I have a question about the Bobo column that Tom eviscerated: what’s the purpose of saying there’s nothing there this early in the investigation? There’s no way to guess what exactly Mueller will turn up. All I can think is that Bobo is helping to lay down justification for eventually firing Mueller.
I also wonder what made Bobo decide he had to start carrying water for Trump. The vast majority of mainstream conservative pundits aren’t — Douthat isn’t, Stephens isn’t, no one at WaPo is except Thiessen. My guess is that Bobo wants to be careful to protect the conservative part of his “reasonable conservative” brand. Without it, he’s just an ostensibly straight version of Frank Bruni, wanking about college admissions and what extracurricular activities build character. That’s not going to pay his alimony. With it, he’s “hey there’s a conservative who supports funding for after school music programs”, to put it in totebaggerese.
To benefit from the lowered standards applied to conservative opinion writers, you have to maintain some amount of conservative cred. That means that if Trump wants to drop nuclear bombs, you have to at least support dropping conventional bombs. Otherwise you’re just another pinko.
We’ll probably see more and more conservative pundits work their way around to being anti-anti-Trump. It pays the bills.
schrodingers_cat
Uriah Brooks is not a moderate, he just has better manners but the same vile belief system.
Doug G
Thanks for bringing this up, because the current BoBo utterance is somewhat at odds with recent pieces indicating he knows basically how bad Trump really is. I think your explanation is the most reasonable (re-establish cred with mouth-breathers), but I found his article to be way too strong an attempt to dissuade us; it smacks of a pathetic need to reclaim his status as The Conservative guy at the increasingly worthless NYT opinion section.
rikyrah
It was absolutely ridiculous ? ?
Doug!
@Doug G:
That could be, with Stephens there climate denying he’s got to step it up
Major Major Major Major
My Aim Is True might be a perfect album.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
Has Brooks ever responded to criticism of his columns?
tobie
I don’t get this line that there’s no evidence of collusion. There’s no smoking gun but there’s mounds of evidence that Trump surrogates had regular contacts with Russian agents that they then tried to hide. The names I can think of offhand are Manafort, Flynn, Kushner, Sessions, Carter Page, Michael Cohen, Erik Prince (meeting in Seychelles), and Roger Stone. There are likely others I’ve missed. And then there’s the weird behavior of folks like Devin Nunes.
Apparently David Corn has an article up at Mother Jones chronicling what we know thus far.
Roger Moore
Not just firing Mueller but ending the investigation completely. They’re using an annoying form of sophistry that’s all too common. First, they take the plausible claim that there shouldn’t be an investigation without evidence; after all, we shouldn’t allow an endless fishing expedition/witch hunt based purely on political animosity without anything to back it up. Bobo and his ilk will never admit it, but that’s what we had during the Clinton years, and we all remember how awful it was. But then they make a subtle substitution and pretend that evidence and proof are the same thing. So we shouldn’t start an investigation without evidence, but the amount of information they’re demanding to classify as evidence is so enormous as to effectively demand Mueller have enough evidence to prove his case in court before he’s even allowed to start an investigation. The goal is to shut the whole thing down for good.
zhena gogolia
@Doug!:
Absolutely.
I couldn’t even read that piece of trash. What a pathetic excuse for a human being.
Wag
Bobo’s column was head shakingly idiotic. My brain hurt after reading it.
any excuse to link to MP
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@tobie: Exactly. If everything was on the up and up, they would have listed these contacts on their security clearance forms and wouldn’t have tried to lie when questioned.
Major Major Major Major
Works for lefties too.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Might?!
Villago Delenda Est
I’m afraid “conservatism” is a totally lost cause of intellectually dishonest shitheads.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Roger Moore: A discouraging sign.
Smiling Mortician
@Omnes Omnibus: Took the word right outta my mouth.
Villago Delenda Est
@Major Major Major Major: Berniebros and Steiniacs, this is your cue, get in the queue!
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Roger Moore: I propose Bobo takes a bath in lye.
JK
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: Just saying I’m open to reasons why not.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore:
And this, my friends, is why there need to be tumbrel rides for these creatures.
Redshift
He’s in line with the RNC, which had a similar nonsensical statement out recently declaring that Mueller’s investigation makes no sense because no one’s proven Trump has some anything wrong. So I guess that’s considered mainstream for Republicans now.
Because proof comes first, and then you’re allowed to start investigating, right?
Villago Delenda Est
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): There is no “Benghazi” in Russia.
Salter Wobchak
All he’s saying is that this WH leaks so much, if there was more to the collusion we probably would’ve heard about it by now.
That’s about it. Take it for what it’s worth, which is not much. Honestly I just read this as a hedge on Bobo’s part.
Jonathan Holland Becnel
Same thing the democrats said when the Benghazi investigations began!
NOTHING TO SEE HERE MOVE ALONG.
More smoke from a non existent fire kept alive by the tell tale DRIP DRIP DRIP of “anonymous” sources and NO ONE willing to go on the record with proof.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Redshift: Finding hard proof is what an investigation is for. Guess the RNC PR flaks went to Trump U.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Major Major Major Major: “I was told that Donald Trump would do the correct thing regarding American involvement in Syria.”
Patrick Lawrence Smith is still the fucking idiot’s Alexander Cockburn, who himself was the empathy-starved jackhole’s Alexander Cockburn.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Heretic! Burn him!
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Jonathan Holland Becnel: BOTH SIDES DO IT!!!!111
“Donald Trump is the kindest, warmest , bravest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.”
Fuck off Boris.
hueyplong
Caring what David Brooks thinks seems like a bad idea.
Major Major Major Major
I think Ben from Virginia might have accidentally joined us under his old username.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jonathan Holland Becnel: Dear me.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: Can’t keep ’em straight without a scorecard.
Jeffro
@Redshift:
This is in line with the weak sauce my RWNJ dad has been serving the past couple of months…”Why is this dragging on? Where’s the evidence? Why can’t the ‘deep state’ just cough up what it has on Trump and let us move on?”
Gee dad, I dunno…maybe Trumpov & Co. are doing everything they can to obfuscate and destroy evidence? Maybe the Russians haven’t been all that forthcoming on what they did to attack our country? It’s really hard to figure out.
The one thing that no one can deny is, this sure doesn’t look like the tactics of an innocent man (no matter which man in this clown show you’re looking at).
mai naem mobile
Bobo didn’t grow up rich so he’s one of those ones who wants to keep every dollar so it’s partly tax cuts. Also he got divorced not that long ago and I believe he was married for a whIle so ex probably got half of their assets. And he’s got a a new younger wifey who he probably has to keep in style so tax cuts. I actually have no idea who his ex was, so for all I know it could be like Tom Friedman who was married to the Mall heiress.
Gin & Tonic
@Jeffro:
Maybe because the people who have “what it has” aren’t interested in doing 20 in Leavenworth.
efgoldman
@Doug G:
The mouth breathing, knuckle-dragging RWNJs don’t read the NYT or Bobo.
Jeffro
Btw Brooks is off on this weird ‘civility and character’ head-trip of his (despite leaving his wife for a much younger Mrs. Brooks). It makes sense that he would try to get Dems off the ‘collusion’ angle…he’d rather we bang away on Trumpov’s character endlessly, as some sort of object lesson for the electorate, so that in the future GOP voters will have higher standards.
Good-fucking-luck with that, Brooksie. After Trumpov, we’ll never assume that GOP voters have any standards whatsoever, never ever again.
rikyrah
@tobie:
Secretary of Commerce-to the Board of a Russian Mob.Laundering bank.
His nominee for FBI Director-law firm knee deep in Russia.
Then you have the Secretary of Exxon.
There are others.
Doug!
@Jeffro:
That could be too. If only Trump had spent a gap year doing something he truly loved, he might be a different person today.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major:
In my college dorm, every room had My Aim Is True and Squeeze Singles 45s and Under. I never saw an RA throw anybody out for not having them, but they never had to.
debbie
I know you all love to hate the NYT, but this is pretty good.
rikyrah
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Gowdy is involved somehow
Jeffro
@Gin & Tonic: No shit, right? This is really hard to figure out.
“Why can’t we just find out what happened?” Well dad, perhaps your guy’s ego couldn’t admit that he ‘won’ with the help of a hostile foreign power…and that’s just at a minimum, that’s the best-case scenario.
He won’t even take steps to protect us from the next attack, because to do that he’d have to admit the first attack – the one that got him elected – happened. Nobody even has to prove collusion…that right there is dereliction of duty and a violation of his oath of office, full stop. Let’s hear it, GOP House: articles of impeachment Monday morning.
(And when he & my RWNJ brother aren’t busy pondering all of the above, they *think* they’re ribbing me by noting that removing Trumpov means President Pence. Um, ok, assuming he survives all the investigations, sure. At least he’s not a fully willing dupe, money-laundering, p-grabbing, scumbag.)
RepubAnon
I’d guess BoBo thinks that Trump will survive this, and so wants to make sure he doesn’t end up on Trump’s fecal roster.
efgoldman
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Surely you expected nothing different.
RWNJs are to oversight as an earthworm is to calculus
Omnes Omnibus
@Doug!:
Reading about himself? Licensing his name? Banging hot Eastern Europeans?
ThresherK
@mai naem mobile:
To the Applebee’s salad bar, stat!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: I fucking covered for my asshole roommate?
Another Scott
@Redshift: I can’t find a link, but I would have sworn that Ryan or McConnell or both said there was (roughly) no need to appoint a special counsel because there was no evidence that Trump or his campaign people did anything wrong months ago. I think they’re just recycling that talking point, trying to pump up Donnie’s “witch hunt” accusation.
They’re kinda predictable. It’s a crime that we don’t have a good pre-emptive counter for this kind of stuff.
[eta:] Or what Jeffro said above.
Cheers,
Scott.
efgoldman
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:
Wait! A year ago it was a Berniebot troll and now it’s a Coral Cankersore troll?
Someone is VERY confused.
VOR
@Mike J: Oh I wish. The guy in the room next to me had one album – the UB40 album with “Red Red Wine”. Over and over and over and over.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: No, it just hates HRC.
schrodingers_cat
@efgoldman: Anything to keep Putin happy.
Major Major Major Major
@VOR: Wow, we shared a neighbor?
efgoldman
@Jeffro:
Dear old dad must be old enough to remember how long Watergate took.
Although, I’m guessing, he may be one of the ~25% who thought, and still think, that Tricksie Dicksie was railroaded.
Jeffro
@Doug!:
Someone will write this alt-history in the next year or two, and sell a million copies.
For all the good it will do. I’m convinced Trumpov’s issues are not just childhood trauma from dealing with Fred Trump’s beatdowns but bad wiring in his big fat orange head as well. There wasn’t a chance in hell that young Donald was going to reflect or change.
Bobby Thomson
@Jonathan Holland Becnel: trying to give Jim Hoft competition, I see.
Omnes Omnibus
@VOR: Labour of Love.
schrodingers_cat
@Jeffro: Umble Brooks is the least qualified person to give lectures about character.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: I will raise you one Trump.
ETA: I know I mixed card games.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@efgoldman: Of course not.
Addressing my other comment above, is anyone aware of other publications & outlets where overwhelming shittiness in one area managed to entirely destroy their readability.
Mike J
@Doug!:
Maybe if he’d gotten into art school he wouldn’t have turned his eyes to the Sudetenland.
efgoldman
@rikyrah:
I don’t think he’s smart enough.
Which is about as low a bar to clear as there has ever been in congress.
Doug!
@VOR:
Red red wine you make me feel so fine, keep me rockin’ all of the time.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jonathan Holland Becnel: Your concern has been noted, and properly disposed of in file #13.
divF
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Someone had *way* too much fun writing that headline.
efgoldman
@Jeffro:
At least not p-grabbing.
He’s the dupiest, though.
Gin & Tonic
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I think, in contrast with your premise, that The Nation is pretty well covering itself in shit from all sides.
Mike J
@Doug!: Red Red Wine, produced by Jim Dickinson.
Jeffro
@efgoldman: ding ding ding…he doesn’t think Nixon was railroaded, but he doesn’t think Nixon should have resigned. You know, because when Republican president does it, that means it’s not illegal.
Truly, I thought I was a flexible thinker…(!!!)
@Another Scott: yeah, it’s one of those things where at any given point, for every step further down, for everything that Shit Midas touches, you’d think that at least some folks’ brain cells would engage and look at the actual evidence. I’m too tired to recite it all, but at every step, low-info voters and other followers have had ample opportunity to see this clown’s true nature and instead of reverting to any actual principles or morals, they have instead chosen to excuse it. It’s the political version of the sunk-cost fallacy, I guess. Hope they enjoy what they have coming.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
I hate Woodrow Wilson, too, but he’s not running for anything and neither is she.
Major Major Major Major
Fun fact, Becnel voted for Stein.
Aleta
@debbie: That collection of his lies already needs updates: “I’ve helped pass and signed 38 Legislative Bills, mostly with no Democratic support, and gotten rid of massive amounts of regulations. Nice!”
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: Somehow that is the least surprising fact of the day.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Hey, I ain’t vouching for him.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major: What a waste of a vote
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major: What a waste
efgoldman
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:
What a waste of protoplasm
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: The ‘Mats are always a good choice. Even at a funeral – Here Comes a Regular and Swingin’ Party work for the right people.
Gretchen
That big Washington Post article yesterday said, among other things, that one of the reasons the Obama administration didn’t want to go public with allegations of Russian interference was that Trump was bleating about a rigged election. That made me wonder if the Russians tipped him off to complain about a rigged election to head off any complaints by the Obama administration.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gretchen: Don’t chase this too far. It is like fractals.
Ben from Virginia
@Gretchen:
Russia is a distraction. Trump ain’t getting removed from office. Berlusconi was brought down when they opposition started treating him as a bog-standard right-winger instead of some supervillan. Twenty-twenty is how we get rid of him.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ben from Virginia: Don’t pretend that the subversion of our institutions is no big deal. The Russia thing is bigger than Trump. If you can’t see that, you have outside reasons. What are yours?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Bobo’s main paymasters are rich guys and corporations who “hire” him to do paid speeches.
I’m sure they’re telling him, lay off.
James Powell
@Major Major Major Major:
I try not to use terms like perfect. I don’t know if any album is perfect. But My Aim is True definitely comes close. So does This Year’s Model.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Gretchen: Nah. Unfortunately he got that from Bernie. Trump watches cable news all day and night and sore loser Bernie was on tee vee screaming every time he lost that the vote was rigged.
Omnes Omnibus
@James Powell: Get Happy!!.
No Drought No More
At this point, I’ll confess to being more entertained by the critiques of Brooks than I am insulted by his lickspittle writing in the inexplicably clueless NY Times. To be sure, I never read him to begin with; but still, I’ve been kept well informed by those who do possess the stomach to keep tabs on his wicked offerings to the American fascist political class and its republican party. However, years before he joined the Times, his appearance once a week with the avuncular Mark Shields on the PBS Newshour was a big reason why I tuned that broadcast over-and-out for good. One lousy appearance a week was all it took- Brooks was literally the last straw for me with that show. Turns out my instincts were good, too. Just this week I found out that, in role as an editor at the Wall Street Journal, Brooks played a prominent role in driving Vince Foster to commit suicide. All things considered, the man is truly an all round nasty piece of work. How people like him can sleep at night is beyond me..
Omnes Omnibus
@No Drought No More: He sleeps on the piles of cash that are where his soul used to be.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Ben from Virginia: what if it was the other way around. wouldn’t the republicans be screaming about it day and night. I mean isn’t that how they tore clinton down, screaming day and night about Ben Gazzara and eGhazi.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Omnes Omnibus:
1: Where would he be sleeping, exactly, and
2: Assumes facts never in evidence
JR in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
He’s from Virginia, capital of the Confederacy, head of the slaver nation. That’s his reasons. He’s a confederate traitor as well as a Republican traitor. As well as a Russian dupe, also, too…
Omnes Omnibus
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I presume that everyone starts with a soul. You?
FlipYrWhig
@VOR: I seemed to always have at least one neighbor who would play “Closer to Fine” daily. And, no, I was not hiding in the women’s dorm.
cynthia ackerman
I know this isn’t an open thread, but dog nabit this is important.
I responded today to a 48 year old woman on the first day of a two week vacation woth hubby and 2.3 kids.
She fell off a bike, no helmet, and, long story short, has two forms of traumatic brain injury which may kill her, and will almost certainly slow her down permanently.
Family said she had the helmet but she said she “didn’t need it” for a quick short ride.
One helicopter ride and multiple surgeries later, I wonder if the family thinks differently about helmets.
People think I’m weird when I yell at bicyclists, “where’s your helmet?”.
Omnes Omnibus
@JR in WV: I would like to hear someone who to pretends to be a leftist answer the question. I am okay with real leftists wanting to bring it all down. But I am aware enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.
MattF
Unlike some actual conservatives, Brooks managed to avoid making unambiguous negative statements about Trump. Exactly why? Could be craven, could be just a coward. Shrug.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I think he is a real leftist, just one of those Reddit lulz leftists we have nowadays.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Omnes Omnibus: I intentionally came out as a breech birth and immediately punched the doctor in the dick once he held me up, so.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Doesn’t count. I am guessing that I spent more time in the streets than he did. And Demos aren’t my thing.
Another Scott
@cynthia ackerman: :-( Thanks for trying to help her. Fingers crossed.
Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Okay.
efgoldman
@cynthia ackerman:
RI, the Harley capitol of the Northeast, doesn’t require most motorcycle operators to wear brain buckets.
So where I-95 crosses the state line to MA and CT, you’ll see the idiots pulled over to the breakdown lane, taking the hats off.
Potential organ donors, every one.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
I might be sort of OK with it, as a position, if they had any fucking idea how politics and government work.
A bunch of tantrumy spoiled brats shouldn’t have any say.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I have made two promises to my mother: I would wear a mouth-guard while playing rugby and I would always wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle. I have never broken either of those.
Another Scott
@Ben from Virginia: So the 106 trials, 2500 court appearances, and multiple criminal convictions over 2 decades had nothing to do with Sylvio being thrown out of office? Just finally treating him like a normal politician, did?
Interesting.
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I don’t agree with them, but they have a position – when their trust funds collapse, it will be interesting.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: wow, that’s… fucking pathetic.
cynthia ackerman
@efgoldman:
Those are motorcycles, a whole different animal.
I’m in an iconic bicycle locale in Oregon, and the issue I’m singling out here is quite specific.
But your intent is appreciated and, really, anyone who thinks cheating death is about comfort, convenience, or joie de vivre is going to cause heart ache sooner or later. Thanks for listening.
efgoldman
@cynthia ackerman:
Yes and no. You go over the handlebars and land head first, hatless, your skull won’t care which you were riding.
ETA: As far as I’m concerned, it’s just as stupid as driving a car without your seat belt, and with the air bags turned off. And to do it on purpose, in defiance of… what? Is even stupider.
Mike in NC
@efgoldman: I understand South Carolina used to have a motorcycle helmet law but they got rid of it because FREEDUMB!
Omnes Omnibus
@cynthia ackerman: Motorcycle accidents don’t cause brain injuries? Me, I go with helmets for both. Am I wrong?
Another Scott
@cynthia ackerman: Yup. Anyone on a bike should have a helment. Motorcycles, also too.
After seeing this a day or so ago, I think pickup truck drivers should seriously consider it as well…
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
jmw
@cynthia ackerman:
While almost pursuing a MPH I found one of the strangest pseudoscience groups that I’ve ever seen.. bike helmet denialists. Essentially their argument is that bike safety comes from more cyclists and helmets discourage uptake.
It’s like they don’t understand that statistics apply to populations.
cynthia ackerman
@Another Scott:
Thanks Scott —
I’m fine, no worries, but I find it frustrating that so much of what emergency services deals with is preventable by means we all know about.
Another Scott
@jmw: Another argument I’ve heard is that the biggest danger comes from car and truck drivers, so it’s vital to have as wide a field of view and hearing as possible and helmets interfere with that. (Of course, wind noise does too…).
The best argument against that is probably something like: “F = ma”.
People used to rail against that Tyranny of seat belt laws, also too. Eventually almost everyone just got in the habit and the Outrage!!1 went away. I assume it’ll eventually happen with motorcyclists, too.
Cheers,
Scott.
efgoldman
@Another Scott:
The Live Free or Die state North of here resisted putting one on the books for years and years.
I think they finally did it when the feds threatened to withhold significant highway funds. That would have cost the taxpayers, which is the absolute worst sin in their world.
cynthia ackerman
@Omnes Omnibus:
No, emphatically you’re right.
My point was that bicyclists, like the woman whose life was changed in my care today, are in a different class from motorcyclists who routinely operate at highway speed and in traffic much differently than the bicyclists who I see daily.
Kay
Trump hires another liar:
Kobach was photographed meeting with Trump carrying this memo. The ACLU sued and got the memo, but Trump and Kobach don’t want it released to the public:
The memo Trump and Kobach are hiding from the public is about “motor voter”- the federal law that covers voter registration. I guess they’re shifting from suppressing votes to suppressing voter registration, hence the lying and secrecy.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman:
Too bad they didn’t have Chief Justice Roberts to help out, or he could have found that to be super duper unconstitutional. More in sorrow than in anger, of course.
Steeplejack
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:
Flak is criticism. A P.R. person is a flack.
efgoldman
@Kay:
This isn’t the first time, either, if I recall. Wasn’t he tagged for some kind of voter fraud?
efgoldman
@Steeplejack:
Do you just stay up late so you can pedant all over the blog?
And which one is anti-aircraft fire?
Lyrebird
@cynthia ackerman:
Hope your message is heard!
I also hope my former boss, who got that same message across to me, isn’t reading my comment telling his story, though he’s an awesome person who would enjoy this site.
He was riding a bicycle and fell over. Like at the side of the road- I don’t even understand what happened exactly, and no cars were involved, but he fell over and hit his head. He was wearing his helmet, and although he spent a few days in a coma, he came back with full capacities… and named every new/replacement server machine “helmet”, because his had saved his life.
Kay
@efgoldman:
He warned him about his “reputation”. What he means is he won’t take him at his word again, because he lied about the contents of the memo, which the judge then got and read. I love that they lie even though they know the judge will read the memo.
Everyone will read it, actually. The ACLU lawyers just have to attach it to a motion and file it and then the super-secret “confidential” stamp goes away. Maybe they wanted him to lie about it or maybe they wanted an excuse to demand a deposition, which they got because he lied. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Hopefully he’ll lie in the deposition. Probably! Why not! There is no truth in TrumpWorld!
Lapassionara
@Mike in NC: I don’t know if SC had such a law ever, but the bad part of the current law is that a defendant in a civil law suit cannot tell the jury that the plaintiff was not wearing a helmet. If a person is in an accident with a motorcyclist, and the rider’s injuries would have been prevented or mitigated with a helmet, tough luck.
People are not free from the laws of physics. If you are traveling at 60 miles an hour unprotected on a cycle, when it changes directions suddenly, you will not. The results play out in er’s all over the country, every day.
cynthia ackerman
@Lyrebird:
That’s what I’m talking about!!!1!
rikyrah
@Kay: you are probably correct, Kay
jl
” There’s no way to guess what exactly Mueller will turn up. ”
Huh? We already have plenty this early in the investigation.
Brooks was just BSing BS to throw up dust.
Flynn. Trump confession on national TV, among other evidence from Trump himself. At least four Trumpster flunkies failing to report contacts with Russians that they were supposed to. ‘Establishtment’ GOP political consultant got info from hacker connected to Russians.
Note that Trump tried to stop Russian investigation into Flynn, and there is definitely very solid evidence Flynn broke the law. Also evidence that Trump wanted to stop the whole Russian investigation, even the IC part of the investigation, and we know for certain Russia tried to influence the election through cybercrime (or undeclared cyperwar, if you prefer). Trump doesn’t want to admit the Russians did anything to influence the election. I think that’s enough to impeach convict and remove Trump.
Brooks is an artist at the genteel Big Lie, delivered from behind a false front of character and high tone.
Morzer
It could be as simple as the Kochs/Mercers/FunderVonFascism buying Brooks with a promise of a gig at some think tank/magazine whatever. I doubt that Brooks has any core beliefs to compromise either way.
TS
@Jeffro:
The GOP ceded any morals that they ever had to President Obama and his wife together with most of the democrats. They are now redefining morals to fit in with their thrice married adulterer in the White House and the thrice married adulterer who will accompany his wife to the Vatican – the maker of laws forbidding people to marry multiple times.
I don’t give a damn who sleeps with who nor how many times anyone marries but the hypocrisy of these people is beyond anything ever seen before. The media that supports this sh!t is beyond redemption and losing the 1st amendment may be their just desserts.
Morzer
@Steeplejack:
And a flack-jacket is worn by David Brooks on the mean streets of Manhattan.
efgoldman
@Morzer:
Why would he leave a sweet, sweet deal at the nation’s all the news that fits, we print “paper of record”?
Plus all the extra green (and exposure) from PBS, etc. as the “principled, erudite” (translation: not foaming at the mouth on camera) “conservative.”
Morzer
@Ben from Virginia:
*cough* Bunga-bunga.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
Why do you assume he would have to leave? Multiple sinecures are almost de rigueur for conservative “thinkers” these days. Cash for Thunkers, if you like.
NoraLenderbee
Bike helmets provide much less protection than motorcycle helmets. It would make them too heavy and no one would wear them. They are designed to provide protection p to about 15 mph. That’s it.
I’m an active cyclist. I always wear a helmet when I ride, but I don’t kid myself about how much it helps. It is much better to avoid an accident in the first place. The most important factor in avoiding injury, by FAR, is learning and following the rules of the road and basic principles for cycling safely in traffic.
Google “bicycle driving” and “vehicular cycling” if you are interested.
And please don’t yell out the window at cyclists. We get yelled at enough by idiots that we pay NO attention to people who are well-meaning. Whether it’s “Where’s your helmet” or “Get out of the road”, it gets ignored (if I’m in a good mood) or an instant middle finger (if I’m tired).
efgoldman
@Morzer:
I’m sure Bobo would be fine with it, I just wonder if the NYT has a limit to how far you can push outside jobs.
Sensible, honest media companies do.
Oh, wait….
efgoldman
@NoraLenderbee:
Not like the asshole, when I was on my bus home from work one time years ago, who came up the RIGHT SIDE of the bus just as it stopped, pulled over, and the doors opened.
Nearly ran down an elderly lady, DID hit some guy getting off at the stop on his way home.
Then yelled and cursed at the bus driver.
Must have been a Republiklown
JWR
Funny thing, the morning of the day Tom’s post appeared, I happened across the opening segment of Limbaugh’s show, and after spewing a few bald-faced lies about the passage of the ACA, (Democrat’s held zero hearings, with no Republican or public input!), he mentioned the same Brooks column, saying that ‘if the liberals are losing so-called conservative David Brooks!, and on and on, in that raspy, Alex Jones voice. Then I read Tom’s post, and I laughed. Tonight’s Dougj post clears up a bit more of the confusion I felt that morning.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: come on now, Labour of Love was a kickass album
JWR
@No Drought No More:
I take it you didn’t catch Friday’s Dumb & Dumber segment? Good for you, because they gave all new meaning to the words, “We both totally Suck”.
Edited, to fix a bad blockquote…
GregB
@JWR:
I think Rush is back on the drugs. His voice is the tell.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:
Never.
SATSQ.
/Tenguphule +2
TenguPhule
@GregB:
This would imply that at some point Rush wasn’t on drugs. Does not compute.
TenguPhule
@Jonathan Holland Becnel:
Considering that Putin is systematically killing all of the Russians who have that proof, can you blame them?
Origuy
@cynthia ackerman: I had a bike accident when I was 17, before bike helmets were a thing. I caught my wheel in a railroad track that crossed the road at an angle. Knocked me out. The track was rarely used, but not abandoned. Fortunately, someone dragged me off the track. I woke up in the hospital with a concussion and 13 stitches in my upper lip. A helmet probably would have kept me from passing out on a railroad track.
Robert Sneddon
@NoraLenderbee: Research supporting the efficacy of bicycle helmets (i.e. light foam “caps”) in preventing brain damage accidents is sadly lacking. They do prevent scalp damage and the “bill” over the forehead protects the face from some trauma but that’s about it. Hitting your head on the ground even at bicycle speeds is going to cause brain damage as the normal bicycle helmet design doesn’t absorb enough energy effectively. Motorcycle helmets with safety certifications have a much greater body of documented testing and proof of efficacy in impacts as well as supporting the neck but they’re heavy and awkward to carry and store and mess up people’s hair so bicyclists veer away from them.
People who fall off bicycles for a living, the downhill racer crowd wear much more substantial helmets than the typical Walmart $19.95 foam pumpkin but then again they’ve seen what happens to colleagues that didn’t.
bystander
@Villago Delenda Est: Martin Shkreli has certainly earned his spot in the second tumbrel.
Barbara
@Robert Sneddon: Our helmets cost considerably more than $19.95 but I don’t know too much more than that. I think helmets help with the most common accidents so long as neither the cyclist nor another involved vehicle is moving too fast. My husband had the “door opening” accident and my sister had the “car trying to pass without moving over” accident and they both fell hard without head injury. More cyclists on the road increase safety by increasing awareness among drivers.
Elizabelle
Pretty sure a bike helmet saved my life a few years ago. Some moron opened her car door into me as I was cruising by at sunset; happened so fast I didn’t even have time to finish “Oh sh…” before I was airborne. While I was hanging in the air, I thought to myself “I’m glad I am wearing my helmet, because I am going to come down on my left temple.” Which is what happened.
I was lying in the street, traffic oncoming; I had come out of my shoes. I was too dazed to move, and hoped the traffic would stop in time. A young Asian American man ran up to me, and helped me up.
Meanwhile, genius in the car — her named turned out to be Tiffany — is there whining about she can’t believe this happened to her, in front of her young children in the car. What a narcissist. (Blonde, in an Audi convertible with the top up — why she probably didn’t see me; turned out to live in an expensive neighborhood. But it was all about HER.)
Tiffany is so damned lucky for that helmet. Without it, I would have left the scene in an ambulance. As it was, I had a bruise that covered 75% of my right thigh, for weeks.
Elizabelle
@cynthia ackerman: Agree totally with you. And she might have skipped the helmet, because she wanted to be free, and it was close to home …. yadda yadda yadda.
I knew a man, a counselor by training, who had a TBI while bike riding. Brain damage and it changed his personality (he says) to aggressive and short-tempered. (I did not know him before.) Says he lost his wife, daughter, and his job. Again, his word, but from the quality of his friends, I suspect it’s the truth.
Also knew a man who had severe TBI from a motorcycle injury. Was shopping for a mail order bride to care for him.
Helmets save lives, and quality of lives.
BrianM
@NoraLenderbee:
I’m a daily cyclist who wears a helmet. I’d like to second this. Also, it can be unnerving when someone unexpectedly yells at you. I suppose it probably doesn’t really increase risk, but it certainly doesn’t help.
And being yelled at isn’t persuasive. People being what they are, they most likely feel more stubborn about going helmetless than before.
Appreciate the sentiment, really I do.
cynthia ackerman
@BrianM:
I make sure I’m not distracting, eye contact etc.
Plus I’m in an emergency response vehicle which tends to get their attention before the comment.
gene108
@efgoldman:
But plenty of Democratic leaning voters do, who are not aware of all the rhetorical tricks right-wing hacks use to lull them into complacency.
That is where the damage gets done.
Barbara
@gene108: Most comments seen to understand Brooks’ shtick pretty well. I wrote to NYT and told it that I wouldn’t read anything about Trump that didn’t permit comments.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jar Jar Hollandaise Bechamel: Only we were correct, & they’re not. Try to keep up. I know it’s tough with an IQ under 85…
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: The “roll coal” crowd will do this just to exhibit Cleek’s Law in action.
Amir Khalid
@No Drought No More:
Presumably The NYT figures it needs right-of-centre columnists like Brooks and Chunky Douthat to persuade prospective readers who judge a newspaper by how evenhanded its op-ed page seems. But commenters excoriate these two mooks after every column/blog post over factual errors, illogical arguments and all-round nonsense. In recent years it’s had poor luck hiring right-of-centre writers, which I guess is why Brooks was allowed to stay on. And remember that Douthat was hired to replace Bill Kristol; The NYT should have fired Kristol after his embarrassingly error-riddled first column, but it stayed its hand until his initial one-year contract was up just to let him save face. In his first year
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: The American right is filled past overflowing with intellectually dishonest assholes eager to, as JKG put it, engage in “the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
grandpa john
@Mike in NC: yes they did ,There have been In the general area where I live probably six to eight motorcycle deaths I can remember seeing in the news, most of them from head injury and not wearing a helmet. Here in SC we seem to be burdened with lots of folks who combine independence with ignorant stupidity
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@Mike J:
Or he could have moved to the US
and worked as an illustrator for s-f pulp magazines.