This might be the most clear-headed thing I’ve read about the Mueller investigation in 2018. https://t.co/BRK0MC8tgm
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) March 4, 2018
Yes, Mike Allen’s a tool and a parasite, but he’s survived in DC because he’s been able to spot the patterns below the froth he happily helps churn out. Which is why, IMO, he’s getting respect for this:
… News flash: Mueller is looking at everything.
That’s his job. When he was named, he was empowered/instructed to look into the “FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters.” That there is a broad mandate…
These kernels aren’t from Mueller’s office: We’ve seen time and again (and again) that his office is one of Washington’s few leak-free zones.
Yes, it looks bad. Based on conversations with White House insiders, I can tell you they’re more bearish than ever about the outcome. But we’re all guessing.
The bottom line: Here’s one headline that’s true: “Expect more ‘surprises’ from Mueller probe, former crusading prosecutor says.”…
NBC news flash, just a few hours ago:
The grand jury investigating alleged collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has sent a witness a subpoena seeking all documents involving the president and a host of his closest advisers, according to a copy of the subpoena reviewed by NBC News.
According to the subpoena, which was sent to a witness by special counsel Robert Mueller, investigators want emails, text messages, work papers, telephone logs and other documents going back to Nov. 1, 2015, 4½ months after Trump launched his campaign…
Once Hicks’ resignation takes effect in the next few weeks, Cohen will be the only person listed in the subpoena who hasn’t left the employment of Trump or of the White House.
“Trump associates” said to be included in this sweep: Steve Bannon, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Hope Hicks, Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Keith Schiller, and Roger Stone.
If this whole criminal conspiracy takes down foundational ratfvcker Roger Stone — who is preemptively wailing about “prosecutorial overreach” on the farther-rightwing news sites — it will delight some of us almost as much as extracting Donald Trump from his stolen perch in the Oval Office.
Among the more interesting names on here: Keith Schiller.
Schiller was Trump’s longtime bodyguard and pal… he’s also the guy Trump had deliver Comey’s firing letter to FBI HQ. https://t.co/vqIHYuYrHD
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 5, 2018
So many "What if Mueller investigation goes nowhere?" articles and not nearly enough "What if Mueller uncovers an unprecedented amount of sweeping criminal stupidity?"
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 4, 2018
Baud
Agreed that the media wants to play us for clicks with the Mueller stories. Important to be discerning.
SiubhanDuinne
I’ve seen that list three or four times now, and remain puzzled as to why neither DT Jr. nor Jared Kushner is on it.
(I agree about Roger Stone. Would dearly love to see him taken down hard, and for an extremely long time.)
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
You guys keep putting Rybka down!
Gin & Tonic
Stone would be a good catch, but I maintain my hard-on for Paul Fucking Manafort.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: I don’t doubt she’s been on Deripaska’s boat and has provided services there, but I still have a little skepticism about the scope of her story.
MattF
Josh Marshall has ‘Marshall’s Razor’: ‘Given a choice, the correct explanation is the dumber one’.
So, I think Mr. Schooley’s got it right.
PeakVT
So many “What if Mueller investigation goes nowhere?” articles and not nearly enough “What if Mueller uncovers an unprecedented amount of sweeping criminal stupidity?”
Well, of course. Much of “the media” failed to see the criminal stupidity (not to mention the blazingly obvious general stupidity) before the election. Is there any reason to think anyone who missed it could withstand a second of soul-searching?
Brachiator
I always wonder who these White House insiders are, and why they don’t seem worried about getting onto Mueller’s special list.
Nicole
That was a good read; thanks. Also inspires a person to not waste too much time combing the news for things that might lift one’s mood re: the investigation. These things take a long time.
Besides, the Palmer Report is always there if one needs a dose of fanfic.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: I assume Javanka and Junior are in a different line of inquiry that we’ll be hearing about in due course. Just a guess though…
Cheers,
Scott.
JGabriel
Rschooley via Anne Laurie @ Top:
Trump’s base and much of the media are equally as stupid as Trump and his minions. Which means that “if Mueller uncovers an unprecedented amount of sweeping criminal stupidity,” most of them will probably shrug and say, “So what? That’s what I would have done. Everybody does it. What about [insert Democrat’s name here]?”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
So we are blowing every multilateral trade agreement that has been in place for the past 70 years – particularly those with close allies – all to try again the abject failure of the diplomatic and trade patchwork of bilateral agreements that dominated the world in the decades prior to the Great War.
Part of it is about the “zero sum” idiocy which infests Trump’s diseased brain, the other is about his toadying to Putin and obsession with increasing the arsenal so that he can appear powerful and capable of unilateral acts.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
So you people from other countries who have had mad kings and tell us we’re not a fully grownup country till we’ve had ours: ok, we can check that box. Now what? How do we survive, what happens after, how do we find our way back to normal?
Odd thought that just hit me as I was writing that. We know how he admires dictators and wishes to be “strong” like them. What happens if somebody tells him Idi Amin used to eat his enemies?
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Manafort’s evil, while probably of greater magnitude in this case, is more-or-less transitory. Stone, however, is one of the all-time “greats” in that arena, even if no single ratfucking incident equals what Manafort may have done here.
But, as the saying goes, Porque no los dos?
bemused
I can’t believe I missed one of the best alternate MAGA acronyms, Mueller Ain’t Going Away, which must have been out there awhile when there a lot of outlets selling cap, mug, tshirt gear.
Viva BrisVegas
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
The ostensible reason that Trump has gone the full Smoot-Hawley is that countries running trade surpluses against the US are somehow cheating.
Yet in the case of Australia, we run a 25 billion dollar deficit with the US and we still get hit with tariffs. All that grovelling and arse kissing in Trump’s direction by our politicians has gone to waste and they are mightily pissed off. There are undercurrents of resentment running such that even conservatives are starting to wonder if it is really worth the effort to keep massaging Trump’s largest organ, his ego.
Anyway, on the 8th March they get together with a bunch of other pols to sign TPP MkII. The secret trade agreement that allows corporations to sue nations for making inconvenient laws and encourages the free movement of cheap labour by corporations between the signers. The conservatives love it, which obviously means it is designed to impoverish the working and middle classes and sell our sovereignty as cheaply as possible.
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: Manafort has been in the game as long as Stone. Remember Jonas Savimbi? Ferdinand Marcos? Hell, Roger and Paul started a company together back in 1980. Trump is the culmination of a life’s work for those guys.
NeenerNeener
@bemused: Yeah, I have that as a tshirt. I also have one that says:
Law and Mueller
Russian Collusion Unit
Gretchen
Bearish? So they know they’re in deep trouble?
JR
@Viva BrisVegas: Australia is Rio Tinto, right? Major mining exporter. Heckova job, Trumpie:
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Another Scott: I also imagine that the hint of indicting his family directly will possibly lead Trump to the next level of defiance (Friday night massacre, rolling the pardon presses, etc.). Better to take down his outer rings of sycophants first, and remove his allies before he goes full nuclear.
Achrachno
@Brachiator: “I always wonder who these White House insiders are, and why they don’t seem worried about getting onto Mueller’s special list.”
Lower level staffers who hear the talk but are not involved in decisions?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
What bugs me is that his bugfuck stupid base is numerically equivalent on a statistical basis with the number of Nazis in 1932-33.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
And were happy to welcome the odious Lee Atwater as a partner.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Viva BrisVegas:
Important to note here that neither Smoot, Hawley nor Hoover got returned to office in the 1932 election.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
I had no idea re: Manafort’s long history. Savimbi? Wow. But I’m thinking Marcos didn’t need Manafort’s help to destroy what had been a great economy. Was also unaware about the Stone/Manafort company. [Or, if I ever knew, I had forgotten about it.]
Thanks for attempting to fix my ignorance. (Also glad to hear you got your power back, in time to watch the Oscars.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Achrachno: Janitors, maids, you know, the people who don’t really matter- the help.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Gretchen: Well, we keep getting Hitler-in-the-bunker stories leaked from WH staff. Wasn’t there a WaPo story this weekend that was the subject of a front page post?
Those stories and the behavior they describe are arguably getting worse, though it’s hard to measure. We left any measurable trace of sanity on Inauguration Day, and we need new descriptors which can distinguish between levels of batshit insane.
Cheryl Rofer
LONG and very important article by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker. It puts a lot of things together about the Steele dossier very clearly. Mayer is a historian, and she does a good job of putting things into perspective and evoking the way we processed things before we became accustomed to an incompetent president who admires Vladimir Putin.
A few new tidbits, too. Like a report that she is careful to qualify as unconfirmed that the Russians asked Trump not to make Mitt Romney Secretary of State. That would answer some of the questions I raised last night.
SFAW
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Waiting for Shitgibbon to say about
SteinerSessions that “Das war ein Befehl!” to fire Mueller.piratedan
@JGabriel: I get the feeling that we’re still seeing the “nothing to see here” take from those in charge and the frame of the story is presented by those “decision makers” that guide the narrative; how much of this is because of the MSM which is geared to carry water for the GOP anyway? This is my understanding as to why the rest of the country is not running around with their collective hair on fire.
Its becoming more and more evident that we’re experiencing an attempt at a slow motion coup, where the GOP has sold out their country for the sake of making a few bucks and racism.
I hope the penalties match the crimes committed.
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: I was too tired to watch them for long. Oh well. But it was nice to wake up in a warm house.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
I do too, but she evokes the most mirth in my Russian contacts.
No Drought No More
Forget Mueller for a minute, and draw your own conclusions.
It’s easy: The world watches while Trump’s treason unfolds; congressional democrats refuse to confront the glaringly obvious; and congressional republicans aid-and-abet Trump every step of the way.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Savimbi. Jesus, his rot is deep.
Achrachno
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes, and assorted secretaries, aides, interns (?), and so on. GS2 to GS9s? There must still be a lot of those folks around, even in this incompetent and under-staffed mess.
Frankensteinbeck
Pence. I want Pence gone. I worry he’ll be good enough at consistent lying that public anger will die down because it won’t be obvious who is fucking us over. Yes, he’s stupid, but he is probably just smart enough to actually staff the executive branch and say ‘Go strip every civil right from everyone but white Christian men.’ Trump is haphazard and lazy about that. Ryan can’t keep his yap shut and cannot comprehend other people don’t agree with his sadism, so he would keep the anger stoked.
@Brachiator:
If they’re bearish, maybe they ARE worried. I doubt they would frame it to the reporter or the reporter would present it even if they did as “Oh god, Mueller’s going to hang me, what do I do?!”
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I thought he hadn’t actually increased the tariffs, just said he was going to? An important distinction with Mr. Two Weeks. It’s better than even odds he’s too lazy to follow through. Of course, he doesn’t have to follow through to make hash of our economic agreements. Everybody knows the US is crazy and untrustworthy now.
Frankensteinbeck
@No Drought No More:
Congressional Democrats say Trump is untrustworthy, nuts, probably worked with Russia, incompetent, and is obstructing justice all the time. They are also outvoted in all government bodies that could do anything about this.
No Drought No More
A simple reminder: no one required a report like Mueller’s to conclude Bush-Cheney (et.al.) plotted and unleashed the War in Iraq. No one had need of anything like it to disregard the findings of the “official and bipartisan” investigation into that war’s causes; no such report serves to explain the 15 year radio silence from the democratic party regarding the same.
rikyrah
Boys and Girls….
Raise your hand if you think Bobby Three Sticks already has a copy of EVERYTHING in the subpoena, and is just waiting to see what they try to delete and cover up?
rikyrah raises both hands.
Since the beginning…he hasn’t asked a question or put in a request that he didn’t already have the answer to….
OzarkHillbilly
@Frankensteinbeck: Weak sauce and until they stage a coup they are complicit in everything trump does. And so are you for defending them. So there.
Citizen_X
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That would be horrifying, but if Jeff Session’s bio concludes with “Death by cannibalism,” it’ll be worth it.
Frankensteinbeck
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m just grateful to NDNM for reminding us who the TRUE enemy is.
EDIT – Serious question, do you think it’s a rename for GoBlue from 2016? Kropadope was way more reasonable, just had a hate on for Hillary. We HAVE entered an election cycle and Democrats are way too energized…
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Mobutu Sese Seko, too. Manafort is a Hall of Fame player.
Barbara
@rikyrah: Even really smart people fail to apprehend how ubiquitous electronic documents are, how easily forwarded, copied, downloaded and all the rest. Anyone doing electronic discovery knows that, depending on the kind of information, deduping software will eliminate a significant percentage of documents, and even when you eliminate pure duplicates, you will often see the same email over and over again, in the form of a reply or as forwarded or copied, etc. to someone else. This is especially true for people who can’t be bothered to answer their phone and basically live their lives through text messages of one kind or another. It’s all there, forever.
Barbara
@No Drought No More: Ted Lieu and Adam Schiff are not refusing to confront the obvious. Nor is Maxine Waters (which is why she is often called out for special derision by Trump himself), and for that matter, many others.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Jesus H. Christ. Manafort’s like a real life version of Uncle Duke
Another Scott
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: Ding, ding, ding.
Yup.
Cheers,
Scott.
randy khan
@PeakVT:
I’ve always figured that the reason there isn’t much coverage of “What if Mueller uncovers an unprecedented amount of sweeping criminal stupidity?” is that for many people that’s actually the baseline expectation.
OzarkHillbilly
@Frankensteinbeck: I have this ability to wipe out all memory of the humorless trolls, so I have no idea. The funny ones tho…
Frankensteinbeck
@OzarkHillbilly:
You are a man/woman/child/robot/typing sheep of wisdom. I stop listening to them when I identify that they’re actually trolls and not just people I disagree with, but I do get curious about patterns.
randy khan
@Brachiator:
I don’t assume that they aren’t worried. But of course there’s a chance they’re stupid enough to think that they won’t be touched for some reason.
Apropos of that, I knew a secretary who got a job in the Clinton White House. I don’t remember which investigation it was, but she ended up mixed up in it even though she really had nothing to do with whatever wild goose chase it was. Luckily for her, her former employer was a law firm that was willing to represent her for free; otherwise she’d have spent her whole salary on dealing with it.
Omnes Omnibus
@No Drought No More: @No Drought No More: Christ, you are tiresome.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
The moonshine will do that to you.
AnderJ
@randy khan:
Isn’t a bear market, a market that is going down? This also seems to be confirmed by the rest of what Allen is saying (“it looks bad” and no “but” between that sentence and the remainder of the quote).
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
He just wants to make sure we stay focused on the real enemy: the Democratic Party. And just in time for the 2018 midterms, too. How very thoughtful.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne:
“Professional”, even.
Immanentize
@Frankensteinbeck:
How do I become a typing sheep of wisdom? Is there an on line course or something?
PeakVT
@randy khan: Certainly the bigotry of low expectations is a factor in what drives our “media”. “I mean, everybody knows the Republicans are evil. What’s the big deal? Why should I report on the obvious? How will I get a sweet pundit gig if don’t write something slatepitchy?” Etc.
But that narrative was easier to stick to in 2016 when there wasn’t an effective independent criminal prosecutor grinding out indictments. Why is “the media” now speculating so much that it will all turn out to be a colossal dud? Is it intentional partisan misdirection, subconscious reaction, paid propaganda? Who knows.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Yet another reason to always have a jar (or 2) of it around. Great for everything from cleaning countertops to getting you to a service station if you run out of gas.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Culminating in receiving a BAA degree.
bemused
@Frankensteinbeck:
I’d like to see Pence caught up in as much hot water as trumpco in Mueller investigations.
rikyrah
rikyrah
Paid by Putin: Bernie Sanders’ Ongoing Conspiracy Against the United States
trollhattan
@SFAW: @Gin & Tonic:
Bannon’s inclusion as the third part of a trifecta is my demand, damnit. He was in Italy helping their National Front drum up votes–successfully it would seem–just this last week.
schrodingers_cat
@Frankensteinbeck: Yes I think it may be GoBlue. Kropadope has renamed himself with something starting with a K.
Immanentize
@NotMax: ouch
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Go to OzarkHillbilly dot com. You’ll have to enter some information before you are allowed to register for our exclusive online university. Things like bank account numbers, CC #s, relevant passwords, etc. I guarantee you’ll get educated.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Na-a-a-ah
And if you go to the “educational” site Ozark mentioned, you’ll probably get fleeced.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: I heard of the superpredator stuff used against HRC from my BS leaning friend first, also this person was the one to blame HRC for an immigration law that Bill Clinton signed and was passed by Newtie’s Congress (IIRIRA)which is no small measure responsible for the current immigration fracas about the undocumented and criminalization of immigrants that leads to deportation for even minor offenses.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
School motto:
Still waters run 80 proof.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
No need for profanity — I don’t think any of us would argue.
Spanky
That’s a quote at GOS from an article in The Atlantic. Private twitter msgs are, well, private. So how’d they wind up at the Atlantic?
Jewish Steel’s next post should be titled “Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me”.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: 120 proof!
No Drought No More
I see that Netanyahu is visiting Trump and all his GOP pals today. The timing makes perfect sense, too, almost as if it was pre-ordained. Which maybe it was, God having the best sense of humor in the universe, and all.
Immanentize
@SFAW: @OzarkHillbilly:
The joke is on Ozark … My neoliberal corporation just bought that domain.
(I am sad that there is no Ozark Hillbilly website. Imagine the fun! The caves! The plants! The insults! Ah, perchance to dream.)
SFAW
@Immanentize:
I’d only go there if Quinerly were a regular poster. Or if BillInGlendaleCA posted pictures. But Ozark himself? Meh.
ETA: It’s not that I think poorly of Ozark, it’s just that the whole “proud to be from Arkansas” thing gets old after a while.
rikyrah
@bemused:
1. Pence was Manafort’s choice.
2. Pence is up to his eyeballs in the Flynn mess.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I actually have thought about buying that domain but then what? Use it? What for? To what end? It all sounds like too much work and I’d rather give belly rubs to the Woofmeister.
SteveinSC
@rikyrah: What Russian bot did you get that drivel from?
No Drought No More
JOHN DEAN ASKS AN SUPERB QUESTION:
John Dean
@JohnWDean
GOP refused to assist Obama blocking the Russian meddling during the 2016 election and they still refuse to assist in the current efforts directed at 2018 and 2020. Should the Dems remain silent if the UK, Germany, France, etc. weigh-in on removing DJT?
cmorenc
@SiubhanDuinne:
Mueller is cagey enough to not go directly at Trump’s family until he has built such an indestructible steel cage underneath and around them that there’s no way for Trump, GOP congress-critters, nor the RW media spin machine to escape or effectively sabotage him if and when he does go after them. For example, bullet-proofing his operation by indicting Russians with undeniable proof of electoral interference…and going after important, but expendable (to Trump) associates like Manafort, Flynn, et. al.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: I’s frum Misery. Git yer fax strate.
NotMax
Something which caught the eye (bolded). Can’t help but wonder with whom they will meet. Is there anyone left to answer a knock on the door at State these days?
SFAW
@No Drought No More:
No, I think the Dems should — in the hope that all the MPs PAY ATTENTION!!!! and DO SOMETHING!!!! — scream from the rooftops that Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn are trying to destroy the UK. And they should opine forcefully re: Marine Le Pen, etc.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
You are SO easy.
Look! Halley’s Comet!!!! Squirrel!!
Easier than fly fishing, I tells ya.
rikyrah
@No Drought No More:
Amen.
Every other Democrat should be sounding like Maxine Waters, instead of her being ‘ on the fringes’.
THIS IS MUTHAPHUCKIN’ TREASON AND THE DEMOCRATS ACT LIKE THIS IS JUST A SMALL DELINEATION OF THE RULES.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: Since State has yet to nominate an Ambassador to SK, and the long-serving Special Envoy for NK has called it quits, I’d bet their Northeast Asia desk is pretty thinly staffed these days.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Mnemosyne: I ordinarily don’t pie people, just skip them. But I get impatient with people who decide Ds are the real enemy.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW:
Fly fishing is really hard. Just tying on those tiny tiny tiny little hooks is difficult, and it is almost impossible to tell when you are getting a bite. And the bait… WHOOOOOwee, you know how bad a week old dead skunk stinks? They don’t put up much of a fight either so I really don’t know why anyone would bother.
Roger Moore
@Spanky:
Can we dispense with this bullshit? The only evidence that they’re a radical transparency organization is that they say they are. But if they actually gave a damn about transparency, they’d be something other than completely opaque about their own operations. The media’s willingness to repeat this kind of self-serving bullshit is proof of what a bunch of lazy assholes they are.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: yow! quelle article!
Cheryl Rofer
@SiubhanDuinne: @cmorenc: Could be that one of them was the recipient of the request.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can see why Quinerly tries to get away from
youMissouri every chance she gets.OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Mission accomplished.
Cheryl Rofer
@No Drought No More:
Not gonna happen. These countries aren’t gonna tell another, particularly one that is much more powerful, to remove their leader.
Gonna repeat, relevant to other comments on this thread.
When you come at the king, come to kill.
bemused
@rikyrah:
Yes, I meant if Pence is being investigated by Mueller team which I definitely hope is happening, I want to see it in the media.
NotMax
Dang, this recent penchant for popping awake an hour and a half before sunrise really puts a crimp in the rest of the day.
JR
@Cheryl Rofer: Isn’t it “When you come at the king, you best not miss” OR “When you strike at the king, you must kill him”?
Omnes Omnibus
@bemused:
No, if Pence is being investigated (which I also hope is happening), I want it done right. I don’t care if I hear one word about it before the indictment is filed.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: We also need to give these media tropes a decent burial,
Rs the party of personal responsibility and fiscal rectitude
Russian meddling ( call it an attack or interference at the very least) meddling sounds too cute what for Russia did
Bipartisanship as the highest good
Roger Moore
@Cheryl Rofer:
I believe the phrase is “You come at the king, you best not miss“.
schrodingers_cat
Its March 5, the day of he DACA deadline set by the WH.
rikyrah
@Roger Moore:
Omar the Philosopher, done told you
bemused
@Omnes Omnibus:
I agree. Damn online commenting/tweeting. As careful as Mueller and team are, we won’t hear anything about Pence being investigated until if and when they have something solid to drop. I’m convinced Pence is dirty but the others, Manafort, Flynn, etc were higher information mines to dig first.
SiubhanDuinne
@cmorenc:
That makes sense. Thank you.
rikyrah
There has never been a President who refuses to defend America. Ever. He has been abetted by a deeply corrupted Republican majority in Congress and a profoundly dishonest right wing propaganda campaign. Their perfidy affronts the memory of all those who died so that we are free
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) February 27, 2018
Cheryl Rofer
@JR: There are many variants.
Cheryl Rofer
@Roger Moore: The phrase and idea far predate “The Wire.”
Quinerly
@SFAW:
I resemble that remark.?
Cheryl Rofer
A quick search gives Ralph Waldo Emerson credit for “When you strike at a king, you must kill him.” I like the concision of the version I learned, without attribution IIRC, but it was a long time ago. My sense is that it was further back than Emerson, but I don’t recall specifics.
NotMax
@Cheryl Rofer
Seem to vaguely recall some sort of dust-up with a guy named Caesar.
;)
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
Gaius Caesar would be a terrible example to use as an illustration of that saying. He wanted to break the cycle of attack and reprisal that had led to the breakdown of the Republic by pardoning his enemies. A huge reason his assassination is held up as such a terrible betrayal is because so many of the perpetrators were people he had previously pardoned.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
It was – ah say – it was a joke, son.
– F. Leghorn
Frankensteinbeck
@Immanentize:
It’s really hard. Hooves and a keyboard don’t work well together, and people freak out about your rectangular pupils.
Doug R
@Viva BrisVegas: The only thing worse than a bad trade agreement is no trade agreement.
Joey Maloney
@No Drought No More: I think it’s pretty easy to explain the Democrats’ 15-year radio silence on Mess o’potamia: shame.
They’re ashamed.
That’s good. It means that, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats can still be motivated by shame. And at least some of them are dealing with it by making sure this time around, come 2033 they’ll be able to look back without it.
Kay
Gross people, right down the line:
The first thing we do when we get rid of the Trumps and their low quality hires is pass some tougher ethics rules.
If Mueller does come up with some bombshell charges I wonder if the public will be shocked, because there have been so few leaks the investigation doesn’t have any “narrative” – no one has been prepared for this. I think for most people the Russia/Trump investigation is some vague haze of allegations.
Jay S
@Kay:
They have the rules, they lack the enforcement.
Doug R
@No Drought No More: Bitcoin or рублей?
With the price of oil so low if I were you I’d worry about those “пенсия” cheques cashing.
Citizen Alan
@No Drought No More:
Kill yourself.
Kay
@Jay S:
Well, it depends. Trump’s daughter and son in law seem to have no applicable rules at all.
What I love about it is how a sleazy boss goes right down the line- no one in Trump International said “that’s a bad idea”
That’s because Trump hires them. It’s self-selecting for sleaze.
germy
Someone on twitter is wondering “What if”
germy
germy
H.E.Wolf
@Citizen Alan:
“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.”
Ruckus
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Well he does like big macs……..
Kay
I love how both of these people are being investigated for massive corruption – Christ almighty, call 911. There’s two criminals conspiring in the Oval Office.
Citizen Alan
@H.E.Wolf:
Then I guess I’m a monster, because I have told Shitgibbon supporters to their faces that I hope there is a literal hell and that they burn in it for eternity. And at this point, the same applies to Jesus of Burlington and all the snivelling trolls who still support him.
Kay
I think it’s inaccurate when people say prosecutors “know what they’re looking for” or “only ask questions they know the answers to”- that’s in a trial, not an investigation. I hope he doesn’t “know” everything during an investigation. Sort of defeats the purpose of an investigation. The point of this is not to trip them up and have them lie. They’re supposed to tell the truth and many people DO tell the truth. MOST people tell the truth when they’re questioned. The Trump people are like the bottom 5% of the population as far as lying.
They’re asking them questions not because they “already know” the answers but because they want information.
One would generally want a prosecutor to follow facts in a fairly straightforward manner, not spend all his time scheming on “perjury traps” and such. Don’t lose sight of the basic idea- it’s to find out what happened and then be able to prove it.
Fair Economist
It’s something of an exaggeration to say investigators “know everything”. But generally, investigators do “know” a lot more than they can prove in court, and so more precisely they’re looking for incontrovertible proof of what they already “know”.
Mueller is facing this more acutely because he has access to a lot of classified information he can’t use in court. For the most part, he’s now looking for proof he can use in court. For example, he’s been pushing Manafort to flip, IMO to indict his Russian paymasters. He knows who they are and probably even what they paid and what for, because the intelligence agencies have told him – but he can’t use that in court. He’s trying hard to flip Manafort because with Manafort’s cooperation he can actually nail them.
The Midnight Lurker
@Kay: Amen.
Mike in DC
@Fair Economist:
Prosecutors and LEO interrogators not infrequently do ask at least a few questions that they know the answers to, in order to assess the credibility of the interviewee. Not necessarily a perjury trap. They could call the interviewee to account immediately in order to compel honest testimony, without charging perjury.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
From CNN:
They are just talking loud and saying nothing.
MisterForkbeard
@rikyrah: I think this one goes too far. Sanders benefitted massively from Russian interference and furthered their memes, but he’s ALSO been talking about Russian interference since the election. He still hasn’t meaningfully confronted the fact that they helped him, but it’s more that he’s a gigantic egomaniac with delusions of grandeur that caused his attempts to damage Hillary during the primary, encourage the worst of his followers… and then support her halfheartedly after the primary. But it’s not that he’s a russian agent.
He’s not “pure”. But he’s also not completely bought out.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: I’m hoping the next president can get petty and go after the Trump Organization for this kind of thing, especially if we can’t ‘prove’ treason.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
Sorry. Lots of people only know Caesar for the stabbing, not for what happened before.
rikyrah
Done told you that Cohen fried his own azz trying to cover for Dolt45.
Good luck with keeping the law license, muthaphucka.
…………………………………………………………
If this article is true, it shows Cohen coordinated with @realDonaldTrump or his campaign. That makes the $130k payment to Stormy Daniels a felony in violation of federal election law.
Last week @RepKathleenRice & I asked @FBI to investigate this suspicious payment. https://t.co/WbH4013apV
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 5, 2018
Bank used by Trump lawyer to wire $130,000 to former porn actress Stormy Daniels flagged transaction to Treasury as suspicious https://t.co/RLO5dFMAz5
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 5, 2018
rikyrah
You know what’s pathetic? You. You’re blaming Obama and Hillary for your ‘partnership’ with the Russians to help you win the election. You were too weak and flaccid to win on your own and still are! Horrible President and Traitor! https://t.co/FpLeHJVsnL
— Andrew C Laufer, Esq (@lauferlaw) March 5, 2018
Gin & Tonic
Sergei Skripal, a former KGB colonel who was convicted in Russia of spying for the UK, who served time in Russia and then ended up in the UK after a swap, has fallen critically ill after exposure to an “unknown substance.” BBC piece here has some nice photos of public health people in moon suits hosing don the area where he was found.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
This. I would guess a savvy prosecutor like Mueller always wants to learn as much from documents before he starts questioning witnesses, and I’m sure he starts questioning more peripheral people before central figures for the same reason. But he wouldn’t be asking questions if he weren’t hoping for new information.
That said, the people who say he’s already received the emails he’s asking for from other sources may be missing another point in asking for them. That cross checking works both ways. I’m sure he’ll be just as interested in anything that got left out of the emails he already has as he will be about the emails he’s about to receive. He cares about catching the big fish and may be willing to let the little ones off the hook if they cooperate, but if he discovers a little fish has been holding back on him, they’re going to discover he has no minimum size limit.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
In the replies to Shitgibbon’s tweet, there’s a picture with the (approximate) overlaid text: “CONFIRMED … Hillary met with a Russian agent during the campaign!”
Of course, it’s a picture from one of the debates.
Vhh
@SFAW: Ich auch.