US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

also: very sad time for him, remember he said he was innocent

unsurprisingly, no mention of the ex-wives

Wait, that's not a joke?

NEW: President Trump says former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter is "innocent and I think you have to remember that ... we absolutely wish him well." Porter resigned from his role amid allegations of abuse https://t.co/qVQ3I3Yo8t pic.twitter.com/MikaC2ZaBA

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 9, 2018

^ i don't believe that's correct, he said "he said he was innocent" not that it makes any difference

true, which i imagine is why that tweet's been deleted

ah

I think that, in ordinary times, I'd characterize the whole Porter affair as a sign of moral turpitude. (Antique phrase.) But today, I'm inclined to shrug -- which I know is wrong. Deviancy has been defined down, down.

— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) February 9, 2018

Oh Jay, whither your standards.

aw pep up jay, i'm sure your sense of morality will return as soon as it's politically convenient

actually might as well tweet that at him, i'm back on twitter, that's what it's for

go for it!

~democracy in action~

(Democratic) party needs young blood, they need attack dogs

otmfm. this is a wide-open opportunity for some savvy politicians. and some superficial opportunists, too. but that is just part of the game and you have to expect it.

hey, if any of you ever hear about someone that is deported and is not a criminal, please let me know.

Possibly relevant in the future? -- http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/trump-may-try-to-deport-legal-immigrants-who-get-benefits.html

Ah, of course

YOU CAN'T SEE IT ON CAMERA, BUT ...

Our producer says John Kelly and Hope Hicks were in the Oval Office for this moment -- https://t.co/EAdySAvTbj

— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) February 9, 2018

Guys, I really think we should give the benefit of the doubt when a white male (and only a white male) proclaims his innocence.

given the President's statement you wouldn't even know a woman was involved

hey, if any of you ever hear about someone that is deported and is not a criminal, please let me know. there is a very close family member that has pledged to apologize to me if she ever finds out that someone was deported that isn't a criminal. trump only cares about deporting the criminals, he doesn't want to deport the non-criminals (says she)

― Karl Malone, Friday, February 9, 2018 11:03 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dunno how serious you are here but my friend is an immigration lawyer and could provide more than a few

im also (hopefully) gonna be testifying at some hearings and if they don't work out I'll let you know

Light Friday News: http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/2132798/donald-trump-and-kim-jong-un-impersonators-thrown-out-winter-olympics

White House was gonna release the Democratic rep Schiff memo today I thought (the response to Nunes one); now they're saying "soon"

apparently kelly has offered to resign. there is more to this.

You mean beyond months of reports that Trump and his kids don't like him?

Abt the Dem memo, I think the five days run out tomorrow. My understanding is that the WH does not release it but declines to prevent its release (?) after which it's back in the hands of the House

Saw some report about the WH choosing instead to release ... a letter?

We opened it up and etc.

Some wingnut conspiracy types grumbling on twitter that Democrat memo has too many footnotes (and that the text in the footnotes will endanger national security)!

You mean beyond months of reports that Trump and his kids don't like him?

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, February 9, 2018 4:36 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

maybe that's it. but my money is on more background check stuff he's been sitting on.

Really looking forward to Kelly being described as "a minor Executive Branch functionary - he brought us coffee once or twice."

Friday news dump twist!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/rachel-brand-justice-department.html

This is not necessarily bad news. Brand is a graduate of Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason, not sure who they might find right of her.

Wonder if she knows the position she was about to be put in and got cold feet

Yeah, kinda my take.

Well, the Solicitor General is next in line, Trump appointee and Heritage Foundation favorite who clerked for Scalia. Ugly stuff here:

https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1202798444611/?slreturn=20180109171119

post-truth

It is hard for any of us to know much about the world firsthand, and that’s particularly true of the political world. We must decide whom to trust. And we make those decisions based in part on our party affiliation, our ideology, the people we admire and the groups we belong to.

What that means is there is no final arbiter in the public debate, no reliable vehicle through which confusion is corrected, through which arguments are scored and judgments rendered. And so much of the war is over whom to trust, and in that, Republicans are making real gains. A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll found that only 38 percent of Republicans now approve of the FBI — a staggering drop in trust that will help the Trump administration withstand revelations that emerge in part out of FBI investigations.

This is the logic of alternative facts, which is a strategy of base mobilization rather than persuasion. You don’t need to win the argument. You don’t need to even have the facts. All you need is to offer your side an alternative story in which to believe, a story that makes you sound trustworthy and your enemies untrustworthy. And over the past week, Fox News and Donald Trump have done exactly that.

Useful cover if so

**BREAKING**
Fox News can confirm Rachel Brand is stepping down as Associate Attorney General, the number 3 position at the DOJ. A friend of Brand’s says Rachel was, “not looking to leave,” but was approached by a Fortune 500 company with a “dream job.” #FoxNews

— Jake Gibson (@JakeBGibson) February 9, 2018

dang, she was going to have a chance to oversee the mueller investigation if she just could have hung around another couple months, she must be so disappointed about having to miss that

hiyo

🚨 Exclusive by James Risen: U.S. secretly negotiated with Russians to buy stolen NSA documents — and the Russians offered Trump-related material, too https://t.co/cdW4OyFbCs

— David S. Joachim (@davidjoachim) February 9, 2018

KY Trump campaign head pleading guilty to multiple counts of sex trafficking.

Not sure if this Thursday item was mentioned here:

https://www.courthousenews.com/senate-panel-approves-engelhardt-for-5th-circuit-three-others/

4 folks got approved by the Senate Judiciary committee for dreamjobs as district or circuit judges in the federal court system

One was involved in the Bush era torture memos but wouldn't discuss his role

One for a circuit level appeals position despite some senators’ concerns about rulings he handed down in favor of employers in sexual harassment and discrimination cases

One who said in handling a case that: evolution “isn’t proven fact” and that schools should allow students to provide different perspectives

Turning into a busy day here

Deputy chief of staff Jim Carroll is leaving the West Wing, as first reported by CNN.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 9, 2018

Scoop: Deputy CoS Jim Carroll expected to leave West Wing & will be announced as early as today as drug czar nominee. Departure will leave another hole in senior WH ranks, with news coming days after Porter's resignation https://t.co/rO6rIt7VYQ

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) February 9, 2018

He was also supposed to be Kelly’s deputy replacing Nielsen, but that didn’t work out https://t.co/5ACl3KUldC

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 9, 2018

people who died

i was tryin to get too fancy with that joke

Brand leaving to become Global governance director at Walmart, whatever that job is. That's her dream job, that thing that she couldn't resist?

Pay enough bank, sure.

Global governance director at Walmart, whatever that job is.

i think that's the one where you deal with all the lawsuits in other countries that your company is exploiting

That Intercept story is essentially impenetrable. It's interesting, but there's no way to tell who's doing what and why, or what may or may be in any supposed files. I respect James Risen as a reporter, so I imagine he knows a lot more than what's in that story (but he doesn't have enough verification to publish right now). But as written, it could be important or it could be totally meaningless.

FYI from upthread: George Mason's law school was only recently renamed. I know graduates of it who were decidedly NOT down with it being named for Scalia. So it's not like every GMU law grad said "Scalia! I like the sound of that!" It's not Bob Jones University or Liberty.

ok gotcha. Anyway Brand is big in Federalist Society and worked under Alberto Gonzalez, will be right at home w/ the Waltons

Another out. David Sorensen, speechwriter.

A second White House aide has resigned amid past domestic abuse allegations, which he denies https://t.co/sehSn0jDss

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 10, 2018