A fitting metaphor for Infrastructure Week. It is always Infrastructure Week…
Rod Salka wore “America 1st” and a wall pattern on his trunks against Mexican fighter Francisco Vargas, and ended up getting his ass kicked #boxing pic.twitter.com/CmNfIeU6X1
— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) April 13, 2018
Open thread!
Corner Stone
That is a wicked body shot that set up the KO by uppercut.
trollhattan
Ironically, after getting his brain thoroughly smooshed against his skull he’ll wake even more of a Trump supporter.
The Moar You Know
GOOD.
I was just down in Mexico City again, and everyone (as always) was incredibly nice to me. This may sound weird. They’re pissed about Trump but also, deeply, deeply hurt by his election and his (and the GOP’s) constant Mexican bashing. All I could do was apologize but it wasn’t nearly enough. They want to know why Americans hate them so much. I tried to explain that the vast majority of Americans don’t but they weren’t buying that. Shit, for all I know maybe most Americans DO hate Mexicans. Personally, I’m starting to like them far more than most Americans. At least their rich jerks are honest about it.
Baud
https://youtu.be/PErUiAyVoGc
Roger Moore
Nobody ever said boxing was good for your brain.
Baud
@The Moar You Know: I would have told them that Trump voters hate this American too.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: Based on his thoughtful attire, I am not sure he started with a lot of brain cells to lose.
tobie
Poetic justice! (Even in the boxing arena…)
Kay
I feel she sent me this just to annoy me. “Anyone” – like I’m supposed to find takers?
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Vargas has always done good body work. I’m a big believer in body work. There are few true effective head hunters out there.
Baud
@Kay: Maybe she knows how badly you want to deface them.
LAO
I have a super bad feeling about today. That’s it. Just thought I shared my heightened level of anxiety.
But her emails!!!
Asshat also has a cross on his back.
Corner Stone
Welp.
Newsweek link through Yahoo!
Trump Tax Plan: 80 Percent of Economic Gains Will End Up Going to Foreigners, CBO Says
“President Donald Trump touted the economic growth triggered by his tax cuts in a speech Thursday afternoon, pointing out the projected growth of gross domestic product (GDP) over the next 10 years had increased because of the plan.
But 80 percent of the economic growth generated by the Republican tax cuts will eventually go abroad and benefit foreigners, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”
Marmot
@trollhattan: That’s not ironic, it’s logical progression!
Waratah
@LAO: I thought the last few Friday’s have been quiet.
Spanky
@Kay: Well, they may burn real good. Only one way to find out.
danielx
@LAO:
Today?
I wake up that way every morning and believe me, it’s not doing me much good. But you are correct, I’ve got a seriously uneasy feeling. More so than usual.
Baud
Hillary would have pardoned Scooter twice as hard.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I remember one of the Mike Tyson KO’s where hit the guy with a left hook to the ribs and the fighter just collapsed. I thought he had killed the guy. I looked for the clip but just found a few mash-ups.
Brachiator
The Friday Follies have officially begun.
Trump has pardoned Libby.
Corner Stone
@Waratah: It’s quiet. Too quiet.
LAO
@danielx: Oy vey:
TaMara (HFG)
Adam L Silverman
@The Moar You Know: Next time you’re there and asked, try explaining it like this: A loudly vocal minority in the US is currently acting out. They really don’t care about Mexicans as Mexicans. In fact most of them don’t even know any Mexicans. They care about Mexicans because you are something tangible they can point at and direct their anger at. Tell them that if Mexicans didn’t exist, these people would invent them in order to do this. It isn’t about Mexicans, it’s about having someone to hate.
LAO
@TaMara (HFG): I feel sick. Shit.
MattF
So, an idiot turns out to be an idiot, and not much of a boxer. Satisfying, I guess, but really just librul clickbait.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
Él le dio en su madre–su orgullo.
He hit him where it hurts–his pride.
JPL
@Brachiator: What time does Rosenstein get fired?
Whoops just read Tamara’s comment.
Highway Rob
@Corner Stone: Before I even clicked through, my reply was going to be “Maybe we should turn the searchlights on now.“
rikyrah
Saw that this morning…
GOT.HIS.AZZ.BEAT!
BWA HA AH HA HA HA HA AH HA
Baud
@LAO: Who would take over if Rosenstein goes? Sessions is still recused.
Waratah
@Corner Stone: that was cute, but I may have spoke out too soon.
Frankensteinbeck
@The Moar You Know:
Best I can offer is to explain that America is a country split in half right now, like two different countries smashed into one spot that hate each other and agree on nothing. One of those halves are mean-spirited racists throwing a fit that white people might not completely control everything anymore.
MattF
So, yeah, logical. Pardon Scooter and fire Rosenstein. Because… um…
trollhattan
@Kay:
Needs to read “Must rid self of two Kucinich yard signs. Will pay five dollars each for you to take them.”
Since this is your territory, I repost from downstairs that Villaraigosa just DQd himself as a CA governor candidate.
Corner Stone
@Highway Rob: Glad I slipped that one in before TaMara’s comment.
Doug R
@Kay: Trade someone “Nixon for Governor” signs.
Ohio Mom
@Kay: Something that really concerns me is that last week, at my neighborhood Democratic club meeting, the cochairs were tsk-tsking Cordray for not being anti-gun.
They thought we needed to look at other candidates because in their estimation, someone without a strong gun control record is currently unelectable.
Nearly tore my hair out. Yeah, if you keep loudly obsessing on this, you will make him into a bad candidate.
TaMara (HFG)
trollhattan
@TaMara (HFG):
And so it begins?
Frankensteinbeck
@JPL:
I don’t know. Bear in mind Trump’s cowardice. It seems odd he would announce ahead of time. He’s twisted himself in knots to never have to deal with the possibility of confronting someone he’s fired so far.
Elizabelle
@LAO: Well. It is Friday the 13th.
Take your beagle for a walk. Avoid ladders and black cats.
LAO
@Baud: I have no idea, but eventually the administration would get to someone in the DOJ willing to fire Mueller.
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (HFG): Ruh roh!
Corner Stone
@Waratah: My son and I had each other in tears recently talking about all the inside jokes and scenes in Airplane! . So it will be a good feeling to hold on to that memory as the blast wave envelopes us.
Brachiator
@TaMara (HFG):
Trump can’t bomb Syria, yet, so he needs something else to make himself happy.
tobie
@LAO: This report has always had me worried because it sounds like the person writing has no sense of the political motivations of the task he was given. From everything I can tell IG Horowitz has the same preening self-regard that Comey did and is convinced that he’s just calling things as he sees them, as if he wasn’t sent on this mission in the first place to delegitimize the FBI.
Elizabelle
@TaMara (HFG): Well fuck.
Time for a protest outside the DOJ? Lovely spring day in DC. 12th and Pennsylvania, peeps, if memory serves.
TenguPhule
As Omens go, that wasn’t a Good one.
TaMara (HFG)
@Corner Stone: Who knew Airplane! would be so relevant 30+ years later??
LAO
@Elizabelle: (and pigs. yesterday she ran into a pig on Second Avenue. Picture.)
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: MAGA!
TenguPhule
@Baud:
After his summary execution for uncovering Vince Foster.
Baud
@LAO: It may finally be time for the Schneiderman.
Ohio Mom
@Spanky: No, you do not want to breathe in the fumes from burning plastic!
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Liver shot.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@LAO:
Doesn’t he have civil service protections?
TenguPhule
@LAO:
I appear to be coming down with a cold.
Could today possibly get any worse?
WaterGirl
@LAO: Me,too. Exactly that.
James E. Powell
@Kay:
Do you have any read on how well Kucinich is doing on his old home turf, Cleveland’s west side? They do, after all, know him best. I wonder whether he will draw off any Republican voters. Dennis always attracted some of the angry white guys who listen to talk radio all day.
Elizabelle
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Actually, I wonder if Rosenstein could refuse to go. He should.
Another (allegedly Republican) longtime public servant, thrown out as trash.
Nice swamp draining there.
TaMara (HFG)
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t know how accurate that is, but it created a bit of havoc in my ability to focus on work this p.m.
tobie
@TaMara (HFG): All I can do is hope that there’s enough hard evidence to convict Trump regardless of what Comey did or did not do.
Baud
@Elizabelle: No, he can’t. He can be fired.
MattF
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: There aren’t many people who have the authority to fire Mueller. Not Trump. Not Sessions. Pretty much only Rosenstein. I think you’d need a new Deputy AG first, and then, I guess, maybe, the new DAG could fire Mueller.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Elizabelle:
Definitely. He should explain that he has always acted out of duty; to follow the rule of law and the highest expectations of professionalism. He should make clear that Trump is a danger to democracy.
BTW: I was referring to Mueller.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: His Deputy takes over all his normal duties. The Solicitor General picks up oversight of the Special Counsel’s Office.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@MattF:
Does a DAG need Senate confirmation? Would the Senate’s refusal to confirm an AG extend to a DAG?
lgerard
@Baud:
The question is will Sessions go as well, either resigning or being “resigned”
Elizabelle
@Baud: We are speaking of Rosenstein, or Mueller?
Lot of career professionals at DOJ. I don’t see them letting Rosenstein get fired. Because, why not any one of them, next?
(And yes, there are some Pat Robertson Law School grads, still burrowed in there. But I’d expect they’re the minority …)
This makes me wonder why Paul Ryan chose this particular week to make it clear he is getting out of office. (Running away. He is no Will Kane. — Like that nice James Comey [snark])
Corner Stone
@Baud:
Schneiderman! Schneiderman! Does whatever a Schneider can!
Which, come to think of it, wasn’t a whole lot. He was not much of a handyman.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
If he unrecuses himself, it wouldn’t be a surprise at this point.
None of the other checks and balances of the system are working.
As Kay has noted, the safety nets have all been cut.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Rosenstein can clearly be fired by Trump.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
@Waratah: I know what you mean. Have been waiting for the “other shoe to drop” for the last couple of Fridays.
And WTF is going on with these Friday news dumps. I know why they do them typically but what is it about Trump? Is it because he can flee to Mar A Lago and somewhat isolate himself from media?
EveryDayIHaveTheBlues
@Ohio Mom: Hi Ohio Mom! Quick question: how does the primary work in Ohio? I’m obviously voting for Cordray, but can I also vote for one of the ReThugs? If so, who should I pick? I see Ads by parties supporting both Taylor and DeWine here in Loveland, and they both seem equally vile. But if you think one of them deserves to win the primary only to have a better chance of losing in the General to Cordray, then please let me know.
This is my first “state” election, as well as my first primary, so I don’t know how the ballot works. Any advice would be deeply appreciated.
Uncle Cosmo
@Corner Stone: Feature, not bug, for these fuckheads. Remember the end-state they’re busy constructing:
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (HFG): If Rosenstein goes it won’t change anything right away. His deputy takes over his duties and the Solicitor General picks up oversight of Mueller’s operations. Mueller will keep doing his thing.
The real news this week is the Cohen tapes. Or potential for Cohen tapes. Now we know what that raid was about. Determining if, as rumored, Cohen had been taping all his phone calls for several years. This is what Mueller really wanted out of that raid. Cohen on the phone with the President, with other people in the Trump Organization and/or Trump Campaign, other people he was doing business with on behalf of the President, etc. That’s the real news. And that’s the holy grail. And that’s all in the hands of Federal investigators and prosecutors right now. This is why the President sent real lawyers to court this morning in Manhattan to try to intervene.
The Ancient Randonneur
@TaMara (HFG): Huckabee has an on camera press briefing schedulet for 1430 EDT. Here’s a link to the live feed.
MattF
My recollection is that Robert Bork was Solicitor General when Nixon ordered him to fire Archibald Cox. And Bork did. But the bottom line is that it’s not so simple. My guess is that Trump doesn’t have the credibility that Nixon had. Sigh. Did I really just write that?
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
Got a link?
eclare
@LAO: Looks like Maggie behaved very well!
danielx
@Ms. D. Ranged in AZ:
Yes. And get in eighteen holes as well, which is totally necessary.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-attorney-client-privilege-michael-cohen
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks.
rikyrah
National Enquirer pay-off eyed as ‘catch and kill’ to help Trump
Jeff Horwitz, reporter for the Associated Press, talks with Rachel Maddow about the befuddling story of the National Enquirer paying a source $30,000 apparently to quash a rumor about Donald Trump, and the role of Michael Cohen in that transaction.
Apr.12.2018
LAO
@eclare: there was, I heard, much barking.
TenguPhule
Life As Metaphor
TaMara (HFG)
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. This is the first time in awhile with the idiot-in-chief I’ve been freaked out. I’m been surprisingly calm during most of it…today, not so much.
rikyrah
Kanye shrug
A man with white supremacist literature in his home accidentally killed himself while building bombs so powerful, authorities decided to burn down his entire apartment building rather than let people reenter: https://t.co/BQ4Eor77Cy
— Kelly Weill (@KELLYWEILL) April 13, 2018
eclare
@TaMara (HFG): Hour and a half to go to find out….freaking here too
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman: So we’re back to is he or isn’t he his attorney? Or is this: he’s Dolt45’s attorney when it’s in his favour and not his attorney when it’s negative.
….
I CRACKED THE CODE!!!
MattF
@rikyrah: Well obviously, Beaver Dam Wisconsin is the place where you would go for that kind of thing. Well-known central locus of radical activity.
trollhattan
@TaMara (HFG):
For what “inside scoop” may be worth.
Interesting to ponder the possibility we’ve been living under Trump’s “good side” all this time.
Highway Rob
@Corner Stone: Hate to bring up the inferior sequel but…
https://youtu.be/1UybDydQpNY?t=30s
The Ancient Randonneur
Wow. The video at this linked tweet is from Professor Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. of Princeton. It’s well worth the few seconds it takes to watch it.
MattF
@trollhattan: All he needs now is for Melania to sue for divorce.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@trollhattan:
Why can’t this dick have a heart attack and die already if he’s so angry all the time?
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
@danielx: Priorities, and all that
trollhattan
@MattF:
Ooh, yeah, loudly, publicly, with Gloria Allred and Barron at her side. That’s the ticket!
Baud
@TaMara (HFG):
@eclare:
No matter what happens, just keep pressing.
TaMara (HFG)
@rikyrah: WTF – the police said that just because he was making bombs and had white supremacist literature did not mean he was a white supremacist?? Imagine had this been someone of color, it would be all the news could talk about and for sure he’d be a terrorist.
And his family…he was religious..he wasn’t a bomb maker. HE. FUCKING. DIED. MAKING. A. BOMB you morons.
TaMara (HFG)
@The Ancient Randonneur: I actually retweeted that this morning because he was so spot on.
eclare
@Baud: I’m early voting in our county primary tomorrow…every little bit helps (Shelby County TN, home of Memphis). And if it does happen, I will be calling Alexander and Corker on Monday. Don’t need to worry about my rep.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Added — which explains why it was a warrant and not just a subpoena to the Grand Jury. The feds did not want the “tapes” destroyed. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if they were actually, you know, cassettes and not computer files?
rikyrah
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
I was wondering that myself..
Puddinhead
@TaMara (HFG): Well, he wasn’t a GOOD bomb maker….
The Moar You Know
@The Ancient Randonneur: Good, but he’s got the wrong “B-list” actor as the symptom of America’s power slide into irrelevance.
Reagan was the weird chest lump, Trump is the agonal breathing of the death of America as a serious world power.
Adam L Silverman
@Yutsano: He never really did legal work for the President other than these NDAs to cover up affairs. He worked doing business deals for the Trump Organization while also doing them for his own businesses. Cohen has extensive real estate holdings of his own in NY, FL, etc. What Cohen’s job was was to be the loud and foul mouthed fixer for the President. If you consider the President’s business to be an organized crime organization, then it makes much more sense.
MattF
Time to lock the guy with nuclear football into the janitor’s closet and throw away the key. Died for his country.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: I’m only hurting you for your own good…
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Yes. That position is a political, confirmed position. But the acting DAG can work, unconfirmed, during the period before someone is confirmed.
Gravenstone
@MattF: Wonder if Trump has a taste for Amontillado?
Immanentize
@Gravenstone: I love a guy who knows the classics….
Jeffro
By the way, this is just about the funniest f-in thing I’ve read all week, by Geoffrey Kabaservice in the FTFNYT: The Dream of a Republican New Deal
Yes really – the salvation of the GOP is at hand!
I wonder why that is? Could it be that a half dozen Randian billionaires don’t want to spend the chump change, relatively speaking, that it would take to help out their fellow Americans?
WRONG. Trumpov recognized that as long as the scam was going on, the blessed white working class sure as hell needed someone to blame, or they were going to turn on their uber-rich masters.
Oh please – can we drill down just a bit there, Mr. Kabaservice? The working class, period, effectively hasn’t had a raise in almost 40 years. The white working class is ok with that, as long as they still get a decent safety net and the chance to sock it to the browns.
But here is the truly amazing mind-blowing GALLING part:
Rebuild infrastructure and ‘civic assets’ that have been ‘squeezed by conservative cutbacks’?
Propose universal entitlements? Wage subsidies? Generous child-care tax credits?
Consider a national version of a California proposal to make housing more affordable?
Geoffrey, my man: there is a much simpler answer here, one that’s staring you in the face, one that’s far more rooted in reality than expecting ANY Republican politician to embrace increased entitlement spending and a…a…bwahHahHAH!…California affordable housing proposal.
It’s called Vote. For. The. Democrat.
Period. You’ll get all those things plus we’ll stay out of your private life, keep your water clean, and educate your kids, too!
I swear, the lengths these ‘moderate’ wingers will go to to avoid joining the dirty hippies just astounds me. “A Trump New Deal” – yeeeeeah buddy!
efgoldman
@LAO:
Pat the dog
MattF
@Jeffro: Note that although the teacher’s strikes in red states are alluded to, the word “UNION” never sullies Mr Kabaservice’s prose.
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: Supposedly they’re digital recordings. So either on a desk top, external hard drive, or thumb drive.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Of course they are, still, I’m disappointed. I was hoping for the full Nixon.
MattF
@Adam L Silverman: It’s probably safe to assume that Cohen is unfamiliar with the concept of backing things up, so there’s a point of failure in this mess.
EveryDayIHaveTheBlues
@Gravenstone: He does not drink spirits, unfortunately. Only the finest diet coke…
Adam L Silverman
@MattF: Given he allegedly shared (some of) them with the President, he has some of them on portable devices.
SRW1
Jesse Owens wins his gold medal about 100 meters in front of Hitler again.
sukabi
@Corner Stone: are the foreigners identified by country? What % of the 80% is going to Russians?
Gelfling 545
@Corner Stone: Every November I watch that movie on my late brother’s birthday. Makes me feel like I’m sharing a good time with him again. It was one of his favorites. You’d only have to refer to a scene to crack him up.