[Photo: Emily Morter via Unsplash]

Stays: Another Reason for the Shutdown?

/105 Comments/in /by

[NB: check the byline.]

This is a very short post; I needed to put something up here after this popped up in my Twitter feed:

Link to the stay.

This is the suit filed by three senators (Blumenthal, Whitehouse, Hirono) against Trump and Matthew Whitaker with regard to Whitaker acting as attorney general (Blumenthal et al. v. Trump 1:18-cv-02664).

Excerpt:

1. Plaintiffs are three Senators who brought this suit alleging that the President’s appointment of Mr. Whitaker as Acting Attorney General violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia was served on November 26, 2018, and Defendants’ answer or other response to the Complaint is currently due on January 25, 2018. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(2).

The plaintiffs have already filed a memorandum in opposition.

Given Whitaker’s purported current role in the Department of Justice, acting as attorney general after Jeff Session’s departure, how is this requested stay attributed to the government shutdown not an attempt to obstruct justice in any investigation in which Trump is a defendant, target, or subject?

We’re looking at you, GOP Senate, especially Mitch McConnell. Are you part of the obstruction, too?

Treat this as an open thread.

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105 replies
    • Avattoir says:

      … or else that result is a ‘happy incident’ to a coup.

      As the coverage in WaPo (I assume NYT also has something on it, but WTF knows – I won’t read that p.o.s.: I only even read the Krgthulu if & when Mark Thoma links him.) of the “tax transcript” carve-out illustrates (Rein & Stein ‘splain how the mortgage industry super lobbyist if feeling like a damn Marvel super hero for flying to D.C. direct from his “beach vacation” to strain industry gains mainly thru the rest of our pain). It’s not just hilariously brilliant in the extent of its detailed adherence to that standard Big Daily Print Media toolishness we all love, but manages to pull off being both relentless and subtle in presenting the outlines and shadoows of all the evil oozing up from he primordial slime while wringing out such an impressive volume of dark thuggish comedy juice, I feel sure they’re bound to find employment in the cable drama series writing biz, working in some weird genre that simultaneously attracts fans of Fargo, Hannibal, Black Mirror and Patriot, AND devotees of political takeover porn like in Hungary, with Brexit,  and in the Erdogan coup in Turkey.

      The Toad Take-Over has broken the civil service, suspended both the democratic process and the court system, obviated the Rule of Law, and put out on the street begging for quarters some half a million D-voting largely female and minority workers who 3 weeks ago were gainfully employed federal civil servants.

      And now Toad’s minions are restructuring a fraction of that 30% as seasonally-employed hourly rate workers with neither benefits nor recourse, under the guise of the conventional CARVE-OUT tool.

      This is how Toadenomics finds budget savings, thereby minimizing the need to call on the House for anything. Mitch does confirmations and nothing else, and the Speaker is now just some old lady the Toad beats up on. Toad is all I Dood It My Way, bankrupting his business – in this case the US – while continuing to squeeze every dollar from the process.

      Main Street is whitewashed windows and vacant stores / Nobody wants to come down here no more / They’re closing down the mill across the railroad track / Foreman says these jobs are going / And they ain’t coming back

      -Springsteen

  2. jonb says:

    I would like to offer a solution for America.  Trump agrees to testify openly and honestly on all matters related to the grand jury including obstruction of justice and the democrats give him his wall..

    • Rayne says:

      LOL That’s my long-time approach to my kids when they whined about something they wanted but couldn’t obtain readily. “How badly do you want it?” I asked them. Want to make the team? How hard are you willing to work to make it. Want an A in this class? How hard are you willing to study?

      Want this wall? How much truth are you willing to spill?

      (I don’t personally believe he’s capable of this. He lies to himself more than he lies to us — it’s like breathing.)

    • LurkingLarry says:

      I have actually been wondering whether it would be possible for Democrats to offer Trump an official government run GoFundMe campaign for his wall, ala https://www.gofundme.com/TheTrumpWall. I’m not a fan of seeing the wall built in general, but I’m even less a fan of the government being shut down and still less a fan of having my tax dollars pay for something that is as useless as a wall.

      If something like that is possible, it would let the people who really want the wall provide the money for it and, more importantly, it would get the government open by saving face for orange man.

      I suspect it isn’t legal to do that, but I would love to see the anti-immigration folks be the ones to take away the main talking point orange man can actually remember long enough to talk about.

      • Troutwaxer says:

        I’d like to see Congress give Trump all the money necessary to do the required engineering/environmental/budging/cost-effectiveness/etc studies for the wall, maybe 500-million or so.

        Then they can hold public hearings about the results of those studies, and the people who did them, etc., for years. This will be very effective because Trump will lie/steal/bullshit using all that money, and Congress can catch him in those lies.

  3. harpie says:

    Manu Raju:

    10:06 AM – 11 Jan 2019 The Senate just adjourned til Monday, ensuring this will be the longest U.S. government shutdown in history

    SHAME on Mitch McConnell.

  4. KG says:

    I dont think Mitch is doing some 4 dimensional chess here. He has to choose between passing a bill and watching Trump veto it, and THEN it’s on him to rally the troops to override it or he takes responsibility for letting the govt remain closed.

    The other option is to just say he wont do anything without the wall money. That’s the easiest way. Mitch is not savant; he’s just lazy and doesn’t want to be uncomfortable.

    More GOP reps/Senators will break by next week. He’s losing his leverage the more time goes on.

  5. harpie says:

    I admit there’s a lot of things I don’t know about our Government, and this is one of them:
    ***
    https://twitter.com/bethfertig/status/1083793319346536449 10:30 AM – 11 Jan 2019 “Immigration lawyer tells @WNYC partial fed shutdown should strengthen the argument for making immigration courts independent of the justice department. They’re mostly closed because they’re fully controlled by the DOJ, unlike regular federal courts.”

  6. harpie says:

    NBC Politics:
     “9:55 AM – 11 Jan 2019  The 7 House members who voted against bill guaranteeing back-pay to federal workers affected by the government shutdown: Rep. Amash / Rep. Biggs / Rep. Gosar / Rep. Grothman / Rep. Massie / Rep. Roy / Rep. Yoho”

      • Jenny says:

        Cruel, hateful and heartless.

        GOP slogan:  Party over People – “I really don’t care do you?”

        P.S.  Harpie, thanks for the list.  I plan to make phone calls to the seven .

    • P J Evans says:

      I’m not surprised at Grothman and Yoho. Neither one is worth the powder and shot it would require to blow them away. (Yoho is simply stupid.)

  7. bloopie2 says:

    “Congress approves measure to ensure federal workers are paid retroactively after shutdown”.  Paying them for not working; now that’s the BEST government.  Make America Great Again!

    • Avattoir says:

      So now all the bill needs is Senate approval, someone to carry the bill over to the preznit, who of course will sign it right away with all the pomp & circumstance of a Benny Hill theme song.

  8. harpie says:

    Census preparation may also be affected:

    Rep Elijah Cummings:

    7:43 AM – 11 Jan 2019 Because of the Trump shutdown, the Census Bureau may run out of funding in February to continue preparations for the 2020 Census. Decisions affecting every American are made with Census data, including making sure communities get their fair share of federal funds. #EndTheShutdown 

  9. fikshun says:

    McConnell has been part of the obstruction since he prevented Obama from telling the American people about the suspected Russian hacks.

    • RAM says:

      Yep. Don’t know what the Ruskies have on him via their hack of the GOP’s email, but it must be something good. About as good as what they’ve got on Graham.

    • Jenny says:

      2010 McConnell stated the top priority of the GOP as to make Obama a one term president.  McConnell is an obstructionist.  He is the GOP “Party over People” leader.

      “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

    • Trip says:

      He prevented a duly elected president from appointing a supreme court justice. He has misused and abused his position in government at every turn, stealing away rights of the people.

  10. harpie says:

    Via Kyle Griffin: 

    Sen. Gary Peters is asking the Trump admin why Trump’s D.C. Hotel is “exempt” from the shutdown and still staffed with National Park Service employees.

    [He’s got a screen shot of the letter.]

  11. Jenny says:

    Can’t make this poop up. 
    Kevin Hassett, the chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, thinks the government employees are better off because of the shutdown.  “So then they have the vacation, but they don’t have to use their vacation days. And then they come back, and they get their back pay.  Then in some sense they’re better off.”

    • Rayne says:

      Rich white guy who, if married, has a stay-at-home-mom-wife. What a douchebag.

      p.s. what about contractors and subcontractors? Ugh. These Trumpers are so stupid and thoughtless.

    • Trip says:

      It’s like Trump saying “They’ll make other arrangements”. He seems to think everyone has access to laundered Russian money and/or bribes.

    • somecallmetim says:

      What’s wrong with a Marie Antoinette reference here?  Is it covered by a corollary to Godwin’s Law?

  12. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Trump does not want the federal government to work, barring the Secret Service and his household staff and cooks.  (Neoliberals aren’t much enamored of a functioning federal government either.)  And probably as important, Vladimir Putin does not want the federal government to function.  He’s delighted at the chaos and loss of morale and effectiveness that Donald Trump brings in his wake, like the dirt left in Pig-Pen’s trail.  It’s a win-win for everyone but average Americans – and the rest of the world.

    Trump doesn’t want to solve any problems.  That deprives him of the opportunity to be him, to generate chaos, fear and divisiveness.  He loves being mean and destructive to people who live paycheck to paycheck, especially his own employees.  It’s almost as erotic as thinking about his daughter.

    Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham, brave soul that he is, sees “no way forward” in talks with those nasty Dems – even though he and his party did what the Dems are now doing: refused for two years to give Trump his bloody wall when they controlled both houses of Congress.  Brave, brave Sir Lindsey.

  13. J R in WV says:

    At least part of McConnell’s vulnerability is his very early discharge from the US Army after he was drafted. His DD-214 (discharge papers for all vets) probably shows the cause of his discharge, but no one has seen that document since McConnell’s discharge. Why? Because it is revealing and embarrassing about his character?

    It is irresponsible not to speculate as to why Mr McConnell was discharged from the Army early, right after boot camp, in fact.

  14. Wotadog says:

    I wonder how many MAGA supporters are affected by the shutdown. It doesn’t seem to be having any affect on Trump’s base. Is that because they are mostly unemployed, working outside govt jobs or not game to say publicly? From an Australian reader.

  15. Rapier says:

    I know this is waaaaaaay off in the weeds for most.

    The Treasury was scheduled to sell $160bn of securities this month to fund the deficit.  With disbursements now plummeting because of the shutdown the Treasury is forgoing the borrowing and the present schedule which goes through the 17th the total net new borrowing will be near zero. Past shutdowns were always bullish for stocks because of the reduced supply of Treasury paper and every shutdown end was bearish because of massive short term borrowing needs by the Treasury as it played catch up.

    https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/press_cashpydwn.htm

    This reduced Treasury supply is a boon to the stock market.  If the Treasury plays catch up with accelerated borrowing when the checks start flowing again is not a sure thing. The Treasury is sitting on a huge surplus as it is so they might just let that run off a bit to help the stock market. The Don, and everyone else is obsessed with the stock market. They and everyone thinks that inflating asset prices creates wealth.

    • Rayne says:

      The stock market isn’t the economy. The bottom-feeder Don needs to be reminded of that whenever he can tear himself away from his obstruction of justice project.

  16. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Why won’t establishment Dems let AOC be AOC: she’s the most popular and newsworthy new Representative in years.

    The Overton Window is too damn small; she could open it up.  The Dems could win a lot of support by letting her lead the news cycle pack for a while.  They could distance themselves from what they don’t like – she’s a newbie with no real power and does not speaks for the leadership – and take credit for what they do like.

    Is this the establishment’s reflexive fear and dislike of young turks or is something else afoot?

    • Rayne says:

      You’re talking about folks who’ve suffered from battered wife syndrome for decades now, constantly under attack from Fox and right-wing talk radio. They managed to screw up their recovery by reflexively ditching everything Howard Dean taught them. There’s no patient institutional translator-negotiator-reeducator to help them unlearn and relearn both effective offense against the increasingly fascist right-wing and transition into a wholly different Instagrammish mode of being while battling with foreign information warfare.

      There’s a lot going on — it definitely includes reflexive fear, but it’s more complex than simple fear of youth and newness. There is a sea change underway. Your uncertainty exposed in your questions should tell you it’s not just the “establishment” trying to find sea legs.

      Imagine if Teddy Kennedy had been a digitally-native woman of color. Get inside that identity and roll around a bit. How would “establishment” Dems work with such a person in the spotlight?

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        My uncertainty was rhetorical.  I think she’s exciting, with great potential beyond NYC, but she’s new and untried.  The top Dems probably don’t know how to use her without losing the control they want more and have waited a long time to get back.

        Nobody knows better than they do that time is of the essence.  There is more to do than they can do in two years.  Trump bashing, however well deserved, is useful only as a set up.  It’s not a substitute for a positive message and programs that they can deliver.

        They will need the young as well as the experienced to credibly deliver it and to get out the vote.  Keeping AOC and her peers on the shelf for a year is not likely to help that project, not after the exhaustion of Trump and when leading contenders for the Dem nomination are already running in 2019.

        However much of that you agree with, none of it is news to you. But it seems to be new to a few top Dems.

    • punaise says:

      The usually insufferable Andrew Sullivan has this to say about AOC:

      Am I allowed to say that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is likable?
      To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. She has an easy, open demeanor, fun-loving smile, stunning good looks, and an ability to make arguments few others are brave enough to make. She’s manifestly sincere, charismatic, and, despite her occasional factual overreaches, engaging the issues that really matter. She can dance! She once went by “Sandy.” And when conservatives like me — or even Ann Coulter — are revisiting the question of tax redistribution in a society that is being torn apart by late capitalism, she makes a kind of sense. She is still a little wet behind the ears, and will doubtless mature in office, but her energy, good humor and, yes, charm are integral to her appeal. They help her persuade people of her arguments. There’s a reason some Republicans are owning themselves with their AOC obsession: They can recognize a deadly talent when they see it.

      • Rayne says:

        Good gravy, give me the overweening confidence of a white man who feels we are entitled to know his opinion on any woman’s “likability” which is code among breeder men for fuckability.

        No idea why Sullivan is aping straight white men with this bullshit. He’d be more credible if he’d elaborated about her taste in shoes.

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        Andrew is still insufferable, egotistical, intellectually dismissive, and about as likable as an old shoe with no sole.

        Asking a conservative iconoclast like Andrew Sullivan to evaluate AOC’s expertise and electoral attractiveness is like going to a celibate priest for sexuality education.

        Besides, in the manner of David Brooks, his concession is not an endorsement, it is a warning to his colleagues.  They will respond not with recognition, but with a multi-pronged, truth-be-damed assault to make her as unlikable as possible by November 2020.

          • earlofhuntingdon says:

            Nothing like it a turd.  More like a fraternity punch where everyone’s bottle gets thrown into the mix, along with ice and sherbet.  Can’t taste thing, especially the next morning.

      • punaise says:

        Ole’ Rape Gurney Joe can just keep on shuffling towards oblivion. Reviving an earlier mantra back at the old place:

        “my contempt for Joe Lieberman will never subside.”

        • P J Evans says:

          I refuse to forgive him for the CFL sh*t. Photos of the kiss statue need to be sent to him whenever he starts acting like he’s some kind of Senior Statesman in the Democrats: you left us, Joe, and you did it voluntarily and with intent to harm us, so f*ck the f*ck off, and keep on going.

  18. earlofhuntingdon says:

    A big problem the Dems are likely to face in 2020 is getting the vote out. Why would you nobble someone who can do that so effectively?

  19. Tom says:

    Perhaps the Dems are afraid AOC’s appeal will peak too early and that she’ll be old news by next year. On the other hand, if she’s going to make some novice-type stumbles, now’s the time to do them while she still has time to recover from them. On the whole, however, I think the public is tired and fed up with politicians who are so bloody fretful about making mistakes or appearing inconsistent. AOC should just let ‘er rip and eat ’em raw! Her example will encourage others to follow suit.

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      It’s a safe guess that if she’s worked in restaurants, bars, and as a barista she can hold her own far more easily than the wankers who spent too much time in grad school.  (Writes someone who spent too much time in grad school…)

      She’s a younger, wonkier version of Joy Behar: funny, tough, and relatively fearless.  The Dems are probably jealous, and the GOPers wouldn’t last a day behind a bar.

  20. hcgorman says:

    Well this stay issue has come around to bite the DOJ in the butt in my Gitmo case. We filed a motion for an initial en banc hearing (an unusual move in an appeal). The government asked if we would consent to the stay given the shutdown– having been there before and realizing what we thought was the futility in refusing to consent — we consented.

    On thursday the DC Circuit denied the government’s motion for a stay. All of the active judges signed off on the order except one Trump appointee who apparently abstained. My tea leaves are not working right now but something is up.

    The DOJ now has to file a brief next week (or at least ask for more time but they will not get the blank check they thouht they were entitled to).

    Nice gift from the Court as my client starts his 18th year at the hell hole (without charge).

    • P J Evans says:

      I expect that he’ll get some notice from the MAGA lot, but he’s really an unknown to most people. I don’t think it will go well.

  22. Drew says:

    I was convinced by a comment by Avvattoir on another post that the biggest function of this shutdown is distraction-largely from the favors being given to Russian oligarchs. Also perhaps from ongoing suits (the government can only play the Stay game so long-the judges will get tired of the bs).

    However, I think this will go on until Trump has convinced himself that he has gotten his wall. Likely he will do a national emergency declaration, find funds to misappropriate, allow the government to re-open. Then lawsuits ensue, his “emergency” and transfers are ruled invalid & he will pout. A godawful mess? Yes. This is our world now. Ultimately I would prefer Trump in handcuffs, but that will take a bit more time.

  24. P J Evans says:

    @punaise : “There is a special place in hell reserved for Mitch McConnell.”
    Next to Himself, in the circle below Benedict Arnold, I hope. I want actual (more-or-less honest) traitors to excrete upon their heads.

  25. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Regarding establishment Dems problems with AOC, it seems the biggest problem is that she advocates primarying Blue Dogs and other Dems she deems too conservative.

    That is, of course, how AOC won her seat in the House in the first place. She seems unlikely to give up such a successful strategy. Nor is she the only one who considers that strategy essential if the party is ever to loosen the grip Wall Street has on it, if it is ever to be anything other than a Republican-lite party. Improving the lives of a couple of hundred million Americans depend on that strategy working.

  26. NorskieFlamethrower says:

    This shutdown is an important part of the “final solution” for our democracy and is entirely the brain child of American fascists and simply financed by Russia. This is now the end game, with the shutdown not only staying court actions but finishing the job of hollowing out the federal infrastructure, creating economic chaos and setting the stage for a declaration of national emergency, the firing of Mueller and the quiet swallowingof the final report. With the complete collapse of our administrative state looming, we can’t smuggly sit back and wait for Mueller and the next election. Namaste patriots🙏❤️💪

  27. Strawberry Fields says:

    NYtimes just reported what we have known since Rod hired Mueller… that the FBI is running a counter intelligence operation on the president… how is this news?

    • NorskieFlamethrower says:

      My wife just asked that same question while watching All In. I think the NYT is pulling the fire alarm.

    • P J Evans says:

      A lot of people haven’t thought about that happening, and the media really haven’t brought it up.

    • Troutwaxer says:

      Someone is sending a message. The effort against Trump is a counter-fucking-intelligence operation. And while it’s nice when everyone stays safe and the end-game of a counter-intelligence operation is “everyone has their day in court” that’s not a requirement. There are ways to end a counter-intelligence operation which don’t end up in court, and those are the ones where “everyone stays safe” is not the expected end game. Trump may not get this – he’s the disposable conspirator here – but the other players certainly understand the issue.

      IMHO, someone is thinking about showing Trump how a real tantrum gets thrown, but they’re not quite there yet, and they’re sending a message first.

  28. James says:

    Well, this is one helluva Friday night news dump from the New York Times.

    https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-obstruction-was-collusion-new-york-timess-latest-bombshell

    The Times dropped an article today noting there was a counterintelligence investigation during the presidential campaign, but they mostly shelved it because of the implications (of interfering in an election).

    After FBI Director James Comey was fired, they opened up a bog standard criminal obstruction investigation, which lead right back to the counterintelligence investigation.

    So the question (amongst many) being asked, what if the obstruction was the collusion?
    https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-obstruction-was-collusion-new-york-timess-latest-bombshell

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/fbi-trump-russia-inquiry.html

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Pity the NYT’s correspondents did not spend more time reading this informative and prescient blog.  It’s not as if what they published today was breaking news.

      And how about that FBI?  It was investigating corrupt foreign influence during the 2016 election, but decided that it’s own investigation might “influence” that election.  So it shuttered it.

      It went back to it – after that foreign influence had succeeded in its purpose – with the assumption that what it was investigating was garden variety obstruction.  That is, until the investigation kept pointing them back to that corrupt foreign influence.

      Incredulity and caution seem to have failed them.  Possibly the Bureau felt it did not have the political support it needed to carry that investigation to its logical conclusion.  Where would we be had Donald Trump not been so paranoid and incompetent?

  29. James says:

    @earlofhuntingdon (sorry I can’t get the reply button to work in my browser):

    You may recall that Sen. Mitch McConnell, after his meeting with President Obama over the DNC E-mail hack, threatened to go partisan scorched earth on Obama and the Democrats if he made it an issue.

    The question then becomes what exactly did Obama and his aides tell McConnell?

    • P J Evans says:

      And why did McTurtle decide to ignore that, and everything else since then? What was he promised by Tr*mp? How much kompromat do the Russians have on him (and his wife, who is still a cabinet officer)?

      • Rayne says:

        And the corollary: Is there a counterintelligence investigation into members of Congress including Mitch McConnell, Devin Nunes, and former rep Dana Rohrabacher?

  30. BobCon says:

    @James / EoH —

    TVTropes calls this “Glad I Thought of It” where a dimwitted but powerful person blows off an underling’s idea, and then promptly steals it and repackages it as their own.

    https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GladIThoughtOfIt

    Ironically, the first example they give is a Domino’s pizza commercial where Donald Trump steals the idea of a cheeseburger pizza from a pizza delivery guy, and his yes-men all cheer him on.

    The NY Times will be throwing shade at all of the people who have yelling at them for over two years now about Trump and Russia, and of course claiming credit for uncovering what they have been avoiding all along. They’ll probably try to ride this to a Pulitizer and claim credit for blowing the case wide open.

  32. James says:

    @BobCon: I suppose it’s possible that when the New York Times made their report of “no clear Russian influence” late in the campaign, they’d followed their leads leading to the suspension of the counterintelligence investigation at the time (suspended not meaning “it didn’t happen”).

    Beyond that, it might have been considered speculation by a cautious newsroom editor.

    I don’t know. We only have wingnut media where I live, and sometimes we get Internet service.

    • BobCon says:

      The New Yorker reported that the conception of that article was a mess. The lead reporter, Eric Lichtblau, had been pushing for an earlier publication date with a much stronger emphasis on the links between Trump’s IT system and the Russian Alfa Bank. But  it only got past Dean Baquet after he delayed it, watered it down, and pasted the infamous “No Clear Link” headline on it. Lichtblau resigned a few months later from the Times in no small part because of how Baquet handled this article.

      Baquet isn’t alone in screwing up Trump-Russia at the Times. He has since promoted Patrick Healy to be the chief politics editor at the Times, and Healy has in the past written classic airheaded, superficial Times articles on Hillary Clinton, as well as notoriously messed up pieces going soft on Trump. He is clearly in place to keep the status quo, and he is a company man — when the time comes to claim the Times is the true groundbreaker in uncovering the Trump-Russia story, Healy will be at Baquet’s side with Haberman and Schmidt.

      • P J Evans says:

        when the time comes to claim the Times is the true groundbreaker in uncovering the Trump-Russia story

        They can claim it – but they’ll have a lot fewer believers, when people are seeing how much was covered even by WaPo (which isn’t all that adventurous). I think the other reporting will get the notice.

  33. Eureka says:

    We’ll rue* the day when it takes NYT corp corps less than months** to parallel construct snippets of the cognitive prowess of emptywheel.
    There’s an optimistic take for ya’.  Of course I say this in full memory of my annoyance when an NYT editor called contents of the Cohen-Trump tapes re Pecker a “discovery” months after we’d all heard NYT’s ‘scoop’ with our own ears (i.e the fact of Pecker having multiple stories to buy).

    *On second thought, a closing gap might mean the Gray Lady and/or “sources close to” are interested in advancing the storyline.  And thus our democracy is sooner saved.
    **~toddler-age months, not Best By eat-your-meat-Date months

  34. Savage Librarian says:

    So, about the plaintiffs in the suit Rayne mentions. Sen. Whitehouse is from RI where the state motto is HOPE. Then what do you think about this for a slogan?

    HARRIS ‘n’ Whitehouse
    2020
    Hindsight is Foresight
    “From sea to shining sea”

  36. Kim Manley says:

    Why are we not investigating Mitch McConnell and his wife, what people surround their orbit and where they get their $$$. This is feeling like a long time game plan with the GOP, and Trump was crazy enough to be their puppet while they were getting their agenda in order. This is not new, the pieces of the puzzle are so apparent. McConnell is key in this.

  37. gretab says:

    P J Evans says:
    January 11, 2019 at 5:06 pm
    I expect that he’ll get some notice from the MAGA lot, but he’s really an unknown to most people. I don’t think it will go well.

    Given both his and his father’s involvement in the Trump Tower meeting, I hope his tour and any related activities gets noticed by the FBI.

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