Trump's America, March 2017: Using His Inside VOICE

New month, new thread.

good luck usa

we gon need it

Trump's really starting to deliver on those comparisons to Hitler, isn't he. Last night's speech he used the same language and intonation as Hitler, same ideas, right after announcing a new project that the Nazis used to help create the pretext for the Holocaust.

Yet ... now the media is all cuddly with him because he patted them on the heads. Democrats are actively trying to quash whatever genuine resistance to Trump is out there even in the face of all this. Yeeeeeeeeeah.

what do you mean by that?

https://i.imgur.com/7CGzQBf.jpg

This, plus the rise in hate crimes that Trump blamed on the victims, plus the new VOICE program which resembles the Nazis publishing "crimes" committed by Jewish people. Trump supporters are murdering innocent people because they think they look like Muslims. Mosques are getting burned down. Trump's staff after the speech stated that his administration has no plan of changing their policies whatsoever.

Anyone in their right mind should look at all of this and fight it like we all imagined we'd fight the rise of the Nazis in history class. Yet the only ones who are talking like this are on the left, and the Democratic/liberal establishment regularly slanders them and does their best to keep them out of the party.

David Duke loved the speech. I wonder why? (Hint: Read the first two lines of the tweet above) https://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/836778671302184962

I just realized, I wonder if those alt-right nuts got the idea of #PizzaGate using code words because of how neo-Nazis use code words to communicate with each other. Where would they get that idea from, ya know? It's all just speculation, obviously, but this looks like a pretty grisly puzzle here.

guys, there's nothing more "presidential" than bloodlust and scapegoating

caught this DeVos shit, right?

https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/836425805085429761

yeah some great "choices" they had smh

At this point, these things are starting to feel almost beneath our attention. Of course a willfully-ignorant idiot said something ignorant and idiotic. What else are they going to say?

these VOICE shit is scary as fuck imo

OK I'm out

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/27/icymi-president-trump-seeks-outdo-obama-backing-black-colleges

I thought the thread title was a Hot Fruit reference.

Another great thought. The left is in a weird place, especially on the Socialist and Communist end. When I was a kid I joined the Youth Communist League back in the 90s during a bout of Russophilia.

The same Kremlin talking points Trump and his supporters spout off are some of the same exact ones I learned in the YCL: dismantling NATO, shutting down US military bases, that kind of stuff. And the Socialist/Communist groups have old Soviet leanings, using the same language, "comrade" in the DSA, etc.

Maybe that's why it seems like large blocks of the left have this intersection with Trump supporters that they probably shouldn't have. So a few big rallying points on the left might be compromised by Kremlin propaganda going way back, creating an even greater division in unity with the only potential for opposition, not even just from the liberal establishment.

Yeah, we're in some shit here.

And Ryan is looking down, right now, you know that, and he's very happy, because I think he just broke a record.

I make ghosts happy

wtf was that ? he must be so happy his death would spur on record cheers at the joint sessions speech.

no greater honour than having the orange goon who sent you to your death make up shit about your post-mortem emotions

I didn't watch this cuz I'm not *that* much of a glutton for punishment so instead focusing on good news that GOP still totally in the weeds on their ACA repeal, Connecticut special election victories, and yet another delay of MuslimBan 2.0. Keep it up, losers!

These windows into Turnip's perception of the world reveal so many previously-unconsidered variations on how broken a human being can be.

Just stunned though at how quickly the media cleaved to the pivot narrative, even though that is some of the shit that got us here in the first place

The fact that it's the shit that got us here in the first place is why you shouldn't be stunned.

They've been waiting for daddy to quit drinking, and now he's totally going to do all of those things he's promised if we're just good little boys and girls and stop making him so mad all the time.

^^^

none of this shit is surprising

well, the fact that he apparently spoke in complete sentences is somewhat surprising, but it's hardly a reason for applause

i feel stupid (and also this doesn't matter) but can someone explain why last night was not billed as a SOTU?

Cos we're not a union anymore

I don't like "abusive relationship" narrative going on re: Trump and the media. The abusive relationship here is with US citizens and the media, with people thinking the media is actually in the service of public interest. Why would it be? Is Coca Cola working for the public interest?

the SOTH get's to choose what it's called and he decided to call it a joint sessions speech. not sure of his reasoning xp

Jon Schwarz tolls the bell:

@tinyrevolution
Trump's language last night about Medicaid was taken almost word for word from Paul Ryan's Better Way Medicaid plan

"Medicaid is not just healthcare for the poor. It also pays the bills for over 60 percent of nursing home residents, and 40 percent of all national long-term care costs. And the number of Americans who need nursing home care is going to rise significantly over the next several decades as the baby boom ages into their eighties and nineties. Cutting Medicaid over this period is a recipe for people literally dying in the streets (or for luckier ones, on the foldout couch in their kid’s living room)."

https://theintercept.com/2017/03/01/the-only-concrete-takeaway-from-trumps-speech-medicaid-is-doomed/

Isn't it because it's normally not called SOTU in the first year of a new presidency?

Woulda been better if he went full-Yelawolf and called it his Shit of the Union Distress

I think a President technically has to be in office for a year before it becomes an official SOTU.

Been surprised by positive responses to the speech. Is his popularity going to go up several points temporarily? Then he can get the US into a war and boost it some more. Lovely.

he'll get a boost from this. then he'll tweet some dumb shit, insult somebody, get in a fight w the press, issue the Muslim ban EO, etc. and it'll nosedive again.

His popularity has bounced back and forth a bunch since Inauguration so probably. But long term it will probably stay in the toilet

I'm just flummoxed that there are still people who are unable to take like this big picture view of a dumbfuck public figure who has been showing us exactly who he is for decades and who has been vocally espousing a very particular strain of his general douchebaggery for years and who has spent the last year and a half incessantly assaulting us with what a spectacularly irredeemable piece of human garbage he is and how thoroughly resistant to change he is. I don't know how, in the face of that, you can watch him talking slightly more calmly about things that are just slightly less hateful than usual and pretend that he's pivoting or changing or maturing or growing. Fuck every single person who's promoting that narrative, seriously, and may each one of them be tethered to him in the historical narrative of whatever awful shit he manages to do before he's ejected from office.

I'm not sure how the VOICE thing isn't completely overshadowing anything else that's being considered positive about this speech.

Most people think politics are really this easy thing that corrupt politicians have fouled up, so what non-dumbfucks see as evidence of incompetence and cluelessness, they see as "the new Sheriff in town being temporarily stymied by the old corrupt bureaucracy"

yeah. there were audible gasps in the audience when he described it. xpost

God, the headline on NYT right now: "Trump Offers Up a More Hopeful Vision"

the next several decades as the baby boom ages into their eighties and nineties

why we are well fucked for 25+ more years, and not just bc of health care costs.

Reasons why i am planning to die by 55

Without spawn

NPR noon newscast totally emph'd the "presidential" spin

Reasons why i am planning to die by 55

well, i have to see if the Mets win this year

and the only guvmint that matters:

http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/01/investing/dow-21000-trump-speech/index.html

the stock market thing and the whole media narrative around it is troubling. could it be that investors are optimistic because they know they're in an era of deregulation? no, no, that couldn't be it. they're optimistic because of trump's patriotic eagle vision for the country.

trump clearly loves taking credit for the gains since his election. and when there's an inevitable dip/crisis/crash, it's all too predictable how trump will react - it will be somebody or something else's fault, he will be treated so unfairly

it's because currency is imaginary etc xp

The Dow Jones thing to me looks like a big run-up ahead of a big cash-out (which will come only after tax rates have been slashed). It's all short-term thinking, I seriously doubt anyone has any idea (or even cares much) whether the broader economy is headed up or down.

I thought I'd gotten myself on a more even keel, but media backpedaling on the basis of a moment of inconsequential relative temperance has me feeling more panicky despair than pretty much anything the Orange Mummy has done or said in the past month.

what is the VOICE thing i cannot google atm

we predicted the reaction yesterday. He spoke in complete sentences, thanks to the teleprompter. Nothing to panic about. Wait till ACA repeal ('and replace') comes to his desk.

xpost Well, you know how immigrants are committing all of the crimes in the US? We finally have a governmental program to deal with this threat to our well-being and way of life by disseminating information on these heinous crimes far and wide.

I thought that was announced earlier, in one of his EOs

VOICE sounds maybe a little like this idk

And we see back in Nazi Germany there was a paper called—a Nazi paper called Der Stürmer, and they had a department called "Letter Box," and readers were invited to send in stories of supposed Jewish crimes. And Der Stürmer would publish them, and they would include some pretty horrific graphic illustrations of these crimes, as well. And there was even a sort of a lite version of it, if you will, racism lite, in which the Neues Volk, which was more like a Look or a Life magazine, which normally highlighted beautiful Aryan families and their beautiful homes, would run a feature like "The Criminal Jew," and they would show photos of "Jewish-looking," as they called it, people who represented different kinds of crimes that one ought to watch out for from Jews.

we don't have to report them to VOICE though if they can support themselves

nothing fucked up about that at all :)

didn't Bannon also publish black crimes in his rag ?

yep

The most awesome aspect of an idea like VOICE, IMO, is that you know the people who promote and contribute and respond positively to information like this are those who will be rigorous in making distinctions between, say, criminal immigrants and law-abiding immigrants or undocumented immigrants and US citizens when trying to determine who to demonize and kick the shit out of.

the VOICE thing freaks me the fuck out.

i can't wait to be told how this does not resemble nazi germany in any way

it's not even about convincing more people that undocumented immigrants are more likely to violent criminals. it's about providing government-sponsored "information" to the people who were already convinced of it so they can feel legitimized.

btw Van Jones is a nincompoop

https://twitter.com/DougHenwood/status/836929317766561793

might sound flip, but after 8 years of hearing about how markets "crave" stability and then seeing the weird exuberance following the election of the most unstable egomaniac(s) fathomable, touting many policies that are unambiguously bad for many sectors of the economy, i'm starting to think Wall Street might be ... racist

I'm not sure there's a position of this administration and the GOP in general that can't be summed up as (and sometimes explicitly defined as) an attempt to maintain and reassert (mostly wealthy and mostly male but always) white hegemony.

FFS! trump didn't shit himself up the how predicational of him xxp

oh fuck autocorrect ugh

Same as it ever was for the last 50 years, I guess, but it's just so fucking uncouched at this point. It feels like it's just a matter of time before we start hearing elected officials casually tossing around racist epithets again.

uh we are past that point

Media shitstains vs. actual veterans: https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/836987065145389056

That twit ("We are all one people, with one destiny") just lit up my "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" warning panel.

seriously, what is our one destiny? what could that possibly mean?

we're all gonna die

I'm pretty sympathetic to Van Jones, who had legit feelings of terror on election night, and probably still does, at least saying that Donald appeared Presidential and less scary, which might at least douse a few fires amongst his incitable base and ease tensions for the near future. Tensions that have immediate ramifications for him and his community.

He did also explain that he still largely disagrees with the President. and that being able to do this "again and again and again", well, that remains to be seen. speaking competently is really not that hard, but few other speeches have the magnitude of SOTU where you can achieve maximum impact. prior to his next one, there is ample time for him to erode what he just did.

starting to get seriously afraid that this Russia story is all going to wash out by the summer :/

not to be all ageist but this trump fella is too old to be president

+

not to be all mccarthyist but the oldest person ever inaugurated is too deep in russia's pocket to be president

=

lol usa

not buyin' it xxp

IT'S CLASSIFIED -- where's it gonna go, most likely? Into the memory hole. xp

I'm more scared of him 'appearing' presidential and fooling people into actually thinking that he's presidential than I am of his usual unhinged and scary self. If people lean on the former, they're fooling themselves and it helps no one.

i am still stunned that the VOICE thing isn't the main headline right now, everywhere

at least it headlines this thread title. that's comforting

from last night:

@pareene
here's an idea for everyone: Treasure of the Sierra Madre is on TCM literally right now

@DontFollowDave
either way you get to watch a delusional man who does not trust Mexicans get consumed by his greed

eh you don't like Sierra Madre

I do like it! I don't think it's one of the All-Time Greats.

(i like the Bugs Bunny cartoon where Fred C Dobbs appears more)

More useful way of spending last night, at least, similar to how some of us went to a screening of Blaxploitation trailers at a local art house last night

i walked around the Waldorf Astoria (closing today for a condo makeover). Not a Trump hotel.

Related:

Thing I did not know: 70s Ed McMahon was the villain in Jim Brown's _Slaughter's Big Rip-Off_

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVTCzZLCT90

http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-85769506338114/mcmahon-ed-photo-signed-autograph-slaughter-s-big-rip-off-1973-11.gif

Trump aside, watching these GOP idiots reveal themselves as idiots never gets old: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/iowa-pol-s-bio-changed-after-sizzler-u-discrepancy-emerges-n726961

An Iowa lawmaker who is pushing a controversial bill that caps the number of Democrats that state universities can hire as professors claimed on a government web site that he got a "business degree" from the "Forbco Management school."

But State Sen. Mark Chelgren's alleged alma mater is actually a company that operated a Sizzler steak house franchise in southern California and he doesn't have a "degree," Ed Failor, a spokesman for the Iowa State Republicans, told NBC News.

"This was a management course he took when he worked for Sizzler, kind of like Hamburger University at McDonald's," Failor said. "He got a certificate."

Asked if Chelgren has a college degree, Failor said, "That's not accurate."

Shortly after speaking with a reporter, the reference to Forbco Management "business degree" was removed from Chelgren's biography on the Iowa State Republicans web site.

Chelgren told NBC News on Wednesday he was not trying to inflate his education credentials.

His LinkedIn profile claims he studied "geophysics and astrophysics" at UC Riverside.

from his photo it looks like he's been using Sizzler baked potatoes as face moisturizer.

everyone is getting played

President Donald Trump has decided to delay signing a new executive order to replace the order to suspend the refugee program and bar travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, according to reports from CNN and Politico late Tuesday night.

The President was initially scheduled to sign the new executive action on Wednesday, but the administration decided to postpone the signing so that the order would come down during a new news cycle, according to the reports.

An unnamed senior administration official told CNN that Trump delayed the plans so the new order would have its own "moment." Politico also reported that the delay was due to a busy news cycle and that the White House wanted the new order to get plenty of news coverage, citing an unnamed senior official.

it's such a stark reminder that i (and many other people imo) have no fucking clue what's going on. i would expect that they'd want to BURY this kind of news at the end of a news cycle, not delay it so that it can have its own "moment". i feel so alienated from the rest of this country.

I doubt that it's possible to bury this news. I'm guessing he doesn't want to disrupt the "optimism" narrative right away.

also they're disorganized as fuck and can't get their shit together or focus on more than one thing at a time

He just thinks everyone loves everything he's doing, and that the media keeps spinning all of his fantastic accomplishments into negative stories via LIES. Therefore it would be unthinkable to purposely bury a new EO in the middle of a news cycle.

"Democrats are actively trying to quash whatever genuine resistance to Trump is out there even in the face of all this" I disagree with this

i'm beginning to think they're right. the travel ban IS good news to a lot of people. enough to outweigh the people who are appalled.

there certainly ARE some Dems who're all "Don't make him/them TOO angry," akm.

as for the walkout at the end of the speech, gimme a break, how fucking meaningless.

a cabinet of unqualified and compromised accomplices is too much for the Dems to handle :(

I first suggested this in '92 btw

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oprah-for-president/

Democrats are actively trying to quash whatever genuine resistance to Trump is out there

I think this might be referring to the election of Perez as DNC chair over Ellison, which if true is a pretty extreme and defeatist interpretation of one isolated fact that cannot support such an extrapolation. It equates "genuine resistance" with "follows Bernie slavishly".

is chris cillizza the current Worst Political Pundit?

i'm beginning to think they're right. the travel ban IS good news to a lot of people. enough to outweigh the people who are appalled.

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 1:03 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't agree with this. I think it's possible that the number of proponents combined with the number of people who are varying degrees of indifferent or under- or uninformed probably outweighs the number of people who are appalled, and that's a problem, but I do believe the hardcore 'MOOSLINS GO HOME' degenerates are still in the minority. They're just fucking loud and persistent.

xpost Worst at WaPo, at the very least.

is chris cillizza the current Worst Political Pundit?

― k3vin k., Wednesday, March 1, 2017 2:32 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha he is completely awful

was going to post about him today

really embarrassing to see the CNN front page this AM, all triumphant trump and clasped hands and shining eyes and "optimistic message" bs

embodies all the worst traits of dumb beltway punditry xp

fuck. new normal we'll be utter shit.

*will

I'm pretty sympathetic to Van Jones, who had legit feelings of terror on election night, and probably still does, at least saying that Donald appeared Presidential and less scary, which might at least douse a few fires amongst his incitable base and ease tensions for the near future. Tensions that have immediate ramifications for him and his community

I don't think last night's speech was less scary for undocumented immigrants or people who could be mistaken for illegal immigrants.

It was scarier, even. Seems that a good % of our pundit class was more disturbed by the form of Trump's message than its content, given their consensus that he "softened" his "tone."

This was never about tone.

A few days ago an NBC News/WSJ poll said 51% Americans felt the media was too critical of Trump, and it was all over the news. But 2 weeks ago a Gallup poll found only 36% of Americans thought the media was too critical of Trump. Which I found a little strange, because that's a huge difference in a very short amount of time.

It felt like things were getting a little weird with Trump ... the DNC telling Democrats to lighten up on attacking Trump, then the Russia/impeachment stuff disappears off the radar. Then news outlets saying Trump should be given a chance and that now, all of a sudden, a majority of Americans think everyone's being too hard on the poor guy.

So Trump goes up last night and says the same batshit insane stuff he says always, promising even more dangerous plans than before, in the middle of news of a huge spike in hate crimes. It's like ... what the fuck is going on here? The media's response to Trump seems to have been building up for a little bit.

Links to the polls:

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/317989-poll-36-percent-say-media-is-too-tough-on-trump
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-02-27/majority-of-americans-think-press-has-been-too-critical-of-trump-poll-finds

is chris cillizza the current Worst Political Pundit?

― k3vin k., Wednesday, March 1, 2017 2:32 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha he is completely awful

― marcos, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 2:34 PM (thirteen minutes ago

fortunately "Morning Joe" has him and Mark Halperin at the same time!

V Jones said "He became president tonight." Fuck him, he's a Yam-enabling dick.

how the HELL can you people watch those shows?

V Jones said "He became president tonight."

Yes, President of the Philippines.

Whatever the hell's going on here, we're certainly not invited to the party. Oh man.

i'm beginning to think they're right. the travel ban IS good news to a lot of people. enough to outweigh the people who are appalled.

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 1:03 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't agree with this. I think it's possible that the number of proponents combined with the number of people who are varying degrees of indifferent or under- or uninformed probably outweighs the number of people who are appalled, and that's a problem, but I do believe the hardcore 'MOOSLINS GO HOME' degenerates are still in the minority. They're just fucking loud and persistent.

i'm not sure i agree with myself either, lol. sad lol. i recognize i'm at a bit of a cynical anti-social misanthropic low. i can't keep it at bay, not today at least.

BUT, humoring the misanthropy and disgust with my fellow patriotic eagle citizens, let me say this. the first Muslim ban was very poorly received, obviously. but the reason it was widely panned and trump took a hit was because of how poorly it was executed - the sudden springing of it, the failure of agencies to properly communicate beforehand, the resultant confusion and contradicting responses, the people stranded at airports in legal limbo, and so on. but i think the underlying, terrible aspect of it - the racism and the xenophobic nature of it, the purposeful ostracizing of muslims in the name of "anti-terrorism", even though none of the countries named in the ban were contributors to domestic terrorism - was only appalling to a segment of people. when they issue the revised muslim ban, which might even have been looked at by a lawyer or two and hold up to scrutiny in court, and with effects that will be abstracted rather than blindingly obvious like the first time around, i think the response will be muted from the left. i think the majority doesn't care enough to raise too much of a fuss about it.

Winfrey/Morbz '20

but we will see

all i know is that i keep expecting the worst out of this country, and my low expectations keep getting, er, under-exceeded

i think the response will be muted from the left.

you are wrong about this

If you put "Winfrey" on the ballot line no one will know her

“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” - Mencken

What's going on is something akin to Stockholm Syndrome. Trump has inserted himself at the very center of our culture for over a year now. It makes sense media figures would lose perspective. Old Lunch I think had it right when he compared it to kids wanting to forgive their alcoholic father. The media is in the Trump business now; they feel dependent on him.

We are a nation of cowardly morons.

Replace Stockholm Syndrome with dollar sign eyes

Coca Cola doesn't give a fuck if your teeth fall out of our skull from their product; the corporate media doesn't give a fuck if a bunch of nobodies get stabbed because of Trump. People are humanizing corporate entities way too much, or at least not understanding their nature.

Idk I think that is too rigid an account. Someone like Van Jones, I feel, is saying what he thinks, even if he feels pressure -- overt and insidious -- to bend his views to conform to the editorial perspective of CNN.

Dude. For-profit international corporations and the careerists who populate them are not your friends, buddies, or guardians of the Republic.

John Hockenberry drinking the "this was a REAL speech" Kool-Aid too

tear it all down

Ever see the movie Aliens, Treeship? Van Jones is Paul Reiser's character.

so many "trenchant" candidates, which ones to choose

need a little cheering up?

there's a lil diploma scandal happening in Iowa - guy who wanted to limit the number of democrats a university can hire turns out to not have a degree, but a management certificate from Sizzler.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/iowa-pol-s-bio-changed-after-sizzler-u-discrepancy-emerges-n726961?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

the GOP spokesman trying to spin this? named ED FAILOR

forgive my borderline classism but lolololololol

"This was a management course he took when he worked for Sizzler, kind of like Hamburger University at McDonald's," Failor said. "He got a certificate."

Asked if Chelgren has a college degree, Failor said, "That's not accurate."

this thread moves so fast! I posted that an hour ago.

need a little cheering up?

there's a lil diploma scandal happening in Iowa

"kinda lol but mostly sad"

oh shit phil, sorry. i haven't been reading it today tbh

more like thread failor

meh, it's just funny that even on a new thread it's almost impossible to keep up

obligatory:

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S07E05/738220.jpg?b64lines=V0hFTiBJIEdST1cgVVAsCkknTSBHT0lORyBUTyBCT1ZJTkUKIFVOSVZFUlNJVFku

I hope the Failors name their next child Epic

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/03/01/the-pundits-are-wrong-trumps-handling-of-the-ryan-owens-affair-was-contemptibly-cynical

Paul Waldman goes ham.

Apropos of little other than trying to keep it pos and irie in the midst of our dread-ridden vigilance, here's a companion to the well-known Mencken quote Morbs shared, from Bayard Rustin on organizing the March on Washington: “If you want to organize anything, assume that everyone is absolutely stupid. And assume yourself that you’re stupid.”

at the risk of being cruel, i wonder if Carryn Owens is a fucking idiot

Media Fall For Trump's Shameless Act Regarding Failed Yemen Raid

seemed like ur basic shameless politicization of a military death but against the backdrop of trump's statements regarding the military generally ("they don't fight to win anymore") and of this operation specifically (passing blame onto the generals, coupled with the fact that he wasn't present for the operation, rumors that it was poorly planned or grounded in insufficient/flawes evidence) the whole thing is gross and manipulative and everybody seems to have eaten it the fuck up

Absolutely. Same here from across the pond that divides is, all articles and news items about how presidential Trump was. It's crazy, it's normalization, it's wrong. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/837016074486861825

Professionals in the art of communication at the top of their field fell for this shoddy, ramshackle, cynical piece of performance. Duped, even. I think it checks out.

Were they? Or was it an opportunity to prove to the Trump supporting viewers they're worried about losing that they aren't as anti-Trump and FAKE as he constantly says they are?

Who knows, but to say they "fell for it" or along those lines is a little nonsensical, imo.

Oh yes, I'm agreeing then.

The mega-conglomerate media, sooner or later, sees themselves as part of the state, almost always. Pod people.

https://i.imgur.com/Q5nvkH8.jpg

Taken from lolreddit, but here's how this stuff works

larry, are you gonna imitate Treeship's less attractive qualities?

like, we don't need reminders of the political climate's loathsomeness.

oh don't you though

Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into his administration? Why? For two years prior, there were no boots on the ground in Yemen — everything was missiles and drones — because there was not a target worth one American life. Now, all of a sudden we had to make this grand display?

have been following these threads for quite awhile and generally sympathetic to everyone's concerns here but it's dispiriting to see you guys get buffeted by the media's idiot winds. this was going to happen sooner or later; far more of all this will be normalized than we'd prefer because it's almost impossible to push back uniformly against this kind of concentration of power in the lagging years between elections. the narrative will swing back the other way, prob sooner than later, and each of these horrifying items will be taken up in turn as people organize to oppose them.

This is the reality of what's going on, my man, what are we going to do in here, juggle?

xxp

fuck you, shut up, FP

FP for what exactly? Not liking things? This is what we're facing right now. Nobody wants to believe it, though, and I don't blame 'em. I think I'm going to take a break with this stuff for now.

You don't say.

the Cassandra routine is v tiresome

sciatica otm tbh

LA we understand your angst just dial it down a little here is all

Nelson laugh.gif

https://www.yahoo.com/news/landlord-evicts-rubio-office-over-noisy-demonstrations-162639610.html

From what I'm hearing from US tv I've seen there are a lot of ,more local elections to be won over the current year. Looks like Democrats have been doing pretty well so far and at least getting a lot closer to majority in those they haven't fully swung.
So it's not all next year and is an ongoing process. So normalization of the regime is not something that is going to be conducive.

So hoping taht pressure and momentum can be kept up and things do continue to be swung.

But saw Channel 4 news saying things about how last night's speech meant that the caricature/stereotype people had for Trump so far was misplaced. Didn't hear that from the bits of the speech I've heard so far. Still sounded pretty batshit.

the Cassandra routine is v tiresome

It's not a "Cassandra routine", it's called paying attention.

Channel the angst into calling your congressman and going to town alls, appleton

everyone on this thread is if you haven't noticed, so chill the fuck out

My angst????????? I'm fine, I've made my peace with this already. I'm not the one telling people to shove it just by posting news related to this thread.

now this is a fascinating read: the collapse of the State Department, which I've seen in my lifetime.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/state-department-trump/517965/?utm_source=twb

totally batshit. he used the widow of a navy seal whose death he caused with his senile mogul routine as a prop in his first speech to a joint congressional session . . . while he's being investigated for his russian ties. it doesn't get much more batshit than that

xpost

alfred the state department will soon be just rex tillerson and jared kushner

sitting in the dark with glasses of whiskey, muttering

One will be the ambassador to all countries from A-L, the other will be ambassador to all countries beginning M-Z.

Other American diplomats, especially those in geopolitically sensitive posts, find themselves going on old, Obama-era guidance because no new guidance has been issued

the shadow gov is real

i genuinely have no idea what it means to have a non-functioning state dept, for our country or for the world, what the consequences of that look like. it's just so incomprehensible. how does that even (not) work? how does it impact defense and other agencies?

does america really need a state dept i mean when u really get down to it, why are we providing ambassadors to these other countries (that aren't even in the US!) and worst of all, for free? seems like a bad deal tbh

My eyes have opened.
And what once looked normal seems insane.
You can't bury your head in the sand like an ostrich.
It's not about our well-being, our two cars, our TVs and your kitchen.
It's about our kids growing up in a shithole of lies. I'm angry.
My life is fucked because of it.
If you could see it that way, you'd see your life is fucked too.

now turn it into blank verse, Jimbo

Well, first of all you totally CAN bury your head in the sand. It's just probably not very pleasant.

Second, ostriches don't bury their heads in sand; that's a myth.

Third, ostrich meat is excellent!

ACLU otm:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C53MKMaWcAYCfEO.jpg

the more they talk about the Muslim ban before the issue it, the more they're legally shooting themselves in the foot

@jeffbercovici
A woman on NPR just said she loved Donald Trump's speech because it reminded her of "La La Land," which she said she hasn't seen.

was just gonna post that aclu tweet, otm x100

i still think that jeff sessions is the worst part of this cabinet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/02/28/jeff-sessions-dismisses-doj-reports-on-police-abuse-without-bothering-to-read-them/

worst because he knows what he's doing

Here's that NPR story with the La La Land lady:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/president-trump-address-congress-and-nation/

Presidential Pivot? Voters Say Trump Softened in Address to Congress
----

In a prime time address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered a pseudo-State of the Union.

It was a speech intended to assuage the frayed nerves of Congressional leaders, who have watched a rather turbulent first month in office play out in the Trump Administration. But with millions of Americans watching across the country, it was also a litmus test on popular opinion of the president, who has alienated many Democrats and Independents in his first days of office. Yet, according to polls, Trump has managed to retain the support of the voters who cast their ballots for him in November.

Today, three voters respond to the president: A Republican who voted for Trump, a Democrat who voted for Trump, and a Republican who didn't vote for Trump.

Shirl St. Germain is a former restaurant owner in Marco Island, Florida, Kenneth Lanci is founder of Consolidated Solutions a business in Cleveland and author of "Working for the Greater Good of All ... Really!", and Hal Scoggins is an attorney from Portland, Oregon.

did we talk about this yet?

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/fake-sweden-expert-on-fox-news-has-criminal-convictions-in-us-no-connection-to-swedish-security/

US authorities arrested an undocumented immigrant Wednesday moments after she spoke out about her fear of being deported at a news conference, her attorney said.

A friend was driving Daniela Vargas, 22, away from the news conference when they were pulled over by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Jackson, Mississippi.

Vargas’ attorney, Abigail Peterson, told BuzzFeed News that Vargas had filed to renew her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, which gives her protection from deportation, on Feb. 10, and so was surprised she was detained.

“I don’t know if this is immigration showing us that DACA applicants are fair game until their DACA is approved,” Peterson said. “This seems to be the message we’re getting from this, which is surprising and not what I would’ve expected.”

ICE did not immediately return a request for comment.

About two weeks ago, ICE agents arrested Vargas’ father and brother at home, Peterson said. She was found hiding in a closet, but let go because she had a pending DACA renewl application.

DACA status allows undocumented immigrants to stay legally in the US to study and work for two years, so long as they commit no crimes.

“Then two weeks later, she’s picked up randomly after being involved in a public event,” Peterson said. “Does that mean ICE is following people? Do people always have to be looking over their shoulder, losing sleep, and afraid to go outside their homes?”

https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/dreamer-arrested-moments-after-speaking-out

they are absolutely following, surveilling, and entrapping people

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/john-mccain-lindsey-graham-town-hall/index.html

I love tthat McCunt's complaint about Trump's budget proposal is that the military increases are too small

http://www.mediaite.com/online/report-white-house-lied-to-journalists-about-trump-speech-in-misdirection-play/

CNN reported Wednesday on a senior administration official admitting that the White House intentionally misled reporters ahead of President Donald Trump‘s congressional address in order to get generate positive press coverage as part of a “misdirection play.”

[...]

“Basically they fed [them] things that they thought these anchors would like, that they thought would give them positive press coverage for the next few hours. A senior administration official admitted that it was a misdirection play,” she reported.

Host John King wondered why reporters should even trust the White House going forward. “It does make you wonder; so we’re not supposed to believe what the senior-most official at the lunch says — who then they allowed it to be the president’s name says — we’re not supposed to believe what they say?” he asked. “Maybe we shouldn’t believe what they say.”

i'm glad you're catching on, john king. now get to the bottom of the whole russia thing, please

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/says-who-piecing-together-the-michael-cohen-story

xpost Huh! MAYBE!!!!!!!!

Jesus christ.

I can't believe a pathological liar lied to them! Simply beyond the pale!

And Pareene with the necessary coverage:

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/you-cretins-are-going-to-get-thousands-of-people-killed-1792862225

Here’s what you have to understand about the sort of people who become anchors, nonpartisan pundits, centrist columnists, and cable news political correspondents: They didn’t sign up to be the resistance. They don’t want Donald Trump to fail. They want him to “pivot” and “act presidential.”

Yeah, there are guys (and it is guys, for the most part) out there who spend their whole careers trying to be Dan Rather staring down Nixon or Cronkite turning on Vietnam—or even just Tim Russert making some elected mediocrity stammer with a patented “tough question”—but mostly these guys want to be witnesses to Great Men Making History. They want to Respect The Office Of The Presidency.

Here’s another thing you should understand about these guys: The only thing the elite Washington press corps likes more than a bipartisan commission on debt reduction is a stack of flag-draped coffins.

Sounds about right

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/01/mexico-border-wall-funds-trump-administration

But so far, the DHS has identified only $20m that can be redirected to the multibillion-dollar project, according to a document prepared by the agency and distributed to congressional budget staff last week.

The document said the funds would be enough to cover a handful of contracts for wall prototypes, but not enough to begin construction of an actual barrier.

WALL PROTOTYPES. Some greedy fucks now get to line up and hold their hands out for tenders for fucking WALL PROTOTYPE CONTRACTS. Never mind actually building any of the fucking things.

http://i.imgur.com/OWtltUa.jpg

Robert Costa‏Verified account @costareports 12h12 hours ago

Some sources in WH are frankly surprised at how pundits are warming to the speech. Say Trump has not changed, no big shift in policy coming.

Pundits want to have something to happy talk about, even if they have to invent it. They know everyone hates a Debbie Downer and a Negative Nellie.

Had to post the Andrew Wyeth thing on Facebook--inspired.

https://nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/politics/obama-trump-russia-election-hacking.html

I swear that's the fourth article I've seen with the obama-trump-russia-election-hacking slug.

WALL PROTOTYPES. Some greedy fucks now get to line up and hold their hands out for tenders for fucking WALL PROTOTYPE CONTRACTS. Never mind actually building any of the fucking things.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce)

I'm picturing a Spinal Tap Stonehenge type scenario.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/01/white-house-proposes-cutting-epa-staff-by-one-fifth-eliminating-key-programs

The Office of Management and Budget has suggested deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget that would reduce its staff by one-fifth in the first year and eliminate dozens of programs, according to details of a document reviewed by The Washington Post.

I'm picturing a Spinal Tap Stonehenge type scenario.

― nickn, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 8:26 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Whether Donald Trump knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.91eb33c64e70

lying to the Senate, nice

holy shit, this string of paragraphs is just incredible:

At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign.

“I’m not aware of any of those activities,” he responded. He added: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak.

“There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions’s spokeswoman.

In January, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Sessions for answers to written questions. “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?” Leahy wrote.

Sessions responded with one word: “No.”

Justice officials said Sessions met with Kislyak on Sept. 8 in his capacity as a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump campaign surrogate.

“He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign — not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee,” Flores said.

She added that Sessions last year had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, including the British, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian and German ambassadors, in addition to Kislyak.

...The Washington Post contacted all 26 members of the 2016 Senate Armed Services Committee to see if any lawmakers besides Sessions met with Kislyak in 2016. Of the 19 lawmakers who responded, every senator, including chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), said they did not meet with the Russian ambassador last year. The other lawmakers on the panel did not respond as of Wednesday evening.

Looks like the Russia stuff is picking up heat. I'm going to stop playing amateur pundit cuz I clearly have no clue what I'm talking about. Fingers crossed.

I keep googling "trump" and "heart attack" every few days

I'm losing track of what investigations are where on Russia. so what's the significance (if there is any) of this story: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-congress-idUSKBN169037. is this just the next sequence of something that was already happening, nbd other than it was reported on?

Honestly, I'm not actually watching this--it's on while I eat cereal between a couple of Mad Men episodes. (Felt like I had to make that clear.) But Lindsay Graham just this: "My biggest fear is not losing. It's not speaking up when I know something's wrong." He's on CNN with McCain.

I guess he has been marginally better than his friend the past year.

But Lindsay Graham just this: "My biggest fear is not losing. It's not speaking up when I know something's wrong."

"...and I know something is wrong when all we can manage to get out of this budget is a meanly $54 billion increase for the military. it's time to speak up."

if i was the evil advisor guy i would whisper that into his headset. or say it to him over my own headset a normal volume, at a distance, i mean.

ok this was more clear, from BBC: "The House intelligence panel inquiry will scrutinise contacts between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Moscow, members confirmed.
Until now, Republican senators had been reluctant to agree to Democratic Party demands for the inquiry."

it would almost be better if Trump and staff just defied his lawyer's instructions and deleted everything on record and have the cover-up be what speedily undoes him

This Russia coverup shit is gonna bite them in the ass. Not cuz of what they did, but because of the constant lying about it.

also quite possible Trump is downplaying the issue cos he legitimately doesn't know the magnitude of it or how deep in it some of his operatives were simply cos he's a delegating bumblefuck who doesn't pay attention

He knows he's being blackmailed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/evansville-indiana-synagogue-shot_us_58b6ecbce4b060480e0db5fd

Enough is fucking enough.

This Russia/Ukraine, Trump, Flynn, Sessions, Cohen etc. shit keeps getting weirder and weirder, deeper and deeper.

These hate crimes and harassment, even when Trump's gone I don't expect them to stop. It's like 30% of the country thinks we're living in 1972 or something. (And another 5% or so Germany in the '30s.)

yeah when you stoke those fires they're not just going to go away cos the guy who started em isn't around.

things you used to be able to take for granted LAST YEAR (ie politicians vocally decrying shit like this) = gone now. unreal.

sorry adjustment needed

(ie RIGHT WING politicians)

idk if i can keep perpetually hoping for the trump admin to collapse but i will happily take that piece of shit sessions getting the boot

So now Sessions lied under oath about Russia? Fucking lol

yeah dude makes Ashcroft look like a homie

it's hard to say this bc there's so much competition but sometimes sessions really seems like the most disgusting reprehensible garbage human being in the admin

stiff competition though, it's a real horse race

lol https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/837146431848775680/photo/1

Cummings one of the few Dems who has been consistently on message

Sessions even has beady devil eyes

Pelosi calling for resignation, too, and Sessions formally under FBI investigation? (Says WSJ?)

hah I was about to post that WSJ article

https://www.wsj.com/articles/investigators-probed-jeff-sessions-contacts-with-russian-officials-1488424871

Trump's all like MAN I HAD 24 HOURS OF ADULATION, EVEN FROM THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA

i hope he crashes and burns and takes others down with him

So close to getting one full day of positive news coverage

a Sessions resignation (not to put the cart before the Trojan horse) would have much more lasting damage than Flynn. two resignations in record time would be unthinkable, and having the dude heading up the Department of Justice implicated has much worse optics (if that's possible)

it might also have the effect of driving up support for russia/putin among the batshit rightwing. polls have already shown that conservative opinion of putin has skyrocketed since trump's ascent (while remaining very low for others). if russian connections end up taking down both flynn and sessions, the looniest will defend the fort.

yeah this is a positive development for sure

Lol every one of these bonkers Russian conspiracy theories is gonna turn out to be true

I remember when 80% of this thread was like "cmon theres no pisstape"

lol at the spokesperson's weaksauce spin. He didn't disclose it because the meeting wasn't relevant to the question, because he met with Russia in his capacity as a Senator, and not as a Trump surrogate.

Except the question posed to him didn't frame it like that at all - it asked point blank if he had "any" contact with Russian officials. even if that were true, the burden is on you to disclose that meeting and then provide the clarifying context, not answer incorrectly and then state it's ok because everybody should have assumed the context.

spokesperson also seems to be confused as to whether he just forgot about the meetings or remembered and found them irrelevant.

lord why do these bombshells happen right before bedtime. I am gonna be up all night refreshing.

Trifecta of scoops: NYT, WaPo and WSJ, all within a couple hours of each other.

In January, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Sessions for answers to written questions. “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?” Leahy wrote.

Sessions responded with one word: “No.”

"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'contact' is....if it means did I have sex with a Russian official, than was a completely true statement".

or whatever the bizarro clinton/sessions version of that is without typos

fuckin' bollweevil

"Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, is considered by US intelligence to be one of Russia's top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington, according to current and former senior US government officials."

wow. that's from the CNN article, right?

jesus. the text i just sent my wife to describe what happened was surreal to type.

"btw sessions is going down, not official yet but there's breaking news that he met multiple times with one of Russia's top spies/spy recruiters during Trump's campaign and then lied about it under oath in confirmation hearings."

NYT doesn't seem to have a story on it yet.

I think it was CNN - I'm reading so many articles I can't recall where I cribbed it from.

yeah this one's not going away. even as spin, his spokesperson's response was weak not well constructed (at one point she makes it sound like he forgot the meetings, in another that he remembered but found it irrelevant).

NYT folded some info about it into one of their earlier reports, and the timestamp hasn't been updated to reflect it.

It was on CNN:

Michael Weiss‏Verified account @michaeldweiss 1h1 hour ago
More
Evan Perez just said it on CNN, so I suppose I can here: Kislyak wasn't just ambassador, he was Russia's "top spy recruiter" in D.C.: SVR.

There is just so much to keep track of, but Sessions is the one that brought Carter Page into Team Trump, right? Also, seriously, that Michael Cohen Ukraine stuff is nuuuuuuuts.

no big deal, just someone in your campaign meeting twice with Russia's top spy recruiter then lying about it under oath.

I mean at this point, the popular narrative among our bubble seems to have more credence. they didn't think they'd win, so they didn't expend a lot of time covering tracks. they colluded with Russia mostly because they wanted to embarrass Hillary and Democrats while garnering favor for Trump's brand along the way. miraculously managed to win, hoped a busy first 100 days plus a Republican controlled Congress would quiet the Russia cries.

not even a conspiracy theory, just boilerplate "corrupt politician who doesn't know how to play the game got sloppy"

course, now, the FBI is part of the Department of Justice, so this will get....interesting.

i'm gonna need many a drink

http://i.imgur.com/dm3GgcT.png

Elizabeth Warren‏Verified account @SenWarren

Now Jeff Sessions is AG – the final say on the law enforcement investigation into ties between the Trump campaign & Russia? What a farce.

Elizabeth Warren‏Verified account @SenWarren 19m19 minutes ago

This is not normal. This is not fake news. This is a very real & serious threat to the national security of the United States.

xpost holy fuck

lol, someone's up late:

From AP

BREAKING: Attorney General Sessions says he "never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign."

remember when mcconnell silenced warren for reading coretta scott king's letter because it impugned sessions character? retro lols

this is starting to feel like a salvo of info. intelligence comm goin' ham

Where is that Digby stuff coming from?

i think some of that appears in the nytimes headline from earlier tonight but not sure

2 of the items do, the last one is the one I can't find

same here. points 1 and 2 also appear here: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-02/sessions-spoke-with-russian-envoy-during-trump-s-2016-campaign

https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/837157240599638016

Sessions spox & now DOJ employee Sarah Isgur Flores is responding to Washington Post story w/pushback sent from her personal Gmail account

Jesus God

what kind of name is Isgur

Warren now joining Cummings and Pelosi for calls to resign

what kind of name is Isgur

https://www.pf-roio.de/roio/roio-covers-small/yeeshkul.jpg

Ted Lieu also - obv all Dems but he's on Judiciary Committee

George W. Bush's ethics lawyer calls Sessions's talks with Russia: "Good way to go to jail" http://hill.cm/4Pyf7nx

Aw, come on, it's only the AG lying under oath about contact with Russia, nothing to see here. Besides, Sessions seems like a pretty chill guy.

not just anyone in russia, the fucking spymaster!

LOL at the defense: I didn't speak to Russia, but if I did it wasn't about important stuff, but I forget what it was about anyway.

jeff sessions looks like evil bilbo baggins

I hope they all have heart attacks

Alberto Gonzalez 2.0

i hope i don't have a heart attack

this feels like the start of something big

seriously I'm afraid to go to sleep and wake up to CNN reports saying "ALL IS FINE - PLEASE GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS"

it's that third digby piece driving me nuts that I can't find a source for - that's the first real thing serving as tangible proof of the contacts (not proof of collusion outright but it's a start)

i'm enjoying this late night revelation because there are fewer ilxors on hand to let me know how everything is actually not a big deal. during the sober moments of daytime, yes, perhaps, yes. but in the 11:00 hour i say that this is surreal and weird and unforgettable and feels like something big.

And minus the naysayers, I say you are absolutely correct!

Get to know your likely number 2. Seems like a step up.

Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland who is on track to become the deputy attorney general in Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, announced a stunning indictment Wednesday against seven Baltimore police officers. In a press conference, Rosenstein said the police officers were “involved in a pernicious conspiracy scheme” to steal large sums of money out of people’s homes and cars and to receive thousands of dollars in bogus overtime pay.

The racketeering indictment comes less than one week before Rosenstein’s Senate confirmation hearing to become second in command to Jeff Sessions—a cheerleader for law enforcement who has signaled a reluctance to bring troubled police departments under federal oversight because doing so is “almost disrespectful.”

xpost i tweeted at her to ask for the source but she didn't respond. she may have blocked me a few years ago when i criticized her for something else that she did that i thought represented poor journalism. she responded with unkind words.

lol i saw your tweet!

out of context etc

it's hard to read all this and not feel at least a little hope. sessions getting forced out would be a major victory, every day he has power things are getting worse for someone

hey man i am out there on the internet

it is the 11 o'clock hour and anything goes

So this is almost certainly an intentional 'okay, release the hounds' moment on the part of someone(s), right? No way does this much insane shit drop at once without a guiding hand.

I want to go to bed, but ... I don't want to go to bed.

Project Make Jeff Sessions Stay Up Late, Too

this is Marco Rubio getting revenge for Little Marquito

based off of the dutch/british surveillance of russian/trump campaign meetings in europe, i would guess there is about to be much, much more

pics of Manafort wearing an Alexander Mogilny jersey

**furiously adds Kislyak to Death Pool 2017**

it wouldn't surprise me if whomever is flinging all this stuff at the press takes a little break to let Sessions keep saying stuff, then release more stuff that contradicts that stuff, rinse repeat

i feel like a 3 am trump tweet would be a nice addition as well. i really like he speaks his mind. he says what i'm thinking

White House already made a statement calling this a 'partisan' attack and taking potshots at Franken.

Trumpie himself will probably not be far behind

A thing of beauty that just occurred to me: the same GOP spinelessness that has the GOP currently in loyal lockstep with Turnip for the sake of political expediency is the same spinelessness which, if things reach a tipping point where the shit has undeniably hit the fan, will ensure that they leave his sinking ship in droves and probably do everything in their power to hasten its sinkage as they swim away.

I mean, fuck every last one of them and may they all ultimately drown together, but I encourage them to fuck one another over on their trip to the sea bed.

wrapping up a loose end from earlier in the wapo story - no other armed services committee member had contact w the russian ambassador
https://mobile.twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/837162963534372864

re: manafort & putin, I'm surprised I haven't heard more about Antonio Sabato Jr's flacking for Russian mail order brides

http://www.prweb.com/releases/online-dating/anastasia/prweb11347406.htm

― kind of lolth but mostly strahd (los blue jeans), Wednesday, July 20, 2016 10:02 PM (seven months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just one more weird footnote, i guess

― kind of lolth but mostly strahd (los blue jeans), Wednesday, July 20, 2016 10:02 PM (seven months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I still want to hear more about this. why aren't there more Sabàto truthers out there

xpost yeah art I liked how that detail was added, lest anybody said "oh EVERYBODY was talking to the Russian ambassador, it wasn't just Jeff"

wrapping up a loose end from earlier in the wapo story - no other armed services committee member had contact w the russian ambassador
https://mobile.twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/837162963534372864

that's strange, what are the chances??!

Mat Johnson (@mat_johnson)
1 hour ago - View on Twitter
The irony is that Jeff Sessions will be purged from Alabama voter rolls once he's a convicted felon.

richard engel on MSNBC is saying that russian media coverage of trump, which was massively pro-trump around election day, conspicuously stopped mentioning him entirely recently.

yeah there was an article on that earlier too

I have been doing the same google search for about 90 minutes now, over and over

a thought just struck me

now is the perfect time for trump to release their revised muslim man EO

Captain EO rushes it out without proper legal review, written in crayon and with clipart from Microsoft Works 95

i'm enjoying this late night revelation because there are fewer ilxors on hand to let me know how everything is actually not a big deal.

― Karl Malone, Thursday, March 2, 2017 5:17 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago)

haha i lol'd because this is so true

alright I'm out, it's 1 am here. If Sessions so much as flinches, hit me on my beeper.

https://mobile.twitter.com/fivefifths/status/837140626709889024

"Put Jeff Sessions on it, he's a sneaky little shit just like you."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tfK_3XK4CI

https://mobile.twitter.com/axlrose/status/799735719895953408

Oh, one thing: Sessions was smart enough to talk to the ambassador in person, instead of on the phone. We will probably never know what they talked about, but he has already lied about it once, so they probably didn't discuss committee work.

sitting in the dark with glasses of whiskey, muttering

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 March 2017 21:28 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

we've all got scars, they should have 'em too

i'm enjoying this late night revelation because there are fewer ilxors on hand to let me know how everything is actually not a big deal.

― Karl Malone, Thursday, March 2, 2017 5:17 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago)

haha i lol'd because this is so true

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, March 2, 2017 12:55 AM

good mourning!

hiding answers on the overnight now, huh guys

Gotta get like the Obamas, Morbs, and hide your posts

i will write my memoirs for $65 M

Got a cover ready for you:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/524fc875e4b05c977ba53361/t/576a4ff42e69cf8e27a0b713/1466585084181/m

Well over 10,000 comments on the WaPo story and counting.

Jeff Sessions, 18 years ago:

Republican of Alabama

It has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty that President William Jefferson Clinton perjured himself before a Federal grand jury and has persisted in a continuous pattern of lying and obstructing justice. The chief law-enforcement officer of the land, whose oath of office calls on him to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, crossed the line and failed to defend and protect the law and, in fact, attacked the law and the rights of a fellow citizen. Under our Constitution, equal justice requires that he forfeit his office. For these reasons, I felt compelled to vote to convict and remove the President from office. . . .

It is crucial to our system of justice that we demand the truth. I fear that an acquittal of this President will weaken the legal system by providing an option for those who consider being less than truthful in court. Whereas the handling of the case against President Nixon clearly strengthened the nation's respect for law, justice and truth, the Clinton impeachment may unfortunately have the opposite result.

tbf getting a blowjob is way worse than colluding with a foreign power, sessions otm

Btw, Trump held back his revised muslim ban to prolong the good press cycle from his congress speech, and that created an opening for this story to explode the way it has. Oh, and the rumors of him delaying a ban to get better press weakens the security rationale for the ban quite a lot.

They are all idiots, basically.

tbf getting a blowjob is way worse than colluding with a foreign power, sessions otm

― I am Socutus of Butt. Resistance is futile. (bizarro gazzara),

it might blow up but it won't go plop

@ggreenwald
Sessions' answer was misleading but unfortunately a terrible precedent has been set that top DC officials can lie to Congress with impunity.

thanks Obama

Oh fuck off, Glenn. Sessions lied at his confirmation hearing in a case involving foreign actors meddling in US elections - hey, with the help of Glenn Greenwald's very publication, how weird he tries to change the subject - it's different from Clinton lying about a blowjob. Actually, it's a unique case, period.

How is it this asshole can spend the final month of the election attacking Trump's opponent, and with each and every scandal coming up can go 'well actually', and still be considered part of the resistance?

I don't think anyone gives a shit what GG says besides you and Morbs

Glenn Greenwald is so excruciatingly irrelevant. Dunno why Putin bothers keeping him on the dole tbh

How is it this asshole can spend the final month of the election attacking Trump's opponent, and with each and every scandal coming up can go 'well actually', and still be considered part of the resistance?

only the uncritical and relentlessly on-message can #resist

Are we nearing the point where those who have been even tacitly backing these fuckers will start seeing the writing on the wall and backpedaling for not just the sake of their careers but also to avoid being painted with a broad brush of treason?

Like, even if Russia is gaining favor with a certain portion of the GOP constituency, there has to be a point where the elected officials start to realize that aligning themselves with that faction is going to severely bite them on the ass eventually. Right?

what kind of name is Isgur

I'm goin on down to Isgur's farm, gonna join in a rock & roll band.

So this is almost certainly an intentional 'okay, release the hounds' moment on the part of someone(s), right? No way does this much insane shit drop at once without a guiding hand.

Raising the question ppl itt have been asking over and over again: hey, mightn't some of this information come in handy in FUCKIN OCTOBER?

Kevin McCarthy, house majority leader, says Sessions should recuse from investigation.

Kevin McCarthy, house majority leader, should aim higher in his demands

I guess McCarthy is a rino cuck squish beta

Kevin McCarthy, house majority leader, should have read art of the deal and ratcheted his initial offer higher

He should resign. That should be the the demand from anyone near the aisle.

Almost 9 o'clock and he still hasn't tweeted about this. Maybe the pivot is real.

so now the plan unfolds: Get the most racist Senator to resign and take a job that he will also have to resign from. Donald Trump--the least racist person you've ever seen.

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/837317853229514753

Sen. Dianne Feinstein statement on Jeff Sessions: “If the attorney general refuses to recuse himself, he should resign.”

this is dumb. just do what the other democrats are doing and call for his resignation!!! not "if he doesn't recuse himself"

"if he doesn't share his Laffy Taffy with the rest of Congress, he should resign"

congrats crüt, working for Tombot must mean some long green

only the uncritical and relentlessly on-message can #resist

yep, like Stoogey Perez!

try harder

even Chaffetz asking him to recuse, what an upstanding man that always does what is right when presented with no other possible choice

yep, like Stoogey Perez!

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius)

isn't that a minor gangster in issue #13 of "Flaming Carrot"?

imo this Russia story would have fallen down the same memory hole that Clinton's 1996 China money one did if Trump didn't keep promoting people involved with it.

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/837317853229514753

Sen. Dianne Feinstein statement on Jeff Sessions: “If the attorney general refuses to recuse himself, he should resign.”

this is dumb. just do what the other democrats are doing and call for his resignation!!! not "if he doesn't recuse himself"

― marcos, Thursday, March 2, 2017 10:07 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like if the GOP stance right now, which it seems to be, is "he should recuse himself" then really the dem response should uniformly be "he should resign"

Emily C. Singer
(@CahnEmily)
The weird part of this whole thing is that @alfranken never even asked @jeffsessions if he had met with Russia in that question

This is true - he only talked about other surrogates, so Sessions actually willfully inserted himself into the answer.

xpost Schumer is expected to call for resignation next

You know the weirdest thing about this? That the Russian stuff should take out or compromise the two *most* experienced people in Trump's circle first. Usually scandals work their way up!

I'm still back on "it's fine to put a demonstrable racist in the AG position but god forbid he talk to a foreign power as may have been mandated by his position on a committee"

And usually they dont metastasize in the first month of a new presidency

Xp

xpost yeah seriously "I thought the Ku Klux Klan was alright until I learned they smoke pot" is something an AG is ok to have said in their past because it was a 'joek'....

Yeah JinC, the poetic-justice bit is that political neophytes and amateurs often don't have the track records necessary to allow them to be indicted with their own words.* Sessions is on record from Clinton impeachment days, providing lots of hypocrisy talking points.

* = Though Trump is valiantly trying to provide lots of hypocrisy talking points in a short period of time; witness everything he said about golf being the indicator of an unserious Obama, yet playing impressive amounts of golf.

no Trump Twitter freak out yet ...

DJP is right of course, but the goal is getting rid of these fuckers/politically crippling them. The actual rationale behind it - unappetizing as it may be - is secondary. Have to use the most effective weapons available.

claire mccaskill calling for his resign as well. that's good! but what's bad is that she also tweeted this:

Claire McCaskill‏
@clairecmc
I've been on the Armed Services Com for 10 years.No call or meeting w/Russian ambassador. Ever. Ambassadors call members of Foreign Rel Com.
2 Mar 2017

which would be fine, except about 4 years ago she also tweeted

Claire McCaskill ✔ @clairecmc
Off to meeting w/Russian Ambassador. Upset about the arbitrary/cruel decision to end all US adoptions,even those in process.
9:25 AM - 30 Jan 2013

gop in 2017 basically = hey everyone be cool. colluding with Russia to influence an election and v possibly treason in the service of Preserving the White Race is really nbd.

it is so unfairly how they are being treated

claire mccaskill calling for his resign as well. that's good! but what's bad is that she also tweeted this:

Claire McCaskill‏
@clairecmc
I've been on the Armed Services Com for 10 years.No call or meeting w/Russian ambassador. Ever. Ambassadors call members of Foreign Rel Com.
2 Mar 2017

which would be fine, except about 4 years ago she also tweeted

Claire McCaskill ✔ @clairecmc
Off to meeting w/Russian Ambassador. Upset about the arbitrary/cruel decision to end all US adoptions,even those in process.
9:25 AM - 30 Jan 2013

― Karl Malone, 2. marts 2017 16:34 (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lol, and of course Greenwald is over this as well. The difference is, though, that Sessions said he was there as Armed Services Committee member, which makes no sense. McCaskill there in a meeting on adoptions, which does. So one is lying, and one is forgetting.

His denials are so strange and contradictory and circular and really suspicious. He's been given numerous outs already and he keeps twisting and weaseling.

I'm sure the Armed Services Committee spends a lot of time debating Russian adoptions

The tone is just so nasty. Can't they ask about Russian interference in democracy without making anyone feel put on the spot? Totally unfair.

I'm sure the Armed Services Committee spends a lot of time debating Russian adoptions

― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP), 2. marts 2017 16:55 (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm not sure I understand this post, but no, they probably don't. That's exactly the point, McCaskill's claim was to debunk that Sessions would meet the ambassador as an Armed Services Committee member, so that she meets him on adoptions doesn't disprove that point, no?

God are you dense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

/s

God are you dense.

Not sure I get this. Are you saying that Fred is God, or that his mind has achieved a density comparable to the lord's?

Well, after reading a bunch of people making the exact same mistake DJP did, it wan't clear he was doing it sarcastically. Sorry DJP.

Not sure I get this. are you saying DJP is sorry?

Yes.

@tinyrevolution
The House passed two articles of impeachment against Clinton in 1998. Article I was solely about perjury

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/articles122098.htm

TBF adopted Russian children are oddly really skilled debaters

schumer officially calls for resignation, more GOP calls for recusing.

Trump must be on the toilet

Wouldn't that suggest we should see a tweet any minute now?

@tinyrevolution
I don't think Sessions actually was concealing anything, it's just that it often doesn't even occur to powerful people to follow the rules

LOL, now deleted but what a brief life:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C57N98uWYAAD9m0.jpg

i still think that jeff sessions is the worst part of this cabinet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/02/28/jeff-sessions-dismisses-doj-reports-on-police-abuse-without-bothering-to-read-them/

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, March 1, 2017 5:19 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

worst because he knows what he's doing

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 5:21 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol only a few hours before this broke! dreams come true people

Have to say i love the look of this guy https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_480w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/03/21/Others/Images/2014-03-21/AP6626441900211395433511.jpg?uuid=6YU-lLE2EeO4s0Sx0c1MHw

do I get a "YOU'VE BEEN FREDDIE-B'D" t-shirt now

lol xp

@dick_nixon
A lie requires intention. Sessions should have left it that he was not aware. But then he came out and said he had no contact with Russia.

Legally it muddies the water somewhat but that is what a bad lawyer Sessions is.

Manolo Sanchez‏
@NixonValet
@dick_nixon Atty General Sessions is on line 4 sir. It sounds like he's been drinking.

do I get a "YOU'VE BEEN FREDDIE-B'D" t-shirt now

It says "you've been framboozled" but yes

"Jeff Sessions" should resign for not being a guy who worked on a Steely Dan album or something

I've no specific beef with Kislyak but that photo reminds me a little bit of

https://stevehickey.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/john-banner.jpg

Paul Ryan calls to recuse Sessions now "if he is subject of probe"

http://✧✧✧.c✧✧.com/2017/03/02/politics/trump-watch-live-coverage-week-6?lf-content=186380851:lb-post-39efcfa9fd5c90f599162c0aa89dc✧✧✧@livef✧✧✧.c✧✧&hubRefSrc=permalink

wtf

it says Lindsey Graham is meeting with Comey today

Everyone's learned a new word, I see.

"This is your NPR morning briefing. Jeff Sessions, after successfully warding off criticism for being a terrible racist and lying under oath about contact with Russian officials, resigned this morning after new revelations that he failed to capture the transcendent smoothness of the horn section on take 27 of Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues" - a legendary take that could not be added to the mix due to several technical errors by Sessions, senior administration officials say."

the jeff skunk sessions sessions

during our intense reading session last night I kept misreading the intent of this article title as (http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/opinions/trump-promises-face-buzzsaw-of-reality-axelrod/index.html) as Trump Promises "Face Buzzsaw" of Reality.

and now I'm sad there will be no face buzzsaw

how likely is it that sessions will be forced to resign? i didn't think flynn was going to be forced out but was, and sessions has more allies than flynn did

it's easier when it's the first guy forced out and it's a dude as kooky as Flynn.

ousting a just confirmed Attorney General right after that, they'll fight harder to prevent it even if the situations are similar

I fully support Face Buzzsaw as our new atty genl

I dont see resignation happening unless McConnell/GOP Senators turns on him

sooner or later it becomes hard to stay in an executive position if your entire org thinks you might be guilty of treason

I mean, I would sort of have to think.

The White House is dismissing calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“There’s nothing to recuse himself,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in an interview with Fox News that aired late Thursday morning.

“He was 100 percent straight with the committee and I think that people (who) are choosing to play partisan politics with this should be ashamed of themselves," he added.

lol

yea they don't want to give up sessions

xxxpost It's all relative. Half of the federal government would've already been sent to the gallows in a different era but nowadays colluding with a hostile foreign government is just a thing people do, y'know?

It makes sense that Spicer would say those things with that level of vociferousness. When you've put all of your chips on the hand that's holding five aces, why, it's an absolute outrage that anyone would even suggest that anyone's cheating and of course you can't look at my cards! For shaaaaame!

"The message that Sessions should not recuse himself from the investigation, according to Spicer, comes straight from President Trump," Fox correspondent John Roberts added.

I should start making a point of watching his press conferences so I can see the moment when reality washes over him and he resigns in mid-sentence.

^more suggestion that there's really something there. Trump needs Sessions to thwart any investigation

xpost

They can't give up Sessions because he's the only one in the White House who can read and write.

lol this Cillizza headline Jeff Sessions is in deep trouble. Bigly.

Lol partisan politics. Most of the calls to recuse are from Republicans. We want him to resign. Get it right

the interesting thing about resignation is that it answers the question of recusal definitively. seems like a win/win

So much for new Trump.

Ryan calling for recusal and Rubio strongly hinting at at least that on NPR this morning

Ryan also defended him tho

"treason" still makes me lol. oh u CIA Dems

Interior Secy rode horse to work:

https://twitter.com/byrdinator/status/837306196415688704

i swear 50% of politicians are cosplay dorks

It's probably so he can write off his stable fees as a business expense.

sooner or later it becomes hard to stay in an executive position if your entire org thinks you might be guilty of treason

what if they do but won't say it publicly

so apparently Ryan did not call for recusal in Trump-Russia DoJ investigation. He only said that recusal is required if Sessions himself is the subject of investigation

Well, per WSJ, Sessions is the subject of investigation.

tbf to ryan he probably didn't have time to read all 5 or so of the big headlines last night, he's busy obfuscating a healthcare swindle after all

McCarthy walking back his comments too - tho tbh I expect them to cave on this fairly soon

long series of tweets this morning from David Frum (I've put them in paragraph form)

“Sessions story today is a sinister confirmation of central thesis of my autocracy article. Donald Trump is a uniquely dangerous president because he harbors so many guilty secrets (or maybe one big guilty secret). In order to protect himself, Trump must attack American norms and institutions - otherwise he faces fathomless legal risk. In turn, in order to protect their legally vulnerable leader, Republicans in Congress must join the attack on norms & institutions. Otherwise, they put at risk party hopes for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to remake US government in ways not very popular with voters.

American institutions are built to withstand an attack from the president alone. But … they are not so well-built as to withstand an attack from a conscienceless president enabled by a hyper-partisan Congress. The peculiar grim irony in this case is that somewhere near the center of Trump’s story is the murky secret of Trump’s Russia connection. Meaning that Trump is rendering his party also complicit in what could well prove … the biggest espionage scandal since the Rosenberg group stole the secret of the atomic bomb. And possibly even bigger. We won’t know if we don’t look.

Despite patriotic statements from individual GOPers, as of now it seems that Speaker Ryan & Leader McConnell agree: no looking. So many in DC serenely promise that “checks and balances” will save us. But right now: there is no check and no balance. Only brave individuals in national security roles sharing truth with news organizations. But those individuals can be found & silenced. What then? We take it too much for granted that the president must lose this struggle. The “oh he’s normal now” relief of so many to Trump’s Feb 28 speech revealed how ready DC is to succumb to dealmaking as usual.

As DC goes numb, citizen apathy accumulates …GOP members of Congress decide they have more to fear from enforcing law against the president than from ignoring law with the president. And those of us who care disappear down rabbit holes debating whether Sessions’ false testimony amounts to perjury or not. Meanwhile job market strong, stock market is up, immigration enforcement is popular.

I’m not counseling despair here. I don’t feel despair. Only: nobody else will save the country if you don’t act yourself.”

good lord, how many tweets was that spread across?

"there's got to be a better way"

(weird world, but) Frum otm

the biggest espionage scandal since the Rosenberg group stole the secret of the atomic bomb. And possibly even bigger.

ohChristAlfuckingMighty

lol

Frum is sensible to be worried in just this way. This is why slacking off the protests and phone calls is not an acceptable option. The heat needs to stay on Congress at record temperatures.

yes -several times i have half-typed and erased the thought that there should be waves of massive protests going on right now, women's march levels. there's a new reason to do it nearly every week. there is a big climate march coming up at the end of april (https://peoplesclimate.org/), which is great, but the relative silence in the streets right now is disheartening.

dude this *just happened* it takes time to mobilize millions of people on the same day

oh, i meant over the last several weeks. basically every weekend since the women's march! the current sessions thing is bad but no worse than the fact that he was appointed in the first place, as djp mentioned earlier. same with devos, pruitt, etc. the muslim ban prompted protests but only for the day or two before the courts stepped in.

the muslim ban prompted protests but only for the day or two before the courts stepped in.

this is not accurate

i was just at a rally in NYC on presidents day. it was well attended

wanna donate to that peoplesclimate thing but a little wary of entering my credit card info is that being paranoid

alright, i was mistaken, the people are in the streets everywhere. i was wondering what that fuss was out on my sidewalk but my window is all the way over there

Good roundup here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/03/02/daily-202-trump-s-russia-headache-gets-worse-as-sessions-struggles-to-spin-undisclosed-meetings/58b745cae9b69b1406c75d1b/

lol

"I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign," he said in a statement. "I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false."

I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.
I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.
I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/schiff-doj-235615

to discuss issues of the campaign

"Hello, Mr. Ambassador. I asked to meet with you today to get your opinion on how many 30 second spots to run in South Florida in October, and while we're at it, what do you think is the best approach to taking Pennsylvania's Third District?"

Haha http://www.vox.com/2017/3/2/14792196/gop-obamacare-bill-search

alright, i was mistaken, the people are in the streets everywhere. i was wondering what that fuss was out on my sidewalk but my window is all the way over there

I meant that protests lasted longer than "one or two days" - the court decision(s) didn't come that quickly and protests persisted up until it was struck down by the 9th circuit. The order was issued on Jan 27th, the TRO wasn't issued until February 3rd, and the Circuit Court ruling didn't come until Feb 9th. There were nationwide protests all through that time period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_against_Executive_Order_13769

to discuss issues of the campaign

Oh, THAT campaign. I thought you meant the campaign to KILL MOOSE AND SQUIRREL

I guess I shouldn't say "struck down" (since it wasn't) but you know what I mean, the 9th circuit upheld the restraining order and basically killed its implementation.

xp

lol YMP

I didn't not didn't have communications with the Russians. triple negative, liberals, sorry, J-Sesh is clean!

So Caterpillar was raided by irs and FBI this morning. Supposed suspicious movement of funds between foreign subsidies including russia

subsidiaries*

sessions really doubling down on this being 'false', so either he's just very very committed to lying, or maybe the justice department and intelligence are trying to tank him

can't it be both

Morbz is this what living through Watergate was like cuz man, parallels seem eerie w so many potential rabbit holes/threads...

But there's total confidence don't you know

https://twitter.com/AP/status/837378370451222528

I take it back, this is better symbolism:

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/837379787874271232

President Trump tells pool reporters aboard the USS Gerald Ford that he has total confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

lol

Morbz is this what living through Watergate was like

i wuz about eleven, dingaling

it's more what Duck Soup is like

sessions really doubling down on this being 'false', so either he's just very very committed to lying, or maybe the justice department and intelligence are trying to tank him

tbh, it sounds like he was asked two questions he could say 'no' to while being technically correct without stopping to think whether "but I was technically correct!" would be a particularly solid defence when this came out. It is the only card he has to play and he is stuck with it though.

now we know why the Republican Congress tried to secretly dismantle the ethics committee?

Pish. Nothingburger distractions from the real news. Have we discussed the revelation that Spicer is the Easter Bunny?

https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_480w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/in-the-loop/Images/spicerbunny.jpg?uuid=VmUOcpe2EeK2j9xcS0flGQ

shining-bear-costume.jpg

It looks like a much older version of Spicer confronting the giant rabbit from his nightmares, revealing the man inside is his younger self.

Either that or it's a still from the next episode of Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule

Are you sure that's not Sergey Kislyak?

A Republican bill to replace Obamacare is reportedly hidden somewhere on Capitol Hill — and on Thursday morning, legislators and reporters ended up on a bipartisan wild goose chase to find it.

Who needs the White House lawn Easter Egg hunt? Speaking of which:

Have we discussed the revelation that Spicer is the Easter Bunny?

Spoilers, man!

is this what living through Watergate was like

The sense of an administration carelessly criminal and now running to catch up with an out-of-control story is reminiscent. I'd say the pace so far is much faster than it was this early in Watergate, but the revelations so far are less numerous and less damning, because the details are still nebulous.

With Watergate things didn't really get serious until almost a year after the break-in, when Judge John Sirica held the burglars' feet to the fire with the threat of seriously long prison sentences and started getting them to cooperate. Even then, the Congressional investigations dragged out for months and months, with Nixon and his cronies denying, stonewalling and foot dragging every inch of the way.

Ironically, if Nixon had offered up some impressive human sacrifices, such as AG John Mitchell, early on, then he could have satisfied Congress, saved his own neck, and we'd only know about a quarter of Nixon's crimes compared with what came out.

As someone else said, "It's like watching 'All the President's Men' on ultra-fast-forward."

Morbz is this what living through Watergate was like cuz man, parallels seem eerie w so many potential rabbit holes/threads...

― Οὖτις, Thursday, March 2, 2017 2:21 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was not alive during watergate but i finished nixonland last week so i'm basically an expect, and: yes

there is Super 8 footage of me clinging to the White House fence in July '74. I'll be uploading it, well, never.

*expert

Sweet, I'mma wrap up this second volume of Branch's MLK biog and then plow through Perlstein's Goldwater and Nixon books. All this 50-year-old shit seems way too prescient.

NYT: President Trump said he had “total” confidence in his attorney general and wasn't aware of his contacts with Russia's ambassador

surely only one of these two clauses can be true

Why, though? Surely Trump can both threaten a man's livelihood for opposing asset forfeiture and simultaneously have no idea what asset forfeiture is. He contains multitudes.

https://i.imgur.com/zcspVAO.jpg

l,r: trump, larry Appleton

seems about right

http://www.theonion.com/article/jeff-sessions-spits-face-fbi-interrogator-trying-g-55433

Sessions news conference in half an hour.

this the one where they're going to fire him? because we know what happens after the WH expresses complete confidence in someone

no spoilers please I've got this ep queued up on netflix for later

oh hell yea

oh it's sessions himself talking! that should be amusing. he's either going to really triple down on 'this is false' or recuse himself. I cannot see this guy resigning.

My prediction is that Sessions will respond with his trademark grace and humility, further reifying our sense of living in a just nation as only he can do.

That or some rhetorical equivalent of pointing at his thrusting crotch and saying SUCK THAT SHIT.

shouldn't he be pointing at his ass then

don't assume his biology is human

probably going to blame some negroes

Trump says he "wasn't aware" Sessions had the convo 38 minutes ago.

walkinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn back

George Will's semi-pan of Nixonland in the NYT is fun to revisit

“How did Nixonland end?” Perlstein asks in the book’s last line. “It has not ended yet.” But almost every page of Perlstein’s book illustrates the sharp contrast rather than a continuity with America today. It almost seems as though Perlstein, who was born in 1969, is reluctant to let go of the excitement he has experienced secondhand through the archives he has ransacked to such riveting effect.

“We Americans,” he says, “are not killing or trying to kill one another anymore for reasons of ideology, or at least for now. Remember this: This war has ratcheted down considerably. But it still simmers on.”

Not really. America has long since gone off the boil. The nation portrayed in Perlstein’s compulsively readable chronicle, the America of Spiro Agnew inciting “positive polarization” and the New Left laboring to “heighten the contradictions,” is long gone.

So exquisitely sensitive are Americans today, they worked themselves into a lather of disapproval when Hillary Clinton said that Lyndon Johnson as well as Martin Luther King was important in enacting civil rights legislation. There has not been a white male secretary of state for 11 years. Today a woman and an African-American are competing relatively civilly for the right to run for president against the center-right — more center than right — senator who occupies the seat once held by Goldwater. Whoever wins will not be president of Nixonland.

no that's the same interview xp

"not aware, total confidence"

TBF, 'not aware, total/zero confidence' describes pretty much every manager I've ever had.