CNN exclusive: Grand jury subpoenas issued in FBI's Russia investigation https://t.co/rvWMKRp1SF
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 10, 2017
Washington (CNN)Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year’s election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI’s broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.The subpoenas issued in recent weeks by the US Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Virginia, were received by associates who worked with Flynn on contracts after he was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, according to the people familiar with the investigation.Robert Kelner, an attorney for Flynn, declined to comment. The US Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, the Justice Department and the FBI also declined to comment.
Source: Comey at the “rocket docket” yesterday in Virginia that expedites cases, submitting intel. Trump panicked.
craig
You’re a very clear and effective writer Adam. I appreciate your work here.
dmsilev
Seems like a fairly plausible explanation. I don’t think anyone knows where this is headed, but it isn’t going to be pretty. Special prosecutor is a good first step, but only a first step at this point.
TenguPhule
I hope you’re right Adam. For all our sakes.
LAO
https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/862119739979640832
amk
I saw the teabagger justin amash is one. Is there any one else from gopee? Will a momentum be achieved?
dm
I think it’s time for a refresher on the differences between “special prosecutor”, “independent investigation”, “bipartisan independent investigation”, etc.
I know that the differences aren’t that subtle, but that the different offices have different roles and different termination conditions.
Also, didn’t the Republicans let the special prosecutor law lapse? Or was that one of the other ones?
mike in dc
Those twitter rumors about pending indictments seem more plausible now.
Doug!
Take it down a notch, Adam. Get a grip!
dmsilev
@LAO: I believe in the Republican Party, in that I believe it exists. Sadly so; life would be better if the GOP was just some fictional creation.
Elie
As they say, “Socks on a chicken!”
Things are gonna get very very interesting. Hold on to your hats folks….
Did this WH really think that this was the way to manage this? Of course, the term “to manage” is not a phrase they really understand fundamentally. Trump thinks that only HE considers loyalty in his decisions.
mike in dc
@amk: Ben Sasse is a maybe. We’d need 3 defectors on the Senate side in order to hold up confirmation of a new director until the investigation is completed. And to support a special prosecutor and independent commission.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@craig:
Seconded. Adam is a jewel, a go-to, sober assessor of events.
The Dangerman
Can we just impeach the fucker already?
Does the replacement have to get to 60? Good luck with that if Mr. or Ms. Replacement appears to be against further investigation of Russia. Well, good luck getting to 60 for anyone, actually.
Everything stops in its tracks. No AHCA. No nothing.
ETA: Maybe he nominates Ivanka?
J
@dm:
dmsilev
@Elie:
I feel I have to ask: Who are ‘they’ in this case?
(never heard that expression before)
Mnemosyne
@LAO:
Lawyer lady! So, now that Comey has been fired, could Sessions shut down the grand jury, or is it beyond his control at this point?
Yes, yes, Sessions said he was recusing himself, but we already know he’s a fucking liar.
J
Will the new FBI director be Gary Busey or MeatLoaf?
Joy in FL
Thank you, Adam. You’re right. Fighting is better than despair. I really appreciate this blog and all the folks who participate. You all help me not give in to apathy.
sigaba
@LAO: Boot said about the same thing when Trump was nominated.
sigaba
@J: Antonio Sabato Jr.
Mnemosyne
@sigaba:
And Boot wasn’t wrong then, either.
jl
@dmsilev: ‘They’ are an exclusive club. Socks on a chicken is a very rare thing. But, looks like Elie knows some of them
Mary G
OMG I leave the internet alone for one afternoon and all hell breaks loose! Wow/reading will have to speed way, way up.
dmsilev
@J: I’m guessing it’ll be Rudy. I can think of worse choices, but not very many of them, and he’s chummy with Trump and has no scruples whatsoever.
LAO
@Mnemosyne: ?
Short answer, I have no fucking idea. These are crazy times. I’d say no but I haven’t been right about anything having to do with Trump and this administration.
lamh36
And now CNN brings on Jeff Lord…CLICK!
Lizzy L
I was just on my way over here, Adam, to post that CNN link. You beat me to it.
Time to call our Senators; tell them no new FBI Director unless we first get an independent prosecutor, i.e. someone Orangehair cannot fire.
chris
@craig: Agreed. Thanks, Adam
Thru the Looking Glass...
@mike in dc:
I’ve been coming across those (rumors) in various twitter feeds for at least two, maybe three weeks…
LAO
@sigaba: Well, we know the answer to that one. Things aren’t looking good for the Republic.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
*insert stream of uncontrollable bitter laughter*
Thru the Looking Glass...
@dmsilev:
Does that mean Rudy will issue a subpoena on himself?
Adam L Silverman
@amk: I don’t know. But they respond to pressure. Call!
LAO
@J: Chris Christie.
Gin & Tonic
Tomorrow’s NY Daily News.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@dmsilev: Christie would be better. And isn’t Orlok currently head of cyber or some shit?
Adam L Silverman
@dm: The independent prosecutor statute was not renewed after the Clinton mess.
GregB
I am pretty sureTrump will appoint Sergei Lavrov as FBI Director tomorrow.
lamh36
And the Russians are here to visit with State Dept and maybe the White House…smh
This is some real bullshit
dmsilev
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Christie fails the son-in-law-veto test though; Kushner still hates his guts for Christie’s prosecution of Kushner’s father.
MomSense
@Mary G:
I don’t want you to be away. On the other hand I think you should step away from the internet more often for the good of the nation.
rikyrah
The Healthcare Bill Exposes Trump’s Chilling Authoritarian Agenda
It’s not only an assault on our bodies, but on our political will.
By Sarah Kendzior
May 8, 2017
The image is now iconic: a group of old white men stand at a podium, announcing that a healthcare bill that disproportionately hurts women has passed the House. The men include a beaming Mike Pence, who once signed a law forcing women to bury or cremate aborted fetuses, and President Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by at least 13 women, and, lest we forget, once bragged about his ability to “grab” women “by the pussy” on tape.
All thirteen of the members who designed this bill were men. And while the legislation has the potential to hurt every American, many of its stipulations are explicitly designed to render women unable to acquire basic care. If the new bill is signed into law, rape and sexual assault—far more common among women than men—could be considered pre-existing conditions by the federal government. For women who let their insurance lapse, maternity coverage will no longer be guaranteed, and pregnant women may face surcharges up to $17,000 for care. C-sections could also be considered a pre-existing condition, meaning that a woman could incur costs of roughly $50,000 for simply wanting another child. States could determine that having a heavy period or other menstrual irregularities is a pre-existing condition to be paid for out of pocket.
Erectile dysfunction, at the moment, is still covered.
It is not surprising that no women were involved in the creation of the healthcare bill. Women currently comprise only 19.4% of the House, are in no senior cabinet positions, and remain a minority in every branch of government and most sectors of public influence, like business, media, and technology. To be clear, this gender imbalance existed under the Obama administration and all others before it; half of the population being represented by a fragment is nothing new. The difference is that prior administrations were not fledgling kleptocratic autocracies whose primary opponents are female citizens.
All thirteen of the members who designed this bill were men. And while the legislation has the potential to hurt every American, many of its stipulations are explicitly designed to render women unable to acquire basic care. If the new bill is signed into law, rape and sexual assault—far more common among women than men—could be considered pre-existing conditions by the federal government. For women who let their insurance lapse, maternity coverage will no longer be guaranteed, and pregnant women may face surcharges up to $17,000 for care. C-sections could also be considered a pre-existing condition, meaning that a woman could incur costs of roughly $50,000 for simply wanting another child. States could determine that having a heavy period or other menstrual irregularities is a pre-existing condition to be paid for out of pocket.
Erectile dysfunction, at the moment, is still covered.
It is not surprising that no women were involved in the creation of the healthcare bill. Women currently comprise only 19.4% of the House, are in no senior cabinet positions, and remain a minority in every branch of government and most sectors of public influence, like business, media, and technology. To be clear, this gender imbalance existed under the Obama administration and all others before it; half of the population being represented by a fragment is nothing new. The difference is that prior administrations were not fledgling kleptocratic autocracies whose primary opponents are female citizens.
Adam L Silverman
@Doug!: Hey ASSHAT! I kept the important points of my interaction with you off the site and between us. But since you can’t seem to keep your fool mouth shut, everyone gets to see what I sent you:
And now your bullshit response:
Take your troll act somewhere else before you get someone hurt.
dm
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Christie would have to apologize to Jared for imprisoning his father first, I imagine.
And, well, Trump might not consider the imprisoning Ivanka’s father-in-law to be all that hot a precedent.
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
I’ve heard of chicken sweaters, but never chicken socks. ?
And, yes, the photo is real. People in England knit them for hens they’ve adopted from factory farms.
Patricia Kayden
@amk: Hopefully and miraculously, yes.
beth
Lol watching CNN. Jeffrey Lord says “this is not the Kremlin”. “Well, not yet” snarks Anderson Cooper. Is our media learning?
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
And that was not a coincidence. It was probably even the entire purpose of the exercise.
Ridnik Chrome
@dmsilev: I hope it is Rudy. It would serve him right.
Mnemosyne
Also, too, I’ll re-link to my new favorite meme to remind ourselves that resistance comes from unexpected places.
Patricia Kayden
@mike in dc: Isn’t it sad that we have a hard time coming up with just three Republicans who will put country above Party? Democrats should put out targeted ads against Republican Senators up for election next year.
DougJ
@Adam L Silverman:
Pathetic
Adam L Silverman
@The Dangerman: My guess is Sheriff Clarke.
Gin & Tonic
@DougJ: Is this the right forum for this?
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: I also answered your question from the other night about military readiness and the defense budget earlier this evening. I may have gone to sleep before you ask it, but I knew it was there…
Mnemosyne
And in that same vein, this comic strip.
When it comes to survival in the wilderness, I’ll take a park ranger over a suburban “survivalist” any day.
efgoldman
Which is why the RWNJ majorities are not the problem they seem to be. Yeah, impeachment and removal of the president/VP are probably off the table. But once the grand jury testimony starts and indictments start falling, the pressure ratchets up and up and up until positions become untenable. And as Adam has said several times, if Evil Leprechaun and his minions try to croak the investigations, the leaks will make the Pentagon Papers look like a fifth grade book report.
Remember, by the time Tricksie left, his two closest WH advisors, two former AGs, and all manner of other deputies and assistants were indicted/convicted/pled. Per Wiki:
The Dangerman
@Adam L Silverman:
Who?
LAO
@Mnemosyne: I loved that sign from the science march, too!
Corner Stone
Now this is what I call a party!!
Thru the Looking Glass...
@J:
What’s wrong w/ Kid Rock? Or Ted Nugent?
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: They had on Kelly Lying Conway on with Anderson Cooper. So glad I’ve given up cable news. The MSM has capitulated to a madman. This is not normal.
jacy
@sigaba:
I’ll see your Antonio Sabato, Jr. and raise you a Scott Baio.
rikyrah
Ben RhodesVerified account @brhodes
Don’t fall for garbage that they’re surprised this is a big deal. They. Fired. The. Director. Of. The. FBI. Who. Was. Investigating. Them.
tobie
Does anyone know much about the folks organizing the March for Truth on June 3? I feel we need BOTH local action and massive protest nationwide. You can’t ignore millions of people. We are the majority. The GOP cannot be allowed to forget this. We’re America.
amk
moaning pos joe is now saying twitler is a ‘life-long democrat’ who hijacked the rethugs party. scums like him built the current corrupt chief and suddenly it’s a democrat. also. too. it shows how cancerous the gopee has become for a ‘life-long democrat’ to take over it.
Sebastian
Whoa! Is this a fight between frontpagers??
Adam and DougJ?
? ?? Goku ? ?
Used Resistbot. Letter I wrote to my senators:
Kinda cribed a little from you Adam, but you said it well
Mnemosyne
@DougJ:
Dude, we had at least two genuinely suicidal commenters here right after the election that we had to talk down, and another regular had a meltdown last week.
These are actual people whose lives are at stake. I know everything is a joke to you, but it’s not appropriate right now.
OGLiberal
@dmsilev: Christie just wants power and would take the post – and he could leave office early and give his seat to Guadagno, giving her a better advantage in the gubernatorial election (although in NJ, that might actually be worse for her…but then given my interactions with my NJ peeps – mostly white, of course – recently, they all seem to like asshole Republicans even though they hate Christie). It would come with the caveat, “You know what you did to Charlie…don’t do the same thing here.” And he’ll comply. He’ll do their bidding simply for the post. Even better than shunning him, Jared would have him in his back pocket. Gangsters do that in the films, right?
I think Rudy is a possibility but may have too much junk on Trump for their liking – and he’s a ruthless emmer effer. Rudy is the more authoritarian of the two but both would be horrible.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@The Dangerman: He’s the clown up in Milwaukee…
Yes, that ad is real…
I think I read something recently about Clark having his OWN ties to Russia… something about the NRA?
efgoldman
@J:
Zombie Roy Cohn
? ?? Goku ? ?
@Mnemosyne: Well. Now I feel stupid for including that in my letter…
The Dangerman
@Mnemosyne:
True. I thought Doug’s act was kinda funny but this is way below over the line.
DougJ
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes. The rules here are grievances are aired openly not thru private emails. We are democrats
Gravenstone
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): That pompous little fucker really needs to swing from the gallows pole. Should the executioner wish to set the noose to strangulate rather than internally decapitate, I’d get behind that.
sanjeevas
Surprising – Sen. Jeff Flake (R)- I’ve spent the last several hours trying to find an acceptable rationale for the timing of Comey’s firing. I just can’t do it.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
And Nixon had had, what, five years to replace all of Johnson’s people with Republican loyalists before Watergate broke? Trump has left thousands of appointed positions empty, on purpose.
sanjeevas
Surprising – Sen. Jeff Flake (R)- I’ve spent the last several hours trying to find an acceptable rationale for the timing of Comey’s firing. I just can’t do it.
Adam L Silverman
@The Dangerman: Milwaukee County Sheriff. Involved in ongoing scandals due to death in his jail and abuse of prisoners, including of pregnant women being held pre adjudication. He’s a member of the extremist Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), as well as a member of the NRA board. In that last role he went to Russia and met with an oligarch who is a known member of the Bratva who is close with Putin, as well as the Russian Foreign Ministry.
amk
@DougJ: how about actually addressing the valid issues Adan has raised instead of stupid trollish one word replies, doug?
lamh36
Um…am I the only one seeing
as the one Adam S is responding to? NOT
Miss Bianca
SMDH. You can’t make this shit up.
But I’m going to take Adam’s sentiment of “once more into the breach, dear friends” to heart and run with it, so far as contacting my congress critters goes.
dmsilev
@efgoldman: If zombies are allowed, why not go all the way and bring in Zombie J Edgar Hoover?
LAO
@? ?? Goku ? ?: Don’t. We need Congress to reinstate the special prosecutor law. (I’m not holding my breath but still).
Adam L Silverman
@Sebastian: There is no fight.
The Dangerman
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
Oh, THAT asshole. He could be nominated but never confirmed.
Mnemosyne
@? ?? Goku ? ?:
No, it’s good. Congress needs to pass another independent prosecutor statute, pronto.
dm
@Mnemosyne: I loved that, too, but… there was David Brin’s The Postman. That’s almost a park ranger.
??? Martin
With Comeys firing, the investigation is now the responsibility of the Deputy AG, the guy who fired him.
? ?? Goku ? ?
@Mnemosyne: I never believed for a second that the Last Confederate was going to refuse himself. How would he be held accountable?
So much bullshit that our founders and later ancestors never envisioned coming to pass
Felonius Monk
@amk:
This is bullshit. He was a registered Rethug for many years before becoming a Dem for a short time.
Tell MoJoe to go fuck himself.
randy khan
@The Dangerman:
Tiffany is the one going to law school, and at Georgetown, to boot, so she’s perfect.
Doug!
@The Dangerman:
That’s not my point. Readers come here for honest opinion. I don’t think readers, depressed or not, are served well by moderating what you say based on your perception of what they would like to here. I don’t think it’s appropriate to say that you don’t think what’s happening is scary if you do think what’s happening is scary. I think that’s condescending to readers and I’m not going to do it.
Adam L Silverman
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Correct.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/07/top-trump-ally-met-with-putin-s-deputy-in-moscow.html?via=twitter_page
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
I think they’re both DougJ’s nyms. Unless I’m super-confused right now.
Ridnik Chrome
@OGLiberal: I think whoever gets the FBI job will wish he hadn’t, and soon. And if it is Rudy, he will undo himself in some spectacular fashion. Being head of the FBI would bring out all his worst instincts.
Gravenstone
@Adam L Silverman: I’m still holding out (slim) hope that Clarke is among those indicted for the dehydration death in the Milwaukee County jail.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@The Dangerman: Given the, uh, ‘calibre’ of people Drumpf is pushing thru… I’m not so sure about that…
Is Torquemada available?
MomSense
Pleased to report that Senator King is already calling for an independent prosecutor. Collins is still pathetic but we will work on her.
All hands on deck, juicers.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Same person.
mai naem mobile
@sanjeevas: Flake says shit that sounds good but goes back and votes like a RWNJ from the Deep South. He’s a fucking ideologue. Assholes my senator and I hope he gets his ass whooped in ’18.
??? Martin
Republicans won’t do anything. If they turn on Trump they lose with both the pro-Trumpers and the anti-Trumpers for supporting him this far. Those that are willing to jump out of politics might step up, but everyone else will just wave their arms a lot.
? ?? Goku ? ?
@Mnemosyne: I’m sure they’ll get right on that. Dems I know have our back, obvs.
sigaba
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Wow Bertoldt Brecht warned us about dudes like that…
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@J: Busey.
OGLiberal
@efgoldman: My biggest problem is that with Watergate in recent memory, even for kids, we still let this lunatic become President. Nixon was smart and could appear not paranoid or nuts in public. This guy has the mentality of a 12-year old, shows it, and even with this knowledge – perhaps because of this – he became president. In Nixon’s time you had Republicans who put country before party and Southern Dems who put party above everything…Nixon had no wait out. Today, almost all Republicans put party above everything. We have no Constitutional solution to this problem because the founders never anticipated an entire party caring about nothing but party and tax cuts for rich people over patriotism and what is right.
Patricia Kayden
@amk: Didn’t Morning Joe know this when he and Mika were licking Trump’s orange butt during the election cycle? He’s just discovering that Trump was a “life-long Democrat” now?
Idiot.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: I saw that post. Such a mensch you are.
The Dangerman
@Doug!:
Dude, even here, there are boundaries.
zhena gogolia
From McMullin’s feed: “Richard BurrVerified account @SenatorBurr 3h3 hours ago
More
I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Director Comey’s termination.” Burr is one that Dubya mentioned when asked whether Congress could be trusted to investigate.
Grasping at straws, here, people!
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
LOL! I am so stealing this image! What at hoot! — or ‘bawk’
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: Ah…ok…
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Exactly. This isn’t politics as usual or some kind of tough love situation. We have to help each other through this incredibly stressful and uncertain time. No juicers get left behind.
sigaba
@zhena gogolia: Guys like Burr don’t know where any of this is going and are desperate to stay on the good side of Hannity’s Angriest Fan, whichever way that person ends up going.
dm
@amk: Remember “Bill Clinton talked Trump into running for President (thinking he’d be an easy opponent for Hillary to beat)”?
And… something something Bill Clinton’s trip to Russia as a college kid. The Republicans had nothing to do with it! It was all the Russian mole Clinton’s fault! Along with those traitorous Democrat enablers! Robert Byrd was in the KKK!
eclare
@Mnemosyne: That is awesome, thanks for sharing some inspiration.
Eric U.
I’m afraid every Republican in congress will just fall in line. That’s what they do.
BBA
Well, what can we do? There aren’t going to be 67 votes in the Senate to remove Trump from office, and there’s no way in hell Trump would resign – that’s a loser move. (Sad!)
Nothing left to do but, as Warren Zevon said, enjoy every sandwich.
Patricia Kayden
@Adam L Silverman: He of the “let a prisoner thirst to death” fame? Better not be. That would be low even for Trump.
Mnemosyne
@Doug!:
Also, I’m kinda pissed about your “I Am Stretched On Your Grave” headline earlier today since many of us are currently braced for the bad news from greennotGreen’s family. Really, that one couldn’t have waited a few more days?
Adam L Silverman
@Doug!: Then you missed my point. Here was the point. I will type slowly so you can understand it. I will also try to use small words as much as possible.
Going into panic mode only encourages everyone else to do so. The ability to survive a crisis is to be able to keep your head and your wits and some modicum of internal balance even when every fiber of your being is screaming to scream. My issue wasn’t what you posted, rather it was how you did it. Especially given the number of people around here who are feeling stretched to breaking.
Finally, I took this up with you offline, ccing only Cole as he owns the place, because that’s what professionals do. They take their concerns with one another up with one another. The first option isn’t to air grievances in public. The error here is mine: I treated you as a professional. I assure you that I will not make the same mistake again.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@DougJ: and Adam:
Don’t make me come over there. You’re grown ass men, for crying out loud. Don’t you dare ruin my big night, when I made the big time on twitter:
link
Doug!
@amk:
I don’t think they are valid issues. I think that if we censor ourselves and make everything sound peachy keen, this won’t be a blog where people who are depressed/have problems feel like they have a home.
Jeffro
This is what it looks like just before some sunlight breaks, and then a little more, and then a lot. And it’s also what the process of getting rid of this orange shitweasel looks like at the beginning of the end.
Call your members of Congress and tell them to get an independent investigation going, and make sure it follows every last damn lead no matter what it takes.
Pound the crap out of your RWNJ friends and relatives and see if they’re still willing to go down with this garbage scow.
But take heart: it’s day 109 or something like that, and the Trumpov maladministration’s just lost an engine, for real this time. Can’t you hear that slow-roll whine just before the descent REALLY picks up speed??
Gravenstone
@Doug!: walking into what you recognize as a crowded theater and shouting FIRE!! at the top of your lungs isn’t exactly recommended either.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
And I’m just being honest is usually what someone says right before being a major asshole because they don’t care about anyone else’s feelings.
piratedan
can’t help but feel like we’re all at Bill Weasley’s wedding and Shacklebolt’s patronus has just appeared telling us that the Ministry has fallen.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Adam L Silverman: I have my moments…
Got all my own teef… don’t need a walker… yet…
hedgehog mobile
Thanks Adam. I’ll be making calls tomorrow (and borrowing heavily from what you wrote).
zhena gogolia
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
Stewardess, I do not speak Twitter. Which one are you?
Adam L Silverman
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Never doubted you for a moment.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro:
Yeah, but the problem is, I’m on the plane.
Doug!
@Adam L Silverman:
You sent me a pissy email. That’s not how things are done here. If you want to argue, do it in the comments. And as far as panicking goes, people who are panicked have a right to know that others are panicked too, that they are not alone.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: It’s a little mind-boggling to me to think that not only is this going to take down Trumpov and many people in his administration, but also members of Congress AND outside groups like the NRA. All because they hated liberals/wanted power so much that they were willing to work as the willing agents of a hostile foreign power. It’s beyond “party over country”…it’s almost to the point of “fuck the country if it’s going to keep going against us…I want mine”
Anyway, only a little mind-boggling. I can still roll with it.
Gvg
@lamh36: no I saw it too. People, Doug is a common name. Adam yelled at Doug! not our DougJ. I missed whatever the different Doug! said, or maybe Adam deleted him.
zhena gogolia
@Gvg:
DougJ changed his nym to Doug! at some point. Same person.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro:
I wish I were as optimistic as you are.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@sigaba: Yes, and some of us didn’t listen… come to think of it, perhaps Drumpf should just nominate the actual bobblehead for FBI Director… it’d make a great companion piece the lawn gnome he’s got as AG…
Feathers
This may be an appropriate Far Side cartoonfor the thread.
amk
@Doug!: ‘Telling it like it is’ is such a load of bs. Don’t peddle me that.
Shalimar
@Mnemosyne: Has anyone heard from Yarrow since the other night?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Jeffro: Almost?
LAO
@Feathers: ?
Adam L Silverman
@Gvg: They’re the same person.
efgoldman
@dmsilev:
I think Cohn was the only person that Coral Carbuncle ever really, deeply trusted.
James Powell
@Gvg:
I also missed whatever it was. Can someone provide an executive summary.
zhena gogolia
I like both Doug and Adam.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: I have no idea if or who it will bring down. But it is not going away no matter how many times KellyAnne Conway goes on CNN and gish gallops.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: Ok, wrong metaphor on my part. THEIR plane is flaming out…no wait…
Honestly, it’s more like watching a sleazy, lying, two-faced co-worker finally get their due. It happens less often in good organizations but it happens in all of them. In this case, while half of HR has been looking the other way, eventually that half knows there are ways for them to lose THEIR jobs if they don’t at least step aside and let the non-corrupt half of HR do their jobs. Including dismissing a thoroughly corrupt, orange, VP of Bullshit.
LAO
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: mazel tov!
zhena gogolia
@James Powell:
Stuff happened offstage. See comments by Doug and Adam above for whatever the rest of us know about it.
efgoldman
@LAO:
To be signed into law by who?
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Ouch!
Gravenstone
@Jeffro: Let’s not be too optimistic about the possible toll here. Getting Trump out is critical. Identifying and removing complicit congresscritters is an important, albeit secondary consideration. Outside enablers like the NRA are a matter for another day.
Adam L Silverman
@Shalimar: I emailed earlier today. I have not heard back as of yet.
Doug!
Look, Adam, I understand your point. I just don’t want this to be a blog where there’s lots of behind-the-scenes stuff the readers can’t see and everyone’s on the same page all the time.
Mnemosyne
@Shalimar:
Adam has been emailing with him. He’s okay, but not ready to come back.
I know that I’ll be happy to see him back whenever he feels he’s ready.
Gin & Tonic
@Jeffro: I wish I shared your optimism.
tobie
@??? Martin: Wouldn’t the Acting FBI Director McCabe take over the Russia investigation in the FBI? He’d be the one in theory working with Rosenstein, I would think.
Wasn’t McCabe involved in some leaking of material to the White House early on in Trump’s tenure? It’s hard to keep up with all the scandals. Talk about a campaign of distraction. Makes me think Bannon is still very much in the inner circle and managing the steady fusillade of noise coming from the administration.
Another Scott
@dmsilev: I think Rudy is too old and has too many enemies.
I assume it will be someone who was on, or close to, his transition team.
Maybe Pam Bondi? (Shudder)
(I have no inside information.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: Seconded. Big tent, people! Stronger Together!!
And if anyone’s counting votes, it helps the regulars here if the FPers settle their stuff off-line, but we can roll with it either way.
Gvg
@Doug!: I disagree with this. I think you are being silly and stubborn when it’s inappropriate. I prefer fellow people who keep their heads. Adam did not say it wasn’t serious, he said don’t panic. Panic is not useful. I am just one commenter, but several others have already said they don’t agree with you so maybe you should think some more.
efgoldman
@MomSense:
According to this morning’s paper headline, Suzy Q is “concerned”.
Which means she votes however Yertle McTurtle wants her to.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@zhena gogolia: Oh, sorry! I’m Bella Q, which was in my nym until recently and I forget not everybody knows that.
@Doug!:
I’ll submit that you may be mistaken. Depression can be fatal, and means matter. Firearms are really final as an example. Consider for example, a person who lives with clinical depression stretched very thinly, coming to their blog home here and finding the host in the living room noting that the republic has fallen and democratic norms have been replaced by authoritarian banana republic governmental behavior. Is that home going to be a welcoming and safe place for that poster?
I’m touchy because a friend’s brother in law had untreated depression and shot himself a few weeks ago when he thought things looked bleak. His 6 year old found him.
@Gvg: Same guy; different devices. Long time front pager with amazing musical post titles.
Mnemosyne
@zhena gogolia:
I like Doug, I just think Adam has a point.
We don’t have to be Pollyannaish and pretend everything is okay, but running around with our hair on fire doesn’t do anything but make the fire burn more.
LAO
@efgoldman: ?
I clearly didn’t think this through. I’m a shitty lawyer.
Jeffro
@Gravenstone: I have no problem playing the role of “foolish optimist”, that works. But I’m telling you, it’s going to be mind-boggling how many people in and out of government were in on all this, once it all comes out.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: I liked him better as DougJarvus Green-Ellis, or whatever that was.
zhena gogolia
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
Got it! Congratulations.
Gvg
@Adam L Silverman: now I know. Took too long trying to get bolding right.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman:
I see what you did there.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
It’s a long shot right now, but Congress still has the power to override a presidential veto.
Another reason to identify and start prepping Democrats to run in EVERY currently Republican House district, like, yesterday.
Mnemosyne
@Jeffro:
I think we’re also going to be astonished at how cheaply the Republicans sold their country out.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Doug!: Fair enough w/r/t behind the scenes stuff being less healthy than open hashing in front of us. Politely please, both of you. Who I believe both know how much I value your posts.
I’m stretched kinda thin myself, so I’m less patient even than usual. Which ain’t very.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: They can pass the legislation. If it is vetoed they can then try to override. I doubt there is support for that. But the key is to keep the pressure on our elected officials. There is little ability to pressure the President directly. There is great ability to make members of the House and Senate feel very, very uncomfortable going into the 2018 elections.
Also, AG Sessions has recused himself from the investigation. That means it is up to DAG Rosenstein to make the call on a special prosecutor.
Doug!
@zhena gogolia:
I like Adam. I just think it’s toxic when FPers send each other emails about posts all the time. I worked at a blog like that and it was awful. I don’t think it benefitted the readers either.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Gin & Tonic: That was Sarah told him that name sounded like some kind of “hip hop artist from Idaho” which I loved so much I stole it for my nym.
PS @Doug!: I miss when you were Doug Law Firm.
SFBayAreaGal
We have and do live in interesting times
Doug!
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
I agree with you, but I didn’t say anything about violence or firearms.
LurkerNoLonger
I posted the other day a comment to the effect that it was going to be a bad week for Trump and Co. I just didn’t know it would be this bad.
Shalimar
@Doug!: You should have made the effort to spell that out in the first place rather than coming across like a petulant fuck-you-for-trying-to-order-me-around child.
efgoldman
@BBA:
As i said in a previous thread, once the indictments start falling on family members, close advisors, money men, cabinet members, campaign advisors, etc, the pressure ratchets and ratchets… he’s already more isolated than any president since post-stroke Wilson, even late-term Reagan and Spring and Summer ’74 Tricksie Dicksie. Eventually nobody will answer his calls, or wait on him, or reinforce his narcissism. He will stroke out, or go seriously crazy (as opposed to now) or walk away and say “fuck it.”
dm
Josh Marshall writes this evening:
Adam L Silverman
@Doug!: Let’s be honest here: I’ve sent you two emails in regards to substantive material in a post. I sent emails to every front pager on Friday regarding Yarrow. And I send emails to every front pager whenever our two favorite trolls try to show back up so that everyone is informed. So everything but two emails have been housekeeping issues. That’s it.
chopper
doug and adam! both of you stop being childish or I’ll turn this blog around back to when cole was a republican.
Doug!
@Shalimar:
The whole point is we don’t order each other around.
dm
@efgoldman: Even the guy who brings him a Coke when he pushes the button on this desk? SAD!
Sandia Blanca
Just used FaxZero to send the following to “my” horrible, awful Senators (Cruz and Cornyn):
“I call on you to support the appointment of a special prosecutor and the creation of an independent investigation into the interference of the Russian state into our presidential election, and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In addition, I ask that you take no action on the nomination for a new FBI Director until the Administration provides answers on its entanglement with a foreign power.
I expect no business that is not absolutely necessary to keep the government functioning to be conducted until a special prosecutor is appointed, an independent investigation is established, and the Administration is forthcoming with answers.
This is not a partisan issue; rather, it is an issue of urgent importance to the survival of our nation. I will vote against any senator who puts party before country.”
Thanks Adam, for giving us a nice simple script. Faxed my horrible, awful Republican Rep earlier and just blathered at him about impeachment. Going to stop by his local office tomorrow morning.
Another Scott
@Doug!: Come on, that’s a BS argument.
Only a few readers of this blog have the time to camp out here all day every day to “know what’s going on”.
I hope and expect that you front pagers talk (and maybe argue) off-line all the time. I don’t want, nor need, to be party to that to feel that I can contribute and enjoy reading stuff here.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Doug!: Oh, I know you didn’t, I just have concerns about people’s responses under pressure. Touchy lately, as I mentioned. So I think maybe restrained panic can be helpful.
chopper
see, this is what happens when a guy who doesn’t himself seriously blogs with a guy who takes himself way too seriously. you guys are the original odd couple.
efgoldman
@LAO:
Maybe tunnel vision re your defense practice in a world where Evil Leprechaun is AG?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Oh for fuck’s sake. If only because no one would use that as an RIP announcement title.
Adam L Silverman
@chopper: How about you spend this Friday night trying to track down a suicidal commenter in the hope you can reach them before they do something irreversible?
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: S/he could have been suggesting that Doug takes himself too seriously, you know…
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Sure. And I’m the Tsar of all the Russians.
amk
@Doug!:
dumbass.
eclare
@Gin & Tonic: Hahaha…
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Pull the other leg, it’s got bells on.
@Adam L Silverman: I’d have gone with Marie, Queen of Roumania,*
*Archaic spelling intentional.
Ruckus
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
I wrote a long rambling comment and it was crap.
There is no way to shine up this turd of a situation but there is no need to sound as if armageddon is upon us either. There are too many of us not in all that good of a place and there are too many of us in bad places. We have a responsibility as a reasonable collection of humans to be better.
Omnes Omnibus
@Doug!: FWIW, your styles really don’t mix.
Steve in the ATL
@LAO:
Yeah, I read your yelp reviews!
satby
Ok people, settle down. It’s been a tough day, and now chaotic news this evening and it’s a lot to process. We’re getting too wound up like kids on a sugar binge.
Doug, if you’ve lost the nicest guy on the blog (Scott) with your argument, you may want to rethink, or take it offline.
Adam, trolling has been Doug’s shtick since forever, so grain of salt always applies. And we’re all grateful to you for reaching out to Yarrow.
BellaQ, well done you!
Ok, mom unit out, remember we’re all (mostly friends here).
Edited for all the Kindle miscorrections.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: One of my maternal great grandfathers was Romanian.
chopper
(whistles The Odd Couple theme)
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: So was my ex-wife.
DougJ
@Another Scott:
I think coordinating stuff offline is bad and you’d like the blog less if we did that.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yoko Romo. I still blame her for breaking up the band.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
A huge thank you for all of this.
I have some yrs experience working in this field as a volunteer counselor. Learning what to say and maybe even more important, what not to say is at best difficult. But the most important thing I learned is we have to try, if we are ever going to be better. And like a lot of things, erroring on the side of caution works best.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruckus: It had to be done. I’d like to believe that any front pager that got that email would have done the same thing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (phone): It’s all good. I landed on my feet relationship-wise.
Suzanne
Whoa, sounds like I missed some drama. Is Yarrow okay? If anyone is in touch, please pass along my best wishes.
As for today’s news, it has never been clearer that the Ass Pimple in the White House is corrupt and destroying our country. I hold everyone who voted for him accountable, because this was all predictable. He’s not too smart.
celticdragonchick
@MomSense: This.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I tend to assume that people here may very well overstate things. One of the reasons that I try to walk away when that kind of thing comes up. I don’t know how to respond, so I don’t. Some one on this site is an expert and knows what to do.
celticdragonchick
You are one of the major reasons I keep coming back, Adam. Keep doing what you are doing.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Tracking. A shout out should go to several folks, who are commenters here, who I know have done volunteer work on this sort of thing and were a great resource when I asked about how to do what had to be done. I only hope Yarrow is doing well. And I will continue to keep good thoughts to that effect.
Adam L Silverman
@celticdragonchick: WILCO.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: The thing is that my next comment is likely to be facetious or sarcastic. And that seems to be your thing with DougJ, In my house, I have many mansions.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Tracking.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
That volunteer counselor was decades ago and not compounding the situation was a major lesson that most of us had to learn. Some things change so slowly as to be effectively unchangeable. This lesson may be one of them.
But yes it is a responsibility issue. All speech is not protected from the government and they have a rational for allowing a pretty far out there window. We may need a bit less wide window at times exactly for the reasons that you’ve pointed out. We have to be better at precisely the times that is the hardest thing for some to do.
Mike in DC
It would probably be best if there was at least one indictment before the new director got approved and sworn in. Or alternatively, if there was a special prosecutor appointed first.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
That is why it is wise for you to step away at those times. What was that that Dirty Harry said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
Doesn’t hurt if he knows his audience either.
Another Scott
@DougJ: We’re probably talking past each other.
I don’t like group-think either. Few things are more boring than mutual admiration societies.
But you guys don’t need to involve us if one of you posts something the other doesn’t like – especially if there’s other baggage associated with it. You’ve got “the keys” and your posts and comments have a lot more impact than the rest of us in the peanut gallery do (with a handful of notable exceptions).
It’s not about enforcing group-think behind the scenes. It’s not about all of us knowing what you guys say about each other and about us behind our backs, either.
Posting a critical (or easily interpreted as critical) response here to a private message doesn’t make anything better, IMHO. We don’t have the context and we don’t need the context. Your disagreement doesn’t need to involve us at all.
And I think we can all agree that suicide is something that is not to be messed with. I have lost two fairly-close on-line friends over the years, and it sucks. It’s two too many. I always wonder what else I could have done… :-(
I enjoy both of your posts. You’re both great talents, and bring a lot to this community and to the wider world. I don’t like being put in a position of somehow having to choose sides about who is “right” in situations like this.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Applejinx
@amk:
This could be a trial balloon. If you’ve seen the Adam Curtis film ‘Hypernormalization’, it explains how Putin holds power by randomness, disruption and confusion. If I was Putin trying to disrupt the USA, I’d do just what has happened and then have Trump flip to the Democratic Party, just to make everybody’s heads explode. We can assume that most of the Republicans are either owned by, financially tied to, or scared by the Russians. Likely not as many Democrats, but there will be Democrats scared of the Russians, or simply trying to get through this mess without making waves.
Putin’s move here is to break systems, not specific politicians. His best possible option is to make it seem like Trump is somehow siding with Dems, perhaps even punishing Comey for the sin of attacking Clinton. And then, Trump will himself attack Clinton.
It’s not about achieving specific ends, it’s a known pattern of behavior designed to produce confusion and disruption. I’m not sure what the exact counter is (other than calling out the behavior as disqualifying, for good governance) but it’s important to remember a lot of this is just to freak people out, and if you’re freaking out then they’re winning.
Josie
@Another Scott: Word.
manyakitty
@? ?? Goku ? ?: I’ve used Adam’s ideas (with permission, of course) in letters to my congrescritters, too. Smart and clear are good.