Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

What fresh hell is this?

False Scribes! False Scribes!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The revolution will be supervised.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Militantly superior in their own minds…

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

This is a big f—–g deal.

There will be lawyers.

This really is a full service blog.

Shocking, but not surprising

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Not all heroes wear capes.

It’s been a really long fucking year.

Wetsuit optional.

We can agree to disagree, but i’m right.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2018 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Good Cop / Lousy Cop

Monday Morning Open Thread: Good Cop / Lousy Cop

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Across the aisle…


To be fair, who else could like James Comey as much as James Comey?

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Earlier, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, called Iran’s ruling elite a “mafia” who have amassed vast sums of wealth while allowing their people to suffer.

    Always the projection with these Repubs.

  5. 5.

    Mezz

    Apropos of nothing…

    “[Senators and Representatives] shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their appropriate Houses…”
    Article I, Section 6, U.S. Constitution. Emph. added.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: I don’t think Virginia allows cameras in courtrooms. But it would be must see TV if they did.

    Good morning, jackals.

    Ozark: great catch about the Pompeo projection.

  8. 8.

    Platonailedit

    Fucomey.

  9. 9.

    bjacques

    @Baud: I hope it involves a news copter following a white Lada in a slow police chase around the Beltway

  13. 13.

    germy

    The best comment I’ve seen about Comey’s “advice”:

    Nobdy • 12 hours ago

    I am very tired of the popular genre known as “Democrats, Save Moderate Republicans From The Horrible Monster We Created, But Only on Our Terms.”

    If Moderate Republican policies were so popular then they would have won the Republican Party and not been easily defeated by a moron shouting white nationalism and misogyny.

    Nobody wants Jeb! We didn’t clap for him!

    (LawyersGunsMoneyBlog)

  14. 14.

    Platonailedit

    @germy:

    As is Jeb! is a moderate. They are all fucking radical loons. High time these corrupt thugs are called radical.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Today will be sneak in a lawn mowing before leaving day. Also download stuff to watch on the planes from Netflix and Amazon Prime to the tablet day.

    Caught an interesting (overused word, but applicable) short (~50 min.) documentary on Amazon Prime last night. Open Secrets, about gay Canadian servicemen during WW2.

    @MagdaInBlack

    Without going into further detail, for the same reason he screeches about anything – because his wi-fi is connected and his brain cells are not.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: It got even better (as in worse) over the next few paras in the article:

    Pompeo said the country’s religious leaders were “hypocritical holy men”.

    Unlike our trump supporting Evangelicals.

    “Sometimes it seems the world has become desensitised to the regime’s authoritarianism at home and its campaigns of violence abroad, but the proud Iranian people are not staying silent about their government’s many abuses,”

    Separating children from parents at the border because the parents broke the law by being brown while seeking asylum is the sensitive approach and all the protestors need to STFU.

    Pompeo castigated Iran’s political, judicial and military leaders, too, accusing several by name of participating in widespread corruption. He also said the government has “heartlessly repressed its own people’s human rights, dignity and fundamental freedoms”.

    Nothing to see here, move along Mr Mueller, move along. And don’t mind that man hiding in the cone of silence while he destroys the environment, also forget about all the money the trump org is making off the presidency, and never mind the Kushner family selling visas in China and…. And you? Over there? Black person waiting in line to vote for 4 hours? Sorry, your voter registration was expunged last month so no, you can’t vote. Sucks to be you.

    “The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government,” he said.

    The level of corruption in service to the wealthy in the trump admin is mind boggling.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Because he’d chewed, broken the heads off, or rubbed shit on all of his other toys over the last week and the babysitter was – this – close to slapping his fat, orange face for being such a petulant whiner.

    “Look Donny, that brown kids’ saying stuff about you. Why don’t you go and egg his windows or something?”

  20. 20.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @germy:
    Pretty much. We have two political movements in this country: Wanting to help ordinary people, and bigotry. Everyone else is a tiny fringe. Trump offered the hardest shot of bigotry.

  22. 22.

    germy

    Meanwhile, Bibi’s trying to goad Tr*mp into another war:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on escalating rhetoric between Washington and Tehran (all times local):

    6:30 a.m.

    Germany is calling for restraint amid escalating rhetoric between the leaders of Iran and the United States.

    Foreign Ministry Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin on Monday: “We support dialogue and talks, and we call on all sides to exercise restraint and rhetorical disarmament.”

    President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday that hostile threats from Iran could bring dire consequences. Earlier in the day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said America “must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

    Burger said that “threats of military force are never helpful, and I think that particularly in the tense situation in the Middle East this is not a helpful means of discourse.”

    ___

    5 a.m.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is praising President Donald Trump for his “strong stance” on Iran.

    Netanyahu says that Trump and his secretary of state were taking a clear position against “Iranian aggression” after years in which the “regime was pampered by world powers.”

  24. 24.

    Kay

    WikiLeaks RetweetedWikiLeaks @wikileaks
    Jul 9
    DNC opposition research on Trump Supreme Court pick, Brett #Kavanaugh

    Wikileaks links to 2 year old DNC talking points about Right wing judges as “opposition research” on Kavanaugh

    Still haven’t uncovered anything about the Trump Administration or Republicans in Congress- the people who are actually in power.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    @germy:

    @realDonaldTrump
    Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
    More
    To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

    Seems to be working. Donald the Dove and Hillary the Hawk. Remember that incredibly insightful political commentary?

    Trump looked weak in Russia so he has to make up for it by attacking Iran.

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    @germy:
    Bibi’s up to no good and he’s sneaky. Trump is also up to no good, and he takes pride in zigging when people expect him to zag. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: Hey, it’s the War in the Middle East Boogaloo! because we really slayed them with our last dance in that neighborhood.

  34. 34.

    Cermet

    @germy: The sooner Netanyahu and his cult of crazy followers are driven into the sea by sane Israeli’s the better for everyone. Maybe a close friend of the orange fart cloud (cough, putin) could handle the problem for Israel via his polonium poison for that crazy war monger.

  36. 36.

    cmorenc

    @Annie Laurie:

    To be fair, who else could like James Comey as much as James Comey?

    To be fair, Donald Trump likes Donald Trump much more than James Comey likes James Comey. OTOH James Comey doesn’t dislike Donald Trump’s GOP enough to leave the GOP. But what if James Comey did leave the GOP to become a Democrat? Would we start liking James Comey even a fraction as much as James Comey likes James Comey? I doubt it.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    I’m not anything approaching being the bootblack to the cousin of a third assistant apprentice to a scholar of Persian history, but would make a gentleman’s wager that Rouhani’s phrasing harks back to similar phrasing in a regionally/culturally well-known Farsi poem.

  40. 40.

    bjacques

    Oddly enough, Bibi also oversaw the rescue of 250 White Helmets out of Syria, via the Golan Heights, into Jordan. Assad had their names on a list, and the Russians can’t be too keen either on all those witnesses to gassing and barrel-bombing living to testify at length. I can see the benefit of poking Assad in the eye, but it’s gonna get Trump in Dutch with Russia.

  41. 41.

    satby

    I’m slightly bummed that the TCM classic movie tours of NYC only run on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I’m getting in too late to go on Saturday and leaving Tuesday evening. Was hoping to go on it Tuesday before I left if there was time.

  42. 42.

    cmorenc

    @debbie:

    Putin and Netanyahu are fighting for Trump’s soul. An epic battle.

    Query: would the highest bidder win, or the lowest bidder win that battle? And hasn’t Trump already sold his soul to the devil for a lifetime theme park pass to the “Seven Deadly Sins”?

  43. 43.

    germy

    @debbie:

    Putin and Netanyahu are fighting for Trump’s soul. An epic battle.

    Joke’s on them when they find a shriveled, burnt mouse turd.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Thanks- I gathered that was one of the goals with the sanctions. Trump worries about rising fuel costs, though. He knows his presidency hinges on his base’s perception that the economy is good. He’ll collapse if there’s a bump in the road with the economy.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @Kay: It’s becoming clear to more and more people that what Trump says isn’t credible. I’m not even sure the markets react to his statements anymore.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Kay, I heard a Midwestern manger of a food processing company interviewed yesterday. He said that customers’ orders for his processed meals had been cut in half, he thinks as a result of steel companies having increased their prices 30% after the tariffs began.

    (I know that’s a poorly constructed sentence. Sorry.)

  54. 54.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    He looked genuinely weak in Russia. A far Right House member called it “subservient”, so it’s time for some belligerent threats against traditional Republican enemy countries. They can all rally ’round attacking Iran.

  55. 55.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Addressing a gathering of Iranian diplomats, Rouhani said: “Mr Trump, don’t play with the lion’s tail, this would only lead to regret,” the state new agency IRNA reported.

    “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars,” Rouhani said, leaving open the possibility of peace between the two countries, at odds since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    “You are not in a position to incite the Iranian nation against Iran’s security and interests,” Rouhani said, in an apparent reference to reported efforts by Washington to destabilize Iran’s Islamic government.

    Also, too, Mike Pompeo and Tom Cotton were beating the war drums at the Reagan Library.

  56. 56.

    hueyplong

    Trump getting instructions from his boss in Helsinki to attack Iran would be the kind of thing you wouldn’t want in an official transcript of the meeting.

    Just saying.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    That’s interesting. Food processing is one of the industries that are still unionized. They’re good jobs and they’re know as “recession proof” – not as cyclical as manufacturing durable goods. That’ll hurt in this area.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    IIRC from the news of some years ago, there was at least one tenant (elderly, female) who sued and won the right to have repairs done to her apartment and to continue occupancy.

  68. 68.

    Immanentize

    Yes, it is my birthday. Which is going to be just like every other Monday it appears. As Ozarch would say — and does frequently — “Blech”

  72. 72.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah:
    I am waiting for Assange to be set back into the world as well. Then I want to hear the words “sealed indictments.”

  73. 73.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Annoyed that the “better” offerings from the hospital menu were suspiciously similar to the default offerings. A bit of rubber chicken, boiled potatoes that would be too bland even for a Minnesotan Lutheran church dinner, and vegetables boiled within an inch of their life* — and did I mentioned we’re specifically not supposed to have vegetables or any other fiber for five days post-surgery.

    Ordered off the non-Western menu for tomorrow. Dim sum for breakfast (shu mai and har gow), with pad see ew for lunch, and being daring and ordering chicken penne for dinner. All the carbs probably won’t be good for my diabetes, but my blood sugar has been extremely good and hey, I’m in a hospital, they can give me insulin if needed.

    I may have the arrange a food run with J.’s friend who’s here to support and get something more edible. Oh, and coffee. I’m seriously coffee deficient at this point. You have no idea how happy a latte this afternoon made me, even though I’m normally a black coffee drinker.

    *No jello molds though.

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Quickly perusing their web site, the prices seem reasonable even to an old cheapskate like me. Being on the water gotta be less sweltering than being on the pavement.

    ;)

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A nice news story: The radical sheriff giving offenders a chance

    Growing up as black boys in rural Gadsden county, Morris Young and Jaron McNealy would have had the same instinct in their youth when they saw the police: run.

    “I saw them as a foe. They’d only come by to arrest,” said Young, whose younger self would be surprised to discover he is now a veteran sheriff of the same northern Florida county where he was born and raised.

    McNealy, 28, took a different path in his teens, getting involved with gangs and a string of arrests and jail time eventually landed him in state prison for four years.

    But on a recent stormy Florida Saturday, the two sit in McNealy’s mother’s house across from one another on opposing couches with no tension and no drama.

    The sheriff and his deputy have come by to say hello to McNealy and his three sons, aged 10, eight and seven, as part of Young’s commitment to a new program to prevent children from following their parents into the criminal justice system. The scheme links children with professional counselors and life coaches.

    “We’ve seen a trend where the children start coming up through this same cycle as those incarcerated parents,” Young said. “We wanted to sort of wrap our hands around them and put them on the right track.”

    The scheme is just part of Young’s community policing approach which includes decarceration and prisoner “re-entry” to lawful society to try to tackle recidivism. “I believe in giving folks two, three, four and five chances to get it right,” he said.

    Since his first election in 2004, Young has pushed prosecutors to get low-level offenders out of long jail stays, and has encouraged deputies to use arrest power with discretion. “If we pick up a young man with a piece of crack cocaine in his pocket, instead of making an arrest, put it on the ground and just mush it up. Tell him: ‘OK. The next time.’”

    And while it’s difficult to attribute cause and effect when it comes to social issues like crime, over Young’s tenure crime in Gadsden has roughly halved and juvenile arrests are down by more than 75%. The county is also sending 65% fewer inmates to state prison than it was eight years ago.

    Much more at the link.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    The run up to Iraq was sort of a fevered natural sequel to Afghanistan. I don’t get the impression that anyone in the US general public (excepting Dershowitz and his ilk) are at all interested in war with Iran. At all. No prep has been done. No fake crisis averted. Nothing.

  84. 84.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Tomorrow is supposed to be more ouchy, as they take off the thick bandages covering up the surgical area, so you get a bit of pink bits that are now exposed to the elements. We’ll see how that goes.

    OTOH, it’ll be the first chance to take a look at things and see how they turned out. I’m expecting stitches and swelling, but yeah, I’m looking forward to actually seeing the changes.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    Ivanka Trump believed her announcement of existing apprenticeship programs last week would distract people from Trump’s disastrous summit performance. The boilerplate “job retraining” announcement that every single administration in my adult life has made.

    She considers this a huge accomplishment.

    This is what privilege looks like, in practice. Meeting the absolute minimum is considered extraordinary work.

  92. 92.

    hueyplong

    @rikyrah: We’ll see if Putin has anything to say about what appears to be US sabre-rattling concerning Iran. If you are right and Iran is in solid with the RF in these shifting times, we might be treated to the spectacle of Bibi and Vlad publicly playing “Whose Gimp is Trump?”

    That won’t at all be embarrassing for the United States.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    I don’t really celebrate my birthday anymore either. I just sort of stopped. It upsets my daughter a little- she loves holidays and celebrations.

    The year I turned 21 my boyfriend at the time (who was otherwise horrible, in retrospect) threw a surprise party for me where I was genuinely surprised. That was the high point. Never really topped that, for birthday celebrations.

  96. 96.

    sherparick

    @OzarkHillbilly: Pompeo and Trump are definitely the “pot” calling the Iranian “kettle” black. This kind of attack just strengthens the Iranian regime domestically since the Persians are a rather nationalistic people with an identity going back 2600 years. The thing is, as the North Korean waltz has shown, Trump says a lot of words and is a bully, but he really is risk adverse about actual military actions.

  99. 99.

    A Ghost To Most

    Christian fascists bitching about “Islamic fascists”.

    You could run a drive-in on the projection.

  100. 100.

    lowtechcyclist

    When we have a Dem in the White House again, s/he’s going to have to let Israel know that they can keep on electing Bibi, but we’re done with taking that clown seriously.

  101. 101.

    AnonPhenom

    @Baud:

    Yes, GOP voters need a boogeyman. I wish I knew what our voters needed.

    Well, they say recognizing you have a problem is the first step.

    Maybe if you don’t know what they need, it means those voters aren’t ‘ours’?

    If only somebody could ask them.

    (all the contempt everyone else is showing helps though, keep that up)

  102. 102.

    TS (the original)

    @Kay: Wikileaks really outed themselves when President Obama was elected. Prior to that they were an each way bet in regard to political issues – then it all changed and trump caused them to double down against democracy.

  109. 109.

    Josie

    @sherparick:

    he really is risk adverse about actual military actions.

    I pray to FSM that you are right about that. I worry that he will see military action as a political plus.

  110. 110.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @sherparick:

    Trump’s attacks strengthen the Iranian hardliners and weaken the reformers.

    Trump’s repudiation of the Iranian deal has proved the hardliners were correct when they said that the West couldn’t be trusted.

  112. 112.

    Chyron HR

    @AnonPhenom:

    Sorry, kid, but 2016 proved that there the alleged “left” will never vote for a Democrat, no matter how terrible the alternative is.

  115. 115.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Kay:

    This is what privilege looks like, in practice. Meeting the absolute minimum is considered extraordinary work.

    Truth. No wonder they’re freaking out. You mean there’s folks out there who do twice the work for half the recognition. Inconceivable.

  118. 118.

    germy

    "If a man's got an apartment stacked to the ceiling with newspapers, or a woman has a house full of cats we call them crazy. But when people pathologically hoard so much cash they impoverish an entire nation, we put them on the cover of magazines & pretend they're role models." pic.twitter.com/G6SwD4DVPY
    — ??? ???? ?????? (@EurekaOhMy) July 19, 2018

  120. 120.

    El Caganer

    @Chyron HR: I dunno. I don’t think there really are all that many lefties in the US. Probably a lot more people who think their votes don’t matter (kind of self-fulfilling, no?). I don’t know what the solution to that is.

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    @A Ghost To Most: I’ve been saddened and concerned about that story.

    You want the osmosis to seep south of their border. Canada does not need to be picking up any of our many pathologies.

  123. 123.

    A Ghost To Most

    Judging by my family in WNY, there’s little chance of sanity leaking south.

  124. 124.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Kay: This year my sister sent me a card that made me laugh. On the front was an oddly dressed older woman. The caption said: “I buy all my clothes at Forever 71.” I had to explain the joke to Mr DAW.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @El Caganer: That recent article about the non-Trumpist white working class made, I think, the best political case for a stronger economic leftism I’ve seen in a while: it’s not going to pull any significant number of people over from the Trump camp (they are actually more affluent and driven primarily by bigotry) but it might get some of these discouraged non-voters to vote.

  128. 128.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin: Dems have been moving to the left since 2007. When do you think we’ll reach a tipping point where we’ll know whether the theory holds water?

  129. 129.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    @realDonaldTrump
    Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
    More
    To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

    I think it would be good humor if Rouhani tweeted back something like: “Oh, Donnie, you poor thing! After Putin took your balls back to Moscow with him, you think threatening us will magically re-grow them? Not that there was much there in the first place. Now, please, toddle off, and also SHUT THE FUCK UP, snowflake!”

    Hilarity would ensue.

  133. 133.

    El Caganer

    @Baud: How many people actually know what positions the Democratic Party has? That’s not necessarily the Party’s fault. I think a big chunk of the vote-eligible public has disengaged to the point that it has no clue what any party stands for. Which makes it much easier for a walking horseshit machine like Trump to peddle his nonsense.

  134. 134.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @El Caganer:

    How many people actually know what positions the Democratic Party has? That’s not necessarily the Party’s fault.

    To the extent that the party has policy positions they can all get behind, yes it is their fault. Nobody else is going to do that job for them.

  135. 135.

    Baud

    @El Caganer: I don’t doubt there are tons of obstacles to our success. But I’ve been hearing that the party needs to move to the left to win for a long time. Meanwhile, the party has been moving to the left and hasn’t been winning (except for Obama), nor have more lefty progressives been winning very many seats over that time. I’m just asking for some evidence that rises above the anecdotal level and that isn’t just based on what people think should work.

  136. 136.

    D58826

    @El Caganer:

    I think a big chunk of the vote-eligible public has disengaged to the point that it has no clue what any party stands for.

    Truth be told I don’t think the general public has ever been that engaged. That is not a knock on my fellow citizens, It is just some people follow baseball, some basketball, some spend their time raising their kids and a few fools follow politics.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    They were black Americans picked up for offenses like vagrancy, flirting with white women & petty theft. The state leased them to plantation owners. They worked in the fields til they “dropped dead in their tracks.” They were as young as 14 & as old as 70. https://t.co/28aZiOd0t9

    — Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) July 22, 2018

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    DA PHUQ?

    ‘Alabama-based League of the South launches Russian-language page to promote ‘Southern nationalism’’

    ‘The new page will reflect that the Russian people and Southerners are natural allies’ ??‍♀️https://t.co/qNqjFNobb7

    — RynheartTheReluctant (@TheRynheart) July 21, 2018

  139. 139.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    We’re already past it. Democrats offer what people say they want, then get no credit for it. Only in the world of magical leftist imagination is there a burning cultural desire for someone to announce they’ll tear down the rich and that will bring out voters. In the real world, Hillary’s historically liberal policy positions were ignored, Sanders lost the primary badly, a big chunk of his support turned out to just be ratfucking Republicans, and since then leftist candidates have been getting their asses kicked so bad that it’s big news when any of them win anything. Thus the confusion as to what our voters want to vote more consistently, because it sure as Hell isn’t anything that’s already been suggested. Personally, I think we’ve found it – getting punched in the face that their vote matters, and there’s Hell to pay if Republicans win. They needed life to shove their face in the ugly, not anything Democrats could do.

  140. 140.

    Kay

    Arthur Goldstein
    ‏@TeacherArthurG
    NEVER, EVER TALK ABOUT MUELLER OR RUSSIA OR FLINT OR PUSSY-GRABBING OR KIDS IN CAGES AGAIN OR I WILL THREATEN NUCLEAR WAR RIGHT ON TWITTER. YOU WILL SUFFER RANTING FEW HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY WITH A LEADER WHO HAS ANY IMPULSE CONTROL! BE CAUTIOUS!

    It’ll work too. The morons will now credit Trump with “averting” a war with Iran. Donald The Dove.

  141. 141.

    different-church-lady

    @El Caganer:

    How many people actually know care what positions the Democratic Party has?

    We’re positioning into a void. Elections are all about the lizard-brain now. Because it generates clicks.

  143. 143.

    JPL

    @SFAW: According to Real Press Sec. he’s been tweeting up a storm this morning. Amazon, North Korea, Putin, Page, and witch hunt are the main topics. Doesn’t the grand jury meet on Mondays?

  144. 144.

    satby

    @D58826: it should be a knock on our fellow citizens. Basketball and baseball don’t actually impact their lives (unless they’re players) but politics affects everything from the air they breathe to the foods they eat to how much they pay for things and what governmental services they get or don’t get. The propaganda that government is the problem and their votes don’t matter has allowed them to feel justified in being disengaged, but it just makes everything worse for everyone. Even oligarchs need to breathe clean air and drink safe water.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    David P Gelles
    ‏Verified account
    @gelles
    Follow Follow @gelles
    More
    CNNMoney exclusive: Jamie Dimon on the trade war, infrastructure ’emergency’ and Trump –

    Private sector leaders should shut up about Trump. They all backed him because they wanted deregulation and a tax cut.

    They got what they wanted. They should stop pretending they care about what happens to anyone else.

    Our elites suck. They’re low quality. Trump exploited an opening and the opening was our elites are reckless and incredibly greedy and selfish. They’re not even very smart.

  147. 147.

    different-church-lady

    @El Caganer:

    I think a big chunk of the vote-eligible public has disengaged to the point that it has no clue what any party stands for.

    Oh, they know exactly what the parties stand for: they stand for “both parties suck!”

    A huge number in this country have no idea how much their vote counts, and don’t want to because their air of savvy cynicism is far more important to them.

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    This is just being rotten for rotten’s sake. Makes no phucking sense.

    …………………….

    The Trump admin is planning to eliminate a vast trove of medical guidelines that for nearly 20 years has been a critical resource for doctors, researchers and others in the medical community, according to The Daily Beast. https://t.co/x70WdciU08

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 23, 2018

  151. 151.

    Charluckles

    We had a sensible, balanced, ethical candidate. Comey stuck a knife in her back. I am not religious, but I might pick it up again just so I can see James Comey burning in hell.

  152. 152.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: It makes perfect sense. As a Russian asset he is destroying the country which he officially heads from within. It all fits, the inane trade wars, the anti-immigrant jihad, the backing out of treaties and agreements. By the end of his Presidency, official American word will be worth zilch. iIf he is not stopped our currency will no longer be the reserve currency of the world.
    He wants us to be like Russia. Many 0.1% that donate money to the Rs don’t care as long as they can become Red America’s oligarchs.

  153. 153.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Private sector leaders should shut up about Trump. They all backed him because they wanted deregulation and a tax cut.

    they should also shut up, because for all their Master of the Universe posturing, they still show up for the dog and pony show that they had at the White House last week, and they don’t say SHYT.

    So, PHUCK THEM.

  155. 155.

    rikyrah

    Why it matters that Kavanaugh questioned a key Watergate ruling
    07/23/18 09:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination is controversial for a variety of reasons, but near the top of the list are the conservative jurist’s views related to the power of the American presidency.

    As has been well-documented, Donald Trump’s choice for the high court is on record arguing that sitting presidents shouldn’t have to deal with “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations. In Kavanaugh’s vision, a president shouldn’t have to deal with civil suits, criminal probes, or even questions from federal prosecutors.

    But the scope of the judge’s thinking on the subject is still coming into focus. The Associated Press reported over the weekend:

    Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh suggested several years ago that the unanimous high court ruling in 1974 that forced President Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes, leading to the end of his presidency, may have been wrongly decided.

    Kavanaugh was taking part in a roundtable discussion with other lawyers when he said at three different points that the decision in U.S. v. Nixon, which marked limits on a president’s ability to withhold information needed for a criminal prosecution, may have come out the wrong way.

  156. 156.

    rikyrah

    As Trump threatens war with Iran, few know whether to take it seriously
    07/23/18 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Welcome to Monday morning, Americans. Your president published a series of tweets overnight, directed at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, raising the prospect of a war.

    ………………..

    Under normal circumstances, when a sitting American president threatens a possible war with a foreign adversary, it would be a development of great international significance. But Donald Trump’s presidency offers little in the way of normal circumstances.

    It’s an awkward feeling. On the one hand, the Commander in Chief of the world’s strongest military is publicly raising the prospect of a deadly conflict, and it seems irresponsible to just shrug that off as background noise. On the other hand, most observers realize that Trump is an erratic amateur with the temperament of an elementary-school bully, who finds joy in chest-thumping bluster, and whose occasional tantrums frequently amount to very little.

    The former suggests last night’s presidential tweets were important. The latter suggests we should roll our eyes and focus our attention elsewhere.

    The uncertainty is itself an issue the nation needs to come to terms with. When a sitting American president threatens a war, and no one’s sure whether to take it seriously, there’s a problem.

  163. 163.

    tobie

    @Frankensteinbeck: We live in an environment where everything is the “Trump show,” 24/7 no matter what news outlet you turn to. Getting your voice heard, when everyone is looking in astonishment, shock, horror, fear, etc. at the shitshow in the White House is really hard. That will be the challenge for Democrats–how to be heard at all in this media environment.

  164. 164.

    patrick II

    Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left.

    Assuring that hungry people, particularly children, are fed and assuring that sick people are able to see doctors and get healthcare at a reasonable price is not “losing your minds”. Allowing hunger and death in the richest country in the world because “socialism” is losing your minds. It’s called sociopathology.

  165. 165.

    D58826

    @satby: At a general level I agree with you – politics does affect all of us. . I think I should have been a bit more specific and used the term ‘political junkie’ for those who follow the ins and outs of politics like other follow the baseball standings. Different folks just have different levels of interest.

    I got interested when I listened with my Dad to Army/McCarthy hearings. I remember saying to my Dad – is that the guy with the frog in the throat

  169. 169.

    rikyrah

    Lips pursed.

    ………………….

    Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson hands out cash to potential voters
    POSTED 4:55 PM, JULY 22, 2018,
    BY TAHMAN BRADLEY,

    CHICAGO — Willie Wilson, the millionaire businessman and candidate for Chicago mayor, handed out cash to potential voters Sunday morning at a church on Chicago’s South Side.

    Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, himself seeking reelection, joined Wilson at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church at the event.

    An aide to Wilson said the businessman gave away $300,000 to 2,000 people through the Dr. Willie Wilson Foundation, a 501(c)(3). Such organizations are tax-exempt, must not be organized for the benefit of private interests and are restricted in how much political activities they can conduct. Wilson says he organized the giveaway to assist homeowners who are struggling to pay their property tax bills.

    “My wife and I have been blessed by God to be able to get a few of the material things out of life and so it’s up to us to now continually to share back with all of you all and others,” Wilson told church members during the event.

    Wilson’s campaign spokesman insists today’s appearance was not campaign related. But Chicago politicos on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about the event.

  170. 170.

    rikyrah

    Equalizer 2′ squeaks past ‘Mamma Mia 2’ to lead the box office
    The follow-up to 2014’s “The Equalizer” is Denzel Washington’s first sequel and the biggest opening of director Antoine Fuqua’s career.
    by Associated Press / Jul.22.2018 / 5:37 PM ET

    In the battle of two very different sequels at the box office over the weekend, Denzel Washington’s action pic “The Equalizer 2” has narrowly won out over the ABBA jukebox musical “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”

    Studios estimated Sunday that the R-rated “Equalizer” follow-up grossed $35.8 million from North American theaters over the weekend. It’s Washington’s first sequel and the biggest opening of director Antoine Fuqua’s career. The first “Equalizer,” from 2014, opened similarly and went on to earn more than $190 million worldwide.

    Second place went to Universal Pictures’ “Mamma Mia 2,” which took in $34.4 million, a sum that was driven by an audience that was 83 percent female and 64 percent over 25. The film brought back much of the original cast, like Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried and Pierce Brosnan, and added Cher, Andy Garcia and Lily James to the mix. Critics overall gave the sequel better marks than the first, which still went on to gross more than $600 million worldwide 10 years ago.

  172. 172.

    Elizabelle

    I was happy to see this letter to the editor from Frederica Wilson to the Miami Herald. The “empty barrel” speaks. Her reputation will still be solid after this all plays out. In full:

    Insecure about your ballot? Try absentee voting, July 20, Miami Herald.

    Political observers this week employed a bountiful list of adjectives to describe President Donald J. Trump’s indefensible flip-flops on whether Russia hacked American democracy in 2016.

    And despite clear-cut evidence presented to him by his own intelligence experts, Trump has sunk even deeper in denial and refuses to acknowledge the very real threat that Russia poses to this year’s mid-term election cycle.

    While many congressional Republicans agree that Russia played a supporting role in the election that propelled Trump to victory in Florida and in the White House, they are unwilling to appropriate the funding necessary to protect the nation’s ballot boxes from additional meddling.

    Before heading home for the weekend last Thursday, the House GOP shot down a Democratic motion to restore funding for state election security grants to help fend off future attempts by Russia to attack our elections.

    I am outraged as every voter in Florida should be.

    Our state is one of 21 targeted by Russian hackers in 2016 and is considered to be vulnerable this year. That is, in part, because many voting sites use electronic machines that do not provide a paper trail.

    So, if Russians once again try meddle with our ballots, there will be no way to verify voting results.

    Luckily, in Florida you can vote absentee. It is the only vote you can be sure has a paper trail.

    It is registered in the Division of Elections’ system and you can actually track your ballot.

    It is impossible to overstate how important and powerful your vote is. It is your voice.

    It enables you to elect officials who share your values and have your best interest at heart. It should be heard.

    But without election security, you cannot be certain that it will be.

    Vote absentee.

    FREDERICA S. WILSON,
    U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

  174. 174.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left.

    F-You too Comey, Hillary as moderate as they come and she such an unacceptable radical in you mind you threw the election for the Nine Year Old in Chief, Since the Democrats won’t be nominating some Bush spawn, we will take it as read Comey will voting for Trump in 2020.

  175. 175.

    gvg

    @rikyrah: Well everything has to do with the economy in a way. Cause a trade war, somethings go up in price, some people decide not to buy that, the example thing’s producer decides to lay off some employees and they and producer can’t buy as much of everything else, so those industries have layoffs and production cuts and raise their prices…

  176. 176.

    gvg

    on topic, did anyone ask Comey what exactly he meant that democrats shouldn’t move too far to the left? I am curious what GOP voters think we are doing that is too left. I bet it’s projection, but I could use a laugh.

  179. 179.

    Immanentize

    @bjacques: This is not a Southern thing, people. Ever been to (my home town spaces) in Upstate New York? It is rural versus city. Segregated versus integrated. Very different than a regional dispute. Which is why it really cannot lead to a proper civil war as the two sides are everywhere. Well, absent ethnic (cultural?) cleansing.

  182. 182.

    JWL

    “The socialist left”. They called ’em “pinkos” not so very long ago. You can bet Comey was raised believing a commie lurks under every bed, and that America needed to fight the War in Vietnam in Vietnam, or Americans would be forced to fight on the streets of Honolulu or San Francisco.

    Lest We Forget: Hillary campaigned for George McGovern but loves Henry Kissinger.

  183. 183.

    J R in WV

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Glad you’re well enough to complain about the food. That was a sign of improvement in my wife, who spent 3 weeks in MICU, followed by a minor surgery to place chest tubes for a collapsed lung, followed by a short stay in SICU, followed by a long stay in general population guarded by nurses from infectious patients.

    We agreed that the hospital food was high end for what it was, and there were always extra trays for folks staying with their patients. In the end her thoracic surgeon went to patch the “leaky lung” and found the entire third lobe of her left long was necrotic, and scraped it out.

    Her recovery after that whole 2 month event was nearly total. Eat your food, be glad you’re able to criticize it.

    So glad you’re doing swell so far away!

  185. 185.

    sukabi

    @germy: that’s funny…she had a televised dust up with a woman from one of the gun safety orgs the other day. The woman pointedly asked her about NRA Russian ties and money.

  187. 187.

    Miss Bianca

    @sukabi:

    the moustache has also slapped his dick on the table…

    For some reason, that line made me burst out laughing. Now I’m trying to think of a way I can work the phrase “slapped his dick on the table” every time some male blow-hard spouts off with some ridiculous manly-manning bluster.

  189. 189.

    Aardvark Cheeselog

    I do not know if it is true that Roman generals, while celebrating their triumphs, were followed by a slave whose job it was to periodically whisper “Remember, you are but a man” into the general’s ear.

    I do know that James Comey should always be accompanied in public by someone whose job it is, whenever Comey appears to be about to open his mouth, to say “Nobody cares what you think, you sanctimonious piece of shit” while punching him in the junk.

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