US Politics May 2019: " If I was burned at the stake, I would ask for a mirror"

House Ways and Means Committee subpoenas Steve Mnunchin over Trump's taxes.

Steve Mnuchin already sadly with the state of his sub poenas

damn, i can't even form a poenas joek properly

tgif

Time to dig up the 10,000 quotes from Republican senators and representatives deploring "the imperial presidency" and extolling the oversight functions of Congress. You could make a one hour supercut of the highlights.

of course, one effect of their constant obama-era complaints is that now that the democrats are making similar claims, the whole thing comes off to the general public as more partisan bickering - this is just a thing that happens in politics now, the opposing party claims that the president and his administration are corrupt and that the only reasonable reaction is to try to grind what they're doing to a halt. 'republicans had #benghazi, now democrats have russiagate, it's all the same', etc

in other words, it's in the GOP's interest to be outraged over bullshit when they're the minority party, because that way when Democrats are outraged over ACTUAL THINGS when they're the minority party, it all starts to seem the same to an outside observer

i agree - i think it is part of this ongoing, multifaceted, almost rhizomatic nonsensical-ization of public life which has the effect of allowing those in power to perpetuate it

just thinking as these subpeonas roll out and are ignored, DNC and the candidates as a chorus should bleat away from here to Nov 2020 a simple refrain w the same frequency and volume as "No Collusion"

WHAT IS THE PRESIDENT HIDING?

over and again ad nauseum. It's dumb but simply demanding the taxes is a rhetorical dead end, it fails to frame GOP's concealment as a tacit admission that something is dirty there

yeah but qualmsey did it

I think he got burnt out because it wasn't working

All these subpoenas just underscore how boneheaded it was for Mueller and his team not to subpoena Trump. Because, what, they were worried it was going to take too long? Boo hoo. They didn't do it and because of their decision report offered no closure, so here we are more or less back where we started.

can't the supreme court just unilaterally impeach trump, for "closure"? i mean they unilaterally made george w bush president because of the dangers of uncertainty or whatever. oh... right

Looks like Mueller is also not planning to show up to his hearing next week

Possibly blocked by DOJ

Trump told POLITICO on Friday that it would be “appropriate” for him to speak to Attorney General Bill Barr about launching an investigation into his potential 2020 rival, Joe Bidenhttps://t.co/f3FGEBoRA4

— POLITICO (@politico) May 11, 2019

cool

can't wait for Dems to strongly condemn this and then fully cooperate with the investigation without even being asked

The question of whether Trump could pressure Barr to probe Biden is coming under scrutiny after Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, said he would be traveling to Ukraine to urge the incoming government there to look at Hunter Biden’s involvement with a Ukrainian energy company that has reportedly been in prosecutors’ crosshairs. The efforts appear to be part of a broader campaign by Trump’s allies to damage the former Democratic vice president’s White House campaign and have raised questions about whether Trump’s team is trying to enlist a foreign government to aid the president’s re-election bid.

questions

lol why wouldn't you if you were him

one tv star is using rudy giuliani, the greatest mind of the 20th and 21st century, to ask another tv star for a favor

Hunter Biden being hired to ‘work’ for Burisma was clearly an attempt to influence Joe - and reflects badly on all involved - but there is no indication that it worked. Biden sr pressured the Ukrainian government into sacking an anti-corruption prosecutor who had absolutely no interest in prosecuting anyone for corruption, least of all Burisma.

He might have a bit more luck with the other strand - potential election interference by the Ukrainian government / security services.

It doesn’t sound like Zelenskiy is going to meet Giuliani personally, though, and he seems smart enough to not want to bet the house on Trump getting re-elected,

lol, trip cancelled, Giuliani calling the new Ukrainian government ‘enemies of the President”. That went well.

also just changed his mind about being gray, has black hair now, not a weird guy at all

what a coincidence that he just so happens to single out the only Muslim congresswomen over and over

Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust. She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

can y'all imagine?

Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?

Nothing. As usual.

Yes, Mr. Trump, I believe my powers of observation wrt things that have already occurred many times over are such that I can imagine what would happen if you expressed the anti-Semitism you're attributing to Rep. Tlaib.

Looking forward to 2020 where dems are running on expanding medicare and tax advantaged job training savings accounts and the gop running on sliming the dems for cheering on the holocaust and practicing infanticide

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/14/steve-bannon-white-house-fbi-trump-meeting

good morning!

umm, this alabama abortion ban? jesus christ

yes fuck this world

Aggressive abortion laws, increased sabre rattling toward Iran, economy teetering under the weight of pointless tariffs. Things are getting real dark, real quick.

garnish with constitutional crisis

Yeah, there's this element to Barr and Trump stonewalling and bringing legal challenges to subpoenas, where commentators will insist there's no legal standing to their positions, but we are clearly in a world where the courts are stacked, and a purely political ruling that goes directly against all constitutional precedents is absolutely a possibility.

The goal is to shut down all the standard legal functions of government as a means to consolidate political power forever, and we are already well down that path.

yup

The US federal government asked the governor of Florida to sign a contract not to disclose which counties had been attacked by Russia https://t.co/E6WX4du9ZK pic.twitter.com/5aPcTPKyqA

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 14, 2019

Folks,

PBS: A cartoon aardvark's teacher just married his husband

Gorka: We are living during the Reign of Terror https://t.co/Mhohjzxwq5 pic.twitter.com/ghikpfYcZK

— Matt Ford (@fordm) May 15, 2019

I had no idea Arthur was an aardvark

I had no idea Arthur was still on TV

pale imitation of the Falwell/Tinky Winky controversy

bringing cartoons to life always seems to be one of those medical advances that is ten years away

https://www.rt.com/usa/459344-arthur-gay-marriage-pbs/

well done with that first tweet guys

Quite useful btw

Thread alert!

Hopping mad about dwindling abortion access? Welcome, we've been waiting for you.

Here are some ways you can show up today in your state -- please settle in for the long haul. We need you now, and we need you for the weeks, months, and years to come.

— Steph Herold (@StephHerold) May 15, 2019

Minnesota has a HOTDISH MILITIA and I am in lurve.

During Wednesday’s 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson said that the Alabama legislature has “gone too far,” in its proposed ban on abortion. Robertson is not faulting the state for its attempt to prevent abortions saying “God bless them,” but says its ban could be successfully challenged.

“It’s an extreme law and they want to challenge Roe vs. Wade but my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one will lose,” he said.

“The Alabama case, God bless them, they’re trying to do something, but I don’t think that’s the case that I’d want to bring to the Supreme Court,” he later reiterated.

The abortion law that’s too extreme for Pat Robertson. Holy shit

Seems more for strategic reasons though

I’m glad mr. ratburn has found happiness. He was alsays a caring if stern teacher but there was a palpable sadness to him too. That’s hopefully over now.

From what i remember. I watched a lot of tv as a kid.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/william-barr-to-pelosi-did-you-bring-your-handcuffs

ha ha ha ha. ha ha ha. ha ha.

Fuck these peope sideways.