Special Counsel Mueller impanels Washington grand jury in Russia probe https://t.co/wsZnlK332q
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 3, 2017
From Talking Points Memo:
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that the Washington, D.C. grand jury “began its work in recent weeks” and is separate from the one assisting with the probe into President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The impanelment of that jury predated Mueller’s appointment as special counsel.
The empanelment of a new, separate grand jury reflects the scope of Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election and whether any members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.
Stay frosty!
Updated at 4:15 PM EDT
Here’s some context from MSNBC:
WSJ: Special Counsel impanels D.C. grand jury in Russia probe https://t.co/wBXe43i76m
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 3, 2017
dmsilev
And, by an odd and curious coincidence, some Senators are working on a bill to basically protect Mueller from being summarily fired.
schrodingers_cat
What does this mean? Please explain for us non-lawyerly lay peeps.
efgoldman
And aaawwaaaayyyy we go!
Paul Dudack
@dmsilev: Yes, the GOP discovered BIPARTISANSHIP within the last 48 hours.
For some reason.
Yutsano
@efgoldman: Popcorn futures. Now.
EDIT: and antacids for the DC area specifically.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: He takes a bunch of citizens and he has them covered in faux wood laminate. It’s pretty much a DIY sort of home decor project.//
The Moar You Know
Hope everyone’s got their seat belts on. This is going to be a very wild ride.
Mike in DC
@schrodingers_cat:
Federal grand juries review evidence and issue subpoenas. Eventually they vote on a bill of indictment, for however many people are being investigated. They’re empaneled for up to 18 months, after which they have to be re upped.
So this is another indicator that Bobby Three Sticks is ramping things up, and that he’s in this for the long haul. Don’t expect charges any time soon, I’m guessing.
bystander
I wonder if they’ll consider that Trump has kept very orderly and neat computer records. Unlike some people who shall remain nameless.
A Ghost to Most
jeffro must be plugged in. He was predicting action around Labor Day. Hot Damn!
Yarrow
Tick tock, motherfuckers.
MCA1
@schrodingers_cat: I hope what it means is that we can all stop hearing about how John Kelly’s locked down the White House and initiated the pivot of all pivots, etc. etc. for at least 24 hours.
In reality, it means that Mueller believes he has enough evidence to bring something to trial against someone. Need to get an indictment through a grand jury before that can happen, and he wouldn’t bother empanelling one if he didn’t think he’d be taking something to it to consider. Of course, the evidentiary hurdle of getting a grand jury to indict is famously much lower than getting a normal jury to convict. So it’s possible he’s going to use this grand jury as a great big nutcracker.
HeleninEire
@efgoldman: It’s gonna be a FABULOUS ride.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: I thought he would use teak or something solid and American like oak.
bystander
@schrodingers_cat: Not my expertise, but I suspect it means he has evidence he is presenting to a grand jury of a criminal nature against certain individuals.
ETA What MCA1 said.
mai naem mobile
Now you guys aee,Mueller has.been paying attention to my love notes to him abut hurrying up and getting it over and done with.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Feeling pretty chipper today, are we?
schrodingers_cat
@MCA1: Thanks! One more question, why is the grand jury, grand? More people?
Mnemosyne
I think it’s my turn to be the voice of cynicism: if we can’t even get grand juries to indict cops who shoot citizens in the back, how likely is it that a grand jury is going to be willing to indict a president?
LAO
Holy crap. I’m at the vet and can’t really comment. Damn it!
Frankensteinbeck
The fuck? Isn’t this a late stage of the process? I was expecting at least a year of investigation. How bad at covering his tracks can Trump be, if Mueller thinks he has enough proof to start indictments?
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: I think Mueller will go for the small fry first.
Snarki, child of Loki
I, for one, look forward to Trump being called to testify before the Grand Jury.
And the subsequent perjury charges also, too.
schrodingers_cat
@LAO: How is Maggie?
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
In a pinch, Con-Tac paper.
But that would be a slapdash, jury-rigged job.
MCA1
@schrodingers_cat: Exactly! I wanna say 15-25 but that’s probably off (I’m a transactional lawyer who’s never actually been in court on a client’s behalf). Normal trial jury’s called a petit jury.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: OK, that actually made me giggle. I am dealing with a couple customers right now that I *wish* I could cover in faux wood laminate.
Alain the site fixer
@schrodingers_cat: he will present evidence asking for bills of indictment against whomever he is targeting. This may be just an opening salvo, targeting lower level folks to get them to turn on higher-ups, or it could be the beginning of charges filed against higher-ups. I do wonder if he might be asked to “stay low” while “on vacation” so his resignation can be arranged without as much public mess, but I don’t think he’d go quietly!
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: More seriously:
Yutsano
@schrodingers_cat: Flip the little fish. The little fish start turning on the bigger fish. I’m certain Mueller brought on the team he did for just this purpose.
Betty Cracker
It’s Mueller Time! But seriously folks, I’m not a lawyer, but I have been observing political shenanigans long enough to know this could all come to naught. BUT! As I understand it, the big thing about this development is that now all the shady characters around Trump can be compelled to appear and give testimony, submit documents, etc. These shady AF people can find their ass in a crack and have to choose between jail time or serving as a witness. Even legally savvy people who give testimony can end up committing perjury (hi, Bill Clinton!), and lord knows there’s nothing savvy about Team Trump.
Also, from CNN:
Twitter meltdown in 3…2…1
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: The sequester – it eats into everyone’s budgets.
mai naem mobile
@schrodingers_cat: nah,walnut because Dolt 45 is hard and nutty.
Yarrow
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yep. Second half of a Law & Order episode.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I got a good night’s sleep and it is not monsooning for a change.
Cacti
Prosecutors can purposely tank a grand jury to get a cop off the hook, and usually do.
This is also a possibility in the current case, but seems less likely as Mueller is a Bushie and Bushies have no great love for Trump.
bystander
@schrodingers_cat: It traditionally has more people than a 12 person trial jury. Only the prosecutor presents evidence, whether exhibits or examination of witnesses. The accused may choose to be questioned but does not have to. The accused’s attorney may accompany the client but may not challenge or cross-examine. The jury determines whether the prosecutor has provided evidence sufficient to proceed to a jury trial but not guilt. I think it just takes a majority vote.
I think it’s like childbirth. I served on a grand jury in Manhattan and I have totally blocked all recollection.
NotMax
We don’t know what crime/crimes the grand jury will be tasked with deciding upon, nor against whom any indictments are being sought.
Frankly, extremely unlikely that Dolt 45 is yet the, or even a, direct terminus of any charges.
The Moar You Know
It’s funny because it’s true.
Rob in CT
Drip… drip… drip…
Keith P.
I fully expect to hear about how a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich about a hundred times over the next week.
Major Major Major Major
@Cacti: prosecutors can (so the CW goes at least) get a grand jury to do whatever they want, right?
Eric U.
@Adam L Silverman: there are so many pins on pinterest about this that it’s unbelievable
Apparently the Bannonites are trying to get rid of McMaster, I’m waiting for the hit pieces start about Kelly.
Jeffro
Hey I think someone last night was talking about charges coming shortly after Labor Day
schrodingers_cat
@bystander: That painful? Also when can a grand jury be empaneled?
Yarrow
@Jeffro: That was you! I’ve been saying he’d be out by August. We’ll see how that goes.
The Moar You Know
@Snarki, child of Loki: Won’t happen. Not because he should be immune (and I don’t think he is but IANAL, just a guy who testifies in court sometimes) but you start with the low-level guys and crack your way up the ladder.
efgoldman
@Mnemosyne:
Those are 90% state, county or local, with DAs who work with the local cops they’re investigating.
A federal grand jury investigating corruption is a whole different animal; I think our lawyer people will tell you that any prosecutor who presents a case to a grand jury, and doesn’t get an indictment, is tanking it more or less on purpose.
@schrodingers_cat:
The grand jury is the body that may investigate and indict multiple people for unrelated crimes: Joe for robbery, Mary in an unrelated matter for manslaughter, for as long as (the usually fixed) term that they sit. A trial jury is formally a “petit jury” and adjudicates one crime (or a group of crimes) against one defendant, or more than one accused of acting together. They’re the ones who decide guilt or innocence.
JMG
@Mnemosyne: A federal grand jury is composed of registered voters in the judicial district where it serves. In DC, Trump got like four percent of the vote. In Watergate, prosecutor Jaworski had to intervene to keep his grand jury from indicting Nixon, as he didn’t believe a sitting President could be.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: A good prosecutor can get a grand jury to do what ever he or she wants it to do. If a grand jury isn’t indicting cops it is because the prosecutor is presenting evidence and witnesses to prevent it from happening.
Mueller knows what he’s doing.
Cacti
@Major Major Major Major:
The saying is that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.
A Ghost to Most
@Jeffro: Wasn’t that you? My CRS is bad these days.
MomSense
@Yarrow:
Word.
Peale
Hah. He’s finally found the truth behind the child sex ring that John Podesta was leading at the pizza parlor. I knew they’d get ’em.
ETA: Sorry, I thought I was on the Old Balloon Juice.,
jl
@A Ghost to Most:
” jeffro must be plugged in. He was predicting action around Labor Day. Hot Damn! ”
Don’t know if this is just a coincidence, but a lawyer I know who does white collar crime work said to buckle up between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. He said that with hapless goofs like the Trumspters, opening acts for the big show should be ready by then. So…? We’ll see.
Adam L Silverman
@Eric U.: There’s a mcmaster facts website that Cernovich was pushing the other day on social media. This is going to get very, very ugly. McMaster is the Soldier-Scholar that Bannon professes to be. Lot of wannabes and poseurs in Bannon and his people on the White House staff.
pat
@Betty Cracker:
Yep, this will be epic.
sharl
I posted a variation of the following, toward the end of the last post’s comments…
Los Angeles criminal defense attorney (and former prosecutor, at Federal level IIRC) Ken White – who tweets and blogs as Popehat – just did an 11-tweet thread on this news that addresses the significance of this news.
Also an earlier thread of his might be helpful, where he explains the differences between target, witness, and subject.
Major Major Major Major
@Cacti: yes, I was translating out of Lawyer Inside Joke.
Yarrow
@jl: Let us not forget state charges as well. A pardon isn’t going to save those motherfuckers from state charges.
Elizabelle
@LAO: Maggie the beagle update, please.
Did the techs wash your beloved dog too?
nonynony
@Betty Cracker:
Twitter meltdown nothing – I won’t be surprised if this doesn’t get Jeff Sessions fired. And possibly he may attempt to fire Mueller as well.
If he doesn’t it means that someone has more control over him than he has over himself. He’s got to be taking this all quite personally, I’d think.
Adam L Silverman
@JMG: Fortunately we have Ken Starr’s memo stating the opposite:
https://www.justice.gov/file/19351/downloadETA: the correct link
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3899216/Savage-NYT-FOIA-Starr-memo-presidential.pdf
Jeffro
@Yarrow: we might have to get some McDonald’s for dinner at the Jeffro household as…I’m lovin’ it
Ahasuerus
Pardon the threadjack, but this is perfect timing. Apparently Trump is attending a rally tonight in West By God Virginia with the current governor, Jim Justice, who reports say will announce that he is switching his party affiliation to Republican. Aren’t rats supposed to jump OFF the sinking ship? I’m so confused.
Has anyone told Cole the good news? I fully expect an F7 mustard/mopping incident when he learns of this.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: breitbart has about a half dozen anti-McMaster articles up today doesn’t it ?
rikyrah
Samuel SinyangweVerified account @samswey
Ivy League schools admit more legacy students than black students. #AffirmativeAction
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2015/05/legacy-status-remains-a-factor-in-admissions
Trentrunner
Reuters is reporting that subpoenas have been issued related to that June 2016 Don Jr. meeting re Russian “adoptions.”
Anyone know where I can have popcorn delivered via dumptruck?
Adam L Silverman
@Cacti: Even a Jewish or Muslim American prosecutor. Or one who was a vegetarian or a vegan too!//
schrodingers_cat
So what happens after the grand jury indicts?
Quinerly
@Eric U.:
McMaster to be shipped to Afghanistan and Pompeo as National Security Adviser????: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-reportedly-thinking-about-making-mike-pompeo-national-security-adviser-shipping-hr-mcmaster-to-afghanistan/article/2630495
chopper
i may be out of fucks to give but i got a whole bag of DAAAAAAAAAMNs over here.
daaaaaaaaaaamn.
PaulWartenberg
in the next four hours, expect trump to try and fire absolutely every person in the Justice Department until he can find one that will shut down Mueller.
rikyrah
Thread…..
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAA
jaboukie young-white @jaboukie
just so white people know YES i went to college for free WITH a pre-loaded 10K meal plan AND a personal librarian/masseuse u broke hoes lmao
7:37 AM – 2 Aug 2017 from Brooklyn, NY
https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/892756297464107008
Mike in DC
Technically, Mueller is charged to do a single referral to DOJ at the end of the investigation. But he can presumably request to do an interim referral to indict the little fish first, if he deems it necessary.
I’d also expect the eventual referral to be cc’d to Congress (esp. If POTUS implicated), and a redacted version of the referral and any indictments to be made public.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: This isn’t going to calm nerves either:
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Yesterday’s proposed immigration bill is truly horrific, its a big fuck you to naturalized citizens as well.
LAO
@schrodingers_cat: healing nicely, thank you. Just a bandage change and one more week in the cone.
Major Major Major Major
@Trentrunner: Didn’t I see somewhere this morning that Mueller was looking for phone records re: the meeting?
Who hear had “Don Sr. was participating via phone” in the pool?
Adam L Silverman
@nonynony: Kelly has already made it clear that AG Sessions is not going to be fired. Now we have to see if he has the juice to make that happen.
Brendan in NC
@schrodingers_cat: Send Lawyers, Guns, and money…The crap has hit the fan…
schrodingers_cat
@Quinerly: Playing musical chairs with cabinet appointees is not going to help solve his problems.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
@Rob in CT:
My next book: Donald and the Leaky Clock.
GxB
I tent my fingers before me, exclaim “Ah! Excellent!” and send Smithers off to fetch some champagne.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: You could put the champagne on ice in anticipation…
Elizabelle
@sharl: I am loving your link.
Adam: could you include sharl’s BeleaguredPopehat tweets in this thread? They are informative and amusing. To wit:
LAO
@Elizabelle: dog, I wish. She is still filthy dirty.
mai naem mobile
Mueller is going to indict a piece.of chocolate cake, the best.piece of chocolate cake. And 2 scoops of ice cream.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Last count was almost a dozen. There’s also this from the Weekly Standard.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/inside-the-mcmaster-bannon-war/article/2009109#.WYMQor9TUwk.twitter
And, and I admit I’m behind as I wanted to deal with this when it was published, but got behind, the Vatican has decided to go to war with Bannon as well:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/europe/vatican-us-catholic-conservatives.html
The original article:
http://www.laciviltacattolica.it/articolo/evangelical-fundamentalism-and-catholic-integralism-in-the-usa-a-surprising-ecumenism/
Pope Francis is out of fucks to give. You don’t mess with the Society!
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman:
Either I don’t know what a chief of staff is, or this falls outside their usual portfolio.
Keith P.
So far, those months-old Louise Mensch tweets don’t seem so out-there.
randy khan
@Frankensteinbeck:
IIRC, the Watergate grand jury was empaneled in 1972, but didn’t issue any indictments for White House players until March 1, 1974.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major:
Me, me, me!
rikyrah
Imani GandyVerified account @AngryBlackLady
Your morning #TeamLegal read. ???? | Clarence Thomas’ legal vision is becoming a Trump-era reality.
https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/893143877699293184
nonynony
@Adam L Silverman:
Sure. That was … let me look it up … Saturday, right? That was when he called Sessions at least – I guess it only started getting reported yesterday.
5 days is a long time in Trumpland. Especially when his finances are getting investigated.
(I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kelly get fired too. Or resign. Actually if Trump fires Sessions I would assume that Kelly would resign because who the hell would want to be Chief of Staff during THAT kind of cluster?)
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: The 200 comments on STEM/non STEM weren’t bad enough last night, you gotta bring this madness here?//
Elizabelle
@LAO: Dang. There’s a missed opportunity. Maybe you could get one of those mobile groomers to spiff Ms. Maggie up?
efgoldman
@Trentrunner:
Sorry, it’s all been back ordered by at least a month.
I honestly don’t remember such unalloyed JOY in the blogs i frequent since Obama was first elected in 2008.
Our daughter, who is a professional journo in DC, doesn’t know. They just took her in to have her gall bladder removed. She’ll be mildly pissed when she comes back out of the sedation fog tonite or tomorrow.
LAO
My totally uninformed sense of this is twofold: empaneling a grand jury allows a prosecutor to (1) subpoena documents and (2) subpoena people. It’s a purely investigatory instrument until it isn’t. I have no idea who are the subjects.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: RUMINT at this point.
Quinerly
OT: One rat jumping on the sinking ship…I just took a little driving break from NC beach return drive to St. Louis. West VA governor switching from Dem Party to Repug Party tonight at this rally. Hope Poco, Ivan, and I will be safe at our half way Motel 6 stop in Charleston, West Virginia.? Trump rally not far away: http://www.thedailybeast.com/west-virginia-governor-to-switch-from-democrat-to-republican-at-trump-rally
Keith P.
@Quinerly: Great timing.
LAO
@Elizabelle: I’m just grateful that she’s spiteful enough to believe that not sleeping on my bed is punishment. Little does she know. ?
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: They were hilarious. I read that thread when I couldn’t fall asleep at 3 am. Why do so many have a math phobia? Its really not that hard, people.
rikyrah
HERE’S THE THING..
Get the muthaphuckin’ votes to vote her OUT.
Until then….
You’re just whining bytch azzes that need to sit down and STFU.
…………………………
Democrats Begin to See Pelosi as a 2018 Problem
August 3, 2017 at 2:56 pm EDT
McClatchy: “In a survey of 20 Democratic House candidates, only one – a former Senate staffer from Orange County, California – would state support for the congresswoman staying on as leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Of the rest, 18 declined to say if Pelosi should keep her job, while one, a political newcomer from a culturally conservative Ohio district, said he would vote for someone other than Pelosi.”
“Their refusal is a remarkable development for an already embattled minority leader. But even more significant are the implications that their refusal carries for next year’s midterm elections.”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article165213507.html
jl
@rikyrah: Thanks for the link. i was looking for some info on that topic for the few Trumpbaggers my family. Thank the FSM most of the wingnuts in my family are not big Trump fans, they are more Dub acolytes. I should give them credit for sticking with that loser through hard times.
Most people think legacy preferences is a tiny thing, but as the article says, legacy admissions range from 8 to 15 percent. I’d like to find some stats on non-Ivy’s. I think the the big concern for institutions is cultivating future donors. A lot of places need money.
The Trumpster investigation is a scam to appeal to bigots. I’ve yet to read about a court case where a flat out qualified white was denied in favor of flat out unqualified minority. I view the whole issue as a scam. Reduce capacity and starve resources for an important resource, and then egg on the people you want to control (white and black and Asian, and whatever) to fight over access.
I think California is dealing with the issue of access by emphasizing transfers from Community Colleges and CSU’s to UC, rather than admissions straight from HS. Though maybe martin, who works with this stuff can correct me if I am wrong.
Edit: reading the article is interesting. The stats seem to say one thing, and the text in places seems to want to hide what the stats say. But I only had time to skim it right now.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: It won’t even have 40 GOP Senators supporting it. It was all about signaling. Cotton has clearly decided he’s going to lash himself to the President and this white nationalist agenda, doing business as national populism. Perdue is Perdue. This was intended to get people riled up, including the press, to take pressure off of other things. And everyone pretty much jumped at the bait. All part of the Maskirovka.
Yarrow
@efgoldman: Your daughter’s having surgery now too? My goodness, your poor family. Is this planned or some kind of emergency? I hope everything goes well and she has an easy recovery.
p.a.
@Paul Dudack:
??? < ?
Yarrow
@LAO: I must have missed something. What happened to Maggie?
Mike J
@Keith P.:
Did the Marshal of the Supreme Court tell you that?
LAO
@efgoldman: In the Feds, there’s the concept of the “special Grand jury” its term runs much longer than a regular grand jury and only deals with a single investigation. I would expect this is a special grand jury.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: I figured as much, but their vision of America is truly frightening. They would love to enact their own version of the final solution with immigrants. Cotton and Miller even look creepy.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: All of them Katie.
Jeffro
@A Ghost to Most:
Thanks AGTM – not plugged in, just thought a couple factors made it then or never.
SiubhanDuinne
What is all this about the Governor of West Virginia switching parties at Trump’s rally tonight? Anybody know details?
Edit: Never mind, I found it. Well, good riddance, Governor Justice, if you really think you’re hitching your wagon to the better star. Hell with you.
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/345216-west-virginias-democratic-governor-will-flip-to-republican-party
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman:
Of course it is…all over the news that Trump is trying to get rid of McMaster, though. Perhaps a bit more than just a rumor. I’ve been driving all day so listening to NPR and talk radio. A little bit of time will tell, I’m sure.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I think this is more: 1) You think you’ve got this figured out, fine – go prove it. And 2) Bannon leaking because McMaster is cleaning out his hires from the National Security Staff and the White House staff with help from Kelly and controlling the flow of info so these whackadoodles can’t just hand the President print outs from Breitbart.
eric
Only takes one subject, and we can suspect it is not Flynn. So, that means there is a new player in the grand jury sweepstakes. I would bet that it is someone that is a slam dunk on at least one count that makes the person flippable, but also allows for wide discovery into other players via documents, servers, phone records, and compelled live testimony. The prospect for live testimony suggests to me that there will be cameras parked outside the courthouse (front and back doors), because, although the substance of the proceeding is secret, your appearance is not, if someone sees you walking in. This gives the prosecutor a huge club for political operatives that they will not want to be seen entering that courthouse ever. fun times.
LAO
@Yarrow: She contracted the canine version of HPV and had to get a wart removed from her leg. It’s a bad spot for healing so it’s just taken awhile.
That’ll teach her not to be so promiscuous in the dog park.
J/k she loves being a live chew toy.
ETA: and she rolled in poop while wearing the cone.
Jeffro
@A Ghost to Most: Yes – (sorry, missed your earlier comment at #10 or so)
@jl: sounds about right…it was about time for them to get going, and honestly, there’s so much material to work with here…
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: You’d prefer cat poop?
Immanentize
Grand jury practice is something LAO knows a lot about. I also teach some classes about grand juries. I suspect that, in a case as complex as this one, the grand jury will be used primarily to subpoena records first. From banks and from the various businesses entities The FBI is a police department and Mueller’s office are the prosecutors. Neither has subpoena power, only the GJ. So Mueller will use the GJ to subpoena people who keep records and know about the various businesses to testify. Then people who would be mid level deciders in those businesses will be invited to share. Up the ladder slowly until everything is understood. The GJ does not start with specific crimes in mind is cases like these — complex financial or money laundering matters. But they usually end up finding plenty.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
I just posted a link. Actually, stopping shortly on my NC to St. Louis drive…Charleston, West Virginia for the night. I guess I’ll check out the local news.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: How do you like this grand jury news for the birthday present?
SatanicPanic
@LAO: Reuters is saying they’re already issuing subpoenas.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Compared to you, I am just an egg!
JPL
@Ahasuerus: He had previously registered as a republican, before becoming an independent, and then a democratic. I was concerned earlier that it might be Manchin who switched.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: Bannon must be in full panic mode: McMaster has been picking his boys off left and right. Darn that not-yet-deconstructed administrative state! It does seem to know how and when to fire for effect…
Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)
@Adam L Silverman: #teamJesuits!
nonynony
@Adam L Silverman:
Pope Francis almost makes me regret that I can’t believe in Christianity anymore. As a Catholic-raised atheist who lived through JPII and Benedict, I’m astounded at the 180 that the church has spun with him in charge and I remain shocked that he has the job. And that none of the cardinals have tried to kill him in his sleep. I’m glad that he’s taking on conservative Catholics right now – all of my life (until I realized I didn’t believe any of it and just stopped caring) these were the folks who kept playing the “you’re nothing but a cafeteria Catholic” card on me and now that the Pope is saying things that they don’t like they find out they don’t like having it played on them.
Yarrow
@LAO: Oh, sorry to hear that. Poor thing.
Edit: Just saw your edit. Yuck!
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: Here you go:
Kay
@jl:
This is good too.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Yes! A terrific birthday gift, and one that will keep on giving for quite some little while.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: Hope you and the pets are having a great driving day. Road trip!
NotMax
Time to dust off the term ‘unnamed unindicted co-conspirator’ for a new generation.
Members of the press may want to create a macro for it.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I have no idea what you do or do not know. And yes.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
Nope. She’s got her mom’s gall bladder gene (mrs efg had hers out in her mid-30s, too). Its when they could fit her in the schedule get done before they go on vaca in mid-September. Going on vaca without enjoying food and wine is not in the cards.
For some reason i still have mine. Both my parents had theirs out in their early 60s.
My training is done; We expect a small truckload of supplies tomorrow, and i start on my own home dialysis over the weekend.
jl
@schrodingers_cat: I’m a white male of Presbyterian heritage (dayam… just like Trump!). I am not sure how seriously to take the white supremacist stuff. At first I took it to be a joke, or some dumb gimmick for idiots who would jump on the Trump bandwagon. The ‘cuck’ codes, the brackets and parantheses. I didn’t bother to follow it. I never learned the parentheses codes and have no idea what they mean.
But it is there. Look and listen to that jackass Miller yesterday. Saw of pic of the loon flashing white power signs.
I laugh and ask myself ‘Is that fool serious? Srsly? That’s a joke, right?’. But I am not Jewish, or Muslim, or black or Hispanic, or Asian, or etc. etc., so I have to remind myself why I need to take it very seriously. Thing is, that crap is very definitely there among the Trumpsters. Good thing for history (if we are lucky enough to have one in the future) that he only historically significant accomplishment of these manifestly superior human being is, so far, crapping their own pants as fast as they can pump it out. Let’s up that pattern keeps up and their idiocy doesn’t get too many people killed.
Shell
Didn’t you hear? Reset is the new pivot.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
I had a horrible realization while we had old reruns on in the background last night.
Mike Pence is Frank Burns.
LAO
@SatanicPanic: Doesn’t surprise me, it’s the purpose of a special grand jury.
Also while a grand jury proceeding is secret: (1) anyone who receives a subpoena is under no obligation to remain silent about it and (2) this includes testimony.
Adam L Silverman
@Keith P.: They’re out there. Unless the Marshal of the Supreme Court is wheeling a gallows down Pennsylvania Avenue.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Thanks. You just know Trump will be slobbering all over him and this news, while brushing off the grand jury announcement as a witch hunt, and the leak of his Peña and Turnbull conversations as fake news.
Kay
@SiubhanDuinne:
Hah! Douchebag’s big announcement will be trumped by both the excruciating leaked transcript and the grand jury news.
Felonius Monk
@SiubhanDuinne: Happy Birthday, SD. I will be beveraging in your honor later this evening. Welcome to the 3/4 Century Club where we are all still 18. :)
Mike J
@Ahasuerus:
Huggybear also says word on the street is that Manchin coiuld be up for DHS/Energy, which would allow the gov to name the replacement in the senate/possible 50th trumpcare vote.
Bobby Thomson
Little fish are now being squeezed.
Yarrow
@efgoldman: I hope it all goes well for her. And you too with your new dialysis responsibilities.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: No offense to ABL, but this has been well documented over the past several years. That the real driver of conservative legal change wasn’t Scalia. Rather it has always been Thomas. Working quietly and diligently to move the conservative understanding of foundational, statutory, and regulatory law and related matters to a very, very reactionary and strange place.
efgoldman
@Immanentize:
What’s your law teacher’s sense of whether the federal and state grand juries share Information?
Gelfling 545
@Major Major Major Major: I believe the current arrangement is that Kelly assumes all presidential leadership duties and Trump makes vroom vroom noises in fire trucks.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: Miller doesn’t seem to understand that if he get’s what he wants he’s going to be rounded up like every other member of his family.
jl
@Kay: Thanks. I tend to favor packaging affirmative action that is needed under ‘class’ label. Partly that is packaging and sales. The article seems to interpret ‘class’ as ‘economic class’. I’ll read it and save the link.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ll probably stick with MSNBC for my viewing pleasure in the Motel 6.? Steer clear of the local rally coverage. FYI, there are 2 Motel 6s in Charleston, WVA…one with MSNBC, one not. I’m going to splurge on the one with the good tv…and Bob Evans takeaway.?
joel hanes
@Peale:
the Old Balloon Juice
IIRC, died about the time of Terry Schiavo, and was intered about the time of Katrina.
Yah, I used to read Cole when he was a ranty warblogger.
randy khan
@rikyrah:
The stupid, it burns. Pelosi probably has support of 90% of the current caucus, and they will be the majority under any reasonable scenario for the House, so the possibility that some people elected in 2018 might not have her as their first choice is meaningless.
Bobby Thomson
@Mike J: lol.
Major Major Major Major
@Gelfling 545: Given that said noises tend to happen while signature legislation collapses, I may or may not be fine with this.
LAO
@Immanentize: How’d I miss your comment. I totally agree. This will be an open-end and extensive investigation.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: Bannon world driven leaks and innuendo to try to set the conditions. I don’t think Bannon is going to win this one, but with this administration, who knows.
efgoldman
@Jeffro:
I’m astounded he hasn’t turfed the goulash lying weasel Gorka yet.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: Today is your birthday? Missed that, lots to celebrate! Happy Birthday!
ericblair
This is like Watergate on 64x fast forward. I can’t remember what the hell the blockbuster news was from the beginning of the week anymore by the time we get to Thursday.
I’m also binge-rewatching Game of Thrones while living through whatever the fuck this is. I thought this was going to be a bad idea, but it’s actually kind of stabilizing, really.
Adam L Silverman
@eric: There is an existing Federal Grand Jury impanelled by Mueller in Virginia for Manafort and Flynn related matters.
Iowa Old Lady
On a day like this, I truly appreciate BJ. The explanations of Grand Juries and why they matter are very informative.
efgoldman
@Felonius Monk:
No, no we’re not!
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: No, why?
GregB
Three Sticks beats Two Scoops.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I’m not sure what that means.
randy khan
@LAO:
There was a very funny subplot in a West Wing episode about C.J. Cregg not realizing that as a witness she could say whatever she wanted about her testimony, and worrying that she’d committed a felony.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: They seem to be in overdrive at Breitbart and the alt-right social media sites.
Kay
@jl:
I listened to the oral arguments in the University of Michigan case. I don’t remember why I was home during it but I was and I started listening and couldn’t stop because I realized I had never thought it through before. Anyway. Obviously I found the pro-affirmative action side more persuasive.
schrodingers_cat
@Quinerly: I thought you were on the beach pining for CS.
Adam L Silverman
@Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire): Don’t mess with the Society!!!
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam!
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: Well, that was what previous late-night-threads’ conversations had covered.
jl
@GregB: Good idea for some Balloon-Juice gear. TSBTS is nice too. We need some goofy code words and signs, so we can hold our heads up high with the white power loons.
Iowa Old Lady
@randy khan: Pelosi is very effective at managing her caucus. It burns me that people want to toss her because Rs have demonized her.
schrodingers_cat
@schrodingers_cat: On national security matters you are an expert and I am just an interested lay person.
hilts
Hopefully, we’re heading to the end of the line for this orange puke stain and we can get his fat fucking ass thrown out of the White House by Christmas.
rikyrah
John HarwoodVerified account @JohnJHarwood
WH budget chief Mulvaney says he & entire administration now on board behind “clean” debt limit increase – no longer seeking spending cuts
10:40 AM – 3 Aug 2017
Adam L Silverman
@jl: But Miller is Jewish.
Yarrow
@Quinerly: That’s a pretty part of the country. Sorry you’ll have Trumpers there to ruin the mood.
rikyrah
Scott Dworkin
✔
@funder
Trump’s NSA McMaster agrees Susan Rice did nothing wrong by unmasking campaign officials#FireHannity #ImpeachTrumphttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/trumps-national-security-advisor-agrees-susan-rice-did-nothing-wrong-by-unmasking-campaign-officials/ …
12:34 PM – Aug 3, 2017
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: Ok.
schrodingers_cat
@jl: They want to cut legal immigration by half. It is a giant fuck you to naturalized citizens and people still waiting for GC numbers to become available, whose applications to immigrate have been approved.
ETA: Also a fuck you, to religious minorities, non English speakers and citizens of countries that don’t typically send many immigrants to the United States and oh yes refugees.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Please don’t start it up again!
jl
@Iowa Old Lady:
” Pelosi is very effective at managing her caucus. It burns me that people want to toss her because Rs have demonized her. ”
I live in SF Bay Area and it is true that by local standards, Pelosi can legitimately be considered a corporatist neolib sell-out. Just one of the corrupt gang along with notable reactionaries Jerry Brown and Willie Brown. Then in other parts of the country I get lectured about those awful commies.
So, substantial parts of lefty Dem party here has been after her, and others, for over ten years. Which is fine, that is their right. It is dispiriting to me that these same people are so foolish and mindless that they think it is a good idea to ride the GOP smear bandwagon to achieve their ends.
The GOP operates by the old KGB rules: ‘give me the man and I will give you the case’. Going along with their propaganda and smear campaigns in any way angers me. If they don’t like Pelosi, fine, make the case and run someone better. But don’t hitch a ride on the GOP smear machine that goes after anyone and everyone. If they do find someone better and can get them elected, that person will just be the next in line for GOP smears.
rikyrah
I Understand Why The DETROIT Movie Was Made, But I Can’t Recommend That You See It
Dustin Seibert, 7/28/17
Despite living away from my native Detroit for nearly a decade and a half, I stay connected to the city through frequent visits to my immediate family and through friends on social media. As of late, I’ve heard quite a few mixed-to-negative feelings about the upcoming DETROIT film from native Detroiters, so my first goal when touching down at Detroit Metro Airport on a paid press junket for the film was to figure out why so many people are taking umbrage.
The very first person I asked was the Lyft driver – a brother just a few years older than me – who took me from the airport to my hotel. He was concerned that DETROIT – a film centered around the racially motivated five-day rebellion in July 1967 that resulted in more than 40 deaths and thousands of destroyed buildings – might disrupt relations between native black folks and the city’s “new” white people, who are ostensibly at the helm of the city’s “revival” that people have been waiting for since I was pushing a big wheel.
On the driver’s behalf, I asked DETROIT screenwriter Mark Boal during a press conference with the cast and creators of the film if he and director Kathryn Bigelow had given thought to how such an inherently incendiary film would be received by an increasingly gentrifying Detroit. He admitted that he doesn’t know much about the Detroit of 2017, reinforcing that the story itself needed to be told. “A lot of people from [Detroit] don’t know the story even if they grew up here,” he said. “If that’s true in Detroit, it’s certainly true elsewhere.”
As I wait with bated breath for the movie’s Aug. 4 wide release so everyone can see and discuss it, I’ve zero doubt that DETROIT will anger many – especially black folks – for what will likely be several different reasons. In the film, the ’67 rebellion serves as a backdrop for the so-called Algiers Motel incident, where three black boys were killed, and seven black males and two white women were brutalized in one night by white officers from the Detroit and Michigan State police departments, as well as the Michigan Army National Guard.
schrodingers_cat
@jl: The same thing was done to HRC by the bro lefties.
Yarrow
@Iowa Old Lady: Me too! NANCY SMASH has been amazing at keeping her caucus together and getting the votes she needs. Democrats should rally behind her instead of regurgitating Republicans talking points. I have such respect and admiration for her.
sharl
@Elizabelle: Thanks! I see that Adam posted those tweets in a subsequent comment.
I sometimes don’t like where Popehat’s libertarian politics take him, but generally he is on my very short list of “good libertarians”, along with the likes of Radley Balko and Julian Sanchez. IMO he’s good an explaining stuff like this to all us non-lawyers, and he seems to have a lot of fans among other lawyers, which I find reassuring.
Manyakitty
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: No wonder Mother won’t allow him to be alone with other women!
VeniceRiley
I am over the moon that this stepped on his BIGLY WV announcement. No one cares about that place outside of WV. And that governor was a R up to 2015 so he’s really just a party switching opportunist. I hope he chokes on the timing, or on the Drumpfenmember he’ll be made to fellate, as well
jl
@schrodingers_cat: Good luck to Miller in his attempt to recruit Statue of Liberty truthers around the country. The coming civil war will be between the Pedestal Party and the Statue Party. We’ve made some progress in 100 years, since these modern Know-Nothings feel they need to disguise their poisonous BS and hate.
Geeno
@schrodingers_cat: A grand jury is usually around 30 people – at least in NYS. Simple majority to render a “true bill” that then proceeds to criminal trial before a petit jury (pronounced like English “pet it” not like in French) of usually 12 people for criminal proceedings.
Major Major Major Major
@VeniceRiley: Can we just hope he chokes?
@Yarrow: Are you sure, because I hear she’s singlehandedly to blame for Donald Trump and we should primary her and the rest of the Republican wing of the Democratic party.
Quinerly
@Yarrow:
Been driving this route 4 times a year since 2001. Before that a couple of times a year or a little longer route through Asheville, Nashville, etc. since 1982. The Motel 6 desk people know Poco and me.? Called in my Bob Evans, waiting for my takeaway…The Fabulous Flying Quinerly Traveling Road Show is a finely tuned machine! As for the drive, pretty country…I’m rather numb to the drive, though. Thanks for piping in!
Mnemosyne
@jl:
It’s a very common problem with the purported Left. There was someone on my Facebook last year (friend of a friend) who was posting videos about how Hillary was an evil murderer and if she couldn’t vote for Sanders, she wasn’t going to vote at all.
I almost wish she hadn’t blocked me so I could ask her how that’s working out for all of us. But, still, people on the “left” uncritically parroting the same attacks that Fox News uses or attacking the same people is a huge problem for Democrats.
Davebo
Who knew Ty Cobb was special counsel to the president? Still, it seems to fit.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Yes, actually. Petit juries are the ones that actually decide civil suites and criminal indictments, they are usually 12 or fewer jurors. Each state may have different numbers for grand juries and petit juries, and sometimes different numbers for civil suits and criminal cases…here in WV there are 6 jurors on civil cases and 12 petit jurors on criminal cases, usually plus an alternate juror in case someone becomes ill or whatever.
But 16 people on a grand jury, with 12 yea votes needed to hand up an indictment.
I know this from being on several juries over the years.
Gelfling 545
@jl: It is always amazing to me to look at people who have decided that they are a superior race. I find myself wondering what could possibly have made them think so. Surely not their intellect, comportment or achievements.
different-church-lady
Little by little, Reality is once again gaining the upper hand.
schrodingers_cat
@jl:They want to return to the Hoover era.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Disrespecting Nancy Pelosi is probably a pretty good lunacy predictor. If they’re saying something like that, they are not serious people. Gadflies. From a petri dish.
Yarrow
@Manyakitty: I think the “Mother won’t let him be alone with other women” thing is a cover for the fact that it’s men she should be worried about.
Quinerly
@schrodingers_cat:
On my way back to reality. Two weeks down there was all I could manage time wise. Poco is sad. He loves the beach.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Actually Miller’s statements on the Statue of Liberty and the poem The New Colossus are straight white nationalist/white supremacist revisionism.
https://thinkprogress.org/stephen-millers-strange-insult-of-a-reporter-is-very-familiar-to-white-supremacists/
David Duke, Richard Spencer, Jared Taylor, and others of that ilk have written about it/used it when arguing against immigrants.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
That’s weirdly common for women a few years after they give birth. IIRC, the theory is that it has something to do with the (relatively) rapid weight gain and then loss. It’s seen fairly often in people who lose weight too quickly as well.
FWIW, my coworker had hers out and it didn’t affect her ability to have a second child, so more grandchildren could still be in the future for you if your daughter and SIL decide they want to try to improve on perfection. ?
Major Major Major Major
@Elizabelle: I feel the same way about the pejorative use of ‘neoliberal’, except in the 1% of cases where it actually means ‘neoliberal’.
rikyrah
AxiosVerified account @axios
JUST IN: Reuters reports that the grand jury has issued subpoenas relating to the June 2016 Don Jr. meeting
schrodingers_cat
Thanks everyone for the info on grand juries. They never explain these things in the media.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Yep. Totally sure. And all those faux lefties can fuck right off.
@Quinerly: Sounds like you have it all well under control. I love that general area. It’s so beautiful.
different-church-lady
@Yutsano:
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
I don’t. I think Pence has a zipper control problem around women that’s being kept on the down low. Occam’s razor and all that.
Manyakitty
@Yarrow: Lol! ?????
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: You and me, both. For most BS bros, neoliberal == Democrats they don’t like.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: But it’s quite grand.//
Yarrow
@rikyrah:
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Dumbass motherfuckers.
A Ghost to Most
@Adam L Silverman:
Did anyone else read Ed Rogers turd polishing of PeeWee Herman Goerring in the WaPo today? Marc Thiessen wrote an awful column about Putin’s plans backfiring with Rump; then Ed Rogers said “hold my beer!”
Elizabelle
@efgoldman: Best to you and Jeopardy daughter.
Hope your dialysis at home goes well, and that you’re feeling spiffy enough to venture to the DC area before too long.
Wishing the DC contingent a good meetup tonight, and we will have to do another in September or so.
Yutsano
@jl: There is no one I trust more to get things done in Congress more than a nonna.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
You start at the edges and work your way towards the center. Nixon was, very famously, an “unindicted co-conspirator”. They’ll get to him by getting to everyone around him.
Iowa Old Lady
@Mnemosyne: Ick. What are those women thinking?
Gelfling 545
@Adam L Silverman: I have a nephew by marriage who is, sad to say, a Trumpite from Texas. He is now using his VA benefits at a Jesuit university. I’m hoping he will emerge with some of the “being a man for others” instilled into him.
philadelphialawyer
@Adam L Silverman:
From the link:
“In 1973, the Department of Justice concluded that the indictment and criminal
prosecution of a sitting President would unduly interfere with the ability of the
executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned duties, and would thus
violate the constitutional separation of powers. No court has addressed this question
directly, but the judicial precedents that bear on the continuing validity of
our constitutional analysis are consistent with both the analytic approach taken
and the conclusions reached. Our view remains that a sitting President is constitutionally
immune from indictment and criminal prosecution.”
Same conclusion as ’73.
sharl
Every time I think this weirdo has left my news feeds for good, he pops back up again:
Adam L Silverman
@A Ghost to Most: I have not seen it. I will likely give it a pass.
Gelfling 545
@schrodingers_cat: I seem to sense a pattern here!
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: Are you back from Spain?
Adam L Silverman
@Gelfling 545: If he doesn’t he’ll have slept through his education.
Felonius Monk
@efgoldman:
In spirit, efg, in spirit. I hope all goes well with your daughter’s surgery. And as for you, I have every confidence that your new dialysis routine will work out well and keep you in tip top shape. Remember, curmudgeons rule.
Steeplejack
@Quinerly:
Should have gone Asheville-Nashville. Almost the same driving time.
Adam L Silverman
@philadelphialawyer: Which is interesting as everyone from Lawfare to NY Times has reached the opposite conclusion after reading all 30 plus pages.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, do you wish to lecture me about not caring about Turks as allies?
A Ghost to Most
@Adam L Silverman: Wise move. Ed Rogers called Stephen Miller “A thinking man’s Trump”.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, regrettably. Back since mid-July, alas.
It was easier to ignore the orange one from over there. Le sigh.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: His extreme homophobia and focusing on anti-gay legislation, even against the wishes of the business community in his state, sent up red flags for me. Maybe he swings both ways.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wonder Governor Beaufort T Justice’s party switch (I have that name right, don’t I?) was trump’s announced big announcement for the Eleventy Minute Hate tonight.
sukabi
@Eric U.: they won’t be hit pieces, they’ll be pieces that pump them up while pointing out that they are keeping Drumpf worst impulses in check. Which to Drumpf is a HUGE no no. You can’t be presented as better in anyway than Drumpf. His fragile ego can’t take it.
Quinerly
@Steeplejack:
It’s actually almost an hour longer. Will probably do that route in the Fall. Wanted a cheap motel that I knew would have vacancies. Too many tourists that route this time of year.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
How is it a FU to naturalized citizens? Very curious as I have several friends I brought over to work who are now citizens… concerned more than curious. For you too, of course! Links?
efgoldman
@Elizabelle:
Probably not, thanks.
BUT daughter and SIL are taking a New England vaca in September and they couldn’t think of anything to do with granddaughter than leave her with us. Somehow we’ll survive!
Jeffro
@Yarrow:
I am putting a bottle in the garage fridge tomorrow, just like I did when McCain picked Palin. There are some days when you just know it’s all over for the Repubs and you don’t want to be caught low on bubbly!
different-church-lady
@SiubhanDuinne: The split-screen tonight will be delicious.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Yarrow: Pence, Santorum, Tom Cotton… All feature on my “I don’t know what ain’t right about that boy, but that boy ain’t right” list. With the first two, I think it’s some attraction/repulsion thing with sex.
Cotton… I suspect cats and other small animals disappeared at an alarming rate in the neighborhood he grew up in. When I first read about him– military service, Harvard Law, I thought, oh shit, that’s one to watch. Then I saw him talk. I think that thing I sense comes right through the electrons. I don’t think even Tweety would crush on Cotton. Then again, last November.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I believe you mean Jubilation T. Cornpone!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Maybe he can be President of Kentucky, WV and Tennessee.
Fitting…
efgoldman
@Felonius Monk:
I’m already feeling much better.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Among all of the complaints about math in last night’s college thread, there were some interesting comments from College faculty and staff who have participated in admissions.
Short version, if Candidate A from a less-good school district has slightly lower test scores but took advantage of every AP course offered, and Candidate B from a good district has slightly higher test scores but only took a couple of advanced courses, you want Candidate A, because they maximized their limited resources and pulled almost even with the person who had every advantage.
It’s pretty interesting among the other stuff. You can mostly ignore my comments, because I was the one complaining about math. ?
Yarrow
@Jeffro: Agree! It’s always best to be prepared. What I would like to see is maximum damage inflicted on the Republicans party with minimum possible damage done to the country. Fine line to walk.
schrodingers_cat
@J R in WV: Right now naturalized citizens can sponsor for GC their spouse, children and parents as immediate relatives. As immediate relatives they are not subjected to the per country quotas. A friend just sponsored his mom who is getting old and frail. She still prefers to live in India where she has her friends and her own social life but she can visit far more easily than someone on a tourist or visitor visa can. That type of thing would be difficult if Cotton-Perdue becomes a law. You would be only able to sponsor children <18 and your spouse.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Wait. Are you saying Miller is…cosmopolitan?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mike J:
Increadly stupid move going from being a Senator to serving at Trump’s wims.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for putting up the Popehat tweets.
Jeffro
@efgoldman:
Baby steps, efg, baby steps…
philadelphialawyer
@Adam L Silverman: Huh?
The first par says:
“In 1973, the Department concluded that the indictment or criminal prosecution
of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive
branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions. We have been asked
to summarize and review the analysis provided in support of that conclusion, and
to consider whether any subsequent developments in the law lead us today to
reconsider and modify or disavow that determination.We believe that the conclusion
reached by the Department in 1973 still represents the best interpretation
of the Constitution.”
I already quoted the conclusion. So, not sure where the Times and lawfare are getting their info.
As for “lecturing” you, I merely pointed out that your post made it seem like insulting the Turks was a joke. I know, and I knew then, that you know that the Turks are our allies. It was your post I was responding to you. Not your overall knowledge.
Just as now. You linked a document whose conclusion is the exact opposite of what you implied it was. I thought the readers might want to know….Nothing personal.
lamh36
debbie
@jl:
That’s how they get themselves established. No one takes them seriously (other than their initial victims) until it’s either too late or they become victims too.
Jeffro
@GregB:
I’m putting that on a t-shirt tomorrow. I’ll be sure to give you credit!
Adam L Silverman
@debbie:
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: De nada.
satby
Ok, musical accompaniment.
Captian C
@nonynony:
You mean other than Putin?
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
I think it was Rick Wilson who tweeted that it was likely we’d see a major spike in anti-Mueller and anti-comey stories, tweets, etc. in the next 48 hours. All driven by our friends in the Motherland (well, half of it driven from there).
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
I so wish that reporter had called Miller out on that. Despicable that he would have chosen that chestnut of a slur.
Elizabelle
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: WRT Manchin:
(1) he will live in ignominy if he pulls that trick. We had a Democratic turncoat, the deplorable Phillip Puckett of red district Virginia, who resigned in exchange for a cushy state job for himself and judicial appointment for his daughter. Arranged by Republicans, who played the “who, us?” card. Threw control of the divided state Senate to the Republicans; thwarted Governor McAuliffe’s plan to expand Medicaid (Puckett’s district was filled with Virginians who could have benefited from that). Once the stink arose, Puckett did not get the state job. GOP did control the legislature. Awful man. Infamy to him.
(2) Trump is damaged goods. Manchin held the line on the healthcare vote. Maybe that made him feel good, and reminded him he has a spine.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Buckle up. Prepare for Saturday Night Massacre 2.0, like others upthread mentioned
mai naem mobile
@A Ghost to Most: wtf is a thinking man’s Trump?
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
That can also be used as a distraction technique: Look over there at those bad people whose sexuality is out of control! By comparison, I’m a goddamned saint!
MJS
I didn’t see it so apologies if someone else has already said it, but here’s hoping Mueller can indict that yam sandwich.
Actually, apologies regardless
schrodingers_cat
@J R in WV: I follow Greg Siskind’s Twitter feed for immigration related matters. He is not given to hyperbole and is well informed.
rikyrah
Keith BoykinVerified account @keithboykin
Thinking of Mueller’s grand jury on Trump and realizing that blacks are still the largest racial group in Washington, D.C.
Tenar Arha
@rikyrah: oh H-E-double-toothpicks!! Do any of these undoubtedly white men have two brains to rub together? Are we going to spend the next 1.5-3.25 years listening to these MF’s speak nonsense about powerful women. I want to (all h/t to Maxine Waters) reclaim my time in advance from these pitiful whiners.
Cheryl Rofer
@sharl: Carter Page was the Russians’ test case. He was friendly, so they decided to go up the chain – Don Jr. I would also like to know more about Sam Clovis, now chief scientist for USDA, who was a professor at Nothingburger College in Iowa when he recommended Page to the Trump campaign.
Mike in NC
I thought Jared was in charge of selling Green Cards to highest bidding Chinese investors.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Yeah. I was wondering about that; has been the case with every DC jury I have ever seen.
What an honor to serve on that Grand Jury. Important work. Fate of the nation.
Adam L Silverman
@philadelphialawyer: I linked to the wrong thing. My bad. I’ll go back and fix it. And I apologize for picking a fight where none was warranted.
Here’s the actual memo:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3899216/Savage-NYT-FOIA-Starr-memo-presidential.pdf
And here’s the NY Time’s right up:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/22/us/politics/can-president-be-indicted-kenneth-starr-memo.html?_r=0
jl
@Adam L Silverman: I noted that yesterday. Why didn’t Miller say ‘rootless cosmopolitan’? Maybe just too obvious. These loons think they are being clever in their dog whistles.
The trope of ‘rootless cosmopolitan’ goes way back long before the Russian communists, though, even if that exact phrase was not used.
Certainly the idea was central to Nazi propaganda, and goes back long before that.
And very nice approach to genocidal hate campaigns: forcibly and completely segregate, even expel, the mass of the out-group, and then attack them for not being part of the local community.
Yarrow
@Elizabelle:
This is key. Anyone who takes a job in the administration needs to have their head examined. Or they need to be investigated for their own ties to Russia (leverage used to get them to take the job). Or, they’re working undercover.
Cheryl Rofer
@Jeffro: McMaster seems to be the focus of Russian bots, as followed by the new Hamilton 68 tracker. That’s not to say that others won’t receive their kind attention. Wikileaks has been trying to get something going against Comey.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Also: “water is wet”.
philadelphialawyer
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for clarifying.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: It was. You can track everything here:
http://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/
John Fremont
@nonynony: This!!!!
eclare
@philadelphialawyer: But they can testify due to a subpoena!
rikyrah
Marshall CohenVerified account @Marshall_Cohen
BREAKING: Trump’s onetime foreign policy adviser CARTER PAGE was under a FISA warrant since 2014, CNN has learned. http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/mueller-investigation-russia-trump-one-year-financial-ties/index.html …
philadelphialawyer
@eclare: Yes.
Adam L Silverman
@mai naem mobile: Right down to the hair:
https://www.geertwilders.nl/
J R in WV
@GxB:
We have chilled champagne right now, to go with the sashimi grade tuna steak I plan to sear lightly later on.
Satisfactory! Yes, indeed, satisfactory!!
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Black people and federal employees! T’s natural constituency, not!
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: It could be. I find the ones who scream loudest about the gays are the ones who are hiding something along those lines. There are also some other rumors, but who knows. The body language between Pence and his wife does not leave me thinking they have much more than a business relationship.
RobNYNY
@Mnemosyne:
According to a study done here in NY, cops are the only class of suspects who are hard to indict. All other suspects are indicted at a rate of about 99%. Presidents are obviously in a class by themselves. But the famous saying in New York is that you can indict a ham sandwich.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: It was also used by the NAZIs.
Adam L Silverman
@philadelphialawyer: And, again, I apologize for picking a fight where none was warranted.
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne:
Even more ‘Occam’: he’s just a RWNJ prude weirdo. He doesn’t strike me as the lothario type, and there have never been stories about him in that regard.
Sab
@MCA1: How the phuck did you manage that? (Not going to court for a client?)
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Is Acosta Jewish? If so, maybe that stopped Miller from using the real deal. If I were Jewish and someone called me cosmopolitan, I would take it for the real deal and go after them. The way Miller used it, in terms of the argument he was trying to make, made no damn sense at all. (But to be fair to Miller, his argument made no sense at all, so I guess they do fit somehow) So I figure it was just a very slightly disguised old school anti-Semitic slur that he threw in because the inferior beings and race traitors in the press had the impudence to challenge him. First time I heard Miller speak. He seems like a arrogant and nasty dunce.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Those folks did come up in my comment. You’re saying the exact phrase was used? Maybe that exact phrase dose go way back, as well as the concept.
sharl
@Cheryl Rofer: Thanks; I was vaguely aware of the facts you state in the first part of your comment, but that further backstory…woah! That Clovis guy does sound worthy of a closer look.
Jeffro
@Yarrow:
I hear ya. Rooting for a full investigation, maximum sunlight, a complete airing of what has happened (complete with consequences for those who broke the law) should satisfy those requirements. The US is fine if Trump Inc gets indicted, tried, and sent to prison forever – in fact, it could and should make us stronger.
RobNYNY
@schrodingers_cat:
Yes, a federal grand jury has up to 23 people. And only a majority is required is required to indict. A trial (“petty”) jury is typically 12, and generally requires unanimity to reach a verdict.
Jeffro
@Cheryl Rofer: it’s weird… you could almost make a case by noting the target and timing, that they were working together…
Mike J
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I would agree, but he’s up for reëlect in ’18. If he thinks he’s going to lose anyway, friend of big coal Manchin might take a job at Energy.
sm*t cl*de
@Cheryl Rofer:
Whose only “science” experience seems to be his belief in white supremacy and the need for racial purity.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: That. Rocks. Thank you.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Acosta is Cuban American. His father came here as an early refugee from Castro’s Cuba. He didn’t speak any English when he arrived.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: The phrase that Miller used was “cosmopolitan bias”.
jl
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks for the info. I didn’t know Acosta’s history. Miller was so insulting, that is hard to count all the targets that the racist loon had in mind.
Being a white goy, if someone called me a cosmopolitan disparagingly, rootless or otherwise, I will still give it to them, but in the happy genial spirit of the most insulting and humorous ridicule and invective I could think of. But I recognize people from other groups don’t have that luxury.
MCA1
@Sab: I’d estimate half of big firm lawyers have never been in court on behalf of a client. Our job is to make sure they don’t have to go to court, but if they ever do they’ll be directed to a litigator at the firm, not me. I and my entire group document agreements to structure and then close transactions between business concerns.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: So what? Same thing. If he had used those terms to me, they would hear something.Do you think Acosta know what Miller was doing?
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I think he got the cosmopolitan as a slur part. I doubt he knew that a common white nationalist/white supremacist theme is the alternative history of the Statue of Liberty that Miller publicly espoused and promulgated yesterday.
danielx
Clearly this is Obama’s fault.
ruemara
@Adam L Silverman: I am slapping you upside the head for that. Mentally.
jl
@Adam L Silverman:
” common white nationalist/white supremacist them is the alternative history of the Statue of Liberty ”
Yes, I was vaguely familiar with that, even though I haven’t tracked a lot of the white power code stuff closely.
I want these people called out, Trump confronted with it, and these people forced out. Won’t happen but I hope someone makes a very explicit fuss about it.
Edit: I think pedestal/statue BS part of the sovereign citizen schtick too. I am more familiar with that, because I think their alternative history is just so damned hilarious. You want to talk codes, let’s talk admiralty flags!
SiubhanDuinne
@nonynony:
No shit. This is Thursday. It was Monday — three days and change ago — when we all OMG’d to the news that — whatsisname — can’t even remember — SCARAMUCCI was out. These guys are doing unforgivable things to the time-space continuum.
Adam L Silverman
@ruemara: Thanks for the congrats.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jl: The strange part was Miller was really sounding like he was accusing Acousta of being more worldly than Miller and somehow Miller though that was like being a child molster or something. Sort of “Oh you know which foreigners can speak English, what’s next, fancy mustard?” kind of thing.
Central Planning
@Quinerly: hey – Alain sent you (or somebody :) ) my email address. Did you get it?
debbie
I guess Trump is too cosmopolitan for the Secret Service.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: man, this is great! Thanks for re-posting, and thanks sharl for pointing it out!
Captain C
@Adam L Silverman: I hate to throw this word around, but if Miller had been sent to the camps he would have volunteered right away to be a kapo.
philadelphialawyer
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. That’s very gracious.
Adam L Silverman
@Captain C: Tracking.
jl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Miller was a dishonest ass. He twisted what Acosta said into a straw man and attacked that. I found Miller’s display absolutely vile and disgusting, and my opinion when downhill when I saw the pic of Miller flashing white power gang signs.
I don’t know whether Acosta was restrained by responsibilities of representing his company in the press pool. IMHO, a good start on Miler’s crap would be ‘That is obviously not what I said and not what I meant you conniving racist asshole.’
MisterForkbeard
@debbie: To be fair, Trump has been too afraid of angry/laughing crowds to go anywhere near Trump Tower since the inauguration. So it’s not like the SS actually needs to be there.
Adam L Silverman
@philadelphialawyer: You’re welcome. There’s enough stupidity lose that I don’t need to ad to it if I can avoid it.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Come to think it “Cosmopolitan Bias” sounds like a good garage band name and makes an excellent insult to use on On-Line Fascists.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: This has been Miller’s schtick since he was 14.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/stephen-miller-duke-donald-trump/amp
Captain C
@VeniceRiley:
If he has that small a throat, he’d have died long ago.
geg6
@lamh36:
Holy shit. Is today Christmas and I’m hallucinating 88 degree temps here in WPA? Cuz I feel like I’m getting everything I’d ask for from Santa.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Steeplejack: Yes! We could have met up, with pettins for Poco & Ivan!
Mnemosyne
@Jeffro:
It’s the whole not allowed to be alone with a woman, ever stories that made my antenna perk up. In my experience, a wife only institutes that kind of regimen when the husband has a proven zipper control problem.
Captain C
@Mnemosyne: Short-sighted, self-absorbed idiots who think that everything is about them and that they’re the first to discover anything.
Cheryl Rofer
@sm*t cl*de: yup
Captain C
@Mnemosyne: With Pence, there could well be consent issues to go with.
Captain C
@Yarrow: I would pay good money to see the Grand Jury testimony of Uday, Qusay, and Lucrezia.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jl: Millar certainly a complete idiot, I noticed the other reporters were laughing at his rant at Acousta and the disbelief in Millar’s eyes at their reaction was pretty clear. Millar must have spent his entire life in the Alt Right community to be this clueless.
As for Acousta, well he is a reporter and he got Millar to speak openly and say a lot more than Millar wanted to for frankly a pretty pathetic question. So perhaps not all bad for him.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mnemosyne:
well to be fair my mother did the same thing to my dad, but that’s because he tends to forget to wear his pants now. But I get your point.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: He grew up in a FDR Democrat, liberal Jewish American home in Santa Monica. He did an inversion after reading LaPiere’s book on guns and crime in junior high. Then he radicalized his parents. The rest of his family can’t stand what he and they have become given the families immigrant history to the US.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/stephen-millers-liberal-family-members-have-some?utm_term=.ek2YQl6lZ#.unMxw2O2g
Miss Bianca
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Yeah, I have to think that Manchin’s response would be “thanks but no thanks”.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Except it’s not even true. There are plenty of photos of Pence with women, at dinners and cocktail parties even, where Mother isn’t present and alcohol is served. It’s a lie told for some reason. Why would that be? Is it, as you suggest, because he’s got a zipper problem with women and Mother has set down the law? Or is it cover for some other issue (Mike swings the other way, possibly) and that info getting out would tank their lives so they create a story that paints Mike as a horn dog? Or something else entirely?
clay
@Cheryl Rofer:
You know, the continual denials of Russia, Wikileaks, and the Trumpers that they are linked would have more weight if they didn’t continually produce more evidence that they are linked.
sm*t cl*de
@Cheryl Rofer:
Photos of Clovis do give the impression that he has some agriculture-related experience, i.e. sharing Hoover’s view that “The white race cannot survive without dairy products”. Or in his case, cheeseburgers.
StringOnAStick
@clay: The now obvious links between Wikileaks and Russia make me even more glad that I turfed the ex-friend who had gone from being an “enhance the contradictions” anarchist to being a mens rights asshole. He lurved him some Wikileaks.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Well, that seems like typical Republican racist horse crap to me! No surprise, mind you, but horse crap to be sure. What you would expect from Republicans fooling with immigration rules, really. I hope none of this crap interferes with you or your family. I doubt that it will be voted up, signed and not over-ruled by the judicial system. I’m an optimist, so be warned.
We’ll be drinking bubbly tonight in honor of the grand jury activity! Hope you do well… I know you will keep in touch via B-J network. Best wishes!
Tokyokie
@Major Major Major Major: I did! I did! WOO-HOO! What do I win? Although Adam has yet to deliver the Emory Boards shirt.
El Caganer
@mai naem mobile: Also known as “a philosopher’s cockroach.”
Adam L Silverman
@Tokyokie: Huh?
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne: You’re assuming it was “Mother” who instituted it, as opposed to Pence imposing it on himself. No worries either way, but I’m just saying…he could well be so freaked out by his own normal impulses (bad, bad impulses) that he does this stuff. He’s certainly “off” enough otherwise…
Uncle Cosmo
@J R in WV: Did you see my last response to you when we were discussing the eclipse maybe a dozen threads ago? It’s important!
TL;DR version: You need to set up shop closer to the center line than “just across into totality” or the period of totality will be so brief you’ll hardly see anything. Use the interactive Google map that’s linked to this page to figure out where to go – look for an accessible venue where totality lasts at least 1:45 & preferably 2:00 or longer. That probably means another 6-10 miles of driving. Good luck & good weather!
Zelma
@nonynony: I’m a non-believing Lutheran, which means I go to church almost every Sunday, serve on Church Council etc., etc. The fact that Francis was elected almost makes me believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Uncle Cosmo
@Yarrow: I vote for “something else entirely.”
I suspect Mother has The Former Stupidest Man In Congress under some sort of mind-control compulsion & fears that any sort of hormonal jog would crack the shell & liberate his inner Social Justice Warrior. Or something.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Lol!! That is funny.