Please join us tonight for some political punditry and populist pontification over a pint at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.
We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the back room of the pub. We start at about 8pm.
Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the 262 chapters of Living Liberally, including 22 in Washington state, eight in Oregon and three in Idaho. Find a chapter near you. Or start a new chapter for your community!
#CrookedHillary will nevah, evah be president.
‘I’m not running’: Hillary Clinton rules out 2020 bid for first time on camera in exclusive interview with News 12
http://bronx.news12.com/story/.....th-news-12
Of course, America ruled it out for her on November 9, 2016, but a girl can hope, can’t she?
Biggest loser: Steve.
Winer was a source for Michael Isikoff’s pre-election, blockbuster article about Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page and his disputed contacts with two RUSSIANS. Winer was used by Isikoff to support the allegations in the dossier but it looks like Winer’s information came from the dossier he was supposed to be verifying. Basically we have an M.C. Escher drawing paradigm for verifying information in the salacious and unverified Fusion muck. No evidence has surfaced showing Page had contact with the two RUSSIANS, Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin.
https://pjmedia.com/blog/liveblogevent/live-blog-200/entry-254986/
Lynch’s DOJ justifiably deserves derision for its behavior both during and following the election, but Kerry’s State Department was awful, too.
It must be awful, HA libbies, to have spent eight years weaponizing the federal government only to be forced to hand it off to the other side.
She @ 1 was awful, Steve. You spent months celebrating the woman who cost you control.
Think on your sins, dude.
Hillary’s advice: Marry well.
“You spent months celebrating the woman who cost you control.”
Search all you want, and you’ll never find a single comment where I ever “celebrated” Hillary Clinton. However, in your search you will find that five years ago I was saying in my comments that dumbfucks like you “want to be ruled with Putin’s iron fist up your ass”. Called it, didn’t I?
“Think on your sins, dude.”
My sins are many, but they don’t include being a dumbfuck for Putin.
Well folks, there you have it.
Despite all of it, despite the daily growth and expansion of it, despite mountains of evidence dutifully recorded in the convicted criminal’s own hands and lovingly preserved on their hard drives, SSD cards, and iPods (wtf?), when viewed from the wrong side of the sticky gooey film of anal lube, jizz, and Diet Coke that forms Teh Orange Event Horizon, they are innocent lambs dragged before the mob for ritual political humiliation and desecration.
As seen by the hooting baboon troop, Lt. Gen. Flynn was being “patriotic” trying to broker nukes to the Saudis in a side deal. And “libbies” should feel ashamed that criminal conspirators too dumb to use burner phones or pay cash are going to jail forevah.
Federal law enforcement has always been threatening to criminal conspirators. What Trumpublicans will end up proving is that, even when a thoroughly corrupt and incompetent Republican administration who oversee, fund, and control federal law enforcement do everything they can to obstruct it, the job still gets done. CPAC has now devolved into a week of cheerleading for the failure of the constitution which failure now forms the ideological framework of the Republican party.
There is no “reasonable sounding” ground onto which they might retreat from this criminal abyss. And their beloved President DraftDodger is determined to drag them down with him.
This really is “the status quo” for Republicans now.
1,
Last I checked, according to the wisest and best you’ve got, Clinton has no time to run, what with all the child sex orgies, ritual Satanic baby sacrifices, and cannibal feasts in her growing chain of pizza parlors.
You built it. Own it.
Curious to hear other perspectives on the recently erupting media manufactroversy surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar.
First the tweets and then context:
“It’s all about the Benjamins baby https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019″
——————————————-
“AIPAC! https://t.co/UdzaFUEfrh
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019″
The first tweet was part of a thread discussing the BDS movement (which Rep. Ilhan supports) and Democratic opposition in Congress to the movement.
The second tweet was in follow up to the dust up over the first.
Whatever you think of BDS, it’s a legitimate debate to have. However inept or offensive, her initial tweet is arguing with some merit that substantial campaign financing in Congress has been predicated on opposition to BDS. In follow up she’s pointing out that AIPAC’s sizable US lobbying effort has been instrumental in winning Congressional funding not just for Israel but also for lots of US interest both domestically and in Israel.
Next about a week ago Ilhan appeared with other lawmakers at a DC area townhall event where she said:
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
She’s subsequently backed that comment with attempts at clarification, while further emphasizing her notions of national allegiance with respect to members serving in Congress.
I actually think the second incident is the more serious in terms of anti-Semitic content. But I wonder if it would have even been noticed if not for the earlier tweets, the scoldings that followed, and her apologies.
And the tweets, while crude and inept, are legitimate, and can’t be declared facially anti-Semitic in my opinion. Money is a huge influence in Congress. Any newly elected member will be perhaps more keenly aware at this point in their career. They are abruptly being told before they even are sworn in that their position within the caucus hierarchy will depend on their ability to raise and steer campaign money. The giant lobbying groups and their backers have enormous influence over that. The grass-roots funded campaigns hoping to offer a voice for change on behalf of their constituents are faced with a very defeating picture. Speaking out about that corrupting influence and how it is directly tied into the committee and leadership system is more than legitimate.
@1 Yes, she was a pathetic loser on Nov. 9, 2016; but your candidate fared even worse, trailing her by nearly 3 million votes, and needing the illegal intervention of a hostile foreign power to cobble together the necessary electoral votes.
@2 “Lynch’s DOJ justifiably deserves derision for its behavior both during and following the election, but Kerry’s State Department was awful, too.”
You think that’s something? Your president’s DOJ is beyond derision. It dwells in the land of recusals, conflicts of interest, obstruction and, ultimately, congressional subpoenas.
@3 My advice: Steer clear of the horse barn while you still can. Although I must admit this advice may be too late, as it appears you’ve already been kicked in the head.
@5 What it really boils down to is we don’t negotiate or compromise with Republicans anymore, we treat them like North Korea.
“When lawyers have approached Mr. Giuliani about a presidential pardon for their client, ‘I always give the same answer which is, “The president is not going to consider any pardons at this time and nobody should think that he is,”‘ Mr. Giuliani said. He added that he also tells lawyers, referring to the president: ‘Whatever happens in the future, that is his prerogative.'”
That’s one of the Republican President’s criminal defense lawyers admitting that, throughout the many and various investigations, he has engaged in discussions with lawyers representing clients who could give testimony in these criminal cases. And in these discussions he has held out the opportunity for pardons in the future.
Now, since it’s Giuli we must assume that it’s the alcohol or the brain tumor talking and not the lawyer. Or at least we must assume that he’ll deny it later once a real lawyer explains to him what the words he made come out of his mouth actually mean.
But if these discussions took place in the way the President’s criminal defense attorney describes they “always” did, then they probably would not be covered by privilege. There would be no sanction or crime in a lawyer representing a witness to invite that kind of discussion if done in the right way. Legally they can’t suborn perjury nor can they offer to trade false testimony. But to merely inquire about pardons for their clients would not be illegal so long as no explicit quid pro quo is offered.
But any response, other than “no”, from the person empowered under law to grant pardons, or the people he has appointed to represent him, would involve a criminal act of obstruction if it took place while a criminal investigation is open. Proving obstruction to a legal certainty might be very problematic. But establishing sufficient probable cause to compel limited testimony about the discussions would not.
Giuliani and the rest of the criminal defense team representing the Republican President must retract and repudiate that media comment immediately. Or they will be at minimum inviting a bunch of very uncomfortable questioning in public hearings before Congress.
@ 4
…“want to be ruled with Putin’s iron fist up your ass”. Called it, didn’t I?
Um, no. But Mitt Romney did.
@ 7
Everyone who thinks Rep. Omar was referring to the Koch brothers, raise your hands.
@ 12
Whatever happens in the future, that is his prerogative.’”
It certainly is. Marc Rich had to wait until Clinton’s final day in office for his gift.
Maybe Cohen shoulda made a run for the border. After all, 1/20/2025’s not that long to wait.
@15 Well, Jan. 19, 2021, isn’t so far away, and prison food isn’t all that bad once you get used to it. Otoh, if Putin grants Doctor Dumbfuck his wish and reelects Trump, from now to Jan. 19,2025 is a long time to subsist on prison chow.
Marc Rich had to wait until Clinton’s final day in office for his gift.
Clinton’s lawyers never held an auction in the pages of the WSJ.
Just another one of the many reasons your vote for articles of impeachment made Newt Gingrich into a school teacher.
But hey, don’t let history get in the way of your new brand.
GOP – The party of “Your handcuffs are hurting me!”
14,
I think she was referring to AIPAC.
Because of the super top secret “dog whistle” part where she tweeted to her 670,00 followers that she was referring to AIPAC.
Mind the rake, Forrest.
As we might have predicted, The Republican Presidential Election Campaign Senior Communications Consultant’s Motion for Clarification filed Friday has not gone well. Stone’s clowncar of lawyers entered the motion Friday when they learned that, despite having agreed the previous week to a gag order on their client to keep him out of jail for threatening the life of a federal judge, their client’s book publisher was about to release a book violating the order.
Their last ditch effort was presumably in hopes of convincing the judge that they are all a bunch of silly idiots who are easily confused, and despite days of preparation and study, dozens of relevant filings, they just didn’t understand the order modifying the conditions of their client’s release on bond.
So…
“Defendant’s Motion for Clarification will be denied because the order issued on February 21, 2019 is clear.”
Read the new order.
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.203583/gov.uscourts.dcd.203583.56.0_4.pdf
This is precisely what it looks like when a federal judge is preparing to issue an order revoking your client’s release pending trial. He has until the 11th to prepare his best response including all the relevant contracts, agreements and all communications with the publisher and a complete recap of all of his online communications and social media accounts since the initial order. She is telling them exactly what she wants to see and giving them plenty of time to comply. That’s because she’s done with this and she wants to be done with this. So she isn’t giving them any opportunity to pursue it any further.
Now his lawyers will have to deal with mending their relationship with the court, propping up their drug addicted 66 year old client as he learns about prison life, all while still trying to prepare for a major felony trial for a client who can’t pay.
Bet they wish they could quit. Bet they wish they had a long time ago.
And yes, this is still another #owngoal
Looks like Steve stuck his iron fist up the dumbfuck’s ass!
Got to run.
If the gods are kind Stone’s clowncar of lawyers will wait until the end of business March 8th to file another motion for clarification of this latest order. That would be entirely fitting in times like these.
I stumbled across an article on a military website about servicemen who went rogue (rightwing in nearly all cases). It makes for interesting reading. Here’s the money quote (scroll down to No. 10):
“Two of the Klansmen worked at the North American Aerospace Defense Command …. In Stallworth’s book ‘Black Klansman,’ he tells of meeting with OSI agents and a visit to NORAD headquarters at Cheyenne Mountain. After Stallworth’s meeting with a deputy commander, the two Klansmen were immediately transferred to the North Pole.”
No word on whether they’re still there.
https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2019/02/28/military-members-who-turned-extremist.html?ESRC=army_190305.nl
Roger Rabbit Commentary: The vast majority of our service members and veterans, including yours truly*, serve honorably and we are justifiably proud of them. This is true of most police officers, too. But any organization as big as the military or America’s 18,000-plus police agencies are bound to attract a few bad actors who bring down shame and dishonor upon honorable these professions. Generally speaking, the military does a better job of identifying these characters and expelling them from their ranks.
* Full disclosure: Roger Rabbit’s military and V.A. records are under another name.
@13 “I believe Putin.”
#dumbfucksforputin
While we’re on military subjects,
“A U.S. lawmaker who recently deployed to the southern border as a guardsman is within his rights to be critical of his direct chain-of-command even as officials weigh disciplinary action, according to his spokeswoman.”
Uh no, he isn’t. Service members on active duty can’t publicly challenge the decisions of their commanders.
Here are the details, if you’re interested:
“Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, earlier this week criticized Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for withdrawing the state’s troops from the southern border. As a result, Kinzinger, who serves as an RC-26 pilot with the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing, may face administrative action …. Kinzinger deployed with his unit to the border for the security mission earlier this month.”
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/26/national-guard-weighs-action-against-deployed-lawmaker-who-criticized-governor.html?ESRC=army_190305.nl
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Most of these Republican fucks don’t even bother to serve in the military. Now, it seems that on the rare occasions when they do serve, they can’t even get Insubordination 101 right.
The stupid shit couldn’t wait until he returned from the border, took off the uniform and put his civilian clothes back on, and was back at work (if you wanna call it “work”) on the Hill, when he would’ve been home free.
I really don’t understand why the V.A. cut off funding to this Montana homeless shelter for veterans. They passed their inspections with flying colors. Their operating expenses for 12 beds are $10k-$12k a month, about $1,000 a month per veteran served, including food, toiletries, and drug screening, which seems very reasonable and cost-effective to me.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/03/03/va-ends-funding-homeless-vet-residence-montana.html?ESRC=army_190305.nl
Roger Rabbit Commentary: What happened to that money? Was it diverted to Trump’s border wall? I don’t think so, because as I understand it, no V.A. funds are being raided, only military construction funds for things like family housing and schools for Army brats, but with the Trump gang you never know. People who will steal pencils from kids probably aren’t above stealing food and blankets from homeless veterans. This is okay with Doctor Dumbfuck, though. He’ll vote for them anyway.
A Republican lawmaker argues that a Democratic gun-control bill would force over 1.6 million veterans, including 1 million diagnosed with PTSD, to surrender their guns. I’m not so sure.
The Republican, Rep. Phil Roe, is a doctor, not a lawyer. I’m not saying he’s in the same mental capacity category as Doctor Dumbfuck, but a doctor with no legal training probably isn’t the best person in the country to interpret proposed legal language.
The relevant language in the bill allegedly would “make it illegal for anyone to possess firearms who has been ‘adjudicated with mental illness, severe developmental disability, or severe emotional instability,'” according to this article:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/03/01/lawmaker-says-house-gun-control-bill-would-restrict-vets-2nd-amendment-rights.html?ESRC=army_190305.nl
Whether this applies to veterans found eligible for V.A. benefits based on PTSD or other mental disorders turns on whether the word “adjudicated” includes the V.A.’s administrative agencies, or only refers to persons adjudicated in the courts to be mentally unsound, which in turn depends on congressional intent. Even if the term includes administrative “adjudications” as defined under federal and state Administrative Procedures Acts, it probably would not apply to the vast majority of V.A. eligibility awards, which are made by caseworkers, not adjudicative officers or administrative law judges, and are called “eligibility determinations,” not adjudicative decisions. But again, it comes down to how a court would read the congressional intent, should the bill be enacted into law and then challenged in the courts.
I really don’t think the proposed bill needs much clarification. I think it’s Rep. Roe who needs clarification about how to read statutory language.
As he’d been hinting for some time, Bloomberg won’t run in 2020.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/05/michael-bloomberg-will-not-run-for-president-in-2020.html
+32.27% for the period January 1, 2018 through March 5, 2019.
I recently finished a book called “Bureau of Spies” by Steven T. Usdin. Got it from Amazon. The book is about “The Secret Connection Between Espionage and Journalism in Washington,” and it shows how the press has been doing the bidding of foreign espionage agencies over about the last century. Most notable was how the British intelligence folks managed to use the national press to get rid of isolationist congressmen and senators. FDR knew about the whole mess, too, because he wanted to get into WWII, but most of the population wasn’t interested in another European adventure.
Not to be outdone, Kennedy and later Johnson, manipulated the national press for their agenda, too, Nixon was horrible in his shit, so bad, in fact, that his shit eventually brought him down.
Shit, the Brits, Nazis, Soviets, Imperial Japanese and others have worked the press like a big dog to get their agendas advanced. So much for all this “speaking truth to power” bullshit!
13, 28,
#dumbfucksforputin
Steve, you know damn well that this guy was trying to plant pot. Tomatoes? Yeah, bullshit. What did he expect? The gall to use the two girls for cover – child abuse!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/detroit-man-sues-women-who-allegedly-called-police-him-gardening-n979566
An armed society is a polite society…
A Missouri Militia got into some kind of border dispute with an Amazon delivery driver blocking a parking spot. So he shot the delivery driver.
@29 Looks like we’re not the only ones laughing at Doctor Dumbfuck and his orange moron.
“Russian TV relishes ‘this clown’ Trump hurting relations with US allies — and coming up empty on North Korea”
“Russian state TV show host Dmitry Kiselyov this week listed all of the president’s foreign policy missteps and ridiculed him for painting himself as a top deal maker who could convince North Korea to abandon its arsenal of nuclear weapons.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/03/russian-tv-relishes-clown-trump-hurting-relations-us-allies-coming-empty-north-korea/
#dumbfucksforputin
@30 Faced with the horror of seeing a black man gardening while black, those nice white ladies had no recourse but to call the cops.
The deficit increased 77% this year.
Where are all the Teabaggers? I think they traded in their straw hats for white hoods.
Meanwhile, down in Olympia…
“A Bill Decriminalizing Teen Sexting Passes the House, Causing Republican to Scream About Anal Sex on the Floor”
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/03/05/39511377/a-bill-decriminalizing-teen-sexting-passes-the-house-causing-republican-to-scream-about-anal-sex-on-the-floor
@30 He’s asking for only $300k? I think they should pay $300k each.
@31 “A Missouri Amazon delivery driver who police say parked his van illegally in a handicapped-accessible parking spot is in critical condition … with a back wound … the dispute started when a 65-year-old man pulled out a cellphone to record that the driver had parked illegally. During a struggle over the phone, the older man fell and then fired shots as the driver walked away.” [Emphasis added]
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/missouri/articles/2019-03-05/amazon-driver-shot-in-dispute-over-parking-spot-at-target
Roger Rabbit Commentary: The Amazon driver was being an asshole, and you’re probably gonna hear the Militia claim self-defense, but even though it was assaulted I predict its attempt to legally justify deploying firepower will fail for two reasons:
1. The Militia brought a gun to a fistfight.
2. The Militia shot the felon in the back after the threat had ended while the felon was fleeing.
@35 He could at least take it into the restroom. Nobody else wants to watch that except maybe some of the Republicans.
35,
If only he could have been there…
Manweller would have been under his desk stroking one out.
This really is “the status quo” for Republicans now.
Oh?
NEW YORK – A state regulator has subpoenaed an insurance provider for The Trump Organization, opening a new front in the widening investigations focused on President Donald Trump, his business, family, and White House administration.
The ‘Coastal Elites’ in NYC have known for decades what a Sleazeball Donald is. Some prople grew up there always knowing he was a white collar criminal with enough allies on the payroll to never come under scrubity.
People who grew up in or near NYC like AOC…
How would it go over with the Republican Party if I were a billionaire businessman/corporation or small business owner and it was known that I employed people based on sexual orientation (gays only need apply)?
‘I keep a gun in my home to protect my family not because in my mind i’m Running scenarios where I get to use it to protect my family and hoping against hope to one day do so.’
So much winning. Trade wars are easy to win edition.
So much winning, Jilted lover Donald edition.
CNBC Headline “Stocks fall as Wall Street looks for more clues on US-China trade”
Don’t they have trust in The Hump of a mother fucker? Come on now, everything is swell!
Here’s a clue – you’ve never had a clue.
Uh, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-SD, I can think of some better ways to show how much you love your wife and family…
Republicans criticizing Rep. Omar for antisemitism is just too damned funny.
“Jews will not replace us!”
43, 44, 45,
Consensus in the trailer park is that President DraftDodger has juked ’em all outta their shoes.
Really. Lou Dobbs, Hugh Hewitt, etc. That’s their “expert” analysis.
At least once the NBA stopped excluding black players, the Globetrotters were smart enough to focus on playing small, whites-only college teams and Belgium.
North Korea rebuilding long-range missile sites. But it’s not like Kim Jung-un played the orange moron for an fool. It’s all the Kenyan’s fault. Obviously.
#somuchwinning
47,
It’s not just Republicans. And it’s getting ridiculous.
Even the reporting on it has been insanely dishonest. Most major media reports don’t even bother to quote the allegedly offensive comments. They simply refer to them as such and then proceed to quote commentary from others taking offense.
It’s classic gaslighting.
As far as I can see the most offensive comment she’s made was alleging that some of her colleagues demanded allegiance to a foreign country. But the context of that comment was in regard to her consideration for the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And the fact is she was grilled by the leadership about support for Israel and asked by Ted Deutch to withdraw her support for BDS in return for his votes, which she refused. It seems at the time she was reluctant to put it out in the media so bluntly, and in her vagueness she left herself open. But thanks to these coordinated attacks, I guess she feels those demands are now fair game.
I don’t think the committee leaders and the caucus leaders are eager to let the public see too much of how the sausage is made. Those kinds of heavy handed strong arm tactics on behalf of AIPAC or any influential lobby might easily backfire when exposed to the light of day. So far at least the media have been playing along with the AIPAC narrative, and mostly refusing to tell the whole story here.
If their goal was to destroy Omar, I think AIPAC missed their moment here, but time will tell. The contrived resolution in the House has been delayed. And a few more major media outlets are bothering to dig into the story a bit more. Omar’s subsequent comments describing some of the leadership’s tactics have served perhaps as a warning shot. And quite a surge of progressive support has emerged defending her.
AIPAC has a nice little operation going for it. BDS isn’t going anywhere in DC for the time being. And I’m sure the rest of the members got the message loud and clear. This might be a good time for them to stop emptying their ammo into a relatively soft target. The “optics”.