At the risk of stating the obvious, the July 2019 US Politics Thread is horse-sh*t

i would think a man with such short fingers would steer as far clear of handicrafts as possible

I don't understand why this isn't getting more attention:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/why-were-moving-forward-impeachment/594931/

We have now filed a petition in court to obtain the grand-jury documents referenced in the special counsel’s report. In that filing, we have made clear that we will utilize our Article I powers to obtain the additional underlying evidence, as well as enforce subpoenas for key witness testimony, and broaden our investigations to include conflicts of interest and financial misconduct.

about fucking time

I don't understand why this isn't getting more attention

because our attention circuit-breakers have already flipped

and maggie haberman and chuck todd can only deal with what's directly in front of their faces

i know there's a cliche about losing cronkite, and that it's absolutely a different media era, but will no one of importance just come out and say what's obvious?

We have now filed a petition in court to obtain the grand-jury documents referenced in the special counsel’s report. In that filing, we have made clear that we will utilize our Article I powers to obtain the additional underlying evidence, as well as enforce subpoenas for key witness testimony, and broaden our investigations to include conflicts of interest and financial misconduct.

about fucking time

― Karl Malone, Sunday, July 28, 2019 5:43 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I guess by their estimation they had to wait until Mueller had testified before they took further action.
Some stuff got confirmed in that hearing but probably very little to the mythical man in the street and certainly not to the mediated customer.
But this should already be underway and should have been from the moment that the Dems could use authority to do so.
Would just seem to add to the stereotype of them being utterly wishy washy not to have this ready to run as soon as they could and not put faith in the hero on a white horse that Mueller never saw himself as. & I really wonder what level of obligation he had to feel constrained by the DOJ ruling that came down the night before the testimony. Seeemed like something he could have just ignored as easily but he'd have to have the volition to do so.
& I'm kind of surprised that somebody who had put in the work of the last couple of years wouldn't feel a wish to elucidate his findings. But I'm not that familiar with Mueller beyond the last couple of years. Sounds like that might be contrary to his character unfortunately.

Mueller strikes me as the type who has extremely sharply defined ideas of duty, right and wrong, which ideas include extreme deference to 'duly constituted authority', as it is constituted through laws, courts and legal opinions, or legally defined chains of command. All his actions have been above reproach, according to this strict, legalistic worldview, and absolutely no one's political interests were served by his investigation or report, which is an amazing feat akin to performing surgery on fleas.

Echo chamber coming

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/28/director-of-national-intelligence-dan-coats-is-expected-to-step-down-nyt.html

Tuck Choad more like

great burn by...Al Sharpton??

"If Donald Trump really thinks I'm a con man, he'd nominate me for his cabinet. But he doesn't believe that" - Al Sharpton

— Politics1.com (@Politics1com) July 29, 2019

i can think of at least one other reason that trump wouldn't nominate sharpton

lmao imagine literally any other elected official saying something like this

Just before signing the 9/11 victims compensation bill, Trump jokes with the first responders and their families that the stage may not hold all of them but that if it collapses they "are not falling very far" pic.twitter.com/h9qY3C7iHK

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 29, 2019

if the stage collapses i'm sure thousands of muslims will be celebrating in new jersey

toxic standard of shameless

During a signing ceremony for the 9/11 victim compensation fund bill, President Donald Trump — speaking to an audience filled with first responders — made reference his time “down there” at Ground Zero.

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden Monday morning, the president discussed his time at the site of the attacks. “I was down there also,” Trump said. “But I’m not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.”

This claim, however, has never been corroborated. And according to Snopes, Ground Zero was on lockdown by Sept. 15, and a government-issued ID badge was required to access the site.

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-oddly-boasts-about-his-time-down-there-during-9-11-but-im-not-considering-myself-a-first-responder/

by "down there" he means the financial district, and "with you" means he saw a lot of cops and firefighters as his car shuttled him through

So this new intel director

We're back to the craziness of Trump year one

it's been crazy the entire time, we've just acclimated (to a degree)

Yeah, I probe the cyanide capsule implanted in my gums a little less frequently these days but I never forget that it's there.

Josh Gottheimer is getting a primary challenge, which is good 'cause he's a piece of shit (Problem Solvers Caucus, my ass).

lmao imagine literally any other elected official saying something like this

Just before signing the 9/11 victims compensation bill, Trump jokes with the first responders and their families that the stage may not hold all of them but that if it collapses they "are not falling very far" pic.twitter.com/h9qY3C7iHK
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 29, 2019
― frogbs, Monday, July 29, 2019 11:27 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm not watching the clip but my inclination is that this wasn't meant to be a joke, simply because I actually don't think Trump is clever enough to make a joke like this, as terrifyingly low of a bar as that is.

CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES, THIS IS MY LAST RESORT 🎶 https://t.co/AJI0fDRovw

— Papa Roach (@paparoach) July 29, 2019

Man, when PAPA ROACH dunks on you...

pic.twitter.com/s3eVhtbPLi

— Guy1749 (@guy1749) July 29, 2019

at the risk of stating the obvious

starting to think this dersh guy might be problematic tbh

Anyone made it through the New Yorker thing about him yet?

preach it, sister
https://missionlocal.org/2019/07/san-francisco-supervisor-hillary-ronen-confronts-sen-ted-cruz-over-border-camps/

that seems highly cathartic

i read the new yorker piece. what a shocker that an entitled douchebag turned people feeling uncomfortable about his horndogging into a crusade against “political correctness.”

Cruz, dressed in a golf outfit, argued that Barack Obama built the cages in which migrants and children are being kept.

So...the one Obama thing they <don't> want to roll back?

read the dersh story; he's a lot like trump, but without the %35 of americans who think he can do no wrong

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-rand-paul-offers-rep-105846766.html

"I'm not saying we forcibly send her anywhere," Paul said in an interview last week with Breitbart News, a conservative-leaning outlet. "I’m willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia. I think she can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia."

The Kentucky Republican then criticized the East African country for having "no capitalism" or "God-given rights" under in a constitution. He said Omar "might come back and appreciate America more" after visiting Somalia.

An Omar spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

god how great it must have felt to beat this dude's ass

I just spent five minutes on Doug Henwood's Twitter feed. He's not very bright, is he?

jfc Rand Paul let he who is not from fkn Kentucky cast the first somalisplain

xp tbf if I spend more than four minutes on anybody’s Twitter I usually come to that conclusion 🥁😐

The "not very bright" post or the "beat this dude's ass" post?

u mean compared to yr faves on The Corner, Alfred?

Yes. Beware of middle aged white men with radio shows.

love em to death, esp vs bloggers

Sharpton is a con man, so game recog game

stop the ride I want to get off

President Trump is proud to announce the nomination of National Security Adviser John Bolton for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for his tremendous efforts in bringing peace to Iran, Venezuela and Israel. @AmbJohnBolton @realDonaldTrump @NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/6aEjK7h0M5

— White House Press (@OfficialWHPress) July 28, 2019

Tom Lehrer is still alive, what can he give up this time?

good luck to john, he deserves it

wait a sec that's a parody account

god damnit it's so hard to tell these days

i stand by my previous statement

I could nominate Dr Morbius for the Nobel Peace Prize, probably stands as much of a chance as John Bolton.

I think the distinction between truth and parody was obliterated some time ago, so your confusion is understandable.

in a world where obama has a peace prize who are we to say that john bolton doesn't deserve one too

When asked about a Washington Post columnist “calling Mitch McConnell a Russian asset,” the president replied “I think the Washington Post is a Russian asset.”

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 30, 2019

He's literally reduced to "I know you are but what am I" at this point.

He also claims to have received emails, calls and letters from people in Baltimore who support him, but of course none of the assembled reporters asked him to produce one of these letters.