Let's keep the focus on the congressional Republicans. Each one is personally responsible for everything Trump says and does, and for all the crimes that ICE commits. Reporters should ask each of them how they justify allowing the things Trump says and does and the crimes ICE commits. Reporters might also ask them how they justify allowing Trump's murders of 115 people in boats, his invasion of Venezuela and murder of 80 people there, and his killing 600,000 people (as of November 9) who depended on the USAID funds that Trump illegally impounded with congressional Republicans' approval.
I have to agree with you, even though I liked what he said on the day after the riot attack. But it was that close. He could have saved us and now he knows that.
Impeachment and conviction would have prevented the demented toddler from running again and McConnell knew that. Weighed against the fact that no argument for not convicting existed, it is fair to assume that he wanted Trump to be president again and that his statement was a lie.
He disingenuously said he believed that Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution only allowed for the impeachment of current presidents, vice presidents, and civil officers. And added gratuitously that the justice system, the highest court in which he rigged, should be the place to hold Demento accountable. Multiple chins AND faces.
Whatever provision McConnell cited, Article I, section 3 is more relevant. It provides, "The Senate shall have sole Power to try all Impeachments," and that "Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold" any federal office. Article II, section 4 provides only that officials who are impeached and convicted shall be removed from office.
But nothing in the Constitution states that an official who is impeached while still in office, as Trump was, cannot be convicted when he is out of office. It would make no sense to not allow conviction when he is out of office, because conviction not only removes the official from office, but disqualifies him from holding future office. "Disingenuously" is not harsh enough. It means "lied," but it's better to say explicitly that he lied, because he did not believe what he said. He said it so that other Republican senators could claim to have an excuse not to vote to convict. I'd call McConnell a disgusting worm, but I don't want to insult disgusting worms. None of them has ever stacked the Supreme Court or allowed a criminal to run for president.
My thinking after January 6 was that Trump convinced many Republican leaders that he had given up and he would "fade away." Or he used threat to pull them back into line or even both were factors. Who knows? Certainly not me. But at a distance it looked like something happened.
Not that it really helps us now , but I think we have to keep harping on his prominent role in this debacle—both in stacking the court and his vote on impeachment—just so at least he goes down in history for what he is. His is a name future schoolchildren should all learn and when they list the causes of authoritarianism’s rise.
He also started the shift in the Supreme Court when he refused to hold confirmation hearings for Obama’s pick because there was less than a year of his term left.
Yes, it's hard to know which of McConnell's decisions have been and ultimately will be the worst for America. Also, Thune could be doing something positive to protect America from Trump and he's not. A lot of people are responsible for the mess we are in.
And this is my opportunity to present a new name for the House Speaker: "Little Boy Johnson." And after a while I realized my mind crafted it after LBJ and it is in contrast to the machine that Johnson and Rayburn made of Congress. They ruled. Now? They act like renters.
I think I'll be shaking my head for the rest of my life that seven Dems voted with the GOP yesterday on the DHS funding. Whatever 2D triangulation they may have had in mind simply does not make sense in the three-dimensional world we actually live in.
Every congressional Republican and those seven Democrats deserve to have ICE assault, kidnap, and imprison them. It's entirely possible that ICE would do that, as they refuse to listen to claims that their victims are U.S. citizens or to look at proof of it when it is offered. If that happens, then things might change. I don't expect them to otherwise.
ICE has already broken the 4th Amendment. That means nobody is safe, anywhere. Not Congress, not you or I, not even SCOTUS, frankly. This country used to have such promise. Now we are shoveling money to a pack of goons who are having daily street parties with deadly force and chemical weapons. Insane.
Never really had the bandwidth for hate. Maybe it required too much effort. Oh, I could get up an irritation or two or be momentarily pissed off, but never true, deep down visceral hate. I have it now. Embarrassed? If only.
I completely agree and was just yesterday discussing this very thing. Up until now, even with ample justification, I have declined to harbor hate because I consider it terribly damaging to anyone's spirit and psyche. However, yesterday it dawned on me that I do hate this man and everything he says and stands for. Not sure what tipped me over the edge. Anger and hate are powerful animating forces and I'm looking for the right place to put these energies. The resistance is somewhat fragmented right now so I'm finding this difficult to figure out.
I don't hate him, because he is deranged and can't help himself. He's not worth hating; I think that you have to take someone seriously to hate him (which is not to be confused with hating everything he says and does).
Rather, I hate his sycophants who know what they are doing and could help themselves, if they wished to, namely Vance, members of his cabinet, every Republican in Congress (except a few who are as deranged as Trump), and the six Republican politicians who pose as justices of the Supreme Court.
Oh come now counselor, what he says and does and who he is are one and the same. But writing him off as deranged and somehow not worthy of hate, ignores that he is the prime mover of all that is inexorably crushing us. Granted, he may not be making all of the decisions, but he is causing them to be executed by virtue of his office. And he has enough feral awareness to understand they pretty much comport with his own worldview and thus IMO, deserving of loathing.
Hate is an emotion, and one can't be argued into feeling an emotion. You feel it or you don't. The emotion that he makes me feel is more extreme disgust than hate. He's vomitous.
What he says and does is not the same as who he is; I'd compare him to a criminal who is not guilty by reason of insanity, although he is not that from a legal standpoint. But I admit that what he says and does is related to what he is. He is pitiful, but, because of the harm he causes others, I feel no pity for him.
I keep quoting my friend who grew up in Brooklyn who was appalled at herself for wishing he would die way back when he got Covid. “He’s turning me into a monstah!”
"need to apologize"? I met a friendly and brilliant tour guide in Oslo this past summer. We spent 3 hours together wandering around the town. He showed me the sites, we talked politics over coffee (basically him asking what the hell happened, me saying I dunno). We've become friends. I sent him an email this week apologizing for our "president" and my country. He was gracious, said he knew where I stood, and all the Americans he had met who traveled to Norway felt the same. But the fact that I even had to consider apologizing turns my stomach.
By the way, Oslo is beautiful and very pleasant, and compared to NY and DC, the prices aren't that high. One of the few places I'd move to if it came to that (along with Stockholm and Prague).
I've run across some real sh*ts during my lifetime -- genuinely horrible people who treated others (including me) horribly because they were in a position to do whatever they wanted to and get away with it -- but I have never, ever before wished someone dead.
Who is responsible for Trump Too (two)? Of course those who voted for him. I said to my cousin: "How could you do that to us?" But looking at the votes, if all the Biden voters in 2020 had voted for Harris, we would be coasting in a great first year. Now I an critical of the voters that stayed at home and did not vote. Too many thought our border was wide open. Not so. Many have been here for years before Biden was elected. And many never walked across the desert. Company buses delivered them to jobs processing food in the USA heartland. I know. I lived in Laredo for ix years. The border was solid in a way that has lasted for many years. Trump lied. Again.
This summer on a train in Italy I apologized to a fellow passenger for our president ("Mi dispiace per il nostro presidente"). He in turn apologized for his prime minister, and then graciously gave us a brief lecture about medieval Italian music notation. So it was all good.
I was in Italy in September 2015 for my son's wedding, and was chatting with a soon-to-be relative: She expressed embarrassment over Bunga-Bunga Berlusconi, but said she saw that this Donald Trump character sure was getting a lot of publicity. "Oh," I clucked patronizingly, "there's no way that the American people would elect him."
By the way, for those of us awaiting the arrival of ice (the comparatively benign tree-limbs-down-power-outage variety), apparently the European forecast model has now changed to "Fuck you America." Oddly, the polar vortex appears to be in the shape of a middle finger.
Every idiotic thing Trump said in Davos was more or less predictable in 2016—not the precise words, of course, but every vile thing about Trump was obvious, and every criminal act was predictable from day one.
Like many people, I am exhausted from the frustration that nearly half the people in this country are mesmerized by that detestable creature because he makes them feel good about their racism and other assorted bigotries. It's the only thing he's ever given them, and it's all they require of him.
As for the question of embarrassment. I'll be damned if I will accept one iota of responsibility for the Trump catastrophe. Before election night 2016, I didn't give much thought to my kinship with my fellow Americans. It was just a given. But that night it died. Since then I feel nothing but contempt and disgust for the Trump lovers. I feel no connection to them, and so no shame and no embarrassment when they soil themselves. When this is over, there will be no forgiveness for them and no redemption.
Gene, if I’m your boss then it would look good for your performance review if you shoveled my driveway up north here in Olney. I may even reward you with homemade chicken soup and a fresh batch of Rice Krispies treats.
Ah, memories --- misty schmaltz-heavy colored broth memories of the matzo ball soup at the 2nd St. Deli or Sadelle's New York in SoHo. Must have "floaters," always "floaters" never "sinkers" when it comes to matzo balls. Always balls up.
I am literally learning how to apologize in Japanese just because I figured I'd better say that to anyone there before we ask anything else when we visit later.
I'm unfamiliar with this phrase, and don't know what it means. It doesn't even make sense to me, since Mary Poppins wasn't known for baking. Or promises. At least not in the movie, which my only familiarity with her.
Let's keep the focus on the congressional Republicans. Each one is personally responsible for everything Trump says and does, and for all the crimes that ICE commits. Reporters should ask each of them how they justify allowing the things Trump says and does and the crimes ICE commits. Reporters might also ask them how they justify allowing Trump's murders of 115 people in boats, his invasion of Venezuela and murder of 80 people there, and his killing 600,000 people (as of November 9) who depended on the USAID funds that Trump illegally impounded with congressional Republicans' approval.
McConnell could have ended it at impeachment with ten more Republican votes. He failed his state.
Expecting McConnell to be anything but a selfish, self-serving, craptacular toad is expecting too much.
I have to agree with you, even though I liked what he said on the day after the riot attack. But it was that close. He could have saved us and now he knows that.
Impeachment and conviction would have prevented the demented toddler from running again and McConnell knew that. Weighed against the fact that no argument for not convicting existed, it is fair to assume that he wanted Trump to be president again and that his statement was a lie.
He disingenuously said he believed that Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution only allowed for the impeachment of current presidents, vice presidents, and civil officers. And added gratuitously that the justice system, the highest court in which he rigged, should be the place to hold Demento accountable. Multiple chins AND faces.
Whatever provision McConnell cited, Article I, section 3 is more relevant. It provides, "The Senate shall have sole Power to try all Impeachments," and that "Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold" any federal office. Article II, section 4 provides only that officials who are impeached and convicted shall be removed from office.
But nothing in the Constitution states that an official who is impeached while still in office, as Trump was, cannot be convicted when he is out of office. It would make no sense to not allow conviction when he is out of office, because conviction not only removes the official from office, but disqualifies him from holding future office. "Disingenuously" is not harsh enough. It means "lied," but it's better to say explicitly that he lied, because he did not believe what he said. He said it so that other Republican senators could claim to have an excuse not to vote to convict. I'd call McConnell a disgusting worm, but I don't want to insult disgusting worms. None of them has ever stacked the Supreme Court or allowed a criminal to run for president.
My thinking after January 6 was that Trump convinced many Republican leaders that he had given up and he would "fade away." Or he used threat to pull them back into line or even both were factors. Who knows? Certainly not me. But at a distance it looked like something happened.
Proof that talk is cheap, especially from a Republican politician.
Not that it really helps us now , but I think we have to keep harping on his prominent role in this debacle—both in stacking the court and his vote on impeachment—just so at least he goes down in history for what he is. His is a name future schoolchildren should all learn and when they list the causes of authoritarianism’s rise.
Turtle, not toad!
He’s talking niw but it’s too late
If that's what you call it.
He also started the shift in the Supreme Court when he refused to hold confirmation hearings for Obama’s pick because there was less than a year of his term left.
Yes, it's hard to know which of McConnell's decisions have been and ultimately will be the worst for America. Also, Thune could be doing something positive to protect America from Trump and he's not. A lot of people are responsible for the mess we are in.
To borrow a saying from LBJ, Trump has Thune's pecker in his pocket.
And this is my opportunity to present a new name for the House Speaker: "Little Boy Johnson." And after a while I realized my mind crafted it after LBJ and it is in contrast to the machine that Johnson and Rayburn made of Congress. They ruled. Now? They act like renters.
I think I'll be shaking my head for the rest of my life that seven Dems voted with the GOP yesterday on the DHS funding. Whatever 2D triangulation they may have had in mind simply does not make sense in the three-dimensional world we actually live in.
Every congressional Republican and those seven Democrats deserve to have ICE assault, kidnap, and imprison them. It's entirely possible that ICE would do that, as they refuse to listen to claims that their victims are U.S. citizens or to look at proof of it when it is offered. If that happens, then things might change. I don't expect them to otherwise.
ICE has already broken the 4th Amendment. That means nobody is safe, anywhere. Not Congress, not you or I, not even SCOTUS, frankly. This country used to have such promise. Now we are shoveling money to a pack of goons who are having daily street parties with deadly force and chemical weapons. Insane.
So seven pusillanimous Democrats joined with 212 Nazi Republicans to continue funding the American Gestapo. JAYZUS!!!!
Never really had the bandwidth for hate. Maybe it required too much effort. Oh, I could get up an irritation or two or be momentarily pissed off, but never true, deep down visceral hate. I have it now. Embarrassed? If only.
I completely agree and was just yesterday discussing this very thing. Up until now, even with ample justification, I have declined to harbor hate because I consider it terribly damaging to anyone's spirit and psyche. However, yesterday it dawned on me that I do hate this man and everything he says and stands for. Not sure what tipped me over the edge. Anger and hate are powerful animating forces and I'm looking for the right place to put these energies. The resistance is somewhat fragmented right now so I'm finding this difficult to figure out.
I don't hate him, because he is deranged and can't help himself. He's not worth hating; I think that you have to take someone seriously to hate him (which is not to be confused with hating everything he says and does).
Rather, I hate his sycophants who know what they are doing and could help themselves, if they wished to, namely Vance, members of his cabinet, every Republican in Congress (except a few who are as deranged as Trump), and the six Republican politicians who pose as justices of the Supreme Court.
Oh come now counselor, what he says and does and who he is are one and the same. But writing him off as deranged and somehow not worthy of hate, ignores that he is the prime mover of all that is inexorably crushing us. Granted, he may not be making all of the decisions, but he is causing them to be executed by virtue of his office. And he has enough feral awareness to understand they pretty much comport with his own worldview and thus IMO, deserving of loathing.
Hate is an emotion, and one can't be argued into feeling an emotion. You feel it or you don't. The emotion that he makes me feel is more extreme disgust than hate. He's vomitous.
What he says and does is not the same as who he is; I'd compare him to a criminal who is not guilty by reason of insanity, although he is not that from a legal standpoint. But I admit that what he says and does is related to what he is. He is pitiful, but, because of the harm he causes others, I feel no pity for him.
It's true, the opposite of love is indifference and hate requires taking something away from yourself.
I keep quoting my friend who grew up in Brooklyn who was appalled at herself for wishing he would die way back when he got Covid. “He’s turning me into a monstah!”
"need to apologize"? I met a friendly and brilliant tour guide in Oslo this past summer. We spent 3 hours together wandering around the town. He showed me the sites, we talked politics over coffee (basically him asking what the hell happened, me saying I dunno). We've become friends. I sent him an email this week apologizing for our "president" and my country. He was gracious, said he knew where I stood, and all the Americans he had met who traveled to Norway felt the same. But the fact that I even had to consider apologizing turns my stomach.
By the way, Oslo is beautiful and very pleasant, and compared to NY and DC, the prices aren't that high. One of the few places I'd move to if it came to that (along with Stockholm and Prague).
"He kept pinching off lies." the best description of Trump's speeches ever!
Kinda like pinching a loaf?
That goes without saying!
I've run across some real sh*ts during my lifetime -- genuinely horrible people who treated others (including me) horribly because they were in a position to do whatever they wanted to and get away with it -- but I have never, ever before wished someone dead.
Who is responsible for Trump Too (two)? Of course those who voted for him. I said to my cousin: "How could you do that to us?" But looking at the votes, if all the Biden voters in 2020 had voted for Harris, we would be coasting in a great first year. Now I an critical of the voters that stayed at home and did not vote. Too many thought our border was wide open. Not so. Many have been here for years before Biden was elected. And many never walked across the desert. Company buses delivered them to jobs processing food in the USA heartland. I know. I lived in Laredo for ix years. The border was solid in a way that has lasted for many years. Trump lied. Again.
If any American ever again mentions "checks and balances" to me, I am going to punch them.
This summer on a train in Italy I apologized to a fellow passenger for our president ("Mi dispiace per il nostro presidente"). He in turn apologized for his prime minister, and then graciously gave us a brief lecture about medieval Italian music notation. So it was all good.
I was in Italy in September 2015 for my son's wedding, and was chatting with a soon-to-be relative: She expressed embarrassment over Bunga-Bunga Berlusconi, but said she saw that this Donald Trump character sure was getting a lot of publicity. "Oh," I clucked patronizingly, "there's no way that the American people would elect him."
Well, he lost the first time in the popular vote, so you were correct!
I'm considering getting a custom tee shirt made that shows an upside-down American flag with a message in large letters: ASHAMED TO BE AN AMERICAN
By the way, for those of us awaiting the arrival of ice (the comparatively benign tree-limbs-down-power-outage variety), apparently the European forecast model has now changed to "Fuck you America." Oddly, the polar vortex appears to be in the shape of a middle finger.
Dad. Give me the remote. You need a diaper change and you’re scaring the attendant.
All, you should check out Jack's substack. A Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist. (unpaid promotion from a fan)
And we thank you.
Every idiotic thing Trump said in Davos was more or less predictable in 2016—not the precise words, of course, but every vile thing about Trump was obvious, and every criminal act was predictable from day one.
Like many people, I am exhausted from the frustration that nearly half the people in this country are mesmerized by that detestable creature because he makes them feel good about their racism and other assorted bigotries. It's the only thing he's ever given them, and it's all they require of him.
As for the question of embarrassment. I'll be damned if I will accept one iota of responsibility for the Trump catastrophe. Before election night 2016, I didn't give much thought to my kinship with my fellow Americans. It was just a given. But that night it died. Since then I feel nothing but contempt and disgust for the Trump lovers. I feel no connection to them, and so no shame and no embarrassment when they soil themselves. When this is over, there will be no forgiveness for them and no redemption.
The attendees were openly laughing at him. I think he has llst the ability to distinguish facial expressions and behavior.
I think he thought the laughter was applause for his shitty comments about everyone but himself. Talk about delusional.
He is delusional to be sure
"Checks and balances?" Yeah, the check's in your balance is all Demento and his minions care about.
Look what they done to my brain, ma
Look what they done to my brain
Well, they picked it like a chicken bone
And I think I'm half insane, ma
Look what they done to my song
I wish I could find a good book to live in
Wish I could find a good book
Well, if I could find a real good book
I'd never have to come out and look at
What they done to my song.
--- "Look What They Did To My Song Ma," Melanie Salka, © Bienstock Publishing Company, Quartet Music, Yellow-dog-music Inc.
Gene, if I’m your boss then it would look good for your performance review if you shoveled my driveway up north here in Olney. I may even reward you with homemade chicken soup and a fresh batch of Rice Krispies treats.
How are you on matzoh balls? I require really good matzoh balls. Made with seltzer, not water.
I've never made matzoh balls. The best I can offer is egg noodles. I could add seltzer to the dough though.
I'm making matzoh balls for my daughter tonight. We'll probably have extra.
Ah, memories --- misty schmaltz-heavy colored broth memories of the matzo ball soup at the 2nd St. Deli or Sadelle's New York in SoHo. Must have "floaters," always "floaters" never "sinkers" when it comes to matzo balls. Always balls up.
I tried Rice Krispie treats with chopped-up Oreos mixed in, and they are incredible!
Make them with Fruity Pebbles.
I live one block south of Olney, so you could do ours on the way to or from.
I am literally learning how to apologize in Japanese just because I figured I'd better say that to anyone there before we ask anything else when we visit later.
"Mary Poppins pie-crust promise"
I'm unfamiliar with this phrase, and don't know what it means. It doesn't even make sense to me, since Mary Poppins wasn't known for baking. Or promises. At least not in the movie, which my only familiarity with her.
It's in the movie, a famous line uttered by Mary. "That's a pie-crust promise. Easily made, easily broken."
"Easily made, easily broken"