-justice-is-now-clear

His big fat mouth could be our refuge.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:19 am

Lenny 201,

Your second link is nice PR but the first link is substance. It shows Trump in 1991 testifying before Congress on what he calls the mistake of the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Trump recently supported and signed into law tax cuts that have been compared to the 1986 Tax Reform bill. In 1991, he testified before Congress that the 1986 tax cuts were a mistake because they hurt New York real estate investment. I guess he’s changed his mind since 1991. Is that the thoughtful thinking by Trump that you are talking about?

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:22 am

IS McGahn the new John Dean?

https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/white-house-counsel-donald-mcgahn/index.html

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:24 am

@197 Col. Sanders

<“But Hillary! something something But Huma! something something But Slick Willie! something something”>

Right, and because OJ got away with murder, is it also OK for Trump to murder somebody in cold blood on Fifth Avenue?

Trump has been in charge of the entire Federal law enforcement apparatus for over a year now. If there are felons walking the streets unpunished, you should blame him.

Dave (445e97) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:33 am

Megyn Kelly needs a godddamn sandwich in her mouth

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:34 am

oops i mean she needs a *goddamn* sandwich in her mouth

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:34 am

Dave forgot Chappiquiddick!

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:37 am

By the way, if you care about immigration, Trump is proposing a giant amnesty. So there’s that.

and the filthy schumer sluts are screeching racism

LOL!

President Trump’s turned the schumer sluts (and Princess Lindsey) into an analog of the filthy scummy palestinians – turning down deals what could help their poophole people move forward just for the titillation of eternal wallowing in ooey gooey victimy goodness

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:38 am

It’s a felony to leave water for thirsty people? This is not America.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15898207/ice-border-patrol-trump/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:41 am

Donald Trump knows his voter. He nailed it a long time ago. The rest of us thought it was an exaggeration. No, he was right. But you have to wonder if nk, Rev.Hoagie, happyfeet and the others know themselves like Donald knows them? Maybe they think it was a compliment?

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

noel (b4d580) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:41 am

well it depends on who he shoots silly pickle

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:45 am

Well you see we’ve moved on from blowjobs to lying and obstruction because it’s slick you see..

http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/26/source-strzok-hadnt-seen-evidence-of-collusion-after-10-months-on-russia-probe/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:47 am

Megan Kelly is more interesting as an object of hate than as a newscaster, though I have to admit I can’t remember ever watching her more than 30 seconds while surfing the digital dial.

Even though she gets mucho hate-o from conservatives, the lefty msm and social media that I see are obsessed with stopping her from securing roots in the ground at NBC.

I figure her best bet is to go hardcore, all-in TDS and the left will pivot, adore, proclaim her fierce, unashamed and vital.

harkin (8256c3) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:48 am

(#172):

[Quoting Patterico:]

But the Beldars of the world keep me coming back.

I’m sure it has nothing to do with the obligatory references to Trump’s stupidity and megalomania, and the “shills” and “Lickspittle” in the scarce corners of the media that support him. Any commentary beyond that is just a bonus.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/26/2018 @ 8:26 pm

Sean Hannity is a “lickspittle.” There are a variety of more vulgar euphemisms for his kind of blind and aggressive loyalty regardless of the facts, but that word fits exactly.

So I ask you, random viking: Are you more or less of a Trump supporter than Sean Hannity? Because if you’re more supportive, or equally supportive, of Trump, then you and Hannity are both lickspittles. I don’t want to presume to place you on that spectrum, so tell us: Between “thorough-going cynic” when it comes to Trump (which is where I place myself), in the direction of “open-minded but at least occasionally critical,” and the Hannity-level of lick-splittledom, where do we find random viking?

If you’re claiming to be “open-minded but at least occasionally critical,” please give us some examples of prior comments you’ve made here which display that.

(Note: I concede that there are still people on the farthest edges of the spectrum who are more lick-spittleish than even Sean Hannity — our own hatefulfeet, for instance — and of course, vastly more critical of Trump than my own thorough-going cynicism. And if you want to locate yourself further out than either of those two markers, feel free.)

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:51 am

Even more hypocrisy.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sexual-assault-allegations-against-steve-wynn-put-weinstein-obsessed-rnc-in-a-bind?ref=home&via=twitter_page

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:53 am

I figure her best bet is to go hardcore, all-in TDS and the left will pivot, adore, proclaim her fierce, unashamed and vital.

You got it, harkin. The left loves morons hence Pelosi, Lewis and Maxine. All Megyn has to do is don a pink pussy hat as a sign of her feminine strength and swear not to remove it until Trump is “removed from office”. The left will eat it up. Another “strong womyn” acting like an a$$hole of TV.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eGq8eQ0cX5s/WmoGAizzj2I/AAAAAAABoYY/civqXYvERD0cjiE3JuqSwGX-5yszMbgaACLcBGAs/s1600/SH-19.jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:54 am

yeah, happyfeet @219

President Trump’s turned the schumer sluts (and Princess Lindsey) into an analog of the filthy scummy palestinians – turning down deals what could help their poophole people move forward just for the titillation of eternal wallowing in ooey gooey victimy goodness

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dlz8ze0iVHY/WmoFL18peXI/AAAAAAABoXw/M-uq_2txRvgGE3FE2MqgF6LVBY39em3qACLcBGAs/s1600/7CCH8hJ.jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:56 am

NBC has always had it both ways, didn’t they provide a platform the DJT, get the Zito version of Piss Matthews at times, and get a few years of un-woke Joe?

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:57 am

This is not America

https://g.co/kgs/vYCKHv

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:59 am

why’s HALF in quotey quotes

this whirl is full of mystery and wonder

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:07 am

230… This is not America

Neither is this
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kZsOqFOrNms/V9dbxhmRa-I/AAAAAAABCAM/P2P4GxjsOzwVtllE_OLv72v-y2DRwCyawCLcB/s1600/1%2B1%2B1ninetymilesxiuly1s7e5k5o1_1280Jane%2BFonda%2Bunwinding%2Bon%2Ba%2BNorth%2BVietnamese%2Banti-aircraft%2Bgun%2Bin%2BHanoi%2Bduring%2Bthe%2BVietnam%2BWar%2Bin%2B1972..jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:15 am

And so is this
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F1CH98iz-pE/WUFvHAwDk_I/AAAAAAABiek/Cz1PY1lcjfMV06nDrf0GDbgxr7HWAUryQCLcBGAs/s1600/some_people_are_up_for_a_good_laugh_even_in_the_afterlife_03.jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:18 am

If so, the message Trump is hearing is: his most diehard fans would be just fine with it. They have all supported the administration’s campaign to discredit the FBI and Mueller.

How do I parse this without thinking that you believe there is something to be investigated? If there isn’t (as now seems certain), Mueller should hang it up and Trump should fire him if he won’t. The man has been at this for most of a year and the most he has come up with is a lying change against Flynn and an unrelated money laundering charge against Manafort. I know that some (Dave, I and not talking about you) believe that Trump is guilty of being a Putin sleeper agent, but really, hasn’t this gone far enough?

Patterico says Trumpalos would be cool with Trump firing Mueller and they buy off on the smears of Mueller and the FBI.

Kevin reads that and concludes Patterico thinks that there is “collusion with the Russians” and “obstruction.”

I think — actually, I know — that Trunp campaign members sat down with someone they correctly believed to be tied to people high up in the Kremlin, to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. I think that was bad behavior. Trumpalos think it was great.

I believe Donald Trump said to James Comey that he hoped he would go easy on Flynn, a guy he knew to be a liar. I think that was bad behavior. Trumpalos disagree.

I know, because Donald Trump told the country so, that Donald Trump fired James Comey to derail the Russia investigation. I think that was stupid and ineffective and very very bad behavior. Trumpalos love it.

If Donald Trump speaks with Robert Mueller, he will tell several lies. This is inevitable. I will not excuse them. Trumpalos will.

I do not know whether any of this rises to the level of “obstruction” or the ever vague term “collusion.” Unlike some commenters here, I am not under the illusion that I know everything that Robert Mueller knows.

Does that make it easier for you to understand my actual position, as contrasted with the position that others create in their heads and then attribute to me? Resume throwing up in your mouth if that somehow makes you happy.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:20 am

My fault. I should have checked my link. I guess I read your link and mistakenly copied it instead of this one.

It’s not what I remember but I’m wondering if I remembered wrong — or maybe saw a characterization (like the one we both saw in the WaPo) and read too much into it. Thanks for looking though!

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:24 am

I know, because Donald Trump told the country so, that Donald Trump fired James Comey to derail the Russia investigation. I think that was stupid and ineffective and very very bad behavior. Trumpalos love it.

His moral compass, the enablers, unwittingly led him down that path.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:25 am

lying to sleazy corrupt FBI suckboys isn’t really a thing though

for example, stinkypig clinton told many lies all up into Comey’s smarmy corrupt face and he knelt down before her like a prostate dung beetle

he knelt down and loved it

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:26 am

ugh America

James Comey knelt down before her like a *prostrate* dung beetle of course

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:27 am

And with the Veganuary campaign in full swing, thousands of people are following a strict vegan diet throughout Jan.

is this really a thing in the whole whirl or just in leggy meggy’s proto-fascist “united kingdom”

nobody tells me anything

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:29 am

Dave — you have just described every President except for Clinton and Nixon going back to WWII.

This notion that we are supposed to pretend that Donald Trump has an equal grasp of policy as other presidents have had — it’s a very silly argument. When you advocate such a laughable position, it marks you as a rank partisan. You self-identify as someone who should not be taken seriously.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:40 am

And yet, they want to hang Trump because he asked someone to go light on someone who harmed NOBODY.

Careful. You are messing up your talking points. You are supposed to say he didn’t ask Comey to go light on anyone. He said he hoped Comey would. You are supposed to say that is a very different thing.

We’ll let it go this time, comrade, since your heart is in the right place. But don’t let such a slip-up happen again. Remember what happened to Vasiliev and Morozov. Enough said.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:45 am

Ok, how can you see something like this, and believe anything you see in the media about Trump?
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-25/trump-is-wasting-the-state-of-the-union

The State of the Union is on Tuesday, January 30.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:50 am

grasp of policy just means you’re deeply steeped in the proscriptions of the prissy harvardtrash ruling class

if this is what people wanted we’d have gone with another member of the dirty bush klan (for example low energy Jeborah Bush or even dirty lecherous war hero pappy bush but not stupid soldier-slaughtering George W. cause of he already did his two terms all up in it)

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:57 am

Ok, how can you see something like this, and believe anything you see in the media about Trump?
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-25/trump-is-wasting-the-state-of-the-union

The State of the Union is on Tuesday, January 30.

Don’t get your point.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:16 am

This notion that we are supposed to pretend that Donald Trump has an equal grasp of policy as other presidents have had — it’s a very silly argument.

A silly quote from William F. Buckley;
“I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”

Anti-Trumpalos disagree!!

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:18 am

A silly quote from William F. Buckley;
“I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”

Anti-Trumpalos disagree!!

You can agree with that quote (I do) without agreeing that we must all pretend that a nincompoop is not a nincompoop.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:20 am

Trump hasn’t given the State of the Union yet, and Bernstein is already saying he’s wasting it. On pure speculation — “what we’re likely to see” — he doesn’t know what it will be. That is purely bias and an attempt to create bias and undermine the bully pulpit.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:26 am

Gotcha.

I never watch those things.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:27 am

jonathan Bernstein, is among the smarter of the nutrooters, I know that’s like saying the tallest of the seven dwarves, yes the response is already written out,

I can be confident, that whatever trump’s original proposal, the senate proposal will be full of larks vomit, why do I say this because they put graham anywhere near the pot,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:29 am

If so, the message Trump is hearing is: his most diehard fans would be just fine with it. They have all supported the administration’s campaign to discredit the FBI and Mueller.

How do I parse this without thinking that you believe there is something to be investigated? If there isn’t (as now seems certain), Mueller should hang it up and Trump should fire him if he won’t. The man has been at this for most of a year and the most he has come up with is a lying change against Flynn and an unrelated money laundering charge against Manafort. I know that some (Dave, I and not talking about you) believe that Trump is guilty of being a Putin sleeper agent, but really, hasn’t this gone far enough?

Patterico says Trumpalos would be cool with Trump firing Mueller and they buy off on the smears of Mueller and the FBI.

Kevin reads that and concludes Patterico thinks that there is “collusion with the Russians” and “obstruction.”

I think — actually, I know — that Trunp campaign members sat down with someone they correctly believed to be tied to people high up in the Kremlin, to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. I think that was bad behavior. Trumpalos think it was great.

I believe Donald Trump said to James Comey that he hoped he would go easy on Flynn, a guy he knew to be a liar. I think that was bad behavior. Trumpalos disagree.

I know, because Donald Trump told the country so, that Donald Trump fired James Comey to derail the Russia investigation. I think that was stupid and ineffective and very very bad behavior. Trumpalos love it.

If Donald Trump speaks with Robert Mueller, he will tell several lies. This is inevitable. I will not excuse them. Trumpalos will.

I do not know whether any of this rises to the level of “obstruction” or the ever vague term “collusion.” Unlike some commenters here, I am not under the illusion that I know everything that Robert Mueller knows.

Does that make it easier for you to understand my actual position, as contrasted with the position that others create in their heads and then attribute to me? Resume throwing up in your mouth if that somehow makes you happy.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:20 am

The bold section is a media myth. Can you quote him in his interview with Lester Holt, saying he fired Comey to derail the Russia investigation?

He never said it. He said a lot of things to Lester Holt, but only a hostile media and political opponents would twist his words into an admission that he did it to derail the investigation.

If he said what you have claimed, then Mueller wouldn’t be working so feverishly to come up with actual witnesses to establish a “corrupt” intent. Trump’s statement to Lester Holt doesn’t reveal any “corrupt” intent on his part — just the opposite in fact.

If you care to read them — you know, what he actually said and not what the media has mythologized his statement to have been.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:30 am

Actually, I look forward to this particular State of the Union. What he has to say about immigration, at least.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:31 am

Who reads the Bloomie piece without it being called to attention by the other side? Yeah, im with the host, clogs up my broadcast TV and my newsradio.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:33 am

Maybe the end group is so small it amounts to nothing more than regional broadcasts of Dreamer Apprentice.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:35 am

240 — I did not say Trump has a firm grasp on various policy matters. But I think he’s a quicker study than most give him credit for.

But only Clinton and Nixon were clear “policy wonks” who actually enjoyed that aspect of politics.

Obama was NOT. In fact, Obama’s quite cool demeanor and fawning media coverage hid a very shallow intellect. And that’s not just my opinion.

Bush, Bush, Reagan, Carter — all the same. Salesmen and retail politicians who maybe understood pet issues that most mattered to them, but for the vast majority of public policy issues they didn’t have a clue beyond the talking points prepared by others.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:36 am

President Trump’s State of the Union speech!

it’s not to be missed (must see)

he’s gonna give us an update on all the stuff he’s doing and lay down some goals and aspirations for the year

this will be a much-discussed speech that’s for sure

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:36 am

Nixon, would never have picked a mulvaney, he was too enthralled with Keynesianism, re his foreign policy, I think the approach to mao was greatly overrated, did we really get any payoff re Vietnam,
and we became co chaperones of the Khmer rouge, chile was perhaps his one bright spot,

As for economic and social policy, between wage and price controls and affirmative action, the installation of the epa, which set the path for considerable inflation in the future,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:41 am

no. I think the balance of lies, rests firmly with comey, from 2003 on, when he withheld the Armitage disclosure, when he self servingly tried to shut down stellar wind, years later his co conspirators which apparently included goldsmith and Mueller and perhaps wray on relief, spun the story,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:48 am

you would think this would rate higher in his performance review:

http://edjayepstein.blogspot.com/2009/12/anthrax-case-falls-apart.html

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:51 am

she forgot the whole black bag, ie breakings on the weatherman detail:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/27/trump-fbi-us-constitution?CMP=twt_gu

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:54 am

Its quite funny how on the eve of the release of the Intel Comm memo, there is suddenly a flurry of stories being leaked about Trump wanting to fire Mueller, and now about Trump wanting to fire Rosenstein.

The dominant media has been almost SILENT on the Intel Comm work, the actions of Sen. Grassley and the Senate Intel Comm., and the revelations that have come out of the text messages. Chuck Todd has been pretty much apoplectic that this is even a subject of interest in the media — that there’s not total silence.

But the story that’s about to come out is — at its core — that the Obama Justice Dept., in the form of about a dozen people who “needed to know”, got a counter-intelligence operation started which resulted in it conducting electronic surviellance on the campaign of the political opposition.

The question is whether there was a good faith basis to have done so.

The critics — i.e., the House Intel GOP members and Senators Grassley and Graham — this there was not.

Information on the specifics about what the FBI and DOJ did is about to come out.

FBI and DOJ are scrambling like mad to try to prevent that — and their allies are working hard to bury any media coverage.

Sounds like nothing??

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:56 am

shipwreckedcrew, a lot of people that I talk to share your view that Nixon and Clinton were the most intelligent of our recent Presidents, with Nixon maybe the smarter of the two. And then they add “but flawed”. 😉

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:58 am

swc see:

The bold section is a media myth. Can you quote him in his interview with Lester Holt, saying he fired Comey to derail the Russia investigation?

Here is the quote:

He [Rosenstein] made a recommendation, he’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. The Democrats like him, the Republicans like him. He made a recommendation. But regardless of [the] recommendation, I was going to fire Comey. Knowing there was no good time to do it!

And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, “You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

He fired Comey because of the Russia investigation. That’s not a myth. It’s what he said.

Now parse and spin away the way partisans like you do.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:59 am

Me, I have an opera to watch. Tosca is in theaters today.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:59 am

lay down some goals and aspirations for the year

On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

Control your beating heart, happyfeet.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:02 am

why because he presided over a tech bubble, which greenspan popped at the tail end of the cycle, whereas Nixon caught the front end of that bus head on.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:04 am

I watched President Trump’s speech and an interview by CNBC at Davos. He obliterated the anti-globalist canard put forth by the anti-Trumpalos. His speech was measured, reassuring, and optimistic, but also stern with respect to the countries that take advantage of trade agreements with the U.S. (I suspect that is why Trump slapped those tariffs on Chinese solar panels – a shot across the bow, nothing more or less.)

Business leaders from around the world are praising him, and the Dems are predictably apoplectic.

Lenny (5ea732) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:04 am

262 — what he actually said was the following:

He made– he made a recommendation, he’s highly
respected, very good guy, very smart guy, uh the Democrats like him, the
Republicans like him, uh he made a recommendation but regardless of
recommendation I was going to fire Comey knowing, there was no good time
to do it. And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you
know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an
excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have
won. And the reason they should have won it is the electoral college is
almost impossible for a Republican to win. Very hard. Because you start off at
such a disadvantage. So everybody was thinking, they should have won the
election. This was an excuse for having lost an election.
LESTER HOLT: [OVER TALK] Okay, are you angry with, angry with Mr. Comey
because of his Russia investigation?
DONALD TRUMP: I just want somebody that’s competent. I am a big fan of
the FBI, I love the FBI. [OVER TALK]
LESTER HOLT: But were you a fan of him taking up that investigation?
DONALD TRUMP: I think that–about the Hillary Clinton investigation?
LESTER HOLT: About the Russia investigation and possible links [OVER TALK]
DONALD TRUMP: Look, look, let me tell you. As far as I’m concerned, I want
that thing to be absolutely done properly. When I did this now I said, I
probably, maybe will confuse people, maybe I’ll expand that, you know,
lengthen the time because it should be over with, in my opinion, should have
been over with a long time ago. Cause all it is, is an excuse but I said to
myself, I might even lengthen out the investigation but I have to do the right
thing for the American people. He’s the wrong man for that position.

But you have done exactly what the media did — take out the snippet and present it out of context of his full comments.

That creates he myth that he wanted to “curtail” the investigation. Your words.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:06 am

of course, the rizzotto press, haberman’s own comments framed that description, was in on it, from the get go, it’s an adaptation of the Malaysia grapevine echo chamber,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:07 am

260 – Swc – great post.

harkin (8256c3) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:07 am

The Department of Justice has filed a statement in support of two conservative student groups that are suing UC-Berkeley for infringing on their First Amendment rights.

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10437

But Russia!!

harkin (8256c3) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:08 am

well that’s convenient

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-justice-department-withholds-majority-of-fbi-texts/article/2647289?platform=hootsuite

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:09 am

I’m still trying to figure out what Patterico considers a nincompoop. So far Trump has lowered taxes, reduced regulations, got conservative judges appointed including a Supreme Court judge, took us out of a bad “peace” deal as well as a bad “climate” deal, repatriated trillions, presided over a 45% upward stock market, a 3% growth in GDP, more jobs for blacks and Hispanics than ever, is currently working on eliminating immigration by using the left’s own strategy of “one small step at a time” and best of all every single day he makes their heads explode by changing his positions and his words. They don’t like him and that makes him the best president in 20 years. Period. So you don’t like his morals and you don’t like how he talks so he’s a nincompoop? Cause the policies he’s gotten done in only one year speaks genius not nincompoop to me but I’m just a lowly restauranteur. And I really, really hate to say that.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:14 am

I believe Donald Trump said to James Comey that he hoped he would go easy on Flynn, a guy he knew to be a liar. I think that was bad behavior. Trumpalos disagree.

So do lots of other people. That Trump supporters might agree with, oh, not driving drunk does not impugn the opinions of others who believe the same. It’s kind of an ad hominum attack to lump disparate people together with witlings.

I know that you’ve argued that prosecuting these process crimes are critical to the operation of the law, but there is a BIG difference between this and what happened on that runway with Bill and Loretta.

I think — actually, I know — that Trump campaign members sat down with someone they correctly believed to be tied to people high up in the Kremlin, to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. I think that was bad behavior. Trumpalos think it was great.

I believe it was normal hardball politics. No one has ever claimed that the emails and other things that were released during the campaign were untrue. Would you be similarly outraged if the NY Times had talked to the same sources? What is “bad behavior” during a mudslinging campaign?

If Donald Trump speaks with Robert Mueller, he will tell several lies. This is inevitable. I will not excuse them. Trumpalos will.

They are only lies if he knows they are untrue. It’s not a great defense, but it is one.

==================

If there is anything scandalous and beyond the pale, it is the Democrat Party’s refusal to accept the election results and transfer power peacefully. Not only do they continue wioth these scurrilous attacks on the duly-elected President, but they refuse to approve even the most uncontroversial appointments without exhausting every last delaying tactic possible.

This refusal to transfer power is a knife into the soul of American politics, and will damage the nation for decades. This utterly spurious investigation, in which no crimes will be charged (other than past deeds by participants or perjury-trap BS) is part and parcel of this seditious refusal to allow power to transfer as the voters decided.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:15 am

is that the version the times reviewed or another one:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/22/scarpia-piers-paul-read-review-catholic-revision-tosca

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:16 am

And I repeat that I KNOW that Barack Obama made promises “off-the-record” to the flipping Russian President about how he would change his public stance after the election. THAT is what collusion looks like. Someone’s son trying to be a big wheel in Daddy’s campaign? Not so much.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:21 am

what is dairy consumption in California like:

https://nypost.com/2018/01/26/could-getting-rid-of-dairy-be-making-you-dumb/

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:23 am

Kevin M @273….
And that is precisely why nothing Mueller says should be believed. He is part and parcel of the conspiracy/coup that has been boiling since the election. For some reason waiting for the next election just isn’t enough for leftist commies, they want it now! Most of the people I know either ignore the media or believe they’re flat-out lying about everything. It’s pretty bad when the people can’t trust a supposedly free media but when they have shown themselves to be partisan propagandists for so many years that’s what happens. They have discredited themselves, their deep state patrons and any and every leftist that has gone so far afield any semblance of patriotism has blown up like a terrorists pressure-cooker.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:28 am

“You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

So, this MUST be obstruction? Well, if anyone knows the truth behind these allegations, it would be Trump. He would know if the had some secret deal with Putin, or not. Suppose:

1. There was no collusion.
2. It IS a made-up story.
3. Comey was pushing it for just the reasons Trump said, and particularly so because of the asshat he had already made of himself.

Note that until Comey started the investigation, the DEMOCRATS wanted him fired and could not say so loudly enough. So, the investigation to cover for the Democrats’ loss (and his ass, too).

Is firing him obstruction, or simply not wanting to have his administration crippled by a year of depositions and innuendo for what he knows to be a crock of sh1t?

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:30 am

the one really interesting part of quantum of solace, was the Tosca performance in breganz, the rest was a muddle,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:37 am

for another perspective:

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/davos/

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:44 am

This is pure battleground preparations.
First, what position does it leave Herr Mueller ?

Neo (d1c681) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:00 am

Q: How do you take a media/Dimocrat/#NeverTrump meme into custody?

A: you hamcuff it… https://static.pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Screen-Shot-2018-01-27-at-8.23.18-AM-600×447.png

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:00 am

Distraction is a thing.

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:07 am

Add to the mix that in abut the same timeframe that Trump was saying the Russian investigation was a made-up farce by Dems, and he fired Comey for incompetence, the lead FBI agent says in a text message he hasn’t seen any significant evidence of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign/family.

So was Trump right to call Comey incompetent for not recognizing what the lead agent had concluded???

Shipwreckedcrew (e1c896) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:07 am

No collusion! echo chambers just don’t get it. Trumps prefrontal acuity is is an airborne disease unless you got your shot.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:08 am

herpes rapist Bill Clinton is gonna do a tribute all up in it at the Grammers

oh my goodness

you you make lovin fun (with your rapey herpes penis)

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:09 am

Control your beating heart, happyfeet.

i never had a president like this before Mr. nk

i made it through the wilderness somehow i made it through

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:10 am

Supporters of President Donald Trump singled out dark-skinned lawmakers, legislative staffers and children at the Capitol on Jan. 25 as they protested congressional efforts to pass immigration reform, according to staffers of the Arizona Legislature and two Democratic legislators.
Waving large flags in support of Trump while standing between the House and Senate buildings, the protesters, who were also armed, asked just about anyone who crossed their path if they “support illegal immigration.”
They called some “illegal” and told them to “go home,” barbs they reserved for those with brown skin, according to the staffers.

https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2018/01/26/arizona-capitol-eric-descheenie-cesar-chavez-lisette-flores-selianna-robles-katie-hobbs-tomas-robles-trump-supports-yell-illegal/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:12 am

“this seditious refusal to allow power to transfer as the voters decided.”

– Kevin M

Electoral College. Not voters. There is an enormous difference.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:14 am

Don’t play the populist card when your guy’s victory is the result of an institution designed to stifle populism.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:15 am

I just don’t understand how tyranny of the minority was the framers solution to tyranny of the majority.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:18 am

They were the minority. Does that clarify things for you?

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:19 am

Been Burned, currently vacationing at Foster Farms, has somehow contracted the avian flu.

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:19 am

Which they do you refer to?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:21 am

What should mystify everyone is the kind of historical ignorance that allows people on this site to believe that Trump was “the people’s choice.”

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:22 am

The “they” I refer to is the Framers.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:23 am

“Jack, President Trump has claimed the report that he tried to fire Mueller was ‘fake news.’ He’s used that before on things that he has not liked that have been reported to the mainstream media. But even his favorite news channel, Fox News, has confirmed the report. So is fake news going to cut it as far as the defense for the president?”

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:26 am

“Jack, President Trump has claimed the report that he tried to fire Mueller was ‘fake news.’ He’s used that before on things that he has not liked that have been reported to the mainstream media. But even his favorite news channel, Fox News, has confirmed the report. So is fake news going to cut it as far as the defense for the president?”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/scumbag-liar-ex-white-house-ethics-chief-hammers-trump-apologist-jack-kingston-attacking-mueller-investigation/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:27 am

Electoral College. Not voters. There is an enormous difference.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:14 am

That is the way the election has been conducted for a long, long time. That’s the enormous difference. Popular vote and $2.10 will get you a decent cup of coffee.

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:29 am

they” I refer to is the Framers.

Minority as to demographics? They could see massive population growth outside the NE, the Louisiana Purchase and Sewards Fplly?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:29 am

Folly.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:30 am

Fool

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:31 am

This refusal to transfer power is a knife into the soul of American politics, and will damage the nation for decades.

the propaganda sluts at CNN Jake Tapper fake news would disagree

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:35 am

They were the minority. Does that clarify things for you?

Two line summary of the Constitution:

1. Because humans are fallible, we need government.
2. Because humans are fallible, we need limits on government.

Apparently, you have a problem with part 2.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:42 am

https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2018/01/26/jared-kushner-apartments-maryland-secrecy-373592

Slumlord of the Millenium

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:46 am

Daddy and Daddy-in-law doomed him to destiny.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:47 am

Saul Goodman ventures forth into category error, yes we once were a republic like rome and Athens we had our flaws, are we an empire yet, perhaps a reluctant one, much as happened after carthagr and numantia.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:48 am

Yes Painter a brock minion, an associate of burns strider, try again.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:50 am

You gotta go hunting where the ducks are, Leviticus. Electoral vote ducks were needed, so that’s how Trump campaigned. Hillary went after the popular vote ducks — she did, she did — and spurned the elector vote ducks and came back with her bag empty.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:52 am

duckless and stinky

poor lady

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:53 am

People can call it what it is, nk, but I will object when they call it what it isn’t.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:59 am

The network is increasingly engaged in a misinformation campaign aimed directly at the American people for the purposes of sowing confusing and spinning a web of protective armor around the president, who is being investigated,” said Steve Schmidt, the Republican political strategist who ran John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/26/fox-news-deep-state-conspiracies-372856

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:02 pm

What should mystify everyone is the kind of historical ignorance that allows people on this site to believe that Trump was “the people’s choice.”

Trump was elected by the method the people chose for electing presidents. Therefore, yes, he is the people’s choice. It is historically ignorant to assert otherwise.

There are very few leaders chosen by direct popular vote. Not Merkel, not May, not anyone I can think of. I guess people don’t have a choice anywhere.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:02 pm

Electoral College. Not voters. There is an enormous difference.

Superdelegates.

Don’t play the populist card when your guy’s victory is the result of an institution designed to stifle populism.

What are Superdelegates for 200 Alex ?

kind of historical ignorance that allows people on this site to believe that Trump was “the people’s choice.”

We don’t have to reach back in history. Here’s wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdelegate

In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up just under 15% of all convention delegates) include elected officials and party activists and officials.

Democratic superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the presidential nomination. This contrasts with convention “pledged” delegates who are selected based on the party primaries and caucuses in each U.S. state, in which voters choose among candidates for the party’s presidential nomination.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:03 pm

Superdelegates are how the Democratic party keeps running openly treasonous gasbags, emptysuit handpuppets, and mobbed up uber criminals for president.

Someday they’ll trust the people’s choice. Their pussy hat wearing, lynch mob mentality, racists, sexists, and bigots that make up their constituency.

I suspect the Democrat Party will feild better quality candidates at that time.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:12 pm

That’s like the captain of the Concordia giving navigation tips btw guess where he hangs his hat, mercury, where paperwork delays do not earn you a,battering ram.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:19 pm

Nunes … may believe he will pay no political price for unfairly attacking law enforcement and protecting Trump,” the editorial board wrote. “But his performance as chairman of the highly sensitive House Intelligence Committee has been nothing short of embarrassing.”

Yes, I’m sure his constituents will re-elect him while in the Penitentiary.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:20 pm

2,400 Results

I imagine that’s just about how many subcriptions the Fresno Bee has.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:30 pm

Remarkable, how we were able to tally all those individual votes that the people cast, and that tally showed that Trump got fewer votes from the people than his opponent, and individuals here are arguing that “the people” elected Trump.

random viking’s argument blatantly begs the question of who “the people” were to begin with.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:34 pm

Not bad for a rural area full of illegals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fresno_Bee

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:34 pm

Trump is the duly elected American President and he is entitled to hold the office of President. I hope he succeeds in doing a lot of conservative things. But he was not the choice of the majority of American voters since he came in second in total votes.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:39 pm

BTW… I attended the dedication and renaming of the gymnasium of my high school – Katella High School in Anaheim, Ca. – for our basketball coach, Tom Danley. After a reception in the school cafeteria, the pre-game ceremony went for 1.5 hours… topped off by Danley’s comments at the end, which were a hoot… he was in a “don’t get me started” mood about everything… sweet old man rant about the current state of the world, everything from “hey, we teach our kids about health, but now it’s no showers at schools now after 2 hours of heavy perspiration, what’s up with that”to “NO one should take a knee for the nat’l anthem!!!”. It was an EPIC angry old man rant! Some of the people who were officiating were visibly nervous about what he might say next, lol.

The only downsides were my classmate Rep. Ed Royce couldn’t be there and they let former congresscritter Loretta Sanchez speak for 5 long minutes.

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:42 pm

They really ought to charge the victim’s son who called the police to report his father’s kidnapping with at least involuntary manslaughter.

nk (dbc370) — 1/26/2018 @ 10:04 pm

No kid should ever live to see his dad kidnapped and manslaughtered. At least he wasn’t raped.

Prior to abduct and kidnap we had rape. Today’s meaning is different to the days when raptus seductionis was distinct from raptus violentiæ and when a man couldn’t be legally considered as having raped his wife. Originally it meant “taking someone from those they belong to” and if a woman, the victim of the crime was taken to be the husband or family. When Johnny Depp and Rosamund Pike have their sexy “speak to me of abduction” scene in The Libertine it’s anachronistic, but a less ahistorical version would sound horrific to those of us who speak present-day English. – Jon Hanna Jan 27 ’13 at 17:21

The earliest OED citation of 1682 reads

Mr. John Wilmore haveing kidnapped a boy of 13 years of age to Jamaica

The next citation, dated 1688, is

John Dykes Convicted of Kidnapping, or Enticing away, His Majesty’s Subjects, to go Servants into the Foreign Plantations.

Assuming subjects refers to more than children, we might reasonably, if not definitively, conclude that the change came about between the two dates.

Barrie England

Etymology

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:45 pm

Look ! A superdelegate.

Guess how many votes Jimmy Carter cast for Hillary, brain addled by age and cancer?

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:50 pm

random viking’s argument blatantly begs the question of who “the people” were to begin with.

There have been several Constitutional amendments dealing with the electoral college, 12th and 14th for example. If the people wanted to do away with it, there have been several opportunities to do so. They didn’t, but I guess unless there’s a popular vote about nearly everything, the voice of the people is being usurped. Is that it? What exactly do you want to have? Spell it out. Only the president chosen by popular vote, and keep all the other exceptions we have — like the Senate itself, as one example? Two Senators for Wyoming and two for California? Keep that, or what? Details please… and keep it out of the realm of unicorns and mermaids.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:52 pm

Liar!

Hyenas don’t change their spots.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trump-offer-bipartisanship-unifying-tone-state-union/story?id=52640479

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:54 pm

Electoral College. Not voters. There is an enormous difference.

Potato, potahto.

The election is contested as 50 separate races as it IS the Electoral College. Always. The popular vote is a by-product of the process, interesting in some ways but utterly meaningless. If the election was about the popular vote it would be contested differently.

And the 1960 recount, and massive fraud in Chicago, would have torn the country apart.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:54 pm

Lynch-Bill Clinton

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:37 am

Another subtle Kathy Griffin bit?

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:54 pm

random viking’s argument blatantly begs the question of who “the people” were to begin with.

Perhaps they were illegal aliens, refugees, felons and other criminals, the usual plethora of dead people from all parties and of course the traditional multi-voting-democrat that have existed since I used to watch them fix elections in Philly. You know the same people who elected Al Franken.

I would have absolutely no problem with popular vote unfortunately without a reliable voter ID and honest officials all elections are suspect. Especially today when the left won’t admit vote fraud when they’re caught red handed. But don’t worry, the democrats are busy bringing in as many people from sh!thole countries as they can as future democrat (read communist) voters. The dems will do for them what they did for the blacks. After all, if there was the slightest chance immigrants would vote republican we’d have a 150′ wall on the southern AND northern border and Chuck Schumer would be at the Mexican border wearing jodhpurs with a Lugar strapped to his side and a crop under his arm.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:57 pm

It’s like the sponsors in the hunger games, or the sponsors in the red rising series.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:57 pm

utterly meaningless.

Hmm. Are you in favor of democratic republics?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:58 pm

Remarkable, how we were able to tally all those individual votes that the people cast, and that tally showed that Trump got fewer votes from the people than his opponent, and individuals here are arguing that “the people” elected Trump.

Clinton got 43% of the vote in 1992, and I’m sure you were all up in arms about it, as was the media.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:59 pm

BecAuse otherwise new york and California would outvote us, the Senate is,a little like the house of lords.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 12:59 pm

Hoagie a stew of biased ignorance that fills him with pride and patriotism.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:00 pm

Sorry proctors in their very Roman stylings.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:00 pm

otherwise new york and California would outvote us, the Senate is,a little like the house of lords

Ach! At last. Unintended honesty..

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:01 pm

Don’t play the populist card when your guy’s victory is the result of an institution designed to stifle populism.

I don’t know what you’re smoking but keep it away from me. The Electoral College was designed for quite different reasons.

1) Vote counting in the states was considered suspect. The electoral vote method limited cheating to an individual state, and since the majority was most likely to be the cheater, neutered it.

2) Small states did not want to be overwhelmed by votes from urban centers. The same compromise that created the Senate gave each state 2 bonus votes. This did two things: it gave a little more power to small states and it gave a slight edge to the candidate who wins the most states — a tiebreaker in close races.

3) Unintentional: it allows meaningful recounts in a single state.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:02 pm

What should mystify everyone is the kind of historical ignorance

See above, then apologize.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:04 pm

It’s how a professor of political studies is so seemingly adrift.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:04 pm

They were the minority. Does that clarify things for you?

So, you JUSTIFY the seditious refusal to transfer power?!

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:07 pm

Never let it be said the FBI can’t decisively resolve a hostage crisis in Texas.

Speaking of presidents and FBI agents who should be in jail.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:08 pm

But he was not the choice of the majority of American voters since he came in second in total votes.

My response: 327

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:10 pm

Hmm. Are you in favor of democratic republics?

Do you understand what “republic” means? The popular vote for President NATIONALLY has nothing to do with the outcome. The popular vote for President in each of the 50 states has everything to do with it.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:13 pm

One major difference in how an election like 2016 would be fought is that Trump would have tried to get a lot of disaffected CA Republicans to the polls. Since the GOP voters knew their vote didn’t matter (electoral college, remember?) they tended to stay home. The votes on initiatives reflected an extra tilt to the left.

So, to look at a national vote total, when no effort has been made by the winning side to run it up, focusing only on the STATE totals where it matters (MI, PA, etc), is to count oranges when the election is about apples.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:19 pm

The popular vote is a by-product of the process, interesting in some ways but utterly meaningless.

Maybe you should edit your words to make sure you don’t sound like a Plutocrat like Trump.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:20 pm

Hoagie: “So far Trump has lowered taxes, reduced regulations, got conservative judges appointed including a Supreme Court judge, took us out of a bad “peace” deal as well as a bad “climate” deal, repatriated trillions, presided over a 45% upward stock market, a 3% growth in GDP, more jobs for blacks and Hispanics than ever, is currently working on eliminating immigration by using the left’s own strategy of “one small step at a time” and best of all every single day he makes their heads explode by changing his positions and his words. They don’t like him and that makes him the best president in 20 years. Period.”

I’m becoming more and more settled to the fact that his petulant statements and tweets are a great distraction for the TDS folks, right and left, to set their hair on fire over and proclaim as the now-weekly “last straw”. Meanwhile, having dulled the senses of the general public, each “last straw” scandal, from even before the election, is in the end not-very-much and disappears (like most of the scandals discussed at this site) like a f*rt in the wind.

Meanwhile, goals we never dared hope could be achieved even with the last two republican presidents are becoming reality on a regular basis.

harkin (8256c3) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:24 pm

Why doesn’t Jane Fonda redeem herself by smuggling a snuke to North Korea in her snizz?

Dolly Parton is a much more lovely and talented woman and she loves talking about wigs and surgery. She could rip Megyn Kelly’s throat out with her fake nails but she would show mercy and maybe teach her humility in the process.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:25 pm

Maybe you should edit your words to make sure you don’t sound like a Plutocrat like Trump.

You have any idea what YOU sound like?

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:30 pm

BecAuse otherwise new york and California would outvote us, the Senate is,a little like the house of lords.

No, it is the House of States, befitting a federal republic of 50 sovereign states.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:32 pm

Well the Founding Fathers were plutocrats after all. But they got downgraded to dwarfs by the likes of you, inflamed one.

I guess that makes Hades the one and only one to take it with him.

Some folks call him Pluto, but I call him Hades.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:33 pm

I’m becoming more and more settled to the fact that his petulant statements and tweets are a great distraction for the TDS folks

No, it is the actual measure of this very flawed man, who for all his flaws is a much better President than we deserve.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:34 pm

The funny thing about our government: if you aren’t a plutocrat when you get there, they get you up to speed pretty quick.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:35 pm

It is kind of funny how the Left damns the Senate as being for rich people when in fact it is the very heart of the disloyal resistance.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:36 pm

if you aren’t a plutocrat when you get there, they get you up to speed pretty quick.

Maxine Waters seems to have done well.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:36 pm

Latest McCarthy: “Donald Trump should not agree to be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller — and President Trump should not even be asked.”

“It would be absurd for a prosecutor to seek testimony from the president of the United States without a compelling demonstration of (a) probable cause that a crime has been committed, and (b) need for information that only the president is in a position to provide.

By the way, that includes testimony in the form of answers to written questions. To be sure, written interrogatories would give Trump and his counsel more notice of the prosecutor’s case than they now have. That would alleviate some, but by no means all, of the concern about making assertions that could be grist for a false-statements charge. But it does not solve the more fundamental problem: The burden should be on Mueller to demonstrate the necessity of questioning the president in any form, not on the president to provide reasons for not submitting to questioning. Being president is reason enough.”

crazy (d99a88) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:48 pm

Esquire? Classy That’s an admiral magazine for sure.

Say, did you know your local commie fascist California government is arresting people for feeding the homeless? What are you doing about that?

Just the latest one to pop up in a search is essentially Sandy Eggo so we can probably lay that one on fascist conservatives, right?

El Cajon, CA

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:49 pm

Carlos Slim – owns the Times. Say. Isn’t it the Times thats been spearheading this concern troll “did Trump want to fire Mueller” nothing burger of a story?

Couldn’t be more Plutocrat than Carlos, the undisputed, in the Mickey Mouse state of Mexico.

Course Pluto doesn’t hold the same panache now that Neil DeGrasse Tyson ripped out it’s planethood.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:50 pm

347, greeeaaatt, Pin. You proposing a reboot of 9 to 5? Nowadays everyone with a hose that likes wimmins is Dabney Coleman.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:51 pm

I figure her best bet is to go hardcore, all-in TDS and the left will pivot, adore, proclaim her fierce, unashamed and vital.

harkin (8256c3) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:48 am

If Megyn Kelly shot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue would anybody hear about it?

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:53 pm

I think Weiss homeless would get a pass in that town and in neighboring S(Kl)antee. That’s Cobra Kai Duncan D. Hunter land.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:54 pm

You have any idea what YOU sound like?

Your lack of explanation tells me you’re just another confused soul who thinks he’s found it.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:55 pm

than my own thorough-going cynicism. And if you want to locate yourself further out than either of those two markers, feel free.)

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:51 am

Cynicism isn’t a bad default setting.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:57 pm

The funny thing about our government: if you aren’t a plutocrat when you get there, they get you up to speed pretty quick.

Who’s fault is that? Voters set the bar and the bait for their type of candidate .

You get the representative you deserve.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:58 pm

Did you see the mess the Women’s March left? Their husbands and lesbian lovers were probably at home cleaning up the whole time.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:01 pm

Meanwhile, goals we never dared hope could be achieved even with the last two republican presidents are becoming reality on a regular basis.

Which is why I’m mystified at the “conservative” anti-Trumpers going on and on and on. Okay, you hate Trump guys. Now that we’ve cleared that up waddaya think about the 3% growth? The only people who should still be complaining about Trump should be the democrats cause he beat them, not our side. Our side should be screaming to high heaven a list of conservative goals we want him to do. We ain’t gettin’ all of them but b!tchin’ the “hate Trump” drum fixes nothin.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:04 pm

@232 Rev Hoagie

re Jane Fonda fingers in ears

You think they showed her what “watertight” meant?

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:06 pm

Wynn Loses.

Film at 11.

“Dum, dum, dum- and another one bites the dust…”

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:06 pm

@ Kevin M, who wrote (#278):

Is firing him obstruction, or simply not wanting to have his administration crippled by a year of depositions and innuendo for what he knows to be a crock of sh1t?

I just want to focus for a moment on the last part of that sentence — “for what he knows to be a crock of sh1t.”

I believe Trump is capable of, and indeed inclined to, talk himself into believing that anything he does is legal, appropriate, and admirable because he did it. But let’s put aside my belief in his narcissism for purposes of this argument. Let’s both assume, per the fair and necessary implication of your assertion, that Trump is capable of telling the difference between a crock of sh1t and either (a) an impeachable offense (a political question) or (b) a violation of criminal law (a legal question).

In a government of men, his individual judgment on such matters might be dispositive.

We are not a government of men, but of laws, first and foremost among them the Constitution. And the Constitution gives to Congress the power to impeach and remove from office. Thus, Trump’s own judgment that there’s no impeachable offense, just a crock of sh1t, is irrelevant to the issue of whether he will or won’t be impeached and removed from office.

The Constitution likewise makes him, for now as the current POTUS, the person charged to execute faithfully the duties of the head of the executive branch, including the enforcement of its criminal laws. But the mechanism of enforcement is statutory: There exists a Department of Justice and an Attorney General of the United States only by virtue of statutes passed by both chambers and signed by the then-POTUS. And those statutes, and the further regulations and procedures duly adopted pursuant to them, create a chain of command stretching down from the AG whose job it is to decide whether to ask a federal court to decide that there’s been a violation of the nation’s criminal laws. It’s the courts’ determination on criminality that’s ultimately binding upon everyone, including the POTUS. So once again, in our nation of laws, not of men, the duty to discriminate between serious potential criminal transgressions and crocks of sh1t doesn’t belong to Donald Trump, and his judgment is not the relevant one.

“I know in my heart that I’m innocent.” You seem to think that’s the standard and the end of the question, when the heart is specified to be that of the POTUS. But that would only work in a government of men, which is to say, a monarchy like that of Louis XIV, the Sun King who proclaimed “L’etat c’est moi!” (The State is me.)

Now I happen to agree very, very strongly that Comey is an unfit, unethical, dishonest weasel with a Clark Kent complex who should definitely lose his law license and probably do some serious prison time. I think Trump should have announced during the transition that Comey was going to be replaced on the first working day after the Inauguration, and indeed, he should have already lined up a successor. I’m intensely critical of the stupid, self-destructive, and thoroughly inconsistent and dishonest way in which Trump ended up handling the Comey firing, even though he deserved to be fired. And I likewise think that regardless of the admitted pique and desire to punch back against the collusion rumors which motivated Trump in substantial part, that’s not the same as the sort of corrupt motive which could make up a solid criminal complaint for obstruction of justice, and neither do I think it should be spun up to make a political case for impeachment. I’m not calling for Trump’s impeachment; I’m highly skeptical that Mueller has any crimes to charge him with; and I welcome what I hope will be Trump’s exoneration so that we’ll end this colossal political distraction.

But Trump must respect the potential roles to be played, in our government of laws (not men) under the Constitution and the Rule of Law, by both the Congress and his own DoJ subordinates, including Rosenstein and, through him, Mueller. Respecting that role is inconsistent with short-circuiting the process based on his own personal evaluation of what is, or isn’t, a crock of sh1t. He’s not the king, he’s just the POTUS.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:07 pm

364.Did you see the mess the Women’s March left? Their husbands and lesbian lovers were probably at home cleaning up the whole time.

Leftists/democrats/communists always leave a mess wherever they go. Have you seen the ghetto lately? Haiti? Venezuela?

And now they want to bring those folks here for us to enjoy multiculturalism. Nothing says E Pluribus Unum more than diversity.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:08 pm

And with the Veganuary campaign in full swing, thousands of people are following a strict vegan diet throughout Jan.

is this really a thing in the whole whirl or just in leggy meggy’s proto-fascist “united kingdom”

nobody tells me anything

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:29 am

Don’t start Vaginuary three weeks in.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:11 pm

El Cajon means “the box” in Spanish. And I knew exactly why the predecessors named that region of San Diego. You feel like you’re in a bowl there. If it ever rained you’d be at risk of flash flood.

It’s interesting that the wiki page expends many words to reinforce the Mexican/Latino/Hispanic origin / heritage of the name El Cajon.

Because when you drop the “El”, Cajon becomes the name of a percussion instrument originating in Peru. Perversely, the wiki page for “Cajon” the musical instrument (a box you use for a drum) goes wide out of their way to assert that pounding on a packing crate originated in Africa.

It’s a battle line for minority group identites.

I say [edit] both their houses. Whitey invented the box. Scuk it losers.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:15 pm

@365. Which is why I’m mystified at the “conservative” anti-Trumpers going on and on and on.

It’s wag the dog, Hoagie. Their terror has been realized; there’s not nearly as many of them as their echo-chambered media has led them to believe, hence they’re no longer ‘in control’ of the messaging and agenda. They’ve been been 1964’d; marginalized, bypassed and w/each passing month, increasingly left behind.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:17 pm

“There have been several Constitutional amendments dealing with the electoral college, 12th and 14th for example. If the people wanted to do away with it, there have been several opportunities to do so.”

– random viking

Define “the people.” You must mean some definition of “people” that excludes non-whites, women, etc., right? Is that the same definition of “the people” that you adhere to today?

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:18 pm

Hoagie

You hide your bigotry behind people you claim prove you’re not racist. You cite your Asian spouse as validation along with other adopted family of color..

You won’t understand but I still am obliged to tell you. Family is just an extension of one’s self. They are you as far as you are concerned.

Ergo: your own attachment is your undoing hoagie.

You are a bigot.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:18 pm

But I think he’s a quicker study than most give him credit for.

It’s called ‘a short attention span’ and gets all the credit it deserves.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:20 pm

“Electoral College. Not voters. There is an enormous difference. – Leviticus

Potato, potahto.

The election is contested as 50 separate races as it IS the Electoral College. Always. The popular vote is a by-product of the process, interesting in some ways but utterly meaningless. If the election was about the popular vote it would be contested differently.”

– Kevin M

No, not “potato, potahto.” You yourself admit that there is big difference, if one is all-decisive and the other is “utterly meaningless.” I called you out on your injudicious invocation of “the people” in support of a candidate who lost the popular vote. But I agree that if the election was about the popular vote, it would be contested very, very differently. So what? It should be contested very, very differently.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:23 pm

“I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”

So only the A’s and a few B’s fit Buckley’s pistol. Load the Abduls…

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:24 pm

“See above, then apologize.”

– Kevin M

I have nothing to apologize for. You are being imprecise with your language, and using your imprecise language to talk about things like “sedition.” In my opinion, that’s the act of a propagandist.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:26 pm

Hey check out Ben “The Kettle” burn, defender of all things Democrat, calling other people “pot”.

Who did yooou vote for in the primary?

Heh… Don’t bother answering. Even your own party didn’t give a [edit].

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:28 pm

Dc, them, the Dutch Aardsmas and Acme Products.

urbanleftbehind (847a06) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:28 pm

“Now that we’ve cleared that up waddaya think about the 3% growth?”

– Rev. Hoagie

China had like 6.5% growth. Meaningless, or not?

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:30 pm

Beldar: “But Trump must respect the potential roles to be played, in our government of laws (not men) under the Constitution and the Rule of Law, by both the Congress and his own DoJ subordinates, including Rosenstein and, through him, Mueller.”
Except, as Andy McCarthy has pointed out repeatedly, the Mueller appointment is not in comportment with the laws/rules of the DOJ but is instead “the theater of an investigation run by a prosecutor — the rest is just details.”http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454293/mueller-investigation-politics-not-law-enforcement-or-counterintelligence
Thus, to answer you, why should Mueller or his investigation be respected?

Pete (2f6a0b) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:32 pm

happyfeet:

…WTH, based on zero sound science, is quite likely a piece of animal-welfare advocacy masquerading as a public health film.”

Teicholz says she’s skeptical of vegan diets in general because of a few important observations, which include:

“No human population in the history of civilization has ever been recorded surviving on a vegan diet,” she writes. “The vegan diet is nutritionally insufficient, lacking not only vitamin B12 but deficient in heme iron and folate. A near-vegan diet, in rigorous clinical trials, invariably causes HDL-cholesterol to drop and sometimes raises triglycerides, which are both signs of worsening heart attack risk.

“Over the last 30 years, as rates of obesity and diabetes have risen sharply in the U.S., the consumption of animal foods has declined steeply: whole milk is down 79%; red meat by 28% and beef by 35%; eggs are down by 13% and animal fats are down by 27%.

“Meanwhile, consumption of fruits is up by 35% and vegetables by 20%. All trends therefore point towards Americans shifting from an animal-based diet to a plant-based one, and this data contradict the idea that a continued shift towards plant-based foods will promote health,” she says.

In fact, she offers this tidbit: “There’s the entire Indian subcontinent, where beef is not eaten by the large majority of people, which has seen diabetes explode over the past decade.”

Source

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:33 pm

In Minneapolis, MN Aamco Transmission is on the third page of the phone book.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:35 pm

I never watch those things.

Dinner theatre isn’t quite opera, eh P.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:38 pm

I thought Jonathan Bernstein died in a South African prison in the 80’s.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:39 pm

Potato, potahto.

Or as it’s spelled in Indiana, potatoe.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:39 pm

Paper tiger is perplexed at my identity politics. I don’t defend democrats except as the lesser weevil

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:41 pm

Actually, I look forward to this particular State of the Union. What he has to say about immigration, at least.

nk (dbc370) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:31 am

People who don’t even like head injuries and black lives watch The Super Bowl.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:41 pm

Beldar: Respecting that role is inconsistent with short-circuiting the process based on his own personal evaluation of what is, or isn’t, a crock of sh1t.

So, in other words he should have done it like Obama did: allow a thorough and totally fixed investigation to run forward to the scripted end, and that way avoid the appearance of obstruction (if not the actual fact)?

I know I keep coming back to this, and not being a lawyer, it is more of a equity thing than a legal thing: HOW IN THE WORLD does Mrs Clinton and her staff get away with felonious recklessness with the crown jewels of the intelligence community, in an “investigation” so politically corrupt there isn’t an ounce of honesty in it, yet they go after Trump’s people for process crimes?

The concern for the “Nation of Laws” thing is valid, but I fear that has long since left the pier.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:43 pm

Or as it’s spelled in California, ◻︎□︎⧫︎♋︎⧫︎□︎

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:47 pm

Jeez.

Certain political identities identify with the survivors of the Donner Party.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:50 pm

China had like 6.5% growth

Yeah, but slavery is wrong.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:52 pm

Beldar: Respecting that role is inconsistent with short-circuiting the process based on his own personal evaluation of what is, or isn’t, a crock of sh1t.

More:

And now, what? The investigation has produced no indictments relating to the investigated matter. Members of his staff who HATE Trump say that there was no collusion. How long does this run? Does Trump have to allow a fishing expedition, or can he tell Mueller that he’s done at the end of February and to wrap it up?

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:52 pm

Ergo: your own attachment is your undoing hoagie.

You are a bigot.
Ben burn

Once again, comrade you project. And once again you do the lefty thing: name calling. Maybe you as a privileged white guy can explain to me how I’m a bigot. Especially since I’m surrounded with all races and they would believe you to be the bigot and racist. So go ahead white boy, whitesplain how pointing out the truth is bigoted. Using racism to your advantage is what is bigoted. Which is why any meaningful dialogue about race with a leftist is impossible. The first thing you cretins do is scream racist rather than I. You don’t want to face the fact that you exploit POC and always have for political power. Blacks are in ghettos because people like you keep them there. I reached in and pulled a few out. So who’s the bigot now?

Leftists’ cries for a mindless, nation-destroying “tolerance” have only grown louder as interracial animosity has worsened and voluntary racial segregation has intensified. They persist in blaming the uninvolved – law-abiding American whites – for the criminality, profligacy, and irresponsibility prominent among American blacks. The message has come through loud and clear to both peoples: Whites must not hold blacks accountable for their choices or actions. Both peoples have responded accordingly.
It can’t all be put down to stupidity. It implies a sinister agenda, especially among the strategists and kingpins of the Left.

The home truth I’m hammering here is a simple one. Indeed, it’s so simple that were the subject anything but race, it would occasion no dispute whatsoever:

What you penalize will decrease.
What you tolerate will continue.
What you reward will increase.

If the price of insisting on something so obvious is being called a “racist,” I can handle it. Over my sixty-five years I’ve been called, in the idiom of a friend, “everything but white.” In any event, I’d rather be known as a racist than as a BLEEP!ing idiot.
Francis Porretto

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:53 pm

China had like 6.5% growth

If you count building airports where there the empty cities nearby were built on spec, then sure, lots of growth.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:54 pm

“I know in my heart that I’m innocent.” You seem to think that’s the standard and the end of the question, when the heart is specified to be that of the POTUS. But that would only work in a government of men, which is to say, a monarchy like that of Louis XIV, the Sun King who proclaimed “L’etat c’est moi!” (The State is me.)

That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been tried- by a conservative god no less:

“A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.” – Ronald Reagan, televised Iran-Contra address

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:57 pm

Hoagie–

I have found that most leftists who cry “racism” are too young to know what real racism is. Jim Crow was not about microaggressions or dog-whistle words. Nor do they understand their own racist attitudes where they view themselves as necessary defenders of helpless brown folks.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:57 pm

It was a missed opportunity for a permanent GOP majority that the Left did not try to impeach Reagan over Iran-Contra.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:59 pm

Hoagie: I knew Ronald Reagan, sir and you’re no John Wayne.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:00 pm

Who reads the Bloomie piece without it being called to attention by the other side? Yeah, im with the host, clogs up my broadcast TV and my newsradio.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:33 am

Never been a better time to ignore SOTU, National Emergencies, missle alerts etc. Does the EBS break through Netflix?

“Maxine! Maxine! Who are you wearing?”

SOTU Red Carpet

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:01 pm

synchronicity

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:01 pm

So what? It should be contested very, very differently.

It would take about 3 elections for the popular vote experiment to be repealed. The moment that Chicago (or Dallas) “found” 2 million votes in the middle of the night, and the state certified the result, the country would be on fire.

Impossible? It happened in 1960. The electoral college made it immaterial. Barely.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:03 pm

Course Pluto doesn’t hold the same panache now that Neil DeGrasse Tyson ripped out it’s planethood.

Abortion is an element of manned and unmanned spaceflight ops; oppose Planned Planethood now!

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:04 pm

Or, take a very close election. Then imagine Florida, 2000, on a nation-wide scale. There wouldn’t be enough lawyers.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:05 pm

I knew Ronald Reagan.

Did he tip well?

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:06 pm

Hoagie:

After a few years you’ll recognize me as a friend because friends always tell each other the bitter truth. I know you are telling me the same without malice or bad motives. But check yourself while you can still unwreck yourself.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:10 pm

I meant I knew him carnally.

He gave great blow jobs.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:11 pm

And you’re no Dennis Hopper.

I see you as more Robert Blake.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:11 pm

@400.And the difference between a salesman who lies for a living and an actor who lies for a living is??

[ ] fiction
[ ] fact
[X] make-believe

Donald Trump vs. Ronald Reagan. ‘Course Trump could never fake play-by-play of a ball game over radio for long as it’s not about him.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:13 pm

Interesting you should mention, the Democrats of San Fran recently twisted the arm of Truckee citizens forcing them to return to Donner Party politics.
https://www.sierrasun.com/news/still-no-action-on-proposed-coal-contract/

Energy starvation. Shivering in the dark by unpopular demand.

Well there’s always wood chopping. Maybe just the sick and lame will die off.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:17 pm

John Wayne always enjoyed playing catcher to his fantasy Sandy Koufax.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:17 pm

410

You’ve never seen Bedtime for Bonzo?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:19 pm

@373: Define “the people.” You must mean some definition of “people” that excludes non-whites, women, etc., right? Is that the same definition of “the people” that you adhere to today?

Yes, I must mean that because inferring someone is racist is easier than putting forth a coherent argument.

Since an unholy alliance came up with the system we operate under today, then what? I asked you to spell it out, but you dodged, in favor of the usual epithet default.

Nothing smokes out a leftie’s inner vacuity like a request for details.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:23 pm

Me, I have an opera to watch. Tosca is in theaters today.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:59 am

I’ve been wondering if the Bach cantatas you’ve been posting have reprogrammed my brain. I was watching a couple of videos from The Marriage of Figaro and it seemed like I could make out the words. I cite Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior as an example.

I hope you enjoy it.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:25 pm

Mueller aside, when the House flips and if the Senate follows suit– so will Trump; it’s pragmatism, not ideology for the win. That’s the second part of The Plan– w/plenty of televised signing ceremonies. So far, so good.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:25 pm

“I have found that most leftists who cry “racism” are too young to know what real racism is. Jim Crow was not about microaggressions or dog-whistle words. Nor do they understand their own racist attitudes where they view themselves as necessary defenders of helpless brown folks.”

– Kevin M

Generally speaking, white people in America, and especially white men in America – including me – have a very very hard time admitting to the grievousness of this country’s racist history, because they know (deep deep down) that it shatters all of their myths of meritocracy and all of the hollow identities that stem from those myths.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:27 pm

We begin cutting taxes in five minutes…

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:28 pm

But Trump must respect the potential roles to be played, in our government of laws (not men) under the Constitution and the Rule of Law, by both the Congress and his own DoJ subordinates, including Rosenstein and, through him, Mueller.

Pfft. For Christ’s Sake, third time at bat, he still doesn’t respect his own damn wife.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:30 pm

When you see nothing but signing ceremonies just remember that picture of Il Duce hanging in the train station..train on time.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:30 pm

white men in America – including me – have a very very hard time admitting to the grievousness of this country’s racist history

And the good ones, once they wake up, stop voting for the racists and join the GOP.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:34 pm

“Yes, I must mean that because inferring someone is racist is easier than putting forth a coherent argument.”

– random viking

I didn’t infer that you are a racist. You are talking about “the people” who decided our governing structure at the time of the Framers. It is a fact that non-white non-males lacked the franchise in that era. That is a fact. So, when you say “the people,” to whom are you referring?

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:37 pm

Cause the policies he’s gotten done in only one year speaks genius not nincompoop to me but I’m just a lowly restauranteur. And I really, really hate to say that.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:14 am

A lot of writers and commentators have to think and talk about Trump because he’s president, not because they want to. I’m inclined to give a break to people who want to hate a sinner even when he’s not sinning. I’m not trying to characterize people’s viewpoints unfairly but most of those people aren’t going to praise someone like Trump for doing the right thing.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:41 pm

@256. Recall the context of the times. Circa 1972, Vietnamization and U.S. troop withdrawal was well underway; Nixon’s move to Mao was really a wedgie to Brehznev and leverage for deal making w/the Soviet Union; it had little to do w/Vietnam by then.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:41 pm

420.When you see nothing but signing ceremonies just remember that picture of Il Duce hanging in the train station..train on time.

So you’re suggesting Melania would still look fashionable swinging from a lamp post.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:43 pm

I consider merit to include a person’s ancestry and heritage, not only his particular innate talents and acquired abilities.

nk (9651fb) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:46 pm

It is a fact that non-white non-males lacked the franchise in that era. That is a fact. So, when you say “the people,” to whom are you referring?

So, I’m to answer your question after you’ve ignored mine twice. Well, alright…

In an ideal world, with unicorns and mermaids, everybody and the souls of their descendants signed onto the system we have. In reality, it is what it is, and the people referred to are the people at that time.

But, guess what!! You, and all current voters, in all their shades, can amend the Constitution just like always!! Yes, it’s true!! And, I’ve noticed a massive groundswell of support for doing exactly that!! So, what’s the problem? Get working on it, or do you just want to navel gaze?

Now, you can continue dodging my question, whatever you like….

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:50 pm

I consider merit to include a person’s ancestry and heritage

nk

Is that racist or bigotted?
I’m thinking not necessarily racist, but definitely bigot.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:53 pm

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:07 pm

Good comment, Beldar.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:55 pm

I’ve been wondering if the Bach cantatas you’ve been posting have reprogrammed my brain. I was watching a couple of videos from The Marriage of Figaro and it seemed like I could make out the words. I cite Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior as an example.

I hope you enjoy it.

Tremendously. It was really well done. The Scarpia character was especially great, and the sets were as true to life as you can get on the stage.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:57 pm

@417. Generally speaking, white people in America, and especially white men in America – including me – have a very very hard time admitting to the grievousness of this country’s racist history, because they know (deep deep down) that it shatters all of their myths of meritocracy and all of the hollow identities that stem from those myths.

The context of the times; they had to start some place. Consider the sins of the fathers in the light of today and they’d be social outcasts, fringed loonies and blatant bigots; you know–Alabamians.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:58 pm

is that the version the times reviewed or another one:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/22/scarpia-piers-paul-read-review-catholic-revision-tosca

I don’t quite follow, narciso. You linked the Guardian. The review is of a different performance.

The absence of Kristine Opalais, whom the Met had seemingly been pushing as a big star recently, was notable. She withdrew last June, and does not appear in any of the Met HD productions this year. I’m not completely sure what the back story is.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:00 pm

426.I consider merit to include a person’s ancestry and heritage, not only his particular innate talents and acquired abilities.

Arbor Day: Family Tree is Bigotry.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:09 pm

Generally speaking, white people in America, and especially white men in America – including me – have a very very hard time admitting to the grievousness of this country’s racist history, because they know (deep deep down) that it shatters all of their myths of meritocracy and all of the hollow identities that stem from those myths.
Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:27 pm

You’re entitled to that opinion and it is not without some merit among some “white men”. That said, there is a big difference between admitting t the grievousness of this nation’s racist history” and making it the center of the American Idea. First and foremost our racist history is no more or worse than most in Western Civilization and to our moral credit we gave the lives of 600,000 Americans to start the healing of that past. And that counts for something. It’s a lot of blood, over 200,000 than in WWII. Now I don’t know how much blood pays the debt but that seems to me like it should pretty much do it. Now if the personal prejudice of individuals is somehow racist history then there is nothing to do but kill off the bigots and that’s gonna get pretty messy. Not to mention in a free society one is presumably free to be a bigot. And as Ben! pointed out uplink I would most likely be taken to Lubyanka and shot as I don’t cower to people calling me racist. Oh well.

And no, racism in America does not shatter all the myths of meritocracy (I can’t speak to “hollow identities” since I have no clue what that means). The meritocracy in America or in any culture is based on that culture not imported peoples.

The biggest racists in America are the people who base everything on race. I don’t. And I don’t give a person a pass because of race either. The biggest perpetrators of black oppression are blacks. They are their own worst enemy next to leftist democrats and democrats have done more harm to blacks than the KKK ever dreamed of. My son was blabbing one day about Neil deGrasse Tyson and I finally said I thought the guy was and dud. He actually got mad and said: “how would you like it if a white guy finally became a great modern basketball player and I called him a dud”? We agreed that different groups of people are better at different things and that’s just the way it is. It’s truth, not racism. IOW, meritocracy can vary according to race.

I don’t appreciate nor do I think it’s necessary for comrade Ben! to insult my wife, son and family. I don’t think we should do that here. I also believe his family are most likely loving and wonderful people. They’d have to be to put up with him. (it’s a joke)

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:11 pm

@208. She [Megym Kelly] was very good at fox

Barbie’s always look great when sealed in their boxes.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:20 pm

because they know (deep deep down) that it shatters all of their myths of meritocracy and all of the hollow identities that stem from those myths.

No, it shows that even a society that prides itself on meritocracy has the ability to be completely hypocritical and/or dysfunctional.

Jim Crow wasn’t a personal belief system, it was enforced on blacks, but also on whites, by a social imperative that few actually wanted at the end. It was persisting solely as tradition, with the occasional support of the usual thugs. Whites who tried to buck it were not treated as harshly as blacks, but they were treated fairly harshly, if only by ostracism. It was a bully system, where if you don’t hate who the bully hates, you’re disapproved. It was also supported by law and covenant, because the folks that set it up knew that not all whites would want to go along.

Jim Crow failed because it became a hollow edifice of hate, supported by a small minority who did not have the strength to resist when push came to shove.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:24 pm

As for whether racism or meritocracy was the stronger influence in America, note which won and which way the tide continues.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:26 pm

No Jim Crow failed because the Federal Government derailed their dualistic society. Stop trying to re-write history.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:32 pm

@437. ‘King’ of Queens; Archie Bunker lived at 704 Hauser Street.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:46 pm

This is pure battleground preparations.
First, what position does it leave Herr Mueller ?

Neo (d1c681) — 1/27/2018 @ 11:00 am

In a swamp, every direction is A March Upcountry.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:54 pm

437. I don’t see how affirmative action and its “disparate impact” appurtenance comports with meritocracy. It’s contrived egalitarianism and that’s not the same thing.

nk (9651fb) — 1/27/2018 @ 4:56 pm

In a real meritocracy, Trump would not have been admitted to Wharton.

Davethulhu (99cc74) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:14 pm

If anyone seriously wants to understand why someone can happily approve of most of what the Trump Administration does, while strongly disapproving of the way Trump approaches his authority/powers, read Beldar’s comment 368.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:20 pm

442.In a real meritocracy, Trump would not have been admitted to Wharton.

Until Dead Fred’s check cleared, of course.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:25 pm

It refers to the back story, yes they’ve cryptic about her departure:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/arts/music/tosca-metropolitan-opera.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=5DE1F3875DDDD15469A321B8402AEBB4&gwt=pay

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:33 pm

And how could one do that with sally Yates in the way, who we didn’t know was working wit the Bruce or. Who probably submitted the fisa request to judge contreras, or his alternate. Conspirators all, one the handling g of the uranium one had been hidden so see couldn’t discern that roaenatein was in on it. We knew the fix was in but zebleys part in keeping cooper out of the dock was also hidden, everyone knew manafort had lobbied for Ukraine but how many knew that of respectable never trumpet

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:50 pm

@ Pete, who wrote (#382):

Beldar: “But Trump must respect the potential roles to be played, in our government of laws (not men) under the Constitution and the Rule of Law, by both the Congress and his own DoJ subordinates, including Rosenstein and, through him, Mueller.”

Except, as Andy McCarthy has pointed out repeatedly, the Mueller appointment is not in comportment with the laws/rules of the DOJ but is instead “the theater of an investigation run by a prosecutor — the rest is just details.”

Thus, to answer you, why should Mueller or his investigation be respected?

Pete (2f6a0b) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:32 pm

I respect Mr. McCarthy’s opinion, but I don’t always agree with him. In particular, I disagree with him — as I’ve explained here several times going back to the date of Mueller’s appointment — about his interpretation of the application of the special counsel regs to this situation in which there were already at least two on-going criminal investigations that had been spun off from the foreign intelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election cycle. McCarthy reads the regs to require a public statement of what the underlying criminal investigation is, but that’s not what the regs actually say. There certainly does have to be an ongoing criminal investigation, but it needn’t have been made public either prior to, or in, the order of appointment. And in this particular appointment order for Mueller, Rosenstein was clearly referencing, through a specific inclusion of a subsection of the regulations authorizing special counsels in general to expand their jurisdiction to include spun-off criminal investigations, the already-existing criminal investigations (Flynn and Manafort & Manafort’s associate) without disclosing their names.

Regardless, and even more pertinent to my original comment: Under the Rule of Law in our nation of laws (not men), Mr. McCarthy ain’t the guy to make the call either.

Again, Congress decides whether, for purposes of impeachment and removal from office, there’s been an impeachable offense committed (Mr. McCarthy and I agree on that, as you surely know if you read him regularly).

And on the criminal law side, apart from what Congress might or could do: If Trump and his legal advisors believe they have a basis to challenge Mueller’s jurisdiction on the grounds that McCarthy has argued (which I disagree with him about), they can get a ruling to that effect from the federal courts — although they may have to provoke an incident. The easy way to do that would be to refuse to comply with a grand jury subpoena that would instantly be issued by Mueller if the WH announced that it was following Mr. McCarthy’s (very bad) advice to refuse to permit Trump to be interviewed, or otherwise stopped its cooperation with the investigation, in order to get the courts to consider McCarthy’s authority. The leading precedent on the constitutionality of independent prosecutors under the prior statute, which would also be extremely important in any test of the authority of a special counsel under the present regulations that replaced it, was Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), in which the SCOTUS considered the constitutionality of that prior statute in the context of an immediate appeal from a contempt citation for failure to comply with such a subpoena. That’s how a nation of laws resolves these issues.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 5:58 pm

So pat Fitzgerald who was partner at skadden, which was part of the anti magnitsky consortium which included fusion gps which worked for Russian interests, (Btw they have also represented f Deutsche bank in the past) ingress there are different denominations of blood money) was considered a likely special counsel, well he indicts the innocent (Libby Conrad black) and protects those who are guilty (Armitage, David radler) so by that standard.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:00 pm

*”in order to get the courts to consider McCarthy’s authority” ought to have read “in order to get the courts to consider Mueller’s authority,” sorry. (Hopefully that was obvious from the context; Mr. McCarthy, though a respected former federal prosecutor, has no such authority any longer.)

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:01 pm

Sammy J. Tilden, the Democrat that got compromised out with the compromise of 1877, he was the heir to a drug empire. His family had become millionaires selling hash oil. The Dems were running a marijuana baron.

Pulling out the troops in 1877 opened the way for illegitimate government (of the few, by the few, for the few; the only kind Democrats offer) to institute Jim Crow in the South.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:02 pm

@ Kevin M, who asked (#394):

How long does this run?

Until it’s done, as determined by Mueller in the first instance, but subject to being overriden or otherwise ordered by Rosenstein as Acting AG.

Under any conceivable scenario, since the prosecution/declination decision on any potential obstruction of justice charges would turn directly on the evidence of his personal corrupt motive or lack thereof, it will surely run at least until Trump has been either interviewed or questioned under oath. There has never been any scenario, from the day of Mueller’s appointment through today, in which Mueller would wrap up before that happened, and the fact that they’re actively negotiating it now indeed is a very strong indication that Mueller’s in fact nearly done.

For reasons I explained in another comment here a few days ago, I think Trump would be very, very stupid to permit himself to be just interviewed, because it’s a whole lot easier for him to stumble into a perjury/false statements trap if there are only FBI agents’ notes to reflect the interview. Their notes will inevitably be their paraphrase of what they understood him to be saying. Understanding what Trump is saying is very difficult for anyone even in the best of circumstances, and requires the listener to draw inferences that, here, could work to his disadvantage. Tactically, Trump would be better off proceeding under oath, in a very formal and ritualized Q&A process with a court reporter and videographer, just as was done at Bill Clinton’s deposition as taken by Ken Starr’s team (which produced the “depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” testimony about his earlier deposition in the Paula Jones case).

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:12 pm

Bats surprising, tiger then again according to epstein, rockefellers father also dabbled in patent medicine. An irony in light of his grandsons political career. Of course fdr wouldn’t likely have his fortune if not for his grandfathers part in the opium trade, as with imminently respectable Forbes clan that Kerry’s father married into.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:14 pm

On DRJ’s endorsement I read Beldar’s bloviation.

You know what I like about Ben. His brevity. Besides his longish c&c’s of Politico, besides being persistent, annoying, and wrong, he manages to keep it short. I appreciate that.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:15 pm

I disagree, Beldam provides insight into areas of the law we are not familiar with, however after the last 20 years we should consider what demo rAts are allowed to get away with, and what republicans are charged with, Morrison want about some grand criminal conspiracy, but a fairly routine withholding of info, yet the dems wanted a scalp so dearly. Svalia a usual wrote the best dissents as with Lawrence.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:21 pm

Elliot Ness allegedly died an alcoholic.

nk (9651fb) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:24 pm

Now, that’s irony.

nk (9651fb) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:24 pm

As opposed to white water which was explicitly about bank and real estate frays, but in the tradition that began with Downey madden there wee no stool pigeons, in fact the Clinton’s went so far as to put Ken Starr on trial, impart they used Dan moldea who seems to have forgotten the favor
That the former did for him getting interference clear of libel charges. But as Armitage did for scooter Libby.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:27 pm

After having tackled corruption in Cleveland as swell as Chicago (you’ve read max Allen Collins, sobriety would be a tough go.

I was surprised to learn that frank nitti has a somewhat uneventful passing. Just as the departed was wishful thinking, that they would have tried to infiltrate the winter hill gang.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:33 pm

I’m not saying Beldar was wrong. I’m saying he could have covered the salient points in two sentences.

For instance:
reformulation of Beldar # 368.

Trump was right to fire Comey.
I wouldn’t have had the balls to do it.

// Reader’s Digest version.

I miss anything?

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:33 pm

narciso, I agree with you that Scalia’s dissent in Morrison was magnificent, and correct to boot. But it’s a dissent. The current special counsel regs don’t give Mueller a fraction of the power that independent prosecutors like Morrison or Starr had. So I think there’s zero chance that the special counsel regs will be held unconstitutional (as a separation of powers violation) on their face, nor very likely even “as applied” in the specific instance of Mueller’s appointment. To defend Mueller’s appointment against the specific attack Mr. McCarthy has made (involving the fact that this originated as a foreign intelligence investigation), all Rosenstein would have to show is that — as we now know from the plea deal with Flynn and the indictments of Manafort & his associate — there were indeed ongoing spun-off criminal investigations as of the date of Mueller’s appointment.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:33 pm

@ papertiger: Yes, as usual, you missed everything important.

I said I’d have fired Comey on the first day I was POTUS — which Trump lacked either the balls or good judgment or both to do — and I further said that when he got around to it, he screwed up the timing and the manner.

This is why I almost never read what you write here, papertiger. It’s a waste of time to try to have a conversation with someone who won’t make the effort to read what I’ve written and understand it, and it makes me angry to be affirmatively misrepresented by the likes of you.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:37 pm

Which eouldnt have happened without the rotten fruit from the dossier, please lets dispense with padopulos Mcguffin, but as it 5.5 million for Mueller to admit his mistake, and the aftermath of ivins suicide, to reveal 1y years later we still haven’t caught the anthrax mailer.

Yes venereal Lynn hid the fact he was talking to kislyak to prevent yet a other (reacted) that Obama was delivering to Israel, and damantha power who might as well call herself Leila khaled, has perfectly willing to burn hi. In this exercise.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:42 pm

That is kind of you, papertiger.

Here’s the short version: Donald Trump thinks he gets to make every decision simply because he is President, but sometimes the law curtails his authority (as he learned — painfully, for him and the country — in the travel ban).

Trump should have understood there are limits to his authority before he was elected or, at the latest, when he took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” But he never seems to accept this fact. My guess is he realizes it but he thinks the art of the deal is to act like there are no limits on what he can do. This is one way in which government is different than business. Trump doesn’t get to act like he is a king who owns the country just because he is President.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:47 pm

General fLynn, whose only real crime was telling Obama he was totally deluded about Islamic state, and coming to agent gritz’s defense. About the former there has been no accounting, no polite blackball why should their be most of the punditocracy engaged in the same delusional thinking.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:47 pm

Specifically, it was kind of you to accept my reccommendation. Your statement of Beldar’s position was not kind and was also wrong.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:49 pm

Statutory language in the 2016 omnibus regarding the designation of those seven countries isn’t enough, got it,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:55 pm

papertiger often seems to march to the beat of one hand clapping.

nk (9651fb) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:57 pm

Really ring me when rosenstein has turned down an expansion of authority. There was no statute in 2003, but the journalist cooked up a scheme, to label an authorized declassification in order to brief reporters who are too busy to seriously examine e the issues a crime. Comedy was the enabler that was one of the three instances that earned him the directors chair, in dems eyes.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:03 pm

“Here’s the short version: Donald Trump thinks he gets to make every decision simply because he is President, but sometimes the law curtails his authority (as he learned — painfully, for him and the country — in the travel ban).

Trump should have understood there are limits to his authority before he was elected or, at the latest, when he took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.””

It’s generally inadvisable to rail against Trump acting like a “royalist” by citing members of the JUDICIARY who are very much acting like ‘royals’ with regard to the laws they don’t like, with far less oversight by either the media or Congress, who ostensibly keeps them in line with implied threats of impeachment that rarely if ever get used.

Tellurian (f03292) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:05 pm

As usual we have to pretend there was another trump could have done this, against the criminal malpractice by an administration who sent mcfaul over to Russia during the campaign, whose hamas go between malley was subsequently rewarded with a key post negotiating the Iran deal

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:12 pm

It seems you agree that Trump sometimes acts like he thinks he is King, Tellurian.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:22 pm

Conservative ideologues swept from relevance really have no street cred when it comes to Trump. They’ve opposed him from the start and cast a distant nod when he rhymes in line. As a pragmatist, he’ll swop ends on them in a flash- particularly when Congress flips. The winning side is Trump’s side– especially if there’s a televised signing ceremony.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:39 pm

How about tillis and lankford they ate the ones actually cooking up this overdone soufflee they patent any help at all.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:43 pm

455.Elliot Ness allegedly died an alcoholic.

Shot glassed.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 7:44 pm

347, greeeaaatt, Pin. You proposing a reboot of 9 to 5? Nowadays everyone with a hose that likes wimmins is Dabney Coleman.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 1:51 pm

50 Shades of Garage Door Openers

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:06 pm

Why was dabney Coleman considered such a heal
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/01/analysis-us-treasury-department-reveals-new-details-about-the-talibans-network.php

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:14 pm

If general fLynn weren’t here, this woulfnt be happening right:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/910935/Turkey-Syria-napalm-agent-orange-war-Afrin-Kurdish-illegal-Macron-USA-nato-news-terrorist

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:17 pm

It’s a battle line for minority group identites.

I say [edit] both their houses. Whitey invented the box. Scuk it losers.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/27/2018 @ 2:15 pm

Ando buscándola en Japón
Ando buscándola en Nueva York
Ando buscándola en mi cajón
Ando buscándola en Cancún
Ando buscándola en Katmandú
Ando buscándola en Hono-lu-lu.

Maná

Buscándola

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:20 pm

The times seems oblivious to basic questions like who when and why, not to mention what?

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/942560077726343168.html

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:29 pm

…so that’s where Nuevo Generacion rolls. Otherwise, very impressed, Pin. That’s the ticket to Steve57 level game.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:30 pm

Will Ferrell actually doing GWB more justice than deserved on SNLs opening.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:31 pm

Well its better than mambo #5, right.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:37 pm

Hoagie:

After a few years you’ll recognize me as a friend because friends always tell each other the bitter truth. I know you are telling me the same without malice or bad motives. But check yourself while you can still unwreck yourself.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:10 pm

I think you’re confusing friend with catty gay black guy.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:44 pm

No we’ e dealing with him for 10 years, throwing monkie scat.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:48 pm

If you like looking in your cajón for a tribute to Juan Bonham you might like

Tonto in la Lluvia Maná

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:08 pm

Generally speaking, white people in America, and especially white men in America – including me – have a very very hard time admitting to the grievousness of this country’s racist history, because they know (deep deep down) that it shatters all of their myths of meritocracy and all of the hollow identities that stem from those myths.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:27 pm

I heard something third hand from Bert Kreisher. He said he heard an LA school lines up all the colored kids and they yell at the white kids. The next semester they line up all the girls and they yell at the boys. I’m sure it’s lost something in the game of telephone but it doesn’t seem particularly far fetched.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:18 pm

@256. Recall the context of the times. Circa 1972, Vietnamization and U.S. troop withdrawal was well underway; Nixon’s move to Mao was really a wedgie to Brehznev and leverage for deal making w/the Soviet Union; it had little to do w/Vietnam by then.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:41 pm

I thought oldies stations only had four call letters.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:34 pm

I consider merit to include a person’s ancestry and heritage, not only his particular innate talents and acquired abilities.

nk (9651fb) — 1/27/2018 @ 3:46 pm

To the fourth generation, some folks say…

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:37 pm

Have you guys heard about Ivo van Hove’s play version of The Fountainhead? It sounds pretty interesting, although the guy who attended and reviewed it saw it in NYC and chances are it’s not coming to a theater near you.

The Fountainhead

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:46 pm

@433 Mr DCSCA

What are espalier fruit trees?

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:50 pm

Here’s the short version: Donald Trump thinks he gets to make every decision simply because he is President, but sometimes the law curtails his authority (as he learned — painfully, for him and the country — in the travel ban).

DRJ (15874d) — 1/27/2018 @ 6:47 pm

Not the law. One lawyer. Federal judges are the ones who would be kings.

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:01 pm

Feelin’ good, feelin’ right, it’s Saturday night

When Juggalos and Kid Rock fans meet Punctuated Equilibrium you get:

We’re an American Band Rob Zombie NSFW

Pinandpuller (d1f632) — 1/27/2018 @ 10:41 pm

Trump mentions Jews in Holocaust Remembrance Day message
Jan. 27 (UPI) — President Donald Trump remembered “systematic persecution and brutal murder of six million Jewish people” in International Holocaust Remembrance Day message.

he’s such a dick

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:43 am

Yeah. That was mean of me. Sorry Beldar. Didn’t think it would hurt your feelings so much.

You know, I know, everybody knows, that if Prsident Trump had fired Jim Comey on day one, before hiring an AG, before drawing out Sally Yates as an inbed, before hiring or consulting with WH legal council, that would have signaled his intention to arrest Hillary Clinton petty soon after.

I can’t think of a more monarchy thing he might have done.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:08 am

good good

now the healing can start Mr. tiger

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:15 am

DRJ,

Regarding Trump, thinking he has more power than he actually has, and should have educated himself, before taking office, dint We just have had a constitutional law professor as president, who was overturned numerous time, most unanimously, for not understanding the scope of presidential powers. In fact, where DJT has overstepped has been in the process of restoring the constitutional powers by overturning the errors and overreaching of the last administration.

,

EPWJ (4dc563) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:56 am

Grammar police, cleanup on aisle 6

EPWJ (4dc563) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:57 am

I think Trump and Obama have the same attitudes toward their powers: They were elected President so if they want something, it must be right.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:21 am

DCSCA,

I understand you embrace pragmatism but how do you define pragmatism? If it is doing whatever you think is right at a given time, how do you know what is right?

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:28 am

My concerns are that too many Presidents think that if they want something then it must be legal and right, and too many Americans agree.

When that belief is widespread, we become a nation of men and not laws. “Pragmatism” and “common sense” are excuses for believing that is how it should be.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:34 am

Let the healing continue.

Beer here. https://youtu.be/3FhE2wdWseo?t=54s

Prost!

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:39 am

Analysis: DeVos Speech Shows Contempt For The Agency She Heads

Although DeVos sought to temper her message by insisting that she had not come to “impugn anyone’s motives,” her descriptions of the educational bureaucracy were derisive. For instance, she called defenders of the federal role in education “chicken littles” and “sycophants.”

By positioning herself on the outside – outside of Washington, outside of the education’s community of experts, outside of education politics as usual – Secretary DeVos has succeeded in distinguishing herself from her predecessors. However, she has also positioned herself as one of the Department of Education’s strongest critics.

another strong appointment by Mr. Trump thank you Mr. Trump (great president)

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:40 am

@495 Paper cuts do sting, Mr. Feet.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:43 am

and you should do neosporin all up in it even if it’s just a little cut

this is because microorganism

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:47 am

the sleazy corrupt FBI still hasn’t shown any proof of whoever the hell it is they think hacked into the dnc email and the stinkypig email

mostly it seems they just text a lot and boink the slutty fbi lawyers

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:55 am

And for our tea totallers.
\ a little sparkling water.

https://youtu.be/lE8h-YBnwqA?t=1m22s

Salute!

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:05 am

499. Ideologues seek advantage; pragmatists seek solutions.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:20 am

@487. You have no listing for ECOMCON, either. Try Site Y.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:03 am

A little less yelling at squirrels

https://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trump-economy-is-heading-upward-and-reversing-the-obama-era/

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 5:24 am

RIP Mort Walker, 94 years, drew popular military life comic strip Beetle Bailey et al at Camp Swampy for nearly 70 years.

ropelight (6cec01) — 1/28/2018 @ 5:33 am

What’s the frequency:

http://www.americanthinker.com

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 5:37 am

When that belief is widespread, we become a nation of men and not laws. “Pragmatism” and “common sense” are excuses for believing that is how it should be.
DRJ

I disagree with both of those sentiments, DRJ. First of all we became a nation of men when the left convinced everyone the Constitution was a “living document”. And that’s only one of the cultural deconstructors wrought by the left. Secondly I don’t believe pragmatism and common sense are excuses for anything. Pragmatism is settling for something you don’t want, don’t need or isn’t good. Common sense is the ability to know what you don’t want, don’t need or isn’t good.

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/28/2018 @ 5:54 am

488. “To the fourth generation, some folks say …”

All the way back to Aaron, some of those same folks say.

nk (9651fb) — 1/28/2018 @ 5:59 am

If Gary Cooper could not turn that pig’s ear which is The Fountainhead into a silk purse, what made the current crop of Hollywood pooves and floozies think they could? The book sucked and any script from it is bound to suck too. Puerile, sophomoric, “Nietzsche for girls” aphorisms and strawmen.

nk (9651fb) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:08 am

It was a paen to Frank Lloyd Wright among other things

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:25 am

511- narciso
Clarice is the best Sunday read and again I thank you for turning me on to her Sunday writings.
She is great with a cup of Kona.

mg (eec9f2) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:27 am

OOh, I have some ideas that ding bat curator from the Guggenheim should curate!!!

mg (eec9f2) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:33 am

No, it wasn’t no paean to Wright anymore than Johnny Fontaine was a paean to Sinatra. If Rand had Wright in mind at all, it was only as a vehicle for her vapid talky-talky plot.

nk (9651fb) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:49 am

Its a book length mash note, to whom one who she though most embodies her view of enlightened self interest,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:56 am

Republicans who stick by Trump and protect him will be remembered as the villains of Washington’s unfolding drama

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/27/trump-fbi-us-constitution

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:59 am

Clarice pieces represent the swaybacked horse droppings she collects in the horses wake.

Picking up the pieces of her life.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:02 am

Who wiretapped and even subpoenaed more reporters, putting them at risk of criminal prosecution, is this thing on?

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:04 am

DRJ,

Do you think some of the voters and their Presidents are frustrated by the Senate? IMO, when the amendment to elect Senators, instead of appointing them by state lawmakers, upset the balance the founders had envisioned when they constructed our representative republic?

EPWJ (4dc563) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:11 am

Wynning

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/26/rnc-silent-on-millions-of-dollars-donated-by-steve-wynn/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:22 am

Why in the World would Trump drag his feet on Russia sanctions? It’s a yuge mystery..
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/14/politics/trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/index.html

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:28 am

Nativism is nothing new. Each era when the nation liberalized its immigration policies to let more people into the country, the open doors have quickly been followed by a fierce backlash. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 followed several years of brutal violence against Chinese workers. The influx of immigrants in the early 20th century from Eastern and Southern Europe ended after a decade of intense nativist attack that found respectability at the highest levels of power. Scholarly experts were praised when they promoted the pseudo-science of eugenics to demonstrate how the brains of the urban newcomers were inferior. Politicians warned of “race suicide” for Anglo-Saxons and even progressive reformers were desperate to Americanize the “foreigners” who were living in cities like New York and Chicago. Labor leaders in the burgeoning union movement, the historian Lizabeth Cohen wrote, were so deeply divided along ethnic and racial lines before the 1930s that effective organization and strike activity often proved impossible to sustain. In 1921 and 1924, Congress passed legislation that imposed a national quota system that limited the number of immigration visas to be granted to specific nationalities, particularly those regarded as inferior to “Anglo-Saxon” stock (such as Italians or Eastern Europeans), in order to restrict immigration that would remain in place until 1965.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-mirror-on-the-wall/551165/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:32 am

What to do with Trumpkins..

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ocregister.com/2018/01/27/report-sam-woodward-accused-killer-of-blaze-bernstein-belonged-to-neo-nazi-group/amp/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:34 am

@520:

“Since his election, revelations of Donald Trump’s contempt for the legal process have been dizzying. The rule of law is what protects democracy in the United States. The president has done everything possible to subvert it.”

Democrats unearth a concept called the Rule of Law and get excited, like Al Gore discovering the internet.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:36 am

Rule of Law is meant to be arbitrary, depending on whose ox is gored?

Rock solid principles and character!

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:39 am

Note, before the story, the transition team did not comment, but after it revealed that Flynn had phoned Sergei Kislyak several times on December 29, two aides called Ignatius and told what we now know are lies.

The Trump transition team did not respond Thursday night to a request for comment. But two team members called with information Friday morning. A first Trump official confirmed that Flynn had spoken with Kislyak by phone, but said the calls were before sanctions were announced and didn’t cover that topic. This official later added that Flynn’s initial call was to express condolences to Kislyak after the terrorist killing of the Russian ambassador to Ankara Dec. 19, and that Flynn made a second call Dec. 28 to express condolences for the shoot-down of a Russian plane carrying a choir to Syria. In that second call, Flynn also discussed plans for a Trump-Putin conversation sometime after the inauguration. In addition, a second Trump official said the Dec. 28 call included an invitation from Kislyak for a Trump administration official to visit Kazakhstan for a conference in late January.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/01/27/feinsteins-homework-assignments/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:47 am

been burned writes of horse droppings… quite fitting, given his steady output of horseschiff.

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:51 am

I’m not saying Beldar was wrong. I’m saying he could have covered the salient points in two sentences.

For instance:
reformulation of Beldar # 368.

Trump was right to fire Comey.
I wouldn’t have had the balls to do it.

// Reader’s Digest version.

I miss anything?

The better question, papertiger, would have been for you to ask if you had gotten anything right. And the answer is no. No, not even close.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:59 am

Top story on MTP is the “attempted firing” of Mueller. Distract much?!? Wankers gonna wank.

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:04 am

“Russian Collusion”… wha hoppen?

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:06 am

“concerted effort to discredit the FBI and the nation’s top law enforcement by the Republicans”…

Go, Chuckie, go!

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:08 am

Republicans who stick by Trump and protect him will be remembered as the villains of Washington’s unfolding drama

Is that the communist left’s insult du jour, comrade Ben!? We moved from racist to bigot to villain. I miss Deplorable myself. But as long as you leftists don’t realize calling your fellow Americans names just makes new Trump supporters the happier we are. hanks again. Winning!

And I love your Salon article (Salon tee-hee) because it proves what exactly? Oh, Yeah Wynning!

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cRuQ5pHBtPE/Wm3gJXes5SI/AAAAAAABVwM/_b4I-zXcfgIcc_FSDLB41Ko0DzOu7gyzACLcBGAs/s1600/1%2B1%2B1%2Bmccabe-meme-620.jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:15 am

You have the courage of your affliction hoagie.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:17 am

I guess “Trump was right to fire Comey” was sort of right, technically — but stated the way you stated it, it’s wrong because it suggests he was right to do it in the way he did. And that’s not what Beldar said.

Patterico (115b1f) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:18 am

Ken Starr

His instinct is to fight, last out..does that constitute a crime?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:21 am

“Time to pass legislation to protect Mueller?” —- Chuckie Todd

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:22 am

He’s just being defensive!!

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:22 am

Dimocrats and their media operatives – after throwing our nation’s law enforcement under the bus behind several ginned-up BLM crap, are all of a sudden law enforcement’s biggest supporters?

Horseschiff.

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:30 am

“concerted effort to discredit the FBI and the nation’s top law enforcement by the Republicans”…

Go, Chuckie, go!

The media repeatedly makes reference to the “irony” that pro law enforcement Republicans are attacking the FBI, never mentioning the irony of BLM supporting Dems. But, there is no irony on either side. More than anybody else, the Dems are invested in the power of the executive branch — the regulatory powers, judicial appointments, executive edicts and, yes, the FBI. The FBI is centralized power, which they cherish, and having it answer to any authority other than a Democrat president drives them batty.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:35 am

Republicans will never escape the silly string house they inhabit. Damned few sacred cows exist for them any longer other than their own worthless carcasses.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:40 am

DOJ/FBI believe they have oversight of Congress, not the reverse:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-sought-release-of-classified-russia-memo-putting-him-at-odds-with-justice-department/2018/01/27/a00f2a4c-02bb-11e8-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html?utm_term=.f4d8587097d2

Lenny (5ea732) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:45 am

Trump faces a major deadline to use the Russia sanctions power that Congress overwhelmingly voted to give him — and it’s anybody’s guess as to whether he’ll comply on time after missing the last deadline.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/28/trump-russia-sanctions-deadline-373106

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:46 am

Can you imagine what Trumps interrogation would.look like?

Not pretty.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:54 am

Tuesday’s State of the Union

You lie!!!

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:55 am

It’ll be short but not sweet as the list of accomplishments will need compressed air to pump that tire.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:58 am

You missed my point, Hoagie.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:58 am

Moving the Goal Posts by the host:

I know, because Donald Trump told the country so, that Donald Trump fired James Comey to derail the Russia investigation. I think that was stupid and ineffective and very very bad behavior. Trumpalos love it.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 8:20 am

I asked for a reference to a quote where Trump said this, and the response was the Lester Holt interiew:

Here is the quote:

He [Rosenstein] made a recommendation, he’s highly respected, very good guy, very smart guy. The Democrats like him, the Republicans like him. He made a recommendation. But regardless of [the] recommendation, I was going to fire Comey. Knowing there was no good time to do it!

And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, “You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.”

He fired Comey because of the Russia investigation. That’s not a myth. It’s what he said.

Now parse and spin away the way partisans like you do.

Patterico (31cb2f) — 1/27/2018 @ 9:59 am

I next pointed out that his quote from the Holt interview ignored what came just after that snippet, and shows the “myth” to be an out-of-context parsing:

Okay, are you angry with, angry with Mr. Comey
because of his Russia investigation?
DONALD TRUMP: I just want somebody that’s competent. I am a big fan of
the FBI, I love the FBI. [OVER TALK]
LESTER HOLT: But were you a fan of him taking up that investigation?
DONALD TRUMP: I think that–about the Hillary Clinton investigation?
LESTER HOLT: About the Russia investigation and possible links [OVER TALK]
DONALD TRUMP: Look, look, let me tell you. As far as I’m concerned, I want
that thing to be absolutely done properly. When I did this now I said, I
probably, maybe will confuse people, maybe I’ll expand that, you know,
lengthen the time because it should be over with, in my opinion, should have
been over with a long time ago. Cause all it is, is an excuse but I said to
myself, I might even lengthen out the investigation but I have to do the right thing for the American people. He’s the wrong man for that position.

The host’s original claim that I asked him to support was that “Trump fired Comey to derail the Russian Investigation.”

But that’s not what he told Lester Holt — in fact, he understood that in firing Comey he might actually cause the investigation to go on longer than it might otherwise because he would have to be replaced — in other words, he understood that Comey’s replacement would have to carry on with the investigation, but Comey was the wrong guy to do it.

So the Host then moved the goal posts when he quoted the Holt interview by stating:

He fired Comey because of the Russia investigation.”

That statement is very much true — but its a very different statement that claiming that Trump fired Comey to “derail” the Russia investigation.

Trump called Comey incompetent — “I just want somebody that’s competent.” “I want the thing to be absolutely done properly.

Trump acknowledged that firing Comey probably extended the investigation — sort of the opposite of “derailing” the investigation.

Saying he fired Comey “to derail” the investigation is saying “Do “A” to bring about the happening of “B”.”

Saying he fired Comey “because of” the investigation is saying “Do “A” as a result of “B”.

They are not equivalent sentences.

So, the claim that Trump told Lester Holt he fired Comey to derail the Russia investigation is a media myth that the Host has internalized.

Its just not a fact, and it runs counter to what Trump actually said in the interview if you take the time to read it and not rely on the Media’s characterization.

Saying he fired Comey “

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:11 am

Ideologues seek advantage; pragmatists seek solutions.

Pragmatism has no use for the rule of law.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:17 am

Nothing of controversy then, of course when the ussr was dominating everywhere from Addis Ababa with the famous dergue to the sanaa, that was when it was imperative to talk to them and agree to all their demands

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:24 am

Hello, Deputy Pat.

I’m feeling consiliatory this morning. Hopefully it will be brief.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:31 am

368 Beldar:

Now I happen to agree very, very strongly that Comey is an unfit, unethical, dishonest weasel with a Clark Kent complex who should definitely lose his law license and probably do some serious prison time. I think Trump should have announced during the transition that Comey was going to be replaced on the first working day after the Inauguration, and indeed, he should have already lined up a successor. I’m intensely critical of the stupid, self-destructive, and thoroughly inconsistent and dishonest way in which Trump ended up handling the Comey firing, even though he deserved to be fired. And I likewise think that regardless of the admitted pique and desire to punch back against the collusion rumors which motivated Trump in substantial part, that’s not the same as the sort of corrupt motive which could make up a solid criminal complaint for obstruction of justice, and neither do I think it should be spun up to make a political case for impeachment. I’m not calling for Trump’s impeachment; I’m highly skeptical that Mueller has any crimes to charge him with; and I welcome what I hope will be Trump’s exoneration so that we’ll end this colossal political distraction.

But Trump must respect the potential roles to be played, in our government of laws (not men) under the Constitution and the Rule of Law, by both the Congress and his own DoJ subordinates, including Rosenstein and, through him, Mueller. Respecting that role is inconsistent with short-circuiting the process based on his own personal evaluation of what is, or isn’t, a crock of sh1t. He’s not the king, he’s just the POTUS.

IMO, this captures almost precisely my view of the legitimacy of the investigation — in the manner in which it has played out over the year since Trump took office.

But I have one disagreement with Beldar’s view.

I have always felt that the strongest justification Trump could have offered for his actions – and he could have come right out and said it was his intention to truncate and bring to a close the Russia collusion investigation — was to say that as POTUS, its his responsibility to balance competing policy goals and interests within the obligations of the Executive Branch.

He could have said that based on his own knowledge of the campaign, there was no substance to the allegations of collusion between his campaign and any Russian state actor.

He could have said that the existence of the investigation in the manner in which it was being carried out was undermining the ability of the Office of POTUS to carry on the foreign affairs of the US, and that he intended to seek greater bi-lateral cooperation with the Government of Russia on matters involving combatting terrorism, and in reigning in the North Korean regime’s nuclear weapons program.

He could have said that in his judgement, those policy goals outweighed any benefit that might come from further pursuit of Russian actors with respect to the 2016 election, but he encouraged Congress to pursue its own investigation of the issues in order to consider legislation that might work to prevent such efforts in the future, and that his administration would support and cooperate with any such Congressional efforts.

He could have said that DOJ would continue to analyze the facts surrounding the hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign — one of which had certainly happened, and the other was suspected to have happened — but that any decision on whether to prosecute any individuals involved would have to be weighed against the potential for harm on the diplomatic front. It would come down to a matter of prosecutorial discretion.

Finally, the media myth that Trump fired Comey to derail the Russia investigation ignores the truth of the Rosenstein memo, which followed Trump’s sitdown with Sessions and Rosenstein where he asked each of them their view of Comey’s performance as FBI Director.

Rosenstein’s memo is 100% accurate, and provides a perfectly valid and legal basis upon which to have fired Comey for cause. The fact that during that meeting Trump has his own separate criticisms of Comey’s performance doesn’t make Rosenstein’s memo disappear in a puff of smoke. Rosenstein’s memo wasn’t a pretextual justification — it was a factually valid justification.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:32 am

What is Trump afraid of? By his own words he has acknowledged that he was trying to relieve pressure from the investigation by firing Comey.

The President, of course, has a long business history and other issues that may leave him vulnerable to close scrutiny. But isn’t that why wise guys with complicated lives think twice before running for President?

Take tax returns. If your campaigning for President (and you promise to release them) don’t be surprised that people might actually want to see them. Especially prosecutors.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:38 am

By his own words he has acknowledged that he was trying to relieve pressure from the investigation by firing Comey.

No, he didn’t, as swc explained @551.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:46 am

Washington Post Trump quote…..

“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.”

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:55 am

But isn’t that why wise guys with complicated lives think twice before running for President?

So, Trump is being targeted because he “has a long business history and other issues that may leave him vulnerable to close scrutiny“. Is that it? Meaning if Rubio, Cruz, Jeb or Kasich had won, all would be hunky dory? If any Republican lacking a complicated life had won, the Dems would call off the dogs? Huh. Who knew?

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 9:56 am

Trump is “being targeted because he has a long business history”….

No, random viking, I didn’t say that at all. It’s not WHY he is being investigated.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:00 am

Washington Post Trump quote…..

Same answer.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:00 am

@555… but Trump is a moron, so he didn’t say any of those things.

Having a moron as a foreign policy leader is a problem.

This isn’t complicated.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:01 am

Why am i cynical that pat fizgerald was running michigan states inquiry into nassar?

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:01 am

558 — and that simply supports my claim that Trump could have rightfully and justifiably said the existence of the Russia collusion investigation in the manner in which it was being pursued was complicating his ability as POTUS to conduct the foreign affairs of the US, and the latter concerns were more important than the any benefit that might come from continuing the investigation as it was taking place at that time. That was his decision to make as POTUS, and he could have relied on his own knowledge of the activities of his campaign, limited as that might have been.

It would not have stopped Congress, and it would not have prevented Trump from revisiting the question in the future if more evidence was discovered.

But as POTUS, Trump could have said “One is more important than the other”, and acted accordingly as a matter of discretion.

There is only one POTUS at a time, and if he has a perceived “conflict of interest”, the Constitution doesn’t provide for a temporary “stand-in”.

shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:02 am

So, you know why he’s being investigated. Finally, someone who knows. Do tell….

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:02 am

So firing him four months into the term, having found justification is wrong, of course rosenstein then turned around and convened a star chamber.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:05 am

Trump didn’t say those things, swc. We all wish he would say credible things. He could but he doesn’t.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:06 am

Oh gee. Let me think. Maybe they are being investigated because Russians attempted to interfere with the election according to our intelligence services. And the Administration as well as the campaign before it lied about their Russian meetings. Among other things.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:06 am

You forgot to mention the golden showers.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:09 am

Maybe they are being investigated because Russians attempted to interfere with the election according to our intelligence services

If you substitute “Russians attempted” onward with “a Republican won”, you are dead on. Good analysis.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:12 am

No, you forgot about the lies. Why don’t you explain how so many people in the campaign and the Administration forgot about their Russian meetings? You know, the “adoption” meeting etc.?

Give it a shot.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:13 am

“Republican won”. Oh gosh, where could you have gotten that talking point from?

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:14 am

Like your assurances about the Arab spring

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lindsey-graham-if-trump-tries-to-fire-robert-mueller-it-would-be-the-end-of-his-presidency/article/2647326

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:18 am

No, you forgot about the lies. Why don’t you explain how so many people in the campaign and the Administration forgot about their Russian meetings?

Now which campaign/administration are you referring to?

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:19 am

Why did the Obama administrAtion feel it necessary to invite the Russian ambassador to Cleveland, why did they give veselnitskaya an open ended visa, if she was at least an accessory after the fact in the magnitsky heist.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:20 am

Keep boinking that poultry, republican noel

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:20 am

random viking is using another shiny object to distract us. Look, over there.

Ya, I get it.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:22 am

So skadden arps which was on the midst of the prevezon skim, was also covering up, ahem investigating for Michigan state.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:23 am

You do know, Colonel, that you sound like a 12 year old when you talk like that? You make the rest of us feel so old.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:24 am

Again I return to the Navalny arrest for the sake of futility..
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/28/europe/russian-protests-navalny-office-intl/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:31 am

Speaking of feeling old, I am watching All the Kong’s Men and it reminded me of my parents talking about Huey Long. There are many things about Long and the movie that remind me of Trump, but that’s not surprising because populists reject rules and values, so character is always their downfall.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:33 am

King’s Men, not Kong’s Men. Interesting correction, auto-correct.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:34 am

I have a new favorite genre of Youtube videos. Black people reacting to hard/prog rock music. If loving this is wrong I don’t want to be white.

Here’s two black guys listening to Rush YYZ

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:43 am

I don’t trust the russians much, although I know asking them to give crimea would be like us giving up texas.

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:44 am

random viking is using another shiny object to distract us. Look, over there.

I see. The rule of law got exhumed from the Dem’s backyard on Jan 20, 2017, meaning it’s ex post facto before then. It all makes sense now.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:45 am

Long would probably resulted in the same sorry hybrid of corruption we are familiar with. Populism is too often too vulgar for community standards when the rubber hits that hard road of immediate results the man on the street, ignorantly and foolishly expecting them yesterday.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:46 am

I can’t think of a more monarchy thing he might have done.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:08 am

I thought monarchy was a medical term for one testicle. Maybe that’s monorchie. Same difference.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:53 am

I keep going back to that The problem is the Voter! vomit that is so attractive a quality in a candidate.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:54 am

It seems what is needed is Benevolent Dictator ..a kind of God/King Corporeal.

THEOCRACY won’t be accepted by the common man out of default ignorance…wise because it smells good.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:59 am

If that is so, random viking, why aren’t you ticked off with both Administrations?

Yea. That’s right. Because you aren’t interested in corruption unless it’s Democrat malfeasance. If the Republican Attorney General initiates an investigation into another Administration, then I’ll take a look at your shiny object.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:00 am

Trump could have come out like a Benevolent Dictator and accomplished grand bargains through polling. Establishing himself like Capone on Chicago with free turkeys at thanksgiving and Christmas…if he was smart, that is.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:03 am

And when I say The Problem is the Voter I am specifically addressing the HOAGIEHAIKU VOTER .

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:06 am

35cents on the Dollah!

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:07 am

A question for you lawyers out there. The pundits are all discussing whether Congress should pass a law protecting Mueller from being fired. Deja vu and the Tenure of Office Act. Can they do this? Wasn’t this approach rejected in Myers vs US (1926)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers_v._United_States

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:21 am

The problem is the party structure on the one hand that forced Hillary upon us when the Democrat base wanted Bernie, and the party structure on the other hand so incompetent that it was unable to prevent Trump’s ascendance. One the election became a lying felonious dirtbag vs a lying infantile billionaire, the idea of a quality outcome was lost. So you just had to vote for party and hope for the best.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:26 am

If the Republican Attorney General initiates an investigation into another Administration, then I’ll take a look at your shiny object.

I doubt that, but it’s quaint that you leave it up to Sessions and the deep state to decide that for you. Sessions got push back for even trying to fire crooked subordinate McCabe, so you present a conveniently ridiculous hypothetical.

McCabe, you know, the guy in charge of investigating that other administration.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:26 am

I will take a 12 year old Colonel over a toothless gone to seed dent de lion captured by the slightest breeze. I like flowers that don’t get captured.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:28 am

Trump could have come out like a Benevolent Dictator and accomplished grand bargains through polling. Establishing himself like Capone on Chicago with free turkeys at thanksgiving and Christmas…if he was smart, that is.

The Democrat way. Tammany Redux. No thank you. But thanks for the warning about what you consider “smart.”

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:28 am

I think DRJ may have just unwittingly hit on the title of the next King Kong sequel: “All The Kong’s Men – Going Apesh!t In The Beltway”

Colonel Haiku (951ecf) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:29 am

Only if anointing oil is mixed into the spray-tan.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:30 am

All the King’s Men is ABOUT Huey Long. It was thinly disguised to allow a fictional treatment, but it was about Long. Somewhere there should be a statue to Dr Carl Weiss.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:32 am

Ben thinks he’s going to get .65 on his next spin of the wheel but Bob’s gonna have to help him because he’s a lightweight.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:34 am

Bob likes Ben because he came on down pre-neutered.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:35 am

Well that’s interesting:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2017/12/27/finley-nassar-michigan-state-sex-assault-fitzgerald-simon/108960446

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:36 am

Thersxa follows up case:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/295/602

Of course the legal underpinning to the appointment is auspect

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:41 am

It was a paen to Frank Lloyd Wright among other things

narciso (0f642a) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:25 am

Well I have noticed that his, Howard Roark’s, Mike Brady’s and Ben Burn’s designs all look the same. Not much originality really.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:43 am

. Puerile, sophomoric, “Nietzsche for girls” aphorisms and strawmen.

nk (9651fb) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:08 am

Well the play is about four hours long. It’s in Dutch with subtitles on projectors, apparently. And there’s nudity. Just following that train of thought from opera.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:46 am

rand, I read OT 30 years ago, as part of an essay contest, really disdained the classical forms on display at the Chicago exposition.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:51 am

Can we at least agree that Pin is good at drive-by shootings and half-clever ankle-bites?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:51 am

“It is a fact that non-white non-males lacked the franchise in that era. That is a fact”

Not true. In that era only male property owners could vote, nothing said about race. What that meant in practice was that only men, regarded as the head of the household, with “skin in the game”, wete allowed to vote. Also, only elected state representatives were allowed to vote for senators. This system was a check on the fear that “When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.”

Now, thanks to the breakdown of that system, the end of the republic is nigh.

Also, as for your “non-white” claptrap, did you know there where black free men in north America during that era? It’s true! In fact, the first recorded slave owner in the U.S. was a black man. Not the only one either.

Relative to their numbers in the population (27 million according to the 1860 census), a miniscule number of whites owned slaves. Eight million whites lived in the South, but of these, fewer than 325,000 owned slaves. What this means is that only 1.4 percent of the total white population consisted of slave owners, and only 4.8 percent of the white Southern population did so.

In glaring contrast, in this same year, there were 4.5 million blacks living in America, and 500,000 blacks in the South. Over half of these—261, 988—were freed men. In the city of New Orleans alone, more than 3,000 blacks owned slaves. That is, 28 percent of the free black population consisted of slave holders.

In 1830, the Census Bureau notes that free blacks owned more than 10,000 slaves in the states of Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. As Halloway remarks, “Large numbers of free Blacks owned black slaves in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society.”

In some cities during some decades in the 19th century, more than 75 percent of the free black population was comprised of slave holders, and some of these black masters owned property in slaves that rivaled that of some of their wealthiest white counterparts while far exceeding that of most slave owners. The widow C. Richards and her son, to cite the most notable example, owned 152 slaves.

Some other interesting—racially incorrect—facts:

For four decades (1630-1670), those Africans who became freedmen owned white indentured servants.

The majority of urban black slave owners were women.

Now these are very inconvenient facts if you want to grab onto the Obama narrative of “Americas original sin”, disregarding that the institution predated whites in north America and existed worldwide since the cave man era, but please, do go on about “white racism” and historical “facts” if it makes you feel all virtuous. I’d hate to disabuse you of feeling all privileged and superior.

TheBas (3ad005) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:52 am

I’ve been listening to a Dan Carlin Hardcore History supplement. He’s comparing Germany’s WWI and WWII armies and judging which one was better.

The point he’s making about Hitler is that he put ideology over competence and merit so that basically sealed Germany’s fate in the war.

Does that give you who say Trump has no ideology anything to think about? I don’t think after this first quarter of play you can argue that his team is incompetent. That could change, I grant you.

As an aside I should note that I started listening to The Remnant and it’s a great podcast as well. I was surprised that Mr Goldberg changes up his intro music every episode. Maybe Sean Hannity did get into his head a little.

Thanks Mr Patterico.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:55 am

If they didn’t have a double standard:

https://townhall.com/columnists/humbertofontova/2018/01/27/president-trump-wins-medal-of-life-from-an-intl-human-rights-group-but-fake-news-media-blacks-out-news-n2440203

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:56 am

TheBastinado hates to disabuse but…

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 11:56 am

I guess it’s not fair to say those fellers are unoriginal. They take one original design and try to ride it to the grave.

You have to give someone like Madonna a little credit even if you don’t care for her work.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:00 pm

Thing is, I don’t think Ben was ever fashionable or relevant.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:02 pm

Fashion is for those who’d rather look good than be good, pin.

And relevance..well..let History judge.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:06 pm

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/world/europe/russia-protests-navalny.html?referer=

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:13 pm

@ random viking: You’ve ignored my question to you at #225 above. Was that intentional? Are you more or less of a Trump supporter than Sean Hannity?

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:18 pm

Ben is right about one thing. We need the fossils like McCain and Graham to turn in their playbooks and report to The Museum of Natural History.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:20 pm

narcisco,

But what part of a special counsel is legislative or judicial? He’s a prosecutor, which is an executive department function entirely.

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:20 pm

*narciso

Kevin M (752a26) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:20 pm

Anthony Hopkins ruined the name Clarice for me guys. I can’t even.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:27 pm

I agree the movie was based on Long.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:28 pm

@526

When the Eugenicists couldn’t kill the Africans fast enough with abortions they turned to illegal immigration.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:30 pm

When Lindsey looked nauseous to the point of upchuck as he defended the Chief, I had renewed respect for those who suffer from gag reflux.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:31 pm

@529

Does it depend on your Gore getting oxed?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:32 pm

I bet Primary Colors‘ Governor Stanton (aka Clinton) was based on Warren’s story, too.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:32 pm

Sorry Beldar, I seriously did not ignore your comment — I just didn’t see it. Honest truth, I first was aware of someone named Hannity when I first heard his radio show some 17 years ago. First impression was that he’s shallow, and that hasn’t changed. I have not watched his show in many, many years and in fact I don’t tune in to Fox News at all. Does that answer it for you?

That said, there is plenty of Lickspittle out there. Focusing that epithet on Hannity is misapplied effort, wouldn’t you say?

A post about Fox & Friends may as well be a post about the Sally Jessie Rafael show from 1986, for all I care.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:37 pm

Nevertheless, Warren always denied the book was about Long or even politics:

“Something of what I felt to be the difference between the person Huey P. Long and the fiction Willie Stark,” Warren once wrote, “may be indicated by the fact that in the verse play {“Proud Flesh”} the name of the politician was Talos — the name of the brutal, blank-eyed ‘iron groom’ of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, the pitiless servant of the knight of justice. My conception grew wider, but that element always remained and Willie Stark remained, in one way, Willie Talos. In other words, Talos is the kind of doom that democracy may invite upon itself. The book, however, was never intended to be a book about politics. Politics merely provided the framework story in which the deeper concerns … might work themselves out.”

To Warren, the book is about what evil does to good men, like the narrator. The movie downplayed that aspect.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:40 pm

624, but on that particular front, what bothers the majority more? That they are there and harming the AA community, or that they are getting away with, in most cases, what the Guardian Angels, Bernie Goetz, St. George of Sanford, and any decent neighborhood watch program cant get away with (at least without lengthy and costly trial)?

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:40 pm

Huey Long was known as a populist. This dedication website lists his legacy as:

Huey Long transformed Louisiana politics and his programs improved the lives of millions of Louisianians. Nationally, his advocacy of populist causes led to the creation of Social Security, veterans’ benefits, federal student loans, and other programs still enjoyed by Americans today.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:48 pm

Where in Hell do you get your ideas viking?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:49 pm

hollywood trash-biscuit Jennifer Lawrence is cute enough but she’s not hot in the way that she thinks she’s hot

she’s way more Zellwegger than Jolie and sweetie just can’t get her head around it

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:51 pm

Ben is a lot like a bag of chips where what little substance there is has settled to the bottom.

That’s called lividity I believe. It’s what happens when the blood stops circulating.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:52 pm

“Time to pass legislation to protect Mueller?” —- Chuckie Todd

Colonel Haiku (ec8281) — 1/28/2018 @ 8:22 am

We know Mueller is not an Independent Counsel. Has anyone other than Trump told him?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:57 pm

Something liberals hope the chronically-poor Dem voters never grasp:

“Tyler O’Neil
@Tyler2ONeil
“The single best anti-poverty program is a very beautiful paycheck.” — @realDonaldTrump BAM. Amen. @PJMedia_com @POTUS #TrumpAtDavos #Davos”

harkin (8256c3) — 1/28/2018 @ 12:58 pm

Pinandpuller says, “I will take a 12 year old Colonel over a toothless gone to seed dent de lion captured by the slightest breeze. I like flowers that don’t get captured.”

You mock the tortured prisoner of war. “Bone spurs” come to mind. You like em tough alright.

noel (b4d580) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:00 pm

Why is Trump refusing to enforce sanctions? Why indeed.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/14/politics/trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/index.html

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:00 pm

they make whole bags now of just the skunge what settles to the bottom they call them Fail Chips

they are contain carb

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:00 pm

You mock the tortured prisoner of war

i did it first way before he did why does he get all the credit

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:01 pm

Shailene Woodley is the aware-of-her-limitations version of J-Law.

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:03 pm

Having a moron as a foreign policy leader is a problem.

This isn’t complicated.

Leviticus (924d70) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:01 am

It sure is nice of John Kerry to pitch in like he is.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:07 pm

yum here are the zesty food pron

(they are contain carb)

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:07 pm

@ Pin, re Madonna’s contributions to American culture: The O’Quinn Medical Tower, now owned by Texas Children’s Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, allegedly was designed to resemble two giant hypodermic needles in homage to its intended use for medical offices. Smart alecks like me, however — those of us who knew its endower, a Houston personal injury lawyer named John O’Quinn, who made hundreds of millions of dollars off contingent fees in mass-tort breast implant litigation in the 1980s — refer to it as “The Madonna Tower.”

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:08 pm

Shailene Woodley is the aware-of-her-limitations version of J-Law.

very good point – I don’t like Shailene but she does seem to understand who she is (unlike a daddy-issues train wreck like “J-Law”)

but Saoirse and Chloe give way more bang for your talent buck I think

especially Saoirse

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:14 pm

DCSCA,

Without a set of values and ideals to guide them, pragmatism becomes “whatever the leader likes” and ultimately “whatever helps the leader.” That is the path to corruption that has doomed countless politicians, especially populist politicians who pride themselves on only caring about solutions.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:16 pm

Tucker is better with kris knife, Laura is more a velvet glove person, I had little use for o’reilly.

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:17 pm

Oh yes..Madonna

Isn’t she marvelous?

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:18 pm

You have to give someone like Madonna a little credit even if you don’t care for her work.

Madonna her whole life has done an incredible job representing America to the whirl by what she embodies: individualism, ambition, assiduousness, strength

contrast her with useless fat-ass drug addicts like Whitney Houston or the mousey vapid puff-pastry stylings of Taylor Swift

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:19 pm

Noel…

A word to the wise. Take a break. They’re napping again.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:19 pm

You forgot to mention the golden showers.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:09 am

Cruising under your radar
Watching from satellites
Take a page from the red book
Keep them in your sights
Red alert
Red alert

Distant Early Warning

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:19 pm

I said I like wild flowers. How dare you. I guess you can’t do the Tango so you put the flowers behind your ears.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:21 pm

John O’Quinn had his own rules for life, especially driving rules.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:24 pm

It seems more likely that Madonna would sink to the bottom of a bathtub Mr happyfeet.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:25 pm

Isn’t no-el Superman’s third cousin?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:26 pm

Lol. And pinhead peaks at semi- conscious presumption.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:26 pm

Ben you are positively indefagatable.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:27 pm

Volume does not equate to increased value.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:27 pm

maybe so but if she did it would be more like just a one-off not a family tradition i think

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:30 pm

Saoirse is great, agreed. Taylor Swift someone you want credit and adulation for doing, but you don’t really enjoy it

urbanleftbehind (3a8cb2) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:33 pm

taylor kinda lost me when i saw her ass on the side of an UPS truck

she’s acting like illiterate olympic athlete-trash – those people what have like 6 months to cash in before they’ll have to learn to read or else take a job at some family member’s auto dealership

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:39 pm

Tell me who’s that writin’? Ben the Relevator

Wrote nothin’ revelatory ever

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:48 pm

As I said…

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:50 pm

@ random viking (#628): I certainly accept that you missed my question earlier, and likewise accept your assertion that you don’t watch or pay much attention to either Fox & Friends or Sean Hannity, despite the fact that they’re the subject of a Patterico.com post on which you’ve now left almost 30 comments now.

I find it much harder to believe that you feel unable to compare your own enthusiasm as a Trump supporter to Hannity’s. Whether you watch Hannity’s show regularly, occasionally, or never, no one who pays regular attention to American politics — and I’m confident you’re in that category, sir (or, I suppose, ma’am) — can have missed the close association between Hannity and Trump.

So I suppose I’m left thinking that you protest too much. And that tells me approximately what I wanted to know, anyway, so thanks.

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:55 pm

Seriously this as bad as the mosses re the barcelona cell#

https://vault.fbi.gov/mikhail-lesin/Mikhail%20Lesin%20Part%2001%20of%2001/view

narciso (d1f714) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:00 pm

You’re a loser, and it’s such a shame

That you’re a fool and you don’t know

That I’m a Viking and I’ll walk all over you

And by my [rhetorical] sword you will die

I Am a Viking

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:01 pm

You could make almost a whole woman what with Jolie’s breasts and Zellwegger’s face.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:04 pm

John O’Quinn was a flawed and tragic figure, DRJ. He was a phenomenally gifted lawyer, later a genuously generous philanthropist. But he could not resist the lure of the Dark Side. He, like me, learned his trade at Baker Botts, and although he was gone before I started there, I had cases against him while I was a PI defense lawyer, and we were volunteer judges once for the final round of a University of Houston Law School moot court competition. (He remains among its most famous alumni and the law library there bears his name based upon a huge contribution.) Despite his gifts and frequent good works, he was deeply and thoroughly corrupt, and it’s impossible to deny that in a karmic sense, he got what was coming to him. His rules for life were ultimately selfish, wicked ones; his legacy is a very uneasy and imperfect one, and I regret in fact that his life has not been more conspicuously used as an object lesson in bad behavior for the young lawyers who graduate from

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:06 pm

* his alma mater (that ought to have ended).

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:07 pm

@ Pin, re Madonna’s contributions to American culture: The O’Quinn Medical Tower, now owned by Texas Children’s Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, allegedly was designed to resemble two giant hypodermic needles in homage to its intended use for medical offices. Smart alecks like me, however — those of us who knew its endower, a Houston personal injury lawyer named John O’Quinn, who made hundreds of millions of dollars off contingent fees in mass-tort breast implant litigation in the 1980s — refer to it as “The Madonna Tower.”

Beldar (fa637a) — 1/28/2018 @ 1:08 pm

Wow, haha! Reminds me of Le Gran Teton Natl Park. Or Nashville’s Batman Building AT&T Yeah Right

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:10 pm

Mr Beldar

I had some acquaintances who went to med school in Houston but I can’t remember the specifics. I’m sure they know all about that place.

I admire reinvention but I still like early Madonna, Shakira and Lady Gaga more than current.

You have a passing familiarity with one of my earliest works so it will be interesting to hear your input on what I have in the pipeline right now.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:16 pm

But her talking stick hurts or so I’ve heard

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/28/politics/susan-collins-robert-mueller/

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:19 pm

Beldar, since you went through the painstaking task of counting my comments, I guess you noticed how many had anything to do with Fox & Friends, Hannity or Sally Jessie Raphael.

Anyone who so cavalierly tosses sycophant-level praise or puerile epithets in lieu of a cogent argument is lacking in my book, whether that’s Hannity or anyone else.

random viking (6a54c2) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:21 pm

oh dear

looks like lobsterpot bimbo Susan Collins is having a #metoo hot flash

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a Sunday show interview that Republicans who have accepted donations from former Republican National Committee (RNC) finance chairman Steve Wynn should give the money back if they have not yet spent the funds.

“If they’ve accepted contributions recently from him that have not been spent, absolutely, I don’t even think it’s a close call to return the money,” Collins told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:23 pm

That was his decision to make as POTUS, and he could have relied on his own knowledge of the activities of his campaign, limited as that might have been

No, he couldn’t. Because that would be the epitome of “the rule of men, not laws”.

Kishnevi (c7baf0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:28 pm

corrupt FBI suckboy Robert Mueller already did “rule of men, not laws” epitome all up in it

happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:30 pm

P&P
Are you familiar with the modern state Capital building in Tallahassee?

Kishnevi (c7baf0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:34 pm

@646. Without a set of values and ideals to guide them, pragmatism becomes “whatever the leader likes” and ultimately “whatever helps the leader.” That is the path to corruption that has doomed countless politicians, especially populist politicians who pride themselves on only caring about solutions.

Given opposition to both ideologies, allying w/a communist Russia to defeat Nazi fascism was quite pragmatic, and not only helped ‘the leaders’ but Allied ‘followers’ as well to a win.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:40 pm

Postscript- if Trump plays at a Wynn casino, somehow, ‘corruption’ seems the least of our worries.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:44 pm

Admiral been a f up burner
Your a pos speaking about Clarice that way. Only a Dick Smoker talks about a women that way. But then a woman to you is Carlos Danger or the pant suit darling.

mg (aefa58) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:48 pm

U rite lick a goomer

She suk rear tit..

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:51 pm

Lmao

mg (aefa58) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:52 pm

Hannity survived the attack of the metoo assassins. I think the only one.

That is no mean feat. I wish every one of you his luck, if the situation ever arises, but my money would be on the girls.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:52 pm

@683. Every circus needs at least one clown in the center ring.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:55 pm

It also has a downside like Yalta.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:57 pm

684
Like that stumble bum Running the riuskie debacle.

mg (aefa58) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:03 pm

Remember this [jpg] picture by the Atlantic?

From back when it was cool to mock the torture survivor.

And here’s Barack Ebola mocking John McCain’s disability in no ambiguous terms. [YouTube]

Why is it all of a sudden bad for Trump to throw a saddle on the “maverick”, steer him in the right direction (to the sidelines)?

Stroke of genius actually.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:09 pm

Hey Ben, you’re also like a bag of chips in that you’re likely to explode at a country festival.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:16 pm

@685. Trump 101: a win is a win is a win– especially w/any signing ceremony for newsreel cameras– or the TeeVee!

DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:16 pm

P&P
Are you familiar with the modern state Capital building in Tallahassee?

Kishnevi (c7baf0) — 1/28/2018 @ 2:34 pm

Never been south of Pensacola. Do tell, though.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:17 pm

You’re likely to get passed around at The Gathering of the Juggalos.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:19 pm

You’re likely to end up on the infield of an intramural softball game.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:23 pm

Stick it to the man, Susan.

You put your weed in there…

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:26 pm

How about show and tell?
https://structurae.net/structures/florida-state-capitol
Not so much phallic as priapic.

Amusingly, the State website has photos taken from ground level with the Old Capital demurely interposed.

Kishnevi (c7baf0) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:31 pm

OT
I suspect a massive troll here

https://jalopnik.com/billionaire-elon-musk-is-arming-20-000-of-his-followers-1822489084/

Kishnevi (c7baf0) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:41 pm

Against what? The welfare department demanding Elon get a real job or else pay the money back?

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 3:44 pm

White House Is Pressing for Release of Explosive FISA Memo – Early This Week, Possibly Monday!

– report by Fox and Friends. [YouTube]

HANNITY: FISA MEMO RELEASE NEXT WEEK! [YouTube]

I’m guessing it will show the Clinton crime cover up team exclusively using the Buzzfeed memo to wiretap Trump tower.

Why are we talking about someone who didn’t get fired again?

Isn’t this the same guy who didn’t get fired last Summer?

Winter, spring, summer, or fall. All you got to do is call.
And he’ll be there, yes he will. Cause Muell’s got a friend.
Nothin’ worrying him.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:02 pm

If you always wondered about the similarity between Brewster Drilling and Ben Burn it’s that they are pouring all their efforts into borehole H8.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:07 pm

It only took them four years to get that up? Does Dr Evil live there?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:10 pm

I guess I should use proper engineering terms. It only took four years to erect?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:10 pm

Here’s 10 common pitfalls that Bob Mueller should avoid to keep his job.

1. Don’t lie on your application.

2. Don’t surf the net for porn.

3. Avoid gossip.

4. Avoid personal email.

5. thru 10. Don’t matter. Bob already [edit] the pooch on the first four.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:45 pm

“Trump ultimately had to admit 30 times that he had lied over the years about all sorts of stuff: how much of a big Manhattan real estate project he owned; the price of one of his golf club memberships; the size of the Trump Organization; his wealth; his speaking fees; how many condos he had sold; his debts, and whether he borrowed money from his family to avoid going personally bankrupt.
“He also lied during the deposition about his business dealings with career criminals.”
https://www.axios.com/trump-white-house-worry-about-talking-to-mueller-93acd452-a053-47bd-87fd-7deb8c9c6883.html

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:49 pm

He also lied about his height.

random viking (ed361a) — 1/28/2018 @ 5:20 pm

“He also lied during the deposition about his business dealings with career criminals.”

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:49 pm

Dave does have a point. The Clinton’s came to his wedding.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:45 pm

Mr DCSCA used to work with capital “N” Nazis. Do you expect us to just cast him aside after all these years?

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:51 pm

I thought monarchy was a medical term for one testicle. Maybe that’s monorchie. Same difference.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 10:53 am

Naw. Mon Archie is a comic book in France.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:32 pm

Naw. Mon Archie is a comic book in France.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:32 pm

They are all as twisted as balloon animals lol. Torsion is the medical term.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:37 pm

“He also lied during the deposition about his business dealings with career criminals.”

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/28/2018 @ 4:49 pm

Dave does have a point. The Clinton’s came to his wedding.

Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 1/28/2018 @ 6:45 pm

He had to deal with New York, City and State, their pet labor unions/ of course the description “career criminal” is pretty fluid under those circumstances.

papertiger (c8116c) — 1/28/2018 @ 7:59 pm

You guys would make Sacha Baron Cohen blush. Let’s look at a few of your words from above….

Pinandpuller… “testicle, borehole, breasts, pre-neutered, testicle (again), gay, scat”.

Happyfeet…. “bimbo, trash, fat-ass, trash-biscuit, slutty, boink, dick”

Colonel Haiku…. “fvcking the poultry, boinking the poultry, wankers, horseshiff”

Those are from just the last third of comments above. From one article.

You know, I actually was rolling in laughter during some of the movie “Bruno”. And its a twisted, naughty little show. But your comments, not so much. No point to it other than annoying other contributors.

noel (b4d580) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:02 am

You all seem to comment at about the same time too. You aren’t a party to that Russian deep state, are you??

noel (b4d580) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:31 am

Yeah. Uh huh. We understand.

Experts say the reason isn’t price gouging by Boeing, which makes the jets and handles the presidential modifications, but instead the result of bespoke equipment requirements put in place by the White House Military Office and the Air Force.

Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:33 am

Maybe this would make Schumer more flexible.
http://anodtothegods.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/tumblr_p3b7kkzmf01vbkvgoo1_500.jpg

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:35 am

Comrade Ben!, I don’t know who Axios.com is but just because they’re uneducated, inexperienced douchebags doesn’t mean you need to join them. You must be smarter than that. Anybody doing business in big cities lies. It’s a matter of survival. Don’t act so naive. I too did business with organized crime. They ate at my restaurant. Frequently. And I drank with them at my bar. Frequently.

How many times a day do you allow Trump to brain f**k you? You should join the fake news media. His dick is permanently implanted in their brains. Winning!

Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:44 am

it’s politico 2.0, whether it’s merely rizzotto or journalist, is an open question,

narciso (d1f714) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:51 am

Anybody doing business in big cities lies.

Good to know. I assume the same is true for internet commenters who are also businessmen in big cities.

DRJ (15874d) — 1/29/2018 @ 8:54 am

And now, the good Rev.Hoagie joins in. “Douchebags, brain f**k and dick”.

I suppose that since you guys throw in a couple of five syllable words now and then, you don’t think that you seem quite so juvenile. Hey, I like to cuss now and then but I have never confused it’s constant use with creativity.

noel (b4d580) — 1/29/2018 @ 9:01 am

You forgot about mg, nothing to see this morning….he’s usually the alarm clock of this site.

urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 1/29/2018 @ 9:04 am

1/26/2018

Fox and Friends: Who Cares If Trump Wanted to Fire Mueller?

717 Responses to “Fox and Friends: Who Cares If Trump Wanted to Fire Mueller?”

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