Maddow on AM Joy yesterday:
.@Maddow: Over the two parts of the interview that we played, the two nights, #LevParnas‘ comments about William Barr were among the things that stuck with me and kept me up. #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/aXDWLQ3NG8
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) January 18, 2020
Me too, Rachel. The Trumps and their mobbed-up flunkies are an extreme danger to the republic and must be defeated. But GOP establishment figures like Barr, who’ve proved willing to go to any lengths to keep the con going, are a more insidious menace.
Some connected and elected Democrats vouched for Barr when Trump nominated him. They figured a long-term DC player could be trusted to protect institutions instead of subverting them on behalf of the demented conman. It was a bad bet.
The hot tub salesman who filled the AG job on an acting basis was an unqualified numpty, but at least he was impeded in his corruption by lack of familiarity with the job. Not so Mr. Barr. Consider a small sample of Barr’s inappropriate actions since his confirmation:
- Lied about the contents of the Mueller report before its release
- Held a press conference just prior to the Mueller report release to lie about it some more
- Buried the whistleblower report and unlawfully failed to transmit the complaint to the FEC
- Dismissed IG investigations that cleared Trump’s perceived enemies and reopened investigations
- Undermined relationships with allies to investigate “deep state” conspiracy theories
- Obstructed investigations into corrupt attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census
Parnas is a shady character with his own agenda, so it makes sense to treat his unverified claims about Barr or anyone else with skepticism. But as Maddow points out, Trump did mention Barr as well as Giuliani during the phone call with Zelensky to advance the extortion scheme.
Speaker Pelosi gets it. She called Barr a “rogue attorney general” and one of “the president’s henchmen” the other day at a press conference (clip included in another post). She’s right:
Does anybody think that the rogue attorney general is going to support–appoint a special prosecutor? No, because he’s implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the president’s henchmen, and I hope that the senators do not become part of the president’s henchmen.
Pelosi’s remarks about Barr didn’t get the attention they deserved because of the media circus around Trump’s impeachment. But it was reassuring (for me, at least) that she chose to make them.
Because only a portion of one half of one branch of government is currently acting as guardians of the Constitution the entire government swore to uphold, it’s a heavy lift to ask the House Dems to investigate the attorney general too. But no one else is going to shoulder that load. It’s up to the Speaker.
Baud
I think we have to see how the impeachment trial plays out before thinking about next steps. I don’t want to give the media a distraction that takes the focus of Trump and the GOP senators.
Chief Oshkosh
Insert anything of true importance for “Pelosi’s remarks about Barr” and you see Trump’s strategy. Bringing on Dershowitz and Starr is adding more clowns to the circus, and the media will eat it up.
geg6
She was on Bill Maher’s show Friday. She was very, very good and forceful and honest about where we are. The audience went apeshit—I’ve watched that show for years, on and off depending on how much Maher annoyed me that week, and I’ve never seen the audience react like that. Total rock star reception. Even Bill was on his best behavior with her.
zhena gogolia
@Chief Oshkosh:
The NYT headline was something like “Trump Assembles Celebrity Team.” The media are so disappointing. But my husband’s mantra is, “They want those tax cuts.”
donnah
One of the most incredible and concerning things about the Trump presidency is how easily members of his administration were able to quickly show how corrupt they were and how little was done to stop the corruption. Those members early on who did find out how inept and ignorant Trump is and were horrified were either driven out or resigned in frustration. Guardrails were promised, then abandoned.
In regards to the appointment of Barr, I remember prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg saying on MSNBC that Barr was a man of integrity, that he had worked with him and trusted his judgment, only to say that after Barr stepped on the Mueller report he was severely disappointed in Barr and appalled by what he had done. Rosenberg has gone on to be outspoken against Barr.
Trump brings out the worst in anyone who comes his way. If they’re good people they leave, and if they are greedy or power-hungry, they latch onto him like leeches.
There’s going to be a lot of lies and feigned outrage from the Republicans during the impeachment process. But it really is a major battle for democracy.
Betty Cracker
@Chief Oshkosh: I think you’re right, but I’m not confident a circus will redound to Trump’s benefit. McConnell wanted a quick, low-profile affair. That was probably the smart (evil) play.
germy
Will witnesses be called? Anyone here have any predictions for the impeachment hearings?
MattF
I’ll admit that Barr’s many collusions with criminality came as a surprise to me. There are a select few who have taken the opportunity provided by Trump to Jump head-first into the abyss. Quite the revelation.
TS (the original)
@geg6: Your post had me looking for the video. She did get a massive welcome from the audience. And it continued throughout her interview.
Betty Cracker
@germy: My guess is there will not be witnesses unless Republicans are certain Bolton will pull a Frank Pentangeli.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@donnah:
Trump is like some artifact in a fantasy novel that people touch at their peril because it tests them. How many fail the Trump test is surprising to me. Maybe you have to be flawed in the first place to go anywhere near him.
WaterGirl
@geg6: Is there a link to that show?
Or, I guess I get HBO, maybe I can find it that way even though I missed the original airing.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: You’re probably right. However, Bolton is one person who could outsmart McConnell. There’s still a tell-all book from Bolton looming in the background. We shall see.
WaterGirl
I get as outraged and discouraged as the next person, but if we can keep up the momentum just a smidge longer I think we could get to the point where the Republicans are screwed either way. Either they call witnesses or every remaining thinking person will be outraged and they will lose any independent votes they still have.
debbie
@Baud:
I hope the House mangers are practicing their being loud, pushy, and bossy voices, having just listened to an NPR interview with Robert Ray.
tobie
I’ve often said to myself since the midterms in 2018 that the only thing standing between us and autocracy is Nancy Pelosi. It’s a comfort to know Pelosi is there. It’s frightening as hell to realize that it’s the Dem victory in the House and the courage of one individual that’s keeping us safe right now.
Gin & Tonic
Pretty funny, somebody I sort of know just posted a picture showing Lev “I don’t know him” Parnas standing next to DJT at what appears like Ivanka’s birthday party when she was like 10 or so (can’t accurately count the candles.) Ivana was still the incumbent wife, standing on one side of DJT, Lev standing on the other side. The Google tells me they divorced in 1991, so this would presumably have been earlier?
Baud
@debbie: We know what they’re like. We just saw them in hearings.
@tobie: It’s never one person. It’s always the team. I think we get in trouble when we look for messiahs and saviors.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Definitely.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Ivanka was born in 1981, so probably at about the same time.
tobie
@donnah: Rosenberg said the same about John Durham. Anyone who would agree to take on the task of investigating the investigators in the Russia inquiry is a Republican loyalist in my book.
P.S. Among the news dumps on Friday was that Rod Rosenberg admitted that he had released Lisa Page’s and Peter Strzok’s text messages to the press…all to advance the theory of a deep state conspiracy against Trump. The go-along-to-get-along crowd is killing democracy and that includes Rosenstein and IG Michael Horowitz.
debbie
@Baud:
Even though Senators are to remain quiet, what are the odds we’ll hear a shout of “You lie!” while the House Managers are presenting their case?
Baud
@debbie: Probably low. I think most of the GOP Senators want to keep their head down. But maybe Lindsey, if I had to guess.
tobie
@Baud: Agreed. My point was more rhetorical. Were it not for the Dem victory in the House in 2018, there would be no check whatsoever on the executive branch. But I would add that if the Dems in the House had buckled to pressure from the right and left flanks to appoint a less experienced House caucus leader, we also wouldn’t be where we are right now.
germy
“I don’t know him.”
Betty Cracker
This weekend so far:
And it’s only Sunday morning. I’m tempted to put helmets on us all…
Perensejo
After McConnell’s dog and pony exoneration show, maybe it’s time to impeach Barr.
Baud
@tobie: Yep. Agree completely.
MattF
OT. Kevin Drum notes that Martin Indyk is now in favor of the US disengaging in the Middle East. Indyk was always a major ME hawk, so this is significant. I wonder if giving up on the ME is behind some of the ex-neo-con never-Trumpism.
LarrytheRed
It’s one thing to be a principled advocate of the “unitary executive” theory, which seems to be Dershowitz’s schtick. It’s another to be a toady. Barr doesn’t seem to care about the difference.
germy
Baud
@tobie:
Agree, although the reporting says that Durham isn’t willing to manufacture false evidence to please Barr or Trump. I don’t know that Durham has issued his report yet, however, so maybe they are still trying.
ETA: Never mind. I confused Durham with Huber.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
I thought Lev had a connection to Trump’s dad. He sold real estate for him or something like that.
Amir Khalid
@Betty Cracker:
Ouch.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker:
Ow. Ow. Woof.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Save that talk for Balloon Juice After Dark.
germy
Citizen_X
@Betty Cracker: Florida Man, Florida Woman, and Florida Dog represent!
(And I whack my stupid head on stuff all the time, so I’m with you.)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud:
I can’t stay up that late!
PsiFighter37
I do hope that when the next Democratic administration takes office next year, the full focus is on prosecuting all of the Trump-related corruption to the fullest extent. Fuck the ‘this country needs to heal’ bullshit. Literally demonstrate the full extent of how corrupt everyone one was, and send them all to the slammer.
Baud
@germy: At least he’s consistent!
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Oh my gosh, Betty. Helmets for sure. Do not get into a vehicle, possibly no cooking. Perhaps some TV while cuddled under a blankie would be in order?
germy
https://wnyt.com/politics/no-escape-senators-to-be-quiet-unplugged-for-trump-trial/5615773/?cat=659
Citizen_X
You mean like the Ring?
So I guess Trumpsters should properly be called Trumpwraiths, right?
debbie
@germy:
I would pay to see that.
Frankensteinbeck
her being a woman and a Democrat making an effective argument against Republicans.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Citizen_X:
Exactly like the One Ring. They are like the Wraiths.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: I suspect some of them don’t have the attention span for that. I’m not sure I would.
Do they have to be there?
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
Ha ha ha ha! That will be comedy GOLD. Republican voters elect people just like them, who do not give a rat’s fart about their jobs, decorum, or anything but their own emotions. 52 toddlers squirming in Time Out.
Betty Cracker
@PsiFighter37: It needs to happen for the sake of justice and deterrence. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know how it would work. Special prosecutor who would refer evidence of crimes to the appropriate authorities?
It’s important to avoid the appearance of engaging in tit-for-tat campaigns to jail political opponents, so I’m not sure what kind of mechanism would be appropriate. But yeah, if we manage to roll back these attempts to subvert democracy and weaponize federal law enforcement, fuck any calls to “turn the page.”
germy
@Frankensteinbeck: Short attention span theater.
NotMax
Where have you gone,
Joe DiMaggioHari SeldonOut nation turns its lonely eyes to you
Joe Falco
@germy:
That gives the Republicans even more reason to have everything dismissed as soon as possible. The horror of having the slightest inconvenience will be too much for them.
NotMax
OT (but cannot resist mentioning it).
Deaf man sues Pornhub over lack of closed captions
Wag
@donnah:
Correction. Trump reveals the true nature of anyone who comes his way, for good, or for ill.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MomSense: yup
word is the trump org was very small, I’d bet Parnas at least knew some of the long time retainers
also, this:
I saw “the Joe Pesci of John Deans” on twitter last night, but this was posted early yesterday evening, by the very sober (judging by her TV appearances) Rosalind Helderman. Who gets credit for it?
MattF
@NotMax: Pornhub chief says they do have a closed-caption ‘category’. Fair to say that I’d never thought of closed-captioning as a fetish.
chris
@Citizen_X:
Josh Marshall dubbed them “dignity wraiths.” As in they’re willing to sacrifice their dignity to the orange godking for personal gain.
Bill Arnold
@germy:
Found this yesterday (posted to previous thread). It is a rough taxonomy of the types of people who fail morally (in law enforcement):
Police Ethics and Integrity (Milan Pagon, 2000, academia.edu free signup, will get you relenteless paper recommendations emails)
O. Felix Culpa
Here’s an opportunity to nominate someone for the JFK Library’s Profile in Courage Award. I’d love for it to go to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Nancy Pelosi received the award last year and Barack Obama in 2017.
Mo MacArbie
@chris: Post or refresh? Post or…aw, crap.
germy
@Bill Arnold: POTUS is all of the above.
Quite an achievement, actually.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: My NBCSN tells me a big match is coming up shortly.
Bill Arnold
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Comey likened the Trump thing to a Demon who corrupts souls then eats them. [1] He is not wrong.
He (DJT) also does this in the large, e.g. at his rallies.
[1] James Comey: Trump has ‘eaten the soul’ of even accomplished people who joined his administration (May 1, 2019)
Gin & Tonic
@MattF: Rule 34, dude.
apocalipstick
@MattF: I don’t understand the desire for Bolton’s testimony. He will lie continuously.
sdhays
Didn’t Barr also bounce around Europe looking for ways to discredit the Steele Report, just in the last few months? As if that kind of investigation would be the work of the AG if everything was on the up-and-up.
Dump years are so long I had forgotten about the “unqualified numpty” between Jeffy Jeff and Barr…
JPL
Sullenberger has an oped piece that you can click on from the front page of NYTimes. The piece is a take down of Lara Trump mocking Biden’s speech pattern.. Sully also stuttered so he understands the pain of her words.. Any way I thought this was a good paragraph
At the beginning of the article he does mention that he donated to Biden..
Steeplejack (phone)
@Betty Cracker:
@donnah:
Barr didn’t change because of Trump. He was always corrupt. His first go-round as attorney general was to manage the turnstile as a previous generation of corrupt Republicans exited the Iran-Contra fiasco.
Rosenberg and these Dems were naïve and bad judges of character, as our own valued commenter Kay has pointed out. They thought that because Barr is a “respected attorney” and a vetted member of the “establishment” that he would play by the rules. They couldn’t see what was right in front of their faces.
Shalimar
@Bill Arnold: I am so happy to hear that Mattis (and Mueller too in a similar way) has lived up to his personal code and not sullied his character too much. Does stopping the significant damage to the country really matter compared to feeling morally superior to all the lesser humans?
oatler.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
He sure turned Lindsay Graham into a Gollum.
JPL
@germy: I wonder how many will just sleep.
patrick II
Barr gave two speeches this past fall that chill the bone. The second was at, at the Federalist Society was bad, blaming Democrats for unconstitutional, partisan attacks on poor Donald Trump; expecting everyone to bow down before the (Republican) King, err… the Executive presidency. The chains of laws may not hold him!
debbie
@Steeplejack (phone):
Barr attracted Trump’s attention in the first place because he told Trump he supported an expansive presidency. Trump hired Barr because he could get him what he wanted.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steeplejack (phone):
I agree he didn’t change because of trump, but my hunch is the man who gave that speech about “permissiveness” at Notre Dame is not the William Barr of the early nineties. I’d bet at least one mortgage payment that something happened in his personal life
edited: Bob Barr is of course the thrice-married anti-Clinton warrior who was slightly embarrassed when photos of him licking whipped cream off a stripper during the Clenis Saga. I think he’s a never-trumper now
Kattails
Can’t help but note, as a slight aside, that all of Pete’s ads, of which there are many, are telling us to look at his plans. Elizabeth’s ads are asking us to give her feedback. Hummm.
@Betty Cracker: Yeowch! Poor babies. This week I got my mail program into a jam sufficient to require taking it in to pay for one of the kids to un-stick it; was washing the refrigerator tempered glass shelf in the sink when it slipped and pretty much atomized; and slipped on the front step ice that was hidden by a dusting of snow, catching my tush, a rib or 2, and elbow while snapping my neck, not sure which one made the crunchy noise. Cold enough that the padded clothing probably saved the situation. Six inches of snow here.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JPL:
Thanks for posting that.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
The guy is not actually missing out on anything. He doesn’t need to follow the dialogue to enjoy the content on Pornhub. In fact, he’ll enjoy it more without the dialogue.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@oatler.: is it my own bias and wish-fulfillment that I think Lindsey Graham has aged ten years in the last three, and Ted Cruz has put on about fifty pounds?
H.E.Wolf
To be fair to the person in that article who wanted closed-captioning for his porn, neither deafness nor requesting accessibility is a perversion.
Off to the grocery store, where the shelves are all closed-captioned. :)
Ruckus
@chris:
As in they’re willing to sacrifice their dignity to the orange godking for personal gain.
Isn’t personal gain the entire concept of the republican party for the last 100 yrs or so?
What can we get and how can we keep it?
I believe that’s etched in stone somewhere at republican headquarters.
Bill Arnold
@Shalimar:
They failed too, yes.
pat
@MomSense:
I read somewhere that Lev was born in Odessa in 1972 and was brought to the US at the age of three, which explains that his English is better than his Russian.
He has worked for Trump since he was about 23. Wish there was more information out there other than “born in the Soviet Union” which makes it sound like he just came over on the last boat.
patrick II
@germy:
I don’t know. What does Susan Collins say?
pat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I see someone else has the info about Parnas.
artem1s
@Citizen_X:
It’s not a bad analogy. Tolkien’s central theme is all about the corrupting force of power. You either use is responsibly or the temptation to gather more power eats at you like a cancer until you are lost to it. Every main character in the book is measured, judged and their eventual fate is based on how they react to the acquisition of power or the temptation to acquire more power. Gandalf and Galadrial understand this temptation so thoroughly, they won’t even touch the One Ring when it is freely offered to them.
Only I think Trump is more like Denathor than Sauron. He has information and forces to fight evil at his fingertips but he was corrupted long ago by the need to keep his empire. He’s even willing to sacrifice his children in the pursuit of more power. He had been tasked with stewarding his empire and the executive branch and handing it over to a successor when the time comes. But he’s decided to claim the monarchy and it’s power for his own instead and will do anything to keep it.
Barr is definitely a wraiths though. McConnell might be equated to Saruman. Nunes and his ilk, just common Mordor orcs. But they are servants to a larger, more sinister evil than Trump. Unseen and unnamed. It kills everything it touches until they are incapable of returning to the joys of simple life/democracy. Maybe their Sauron is Putin or The Church or the fucking Illuminati – who knows – doesn’t really matter – Sauron himself was only a minion to a more powerful evil force that was older than Middle Earth itself. But yea, fucking wraiths for sure.
In this analogy is Pelosi the lost Istari, Pallando?
moonbat
@Baud: Yeah and sometimes it’s the individual too. Do you think if one of those centrist assholes who was trying to take over the speakership were in charge that we’d be where we are right now? Yes, its a team effort and Nancy Pelosi put the team together.
eclare
@geg6: Agree, audience went wild, standing ovation. Very deserved. And Bill even said he kept the monologue clean in deference to her.
jimmiraybob
I am not a lawyer but, since we’re speaking of henchmen in the service of making shite up, wussup with Alan “I am a liberal democrat” Dershowitz, Trump’s new lawyer that will be warping and weaving the US Constitution in defense of the Chief Grifter and signer of pay checks (it should be noted that in the constitutional sense “:checks and balances” does not refer to legal instruments or financial accounting technics)? He was on CNN where he stated:
What next? Defending slavery and Jim Crow by paraphrasing the successful supreme-court justices in Dred Scott v. Sandford (back in the1850s)? Asking for a friend.
RandomMonster
@chris: I was trying to remember the term Josh used. Thanks for providing it. “Dignity Wraith” is appropriate. It would also be a good heavy metal band name.
Shalimar
@pat: I found an article (unsourced, so still needs to be confirmed) that said Lev started selling real estate for the Trump Organization (Fred) in 1989, when he was 16. Others are referring to a picture with Trump going around twitter that was supposedly taken at Ivanka’s 10th birthday party, which would have been 1991. A quick google search didn’t turn up this photo so I haven’t seen it, but if both those things are true then the Trumps would have remembered Lev very well when he started donating big money a few years ago. It would also be very interesting that someone with later alleged ties to the Russian mob began working for the Trump organization the year after Donald went to Moscow for the first time.
SFAW
@Bill Arnold:
“Character.” Right.
MomSense
@jimmiraybob:
What’s up with Dershowitz? I doubt he kept his underwear on. And if your defense is keeping your underwear on when the charge relates to sexual relations with a minor girl, it’s not much of a defense. Lordy I hope (bet) there are tapes.
jimmiraybob
@MomSense:
Are we talking Mormon undies or Fruit of the Loom undies? (maybe I should be a lawyer)
patrick II
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think it has more to do with the Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. He was always a self-righteous moralist living within the acceptable social order of before Trump. His disregard for the law, however, is not that far from what he did during the Bush I years. The social order and their extraordinary delusions now empower what has always been there, and now, he is not just forgiving other criminals with pardons, but participating in the crimes himself.
Aleta
@patrick II: lol
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: You might try You Tube. I think Maher’s after show is now on You Tube, which may also have clips of the show as well. ETA Nancy’s reception was amazing and when Maher tried to derail conversation to opposition she initially faced in the election for Speaker she cut him off with, “That’s not important.”. She used every minute of her time to make the case for impeachment.
Another Scott
Good morning.
Eyes on the prize.
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@jimmiraybob:
The absurdity of this timeline is breathtaking. Has there ever been such a cast of bizarre people ? Setting aside their evil and corruption, they are all just so fucking strange. Stone is a swinger with a Nixon tattoo on his back. Go through the list. They’re all ridiculously weird.
Kathleen
@tobie: I also give the Dem caucus credit. The Dems in the House are truly the last “Thin Blue Line” against full blown fascism, which is why I detest and abhor those supposedly in the party who actively seek to undermine it. And there are quite a few.
Kathleen
@debbie: Good chance, especially if the presenting House Manager is African American.
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic:
Repost – NewYorker (from October):
It doesn’t say so directly, but it’s easy to read between the lines that they’ve known each other a long time, and more than just socially.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
I’m not going to link to this or search for it, but apparently Joe DiGenova went on Breitbart to say that a trip of his to Ukraine was called off because the US Embassy in Kyiv threatened to deny his wife and Rudy visas.
Two problems with this: American citizens don’t need a visa to go to Ukraine, and if they did, it would be issued by the Ukrainian Embassy (or a Consulate) in the US. The US State Department, in either DC or Kyiv, has no say in whether the Ukrainian government grants a visa to a foreigner.
Lying liars who lie, again.
From a Twitter thread on that I also learned that his wife’s son (forgive me, I don’t know if that’s also his son) works for Barr. Mom is on retainer to Firtash.
Every rock you turn over….
Gin & Tonic
@Another Scott: I cannot emphasize how rare it would have been to get an exit visa from the USSR in 1975.
debbie
@pat:
That makes Trump’s statements that he didn’t know him all that more absurd.
Sebastian
@Gin & Tonic:
Lev was selling condos for Trump. They’ve been in business for 30 years.
eclare
@Gin & Tonic: Interesting.
artem1s
Pelosi gave Barr some rope to hang himself. If the evidence demands the impeachment of Trump, then it seems likely it also now demands Barr be impeached as well for obstruction. I think she may be waiting to see if there are any in the Senate who decide to do the right thing and have a real trial, but I think we are in for a lot more impeachment hearings in the House.
eclare
@Gin & Tonic: Any idea how his family got one?
zhena gogolia
@JPL:
That is great.
ziggy
Many times it’s been said here that the Republicans in the house and senate all have something to hide and the Russians have all the dirt. It seems to me that that can’t be true across the board (although I would assume most do have plenty to hide, especially in regards to campaign financing). But if Barr is in charge of the DOJ, he determines ultimately who gets investigated and who doesn’t. You don’t have to have dirt on you to get investigated, they can make something out of thin air, and make your life a living hell for nothing (as we’ve seen). Exhibit A, the Clintons. Barr is unfortunately very experienced and very competent at instigating investigations and also shutting things down. I think Parnas is right in saying that his power comes from that, and that is what they are afraid of.
Bill Arnold
@SFAW:
And Mattis was one of the lucky ones; he got out with his soul only half-eaten. It wasn’t innocent to start with (e.g Theranos?) , but he had some integrity.
Dadadadadadada
@WaterGirl: It’s available for free as a podcast on any podcast purveyor that exists. The Pelosi episode is available as we speak.
WaterGirl
@Dadadadadadada: Thank you very much, and ugh!
It says Nancy Pelosi and Andrew Yang. Was Yang on there, too? At the same time? I can barely stand to listen to Yang.
WaterGirl
@Bill Arnold: You think Mattis has integrity? Wowser.
joel hanes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They are like the Wraiths.
Accords them far too much dignity, and the wrong rings into the bargain.
They are like Gollum
joel hanes
@artem1s:
Trump is more like Denathor than Sauron
Utterly not.
Denethor is a great and wise steward, who keeps in hard training and even in age sleeps in mail to keep ready to fight, a man of subtle thought, deep learning and immense dignity. Despite the long rule of his line as stewards, he never presumes to call himself king nor sit on the throne. He engages with Gandalf as an intellectual equal.
Denethor deeply loves his sons, and yet would have sacrificed both of them and himself if he thought by doing so he could save the remnants of Gondor. His judgment is overthrown by too much exposure to a seductively useful but compromised source of intelligence information, so that ultimately he despairs.
Trump is the Misty Mountain orc king Azog from The Hobbit : ignorant, vulgar, brutal, grasping, completely without principle except for ruthless adherence to power and riches.
joel hanes
@Another Scott:
Republicans may be on the verge of losing the Texas House for the first time in decades.
And you can help
Sugarland TX Democratic organizer Susan Bankston, who blogs at Juanita Jean’s, will be doing a grassroots GOTV effort in January, and will be wanting contributions.
https://juanitajean.com/ballot-by-mail-program/
https://juanitajean.com/tex…
Mary Ellen Sandahl
@Citizen_X:If only there were only 9 of them.
I nominate Barr for The Mouth of Trump.
J R in WV
@joel hanes:
I contributed to this earlier today… best of luck TX, scare the crap out of the Republicans~!!~