US Politics March 2019: “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled”

xpost soon to be frozen in carbonite

"I don't love you"

"i know"

"Still somehow hoping there is another boot to drop."

(whimpers....'oppodump')

Attorney General Bill Barr has known for three weeks that special counsel Robert Mueller would not be making a determination on whether President Trump obstructed justice, multiple outlets reported Monday.

A source told CNN that this “unexpected” move on Mueller’s part left it to Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to determine how to weigh in on the issue.

There has been much speculation over how it took Barr only 48 hours from the time Mueller’s final report was submitted on Friday to release his Sunday afternoon summary, in which he said he and Rosenstein concluded there was “not sufficient” evidence to bring such a charge. This new development reveals the two Justice Department officials had more time to reach this conclusion. It’s not clear how much of the evidence Barr and Rosenstein were shown before Friday.

Barr has been a Republican crony for years

"Barr was known as a strong defender of presidential power and wrote advisory opinions justifying the U.S. invasion of Panama and arrest of Manuel Noriega, and a controversial opinion that the FBI could enter onto foreign soil without the consent of the host government to apprehend fugitives wanted by the United States government for terrorism or drug-trafficking.[7]"

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

ugh

"Barr is an avid bagpiper; he began playing the bagpipes at age 8, and has played competitively in Scotland with a major American pipe band. At one time, Barr was a member of the City of Washington Pipe Band.[31]

Barr and Robert Mueller have known each other since the 1980s and have been described as good friends. Mueller attended the weddings of two of Barr's daughters, and their wives attend Bible study together.[69]"

I keep hearing this. Exoneration means you were in Cleveland when the fire started. Lack of evidence means the gas can was for the lawnmower. But only lawyers care about that. https://t.co/k7CIBzcv5g

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) March 24, 2019

god i can't imagine how embarbassing it must be one of those twitter "resistance" twerps that had done nothing but reply to trump and other repub figures with "tick tock" and game of thrones "mueller is coming" means

don't rely on heroes on white horses.
& shit floats.
Innit.

BUt just hope taht it does remain a catalyst for people to want to get up and get involved as it seems to have done for the last couple of years. But back then people still had hope, I guess.

god i can't imagine how embarbassing it must be one of those twitter "resistance" twerps that had done nothing but reply to trump and other repub figures with "tick tock" and game of thrones "mueller is coming" means

This was always super embarrassing so part of me thinks it can't be much different for them now

really delightful that Rush Lumbago is screaming HOAX

im not sure who need to get over themselves more twitter resistance twerps or their haters, but luckily neither of them are capable of embarassment so here we are

Just a reminder that @DaftLimmy is probably the most prescient political commentator we've had in recent history. pic.twitter.com/GDG7yh96o8

— Madeley (@Madeley) March 24, 2019

Why does he get away with everything though? Why him?

It’s still weird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo8s5fuSwo8

Because he is the most unfairly treated president of all time

xp

I'm always here for Jane Child.

it is weird. I mean the guy is more Teflon than Reagan now.

is he just lucky? he definitely was dancing along the edge of impropriety his entire life and yet, while almost all of his inner circle was taken down by mueller--for reasons other than conspiracy--he is "vindicated" somehow.

it is preposterous that michael cohen is going to jail and trump is not.

the Cohen thing is totally separate though

Part of the charges were related to campaign finance violations and lying to congress about trump tower moscow

He’s not just going to jail for taxi medallions

it is weird. I mean the guy is more Teflon than Reagan now.

― akm, Monday, March 25, 2019

Reagan averaged over 50 percent approval for most of his presidency and was personally popular like his party wasn't.

limmy rules. his take is right until we make it not right.

i guess in favor of resist twerps, theyre at least kicking against assholes, possibly distracting opposition, and i think being ridic overly optimistic in good faith. It’s not always a straight self-interested grift in the case of several, tho definitely not for all.

Twerp resistance haters are sort of interesting. Profiles seem to point a lot to “haters of establishment that FAILS US,” “haters of clintons,” “haters of women,” “haters of privilege,” “haters of _ANY_ support of status quo,” “haters of dems,” and even “haters of losers.”

I think the preferred one to me “haters of failure to recognize the valuable causes”

We definitely need to steer more in the direction of encouraging putative allies to tighten up their perspectives/messages rather than unburdening our would-be conquerors the effort of dividing us. I mean, our 'narcissism of small differences' game is on point, but maybe it's worth considering whether that might be a pointless act of self-annihilation, idk.

Idk. It seems russiagate was a catastrophic distraction there should be some soul searching here

Here's an oxymoron to contemplate: GOP hairshirt.

It seems russiagate was a catastrophic distraction

catastrophic? oh, puh-leeeze spare us. what marvelous things were denied us because the nation was too distracted by russiagate? what catastrophe has overtaken us that was not born of Trump's election, rather than our distraction from... remind me what were we supposed to be doing instead?

Treesh bb are you having a time again

necessary esp given the gop buy-in for trumps hardcore oligopoly model.

russiagate has some dimensions. still it was necessary to ask 1 was it real, 2 should it be criminal and was it, and 3 should it disqualify pres? Answers for resist are yes, yes and yes. Answers from mueller are, so far, 1 yes, 2 only for a few flunkies and russians, and 3 ?!?

play on imo.

the idea that Mueller would find proof of Donald Trump, who does not use a computer, writing something like "YES I WILL DROP SANCTIONS IN EXCHANGE FOR HILLARYMAILS. BEST, [EKG-like signature]" was always a pipe dream, especially since Jr. leaked proof of himself doing just that and got away scot-free

there should be some soul searching here

pvmic

https://www.vox.com/2019/3/25/18280122/congress-investigate-trump-tax-return

by the way, even if they *HAD* found that proof, wouldn't that just lead to months of "So what, it isn't a crime!!! He's just willing to do what it takes to win!! He's a winner!!!", which I think would raise my blood pressure even more

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/mueller-non-russia-trump-scandals-congress/585643/

remind me what were we supposed to be doing instead?

organizing voters and describing socialism to them

^^^ otm, also pushing for voting reform everywhere i.e. vote by mail not the dumb "election day holiday" idea

i confess that part of my desire to see this vermin squashed is not just revulsion at trump’s disgusting and abusive and actually harmful core qualities, but wanting to remove the social and political impulses to install stronger larger fash policies and extractions. and also to deny his type greater access to actual levers of power. systems can fail worse than this. If you think it cant be worse, you are mistaken. If you think there’s a better oppty to eradicate it than now, i actually fear you may be wrong.

indeed!

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/435681-trump-campaign-sends-memo-asking-tv-producers-challenge-past-guests-who?#_=_

Honestly this is such a gift to his campaign

I guess, but are any of the current dem candidates the ones that focused on collusion?

Funny you should ask. Charles Pierce is following a few candidates:

Put simply, anyone who's telling you that the Democrats are in danger of overreaching in their criticism of El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago is selling you wooden nutmeg. In my first weekend following the 2020 election around, I heard general questions and answers about the president*'s character. (Pro tip: he has none.) And I heard a lot of talk about prying the presidency loose from the brigade of grifters, temp workers, and clucks he's installed in those executive branch jobs he's deigned to fill. But, mostly, I heard dialogue about a lot of problems and possible solutions that stretch beyond the green rooms of cable news—an environment, I admit, not unknown to me, and even less unknown to Cory Booker, truth be told. For example, remember criminal justice reform? Remember the carceral state? It's still out there as an issue.

no shit

Remember the carceral state?

never seen someone identify his audience so clearly in so few words

I had to talk a white male acquaintance off a Facebook ledge yesterday after he moaned that Donald Trump was re-elected.

Put simply, I'm really fucking tired of some of you guys on this thread implicitly begging Trump to win so you can return to moaning about how awful things are.

Those of us who are brown and gay in a state that Ron DeSantis barely won thank you for the leftist solidarity.

before the internet, you'd bury the lachrymose drivel in a spiral bound notebook. Congratulations.