Tuco

The dude already paid a million to become ambassador. Now he’s out 1.8 M because he...check notes...trusted Pompeo. What a dipshit.

Talk about a distillation of the rich-kid entitlement. He feels he earned the right to be governor because Daddy was in politics. The political class is aristocratic. Even W was never stupid enough to say it out loud.

The "why weren't we prepared" tactic has been the approach the GOP Reps have been taking. This was the statement from my current shitstain Rep. Don Bacon: Say you support the cops. Blame the cops for not being prepared for it. Be non-specific on where the violence originated. McConnell has already said no. This thing isn't going through the Senate. If I were the Dems, I would absolutely call their bluff. "You want an investigation into what Pelosi knew? Sure, why not. Go ahead and try to blame an 81 year old politician for not adequately directing the police. Any other requests we can accommodate before your party buries this for obvious reasons? I'll give you a fucking pony if you want; you still ain't going to allow it to happen."

Sure, like Frazier v Ali, if people gave a shit about douchebags.

Nothing says high roller orgies like the Embassy Suites. I guess the kid probably enjoyed the pool.

I really enjoyed the one on Greek history. Turns out the prof is some guiding star for neocons. Goes to show that what is interesting in the classroom can be bullshit in the real world.

Write in the bear. That's a talent Californians need in Sacramento.

Because everyone wants their own cops. In the case of the Postal Service, it's the Postal Inspection Service which has been involved in law enforcement for decades. As far as it being "covert," it is described in 2019 Annual Report, which is public, so I don't really think Matt and his band of merry morons have really uncovered anything. From the annual report: Is it likely they've overstepped their charter? Sure. Is there opportunity to consolidate with other law enforcement agencies to reduce overlap and confusion? Almost certainly. Are the Lizard People using it to pick out victims from Nana's 93rd birthday celebration? I'll never tell.

I had not noticed this: FARA violation? yep, easy one there money laundering / wire fraud? makes sense, either through Fraud Inc or through Toensing making false statements / obstruction of justice? makes sense, the dude can't say hello without lying campaign finance violations? Um, that's not just Rudy anymore. It's possible it's carry over from Fraud Inc, but that was pretty small amounts and I thought prior to Rudy being hired by them. It's also possible it is an interpretation of him soliciting "a thing of value" for Trump's campaign in the form of an investigation from the Ukrainians. It's possible it's something more.

And the FBI never generated anything actionable when they announced they were reopening the investigation on Hillary's emails. It was the investigation, not the evidence, that mattered.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/joel-greenberg-letter-written-for-roger-stone-says-matt-gaetz-paid-for-sex-with-minor “I did see these acts occur first hand...” In case this story didn’t have enough ick factor.

On the first part, you are right. I misread it and it does materially change what you were saying. But I still think you are running with typical Republican talking points about the liberal wealthy controlling academia and culture. Your basic premise allows one to easily jump to "scientists are fabricating climate change research because Soros" bullshit. But, there isn't really any factual claims there, so it's pointless to debate.

I could believe that the FBI would refuse Hunter's hard drive. (That's what she said...) If it's not relevant to a criminal investigation and Rudy is portraying it as Hunter's property, I don't believe they would have the right to actually do anything with it.

Reform the police is also pretty nonspecific. Tell me the version that actually indicates we are pulling money out of police departments and into programs to deal with root causes. Whether are not you agree with that policy shift, it is fundamentally different policy than the "reform the police." We've reformed the police many times. But their scope and budgets continue to grow.

First of all, the "highest reaches of academia" are not in the top 0.1% of the wealthiest people in the country. You pivoted from making "coastal elites" about economic inequalities to making it about higher education. GOP messaging is effective. Secondly, do you really think "Latinx" was conceived at the "highest reaches of academia"? Are you thinking that some university president just made that shit up? I could certainly see it getting birthed at some academic conference on language and feminism. I don't really know where it originated. First place I saw it was in a proposed changes to Dem Party bylaws in Nebraska. I had not seen in "the media" prior to that I don't really give a shit about it one way or the other. When I think about it, I try to use gender neutral terminology like, "actor" instead of "actress", or "server" instead of "waitress." But I do recognize that is different than creating a new word to push gender neutrality. I also recognize that such efforts do tend to annoy some people - white, black, Latinx, whatever - which costs votes. But I hate a Roman named Status Quo.

For the most part, I call them Republicans. This idea that the fucking Rockerfellers are driving BLM or Latinx is beyond idiotic.

People like to bust on "defund the police" as some messaging train wreck. Put here's the thing: activists said "reallocate funds towards community services" for years, but nobody gave a shit. Eventually, they cast it in dramatic terms, and people paid attention to it. It's now a discussion, and that discussion has turned into action in some locations. Activists aren't trying to win elections, they are trying to generate action. That may be a major pain in the ass for many of the Dem politicians who are generally on their side, but it drives change. Nothing will fucking change if you are unwilling to stake out an unpopular opinion and challenge perceptions. And politicians can't do that and still win.

"coastal elites" Yep, GOP messaging works pretty well.

What's uncomfortable about it? Clinton was saying that economic reform is not the only progressive issue. The ellipsis part is where she stated she would consider breaking up the big banks if warranted, but the point was that there are other progressive issues where she had a stronger resume than Bernie for progressives. You know, all those irrelevant "woke" issues that Berniebros are continuing to shit on.

What he is missing is "...if the 'woke" voters will still turnout for the moderate candidates." But if they don't, the Dem doesn't win. Same thing with labor. If we can just ignore labor and they still vote for us, the job becomes easier. If we ignore the pro-choice voters, and they still vote for the us, we win. It applies to every fucking group. Moderate Dems are welcome to test the theory. Go run in Florida on minimum wage and felon voting, but tell BLM to fuck off and see if you win. Building a coalition is hard, and has always been. It was hard when Carville was still relevant. What has changed is who those factions are and how you balance their concerns.

And, for anyone who wasn't following this much 1.5 year and half ago, or has forgotten: Rudy is frequently portrayed as Trump's lawyer. At least when it comes to the Ukrainian scandal, that's really not true. Trump, and the power of the presidency, was the product not the customer. Just like Michael Cohen was selling influence on Trump for various lobbyists, and Elliott Broidy was selling influence for foreign powers, Rudy was selling influence for a Ukrainian fugitive named Dmitri Firtash. Firtash is a Ukrainian oligarch who made his fortune in the gas industry by getting sweetheart deals from Russia on gas sold to Ukraine. He is currently living in Vienna, fighting extradition to the US on different corruption charges. Firtash paid Lev and Igor (remember "Fraud Guarantee) to help fight the extradition. Fraud Guarantee hired Rudy for $500k to assist in that effort. Firtash was Rudy's ultimate client in trying to get the DOJ to drop charges. Firtash also hired Toensing and deGenova as his official attorneys in this effort, paying them about $1M. This has all been well documented since prior to the first impeachment. It seems like foreign lobbyists laws are fairly messy, and previously not enforced well. With Rudy, it seems fairly obvious he was lobbying Trump for a foreign agent. I imagine with Toensing and deGenevo, it's a little trickier to distinguish "lobbying" and being a legal advocate. But I am curious if they were a conduit for money flowing to Rudy. Certainly Rudy would trust them more then Lev and Igor, and they would have some coverage under attorney-client protections. When Rudy was paid by Lev and Igor, it was via a different law office. So, how did this all play into Ukrainian investigations of Biden and the firing of Maria Yovanovitch as ambassador. My guess is that was a question of trading favors. Firtash wanted charges dropped. Trump wanted a Ukrainian investigation of Biden. There were elements in Ukraine who wanted Maria fired because she was representing a foreign policy that would push them out of power. Those Ukrainian elements (which didn't include PM Zelensky) gave interviews and implied an investigation was thwarted in Ukraine. Trump fired Maria. Rudy facilitated this for Firtash, because then Trump would owe a favor. But, Trump never got an official, credible investigation. Firtash didn't get a pardon. And then Trump, with Rudy's involvement, pushed PM Zelensky to open an investigation by dangling military support as the motivator. A lot of that is speculation on my part. It's also possible that Rudy was getting paid by other actors, particularly around Ukraine's natural gas industry, that pushed some of this. But as far as I know, Trump didn't pay Rudy for any of this, and I don't think Rudy was working for free. Follow the money.

The only thing I know about Rich Signorelli is that he is full of shit. Toensing and diGenova have been Republican machine hacks for decades. The only thing that changed was that Trump nows run that machine, which means the machine does more obviously stupid and illegal shit. But they're still the same fucks they've always been.

I thought that was his base.

National: Trump. For many reasons, not the least of which is that he’d expect to win. Because he’s just that stupid and delusional about his abilities. Local: Pete Ricketts.

Chris Baker, KFAB conservative radio host in Omaha: Subsequently deleted, and account removed from Twitter. KFAB is "reviewing." Because, you know, there is a lot to read through and analyze. It takes time. Fuck Chris Baker. Fuck KFAB. Fuck KFAB's advertisers.