My god, the Republicans are awful:
The Justice Department’s inspector general has been focused for months on why Andrew McCabe, as the No. 2 official at the FBI, appeared not to act for about three weeks on a request to examine a batch of Hillary Clinton-related emails found in the latter stages of the 2016 election campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.
The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, has been asking witnesses why FBI leadership seemed unwilling to move forward on the examination of emails found on the laptop of former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) until late October — about three weeks after first being alerted to the issue, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
A key question of the internal investigation is whether McCabe or anyone else at the FBI wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the Nov. 8 election, these people said. It is unclear whether the inspector general has reached any conclusions on that point.
A major line of inquiry for the inspector general has been trying to determine who at the FBI and the Justice Department knew about the Clinton emails on the Weiner laptop, and when they learned about them. McCabe is a central figure in those inquiries, these people said.
That’s what they are supposed to do. Not act in a way that will impact an election. Comey’s behavior was in violation of the protocols. Here they are, as stated original under Bush by Mukasey, and again by Holder under Obama:
Comey’s behavior was aberrant, McCabe’s was what you are supposed to do. This is particularly true when you realize that the Weiner emails TURNED OUT TO BE A NOTHINGBURGER.
So basically, Republicans are shitting all over McCabe for not releasing potentially damaging information that might have impacted an election would definitely have leaked through the corrupt NY office of Giuliani stooges and turned out to be nothing.
It’s really no exaggeration to state the Republicans are a threat to democracy. And remember, they are doing all this while trying to STOP an investigation into Trump and firing and smearing anyone who might testify under oath about him.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
In a just world, Comey would be prosecuted under the Hatch act. We are so very far from that world now.
Tokyokie
So in other words, according to the rationale provided to der Trumpenfüher, Comey was fired because he acted inappropriately in regard to the Weiner laptop e-mails by calling attention to them shortly before the election, and McCabe has been canned for acting inappropriately in regard to the same e-mails by not calling attention to them shortly before the election. Good lord. Can’t these bastards even concoct a consistent cover story? Other than ones involving vast international conspiracies working out of a pizza joint?
Swannie
Trump is giving the best SOTU in 30 years.
Patricia Kayden
@Swannie: You’re an idiot.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but I hate this fucking movie. This movie blows. If it weren’t my country, I’d walk out on this shit.
The Dangerman
@Swannie:
Plus, he’s lost weight and gained more hair on his head.
ETA: And I think his hands have gotten bigger.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
@Patricia Kayden: Do you think that’s for real? Or just some lame-ass troll? If it is, Putin sure as hell isn’t getting his money’s worth…
hitchhiker
They’d be doing us all a favor at this point if they focused on why the White House allowed Michael Flynn access to the most secret information we have for weeks AFTER they knew he’d lied to the FBI about his contacts with foreign adversaries.
In case A, it didn’t matter because the emails were nothingburgers. In case B, Flynn has pleaded guilty to a crime. A criminal was director of the NSA, ffs.
And they want to talk about meaningless emails …. nothing weird about that.
Patricia Kayden
@Tokyokie: Republicans don’t care about being consistent. Their base, the only people who matter to them, don’t require propaganda to be consistent.
Republicans are acting as if this isn’t an election year. Kind of bizarre that they’re not noticing how unpopular their Orange Bigot is with the vast majority of Americans. Guess they’ll figure it out in November.
zhena gogolia
@Swannie:
Да, я не слышала ничего такого мудрого с 1953-го года.
zhena gogolia
@Swannie:
Da, ia ne slyshala nichego takogo mudrogo s 1953-go goda.
Patricia Kayden
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): Probably some troll. 99% of BJ commenters are cool so if I see a delusional comment, I assume it’s someone trying to get noticed. I’ll ignore it next time. Couldn’t help myself.
schrodingers_cat
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): Appeared yesterday, plus BS fan club is back too.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Is it over yet? Not peeking at the live thread.
I seem to be going brain-dead. I was convinced that the Maxine Waters response on BET was tonight. It’s on a new show premiering TOMORROW.
That’s not the first completely brain-dead thing I’ve said on BJ *this week*.
Corner Stone
Wray needs to be called out on this as well. He sold McCabe down the river.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Patricia Kayden:
Oh they already have. Pompeo said that Russia is likely going to target the mid-term election. IOW if the Dems beat them, then they cheated.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Patricia Kayden: Even if that’s not a Russian paid troller, there are plenty of them out there. They know as well as we do that 2018 is a more important off-year election than we’ve ever had before.
So how do we fight Russian influence on the elections, the media, the campaign, the Facebook and blog discussions, etc?
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Ha!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
when you read through the article, it looks like Drumpftards in NY and DC are leaking this to justify moving McCabe out.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Indeed, Comrade Iosif Vissarionovich was quite the public speaker.
Villago Delenda Est
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): Lame ass troll.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Swannie: To the pie filter with you!
Matt McIrvin
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): It sure talks about pie a lot.
Mnemosyne
If anyone else suspected that the whole “Hillary let a sexual harasser slide!” thing was the usual bogus Clinton Rules bullshit, she did a long Facebook post today and confirmed that.
Some high points:
She waited so long to respond because she wanted to talk to the victim first (whose anonymity she is still protecting). The victim is still in politics and says she was satisfied with the decision both at the time and today.
The New York Times is claiming that her 2008 actions were inadequate and yet took those exact same actions last year when Glenn Thrush got accused (she doesn’t name names, but it’s clear what and who she means). That’s a sure sign of Clinton Rules in play.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Our alma mater was in the NYT crossword puzzle today.
Mnemosyne
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Don’t worry, the king of the Sanders Bros stopped by today to assure us that there’s nothing — absolutely nothing — to the Russia story, and he linked to a couple of essays on Medium to prove it. Problem solved!
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: No shit? Maybe the Times isn’t garbage after all…. Yeah, I’m a cheap date.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: LT?
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
I must say it warmed my heart.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m assuming it was Lawrence, not ASU.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: Yes. Never been near ASU.
Mike J
And on topic, the Trump will get Keebler Elf to prosecute Mueller story today was designed to piss off decent people. He can’t call us in front of a grand jury if he’s spending all day every day in front of one himself.
Gravenstone
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): Based on its first appearance the other night, 100% troll. Immediately pied (en masse in that thread) and everyone moved on. Suggest the same treatment here. Eventually it will whither without an audience.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yup. Folks who pie should re-check their pie filters.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
You can see the completed grid here. (34 across) People in the comments are complaining about it being obscure.
Bill Arnold
This is purified, pharmaceutical-grade bullshit.
The timing would have changed, significantly, in Clinton’s favor. If Comey had released the Comey-letter 3 weeks earlier, a rapid “nothing found” would have allowed Democratic capture of a few anti-Trump news cycles and Clinton would have recovered a couple of percentage points, or more depending on what dirt (no holds barred at that point) was available on Trump, and she would have won in a landslide.
Or are they saying that they are upset that Hillary was cheated of a deserved win by McCabe?
SiubhanDuinne
Joe Kennedy has just started the Dem response, and he’s GOOD!
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: What was the clue?
cmorenc
I didn’t listen to Trump’s SOTU address, but since two of the TVs in the bank of them above the workout area were showing it, did get occasional brief visual glances, particularly at the congressional audience.
– it was striking how many Republicans, including apparently Trump himself, were wearing suits either black or else so dark they could pass for black, as opposed to the more usual dominance of various shades of blue. Of course, the GOPers weren’t doing so to protest Trump’s history of abuse, but the prevalence of black on the GOP side did had the effect of muting the visual impact of any Dems wearing black in protest. Query to what extent this exercise in camouflage by the GOP was deliberately coordinated toward that end.
Old Dan and Little Anne
I thought Conan was on another channel.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
“Wisconsin city that’s home to Lawrence University” (it’s at the top)
“City” is pushing it a bit.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Municipalities in WI are organized as cities, villages, or townships. Appleton is a city.
SFAW
Um, I don’t think “her e-mails” were an “Election-related Crime” — at least, not by Hillary — I think they were attempting to tar her with a “breach of National Security OMFG!!!” thing. The second and third paragraphs are more ambiguous (the “election-related” wording is not repeated), but overall, it appears to be a different thing.
That doesn’t negate that the Party of Traitors is trying every way it can to end the Mueller investigation.
In their evil heads, Barry Goldwater said “Moderation in the destruction of democracy is no virtue, extremism in the defense of treason is is no vice.”
japa21
@zhena gogolia: Actually, Appleton is a very nice city. Enjoyed growing up there. Got to see Joe McCarthy’s funeral procession 3 blocks from my home.
SFAW
@zhena gogolia:
Pa Angliskiy, pazhal’sta?
Omnes Omnibus
@japa21: You’re a townie?
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
How do they determine which one it should be? By the sheep-to-farmboy ratio?
zhena gogolia
@japa21:
I love Appleton.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
City, not township. Jeez.
japa21
@Omnes Omnibus: Not totally. Moved to Appleton when I was in second grade, then down to Menomonee Falls sophomore year of high school. Went to college in Michigan and then moved down to Chicago area in my early twenties. Other than the part where I met my wife, moving down here may have been the worst move I ever made.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Sheep?
japa21
@SFAW: That was funny.
zhena gogolia
@japa21:
Hahaha, haven’t thought of Menomonee Falls in decades!
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah, duh, should be cows.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
What, goats? Cows?
Venezuelan beavers? (For you cheese-lovers)
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Move along. Nothing to see here. Other than every town vs gown thing ever.
Millard Filmore
@Tokyokie:
Hey! InterPLANETary. She stores the extra kids on Mars!
japa21
@zhena gogolia: Understandable.
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia: Everyone is always complaining over at Rex’s. I sometimes wonder why Rex himself does the crossword everyday, he hardly ever has a good word to say about it.
(Not too often my different blogging personalities meet up.)
Mnemosyne
@zhena gogolia:
My wingnut cousin used to be a TV reporter in Appleton. Obviously, she never hit the big time since she’s now doing PR in Waukesha. ?
Sherparick
@Gravenstone: The prime directive: Don’t Feed the Troll.’
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne:
One of the saddest sentences I have ever read.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
She is quite the piece of work these days, sadly.
Suffragette City
In a piece of hoping for injuries news tonight, the NV Gambling Control Board is looking into the allegations against Wynn..and oh so is ..China and I’m going to bet China has him worried.
Did not watch SOTU . Fuk him
efgoldman
@SFAW:
They have no institutional memory beyond 2012 or so. They forget Goldwater went to Tricksie Dicksie to tell him he was done.
efgoldman
@japa21:
Did you spit? Turn your back?
Aleta
McCabe and “Bipartisanship” are two headlines on the WP front page tomorrow:
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/958554913486884864
SFAW
@efgoldman:
You mean that RINO, Barry the Apostate? They would have called him “the ultra-liberal Barry Goldwater” these days.
PS: I thought it was Howard Baker. [I know you’ve mentioned Goldwater doing that a number of times. Why does Howard Baker’s name pop into my “mind”? (Outside of my senility, that is.)]
Vhh
@hitchhiker: DIA, not NSA