Don’t denounce prison or poverty…
Posted on: June 12, 2017
The god couple…
Have you ever saved a fortune from a fortune cookie? I have. Why on earth would a person save a little wad of paper tucked into a baked concoction of egg whites, flour, and sugar? It makes no sense other than it might make you feel good or coincidentally validate some action or behavior in retrospect.
That’s what former FBI Director and Lurch body double, Jim Comey must have been thinking last week. Through all the “mildly nauseous” episodes and the “aw shucks Lordy” moments, it felt like “Long Tall Comey” was feeling almost zestful at the little cookies directed toward the ambulatory orange rind.
It rang true when Comey justified his memo writing by saying he did it because, “The nature of the person. I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting, and so I thought it really important to document.”
What didn’t ring true was the triggering of his Hillary madness based upon Loretta Lynch asking if anyone minded calling the exercise a “matter” as opposed to an “investigation”. Really St. Jim? Was that the real trigger for all your madness and criticism of Hillary? Or was it perhaps just political cover?
When I put the pile of crap about the “nature of the orange person” in one hand and the mouse turd of calling something a “matter” versus an “investigation” in the other, one feels considerably weightier than the other.
But therein lies the rub. They might just both be true. Could be. I don’t feel they are both true, but I don’t know for certain. What I do know is that according to my values hierarchy, calling someone a liar who at his core is a dishonest and untrustworthy is a big deal.
Another off-pissing aspect was the credibility competition between Comey and Dolt 45. Invariably the male pundits trivialized the credibility contest as they do with sexual harassment claims. Instead of the insulting “he said, she said,” they dumbed it down to “he said, he said.”
Wrong. It was really “Trump said or tweeted and Comey swore under penalties of perjury.” Trump is an inveterate liar. He doesn’t mind being called a liar. It is a prerequisite for New York real estate development. It is what he does, has done, and will continue to do until his vermilion verisimilitude is relocated to the ninth circle of hell.
Just as Comey’s representations draw conflicted credibility responses due to confirmation bias, there are certain things about this entire sordid affair that only have one side. For instance, if Dolt 45 didn’t know better than to ask Comey to let the “Flynn thing go,” he must have had a series of memory numbing strokes since he asked Attorney General Granny Sessions and dead-eyed Douchner to leave the room.
And here’s something no one has offered to explain: For the past eighteen months, you couldn’t throw an empty vodka bottle anywhere near the Trump campaign without hitting a Russian. Flynn, Manafort, Page, Stone, Seb Gorka, Boris Epshteyn, Sessions, Douchner, Russian spymasters, Russian bankers, plus Boris and Natasha chasing Moose and Squirrel. Even Doltalot’s new lawyer has all sorts of Russian connections. No one has offered the first explanation of why the mango meerkat campaign suffers from an epidemic of Putinophilia.
Like Greyhounds chasing imaginary prey, everyone is going to be running in circles sniffing out obstruction of justice claims. Two points: (1) Obstruction doesn’t have to be successful to be illegal; and (2) Obstruction is always in the eye of the beholder and Republicans are unlikely to ever see it.
The challenge for us, who believe science-based solutions should underpin progressive policy, as we say it around these parts, is to keep our daubers up. We have eighteen months before the midterms and perhaps at least that long before we see the first reports from Special Counsel Mueller’s band of merry marauders. He does seem to be interested in money laundering and financial fraud.
While Russians don’t have fortune cookies, if they had fortune blinis, they might contain this old Russian adage: От тюрьмы и от сумы не зарекайся. Translated – Don’t denounce prison or poverty. It means anyone can lose all their money or be thrown in jail, no matter how they live or behave.
We can only hope for such a good fortune.
What’s on your mind today?
147 Responses to "Don’t denounce prison or poverty…"
June 12, 2017 at 10:57 am
Did you see Ivanka was on Fox today and she said she was stunned at how “vicious” everyone in DC is. She says this without irony and without a bolt of lightening striking her down because god is busy.
June 12, 2017 at 11:17 am
Prolix
…”When I put the pile of crap about the “nature of the orange person” in one hand and the mouse turd of calling something a “matter” versus an “investigation” in the other, one feels considerably weightier than the other.”
…”Trump is an inveterate liar. He doesn’t mind being called a liar. It is a prerequisite for New York real estate development. It is what he does, has done, and will continue to do until his vermilion verisimilitude is relocated to the ninth circle of hell.”
—–
Loved your post and I agree with you 100%
June 12, 2017 at 11:29 am
Comey should have played basketball instead. A 6’8″ man feeling queasy and about to blow chunks over Hillary, is too much for his delicate emotions.
He didn’t feel quite as poorly over a demon seed like Rump, a man that has molested women, lied so many times that he feels no remorse nor need to ever apologize, cheated on his taxes, cheated on his deals and ‘university’, cheated in lawsuits and verbally degraded anyone that disagrees with him. Yup, Comey didn’t react and spill any beans on him.
June 12, 2017 at 11:35 am
@5 Shadowfax, yes I agree. It’s the disproportionately unjust way he treated Clinton vs. Trump that remains so astounding, and nothing he has said explains his behavior. He thought her server and “matter” vs. “investigation” needed SPEAK and potential treason needed CONCEAL??? I don’t understand…….
June 12, 2017 at 11:35 am
Ain’t it the truth, Prolix! Trump criticized Hillary on the campaign trail because of the Lynch/Bill Clinton meet up, because he thought it was inappropriate. Yet, that didn’t count for his meet up alone with Comey? When is everyone going stop treating this man as if he is somehow special just because he’s a nut job? He’s especially ignorant, that’s all.
June 12, 2017 at 11:39 am
Don’t know if any of you saw this, but I saw it live Sunday. As they say in the parlance, jaw meet floor. LOL
June 12, 2017 at 11:40 am
Remember when the Ethics Office was ready to help the Trump transistion team to be ready to take office and the Stumps turned them down? Now they are using the excuse that Stump just doesn’t know protocol. Gee, I wonder why.
June 12, 2017 at 11:40 am
Goodie, goodie. Let’s hope he doesn’t put the same ‘See no evil, hear no evil, say no evil’ act, as his buddies did last week,
—
Sessions will testify in open hearing Tuesday before Senate Intelligence Committee
I hope Dianne, Kamala and West really go after this Keebler Elf.
June 12, 2017 at 11:42 am
@1, thanks DYB. I agree, Comey should see a gastric doctor, it seems he has a very weak constitution. There really isn’t even a quarrel about the meeting. Lynch’s recounting of the meeting is almost word for word the same as Comey. I don’t know how anyone gets an argument out of that.
June 12, 2017 at 11:43 am
Did y’all see the clip of Bernie yelling again that Trump didn’t win, Democrats lost. How about that big grin on his face when the crowd roared their approval?
June 12, 2017 at 11:45 am
@3, thanks Shadow. Comey’s outrage just doesn’t seem commensurate with their cause. Doesn’t it seem like he is gagging at a gnat while trying to swallow a camel?
June 12, 2017 at 11:47 am
6 DYB
I think it’s about human decency vs a snake. I think Comey was afraid of Rump hurting his reputation and Hillary was easy prey with her always taking the high road in the campaign. Like she said, a woman can’t win by showing anger, while a dirty toad can get away with limitless bad behavior.
The old double standard, or in Hillary’s case…she had no effin’ chance no matter what she did. The Electoral College was fixed against her, I think these EC people were paid off.
June 12, 2017 at 11:49 am
@7, GAgal, ain’t that the truth! The only character trait that Dolt 45 exhibits is his venal mean streak. Can’t get much worse than being a mean stupid old man who barks at clouds.
June 12, 2017 at 11:54 am
@12, Bernie might be every bit as responsible for what is happening to the country right now as Dolt is. I was watching on twitter, but his deification might be wearing thin amongst the press — while he was going on and on during this speech, they started counting down how long he was speaking. He’s really showing the self-aggrandizing ego.
June 12, 2017 at 11:55 am
9 GAgal
IMO, it’s just another process of lowering the bar by the media to keep their ‘entertainment’ clown pulling in viewers.
The media doesn’t realize that trying to make him appear ‘normal’ goes against American values, and only the Fruitloops get off on it and let him shoot 23 million people in the street.
June 12, 2017 at 11:57 am
That orange orangutan is having a North Korean-esque type “dear Leader” cabinet meeting. He’s actually having each of the Cabinet members fluff him to his face. We can’t be too far from clapping/applause instructions.
June 12, 2017 at 12:14 pm
Yeah. What he said.
OK, you’ve probably guessed: Joe Biden wasn’t the subject of all those headlines. In fact, when the former vice president has made noises suggesting he still yearns to sit in the Oval Office, reporters treat it as at worst the understandable desires of a beloved uncle who may have lost a step or two, and at best a tantalizing possibility—despite the fact that Biden ran for president twice, and could barely have performed worse if he had punched out the mayors of Des Moines and Dixville Notch on national television.
No, the target of all that anger and contempt is Hillary Clinton, who has dared to be seen in public on a few occasions since last November, violating some unwritten rule that says that unsuccessful presidential candidates must never be heard from again.
Or to be more precise, it was a rule that didn’t exist until Hillary Clinton came along.
http://prospect.org/article/everybody-needs-stop-telling-hillary-clinton-shut
June 12, 2017 at 12:23 pm
@16 As I said awhile back – imagine if neither Bernie or Trump had run and stirred up all this anger and hate? Was this country really so angry before they showed up? I don’t think so.
June 12, 2017 at 12:32 pm
@12 Yes, Bernie and his Bros have been yelling all weekend at his White People’s Grievances Summit. Van Jones there actually said that white people are often used unfairly as a punching bag… Things that Van Jones says out loud in public…
Also, with Comey/Lynch matter vs. investigation… I saw headlines that Diane Feinstein is upset about this and thinks there should be an investigation into Lynch potentially trying to cover for Clinton. Diane Feinstein…
June 12, 2017 at 12:35 pm
I absolutely think Bernie is a huge huge part of where we are as a nation today. He was the 2016’s campaign original sin. And he’s still around, spewing nonsense. And has a lot of people in the media carrying water for him, people like Sirota and everyone at Young Turks. Plus as many bots as Trump seems to have on twitter.
June 12, 2017 at 12:54 pm
Today: @sarahkliff of Vox's The Weeds fame jumps on the pod to share the latest on Wealthcare. Want to stop it? These GOP staffers can help! pic.twitter.com/ITt2M4N1T1
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) June 12, 2017
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June 12, 2017 at 1:19 pm
The 9th Circuit, unanimously, whacked Trump’s peepee for the travel ban once again. Trump has now lost each time these immigration travel bans have faced review. This administration is one long continuous celebration of incompetence.
June 12, 2017 at 1:22 pm
Joe Biden wasn’t the subject of all those headlines.
GAgal, I thought you were going to say that the Russian’s hacked Ol’ Joe’s emails and were fake-speaking for him.
Joe, take another drink and go ride the train.
June 12, 2017 at 1:28 pm
“This administration is one long continuous celebration of incompetence.”
Now there’s a great bumpersticker.
You definately could sidejob on bumperstickers and coffee table ‘Top Snide Remarks’ magazines.
June 12, 2017 at 1:35 pm
Joe Biden was bashing Hillary at Mitt Romney’s conference this weekend.
June 12, 2017 at 1:36 pm
RE: Travel Ban strikeout comment on WaPo:
“Trump’s Presidential Library is going to be a bookmobile with displays of judicial slap downs and legal indictments.”
The next comment said the bookmobile would be powered by coal, bringing one more job back.
June 12, 2017 at 1:39 pm
Joe Biden was bashing Hillary at Mitt Romney’s conference this weekend.
—–
What the Hell was daffy Uncle Joe doing there in the first place? Joe wants so badly to be glorified, just like Bernie and Rump.
These men HATE that Hillary is loved and they are dismissed.
June 12, 2017 at 2:18 pm
Prolix, funny and hard-hitting post.
WTF does anyone think Sanders has any right to tell Democrats what to do? He’s not a Dem, he used the Dem party simply for his own convenience, broke a promise to stay a Dem, and has failed miserably at building up his own party. He’s a party of Bernie Sanders and no one else. He’s got no practical solutions, no pragmatic politics, no negotiation skills. But he’s got blather. He appeals to those who think it should be easy, and who are not deep thinkers. I hope they all scream themselves hoarse and deaf.
June 12, 2017 at 2:19 pm
Take a look at the graphic here if you haven’t yet seen it. Hideous. This is what we’re up against, while Sanders and Biden throw loud tantrums.
June 12, 2017 at 2:57 pm
34
That was good.
I wonder if they intended to leave the African American out of the conversation? Like Rump would?
June 12, 2017 at 3:04 pm
33 NW Luna
Shell ‘companies’ that can be tracked by looking at his taxes. This is why he is such a target for IRS audits every year and where he launders shady money from overseas.
June 12, 2017 at 3:49 pm
Across Russia, Protesters Heed Navalny’s Anti-Kremlin Rallying Cry
— Will Putin blame this on Hillary too?
June 12, 2017 at 4:10 pm
@32, thanks Luna. You are 100% correct, “Bernie is a party of Bernie and no one else.” He’s that singer who had a one-hit wonder and keeps wondering a year later, why isn’t everyone dancing to my tune? You are so right, Bernie is not a solution for heavy-thinkers — comic book hero for comic book readers.
June 12, 2017 at 4:14 pm
@33, that is the most awesome thing! Imagine how much more sophisticated FinCen’s stuff is. That is truly amazing stuff.
June 12, 2017 at 4:17 pm
@34, that is great trolling.
Here’s a question: Will the regular Joe and Jane Lunch Buckets be as turned-off as we are about this Cabinet “Dear Leader” meeting? I just don’t think people like sycophants and like them even less when they are caught doling out lick-spittle.
June 12, 2017 at 4:18 pm
Hillary will probably tweet out something about Putin (I hope those protesters don’t ‘disappear’) and Stump will tweet out how much his cabinet loves him.
June 12, 2017 at 4:27 pm
GAgal
One of the people that commented on the Putin protest said something like, “CIA’s revenge on Putin”.
June 12, 2017 at 4:53 pm
Secret Service says they have no audio recordings between Dump and anyone. Apparently SS would handle such a thing. So if recordings exist, they were done secretly.
June 12, 2017 at 5:16 pm
Prolix, love the post! Hubs sometimes saves those little things and tapes them up someplace in the kitchen for inspiration.
@1, DYB, well said!
June 12, 2017 at 5:21 pm
@5, love your comment and agree. He looks and sounds so ridiculous, like a giant pouty baby, when talking about Hillary and Lynch. And it definitely highlights his hypocrisy with regards to Hillary and Dump.
June 12, 2017 at 5:23 pm
I wonder if they intended to leave the African American out of the conversation? Like Rump would?
Of course they did. 
June 12, 2017 at 5:31 pm
Info on JeffBo’s testimony and hearing for Tuesday:
Time: 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Channels: CSPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News will be broadcasting the hearing live
Streaming: CSPAN will live stream the testimony at C-Span.org
June 12, 2017 at 5:36 pm
@21, Feinstein said that?!? How ridiculous. Shadow, sorry becuz I know you’re really fond of her, but I think she should retire. We have lots of great dems in our state who could take her seat. She has had an amazing career, and is a trailblazer. I always preferred Boxer to Feinstein, and Boxer has retired and Kamala is doing fine.
@22, yes, Bernie has done incalculable damage to the country. I keep praying that all of his dirty little secrets come out, but as you say, the press keep covering for him.
June 12, 2017 at 5:49 pm
49 socalAnnie
Gotta disagree on Dianne vs Boxer. Dianne was always loyal to Hillary and I think she is doing really well. Boxer chose Obama over Hillary.
June 12, 2017 at 5:49 pm
@25, LOL! Yay 9th Circuit!
@29, Am sooo sick of Biden & Bernie. They are both too old, too enamored of themselves, too destructive as they battle for attention. Eventually, the media will get as sick of them as we are, and start calling them out on their hypocritical pasts and ridiculous statements.
June 12, 2017 at 5:54 pm
The Long, Lonely Road of Chelsea Manning
Her disclosure of classified documents in 2010 ushered in the age of leaks. Now, freed from prison, she talks about why she did it — and the isolation that followed.
NYT – interesting story, kinda long.
June 12, 2017 at 5:59 pm
@37, That’s wonderful about the Russian protests, but so sad about Navalny. So brave of these people to take on Putin.
June 12, 2017 at 6:05 pm
If anyone can give me a reason why Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica is not up to their motherboards in all this Russia treason, please disabuse me of the impending doom and dread I feel. Reporters who write these stories conveniently leave out that the Mercers have an outstanding $6.0 Billion tax bill currently being disputed. Motive much?
June 12, 2017 at 6:05 pm
Navalny has really been an extraordinary leader of the Resistance in Russia. I don’t know how he keeps going; he takes so much abuse. And not just political, but physical. The threat to his safety and life is extraordinary high and he knows it.
June 12, 2017 at 6:08 pm
Did you all see the outrage over Shakespeare in the Park production of “Julius Caesar” in NYC? They show Caesar – who may or may not resemble Trump – being assassinated. Because, you know…he was and Shakespeare wrote the play a little while ago, but this is news to some people. Fox and right-wingers are livid. Now Delta and Bank of America have dropped their sponsorships of the annual festival. (In previous years Delta was a sponsor of a production of “Julius Caesar” in which Caesar resembled Obama…and was also killed and that was ok.)
June 12, 2017 at 6:09 pm
Yea the Mercers are evil, truly evil. If anyone could out-evil Kochs, the Mercers did. Why are there no liberal billionaires who pour their fortunes into politics like this? Soros gets accused of a lot, but he hasn’t done a quarter of what he’s accused of. (I never got my protesting invoice paid.)
June 12, 2017 at 6:28 pm
@50, I have no problem with us disagreeing on which of our senators we prefer. Nuthin’ wrong with that. They have both done our state proud. However, Boxer has always supported Hillary, and said so publicly many times in ’08 before that convention. She may have supported Obama after the convention, but all the dem pols did then, including Hillary. I just googled Barbara Boxer Hillary Clinton, and there are tons of posts about Boxers statements wholeheartedly supporting and endorsing Hillary, in both her presidential runs. Indeed, Boxer was one of the Democratic Women Senators who spoke about Hillary at the 2016 Convention (Feinstein wasn’t with them for some reason). I’m not criticizing Feinstein, just sticking up for Boxer, becuz not only did she help with the PAC that was started to get Hillary to run in ’08, but she gave several interviews, & I specifically remember one here in LA, where she endorsed Hillary over Obama.
June 12, 2017 at 6:30 pm
@59, DYB, yes I saw that! Unbelievable they would make a fuss over Shakespeare.
June 12, 2017 at 6:36 pm
I just noticed, in the first pic in this post, Dump looks like he has devils horns!
June 12, 2017 at 7:01 pm
Did you see Melania and poor Barron moved into the White House? At least NYC doesn’t have to keep paying for their safety here anymore.
June 12, 2017 at 8:08 pm
They are completely missing Shakespeare’s point. But what can you expect from a bunch of right-wing thinkers. If they’d taken any of those liberal-arts classes that they despise they would not be so frightened of Shakespeare.
June 12, 2017 at 8:13 pm
Speaking of Shakespeare, someone today pointed out that moment of everyone at the table in today’s cabinet meeting being asked by Trump to tell him how great he is… IS EXACTLY HOW KING LEAR BEGINS!
June 12, 2017 at 8:17 pm
@55 Prolix, I believe the Mercer’s and Cambridge Analytical is on Meulller’s radar precisely because they owe $6 billion in taxes.
June 12, 2017 at 8:40 pm
70, Bwhahaha!
Shakespeare will be banned from bookstores and libraries pretty soon. Or, judging from the GOP’s tactics, bookstore owners and librarians will be getting death threats. Fahrenheit 451.
I’m almost serious.
June 12, 2017 at 8:41 pm
Even the Republicans know Trump can’t be trusted on Russia. Shhh… Don’t tell Trump. He may sign it into law and never know it. Hope the drilling in the Arctic is sanctioned so Tillerson will be heartbroken. (but never broke)
The Senate has clinched a deal to exert power over President Trump when it comes to sanctions on Russia, according to a key senator involved in the talks.
Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said lawmakers have struck an agreement that includes allowing Congress to weigh in before Trump can lift current sanctions against Russia. He said staffers are now reviewing the legislative language.
June 12, 2017 at 9:25 pm
As of now, NBC plans to air an interview with Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones. Putin, Jones, who’s next?
June 12, 2017 at 9:56 pm
Re: Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones – I just someone re-tweeted Jones saying he wants Kelly to cancel the interview because his views on Sandy Hook are not accurately presented. Whatever that means.
I think next week Kelly will dig up Attilla the Hun and interview him.
June 12, 2017 at 10:45 pm
@73, this is out of control. Maybe we need a federal law that if a candidate has to drop out due to verifiable death threats, the other candidate has to withdraw also. That sounds extreme, but I haven’t heard of any rethugs having to drop out from death threats.
June 12, 2017 at 10:57 pm
Prolix: “Reporters who write these stories conveniently leave out that the Mercers have an outstanding $6.0 Billion tax bill currently being disputed.”
/*big shocked face*/
I did not know that. Now all that Mercer support makes a bit more sense. There’s a lot of that Slashdot/reddit/computer-nerd crowd who are frootloop libertarians with less than no understanding of how the actual world works. Even assuming Robert Mercer was like that (and he seems to be) that still didn’t explain why he’d be supporting a rotting pile of mango garbage like the Dump.
But if he’s got $6billion to gain by it, suddenly it all makes sense. Hillary can’t be bought and Dump can be scooped in just by telling him how gilt he is.
June 12, 2017 at 11:20 pm
@80, here’s a good article on the sophisticated scam the Mercers are running. The primary fund that the IRS is trying to levy upon is an employees only investment vehicle. It stinks to high heaven. Mercer is trying to appoint the next head of the IRS. The estimate of their disputed tax bill has gone up since I last read about this to $7.0 Billion.
The irony is this: Bannon, the pre-existing condition presently haunting the West Wing can piss and moan about the “little people” and “deconstructing the administrative state,” but the truth is simple — it is old fashioned greed. Pure and simple. Rich people wanting to hoard more billions so the little people have to pay more because the really, really rich don’t engage in such gauche practices like paying taxes.
Bannon and Kellyanne Conjob have both been Mercer suppositories for years. Although messy it seems like a great job. Conjob just bought a tony $7.0 Million house in D.C.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147454324.html
June 12, 2017 at 11:26 pm
@66 & 67, DYB, Fredster hit it on the head. The smelly stuff hits the fan.
Long and short of it, Dolt 45 can fire Mueller. The Special Counsel regulations were put in place after the Independent Counsel statute expired. So, Dolt can either:
1. Just rescind the Special Counsel regulations in total, thereby disappearing Mueller; or
2. Order Rosenstein to fire him. If he won’t, he can either fire Rosenstein and go down the list until he finds someone who will fire Mueller.
It would undoubtedly be a major go-to-pieces for the country, but Dolt 45 doesn’t care about that. He fears what is out there and any chance he could lose his “stuff” and he’ll do really crazy things.
June 12, 2017 at 11:40 pm
Navalny
This guy is a real hero for the Russian people. Taking on Putin is putting his life at risk.
June 13, 2017 at 12:03 am
One of these people will be testifying before the Senate tomorrow at 2:30 PM EDT.
June 13, 2017 at 12:44 am
@TrueFactsStated Mr. Sessions, are you in fact related to Smeagol, aka Gollum? Are you now or have you ever been in… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…—
Southern Libtard (@SouthernLibtard) June 12, 2017
June 13, 2017 at 2:02 am
@85, Omg! He really does look like her! What a burn for him! Or her?
June 13, 2017 at 2:04 am
@86, Luna, that one is funny also! And there is a resemblance, but I think he looks more like Granny. I can’t believe how much funny and bizarre stuff is on twitter every day.
June 13, 2017 at 3:46 am
Prolix @81. That article is a jawdropper.
You hear about Mercer dropping tens of millions on political campaigns and think, Wow. Big Spender. And then you realize that for him it’s lunch money, and a small price to pay to hang on to billions. Billions with a “b.”
And succeeding. As I said, jawdropping.
June 13, 2017 at 10:02 am
This is what Bharara is responding to. Sometimes it doesn’t include the other text and sometimes it does. I dunno!
https://twitter.com/JustinElliott/status/874606447891554304
June 13, 2017 at 10:09 am
If Trump Fires Mueller (Or Orders His Firing)
… I hope it is no more than wishful thinking or encouragement on the part of the Trump allies. Perhaps it is a giant troll. As I write this there is no way to tell. Nonetheless, in the hope that this proves to be an irrelevant exercise, I sketch below what I think would happen if Trump did, in fact, decide he wanted Mueller gone. There are legal issues as well as non-legal ones, which I consider in turn.
….
If the officers after Brand also resign, then an executive order on DOJ succession recently promulgated by Trump would control. (This barely noticed executive order would potentially assume great significance if Trump fires Mueller.)
https://lawfareblog.com/if-trump-fires-mueller-or-orders-his-firing
The executive order referred to in the article specifies:
a) United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia;
(b) United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and
(c) United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
June 13, 2017 at 10:55 am
Russian hack into election wider than previously thought (!). They got into systems of 39 states, including into voter databases.
June 13, 2017 at 1:05 pm
@97 Luna, I agree. At some point there really needs to be an understanding that it may have been more than just propaganda…
June 13, 2017 at 1:11 pm
Sounds like GOP is creating new rules for the media in Congress. Media is only allowed to speak to Senators in certain areas, never in the hallways. The media is flipping out. Democrats are saying they had nothing to do with it.
But of course, some in the media are like: “I hope Rs and Ds will be transparent.” And it’s like: “Uhm no asshole, it’s Republicans alone who did this.” Fuck these morons who keep going on with “They are the same.”
June 13, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Happy Tuesday!
Meet Cash. He hath acquired a stick. A very good stick tbh. 12/10 would pat head approvingly https://t.co/lZhtizkURD—
WeRateDogs™ 🏳️🌈 (@dog_rates) June 13, 2017
June 13, 2017 at 1:54 pm
I hope Sessions gets nailed and doesn’t please Executive Privilege bs.
June 13, 2017 at 3:06 pm
Sessions: Geography is fake news. Russia does not exist. I do not read. Anything. Ever. I’m a busy gnome. I’ve had to get an arse-kissing surrogate gnome and I’m due back to the White House momentarily to pucker and please. Now, leave me the hell alone or I will put on my confederate general uniform and have the Civil War re-enactors lay siege up in here.
June 13, 2017 at 3:11 pm
Sessions is not admitting to anything, hope the panel bursts Gollum’s bubble and put him on the ropes.
June 13, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Sounds like the Rethugs may only toss him puff balls and now that McCain’s wife will for for Rump…he isn’t going to lob any hard questions, IMO.
June 13, 2017 at 3:55 pm
Wyden is blasting the elf and the elf is losing his mind…what little he has.
June 13, 2017 at 4:08 pm
So Sessions admits he has to ask permission of Rump before he can answer any questions to the Congress or the public. Daddy Rump scares Sessions, that’s obvious.
June 13, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Either Sessions is a big fat liar or he shouldn’t hold any office because he conveniently can’t remember anything.
June 13, 2017 at 4:34 pm
Laker just told me the Golden State Warriors will not accept an invite to the White House, although Dump isn’t sure he will invite them. Laker says all of the NBA hate dump.
June 13, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Cotton and Rubio must have gotten full fluffings at the White House the other night. Cotton is a detestable lizard person. Rubio got the Cuba crackdown from Dolt 45. What did Cotton get?
June 13, 2017 at 4:40 pm
“Stop! Stop the goddamn plane! I need to speak with the president!” https://t.co/wp8kw2naUh
— Benjamin Hart (@realaxelfoley) June 13, 2017
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June 13, 2017 at 4:42 pm
Sessions: I don’t like to be rushed, it makes me nervous.
Kamala Harris has put the gnome on the BBQ spit and slowing turning him.
June 13, 2017 at 4:46 pm
Either Tom Cotton flat out lied about Ukraine platform at RNC or strengthening policy now defined by destroying it.
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) June 13, 2017
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June 13, 2017 at 5:08 pm
Burr gives big kisses and hugs to Sessions and his Daddy Rump.
June 13, 2017 at 5:10 pm
BREAKING
AP sources: Trump tells senators House health bill ‘mean’
This is some world-class grifting — do something I want done then blame the people doing it for having done it.
This is how it is working here: O’care is failing so House must pass something. They pass Trumpcare. Bus everyone to the White House. Have a beer party in the Rose Garden. Now, those ugly House members passed a “mean” Trumpcare bill. I didn’t want it. They are doing this to you.
June 13, 2017 at 5:10 pm
So, Sessions became the 4th monkey that hears, sees and tells no evil.
June 13, 2017 at 5:16 pm
"[Insert House GOPer] voted for a plan that raises costs & is opposed by AARP. Even Trump called it mean" -Dem challenger ad in red district
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) June 13, 2017
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June 13, 2017 at 5:18 pm
@127, spot on. I noticed when the Dems asked a question, he talked slowly and droned on and on to use up their time. Kamala wasn’t having it and kept interrupting him to answer her questions. Then Burr scolds her. Fucking douchebags. Then when it was the rethugs turn, they babbled on and on and sessions thanked them. What a farce.
June 13, 2017 at 5:20 pm
126 Prolix
BREAKING
AP sources: Trump tells senators House health bill ‘mean’
—
Good, I hope Rump keeps talking and angers all of the Rethugs before any vote.
June 13, 2017 at 5:26 pm
Is Angus King liberal? I noticed he’s “I” but went after the lying gnome.
June 13, 2017 at 5:43 pm
132 socalannie
King is an Independent. I think I read that he used to be a Dem.
June 13, 2017 at 8:06 pm
Uh… Whuuuut? The Dump stood up and said the “health” bill he ordered the House to pass is the fault of … the House? If they weren’t so mean, it would be a big bill, a beautiful bill, the best bill? (Total tangent: remember Fafblog? God, I miss Fafblog.)
Are you just trying to see how much I’ll believe? I mean, whuuuuuut?
June 13, 2017 at 8:09 pm
@134, quixote, alas, I’m not imaginative enough to make this stuff up.
https://apnews.com/b5383189b4dc4dea94890f13846c2639
June 13, 2017 at 8:28 pm
Thought experiment: What would Bilbo Bigot have said to Attorney General Eric Holder, a black man, if, when asked a question by Bilbo Bigot, AG Holder had said, “I don’t wanna answer because at some time in the future, don’t know if it will happen, but at some time down the road President Obama might invoke executive privilege.”
Just spit ballin’ here, but they would still be picking that little gnome’s skull fragments from the paneling due to his little pea-brained head exploding.
June 13, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Sessions refuses to tell Congress what POTUS told him on subjects so confidential that POTUS discussed them with the Russian ambassador?
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) June 14, 2017
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June 13, 2017 at 9:31 pm
@137, perfect capture of the bizarreness and the collusion (if not treason) of the Trump administration.
June 14, 2017 at 12:19 am
This is how the Rethuglicans reacted to a gauzy-claim of Executive Privilege Lite during the Obama years. Notice a difference?
WATCH what GOP did in the #Clinton investigation when witnesses refused to answer questions but didn’t assert exec. priv. #SessionsHearing pic.twitter.com/iehIepgSBW
— House OversightDems (@OversightDems) June 13, 2017
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June 14, 2017 at 12:57 am
Sadly I missed most of the hearing, had to work. So these summaries are great!
June 14, 2017 at 1:00 am
Prolix,
This is how the Rethuglicans reacted to a gauzy-claim of Executive Privilege Lite during the Obama years. Notice a difference?
—-
Absolutely. The Rethugs are good at shaming and the Dems seem to always give the person the benefit of the doubt and then get angry when it’s over.
I gotta agree, even to the point that I was disappointed when Hillary played too nice at the end of the campaign, while she was getting slammed by the FBI, the media, Rump, Bernie and his bros, alt-right, and the effin’ country of Russia and their little big mouth.
June 14, 2017 at 1:03 am
@142> OMG that made me want to throw something out of a window. Like Jason Chafe-ass.
June 14, 2017 at 3:51 am
“Go slow! You talk too fast and make me nervous (esp. when I”m lying).”
Or, “Heels on Wheels”. h/t to Prolix
Comments are closed.
The Widdershins 
June 12, 2017 at 10:56 am
Great post Prolix!
I also remain completely unconvinced by Comey’s explanations regarding Hillary and now Lynch. The “matter” vs. “investigation” angle, which he said made him “queasy” (he has a very weak constitution, it would seem) sounds silly. In fact, Lynch’s people responded (leaking anonymously, of course) they the subject came up in a meeting of several people and they were discussing how to address it since it is actual policy not to acknowledge investigations. Lynch asked everyone if they objected to using the term “matter” to minimize politicizing it since…policy. No one objected; Comey acknowledges he did not object, although he did not say in his testimony that this was a meeting of several people and Lynch was discussing options, not telling him what to do. (Though it’s possible there were multiple meetings about this, but Comey does not specify that.) And we know Comey violated DOJ and FBI policy by holding his press conference.
It also does not in any way, shape or form justify the October letter. His two doors – conceal or speak – analogy is preposterous nonsense.