Just to follow up on Dave’s post:
FBI Deputy Director McCabe sscheduled to testify Tuesday to House Intelligence — but will he? "If McCabe is still there," says one panel Republican. And another, Gowdy, tells FoxNews he'd a"be a little bit surprised if he is still an employee of the FBI this time next week."
— Billy House (@HouseInSession) December 15, 2017
This thing is getting serious.
When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come?
Protests are being planned by a national coalition if Trump fires Mueller. You can find one near you here https://t.co/plVT1Ztyty
— (((Andy Ratto))) (@andyratto) December 15, 2017
? Martin
I don’t see how McCabe’s employment has anything to do with whether he should testify to Congress or not.
Corner Stone
DougJ, you know better than this. You are not allowed to post about this kind of thing round these here parts.
Judge Crater
Will this be the Saturday night massacre or the Reichstag Fire? Mueller and top echelon of FBI leadership fired? Also end the congressional investigations? Pardons for all?
Kushner is in serious jeopardy. Shut down Mueller before he is charged?
Corner Stone
This about McCabe is a further testing of the water. They have so far got away with firing Comey. If they keep hacking away at the beast eventually it will either fall or capitulate completely.
MP
I just gotta think this is going to end badly for the Trump and any Rs that support him in this. They are not smart people, their hold on power is not indefinite and they most definitely lack popular support. That does not seem like a good position from which to try to attack the IC and Federal law enforcement.
There is a long list of things that are worse than losing your elected office, and it seems as if they don’t realize that.
Corner Stone
@Judge Crater:
Not to be the cynic, but I am not waiting up to see when the indictments for JarJar come down.
Doug!
@Corner Stone:
I don’t get why people are so touchy about this. I do ten posts about raising money or running for office or special elections for every one of these. And I think this is big.
John Revolta
Schumer’s playing a little hardball
schrodingers_cat
Negativity and cynicism all the time is the Balloon Juice way.
Another Scott
@John Revolta: Good, good.
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
Corner Stone
By the by, the HealthCare.gov site page where you pick a plan has been down for about 24 hours straight now. Either by purposeful design, or natural DDOS from so many last minute signer-uppers.
MJS
Trump – “The FBI is in tatters.”
Everyone else- “No, it’s not.”
Trump – “Give me a day or two.”
JPL
If there is a Saturday night firing, what will the house judiciary committee do?
Corner Stone
I have been waiting for weeks now for rumored indictments that pierce the veil of this WH. When or if it happens I will be among the joyful. But I am mensched out to the grody max.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: On purpose, they are malevolent and inept.
Corner Stone
@JPL: Order another bottle of $350 wine at dinner with their lobbyists? Oh wait, that’s what ZEGS will do. The House Judiciary Cmte will probably continue it’s normal Saturday night activities, sending dick pics to staff and/or underage boys and girls.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: @Judge Crater:
As I posted in the previous thread/post:
Here’s where we’re at:
The Deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, has made it clear that he is satisfied with what Mueller is doing. Until/unless the President fires the Deputy AG, all this “fire Mueller” speculation does is wind people up. Moreover, if it does happen there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it unless significant portions of the US are prepared to actually take up arms and violently rebel against the current administration. Finally, it makes the assumption that Mueller is himself a chump. That he’s a fool and naive. Rather than recognizing that Mueller is, perhaps, the most experienced Federal criminal prosecutor alive and active in the US today. And that he’s both tactically effective and strategically sound. I have no doubt that Mueller has set the conditions to do what has to be done if the President does do something really stupid. This includes ensuring that NY state AG Schneiderman, as well as the AGs for Maryland and DC, have what they need to pick things up with state level equivalent prosecutions. Finally, it ignores what our allies and partners will do. Specifically what they’re intel communities will do to protect themselves.
There are only three things to be done right now, regardless of the issue: 1) organize – both to rally members of the House and Senate in opposition, to run for office at all levels, in support of organizations and groups looking to check the malfeasance and bad governance, and/or to register and get out the vote, 2) run for office and/or get out the vote and vote, 3) prepare for armed rebellion. I’m not advocating option 3. Not least of which do you really see anyone who regularly contributes to Balloon Juice involved with one outside of a few of our veterans? Hell we have front pagers, let alone commenters, who would be the first to undermine that if it actually both became necessary and happened. And I’m not honestly sure if they’d be doing it just for shits and giggles.
Stay alert. Stay informed. Take care of yourself and others. You can either manage the heightened stress that the Russian active measures and cyberwar and what they’ve wrought over the past two years or you can be destroyed by it. The former is preferable and what is necessary to ensure that we’re all ready to do what we can within the law – organize, run for office, support appropriate groups and organizations, vote – when the time comes.
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: The Dems will do what they can in the minority. The majority will do nothing.
germy
Corner Stone
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Hnoyikar!
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Is the Marshal of the Supreme Court getting ready to release the Eagles of Justice with the writs of Execution?//
JPL
@Corner Stone: You forgot to mention that the wine will be billed to the taxpayers.
ThresherK
@? Martin: Hey, your comment from downstairs (paraphrased):
was choice!
Mike J
@germy: Chaka Khan.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I just listened to Nicole Wallace’s show– I’ve come to reevaluate my opinion of her because I think she hates trump as much I do– and she and Steve Schmidt were near apoplectic about these attacks on the FBI.
But, no mention of the Multiple Stooges in Congress who are trump’s cheering section on this (Mouth-breather Jordan, Marble-head Chabot, Knuckle-dragging Asparagus T Goehmert, but also sleazy chinless flop sweat shit-weasel Ken Starr-wannabe Gowdy), much less the profoundly cynical (among other things) Lindsey Graham, who apparently decided if nature is going to make him an eternal sidekick, he’s going to go from McCain to trump
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have it on delay and they just got to Gowdy.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman:
It would be awesome if that happened.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: I will join the resistance in whatever form it takes. I am not a good candidate to man a gun, but these yutzes seem ripe for some sneaky sabotage.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: I’m not calling for rebellion or violence or anything else. But what I’ve delineated above are the only options unless you just want to either roll over and give up or flee. And to be very honest there won’t be any place safe enough to flee to.
JPL
@Adam L Silverman: I knew the answer when I asked. I assume that he’ll try to do something before Jones is sworn in.
raven
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS – Somethin’ Goin’ On
With Al Kooper and before David Clayton Thomas.
I went on down to the mailbox
Seems I got the phone bill yesterday
Charging me for some hour conversations
From someone in L.A.!
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Adam, if Trump starts a massacre this weekend, what are the chances someone in the IC just burns him by dumping EVERYTHING to the WaPo ?
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I find myself disagreeing with your analysis. Every single day Trump is in the WH we fall a little farther away from a meaningful democracy. He just celebrated his record high 12th Justice approved to a Court of Appeals spot. Trump is distorting the notion of truth itself.
I think there is still power in the vote, and as Kay says we need to empower people to fight for the right to vote in every state, as a full time job. The notion of an armed rebellion is still so far away as to be obscured in what or how it would take shape.
If they keep chipping at institutions whose main task essentially boils down to presenting factual truth, all while cutting funding for every public service provider, there will be nothing left to vote for or believe in a relatively short period of time. Trump will receive a clean bill of health from the House investigation, he’ll continue to lie to all of our faces, and he and his allies will demand the Mueller investigation end. And it will, if not with a bang then with a whimper. Mueller is obviously very talented and smart, but IMO City Hall has a cold deck under the drinks tray the waiter is bringing over.
Bottom line, at least to me, Mueller is going to have to strike fast and hot and deep. Cry havoc! And let slip the Eternal Patriotic Eagles of Patriotism!
Adam L Silverman
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: As I’ve written here repeatedly, going to war with the intel community, including the FBI, is a very bad idea. It will not end well.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: No he has 12 judges appointed period. Both appeals and district. Stop knee jerking and overreacting. Yes, things are bad. Yes, they’re going to get worse. Yes, people are going to get hurt, especially those that deserve to get hurt the least. You can either keep as clear and calm a head as possible and do what you can do, you can freak out, roll over, and give in/up, or you can flee.
Betty Cracker
@Doug!: FWIW, I agree.
SFAW
@raven:
The Kooper group was the ONLY real BS&T. That other band was the Curly Joe DeRita version.
Adam L Silverman
This seems to explain a lot:
Quinerly
@raven: OT: Love me some Al Kooper. Check out his solo album from 10-12 years ago, maybe less (don’t hold me to the exact year)..It’s called “Black Coffee.” Great stuff, plus a Terry Gross interview around that time promoting it. There was a follow up, “White Chocolate.” Not as good. Still both worth a listen. Al Kooper was the Forrest Gump of musicians….he was EVERYWHERE.?
Amaranthine RBG
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s what the gold fringe on the flag stands for, right?
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman:
I do not believe I am knee jerking or over reacting. The effective pushback has to start at some point.
moops
@Adam L Silverman:
Not speculating would be irresponsible given that the GOP is floating trial balloons for purging the investigation. Massive outrage and protests have to be planned, or they just won’t happen and there will be no political consequences for GOP enablers. Without outrage there will be no dissonance for the Bubble People.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman: I missed that. Graham is the one that worries/infuriates me because he has such uber-VSP status
Quinerly
@SFAW: For all Kooper fans: http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-12-06/al-kooper-on-the-stones-the-who-bob-dylan-joe-walsh-and-countless-others. Required reading, his autobiography: “Back Stage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards.”
Yarrow
Tickety tockety.
Dave
@Adam L Silverman: I keep coming back to these are not only not smart people they are pretty much the walking embodiment of Dunning-Kreuger; Bannon’s probably the smartest of them and he is a mediocrity that confuses his lack of ethics with brilliance. About the opposite of Mueller. The worst case scenario isn’t that the revanchist yahoo’s win it’s we can all lose. Panic, as you note, however doesn’t help and I still think we get through this. It’s a reckoning that’s been coming since the Southern strategy and the religious right joined forced. I’d rather not be living through it but so be it.
Duane
You can smell the aroma of Republican desperation in the air. Sweet like their tears. They climbed aboard Trump’s rat infested, scurvy riddled ship and it’s sinking.
ruemara
I’m just sitting here, hoping the post lunch dizziness passes. Possibly the worst i’ve ever felt outside of serious food poisoning or flu. But no one else is unwell. Oh, well.
I don’t think we should panic right now. We knew the GOP was going to ignore any and all crimes done by 45 et al. I agree with general strikes but yes, whole swaths of the nation will not join us. But… blue states are economic powerhouses. Even if we take it down by 25%, it’s a cost our overlords do not want to bear.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Well, it’s up to us, as I guess it always was. If Czar Manbaby tries any of this sit, we need to be out in the streets like it’s the end of the world. Everybody remembers what Benjamin Franklin said when somebody asked him what the Constitutional Convention had given the country: A republic, if you can keep it. It’s our time to do what we can to keep it.
moops
As for the IC running a viable defense of Mueller, I think that is hoping for too much. The IC is not unified. Even the FBI is not unified. There are many in the CIA and NSA that would be OK with the FBI being gutted and tarnished. There are manipulators in the FBI who would be tapped to step into any power vacuum.
Competent investigators brought the Steele dossier to McCain, before Trump became President, and yet here we are.
Tim C.
So I watch the trends over at 538. They have been keeping track of trump approval using averages, regression etc. There seems to be some real downward movement on trumps numbers the last few weeks. Even if things get dark the next few days, weeks and months, we have to hold onto hope. I’m gonna go watch Ghandi again and remind myself othershave gone through worse and won. And to paraphrase Adam, Current Status: Frosty
Hkedi
@Adam L Silverman: That’s gotta be a joke or photoshop of some sort, Fresh and Black-water plumbing are kept strictly segregated, Toilets and sinks would overflow before black-water could reach the fresh (the only place where they two systems interface). If the system is that backed up, every toilet on the floor would be overflowing too.
BC in Illinois
I had a comment bumped off, because it was determined to be spam. It was kinda long and verbose, but can someone see if it could be allowed back in? Thanks.
BC
Yarrow
@ruemara: Please someone know you’re feeling dizzy. I mean someone actually near you in real life. If no one else is sick, you might be the first or it might be a sign of something else. Can you lie down for a bit? Make sure you’re hydrated. Is dizziness your only symptom?
Quinerly
Has anyone posted this?:http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/12/15/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns
Anotherlurker
@raven: IMHO, the best album that BS&T ever recordded.
BTW, I’m not putting down the post Kooper incarnations. They kicked it big time! This is merely my preferred line up.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Corner Stone:
What effective pushback might that be? Aside from ones that will only make things far worse than they are? Winning elections to stop these judges will take time. Short of simply killing the nominees before they can take office I don’t know what can be done in the meantime.
raven
@SFAW: Someone else who knows the truth!
moops
I also think the dead-man switch of investigative material being funneled to state investigators is just wishful thinking. You can hand a state AG a boatload of evidence of treason and there is nothing they can do with it. You can hand them oodles of material on foreign election tampering and there is nothing they can do with it.
It would drop down to money laundering, and I’m not sure they have the resources to actually catch all these rats. It would be a very expensive investigation to carry forward for a state AG office, and without the compelled help of the FBI, and without the classified materials that Mueller would have to scrub from his dead-man dump.
donnah
I’m sickened and I’m exhausted by this Trump administration. The Republicans needed him to get their personal agendas completed and soon the monstrosity of a tax bill will pass and then they’ll get around to gutting the ACA. I don’t see evidence to the contrary. And they’ll be gloating and waltzing around with champagne as they celebrate the victory and the damage.
I have no evidence either that there will be a line they won’t cross. They were ready to accept a pedophile into the Senate. They willingly back corporate greed and scandal just so they can chalk up more wins. Their level of heartlessness and greed is staggering.
I’ve been secretly hoping that some Republican will finally say, “Enough”. I want one of them to say it’s gotten out of hand, that they know what they’re doing is wrong, that they don’t want to work against the best interests of their constituents. I want them to have a conscience and speak out and then more of them will agree and pretty soon both parties can actually work together.
Haha, just kidding! I know it won’t happen. But a girl can dream.
mad citizen
I’m have no idea what this thread is about. The stuff at the top.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Trump’s ego took a huge hit with that Alabama senate special election. So when a narcissist gets hurt a narcissist goes to look to punish people. This is not impossible that this is Trump bluster to get everyone upset.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Jésu Christo.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
What would make it moar awesomer would be John Ashcroft singing “Let the Eagle Soar” in accompaniment.
Corner Stone
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I don’t know how practical it is, but IMO, Mueller has to hit the turbo button. He has to start rapidly indicting people or letting them know they are targets or putting the fear of God into them, etc. I’ve never ran a SC investigation before, and I am sure they like to take their time and flesh every detail out before dropping the hammer. However, I think that if there is a there there right now, he has to run with it and get going with people right at Trump’s feet.
IMO, Mueller has to be the start of the pushback. Then we protest, then we excite candidates to run for office and then we tsunami wave Congress. The bitter rump that will not believe a damn word Mueller says is growing every day. GOP Congress and Fox News are reinforcing each other. It *has* to be true if a Congressperson said it! And Hannity asked him about it and he said it again! Fuck Mueller and fuck the FBI!
I sometimes feel like doing violence but I am not advocating for it in any way more tangible than I wish Ceiling Cat would bat the wig off the head as they walk by.
But this has to start soon or, IMO, and without kneejerking or overreacting, I am of the opinion that demagoguery will have taken hold to a point where the energy for resistance has been sapped.
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: Mahn…I tell ya what…if Black Panther’s Wakanda was a real place, I’d have moved there the day AFTER Chump was elected…
WaterGirl
@Yarrow: Two things. 1, a crisis is already happening to Jared and has been for months, and 2, that is not nearly as satisfying as tick tock, motherfuckers. Please resume your normally scheduled programming.
Feebog
@Adam L Silverman:
As I understand it, Trump can’t directly fire Mueller, he has to go through Rosenstein. If Trump fires Rosenstein, the decision falls to the Justice Department number three. But, again, as I understand it, Mueller cannot be fired except for cause. That gives Mueller standing to challenge the firing in court. And that means Trumpov would have to provide the cause for removal. If multiple fired Justice officials are fired for refusing to fire Mueller for cause because there is none, that puts them in a deep hole to begin with. I just don’t see how the dummies in the Trump administration pull it off.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
McCabe? He’s been out of the news since Wray came on board. What stirred that up?
Raven Onthill
Robert Mueller’s Bronze Star: “with complete disregard for his own safety personally led a fire team across the fire-swept terrain to recover a mortally wounded marine who had fallen forward of the friendly lines.”
Somehow I doubt that Donald Trump will successfully intimidate him.
https://twitter.com/officership/status/941456935244779521
trollhattan
@Feebog:
The courts have never overturned a dismissal filed under the “He’s a total loser” statute. You could look it up.
ruemara
@Yarrow: Just dizzy with all it’s fun. It’s residing a bit. I’m at work and we’ve had a very large catered meal, but we’ve also had a lot of homemade foods. I’m right next to the cornhole (not that type) game. If I hurl or go down, it’s going to be noticeable. I think it’s all the extra carbs & fats. I’m really not used to it so I tend to have reactions to rich foods. Fried foods can make me very sick.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: I second what yarrow said.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Corner Stone:
I agree with this.
However:
What evidence is there for this? Yes there is a bitter rump of people who will always believe Trump is innocent. That was always going to be true. Every place has their goosesteppers. But what evidence is there that it is growing? 2/3 of the country hate his guts and don’t trust him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): McCabe was named in one of the SCANDALOUS texts (the release of which is I think the subject of an DOJ-IG investigation now)
The trumpist notion is that they were plotting against trump. Sounds to me like they were talking about an investigation that had to be pursued more vigorously, or questions that needed to be answered. I think theres a good chance they will regret tugging on this thread
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Wray can pick his own deputy, but there has been no indication that he wants to. There is concern that they will try to purge the FBI of those who donated to dems.
Yarrow
@ruemara: Just be safe and let someone know in case you do get ill and need help. At least they’ll know you’ve been feeling dizzy. Sounds like you know what the likely culprit is. Eating foods you’re not used to can definitely you feel bad. Take care of yourself and ask for help if you need it.
@WaterGirl: Someone else stole my phrase, so I mixed it up a bit. And I’ll also add this to the Jared crisis/PR firm hiring:
WaterGirl
@ruemara: I had my only migraine ever at a potluck years ago. I have no idea what I ate that caused the problem, but whatever it was, my body did not like it.
Heidi Mom
If anyone needs an extra dose of inspiration to keep going, let me suggest reading An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice by Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who spoke at the Democratic Convention in honor of his son Humayun, an Army captain who was killed in Iraq. As a law student in Pakistan Mr. Khan came across our Declaration of Independence and was enthralled by its words: “I’d never been so struck by a few sentences, ideas and ideals that, for a moment, removed me from where I was to where it was possible to be.” The road that he followed to the United States was long and winding, but he never faltered. I’m pretty sure that he’ll never choose the options of fleeing or giving up the fight. He won’t fail us; we can’t fail him. The book also provides a fascinating glimpse into the obligation of charity (zakat) as practiced by one middle-class Muslim family in the U.S. — they cooked and delivered meals to the hungry, gave desperate strangers a place in their home, and established a scholarship in Humayun’s honor. Inspirational in that regard, too.
WaterGirl
@Yarrow: I don’t think anybody stoles your phrase – it makes all of us feel better to see that tick tock, motherfucker – you clearly need to post that more, not less. :-)
WaterGirl
@Heidi Mom: Thank you for that!
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: Last couple of threads where I’ve been tempted to use it someone already has. It would be redundant if I did. Maybe I’ve been an inspiration.
But in this case for Jared in particular, tick tock, motherfucker. He’s been on borrowed time anyway and it’s about time he had to pay for his treason. Tick fucking tock.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Quinerly:
I actually have vinyl of some of that.
Corner Stone
@Heidi Mom:
Have not read the book, but my admiration for the man and his family grows with every interview I see him give.
JMG
1. McCabe is not a political appointee. He’s career FBI. Trump CAN’T fire him and make it stick, nor can the Congress.
2. FBI Director Wray could reassign him, but since McCabe’s retirement date is next April, why take the political hit when time will do the work anyway?
moops
It would be good to remember how Fitzgerald’s investigation over the outing of Valerie Plame ended in a just one scalp, Libby. Even though there was plenty of evidence of Cheney’s involvement, and other WH officials. Then the media dogs wailed and the whole thing dropped. Then that same year, 2006, was the great purging of Attorney Generals that were not sufficiently loyal. Having the investigation drop to the AGs puts a huge target on their backs.
bemused
Putrid Roy Moore hasn’t conceded yet? Unbelievable, yet not.
mai naem mobile
I would like to think Mueller wouldn’t have survived DC for decades at a high level unless he knew how to survive poltical battles. Granted the Dolt45 era is way beyond normal but Mueller is not a stupid man. I wish there were more pieces about Mueller from years ago about his methods and personality. I am even prepared for Mueller to be a partisan hack and find nothing important incriminating Dolt45 and his administration .
TS
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Defining to perfection from the frying pan into the fire.
MisterForkbeard
@JMG: They’d do it to further discredit the FBI in the eyes of conservatives and give the media a “Well, McCabe was so bad he had to be fired, so clearly there’s some smoke here. After all, the FBI did exonerate Clinton over the emails.”
WaterGirl
@Yarrow:
It has been an inspiration. I know I feel better every time I read it, it gives me an extra dose of hope.
WaterGirl
@moops: I am really not intending to be rude, but I find myself wondering if you are intentionally trying to spread doom and gloom here today.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
What Trump never has understood is that his office is confined to a narrow, breakable set of norms (which he has, in fact, broken) and broader hard regulatory statutory limits. The wild card which is in play is the extent to which those hard limits will be enforced by congress, the courts and internal watchdogs.
Right now, the GOP majority is allowing him a free path to do whatever, and are operating their arcane system – razor thin Senate majority controlled by 40% of the States, the gerrymandered House majority and minority vote Electoral College – as if there is a large popular mandate to upend all. Courts can slow him a bit, but the pace of the appointments concerns me, as there are now a large number of movement conservatives who support a white minority supremacist government that are being named to lifetime posts.
Big protests in SF, LA, DC, Boston, Chicago aren’t going to do it, not this time. I’m afraid that it will take big action – general strikes, violence, public acts of rage against RW pundits, pols, donors, sycophants.
debbie
Listened to everyone’s favorite, BoBo, on NPR a bit ago. He cited a Fox poll of its listeners. At the time of his Inauguration, 90% supported Trump; now it’s 58% approval. Yay!!!
les
@Corner Stone:
Nice try. I’ve signed both daughters up in the last 24 hours. Problem free.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Marshall doesn’t give any context, but I’ll take a wild guess that this means Our Chuck is yanking hard on the “We have to admit Republicans have a point”
Corner Stone
@les:
LurkerNoLonger
@bemused: It’s unseemly how much I’m enjoying the anguish that lunatic pervert and his Jew-lawyer-having wife must be going through. I hope it hurts. I hope it hurts.
TenguPhule
@MP:
We can only hang them for treason once. This is not a great incentive for them not to keep going.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
I don’t know if you’re prone to allergies, but that can be a sign of an allergic reaction. You may want to try taking a Benadryl — if it’s not an allergic reaction, the worst that can happen is that it will make you sleepy.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And not just Ken Starr. He had the whole fucking GOP Congress slavering behind him.
TenguPhule
@bemused:
Roy Moore plans to die on that hill.
Kay
@bemused:
You have to love how no one cares, though. As it turns out it doesn’t matter if they don’t concede. In a weird way it’s more humiliating for him that he won’t and no one cares.
If Trump won’t leave it will be harder. We’ll have to trick him. Have a golf cart pull up and he’ll just naturally get in. Then take off and dump him when he’s safely off the property.
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
You can’t say that here. Its doom and gloom. You’ll get pied.
Steeplejack
@bemused:
He’s waiting for God to send the helicopter to the roof of the flooded house.
Cheryl Rofer
Let me be a contrarian and say that I don’t think anyone will be fired this weekend. Some of the legalities and organizational blocks have been mentioned above. Trump HATES firing people, as we see in the continued public roasting of Rex Tillerson. He also is very accomplished at denial, as this week’s Washington Post article on Trump’s denial of Russian involvement in the election shows. His lawyer has been feeding that denial by telling him that the investigation will be over soon and will exonerate him.
Nobody was indicted today, despite the intense rumors yesterday. We’re subject to wishful thinking too.
That said, Trump has been ominously quiet since Tuesday’s election. He is unpredictable, especially if he feels cornered. He is spending the weekend at Camp David, and who knows what that means. I’ve been wrong before.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: Glad to know it’s been helpful!
@Mnemosyne: How was your MRI? Did you do your sleep test yet?
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: I don’t pie people, but moops sorely tempts me.
TenguPhule
@WaterGirl: Those who don’t learn their history are doomed to be forever caught by surprise by the completely obvious.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LurkerNoLonger: isn’t there some quirk in campaign finance law that candidates can pretty much pocket left-over campaign cash? In the next few days we’ll probably see the email from Roy and Lurleen asking all good Christians and trump supporters to help him with his fight for the bible and MAGA.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle: Were you here for Fitzmas?
moops
@WaterGirl: I think the advice some are offering, to relax and calm down, is misguided.
lamh36
eemom
@Adam L Silverman:
My hubs eedad, who used to work in the defense industry, agrees with you.
But my question is this: if those guys can bring him down, what the fuck are they waiting for? A war with NK?
SFAW
@debbie:
Must be because they’re tired of all the
whiningwinning.Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, the guy apparently was in the CI business. Which means he was looking for traitors.
If the shoe fits…
Yarrow
@Kay:
It is kind of interesting. The concession is just a formality. It’s not necessary. Another norm broken.
He plays golf all the time. If he’s going to be impeached, do it while he’s golfing, then all the rigamarole associated with being President goes away. They just leave him there, kind of like how they left Priebus–or was it Spicer?–when everyone was getting off Air Force One and everyone else went with the motorcade and he was left on his own. He gets the assigned post-President Secret Service crew but that’s it.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: Rosenstein shot himself in foot with the tweet release.
I suspect his days are quickly drawing to a close in Justice. Who’s his likely replacement?
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Okay, then it’s not just me. Good.
danielx
@schrodingers_cat:
And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
In other news, John Rogers* strikes again.
*He who quantified the 27% Crazification Factor.
SFAW
@bemused:
Hoped-for ‘Bama newspaper headline:
“Day N of Roy Moore Rejecting God’s Will” [where “N” is a large positive integer]
chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Great minds…
LurkerNoLonger
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t know, but if there’s another way to bilk the rubes I’m sure ole Roy is on it.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: Dog is trying to tell us something.
danielx
@bemused:
Hey, he claims it’s god’s decision and evidently he hasn’t made his opinion known yet. This could go on for decades, you know.
TenguPhule
@lamh36: Fucking falling into line like good little GOP assholes of negotiable virtue.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@bemused: His failure to concede shows the extent to which he lives in a world he thinks he can make up.
JPL
@TenguPhule: Hopefully he dies soon then.
bemused
@LurkerNoLonger:
No unseemly at all. I have no problem with them being reviled, ridiculed and sent to the dust heap.
I hope, minute by minute, to be extremely unseemly when Trump, cohorts, GOP and deplorables too numerous to count get what they so richly deserve. I would celebrate every day for the rest of my life.
eemom
@lamh36:
GOD, I hate that simpering, hypocrite twat. Her constituents stood out in the cold to try to get her to hear them. Fucking HATE her.
Given that we’re living in a horror movie anyway, I will note that it’s always worse when somebody you thought you could sort of trust to not be a monster, turns out to be a monster anyway, than the ones you knew were monsters all along.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow:
NO.
Trump gets nothing. No aspect of the presidency shall be retained by him.
Not one damn thing.
Yarrow
@TenguPhule: Corker flipped to yes earlier.
debbie
@SFAW:
Oops, I misremembered.
So the 90% was just six months ago. Sorry.
TenguPhule
@eemom:
Collins thinks she’s the final girl. She’s not. She’s the bitch in sheep’s clothing that gets the audience to root for the monsters.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow: Yes, I saw that one too. Adam thought she might still be undecided.
lamh36
More news on the sexual harassment/misconduct front
eemom
And again, speaking of horror movies, read THIS in light of what is about to become law.
SFAW
@danielx:
OMFG! He proved — PROVED, I TELLS YA!! — that Soros bused in enough fake voters to throw the election to Jones!
Or, at least, that’s what the typical 27-percenter will tell himself. Alex Jones will wet himself.
TenguPhule
@ruemara:
Not gonna happen. Things will be falling apart first. Prices and just in time delivery are going to have problems when the neglected infrastructure starts giving up the ghost.
SFAW
@debbie:
You Lie-berals don’t know how to stop lying, do you? “Misremembered” indeed.
bemused
@Steeplejack:
He waiting on the god he made up in his own image so he’s sol.
lamh36
MisterForkbeard
@eemom: It’s getting to the point where the media (And yes, Democrats but REALLY THE MEDIA) need to actually publicize this stuff. And keep harping on it. Every interview should start with: “Your constituents hate this tax bill, it fails to do what you said it would do, punishes the middle class and rewards tax-dodging corporations and the rich. Why are you actually supporting this bill?”
…and then, you know… follow up on their responses. This shouldn’t be hard.
TriassicSands
@Feebog:
Brute force and a compliant/complicit SCOTUS?
bemused
@Kay:
Being ignored is the worst punishment for fatheads like Moore and his wife.
debbie
@eemom:
Jesus, that photo of the church. I cannot wait for Ambassador Haley’s response.
lamh36
@lamh36:
John
@moops:
The purge was of U.S. Attorneys, federal prosecutors who are part of the Dept of Justice. Trump has no power to fire or punish state Attorneys General.
debbie
@lamh36:
Has Rupert forgotten about O’Reilly already?
moops
Grassley has already agitated to have Rosenstein switch the resources from Mueller to the Uranium One non-scandal. Since that trial balloon fell with a thud he is likely looking for other leverage. It probably won’t really matter since I don’t think Trump can actually attack Mueller to get him canned in any way, but investigations that drag on have a really annoying property of sinking under the waves.
I don’t believe the IC is sitting on any quality dirt that will re-ignite a strong media cycle.
TenguPhule
@Feebog:
The GOP’s current cunning plan is to have a special prosecutor investigate Mueller and his team.
Turnips of unusual shape may be involved.
lamh36
bemused
@lamh36:
Weinstein is truly evil.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Maybe Ashley Judd will run against the Turtle again.
bemused
@lamh36:
Wait, his brother Bob went along with the blacklisting? Is this the brother who tried to distance himself from Harvey, saying they weren’t on good terms?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36: I saw that earlier. I always thought it was odd how she kind of faded away
TenguPhule
@lamh36: Its a shit show.
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @bemused: Apparently yes, Jackson says both brothers.
In all honesty, it’s good Jackson said something, but the fact is he went along with the blacklisting…this speaking out is likely a good way to ease his own guilt, for going along with the blacklisting I’m sure.
debbie
@bemused:
Bob probably didn’t know about the sexual harassment, but he was always up for a bit of bullying.
Annie
@moops:
No, they were United States Attorneys — federal prosecutors. Adam was talking about state attorneys general.
Lyrebird
@moops:
1. You may have better info than I do, but I’ll mutter a few things anyhow.
2. I suspect Schneiderman (sp? The NY State AG) and many of his employees would work overtime for free for quite a while rather than let the biggest rat scuttle away on this case. NYC effing hates Trump. And he’s broken plenty of laws.
3. What was it that they put Al Capone away for?
4. re: the FBI specifically, this administration keeps trying to spit in their collective eye without noticing just how dumb that is. Virginia turning blue? Helped by all the insults to the IC, I’d bet. A right-wing troglodyte senator dressing down an unqualified nominee from his own party? Saying he’d vote against Talley… twice if he could? (quote from a Louisiana publication, I saw it on Wonkette) These are not signs of a unified right.
I agree with @Adam L Silverman that vulnerable people will continue get hurt, and that is sh-tty and noxious to our democracy, yes. Little kids in Detroit and in the Dakotas are continuing to have their health and their future endangered, don’t get me started on ICE-sponsored terrorizing of other little kids and their families… and I also am strongly inclined to believe that focusing on what I myself can do or change is important.
I do recall the disappointment of Fitzmas falling short, but if I can’t trust Mueller to be gaming out a few troubling scenarios in advance, I can’t trust anyone to do anything, and in that state of mind I don’t accomplish much.
FWIW.
Let’s see if I managed to kill this thread or just cause an echo…
feebog
@TenguPhule:
The conditions for appointing a special prosecutor are pretty clearly defined. Oddly shaped root veggies are not included.
WaterGirl
@Lyrebird: Thanks for writing all of that!
Moops is all doom and gloom and can’t seem to find even a glimmer of hope. That’s not realism, that feels like an intentional attempt to spread negativity.
TenguPhule
@Lyrebird:
None of us have been here before, none of us like being here and we are all releasing our stress differently.*
*By here meaning this unprecedented situation of having 3/4th of our government passively or actively trying to kill us all.
billcoop4
@Adam L Silverman:
Blessings on you for you are wise.
WmC
TenguPhule
@feebog:
That was before we had government by Baldrick.
Annie
Someone who frequently comments here was sure Mueller would be fired in August. It’s halfway through December and he hasn’t been fired yet.
Yes, Plan to protest if he is fired — I’ve already found the location for my local protest and memorized the schedule. But don’t get hysterical. Among other reasons, hysteria does not, in and of itself, accomplish anything. In fact, it gets in the way of real action.
Also remember, on the day he resigned Nixon had the support of approximately 25-27% of the American public.
Lyrebird
@danielx: Oh that was funny! Thank you!
TS
@eemom: From your link
His fact-finding mission into the richest nation the world has ever known has led him to investigate the tragedy at its core: the 41 million people who officially live in poverty.
Of those, nine million have zero cash income – they do not receive a cent in sustenance. …
The tour comes at a critical moment for America and the world. It began on the day that Republicans in the US Senate voted for sweeping tax cuts that will deliver a bonanza for the super wealthy while in time raising taxes on many lower-income families. The changes will exacerbate wealth inequality that is already the most extreme in any industrialized nation, with three men – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffet – owning as much as half of the entire American people.
A few days into the UN visit, Republican leaders took a giant leap further. They announced plans to slash key social programs in what amounts to an assault on the already threadbare welfare state.
Kathleen
@danielx: God has put him on hold for the past 70 some years. “Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next available Customer Service Representative”. (Stairway to Heaven Muzak).
lamh36
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
You’ve been reading comic books again, haven’t you?
Kathleen
@lamh36: Does he have Bernie Sanders on retainer?
Feathers
@lamh36: This was back when LOTR was going to be a Miramax production, around 1997, when talking about actresses, he was told Judd and Sorvino were difficult to work with. He had no reason to doubt what he was being told. This would have been a year or two after Sorvino won an Oscar, and the pair had just starred in an HBO film about Marilyn Monroe, where Judd played Norma Jean and Sorvino played Marilyn. It was kind of a mess, the two sides of Marilyn had these long dream sequences where they argued with each other. The performances were great, though, and deserved a better film. Not surprised Jackson had them on his casting list. But those lists are long, and have just about every actress in town. It wouldn’t take much to get crossed off. I think saying he went along with the blacklist, when he had no idea there was one is a bit harsh. Good on him for speaking up about it now.
Quinerly
The War on Christmas hits home….literally: http://thehill.com/policy/international/364860-nazareth-mayor-trump-has-taken-joy-out-of-christmas-celebrations-with
Lyrebird
@TenguPhule:
Indubitably. Apparently the new thread involves baking! (ETA: baking is not one of my talents)
As far as not being here before, in recent weeks I have been thinking what it might have been like to have been a Black Panther Party sympathizer back in the day. This being the Internet, for all I know that could have been you, or a relative of yours.
Our home includes a little person who strongly resembles lots of the photos of little ones fleeing Syria, so I get regular reminders to keep fighting but also keep a broad perspective.
Best wishes to you and all other somewhat stressed commenters!
B.B.A.
Seeing how this post is categorized, I assume I’m welcome here for a moment.
On the same topic, a former FPer is out of the hospital, on meds, and will probably never write about politics on the internet again. Still as long-winded as ever, though.
Remember, there are people behind those paragraphs that we (you) are so aggravated by. No matter how obnoxious they (I) can be, people are people.
Freddie says:
I’m going to be suspending my own.
Lyrebird
@WaterGirl: Thank you – your comments definitely help me keep my own chin up! That and reading the Wonkette posts with the most potty language. Speaking of different people handling stress differently.
Jeffro
@Heidi Mom: I have it sitting right here in my reading pile. Will make sure it’s the next good book I crack open.
JPL
According to the Washington Post, these words are banned from the CDC’s budget
“vulnerable”
“entitlement”
“diversity”
“transgender”
“fetus”
“evidence-based”
“science-based”
I told my son that fetus should be called holy terror in waiting.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.eac2db2fffbb
moops
@Lyrebird:
well, you will have Watergirl for a fan. That counts for something.
I am not a doom prophet, and I don’t think you are arguing with that strawman. I think the state AG trapdoor has been a weak narrative the whole time. I don’t think a state AG has ever managed a prosecution of an administration. You can likely get Trump for actual financial crimes, but you won’t get anyone else.
Our best option for bringing consequences to a treasonous WH is Mueller, and that requires political support. Part of that support has to come from a vocal populace.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Yeah, at least Tunguphule seems to get excited by the possibility of violence in the streets.
No Drought No More
If Schiff wring proves correct, it will be an act of treason by the entire republican party, and every American that supports it.. It will be an act of treason tantamount to the firing on Fort Sumter, and I will not respecter the decision. The republican party will have declared war on the American people, and goddamn them, they will pay for their crimes before I die. That will become my mission in life, I kid you not.
eemom
Uh, guys? That tax monstrosity is going to pass and be signed into law.
I am not, nor ever will be, capable of violence myself. But I want those people to die. I really, really, want them to.
“There is a way, when the rich are too rich.” Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t think many of the keyboard warriors with fantasies of violence have the stomach for the actual thing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
are people in NY/C talking about Vance and what sure as hell looked like a bribe to keep Junior and Princess from being indicted? I can’t believe how quickly that story faded away.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8P80A8vy9I
Lyrebird
@moops:
Yeah, and I can believe that you and/or many other commenters possess more knowledge about all things state attorney general than I do. (I can spell it!) Thank you for taking my response in earnest. I took yours in earnest.
And in case someone thinks “oh but you just trust too much” – well, certainly based on the few Twitter bots I’ve read, if you were a paid troll, you’d command a much higher salary than what Russia was paying this past year. (Going for a laugh here, in case that doesn’t come across right.)
cwmoss
@Corner Stone: coward. They’re scared shitless. Jared will be a punk one way or the other, Sing Sing or Club Fed.
lamh36
@Feathers:
GregB
@B.B.A.:
Thank for sharing that. I wish him a daily dose of recovery and serenity.
As to the social medias. I think that FB bigwig who talked about the damage it can do is spot on.
This election was in part a mediated psychic break among many.
Unplugging from mentally freebasing toxic information is the path out for many.
Lyrebird
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hope so! I am currently in the sticks.
That sure stank.
I have a foolish hope that we will learn the truth of the rumors of corruption of the NYC FBI Office and so forth, but I hope for a lot! Bharara (sp?) and Schneid. do not seem to be forgetting about Orangemandias, though.
cwmoss
@Duane: Dunno if it’s sinking yet, but it’s definitely starting to list.
B.B.A.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That story and the one about him covering from Weinstein conveniently happened to break just after the local primary, so Vance was the only name on the ballot in November and he “won” another four years by default.
An attorney from one of the public defender agencies ran a write-in campaign. I wrote him in. It wasn’t enough.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Would “It’s a Wonderful Life” get a wide appreciation among our upper classes and GOP if made today? After all, the heroic job creator is the bad guy, and the generous coddler of lazy, failing moochers is the good guy….
Doug!
@eemom:
This is my question too.
marv
All this is really disturbing to me (sabotaging Mueller and the tax bill), so any port in a storm – will offer this for some kind of perspective: 127 years ago today Sitting Bull was killed on the banks of the Grand River because the authorities didn’t like the way he was…dancing. This started a flight by Bigfoot’s band that culminated two weeks and a couple hundred miles later at Wounded Knee. That ride is recreated every year. A friend of mine is making the ride and posted a photo (on Facebook!) of the 25 others heading out with him this morning. So for the next couple weeks at least a couple dozen real Americans aren’t going to be too preoccupied with all this.
Corner Stone
@cwmoss: Ummmm….ok. Thanks?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I think thats it, fellers. In the bottom of
all our terrified souls, we all know
that democracy is a dying giant, a
sick, sick dying, decaying political
concept, writhing in its final pain.
I don’t mean the United States is
finished as a world power. The
United States is the most powerful,
the richest, the most advanced
country in the world, light-years
ahead of any other country. And I
don’t mean the Russians are going
to take over the world. The
Russians are deader than we are.
What’s finished is the idea that
this great country is dedicated to
the freedom and flourishing of every
individual in it. It’s the
individual that’s finished. It’s
the single, solitary human being
who’s finished. It’s every single
one of you out there who’s finished.
Because this is no longer a nation
of independent individuals. This is
a nation of three hundred odd million
computerized, deodorized,
whiter- than-white, steel-belted
bodies, totally unnecessary as human
beings and as replaceable as piston
rods.
efgoldman
@SFAW:
My [music] fraternity pledge father played tuba on some of their albums.
Matt McIrvin
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Several years ago I read an article by a Boomer who said that when John F. Kennedy was killed, America’s soul died.
I was born in 1968, so I’ve never known a time when America had a functioning soul. I suspect I was born without a soul. I’m not a person, really, just a yammering automaton.
Corner Stone
@Matt McIrvin: What do you dream about?
H.E.Wolf
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I would respectfully point to the many people of color who are actively engaged in sustaining the democratic process in this country. It seems inappropriate to ignore them, whitewash them, dehumanize them, or invalidate their patriotic work with over-the-top comments like the above.
(Any chance you were quoting John D. MacDonald? He used to write speeches like that for his protagonist, Travis McGee, in which “deodorant” stood in for every ill of modern civilization. I used to wonder what McGee smelt like, with that attitude; and wondered about all the women he cavorted with, gamely enduring his gamey aroma….)
ETA: Oh! Paddy Chayevsky. (Google Is My Friend.) One of these years I’ll watch that film.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Electric sheep, I’m guessing.
Omnes Omnibus
@H.E.Wolf: It is a quote from “Network.”
Corner Stone
@H.E.Wolf: Trav only ever boned deeply wounded little fillies. So they probably didn’t mind the scent of a rough marina style working man that slow talked them into the sack.
Steeplejack
@H.E.Wolf:
Harold Beale in Network.
celticdragonchick
@Corner Stone: Electric sheep?
H.E.Wolf
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thank you! I need to get out from under my rock more often. :)
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@H.E.Wolf:
that’s pretty funny. on the campaign trail, Bernie used to rail against deodorant. I was wondering where he got that from.
schrodingers_cat
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: But you do need a second home on Lake Champlain.
H.E.Wolf
@Corner Stone: Wait, what about Chookie? (No, actually I think she was platonic.)
It was almost always the case that the woman he was **ing at the end of each book was a different individual from the woman he was **ing at the beginning. You’re right, though, that they were all kind of the same type.
The books got darker and darker as the series wore on (some of them nightmarishly so); and then the final one was all gooey at the end. Series are a funny beast.
H.E.Wolf
David… are you tryin’-a tell me that Bernie has… a houseboat? :>
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@schrodingers_cat: actually, it’s his THIRD home. A luxury beach house, no less.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@H.E.Wolf: Recently I was reading Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s “The Laughing Policeman”. And as I read it, Bernie kept popping in my head as the culprit.
Corner Stone
@H.E.Wolf: Chookie McCall? The aging dancer? I don’t remember him boning her, to be crude. She shows up a few times but it’s always after being used/abused by some other brute.
Corner Stone
@H.E.Wolf:
I left this part out. McGee always worked damaged women back to “health” by slowly working them into having sex with him, grilling rare steaks, long swims in the keys and a fuckton of gin. Only a few ever made it to move on with their lives. At least about half ended up getting snared back in one of his recovery scams. And they paid for it, usually physically but sometimes with their lives.
A series that could not find the light of day nowadays. But at times interesting and funny. Meyer is a clown that has nothing to add to the series. I have no idea why he is ever there.
randy khan
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
The Republicans are pushing through judges, but 12 judges on the Courts of Appeals is an average of less than 1 per circuit. The D.C. Circuit has 16; the 9th Circuit has 25.
H.E.Wolf
@Corner Stone:
Yes, Chookie McCall. I was always very fond of her! I seem to recall that she ended up marrying a good guy who had been used/abused by some Harpy(tm), and the two of them settled down happily together.
PS, after reading your further comment on the series: Indeed, it’s very much an artifact of its time; and like many long-running series, it’s probably got a lot of its author’s personal quirks in it.
randy khan
@moops:
The purge was U.S. Attorneys. Attorneys General (except the guy at the Justice Department) are not subject to federal oversight.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Isn’t it Howard Beale?
frosty
@Corner Stone:
Pale Gray for Guilt. Meyer’s accounting skills are critical to nabbing the con men. Otherwise, you’re probably right, I don’t remember the others too well.
AnotherBruce
@TenguPhule: @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Merry fucking Christmas to you!
AnotherBruce
Um, that season’s greeting was to David Koch.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus: Streets are too Random. I prefer shaped charges, personally.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat: And you would sadly be wrong. The law of the land keeps the monsters in. That’s why I’ve been so upset about seeing it getting torn down, because some of us really shouldn’t be given that kind of temptation.
cwmoss
@moops: Itcwas a purge of US Attorneys, which are political appointees of the president. State attorneys general are not federal positions at all, which is why the parallel investigations are a dead man switch of sorts.