US Politics, June 2018: This is a total goat rodeo.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/390784-mcconnell-cancels-senates-august-recess

“Due to the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president’s nominees, and the goal of passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year, the August recess has been canceled," McConnell said in a statement.

Turtle gonna Turtle

very canny of him to say "historic" rather than "unprecedented". hell, everything the Senate does goes into the historic record, so when they pass a resolution announcing that ice cream tastes good, it is "historic".

um

Letter from @LindseyGrahamSC to Dep AG Rosenstein:
1) Are you a witness in Mueller’s Investigation?
2) If not, why not?
3) If so, should you recuse yourself? pic.twitter.com/ni3rvov4dG

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) June 5, 2018

1) Are you a member of the Republican party?
2) If so, are you currently on fire?
3) If not, should you immolate yourself?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9e/ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmC%2BC.jpg/220px-ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmC%2BC.jpg

I truly don't understand what Graham is trying to accomplish there, or why.

He is known to have no Trumpophilia. He's not even up for reelection this time; even if he's trying to avoid a challenge from the right no one will remember this stunt in 2020.

Is the DOJ's internal integrity his "ethics in gaming journalism"?

First, "if not, why not" is a question for Mueller to answer, not Rosenstein.

Next, the big difference between Sessions and Rosenstein is that Sessions was a member of the campaign who met with Russian officials numerous times during the period under investigation and who could conceivably become a subject of the investigation, while Rosenstein was a witness to various words and actions during events of interest to the investigators, but only incidentally, just as anyone might witness a car accident without having any connection to the drivers of the vehicles, and the police might take a statement from them without their being under suspicion.

Is the idea to tar everything so that supposedly there is no such thing as an objective witness. Try to make sure taht anybody who can be thought to have seen anything is enmired in a way that they would incriminate themselves,?

we are all potential witnesses in the Mueller investigation

I've seen some things.

maybe Graham thinks he can convince Trump to invade North Korea like he keeps saying he wants him to do if he has his back on this.

Most likely some hotshot on Graham's staff dreamed up this stunt and Lindsey thought it was clever enough to gain some attention and get him talked about approvingly by FOX News, conservative radio talk hosts, and retirees in feed caps. So, he had the letter written, read it, and signed his name to it.

thanks Aimless - not least for "retirees in feed caps."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-asks-appeals-court-to-restore-his-power-to-block-critics-on-twitter

uses his time and leverage wisely, this guy

His butt, it hurts.

The Washington Post reports:

Three months after Scott Pruitt was sworn in as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, his executive scheduler emailed Dan Cathy, chairman and president of the fast food company Chick-fil-A, with an unusual request: Would Cathy meet with Pruitt to discuss “a potential business opportunity”?

A call was arranged, then canceled, and Pruitt eventually spoke with someone from the company’s legal department. Only then did he reveal the “opportunity” on his mind was a job for his wife, Marlyn. “The subject of that phone call was an expression of interest in his wife becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee,” company representative Carrie Kurlander told The Washington Post via email.

Marlyn Pruitt never opened a restaurant. “Administrator Pruitt’s wife started, but did not complete, the Chick-fil-A franchisee application,” Kurlander said. But the revelation that Pruitt used his official position and EPA staff to try to line up work for his wife appears to open a new chapter in the ongoing saga of his questionable spending and management decisions, which so far have spawned a dozen federal probes.

Pruitt is like the guy who always tries to talk the cashier into letting him use her employee discount.

If you keep having to say it...

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/05/sarah-huckabee-sanders-im-an-honest-person-625914

lmao "America hour" at the White House lasted all of 7 minutes

Next, the big difference between Sessions and Rosenstein is that Sessions was a member of the campaign who met with Russian officials numerous times during the period under investigation and who could conceivably become a subject of the investigation, while Rosenstein was a witness to various words and actions during events of interest to the investigators, but only incidentally, just as anyone might witness a car accident without having any connection to the drivers of the vehicles, and the police might take a statement from them without their being under suspicion.

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, June 5, 2018 7:04 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

rosenstein is a witness, imo. he wrote that bullshit ass letter blaming comey's handling of hillary's case as pretext to fire him.

Trump unable to remember words to "God Bless America" at replacement event he commissioned to prove his patriotism: https://t.co/LrMPaCEnen pic.twitter.com/oCcWMX9g39

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) June 5, 2018

Who gives a swift shit

(no shade carne)

lol no doubt

trump has tony clifton mannerisms all through that god bless america video

As was said on Twitter, surely he's the chief negotiator.

Report: Dennis Rodman is going to Singapore for the summit https://t.co/dSOO0x9liV

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) June 5, 2018

Donald Trump forgetting the words to "God Bless America" during the 7-minute "America Hour" that he had to schedule because an entire football team snubbed him seems like a scene that's going to be played in many future documentaries about the fall of the USA

looks like this is gonna happen
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/05/filemon-vela-vicente-gonzalez-democrats-daca-discharge-624869

xp It's cheap irony, good for a momentary amusement. Now, if he'd forgotten to wear his American flag lapel pin, I'm sure conservatives everywhere would be blasting him for his lack of patriotism, but this is entirely different.

lmao "America hour" at the White House lasted all of 7 minutes

apparently there's a new round of deficit hype going on

as a general rule if you hear someone talking about politics and, within 5 mins, it’s not clear what their ideology is they’re selling you one or all of 3 things, all of which are things only billionaires want:

—gutting social security
—gutting Medicare
—charter schools

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) June 5, 2018

From four years back, of course.

Dennis Rodman was either drunk or on drugs (delusional) when he said I wanted to go to North Korea with him. Glad I fired him on Apprentice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2014

lmao everything that's going to happen from now until the end of his presidency is buried somewhere in his tweets from 2010 to 2014

That McCain mocker from a few weeks back has been 86d

Kelly Sadler is out https://t.co/Aeq4a2XERK

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) June 5, 2018

The sad, beautiful young lives lost because of the partisan WITCH HU... oh, wait

Keith Ellison leaving Congress to run for MN attorney general, WTF?

Stepping stone to presidential run

If you're a D attorney general right now, elected or otherwise, you can get a lot of positive attention by suing the present presidential administration. Bob Ferguson in WA has sued the admin like 17 times already.

Ilhan Omar, who I loooove, running for MN5.

About right

Bewildered White House Press Watches Dueling Huckabee Sanderses Each Claim She The Only One Telling Truth https://t.co/lOYFUpVlNJ pic.twitter.com/QTIFndoO9e

— The Onion (@TheOnion) June 5, 2018

Meanwhile, one of the funniest things out there is Jonah Goldberg and Seb Gorka endlessly insulting each other on Twitter for months now.

Seems about right

pic.twitter.com/JjaCcdiAXl

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) June 6, 2018

tucker really has that facial expression down pat

This is the best thing all year coming from a Sarah Sanders Press Conference.

A WH reporter for Playboy, @BrianKarem yells out "What color is the sky in the President's world?"

This guy deserves a raise!! pic.twitter.com/TLdWRAAGL6

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 5, 2018

Real troll would have asked the question outright instead of shouting it as she walked away but sure

In summary:

pic.twitter.com/ZPQ3K2mNM2

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) June 6, 2018

should've voted for Jill Stein:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has canceled the Senate’s normal month-long August recess, with a promise to push through the confirmations of more of President Trump’s nominees.

“Due to the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president’s nominees, and the goal of passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year, the August recess has been canceled. Senators should expect to remain in session in August to pass legislation, including appropriations bills, and to make additional progress on the president’s nominees,” McConnell said in a statement.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mcconnell-cancels-august-senate-recess-to-push-through-more-trump-appointees

and a move to make it difficult for democrats to campaign in their districts for the midterms

*states